Jon Ossoff (D), who ran an unsuccessful special election campaign in Georgia’s 6th congressional district, is now seriously considering a run at one of the two open Senate seats in Georgia, BuzzEeed News reports.
MSNBC Anchor Retracts Report
MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell issued an apology for running with a single-source claim about President Trump and Deutsche Bank.
Said O’Donnell: “Last night I made an error in judgment by reporting an item about the president’s finances that didn’t go through our rigorous verification and standards process. I shouldn’t have reported it and I was wrong to discuss it on the air.”
Trump Tells Aides ‘Take the Land’
“President Trump’s signature campaign promise to build a wall along the southwestern border is far behind schedule. So he has told his aides to get the job done by whatever means necessary, including by seizing land on the Mexican frontier,” the New York Times reports.
“The president has repeatedly suggested during meetings on immigration policy that aides ‘take the land’ and ‘get it done,’ according to a person who has heard him say it.”
“The Washington Post first reported that Mr. Trump had brought up the land seizures, and had floated the idea of offering pardons to aides willing to break the law, a suggestion he has made before when exploring ways to fulfill his campaign promises.”
Boris Johnson Plans Extreme Measures In Coming Weeks
“Boris Johnson’s surprise move to ask the Queen to suspend Parliament for five weeks in the run-up to the Brexit deadline on Oct. 31 is just the opening salvo of a meticulously constructed Downing Street strategy to eat up time and head off attempts by rebel MPs to block a no-deal exit,” BuzzFeed News reports.
“The measures were devised by the prime minister’s senior aides who have spent the summer in their Downing Street bunker war-gaming how to respond to potential parliamentary manoeuvres by MPs determined to block no deal.”
New Government Takes Shape In Italy
“Italy’s warring political parties struck a deal on Wednesday night to form a new government that sidelines Matteo Salvini, the hard-right leader who dominated the country’s politics for more than a year and threatened to drastically reorient Italy’s place in Europe,” the New York Times reports.
“The sudden turnabout in Italy’s politics was a relief to the European establishment after 14 months of euroskeptic provocations, anti-migrant crackdowns and flouting of the bloc’s financial rules.”
Axios: “Salvini, the leader of the far-right League party and perhaps the most popular politician in Italy, withdrew his support on Aug. 8 from the unlikely coalition he had formed with Five Star after the 2018 election. Salvini hoped fresh elections might allow him to become prime minister. Instead, his gamble has expelled his party out of power.”
McSally Gets a Primary Challenger
Businessman Daniel McCarthy (R) announced his intention to run against Sen. Martha McSally (R-AZ) in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in 2020, ABC Arizona reports.
“McCarthy is capable of putting tens of millions into the race according to a source close to the campaign.”
Voters Think the Economy Is Getting Worse
A new Quinnipiac poll finds that since the first time since the 2016 election, more voters say the economy is getting worse than say it’s getting better.
Voters still think the economy is good, but of those polled, 37% say the economy is getting worse, compared with 31% who say it’s getting better and 30% who say it’s staying the same.
Roy Moore Tells Omar to ‘Go Back’ to Somalia
Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) tweeted that Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) “should go back to Somalia” after the Minnesota lawmaker called him a child molester.
He also called the freshman congresswoman an “avowed muslim” and a “sworn enemy of Israel.”
Ocasio-Cortez Mocks Trump’s Defense of Electoral College
President Trump’s reelection campaign sent out a petition to protect the Electoral College, specifically targeting Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).
Said the email blast: “Crazy AOC wants to ABOLISH the Electoral College. Let’s remind her this is OUR country, not the Coastal Elites.”
Of course, it was Trump who once called the Electoral College a “disaster for a democracy” and a “travesty” when Barack Obama won re-election in 2012.
Naturally, Ocasio-Cortez seized on the old tweet: “I’m so glad the President and I agree that the Electoral College has got to go.”
Trump Unleashes on Puerto Rico
As Puerto Rico braced for a hurricane, President Trump called the U.S. territory as one of the “most corrupt places on earth” while trying to defend his administration’s past disaster relief efforts.
Said Trump: “Their political system is broken and their politicians are either Incompetent or Corrupt. Congress approved Billions of Dollars last time, more than anyplace else has ever gotten, and it is sent to Crooked Pols. No good!”
He added in another tweet: “And by the way, I’m the best thing that’s ever happened to Puerto Rico!”
Trump Slams Fox News Again
President Trump let loose on Fox News again, saying the network “isn’t working for us anymore” while encouraging his followers to look for an alternative to his long-cherished cable news channel, Politico reports.
Monmouth Admits Poll Was an Outlier
Monmouth pollster Patrick Murray acknowledged that a poll released this week showing Joe Biden’s support dropping by 13 percent was an “outlier.”
Murray said the result was the “product of the uncertainty that is inherent in the polling process” which “occurs very infrequently.”
He added: “In the end, we must put out the numbers we have. They should always be viewed in the context of what other polls are saying, not only as it applies to the horse race, but also for our understanding of the issues that motivate voters in their decision-making process.”
Stacey Abrams Still Won’t Run for Senate
Stacey Abrams (D) ruled out running for the U.S. Senate next year following news that Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-GA) would retire, The Hill reports.
Said Abrams: “Our thoughts are with Senator Isakson and his family. Leader Abrams’ focus will not change: she will lead voter protection efforts in key states across the country, and make sure Democrats are successful in Georgia in 2020.”
Isakson Will Resign from U.S. Senate
Sen. Johnny Isakson “said he was stepping down from office at the end of 2019 as he struggles with Parkinson’s disease, setting up two elections for U.S. Senate in Georgia in 2020,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“A four-decade veteran of Georgia politics, Isakson has served in the U.S. Senate since 2005. He won his third term in 2016 by a comfortable margin and isn’t up for re-election until 2022. “
Facebook Tightens Rules on Political Ads
“As political ad spending for 2020 ramps up, Facebook is tightening its rules to make sure that groups running political or issue ads are legitimate and aren’t gaming the system,” Axios reports.
“With some high-profile examples of such evasion already emerging, the changes will make it harder for groups to dodge Facebook’s political advertising review program.”
Mystery of Missing Votes Deepens In Georgia
“To find a clue about what might have gone wrong with Georgia’s election last fall, look no further than voting machine No. 3 at the Winterville Train Depot outside Athens,” the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
“On machine No. 3, Republicans won every race. On each of the other six machines in that precinct, Democrats won every race. The odds of an anomaly that large are less than 1 in 1 million.”
“It just so happens that this occurred in Republican Brian Kemp’s home precinct, where he initially had a problem voting when his yellow voter access card didn’t work because a poll worker forgot to activate it. At the time, Kemp was secretary of state — Georgia’s top election official — and running for governor in a tight contest with Democrat Stacey Abrams.”
“The suspicious results in Winterville are evidence in the ongoing mystery of whether errors with voting machines contributed to a stark drop-off in votes recorded in the race for Georgia lieutenant governor between Republican Geoff Duncan, who ended up winning, and Democrat Sarah Riggs Amico.”
Remembering the Tan Suit Scandal
The Washington Post notes that it was five years ago today that President Barack Obama showed up for a White House news conference dressed in a beige, light-colored suit.
“Rep. Peter King (R-NY) fumed that the suit pointed to a ‘lack of seriousness’ on the president’s part, cable news shows held roundtable discussions, fashion critics and image consultants weighed in, and TV news reporters conducted man-on-the-street interviews to find out what the people of Northeast Ohio thought of the controversial look.”
“Five years later, however, Tan Suit Gate has taken on a different meaning, coming to symbolize the relative dearth of scandals during the Obama administration. On social media, just about every news item about potential conflicts of interests within the Trump administration and the president’s flouting of norms is met with some variant of ‘Remember when Obama wore a tan suit?'”
Omar Hits Back at Alabama Republicans
After Alabama Republicans moved to support a resolution calling for the expulsion of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) from the U.S. House, the freshman lawmaker fired back on Twitter:
“I was elected with 78% of the vote by the people of Minnesota’s 5th District, not the Alabama Republican Party. If you want to clean up politics, maybe don’t nominate an accused child molester as your Senate candidate?”
