Tag Archive: 2020 Election

Today’s Snark: Kanye West edition

Kanye West, whose presidential campaign is soon to be headed south

Kanye West, who says he is running for president as an independent under the “Birthday Party,” held his first political rally yesterday, in South Carolina, whose population is 27 percent black. At the rally, Kanye said that Harriet Tubman, a beloved national figure and former slave who rescued scores of fellow slaves via the Underground Railroad, “never actually freed the slaves, she just had them work for other white people.” And today, Kanye failed to meet the requirements to be placed on the South Carolina presidential election ballot.

Good thing Kanye isn’t trying to attract black voters.

Photo by Pieter-Jannick Dijkstra, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/FIdhMy

Why Trump and the Republicans will lose the election over Coronavirus

Some of Donald Trump’s responses to COVID

As Donald Trump currently trails Joe Biden in many presidential polls and is in danger of losing reelection, one of the great ironies is that Trump’s failed response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19 or COVID) could have been largely averted. In particular, if Trump had acted more like a Democrat, he might be looking at a more likely election win in November, rather than a very good chance of defeat. But Trump and the Republicans are incapable, philosophically and otherwise, of taking the necessary steps to keep us safe and help themselves, our public health and the economy to win the election. Here’s how they failed:

President Barack Obama is making Donald Trump look really bad

Last weekend, President Barack Obama gave a pair of stunning speeches by video to this spring’s high school and Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) graduates, respectively. The speeches were full of all of the things so many voters love about President Obama, especially his intelligence, empathy and Democratic themes of positivity and progress. Likewise, Obama touched upon the theme of empowerment for which he is known, telling the graduates that they need to vote and otherwise be involved in their communities and society in order to create the positive changes they desire. What may have been most jarring to Americans and others around the world was the contrast between President Obama’s intelligent, articulate, positive and unifying speeches, and the very different kinds of remarks that Donald Trump has been making. Below is the video of President Obama’s speech to the high school graduates:

What is Elizabeth Warren doing?

Newly combative Democratic presidential candidate Elizabeth Warren

On Wednesday night, Elizabeth Warren earned rave reviews for her assertive, combative performance at the Democratic Party presidential debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Warren spent most of her time going after Mike Bloomberg, and by many accounts, Warren eviscerated Bloomberg. But the question becomes, to what end? Warren was considered to be in the “left lane” of the nomination contest, and that lane is dominated by Bernie Sanders, yet Warren barely attacked Sanders. Likewise, Warren (and to be fair, her competitors onstage) barely laid a glove on Donald Trump, who, after all, is supposed to be the subject of their competition. So, what is Elizabeth Warren doing, and did it help her candidacy?

Mike Bloomberg’s amazing ads

2020 Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg

There is plenty of debate in Democratic Party circles about Mike Bloomberg, who is one of the party’s newest and few remaining presidential candidates. Some voters feel that Bloomberg’s record is not liberal enough on certain issues. Others feel that Bloomberg’s bypassing of the first several Democratic presidential primaries and caucuses, such as Iowa and New Hampshire, should not be rewarded. And still other voters say that Bloomberg is trying to “buy” the election, having spent nearly $200 million in his first two months of campaigning alone. However, money does not always translate into votes or poll ratings, but Bloomberg has been running third in recent nationwide Democratic primary polls, and is in the lead in the crucial state of Florida. Obviously, Bloomberg is doing something right. And that something seems to be Bloomberg’s ads.

Time to ditch the debates

Rally outside Democratic presidential debate, July 2019

When the first Democratic Party presidential debates had 20 or more participants last year, many viewers found the format unwieldy and unworkable. The candidates never had enough time to answer the questions, and constantly were cut off. While one candidate was giving an answer, one or more other candidates were raising or waving their hands to try to be called upon for a response. The moderators were too intrusive. It was all very distracting, and sometimes provided heat but very little light. Plenty of folks said, just wait until we have fewer candidates, then the problem will be solved.

When it comes to gaffes, Donald Trump lowers the bar to the ground

Cartoon of Donald Trump clashing with Megyn Kelly at August 2015 debate

Republicans, as expected, are attacking the leading 2020 Democratic presidential candidates. Given that Joe Biden has been the Democratic front-runner essentially since the day he announced his candidacy, and indeed, beats Donald Trump in head-to-head match-up polls, Biden naturally is a target for many of these Republican assaults. The current line of GOP attack against Biden is that he makes “gaffes,” i.e. honest statements that politicians don’t always make, or misstatements using a wrong word, phrase or information. However, there are two big problems with this Republican attack on Biden: first, Biden has had the reputation of making gaffes for many years, and to a lot of voters, it adds to his likeability and authenticity. Second, and even more problematic for Republicans, Donald Trump has so lowered the bar with his own horrible history of misstatements, shocking statements, and outright lies, that he has negated any “gaffe” issue for Biden.

Donald Trump just called for his own impeachment

Sign at Trump Impeachment March, July 2017

This past Wednesday, Donald Trump gave a televised interview to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, in which Trump stated that he would once again consider accepting foreign assistance, for example, from Russia or China, to help get re-elected in 2020. This would be yet another impeachable offense to go along with all the impeachable offenses that Trump has already committed.

Likewise, when asked by Stephanopoulos why Donald Trump, Jr. did not inform the FBI when he was approached in June 2016 by an associate who offered what he claimed was damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government, but instead eagerly said, “I love it” and even met in the Trump Tower with Jared Kushner (Trump, Sr.’s son in law) and a lawyer from Russia on the subject, Trump. Sr. had this to say:

Trump: Let’s put yourself in a position, you’re a Congressman, and somebody comes up and says, ‘hey, I have information on your opponent.’ You call the FBI? I don’t think ….

Stephanopoulos: If it’s coming from Russia you do.

The Purity Unicorn vs. Donald Trump

The White House, whose occupants have always been flawed

With some 23 candidates vying for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, we’re starting to hear that some of them have -gasp- flaws! As is the case in every presidential election, the current crop of candidates are not unicorns, and only an out-of-touch purity voter should expect otherwise. The good news, however, is that Donald Trump has made it more than okay to be a Democratic presidential candidate and be human. Let’s hear about some of these flaws: