2020 Presidential Election

[Furniture]

Ok, we are gonna have some must-see TV on Sunday.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/10/20/polit...tes/index.html

Leslie Stahl of CBS' 60 Minutes was at the White House today to interview Trump and Pence. By tradition, 60 Minutes interviews both candidates and their VPs for a show that airs just before election day.

So, Stahl was about 45 minutes into her Trump interview when he abruptly stopped the interview and walked out. There was supposed to be an additional walk and talk with both Trump and Pence that the President refused to show up for. What's more, he now says he is going to release White House footage of the Stahl interview so the American people can see what really happened, not the biased fake news version that he expects CBS to put on 60 Minutes.

I'm no political expert, but this does not feel like the kind of thing you want to be doing two weeks ahead of the election. As many have said repeatedly in this thread... when is Trump going to have a good week? Heck, when is he going to have a good day?!?!

Tune in Sunday for a special edition of 45 Minutes...

[Furniture]

More news from the New York Times...

Apparently Trumps tax records show a secret bank account in China. The account did not show up on Trumps public financial disclosures where he must list his personal assets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/u...xes-china.html

Sounds like another answer to a possible Hunter accusation on Thursday.

[gep]

If you are trying to win senior voters (which I assume is part of the plan), you don't mess with 60 Minutes. It is appointment viewing for older viewers, and they put a lot of faith in it - it is like an extension of Walter Cronkite. My elderly family in Florida goes to the Sunday night early bird and gets home in time for 60 Minutes - don't mess with that routine..

Walter Cronkite... and I also liked MacNail/Lehrer news hour. I keep wondering how they would have handled news as it is today.

[CameronBornAndBred]

More news from the New York Times...

Apparently Trumps tax records show a secret bank account in China. The account did not show up on Trumps public financial disclosures where he must list his personal assets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/u...xes-china.html

Sounds like another answer to a possible Hunter accusation on Thursday.

Lays out the night's debate.
"You say Hunter, I say China! Hunter! China! Hunter! China!"

Yay, team.

[CrazyNotCrazie]

More news from the New York Times...

Apparently Trumps tax records show a secret bank account in China. The account did not show up on Trumps public financial disclosures where he must list his personal assets.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/20/u...xes-china.html

Sounds like another answer to a possible Hunter accusation on Thursday.

I made it through a few paragraphs before I hit this gem: "The Chinese account is controlled by Trump International Hotels Management L.L.C., which the tax records show paid $188,561 in taxes in China while pursuing licensing deals there from 2013 to 2015."

So while he wasn't paying taxes in the US, he was paying them in China. Not sure how the optics of that will go over.

[Furniture]

This won’t help Trumps effort. The Biden campaign went into October with $180 M Vs. Trumps $63M.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

[Steven43]

I know sharing sign stories is frowned upon, but I found this one interesting. It was posted by a Republican FB friend of mine. (And past Duke FB player.)

Wait...you have Republican friends?? 😮

[JasonEvans]

For those of you who are terrified about an effort to steal the election by preventing votes from being fully counted, here is an interview with Biden's chief legal counsel in which he seems pretty confident about things turning out ok.

This will either age wonderfully or terribly...

https://twitter.com/SHO_TheCircus/st...03752622862337

[Kdogg]

Lays out the night's debate.
"You say Hunter, I say China! Hunter! China! Hunter! China!"

Yay, team.

At this point, I doubt either moves the needle. Trump should stop trying to make Hunter happen and his taxes have already made their mark. Even his base will find a reason to overlook the taxes paid to China.

Four years ago Trump was surprisingly able to maintain discipline down the stretch. Now he’s complaining about visiting Erie, PA DURING THE RALLY there. I guess Bannon was the Trump whisperer.

[JasonEvans]

If you ever wondered how the media will "call" various states on election night (and beyond) here is an interview with the person at the AP who is in charge of that effort: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/...biden-how.html

We have been writing for some time, since the summer really, stories trying to lay out for people, this simple idea that you might not know the winner on election night, and that does not mean that something has gone wrong. That is just a function of the fact that we’re expecting more mail-in vote this year in some states, including a state like Pennsylvania, which is a really important state, isn’t going to be able to start counting those mail-in ballots until pretty darn late. That could really slow down that process. We’ve been trying to really just hammer home this idea that it’s OK if there’s no winner on election night. That’s not going to probably mean that there was some kind of widespread fraud here

[Lord Ash]

https://twitter.com/MichaelSteele/st...05577094500353

Have we ever had a former chairman of one of the two parties actively endorse the opposing party candidate? Does anyone here know? That feels unlikely.

[OldPhiKap]

So while he wasn't paying taxes in the US, he was paying them in China. Not sure how the optics of that will go over.

Not sure that’s totally fair although I agree it will be used that way. While DJT paid little to no personal income tax, I am sure he and his companies plaid plenty of ad valorem taxes.

[Furniture]

So while he wasn't paying taxes in the US, he was paying them in China. Not sure how the optics of that will go over.

Its all over Twitter so it probably “is” going to be another talking point but it won’t move the needle one iota.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Wait...you have Republican friends?? 😮

Not as many as I used to.

[sagegrouse]

Got my second phone survey in a week on the congressional race here in the Colorado third district. I have already voted, but the interviewer wanted to talk to me anyway. As a social scientist, I will usually sit for surveys to help people collect data -- which can be so difficult.

It was evidently paid for by some Republican organization. A key national question was - "What concerns you most: Trumps behavior and personality or the Democrats plan to bring socialism to America?"

I told the interviewer what I thought of that question, but that's a reasonable way to try and minimize the President's negatives.

Lessee, ... Biden was for 36 years the senator from Delaware -- the home of most corporate entities. He has gotten a lot of criticism in the past for being "beholden."

Lessee, ... the progressive faction in the U.S. Congress (i.e., AOC and Co.) is less able to control the Democratic caucuses because most of the new members elected in 2018 were moderates from suburban districts.

[bundabergdevil]

I'm seeing some scrawl that Trump's drug discount cards will not arrive before Election Day. With McConnell arguing against passing a stimulus bill before the election, it appears increasingly unlikely that the administration will "deliver" anything economically tangible for the average American before November 3rd.

[Devilwin]

McConnell needs to go, and take Pelosi with him..

[budwom]

I'm seeing some scrawl that Trump's drug discount cards will not arrive before Election Day. With McConnell arguing against passing a stimulus bill before the election, it appears increasingly unlikely that the administration will "deliver" anything economically tangible for the average American before November 3rd.

I'll try to stay within the lines here: I'm befuddled by McConnell's stance of not wanting to pass a bill before the election. Trump badly wants one, Pelosi does too, and there are more than a few GOP Senators who are in tough races who also badly want a deal. According to one analysis I read, McConnell does not want to turn off fiscally conservative voters with another large bill...but I'm not sure that makes sense. I suspect that thwarting a spending bill backed by Pelosi and Trump will cost more votes for the GOP than the lack of a bill will help, but what do I know?

[CDu]

I'll try to stay within the lines here: I'm befuddled by McConnell's stance of not wanting to pass a bill before the election. Trump badly wants one, Pelosi does too, and there are more than a few GOP Senators who are in tough races who also badly want a deal. According to one analysis I read, McConnell does not want to turn off fiscally conservative voters with another large bill...but I'm not sure that makes sense. I suspect that thwarting a spending bill backed by Pelosi and Trump will cost more votes for the GOP than the lack of a bill will help, but what do I know?

I wonder if that's a "reading the tea leaves" and saying "we'll punt this election to maintain our fiscal principles." In other words, "I'm expecting Trump to lose, so I want to maintain/return fiscal conservativism as the platform of the GOP once Trump loses. So I'm willing to take a step that hurts the GOP's chances this time around for the longer-term fiscal picture." He's gotten his conservative majority in the Supreme Court; he's gotten what he wanted out of Trump for the most part; now he's ready to move on.

Maybe that's not what he's thinking here, but that seems a plausible possibility. Especially since, given that SO many people have already voted, it's unclear whether a stimulus bill at this point would make any difference in the election results anyway.

[Bostondevil]

I'll try to stay within the lines here: I'm befuddled by McConnell's stance of not wanting to pass a bill before the election. Trump badly wants one, Pelosi does too, and there are more than a few GOP Senators who are in tough races who also badly want a deal. According to one analysis I read, McConnell does not want to turn off fiscally conservative voters with another large bill...but I'm not sure that makes sense. I suspect that thwarting a spending bill backed by Pelosi and Trump will cost more votes for the GOP than the lack of a bill will help, but what do I know?

McConnell does not want to turn of fiscally conservative donors, FIFO.