Politics Now - USA

Brad Parscale is stepping away from the Trump campaign after he was detained in a Florida hospital over the weekend for threatening to harm himself, Politico first reported Wednesday. The big picture: Parscale was President Trump's campaign manager until July, but remained a senior adviser on digital projects. "I am stepping away from my company and any role in the campaign for the immediate future to focus on my family and get help dealing with the overwhelming stress," Parscale said in a statement to Politico. The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (1-800-273-8255) provides 24/7, free and confidential support for anyone in distress, in addition to prevention and crisis resources. Also available for online chat.

In a stunning walkback of his remarks during the 2020 presidential debate that the Proud Boys, a far-right extremist organization, should “stand back and stand by,” President Donald Trump claimed on Wednesday that he doesn’t even know who the Proud Boys are — yet he refused to explicitly condemn them. In response to a question from a reporter outside the White House Wednesday afternoon requesting he clarify his remarks, Trump replied: “I don’t know who the Proud Boys are. I mean, you’ll have to give me a definition because I don’t really know who they are. I can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work. Law enforcement will do the work more and more as people see how bad this radical liberal Democrat movement is, law enforcement is gonna come back stronger and stronger. But again, I don’t know who Proud Boys are, but whoever they are, they have to stand down. Let law enforcement do their work.” In a follow-up question, another reporter said, “White supremacis...

In the hours after I covered the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, I spoke to several alt-right leaders about Donald Trump’s infamously vague condemnation of the day’s “egregious display of hatred,” which he offered rather than call out the racist instigators, who ranged from members of the Proud Boys to people tied to the Atomwaffen Division to the KKK. Nicholas Fuentes, a young white nationalist personality whose online celebrity has only grown since, told me that he understood Trump’s comments to be a subtle endorsement of its extremist principles. “President Trump’s comments perfectly aligned with our side…they were intentionally ambiguous to go along with Washington’s speech codes, yet still managed to condemn the violent left,” said Fuentes, while James Allsup, another notable white nationalist, voiced his agreement but asked that the president “be more specific” in condemning “the violent left.” (Both Fuentes and Allsup have rejected the white n...

The Republican former Sen. Rick Santorum said that asking President Donald Trump to denounce white supremacists was a low blow because they were his voter base. In Tuesday night's presidential debate, the moderator, Chris Wallace, asked Trump to denounce racism and right-wing militias. Santorum later told CNN that Wallace "was asking the president to do something he knows the president doesn't like to do." Asked to elaborate, Santorum said: "Which is say something bad about people who support him ... talking about the white supremacists." During the debate Trump had answered Wallace's question by telling the extremist Proud Boys group to "stand back and stand by." Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. The Republican former Sen. Rick Santorum said that asking President Donald Trump to condemn right-wing extremists during Tuesday night's debate with Joe Biden was unfair because it meant alienating Trump's supporters. San...

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. Last night there was a presidential debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. It was a real circus because Trump refused to follow the rules and ranted and raved like an unmedicated lunatic. Thanks to his chaotic rampage, the conversation was hard to follow. Very few issues were debated in a way that happens in The West Wing. And the second it was over, everyone on television proclaimed it a mess. “Who was the winner? No one,” was a regular refrain. “The only thing I know is America lost,” I heard someone say on Fox. This morning, several newspapers led coverage with a bit of both-siderism. This is nonsense. It was clear in the debate that there was a winner, and that winner’s name is Joe Biden. Donald Trump did what Donald Trump does: He bullied and hectored and rambled and ceaselessly interrupted. Liberals don’t trust their own senses sometimes: There is a n...

House Democrats—including three Squad members—tore into pharmaceutical industry chief executives during a Wednesday congressional hearing on Big Pharma profiteering, with Rep. Katie Porter verbally eviscerating one CEO for more than tripling the price of a critical cancer drug. Wednesday marked the first day of a two-day House Oversight Committee hearing titled "Unsustainable Drug Prices: Testimony from the CEOs." Bristol Myers Squibb CEO Giovanni Caforio, Teva Pharmaceuticals CEO Kåre Schultz, and former Celgene CEO Mark Alles all endured nearly four hours of grilling over the price of prescription drugs—which are almost always far more expensive in the United States than anywhere else in the world. Porter (D-Calif.), a former consumer protection attorney, was the most ferocious committee member to address the CEOs. Bringing out her infamous white board, she attacked Celgene's repeated price hikes for the cancer drug Revlimid, which now costs $763 per dose—in 2005 it cos...

Pope rejects US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meeting Published duration 7 hours ago Related Topics US election 2020 image copyright Reuters image caption US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Italy on a state visit The Vatican has denied US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo an audience with Pope Francis. The Holy See said the Pontiff does not receive politicians during an election period. The move adds to a diplomatic row following comments by Mr Pompeo about China and the Catholic Church. The Vatican accused Mr Pompeo of trying to use that issue to attract voters in November's US presidential election. In an article earlier this month, Mr Pompeo said the Catholic Church was risking its "moral authority" by renewing an agreement with China regarding the appointment of bishops. Donald Trump receives support from conservative religious movements, including conservative Catholic voters, some of whom think Pope Francis is too liberal. Despite this, in 2018 the Vatican made a...

But in interviews, the Cornell researchers said they expected to find more mentions of conspiracy theories, and not so many articles involving Mr. Trump. Public health experts know that clear, concise and accurate information is the foundation of an effective response to an outbreak of infectious disease. Misinformation around the pandemic is “one of the major reasons” the United States is not doing as well as other countries in fighting the pandemic, said Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, a vice dean at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a former principal deputy commissioner at the Food and Drug Administration. “There is a science of rumors. It’s when there is uncertainty and fear,” said Dr. Sharfstein, who teaches on public health crisis communications. In the absence of treatments or vaccines, he said, honest and consistent messaging is essential. “This is what we need to save lives,” he said. “If it’s not done well, you get far more infections and deaths.” The Cornell Al...

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. There was a key moment that you might have missed in Tuesday’s presidential debate. It happened early on, before President Trump told a neofascist militia to “stand by,” invented an endorsement from an Oregon sheriff, and trampled on the memory of Joe Biden’s dead son. Trump, after being criticized by Biden for his ongoing efforts to blow up the Affordable Care Act, tried to change the subject by talking about all the work he’s doing to bring down the cost of prescription drugs. “I’ll give you an example,” Trump said. “Insulin—it was destroying families, destroying people, the cost. I’m getting it for so cheap it’s like water, you want to know the truth. So cheap.” So cheap it’s like water. I did a double take when I heard this, because insulin is expensive as hell, and no, the president hasn’t fixed that. How expensive? “In reality, insulin still retails for r...

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish information redacted from the Mueller report that had been designated as privileged. District Judge Reggie Walton said the Trump administration had failed to justify certain redactions from the report on the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The specific redactions he took issue with cover the decisionmaking process within former special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE's team over whether to charge certain people with crimes during the probe. ADVERTISEMENT "Based on the Court’s review of the unredacted version of the Mueller Report, the Court concludes that the Department has failed to satisfy its burden to demonstrate that...

When Sarah Youngquist hopped online to watch Tuesday night’s presidential debate with her Palo Alto High School debate students, she hoped it would prove educational. Instead, it felt like watching 90 minutes of fingernails on a chalkboard. Repeated interruptions. Personal attacks. Dodged questions. Belligerence toward the moderator. In a high school debate, Youngquist said, “you’d probably be kicked out if you behaved that way.” That was the general message in classrooms across the Bay Area and beyond Wednesday as teachers and coaches who work with young debaters eager to participate in the democratic process grasped for any lessons to be learned from the widely panned debate between President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden. Trump repeatedly cut off both Biden and moderator Chris Wallace, refused to answer specific questions — including whether he rejected white supremacy — and lobbed debunked claims at his opponent. Teachers found themselves trying to help students ...

Donald Trump’s campaign is still assessing the political damage from Tuesday night’s chaotic first presidential debate. The president’s refusal to condemn white supremacists, of course, is the immediate crisis. “He blew that for sure,” a campaign adviser told me. “It’s nuts,” a former West Wing official said wearily, sounding like a storm survivor with PTSD. “Total lunacy,” said another former White House staffer, who remains close to the campaign. “Trump didn’t win over any voters, and he pissed off a lot of people,” added a prominent Republican. Trump advisers agree on what he needs to do differently at the next debate. “He has to just relax and let Joe Biden speak,” said the ex-official, who remains close to the White House. But Republicans are resigned to the fact that Trump is unlikely––or unwilling––to course-correct. “Trump thinks he won. He didn’t,” said another Republican with ties to the campaign. “But does anyone have the balls to tell him that? No. They’d be fired.” Trump d...

Image by Ruth Nussbaum Nussbaum with her son, right, and two grandsons. I’d like to say a few words about Adolf Hitler, Donald Trump, and Ruth Nussbaum. Let’s start with Ruth, who is marking her 100th birthday on September 30th, and isn’t overly thrilled with the occasion. As she told me a few weeks ago, “I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody”. Ruth Rozanski was born in Offenbach, Germany, a few miles from Frankfurt. By the age of five she’d learned how to knit, an activity in which she finds enjoyment and meaning to this day. After her father’s untimely death when she was 11, she lived with her mother Henriette and younger sister Ellen in a building owned by an aunt; her mom and aunt managed a small store downstairs from their apartment. An exceptionally bright teenager, Ruth worked for three years as an apprentice bookkeeper until Kristallnacht in November, 1938. During that nationwide anti-Jewish orgy of violence, death and destruction, Nazi thugs ransacked her family’s store and resid...

A member of the right-wing hate group Proud Boys was arrested in Oregon the morning after the first presidential debate, in which Donald Trump declined to disavow white supremacy, for assault and weapons charges resulting from a confrontation he had with protestors in August. Alan Swinney, who Oregon Public Broadcasting identified as a member of Proud Boys and the far-right protester that pointed a gun at demonstrators in downtown Portland last month, was arrested on Wednesday morning on multiple assault charges. He also faced charges for unlawful use of a weapon and unlawful use of tear gas, stun gun or mace, the outlet reported, as well as pointing a firearm at another person. The 50-year-old, who remains held at the Multnomah County Jail, was seen pulling out a gun during a clash with countrprotestors at the Multnomah County Justice Center on videos shared online from the 22 August rally. Though he initially claimed he was cleared by officials of any wrongdoing during the violent cl...

NBA star LeBron James has reportedly recruited 10,000 volunteers to help at polls in Black electoral districts in November. The Los Angeles Lakers forward announced last month that his voting rights organization More Than A Vote would work on drafting volunteers in southern battleground states. The effort has amassed 10,000 volunteers for "We Got Next," a collaboration with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, The New York Times reported Wednesday. ADVERTISEMENT The collaboration will be highlighted during the NBA Finals between the Miami Heat and the Lakers. More Than a Vote told the Times the second phase of the group's push would be aimed at 11 cities "where significant poll worker shortages remain" amid the coronavirus pandemic, including southern Black voter hubs such as Birmingham, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Houston and San Antonio. The group volunteer support is also still needed in cities including Cleveland, Detroit and Philadelphia. Officials have raised concerns ...

Donald Trump shifted course on Wednesday, saying he does not know the white supremacist group known as the “Proud Boys” after telling them during the first presidential debate to “stand back and stand by” when asked to condemn all such groups. "I don't know who the proud boys are,” he claimed while leaving the White House for a campaign fundraiser and rally in Minnesota. You’ll have to give me a definition. … I can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work. Mr Trump for the second consecutive day was given a chance to clearly denounce all white supremacist groups, but he would again not say the words in a way that left no doubt. “I’ve always denounced any form. Any form of any of that you, have to denounce,” he said. “But Joe Biden needs to say something about Antifa. … Now, Antifa is a real problem. … Biden refuses to talk about it.” But he did several times instruct the Proud Boys to stand aside during protests, though he did not denounce the group’...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is tied 48%-48% with Democratic challenger Jaime Harrison in the South Carolina Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac poll out Wednesday. Why it matters: The race could be pivotal in deciding which party controls the Senate. Harrison was once thought to be a long shot against Graham, who won his last Senate race by a 10-point margin. "There hasn't been a Democrat elected to the Senate from South Carolina since 1998. Outspent and labeled by critics as an apologist for President Trump, Lindsey Graham is facing the fight of his political life," said Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy in a news release. By the numbers: Both candidates received 48% support from 1,123 likely South Carolina voters — unchanged from a Quinnipiac poll earlier this month. 95% of voters who said they support a candidate said their minds have been made up about their pick, while another 4% said their minds could still be changed. In general, 49% of likely vo...

The Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) has announced that it will consider changing the format of the remaining two debates, after Tuesday’s chaotic event was widely criticised. During Tuesday’s presidential debate, which is planned to be the first of three before 3 November’s election, Mr Trump repeatedly spoke over Mr Biden and avoided answering questions posed by the moderator, Fox News host Chris Wallace. At one point, the former vice president told Mr Trump: “Will you shut up, man? This is so unpresidential,” after he interrupted him, and Wallace had to regularly shout in order to keep the conversation moving. On Wednesday, the commission, which sponsors televised debates in the US, released a statement, which read: “Last night’s debate made clear that additional structure should be added to the format of the remaining debates to ensure a more orderly discussion of the issues. “The CPD will be carefully considering the changes that it will adopt and will announce those measu...

For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter. It’s not particularly difficult to describe what happened at Tuesday night’s debate. Donald Trump spent 90 minutes lying, interrupting, and attacking Joe Biden’s family. He refused to denounce white supremacists and violent militia groups and urged the neo-fascist Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.” Trump has behaved this way throughout his presidency, but his actions on the debate stage in Cleveland were still shocking. We know this is what happened because we saw it with our own eyes and heard it with our own ears. Biden, on the other hand, did not behave this way. He attempted to follow the debate rules, to answer the moderator’s questions, and to talk about policy and Trump’s abysmal record. Trump shouted over Biden nearly every time the former vice president spoke. After countless interruptions, Biden finally told Trump to “shut up”—one can hardly bla...

CNN's Don Lemon Don Carlton LemonCNN's Don Lemon: 'Blow up the entire system' remark taken out of context CNN's Lemon: 'We're going to have to blow up the entire system' if Democrats win back White House, Senate Scaramucci to Lemon: Trump 'doubling down' on downplaying virus 'should scare' viewers MORE compared President Trump Donald John TrumpFive takeaways from Trump-Biden debate clash The Memo: Debate or debacle? Democrats rip Trump for not condemning white supremacists, Proud Boys at debate MORE to "watching a kid whose doctor had prescribed him too much Adderall," saying he appeared to be "hopped up" during Tuesday night's raucous presidential debate. “I felt like I was watching a kid whose doctor had prescribed him too much Adderall,” Lemon said on Wednesday morning to anchor Chris Cuomo Chris CuomoFox News tops broadcast networks for first time in 3rd quarter CNN's Don Lemon: 'Blow up the entire syst...

Former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Marc Racicot said this week that he would that he will not vote for President Trump Donald John TrumpFive takeaways from Trump-Biden debate clash The Memo: Debate or debacle? Democrats rip Trump for not condemning white supremacists, Proud Boys at debate MORE in November. "I regret that I will cause consternation perhaps in some corners, but even as a Republican, I will not be supporting Donald Trump for president, and I will not be voting for him," Racicot, who is also a former Republican governor of Montana, said during a Tuesday interview on Yellowstone Public Radio. "That means I will be voting for Joe Biden Joe BidenFive takeaways from Trump-Biden debate clash The Memo: Debate or debacle? Democrats rip Trump for not condemning white supremacists, Proud Boys at debate MORE for president.” Racicot did not provide details about why he was choosing to endorse the Democratic presidential nominee, according to the Missou...

Forget the euphemistic language being used by much of the mainstream press to describe Tuesday night's presidential debate between Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden. That wasn't a "contentious debate," nor were the candidates "bickering." No, Biden showed up to do normal politician things, only to find himself trapped on stage with Trump, a shit-flinging monkey whose only purpose was to prevent anything resembling truth from slipping through and touching the ears of the public. For an hour and a half, the same thing kept happening over and over. (And over, and over.) Biden would try to talk, about literally anything — Trump's failures, his own policy ideas, the state of the nation, hell, possibly the weather — and Trump would immediately interrupt the second he heard a truth about to be stated, ranting over Biden and silencing any factual information or expression of decency under a blanket of lies and vitriol. Advertisement: Trump and his...

A federal judge has begun contempt proceedings against Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross Wilbur Louis RossCensus Bureau intends to wrap up count on Oct. 5 despite judge's order Trump admin asks Supreme Court to fast-track excluding people in U.S. illegally from census Trump 'very happy' to allow TikTok to operate in US if security concerns resolved MORE over his allegedly defying her order to continue census collection until the end of next month. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, appointed by former President Obama, initiated contempt of court proceedings during a Tuesday hearing, accusing the Department of Commerce of disobeying her previous order, Bloomberg News reported. She set a hearing for the proceedings for Friday. The launch of contempt proceedings came after the U.S. Census Bureau and Ross announced on Twitter that Oct. 5 was the “target date” to finish self-response and field data collection operations on the 2020 census. ADVERTISEMENT Koh said that Ross and the dep...

A focus group of undecided voters called President Trump Donald John TrumpFive takeaways from Trump-Biden debate clash The Memo: Debate or debacle? Democrats rip Trump for not condemning white supremacists, Proud Boys at debate MORE a “bully” and Democratic nominee Joe Biden Joe BidenFive takeaways from Trump-Biden debate clash The Memo: Debate or debacle? Democrats rip Trump for not condemning white supremacists, Proud Boys at debate MORE “better than expected” following their first debate on Tuesday night. Most participants in Republican pollster Frank Luntz's virtual focus group of 15 voters remained undecided after the chaotic Cleveland debate, saying they wanted to hear more about the candidates’ plans on the coronavirus, racial injustice and uniting the country, Politico reported on Wednesday. After the debate, four decided to vote for Biden and two sided with Trump, while the nine others have yet to pick a candidate. The six women and nine men all hail from swing states, inc...

Last night marked the first presidential debate for the 2020 election. Aside from chilling moments like President Donald Trump’s refusal to denounce white supremacists, Chris Wallace’s failure to pin down any new and vital information from either party, and no progress on COVID policies, Twitter users have a large issue with the constant interruptions by Trump toward both the moderator and Joe Biden, which Slate reports occurred “at least 128 times.” Advertisement Hide Months leading up to the debate, both presidential campaigns agree on a set of rules. One specific rule—that each candidate would have two minutes of uninterrupted time to answer each question—went mostly ignored. Instead, Trump intervened almost every time Biden responded to a question and cut off Wallace each time he tried to get him to respect the rules. Biden also interrupted Trump at times with one-worded remarks. This interruption took place during the entire 90-minute debate, causing many Twitter users to voice th...

The best case I’ve heard for Joe Biden yet is that, by virtue of becoming the president, he’ll shut Donald Trump up. At the first 2020 presidential debate on Tuesday, September 29, Biden convincingly made this case himself as he repeatedly tried to shut down Trump’s incessant bluster with frank demands and insults. At times contrasting with an incoherent Trump and a flustered moderator, Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, Biden was occasionally able to do the only thing that felt worth doing: shut down the conversation entirely. At one point, Wallace asked Biden where he stood on packing the Supreme Court, an idea that’s been floated by some as a way to mitigate the influence of a conservative majority. Biden said he didn’t want to take a stance, saying that would “become the issue,” as he believes the outcome of the 2020 presidential election should determine the future of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s vacant seat. But Trump seemed to see a chance to press Biden on the topic, badgering him with th...

Millions of Americans stand to gain — or lose — health care coverage in the 2020 presidential election. An unfavorable Supreme Court ruling next year could mean potentially millions of low-income and middle-class people lose their health coverage in the middle of a pandemic. A freshly seated Justice Amy Coney Barrett and other conservative justices could invalidate most or all of the Affordable Care Act, as Donald Trump’s administration is urging the Court to do. The Trump administration announced its plan to protect people with preexisting conditions under that scenario last week that was, in effect, no plan at all. It was instead a plea to trust that Trump would figure out a way to restore the protections, despite his efforts to roll them back throughout his first term. The Supreme Court could also reject the argument for overturning the ACA. And if Joe Biden wins the presidency, he could wield a mandate to expand health coverage to millions more Americans, creating for the first tim...