Donald Trump has upped the ante in his war of words with anti-racism demonstrators after threatening anyone involved in toppling statues and monuments of divisive figures from American history with “serious force” and up to 10 years in jail.
The president tweeted his latest “LAW AND ORDER” message after Black Lives Matter activists in DC attempted to bring down a statue of seventh president Andrew Jackson in Lafayette Square near the White House, scrawling the phrase ”killer scum” along its base and also defacing the nearby St John’s Church.
Trump has also attempted to defend his order to slow down coronavirus testing after his economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, moved to downplay the threat of a second wave despite several southern states suffering flare-ups in their infections rates since reopening, including Arizona, which the president is visiting on Tuesday to champion his US-Mexico border wall.
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John Bennett writes: Donald Trump said during a visit to Arizona on Tuesday that his southern border wall "stopped Covid" even as the state reported a new record high for confirmed cases of the respiratory disease.
The barrier "stopped Covid, it stopped everything," he said before heading from a briefing to see a section of the barrier. The state reported 3,591 new cases on Tuesday, a new record, according to AZcentral.com.
Trump accuses Obama of ‘treason’ without evidence
Louise Hall writes: Donald Trump has accused Barack Obama of “treason” without providing any evidence to support the suggestion.
While discussing the investigation into the 2016 Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia with CBN News, the US president insisted the former president’s administration had committed treason by “spying” on him.
When CBN’s David Brody asked what crime he believed would have potentially been committed, Mr Trump answered: “Treason.”
“They were spying on my campaign, I told you that a long time ago. It turns out I was right. Let’s see what happens to them now.”
“It’s treason,” he asserted.
Data shows Trump is wrong about US testing more than other countries
Anthony Cuthbertson writes: Donald Trump has reasserted his claim that the US only has the highest number of coronavirus cases worldwide because it is conducting the most rigorous testing for Covid-19.
In a flurry of tweets on Tuesday, the US president wrote that the US is “testing far more than any other country”, adding that it is “by far the most, and best, in the world”.
At a rally in Tulsa over the weekend, Mr Trump said he wanted to “slow the testing down” in order to minimise the official number of cases.
White House staff subsequently said that he made the comments “in jest”, however he has continued to suggest that coronavirus testing in the US should be slowed down in various interviews and on Twitter.
Data reveals, however, that the US is not performing the as high a level of testing on its population as other countries.
The president will make the extension, and add other types of visas, via an executive order he will soon sign, administration officials told reporters on Monday. Mr Trump is making the move "in light of the, frankly, expanding unemployment" in the US due to Covid-19, one of the officials said. That Trump aide said the move could help Americans now out of work because of the pandemic.
During a campaign rally on Saturday night, the president said his administration is working to quickly rebuild the US economy after it was slowed to a crawl by the virus outbreak. Independent and government analysts say at least 40 million Americans have lost their jobs during the pandemic so far.
Part of Mr Trump's plan to revive the economy appears to be blocking foreign workers from entering the country to do temporary or seasonal work.
Dr Fauci says racism contributed to black Americans being disproportionally impacted by Covid-19
“Well, I mean, obviously the African American community has suffered from racism for a very, very long period of time," Mr Fauci said in response to a question from Illinois Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush at an oversight hearing before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
"I cannot imagine that that has not contributed to the conditions that they find themselves in economically and otherwise. So the answer, congressman, is yes,” Mr Fauci said.
ICYMI: Kentucky voters flock to the polls today amid concerns of severe voter suppression
Kentucky lawmakers have warned the state was heading towards a disastrous primary election this week, as ballot problems, voter confusion and a severe shortage of polling places threatened to suppress turnout amid the coronavirus pandemic.
State officials on both sides of the political aisle released a joint statement condemning US District Court Judge Charles Simpson’s ruling against a case that argued having just one polling site in most of the state’s 120 counties would result in voter suppression.
“We believe the judge disregarded evidence from our expert witness that one location will suppress the vote, particularly among African Americans,” read the statement, co-authored by Jason Nemes, a Republican state representative, and Keisha Dorsey, a Democratic councilwoman for Louisville Metro. The lawmakers were both behind the lawsuit, which demanded an increase in statewide polling locations.
Reports have indicated voters throughout Kentucky received inaccurate absentee ballots — which many requested in order to vote from home rather than flocking to the polls in droves amid a Covid-19 outbreak — that do not match their party affiliations. In Kentucky, voters must be members of a party to participate in its primary elections.
In a typical election year, Kentucky has about 3,700 polling sites, according to most reports. When Election Day arrives on 23 June, there will be just 200 polling sites across the state — with some of those sites having to serve upwards of 600,000 residents.
Trump says US 'did a great job on coronavirus' as cases rise and death toll hits 122,000
Oliver O'Connell writes: President Donald Trump says that his administration "did a great job on CoronaVirus" as cases surge in states across the country and the death toll continues to climb.
In a tweet posted on Tuesday morning he listed the "very early ban on China, Ventilator production, and Testing, which is by the most, and best, in the World" as having saved millions of US lives, decrying the "Fake News" for refusing to acknowledge this in a positive way.
He then complained that the media gives Dr Anthony Fauci a high approval rating, but that does not extend to the rest of the government's response, or those involved in the coronavirus taskforce such as vice president Mike Pence.
Donald Trump has committed to supporting a “very generous” coronavirus relief package in a new interview, while appearing to suggest the forthcoming legislation will include another check to be sent to the majority of Americans.
Asked whether the reported Republican-led Senate bill will direct payments, similar to the $1,200 checks included in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the president said: “Yeah, we are.”
He was then pressed for more details by Scripps’ Washington correspondent, Joe St George, who asked: “When? When are you going to get it?”
Mr Trump responded: “We had this going better than anybody’s ever seen before. We had the best job numbers, the best economics, the best economy we’ve ever had, and then we had the virus come in from China. Now we’re rebuilding it again. We will be doing another stimulus package. It’ll be very good, it’ll be very generous.”
Prior to this week, the president had not publicly backed including a second wave of direct payments — one of the most costly aspects of the sweeping $2trn CARES Act — in any new coronavirus relief packages. Though he seemingly confirmed a second form of payments were coming, he declined to provide any additional details, only going on to discuss the bill rather than the payments themselves.
The president is jetting out to Arizona today to mark 200 miles of wall being built along the US southwest border with Mexico, in an area where crews have built dozens of miles of new fencing amid a coronavirus breakout and protests from opponents who say construction is destroying important habitats.
AP
Here's Chris Riotta on what sounds suspiciously like the president attempting to quite literally buy votes.
The president manages to sounds very jealous here and claims that his administration "did a great job on CoronaVirus".
Despite, er, acting too slowly in response to the initial warning, promoting dangerous and unproven quack treatments like hydroxychloroquine, presiding over 2.2m infections and 122,000 deaths and counting, pressuring the states to reopen too soon, ignoring its own advice on masks and social distancing and blaming it all on China, the World Health Organisation and the Democrats.
Trump, who himself has submitted absentee ballots through the mail, has for weeks stoked fears among his supporters that Democrats will abuse the vote-by-mail process in November's election.
Trump told Politico in an interview published on Friday that expanded mail-in voting could cost him re-election.
Reuters
Good grief.
Gino Spocchia has this on Missouri congressional candidate Dr Winnie Heartstrong, whom the state would be well advised to turn its back on as one.
The Hawaii Democrat is as clear-eyed and sharp-tongued as they come and offered this typically withering assessment of the president on MSNBC.
A little more from Chris Riotta on Trump's Axios interview, as he attempts to shut down his niece's bid to air the family's dirty laundry, a tactic that hasn't stopped Bolton's tome getting out there.
