Trump Saying The Quiet Part Out Loud

Ken AshfordElection 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

The push to destroy the US Post Office is real and it’s dangerous. And Trump isn’t even trying to hide his reasons: Back in March, President Trump seemed to blurt out the real reason he opposes expanded voting by mail in the 2020 election. Referring to provisions in the Democrats’ coronavirus stimulus bill to vastly increase funding for voting by mail, he said … Read More

Trump Campaign Flummoxed By Kamala Harris Already

Ken AshfordElection 2020Leave a Comment

There are two lenses by which to look at presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s choice of California Sen. Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate, and both are winners heading into the stretch run of the 2020 presidential campaign.  1)  A vice presidential candidate’s only job is to help the ticket win. So, does Harris fit the bill? Absolutely.  We … Read More

It’s Kamala!

Ken AshfordElection 2020Leave a Comment

My preferred choice for the 2020 Democratic nominee is Joe Biden’s VP pick. And I couldn’t be happier. Back when Kamala was Attorney General, she worked closely with Beau. I watched as they took on the big banks, lifted up working people, and protected women and kids from abuse. I was proud then, and I’m proud now to have her … Read More

The Train Wreck Interview

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Trump’s interview with Axios’s Jonathan Swan is iconic, and an instant classic. Good God. Trump’s handlers should have staged a diversion to stop that disastrous interview. Pulled a fire alarm. Pumped laughing gas into the room. Set themselves on fire. Whatever it took. “Train wreck” is too gentle a description. It was like a nuclear-armed jet crashed into a train, … Read More

As Soon As It Was Announced That Last Quarter’s GDP Set Records For Shrinkage, Trump Floats The Idea Of Delaying The Election

Ken AshfordElection 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

With Universal Mail-In Voting (not Absentee Voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most INACCURATE & FRAUDULENT Election in history. It will be a great embarrassment to the USA. Delay the Election until people can properly, securely and safely vote??? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 30, 2020 Fact check: Mail-in voting and absentee voting are exactly the same … Read More

Trump Is Using The Rose Garden For His Campaign

Ken AshfordElection 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

President Trump is having a rally problem. This past weekend he was forced to cancel a highly-touted rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, supposedly because of “bad weather.” They don’t normally cancel Trump rallies even when people are waiting outside in below-freezing weather, so this was surprising. In fact, the weather was warm and sunny on the New England coast that day, so it’s pretty … Read More

Trump’s Second Term Strategy: Ignore The COVID Deaths

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

The dreaded 'alligator mouth' continues to open. pic.twitter.com/EFSDXNYR16 — Tom Bevan (@TomBevanRCP) July 7, 2020 It would appear that President Trump is quite serious about the new strategy for dealing with the surging COVID-19 pandemic that was reported earlier in the Washington Post: White House officials hope Americans will grow numb to the escalating death toll and learn to accept tens of … Read More

Trump’s Tulsa Rally Could Kill People

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta went off on the Trump campaign’s plans to hold a massive, indoor rally this Saturday in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where the number of Covid-19 cases are currently spiking: “I can’t imagine anyone is telling him this is okay.” On Cuomo Prime Time, the eponymous host asked Gupta to explain President Donald Trump’s reasoning for bringing together tens of thousands of … Read More

Unhinged Trump

Ken AshfordElection 2020, Polls, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

In the past few days Donald Trump has: Cranked up the volume on his pointless cold wars with China and Iran Turned mask wearing into a culture war campaign issue Accused a TV host of murdering an intern Declared war on voting by mail and accusing children of committing voter fraud Insisted that James Comey and a variety of others … Read More

Obamagate and the Unmasking “Scandal”

Ken AshfordElection 2020, Political Scandals, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

The buzzword of the week is “Obamagate”. Trump has tweeted that word several times this week. OBAMAGATE! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 14, 2020 What IS Obamagate? Well, Trump was asked that himself. .@PhilipRucker: You appeared to accuse Obama of a crime yesterday. What did he do? TRUMP: "Obamagate." RUCKER: What is the crime? TRUMP: "You know what the … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Oops! White House Becomes Hot Zone While Urging Country To Open Up

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

World: U.S.: NC and local: The news of the weekend of course is that yet another White House person has contracted COVID-19. This time it is Pence’s press secrteary, who is also the wife of Trump advisor Stephen Miller. It’s not a good look when you’re trying to open up the country again so that everything looks good for the … Read More

COVID-19 Update: US Death Toll Over 10,000

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

Almost 11,000 this morning as a matter of fact World: US: North Carolina has at least 3,031 reported cases of the coronavirus as of this morning, and 48 people have died, according to state and county health departments. The number of reported cases in North Carolina doubled in six days, hitting the 3,000 mark Monday evening. But the total number of cases is likely … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Long Haul Continues

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

It’s a curious benchmark, but people are noting that the US has passed deaths for 9/11. At least 1,512 people have tested positive for coronavirus in NC, and 8 residents have died. One of them was in Forsyth County, our first, a 90 year old woman who died yesterday. Good news: Harsh measures, including stay-at-home orders and restaurant closures, are … Read More

COVID-19 Update: Trump Learns About This Thing Called “Projections”

Ken AshfordEbola/Zika/COVID-19 Viruses, Election 2020, Trump & AdministrationLeave a Comment

North Carolina: 1,167 cases and 5 deaths in the state as of Sunday. State-wide lockdown starts effective today. Forsyth County has 35 positive coronavirus case The numbers are still rising exponentially. We seem to have a working model from University of Washington. So that national peak appears to be April 15 with a total projected death total of 82,121; the … Read More

What Do You Know? It’s Uncle Joe

Ken AshfordDemocrats, Election 2020Leave a Comment

The dominant question going into Super Tuesday was: Did Joe Biden’s sweeping victory in South Carolina come just in time, or was it too late? The answer is now clear. Biden all-but-swept Super Tuesday states, propelled by a tsunami of late-deciding voters. Last night’s lessons, in order of how clear they are: Mike Bloomberg has provided us a salutory lesson: you can’t just buy a … Read More