Category Archives: Democrats

Bernie Sanders’ message increasingly resonates with Latino voters

Posted on by

As growing numbers of Latinos are voting, Sanders has gained their support in California simply by outworking the competition

It’s Friday night, and the moments before US Senator and 2020 presidential candidate Bernie Sanders is due to appear at Fresno City College feel more like a rock festival than a political rally.

Vendors hawk swag – hats with “Feel the Bern” and “Eat the Rich” slogans, T-shirts featuring the photo of the young Sanders being arrested at a protest – while an already raucous crowd nods to songs about revolution and wave signs reading: “Unidos con Bernie.”

Continue reading...

‘A little out of touch’: the quest to find Joe Biden’s millennial supporters

Posted on by

Young people are getting Bernie Sanders tattoos and Andrew Yang even has his own ‘Yang Gang’ – but at Biden rallies, the youth vote is conspicuously absent

Young people like Bernie Sanders. They flock to his rallies and tattoo his spectacles on to body parts. Young people like Elizabeth Warren – just take a look at the memes. Pete Buttigieg, despite his unradical, centrist policies and general air of clean-shirtedness, draws out the youth. Andrew Yang’s “Yang Gang” are an often youthful phenomenon of their own.

Joe Biden? Not so much.

Continue reading...

Trump’s defender v his nemesis: the battle at the heart of impeachment hearings

Posted on by

Beyond the tussle between Democrat Adam Schiff and Republican Devin Nunes is the big question – will party interest reign supreme?

The battle for American hearts and minds in the unfolding impeachment drama is, at its core, a battle between two very different Californian congressmen.

In the red corner is Devin Nunes, a Republican former dairy farmer from the state’s agricultural Central Valley, who long ago threw his lot in with Fox News talking-point orthodoxy and has never hesitated to defend Donald Trump, no matter how much the rest of the political establishment – and the factual record – was arrayed against him.

Continue reading...

Trump impeachment inquiry: highlights from day one – video

Posted on by

Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public. As Adam Schiff, the Democratic chair, gaveled the House intelligence committee into session, cameras from every major network carried the proceedings to millions of Americans, some of whom were encountering the allegations against Trump for the first time

Continue reading...

Donald Trump says US military presence in Syria ‘only for the oil’ – live

Posted on by

Bill Taylor and George Kent testify in first day of public impeachment inquiry – follow for live updates

Some non-impeachment news courtesy of The Guardian’s Nina Lakhani:

The Guardian’s Washington correspondent David Smith:

Continue reading...

Trump cared more about investigating Biden than Ukraine, key witness reveals

Posted on by

House begins public hearings with testimonies from Bill Taylor and George Kent as president struggles to prevent investigation

Donald Trump cared more about investigating his political rival Joe Biden than the fate of Ukraine, according to dramatic testimony from a key witness in the first impeachment inquiry hearing before the American public.

Related: Lights, camera, impeachment: TV phase of inquiry carries pluses and pitfalls

Continue reading...

The five ways Republicans will crack down on voting rights in 2020 | Carol Anderson

Posted on by

Given what’s at stake next year, the effort to prevent people voting will be fierce. We’ve been here before – and we can stop it

America hangs in the balance. The elections in November next year will determine whether the United States continues down the road of authoritarian dynastic rule or reclaims the work of expanding and improving our democracy. Those are the choices.

That expansion was born out of the civil war, which left 1.2 million dead or wounded, but resulted in the 15th amendment, which made clear that the right to vote could not be denied or hampered because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The subsequent struggles led to women’s right to vote, opening the franchise to those 18 and over, and the “single most effective piece of civil rights legislation ever passed by Congress,” the Voting Rights Act, which protected the franchise from states with a demonstrated history of racial and linguistic discrimination.

Continue reading...

Schiff ahead of public hearings: Trump tried to scheme with Ukraine – as it happened

Posted on by

The House intelligence chair, Adam Schiff, pushed back against Republicans’ defense of the president in an interview with NPR

Tune in tomorrow morning for live coverage of the first public impeachment hearings.

Related: Trump fumes as Democrats get ready for 'sober and rigorous' public hearings

In the memo, posted on CNN, Democrats rebut each of the four arguments the Republicans put forth in their internal memo in the impeachment inquiry.

The July 25 call summary — the best evidence of the conversation — shows no conditionality or evidence of pressure;

President Zelensky and President Trump have both said there was no pressure on the call;

Continue reading...

Trump fumes as Democrats get ready for ‘sober and rigorous’ public hearings

Posted on by
  • TV crews move into halls of Capitol for first public testimony
  • Trump calls on Republicans to defend him from ‘total scam’

Only three times in the history of the American republic has Congress initiated public testimony that could result in the removal of the president by impeachment. The tally will rise to four on Wednesday.

Related: Lights, camera, impeachment: TV phase of inquiry carries pluses and pitfalls

Continue reading...

Trump faces key test as week of impeachment hearings begins – live

Posted on by

It’s Veterans Day, Donald Trump is back in Manhattan and Washington is getting ready for more momentous events

The announcement of Republican representative Pete King’s retirement once again throws a spotlight on the high number of departures and defeats in the House GOP caucus since Trump took office.

When President Trump took office in January 2017, there were 241 Republicans in the House.

Since then, 101 have either been defeated/retired/otherwise left office or are retiring in 2020. (h/t @Dchinni)

One name under discussion for Rep. Peter King's seat: Democratic Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini.

Demonstrators who protested Trump’s Veterans Day speech in New York criticized the president’s treatment of veterans and called for his impeachment.

Continue reading...

Trump impeachment inquiry: a timeline of key events so far

Posted on by

Pelosi launched inquiry on 24 September over allegations that Trump sought the help of a foreign country to harm a political rival

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, announced an impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump on 24 September.

Since then, House committees have been taking witness testimony about an alleged plot by Trump to use the power of his office to solicit interference from a foreign country, Ukraine, in the 2020 election.

Continue reading...

Trump impeachment: whistleblower will not testify in public, Democrats say

Posted on by

The whistleblower who sparked the impeachment inquiry into Donald Trump will not testify in public, House intelligence chair Adam Schiff said.

Related: Watergate to Ukraine: how TV will dictate Trump's impeachment fate

Continue reading...

‘We need to hear the evidence’: swing voters give their view on Trump

Posted on by

In this Kansas City suburb, voters who went for Trump in 2016 have their doubts about impeachment – but say the president has questions to answer

Steve Isley sees no reason not to believe what Donald Trump has to say about Congress’s impeachment investigation.

Related: Woman who gave Trump the finger elected in Virginia

Continue reading...

Elizabeth Warren hits back at Biden ‘angry’ criticism: ‘I am angry and I own it’

Posted on by

Hitting back at criticism from Joe Biden that many people said was sexist, Elizabeth Warren told supporters: “I am angry and I own it.”

Related: Michael Bloomberg: billionaire eyes centre lane in Democratic presidential race

Continue reading...

Warren and Booker lead candidates at environmental justice forum

Posted on by
  • National Black Caucus of State Legislators hosts event
  • Booker defends support for nuclear power

Only six candidates turned out for the first ever presidential forum on environmental justice, at South Carolina State University on Friday night.

Related: Michael Bloomberg: billionaire eyes centre lane in Democratic presidential race

Continue reading...

Is Pete Buttigieg’s version of ‘hope and change’ enough to take on Trump? | Geoffrey Kabaservice

Posted on by

The 37-year-old mayor from Indiana has his vulnerabilities, but has become a contender for the presidency in just a few months

On a November evening a dozen years ago, Barack Obama – who at the time was the 46-year-old junior senator from Illinois – appeared at the annual fundraising dinner-rally of the Iowa Democratic party, at which all of the 2008 Democratic presidential contestants were given about 10 minutes to speak. Obama came in as underdog to the frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, but delivered such a barn-burning stemwinder of a speech that he left as the favorite. A little more than three months later, he won the Iowa caucuses – the first major contest on the US presidential campaign calendar – and the rest is history.

None of the Democratic presidential hopefuls who spoke at last week’s Iowa Democratic party Liberty and Justice Celebration pulled off an Obama-level breakout performance. But the one who came closest was Pete Buttigieg, the 37-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Buttigieg hewed closely to the Obama playbook in making a case for his candidacy, and his Iowa speech seems likely to boost him in the polls at just the moment when the other leading candidates are showing some worrisome weaknesses.

Continue reading...

Trump impeachment inquiry: Sondland revises testimony and admits Ukraine quid pro quo – live

Posted on by

EU envoy acknowledges in updated testimony he told Ukraine it would likely not receive aid unless it announced investigations into Trump’s rivals

Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell appears to have bulldozed directly through protocol by forecasting, before the articles of impeachment have even been drafted in the House and Trump put on trial in the Senate, that the president will be acquitted.

“If it were today, I don’t think there’s any question — it would not lead to a removal,” @SenateMajLdr McConnell says of a potential impeachment trial in the Senate.

/2 McConnell: “I’m pretty sure I know how it’s going to end.” Says Trump will be acquitted by Senate like Clinton & Andrew Johnson

Sondland was asked, with respect to the “demands” made by Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani to investigate the 2016 election and Burisma, if “those conditions would have to be complied with prior to getting a meeting.”

Continue reading...

Trump rejects whistleblower offer to answer Republican questions

Posted on by

A day after a lawyer for the whistleblower who raised alarms about Donald Trump’s dealings with Ukraine said his client is willing to answer written questions submitted by House Republicans, the president tweeted: “Written answers not acceptable!”

Related: 'Quid pro quo, yes or no?' Trump allies face Ukraine question

Continue reading...

‘The stakes are enormous’: is Hillary Clinton set for a White House run?

Posted on by

The candidate who lost to Trump is making all the right moves as some fear a primary gone too far left. It’s a tantalising notion, but most observers counsel caution – and a dose of realism

A high-profile book tour. Countless TV interviews. Political combat with a Democratic primary candidate and Donald Trump. A year before the US presidential election, it looks like a campaign and it sounds like a campaign but it isn’t a campaign. At least, not as far anyone knows.

Related: Pete Buttigieg: race is between me and Warren – as new poll puts him fourth

Continue reading...

Triggered review: Donald Jr proves himself the Trump kid with real political chops

Posted on by

The son’s book is one-eyed, loose with the facts and a crude attack on the left. In short, it’s like his dad – and it might work

In Triggered, the president’s eldest child excoriates the left for its censoriousness, but ignores his father’s repeated demands for the same. In case Don Jr forgot, Trump père is no friend of free speech or a free press.

Related: Donald Trump Jr's Triggered: a litany of trolling and insults worthy of his father

Continue reading...