Donald Trump has been criticised for using a hospital visit in El Paso to boast about crowd numbers at a rally held several months ago. He made the comments while visiting the Texas city after a gunman killed 22 people in a shopping centre. He also hit out at Beto O'Rourke, an El Paso local and Democratic presidential candidate. Trump’s administration then turned the El Paso visit into a campaign video
Continue reading...Category Archives: Beto O’Rourke
Hundreds rally in El Paso against Trump visit – video
Residents of El Paso demonstrated as Donald Trump arrived in the Texas city to pay tribute to the victims of one of the deadliest mass shootings in recent US history. With much of the president’s rhetoric reflected in the El Paso shooter’s anti-immigrant and racist essays, many felt the visit was ‘throwing salt on the wounds’ of a binational, largely Latinx community in mourning
Beto O’Rourke likens Trump’s comments to Nazi Germany – video
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke has likened the US to Nazi Germany, saying President Donald Trump has been stoking racial tensions. This comes after a mass shooting in El Paso left at least 20 people dead. O’Rourke, who is from El Paso and represented the district in Congress, said he believed Trump was a white nationalist
Beto O’Rourke links El Paso shooting to Donald Trump’s ‘racist’ rhetoric – video
The Democratic presidential candidate has accused Donald Trump of stoking racial hatred after a mass shooting in El Paso that left 20 people dead. The population of the Texan border city is 80% Latino and police said a 'manifesto' posted to the online message board 8chan suggested the attack was a hate crime. 'He is a racist. He stokes racism in this country,' said O'Rourke, a former congressman for El Paso. 'And it fundamentally changes the character of the country and leads to violence'
Continue reading...Warren and Sanders give rivals Bonnie and Clyde treatment during fiery debate
Analysis: pair were dominant at event showcasing Democratic party’s split personality, pitting progressives against moderates
Bonnie and Clyde. Mulder and Scully. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. On Tuesday night it was Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders who, defying predictions that they would turn on each other, instead formed a leftwing tag team against the forces of moderation at the latest Democratic primary debate on Tuesday.
Warren and Sanders stood centre stage in the ornate Fox Theatre in Detroit, had the most speaking time – more than 35 minutes between them – produced the best lines of the night (with the possible exception of self-help guru and long-shot candidate Marianne Williamson) and had all the appearance of incumbents fending off pesky challengers. Barack Obama’s party this isn’t.
Continue reading...Beto O’Rourke’s ancestors were slaveholders, records reveal
Exclusive: O’Rourke addresses family history for the first time and admits that he and his children are ‘beneficiaries’ of slaveholding
Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke recently delivered an impassioned speech while meeting with the Gullah-Geechee Nation, an organization of African Americans whose ancestors were enslaved on plantations from Florida to South Carolina.
The speech in Beaufort followed one attendee’s question about whether O’Rourke supports reparations, the idea of compensation for the descendants of slaves.
Continue reading...Democratic candidates fail to challenge opponents or convey scope of climate crisis in debate
Presidential hopefuls mostly reiterated campaign talking points and policy proposals during seven minutes on climate discussion
The first Democratic presidential debate on Wednesday night spent around seven minutes on a discussion around climate change, exceeding the total time spent on the crisis during all of the 2016 general election debates.
Climate change is expected to feature more in the 2020 election than ever before, as experts offer unsparing warnings that the escalating crisis will deprive the poor of basic human rights. Still, it is not being discussed by most as a top-tier political issue.
Continue reading...‘Warren’s to lose’: who won the first Democratic debate? | Panelists
Bold ideas on the debate stage in Miami – and an unexpected breakout star. Here’s the verdict from our panelists
Generously speaking, Democratic presidential candidates tonight spent a little less than 10 minutes after nearly an hour and a half had gone by answering a handful of direct questions about a climate crisis that could make large swathes of the planet horrifically uninhabitable by the end of this century. (NBC’s technical difficulties took nearly as long.) The best you can say is that tonight’s climate bit was still longer than the time spent on climate during the entirety of the 2016 debates.
Continue reading...Democratic debates get underway as 2020 candidates go head to head – live
Ten Democrats begin debating each other tonight – will they attack the party’s frontrunner, Joe Biden, or sell their own vision for the future?
We’re less than ten minutes away! Here’s some things to know:
Related: Where do the 2020 Democratic candidates stand on the key issues?
Tonight, the first batch of 2020 presidential candidates will likely face questions about gun control. It’s an issue that many of them have been putting front and center.
So far, some gun violence prevention experts say, New Jersey senator Cory Booker has produced the most ambitious and comprehensive plan, including funding for local gun violence prevention strategies in communities burdened with daily gun violence, and endorsing federal licensing for gun ownership, a policy that Obama labeled out of the question just three years ago.
“The person that has had the most thoughtful approach, as well as the most robust approach, is Cory Booker,” said Dakota Jablon, director of federal affairs at the Coalition to Stop Violence, a gun violence prevention group.
The astonishing disappearing act of Beto O’Rourke
#Betomania became #Betofatigue in six short months – can the Texas Democrat rise again and show voters what type of president he’d be?
When Beto O’Rourke travelled to Yosemite in California to unveil his $5tn plan on climate change, a ripple of surprise crossed America. How did the tall white guy with the funny first name known for his punk past, Beatnik road trips and fondness for campaigning atop counters get to be the first Democratic candidate to proclaim on the crisis of our age?
This wasn’t the O’Rourke that the country had grown used to during his battle with Ted Cruz last November for a US Senate seat. Then, the Texas Democrat had propelled himself to within three percentage points of victory, and with it national stardom, by making viral speeches about NFL players taking a knee and by instilling hope through a feel-good but rather wishy-washy call to unity.
Continue reading...Who will win Iowa’s support in 2020? That depends on who’s really listening to us
Joe Biden and 20 other Democrats are crawling over the state. But folks here would like to know: who’s in it for us?
Former vice-president Joe Biden returned to familiar turf in Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, Iowa, last week, fresh off his presidential announcement in Pittsburgh and enjoying a nice bump in some national polls.
He scored 35-40% support of Democrats just after jumping in, up 10 points from March. Bernie Sanders is maybe 10-15 points behind him. Truth be told, in Iowa half the likely caucus-goers eight months hence remain undecided. Many of Biden’s supporters in Iowa remain persuadable. The Des Moines Register’s Iowa Poll hasn’t weighed in since March.
Continue reading...‘Texans don’t stand for this’: O’Rourke and Buttigieg call out anti-gay hecklers
O’Rourke condemned protesters at Buttigieg’s Dallas event while the mayor has been shutting down hecklers on the campaign trail
Pete Buttigieg has faced homophobic heckling during one of his latest 2020 presidential campaign events.
“Marriage is between a man and a woman!” one protester yelled during the mayor’s speech at an event in Dallas, Texas, on Friday, according to a CNN reporter who filmed the event. Another protester yelled: “Repent!”
Continue reading...Beto O’Rourke is coming to California. Can the trip redeem his campaign?
Over 25,000 Californians donated to his Senate run. Now as O’Rourke visits the state, he’s focused on voters rather than their wallets
For a moment, Beto O’Rourke, fresh faced and with a natural gift for cadence, was America’s great liberal hope – the consensus pick to be the next big thing. The two-time congressman from El Paso raised over $80m in 2018, more than any previous candidate for the US Senate, in his bid to unseat Ted Cruz. And he almost won, too, with whispers of a presidential run coming months before the vote.
But when he arrives in Los Angeles on Saturday, the first stop in a four-day swing through California, O’Rourke will be coming as not just a charismatic underdog, but as someone desperate to show he is still a rising star and not a has-been. Since launching his presidential campaign in March, O’Rourke has discovered that almost becoming a senator, and being slightly too liberal for Texas, have not proved to be standout attributes in a crowded field of contenders for the Democratic nomination.
Continue reading...Bernie Sanders and Beto O’Rourke release decade worth of tax returns
Returns shows Sanders’ family made $566,000 in 2018, while O’Rourke paid $81,000 in taxes on $366,00 in 2017
Bernie Sanders, the Democratic socialist senator from Vermont, released a decade of tax returns on Monday, showing his family made $566,000 in 2018.
According to returns provided by his campaign, Sanders reported he paid $137,573 in federal taxes in 2018 and owed $8,267 in taxes for the year. Sanders and his wife, Jane Sanders, reported paying a 26% effective tax rate on his adjusted gross income. The couple reported donating $18,950 to charity, or 3.2%.
Continue reading...‘I won’t be silent’: Ilhan Omar answers Trump 9/11 attack
Congresswoman says rightwing vitriol cannot threaten her ‘unwavering love for America’ as president pushes video
In the face of attacks from Donald Trump, Republicans and rightwing media outlets, the Minnesota representative Ilhan Omar said on Saturday no one could “threaten” her “unwavering love for America”.
Related: Yemeni bodegas boycott New York Post over attacks on Ilhan Omar
Continue reading...Beto 2020: a masterclass in male entitlement | Arwa Madhawi
The Democratic presidential hopeful said: ‘Man, I’m just born to be in it.’ He is, after all, a rich kid from a well-connected family
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Continue reading...Beto O’Rourke apologises for teen writings and joke about his wife
Democratic presidential contender is forced on to the defensive as he kicks off campaign in Iowa
Democratic presidential contender Beto O’Rourke has acknowledged making mistakes as a teen and as a candidate as he responded to criticism of his campaign rhetoric toward his wife as well as writings he produced online when he was young.
During a taping of the Political Party Live podcast in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he addressed criticism of his campaign-trail joke that his wife, Amy, has raised their three kids “sometimes with my help”.
Continue reading...Beto O’Rourke kicks off 2020 bid in Iowa – in a voter’s living room
Texas Democrat said he has ‘some unique things’ to bring to race on his first day of campaigning to a crowd of about 125 people
Randy Naber is really a Joe Biden man, although he could also see himself voting for Kamala Harris. But here was former Texas congressman Beto O’Rourke, America’s newest presidential candidate, in Naber’s living room, and the retired teacher wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Related: O'Rourke enters race with natural skills, eager support and some big challenges
Continue reading...Trump tweets ‘VETO!’ after Senate votes to block national emergency – live
- Senate disapproves Trump’s national emergency declaration
- Democrats’ Beto O’Rourke announces presidential run
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The Sanders Institute has stopped accepting donations and will shut down during Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president, AP reports, to ensure ethical issues don’t arise. The think tank was founded and is operated by his wife Jane.
Sanders rebuked Hilary Clinton in 2016 for not shuttering her family’s foundation, saying then that the nonprofit provided ways to buy influence from the candidate, who was then expected to win the election.
Jane Sanders said in an interview that the Vermont-based institute has stopped accepting donations and plans to suspend all operations by the end of May.
The move comes as Bernie Sanders, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination, prepares for a wave of scrutiny into his political network and his family’s role”.
El Pasoans have largely expressed excitement about having their former congressman announcing he’s entering the already-crowded field for the White House in 2020 - though some have questions about his record and his long odds to secure the Democratic nomination.
Among local leaders in El Paso, county commissioner David Stout told The Guardian on Thursday that he’d been waiting for O’Rourke to announce a run for president from the moment of his narrow loss for Ted Cruz’s US Senate seat in the November midterm elections. Stout highlighted O’Rourke’s well-known charisma and ability to connect with ordinary people as his most important qualities.
Continue reading...O’Rourke enters race with natural skills, eager support and some big challenges
Former congressman from El Paso enters a crowded Democratic field – can he solidify his platform and take it to a national level?
Losing a federal election in your home state is not normally seen as a ticket to the White House. But then not everybody is capable of being defeated in the style of Beto O’Rourke.
Related: Beto O'Rourke announces 2020 run for presidency
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