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Joe Biden’s acceptance speech at the virtual Democratic national convention made one reference to “middle class” and one to “working families”. It never mentioned the word “poverty”.
Related: Biden feared 'ideological jihad' from Sanders after primary win
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Donald Trump is holding a rally for supporters in New Hampshire. He will speak any minute now. If you care to tune in you can here - if not, I will be blogging it here so stand by for updates.
The crowd at Trump’s NH rally just booed an announcement telling people to put on their masks
Germany chancellor Angela Merkel laughed off a question during a Friday press conference of whether she had been “charmed” by Donald Trump.
The question was in response to a statement made this week by Richard Grenell, the former US director of national intelligence and ambassador to Germany, who claimed Trump had smoothed over the historically strained relationship between German and the US by enchanting Merkel.
This is one of my new favourite Merkel moments. A journalist asks her about Richard Grenell's claim that Trump "charmed" Merkel. You don't need to speak German to enjoy her reaction:pic.twitter.com/RSjHSNXXtX
Continue reading...The family of Wisconsin shooting victim Jacob Blake condemned racism and demanded criminal justice reform as they spoke in front of thousands at the Commitment March in Washington DC. Earlier this week Blake was shot multiple times in the back by police, leaving him paralysed. The protest, announced in early June following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, marked the anniversary of the demonstration at which Martin Luther King gave his historic 'I Have a Dream' speech.
Continue reading...Committee says secretary of state has refused to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to Ukraine scandal
Congressional Democrats have launched contempt proceedings against Mike Pompeo for his refusal to comply with subpoenas for documents connected to the Ukraine scandal that led to Donald Trump’s impeachment.
The move is the culmination of a long-running struggle over Congress’s authority to conduct oversight of government agencies. The secretary of state, who was a fierce advocate of congressional rights when he was a Republican representative from Kansas, has ignored a string of demands for documentation from the Democrat-controlled House foreign affairs committee (HFAC).
Continue reading...A group of angry protesters has confronted senator Rand Paul near the White House in Washington DC. As Rand walked through the crowd with his wife, demonstrators chanted 'say her name', in reference to Breonna Taylor, a black woman from Kentucky who was shot dead by police in May. After the incident, Paul tweeted to say that he had been 'attacked by an angry mob of over 100'.
Continue reading...Trump portrayed Biden as a creature of the Washington swamp, beat the drum of law and order and said little about racial injustice
You write him off at your peril. Donald Trump stood at one of America’s most hallowed spaces on Thursday – the White House – and bent it to his will, just as he has bent the Republican party and swaths of America.
Related: RNC: Trump paints Biden as a 'radical' candidate and a danger to America
Continue reading...Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican party's nomination for re-election in front of the White House on Thursday night.
'This is the most important election in the history of our country,' Trump said after he 'profoundly' accepted his party's nomination.
Trump went on to excoriate the Democratic party and argue that the choice for voters is between a president who has a record of unmatched accomplishments and an opposition party and candidate eager to tear down the country.
That’s it from us tonight. Here are the key takeaways of the final night of the Republican convention:
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly plans to resign due to his health.
The Japanese outlet NHK reports:
Abe Shinzo is scheduled to hold a news conference later in the day to explain his decision.
Abe has visited a hospital twice over the past two weeks, fuelling speculation that his health has deteriorated.
Continue reading...President accepts Republican presidential nomination in event staged at White House, raising ethical concerns
Against a backdrop of a global pandemic, heightened racial tensions, and widespread unemployment, Donald Trump framed his Democratic rival Joe Biden as the real danger to the country’s safety and economic welfare in his address to the Republican convention on Thursday.
Accepting the party’s presidential nomination ahead of November’s elections, Trump argued for more than an hour that his administration had accomplished everything it had set out to do and warned that a Biden presidency could be ruinous.
Continue reading...A strong female contingent was out in force during the third day of the Republican national convention, with Trump’s advisers attempting to paint a picture of a compassionate, open-minded president in an apparent attempt to win over female voters.
Kayleigh McEnany recounted how the president called her after her mastectomy, the White House adviser Kellyanne Conway applauded Trump for putting women 'on equal footing with the men' and his daughter-in law, Lara Trump, described the Trump family as 'warm and caring'.
The president’s advisers ignored the dozens of sexual misconduct allegations against Trump (which he denies) and his history of referring to women as 'dogs' and 'fat pigs'.
Continue reading...Vice-president does not mention Jacob Blake as he champions ‘law and order on the streets’ amid protests
In the shadow of deepening unrest in Wisconsin, Mike Pence warned darkly of the violence and mayhem that would ensue under a Democratic administration during a keynote address on the third night of the Republican national convention on Wednesday.
The vice-president, speaking from Fort McHenry in Baltimore, where the raising of the American flag during the war of 1812 inspired Francis Scott Key to write the poem that would later become The Star-Spangled Banner, echoed several conservative speakers in painting a dystopian portrait of America’s major cities and accusing the Democratic presidential nominee, Joe Biden, of tolerating violence and vandalism.
Continue reading...Speaker after speaker piled falsehood upon falsehood to recast Trump as a saintly feminist preoccupied with the nation’s health
As Hurricane Laura roared towards the southern US coast, the Republican national convention unleashed Hurricane Liar.
There were lies aplenty at the last convention in Cleveland four years ago but, in those innocent days, reporters were still reluctant to call a lie a lie. Donald Trump blew that up on his first day in office when he and his officials claimed his inauguration crowd was bigger than Barack Obama’s.
Continue reading...Democratic nominee Joe Biden says he has spoken to the family of Jacob Blake, the African American man who was repeatedly shot in the back by police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
'What I saw in that video makes me sick,' Biden said of the footage of Blake being shot while three of his children looked on in a nearby car.
The Democratic nominee went on to urge protesters to remain peaceful and avoid 'needless violence'. Biden repeated the words of Blake’s mother, Julia Jackson, who said yesterday that her son would not want to see violence and destruction carried out in his name.
Continue reading...Ethical questions were raised during day two of the Republican national convention, as Donald Trump was accused of misusing trappings of his office for political purposes and using the White House as a prop.
Pardoning convicts, naturalisation ceremonies and speeches from the White House were just a few of the items on the agenda that caused concern.
Continue reading...US first lady Melania Trump bucked the attacking trend of the 2020 Republican national convention speeches, addressing the country's large coronavirus death toll and calling for unity amid growing racial tension. The speech shifted the tone on an evening spent criticising the policies of Democratic rivals including Joe Biden. Melania Trump's speech was the third of the evening from the president's family, following addresses from daughter Tiffany and son Eric
Nationwide the need for aid at food banks and pantries has surged amid worst unemployment rate in modern times
Neisha Davis cradles brown paper lunch bags in the crook of one arm, while holding on to Demitri, her wriggling baby son, in the other and keeping a careful eye on Naya, her four-year-old daughter, as she runs around the church car park with another little girl.
It’s hectic but the free packed lunches have become a crucial part of their daily nutrition. So everyday at noon the family make the two-mile journey from Homewood, a low income predominantly African American Pittsburgh neighbourhood with no grocery stores, to the East End Community Ministry’s pop-up lunch stall in East Liberty.
Continue reading...Speakers – including three members of the president’s family – spouted falsehoods about his character and his opponent
The best courtroom dramas involve a defence lawyer who can work miracles of persuasion and, no matter how damning the evidence, convince the jury that their client is innocent.
A week after Democratic prosecutors presented their “open and shut” case against Donald Trump, the virtual Republican national convention is not only attempting to get him off the hook but argue that he deserves a medal – and four more years in the White House.
Continue reading...Trump allies and family members also used misleading claims to portray the president as the best hope for America’s future
Allies of Donald Trump shattered political norms, stirred controversy and issued misleading claims against Democrats during the second night of the Republican party’s national convention on Tuesday.
In speech after speech, a collection of Trump’s family members, allies, rightwing campaigners and swing-state farmers portrayed the president as the best hope for America’s future.
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Where’s the GOP condemnation for an extremist, conspiracy theory candidate?
Guardian reporter Julia Carrie Wong, who has reported extensively on the QAnon conspiracy theory, notes that there is an interesting historical precedent for what Republican politicians could do when an extremist candidate is running for office as part of their party, as QAnon supporter congressional candidate Marjorie Taylor Greene is now doing.
The David Duke season of Slow Burn provided a really interesting and timely counterexample of how a national party *can* react when a fringe extremist is running for office. Both Reagan (former president) and HW Bush (current president) ran TV ads against Duke in 1989. https://t.co/e1YpyqULxH
By contrast, Trump has praised Greene, tacitly endorsed the false & antisemitic conspiracy theory she supports, and now invited her to the White House. Meanwhile, his chief of staff has given her campaign money. https://t.co/EGAkQk0YeY
Thunderstorms might disrupt Melania Trump’s Rose Garden speech tonight
This is Lois Beckett, taking over our live politics coverage from our west coast office in California, where wildfires across the state have displaced more than 100,000 people, and smoke and particles from the fires have made the air unhealthy to breathe for millions of other residents. (You can follow our wildfires live coverage here.)
JUST IN: Severe thunderstorm watch for entire DC area thru 11p. Most likely time for storms, passing from northwest to southeast, between 6 and 10p. A few storms may produce damaging winds. We'll monitor and update as necessary.
Updates: https://t.co/QC9KsWX1Oy pic.twitter.com/bnK2Xc6YWo
Unbridled fear-based rhetoric filled the first day of the 2020 Republican national convention, with participants focused on the alleged dangers of electing Joe Biden as president. Other topics included concern for the future of the economy, stoking racial divisions and praise for Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic
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