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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:35:44 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Jared Gans at The Hill has this snap assessment of Nikki Haley’s bid to secure the Republican nomination for president, which is expected to end today. He wrote: Haley pitched herself as the best opportunity to move on from the former president, whom she attacked during the race on various issues, like the rising national debt during his presidency and his foreign policy stances.
She also criticized the “chaos” she said followed Trump, and called for a new generation of leaders to move on from both him and President Biden. She repeatedly pointed to polling that showed her performing the strongest against Biden in a hypothetical general election matchup of all the top Republican presidential candidates.
Haley had several strong debate performances in which audiences appeared to view her as at least one of the winners. But she could not rally enough support to stop Trump from taking both of the first two states – Iowa and New Hampshire – to vote to give herself a needed boost to potentially stop his nomination.
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:36:50 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Osita Nwanevu writes for the Guardian today cautioning that Joe Biden and the Democrats are sleepwalking into a potential Trump win. Here is an excerpt: All told, we have every reason to believe that the hole Joe Biden is in is real, as unfair as it might seem to his supporters. As rosily as they might evaluate his record in office so far, it looks substantially more mixed now than it did six months ago. It’s true that the economy is roaring by all available macroeconomic metrics and that Democrats under Biden have managed to pass the most expansive domestic policy agenda of any president since at least Lyndon Johnson.
But it’s also true that voters have been stung by high prices and interest rates, as well as the expiration of pandemic relief programs. Biden’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was brave and laudable – both morally and strategically overdue. But he was hammered for it in the press and now faces a progressive insurrection over the US’s support for Israel’s inhumane offensive in Gaza so severe that the campaign is reportedly reducing large in-person events to avoid protesters.
And on immigration, still at the front of mind for many voters, Biden has functionally conceded that Trump has been right about the state of the border; while immigrants are less prone to crime than the native-born population and substantially responsible for the economic boom we’re experiencing, Democrats are trying their best to outflank the right on border security and asylum, to little effect thus far, rather than countering the racist myths Trump has propagated directly and focusing on a positive immigration reform agenda.-Read more: www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/mar/06/biden-trump-super-tuesday-prediction
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:42:39 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Biden campaign: Trump is a 'wounded, dangerous and unpopular' candidateJoe Biden’s campaign team have described former US president Donald Trump as “wounded, dangerous and unpopular” in the wake of the Super Tuesday results, which saw both men almost certainly secure an election re-match in November. With Nikki Haley set to bow out of the race later today, and Biden virtually unopposed, his campaign team issued a memo which said: The results of last night’s Super Tuesday contests cemented what we have known for some time now: Donald Trump limps into the general election as a wounded, dangerous and unpopular candidate.
The Republican nominee is cash-strapped, beleaguered by a host of external issues, and is running on an extreme agenda that is already proving to be a significant liability for key voting blocs that are critical to the pathway to 270 electoral votes.
Building off of last night’s momentum, tomorrow evening’s State of the Union address will provide the American people with the latest example of the stark choice they will be confronted with in November between president Biden, who remains laser-focused on delivering for the American people while running on a historically popular record of accomplishment, and Donald Trump, whose failed record and dark vision for this country is as dangerous as it is unpopular with the voters who will decide this election.
The road to victory is about earning, not just asking for, the American people’s support. That means putting in the work in every community, meeting voters where they are about the stakes of this election, and investing everywhere.
We are confident that the President and vice-president’s vision for unity, freedom, and progress will again defeat Donald Trump’s extremist, dangerous agenda this November.
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:45:36 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Joe Biden and Donald Trump swept to victory in states across the US on Super Tuesday, but the biggest night of the primary season exposed glaring weaknesses in both candidates’ electoral coalitions. Tens of thousands of Democrats furious with Biden over his unequivocal support for Israel’s war in Gaza voted for the ballot line “uncommitted” or “no preference” in Minnesota, Massachusetts and elsewhere on Tuesday, yet another sign of the fraying alliances between the president and several key constituencies that helped bring him to power in 2020. Trump’s rival, Nikki Haley, continued to draw sizable support from voter blocs that will play a critical role in the November general election. She has generally performed well in suburbs and college towns, and many of her voters say they are unlikely to support Trump in November. Campaigning across the country, Haley had warned Republicans that Trump is a risky standard-bearer who will cost the party the White House, the US House and possibly even the Senate. The message has resonated with the small but significant segment of the party that wants to turn the page on Trump. She raised $12m in February and earned the endorsement of two moderate Republican senators, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. On Tuesday, Haley bested Trump in Vermont, a Democratic state that elected a moderate Republican governor in 2016, while claiming a handful of delegates in Virginia, where again she ran strong in the suburban counties with large shares of college graduates and young people. She was the top choice of independent voters and college graduates in the state’s GOP primary there, according to CNN exit polls – and just 26% of GOP primary voters who cast their ballots for Haley said they would support the party’s nominee regardless of who wins.
Super Tuesday also showed that majorities of Americans are deeply dissatisfied with their options: 81-year-old Joe Biden and Donald Trump, his 77-year-old predecessor who is facing 91 felony counts and suggested he would act as a dictator for a day. Polls consistently show voters disapprove of both Biden and Trump. A new survey by AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that the majority of Americans believe neither candidate has the mental acuity to serve as president for another four years.
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:47:14 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Nikki Haley to deliver remarks in South CarolinaFormer South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is due to speak at 10am ET (1500 GMT) in Charleston, South Carolina, where she is expected to announce that she is withdrawing from the Republican presidential race. Haley is not intending to endorse Donald Trump in her announcement, according to reports. Instead, she is expected to urge him to earn the support of the coalition of moderate Republicans and independent voters who supported her. Haley lost 14 out of the 15 Super Tuesday contests to Trump. Nikki Haley suspends presidential campaignNikki Haley has announced she is withdrawing from the Republican presidential campaign. Haley made the announcement as she delivered remarks in Charleston, South Carolina. She said her decision to run for president was “grounded in my love for our country”, adding: I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we’ve received from all across our great country, but the time has now come to suspend my campaign.She said she would not stop “using my voice for the things I believe”, adding: Our world is on fire because of America’s retreat. Standing by our allies in Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan is a moral imperative. But it’s also more than that. If we retreat further, there will be more war, not less.
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:49:05 GMT -5
(The Guardian) 'I wish him well': Nikki Haley does not endorse Trump in speechNikki Haley has said it is up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in the Republican party and beyond it, adding that she hopes that he will do so. Speaking from her home state of South Carolina, Haley said “in all likelihood” that Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee, adding: I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president.She went on to reference Margaret Thatcher, saying: Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind. It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support it. And I hope he does that. Biden appeals to Haley supporters: 'There is a place for them in my campaign'Joe Biden has applauded Nikki Haley for being “willing to speak the truth” about Donald Trump “where so few dare” in today’s Republican party. In a statement, Biden said it “takes a lot of courage to run for president”, and noted that Haley spoke about “the chaos that always follows [Trump], about the inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin.” The statement continues: Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign.
I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to American’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:50:55 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Republican National Committee congratulates Trump on becoming presumptive nomineeThe Republican National Committee (RNC) has released a statement congratulating Donald Trump on becoming “the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States”. A statement from RNC chair Ronna McDaniel congratulated Trump on his “huge” primary victory, and paid tribute to Nikki Haley for running a “hard-fought” campaign and becoming “the first woman to win a Republican presidential primary contest”. The statement goes on: President Trump once delivered a booming economy, secure border, energy independence, and America’s strength on the world stage, the exact opposite of the chaos created by Joe Biden. Republican voters have spoken loud and clear with historically large margins and we are more united than ever to beat Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot in November. Mitch McConnell endorses Trump for presidentSenate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has endorsed Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. McConnell, who was the last top Senate GOP leadership figure not to have endorsed Trump, declared his support in a short statement which said: It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States. It should come as no surprise that as nominee, he will have my support.
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Post by Webster on Mar 6, 2024 12:54:20 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Mar 7, 2024 18:29:37 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Larry Hogan, the Republican former governor of Maryland who is running for Senate, has said he would not vote for Donald Trump in the November election. Hogan, at an Axios event, said he will vote for neither Trump nor Joe Biden and would instead seek out a third-party candidate. He said: I’m like 70% of the rest of people in America who do not want Joe Biden or Donald Trump to be president, and I’m hoping that there potentially is another alternative.He added that he didn’t know yet who that candidate will be. Hogan, one of the most outspoken and only Trump critics in the Republican party, last year said he would support the party’s nominee for president, but at the time said he did not think Trump would be that candidate.
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Post by Webster on Mar 7, 2024 18:31:09 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Joe Biden has welcomed Sweden into Nato in a statement after the country officially became the 32nd member of the western military alliance. Stockholm’s ratification process was finally completed in Washington on Thursday, as Sweden and Hungary – the last country to ratify Sweden’s membership – submitted the necessary documents after a drawn-out process that has taken nearly two years. The ratification marked the end of a 20-month-long wait that started in May 2022 when it submitted its application to join alongside Finland, prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February that year. In a statement, Biden said he was “honored” to welcome Sweden as Nato’s newest ally, and that the alliance was “stronger than ever” with its addition. He added: Today, we once more reaffirm that our shared democratic values – and our willingness to stand up for them – is what makes Nato the greatest military alliance in the history of the world. It is what draws nations to our cause. It is what underpins our unity. And together with our newest Ally Sweden – NATO will continue to stand for freedom and democracy for generations to come.The Swedish prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, will be attending Joe Biden’s State of the Union address as a guest of the first lady, the White House has confirmed.
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Post by Webster on Mar 7, 2024 18:33:06 GMT -5
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Post by Webster on Mar 8, 2024 14:02:33 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Joe Biden will travel to Philadelphia today for a campaign event just hours after he delivered a forceful State of the Union address on Thursday, repeatedly taking aim at his general election rival, Donald Trump, without once saying his name. Biden and Trump will then separately headline campaign events in Georgia on Saturday. Today marks the start of an at-least-month-long tour for Biden, who along with Kamala Harris, Jill Biden, cabinet members and senior White House officials will be traveling across the country to tout the president’s agenda. On the itinerary for the next week include New Hampshire, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, Florida, Ohio and Arizona.
The Biden campaign said it had its best fundraising hours on Thursday night as the president delivered his State of the Union address. The campaign told Politico that the campaign received more donations in the 9pm and 10pm hours than at any point since its launch last April. It later told the Washington Post that the 11pm hour ended up outperforming the 10pm hour.
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Post by Webster on Mar 8, 2024 14:15:08 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Joe Biden will have a busy schedule next week, traveling to New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Michigan, the White House announced. All three states are must-wins for the president if he is to be re-elected. The first stop will be in Manchester, New Hampshire, on Monday, where Biden will “deliver remarks on lowering costs for American families” then participate in a campaign event, the White House said. On Wednesday, he’ll travel to Milwaukee, and the following day to Saginaw, Michigan, both for unspecified “political events”.
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Post by Webster on Mar 8, 2024 14:17:19 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Republican National Committee votes to appoint Lara Trump as co-chairThe Republican National Committee voted on Friday to appoint Michael Whatley and Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump as its new chair and co-chair. Whatley and Trump will replace the RNC’s outgoing chair, Ronna McDaniel, who announced her resignation last month after Trump endorsed a slew of loyalists for key RNC roles. The appointment of his daughter-in-law marks Trump’s expanding influence across the GOP, despite criticisms of him from other Republicans, in addition to his mounting legal woes as the country gears up for the 2024 election. Last month, Lara Trump vowed to spend “every single penny” of RNC funds to ensure her father-in-law’s re-election. Speaking to Newsmax, she said: “The RNC needs to be the leanest, most lethal political fighting machine we’ve ever seen in American history … That is the goal over the next nine and a half months. If I am elected to this position, I can assure you, there will not be any more $70,000 – or whatever exorbitant amount of money it was – spent on flowers.” "Every single penny will go to the No 1 and the only job of the RNC – that is electing Donald J Trump as president of the United States and saving this country,” she added.
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Post by Webster on Mar 11, 2024 13:54:22 GMT -5
(The Guardian) Katie Britt’s SOTU story about child sex abuse criticized by victimA sex trafficking victim has criticized the Republican senator Katie Britt after the lawmaker inaccurately used her story in her rebuttal to Joe Biden’s State of the Union address as part of an attack on his border control policies. In that speech, Britt described traveling to the Del Rio sector of the US-Mexico border and cited the case of a woman who had been sex-trafficked at age 12 and raped multiple times. The senator implied these were a direct result of the ongoing crisis at the border, which Republicans have sought to exploit as a campaign issue. Britt’s communications director confirmed that she was talking about Karla Jacinto Romero, an activist who has publicly recounted her experiences on numerous occasions at the hands of sex traffickers in her native Mexico. In May 2015, Romero testified to a congressional subcommittee describing her experiences at the hands of a trafficker who held her captive between the ages of 12 and 16, before she was eventually rescued. Romero, in an interview with CNN on Sunday, said legislators lack empathy when using the issue of human trafficking for political purposes. She said: I hardly ever cooperate with politicians, because it seems to me that they only want an image. They only want a photo – and that to me is not fair.On Sunday, Britt sought to defend her comments, arguing that she had not intended to suggest that the trafficking and rape in question had happened Biden’s watch. The senator told Fox News she had recounted the victim’s story to “bring some light to” sex trafficking by cartels.
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