i heard Nikki and Trump Jr., then went to bed. it's wonderful but so strange seeing all these minority women coming to power and talking about their parents in turbans and saris. the emigrants to the US from the 60s, their children married up to whites and are now ruling america. Michael Haley seems like a redneck, and from a redneck state too, South Carolina. america is in for exciting times, let's watch as it all unfolds
@Former Member posted:i heard Nikki and Trump Jr., then went to bed. it's wonderful but so strange seeing all these minority women coming to power and talking about their parents in turbans and saris. the emigrants to the US from the 60s, their children married up to whites and are now ruling america. Michael Haley seems like a redneck, and from a redneck state too, South Carolina. america is in for exciting times, let's watch as it all unfolds
How you know who went to bed and when?
This lady will do well. I’m in her mailing network. She’s very nationalistic.
i meant i listened to Nikki & Trump Jr., then i went to bed. geez, calm down bro
@Former Member posted:i meant i listened to Nikki & Trump Jr., then i went to bed. geez, calm down bro
Hehe. Sorry I misread. Your English is bad. Should have said “listened.”
Unfortunately, I didn't watch the first night. Will be watching tonight. I am a bit worried about the Trump campaign. He is down in Florida and as Base said, who wins Florida, wins the election.
Biden has returned to hiding in his basement after the Democrat convention. Could he be repeating the Hillary mistakes ?
Maryland congressional candidate Kim Klacik speaks at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
Kim Klacik, a GOP congressional candidate who suggested that Democrats don't care about Black voters in a viral campaign ad, took aim at Joe Biden in a speech during the first night of the Republican National Convention, accusing the Democratic nominee of believing that Black Americans "can't think for ourselves."
"Joe Biden believes we can’t think for ourselves -- that the color of someone’s skin dictates their political views," she said in her remarks. "We’re not buying the lies anymore -- you and your party have ignored us for too long."
Klacik, who is Black, is the Republican nominee running to represent Maryland's 7th Congressional district, a Democratic stronghold that was represented for years by the late Rep. Elijah Cummings.
Black voters as a whole helped Biden clinch the Democratic nomination after a decisive victory during the South Carolina primary. But that success hinges on his support among older Black voters.
TRUMP VOWS TO WORK WITH KIM KLACIK TO 'BRING BALTIMORE BACK'
Controversial comments the former vice president has made about race have also threatened to erode that support; during a recent interview at the convention of the National Association of Black Journalists and National Association of Hispanic Journalists, Biden contrasted Black and Hispanic populations in the U.S.
"Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things,” he said during the interview. (Biden later sought to clarify that he did not "mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith.")
Klacik rose to national prominence last week when President Trump shared one of her campaign ads, which shows her marching by abandoned rowhouses in a red dress and matching stilettos, lambasting Democratic politicians for abandoning Black Americans.
"Black people don't have to vote Democrat," she says at the end of the 2.5-minute video. Baltimore's population is about 60% Black, according to the Census Bureau.
The ad, titled "Black Lives Don't Matter to Democrats," has been viewed more than 11.4 million times.
Klacik hit that same theme again on Monday during her address, accusing Democrats of running Baltimore -- and other major cities across the country -- "into the ground," despite high taxes.
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"And yet, the Democrats still assume that Black people will vote for them, no matter how much they let us down and take us for granted," she continued. "Nope. We’re sick of it and not going to take it anymore. The days of blindly supporting the Democrats are coming to an end."
Trump had FOUR years to help the poor Blacks, now he is begging for the Black votes to remain another four years to do the same, NOTHING.
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on ‘Fox & Friends’ that former Vice President Joe Biden is ‘weak on foreign policy.’
President Trump has “always” put the “American people first,” former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, the morning after she touted the president’s foreign policy agenda during her speech at the Republican National Convention.
During her speech Monday night, Haley also lambasted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for his “record of weakness and failure.”
“Joe Biden is a very good guy. I know him, I mean he’s just as nice as they come,” Haley told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday. “But that's just the problem.”
NIKKI HALEY AFTER RNC SPEECH SAYS SHE IS OPEN TO REJOINING TRUMP ADMINISTRATION
“We saw what happens when you try and be nice at the United Nations,” she continued. “Basically everybody was running over America when Obama and Biden were in there.”
She went on to say that Biden is “weak on foreign policy, he wants to raise taxes, which is going to hurt 82% of Americans if we go through what he’s doing, they want to put all these regulations down on small businesses.”
“I mean, truly it would be a disaster to see a Biden-Harris presidency,” Haley said.
“Before Biden was listening to Obama, now we know he’s listening to [self-proclaimed democratic socialist Sen. Bernie] Sanders and [Sen. Elizabeth] Warren and ‘the Squad’ so we have to really look at what is going to be the difference with a Biden presidency versus a Trump presidency,” Haley continued.
Echoing a common theme of Trump, Haley also attempted to tie Biden in with the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party during her speech at the Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C., on Monday night.
“Their vision for America is socialism and we know that socialism has failed everywhere,” she said Monday. “Joe Biden and the socialist left would be a disaster for our economy. But President Trump is leading a new era of opportunity.”
On Tuesday morning she said, “We’ve seen what the president can do with the economy. We are going to see him do it again.”
“We’ve watched what Obama and Biden have done for decades and that's not where we want to go,” she continued.
One of the big themes of the first night of the RNC was the party attempting to appeal to non-White voters.
GOP MEMBERS OF CONGRESS MAKE THE CASE FOR TRUMP AS 'PRO-AMERICA CANDIDATE'
Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, pushed back on claims of racism leveled against the GOP – and American institutions – calling it “personal” and referencing the mass shooting at South Carolina’s Mother Emanuel Church in which a White supremacist killed nine Black parishioners.
“In much of the Democratic Party, it’s now fashionable to say that America is racist. That is a lie. America is not a racist country,” Haley said during her speech.
“I was a brown girl and in a black and white world. We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave in to grievance and hate,” she added.
She went on to say that “America is a story that's a work in progress” and “now is the time to build on that progress and make America even freer, fairer and better for everyone.”
On Tuesday Haley said, “They want to call us a racist country and I will tell you, ask my parents, they do not believe this is a racist country. Me, elected as the first female, first minority governor of South Carolina, this is not a racist country. Ask [South Carolina Republican Sen.] Tim Scott, this is not a racist country.”
Host Steve Doocy asked Haley what she makes “of the fact that at least one TV network last night was live-fact checking the RNC?”
He noted that those networks did not fact-check during the Democratic National Convention and also asked, “What does that tell the viewer?”
“It tells them that they are a big part of the cancel culture,” Haley said. “They just aren't going to like anything you say regardless of what it is.”
She then pointed out that “there was a huge difference last night from the Democratic convention last week.”
“Last night showed a lot of hope, a lot of optimism and a lot of success,” she said, noting that “last week it was gloom and doom, the sky is falling.”
“What we did last night was say, ‘Look, here we have a president that pre-COVIDwas breaking barriers left and right with the economy, that has taken on foreign policy and made such a difference, that has really put America first in a way that Americans feel put first, whether it's African Americans, whether it’s Hispanics,” she continued.
“You look what the president has done from criminal justice reform, from school choice, from the idea that we’re constantly trying to improve the lives of everyone. That is exactly what we need four more years of. We have to build on that progress.”
Haley’s appearance at the RNC makes it clear that she is firmly behind Trump this election season. Following her abrupt departure from her post at the U.N. in 2018, there were rumors of a falling out between her and Trump and that she might mount a primary challenge to Trump -- something she made clear she had no intention to do.
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Haley's name is also being floated as a 2024 Republican presidential contender along with others like Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Gov. Larry Hogan, R-Md., and Vice President Mike Pence.
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and Evie Fordham contributed to this report.
@Former Member posted:Nikki Haley: Trump has 'always' put the 'American people first'
'We’ve watched what Obama and Biden have done for decades, and that's not where we want to go,' Haley says
Nikki Haley: Biden is ‘weak on foreign policy’
Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on ‘Fox & Friends’ that former Vice President Joe Biden is ‘weak on foreign policy.’
President Trump has “always” put the “American people first,” former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday, the morning after she touted the president’s foreign policy agenda during her speech at the Republican National Convention.
During her speech Monday night, Haley also lambasted Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for his “record of weakness and failure.”
“Joe Biden is a very good guy. I know him, I mean he’s just as nice as they come,” Haley told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday. “But that's just the problem.”
Fox News’ Andrew O’Reilly and Evie Fordham contributed to this report.
Haaa, haaaa, haaaaa haaaaaaaaaaa 
Sooooo, the Republicans are stating clearly that they do not have to be good, nice persons like the Democrats. 
Fact checking the bundle of lies from night 1 of the RNC Convention.
[[[Quote]]]
Haley said Biden and Harris "want massive tax hikes on working families."
Independent tax analysts agree that the Biden plan would not directly raise taxes on any household earning below $400,000 a year, and it would pose small hits from the indirect impact of raising the corporate tax rate. The vast majority of the income losses from the Biden tax proposal would fall on the top one-fifth of incomes, and especially on the top 1%.
All in all, the indirect tax hikes on "working families," such as they are, are not "massive."
[[[Unquote]]]
By Louis Jacobson August 25, 2020, Source - https://www.politifact.com/fac...want-massive-tax-hi/
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley leaves after speaking during the Republican National Convention from the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, Monday, Aug. 24, 2020. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Speakers on the first night of the Republican convention criticized Democratic nominee Joe Biden on one of the foundational issues of the GOP: taxes.
"They want massive tax hikes on working families," said Nikki Haley, the former Republican governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations, of the Biden-Kamala Harris ticket.
Haley’s charge stood in sharp contrast to Biden’s statement to ABC News’ David Muir a day earlier, when he said that "no new taxes" would be imposed on anyone making under $400,000.
The Trump campaign pointed to one video clip in which Biden said that the "first thing" he will do in office is repeal the GOP tax cuts. However, that’s not his official campaign proposal.
Biden’s changes would repeal provisions in President Donald Trump’s tax law for taxpayers earning over $400,000. Specifically, Biden would:
Increase the top corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%;
Raise the top individual federal income tax rate to 39.6%;
Place a 12.4% Social Security tax on incomes above $400,000;
Tax capital gains at the same rate as ordinary income for very high earners.
Independent tax analysts side with Biden’s characterization of his plan.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a group that’s hawkish on the federal budget deficit, has confirmed that no direct taxes would be imposed on any household making less than $400,000 per year. Households below $400,000 a year could face small income losses indirectly, largely from the portion of higher corporate taxes that companies pass along to their workers through constraints on compensation.
The group concluded that "overall, Biden’s tax plan would make the tax code more progressive, with the vast majority of increased tax burdens and the entirety of direct tax increases falling on high-income households."
The group summarized four independent assessments of how Biden’s tax plan would affect members of the lowest, second-lowest, middle, second-highest, and highest income quintiles. The four analyses were conducted by the American Enterprise Institute, the Tax Foundation, the Urban Institute-Brookings Institution Tax Policy Center, and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
As the chart indicates, the lowest 80% of the income spectrum would register small income losses as a result of Biden’s tax proposal, typically about one-half of 1% of income, or in the range of a couple hundred dollars. For instance, according to the Tax Policy Center’s analysis, the lowest income group would see their incomes drop by $30; the next would see a drop of $110; the middle would see a drop of $260; and the second-highest, with incomes up to $170,000, would see a loss of $590.
By contrast, the top one-fifth of earners would face a significantly bigger hit — a loss of somewhere between 2.3% and 5.7% of after-tax income in 2021. And the top 1% of earners would take the biggest hit of all, between 13% and 17.8% of after-tax income.
Haley said Biden and Harris "want massive tax hikes on working families."
Independent tax analysts agree that the Biden plan would not directly raise taxes on any household earning below $400,000 a year, and it would pose small hits from the indirect impact of raising the corporate tax rate. The vast majority of the income losses from the Biden tax proposal would fall on the top one-fifth of incomes, and especially on the top 1%.
All in all, the indirect tax hikes on "working families," such as they are, are not "massive." We rate the statement False.
Breaking News:
Florida polls tightens to within a margin of error. Base will like to hear this news:
Independents loved what they heard at RNC:
Pollster Lee Carter gets reaction from voters.
A group of independent voters were in lockstep with Republicans during the first night of the Republican National Convention, pollster Lee Carter told “Fox & Friends” on Tuesday.
During her appearing on “Fox & Friends” with host Ainsley Earhardt, Carter said she thinks “overall you saw independents really, really resonating with the messages that they heard.”
Carter acknowledged there were “some blips” but said “the personal stories” from speakers, including former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley,South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott and former Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, who was raised a Democrat and is a longtime friend of President Trump's, “really resonated with the voters, and that's what’s going to be remembered from last night.”
Carter, the president of Maslansky & Partners, broadcast her "voter dials," which assess the real-time reactions to the debate from voters across the political spectrum, rating candidates' statements from A to F.
Earhardt pointed to Scott’s “powerful” convention speech where he “talked about his story and the American dream.”
“My grandfather’s 99th birthday would have been tomorrow,” Scott said during his speech Monday night. “He suffered the indignity of being forced out of school as a third-grader to pick cotton and he never learned to read or write.”
He added, “Our family went from cotton to Congress in one lifetime and that's why I believe the next American century can be better than the last.”
“He hit it out of the park,” Carter said. “You can see that Republicans gave this an A-plus, independents gave it an A and even Democrats gave it a C.”
She went on to say that Monday night was “a big night for Scott and it was also a really, really great capstone for Donald Trump.”
“I think the most surprising thing that I saw last night is how much independents were lock in step with Republicans,” she continued. “We did not see that during the DNC [Democratic National Convention]. Republicans and independents acted very differently in response to that. But here, last night we saw them right in step with the Republicans.”
Earhardt brought up Walker’s speech from the RNC as well, noting that “he takes offense to the fact that many people call the president racist.”
GOP MEMBERS OF CONGRESS MAKE THE CASE FOR TRUMP AS 'PRO-AMERICA CANDIDATE'
“It hurt my soul to hear the terrible names that people call Donald. The worst one is racist,” Walker said during his speech Monday night. “I take that as a personal insult that people would think I’ve had a 37-year friendship with a racist.”
“People who think that don't know what they’re talking about,” Walker continued. “Growing up in the Deep South I’ve seen racism up close. I know what it is, and it isn't Donald Trump.”
Carter said Republicans and independents reacted “very similarly” to Walker’s speech as well.
“Republicans gave this an A, independents a B plus and Democrats a D,” Carter said. “This was a big, big night for the president and for the Republican Party.”
Earhardt also noted that Trump “talked about how Democrats will blame losing [the 2020 election] on the post office.”
“Every one of you have to watch because bad things happened last time with this spying on our campaign and that goes to Biden and that goes to Obama,” Trump said Monday. “And we have to be very, very careful … And this time they’re trying to do it with the whole post office scam. They’ll blame it on the post office. You could see them setting it up.”
“The Republicans gave this [an] A minus, independents a B, while Democrats gave this an F so a lot of Democrats [are] really upset about this argument, but it is resonating with both independents and Republicans,” Carter said.
Over the weekend, the House of Representatives passed a $25 billion funding infusion to the U.S. Postal Service in a bill that also would reverse new cost-cutting measures and ban any efforts to slow down the mail until at least next year.
Democrats called the rare "emergency" session in the middle of the summer recess because they contend Trump and new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy are trying to sabotage the 2020 election by delaying service that could compromise mail-in ballots during the coronavirus pandemic.
Republicans dismissed the Democrats' election concerns as "conspiracy theory." GOP members said the Postal Service is not in a crisis and can handle any uptick in volume from mail-in ballots, pointing to its $14 billion in available cash and access to a $10 billion loan from the Treasury.
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The legislation is not expected to go anywhere. The GOP-led Senate has no plans to take up the bill and the White House issued a veto threat on Friday saying USPS doesn't need a $25 billion bailout.
Fox News’ Marisa Schultz contributed to this report.
Very bad news for The Socialist Democratic Party.
Are we seeing a repeat of the Hillary run for Presidency as Biden hides in his basement ?
Florida race is now within a margin of error.
Are there any debates in the works for Trump/Biden and Pence/Harris?
Yes but I have to look it up. I heard that the Democrats are pushing for the debates to be cancelled due to covid.
They are too busy pushing a Mailbox conspiracy. They will blame the mailbox if they lose.
@Former Member posted:Very bad news for The Socialist Democratic Party.
Sean -- Indeed for the Socialist Democratic Party, Democratic Socialist of America, etc..
However. the Democratic Party will crush the Republican Party in the November 2020 elections. 
Bai DG, I await for the fat lady to sing that Republicans won.
Wanna bet one of those Hats ?
@Former Member posted:...
However. the Democratic Party will crush the Republican Party in the November 2020 elections.
however, PPP supporters want Trump because they think Biden will be unkind to PPP
A vote for Democrats = A vote for PNC. 
That basket of deplorables was the death nail in Hillary’s political coffin.
@Former Member posted:A vote for Democrats = A vote for PNC.
PNC ==
Ghana -- People's National Congress
Papua New Guinea -- People's National Congress
Etc., etc., etc..
@Former Member posted:
Lots of truth in this woman’s statements.
If only the Democrats could own up to their responsibilities and failures.
I saw firsthand as I travelled to democrat controlled states. Travel to certain parts of NY and you think that you were in Haiti.
@Former Member posted:Bai DG, I await for the fat lady to sing that Republicans won.
Wanna bet one of those Hats ?
I will gladly give you one of my numerous hats.
The Fat Lady will sing again in November 2020 when the Democrats win the elections.
@Former Member posted:That basket of deplorables was the death nail in Hillary’s political coffin.
Those deplorables are the death nails of the United States.
We shall overcome. Hell ain’t bruk lose yet.
@cain posted:Those deplorables are the death nails of the United States.
Maybe. But Politicians are trained not to antagonize any potential voter. Look how Granger distanced himself from many potential voters while Jagdeo spent the entire elections season meeting with scores of potential voters including many traditional PNC leaning ones which resulted in the PPP now occupying two more seats than the PNC which is exactly how many they need to fit Ali’s fat body. So it all worked out well for Guyana in the end but was Granger and Hillary political death nail.
Guyana National Hero Mike Pompeo is on the agenda to speak tonight.
@Former Member posted:I will gladly give you one of my numerous hats.
The Fat Lady will sing again in November 2020 when the Democrats win the elections.
Tough for BLM to win in November. Too much burning and looting was done.
@Former Member posted:Breaking News:
Florida polls tightens to within a margin of error. Base will like to hear this news:
What is 'a margin of error' for the specific poll you're referring to?
@Bibi Haniffa posted:Guyana National Hero Mike Pompeo is on the agenda to speak tonight.
I will be watching tonight. Guyanese owe a lifetime of gratitude to Mike Pompeo and Ambassador Sarah.
Opinion by Scott Jennings
Updated 1:14 AM ET, Tue August 25, 2020
Scott Jennings, a CNN contributor, is a former special assistant to President George W. Bush and a former campaign adviser to Sen. Mitch McConnell. He is a partner at RunSwitch Public Relations in Louisville, Kentucky. Follow him on Twitter @ScottJenningsKY. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinionarticles on CNN.
(CNN)Republicans are off to a nice start on the first night of their convention with a solid roster of diverse voices delivering optimistic and compelling messages. If they keep up this hopeful tone — and combine it with a continued healthy dose of policy contrasts throughout the week — this will be a successful, if unusual, convention.
Sign up for CNN Opinion's new newsletter.
This is a repeat of the Hillary run folks. Sit tight as the Republicans talk about public safety, the economy and the Democrat Socialist Party.
A vote for Democrats = A vote for PNC
Guyanese in NY should just stay home. Don't become a Namakharam, remember what Granger, Moses and Ramjattan did to you.
(CMC): A high-ranking United States Democratic Congressman has accused the US State Department officials of interfering in the elections to benefit Guyana’s main opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
Ballots in the disputed elections held on March 2, are currently being recounted by the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) in presence of Caribbean Community (CARICOM) observers.
Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, chairman of the US House of Representatives’ Democratic Caucus, made the accusations while being interviewed on a television show by Rickford Burke, president of the Brooklyn, New York-based Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID). He strongly urged US Ambassador to Guyana, Sarah Ann Lynch, and Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs at the US Department of State, Michael Kozak, not to interfere.
“Traditionally, we can monitor how democracy is playing itself out in different parts of the world, but to interfere in such an extraordinary way and an in manner which favours one party, the opposition party, potentially to the detriment of the ruling party, is deeply troubling to a lot of us in Washington, DC,” said Jeffries, who represents the eighth US Congressional District in New York.
Burke claimed that the US government officials have also made several threatening statements against officials of President David Granger’s ruling APNU+AFC coalition government, as well as against GECOM officials.
US not in a position to tell others how to conduct affairs
“I do find it somewhat ironic that, at the same time, when the US government may be trying to direct Guyana as to how it should conduct itself in the form of an election, that we’ve been so irresponsible in many parts of the country, like in Wisconsin, where there is a refusal to permit universal access to mail-in voting and you compel people to vote in densely packed polling sites, as was done in a Wisconsin election in early April, in a manner that may have contributed to community spread in terms of COVID-19,” said Jeffries.
“So, it seems to me that we are not in a position to tell anybody, until we get our own act together, as it relates to how faithfully we conduct a free, fair election that protects the well-being of the American people, that we are not necessarily in a position to tell anybody else about how to go about doing their job,” he added.
A member of the House Judiciary Committee, Jeffries invoked Robert Muller investigation into the Russian interference into the US 2016 presidential election.
He noted that “Russia interfered in the US election in sweeping and systematic fashion to help Donald Trump win the US presidency,” contending that the Mueller Report also concluded that the Trump campaign acceptance of the Russians “was wildly inconsistent with American democracy.”
Jeffries, who was also a House Manager of the Trump impeachment trial in the US Senate, underscored Trump’s invitation for Ukraine to interfere in the US 2020 elections to dig up dirt against presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, former US Vice President Joseph Biden.
“It was a stunning corrupt abuse of power,” Jeffries asserted. “The Ukrainians should not be involved in a US election, the Chinese should not be involved in a US election, the Russians should not be involved in a US election, that’s a settled principle," he said.
Jeffries continued: “At the same time, if we are alarmed at foreign interference in our electoral process, why in the world is the United States Government engaging in foreign interference in the affairs of an independent nation in Guyana?”
He called for US government officials to allow the Guyanese people to freely elect its government without interference from the US government.
“It is appropriate to broadly ensure that there is a free and fair election in Guyana and in other parts of the world that is carried out independently and in a manner that does not result in the United States trying to sway or alter the results, one way or the other,” Jeffries said.
“The people of Guyana should be able to decide, as they have done in the past, who they see fit to lead them into the future,” he added.
Follow The Gleaner on Twitter and Instagram @JamaicaGleaner and on Facebook @GleanerJamaica. Send us a message on WhatsApp at 1-876-499-0169 or email us @onlinefeedback@gleanerjm.com or editors@gleanerjm.com.
A vote for Democrats = A vote for PNC.
Don't become a Namahkaran.
Fact check: Donald Trump, allies make several false claims on first day of Republican convention
President Donald Trump made a dizzying array of misleading claims about voting fraud and health care as fellow Republicans opened their convention with speeches distorting the agenda of his Democratic rival, Joe Biden.
Trump falsely asserted that he was the one who ensured that people with preexisting medical problems will be covered by health insurance; actually that was Democratic President Barack Obama. Several speakers accused Biden of proposing to defund police, ban fracking, take over health care and open borders — none of that true.
A look at statements Monday at the Republican National Convention:
TRUMP: “We protected your preexisting conditions. Very strongly protected preexisting … and you don’t hear that.”
THE FACTS: You don’t hear it because it’s not true.
People with preexisting medical problems have health insurance protections because of Obama’s health care law, which Trump is trying to dismantle.
One of Trump’s alternatives to Obama’s law — short-term health insurance, already in place — doesn’t have to cover preexisting conditions. Another alternative is association health plans, which are oriented to small businesses and sole proprietors and do cover preexisting conditions.
Neither of the two alternatives appears to have made much difference in the market.
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration is pressing the Supreme Court for full repeal of the Obama-era law, including provisions that protect people with preexisting conditions from health insurance discrimination.
With “Obamacare” still in place, preexisting conditions continue to be covered by regular individual health insurance plans.
Insurers must take all applicants, regardless of medical history, and charge the same standard premiums to healthy people and those who are in poor health, or have a history of medical problems.
Before the Affordable Care Act, any insurer could deny coverage — or charge more — to anyone with a preexisting condition who was seeking to buy an individual policy.
Democratic attacks on Republican efforts to repeal the health law and weaken preexisting condition protections proved successful in the 2018 midterms, when Democrats won back control of the House.
___
TRUMP, on mail-in voting: “Absentee — like in Florida — absentee is good. But other than that, they’re very, very bad.”
THE FACTS: He’s making a false distinction. Mail-in ballots are cast in the same way as absentee mail ballots, with the same level of scrutiny such as signature verification in many states.
In more than 30 states and the District of Columbia, voters have a right to “no excuse” absentee voting. That means they can use mail-in ballots for any reason, regardless of whether a person is out of town or working.
In Florida, the Legislature in 2016 voted to change the wording of such balloting from “absentee” to “vote-by-mail” to make clear a voter can cast such ballots if they wish. So there is no “absentee” voting in that state, as Trump alludes to.
More broadly, voter fraud has proved exceedingly rare. The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections.
Only nine states currently have plans for “universal” mail-in voting, where ballots are sent automatically to registered voters. Five of those states relied on mail-in ballots even before the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns about voting in person.
TRUMP, on the November vote count and Democrats: “We have to be very, very careful and this time they are trying to do it with the whole post office scam. They will blame it on the post office. You can see them setting it up.”
THE FACTS: No postal scam has emerged from the Democrats. Instead Trump has given credence to suspicions that he wants to suppress mail-in voting to help his chances in the election.
He’s said as much. In an interview this month, he admitted he’s trying to starve the U.S. Postal Service of money in order to make it harder to process an expected surge of mail-in ballots, which he worries could cost him the election.
Trump explicitly noted funding provisions that Democrats are seeking in a relief package that has stalled on Capitol Hill. Without the additional money, he said, the Postal Service won’t have the resources to handle a flood of ballots from voters who are seeking to avoid polling places during the coronavirus pandemic.
“If we don’t make a deal, that means they don’t get the money,” Trump told Fox Business Network. “That means they can’t have universal mail-in voting; they just can’t have it.”
Over the weekend, the House approved legislation that would reverse recent changes in postal operations and send $25 billion to shore up the agency before the November election, but the White House has said Trump would veto it.
During a House hearing, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy acknowledged that Trump’s repeated attacks on mail-in ballots are “not helpful,” but he denied that recent cuts were linked to the election.
TRUMP, on defective ballots in an election: “What does defective mean? It means fraud.”
THE FACTS: No, defective ballots do not equate to fraud. The overwhelming majority aren’t.
According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the vast majority of ballots are disqualified because they arrive late, a particular worry this year because of recent U.S. Postal Service delays and an expected surge in mail-in voting during the coronavirus pandemic.
Ballots also are deemed defective if there is a missing signature — common with newer voters unfamiliar with the process — or it doesn’t match what’s on file. In addition, some states require absentee voters to get a witness or notary to sign their ballots.
“None of those are fraud,” said Wendy Weiser, director of Brennan’s democracy program at NYU School of Law. When suspected cases are investigated for potential fraud, studies have borne out the main reason for defects is voter mistake, she said.
Defective ballots also disproportionately impact voters of color, and recent lawsuits have successfully challenged some requirements as posing health risks or disenfranchising voters. Earlier this year, for instance, a federal judge ruled that a South Carolina requirement to have witnesses to mail-in ballots could put voters’ health at risk and suspended it for the June primary. Others states including Minnesota and Rhode Island have also suspended that requirement due to the pandemic.
While the rates of defective ballots are unacceptable, “people should still feel confident in their votes, and they should follow-up,” Weiser said. “People should know these problems are being fought over and hopefully many will be mitigated and addressed before November.”
REP. STEVE SCALISE of Louisiana on the police: “Joe Biden has embraced the left’s insane mission to defund them.”
THE FACTS: No, Biden has explicitly rejected the call by some on the left to defund the police. He has proposed more money for police, conditioned on improvements in their practices.
Biden’s criminal justice agenda, released long before the protests over racial injustice, proposes more federal money for “training that is needed to avert tragic, unjustifiable deaths” and hiring more officers to ensure that departments are racially and ethnically reflective of the populations they serve.
Specifically, he calls for a $300 million infusion into federal community policing grant programs. That’s more money, not less.
NIKKI HALEY, former ambassador to the United Nations, on the Democrats: “They want a government takeover of health care. They want to ban fracking and kill millions of jobs.”
REP. JIM JORDAN of Ohio on the Democratic agenda: “Defund the police, defund border patrol and defund our military.”
RONNA McDANIEL, chairwoman of the Republican National Committee: “You deserve to know that they would ban fracking and eliminate fossil fuels, which would kill millions of good-paying jobs and raise the cost of driving our cars and heating our homes. You deserve to know that they want a complete government takeover of our health care system, so moms like me won’t be able to take our kids to the same pediatrician they’ve been seeing for years.”
THE FACTS: Those aren’t Biden’s positions. A number of Republican speakers seized on proposals of the Democratic left, in some cases distorting those positions, and assigned them to Biden, who doesn’t share those views.
He does not favor a government takeover of health care; instead he proposes building on “Obamacare,” which preserves the private insurance market while expanding Medicaid.
He also did not endorse proposals to cease border enforcement or even to decriminalize illegal crossings.
Biden supports banning only new oil and gas permits, fracking included, on federal land. But most U.S. production is on private land — the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says production on federal land accounted for less than 10% of oil and gas in 2018.
In a March 15 primary debate, Biden misstated his energy policy, suggesting he would allow no new fracking. His campaign quickly corrected the record. Biden has otherwise been consistent on his middle-of-the-road position, going so far as to tell an anti-fracking activist that he “ought to vote for somebody else” if he wanted an immediate fracking ban.
DONALD TRUMP JR. on the coronavirus response: “The president quickly took action and shut down travel from China.”
THE FACTS: He didn’t shut down travel from China. He restricted it. Dozens of countries took similar steps to control travel from hot spots before or around the same time the U.S. did.
The U.S. restrictions that took effect Feb. 2 continued to allow travel to the U.S. from China’s Hong Kong and Macao territories over the past five months. The Associated Press reported that more than 8,000 Chinese and foreign nationals based in those territories entered the U.S. in the first three months after the travel restrictions were imposed.
Additionally, more than 27,000 Americans returned from mainland China in the first month after the restrictions took effect. U.S. officials lost track of more than 1,600 of them who were supposed to be monitored for virus exposure.
Dr. Anne Schuchat, the No. 2 official at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also told The Associated Press that the federal government was slow to understand how much coronavirus was spreading from Europe, which helped drive the acceleration of outbreaks across the U.S. in late February. Trump didn’t announce travel restrictions for many European countries until mid-March.
DONALD TRUMP JR.: “The president acted quickly and ensured ventilators got to hospitals that needed them most. He delivered PP&E to our brave front-line workers.”
THE FACTS: No, not all hospitals and front-line workers got the ventilators and personal protective equipment they needed. States were left scrambling in the early weeks of the pandemic, while Trump scoffed at some of their requests, calling them inflated.
New York acquired a shipment of 1,000 ventilators f rom the Chinese government and 140 from the state of Oregon. Massachusetts borrowed the New England Patriots’ jet to pick up 1 million masks from China.
While California Gov. Gavin Newsom was tracking down 10,000 ventilators for his state, he got 170 broken ones from the national stockpile. And a federal shipment of 300,000 N95 masks that Illinois was supposed to receive in March turned out to be less-effective surgical masks instead, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said at the time.
DONALD TRUMP JR, on his father: “So if you’re looking for hope, look to the man who did what the failed Obama-Biden administration never could do and built the greatest economy our country has ever seen.”
THE FACTS: That’s false. The economy was healthy before the coronavirus pandemic hit but not the best in U.S. history.
Economic gains largely followed along the lines of an expansion that started more than a decade ago under Obama. And while posting great job and stock market numbers, Trump never managed to achieve the rates of economic growth he promised in the 2016 campaign, nor growth rates seen in the past.
The Obama-Trump years yielded the longest economic expansion in U.S. history, but not the greatest,
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McDANIEL: “You deserve to know about their plans to raise taxes on 82% of Americans.”
THE FACTS: That’s not the plan. Biden says he won’t raise taxes on anyone making under $400,000.
An analysis of Biden’s tax plan by the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Wharton Budget Model in March found that the bottom 90 percent of income earners would not pay more in federal income taxes under Biden’s proposal.
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TRUMP JR. on his father: “He’s pledged to repeal the Trump tax cuts, which were the biggest in our country.”
THE FACTS: Trump’s tax cuts are nowhere close to the biggest in U.S. history.
It’s a $1.5 trillion tax cut over 10 years. As a share of the total economy, a tax cut of that size ranks 12th, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. President Ronald Reagan’s 1981 cut is the biggest, followed by the 1945 rollback of taxes that financed World War II.
Post-Reagan tax cuts also stand among the historically significant: President George W. Bush’s cuts in the early 2000s and Obama’s renewal of them a decade later.
Biden has pledged to raise taxes on wealthy people and not the middle class and working class.
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Seitz reported from Chicago. Associated Press writers Matthew Daly and Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
@Mars posted:What is 'a margin of error' for the specific poll you're referring to?
The same as the last time they had him losing.
@Mars posted:What is 'a margin of error' for the specific poll you're referring to?
@Former Member I guess you don't know one fart what you're talking about so you can't answer the question. If you're going to use these terms, at least look them up on Google and get an idea what they mean.
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