We examine an unfathomable number of Trump bungles in a single day, plus how Trump dumped a well-designed national testing strategy to leave blue states on their own. Finally video of the 19 minute Obama eulogy for Rep. John Lewis.

Tuesday, August 4. NM State Election Strategies: Who Can Win, Who Needs a Push and What YOU Can Do. Panelists include: Eric Griego, Working Families Party of NM, Andrea Serrano, Olé and representatives from Indivisible, Nasty Women and other grassroots groups that have teams working on campaigns. Find out key races where wins are possible and races where good Democrat incumbents face stiff challenges. Find out the nuances involved in organizing successful campaigns and the many ways in which you can support a campaign. There is far more to be done besides making calls and writing letters.

We have a unique opportunity in 2021, Democratic Governor, a strongly progressive House and potentially a completely transformed Senate. Now we need to finish the job and make great candidates into great legislators. Find out how we can create a Legislature ready to pass a Public Bank, Health Security, Tax Reform, Funding for Early Childhood, and to pave the way for a just transition in NM.

This Zoom will reach capacity very early, so register now by clicking here.

Saturday, August 1, 2020. 8:30 am on KSFR 101.1 FM Or Streaming from KSFR.org. Retake Conversation with Greg Palast, author of the new book “How Trump Stole the 2020 Election.” Greg has written four best-selling books, one of which was made into a movie, “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy.” He has been an investigative journalist for over 35 years writing for the Guardian, Rolling Stone and other publications and is a frequent guest on Democracy Now.

Our thirty minute conversation is enough to make your hair curl, as Greg lays out the ways in which the GOP has used the last four years to tilt the scales in the coming election in ways that polling simply can’t reflect. He shies away from “predicting” a Trump win, but does point to the very real possibility of chaos on November 4 that extends for weeks and enables some key states, run by GOP legislatures, to fail to certify the election results. And what happens if no one receives 270 electoral votes is not good at all. This is must listen radio and only 30 minutes. The recording of the show will appear here mid-day Saturday.

News in Brief:

Today, we offer an explosive Vanity Fair piece that describes how Kushner & Trump dumped a comprehensive national testing strategy, developed over two months because it was more politically expedient to let every blue state fend for itself. Craven. Speaking of craven, Common Dreams reveals how the Senate’s new COVID relief bill includes an amendment from Sen. George Romney that has the potential to unravel Social Security. I call it: “The Get one tiny relief check and lose your retirement act.” And lastly, a Resilience piece that traces the history of the loss of land and wealth of black farmers but also, and quite inspiring, the various collective farming frameworks established by black farmers after the civil war. Read On.

• From Vanity Fair: “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”
• From Common Dreams: “GOP Coronavirus Relief Package to Include Romney Bill That Would ‘Fast-Track Social Security and Medicare Cuts’
• From Resilience: “Land Loss has Plagued Black America since Emancipation – Is it Time to Look Again at ‘Black Commons’ and Collective Ownership?”

Thursday Was a Very Bad Day

From NBC News, we offer the opening passage of a piece, “One bad day demonstrates how Trump is reaping what he’s sown.” As the title suggests, NBC seems to feel that somehow Trump will be held accountable for an unfathomable array of utterly miserable decisions and insensitive comments. Well, despite this rather remarkable series of misplays, I think it would be wise for our readers to listen in to Retake on KSFR on Saturday morning (above), as Greg Palast will force you to recognize that the GOP has been hard at work unraveling democracy and this kind of incompetence and immorality may be our reality for another four years, if we don’t get engaged in this election. But for now, a day in the life of “him,” care of NBC News.

“Yesterday, July 30, 2020, will likely prove to be a significant and consequential day in Donald Trump’s presidency.

It was a day when we learned the U.S. economy suffered a historic decline during the second quarter.

It was a day when we learned that former presidential candidate Herman Cain — who had attended Trump’s Tulsa rally without wearing a mask — died of the coronavirus.

It was a day when Trump tweeted that maybe the Nov. 3 election should be delayed.

It was a day when Trump was the only living president or ex-president who didn’t deliver remarks or words of condolence at John Lewis’ funeral, and when Barack Obama made a full-throated defense of voting rights.

And it was a day when, just hours later, Trump delivered a news conference filled with falsehoods about the coronavirus. (“Young people are almost immune to this disease,” he said.)

What’s been remarkable about Trump’s summer so far is how so many of his actions, declarations and tweets have all backfired on him.

That trip to St. John’s Church to hold up the Bible? A public-relations disaster.

The economic re-openings in the South and West? They led to new spikes in the coronavirus.

That Tulsa rally? A surge in infections was likely linked to the event.

Moving the GOP convention to Jacksonville, Fla.? They had to cancel that.

And tweeting that maybe the election should be delayed? He did it on a day when the world was transfixed on John Lewis’ legacy to extend voting rights to Americans.

That was Thursday from NBC. On Friday, Vanity Fair exposed how the Trump administration ignored a task force plan for a national strategy just to punish blue state governors. There is a reason virtually every other nation on earth has rebounded from the virus: comprehensive testing and contact tracing, combined with 6-8 weeks of shelter in place and consistent nationwide wearing of masks. From Vanity Fair.

“Without systematic testing, “We might as well put duct tape over our eyes, cotton in our ears, and hide under the bed,” said Dr. Margaret Bourdeaux, research director for the Harvard Medical School Program in Global Public Policy.

Vanity Fair: “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”

And more from Vanity Fair, comments from former USAID Administrator and current Rockefeller Foundation president, Dr. Rajiv Shah

“We know what has to be done: broad and ubiquitous testing tied to broad and effective contact tracing,” until a vaccine can be widely administered, Shah told Vanity Fair. “It takes about five minutes for anyone to understand that is the only path forward to reopening and recovering.” Without that, he said, “Our country is going to be stuck facing a series of rebound epidemics that are highly consequential in a really deleterious way.”

Vanity Fair: “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”

Six months into the pandemic, the United States continues to suffer the worst outbreak of COVID-19 in the developed world. Considerable blame belongs to a federal response that offloaded responsibility for the crucial task of testing to the states. The irony is that, after assembling the team that came up with an aggressive and ambitious national testing plan, Kushner then appears to have decided, for reasons that remain murky, to scrap its proposal.

“because the virus had hit blue states hardest, a national plan was unnecessary and would not make sense politically. “The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy,” said the expert.

Vanity Fair: “How Jared Kushner’s Secret Testing Plan “Went Poof Into Thin Air”

Craven.

Barack Obama Pays Tribute to John Lewis
While Subtly Excoriating Donald Trump

I find it almost impossible to watch Barack Obama these days as it inspires a melancholic longing to go back in time and stay there. It is easy to forget all his foibles and policy blunders, but he is a decent man and the decency is on display in this video.

Noam Chomsky: On How Neo-Liberal Policies
Left Us Defenseless to COVID

It is impossible to believe how a 91 year old man without notes can be so articulate with so many examples and statistics at his fingertips. I watched the entire Democracy Now news Thur night and it was entirely Noam Chomsky. On Thursday evening, the entire show was devoted to Chomky, but the clip below is the 30 minute segment where Chomsky answers a single question in a breathlessly compelling monologue.

In solidarity,

Paul & Roxanne

Categories: Trump

Tags: COVID-19, election, Featured, Kushner, NM Election, read more, social security, Trump