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]]>The post Trump’s ex-campaign manager Brad Parscale detained after threatening to harm himself: report appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>President Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale purportedly was taken to a Florida hospital on Sunday by police after a brief but tense stand-off in which he barricaded himself in his home with firearms and threatened to harm himself.
Ft. Lauderdale police were dispatched to Parscale’s house after his wife, Candice, called them saying she was worried that her husband was suicidal and had firearms in the home, according to a Florida Sun-Sentinel report.
“We went out and it was very short,” Fort Lauderdale Police Chief Karen Dietrich told the Sun-Sentinel. “We went and got him help.”
TRUMP REPLACES CAMPAIGN MANAGER
Dietrich added that Parscale did not threaten police and willingly went with law enforcement under Florida’s Baker Act – a law that allows police to detain a person who they believe is a threat to themselves or others. Parscale was taken to a local hospital.
“Politics aside, this fellow obviously suffers from emotional distress,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Dean Trantalis told the Sun-Sentinel. “I’m glad he didn’t do any harm to himself or others I commend our SWAT team for being able to negotiate a peaceful ending to this.”
Shortly after the news broke, the Trump campaign released a statement saying it was “ready to support him and his family in any way possible,” while also hitting Democrats.
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“Brad Parscale is a member of our family and we all love him. We are ready to support him and his family in any way possible,” Trump Campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement. “The disgusting, personal attacks from Democrats and disgruntled RINOs have gone too far, and they should be ashamed of themselves for what they’ve done to this man and his family.”
Parscale was replaced as Trump’s campaign manager in mid-July by veteran GOP operative Bill Stepien after a series of polls showed the president trailing Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
Parscale ran Trump’s digital advertising in 2016 and was credited with helping bring about his surprise victory. But his dismissal as campaign manager also coincided with an article in The Washington Post that portrayed Parscale as self-promoting and aloof. It noted that he featured prominently in an early Trump campaign ad — and that staffers complained he often took calls by his swimming pool at home.
If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).]
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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]]>The post Donald Trump’s ABC New Town Hall Turned Into A Denial Of COVID-19, Race & Rage appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>“Yeah, well, I didn’t downplay it,” Donald Trump told an ABC News’ town hall tonight of his response to the deadly coronavirus. “I actually, in many ways, I up-played it, in terms of action,” the incumbent added, citing his bans on some travel to and from China and Europe this spring. “My action was very strong.”
“Whether you call it ‘talent’ or ‘luck,’ it was very important, so we saved a lot of lives when we did that,” the former Celebrity Apprentice host went on to boast at Tuesday’s socially-distanced event in Philadelphia with George Stephanopoulos – as you can see in the clip below:
In a special @ABC2020, Pres. Trump disputes uncommitted voter who asked why he downplayed a virus that has disproportionately affected communities of color: “I up-played it, in terms of action. My action was very strong.”
Watch tonight at 9|8c on @ABC: https://t.co/EET93N9suZ pic.twitter.com/FNP30Whw80
— ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2020
Answering the question from voter Joni Powell about the ravaging of minority communities by COVID-19, Trump’s version of the health crisis tonight is directly contrary to what he told Rage author Bob Woodward on tape earlier this year of the global pandemic. “I wanted to play to always play it down,” Trump said to the All The President’s Men co-author on March 19, just as America was going into a lockdown that POTUS called unnecessary. “I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic,” Trump added in widely reported remarks.
Leading the world with over 6.6 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far, America has suffered almost 200,000 deaths from the disease. “I think we did a great job,” Trump said later in the town hall, claiming it could have been much worse if not for his actions.
“It’s going to disappear, George,” an agitated Trump didactically proclaimed of the coronavirus. “We’re going to get back – we’re not going to have studios like this, where you have all of this empty space in between,” Trump said. “I want to see people, and you want to see people. I want to see football games. I’m pushing very hard for Big Ten, I want to see Big Ten open – let the football games – let them play sports. But no, it’s going to disappear, George.”
“It would go away without the vaccine, George, but it’s going to go away a lot faster with it,” Trump said.
Recorded earlier this afternoon in Philadelphia, the primetime, 90-minute broadcast sit-down with Stephanopoulos saw 21 undecided voters posing questions to Trump. Put another way, that’s eight less voters than the highly contested Florida has electoral votes and one more than the battleground Keystone State.
This was the president’s first town hall of the general election campaign, a format that usually means softball questions from the selection of “everyday” Americans. At this event, however, they were given the chance to ask followups, something that occasionally put the president on the spot.
Trump rejected the notion that there is a racial divide in America, even as he and his campaign have waged a campaign centered on the idea that the suburbs are under threat from urban protests and unrest. “Well, I hope there’s not a race problem,” Trump replied to voter Pastor Carl Day, who pointed out his Make America Great Again mantra “pushes us back to a time in which we cannot identify with such ‘greatness.” Trump continued: “I can tell you there’s none with me because I have great respect for all races — for everybody. This country is great because of it.”
In a special @ABC2020, an uncommitted voter presses Pres. Trump on how his slogan “Make America Great Again” relates to Black Americans, “because that pushes us back to a time in which we cannot identify with such greatness.”
Watch @ABC News’ town hall tonight at 9|8c. pic.twitter.com/b7bABJTPj4
— ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2020
As he has often in the past, Trump then veered back to how great the economy was doing before the coronavirus and its economic fallout cast the nation into the worse financial conditions in modern history. Trump also doubled down on his singular focus on law and order, evoking Richard Nixon’s strategy more than a half century ago.
“I can only say this, that the police in this country have done generally a great job,” Trump said in an extended stream of consciousness after being asked about brutality and racism that saw the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor by law enforcement and the recent shooting of Jacob Blake.
“There are crimes, there are problems, and there are chokers,” Trump said, while almost as aside admitting that the deaths of Floyd and Taylor were “tragic events.”
“They choke under pressure,” Trump went to justify police violence “I mean, they have one quarter of a second to make a decision, and sometimes they make a wrong decision, and that’s a terrible thing,” he continued of so-called “bad apples” on police forces.
“But you have 99 percent great people. I know the police forces very well. I think almost every one of them, if you look, I’ve been endorsed by so many of them. And these are great people.”
The display made it obvious on Tuesday that Trump had no intention of veering from his strategy of blaming others. At one point, as he faulted “Democrat states” for mounting crises, Stephanopulos had to remind him that they are “American states.” At another instance, Trump criticized Joe Biden for not implementing a national mask mandate even though he said he would. “To be clear: I am not currently president,” Biden tweeted later in the evening.
When asked about well sourced reporting of derogatory remarks he supposedly made about U.S. military personnel and veterans, a visibly agitated Trump again denied it and called The Atlantic article and others “fake news” with “made up quotes.” Heavily criticized as unfit for office by his ex-Defense Secretary, his ex-Chief of Staff and his ex-National Security Advisor, among others, Trump, as he has before, called the men he once highly praised as “disgruntled ex-employees.”
Pres. Trump in a special @abc2020 event: “I never made those statements. They were never made by me. They said I stood over the grave of soldiers killed many years ago and I said they were suckers. I never made that.” https://t.co/5rferlTBvn pic.twitter.com/muwAkQRMn9
— ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2020
When asked by another voter of color about attacks on health care access and Obamacare’s pre-existing condition clauses, Trump turned the topic on to a false assertion that the Democrats have “socialized medicine,” which drew on-air fact checking from Stephanopoulos. Noting how the Trump administration is trying to “strike down the whole law” of Obamacare at the Supreme Court with no significant replacement legislation or plan despite repeated promises, Stephanopoulos’ facts were met with Trump meekly contending that he “has it all ready.” – as you can see in the clip below.
In a special @abc2020, @GStephanopoulos presses Pres. Trump on claim he is preserving pre-existing conditions, even as his administration argues in court against Obamacare, which protects them: “You’ve been trying to strike down pre-existing conditions.” https://t.co/ztM30WXxPT pic.twitter.com/u0mClQXlXg
— ABC News (@ABC) September 16, 2020
The location of tonight’s town hall at Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center was no mere backdrop. Trump’s win in Pennsylvania in 2016 was a shock to Hillary Clinton’s campaign and most Democrats. Both Trump and Biden were in the state last week to visit the Shanksville Memorial for the 19th anniversary of 9/11. With over 35 years under his belt as a Senator from neighboring Delaware, Biden currently holds a nearly 10-point lead over Trump in Pennsylvania, though that is expected to tighten in coming weeks as the duo meet for a trio of live debates.
Stephanopoulos did try to interject at moments, but often Trump very quickly rattled off misleading claims and false statements that made real-time fact checking next to impossible. That will be a challenge come September 29, the first debate, when Fox News’ Chris Wallace will moderate.
ABC News said that it did offer Biden a town hall as well, but said that they “were not able to find a mutually agreeable date” with the Biden campaign. On the other hand, Biden will be appearing on CNN on Thursday for a town hall of his own with anchor Anderson Cooper.
On his show on Tuesday, Cooper’s guest was Woodward, who responded to Trump’s claim that he “Up-played” the virus.
“We are living in an Orwellian world,” Woodward said. “This is not just about some political problem, or some geopolitical problem. It’s about the lives of people in this country.”
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]]>The post CNN shames Trump’s ‘large crowd,’ ‘little social distancing’ at WH event marking historic Mideast peace deal appeared first on Virus Reports.
]]>CNN appeared to bury the lede by sounding the alarm oh the “large crowd” and “little social distancing” at the White House event commemorating the historic peace deal between Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain.
On Tuesday, President Trump was joined by Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu, UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, and Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalif to sign the Abraham Accords, something the president hailed as the “dawn of a new Middle East.”
However, CNN’s coverage of the event was less focused on the groundbreaking peace agreement and instead shamed the White House for holding such an event amid a pandemic.
CNN, MSNBC IGNORE TRUMP’S MAJOR ISRAEL-BAHRAIN PEACE DEAL DURING PRIMETIME
During the network’s 3 p.m. program, CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin accused the president of “denying the science” of coronavirus, citing the over 195,000 deaths and the over 6.5 million cases in the U.S.” She later negatively emphasized the “hundreds” of people that attended the outdoor White House event and knocked the president for holding a “packed” indoor campaign event in Arizona.
Baldwin highlighted that these events have taken place following the released recordings of Trump’s interviews with Bob Woodward, who in the early months of the pandemic spoke about the dangers of the virus with the veteran journalist while striking a different tone publicly at the time.
She then turned it to CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins, who was accompanied by an on-air graphic that read, “TRUMP HOLDS WHITE HOUSE EVENT WITH LARGE CROWD, LITTLE SOCIAL DISTANCING.”
Collins reported that there were “more masks at this event” than previous ones but credited “foreign delegations” who “wanted to adhere to stricter protocols.” She noted that many top officials who attended the event were seen not wearing masks including Attorney General William Barr, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas.
She went on to compare Israel’s handling of the outbreak, which is relaunching a nationwide lockdown due to a resurgence of the virus requiring Israelis to stay within 1,500 feet of their house, stressing that the rules are “much different” for President Trump and his administration.
“It’s a striking difference, isn’t it?” Baldwin reacted.
MSNBC, CNN MOSTLY IGNORE TRUMP’S MAJOR ISRAEL-UAE PEACE DEAL DURING PRIMETIME
The CNN anchor then welcomed Dr. Rob Davidson, who she billed as an “emergency room physician” without disclosing that he was previously a Democratic congressional candidate in 2018, to pile on the president, suggesting he “doesn’t care” about the potential health risks from the White House event.
CNN carried on its overly negative, coronavirus-focused tone toward the Abraham Accords signing throughout its programming.
NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck slammed the liberal network for “downplaying” what he described as a “monumental achievement” from the Trump administration.
“Despite having debased itself as full of hypocrites when it comes to enforcing coronavirus pandemic guidelines, CNN doesn’t actually care about ethics so they’ll offer scoldings about who is and isn’t wearing masks or socially distancing and that’s what they did today with decrying the Abraham Accords signing,” Houck told Fox News.
CNN GUEST CALLS COVID-19 RISKS AT WHITE HOUSE ‘CONCERNING,’ PRAISES THOUSANDS AT MARCH ON WASHINGTON
Radio host Buck Sexton blasted the anti-Trump network in reaction to its on-air graphic that highlighted the lack of “social distancing” instead of the peace deal.
“Once again, CNN manages to be the worst news network but the best comedy channel,” Sexton wrote.
Even the conservative satirical website The Babylon Bee had some fun at the expense of CNN, running the headline, “CNN Criticizes Israel, Arab Leaders For Shaking Hands In The Middle Of A Pandemic.”
CNN has had a history of downplaying Trump’s recent foreign policy accomplishments. Last week, the anti-Trump network completely avoided coverage of the announced Israel-Bahrain peace deal during its primetime lineup.
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Last month, “CNN Tonight” anchor Don Lemon used the Israel-UAE peace deal to mock Trump after national security adviser Robert O’Brien suggested the president should be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
“Wonder why he wants a Nobel Prize so badly? … Oh, you know who has one, right? President Barack Obama!” the CNN anchor boasted.
Lemon’s colleagues Anderson Cooper and Chris Cuomo avoided the subject altogether as did their primetime competitors on MSNBC.
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Army Gen. Mark Milley (second from left), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others listen as President Trump speaks during a meeting with senior military leaders in October.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
Army Gen. Mark Milley (second from left), chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and others listen as President Trump speaks during a meeting with senior military leaders in October.
Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
During a press conference at the White House on Labor Day, President Trump lashed out at Democratic rival Joe Biden, claiming the former vice president threw open the borders, shipped away jobs and sent America’s youth to fight in “crazy endless wars.”
Then the president veered into talk of the military, taking aim at the Pentagon brass and separating them from the rank-and-file troops.
“I’m not saying the military is in love with me; the soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of these wonderful companies that make the bombs and [make] the places and make everything else stay happy.”
Eliot Cohen, a military expert at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, could not recall such a character attack on top military leaders by a commander in chief.
“In a word, I don’t remember anything remotely like this, ever,” Cohen said. “FDR grumbled about [Army Gen.] Douglas MacArthur, but that was because he thought he wanted to be president. Other presidents grumbled about generals not doing what they were told, or not doing it quickly enough.”
Richard Kohn, an emeritus professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a longtime observer of the military, said what’s unusual is both Trump’s harsh rhetoric and the public nature of it all.
“No president in my experience or in my scholarly work has ever made such disparaging remarks toward the military as a whole,” he said. “A few have criticized some aspects of military service, or individual leaders at the top of the military, or even the leadership but almost always in private.”
For example, President Barack Obama and his aides often complained the Pentagon leadership was trying to box them in over troop increases in Afghanistan — but always in private. John Kennedy told his aides the Joint Chiefs were too eager for military action during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis as opposed to the blockade he chose to end the crisis.
For Peter Feaver, an expert on civilian military relations at Duke University, Trump’s comments and his actions amount to an effort to politicize an institution that’s supposed to be nonpartisan.
“The U.S. military is right where it least wants to be,” he wrote, “in the middle of the 2020 presidential campaign minefield.”
The Pentagon had no comment on what the president had to say this week about “the top people in the Pentagon.” But one senior officer — Gen. James McConville, the Army chief of staff — was asked to offer his views at a forum. He tried to tread carefully, insisting that recommendations to a president about military action have everything to do with national security and not business deals.
“Many of these leaders have sons and daughters that serve in the military, many of these leaders have sons and daughters who have gone to combat or may be in combat right now,” McConville said during an online forum hosted by Defense One, a media organization focusing on the U.S. military.
“I can assure the American people,” McConville added, “that the senior leaders would only recommend sending our troops to combat when it is required in national security and in the last resort. We take this very, very seriously in how we make our recommendations.”
Michael O’Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution, noted that the top Pentagon officials — McConville, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — were Trump appointees.
“Even by Trump’s standards, this blame the military approach is bizarre,” O’Hanlon said. “It did not launch the Iraq or Afghanistan wars or anything else like that: The civilians made those calls. Indeed DOD leadership held Trump back from possible war in Korea three years ago, underscoring the risks of his brinkmanship and talk of ‘bloody nose’ attacks.”
Still, Trump also appointed former Marine Gen. James Mattis to run the Pentagon — before souring on him. Mattis tried on a number of occasions to hold back Trump from taking military action — and toned down the missile strike on chemical weapons facilities in Syria.
Part of Trump’s frustration likely comes from his failure to fulfill his campaign pledge to bring troops home from Afghanistan, Syria and Iraq. Trump actually increased U.S. troops to Iraq in 2017 by the thousands.
And while U.S. troops have decreased — or are decreasing — in all three countries, Trump complained about the continued American presence — and the money being spent. Even though, the Islamic State caliphate was “defeated 100%,” the president was convinced by military leaders to keep hundreds of troops in Syria to prevent the Islamic militant organization from resurging.
“Some people don’t like to come home. Some people like to continue to spend money,” the president told reporters on Labor Day. “One coldhearted globalist betrayal after another, and that’s what it was.”
Moreover, Pentagon leaders have balked at other requests from Trump. When the president threatened to send in the military to quell protests and unrest after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, Esper publicly said active duty troops should not be used.
Sources said Trump was furious and threatened to fire him, though cooler heads prevailed.
And Pentagon civilian and military leaders moved to ban the Confederate flag from military bases and favored renaming bases named after Confederate generals, the president disagreed, saying both were part of American heritage.
Add to all that former senior officers and officials who have publicly — and sharply — criticized him. Mattis called Trump divisive. Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, questioned in a TV interview, labeled the president immoral, while retired Adm. Bill McRaven said Trump was a threat to the republic.
Trump lashed back, calling Mattis “overrated” and McChrystal “dumb” and dimissing McRaven as an “Obama backer.”
Tammy Schultz, a Georgetown University professor specializing in military issues, said such comments are corrosive to civilian military relations.
A commander in chief, she said, “requires a consistent temperament for the good of the military as well as civilian leaders underneath the president.”
Moreoever, Schultz said Trump has tried to use the military as a political prop — or political enemy.
“At various points, [Trump] has referred to ‘my military’ or ‘my generals’ and with great affection,” she said, “and apparently at other times with deep contempt.”
It seems the president, the University of North Carolina’s Kohn said, is trying to drive a wedge between officers and rank-and-file troops for political gain.
“Trump has from the beginning pandered to the enlisted force,” Kohn said, “implicitly setting them against the officers just as he attacks other elites and poses as a champion of the mass of the American public.”
All that likely adds to Trump’s perception that there’s a divide between the top brass and the rank-and-file soldiers. Trump did enjoy wide support among the enlisted ranks, more so than officers.
At the start of the Trump presidency, a poll by Military Times found that 46% of troops had favorable view of him, and 37% had an unfavorable opinion. Now those numbers have reversed.
In the latest results — based on more than 1,000 active-duty troops surveyed in late July and early August, about half — 49.9% — had an unfavorable view, while 38% had a favorable view.
Of those polled, more than 59% of officers said they have a poor view of the president. Among enlisted respondents, 47% said they have an unfavorable view
Military leaders are aware they can be pulled increasingly into the election and have advised their subordinates and political leaders about their concerns. They are carefully watching to make sure they’re not drawn into any overt political scenes.
Feaver, the Duke professor, remains concerned as well, especially in the next two months as the race tightens, and Trump looks to shore up support or expand his base.
“The first threat is the lingering possibility that violent protests on city streets will once again raise the prospect of President Trump deploying active-duty troops to support local law enforcement,” he said. “It might be more likely than not that this issue will return as a live option before Election Day.”
During protests in Washington, D.C., in June, Trump ordered active-duty troops to take part, but Pentagon officials kept them outside the city, preferring to use police and National Guard forces. But what if Trump insists next time?
For Feaver, “the really ominous threat” is the prospect of the military being drawn into a contested election “by forcibly preventing a losing candidate from grabbing political power.”
Such a scenario has been suggested by military analysts and opinion writers, but readily dismissed by Pentagon officials. Still, Feaver said, “the concerns are palpable and likely to grow.”
Members of Congress recently asked the top military official, Milley, about such a possibility.
“In the event of a dispute over some aspect of the elections, by law U.S. courts and the U.S. Congress are required to resolve any disputes, not the U.S. military,” Milley wrote. “I believe deeply in the principle of an apolitical U.S. military.”
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