[guest post by Dana]

Obviously Joe Biden served the Trump campaign some serious red meat with his “you ain’t black” foot-in-mouth moment last Friday, and as a result, they produced a new campaign ad. Here is “Does Joe Biden Take Black People for Granted?”:

Joe Biden thinks he has a right to tell Black Americans if they are Black or not.#YouAintBlack pic.twitter.com/b5QxQPTI2I

— Team Trump (Text TRUMP to 88022) (@TeamTrump) May 22, 2020

Although it’s just a :31 second spot, the ad says pointedly gets the message across: Biden shot his mouth off, and whether he intended to say that he was the self-assigned arbiter of blackness or not, that’s what he did, and the appearance of black Trump supporters in the spot sends the message to viewers that they alone will decide who is black, not some old white guy in his basement. I think the brevity of the ad works to its advantage. It’s uncluttered, the point is easily made, and there is no question about whether Biden actually said such a thing. Although it would be understandable to question it BECAUSE WHO SAYS SOMETHING LIKE THAT!

The Trump campaign store is also selling #YouAin’tBlack T-Shirts:

Black Voices for Trump also parlayed Biden’s gaffe into a brief ad that gets straight to the point. Here’s “You Ain’t Black”:

Joe Biden’s campaign released a new ad as well. It’s a brief but powerful ad that shows footage of Trump golfing this past weekend interspersed with shots of health care workers and a counter tallying the number of Covid-19 deaths to date:

Nearly 100,000 lives have been lost, and tens of millions are out of work.

Meanwhile, the president spent his day golfing. pic.twitter.com/H1BVNtgVjA

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 24, 2020

I like this ad because it’s uncluttered as well, and not clumsy and overpopulated with data (like his previous ad). It’s to the point, says a lot in a short period of time, and the side-by-side shots of Trump golfing as people die will hit home with Americans. You should know that Trump defended his decision to golf this weekend, by blaming, well, uh, I’m not exactly sure who… but someone!

Trump’s tweet defending his decision to golf came after Joe Biden criticized him for golfing, and for his lack of leadership in everything:

The presidency is about a lot more than tweeting from your golf cart. It requires taking on the ultimate responsibility for the biggest decisions in the world. Donald Trump simply wasn’t prepared for that. I promise you I will be.

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 24, 2020

Anyway, there you have it. Two old white guys duking it out on Twitter and in campaign ads. Obviously, being the best and the brightest is not a prerequisite for the presidency.

–Dana

Remember the fallen.

Today I choose to remember especially Ramadi press officer Major Megan McClung and the two soldiers who died with her that day: Army Capt. Travis Patriquin and Army Spec. Vincent Pomante III.

#FAKENEWSBEZOSPOST:

The political appointee President Trump installed last week to investigate waste, fraud and abuse at the Transportation Department is the same official in charge of one of the agency’s key divisions.

That means Howard “Skip” Elliott is now running an office charged with investigating his own actions.

Elliott serves simultaneously as the Transportation Department’s inspector general and head of the department’s pipeline and hazardous materials agency, whose mission includes enforcement of safety regulations on nearly 1 million daily shipments of gas, oil and other dangerous compounds.

This is part of a pattern of dismissing inspectors general and replacing them with unqualified people beholden to the agencies they are supposed to be overseeing:

Elliott’s appointment was the fifth in two months in which Trump, chafing from oversight he perceived as criticism, replaced a career investigator with an appointee considered more loyal to the president. In three of the cases, Trump has installed new leadership drawn from the senior ranks of the agencies the inspectors general oversee.

. . . . [S]everal White House nominees awaiting Senate vetting for permanent roles do not meet traditional qualifications for the job.

. . . .

[R]ecent nominees to high-profile inspector general offices, including at the Defense Department, HHS and the CIA, have far less leadership experience. They lack a deep background in auditing or investigations, raising concerns about whether they can succeed in roles they may not be prepared for, according to four current watchdogs, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to talk candidly.

This is part of Trump’s gutting of any oversight of his administration — by Congress, by law enforcement, and now by inspectors general. And naturally, no Senate Republican is doing anything about it. Senators Grassley and Romney have mouthed concern but taken no steps to actually do anything.

Par for the course. Now watch this drive.

[guest post by Dana]

President Trump has threatened to pull the Republican Convention out of North Carolina if Gov. Roy Cooper doesn’t allow the event at the venue site:

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to pull the Republican National Convention out of North Carolina in August unless Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper can guarantee “full attendance” at the event, which typically draws tens of thousands of people. Republicans, Trump tweeted, “must be immediately given an answer by the Governor as to whether or not the space will be allowed to be fully occupied. If not, we will be reluctantly forced… to find, with all of the jobs and economic development it brings, another Republican National Convention site.”

“In other words, we would be spending millions of dollars building the Arena to a very high standard without even knowing if the Democrat Governor would allow the Republican Party to fully occupy the space,” Trump added in another tweet.

North Carolina has begun a phased reopening of the state, but large gatherings are still banned. The governor has thus far refused to deviate from the plan. In an interview with CNN, Cooper said of his decision:

“This is not political. This is not emotional. This is based on health experts, data and science and that’s it for everybody to see. No one is being favored or disfavored over the other.”

The Republican convention is scheduled for Aug. 24 – 27. As a reminder, North Carolina has 15 electoral votes which are critical to Trump’s re-election. GOP officials say that they expect 50,000 attendees in Charlotte for the convention.

The numbers:

At least 24,056 people in North Carolina have tested positive for the coronavirus, and 790 have died as of Monday morning, according to state and county health departments.

The N.C. Department of Health and Human Services on Sunday reported 497 new cases of the virus, a drop from the 1,107 reported Saturday — the largest single-day increase since the start of the pandemic and the first time the state topped 1,000 new cases in a day.

Officials attribute Saturday’s spike to an increase in testing, with an all-time high of 26,378 daily tests completed.

The state has been averaging 673 daily cases over the last seven days as of Sunday.

It’s absurd for Trump to demand that he be given a guarantee by the governor, at this point in time. Neither the governor, nor Trump have any idea what level of outbreak North Carolina will be experiencing come August. It would be irresponsible for the governor to give his guarantee to Trump. I find it even more irresponsible, and unconscionable, for the President of the United States to leverage the economy and livelihood of North Carolinians in this way.

–Dana