Trump’s Las Vegas speech September 20, 2018

More lies and other nonsense

"I'm not thrilled, but after the election, they're all telling me were getting our wall the way we want it, so let's see what happens. Let's see what happens. Let's see if they produce." — Trumphttps://t.co/JJonJ6h6vP

— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 21, 2018

Trump says he is going to "drain the swamp." There is a "drain the swamp" chant. He says "Wacky Jacky" again.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump throws a hat. People scream. I Want It That Way plays. "The president has a weird thing for Backstreet Boys or something," the host of the Right Side Broadcasting web stream says.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump says America is "being respected again," and the economy is the best ever, and if Hillary Clinton had won it would have been a "sad, sad period of time."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"Except for a lot of the fake news that you see from these people back here" – BOOOO – "this is an incredible time for our country," Trump begins.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"Poverty is plummeting," Trump boasts. Government report last week showed that the poverty rate dropped from 12.7% in 2016 to 12.3% in 2017.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump: "Remember the tears from the fake news media when it was obvious we were going to win. And you know what: they're still crying. Look at 'em, they're still crying. They're still crying. And let 'em cry. They don't know what the hell happened."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

For at least the 12th time, Trump falsely claims that presidents had failed to pass the Veterans Choice program for decades before him. (This time he says it took "46 years.") The Choice program was created in 2014 under Obama. Trump's law modified the program.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

This is the part of the rally where Trump, on-script, attacks the local Democratic candidate, providing material for the local Republicans' ads. It is usually followed by him no longer being on script any more.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump says the Democrats' new platform is "radical socialism," vowing, "I won't allow the United States of America to become the next Venezuela." There is a…"build that wall" chant.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"We started the wall a year ago," Trump lies for the 35th time of the wall he has not started. "We've done a lot."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump lies that Democrats voted for a wall in 2006. They voted for fencing. The law was called the Secure Fence Act.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump mentions Hillary Clinton. There is a very loud "LOCK HER UP" chant, the loudest chant of the night.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump: "A lot of people think that I'm always angry at Congress. I'm angry at Democrats."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump slams the media at length, then lies, for the 6th time, that the red lights of their cameras are "starting to go off" because they don't like the criticism. No station has ever turned off its camera during his media criticism.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump says that without the "fake news," Democrats would not even get 5% of the vote. "I'll tell you. It's true," he concludes.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

For the 12th time, Trump lies that the New York Times apologized to its subscribers after the election. It made a sales pitch, not an apology.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump lies again that his election hurt the sales of the New York Times: "When we won, they suffered." The Times added 276,000 digital subscribers in the three months after the election.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump says that Americans voted to reject corrupt globalism: "Hey, I'm the president of the United States! I'm not. The president. Of the glooobe."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

This is Trump's most concerted rally pitch for his supporters to vote in the midterms, which he often makes only passingly. This time, he frames it as his own election: "I want to give a victory speech. I want to give a victory speech on the evening of Election Day."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"We've created more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs," Trump says of the 348,000 manufacturing jobs created during his presidency.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"Remember when President Obama said you can't have manufacturing jobs anymore," Trump falsely says of Obama's 2016 comments on PBS. Obama said some particular manufacturing jobs were gone, but boasted of how many he'd brought back and how many America still has.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump is boasting of how he told African-American voters, "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO LOSE? REMEMBER?" He says he did it because African-Americans have "the worst education, the worst home ownership" and such.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

For the 26th time, Trump falsely says Asian unemployment is at a record low. (It was in May, but jumped back up to a higher level than at the end of the Obama era.) For the 27th time, Trump falsely says women's unemployment is at a 65-year low. (Again, was in May but jumped.)

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Donald Trump: "I'm an environmentalist."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump keeps recounting his 2016 election victory, twice speaking in the voice of a newscaster announcing that Donald Trump is the next president of the United States.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"Democrats want to give welfare and free health care to illegal aliens," Trump says to boos, adding of Gavin Newsom, "How about this clown in California who's running for governor?"

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

"We have the cleanest air now in the world," Trump says of air the Environmental Performance Index ranks as the 10th-best in the world. "We have the cleanest water," Trump says of the U.S.'s 29th-ranked water.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump is again mounting an extended attack on Democrats' "Medicare for all" proposals, saying that would be an all-time disaster. We'll likely hear a lot of this for the next two years.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump is trying something new recently: arguing that "Democrats would bankrupt the safety net" with left-wing proposals and with proposals to pay for benefits for immigrants. After all he's proposed, he's positioning himself as the saviour of essential benefit programs.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump has concluded. He was stunningly dishonest by the standard of any other politician but on quite good behaviour for himself, and especially on-message in pleading for midterm turnout.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Covers: Roving Gambler

The Everly Brothers recorded an album called Song Our Daddy Taught Us in 1958. It has songs taught to them by their father, Ike Everly.

Bear Family released a version in 2013 which also included a disc of recordings that had inspired the Everlys called Songs Our Daddy Learned including “Roving Gambler” by Eddy Arnold.

Billie Joe (from Green Day) and Norah Jones recorded all of the songs for their 2013 album Foreverly.

There are many other versions.

Everly Brothers

Billie Joe + Norah

Eddy Arnold

The Country Gentlemen

Doc Watson

Simon & Garfunkel

The Stanley Brothers

Trump is disgusting

I knew he couldn’t keep his mouth shut on Dr. Ford. His real character (or lack of it) always comes out. The man has no compassion or empathy. He just knows how to attack people. Let’s not forget that he has been accused by over a dozen women of sexual assault, I believe the women.

Obviously, Republicans will do anything to get this unpopular nominee confirmed. I don’t know why any woman would vote for a Republican in 2018.

“There’s no reason to attack her,” Kellyanne Conway said to reporters of Christine Blasey Ford at 9:09am. Five minutes later, Trump begins tweetstorm going after … Christine Blasey Ford

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) September 21, 2018

HOW DEPRAVED IS THE GOP AT THIS POINT?

Well, just THIS MORNING alone:

1. Trump called Dr. Ford a liar

2. Franklin Graham says "no crime was committed" and they were "just teenagers"

3. Gary Bauer says that Ford charges are like "waterboarding" Kavanaugh

— Ronald Klain (@RonaldKlain) September 21, 2018

Trump's relative restraint on Ford's accusations lasted five days. He is now following his own playbook for sexual assault claims of deny, retaliate and repeat. https://t.co/uMlMIlYF4T

— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) September 21, 2018

You can always count on Trump to do the most despicable thing possible, especially when it comes to women. It was only a question of when, not if, he would attack Dr. Ford.

— Matthew Miller (@matthewamiller) September 21, 2018

I bet she still votes for Kavanaugh:

Republican Sen. Susan Collins says she is "appalled" by President Trump's tweets about Christine Blasey Ford https://t.co/8lRyVF58PI pic.twitter.com/pmCrqpG8C2

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 21, 2018

A source who has been talking to Trump told Axios "you have no idea" how hard it has been to keep him from attacking Dr. Blasey Ford.

A WH official said: "Hopefully he can keep it together until Monday. That's only, like, another 48 hours right?" https://t.co/OAe0gf6hoF

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 21, 2018

Trump has shifted from relative restraint — praising Kavanaugh and expressing general doubt — to directly suggesting Blasey Ford is a liar. pic.twitter.com/bjU6u4xMtx

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

Trump’s tweet suggested he thinks anyone who doesn’t report a sexual assault to police “immediately” is lying. https://t.co/Xd68b4yeDY

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

2018 election update – 9/24/18

The House polling we've seen – both public and private – was already pretty terrible for Republicans, but has gotten noticeably worse since Labor Day (with a few exceptions, mostly in substantially Hispanic districts)

— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) September 24, 2018

And here are the rankings. Joe Manchin in W Va. keeps getting more secure in his reelection, while Heidi Heitkamp in ND is the most vulnerable Senate Dem right now. She's a very close second to GOP Sen. Dean Heller in NV for most likely to lose. https://t.co/EoRVyYcaB3

— Amber Phillips (@byamberphillips) September 21, 2018

A FiveThirtyEight Election Update pic.twitter.com/UPNAxnoHQ9

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) September 20, 2018

How the Democrats can flip the house on Election Day: congressional elections in #IA01, #VA07, and #WA08 https://t.co/N9JIytM9s5 pic.twitter.com/90KEFcCxVZ

— GQ Magazine (@GQMagazine) September 20, 2018

Now that the primaries have ended, there are 21 openly LGBT people nominated for Congress and four for governor, all Democrats, according to an advocacy group. https://t.co/UDKUQ11Vex

— NYT Politics (@nytpolitics) September 20, 2018

NEWS: Private RNC poll admits "We've lost the messaging battle" on tax cuts, via me + @sahilkapur : https://t.co/uAmGz53XYL

— Joshua Green (@JoshuaGreen) September 20, 2018

This is one of my pet theories about 2018 and I'm glad to see actual data behind it. Some number of voters kept their GOP rep in office to hold the inevitable President Clinton accountable. https://t.co/IK5CoGNGvd

— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) September 19, 2018

Democrats are surging back in the Midwestern states where President Trump cut deepest into their old coalition in 2016 https://t.co/hqtIBXVsEd

— POLITICO (@politico) September 21, 2018

Here's context on the Gosar siblings, one of whom has run for office as a Dem. One sister says, "It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist." A brother claims they don't want to speak publicly, but "he just doesn’t appear to be well." https://t.co/cVwznox3NN

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 21, 2018

I don't think anyone is projecting that Ds will win the Senate. Rs are definitely still the favorites

But I think the conventional wisdom is lagging on the overall competitiveness of the chamber. My model has it at 60% chance R win. FiveThirtyEight has it at 68%

That's not safe

— David Byler (@databyler) September 21, 2018

Kavanaugh update – 9/20/18

The Republicans just want to push the nomination through. There is no deadline – it’s all artificial,. They wouldn’t even give Garland a hearing. Their conditions for Ford to testify are not reasonable. The FBI should investigate (like it did for Thomas) and other witnesses should be called.

Even with that, I would still testify if I was Ford so she could tell everyone about the unfair conditions that were placed upon her. If Kavanaugh is innocent, he should welcome an FBI review and witness testimony. Would Ford go through all of this (including death threats) if she made the incident up? I really doubt that.

Republicans will regret their continued shabby treatment of women if they vote on the nomination without Ford’s testimony and an FBI investigation

It is a tragedy that few people beyond @benjaminwittes and @Susan_Hennessey talk about the most essential issue. The Supreme Court as an institution is being discredited by partisan politics. McConnell has guaranteed this seat will always be seen as illegitimate. https://t.co/z399YZW6wb

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) September 20, 2018

If Kavanaugh attacked Ford, what he’s done since doesn’t wipe the slate clean, @NancyAFrench writes https://t.co/zrRCLUunk9

— Post Opinions (@PostOpinions) September 20, 2018

I’ve successfully prosecuted 38-year-old crimes. It wasn’t easy, but it was the right thing to do to get justice for the victims.

All I‘m asking for is a full, fair investigation. Let’s get to the truth, whatever it may be.

We need to get this right. There’s too much at stake.

— Doug Jones (@SenDougJones) September 20, 2018

"unfazed" – not really even pretending https://t.co/4f1mZv6PRh

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 20, 2018

When I reported my crime to police 30 years after it happened, they investigated it, even though I had very few specific memories. There ended up being enough evidence for my perpetrator to plead guilty. He is in prison now.

Delayed reporting does not mean the survivor is lying https://t.co/eaiidBwpvb

— Dani Bostick (@danibostick) September 20, 2018

GOP humor https://t.co/XkzWsNsVhj

— Michael Silver (@MikeSilver) September 20, 2018

This @StevenBeschloss question answers itself — as so many of the wisest questions do. https://t.co/PGrc7uzThE

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 19, 2018

This is why it is entirely reasonable for Dr. Ford to request time. She's about to come up against a highly sophisticated, very effective machine designed to destroy her credibility. The faster they can make her do it, and the fewer facts available, the harder it will be for her. https://t.co/ke0MhkJpLY

— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) September 19, 2018

It also sends a message if Dr. Ford has to appear, but Senate GOP organizers of the hearing let two identified male witnesses get off with sending a letter and saying they don't want their lives disrupted. https://t.co/w27AKlDGx4

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) September 19, 2018

Lying to the FBI is a crime.

Dr. Christine Blasey Ford wants to talk to the FBI.

Brett Kavanaugh doesn’t want to talk to the FBI.

Kavanaugh’s friend & witness Mark Judge doesn’t want to talk to the FBI.

They all know lying to the FBI is a crime.

— Lawrence O'Donnell (@Lawrence) September 19, 2018

Ex-federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah: "The fact that Brett Kavanaugh is not himself saying, 'yeah, let's investigate this' and asking for it himself, I think that's very telling." https://t.co/mcuJzpTTP1

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) September 20, 2018

“these claims defy logic. Kavanaugh strains credulity” https://t.co/4omcsWXzEF

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 20, 2018

I don't know the answer, but the predicate seems right. The nation has changed in some fundamental ways, but dinosaurs like Hatch and Grassley seem to have changed very little. https://t.co/diCATtV8aM

— robneyer (@robneyer) September 20, 2018

Threats of any sort to anyone are contemptible https://t.co/dbCOcpkDSb

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) September 20, 2018

Powerful thread. https://t.co/WCimBiGuDg

— Nicholas Kristof (@NickKristof) September 20, 2018

Riddle me this. If someone is lying (https://t.co/RoJWRckYLb)and they know that lying to the FBI is a crime, why would they be asking for an FBI investigation? If a sitting Federal Judge is accused of something he denies with his reputation at stake why wouldn’t he demand one?

— Steve Schmidt (@SteveSchmidtSES) September 20, 2018

The FBI clearly has jurisdiction, without any referral from the WH, to investigate the death threats, the hacking, and the harassment designed to prevent the alleged victim from appearing to testify before the US Senate. That would lead to investigating the alleged arrack itself

— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) September 19, 2018

I was sexually assaulted in the mid-80’s at the home of one of Kavanaugh’s schoolmates. The host of that party added his name to this letter to the Judiciary Committee attesting to Kavanaugh’s character. https://t.co/l2RNGr8KOj 3/#metoo @LindseyGrahamSC @SenatorDurbin

— casey mooney (@casey_connects) September 20, 2018

Yup https://t.co/SA19JdQ8cU

— Zerlina Maxwell (@ZerlinaMaxwell) September 20, 2018

Hugh Hewitt 2/16 on Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland: “Republicans are under no obligation to hold a hearing much less a vote”

Hewitt 9/18 decrying allegations against Kavanaugh: “Seriously, due process is a real concept, deeply embedded in Anglo-American law and politics”

— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) September 20, 2018

What Republicans are doing to Dr. Ford is shameful. By refusing to treat her allegations properly and by playing games to protect Kavanaugh’s nomination, they're telling women across the country that they're not to be believed.

That they are worth less than a man’s promotion.

— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) September 19, 2018

I'm gonna be interested in how this works. I'm a little skeptical, but it doesn't help Republicans. That's pretty clear. https://t.co/VNELbGvXta

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) September 22, 2018

Trump administration priorities

This is disgusting – putting poor treatment of immigrants over cancer research.

The Trump admin is literally shifting money from cancer research to immigrant children detention. https://t.co/qfuSsW7UXB

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) September 20, 2018

The Trump administration stopped tracking the juvenile justice race gap

This is what happens when you elect a racist to be president.

A Trump appointee at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention has stopped tracking the juvenile justice race gap.@elibhager looks into it for @MarshallProj: https://t.co/2HmLCOr3Pf

— Justin George (@justingeorge) September 20, 2018

HUD – loyalty is more important than experience

A thorough investigation by the Washington Post

HUD awarded promotions & pay increases to 5 political operatives w/ no housing policy experience within their first months on the job.

The raises resulted in salaries between $98-$155k for the 5, all of whom had worked on Trump’s or Carson’s campaigns. https://t.co/w2zCpcRMiC

— ProPublica (@ProPublica) September 20, 2018

That HUD policy that would've tripled rent for America's poorest families? It was pushed by a former Koch consultant with zero policy experience and a three-month fellowship in "welfare studies" https://t.co/HlMErbESLz pic.twitter.com/BVTAhipvjt

— Drew Harwell (@drewharwell) September 20, 2018

Of the 24 Trump administration HUD appointees without housing policy experience on their résumés or LinkedIn profiles, 16 listed work on either Carson’s or Trump’s presidential campaigns — or had personal connections to their families. https://t.co/Ux1uLhDoCa

— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) September 20, 2018

Trump’s visit to North Carolina

If he cared, he would have had a briefing. This was a photo op. Sad!

Trump’s storm “briefing” in N.C. was surreal. First, nobody briefed him; politicians mostly just thanked him. Second, he praised local officials for their “talent.” Third, he said we have the strongest economy ever. Fourth, he asked about Lake Norman, where his golf course is.

— Brett Kelman (@BrettKelman) September 19, 2018

The history of ranch dressing