Trump continues to use presidential events for political purposes

His campaign, not taxpayers, should pay for these events. Congress should hold Trump accountable.

As Campaign Season Heats Up, Trump Has Turned the Official Into the Political

and it's over. It's remarkable how Trump has completely obliterated the line between taxpayer-funded official White House events and political rallies. pic.twitter.com/Khfady9UWE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) February 7, 2020

“You better go out and vote on Nov. 3,” Trump says at National Prayer Breakfast, an official event and typically a bipartisan one
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 6, 2020

This is an "official" event. Trump is now mocking Democrats' Iowa problems at length, saying, "They can't count simple votes, but they want to fix your health care system." He also mocks Pete Buttigieg as a nobody.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 7, 2020

Trump’s speech, delivered from behind a lectern w/a presidential seal, was billed as an official WH event + his travel was not paid for by his campaign. But it was indistinguishable in much of its content from remarks He delivers at his MAGA rallies.https://t.co/cztg7Jw5XW
— Annie Karni (@anniekarni) October 4, 2019

Trump turning a WH (taxpayer funded) event on Medicare into campaign rally: “These are maniacs. Elizabeth, Pocohantas. When I used to hit her, I thought she was done. But she came back from the ashes. Now I’m gonna have to do it again because I don’t see Sleepy Joe making it.”
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 3, 2019

Trump is now telling this official event in Michigan about the expected size of the crowd at his rally tonight in Iowa. "It's all over the news," he says.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 30, 2020

Trump ends LSU event by turning it into a rally: "You got a good [POTUS] now – even though they're trying to impeach the son of a bitch! Can you believe that?… we took out those terrorists like your football team would've taken out those terrorists!"

Players look uncomfortable pic.twitter.com/5z6PipzB61
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 17, 2020

Here's a sample of the just-concluded official Trump speech at a community college in North Carolina. pic.twitter.com/saEW1ECIVC
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 7, 2020

Impeachment polls

“Americans are more eager to impeach Trump now than they were at similar points in the impeachment sagas of Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon.” https://t.co/TVWJGRM6vi
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 4, 2019

In perilous times: Americans are now inclined to support impeaching President Trump and removing him from office, a USA TODAY/Ipsos Poll finds. https://t.co/gaXxb809Se
— USA TODAY Politics (@usatodayDC) October 3, 2019

New USA Today poll:

Americans support House *impeaching* Trump by 45-38

They support *Senate conviction and removal* by 44-35 (!)

Note: 30% of Republicans say pressure on Ukraine to smear Biden is an abuse of power.

And it's early. More will come out.https://t.co/nIaJRZgP7E
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) October 3, 2019

Know there's a lot of other news today, but we have a tracker of impeachment polls up. https://t.co/H6uMspjp68
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 2, 2019

“A majority of voters support Congress’ current impeachment proceedings, but nearly a quarter say there is nothing President Trump could do that would cause them to support impeaching him and removing him from office, including 49 percent of Republicans.” https://t.co/5kF4YWgFka
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) October 2, 2019

35 percent of the voters who are against impeachment, oppose it *just because* they're worried it will hurt democrats politically, new polling from yougov/PCI finds https://t.co/ZfD7JRW55D
— aída chávez (@aidachavez) October 2, 2019

There's significant movement among Democrats and independents; less among Republicans.

Among Democrats, support for impeachment has gone from 72%->80% post Ukraine.

Among indies, it's gone from 34%->42%

Among Republicans, it's gone from 10%->12%.
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) October 2, 2019

IRS does not audit the rich as much as the poor

i might be one of a handful voters whose top ten issues include “reform and reinvigorate the IRS to go after the rich” https://t.co/ocp7CZizDx
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) October 3, 2019

IRS audit rate for households with incomes over $10 million.

Fiscal 2015: 34.69%
2016: 18.79%
2017: 14.52%
2018: 6.66%https://t.co/E06XegRI0e
— Richard Rubin (@RichardRubinDC) May 20, 2019

Trump pursues phony Crowdstrike conspiracy theory

This crackpot conspiracy theory blames the Democrats and Ukraine for 2016 election interference. It gets Russia off the hook which of course appeals to Trump.

New from me:

A conspiracy theory called “The Insurance Policy” consumed President Trump’s inner-circle. Their connection? They all absolved Russia.https://t.co/CMMwlg8ScM
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) October 3, 2019

It feels somewhat reminiscent of Russian propaganda campaigns themselves—an effort not to advance a single narrative as much as to flood the zone with disinfo and speculation to the degree that an average overseer throws up his hands and decides the truth is simply unknowable https://t.co/YyTYDgQ3CO
— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) October 1, 2019

ok i honestly did not understand the crowdstrike thing until just now, did not know it was connected to the Seth Rich thing, and am blown away once again by how the most powerful man in the world is getting his info https://t.co/SbtH84tSB1 pic.twitter.com/Eu5k44UzKH
— the norms misser (@cd_hooks) October 1, 2019

Unless I missed someone, Bossert appears to be the first Trump former administration official to condemn the president over the Ukraine call and the focus on who did the hacking in 2016: https://t.co/jHLQjEA3XQ
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 29, 2019

The Crowdstrike conspiracy that President Trump asked the Ukrainian to investigate started as a 4chan post, then was laundered through almost every step of this handy-dandy chart I made in 2017.

4chan rumors become self-fulfilling prophesies—and they eventually cite themselves. https://t.co/fziI2f1BBH
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 27, 2019

The Crowdstrike conspiracy theory Trump mentioned on his call with Zelenskiy started, of course, on 4chan. Here are the origins: https://t.co/oEBkQNn65t
— Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) September 26, 2019

Absolutely Critical: The references to "Crowdstrike" and the "server" are abt a conspiracy theory that the DNC hack was an inside job and that Russia was framed for it by Ukraine and the DNC. It's the same theory that says Seth Rich was murdered. https://t.co/j55ZMx0UoP via @TPM
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 25, 2019

The Trump-Ukraine phone call memo reveals that Trump pressed Zelensky to investigate CrowdStrike, a private cybersecurity firm that the DNC hired in 2016 to probe whether it had been hacked, and that Trump incorrectly suggested is owned by a Ukrainian. https://t.co/BfmWWA7H5q
— Mother Jones (@MotherJones) September 25, 2019

Update on farmers 10/3/19

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said today that there are no guarantees that smaller dairy farms will survive:

"In America, the big get bigger and the small go out." https://t.co/lnKA0tdcEb
— Axios (@axios) October 2, 2019

In Wisconsin, 1,200 dairy farms have gone out of business in the last 2 years. Here’s the sympathetic response from Trump’s Ag Secretary:

“In America, the big get bigger and the small go out.”https://t.co/5Scaieyv0h
— Chris Lu (@ChrisLu44) October 2, 2019

It takes a rare fella to say so plainly that America is essentially a monopoly culture, and that the ultimate goal of a free market is to achieve the absolute minimal amount of actual competition. https://t.co/xVgIizVGMy
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) October 1, 2019

U.S. farmers receive $14.03 billion so far in government trade aid https://t.co/ZOO0AIU460 pic.twitter.com/Q7iRWjlLmy
— Reuters Top News (@Reuters) October 2, 2019

NEW: In Iowa, farmers are turning on Trump. It's not just trade. Trump is undercutting ethanol

"I supported Trump in the last election. Today, if the election were held, I don’t think I could vote for him,” said Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a corn & soybean farmerhttps://t.co/tUhKxR5E3x
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) October 1, 2019

This is a curious re-election message for farmers.

(551 Wisconsin dairy farms have disappeared so far this year, up from 465 the year Trump took office.)https://t.co/5rQpcCO3sR
— Alex Wayne (@aawayne) October 1, 2019

Trump's Ag secretary Sonny Perdue in visit to Wisconsin says dairy farms may need to get bigger to survive.

Wisconsin dairy farmer at Dem presser: "What I heard today from the secretary of agriculture was there's no place for me." https://t.co/5dabWBKSWj via @patrickdmarley
— Molly Beck (@MollyBeck) October 1, 2019

Farmers find another reason to get frustrated with President Trump https://t.co/Adnr1sNGVO pic.twitter.com/GKaxMk782k
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) September 29, 2019

Just so that you know where all this money is going: “More than 92% of the country’s 2.1 million farmers are non-Hispanic whites, and more than 86% of those farm operators are men.” https://t.co/X9s0vbfRwK
— Charles M. Blow (@CharlesMBlow) September 23, 2019

Night of the Living Dead – 10/1/68

Night of the Living Dead is available on DVD and Blu-ray through the Criterion Collection

George A. Romero with Duane Jones, Judith O'Dea, and the rest of the ensemble during the making of Romero's terrifying and trenchant masterpiece NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, a horror movie that changed horror movies, which premiered on this day in Pittsburgh, PA in 1968. pic.twitter.com/IcI1JK3Ulo
— Tribeca (@Tribeca) October 1, 2019

George Romero's classic, Night of the Living Dead, was released on this day in 1968. #horror pic.twitter.com/CHMUwcHRZk
— Holidaze Halloween 🎃 (@QueenHalloweenW) October 1, 2019

Love For The Brothers: Duane Jones https://t.co/C29f446dUS
— Black Women Horror Studies (@GraveyardSister) December 30, 2019