Shell workers had to attend the Trump rally to get paid

A corporation that provides its workers as paid extras for a campaign rally is making a political contribution from the corporate treasury.
The FEC should investigate.

‘No Yelling, Shouting, Protesting': Shell Workers Captive Audience During Trump Visit https://t.co/4XwURkh9SR
— Richard W. Painter (@RWPUSA) August 17, 2019

Hoping that Shell visit turns into a well-crafted and oft-played SuperPAC ad in Rust Belt. https://t.co/uZJ6OTAsY3
— emptywheel (@emptywheel) August 17, 2019

WHOA.

Amongst the MANY paid attendees at the #EmptySeatMAGATour, Shell workers were forced to attend for their pay.

And they were forbidden to show any signs of protest.

That doesn't sound like America.
It sounds like North Korea.#BoycottShell https://t.co/hSqIFXrCvw
— BrooklynDad_Defiant! (@mmpadellan) August 17, 2019

Shell employees who skipped the Trump rally in Pennsylvania lost as much as $700 dollars.
It was pure extortion. #BoycottShell.
— Dr. Robert Fortuna (@psychdr100) August 17, 2019

Isn’t this an illegal in-kind corporate campaign contribution by Shell? https://t.co/ckTcIID27U
— John Aravosis 🇺🇸 (@aravosis) August 17, 2019

This is in keeping with the Shell brand – they also supported apartheid in South Africa. #BoycottShell https://t.co/uUgbeNy8u4
— (((Sharon Gelman))) 🌊 (@sharongelman) August 17, 2019

Trump uses presidential events for political speeches

His campaign, not taxpayers, should pay for his travel and events. He almost always injects politics into what should be a non-partisan presidential speech. We can go back to the beginning of his presidency when he did this at the CIA and Boy Scouts appearances. He has not changed and won’t change. I hope he is sued and his campaign has to pay.

Taxpayers paid for Trump’s speech in Pennsylvania on Tuesday where he insulted Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
There’s supposed to be a firewall between campaigning and running the country.https://t.co/OLl5UkesmG
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 16, 2019

The link above takes you a to a good interview with the communications director for the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).

There's little difference at this point between Trump political events and Trump government events. And that's a problem. https://t.co/vGXz1dBt9V
— Citizens for Ethics (@CREWcrew) August 17, 2019

Trump’s allegation of 2016 voter fraud will undermine confidence in 2020 results.

He’s getting his cult ready to consider the 2020 results invalid if he loses. His claims of fraud in New Hampshire and California are baseless lies. Republicans should step up to defend our elections but they won’t. They won’t support legislation to increase election security because they have benefitted from Russian interference.

FEC chairwoman challenges President Trump to provide evidence of voter fraud in New Hampshire https://t.co/cdzlzaGQfw pic.twitter.com/HE1gT5DCnJ
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 16, 2019

The president keeps making up stories about mass voter fraud: pic.twitter.com/BoQ0rV28cr
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 16, 2019

SAD: Last night, @realDonaldTrump again made unfounded claims about massive voter fraud in NH in 2016.

In this letter, I ask him to back up his claims in terms a former casino operator should understand: “There comes a time when you need to lay your cards on the table or fold.” pic.twitter.com/vkddT1jGmH
— Ellen L Weintraub (@EllenLWeintraub) August 16, 2019

Debunking the fraud claim

It was debunked back in 2016

Phony claims of busing voters to New Hampshire

NY Times article from 2017

Republicans don’t care about election security

They think foreign meddling will help Trump again. That’s all they care about. We know a lot more than we did in 2016 about interference but McConnell won’t even give hearings to election security bills passed by the House. Trump has no interest in the truth – the spread of disinformation helps him. Sad!

“Russian cyberactors were in a position to delete or change voter data”

Great!https://t.co/29dIpzCWi7
— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 25, 2019

BREAKING NEWS: Bipartisan Senate panel concludes Russia penetrated all 50 States’ election systems and is poised to change vote tallies. But Trump & McConnell still block all defensive measures. Betraying national security and democracy. https://t.co/K6iUcUB1ax
— Laurence Tribe (@tribelaw) July 26, 2019

Here’s the truth: the Majority Leader has been blocking multiple serious, bipartisan election security bills for months.

If he would let it, the Senate could get serious about election security right now. Let’s hold hearings. Let’s vote. Let’s do our jobs. https://t.co/nnAYb0XVPN
— Mark Warner (@MarkWarner) July 25, 2019

Russia attacked our elections once and they will try again.

So why won’t Mitch McConnell bring up our Secure Elections Act for a vote? https://t.co/defoHBM0pk
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 25, 2019

McConnell objects to a Democratic effort to move forward on election security legislation, calling it a “highly partisan” move and “not a serious” effort – adding that it comes from same Dems pushing “conspiracy theory” on Trump and Russia
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 25, 2019

It’s not just the Russians anymore as Iranians and others turn up disinformation efforts ahead of 2020 vote via @craigtimberg @tonyromm https://t.co/BQmnd8rcOM
— Matea Gold (@mateagold) July 25, 2019

On the same day Mueller warned Russia is interfering in the 2020 election “as we sit here” & that accepting foreign assistance has become the “new normal”, Senate GOP blocked two election security bills, including one requiring campaigns inform FBI of offers of foreign help.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) July 25, 2019

The Trump campaign should have told the FBI about the Russia meeting in Trump Tower. They never should have met with our enemy.

Republicans JUST blocked 2 election security bills — hours after Mueller said Russia is actively trying to sway the 2020 elections — showing in plain sight that they’re willing to dismantle our democracy & take help from our most dangerous adversary to win https://t.co/yfEdJr7v7U
— Katie Hill (@KatieHill4CA) July 25, 2019

Trump’s dangerous lies about illegal voting.

Trump is lying again by claiming that there is massive illegal voting. He is doing this to undermine public confidence in the 2020 results. I expect him to claim it was rigged if he loses and I doubt he would concede.

The Philip Bump column quotes ridiculous things Trump expects Democrats to say in the 2020 debates. I expect him to use this as a rationale to lie in the debates. He will lie about his own record as well as the Democratic positions and candidate. Trump will claim that Democrats are socialists led by the “squad”.

The column quotes what Trump said:

“Don’t kid yourself,” he said later. “Not as easy when I’m up there on the debate [stage] all alone with some maniac that they” — the Democrats — “chose and that maniac is saying, ‘We’re going to do this for you! We’re going to do that for you! We’re going to give you everything! Everybody gets a free Rolls-Royce, every family!’ ”

“ ‘And we’re going to take better care of illegal immigrants than we take care of our own citizens!’ they tell you,” he said.”

Trump now falsely claiming (again) that illegal immigrants are voting in large numbers. He's repeating a lie that illegal immigrants put on different outfits/hats and vote in large numbers in California. He calls the system "rigged." There is ZERO proof of this.
— Abby D. Phillip (@abbydphillip) July 23, 2019

Today at an event, @realDonaldTrump repeated an unsubstantiated claim that undocumented immigrants vote multiple times. "They vote, it’s like a circle. They come back, they put a new hat on, they come back, they put a new shirt on," he said.https://t.co/hcBWiG23mi pic.twitter.com/eUahr1VgtO
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) July 23, 2019

Trump also spoke of some voters voting multiple times, sometimes adding a hat to obscure their identity. This lacks evidence. https://t.co/hcBWiG23mi
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) July 23, 2019

President @realDonaldTrump is repeating several falsehoods at #TPUSA, including that California saw "rigged" voting by immigrants in the country illegally. Pants on Fire! https://t.co/x7wzZzSqH7
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) July 23, 2019

Trump could win the Electoral College and lose the popular vote again in 2020

This is a very real possibility. I don’t care about national popular vote polls as much as polls in swing states that will determine the election.

Analysis: Hillary Clinton got 2.9M more votes than Donald Trump in the 2016 election, but Trump comfortably prevailed in the Electoral College.

It's possible in 2020 that he could win 5M fewer votes than his opponent — and still win a second term. https://t.co/4qqY0wjr4d
— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 19, 2019

i still think folks are underestimating the danger of this outcome and the real threat it poses to american democracy. https://t.co/RUxWCVfMks
— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) July 19, 2019

A world where Dems win their 2016 states plus MI and PA is one where they have 268 EVs. They either need to win a third red state OR win both Maine’s 2nd District (the part of the state that isn’t the SE coast) and Nebraska’s 2nd District (Omaha and part of its suburbs). https://t.co/xt4Q12YJmL
— Justin Slaughter (@JBSDC) July 19, 2019

And not incidentally on that front how country will react if Trump or future Republican nominee wins EC but loses popular vote by 6 or 7 million votes, not 2 or so. How far can that rubber band stretch without consequence? https://t.co/HvxH9uvhlP
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) July 16, 2019

I think DEM would really be shooting themselves in the foot if they allowed CA to keep Trump off the ballot due to tax returns. If Trump won the EC and lost the popular vote just like that time, it would be easier for the GOP to use the state as a scapegoat for justifying the EC.
— Election Maps Co. (@ElectionMapsCo) July 19, 2019

I'd probably lean no. I certainly think Trump could win an election where he loses the popular vote by 3 points or even slightly more. That's basically what he did in 2016. (He won WI, the tipping-point state, with ~1 point to spare.) But I'm skeptical that he'd be the favorite. https://t.co/wh83h4sAUy
— Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) July 20, 2019

Translation: the 2020 Dem nominee might need to beat Trump by at least ~4% in the popular vote to defeat him in the Electoral College. https://t.co/Lxkx4Tzrlo
— Dave Wasserman (@Redistrict) July 20, 2019

It’s amazing how many defenses of the Electoral College are based on plainly misdescribing how it works.

The senate over-represents the low-density states. The EC just over-represents whichever states happen to be close in any given year. https://t.co/UEAvS8s9SN
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) July 20, 2019

in 2016, Trump won 306 EVs to HRC’s 232

Morning Consult polling shows Trump w/net negative job approval in 8 states he won, totalling 107 EVs

if Trump loses just the 4 states where his net disapproval is 9 points or more (PA/MI/WI/IA), Dem would win w/284 EVs https://t.co/bf0auRPUbU
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) July 20, 2019

Trump campaign pretends people in stock photos are Trump supporters

Trump team uses stock photo models in reelection ads

CNN's Jeanne Moos examines the Trump reelection campaign's use of stock photo models and foreign locations, rather than interviewing Trump supporters in the US. pic.twitter.com/IoRSewTDF2
— OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) July 4, 2019

Featured tonight on @chrislhayes: My reporting in https://t.co/Gl6evXRDcZ about Trump's false and misleading Facebook ads (including pretending stock photo models were supporters) pic.twitter.com/hcX1e5KBqR
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 4, 2019

The Associated Press picked up my report last week about the Trump campaign’s deceptive use of stock photo models in online ads https://t.co/MvUQs2RSEg pic.twitter.com/nmjdKf5v3w
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) July 2, 2019

Speaking of #disinformation, Trump’s Perpetual Disinformation Campaign is already spreading false and misleading ads on Facebook for 2020. Passing photos of happy people like Tracey & Thomas as Trump backers. Except they’re stock photos. Via @allinwithchris @chrislhayes #inners pic.twitter.com/zc04exsth3
— Paula Chertok🗽 (@PaulaChertok) July 4, 2019