It’s remarkable that more than 150 years after the Civil War ended, Republicans are still fighting a rearguard action.
Roll Call:
Senate chairman vows fight over Confederacy issue
Inhofe plans to water down language requiring name change for bases honoring Confederate generals
Oklahoma Republican James M. Inhofe, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said Thursday that he will try to dilute his committee’s newly adopted proposal that would require the Defense Department to rename bases and other assets named after Confederates...
First, he said, he would change it from a requirement to change Confederacy names to an option: “‘shall’ respond should be ‘may,’” he said.
Secondly, he said state and local communities should be involved not just in informing the commission’s work but also in ultimately making the decision over whether and how to rename bases.
This is not going to end well for them.
Susan B Glasser/NewYorker:
Trump Hates Losers, So Why Is He Refighting the Civil War—on the Losing Side?
A week of protest, pandemic, and political unrest in the capital.
I know it is hard to remember all the crazy things that happen in the course of a week in Trump’s America, but I will try hard to remember this one: a week when I saw troops in the streets and worried about a years-long economic crisis; a week when an untamed pandemic killed up to a thousand Americans a day; a week when massive nationwide protests suggested that our dysfunctional, gridlocked political system might finally actually do something about the plague of police brutality and systemic racism. And then there was the President, who chose to spend the week refighting the Civil War—on the losing side. This, too, I will remember, and so, dear reader, should you.
That Trump St. John's Church/Bible photo op didn't go any better than gassing peaceful protesters did in retrospect. And don't forget: They thought it was a tremendous win ... which is a good argument for why Trump is going to lose.
NY Times:
Milley Apologizes for Role in Trump Photo Op: ‘I Should Not Have Been There’
President Trump’s walk across Lafayette Square, current and former military leaders say, has started a moment of reckoning in the military.
“I should not have been there,” Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in a prerecorded video commencement address to National Defense University. “My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.”
His first public remarks since Mr. Trump’s photo op, in which federal authorities attacked peaceful protesters so that the president could hold up a Bible in front of St. John’s Church, are certain to anger the White House, where Mr. Trump has spent the days since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis taking increasingly tougher stances against the growing movement for change across the country.
McClatchy:
Staring down a polling slide and growing unease, Trump campaign enters perilous moment
A months-long precipitous slide in the polls, an unfocused message, and deepening doubts about his ability to soothe a nation wracked by a trio of crises have suddenly recast President Donald Trump as an undisputed underdog in the 2020 campaign.
It’s even raised the possibility that if conditions don’t improve, Trump could lose decisively to Joe Biden in an election less than five months away, according to more than a dozen interviews with leading GOP and Democratic officials and strategists — potentially upending long-held expectations that the White House race would be determined by razor-thin margins in a small handful of states…
“If this election were held today, it would be Biden by double digits, easy,” said James Carville, the lead strategist for Bill Clinton’s 1992 presidential campaign. “Things could change, but they generally don’t.”
Other Democrats, who remain reflexively cautious due to the lingering scars of 2016’s surprise result, are still heartened by the data showing blossoming support for Biden and dismal numbers for Trump.
AP:
Analysis: As US reckons over race, Trump becomes a bystander
At a moment of national reckoning over racism in America, President Donald Trump is increasingly becoming a bystander.
He wasn’t in the pews of churches in Minneapolis or Houston to memorialize George Floyd, the black man whose death sparked protests across the country. He hasn’t spoken publicly about the ways Floyd’s death during a police arrest has shaken the conscience of millions of Americans of all races. And he’s dismissed the notion of systemic racism in law enforcement, repeatedly putting himself firmly on the side of the police over protesters.
Geoffrey Skelley/FiveThirtyEight:
Trump’s Approval Rating Has Dropped. How Much Does That Matter?
For the last three weeks, President Trump’s approval rating has steadily ticked downward. It now sits at 41.1 percent,1 according to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker.
This is notable, because it’s the lowest Trump’s approval rating has been since the House of Representatives was in the midst of conducting its impeachment inquiry in November 2019.
It’s not exactly hard to unpack why this is happening now. Trump has gotten consistently low marks for his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and many Americans also don’t approve of how he’s responded to the protests following the death of George Floyd, a black man killed by police officers last month.
The question is: Just how much does this latest shift in approval numbers matter?…
This is doubly true if independent voters are also turned off by Trump, as they backed him by 4 points in 2016, according to the exit polls. And there’s reason to believe Trump might already be in trouble with independents. That CNN poll found, for instance, Trump trailing by 11 points with this group, while a Monmouth University poll conducted in late May and early June had Trump down by 16 points. Other surveys have found Trump in slightly better shape with independents, although still trailing Biden. For instance, an early June poll from NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist had him behind by 4 points, and the latest survey from The Economist/YouGov had him down by 3 points. The margins here matter, but at this stage, the polls generally agree that Trump’s losing among independents, which isn’t a good sign for his reelection chances.
Of course, with roughly five months to go until Election Day, Trump has time for his approval rating to bounce back, just as it has previously. Trump’s actions, as we’ve seen, can negatively affect his ratings, but it’s also within his power to boost them. But the more Trump’s approval rating hangs out around the 40 percent mark, the harder it is to imagine him attracting enough support to win reelection — especially given his inability to broaden his appeal. And as we’ve said before, Trump’s base won’t be enough.
TPM:
Biden Is Convinced Military Would Remove Trump If He Refused To Leave White House
Joe Biden is “absolutely convinced” that the military would remove President Trump from the White House if he refuses to leave after a reelection loss in November.
“This president is going to try to steal this election,” Biden said in an interview on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah on Wednesday night.
When asked if Biden had considered what would happen if he wins but Trump refuses to leave the White House, the Democratic presidential nominee said he had.
“I’’m absolutely convinced they will escort him from the White House with great dispatch,” Biden said.
In other words, a post-Trump GOP will be more Trumpy as sane people flee.
NY Times:
As Americans Shift on Racism, Trump Digs In
With much of the country acknowledging that protesters’ frustrations are justified, the president increasingly sounds detached from many voters in the political middle and even some of his allies.
At a time when the country is confronting three overlapping crises — the coronavirus, an economic collapse and a reckoning with racism and injustice — Mr. Trump’s inability to demonstrate empathy illustrates the limitations of his political arsenal. He is well equipped to compete in a campaign where slashing negative attacks are the order of the day, and few salesmen speak in superlatives like the former hotel magnate. Yet when the moment calls for neither pugilism nor promotion, he has little to say.
Reinforcing Mr. Trump’s instincts and decisions are a small group of advisers, like those who arranged for the president to hold a campaign rally on June 19 in Tulsa, Okla. — on a day dedicated to honoring black emancipation, Juneteenth, and in a city that saw one of the worst episodes of racial violence in the country’s history a century ago.
Errol G Southers/USA Today:
Black ex-cop: I understand the anger but don't defund police. It could make things worse.
If you strip police funds, the first cuts will be community interaction programs that require humanity and commitment, not guns, tanks or pepper spray.
I am an African American. I grew up during the civil rights era, and I saw firsthand police abuses and brutality against people who looked like me. It is what motivated me to pursue a career in law enforcement, to be a part of the change I sought in the world. This career led me to city police forces in California, to the FBI and ultimately to serve as assistant chief at the Los Angeles World Airports police department. Across my years in law enforcement, I saw plenty of the bad qualities in the profession, but I saw something else as well — the positive impact police programs and outreach have in supporting safe, strong communities.
When police command staff are presented with a reduced budget, the decision-making is simple. They will not reduce expenses for personnel and equipment. They will cut the costs of the many programs police departments provide that are outside of day-to-day law enforcement. There are offerings like cadet and Explorer programs, which bring together young people and police in community service and personal development.
Reuters:
Most Americans, including Republicans, support sweeping Democratic police reform proposals - Reuters/Ipsos poll
Trump and Biden have both said they oppose “defunding” police departments.
Yet the Reuters/Ipsos poll found that support varies based on how it is defined.
For example, 39% of respondents supported proposals “to completely dismantle police departments and give more financial support to address homelessness, mental health, and domestic violence.”
But 76% said they supported moving “some money currently going to police budgets into better officer training, local programs for homelessness, mental health assistance, and domestic violence.”