January 1, Pelosi Slams ‘Morbidly Obese’ Trump for Taking Malaria Drug

This Day in History  | 1992

Amy Fisher shoots Mary Jo Buttafuoco in the face in an altercation over an affair with her husband, in Massapequa, New York. The event would become the fodder for made-for-television movies. 

Good Morning Middle Americans, 

Tell us how you really feel Speaker Pelosi! Expect some fireworks today at the White House. Nancy – as the president likes to call the House Speaker – should expect Trump to return fire after she calls him ‘morbidly’ obease on CNN. 

Trigger warning.

Meanwhile, there is no joy in MEGAville this morning.

If you were hoping Attorney General William Barr was going to “lock him up!” (Obama), you’re probably disappointed.  Here’s the thing though. 

We don’t prosecute our presidents in the United States unless the “high crimes” are really freaking HIGH CRIMES.  President Gerald Ford doesn’t get enough credit for his preemptive pardon of Richard Nixon. Ford prevented future constitutional crises, ended a a long-national nightmare, and his own political future – in one act. Unless you want to see President Trump and every president from here on out – spending their retirement years testifying in kabuki theater show trials capitol hill, you shouldn’t want Obama to testify either. In order to make an omelet you have to break a few eggs. And once the eggs are scrambled, they can’t be unscrambled. So it goes with the presidency too.  We don’t want the commander-in-chief pussy-footing around, especially in times of crisis. 

We would imagine there are a few things keeping the Trump 2020 team up at night. We have links below to new polling that shows Trump is losing steam with one of America’s most consistent voting blocks – seniors. 

Also the Ahmaud Arbery murder case is getting more and more interesting. There’s a video that’s surfaced recently – of Arbery, nearly getting tased in 2017. Another slice of life of what it’s like to grow up black in South Georgia. 

Read all about it

-Fraser Dixon

Pelosi: ‘Not a Good Idea for ”Morbidly Obese’ Trump to Take Hydroxychloroquine 

(The Hill) – Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Monday that it’s “not a good idea” for President Trump to be taking hydroxychloroquine as a potential treatment for coronavirus.

“I would rather he not be taking something that has not been approved by the scientists, especially in his age group and in his, shall we say, weight group, morbidly obese, they say,” Pelosi said during an appearance on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.”  

“So, I think that it’s not a good idea,” she said.

Trump said earlier in the day that he has been taking hydroxychloroquine, which is used to treat malaria, for the past week and a half after one of his personal valets tested positive for the coronavirus.

Trump has repeatedly touted the drug as a potential coronavirus cure or preventative measure over the past two months, despite the lack of evidence that it’s effective against the disease.

See the interview here

Barr Dismisses Trump’s Claim That Russia Inquiry Was an Obama Plot

(New York Times) – The attorney general said that an investigation into the Russia inquiry was focusing on others, not the former president.

Attorney General William P. Barr dismissed President Trump’s attempts to rebrand the Russia investigation as a criminal plot engineered by former President Barack Obama, saying on Monday that he expected no charges against either Mr. Obama or former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as a result of an investigation into how their administration handled Russian election interference.

“As long as I’m attorney general, the criminal justice system will not be used for partisan political ends,” Mr. Barr said during a news conference announcing that the gunman in last year’s shooting at Florida military base had links to Al Qaeda.

Mr. Barr said that John H. Durham, the federal prosecutor investigating how law enforcement and intelligence officials confronted Russia’s operations to meddle in the 2016 election, was examining some aspects of the case for potential crimes, but that he was focused on other people, not Mr. Obama or Mr. Biden.

“I don’t expect Mr. Durham’s work will lead to a criminal investigation of either man,” Mr. Barr said. “Our concern over potential criminality is focused on others.”

Read more here

Democrats Suddenly Have a Much Better Chance of Retaking the Senate in 2020

(VOX) – Control of the Senate could be within Democrats’ grasp this November.

A Senate map that once looked out of reach has become a lot more competitive in the past few months. With former Vice President Joe Biden likely at the top of the ticket as the Democratic nominee for president and a once-humming economy cratering due to the coronavirus, Republicans acknowledge the political landscape looks much different.

“It’s an extraordinary turn of events,” Republican pollster Neil Newhouse told Vox. “This is not the political environment we expected at the beginning of the year. Things in politics change pretty quickly, but the environment’s been turned upside down.”

Democrats need to win back at least three seats to reclaim the majority, but they are also defending Sen. Doug Jones in deep-red Alabama — a state where President Donald Trump has a 28-point net approval rating. If Jones loses, that means Democrats need to win four seats and the White House (where their party’s vice president could vote to break ties in the Senate), or net five seats without the White House advantage.

Find out more here

Trump is Hemorrhaging Older Voters, Polls Show

(The Week) -Several of President Trump’s previously reliable voting blocs are starting to slide into former Vice President Joe Biden’s territory.

Trump proved popular among older voters, and unexpectedly so in Rust Belt states like Michigan and Wisconsin, back in the 2016 election. But polls show Trump is sliding among those once-promising voting blocs, and even in formerly solid Republican states such as Arizona.

The age gap between the two main political parties has been clear for decades: Younger voters tend to go for Democrats, while older people vote Republican, FiveThirtyEight notes. That proved true once again in 2016, where Trump won not only voters over 65 but also those between 45 and 64. But recent polls — and even reportedly Trump’s private polling — show he’s faltering among those age groups. Trump’s average margin of four percent over Hillary Clinton in 2016 among voters age 45-64 has fallen to give Biden a 1.4 percent average advantage in that group. And while Trump won voters over 65 by 13.3 percent the last election around, he’s now losing them by a percentage point to Biden, polls show.

Get the latest info here

Outside Judge Named to Preside Over Cases in Arbery Slaying

(AP) — A judge from outside the coastal Georgia community where Ahmaud Arbery was fatally shot has been appointed to preside over trial proceedings of the two men charged with Arbery’s murder, including one defendant with close ties to law enforcement.

Court documents filed in Glynn County show that Superior Court Judge Timothy R. Walmsley was appointed to the case after all five judges in the legal circuit where Arbery was killed recused themselves. Walmsley is based in Savannah, about 70 miles (110 kilometers) north of where the slaying occurred just outside the port city of Brunswick.

Read more here