BY BRIAN BEUTLER

& CROOKED MEDIA

Tuesday, August 20, 2019

—Joe Biden’s brain surgeon endorsing Joe Biden

THE ECONOMY STUPID

Don’t believe White House spin about the strength of the economy: President Trump and his advisers are very worried about it, even as they try to convince the media and his supporters otherwise. 

Here’s how you can tell:

• Trump acknowledged Tuesday that he’s interested in working with Congress to temporarily cut payroll taxes. Cutting payroll taxes is very effective economic stimulus because it’s one of the easiest ways to get cash to people who are most likely to spend it. It’s also not something a president who was genuinely confident in the strength of the U.S. economy would be thinking about. 

• He also continues to sputter angrily about Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell, and on Monday demanded that the Fed cut interest rates by a full percent. This, too, would provide a short-term boost to the economy, which wouldn’t be necessary if the economy were strong. 

• Last week, Trump delayed tariffs on billions of dollars worth of Chinese imports until the winter out of fear that they would harm the economy “in the Christmas shopping season.” New research from economists at JPMorgan Chase finds that Trump’s tariffs could cost families an average of $1000 per year.

These concrete policy moves are not compatible with the story Trump wants people to believe. On Tuesday he said the economy “is doing fantastically.” At a rally last week, he said the voters have “no choice” but to support him if they want the economy to remain strong. And he has accused Democrats and the media of ginning up fake concerns about an economic downturn in order to “will” a recession into existence to hurt his re-election chances. In other words, Trump wants people to believe that economic news is fake news unless it’s good for him personally.

It’s also a reminder that Trump and Republicans in Congress spent the Obama years supporting policies they knew would harm the economy for partisan gain. They opposed a payroll tax cut, and demanded austerity budgets and higher interest rates—after the worst recession since the Great Depression—until Trump took office at which point they jacked deficits through the roof and embraced loose monetary policy, because they knew all along those things would improve people’s lives. They should never be allowed to live that down.

Planned Parenthood has withdrawn from the Title X federal funding program that provides health services to poor women, because the Trump administration made that money conditional on a gag rule that would have prohibited the organization from referring women to doctors for abortions. Similar state-level policies have fueled outbreaks of sexually transmitted infections.

On this week's Pod Save The People, Deray speaks with Cori Bush, a grassroots candidate for Missouri's first congressional district. 

Bush is a registered nurse who became a well-known activist after the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. 

It's a really great episode, so go download it and subscribe to Pod Save The People wherever you get your podcasts.

President Trump reportedly called embattled National Rifle Association head Wayne LaPierre today to let him know universal background checks won’t happen under his watch. How long after a Trump-inspired terrorist murders almost two dozen people before Republicans feel like they can stop pretending to consider legislative action? The answer is apparently less than three weeks. This is as clear a statement as any that even modest, popular gun control measures will only become law if Democrats sweep the elections and abolish the filibuster. 

United States Steel will lay off hundreds of workers for several months, citing softening demand, and “call[ing] into question claims President Donald Trump has made about the resurgence of the domestic steel industry,” in case you were tired of winning. 

Elizabeth Warren has introduced a criminal justice reform plan that would gut the 1994 Crime Bill, fight mass incarceration, and invest in programs that address the root causes of crime.

President Trump said that when American Jews support Democrats, it “shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” It’s not entirely clear whether he meant Jews must prove their loyalty to the United States or to Israel or both by voting Republican, but either way it’s an antisemitic accusation of disloyalty directed at the overwhelming majority of American Jews, and we fully expect Republicans who pretend to abhor antisemitic tropes to say nothing. 

Julian Castro became the tenth Democratic presidential candidate to qualify for the September debate. Under the DNC’s current rules, if one more candidate qualifies next week, there will be two debate stages again. 

Federal authorities have arrested a Maryland man for making interstate threats to kidnap and kill a Hispanic restaurant employee, after receiving a tip that the man had sent a Facebook message threatening to murder all Hispanic people in Miami, FL, and stating, “I thank God everyday President Donald John Trump is President and that he will launch a Racial War and Crusade." 

This story about Epoch Times, a pro-Trump content mill run by a religious sect that opposes the Chinese government and spends tons of money disseminating conspiracy theories and pro-Trump propaganda on Facebook, would be bonkers, except it’s 2019 so it also seems kind of unsurprising. Bonus mystery: Why did Trump take a folder from an Epoch Times staffer at an official White House event last year? 

A fourth installment of The Matrix with Keanu Reeves is ON!

A bunch of water polo players at Pacifica High School in Garden Grove, CA, taught themselves an obscure Nazi song, which they sang during an award ceremony while mimicking the Nazi salute last year, and the school didn’t address the issue with the community and won’t say if or how the students were disciplined.

Small- and large-dollar Democratic donors alike, including those who typically ignore down-ballot races, have donated millions of dollars to Democratic organizations focused on state and local elections, according to an Associated Press study. “Organizations like EMILY’s List, the Democratic Governors Association and the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee have seen a sharp increase in donations, nearing parity with Republicans who almost always outraise and outspend them.” 

After the calamitous 2010 midterm wipeout, Republicans were able to pass regressive laws rolling back labor and reproductive rights and gerrymander the hell out of several states, locking Democrats out of power for most of the decade. Democrats made substantial gains at the state and local level in 2018, and it’s critical that they build on those gains in 2020, so that they’re positioned to fight Republican gerrymandering after the 2020 Census.

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