Saturday Trump presser: lots of petards on the path to the bunker, will someone be hoist by them

last week's Bedminster presser, waiting for pedantic Shakespeare cops or Muggle-born registration commission....Likely this “press conference” will be another with planted partisan press like on Friday with Epoch Times, GatewayPundit, and OAN (Expanded Out-of-Town Travel Pool). The country club claque will cheer this pseudo-rally on and laugh at his comments, one can only hope like last week for Trump’s allusions to sex jokes like “middlemen” and “middle women”.

Trump: "If stupid people aren't elected, next year, we're going to have one of the greatest years that we've ever had."

Trump will likely flee at the first suggestion that he’s lying again. Bigger/bigly question is whether CNN, MSNBC, or CSpan will cover it live. Live blog below.

Date: August 15, 2020 at 1:11:13 PM EDT
Subject: WH travel pool report #1: 5pm ET press conference


Good afternoon from Bridgewater, New Jersey.

As you may have seen the president is holding a press conference tonight at 5pm at his Bedminster golf club.

Afterward, he’ll hold a roundtable with supporters at 5:35 pm, which is closed to press. Your pooler has asked the campaign for more details on this event.

.@GovInslee (whose state has had vote-by-mail for 15 years) on why voter fraud is a false issue:

“More fraud in 5 minutes of any Donald Trump press conference than there is in all of the ballots ever cast in mail-in voting in United States history.” pic.twitter.com/ZWnHFkhOJO

— Democratic Governors (@DemGovs) August 15, 2020

If it's from his members-only golf course, it's a rally not a press conference.

President Trump: "We are going to have an election that takes place on a beautiful day, November 3 -- And usually at the end of the evening they say Donald Trump has won the election. Donald Trump is your new president."

Trump has destroyed the normative expectation that presidents give regular press conferences. The question is whether Biden cares enough about the norm—which promotes transparency and accountability—to restore it, even if it’s not in his political interest to do so. https://t.co/BGQdlUv9Q3

— Susan Hennessey (@Susan_Hennessey) August 15, 2020

Trump too stupid to pick up on the prompt

Swalwell calls for creation of presidential crimes commission to investigate Trump when he leaves office https://t.co/Tb3EbeE3Ag

— LTS📢 (@LisaToddSutton) August 15, 2020

My, my, my. I do declare. Bannon, Prince and Clovis lied to Congress, and Bill Barr has been sitting on this criminal referral since July, 2019. This thing reads like our Fantasy Indictment draft. https://t.co/jGF4eWuY4V

— Mueller, She Wrote Podcast (@MuellerSheWrote) August 15, 2020

Per GAO, the original sin was the appointment of Kevin McAleenan after Kirstjen Nielsen resigned. McAleenan was ineligible to succeed her.

McAleenan then altered the order of succession to provide for Wolf and Cuccinelli to take on their roles. pic.twitter.com/AUx6JdWskI

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 14, 2020

I had included KuangChi Science on this (now outdated) chart of new Cambridge Analytica company Emerdata, because it had two directors - Dorian Barak and Johnson Chun Shun Ko - who are both closely linked to Erik Princehttps://t.co/7WNONU2Izl

— Wendy Siegelman (@WendySiegelman) August 15, 2020

Oh look! @Newsweek has decided to publish “both sides”! 👏🏽 Looking forward to future debates: Did Ted Cruz’s dad really kill JFK? Does the Loch Ness monster exist? Are Republicans actually lizard people disguised as humans? 🕵🏾‍♂️ https://t.co/XHwSpYGUw1

— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) August 14, 2020

At least a few fights went down this way: The left would go to swipe away a Confederate Flag from a right-winger, then the right winger would retaliate, and the fight would escalate.

The presence of firearms in these fights raised the stakes, but no shots were fired. pic.twitter.com/ymg9RfMGT9

— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) August 15, 2020

Bringing you live feed from #Belarus where another Putin’s Pupppet is trying to stay in power against people’s will! ✌️https://t.co/Y4GLloZrVc

— Kremlin Annex (@KremlinAnnex) August 15, 2020

This brutality is unacceptable. This is the community the police are sworn to protect and serve. They must uphold Portlanders constitution rights. https://t.co/u52zPfJ47Z

— Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty (@JoAnnPDX) August 15, 2020

Sean Hannity is falling apart over this ad. #ByeHannity https://t.co/bfywiRqsSR

— Adam Parkhomenko (@AdamParkhomenko) August 15, 2020

pic.twitter.com/INrlMc2pL6

— Kremlin Annex (@KremlinAnnex) August 15, 2020

Closing Netroots Nation keynote:

CLOSING KEYNOTE

This political moment is bigger than winning elections or even enacting progressive policies. The bigger picture—our end goal—is to create a movement and a society that is equitable and just for all. To achieve our goals, we must dismantle white supremacy and the systems that perpetuate injustice. What does it take to break down systems of oppression that have existed for centuries? What roles can each of us play to support the work of those on the frontlines of injustice?

Join us at 5pm Eastern and hear from Reps. Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley, Alicia Garza, Color of Change’s Rashad Robinson, NDN Collective’s Nick Tilsen, immigration activists Alejandro Fuentes-Mena and Zenen Jaimes Perez, and Community Change’s Dorian Warren.

This keynote happens today at 5pm Eastern on Facebook or on YouTube (English and Spanish captioning provided) via act.tv.

Saturday, Aug 15, 2020 · 9:28:50 PM +00:00 · annieli

It begins

“Hail to the Chief”

Trump gives himself credit for what he calls "the fastest economic recovery in American history."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Trump begins his August 15 Bedminster news conference by claiming US coronavirus cases are going down "despite" testing, which reveals a profound confusion about how testing works. (Also there were over 55,000 news cases yesterday, so cases are not significantly dropping.) pic.twitter.com/hu3BFFZaiZ

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 15, 2020

Trump boilerplate reading, more bogus claims about COVID, including testing. Trump playing to his country club buds. more Trump BS on retail sales and auto sales — used car sales, how so very Nixonian. “A lot of great things are happening”

(As of July, the US had regained about 9 million of the about 22 million jobs lost in March and April.)

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

More China bashing blame for virus yet compliment their corn buying gets giggle from crowd when mentioning Biden. Claims Dems will quadruple taxes MSNBC cuts away.

Trump Trumpflates his usual false claim that Biden will double or triple your taxes, this time saying he wants to "quadruple" taxes.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

TRUMP: "Thanks to my administration's decisive action to save American jobs we are currently witnessing the fastest economic recovery in American history." (The unemployment rate is currently over 10 percent!) pic.twitter.com/TAAlkfTCwu

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 15, 2020

Trump complains about the NBA. He then says he's trying to help the NFL come back but "if they start kneeling" he won't help them anymore.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Trump goes bafflegab on manufacturing. Gushes over football QB at Clemson does ad lib trashes Big 10 and Pac 12 then veers to flag/anthem standing, it’s a campaign rally… 

Trump criticizes a news story as dishonest for asking if he'll take blame in swing states for football not returning. He says it's dishonest because he is the one calling for football to return. (He is missing a point.)

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Trump tries to link swing states and college football central casting coaches (LSU coach) trump is doing this to play to his buddies in the room

Trump says again that LSU coach Ed Orgeron is "central casting." He then claims athletes don't seem "at all susceptible" to the coronavirus. Not true.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

---

QUESTIONS

Q: Iran sanctions?

Trump goes blah-blah Iran can’t afford terror, mentions seizure of Iran tankers 

Q: postal service not able to deliver ballots on time?

Trump says postmaster Louis DeJoy is "very talented" and also "very nice." He blames Democrats for not approving "proper funding for postal." ???

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Trump punts repeats usual malarkey on absentee versus mail-in, goes conspiracy theory — it’s a campaign rally now connects ballots to Portland street protests Blames Democrats

Trump baselessly claims there were fraudulent ballots in the NY primary called for Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Maloney's opponent, Suraj Patel, has emphasized that there is no indication of fraud, though he wants many rejected votes (for non-fraud reasons) counted.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Q: extending results election voting?

Trump repeats same malarkey conflates “tests” with “ballots”

Trump baselessly says it might take not only months but even "years" to know the result of the election with mail-in voting.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Q: is USPS director creating the delays?

Trump punts, blames Dems, uses New Jersey as example (will the claque boo?) veers to Nevada

At his private golf club... Trump referred to Nevada’s governor as a “clubhouse politician.”

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 15, 2020

Q: follow-up continues on USPS funding

Trump goes blah-blah makes claim of Dems’ trillion dollar welfare

Q: Edwards Snowden pardon?

Trump punts “some people” blah-blah

Q: quoting Robert Redfield CDC on seriousness of pandemic?

WTF says “1917” again blah-blah 

Trump still has not figured out that the 1918 flu pandemic didn't happen in 1917 pic.twitter.com/uM8KkzDsMc

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 15, 2020

Q: tech companies like TikTok?

Trump mentions Huawei

Q: mail-sorting machines being deactivated?

Trump punts “you’ll have to ask him”

Asked why USPS is removing sorting machines if he wants mail to be processed quickly, Trump says, "Well, you'll have to ask him. I know this: he's a very efficient operator, a very good operator."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Q: Kamala Harris’s eligibility?

I know nothing about it “Don’t tell me what I know” I read one article (Eastman article) refuses to say he (dis)believes it.

This is Trump's regular double game, and it's transparent. Pressed, he continues to praise the lawyer who baselessly questioned Harris's eligibility as brilliant, while simultaneously saying it's not *him* talking about this. https://t.co/QXhT0nPY0D

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Q: why aren’t you negotiating with Dems personally?

Trump punts

Trump on why he won't negotiate a new coronavirus stimulus bill: "The country is doing very well right now. We can live very happily with it [or] without it." pic.twitter.com/wdaDtNUJUk

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 15, 2020

Q: differences with SecDef Esper? cabinet turnover?

“I consider firing everybody”

"At some point, that what happens," Trump says of himself considering firing officials.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

trump goes blah-blah about “silent majority” appeals to claque

Biden isn't "against steel." His plans repeatedly talk about how he wants to help the US steel industry. His economic proposals have been praised by the United Steelworkers union.

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Trump cites his boater support as evidence there's a "silent majority" for him: "There are thousands of boats, in lakes, rivers and oceans -- thousands and thousands of boats...some of the boats have 10 flags on them..."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

goes to mentioning boats, usual campaign talking points, more lies

Trump: "If stupid people aren't elected, next year, we're going to have one of the greatest years that we've ever had."

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 15, 2020

Trump flees, they play a Souza exit. 30 minutes of nonsense