Wednesday News: Trump Is “The Lyin’ King”; “Trump’s Own Team Knows His Caravan Claims Are Bullshit”…But Do Journalists?; Cooch’s Insane Breitbart Interview

by Lowell

Here are a few national and Virginia news headlines, political and otherwise, for Wednesday, October 24. Also, check out former Virginia Attorney General (I know – HOW???) Ken “Cooch” Cuccinelli’s bats**t-crazy Breitbart interview, in which he insanely argues that migrants from Honduras constitute an “invasion,” that under the constitution this is WAR, and that states can unilaterally use “war powers” with “no due process” to turn back the “invasion.” Again, how could this nut ever have been elected to anything in Virginia???

• Prince and President Escalate Battle Over Khashoggi Killing
• What Is Turkey’s Game? (“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sees the Jamal Khashoggi case as a chance to hobble Saudi Arabia, a regional and religious rival.”)
• Khashoggi killing: Donald Trump says Saudi crown prince could have been involved
• Saudi Arabia Ignores Bone Saws and Body Doubles at “Davos in the Desert” (“Everything is fine and normal!”)
• Trump Is Blundering Into an Arms Race (“Yes, the U.S. can outspend Russia and China on nuclear weapons. That doesn’t mean America will win.”)
• The Coming Market Freakout (“This year’s sell-off may not yet be fully justified by facts on the ground, but the risks are becoming clearer.”)
• Trump Steps Up Attacks on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell (Totally unacceptable.)
• President Trump Just Called Himself a ‘Nationalist.’ Here’s What That Means—and Why It’s So Dangerous. (“Nationalism is not patriotism. Just ask George Orwell.”)
• Trump Says He Has No Proof ‘Middle Easterners’ Are Trying To Enter U.S. (Of course not.)
• Doubling down on fear: Attacks on immigrants, trans people fit an ugly Republican pattern (“Facing what could be a sweeping defeat next month, Trump and Republicans play to the their supporters’ paranoia”)
• Global markets take fright at cocktail of geopolitical risks (“US/China trade dispute, US interest rates, Brexit and Italy’s budget spook investors”)
• Donald Trump Can’t Count on Bigotry Alone (“Candidates need to deliver more than outrage, and that’s all Trump has this time.”)
• Americans’ anger may help Democrats in Nov. 6 vote: Reuters/Ipsos poll
• Trump Is Celebrating Violence and Nationalism at His Rallies (“Republicans aren’t pushing back.”)
• STUDY: Caravan coverage has taken over the news cycle. That’s exactly what Fox News and Trump wanted. (“Fox News coverage led to Trump tweets, which in turn made Fox’s pet issue a major story across CNN and MSNBC”)
• The Best Way to Keep Democrats From Blowing This Election (“The two biggest political thrusts of the Party of Trump — a tax cut for the rich that opened a tsunami of debt, and trying to take away health care from millions — are widely unpopular. It’s as simple as that.”)
• The Republican Strategy? Fear and Lies
• The 2018 Midterms Are 2016 All Over Again (“Today’s journalists may have learned enough not to take these manufactured crises at face values, but they have not learned enough to avoid being pawns in a manipulative charade. They have not learned that they don’t have to let diversionary propaganda set their agenda—or that they can weigh the campaigns they’re covering against the empirical stakes of the election and thus gauge who is lying and who is telling the truth.”)
• Trump’s Own Team Knows His Caravan Claims Are Bullshit (“Asked for evidence supporting the president’s claims about the caravan, a senior administration official told reporters to ask ‘the Mexican authorities.’”)
• Anti-gay lawyers just showed up in the Supreme Court with a big ask for Brett Kavanaugh (“They aren’t wasting any time.”)
• A Record Number of Scientists Are Running for Congress, and They Get Climate Change (“More than a dozen scientists are candidates for U.S. House and Senate seats this year in a wave fueled by the Trump Administration’s anti-science agenda.”)
• Trump has whipped up a frenzy on the migrant caravan. Here are the facts. (“Such caravans are nothing new and annual border crossings are not high by historic standards.”)
• Exclusive: In Leaked Audio, Brian Kemp Expresses Concern Over Georgians Exercising Their Right to Vote (“The Republican gubernatorial candidate spoke to donors about the growing threat of the Stacey Abrams campaign as the midterm elections approach”)
• Abrams, Kemp spar over voting and immigration in Georgia governor
• Five takeaways from Abrams and Kemp’s heated debate (“Voter suppression allegations take center stage”)
• White Nationalist Richard Spencer’s Wife Says In Divorce Filings That He Physically And Emotionally Abused Her
• Gillum targeted by new racist robocall in Florida governor race (“Florida voters who receive the call — audio of which was obtained by NBC News — hear a man speaking in a minstrel dialect who identifies himself as Gillum.”)
• The Democrats’ Fundraising Edge Is Broadening the Midterm Battlefield
• Facebook page running anti-Semitic ads for Florida gubernatorial race has links to major GOP ad agency (“Harris Media, the agency behind the digital strategies of several high-profile GOP candidates, has also worked to help elect European far-right extremists”)
• CNN’s Chris Cuomo says Megyn Kelly almost made him throw up when watching her talk about blackface
• Megyn Kelly Tells Staff She’s Not a ‘PC’ Person in Apology for Blackface Comment (Translation: she’s not a nice person or a good person.)
• “Corey Stewart supporters are advocating mass murder of American protestors on his Facebook page”
• It’s Easy to Get Kicked Out of a Corey Stewart Campaign Event (“Stewart has certainly captured the attention and interest of a small but vocal minority around Virginia. But if you’re hoping to infiltrate his campaign events, we’ve got some unfortunate news for you — he probably won’t draw enough of a crowd for you to blend into.”)
• Video: Confronted with His #Petitiongate Fraud Scandal, Scott Taylor Threatens to Sue DCCC, Blames His Staff; Elaine Luria NAILS Him
• Taylor and Luria spar over taxes, health care in their first debate
• Ballot-fraud scandal gets new life in 2nd District debate between Taylor, Luria
• Meet former CIA spy Abigail Spanberger who got her resume de-classified to run for Congress
• Rep. Scott Taylor threatens legal action over campaign ads, but scandal may not be hurting his campaign
• GOP lawmakers express concerns about perceived state weakening of Medicaid work requirement
• Kaine stumps for Lewis in Woodstock, Luray
• 5th District poll shows close race
• Campaign of McEachin challenger McAdams gave erroneous data to McDonnells (Brilliant.)
• Exclusive–Ken Cuccinelli: States Can Stop Migrant Caravan ‘Invasion With Constitutional ‘War Powers’ (Yes, this extremist nutjob actually was Virginia’s Attorney General for four years, and also came within a couple points of being elected governor. And yes, it appears that many people will vote for literally anyone with an “R” after their name.)
• Schapiro: You say a Nazi couldn’t run here — one did, in 1965
• Corey Stewart faces Republican challenger for his county seat as he fights to hold on in Virginia Senate race (Blue Virginia reported this a week ago; the Post finally gets a clue.)
• Virginia lobbying firm launches trade association for medical cannabis industry
• Editorial: Ramadan says rural Republicans need to be educated about political reality (This is basically the same analysis pretty much anyone who knows anything about Virginia politics says – to win statewide, you need to win the urban/suburban “crescent” where most of the population resides. And political parties need to nominate candidates who appeal to said urban/suburban “crescent” voters. Double Duh.)
• As cigarettes lose popularity, lawmakers look at potentially taxing vaping devices, liquid
• Contributing to regional growth
• U.S. OKs some W.Virginia work on Dominion Atlantic Coast natgas pipe
• Trump signs Griffith hydropower bill into law
• ‘Show us your passport’: woman’s racist rant in Virginia restaurant goes viral (I’m mostly including this to show how weird the “news” cycle is. This incident happened last Friday and was reported back then. Why are news outlets just picking up on it now? Also, why is one bigoted/crazy/nasty woman caught on video such a big story? Clickbait?)
• ‘We need to embrace dramatic change’: Richmond has 1 in 4 of Virginia’s lowest-performing schools
• DeKenipp will Resign from Loudoun County School Board
• Another sunny day, but trending cooler again ahead of our late-week nor’easter