The Trump campaign fired two polling companies over leaked internal polling data that showed Trump losing to Biden is key states.
Trump gave a big rally in Florida which he said was his 2020 kickoff rally. He said his “radical Democrat opponents are driven by hatred, prejudice and rage. They want to destroy you and they want to destroy our country as we know it.”
Trump and ICE has announced there will be sweeping immigrant arrests and deportations next week.
Here is the New York Times story about the youngest child separated at the border, taken at four months, not reunited until he was nine months old
A legal team that helps enforce the Flores settlement was allowed to tour a detention center in Clint Texas. Here are some quotes from an AP article: “A 2-year-old boy locked in detention wants to be held all the time. A few girls, ages 10 to 15, say they’ve been doing their best to feed and soothe the clingy toddler who was handed to them by a guard days ago. Lawyers warn that kids are taking care of kids, and there’s inadequate food, water and sanitation for the 250 infants, children and teens at the Border Patrol station.”
“There were three infants in the station, all with their teen mothers, along with a 1-year-old, two 2-year-olds and a 3-year-old. There are dozens more under 12. Fifteen have the flu, and 10 more are quarantined.”
“Children told lawyers that they were fed oatmeal, a cookie and a sweetened drink in the morning, instant noodles for lunch and a burrito and cookie for dinner. There are no fruits or vegetables. They said they’d gone weeks without bathing or a clean change of clothes.”
The New York Times reports that some children have been there for over a month: “Children as young as 7 and 8, many of them wearing clothes caked with snot and tears, are caring for infants they’ve just met, the lawyers said. Toddlers without diapers are relieving themselves in their pants. Teenage mothers are wearing clothes stained with breast milk. Most of the young detainees have not been able to shower or wash their clothes since they arrived at the facility, those who visited said. They have no access to toothbrushes, toothpaste or soap.”
“children were being overseen by guards for Customs and Border Protection, which declined to comment for this story. She and her colleagues observed the guards wearing full uniforms — including weapons — as well as face masks to protect themselves from the unsanitary conditions.”
“Nearly every child I spoke with said that they were hungry,” Ms. Mukherjee said.
Government attorneys argued before the 9th Circuit that the Flores decree does not require detention centers to provide soap, toothpaste, blankets and sleeping conditions: “Fabian asked the Ninth Circuit to reverse Gee’s findings because they added new requirements – such as giving detainees soap and toothbrushes – that were not specifically included in Flores.
“One has to assume it was left that way and not enumerated by the parties because either the parties couldn’t reach agreement on how to enumerate that or it was left to the agencies to determine,” Fabian said.”
The acting Defense Secretary resigned due to a news about a messy divorce and family situation. It comes at a time when Trump has just sent 1,000 troops to the Middle East, and Iran has threatened to exceed limits on uranium enrichment:
Trump ordered and then called off an air strike of Iran targets after Iran shot down an American drone. Here is a good summary of the White House deliberations.
He claimed on Twitter that he called off the strike because the 150 deaths that would result would not be proportionate: “But an administration official informed about the discussions privately disputed that account. The 150-dead casualty estimate came not from a general but from a lawyer, according to the official. The estimate was developed by Pentagon lawyers drafting worst-case scenarios that, the official said, did not account for whether the strike was carried out during daytime, when more people might be present at the targets, or in the dark hours before sunrise, as the military planned.
That estimate was passed to the White House counsel, Pat A. Cipollone, without being cleared with Mr. Shanahan or General Dunford. It was then conveyed to the president by the White House lawyers, at which point Mr. Trump changed his mind and called off the strike.”
“Meetings and memos aside, he trusts his instincts more than institutions, reaches out to unconventional sources of guidance and is willing to defy a roomful of advisers. He has not had a Senate-confirmed defense secretary for nearly six months, and the acting secretary resigned this week. And those advisers he does have were busy trying to outmaneuver each other.”
Trump is talking to people about replacing the Fed chair that he appointed, which would be an unprecedented power play to politicize monetary policy.
A writer, E Jean Carroll, has accused Trump of rape in an incident: during a chance encounter with the then-real estate developer at Bergdorf Goodman in late 1995 or early 1996, Trump attacked her in a dressing room. She said he knocked her head against a wall, pulled down her tights and briefly penetrated her before she pushed him off and ran out. Here is the Carroll book excerpt.
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Trump’s Job Approval: 42.6%