1.  Andy Borowitz: Giuliani No Longer Worst Lawyer in Country

In an unexpected turn of events for the former New York mayor, a poll of legal experts has determined that Rudolph Giuliani is no longer the worst lawyer in America.

According to the law professor who supervised the poll, Davis Logsdon, of the University of Minnesota Law School, Giuliani’s dethronement from the worst-lawyer championship was all the more shocking because his claim to that title had remained unchallenged for so long.

“Giuliani had faced worthy competition from the likes of Michael D. Cohen and Michael Avenatti and dispatched them with ease,” Logsdon said. “But this new challenger left Rudy in the dust.”

The new titleholder as the nation’s worst lawyer, who won in a nearly unanimous vote, is so egregious that he may cause some legal experts to reassess Giuliani’s career as an attorney. “Compared to our country’s new worst lawyer, Rudy demonstrated the utmost respect for the Constitution and the rule of law,” Logsdon argued.

Reached in the makeup room at Fox News, where he was about to make an on-air appearance, Giuliani took the news of his ouster philosophically. “I had a good run,” he said. https://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/

Barr wins.

2. Public’s Mood Turns Grim; Trump Trails Biden on Most Personal Traits, Major Issues

With less than five months until the 2020 elections, Americans are deeply unhappy with the state of the nation. As the United States simultaneously struggles with a pandemic, an economic recession and protests about police violence and racial justice, the share of the public saying they are satisfied with the way things are going in the country has plummeted from 31% in April, during the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak, to just 12% today.

Just 17% of Americans – including 25% of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents and 10% of Democrats and Democratic leaners – say they feel proud when thinking about the state of the country. https://www.people-press.org/2020/06/30/publics-mood-turns-grim-trump-trails-biden-on-most-personal-traits-major-issues/

3. Senate strips provision from intelligence bill requiring campaigns to report foreign election help

The Senate will incorporate the annual intelligence policy legislation into the National Defense Authorization Act — but only after Republicans stripped language from the intelligence bill that would have required presidential campaigns to report offers of foreign election help.

Sen. Mark Warner bemoaned what he called a “back-room deal” to strip out the provision. https://edition.cnn.com/2020/06/30/politics/senate-removes-ban-foreign-election-help/Biden

4. CDC expert warns U.S. has "way too much virus" to contain outbreak

The novel coronavirus is spreading too widely and quickly to contain, CDC principal deputy director Anne Schuchat told The Journal of the American Medical Association Monday, warning that she expects "this virus to continue to circulate. This is really the beginning, and what we hope is that we can take it seriously and slow the transmission." Her comments are in contrast to those of senior members of the Trump administration — notably Vice President Mike Pence, who said on Friday "we have made truly remarkable progress." https://www.axios.com/coronavirus-lockdowns-recession-economy-9f465c36-1777-4d7a-922b-159a99aa2611.html

5. Trump’s 'white power' retweet set off 'five-alarm fire' in White House

President Donald Trump set off a "five-alarm fire" in the White House on Sunday morning after he retweeted a video of one of his supporters saying "white power," according to two White House officials.

The video remained on the president's Twitter page, where he has 82 million followers, for more than three hours because White House officials couldn't reach him to ask him to delete it, the two officials said. The president was at his golf club in Virginia and had put his phone down, the officials said. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/white-house/trump-s-white-power-retweet-set-five-alarm-fire-white-n1232495

6. Biden campaign's letter to Facebook

Joe Biden’s presidential campaign demanded in a letter to Facebook that the company prevent misuse of its platform by President Trump to spread “hateful content” and misleading claims about mail-in ahead of the November election. https://www.washingtonpost.com/context/biden-campaign-s-letter-to-facebook/39e38d4c-442f-4d21-b098-b35677167cb9/?itid=lk_inline_manual_2

7. Biden tells donors: I’m going to get rid of most of Trump’s tax cuts

But even before the coronavirus crisis effectively froze the U.S. economy and sent unemployment skyrocketing, Trump’s “irresponsible sugar-high tax cuts had already pushed us into a trillion-dollar deficit,” Biden said.

“I’m going to get rid of the bulk of Trump’s $2 trillion tax cut,” Biden continued, “and a lot of you may not like that but I’m going to close loopholes like capital gains and stepped-up basis.”

Biden also said he would raise the corporate tax rate to 28%, which he said would raise an estimated $1.3 trillion over the next decade. The Trump tax cuts had shrunk corporate taxes to 21% from 35%.

“We have to think as big as the challenge we face. But this is America, there is nothing we cannot do if we do it together,” Biden said. “But I think the country is ready.” https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/29/biden-tells-donors-he-will-end-most-of-trumps-tax-cuts.html

8. 100 Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President

Lest anyone forget or require convincing, here’s a non-exhaustive list of 100 reasons Donald Trump is unfit to be president. https://thebulwark.com/100-reasons-trump-is-unfit-to-be-president/

9. The Betting Markets Are Betting Big on Biden

As Joe Biden surges in the polls thanks to a season of political failures from President Trump, betting markets are considering, for now, the former vice-president as a solid front-runner in November. The major American market, Predictit, now prefers Biden by a 21-point margin, with the Democratic candidate favored 61 percent to Trump’s 40 percent. For those who prefer less erratic investment opportunities, that means that if a bettor pays up 61 cents today and Biden wins the election, they will be paid out $1 on November 3. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/06/the-betting-markets-are-betting-big-on-biden.html

10. Trump’s legal argument for throwing out all of the ACA is a nightmare for Senate Republicans

Donald Trump insists on the campaign trail that he wants to protect insurance coverage for people with preexisting conditions. His legal team just told the Supreme Court otherwise.

The 82-page brief submitted late Thursday night by Trump’s representatives states crisply that the president wants to get rid of every provision of the Affordable Care Act.

“Trump and the Republicans’ campaign to rip away the protections and benefits of the Affordable Care Act in the middle of the coronavirus crisis is an act of unfathomable cruelty,” Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement responding to the new brief. “If President Trump gets his way, 130 million Americans with pre-existing conditions will lose the ACA’s lifesaving protections and 23 million Americans will lose their health coverage entirely.” (The 23 million figure comes from a recent analysis by the liberal Center for American Progress think tank.) https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/daily-202/2020/06/26/daily-202-trump-s-legal-argument-for-throwing-out-all-of-the-aca-is-a-nightmare-for-senate-republicans/5ef58d74602ff1080718fc3b/

11. Trump vote-by-mail demonizing is driving down GOP participation

President Trump’s extreme opposition to mail-in ballots is more likely hurting him and down-ballot Republicans than it is helping him.

Mounting evidence in voter registration data, a survey, and organizer anecdotes shows that instead of preventing the voting method from being a major factor in the November election, his stance is turning Republican voters off from using the method entirely, which could have the effect of depressing Republican votes. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/republican-nightmare-trump-vote-by-mail-demonizing-driving-down-gop-participation

12. Trump administration wants drilling on more than two-thirds of the largest swath of U.S. public land

The nearly 23-million acre National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska provides a critical refuge to migrating caribou, waterfowl and other wildlife

The Trump administration proposed on Thursday to open more than two-thirds of the nation’s largest piece of public land to oil and gas drilling, removing wildlife protections for the Alaskan tract that have been in place for more than four decades.

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management wants to allow fossil fuel extraction in roughly 82 percent of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska on the state’s North Slope. Less famous than the nearby Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, it is one of the most ecologically valuable tracts of federal property — providing a critical refuge to polar bears as well as tens of thousands of migrating caribou and waterfowl.

ConocoPhillips has already been exploring the site, known as NPR-A. Alaska’s largest oil producer, it holds a total of 1.1 million acres and has discovered oil in remote areas called Moose’s Tooth and Bear Tooth.

But many Alaska Natives living near the reserve object to further development, on the grounds that it could harm the animals that make up a significant portion of their diet. Teshekpuk Lake serves as molting area for one-fifth of the world’s Pacific black brant and calving grounds for tens of thousands of caribou each summer. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/25/national-petroleum-reserve-alaska-trump/

13. Biden ties COVID-19 to Trump's 'callous' Obamacare assault: 'A new pre-existing condition'

Joe Biden on Thursday warned that President Donald Trump’s attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act will have disastrous consequences on Americans who become infected with the coronavirus, demanding in a fiery speech that the "callous" president end a lawsuit that is seeking to terminate the landmark health care law.

"He’s like a child who just can’t believe this has happened to him. It’s all whining and self-pity," Biden said of Trump's coronavirus response during a speech in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. "This pandemic didn’t happen to him. It happened to all of us."

Addressing Trump directly at another point, Biden said, "Mr. President, drop the lawsuit. Stop trying to take away people’s health care and their peace of mind. I cannot comprehend the cruelty he is inflicting on the very people he is supposed to serve," he said. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/biden-rips-trump-s-coronavirus-response-obamacare-assault-fiery-speech-n1232137

14. Florida’s Idiocracy

In the 2006 movie, Idiocracy, Mike Judge imagined “a dystopian world where commercialism has run rampant, mankind has embraced anti-intellectualism, and society is devoid of such traits as intellectual curiosity, social responsibility, justice, and human rights.”

Or maybe Judge was just predicting what would happen to Florida if a global pandemic ever hit.

Here’s a sample: On Wednesday, Palm Beach County held a public hearing. Its purpose: with the number of coronavirus cases spiking in Florida, the county commission wanted to hold a vote on mandating the use of masks in public (as Broward and Miami-Dade counties have). The vote came after a two-hour public hearing, during which angry opponents held up Trump signs, threatened the county board with citizens’ arrests, invoked the wrath of God, and held a festival of crazy. Floridians angrily claiming masks are the work of the devil because “they want to throw God’s wonderful breathing system out the door.” Watch the video at https://vimeo.com/432243372 and https://vimeo.com/431860079

15. New research explores how conservative media misinformation may have intensified the severity of the

In recent weeks, three studies have focused on conservative media’s role in fostering confusion about the seriousness of the coronavirus. Taken together, they paint a picture of a media ecosystem that amplifies misinformation, entertains conspiracy theories and discourages audiences from taking concrete steps to protect themselves and others.

The end result, according to one of the studies, is that infection and mortality rates are higher in places where one pundit who initially downplayed the severity of the pandemic — Fox News’s Sean Hannity — reaches the largest audiences.

“We are receiving an incredible number of studies and solid data showing that consuming far-right media and social media content was strongly associated with low concern about the virus at the onset of the pandemic,” said Irene Pasquetto, chief editor of the Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, which published one of the studies. https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/06/25/fox-news-hannity-coronavirus-misinformation/

16. She Wanted to Be a Republican President. She’s Voting for Biden.

Carly Fiorina was a Republican candidate for president just four years ago, and was briefly Ted Cruz’s prospective running mate, but she tells The Ticket Donald Trump needs to go and that means she’s voting for Joe Biden.

More importantly, Fiorina “is not going to keep quiet, write in another candidate, or vote third-party.”

Said Fiorina: “I’ve been very clear that I can’t support Donald Trump. And elections are binary choices.” https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/06/carly-fiorina-vote-biden/613474/

17. Treasury sent more than 1 million coronavirus stimulus payments to dead people

The federal government sent coronavirus stimulus payments to almost 1.1 million dead people totaling nearly $1.4 billion, Congress’s independent watchdog reported Thursday.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office, an independent investigative agency that reports to Congress, issued the finding as part of a comprehensive report on the nearly $3 trillion in coronavirus relief spending approved by Congress in March and April. It said it had received the information from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration in an accounting as of April 30. https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/06/25/irs-stimulus-checks-dead-people-gao/

18. House Democrats push through first bill in a decade expanding Affordable Care Act

The House Monday passed the first significant expansion of the Affordable Care Act since its birth a decade ago, providing Democrats a high-wattage platform to castigate President Trump for his efforts to overturn the landmark law during a pandemic and an election year. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/house-democrats-push-through-first-bill-in-a-decade-expanding-affordable-care-act/2020/06/29/350d3046-ba0f-11ea-8cf5-9c1b8d7f84c6_story.html

19. How the Virus Won

The NY Times analyzed travel patterns, hidden infections and genetic data to show how the epidemic spun out of control. Watch the interactive graphic at https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-spread.html

20. GOP House candidate publishes 23-page report claiming George Floyd death was deepfake video

A Republican candidate running for a St. Louis-area House seat has published a 23-page document outlining a conspiracy theory that the footage of George Floyd's death in police custody, which has ignited weeks of protests, was staged to inflame racial tensions.

“We conclude that no one in the video is really one person but rather they are all digital composites of two or more real people to form completely new digital persons using deepfake technology,” Winnie Heartstrong, who is running against Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.), wrote.

The document, which Heartstrong claims was written with the aid of “citizen investigators,” alleges Floyd died 3 years ago. It also repeats a conspiracy theory that Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s death, is in fact the Cash Cab host, stand-up comedian Ben Bailey. https://thehill.com/homenews/house/504429-gop-house-candidate-publishes-23-page-report-claiming-george-floyd-death-was

21. Trump is headlining fireworks at Mount Rushmore. Experts worry two things could spread: virus and wildfire.

Trump is planning a massive fireworks display at Mount Rushmore on July 3, despite a decade-long ban on pyrotechnics at the iconic spot because of concerns about public health, environmental and safety risks.

The National Park Service stopped staging pyrotechnics at Mount Rushmore in 2010 out of concern that it could ignite wildfires under drought conditions. The memorial is surrounded by 1,200 acres of forested lands, including ponderosa pines, and lies next to the Black Hills National Forest’s Black Elk Wilderness.

NOTE: Neither federal nor state officials have imposed social distancing requirements as part of the gathering. The state tourism department, which is distributing 7,500 tickets for the event, has estimated that it has had requests for at least 125,000. https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2020/06/24/trump-mount-rushmore-fireworks/

22. AOC’s Digital Juggernaut

What a difference two years makes.

Around this time in 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a relatively unknown challenger to Representative Joe Crowley, the entrenched and powerful Democratic incumbent from New York’s 14th Congressional District. Her upset primary victory catapulted her to political stardom and immense influence.

Since the beginning of this election cycle in 2019, she’s spent $3.6 million on Facebook ads, including nearly $2.4 million since January, according to her campaign. The next biggest digital advertiser among House members in 2020 is Representative Adam Schiff of California, who spent $620,000 online, according to the tracking firm Advertising Analytics. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/23/us/politics/aoc-facebook-ads.html

23. Trump Asks for Toppled DC Confederate Statue To Be Put Back Up

Donald Trump personally requested that a statue of a Confederate Brigadier General Albert Pike be put back up, less than a week after cheering protesters toppled it and set it on fire in a Washington, D.C., park. https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/trump-requests-toppled-confederate-statue-put-back-up-in-dc/2343633/

24. Poll: Republicans, Democrats Move Even Further Apart in Coronavirus Concerns

A growing share of Republicans believe that the nation has turned a corner in its struggle with the coronavirus. A majority of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents (61%) now say that when thinking about the problems facing the country from the coronavirus, “the worst is behind us,” while 38% say the “worst is still to come.” This marks a reversal of opinion since early April, when a majority of Republicans (56%) said the worst was still to come.

By contrast, just 23% of Democrats and Democratic leaners say that the worst is behind us when it comes to problems from the coronavirus; more than three times as many Democrats (76%) say the worst is still to come. This is a more modest change from April, when an even larger majority of Democrats (87%) said the worst was still to come. https://www.people-press.org/2020/06/25/republicans-democrats-move-even-further-apart-in-coronavirus-concerns/

25. Trump campaigning with Department of Transportation Money

Tweets from Donald J. Trump offered Department of Transportation funds to Florida (2), Mississippi, Nevada, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Texas, Washington State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Louisiana, and Michigan

For instance:

Floridians will get $10M grant from @USDOT for @MyFDOT’s I-4 to improve technology to provide travelers with better information and important messages in real time! Will make getting BACK TO WORK easier. Great work @GovRonDeSantis! -- Trump tweet

Great news for Louisiana! $135M proposed to @La_DOTD from @USDOT to build 8.3 miles of elevated highway from Leeville Bridge to Golden Meadow to protect access to the area against flooding. -- Trump tweet

$71.5M will be headed to @MississippiDOT from @USDOT to finish the Greenville Bypass in Washington County. So important for economic growth in the area and reducing travel times through Western Mississippi on US 82! -- Trump tweet

There are 12 more DOT grants of millions of dollars by touted by Donald Trump to cities and states.

26. Trump admits it: He's losing

Donald Trump knows he's losing.

The president has privately come to that grim realization in recent days, multiple people close to him told POLITICO, amid a mountain of bad polling and warnings from some of his staunchest allies that he's on course to be a one-term president.

Trump has endured what aides describe as the worst stretch of his presidency, marred by widespread criticism over his response to the coronavirus pandemic and nationwide racial unrest. His rally in Oklahoma last weekend, his first since March, turned out to be an embarrassment when he failed to fill the arena. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/27/trump-losing-2020-election-342326

27. The data is in: Fox News may have kept millions from taking the coronavirus threat seriously

Here’s the reality, now backed by numbers:

Those who relied on mainstream sources — the network evening newscasts or national newspapers that President Trump constantly blasts as “fake news” — got an accurate assessment of the pandemic’s risks. Those were the news consumers who were more likely to respond accordingly, protecting themselves and others against the disease that has now killed more than 123,000 in the United States with no end in sight.

Those who relied on Fox or, say, radio personality Rush Limbaugh, came to believe that vitamin C was a possible remedy, that the Chinese government created the virus in a lab, and that government health agencies were exaggerating the dangers in the hopes of damaging Trump politically, a survey showed. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/the-data-is-in-fox-news-may-have-kept-millions-from-taking-the-coronavirus-threat-seriously/2020/06/26/60d88aa2-b7c3-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html

28. A Sun Belt time bomb threatens Trump’s reelection

The explosion of Covid-19 cases in Sun Belt states is becoming another albatross for President Donald Trump’s reelection hopes — and creating a new opening for Joe Biden and Democrats in November.

Republican governors in Florida, Arizona and Texas followed Trump’s lead by quickly reopening their states while taking a lax approach to social distancing and mask-wearing. Now, each of them is seeing skyrocketing coronavirus caseloads and rising hospitalizations, and Republican leaders are in retreat.

It’s hard to overstate the gravity of the situation for Trump: Lose any one of the three states, and his reelection is all but doomed.

Liberal outside groups and the Biden campaign have launched digital and TV ads in Florida, Arizona and Texas hitting Trump for allowing a second wave of coronavirus. The developments have buttressed Biden’s main argument against Trump: that he’s incapable of bringing stability or healing in a time of crisis.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/29/sun-belt-coronavirus-trump-reelection-343694

29. Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump, asks Interpol to help

Iran has issued an arrest warrant and asked Interpol for help in detaining US President Donald Trump and dozens of others it believes carried out the drone strike that killed a top Iranian general in Baghdad. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/iran-issues-arrest-warrant-trump-asks-interpol-200629104710662.html

30. Kansas City mayor says he's receiving death threats over mask order

Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas (D) on Monday posted a message he received to his Facebook page using a racial slur against him and saying he should “hang from a tree” after he required the wearing of masks in public.

Lucas also noted a doctored image of him appearing to hold a T-shirt reading “F--- the police” has circulated recently, posting the original photo, in which the shirt he is holding is advertising a local radio station. https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/505089-kansas-city-mayor-says-hes-receiving-death-threats-over-mask-order

31. Europeans’ trust in US as world leader collapses during pandemic

The coronavirus crisis has caused a dramatic deterioration in the European public perception of the US, extensive new polling reveals.

More than 60% of respondents in Germany, France, Spain, Denmark and Portugal said they had lost trust in the United States as a global leader. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/29/europeans-trust-in-us-as-world-leader-collapses-during-pandemic

32. Did Kavanaugh lie to Susan Collins?

Brett Kavanaugh, despite assurances from @SenatorCollins that he views abortion rights as "settled law," votes to severely restrict abortion access in Lousiana. https://twitter.com/RonBrownstein/status/1277610984710922241

33. Is anything going well for Trump?

Trump is getting smoked by Joe Biden. The coronavirus is raging. Governors and local leaders are closing states and municipalities again. The president’s campaign is being forced to rethink rallies after an embarrassing fiasco in Oklahoma. Republicans moved their convention to Florida, which has seen a surge in coronavirus cases.

Police reform fell flat in the Capitol. It turns out that Russia may have been paying the Taliban to kill American soldiers on Trump’s watch. Republican control of the Senate is up for grabs. The GOP has but a sliver of a prayer of recapturing the House. The economy is still on life support. The United States’ relationship with China is in the toilet after the spread of Covid-19. Republicans have no earthly idea what they will do if the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare — despite having pledged to replace the health care law for a decade. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2020/06/29/is-one-thing-going-well-for-trump-489664

34. Fact check: Dishonest Trump video twists Democrats' quotes to make it sound like they endorsed riots

An egregiously deceptive campaign video posted on Facebook and Twitter by President Donald Trump on Saturday takes quotes from prominent Democrats out of context to wrongly make it seem as if they had encouraged or defended violence.

The video, which had more than 53,000 retweets as of Monday afternoon, juxtaposes clips of people rioting and looting with unrelated quotes from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez -- effectively changing the meaning of each Democrat's remark. https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/29/politics/fact-check-dishonest-trump-video-democrats/index.html

35. Trump’s Twitter feed reads like a local crime blotter as he stokes a culture war

Trump returned from his Virginia golf course Saturday afternoon and turned his Twitter feed into a crime blotter.

In less than five minutes, the president posted 15 fliers from the United States Park Police to his 82.6 million followers, complete with grainy photos of Americans suspected of vandalism at Lafayette Square. The images hearkened to the kinds of posters one would see on the wall of a local post office.

The president’s messages about protesters and vandals have continued apace, often in the early hours of the morning or the late hours of the evening when he is not surrounded by aides. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trumps-twitter-feed-reads-like-a-local-crime-blotter-as-he-stokes-a-culture-war/2020/06/30/2e1a48c6-baed-11ea-86d5-3b9b3863273b_story.html

36. Trump revs up for another culture war — over the military

Well, here we are again. The question hanging over Washington is whether President Trump will veto the National Defense Authorization Act — the Pentagon policy bill that has been signed into law for 59 consecutive years.

At issue is whether the United States should consider stripping military bases of their Confederate namesakes. Trump says no. Congress looks like it will say yes, America should no longer honor these men. If it ends up in the bill — which it will — the president says he’ll veto it.

In other words, the president says he will side with deceased former Confederate generals over expected bipartisan majorities in the Congress. https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook-pm/2020/07/01/trump-revs-up-for-another-culture-war-over-the-military-489692

37 Americans Want More, Not Less, Immigration for First Time

Thirty-four percent of Americans, up from 27% a year ago, would prefer to see immigration to the U.S. increased. This is the highest support for expanding immigration Gallup has found in its trend since 1965. Meanwhile, the percentage favoring decreased immigration has fallen to a new low of 28%, while 36% think it should stay at the present level.

This marks the first time in Gallup's trend that the percentage wanting increased immigration has exceeded the percentage who want decreased immigration. https://news.gallup.com/poll/313106/americans-not-less-immigration-first-time.aspx

38. Hundreds of George W. Bush administration officials to back Biden, group says

Hundreds of officials who worked for former Republican President George W. Bush are set to endorse Democratic White House hopeful Joe Biden, people involved in the effort said, the latest Republican-led group coming out to oppose the re-election of Donald Trump.

The officials, who include Cabinet secretaries and other senior people in the Bush administration, have formed a political action committee - 43 Alumni for Biden - to support the former vice president in his Nov. 3 race. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden-republicans-exclus/exclusive-hundreds-of-george-w-bush-administration-officials-to-back-biden-group-says-idUSKBN24253R

39. Trump’s Re-Election Strategy: Run Like a Challenger

President Trump’s case for re-election reprises his pitch for a first term in office, as he and his team try to portray presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden as an incumbent while accentuating his own outsider credentials. https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-re-election-strategy-run-like-a-challenger-11593542177

40. The DAILY GRILL

We have made a truly remarkable progress in moving our nation forward. We’ve all seen the encouraging news as we open up. The reality is we’re in a much better place. Very encouraging news.” -- Vice President Mike Pence at Friday’s coronavirus task force public briefing.

VERSUS

“If we don’t extinguish the outbreak, sooner or later, even ones that are doing well are going to be vulnerable to the spread. So we need to take that into account because we are all in it together. And the only way we’re going to end it is by ending it together.” — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who warned of a broken testing system and said the outbreaks could engulf the country.

 

“If you don’t test, you don’t have any cases.” — Donald Trump.

VERSUS

Trump’s point flips science on its head. No one disputes the fact that testing for the virus is key to controlling it. Testing is only one measure of the pandemic. It is also measured by hospitalization and death, which continue even if authorities were to close their eyes to spreading sickness. — AP Fact Check

 

“There is tremendous evidence of fraud whenever you have mail-in ballots.” — Trump’s remarks Tuesday at Phoenix rally.

VERSUS

No there isn’t. Some election studies have reported a higher incidence of mail-in voting fraud compared with in-person voting, but the overall risk is all but imperceptible. The Brennan Center for Justice said in 2017 the risk of voting fraud is 0.00004% to 0.0009%. — AP Fact Check

 

“They even vandalized — that’s right — the Lincoln Memorial. The Lincoln Memorial.” — Trump at Phoenix rally Wednesday, prompting boos from the audience.

VERSUS

“The only vandalism at the Lincoln Memorial was graffiti at the bottom of the steps at street level, far away from the statue.” — National parks spokesman Mike Litterst

 

On Tuesday morning Donald Trump retweeted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who was touting the expansion of test capacity in the United States — and that “positive rates are down.”

VERSUS

Not only are positive rates not down, there’s been a recent increase in the number of states that are seeing at least 10 percent of tests coming back positive — the upper end of what the World Health Organization originally recommended to contain the spread of the virus. — Philip Bump

 

“THE LONE WARRIOR!” — Trump tweet.

VERSUS

The president’s Twitter feed feels like he’s producing a crime show, while the much of the rest of the country is having a very different conversation. — Maggie Haberman tweet.

 

The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party. The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited has a source, reveal it. Just another HOAX! — Donald J. Trump on Wednesday morning.

VERSUS

You really are several crayons short of a box. — George Conway

AND

The White House's claim that this information was not conveyed to Trump because there wasn't a consensus on its credibility is “horses---." — Steve Hall, the CIA's former chief of Russia operations.

AND

“A real president would have said, ‘These reports are highly disturbing, and we’re doing everything we can to get to the bottom of them,'” — Ned Price a former National Security Council and CIA official.

41. From MEDIA MATTERS (They watch Fox News so you don't have to)

On the June 25 edition of Bill Hemmer Reports, Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier said that “Democrats are warming to Biden just staying in the basement.” This line referenced a common Fox refrain that Biden has been hiding from the public throughout the campaign season, which was repeatedly mentioned earlier in the segment as a “bunker strategy.” Only minutes before Baier said this, however, Biden delivered a speech in Lancaster, PA, in which he levelled attacks at President Donald Trump’s mismanagement of the coronavirus pandemic and health care policy during the crisis. https://www.mediamatters.org/coronavirus-covid-19/fox-anchor-talked-about-biden-being-his-basement-just-minutes-after-network

Right-wing media vilify Black Lives Matter as the movement grows. In the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd nearly one month ago, protests continue to unfold as people across the country are examining the role that systemic racism plays in society. And as the Black Lives Matter movement gains support among the public, Fox News and others in right-wing media are focused on demonizing it, fearmongering about the movement’s intentions and using racist dog whistles to discredit it. The New York Times reported on June 10 that a majority of American voters now support the movement by a margin of 28 points, up from a 17-point margin before the recent protests began. Nevertheless, conservative media personalities have been focused on demonizing Black Lives Matter, describing the movement as “totalitarian” and consisting of radical “anarchists” who aim to destroy American society. Right-wing commentary has also been rife with racist dog whistles, with media figures describing protests as “cannibalistic” and a “ghetto civil war” that has been “hijacked” by “thug[s].” Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk called Black Lives Matter “an organization that is committed to keeping black people perpetually poor.” https://www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/right-wing-media-vilify-black-lives-matter-movement-grows

GREG GUTFELD: The black on black crime, or the gang violence, and the gun violence is ignored but everybody's running around tearing down statues. So I want to end the race war that we seem to be experiencing today. I am going to blow your mind with this. Okay? There are more differences and conflicts within whites then there are between whites and blacks.  https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-host-says-america-currently-experiencing-race-war

Roger Stone uses Fox Business appearance to beg Trump for a pardon and to promise to help on the campaign if he isn't in prison. ROGER STONE: So, look, the greatest thing here that bothers me beyond the danger is that I may not be free to do everything within my power to reelect this president. I really think he is still the man to lead this country. https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-business/roger-stone-uses-fox-business-appearance-beg-trump-pardon-and-promise-help-campaign-if

DAVID MARCUS (GUEST): But, listen this is very important. This is not new in history. We saw this in Russia, we saw this in China, we saw this in Venezuela. First, they topple the statues, then they start killing people, and then they take your rights away.  https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/fox-guest-first-they-topple-statues-then-they-start-killing-people

Fox & Friends hosts defend Trump on Russian bounties reports: DOOCY: A guy comes in and essentially tells the president what is in it. And so, it might have been printed in it, it doesn't mean that he actually heard about it. Because you've got to figure, if the president had heard that that was going on, he would've done something about it. All right. More on this a little later on. https://www.mediamatters.org/war-afghanistan/fox-friends-hosts-defend-trump-russian-bounties-reports-all-presidents-dont-read

Right-wing media praise St. Louis couple who pointed guns at peaceful protesters:

• Conservative commentator Jesse Kelly tweeted that the couple was “trying to protect their property from the zoo animals.” 
• Far-right commentator Cassandra Fairbanks tweeted: “I am absolutely in love with them. These people are the American dream.” In another tweet, Fairbanks attacked the peaceful protesters for entering the gated community, calling them a “black lives matter mob.”
• Breitbart television editor Jeff Poor tweeted that he’s “excited for this couple's forthcoming numerous Fox News Channel appearances, and free advertising for their law firm,” ending the tweet with “God Bless America.”  https://www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/right-wing-media-praise-st-louis-couple-who-pointed-guns-peaceful-protesters