President Trump’s plan to host a big election-night party at his hotel in Washington, D.C. has gone caput. The New York Times reports that Trump has canceled the event meant to take place at Trump International Hotel.
From the New York Times (emphasis ours):
Advisers had said privately that Mr. Trump was going to appear at his namesake hotel in Washington for an election night party for which his campaign had sent out multiple fund-raising solicitations to his supporters.
“November 3rd will go down in history as the night we won FOUR MORE YEARS. It will be absolutely EPIC, and the only thing that could make it better is having YOU there,” read one solicitation from the president that included an image of Mr. Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, under the words “Join us on election night.”
Epic, huh?
Eric Trump—one of Trump’s more rodent-like children—told Fox and Friends Friday, that “we’re thinking about moving it, actually, over to the White House… it’s going to be a really, really beautiful night, and I’m really excited.”
The reason for this sudden change is unknown, but perhaps it’s because D.C.’s covid-19 restrictions limit gatherings to no more than 50 people. Or, maybe, the Trump campaign is afraid of potentially losing the election in front of a bunch of esteemed guests. The White House is certainly a safe space in comparison. Seems a bit cowardly, but hey, that’s Trump.
When is it time to panic? Bloomberg News reports that officials working on Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign are worried about Black and Latino turnout in the battleground states of Florida and Pennsylvania. Electoral college math dictates that Biden must win at least one of the two states if he has any chance of winning on election night.
From Bloomberg:
Despite record early-vote turnout around the country, there are warning signs for Biden. In Arizona, two-thirds of Latino registered voters have not yet cast a ballot. In Florida, half of Latino and Black registered voters have not yet voted but more than half of White voters have cast ballots, according to data from Catalist, a Democratic data firm. In Pennsylvania, nearly 75% of registered Black voters have not yet voted, the data shows.
The firm’s analysis of early vote numbers also show a surge of non-college educated White voters, who largely back President Donald Trump, compared to voters of color, who overwhelmingly support Biden.
Biden’s tepid performance among Latinx voters have hounded him from the jump, so this isn’t exactly a shocker. But, unfortunately, this kind of story is the perfect kindling for blaming an unfavorable Election Day story on Black and brown people, the most marginalized groups who are perhaps less able to take hours off from work or taking care of their children to go vote. We’ll see what happens over the next few days, especially over the weekend, but for now—as a Black person who also hasn’t voted yet—can everybody breathe for two fucking seconds before flipping a shit?
- Experts predict that the covid-19 death toll in the United States could triple by mid-January [CNN]
- The United States government has detained migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border far longer than they’ve let on. [Los Angeles Times]
- Lady Gaga and her 530,490 personas want you to vote on November 3:
- Biden has a good ad about Trump and his anti-environmentalism:
- Fake Melania strikes again? (No, but… still).
- Donald Trump Jr wants everyone to know that covid-19 is NBD (a lie):
- According to Dave Matthews, Trump once told him he was “going places.” [CNN]
- Ivanka Trump continues to stand awkwardly, even on the campaign trail.
It’s giving me… Big Bird kicking a door down.
- Just a little story about a fake intelligence firm and Hunter Biden conspiracy theories that the right ate up. [NBC News]
- Republicans are lawyering the fuck up in preparation for post-Election Day operations. [Axios]
- And so is Biden. [Daily Beast]