Year: 2019
Buttigieg Raises $19.1 Million
$19.1 million
“Mayor Pete Buttigieg raised $19.1 million for his presidential campaign during the last three months… The figure represents a decrease in his fund-raising pace from earlier in the summer,” the New York Times reports. “Mr. Buttigieg’s total for the third fund-raising quarter, which ended Monday, was $5.8 million less than the 2020 Democratic field-leading $24.9 million he raised during the previous fund-raising period, which ran from April to June.”
Why Trump Invoked ‘Civil War’
“Invoking civil war — even indirectly — was once a third rail of modern American presidential rhetoric. Though Mr. Trump in the past has openly toyed with illiberal notions (ignoring term limits, not accepting election results should he lose), his casual suggestion that his ouster might lead to bloodshed felt like uncharted territory. … It doesn’t matter that we’re not on the brink of a civil war; the threat as outlined by right-wing media is intended to inspire fear in liberals and conservatives alike. For conservatives, it’s the notion that Democrats will stop at nothing to get rid of Mr. Trump and will marshal the forces of the “deep state” to right the wrongs of the 2016 election. For liberals, it is a warning: Don’t push churchgoing, gun-loving conservatives too far, or there’ll be dangerous consequences.”
— Charlie Warzel
Trump’s ‘Grievance Machine’ Hauls in $8.5 Million
$8.5 million
Politico: “Donald Trump’s campaign aides expected months ago that Democrats would try to impeach the president — and he needed a way to exploit it. So this summer, Trump 2020 officials spliced news clips of Democrats discussing impeachment into a 90-second video montage, punctuated by the president imploring supporters to help him ‘stop this nonsense.’ … Aides quietly filed the spot away until last week, when it was released it as part of an online counteroffensive to the impeachment push that brought in 50,000-plus new donors and raked in $8.5 million in two days — the campaign’s biggest digital haul since its June launch.”
Ask Dr. Democrat: Impeaching Trump
Dear Dr. Democrat,
Should I be worried that the Democrats appear to have gone all-in on impeaching Trump?
Tangled Up in Tucson
Dear Tangled,
I hope they have more than we’ve seen so far. Knowing Trump, they do.
Fortunately, the standard for impeachment is a very low bar: perjury in
a civil lawsuit unrelated to the president’s time in office. That rules
in just about every infraction greater than a parking ticket.
I also think we’re at an advantage now because the Trumpsters have been
blindsided and so haven’t had time to muddy up the charges like they did
on the Russia scandal. You wouldn’t know it today but there were 10 or
so charges of obstruction of justice in the Mueller report, for example,
and obstruction of justice was one of the articles in both the Nixon and
Clinton impeachments.
