After Two Gun Massacres, Beto’s “What the Fuck” Moment Speaks For America.
Plus, why Marianne Williamson might be our generation’s anti-vax version of FDR.
Calling out Trump’s racism, echoes of FDR via Marianne Williamson, post-debate bubbles bursting, the billionaires’ favorite candidate, and one candidates troubling ties to Betsy DeVos. This is the “What the Fuck” edition.
I’m Chris Erik Thomas. Welcome to Issue 15 of Rubber Chicken Circuit, the weekly election newsletter from Study Hall. Read more about us, subscribe here, and forward us to your friends!
Headliners
The “What the Fuck” Heard Around America.
On Saturday, BETO O’ROURKE’s home of El Paso became the site of a mass shooting that left 22 dead. A day and another mass shooting later, the candidate snapped after reporters huddled around him to ask if the president could do anything to make the situation better. “Members of the press, what the fuck,” he responded, saying the three words we’re all feeling. “He’s not tolerating racism; he’s promoting racism. He’s not tolerating violence; he’s inciting racism and violence in this country.”
That outburst isn’t the first time he’s dropped an f-bomb; he famously said “I’m so fucking proud of you guys” in a speech after his defeat in 2018’s Senate race. This time, his exasperation hit at the heart of what’s wrong with the media’s approach to covering Trump’s racism and the never ending loop of gun violence in America.
It was a necessary and human response to the tragedy that struck his city and, on Monday, he continued to let his emotions fly free during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” show. “Members of the media who ask, ‘Hey, Beto, do you think the president is racist?’ Well, Jesus Christ, of course he’s racist. He’s been racist from Day 1.” We’re long past “thoughts and prayers” and Beto has voiced America’s frustration with political inaction on gun control better than anyone else.
Is the #OrbGang Candidate Our Generation’s FDR?
For all her flirtations with anti-vaxxer talking points and the idea in her 1992 book A Return to Love that “cancer and AIDS and other physical illnesses are physical manifestations of a psychic scream,” MARIANNE WILLIAMSON has struck a nerve and the reason may be best found in the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
No, really. A new report on The Intercept pointed out that her performances at the debates that talked about the “dark psychic force of collectivized hatred,” reparations, and love sounds a lot like some of the former president’s speeches. Before the 1936 election, FDR said this: “The recovery we seek, the recovery we are winning, is more than economic. In it are included justice and love and humility.” If that doesn’t sound ripped from a Marianne Williamson speech, I don’t know what does.
I don’t really expect Williamson to turn into this generation’s great, moon-eyed spirit healer and turn the Oval Office into a sage-scented meditation room, but other candidates should take note. It’s not enough anymore to just talk about policies and “wonk-out” on the details of plans. We need all these plans, yes, but we also need a grand, sweeping movement based in morality. Though, maybe we could find someone whose policy positions don’t include “witch burnings were the beginning of the environmental crisis,” which I still don’t understand even after watching this video three times.
Have feedback or want to slip us a tip? Reply to this or email chris@studyhall.xyz with your scoops and suggestions.
The Pack
KAMALA HARRIS: The Post-Debate Bubble Officially Bursts.
Debates can make or break a candidate, but sometimes they do both. Harris was the shining star after June’s debate but then, after a disappointing July debate, all of her surging momentum has fallen apart. New polling has found her net favorability dropped 11 points, while her national polling average has dropped from a high of 15 percent to 9.3 percent over the past month.
JOE BIDEN: Are “Republican Talking Points” The Key to Taking Him Down?
Joe Biden is an old, establishment Democratic who has made money off of his political connections (along with his son and brother), yet he’s seen as the best bet for taking on Trump. Eventually, people are going to criticize Biden for all of this and the cracks in his flub-filled campaign are going to make the “electability” argument look as flimsy as his “progressive” record. There’s no better time than now to take a page from Republicans and have the tough talk about Biden before Trump unleashes on him in the primaries.
BERNIE SANDERS: Winning the #GravelGang Vote.
After officially dropping out of the presidential race, Mike Gravel has thrown his support behind Bernie Sanders. Besides being visually similar old white men, their ideologies are also a relatively close match on a lot of positions (even if the anti-imperialist Gravel has more foreign policy overlap with someone like Tulsi Gabbard). In a video endorsement, Gravel said that “We can have the democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders to benefit all Americans, or we can have Republican socialism, which benefits the one percent and leads us to a constant state of war."
PETE BUTTIGIEG: The Billionaire’s Big Bet for 2020.
23. That’s the number of billionaires who have contributed to the South Bend mayor’s presidential campaign, which helps explain how he raised more money than any other candidate last quarter. Between this and his under-the-radar wooing of superdelegates, Buttigieg’s long game for the nomination is starting to take shape. Now all he needs to do is poll above 0% with non-white voters.
ELIZABETH WARREN: The Crossover Candidate Builds a Nevada “Monster.”
When there are almost two dozen people running for president, it makes sense that 442K Democratic donors have contributed to multiple campaigns. Of all these double dipping donations, over 40% have contributed to Warren, which has helped her become both a major “crossover” candidate and a fundraising titan. One target of all the money she’s raised? The early voting state of Nevada, where she’s created a “monster” of a campaign that has drawn hundreds to her rallies, eclipsing all other candidates.
JULIÁN CASTRO: His Brother’s Anti-Trump Hitlist Sparks Outrage.
The twin brother of Castro tweeted the names and employers of 44 Texans who donated the maximum $2700 donation to Trump’s campaign ahead of the president’s trip to El Paso, Texas. The post was a response to the massacre in El Paso that was caused in part by anti-immigrant rhetoric, and it called out the contributions for “fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’” As of yet, Julián Castro hasn’t responded to the controversy his brother caused with the list.
CORY BOOKER: Close Ties with DeVos on Charter Schools Resurface.
In 2017, Booker voted against Betsy DeVos’ confirmation as Education Secretary, but that went against over a decade of support for the billionaire. The New Jersey Senator’s past ties with her on the issue of charter schools and privatizing the public education system resurfaced in a Washington Post article and don’t cast him in a very good light — and not just because he was invited by DeVos in 2000 to speak about private school vouchers at a venue literally called the Wealthy Theater. He may have erased all mention of the school choice agenda he focused on from his campaign website, but the long record of his push for privatizing education can’t just be replaced so easily.
JOHN DELANEY: Private Insurance’s Big Money Cheerleader.
If you were wondering why the doppelgänger of Bill from King of the Hill is so passionate about keeping for-profit private healthcare around, look at the money, honey. A pro-Delaney super PAC got a huge $50K donation from Katherine Bradley, who is the wife of the former health care CEO (and one of Delaney’s close friends), David Bradley.
The Leftovers
KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND: Trump has “spewed hate his entire presidency.” AMY KLOBUCHAR: Became the eighth candidate to qualify for September’s primary debate. WAYNE MESSAM: The Miami New Times released a list of reasons the Miramar, Florida mayor should stop running for president, besides his 0% polling and invisibility on the campaign trail. ANDREW YANG: “Jam out” with Yang’s 42-song Spotify playlist that includes everyone from 5 Seconds of Summer and Lady Gaga to 2Pac. JAY INSLEE: The Washington state governor, who has an annual salary of $182K, has cost taxpayers $580K since announcing his campaign. JOHN HICKENLOOPER: Hasn’t “ruled out” dropping out to run for a Senate seat. TIM RYAN: “Republicans need to, quite frankly, get their shit together and stop pandering to the NRA.” TULSI GABBARD: A NYTimes profile reveals her sister Vrindavan once broke a windshield with her skull (and that Gabbard thinks we're doomed). SETH MOULTON: “I’m not a quitter,” says candidate with 0% chance of being president. STEVE BULLOCK: In a jab at Sanders and Warren, he said being “progressive [means] actually making progress.” BILL DE BLASIO: NYC’s mayor (and the joke of 2020) has a 57% unfavorability rating in New York. JOE SESTAK: “The Most Interesting Democrat You Forgot Was Running.” TOM STEYER: Love don’t cost a thing, but votes do. The billionaire is polling at 6 percent with early primary state voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. MICHAEL BENNET: The sad reality of our national “Trump fatigue” is that promising to be invisible if elected is actually a convincing argument.
The Trump Check
Trump’s Slow, Steady Expansion of Gun Rights.
At first glance, the news that Trump may use executive actions to enact gun control legislation seems surprisingly human for a president as racist and verbally violent as Donald Trump. But, of course, the reality is far different. What Trump has actually done in the two and a half years since being sworn in as president systematically loosen federal regulations on gun control.
He has had federal agencies implement over a half dozen policy changes that include: lifting firearm bans throughout the country; limiting the names on the national database created to keep firearms away from dangerous people; asking the Supreme Court to overturn NYC restrictions of carrying handguns outside of the home; and allowing U.S. gunmakers to more easily sell firearms overseas.
Keep all that in mind next time Trump spouts the lie that he’s done “much more than most administrations” to enact stricter gun control legislation. Yes, he’s banned bump stocks and backed Congress in applying penalties to agencies that don’t report info to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System, but he’s also spent his presidency loosening other gun control legislation. In the wake of two back-to-back mass shootings over the weekend that took the lives of over 30 people, it’s important to know that it isn’t just Trump’s rhetoric that has helped inspire Americans to commit massacres, it’s his administration’s legislative record.
Keep an eye out for Trump’s controversial visits to Dayton and El Paso to mourn the victims of these mass shootings. See you next week for another serving of Rubber Chicken Circuit.
