Good Morning Middle Americans, Tomorrow night’s debate looms large on the horizon with President Trump’s tax returns in focus once again. This after another investigation from the New York Times outlining how the Trump family business has been used for unique tax breaks that wouldn’t be available to people like you and me. But then again, President Trump isn’t like you and me. The article also confirms something else President Trump has been telling us for years. He’s been under a crazy audit by the IRS for a decade. Will it be finished in time for an October surprise? Don’t count on it. And don’t count on this story about Trump’s taxes mattering any more than the rest. Here’s a juicy nugget from Politico. TO GIVE A SENSE OF HOW ABSOLUTELY CRAZY this election is shaping up to be, Speaker NANCY PELOSI sent an email to her House colleagues Sunday afternoon urging Democrats to focus on flipping House state delegations in case neither BIDEN nor TRUMP wins an Electoral College majority. In that case, the Constitution says the election goes to the winner of the majority of House delegations -- not an overall majority within the chamber itself. Congress is scheduled to certify the results -- and vote if no one has a majority -- on Jan. 6. Read this terrific CRS report Meanwhile, Pelosi, who is a Catholic herself, argued that a person’s religious beliefs should not matter to the senators questioning the potential Supreme Court justice, but instead they should focus on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s views on the Constitution. This after a series of attacks, that included being compared to “white colonizer” for adopting two children from Haiti. Former campaign manager for Donald Trump, Brad Parscale, who was replaced by the President less than four months before the 2020 election, was reportedly armed with a gun and threatening to harm himself at his Fort Lauderdale home on Sunday afternoon. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Sunday threw his support behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Senator Kamala Harris in his first-ever public presidential endorsement. The actor and former wrestler made the announcement in a seven and a half minute-long video posted on his social media platforms.Read All About It. - Fraser Dixon Pelosi Begins mustering Democrats for Possible House Intervention on Presidency(Politico) - The speaker sent a letter emphasizing local races, in case a tie in the Electoral College requires state delegations to vote. Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide. Under that scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, every state’s delegation gets a single vote. Who receives that vote is determined by an internal tally of each lawmaker in the delegation. This means the presidency may not be decided by the party that controls the House itself but by the one that controls more state delegations in the chamber. And right now, Republicans control 26 delegations to Democrats’ 22, with Pennsylvania tied and Michigan a 7-6 plurality for Democrats, with a 14th seat held by independent Justin Amash. Read more here
How will Biden do Debating Trump? We Asked Those who Have Faced the Former VP(NBC News) - Joe Biden may have spent more time on a debate stage than any other living politician, but he's never faced an opponent like President Donald Trump. A review of decades of Biden's past debate performances and interviews with former rivals and their advisers show that while Biden's debates rarely stand out for tactical brilliance or panache, they're consistently good enough. They were enough for him to win the primary and may be good enough for him to preserve his lead in a general election where polling has been virtually static for months. "I don't remember a lot of debates in the primary where Joe Biden was deemed a winner. He still won the primary," said Lis Smith, a former top adviser to Pete Buttigieg's presidential campaign. "What does a win look like for Biden now?" Smith asked. "A win for him looks like brushing off the Trump attacks, engaging only when necessary and using a moment that will maybe be the largest audience he’ll have to speak directly to the American people." Find out more here
NY Times: Trump paid $750 in US income taxes in 2016, 2017(AP) - President Donald Trump paid just $750 in federal income taxes the year he ran for president and in his first year in the White House, according to a report Sunday in The New York Times. Trump, who has fiercely guarded his tax filings and is the only president in modern times not to make them public, paid no federal income taxes in 10 of the past 15 years. The details of the tax filings complicate Trump's description of himself as a shrewd and patriotic businessman, revealing instead a series of financial losses and income from abroad that could come into conflict with his responsibilities as president. The president's financial disclosures indicated he earned at least $434.9 million in 2018, but the tax filings reported a $47.4 million loss. The tax filings also illustrate how a reputed billionaire could pay little to nothing in taxes, while someone in the middle class could pay substantially more than him. Roughly half of Americans pay no income taxes, primarily because of how low their incomes are. But IRS figures indicate that the average tax filer paid roughly $12,200 in 2017, about 16 times more than what the president paid. The disclosure, which the Times said comes from tax return data it obtained extending over two decades, comes at a pivotal moment ahead of the first presidential debate Tuesday and weeks before a divisive election against Democrat Joe Biden. Speaking at a news conference Sunday at the White House, Trump dismissed the report as "fake news" and maintained he has paid taxes, though he gave no specifics. He also vowed that information about his taxes "will all be revealed," but he offered no timeline for the disclosure and made similar promises during the 2016 campaign on which he never followed through. In fact, the president has fielded court challenges against those seeking access to his returns, including the U.S. House, which is suing to get Trump's tax returns as part of congressional oversight. Read more here
Pelosi on Barrett's Catholicism: 'Doesn’t Matter What Her Faith Is'(Fox News) - Pelosi, who is a Catholic herself, argued that a person’s religious beliefs should not matter to the senators questioning the potential Supreme Court justice, but instead they should focus on Barrett’s views on the Constitution. "I think it’s appropriate for people to ask her about how faithful she would be to the Constitution of the United States, whatever her faith,” Pelosi said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It doesn’t matter what her faith is or what religion she believes in. What matters is, does she believe in the Constitution of the United States?" Pelosi added: "Does she believe in the precedent on the Supreme Court that has upheld the Affordable Care Act? This is, again, directly related to a major concern of the American people, as it was in 2018. Health care, health care, health care. The three most important issues in this election.” Get the latest here
Fmr. Trump Campaign Manager Parscale, Armed, Barricades Self in Ft. Lauderdale Home, 911 Called(WPLG Local 10) - Former campaign manager for Donald Trump, Brad Parscale, who was replaced by the President less than four months before the 2020 election, was reportedly armed with a gun and threatening to harm himself at his Fort Lauderdale home on Sunday afternoon. Police responded to a home in the upscale Seven Isles neighborhood around 4 p.m. in reference to a man barricaded inside a house. When officers arrived on the scene, they made contact with the woman, the man’s wife, who had called 911. She told police that her husband was armed, had access to multiple firearms inside the house and was threatening to kill himself. Police have not confirmed that the barricaded man was Parscale, who worked for Trump, but records confirm that the property in the 2300 block of Desota Drive in Fort Lauderdale is owned by Parscale, 44, and his wife, Candice. Local 10 spoke to neighbors who also said it was the home of the former advisor to the President. Find out more here
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson Backs Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in First Public Presidential Endorsement(CBS News) - Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson on Sunday threw his support behind Democratic nominee Joe Biden and running mate Senator Kamala Harris in his first-ever public presidential endorsement. The actor and former wrestler made the announcement in a seven and a half minute-long video posted on his social media platforms. "As a political independent and centrist for many years, I've voted for Democrats in the past and as well as Republican," Johnson wrote on social media. "In this critical election, I believe Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the best to lead our country, and as my first ever (public) Presidential endorsement, I proudly endorse them for the presidential office of our United States." The announcement video included a virtual conversation Johnson had with Biden and Harris, which also marked his first time meeting the senator, who said she is a "huge fan" of his movies. Read more here
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