Friday, October 16, 2020

THE DAILYWIRE 10/16/2020

October 16, 2020

The breakneck speed of the 2020 presidential campaign didn't slow one bit over the last week, with a flurry of unpredictable events and another big October Surprise making headlines in America's fourth-largest paper.

The New York Post ran a pair of blockbuster stories about Joe Biden's son introducing an executive at a Ukrainian energy firm to his then-vice president father and cashing in with China’s largest private energy company. Back in the U.S., Biden's running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, dropped off the campaign trail after two of her staffers tested positive for COVID-19. President Trump and his opponent held dueling town halls after the second scheduled debate fell through — and the moderator of that debate admitted he had lied about being hacked.

Not enough? Oh, there's more. Trump's Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett sat through two days of questioning from senators, wowing viewers with her big brain. And Gallup put out a surprising poll that found 56% of Americans say they're better off than they were four years ago, a key barometer in who wins the White House.

1. October Surprise: The Bidens And Burisma

ALASTAIR PIKE/AFP via Getty Images

A mysterious laptop showed up at a computer repair shop in Delaware. Oh, c'mon, it could happen!

On the laptop, according to the New York Post, was an April 2015 email that is alleged to have been sent by Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of the Ukrainian energy company Burisma. Addressed to Hunter Biden, who sat on Burisma’s board of directors at the time and was reportedly paid at least $50,000 a month, the email thanked him for setting up a meeting between Pozharskyi and then-Vice President Biden.

There was also a May 13, 2017 email with the subject line "Expectations" that reportedly included details of "remuneration packages" for six people involved in an unspecified business venture involving China’s largest private energy company — and Hunter Biden.

Twitter and Facebook quickly censored the stories, which sparked controversy and pushback, including accusations of significant "holes and red flags," among them questions about the veracity of the emails and how the information was obtained. But the story appeared set to hang around until Election Day.

2. Kamala Pulled Off Campaign Trail

Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

Biden, 77, has spent much of the 2020 campaign in his basement in Wilmington, Delaware. Now his much younger running mate is in her own basement, too.

Harris, 55, will spend the weekend on lockdown after two staffers in her "orbit" — a flight crew member and Harris’ communications director — tested positive for COVID-19. That prompted the Biden presidential campaign to cancel Harris’ appearances through Sunday.

“After being with Senator Harris, both individuals attended personal, non-campaign events in the past week. Under our campaign’s strict health protocols, both individuals had to be tested before returning to their work with the campaign from these personal events,” a campaign spokesman told CNN Thursday morning.

But Harris is still testing negative for the virus and has campaign events scheduled for Monday. So stay tuned.

3. Dueling Town Halls Create Waves

Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

After the Commission on Presidential Debates announced the second faceoff would be virtual, Trump bailed. That set up dueling town halls on Thursday, with both candidates appearing at the same time on different networks.

Critics claimed Biden got off easy, getting softball questioned lobbed at him from ABC's George Stephanopoulos, the former press secretary for Bill Clinton. The main headline from Biden's town hall: He's not a fan of "court packing," but said "there are at least four or five options that are available" to change the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, NBC's Savannah Guthrie was blasted on social media for taking over the town hall, which was intended as a forum in which voters posed questions. The Trump campaign said Guthrie became Trump's "debate opponent," and at one point scolded the president, saying "you’re not like someone’s crazy uncle who can just retweet whatever."

Politico summed it up this way: "Trump Gets Grilled As Biden Coasts." Sounds about right.

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4. C-SPAN Journalist Admits Lying About Hack

Andre Chung for The Washington Post/Getty Images

The public access network on Thursday suspended political editor Steve Scully indefinitely after he admitted that he lied about his Twitter feed being hacked.

Scully was scheduled to be the moderator of the presidential debate on the very day he was suspended. He got in hot water after a post on Twitter showed him communicating with former Trump aide Anthony Scaramucci, who left the administration in disgrace after just 15 days and has since hammered the president.

"I falsely claimed that my Twitter account had been hacked," Scully said in a statement in which he also apologized to colleagues and the network.

Trump was merciless. "I was right again! Steve Scully just admitted he was lying about his Twitter being hacked. The Debate was Rigged! He was suspended from @cspan indefinitely. The Trump Campaign was not treated fairly by the 'Commission.' Did I show good instincts in being the first to know?" he wrote on Twitter.

5. Barrett Sails Through Committee Hearing

Drew Angerer/AFP via Getty Images

Democrats in the Senate Judiciary Committee took aim at Judge Amy Coney Barrett this week, but she dodged every bullet fired at her and looks set to cruise to a seat on the Supreme Court.

There was one extraordinary moment that summed up her stellar performance, which drew praise even from Democrats, including Sen. Diane Feinstein of California.

A few hours into the grilling, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) asked the mother of seven what notes she was using. "Most of us have multiple notebooks and notes and books, things like that in front of us," Cornyn said. "Can you hold up what you've been referring to in answering our questions?"

Barrett held up a pad of paper, blank except for the letterhead that said "United States Senate." "That's impressive," Cornyn said.

The high court nominee delivered expansive answers on complex legal rulings, at one point saying the Affordable Care Act is like a Jenga game — a piece can be pulled out but leave the whole standing. "I'm really impressed, thank you," Feinstein said.

6. Poll: 56% Better Off Than Four Years Ago

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

In a survey taken Sept. 14-28, the Gallup polling organization asked more than 1,000 Americans "to compare your situation today with what it was four years ago. Are you better off than you were four years ago or not?"

A whopping 56% said they are better off. Just under a third (32%) said they were not.

Even more important was a comparison with previous presidents who were seeking re-election. In December 2012, shortly after President Barack Obama was re-elected, Gallup found 45% felt that they were better off than four years ago. Just before President George W. Bush was re-elected in 2004, Gallup found that 47% said they were better off. And before Reagan won re-election in a 49-state landslide in 1984, 44% said they were better off.

It's worth noting President George H.W. Bush's re-election bid in 1992. Then, just 38% of Americans told Gallup they were better off than four years before.

7. Trump vs. Biden: The Battleground States

With less than three weeks to go before Election Day, Biden is still atop the polls. In the Real Clear Politics (RCP) average of all nation polls, Biden leads Trump by 9.4%, but in key battleground states, Biden's lead is just 4.7%, 49.3% to 44.6%.

Still, Biden is opening larger leads in several key states, including Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, which Hillary Clinton lost in 2016. Then again, nearly all the polls were wrong last time. Here's the RCP average of polls in the top six toss-up states (with the numbers from last week in parentheses):

Arizona — Biden +4.0 (+3.0)
Florida — Biden +1.7 (+1.1)
Michigan — Biden +7.2 (+5.2)
North Carolina — Biden +2.7 (+0.5)
Pennsylvania — Biden +6.4 (+5.7)
Wisconsin — Biden +6.3 (+5.5)

8. Meme of the Week

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