With just days left in the 2020 presidential election season, former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci is doubling down on a Joe Biden win next Tuesday.
Scaramucci told Cheddar that "weapons-grade-style" propaganda and a focus on culture war issues, rather than his administration's response to the coronavirus pandemic, are the only reasons President Donald Trump has held onto his supporters.
"He's made us weaker, sicker, and poorer, but he's got a standing because of the way they've set this up as a culture war narrative," he said. "That's why he's still in the race. I mean, he's going to get annihilated, but he's still in the race."
Scaramucci also blamed Trump's own coronavirus diagnosis, and the erratic tweeting during his recovery, as one reason the administration was unable to push another stimulus package through Congress. He alleged that inconsistent messaging from the president gave House Speaker Nancy Pelosi an opening to delay the vote until after the election.
"He could have probably gotten one, but I think it was the unpredictability of his personality that led to where we are right now," he said of a fourth stimulus bill.
On the current polling, Scaramucci pointed out that results have been fairly consistent over the last year, as opposed to the "roller coaster movement" of the 2016 election season.
"If anything, they may tip more into [Biden's] favor because of what's going on with COVID-19 now," he said.
In the case of a loss for Trump, Scaramucci offered this insight on his former employer:
"I think he's going to surprise people because, listen, all that is bluster and overcompensation born from his personal insecurities," he said. "I think if he gets annihilated — I predict he will — he'll give a concession speech, and then he's got to figure out how to work with Vice President Biden."
The prospect of Trump denying the election results is "smoke and mirrors," he added.
President Trump has already spurned key allies at the annual summit, accusing Germany of being a "captive of Russia." Cheddar's J.D. Durkin, who is on the ground in Brussels, gets into the latest.
The U.S. tariffs would only end up hurting the consumer and the automakers employees across its plants and distribution centers in America, says Zack Hicks, CEO and president of the Toyota Connected unit in North America.
President Donald Trump nominated the DC appellate court judge to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who's retiring at the end of the month.
A study finds male political reporters in Washington, D.C., retweet other men more than women. “Men and women are operating in gender echo chambers in Washington on Twitter,” says Nikki Usher, the lead author of the study.
Members of the military alliance are prepared to be spurned by the president and worry he may start to unravel the organization. But the Trump administration has, in fact, increased its spending on NATO, suggesting that worries surrounding the event might not turn transpire, says Dan Michaels, the Wall Street Journal Brussels bureau chief.
American cheese producers that rely heavily on exports are already feeling the impact of tariffs on their products, forcing them to reconsider their strategy completely, says Heather Hadden, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal.
Although the recent job report showed the U.S. economy added 213,000 jobs in June, the trade war is predicted to have a significant impact on the economy. "Unless we get either isolated resolutions of these disputes or global resolutions ... we don't see any momentum in that space," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, tells Cheddar.
President Trump is expected to submit his Supreme Court nominee to replace Justice Anthony Kennedy on Monday.
The three favorites are almost "identical" in policy stances, says Rick Hasen, professor of law and political science at UC-Irvine.
The U.S. tariffs on Chinese products that kicked in on Friday are specifically targeted at high-tech goods, an attempt to crack down on alleged intellectual property theft. But they could end up raising the cost of products like e-cigarettes, e-bikes, and smart home devices that are overwhelmingly used by millennials, says Axios reporter Erica Pandey.
U.S. tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese goods kicked in early Friday, prompting China to respond in kind and escalating tensions between the two countries into what Beijing describes as "the biggest trade war in economic history."
