politics

cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/14030145

> They are: > 1. Why Did Farage Lie About Meeting the Russian Ambassador? > 2. How Could Farage Not Have Known About Arron Banks’ Multiple Visits to the Russian Embassy During the Brexit Campaign? > 3. What Did Farage Know of the Russian Hacking of the Clinton Campaign? > 4. How Could Farage be Blind to Trump and Steve Bannon’s Backing for Russia? > 5. Why Did Farage Hide the Assessment that his Leave.EU Campaign Funder was an “Agent of Russian Influence?” > > See also: > * Previous thread on Russian interference in the current General Election > * Russian interference in the 2016 Brexit referendum on Wikipedia, which seems well-written and properly sourced

In November, Americans will make a choice between continued democracy with a vote for Joe Biden, or an autocracy infused with Christian fundamentalist values by voting for Donald Trump. Christian nationalism – the belief that a Christian moral perspective must rule the country’s law and institutions – is a stronger force in this year’s presidential election than ever before. And while much of the focus has been on Trump’s alliance with evangelical Christians, there is another group that could be even more influential – and they might just tip the scale in his favour.

Catholic bishops lead the largest single religious group in the country, with 73 million believers, or a fifth of the population (Protestants as a whole make up a larger group but are divided among various denominations). Their influence is important: Catholics vote at a higher rate than most Americans, and since 1952, their votes have usually gone to the winner. Today, Catholic groups are increasingly working in alliance with evangelical groups, to push through laws, make political change, and throw their support behind the Republican party.

One recent example of this alliance was the scrapping of federal protection for abortion in 2022. US bishops celebrated alongside their white evangelical peers when the Supreme Court overturned the 1972 Roe vs Wade ruling. It was the culmination of a decades-long battle waged by both groups, with the election of Trump proving pivotal. Trump had impressed conservative religious voters when he promised to name anti-abortion judges to the Court – and he delivered. On a 2020 phone call with Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, who gushed his support, Trump called himself the “best [president] in the history of the Catholic Church”.

Three of the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe vs Wade were appointed by Trump, bringing the total of judges raised Catholic to seven out of nine. Trump’s principal adviser on the nominations, his “court whisperer”, was Leonard Leo, a daily Mass-goer who controls a network of ultra-right NGOs. Leo has strong links with the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), one of the most powerful lobbying groups in the US.

The USCCB’s obsession with abortion is one of several ways it defies Pope Francis, the Argentine elected in 2013 who has become known for his outreach to the poor and migrants and to people of other faiths, for reforming antiquated Vatican structures, and for deep concern with global warming and the environment. US bishops continue to list abortion as the “pre-eminent” concern when considering candidates for public office, while Pope Francis says one pro-life issue should not take precedence over others – including capital punishment, euthanasia, care for the poor and for all of God’s “creation”.

Francis also argues against politicising faith, urging bishops to be “shepherds” by exercising “closeness, compassion and tenderness”. Yet only a dramatic last-minute intervention from the Vatican prevented the US prelates from forbidding Holy Communion to Joe Biden when he became president in 2021. Biden is a lifelong Catholic, only the second Catholic president in US history, but his defence of pro-abortion law was given as a justification for withholding the sacrament.

There is plenty of diversity and divergence within the Catholic community in the US. But it’s striking that many of the wealthiest lay Catholics support the agenda of the most conservative bishops. Take as an example Thomas Monaghan, founder of the Domino’s Pizza chain, who told a biographer: “I try to remember that my main job is to become a saint.” To that end Monaghan created Legatus, an influential association of wealthy Catholic corporate CEOs, in 1987. It has been described by Catholic TV network Eternal Word as “a sort of spiritual home-base for those Catholics who stand at the helm of America’s entrepreneurial ship”.

Besides Legatus, Monaghan also created – there is no other way to describe it – an entire Catholic-inspired Florida town, named Ave Maria, with a law school at its heart for grooming the next generation of right-wing lawyers. Its curriculum was partly designed by the late ultraconservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and its dedicatory address delivered by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.

The pizza king also founded Thomas More Law Center (TMLC), one of several Christian advocacy law firms that “reside at the crossroads of church and state,” as another such firm described itself. “Confronting the threat of radical Islam” is one of TMLC’s declared interests. Cardinal Raymond Burke, a leader among right-wing US bishops and a TMLC endorser, has said that standing against Muslim immigration is “the responsible exercise of one’s patriotism”. This aligns with the policies of Trump, who declared a “Muslim ban” against immigrants from certain countries in one of his first acts as president. The ban was overturned under Biden, but Trump says he wants to bring it back “bigger” if he wins a second presidential term.

"But lost in the hand wringing was Donald Trump’s usual bombastic litany of lies, hyperbole, bigotry, ignorance, and fear mongering. His performance demonstrated once again that he is a danger to democracy and unfit for office.”

“In fact, the debate about the debate is misplaced. The only person who should withdraw from the race is Trump.”

> President Joe Biden’s dismal showing at the CNN presidential debate against former President Donald Trump resonated around the world, with foreign diplomats expressing shock and concern while raising questions about the implications for a consequential US election that could upend the foreign policy status-quo should Trump be reelected.

People care when their drinking water is contaminated with lead. They care if their medicines aren’t safe and effective, or if somebody takes all the money out of their investment accounts. Those things don’t make people happy. Yet it’s administrative agencies that are guarding against that and protecting their rights. So when the Supreme Court starts to dismantle important features of these agencies, it matters because it’s destabilizing a really important part of government

>June 28 (Reuters) - A group of U.S. voters who were unable to choose between Joe Biden and Donald Trump before Thursday's presidential debate delivered their verdicts after the contest and it was almost universally bad news for Biden.

>Of the 13 "undecideds" who spoke to Reuters, 10 described the 81-year-old Democratic president's performance against Republican candidate Trump collectively as feeble, befuddled, embarrassing and difficult to watch.

A group of undecided Latino voters said they would vote for President Joe Biden after watching his Thursday night debate with former President Donald Trump.

...

A clip posted on X shows the group being interviewed by a journalist. One man said he would vote for Biden because "Trump sounded like a crazy liar," according to Matt A. Barreto, professor of Political Science and Chicana/o & Central American Studies at UCLA.

The man being interviewed said Trump "said the same thing time after time" and was not answering questions or "saying how he would fix things," according to a Newsweek translation.

He went on to admit that "Biden was indeed a bit slow in talking," saying the president "has a stutter" but believes Biden explained "what he has done and what he is still doing while president.

"After being undecided for a little while, I think today, I switched to Biden," he added.

Archived version

>All undecided voters in a U.S. swing states focus group hosted by pollster Frank Luntz said President Biden should be replaced as the Democratic nominee after watching his first presidential debate against former President Trump.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/10983081

> The key thing here is that the court has a right-wing majority due to Trump appointing Federalist Society members to it. They're in it for the gratuities., and will always favor profit over people as a result.