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Trump ends fascist convention by calling on attendees to pledge allegiance to him

Trump’s speech concluded a poorly attended and overtly fascistic event centered on attacks on immigrants, Muslims, transgender persons and socialism.

World Socialist Web Site · 20 minutes ago

The Daily Brief

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The Trump administration is moving to rewrite the census itself. Under proposals for 2030, the White House would exclude some immigrants from the count and strip out the questions on race — the instrument that apportions congressional seats and measures the disparities civil-rights policy is built on. Erase the count and you erase the claim: fewer seats for the places migrants live, and no data to prove discrimination exists. This is redistricting by arithmetic, aimed at the people with the least power to answer back.

It lands as Republicans open their first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, betting a prime-time Trump performance can lift the party's fortunes despite his record-low approval. Trump accused Iran of trying to influence the elections as he prepared to take the stage, an oil-price spike from the Iran attacks cutting across the rally. Outside the American Airlines Center the spectacle was its own confession: Trump-shaped rubber ducks, sequined jackets and bedazzled stiletto purses, a cult of personality sold by the unit.

The map fights the convention is meant to distract from are not going the administration's way. In Missouri, dueling court rulings have thrown the congressional maps into limbo with under two months to Election Day, and Republicans are not reaping the redistricting gains they wanted. Some of their own are running from the brand: Orange County's Young Kim has scrubbed Trump references from her campaign website ahead of a member-on-member race against Ken Calvert.

In Texas, the establishment is nervous. Democrat James Talarico has picked up an endorsement from a former top aide to Attorney General Ken Paxton — David Maxwell, Paxton's former law enforcement director, who reported Paxton to the FBI over allegations of abusing his office — and even Republican Rep. Pete Sessions says Paxton must debate Talarico to win. Meanwhile CMS chief Mehmet Oz is touting more than $20 billion in suspected fraud as a fix for Medicare, accounting theater standing in for funding the thing — even as Humana drops hundreds of thousands of Medicare Advantage members to boost profits.

The Explainer

They Can't Win the Votes, So They're Rewriting Who Counts

As Trump's approval hits record lows and even his own candidates scrub his name, the GOP is remaking the census and the maps — changing who gets counted before a single ballot is cast.

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