Monthly Archives: February 2020

And while a major trade agreement seems unlikely on this trip, Trump was more than happy to bask in the type of adulation that doesn't typically follow him when he travels abroad.

It was all an elaborate display meant to illustrate just how close Trump and Modi are, or at least how close they want to world to believe they are. At regular intervals throughout New Delhi and Ahmedabad, larger-than-life images of the two men are plastered on signs and posts. One declared: "Two dynamic personalities, one momentous occasion."

Both men heaped praise on the other during a massive "Namaste Trump" rally in the world's largest cricket stadium, held in Modi's home state.

A massive throng, all wearing white caps, cheered eagerly as Trump praised Indian democracy, Modi and Bollywood (sometimes using haltingly pronounced Hindi nouns). The crowd appeared to thin somewhat as temperatures increased inside the stadium, but tens of thousands remained to hear the President speak.

Trump made some veiled nudges toward maintaining India's historic status as a pluralistic society, which some could view in the context of recent moves Modi's critics say are moving toward anti-Muslim Hindu nationalism.

"Your nation has always been admired around the earth as the place where millions upon millions of Hindus and Muslims and Sikhs and Jains worship side by side in harmony," Trump said.

But the US president also offered a robust defense of using immigration controls to prevent what he calls "radical Islamic terrorism," bolstering some of Modi's hardline views.

"Every nation has the right to secure and controlled borders," he said. "The United States and India are committed to working together to stop terrorists and fight their ideology."

Trump peppered his speech with applause lines, guaranteeing his crowd roared with approval when he named famous Indian cricketers or listed the titles of a few Bollywood films.

He mounted praise on Modi, calling him a "true friend" and an "exceptional leader" whose rise to leadership as the son of a tea seller was an example of the country's "limitless potential."

The whole event took on the atmosphere of one of Trump's political rallies, complete with the Elton John playlist. And that, aides say, is what Trump was looking for when he agreed to travel 8,000 miles for a night in India: an uproarious reception and the biggest crowd he's ever drawn.

Traditional performances

Before arriving in the crowds of people, Trump emerged from Air Force One to an embrace from Modi while traditional folk music from Gujarat state -- complete with blowing conch shells and persistent drumming -- began echoing. Women with rainbow flower strands stacked atop their headdresses danced to the rhythm.

"To my great friend, thank you for this wonderful visit," Trump wrote in the site's guest book.

He flew from Ahmedabad to Agra, where he took an early evening tour of the Taj Mahal, the late-afternoon sun setting the famous white marble mausoleum aglow.

Standing in front of the iconic symbol of lasting love -- which he'd never visited previously, despite naming one of his Atlantic City casinos after it -- the President stood hand-in-hand with the first lady declaring the site "truly incredible."

Before he arrived, Trump placed his expected crowd count for his "Namaste Trump" rally in the range of 6 to 10 million, but given the city's population of 8 million and the stadium's capacity of 110,000, those figures seemed high.

Whatever the final number, the crowd was massive, including along Trump's motorcade route, where thousands of hand-selected members of Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed him into Ahmedabad in India's northwest.

Trump will spend several hours with Modi, whom he describes as a friend. There are plenty of surface-level similarities between the men, like a penchant for populist nationalism and ardent followings. But their backgrounds differ vastly and they hold divergent economic views.

"That's not too much," he said on Sunday.

Trade negotiations

The real work takes place Tuesday, when Trump and Modi are expected to haggle over a festering trade dispute and discuss security-related matters.

On trade, Trump has insisted that US trade deficits be reduced and has used harsh tactics like tariffs to achieve his goals. After he applied stiff new tariffs on steel and aluminum, India responded by placing new duties on medical devices and farm products. The US then stripped India of special trade status meant for developing countries.

Trump has all but ruled out striking a grand trade deal on this trip. He said in his speech the US and India would make "very, very major" trade agreements but that they remain in the early stages. Modi, he joked, is a "very tough negotiator."

Trump did announce billions in new defense sale agreements, which the US hopes will lure India away from purchasing its hardware from Russia.

US administration officials also say Trump plans to confront Modi over troubling steps that amount to Democratic backsliding, like a new law that denies citizenship to Muslims. And Trump's offer still stands to help mediate an ongoing dispute over Kashmir between India and Pakistan, though Modi has essentially rejected his overtures.

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Trump lands in India and feels the love - CNN

Publicly, the president tried to show he had taken command and assured that Americans were safe.

The risk to the American people remains very low, he said. We have the greatest experts really in the world.

But behind the scenes, officials have prepared for scenarios in which the virus could spread out of control especially in densely populated and poor areas abroad. Its not known exactly how many people are affected in Iran, but an unofficial report published by Canadian researchers was circulated among some officials inside the White House that predicted as many as 18,000 cases a number seen as within the realm of possibility.

The National Security Council held a table-top exercise last week in which officials went through potential scenarios and mapped out needs in the case of any spike in cases.

An administration official also said the White House was considering measures that included travel restrictions for South Korea and Italy. The CDC already raised its travel advisory for South Korea to the highest level, recommending that travelers avoid all nonessential travel, but Italy still remains at the level below.

Trump on Wednesday took credit for an early decision to ban certain travelers from China shortly after the virus outbreak began.

A lot of people thought we shouldnt have done it that early, he said.

Senior administration officials have stressed in recent days that the presidents decision early on to shut down flights between the U.S. and China gave the administration much-needed time to ramp up vaccine development, explore potential treatments and examine possible disruptions to supply chains for U.S. companies.

Unfortunately what we are seeing is a political effort by the Left and some in the media to distract and disturb the American people with fearful rhetoric and palace intrigue, White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. The virus remains low-risk domestically because of the containment actions taken by this Administration since the first of the year.

The global situation is serious and changing hourly, which is exactly why Secretary Azar continues to lead a whole-of-government response in partnership with state and local leaders that includes the best experts on infectious diseases, Deere said. Its also exactly why the White House is requesting from Congress $2.5 billion in funding to accelerate vaccine development and further support preparedness and response efforts. The President is receiving regular updates, and is prepared to take additional action to protect the American people.

White House aides have long wanted the public message on the coronavirus to delve into the public health concerns rather than the potential economic damage. But behind the scenes, aides have been running models of the possible impact on both the U.S. and global economies. The U.S. stock market took major tumbles Monday and Tuesday after the coronavirus spread to both Italy and Iran, then swung between gains and losses throughout Wednesday.

New analysis released by Moodys Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi estimated the odds of the coronavirus turning into a pandemic were now at 40 percent a development that Zandi said would result in a recession in the U.S. for the first half of 2020.

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Trumps coronavirus conflict: Science vs. politics - POLITICO

Read: Americas Trumpiest ambassador

In steps Grenell, who has no intelligence background but has made it clear he will aggressively push Trumps line. The Wall Street Journal called him Trumps favorite ambassador, reporting that the president is impressed with his combative tone on TV and social media and has called Grenell someone who gets it. To be fair, its still unclear what kind of DNI Grenell will be or even how long his tenure will last. Under federal guidelines, Grenell can stay in his post only until mid-March, unless Trump nominates a permanent director by then. This would allow his tenure to continue for months as the confirmation process plays out, and as Wired noted, if a nomination fails or other nominations come and go, Grenell could stay on indefinitely. Grenell has a history of hawkish views on Russia, though in a 2016 opinion piece for Fox News he minimized Russias interference efforts, writing that it has been employing such tactics for decades. One of his first moves as acting DNI was to install Kash Patel, a partisan warrior who played an important role in Republican efforts to push back against the FBIs Russia probe, as a senior adviser. Patel reportedly has a mandate to clean house.

Robert Litt, who served as general counsel to the DNI during the Obama administration, told me that if Trump does find a willing partisan for the directors jobin Grenell or another candidatehe or she would hold the power to interfere with the intelligence communitys work to combat and monitor Russias meddling efforts. The DNI is responsible for setting priorities for intelligence collection. And if youre not looking for something, youre not going to find it, said Litt, now a lawyer with the firm Morrison and Foerster. The DNI could deprioritize looking for information and direct intelligence assets away from that.

Even without such a clear-cut move, he noted, collection and analysis could see a chilling effect. If people think their careers are going to be at stake if they talk about these things, theres going to be a natural inclination to shade your findings, he said. Hypothetically, for instance, you might say the Russians are looking to interfere in the elections, and you might omit that theyre trying to help the president, even though the evidence says they are.

The DNI also influences what information reaches Congress and the public. The 2017 report, for example, established a frame of reference on Russias 2016 efforts. Intelligence officials testimony at hearings, Litt said, shapes congressional and public understanding of these important issues. He added: If nobodys saying those things, then its hard for the narrative to take hold.

A pliant DNI could also go beyond withholding information to skewing the story, Douglas London, a professor at Georgetown who recently retired from a 34-year career in the CIA, told me. This could be picking facts, suppressing what he doesnt like and emphasizing what he does likeand in the process building a narrative that supports the presidents preferences.

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Trumps Intelligence War Is Also an Election Story - The Atlantic

UPDATED with Trump comment: President Donald Trump defended his campaigns libel suit against The New York Times, telling reporters, They did a bad thing. And there will be more coming.

Trump also pushed back on the Times defense that the article in question was opinion, and that the lawsuit was an effort to punish an opinion writer for having an opinion they find unacceptable.

If you read it, you will see that it is much more than opinion, Trump said at a press conference to talk about the administrations response to the coronavirus. It is beyond an opinion.

The article, headlined The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo, was written by Max Frankel, the former executive editor of the Times, ran on March 27, 2019.

PREVIOUSLY: The New York Times says that a libel suit filed by the Trump campaign over a 2019 opinion piece is an effort to use the courts to try to punish an opinion writer for having an opinion they find unacceptable.

President Donald Trumps campaign filed the libel suit Wednesday against the NYT over an opinion piece that claimed that it had an overarching deal with Vladimir Putin: help in defeating Hillary Clinton in 2016 in exchange for a pro-Russia foreign policy.

The article, headlined The Real Trump-Russia Quid Pro Quo, was written by Max Frankel, the former executive editor of the Times, ran on March 27, 2019.

There was no need for detailed electoral collusion between the Trump campaign and Vladimir Putins oligarchy because they had an overarching deal: the quid of help in the campaign against Hillary Clinton for the quo of a new pro-Russian foreign policy, starting with relief from the Obama administrations burdensome economic sanctions. The Trumpites knew about the quid and held out the prospect of the quo, Frankel wrote.

The lawsuit (read it here) claims the article selectively refers to previously-reported contacts between a Russian lawyer and persons connected with the campaign.

The Trump campaign claims that the article insinuates that these contacts must have resulted in a quid pro quo or a deal, and the defamatory article does not acknowledge that, in fact, there had been extensive reporting, including in The Times, that the meetings and contacts that the defamatory article refers to did not result in any quid pro quo or deal between the Campaign and Russia, or anyone connected with either of them.

A spokesperson for the Times said, The Trump Campaign has turned to the courts to try to punish an opinion writer for having an opinion they find unacceptable. Fortunately, the law protects the right of Americans to express their judgments and conclusions, especially about events of public importance. We look forward to vindicating that right in this case.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, currently the Democratic front-runner to take on Trump in the 2020 presidential election, also responded to the lawsuit today.

Lets be clear: we have a president who believes he is above the law and can do and say whatever he wants without consequences, Sanders said. Donald Trump has ignored the Constitution, disregarded the will of Congress, and attacked the judiciary. Trump has called the press the enemy of the people, and now taking a page from his dictator friends around the world is trying to dismantle the right to a free press in the First Amendment by suing the New York Times for publishing an opinion column about his dangerous relationship with Russia.

The Trump campaign is represented by Charles Harder, who has represented Donald and Melania Trump in other legal threats and libel actions.

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Donald Trump On His Campaigns Lawsuit Against The New York Times: There Will Be More Coming - Deadline

Here on this website, we ask a lot of questions. Usually theyre questions about people of means and fame and power and the situations they get into. We try to glean from these peoples business some sort of lesson that us non-stars can use. So we ask questions like, why? Also, what for? And how?

But sometimes, we dont have to because others do that work for us. So here now from the Daily Mail, a question: Did he try the goat? Donald Trump ate NOTHING from a vegetarian menu at first stop in Indian visit and was presented with challenging choices at beef-free state dinner.

Yes, did the president try the raan ali-shan on his 36-hour trip to India, where he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a strict vegetarian, several times, usually over a banquet of food? Trump didnt eat the vegetables, according to the Washington Post. But did he eat the meat? What did he eat and when did he eat it?

Whats the big deal? you, a person who understands boundaries and never logs on except for right now for some reason, asks. The big deal is that this guy has a pretty exclusive relationship with beef. He loves steak and he loves it rock hard, baby. Hamburgers line his guts. Sometimes, he orders the meatloaf. A source close to Trump told CNN prior to this trip, I have never seen him eat a vegetable.

Folks like the presidents son Eric calls the general outcry over whats in daddys mouth a sign of liberal overreach into personal lives. Who cares what the guy eats? Mind your own arteries! To others, Trumps lack of curiosity speaks to a larger lack of curiosity for the world and the people in it. Both arguments are fairly compelling, but there is something undeniably disconcerting about a grown man who wont eat his vegetables no matter how many airplane noises you make on the forks way to his sloppy, wet maw. Plus, one hopes a president would take care of his mind and body, since he works for the people. One hopes, too, that he wouldnt offend by, say, yucking New Delhis yum.

Curiously, for one luncheon, per the menu posted online, the chef changed the traditional samosa to one filled with broccoli. As Jaya Saxena of Eater said, Given that one of the most traditional fillings for samosas is potato, its not like the hotel needed to find a new vegetarian option, especially considering that fried potatoes are in fact a favorite of nonadventurous eaters in the White House and beyond. Clearly, this is a move to ensure the president spends his entire time in the country suffering from cruciferous farts. I suppose the president routed them on this one, though. He did not try it, reportedly.

So the next issue is goat, which is a meat. Trump likes meat but does he like goat? Unfortunately, we dont know. Journalists werent allowed in the state dinner, so there are no well-observed accounts about what he ate like hes some ingenue on the occasion of her first big profile.

So I guess were left with a big blackout. The lights went out at the opportune moment. No one else was in the room where it happened (it being whether or not the president ate a dish). So what now? Whats the lesson we can take from nothing? Maybe in the dearth of the knowable, theres hope for the best. We can dream a dream that he tried every dish and remarked kindly on it with a little self-deprecation, and asked a question or two about it. Then they moved on to discussing, I dont know, arms deals or whatever those two were up to. Also, maybe, the lesson is that it doesnt matter what the president did or didnt do. You can try the goat. Youll probably like it.

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What Did Donald Trump Eat in India, and When Did He Eat It? - Vanity Fair

Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States on the coronavirus outbreak:

Trump is highly concerned about the market and has encouraged aides not to give predictions that might cause further tremors.In a Twitter post, he misspelled the word coronavirus as caronavirus and wrote that two cable news stations are doing everything possible to make the Caronavirus look as bad as possible, including panicking markets, if possible. Likewise their incompetent Do Nothing Democrat comrades are all talk, no action. USA in great shape!

.Privately, Trump has become furious about the stock markets slide, according to two people familiar with the presidents thinking, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share internal details. While he has spent the past two days traveling in India, Trump has watched the stock markets fall closely and believes extreme warnings from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have spooked investors, the aides said. Some White House officials have been unhappy with how Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has handled the situation, they said.

The good news, I guess, is that at least Trump is concerned about something. Eventually, he might decide that happy talk wont save his bacon and he actually needs to do something substantive about the spread of the virus. The big questions are (a) how long this will take and (b) whether he can find someone competent to run this effort. I cant think of any previous president that Id be worried about on this score, but there you have it.

Trump has a simpleand surprisingly effectiveapproach to marketing: When someone else is in charge, everything is in terrible shape. When hes in charge, everything is perfect. This is fairly benign when it applies to things that Trump has no control overwhich is nearly everythingbut not so benign when it interferes with things that Trump really does need to address. Thats whats happening now. On the bright side, at least he hasnt yet appointed Jared Kushner as our new coronavirus czar.

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Donald Trump Is Worried About . . . The Stock Market - Mother Jones

SAN FRANCISCO Even asPresident Donald Trump sought to reassure the public that the risk of coronavirus in the U.S.remains low, ominous news emerged that could heighten the level of concern.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday confirmedan infection in California thatwould represent the first U.S. person to contract the virus despite not visiting a foreign country recently or comingin contact with an infected patient.

"At this time, the patients exposure is unknown,'' the CDC said in a statement. "Its possible this could be an instance of community spread of COVID-19, which would be the first time this has happened in the United States. Community spread means spread of an illness for which the source of infection is unknown. Its also possible, however, that the patient may have been exposed to a returned traveler who was infected.''

Coronavirus, explained:Everything to know about COVID-19, the illnessalarming theworld

This brings the number of coronavirus cases detected in the U.S. to 15, with 12 of them related to travel and the other two to direct contact with a patient. There are another 42Americans who tested positive on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that was quarantined in Japan, and three detectedinWuhan, the Chinese city at the epicenter of the global outbreak.

In an evening news conference in which he named Vice President Mike Pence as the point man in the administration's response to the coronavirus, Trump pointed out the relatively small number of U.S. cases of an infection that has sickened more than 82,000 people throughout the world, the vast majority in China.

The global death toll hit 2,801on Wednesday night.

"Because of all we've done, the risk to the American people remains very low,'' Trump said. "We're ready to adapt and we're ready to do whatever we have to as the disease spreads, if it spreads.''

CDC officials havealready said it would. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC'sNational Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, warned Tuesday of possible severe disruptions to everyday life.

President Donald Trump, with members of the president's coronavirus task force, speaks during a news conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2020, in Washington.(Photo: Evan Vucci, AP)

"It's not so much a question of if this will happen anymore but rather a question of exactly when this will happen and how many people in this country will have severe illness," she said.

The new case in California may validate that assessment.

Even before that news broke, officials in two of the state's jurisdictions took action in response to the coronavirus' threat.

San Francisco Mayor London Breedon Tuesday issued an emergency declaration aimed at preparing the city for anoutbreak even though no cases of the virus have been confirmed in the city.

And, on Wednesday, Orange Countywhich has had one case declared a local health emergency, though the rationale was different.

Although there are still zero confirmed cases in San Francisco residents, the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step up preparedness, Breed said. We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm.

First defense against coronavirus: 20 seconds of proper hand-washing

The declaration raises awareness, mobilizes city resources, accelerates emergency planning and coordinates agencies across the city, Breed said. She said it also allows for future reimbursement by the state and federal governments.

Santa Clara and San Diego counties have issued similar declarations to bolster their preparedness.

Breed emphasized theemergency declaration is aimed at getting services ready in the eventuality the virus reaches the city, whose population is more than 20% Chinese or Chinese American.

Given the high volume of travel between San Francisco and mainland China, there is a growing likelihood that we will see cases of COVID-19 eventually, SanFrancisco Health Officer Tomas Aragon said.

Several hundred miles south, Orange CountySupervisors Michelle Steel and Andrew Do said the emergency declaration was a response to the proposal to quarantine coronavirus patients in a local city, which has sparked an uproar.

The county of Orange continues to support Costa Mesa in opposition of state and federal governments decision to move COVID-19 patients to the Fairview Center, Do said.

In New York,Mayor Bill de Blasio had a different issue, saying theCDC has underutilized 1,200 hospital beds in the city that could be provided immediately to anyone who is being tested for coronavirus or who has tested positive.

De Blasiocalled on the CDCto launch a broad expansion of airport testing that he said was too narrowly focused on travelers to the U.S. from China.

We think that has to be expanded to any traveler coming from a country that has seen a major surge in cases, de Blasio said, namingHong Kong, Iran, Italy, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwanand Thailand.

With coronavirus sweeping across the world, it's easy to forget the epicenter of the disease, Wuhan. Wuhan can be compared to Pittsburgh or Chicago. USA TODAY

Trump has repeatedly downplayed the coronavirus threat, saying it was "under control.''

"The people are getting better.They're all getting better," Trump said Tuesday."I think that whole situation will start working out.A lot of talent, a lot of brainpower is being put behind it."

On Wednesday, Trump noted the flu has had much more impact than the coronavirus, saying he was amazed to find out influenza kills more than 25,000 Americans every year. There have been no reported fatalities in the U.S. because of the new virus.

"That was shocking to me,'' Trump said of the annual flu toll. "So far, if you look at what we have with the 15 people,and they're recovering.''

Contributing: Kevin McCoy, USA TODAY

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CDC confirms first 'unknown' coronavirus case in California that could raise concerns about the threat of the virus - USA TODAY

Editor's note: John Avlon is a CNN senior political analyst. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.

(CNN) -- You'd be forgiven for thinking that there are no rules in politics and there's nothing more to learn from history.

After all, a guy who got caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women got elected president by winning a majority of white women over the first female presidential nominee.

Donald Trump was a populist outsider who violated all the rules of politics. He did not care about the Republican Party and he didn't try to build a broad coalition. But he was beloved by his base, even as the GOP establishment warned he would be a disastrous nominee.

Now, many people are seeing a replay of that same script with the rise of Bernie Sanders. There's no question that this outsider has built a populist movement and moved the debate inside the Democratic Party decidedly to the left. His supporters are passionate and quick to condemn the Democratic establishment.

And after two caucuses and one primary, Bernie Sanders is the Democratic front-runner after trailing Joe Biden in the polls for most of the campaign. Now, he has momentum.

But can Bernie win? That's the 270-electoral vote question.

Because the No. 1 issue for Democrats this election is simple: Beating Trump.

And interestingly, according to a January CNN poll, 45% of Democrats thought Biden had a better chance of beating Trump in November, while Sanders trailed in second at 24%.

Typically, the most ideologically extreme candidate is the one worst positioned to win over swing voters in swing states. Barry Goldwater and George McGovern are iconic -- if dated -- examples. Both lost in landslides.

But what if this time it's different?

As Pete Hamby wrote in Vanity Fair, "Instead of asking if Sanders is unelectable, ask another question: What if Sanders is actually the MOST electable Democrat?"

Now this might sound like magical thinking, but Hamby explains: "In the age of Trump, hyper-partisanship, institutional distrust, and social media, Sanders could be examined as a candidate almost custom-built to go head-to-head with Trump this year."

Bernie is a political celebrity: People know what he stands for, for better or worse. He is authentic and admirably consistent about his self-described democratic socialist views.

But there's plenty to suggest that those views play better in a polarized Democratic primary than in a general election.

Let's take a look at the ideological divisions inside the Democratic Party.

On the surface, the party is basically split evenly between liberals and moderates. But dig a little deeper and you'll see, according to Pew, only 15% of Democrats identify as very liberal, where a democratic socialist agenda would logically fall. Beyond that, 32% describe themselves as liberal, 38% as moderate and 14% as some flavor of conservative. It is not a far-left party, despite the youthful energy inspired by Sanders' promises of free health care and free college. A fractured center lane makes it tough to match Sanders so far in first-past-the-post totals.

Panning out to the overall American electorate, just 27% of Americans identify as Democrats, according to the most recent Gallup tracking poll, with 30% describing themselves as Republicans and 42% declaring as independents. Likewise, Gallup makes it clear that America remains a center-right nation, with 37% of Americans calling themselves conservative, 35% moderate and just 24% liberal.

The takeaway: Any nominee is going to need to win votes beyond their base to win the presidency -- and a far left candidate will presumably have more work to do.

Now, Bernie's electoral argument is the same as Trump's -- he'll drive turnout by connecting with working-class voters who've been alienated by the establishment. That may be the case. But it's notable that the new voters who Sanders' claims will turn out for him have not done so in the three caucuses and primaries to date.

Then there's the label "socialism" -- the umbrella under which democratic socialism lives. It's really not popular: Gallup shows that more Americans say they would vote for a gay, Muslim or atheist president than a socialist. There's a reason why Team Trump rails against socialism and wants to run against Sanders.

You can argue that Americans vote on authenticity, not ideology. And that's a fair point in the Trump era.

But the center-right center of gravity is tougher to argue. Democrats need to understand why Reagan and Nixon won 49 states in landslide reelections, while Clinton and Obama had to fight for their second terms, despite strong records amid economic recoveries.

The electoral college also seems to favor the GOP, with Trump and George W. Bush winning the White House despite losing the popular vote. That means running up margins in New York and California isn't enough. Democrats can't afford to write off Florida or ignore the warnings of swing-district congressmen about the down-ticket impact of Sanders.

Bottom line: Could Bernie win? Sure -- anything is possible. But possible is not the same thing as probable. Donald Trump is a historically unpopular President despite a strong economy to date. But, a lot can and will happen before November.

According to a recent Washington Post/ABC poll, the top-tier Democrats beat Trump by different margins in head-to-head matchups.

The same thing is largely true for swing states such as Pennsylvania and Michigan, which is a far better gauge of who might win the presidency.

Bernie Sanders has built a movement and he has momentum. But there are plenty of rational reasons to think that nominating a democratic socialist in a center-right country is a real risk -- and could deliver Donald Trump a second term.

2020 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.

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Can Bernie Sanders beat Donald Trump? Here's the reality - KCTV Kansas City

Eight months away from the presidential elections, Donald Trump issued a dire warning that the stock market will crash like nobody has seen before should voters choose to kick him out of the White House.

It appears that voters dont have to wait for the presidential elections to witness the stock market cratering. The Dow Jones just printed its worst two-day percentage plunge in two years while the S&P 500 is down 7.8% from its all-time high. The stock market is tanking so it can serve Trumps reelection campaign in November.

One of Trumps greatest achievements as president is the record-setting stock market. Under Trumps presidency, equities have consistently printed fresh all-time highs. The S&P 500 climbed by as much 62.9% since Trump took office in November 2016. The Dow skyrocketed more than 65% over the same time period.

According to Bespoke Investment Group, the gains of the S&P 500 since Trump was elected are more than double the returns of his predecessors three years into their term dating back to 1928.

Theres no doubt that Trump will leverage this achievement to get reelected, but not in a way that most people think. Trump can take advantage of the current stock market selloff to get further rate reductions from the Federal Reserve. The rate cuts can resuscitate a crashing stock market before the presidential elections.

Will Meade, a billion-dollar hedge fund manager, echoes this sentiment. He believes that the rate cut will boost the economy and the stock market right in time for the election.

While Im not sure that Trump is really behind the selloff, he can definitely use the stock market crash as an opportunity to boost his candidacy.

In October 2019, the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep rates stable unless the economy faltered. In other words, the Fed is not ruling out further rate reductions in the future.

This gives Trump and his team the window to strong-arm the Fed to get a big rate cut in March. With the stock market cratering, Trump can weaponize Twitter to achieve his goal. A study has shown that the Fed is likely to succumb to Trumps tweets. It appears that the stars are aligning for a massive rate cut in March.

The question now is whether rate cuts can actually drive the stock market higher. Historical data show that the S&P 500 rose by an average 11% after six months when the Fed cut rates during an economic expansion.

JM Vala of LayupTrades.com thinks that rate cuts will help stabilize the stock market. He told CCN.com,

I think that yes, the Fed rate cut will help stabilize the market. Also, we were expecting zero rate cuts and we are now looking at up to three this year.

Other analysts are not so optimistic about the impact of more rate reductions.

Mati Greenspan, founder of Quantum Economics said,

At this point a rate cut would be a waste of a policy tool and I think the Fed knows that.

Jason Harris of StockHunterTrading.com shares Greenspans view. When asked if rate cuts would help prop up the stock market, he answered,

Not really. I think low interest rates are going to be the new norm for a few years if not decades.

For now, Trump can blame the coronavirus for the cratering stock market. I imagine it would do his campaign wonders if he becomes the hero that resuscitates stocks in the coming months. Given this context, it appears that Trump will once again come out on top of this situation.

The above should not be considered trading advice from CCN.com. The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.

This article was edited by Sam Bourgi.

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Donald Trump Will Rescue the Stock Market Just in Time for His Re-Election Campaign - CCN.com