Cal Thomas, Charlie Spiering and Tim Murtaugh joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C MEDIA MADNESS:

• Democrats’ frustration with the news media boils over (Politico): An outpouring of frustration lately from 2020 candidates, Democratic strategists and left-leaning columnists over everything from CNN’s handling of last week’s primary debate to coverage of race and white supremacists to the years-old gripe that news organizations are too willing to amplify Trump’s words.

• DAILY BEAST: NY Times Executive Editor Dean Baquet responds to the Trump front-page headline controversy: “It was written on deadline and when it was passed along for approval we all saw it was a bad headline and changed it pretty quickly.”

 5 am – D/E   TRUMP TO VISIT EL PASO, DAYTON TODAY:

• President Donald Trump will receive a reluctant welcome to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday by leaders and community members still grappling with the aftermath of horrific mass shootings that left 31 dead
• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: Will be going to Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, tomorrow to meet with First Responders, Law Enforcement, and some of the victims of the terrible shootings. 1:57 PM – 6 Aug 2019
• “I would prefer that the president not come to El Paso.”– Beto O’Rourke responds to Pres. Trump’s scheduled visit to the city, telling @ABC News that many in El Paso “do not want to see him here, understand that he is part of the problem.”

• Trump trashes Beto O’Rourke, tells him to ‘be quiet’ ahead of El Paso visit (Fox News) — President Trump issued a fiery tweet late Tuesday for 2020 presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke ahead of his visit to the Democrat’s hometown of El Paso, Texas, following last weekend’s shooting that left 22 dead. Over the past several days, O’Rourke has slammed the president, who he has placed blame for the massacre. The former congressman declared that Trump is a “racist” and compared his language to Nazi Germany’s Third Reich. He also compared Trump’s North Carolina rally– where the “send her back” chant took place– to “Nuremberg.”
• Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump – Beto (phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage) O’Rourke, who is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him, and is now even more embarrassed by polling at 1% in the Democrat Primary, should respect the victims & law enforcement – & be quiet! 11:57 PM – Aug 6, 2019
• Sister of Slain El Paso Couple Blasts Local Dems for Not Welcoming Trump to their City. In a Facebook post on Tuesday, their sister Vibora (Deborah) Anchondo angrily upbraided the Democrats, calling them “monsters” who “do not deserve to be mentioned by name.” She also called the politicians “pure evil” for turning the President’s visit “into a political issue.” “It’s such a shame that two of our local politicians (I refuse to say their names as they don’t deserve it) are saying that our President is not welcome on Wednesday,” Anchondo wrote on Facebook. “I cannot believe how these monsters are using the tragic event to push their political agenda.

6am – A   Joaquin Castro Posts Names, Employers Of Trump Donors (Daily Caller) — Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro on Monday tweeted the names and employers of 44 San Antonio residents who donated the federal maximum to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. Castro, whose district includes much of San Antonio, claimed the donors “are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’” Castro is the twin brother of Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro and chairs his presidential campaign.

• Joaquin Castro @Castro4Congress – Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump — the owner of @BillMillerBarBQ, owner of the @HistoricPearl, realtor Phyllis Browning, etc. Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’
• Steve Scalise @SteveScalise 12h12 hours ago: People should not be personally targeted for their political views. Period. This isn’t a game. It’s dangerous, and lives are at stake. I know this firsthand.
• Tim Murtaugh @TimMurtaugh 14h14 hours ago: At the very least @Castro4Congress is inviting harassment of these private citizens. At worst, he’s encouraging violence.  Will media concerned about “rhetoric” care about this? He’s listing people and their employers.  This is a target list.
• Tim Murtaugh @TimMurtaugh: What’s also notable here is that @Castro4Congress is willing to attack his own constituents, including businesses in and around his district, for political views. Some have previously donated to him. All to help his brother’s doomed presidential campaign.
• Tim Murtaugh @TimMurtaugh UPDATE: @Castro4Congress defends tweet inviting harassment (or worse) aimed at private citizens. Listed names & workplaces of Trump donors – i.e., a target list.   Meanwhile Julian Castro’s campaign is on Twitter battling reporters who called them out over it.
• Joaquin Castro doubles down on outing Trump donors: ‘No one was targeted or harassed’: Joaquin Castro @JoaquinCastrotx No one was targeted or harassed in my post. You know that. All that info is routinely published.  You’re trying to distract from the racism that has overtaken the GOP and the fact that President Trump spends donor money on thousands of ads about Hispanics “invading” America.

6am – B/C   Peter Strzok sues over firing for anti-Trump texts (Politico) — Peter Strzok, the former FBI agent who opened the bureau’s Russia probe in 2016 and later became a symbol of alleged “deep state” animus for Donald Trump, is suing the government over his firing. In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Strzok excoriates the Justice Department and FBI for their handling of his dismissal over a trove of text messages he wrote to a colleague that were critical of Trump. Strzok accuses the president of inappropriately bullying law enforcement officials deciding his fate, raises questions about why his texts were leaked to the media and lambastes the administration for only defending its employees’ free speech rights when they are praising Trump.

6am – D   Interview – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist – discussed the mass shootings and protesters harassing Mitch McConnell.

• Mass murders are a symptom (By Cal Thomas) – Politicians and pundits are promoting familiar explanations, excuses and demands following the tragic mass murders in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. From more gun laws, to blaming President Trump, conservative talk radio and Fox News, we’ve heard it all before. A manifesto thought to be linked to the El Paso killer was posted online just before the assault on Walmart shoppers and, according to the Washington Post, maintains that he has held “his white supremacist ideology for many years, predating President Trump and his 2016 campaign, which he says did not influence his reasons for carrying out the attack.” The Dayton shooter described himself on social media as a pro-Satan “leftist” who hoped to vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) for president. One question no one is asking: why is evil rampant in our country? I don’t mean obvious evil like the all too frequent mass murders. There are other evils, which seem to have come from the “pit” and are roaming among us uncontrolled.

6am – E  ‘You Got To Be Kidding Me’: El Paso Victim Shocked When Realizing ‘Gun-Wielding’ Mother Left Firearm At Home (Daily Caller) — A survivor of this weekend’s shooting in El Paso, Texas told CNN’s Chris Cuomo that he was surprised when he found out that his “gun-wielding” mother did not bring her firearm with her to Walmart. Christopher Grant said, while in a hospital bed, that his mother made the decision not to bring her .38 special revolver before they went to the Walmart, where 22 people were killed, and 26 people were injured. “I ran towards my mother to try and shield her. And I’m like ‘mom.’ Cause my mom is a gun-wielding grandma. She carries a snub-nose Smith and Wesson, 38 special with a built in scope in it — everywhere she goes,” Grant said. The man said he was shocked when he found out that his mother wasn’t carrying her firearm. “An hour before we went to Walmart, she decides ‘oh we’re just going to Walmart. I’m going to put it in my room. So when I went to her, no gun. And I was like ‘oh my god, you got to be kidding me.’ And so I was like, then she took off and it was chaos,” he continued.

6am – F         Krispy Kreme releases Reese’s filled doughnuts (ABC13 – Houston) — Starting Monday, Krispy Kreme will sell two new doughnuts that combine chocolate and peanut butter. The Reese’s Original Filled Chocolate Lovers Doughnut will be a chocolate Original Glazed doughnut filled with Reese’s Peanut Butter Kreme dipped in fudge icing and topped with a Reese’s peanut butter drizzle. The Reese’s Original Filled Peanut Butter Lovers Doughnut will be a Original Glazed chocolate doughnut filled with chocolate peanut butter kreme dipped in Reese’s peanut butter icing and topped with a chocolate icing drizzle. The doughnuts will be sold for a limited time.

7am – A         Interview – CHARLIE SPIERING – Breitbart News White House correspondent — discussed President Trump heading to Dayton and El Paso today.

• President Donald Trump will receive a reluctant welcome to El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday by leaders and community members still grappling with the aftermath of horrific mass shootings that left 31 dead

 7am – B/C     MAGA SUPPORTERS CLEAN UP BALTIMORE

• White House ‏@WhiteHouse – The White House Retweeted #ThePersistence Thank you to the 170+ volunteers who joined local residents to help clean up Baltimore!
• After Trump’s tweets, conservative activist leads neighborhood cleanup in West Baltimore (The Baltimore Sun) — Many a morning, 58-year-old Millie Jefferson finds herself outside her home in West Baltimore, sweeping her front steps and picking up trash on her block. Monday, she had some unexpected visitors. Dozens of volunteers gathered near her home on North Fulton Avenue and started bagging garbage and weeding, too. They were inspired by Scott Presler, a Republican activist from northern Virginia who started a social media campaign to help clean up Baltimore’s 7th congressional district in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tweets about it last month. “We can’t do it alone,” Jefferson said. “It makes me feel good to see that there are still some good people and good communities that want to see better.” The volunteers donned gloves and wielded rakes and weed wackers as they combed through trash dumped in the neighborhood and hacked away grasses peeking through the sidewalks. Beneath a pop-up tent, they signed a poster with the words “Americans Helping Americans.” “I’m thankful that [Trump] brought attention to Baltimore,” said Presler, a conservative commentator with several hundred thousand followers on Twitter. “It’s important to know that although we are the best, freest, greatest country in the world, we still have our problems, and we can’t look at the world just through rose-colored glasses.”

 7am – D   TULSI HURTING KAMALA’S POLLING NUMBERS

• NEW Q POLL: August 6, 2019 – Warren Up, Harris Down, But Biden Leads Among U.S. Dems Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; 14 Dems Have Less Than 1 Percent
• JOSH KRAUSHAAR: Want to know how badly Tulsi Gabbard’s hit on Harris (over her prosecutorial record) stung? Harris polling at just ONE percent among black voters nationally, in new Q poll. Was in double-digits before.

7am – E    HILLARY AND CHELSEA CLINTON TO RELEASE NEW BOOK

• Hillary Clinton @HillaryClinton – @ChelseaClinton and I are thrilled to announce “The Book of Gutsy Women,” out October 1st. It’s a conversation about over 100 women who have inspired us—and narrowing it down was a process!
• Hillary and Chelsea Clinton releasing joint book honoring ‘Gutsy Women’ (Fox News) — Former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton is putting out another book — this time with her daughter, Chelsea, to promote women who inspired them. The former secretary of state’s latest book — set to be released in October — was written in response to her and her daughter being asked by girls who their heroes are, according to a statement, and features Harriet Tubman, Ellen Degeneres, and others. “To us, they are all gutsy women — leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done,” Chelsea Clinton said in a statement released on Tuesday. “So in the moments when the long haul seems awfully long, we hope you will draw strength from these stories. We do. Because if history shows one thing, it’s that the world needs gutsy women.”

8am – A   Interview – TIM MURTAUGH –  Trump 2020 Director of Strategic Communications

• Joaquin Castro Posts Names, Employers Of Trump Donors (Daily Caller) — Democratic Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro on Monday tweeted the names and employers of 44 San Antonio residents who donated the federal maximum to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign. Castro, whose district includes much of San Antonio, claimed the donors “are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’” Castro is the twin brother of Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro and chairs his presidential campaign.
• Trump And RNC Sue Over California’s Requirement To Release Tax Returns (Daily Caller) — President Donald Trump sued California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the California secretary of state Tuesday after the state passed a new law requiring presidential candidates to release tax returns. The Republican National Committee also sued, calling the law a “naked political attack against the sitting president of the United States.” Trump and his campaign filed a second suit challenging the constitutionality of the new law, known as the “California Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act.” It requires candidates running for U.S. president to release five years of their tax returns, which the state would publish for public viewing.

8am – B/C     MEDIA MADNESS: MSNBC Analyst Uses Numerology To Link Trump’s Decision To Fly Flags At Half-Staff To Neo-Nazism (VIDEO) (Daily Caller) —  A former FBI assistant director used numerology on MSNBC Monday to link neo-Nazism to President Donald Trump’s decision to fly flags at half-staff to honor the victims of shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio. Frank Figluizzi floated the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory during an interview with Brian Williams. “The president said that we will fly our flags at half mast, until August 8th. That’s 8/8. Now, I’m not going to imply that he did this deliberately, but I am using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary that’s being demonstrated by the White House,” he said. “The numbers 88 are very significant in neo-Nazi and white supremacy movement. Why? Because the letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and to them the numbers 88 together  Stand for ‘Heil Hitler.’ So we’re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk on 8/8,” he continued.

8am – D         MAGA SUPPORTERS CLEAN UP BALTIMORE:

• White House ‏@WhiteHouse – The White House Retweeted #ThePersistence Thank you to the 170+ volunteers who joined local residents to help clean up Baltimore!
• After Trump’s tweets, conservative activist leads neighborhood cleanup in West Baltimore