January 1, Trump Heads to Michigan, Wisconsin as Troubles Mount

This Day in History | 1931

Gangster Al Capone is sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax evasion and fined $80,000, signaling the downfall of one of the most notorious criminals of the 1920s and 1930s.

Good Morning Middle Americans, 

We are just about two week away from what many people consider the biggest presidential election in our nation’s history (it’s not, but it’s still fun to play that game) – and president Donald Trump continues to be on the wrong side of an avalanche of data that would suggest that he is going to lose in spectacular fashion, once all the votes are counted. And it’s not just the White House President Trump and Republicans need to worry about it. Key Senate races are swinging in the wrong direction, and so are some crucial House races that would allow Democrats and Nancy Pelosi to expand their grasp on power in Washington D.C.. President Trump is headed to the Midwest to try and stop the bleeding. But it doesn’t help when his former Chief of Staff Gen. John Kelly is being quoted as saying the president ‘is the most flawed’ person he’s ever met. 

Meanwhile, the luckiest and least scrutinized presidential candidate in modern history is still facing problems of his own. He seems to be able to sideswipe questions about his son’s shady foriegn business dealings, but deeper questions remain about his willingness to sell out minority communities for political expediency in the past, namely the 1994 crime bill that he sponsored. Here’s something else going well for Biden, besides the polls, he apparently beat President Trump in TV ratings with the two went head to head in competing town halls, one on ABC, the other on NBC. Finally today, raise your glass and toast Tab. The Coca-Cola corporation has decided to retire the world’s first diet cola. 

Read all about it. 

-Fraser Dixon

Trump Heads to Michigan, Wisconsin in Re-election Campaign Push

(Reuters) – President Donald Trump will take his re-election push to Michigan and Wisconsin on Saturday before launching a tour of western states to shore up political support as he trails Democratic rival Joe Biden in national polls.

Fmr. W.H. Chief of Staff John Kelly: Trump ‘Is the Most Flawed Person He’s Ever Met’

(CNN) – The reporting comes from a new CNN special scheduled to air Sunday night, “The Insiders: A Warning from Former Trump Officials,” in which former senior administration officials — including former national security adviser John Bolton, former Health and Human Services scientist Rick Bright and former Department of Homeland Security general counsel John Mitnick — explain why they think the President is unfit for office.

1994 Crime Bill Continues to Haunt Biden

(The Guardian) – In 1994, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware stood proudly behind Bill Clinton as he signed into law a reform bill that touched nearly every aspect of the US criminal justice system. More than 25 years later, amid national protests against racial injustice in law enforcement, the Democratic presidential nominee is grappling anew with the implications of legislation he helped author and which experts say opened the door to an era of mass incarceration that devastated African American communities.

It’s Official: Biden Beats Trump in Town Hall Television Ratings

(Vanity Fair) – In a result that reportedly even left some ABC News staffers surprised, the network’s town hall with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden defeated a competing event with President Donald Trump on NBC that rather infamously aired during the same time slot.

U.S. to Execute First Woman in Seven Decades

(Reuters) – The U.S. Justice Department said on Friday it has scheduled the first federal execution of a woman in almost 70 years, setting a Dec. 8 date to put to death Lisa Montgomery, convicted of a 2004 murder.

Montgomery, who was found guilty of strangling a pregnant woman in Missouri, will be executed by lethal injection at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana, the department said in a statement.

Coca-Cola Discontinues Tab After Nearly 60 years

(CNN) – After nearly 60 years, Coca-Cola is discontinuing its first-ever diet soda, Tab, which acquired a huge fan base in the ’70s and ’80s and maintained a small but devoted following through the years.

“Tab had an amazing run,” said Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition and a longtime Tab enthusiast. Bixby said messages of condolences have been pouring in. “As a business decision I can understand it, but it’s a very sad day … I do feel it’s like losing a friend.”