Skimmed Obama’s new memoir for British references yesterday. There are some standout ones.
Says Cameron had “the easy confidence of someone who’d never been pressed too hard by life”. 1/ telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/1…
Obama on Gordon Brown: He “lacked the sparkly political gifts of his predecessor” Tony Blair. 👀
But also calls him “thoughtful” and “responsible”. 2/
Obama recounts the media reaction to Michelle touching the Queen’s shoulder during the 2009 G20 summit in Britain. Says the Queen “didn’t seem to mind”. 3/
Obama’s vignettes of world leaders are fascinating + can be pretty cutting.
On former French president Nicolas Sarkozy: “all emotional outbursts and over-blown rhetoric”; his “primary barely disguised interest” was to take the credit. 4/
Also this from the 2009 UK visit. Obama describes Michelle’s trip to a London girls school + cites an economist saying it was followed by a “notable spike” in test scores. 5/
A few more details in our piece here, inc Obama being left irritated with Cameron + Sarkozy re their “half-assed” plan for a no-fly zone over Libya to counter Gaddafi. telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/11/1…
(Obama memoir, at 776pgs, is just volume one. Goes up to Bin Laden raid in 2011, so no account of the frustration with Cameron over the Syrian air strikes Commons defeat.)
Obama’s description of Angela Merkel is interesting too.
All about the eyes, “big and bright blue”, “could be touched by turns with frustration, amusement, or hints of sorrow”. (This comes right before the Sarkozy passage).
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As far as I can tell Trump campaign fraud claims fall into 4 buckets: 1) people voting who shouldn’t have (eg dead) 2) election official wrongdoing (eg rules broken) 3) their poll watchers not getting full access 4) complaints about mail ballots arriving after election day
But...
Number 4 questionable - allowed for military ballots, other rules were agreed before the vote
Number 3 a side issue - not an example of fraudulent votes and disputed in many places.
Examples given for 1 + 2 are v limited. Being looked into. Some circulating online disproved.
Remember Trump isn’t just claiming a few voting irregularities. He’s alleging a conspiracy to steal the election from him.
The Trump campaign therefore needs to provide evidence for a) widespread and systematic vote fraud b) Trump being the target.
John Bolton:
"...All candidates are entitled to pursue appropriate election-law remedies if they have evidence supporting their claims. They should certainly not lie. The 1st Republican president was called 'Honest Abe' for a reason"
1/
Mitt Romney, Repub Utah senator, on Trump
"He is wrong to say the election was rigged, corrupt and stolen - doing so damages the cause of freedom here and around the world... and recklessly inflames destructive and dangerous passions."
2/
Pat Toomey, Repub Pennsylvania senator
“There’s simply no evidence anyone has shown me of any widespread corruption or fraud"
“The president’s speech last night was very disturbing to me because he made very, very serious allegations without any evidence to support it"
3/
Good morning from Washington! 5.30am here. My dreams are now entirely made up of vote margins. US went to sleep Wednesday night with the 5 big states yet to call. Wakes on Friday to the same. But we are edging towards a result...
Big change of course is Georgia. Biden 917 votes ahead, 2ish% to count. This doesn’t guarantee victory there. Military ballots still to come in (likely good for Trump, don’t know how many). Biden team yesterday said it was touch+go. But 36hr trend has been towards Biden.
Worth noting just how remarkable it is Dems could win Georgia. Last blue in 1992. Republican win margins in last five elections: 11.7% (2000), 16.6% (04), 5.2% (08), 7.8% (12), 5.2% (16). Part of the Deep South may have flipped on Trump.