“Trump can still win. But on the other hand, if you’re deriving a model from history, it implicitly presumes some baseline level of competence from a presidential campaign that may not be compatible with, say, getting into a public spat with Dr. Fauci 3 weeks out from the election”
– Nate Silver.

Bloomberg: “Kanye West roared onto the political stage in July with his presidential bid, prompting speculation the famous rap musician could pull enough votes from Democratic nominee Joe Biden to tip a close contest to President Donald Trump. Now, despite his global star power, West is looking more like a blip in the race than a spoiler, weeks before the Nov. 3 election.”

“West was never seen as a serious contender. Aided by Republican operatives, he got on the ballot in just a dozen states, not enough to compete in the Electoral College. The African-American celebrity may draw some votes from Biden, who enjoys overwhelming support from Black voters, but his impact looks to be limited. Only three of the states where his name is listed — Minnesota, Iowa and Colorado — are considered competitive between Biden and President Donald Trump.”

Donald Trump doubled-down on defending the out-of-contexted edited statement by Dr. Anthony Fauci his campaign included in a new ad supporting his campaign.

In the ad, titled “Carefully,” Fauci is shown saying “I can’t imagine that anyone could have done more,” apparently praising Trump individually.

The quote, however, was selectively edited from an Fox “News” interview from March in which he was praising the efforts of the NIH team.  “We’re talking about all hands on deck,” Fauci said. “I, as one of many people on a team, I’m not the only person. Since the beginning, that we even recognized what this was, I have been devoting almost full time on this. I’m down at the White House virtually every day with the task force. It’s every single day. So, I can’t imagine that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more.”

The opening statement for Amy Coney Barrett for the confirmation hearings, beginning tomorrow, contains a lot of fluff about her family and colleagues, but little on the conservative ideals that made her Trump’s choice for the Supreme Court, NBC News reports.

The three-and-a-half page statement starts with a page-and-a-half acknowledgement of the committee, as well as praise for her family, particularly her husband.

“My husband Jesse and I have been married for 21 years. He has been a selfless and wonderful partner at every step along the way,” Barrett writes.  “I once asked my sister, ‘Why do people say marriage is hard? I think it’s easy.’ She said, “Maybe you should ask Jesse if he agrees.” I decided not to take her advice. I know that I am far luckier in love than I deserve.

Washington Post: “In the homestretch of the 2020 campaign, there has been little good news for the incumbent. And that is showing up as an ominous turn for him in the polls as Biden consolidates support. What had been a steady national lead for Biden in the high single digits during the late summer has expanded to 12 points in early October, according to a Washington Post polling average. A Washington Post-ABC News poll released Sunday fits with the trend, putting Biden at 54 percent nationally and Trump at 42, a 12-point lead that is similar to the 10-point advantage Biden held in a September survey. While key battleground-state polls have shown a somewhat closer contest, the trajectory has been clear.”

“‘These are not gigantic shifts, but when you were already down, it makes it even tougher,’ said Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion. ‘What was bad has gotten worse for the president.’ Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden deliver remarks in front of the Arizona state flag to first week voters at Carpenters Local Union 1912 in Phoenix on Oct. 8, 2020 (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post)Four years ago, voters who decided in the presidential campaign’s waning days broke decisively for Trump, a political newcomer, delivering him a shock victory. This year, evidence suggests there are few who have yet to make up their minds. But many of those who had been on the fence appear to be coming down on Biden’s side.”

Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden’s tax plan has been very clear:  no increased income taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000 per year per household.

Somehow GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel believes that 82% of Americans meet that threshold.

Joe Biden would raise taxes on 82% of Americans, and we cannot afford it! https://t.co/b81J9a3pjx

— Ronna McDaniel (@RonnaMcDaniel) October 11, 2020

Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden wants to debate incumbent republican Donald Trump before Election Day, said Cedric Richmond the co-chair of the Biden campaign today, reports ABC News.

“I know that Joe Biden wants to debate Donald Trump again. And Americans saw the disaster that Donald Trump had in the first debate. But I will tell you that we will do what we did from the beginning of this campaign and the pandemic. We will listen to the American experts and scientists — so here it’s the Cleveland Clinic — and they have set up the protocols,” Richmond told ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Jonathan Karl on Sunday.

While President Trump claims that he will get the medications he received to all Americans at no cost, the CEO of one of the drugs said that Trump’s statement are invalid and more clinical trials are needed, Politico reports.

“The president’s case is a case of one, and that’s what we call a case report, and it is evidence of what’s happening, but it’s kind of the weakest evidence that you can get,” Regeneron chief executive Leonard Schliefer said in an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Now with all this talk about elections and voting these, I noticed a lot of really grump guys in red hats saying that the people who don’t wear red hats cheat in elections by casting fraudulent votes. I’m really interested to hear how voter fraud – in person – is supposed to work.

Now Trump fans, I’ve already covered mail voter fraud in August, so today I want to know how it works in person. Help me out here.

President Trump’s words to Fox “News” today about having a “glow” eerily echoes the terminology of one of the white nationalist terrorists arrested for plotting to kidnap Michigan Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer.

According to CNN:

[Wolverine Watchman member Adam] Fox said, according to the federal criminal complaint, “I just wanna make the world glow, dude. I’m not even f**kin’ kidding. I just wanna make it all glow dude. I don’t f**kin’ care anymore, I’m just so sick of it.”

Earlier today, Trump told Fox “News” host Maria Bartiromo, “Having really a protective glow means something. I think it’s very important to have that. To have that is a very important thing.”

“Dr. Anthony Fauci did not consent to being featured in a new advertisement from the Trump campaign touting President Donald Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert told CNN his words were taken out of context. ‘In my nearly five decades of public service, I have never publicly endorsed any political candidate. The comments attributed to me without my permission in the GOP campaign ad were taken out of context from a broad statement I made months ago about the efforts of federal public health officials,’ Fauci said in a statement provided exclusively to CNN when asked if he agreed to be featured in the ad.”

“The Trump campaign released the new ad last week after the President was discharged from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center following treatment for Covid-19. The 30-second ad, which is airing in Michigan, tout’s Trump’s personal experience with the virus and uses a quote from Fauci in an attempt to make it appear as if he is praising Trump’s response” – CNN.

Axios held of a focus group of Michiganders who voted for Obama in 2008 and/or 2012 and then voted for Trump in 2016, and asked them for their reactions to the Wednesday Harris vs Pence debate. Here’s what they had to say:

• “‘Biden’s not going to make it four years, so Kamala Harris is going to be president and I have zero trust she can be president, so I’m just picking the lesser of two evils at this point’ said Shelley D. Everyone else in the group agreed.”

Casual dining restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced the permanent closing of 185 locations, many of which had shuttered during the coronavirus pandemic, USA Today reports.

Unable to change with the new day of business practices forced upon them by the pandemic, the restaurant group will continue to run 236 company owned locations and stores operated by 10 franchise groups.

“We do not anticipate any additional restaurant closures at this time,” Ruby Tuesday chief marketing officer Jenifer Boyd Harmon said in an emailed statement. “We remain committed to providing our guests with safe, quality experiences at all our current locations.”

Donald Trump has made a remarkable number of misstatements about his coronavirus condition in television interviews and on Twitter today, further sowing misinformation about his health and the virus.

Trump told Fox “News” host Maria Bartiromo, “I beat this crazy, horrible China virus,” in a rambling, sometime incoherent Sunday morning interview.  “I even feel good by the fact that, you know, the word ‘immunity’ means something.  Having really a protective glow means something. I think it’s very important to have that. To have that is a very important thing.”

Presidential advisor Larry Kudlow claimed that President Trump is pushing for a coronavirus relief bill that would exceed the $2.2 trillion proposal advocated by House Democrats, a complete reversal to the earlier position that the administration would not push above $1.5 trillion, CNN reports.

“[Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin] is up to 1.8 trillion. So the bid and the offer is narrowing somewhat between the two sides. President Trump actually has always said — I mean, I’ve heard him say it in the oval — as far as the key elements are concerned, the checks, the unemployment assistance, the small business assistance, we’ve got to help airlines out, he would go further. He’s always said that,” Kudlow said.

NBC Denver: “A private security guard is being held as a suspect in a deadly shooting near the Denver Art Museum, according to the Denver Police Department (DPD). The private security guard in custody was contracted through Pinkerton by 9NEWS. It has been the practice of 9NEWS for a number of months to contract private security to accompany staff at protests.”

“DPD originally took two people into custody and later found the second individual, a 9NEWS producer who works in the investigative unit, was not involved in the incident. The producer is no longer in police custody and is not a suspect. This incident occurred beneath a city police surveillance camera and police confirmed they have footage of what happened. DPD said that a little before 3:50 p.m. there was some sort of verbal altercation just as protesters were leaving the area.Someone sprayed pepper spray and DPD said that is when at least one shot was fired.”

The middle son of Donald Trump, and the youngest child of Don’s first wife, Ewic Trump whined on ABC’s “This Week” that his family business has lost a lot “a fortune” since his father became president.

Pushing back against claims that the Trump family has financially benefited from his daddy’s office, Ewic, who is supposedly running the businesses, was not clear if Trump’s term in office was the cause of the losses, or if they were the results of traditionally bad business practices and ill-conceived investments by the Trump family.

In 2016, the ABC News/Washington Post Poll was such a complete disaster that these two Fake News Organizations changed the numbers prior to the Election. Now these haters are trying the same thing, though on a lesser scale, again. Will have a bigger win than even 2016!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 11, 2020

“On Monday, October 12, Joe Biden will travel to Ohio. In the afternoon, Vice President Biden will deliver remarks in Toledo on building back the economy better for working families. After, Vice President Biden will attend a voter mobilization event in Cincinnati” – Biden campaign release.