Former President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump both received the Covid-19 vaccine. They just didn’t tell anyone about it...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — “Trump needs you,” one fundraising email implored.

Trump’s cash plea could complicate GOP fundraising efforts

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — “Trump needs you,” one fundraising email implored.

Trump speak for "Hey suckers, give me more money, I've spent the last donation on lawyers fees, to protect me from the fake court charges."

Some of that money could help Trump settle scores with incumbent members of Congress who have crossed him. In his Sunday speech, Trump read aloud the names of every Republican who voted against him and called for them to be defeated. He’s already endorsed a Republican challenger to GOP Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, who voted to impeach him over the U.S. Capitol riot.

Some of that money could help Trump settle scores with incumbent members of Congress who have crossed him. In his Sunday speech, Trump read aloud the names of every Republican who voted against him and called for them to be defeated. He’s already endorsed a Republican challenger to GOP Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, who voted to impeach him over the U.S. Capitol riot.

Speaks volumes about his mindset. He doesn't give a ***t for America.

The battle over voting rights in the US is a drama that's playing out concurrently in the Congress and state legislatures across the country.

On one side are Republicans in state capitols, intent on passing laws curtailing when and where their citizens can vote - citing allegations of voting fraud repeatedly made by Donald Trump in the months after his presidential defeat to Joe Biden.

On the other are Democrats in Washington, DC, who are pushing legislation to take those decisions out of the hands of state politicians by setting federal rules for conducting elections.

At the centre of the debate is a question of what is the greatest threat to American democracy. Is it the security of an election process that in 2020 relied heavily on early and mail-in voting?

Or is it a system, corrupted by the influence of big donors and powerful interests, that makes voting more difficult than necessary, particularly for ['certain groups']?

It‘s like playing chess with a pigeon: she will move chess pieces out of turn, make funny noises, defecate all over the board and then claim victory. Sad.

That game reminds me of an all-too-real quote from another post:

It‘s like playing chess with a pigeon: she will move chess pieces out of turn, make funny noises, defecate all over the board and then claim victory. Sad.

The governors of the US states of Texas and Mississippi have lifted all compulsory Covid restrictions, despite public health concerns about relaxing measures too soon.

President Joe Biden has called the move "a big mistake".

So are these states in a good position to be lifting restrictions?...

... But in Texas from 10 March, the state-wide mask mandate and social distancing requirements are no longer in place, and all businesses are able to open at 100% capacity.

    I just announced Texas is OPEN 100%.

    EVERYTHING.

    I also ended the statewide mask mandate.
    — Greg Abbott (@GregAbbott_TX) March 2, 2021

... Governor Abbott added that local officials "may use Covid-mitigation strategies in their county" such as limiting business capacity if regional hospital admissions rise above 15% of the capacity for seven straight days...

New audio obtained by The Wall Street Journal shows then-President Trump pressuring the lead investigator in last year's Georgia mail-in ballot audit to find fraud during a December phone call.

The top US infectious disease expert says it would be "a game-changer" if ex-President Donald Trump encouraged Republicans to get the Covid vaccine...

Former President Donald Trump was often accused of having a complete disregard for the truth. Yet some of his predecessors' falsehoods ranged from the bizarre to the horrifying. So how does Trump truly compare?...

... While it has never been established that [GHW] Bush knew the incubators story he repeatedly told was unfounded, the White House is generally expected to verify claims made by the president - especially one so horrifying. American journalists failed to debunk the Nayirah testimony until after the war...

... Allegations of presidential dishonesty, however, greatly exercised media fact-checkers during the tenure of Mr Trump.

The Washington Post maintains a database of Trump statements - over 30,000 of them - that it claims are false or misleading.

Many of these utterances, such as about golf or his wealth or whether it snowed at one of his rallies, sound relatively trifling. Others, such as claims he deliberately misled the American people about the severity of coronavirus, or his unfounded assertions that the 2020 White House election was rigged, would be much more damaging.

... when it comes to presidential falsehoods, some are much more consequential than others...

... one historian argues that the recent tenant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, by the sheer volume of his mendacity, has destroyed the very idea of shared truth in American politics.

"We've tolerated presidential lies ever since the beginning of the republic," says Professor Eric Alterman, author of Lying In State: Why Presidents Lie - And Why Trump Is Worse.

"But Donald Trump is the Frankenstein's monster of a political system that has not merely tolerated lies from our leaders, but has come to demand them." ... the Capitol rioters, radicalised by conspiracy theories about stolen elections and satanic cabals, underscore the extent to which Trump inspired the "creation of an entire world of unreality"...