Kelly Hawes - Howey Politics

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Wednesday, July 8, 2020

Kelly Hawes: Our tweeting president

ANDERSON — The war between our president and his favorite social media platform escalated in the wee hours of Friday morning. Just before 1 a.m., the president sent out a tweet about the rioting in Minneapolis. He called the demonstrators “thugs” and promised to take action to halt the violence. “Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts,” he tweeted. “Thank you!” Less than two-and-a-half hours later, Twitter took action. “This Tweet violates our policies regarding the glorification of violence … and the risk it could inspire similar actions today,” the company said. Hours later, the official White House Twitter account posted the same message, and Twitter again took action. “As is standard with this notice, engagements with the Tweet will be limited,” the company said. “People will be able to Retweet with Comment, but will not be able to Like, Reply or Retweet it.” The president is no stranger to outrageous messages on Twitter. Take his latest attack on Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Kelly Hawes: Everyone wants to reopen

ANDERSON — No one is happy about this. Least of all newspapers. With businesses closed, advertising revenues have plummeted, and many newspapers have been forced to make some difficult choices. Some have closed. So, no, newspapers are not peddling stories of gloom and doom just to make a buck. No one really wants to read stories of misery and death. No one wants to write them. Not a single person delights in the news that millions of Americans have lost their jobs. No one cheers when another business files for bankruptcy protection or shuts its doors. No one celebrates as fellow citizens struggle to put food on the table or keep a roof over their heads. COVID-19 has slashed a wound in our economy that might take years to heal. Some of the jobs the virus has taken will never come back. Lots of us are getting grumpy about being stuck at home. Working in your pajamas might have some appeal for a little while, but the attraction begins to fade after weeks on end. And those Zoom meetings have helped businesses and families stay connected, but will anyone really be disappointed when we can go back to meeting face to face?
Kelly Hawes: How the news media can regain the public trust

ANDERSON – As the clock wound down on 2019, two things happened related to the state of journalism in this country. NBC’s Chuck Todd devoted an entire edition of “Meet the Press” to the topic of disinformation in the age of Donald J. Trump, and the Newseum closed its doors for what might have been the last time. Situated just down the street from the White House, the 11-year-old museum featured a gallery of Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs and a display dedicated to journalists who had been killed while doing their jobs. It included the bent and twisted World Trade Center antenna set against a backdrop of newspaper front pages reporting on the terrorist attack that brought down the New York City landmark. The Newseum was, in short, a monument to journalism and the 1st Amendment. In explaining its decision to close the museum, the Freedom Forum said it could no longer sustain the expense. Perhaps the facility had been overly ambitious. Too big, too expensive.
Kelly Hawes: It will take an election to judge speaker transition

ANDERSON — House Speaker Brian Bosma says his goal is simply to ensure a smooth transition. The plan is that his hand-picked successor, State Rep. Todd Huston, will spend much of the coming session as something of an understudy, learning the tricks of the trade during Bosma’s farewell tour.
“Most of it you see, and most of the members see, is out here at the podium,” Bosma said. “The vast majority of the job is conducted elsewhere, behind the scenes trying to bring policies to a close and people together to move Indiana in the right direction.” The 62-year-old Bosma is Indiana’s longest-serving House speaker. He first held the reins from 2004 to 2006, before giving them up when Democrats won control of the House of Representatives. He won the job back when Republicans regained power in 2010. The party’s leaders seem to be on board with Bosma’s succession plan. Take this statement from the party chairman, Kyle Hupfer. “During his service in the House, Todd has demonstrated the dedicated, thoughtful and principled leadership needed to serve as speaker,” Hupfer said in a prepared statement. “Brian Bosma leaves behind a historic legacy of accomplishment that will continue with Todd Huston now at the helm.” Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb issued a statement saying that Huston had already proven himself to be a strong leader. “Having a year to learn from Speaker Bosma will prove invaluable,” the governor said.

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NFLPA official says if you want football, 'Wear a mask'

“If you want football to start on time, wear a mask.” - NFLPA assistant executive director for external affairs George Atallah, to Sports Illustrated in a story about how the COVID-19 resurgence is putting the NFL season in jeopardy. Teams are to report to training camp within three weeks while the United States is reporting over 55,000 cases a day. Multiple NFL sources expected many positive COVID tests among the 1,900 NFL players.

Trump answers Hannity question on what he'd do if elected to a 2nd term

“Well, one of the things that will be really great, you know, the word experience is still good. I always say talent is more important than experience. I’ve always said that. But the word experience is a very important word. It’s a very important meaning. I never did this before - I never slept over in Washington. I was in Washington I think 17 times, all of the sudden, I’m the president of the United States. You know the story, I’m riding down Pennsylvania Avenue with our first lady and I say, ‘This is great.’ But I didn’t know very many people in Washington, it wasn’t my thing. I was from Manhattan, from New York. Now I know everybody. And I have great people in the administration. You make some mistakes, like you know an idiot like Bolton, all he wanted to do is drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to drop bombs on everybody. You don’t have to kill people.” - President Trump, answering this question from Fox News' Sean Hannity at a Wisconsin town hall Thursday: “What’s at stake in this election as you compare and contrast, and what are your top priority items for a second term?”