Sen. Bernie Sanders dropped out of the 2020 presidential race Wednesday, ending an unprecedented Democratic primary and setting up a general election between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden.

The independent senator from Vermont announced his move in a conference call with staff, after he suffered a series of crushing primary losses and the coronavirus pandemic stalled his campaign for weeks. Speaking to supporters, he said the path to winning the Democratic presidential nomination is “virtually impossible,” adding that he did not want to put effort into a doomed campaign as the outbreak rips through the country.

I cannot in good conscience continue to mount a campaign that cannot win and which would interfere with the important work required of all of us in this difficult hour,” he said in remarks livestreamed from his Vermont home.

Sanders congratulated Biden on Wednesday but did not explicitly endorse him. He called his former rival “a very decent man who I will work with to move our progressive ideas forward.” The senator said he would not drop off the ballot in states with upcoming primaries and try to amass more delegates in order to influence the party’s platform at its August convention.

“Then together, standing united we will go forward to defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in modern American history,” he said.

In a statement after Sanders left the race, Biden said his former rival has “created a movement” and “changed the dialogue in America.” While he acknowledged that he and Sanders have different views on how quickly to move toward policy goals, he said he would continue dialogue with the senator and his supporters.

“I hope you will join us. You are more than welcome. You’re needed,” Biden said to Sanders’ loyal following.

After early triumphs in the Democratic primary, Sanders failed to pull away from Biden as a field that once numbered more than 20 candidates dwindled. Sanders saw success from Iowa to New Hampshire, Nevada, Colorado and California.

But he fell behind in the national delegate race as prominent Democrats, worried that he could become their nominee and face Trump in November, coalesced around Biden. After a string of primaries in mid-March, the former vice president racked up pledged delegates and became the race’s clear front-runner. Biden has racked up 1,196 delegates, versus 883 for Sanders.

Biden’s push for the nomination ground to a halt in recent weeks as a string of states delayed their primaries until June to slow the pandemic’s spread. Wisconsin held its primary Tuesday after a legal battle over whether to delay it, and Sanders verbally eviscerated the conservative-majority state and U.S. Supreme Courts for decisions that led to in-person voting taking place this week. The state will not report results until next week.

Sanders ran on the promise of a political “revolution” and touted his signature single-payer “Medicare for All” plan on the campaign trail. He also promised to cancel student debt and pass free universal child care — popular proposals to expand the social safety net that his rivals nonetheless criticized as unrealistic and expensive.

The senator lapped the field in fundraising with perhaps the most successful small-dollar donor operation ever. Though Sanders saw sustained success among young and Latino voters, Biden consistently won over black voters and older Democrats as he topped Sanders in a series of key states such as Texas and Michigan.

A week after his Michigan triumph, Biden crushed his rival in Florida, another delegate-heavy state.

As centrist candidates dropped out of the race to endorse Biden before and after Super Tuesday on March 3, Sanders decried an effort by the party establishment to defeat him.

After the senator left the race Wednesday, Trump continued his efforts to try to win over disillusioned supporters, many of whom do not identify with the Democratic Party. He tweeted that the “Bernie people should come to the Republican Party,” apparently citing their agreement on trade protectionism.

Sanders’ period as the race’s front-runner followed a remarkable rebound from a heart attack last year. The oldest candidate to run for president this year, Sanders experienced “chest discomfort,” during an Oct. 1 event, according to campaign advisor Jeff Weaver.

Testing revealed a “blockage in one artery” and two stents were inserted, Weaver added. Sanders missed only a small amount of time on the campaign trail.

He first vaulted to national fame with a strong 2016 primary race against Hillary Clinton. In his remarks Wednesday, Sanders said that “over the past five years, our movement has won the ideological struggle.”

He cited increased support in public polls for a $15 per hour minimum wage and a single-payer health care system, among other issues he said were once considered “radical and fringe.”

“In terms of health care, this current horrific crisis we are now in has exposed for all to see how absurd our current employer-based health insurance system is,” he said, in highlighting how millions of people who lose their jobs because of the coronavirus outbreak will also forfeit their coverage.

Sanders promised to push forward with the movement he has propelled since the 2016 election.

“Let us go forward together, the struggle continues,” he said in closing his remarks to supporters.

Source : CNBC

Democratic state representative from Detroit credited President Trump for touting a drug she says saved her life from the coronavrius.

“It has a lot to do with the president … bringing it up,” State Rep. Karen Whitsett told the Detroit Free Press on Monday. “He is the only person who has the power to make it a priority.”

Whitsett said she learned on Monday she tested positive for COVID-19 but started taking hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, last Tuesday after she began showing symptoms.

“It was less than two hours” before the Michigan lawmaker began feeling better, she said. When a reporter asked Whitsett if she believes Trump saved her life, she said, “Yes, I do. I do thank him for that.”

Trump has said the drugs could be an effective way of treating the virus and fast-tracked the FDA’s approval for coronavirus patients.

“It’s a powerful drug on malaria, and there are scientific works on this. Some strong signs,” he said over the weekend. “What do you have to lose? If it does work, it would be a shame if we didn’t do it early.”

However, members of the White House Task Force team fighting the coronavirus, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have cast doubt on the drug’s effectiveness.

“In terms of science, I don’t think we can definitively say it works,” Fauci said on Sunday.

On Monday, a doctor in Los Angeles claimed he is seeing viability in the drug after administering it to critically ill patients with the coronavirus.

Detroit has become a hot spot for the nationwide coronavirus outbreak in recent days. More than 700 people in Michigan have

died from the virus as of Monday in a state nearing 20,000 confirmed cases.

Source: Washington Examiner

Comedian and podcast host Joe Rogan said he would prefer to vote for President Donald Trump in November rather than Joe Biden.

Speaking with Thiel Capital managing director Eric Weinstein on Friday’s edition of “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Rogan didn’t mince words when the topic turned to politics. After Weinstein said that Americans have “no choice at all” of a “viable” presidential candidate, Rogan went off on Biden:

This is the real issue with the Democratic Party,” Rogan said. “They’ve essentially made us all morons with this Joe Biden thing.”

“Can you imagine?” asked Weinstein.

“I can’t vote for that guy,” said Rogan.

Source: Daily Caller

President Trump has fired Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for the U.S. intelligence community who alerted Congress to concerns about a Trump phone call with the president of Ukraine – a matter that led to the president’s impeachment last year.

Trump formally notified the intelligence committees of both the Senate and House in a letter dated Friday. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., posted the letter online.

This is to advise that I am exercising my power as President to remove from office the Inspector General of the Intelligence Community, effective 30 days from today,” the president wrote.

Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, leaves the Capitol after closed doors interview about the whistleblower complaint that exposed a July phone call the president had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump pressed for an investigation of Democratic political rival Joe Biden and his family, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. (Associated Press)

Michael Atkinson, the inspector general of the intelligence community, leaves the Capitol after closed doors interview about the whistleblower complaint that exposed a July phone call the president had with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in which Trump pressed for an investigation of Democratic political rival Joe Biden and his family, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Oct. 4, 2019. (Associated Press)

“It is extremely important that we promote the economy, efficiency, and the effectiveness of Federal programs and activities. The Inspectors General have a critical role in the achievement of these goals,” the president continued. “As is the case with regard to other positions where I, as President, have the power of appointment, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, it is vital that I have the fullest confidence in the appointees serving as Inspectors General. That is no longer the case with regard to this Inspector General.”

The president added he would nominate a replacement “who has my full confidence and who meets the appropriate qualifications,” at a later time.

Tom Monheim, a career intelligence professional, will be named acting inspector general for the intelligence community, an intelligence official who requested anonymity told The Associated Press. Monheim is currently general counsel of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.

Democrats react

Leading Democrats quickly criticized the president’s action.

In a statement, Schiff claimed the move puts the country “at even greater risk.”

“Trump’s dead of night decision to fire ICIG Michael Atkinson is another blatant attempt to gut the independence of the Intelligence Community and retaliate against those who dare to expose presidential wrongdoing,” he said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., blasted the president’s move as “a brazen act against a patriotic public servant who has honorably performed his duty to protect the Constitution and our national security, as required by the law and by his oath.

Source: Fox News