Sen. Susan Collins is concerned. While her colleague from Maine, the independent Sen. Angus King, calls Donald Trump’s executive actions out for what they are—“unconstitutional executive orders [that] would accelerate the erosion of Congress’s fundamental powers and lead us further down the path to the undermining of the American experiment in self-governance,” leading the country toward an “elected monarchy“—Collins couldn’t bring herself to condemn Trump’s move, but does recognize it for what it is. Sort of.

“There are constitutional limits on what the President can do to help through executive orders,” she said, even though she didn’t comment on whether Trump violated those limits. The Press Herald reports that they tried to find out, but Collins’ “spokespeople said she was not available to answer questions about the constitutionality of the president’s actions.” But she was perfectly willing to adopt the Republican line that it’s all the Democrats’ fault. “I hope the President’s actions will prompt Democratic leaders to negotiate seriously to reach a much-needed agreement to help struggling families, seniors, schools, businesses, municipalities & the USPS with this persistent pandemic,” her released statement said.

“Three times,“ she wrote, “Senate Democratic leaders blocked extending extra unemployment benefits to prevent their expiration during the negotiations.” Which is technically true, but utterly false in reality because when Democrats repeatedly attempted to bring up measures that would continue the $600/week universal income bump last week, Republicans blocked them. What Republicans were trying to pass was a $200/week boost, which not only would be totally inadequate, it would never pass the House. A House which, by the way—and which Collins seems to be conveniently ignoring this—passed a bill 11 weeks ago to continue the payments and do much, much more to try to save the country.

Collins’ boss, Sen. Mitch McConnell, said at the time the House passed that bill (the HEROES Act) that there was “no urgency” to act. He then waited to act until all of the key CARES Act provisions protecting people financially were set to expire, and then wasted two more weeks negotiating with his own senators to come up with something that the House would never pass, setting up this massive collapse. In the meantime, Collins did absolutely nothing to push McConnell to act.

Something which Democratic challenger to Collins Sara Gideon pointed out. “For months, Susan Collins and Senate Republicans have refused to do what’s right for the American people during a pandemic. Donald Trump’s political theater does nothing to provide relief to states and municipalities, help schools, or expand testing—instead, it puts Medicare and Social Security at risk.” That is a very good point in Maine, which demographically speaking is the oldest state in the nation. Collins didn’t say a word against Trump’s effort to cut off payroll taxes, the revenue stream for Social Security and Medicare.

Last month, when it was clear that Congress wasn’t going to approve Trump’s obsession, i.e., the payroll tax cut, Collins was brave enough to oppose it. Now that Trump is trying to do it unilaterally, not a peep out of her about it. Collins’ failure to stand up for Maine’s seniors is something they’re probably going to be hearing a lot about over the next few months.

Impeached Oval Office squatter Donald Trump apparently had his chief of staff Mark Meadows, formerly the leader of the maniacs in the Freedom Caucus, blow up the negotiations with Democratic leaders to save the nation from coronavirus so Trump could sweep in with “executive orders” to save the day. Except that three out of four of the orders are actually memorandums, and none of them are actually constitutionally within his power to enact. So, yeah, illegal. And not at all helpful for people whose lives have been upended by the crisis. There’s no eviction moratorium, he would cut unemployment benefits by $800 in a month, it steals from FEMA (at the start of an active hurricane season), and would top it all off by starving Social Security.

This hasn’t been received well by anybody but the millionaires he announced it to at his luxury golf club last Friday. The New York Times reports it “resulted in confusion and uncertainty on Sunday for tens of millions of unemployed Americans and countless businesses seeking aid after critical benefits lapsed.” The Washington Post concurred, reporting that it “sparked confusion and frustration on Sunday among businesses, Democrats and state officials, some of whom lamented the moves would not deliver the necessary relief to cash-strapped Americans.” The bad press could be why Trump insisted Sunday that “The Democrats have called. They’d like to get together.” They haven’t called. He tweeted it again on Monday, “So now Schumer and Pelosi want to meet to make a deal. Amazing how it all works, isn’t it.” But it’s still not true.

The move Trump made on unemployment is perhaps the biggest slap in the face to American workers out of jobs. The lowest paid workers will get nothing because the pretend program from Trump limits the supplemental money to people receiving more than $100/week in regular state unemployment. The self-employed, people relying on tips, and gig workers wouldn’t see any of the benefit. It’s also unworkable for states, which are supposed to come up with 25% of the reduced $400/week payments, and can’t afford it. If states can’t come up with money, Mnuchin said on Fox News Sunday, the administration might waive that requirement. Which means that people formerly getting the $600/week would get even less, just $300. There’s $44 billion for that that Trump proposes stealing from FEMA’s disaster relief reserves. It would cover less than five weeks of unemployment insurance payments to the 30-plus million out-of-work Americans. Five weeks—that is, if states could even get it up and running. Some states didn’t get the last enhanced UI program, from the CARES Act in March, fully implemented until as late as July.

Likewise, Trump’s big obsession—ending payroll taxes and cutting off the Social Security and Medicare funding stream—wouldn’t really help people, and certainly not the millions who aren’t on any payroll right now. What Trump would do (but legally can’t since he’s not the one who writes tax law) is defer payroll taxes from September 1 until the end of the year, with a promise that he would “terminate” payroll taxes (and presumably Social Security) if he was reelected. But that leaves businesses in limbo.

As it stands, they’d have to claw back that money to employees at the beginning of next year. “I think what most employers are going to do is not pass this on to their employees,”  Josh Bivens, the director of research at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, told the Post. “They’re not going to give money to the worker because the government is at some point going to come back for it.” All that Trump achieved with that part of the orders was declaring that he intends to destroy Social Security, which Democratic presumptive nominee Joe Biden was quick to point out on Sunday, saying Trump is trying to “undermine the entire financial footing of Social Security,” and to put Americans’ benefits “in doubt.”

He didn’t even do the only thing that was in his actual power—extend the moratorium on evictions in federally mortgaged housing units. It expired last month and would have been simple to reimpose. Instead, Trump calls on the Department of Health and Human Services along with the Centers for Disease Control to “consider” temporarily halting evictions and to determine whether there’s federal money available for providing rental assistance. That’s not enough to keep people in their homes.

Pelosi and Schumer haven’t been desperately trying to get Trump on the phone, but they haven’t been silent. “These policy announcements provide little real help to families,” they wrote in a joint statement Saturday. “For instance, not only does the President’s announcement not actually extend the eviction moratorium, it provides no assistance to help pay the rent, which will only leave desperate families to watch their debt pile higher. Instead of passing a bill, now President Trump is cutting families’ unemployment benefits and pushing states further into budget crises, forcing them to make devastating cuts to life-or-death services.

Trump’s memos “do nothing to increase testing, nothing to reopen schools, nothing to put food on the table for hungry families, nothing to prevent heroes being laid off across state and local government, nothing to protect the Postal Service or the integrity of our elections, nothing on many critical needs of the American people,” they wrote.

Primaries are taking place on Tuesday in Connecticut, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wisconsin for congressional and state offices. Georgia is also holding runoffs in races where no candidate cleared 50% of the vote in the state’s June primary.

As we always caution, we may not know all the winners on election night. With the coronavirus pandemic fueling a surge in mail voting, election watchers everywhere should expect that we might not learn the results in every race for some time—perhaps days or even weeks.

Our live coverage will begin at 7 PM ET Tuesday night at Daily Kos Elections when the polls close in Georgia and Vermont. You can also follow us on Twitter for blow-by-blow updates. And you’ll want to bookmark our primary calendar, which includes the dates of the presidential and down-ballot primaries in all 50 states—many of which have been changed—as well as our separate calendar tracking key contests further down the ballot taking place nationwide this year.

CONNECTICUT

Polls close at 8 PM ET.

GEORGIA

Polls close at 7 PM ET.

● GA-09 (R) (78-19 Trump, 78-20 Romney): State Rep. Matt Gurtler narrowly led gun store owner Andrew Clyde 21-18 in the first round of the Republican primary for this extremely red open seat in the northeastern part of the state. Both men have spent comparable sums during the runoff. Gurtler, though, has benefited from $1.3 million in outside spending from two groups, the well-known Club for Growth and the completely unknown Concerned American Voters.

Both men are running as ardent conservatives, though there are some differences between the two. Gurtler has long had a hostile relationship with the state party establishment, which has made him all the more attractive to groups like the Club. Gurtler’s allies also weren’t troubled in May after a picture emerged of him at an event hosted by a local white supremacist. Clyde, by contrast, is a first-time candidate who has emphasized his military career and his successful battle against the IRS after it seized close to $1 million from him in 2013.

● GA-14 (R) (75-22 Trump, 73-25 Romney): Wealthy businesswoman Marjorie Greene, a defender of the notorious pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon, outpaced neurosurgeon John Cowan 40-21 back in June in this safely red seat in the northwest part of the state. Days later, state and national Republican leaders distanced themselves from Greene after Politico reported on her litany of racist and anti-Semitic rantings. The group included House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, whose spokesperson called Greene’s words “appalling.”

However, national Republicans haven’t done much to actually stop Greene. No major super PACs have run ads against her, and not only has McCarthy remained neutral over the following two months, his team said just before the election that he has “a good and productive relationship with both” candidates. Greene also maintains the backing of White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows.

Cowan, who has been endorsed by five of his former rivals, has said of Greene: “She is the antithesis of the Republican Party. And she is not conservative—she’s crazy.” Cowan, though, notably has focused his ads not on the crazy but instead on allegations that Greene’s construction company didn’t take part in a federal program meant to screen out undocumented immigrants. Greene, for her part, has argued that her opponent is backed by a corrupt party establishment that’s tried to undermine both her and Donald Trump.

Politico reports that Cowan has a small $50,000 advertising advantage. The only poll we’ve seen in the last month was a late July survey for Cowan from Guidant Polling and Strategy that showed the race deadlocked 38-38.

Other Georgia Races to Watch

● Fulton County District Attorney (D)

MINNESOTA

Polls close at 9 PM ET/ 8 PM local time.

● MN-05 (D) (74-18 Clinton, 74-24 Obama): Freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, who is one of the most prominent members of Congress, faces a well-funded primary challenge from attorney Antone Melton-Meaux in this safely blue Minneapolis seat.

Melton-Meaux has received an influx of money from contributors across the country who dislike Omar, and he’s argued that she hasn’t been a presence in her district. Melton-Meaux has also received over $2 million in outside support from Americans for Tomorrow’s Future, a group that says it backs candidates across the political spectrum who seek to “advance America’s positive role in the world, including through support for our strategic alliance with Israel.”

Omar, though, has the backing of several prominent Minnesota Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison, who held this seat for six terms prior to Omar’s victory in 2018. Omar’s team has also run ads charging that Melton-Meaux’s law firm is “one of the worst union-busting law firms in the country.” The only poll we’ve seen was an early July Omar internal from Change Research that showed her with a wide 66-29 lead over Melton-Meaux, though it was taken largely before both sides had the chance to spend much on TV advertising.

VERMONT

Polls close at 7 PM ET.

● VT-Gov (D) (57-30 Clinton, 67-31 Obama): Three candidates are competing for the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Gov. Phil Scott, who is seeking a third two-year term this fall. (Vermont and New Hampshire are the only states that elect governors to two-year terms.)

Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman is the only Democratic contender who has been elected statewide, and he has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Former state Secretary of Education Rebecca Holcombe, though, has outspent Zuckerman heading into the primary. Holcombe has run ads attacking Zuckerman’s 2015 vote when he served in the legislature against a bill to eliminate the state’s so-called “philosophical” exemption to the state’s mandatory vaccination laws. The third candidate, attorney Patrick Winburn, has been decisively outspent by both his opponents despite self-funding his campaign.

WISCONSIN

Polls close at 9 PM ET / 8 PM local time.

After a short interruption due to a shooting near the White House, President Donald Trump gave a supremely deceptive and misleading press conference on Monday afternoon.

Daniel Dale, CNN’s leading fact-checker of the president, said it was notable for its dishonesty, even when judged by the incredibly low standard Trump has set.

“They’re all at least pretty bad, but that was one of the worst Trump press conferences in a while from a truth standpoint. Fast and furious lying,” Dale said in a tweet.

Here are 5 notable moments:

1. Trump was called out on his lie about pre-existing conditions.

Over the weekend, the president claimed he would sign an executive order guaranteeing that health insurers would cover pre-existing conditions. The only problem with this claim is that it’s already a part of Obamacare, Trump is trying to destroy Obamacare through a lawsuit, and the policy couldn’t be accomplished by executive order.

Trump claims that when he falsely claimed preexisting conditions aren’t already required to be covered by law, he simply meant that there has never been an executive order reaffirming that 🙄 pic.twitter.com/zljDpfZGHd

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2020

2. Trump defended his outrageous attacks on Joe Biden’s faith.

Despite Biden’s professed Catholicism — and the manifest emptiness of Trump’s own claims to be religious — the president stood by his claim that the former vice president wants to “hurt God.”

Trump defends saying Joe Biden is “against God,” says he does not think he’s a man of “deep religion” pic.twitter.com/sJbrr4thdb

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2020

3. The president yet again dismissed the effects of COVID-19 on children, even though it can kill them, in rare cases, can cause severe illness, and can spread to others.

REPORTER: 97,000 children tested positive for coronavirus in the last week of July. Does that give you any pause about schools reopening for in-person learning?

TRUMP: No

REPORTER: So do you still think kids are essentially immune?

TRUMP: Yeah [this is false — kids can die] pic.twitter.com/5UCuRkOuRK

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 10, 2020

4. Trump lied and said he wouldn’t have called for Obama’s resignation if he had the same performance in the face of the coronavirus.

We have a very good idea of how Trump would have responded to Obama if he had been faced with COVID-19, because we saw how he reacted to Ebola. Despite the fact that only two Americans died during the entire Ebola outbreak on Obama’s watch, Trump — and much of the right-wing media ecosystem — spent months fearmongering about the virus in the run-up to the 2014 midterms. Trump even tweeted the following:

If this doctor, who so recklessly flew into New York from West Africa,has Ebola,then Obama should apologize to the American people & resign!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 23, 2014

But when pressed on this hypocrisy, Trump said he should be praised for his handling of the pandemic, even though more than 160,000 people have died, and his own failures are plain to see.

5. Trump indicated he doesn’t know when World War II happened.

The President says the “1917 pandemic” ended the Second World War pic.twitter.com/jSltuSYim2

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) August 10, 2020

To be clear, the pandemic occurred in 1918, and World War II ended in 1945.

This wouldn’t be that big a deal — anyone can make a factual slip-up while speaking off the cuff — except for the fact that the Trump campaign has jumped on similar slips by Biden to suggest he’s suffering from mental decline.

On the heels of a “Friday Night Massacre” at the U.S. Postal Service that deeply alarmed lawmakers, activists, and ordinary citizens nationwide, two House Democrats are demanding the immediate removal of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy over his sweeping operational changes to the beloved government service that have slowed the delivery of essential packages and jeopardized mail-in voting.

In a statement over the weekend, Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) accused DeJoy—a major GOP donor to President Donald Trump with millions invested in USPS competitors—of doing the president’s bidding by sabotaging mail delivery with the November election less than 90 days away.

“DeJoy’s baseless operational changes have already crippled a beloved and essential agency, delaying mail, critical prescription drug shipments for veterans, and seniors and other essential goods,” said DeFazio.

The Oregon Democrat warned that the latest change imposed by DeJoy—the ouster of two top officials and reshuffling of nearly two dozen others—lay bare his “mission to centralize power, dismantle the agency, and degrade service in order to thwart vote-by-mail across the nation to aid Trump’s reelection efforts.”

“This November, an historic number of citizens will vote by mail in order to protect their health and safety during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said DeFazio. “DeJoy’s nefarious collective efforts will suppress millions of mail-in ballots and threaten the voting rights of millions of Americans, setting the stage for breach of our Constitution. It is imperative that we remove him from his post and immediately replace him with an experienced leader who is committed to sustaining a critical service for all Americans.”

DeJoy, a former North Carolina logistics executive, was appointed to lead USPS by the agency’s Board of Governors in May despite his complete lack of experience at the Postal Service and his potential conflicts of interest, which have drawn scrutiny from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and other lawmakers. After taking charge in mid-June, the new Postmaster General wasted little time rolling out changes to USPS that postal workers said undermine the agency’s core mission and potentially set the stage for privatization.

During an open session last week with the Board of Governors, DeJoy rebuked lawmakers for “sensationalizing” major mail backlogs reported in states across the nation and downplayed the resulting delays as “isolated, operational incidents.” Postal workers, for their part, have warned that the delays appear to be a direct consequence of DeJoy’s policies barring overtime and prohibiting the sorting of mail ahead of morning deliveries.

As the American Prospect‘s David Dayen noted, the Postal Service under DeJoy’s leadership has also “informed states that they’ll need to pay first-class 55-cent postage to mail ballots to voters, rather than the normal 20-cent bulk rate.”

“That nearly triples the per-ballot cost at a time when tens of millions more will be delivered,” Dayen noted. “The rate change would have to go through the Postal Regulatory Commission and, undoubtedly, litigation. But the time frame for that is incredibly short, as ballots go out very soon. A side benefit of this money grab is that states and cities may decide they don’t have the money to mail absentee ballots, and will make them harder to get. Which is exactly the worst-case scenario everyone fears.”

This is the clearest example yet of Trump and his puppet Postmaster General’s attempts to sabotage the USPS before November’s election.

This kind of behavior is why we’re demanding an investigation into Trump’s USPS—the Inspector General should add this to their list. https://t.co/2aXcLeZsF9

— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) August 8, 2020

Rep. Alma Adams (D-N.C.) said in a statement issued alongside DeFazio’s that DeJoy is guilty of “unconstitutional sabotage of our Postal Service with complete disregard for the institution’s promise of the ‘safe and speedy transit of the mail’ and the ‘prompt delivery of its contents.’”

“My friend Maya Angelou used to say, ‘when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time,’” Adams added. “The Postmaster General has shown us on multiple occasions he is working to dismantle a fundamental institution of our democracy. He needs to resign or be removed, now.”