The Morning Briefing: Trump Fires His Leaking Pollsters

Good Monday morning.

Here is what’s on the president’s agenda today:

The president has lunch with the vice president

Trump fires a bunch of his pollsters

Another day, another leak from a “friendly.” Do you ever see these kinds of shenanigans coming from the Democrats: people supposedly “on their side” sabotaging their candidate or their president with leaks? No, we see people “on their side” lying under oath to protect their candidate, we see them smashing phones to hide evidence, deleting emails after they were subpoenaed, or even using the government surveillance apparatus in the service of “their” side. Maybe the internal saboteurs aren’t really on our side? It’s worth a thought.

The leak, which showed that Trump trailed Vice President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential contest in several states, prompted a swell of negative headlines, causing a headache for Trump’s advisers and annoying the president himself. It comes as Trump is preparing to announce his re-election bid during a rally in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.

As a result of the leak, the Trump campaign is ending its relationship with Brett Lloyd, Mike Baselice and Adam Geller, according to the person. It will continue working with its other pollsters, Tony Fabrizio and John McLaughlin.

Lloyd is the head of the Polling Company, a firm started by Kellyanne Conway in 1995. Conway is now a senior White House adviser to Trump and is no longer formally connected to the company. Baselice is the founder of Baselice & Associates, a national research firm. Geller is the founder and CEO of National Research Inc., and has done polling for former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey.

The polls in question started appearing in the media a few months ago. Last week The New York Times reported that Trump wanted the results of the poll downplayed. Scandalous!

It’s much too early to put any stock in the presidential horse race. The media has been weaponizing polls for years and more so now that they have abandoned any pretense to reporting information and are all in with the #resistance. Wasn’t Jeb! on the fast track to the nomination at this time during the 2016 campaign? The polls are an early snapshot of an electorate that has not yet been exposed to campaigning for 2020. The numbers are being used as propaganda.

Trump furious over leak of unflattering internal polls

Pollster shake-up casts shadow over Trump’s big 2020 launch

Hong Kong doesn’t really want to be part of China

The police are trying to clear out the protestors in Hong Kong after more than two million people showed up last week to protest a bill that would have allowed some suspects to be turned over to China for trial. We all know what that means. On Saturday, Hong Kong’s Chief Executive Officer Carrie Lam suspended her effort to move the bill, but people remain in the Hong Kong streets.

The move did not appease Hong Kong residents who see it as one of many steps chipping away at Hong Kong’s freedoms and legal autonomy. Opponents worry the law could be used to send criminal suspects to China to potentially face vague political charges, possible torture and unfair trials.

Protesters are also angered over the forceful tactics by police in quelling unrest at a demonstration on Wednesday.

Lam made a statement on Saturday and said the government “understands that these views have been made out of love and care for Hong Kong.”

“The chief executive apologizes to the people of Hong Kong for this and pledges to adopt a most sincere and humble attitude to accept criticisms and make improvements in serving the public,” she said.

The pro-democracy protestors were not buying it.

“This is a total insult to and fooling the people who took to the street!” the Civil Human Rights Front said in a statement. They want Lam to cancel the bill entirely and resign.

“We encourage all the public to carry on the campaign,” said Bonnie Leung, a leader of the pro-democracy group Civil Human Rights Front. “If any new violence takes place, it will be the responsibility of the police.”

It sure seems like the Hong Kong citizens are woke to what’s going on: “China just wants to turn Hong Kong into another Chinese city,” said Alex To, 54, who runs a small business. “Carrie Lam is just a figurehead. Everything depends on the attitudes of the leaders in Beijing.”

Impossible Burgers: Frankenstein fake meat is a hot property

I’m a food freedom advocate. If you want to be vegan, vegetarian, pescatarian, whatever, good luck to you, eat in good health. My objections comes when people start forcing their particular preference on others. If you want to eat this highly processed, genetically modified, Frankenstein vegetarian burger, good for you. I wouldn’t touch this mess under any circumstances:

Water, Soy Protein Concentrate, Coconut Oil, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavors, 2% or less of: Potato Protein, Methylcellulose, Yeast Extract, Cultured Dextrose, Food Starch Modified, Soy Leghemoglobin, Salt, Soy Protein Isolate, Mixed Tocopherols (Vitamin E), Zinc Gluconate, Thiamine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B1), Sodium Ascorbate (Vitamin C), Niacin, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (Vitamin B6), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12.

Personally, I’m a carnivore (previously keto) and I eat wild fish and pastured grass-fed and finished beef. And that’s it. How this impossible, processed mess with soy and inflammatory sunflower seed oil is better than good old American beef makes no sense, but go right ahead. Everyone is different.

Jazz Shaw at Hot Air agrees with me: “Apparently, not very many of you took heed of my many (and I mean many) warnings about these plant-based, genetically engineered, non-meat ‘burgers’ taking over the country.”

The fake meat is flying off the grill or whatever it is that is done to prepare such an extra-natural mish-mash. “Yes, we are struggling to keep up with scorching demand for the Impossible Burger. The issue is not unique to any single region or chain; we are not prioritizing anyone, so the outages could in principle affect any of the 9,000 restaurants where the Impossible Burger is on menu,” a company spokeswoman tells Yahoo Finance.

It’s all good to me. More beef available to those of us who value a fine steak.

Other morsels:

As Summer Shooting Season Commences in Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot Picks a Fight with Police

Schakowsky Pushes Back on Omar Suggesting Critics Were ‘Weaponizing’ Anti-Semitism

U.S. says $168 million ITT for-profit student loans to be forgiven

A Tsunami of Hypocrisy

Suspected North Carolina burglar caught after being fought off by boy with machete

Illegal Aliens Sue Border Patrol. The Lawsuit’s Outcome Can Have Massive Implications.

Britain bans “gender stereotypes” in advertising

Pompeo says ‘lots of evidence’ proves Iran attacked oil tankers

Poll Shows What Americans Really Think of Celebrity Political Endorsements

‘Fake George Clooney’ nabbed in Thailand for hustling bogus fashion line