7 Things: Trump rallies with smaller than expected crowd, Alabama Democrats try to force Dismukes to resign, George Wallace the next target for cancellation and more …

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June 22, 2020

7. Where is Biden?

Former Vice President Joe Biden is the only candidate left seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2020 presidential election, but he hasn’t held any kind of news conference in 80 days and people are starting to question why.
Senior campaign advisor Symone Sanders was asked about this while on “Fox News Sunday” with Chris Wallace, and Sanders said that Biden is still campaigning and still “following CDC guidelines.” She added that Biden is “prioritizing local media … the vice president is doing local media interviews, he’s doing national media interviews, and he is taking questions from reporters.”

6. More impeachment

As former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s book is set to be released, U.S. Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) is suggesting that new impeachment articles and Bolton’s testimony could come soon.
While appearing on NBC News’ “Meet The Press,” Schiff was asked by host Chuck Todd if they would wait until after the November election “to start the process,” and Schiff said that “if we conclude that there are important things he says that needs to be exposed to the public” they shouldn’t wait. He added, “Exposure of this president’s conduct is the best way to protect this country.”

5. Defund NASCAR?

Just before the GEICO 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway, someone protesting NASCAR banning the Confederate flag flew a small plane over the speedway with a banner reading “DEFUND NASCAR.” Attached to the banner was also a Confederate flag. The GEICO 500 was the first NASCAR event to allow fans to attend, only allowing 5,000 people.
It has also been found that a noose was left in the garage of NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, the only black driver. NASCAR responded by promising to launch an immediate investigation to identify the person or persons responsible to “eliminate them from the sport.”

4. Marshall isn’t budging on defunding police

While speaking at the Fraternal Order of Police Conference in Lee County, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall made it clear that we won’t be defunding the police, but he did address the argument of more funding to mental health in Alabama by defunding police.
Marshall explained that they “embrace the fact that we want to encourage more resources to be in place for mental health services,” but that shouldn’t be done “at the expense of law enforcement.”

3. George Wallace is next

As there are efforts to remove Confederate names and monuments, there is now a push to remove former Alabama Governor George Wallace’s name from community colleges, streets, buildings and a tunnel.
Through petitions on change.org, people are arguing that Wallace’s name should be removed from places due to his early stance on desegregation and statements such as “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

2. Dismukes isn’t going to resign

The Alabama Democratic Party is calling for State Representative Will Dismukes (R-Prattville) due to his “public support of the lost Confederate cause” after Dismukes posted a family picture at the Confederate Memorial Park.
Alabama Democratic Party executive director Wade Perry said that Dismukes is “stuck in the past,” adding, “If little Will wants to play dress-up and pretend to fight for the lost cause, he should resign. His job is to pass laws that help Alabamians, not honor folks who fought to preserve the institution of slavery.” While Dismukes hasn’t released an official statement, he’s made it clear that he won’t resign.

1. No one sabotaged the Trump rally

After a lower turnout than expected, just under 6,200 people, at President Donald Trump’s first campaign rally since the shutdowns due to the coronavirus, rumors began to spread that the 1 million ticket requests came from “teens on TikTok” looking to sabotage the rally.
Campaign manager Brad Parscale has denied this narrative, saying, “Leftists and online trolls doing a victory lap, thinking they somehow impacted rally attendance, don’t know what they’re talking about or how our rallies work.” He went on to explain the process of getting rid of false ticket requests, but Parscale ultimately said that the low turnout was due to the media narrative about the coronavirus, riots and potential for violence at the event.