Month: October 2020

Biden gave a very good speech today at Gettysburg:

His calls for unity are a balm to an electorate feeling exhausted by the miscreant in the White House, the nihilism of the Republican Party, the fighting, the pandemic …. everything.

But I have to remind everyone that while it is something we all would like to hear, it is highly unlikely to be deliverable. The Republicans understand one thing very well: all you have to do to make a Democratic president fail to fulfill this promise is to refuse to cooperate and then point the fighter saying, “I gotcher unity for you right heah! What a loser!”

Republicans don’t operate in good faith. So Democrats need to win both houses of congress and the presidency, get rid of the filibuster, expand the court, make DC a state (and Puerto Rico too if they want it) and save the country.

Trump signs in LA are a waste of breath:

It was taken down by traffic crews because it was causing a freeway hazard as people slowed down to take pictures of it. You don’t see a lot of Trump signs on the Westside of LA, for good reason.

A SurveyUSA poll from Sept. 30 had 32% of Californians supporting the president for re-election. Thevast majority of that 32% are in the more rural areas of the state. In 2016, the only precinct he won outright in LA was … wait for it … Beverly Hills.

This is an amazing, compelling, political argument:

Share this with anyone you think needs to hear it, especially young people and women who might not be thinking about politics right now. She speaks to them.

“Most populations.” What an idiot. Trump has been in trouble with senior voters for months now. Today it’s critical:

Among survey respondents 65-years-and-older, CNN found 60% of voters in favor of Biden and only 39% in favor of Trump. NBC found that seniors backed Biden 62-35 against Trump.

NBC found Biden with a 14-point lead among all registered voters against Trump.

CNN found Biden with a 16-point lead against Trump.

At the debate last week they were reminded that Joe Biden is a familiar, non-threatening figure while Trump is an unfit ignoramus.

But can you imagine what Trump’s attitude sounds like to seniors who have been isolated for 7 months now, unable to see well … anyone, knowing they are at much greater risk of dying from this virus than anyone else, seeing the drivel Trump is spewing about COVID now?

If there’s one thing old people know and care about it’s health. It’s a prime concern for all of them and they know very well that he is full of shit on this subject whether he recovers from a mild case or ends up relapsing in a day or two as many others have done. Acting as if it’s no big deal is a non-starter for people at high risk of getting sick and dying from this thing.

By the way, seniors are the most reliable voters in the country.

Tim Miller:

Donald Trump’s photo op on the Truman Balcony following his return to the White House with COVID-19 is one of the most disturbing, absorbing, foreign images I can recall. It does not appear to be of our time or place, and yet it is. With respect to the great painter George W. Bush’s view of the Trump inauguration, I think this has to be the weirdest shit I have ever seen in my life. If you haven’t seen it, just watch it now:

First, Trump takes off his mask, very strongly, very heavily. This is a man who is still on several experimental medications for a deadly virus that is highly contagious and spreads through the air. I guess he thought he would look “weak” with the mask? I would think that he would want to demonstrate that he has in fact “learned a lot” since contracting the COVID. But apparently when all of the infected geniuses from the West Wing put their heads together (over Zoom) to hash out what the optics of the president’s return should be, “lessons learned” came in a distant second to “übermensch.”

So we get a madman, his face pancaked under a 2mm coat of orange powder, jacked up on steroids, straining to breathe—and not caring a whit about those around him.

And I’ve got to hand it to him: Trump nails that image.

As the mask comes off the first thing you notice is the president’s complexion. After two consecutive video appearances that revealed his Immortan Joe old man pallor, the orangina is back. Trump has an extremely prominent make-up line that goes from his right temple down to his neckline, separating the orange from his peaked, natural tone. This is a change from his au naturel look at Walter Reed, which revealed him to be the sickly senior citizen he is—but also leant him a soupçon of humanity. For me, that was actually an upgrade. But I freely admit that I am not his target demo.

It is unclear how this transition change came to pass. Maybe when Trump was airlifted to Walter Reed, his make-up kit got left behind. Or maybe, once isolated, the president didn’t know how to put his own makeup on by himself? I imagine his makeup artist or unfortunate comms staffer, trying valiantly to explain to Trump how to apply foundation over Zoom, while the president fumbles, the whole time bleating about how stupid it was that other people wouldn’t want to touch his face due to his viral load.

Whatever the case, free of medical oversight, the Bad Orange Man was back and his next move on the balcony was to attempt to put his mask in his pocket very aggressively. It took him five or six tries. You can see him wince and get quite flustered.

After Trump successfully disposes of the mask, he takes two deep breaths to center himself before the still shots. Very deep breaths.

Then he points at someone off camera, giving them the get out of here sign. (Ask Chris Christie. He knows all about it.) Then he takes two more deep breaths—with another wince as if he had broken ribs. After that he spends quite a while trying to button his jacket.

The drama builds to one mammoth, labored breath. The type of breath you would take if you were a child who was about to enter into a competition in a swimming pool over who could last the longest underwater without drowning.

That heave gave him the stamina to move into a dramatic extended salute lasting 23 interminable seconds. He salutes with D-list caudillo energy, channeling an aging Pinochet or Trujillo in their last gasps of power. Throughout the salute he holds an aggressive glare. Then he steps back and looks deep into the distance. Fully embracing his posture as the leader of a death cult, Trump turns and enters the White House. Without a mask.

The coup de grâce (for whom, we won’t know for a couple weeks), is Trump moving into an extremely congested, spittle-filled soliloquy—straight to camera— about how our Dear Leader may well now be “immune” from the deadly virus that has killed 210,000 and which is currently inhabiting his lungs, and his White House.

The show must go on.

Where, exactly, the rest of us go from here, I cannot say. What feats Republican senators will be asked to perform alongside Trump to prove their commitment we cannot guess.

But in the words of Jim Jones, “Mr. Trump tried his best to give you a good life. In spite of all that he tried, a handful of our people, with their lies, have made our life impossible.”

Last night in Miami, former Vice President Joe Biden closed out his town hall addressing the concerns of Gen Z voters (generally 24 and under) growing up in a world where the American Dream seems to be fading.

The age gap between Biden, an older white male, and graduate student Mateo Gomez is significant. Biden is 77. But he sees himself as a “transitional president” and ticked off a short list of policies he advocates to help Gen Z overcome the damage done by their elders and prepare them to lead. It was a strong finish, even if Biden’s policies are not bold enough to meet the challenges.

“You’re the best educated. You’re the most open. You’re the least prejudiced generation in American history. The future is yours and I’m counting on you.”

In 2018, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, then 28, refused to wait for her future to come to her. Solving the school debt problem, reversing climate change, and transitioning to a clean economy cannot wait and won’t be Biden’s legacy. They will be Gen Z’s and that of Millennials. Ocasio-Cortez inspired her voters to reach out and take the power waiting for them to grasp. Overnight, she went from former bartender to representing New York’s 14th District and shaking up the Democratic Party.

Two years ago, it became abundantly clear where the real, if underused, political power lies in this country. I started plotting North Carolina early voting by age and numbers and it was obvious. Above, you can see the final turnout plot for 2016. Your state will look similar.

Roughly half NC’s voting-age population is 45 and younger. Despite media excitement that voting among people 18-44 jumped between 13 and 16 points in 2018 compared to 2014, older Americans still outvoted them roughly 3 to 2.

Inequality isn’t just about money. Money alone isn’t power. Power is unequally distributed in America in part because too much goes unused.

Voters can change the world. Those over 45 made this one. People 45 and younger have the power to remake it.

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The reign of Mad King Covid goes from tragedy to farce and back in an instant.

The acting president wanted his return from Walter Reed Hospital carefully staged and captured on video. He exits Marine One, ascends the stairs of the South Portico, removes his mask, poses on the porch à la Mussolini, gives America two-thumbs up (yours), and labors to breathe like a goldfish spilled onto the floor. We watch him turn and enter the White House, still infectious, to shoot a propaganda video surrounded by staff already anxious about catching the plague that hangs about him.

Don’t fear the Reaper, his Madness declared on his doped-up return to the White House Monday evening. “Now I’m better and maybe I’m immune? I don’t know. But don’t let it dominate your lives. Get out there, be careful,” said a president on steroids:

His behavior alarmed public health experts.

“It is inexplainable that the President of the United States, who is actively shedding virus in millions of particles, would walk into that building with an enormous number of staff, unmasked,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor at George Washington University School of Medicine.”

It is really hard to understand how no one told him not to do that. There doesn’t seem to be anyone in charge of his care other than the President of the United States, other than the patient,” Reiner told CNN’s Erin Burnett.

Susie Madrak of Crooks and Liars witnesses the obeisance underlings display around the acting president: “No matter how broke, I’ve never had a job where I was willing to debase myself to keep it. What is it with these Beltway types?” Indeed, even the mad king’s doctors agree to his every whim like Osric, the foppish, court hanger-on in “Hamlet.”

Even conservative columnist Jonah Goldberg is disgusted. The White House is treating its war on the plague like a reality TV show in which real people die. “Imagine being a loved one of one of the 210,000+ people who died in that ‘war,’ and seeing this boastful garbage,” Goldberg tweeted. “Can these people take anything other than trolling, fan service and throne-sniffing seriously and soberly?”

“I’m so glad that he appears to be doing well, that he has doctors who can give him experimental drugs that aren’t available to the masses,” said Seattle’s Scott Sedlacek, one of COVID-19’s first U.S. victims. “For the rest of us, who are trying to protect ourselves, that behavior is an embarrassment,” Sedlacek added.

The Associated Press report continues:

Marc Papaj, a Seneca Nation member who lives in Orchard Park, New York, lost his mother, grandmother and aunt to COVID-19. He was finding it tough to follow the president’s advice not to let the virus “dominate your life.”

“The loss of my dearest family members will forever dominate my life in every way for all of my days,” Papaj said, adding this about Trump: “He does not care about any of us — he’s feeling good.”

“Slow-motion train wreck” is overused. The fall of Rome was slower and perhaps a more accurate analogy. Tim Murphy of Mother Jones interviews his father, Cullen, author of a book on the collapse of Rome. There was not a singular event, Cullen Murphy explains:

It was a slow, lumbering, messy deterioration. When you look at what is happening to the United States right now you see something very similar. It’s not being caused by one single silver bullet of a threat. It’s many things happening at once, whether it’s lack of investment in core activities, whether it’s diminishing trust in institutions, whether it’s growing corruption, whether it’s inequality.

I remember once asking a great scholar of Rome, Ramsay MacMullen, if he could sum up the history of the Roman Empire in a very limited number of words. His sentence was, “Fewer have more.” It’s not hard to look around you and see something similar.

Can the collapse be stopped? Perhaps four weeks from now it might. Donald Trump is shedding support as fast as he is shedding virus.

As the acting president’s reelection prospects head toward Walter Mondale territory, Sabato adds, “I don’t care what anyone says. The Crystal Ball is keeping Wyoming in the Trump column.”

He’ll always have Wyoming.

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Trump says he doesn’t think it looks good for him to be seen walking a dog. The truth is that he doesn’t like animals.

That makes no sense for a politician. I’ve always been able to find some humanity in any politician through their relationship with their pets. There is none in Trump.

Here’s a fun Facebook group called Dogs for Biden.

The White House needs pets. These two will be much, much better than Ivanka and Jared.

The vast majority of Americans are well aware that he was irresponsible and that he got the virus due to his own reckless behavior:

Two-thirds of Americans say President Donald Trump handled the risk of coronavirus infection to others around him irresponsibly, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by SSRS in the days following the announcement that the President had contracted the virus that has disrupted everyday life for millions of people for more than half a year.

With Trump hospitalized at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, 69% of Americans said they trusted little of what they heard from the White House about the President’s health, with only 12% saying they trusted almost all of it.

Disapproval of the President’s handling of the coronavirus outbreak stands at a new high in the survey, with 60% saying they disapprove. Additionally, 63% say his own infection is unlikely to change anything about the way that he handles the pandemic.

Questions about Trump’s coronavirus diagnosis were added to a survey already in progress on Friday.Overall, Trump’s approval rating in the poll stands at 40% approve to 57% disapprove. Disapproval is up from 53% in early September.

About a third (32%) say they are concerned about the government’s ability to operate while Trump is ill, with concern higher among Democrats (48% very or somewhat concerned) than independents (30%) or Republicans (15%).

The view that Trump acted irresponsibly regarding the risk of coronavirus to others around him cuts across most demographic lines, and is particularly strong among several groups whose support could be critical to Trump’s re-election bid. Among women, 72% say Trump acted irresponsibly. That stands at 66% among those 65 and older as well as among independents, and 65% among Whites with college degrees. T

he President’s supporters (79%) and Republicans (76%) are about the only groups among which a majority say Trump acted responsibly.

Distrust of information from the White House about the President’s health also crosses most demographic lines, and again Republicans (65%) and Trump voters (66%) are some of the only groups where a majority say they trust most of what they hear about Trump’s health.

There is agreement across party lines, though, that Trump’s diagnosis will not change the way he handles the pandemic. Most Democrats (70%), independents (59%) and Republicans (62%) agree on that.

The uptick in disapproval of Trump’s handling of coronavirus comes more among women (from 63% disapprove to 69%) than men (48% last month, 51% now), and among more people of color (from 65% to 73%) than Whites (52% then, 53% now), and has increased among seniors (from 57% to 62%) and those under age 35 (from 59% to 67%), while holding roughly steady among those between 35 and 64.

By the way, by demanding to go back to the White House against everyone’s wishes he’s putting a whole bunch of innocent people at risk for the thing — all because he wants to show he’s got very, very, very big hands:

On any given morning, the White House is a blur of activity. A chef may be whipping up breakfast for the first couple in the second-floor kitchen. A valet might be shining the president’s shoes, while the head butler lingers in the West Sitting Hall, awaiting any urgent presidential requests. Housekeepers, maybe a dozen of them, could be deployed throughout the building, vacuuming, polishing, and dusting. The White House florist might be arranging a vase full of lilies and hydrangeas, as painters touch up scuffs along the baseboards.

When Donald Trump returns to the White House today from his brief stay at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, these are the people he’ll be coming home to. Trump and the first lady interact with dozens of White House employees every day, many of them nonpolitical and largely invisible to the American public. Because of his months-long failure to take COVID-19 seriously even inside his own home, Trump continues to place these staff members and their families at considerable risk. Which is to say that, since the president and first lady became sick themselves, the blast radius from their illness could be a lot larger than many Americans realize.

“There are people behind the people,” Deesha Dyer, the White House social secretary under Barack Obama, told us. And “they don’t have the privilege of being Marine One-ed to Walter Reed” if they get sick.

I don’t even want to think about how many may get infected — or how many of his followers are out there following his (and his GOP enablers’s) propaganda that getting COVID is only something that makes suckers sick and only losers die from it spread it around.

He simply doesn’t know how to be a human being.