For Republicans, life begins at conception, and ends when the government requires you to wear a mask.
Wrongo thinks that this election is really about one thing: COVID-19. You may think differently, but you should watch the video linked below. Itâs a timeline of Trumpâs response to the pandemic. As things stand now, 215,000 (and growing) Americans have died. The argument that if Trump hadnât played down the seriousness of a pandemic that he KNEW to be serious, untold thousands would still be alive today. This should be convincing to all but the most fanatic Trumpers.
If you are on the fence, this video makes a pretty damning case. The only defense Trump ever uses is that he stopped flights from China on February 2. But even that is untrue. According to a report in The NYT, at least 430,000 people arrived in the US on direct flights from China after the outbreak was reported on the last day of 2019. This included nearly 40,000 in the two months after the February restrictions were put in place.
Hereâs the roughly 10 minute video produced by a UK group, Led by Donkeys:
Mt. Moran, Jackson, WY – October 2020 photo by campsG. The snow is said to resemble an electric guitar.
The plan to kidnap Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is truly disturbing. According to the FBI, who foiled the plot, the conspirators intended to move her across state lines to Wisconsin where she would be tried by a kangaroo court for âtreason.â
Letâs wander back in time to April in Michigan. On April 15, there was a drive by âOperation Gridlockâ protest in Lansing. The organizer of that rally received financial assistance from the DeVos family. You know, the one that includes Trumpâs Secretary of Education. Then on April 17, Trump tweeted, âLIBERATE MICHIGAN!â
Then came April 30 when a bunch of armed right-wingers showed up and took control inside the state Capitol building, intimidating people with their semi-automatic rifles. One of them had a Whitmer doll with a noose around its neck.
That was followed on May 6 by a lawsuit by Republicans against Whitmer: âMichigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate v. Whitmerâ. And on October 6, the Michigan Supreme Court decided in a 4-3 ruling along partisan lines, that Whitmer did not have the authority to issue COVID-related executive orders after April 30, 2020.
Now we learn that the would-be kidnappers, who called themselves the âWolverine Watchmenâ according to FBI documents filed in court, wanted to create a “self-sufficient” society free from what they called unconstitutional state governments. They discussed plans to storm the Capitol and take hostages, and planned Whitmerâs kidnapping. They allegedly began meeting in June.
These guys were well organized and very well armed. They planned to set off explosives under a bridge to distract authorities while they carried out Whitmerâs kidnapping at her weekend home. At least two of the men arrested Thursday, were also present in the takeover of the state Capitol building.
So the political discord, division, unrest, and violence in this country, fomented by the maskless president has come to this. From David Neiwert at the Daily Kos: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âThis remains the indelible lesson from these arrests: Trumpâs profoundly irresponsible rhetoric has concocted a cauldron of hatred that the nation will be dealing with long after he has departed the scene, resulting in an army of authoritarian followers eager to mete out terroristic violence against any politician or person who opposes themâa sociopolitical plague that could come to rival the COVID-19 virus in lethality. It certainly seems unlikely to subside anytime soon…â
Trump set the tone for this by refusing to help Whitmer when she asked for federal assistance. He refused to allow Pence, as COVID-19 Task Force chair, to speak to Whitmer, and he encouraged violence with his âLIBERATE MICHIGANâ tweet after the first protest against Whitmerâs orders.
Even after learning of the arrests of the kidnapping conspirators, Trump attacked Whitmer via tweet, saying:
â…I do not tolerate ANY extreme violence. Defending ALL Americans, even those who oppose and attack me, is what I will always do as your President! Governor Whitmerâopen up your state, open up your schools, and open up your churches!â
By the way, despite all the Republican whining about opening bars and not wearing masks, Whitmer’s early stay-home orders and restrictions on businesses crushed the virus in Michigan, with cases plunging from a daily high of 1,878 on April 3, to just 56 cases by June 15.
Cases have risen again, largely because of Republican pressure to reopen the economy. There were 1,230 new cases on Wednesday, but deaths have stayed low: From 232 on April 21 to just 8 on Wednesday. Neiwert said in the same article:
“…Trumpâs rhetoric and policies have unleashed a second pandemic in the form of far-right domestic terrorism.â
What will Trumpâs tweets spawn next as we head into the second wave of COVID-19?
Wrongo knows how difficult it is to relax at times like these, so no coffee for you. Instead take a few moments to remember John Lennon, who was born 80 years ago (10/9/1940) and died at age 40.
His tune, âImagineâ was released on October 8, 1971, itself 49 years ago. And the world has been running from its message ever since.
Itâs hard to imagine that Lennonâs been gone for as long as he was alive. Could he have imagined the world in our triple header of a social, political, economic crisis, along with a global pandemic topping it off? Take a break, and think an impossible thought or two on this Saturday. This video starts with a slow walk by John and Yoko, but ultimately, it shows John singing with Yoko by his side.
Never cared much for Yoko, but seeing her looking at John is this video changed my mind:
Imagine a world where people understand and tolerate each other.
Two debate topics. First, the VP debate. What stood out for Wrongo was that Pence ignored the moderatorâs cues that his time was up, and to stop talking. Ms. Right felt that his dismissive mansplaining would turn off any remaining undecided women. And there sure are a lot of women who easily recognize Pence as one who fits that pattern.
The moderator, Susan Page, asked great questions. Sadly, few were answered.
While Harris missed several opportunities with Covid and with the Trump economy, Josh Marshall sums up the event for Wrongo:
âI wouldnât say Harris wowed. There werenât a lot of zingers. But she hit every last point the campaign could have asked for. Just methodically. Killing the ACA, Charlottesville, the horrific failure of the COVID response. She didnât really care about Mike Pence. She was there to make a case against Donald Trump. And she did….They needed a performance that locked down a lead that is already in place and confirmed the themes they want at the center of the campaign conversation. They got it. She hit the points they wanted and in ways Joe Biden couldnât.â
And, there was Penceâs fly. The best meme Wrongo saw was this:
Finally, early in the debate with Pence going over his time, this occurred:
Moderator: “I think we should move on, Mr. Vice President.”
Pence: “No, I want to go back”.
Isnât that the perfect metaphor for everything Republican in the last forty years?
Second, the presidential debates: Was this the last debate of this election cycle? We heard on Thursday that the Commission on Presidential Debates announced that the second presidential debate would be virtual instead of in-person, owing to Trumpâs Covid infection.
Trump then said he wouldnât participate, and his campaign announced vague plans instead to hold an in-person rally. Trump told Fox Business:
âIâm not going to do a virtual debate….Iâm not going to waste my time on a virtual debate. Thatâs not what debatingâs all about. You sit behind a computer and do a debate â itâs ridiculous. And then they cut you off whenever they want.â
There’s always a chance Trump will change his mind before next week, but that rarely happens. Biden is now saying that if Trump won’t show up, he’ll hold his own event with voters. He also proposed that the town hall debate be held instead on Oct. 22, the original date of the third debate.
If there isn’t another debate, that’s fine. The presidential debate format isn’t designed to include a candidate like Trump, who categorically refuses to be honest, or to follow the rules.
Have you noticed that Trump is always the victim? That people (Deep State, Obama, and Clinton) are all out to get him? He’s been wronged continuously since before his election in 2016, according to his wild fantasies, and the crazy shit he mainlines from Fox. Â And he demands retribution.
If you think that itâs too wild to speak of retribution, consider this: ProPublica is reporting that an email sent last week by the DOJâs Public Integrity Section to prosecutors around the country says that if a US attorneyâs office suspects election fraud involving postal workers or military employees, federal investigators are empowered to undertake investigative steps even before the polls close.
Thatâs regardless of whether those actions could affect the outcome of the election, or not. The email directive was sent to the DOJâs district election officers, who monitor election procedures and take complaints on Election Day from the public.
âAvoiding election interference is the overarching principle of DOJ policy on voting-related crimes. In place since at least 1980, the policy generally bars prosecutors not only from making any announcement about ongoing investigations close to an election but also from taking public steps â such as an arrest or a raid â before a vote is finalized because the publicity could tip the balance of a race.â
If America were still a functioning democracy, there would be no question about who would be the winner of the November 3 election, but Bill Barr is very concerned.
We have to realize that a Democratic landslide will be prima facie evidence that the election was rigged, so Bill Barr will ride in with the cavalry to try and rescue Trump.
Littleton ME, October 2020 photo by Kim Smith-Williams. The trees were planted by her grandfather in 1942.
It was amazing to see Trump turn down an offer from the Democrats to inject $ trillions of stimulus into his weak economy just days before the election. Wouldnât that have helped his chances?
And he did this the day after his âhelicopter saluteâ ceremony that raised questions about his Covid strategy. Based on what he said, it sounds a lot like âDonât worry about it, youâll be fine, itâs no worse than the flu”. Trump resurrected “Same as the Flu“, and killed the economic stimulus package on the same day.
Sadly, Covid is much worse than the flu. Trump says that the flu claims more than 100,000 lives some years. Maybe it did when he was a kid, but for the past 10 years, the seasonal flu has killed between 12,000 and 61,000 Americans a year. In fact, Covid has killed more Americans in the past 8 months than the flu has killed in the past 5 years combined.
So his Covid strategy is: âGrandmaâs gotta die because people need to go to restaurantsâ. Not a winning message.
Letâs move to Trump saying he wonât pass a new stimulus until heâs reelected. Republicans have been divided on more money for states, individuals and businesses, with those in close races generally more amenable to a bigger stimulus package.
But the hard-core conservatives have been opposed to a bigger package, and Trump is particularly hostile to providing funds to state and local governments. OTOH, while negotiations werenât going anywhere fast, they werenât that far apart. The House had passed a $2.2 trillion bill, while Mnuchinâs offer was $1.6 trillion.
According to the WSJ, the trigger for Trumpâs pulling out of a possible deal was an update from Mitch McConnell, who said that even if Mnuchin and Pelosi came to an agreement, he wasnât likely to have enough Republican votes in the Senate. There would have been sufficient votes in the Senate to pass the bill, but it would have required Democratic Senators to put it over the top, an unacceptable look for Trump.
Somebody should have told Trump the master negotiator, that if you walk away from a deal, you donât get anything you want, either.
âThe House & Senate should IMMEDIATELY Approve 25 Billion Dollars for Airline Payroll Support, & 135 Billion Dollars for Paycheck Protection Program for Small Business. Both of these will be fully paid for with unused funds from the Cares Act. Have this money. I will sign now!â
If seems likely that the CEO of Delta might have suggested to Trump that mass layoffs in Atlanta wouldnât be helpful to his re-election. But Trump apparently hasnât learned that when youâre dealing with people with actual leverage (instead of a contractor who canât afford to sue you), you actually have to give up something to make a deal.
The CARES Act was the high-water mark of federal government response to the pandemic-caused economic disaster. That was six months ago, and nothing substantial has happened since. Itâs hard for Trump or his Party to say, going into the last three weeks that they really care at all about those who have lost their jobs to the pandemic.
Through a series of bad decisions and foolish actions by Trump, America has been hit harder by the coronavirus than any other industrialized nation. The outbreak has killed 210,000 and caused large numbers of people to change how they live their lives.
And those changes have created enormous economic disruptions, everywhere.
There are just 27 days to go until the election. All of those people who are out of work have to make rent. And all of them, when they worked, supported other businesses with their spending. That’s all gone.
The only thing which will âfixâ the economy are masks, physical distancing, and a vaccine. Nothing gets us back to ânormalâ until then.
The only question is whether or not the federal government will spend the money to keep as many people and businesses afloat as possible until a vaccine gets here.
Trump and the Republicans wonât work on either Covid or help those hurt by the pandemic. So no one should vote for them.
Autumn view from Lovers Leap Bridge, New Milford CT â November 2017 photo by Mike Jacquemin
The show must go on, and it did for Trump once he returned to the White House from his short stay at Walter Reed Hospital. His Evita-like photo op on the Truman Balcony was designed to show (to which demographic in America?) that his ârecoveryâ is one for the ages, that he’s a strongman. Since he is only a few days into the course of the disease, his recovery might also be a myth.
He has now thoroughly politicized the pandemic. Before he tested positive, all of his efforts to deal with COVID looked first at the political value, before the value to the publicâs health. Now heâs incorporated his illness into a mythology about COVID. From Charlie Sykes of the Bulwark:
âLast night, we got the full cinematic roll-out of âThe Orange Evita,â PRODUCED, DIRECTED, AND STARRED IN by DONALD J. TRUMP.â
Sykes goes on:
âThe video production of his triumphant return to the White House was quintessentially Trumpian. All the power moves: the helicopter, the music, the pageantry, the balcony, the dramatic removal of the mask â all perfectly choreographed by a man famous for his finely honed instincts for entertainment.â
âI learned so much about coronavirus….And one thing thatâs for certain: donât let it dominate you. Donât be afraid of it. Youâre going to beat it….Donât let it dominate you…Donât let it take over your lives…I stood out front, I led…nobody thatâs a leader would not do what I did….Now Iâm better, and maybe Iâm immune, I donât know…â
He ignored that, as of Monday night, 210,117 Americans have died from COVID, none of whom received anywhere near the level of medical care that Trump did at Walter Reed.
Most of us would go through an experience like contracting COVID, and if we recovered, would think about what we learned now that weâre back to health. Weâd consider ourselves fortunate. Weâd also be extra cautious, having just survived an encounter with a potentially deadly virus. Weâd almost certainly follow the proper precautions even if we may have previously ignored them. Weâd now know that COVID is potentially deadly, and that weâre incredibly lucky to have survived it mostly intact.
But that isnât Donald Trump showman, your president.
Trump could have shown empathy for those who have died from the virus. The NYT reports that some in the campaign thought that if Trump recovered quickly and then appeared sympathetic to the public about his own experience, he could have something of a political reset.
But instead, he channeled Evita, opting to show strength. Yet, in the video, he didnât look strong or even all that healthy. He didnât look robust, he looked reckless.
And then on Tuesday morning he tweeted that flu season is coming, and that the flu is more lethal than COVID, something he also said 210,000 deaths ago. BTW, Twitter has taken Trumpâs tweet down as misleading.
It isnât too soon to wonder how many more thousands will die because of Trumpâs recklessness and refusal to take the threat of COVID-19 seriously.
And rather than the songs from Evita, Wrongo is reminded of this from Andrew Lloyd Webber:
Every time I look at you
I donât understand
Why you let the things you did
Get so out of hand
Youâd have managed better
If youâd had it planned
âThe specific issue in the Democratic National Committee (DNC) cases concerns two Arizona laws that require certain ballots to be discarded. One law requires voting officials to discard in their entirety ballots cast by voters who vote in the wrong precinct (rather than simply not counting votes for local candidates that the voter should not have been able to vote for).
The other law prohibits âballot collectionâ (or âballot harvestingâ) where a voter gives their absentee ballot to a third party, who delivers that ballot to the election office. (Arizona is one of many states that impose at least some restrictions on ballot collection.)â
These cases are being brought under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, (VRA) signed by LBJ, which prohibited racist voting laws that were prevalent at the time. In 2013, the Supreme Court in Shelby County vs. Holder effectively deactivated the Actâs preclearance regime that required states with a history of racist voting practices to âpreclearâ new election rules with officials at the DOJ.
And the Courtâs decision in Abbott v. Perez (2018) held that lawmakers enjoy a strong presumption of racial innocence so that it is now extremely difficult to prove that lawmakers may have acted with racist intent (for example, in gerrymandering a district) except in the most egregious cases.
These two Arizona DNC cases involve a different element of the VRA, the so-called âresults testâ that prohibits many election laws that disproportionately disenfranchise voters of color.
Now that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear these cases, the Courtâs Republican-appointed majority could potentially dismantle the results test. It might water down that test to such a degree that it no longer provides a meaningful check on racism in elections.
â…uncontested evidence in the district court established that minority voters in Arizona cast [out of precinct] ballots at twice the rate of white voters.â
Sound racist to you? Of course!
One reason that people in Arizona may vote in the wrong location is that some Maricopa County voters, for example, must travel 15 minutes by car to vote in their assigned polling location, having passed four other polling places along the way.
In addition, many Arizona voters of color lack easy access to the mail and are unable to easily travel on their own to cast a ballot. As the Arizona appeals court explained:
â…in urban areas of heavily Hispanic counties, many apartment buildings lack outgoing mail services,â
And only 18% of Native American registered voters in Arizona have home mail service. The appeals court also said that Black, Native, and Hispanic voters are:
â…significantly less likely than non-minorities to own a vehicle and more likely to have inflexible work schedules.â
Thus, their ability to vote might depend on being able to give their ballot to a friend or a canvasser who will take that ballot to the polls for them. In any event, a majority of the appeals court judges who considered Arizonaâs two laws decided that they violated the Voting Rights Act.
So, now it is appealed to the Supreme Court. More from Vox:
âAs a young lawyer working in the Reagan administration, Chief Justice John Roberts unsuccessfully fought to convince President Reagan to veto the law establishing this results test; some of his memos from that era even suggest that the results test is unconstitutional. And Roberts is, if anything, the most moderate member of the Supreme Courtâs Republican majority.â
This case will be decided by the Court without Amy Coney Barrett. That means it will take at least two conservative justices to side with the three remaining liberal justices, a tall order in these times. Of course, a four-to-four decision would let the appeals court decision stand.
Time to wake up America! Nothing we can do now will change the decision on these cases. That chance was lost in 2016. And the rights of voters of color to cast their ballots is in greater peril now with Ginsburg off the bench.
What we can do today and most importantly on November 3, is to stop the right wing in its tracks.
There can be no further gutting of voting rights in the future.
As many others have stated, Wrongo doesnât wish COVID on anyone, and wishes Trump and the other Republicans with the virus the best. That said, there are now three Republican Senators who have just tested positive after being at an event with the president: Ron Johnson (R-WI), Tom Tillis (R-NC) and Mike Lee (R-UT).
The Amy Coney Barrett hearings are due to start on October 12th and conclude by October 22nd. Coney Barrett herself just tested negative for the virus, and barring complications, the sick Republicans probably could be back on the job in time for a vote at the end of the month.
The U.S. economy added 661,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate dipped to 7.9% from 8.4% in August. The data show that the rate of economic recovery is slowing down. September was the first jobs report since April that showed net hiring below 1 million new jobs. Here are a few stats:
More than half of the jobs lost in March-April have now been recovered, but that means there are still 10.7 million fewer people with jobs than before the pandemic.
At the current rate, it would take 16 months to recoup all those jobs. But thatâs a poor assumption, since the pace of hiring is slowing down. Some jobs are never coming back.
On to cartoons. Reports from the White House were comforting:
Walter Reed doctors report all is normal:
Trumpâs debate performance was worse than Nixonâs:
The silence of the Elephants:
Karma isnât always a bitch. Sometimes itâs a virus:
Near Contoocook NH – September 2020 photo by Karen Randall
The October surprise is off to an impressive start! Wrongo suspected that Trump would either force the Durham investigation to announce a few indictments of members of the Obama administration, or the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine in October. But instead, both Trump and the First Lady have tested positive, throwing the presidential election into chaos.
Former Vice President Joe and Jill Biden tested negative for the virus on Friday. VP Mike Pence and his wife Karen also have tested negative, as did the Trumpâs son, Barron.
What other surprises might we expect? Plenty. There are still 31 days left until the election.
Keep in mind that the vast majority of people with COVID, even the vast majority of those with co-morbidities, do not become critically ill, let alone die from it. But, Trump was transported by helicopter to Walter Reed Military Medical Center on Friday evening. If Trump ends up in an ICU, the 25th amendment could come into play.
âFirst, those in the line of succession would need to be protected. It would be important to keep Vice President Pence, Speaker Pelosi, Senator Grassley (President Pro Tempore), and members of the cabinet isolated from the president. It would be especially important to ensure that the vice president have limited contact with individuals generally to reduce his chances of contracting the virus as well.â
Grassley is in the line of succession? Shoot me now. Next:
âIf the president is given notice that he is to be administered therapies that will impair his ability to perform the duties of officeâfor functional reasons, cognitive reasons, or bothâunder Section 3 of the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, the president can transmit to the House and Senate âhis written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.â
When Section 3 is invoked, the vice president becomes âacting presidentâ until the president notifies the House and Senate that he is able to perform his duties once again. Section 3 has been invoked three times. Once for Reagan 1985, and twice for GW Bush in 2002 and 2007. Each time was for medical procedures that required anesthesia or heavy sedation.
If a presidentâs condition declined so rapidly that he was unable to invoke Section 3, Section 4 can be used instead. Under Section 4, the vice president and a majority of the cabinet can send notice to the House and Senate that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. In this case, the vice president also serves as acting president.
Once a president recovers, he can transmit a letter to that effect to the House and Senate, and re-take presidential power, unless the vice president and a majority of the cabinet tell Congress that the president remains incapacitatedâat which point Congress must vote on a finding of incapacity.
As of now, Trump isnât incapacitated, so heâll continue in office, even at the hospital. Unlike the rest of us, he has the best tax payer-provided health care available, and it only cost him $750:
Itâs unlikely anyone will truly relax this weekend, but letâs begin our usual Saturday Soother, designed to help you kick back, unwind, and think about anything other than politics. Here in Connecticut, we are starting to have the fall colors New England promises, but they are a little flat compared with other years.
The weekly coffee remains on hiatus, so itâs time for some soothing music. Today, letâs take a seat near a window, put on the Bluetooth headphones and listen to âMeditationâ from Jules Massenetâs opera, âThaĂŻsâ. It is based on the novel ThaĂŻs by Anatole France. It was first performed in Paris in March, 1894.
Today, the Meditation is performed by violinist Janine Jansen in 2006, with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Neeme JĂ€rvi. The concert was held at Berlinâs WaldbĂŒhne, an outdoor venue with 25,000 in attendance. Would that many Americans show up for an outdoor symphonic concert? Watch this, you wonât be dissapointed:
Four years into the Trump era, Americans now realize that armed paramilitaries show up at most demonstrations. On some occasions, there is lethal violence. And Trump just called on one such group to âstand byâ. Apparently they are acting like storm troopers waiting Trumpâs bat signal to help keep him in power after November 3rd.
The biggest problem will be in the post-election period when there will be a substantial chunk of Americans who wonât believe Biden is a legitimate president when he takes office. It wonât be Trumpâs entire 40% of the electorate, but it will be a large group.
Weâve heard the names of these armed militias: the Proud Boys, the boogaloo movement, the Oathkeepers, the Three Percenters, and many others. Unlike other countries, the armed far-right doesnât need a covert network to supply it with military equipment because America is awash in legal weapons. Militias and vigilantes donât have to maintain underground communication networks because social media enables them to operate freely. Experts estimate that there are around 300 mostly right-wing militia groups.
The term âBoogalooâ refers to a coming second American Civil War, which the fiercely anti-government group has declared its intention to bring it about. They are willing to foment a race war, if it supports their goals.
The FBI report concludes by citing concerns of the Boogaloosâ âincreased âpatrollingâ or attendance at eventsâ. Remember that at the presidential debate, President Trump called for his supporters to patrol polling places:
âIâm urging my supporters to go into the polls and watch very carefully because thatâs what has to happen…â
Itâs illegal for them to âgo into the pollsâ.
A troubling aspect is the deep involvement of Americaâs military and law enforcement in these militias. The Atlantic has a long article on the Oath Keepers where the author reviewed its members list: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âAbout two-thirds had a background in the military or law enforcement. About 10% of these members were active-duty….There were members of the Special Forces, private military contractors, an Army psyops sergeant major….There were Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, a 20-year special agent in the Secret Service, and two people who said they were in the FBI.â
âAlthough only a small fraction of the nationâs 20 million veterans joins militia groups, experts in domestic terrorism and law enforcement analysts estimate that veterans and active-duty members of the military may now make up at least 25% percent of militia rosters. These experts estimate that there are some 15,000 to 20,000 active militia members in around 300 groups.â
This toxic stew has been on a low boil while the top leaders of the Department of Homeland Security directed agency analysts to play down threats from white supremacist groups, according to a whistle-blower complaint released earlier in September.
These militias have proclaimed themselves enforcers of Trump administration policies, and as protectors of businesses in cities with BLM protests. The confrontations with protesters have also dovetailed with actions to protest coronavirus containment measures as in Michigan.
But the threats have recently focused on Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and others on the left. And between here and the election, we may well see Trump encourage their help with certain state and local governments around the ballot counting process.
The common denominator of these militias is armed intimidation and violence in the service of a political agenda. They alone will decide to act if triggered, or if they think in their sole judgement, that the Constitution has been violated. In a functioning democracy operating under the rule of law, it’s difficult to see these movements as anything other than a demand for the benefits of the society they want, with none of its obligations.
They want to “solve” what they perceive to be the nation’s problems through Second Amendment absolutism that legitimizes armed confrontation instead of political activism.
Back to the post-election scenario: There could easily be incidents where people get hurt or killed, a slow grind that keeps people scared and stressed all the time.
Please, this November, we must vote in overwhelming numbers.
Sentinel Pass at Lake Moraine, Banff, Alberta, CN – 2020 iPhone 11 photo by Zestful9
Iâm old enough to remember when Al Gore got slammed for sighing during a debate in 2000. And now, Trump has taken us to a galaxy far, far away. Trump had three messages last night:
First, the rules donât apply to me. If I want to talk, I talk. Iâm above other men. Paraphrasing from 2016, âWhen youâre a star, they let you do itâ. Chris Wallace, playing the role of wimpy Moderator, says: âYou agreed to the rulesâ. But Trump shows he sets the rules, not the wimpy moderator guy. Classic primate dominance behavior. All Wallace had to do was just keep telling the president to stop until he did. Hard to imagine Trump being more rude.
Second, Trumpâs strategy wasnât to try for more votes, but to discourage people from voting. A smaller turnout helps Trump stay in office. If youâre turned off by his truculent performance, maybe youâll decide itâs too much trouble to wait in line to cast your ballot. Of course, Trumpâs shit show may have had the opposite effect. It may have motivated you to stand in the rain, snow or hurricane to vote him out of office.
Third, Trump activated his fascist supporters, the Proud Boys. What he told them by saying âProud Boys â stand back and stand byâ is that the rest of us should stay home on November 3, or we might find some trouble.
That wasnât a dog whistle, it was a dog bullhorn. Brandy Zadrozny and Ben Collins of NBC News call the Proud Boys:
â…a self-described âWestern chauvinistâ organization, is considered a violent, nationalistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and misogynistic hate group.â
Finally, as Wes Kennison says, Biden is a stutterer. Kennison points out that stutterers have great difficulty with abusive tones of voice, rapid fire interruptions, zigzagging change of topic, personal insult and humiliation, all are tripwires that can scramble a stutterer’s ability to speak. From Kennison: (emphasis by Wrongo)
âThere was nothing unplanned or spontaneous in the President’s strategy. The bastards did not prep him to attack Joe. They prepped him to attack Joe’s disability hoping that by triggering his stuttering they might deceive an audience unfamiliar with the disability into thinking that Joe was stupid, weak, uncertain, confused, or lost to dementia.â
The media today has again fallen into the âBoth sidesâ trap, saying how awful Trump AND Biden were. How uncouth, unpresidential and impolite. Given the context, was saying âShut up manâ uncouth? Wrongo listened to BBC, who was full of: âWith so many difficulties facing the world, this crap is what the next leader of the free world decides to talk aboutâ?
More debates? The Commission on Presidential Debates wants “additional structure” for remaining debates. But whatever they do wonât materially change Trumpâs performance. Trump has no upside even if he puts on a better, more compliant act going forward. The damage is done.
When you think about it, Biden is the conservative in the race. He values established institutions and alliances. He recognizes the need for change, but wants a moderate, considered approach. He has a strong moral sense. He values the rule of law, while Trump and the GOP in general, value none of those things.
The only rational response to this debate debacle is to vote, and make sure your friends vote.
