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.
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
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.
Fall, Polebridge, MT â 2020 photo by Drew Silvers
There are just 38 days to go until the election, and another 78 days after that until the inauguration, almost a lifetime in Trump years. Today, weâll jump among a few unbelievable news items.
First, the nationâs leading newspaperâs story about the US president refusing to commit to a peaceful transfer of power should he lose the election appeared on page 15. How can it be page one in everyoneâs mind, but on page 15 of the NYT? And what political story did the NYT find space for on Thursday’s front page? An article about how Trump is running well in the virtually all-white suburbs north of Milwaukee. But we all know thereâs a liberal bias in the news.
Even if the media tries to do it, we canât normalize Trump.
Second, Ruth Bader Ginsburgâs coffin was in the US Capitol rotunda on Friday. She was the first American woman so honored. But, even that brought more naked politics: Although they were invited, neither of the top Republicans, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, nor House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy attended.
Third, Wrongo keeps saying that Trumpâs willful failure to deal with the COVID pandemic is by far the largest story of the year, and the issue that should decide the election. Another 885 Americans died from COVID-19 yesterday, and 45,178 more were infected, according to The NYTCOVID-19 map and case count.
Cases are rising in 29 states and Puerto Rico. Deaths are increasing in 12 states. Think about how difficult it will be to tell COVID from the flu now that weâre starting the flu season. Some perspective:
During World War II, an average of 220 US soldiers died per day.
During the Civil War, an average of 540 soldiers died per day.
So far during this pandemic, an average of 946 Americans have died per day.
Finally, turnout on November 3: The Cook Political Report has introduced an interactive page that lets you tinker with turnout levels for various demographic groups. Itâs based on 2016 numbers, and without the 6% third-party vote, Joe Biden wins 307-231, very similar to Trumpâs win of 306-232.
But if turnout is lower or much higher, it wouldnât take much for Biden to lose. For example, if 2016âs turnout of white non-college voters goes from 55% to 60%, Biden wins the popular vote by more than 3 million, but loses the electoral vote 306-232.
And if there was a 4-point shift in the Black vote, with Trump going from 8% to 12%, Biden would win the popular vote by more than four million, but lose the electoral vote 276-262. Biden would pick up PA and WI, but Trump keeps FL, MI, and AZ. A combination of a 10% Trump Black vote, and a 2% drop in Black turnout also leads to electoral loss for Biden.
On the upside, if Biden’s share of white college voters goes up just three points from 54% in 2016 to 57%, he wins Georgia, NC, and Florida and he rolls in the Electoral College, 350-188. The same would happen if he does 3 points better with non-college white voters, winning 34% instead of Hillary’s 31%.
If somehow, he was able to do both, Biden would keep the same electoral margin, but he wins the popular vote by almost 12 million.
Some history: In 2004, 122 million people voted. In 2008, the number was 130 million. We had 129 million votes in 2016, and thatâs the baseline for all of the current modeling. The big question about 2020 is whether turnout rises or falls by a crazy number? Crazy would be say, 150 million on the high side, or 110 million on the low side.
While thereâs both upside and downside to think about, turnout is everything. Do whatever you can to help improve turnout over 2016.
On to the weekend. Indian Summer seems to be upon us in Connecticut, along with continuing near-drought conditions. Looking ahead to winter, Teresa Hanafin of the Boston Globe offers this: âThe Old Farmer’s Almanac says chionophobia is the fear of snow. Mitchophobia is the fear of snow jobs.â
Saturday coffee is taking a break this week, so settle into a space outdoors and listen through your Bluetooth head set to Gerald Finziâs âIntroit for Solo Violin & Small Orchestra – Op. 6 (Molto Sereno)â. The piece was written in the mid-1920s. Here it is performed by the Northern Sinfonia, conducted by Howard Griffiths with violin solo by Lesley Hatfield:
Afternoon rain, Candlewood Lake, Brookfield CT – photo by Kevin Lane
Weâre 10 days away from the first presidential debate on Sept. 29 at Notre Dame in South Bend, IN. The debates should have zero meaning for the election, since Trump will lie his way through all three of them. That has been the reality since 2016, and itâs continued, non-stop. From Politico:
âFour years after he won the Midwest by vowing to revitalize the US manufacturing workforce, President Donald Trump is campaigning for reelection on a job well done. The numbers tell a different story.â
Itâs highly doubtful that economic anxiety alone won the Midwest for Trump. We should remember that there was a near-perfect conjunction among racism, sexism and Whites voting for Trump in 2016.
Hereâs Trump lying on Sept. 10 at a rally near Saginaw, Michigan:
“You better vote for me, I got you so many damn car plants….And weâre going to bring you a lot more.”
So many car plants: That would be zero.
And Michigan was down 66,500 manufacturing workers for the year from July 2019 to July 2020. Much of those losses were due to the pandemic, but there were 10,200 fewer manufacturing workers in Michigan in February 2020 than there were in February 2019. Earlier, Trump lied in Ohio at a Whirlpool factory:
“Over the last six months, weâve witnessed one manufacturing miracle after anotherâ.
âTrump has been all in on this huge resurgence of manufacturing employment, and that has not materialized.â
More:
â…the White Houseâs trade wars kicked the [manufacturing] sector into another slump in 2019, with Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Pennsylvania facing declines or plateaus in manufacturing employment even back in February â well before Covid-19 forced layoffs at dozens of plants.â
The trend is the same nationwide. Manufacturing across the US is down 720,000 workers from February, despite gaining 29,000 jobs in August.
Heâs making no bones about the fact that heâs president of only those who live in red states (149 million vs. 179 million in blue states.) Since he’s ignorant of most facts, here’s one: 53% of coronavirus deaths have occurred in blue states, and 47% have occurred in red ones. More than 90,000 people have died in red states, while about 100,000 have died in blue states. So, another lie, and not exactly a stellar record in red states.
Of course we will have to wait and see if reality vs. lies told in debates make any difference. Gimme the damn ballot.
Itâs Saturday, so letâs take a short break from politics for our Saturday Soother.
The leaves are starting to fall here in Connecticut, long before any fall color arrives. Weâre expecting the first frost over the weekend, and as usual, thereâs yard work ahead. The last of our tomatoes need to be harvested, along with a few remaining jalapenos. Sounds like salsa to Wrongo. Oh, and the water fountain needs cleaning, too.
Before all of that, take time to brew up a vente cup of Kenya Gatuya coffee ($21.00/12oz.) from Lake Tahoeâs perfectly named for a Saturday, Drink Coffee Do Stuff. The roaster says the 6,000ft elevation at Lake Tahoe makes their coffees sweeter. You be the judge.
Now, put on a sweater and think about the eternal changing of the seasons. And remember that one day, like a miracle, Trump will just disappear. Now, listen to Yo Yo Ma play Ennio Morriconeâs âGabriel’s oboe and The Falls” from the movie “The Mission.”
Music like Morriconeâs whispers to us, and carries us beyond our trivial endeavors. Consider yourself soothed:
âAttorney General William P. Barr told federal prosecutors in a call last week that they should consider charging rioters and others who had committed violent crimes at protests in recent months with sedition, according to two people familiar with the call.â
Break a window and go to jail for sedition, for conspiracy to overthrow the government through violence? Barr also went after the mayors:
âThe attorney general has also asked prosecutors in the Justice Departmentâs civil rights division to explore whether they could bring criminal charges against Mayor Jenny Durkan of Seattle for allowing some residents to establish a police-free protest zone near the cityâs downtown…â
It used to be a Republican article of faith that âThe government closest to the people serves the people best.â No longer. America is filled with king Trumpâs enemies. Theyâre everywhere! By suggesting possible prosecution of a Democrat, Ms. Durkan, Barr is taking aim at an elected official whom Trump has attacked repeatedly.
Barr then jumped into the deep end of the pool on Wednesday. Addressing a Constitution Day meeting hosted by the conservative Hillsdale College, Barr suggested:
â…that the calls for a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the coronavirus were the âgreatest intrusion on civil libertiesâ in history âother than slavery.ââ
Would Barr also have been against food and gas rationing, and other measures necessary to help win WWII?
Health and safety regulations have always been around. And they are well established in American law, see Jacobsen v. Massachusetts, which said in a case about mandatory vaccinations, that individual liberty isnât absolute, and is subject to the police power of the state.
Barr went on to say that the Supreme Court had determined that the executive branch had âvirtually unchecked discretionâ in deciding whether to prosecute cases:
 âThe power to execute and enforce the law is an executive function altogether….That means discretion is invested in the executive to determine when to exercise the prosecutorial power.â
He was telling his federal prosecutors to start prosecuting protests as something akin to treason. And he can do all of the above, as long as heâs Trumpâs AG.
The AG is a politician who is supposed to be apolitical in enforcement of the law. But not Bill Barr. He told a Chicago Tribune columnist that the nation could find itself âirrevocably committed to the socialist pathâ if Trump lost.
Back to the sedition thingy. The federal sedition law is rarely invoked, but the wording has wiggle room. It says that sedition can occur anytime two or more people conspire to use force to oppose federal authority, hinder the governmentâs ability to enforce any federal law or, unlawfully seize any federal property.
That could include a plot to break into and set fire to a federal courthouse.
The WSJ quotes Jenny Carroll, a University of Alabama law professor, who says that turning to statutes like sedition would mark an escalation in the governmentâs effort to quell the violence:
âThere are all these different statutes the government can use if they are worried about things like property damage….If you start charging those people, even if you donât get a conviction, it may make people think twice before going out to exercise their right to free speech.â
Do yourself a favor, and donât read the WSJ comments. Thereâs a fine line between the expression of antigovernment sentiment, which is protected speech under the First Amendment (even if it included discussions of violence), and a plot that presented an imminent danger sufficient to justify a charge of sedition.
No one can justify property damage, looting or killings, but more than 93% of the protests in the US this summer were peaceful, according to a report by the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project, which monitors political upheaval worldwide. They looked at 7,750 protests from May 26 through Aug. 22 in 2,400 locations across all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
But if Barr gets to define âforceâ his way, everyone will get to go to jail.
For Bill Barr, the crime is to oppose the regime. Those who enable Trump, by definition, canât be criminals, and so do not deserve punishment. If they are prosecuted like General Flynn, Paul Manafort, or Roger Stone, they should be pardoned, or their prosecutions withdrawn. Accordingly, those who oppose the regime are the real enemy. They deserve prompt and merciless retribution.
Barr could have delivered his new testament in Minsk or Manila, not at an American college.
âWell, as you said, in order to reduce panic, perhaps thatâs so,â Trump said when asked if he downplayed the severity of the pandemic. âThe fact is, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I love our country, and I don’t want people to be frightened. I don’t want to create panic, as you say. Certainly Iâm not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy.â
Itâs worth remembering that Trump refused to sit for an interview with Robert Mueller, but gave Bob Woodward 18 hours of interviews, all on tape. Some are already saying that Woodward either faked the recordings, or as Trump said, that the pandemic is Woodwardâs fault for not alerting the nation sooner:
Trump doesnât even believe his own bullshit. Like another Republican president (GW Bush), he lied, and people died. That we now know that Trump completely understood the dangers of COVID-19, lends credibility to reports that Trump and Kushner stalled on Federal Coronavirus action once they concluded that mostly residents of blue states would be the ones to die in significant numbers.
Some criticize Woodward for sitting on this knowledge, but Wrongo doubts this revelation will have a large impact on the election. It certainly wonât change the minds of any of Trumpâs true believers. They will vote for him even if theyâve also decided that heâs an appalling human being.
Why? Because he delivered on judges, taxes, deregulation, and made the right noises on cultural issues like abortion. They like how he never apologizes, and how he blames his shortcomings on others. Those who think Trump is a terrific president will find ways to dismiss any inconvenient facts.
That Trump said he “didn’t want to create panic” is classic gaslighting. Donald Trump’s entire political career is based around trying to create enough panic to win elections. As he explained to Woodward and a colleague in a 2016 interview:
âReal power isâI donât even want to use the wordâfear.â
Here are a few highlights of Trump fear as an electoral strategy:
Flight 93 election: 2016 was the Flight 93 election. Either you charge the cockpit or you die. Trump, your presidential candidate, may get into the cockpit and not know how to land the plane. There are no guarantees, but if he doesnât try, your other option is Hillary Clinton. Thatâs Russian roulette with an automatic pistol. With Trump, at least you get to spin the cylinder and take your chances.
Mexican rapists
Caravans
American Carnage
Muslims
Antifa
Black people moving to the suburbs
Law & Order!
Creating panic is Trumpâs signature move. Itâs ridiculous to think that this one time, he was genuinely trying to avoid panic. But will knowing what he did matter in 2020? Has he gone too far to reel back in enough Republican and swing state electoral votes?
The Democrats hope that his willful minimizing COVID back at a point when something really could be done to head it off, will convince some Republicans not to vote for Trump. That depends on whether a significant number of them are sufficiently disgusted to leave the top line on the ballot blank or simply stay home.
Still, Woodwardâs revelations matter. They may or may not affect the outcome of the election. They will certainly affect historyâs judgment on Trumpâs presidency. Heâs been caught in a lie he canât ignore nor dismiss, and his callous disregard for the welfare of all Americans has been fully revealed.
Will it make a difference to voters that Trump is an accessory to the deaths of more than 200,000 Americans?
