As Kamala Harris Passes the Two-Thirds Mark, Trump Adopts Apocalyptic Language
I continue to track the asymmetric pace of the campaigns of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. Today is another milestone for the Vice President.
As of today, Donald Trump has <5% of his campaign left (36 days of 721).
As of today, Kamala Harris has a third of her campaign left (36 days of 107).
Back on August 17, I laid out six things that could destabilize the race. We’ve gotten versions of four of those, though without yet serious impact on the race.
- There were no mass protests at the DNC. Neither, however, was there someone speaking for Palestinian people from the Convention podium.
- With the assassination last week of Hassan Nasrallah and Israel’s expanding operations against Iranian proxies in Lebanon and Yemen, we have seen unforeseen escalation in the Middle East. Joe Biden seems incapable of understanding that Bibi Netanyahu was never a good faith negotiator. On top of the instability this will bring (and the ongoing threat of Iranian violence targeted at Trump), I worry that Harris’ choice to prioritize Republican endorsements over Palestinian speakers could harm her in Michigan (as Elissa Slotkin issues warnings about Michigan).
- We did get a superseding indictment in Trump’s January 6 case (though without any new charges), but Trump succeded in delaying sentencing in his NY case. We may find out this week whether we’re going to get to see a redacted version of Jack Smith’s argument that Trump is not immune; indeed, given how Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a deadline for noon tomorrow, we may even see the argument itself this week. If we do, Trump’s attacks on Mike Pence will be at the center of the argument. Remember: Trump’s increasing fascistic language over the weekend has come after he got a first look at Smith’s argument, and his lawyers seem terrified of some of the claims made by witnesses that could get unsealed.
- Kamala Harris did have a historically successful debate, but it has done little more than bump polling, slightly. That said, her campaign continues to goad Trump to make him look weak, most recently in a national ad and plane advertisement at the Alabama-Georgia game yesterday. Whether or not Harris pushes him to accept a second debate, the continued goading seems to keep him unbalanced. In recent campaign appearances, Trump has denied he fell into her trap at the debate, directly addressed rally-goers who were leaving (denying they were leaving), and freaked out about a fly.
- Whatever the cause, Trump is increasingly unhinged in public appearances, though much of the press continues to sanewash his coverage. More and more, his rants adopt fascist language, such as yesterday when he either endorsed The Purge or Kristallnacht. Donald Trump looks weak and Donald Trump looks violent, but that is not yet a persistent news coverage theme (indeed, in his polling update, Nate Silver claims there’s nothing “like Joe Biden’s deteriorating public performances” that might be affecting the race in ways polling is not accounting for). If the press does begin to capture Trump’s weakness and violence, it may impact the race — but I’m not holding my breath.
- Trump’s right wing running mate has drummed up terrorist threats against his own constituents in Springfield, OH, and more recently drummed up threats against a beloved Pittsburgh restaurant (while trying to tamp them down). We have not yet gotten right wing violence, neither localized nor mass. But understand that the far right Christian nationalists that Trump has been cultivating, most notably with JD Vance’s appearance with Lance Wallnau, have been an absolutely central factor in past political violence, including January 6. When Donald Trump mobilizes Christian imagery, he does so not because he believes in any of it, but because he believes in power, and he knows he can get people who mistake him for the Messiah to go to war for him. (An Evangelicals for Harris group just rolled out an ad interspersing Billy Graham warnings of the anti-Christ with clips of Trump.) We have not yet seen political violence against marginalized groups, but Trump is doing everything that has fostered it in the past. Nevertheless, most horserace journalists are ignoring that, just like they and their colleagues dismissed the risk of political violence in advance of January 6.
In my earlier post, I said we should be unsurprised by a Black Swan event (I suggested all-out war was one possibility, and given the escalation in the Middle East, it remains one).
The floods caused by Helene could be another. Right wingers are already trying to ensure this works like Katrina did for George W Bush. And whatever else, the flooding disproportionately affected the rural areas that Trump needs to win North Carolina (though North Carolina voters can forego voter ID requirements under an emergency exception). That said, the Helene response may also highlight two things — FEMA and NOAA — that Project 2025 aims to defund. Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s attempt to forgo federal help may provide a contrast that shows how Federal help can make a difference in a catastrophe. And a whole bunch of conservative people just got bowled over by the impact of climate change, hundreds of miles from the nearest coast. If the Feds can respond to the damage on I-40 like they did to the I-95 or the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster, it may convince people in North Carolina that the government can too do something good.
Against that background, small shifts continue that could have significant payback in days ahead. As noted, Kamala has significantly cut Trump’s lead in perception of who will best manage the economy, and that happens as more good economic news rolls in. That’s where the horserace journalists are looking instead of Trump’s apocalyptic rhetoric. That measure, at least, is moving in a positive direction.
Tomorrow marks two key events: a Vice Presidential debate that may prove more momentous than prior debates (and JD is much more resilient to goading than his boss is), and Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday, one day closer to the day he can vote for Kamala Harris.
May Jimmy Carter live to see the first woman elected President.
Good post. Couple of thoughts:
1. “Joe Biden seems incapable of understanding that Bibi Netanyahu was never a good faith negotiator.”
Of course it’s rather subjective but I don’t think there is evidence that this is the case. I think Biden and Blinken know Bibi is terrible but until the Israeli people elect a new government, who else can the U.S. negotiate with? Unfortunately Bibi is never going to call new elections. There’s obviously no credit for cease fires that never happen, but it is certainly clear that the only obstacle is Bibi, not the Biden administration.
2. Re: FEMA and Helene, I would expect Asheville to be a fairly important blue dot in Western NC. Right now it’s underwater and cut off from the rest of the world, but if the federal response is robust it should help. I definitely think that Biden’s response to Kentucky’s tornadoes in the west and flooding in the east were a big part of Governor Beshear’s reelection here, for example.
3. Again the east coast/gulf coast port strike/lockout starting at midnight tonight will… not be good. Management has appealed to the NLRB. Even though I support the ILA and the right to strike, any prolonged closure of the ports this close to the election is… not good. Tactically I don’t understand it, especially since a Trump administration is certainly not going to be either labor-friendly or trade-friendly.
Good point–I agree the strike could be a huge deal.
And while Asheville is obviously an important chunk of blue votes, my bet is that Asheville’s residents get less dislocated in the next month than more rural areas. Asheville’s library has WiFi up and running. Some of the smaller towns nearby have almost no buildings left, right?
Undoubtedly it’s worse in smaller towns though I’m not even sure to what extent just yet.
Don’t discount the impact on Georgia. Augusta had to shut their water system off for 24 hours to determine if it even works anymore, and I-20 has been closed making access impossible. The Governor had to take a helicopter around town because it is fairly impassible. Power is out until at least October 6. The FEMA net has to be extremely wide
Marcy – I’m in NC and have friends and relatives in the mountains. The infrastructure for Asheville’s water system has been severely damaged. It may be weeks before they have a dependable source for water. But the smaller towns are worse off. Some may not come back. Asheville has a city budget for disasters, but I don’t think Otto does (and many others like it).
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Rayne,
I knew the new username requirement. I thought the username had to be nine characters. I have formerly used “TC in NC”, but that’s only eight characters. I am using the same email address. I would like to use the new username, as it is a bit less revealing.
Regards,
Tim
[FYI – name change noted, thanks. /~Rayne]
Buncombe County population is 280,000 including Asheville’s 95,000.
Unfortunately, Tom Sullivan who comments on the ins and outs of the NC Democratic party and Trump campaign shenanigans at “digbysblog dot net” has to deal with the disaster on his door step and that of his neighbors needing assistance.
Friday the Republican party won a victory with the NC Court of Appeals’ rejection of the digital IDs used by approximately 20,000 students and employees at UNC-Chapel Hill.
However, the University and others are offering to provide physical cards without cost to anyone who wants one for voting.
Biden could stop sending offensive military equipment, or use the threat to do so to, to isolate Netanyahu. In other words, Biden has leverage he has failed to use.
Regardless of the morality of supplying munitions and funds to Israel for use in their Apartheid, ceasing military aid would be political suicide by the Democrats, no? It’d be a cudgel that the GQP could only dream of wielding.
Agreed. Also public threats to an ostensible ally would do nothing to improve the situation.
Would ceasing support of Israel be surrending the Middle East to be an Islamic State led by Iran? What are the issues of strategic importance?
Additionally if the U.S. ceased selling weapons to Israel, it’s not like Israel wouldn’t just buy from China and/or Russia. That wouldn’t be good for a myriad of reasons.
What looks like Biden’s inability to grasp bad faith on Netanyahu’s part may be evidence of extortion.
We don’t know what intelligence the U.S. has received from Israel, though if IDF’s numerous fuck-yous-masked-as-fuck-ups says anything, the U.S. shouldn’t rely on it without validation. Biden may be stuck because of whatever it is the U.S. gets from Israel with Netanyahu’s approval.
Remember, too, what we’ve learned recently about Israel’s embedment in electronics supply chain related to national security. We don’t know if the Biden White House has been aware of this already and walking a fine line to avoid triggering something unpleasant at this time.
But Biden didn’t trust Netanyahu to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza in spite of repeated calls by the U.S. and the rest of the world. That’s why the military set up a temporary pier off Gaza to unload aid and trucks; IDF could hardly claim another fuck-up if it fired on U.S. troops instead of its repeated attacks on other humanitarian aid organizations.
Very good points per usual, Rayne.
The possibility of corrupted supply chains such as what allowed the Hezbollah pager explosives to happen should — and probably does — frighten the hell out of intelligence agencies, law enforcement, customs, etc. It really is a paradigm-shifting event and not in a good way!
Some reporter asked Biden about the possibility of an Israel ground incursion into Lebanon earlier today, (now happening).
Biden said he advised a No, wants a ceasefire.
Honestly, he looked pretty fed up, like he’s thrown in the towel.
Netanyahu is a taker, a liar, a Trump. His disrespect for the US has been obvious for many years.
No, I don’t have an answer to it.
I hope Harris does.
Re FEMA and Helene . . .
There is another storm brewing south of the Yucatan – the same place that spawned Helene. It is more complex, as it will interact with another low pressure system already in the Gulf and also a front that is setting up somewhere in the northern part of the Gulf. Forecasting models are having a lot of trouble resolving all this, but they are agreed that there is another potentially big storm developing, even if they can’t yet decide how big it will get and exactly where it will go. Watch this for later in the week.
The waters in the Gulf are frighteningly warm right now. That’s not good news if you worry about hurricanes.
Yes the ocean surface temperatures are setting records on a daily basis. At least back in April, it was every day for over a year straight. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/ocean-heat-records.html
From Heather Cox Richardson:
AA hurricane scientist Jeff Masters noted that Helene’s landfall “gives the U.S. a record eight Cat 4 or Cat 5 Atlantic hurricane landfalls in the past eight years (2017–2024), seven of them being continental U.S. landfalls.
That’s as many Cat 4 and 5 landfalls as occurred in the prior 57 years.”
Sadly, there’ve been trolls attempting to spew climate denialism here.
Nope, nope, nope. Not having it.
Also, Matthew did terrible damage in 2016, especially to Haiti. So, while it may not be on the Cat 4/5 list, things were very bad in Jacksonville. I had to get a new roof.
Before that hurricane season used to reliably end around Labor Day, at the beginning of September. Not anymore. It’s terrifying.
Matthew did this:
“widespread evacuations were ordered for extensive areas of the coast because of predicted high wind speeds and flooding, especially in the Jacksonville Metropolitan Area. In Florida, over 1 million lost power as the storm passed to the east, with 478,000 losing power in Georgia and South Carolina. While damage was primarily confined to the coast in Florida and Georgia, torrential rains spread inland in the Carolinas and Virginia, causing widespread flooding.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Matthew
Amen.
MAGA criminals love their godtalk. Tina Peters is panic posting bible quotes before her sentencing.
Religion is a stan on humanity.
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Indeed, religion is an Eminem song on humanity.
Religion is mother checking beneath the bed and in the closet for monsters when you were four.
I had hoped when Biden decided not to run again that he might actually take advantage of the freedom that this gives him in speaking to and about Netanyahu. I felt that Biden had several opportunities to slam Bibi in ways that would not blow back on Harris. He could, for instance, make it extremely personal, accusing Netanyahu of straight-up lying to him one-on-one, or maybe invoking the frustrations of previous Presidents. Alas, no.
it would have been nice to personalize it. Alas, for better and worse, Biden will not give up hope in diplomacy.
As was alluded to in previous comments: it’s hard to punt Bibi without punting “diplomacy”, and Biden is smart enough to know that when Bibi is voted out of office or imprisoned, Kamala is going to need diplomacy to work, in order to move past Bibi’s train wreck.
I think a related problem is that it’s the end of September, and Harris (or, God Forbid, Trump) doesn’t take the wheel until almost the end of January, but in Washington time, that’s close enough for someone like Biden to say, “I shouldn’t move rapidly to change our relationship with Israel, because I’m not the one who will have to make that relationship work in 2025”.
The cause is not so much a conflict between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, it’s about Bibi and Iran.
The prayer in Trump’s social media post is the famous Prayer to St. Micahel, whose feast day was yesterday. It was written by Pope Leo XIII, who became pope in the aftermath of the First Vatican Council. The prayer was removed from regular liturgical usage at the end of the Mass in 1965 (i.e., as part of Vatican II reforms to the liturgy), but Pope John Paul II brought it back into favor (though not as part of the mass itself).
I share this, because the First Vatican Council is where the pope was declared to be infallible. For today’s ultra-conservative Catholics, removing the prayer from the end of the Mass is seen as an error, and JPII’s embrace of it a sign of restoration (though he did not go that far).
This is the language of religious authoritarians on the ultra-right of the Catholic church – JD Vance and many others. They laud the First Vatican Council, mourn the Second Vatican Council, and embrace JPII and his authoritarian impulses unconditionally. They want Trump to be that kind of Smiter of Evil, directed (of course) by their own religious authoritarians who will define the evils to be smitten.
Some might even call it… wait for it… virtue signaling!
Thank you for your informative comment!
And for those not hip to the theological subtext, the Archangel Michael is, among other things, the captain of the hosts of Heaven, and consequently God’s stand-in on the front lines during Satan’s war of rebellion.
Christ these Bronze Age myths give me a headache
My opinion of someone always drops a peg or 2 when a true believer starts spouting that nonsense
Here I was looking forward to an exposition of the Evangelicals “Keep Clear” ad (you have to click through. But thanks for the regressive Catholic intro.
Speaking of which, an expected to be excellent book on Opus Dei is out today.
Not all that impressed with the “Keep Clear” ad, but then again, I’m not exactly the target audience.
But even for evangelicals, I’m not sure how well using clips of Billy Graham will play among today’s evangelicals. It might reach the folks in their 80s, who still have fond memories of old Billy, but that’s a mighty niche audience.
Now if they had juxtaposed the clips of Billy with these clips of Trump AND also add in clips of Billy’s son Franklin endorsing Trump, that might make a bigger impact.
Speaking of Franklin, he apparently did not take kindly to this ad. From WHYY:
Franklin’s full piece was this:
My memory of Billy is definitely that he was conservative, but I have a hard time imagining Billy supporting Donald “Grab ’em by the pussy” Trump in 2016 or Donald “I am your retribution” Trump in 2024. In Franklin’s case, I think the apple fell rather far from the tree.
I suspect Trump didn’t type out that prayer, that someone else did.
Whoever typed it may not have been making an appeal just to Trump’s religious authoritarian voters but to other groups.
St. Michael is the patron saint of police officers, paramedics and the military. Is this a subtle “Stand back and stand by” shout out to the MAGA in those groups?
St. Michael — not a canonized once-human saint but an archangel recognized in Christianity, Judaism and Islam — is also the protector of Israel. Is this a message related to Netanyahu’s action in Lebanon? As the patron saint of those going into battle is it a nod ahead of possible ground operations in Lebanon?
All of which squicks me out because I have worn a St. Michael medal for decades for my own personal reasons, none of which align with the possible message(s) conveyed in that St. Michael prayer sent from Trump’s account.
There are plenty who will hear the dog whistle in that post.
I think the timing is largely due to this being the day after Michael’s feast day (which some would observe today, because saints days don’t usually take precedence over Sundays). I think it has much less to do with current events in Lebanon.
And Trump has never felt a need to dog whistle support for Bibi and his ilk. Why whistle when a shout will do?
As I said, I don’t think Trump wrote that post.
If he didn’t, who’s sending what code to whom?
I can’t help think of Erik Prince who converted to Catholicism in the 1990s.
My money is on JD Vance as the author, trying to further radicalize the ultra-right Catholics.
Just as an FYI, Laura Ingraham credits Pat Cipollone for her conversion to Catholicism. She also clerked for Clarence Thomas from 1992-93. Coincidentally, that was the year Cipollone was an assistant to Bill Barr.
Wonder what St. Michael thinks about a recent convert …who might that be… baring false witness about Haitians.
Aren’t almost all Haitians Catholics?
Given the Archangel Michael’s importance to Israel, Stephen Miller or one of his apprentices, may be a more likely author. Trump expects people to pray to him, not the other way round.
The First Vatican Council was held during the late 1860s, during the unification of the Italian peninsula under political, not religious, government. It was, in part, an angry reaction to the Church’s significant loss of temporal power to that new civil government, and was, also in part, an attempt to stem that loss of power. Power it, at least its radical conservatives, wants back.
Yes. And for every far-right wing Catholic who drooled at “Trump’s” post, I’d bet there is a far-right evangelical who doesn’t consider Catholics to be Christian, and is wondering what the heck has gotten into Fearless Leader, that caused him to suck up to the city on the seven hills in Revelation 17.
Following up on the Prayer To Saint Michael, I read the prayer and went ahead and read the Wikipedia entry, which features a section on the prayer’s exorcism formula. This formula was adopted in 1890 and added to Roman Rituals (official book of services a priest/ deacon may perform).
The exorcism formula includes a description of the bad guy, which reads as a bibiblical description of Donnie DARVO. For example,
‘This wicked dragon pours out, as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy and the breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity.’
Also, the DJT tweet image is featured prominently on the Wikipedia page.
Just not a fan of Copy+Paste Christo-Fascism …
So let anyone who wants to talk about DJT and St Michael be reminded of the official church exorcism for just such a character.
“Sanewash” is an innovative and fitting term for press coverage of Trump-talk.
Another great piece!
It’s been obvious since the Trump and Putin Helsinki Meeting that Putin is Trump’s financier, handler, campaign strategist and manager.
Putin is also Viktor Orban’s financier, handler, campaign strategist and manager.
Netanyahu struck an agreement with Putin and Roman Abramovich prior to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine to ensure that Israel would remain neutral and not help Ukraine defend itself in any meaningful way.
And Netanyahu has his own psychological problems; like Trump, Netanyahu is also a malignant narcissist and sociopathic liar. As he has exhibited, Netanyahu will do anything to remain in power.
In comparing the anti-immigration, anti-black and anti-LBGTQ+ rhetoric that spews from the mouths of Trump, Putin and Orban, there’s little, if any, daylight between the three.
A vote for Trump next month is a vote for Putin. Trump is the Russian candidate.
Anna Navarro’s comment last week about Trump being the real Communist dictator, not Harris, is true.
He’s not a communist. He’s a corrupt kleptocrat and worse.
Literally a fascist; he speaks in terms of blood and soil.
And like the fascist Hitler, he gives support to those who commit political violence on his behalf. Hitler sent his support to the Potempa five, a group of nazis that brutally beat a man to death in the middle of the night. Then he freed them shortly after becoming chancellor. Trump publicly supports the Jan 6 rioters, seditionists, and police batterers. And claims he is likely to pardon them if he returns to power. Echoes through time.
Unlike Trump, the anti-Trump Republican Navarro, an immigrant from Nicaragua in her early fifties, surely knows what a real Communist is, and a Socialist, Social Democrat, and Democrat.
Trump is a would be dictator. But Navarro helps no one with her obviously incorrect description of him as a Communist.
Navarro was correct in describing Trump as an authoritarian Communist dictator.
He’s lived the life of a Communist since the day he was born. He never worried about finding a job or where his next meal would come from or how to pay for his living expenses.
His father, Fred, was the “state provider” for Donald, instead of the Soviet Union that was the state provider for Putin.
Trump has squandered his $400 million inheritance while BS’ing the public at the same time into believing he was a capitalist genius making millions and billions.
The money in his bank accounts and the money he spent was never his money. It was his father’s money.
Six bankruptcies and still counting and now he’s the grifting wannabe capitalist using the presidency to sell BS tokens and bling.
Trump is an apprentice capitalist.
Then you share Navarro’s misconception of Communism and Communists.
Your argument confuses the exclusive, hypocritical socialism of the rich – which they deny with the same gusto with which they practice it – with real Communism and Socialism.
Timothy Snyder’s post from yesterday is worth reading. The first handful of paragraphs are eye openers.
Trump’s Hitlerian Month
A September to Remember
>>Trump just had quite a Hitlerian month.
But before broaching the subject of Trump and Hitler I have to say a with a word about the American taboo on “comparisons.”
Anyone who refers to Trump’s Hitlerian moments will be condemned for “comparison.” Somehow that “comparison” rather than Trump’s deeds becomes the problem. The outrage one feels about the crimes of the 1930s and 1940s is transferred from the person who resembles the criminal to the person who points out the resemblance.
This cynical position opposing “comparisons” exploits the emotional logic of exceptionalism. Americans are innocent and good (we would like to believe). We are not (we take for granted) like the Germans between the world wars. We would never (we imagine) tolerate the stereotypes German Nazis invoked. We have learned the lessons of the Holocaust.
Since we are so innocent and good, since we know everything, it just cannot be true — so runs the emotional logic — that a leading American politician does Hitlerian things. And since we are so pure and wise, we never have to specify what it was that we have learned from the past. Indeed, our our goodness is so profound that we must express it by attacking the people who recall history.
And so, in the name of our capacity to remember great evil, we make it impossible to actually remember great evil. A taboo on “comparison” becomes a shield for the perpetrator. Those who invoke the past are the true villains, the real source of the problem, or, as Trump says about journalists, the “enemy of the people.” Indeed, the more Trump resembles Hitler, the safer the man is from criticism on this point.<<
https://snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-hitlerian-month?publication_id=310897&post_id=149565812&triggerShare=true&isFreemail=true&r=aeljj&triedRedirect=true
Thanks for mentioning that post.
Here’s a LINK without the tracking:
Trump’s Hitlerian Month A September to Remember https://snyder.substack.com/p/trumps-hitlerian-month
Timothy Snyder Sep 29, 2024
Is it possible Biden and his war department is okay with what Israel is doing and by the Israelis doing it, we only have secondary fingerprints upon the policy?
No.
Biden sells desire back to the portion of the US population that desires Israel stop savaging Gaza. We have to have a ceasefire! He fully intends to keep approving the supply of arms to Israel so it can keep savaging Gaza, which in turn will act against a ceasefire. Do you believe what he says or what he does?
I am bitterly angry at Biden and Harris for their Israel policy in the face of the genocide in Gaza. Now we have American troops headed toward the Middle East and will be embroiled in another war generated by an “Ally.”
The election and Trump loudspeaker rhetoric is preventing the general public from awareness of these actions. I don’t think that it bodes well for Harris’s election prospects. No one wants another useless war in the Middle East for any reason. Nor, to provoke Iran.
I am conflicted about voting for Harris; but I don’t want Trump to win.
Game it out. Say you choose to sit on your hands and not vote for either candidate the way 80,000 Michigan voters did in 2016, when Trump won Michigan by 10,000 votes.
What do you think happens to Gaza or Lebanon? How do you think Iran will respond? How do you think the rest of the middle east will respond, including every militant terror group?
I really have no use for your ill-informed naivete about the stakes, especially after combing through +400 articles between October 7, 2023 and June 1, 2024 looking at all the times the Biden administration asked/pleaded/begged that fucker Netanyahu to address the humanitarian conditions in Gaza, desperate to the point the administration launched a temporary pier off Gaza’s shore in order to truck in humanitarian aid.
The only thing Donald Trump wants or knows how to do in a crisis is throw gasoline on it.
Kamala Harris, otoh and for example, proposes to visit the areas stricken by Hurricane Helene – but only after first responders do their work and catch a break from working 24/7 for days.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump will shortly be there for his photo op, monopolizing the time and attention first responders need to do their jobs. Trump’s not in office. He’s a wealthy, entitled bystander, who will slur his speech while throwing paper towels. He can do nothing for these people. Trump is a monster, regardless of the topic.
“No one wants another useless war in the Middle East for any reason. ”
This is false. Netanyahu, a lot of right-wing Israelis, and Hamas do, because it’s useful *to them.* And they can make it happen regardless of what anybody else in the entire world wants.
It is in fact the case that the President of the United States is not the Green Lantern. He cannot just sit in the Oval Office, concentrate real hard, and make whatever he wants come to pass.
What he does.
But he can do nothing else, which Bibi knows.
What President Biden does after the election is anyone’s guess and I would bet Bibi has not thought about that quite yet.
Ah the audacity of hope.
Whatever bump the debate May or may not have gotten her, Harris is picking up steam. Trump is old, exhausted, and increasingly incoherent (yes, it actually is worse than it was a few months ago!). Kamala’s ground game will get even Florida and Texas close—close enough that Rs will have to defend them. I still expect Trump to win there, but if either one flipped blue, I’d be surprised but not shocked.
Kamala had a fundraiser in San Francisco the other night. I found out about it because my daughter-in-law texted me a picture of my 14-year old granddaughter less than three feet from Kamala with both making eye contact. It was taken either just before or just after they shook hands and Kamala said “We hope to see you out there” (she’s note quite sure what that means, but she’s over the moon!).
My wife and I are stoked! :)
I can think of a fun skit about sanewashing in SNL, with a Trump impersonator spewing whatever, and Colin Jost translating it into a well formulated political statement.
A reverse of Key & Peele’s routine with Luther, Obama’s anger translator. Colin Jost sounds like a good sanewashing alternative but it would be good to include Luther in there too.
Sarah Cooper on youtube!
I note Trump’s current psychological tactic to embed the “belief” in everyone’s brains that Harris has mental health issues. This type of tactic can be effective.
Many (most?) members of the voting public are not up on the subtleties of politics, especially this propoganda politics. Many still do not know much about Harris and are vulnerable to such talk, ridiculous as it may seem.
That bullshit trying to attack Harris on mental health is transparent as hell to women. It’s gaslighting and he’s trying to do it at scale using yet another version of “women are too emotional to hold office.”
Ri-ight. The guy who could be persuaded to write a fan missive by a few nice words from Putin is telling us Harris is impaired. The guy who drafts rant-y social media posts late at night in mixed CASE should be believed about a cool, collected former prosecutor’s soundness. The guy who needed to spend +25% of his term on the golf course in order to cope with being president is indeed an expert on mental health.
*eye roll* That last point might actually be accurate with regard to his own mental health but he’s not an expert on Harris’s competency. He’s not even an expert on running a legitimate business or effective parenting, or golf without cheating.
The “mentally disabled from birth” is Trump’s childish way of exacting revenge for the talk about him being a pathological narcissist. It is so not one of his marketing genius ploys that it suggests his further mental decline.
Harris’ obvious intellectual superiority must be galling.
The alternative ploy, that she became a Communist in the crib, due to her Marxist Professor father, was equally inane and weak.
All the slights have fallen on relatively stoney ground— and we know this, because Trump is still casting around to find the tag which gains the sort of widespread traction among his enablers and supporters he desires, and gets turned into a trope or a chant.
I’m amazed by that ‘women are too emotional’ thing. Women (stereotypically) express their over emotionalness with tears. Men express their’s with Anger and its derivative violence, and they feel that way more often then women cry.
I would way rather be lead by emotional women than emotional men. Anger and fear are the stupidest emotions. Tears are often emotive. Empathy is a necessary trait in a good leader.
Tell that to GOP voters who believe rant-y social media post writer and ketchup-throwing Trump is an authority on a woman candidate’s mental health.
The same guy who has a problem with a country run by laws and not emotional appeals to the lizard brain.
His Campaign Themes, in priority order:
1. She’s Black!
2. She’s a woman!!
Might work here.
USA! USA!
I, too, wonder about the impending port strike — and its timing. I am sure the involved unions are aware of the upcoming election and its significance, and the recent successful efforts by the Biden administration to straighten out international trade-route problems created previously by Trump, heal the economy and tame inflation.
I don’t get the timing for this strike, which will set back the successes and could likely create devastating economic (and election) impacts.
The timing has to do with the current contract expiring at midnight tonight.
But yes, a prolonged strike — or perhaps even a short one — may be what is called in soccer an “own goal.” Yet it’s way too early to tell.
I am starting to think that we will see the redacted Smith brief towards the end of the week.
Smith knew that Judge Chutkan has four choices: delay acting on his request to file the redacted brief; reject his request; order further modifications prior to filing; or grant the request.
Judge Chutkan has not shown any interest in delay. She has every reason for as much of Smith’s evidence proffer to be public as possible, to defend her own ruling on whether the superseding indictment, in whole or in part, runs afoul of immunity.
We will soon see what arguments Trump’s attorneys advance against the public filing, but their track record to date has been poor (except for the Court’s going out of its way to make new law in their favor). For her part, Judge Chutkan has quickly issued well-reasoned decisions disposing of Trump’s objections. Things could get very interesting.
NYT endorses Harris
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/30/opinion/editorials/kamala-harris-2024.html
First paragraph below
The Only Patriotic Choice for President
It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks.
It won’t effect voter behavior, but could it possibly encourage some of the honest reporting on the Republican nominee which Ms. Wheeler notes is sorely lacking?
Have you ever spoken to a NYT reporter? Don’t get your hopes up.
If you have ever been interviewed by NYT scriblers and then read their report…you won’t recognize it!
That is similar to how when yesterday’s story about the two-time Trump voter in Springfield received death threats after making public comments defending his Haitian employees, the initial publication of the story didn’t include that he isn’t going to vote for TFG a third time. After a clamor in the comments, that sort of important detail was added!
That’s why every article is by-lined by Rita Skeeter.
As part of the apocalyptic campaign, we have our disgraced DNI Flynn who was the first to exit the WH and played footsie with Putin calling for violence against Harris as the ‘enemy’. I’m a little surprised that the USSS didn’t have a chat with him after that.
How would we know if USSS did/didn’t have a chat with Flynn?
Mostly because Michael would whine about being muzzled and we haven’t heard anything like that in the news.
The point is that the RWNM rhetoric is getting more frantic, IMHO as a sign they know they have lost.
Or are just fine-tuning.
Trump is now summarizing and boiling down his lifelong talking points.
Lots of racism, homophobia, misogony…[fill in His Best Hits here] to summarize in the few appearances remaining.
As a Jew, I read his current diatribes as just summarizing his lifelong anti-semitism.
Black acqaintences tell me the same thing. His publicity got big in 1973 United States v. Fred C. Trump, Donald Trump, and Trump Management, Inc.
The man’s gotta close with His Greatest Hits…
and so many love hearing them over, and over.
If Flynn shuts up? I mean, one can hope…
I’m a bit amazed by the way Protestants and Roman Catholics are both orbiting Trump. When I was growing up in the 1950s and 60s, anti-Catholic bias was widespread–recall the comments about JFK’s potential loyalty to the Pope.
If Trump is elected, and after all the other out-groups have been rounded up, would evangelical Protestants or Roman Catholics prevail?
Setting aside your Neimöller style musings, it does say something interesting about the desperation of the religious right to maintain informal control of the instruments of the state if they are willing to unite under the banner of a philandering narcissist who privately thinks they’re all suckers. But when you look at religiosity trends, you can kinda see why.
I’d like to point to the earlier discussion and note that Michael is only an “alleged archangel”.
Let’s go all the way and note that the god of Christians, Jews, and Muslims is mythic as well. The audience at which Trump’s message may be aimed doesn’t see either their God or St. Michael as mere myth, though.
Re alleged Archangels leading the faithful in existential battles
It is perhaps worth noting that in Dec 2022 this X thread
‘Vladimir Putin is equated to the Archangel Michael in a new prayer book issued by the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) to Russian troops in Ukraine. The book also frames the Orthodox Cross with Kalashnikov rifles, highlighting the ROC’s overt support for Putin’s war.’[book image]
https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1602391450393640986
[thread]
‘It shows an icon of the Mother of God with “Russia” stripes and medals and refers to “Supreme Commander Vladimir” as Russia’s “archistrategos.”’
‘….the title of archistrategos was also awarded to General Alexander Suvarov by Tsar Paul I for his spectacular victories in the 18th century. It’s fair to say that Vladimir Putin is no Suvarov, though’
For the X averse here’s a link on Quora (which lacks the book image of cross and Kalashnikovs) https://
lionsagainstjungle.quora.com/Russian-Orthodox-Church-Holds-Putin-For-Archangel-Michael%0A%0Ahttps:// lionsagainstjungle.quora.com/Russian-Orthodox-Church-Holds-Putin-For-Archangel-Michael
I am not a prayer type person but “May Jimmy Carter live to see the first woman elected President.” deserves a huge AMEN to that. Thanks, as always for your insight.
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One more on the Cheney side of the ledger. Rudy Giuliani’s daughter has written an excellent but heartbreaking piece in Vanity Fair, lamenting the loss of her father to Trump and pleading with people to vote for Harris.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/caroline-giuliani-trump-kamala-harris
“Take it from me, Trump destroys everything he touches. I saw it happen to my family. Don’t let it happen to yours, or to our country.”
I’m not sure how many right-wingers read Vanity Fair, but its a brave and heartfelt opinion piece.
MAGAts would just dismiss her as having “Trump derangement syndrome”, but to those of us outside their cult, it seems pretty clear that its actually Trump and his supporters who are deranged.
MAGA Cultists have severe DTS–Deranged Trumper Syndrome.
Sweet of his daughter to write this attempt at deflecting her father’s evil life by putting the blame on Trump. Kinda’ cute.
I guess she wouldn’t know anything about Giuliani Partners, or Bernie Kerik.
Is she the daughter from his first marriage? Giuliani had that annulled on the ground that they were second cousins. He didn’t inform her that he was doing this.
Glad that you are pointing out the possible effects of the hurricane and flood devastation in FL, GA, NC, TN…. I haven’t seen anyone else doing that but then today has been a travel day. I’ve been putting it out myself where I can that FEMA has to do an outstanding job and BE SEEN as doing an outstanding job or else things could slip for Harris/Walz. Thanks be that we have serious people in place to get the job done. Not sure we have serious people in place to report on it, however.
“Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s attempt to forgo federal help may provide a contrast that shows how Federal help can make a difference in a catastrophe. ”
I’m not sure I buy the narrative that Lee attempted to forgo help deliberately. Patrick Sheehan, the director of TEMA, said that “Tennessee didn’t ask for help before the storm because it wasn’t forecasted to hit Tennessee as hard as it did”.
https://www.newschannel5.com/news/three-dead-100-missing-in-east-tennessee-after-disastrous-flooding
I wouldn’t rule out simple misjudgment.
A lot of the argument that it was deliberate seemed to be based on Governor Lee issuing a proclamation for a day of prayer and fasting on September 27th :
https://tntrafficticket.us/2024/09/gov-lee-calls-for-day-of-prayer-fasting-lets-seek-forgiveness-for-our-many-transgressions/
But if you look carefully the proclamation was issued the 18th, before Helene was predicted to hit Tennessee.
As late as Thursday morning the forecast was for Helene to end as a tropical depression over KY and TN on Saturday and Sunday. Biden had already issued a disaster proclamation, and those two things together should have told Lee that his state was going to need more than “thoughts and prayers”.
Bill Lee is an idiot.
earlofhuntingdon
“September 30, 2024 at 5:18 pm
Then you share Navarro’s misconception of Communism and Communists.
Your argument confuses the exclusive, hypocritical socialism of the rich – which they deny with the same gusto with which they practice it – with real Communism and Socialism.”
Unfortunately, your understanding of Communists and Communism is one-dimensional and ignores the evolution of Communists and Communism from its early days.
Study the differences between democracy and communism and learn how easy it is to lose each one to an authoritarian dictatorship, instead of focusing on the differences between communism and capitalism.
The myth that Communism and Communist thinking cannot exist within a high wealth family unit like Fred Trump’s family unit is simply that—a myth.
Donald Trump was raised within the Communist bubble of his parents’s family unit. So, too, was Kim Jong Un.
In reality, Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un were both raised from birth inside a Communist household that taught them to be authoritarian Communist dictators, protected them, fed them, sent them to boarding schools, and gave them infinite wealth at an early age.
The difference between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump is that Donald Trump is now trying to turn the US into a nation state similar to the one Kim Jong Un’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung, created in North Korea in 1950.
Rest assured, Trump’s friend, Kim Jong Un, has been thrilled to teach Trump how to do it.
One dimensional. LOL.
Um…
[citations needed] because you know all this, how?
Tip of the Speer
The landfill and the trash bin
had a meeting in the dark,
They came across a jar of gin
as junkyard dogs began to bark.
The cost of opportunity
was not wasted on these two,
They knew that in their unity
they’d cook up some foul woo woo.
They found a moldy blueprint
an architect had tossed,
smudged roughly with a shoe print
where a body politic had crossed.
Just as Goebbels’ propaganda
was the tip for Albert Speer,
this trash now had command of
a message that is clear:
Put the con in confidence,
Place the con in fraud,
Guarantee a providence
and repeat it, then applaud.
Lead them down a garden path,
Promise them the moon,
Then sling a slimy mud bath,
And sing another tune.
It’s time to do the Dersh Walk,
So, give yourself a pinch,
Don’t let truth cause you to balk
because lying is a cinch.
2/3/20
I’ve always thought it was fascism. And I still do.
Patrick Philbin was my inspiration for this during the 1st impeachment. See the 1st line: Landfill > trash bin. (Get it? fill bin.) Then the 3rd line: jar of gin > Ginni (Philbin clerked for Clarence. And now both he and Cipollone work at Bill Barr’s firm.)
Cipollone used the phrase “opportunity costs” during the Senate hearing, thus the 2nd stanza. In the 5th stanza, “fraud, Guarantee” refers to Lev Parnas.
Not wanting to be offensive but Pope Leo’s vision was within the church/state beginnings. The recent prayer/statement should be offensive to those whom by faith were/are opposed to this relationship.
There are several unofficial twerps in Convict-1’s orbit that need monitoring, and based on the above comments and known proclivities it would be very good to know what these guys are doing now:
Roger Stone
Erik Prince
Turdblossom (who still doesn’t like Ds)
Oligarchs like Thiel, Mellon, Musk, Benioff, etc.
Please add to the list as inspiration comes along.
Down Pat
Mitch got the pitch down Pat,
straight to and from their autocrat,
When Murkowski came to bat,
she pretended it wasn’t all that.
The coaches are all in on the scam,
Bad faith hits another grand slam,
They don’t care we know it’s a sham,
They say aloud they don’t give a damn.
The base’s loaded for another steal,
A grand bargain with a sunk deal,
Even the grifters called it surreal,
sitting next to the Presidential Seal.
Cheating just to walk a hall
that allegedly is owned by all,
The GOP’s written on the wall:
“We gladly cause our republic to fall.”
Turkish candy and Russian delights
mean more to them than our rights,
Republicans hide behind dirty fights:
Last to leave, turn off the lights.
1/31/20
Has TRUMP met Chutkan’s ORDER to reply by today at noon?
Looks like the answer might be no[?]:
https://bsky.app/profile/emptywheel.bsky.social/post/3l5hqtfnymg22
October 1, 2024 at 1:31 PM
Trump will find that Judge Chutkan is not as willing as Aileen Cannon to sanewash Trump’s responses, to fit them into a filing pigeon hole that, as written and submitted, they don’t fit.
If Trump’s answers are non-responsive to Smith’s proposed redactions, then he should be deemed not to have objected to them. Chutkan would be entitled to accept them as submitted.
As I read the substance of the filing
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148/gov.uscourts.dcd.258148.248.0.pdf
(Stripped of whining and political bluster) it amounts to:
“The SC redactions do not go far enough, and breach the protective restrictions they have previously sought for similar materials and personal information. Revising the redactions so they accord with those standards is such an extensive task that SC should be told to do a do-over”
Their substantive points referring to other filings in this and the SDFL case are not especially clear, and I haven’t bothered to chase down the references, not least because I anticipate it’s all just smoke and mirrors.
Case or authority citations from Trump are automatically suspect. He usually uses them to mean the opposite of what they stand for.
Judge Chutkan shouldn’t have to parse what Trump’s lawyers say. She’s entitled to take what they say at face value. As with Trump’s speeches, if it’s gibberish, it’s gibberish.
What might need to be redacted in a stolen secret government documents case in Florida is not likely to be the same as what needs to be redacted in the case before Judge Chutkan.
They also want the filing to reassure the MAGAts that there’s nothing new here, so they should go about waving this away as a big nothing-burger p 2 lines 11-14
“While the Presidential Immunity filing, contains •few• if any new allegations not already covered in •other politically motivated and inaccurate lawfare efforts• that President Trump’s political opponents have unlawfully funded and disseminated …(emphasis added)”
But clearly they are all novel allegations (ie elaborations of the facts beyond the four corners of the indictment) within these proceedings, and ‘[a]few’ (? some, many?) are entirely novel pieces of evidence not previously relied on in ‘other…lawfare (sic)’.
Ho – hum!
Chutkan seems to have ordered Trump’s pleading docketed – I expect Trump did not anticipate that – because she deemed it something other than a response to the non-public exchange of counsels’ arguments concerning Smith’s suggested redactions.
The public filing seems to be a public rebuke, assuming Trump’s lawyers are still capable of being embarrassed. Their submission is full of non-legal arguments that Chutkan has said she doesn’t want to hear. It introduces information not pertinent to this case, such as conduct supposedly related to Trump’s case before Judge Cannon. It’s also remarkable for Trump’s lawyers’ claim to know so much about the prosecution’s intent, which seems improbable.
But see footnote 2 of Trump’s filing – they filed under seal because they were told to, but they don’t see any reason to keep it under seal.
You may be reading too much into Chutkan’s order to put it on the public docket.
I had thought that the delay docketing and then the order docketing the filing was a consequence of Chutkan’s prior order.
The question still remains as to what Chutkan wants to do with a filing which is at best minimally responsive (if at all) to her prior order.