The Commentariat -- Sept. 27, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Your Sunday Evening News Bombshell:

** The Biggest Tax Cheat. Russ Buettner, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750. He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years -- largely because he reported losing much more money than he made. As the president wages a re-election campaign that polls say he is in danger of losing, his finances are under stress, beset by losses and hundreds of millions of dollars in debt coming due that he has personally guaranteed. Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund that he claimed, and received, after declaring huge losses. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million. The tax returns that Mr. Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public. The tax returns that Mr. Trump has long fought to keep private tell a story fundamentally different from the one he has sold to the American public. His reports to the I.R.S. portray a businessman who takes in hundreds of millions of dollars a year yet racks up chronic losses that he aggressively employs to avoid paying taxes. Now, with his financial challenges mounting, the records show that he depends more and more on making money from businesses that put him in potential and often direct conflict of interest with his job as president." Emphasis added. ~~~

     ~~~ David Leonhardt of the New York Times outlines key findings from the Times' report. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: By way of comparison, I am a middle-middle-class taxpayer, definitely nowhere near upper-middle class. I have some tax writeoffs, too. I just checked my return for one of the years Donald Trump paid $750; I paid almost $36,000 in federal income tax. You think I don't resent carrying Donald Trump? You can bet the millions of lower- and middle-class taxpayers who paid far more than $750 (or nothing, as Trump paid in previous years) also resent carrying a fat tax cheat who lives in a grotesque gold-and-marble NYC penthouse and the Mar-a-Lago mansion. What American voters need to get straight in their wee, bitty brains is that Donald Trump is a crime boss, and he has been shaking them down for decades.

Joe Biden responded Sunday afternoon to Donald Trump's nomination of Amy Barrett to the Supreme Court: ~~~

Jonathan Martin & Alexander Burns of the New York Times: "A clear majority of voters believes the winner of the presidential election should fill the Supreme Court seat left open by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to a national poll conducted by The New York Times and Siena College, a sign of the political peril President Trump and Senate Republicans are courting by attempting to rush through an appointment before the end of the campaign.... [Fifty-six] percent said they preferred to have the election act as a sort of referendum on the vacancy. Only 41 percent said they wanted Mr. Trump to choose a justice before November." Mrs. McC: This poll is consistent with several others conducted last week.

Michael Shear & Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President Trump sought again on Saturday night to cast doubt on the integrity of the presidential election, telling supporters that the only way Democrats can win in Pennsylvania is to 'cheat on the ballots' and raising the prospect that a disputed election could be decided by Congress. Pressing his baseless case that the election in November will be a 'disaster,' Mr. Trump said at a rally just outside a hangar at the Harrisburg airport that he would have 'an advantage' if Congress were to decide.... Shortly after announcing Judge Barrett's nomination in a Rose Garden event on Saturday at the White House, Mr. Trump flew to the Harrisburg airport to speak to an outdoor crowd of perhaps a few thousand -- far fewer than the 'tens of thousands' he claimed from onstage. It was the latest of several rallies he has held in which his supporters packed together, mostly without face masks."

Michael Kranish of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump was facing financial disaster in 1990 when he came up with an audacious plan to exert control of his father's estate. His creditors threatened to force him into personal bankruptcy, and his first wife, Ivana, wanted 'a billion dollars' in a divorce settlement, Donald Trump said in a deposition. So he sent an accountant and a lawyer to see his father, Fred Trump Sr., who was told he needed to immediately sign a document changing the will according to his son's wishes, according to depositions from family members. It was a fragile moment for the senior Trump, who was 85 years old and ... would soon be diagnosed with cognitive problems, such as being unable to recall things he was told 30 minutes earlier or remember his birth date, according to his medical records, which were included in a related court case. Now, those records and other sources of information about the episode obtained by The Washington Post reveal the extent of Fred Trump Sr.'s cognitive impairment and how Donald's effort to change his father's will tore apart the Trump family, which continues to reverberate today." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: You've read or heard much of this story before, but Kranish does a good job of putting it together & demonstrating anew what a greedy bastard is the man the Electoral College gave us. Do you think the guy who worked so hard to cheat his own family won't work just as hard to cheat all of us in the upcoming election? ~~~

~~~ Ah, Here's the Answer: It's Been the Plan All Along. Anita Kumar of Politico: "A year before ... Donald Trump alarmed Americans with talk of disputing elections last week, his team started building a massive legal network to do just that. Dozens of lawyers from three major law firms have been hired. Thousands of volunteer attorneys and poll watchers across the country have been recruited. Republicans are preparing pre-written legal pleadings that can be hurried to the courthouse the day after the election, as wrangling begins over close results and a crush of mail-in ballots. Attorneys from non-battleground states, including California, New York and Illinois, are being dispatched to more competitive areas and trained on local election laws. A 20-person team of lawyers oversees the strategy, which is mainly focused on the election process in the 17 key states the Trump campaign is targeting, like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In total, it means the Republican Party will have thousands of people on hand to shape every element of voting -- both on Election Day and in the days after. It's a massive undertaking -- one the RNC calls its largest election-year legal effort ever."

Rep. Katie Porter (D-Calif.) isn't just super-smart; she's funny, too: ~~~

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here.

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Peter Baker & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump introduced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court on Saturday, calling her 'one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds' as he ignited a partisan and ideological battle in the middle of an already volatile presidential campaign. In a ceremony in the Rose Garden with Judge Barrett at his side and her husband and seven children in the audience, Mr. Trump presented Judge Barrett as a champion of the same sort of conservative judicial philosophy as her onetime mentor Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom she clerked and who died four years ago." Mrs. McC: One does pity the children. An ABC News story is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: I feel like just posting videos of doo-wop classics, but here are a few analyses, which I don't care to read, of Barrett's, uh, legal philosophy, which apparently she copied off of Scalia's:

~~~ Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "Judge Amy Coney Barrett ... has compiled an almost uniformly conservative voting record in cases touching on abortion, gun rights, discrimination and immigration. If she is confirmed, she would move the court slightly but firmly to the right, making compromise less likely and putting at risk the right to abortion established in Roe v. Wade. Judge Barrett's judicial opinions, based on a substantial sample of the hundreds of cases that she has considered in her three years on the federal appeals court in Chicago, are marked by care, clarity and a commitment to the interpretive methods used by Justice Antonin Scalia...." ~~~

~~~ Jeffrey Toobin of the New Yorker traces Barrett's judicial philsophy back to Lewis Powell's infamous 1971 memo to the Chamber of Commerce, through the establishment & rise of the Federalist Society: "Barrett is not only a member of a conservative organization within the Catholic Church; her legal writings, and the views of some who know her, suggest that she would overturn Roe. Still, it's worth remembering the real priorities of Trump and Mitch McConnell ... in this nomination. They're happy to accommodate the anti-abortion base of the Republican Party, but an animating passion of McConnell's career has been the deregulation of political campaigns..., so that he can protect his Senate majority and the causes for which it stands. The corporate interests funding the growth of the Federalist Society probably weren't especially interested in abortion, but they were almost certainly committed to crippling the regulatory state. Barrett is a product of this movement.... Her writings and early rulings reflect it.... The nomination and the expected confirmation of Barrett ... represent a paramount act of hypocrisy for McConnell and the other Republicans who denied even a hearing to Merrick Garland.... But the fact that these Republicans are willing to risk that charge shows how important the Supreme Court is to them. Far more than a senator, a Supreme Court Justice can deliver on the agenda. The war on abortion is just the start." Subscriber-firewalled. ~~~

~~~ Leah Litman & Melissa Murray in the Washington Post: "A relative 5-4 balance [on the Supreme Court] has meant that neither bloc could dominate, because a move by one conservative justice to the liberal side in a given case could swing the outcome. That sometimes led the justices to broker compromise positions on thorny issues, or to avoid taking up certain matters altogether if they weren't sure whether all of their colleagues would vote along ideological lines. If the president's nominee is confirmed to fill Ginsburg's seat, however, the court's conservative bloc will be able to afford to lose a vote and still prevail, reducing the need for narrower decisions, compromise and forbearance." The writers highlight some of the issues the Barrett Court will decide. Mrs. McC: Unless Democrats embrace measures that curb or realign the power of the judiciary, this country is slowly but surely about to become a throwback a time when social injustice was the norm. ~~~

~~~ Joe Biden: "Today, President Trump has nominated Judge Amy Coney Barrett as the successor to Justice Ginsburg's seat. She has a written track record of disagreeing with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Affordable Care Act. She critiqued Chief Justice John Roberts' majority opinion upholding the law in 2012.... President Trump has been trying to throw out the Affordable Care Act for four years. Republicans have been trying to end it for a decade. Twice, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the law as constitutional. But even now, in the midst of a global health pandemic, the Trump Administration is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the entire law, including its protections for people with pre-existing conditions. If President Trump has his way, complications from COVID-19, like lung scarring and heart damage, could become the next deniable pre-existing condition." ~~~

~~~ Gregory Krieg of CNN: "Democrats on Saturday night launched their case against federal Judge Amy Coney Barrett..., saying support for her confirmation was equivalent to a vote to end the Affordable Care Act. In a rush of statements following Barrett's Rose Garden introduction, top Democrats put the fate of the law -- and its popular protections for patients with pre-existing conditions -- front and center. They also made frequent reference to the coronavirus pandemic, and the chaos that could arise from stripping health insurance options from millions of Americans in its midst. From the Democratic presidential ticket on down, criticism of Barrett repeatedly circled back to what has been a political winner for the party: health care -- and the backlash to Republican efforts to dismantle the ACA, former President Barack Obama's signature policy achievement."

~~~ "A Power Grab Without Principle." Washington Post Editors: "No matter whom President Trump had picked to fill the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat, it would be the wrong choice -- because it is the wrong time. Mr. Trump is asking Senate Republicans to perpetrate a damaging injustice by ramming through a nominee on the eve of a presidential election. This move threatens to sully the court and aggravate suspicions over the coming election. Senate Republicans should be disgusted at playing the role they are being asked to play. But so far they seem shameless in their hypocrisy and wanton in their willingness to poison the workings of our democracy. In 2016, Senate Republicans united to block President Barack Obama's nomination of Judge Merrick Garland to the court, because the election was only eight months away. This year, people in some states already are voting as the nomination is put forward. Some Republicans pretend to see some distinction; others don't even bother to pretend. The country will see it for what it is: a power grab without principle." ~~~

White People Pack National Mall, Pence Brings Greetings from the Dear Leader. AP: "Thousands of people packed the National Mall in downtown Washington on Saturday to pray and show their support for ... Donald Trump. The march, which stretched from the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol, was held just hours before Trump was set to announce he was nominating a conservative judge for the Supreme Court. Few in the crowd wore masks. Some sported red caps with the words 'Let's Make America Godly Again.'... Vice President Mike Pence, speaking from the steps of the memorial, said he came to extend Trump's 'greetings and gratitude' and asked them to pray for the new Supreme Court nominee." Mrs. McC: Isn't pence getting even more creepy?

Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Representatives for ... Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden have hammered out the final details for Tuesday's debate, a showdown that will be heavily shaped by the coronavirus pandemic. The two sides have decided to forego the traditional pre-debate handshake in light of the virus, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations.... Neither Trump nor Biden nor the debate moderator, Fox News host Chris Wallace, will wear masks. And unlike past presidential debates, there will be a limited audience of only 75 to 80 people, all of whom will be tested prior to attending the debate, which will be held on the campus of the Cleveland Clinic and Case Western Reserve University.... After a coin flip, it was determined that the first question of the 90-minute showdown will go to Trump."

North Carolina. AP: "... Donald Trump's campaign committee and the Republican National Committee sued Saturday to block North Carolina election officials from enforcing rule changes that could boost the number of ballots counted in the presidential battleground state."

Anne Marimow of the Washington Post: "A federal appeals court in Washington sided with House Democrats on Friday in their effort to block the Trump administration's diversion of billions of dollars to build the president's signature southern border wall. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit unanimously backed Congress's power of the purse and said House lawmakers could proceed with their lawsuit alleging it was illegal for President Trump to transfer the money for the wall. The Constitution gives Congress spending authority, the court said, and it 'requires two keys to unlock the Treasury, and the House holds one of those keys. The Executive Branch has, in a word, snatched the House's key out of its hands,' according to the opinion from Judge David B. Sentelle, who was joined by Judges Patricia A. Millett and Robert L. Wilkins."

California. CBS News Los Angeles: “A vehicle struck at least two people in Yorba Linda on Saturday during a Black Lives Matter protest and counter-protest, marking the second incident in three days involving vehicles careening through protesting crowds in the Southland.... Just before 3 p.m., a white sedan was caught on camera crashing through the crowd, hitting and injuring at least two people, according to the sheriff's department.... After the crash, some attendees chased the car and officials surrounded it before the driver, identified as 40-year-old Tatiana Turner of Long Beach, was detained.... Turner was charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon and was booked into Orange County Jail. The Orange County Sheriff's Department identified Turner as a member of the 'Caravan for Justice' event.... This incident involving a car driving into protesters is the second incident of this kind in the Southland over the past three days. On Thursday, a vehicle also drove through a group of people gathered in Hollywood to protest the outcome of the Taylor case, striking two people as well." Mrs. McC: The people Turner injured were BLM protesters, and supposed, so was Turner.

Oregon. Daniella Silva of NBC News: "A rally by the far-right Proud Boys in Portland, Oregon, in support of ... Donald Trump and police drew about 200 protesters Saturday afternoon, far fewer than the expected thousands that led the city to brace for potential violence. Among the rallygoers who gathered at a city park were dozens wearing militarized body armor, including helmets and protective vests. Many flew American flags or black flags bearing the logo of the Three Percenters, another far-right group, and some wore Make America Great Again hats. Some had long guns.... Organizers of the rally had said they expected to draw 20,000 people.... The Proud Boys, a group of self-declared Western chauvinists, were denied a permit for the planned gathering due to coronavirus social-distancing concerns, but rallied anyway in what they had said would be a free speech event to support Trump and the police and condemn anti-fascists." Mrs. McC: The photos that accompany the story suggests that what infuriates the Proud Boys & their ilk is being so butt-ugly and/or having to wear frumpy outfits. You can sorta appreciate why Trump is glad he doesn't have to shake hands with "these disgusting people."

The Commentariat -- Sept. 26, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Peter Baker & Nicholas Fandos of the New York Times: "President Trump introduced Judge Amy Coney Barrett as his nominee to the Supreme Court on Saturday, calling her 'one of our nation's most brilliant and gifted legal minds' as he ignited a partisan and ideological battle in the middle of an already volatile presidential campaign. In a ceremony in the Rose Garden with Judge Barrett at his side and her husband and seven children in the audience, Mr. Trump presented Judge Barrett as a champion of the same sort of conservative judicial philosophy as her onetime mentor Justice Antonin Scalia, for whom she clerked and who died four years ago." Mrs. McC: One does pity the children. An ABC News story is here.

~~~~~~~~~~

** Trump Picks Handmaid to Succeed Feminist Icon. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump has selected Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the favorite candidate of conservatives, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and will try to force Senate confirmation before Election Day in a move that would significantly alter the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court for years.... As they often do, aides cautioned that Mr. Trump sometimes upends his own plans. But he is not known to have interviewed any other candidates for the post." The Hill's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times publishes highlights of the final day of public honors for Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mrs. McC: My favorite: "Bryant Johnson, an Army veteran who served as her longtime trainer..., dropped to the floor before her coffin and did three full push-ups.

Susan Dominus & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined President Barack Obama for lunch in his private dining room in July 2013, the White House sought to keep the event quiet -- the meeting called for discretion. Mr. Obama had asked his White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, to set up the lunch so he could build a closer rapport with the justice, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Treading cautiously, he did not directly bring up the subject of retirement to Justice Ginsburg, at 80 the Supreme Court's oldest member and a two-time cancer patient. He did, however, raise the looming 2014 midterm elections and how Democrats might lose control of the Senate. Implicit in that conversation was the concern motivating his lunch invitation -- the possibility that if the Senate flipped, he would lose a chance to appoint a younger, liberal judge who could hold on to the seat for decades. But the effort did not work, just as an earlier attempt by Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who was then Judiciary Committee chairman, had failed." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The fatal flaw in placing trust in your own immortality -- especially when you've already suffered life-threatening illnesses at an advanced age -- is obvious. The cosmic joke on Ginsburg, and therefore on all of us, is that her bad bet is likely to undo her most important life's work and also could be fatal to young women, most of them poor, who may succumb to unsafe abortions.

New York Times: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg broke one final barrier on Friday, becoming the first woman and the first Jewish American to lie in state in the United States Capitol. The honor, arranged by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as a private ceremony at the Capitol, brought to a close a week of public memorials for Justice Ginsburg, the liberal jurist and trailblazer for women who died last Friday at 87. Her family plans to hold a private burial next week at Arlington National Cemetery." From the Times' Ginsburg live updates. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Presidential Race, Etc.

Tory Newmyer of the Washington Post: "A Democratic sweep that puts Joe Biden in the White House and the party back in the Senate majority would produce 7.4 million more jobs and a faster economic recovery than if President Trump retains power. That's the conclusion Moody's Analytics economists Mark Zandi and Bernard Yaros reach in a new analysis sizing up the two presidential candidates' economic proposals. And they are not alone in finding a Biden win translating into brisker growth: Economists at Goldman Sachs and Oxford Economics conclude that even a version of Biden's program that would have to shrink to pass the Senate would mean a faster rally back to prepandemic conditions." (Also linked yesterday.)

Zoe Richards of TPM: "Two former Republican lawmakers have joined the ranks of Republicans endorsing Democratic nominee Joe Biden for president. Former Reps. Mickey Edwards (R-OK), a former chair of the American Conservative Union who served in Congress for 16 years until vacating his seat in 1993 and Charles Djou (R-HI), an Afghanistan war veteran, who won a three-way special election in 2010 and served until 2011, have become the latest GOP supporters of Biden. 'Joe Biden is not a perfect man, but he is a man of humble decency,' the former GOP lawmakers penned in an op-ed published by Roll Call on Friday. 'America needs a restored sense of national unity, basic civility and true character in our president. After four years of reckless Trumpian chaos and division, we believe it is time for a new president and ask that you join us.'"

Trump's Plan to Lie & Bully His Way Through the First Presidential "Debate." Sean Sullivan & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "President Trump is gearing up to launch blistering personal attacks on Joe Biden and his family in the first presidential debate on Tuesday, while Biden is bracing for an onslaught and worried allies are warning the Democratic nominee not to lose his temper and lash out, according to people with knowledge of the strategies in both camps. Trump has told associates he wants to talk specifically about his opponent's son Hunter Biden and mused that the debates are when 'people will finally realize Biden is just not there,' according to one adviser. The president is so eager to lay into his rival that he has called aides to test out various attacks, focusing on broadsides.... Biden and his advisers are anticipating a venomous barrage, according to a person with knowledge of their thinking, and they are preparing to counter with an affirmative case for a Biden presidency."

Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President Trump said Friday night that he would welcome 'a smooth, beautiful transition' of power after the election in November but that he would lose only if Democrats cheated -- and that 'we're not going to stand for it' if they did. Mr. Trump's comments to cheering supporters at an outdoor rally in Newport News, Va., were his latest intimation that he might mount an unprecedented effort to stay in power after an electoral defeat and lead the nation into uncharted waters at a moment marked by civil strife.... In an apparent stab at humor on Friday night, the president at one point even joked about canceling the election altogether."

Part of the Long Con? Trump's Sick Idea of Funny. Asawin Suebsaeng & Spencer Ackerman of the Daily Beast: "To horrified voters, onlookers, and the Democratic opposition, [Trump's refusal to commit to an orderly transfer of the presidency] was another clear instance of the sitting president openly telegraphing his plans to seize power, something some administration officials fear will soon take form within the federal government and among major party organs. But to Trump, it was ... funny as hell. According to two people..., hours after the president stepped away from the cameras, Trump continued following the fallout in the press, including on cable news, and began privately remarking how amusing it was that his answer was making media and liberal heads explode, and also predictably dominating TV coverage. 'He seemed to get a real kick out of it,' one of the sources said, adding that the president seemed to relish making the press, in Trump's words, 'go crazy' over his non-commitment to democratic norms and procedure. '[The president] wasn't going to be playing by their rules on this just to make them feel comfortable.'... But in some corners of the administration, various officials and law enforcement personnel have indeed begun to view the threat of a constitutional crisis with alarm."

Alexander Mallin of ABC News: "A Justice Department official told ABC News Friday that Attorney General William Barr personally briefed ... Donald Trump about the DOJ's investigation into a small number of ballots in Pennsylvania that were found to be discarded, prior to the information being made public by a U.S. attorney's office Thursday afternoon. President Trump went on to first reveal the investigation in an interview with Fox News Radio, where he, without evidence, argued that it bolsters his baseless claims of widespread fraud in mail-in voting.... 'This is an ongoing investigation where there is no public interest reason to override the usual policy of not commenting -- and especially not to say for whom the ballots were cast. An unprecedented in kind contribution to the president's campaign,' Matthew Miller, the former director of the Justice Department's public affairs office, said on Twitter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Everything about this stunt is improper. Trump, his political appointees & his campaign appear to have conspired to blow up into a national scandal what was a small, localized, unwitting mistake made by a temporary employee. That is not to say the 7 or 9 votes that may have been discarded are not important, but it appears that the mistake was timely discovered & efforts made to correct or mitigate the error. A Politico story, by Zach Montellaro & Holly Otterbein, explains some of what may have happened. ~~~

~~~ Michael Schmidt & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "In the effort led by President Trump to create a misleading impression of widespread voter fraud, administration and campaign officials have seized on nine mail-in military ballots in a Pennsylvania county that Mr. Trump won by 20 points in 2016.... The county, which is primarily controlled by Republicans, said on Friday that it had been unaware of whom the ballots were cast for until the Justice Department released the information.... 'There is a battle here about the narrative in fraud and voting, and it looks like there's a continued effort to gather as much evidence as possible to give them any little scraps for that narrative,' said Samuel W. Buell, a criminal law professor at Duke University School of Law." Mrs. McC: If the county "is primarily controlled by Republicans," why are they conspiring against their own party's presidential candidate?

Robert Cardillo in a Denver Post op-ed: "I had the privilege of serving under six presidents -- four Republican and two Democrat.... Broadly speaking, I can personally attest that Americans were very well served by those they elected to fill critical national security positions. There is one important exception to that statement -- our current president. I have briefed him up close -- and I have seen and felt the effect of his faults on our nation's security. Out of respect for the confidential nature of Oval Office conversations, I will not provide details. Suffice to say that the person you see presiding over COVID-19 press conferences is the same one in the privacy of his office. He has little patience for facts or data that do not comport with his personal world view. Thus, the conversations are erratic and less than fully thoughtful.... Donald Trump's decision to rely upon the word of dictators like Vladimir Putin is an unprecedented betrayal of his oath to the Constitution. Our current president bases his decisions on his instincts, and his instincts are based upon a personal value proposition -- what's in it for me? As a Commander in Chief, President Trump comes up tragically short." Mrs. McC: As I recall, the Denver Post is subscriber-firewalled. I was able to read Cardillo's op-ed for about 5 minutes before it went dark. So if you click on the link, speed-read! Josh Feldman of Mediaite has a summary report here that includes video of Wolf Blitzer's interview of Cardillo.

South Carolina Senate Race. "Help Me!" Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "In a pair of interviews on the network on Thursday, [Sen. Lindsey] Graham [R-Trump] pleaded with Fox viewers for campaign cash, in an emotional appeal almost as weepy as Jerry Lewis in one of the later hours of his old charity telethons. 'I'm getting overwhelmed,' he told prime-time host Sean Hannity. Then, he turned to Hannity's viewers, adding: 'Help me. They're killing me moneywise. Help me. You did last week. Help me again.'... Fox 'had no knowledge that he would solicit donations on air,' the network said in a statement." Politico's story is here.

New York Congressional Races. Luis Ferré-Sadurní & Jesse McKinley of the New York Times: Donald "Trump likened a peaceful march in Rochester to the clashes in Portland, Ore., saying earlier this month on Twitter that the two cities had 'bad nights.' The next day, the president incorrectly asserted that 'most of the police in Rochester, N.Y., have resigned,' blaming 'the Democrat Mayor and, of courses, Governor Cuomo.' The president's incursions in Rochester have divided Republicans in Western New York, as candidates vying for Congress and local office weigh whether to embrace Mr. Trump or distance themselves from his characterization of the Black Lives Matter movement as 'a symbol of hate.' [For instance,] George Mitris, a Republican facing an uphill battle to unseat Representative Joseph D. Morelle, a Democratic fixture in the region, has openly disagreed with the president's comments on Twitter, and embraced the Black Lives Matter movement in his platform."

Chutzpah, Corruption & Lies, Ctd.

Benjamin Weiser & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: "Judges on a federal appeals panel expressed skepticism at a hearing on Friday about President Trump's arguments that a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney seeking eight years of the president's tax returns was overbroad and issued in bad faith. The three judges challenged a central argument from Mr. Trump, who has been fighting the subpoena for more than a year. Lawyers for the president have argued that the demand was a politically motivated 'fishing expedition,' looking to vacuum up documents related to business dealings far beyond the authority of the Manhattan prosecutor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Pointedly questioning a lawyer for the president, the judges suggested that the subpoena could be justified because -- even though the president has extensive financial dealings and real estate projects around the world -- his company is based in New York and his tax returns have been filed there." (Also linked yesterday.)

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration rescinded an award recognizing the work of a journalist from Finland last year after discovering she had criticized President Trump in social media posts, then gave a false explanation for withdrawing the honor, according to a report by the State Department's internal watchdog. The report tracks how the discovery of the journalist's remarks worried senior U.S. officials and prompted a decision to withdraw the honor to avoid a possible public relations debacle. The report's release is likely to worsen tensions between the department's leadership and the inspector general's office, which has undergone several shake-ups following the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick in the spring at the request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

DOJ, "A Satellite Office of the Trump Campaign." Katie Benner of the New York Times: Here's William "Barr's approach to running the Justice Department under President Trump: an agenda that is squarely in line not only with the White House but also with the Trump campaign's law-and-order platform and assertions that Democrats have made the United States less safe.... Mr. Barr has threatened legal action against Democratic leaders who sparred with the president over stay-at-home orders during the pandemic and echoed Mr. Trump's accusation that they were not tough enough on protesters during nationwide unrest over race and policing. He led federal agents who patrolled the streets of Washington against the wishes of the mayor. And this week, the Justice Department seemed to play into the president's efforts to undermine voting by mail.... In public comments, Mr. Barr has expounded on topics outside of what recent attorneys general publicly discussed during an election, particularly his sharp critiques of Democrats and his grim pronouncements that they could destroy democracy.... Mr. Barr declared that the country would 'go down a socialist path' if it elects former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Under Mr. Barr, the Justice Department is as close as it has been to the White House in a half-century, historians said."

Matthew Brown of the AP: "A federal judge ruled Friday that ... Donald Trump's leading steward of public lands has been serving unlawfully, blocking him from continuing in the position in the latest pushback against the administration's practice of filling key positions without U.S. Senate approval. U.S. Interior Department Bureau of Land Management acting director William Perry Pendley served unlawfully for 424 days without being confirmed to the post by the Senate as required under the Constitution, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris determined. The ruling came after Montana's Democratic governor in July sued to remove Pendley, saying the former oil industry attorney was illegally overseeing an agency that manages almost a quarter-billion acres of land, primarily in the U.S. West. 'Today's ruling is a win for the Constitution, the rule of law, and our public lands,' Gov. Steve Bullock said Friday. Environmental groups and Democratic lawmakers from Western states also cheered the judge's move after urging for months that Pendley be removed. The ruling will be immediately appealed, according to Interior Department spokesman Conner Swanson."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pamela, were notified Wednesday evening that a staff member in the governor's residence had tested positive for covid-19. They both subsequently tested positive, the governor's office announced Friday. A statement from the office said Northam is experiencing no symptoms, while his wife has 'mild symptoms.' Northam is continuing his duties as governor, his office said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Laurie McGinley, et al., of the Washington Post: "On the same day President Trump blasted the Food and Drug Administration’s plan for tougher standards for a coronavirus vaccine as a 'political move,' a top White House aide [-- Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows --] demanded detailed justifications from the agency in what some fear is an attempt to thwart or block the standards designed to boost public trust in a vaccine. The White House's involvement appears to go beyond the perfunctory review that agency officials had expected, and is likely to reinforce public concerns that a vaccine may be rushed to benefit the president's reelection campaign.... 'I don't know of any precedent where the White House asked to adjudicate scientific and clinical guidances, even in past public health emergencies,' said Scott Gottlieb, Trump's first FDA commissioner.... Robert Califf, commissioner under President Barack Obama, said White House officials lack the expertise to assess the FDA's safety protocols." Mrs. McC: Would you get an inoculation because Mark Meadows recommended it?

Your Taxpayer Dollars at Work -- Telling Lies to Help Trump. Dan Diamond of Politico: "The health department is moving quickly on a highly unusual advertising campaign to 'defeat despair' about the coronavirus, a $300 million-plus effort that was shaped by a political appointee close to ... Donald Trump and executed in part by close allies of the official, using taxpayer funds. The ad blitz, described in some budget documents as the 'Covid-19 immediate surge public advertising and awareness campaign,' is expected to lean heavily on video interviews between administration officials and celebrities, who will discuss aspects of the coronavirus outbreak and address the Trump administration's response to the crisis, according to six individuals with knowledge of the campaign.... Senior administration officials have already recorded interviews with celebrities like actor Dennis Quaid and singer CeCe Winans, and the Health and Human Services Department also has pursued television host Dr. Mehmet Oz and musician Garth Brooks for roles in the campaign. The public awareness campaign, which HHS is seeking to start airing before Election Day on Nov. 3, was largely conceived and organized by Michael Caputo, the health department's top spokesperson who took medical leave last week and announced on Thursday that he had been diagnosed with cancer. Caputo, who has no medical or scientific background, claimed in a Facebook video ... that the campaign was 'demanded of me by the president of the United States. Personally.'"

Florida. Drink, Eat & Be Merry, for Tomorrow Ye May Die. Gray Rohrer, et al., of the Orlando Sentinel: "Florida will no longer require bars and restaurants to operate at less than full capacity, as Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order Friday removing all remaining restrictions on those businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic. The order, which takes effect immediately, also prohibits local governments from closing businesses or collecting fines related to pandemic-related mandates, such as mask requirements -- leading to at least one Central Florida county being inundated with calls asking if people no longer have to wear one. But it does allow local authorities to limit restaurant and bar capacity to 50% if they can justify it.... Democratic state Sen. Linda Stewart called the move politically motivated and questioned whether the timing was right because Florida continues to have a relatively high death and positivity rates compared with the rest of the country."

Drippity-Drip-Drop. Devlin Barrett, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department has released a pair of documents casting fresh doubt on the judgment of senior law enforcement officials who investigated possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016, showing that one of the FBI case agents thought prosecutors were out to 'get Trump' and that a key source of allegations against the president had been previously investigated as a possible Russian asset. The disclosures come as President Trump and his allies await the results of an investigation by Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham into how U.S. intelligence agencies examined Russian election interference four years ago. Instead, Thursday night saw one disclosure made to Congress and another made to the courts. It's still uncertain whether Durham will issue any findings before Election Day.... In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.), Attorney General William P. Barr said [Igor Danchenko,] the individual whose information was used to assemble much of a dossier of allegations against the Trump campaign, had been the subject of a national security investigation between 2009 and 2011, because FBI agents suspected he might be working for Russia." ~~~

~~~ Matt Zapotosky & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Three career supervisors in the D.C. U.S. attorney's office have disputed the sworn congressional testimony given by a former prosecutor on Robert S. Mueller III's team, telling Justice Department officials they believe he mischaracterized communications with them about undue political pressure in the criminal case against President Trump&'s longtime friend Roger Stone, according to people familiar with the matter. The prosecutor, Aaron Zelinsky, told the House Judiciary Committee in June that he felt politics influenced the prison sentence that was recommended for Stone, who was convicted of lying to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. After Zelinsky and other career prosecutors recommended that Stone face seven to nine years in prison, and Trump angrily tweeted about the case, Attorney General William P. Barr intervened and had the Justice Department propose a lighter punishment.... Robert Litt, a lawyer for Zelinsky, said in an email, 'He stands by his testimony and the Mueller report.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Maria Sacchetti, et al., of the Washington Post: "Breonna Taylor's family on Friday assailed the decision not to prosecute any Louisville police officers for shooting her, while their attorneys demanded that grand jury details be made public to reveal more about how this conclusion was reached. Their remarks came in an emotional news conference in Jefferson Square Park, which has become a hub of protest activity since police killed Taylor while serving a warrant at her apartment in March. Taylor's family spoke near a mural dedicated to the emergency room technician, who was 26 when she died.... Taylor's family on Friday encouraged people to continue to demonstrate to keep up pressure on officials. Speaker after speaker pilloried not only [Kentucky's attorney general Daniel] Cameron [R] but also the police, the media and the country's justice system, which Tamika Palmer, Taylor's mother, described as fundamentally not set up to protect people of color in the United States."

Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "As the only Black female representative in the Kentucky Capitol, state Rep. Attica Scott (D) took action after the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police raiding her home in March. In August, Scott proposed Breonna's Law, a bill that would end no-knock warrants statewide. And when a grand jury decided not to indict the officers in Taylor's death, Scott joined hundreds of protesters in the streets of Louisville. On Thursday night, Louisville police arrested Scott along with a handful of other protesters near First Unitarian Church and the Louisville Free Public Library, which had allegedly been set on fire, according to a police report reviewed by WAVE. The state representative received a felony charge of first-degree rioting and two misdemeanors for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. The paper reported Scott was released from jail Friday morning." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Joe Sonka of the Louisville Courier Journal: Rep. Attica "Scott was livestreaming video as she was arrested outside of a church in downtown Louisville that was offering sanctuary to protesters Thursday evening, saying 'we were trying to go inside.'... She was arrested along with her daughter, Ashanti Scott, and Shameka Parrish-Wright, one of the most prominent racial justice activists in the city, who both face the same changes as Attica Scott. They were all released from jail Friday morning. Scott was on York Street between the First Unitarian Church -- which was offering sanctuary to numerous protesters that night -- and the Louisville Free Public Library's downtown branch, which had a window broken and a flare thrown inside shortly before the arrests.... Ted Shouse, the attorney for Scott and Parrish-Wright, said Thursday night the allegations 'are outrageous on their face' and his clients had nothing to do with damage at the library.... Her livestreamed video shows no evidence of her or those around her vandalizing the library as the walk past the building.... Scott [said] that she was detained before the curfew went into effect, as officers prevented her from entering the church sanctuary." Mrs. McC: Sure seems like police abuse of power & intimidation to me.

The Commentariat -- Sept. 25, 2020

Afternoon Update:

** Trump Picks Handmaid to "Replace" Feminist Icon. Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Trump has selected Judge Amy Coney Barrett, the favorite candidate of conservatives, to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and will try to force Senate confirmation before Election Day in a move that would significantly alter the ideological makeup of the Supreme Court for years.... As they often do, aides cautioned that Mr. Trump sometimes upends his own plans. But he is not known to have interviewed any other candidates for the post." The Hill's story is here.

Susan Dominus & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg joined President Barack Obama for lunch in his private dining room in July 2013, the White House sought to keep the event quiet -- the meeting called for discretion. Mr. Obama had asked his White House counsel, Kathryn Ruemmler, to set up the lunch so he could build a closer rapport with the justice, according to two people briefed on the conversation. Treading cautiously, he did not directly bring up the subject of retirement to Justice Ginsburg, at 80 the Supreme Court's oldest member and a two-time cancer patient. He did, however, raise the looming 2014 midterm elections and how Democrats might lose control of the Senate. Implicit in that conversation was the concern motivating his lunch invitation -- the possibility that if the Senate flipped, he would lose a chance to appoint a younger, liberal judge who could hold on to the seat for decades. But the effort did not work, just as an earlier attempt by Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who was then Judiciary Committee chairman, had failed." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: The fatal flaw in placing trust in your own immortality -- especially when you've already suffered life-threatening illnesses at an advanced age -- is obvious. The cosmic joke on Ginsburg, and therefore on all of us, is that her bad bet is likely to undo her most important life's work and also could be fatal to young women, most of them poor, who may succumb to unsafe abortions.

New York Times: "Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg broke one final barrier on Friday, becoming the first woman and the first Jewish American to lie in state in the United States Capitol. The honor, arranged by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as well as a private ceremony at the Capitol, brought to a close a week of public memorials for Justice Ginsburg, the liberal jurist and trailblazer for women who died last Friday at 87. Her family plans to hold a private burial next week at Arlington National Cemetery." From the Times' Ginsburg live updates.

Benjamin Weiser & William Rashbaum of the New York Times: “Judges on a federal appeals panel expressed skepticism at a hearing on Friday about President Trump's arguments that a subpoena from the Manhattan district attorney seeking eight years of the president's tax returns was overbroad and issued in bad faith. The three judges challenged a central argument from Mr. Trump, who has been fighting the subpoena for more than a year. Lawyers for the president have argued that the demand was a politically motivated 'fishing expedition,' looking to vacuum up documents related to business dealings far beyond the authority of the Manhattan prosecutor, Cyrus R. Vance Jr. Pointedly questioning a lawyer for the president, the judges suggested that the subpoena could be justified because -- even though the president has extensive financial dealings and real estate projects around the world -- his company is based in New York and his tax returns have been filed there."

Alexander Mallin of ABC News: "A Justice Department official told ABC News Friday that Attorney General William Barr personally briefed ... Donald Trump about the DOJ's investigation into a small number of ballots in Pennsylvania that were found to be discarded, prior to the information being made public by a U.S. attorney's office Thursday afternoon. President Trump went on to first reveal the investigation in an interview with Fox News Radio, where he, without evidence, argued that it bolsters his baseless claims of widespread fraud in mail-in voting.... 'This is an ongoing investigation where there is no public interest reason to override the usual policy of not commenting -- and especially not to say for whom the ballots were cast. An unprecedented in kind contribution to the president's campaign,' Matthew Miller, the former director of the Justice Department's public affairs office, said on Twitter." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Everything about this stunt is improper. Trump, his political appointees & his campaign appear to have conspired to blow up into a national scandal what was a small, localized mistake made by a temporary employee. That is not to say the 7 or 9 votes that may have been discarded are not important, but it appears that the mistake was timely discovered & efforts made to correct or mitigate the error.

The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here: "Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam and his wife, Pamela, were notified Wednesday evening that a staff member in the governor's residence had tested positive for covid-19. They both subsequently tested positive, the governor's office announced Friday. A statement from the office said Northam is experiencing no symptoms, while his wife has 'mild symptoms.' Northam is continuing his duties as governor, his office said."

Tory Newmyer of the Washington Post: "A Democratic sweep that puts Joe Biden in the White House and the party back in the Senate majority would produce 7.4 million more jobs and a faster economic recovery than if President Trump retains power. That's the conclusion Moody's Analytics economists Mark Zandi and Bernard Yaros reach in a new analysis sizing up the two presidential candidates' economic proposals. And they are not alone in finding a Biden win translating into brisker growth: Economists at Goldman Sachs and Oxford Economics conclude that even a version of Biden's program that would have to shrink to pass the Senate would mean a faster rally back to prepandemic conditions."

John Hudson of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration rescinded an award recognizing the work of a journalist from Finland last year after discovering she had criticized President Trump in social media posts, then gave a false explanation for withdrawing the honor, according to a report by the State Department's internal watchdog. The report tracks how the discovery of the journalist's remarks worried senior U.S. officials and prompted a decision to withdraw the honor to avoid a possible public relations debacle. The report's release is likely to worsen tensions between the department's leadership and the inspector general's office, which has undergone several shake-ups following the firing of Inspector General Steve Linick in the spring at the request of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo."

Matt Zapotosky & Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: "Three career supervisors in the D.C. U.S. attorney's office have disputed the sworn congressional testimony given by a former prosecutor on Robert S. Mueller III's team, telling Justice Department officials they believe he mischaracterized communications with them about undue political pressure in the criminal case against President Trump's longtime friend Roger Stone, according to people familiar with the matter. The prosecutor, Aaron Zelinsky, told the House Judiciary Committee in June that he felt politics influenced the prison sentence that was recommended for Stone, who was convicted of lying to lawmakers investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. After Zelinsky and other career prosecutors recommended that Stone face seven to nine years in prison, and Trump angrily tweeted about the case, Attorney General William P. Barr intervened and had the Justice Department propose a lighter punishment.... Robert Litt, a lawyer for Zelinsky, said in an email, 'He stands by his testimony and the Mueller report.'"

Jaclyn Peiser of the Washington Post: "As the only Black female representative in the Kentucky Capitol, state Rep. Attica Scott (D) took action after the death of Breonna Taylor, who was fatally shot by police raiding her home in March. In August, Scott proposed Breonna's Law, a bill that would end no-knock warrants statewide. And when a grand jury decided not to indict the officers in Taylor's death, Scott joined hundreds of protesters in the streets of Louisville. On Thursday night, Louisville police arrested Scott along with a handful of other protesters near First Unitarian Church and the Louisville Free Public Library, which had allegedly been set on fire, according to a police report reviewed by WAVE. The state representative received a felony charge of first-degree rioting and two misdemeanors for failure to disperse and unlawful assembly, the Louisville Courier-Journal reported. The paper reported Scott was released from jail Friday morning."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Etc.

Here's a letter from "generals, admirals, senior noncommissioned officers, ambassadors, and senior civilian national security leaders" endorsing Joe Biden for president. It includes a list of the signers. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Laura Seligman of Politico: "... Donald Trump's former four-star head of the Coast Guard is speaking out on his decision to endorse Joe Biden, saying it's due to an 'insurgency' on Americans' constitutional rights that has occurred on the commander in chief's watch. Retired Adm. Paul Zukunft, who stepped down as commandant of the Coast Guard in June 2018, is one of almost 500 former national security leaders who signed an open letter released Thursday questioning Trump's fitness for command.... Zukunft told Politico, 'I am concerned that our constitutional rights are being infringed upon from within.'... In addition to his concern over the Constitution, Zukunft said he was driven to endorse Biden by the 2019 government shutdown over funding for Trump's border wall, which left the Coast Guard's active-duty force of more than 40,000 working without pay for several months. He is also concerned by Trump's dismissal of science, both on climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic...."

David Smith of the Guardian: "Senator Bernie Sanders [I-Vt.] has returned to the campaign trail by calling for an independent election commission to stop Donald Trump defying the will of the people and plunging the US into a constitutional crisis. The independent senator also urged social media companies to 'get their act together' and news media to prepare the American people to understand that 'there is no longer a single election day'.... In Washington on Thursday, at his first in-person event since suspending his campaign in the spring, Sanders reiterated that he is 'strongly supporting' [Joe] Biden. But his focus was the unprecedented threat posed by Trump to the oldest continuous democracy in the modern world. 'No matter how rich and powerful you may be, no matter how arrogant and narcissistic you may be, no matter how much you think you can get anything you want, let me make this clear to Donald Trump,' Sanders said. 'Too many people have fought and died to defend American democracy and you are not going to destroy it.'" You can watch the full speech here. ~~~

<>Michela Tindera of Forbes: "Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker gave $2,000 to Joe Biden's presidential campaign last month, according to records filed with the Federal Election Commission this week. It's a small sum for a billionaire, but notable nonetheless, given that she poured more than $250,000 into committees supporting Donald Trump four years ago."

Laura Vozzella of the Washington Post: "State and local health officials are raising alarms about President Trump's plans for a 'gargantuan' rally at a Virginia airport Friday night, saying it could pose a 'severe public health threat' if it violates the state's 250-person limit on public gatherings. In a letter to the company that operates the hangar at Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport where the rally is planned, the director of the local health district asked that the crowd be limited to 250.... The letter warned that exceeding limits ordered by Gov. Ralph Northam(D) could result in misdemeanor charges and possible revocation of the firm's business license."

Cameron Joseph of Vice: "President Trump's campaign is running a television ad claiming that he built 'the best' economy in history, and will do so again. But it uses film of a visit he made to a steel plant that recently furloughed hundreds of workers.... The clip is from a 2018 visit to the company's Granite City, Illinois plant.... U.S. Steel notified employees that they would lay off as many as 737 workers at the Granite City plant in late April following news that major auto companies would stop production at many plants as COVID cases spiked across the country. That came as part of a wider series of cuts. A company spokeswoman said at the time that 2,700 total layoffs would occur immediately, and the company warned 6,500 total workers that they could face furloughs or layoffs — one third of the company's total staff." (Also linked yesterday.)

Steve's Traveling Lunatic Show. Justin Horowitz & Madeline Peltz of Media Matters: "Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has kicked off a national speaking tour about the upcoming election titled 'The Plot to Steal 2020.' It's a thinly veiled attempt to spread conspiracy theories and discredit any efforts to ensure that citizens can vote safely. Bannon, who recently pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges, has stated that the tour will take place in select swing states and via digital streaming platforms. In his most recent appearance, he outlined three main prongs of his conspiracy theory: Democrats will use 'lawfare,' social media, and street protests to supposedly steal the election from Donald Trump."

David Siders & Holly Otterbein of Politico: "After more than four years of nonstop voter fraud claims, insinuations that he might not accept the presidential election results and at least one float about delaying the November election, it's no secret. Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power this week -- and his choice not to walk back his remarks Thursday in the face of widespread unease -- merely broadcasts his strategic intent in terms both parties can understand.... Republicans can no longer truthfully deny that Trump may be unwilling to leave office in the event he is defeated. And Democrats must now confront the possibility they may not have the power to stop him. It's an unprecedented backdrop for a modern presidential race, one that could stretch the electoral process to its limits, almost guaranteeing a chaotic, divisive finish to the campaign. 'We are super alarmed,' said Matt Bennett of the center-left group Third Way, which released a primer this week on how Trump is laying the groundwork to dispute the election results in the event of a defeat. 'I now think it's very, very likely that Joe Biden will win the election if the votes are counted, but it's not clear that the votes will be counted.'" Mrs. McC Note: Unless the composition of the Third Way has changed recently, it is center-right. ~~~

You are not in North Korea; you are not in Turkey; you are not in Russia, Mr. President, and by the way, you are not in Saudi Arabia. You are in the United States of America. It is a democracy, so why don't you just try for a moment to honor your oath of office to the Constitution of the United States? -- Nancy Pelosi, Thursday ~~~

~~~ Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "President Trump declined for a second straight day to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he lost the election, repeating baseless assertions that the voting would be a 'big scam,' even as leading Republicans scrambled to assure the public that their party would respect the Constitution. 'We want to make sure that the election is honest, and I'm not sure that it can be,' Mr. Trump told reporters on Thursday before leaving the White House for North Carolina.... Senator Susan Collins of Maine ... was the rare Republican to refer directly to Mr. Trump as she questioned his actions. 'I don't know what his thinking was, but we have always had a peaceful transition between administrations,' Ms. Collins said.... Chris Edelson, an American University professor who has studied the expansion of presidential power during national emergencies, said Mr. Trump's comments represented a unique threat to a central pillar of democracy. 'It's impossible to underscore how absolutely extraordinary this situation is -- there are really no precedents in our country,' he said. 'This is a president who has threatened to jail his political opponents. Now he is suggesting he would not respect the results of an election. These are serious warning signs.' Douglas Brinkley, the presidential historian, said, 'This may be the most damaging thing he has ever done to American democracy.'" ~~~

~~~ Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Trump reiterated Thursday that he may not honor the results should he lose reelection, reaffirming his extraordinary refusal to commit to a peaceful transition of power and prompting election and law enforcement authorities nationwide to prepare for an unprecedented constitutional crisis.... Trump reaffirmed his views Thursday, saying on Fox News Radio that he would agree with a Supreme Court ruling that [Joe] Biden won the election but that short of a court decision, the vote count would amount to 'a horror show' because of fraudulent ballots. There is no evidence of widespread fraud.... [Trump] said it was imperative to quickly fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg because the nation's high court could determine the winner of the election.... It is unclear how the Supreme Court -- which 20 years ago effectively awarded the presidency to George W. Bush as part of a legal dispute over the vote in Florida -- might rule on a challenge brought by Trump." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ When We Should Believe the Biggest Liar. Chuck Todd, et al., of NBC News argue that we should take Trump at his word that he will fight an orderly transfer of power. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Kevin Liptak of CNN lists "a string of provocative comments by the President openly undermining the electoral process[.]" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Notice how, as Playboy reporter Brian Karem asks the question about the peaceful transfer of power, Trump "signs" an objection to Karem's mask:

Nancy Cook of Politico: "... Donald Trump refuses to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses. But his team is carefully developing plans for that very outcome. One of the most organized and functional parts of the Trump White House these days is a surprising place -- the West Wing office planning a potential presidential transition.... Assistant to the president Chris Liddell ... has met the congressionally mandated deadlines to file two different transition reports in May and August. He is working closely with a career government official who is serving as the federal transition coordinator -- typically the type of worker Trump would label as part of the 'Deep State.' And the Justice Department has already agreed to start pre-processing Biden officials' security clearances just in case he wins, according to people familiar with the planning.... Instead of on-the-fly decisions, staff infighting or governing by instinct -- all hallmarks of Trump's leadership style over the last four years -- transition planning has happened quietly, efficiently and with little public fanfare. The question is whether Liddell can maintain this level of professionalism if and when Trump starts paying more attention to the prospect of leaving office."

Jennifer Steinhauer & Helene Cooper of the New York Times: "... senior leaders at the Pentagon, speaking on the condition of anonymity, acknowledged that they were talking among themselves about what to do if Mr. Trump ... invokes the Insurrection Act [during the transition period] and tries to send troops into the streets, as he repeatedly threatened to do during the protests against police brutality and systemic racism. Both General [Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff,] and Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper opposed the move then, and Mr. Trump backed down. The concerns are not unfounded. The Insurrection Act, a two-century-old law, enables a president to send in active-duty military troops to quell disturbances over the objections of governors. Mr. Trump, who refers to the armed forces as 'my military' and 'my generals,' has lumped them with other supporters like Bikers for Trump, who could offer backup in the face of opposition."

If Republicans lose we will accept the result. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Joe Biden, I will accept that result. -- Lindsey Graham on Fox "News" Thursday ~~~

~~~ Marianne Levine, et al., of Politico: "Congressional Republicans gently pushed back Thursday against ... Donald Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses the November election.... But no one condemned Trump directly by name, and they declined to weigh in on whether it was appropriate for the president to suggest he won't leave office. 'The winner of the November 3rd election will be inaugurated on January 20th,' [tweeted] Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. 'There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.'... 'As we have done for over two centuries we will have a legitimate [and] fair election,' added Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), the chairman of the Intelligence Committee. 'It may take longer than usual to know the outcome, but it will be a valid one. And at noon on Jan 20, 2021 we will peacefully swear in the president.'... House GOP Conference Chair Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), one of the few Republicans willing to publicly rebuke the president, said Thursday that transferring power 'is enshrined in our Constitution and fundamental survival of our Republic' and vowed that American leaders would uphold their oath to the Constitution. Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), a former chair of the House Republicans' campaign arm, echoed her remarks." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This would be more reassuring if we knew how Mitch defines "an orderly transition." It very well could include complicity in Trump's plans to undermine the results. ~~~

~~~ Orion Rummler of Axios: "FBI Director Christopher Wray responded to a question on the security of mail-in voting to the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Thursday by saying that the agency has 'not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on Friday criticized FBI Director Christopher Wray over his testimony to Congress that he has not seen evidence of widespread voter fraud in a major election. 'With all due respect to Director Wray, he has a hard time finding emails in his own FBI let alone figuring out whether there is any kind of voter fraud,' Meadows said on 'CBS This Morning' on Friday.... Meadows' remarks came during an exchange where he defended Trump's refusal to commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses in 2020 as he raised suspicions about mail-in voting.... Meadows' remarks on Wray follow Trump's own criticism of the FBI chief last week. Trump would not offer a vote of confidence in Wray after rebuking his testimony to Congress about foreign election interferenc and domestic terrorism threats in a separate congressional hearing last week." Mrs. McC: Not sure what missing emails Meadows is talking about.

~~~ Cliff Surprises Lemmings. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republicans were left dumbfounded Thursday by President Trump's latest self-engineered controversy, a suggestion there might not be a peaceful transition of power after Election Day, which left his GOP allies on Capitol Hill scrambling for political cover." Mrs. McC: They're "dumbfounded"? How about just "dumb." For more than three years they have been backing, acquitting, & making excuses for a guy who violates the Constitution, shirks his duties & expressly touts his absolute power and "total authority," and they're suddenly surprised he says the only way he might pack his things is if "his" Supreme Court tells him he must?

~~~ Stephen Collinson of CNN: "... Donald Trump's refusal on Wednesday to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power if he loses to Joe Biden in November is leading America towards a dark place during a year of incendiary political tensions. Trump's intransigence, included in his latest assault on perfectly legitimate mail-in ballots on Wednesday, posed a grave threat to the democratic continuum that has underpinned nearly 250 years of republican government.... The President's comments risked not only dealing another blow to an election in which he has been trailing and has incessantly tarnished, but could send a signal to his supporters about how to react if the Democratic nominee prevails in 41 days.... Trump's near simultaneous warning on Wednesday that he thinks the election will end up being decided by the Supreme Court also raises the risk of a constitutional imbroglio likely to be worse than the disputed 2000 election." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Trump Threats Spook Markets. Ben White of Politico: "Wall Street ... investors ... are increasingly nervous about ... a rapid descent into banana republic-style chaos, in which the result is either unclear for months or ... Donald Trump loses but refuses to leave office.... Trump's aggressive chatter now runs the risk of damaging what he sees as one of his greatest achievements: a lofty stock market. The rising uncertainty about a post-Election Day fight is already spurring increasingly aggressive bets on Wall Street for a surge in volatility in the coming weeks.... An unknown election result is increasingly becoming conventional wisdom on Wall Street.... Volatility is already spiking on Wall Street as the potential for an ugly election result grows."

~~~ ** Dan Froomkin of Press Watch: "People who know and care about elections and democracy frantically sounded the alarm on Wednesday as Donald Trump's intention to steal the election became undeniable. But the leaders of our nation's top newsroom weren't listening. The New York Times put its article on Trump refusing to commit to a peaceful transition of power on page A15. The Washington Post story was on A4. Other news organizations underplayed it as well. Despite all the other news, this should have been a screamer headline everywhere. Consider the magnitude of what they ignored on Wednesday.... Trump fully intends the Supreme Court -- not the voters -- to make the call. And that of course is because his campaign strategy is not to win a majority of the votes, just to win enough to be able to toss things to the lawyers. As far as I'm concerned, that remains the major revelation of the day -- even after Trump's mind-blowing and somewhat incoherent refusal to agree to a peaceful transition of power." ~~~

~~~ Woodward Wakes Up. Joe Concha of the Hill: "Journalist Bob Woodward on Thursday said that President Trump declining to engage in a peaceful transition of power if he loses the election would be 'putting a dagger in the Constitution.'... 'We have a president who has forsaken his basic duty to protect the country, to tell the truth and organize and plan, have some theory of the case what is he going to do as president,' Woodward said in an appearance on MSNBC's 'Deadline: White House.' 'Time and time again we know, and I've got more endless examples of this, of him making decisions on impulse, tweeting, driving people crazy who work for him and then they leave or he fires them by tweet and he says the cruelest things.... I think the president in all of the things he's doing here has forsaken a larger duty which is a moral duty to do what's best for the country.... This is a moral failure and a leadership failure. This idea about the election he's predicting and almost wishing for a quadruple trainwreck on November 3rd.'"

U.S. Attorney Aids Trump Campaign. Devlin Barrett of the Washington Post: "The Justice Department alarmed voting-law experts Thursday by announcing an investigation into nine discarded ballots found in northeastern Pennsylvania, a case immediately seized upon by the Trump campaign as evidence of a dark Democratic conspiracy to tamper with the presidential election.... David J. Freed, the U.S. attorney in the Middle District of Pennsylvania, [said] that he was overseeing an investigation into nine discarded military mail-in ballots in Wilkes-Barre area.... Richard L. Hasen, an election law professor at University of California at Irvine, said he could not recall ever seeing such an announcement. 'The Justice Department should not be a political tool, and this is a story that is going to be manipulated by the president to say his votes are being thrown out,' Hasen said. Soon after the U.S. attorney's statement was issued, the Trump campaign cited the case as evidence 'Democrats are trying to steal the election.'" Both Donald Trump & his press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also cited the case. ~~~

     ~~~ A Politico story is here. A New York Times story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Jerry Lambe of Law & Crime: "... Trump touted the findings as 'evidence of a whole big scam' to a gaggle of reporters at the White House...."

If the US Attorney wants to work for a campaign, he’s welcome to do so, just as soon as he resigns. Which should be immediate. -- Justin Levitt, on U.S. Attorney David Freed ~~~

The question of who voters voted for would be immaterial in any kind of tampering investigation, and it seems to be in there for political reasons.... -- Richard Hasen

~~~ Tierney Sneed of TPM: "The U.S. Attorney's office of the Middle District of Pennsylvania issued a bizarre press release Thursday announcing that it was in the midst of an inquiry into 'potential issues' with military ballots cast in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.... Gerry Hebert, a former DOJ official who ... worked in its voting section, said in an email that Thursday's press release was 'inconsistent with DOJ handbook for prosecuting election cases, which generally discourage public statements by DOJ re: ongoing investigations.'... The weirdest detail of all was that, in its initial press release, the DOJ said..., '[a]ll nine ballots were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump.' Within a few hours the press release was taken down and a revised press release issued to clarify that of 'the nine ballots that were discarded and then recovered, 7 were cast for presidential candidate Donald Trump.... Two of the discarded ballots had been resealed ... and the contents of those 2 ballots are unknown.'... Justin Levitt, a Loyola Marymount law professor who served in Obama's DOJ, [said,] '... it's grotesquely improper to announce whom the ballots were cast for, as if that mattered in the investigation.... (Also: was Donald Trump the only candidate identified on those ballots? No other federal or state offices?)'"

Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post: "A senior executive at the U.S. Postal Service delivered a PowerPoint presentation in July that pressed officials across the organization to make the operational changes that led to mail backups across the country, seemingly counter to months of official statements about the origin of the plans.... David E. Williams, the agency's chief of logistics and processing operations, listed the elimination of late and extra mail trips by postal workers as a primary agency goal during the July 10 teleconference.... Several top-tier executives -- including Robert Cintron, vice president of logistics; Angela Curtis, vice president of retail and post office operations; and vice presidents from the agency's seven geographic areas -- sat in. The presentation stands in contrast with agency accounts that lower-tier leaders outside USPS headquarters were mainly responsible for the controversial protocols.... Williams's presentation was among the documents turned over to the office of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) as part of a lawsuit involving six other jurisdictions against DeJoy and the USPS."

Georgia Senatorial Race. Lachlan Markay of the Daily Beast: "A leading congressional ally of ... Donald Trump alleged last week that Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) threatened to withhold financial support for the president's re-election effort unless he helped get her top Republican opponent out of the race. According to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Loeffler or her representatives approached the Trump campaign and offered to spend tens of millions of dollars on Trump's behalf. But that financial support would only come, Loeffler's team supposedly said, if Trump helped convince Rep. Doug Collins (R-GA) to drop his Senate bid. Gaetz supports Collins and was speaking at a campaign event. The post is members-only firewalled, but you can read the first bit of it. The Raw Story has a summary report here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Patricia Murphy & Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Grassroots activists and high-level Democrats called for Matt Lieberman to abandon his U.S. Senate bid Thursday and clear the way for Raphael Warnock as polls show a tight race in the free-for-all contest. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder endorsed Warnock's campaign to challenge U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, urging 'those who care about the direction of Georgia and this nation' to rally behind his bid. Stacey Abrams, arguably Warnock's most influential advocate, said she was deeply disturbed by a Lieberman novel that critics say was shaped by racist tropes, and called for him to 'search his conscience' and make way for Warnock.... And a group of Atlanta Jewish community leaders is preparing to run an ad with the names of more than 300 local Democrats backing Warnock over Lieberman, a former principal of the Atlanta Jewish Academy."

Kentucky Senate Race. Alternet: "Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-KY) re-election campaign is facing scrutiny from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and he is now being required to answer questions regarding suspected accounting errors. The letter and a 60-page report, written by FEC campaign analyst Susan Worthington to McConnell's Senate Committee, were sent to McConnell's campaign treasurer, Larry J. Steinberg on Monday. The committee pointed out 'Apparent Excessive, Prohibited, and Impermissible Contributions' regarding donations recorded in McConnell's July quarterly report that suggests multiple contributions may have exceeded the legal limits." --s

Congressional Races. Michael Isikoff of Yahoo! News: "The ad [against U.S. Rep. Tom Malinowski, a freshman Democrat from New Jersey] couldn't sound more ominous. As darkened images of quiet suburban neighborhoods roll on the screen, a woman's voice delivers a scary message: 'On every street, in every neighborhood, around every corner, sex offenders are living among us.'...[The ad] released by the National Republican Congressional Campaign Committee (NRCC) -- would be considered extreme even by the usual standards of political mudslinging. There is no evidence that Malinowski ... had ever done anything to protect sexual predators.... But to some, the harsh attack ad is part of a nationwide 'QAnon strategy' that the Republican campaign committee appears to be deploying to exploit the fears and paranoia fueled by the bizarre conspiracy cult.... In districts around the country, the NRCC ... has been hitting similar themes, depicting Democratic candidates as secret supporters of sexual abusers of young children. In one Florida district, the group has hammered Democratic candidate Margaret Goods as a protector of 'sex dolls.' It has attacked Jon Hoadley, a gay Democratic congressional candidate in Michigan as a 'pedo sex poet.' In Missouri, it has run ads attacking Democratic candidate Jill Schupp as a defender of letting 'sex offenders on playgrounds.'" --s

Texas. Jeremy Wallace of the Houston Chronicle: "Texas has once again shattered vote registration records, adding more than 1.5 million voters since the last presidential election. Texas now has surpassed 16.6 million voters, according to the latest numbers announced Tuesday by Texas Secretary of State Ruth R. Hughs. And there are still almost two weeks to add more.... In the four previous presidential election cycles, Texas added about 700,000 new voters on average -- less than half as many as have been added this cycle." --s

Texas 2018 Local Race. Scott Brunner & Courtney Stern of the Longview News-Journal: "Gregg County [Texas] Pct. 4 Commissioner Shannon Brown and three others have been arrested in connection to an organized vote-harvesting scheme during the 2018 Democratic primary election, according to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Brown, 49, along with Charlie Burns, 84, and DeWayne Ward, 58, all of Longview, and Marlena Jackson, 50, of Marshall, were booked today into the Gregg County Jail. According to indictments in the case, Brown was charged with 23 felonies[.]... Questions about absentee voting emerged after Brown won the March 2018 Democratic primary against former Longview City Councilwoman Kasha Williams by five votes. Brown's win came after a dead heat in early and Election Day vote totals was broken by his five-vote lead after a count of provisional ballots. Votes for brown numbered 73.4 percent of the absentee mail-in votes."

Chutzpah. Corruption & Racism, Ctd.

Greg Miller of the Washington Post: "In unguarded moments with senior aides, President Trump has maintained that Black Americans have mainly themselves to blame in their struggle for equality, hindered more by lack of initiative than societal impediments, according to current and former U.S. officials. After phone calls with Jewish lawmakers, Trump has muttered that Jews 'are only in it for themselves' and 'stick together' in an ethnic allegiance that exceeds other loyalties, officials said. Trump's private musings about Hispanics match the vitriol he has displayed in public.... Over 3½ years in office, he has presided over a sweeping U.S. government retreat from the front lines of civil rights, endangering decades of progress against voter suppression, housing discrimination and police misconduct. His immigration policies hark back to quota systems of the 1920s that were influenced by the junk science of eugenics, and have involved enforcement practices -- including the separation of small children from their families -- that seemed designed to maximize trauma on Hispanic migrants." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump's stereotyping of Jews would be particularly hilarious if it weren't so dangerous. For Trump to claim that other people are "only in it for themselves" seems to be the height of projection. In fairness to Trump, however, I suppose we could translate that as "They're not in it for me. And they should be."

"Fraud Was a Way of Life." Alan Feuer of the New York Times: "In her best-selling memoir, Mary L. Trump, President Trump's niece, told a family story that detailed the ways in which she claims her relatives -- the president among them -- tricked, bullied and ultimately cheated her out of an inheritance worth tens of millions of dollars. On Thursday, more than two months after the book was published and a little more than one month before the election, Ms. Trump told her story again -- this time in a lawsuit. The suit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, accused Mr. Trump, his sister Maryanne Trump Barry and their brother Robert Trump, who died in August, of fraud and civil conspiracy. It seeks to recover the millions of dollars Ms. Trump claims to have lost. In its first sentence, the lawsuit says that, for the Trumps, 'fraud was not just the family business &-- it was a way of life.' Beginning in the 1980s, the suit contends, the president and his siblings took control of the New York City real estate empire their father, Fred Trump Sr., had built and 'exploited it to enrich themselves' to the detriment of everyone around them." A copy of the complaint, via the Times, is here. It's an entertaining read. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Daily Beast's story is here. A ScribD copy of the complaint, via the Hill, is here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Anybody Having Anything to Do with Trump Is Corrupt. Jamie Ross of the Daily Beast: "Alexander Nix, the man who was running Cambridge Analytica when it harvested the Facebook data of tens of millions voters without their knowledge so it could be exploited by the Trump 2016 campaign, has been banned from directing any companies for seven years. The now-defunct Cambridge Analytica was a U.K. digital black-ops firm that collapsed in 2018 following revelations that it secretly collected Facebook profile information on 87 million people. The Daily Beast revealed two years ago that Team Trump used audience lists created by Cambridge Analytica to target 'dark ads' on Facebook during the final months of the 2016 campaign up to Trump's inauguration. Nix ... was secretly recorded by Britain's Channel 4 blabbing about its work for Trump and effectively claiming that Cambridge Analytica was to thank for Trump becoming president." (Also linked yesterday.)

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Friday are here: Another Grim Milestone: "The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States surpassed seven million on Thursday, according to a New York Times database, although the country is recording fewer new daily cases than it did during the pandemic's midsummer peak." ~~~

~~~ The Washington Post's live updates of coronavirus developments Thursday are here.

Another Ungrammatical Trump Super-lie. I think we're rounding the turn very much. -- Donald Trump, on U.S. progress on management of the coronavirus, September 23 "briefing" ~~~

~~~ Sam Baker & Andrew Witherspoon of Axios: "The coronavirus is surging once again across the U.S., with cases rising in 22 states over the past week.... There isn't one big event or sudden occurrence that explains this increase. We simply have never done a very good job containing the virus, despite losing 200,000 lives in just the past six months, and this is what that persistent failure looks like.... The U.S. is now averaging roughly 43,000 new cases per day, a 16% increase from a week ago." Mrs. McC: Includes a map which shows the virus on the increase mostly in Midwest & Western states; IOW, Trump territory. "Rounding the turn very much"? Uh, very not so much. (Also linked yesterday.)

Erica Werner & Rachel Bade of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi abruptly shifted course Thursday and moved to assemble a new coronavirus relief bill to form the basis for renewed talks with the White House, amid mounting pressure from moderates in her caucus and increasingly alarming economic news. The new legislation would be significantly narrower in scope than the $3.4 trillion Heroes Act the House passed in May.... [Treasury Secretary Steven] Mnuchin reiterated in an appearance before the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that he saw the need for more stimulus and was prepared to resume talks."

Fred Imbert of CNBC: "The number of first-time filers for unemployment benefits were slightly higher than expected last week as the labor market continues its sluggish recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. The Labor Department reported Thursday that initial jobless claims for the week ending Sept. 19 came in at 870,000, adjusted for seasonal fluctuations." (Also linked yesterday.)

Missouri. David Lieb & Jim Salter of the AP: "Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, a Republican who has steadfastly refused to require residents to wear masks, tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said Wednesday. Parson was tested after his wife, Teresa, tested positive earlier in the day. Teresa Parson had experienced mild symptoms, including a cough and nasal congestion, spokeswoman Kelli Jones said. She took a rapid test that came back positive and a nasal swab test later confirmed the finding. The governor's rapid test showed he tested positive and he is still awaiting results from the swab test.... 'Right now I feel fine. No symptoms of any kind,' Parson said in the video. 'But right now we just have to take the quarantine procedures in place.'" (Also linked yesterday.)

Toluse Olorunnipa of the Washington Post: "President Trump capped his fruitless four-year journey to abolish and replace the Affordable Care Act by signing an executive order Thursday that aims to enshrine the law's most popular feature while pivoting away from a broader effort to overhaul the nation's health insurance system. The order declares it is the policy of the United States for people with preexisting health conditions to be protected, avoiding the thorny details of how to ensure such protections without either leaving the ACA, or Obamacare, in place or crafting new comprehensive legislation. Trump announced the move during a trip to North Carolina, outlining his 'vision' for revamping parts of the nation's health care. During the speech, which came shortly before a campaign swing to Florida, Trump barely veiled the political nature of his intent.... The speech and executive order stood as a tacit admission that Trump had failed to keep his 2016 promise to replace his predecessor's signature achievement with a conservative alternative." ~~~

~~~ The Chit Is in the Mail, Granny. MAGA! Lev Facher & Nicholas Florko of STAT: "President Trump on Thursday pledged to send $200 prescription drug coupons to 33 million Medicare beneficiaries 'in the coming weeks,' a political ploy to curry favor with seniors who view drug prices as a priority. Trump's promise ... represents the latest step in his administration's (and his campaign's) efforts to amass health care talking points, even if their actions do little to save Americans money. The administration is getting its authority to ship the coupons from a Medicare demonstration program, a White House spokesman told STAT in a statement. The nearly $7 billion required to send the coupons, he said, would come from savings from Trump's 'most favored nations' drug pricing proposal. That regulation has also not yet been implemented -- meaning the Trump administration is effectively pledging to spend $6.6 billion in savings that do not currently exist. The cards, he said, would be 'actual discount cards for prescription drug copays.'... It is unclear whether Trump's promise ... will come to fruition. Under the Constitution, it is Congress, not the White House, that is empowered to spend taxpayer money.... The New York Times reported this week that Trump officials had tried to convince the pharmaceutical industry to pay for similar cards worth $100. The drug industry refused." ~~~

~~~ Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "In speeches, in tweets, in media interviews, President Trump keeps promising that he will preserve protections for Americans with pre-existing health conditions. It's a crowd-pleaser of a policy, but one entirely at odds with his administration's legislative, regulatory and legal record to date. In the final weeks of the election season, expect to see the words'pre-existing conditions' again and again. Mr. Trump makes the promise so consistently that it is likely to appear in television ads, the presidential debates and possibly in an oft-teased, ever forthcoming executive order on the subject.... But rather than enshrine the ability of Americans with health problems to buy insurance, the Trump administration has, at every turn, pursued policies that have tended to do the opposite."

Mrs. McCrabbie: Contributor unwashed was wondering yesterday why Trump, when "'paying his respects' to RGB..., his ... porcine peepers were slits that barely moved as he blinked." I'd guess the slits were part of his expression of hatred for the real Americans who, while waiting to pay their actual respects to RBG, were chanting "Vote him out!" and "Honor her wish!" ~~~

~~~ Michael Crowley of the New York Times: "President Trump was jeered by protesters on Thursday morning as he paid his respects to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, standing silently by her coffin at the top of the Supreme Court steps as a vigorous chant of 'Vote him out!' erupted on the street below. Wearing a face mask -- unusual for him -- and a blue tie instead of his trademark red power tie, Mr. Trump stared ahead and closed his eyes at times near the justice's flag-draped coffin.... Asked later in the day about the jeering, Mr. Trump said he could 'hardly hear it.'" A CNN story is here.

Julian Borger of the Guardian: "The Trump administration has stopped vital technical assistance to pro-democracy groups in Belarus, Hong Kong and Iran, which had helped activists evade state surveillance and sidestep internet censorship. The Open Technology Fund (OTF) has had to stop all its operations in Belarus, and many of its activities supporting civil society in Hong Kong and Iran, because a congressionally-mandated grant of nearly $20m has been withheld by a new Trump appointee, Michael Pack. The OTF is a small non-profit organisation that develops technologies for evading cyber-surveillance and for circumventing internet and radio blackouts imposed by authoritarian regimes.... [T]he freeze also meant that the populations in those countries will find it harder to listen to the Voice of America, the USAGM's flagship broadcaster, and USAGM-funded stations like Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Radio Free Asia, because it would be more difficult to overcome state jamming methods." --s

Robert McCarthy of the Buffalo News: "Michael R. Caputo, the East Aurora political consultant at the center of controversy over the Trump administration's Covid-19 messaging, has been diagnosed with cancer. Assemblyman David J. DiPietro, R-East Aurora, acting as Caputo's spokesman, said Thursday that the Health and Human Services spokesman on leave from his assistant secretary post has 'squamous cell carcinoma, a metastatic head and neck cancer which originated in his throat.'... Caputo said he entered the National Cancer Institute at the urging of Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, who noticed the lump, and that the president directed arrangements for his admission and had checked on him." (Also linked yesterday.)

** Andrew Chung of Reuters: "Democrats in of the House of Representatives will introduce a bill next week to limit the tenure of U.S. Supreme Court justices to 18 years from current lifetime appointments, in a bid to reduce partisan warring over vacancies and preserve the court's legitimacy. The new bill, seen by Reuters, would allow every president to nominate two justices per four-year term and comes amid heightened political tensions as Republican ... Donald Trump prepares to announce his third pick for the Supreme Court after the death on Sept. 18 of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, with just 40 days to go until the Nov. 3 election.... The bill seeks to avoid constitutional concerns by exempting current justices from the 18-year rule."

Mike Schneider of the AP: "A federal judge has stopped the 2020 census from finishing at the end of September and ordered the once-a-decade head count of every U.S. resident to continue for another month through the end of October, saying a shortened schedule likely would produce inaccurate results. U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in California made her ruling late Thursday, two days after hearing arguments from attorneys for the Census Bureau, and attorneys for civil rights groups and local governments that had sued the Census Bureau in an effort to halt the 2020 census from stopping at the end of the month. Attorneys for the civil rights groups and local governments said the shortened schedule would undercount residents in minority and hard-to-count communities. Koh said inaccuracies produced from a shortened schedule would affect the distribution of federal funding and political representation. The census is used to determine how $1.5 trillion in federal spending is distributed each year and how many congressional seats each state gets." A New York Times story is here.

Emma Austin & Lewis Aulbach of the Louisville Courier Journal: "Louisville police arrested 127 people during Wednesday protests following the announcement that just one of three Louisville Metro Police officers who fired shots in Breonna Taylor's apartment will be criminally charged, and one suspect was arrested after LMPD officials said two officers were shot that night.... Police arrested one suspect in connection with the shooting that injured two police officers. Both victims were taken to the hospital and in stable condition, acting chief Robert Schroeder said Wednesday night. The suspect in that shooting was identified Thursday morning as Larynzo Johnson, of Louisville." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: According to an attorney for Breonna Taylor, speaking on CNN, the one police officer indicted by the Kentucky grand jury in the case was indicted for blinding shooting up the apartment of a white family. How about that?

Beyond the Beltway

Bob Brigham of RawStory: "Authorities in California on Thursday announced that one man was dead after a shootout with law enforcement. 'A white supremacist gang member was killed in a gun battle with law enforcement after he ambushed and shot a deputy pursuing him Thursday near the Templeton Cemetery, Sheriff Ian Parkinson said at a news conference,' The [San Luis Obispo] Tribune reported Thursday." --s