The Commentariat -- October 1, 2020

Afternoon Update:

Jeff Cox of CNBC: "First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 837,000 last week, the Labor Department said Thursday as the jobs market continues its plodding recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.... The weekly total represented a decline of 36,000 from the previous week’s upwardly revised 870,000, according to seasonally adjusted numbers."

Quint Forgey of Politico: "Former national security adviser H.R. McMaster said Thursday that ... Donald Trump is 'aiding and abetting' Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to sow doubt about the American electoral system. The stern warning from McMaster, who Trump handpicked to lead the White House National Security Council in 2017, came in an interview on MSNB.... McMaster's remarks Thursday represent perhaps his harshest public criticism of the president since he was ousted from the White House in 2018."

Jack Stubbs of Reuters: "The Russian group accused of meddling in the 2016 U.S. election has posed as an independent news outlet to target right-wing social media users ahead of this year's vote, two people familiar with an FBI probe into the activity told Reuters. The latest operation centred around a pseudo media organisation called the Newsroom for American and European Based Citizens (NAEBC), which was run by people associated with the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency, the sources said."

Julia Ainsley of NBC News: "Federal law enforcement officials were directed to make public comments sympathetic to Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager charged with fatally shooting two protesters in Kenosha, Wisconsin, according to internal Department of Homeland Security talking points obtained by NBC News. In preparing Homeland Security officials for questions about Rittenhouse from the media, the document suggests that they note that he 'took his rifle to the scene of the rioting to help defend small business owners.' Another set of talking points ... said the media were incorrectly labeling the group Patriot Prayer as racists after clashes erupted between the group and protesters in Portland, Oregon. It is unclear whether any of the talking points originated at the White House or within Homeland Security's own press office.... Despite the talking points, Homeland Security officials have not gone as far to support Rittenhouse."

Stef Kight of Axios: "The Trump administration plans to only admit a maximum of 15,000 refugees this fiscal year, the State Department said in a release late Wednesday evening.... This is yet another record-low refugee cap. Before leaving office, President Obama set the refugee limit at 110,000 for fiscal year 2017 -- a number Trump has continued to slash throughout his presidency."

Joby Warren & Simon Denyer of the Washington Post: As Kim Jong Un sent love letters to Donald Trump, "at six of the country's missile bases..., workers dug a maze of new tunnels and bunkers, allowing North Korea to move weapons around.... Southeast of the capital, meanwhile, new buildings sprouted across an industrial complex that was processing uranium for as many as 15 new bombs, according to current and former U.S. and South Korean officials, as well as a report by a United Nations panel of experts. The new work reflects a continuation of a pattern observed by analysts since the first summit between Trump and Kim in 2018. While North Korea has refrained from carrying out provocative tests of its most advanced weapon systems, it never stopped working on them, U.S. intelligence officials said. Indeed, new evidence suggests that Kim took advantage of the lull by improving his ability to hide his most powerful weapons and shield them from future attacks." Mrs. McC: No one is surprised, except maybe Donald.

Michael Chapman of the Raw Story: "On Monday, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) told CNBC that there was no question the Republican Party was going to take care of people with pre-existing health conditions if the Supreme Court invalidates the Affordable Care Act. 'Every Republican agrees we're going to protect pre-existing conditions,' said Cruz. '100 out of 100 senators agree we're going to protect pre-existing conditions regardless of what happens with Obamacare.' Just two days later, he moved to block a Senate amendment sponsored by a colleague, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), that would do exactly that.:

Breaking Up Is Hard to Do. Stephen Castle & Steven Erlanger of the New York Times: "The European Commission announced on Thursday that it was pressing ahead with legal action against Britain over Brexit legislation that the government in London has said would permit it to break international law. The commission, the European Union's administrative arm, gave Britain an ultimatum last month, threatening to take it to court unless it dropped plans to override parts of an agreement on withdrawal from the bloc that Prime Minister Boris Johnson struck last year. With the deadline having expired, the commission said in a statement that it had sent the British government 'a letter of formal notice for breaching its obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement.' Britain has 30 days to respond and any legal action could take months to unfold. That gives the two sides the opportunity to resolve their standoff if they can strike a deal in wider Brexit talks on a trade agreement."

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Thanks to a reader for the artwork.Presidential Race, Etc.

Nancy Cook & Matthew Choi of Politico: "A day after fighting for attention in a nearly audience-free debate..., Donald Trump on Wednesday returned to his safe space: an adoring crowd of hundreds who were happy to declare him the winner. Trump visited Minnesota less than 24 hours after the first debate for a fundraiser outside of Minneapolis, followed by a campaign rally in Duluth at an airport hangar."

Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: The banner headline on Wednesday night & Thursday morning's New York Times online edition is, "Republicans Distance Themselves After Trump Fails to Condemn White Supremacy." ~~~

~~~ Alexander Burns, et al.: "President Trump's refusal to condemn an extremist right-wing group [the Proud Boys] in his first debate with Joseph R. Biden Jr. sent a shudder through the Republican Party..., as prominent lawmakers expressed unease about Mr. Trump's conduct amid mounting fears that it could damage the party on Election Day.... On Wednesday, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader, called it 'unacceptable not to condemn white supremacists,' without criticizing Mr. Trump by name, while Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said the president should 'make it clear Proud Boys is a racist organization antithetical to American ideals.'... Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of two Black Republicans in Congress, suggested that perhaps Mr. Trump 'misspoke' and urged him to fix his error. But Mr. Scott also allowed, 'If he doesn't correct it, I guess he didn't misspeak.' Mr. Trump, in a brief encounter with reporters Wednesday afternoon, tried to contain the damage while stopping well short of a full reversal of his stance. Reprising a ploy familiar from past controversies, Mr. Trump insisted he did not know anything about the [Proud Boys], though he made no suggestion to that effect during the debate. 'I don't know who the Proud Boys are,' Mr. Trump said. '... I can only say they have to stand down, let law enforcement do their work.'... But the president once again quickly added that left-wing violence was 'the real problem' [after he had] falsely accused former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. of refusing to say the words 'law enforcement' during Tuesday night's presidential debate.... When Mr. Biden pointed out that Mr. Trump's own F.B.I. director, Christopher A. Wray, had said that antifa was an idea, not an organization, the president replied, 'Oh, you've got to be kidding.' (Mr. Wray also said this month that 'racially motivated violent extremism,' mostly from white supremacists, had made up a majority of domestic terrorism threats.)" An Axios report is here. A Politico report is here. ~~~

~~~ Robert Costa & Matt Viser of the Washington Post: "The aftermath of the first presidential debate ... triggered a reckoning among Republicans on Wednesday about the incumbent's incendiary remarks on white supremacy and his baseless claims of electoral fraud, with GOP officials privately expressing alarm about the fallout with key voters as the president's allies argued that he electrified his core supporters.... But few Republicans voiced outrage in the wake of Trump's norm-shattering spectacle in Cleveland on Tuesday.... Responses ranged from silence to muted criticism, reflecting how the GOP remains convinced that an alliance with Trump and his voters is crucial for their survival. But hewing too close to him is also seen as a mistake by some Republicans...."~~~

~~~ Gabby Orr of Politico: "... Donald Trump spent his first 2020 presidential debate heckling his opponent at every turn. His supporters are hoping he got it out of his system -- for good. Trump aides and allies saw Tuesday night's event, a 90-minute schoolyard brawl featuring incessant interruptions from the incumbent Republican and pleas from his Democratic opponent to quit the 'yapping,' as an avoidable tragedy in the president's quest for reelection.... The cast of 'Fox & Friends,' a Fox News morning show Trump watches religiously, on Wednesday morning aired a rare segment in which several conservatives close to the Trump campaign also grumbled about the president's debate performance.... Following the debate, Trump lit up his Twitter feed with retweets of people who praised his combative style and suggested in a Wednesday afternoon tweet that the disorder that ensued the previous night had nothing to do with his conduct. 'Try getting a new Anchor and a smarter Democrat candidate!' Trump tweeted...."

"Bad Things Happen in Philadelphia." Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "The group of Trump campaign officials came carrying cellphone cameras and a determination to help the president's re-election efforts in Philadelphia. But they were asked to leave the city's newly opened satellite election offices on Tuesday after being told local election laws did not permit them to monitor voters coming to request and complete absentee ballots. On social media, right-wing news sites and in the presidential debate on Tuesday night, President Trump and his campaign quickly suggested nefarious intent in the actions of local election officials, with the president claiming during the debate that 'bad things happen in Philadelphia' and urging his supporters everywhere to 'go into the polls and watch very carefully.' The dark and baseless descriptions of the voting process in Philadelphia were the latest broad-brush attempt by the Trump campaign to undermine confidence in this year's election, a message delivered with an ominous edge at the debate when he advised an extremist group, the Proud Boys, to 'stand back and stand by' in his remarks about the election. The sinister insinuations and calls for his followers to monitor voting activity are clear.... Voting rights groups fear that effort could veer toward voter intimidation."

John Verhovek & Molly Nagle of ABC News: "After a raucous and chaotic first presidential debate, former Vice President Joe Biden is embarking on a roughly 200-mile whistle stop train tour on Wednesday through the battleground states of Ohio and Pennsylvania, pushing his economic agenda while hoping to appeal to voters that have strayed from the Democratic Party in recent years.... The Democratic nominee, long-known for his affinity for Amtrak, briefly commented on last night's debate.... 'Last night's debate, and this election, it's supposed to be about ... you and all the people I grew up with in Scranton, and people in Youngstown and Claymont, Delaware, and all the people who make a difference,' Biden said standing outside at a socially-distanced event just feet away from his newly-minted campaign train. 'Does your president understand at all what you're going through? What so many other people are going through? The question is does he see you where you are and where you want to be? Does he care?' Biden asked rhetorically." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Katie Glueck & Thomas Kaplan of the New York Times: "A day after a staggeringly contentious presidential debate, Joseph R. Biden Jr. sought again to put President Trump on the defensive on Wednesday by casting his opponent as a callous plutocrat who abandoned the working Americans who elected him. In his most vigorous day of campaigning in months, Mr. Biden embarked on an old-fashioned train tour to directly appeal to the blue-collar white Americans who powered Mr. Trump's victories in the Midwest in 2016."

Quint Forgery of Politico: "The Commission on Presidential Debates announced on Wednesday that the prior night's face-off between ... Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden showed the need for 'additional structure' to the format 'to ensure a more orderly discussion.' It added that it would announce the new measures shortly, while also commending Chris Wallace of Fox News for his 'professionalism' moderating the Tuesday night debate." This story has been expanded since linked Wednesday afternoon.

Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Chris Wallace ... [called Tuesday's 'debate'] 'a terrible missed opportunity.... I never dreamt that it would go off the tracks the way it did.'... Recalling his thoughts as he sat onstage in the Cleveland hall, with tens of millions of Americans watching live, Mr. Wallace said: 'I'm a pro. I've never been through anything like this.'... Mr. Wallace said, in conclusion[,] 'I'm just disappointed with the results. For me, but much more importantly, I'm disappointed for the country, because it could have been a much more useful evening than it turned out to be.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: A lot of pundits have blamed Wallace for not better controlling the debate proceedings, but -- other than trying to put the brakes on Trump from the get-go instead of waiting until Trump had repeatedly shouted over Biden -- there was not a lot more he could have done under the rules the candidates had negotiated. I suppose he might have dug into his memories of rearing children & recalled that if you give a bratty kid an inch, he'll take a mile.

New York Times Upshot: Three "instapolls" peg Biden as winning the debate. "CNN found that Mr. Biden decisively won the debate, 60 percent to 28 percent, while CBS News and an early cut from a Data for Progress poll found far closer seven- and 12-point leads for Mr. Biden.... A closer look [at these polls] ... raises the possibility of good news for Mr. Biden. His favorability rating improved by a net four percentage points, compared with how the same respondents answered before the debate. The president's rating declined by a net four points.... Historically, the winner of these polls tends to gain in the real polls over the next week.... It's hard to say anyone clearly won the debate last night, and that's a win for Mr. Biden. He was the front-runner heading into the debate, and it was the president who needed a win to try to narrow the race." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

From the New York Times' live coronavirus updates Wednesday (also linked under Trumpidemic below): "Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the leading U.S. official on infectious diseases, hit back at President Trump on Wednesday for what he called the misrepresentation of his stance on using masks to curb the coronavirus. In the presidential debate on Tuesday, Mr. Trump claimed that Dr. Fauci initially said 'masks are not good -- then he changed his mind.' And when former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said wearing masks could save tens of thousands of lives, Mr. Trump contended that 'Dr. Fauci said the opposite.'... 'Anybody who has been listening to me over the last several months knows that a conversation does not go by where I do not strongly recommend that people wear masks,' he said in an interview on ABC News's 'Start Here' podcast.... Dr. Fauci explained that 'very early on in the pandemic,' the authorities did not recommend masks to the general public because they were worried about shortages and hoarding. But that changed, he said, as it became clear that asymptomatic transmission was spreading the virus and that masks helped stop it. 'I have been on the airways, on the radio, on TV, begging people to wear masks,' Dr. Fauci said." ~~~

~~~ Tim Elfrink of the Washington Post: "As President Trump argued during Tuesday night's debate that vast numbers of law enforcement officials are supporting his campaign, he began listing the locations of his alleged police backers. 'I have Florida, I have Texas, I have Ohio,' he said. 'Excuse me, Portland, the sheriff there just came out today and said, "I support President Trump."'... Multnomah County [includes Portland] Sheriff Mike Reese quickly took to Twitter on Tuesday night to forcefully deny any affinity for the president. 'In tonight's presidential debate the President said the 'Portland Sheriff' supports him. As the Multnomah County Sheriff I have never supported Donald Trump and will never support him,' Reese tweeted. In fact, as Trump has seized on unrest in Portland as a campaign issue and sent federal agents to the city for weeks of violent standoffs with protesters, Reese has regularly criticized the president's handling of the situation." (Also linked yesterday.)

David Sanger of the New York Times: "President Trump's angry insistence in the last minutes of Tuesday's debate that there was no way the presidential election could be conducted without fraud amounted to an extraordinary declaration by a sitting American president that he would try to throw any outcome into the courts, Congress or the streets if he was not re-elected.... They were a stark reminder that the most direct threat to the electoral process now comes from the president of the United States himself. Mr. Trump's unwillingness to say he would abide by the result, and his disinformation campaign about the integrity of the American electoral system, went beyond anything President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia could have imagined. All Mr. Putin has to do now is amplify the president's message, which he has already begun to do. Everything Mr. Trump said in his face-off with Joseph R. Biden Jr. ... he had already delivered in recent weeks, in tweets and at rallies with his faithful. But he had never before put it all together in front of such a large audience as he did on Tuesday night.... Encouraging his supporters to 'go into the polls' and 'watch very carefully' ... seemed to be code words for a campaign of voter intimidation, aimed at those who brave the coronavirus risks of voting in person." Emphasis added.

Mrs. McCrabbie: Two things: I don't think this contrast has received enough attention: Joe Biden looked at the camera Tuesday night & told voters the election was in their hands. That does not sound especially enlightening; after all, that's what we expect, isn't it? Donald Trump said just the opposite: that he would not accept election results he considered "rigged" -- i.e., results that go against him; that he would rely on "supporters" to make sure the election wasn't "rigged" -- i.e., by people voting against him; and that he would further rely on "his judges" to decide the election -- i.e., not the voters. The other thing is something we all know -- that Trump needs to hang onto his job to avoid paying his debts, including taxes, & to stay out of jail -- but David Plouffe put it succinctly: "He sees the White House as his safe house."

Washington Post Editors: “THE FIRST debate between President Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, on Tuesday night at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University, was a disgrace. But it was not without value. Voters learned that the president cannot bring himself to condemn white-supremicist groups or admit that human activity is the primary driver of climate change or unambiguously tell people to wear masks. Americans learned that Mr. Trump's health-care plans crumble at even the slightest scrutiny. People learned that he believes he has done a phenomenal' job on the novel coronavirus and that the country should not expect any better from him on protecting public health. The nation learned -- or relearned -- that Mr. Trump has no positive case for reelection, let alone a vision of where to take the country in the next four years. When he was not hurling insults at Mr. Biden, he tried to take credit for an economy he did not build or to allege that Mr. Biden would destroy the suburbs. And voters learned ... that Mr. Trump has nothing but contempt for the values and norms that are essential to democracy: among them, truth, civility and respectful disagreement." ~~~

~~~ New York Times Editors: "President Trump's performance on the debate stage was a national disgrace.... The debate featured one politician trying his best to do his job, trying to bring some normalcy to America's battered public square, and one politician who seemed incapable of self-control -- petulant, self-centered, rageful. After five years of conditioning, the president's ceaseless lies, insults and abuse were no less breathtaking to behold. Mr. Trump doesn't care if you think he's corrupt, incompetent and self-centered. He just wants you to think everyone else is just as bad, and that he's the only one brave enough to tell it to you straight. It is an effort to dull Americans' sense of right and wrong, making them question reality itself and, eventually, driving them to tune out. Yet there was a new sense of desperation in Mr. Trump's performance."

It is remarkable, but not at all accidental, that a narrative built from minor incidents, gross exaggeration and outright fabrication is now at the center of the effort to re-elect the president. -- Jim Rutenberg, NYT Magazine report ~~~

~~~ The Trump GOP's Long-Running Disenfranchisement Campaign. Jim Rutenberg in a New York Times Magazine feature: In 2016, Republican officials launched investigations & brought largely false charges in several states against voter registration efforts backed by Democratic-friendly groups. Their efforts generated headlines. "... all those headlines about voter fraud -- amplified daily on Facebook and Twitter -- ... laid the groundwork for a legal challenge. The Trump campaign had a team of election lawyers standing by to dispute election results throughout the country, and the Republican National Lawyers Association had readied a self-described 'Navy SEAL-type' operation to fight similar cases. In the event of a Republican loss, they would need a story, and fraud was it. The truth appeared to be a secondary concern at best.... As the 2020 presidential election nears, it is becoming clear that the Trump administration and the Republican Party are not just looking at but heavily investing in the largely nonexistent problem of voter fraud. A New York Times Magazine investigation, based on a review of thousands of pages of court records and interviews with more than 100 key players -- lawyers, activists and current and former government officials -- found an extensive effort to gain partisan advantage by aggressively promoting the false claim that voter fraud is a pervasive problem. The effort takes its most prominent form in the president's own public statements, which relentlessly promote the false notion that voter fraud is rampant." A long piece. ~~~

     ~~~ ** For a much shorter version, Daniel Victor of the NYT writes a report on the report.

Michael Scherer & Lena Sun of the Washington Post: "President Trump has scheduled large campaign rallies this weekend in Wisconsin despite recommendations from the White House Coronavirus Task Force that call for increasing social distancing in the state 'to the maximal degree possible.' The task force has further flagged La Crosse and Green Bay, the metropolitan areas where Trump plans to gather thousands of supporters Saturday, as coronavirus 'red zones,' the highest level of concern for community spread of the virus, according to a report from the group released Sunday and obtained by The Washington Post. Wisconsin is listed in the document as the state with the third-highest rate of new cases in the country, with 243 new cases per 100,000 people over the previous week, about 2.6 times greater than the national average. Ahead of Trump's scheduled rally in Green Bay, the Bellin Health System said Tuesday that its hospital in that city is at 94 percent capacity as covid-19 continues to spike in the community." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Should be a big boost to Trump's poll ratings on the "cares about me" question.

Seaborn Larson of the Helena (Montana) Independent Record: "Former Montana governor and Republican National Committee Chair Marc Racicot on Tuesday said he would not vote for ... Donald Trump, citing Trump's character as fault enough to vote for Democrat challenger Joe Biden on Nov. 3.... Racicot is not the only Montana Republican to reject the Trump-bearing GOP. In July, former Secretary of State and state Senate President Bob Brown penned a guest column in the Missoulian, his own 'Declaration of independence from the Republican Party.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Meant to link a story this last week. Arlette Saenz, et al., of CNN: "Tom Ridge, the former Department of Homeland Security secretary during the George W. Bush administration, endorsed Joe Biden in an op-ed published Sunday in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Ridge's backing of the former vice president is the latest among a broad list of prominent Republican endorsements for Biden. Ridge, a former GOP governor of Pennsylvania, wrote in the Philadelphia Inquirer he considers it 'a point of personal pride; to be counted among the first Republicans to reject ... Donald Trump, referencing a 2015 NBC News interview where he called Trump an 'embarrassment to the party' and country." Mrs. McC: I suppose it would be wrong if I wrote that Ridge will always be "Duct Tape Tom" to me. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

** New Jersey Congressional Race. GOP Mainstreams QAnon-Crazy, Death Threats Against Democrat Follow. Catie Edmondson of the New York Times: "Representative Tom Malinowski, Democrat of New Jersey, is facing down death threats from QAnon supporters after the House Republicans' campaign arm falsely accused him of lobbying to protect sexual predators. QAnon supporters began targeting Mr. Malinowski, a first-term congressman, on Tuesday, after he led a bipartisan resolution condemning the movement, which spreads a baseless conspiracy theory that President Trump is battling a cabal of Democratic pedophiles. QAnon believers seized on an advertisement released last month by the campaign arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee, that falsely claimed that Mr. Malinowski, then a lobbyist for Human Rights Watch, worked to block a provision in a 2006 crime bill that would have expanded registration requirements for sex offenders.... 'We've been warning the Republicans running this play for at least the last two or three weeks that they were playing with fire,' he said. 'Now the match has been lit.'" The BuzzFeed News story is here.

Alex Isenstadt & Gary Fineout of Politico: "Brad Parscale, a senior adviser to Donald Trump's campaign who was involuntarily detained by police this weekend, said he is stepping away from the reelection effort and seeking help for what he called 'overwhelming stress' on him and his family. In a statement provided to Politico on Wednesday, Parscale's wife, Candice, also denied that Parscale physically abused her, despite a police report in which said she told authorities the contrary.... Police also said they spotted 'larged sized contusions' on Candice Parscale's arms, cheek, and forehead.... In its request to the court that the guns [in Parscale's arsenal be taken] be taken, police said 'further investigation has revealed that Mr. Parscale's drinking and violent behavior increased shortly after he was demoted at his employment.'"

Trump: "Hey, I'm Feeding You Starving Losers." Helena Evich of Politico: "The Agriculture Department last week began mandating that millions of boxes of surplus food for needy families include a letter from ... Donald Trump claiming credit for the program. The USDA's $4 billion Families to Farmers Food Box Program has distributed more than 100 million boxes to those in need since May, with the aim of redirecting meat, dairy and produce that might normally go to restaurants and other food-service businesses. But organizations handing out the aid complain the program is now being used to bolster Trump's image a month before a high-stakes election -- and some even have refused to distribute them. In my 30 years of doing this work, I've never seen something this egregious,' said Lisa Hamler-Fugitt, executive director of the Ohio Association of Food Banks. 'These are federally purchased boxes.'" Mrs. McC: Trump, of course, did nothing to negotiate the Congressional morass that brought about this legislation; if anyone's letter should go in the boxes -- and it shouldn't, since taxpayers are the "giftors" -- it's Nancy Pelosi's.

Vatican Goes Old Testament on Pompeo, Takes an Eye for an Eye. Jason Horowitz & Lara Jakes of the New York Times: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently published a sharp letter excoriating the Vatican's plans to renew an agreement with the Chinese government on Church operations in China. He promoted the article in a tweet, concluding, 'The Vatican endangers its moral authority, should it renew the deal.' An indignant Vatican took the article more as a calculated affront than a diplomatic gesture. The friction broke into the open on Wednesday as Mr. Pompeo arrived in Rome and met with prelates and others who are hostile to Pope Francis, while the Vatican denied him a meeting with the pontiff and rebuffed his efforts to derail the deal with China." Politico's story is here: It more strongly suggests that Francis himself, rather than "the Vatican," was behind the Pompeo snub.

Battle of the Self-Righteous Phonies. Nicholas Fandos & Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: "The former F.B.I. director James B. Comey testified on Wednesday before a Republican-led Senate committee seeking to discredit the investigation he opened during the 2016 election into ties between Donald J. Trump's campaign and Russia.... Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee were eager to portray President Trump as a victim of a politically motivated smear by the F.B.I. that unfairly cast a shadow over his presidency. And they contended that Mr. Comey was the ringleader. Mr. Comey strongly defended the F.B.I.'s handling of the investigation, including his decision to open it. But he acknowledged, as he has before, that his initial claims were wrong that a wiretap of a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page, was properly handled and conceded that the bureau had been sloppy on that aspect of the broader inquiry. He testified by video from his home." The Washington Post's report is here. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Olivia Beavers of the Hill: "Former FBI Director James Comey on Wednesday warned that government officials with significant personal debt could pose a risk to national security. Comey, who was responding to a question about President Trump's finances during congressional testimony, said personal debt is a serious consideration when granting security clearances because it could be leveraged by a foreign foe. 'A person's financial situation could make them vulnerable to coercion by an adversary and allow an adversar to do what we try to do to foreign government officials we find are indebted, which is to try to recruit them to our side,' Comey told Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.).... 'I don't know whether the Russians have something over President Trump, but it is difficult to explain his conduct, his statements in any other way, especially as a refusal to criticize [Russian President] Vladimir Putin. So it raises significant questions and obviously the question is only deepened by disclosure, if it is true, of significant indebtedness,' Comey said." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

~~~ Kyle Cheney & Andrew Desiderio of Politico: "Former FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday that the Justice Department's attempt to drop the prosecution of Michael Flynn is 'deeply concerning,' suggesting ... Donald Trump's former national security adviser is receiving special treatment and key pieces of evidence have been misrepresented. 'It's deeply concerning because this guy is getting treated in a way that nobody's been treated before,' Comey said during public testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee.... Comey also questioned Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe's decision to release a Russian intelligence assessment stating that Hillary Clinton tried to pin Russia's 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee on Trump. Specifically, Ratcliffe wrote that Comey was briefed on that assessment.... 'That doesn't ring any bells with me,' Comey said, adding that he had 'trouble understanding' Ratcliffe's letter." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Harper Neidig of the Hill: "A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Department of Justice (DOJ) to publish information redacted from the Mueller report that had been designated as privileged. District Judge Reggie Walton said the Trump administration had failed to justify certain redactions from the report on the special counsel's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The specific redactions he took issue with cover the decisionmaking process within former special counsel Robert Mueller's team over whether to charge certain people with crimes during the probe." ~~~

~~~ Mueller: Can't Dish It Out; Can't Take It. Matt Zapotosky of the Washington Post (Sept. 29): "Former special counsel Robert S. Mueller III pushed back Tuesday against a prosecutor in his office who says in a tell-all book that investigators should have done more to hold President Trump accountable, suggesting that the account is 'based on incomplete information' and asserting that he stands by his decisions in the case. The rare public statement from Mueller came on the day Andrew Weissmann ... released a book alleging that the group did not fully investigate Trump's financial ties and should have stated explicitly that it believed he obstructed justice." Mrs. McC: Mueller harks back to the day when it was quite all right to go after common criminals but "bad form" to look under the covers of most white-collar, white-necked elites, which apparently includes any lowlife who sits in the Oval Office.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

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

Sheila Kaplan of the New York Times: "The White House has blocked a new order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to keep cruise ships docked until mid-February, a step that would have displeased the politically powerful tourism industry in the crucial swing state of Florida. The current 'no sail' policy, which was originally put in place in April and later extended, is set to expire on Wednesday. Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., had recommended the extension, worried that cruise ships could become viral hot spots, as they did at the beginning of the pandemic. But at a meeting of the coronavirus task force on Tuesday, Dr. Redfield's plan was overruled, according to a senior federal health official who was not authorized to comment and so spoke on condition of anonymity. The administration will instead allow the ships to sail after Oct. 31, the date the industry had already agreed to in its own, voluntary plan. The rejection of the C.D.C.'s plan was first reported by Axios." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)

Trump's "Infodemic." Sheryl Stolberg & Noah Weiland of the New York Times: "Of the flood of misinformation, conspiracy theories and falsehoods seeding the internet on the coronavirus, one common thread stands out: President Trump. That is the conclusion of researchers at Cornell University who analyzed 38 million articles about the pandemic in English-languag media around the world. Mentions of Mr. Trump made up nearly 38 percent of the overall 'misinformation conversation,' making the president the largest driver of the 'infodemic' -- falsehoods involving the pandemic. The study, to be released Thursday, is the first comprehensive examination of coronavirus misinformation in traditional and online media."

Oops, Moderna Tells the Truth (in Perhaps a Best-Case Scenario). Jacob Knutson of Axios: "Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said Wednesday that his company's coronavirus vaccine won't be available for widespread distribution until at least spring 2021, according to Financial Times.... Bancel told FT that the drugmaker will not seek emergency authorization for Food and Drug Administration approval for its vaccine to use in frontline medical workers and at-risk individuals until Nov. 25 at the earliest. He added the company would not seek FDA approval for use in the general population until late January. If the vaccine is proven safe and effective, approval is unlikely to come until at least late March or early April." ~~~

~~~ Marisa Taylor & Dan Levine of Reuters: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has broadened its investigation of a serious illness in AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine study and will look at data from earlier trials of similar vaccines developed by the same scientists, three sources familiar with the details told Reuters. AstraZeneca's large, late-stage U.S. trial has remained on hold since Sept. 6, after a study participant in Britain fell ill with what was believed to be a rare spinal inflammatory disorder called transverse myelitis. The widened scope of the FDA probe raises the likelihood of additional delays for what has been one of the most advanced COVID-19 vaccine candidates in development."

Chris Isadore & Pete Muntean of CNN: "Time has run out for 32,000 airline employees at American and United. American Airlines ... CEO Doug Parker said late Wednesday that the airline has no choice but to cut 19,000 jobs after attempts to get more federal money failed. United Airlines ... CEO Scott Kirby said the decision to cut 13,000 jobs marked 'a very sad day for all of us here at United.' Earlier in the day, Parker told CNN he still hoped that the job cuts might be avoided if the airline saw signs that Congress and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin would be able to reach a deal. They were considering a multi-trillion dollar stimulus package that would include $25 billion in help for the nation's airlines. But sources told CNN that an agreement needs more time to win the support it needs to pass."

Caitlin Emma of Politico: "The Senate on Wednesday passed a stopgap spending bill to avert a government shutdown, preventing an unlikely but potentially disastrous scenario that would kneecap federal agencies in the weeks before the presidential election. The Senate cleared the continuing resolution — which would extend about $1.4 trillion in government funding until Dec. 11 -- in a bipartisan 84-10 vote.... The stopgap spending bill came together last week after [Nancy] Pelosi and [Steve] Mnuchin carved out a compromise over trade relief for farmers requested by the White House, which Democrats originally opposed. In exchange, Democrats secured about $8 billion in pandemic-related nutrition assistance." Mrs. McC: I guess we have to assume that the House previously passed an identical bill; Emma doesn't say. It does say Trump may miss the deadline for signing the bill before the end of the fiscal year, as he's busy campaigning in Minnesota. And don't you love the way Democrats' "demands" are about things like saving starving children, while Republicans' demands are for tax breaks for their contributors?

Marisa Iati, et al., of the Washington Post: "The Kentucky attorney general will have two additional days to release audio from the proceedings of the grand jury that considered charges in the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor, a judge ruled Wednesday. Attorney General Daniel Cameron's office requested a week-long extension after Jefferson County Circuit Judge Ann Bailey Smith ordered that his office file a recording with the court by noon Wednesday. Cameron (R) cited a need to protect witnesses by redacting personal information from the audio, which his spokeswoman said is more than 20 hours long. Smith ruled that the attorney general's office could have until noon Friday to upload the recording, Cameron spokeswoman Elizabeth Kuhn said."

Comments

[Ken Winkes]

Since I missed the great debate, and it sounds as if many here didn't make it all to the end, checked out a few articles here and there on the audience responses to it and found this on "Vox:"

Kinda liked the numbers, whatever they really mean, so am passing it on.

https://www.vox.com/2020/9/30/21495284/data-for-progress-debate-poll

Maybe the Pretender act has really run its course.

[PD Pepe]

Chris Mathias, ace reporter for Huff-Po, finds his way into rural Pennsylvania's Trump territory and joins the hundreds of devotees to watch the debate. Interviewing some afterwards reads like the expected script of lovers of the president but it's still stunning to try and digest. If we have already concluded that nothing Trump does would sway their devotion, it's pretty clear here that assessment stands.

Example: Yvonne Low, 35, laid off from her job at the beginning of the pandemic.

"I don't give two shits about anybody's taxes other than my own but even then, I don't want to pay taxes––nobody wants to pay taxes."

Others applauded Trump's performance, even the Proud Boys got cheers. I'm continually fascinated by these "folks" whose reasoning is so flawed but their devotion is so steadfast. I wished Chris would have asked them the reason why we HAVE taxes.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-supporters-debate-watch-party-pennsylvania-lititz-pence_n_5f748344c5b6d698bb2691d6

[Akhilleus]

PD,

On one hand I’d like to say that these people have nowhere else to go. The entire Republican Party has sunk into a swamp of corruption and hatred and no one slurping the Fox Kool-Aid would ever consider voting for a Democrat. Since they are wedded to corruption and hatred, might as well cleave to the most corrupt and the most hateful.

Oh yeah, I forgot ignorant.

They want someone who hates who and what they hate as much as they do. Roger Ailes has told them that Democrats, progressives, liberals, and minorities want to crush them and force them to become slaves to godless socialism. So add fear.

Fear, corruption, hatred, ignorance. A perfect description of Donald Trump. What’s not to love?

[Patrick]

Marie, it's good to see the "delenda" logo again.

Yesterday around 2:00 p.m. EDT, I dropped my ballot through the slot at the collection box in front of a local community center. No line, nobody there (the center is otherwise closed), and a drop noise indicating the box (about the size of a large upright freezer) was mostly empty. The box was just commissioned two days ago, along with dozens more in the county. Each is supposed to be collected daily. Materials that arrived in our mail with the ballot provide a website to enable tracking it. Also, the scan ID information on that ballot are tied to me, in that the voted ballot has to be enclosed in the security mailer (wrapper) that came with it, and which I had to sign and date. The instructions advise that people in households with multiple ballots take care not to put one person's ballot in another's security mailer.

The process is a bit more complicated than going to the polls, and so I expect that a larger number of ballots in the mail/drop process will be rejected than in the at-site poll ballots. But there are enough days between now and Nov 3 that this process, plus early voting, plus open at-site voting (the latter two at any location in the state, not just your designated polling place) can generate a huge number of votes. Since my state is pretty blue, I just hope that enough people decide to express their thoughts (feelings?) by vote, rather than assume that normal trends here are sufficient to carry the state.

You can't get to delenda by sitting on your butt.

[Forrest Morris]

The reason trump can't condemn white supremacy, racism, sexism and all the other isms is that it would be self condemnation, together with the fact that those very things are exactly why the millions of other white supremists, racist, etc, worship him. Could be the reason you can't reason with them. Facts don't matter. They have their own set of facts gleaned from Fox noise and Qanon, etc.

[Akhilleus]

The Breonna Taylor grand jury proceeding was a farce. Given the nature of a grand jury, where only one side (the prosecution) presents the case, what happens is almost always predetermined by the DA, who, as the old saying goes, could get a ham sandwich indicted. There was an executive decision made to let the cops off the hook. And forget about the fact that the AG is black. He’s a Republican.

Normally I would discount any argument that considered an entire group as monolithic (as in “All blacks” or “All Irishmen”, etc. ), but the Republican Party has winnowed out, or simply forced out any who don’t toe the party line. It’s about as monolithic as you can get. And in the Age of Trump, Republicans act according to what’s best for the party (and themselves). Not for America, and certainly not for justice. Just as Trump does, they believe that fairness only applies to them.

So if the Kentucky AG decides that white cops who fucked up and killed a black woman in her own home should not be held responsible for anything (oh, besides firing a random bullet into a white person’s apartment), then one can only assume a low political motive.

And hiding behind the old “they had to protect themselves” line doesn’t cut it here. You want to serve a warrant? A no-knock warrant? At the home of a suspected drug dealer? Don’t go at 1:00 am when there is sure to be pushback from those in the residence. What would you do if you owned a gun and some unidentified guys were kicking your door in? What did they think was going to happen? This stupidity puts everyone in danger, cops, residents, neighbors, babies and little kids.

And what is this baloney about how the cops DID identify themselves? Fucking lie. Why go to all the trouble of getting a no-knock warrant and then announcing yourself?

This case stinks like the old McDonalds trash under Fatty’s bed.

[Akhilleus]

Forrest,

Your comment made me think of Fatty’s jab at Biden during the, er, whatever that was that happened the other night. He whined that Biden couldn’t even say “law and order” (a classically stoopid schoolyard bully taunt. “C’mon, say Rigamarole! I dares ya!” “Okay. Rigamarole. What now?” “Ah.. um...(fuck) ahhh.. you didn’t say it right!! Yeah!”).

But leave us never forget as someone here recently (sorry, I forget who now) pointed out, Trump’s predilection for projection, accusing others of his own faults. Trump tried to say (even after Biden said “law and order”) that he couldn’t say it because he would “lose the left”.

Clearly, Trump can’t denounce racism and white supremacy because he would lose the right. All of them. And that’s all he has. He can’t come out against racist pigs. They’re his most fervent supporters, fer crissakes.

Then again, it’s not like he had to pretend to like racist pigs to get their votes. He’s one of them. Shit, he’s in the racist pigs hall of fame. He’s their king. See, most of them can only beat up one or two black or brown or Muslim people at a time. Trump beats up millions!

[Jeanne]

I so agree with AK about the Breonna Taylor case and the AG. He is probably hoping to go all the way and be the country's AG...ugh. He probably agrees with the Majestic Toad about every illegal move of the Dept of "Justice". Therefore, he is deep in the mire of Louisville policing. I'm sure there was a CYA immediately enacted that fateful night they no-knocked . I wouldn't trust any of them.

The watch party for Pence and Mother was about 15 minutes away from me. A friend said her prayers were answered by the skies opening up and pouring on them all. The local rag had photos of the supporters lined up to cheer those snakes, wearing their stupid red trucker hats and mouths wide open from yelling, and, of course, not a mask to be seen. Nor a social distance in sight...

I made a bunch of calls yesterday for PA Dems. The process is automatic dialing, so you get whom you get. Lots of hangups when I identified myself-- and these were supposedly Dems! One man told me he didn't want to talk to me and when I inquired as to why, he said that Tom Wolf (PA governor) and Joe Biden were the biggest crooks in the universe. (Huh????) My directions are to be polite, so I just said I was sorry he felt that way. On the other hand, one young woman, a Biden supporter, asked how she could volunteer for the campaign, and I passed on her name and number, so that was a bit of an upper. It was pretty sparse so I did not call long. It should pick up as the ballots requested go out this week, hopefully. I'm just glad that I don't live 90 minutes east, since all those "bad things" are happening in Philly... (s/)
Apparently, the Philly hockey mascot says he is a "bad thing..." Haha!

[NiskyGuy]

Three videos: The first two can probably be called "Left Wing Talking Points" but, as far as I can tell, they are factual and true.

Chris Hayes, who says there was only one person to blame on that stage, and it certainly wasn't Chris Wallace who, at times, acted like an abused partner:

https://youtu.be/aFDC1jEHS4Y

Rachel Maddow, who says turning away in disgust is the strategy:

https://youtu.be/aBWCBa1AY-g

And from the BBC, where one of the headlines on their homepage reads "The night American democracy hit rock bottom" (which I think is wishful thinking, it's going to get a lot worse.)

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/election-us-2020-54365697

[Rockygirl]

I once read somewhere that people don’t vote based on policies (duh) and they don’t even really vote based on who they like. Instead, they vote based on who they think Likes Them. That actually explains a lot - they so believe that the evil urban educated elite Democrats (the “professional managerial class) looks down on them as uneducated bigoted rubes that they will vote for Trump who, while actually disdaining them, gives a performance that allows them to believe that he does not.

[Jeanne]

...and yet, the lady refugee from the coronavirus "task force" said specifically that he doesn't like to shake those "disgusting" hands... and said as much. I don't think any of us here would ever be able to see how and why these people think he likes them...Stockholm-y?

[Akhilleus]

Rockygirl,

In fact, there are probably fewer individuals in American politics who hate these people more than Trump. He has never had to interact with hoi polloi, except when he was taking their money. He has glided through life in limos and private planes far above the cares and difficulties of the workaday world. Same with all his kids and that snarling little shit Jared Kushner.

Even when Trump was stiffing regular people hired to build his hotels and failed casinos, he likely could never bring himself to stoop to meeting them face to face to tell them they weren’t going to be paid. That’s what lawyers are for.

The people who think he loves them have never stopped to consider that the only thing he’s been any good at is lying.

[Patrick]

Actually, he's not even good at lying.

Maybe at "persistence."

[Francie]

I agree with the sentiment on the art work, but shouldn't the wording be "Trumpus delendus est"? (masculine singular)

[Akhilleus]

Francie,

Correct. In the phrase “Carthago delenda est”, delenda, as a predicate adjective referring to the feminine noun Carthago, takes the same gender and case, so...

On the other hand, TRUMPA delenda est has a nice ring to it, especially given the misogynistic subject.

[RAS]

I was hoping the Biden would have been ready to hit back at Trump's repeated lie about Fauci telling people not to wear masks. It is such an easy target. The reason Fauci was asking people not to go out and buy masks was because they were need for our front line workers. There was a shortage of PPE because Trump wanted to play down the pandemic and chose not to order masks back in January when he knew the deadliness of the disease. The Trump administration also shipped PPE from the US stockpile over to China instead keeping it for our doctors and nurses. Fauci was covering for Trump's repeated failures to deal with the crisis Trump bragged to Bob Woodward he knew was coming.