The Commentariat -- October 10, 2020

Afternoon Update:

The New York Times' live Covid-9 updates for Saturday are here.

Sheryl Stolberg of the New York Times: "Pressure is mounting on the leaders of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention -- from inside and outside the agency -- to speak publicly against the White House's manhandling of C.D.C. research and public health decisions, with career scientists so demoralized they are talking of quitting if President Trump wins re-election. The situation came to a boiling point this week when William H. Foege, a giant in public health who led the C.D.C. under Democratic and Republican presidents, called for its current director, Dr. Robert R. Redfield, to 'stand up to a bully' -- he meant Mr. Trump — even at the risk of being fired. 'Silence becomes complicity,' he said in an interview, after a private letter he wrote to Dr. Redfield leaked to the news media."

Sheila Kaplan of the New York Times: "The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention drafted a sweeping order last month requiring all passengers and employees to wear masks on all forms of public and commercial transportation in the United States, but it was blocked by the White House, according to two federal health officials. The order would have been the toughest federal mandate to date aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus, which continues to infect more than 40,000 Americans a day. The officials said that it was drafted under the agency's 'quarantine powers' and that it had the support of the secretary of health and human services, Alex M. Azar II, but the White House Coronavirus Task Force, led by Vice President Mike Pence, declined to even discuss it." Mrs. McC: So mike pence also doesn't care if you get sick & die. Better take your family sleigh over the river and through the woods to grandmother's house this Thanksgiving. Public transportation is a bad bet.

"The Swamp That Trump Built." Nicholas Confessore, et al., of the New York Times: "Campaigning for president as a Washington outsider, Mr. Trump electrified rallies with his vows to 'drain the swamp.' But Mr. Trump ... reinvented [the swamp], turning his own hotels and resorts into the Beltway's new back rooms, where public and private business mix and special interests reign.... As president, he built a system of direct presidential influence-peddling unrivaled in modern American politics.... An investigation by The Times found over 200 companies, special-interest groups and foreign governments that patronized Mr. Trump's properties while reaping benefits from him and his administration.... Just 60 customers with interests at stake before the Trump administration brought his family business nearly $12 million during the first two years of his presidency, The Times found. Almost all saw their interests advanced, in some fashion, by Mr. Trump or his government.... Some of Mr. Trump's patrons lost out to better-favored interests, to the chaos of his White House or to the president's own fleeting attention span.... But whether they won or lost, Mr. Trump benefited financially." The reporters provide many examples.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-Michigan) in a Washington Post op-ed: "When I addressed the people of Michigan on Thursday to comment on the unprecedented terrorism, conspiracy and weapons charges against 13 men, some of whom were preparing to kidnap and possibly kill me, I said, 'Hatred, bigotry and violence have no place in the great state of Michigan.' I meant it. But just moments later, President Trump's campaign adviser, Jason Miller, appeared on national television accusing me of fostering hatred. I'm not going to waste my time arguing with the president. But I will always hold him accountable. Because when our leaders speak, their words carry weight."

Ashton Pittman of the Mississippi Free Press: "The day before ... Donald Trump announced Amy Coney Barrett as his U.S. Supreme Court pick, U.S. Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith [R-Miss.] said Republican senators would come with 'guns loaded' and 'packed' to ensure the president's nominee is confirmed. 'You can expect anything possible in the tactics that (Democrats) can come up with' to delay the vote, the senator from Mississippi told American Family Radio Host Tony Perkins on his Washington Watch radio program on Sept. 25. AFR, a branch of the Tupelo, Miss.-based American Family Association, later uploaded the interview to SoundCloud. The senator told Perkins, whose organization the Southern Poverty Law Center calls a hate group, that 'it wouldn't surprise (her) at all' if Democrats try to stop Republicans from confirming Barrett before the election."

A Bad Omen for Trump. Tamara Lush of the AP: "The Villages, [a huge Florida retirement community] where the median age is 66, is built on the American dream of a golden retirement.... Politically, it long has been considered a conservative redoubt, so entrenched that it's a must-stop for any national or statewide Republican running for office. One clear measure of its importance: Vice President Mike PenceJoe] Biden.... Not only has Florida been slammed by the virus, but also no other demographic has been affected more than older people. About 93% of Florida's 15,100 deaths from the virus have been people 55 and older, and many are scared -- and enraged."

Ohio. Appeals Court Orders Voter Suppression in Populous Counties. Andrew Tobias of Cleveland.com: "A federal appeals court has agreed to reinstate Ohio's limit on ballot drop boxes at least temporarily while it considers whether to make a more permanent ruling on the case. U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals Judges Richard Griffin and Amul Thapar in an order Friday night sharply criticized a Thursday decision from a federal judge in Cleveland who struck down the drop box limit as unconstitutional after early voting had already begun. Griffin and Thapar said Secretary of State Frank LaRose's decision to limit ballot drop boxes, used to store completed absentee ballots, to one site per county was reasonable, and sided with LaRose's arguments that making a change during an election would pose a security risk. They also said legal precedent weighs against making late-stage changes to election procedures through the courts.... Judge Helene White dissented.... Griffin and White are appointees of President George W. Bush, while Thapar is an appointee of ... Donald Trump."

Rats ... Sinking Ship. John Harris & Melanie Zanona of Politico: "For Republicans, fearful of a possible electoral disaster just weeks away, it has become safe at last to diss Donald Trump -- or at least to distance themselves from him in unmistakably purposeful ways. A barrage of barbed comments in recent days shows how markedly the calculus of fear has shifted in the GOP. For much of the past four years, Republican politicians were scared above all about incurring the wrath of the president and his supporters with any stray gesture or remark that he might regard as not sufficiently deferential. Now, several of them are evidently more scared of not being viewed by voters as sufficiently independent.... And so far, there's little evidence the strategy is working."

Veronica Stracqualursi of CNN: "Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he was released from the hospital Saturday morning following treatment for the coronavirus. '... I will have more to say about all of this next week,' the former Republican governor tweeted Saturday.... Christie, who is overweight and asthmatic, checked himself into Morristown Medical Center as a precautionary measure. He remained under doctors' observations for the week and was prescribed the anti-viral drug remdesivir. He had helped Trump prepare for the first presidential debate; no one wore masks during the debate preparation sessions. He had also attended a Supreme Court nomination ceremony for Judge Amy Coney Barrett on September 26, now believed to have been a superspreader event."

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race, Etc.

Quint Forgey of Politico: "The Commission on Presidential Debates on Friday canceled the second pre-election showdown between ... Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden, according to a person familiar with the situation. The debate, initially scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, was changed to a virtual format following the president's coronavirus diagnosis last week. Trump and his campaign protested against a virtual debate, calling the change a ploy to help Biden.... The commission said the format change was to ensure the health and safety of everyone involved. In a statement Friday evening, the commission acquiesced to the campaign's protests, writing: 'It is now apparent there will be no debate on October 15, and the CPD will turn its attention to preparations for the final presidential debate scheduled for October 22.' The co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates had rejected earlier Friday efforts by Trump's campaign to clear him for in-person participation in the town hall-style forum -- noting that the White House still has not provided basic information about the president's recent coronavirus tests."

Toluse Olorunnipa, et al., of the Washington Post: "... Trump has brushed aside his advisers' calls for caution, instead embracing a political strategy built on playing down the virus and using his own battle with it to argue that the nation has already overcome the pandemic. 'People are going to get immediately better like I did. I mean, I feel better now than I did two weeks ago. It's crazy,' Trump told Rush Limbaugh on his talk radio show Friday, a day when more than 850 Americans died of the coronavirus....The president has claimed to be immune, called his infection with the virus a 'blessing from God' and falsely claimed that a cure exists for a disease that continues to kill thousands of Americans each week. His campaign has continued to hold large indoor events with surrogates, shunning social distancing. It has made little effort to engage in contact tracing after dozens of White House officials and campaign surrogates contracted the disease.... His surrogates have already returned to traveling across the country and holding events that flout public health guidelines. Trump's son Donald Trump Jr. headlined a crowded rally Thursday in Panama City Beach, Fla., with several dozen unmasked people gathered indoors. Vice President Pence has also been holding frequent events, often indoors." ~~~

~~~ Meredith McGraw of Politico: "Guests for Saturday's [South Lawn] event won't be tested for the virus and won't be required to wear masks, setting off fresh concerns that the White House itself has become a vector for the disease.... Trump is resuming his campaign schedule only 10 days after he was first diagnosed with Covid-19, which he acknowledged this week had made him 'very sick' while shrugging off a lingering cough and insisting he now feels 'perfect.'... It's unclear if the president has tested negative since falling ill, or whether he is still contagious."

Trump to Hold a Second White House Super-spreader Event Today. Will Steakin, et al., of ABC News: "... Donald Trump is scheduled to host his first in-person event since testing positive for the coronavirus on Saturday at the White House discussing 'law and order,' despite evidence of a growing coronavirus outbreak at the White House this week.... The gathering is scheduled to take place on the South Lawn of the White House in conjunction with a previously planned event organized by controversial conservative activist Candace Owens' group Blexit, a campaign to urge Black Americans to leave the Democratic Party, sources said. Trump according to a source is expected to address the crowd from the balcony of the White House." Mrs. McC: So it's going to be a Mini-Mussolini event, too! (Or, if you prefer, another Covita moment.) And another gross politicization of the "People's House."

Brett Samuels of the Hill: "President Trump will hold a campaign rally on Monday in Florida, his first time hitting the campaign trail since testing positive for COVID-19. The announcement comes despite the fact that the White House has yet to say whether Trump is still infectious or when he last tested negative for the highly contagious virus that has killed more than 210,000 people in America. The president will gather in Sanford, Fla., with supporters on Monday evening, the campaign announced. Officials have declined to specify whether they would move forward with events regardless of if Trump has tested negative. Trump on Thursday night had floated the possibility of traveling to Florida as early as Saturday. Public health officials advise that an individual who had the virus obtain two negative tests before interacting in public again, and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines suggest individuals should remain isolated for 10 days after the onset of symptoms in mild cases and up to 20 days for more severe cases."

Peter Baker, et al., of the New York Times: "Trailing badly in the polls and eager to change the subject from the coronavirus, Mr. Trump succeeded in compelling Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to announce that he would make public the [Hillary Clinton] emails even as Attorney General William P. Barr resisted pressure[*] from the president to prosecute Democrats like former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.... Beyond his public comments, the president has also conveyed to Mr. Barr, directly and through surrogates, that he wanted 'scalps,' according to two government officials familiar with the conversations.... [But] three government officials briefed on the investigation said that they had been told that it was unlikely that John H. Durham, the prosecutor tapped by Mr. Barr to lead the inquiry [of the Russia inquiry], would produce indictments or any other developments that could affect the trajectory of the election before Nov. 3.... Neither Mr. Trump nor Mr. Pompeo explained why they ... would seek to prove that Mrs. Clinton was too casual with emails containing classified information by releasing emails containing classified information." ~~~

     ~~~ * Mrs. McCrabbie: I don't think it's accurate to say that Barr "resisted pressure." Andrew Weissmann, a former federal prosecutor on the Mueller team, appeared on MSNBC yesterday & surmised that it was John Durham, not Barr, who "resisted pressure." This was my thought, too, even before Weissman confirmed it.

~~~ When Trump Says "Jump," Pompeo Asks "How High?" Caitlin Oprysko of Politico: "Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday vowed to track down and release information regarding tens of thousands of emails former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent and received over a private email server while in office, a day after ... Donald Trump lambasted Pompeo for not having done so. In an interview on Fox News, Pompeo laughed off Trump's criticism from a day earlier, telling anchor Dana Perino that 'we've got the emails, we're getting them out.' He added: 'We'll get all of this information out so the American people can see it.'... During a nearly hourlong interview on Fox Business..., 'Forget about the fact they were classified. Let's go. Maybe Mike Pompeo finally finds them, OK?'... Moments before Pompeo's interview, Trump reiterated his position on Clinton during a marathon, two-hour interview with conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, telling Limbaugh that Clinton 'should be in jail.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Thank goodness Trump is saving us from Hillary Clinton again. I suppose the texts of some of those emails will be interesting to some political scientists & historians and, if they contain classified materials, maybe to some U.S. adversaries. But the rest of us could not care less.

Democrats Have Big Advantage in Absentee Voting, So Far. Reid Epstein, et al., of the New York Times: "The yawning disparities in [absentee] voting across Wisconsin and several other key battlegrounds so far are among the clearest signs yet this fall that the Democratic embrace of absentee voting is resulting in head starts for the party ahead of Election Day. For Republicans, the voting patterns underscore the huge bet they are placing on high turnout on Nov. 3, even as states like Wisconsin face safety concerns at polling sites given the spikes in coronavirus cases.... The Democratic enthusiasm to vote is not limited to Wisconsin. Ballot return data from heavily Democratic cities like Pittsburgh; Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Tampa, Fla., and the long lines of cars waiting at a Houston arena to drop off ballots, are signs that many voters have followed through on their intentions to cast ballots well ahead of Nov. 3. There is still time for Republicans to catch up in many places, and they are expected to vote in strong numbers in person on Election Day.... As of Friday, more than 8.3 million ballots had already been received by elections officials in the 30 states that have made data available." ~~~

~~~ BUT. Danny Hakim & Stephanie Saul of the New York Times highlight the many ways Trump, his campaign & other Republicans have ramped up voter suppression tactics, especially plans for marshaling intimidating poll-watchers. Mrs. McC: It strikes me that one reason to vote absentee is to avoid having some Trumpbot screaming at you & spewing coronavirus beasties while you wait in a long line at your polling place.

South Carolina Senate Race. Jason Easley of Politics USA: "The scheduled Senate debate between Jaime Harrison and Lindsey Graham has been canceled after Graham refused a COVID test." Mrs. McC: Speculation is that Graham is refusing to be tested because he is concerned a positive test would derail the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett. Graham chairs the committee. ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Konstantin Toropin & Chandelis Duster of CNN: "The South Carolina Senate debate scheduled for Friday night between Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham and his Democratic challenger Jamie Harrison has changed formats after Graham rejected Harrison's request to take another Covid test. The two candidates will now 'take part in individual interviews ... where they will be asked a series of questions from the forum moderator and panelists,' a live blog for the forum, which is hosted by local TV station WSPA, announced.... The announcement comes after Harrison issued a statement on Thursday stating he would not debate in person if Graham -- the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who attended an October 1 hearing with Sen. Mike Lee, a Utah Republican who tested positive for the virus last week -- did not get a Covid test. In the statement, Harrison said he, the moderators and the panelists all agreed to get tested and questioned why Graham would not.

Pennsylvania. Matt Wargo & Maura Barrett of NBC News: "A Philadelphia judge has denied President Trump's campaign the right to have poll watchers inside the city's satellite elections offices. A spokesperson for the Trump campaign tells NBC News that they immediately appealed the decision, calling it 'irresponsible.'"

Texas. Chuck Lindell of the Austin-American Statesman: "A federal judge issued an order Friday night barring enforcement of Gov. Greg Abbott's Oct. 1 proclamation that limited counties to one mail-in ballot drop-off location." Mrs. McC: No link. The Statesman is subscriber-firewalled, & I can't find another source for a report, but it's a new story (Friday night), so surely one will pop up. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said Abbott's order placed an unacceptable burden on the voting rights of elderly and disabled Texans, who are most likely to request a mail-in ballot and to hand deliver those ballots early to ensure that they are counted. These voters are also particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, the judge said.... 'By forcing absentee voters to risk infection with a deadly disease to return their ballots in person or disenfranchisement if the (Postal Service) is unable to deliver their ballots in time, the October 1 Order imposes a burden on an already vulnerable voting population,' he said. This is a developing story." ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Republicans Determined to Suppress Democratic Vote. Josh Gerstein of Politico: "The state of Texas is appealing a federal judge's ruling that overturned Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's order limiting absentee ballot drop-off sites to one per county.... Within hours of [Judge Robert] Pitman's ruling, Texas Secretary of State Ruth Hughs appealed to the New Orleans-based 5^th Circuit Court of Appeals."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live Covid-19 updates Friday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Must-Not-Watch TV. Jamie Ross of the Daily Beast: "... Donald Trump is apparently going to have a 'medical evaluation' on television. In an announcement from Fox News, the network said Trump is set to do his first on-camera interview since his COVID-19 diagnosis with Tucker Carlson tonight. But, in a significantly more interesting bit of the announcement, Fox News confirmed: 'Dr. Marc Siegel will conduct a medical evaluation and interview during the program.'.... Despite his insistence that he's totally fine, Trump hacked and coughed his way through a phone interview with Fox on Thursday night." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Ted Johnson of Deadline: "Donald Trump went through a reality TV-like 'medical evaluation' with Dr. Marc Siegel on Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight, and claimed that he was medication free and that he was recently retested for COVID-19.'I haven't found out numbers or anything yet, but I have been retested and I know that I am at either of the bottom of the scale or free,' Trump said in his first on-camera interview since testing positive for the coronavirus on Oct. 1. But there still were a number of questions that were unanswered, in part because Siegel didn't ask them. Chief among them was when Trump last tested negative before he tested positive for the coronavirus last week. That is information that the White House has declined to release. Trump's appearance was billed as an on-camera 'medical evaluation,' with Siegel asking about the president's symptoms and recovery. But the segment largely was a traditional interview. 'I feel really good. I feel very strong,' said Trump, appearing at the White House as Siegel was in studio." The New York Times story, by Annie Karni, is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: As far as I can tell, every single "medical evaluation" Trump has "released" to the public has been one he himself reported, dictated or substantially restricted. News reports should matter-of-factly describe Trump's medical condition as "unknown, but dire & humiliating."

Dr. Trump, Medicine Man, & His Miracle Cure. A. G. Gancarski of Florida Politics: Donald Trump told Rush Limbaugh Friday, "'We have a cure' for COVID-19, he told the conservative talk master. 'We have a cure, some call it a therapeutic. I call it a cure that most have never heard of that's going to be out very soon,' Trump assured Limbaugh in the noon hour. 'I was in not great shape, but we had a medicine that healed me,' Trump said of the Regeneron antibody cocktail he was given at Walter Reed Hospital this week. That cure will be widely available soon, Trump asserted. 'Hundreds of thousands of vials are being sent to hospitals all over the country.... We can go into hospitals and clean up the hospitals,' Trump said. 'I had a meeting with the doctors today. These eleven guys, they showed me stats, it was amazing.... We're sending that to all our hospitals,' Trump said. 'This is stuff that's so good it wiped out the virus.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Kathryn Watson & Steven Portnoy of CBS News: "Dr. Anthony Fauci said in an interview with CBS News that referring to a cure for COVID-19 may cause 'confusion,' and he also weighed in on the health status of President Trump, who contracted the virus but is eager to return to in-person events as the presidential campaign reaches its closing weeks. Fauci also identified the White House ceremony for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett as a 'super spreader' event.... '"We had a super-spreader event in the White House and it was in a situation where people were crowded together and were not wearing masks. So the data speak for themselves.'"

Phil Mattingly & Ted Barrett of CNN: "... Donald Trump has signed off on a roughly $1.8 trillion stimulus offer to be presented to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, according to two people with knowledge of the decision, marking the highest topline dollar figure the administration has put on the table to this point. The direct involvement of Trump himself and his willingness to put down an offer far above the preferences of congressional Republicans adds a dynamic new element to long-stalled negotiations.... The $1.8 trillion figure is up from a $1.6 trillion offer from earlier this week, though it remains below the $2.2 trillion in the bill passed last week by House Democrats -- and Pelosi has been unwilling to go below $2 trillion in negotiations up to this point, people familiar with the matter say. The details in the offer remain as important, if not more so, than the topline dollar figure.... And the President appeared to undermine his own proposal Friday afternoon when he said that he would like to see a bigger stimulus than what is currently being put forth by either Democrats or his administration." Emphasis added. ~~~

~~~ Sarah Ferris, et al., of Politico: "Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin delivered a $1.8 trillion proposal to Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday -- the GOP's most substantial offer yet to Democrats, just days after Trump declared the talks were over until after the November election.... But even if the two reach an agreement on a stimulus package, Pelosi and Mnuchin will be facing strong headwinds in the GOP-controlled Senate, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has been skeptical of the prospects of muscling through a massive bill this month. McConnell reiterated Friday that it was 'unclear' whether a deal would get through before Nov. 3 and emphasized that the Senate's priority is the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court."

Mike Lillis of the Hill: "House Democrats on Friday unveiled legislation creating a panel to gauge a president's capacity to perform the job -- and potentially remove the commander in chief from office in cases of decided debility. The commission would be permanent, applying to future administrations, but it's a clear shot at President Trump, whose treatments for the coronavirus have raised questions about their effects on his mental acuity. Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a sharp critic of the president, has fueled those questions in the the days since Trump returned to the White House after three nights in the hospital, floating the idea that Trump's drug regimen -- which includes a steroid linked to mood swings -- might be affecting his decisionmaking.... The Democrats' legislation invokes the 25th Amendment, which empowers Congress to create 'a body' which, working with the vice president, can remove a president deemed 'unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.' Sponsored by Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a former professor of constitutional law, the bill would create a 17-member panel charged with judging the president's fitness -- and empowered to remove that figure when deficiencies are determined. In such a case, the vice president would take over. 'This is not about President Trump; he will face the judgment of the voters,' Pelosi told reporters Friday. 'But he shows the need for us to create a process for future presidents.' The proposal has no chance of being enacted...." The Washington Post's story is here.

Susanne Craig, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump's "long-hidden tax records, obtained by The New York Times..., reveal ... how [-- in 2016 --] he engineered a sudden financial windfall -- more than $21 million in what experts describe as highly unusual one-off payments from the Las Vegas hotel he owns with his friend the casino mogul Phil Ruffin.... In [his presidential campaign's] waning days, as his own giving had slowed to a trickle, Mr. Trump contributed $10 million, leaving many people wondering where the burst of cash had come from....[It may have been an illegal campaign contribution, laundered through the venture with Ruffin.] The bulk of the [$21 million windfall] went through a company called Trump Las Vegas Sales and Marketing that had little previous income, no clear business purpose and no employees. The Trump-Ruffin joint venture wrote it all off as a business expense [which] ... could be legally problematic.... Mr. Trump's tax records reveal that when he decided to leverage his brand in the political arena, its true bottom line bore little resemblance to the gold-plated success story he was hawking to the American people. Most of his core businesses were losing money.... Mr. Trump was furiously moving money, his tax records show." After he became president*, "the Transportation Department's Credit Council approved the sale of $1 billion in tax-free bonds" to a bullet-train project in which Ruffin maintained an interest.

Joshua Partlow, et al., of the Washington Post: "Five years ago, Donald Trump promised to preserve more than 150 acres of rolling woodlands in an exclusive swath of New York suburbia.... In exchange for setting aside this land on his estate known as Seven Springs, Trump received a tax break of $21.1 million, according to court documents. The size of Trump's tax windfall was set by a 2016 appraisal that valued Seven Springs at $56.5 million -- more than double the value assessed by the three Westchester County towns that each contained a piece of the property. The valuation has now become a focal point of what could be one of the most consequential investigations facing President Trump as he heads into the election. New York Attorney General Letitia James (D) is investigating whether the Trump Organization improperly inflated the value of Seven Springs as part of the conservation easement on the property.... The investigation also scrutinizes valuations, tax burdens and conservation easements at Trump's holdings in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City.... The Seven Springs appraisal ... appears to have relied on unsupported assertions and misleading conclusions that boosted the value of Trump's charitable gift -- and his tax break.... [Trump's appraiser] established the value of the 212-acre estate by assuming a future buyer could build and sell 24 mansions on the land, without providing evidence that such a subdivision would meet local regulations" [and there was ample evidence it would not].

Andrew Kaczynski & Em Steck of CNN: "Judge Amy Coney Barrett failed to disclose two talks she gave in 2013 hosted by two anti-abortion student groups on paperwork provided to the Senate ahead of her confirmation hearing to become the next Supreme Court justice. Barrett..., Donald Trump's nominee to succeed Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, gave the talks -- a lecture and a seminar -- in 2013 in her capacity as a law professor at the University of Notre Dame. The seminar was co-sponsored by the school's Right to Life club and constitutional studies minor.... CNN's KFile found advertisements for two lectures on social media and in a weekly Notre Dame faculty newsletter. It is not known what was said in the two events, though both centered on abortion court cases. In a separate instance, CNN's KFile found a publicized talk that Barrett gave to coincide with the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade -- a seminar Barrett disclosed in her Senate paperwork -- was removed by the university from YouTube in 2014. A school spokesman told CNN the video is now lost.

Kim Bellware, et al., of the Washington Post sort of profile some of the men who allegedly planned to kidnap, try & perhaps kill Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, as well as carrying on other mayhem in order to take over the Michigan government." Mrs. McC: I doubt many of them excelled in their school civics classes.

News Lede

Weather Channel: "More than 800,000 Gulf Coast homes and businesses were left without power Saturday morning as the remnants of Hurricane Delta continued to push inland across Louisiana and into the South. Delta, now a tropical storm, already dumped record amounts of rain in some parts of the state, causing flash flooding that stranded cars, made roads impassable and sent water into homes. More than a foot of rain fell in parts of Lake Charles, Louisiana."

Comments

[unwashed]

One thing I noticed about the photos of alleged actors in the Whitmer abduction plot - they look like 'merkin Taliban. Did they all lose their razors, are they hygienically challenged, did they pledge to Allah that they'd never shave their facial fur? The only thing missing are their chapeaus (aka, trucker hats).

[Akhilleus]

The Trump Comprehensive Medical Evaluation

Doctor: How do you feel?”

“Covid Man”: “Great. Never better. Strong! Strong like bull!!”

Doctor: (sotto voce) Bull’s the word. “So, you’re good?”

Covid Man: “Cured!”

Doctor: “Well okay. That’ll be $350.00. See the assistant out front.”

Covid Man: “Yeah, I don’t pay for shit. Taxpayers cover everything.”

[NiskyGuy]

The NYT article about releasing Secretary Clinton's emails does not mention Ivanka and others using private email servers for official business, does not mention DJT using an unsecure cell phone, does not mention DJT blabbing highly classified information to Russians in the Oval Office, to name just a few practices of the current administration* that equal or far exceed any sloppiness practiced by HRC. Without that information, known to anyone reading here but not remembered by a vast majority of Americans, the article is just another administration* press release.

[PD Pepe]

THE MASTER OF DISTRACTION

It's like watching a Netflix crime series; just when you think you figured out who done what they hit you with a curve ball and you have to recalibrate. Dealing with Trump and those under his thumb we are bombarded with zingers almost every day so that the ones from the day or week before get buried or put on a back burner. But of course Fatty is a master at entertainment, we say with a chuckle, but any humor in these antics has reached its zenith. We now know who done it–-we now know the bad guys and we know who the serial killer is. Yet we are proceeding on as though what we've learned has no purchase. The entertainer/serial killer will continue infecting others because he owns the show.

"In legal papers, Mary Trump calls part of her uncle’s alleged scheme against her “The Grift,” and the grift is something we’ve seen a great deal in her uncle’s presidency: Trump’s businesses are failing but are kept afloat by a stream of income from lobbyists, corporations, and foreign governments who understand what Trump has made plain: if you pay him, he will favor you (at least for a while). The Times investigation helpfully put dollar signs on this, identifying some of Trump’s money since he’s been president as coming “from licensing deals in countries with authoritarian-leaning leaders or thorny geopolitics—for example, $3 million from the Philippines, $2.3 million from India and $1 million from Turkey.” NYR Daily

So will we just forget about these foreign money deals? How about those itty bitty taxes he pays, how about–––fill in the blanks. And who knows, maybe right around your corner you'll see a group of rough and tumble guys with guns coming to do your mayor in just because they can.

[Patrick]

Through the miracle of FutureTube, we have a clip of DiJiT's speech to be given later today at the WH from the Truman Balcony.

Hail to those about to trash the lawn again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd56CIFSMI4

[Marie Burns]

@Patrick: The resemblance between Trump & Lord Whorfin is rather remarkable. And the Red Lectroids do kinda remind me of certain White House staff. The problem of course is that the Real Lord Whorfin actually can blow up the world.

[Ken Winkes]

From the WAPO above:

"Trump has brushed aside his advisers’ calls for caution, instead embracing a political strategy built on playing down the virus and using his own battle with it to argue that the nation has already overcome the pandemic."

This in the midst of a Covid resurgence, with 40 states this AM having Rt rates 1.0 or above.

Seldom does wishing it were so run so headlong into obdurate fact.

For years, the Republican way has been paved with pleasings difficult to contradict because they relied on deferred horizons, on policies and actions whose costs would be paid only years down the road

"I don't see any climate change in my backyard. This year looks a lot like last year. It's all politics. The warnings from the hysterical left are either overblown or a hoax".

Can the Pretender pull off such an obvious scam when the cost of buying it comes due not in some vague tomorrow, but today in 40 of the 50 states?

[Akhilleus]

Marie,

Lord John Whorfin IS very much like Fatty (and don’t forget, he has assumed the body of a guy named Emilio Lizardo—kinda perfect for Trump). And although he can blow up the planet, Trump and the confederates have similar designs. As one of Whorfins legion says when called on the potential destruction, “It’s not my planet, monkey boy!” Can’t you just hear Kill the Planet Inhofe making the same claim?

[Akhilleus]

One big difference between Whorfin and Fatty, Whorfin is better dressed; more style, anyway. And no six foot tie. But they both have the Mussolini chin jut down cold.

[Akhilleus]

Huh?

Trump tiny testicle cosy, Lindsey Graham “proves” he’s not racist by proclaiming that blah people can go anywhere they like in South Carolina. As long as they bow down to confederate ideology.

But Republicans aren’t racist, right?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/10/lindsey-graham-black-people-immigrants-south-carolina