The Commentariat -- September 8, 2020

New Hampshire's Democratic primary is today.

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Michael Wilson of the New York Times: "The police chief of Rochester, N.Y., and several of his department's highest ranking officials resigned on Tuesday in the aftermath of the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who suffocated after he had been placed in a hood by city police officers and pinned to the ground. The resignations of the police chief, La'Ron D. Singletary, the deputy chief, Joseph Morabito, and, according to Mayor Lovely Warren, others in the department, came three days after the state attorney general, Letitia James, announced that she would impanel a grand jury to consider evidence in Mr. Prude's death. 'As a man of integrity, I will not sit idly by while outside entities attempt to destroy my character,' the police chief said in a statement. He later added: 'The mischaracterization and the politicization of the actions that I took after being informed of Mr. Prude's death is not based on facts, and is not what I stand for.'"

When Is a Denial Not a Denial? Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "The White House is in full denial mode about the damning report first published last week in the Atlantic that President Trump had repeatedly denigrated members of the military and the nation's war dead. But as allies -- and one prominent erstwhile ally -- stepped forward to offer versions of events similar to the line touted by the White House, it's worth emphasizing that not all denials are created equal. Some address only specific aspects of the report, while leaving open the possibility that others are true or that such things were said at other points. Others vouch for Trump while very notably declining to address anything specific.... Let's look at what [those who supposedly vouched for Trump] ... have said."

Katherine Wu of the New York Times: "As the world awaits the arrival of a safe and effective coronavirus vaccine, a team of researchers has come forward with a provocative new theory: that masks might help to crudely immunize some people against the virus.... Masked exposures are no substitute for a bona fide vaccine. But data from animals infected with the coronavirus, as well as insights gleaned from other diseases, suggest that masks, by cutting down on the number of viruses that encounter a person's airway, might reduce the wearer's chances of getting sick. And if a small number of pathogens still slip through, the researchers argue, these might prompt the body to produce immune cells that can remember the virus and stick around to fight it off again."

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Tuesday are here: "As senators returned to Washington on Tuesday, their leader, Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, announced that the Senate would vote to advance a scaled-back stimulus plan, which is expected to reinstate lapsed federal unemployment benefits at $300 per week -- half their previous level -- and allocate $105 billion for schools and funds for testing and the Postal Service, according to Republican aides familiar with the discussions. The plan represents an effort to intensify pressure on Democratic leaders who want to fully restore the $600 unemployment benefits and have refused to consider any measure below $2.2 trillion."

Christopher Rowland of the Washington Post: "The chief executives of nine drug companies pledged Tuesday not to seek regulatory approval before the safety and efficacy of their experimental coronavirus vaccines have been established in Phase 3 clinical trials, an extraordinary effort to bolster public faith in a vaccine amid President Trump's rush to introduce one before Election Day.... Trump has increasingly tied his reelection hopes to introduction of a vaccine before Nov. 3.... The [drugmakers'] statement left open the door for the use of partial data from the massive Phase 3 vaccine trials -- which require the participation of at least 30,000 test subjects -- to seek emergency-use authorization. Such trials typically take years to complete and require lengthy follow-up to see how long protection from a vaccine may last." A Hill report is here.

So here are Kamala & Barack chatting happily about Joe: ~~~

~~~ AND here is Donald sending out tweets endorsing violence, complete with graphic videos: ~~~

~~~ Michael Scherer of the Washington Post: "President Trump has reverted to using graphic depictions of violence as a centerpiece of his reelection campaign strategy, using his Twitter account, stump speech and even the White House podium as platforms for amplifying domestic conflict.... Over the holiday weekend..., he tweeted video of a melee in Texas between protesters and security officers during an event for a Trump-affiliated group and two celebratory videos of a protester in Portland, Ore., with his feet on fire. One of the videos was scored to the Kenny Loggins song 'Footloose' and the second featured mocking play-by-play commentary by a mixed-martial-arts announcer. 'These are the Democrats "peaceful protests,"' Trump wrote. 'Sick!' On Monday, he retweeted a prediction that political unrest 'could lead to "rise of citizen militias around the country."'" ~~~

~~~ Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump's refusal to pointedly denounce right-wing vigilantes has alarmed many national security veterans who are warning that political violence in America could quickly spiral out of control. In an interview with Vanity Fair, former Homeland Security Department Under Secretary for Intelligence John Cohen warned that Trump was setting the stage for sectarian conflict on American streets when he justified his own supporters taking the law into their own hands.... Trump recently told Fox News that he would prefer professional law enforcement control violent protests, but added that 'my supporters are wonderful, hardworking, tremendous people, and they turn on their television set and they look at a Portland or they look at a Kenosha'''. They are looking at all of this and they can't believe it.' The president has also defended supporter Kyle Rittenhouse, who has been charged with first-degree murder after he fatally shot two demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin last month."

Charlie Nash of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump has reportedly been weighing whether to invest up to $100 million of his own money in his 2020 reelection campaign. Trump 'has talked about the idea with multiple people, though he hasn't yet committed to any self-funding,' according to a Tuesday report from Bloomberg. 'Trump has sought advice about whether he should self-fund as he scrutinizes heavy spending by his team earlier this year that failed to push him ahead of the former vice president in the polls,' Bloomberg reported, noting that Democrats and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden 'have recently raised more than Trump and his allies.'" Related NYT story linked below. ~~~

~~~ Quint Forgey of Politico: "... Donald Trump defended his campaign's financial decision-making on Tuesday, after a report provoked new scrutiny of his reelection team's spending habits and squandered cash advantage over Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. 'My Campaign spent a lot of money up front in order to compensate for the false reporting and Fake News concerning our handling of the China Virus,' Trump wrote on Twitter. 'Now they see the GREAT job we have done, and we have 3 times more than we had 4 years ago - & are up in polls. Lots of $'s & ENERGY!'... The president's ... post came after The New York Times published a review on Monday detailing how the Trump campaign has already spent more than $800 million of the $1.1 billion it raised in coordination with the Republican National Committee from the beginning of 2019 through July. The Times report raised questions about former campaign manager Brad Parscale's financial stewardship of Trump's war chest.... Among the campaign's expenses were a car and driver for Parscale, who was replaced atop the campaign in July by Bill Stepien." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Maybe Trump thinks $100MM is the price of a "Stay out of Jail" card; that is, if he is re-elected, his chances of ending up in a New York jail diminish considerably. However, can he afford it? ~~~

~~~ Dan Alexander of Forbes: Donald Trump's "net worth has dropped an estimated $600 million since last September, to $2.5 billion. That puts him at No. 339 on The Forbes 400, down 64 spots from a year ago."

Trump v. Obama, Then & Now. Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "The imminent release of a memoir written by President Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen drew new attention to a weird footnote from the 2012 campaign: a video produced by Trump in which he 'fires' then-president Barack Obama.... Watching the video now is revelatory. It's Trump, making the case to an Obama impersonator for why Obama doesn't deserve a second term. And the metrics he uses to make that case are ones against which Trump himself now fares particularly poorly."

Robyn Dixon & Ruby Mellen of the Washington Post: "Alexei Navalny, who was poisoned last month with a nerve agent similar to the Soviet-era chemical weapon Novichok, was brought out of an induced coma, and his condition has improved, German doctors said Monday. A statement from the Charité clinic in Berlin said he was responding to voices, but it was too early to know the long-term impact of the poisoning. The clinic's statement said that Navalny, an acerbic critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was being weaned off a ventilator."

Presidential Race

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post: "Former vice president Joe Biden spent Monday in Harrisburg, Pa., the first of two Pennsylvania visits on his schedule this week. Recent polls have shown the race tightening in that state, which Trump took by fewer than 70,000 votes in 2016. Both Biden and Trump will visit Shanksville, Pa., on Friday to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Democratic ticket has maintained a clear geographic focus in its first few weeks, holding multiple virtual events geared toward Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida -- battleground states likely to determine the ticket's fate in November.... Sen. Kamala D. Harris visited Milwaukee on Monday for her first in-person campaign stop since being named the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, highlighting the campaigns' continued convergence on Wisconsin, the epicenter of ongoing protests against police violence and a state President Trump won by fewer than 30,000 votes in 2016. Hours after Vice President Pence toured an energy facility in La Crosse -- and just days after Biden himself visited Kenosha and Milwaukee -- Harris toured an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers training facility and held a roundtable with Black business owners in Milwaukee.... Harris began the visit with a private meeting with the family of Jacob Blake, the Black man left paralyzed after police shot him seven times in Kenosha last month. Members of his legal team were also in attendance.... According to a statement released by Blake's attorney Ben Crump, Blake told Harris he was proud of her."

David Smith of the Guardian: "After turning the south lawn into a convention stage last month, Donald Trump held a surprise press conference-cum-campaign event on Monday at the White House's front door.... Despite the lofty surroundings, the president dropped all pretense of rising above the political hurly-burly. Over 46 minutes, he branded ... Joe Biden 'stupid', falsely accused Biden and ... Kamala Harris of peddling anti-vaccination conspiracy theories, and unleashed a torrent of half-truths and non-truths. But unlike the loyalists on the south lawn for the convention speech, or the devotees who gather at Trump's increasingly frequent airport-hangar rallies, there was a stony silence from mask-wearing reporters sitting under columns, ornate carvings and a giant lamp on the White House driveway.... Trump wanted to use Labor Day to boast about economic recovery. The numbers are 'terrific', he said. 'We are in the midst of the fastest economic recovery in US history,' he claimed. Some 10.6m jobs had been added since May, he said, though he did not acknowledge nearly half the jobs lost in the pandemic had still not returned.... No mention of the more than 100,000 small businesses that shut down or the unemployment benefits that had expired for millions of Americans." Read on. Also, there are several related stories linked below.

Darlene Superville of the AP: "The prospect of a vaccine to shield Americans from coronavirus infection emerged Monday as a point of contention in the White House race as ... Donald Trump [Mrs. McC: falsely] accused Democrats of 'disparaging' for political gain a vaccine he repeatedly has said could be available before the election [at his fake briefing Monday.]... Trump insisted he hasn't said a vaccine could be ready before November, although he has said so repeatedly and as recently as Friday. The president then proceeded to say what he had just denied ever saying. 'What I said is by the end of the year, but I think it could even be sooner that that,' he said about a vaccine. 'It could be during the month of October, actually could be before November.'"

Gabby Orr of Politico: "With minimal hope for further coronavirus relief from Congress, the White House is pressing ahead with a revised pitch to voters at the outset of the fall campaign season: American grit will keep the economy afloat, not the government. It was this message that Vice President Mike Pence brought to voters in the all-important swing state of Wisconsin on Labor Day, the unofficial start of the final sprint before the 2020 election. Schools may remain shuttered, a congressional aid package is likely a lost cause, and there's no guarantee of a Covid-19 vaccine before the end of the year. Yet Pence pressed on with a positive message about declining unemployment, the headline-making August jobs report and downtrends in coronavirus infection rates across states that faced major outbreaks earlier this summer."

Shane Goldmacher & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Brad Parscale, [Donald Trump's] former campaign manager, liked to call Mr. Trump's re-election war machine an 'unstoppable juggernaut.' But interviews with more than a dozen current and former campaign aides and Trump allies, and a review of thousands of items in federal campaign filings, show that the president's campaign and the R.N.C. developed some profligate habits as they burned through hundreds of millions of dollars. Since Bill Stepien replaced Mr. Parscale in July, the campaign has imposed a series of belt-tightening measures that have reshaped initiatives, including hiring practices, travel and the advertising budget.... Of the $1.1 billon his campaign and the party raised from the beginning of 2019 through July, more than $800 million has already been spent. Now some people inside the campaign are forecasting what was once unthinkable: a cash crunch with less than 60 days until the election, according to Republican officials briefed on the matter." ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Don't worry. Trump knows just what to do. Declare bankruptcy & don't pay the vendors, just as did so often in the good ole days.

Trump Tries to Prove He Would Never Insult the Military by Insulting the Military. Bob Brigham of the Raw Story: "... Donald Trump accused the top brass of the Department of Defense of needlessly waging wars to boost the profits of defense contractors during a Labor Day press conference held at the White House. 'I'm not saying the military's in love with me, the soldiers are, the top people in the Pentagon probably aren't because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy,' Trump argued. There was widespread shock over Trump's accusation.... 'In an unprecedented public attack by a sitting US president on the leadership of the US military, President Trump has accused US military leaders of seeking to start wars to boost the profits of defense contractors,' CNN national security reporter Ryan Browne tweeted. '... President Trump has appointed all the top level people at the Pentagon, which includes both uniformed military officers and civilian personnel, Browne noted.... 'What's also notable about Trump now railing against the "military industrial complex" is that he spent most of his first term touting how much funding he got for the military for those very same planes and bombs,' [Abby Phillip of CNN tweeted]." A CNN story is here.

Apparently He Sounds Better in the Original German. Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times: Donald "Trump is emerging as a kind of cult figure in Germany's increasingly varied far-right scene. 'Trump has become a savior figure, a sort of great redeemer for the German far right,' said Miro Dittrich, an expert on far-right extremism at the Berlin-based Amadeu-Antonio-Foundation.... His message of disruption — his unvarnished nationalism and tolerance of white supremacists coupled with his skepticism of the pandemic;s dangers -- is spilling well beyond American shores, extremism watchers say. In a fast-expanding universe of disinformation, that message holds real risks for Western democracies, they say, blurring the lines between real and fake news, allowing far-right groups to extend their reach beyond traditional constituencies and seeding the potential for violent radicalization."

Nikki Ramirez in Business Insider: "The belief that immigrants arrive in the United States with the intent to 'steal' has been ubiquitous in right-wing politics for decades: Immigrants have been accused of stealing jobs, stealing tax dollars, and stealing benefits. But lately, some of the GOP's most stalwart voices have drummed up a more explicit accusation that immigrants are here to steal the very essence of America and replace it with something foreign -- an idea plucked directly from far-right-wing media.... Often intermingled with a "white genocide' conspiracy theory, it proposes that a variety of factors, such as an influx of nonwhite immigrants, multiculturalism, and falling birthrates among white Europeans, will result in white populations losing their position as the dominant demographic.... [The movement] seeks to mobilize believers into action against their supposed 'replacement.'... Elements of the "great replacement" conspiracy theory have also recently appeared in the statements of prominent conservative politicians [like] Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL).... Fox News is home to a near-constant stream of claims that America is being subjected to an immigrant invasion.'"

Andrew Selsky of the AP: "Hundreds of people gathered Monday afternoon in a small town south of Portland for a pro-President ... Trump vehicle rally -- just over a week after member of a far-right group was fatally shot after a Trump caravan went through Oregon's largest city. Later, pro-Trump supporters and counter-protesters clashed at Oregon's Capitol [Salem]. Vehicles waving flags for Trump, the QAnon conspiracy theory and in support of police gathered about noon at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City. The rally's organizers said they would drive to toward the state capital, Salem, and most left the caravan before that. A smaller group of members of the right-wing group the Proud Boys went on to Salem, where a crowd of several dozen pro-Trump supporters had gathered. At one point Monday afternoon, the right-wing crowd rushed a smaller group of Black Lives Matters counter-demonstrators, firing paint-gun pellets at them. There were skirmishes, and the Black Lives Matter group dispersed shortly after local police arrived on the scene."

Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "House Democrats are launching an investigation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and called for his immediate suspension following accusations that he reimbursed employees for campaign contributions they made to his preferred GOP politicians, an arrangement that would be unlawful. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said in a statement late Monday that the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, which she chairs, would begin an investigation, saying that DeJoy may have lied to her committee under oath. Maloney also urged the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service to immediately suspend DeJoy, whom 'they never should have hired in the first place,' she said."

Darlene Superville of the AP: "... Donald Trump says he's open to an investigation of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy following published reports that former employees of DeJoy, a major donor to Trump and other Republicans, said they felt pressured to make campaign contributions to GOP candidates. The president also said Monday that DeJoy should lose his job if campaign finance irregularities are uncovered while describing the GOP fundraiser as a 'very honest guy.' Trump replied 'sure, sure' when asked at a news conference whether he would support an investigation into DeJoy. DeJoy already faces unrelated scrutiny from Congress for U.S. Postal Service changes that some fear will slow delivery of mail-in ballots for the Nov. 3 elections." A Washington Post story is here.

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

Hey, Kids, It's Back-to-School Day! ~~~

     ~~~ Sorry, Kid. Donald Trump Will Not Call on You. Here's Trump at his "briefing" yesterday: ~~~

The Washington Post's live updates for coronavirus developments Tuesday are here: "From Memorial Day weekend through the unofficial end of the season Monday, the number of Americans who died of covid-19 shot up from just under 100,000 to more than 186,000, according to data tracked by The Washington Post, as infections more than quadrupled to upward of 6.2 million."

Fake Author of "Art of the Deal" Too Good to Deal as Americans Suffer. Orion Rummler of Axios: "President Trump told reporters at a Labor Day briefing on Monday that he is 'taking the high road' by not meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats to negotiate the next coronavirus stimulus package.... Unemployment benefits have expired for millions of Americans, but House Democrats and the White House are no closer to a deal -- while nearly one in eight households are struggling to get enough to eat.... 'I don't need to meet with them to be turned down,' Trump told reporters. 'They don't want to make a deal because they think if the country does as badly as possible ... that's good for the Democrats.'"

The Rich Get Richer & the Poor Get Poorer. Megan Cassella of Politico: "The path toward economic recovery in the U.S. has become sharply divided, with wealthier Americans earning and saving at record levels while the poorest struggle to pay their bills and put food on the table. The result is a splintered economic picture characterized by high highs -- the stock market has hit record levels -- and incongruous low lows: Nearly 30 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits, and the jobless rate stands at 8.4 percent. And that dichotomy, economists fear, could obscure the need for an additional economic stimulus that most say is sorely needed. The trend is on track to exacerbate dramatic wealth and income gaps in the U.S., where divides are already wider than any other nation in the G-7.... Spiraling inequality can also contribute to political and financial instability, fuel social unrest and extend any economic recession. The growing divide could also have damaging implications for ... Donald Trump's reelection bid. Economic downturns historically have been harmful if not fatal for incumbent presidents, and Trump's base of working-class, blue-collar voters in the Midwest are among the demographics hurting the most." ~~~

~~~ Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Are you better off now than you were in July?... Stocks are up; the economy added more than a million jobs in 'August'...; preliminary estimates suggest that G.D.P. is growing rapidly in the third quarter, which ends this month. But the stock market isn't the economy: more than half of all stocks are owned by only 1 percent of Americans, while the bottom half of the population owns only 0.7 percent of the market.... What Friday's [jobs] report actually gave us was a snapshot of the state of the labor market around Aug. 12.... The next employment report, which will be based on data collected this week ... will probably (not certainly) be weaker than the last.... And the situation remains dire for the hardest-hit workers.... One disturbing fact about the August report was that average wages rose.... Rising average wages at this point are a sign that those who really need jobs aren't getting them. So the economy is still bypassing those who need a recovery most. Yet most of the safety net that temporarily sustained the economic victims of the coronavirus has been torn down."

I'm Going to Disneyland --! To Get Covid. Tarpley Hitt of the Daily Beast: "... the Downtown Disney district [in Disneyland Anaheim] had no on-site testing. In a letter to the unions in June, Disney Labor Relations Director Bill Pace called testing 'not viable' and prone to 'false negatives,' in spite of the fact that it has been implemented in Orlando. Likewise, the district did not contain its visitors, but allowed streams of thousands to pass in and out of the area with little more than a temperature check. But the most alarming difference, cast members told The Daily Beast, involved the district's shadowy contact tracing. Four sources familiar with the matter told The Daily Beast that Disney has kept the total number of positive cases at the district under wraps, alerting unions only to the positive test results of their members -- often days after the fact, risking further exposure.... 'We want to know if any cast members have tested positive. But Disney has taken the position that they're only going to tell us if our cast members do,' said Matt Bell, a spokesperson for UFCW Local 324, one of a dozen unions representing workers, or 'cast members,' at Disneyland."

Way Beyond the Beltway

Belarus. Yuras Karmanau of the AP: "A leading opposition activist and several other members of an opposition council in Belarus went missing Monday and their colleagues feared they were detained as part of the authorities' efforts to squelch nearly a month of protests against the re-election of the country's authoritarian leader. Maria Kolesnikova, a member of the Coordination Council created by the opposition to facilitate talks with President Alexander Lukashenko on a transition of power, was reportedly put on a minibus in the capital, Minsk, and driven away by unidentified people. Her disappearance follows a massive rally Sunday that drew an estimated 100,000 protesters pushing for the resignation of Lukashenko, who extended his 26-year rule in the Aug. 9 election that the opposition sees as rigged." ~~~

     ~~~ Update: The Belarus Government Tells a Different Story. Robyn Dixon of the Washington Post: "A Belarus opposition leader [Maria Kolesnikova] who played a key role in leading recent anti-government street protests was arrested after she resisted being expelled to neighboring Ukraine early Tuesday, according to Ukrainian authorities. The Belarus state news agency maintained that she was arrested while trying to leave the country.... Ivan Kravtsov, a member of the opposition Coordinating Council and Anton Rodnenkov, its spokesman, were also seized Monday." A Guardian story is here.

U.K. London Bridges Falling Down. Mark Landler of the New York Times: "... Hammersmith Bridge, a majestic but badly corroded 19th-century suspension bridge that connects the district of Barnes with much of London, was closed last month for safety reasons.... Two major crossings in the city center, Vauxhall Bridge and London Bridge, are closed to car traffic while they receive urgent repairs. Tower Bridge, the very symbol of London, was closed for two days last month after a mechanical glitch jammed its drawbridge open.... Hammersmith Bridge is an apt metaphor for all the ways the country has changed after a decade of economic austerity, years of political wars over Brexit, and months of lockdown to combat the pandemic, the last of which has decimated already-stressed public finances." Mrs. McC: Apparently our "special relationship" with Britain extends to a shared dedication to neglecting vital infrastructure.

News Lede

AP: "Helicopters rescued more people from wildfires Tuesday as flames chewed through bone-dry California after a scorching Labor Day weekend that saw a dramatic airlift of more than 200 people and ended with the state's largest utility turning off power to 172,000 customers to try to prevent more blazes. Three early morning helicopter flights pulled another 35 people from the Sierra National Forest, the California National Guard said. California has already set a record with 2 million acres (809,000 hectares) burned this year, and the worst part of the wildfire season is just beginning. The previous record was set just two years ago and included the deadliest wildfire in state history, which swept through the community of Paradise and killed 85 people."

Comments

[PD Pepe]

"Donald Trump is emerging as a kind of cult figure in Germany’s increasingly varied far-right scene. 'Trump has become a savior figure, a sort of great redeemer for the German far right."

My son in Germany sent this story to me yesterday (see above link) and it chilled me to the bone. To try and understand this one has to accept the desperation, emptiness and vile morality of these people who haven't learned anything from the past and if so would gladly repeat it.

@Ak: wanted to slap you on the back and say "Well done, sir, enjoyed it thoroughly " re: your limerick yesterday.

I'm off to get my flu shot––"just a shot away"–– and by the way the Stones have a new song––something about living in a ghost town.

[PD Pepe]

Nick Kristof's report card on Fatty's campaign pledges:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/opinion/sunday/trump-promises-check.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

[Anonymous]

The Atlantic and its writers have been a national treasure as of late. This piece by Adam Serwer is historically rich and his analysis is spot on. It's a standout based on the pure pleasure of reading such a well written piece. "For the First Time, America May Have an Anti-Racist Majority"

"There has never been an anti-racist majority in American history; there may be one today in the racially and socioeconomically diverse coalition of voters radicalized by the abrupt transition from the hope of the Obama era to the cruelty of the Trump age. All political coalitions are eventually torn apart by their contradictions, but America has never seen a coalition quite like this.

History teaches that awakenings such as this one are rare. If a new president, and a new Congress, do not act before the American people’s demand for justice gives way to complacency or is eclipsed by backlash, the next opportunity will be long in coming."

https://bit.ly/2ZhZNxv

[Marie Burns]

@Anonymous: Thank you. I wanted to link Serwer's article, but I don't have an Atlantic subscription, so I greatly appreciate your linking it. And you're right; the Atlantic, which has been around since 1857, is a particular treasure now. Funny, Donald Trump doesn't think so.

[Akhilleus]

PD,

Thanks. There's not a lot to laugh about these days, what with the president demanding that his gun knobber supporters clean the guns and head out to kill them some Democrats and minorities, but he is, in many ways a supremely comical figure, the sort of stock character one might have seen in Roman theater, like Miles Gloriosus, the overbearing braggart of a soldier (in "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", Stephen Sondheim's Miles Gloriosus was given to statements like "I am my ideal", and after listing all his wonderful qualities, finishing by saying "Even I am impressed!"--very Trumpian, with the exception that Miles actually WAS in the military, no bone spurs), or Parasitus, typically a greedy liar and, as his name suggests, a parasite.

He also fits the model of the Senex Iratus, a comic type who traditionally strutted about declaring himself to be far greater than he was, and trying to use his money and position to fuck over people he hated. Also very Trumpian.

Trump also fits the model of the more modern narrative types: the Evil Clown, the Mean Boss, the Grasping CEO, and the Sleazy Politician.

If it weren't for the fact that, unlike stock characters in the theater, Fatty has inflicted great damage on the country, and the world (allowed to do so by equally rapacious, dangerous machers), he'd be a regular butt of jokes on national comedy shows like SNL. Oh, wait. He IS a regular butt of jokes on SNL.

[Bobby Lee]

@AK: SNL is fine but I'd much rather be listening to Walter Cronkite and Edward Murrow roasting Trumps buns on the evening news.

[Bobby Lee]

Trump expanding the "No drill zone" to the Atlantic coast from Florida up through South Carolina is no big deal. It's not like he was running against a "drill, baby, drill" candidate. Biden will just say thanks and gt on with other matters.

[RAS]

It's funny that Matt Gaetz is becoming a face of the "great replacement" conspiracy theory considering he was promoting his cuban immigrant "son" earlier this year.

[Akhilleus]

Bobby Lee,

Trump would move to have Bill (Dis)Barr have Cronkite and Murrow arrested and jailed for telling the truth about him.

[Marie Burns]

@Akhilleus: Yeah, and Bill (Dis)Barr would do it. @Bobby Lee: But Murrow & Cronkite making creamed toast a la Trump would be sublime.