The Commentariat -- Sept. 28, 2020

Your Sunday Evening News Bombshell:

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

     ~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: By way of comparison, I am a middle-middle-class taxpayer, definitely nowhere near upper-middle class. I have some tax writeoffs, too. I just checked my return for one of the years Donald Trump paid $750; I paid almost $36,000 in federal income tax. You think I don't resent carrying Donald Trump? You can bet the millions of lower- and middle-class taxpayers who paid far more than $750 (or nothing, as Trump paid in previous years) also resent carrying a fat tax cheat who lives in a grotesque gold-and-marble NYC penthouse and a Palm Beach mansion. What American voters need to get straight in their wee, bitty brains is that Donald Trump is a crime boss, and he has been shaking them down for decades. According to CNN this morning, the average U.S. taxpayer pays $12,000/year in federal income taxes.

The tax returns ... demonstrate that [Donald Trump] was far more successful playing a business mogul than being one in real life. -- Russ Buettner, et al., in a series of charts & graphs that detail Trump's business career

David Leonhardt of the New York Times outlines key findings from the Times' report. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump-supporting pundits have been making the argument, more or less, that "all billionaires do it." While it is true that everyone, especially the very wealthy, take the tax breaks the Congress so kindly grants them, Leonhardt points out that the very wealthy, on average, still pay much higher taxes than does Cheeto von Cheat-o (thanks, Akhilleus!): "... most affluent people still pay a lot of federal income tax. In 2017, the average federal income rate for the highest-earning .001 percent of tax filers — that is, the most affluent 1/100,000th slice of the population — was 24.1 percent, according to the I.R.S. Over the past two decades, Mr. Trump has paid about $400 million less in combined federal income taxes than a very wealthy person who paid the average for that group each year."

We're Going to Keep on Drip-Drip-Dropping This Stuff Till the Election. Dean Baquet, Executive Editor of the New York Times: "A team of New York Times reporters has pored over this information to assemble the most comprehensive picture of the president’s finances and business dealings to date, and we will continue our reporting and publish additional articles about our findings in the weeks ahead. We are not making the records themselves public because we do not want to jeopardize our sources, who have taken enormous personal risks to help inform the public.... The records ... underscore why citizens would want to know about their president’s finances: Mr. Trump’s businesses appear to have benefited from his position, and his far-flung holdings have created potential conflicts between his own financial interests and the nation’s diplomatic interests.... The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the First Amendment allows the press to publish newsworthy information that was legally obtained by reporters even when those in power fight to keep it hidden."

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones: "Trump’s story turns out to be pretty simple. After screwing everybody in sight during the ’90s, he entered 2000 in parlous shape. What saved him was The Apprentice, which earned him a boatload of money and formed the foundation of his flurry of licensing and endorsement deals over the next few years. But as revenue from the show faded, so did Trump’s finances, and since 2012 he’s been losing money every year. Long story short, Trump has lost money at pretty much everything he’s ever done. The only exception is The Apprentice and the licensing money it enabled — which probably owes more to reality show mogul Mark Burnett than to Trump himself. Trump’s ability to squander the money he inherited is breathtaking. He’s also deeply in debt, it turns out, with about $300 million in loans coming due over the next few years."

Time for a U.S. Tax Code Revision. Will Sommer & Asawin Suebsaeng of the Daily Beast: “Tucked into the paper’s report is a damning graph that examines how Trump’s tax liabilities are far greater for his ventures overseas than they are at home. 'In 2017,' the Times writes, 'the president’s $750 contribution to the operations of the U.S. government was dwarfed by the $15,598 he or his companies paid in Panama, the $145,400 in India and the $156,824 in the Philippines.'”

David Atkins of the Washington Monthly: "... despite [the] potential [of Trump's apparent tax cheating] to land the entire Trump family in penury and jail, what is far more terrifying for the country isn’t what lies in his past of tax avoidance. It’s the time bomb of debt that lies in Trump’s very near future. It’s about the mystery of who owns Trump’s outlandish debts, and the degree of secret power they may be wielding over the country. One fact stands out far above all the others in its staggering implications: Donald Trump is personally responsible for $421 million worth of loans coming due in the next few years. Not his business. Him. Personally. He has no means of repaying them. He already refinanced his few profitable properties, and sold off most of his stocks to stay afloat. He appears short on liquidity. And we still don’t know to whom he owes the money.... This fact has frightening implications for public policy and national security. Even minor debts are a frequent reason for the government to deny a security clearance, for the obvious reason that indebted and financially desperate public servants make easy marks for bribery, blackmail and potential treason." Emphasis original. ~~~    

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Atkins manages to implicate former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy in Trump's convoluted financial schemes. "Donald Trump’s history with Deutsche Bank has always merited special scrutiny, but never more than now. The head honchos at Deutsche would have known just how desperate Trump’s financial position was. But they lent to him anyway. Why? It certainly looks even more ominous that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s son was managing the real estate division at Deutsche that lent to Trump, and that Justice Kennedy unexpectedly retired to ensure Trump could seat his replacement."

Ivanka Trump, Fake Consultant. Andrew Prokop of Vox: "One major theme of the Times piece is that the IRS audit of Trump is extremely serious, and that he could end up owing the US government more than $100 million....  Trump’s tax returns became the white whale of his critics, with everyone from reporters to House Democrats to New York state prosecutors trying to get ahold of them. After more than four years, Buettner, Craig, and McIntire of the Times got the goods.... The specific reason Trump paid no taxes is embarrassing — it’s because his businesses lost tons of money. (At least, that’s what he claims — keep in mind that the tax return information is his representation of his businesses to the IRS.)... There’s clearly some legally questionable stuff in there. For instance, the records obtained by Buettner, Craig, and McIntire show that Trump wrote off $26 million in supposed consulting fees as a business expense between 2011 and 2018. But the reporters took the added step of uncovering where some of that money was going — and they figured out that some of those write-offs matched payments to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, as revealed on her own financial disclosure forms. Now, Ivanka was an executive vice president of the Trump Organization — not some outside consultant."

Nolan McCaskill of Politico: “... Donald Trump on Sunday dismissed as 'totally fake news' a New York Times report about how little he has paid in federal taxes. 'It’s fake news,' Trump told reporters at a news conference in the White House briefing room. 'It’s totally fake news. Made up. Fake.'... Trump on Sunday reprised his long-held argument that he can’t release his taxes because he’s under audit by the IRS, an agency he claimed treats him 'very badly.' But the president said he would be 'proud to show' his tax returns once the audit was over, and insisted that he’d paid 'a lot' of money in taxes, including New York state income taxes.... Former IRS officials, however, have ... said there‘s nothing stopping the president from releasing his taxes during an audit.” Mrs. McC: Yeah, shame on the Times & the IRS. P.S. It is not only former IRS officials who have said there is not legal impediment for Trump to release his taxes; so has Charles Rettig, Trump's very special hand-picked IRS chief (see Alberto Luperon's post, linked below).

Brooke Seipel of the Hill: "Democrats sounded off against President Trump on Sunday evening after The New York Times dropped a bombshell report detailing 20 years of his tax history, including that he avoided income taxes for 10 of those years.... Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) ask[ed] people to raise their hands if they paid more than Trump.... [Sen. Elizabeth Warren tweeted,] 'Donald Trump ... knows better than anyone that there’s one set of rules for the wealthy and giant corporations and another for hardworking Americans—and instead of using his power to fix it, he's taken advantage of it at every turn.'... [Bill] Pascrell, the chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, said in his own statement that the Times' findings 'reveal absolutely staggering theft by Trump before and while he has been in office,' and that 'Trump must release his tax returns as is longstanding practice and is required by law to Congress instead of grandstanding and attacking the media.'"

Alberto Luperon of Law & Crime: “A former federal prosecutor says there’s enough to justify an investigation, and that the possible appointment of another special counsel 'should be in play.'... Daniel R. Alonso, a former federal prosecutor who worked in the Eastern District of New York..., [tweeted,] ' Those who are writing that tax *avoidance* (the term @nytimes uses) is not a crime are exactly right - tax *evasion* is a crime, not 'avoidance.' But there is a lot here that with a proper investigation could lead to discovery of criminality.... This article contains what federal agents and prosecutors call 'predication,' which is the bare amount you need to open a criminal investigation. But who would investigate? The President himself oversees @IRS_CI and @FBI and @TheJusticeDept.... Luckily, regulations from 20 years ago provide for what happens when such a conflict of interest exists: the Attorney General “will appoint a Special Counsel.”'... Alonso cited a case in which Albert J. Pirro Jr., the now-former husband of Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, was found guilty in a 2000 tax fraud case. 'Pirro deducted personal expenses as business, and therefore “had brazenly violated a fundamental tenet of the American tax system: that every taxpayer must pay his or her fair share, regardless of wealth or influence.” He got 29 months in prison.'” ~~~

     ~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Trump, for instance, wrote off more than $70,000 for getting his hair done when filiming "The Apprentice." You do not get to write off your haircuts because you are required to look presentable on the job.

Steve M.: "The Times story suggests two possibilities: that Trump is much less wealthy (and more in debt) than he claims to be and that he pays far less in taxes than he should. Both appear to be true, but Trump's base simply can't process the first notion, so they're responding only to the second one. The responses, as seen in this Breitbart comment thread, are exactly what you'd expect: What about Soros? What about Hunter? What about other Democrats? And of course everyone should pay very little in taxes, because freedom! (Except Hunter and Soros and Democrats in Congress, presumably.)... To the right, government is liberal, and cheating the government is patriotic (unless you're a liberal). This story might make Trumpers like him even more than they already do." See also Ken W.'s comment in today's thread.

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

Presidential Race, Etc.

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

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

Mrs. McCrabbie: We have known all along, if sometimes not knowing to what extent, that Donald Trump is a crook & a con artist with no allegiance to his country of birth. Do you think the guy who worked so hard to cheat his own family and the American people won't work just as hard to cheat us in the upcoming election? ~~~

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

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

John Bresnahan, et al., of Politico: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi has begun mobilizing Democrats for the possibility that neither Joe Biden nor President Donald Trump will win an outright Electoral College victory, a once-in-a-century phenomenon that would send the fate of the presidency to the House of Representatives to decide. Under that scenario, which hasn’t happened since 1876, every state’s delegation gets a single vote. Who receives that vote is determined by an internal tally of each lawmaker in the delegation. This means the presidency may not be decided by the party that controls the House itself but by the one that controls more state delegations in the chamber. And right now, Republicans control 26 delegations to Democrats’ 22, with Pennsylvania tied and Michigan a 7-6 plurality for Democrats, with a 14th seat held by independent Justin Amash. A battle inside the House could be brutal.... Trump, too, has taken notice of the obscure constitutional resolution to a deadlocked Electoral College, both in public and private."

Spencer Hsu of the Washington Post: “A third federal judge on Sunday ordered the U.S. Postal Service to halt changes that have delayed mail delivery nationwide, handing the latest judicial rebuke to unilateral service cuts that critics allege would suppress mail-in voting in November’s elections. U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan of Washington, D.C., sided with the states of New York, Hawaii and New Jersey and the cities of New York and San Francisco. They alleged that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy disrupted operations without first submitting changes to the Postal Regulatory Commission, and told Congress he had no intention of returning removed collection boxes or high-speed sorting equipment. 'It is clearly in the public interest to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, to ensure safe alternatives to in-person voting, and to require that the USPS comply with the law,' Sullivan wrote in a 39-page opinion.”

Christopher Ingraham & Emily Guskin of the Washington Post: “Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was brought on, in part, to use his extensive private-sector experience to make the nation’s venerable mail service more efficient. But the net effect of DeJoy’s operational changes has been a slowdown in the pace of mail delivery. It may be no surprise, then, that a Washington Post-University of Maryland poll showed that Americans, by a more than 2-to-1 margin, reject the notion that the U.S. Postal Service should be 'run like a business,' to use a phrase prevalent in conservative policymaking circles. Instead, most said the USPS should be run as a 'public service,' even if doing so would cost the government money.”

Florida. “An Appalling New Low.” Washington Post Editors: “... Republicans are working feverishly to make it harder for people — or certain kinds of people — to vote. They have undertaken efforts across the country to purge voters from registration rolls, impede voting by mail and stop early voting. An appalling new low in their campaign to disenfranchise people in advance of the Nov. 3 elections has been reached with the bid by Florida Republicans — cheered on by President Trump — to investigate Mike Bloomberg for the 'crime' of trying to help people to be able to vote. Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody (R) called on the FBI and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to investigate efforts by the businessman, philanthropist and former New York mayor on behalf of an organization that is raising money to pay off the court debt of former felons so they can vote.... Ms. Moody cited 'potential violations of election laws.' Mr. Trump (naturally) went further: 'It’s a felony. He’s actually giving money to people. He’s paying people to vote. He’s actually saying, “Here’s money, now you go ahead and vote for only Democrats.” Right?' Nonsense. Any money raised to pay fines and fees goes to a 501(c)(4) foundation, which then goes to the county or state, not to the former felons, who have no idea who helped pay their fines and fees. No one is obligated to register to vote or support a specific candidate. That the coalition’s effort has been underway for more than a year — with some debts already paid off — seems to have escaped the notice of Ms. Moody and other Republicans.”

Austen Erblat, et al., of the Orlando Sun Sentinel: “President Trump’s former campaign manager Brad Parscale was taken from his Fort Lauderdale home by police Sunday afternoon after his wife reported that he was armed and threatening suicide. The police, called by his wife, went to the house in the Seven Isles community, an affluent area in which houses have access to the water. They made contact, 'developed a rapport' and negotiated his exit from the house, the police said in a statement. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center under the Baker Act, which provides for temporary involuntary commitment.”

"Notorious ACB"? No Way. Dahlia Lithwick of Slate: Ruth Bader Ginsburg's "death was painful for the millions of women who called her a role model and hero, because her work mattered to us, and to our material lives. It was made more painful because Mitch McConnell was already dancing on her grave back in May, months before she died, and because within an hour of her death, he announced that her seat was his to fill. This was an act of erasure by a man who didn’t mind that his rush to replace her violated the old fashioned idea that the country should be given just one moment to honor her legacy before going to war over what remained. And it was painful because we knew that whoever was named to her seat would be tasked with undoing her legacy.... As Donald Trump explained when he introduced her, [Amy Coney Barrett's] work to dismantle Ginsburg’s legacy in abortion, health care, discrimination, and gun rights is to be construed as pro-women simply because a woman will be doing it. Even Judge Barrett’s own remarks relied on coopting Ginsburg’s reputation and legacy, as if the fact that one’s husband is the better cook is the only hallmark of female empowerment." ~~~

~~~ Emma Brown & Jon Swaine of the Washington Post gingerly examine how Amy Coney Barrett's Roman Catholic faith could influence her Supreme Court opinions. An important point: "It is not possible to fully know from past rulings what any nominee would actually do once on the court. Appeals court judges are bound by precedent in a way that justices are not; only the latter can overturn Supreme Court precedent."

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here. (Also linked yesterday.)

Talking on Planes When Others Can Hear. Monica Alba of NBC News: "The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has grown increasingly concerned that ... Donald Trump, pushed by a new member of his coronavirus task force, is sharing incorrect information about the pandemic with the public. Dr. Robert Redfield, who leads the CDC, suggested in a conversation with a colleague Friday that Dr. Scott Atlas is arming Trump with misleading data about a range of issues, including questioning the efficacy of masks, whether young people are susceptible to the virus and the potential benefits of herd immunity. 'Everything he says is false,' Redfield said during a phone call made in public on a commercial airline and overheard by NBC News.... Redfield acknowledged after the flight from Atlanta to Washington, D.C., that he was speaking about Atlas...."

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

Good-ish News for TikTok Users. Rachel Lerman of the Washington Post: "TikTok received a reprieve of its ban from U.S. app stores on Sunday after a federal judge in Washington granted a preliminary injunction blocking an order from President Trump. It was the second setback for the Trump administration in its effort to curb U.S. residents’ access to popular Chinese mobile apps. Last weekend, a federal magistrate in San Francisco cited First Amendment issues in blocking a proposed ban of the WeChat app. U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2019, was not expected to make public his full ruling until Monday. He filed his decision publicly, but his full reasoning was filed separately as a sealed document. Nichols granted the injunction for the piece of the ban that was set to go into effect Sunday night, but denied a motion to halt a second aspect of the ban that doesn’t go into effect until Nov. 12."

Who Shot John Mattingly? Roberto Ferdman, et al., of Vice (Sept. 25): "As part of Wednesday’s long-waited announcement about charges related to the March 13 police raid that killed Breonna Taylor, Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron stated as fact that Taylor’s boyfriend Kenneth Walker fired a shot that hit an officer in the leg that night. But the initial ballistics report, which was conducted by Kentucky State Police and included in the investigative file provided to the attorney general’s office by the Louisville Metro Police Department, failed to prove that Walker fired the bullet that hit the officer, Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly. That means it’s entirely possible that while Walker admitted to firing a bullet, it wasn’t necessarily the one that hit Mattingly, as his lawyer has already publicly insinuated. Walker was charged with attempted murder of a police officer and held in jail for two weeks on a $250,000 bond. The charges have since been dropped, although Walker may still be re-indicted." ~~~

     ~~~ Andrew Wolfson of the Louisville Courier Journal: “A Kentucky State Police ballistics report does not support state Attorney General Daniel Cameron’s assertion that Breonna Taylor’s boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, shot a Louisville police officer the night she was killed. Cameron told reporters Wednesday the investigation into Taylor’s March 13 death had ruled out 'friendly fire' from ex-Louisville Metro Police officer Brett Hankison as the source of the shot that went through LMPD Sgt. Jonathan Mattingly’s thigh, prompting him and officer Myles Cosgrove to return fire, killing Taylor. The KSP report says 'due to limited markings of comparative value,' the 9-mm bullet that hit and exited Mattingly was neither 'identified nor eliminated as having been fired' from Walker’s gun.”

The Commentariat -- Sept. 27, 2020

Late Morning/Afternoon Update:

Your Sunday Evening News Bombshell:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

~~~~~~~~~~

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Commentariat -- Sept. 26, 2020

Afternoon Update:

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

~~~~~~~~~~

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

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

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

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

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

Presidential Race, Etc.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chutzpah, Corruption & Lies, Ctd.

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

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

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

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

The Trumpidemic, Ctd.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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