Today’s media was consumed with news of the spread of coronavirus to the president and First Lady, as well as concern over the degree to which it has spread to other people associated with the White House.
Tonight Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project tweeted this call to the Biden campaign to seize the moment with a take-no-prisoners mindset. I wholeheartedly approve! What do you think?
I wish Trump and Melania an expeditious recovery and hope very much that they will be in good health as they face electoral humiliation, repudiation and the harsh judgement of the American people on Election Day. Trump’s lying has become one of the most lethal events in our nation’s history. If US mortality rates were what they are in Germany, more than 150,000 Americans would still be alive. Trump’s cruel disregard for the American people has ravaged our economy, our kid’s educations and fundamental elements of the American way of life.
There is no person in America that has done more to spread Covid than @realDonaldTrump and no one has tried harder to catch it. Trump couldn’t have been more personally reckless than if he went to Sturgess and licked the doorknobs on the porta-johns. He politicized mask wearing and thus sentenced tens of thousands to cruel and lonely deaths. He has let loose a national insanity that manifests itself in the lunacy of antimask protesters storming Walmart’s and supermarkets in spasms of idiocy and craziness. His political rallies are dangerously delusional events where the advice of public health experts and MD’s is stupidly ignored. Each gathering spreads a disease that kills. It kills here more than anywhere else.
This week has stripped bare the rotting and vile roots of Trumpism. It began with the revelation that the great conman and tax cheat paid $750 in Federal taxes and owes more than $400 million to undisclosed lenders, much of it personally guaranteed against no discernible income. The debate was a moment of national humiliation that disgraced the Presidency, the United States and the American people. At the end of the debate Trump incited extremist militia groups by delivering what they interpreted as a weapons ready order from the Commander in Chief. Heavily armed fascist Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and dozens of white supremacist Groups heard a lock and load order. Ask them. Believe them. Take them seriously. Trump has threatened the peaceful transition of power and intimated violence should he lose. He has made clear that his loss would be THE evidence of a stolen election.
He has made up false and wild stories about corrupted ballots for the purpose of underming faith in our election’s integrity. These are unpardonable actions for an American President and they desecrate the sacrifice of every patriot from the fields at Lexington and Concord to Gettysburg, Normandy and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Trump has lied to the country on more than 25,000 occasions, assaulted the rule of law, assailed our institutions, stoked racial animus and been spectacularly corrupt. He is singularly responsible for one of the great tragedies in American history. His campaign is imploding. Paschal, Miller, Guilfoye, Melania, all of them have disgraced themselves and stained the Presidency. They are a wretched, corrupt and self interested gang of incompetents and malicious people who have done profound damage to this country in four short years. There should be no political mercy shown towards Trump and Trumpism in this moment.
Mr. Vice President, your duty requires you to order your campaign to put its ads back on the air. @JoeBiden Trump is out of money. Spend him into the ground. Georgia is close. @MikeEspyMS is close in Mississippi. The Kansas Senate race is close.
Trumpism is an authoritarian and UNAMERICAN ideology that teems with menace and intimations of violence. It is a cult of personality led by a lethal liar who lacks intelligence, grace, empathy, and competence. Trumpism is a scourge. It is a metastic cancer. We need to crush it. Should Trump be disadvantaged in this moment, then we should rejoice. Pour it on. Vote him out. No let up. The pace and intensity of attacks should be increasing and should not stop until he is humiliated and sent home to face the judgement of history and in hopefully a good long time, his maker.
Actually, I appreciate Biden’s more restrained approach; he’s modeling the kind of response a normal person should have when someone falls ill. Biden is reminding us all that we don’t need to settle for a President who is a relentlessly self-serving, spitting, screaming a-hole.
In fact - and I realize this is a bit hyperbolic - it kind of reminds me of the final punch Muhammad Ali didn’t take as George Foreman headed for the mat during the Rumble in the Jungle: the punch was there and ready to go, but holding the punch communicated dignity and strength while throwing it would have just been a dick move. Biden didn’t throw the punch, though you knew it was there if need be.
Once Trump is out of the hospital, wish him well, and then tear him a new one Joe.
Let Biden and Harris take the high road, while the Lincoln Project and others continues to hit hard. It's a good opportunity for Biden and Harris to foreground the policies they will implement, all the positive stuff. Let others do the hammering on Trump's extreme flaws.
I agree, Jim. Catherine L wrote a concise, apt description of Trump’s hideous reign of agony, the unnecessary deaths he could have prevented, the misery his greed and abuses of power have wrought. Catherine, you captured my anger and profound sadness and the fear I have felt for my mom and our country all rolled up in your account.
I don’t want Joe to appear weak. But I love that he is empathetic and is calling us to come together. I appreciate the classy act and the humane act of pulling his negative ads for now.
I am weary. Joe is a bridge over these troubled waters. I’m still afraid he could have the virus after 90 minutes in the same air with the mask-less Trump family and that spitting, interrupting demagogue on the stage with him.
The analogy of the Ali-Foreman fight doesn't hold for me. I'm not too familiar with it, but will assume Foreman was going down for the count in an obvious manner - at least to Ali. We are not anywhere near certitude Trump is on his way out. The faint hope some of us are beginning to feel is all too fragile and may be easily dashed. Now is no time to be showing grace toward that utterly graceless individual.
I got you. The point I was trying to make with the Ali-Foreman comparison was that Ali, in the moment, was gracious. Of course the comparison stops there. Trump is a vicious, spiteful, poorly-coiffed orangutan who doesn't deserve a nanoparticle of sympathy, but I don't literally wish a plague on him. Biden modeled the kind of concern a normal human-like person experiences when they hear that someone isn't well, and that was a gracious moment. Frankly, Biden is not my first, second, or third choice, but the contrast between him and the Orange Menace is vast. In this election, I'm voting for the human. I really don't know what the other guy is.
Steve Schmidt is right. It's time Democrats quit being door mats and fight tooth and nail against Trump and all he stands for. It's time to drive home the fact that Trump has thrown everyone in this country, even his own family, under the bus. Biden must take advantage of this and etch Trump's utter disregard for human life into the mind of every American.
Biden needs to get out there and do it personally. We need more than a "mister nice guy" as President. The job requires a great deal of strength of charactor alongside a mountain of integrity, massive courage, inspired devotion to the cause of the people and energy to spare...a rare animal indeed and in the next month we need to see it in Joe Biden.
Absolutely, Daria! Not least of why, because the Trumpsters see any degree of human compassion as a weakness to be exploited. This is not a time for turning the other cheek, IMO. Biden can be magnanimous in victory come November whenever the final ballots are tallied. Until then, the battle goes on.
I believe Biden should remain presidential, compassionate, and continue to be the peacemaker, while his surrogates hammer away at the recklessness of the administration.
I so appreciate your summary of Trump’s atrocities, and your description of his affect on our humanity and democracy. But I agree with Jim Carroll’s response to Joe’s approach. Here’s why: his call to all Americans lifted my spirits. I don’t want Joe to beat Trump by becoming Trump. I understand the argument that his base thinks kindness is weakness. I’m glad he took the high road. Fox has nothing nasty to report about him. This is a National moment.
I'm torn. High road or low road? I agree that beating Trump by becoming Trump feels like a betrayal of the democratic values we aspire to post-Trump. But Catherine L's post of Steve Schmidt's advice to Biden delineates how the pre-Trump Republican party would respond to a similar opening. Remember, that is who Steve Schmidt and the Lincoln Project are, Bush era holdouts against Trump. While I appreciate their efforts to de-throne the Orange Menace, I find their brand of politics noxious and vile. That said, their tactics are effective, and should be considered in this dirty dog fight, who's outcome is going to define the character of our country. I do NOT want to be the loser with a clean conscience on this one.
"...couldn’t have been more personally reckless than if he went to Sturgess and licked the doorknobs on the porta-johns." My name is Barbara, and I approve this disgusting...metaphor?!
Biden should not relax one little bit. The campaign has followed the rules in the pandemic, and as a result they can do what they want.
Scump didn't follow the rules and now he's stuck. As we used to say in the military, the campaign can take their TS cards to the chaplain, and he will punch them.
No mercy for these scum, and personally I pray all of them will soon receive their Just Deserts for their treason. If we can't do hanged, drawn and quartered, dying in agony on a respirator is an acceptable replacement.
I'd like to explore your metaphor a bit. The way we manage metastatic cancers is to kill the cancer cells, either by cutting them out of the body, or killing them in place with poisons, radiation, etc. In your metaphor, the carriers of Trumpism would be Trumpists, who are people who have, like metastatic cancer cells, "gone bad." Removing Trump does nothing: you would have to eliminate all of the Trumpists. All of the Republicans in power, a fair number of Democrats who "go along," and somewhere around 100M ordinary US citizens, include the old fellow who lives across the street from me with a "Trump" sticker on his vehicle that I have to see every day when I wash dishes. He's a nice older gentleman, perhaps in his 80's, with a sweet wife with Alzheimers: except for COVID, I'm sure we'd have invited him and his wife over for dinner.
But he's a metastatic cancer cell. We need to eliminate him. Also, one of my dearest friend's mother-in-law. My sister and her husband. A whole bunch of my wife's cousins. And a blast of nuclear radiation for pretty much the whole state of Texas.
I understand your sentiment. Really, I do. But we need to look a little deeper into why so many people turned so bad all at the same time.
I'll offer a simplistic answer to a complex question. Many are angry or fearful at the perceived attack on their way of life and values. They are tired of hearing that America has wronged large numbers of people, and resent tax dollars being spent to help immigrants and people who do not have jobs. Trump speaks to those fears and resentments unapologetically, and incurs their passionate support as a result.
When his zero-co-pay, taxpayer-funded, world-class treatment at Walter Reed hospital has healed him, Donald Trump will redouble his efforts to avoid paying income tax and to strip healthcare coverage from millions of ACA enrollees. As the cliché has it, "You can't make this stuff up."
My first thought was he should be treated like "regular" Americans. A "regular" American would probably be on a gurney in the hallway wearing a mask waiting hours for test results. My guess a "regular" Americans with the low grade fever would have been sent home to self monitor. If hospitalized, "regular" American would be isolated from family members and friends. A "regular" American would have been told his insurance would not cover the experimental monoclonal antibody treatment he received. The latter pi$$es me off the most. My sister has pancreatic cancer. She is doing GREAT! It has been two and a half years since her surgery. By a twist of fate, she caught it earlier than most pancreatic cancer patients do and was operated on by one of best cancer surgeons in the Midwest. After surgery, her surgeon and oncologist wanted her to get a scan that is only performed at one hospital in our state. The appointments were booked six weeks out. She was supposed get a scan on a Monday. The Friday before the hospital contacted her to tell her insurance had not approved the scan yet. She had to sign a waiver that she would cover the cost of the scan if her insurance didn't. The scan costed $12000. She was between a rock and hard place. Her surgeon said she had thirty suspected metastases in her liver. She needed the scan sooner rather than later. The results of the scan dictated her treatment plan. She signed the waiver and fought the insurance company for months to get it paid for. The happy ending, besides still being alive after two and a half years, was she got the insurance company to pay. However, I must confess she is a health insurance industry consultant, so she knew how to navigate the process. That said the irony of Donald Trump benefiting from a system he wants to bring down is not lost on me (visualize angry emoji)
Sharon, I said this very thing last night, that anyone in our "regular" shoes would never have the availability of experimental treatments, because we couldn't pay for them. If Trump comes out of this, he'd BETTER acknowledge that to every person in this country; that he was saved only because of extraordinary measures not given to us ordinary people. But he won't...he'll act like it was his due as the almighty President, and that the rest of us can just suffer. I cannot tell you how angry all this makes me.
Jean McCarthy, I just got done watching the Press Conference with the President's doctors. Seven doctors and three nurses for someone with a cough. The level of drugs prescribed are crazy too. Yes, I get he is the President of the United States, however that seems like someone is bringing a bazooka to a knife fight.
Best wishes to your sister. And you are right in the importance of understanding the process of navigating the health care system and your insurance plan. Daunting enough without the President of the United States trying to strip our health care protections away, so that he and his buddies can put more money in their pockets.
Linda Skinner, you are so sweet! My sister knows the process very well. My mother has multiple autoimmune diseases and my sister stays on top of dealing with the insurance companies for her too. I know with certainty my mother would be dead or seriously incapacitated if she had to navigate a pre-ACA system even with my sister at the helm.
I worked on the implementation of the ACA in Arizona. Although I retired 6 years ago I spend a lot of time now trying to educate people about what they will lose if the ACA is lost. I always believed that when people saw how much better their lives were for the ACA that they would never let it go. And after 10 years of the ACA, it is so firmly embedded in our health care culture now that people just have no idea what was there before. I also so misunderstood the depths of ignorance among much of the population and I never envisioned the nightmare of 45 and his gang.
Linda Skinner, I know it baffles me! I have done the pre-ACA insurance dance. It was very stressful. There were a lot of great changes with ACA. With covering Pre-existing conditions being the game changer.
Dana Wilber, I will! She is giving cancer Hell! She is fortunate she has good health insurance with the exception of the scan debacle. In fact, she and her husband rode their Harleys from Michigan to Iowa to see a specialist monitoring her at the University of Iowa.
I guess I'm in the minority. I do not wish the Trumps a speedy recovery. This is not an illness that came out of the blue. Their infection is their own doing. They have made a political statement out of eschewing mask wearing, and consequently have encouraged others to not wear masks, endangering themselves and the people around them. A speedy recovery will just show their followers that there is nothing to worry about. It will make Trump look strong. That is not good for this country or planet Earth.
And remember, even if Trump “recovers,” problems can remain. Both Mara Gay and Chris Cuomo have talked about their persistent physical and mental/emotional symptoms after recovery.
If I were to be honest I feel much the same. I think about the Republican mantra of personal responsibility and picking ones self up by the bootstraps and I feel ill. I think about the healthcare debate and all of the law and order garbage and I feel anger. I think about all of the taunting and lies and I feel vindictive. No amount of positive thinking can help me feel otherwise.
There are so many potential downstream impacts of what can or might happen that it is hard to know what to wish for. When you actually live in the Twilight Zone you have to be wary of everything. However, for almost 24 hours now all I can think is "arrogant fools".
I find myself wishing Barr and McConnell and Jordan would get it. Then I ask for forgiveness. Sometimes, I think about that Nazi who tried to kill Hitler and got caught. He is a hero in history now. So, maybe our thoughts are coming in defense of our elderly, our Black and Brown fellow Americans, women, teachers, meat-packing employees, frontline health care workers, etc, etc. that Trump and his followers and enablers have put in danger over and over again, just to feed their own need for power, wealth and luxury. Totally understandable.
I don't know what Nazi you're referring to, but one of my heroes is The Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was a German Christian minister who concluded that he was called to participate in the plot to assassinate Hitler with a bomb. The bomb detonated but under a heavy wooden table that prevented Hitler from sustaining fatal injuries. Bonhoeffer and his partners were found and spent their remaining days in prison before being executed at the 11th hour before the war ended. More about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer
Klaus von Stauffenberg, associated with Operation Valkyrie. The attempt was in July of 1944, when the Nazis were already headed toward defeat. There was a 2008 movie about it starring Tom Cruise, called "Valkyrie."
That’s who I meant! Didn’t recognize that it was a whole group effort. They are heroes now. No one is trying to physically hurt Trump but Trump himself, through his arrogance, ignorance and self-neglect. I think many of us cannot help thinking that he deserves to fall ill to this virus he has minimized. I don’t mean to say that makes us heroic, only that it means we are human.
If we espunged from our history all the politicians, including Presidents, who have lied to us some of the time, there wouldn't be many left to write history about. That they do not tell all the truth, all of the time is essential sometimes to governing in these complex times. That they lie from time to time to protect the people or the security of the nation, that can happen and we should be able to understand. However, when a systematic effort is to made to eradicate any notion of the importance of observable facts and to impose an ideologically based invention in the place of reality, it is clear that we are no longer just talking about a "loss of confidence", we are witnessing a calculated effort to deprive the people of any frame of reference for their lives or any contact with that very necessary sense of reality. This is the antithesis of history, the imprisoning of the people in fictional world and the end of freedom for all but for he who is imposing this nightmare. There are no easy ways to save society from such people, they would give you no quarter in return and they should be driven to the Wall and permanently removed from any further contact with society.... no mercy and no letting up on Nov 3rd, Jan 20th and well beyond. These people are a plague to be erased from the earth before they kill any more people.
I'm not a "kick 'em when they're down" type of person, but if the situation was reversed, the Republicans and this president would not hesitate to go in for the kill.
Remember how Trump suspended his campaign and sent Hillary get well cards when she came down with pneumonia during the 2016 campaign? He didn't. He viciously mocked her for her "lack of strength."
I agree. I have voted Democrat for 20+ years because the candidates reflect my values. I’ve said this for awhile - Democrats need to pick a strategic viper and have THAT person go after the dumpster fire DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY. This person would know ahead of time that the attacking would likely kill any chance for elected office. But don’t relent. And then in a year or so, give that Democrat a plum job in the national organization. Sitting around and being nice is a thing of the past.
Nope, she is already a candidate and she needs to get elected. We need a sacrificial lamb. I'm talking about smart, fearless leader (a fire breathing woman who everyone backs would be great) in the Democratic party who doesn't mind laying into Dumpster Fire, who is maybe in their last elected term, or who doesn't want to run for office. Liz Warren could do it but she needs to keep her Senate seat.
I momentarily caught a glimpse of the Fox News coverage. While Biden and Obama were trying to unite us to pray for Trump, Fox was pointing fingers at everyone else and ultimately blaming China. Same old divide, divide, divide. I live surrounded by red. I thought to myself, to this, is what most of my neighbors are listening. The only reason why I saw that was because our local Fox affiliate was broadcasting Fox News feed.
Yes, I look at the fox website regularly just to find out what the cult is being fed. Their writers were so desperate to portray Democrats as heartless non-humans that they invented callous behavior since they could find so little of it. The same writers also look at the idea of delaying the Barrett hearings since so many of the participants need to quarantine, as a vicious political maneuver (as opposed to rushing through an approval during an election despite the Republican Senators' blocking of Merrick Garland was somehow the ordinary decent thing to do).
I actually like the way Joe is handling it, too, Sharon. My comment about "kick 'em" went more to pointing out the stark difference between the two parties/candidates.
The trump administration’s pattern of lying in comparison to normal politicians is analogous to the difference between a Personality Disorder diagnosis and normal human behavior. A Personality Disorder is marked by a pervasive pattern of making things worse instead of better, whereas normal people only occasionally do so.
I think it is a basic requirement for any budding autocrat! Just imagine for a moment the distorted image one must have of SELF to find such a project or progression NORMAL.
Thanks, Stuart. I agree that there are times the truth needs to be withheld for the sake of security, or whatever. I also agree with the rest of your statement. May I use parts of it, if I attribute it to you?
Do you think that his supporters are rallying behind this "Me, Myself, and I" Ideology? I As I mentioned I had taken comfort in the absence of an ideology and thus the absence of a rallying cry (or organizing principle). In my mind, Opposition was the organizing principle, and figured that would burnout.
If, in fact, this "Me, myself, and I" Ideology is in place, I consider that a longer-lasting unifier.
But not those who vote for him. They will stay easy meat for, and they will await noisily, the next "messiah" that will come along promising to stamp all over those that have achieved more than them in life...unless something is done to bring them back into society quickly!
That is certainly part of it, perhaps especially among the wealthy Trump supporters, but another ideological foundation is that “the Other” is bad and probably evil.
I sure hope this would put a stop to the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett who will cause the deaths of so many people by taking away their healthcare. If just a few Republican Senators come down with COVID-19 and can't vote Majority Leader McConnell won't have the votes to get her confirmed.
McConnell would infect the whole senate to get one more extreme judge. The question is whether the senators will go along, and we already know that one.
I wonder if those balance sheet minded campaign donors in Bedminster NJ have made the calculation that they paid up to $250,000 to trump for the privilege of being exposed to a life threatening virus.
Anyone who contracts COVID-19 would likely say they'd pay anything to go back in time and not get this disease.
Like he wants to give or gave to the meat-packing industry business owners who wanted to force their workers back to the warehouse or fire them and wanted impunity from lawsuits by workers who came back and got sick or died because of it.
Heather, thank you for this concise wrap up of what is perhaps the most contemptible day of this Presidency. You have taken the high road in your commentary and I applaud you. I stayed off of Facebook yesterday because I know my Irish temper would have gotten the better of my common decency and upbringing. My temper yesterday was also defused by listening to Joe Biden take the route he did in conveying calmness and positivity. We all need to take a collective breath and do what we need to do to remove this horrendous Administration. The expression vote as if your life depends on it has never been so apparent as it is right now. Take care.
Joseph Nye Welch, in 1954, said to Joseph McCarthy, “At long last, have you left no decency?”. This is how I feel about Trump and Company. Selfish, self-serving elitists who think like they are superior and the little people, us, are subservient. It is obnoxious behavior by adults. What’s worse is that children are affected by their actions.
Is it awful that I do not feel sympathy for this fake president?
No, Marlene, I don't think it's awful. I wrote about that in response to yesterday's letter. I have no sympathy for him or any of his sycophantic minions. I will pray for their eventual recovery - I can't make myself pray for speedy; eventual will have to suffice. And you're right, there isn't a shred of decency in this administration.
Let’s start spreading some fake news of our own. Why not? It seems to work for the other guys.
The President actually went to the hospital for a brainectomy, but finding the space to be a cavernous void, they had to call in a team of spelunkers to consult. Animatronic Mike Pence is standing by to read his scripts and squint at the cameras like the Marlboro Man. Melania Trump is finally able to relax.
I swear all of this is true. It’s at least as true as 95% of the shit the Trump admin says.
"Reporter Chris Wallace of the Fox News Channel, who moderated Tuesday’s debate and so was one of those the Trumps’ entourage endangered, revealed today that Trump arrived too late on Tuesday for a COVID-19 test, as the venue required. Instead, there was an 'honor system.'"
Seriously? SERIOUSLY??? trump too late to be tested, ergo dependence on 'honor system'???
Pop quiz: trump, Fox, COVID, honor. Which of those words does not belong?
My friends, I am full of sound and fury, signifying SOMETHING. Verklempt. Talk among yourselves.
Barbara, Wallace & Hemmer's honor system conversation defines the entire presidency in a nutshell! I actually said, "WTF!", when I read that exchange. The words Trump and Honor are two mutually exclusive terms.
The president of the United States is a super spreader, and his best-known victim is himself. Trump has put into sharp relief his failure to protect the nation and everyone in his circle. Even his supporters can't dispute it. And unless they're comatose, they also know they too are culpable.
If he succumbs, he avoids the humiliation of what's now an inevitable defeat at the polls. If he survives, he will lose in a landslide but face criminal charges after leaving office on Jan. 20 and the prospect of financial ruin and prison.
If it's the latter scenario, how much damage will he inflict on the nation before Jan. 20?
$250,000 may be chump change (pun intended) to some of Trump's donors, but it's real money to many of his 'street level' supporters. I can't help but wonder how many of his die-hard followers in my county, people who can't pay their rent or gas for their car, feel now? I doubt they recognize that if Trump will screw the people who shelled out that kind of cash, why should they expect he'll treat them any differently?
Of course, the Trump campaign didn't pull its negative ads. I'm sure they think that doing so on the Biden campaign's part just proved what 'losers' they are. In Trump world, nice guys don't finish last - they don't finish at all, because Trump turns them into roadkill.
As a "businessman," Donald Trump repeatedly cheated his investors, along with his contractors, subcontractors, legal workers, and illegal workers. Even if many of his less well-healed followers refuse to believe it, his large donors knew it. They gambled on Donald, that they would profit with him at the expense of other people as marks. Although on principle I wish them to live through this, as death by covid seems an extreme punishment for greed and stupidity, they are getting exactly what they paid for.
The sweet irony; he can’t blame anybody else. There is, and can only be, one culprit in the downfall of Donald J. Trump. It’s unspinnable, untwistable, un-“Fake news!”-able. Putin can’t save him with his army of internet trolls, hackers, and bots, including and especially QAnon.
Those well-heeled campaign donors ar Bedminster thought they were buying close access to the president, and they got exactly that. Go ahead, try to get your money back. It’s already spent.
Trump is poison, and it’s his own poison that brings him down.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Trump and his close, maskless White House and campaign staff. You bet they do.
Tonight Steve Schmidt of The Lincoln Project tweeted this call to the Biden campaign to seize the moment with a take-no-prisoners mindset. I wholeheartedly approve! What do you think?
I wish Trump and Melania an expeditious recovery and hope very much that they will be in good health as they face electoral humiliation, repudiation and the harsh judgement of the American people on Election Day. Trump’s lying has become one of the most lethal events in our nation’s history. If US mortality rates were what they are in Germany, more than 150,000 Americans would still be alive. Trump’s cruel disregard for the American people has ravaged our economy, our kid’s educations and fundamental elements of the American way of life.
There is no person in America that has done more to spread Covid than @realDonaldTrump and no one has tried harder to catch it. Trump couldn’t have been more personally reckless than if he went to Sturgess and licked the doorknobs on the porta-johns. He politicized mask wearing and thus sentenced tens of thousands to cruel and lonely deaths. He has let loose a national insanity that manifests itself in the lunacy of antimask protesters storming Walmart’s and supermarkets in spasms of idiocy and craziness. His political rallies are dangerously delusional events where the advice of public health experts and MD’s is stupidly ignored. Each gathering spreads a disease that kills. It kills here more than anywhere else.
This week has stripped bare the rotting and vile roots of Trumpism. It began with the revelation that the great conman and tax cheat paid $750 in Federal taxes and owes more than $400 million to undisclosed lenders, much of it personally guaranteed against no discernible income. The debate was a moment of national humiliation that disgraced the Presidency, the United States and the American people. At the end of the debate Trump incited extremist militia groups by delivering what they interpreted as a weapons ready order from the Commander in Chief. Heavily armed fascist Proud Boys, Oath Keepers and dozens of white supremacist Groups heard a lock and load order. Ask them. Believe them. Take them seriously. Trump has threatened the peaceful transition of power and intimated violence should he lose. He has made clear that his loss would be THE evidence of a stolen election.
He has made up false and wild stories about corrupted ballots for the purpose of underming faith in our election’s integrity. These are unpardonable actions for an American President and they desecrate the sacrifice of every patriot from the fields at Lexington and Concord to Gettysburg, Normandy and the Edmund Pettus Bridge. Trump has lied to the country on more than 25,000 occasions, assaulted the rule of law, assailed our institutions, stoked racial animus and been spectacularly corrupt. He is singularly responsible for one of the great tragedies in American history. His campaign is imploding. Paschal, Miller, Guilfoye, Melania, all of them have disgraced themselves and stained the Presidency. They are a wretched, corrupt and self interested gang of incompetents and malicious people who have done profound damage to this country in four short years. There should be no political mercy shown towards Trump and Trumpism in this moment.
Mr. Vice President, your duty requires you to order your campaign to put its ads back on the air. @JoeBiden Trump is out of money. Spend him into the ground. Georgia is close. @MikeEspyMS is close in Mississippi. The Kansas Senate race is close.
Trumpism is an authoritarian and UNAMERICAN ideology that teems with menace and intimations of violence. It is a cult of personality led by a lethal liar who lacks intelligence, grace, empathy, and competence. Trumpism is a scourge. It is a metastic cancer. We need to crush it. Should Trump be disadvantaged in this moment, then we should rejoice. Pour it on. Vote him out. No let up. The pace and intensity of attacks should be increasing and should not stop until he is humiliated and sent home to face the judgement of history and in hopefully a good long time, his maker.
Actually, I appreciate Biden’s more restrained approach; he’s modeling the kind of response a normal person should have when someone falls ill. Biden is reminding us all that we don’t need to settle for a President who is a relentlessly self-serving, spitting, screaming a-hole.
In fact - and I realize this is a bit hyperbolic - it kind of reminds me of the final punch Muhammad Ali didn’t take as George Foreman headed for the mat during the Rumble in the Jungle: the punch was there and ready to go, but holding the punch communicated dignity and strength while throwing it would have just been a dick move. Biden didn’t throw the punch, though you knew it was there if need be.
Once Trump is out of the hospital, wish him well, and then tear him a new one Joe.
Let Biden and Harris take the high road, while the Lincoln Project and others continues to hit hard. It's a good opportunity for Biden and Harris to foreground the policies they will implement, all the positive stuff. Let others do the hammering on Trump's extreme flaws.
I agree, Jim. Catherine L wrote a concise, apt description of Trump’s hideous reign of agony, the unnecessary deaths he could have prevented, the misery his greed and abuses of power have wrought. Catherine, you captured my anger and profound sadness and the fear I have felt for my mom and our country all rolled up in your account.
I don’t want Joe to appear weak. But I love that he is empathetic and is calling us to come together. I appreciate the classy act and the humane act of pulling his negative ads for now.
I am weary. Joe is a bridge over these troubled waters. I’m still afraid he could have the virus after 90 minutes in the same air with the mask-less Trump family and that spitting, interrupting demagogue on the stage with him.
The analogy of the Ali-Foreman fight doesn't hold for me. I'm not too familiar with it, but will assume Foreman was going down for the count in an obvious manner - at least to Ali. We are not anywhere near certitude Trump is on his way out. The faint hope some of us are beginning to feel is all too fragile and may be easily dashed. Now is no time to be showing grace toward that utterly graceless individual.
I got you. The point I was trying to make with the Ali-Foreman comparison was that Ali, in the moment, was gracious. Of course the comparison stops there. Trump is a vicious, spiteful, poorly-coiffed orangutan who doesn't deserve a nanoparticle of sympathy, but I don't literally wish a plague on him. Biden modeled the kind of concern a normal human-like person experiences when they hear that someone isn't well, and that was a gracious moment. Frankly, Biden is not my first, second, or third choice, but the contrast between him and the Orange Menace is vast. In this election, I'm voting for the human. I really don't know what the other guy is.
I agree!
I really like the hyperbole. There is a greater strength than the back and forth of force.
Love the analogy. thanks!
Steve Schmidt is right. It's time Democrats quit being door mats and fight tooth and nail against Trump and all he stands for. It's time to drive home the fact that Trump has thrown everyone in this country, even his own family, under the bus. Biden must take advantage of this and etch Trump's utter disregard for human life into the mind of every American.
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Biden needs to get out there and do it personally. We need more than a "mister nice guy" as President. The job requires a great deal of strength of charactor alongside a mountain of integrity, massive courage, inspired devotion to the cause of the people and energy to spare...a rare animal indeed and in the next month we need to see it in Joe Biden.
Absolutely, Daria! Not least of why, because the Trumpsters see any degree of human compassion as a weakness to be exploited. This is not a time for turning the other cheek, IMO. Biden can be magnanimous in victory come November whenever the final ballots are tallied. Until then, the battle goes on.
I believe Biden should remain presidential, compassionate, and continue to be the peacemaker, while his surrogates hammer away at the recklessness of the administration.
I so appreciate your summary of Trump’s atrocities, and your description of his affect on our humanity and democracy. But I agree with Jim Carroll’s response to Joe’s approach. Here’s why: his call to all Americans lifted my spirits. I don’t want Joe to beat Trump by becoming Trump. I understand the argument that his base thinks kindness is weakness. I’m glad he took the high road. Fox has nothing nasty to report about him. This is a National moment.
I'm torn. High road or low road? I agree that beating Trump by becoming Trump feels like a betrayal of the democratic values we aspire to post-Trump. But Catherine L's post of Steve Schmidt's advice to Biden delineates how the pre-Trump Republican party would respond to a similar opening. Remember, that is who Steve Schmidt and the Lincoln Project are, Bush era holdouts against Trump. While I appreciate their efforts to de-throne the Orange Menace, I find their brand of politics noxious and vile. That said, their tactics are effective, and should be considered in this dirty dog fight, who's outcome is going to define the character of our country. I do NOT want to be the loser with a clean conscience on this one.
It’s a tough call. I will vote for him either way. Could we gain some if he continues to tell the icky truth of this administration? Maybe.
Totally agree!
Fox reports “nasty” whether nasty happens or not! Get that!!
I hear you.
But I trust he's a little more mobile and not in need of restoration...we don't need another silent head on Mt. Rushmore
Bravo! I too, think the Biden campaign should continue the onslaught of their ads. No more Mr. Nice Guy! This is war now.
CIVIL WAR II
"...couldn’t have been more personally reckless than if he went to Sturgess and licked the doorknobs on the porta-johns." My name is Barbara, and I approve this disgusting...metaphor?!
No one ever has to wonder what Schmidt REALLY thinks.
This is true.
Biden should not relax one little bit. The campaign has followed the rules in the pandemic, and as a result they can do what they want.
Scump didn't follow the rules and now he's stuck. As we used to say in the military, the campaign can take their TS cards to the chaplain, and he will punch them.
No mercy for these scum, and personally I pray all of them will soon receive their Just Deserts for their treason. If we can't do hanged, drawn and quartered, dying in agony on a respirator is an acceptable replacement.
I'd like to explore your metaphor a bit. The way we manage metastatic cancers is to kill the cancer cells, either by cutting them out of the body, or killing them in place with poisons, radiation, etc. In your metaphor, the carriers of Trumpism would be Trumpists, who are people who have, like metastatic cancer cells, "gone bad." Removing Trump does nothing: you would have to eliminate all of the Trumpists. All of the Republicans in power, a fair number of Democrats who "go along," and somewhere around 100M ordinary US citizens, include the old fellow who lives across the street from me with a "Trump" sticker on his vehicle that I have to see every day when I wash dishes. He's a nice older gentleman, perhaps in his 80's, with a sweet wife with Alzheimers: except for COVID, I'm sure we'd have invited him and his wife over for dinner.
But he's a metastatic cancer cell. We need to eliminate him. Also, one of my dearest friend's mother-in-law. My sister and her husband. A whole bunch of my wife's cousins. And a blast of nuclear radiation for pretty much the whole state of Texas.
I understand your sentiment. Really, I do. But we need to look a little deeper into why so many people turned so bad all at the same time.
I'll offer a simplistic answer to a complex question. Many are angry or fearful at the perceived attack on their way of life and values. They are tired of hearing that America has wronged large numbers of people, and resent tax dollars being spent to help immigrants and people who do not have jobs. Trump speaks to those fears and resentments unapologetically, and incurs their passionate support as a result.
I agree, Syd. Your simple answer is simply on point.
Thank You.
TL;DR.
I see that on Twitter—what does that mean.?
Too long; didn’t read. Enjoy your day!
Ah, thank you! You too.
Pence? The VP reference was confusing, but I think Catherine L meant Biden.
Thanks, Ellie! No, it was a gaffe on my part though I have no idea how I wrote Pence not Biden! I'll delete, edit and repost!
VP and VP. We’re all too damn tired!
That's what I get for writing after waking from a sound sleep! You're right, though, we're all exhausted!
When his zero-co-pay, taxpayer-funded, world-class treatment at Walter Reed hospital has healed him, Donald Trump will redouble his efforts to avoid paying income tax and to strip healthcare coverage from millions of ACA enrollees. As the cliché has it, "You can't make this stuff up."
My first thought was he should be treated like "regular" Americans. A "regular" American would probably be on a gurney in the hallway wearing a mask waiting hours for test results. My guess a "regular" Americans with the low grade fever would have been sent home to self monitor. If hospitalized, "regular" American would be isolated from family members and friends. A "regular" American would have been told his insurance would not cover the experimental monoclonal antibody treatment he received. The latter pi$$es me off the most. My sister has pancreatic cancer. She is doing GREAT! It has been two and a half years since her surgery. By a twist of fate, she caught it earlier than most pancreatic cancer patients do and was operated on by one of best cancer surgeons in the Midwest. After surgery, her surgeon and oncologist wanted her to get a scan that is only performed at one hospital in our state. The appointments were booked six weeks out. She was supposed get a scan on a Monday. The Friday before the hospital contacted her to tell her insurance had not approved the scan yet. She had to sign a waiver that she would cover the cost of the scan if her insurance didn't. The scan costed $12000. She was between a rock and hard place. Her surgeon said she had thirty suspected metastases in her liver. She needed the scan sooner rather than later. The results of the scan dictated her treatment plan. She signed the waiver and fought the insurance company for months to get it paid for. The happy ending, besides still being alive after two and a half years, was she got the insurance company to pay. However, I must confess she is a health insurance industry consultant, so she knew how to navigate the process. That said the irony of Donald Trump benefiting from a system he wants to bring down is not lost on me (visualize angry emoji)
Sharon, I said this very thing last night, that anyone in our "regular" shoes would never have the availability of experimental treatments, because we couldn't pay for them. If Trump comes out of this, he'd BETTER acknowledge that to every person in this country; that he was saved only because of extraordinary measures not given to us ordinary people. But he won't...he'll act like it was his due as the almighty President, and that the rest of us can just suffer. I cannot tell you how angry all this makes me.
Jean McCarthy, I just got done watching the Press Conference with the President's doctors. Seven doctors and three nurses for someone with a cough. The level of drugs prescribed are crazy too. Yes, I get he is the President of the United States, however that seems like someone is bringing a bazooka to a knife fight.
Best wishes to your sister. And you are right in the importance of understanding the process of navigating the health care system and your insurance plan. Daunting enough without the President of the United States trying to strip our health care protections away, so that he and his buddies can put more money in their pockets.
Linda Skinner, you are so sweet! My sister knows the process very well. My mother has multiple autoimmune diseases and my sister stays on top of dealing with the insurance companies for her too. I know with certainty my mother would be dead or seriously incapacitated if she had to navigate a pre-ACA system even with my sister at the helm.
I worked on the implementation of the ACA in Arizona. Although I retired 6 years ago I spend a lot of time now trying to educate people about what they will lose if the ACA is lost. I always believed that when people saw how much better their lives were for the ACA that they would never let it go. And after 10 years of the ACA, it is so firmly embedded in our health care culture now that people just have no idea what was there before. I also so misunderstood the depths of ignorance among much of the population and I never envisioned the nightmare of 45 and his gang.
Linda Skinner, I know it baffles me! I have done the pre-ACA insurance dance. It was very stressful. There were a lot of great changes with ACA. With covering Pre-existing conditions being the game changer.
Brava to your sister! Please convey my best regards to her for continued success in her journey against cancer.
Dana Wilber, I will! She is giving cancer Hell! She is fortunate she has good health insurance with the exception of the scan debacle. In fact, she and her husband rode their Harleys from Michigan to Iowa to see a specialist monitoring her at the University of Iowa.
Sharon, you can use emojis here. Click Reply and then right-click in the text box and choose Emoji. You can also press Windows + period.
I guess I'm in the minority. I do not wish the Trumps a speedy recovery. This is not an illness that came out of the blue. Their infection is their own doing. They have made a political statement out of eschewing mask wearing, and consequently have encouraged others to not wear masks, endangering themselves and the people around them. A speedy recovery will just show their followers that there is nothing to worry about. It will make Trump look strong. That is not good for this country or planet Earth.
And remember, even if Trump “recovers,” problems can remain. Both Mara Gay and Chris Cuomo have talked about their persistent physical and mental/emotional symptoms after recovery.
would we notice any difference?
If I were to be honest I feel much the same. I think about the Republican mantra of personal responsibility and picking ones self up by the bootstraps and I feel ill. I think about the healthcare debate and all of the law and order garbage and I feel anger. I think about all of the taunting and lies and I feel vindictive. No amount of positive thinking can help me feel otherwise.
There are so many potential downstream impacts of what can or might happen that it is hard to know what to wish for. When you actually live in the Twilight Zone you have to be wary of everything. However, for almost 24 hours now all I can think is "arrogant fools".
I find myself wishing Barr and McConnell and Jordan would get it. Then I ask for forgiveness. Sometimes, I think about that Nazi who tried to kill Hitler and got caught. He is a hero in history now. So, maybe our thoughts are coming in defense of our elderly, our Black and Brown fellow Americans, women, teachers, meat-packing employees, frontline health care workers, etc, etc. that Trump and his followers and enablers have put in danger over and over again, just to feed their own need for power, wealth and luxury. Totally understandable.
I don't know what Nazi you're referring to, but one of my heroes is The Rev. Dietrich Bonhoeffer who was a German Christian minister who concluded that he was called to participate in the plot to assassinate Hitler with a bomb. The bomb detonated but under a heavy wooden table that prevented Hitler from sustaining fatal injuries. Bonhoeffer and his partners were found and spent their remaining days in prison before being executed at the 11th hour before the war ended. More about him here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_Bonhoeffer
The whole story of that plot is here: thousands were involved one way or the other, and thousands executed in its wake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20_July_plot#:~:text=On%2020%20July%201944%2C%20Claus,associated%20with%20the%20entire%20event.
Klaus von Stauffenberg, associated with Operation Valkyrie. The attempt was in July of 1944, when the Nazis were already headed toward defeat. There was a 2008 movie about it starring Tom Cruise, called "Valkyrie."
Wow. Didn't know this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assassination_attempts_on_Adolf_Hitler
That’s who I meant! Didn’t recognize that it was a whole group effort. They are heroes now. No one is trying to physically hurt Trump but Trump himself, through his arrogance, ignorance and self-neglect. I think many of us cannot help thinking that he deserves to fall ill to this virus he has minimized. I don’t mean to say that makes us heroic, only that it means we are human.
Exactly. As the saying goes: You buy the ticket, you take the ride.
You pays yer money and you takes yer chances.
I am not looking for any recovery for any of them. I hope they have an anguishing 3.5 months before each and every one of them succumb.
If we espunged from our history all the politicians, including Presidents, who have lied to us some of the time, there wouldn't be many left to write history about. That they do not tell all the truth, all of the time is essential sometimes to governing in these complex times. That they lie from time to time to protect the people or the security of the nation, that can happen and we should be able to understand. However, when a systematic effort is to made to eradicate any notion of the importance of observable facts and to impose an ideologically based invention in the place of reality, it is clear that we are no longer just talking about a "loss of confidence", we are witnessing a calculated effort to deprive the people of any frame of reference for their lives or any contact with that very necessary sense of reality. This is the antithesis of history, the imprisoning of the people in fictional world and the end of freedom for all but for he who is imposing this nightmare. There are no easy ways to save society from such people, they would give you no quarter in return and they should be driven to the Wall and permanently removed from any further contact with society.... no mercy and no letting up on Nov 3rd, Jan 20th and well beyond. These people are a plague to be erased from the earth before they kill any more people.
I'm not a "kick 'em when they're down" type of person, but if the situation was reversed, the Republicans and this president would not hesitate to go in for the kill.
Remember how Trump suspended his campaign and sent Hillary get well cards when she came down with pneumonia during the 2016 campaign? He didn't. He viciously mocked her for her "lack of strength."
Carol and Jim, I saw that replay on "The Last Word" last night. It is still disgusting to watch.
I agree. I have voted Democrat for 20+ years because the candidates reflect my values. I’ve said this for awhile - Democrats need to pick a strategic viper and have THAT person go after the dumpster fire DAY AFTER DAY AFTER DAY. This person would know ahead of time that the attacking would likely kill any chance for elected office. But don’t relent. And then in a year or so, give that Democrat a plum job in the national organization. Sitting around and being nice is a thing of the past.
I think that is Kamala Harris's job!
Nope, she is already a candidate and she needs to get elected. We need a sacrificial lamb. I'm talking about smart, fearless leader (a fire breathing woman who everyone backs would be great) in the Democratic party who doesn't mind laying into Dumpster Fire, who is maybe in their last elected term, or who doesn't want to run for office. Liz Warren could do it but she needs to keep her Senate seat.
Not if she aspires to be president.
First she has to be elected VP and then we'll see! Memories are short if all goes well. If not she'll not be in the game anyway.
I like Stuart's answer below!
Lynell Abbott, I am not a "kick 'em when they're down type of person" either. I like the way "Joe" is handling it.
I momentarily caught a glimpse of the Fox News coverage. While Biden and Obama were trying to unite us to pray for Trump, Fox was pointing fingers at everyone else and ultimately blaming China. Same old divide, divide, divide. I live surrounded by red. I thought to myself, to this, is what most of my neighbors are listening. The only reason why I saw that was because our local Fox affiliate was broadcasting Fox News feed.
Yes, I look at the fox website regularly just to find out what the cult is being fed. Their writers were so desperate to portray Democrats as heartless non-humans that they invented callous behavior since they could find so little of it. The same writers also look at the idea of delaying the Barrett hearings since so many of the participants need to quarantine, as a vicious political maneuver (as opposed to rushing through an approval during an election despite the Republican Senators' blocking of Merrick Garland was somehow the ordinary decent thing to do).
I actually like the way Joe is handling it, too, Sharon. My comment about "kick 'em" went more to pointing out the stark difference between the two parties/candidates.
The trump administration’s pattern of lying in comparison to normal politicians is analogous to the difference between a Personality Disorder diagnosis and normal human behavior. A Personality Disorder is marked by a pervasive pattern of making things worse instead of better, whereas normal people only occasionally do so.
I think it is a basic requirement for any budding autocrat! Just imagine for a moment the distorted image one must have of SELF to find such a project or progression NORMAL.
Thanks, Stuart. I agree that there are times the truth needs to be withheld for the sake of security, or whatever. I also agree with the rest of your statement. May I use parts of it, if I attribute it to you?
Of course, Jean. No problem.
One comfort that I held on to once Trump was President was that he demonstrated NO ideology, making him, to me, less dangerous.
How would you define his ideology now?
Me. Myself and I...and devil take the hindmost and a little bow to the desires of McConnell/Koch to make sure they don't get in his way.
Do you think that his supporters are rallying behind this "Me, Myself, and I" Ideology? I As I mentioned I had taken comfort in the absence of an ideology and thus the absence of a rallying cry (or organizing principle). In my mind, Opposition was the organizing principle, and figured that would burnout.
If, in fact, this "Me, myself, and I" Ideology is in place, I consider that a longer-lasting unifier.
I think it is what unifies the GOP/Koch network
But not those who vote for him. They will stay easy meat for, and they will await noisily, the next "messiah" that will come along promising to stamp all over those that have achieved more than them in life...unless something is done to bring them back into society quickly!
This confirms my longer-held view that his supporters are generally oppositional. For me that will not hold them together for very long.
If that's their uniting principle, they will be consumed by their own hatred; it's just not a sustainable ideology.
That is certainly part of it, perhaps especially among the wealthy Trump supporters, but another ideological foundation is that “the Other” is bad and probably evil.
his base (different but overlapping with supporters) are ONLY me, myself, and I.
I sure hope this would put a stop to the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett who will cause the deaths of so many people by taking away their healthcare. If just a few Republican Senators come down with COVID-19 and can't vote Majority Leader McConnell won't have the votes to get her confirmed.
Tillis and Lee for two...
And Senator Johnson makes three!
Unfortunately Cunningham, Tillis's democratic opponent, just admitted sexting with his strategist-- just when we need him to shine
My God! This person has a sex life? The horror!
Shoot
yikes
McConnell would infect the whole senate to get one more extreme judge. The question is whether the senators will go along, and we already know that one.
My lord.
We knew it was going to be a rough month, but this is a wild card I couldn’t have imagined. So many wild cards in this deck of debauchery.
Thank you leaving us with Biden’s words, and as always, thank you for your dedication. Hope is at a premium right now.
It’s only October 2nd.
I wonder if those balance sheet minded campaign donors in Bedminster NJ have made the calculation that they paid up to $250,000 to trump for the privilege of being exposed to a life threatening virus.
Anyone who contracts COVID-19 would likely say they'd pay anything to go back in time and not get this disease.
Ellie Kona, If I was one of those donors, I would put a "stop" on the check.
He probably made them sign one of is waivers of responsibility, like he makes attendees at his rallies.
Like he wants to give or gave to the meat-packing industry business owners who wanted to force their workers back to the warehouse or fire them and wanted impunity from lawsuits by workers who came back and got sick or died because of it.
I think Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have refused to agree to McConnell's desire to give employers immunity from responsibility.
Thank goodness for her.
Heather, thank you for this concise wrap up of what is perhaps the most contemptible day of this Presidency. You have taken the high road in your commentary and I applaud you. I stayed off of Facebook yesterday because I know my Irish temper would have gotten the better of my common decency and upbringing. My temper yesterday was also defused by listening to Joe Biden take the route he did in conveying calmness and positivity. We all need to take a collective breath and do what we need to do to remove this horrendous Administration. The expression vote as if your life depends on it has never been so apparent as it is right now. Take care.
Joseph Nye Welch, in 1954, said to Joseph McCarthy, “At long last, have you left no decency?”. This is how I feel about Trump and Company. Selfish, self-serving elitists who think like they are superior and the little people, us, are subservient. It is obnoxious behavior by adults. What’s worse is that children are affected by their actions.
Is it awful that I do not feel sympathy for this fake president?
No, Marlene, I don't think it's awful. I wrote about that in response to yesterday's letter. I have no sympathy for him or any of his sycophantic minions. I will pray for their eventual recovery - I can't make myself pray for speedy; eventual will have to suffice. And you're right, there isn't a shred of decency in this administration.
No. He has drained all the sympathy out of us.
I just was reminded of a delightful irony: Donald Trump was diagnosed with Covid19 on China Day, October 1.
I bet they are in hysterics in Beijing.
Let’s start spreading some fake news of our own. Why not? It seems to work for the other guys.
The President actually went to the hospital for a brainectomy, but finding the space to be a cavernous void, they had to call in a team of spelunkers to consult. Animatronic Mike Pence is standing by to read his scripts and squint at the cameras like the Marlboro Man. Melania Trump is finally able to relax.
I swear all of this is true. It’s at least as true as 95% of the shit the Trump admin says.
“Animatronic Mike Pence”....that is a perfect definition. I shall remember it. Thanks!
Thanks for bringing some levity to my otherwise depressing morning read.
😁
"Reporter Chris Wallace of the Fox News Channel, who moderated Tuesday’s debate and so was one of those the Trumps’ entourage endangered, revealed today that Trump arrived too late on Tuesday for a COVID-19 test, as the venue required. Instead, there was an 'honor system.'"
Seriously? SERIOUSLY??? trump too late to be tested, ergo dependence on 'honor system'???
Pop quiz: trump, Fox, COVID, honor. Which of those words does not belong?
My friends, I am full of sound and fury, signifying SOMETHING. Verklempt. Talk among yourselves.
Barbara, Wallace & Hemmer's honor system conversation defines the entire presidency in a nutshell! I actually said, "WTF!", when I read that exchange. The words Trump and Honor are two mutually exclusive terms.
"WTF!" I most truly understand that. We speak the same language, Daria!
I can't remember what I said, Daria and Barbara, when I read about the honor system, but I know my eyes bulged out in disbelief!
The president of the United States is a super spreader, and his best-known victim is himself. Trump has put into sharp relief his failure to protect the nation and everyone in his circle. Even his supporters can't dispute it. And unless they're comatose, they also know they too are culpable.
If he succumbs, he avoids the humiliation of what's now an inevitable defeat at the polls. If he survives, he will lose in a landslide but face criminal charges after leaving office on Jan. 20 and the prospect of financial ruin and prison.
If it's the latter scenario, how much damage will he inflict on the nation before Jan. 20?
The debate organizers used the "honor" system? He and his sycophants have no honor, no decency, no respect, no compassion, etc. etc.
Just how niave can one get!
$250,000 may be chump change (pun intended) to some of Trump's donors, but it's real money to many of his 'street level' supporters. I can't help but wonder how many of his die-hard followers in my county, people who can't pay their rent or gas for their car, feel now? I doubt they recognize that if Trump will screw the people who shelled out that kind of cash, why should they expect he'll treat them any differently?
Of course, the Trump campaign didn't pull its negative ads. I'm sure they think that doing so on the Biden campaign's part just proved what 'losers' they are. In Trump world, nice guys don't finish last - they don't finish at all, because Trump turns them into roadkill.
As a "businessman," Donald Trump repeatedly cheated his investors, along with his contractors, subcontractors, legal workers, and illegal workers. Even if many of his less well-healed followers refuse to believe it, his large donors knew it. They gambled on Donald, that they would profit with him at the expense of other people as marks. Although on principle I wish them to live through this, as death by covid seems an extreme punishment for greed and stupidity, they are getting exactly what they paid for.
The sweet irony; he can’t blame anybody else. There is, and can only be, one culprit in the downfall of Donald J. Trump. It’s unspinnable, untwistable, un-“Fake news!”-able. Putin can’t save him with his army of internet trolls, hackers, and bots, including and especially QAnon.
Those well-heeled campaign donors ar Bedminster thought they were buying close access to the president, and they got exactly that. Go ahead, try to get your money back. It’s already spent.
Trump is poison, and it’s his own poison that brings him down.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Trump and his close, maskless White House and campaign staff. You bet they do.