Only Thing Better Than Trump Impeached Is Josh Hawley

I love how Josh Hawley is now all over the place. Here's two, very well deserved.

Now if we can just get him to do the right thing and resign.

Speaking of Trump:

5 members of legal team depart ahead of Senate impeachment

How do you not love that? 1 Week to go before his impeachment trial and his entire team of 5 defense lawyers quit.  And the only thing better than that is the reason why.

Robert Reich

@RBReich

Trump can’t find lawyers for his Senate trial because he demands they push his false claim that he won the election, thereby becoming accessories to his continuing effort to incite insurrection.

And then there it gets even better.

As Trump's legal team respectfully resigns, his supporters join Dems in blaming him for Capitol riot

Finally today, there is this from the New York Times.

Legal Pressure on Trump Increases With Judge’s Order in Fraud Inquiry

The order, answering a demand for documents by New York’s attorney general, rejected a bid to shield the records with attorney-client privilege.

I tell you, folks, it's a beautiful day.

The Damage Donald Is Now Doing to Our Democracy--and the Very Needed Backlash

 I keep saying this and it's so true. I just can't believe where we are. I can hardly believe how low, how badly this Republican Party President Trump is dragging our nation.

In spite of his, Trump's, continued efforts to disavow, disregard and overturn our recent election, in which he lost, of course, and in spite of the Texas Attorney General getting some other states to go along with him, with them to try to do just that, overturn our election, there is a lot of press just now which is heartening and goes against all of that. Examples, starting from The Atlantic.

Republicans Are Going Down a Dangerous Road

“In elections going forward, not trying to steal the election will be seen as RINO behavior.”

The president and his party have gone to war against America

The Republican Party Is Now a Seditious Organization

These authoritarian yahoos believe that the Supreme Court will ride to their rescue and disenfranchise millions of people whom they don't believe should be allowed to vote anyway

These next two are out of Chicago. The first, the Sun-Times, the second, the Tribune, with thanks to both of them, for sure.

The Republican Party is a danger to American democracy

Chief Justice John Roberts, please do America a favor and make Donald Trump go away

A critical mass of the party has adopted Trump’s disordered personality for its own.

Trump and his GOP enablers are slandering American democracy

How voters are being ‘duped’ by Trump’s election challenges

Trump's SCOTUS stunt 'all theater to keep the fundraising going': Rep. Raskin

After SCOTUS bid, one last act for anti-democracy Republicans to try to install Trump

In Blistering Retort, 4 Battleground States Tell Texas to Butt Out of Election

The attorneys general of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia asked the Supreme Court to reject a lawsuit from Texas seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victories.

Everyone needs to understand this next point.

Republicans are engaged in an act of sedition, and no one should pretend this is just politics

I think the St. Louis Post-Dispatch got this right, no overstatement.

St Louis newspaper editorial board warns GOP incitement close to 'getting someone killed'

There are two sane, responsible Republicans, anyway, speaking up and out on the subject of this President trying to overturn our election. Here's the first.

Mitt Romney tears into Republicans who are threatening to protest the Electoral College vote that will confirm Biden's election victory

Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said it would be "madness" for Republicans to protest the Electoral College vote set to certify President-elect Joe Biden's win.

Here's the second.

Jeb Bush blasts Texas lawsuit: 'This is crazy. It will be killed on arrival.'

Other states are thankfully fighting the 17 states' attempt to overturn our election.

‘Seditious abuse of the judicial process’: States reject Texas effort to overturn Biden’s election

I could hardly believe this.

Russian state media are calling for Trump — or 'Trumpusha' — to get asylum in their country when he leaves the White House so he can save himself from prosecution

Sure, it's Donald Trump but THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES? Thought to be going to Russia??  To avoid prosecution??  Yet this is where we are. Insane.

Then there is the effect this is all having on Der Fuhrer.

'It Is Roiling Him': Reporter Maggie Haberman Unpacks Trump's Refusal To Admit He Lost

Fortunately, with all the Republican Party insanity, there is this, reality.

Despite Trump's Venting and Threats, Biden's Win Is Sealed

Meanwhile, with no leadership from this Republican Party President on this killing pandemic, we have this.

Among the deadliest days in U.S. history: Wednesday

So now, Republicans, we ask you, would you get your little temper tantrum over with and join back with the rest of hard-working, sensible, grounded in reality America, stop this nonsense and recognize, respect our vote, our votes, our election and Democracy?  Please? We have work to do.

Happy Safe Harbor Day, America!

 Yes indeed, Mr. and Mrs. America! Happy Safe Harbor Day!

Safe harbor law locks Congress into accepting electoral votes cast for President-elect Joe Biden

What is Safe Harbor Day, you might ask? Well here you are:

Other than Wisconsin, every state appears to have met a deadline in federal law that essentially means Congress has to accept the electoral votes that will be cast next week and sent to the Capitol for counting on Jan. 6. Those votes will elect Joe Biden as the country’s next president.

So here we are and thank goodness! We've never needed to really acknowledge this day up to now since no sitting President ever denied, ignored, disavowed our vote, our votes, our election and our Democracy. But then, we've never had this much a narcissistic, self-dealing, self-centered, greedy, thoughtless, corrupt President before now, either.

So, go! Enjoy this great and beautiful day!

Now only 6 more days until the Electoral College turns in its formal finding on the election and FORTY-TWO days until inauguration!

Glory, hallelujah!

Meanwhile, he can't leave soon enough. This came out yesterday.

Trump administration officials passed when Pfizer offered months ago to sell the U.S. more vaccine doses.

This came out today, this morning.

Trump’s Attacks on Local Officials Are Spreading Hatred and Inciting Violence

This, though---good news---also came out this morning.

Lawyers Across the Country Urge Bar Associations to Investigate Trump Legal Team

Heavens help us.

Breaking News This Morning

Trump and first lady Melania Trump test positive for COVID-19

The medical community is already responding, naturally.

Have a nice day, everyone.

Additional links:

Aides thought Trump seemed unwell Wednesday, but he kept exposing people Thursday

Top Trump aide Hope Hicks tests positive for coronavirus

RNC chair tests positive for coronavirus

Looks like maybe all around this political party. The President, Melania, Hope Hicks, the head of the RNC and now this guy?

Just Three Days After Meeting With Amy Coney Barrett Without Mask, GOP Senator Mike Lee Also Tests Positive for Covid-19

Meanwhile:

Joe Biden tests negative for coronavirus

Quotes of the Day -- Presidential Debate Edition

After last evening's debacle of a debate, it seemed a good time to maybe quote some evaluations of it. Mind you, too, most of these are from conservative sources, too.

"I can’t say this any more clearly: Our democracy is in terrible danger....And that is why the only choice in this election is Joe Biden. The Democrats are not blameless when it comes to playing politics, but there is no equivalence to the Republicans. The Democratic Party sorted through all the choices, and, led by older Black men and women in South Carolina, rejected the Democratic socialist candidate and said they wanted a moderate unifier named Joe Biden.

The Republicans — who in the past voted for Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, sane conservatives who could be counted upon to uphold the common good — have done no such equivalent thing. They have fallen in line lock step behind a man who is the most dishonest, dangerous, meanspirited, divisive and corrupt person to ever occupy the Oval Office. And they know it. Four more years of Trump’s divide and rule will destroy our institutions and rip the country apart."  

--Thomas Frieman

After that fiasco, Biden should refuse to debate Trump again. The president was petulant and puerile, so what is the point? I wasn’t in the crowd of people who believed Joe Biden shouldn’t deign to debate President Trump, but put me in the crowd that believes he shouldn’t debate him again. Not after Tuesday night’s horror show: a disgrace to the format, an insult to the country, a nearly pointless 90 minutes. And, I should add, a degradation of the presidency itself, which Trump had degraded so thoroughly already.

--Frank Bruni, The New York Times

This debate was disgraceful and painful to watch; everyone knows the reason was Trump. The psychological effect of this debate will be fairly profound on the majority of Americans, which is, “I can’t bear four more years of this.” Trump is the most intensely unlikable candidate in American history, and that matters.

--Peter Wehner

Chris Wallace..."utterly failed at the job assigned to him, which was to make the president behave like a normal human for 90 minutes."

--Alyssa Rosenberg

"For all his heckling, shouting and nonsense talk, Trump made one thing perfectly clear: He’s getting ready to take his chaos and mayhem from the debate stage and use it to try to disrupt the election itself."

---Dana Milbank

"When faced with questions about his actual record and policy, Trump threw up word salads, switched topics, made scurrilous accusations and convinced any rational viewer he is in over his head. He mostly interrupted, repeatedly and falsely accusing Biden of harboring positions that his more progressive opponents in the Democratic primaries held. Trump was a walking Twitter feed — no facts, all bluster and all insults. Unfortunately, moderator Chris Wallace was never able to control Trump, so the debate devolved into constant interruption."

Chris Wallace "...should have halted the debate or cut Trump’s microphone until he agreed to abide by the rules. Trump’s strategy was to be so obnoxious and aggressive that he could avoid answering questions and defending his record. Trump’s job was to win over voters. It’s hard to believe anyone not already part of his cult would be persuaded to support a rude, blustering know-nothing."

--Jennifer Riubin

Let's do this, folks.  Vote. And vote blue.

86 45

BYEDON

On Trump's Taxes

On Trump's taxes, folks, with that New York Times bombshell article of theirs from this weekend (see link below). This is no small thing. This Republican Party President, Donald J Trump paid almost nothing in personal income taxes for nearly two decades.

The President of the United States.

That is incredible. It's nearly unthinkable. A President? Of the United States? And he PAID NO TAXES? None? And not just one year but for NEARLY 20 YEARS?

Someone wanna' tell us what part of a patriot that is?

Can you imagine the uproar if Barack Obama, the nation's first Black President, didn't pay taxes? And then for nearly two decades, too? The Right Wing and Republicans would have been furious. And livid.

Thanks, Republicans!

86 45

BYEDON

Links:

LONG-CONCEALED RECORDS SHOW TRUMP’S CHRONIC LOSSES AND YEARS OF TAX AVOIDANCE

Five takeaways from NYT Trump taxes bombshell

18 Revelations From a Trove of Trump Tax Records

7 takeaways from President Trump's tax returns

5 Takeaways From NY Times Report on Trump's Tax Returns

Six takeaways from Trump's tax return report

Key Takeaways from Trump’s Leaked Tax Records

Trump’s long-hidden tax returns make him look like a terrible businessman, or a cheat. Probably both.

Understanding This President---What He's Done and Is Doing

From Heather Cox Richardson and her Letters from an American, yesterday, August 30, 2020. 

Important writer, important read.

Lots of folks are finally paying attention to the rise of authoritarianism here in the U.S. They are right to be concerned.

Scholars have seen worrisome signs all along. Trump has dismissed nonpartisan career officials and replaced them with loyalists. He has fired the independent inspectors general. He denies Congress’s right and duty to investigate members of the Executive Branch. He has used the Department of Homeland Security and other law enforcement officers of the Executive Branch as a private army. He has packed the courts. He has used the government to advance the interests of himself and his family, which he has installed into government positions. He has solicited help from foreign governments to get reelected. And he and his cronies are trying to undermine our election by preemptively saying the Democrats are committing fraud and by slowing down mail service when voters need to be able to mail in their ballots.

Now, Trump is clearly trying to change the national narrative from his disastrous response to the coronavirus and the economic crash to the idea that he alone can protect white Americans from their dangerous Black neighbors.

Stoking violence is a key tool in the authoritarian’s toolkit. The idea is to increase civil disorder. As violence increases, people will turn to a leader who promises “LAW & ORDER,” as Trump keeps tweeting. Once firmly in power, an authoritarian can then put down his opponents with the argument that they are dangerous criminals.

Trump is advancing just such a strategy. He and members of his administration refuse to condemn violence, and insist that legitimate protesters are all “Antifa.” They are blaming Democrats and “liberal politicians and their incompetent policies” for violent protests, although most of the injuries at the protests have been caused by police or by rightwing thugs. They are stoking white people’s fear of their Black neighbors, with Trump going so far as to talk of how he will keep low-income housing from the suburbs to protect the “Suburban Lifestyle Dream.”

And they are going on the offensive, demanding that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden condemn the violence that they insist comes from protesters, while Trump is actually inciting it from rioters on the right. It is gaslighting at its finest.

America has seen this pattern before. Secessionist leaders before the Civil War needed badly to distract southern white farmers, who were falling behind in an economic system that concentrated wealth at the top, and they howled that northerners were assaulting white southerners and wanted to stamp out their way of life, based in human enslavement. They refused to permit any alternative information to reach their voters. And in the end, they succeeded in rallying their supporters to war.

But that does not have to happen here, now. We can see exactly what Trump is doing, and refuse to embrace it. Democratic leadership is calling out Trump for “willfully fanning the flames of this violence,” as Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) put it today.

Today Biden released a statement saying “the deadly violence we saw overnight in Portland is unacceptable. Shooting in the streets of a great American city is unacceptable. I condemn this violence unequivocally. I condemn violence of every kind by anyone, whether on the left or the right. And I challenge Donald Trump to do the same…. We must not become a country at war with ourselves. A country that accepts the killing of fellow Americans who do not agree with you. A country that vows vengeance toward one another….”

“As a country,” he continued, “we must condemn the incitement of hate and resentment that led to this deadly clash…. What does President Trump think will happen when he continues to insist on fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters? He is recklessly encouraging violence…. The job of a President is to lower the temperature. To bring people who disagree with one another together. To make life better for all Americans, not just those who agree with us, support us, or vote for us.”

In Wisconsin, still reeling from the shooting of Jacob Blake in the back by law enforcement officers, the Lt. Governor cited Trump’s “incendiary remarks” and attempts to create division and said that Trump should not come to Kenosha on Tuesday as he currently plans. Governor Tony Evers (D) agreed, as did Kenosha’s mayor. Evers wrote: "I, along with other community leaders who have reached out, are concerned about what your presence will mean for Kenosha and our state. I am concerned your presence will only hinder our healing. I am concerned your presence will only delay our work to overcome division and move forward together."

It is important to remember that Trump’s apparent power play is a desperate move.

More than 180,000 Americans have died of Covid-19 on his watch. We have far more deaths per capita than other advanced countries, and we still have no national testing program. The White House is now apparently taking the position that we will all just have to live with the disease and that schools and businesses should simply reopen, but Americans are not happy about Trump’s handling of the coronavirus. Today he tried to help his numbers by retweeting a thread from a far-right website saying that, in fact, only around 9000 people have died in the U.S. of Covid-19, because the rest had co-morbidities and were going to die anyway. The argument is so far off the mark that Twitter flagged it for violating rules.

Polls show Trump continuing to lag behind Biden by significant numbers. Fifty-nine percent of Americans disapproved of the programming at the Republican National Convention, and he saw no bounce from it. Trump’s overall approval rating is a dismal 31%.

And Trump remains dogged by tell-all books and lawsuits that threaten to reveal criminality. Today, the New York Times ran a story by Michael S. Schmidt, a reporter covering national security and federal elections for the paper. Schmidt has a book coming out on Tuesday. It reveals that in 2017 former deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein limited Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Rosenstein kept Mueller from exploring Trump’s own relationship with Russia while he was investigating Russia’s efforts to get Trump elected and Trump’s efforts to stop the inquiry. Rosenstein limited Mueller to conducting a criminal investigation and did not permit him to expand his inquiries.

Rosenstein did not tell the acting Director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, that he had taken an investigation of Trump himself off the table, and McCabe did not realize it had happened. McCabe said that he was “surprised and disappointed” to hear this news, and had he known, he would have had the FBI do such an investigation “because we had information that indicated a national security threat might exist, specifically a counterintelligence threat involving the president and Russia. I expected that issue and issues related to it would be fully examined by the special counsel team.” McCabe noted that the issue at hand “was first and foremost a counterintelligence case…. Could the president actually be the point of coordination between the campaign and the Russian government? Could the president actually be maintaining some sort of inappropriate relationship with our most significant adversary in the world?”

Meanwhile, Senator Tammy Duckworth is keeping a tally of how many days it’s been since we learned that Russia offered bounties to Taliban-linked fighters for killing U.S. or allied soldiers in Afghanistan. Trump has refused to respond to that intelligence.

Russian troops appear to be trying to pick a fight with U.S. soldiers in northeastern Syria, the region from which the U.S. abruptly withdrew last fall. After smaller incidents, on Tuesday, in a Russian convoy sideswiped a U.S. vehicle and a Russian helicopter buzzed the convoy. Seven U.S. soldiers were injured, none seriously. The Pentagon blamed Russian forces for “deliberately provocative and aggressive behavior.” A bipartisan group of lawmakers called on the White House to “clearly communicate to the highest levels of the Russian government and military that actions like this will not be tolerated,” but so far, Trump has said nothing.

—-

Notes:

Schmidt: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/politics/trump-russia-justice-department.html

https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/27/us-russia-syria-troops-403721

https://mitchell.house.gov/media/press-releases/bipartisan-member-statement-condemning-russian-aggression-toward-us-troops

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/26/world/middleeast/pentagon-russia-syria.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/29/trump-suburban-voters-will-no-longer-be-bothered-by-low-income-housing.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/08/30/its-time-challenge-cockeyed-reaction-violence/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/27/us/politics/biden-kamala-harris-speech-trump.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/30/biden-condemns-portland-violence-goes-after-trump.html

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/30/politics/mandela-barnes-trump-kenosha-wisconsin-visit/index.html

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/white-house-convention-covid-testing/2020/08/27/44b53cda-e8c4-11ea-bc79-834454439a44_story.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/30/us/politics/trump-protests-violence-coronavirus.html

Lots of Republicans and Conservatives Drubbing This President Today and Lately

 I'm telling you, all kinds of negative press is coming out today on this President and all I'm seeing is actually from Republicans themselves. Herewith, a list.

First from David Brooks and The New York Times:

Where Do Republicans Go From Here?

The party looks brain-dead at every spot Trump touches

Jonathan V. Last thinks President Trump is here forever. Last, the editor of The Bulwark, a conservative site that’s been hostile to Trump, argues that if Trump loses in November, he’ll claim he was cheated out of the election. He’ll force other Republicans to back up his claim. He’ll get a TV show, hold rallies, be coy about running again in 2024.

He’ll still be the center of everything Republican. Ambitious Republicans will have to lash themselves to the husk of the dying czar if they want to have any future in the party. The whole party will go Trump-crazed and brain-dead for another four years.

I salute Last for coming up with a post-2020 scenario even more pessimistic than my own!

Next up, a story and link from a conservative and Republican who has a new book out on this President and his political party.

Veteran GOP Strategist Takes On Trump — And His Party — In 'It Was All A Lie'

Veteran political consultant Stuart Stevens has spent years working as a strategist for Republican campaigns, including the presidential bids of Bob Dole, George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. But Stevens didn't support the party's candidate in the 2016 presidential election — and he wasn't alone.

"In 2016, when I went out and attacked Trump on television," he says, "I would say maybe a third of the party hierarchy would email me and thank me for doing this."

But Stevens notes that many of the Republicans who had privately voiced concern about Trump changed their tune on election night. "I started getting emails like, 'Could you maybe delete that email?' " he says.

"It's an extraordinary contradiction," Stevens says. "I've never heard any Republican office-holder speak of President Trump as if he should be president. ... They know he shouldn't be president. [But] he is president, and they still support him."

And that story, of Mr. Stevens' new book, is so good, here's another article on it.

Longtime GOP strategist says he’ll ‘work with Democrats’ to defeat Trump

Stuart Stevens is one of the Republican Party’s most successful campaign strategists, with a career spanning decades. In his revealing new book, “It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump,” Stevens admits the GOP uses race as an issue to divide Americans and win elections -- and says the party has abandoned its principles in the Trump era.

This next one is especially brutal, not just on Trump but on the entire Republican Party. And it's tough not just on this President and not just on the Republican Party--that's a lot--but it's brutal on Missouri's own Senator Josh Hawley, too, here folks.

Conservative Columnist Explains Why GOP May Not Deserve To Have A Future

“Trump’s entire presidency has been an affront to what conservatives used to think their movement was all about,” wrote Max Boot of The Washington Post

Conservative columnist Max Boot explained in his latest column in The Washington Post why the GOP “doesn’t deserve to have a future” if its best alternative to Donald Trump is four senators who’ve enabled the president every step of the way.

Boot, a vocal critic of the Trump administration, recalled a column by The New York Times’ David Brooks that suggested “a high-minded debate to define the nature of the GOP is underway” among Republican Sens. Marco Rubio (Fla.), Josh Hawley, (Mo.), Tom Cotton (Ark.) and Ben Sasse (Neb.).

“But I’m sorry, I can’t take any of their high-minded blather seriously,” Boot wrote in his op-ed Monday. “Not when they have spent the past four years acting as enablers for the worst president in U.S. history — or at least the worst in the past 151 years.”

Boot asked “what is conservative about” multiple Trump scandals, policies and controversies that the four senators either endorsed or remained silent about.

“Trump’s entire presidency has been an affront to what conservatives used to think their movement was all about,” Boot wrote. “And yet at every step of the way, Rubio, Hawley, Cotton and Sasse have been Trump’s willing accomplices.”

Next up is this from right next door in Nebraska:

Sasse responds to Trump: 'America doesn't have kings'

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) on Monday defended his opposition to President Trump's use of executive orders to address the coronavirus pandemic, hours after the president publicly called the GOP senator out over his criticism.

Sasse — in a note tweeted from his campaign account and signed "Gym Rat" — indicated he would rather have the discussion privately with Trump but added "since you moved our conversation from private to public, here we are."

"On the topic that had you mad this weekend: No president — whether named Obama or Trump or Biden or AOC — has unilateral power to rewrite immigration law or to cut taxes or to raise taxes. This is because America doesn't have kings," Sasse wrote.

Finally today is this from former Republican member of the House of Representatives Joe Scarborough, now from MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program:

‘Wake up and read some history’: Joe Scarborough blasts ‘stupid’ Trump in epic rant

On MSNBC Tuesday, Joe Scarborough ripped into President Donald Trump’s ignorance, and outlined how it is threatening the entire country, telling him to “wake up and read some history.”

“I remember talking to them. I remember other people going and talking to them, and Jared’s opinion and Donald Trump’s opinion was we don’t need to know history because look what happened in the past,” said Scarborough. “In fact, they were saying they didn’t even need to know about Middle East history. You know, tried to talk to Jared about 1967 boundaries, about the ’73 war, about Camp David, just about all of it. And the attitude remained, I don’t need to know about history, stop talking about what’s been done in the past because everybody failed.”

“If you had just listened to what General Mattis said, and other advisers were trying to tell you, we’d be in a much better place right now,” said Scarborough. “But no, you had your own ideas about North Korea … you were stupid enough to believe you could go over there and talk to a communist who put people through paper shredders, you were stupid enough to believe you could play Apprentice with him. You got used and fooled, and America is in more danger today from North Korea than ever before. You thought you could invite the Chinese over to Mar-a-Lago for dessert. Oh, isn’t this good dessert? You thought you are going to win over President Xi? You followed him along like a little puppy dog.”

I'm telling you, folks, it's unprecedented in our nation and our nation's history how many people from this President's own political party want to make sure he isn't reelected.

On to November!

VOTE!!

And VOTE BLUE!!

Links:

A devastating indictment of the Republican Party from a GOP insider

GOP Finance chairman raises concerns about Trump push to make payroll tax deferral permanent

Kasich on decision to speak at Democratic convention

Dr. Ranney: 'Absolute abdication of responsibility' by executive branch on COVID-19 response

GOP Finance chairman raises concerns about Trump push to make payroll-tax deferral permanent

Kentuckians Turn on McConnell as Economy Implodes

Poll: 59 percent of voters disapprove of Trump's decision to share videos promoting hydroxychloroquine

We Mustn't Normalize This President or his Administration

Journalist and political analyst Juan Williams makes what I think is an extremely good, even important point in his piece today at The Hill.

Juan Williams: We must not become numb to Trump's abnormality

A bit from the article:

Normal?

How about a summer in which Americans are not allowed to travel to Canada or Europe? Seriously. That’s due to President Trump’s failure to halt the high rate of coronavirus infections in the United States.

That’s not normal.

Is it normal for an American president to stand in the White House Rose Garden and begin ranting? Trump said if presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden wins this year’s election, Biden will do away with the suburbs and windows.

Yes, he really said that.

There is so much that is not normal at the Trump White House that Rachel Maddow, the MSNBC host, recently spent an entire segment reading off a stunning list of scandalous acts now accepted as normal in the Trump era.

Is it normal, she asked, that Trump “put his son’s wedding planner in charge of federal housing in the northeastern United States ... fired one inspector general who was investigating the secretary of State ... advertised his wife’s jewelry line on the White House website?"

Any of the Trump scandals, Maddow said, would have amounted to “the biggest scandal to ever afflict any other presidency — but by virtue of the sheer number of scandals that surround [Trump] like flies around a pigpen ... [they] have just become part of what we expect, right?”

"...Trump’s Cabinet features 'a former coal lobbyist as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, a former lobbyist for the defense contractor Raytheon Technologies as defense secretary, a lobbyist for the auto industry at the helm of the Energy Department and a former oil and gas lobbyist as interior secretary.'”

Donald Trump isn't draining the swamp. Far from it. This man his administration ARE the swamp. And they're going to get richer doing it. Meanwhile, they're stripping pollution and EPA laws, dirtying the air water and soil.

What's allowing for all this is that the Republican Party Senate is "running screen" for him, for Trump so he can, to date, do virtually anything and everything he might wish.

So no, we cannot, we must not become numb to any of Donald Trump's actions or words, any of it any more than we should get used to a killing national and international pandemic.

Final note: another thing that's particularly exceptional and welcome about this piece from Mr. Williams is that he is employed by Fox.

That's gotta' hurt the Dotard in Chief.  

All the more.

Coincidentally, The New York Times ran a somewhat similarly themed article yesterday in the paper.

Where Is the Outrage?

Additionally, it was announced earlier this morning that none other than lifelong Republican and former Presidential candidate in that party, John Kasich is going to speak next month at the Democratic National Convention in favor of Joe Biden for President.

Report: Kasich to speak at Democratic convention on behalf of Biden

Huge.

Finally, check out these two reports. First this on Republicans and their recent haul.

Senate GOP posts $35M quarter haul as candidates, Trump struggle

Then this on the Democrats.

Democrats raise more than $700 million in three months through ActBlue

Democrats blow past GOP incumbents in Q2 fundraising

On to November!

Where We Are, America, With this Pandemic

The latest New York Times Magazine's cover story today got me, more than anything, from the description of it.

Why We’re Losing the Battle With Covid-19

And that description.

The escalating crisis in Texas shows how the chronic underfunding of public health has put America on track for the worst coronavirus response in the developed world.

The most cases and the most deaths from this pandemic than any other nation in the world.

We're number one.

And now this.



Thanks, Mr. President.

Thanks, Republicans.

Quote of the Day -- On Deepset Republican Party Hypocrisy

Thanks, Republicans!

Link:

Where Are the Calls for Donald Trump to Resign?

Donald Trump, From the Voices of Republicans Themselves

From the voice of a longtime Republican. Here's the first.

And here's another, a second Republican on this man Trump.

Finally, a Republican from Florida.

Finally, an Army Ranger for pity's sake, against Trump and now against Republicans, too, unless or until they change, he says. This is one of the strongest testimonies out there, I think, against this President, against even this Republican Party and for Joe Biden 2020.

Further but current proof of the insanity or stupidity or both of this President:

Trump claims Biden presidency would mean low ratings for media outlets in bizarre tweet

Donald Trump has claimed a Joe Biden presidency would result in low ratings for media outlets covering the White House — an issue he suggested would cause the end of "our great USA" in a tweet.

Vote, folks. And vote blue November 3.

Link:

The Republicans Who Want to Destroy Trump

It's Nearly Unbelievable This Man Even BECAME President

There is an excellent article out from the end of June on this President.

100 Reasons Trump Is Unfit to Be President

And it spells exactly that--100 reasons why this man, this Donald J Trump is provenly unfit to be President.  It's a stunning list, even though most all or all we are familiar with. Herein are just the first 18 which gets us only to the Fall of 2016.

1   1985-1994

Reported $1.17 billion in business losses over the decade. Trump “appears to have lost more money than nearly any other individual American taxpayer,” according to the New York Times.

2    May 1, 1989

Took out $85,000-worth of full-page ads in New York newspapers calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five—whose convictions were later vacated after DNA evidence proved their innocence. Trump never apologized.

3   1990s

Contrary to his story of being a self-made billionaire, Trump received the equivalent today of at least $413 million from his father’s real-estate empire, much of it transferred through suspect tax-dodging schemes.

4   1991-2009

Declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy for his various businesses six times.

5   2005

Bragged about grabbing women “by the pussy” in a conversation with Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush picked up on a hot mic.

6   2011-2016

Promoted birtherism against President Barack Obama—the false claim that Obama was not born in the United States, that his birth certificate was fraudulent, and that therefore he was constitutionally ineligible for the presidency.

7   2015-2016

Attacked in sexist and demeaning ways women who raised critical questions about his character. See: Megyn Kelly, Carly Fiorina, Hillary Clinton.

8   2015-present

Denies accusations of sexual misconduct, ranging from unwanted kissing to rape, by calling the women “liars” and not “his type.”

9   June 16, 2015

Announced his presidential campaign by describing America as “a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems.” Mexicans coming to America, he said, were “bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”

10   July 18, 2015

Said Vietnam POW John McCain is “not a war hero” and “I like people who weren’t captured.”

11   November 22, 2015

Claimed that “thousands and thousands” of people in New Jersey’s Arab communities cheered on 9/11.

12   2016 campaign season

Encouraged violence. Said that he’d like to punch a protester “in the face”; that his supporters should “knock the hell” out of protesters—“I promise you, I’ll pay the legal bills”; and that the police should not protect suspects’ heads when loading them into squad cars.

13   May 11, 2016

Refused to release his tax returns for public inspection after having previously promised to do so. On other occasions, he falsely claimed he could not release them because he was under audit. When, in 2019, Congress subpoenaed Trump’s tax returns, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin refused to comply—kicking off cases that went to the Supreme Court.

14   May-June 2016

Said Judge Gonzalo Curiel is unfit to rule on a lawsuit filed by Trump University students because “he’s a Mexican” (in fact, the judge is an American citizen born in Indiana). Trump would later settle the lawsuit for $25 million.

15   July 27, 2016

Called on Russia to hack and release Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s emails.

16   July 30, 2016

Denigrated the family of U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in 2004 while serving in Iraq, after Khan’sTrump University father delivered remarks at the Democratic National Convention.

17   July 30, 2016

Broke with U.S. policy of supporting Ukraine over Russia’s invasion of Crimea, saying: “The people of Crimea, from what I’ve heard, would rather be with Russia than where they were.”

18   Fall 2016

Before Election Day, repeatedly hyped unfounded fears of a “rigged” election. Then, after Election Day, he stated, without any evidence, “I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally.”

Money, ladies and gentlemen. Money, big money from corporations and the already-wealthy and then heavy gerrymandering, coast to coast, and voter ID laws and so, then, the Electoral College, all got this man, this small, thoughtless, ignorant, reckless, now dangerous man into the highest office of the land, the presidency of our United States.

To that I must one more time say, thanks, Republicans!  That's quite the guy you foisted on us all.

This is all on you. For eternity.