Pods Won't Save America, Probably

 

I'm really sympathetic to the idea that there might have been some quality of "screwed" baked into the Harris campaign when she took over in July, and I was optimistic that the actual policy record of the Biden Administration vs. the actual history of.... uh whatever TrumpWorld is, would dawn on people as being a no-brainer. 

The reason I believed that is because I'm a hardcore Democratic Party schmuck. I've had a party preference since I was 18. The party of Rush Limbaugh and Phyllis Schlafly vs. the party of ::waves hands in the direction of not entire shithead bigots::? 

You've got to be kidding me. 

But here's what I noticed--I truly think that everyone who was going to cross over from the GOP to vote on principle for Harris because Trump was a horrowshow--appeared in a digital ad online some time during the campaign and there wasn't a a goddamn other one. It was great to be appreciative to former Rep. Liz Cheney--but the reason her party did her the way they did is because they could. 

If someone was comfy in the party of Limbaugh and Schlafly, it would take a lot to embrace the actual mess that is the actual Democratic Party., our political figures (Not AOC! Not San Fransisco liberal Nancy Pelosi!), and find themselves on the same side as our base. (You know: welfare queens, flaming homos, childless cat ladies, the Black Panthers and dope-smoking commies--don't look at me like that--you know I love you. But some conservatives were raised to HATE YOUR ASS AND MINE.).

TWGB: He'll Dance to Anything

 

Wow. This is a new low, even for Trump.

“It Was a Setup,” “Could have been the parents” Trump tries to blame Gold Star families for the Arlington incident
pic.twitter.com/7eO9CZ3tag

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 31, 2024

Maybe the Gold Star families, who invited him and have signed statements to the effect that they think his being there was cool and totally legal--fucked him over by posting pictures and videos. That's what HE SAID, babies, not me. He tried to suggest the people who were there to back his ass up backed his ass over. So he suggested he didn't know anything about the strategy of his dumb stunt and maybe he was stunted upon. Maybe it was the White House that he was going to claim bailed on a solemn event they totally were clued into.  Kamala Harris called him on it, and now that stunt is supposed to be "he said and she said". 

I'm not here to belittle the Gold Star families because their grief is real and how they feel is real regardless of the facts on the ground. Their loved ones saved people in assisting the evacuation that day and died in a suicide bombing from ISIS-K. Nearly 170 Afghan people also were killed by that blast. The war had been 20 years long. And many servicepeople cycled through that assignment.  They can cast their blame any and everywhere it feels valid. But we all know that serving in the armed services can mean being placed in danger. Their safety was not guaranteed, they guaranteed the safety of others and that was their great sacrifice and why Section 60 is hallowed ground. 

Nothing I can say makes that right. Throughout the war on terror, we have not stopped the tactic of extraordinary violence. The results are appalling and personal. I demur from politicizing it. I have my own ideas about why the withdrawal sucked, but it was a group effort. And yet, for the Abbey Gate tragedy, I still blame ISIS. There was one airport, and there were so many people who were running out of time to be safe.   It was time to leave, and the crowd itself was an exploit. An opportunity for terror. One last kick in the slats before leaving. One demonstration of the ideology that faced the country we tried to rehabilitate into something like a Western image.

Harris Fired Up Milwaukee

 

FULL SPEECH: Kamala Harris electrifies the crowd in Milwaukee, Wisconsin as she delivers her first official campaign speech for the presidency.

Worth watching in its entirety and sharing far and wide. pic.twitter.com/GMSXHSiqHS

— MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) July 23, 2024

In the first 24 hours after President Biden dropped after the race, the campaign for Vice-President Harris broke a fundraising record. It feels like enthusiasm is BACK in this race.

I can't help but notice that her GOP detractors have some criticisms, which are, as far as I can tell:

1) She was a popular and attractive single career woman with an active social life before marriage,

2) She laughs (I think they are jealous because she gets the jokes and does not need them explained?),

3) She was either a total "cop" or just let everyone go, I do not know what story they want and neither do they,

and--

4) Something about being a "DEI hire" which of course, stands for "Doing Everything Impressively" (touches earpiece) wait a minute, they mean something else....and had to be told to tone that racist shit down.

Also, being desperate scared freaks, Articles of Impeachment have already been announced because...yeah. Exactly.  It's always clown time in this circus.

Is this hope I'm feeling?

Place Your Bets on the Debate, Folks....

 

There we go. https://t.co/2psm7b90gI

— Vixen Strangely (@VixenStrangely) June 25, 2024

When CNN's Kasie Hunt cut off Karoline Leavitt's rant about Jake Tapper, MAGAs got mad and former WH aide Alyssa Farrah Griffin said that Leavitt showed "poor message discipline."  But I don't think it's poor message discipline--"Everything is rigged against Trump" is the message, and she stayed on point. What she wanted to do was create a pretext for Trump to claim he can't get a fair shake (even though he agreed to the debate and the terms of the debate) and back out. Most indignantly!

Even if the real reason he's backing out is because he's a) losing it and b) a scared bitch. CNN, the whole network, has been long targeted as a Trump enemy--since before he took office!  His followers will not question his motives. They are accustomed to his bullshit and prefer it over being informed.

This is why they listen to bullshit artists like Steve Bannon and think people like Alex Jones or James O'Keefe III are free speech heroes. (Even if it sounds to me a bit like the defensiveness of a drunk being advised to switch to club soda...) 

TWGB: Jumping the Shark?

 

He’s waving to nobody. His campaign staffer filming this is who he points to. That’s it. It’s all a scam, staged, and fake. pic.twitter.com/15LEDhCJVh

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) June 10, 2024

This isn't the first time recently Trump has been caught waving to a supposed bunch of admirers that just aren't there. It's just that it's starting to get so sad and obvious. You know what else is--this kind of puffery about crowd size:

But after all, one of the first big lies about Trump's Administration was regarding the crowd size at his Inauguration. Poor Donald! Nothing is ever BIG enough! And maybe, just maybe, there were people paid to be at his very hot, very disappointing rally in Las Vegas this Sunday. (Hopefully they get paid, that is--he's already threatening to stiff the teleprompter people for making him say "Hispanicans.") That's not a new story in TrumpWorld, either. And he has jokes!

The Whacko at Waco

 

Trump says no one called him stupid anymore because he aced a dementia test
“Got them all right. Some of them are tough” pic.twitter.com/xDVyGvXmZb

— Acyn (@Acyn) March 25, 2023

Oh. Ok. See, I thought he was going to be extra apocalyptic because Waco was the site where the ATF and an apocalyptic cult clashed with fatal consequences giving fuel to a right-wing anti-government militia movement exactly 30 years ago, but he was basically out there complaining about how unfair his legal troubles were and being extra pleased that he wasn't found to be demented when Ronny Jackson (R. Jack Daniels Bottle) (I guess?) and all gave him the "which one is a camel?" test a few years back.

It's possible that people around him understood the symbology, but you can't expect him to.

He did try to tell us no one ever laughed at the United States when he was president (they did though--they laughed at HIM!) and of course menaced about how we wouldn't have a country anymore if he was indicted. 

Just like we wouldn't have a country if he lost the 2020 election--which he did, BIGLY! Yet here we are! Still a country. Is it possible I'm just bored? Like, I've seen every angle of his sagging burnt sienna tinted visage and just can't even find a way to hate him any more? 

I mean, I still hate him. Just not, like, more. 

The Frustration and the Future

 

Without specifying any particular dig or complaint against Joe Biden, I'm just going to give it to you straight, folks--he said he'd try to be president for all of America, and that meant he would extend his hand to Republicans because it's their country, too. He was Barack Obama's Vice-President, and he knows very well what these people are, or for goodness' sake he ought to. These are the people who called his president everything but a child of god and denied him the ability to replace Justice Scalia. 

I'm disgruntled about Republicans from that, but I have been pissed at Republicans since I realized who was cozying up to the theocrats back in the 1980s and realized, circa Iran-Contra, that Watergate was no fluke and the GOP simply did not consider the Democratic Party valid. Post-1/6, still extending anything at all to Republicans feels like a trap. 

I want Biden to acknowledge he gets it. It is tiring to continue with the pretense that things are okay and Republicans are going to come around. They won't. They tried to steal his election. I understand why he thinks he needs to do it, but the math isn't working for me. Either acknowledge that the GOP is a dumpster fire who will never do anything good for the people of this country or any of the states they are in charge of and will put an end to democracy as we know it in a heartbeat, or just keep pretending some kind of deal is possible with them. But don't think for an instant that doesn't bring skepticism.

"What I like to do is see it...."

 

Asked if he believes there should be new gun laws in the wake of the Texas shooting, Georgia Senate GOP nominee Herschel Walker told me in ATL: “What I like to do is see it and everything and stuff.” He didn’t engage further. pic.twitter.com/wpsAZ7yKP5

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) May 25, 2022

There are some people who aren't especially good with their words, but do actually have a grasp of the issues and will do something about them, and Herschel Walker is not one of them. I genuinely feel like the people who are working on his campaign are committing some kind of political malpractice. This man lies about things he's actually said and it almost feels like he does not remember either what he said or details of his own life. So how is he going to honestly do anything for anyone else?

Perdue Demeans Himself

 

It's rare to see the NYT actually use the "r" word (racist) to describe a Republican's rhetoric, but it has finally come to this--because it's pretty hard to ignore that David Perdue has to know full well what he sounds like in his last-minute attacks, not on Kemp, who will beat his ass in this primary, but on Stacey Abrams, the Democratic contender for Georgia governor. Today he gave two comments, both vile--he describe Abrams as "demeaning her own race" and said she should "go back where she came from."

Ah. These were in response to comments she made regarding what could be improved in Georgia--like job creation (she did not specify race when she talked about job creation, Perdue chose to racialize it by saying "demeaning her race" for suggesting there should be more opportunities than farm work or hospitality) and improving key quality of life statistics, such as maternal mortality. 

GA may be #1 place for biz, but we’re #48 in mental health, #2 in uninsured. #1 in maternal mortality & new HIV cases, #9 in gun violence. For too many, Kemp’s Georgia doesn’t include them. Why? Because #KempDoesntCare

As Governor, I’ll lead #OneGeorgia that’s #1 for all of us.

— Stacey Abrams (@staceyabrams) May 22, 2022

That latter comment was the one that made him suggest she should go back to where she came from, and since her family moved to Georgia when she was a child, it's safe to presume he was not referring to Wisconsin or Mississippi.

You really don't need a dog whistle dictionary to know what Perdue was getting at. And it really isn't even a first for Perdue to be obvious with his racist comments--I think we can all recall his "Kamala-mala-mala" moment--he's not better than this. It is what it is. 

My only criticism of Abrams comments is that Georgia is actually number two in maternal mortality. The number one spot goes to Louisiana, although Senator Bill Cassidy of LA advises us it would not be so high if we adjusted for black pregnancies. I can't think of any good reason why we would want to exclude certain citizens of his state due to race, but he acknowledges their mortality is higher "for some reason" and even if he declines to mention the reason, I think I could suggest the one he isn't about to say as a working member of the Republican party. 

UPDATE: Perdue got his sorry ass shellacked.

The Devil is a Liar

 

After a month of harassment because of having been falsely accused, with her daughter, of having somehow manipulated the vote count in Georgia, Ruby Freedman received a weird visitation from, of all people, Kanye West's publicist, who purported to be working for someone important on behalf of the government, demanding she confess to a crime she did not do or things would get very bad for her. She left her home at the recommendation of the FBI, and within 48 hours, there were MAGAs protesting outside the door of her home.

For a lie. This was a lie that started in the bowels of right-wing media (Gateway Pundit, who is getting sued now and I hope that shitty bullshit factory is tilled under and the ground salted) . This was a lie that ended up getting repeated by Rudy Giuliani and Donald Trump, himself (both of whom should be sued until so broke that federal prison seems like a luxury care home to them). This was a lie that could have resulted in the deaths of these women, who were only honestly being part of a great process called democracy and the damn valuable right to vote in this country. 

And for a lie, these women could have faced violence, and did face personal upheaval. Because Mr. Trump was a sore loser and because Kanye West was only trying to help a powerful man stay powerful. Kanye West is definitely, as a wise man once said, a jack-ass. 

Donald Trump lost his election, because, among other things, he is a liar, he was already impeached once, he fouled up the COVID-19 response with sheer ignorance, his for the most part not-bad jobs record was entirely wrecked in 2020, and he instigated constant drama. We've seen how Trump operates via intimidation: vide Alex Vindman, Marie Yovanivich, anyone who doesn't do his bidding. Look at how he treated Jeff Sessions or John Kelly once they crossed some sore nerve of his. 

The thing is, Ruby Freedman is a private person but represents so many election workers who have been threatened because of just this very big lie, that threatens these election workers immediately, but threatens our whole election integrity, ultimately. It's a widely and authoritatively debunked lie, but one right-wing idiots have been spreading for years without conscience. I mean: logic--how do you how many votes you need and where without knowing turnout in advance? The whole thing is too chaotic to rig effectively and you'd need an operation way larger than you could maintain opsec for. 

Facing an irrational and implausible confrontation with this absurd demand upon her character, Ruby Freedman insisted upon her integrity. The devil is a liar. And she did not lie. 

You know what? Mainstream media needs to make this the front page news-Trump is a liar, and he nearly got this woman and her daughter killed with his lies. They need to talk about Mark Meadows and the insurrection PowerPoint. The reality of the coup attempt is real, newsworthy, the only thing I want to talk about, the thing Fox News avoids when Laura Ingraham blank-facedly talks to Trump and he lies about gas prices and think the debt ceiling deal is going to be used on SCOTUS (when simple majorities put his justices on the bench--like, duh). 

(And I will never get over that we had an attempted coup--and it was for this fucking dullard. I've blown more intelligent things out of my nose than this windmill cancer, Greenland-curious, toilet-flushing, Sharpie brandishing, mother-trucking Space Force creating, ever-golfing, tax-evading, pussy-grabbing SOB and I would never endorse one of my boogies for ever-loving president.)

But it fits with the larger picture--get a confession of voter fraud, and stop the January 6 count. Discredit the results. 

They had a plan. This is part of it. And it stinks to high heaven. 

Autumn of Our Discontent

 

Election Day 2021's warning sign, for me, was the peculiar gathering in Dealey Plaza, of all places, of Qanon faithful assembling for a grand announcement by either JFK Jr. or Sr. (both deceased, and to the best of all inquiries of public record to discern, Democrats at last breathing memory) with the expectation that it would lead to the revelation of the One True President Trump and usher in some kind of new era. What we are looking at here is a phenomenon where an off-shoot of a somewhat incidental and transparently bullshit conspiracy theory (Pizzagate) has transmogrified into a kind of syncretic conspiracy theory cult, looking for a singularity that finally unifies all the conspiracy theories into one big satisfying thing. 

(I kid you not, the allegation that the Kennedys--kinfolk of Brian Boru, represent the Sang Real or Holy Grail legend of human nobility possessed of the bloodline of Christ via the Merovingians combined with the notion of a kind of Elders of the Priory of Sion finagling of an eventual theocratic United States victorious over the bloodsucking Satanist human traffickers that otherwise have been in charge since whenever the cultists deem shit went haywire under the auspices of some kind of God-appointed figure really does seem both like entire nonsense, and kind of cohere if you have studied  US conspiracy theory. )

When JFK Jr. or Sr. did not appear at Dealey Plaza (a morbid location for a revelation, in any event) and it also began to rain, some believers shifted their attention to another location: well surely, at the Rolling Stones concert something might happen (an example of High Boomerism if I ever witnessed one). However, they literally got no satisfaction. 

Hey, Check Out Book-Banning Becky!

 

Was it really just the beginning of this year that conservatives were all over the place whining about how cancel-culture was ruining Dr. Seuss and Mr. Potato Head? And now, GOP VA gubernatorial hopeful Glenn Youngkin is hoping to win his race by featuring the "powerful story" of....

A book-banner, Laura Murphy. Her nearly-college age son was assigned a book in his AP English class which he totally could have opted out of reading, but because it gave him bad dreams (so the story goes) she wanted to have a talk with, uh. The manager of books, I guess. Which is all around a really weird reaction to a Pulitzer prize winning novel that is often read in high school classrooms, but probably wasn't really written for young Blake.  Or at least, not specifically, and maybe that's what really ground Ms. Murphy's gears. 

Now, the lad was hardly scarred for life by the book, but I don't know. Having his mommy tell everyone he was reduced to night terrors to promote a political agenda feels like he may have other issues in his life. But let's say the book truly did disturb him--what is a parent to do?

How about: talk to your kid? See, this is what bothers me about the whole "anti-CRT" movement as well while we're here. You are raising kids to be adults that will live in a real world where bad things happen. Schools can provide a place of physical safety, but they can't always protect from emotional discomfort. Of course, history and literature have tragic and uncomfortable aspects. But if a parent wants to guide their kid, instead of limiting exposure to difficult topics, how about--talking to them! 

But back to the irony--well, there isn't any, really. Youngkin is just reaching for culture war content in the hopes that it nails the race down for him. Sure, you could infer that there's something a little hypocritical about conservatives decrying cancel culture and complaining about woke snowflakes who need safe spaces, when actually, conservatives are fine with cancelling content that makes them uncomfortable and impinges on the safe spaces of white privilege. But that would just be critical thinking on your part.

The culture war wants nothing to do with that, thank you. And unfortunately, an ad where McAuliffe is the bad guy for not sparing young Blake and his concerned mom from the horrors of the icky book might even be sadly effective. I think it's pitiful, because this tells you nothing about Youngkin--other than he thinks this is a winning message, but as policy, it amounts to "Something something schools, something something, I'll let parents pick what books we don't teach."  Which honestly doesn't seem ideal at all. 

A Landscape Service for All the Right Reasons?

Meanwhile Rudy’s presser is going just great... pic.twitter.com/4vy1Ih3vQh

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) November 7, 2020

I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a "Suzy Silverlinings", so in the wide-branched tree of my heart, a heavy little bird still sits, cooing over the ways the evil clowns are going to steal my joy. In the meanwhile, they are evil, but they are still clowns, so I might as well laugh at them. And Rudybot throwing a cog at the idea that the networks are calling the election (over the vote totals for Biden being more favorable) before the courts get involved (because so far, they've been throwing out the weaksauce arguments from Team Trump left and right) is pretty on target.

He's in front of the Four Seasons Total Landscape building because, depending on who you ask, it was either in a NE Philly neighborhood where the singing and dancing of happy Democratic voters were unlikely to intrude (situated between the Fantasy Island sex shop, where the patrons are quiet out of habit, and the crematorium, where the patrons are quiet by nature) or Trump wanted the upscale Four Seasons hotel, but couldn't book it. Either reason is hilarious. 

That the campaign still has Giuliani front and center, after peddling dodgy laptops and tucking in his pants on an international moviefilm also resounds with the plop! plop! of massive clown shoes. 

But those clown shoes are still beating the bushes to find better legal counsel and retire the massive campaign debts amongst the faithful, and while I don't see a lot of sense in the legal part of this endeavor, I still see among some of the GOP stalwarts a lot of faith and a willingness to go on tv and do a career-defying high wire act asserting nonexistent fraud and so on--for these clowns. 

It's either because they cannot grasp that all these people, in Atlanta, Detroit, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C., dancing in the streets, quite legitimately voted against their viciously dumb Trump ticket, or, the part that chills me, they just don't care.

(Because some people do not have voting rights that the GOP feels bound to respect, one hardly needs to add., but I will, for emphasis.)

I'm not ready to dance, exactly. But when Trump is gone, you better believe I'm going to sing.

Where Does it All Go?

 

Trump: Four or five months ago when we started this whole thing because you know before the plague came in, I had it made. I wasn’t coming to Erie. I mean I have to be honest, there was no way I was coming. I didn’t have to.... pic.twitter.com/DeTV4jiLmS

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) October 21, 2020

One of the things Trump fans are clinging to is the possibility that the businessman in Trump is going to pull all of this (gestures wildly at flaming mess) together and do smart things in a possible second term. I don't know why they think that, since he could have done smart things in his first term if he really wanted to. But I also don't know why they still believe that he was a great businessman after the details of, well everything about his business, have been floating around in the--

Oh, that's right. They think it's all "fake news". And I guess Lesley Stahl's interview with him will also be discounted as being somehow rigged against him, just like the debates have been, because Donald Trump is a special little snowflake. (But it really does seem to have gone badly based on White House reactions.) I wonder what could have triggered Trump's ire? I mean, she's a pro. 

It could be anything, but it's probably either COVID or his low polling numbers, I'd say. After all, the news that Trump had a hidden bank account (not mentioned on his financial statements) in China only just dropped, so that couldn't have been it. (Although, wow, that kind of undercuts his claims regarding Biden-related China corruption, in that Trump's fictional $1.5 billion claims are distinctly stupid. The real story is actually Hunter Biden can make his own damn money. Whether Trump can is probably more open to debate.) It also reminded folks on Twitter that a White House advisor claimed he got info on Biden via China, which is just precious because he didn't and it was the same thing Trump was being impeached for when he claimed it, and also Trump basically on the phone to Fox & Friends was trying to coax in public and out loud that Bill Barr should investigate/charge the Bidens with....something just Tuesday morning. (Can we impeach him again? Can we impeach Barr?)

And let's be really clear--it's the Trumps who are rampant with nepotism and grift, really. 

So Trump is apparently experiencing all kinds of flailing and shit-lossage right now. Which is an excellent time to bring up how his campaign money game is being run like a roulette table by a sweaty gambling addict who owes bad people big money and can't keep his shit sorted.

It's not that any campaign is bad with money--it's that Donald J. Trump, Super-Jenius' campaign is dumb with money. The burn rate is amazing, and so much is going to Trump properties and odd LLC's (sure). But Trump the Campaign is strapped, even though his convention was held at the White House (and yes, he's totally using the White House for campaign stuff, let's just admit it, and Hatch Act violations all over the damn place). And all the lawsuits. (Those will be an ongoing thing, for sure, win or lose.)

And maybe his campaign doesn't need anything but love, After all, remember 2016? But this is definitely not 2016. And he might be stiffing some of the wrong people this time. 

I dunno. There are obviously VIPs that could find a way to inject cash into the campaign, I wouldn't be surprised. And let's not forget those who contributed so lushly to his inaugural fund last time either. (Do be a love and follow the links for amusement and a shared theme.) My strong feeling though is that the cash shortage is nothing compared to the credibility deficit. What does he have to believe in?

 

TWGB: If I Were a Betting Woman

 

News: More than 50 former senior intelligence officials, including ex-Trump admin officials like Russ Travers, have signed on to a letter outlining their belief that the Biden emails saga “has all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation”https://t.co/FM6TOCpDSP

— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) October 20, 2020

Now, I never have been much attracted to gambling, but if I were a a betting woman, I might not necessarily assume this is a Russian operation (but similar), but I would definitely find the provenance of the hard drive sketchy as hell because wow. It really, really is, and NY Post reporters knew they didn't like it. The FBI definitely has some questions about this, too. 

 So what to make of DNI Ratcliffe's assertion that there's no proof it is a Russian op? Well, of course. Toadies gonna toad, but also, this is the guy who used Russian disinfo to purport that despite what it looked like, Hillary Clinton was the real beneficiary of the apparent connection between the DNC hack (damn near certainly Russian) and subsequent leaks because she was able to use it to make Trump look bad. Not enough to win the election (in fact, this looks like shit Russia queued up in case Trump lost, TBH). 

In other words, Ratcliffe is saying that Russia disinfo he hasn't actually really vetted should be taken seriously, and the opinions of US intelligence oficials is...you know. Take it or leave it. Great shades of Trump at Helsinki. 

 This feels like unqualified hackery, but I see the RNC Chair eating it up, and some of the usual media outlets. I get that right wing media is a failing septic tank that has poisoned the groundwater of our national politics, but remain amazed at supposed mainstream figures who are cheerfully undermining our still-functioning and necessary institutions. The conditioning that values party over country is appallingly strong. 

 So, while the provenance of the information (which has been apparently held for some time, sprung in October, and announced by Trump-favoring partisans) remains a cause for skepticism, supposed solons of our sober-minded deliberative body wonder aloud "Is there porns?" If there is, why did the people handling it know about it and make copies rather than making that the upfront claim? And also too, what kind of bent motherfuckers go rifling through (especially child) porn or slip it onto a dodgy mockup for ratfucking purposes? 

 The second claim is the one I give more weight to. The sickness of the allegation is off-putting because we naturally recoil at the thought of harming children. But try and think of the kind of person who says "Let's use images of it to falsely smear the relative of a political candidate." 

Knowing full well that a certain group has been primed to believe this sort of thing is normalized among "elites" via the pizzagate and Q-Anon conspiracy theories, both of which are utter concocted shit. What type of person passes this on, when reason should first of all tell you the "discovery" of the laptops itself makes no sense (and Giuliani's story shifts a bit here, but still-a man living in California gets ripshit, flies crosscountry and hands his tech containing possibly badly incriminating things to a blind dude he never met before hoping he'll fix it/them then never returns? That's weird and anyone living post "But her emails" would have acid washed that shit, as the 70-something year old kids say these days, and bought a new fucking laptop with their "ill-gotten China monies" or whatever.) 

 I want to believe the cake is already baked regarding the election, but there's going to be a morning after where this messy TrumpWorld dump took place even if (when) Biden wins. No person who facilitated this smear should escape whipping. Not one.

Eyes, Lies and Flies

 I find debates a little unwatchable at best, and Mike Pence....I guess unsettles me in an uncanny valley kind of way. He lies differently than Trump does, but every bit as much. Trump lies in a grandiose way, a big way, an obviously false way, the lies of a large man who who can not even hope to contain how delighted he is in the sound of his own lying; Pence is the bland liar who does it automatically and with little thought with the falsity of a small bookkeeper who ultimately, through diligent peculations,  has made off with millions. 

Of course, Pence maintained absurd things, such as touting the absolute shutdown of travel from China (which didn't happen) and the aim to protect people with pre-existing conditions (which is belied by long-standing action), and the transparency of the president's medical team with respects to his condition--and he did it all while looking like he had pink eye.

That's a symptom of COVID-19. Maybe he just had a late night engaging in debate practice or whatever, but Twitter sure thought he looked paler and more pink-eyed than usual, like a sick laboratory rabbit. 

Anyway, he managed to be less of a bossy-butter-inner than Trump was during that debate, while Senator Harris did a fine job. But no one is going to recall a damn substantial thing from the debate because a fly landed on Pence's head. What attracted the insect to Pence in particular I suppose we can only guess at (and what fun we can have with it!) but imagine the disturbing landscape it was for the fly, navigating its six feet on that albino Astroturf. 

The Biden campaign response was so swift one could almost swear the little fellow was a plant.  But something so metaphorically correct must have been organic. 

But where the flies linger, can the buzzards be far behind?

Tempting Us With A Good Time?

I’m Joe Biden and I approve this message. pic.twitter.com/TuRZXPE5xK

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) September 20, 2020

My gut tells me we wouldn't be so lucky as to actually see the back of Trump straightaway once he's lost because I don't believe Trump will actually acknowledge that he has done so. But if the "mute button" was just on him? If he just....mattered less? Solace.

UPDATE: This morning, Trump speculates to Fox & Friends that Justice Ginsberg's last request is a hoax cooked up by House Democrats. If he doesn't want to honor her request, fine (I mean, it's not her call TBH) but why calumniate other than from sheer fuckery?

All-Natty

The President suggests his opponent will receive an injection of performance enhancing drugs “in the ass” before the debates pic.twitter.com/sXOGjrFltp

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) September 19, 2020

1) As with all things Trump, it is likely that he is projecting and in fact, is using a lil' something-somethin' to keep himself chipper, although I was assuming he blew it up his face and that's what made his lips so numb. (Poor slurry, sniffy Biffy!)

2) Is he for real then about doing a drug test, since he can't be bothered to do a cheek swab for his defamation trial? (Apropos of which, did you notice another accuser came forward this week? We should not ever become numb to this.)

3) It might be fun to speculate what's being injected in anyone's ass, but considering that Fox News, congressional Republicans, and the entire MAGA Mouse Fan Club are holding parties in his, I'll assume the party favors are amazeballs.

D-O-N (EEEEEnnnnyone believing this guy?) A-L-D (He's a real D bag!) T-R-U-M-P. (Flavor-Aid! Hydroxychloroquine! Bumps of Comet!)

4) He also said Biden is going to end God, so that's pretty trippy. I would not call what he's on "performance-enhancing" though.

5) There is nothing natural about any of this, but the idea that the current president is accusing his challenger of being on drugs because he shows up informed and capable of speaking reasonably at a townhall (which Trump um, totally did not) suggests that Trump is not only wary of elites, but actual competence. Is this why he doesn't show any?

He'll Swear Any Oath, Hump Any Flag

Before I get too far ahead of myself, a few little things about the 2020 presidential election that Trump has now for the second time suggested that his own followers should vote twice in: it's pretty goddamn interesting to me that Trump goes out of his way to undermine faith in the integrity of our elections when that is apparently the exact strategy of the Russian election interference project. 

Which is no less funny for being the exact kind of mimicking Russian talking points Trump basically always does (on the 2016 election, on Syria, on Ukraine, you name it.) Also, his DHS withheld info that Russia was pushing a line gleefully engaged in by some Trump supporters that there is anything wrong with former Vice President Joe Biden's brain, and now they aren't even briefing congressional committees on election interference in person. And his Attorney General (or should that be: Attorney Specific to Things Trump-related?) says he doesn't exactly know if voting twice is wrong, but he definitely will sign off on punishing traditionally Democrat-voting regions? 

So far, so questionable, yes? Before you make up the reasons why he's doing this, here's the latest:

He doesn't know why servicemembers bother to serve. What was in it for them? What is this thing about loving country more than life? He called WWI fallen "losers" the same way he considered Vietnam vets losers or POWs losers. He disrespected those physically maimed from being a part of his celebration of the military because "Who wants to see that?" 

Of course, he'll swear any oath that he said no such things. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution and defend it from enemies foreign and domestic, and so far, I don't know--is that something he's even doing? He believes Article 2 gives him superpowers and used the military like a prop.

He didn't protect us from COVID-19, he treats foreign policy like his own influence campaign, and his economy is for his cronies and the very rich--it isn't for most of us. He can literally hump the flag:

But that does not make him patriotic. Trying to know anything at all about our history, instead of assuming things he thinks people like to hear, might be more effective. Appreciating that the words the Founders bothered to commit to paper, and the ideals that people have given their lives for, meant things, would go a long way to establishing some degree of fitness, but that isn't him. 

He performs a kind of patriotism I personally despise. He doesn't care what this country could be, how it treats its citizens or what our laws mean, what we should stand for ethically and morally--he cares that it's his. And he is the pitch that defiles. (Read your Ecclesiastes. Get on back to me.) 

They Really Don't Care, Do You?

It simply isn't in me to care that much about what comes out of Melania Trump's mouth or what she wears on her back. I can, however, note, that the tailored military look befitting a would-be dictator's wife is certainly more appropriate than the "I Really Don't  Care, Do You?" jacket she wore to visit immigrant children. The overall message of the evening's RNC events, however, was pretty much the same: They really don't care.

Is it a violation of the Hatch Act for political speeches to take place on the White House premises? They really don't care. Is it a misuse of his office for Trump to publicize a pardon or US naturalization ceremonies to the benefit of his campaign? They really don't care. Is is wrong for Sec. of State Mike Pompeo to speak for Trump's campaign--ditto. There is no part of the office of the executive branch that they won't use to Trump's ends.

Chief of Staff Mark Meadows says as much: "Nobody outside of the Beltway really cares." And the events were arranged to demonstrate that to be a Trumper is not to care, either.

Mixed messages from the RNC so far defy the observer to make them cohere: a speech decrying nepotism was followed by speeches from Trump's extraordinarily lucky adult children.  We were treated to a speech on "cancel culture" by a young person who was not canceled because he didn't actually have anything to be canceled from yet.

But spectacle doesn't have to make logical sense. It's just as well if it doesn't. They don't really care.

The question is, do you?