Stupid or Bad Faith?

 

Rampell: Do you know that there actually was bipartisan legislation intended to to increase our fentanyl detection technologies at the border. And trump killed it.

Jennings: You keep fighting these old battles. Donald Trump won.. Mexico has to do something.

Rampell: They have… pic.twitter.com/szaKgKSuGI

— Acyn (@Acyn) November 27, 2024

This is why I think cable news is basically worthless: someone like Scott Jennings (it could be so many other GOP mouthpieces, though) will argue something that is either based in sheer ignorance (possible) or they HAVE TO know better than, but this is the GOP line and their "job" is to defend it. The networks can argue that they are doing this for "balance"--but that's not what it is. They are airing out a position that is basically absurd with no penalty for either lying or being as dumb as a stump.

I used to go back and forth with myself about this kind of representation, especially at the top of the Bush years. Is it ignorance, is it lying, and what's worse?

And the answer is: what does it matter? If a position is completely detached from facts, it just is bad. Donald Trump winning an election doesn't change the facts of what is happening at the at the border with Mexico any more than George W. Bush winning affected whether invading Iraq over WMD's (dumb--or lying?) was a good idea. 

TWGB: Fox and the Sour Grapes

 

Media needs to play this clip for GOP candidates and say NOW YOU HAVE HEARD IT--and get them to respond. Because he is using people's names. Real damn people. https://t.co/wGtl0QjSpS

— Vixen Strangely (@VixenStrangely) October 16, 2024

What would you call the shade Trump painted himself for this? Terror Cotta? The "enemy within"--which Trump has suggested siccing the military on, includes (Democratic) US Congress members. It probably also includes former GOP US Congress members like Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger. It likely includes certain former White House personnel--his own former White House. IT includes people like Gen. Mark Milley.  And this "enemies list" is not about people who lied about him--oh no. They did something far worse.

They told the truth.  Trump has never been a fan of transparency--even though we can see through him. Russian interference was real and the Trump campaign had multiple Russian contacts, and the perfect phone call wasn't perfect. It was extortionate. 

So, how does Fox News, who was sued by Dominion not so long ago and settled for a really amazing amount of money for lying about the 2020 election, in the person of one Brett Baier, presumed serious interviewer, use this information--that Trump considers various prominent American public servants fair game for being rounded up by the military and punished for being the "enemy within"? 

He whitewashes it to try and make the Democratic 2024 Presidential candidate look like she's being extra. 

No, really. 

Same Old Tired Playbook

 

Bash: “Trump suggested that you happened to turn Black recently for political purposes, questioning a core part of your identity.”

Vice President Harris: “Same old tired playbook. Next question, please.” pic.twitter.com/F2PrHOXETK

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) August 30, 2024

It's been clear for a while now that Trump does and says things entirely for attention--good attention or bad attention, he just wants people to talk about him and to have the conversation to revolve around him. It's regrettable that so much of the media falls for this, and politicians end up discussing some peculiar brain-scat from an obviously unwell person instead of talking about actual issues, because they rely on someone else's opinion of whether or not said brainshit was a whole mental turd or not instead of being able to call anything out as the steaming puddle of cerebral diarrhea it is, out of fear of not being seen as "objective". 

This is me saying this. The person who has whole pages devoted to TrumpWorld. I have dissected the pellets of Trump-droppings from time to time myself. 

Kamala Harris, on the other hand, used seven curt words to dismiss the idiot birther and suggest the interviewer try something more substantive. She isn't bothered by what he said. We don't have to pay attention to it. 

I just freaking love her for that. 

The arsonist wants to set fires, but we don't have to give him oxygen. (I feel like this is a preview of how she will handle any debate provocation, and I am looking forward to him trying to confront a whole shut-down of his stock in trade.) 

Not Much of a Debate

 

Disclaimer: I hate debates. They are a stupid formality that are somehow supposed to educate voters about the candidates--and they don't do that. The first (and possibly only?) 2024 presidential debate reflected everything I hate about debates, regardless of format. One candidate lied relentlessly, one candidate tried to talk policy, and the moderators were basically useless. No one is learning anything from it. It was brutal to watch, and I had the sound off and relied on closed caption because the sound of Trump's voice lying makes me a little irrational. 

That said, two huuuugge Trump lies got debunked right off the bat: the first being that Biden would be on some kind of uppers or super-soldier drugs, and the second being that the CNN moderators were out to tank Trump.  Biden seemed hoarse and a bit subdued. Tapper and Bash started off with inflation, and the debate somehow went 44 minutes before the convicted felon insurrectionist's weak point (being a convicted felon insurrectionist) came up. 

That was...inauspicious. 

Now, it is a lot to expect real-time fact checking against Trump's farrago of nonsense, but major howlers, like whether ANYONE supports post-birth abortion, probably begged for some pushback--but since the media barely tries to do that in interviews, why expect it? Even if it's literally an accusation of murder. Of course, there will be ample fact-checking stories to come--but you know who is going to read/or watch those?

That's right--people who are already pretty informed. Your uninformed voter probably tuned out the debate about 30 minutes in and is gone forever. 

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...) 

Vance Walked into This So Hard

 

KAITLAN COLLINS: So you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?

JD VANCE: Yes

COLLINS: Ok, I'm just checking, because you helped raise money for people who did so on January 6 pic.twitter.com/nEztSPrQlC

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2024

It's almost like he somehow did not even see it coming. How is that possible?

I almost titled this "Do you want to see a dead body?" but 1) it's cliched, 2) I'm not sure how much authentic life animates the craven and ambitious husk of J.D. Vance, and 3) regardless, he'll endure, zombie-like and signifying, for some time to come; the rare example of a horror-movie undead ghoul THAT EATS ITS OWN BRAAAAIIIINNN!!!

I get carried away with myself--but not as much as Vance does when he insists Mike Pence was never in danger that day, which really makes me wonder who he's trying to convince. I mean, is he whitewashing the insurrection because it's the MAGA thing to do--or is he trying to convince himself that auditioning to be Trump's running mate has no potential, fatal downside? 

A wise person might very well give that a more serious think than Vance seems to be able to, but I do not actually view him as either wise or serious. This is what, I think, makes him as good a contender as any for Trump's #2.

Feeling Petty About Ramaswamy

 

What Vivek Ramaswamy said last night regarding his quotes to the Atlantic about 9/11 compared with the audio that disproves his claim that he was misquoted. pic.twitter.com/FXNJjRovJ8

— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) August 23, 2023

So anyway, last night, our lad was like "Caitlin, Caitlin, Caitlin" about being called out for being a regular humbug.  Just a total condescending, deflecting, argumentative self-justifier. He went on to call her a "petulant teenager" for calling him out when she had performed a act of journalism on him.  Which is fun and sexist and totally for the bros and everything, but I think I know what he reminded me of:

He could stand to grow up a little if he wants to do this politics thing. Maybe he could try not even thinking he should start from the top. Maybe run for mayor of Uphisass City. Population, himself.

Also speaking about his being a CEO did you know he was getting sued?  I think the Trump Handbook says you are supposed to claim "election interference" as a defense, but I don't know if that is a real thing. 

Would I Call it Weaponization?

 

Somewhere, deep down, I feel like nothing is ever over with Republicans. Forget Benghazi or tan suits. They are going to get weird and bring up Chappaquiddick or Alger Hiss or Robert Byrd's Klan connections out of the blue.  So what do I think when Jim Jordan thinks maybe he'll target Hillary Clinton with a new investigation?

If Hunter Biden wasn't already done to death, why would the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy turning their lonely eyes to Hillary Clinton again hit any different?  I mean, Kevin McCarthy, the current and obviously temporary Speaker of the House explained out loud where people could hear that the email investigation hurt Clinton intentionally. And current crank James Comer admitted in the same vein that the investigation into President Biden's family members is supposed to help Trump. 

He still hasn't found what he's looking for, of course. The GOP can't keep track of their whistleblowers. To the extent they exist they are being paid by Trump insider Kash Patel who is a witness in the Mar-A-Lago document scandal and the first impeachment over the Ukraine president's being extorted. So that's not obviously sleazy as hell, right? 

But in the funny old round world kind of way, it comes out just now that the Trump DOJ was already investigating the Clintons via the Clinton Foundation, and they had nothing. See, unlike Trump's slush fund that he called a charitable enterprise which had to be shut down, and his kids had to go to mandatory don't run a charity as a slush fund school? The Clinton Foundation has been on the up and up. 

So--see how that seems like weaponization? And the thing where Trump get tried in courts and actually has done stuff is not weaponization? And how Durham had nothing, and most Republicans seem to be kind of distracting from 1/6 or the documents scandal by deflecting and whatabouting to other stuff? 

It's like they want to pretend "both sides" are equally as bad and they really aren't. And I would through very gritted teeth like to suggest the media report it that way, because sometimes, there are not two sides to everything (sorry current CNN management!) but one side is actually very bad, even seditious. And even undermines the very concept of rule of law via extreme partisanship. 

And what I mean by that isn't hard at all to see or hear if you're paying attention. 

A Tale Told by an Idiot, Full of Sound and Fury, etc.

 

I'm not literally calling John Durham an "idiot", mind you, because I don't think he is. I also think Jake Tapper probably has the capacity to read and think critically, and you know--I can technically use stairs and take the elevator at every opportunity. What I think is that Durham was given an assignment that was distinctively difficult: try to make an investigation into a critical national security issue seem like it was unnecessary and unfair to a particular 2016 Presidential candidate.

And the very best Durham could do was suggest that, although DOJ and the FBI don't need to do anything different, and even though out of three cases he got exactly one conviction (sentence: probation) the bottom line is his opinion is that the FBI could have been a little slower before going into an investigation that was like, probably just great to be a preliminary investigation based on the little they knew from Downer and the Aussies. 

And after all the Mueller investigation convictions and the Senate intelligence report into Russia's interference in the 2016 election and the DOJ IG investigation report, I'm going to just laugh and say: "Well, you tried." 

Because that's me, a person who has been paying attention. And I know that for people who were inclined to believe the Russia, Russia, Russia thing was a hoax based on whatever Trump had to say about it are very inclined to take Durham's word that despite the lack of any connecting of dots to support his conclusion that the investigation still seems hinky to him and will fast-forward to that conclusion whether there is any strength to that argument. 

Trump, CNN and the Power of Sufficient Cable

 

The CNN town hall featuring former president Donald Trump and former Daily Caller employee Kaitlan Collins was a shitshow as expected. The network stocked the audience with Trumpists because that's obviously fucking normal. And then he got to saw away at his special hobby horses, which was just fun to watch with little to no pushback when you pause to consider this is a twice-impeached racist sex pest who absolutely fumbled COVID-19 and the economy in his last year in office.

This bitter, lying, indicted, tarnished, twice-impeached, treasonous, shambling reprobate should in no way be considered a viable candidate for office and should, in fact, be made a figure of mockery everywhere his grotesque bulk lurches, and yet, he is also the best shot the GOP has for 2024, so the cable news dickheads are going to try and make him...credible? 

So, what we were treated to, one day after a jury unanimously after but three hours of deliberations awarded E. Jean Carroll damages for his sexual battery and defamation of her (and not rape, because it was uncertain whether she noticed his thimble dick actually penetrating her nor ejaculating, leading us to wonder if his small fingers actually brag on him, not the opposite--which is not intended to be defamatory because I am of a scientific aspect and am merely asking questions of a delicate anatomical nature) was more defamation, and rather gross as well.  And the Trump-friendly studio audience loved it. 

I don't know how that resonated with you, Gentle Reader, but it makes me bloody-minded, and I mean more so than usual. It's one thing to despise Trump heart and soul. It's another to take in the values of his fanclub in full and realize they are complete gutter-dwellers with little to redeem them. Deplorables, by choice. 

But maybe a silver lining exists in the sound bites created by the fact of Trump being given adequate cable (which, like saying "hoist on his own petard" suggests the concept of "enough rope"--which is what I think he definitely wished on 1/6 for his running mate, Mike Pence, not that that gormless SOB appreciates it).  He did admit Mike Pence did something wrong in his mind in this little chat. He said he believed that the Georgia SOS owed him votes. He reiterated that he did take documents to Mar-A-Lago, it was great of him to do that, and definitely had the right to declassify them--although whether he did and how and what he took and why he's so pleased with himself stays a mystery. 

We can wonder whether the fluke of this gasbag becoming president was the fault of outlets like CNN giving him "sufficient cable"--platforming him and taking him "seriously, not literally." The image of CNN cameras focusing on an empty podium where the celebrity candidate had grabbed their attention by its figurative lowest chakra remains a sticking point with me regarding their failure to be serious journalists because they wanted his ratings power. 

But in the course of this shitshow, he delivered several soundbites that would certainly be of interest in at least three of his ongoing criminal investigations and at least one civil complaint. 

Maybe it's possible that this creature could be both raised up and brought low by the quality of sufficient cable. 

TWGB: Alternative Electors, Alternative Facts

 

Consider if you will the sound of accountability riding an elevator to the penthouse where one man lives-- in his own mind, a master of all he surveys, largely because he's been wearing blinders the whole time. He doesn't see accountability approaching him, but all the same he waits for the dreaded "ding" of destiny reaching his floor. Once again, I'm talking Trump World, which is for all intents and purposes--the twilight zone. 

The New York Times had a big reveal about the cynical hacks cooking up the alternate electors scheme--or should we use the lexicon of the moment before it was corrected and call them "fake"? They apparently had consciousness of their fakery and bad faith. They knew what they were doing danced on the edge of the illegal. And the GOP nominee for governor of my state, who definitely was at the Capitol 1/6, was the point person for trying to throw away my vote, which I still resent. Also, he's a goddamn anti-Semite. (What has two thumbs and hates Nazis? Vixen Strangely. Points to self with two thumbs, super-demonstratively.)

Anyway, it really seems like the DOJ is looking at Trump as a big part of their investigation because yep--they say so. Merrick Garland is definitely not ruling indicting Trump out, despite Lester Holt's bullshit framing. I just want to point out that saying that the indictment or prosecution of Trump is going to tear the country apart is editorializing and framing this possible eventuality as if the Trump stans would be justified for freaking out and fucking up--they wouldn't be. Trump lied in a way that has already caused deaths. His lie, his BIG LIE, and the faith of those who still believe in it, needs to be cratered because it is, in fact, a lie. Framing anything in the way where he plausibly could have won, or that his second term was stolen, is grievous journalistic malpractice. There are no two sides of this story--because look at this shit:

A Thirsty Person's Guide to Self-Incrimination, by MTG

 

Today we got to see Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene take the stand in defense of her ability to run for Congress after having backed an insurrection against the United States, and while I don't necessarily think that she will be disqualified (because *gestures at world we live in*) I think we can all find it amusing that she does not "recall" things that happened less than two years ago and was in the uncomfortable position of saying "no" to things under oath that were definitely on video. 

Let me amend that for emphasis--that were definitely on video she had made on purpose and uploaded to any of her various social media accounts on purpose. For example, she was asked if she ever advocated for violence--hah, hah, who, Marge? Maybe someone could make a charitable guess that she engaged in hyperbole for clicks and likes, and just didn't care if anyone would take her seriously--but does that actually seem plausible? 

All of us by now should have watched enough legal dramas to know things like "prosecutors don't ask you questions they don't know the answers to". But here was MTG, regularly set up by her own social media history, and um, stuff like her congressional voting record.

So, questions like, "Did you oppose certifying the election for Biden?" might not be so plausibly answered with "no" when there is absolutely a record. And she had to have known that she would be asked about whether there was a White House meeting. And yes, there is video of her talking about a meeting, and of her apparently leaving the West Wing after a "great planning session".

She was going to deny that she claimed that Speaker Nancy Pelosi was a traitor until she remembered wait, that was something she totally did. It really makes you think about how casually she threw that word around, and how little she thought about the violence of the rhetoric against Democrats like Pelosi, whose term limit by bullet her social media account endorsed (but then again, who knows who was even managing her social media at the time--so many randos, so little apparent control by Marge).  And so much to blame CNN for--like quoting her verbatim.  She was asked about Anthony Aguero, who she didn't talk with apparently before 1/6 that much but who she still was palling around with months afterwards? 

And in a perplexing thing that might get a replay down the road, a question regarding whether she discussed martial law with the White House was almost blocked by her lawyer citing executive privilege which actually seems somehow more damning for him not being Trump's lawyer, and from executive privilege flowing from the guy who is actually president now, who is not Trump. Which really confirms for me that there was a plan to declare martial law because of the planned 1/6 riot and just scads of people knew about it. (Of course it was foiled because there was no antifa and all the dopey Trump fans were also thirsty social media wannabes.)

Let the record show that thirsty MTG put herself in front of a camera and said extreme things every chance she could possibly get, and then felt after the fact that maybe she should deny some of those things under oath (which isn't usually a huge deal in a civil hearing, but this is a very special situation, you know, like, light treason, and all). She has performed a violation of the most 2021 corollary to the Stringer Bell rule: she took video of her participation in a fucking criminal conspiracy. 

 She looked bad today. She looked bad today because the insurrection was bad and she was part of it. She didn't understand how bad, I think, until just now. 

CNN Falls for Mommaganda, Again

How two Florida moms spearheaded a parent movement aiming to impact the 2022 elections https://t.co/kfCD4V7G9r

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 17, 2021

Oof, it feels like we just went over this. And yet, the journalists at CNN still haven't sorted out that the plucky mommies fighting the system are a front backed by dark money, no matter what kind of festive Xmas tchotchkes they're selling. They are the ones using COVID-19 as an opportunity, and there is nothing warm and fuzzy about people screaming at each other at school board meetings. 

JFC. At some point, it starts to look like they fall for it on purpose. 

 

Vice-President Kamala Harris is Underestimated

 

During a tightly-choreographed trip this week, the VP was determined to assert herself as a diplomatic asset for a president who believes he knows more about the process — and the vice presidency — than most. On the VP’s trips w/ the 💫 @KannoYoungs https://t.co/LuiQs64l8Q

— Katie Rogers (@katierogers) November 12, 2021

For what it's worth, CNN has a story on the Harris vice-presidency that I can not discourage you from reading, but encourage reading with a grain of salt because the network has also decided to raise the profile of "former" TrumpWorld denizen Chris Christie, as if we don't know they are already thinking about 2024 right now in the midst of President Biden's first damn year. 

Harris, as a US Senator, served on the Intelligence, Judiciary, and Homeland Security and Governmental affairs committees. She isn't in any respects under-prepared and the light-weight chuckleheads who talked about her supposed accent failed to note she actually speaks some French and also that their claims are wildly exaggerated because they are actually being basic bitches. 

She has about as much experience as Barack Obama when he became president, and she is not less personable because she is female. She is less personable to people who are less embracing of her other exceptional qualities and need to create electoral drama about a post-Biden primary we are not even looking at yet. They are giving her Hillary Clinton-style hits, and I despise this routine. This demand that women be judged on a scale so unprecedented when the men who came before them were given a handshake in comparison. 

Like Mom & Apple Pie

Just to get this off my chest--how did CNN find these ladies? Because Twitter figured out that they were activists of various shades. It shouldn't even be news to an outlet like CNN that when you see supposed "grassroots" movements spring up all over the country in the way school boards were hit by anti-mask, anti-shutdown, anti-CRT activism, like Tea Party activists swarming townhalls just about ten years ago over the ACA--maybe question what you're looking at?

Because while parents have great reasons to be frustrated lately, their anger is being deliberately shaped with outside help. 

Now, I feel extremely cynical writing about this. I'm the goddamn mirror image of the blonde ladies right there, except I'm more red-headed, and have no kids, and am atheist, and queer. But leaving all that aside, I'm culturally Catholic and damn-near white as nurses' shoes. So maybe I almost understand what kind of mistruths move these folks--but I don't. I can't. Lies are lies, no matter who tells them, and when they further marginalize people, I am not there for it. 

So anyway, back to the mom thing: remember this mom? Yeah, she was probably connected to Republicans too, and stuff, but you know what? McAuliffe could have blunted his "parents shouldn't determine what books" etc. soundbite with an ad with another white mom talking about freedom of speech. We don't have to assume all white moms are one way.

Arrogance and Andrew Cuomo

 

There was a moment today when I thought, very briefly, upon hearing that Andrew Cuomo was going to make a statement at 1 p.m. after the details of the investigation into the allegations of his sexual harassment had been made public, that maybe, just maybe, he was going to do the right thing. Surely, I thought, like a poor innocent fish, he's just taking a minute to draft his resignation comments and will be getting his ass out of office with some basic dignity intact because if he tries to hang on, shit is going to get nasty from here on. 

He certainly did no such thing. He made a disgusting appeal to his age and ethnicity and tried to maintain that no, everyone just misunderstood him: actually, he is a big supporter of women. The current throughout--these lying women are just trying to jam me up. With no explanation of what set them off (other than the simple truth) or how their coming forward about what they went through benefits them in the slightest, except that he not be in a position of power anymore, and not be able to continue to do harm.

And here's the grotesque thing--this was a prepared statement that came along with a montage of Governor Kissyface showing physical affection to a wide assortment of people, as if to say, see? This is just how he is. How can you imagine that any of this was inappropriate? 

Well, thanks to the visual representation, I can imagine it a bit more vividly, so thanks for that. It's astounding. Someone cut that together and thought "This is helping." But clearly, that was put together before AG James' announcement.

Ted Cruz and the Terrible Loss

Chris Cuomo to Ted Cruz after Cruz attacks his brother:

"Why don’t you talk to the president like you talk to my brother? You afraid of him? ... My brother’s not the president. I’m talking about the president. The one who called you a liar, the one who said your wife was ugly!" pic.twitter.com/k5rbElyzPy

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) October 1, 2020

When you think of all of the terrible words that have passed between Sen. Cruz and Donald Trump--mostly on Donald Trump's side, it really is quite something that Cruz defends Trump over and over again. And over. And--you get the idea.

Has he defended Trump more than he has his wife, his dad, his dignity, or his faith, all of which Trump has at one time or another attacked? Sure. But maybe it's a form of acting.

You know Cruz was a theater kid once upon a time. Maybe he's decided that discretion is the better part of valor, and also knows from which direction his party's salvation supposedly comes. So he puts on a play, a false face, better than the one he owns.

But what a loss to the theater! He had the range for comedy or tragedy:

But in politics he is farce and tragedy at once. And poorly done, at that.

Trump Knew COVID-19 Was Bad and He Lied to Us

In new tapes, President Trump admits to Bob Woodward he concealed critical details he knew about the coronavirus. "I wanted to always play it down." https://t.co/eICaAx70mY pic.twitter.com/zXNOZtIBx7

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) September 9, 2020

And he's been patting himself on the back for the job he's done ever since. That rat bastard.

190,000 dead Americans. Because he wanted to manipulate the press.

UPDATE:

.@PressSec just now: "The president never downplayed the virus."

Trump to Woodward in March: "I wanted to always pay it down."

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) September 9, 2020

I disrespect Kayleigh McEnany somewhat (her tag on this blog is MAGANinny) but she's really in the position of a disaster PR person more than a press secretary. Of course he downplayed COVID-19 over and over again. He was doing it in big demonstrative ways in trying to reopen the economy and his thing about not liking it when people wear masks. He's pretty much doing right this minute. It's not so much that the press secretary is telling a lie, as that she is signing on to every lie Trump tells. And while I get that this position is a really high-profile one, I begin to have serious doubts about her integrity.

Trump Works The Poll

Trump lives in a universe where he needs to look good and can't stand any criticism, where he needs to hear adulation and can't take any responsibility.  And it is driving him, allegedly, "malignantly crazy" that his poll numbers are dropping like a rock. Joe Biden's lead over Trump is more solid than Hillary Clinton's was, and this was precisely the scenario Trump feared.

(So much so, in fact, that last year he extorted the president of Ukraine for dirt on Joe Biden's son, Hunter, by withholding aid, an act for which Trump was later impeached by the Democratic House of Representatives. Ukrainian prosecutors, in fact, haven't got anything on the former vice-president's son.)

So, it's certainly not out of form for Trump to retain the services of a friendly if possibly misguided polling firm to provide more pleasant-sounding numbers. (His former personal lawyer admitted to rigging polls for his boss so this has precedent.) The president has acquired the notion that polls exist, not to provide metrics for what a campaign needs to improve messaging for (because that would be work and might even require discipline, and yeah no, Trump isn't getting that shit together anytime soon) but to create impressions. So he has fallen under the belief that a bad CNN poll (that nemesis, CNN!) has been devised to suppress support for him. So much so that CNN has been sent a cease and desist letter to take down the offending poll.

CNN, naturally, has declined, with a letter that boils downs to "First Amendment, fuck you."  As they absolutely should.

It's sad that Trump can't think of anything better to do regarding his poll numbers than, well, this, even though, if his campaign staff has any competency whatsoever, they've certainly tried to get him to try and get a handle on his messaging--so he will be resuming his campaign rallies on Juneteenth in Tulsa  (planned stops in Texas, Arizona, and Florida after Oklahoma, so you can tell he's concentrating on those battlegrounds, there) and is also going to have a speech on race written by Stephen Miller.

So that's really...reading the room, I guess. Rather like his carefully-crafted statement just a bit ago about those military bases named for Confederate leaders. However, I don't think he's in the same room as the rest of America, and is all too happy with a polling sample of one--himself.

*I thought the better of the most amusing YouTube video I originally used for an accompanying visual but if you did see that, sorry, not sorry. I only thought it too graceful to really represent Trump's essence, so I went with this somewhat idealized portrait that I believe he purchased with charity money and used at one of his business locations, so, much more representative of his actual self.

That is *Not* Staying in Vegas, You Guys

'We've had viruses for years... I want the hotel rooms open' — The mayor of Las Vegas gave this unbelievably alarming interview to Anderson Cooper pic.twitter.com/IW774WIlFJ

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) April 23, 2020

There is so much going on in this video that you really have to take a look at the whole thing. The mayor of Las Vegas, Carolyn Goodman, doesn't seem very well-informed, she's willing to gamble (see what I did there?) that business-owners will figure out how to take precautions to ensure social distancing on their own, she assumes that for some reason, the person-to-person transmission of the virus works differently in China than it would in Las Vegas, and seems out-of-touch and glib about the whole thing.

From offering her city as a control group (note to Mayor Goodman: offering oneself as tribute in the Hunger Games was heroic, offering up the fate of potentially thousands of people not just in your city but from everywhere visitors may hail from is...very much not) to scoffing at the idea she would spend time every night in a casino herself ("I have a family!", as if the people who work in the casinos all hatched out of little plastic eggs or something), she displays a shocking unfitness for understanding that other people have valid safety concerns and that those concerns matter. There's no consideration about what this means for those business' potential liability for becoming a "petri dish" or what that might mean for the longer-term health of the local economy.

What is also stunning, though, I think, is that while she voices this attitude pretty openly, the difference between her and other folks pushing to open up for business is really just that--she said it out loud.