Potpourri v23.0
POST 1101
The Debate
In the spin room following the Trumpocalypse he claimed victory. He was asked again if would he would veto a national abortion bill should he be re-elected. He replied, “It was a perfect answer on abortion, and I’ve done a great job on that, and I’ve brought our country together.”
All but the extreme MAGAs now see clearly that he is uninformed, unglued and unfit. So he’s right that he’s brought us together – in recognizing his mental decline.
Here’s a CNN fact check on the debate.
Trump said that Harris had four years to fix our southern border immigration problem and didn’t get the job done. That’s worth mentioning because of a peculiar Constitutional limitation.
The vice-president has only two Constitutionally named jobs: 1. preside over the Senate; 2. wait for the president to die and then take over that job. Harris doesn’t set policy. Biden does. Trump seems to think he’s still running against Biden. For Trump, fantasy or reality – it’s all the same.
Steve Schmidt Quote of the Week
“What Donald Trump is running as is fuhrer of a fascist movement promising protection for White America against imaginary Haitians coming to eat their pets. The presidential campaign has become a clinic of mental illness – not on both sides. On one side.
“And that is the story of this race and the story that should be leading the news – all the news, every night, is that a man who wants access to the nuclear weapons that he singularly can launch, cannot tell the difference between what is real and what is fantasy.”
Meanwhile, George W. Bush’s Attorney General, Alberto “Torture Memo” Gonzales has endorsed Kamala Harris for President. Is that a good thing?
The Crime That Keeps On Stealing
At his State of the Union address in 2010, shortly after the Supreme Court invented a case that allows for massive, corruption-inviting loads of money to influence and at last buy our elections, Obama spoke directly about the Citizens United decision.
“With all due deference to separation of powers, the decision will open the floodgates for special interests — including foreign corporations — to spend without limit in our elections.”
Chief Justice Roberts, seated before Obama, shook his head and said, “Not true.”
But it was and it still is.
Foreign money has made it into our elections, but we only know about those bribes that have been caught. Beyond that, we know full well of many of the billions that warp every election. Here’s a link to a report that identifies the top 50 MegaDonor contributors, reported through August 20, with a breakdown of where their money went:
TO
Republicans $893.7 Million
Democrats $452 Million
Both $203.6 Million
Third Party $29.6 Million
MegaDonor Total $1.578.9 Billion
And there’s lots more mega-cash still rolling in.
Before the legalization of criminality that the Citizens United decision delivered, such contributions would have been considered bribes – felonies – and they would have been subject to criminal prosecution. But then John Roberts decided to create a law.
After deciding the actual CU case that was brought to the Court, Roberts called the litigants back and ordered them to argue the rights of inanimate objects – specifically, corporations. The Court then decided that corporations have all the rights that you have. That’s what allowed all those huge bribes to become legal and that’s why Citizens United is the crime that keeps on stealing.
A Second Flunked Taste Test
I did a taste test last month of a piece by Marc Thiessen of The Washington Post, headlining my comments, This Is Juicy. Mine was a most reasonable dissection of his idiotic claims, ending with, “So, nice try, Mr. Thiessen. You are entitled to your opinions, but the facts say you’re wrong.”
Thiessen came up with an intriguing headline more recently, Trump Can Knock Harris Out Of The Race In One Debate. Here’s how. I was sufficiently tweaked by his claim to give him one more taste test. Then I read his first paragraph.
If we have learned anything in recent months, it is that a single bad debate can end a presidential campaign — which is why Vice President Kamala Harris is apparently afraid to do more than one 90-minute, teleprompter-free exchange with former president Donald Trump.
Okay, it wasn’t just one debate that ended Biden’s campaign. There was also that massive in-party pressure. But it’s the rest of the sentence that flies over the cuckoo’s nest.
Does Thiessen have inside information that says Harris is afraid to do more than one debate against Trump? Or that she is afraid to do more than one if they don’t include teleprompters? What is his source for what’s unstated but is in her head?
Of course, he has no source. He’s pretending that he knows. Ross Douthat of the Times and lots of other pundits do this often. It screams, “I really don’t know anything, so I’ll make up denigrating stuff.”
Mr. Thiessen, you have flunked my second taste test of your work. There won’t be another.
And fie on those who think their ignorance causes them to know what is in someone else’s head.
Despot Suck Up
The President of the United States has three primary jobs explicitly named in the oath of office and in Article II of The Constitution:
- Preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States
- Be Commander in Chief of our armed forces
- See that our laws are faithfully executed
The are more duties, of course, but nowhere does the job description include cozying up to cruel dictators, condoning invasion of sovereign nations or abdicating the defense of our democracy. Here’s a quote from Ambassador Michael McFaul’s September 5 post:
In this column, I explained why “Putin has rational motives for wanting Trump to win,” including Trump’s pledge “to ‘look into’ recognition of Crimea as a part of Russia,” Trump’s “disdain for the United States’ alliances around the world [and] his “isolationist policies,” and indifference to “promoting democracy and human rights.”
Of course, Trump also encouraged Russia and Putin to, “do whatever the hell they want.”
Did I already mention “unhinged?” Add to that “faithless.”
Mental Health Warning
We see Trump’s obvious cognitive decline, his inability to complete a thought, his dissembling about fictional character Hannibal Lechter, sharks and batteries, his stringing together of words that don’t belong together and his fantastic claims, like that immigrants are eating pet dogs and others are taking over whole communities. Even as that stuff pulls the rug from under Trump’s election chances, it may provide an insanity defense in court. We need that guy nailed before he can get away with that.
It’s not the vibes, it’s not the polls: it’s the votes.
Are you registered to vote? Check it out here:
.
https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/
https://www.usa.gov/confirm-voter-registration
https://www.rockthevote.org/how-to-vote/am-i-registered-to-vote/
“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists.”
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– Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), 2016
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