The Conversation -- November 8, 2024

Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: “... Donald J. Trump on Thursday named Susie Wiles, the Florida strategist who has run his political operation for nearly four years, as his White House chief of staff for his incoming administration.... In Ms. Wiles, Mr. Trump turned to an aide he knows well and who has worked closely with him, understands how he operates, is close with his family and to whom most of his current team is loyal. She will be the first woman ever to hold the job.” MB: Ms. Wiles, the daughter of well-known sportscaster Pat Summerall, is -- like all those who have worked for Mr. Trump -- a pathetic masochist. Perhaps to compensate for fetish, Ms. Wiles says she enjoys spending her weekends combing local Facebook Marketplace and Craigslists ads for free kittens which she takes home and drowns in her Jacuzzi bathtub. Her daughters are grown with lives of their own, and her husband Lenny left her shortly after she went to work for Mr. Trump in 2016, making her, she says with a laugh, “a childless cat lady.” Politico's story is here.

Matt Viser of the Washington Post: “President Joe Biden walked into the Rose Garden on Thursday morning to concede his party’s defeat, expressing confidence in the American electoral system and vowing to oversee a peaceful transfer of power. But underlying his remarks was a funereal mood, as cabinet members and staffers were escorted to their seats, exchanging hugs and sober glances before rising for a standing ovation when the president emerged.... Biden is now forced to welcome and legitimize a man he condemned, a man whose ouster — as he has said repeatedly over the past five years — was the entire reason he ran for president in the first place, and a man he has called a fascist and an existential threat to democracy. Biden is now pledging to honor and accept Trump in a way that Trump did not and would not do for him. Biden’s fealty to democratic traditions requires him to courteously pave the way for a man who often dismisses them — but whom the voters chose.” (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Ben Casselman of the New York Times: “Would Jerome H. Powell, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, step aside if asked to do so by ... Donald J. Trump? Mr. Powell had a one-word answer on Thursday: 'No.' Could Mr. Trump fire or demote him if he refuses to go? Same answer. Mr. Trump appointed Mr. Powell to his post in 2018 but soon soured on him when he resisted the then-president’s calls to lower interest rates. He considered firing or demoting Mr. Powell, but his advisers concluded that doing so would be difficult if not impossible. Since leaving office, Mr. Trump has continued to criticize the Fed, leading to speculation that he could try again to fire Mr. Powell — or pressure him to resign.... His term as chair ends in May 2026.”

Guardian Editors: “This is an exceptionally bleak and frightening moment for the United States and the world. Donald Trump swept the electoral college and is on course to take the popular vote – giving him not merely a victory, but a mandate.... Presented with a choice between electing the first black, female president on a promise of a sunnier future, and a racist, misogynist, twice-impeached convicted felon hawking hatred and retribution, [the voters] picked Mr Trump.” (Also linked yesterday.)

What? No Voter Fraud After All? Clarissa-Jan Lim of MSNBC: “In the months leading up to the election, Donald Trump and his Republican allies warned relentlessly of widespread voter fraud. Trump ... repeatedly refused to commit to accepting the election results unless he won. On Election Day, Trump ... suggested that there was voter fraud in Philadelphia and Detroit, two major cities in battleground states. Elon Musk’s 'Election Integrity Community' discussion page on X was also rife with conspiracy theories about Democrats cheating. Yet on election night, as the results looked to be in Trump’s favor, the claims tapered off.... Posts on X’s 'election integrity' page grew self-congratulatory and 'the urgency to investigate wrongdoing subsided,' The Washington Post reported. Far-right channels on the Telegram platform ... suddenly grew quiet as well, according to The New York Times. And, most significantly, there was no more talk of voter fraud from Trump, who spent months sowing doubt about the integrity of the 2024 presidential election — and who, to this day, refuses to concede the 2020 election.”

Daniel Wu & Joseph Menn of the Washington Post: “The FBI and authorities in several states are investigating racist text messages sent to Black people nationwide this week saying they would be brought to plantations to work as enslaved people and pick cotton. People in at least a dozen states and D.C. have received the messages according to authorities and local media. The texts have spread alarm in the aftermath of a presidential election marked by ... Donald Trump and his campaign’s use of inflammatory language against minorities.” NPR's story is here.

Rebecca Solnit of the Guardian: “Our mistake was to think we lived in a better country than we do. Our mistake was to see the joy, the extraordinary balance between idealism and pragmatism, the energy, the generosity, the coalition-building of the Kamala Harris campaign and think that it must triumph over the politics of lies and resentment. Our mistake was to think that racism and misogyny were not as bad as they are, whether it applied to who was willing to vote for a supremely qualified Black woman or who was willing to vote for an adjudicated rapist and convicted criminal who admires Hitler. Our mistake was to think we could row this boat across the acid lake before the acid dissolved it.... The principal problems that got us to this bleakest moment in American history are intertwined. They are the crisis of masculinity, the failure of the mainstream news media and the rise of Silicon Valley....” Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Anton Troianovski & Valerie Hopkins of the New York Times: “President Vladimir V. Putin on Thursday congratulated and lavished praise on Mr. Trump in his first comments on the U.S. election result, a sign that the Kremlin would move quickly to try to capitalize on the president-elect’s apparent fondness for Russia and its autocratic ruler. Mr. Putin, speaking at a conference in Sochi, Russia, said Mr. Trump acted 'like a man' after surviving the assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., last summer, adding that Mr. Trump’s stated desires to improve ties with Russia and end the Ukraine war 'deserve attention.' And he suggested that he expected Mr. Trump to act more freely in his second term, signaling a hope that Mr. Trump would finally follow through on his Russia-friendly rhetoric.” MB: But who will be president of the Dictators' Club? (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: It looks as if the U.S. may have more friends in Europe than I've let on: ~~~

~~~ A Coalition of the Horribles? Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: “Far-right parties comprise the biggest parliamentary factions in the Netherlands, France, Austria and Italy; they are ascendant in Germany and Portugal, kingmakers in Sweden and Finland. Further to the east, in countries like Slovakia and Hungary, right-wing nationalism fuels the governments in power.... Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, long admired by the American right, saw in Trump’s 'shining victory' a pathway to advance a more illiberal agenda in the West.... 'We have won,' said Alexander Dugin, an influential Russian ideologue credited with helping articulate the imperialist agenda underscoring Russia’s war in Ukraine and for having supported disinformation efforts against [Vice President] Harris’s campaign. 'The world will be never ever like before. Globalists have lost their final combat.'”

Stefanos Chen & Olivia Bensimon of the New York Times: “On Thursday, [Judge Lewis Liman] set the latest 'final' deadline [for Rudy Giuliani to turn over assets to Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss], brushing aside repeated arguments that the possessions should remain with Mr. Giuliani while the case was under appeal. By the end of next week, he said, Mr. Giuliani had to either hand over all the items, or he could face civil contempt, a charge that could carry severe penalties, including possible jail time.... Those items ... were supposed to be handed over last week....”

Tom Jackman of the Washington Post: During the January 6, 2021, insurrection, “Zachary J. Alam ... punch[ed] the glass windows leading to the Speaker’s Lobby. Using a helmet to finish smashing the glass, he created the space into which Ashli Babbitt then climbed, where she was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer. At his sentencing on Thursday, Alam told a federal judge ... his actions were justified because he believed the 2020 election was stolen, pointing to Donald Trump’s victory in this year’s presidential race as he quipped, 'four years later Americans were able to rectify the situation.' U.S. District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich pointed to his 'lack of remorse' as she sentenced him to eight years in prison, among the longest terms for a Jan. 6 defendant not affiliated with the Oath Keepers or Proud Boys groups. The sentence could be short-lived: Trump has promised to pardon Jan. 6 rioters.... 'But I will not accept a second-class pardon,' Alam said. 'I want a full pardon with all the benefits that come with it, including full compensation.'”

Christopher Rugaber of the AP: “The Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate Thursday by a quarter-point in response to the steady decline in the once-high inflation that had angered Americans and helped drive Donald Trump’s presidential election victory this week. The rate cut follows a larger half-point reduction in September, and it reflects the Fed’s renewed focus on supporting the job market as well as fighting inflation, which now barely exceeds the central bank’s 2% target. Thursday’s move reduces the Fed’s benchmark rate to about 4.6%, down from a four-decade high of 5.3% before September’s meeting. The Fed had kept its rate that high for more than a year to fight the worst inflation streak in four decades. Annual inflation has since fallen from a 9.1% peak in mid-2022 to a 3 1/2-year low of 2.4% in September.” (Also linked yesterday.)

Keeping Families Separated. Hamed Aleaziz of the New York Times: “A federal judge in Texas on Thursday struck down a new Biden administration program that sought to provide a path to U.S. citizenship for hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants married to American citizens. The ruling, issued by Judge J. Campbell Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, came months after 16 Republican-led states, led by Texas’ attorney general, Ken Paxton, filed a lawsuit claiming that the administration lacked the legal authority to enact the program. In August, Judge Barker temporarily blocked the initiative, just days after it had gone into place. On Thursday, in a 74-page decision, he explained that the Biden administration did not have the authority to create the program, which would have been unlikely to remain in place after President-elect Trump took office in January.” The CBS News story is here. MB: Barker is a Trump appointee. If Republicans can think of something cruel, they will do it.

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California. Heather Knight of the New York Times: “London Breed, San Francisco’s first Black woman mayor who steered the city through the pandemic but also saw its quality of life sink, conceded her re-election race on Thursday. Ms. Breed said in a news conference at City Hall that she had called Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune who has never held elected office, to congratulate him on his win.... Both Mr. Lurie and Ms. Breed are Democrats and San Francisco natives who grew up mere miles from each other, he in luxury and she in poverty.”

California. Tran Nguyen of the AP: “California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, a fierce critic of ... Donald Trump, on Thursday called for lawmakers to convene a special session ahead of another Trump presidency to safeguard the state’s progressive policies. Meanwhile, attorneys general in blue states across the country announced they were also gearing up for a legal fight. The move ... effectively reignited California’s resistance campaign against conservative policies that state Democratic leaders started during the first Trump administration. 'The freedoms we hold dear in California are under attack — and we won’t sit idle,' Newsom, who reportedly has ambitions on the national stage, said in a statement.”

Illinois. Lauren Irwin of the Hill: “Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) held a press conference Thursday to discuss the aftermath of the election, issuing a warning that if anyone tries to come for my people,' they will have to 'come through me.'... The governor noted that in his state, he will continue working to protect all people, no matter what a second Trump term looks like. 'Perhaps this time may be different. But if it isn’t, Illinois will remain a place of stability and competent governance,' Pritzker said.”

Mississippi. Isabelle Taft of the New York Times: “The mayor of Jackson, Miss., a City Council member and the local district attorney have been indicted on federal corruption charges, with court documents unsealed on Thursday detailing a scheme in which F.B.I. agents posing as real estate developers paid tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to city officials. Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba, a Democrat first elected to lead the state’s capital in 2017, and the City Council member, Aaron Banks, were indicted on conspiracy and bribery charges. The Hinds County district attorney, Jody Owens, faces similar charges and was also accused of making false statements. All three men pleaded not guilty on Thursday in their first court appearances.”

New Jersey. Ry Rivard of Politico: “New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy [D] forged a unique relationship with ... Donald Trump that could help the blue state when Trump returns to the White House.... 'If it's contrary to our values, we will fight to the death,' Murphy said in a Wednesday press conference on the election. 'If there’s an opportunity for common ground, we will seize that as fast as anybody.'”

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Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: “The Israel Defense Forces on Thursday attacked Hezbollah targets throughout Lebanon and a school in Gaza that it said was being used as a command center by Hamas militants. The IDF also said that its ground troops in southern Gaza had completed an operation on Thursday in which two Hamas militants who had taken part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel were killed, and that its troops in northern Gaza had expanded operations in Beit Lahia. Hezbollah militants in Lebanon launched 125 projectiles at Israel, the IDF said. The recent fighting has killed dozens in Gaza, according to health officials there, while Lebanese officials said 52 people had been killed and 161 wounded on the previous day. Neither agency distinguishes between combatants and civilians.”

Comments

[Ken Winkes]

Marie,

Just read your reply to "Terence" from late last night. I didn't get it either. Maybe I just don't like to be assigned to one of those "you people" groups, but something did seem off about his/her? remarks about RC commenters.

Some of Terence's dire predictions might be on the mark, but I had the feeling that Terence might be a "bot" or a pod person, entirely removed from Earth and hence safely protected from all the awfulness he foresees.

[Akhilleus]

It’s already started…

I’m not going to link it because fuck him, but in case you missed it, Jeff Bezos, that sniveling, self-serving snake, issued the most servile congratulatory love letter to Fat Hitler on his glorious victory over democracy.

His spineless greed paid off. Amazon stock prices soared yesterday. The rest of the gutless oligarchy is lining up as well to kiss the king’s flabby ass. They can read the chicken bones.

But this is right out of the fascism playbook. Only those who kowtow to the glorious leader get taken care of. Loyalty to der Führer is all that matters, not competency or talent, not intelligence or innovation, and most assuredly not decency or moral fortitude. Just craven, obsequious fealty to a bloated dictator.

Look at a scumbag like Viktor Orban. Know who gets the biggest, cushiest government contracts in Hungary? His dunce of a son-in-law and fawning, obedient oligarch buddies.

The same will happen here.

It’s already started.

It’s to be expected

[Akhilleus]

Planned Trump cabinet positions:

Secretary of Propaganda: Elon Musk
Secretary of Illness, Rampant Disease, and Roadkill: RFK, Jr.
Secretary of Burning it All Down: Steve Bannon
Attorney General: Loose Cannon
Secretary of Forced Theocracy: Leonard Leo
Concentration Camp Commandant: Steve Miller
Secretary of Podcast Whackjob Advancement: Eightball Junior
Secretary of Education: Stoopid Eric
Ambassador to Arab Piggybanks: Jared
Head Attack Flack: Steven Cheung
Secretary of Showy, Meaningless Shirt Ripping: Hulk Hogan
Head Grifting Consultant and Einstein Visa Distribution: Melanie

Feel free to suggest others…