;)
The Commentariat -- July 19, 2020
Afternoon Update:
Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "An agitated President Trump offered a string of combative and often dubious assertions in an interview aired Sunday, defending his handling of the coronavirus with misleading evidence, attacking his own health experts, disputing polls showing him trailing in his re-election race and defending people who display the Confederate flag as victims of 'cancel culture.' Th president's remarks, delivered in an interview on 'Fox News Sunday,' amounted to a contentious potpourri more commonly found on his Twitter feed and at his political rallies. The difference this time was a vigorous attempt by the host, Chris Wallace, to fact-check him, leading to several clashes between the two on matters ranging from the coronavirus response to whether Mr. Trump would accept the results of the election should he lose." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post's report, by Felicia Sonmez, is here. The Guardian's report, by Martin Pengelly, is here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Hmm. Looks as if Fox "News" is enjoying this. Looks as if they're rebroadcasting the whole Wallace/Trump interview at 7 pm ET today (Sunday). I might just listen, if I can find Fox on the "dial."
~~~ The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Sunday are here. "Mr. Trump said during [an] interview with Chris Wallace ... that Dr. Fauci had been against his decision to close the borders to travelers from China in January. That is not true.... Mr. Trump also said that Dr. Fauci had been against Americans wearing masks. Dr. Fauci has said that he does not regret urging Americans not to wear masks in the early days of the pandemic, referencing a severe shortage of protective gear for medical professionals.... Mr. Trump falsely claimed that the coronavirus rate in other countries was lower than in the United States because those nations did not engage in testing.... Mr. Trump said that he doubted whether Dr. Robert R. Redfield, the director of the C.D.C., was correct in predicting that the pandemic would be worse this fall.... He ... reiterated his earlier claim, unsupported by science, that the virus would suddenly cease one day. 'It's going to disappear and I'll be right.... Because I've been right probably more than anybody else.'" ~~~
~~~ Derek Hawkins & Felicia Sonmez of the Washington Post: "With coronavirus cases rising across the country and the U.S. death toll topping 137,000, President Trump on Sunday dismissed concerns about the spike in infections, telling Fox News that 'many of those cases shouldn't even be cases.... Many of those cases are young people that would heal in a day,' the president told Fox News host Chris Wallace in an interview. 'They have the sniffles and we put it down as a test.'... Trump's remarks came after another week of grim data highlighting the uncontrolled spread of the virus. Infections rose in states from every region of the country, with more than a dozen states on Saturday reaching record highs in their seven-day averages for new daily cases." ~~~
~~~ Morgan Chalfant of the Hill: "President Trump in a testy interview with Fox News's Chris Wallace downplayed recent surges in coronavirus cases, defended his stance on Confederate-named bases and sought to attack ... Joe Biden. Trump disputed polls showing him trailing Biden, eviscerating his Democratic opponent as 'not competent to be president' and controlled by the 'radical' progressive wing of the party. He also complained about his inability to hold rallies in some areas of the country due to the coronavirus, accusing 'Democrat-run states' of not allowing him to do so.... Trump also described Dr. Anthony Fauci ... as 'a little bit of an alarmist' while denying that the White House is involved in an effort to discredit him." Mrs. McC: Fact-checkers can't keep up with this Big Fat Liar.
~~~~~~~~~~
Morgan Gstalter of the Hill: "Former Vice President Joe Biden [Mrs. McC: and his wife Jill] on Saturday mourned the death of Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.), saying the civil rights leader was 'truly a one-of-a-kind, a moral compass who always knew where to point us and which direction to march.... We are made in the image of God, and then there is John Lewis,' Biden wrote in a statement. 'How could someone in flesh and blood be so courageous, so full of hope and love in the face of so much hate, violence, and vengeance?'" ~~~
~~~ This ABC News story has the Bidens' statement as well as President Obama's statement and others. Vice President mike pence's statement was quite sweet. Here's the Bidens' full statement, posted in Medium. Speaker Nancy Pelosi's full statement is here.
Just in: Trump has ordered the U.S. flag to be flown at half-staff at the White House and all federal buildings in honor of John Lewis.... for one day. Really, for half a day, since the order came out just past 11 a.m. The president's proclamation expires tonight. -- Philip Rucker of the Washington Post, in a tweet ~~~
~~~ Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "As the bipartisan tributes to Mr. Lewis's legacy began flowing late Friday evening and Saturday morning, President Trump opted to retweet a flurry of his older posts on Twitter largely focused on disparaging his enemies.... On Saturday afternoon, after issuing a boilerplate proclamation for flags to be flown Saturday at half-staff at the White House and public buildings, Mr. Trump published a perfunctory [Mrs. McC: and ungrammatical] message on the passing of one of his most prominent critics. 'Saddened to hear the news of civil rights hero John Lewis passing,' Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter after finishing a game of golf. 'Melania and I send our prayers to he and his family.'" A TPM story is here.
Remembering John Lewis Elijah Cummings. Christina Morales of the New York Times: "Like thousands of other Americans, Senators Marco Rubio and Dan Sullivan took to social media on Saturday to mourn the death of Representative John Lewis, a venerated figure of the civil rights movement.... Except the photo Mr. Rubio posted was not of Mr. Lewis, but of another congressman: Representative Elijah E. Cummings, who died in October. Mr. Rubio also used the photo of himself with Mr. Cummings as his Twitter profile picture for a brief time. Mr. Sullivan, Republican of Alaska, also memorialized Mr. Lewis with a photo of Mr. Cummings. In the picture he posted to his Facebook account, Mr. Sullivan is standing beside Mr. Cummings in front of the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington." See commentary on Rubio's embarrassing mix-up in yesterday's thread.
Practical Matters. Greg Bluestein of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Facing a tight legal deadline, Georgia Democrats are seeking online applications to succeed the late U.S. Rep. John Lewis. The state party said Saturday that potential contenders must complete an application by Sunday evening to be considered for the Atlanta-based seat held since 1987 by the civil rights hero. That's because state law gives the Democratic Party of Georgia until 4:30 p.m. on Monday to decide whether to replace Lewis' name on the November ballot for a full two-year term.... There also will be a separate special election to fill the remainder of the civil rights hero's term after his death Friday due to complications of pancreatic cancer. Gov. Brian Kemp has 10 days to schedule that vote to serve the rest of the Democrat's term, which expires in January."
The Trumpidemic, Ctd.
The New York Times' live updates of coronavirus developments Saturday are here.
Trump Wants to Help Spread Coronavirus. Erica Werner & Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "The Trump administration is trying to block billions of dollars for states to conduct testing and contact tracing in the upcoming coronavirus relief bill, people involved in the talks said Saturday. The administration is also trying to block billions of dollars that GOP senators want to allocate for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and billions more for the Pentagon and State Department to address the pandemic at home and abroad, the people said.... Trump and other White House officials have been pushing for states to own more of the responsibility for testing and have objected to creating national standards, at times seeking to minimize the federal government's role.... The administration's posture has angered some GOP senators, the officials said, and some lawmakers are trying to push back and ensure that the money stays in the bill.... The negotiations center around a bill Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is preparing to unveil this coming week as part of negotiations with Democrats on what will likely be the last major coronavirus relief bill before the November election."
** Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "Each morning at 8 as the coronavirus crisis was raging in April, Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, convened a small group of aides to steer the administration through what had become a public health, economic and political disaster.... They saw their immediate role as practical problem solvers.... But their ultimate goal was to shift responsibility for leading the fight against the pandemic from the White House to the states. They referred to this as 'state authority handoff,' and it was at the heart of what would become at once a catastrophic policy blunder and an attempt to escape blame for a crisis that had engulfed the country -- perhaps one of the greatest failures of presidential leadership in generations. Over a critical period beginning in mid-April, President Trump and his team convinced themselves that the outbreak was fading, that they had given state governments all the resources they needed to contain its remaining 'embers' and that it was time to ease up on the lockdown.... For scientific affirmation, they turned to Dr. Deborah L. Birx.... She was a constant source of upbeat news for the president and his aides, walking the halls with charts emphasizing that outbreaks were gradually easing." Emphasis added. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. Bea McCrabbie: Almost everyone -- Trump, Meadows, Kushner, etc. -- comes off as a know-nothing nitwit in this story of how the administration failed the American people, but no one comes off worse than Debbie Birx, "the chief evangelist for the idea that the threat from the virus was fading." It's hard for me not to think of her jumping for joy, cheerleader-style, wearing one of those ridiculous flouncy skirts & flowing scarves she favors, her 1960s ponytail flying. ~~~
~~~ Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Huge numbers of Americans will be dead, have permanent health issues, and/or be economically immiserated because the Trump administration's only significant COVID-19 focus was passing the buck and hoping things would go away[.]... [It's] it pretty clear [Trump is] not going to EMAILS! his way out of this one. Mass death and economic depression do tend to concentrate the mind."
Apoorva Mandavilli of the New York Times: "In the heated debate over reopening schools, one burning question has been whether and how efficiently children can spread the virus to others. A large new study from South Korea offers an answer: Children younger than 10 transmit to others much less often than adults do, but the risk is not zero. And those between the ages of 10 and 19 can spread the virus at least as well as adults do. The findings suggest that as schools reopen, communities will see clusters of infection take root that include children of all ages, several experts cautioned." ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: This South Korean study offers one of those insights that should help us Americans curb the virus. But it won't. Because the POTUS* favors almost everything that spreads the virus: getting businesses back to normal, letting all the Christian congregations get together and sing, holding massive public events indoors and out, reopening schools. And although he is for handwashing, apparently something he does a lot himself, he is against requiring people to wear masks and social-distance. There is something very, very strange about this.
Maine. Shocking Stats. Maria Sachetti of the Washington Post: "Immigrants and refugees help power Maine, America's oldest and whitest state, by picking blueberries, packing meat and tending to the elderly far from the fancy resorts on Vacationland's rocky coast. But in a state that has one of the lowest rates of coronavirus infections, a pattern has emerged: Black Mainers -- many of them immigrants -- have been infected at disproportionate rates, accounting for approximately 23 percent of the cases in a state where they are less than 2 percent of the population.... The most recent state data show that at least 836 of more than 3,600 Mainers who have had the coronavirus are black."
Emily Gillespie & Rachel Siegel of the Washington Post: "The Oregon attorney general filed a lawsuit late Friday night alleging that the federal government had violated Oregonians' civil rights by seizing and detaining them without probable cause during protests against police brutality in the past week. The legal action comes after days of intensifying clashes between the Trump administration and Portland officials, who have accused federal agencies of heavy-handed tactics that inflame unrest and threaten citizens. Department of Homeland Security agents have swarmed the city in recent days, arguing that they are needed to restore order after nearly two months of demonstrations. But local officials, including Oregon Gov. Kate Brown (D) and Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler (D), have implored the agency to step down, with the mayor calling the police force President Trump's 'personal army' and suggesting its tactics are only making things worse." ~~~
~~~ Conrad Wilson, et al., of Oregon Public Broadcasting: "The Oregon Department of Justice is suing several federal agencies for civil rights abuses, and state prosecutors will potentially pursue criminal charges against a federal officer who seriously injured a protester. The federal lawsuit names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Marshals Service, the United States Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protective Service, agencies that have had a role in stepped-up force used against protesters since early July."
~~~ Sergio Olmos, et al., of the New York Times: "The federal agents facing a growing backlash for their militarized approach to weeks of unrest in Portland were not specifically trained in riot control or mass demonstrations, an internal Department of Homeland Security memo warned this week. The message, dated Thursday, was prepared by the agency for Chad F. Wolf, the acting secretary of Homeland Security.... The tactical agents deployed by Homeland Security include officials from a group known as BORTAC, the Border Patrol's equivalent of a S.W.A.T. team, a highly trained group that normally is tasked with investigating drug smuggling organizations, as opposed to protesters in cities.... The pushback against the militarized federal deployment involving officers in fatigues and tactical gear has also extended to the streets, where the presence of those federal agents has rejuvenated a movement that had shown signs of finally slowing down after weeks of protest against police violence and militarization." The Hill has a summary report here. ~~~
~~~ Mrs. McCrabbie: Knowing what he knew did not stop Chad Wolf from going on "Hannity" Thursday night and boasting that "brave law enforcement officers" were going to stop the "siege" of Portland by "lawless anarchists." ~~~
~~~ Dan Nexon of LG&$: "... it's ... clear that Trump's little green men aren't being deployed in a good faith way. People are being grabbed and detained as they walk home from protests. Even if legal, the totality of behavior is authoritarian by disposition. If normalized, it invites worse to come.... I don't think we can put the genie back in the bottle. The best hope remains a decisive electoral thrashing of Trump and the GOP, one that leaves the Mitt Romneys and Larry Hogans of the party vindicated. Still, recent developments underscore the need for major measures to prevent current abuses, as well as to make it harder to maintain and expand pockets of authoritarianism. One such measure is the abolition, or at least the partial dismemberment, of the Department of Homeland Security. DHS is a Frankenstein's monster, drawn on the back of a napkin and pursued for short-term political gain. It somehow manages to combine gross inefficiencies with dangerous concentrations of power. In other words, it's kind of Soviet."
Priscilla Alvarez of CNN: "The Trump administration must begin accepting new applications for the Obama-era program that shields undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children from deportation, a federal judge ruled Friday. The order comes nearly a month since the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. That ruling emphasized that the administration failed to provide an adequate reason to justify scrapping DACA. Judge Paul Grimm of the US District Court for the District of Maryland said Friday that the program is to be restored to its 'pre-September 5, 2017 status,' meaning the status quo before ... Donald Trump tried to terminate it, thereby giving hundreds of thousands of DACA-eligible immigrants the opportunity to apply."
Presidential Election
Mrs. McCrabbie: Headlines like this one get me: "Pandemic surge damages Trump, boosting Biden's White House bid: POLL." First, I hate the idea that death and severe illness are reduced to horse-race terms. Second, I'm horrified at what the poll numbers mean: that before tens of thousands of Americans died of Covid-19, millions of people thought, the racist, misogynistic, lying, narcissistic, corrupt, incompetent, cruel guy "is a pretty good president*. I'll vote for him again."
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Reader Comments (21)
Sunday Sermon in the making:
"I doubt Mr. Trump wakes up every morning thinking “What hallowed American institution or tradition can I tarnish, debase or destroy today?” Evidence suggest it’s not reason that drives his decisions. They seem instead to be born in the depths of his resentful, corrupt, and narcissistic self.
Why else lie to the public more than 20,000 times? Trump certainly can’t believe his serial lying makes him trustworthy.
Why use his presidential power to pardon or commute the sentences of more than thirty men fairly convicted of defrauding the IRS and Medicare, manufacturing and distributing illegal drugs, obstructing justice, burning federal buildings, and even committing murder (wikipedia.com)? Trump even commuted the sentence pronounced on his buddy Roger Stone, who told a reporter he did perjure himself in the Mueller investigation to protect his boss (washingtonpost.com).
Why demean the same Presidential Medal of Freedom President Obama awarded to the recently deceased civil rights stalwart John Lewis, by awarding it to Rush Limbaugh, who lies and sows hate as often as Trump himself? Or to Art Laffer, whose economic natterings, beloved by Republicans who like to cut taxes, oh, just because, make no sense at all (qz.com)?
Why sully the public office of The Presidency by using it to pursue his private gain? In this election season alone, Trump’s reelection committee and associated Republican groups have spent nearly $4,000,000 at Trump properties (washingtonpost.com).
Why in the midst of a raging pandemic that is rocking the nation to its core is Mr. Trump ignoring it, instead sidelining the Center for Disease Control (npr.com) and questioning the expertise and advice of those charged with meeting Covid’s many challenges (newsday.com)?
When Ronald Reagan said government was the problem, he was mostly wrong.
If he were alive today, he could thank Mr. Trump for making him right."
SUNDAY, BLOODY SUNDAY
The 1965 Civil Rights march across a bridge named after Edmund Pettus, a U.S. senator, a Confederate officer, and a Grand Dragon of the Alabama Ku Klux Klan. The time has come for this name to be changed and dedicated to John Lewis who was willing to risk his life for those "rights" and almost died trying.
"Too often in this country, seeming progress is derailed, reversed, or overwhelmed. Bloody Sunday led directly to the passage of the Voting Rights Act––and yet suppressing the Black vote is a pillar of today’s Republican Party strategy. The election of the first African-American President was followed by a bigot running for election, and now reëlection, on a platform of racism and resentment." David Remnick
Bea,
Headlines such as the one you remark on above evoke the same feelings in me. Anger, despair, frustration? A what's wrong with those people reaction to those millions who think the boob was doing OK until Covid, when we all saw him doing the awful things we all knew he was going to do, and worse, day after day?
And with that reaction, the associated depressing certainty that Covid might elect Biden, as the Bush Crash elected Obama, but when that crisis diminishes, goes away and fades in the electoral memory, those who abandoned the Pretender in one election cycle will go back to being the same old resentful, thoughtless bunch of meanies they always were, ready to follow the next charlatan to the edge of the next handy cliff.
@Ken Winkes: You've asked the question. Now what is the answer? I don't think if you and I tried to be wrong about every choice we made, we could match Trump. As I wrote above, it's "very, very strange."
Perhaps he's trying to prove the Trumpism, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn't lose any voters, okay?”
@Ken: I always go back to Reagan, whom the Republicans hold up as a member of an impressive moral movement. Ronald Reagan who sold nerve gas to Saddam Hussein and turned a blind eye to slaughter of civilians in Central America by military movements he endorsed and financed by trading arms for oil, pretending not to, and allowing others to take blame and punishment for it. For many–-old Ron is still their hero.
And then let's remember that "Modern Conservatism" has its roots in men like Murray Chotiner and Lee Atwater used by Richard Nixon. Nixon who in 1968 in his desperation to be elected sabotaged a possible peace deal with North Vietnam, probably leading to the deaths of additional millions of Vietnamese, Cambodians, Laotians, Americans and Allies in SE Asia. On and on and on we could go with these conservatives who want to conserve what exactly? Maybe the answer to your question is the same as it always was/is ––POWER AND MONEY with lots of religious fervor and family thrown in. That's what they want to conserve–-and make it all white, pleeze.
PD,
Yup!
Not a great endorsement of what I like to believe is a minority but still too large a share of the human race, but YUP!
Problem is they are led around by the even smaller minority who have most of the money and want even more.
Car a-fire spoof in Colbert, funny and too true:
(Couldn't find it standalone. Sorry.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CrbKdqdrKk
Here is an intersting and well-written WaPo front page story of a retail clerk's experiences dealing with covidiots in NC.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/07/18/covid-pandemic-store-clerk-north-carolina/?arc404=true
Patrick: my wife and I went for a drive through our tiny town Friday evening...talk about covidiots!!!! Bars, open air concerts, and the playhouse were packed; every parking place was full. Not a mask in sight. Stay safe out there.
Patrick: I read that story on my phone late last night-- it made me want to scream and cry and GIVE covid to every moron she was forced to serve. This morning I heard, I believe, an official in Pensacola tie himself in knots trying to NOT blame the terminally stupid FL governor for not recommending/mandating masks. What is it about GOP people who are apparently all Stockholm Syndrome adherants?? They all drank the water and are all afflicted.
Marie: your last phrase includes something I marvel at on an hourly basis. Mainstream Media organs constantly construct headlines that indicate that "at last" Presidunce Poopyface has really cooked his goose by his latest stunt (really? Half a day for half staff flags? How generous--) and before that, well, all was well. I want to scream at them that they have blindly assured themselves that until that so-called tipping point, everything was normal-- Most of us saw the handwriting on the wall when he screeched at Obama during Obama's presidency-- we knew he was a reprehensible "person" his whole life, and we don't need the MSM and Mary's book to confirm that Dumpie is rotten to the core and has gathered people around him that smell to high heaven themselves. There is no tipping point-- this was all in the cards, only it has been far worse than we thought. We thought he would be a regular nasty repugnican, but had no idea what he has been and is becoming. He is the devil himself, and I waste no time feeling sorry for him or regret for a wasted life.
Think of all the lives he has ruined and doomed. The so-called tipping point was reached long ago.
Bea,
A thought:
Perhaps in his dark soul, the Pretender was so jealous and fearful of his black predecessor, he's done all he can to prove he's different, mistaking difference for better.
Ken, I don't think DiJiT can "mistake different for better." To do so requires that he be able to think and learn.
He is more like a paramecium: eat, excrete, reproduce. His activities are reactive to food availability and environment relative toxicity (i.e., move away from pain). No thinking involved.
Patrick,
Always have trouble deciding among "think," "believe" and "feel," and this time I chose the wrong one.
You're right. As I said in my morning sermon, for the Pretender it's all about feel.
BTW, I'd go with amoeba. more in line with the fitting images you raise of "the blob" that ate the world.
Dear Gil Scott-Heron,
The revolution *is* being televised.
Wish you were here,
Hat <3
HUFFPOST HEADLINE:
“Trump Won’t Say Whether He Will Accept 2020 Election Results:
‘I Have To See’”
Trump calls Fauci "a bit of an alarmist". I'd say that 140,000 dead and millions infected just might be cause for a little alarm.
Idiot.
Yeah, the Pretender likes the tune-in next week mystery of "we'll see," but I think! there's more to it than that, Hattie.
He's got his fat ass in a big crack. He's no longer skating below the national radar. His entirely life and business career is under scrutiny and even after his departure the revelations and possible criminal charges that result will likely-hopefully ensue. He surely believes/feels that from his adipose to his bones.
Despite its prominence, oddly, the presidency is the only safe place for him to hide out.
I suspect he's deeply frightened of losing.
Anyone figure why the Pretender still has that payroll tax cut bug up his whatever?
Does he really hate Social Security that much, or....?
@KW: I'd say that's probably the root of it Hatred for a Democratic presidents signature achievement plus the association of Medicare and Medicaid just add fuel to the fire.
@ Ken I think someone (Kevin Hassett? Larry Kulow? Jared?) has convinced him that the plebes will be soooo grateful for the effective pay raise they’ll get from a payroll tax cut that they’ll all slap themselves on the forehead and exclaim “Whatever was I thinking ?? Of course I’ll vote for Trump since he’s been so good for me!”
The fact that it will do absolutely nothing for the millions who te out of work - and who will lose the only thing keeping them sane-ish and semi-afloat right now - simply does not occur to these assholes.
Bobby Lee and Rockygirl:
Thanks.
One more thought on the payroll tax cut before I shut up. Had it while on a Zoom meeting I had to join but not participate in ( like many meetings, sometimes the best kind.)
Though the Pretender-Wallace interview offers more evidence that among his other issues, senility may well be a growing part of the Pretender package, he might have grasped the idea that because it currently has a decade of so of surplus in its account, taking money away from the Social Security Trust will not add to the immense budget deficits he's running.
In that sense, it's free money, something even a senile Pretender would recognize and grasp at. He's always been partial to buying himself out of trouble with other people's money.