;)
The Commentariat -- October 1, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Maureen Dowd: "For centuries, women were seen as unfit to hold public office. Ambition, power and business were the province of men. Unlike gossipy feminine chatter in the parlor, manly discourse was considered impersonal, unemotional, forthright and reasonable. Every minute of every day, Trump debunks that old 'science' when he shows that the gossipy, backbiting, scolding, mercurial, overly emotional, shrewish, menopausal one in this race is not the woman." CW: Of course Dowd has to knock Clinton, too, because, who knows, it might win her another Pulitzer.
*****
Presidential Race
Nate Cohn of the New York Times: "A wave of high-quality battleground state surveys released on Friday showed [Hillary Clinton] with a comfortable advantage in New Hampshire, Nevada, Florida and Michigan. The gains suggest she might lead by as much as five percentage points nationwide, up from about two to three points before last Monday's debate. It's hard to know whether the shift will last. If you've been following The Upshot's coverage of polling over the last two years, you know that we're pretty circumspect about shifts in the polls. But ... the debate is bad news for Donald J. Trump." -- CW...
... Girl Power! CW: The most amazing outcome of this week's presidential debate: it seems that for the first time in history (and prehistory), a woman saved the world. And she did it in less than two hours. The second most amazing thing is that she saved us not from some evil head of state set to deploy weapons of mass destruction, but from ourselves.
CW: The San Diego Union-Tribune editors aren't Clinton fans, but they detail evidence that Trump is "vengeful, dishonest and impulsive." "This paper has not endorsed a Democrat for president in its 148-year history. But we endorse Clinton. She's the safe choice for the U.S. and for the world, for Democrats and Republicans alike." -- CW
Gail Collins tries to answer the question, "How could anybody vote for Trump?" CW: I think she does readers a disservice by letting off the hook that substantial part of the electorate who are "deplorables." But she does also point out the cowardice of the Bush fils, especially Jeb!, who urged voters to skip the election, & thinks his father -- who reportedly has said he will vote for Clinton -- is too old to know what he's talking about. ...
... MAG's commentary today on how the election was rigged is a must-read.
John Wagner of the Washington Post: "Not to be outdone by her Republican rival, Hillary Clinton fired off a series of early-morning messages Saturday on Twitter.... 'It's 3:20am. As good a time as any to tweet about national service,' said the first one, coming at the same time that Trump started his storm of disparaging tweets about former Miss Universe Alicia Machado.... The [Clinton] tweets -- several more followed -- were the latest bid by Clinton to keep a spotlight on what she described Friday as Trump coming 'unhinged.'... Unlike Trump, who often tweets himself, many of those sent out over Clinton's official campaign account are composed by aides.... Trump's twitter account appeared to have been silent in the early-morning hours on Saturday." -- CW
Maggie Haberman & Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Hillary Clinton's campaign is preparing for the possibility that Donald J. Trump, reeling from harsh criticisms of his performance at the first presidential debate, will unleash a personal assault related to her husband's infidelities at their next face-off in a week.... Democrats consider such tactics inevitable, particularly since Mr. Trump is now being advised by several people connected to efforts in the late 1990s to reveal Mr. Clinton's affair with the White House intern Monica Lewinsky and to the subsequent impeachment fight." -- CW ...
... Paul Waldman: "Maybe I'm dim, but I just can't see any way this wouldn't blow up in Trump's face. On the other hand, he's being advised by people like Rudy Giuliani and Roger Ailes, who really understand women, so maybe he'll present it in a sensitive and thoughtful way." -- CW
She's nasty, but I can be nastier than she ever can be. -- Donald Trump, on Hillary Clinton ...
By Driftglass.... ** Patrick Healy & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump unleashed a slashing new attack on Hillary Clinton over Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions on Friday as he sought to put the Clintons' relationship at the center of his political argument against her before their next debate.... Mr. Trump ... even indicated that he was rethinking his statement at their last debate that he would 'absolutely' support her if she won in November, saying: 'We're going to have to see. We're going to see what happens. We’re going to have to see.'" CW: Just read it. Also see Irin Carmon's post, linked below. ...
... Christina Wilkie of the Huffington Post: "In the summer of 1990, at the height of his bitter divorce from his first wife, Donald Trump was carrying on a very public extramarital affair with a former beauty queen, Marla Maples. As part of the couple's divorce proceedings, Ivana Trump's lawyers asked him under oath about his dealings with other women and whether he had been faithful to his wife. Instead of answering, Donald Trump invoked his Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination. Over the course of five depositions that summer, he was asked approximately 100 questions related to marital infidelity. He pleaded the Fifth on 97 of them.... On Wednesday, Trump likened anyone who takes the Fifth to a criminal." -- CW
Ben Jacobs of the Guardian: "Donald Trump tried to distract voters from a weeklong controversy over his insults toward a former Miss Universe on Friday night by asking Barack Obama to pledge not to 'pardon Hillary Clinton and her co-conspirators for their many crimes against our country and against society itself.'... [Trump] also stirred concerns about voter fraud, returning to the unsubstantiated claims of a 'rigged election' and 'cheating' that he made for several weeks this summer. On Friday, Trump claimed voter fraud 'is a big big problem in this country' and that 'nobody has the guts to talk about it.' He then urged attendees at this rally to 'go and watch the polling places and make sure it is on the up and up', even though an exhaustive investigation in 2014 found only 31 potential incidents of in-person voter fraud in all US elections over 14 years." -- CW
WLNS: "... Donald Trump surprised a crowd ... at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum Friday afternoon. Part of the tour included a stop in the Oval Office – a replica of one of the world's most famous rooms -- that's inside the museum." -- CW ...
Donald Trump, standing in fake Oval Office, doing nothing.
Hillary Clinton, sitting in real Oval Office, working.
CW: A month or two ago, we were predicting/joking here on Reality Chex that Trump would be resting comfortably in an undisclosed location before election day. I believe they're padding the room & making up the bed right now. ...
... The "3 am Call, Ctd." Michael Barbaro of the New York Times: Donald Trump's early Friday morning tirade trashing Alicia Machado "fit a pattern. It is when Mr. Trump is alone with his thoughts, and untethered from his campaign staff, that he has seemed to commit his most self-destructive acts.... Over the past few days, those instincts have been on vivid display.... Yet for close students of Mr. Trump's career and campaign, it all has a familiar ring. Over the years, he has issued a stream of needlessly cruel and seemingly off-the-cuff insults -- both on and off social media.... Such fulminations have almost always arisen from Mr. Trump's wounded pride, after he has been attacked or has suffered a setback. And they have frequently played out on Twitter, at hours of the day when much of America is asleep.... Mr. Trump, in an interview on Friday afternoon, said he remained proud of his tweets." -- CW ...
... Philip Rucker, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senate and House candidates are ducking questions about Trump and distancing themselves, while Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has refused to talk about him. And few elected leaders are counseling him." -- CW ...
... Alan Rappeport of the New York Times on Donald Trump's "3 am call" Twittershitstorm aimed at Clinton supporter Alicia Machado. "Fact-checkers have found no evidence that Ms. Machado, who was featured in Playboy, appeared in a sex tape. Her critics may be referring to a risqué scene that she appeared in on a reality television show." CW: Whether or not Machado made a "sex tape" (and I don't care if she did), Trump's attacks on her are beyond disgusting. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Mark Barabak & Michael Finnegan of the Los Angeles Times: "Trump's lashing out, less than six weeks before the election, underscored how his campaign seems driven more by irritable impulse than any strategic imperative. The personal attacks seem especially unlikely to win Trump support among Latinos and women, two important voting blocs in battlegrounds such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, Florida and New Hampshire." -- CW ...
... Jim Fallows of the Atlantic: "... with 39 days until the election, and early voting already underway, [Trump] has guaranteed that a significant fraction of the remaining time will feature a story likely to irritate: Hispanic voters in general ('Miss Housekeeping'); people sensitive about their weight ('Miss Piggy'); women in general; men and women who don't like to hear women talked about in this way; and people wondering what kind of decisions a president will be making at 3 a.m. Quite the masterful campaign strategy." -- CW ...
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "While you were probably still sleeping, the 2016 Republican presidential nominee encouraged all of us to check out a 'sex tape' and offered a baseless conspiracy theory about his opponent helping the woman from the alleged sex tape get citizenship so she could take him down. And in doing so, Donald Trump did everything Hillary Clinton could have hoped he would, drawing out a now-week-long story about Alicia Machado, making things up and -- above all -- reinforcing all those very real questions about whether he has the temperament to be president." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... IOKIYAMan. That Time Donald Trump Appeared in a Soft-Porm Flick. Andrew Kaczynski & Nathaniel Meyersohn of BuzzFeed: "Donald Trump made an appearance in an explicit 2000 Playboy video. Trump's role in the porn is relatively benign and centers around him breaking a bottle of champagne on a Playboy-branded limo while several of the playmates are visiting New York City.... Other scenes from the film feature fully nude women posing in sexual positions, dancing naked, touching themselves while naked, touching each other sensually, rubbing honey on themselves, taking a bath, and dressing in costumes." Includes video. ...
... Evelyn Rupert of the Hill: "Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill later responded to the news. 'There's been a lot of talk about sex tapes today and in a strange turn of events, only one adult film has emerged today and its star is Donald Trump,' he told reporters." -- CW ...
... Joan Walsh of the Nation: "The notion of a man who is clinically obese fat-shaming a beautiful but curvy young woman exemplifies the double standard that reduces women to their youth and beauty, but allows men (especially wealthy ones) a lifetime of presumed virility and social prestige.... It's clear that Trump is coming undone by the notion that these two women [Machado & Clinton] -- one 'fat,' the other old, both past their sell date in the eyes of Trump and men like him -- are not hiding somewhere in shame, maybe laboring quietly in the back office of one of his golf clubs where no one can see them, but out in the public square trying to bring him down." -- CW ...
... ** "'My' Miss Universe." Irin Carmon of NBC News: Donald Trump has a long history of boasting about his sexual prowess & interests. "... for feminists, by putting Machado's character on trial, evoking her later and entirely irrelevant sexual history, Trump is engaging in classic slut-shaming. That would be holding women to a higher standard of chastity and assuming any unsanctioned display of sexuality is self-evidently damning." CW: If you're a person who doesn't quite get why people are making such a fuss about Trump's attacks on Machado, Carmon provides a good short course.
American Public: Donald Trump has a ton of ties to Russia. Could be a big security risk. Shouldn't we check that out?
GOP "Leaders": Naaah. ...
... Shane Harris of the Daily Beast: "Suspicion is mounting about Donald Trump's ties to Russian officials and business interests, as well as possible links between his campaign and the Russian hacking of U.S. political organizations. But GOP leaders have refused to support efforts by Democrats to investigate any possible Trump-Russia connections, which have been raised in news reports and closed-door intelligence briefings."...Akhilleus. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Washington Post Editors: "A President Trump could, unilaterally, change this country to its core. By remaking U.S. relations with other nations, he could fundamentally reshape the world, too.... In areas where Republican officeholders such as House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) imagine themselves acting as a brake on Mr. Trump's worst instincts, skepticism is in order. If these supposed leaders are too craven to oppose Mr. Trump as a candidate, knowing the danger he presents, why should we expect them to stand up to the bully once he was fully empowered?... It would be reckless not to consider the damage Mr. Trump might wreak." -- CW
Ken Vogel of Politico: "As Donald Trump's campaign works to drive a sharper message down the home stretch, the GOP nominee is increasingly invoking the specter of a conspiracy by big corporations, media companies and donors to elect Hillary Clinton. The warnings, coming in scripted and sometimes personal attack lines in nearly every recent speech, are largely geared towards mobilizing Trump's base of disaffected white working class voters, according to a campaign official. But the official acknowledged that the populist rhetoric also is intended to appeal to college-educated middle-class voters who tell pollsters that they believe there are 'two sets of rules -- one for insiders, another for the rest of us.' That includes former supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' unsuccessful campaign against Clinton...." -- CW
Trump Vindicated! Conspiracy Theory Is True! Aaron Blake: "On Friday afternoon, the Commission on Presidential Debates confirmed that Trump did indeed have a microphone that was at least somewhat defective. 'Regarding the first debate, there were issues regarding Donald Trump's audio that affected the sound level in the debate hall,' the commission said in an unfortunately brief one-sentence statement.... The thing about Trump's microphone claim is that he didn't just say his microphone was bad; in his trademark fashion, he took it three steps further, suggesting that it was done as part a conspiracy against him -- the rigged system and all that." The audio was fine for viewers & listeners outside the hall. ...
... CW: Probably that Clinton-Kaine sticker pasted over the receiver kind of muffled Trump's voice. But I noticed that Trumpbots in the room applauded some of Trump's remarks, so certainly they could hear him. In fairness to Trump, the slight audio problem is likely why he leaned into the mic & leaned on the podium instead of standing up straight like the broad-shouldered he-man he is. P.S. Didn't his team do a mic-check before the big show? Whose fault is that? I'll bet Clinton's campaign checked hers. ...
... Andrew Prokop of Vox: In tweets, Steven Shepard of Politico, wrote, "I was in the debate hall -- and this is true. He was difficult to hear at the very, very beginning of the debate.... His level was adjusted pretty quickly, though. And he got more animated as the debate went on, and his personal volume rose, too." CW: In short, the whole Mic Conspiracy is bull.
Francis Wilkinson of Bloomberg: Donald Trump's "disastrous first debate wasn't a result of poor staff work so much as a product of an unmanageable, gargantuan sense of insecurity. No one obsessed with every slight has genuine confidence.... Trump appears to live each second with an abiding fear of humiliation.... The paradox, of course, is that preparing for a debate would help allay Trump's fears. Except it would also expose and concentrate them. Preparation itself requires Trump's acknowledgment that he often doesn't know what he's talking about. That's too risky an admission for such a shaky, hyperkinetic ego.... Trump ... combines inexperience with a veneer of confidence so thin that he can't afford to expose his vulnerabilities even to his own staff." -- CW
Eric Trump Has a Vanity Fake Charity, Too! Brandy Zadrozny of the Daily Beast: "In promotional videos and press releases, ETF [the Eric Trump Foundation] touts a 95 to 100 percent donation ratio and implies that by benefit of being a Trump, namesake properties are handed over for charity events at little or no cost. But according to a Daily Beast analysis of annual IRS reports and New York state financial disclosures from the charity's inception in 2007 to 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, ETF spent $881,779 on its annual Golf Invitational at Trump-owned clubs, a portion of which -- $100,000 in 2013 and $88,000 in 2014 -- was reported as paid directly 'to a company of a family member of the Board of Directors.' In other words, Donald Trump himself." So, besides St. Jude's Hospital, one of ETF's biggest beneficiaries is Donald Trump. What a surprise! Also, ETF has its very own Portrait of Donald Trump scandal. Of course.
Rebecca Morin of Politico: "A major financial trade group has apologized for a speech Rudy Giuliani gave in which the former New York City mayor and Donald Trump adviser made pointed comments about Mexican immigrants. At the Commercial Finance Association's 40 Under 40 dinner at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York Monday, Giuliani veered off a speech that was supposed to be about leadership..., according to a New York Observer report published Friday. Attendees of the event told the Observer that Giuliani made comments about 'Mexicans in the kitchen at the Waldorf' and how Mexicans are coming to the U.S. to work illegally in kitchens.... The Observer is part of the news media company owned by Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner." -- CW
New York Times Editors: "Congress seems determined to set a new standard for craven incompetence. Less than 24 hours after the Senate and House delivered a stinging rebuke to President Obama by overriding his veto of a bill that would let the Sept. 11 families sue Saudi Arabia, Republican leaders raised the possibility of a do-over.... It's rare to hear such a baldfaced admission of gross ineptitude. But instead of putting the responsibility entirely where it belongs -- on Congress -- [Senate Leader Mitch] McConnell went on absurdly to blame Mr. Obama for failing to communicate the potential consequences of the bill. In fact, Mr. Obama, the national security agencies, the Saudi government, retired diplomats, the European Union and big corporations had all bombarded Congress with warnings. Yet lawmakers ignored all of them.... The only way to fix this law is to repeal it." -- CW
Patrick Marley of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: "A federal judge on Friday ordered the state [of Wisconsin] to investigate an incident in which a voter received incorrect information on getting an ID from three Division of Motor Vehicle workers, saying the state may have violated an order he issued in July. U.S. District Judge James Peterson issued Friday's ruling a day after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Nation published articles about what happened to Zack Moore, who was told he couldn't get an ID or temporary voting credentials because he did not have a birth certificate.... Friday's order was unusual because Peterson issued it even though none of the parties in the lawsuit asked him to address the issue, said Rick Hasen, a University of California, Irvine professor who specializes in election law.... Moore tried to get an ID on Sept. 22, the same day Attorney General Brad Schimel filed court documents claiming DMV staff were trained to ensure people would get IDs or temporary voting credentials within six days, even if they didn't have a birth certificate." ...
... P.S. Scotty Is Still an Anti-Democracy Hardliner. A voting rights advocate recorded the incident in which the DMV sent Moore away empty-handed. But Gov. Scott Walker wondered out loud if the DMV employees' dissemination of disinformation & repeated refusals to issue Moore an ID were, you know, taken out of context. despite the fact that the recording covered Moore's entire interaction with the employees. Evidently the "context" is, "We don't want that guy anywhere near a voting booth." -- CW
Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Tara Golshan of Vox: "There has been a tangible shift in the kind of content produced by women's magazines in recent elections. In the past decade, publications have shifted from a period of fluff election coverage in the early aughts to a platform for impactful political content, from interviews with important figures in the election to sharp policy analyses.... Recognizing the power of women's media ... can prove consequential for candidates looking to mobilize young female voters.... When you start to look [at women's magazines], you'll see some the most formative pieces of this election cycle -- major interviews and editorials...." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Bible Banging 'Bama Bigot Booted. Boolah Boo! Kent Faulk of AL.com: "Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has been suspended from the bench for telling probate judges to defy federal orders regarding gay marriage. It's the second time Moore has been removed from the chief justice job for defiance of federal courts - the first time in 2003 for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the state judicial building. The Alabama Court of the Judiciary (COJ) issued the order Friday suspending Moore from the bench for the remainder of his term after an unanimous vote of the nine-member court.... The court found him guilty of all six charges of violation of the canons of judicial ethics. Moore's term is to end in 2019, but because of his age, 69, he cannot run for the office again." -- Akhilleus (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Mighty Suspicious News. Nour Youssef of the New York Times: "Two men who found a travel bag containing a bomb on a Manhattan street last month -- and then walked off with the bag but left the bomb -- were not just employees of EgyptAir but in-flight security officers for the carrier, two officials at the airline said on Friday. Surveillance footage showed two men finding the bag on West 27th Street on the evening of Sept. 17, soon after a bomb exploded on West 23rd Street.... In the video, the men were seen pulling from the travel bag a white plastic bag that contained a pressure cooker connected to wires and a mobile phone. They left the white bag on the sidewalk and walked away with the travel bag. The bomb did not explode, and investigators have said that the men may have inadvertently disabled the device.... Friday's revelation is troubling for Egypt, whose aviation security procedures have come under intense scrutiny after three major air disasters in the past year." Read on. -- CW
Sarah Parvini, et al., of the Los Angeles Times: El Cajon, California, "authorities on Friday released cellphone and surveillance video showing the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black man, hoping to quell growing questions about the incident that has led to violent protests. The video provides more context about the moments before the fatal encounter on Tuesday, though officials said their investigation remains in its early stages and that evidence is still being gathered." -- CW
CW: Carnegie Deli, perhaps the most famous deli in the world -- though New Yorkers will tell you it's hardly the best in the City -- is closing its doors at the end of the year.
Catherine Rampell of the Washington Post: "Young voters in particular have been shunning the two main [candidates], with some recent polls showing that a quarter to a third plan to vote for either Libertarian Party candidate Gary Johnson or Green Party nominee Jill Stein.... But these third-party options are bad candidates not simply because of their impracticality, or their underdog status, or their lack of exposure, or some nonsense about a rigged political system. Johnson and Stein are, on their own merits, terrible, unserious choices. They are unfit for office." Rampell gives a few examples of why that is. -- CW ...
... CW: In general, it's not a good idea to be a one-issue voter, unless that one issue is a really big deal like "The other guy is insane." This reminds me that Hillary Clinton's vote on the Iraq war resolution was not as big a deal as you might have thought it was. For one thing, Clinton was not rattling any sabers: She expressed "deep concern ... at the very time of her vote in the fall of 2002. Given the Resolution's several prerequisites to waging war, Clinton's vote was for a Resolution that was also supposed to restrain the President's ability to wage war, and her 2002 floor speech leading up to consideration of the Resolution made this clear." For another, the Senate vote on the final version of the resolution was 77-23. Clinton's vote, in other words, didn't make any difference. It was a strategic vote, I think, and one that backfired.
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Reader Comments (14)
Tonight Lawrence O'Donnell interviewed Ari Berman from The Nation. The subject was Wisconsin voter suppression in defiance of of a court order; failure of the DMV to issue voter id's within the mandated 6 day timeline. Federal District Court Judge Petersen has ordered an investigation. One hopes the Judge will act urgently as Wisconsin has already begun early voting. Texas hasn't been concerned about a similar situation. The article indicates there are 300,000 unregistered voters, about 9% of the electorate.
https://www.thenation.com/article/a-federal-court-orders-wisconsin-to-stop-suppressing-the-vote/
A more complete history in an earlier article by Berman:
https://www.thenation.com/article/wisconsin-is-systematically-failing-to-provide-the-photo-ids-required-to-vote-in-november/
The down ticket races are so critical. I think its possible that the Senate will refuse to fill vacancies on the Supreme Court for an entire term if Republicans maintain control. Regardless, in 2018 there must be a major GOTV effort and for the next 2 years voter suppression must be a central focus. The days of complacency are finished.
So the Republican candidate for POTUS focus is totally on the life of a former Miss Universe. When in the history of America have we seen such behavior. My frustration is the fact that we are now discussing this issue. We have a campaign without a word on the economy or any thing else. It's all about sex life, women's weight (not men of course) and the quality of a microphone.
And on another matter. I have a 'conspiracy theory '. Trump is an employee of Putin. Let's have some fun.
I can't wait until Trump announces he's the one who made Hillary the President.
"My screw ups were intentional, I told Sean Hannity that many many times...I'm gonna make her the first woman President. Everyone knows that I am for women, I promote women, I hire women. Hey! Somebody, call Sen Hannity, he'll tell you this was my plan years ago. I told her to get rid of the pants suits, too; but, she ignored me on that. Perhaps I should Tweet that a tape exists where she once wore a dress!
I consulted with a lot of top people, I have great people, these people and I talked a lot, I said Hillary would be a great President. We worked out a plan. Meanwhile I bought another hotel...a really great hotel, it needs work but we're on schedule and under budget. It's gonna be fantastic. If Hillary wants to have her inauguration ball there it will be incredible. It will be absolutely the best ever! And the cost for the ballroom, the orchestra, the caterer, and the staff will be contributed to charity. I won't make a cent. It'll go directly to our amazing Trump Foundation."
If only I could make this parody funnier, sadly it's probably closer to reality than not. Ouuuf!
@MAG: Ha ha. Don't try to pass this off as parody. I know you & I know you know "people." You can't fool me; you got a rough draft of Donald's concession speech & now you're ripping off his work. Look out, he'll sue. He sues everybody. My same advice to the presidential debates commission with the faulty mic heard round the world: get a lawyer.
Marie
MAG, Marie, way too many complete sentences and multi syllables.
MAG's release of Donaldo's backup excuse if he loses the election is the absolute best we could hope for (and pretty funny too). But I'm not in any way convinced that the Orange Headed Bigot will gracefully descend from that pyrite pedestal he's had built for himself if he loses in November.
I dunno about you kids but during that last moment of the debate in which Lester Holt questioned Trumpado as to whether or not he would support Clinton if she won, I was thinking that the chances of a Yes answer was 50/50 at best. I fully expected a bunch of conditional bullshit and a "We'll see". I still think that's the case. Look, if this schmoe is unwilling to lay down his arms in a battle with the winner of a beauty pageant from 20 years ago, the thought that he will voluntarily step away from the biggest score in his life, and the most jet fueled source of hysterical adulation from the guys in the white hoods, without disputing the outcome as a sham, seems more remote than The Decider admitting he ginned up lies for a war that still rages. Republicans don't do truth and they don't do reality.
I anticipate the very real--and dangerous--possibility that we will have a post election season so rife with spite, hatred, and claims of fraud at the polls that it will make the 2000 post election period appear positively halcyon.
To use his own logic, what will he have to lose? He's already proven beyond any doubt that he doesn't give a shit about democracy, the Constitution (which he's never read), or the country. He cares about Trump. Period. We'll hear plenty of "People are saying that the election was stolen" and "Somebody told me that they saw the same guy--who looked like Bill Clinton, so they tell me--vote 300 times at 20 different polls. I demand an investigation."
Will Trump, at the moment of his greatest defeat demonstrate magnanimity and go quietly into the night? Is Sarah Palin secretly the smartest person in the world?
Oops. Should have been "chance of a Yes answer" not "chances". I wanted to clear that up in case Trump the grammarian, he of the best words, is an RC regular. Wouldn't want him to add me to his "Nasty 3am Tweet List". I've read that he's very proud of his tweets. But aren't they, ya know, kinda....small?
It is possible that trump's "microphone" problem was really a monitor speaker problem. He wasn't able to hear his own voice coming back in the majestic grandeur he believes everyone else hears his voice.
Of course, if his monitor speaker is turned up too much, we get the high-pitch feedback sound and nobody hears anything he says. We, and his supporters in the room, were able to hear everything he said, so the microphone was working. He needs to trust that other people are doing their jobs correctly, but his track record isn't very good on that front.
@Akhilleus: You wrote, on Trump's "concession speech," "I fully expected a bunch of conditional bullshit and a 'We'll see.'." I still think that's the case."
So two minutes after I read your commentary, I read Healy & Haberman's account of their Friday afternoon phone interview of the Weasel of Mar-a-Lago (now linked above): "Mr. Trump ... even indicated that he was rethinking his statement at their last debate that he would 'absolutely' support her if she won in November, saying: 'We’re going to have to see. We’re going to see what happens. We’re going to have to see.'”
Not one "We'll see," but three. Already. Are you a Trump mole, or what?
If, on the other hand, you're his puppeteer, as the evidence also suggests, could you please get him to say, on or about Nov. 3, "As of today, I am ending my candidacy for the presidency of the United States. Any Electoral College votes I may receive should go to Hillary Clinton, even though she has been very unfair in pointing out that I am a complete asshole unfit to wipe her lovely, girly feet."
Marie
P.S. Catch that photo of Trump looking "presidential." Just like his entire candidacy, Trump has produced a fake President Trump, one who is standing in a fake Oval Office.
I got a chance to watch Obama's eulogy of Shimon Peres this morning. Outstanding, as usual.
Bill C seemed to have a bit of a problem with his yarmulke though.
There's no way that I can even imagine Hair Drumpf in that setting.
My first post is already out of date. The current focus of the campaign is the sex life of a former Pesident. It is obviously immoral for a person not to get divorced multiple times. You want a new meaning of irrational? Trump raising the issue of sex and marriage. No problem because the rules that apply to all humanity do not apply to Trump.
And BTW, if Trump is elected, his current wife will not be First Lady all 4 years. She is getting too old to sustain his ego.
You folks missed half of Trump's moaning about his problems with the mic. He stated something like 50% of his thought process was focused on his mic problems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/us/politics/donald-trump-interview-bill-hillary-clinton.html?smid=tw-share
I understand we all prefer to read long form journalism, but I can't tell you how enjoyable it is to follow Josh Marshall (TPM) and Judd Legum (TP) on Twitter. They also follow Stuart Stevens, a very sane Republican strategist who is very vocal about the insanity of Trump. James Fallows and Paul Waldman are also good ones to watch. I liken this Twitter stuff to like being a fly on the wall at a dinner party with some very interesting guests. If you want to take a look at any of their tweets, just google their name and twitter.
According to Politico HRC got up early this morning to troll Drumpf, tweeting at 3:20AM "...that it was a good time as any to tweet about national service."
An interesting take on the "Bimbo Eruptions" from MoDo's column linked above, from sdavidc9, if I'm permitted to copy it here in its entirety[*]:
"In defending her husband during the bimbo eruptions, Hillary was defending a Democratic administration and its ability to get anything done, against opponents who would stop at nothing to bring it down. Slick Willie's bimbos had the misfortune to be caught in the crossfire in an ongoing political battle. Hillary put the future of the country and the fortunes of her party above sisterhood, truth, and dealing transparently with her marital problems and partner."
[*CW: You knew I'd cut it. I'm not sure who has the copyright here, but it ain't me.]
I feel some empathy for all the women, but high profile, machine politics is a cage sport (it shouldn't be). There were never going to be good outcomes. Also, IOKIYAR: Newt, McCain, et al. I do think Dave discounts the personal pain a much younger and less experienced HRC was entitled to feel, and thus direct some anger, rightly or wrongly, towards the women in question. It was real life in real time.