The Commentariat -- October 16, 2016
Afternoon Update:
The Omaha World-Herald, which hasn't endorsed a Democrat for president since 1932, endorses Hillary Clinton. That brings Donald Trump's total number of endorsements from major American newspapers to zero. It's a global conspiracy (more evidence: it's called the World-Herald). -- CW
Wherein Rudy Giuliani explains that only "inner city" Democrats are guilty of voter fraud. He left Jake Tapper shaking his head. CW: Waiting for Rudy to have a complete meltdown & just start screaming the N-word on national teevee.
Maggie Haberman of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump declared himself 'a big fan of Hindu' and praised India's nationalist prime minister, Narendra Modi, at an Indian-American charity event on Saturday. Mr. Trump spoke at a benefit put on by the Republican Hindu Coalition at a convention center in Edison, N.J., a non-battleground stop that is hardly typical for a presidential nominee three weeks before an election.... While polls show that Hillary Clinton draws far more backing from Indian-Americans than Mr. Trump does, his anti-bureaucracy and country-first language closely tracks that of Mr. Modi, who has tapped into the disgust that India's Hindu majority feels toward its government. This has given Mr. Trump a foothold of support among Hindus in the United States, some of whom are also drawn to his strong talk about Muslims, their longtime adversaries on the subcontinent." -- CW
*****
Presidential Race
Now That's Better. Mark Murray of NBC News: "Hillary Clinton is ahead of Donald Trump by double digits with just over three weeks until Election Day, according to a new national NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll conducted entirely after the second presidential debate. In a four-way race, Democrat Clinton holds an 11-point lead over Republican Trump among likely voters, 48 percent to 37 percent, with Libertarian Gary Johnson at 7 percent and the Green Party's Jill Stein at 2 percent." -- CW ...
... Earlier Today ...
... Sam Clement & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "... With three weeks until Election Day, Hillary Clinton holds a four-point lead over Donald Trump in the race for the White House, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, with the Republican nominee hobbled by persistent perceptions that he is not qualified to be president. The poll was conducted during one of the most tumultuous periods of Trump's candidacy, after the release of a video in which he spoke about taking sexual advantage of women and during a time when numerous women have accused him of sexual misconduct.... Nonetheless, the controversy appeared to have had only a minimal impact on his overall support." ...
... As Kyle Balluck of the Hill notes in his lead, 4 points is "well within its margin of error." (CW: By the same token, I suppose you could be an optimist & figure, "Ah, Clinton is probably really 9 or 10 points ahead.") ...
... CW: What this means in practical terms is that Donald Trump still has a shot at the White House &, depending upon where you live & work, there's a good chance that half the people you see are ignoramuses, boors or nihilists -- and I don't mean just because they condone serial sexual assault in their president candidate. I mean because they condone hate, bigotry & despotism, & eschew Western moral values & democratic governance. Ask the editors of the Des Mointes Register. ...
Des Moines Register: "The outcome of the 2016 presidential election won't tell us anything we don't already know about the two major-party candidates -- but it will say a lot about who we are.... For those who believe America should be a beacon of a hope in a world ravaged by terrorism, that it should be a force for good and that its leaders should embody all that is best about this nation, there is only one choice for president: Hillary Clinton." -- CW
This election is incredibly painful. I take absolutely no satisfaction in what is happening on the other side, with my opponent. I am not at all happy about that because it hurts our country, it hurts our democracy, it sends terrible messages to so many people here at home and around the world. Damage is being done that we're going to have to repair. Divisions are being deepened that we're going to have to try and heal. -- Hillary Clinton, Friday, in Seattle
Glen Caplin, a Clinton campaign spokesman, in quite a compelling essay in Medium titled "What Did Trump Know, & When Did He Know it?," compares the Trump-Putin-Assange operation with Richard Nixon's Watergate break-in. ...
... No, This Isn't Nuts. Daniel Marans of the Huffington Post (Oct. 14): "A group of senior House Democrats is calling on the FBI to investigate the alleged connection between Donald Trump's presidential campaign and the hack of Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta's emails, which it's widely suggested has Russia's hands all over it. Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.), and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) pointed to informal Trump adviser Roger Stone's insinuations that he had advance knowledge of the emails' release as evidence that Stone ― or other figures in the campaign ― may have colluded in a Russian-backed breach." -- CW ...
... Chas Danner of New York provides unauthenticalted! copies of what WikiLeaks says are Hillary Clinton's speeches to Goldman Sachs, "all obtained via a controversial hack of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta's email account. The transcripts, which were of speeches Clinton gave at three separate Goldman events between June and October in 2o13, were attached to an email sent to Podesta." -- CW
Amy Chozick of the New York Times: "Though Hillary Clinton has stood at the center of feminist debates for more than two decades, she has at times been an imperfect messenger for the cause. That has never been more apparent than now, as her old missteps and her husband's history have effectively paralyzed her during a moment of widespread outrage." -- CW ...
... Maureen Dowd: "Hillary is in an awkward spot on the subject of licentious behavior by men. But Michelle Obama stepped in as the avenging angel Anita Hill never had. On Thursday at a rally for Hillary Clinton, her voice trembling with disgust, the first lady explained why the 'cruel' and 'frightening' actions of Trump -- whom she did not deign to name -- could not be written off as 'locker-room talk' or 'a bad dream.'... Disintegrating like a mad king locked away in his Fifth Avenue castle, ranting about a global cabal of corporate and media elites conspiring against him -- yes, a swastika sign popped up at a West Palm Beach rally -- [Trump] can't see how offensive his defense is: that the women accusing him were not attractive enough to assault." -- CW
Alex Spence of Politico: "Scottish leader Nicola Sturgeon urged Americans to vote for Hillary Clinton, saying she had been 'horrified' by Donald Trump's remarks throughout the presidential campaign. Trump, whose mother was Scottish and who owns golf courses in Scotland, has talked proudly of his links to the country -- yet the feeling is not reciprocated by Scotland's political leadership. Would I be proud if Donald Trump became president? No. No,' Sturgeon told ITV ... on Sunday.... 'This is America's election, it's up to the people of America to choose, but it has implications for the rest of the world,' Sturgeon said." -- CW
Good Teachers Have Guts. Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post: "In the unprecedented 2016 presidential election, some teachers are casting aside their neutrality to speak their mind.... They include 10 former state and national Teachers of the Year, who have written an open letter explaining why they are taking sides -- in public -- in this race.... '... We believe that Donald Trump is a danger to our society in general and to our students in particular. His words and actions have shown a consistent disdain for human dignity. His behavior goes against everything we teach the children in our care.... She isn't perfect, but we believe Clinton has the temperament and requisite skills to do the job. Most importantly, we believe she will uphold the American values of civility, equality and dignity for all...." Read on. -- CW
Hillary Clinton discussed the second debate with Ellen Degeneres for a show that aired October 14:
Here's a replay of debate highlights:
... Politico: "Donald Trump was not amused by Saturday Night Live's latest sketches about the presidential election, taking to Twitter early morning on Sunday to attack the NBC comedy show. 'Watched "Saturday Night Live" hit job on me. Time to retire the boring and unfunny show. Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks. Media rigging election!' the Republican nominee wrote." -- CW
Caitlin Flanagan, in a Washington Post op-ed: "Trump is crass, bullying -- and no dummy. Yes, he had all but invited women to come forward and accuse him. But by pairing his accusers with Bill Clinton's, he made us confront a potent reality: A man facing the allegations Clinton did might not be electable today.... Clinton's inner circle was able to dismiss the women -- on the basis of their backgrounds and sexual history -- as crazies or trailer trash ; as the accusations piled up, advisor James Carville coined the repugnant and resonant phrase 'bimbo eruption.'... The Clinton defense strategy centered on blatantly misogynistic practices.... The nature of culture is progressive and cumulative.... At long last -- far too late and just in time -- something has changed." -- CW
Ben Schreckinger of Politico: "Donald Trump appeared to question the legitimacy of Barack Obama's presidency on Saturday, referring to him at a rally as the 'quote "president."'" Trump used air-quotes to emphasize his point. -- CW
Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Escalating his criticism of Hillary Clinton's debate performances, Donald J. Trump came to a state battling a drug epidemic [-- New Hampshire --] and suggested without any evidence Saturday that his opponent had been on drugs during their second debate. 'I think we should take a drug test prior to the debate,' Mr. Trump told a crowd of thousands gathered in the parking lot of a Toyota dealership on a chilly afternoon. He continued: 'We should take a drug test prior, because I don't know what's going on with her. But at the beginning of her last debate -- she was all pumped up at the beginning, and at the end it was like, 'Oh, take me down.' She could barely reach her car.'" (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... CW: Given Donald's history of projecting his own foibles on others, this comes close to verifying suspicions that Trump is self-medicating. My own recollection of the end of the second debate was that Hillary Clinton & her family rushed right out to shake hands with the town-hall attendees while Trump stood around lethargically talking to his family until someone -- perhaps Ivanka -- pushed him to go shake a few hands. The energy on the post-debate stage was the Clinton family's, not Trump's. He looked dejected & tired, IMO.
Rebecca Morin of Politico: "Donald Trump took fire from across the political spectrum Saturday for his repeated insistence that the election is 'rigged.' 'It looks to me like a rigged election,' Trump said at New Hampshire rally on Saturday. 'The election is being rigged by corrupt media pushing completely false allegations and outright lies in an effort to elect her president.'... AshLee Strong, a spokeswoman for House Speaker Paul Ryan, rejected the claims on Saturday. 'Our democracy relies on confidence in election results, and the speaker is fully confident the states will carry out this election with integrity,' she said in a statement. Republican strategist Mike Murphy went after a Trump tweet that said Hillary Clinton should have been jailed, and continued with his claim that the election is rigged. 'Trump is now attacking our Democracy,' Murphy tweeted. 'Any Elected R who doesn't condemn this anti-American thug will carry a moral stain forever.'" CW: Notice how Ryan hides behind his spokesperson rather than directly standing up to Trump. ...
... digby: "... Trump didn't invent this theme and the GOP leaders who are now expressing alarm that their voters believe the election is being stolen have only themselves to blame. All over he country they've been pimping the thinly veiled racist voter fraud meme for years, passing laws to suppress the vote and otherwise try to rig elections! They've admitted it dozens of times. Here's just one example from a GOP official: 'The Republican Party, the strategists, the consultants, they firmly believe that early voting is bad for Republican Party candidates. It's done for one reason and one reason only ... "We've got to cut down on early voting because early voting is not good for us."'" -- CW
King Kong vs. the World. Jose DelReal of the Washington Post: When Donald Trump decided his teleprompters weren't working properly at a rally in Charlotte, N.C., Friday night, he "physically dismantled one of the teleprompters. Then he knocked the other one down." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Darrel Rowland of the Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch: "Underscoring the searing divisions over Donald Trump within the Republican Party, Trump's Ohio campaign [Saturday] disassociated itself with state GOP Chairman Matt Borges because of his lack of support for the party's presidential nominee." -- CW
David Streitfeld of the New York Times: "The only prominent supporter of [Donald Trump] ... in the high-tech community, [Peter] Thiel is making his first donation in support of Mr. Trump's election. He will give $1.25 million through a combination of super PAC donations and funds given directly to the campaign, a person close to the investor said on Saturday. The donation puts the billionaire investor high on a very short list of big Trump contributors." -- CW
Paul Farhi of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump's rallies have never been the friendliest places for reporters. But lately, as Trump has come under increasing fire, an unwelcoming atmosphere for the press has turned into outright hostility.... Reporters are now concealing or removing their press credentials when leaving the pen to avoid confrontations with Trump's supporters. The atmosphere is particularly threatening to female reporters and to female TV reporters whose faces are well known, reporters say." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Molly Redden of the Guardian: "Some 20 years ago, [Cathy Heller] claims, when she met Donald Trump for the first and only time, he grabbed her, went for a kiss, and grew angry with her as she twisted away. 'Oh, come on,' she alleges that he barked, before holding her firmly in place and planting his lips on hers.... Heller has added her voice to a chorus of women now accusing Trump of unwanted behavior. 'He can't claim we're all liars,' Heller said.... Heller had told [the story to] many friends and family members over the years, but is only now telling in public." Not only that, Trump pulled this stunt at Mar-a-Lago, on Mothers' Day, in front of a large gathering of Heller's family, including Heller's husband. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Paulina Firozi of the Hill: "Former 'Apprentice' contestant Summer Zervos, who accused Donald Trump of groping her, put out a new statement on Saturday with details about the cousin who is denying her claims. John Barry, who released a statement rebutting her story via the Trump campaign Friday, is a 'huge Trump supporter' and was recently fired from Zervos's family restaurant, said the statement by attorney Gloria Allred.... The Saturday statement from Allred also included details of another witness to Zervos's assault." -- CW
Meet Your Trump Supporters, Ctd. Lois Beckett of the Guardian: "'It's 'pitchforks and torches time', a prominent conservative sheriff tweeted on Saturday, with a condemnation of the government and media that echoes the increasingly heated rhetoric of Donald Trump's presidential campaign. David A Clarke, the elected sheriff of Milwaukee County, is a leading Trump supporter who has previously called Black Lives Matter activists the 'enemy'.... [Did I mention Clarke is black? Clarke is black. A timely reminder that among the human species, assholery is color-blind.] His remarks also raised concerns that it was inappropriate for a law enforcement official famous for his 'law and order' political views to be calling for citizens to take to the streets. Robert Post, a first amendment expert and the dean of Yale Law School, said Clarke's comments were 'horrible and despicable' but that 'an American court would view this as venting, basically.'" -- CW ...
... Meet Your Trump Supporters, Ctd. Matt Viser & Tracy Jan of the Boston Globe: At a Trump rally in Cincinnati Thursday, "said they plan to go to their local precincts to look for illegal immigrants who may attempt to vote. They are worried that Democrats will load up buses of minorities and take them to vote several times in different areas of the city. They've heard rumors that boxes of Clinton votes are already waiting somewhere. And if Trump doesn't win, some are even openly talking about violent rebellion and assassination, as fantastical and unhinged as that may seem. 'If she's in office, I hope we can start a coup. She should be in prison or shot. That's how I feel about it,' Dan Bowman, a 50-year-old contractor, said of Hillary Clinton.... 'We're going to have a revolution and take them out of office if that's what it takes. There's going to be a lot of bloodshed. But that's what it's going to take.... I would do whatever I can for my country.'... They believe what Trump has told them over and over, that this election is rigged, and if he loses, it will be because of a massive conspiracy to take him down." (Emphasis added.) -- CW
CW: The only reasonable assumption is that Donald Trump decided to build on the racist pie he had already baked during his birther binge, slather it with immigrant-bashing, toss in a huge lump of religious bigotry & lard it all over with a thick layer of misogyny -- all for the cynical purposes of increasing his fame & wealth. Trump may have achieved one thing in this election: becoming the greatest villain in American history.
Photoshop of the Day Week:
Other News & Views
Connor O'Brien of Politico: "Vice President Joe Biden says the U.S. is planning to retaliate against Russia for a series of cyberattacks targeting the Democratic National Committee and other political operations. 'We're sending a message. We have the capacity to do it,' Biden said in an interview airing Sunday on on NBC's 'Meet the Press.' 'He'll know it,' Biden added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. 'It will be at the time of our choosing -- and under the circumstances that have the greatest impact.'" -- CW
Capitalism is Awesome, Ctd. Neil Irwin of the New York Times: WalMart makes the astounding discovery that paying employees better & offering them advancement opportunities leads to better stores & higher sales. CW: A-mazing. Funny what a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T will get you, even when that respect is motivated not by common decency but by profit.
Reader Comments (11)
"The hell with Coca Cola, this is the pause that refreshes."
Pence's state police goons seized voter registration information and so far, no one, including the DOJ has stepped in. He's taking advantage of the foaming at the mouth by Trump to stay under the radar. Seriously, when Trump leaves the stage, believing that there is any chance of self awareness among the "establishment" GOP is just as fantastical as the Trump ravings.
Dear Marie,
Oh, please, pretty please, do link the SNL video from last night's opener!
Your truly,
A member of the massive left-wing conspiracy to dump Chump.
The Trump brain: Unlike your brain, Trump has two parts that fight against each other. There is the fact part which knows that he is an incompetent idiot and there is the other part desperately trying to hide the fact. Now the fact part knows he is going to lose the election so the other part comes up with a conspiracy theory every day to try and hide the new fact. In other words, the brain does not work on reality. It has adopted itself to try to hide the truth. This is how mental illness works. So the election is rigged, the world banks are conspiring to end democracy and Hillary is a drug addict. We are just getting started.
His supporters can't deal with reality in another way. It would require that they made a mistake. Never happen.
And again, the 'national' polls don't always reflect the electoral college numbers.
The new poll numbers confirm a suspicion I've been harboring for a long time, which is that the Orange Headed Bigot could still win.
Reagan was called the Teflon president. John Gotti was the Teflon Don. But a few boulders from the mountain of evidence of wrongdoing now towering over Trump would have brought both Reagan and Gotti to a miserable and well deserved end. That this is not the case with the astoundingly unqualified ignoramus put forward by and supported by the Confederate Party and their legion of haters is a question to be pondered for decades to come. We don't have time for such investigations right now.
We are faced with the problem of one of the most hated and reviled candidates in modern presidential history, someone the press has been after for decades: Hillary Clinton. Yes, Donaldo has been getting wrung out in the press lately, but the hatred and mistrust arrayed against Clinton has had thirty years to fester. She's a bitch, a murderer, she's in cahoots with bankers and part of any number of international conspiracies against America. And unlike with the very real evidence aligned against Trump, plenty of the made up shit against Clinton has stuck.
Four points is not much, especially when one considers the unreliability of polls.
We're not out of this by a long shot.
@MAG
It was funny and wittle Donnie didn't like it.
Akhilleus, while I share your paranoia over a possible Trump win, again national polls are not the game. It is quite possible for Trump to win 26 states and lose big time. The NYT polling page gives Hillary an 89% chance because they evaluate each state.
I think David Wong offers an excellent opinion on what is driving the Trump campaign. This city-rural divide needs to be addressed in order to move this country forward.
http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-reasons-trumps-rise-that-no-one-talks-about/?wa_user1=2&wa_user2=Weird+World&wa_user3=blog&wa_user4=feature_module
@LT: Well-written opinion piece from Wong for what it is there that we need to see. It was those 'supporters' from the mostly red rural areas that were out in force yesterday in Portsmouth, NH and Bangor, ME.
Know those people and attitudes myself. Grew up with them in Pennsylvania. Hunters, miners, factory workers. But now it is (blue) coastal living for me—tho' I was blue way back, too.
Those mostly inland folks share a mindset with one of my current long time, crusty old fellow characters,-errrr resident who makes a point to regularly speak up at nearly every Selectmen's meeting on topics near and dear to his offended soul about them 'outsiders' who come here and propose changes. Heaven forbid there should be much-needed "traffic lights" installed at two dangerous intersections. Charlie's diatribe usually closes with "... iff'en youse folks don't like how we do things heah, youse can go back to where ya came from..."
Bet he's voting Trump!
IN THE HEART OF TRUMP COUNTRY:
Larissia MacFarquhar from the New Yorker goes to West Virginia to find out why the state, once voting solidly democratic now is voting for Trump. What happened?
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/10/10/in-the-heart-of-trump-country?intcid=mod-most-popular
Remember earlier this year, I think it was in the primaries, the theory of "secret Trump voters" who supported him but didn't want to admit it? I wonder how many "secret Hillary voters" are out there who just don't want harassment ftom the Trumpian crowd?