Sunday, October 18, 2020

16: RUN!

Much thanks to Alan for the cartoon!

Have you subscribed (it’s free) to receive Heather Cox Richardson’s daily emails? They are well researched, with footnote links. 

Click here for Her Newsletter

Here’s a clip from a recent message from Richardson:

The theme of the day was the palpable sense of rats leaving a sinking ship as Republicans, administration officials, and administration-adjacent people distanced themselves from the president. 

There was a foreshadowing of that exodus on Wednesday, when Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) let loose about the president in a telephone call with constituents. Sasse was an early critic of Trump but toned down his opposition significantly in the early part of the administration. On Wednesday, he reverted to his earlier position, saying he had “never been on the Trump train.” He complained about the way Trump “kisses dictators’ butts,” and went on: "The United States now regularly sells out our allies under his leadership, the way he treats women, spends like a drunken sailor…. [He] mocks evangelicals behind closed doors...has treated the presidency like a business opportunity" and has "flirted with white supremacists." He said: “What the heck were any of us thinking, that selling a TV-obsessed, narcissistic individual to the American people was a good idea?"

The theme of abandoning the administration became apparent yesterday, when officials leaked the story that intelligence officials had warned Trump against listening to his lawyer Rudy Giuliani. This was a high-level leak, and suggests that more and more staffers are starting to look for a way off the S.S. Trump.

. . .

Also today, the former chair of the New Hampshire Republican Committee, Jennifer Horn, urged ... “This election poses a unique challenge,” she wrote. “It will test not Republican vs. Democrat or Trump vs. Biden, but rather, “We the People.” It is our role in this constitutional republic, our leadership, and our dedication to the promise of America that is being tested. Trump or America,” she wrote. “We cannot have both.”

26 comments:

  1. New Zealand election: Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party scores landslide win
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-54519628

    🥳
    May we soon follow suit!!

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    1. At first glance, a four-seat majority hardly seems like a landslide--but not only does it represent a very large increase in Labour Party seats, it is the first time ever under the current electoral law for a party to gain a governing majority in the parliament. Nevertheless, she is said this morning to be planning a coalition government.

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  2. Replies
    1. WOW! That's quite a kitty! Thanks, Alan.

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    2. Doesn't it look like a housecat? In any event, we must have some cultural entries on the blog, hen?

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    3. Culture, nothin'! We need more kitties! *grin*

      Seriously, though, that gliff is so clear! Yes, it's a house cat, not something like a puma or jaguar.

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  3. New Battleground State Polls
    October 18, 2020 at 10:58 am EDT By Taegan Goddard
    From CBS News:
    ARIZONA: Biden 50%, Trump 47%
    WISCONSIN: Biden 51%, Trump 46%


    The Green Tsunami [Click]

    Pelosi Gives White House 48-Hour Deadline on Relief Bill [Click] Sounds like she’s in the driver’s seat. . .

    Empty Retail Space Is Next Economic Crisis [Click] The US has had an insane oversupply of retail space for a long time.

    Trump’s Suburban Collapse Cost Him In Nebraska [Click]

    Biden Pursuing a National Ad Strategy. [Click] Meanwhile from AP: [Click] “[Trump’s] comments come after his campaign, with far less cash than Biden’s, largely retreated from TV advertising in the Midwest, shifting much of its money to Sun Belt states such as Florida, North Carolina, Arizona and Georgia, as well as Pennsylvania.”

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  4. Biden Blitzes Football Games with New Ads [Click]

    “Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, warned that the current wave of new coronavirus infections is likely to be the “biggest wave” the nation experiences before a vaccine, CBS News reports.”

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  5. The Guardian: Trump attempts to save himself in battleground states as Covid cases surge [Click]
    *President stages rallies despite climbing infection rates
    *Polls give Joe Biden national and swing state leads
    *Whitmer: Trump is ‘inciting domestic terrorism’

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  6. OHIO; COVID cases 181,787 and 5,067 deaths.

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  7. VERY odd goings-on in Georgia. Biden 47.9, Trump 46.6 (FiveThirtyEight polling average). Trump outspending Biden on TV ads by a huge margin, FAR more than any other state. No obvious explanation.

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    1. Maybe Trump just developed a fixation on the race in Georgia?

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    2. The more I think about it, Trump must have made the decision, for whatever reason. Such erratic behavior would fit him, and I can't believe any staff member [AKA flunky] would do it. He probably saw something about Georgia on one of those Fox talking-head shows he likes.

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    3. That must be it.

      Speaking of such things... Today while walking past Mum's room, I heard some obnoxious, loudmoth broad claiming she didn't know Biden had and overcame a stutter. She had been, she defiantly asserted, commenting on his obvious cognative decline. She didn't know anything about a stutter.

      I don't know who she was, but I know that she's either a liar or has been living on Pluto for the past several months. By this point in the campaign, *everyone* knows about Biden's stutter. What an asshole! If she was jeering at him, then at least be honest about the reason. But, seems to me people (for lack of a better word) like that couldn't be honest about anything at all if their worthless lives depended on it. I don't know how it's possible for something so warped to go on living. It certainly is not human.

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    4. Please don't denigrate the ninth planet. [grin] And it would only take a radio or TV signal about four hours to reach Pluto from Earth; not long at all. And since a day on Pluto is 6.4 earth days, that's only one thirty-eighth of a day!

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    5. In a more serious vein, I remain of the opinion that Trump's behavior can be explained by senility.

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    6. I agree completely... which makes it particularly rich that his shills are trying to push the lie of Biden's so called cognitive decline. Biden may be many things, most of which I find distasteful, but he's not senile, certainly not by Trump's standard.

      Sorry to put down dear old Pluto. I did consider using the Kuyper Belt, but was deterred by not knowing how to spell it. Should have gone out further, to the Oort Cloud.

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  8. Perdue’s Mocking of Kamala Harris Backfires [Click]

    What Early Voting Might [Be Telling] Us [Click] Hmmmmm. . . sounds good.

    What Trump’s Debate Coaches Are Telling Him [Click] I don’t think he can exhibit that degree of personal control; autopilot will kick in.


    In another indication his campaign is struggling financially, President Trump is headed for a fundraiser in California — which he has no chance of winning — with just a little more than two weeks until Election Day, the Los Angeles Times reports.

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    1. trump will be trump at the debate. It will be just as sloppy and ugly as the first one. His advisors can talk strategy to him until they're blue in the face, but his narcissism and need to be Top Dog will rule him.

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    2. That's certainly what I expect, Susan.

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  9. VT: 1937(+11)
    58deaths(81days)
    200 active cases ☹️
    Recovered 1689( +2)
    In Hospital 0 ( 0)
    Tests 178,460 (+1117)

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