As I listened to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany twist herself in knots and try to explain to an unrelenting Jim Acosta of CNN why Trump wasn't lying when he said that "nobody" was really affected by the coronavirus, despite 205,471 deaths of Americans, so far -- and 7,097,937 infections, so far.  And these were only in the United States.  In fact, around the world, there have been almost 32 million human beings infected by the coronavirus and just under one million people have died.  So far.  So, that whole "nobody" thing, not so much.

And yet, on and on, Ms. McEnany went on, trying to explain that Trump was being honest and only talking about young people -- despite that, no, he wasn't, and, of course, despite there also being an actual recording of Trump telling Bob Woodward that he knew young people could get infected by it.  

And as I listened to someone from the White House once again try to explain what Trump meant when he said something horrible and irresponsible and cruel and racist, I just started to wonder when it was that we formally went past the line where it become officially head-numbing to hear a White House spokesperson again explain "What the president meant when he said..." something.

I mean, words matter.  But when it comes to the President of the United States, words not only matter, they can be life-and-death critical.  A president should ever have to have it explained what he meant, but though in life that does occur on occasion, those occasions should be rare -- not something so common that the White House Communications Office has the words, "What the president meant when he said..." on speed dial and a macro.

Of course, most people know what Trump "meant" when he says something.  We've heard him for four years.  We know he meant something egomaniacal or cruel or untrue or racist.  The only time we don't know is when it's totally incomprehensible and a mindless bunch of word less.  Or "covfefe."

The thing is, this -- like most things -- isn't just about Trump, though he and his spokespeople have turned it into an art form.  (Can we ever forget "alternative facts"?)  But Republicans making bald-faced lies and then having to explain what they actually meant when the lie is too egregious even for them to double-down on and they're called out on it.  The list is too long and massive, but a few leap out.  Like when Trump spokesperson Katrina Pierson said that President Obama was responsible for the battle that killed Captain Humayan Khan (son of Khizr Khan, who had spoken at the Democratic Convention) -- except the problem is that Capt. Khan did in Iraq in 2004, and Barack Obama didn't take office until 2008. And of course, there was Republican lying claims of birtherism long before Trump made it his campaign issue.  And maybe one of the most legendary of all, there was the infamous article by Ron Suskind in 2004 when an unnamed W. Bush White House official (now believed to be Karl Rove) who chided Democrats for living in a "realty-based community" while Republicans "created our own reality." 

In other words, you tell the truth, we make it up.

And that's just been standard operating procedure for Republicans.  And as it often happens, I can delve into the archives and explain what I mean.

Back in 2011, I wrote an article about then-senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ) getting caught in a lie so blatant that he ended up coming out with one of the more stupid, teeth-aching attempts to explain it away.

This isn't about Trump.  It isn't even specifically about All Republicans.  This is just one individual.  But especially because of what his mind-numbing explanation for his lie was, it is all too indicative of what Republicans have been doing for decades, and what Trump does when he breathes.  Over 20,000 Trump lies that the Washington Post documented in just over two years of his time in office.

Yes, all politicians lie.  All people lie.  But it's how you lie, what you lie about, how you explain your lie, how you correct your lie, if you correct your lie and why you lie that separates people.

This is just a look at Jon Kyl..  But when we live with this sort of thing for decades because one party has "created their own reality" and live on "alternative facts," and as a result of all that we now live with the standard, default White House explanation of "What the president meant when he said..." -- this is far more than a look at Jon Kyl.  It's about Trump.  And it's about much more than Trump, it's about the elected members of the Republican Party who enable him, are complicit and, in fact, long-since laid the foundation for him.

​So, we head back to April 13, 2011.

Last night in his show's cold opening, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took Lindsey Graham at this word when he pledged not to go forward with a Supreme Court nominee in the last Trump's term and said to use his words against him...and so they used Graham's words against him -- but in a different way that you might have been expecting –

So, yesterday, I came across this brief video of Trump.  And yes, I know there were a lot to choose from.  Indeed, yes, I know that every day there are a lot to choose from.  Like, for instance, I came close to using him slam the granddaughter of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg by suggesting that she might have been lying about the dying message she said her grandmother wanted to be quoted for.  Never mind that renowned NPR court reporter Nina Totenberg had earlier followed up on the quote to learn that others in room at the time (including Justice Ginsberg's doctor) confirmed what was said -- something Ms. Totenberg did at the time as a good reporter checking on a story, not because of Trump's idiot comment suggesting that maybe Adam Schiff or some other Democrats said it.  But as offensive as that was about a granddaughter who'd just lost a grandmother, it was just Trump being cold, heartless Trump and got plenty of attention on its own.

Or the video clip of Trump saying about the coronavirus that "It affects virtually nobody," that it really only affects the elderly (who aren't "nobody," and he himself fits into the "elderly" group, and we not only know it's not true, but we know from Bob Woodward's recording that Trump himself says he knows it's not true.).  And of course, we all know that the coronavirus has now killed over 204,000 Americans -- so far. But this is just too insane to waste too much time on.  Not that it's just dismissed for being normal Trump, but dismissed for being too infantile to spend adult time on it playing his game. 

Instead, this one caught my attention because at first it seemed like one of those tweet where the person posting it, in this case Aaron Rupar, paraphrased an idiot comment by Trump to translate into English in order to bring out its full stupidity in a way that was even more clear.  But then when I watch the clip, it turned out that, no, the quote was actually what Trump said, word for word.

(You can a bonus.  The tweet with the clip was linked to a clip of Trump defending his earlier comment ridiculing the granddaughter.  That's the one on top.  The main clip in question, about the poisoning of Russian dissident leader Alexey Nalvany is below.

What I would have loved is a follow-up question --

"Sir, could you let us know generally when that "another time" would be?  Because Mr. Navalny was poisoned a month ago which should be plenty of time for you to have figured out an answer."

For me, this quote stood out because it encapsulated the Trump time in office.  His refusal to criticize Vladmir Putin or Russia about anything, including the poisoning of a political opponent, which is about as fascist a thing as one could imagine, even if you were taking a test of fascism and it was open book so that could copy down anything that you thought was pure fascist.  And then, Trump just pushed it off with a mumbled "We'll talk about it later" and of course never will, though hopefully he'll be asked about it again.  And again.  And again and again.  The only surprising thing in the quote is that he didn't use his standard "in two weeks."

​I have a lot more to say about that, but instead of being "outraged," (tm), I think I'm just going to embed a joyful video of a zookeeper in China trying her best to deal with a group of pandas.  

I realized that we haven't had a Quirkology video in waaaay too long here.  Quirkology is the brand of Richard Wisemen, who has performed as a magician, but his day job is as a psychologist.  In fact, he's a professor of Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire, and has written numerous books on the subject, including The Luck Factor and Quirkology. 

Quirkology are ostensibly magic tricks, but general are more optical illusions.  Because of that, he generally shows how they're done.  And he does all this in a charming, whimsical way making his little excursions treats. Many are in his "10 Amazing Bets You Can Always Win" series...which today's comes from

Yes, yes, I know that Trump's cult followers won't care about how blatantly he's obvious lying..  But a) that's never at issue, it's a given, and b) that's also not the topic at hand.  You've entered the wrong classroom.

Today's lesson is otherwise, something else entirely.  As the title in the class syllabus says, this a seminar on -- "How to Lie Badly."

Trump says in the video, "Hey, you now have a president that doesn't have to use a TelePrompter."  And his adoring cult crowd cheers.

There are two TelePrompters in clear view in front of him.

This video of Trump the other day has gotten some attention, but not nearly the attention it deserves.  After all, it's the U.S. president taking gleeful pleasure in a member of the press getting SHOT.

That it was a high profile member of the press makes the statement louder, but any member of the press would be just as reprehensible.

And it's not just that Ali Velshi of MSNBC was...SHOT.  Or that Trump lied about what he was shot with -- that it wasn't just "a cannister," but actually a rubber bullet -- since getting SHOT with anything is critical.  Or that this was a member of the press exercising his rights according to the First Amendment to inform the public.  Or that he described it as "a beautiful sight.

No, it's ALL THAT along with -- perhaps most of all -- Trump trying to claim this as "law and order."  

All the rest is despicable enough on its own.  But it's the trying to position this as "law and order" that explains clearly the foundation of Trump's fascism.

Actually, this is doubly fascist -- supporting violence and supporting an attack against a major power base like the press.  But, since Ali Velshi is from Canada and a Muslim, for all I know, based on his past actions, Trump was giving even more xenophobic support to it, making this a trifecta in fascism.

And that's the bottom line:  This from Trump was so utterly horrible -- not because of how thoughtless and cruel it was, but for how much it demonstrates clearly his fascist beliefs.

And it must be repeated, as always -- this is not about Trump, we know who he is.  This is about the elected members of the Republican Party who enable him, are silent in all this, show their support and are complicit.

And 204,118 Americans dead, so far.

On this week’s episode of 3rd and Fairfax, the official podcast of the Writers Guild of America, the guest is
Emmy-nominated Ramy Youssef who talks about his journey from stand-up comic to co-creator, star and writer of his semi-autobiographical Hulu streaming series, as it goes into its second season.

On this week’s Al Franken podcast, Al talks with David Axelrod, the political consultant who consulted Barack Obama all the way to the White House.  They discuss the election (Franken adds a “Spoiler Alert: He’s for Biden.”) and focus on “how we get Biden there.”
 

Today is a double holiday -- Saturday is not only the first day of Rosh Hashanah and the start of the High Holy Days, but also Talk Like a Pirate Day.  And as always, Talk Like a Pirate Day gets me to think about the quite-wonderful video I've posted here before, Ahaarrrr. 

This is one of my favorite videos that I've ever tracked down.  As I've written here in the past, it's a little British film, 13-minutes long, which I came across back in 2010 and have been passing it around since -- mostly to friends of my who do voice-over work, on either side of the microphone.  Oh, boy howdy, do they ever empathize with it...  And now I post it on this site every year.

I don't know very much about its history or the wonderful creative mind behind it, Jonathan Kydd, who wrote and stars in the short film (impressively, as both the voiceover artist and the director!  I didn't even realize that the first half-dozen times I watched it).  But it did win the (Mid Ulster) Critics choice at the DIY Festival LA.  As it happens, I also know very little about that festival -- other than that sentence I just typed. 

I do see on the iMDB that Mr. Kydd deservedly has had a long career with a great many acting credits -- not shockingly, most over the past 20 years in voiceover work, notably eight Harry Potter video games, as well as the Toy Story That Time Forgot video.  And for the animated series, The Adventures of Paddington Bear, he provided the voice of Paddington.  But yes, mixed in among that and especially before getting involved with voiceover acting, he has also done a good deal of live-action, on-camera TV work.

As the description below says, this is indeed the voice over session from hell. 

Okay, so Lindsey Graham -- not totally shockingly (though a touch surprisingly for the risk it puts to his election and any last remnant of honor) -- is going back on his pledge of two years ago to not let a nomination go forward. He is saying the situations are different from with Merrick Garland. Though of course, that's beside the point, since what he said between the Garland debacle and now is that the if there is an opening in Trump's last year and if Graham becomes chairman of the Judiciary Committee -- which he is now -- there would be no confirmation of a Supreme Court Justice until after the next inauguration. And then to make the point stronger, he tells everyone that they can use the video of him saying that against him.
I have every confidence that everyone will be using the video of him saying that against him. And it's my hope that Mike Bloomberg takes him up on on that pledge and buys ad time to relentlessly play the ad on TV in South Carolina and on social media.
​
I also suspect it's a hypocritical lie that could back to haunt him big time since the most recent Quinnipiac Poll has him tied with Jaime Harrison, 48-48%. And any undecided voters there aren't undecided because they wonder if he's loyal enough to Trump -- but rather too much a sycophant lap dog who's given up his spine...and honor, like going back on his pledge that he says to use against him.