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A few weeks ago, in a speech in Pennsylvania while on his Coronavirus Petrie Dish Tour, Trump made a comment that stood out to me. I kept waiting for the press to pick up on it, and ask Trump about it -- or even just any of his spokespeople. But so far, nothing. So, I figure that at this point with only eight days left in the campaign, waiting seems to be a lost cause. Perhaps Trump or something can still be asked after the election, but I'm sure that issues of interest with be drastically be refocused, so I guess it's up to me to mention it. What Trump said was, "They now proved that Russia interfered in 2016. Unfortunately it was on behalf of Hillary Clinton, not Trump."
The reaction of most people at the time he said this was to chide Trump about such an idiotic point that Hillary Clinton conspired against herself to lose. And I understand that reaction, and it's valid. But they were missing the much larger point. As I said, I waited to see if that "much larger point" would be picked up by the press, either in article or to question Trump or his press secretary -- but no, it faded away under the mountains of bigger news. Yet I still think that even among the mountains of news, it's a large point. That Trump is idiotically lying about Hillary Clinton is beside the point and par for the course -- which I'm sure is a big reason why the much larger point got overlooked. And that point is that what Trump is saying on the record is that "Russia interfered in the 2016 election." It doesn't matter that he's saying Russia interfered on behalf of Hillary Clinton, even with that being an idiotic lie. What matters is that Trump is stating that he believes Russia interfered in the election -- and he's doing nothing about it. What a reporter even now should still ask him -- because the statement is on the record and it's never too late to ask -- is to find out what Trump is going to do about Russia interfering in the 2016 election, since he's admitted it happened. His choices in answering are limited -- he can ignore the question, which means it sits there in the air for other to wonder the same thing. He can say he's doing nothing, which would be a really ghastly look for a president trying to make "law and order" core to his campaign and just acknowledged Russia attacked the U.S. in its election. Or he could announce, which would outrage his Russian overlords. And also put the reality that Russia is trying to attack this election on the table. Actually, each of these options puts the reality that Russia is trying to attack this election on the table -- in part because Russia is, and in part because, whatever the option, Trump has said that Russia did attack the U.S. in our election. Unfortunately, no, I don't think at this point that any reporter will pick this up, especially since so much time has passed since the quote officially made the news. But I stand by my belief that this is notable quote by Trump that should be followed up on by the press, no matter how idiotic Trump's attempt at a point was. Because the larger point is that Trump himself said, on the record, that there is evidence that Russia interfered with our election. Which they did. Just because Trump lied about the reason for it doesn't make the foundation any less true. And bizarrely, it took Trump going out of his way to lie for him to actually and finally tell the truth about something, and so he got that foundation right.
On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the socially-distanced NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is Jonna Mendez, who not only worked for the CIA, but was Chief of Disguise. Her conversation with host Peter Sagal is really very interesting and wonderful fun, as she describes how she got into the CIA and the details of her job. Well…some of the details, which she compares in part to the “Q” division of the James Bond movies. Only later in the interview does host Sagal mention that her husband (now deceased) was Tony Mendez – who was the real-life person played by Ben Affleck in Argo. She tells a remarkable story about one of his disguises that she helped with, and also Halloween costumes for the family.
Written one year ago, today --
On this week’s Al Franken podcast, his guest is Brian Fallon of Demand Justice, and they discuss the Amy Coney Barrett hearing. As he writes, the two “weren’t happy with any part of the damn thing.” By the way, speaking of which -- after initially saying she would not vote to confirm Amy Coney Barrett, but then yesterday announcing yes, she would -- it turns out that this year for Halloween, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will be dressing up and going as Susan Collins.
From the archives. This week's contestant is Ray Lancaster from Columbia Hill, South Carolina. I got the hidden song pretty quickly, and then it becomes very clear. Guessing the composer style came down to being between two composers...and I guessed the wrong one. Actually, it turned out to be someone else entirely, so I was completely wrong, though it was from the same country as my guess -- if that counts for anything, which it really doesn't.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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