You Are There

What kind of a day was it in Trump Wolrd?  A day like any other, except -- You Are There.

Yes, just another typical day in Trump World, with horrible story falling on top of horrible story on top of more, each one almost that would be a major, administration-crushing event on its own.  But this is Trump World, and just another typical day.  But no, not normal.  Nothing in this administration is normal, nor should ever be seen that way.

For all that, I'm still marveling at that ad the Postal Workers Union put out yesterday.  Related to that, the attention on the news all day to the Post Office suppression was great – helped immensely by Trump bizarrely admitting publicly in the morning to the abusive reasons for his actions.  And I’m very glad, too, but not remotely surprised by the attention given to veterans and medicals prescriptions, though just wait next for when rural areas start really getting hit by the slowdown. 

One of the things I’ve been writing about is the unintended consequences of Trump's action, that it won’t just hit Democrats but will cross all lines and effect everyone, and with disastrous results.  We're only seeing the very earliest stages and tip of the iceberg, as the Titanic heads for it.  Brian Williams’ had a strong interview with that great Lt. General Russel Honoré (who oversaw relief efforts in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina), who was slamming how this mail slowdown will affect veterans, and that it even has already affected him, that he didn’t get  his medications in the mail and had to drive to Walgreens.  “And I at least can drive, not every veteran can.”

Actually, the best interview that Brian Williams did yesterday was with the president of the national teachers union.  It was one of the rare times I’ve seen him – or any interviewer – absolutely flabbergasted by an answer and almost speechless.  He asked her offhandedly (again, remember, this is is the head of the American teachers union) at the very end of his interview when was the last time she’s spoken to the Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos.  She said, “April, 2017.”  As I said, Williams was knocked for a loop.  If she had said April of this year, it would have been shocking.  But no, April, 2017.

No doubt you've seen the clip of Trump flummoxed by the reporter asking about him lying so much much.  But if not, here it is below.  And if so, it's so worse seeing again.  By the way, the reporter is S.V. Dáte who works for the Huffington Post.  Notable, too, is that in three hours he got 70,000 new Twitter followers.  

I have no idea what to make of Michael Cohen's upcoming book from the forward that got released.  I hold zero admiration for him, but he has at least testified under oath and is writing this book, and if he can do anything to help undermine Trump, great.  It doesn’t let him off the hook for his past and involvement in thuggery, but my concern is Trump not getting elected, not whether I like Michael Cohen or not.  And from this little portion, Trump has to be petrified.  The White House has of course put out a statement decrying the book as "fan fiction."  But of course, if it's as full of scathing lies as they "contend," Trump always has the option to sue for libel.  And since he clearly has no compunction again suing, that should be no problem.  Of course, he would have to prove it's false and testify under oath, so that seems to be a massive hurdle to get over.

And then, of course, we have Trump's latest birtherism attempt, this time feigning ignoring over the "suggestion" that he repeated that Kamala Harris wasn't born in the United States.  Without going into the racist op-ed that was printed in Newsweek for some unknown reason, written by someone who once ran to replace her as Attorney General in California, the charge is that since her parents weren't born in the United States, Ms. Harris wasn't an American citizen and eligible to be vice president.  How on earth Newsweek could let that through its fact checkers is one thing, but WE ALL KNOW that one's parents don't have to be from the United States for their child born here to be a U.S. citizen.  Or else much of America wouldn't be American citizens.  And Trump knows that, too.  Or he's a bigger idiot than appears, which is possible, though not the case here.  Because WE ALL KNOW if you're born in the U.S., you're an American citizen. And Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California.  But, that aside --

Forgetting for the moment how racist Trump's birtherism "suggestion" is, and forgetting for the moment, too, that networks are carrying his "COVID-19 campaign events" live -- the more that Trump foolishly attacks Kamala Harris with the same racist efforts that failed against Barack Obama, the less he is focused on his presidential opponent, which is the only person he should be paying any attention to.  And it shows he has nothing in his playbook -- nothing either of substance against Joe Biden, and nothing of substance on his own record.  So, the racism aside, the more Trump goes after Sen. Harris, the worse it is for him.

And things got worse, too, for Americans suffering dangerously during the pandemic, in desperate need of relief.  And the Senate adjourned yesterday until September 8 with no relief bill.  It is my hope and expectation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both make very clear to the American public that they want both houses of Congress to stay in Washington, that Schumer wants to keep the Senate negotiations open -- but the Republican Party controls the Senate, and Mitch McConnell controls when it is in session and adjourns.  And it is the GOP's decision entirely to leave town until after Labor Day.

Which brings us to a Tweet posted yesterday by Bill Kristol.  He wrote –

“If we had a normal president—Obama or Bush, Jeb or Marco or Ted or Carly, Hillary or, yes, Bernie—we would have contained and rolled back the virus, and businesses, schools, and college football would be reopening. Trump alone could have mishandled the pandemic so disastrously.”

To which I wrote the following reply –

“While most likely true, this isn't about Trump. This is about the elected Republicans in Congress who enable him & are complicit. If we had a normal Congress, no president would be able to mishandle SO MUCH of near everything so disastrously. This is about the Republican Party.”

I love when Republicans like BIll Kristol take off after Trump.  But it doesn’t let them and their past – and today’s Republican Party that was built on their own actions – off the hook.

This isn't about Trump.  We know who he is.  This is about the elected Republicans in Congress who enable his fascist actions and are totally complicit.