The Conversation -- October 24, 2024

Marie: Sometimes, some stories are too icky for me to stomach. This is one. I should have linked something about it earlier, but, well, ick! I apologize both for not linking it earlier and for linking it at all. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "The former Fox News host Tucker Carlson stirred up a crowd of Trump supporters on Wednesday night with a bizarre extended metaphor that cast ... Donald J. Trump as an angry father about to come home and give a 'vigorous spanking' to his disobedient daughter.... In Duluth, Ga., Mr. Carlson said that the country under Democratic leadership was like a toddler allowed to 'smear the contents of his diapers on the wall of your living room,' or a 'hormone-addled 15-year-old daughter' who gives her parents the finger and slams her bedroom door. And he cast Mr. Trump as the strict, disappointed father. 'When Dad gets home, you know what he says? "You've been a bad girl, you&'ve been a bad little girl, and you're getting a vigorous spanking right now,"' Mr. Carlson said. Grinning, he went on: 'And ... this is going to hurt you a lot more than it hurts me. And you earned this. You're getting a vigorous spanking because you've been a bad girl.' The crowd went wild. Mr. Carlson's speech -- at a rally ... that featured Mr. Trump as the headline speaker -- was full of disparaging comments about women....

"He cast Democrats as illegitimate, calling them 'the most parasitic, useless, violent, nasty, aggressive people in your country.' In an apparent reference to people who fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War, he continued: 'They tore down statues to their memory. People who never built anything in their lives, they went out of their way to humiliate you and spit on you and the graves of your ancestors.'And he told the crowd directly that they should not accept the election results if Ms. Harris wins."

Sarah Rumpf of Mediaite: "Former Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI), who served 18 terms in Congress before retiring last year, is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris -- issuing a scathing condemnation of his own party's nominee..., Donald Trump. Upton told The Detroit News that he was voting for Harris -- his first time supporting a Democrat for president, although he has split his ticket on other down-ballot races in the past -- because Trump had 'not changed his colors' and continued pushing his baseless claims about fraud in the 2020 election.... '... he's still talking about the election being stolen, trashing women left and right. He's just totally unhinged,' he added. 'We don;t need this chaos. We need to move forward, and that's why I'm where I am. Upton told The Detroit News that he had spoken with Harris's running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, on Wednesday. The two served together in the House for twelve years.... Upton was one of the Republicans who voted to impeach Trump, drawing his ire -- and then gloating after Upton announced his retirement." The New York Times story is here.

Julie Bosman of the New York Times: "Mayor Shawn Reilly of Waukesha, Wis., an independent who was a Republican for most of his life, said in an interview on Wednesday that he was endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. The endorsement is a key one for Ms. Harris, whose campaign has lavished attention on the suburbs of Milwaukee, which lean Republican but are so densely populated that they deliver a pivotal number of Democratic votes.... Mr. Reilly, 63, said that he had never endorsed a Democrat before. But this election is different, he said, describing his own evolution from loyal Republican for decades to an independent in 2021. 'It's very easy to not even stick your nose in this...,' he said. 'But the reason I'm doing it is because I think we're at a crossroads. I'm very afraid of the direction our country will head in if Donald Trump becomes president. I think we'll be heading down a road of authoritarianism and fascism.'" The NBC News story is here.

Katrina Miller of the New York Times: "More than 80 American Nobel Prize winners in physics, chemistry, medicine and economics have signed an open letter endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president. 'This is the most consequential presidential election in a long time, perhaps ever, for the future of science and the United States,' reads the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times. 'We, the undersigned, strongly support Harris.'... Donald Trump ... would 'jeopardize any advancements in our standards of living, slow the progress of science and technology and impede our responses to climate change,' the letter said." ~~~

     ~~~ That's Fine, Smart People. But There Is No One to Save Us from Stupid. Marie: While I was working on the entry above, a CNN reporter was saying on the teevee that he had interviewed many young swing-state college men, and that they liked Kamala Harris better than Donald Trump -- BUT they were planning to vote for Trump because he would be better for business. Also (but this seemed to be secondary), that they were of draft age and Trump would keep the U.S. out of wars.

Big Surprise. Amy Wang & Meryl Kornfield of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump said Thursday that he would 'fire' special counsel Jack Smith on his first day back in the White House if he is elected again, making clear that he would push to drop a pair of federal cases against him.... The authority to hire and fire a special counsel falls to the attorney general. But if Trump wins the election, he is expected to appoint an attorney general who would dismiss both federal cases against him.... Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign said Thursday that Trump's latest comments indicate that the former president thinks he is above the law...."

Annals of "Journalism," Ha Ha Ha. Brad Reed of the Raw Story: "CNN is reporting that Fox News edited out several portions of a recent event with ... Donald Trump to omit what it describes as his 'rambling answers and false claims.' During one point in Trump's chat with Black voters in a New York barbershop, the former president was asked about eliminating federal taxes. On the Fox News broadcast, Trump was simply shown saying that 'there's a way' to get the job done -- but the full video shows something else entirely. 'That response from Trump actually came more than seven minutes later, after Trump... brought up other topics, including inheritances, the Keystone Pipeline, Ronald Reagan, Russia, and transgender sports players,' CNN writes. 'Trump had to be nudged back on track several times by the unnamed audience member, who kept circling back, apologetically, and said "I wasn't able to finish my question." After he repeated his tax inquiry yet again, Trump said "there is a way."' The CNN story is here; it is firewalled. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Wait, I thought even minor, immaterial edits were reasons for a network to lose its license (even though a network does not actually have a broadcast license). So what does Trump propose to do to Fox?

Pennsylvania. Simon Levien of the New York Times: "The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that voters who submit mail-in ballots that are rejected for not following procedural directions can still cast provisional ballots. The decision is likely to affect thousands of mail-in ballots among the millions that will be cast in Pennsylvania, the swing state that holds the most electoral votes and is set to be the most consequential in the presidential election. The court ruled 4 to 3 that the Butler County board of elections must count provisional ballots cast by several voters whose mail-in ballots were rejected for lacking mandatory secrecy envelopes. Secrecy envelopes are commonly used to protect the privacy of a person's vote. In Pennsylvania, voters must accurately sign and date this outer envelope before sending in their ballots.Under the new ruling, voters whose mail-in ballots are rejected for being 'naked ballots,' lacking the secrecy envelope, or for bearing inaccurate or missing information on the envelope will be given the chance to cast a provisional vote at their polling place. The ruling makes the practice available statewide.... Many counties in the state will notify voters if their mail-in ballots are rejected for not following technical procedures and will give them the opportunity to cast a provisional vote." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As soon as I read this, I saw a lawsuit coming. I didn't know what the basis of a suit might be, but election law expert Rick Hasen does: "... in 2020 ... Justice Alito, facing a similar issue in a case involving ballots arriving within 3 days after election day ordered to be counted during the pandemic by the state supreme court, ordered those ballots sequestered. A sequestration order could happen again, and there could be a fight over the treatment of these ballots. Let's hope the margin of victory of the winning candidate in PA exceeds greatly the number of these ballots."

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Presidential Race

Reid Epstein & Lisa Lerer of the New York Times: "Early in a CNN town hall in Pennsylvania [Wednesday evening, Vice President Harris] readily agreed with the host, Anderson Cooper, when he asked whether she believed Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist. 'Yes, I do,' she quickly shot back. 'Yes, I do.' Later, when asked about the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, she jumped into a loaded critique of her rival. 'For many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries,' she said. 'They also care about our democracy and not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.'... Over the course of the 80-minute town hall, Ms. Harris was asked about a wide range of policy issues.... Her answers boiled down to: Donald Trump would be worse." Bender goes on to criticize Harris's responses. The AP's report, which is here, does not. ~~~

~~~ Dan Merica of the AP: "The Democratic presidential nominee said Kelly's comments ... were a '911 call to the American people' by the former chief of staff. They were quickly seized by Harris as part of her closing message to voters as she works to sharpen the choice at the ballot box for Americans. 'I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the well-being and security of the United States of America,' she said, saying the American people deserve a president who maintains 'certain standards,' which include 'certainly not comparing oneself, in a clearly admiring way, to Hitler.'" Eric Bradner, et al., report CNN's takeaways from the town hall.

Katie Rogers & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that ... Donald J. Trump's reported comments praising Nazi generals offered 'a window into who Donald Trump really is,' calling it 'deeply troubling' that her Republican rival had apparently invoked Hitler in conversations with one of his former chiefs of staff, John F. Kelly.... In her brief remarks, delivered at the vice president's residency in Washington, Ms. Harris warned that Mr. Trump had grown 'increasingly unhinged and unstable' and said that he would require that the U.S. military 'be loyal to him personally,' even if Mr. Trump did not obey the law during the course of a second term." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

Lisa Kashinsky, et al., of Politico: "A former senior Homeland Security official in the Trump administration said Wednesday that the former president has 'authoritarian tendencies' and 'does not operate by the rule of law' -- echoing a denunciation by his former chief of staff and other senior figures. Elizabeth Neumann, who served as deputy chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security and assistant secretary for threat prevention and security policy, said she agreed with former Marine Gen. John Kellys explosive assessment that Donald Trump is not fit for the office.... Neumann, who has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, said in a brief interview with Politico, 'Is he kind of leaning towards that ultra-nationalism component? Absolutely.... He's made nationalism the new definition of the Republican Party.'... Trump, long prone to violent and inflammatory rhetoric, has become more extreme in his third presidential bid."

digby does a quick rundown of "Trump is a Fascist" literature, old and new. "We've learned over the years, through many reports, memoirs and tell-all books that Trump tried to govern in dictatorial fashion at every turn but was either too mentally undisciplined to follow through or was held back by people around him who kept him from acting on his worst impulses. This campaign has shown him ratcheting up the fascist rhetoric to previously unseen heights, saying that immigrants are 'poisoning the blood' and calling his political opponents 'vermin' and 'enemies within' that must be purged."

Here's Trump's response to John Kelly's revelations about him, via Mediaite.

Phil Mattingly of CNN: "More than half of the living US recipients of the Nobel Prize for economics signed a letter that called Vice President Kamala Harris' economic agenda 'vastly superior' to the plans laid out by ... Donald Trump. Twenty-three Nobel Prize-winning economists signed onto the letter, including two of the three most recent recipients.... The letter serves as a stamp of approval for Harris less than two weeks from Election Day on the issue voters consistently rank as the most important in surveys: the economy.... The letter was spearheaded by Joseph Stiglitz, a Columbia University professor and 2001 winner of the prize, and marks the second major foray into the campaign by a group of Nobel laureates.... The letter points to Trump's tariff and tax policies as inflationary and likely to balloon the federal deficit == a widely held view among economists. But it also issues a stark warning. 'Among the most important determinants of economic success are the rule of law and economic and political certainty, and Trump threatens all of these,' the economists write." More on Trump's economic policies, linked below. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Sure, but what do a bunch of ivory-tower eggheads know? Donald Trump is a successful, common-sense businessman.

Morgan Rimmer of CNN: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell delivered a scathing assessment of the modern Republican Party in an upcoming biography, saying the 'MAGA movement is completely wrong.'... 'I think Trump was the biggest factor in changing the Republican Party from what Ronald Reagan viewed and he wouldn't recognize today,' McConnell told the Associated Press' Michael Tackett for the upcoming biography 'The Price of Power' obtained by CNN ahead of its release.... The Republican leader eventually voted to acquit Trump during the second impeachment trial, focused on the former president's involvement in the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. However, Tackett reports that McConnell had leaned towards voting to convict at certain points." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Allow me to remind you, Mitch, that had you had the gumption to find Trump guilty in that second impeachment trial, and brought a few of your colleagues along with you (which would not have been a heavy lift), the country would not now be beset by the prospect of this particular fascist finding his way back to the Oval Office. It is, Chicken Mitch, all your fault. Consider yourself the poor man's version of the King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and German president Paul von Hindenburg, who put Mussolini & Hitler in power, respectively. Nice company, Mitch.

Clara Morse, et al., of the Washington Post: "In every state across the country, more people donated to Vice President Kamala Harris than to ... Donald Trump. Registered voters in suburbs were about twice as likely to give to Harris as to Trump. A vast majority of Trump's donors under 35 were men. And in the battleground state of Georgia, where Black voters make up one third of the electorate, less than 4 percent of Trump donors were Black. Those are among the findings from a Washington Post analysis of online contributions to the Trump, Harris and President Joe Biden campaigns, combined with voter registration data." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: That was the good news. Now, here's the fun part. You can plug in your Zip code (in the box just below the subhead "How online donors gave near you") and find out the number of donors to each campaign in your Zip code & how much they gave in total. I'm happy to say that in my neighborhood, the donation total was 10-to-1 for Harris/Biden over Team Hitler.

Stephanie Kirchgaessner & Lucy Osborne of the Guardian: "A former model who says she met Donald Trump through the late sexual abuser Jeffrey Epstein has accused the former president of groping and sexually touching her in an incident in Trump Tower in 1993, in what she believed was a 'twisted game' between the two men. Stacey Williams ... said she first met Trump in 1992 at a Christmas party after being introduced to him by Epstein, who she believed was a good friend of the then New York real estate developer. Williams said Epstein was interested in her and the two casually dated for a period of a few months. 'It became very clear then that he and Donald were really, really good friends and spent a lot of time together,' Williams said. The alleged groping occurred ... in the late winter or early spring of 1993, when Epstein suggested during a walk they were on that he and Williams stop by to visit Trump at Trump Tower.... Moments after they arrived, she alleges, Trump greeted Williams, pulled her toward him and started groping her. She said he put his hands 'all over my breasts' as well as her waist and her buttocks. She said she froze because she was 'deeply confused' about what was happening. At the same time, she said she believed she saw the two men smiling at each other."

Donald Trump is on the verge of once again becoming the Worst U.S. President* in History, after already once winning the prize for Worst U.S. President* in History. And one again, he will not be prepared to do the Worst Job Ever: ~~~

~~~ Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, Rep. Jamie Raskin, is sounding the alarm over ... Donald Trump's failure to enter into key agreements with the Biden administration for the presidential transition process, warning that it could endanger the peaceful transfer of power and threaten U.S. national security. In a letter sent Wednesday to Trump and his vice presidential nominee, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, obtained ... by NBC News, Raskin warned that they are 'breaking the precedent set by every other presidential candidate since 2010' by not accepting resources provided by the federal government for a smooth transition." MB: I guess fascists don't need no stinkin' "process."

Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's presidential campaign and his closest allies are again trotting out the theories [that voting machines have been hacked] as part of a late-campaign strategy to assert that this year's election is rigged -- although this time Mr. Trump's campaign appears to be largely acting behind the scenes. The theories are rampant on social media and widely embraced by activists. They have frequently shown up in the blitz of lawsuits that Republicans have filed in the run-up to the election, including a Georgia lawsuit that a judge dismissed this month, calling the security concerns about voting machines raised in the suit 'purely hypothetical.' Mr. Trump's name was not on the suit, nor was the Republican National Committee's. But text messages reviewed by The New York Times suggest that the former president's top aides were behind it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: Georgia "election officials ... said that ... a woman ... visited a polling site in Whitfield County last week and used a touch-screen voting machine to cast her ballot. She mistakenly selected one candidate's name when she had intended to choose another.... The voter tried again, fixed the mistake and successfully cast her ballot. But online, the story quickly took on a life of its own, catapulted to prominence by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, and transforming into an elaborate conspiracy theory involving voting machines that were somehow 'flipping' votes between candidates en masse.... [After posting the false claim on X,] Ms. Greene also joined Alex Jones, the far-right radio host known for spreading conspiracy theories, on his livestream to repeat the false claim.... Election officials in Georgia tried to counter the narrative, but their efforts appeared to pale in comparison to the reach that Ms. Greene and Mr. Jones had online." (Also linked yesterday.)

Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin's most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents show that John Mark Dougan, who also served in the U.S. Marines and has long claimed to be working independently of the Russian government, was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.... Disinformation researchers say Dougan's network was probably behind a recent viral fake video smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday was created by Russia." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I scanned the whole story, and Dougan has a long and sordid past. The story doesn't say one thing about Donald Trump. Still, my twisted, conspiratorial mindset cannot get past Dougan's history in Palm Beach County, home of Mar-a-Lardo. Dougan is a Trumpy sort of guy, someone Trump might hire as an occasional bodyguard, someone Trump might like to chat with on road trips to the Doral golf resort. Just saying.

Marie: Just in case you question whether or not a woman has the emotional strength to be president, here's a woman with a great deal more courage than has Jamie Dimon, the powerful CEO of JPMorgan Chase, who normally just loves publicity. ~~~

~~~ Annals of Journalism, Ctd. Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "The head of The Los Angeles Times's editorial board resigned on Wednesday after the paper's owner quashed a presidential endorsement for Vice President Kamala Harris. In an interview with Columbia Journalism Review, Mariel Garza, who held the title editorials editor, said she had quit because 'I want to make it clear that I am not OK with us being silent. In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I'm standing up.' Ms. Garza said that the editorial board had planned to endorse Ms. Harris, but that Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, the billionaire owner of The Los Angeles Times, decided this month that the newspaper would not make any endorsement for president. The paper did not explain to readers why it was not issuing an endorsement." ~~~

     ~~~ The Columbia Journalism Review report & interview (also linked above) is by Sewell Chan, a friend of Garza's & a former LA Times editorial page editor.

Marie: A couple of days ago, Ken W. recommended this Substack essay by Heather Cox Richardson, and I just got around to reading it yesterday. Richardson discusses political scientist Rachel Bitecofer's Substack essay on Trump's plans, in which Bitecofer gives a very short-course on Hitler's plans, and then, you know, finds parallels that leads her to conclude that Trump will be, after all, a dictator, too. You can read Bitecofer's essay here. But the most striking graf, to me, in Richardson's essay is her own, one in which she recounts a visit by "the First Lady of American Journalism" Dorothy Thompson, to Germany in 1931. Then the wife of Sinclair Lewis, who had just won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Thompson interviewed Adolf Hitler. Thompson was no ingenue. By that time, she had been a journalist in Europe for ten years, both freelancing & representing various U.S. news organizations. She was "the undisputed queen of the overseas press corps, the first woman to head a foreign news bureau of any importance."

Nonetheless, Cox writes that Thomas did not see Hitler as "the future dictator of Germany." "She asked him if he would 'abolish the constitution of the German Republic.' He answered: 'I will get into power legally' and, once in power, abolish the parliament and the constitution and 'found an authority-state, from the lowest cell to the highest instance; everywhere there will be responsibility and authority above, discipline and obedience below.' She did not believe he could succeed: 'Imagine a would-be dictator setting out to persuade a sovereign people to vote away their rights,' she wrote in apparent astonishment." Yes, indeed. Imagine that! (Also linked yesterday.)

Elisabeth Zerofsky of the New York Times Magazine: "The historian Robert Paxton ... is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history.... In a column for a French newspaper, republished in early 2017 in Harper's Magazine, Paxton urged restraint [against describing Donald Trump as a fascist]. 'We should hesitate before applying this most toxic of labels,' he warned. Paxton acknowledged that Trump's 'scowl' and his 'jutting jaw' recalled 'Mussolini's absurd theatrics,' and that Trump was fond of blaming 'foreigners and despised minorities' for 'national decline.' These, Paxton wrote, were all staples of fascism.... [But] Jan. 6 proved to be a turning point.... 'The turn to violence was so explicit and so overt and so intentional, that you had to change what you said about it,' Paxton told me.... In a column that appeared online on Jan. 11, 2021, Paxton wrote that the invasion of the Capitol 'removes my objection to the fascist label.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Perhaps the most important point Paxton shares with Zerofsky is this one: "Whatever Trumpism is, it's coming 'from below as a mass phenomenon, and the leaders are running to keep ahead of it,' Paxton said.... For fascism to take root, there needs to be 'an opening in the political system, which is the loss of traction by the traditional parties' he said. 'There needs to be a real breakdown.'... Trump's power, Paxton suggested, appears to be different. 'The Trump phenomenon looks like it has a much more solid social base,' Paxton said. 'Which neither Hitler nor Mussolini would have had.' [since both were legitimately appointed to lead their governments]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

~~~ Marie: An Onion parody RAS linked yesterday is consistent with Paxton's view of Trump's base. The headline is "Both Campaigns Release Ads Showcasing Trump's Most Racist Comments." "Featuring nearly identical video footage in two separate $25 million ad buys, the Donald Trump and Kamala Harris campaigns both debuted new commercials Tuesday that attempt to win support for their respective candidates with a supercut of Trump's most racist comments.... However, sources indicated there is a difference in tone between the two ads, with one using sinister music and the other employing a rousing, triumphal score." Worth reading in its entirety for the fun of it. But you get the point: Trump's appeal is "a mass phenomenon," as Paxton writes.

Theodore Schleifer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department sent a letter to the super PAC founded by Elon Musk this week warning that awarding $1 million to registered voters who signed a petition might violate federal laws against paying voters, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Similar warning letters from the department's public integrity unit have been sent to businesses and organizations that tied promotions to voting and are intended to suggest that continuing such an activity could result in a criminal investigation.... Three voters in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina have been awarded $1 million checks, and Mr. Musk has promised to award one voter $1 million every day through Election Day as part of his efforts on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign." The 24sight Website broke the news. (Also linked yesterday.) CNN's report is here.

Here's a great example of how Trump's economic policies work. Hint: not for you & me: ~~~

~~~ Jake Johnson of Common Dreams, republished by the Raw Story: "The 15 largest corporate beneficiaries of ... Donald Trump's 2017 tax law have dumped a combined $839 billion into executive-enriching stock buybacks and dividends since the measure's passage, according to research released Wednesday by the progressive watchdog group Accountable.US. The new analysis ... comes as Trump ... is campaigning on a fresh round of tax cuts for the wealthy and large corporations. Republican lawmakers, bolstered by an army of corporate lobbyists, have signaled that they are prepared to quickly ram through new tax breaks if Trump wins the presidency and the GOP secures control of the House and Senate in next month's election." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In case you missed it, those tax breaks, for the most part, did not "trickle down" to benefit you and me; they went right into the pockets of top executives & stockholders. Sure, those fatcats will buy some stuff with their tax-break windfall that ultimately could slightly benefit others, and some of us may profit from the increased value of dividends in our savings portfolios. But Trump's tax cuts did not translate to business expansions, innovations, higher wages or new jobs for ordinary workers or generally higher consumer spending and consumer confidence. That is, they increased the federal deficit without goosing the economy, when goosing the economy is the only economic reason for increasing an already-gigantic deficit.

Josh Gerstein & Kyle Cheney of Politico: "A highly unusual ultimatum from a frustrated judge caused House Republican investigators to postpone their demand for testimony from two Justice Department tax attorneys in a probe of Hunter Biden's finances. 'I'm willing to bet everything I own, plus my dog Scout, that these two line attorneys are going to have zero information to confirm your suspicion,' U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes told a lawyer representing the House GOP on Wednesday. Reyes threatened to order Attorney General Merrick Garland and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) to show up next week in her Washington courtroom for legal arguments on the dispute. 'Don't test me on this ... I'm not bluffing,' said Reyes, an appointee of President Joe Biden who is often seen around the federal courthouse with her golden retriever. The fight emerged from House Republicans' long-running search for evidence that the White House exerted political pressure on officials who investigated the younger Biden's failure to pay income taxes. As part of that inquiry, the House Judiciary Committee tried to obtain testimony from two Justice Department tax lawyers who worked on the case."

Niraj Chokshi of the New York Times: "Boeing's largest union rejected a tentative labor contract on Wednesday by a wide margin, extending a damaging strike and adding to the mounting financial problems facing the company, which hours earlier had reported a $6.1 billion loss. The contract, the second that workers have voted down, was opposed by 64 percent of those voting, according to the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers."

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Arizona. Meet Your Trump Supporter. Tim Balk of the New York Times: "An Arizona man has been arrested on terrorism charges in connection with three shootings at a Democratic Party campaign office in suburban Phoenix that wounded no one but rattled campaign workers in a bitter election season. The man, Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, was arrested Tuesday, according to the authorities. Mr. Kelly also set out anti-Democratic Party signs lined with razor blades near his home, attaching bags filled with an unknown white powder and labeled 'Biohazard,' according to court papers. The shootings at the Democratic Party's campaign office in Tempe, Ariz., started in mid-September and all took place between midnight and 1 a.m., according to the police. After the third shooting, on Oct. 6, the Arizona Democratic Party closed the office. More than 120 guns, 250,000 rounds of ammunition and a grenade launcher were uncovered at Mr. Kelly's home, a lawyer for the Maricopa County attorney's office, Neha Bhatia, said at a virtual court appearance on Wednesday. Some of the firearms were machine guns, she said, adding that the authorities believed he was 'preparing to commit an act of mass casualty.'" The CBS News story is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: No matter what Harris says about how what we have in common is greater than our differences, I don't think I have much in common with this guy. For starters, I have not spent any of my income amassing a quarter million rounds of ammo.

Georgia. Simon Levien of the New York Times: "Georgia's secretary of state warded off a cybersecurity threat this month against what was most likely an attack by a foreign country targeting its website that voters can use to request absentee ballots. An unusual spike in users on the site appeared to be an attempt to shut it down. There were ultimately no disruptions to absentee ballot access."

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Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada faced the stiffest challenge to his leadership from fellow elected Liberal Party members on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting where he was urged to resign to avoid torpedoing the party's chances in the next election.... On Wednesday..., most of the 153 Liberal members of Parliament gathered in Ottawa for a scheduled caucus meeting.... While caucus proceedings are typically secret, Mr. Trudeau, according to Canadian news media citing unnamed sources, was presented with a letter signed by about two dozen caucus members calling on him to step down.... CBC News reported that Mr. Trudeau told the closed meeting that he would reflect on the concerns raised." (Also linked yesterday.)

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in Israel's wars are here: "Israel pounded Beirut's southern suburbs with strikes overnight, and six buildings were destroyed in the al-Laylaki neighborhood, Lebanese state media reported. The Israel Defense Forces said it hit Hezbollah military facilities in the Dahieh area south of Beirut, adding that the sites were 'under and inside civilian buildings in the heart of populated areas.' Fighting also continues in northern Gaza, where Israel launched a major offensive this month, particularly around the Jabalya refugee camp, which relief organizations say has been accompanied by a severe restriction on aid delivery. Israel says it is targeting Hamas fighters who are regrouping there."

Euan Ward, et al., of the New York Times: "Israel attacked the ancient port city of Tyre in Lebanon on Wednesday after issuing its broadest evacuation order there so far, pressing on with its bombing campaign against Hezbollah even as Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken toured the region in pursuit of a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict.... In a departure from his usual talking points on Gaza cease-fire proposals, Mr. Blinken said that the United States was 'looking at new frameworks and formulations as a possibility.' He did not provide details, but a senior U.S. official said he was referring to the possibility that Israel might be willing to pause its Gaza offensive briefly in return for the return of a small number of hostages."

Aaron Boxerman of the New York Times: "The Israeli military on Wednesday accused six Al Jazeera reporters based in Gaza of being fighters in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the latest escalation in Israel's ongoing feud with the Arabic-language broadcaster backed by Qatar. The Israeli military distributed what it said were documents seized from Gaza that showed membership lists, phone directories and salary slips for members of the Qassam Brigades and the Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wings of the two groups. The lists included names matching those of the Al Jazeera reporters. Al Jazeera strongly denied the accusations, which it said were based on 'fabricated evidence' and followed a long history of Israeli hostility toward the network. The authenticity and accuracy of the documents could not be immediately confirmed."

The Conversation -- October 23, 2024

Danny Hakim, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump's presidential campaign and his closest allies are again trotting out the theories [that voting machines have been hacked] as part of a late-campaign strategy to assert that this year's election is rigged -- although this time Mr. Trump's campaign appears to be largely acting behind the scenes. The theories are rampant on social media and widely embraced by activists. They have frequently shown up in the blitz of lawsuits that Republicans have filed in the run-up to the election, including a Georgia lawsuit that a judge dismissed this month, calling the security concerns about voting machines raised in the suit 'purely hypothetical.' Mr. Trump's name was not on the suit, nor was the Republican National Committee's. But text messages reviewed by The New York Times suggest that the former president's top aides were behind it." ~~~

~~~ Stuart Thompson of the New York Times: Georgia "election officials ... said that ... a woman ... visited a polling site in Whitfield County last week and used a touch-screen voting machine to cast her ballot. She mistakenly selected one candidate's name when she had intended to choose another.... The voter tried again, fixed the mistake and successfully cast her ballot. But online, the story quickly took on a life of its own, catapulted to prominence by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, and transforming into an elaborate conspiracy theory involving voting machines that were somehow 'flipping' votes between candidates en masse.... [After posting the false claim on X,] Ms. Greene also joined Alex Jones, the far-right radio host known for spreading conspiracy theories, on his livestream to repeat the false claim.... Election officials in Georgia tried to counter the narrative, but their efforts appeared to pale in comparison to the reach that Ms. Greene and Mr. Jones had online."

Catherine Belton of the Washington Post: "A former deputy Palm Beach County sheriff who fled to Moscow and became one of the Kremlin's most prolific propagandists is working directly with Russian military intelligence to pump out deepfakes and circulate misinformation that targets Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign, according to Russian documents obtained by a European intelligence service and reviewed by The Washington Post. The documents show that John Mark Dougan, who also served in the U.S. Marines and has long claimed to be working independently of the Russian government, was provided funding by an officer from the GRU, Russia's military intelligence service.... Disinformation researchers say Dougan's network was probably behind a recent viral fake video smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz, which U.S. intelligence officials said Tuesday was created by Russia." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I scanned the whole story, and Dougan has a long and sordid past. The story doesn't say one thing about Donald Trump. Still, my twisted, conspiratorial mindset cannot get past Dougan's history in Palm Beach County, home of Mar-a-Lardo. Dougan is a Trumpy sort of guy, someone Trump might hire as an occasional bodyguard, someone Trump might like to chat with on road trips to the Doral golf resort. Just saying.

Theodore Schleifer & Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "The Justice Department sent a letter to the super PAC founded by Elon Musk this week warning that awarding $1 million to registered voters who signed a petition might violate federal laws against paying voters, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. Similar warning letters from the department's public integrity unit have been sent to businesses and organizations that tied promotions to voting and are intended to suggest that continuing such an activity could result in a criminal investigation.... Three voters in Pennsylvania and one in North Carolina have been awarded $1 million checks, and Mr. Musk has promised to award one voter $1 million every day through Election Day as part of his efforts on behalf of ... Donald J. Trump's presidential campaign." 24sight broke the news.

Elisabeth Zerofsky of the New York Times Magazine: "The historian Robert Paxton ... is one of the foremost American experts on fascism and perhaps the greatest living American scholar of mid-20th-century European history.... In a column for a French newspaper, republished in early 2017 in Harper's Magazine, Paxton urged restraint [against describing Donald Trump as a fascist]. 'We should hesitate before applying this most toxic of labels,' he warned. Paxton acknowledged that Trump's 'scowl' and his 'jutting jaw' recalled 'Mussolini's absurd theatrics,' and that Trump was fond of blaming 'foreigners and despised minorities' for 'national decline.' These, Paxton wrote, were all staples of fascism.... [But] Jan. 6 proved to be a turning point.... 'The turn to violence was so explicit and so overt and so intentional, that you had to change what you said about it,' Paxton told me.... In a column that appeared online on Jan. 11, 2021, Paxton wrote that the invasion of the Capitol 'removes my objection to the fascist label.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Perhaps the most important point Paxton shares with Zerofsky is this one: "Whatever Trumpism is, it's coming 'from below as a mass phenomenon, and the leaders are running to keep ahead of it,' Paxton said.... For fascism to take root, there needs to be 'an opening in the political system, which is the loss of traction by the traditional parties' he said. 'There needs to be a real breakdown.'... Trump's power, Paxton suggested, appears to be different. 'The Trump phenomenon looks like it has a much more solid social base,' Paxton said. 'Which neither Hitler nor Mussolini would have had.' [since both were legitimately appointed to lead their governments]."

Canada. Ian Austen of the New York Times: "Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada faced the stiffest challenge to his leadership from fellow elected Liberal Party members on Wednesday during a closed-door meeting where he was urged to resign to avoid torpedoing the party's chances in the next election.... On Wednesday..., most of the 153 Liberal members of Parliament gathered in Ottawa for a scheduled caucus meeting.... While caucus proceedings are typically secret, Mr. Trudeau, according to Canadian news media citing unnamed sources, was presented with a letter signed by about two dozen caucus members calling on him to step down.... CBC News reported that Mr. Trudeau told the closed meeting that he would reflect on the concerns raised."

Katie Rogers & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris said on Wednesday that ... Donald J. Trump's reported comments praising Nazi generals offered 'a window into who Donald Trump really is,' calling it 'deeply troubling' that her Republican rival had apparently invoked Hitler in conversations with one of his former chiefs of staff, John F. Kelly.... In her brief remarks, delivered at the vice president's residency in Washington, Ms. Harris warned that Mr. Trump had grown 'increasingly unhinged and unstable' and said that he would require that the U.S. military 'be loyal to him personally,' even if Mr. Trump did not obey the law during the course of a second term." ~~~

Marie: Yesterday, Ken W. recommended this Substack essay by Heather Cox Richardson, and I've just got around to reading it. Richardson discusses political scientist Rachel Bitecofer's Substack essay on Trump's plans, in which Bitecofer gives a very short-course on Hitler's plans, and then, you know, finds parallels that leads her to conclude that Trump will be, after all, a dictator, too. You can read Bitecofer's essay here. But the most striking graf, to me, in Richardson's essay is her own, one in which she recounts a visit by "the First Lady of American Journalism" Dorothy Thompson, to Germany in 1931. Then the wife of Sinclair Lewis, who had just won the Nobel Prize in Literature, Thompson interviewed Adolf Hitler. Thompson was no ingenue. By that time, she had been a journalist in Europe for ten years, both freelancing & representing various U.S. news organizations. She was "the undisputed queen of the overseas press corps, the first woman to head a foreign news bureau of any importance."

Nonetheless, Cox writes that Thomas did not see Hitler as "the future dictator of Germany.... She asked him if he would 'abolish the constitution of the German Republic.' He answered: 'I will get into power legally' and, once in power, abolish the parliament and the constitution and 'found an authority-state, from the lowest cell to the highest instance; everywhere there will be responsibility and authority above, discipline and obedience below.' She did not believe he could succeed: 'Imagine a would-be dictator setting out to persuade a sovereign people to vote away their rights,' she wrote in apparent astonishment." Yes, indeed. Imagine that!

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Presidential Race

Victoria Bekiempis of the Guardian: "Kamala Harris said that she has no doubt that the US was ready for a female president, insisting that Americans care more about what candidates can do to help them, rather than presidential contenders' gender. The vice-president's statement came during an interview with NBC News's Hallie Jackson, who asked whether she thought the country was ready for a woman, and a woman of color, to be in the Oval Office. 'Absolutely,' Harris said. 'Absolutely.'... Harris was asked why she hasn't leaned into the historic nature of her candidacy -- that she is a woman of color running for the presidency. 'I'm clearly a woman. I don't need to point that out to anyone,' Harris said with a laugh. 'The point that most people really care about is: can you do the job and, do you have a plan to actually focus on them?'" ~~~

~~~ Alex Seitz-Wald of NBC News: "Sitting down at her official residence in the Naval Observatory in Washington, D.C., [Vice President] Harris said that her campaign is prepared for the possibility that ... [Donald Trump] tries to subvert the election, but that she's focused on trying to beat him first. 'We will deal with election night and the days after as they come, and we have the resources and the expertise and the focus on that,' Harris said. When pressed on the possibility that Trump will try to declare victory before the votes are counted and a winner is projected by the news networks and other media outlets, Harris said she is concerned." ~~~

     ~~~ See related NYT story by Maggie Haberman & others, linked below. ~~~

     ~~~ The full transcript of Hallie Jackson's interview of Vice President Harris is here. YouTube video of the interview is here.

I have a long history of working with leaders across the political spectrum, but this election is different, with unprecedented significance for Americans and the most vulnerable people around the world. -- Bill Gates ~~~

~~~ Theodore Schleifer of the New York Times: "After decades of sitting on the sidelines of politics, Bill Gates, one of the richest people in the world, has said privately that he recently donated about $50 million to a nonprofit organization that is supporting Vice President Kamala Harris's presidential run.... The donation was meant to stay under wraps. Mr. Gates ... has not publicly endorsed Ms. Harris, and his donation would represent a significant change in the strategy that has previously kept him away from gifts like this. In private calls this year to friends and others, Mr. Gates has expressed concern about what a second Donald Trump presidency would look like..., although he has stressed that he could work with either candidate.... Mr. Gates's donation went specifically to Future Forward's nonprofit arm, Future Forward USA Action, which as a 501(c)(4) 'dark money' organization does not disclose its donors, according to the people briefed."

Rob Copeland of the New York Times: Jamie Dimon, "the usually outspoken chief executive of JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, has been uncharacteristically vague about his political leanings of late. In an interview last week, he even left open the door to endorsing Mr. Trump -- whose behavior in the aftermath of the last election Mr. Dimon once described as 'treason.' In private, however, Mr. Dimon has made clear that he supports Vice President Kamala Harris and would consider a role, perhaps Treasury secretary, in her administration. He has also told his associates that the former president's 2020 election denialism remains close to a disqualifying factor.... Mr. Dimon isn't making his stance known publicly because he's fearful that if Mr. Trump is victorious, he could retaliate against the people and companies who publicly opposed his run, his associates said. That's a concern shared by other powerful corporate executives, and not without reason: Mr. Trump has begun to increase threats of political retribution in recent weeks.... Mr. Trump once -- falsely -- declared that he had [Mr. Dimon's support]." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know how many votes Dimon would move, though he might be able to knock down, in the minds of the slightly rational, the false notion that Donald Trump would be "good for business." The fact that this extremely wealthy man has not got the guts to stand up to Trump is shocking. ~~~

~~~ Update. David Firestone of the New York Times: "The latest example of the power of [Donald Trump's] threats is Jamie Dimon.... Dimon's fear is certainly legitimate; Trump has openly mused about using the military and the power of the executive branch against his enemies. But that's all the more reason someone of Dimon's stature should stand up to Trump's public bullying. No doubt Dimon is concerned about his employees and his stockholders, but he would do them a better service by doing everything possible to prevent Trump's election."

Joey Cappelletti of the AP: "Detroit rapper Eminem stepped into the political arena Tuesday in his hometown, where he spoke briefly at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign before welcoming former President Barack Obama to the stage.... The Detroit rapper ... introduced Obama, who took the stage to the beat of Eminem's 'Lose Yourself.' The former president joked that he 'noticed my palms are sweaty,' a reference to the hit song, before rapping several lines from it." ~~~

Kellen Browning of the New York Times: "Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota raced across battleground Wisconsin on Tuesday, exhorting voters to get to the polls on the state's first day of early voting and just two weeks before Election Day. At a rally in Madison, Mr. Walz appeared alongside former President Barack Obama for the first time on the campaign trail, giving Mr. Obama a bro hug onstage. The two took turns, in successive speeches, laying into ... Donald J. Trump and stressing the urgency of the moment to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the Democratic presidential ticket with Mr. Walz.... In Racine on Tuesday night, [Gov. Walz] addressed comments from John Kelly, a former Trump chief of staff, who said recently that Mr. Trump had told him during his presidency that he wished he had generals like Adolf Hitler's. 'As a 24-year veteran of our military, that makes me sick as hell,' Mr. Walz said. 'The guardrails are gone. Trump is descending into this madness.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: President Obama is of course a gifted orator, and you can hear the remarks he made in Madison in this YouTube video. But I wish less-talented speakers could nonetheless muster the sort of enthusiasm and authenticity that Tim Walz brings to the podium. Obama's plane was grounded, so he was late to the event, perhaps causing Walz to run a bit long, but he still managed to be engaging, entertaining, and informative. It seems he knows what "rally" means: ~~~

Joseph Menn & David Nakamura of the Washington Post: "U.S. intelligence officials on Tuesday said Russians seeking to disrupt the U.S. elections created a faked video and other material smearing Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz with abuse allegations.... The faked content accused Walz of inappropriate interactions with students while a teacher and coach. The posts drew millions of views on social media, falsely tarring the Minnesota governor ahead of Nov. 5. The officials said the Russian videos were part of the most active attempt by another country to tilt the 2024 election. They added that Russian government agencies and contractors, which generally seek to boost ... Donald Trump's campaign, are considering trying to instigate physical violence in the fraught period after voters cast their ballots." The AP's story is here.

Fatima Hussein & Will Weissert of the AP: Speaking at the Democratic campaign headquarters in Concord, N.H., "President Joe Biden tore into his predecessor on Tuesday, suggesting that global leaders are terrified of what Donald Trump's return to the White House could do to democratic rule around the world. 'Every international meeting I attend,' Biden said, specifically referencing his whirlwind trip to Germany last week, 'They pull me aside -- one leader after the other, quietly -- and say, "Joe, he can't win." My democracy is at stake.' His voice rising, Biden then asked if 'America walks away, who leads the world? Who? Name me a country.' The comments came during what was supposed to be a rather staid speech on health care in New Hampshire." MB: I think the end quotation mark is in the wrong place on what Biden says other leaders tell him.

Oops! Peter Baker of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Tuesday that ... Donald J. Trump was a threat to democracy and should be locked up, before quickly amending his comment to say he meant locked up 'politically.' Mr. Biden was speaking at a local Democratic campaign office in Concord, N.H., when he appeared to slip by suggesting he wanted his predecessor put behind bars. While Mr. Trump as a candidate and president has regularly used such language about his opponents, Mr. Biden typically refrains from that kind of talk to avoid fueling Republicans' claims that he is prosecuting his adversary. 'We got to lock him up,' Mr. Biden said at the campaign office, where he dropped by after a speech on health care elsewhere in Concord. Seeming to catch himself, he quickly added: 'Politically lock him up. Lock him out. That's what we have to do.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Thanks, Joe. We needed that.

Graeme Demianyk of the Huffington Post: "Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has condemned Donald Trump's performative campaign visit to McDonald's, claiming the GOP presidential candidate is 'making fun' of working people. Speaking at a United Auto Workers event in Pennsylvania on Sunday, the New York lawmaker also hit out at Elon Musk's $1 million cash awards for voters, saying he is 'dangling a million bucks to those of us and many of us who are struggling to make ends meet if they dance for him.'... 'Donald Trump thinks that people who work at McDonald's are a joke,' she added. 'Elon Musk thinks that dangling money in front of a working person is a cute thing to do. They have absolutely no idea what our lives are like.'"

⭐ Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald Trump and his closest allies are preparing a radical reshaping of American government if he regains the White House. Here are some of his plans for cracking down on immigration, directing the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries, increasing presidential power, upending America's economic policies, retreating militarily from Europe and unilaterally deploying troops to Democratic-run cities." (Also linked yesterday.)

General Kelly's October Surprise

Marie: The other day I tried to call up an Atlantic story that I anticipated might be of interest to readers. I don't have an Atlantic subscription, but I thought maybe I could get a freebie, as I had tried to read only one other Atlantic story this month, supposedly a gift link, via a Realty Chex reader. Nothing doing. However, when I tried to call up the story below, the Atlantic let me past its firewall. I hope it works for you. Update: If my link below doesn't work, try this one, which comes courtesy of laura h., an Atlantic subscriber: ~~~

⭐  ~~~ Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic in an article titled "Trump: I Need the Kind of Generals that Hitler Had": (Of course Hitler's generals tried to assassinate him. When former Marine General John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, told Trump about the generals' attacks on Hitler, Trump denied that was true. When Kelly told Trump that Gen. Rommel had committed suicide after his plot against Hitler failed, Trump didn't know who Rommel was.) "Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience. As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver.... Former officials have also cited other recurring themes: his denigration of military service, his ignorance of the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, his admiration for brutality and anti-democratic norms of behavior, and his contempt for wounded veterans and for soldiers who fell in battle." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

He's certainly the only president that has all but rejected what America is all about, and what makes America America, in terms of our Constitution, in terms of our values, the way we look at everything, to include family and government.... He just doesn't understand the values -- he pretends, he talks, he knows more about America than anybody, but he doesn't. -- Retired Marine General John Kelly ~~~

⭐ ~~~ Michael Schmidt of the New York Times: Former Marine Gen. John Kelly "-- deeply bothered by Mr. Trump's recent comments about employing the military against his domestic opponents -- agreed to three on-the-record, recorded discussions with a reporter for The New York Times about the former president, providing some of his most wide-ranging comments yet about Mr. Trump's fitness and character.... He said that, in his opinion, Mr. Trump met the definition of a fascist, would govern like a dictator if allowed, and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law. He discussed and confirmed previous reports that Mr. Trump had made admiring statements about Hitler, had expressed contempt for disabled veterans and had characterized those who died on the battlefield for the United States as 'losers' and 'suckers' -- comments first reported in 2020 by The Atlantic.... Here are excerpts from, and audio of, Mr. Kelly's comments." ~~~

~~~ Marie: The October Surprise that nearly derailed Donald Trump's first presidential campaign was the Access Hollywood tape. The October Surprise this year is Gen. John Kelly's willingness to come forward, on the record, to describe Trump's unfitness for office, particularly in the capacity of commander-in-chief. It is possible to be a president acting within Constitutional bounds and be so disrespectful and disparaging of women that boasting about "grabbing women by the pussy" seems okay. But it is not possible for a person to fulfill the role of U.S. president if that person has expressed and continues to express a willingness to violate the Constitution by using the military for his own, unlawful purposes.

Sabrina Rodriguez & Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump used a racist stereotype to attack Vice President Kamala Harris and described his desire to exercise 'extreme power' as president during an event Tuesday that was billed as a summit to highlight his support among Latinos.... 'She's lazy as hell, and she's got that reputation.' Harris recorded multiple media interviews on Tuesday, according to her public schedule, after campaigning in three battleground states on Monday.... 'Trump is reviving the old trope that Black women are unqualified for jobs historically held by White men,' [Democratic strategist Rachel Noerdlinger] said. 'Not having a campaign event while you're in the middle of also governing isn't "lazy" -- making almost 300 trips to the golf course as president is.'...

"Trump brushed back at Harris's criticism for his opposition to bipartisan legislation to increase border security funding and staffing. Trump argued that the bill was unnecessary, describing it as 'phony' and 'stupid,' because he could shut down the border by executive fiat. 'As president, you have tremendous -- it's called extreme power. You have extreme power,' he said. 'You can, just by the fact, you say, "Close the border," and the border's closed. That's it. Very, very simple. You don't need all of this nonsense that they talk about.'" MB: Notice that Trump is describing any role Congress might play as stupid and phony. The very concept of a president* sharing power with the other branches of government is "nonsense." He is declaring he will be a dictator, not just "on Day One," but every day. ~~~

     ~~~ Thomas Beaumont & Jill Colvin of the AP: At the Latino event, "he referred to the first woman of color to lead a major party ticket as 'slow' and having a 'low IQ.'... Trump's comments ignored that Harris spent her day in meetings in Washington and recording interviews with Telemundo and NBC.... Tuesday marked the first day in more than two weeks that Harris had no public events scheduled after a run of more than 14 consecutive days of travel to political events in pivotal states, including a three-state run on Monday, starting in Pennsylvania, continuing to Michigan and ending in Wisconsin.... Later in the day during a rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, he called Harris a 'stupid person' and went on to ask: 'Does she drink? Is she on drugs?'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I'll admit that participating in what was supposed to be some kind of Latino "summit" qualifies as campaign work. But holding that campaign event at your own golf resort where you have a private bungalow & other accommodations -- as Donald did -- is not the best place to accuse your opponent of being lazy. On the other hand, she is a Black lady. Perfectly reasonable for an old racist to picture Harris lolling around the Naval Observatory with tha sistas smoking crack & talking smack. ~~~

     ~~~ Also, maybe the best time to hold a "Latino summit" is not the same day a major story drops which claims, "Donald Trump reportedly declared 'it doesn't cost 60,000 bucks to bury a f****** Mexican' after receiving the bill for a murdered soldier's funeral which he had previously offered to pay." (Link is to an Independent story, based on Jeffrey Goldberg's Atlantic story. Goldberg opens his article with the "fucking Mexican" citation.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Did you know Donald Trump was an animal-lover? Years ago, I read that Donald hated dogs. [NYT link.] There's a good deal of evidence for his dislike of Man's Best Friend. But recently, he has repeatedly expressed deep concern for family pets: "They're eating the dogs! They're eating the cats!") Then I found out he's worried about geese, too! This was weekend, when an interviewer debunked Trump's claims about pet-eating immigrants, Trump countered, "Well what about the goose, the geese?... What happened there? They're all missing." And it isn't just geese. He is concerned about wind turbines because they "kill all the birds." (Actually, the No. 1 killers of birds are cats, so too bad those immigrants are not eating the cats.) Speaking of wind energy, Donald is also worried about all the whales offshore wind farms are killing. (Okay, there's no evidence for this.) And now, and now, I read that at the Latino summit, Trump expressed his deep concern for bunnies: "solar farms in the desert as a 'terrible' threat to rabbits," he said. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, dunnit? ~~~

     ~~~ Oh, except strangely enough, this doesn't bother Donald at all: "Fossil fuels, primarily through activities like oil drilling, coal mining, and burning, harm a wide range of animals including birds, marine mammals like dolphins and whales, fish, polar bears, caribou, and other species living in habitats disrupted by fossil fuel extraction, primarily due to habitat destruction, pollution from chemicals released, and climate change caused by greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels." Via the Googles.

Maggie Haberman, et al., of the New York Times: "A lawyer who tried to help Donald J. Trump overturn his 2020 presidential election loss has been in direct contact with Mr. Trump once again as his allies start to lay the groundwork for challenging this year's election results in key battleground states, according to two people with knowledge of their discussions. The lawyer, Kurt Olsen, has spoken to Mr. Trump multiple times in recent weeks, the people said. In 2021, Mr. Olsen spoke to Mr. Trump several times by phone on the day of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob, and a federal judge later imposed sanctions on him for filing baseless claims about the midterm elections in Arizona in 2022.... Even in Mr. Trump's world, Mr. Olsen is viewed as something of a fringe figure."

Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "Elon Musk is trying to buy this election for Donald Trump, and everyone who loves our country should be alarmed. I realize, of course, that rich people try to buy elections all the time. But never quite like this. [Robinson lays out Musk's expenditures & the payoff he anticipates.]... The Wall Street Journal has reported that Musk's rage at the Democratic Party began in 2021 when President Joe Biden launched his effort to shift the nation toward electric vehicles -- and snubbed Tesla, by far the nation's biggest maker of electric cars.... Why? Because Tesla's factories are nonunion, and Musk has resisted workers' efforts to organize." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you look at the difference between what Elon Musk wants out of Trump -- control of federal agencies that regulate his businesses -- and what Bill Gates wants out of Harris -- "a clear commitment to improving health care, reducing poverty and fighting climate change" -- you see the stark moral divide between GOP-backing billionaires & billionaires who back Democrats.

Jordan Green of the Raw Story: "Far-right allies of ... Donald Trump are calling on the state legislature in North Carolina and other closely contested presidential battleground states where Republicans hold control to short-circuit the popular vote and directly award the state's 16 electoral votes to Trump. Ivan Raiklin, a retired Army lieutenant colonel known for pushing a similar plan four years ago to pressure then-Vice President Mike Pence to throw the 2020 election, made the pitch during an appearance at the final stop of the ReAwaken America Tour, a roadshow that mixes evangelical Christianity, conspiracy theories and slavish devotion to Trump, on Oct. 18. Retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security director and the event's star attraction, introduced Raiklin as an 'amazing guy' and a 'friend' who 'has a plan.'... The anti-democratic proposal rests on a novel legal framework known as the independent state legislature theory."

Scriptwriters, Here's Your Film Treatment: Powerful New Yorkers Donald Trump, the POTUS*, and Rudy Giuliani, the former NYC mayor, defame two temporary Georgia election workers -- a Black mother and daughter. The women, though of very modest means, sue Donald & Rudy. They win the suit, and the judge urges them to sue Donald for $2MM, and he gives them control of Giuliani's property, including his snazzy NYC apartment and his vintage Mercedes. The ladies -- Ruby & Shaye -- drive off in the luxury vehicle once owned by Lauren Bacall. Based on a true story. ~~~

~~~ Oh Lord, They Have Got Them a Mercedes-Benz. Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani to turn over most of his possessions and available cash to a receivership controlled by the two Georgia election workers he defamed after the last presidential election. Mr. Giuliani, 80, has seven days to make the transfer, which includes his New York condominium and his vintage Mercedes-Benz, once owned by the actress Lauren Bacall. The judge also ordered him to turn over certain pieces of furniture, his television, sports memorabilia, jewelry and 26 watches, including one that Mr. Giuliani said his grandfather gave him. 'The watch may be distinctive to defendant as an item of sentimental value, but it is not distinctive to the law,' Judge Lewis J. Liman of Federal District Court in Manhattan wrote in the order issued on Tuesday. For now, Mr. Giuliani's son, Andrew, can hold on to his father's Yankee World Series rings while lawyers look into whether they were indeed a gift from father to son, as Andrew Giuliani has told the court. Once the transfers are made, the two election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, can begin selling the assets and putting the proceeds toward the more than $148 million a federal jury determined he owes them. Judge Liman also said Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss could sue ... Donald J. Trump for the $2 million he owes Mr. Giuliani in unpaid legal bills." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Guardian's story is here. And here are some photos of the NYC condo. MB: I like it, though it looks as if Rudy stopped decorating after he got through hanging Joe DiMaggio's jersey over the study's fireplace.

Rebecca Elliott of the New York Times: "Gasoline is approaching or has fallen below $3 a gallon in most states, returning to a national average not seen since February in one of the clearest examples of prices declining after a period of rapid inflation.... Gas prices have the added distinction of being prominently displayed almost everywhere, reminding drivers whether it's more or less expensive to get to work or the grocery store. Americans are currently spending around 2 percent of their disposable income on gasoline, less than they did in the run-up to all recent presidential elections besides the 2020 contest, according to ClearView Energy Partners.... The Biden administration's decisions to sell fuel from a national reserve and relax certain gasoline-making rules have helped to lower prices, the White House has said." (Also linked yesterday.)

What if a cruel, misogynistic order by those smug control-freakish Supremes backfired? ~~~

~~~ ⭐ Claire Miller & Margot Sanger-Katz of the New York Times: "In nearly every state that has banned abortion, the number of women receiving abortions increased between 2020 and the end of 2023, according to the most comprehensive account of all abortions by state since the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In the 13 states that enacted near-total abortion bans, the number of women receiving abortions increased in all but three, according to the study.... The only states with bans where abortion fell during this period were Texas, where the decrease was small; Idaho, where it was larger; and Oklahoma, where the data showed an unusually large number of abortions in 2020.... Nationwide, the study also found that abortions have continued to rise. There were roughly 587,000 abortions in the first half of this year, an increase of more than 12 percent from the same period in 2023.... Telehealth abortions were a big driver of the increases.... [Also,] new clinics have opened, and a nationwide surge of publicity about the issue may have decreased stigma."

Juliann Ventura of the Hill: "McDonald's Quarter Pounder burgers and some ingredients will be temporarily unavailable in some states to protect customers after the food was linked to an E. coli outbreak, according to a press release from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday. There has been one reported death due to the outbreak, according to the release. No recall has been issued as of Tuesday afternoon. There has been a total of 49 cases across 10 states -- mostly in Nebraska and Colorado -- with 10 cases resulting in hospitalization, the CDC said. Everyone who was interviewed had reported eating McDonald's -- specifically a Quarter Pounder -- before getting sick, the released said. The release noted that one child is hospitalized with complications from the illness."

Ishaan Tharoor of the Washington Post: "Fethullah Gulen, a Turkish-born Muslim cleric who oversaw a global network of schools, media outlets, think tanks and charities from exile in the United States and was vilified in his homeland for alleged attempts to take over the state, died Oct. 20 at a hospital in the United States."

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The Party of Lies, Conspiracy Theories & Delusions. Clara Morse, et al., of the Washington Post: "Nearly half of Republican candidates for Congress or top state offices have used social media to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2024 election, according to a Washington Post analysis, highlighting a pervasive effort within the GOP to undermine public trust in the vote ahead of Nov. 5. From Nov. 9, 2022, to Oct. 11, at least 236 Republican candidates posted or amplified a range of falsehoods or misinformation about election malfeasance. Many candidates baselessly accused Democrats of trying to sway the election through former president Donald Trump's court cases or by registering noncitizens to vote. Others falsely likened Vice President Kamala Harris's nomination to a 'coup' or promoted misinformation about voter fraud."

Georgia. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to reinstate an array of rules approved this year by a pro-Trump majority of the state's election board that a lower court judge had tossed last week after calling them unconstitutional and void. The decision all but ensures that the rules will not be in effect for the November vote. At issue were more than a half-dozen new rules, including one that would have mandated the hand-counting of ballots, which critics feared would delay certification of the election. The state Supreme Court's decision is a victory for Democrats and voting rights groups."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Israel's wars are here. The Washington Post's live briefings are here.

Michael Crowley, et al., of the New York Times: "Amid rocket attacks by the militant group Hezbollah into Israel and Israeli bombardment around Beirut, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken began a tour of the Middle East on Tuesday, making renewed calls for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and a diplomatic solution to the escalating conflict in Lebanon. Meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, Mr. Blinken pressed Israel 'to capitalize on' the killing last week of Hamas's leader, Yahya Sinwar, and to end the war with Hamas in Gaza, a State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller, said in a statement. On his 11th trip to the Middle East since the conflict began a little more than a year ago, Mr. Blinken met with Mr. Netanyahu for two and a half hours." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, well, as I think Akhilleus mentioned the other day, we're all waiting to see if Bibi has planned an October Surprise to help out his friend-of-convenience Donald.

Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: "The Israeli military said on Tuesday that it had weeks ago killed Hashem Safieddine, the presumed successor to Hezbollah's recently assassinated leader, in an airstrike near Beirut, Lebanon.... The Israeli military said Mr. Safieddine was killed in a strike about three weeks ago. Mr. Safieddine had a significant influence over Hezbollah and served as the group's leader when his cousin, [Hassan] Nasrallah, [Hezbollah's long-time leader,] was not in Lebanon, according to a statement from the Israeli military."

Ukraine, et al. Eric Schmitt & David Sanger of the New York Times: "Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III confirmed on Wednesday that North Korea had sent troops to Russia to join the fight against Ukraine, a major shift in Moscow's effort to win the war. Mr. Austin called the North's presence a 'very serious' escalation that would have ramifications in both Europe and Asia.... His statement came as American intelligence officials said they were preparing to release a trove of intelligence, including satellite photographs, that show troop ships moving from North Korea to training areas in Vladivostok on Russia's east coast and other Russian territory further to the north. No troops have yet reached Ukraine, the intelligence officials said. For two weeks, there have been reports of the movements, fueled by the Ukrainian and South Korean governments, that upward of 12,000 North Koreans were training to fight alongside Russian soldiers."

The Conversation -- October 22, 2024

Marie: The other day I tried to call up an Atlantic story that I anticipated might be of interest to readers. I don't have an Atlantic subscription, but I thought maybe I could get a freebie, as I had tried to read only one other Atlantic story this month, supposedly a gift link, via a Realty Chex reader. Nothing doing. However, when I tried to call up the story below, the Atlantic let me past its firewall. I hope it works for you. Update: If my link below doesn't work, try this one, which comes courtesy of laura h., an Atlantic subscriber: ~~~

~~~ Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic in an article titled "Trump: I Need the Kind of Generals that Hitler Had": (Of course Hitler's generals tried to assassinate him. When former Marine General John Kelly, Trump's chief of staff, told Trump about the generals' attacks on Hitler, Trump denied that was true. When Kelly told Trump that Gen. Rommel had committed suicide after his plot against Hitler failed, Trump didn't know who Rommel was.) "Former generals who have worked for Trump say that the sole military virtue he prizes is obedience. As his presidency drew to a close, and in the years since, he has become more and more interested in the advantages of dictatorship, and the absolute control over the military that he believes it would deliver.... Former officials have also cited other recurring themes: his denigration of military service, his ignorance of the provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, his admiration for brutality and anti-democratic norms of behavior, and his contempt for wounded veterans and for soldiers who fell in battle." Read on, if you can.

⭐ Charlie Savage, et al., of the New York Times: "Donald Trump and his closest allies are preparing a radical reshaping of American government if he regains the White House. Here are some of his plans for cracking down on immigration, directing the Justice Department to prosecute his adversaries, increasing presidential power, upending America's economic policies, retreating militarily from Europe and unilaterally deploying troops to Democratic-run cities."

Rebecca Elliott of the New York Times: "Gasoline is approaching or has fallen below $3 a gallon in most states, returning to a national average not seen since February in one of the clearest examples of prices declining after a period of rapid inflation.... Gas prices have the added distinction of being prominently displayed almost everywhere, reminding drivers whether it's more or less expensive to get to work or the grocery store. Americans are currently spending around 2 percent of their disposable income on gasoline, less than they did in the run-up to all recent presidential elections besides the 2020 contest, according to ClearView Energy Partners.... The Biden administration's decisions to sell fuel from a national reserve and relax certain gasoline-making rules have helped to lower prices, the White House has said."

Rob Copeland of the New York Times: Jamie Dimon, "the usually outspoken chief executive of JPMorgan, the nation's largest bank, has been uncharacteristically vague about his political leanings of late. In an interview last week, he even left open the door to endorsing Mr. Trump -- whose behavior in the aftermath of the last election Mr. Dimon once described as 'treason.' In private, however, Mr. Dimon has made clear that he supports Vice President Kamala Harris and would consider a role, perhaps Treasury secretary, in her administration. He has also told his associates that the former president's 2020 election denialism remains close to a disqualifying factor.... Mr. Dimon isn't making his stance known publicly because he's fearful that if Mr. Trump is victorious, he could retaliate against the people and companies who publicly opposed his run, his associates said. That's a concern shared by other powerful corporate executives, and not without reason: Mr. Trump has begun to increase threats of political retribution in recent weeks.... Mr. Trump once -- falsely -- declared that he had [Mr. Dimon's support]." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I don't know how many votes Dimon would move, though he might be able to knock down, in the minds of the slightly rational, the false notion that Donald Trump would be "good for business." The fact that this extremely wealthy man has not got the guts to stand up to Trump is genuinely shocking.

Scriptwriters, Here's Your Film Treatment: Powerful New Yorkers Donald Trump, the POTUS*, and Rudy Giuliani, the former NYC mayor, defame two temporary Georgia election workers -- a Black mother and daughter. The women, though of very modest means, sue Donald & Rudy. They win the suit, and the judge urges them to sue Donald for $2MM, and he gives them control of Giuliani's property, including his snazzy NYC apartment and his vintage Mercedes. The ladies -- Ruby & Shaye -- drive off in the luxury vehicle once owned by Lauren Bacall. Based on a true story. ~~~

~~~ Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Rudolph W. Giuliani to turn over most of his possessions and available cash to a receivership controlled by the two Georgia election workers he defamed after the last presidential election. Mr. Giuliani, 80, has seven days to make the transfer, which includes his New York condominium and his vintage Mercedes-Benz, once owned by the actress Lauren Bacall. The judge also ordered him to turn over certain pieces of furniture, his television, sports memorabilia, jewelry and 26 watches, including one that Mr. Giuliani said his grandfather gave him. 'The watch may be distinctive to defendant as an item of sentimental value, but it is not distinctive to the law,' Judge Lewis J. Liman of Federal District Court in Manhattan wrote in the order issued on Tuesday. For now, Mr. Giuliani's son, Andrew, can hold on to his father's Yankee World Series rings while lawyers look into whether they were indeed a gift from father to son, as Andrew Giuliani has told the court. Once the transfers are made, the two election workers, Ruby Freeman and her daughter, Shaye Moss, can begin selling the assets and putting the proceeds toward the more than $148 million a federal jury determined he owes them. Judge Liman also said Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss could sue ... Donald J. Trump for the $2 million he owes Mr. Giuliani in unpaid legal bills."

Marie: RAS linked the X post below earlier today. I thought it was funny enough that I listened to it twice in order to make sure I'd caught all the references. This young woman has figured out just the right way to talk to a bratty man-baby: ~~~

🫢

pic.twitter.com/6JdxWTMpBu

— Jack E. Smith ⚖️ (@7Veritas4) October 21, 2024

~~~ Marie: Oh, heck, let's see what Kamala thought: ~~~

Presidential Race

Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "With two weeks until Election Day, more than 15 million people have already cast their ballots, the clearest sign yet that voting habits were forever changed by the coronavirus pandemic and that early voting has become a permanent feature of the American democratic process.... Many states have set records for the first day of early voting." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Very nice. But I haven't voted early because New Hampshire, the Backward State, doesn't offer early voting.

It's a Secret Ballot. Erica Green & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris made a concerted effort on Monday to appeal to Republican women in the nation's suburbs, using former Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming as her ambassador to conservatives during events in well-to-do suburbs of the biggest cities in three important battleground states. Stumping together in town-hall-style settings before intimate crowds at small theaters in the Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia suburbs, Ms. Harris and Ms. Cheney presented a united front against ... Donald J. Trump.... On abortion rights, national security and foreign policy, Ms. Cheney painted Mr. Trump as irresponsibly dangerous while describing Ms. Harris as the safer, reasonable choice to maintain the stability of the country and protect women's health.... In effect, Ms. Cheney told Republican women that they could back Ms. Harris with a clean conscience.... 'I certainly have many Republicans who will say to me, "I can't be public." They do worry about a whole range of things, including violence, but they'll do the right thing. And I would just remind people, if you're at all concerned, you can vote your conscience and not ever have to say a word to anybody.'"

Marcy Wheeler: "As Vice President, [Kamala Harris] should not discuss pending Federal cases against a criminal defendant, including the January 6 case charged against Trump. But Liz Cheney can [and she does].... But I also realized, as I watched the Michigan version of these events today, that Harris and Cheney are also modeling democracy. They are giving people -- women who are my age and Cheney's age and moderator Maria Shriver's age are the primary but by no means the only target -- what they want: a democracy where people talk to one another." At a Harris-Cheney event Wheeler watched, Harris warned against despair: "Let's not let the overwhelming nature of this strip us of our strength." she said.

Saint Donald of Queens. Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump on Monday used the language of persecution to make a sweeping claim that only he could protect Christian voters, darkly warning religious communities that they would come under legal, cultural, political and global assault if he lost in November. Mr. Trump, a former tabloid fixture who was once caught on tape boasting of grabbing women by their genitals, spoke of himself at the 11th Hour Faith Leaders Meeting in Concord, N.C., as not just a champion of Christian causes and values but as a member of the faithful. Two days after he made a crude remark at a rally about a famous golfer's penis size and used profanity to insult Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr. Trump spoke on Monday of the importance of religion in his life, recalling going to church as a child and framing his survival of an assassination attempt in Butler, Pa., as an act of divine intervention....

"He began the day with a news conference in storm-battered western North Carolina, where he criticized the Biden administration's response to Hurricane Helene and made false claims about the federal response. Later, he traveled to Greenville, N.C., for a rally where he continued to hammer the federal response to the hurricane, lobbed repeated personal insults at Ms. Harris and stoked fear around illegal immigration. He also revived his calls to use the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport criminal gang members without due process. 'Think of that, 1798,' Mr. Trump told the crowd. 'That's when we had real politicians that said we're not going to play games. We have to go back to 1798.'" ~~~

~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN: "... Donald Trump used a Monday visit to North Carolina to repeat debunked lies about the federal response to Hurricane Helene. Speaking to reporters in a hard-hit community near Asheville, Trump kept repeating a false claim that was widely debunked when he made it earlier in October -- his assertion that the Federal Emergency Management Agency took money that was supposed to go to disaster relief and instead spent it on migrants who entered the country illegally, leaving the agency with no funds to help Americans." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: As Dale points out, one person who thoroughly debunked Trump's lies about misspent FEMA funds was Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who even put out a fact-sheet he called "Debunking Helene Response Myths." So what is Rep. Chuck Edwards doing now? Do read on. ~~~

~~~ Trump Receives McDonald's Medal of Fried'em. Isaac Schorr of Mediaite: "After making some remarks, Trump ceded a podium set up in Swannanoa, North Carolina to Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who thanked Trump 'for taking the time to come to western North Carolina. We've seen other folks do a fly over. It is so heartening to see you here with some dust on your shoes, actually seeing what's taken place.... For those of you who who did not get to see it, I offered, because you know, I also own McDonald's restaurants, I know that you perfected your skills behind the counter a day or so ago. And it was my honor to present ... Trump with the French Fries Certification Pin,' announced Edwards as Trump held up his pin for the cameras to see." Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. See also his commentary (x 3) in yesterday's thread.

Steve Benen of MSNBC notes that several news outlets reported that Trump "worked" at McDonald's for half-an-hour. Not so. "There's an important difference between work and theatrics, and this was definitely the latter. Just as notably, this was a trolling exercise, rooted in the idea that Trump caught Harris in a lie, despite the fact that neither the former president nor any of his allies have presented a shred of evidence discrediting [her] ... claim." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Benen doesn't bother to point out what that difference is, but anyone who has worked a menial job like McDonald's fry cook does know. Besides being potentially dangerous, it gets more dangerous as you get tired toward the end of your shift. It's boring. It's standing on your feet for several hours straight, so it's physically exhausting. Your boss or other employees might yell at you. Customers might complain about the fries. You could lose the job if you are absent even if you have good reason to be. It's low status, so you might not get much respect. All of that can be emotionally stressful. If you're seeking a better job, it doesn't much bolster your résumé (which explains why Kamala Harris didn't put it on her résumé when she was looking for a job as a lawyer). It doesn't pay enough to allow you to make ends meet, but you probably can't get overtime (time-and-a-half, you know), so you might have to work a second job.

Philip Bump of the Washington Post: "On his social media platform, Trump claimed that his campaign had obtained proof that [Vice President] Harris's assertions [that she had briefly worked at McDonald's in 1983] were false. 'We have checked with McDonald's, and they say, definitively, that there is no record of Lyin' Kamala Harris ever having worked there,' he wrote Sunday afternoon. 'In other words, she never worked there, and has lied about this "job" for years.'... The restaurant chain -- obviously not unhappy at the attention -- sent a message to its employees that ... indicates that no records of Harris's employment exist, but makes clear that this is not an aberration and not a reason to think that she didn't." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Is it chutzpah to tell a lie that your opponent is lying? Or should we give Trump the benefit of the doubt and assume his mental capacity is so diminished that he doesn't know the difference between "no record" and "proof"? If so, OMG, don't give him the nuclear codes, please. Don't give him control of the DOJ, for Pete's sake.

McDonald's does not endorse candidates for elected office and that remains true in this race for the next President. We are not red or blue -- we are golden. -- McDonald's Corporation ~~~

~~~ Francisco Velasquez of Quartz: "McDonald;s is distancing itself from ... Donald Trump after his headline-grabbing stop at a Pennsylvania location, where he pretended to work during a closed event attended by pre-screened supporters. The fast food giant clarified that it did not facilitate Trump's visit.... The [corporation] said it has invited [Vice President] Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, to visit one of its restaurants to showcase how McDonald's creates opportunities and supports local communities." ~~~

     ~~~ Let's Clarify That. Dee-Ann Durbin of the AP: "McDonald's Corp. agreed to host ... Donald Trump at a Pennsylvania store over the weekend but said it isn't endorsing a candidate in the U.S. presidential race. In a message to employees obtained Monday by The Associated Press, McDonald's said the owner-operator of the location, Derek Giacomantonio, reached out after he learned of Trump's desire to visit a Pennsylvania restaurant. McDonald's agreed to the event. 'Upon learning of the former president's request, we approached it through the lens of one of our core values: we open our doors to everyone,' the company said.... The Chicago burger giant said franchisees have also invited Vice President Kamala Harris ... and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, to their restaurants." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is a good example of why we have to take reports from even fairly reliable sites with a grain of salt. I'm not 100% certain that the AP reporter is right and the Quartz reporter is wrong, but it appears that Quartz did not properly distinguish between the corporation & the franchisee. Quartz attributed the "open to everyone" remark to the franchisee; the AP said it came from the corporation. And Quartz claimed the corporation "did not facilitate" Trump's stunt. But the AP said the corporation "approved" it; that sounds pretty close to "facilitating" to me. None of this is going to matter a whit in your life, but we are reminded that well-meaning journalists don't always get it right. Unless I've read or heard something in several reliable media outlets or maybe heard it myself, I tend to preface many of my "statements of fact" with something like, "I read in the Times that...."~~~

~~~ Ha Ha. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "The McDonald's restaurant in Feasterville-Trevose, Pennsylvania, where ... Donald Trump posed for a photo op over the weekend has gotten slammed with negative reviews on Yelp, Newsweek reported Monday. Many of the reviews appeared to be tongue-in-cheek, referencing the former president's various legal problems and his recent rants about celebrities' genitals. 'Customer service was a joke. Senile old man got bronzer on my fries, didn't wear gloves,' one reviewer, 'Karen S', stated. 'Repeated himself several times, something about Ronald McDonald in the showers at the golf club? ... 0 stars. Do not recommend.'... 'Christopher F' complained his fries had 'a long strand of disgusting yellow hair among them' and a 'creepy old man' working the drive-through window 'offered to pay me some hush money to keep this story quiet.' 'Usually I hold high praise for a company that employs the mentally impaired but this one seemed more off then usual, stated 'Chuck P.'" ~~~

~~~ Maybe Christopher F. wasn't kidding about the hair in his fries: ~~~

     ~~~ Kelly Rissman of the Independent: "Donald Trump's obsession with questioning Kamala Harris' work experience at McDonald's peaked over the weekend when he worked the fry cooker at a Pennsylvania branch -- without a hairnet or gloves.... A health inspection in March at the Feasterville-Trevose location resulted in four violations, including citing employees not having their 'hands clean & properly washed'.... The report also noted a lack of hairnets." Emphasis added.

On the Edge of the City of Brotherly Love. Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times: "On Sunday afternoon..., Donald J. Trump dropped by a McDonald’s in Bucks County, Pa.... A few hundred Trump supporters were lining the shoulder of the road and holding a tailgate party in the parking lot of a strip mall right where Philadelphia ends and the suburbs begin. Another group of locals -- maybe 50 people -- had turned up to protest Mr. Trump's visit. People on the two sides spent the sunny autumn afternoon screaming into one another's faces while filming the skirmishes on their iPhones. The parking lot throbbed with hatred, fear and neighbor's suspicion of neighbor. It became a microcosm of this year's election, vicious and absurd.... 'They're the party of hate,' said one Trump supporter, Stephanie Inselberg, 49.... She seemed to genuinely feel that way. A moment later, she began fighting with a Harris supporter....

"The parking lot continued to whip itself into a partisan frenzy while Mr. Trump hammed it up inside the McDonald's. His aides filmed him as he toddled around the establishment, working the fryer. At one point, he stuck his head out of the drive-through window and chirped: 'I'm having a lot of fun here, everybody!'"

Ashley Parker of the Washington Post: "Since [Vice President] Harris emerged on the top of the Democratic ticket in July, Trump has repeatedly attacked her intelligence -- deriding her as 'dumb,' 'mentally unfit,' 'slow,' 'stupid' and an 'extremely low IQ person,' among other similar pejoratives.... Trump's attacks on her intelligence happen on an almost daily basis -- and sometimes more than once a day.... For many voters, as well as experts Trump's sneering dismissiveness of Harris's intellect reeks of racism and sexism.... The attacks are particularly striking given Harris's deeply accomplished résumé.... The Trump campaign rejected the notion that Trump's questioning of Harris's intelligence is in any way racist or sexist. 'Only dumb and low IQ individuals would be offended by that, expressing faux outrage because they need every excuse to explain away their insecure, miserable, and pathetic existence,' Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said in a statement." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One cannot be intellectually honest and deny that the basis for Trump's attacks must be either racist or sexist -- and likely both. What else can it be when he asserts that she "was born ... mentally impaired"? That is to say, there is something about Harris that has made her innately impaired. Trump says he is "a very stable genius" because he has "good genes." Why isn't Harris a very stable genius, too? If it's not because of her race or her sex -- if it's the city where she was born or her astrological sign, say, -- then Trump should explain that.

Paul Krugman of the New York Times: "Something is clearly happening with Donald Trump. Even a year ago I don't think he would have begun a rally with 12 minutes of rambling remarks about the late golfer Arnold Palmer, concluding with a discussion of the size of Mr. Palmer's penis.... But ... Trump's most disturbing remark over the past few days may have been his unprompted comment about Abraham Lincoln ...: 'Lincoln was probably a great president. Although I've always said, why wasn't that settled, you know? I'm a guy that -- it doesn't make sense we had a civil war.'... As Abraham Lincoln explained in his landmark 1860 Cooper Union address, which set him on the path to the Republican nomination and eventually the presidency, the reason that the Union was facing an existential crisis was a demand by the South -- namely, that the North not only let slavery continue unimpeded but also protect the practice from criticism....

"To a large extent, Trump's campaign is being kept afloat financially by a handful of aggrieved billionaires, Elon Musk in particular.... Trump and many of those around him are hypersensitive to criticism, and if he wins, you can expect them to punish critics, whoever they are, and demand affirmations of loyalty across the board."

Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "Former Republican lawmakers, advisers and Justice Department officials have called on Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate tech billionaire Elon Musk for awarding cash prizes to voters in swing states if they sign his political organization's petition, according to a letter obtained by The Washington Post and sent to Garland on Monday. The letter argues that the large prizes set up by Musk, a vocal supporter of Republican nominee Donald Trump, violate federal voting laws that prohibit paying people to register to vote.... The former officials who signed the letter to Garland and Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry argue that Musk's petition is a disguised voter drive in which he is essentially bribing people to register.... Among the people who signed the letter: Donald Ayer, deputy attorney general under President George H.W. Bush; Trevor Potter, former chairman of the Federal Election Commission; Christine Todd Whitman, former governor of New Jersey; and Olivia Troye, who was special adviser to Vice President Mike Pence."

Julia Ingram & Madeleine May of CBS News: "Elon Musk has used the social media platform he owns to amass nearly 3.3 billion views on X by fueling doubts about election security issues since January this year -- making the tech mogul one of the most viral voices on elections during the 2024 campaign, a CBS News investigation has found.... The CBS News Confirmed team fact-checked Musk's posts on election security and found that 55% contain misleading or false statements, or amplify posts that do. Further analysis of these posts showed that 40 of the accounts Musk replied to or reposted were accounts researchers have identified as promoters of voter fraud claims.... Each one [of Musk's election security posts] had an average of 9.3 million views as Musk continues to be the most followed profile on X. [MB: That's because Musk has had X programmers skew X algorithms toward his page.] Experts are concerned that such high audience engagement on posts amplifying election fraud conspiracies could set the stage for possible post-election chaos."

Sarah Ellison of the Washington Post: "... Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) accused billionaire Elon Musk of spreading 'dangerous disinformation' about voting in her state after Musk ... shared a post suggesting falsely that the state's voter rolls, swelled by large numbers of inactive voters, were likely to result in widespread fraud. Benson and Musk exchanged heated messages after he used his powerful platform to spread a popular Republican talking point Saturday night that the state ... had more registered voters than eligible citizens and therefore was opening itself up for election-altering fraud. Musk ... has spent months promoting false and misleading claims about voting, which election officials previously told The Washington Post led to increased requests to purge voter rolls...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yo, Jocelyn. Quit squabbling with an arrogant, "dangerous" liar. It's like trying to reason with a bratty toddler. You're the secretary of state. Enlist the state's attorney general (also a Democrat) to issue Musk a cease-and-desist letter. And if he doesn't obey, she can arrest his golden butt.

Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Marie: Just when I think maybe the New York Times is getting a little better, somebody like Steve M. comes along and snaps me back to reality. Steve got the goods on the Times' reporting Donald Trump's Arnold Palmer-has-a-big-dick story. After a reader called out Michael Gold for "reporting" the dick story as "telling Arnold Palmer golf stories," Gold wrote back that he did report the dick story in one of his posts but his editors removed the post (or that part of it). Gold suggested the reader complain to senioreditor@nytimes.com . May that happened, because the Times then published the full story, which led with the dick remark. Steve wonders, "Did reader complaints pressure the Times to run this story? Or was it the fact that most other media organizations, including The Washington Post, AP, CNN, USA Today, and even Fox, recognized the news value of the joke?" Thanks to RAS for the link. (See also Akhilleus's commentary below on the Times "equality of outcomes" standard.) ~~~

     ~~~ The Times is quite all right with reporting dick jokes if Democrats tell them. Here's Peter Baker, reporting on President Obama's 2024 Democratic convention speech:

"Mr. Obama scorned his successor's fixation with 'childish nicknames' and his 'crazy conspiracy theories' and 'this weird obsession with crowd sizes.' At that point, Mr. Obama held his hands together in a way that implied a certain concern over masculine proportions. When the crowd roared with laughter, he made an I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about face of faux innocence."

     ~~~ Both Barack Obama and Donald Trump are former presidents, even if one of them was a president*. Why is it okay to report on Obama's joke but not on Trump's vulgar remark?

Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "The star political writer Olivia Nuzzi of New York magazine, who has been embroiled in scandal since she disclosed a personal relationship with the former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has left the magazine. New York Magazine said in a note to readers on Monday that an investigation by the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine had found 'no inaccuracies nor evidence of bias' in Ms. Nuzzi's coverage of the 2024 campaign. 'Nevertheless, the magazine and Nuzzi agreed that the best course forward is to part ways,' the statement read. 'Nuzzi is a uniquely talented writer and we have been proud to publish her work over her nearly eight years as our Washington correspondent. We wish her the best.'&"

~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona. Yvonne Sanchez of the Washington Post: "An Arizona Republican who helped inspire national concerns over county-level certification of the 2024 presidential election pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge Monday related to a 'failure or refusal' to perform her duty. Peggy Judd, who helps lead Cochise County, southeast of Phoenix, was indicted by a state grand jury a year ago, accused of flouting the state's deadlines to formally accept the results of the 2022 midterm general election. Judd and another Republican supervisor, Thomas Crosby, were charged with conspiracy and interfering with an election officer after an investigation by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D). Both supervisors initially pleaded not guilty. In a plea agreement signed by Judd, she acknowledged that she 'knowingly' refused to perform her duty to certify the election results by Nov. 28, 2022.... [Crosby's] case is ongoing."

To keep it simple for the State of Florida: it's the First Amendment, stupid. -- U.S. District Judge Mark Walker, in a temporary injunction prohibiting the state from sending threatening letters to broadcasters ~~~

~~~ Florida. Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "Letters that threatened Florida TV stations with criminal penalties if they aired a political ad backing a referendum that would repeal the state's six-week abortion ban came directly from Gov. Ron DeSantis's office, according to the attorney who signed and sent them. Attorney John Wilson said that he resigned as general counsel for the Florida Department of Health rather than 'complying with the directives' of DeSantis's executive staff to send more cease-and-desist letters to TV stations running the ad. 'I did not draft the letters or participate in any discussions about the letters prior to Oct. 3,' Wilson wrote in an affidavit filed in federal court Monday. Instead, he said, three attorneys on the governor's staff gave him the letters to send. In an earlier letter, Wilson condemned the actions of the administration.'A man is nothing without his conscience,' Wilson wrote in a resignation letter on Oct. 10 obtained by the Miami Herald." ~~~

~~~ Brendan Farrington of the AP: "After a month of updating Floridians on hurricanes, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is now focusing his official office on fighting an abortion rights amendment, holding a campaign-like rally at state expense two weeks before the election. DeSantis' event Monday, which was capped with a prayer from the archbishop of Miami and the lieutenant governor asking people to not vote like atheists, came after the Department of Health's top lawyer resigned over a letter he said the governor's office forced him to send to television stations in an effort to stop a pro-Amendment 4 ad.... 'DeSantis continued his weaponization of state government against his own constituents by coordinating a taxpayer-funded press conference with the political campaign opposing Amendment 4 in his quest to silence the voices of doctors and patients suffering under Florida's extreme abortion ban,' said DeSantis Watch spokesman Anders Croy."

Texas Senate Race. Alex Henderson of AlterNet, republished by the Raw Story: "In a front-page editorial published on Sunday, [Rep. Colin] Allred [(D-Texas), who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)] picked up an endorsement from the Dallas Morning News -- Texas' largest daily newspaper. The editorial criticized Cruz for promoting 'the politics of division,' noting that he 'could have supported the peaceful transfer of power in the 2020 presidential election' but didn't.... 'He instead was the first senator to rise in objection to certifying the electoral vote and one of just six to do so. His actions were a catalyst for what became one of the worst days in our nation's history.'... The editorial praised Allred's willingness to work with Republicans, arguing that [he] ... has 'demonstrated over time that both the words and action of bipartisanship matter to him.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al. The New York Times' live updates of developments Tuesday in Israel's wars are here: "The Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah on Tuesday said it had launched a missile attack at an Israeli military base near Tel Aviv, sending residents fleeing into shelters hours before Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken was due to arrive in the city for meetings with Israeli officials."