The Conversation -- October 18, 2024

Kamala Harris has four U.S. Presidents pulling for her, including three who are campaigning for her. Donald Trump, he's got zero.

Ivana Saric of Axios: "Former President Trump's planned appearance at a National Rifle Association event next week was cancelled Thursday, the latest in a slew of scuttled public appearances and interviews by the former president in recent weeks.... The NRA said Thursday it had cancelled its 'Defend the 2nd' event with Trump in Savannah, Georgia, next week due to ;campaign scheduling changes.'... Vice President Kamala Harris, on the other hand, has been on a media blitz after enduring criticism from Republicans about a perceived lack of interviews. And while Harris has ventured into the unfriendly territory of a Fox News interview, Trump has stuck to the safe spaces of conservative outlets. In the appearances he has made, Trump's rhetoric has grown more violent and nativist. In recent weeks, he has decried his critics as the 'enemy from within' and fanned the flames of false conspiracy theories about migrants." ~~~

     ~~~ Things Fall Apart. Scott Lemieux in LG&$: "Trance dance Don's cognitive difficulties are beginning to break containment.... Even the famously wired-for-Trump Politico Playbook can't avoid the obvious: 'Recently, it's become something of a pattern: Trump is scheduled for an interview with a neutral media outlet, the date nears and then ... things fall apart.... Playbook has learned that yet another outlet was given an explanation by Trump's team for why their own interview wasn't coming to fruition: exhaustion.... When describing why an interview hadn't come together just yet, a Trump adviser told The Shade Room producers that Trump was 'exhausted and refusing [some] interviews but that could change' at any time, according to two people....'"

Yo, MAGA voters, say goodbye to that "freedom of the press" Constitutiony thing: ~~~

Ted Johnson of Deadline: "Near the end of an appearance Friday on Fox & Friends, Donald Trump told the hosts that he was following up his guest spot with a 'big event': a meeting with Rupert Murdoch. Trump also said that he would be telling Murdoch 'something very simple because I can't talk to anybody else about it. Don't put on negative commercials for 21 days, and don't put on there the horrible people that come in love. I am going to say, "Rupert, please do it this way." And then we are going to have a victory. Because I think everyone wants to have a victory.' On his social media platform Truth Social, Trump has been bashing Fox News for featuring Democrats, including Ian Sams, a spokesperson for Kamala Harris' campaign. Trump wrote on Truth Social earlier this week, 'Sams is just a below average guy, with memorized FAKE NEWS soundbites, almost all of which are WRONG, but coupled with all of the other Harris Radical Left Democrat mouthpieces that Fox puts on (Richard Fowler, Patrick Murphy, "something" Wolf, Jessica Tarloff?), it has a very negative effect on the Election.... Trump also has recently suggested that CBS and ABC should lose their broadcasting licenses -- CBS for the way that a 60 Minutes interview with Harris was edited, and ABC for David Muir and Linsey Davis' fact checking during the presidential debate last month." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: If you're having a little trouble interpreting Trump's planned "big event" with Rupert, allow me to sane-splain/translate it: "I'm going to tell Rupert not to run any ads against me and not to invite any Harris surrogates or supporters on your shows. P.S. Fire contributors who might say something 'negative' about me.

Irie Sentner of Politico: "Donald Trump says Fox News employees helped him write his jokes for the Al Smith dinner. Fox says that's fake news. The former president ... said Friday morning on 'Fox & Friends': 'A couple of people from Fox actually -- I shouldn't say that -- but they wrote some jokes, and for the most part, I didn't like any of them.' The network disputed that claim. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson said: 'Fox News confirmed that no employee or freelancers wrote the jokes.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Let's just assume, for argument's sake, the Fox denial is accurate. That means that Trump either lied, was misinformed or is delusional about who wrote those jokes, then said he didn't like the jokes that maybe didn't exist at all. In any event, the "jokes" Trump did like were cruel and profane.

Nicholas Liu of Salon: "Trump might have encapsulated his performance [at the Al Smith dinner] in one sentence during his speech. 'I don't give a s**t if this is comedy or not,' he declared, before calling former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio a 'terrible mayor' who did a 'horrible job -- that's not comedy, by the way, that's a fact.'... Though Trump was greeted with some laughter and applause (but also gasps and boos) at the event itself, other people ... were outspoken with their displeasure.... Former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., told CNN's Kasie Hunt that her husband, who teaches at a Catholic girls school, called her at the middle of the dinner about 'what a buffoon and what an ungodly, profanity-laced hot mess that dinner was, because he knows what that Catholic dinner is supposed to be. This was somebody who was just being horrendous at that dinner, swearing in front of priests -- who does that?'" MB: Comstock has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. ~~~

~~~ Normalizing a Madman. Lee Moran of the Huffington Post: "Critics condemned the appearance of Donald Trump at the Al Smith charity dinner in New York on Thursday, saying it 'normalized' the GOP presidential nominee's divisive and hateful rhetoric.... Commentators thought the shindig, during which guests laughed at Trump's jokes, validated and reinforced his toxic ideologies." Ron Filipkowski of Meidas Touch wrote on X: "Kamala Harris absolutely made the right call not to attend the Al Smith dinner with Trump. You don't normalize a deranged madman who wants to annihilate the Constitution by joking around with him at a roast."

Alan Feuer & Charlie Savage of the New York Times: "A federal judge [Tanya Chutkan] on Friday ordered the release of a heavily redacted trove of evidence supporting the contention by federal prosecutors that ... Donald J. Trump illegally sought to overturn the 2020 election. In ordering the release, the judge was rejecting objections by Mr. Trump's legal team that making even a largely blanked-out version of the material public now would constitute interference in the presidential election. The materials -- a four-part appendix to a lengthy brief recently filed by the special counsel, Jack Smith -- consisted of 1,889 pages. But most of it was redacted and can only be seen by the parties involved in the case. The remainder appeared to consist almost entirely of previously released memos, social media postings, transcripts and other known materials."

Ben Protess & Maggie Haberman of the New York Times flesh out the story Rachel Maddow reported earlier this week about one of Donald Trump's lawyers offering Stormy Daniels another hush-money payoff. "The nondisclosure agreement would have once again silenced Ms. Daniels in the heart of a presidential campaign. And although the circumstances did not resemble the cover-up that Mr. Trump was prosecuted for -- it is not illegal to propose a nondisclosure agreement -- the effort underscored his familiar tactic of using a financial exchange to control what gets said about him.... It is unclear whether Mr. Trump directed Mr. Ross to suggest the nondisclosure agreement.... [Mr. Trump's lawyer, Harry] Ross, reached on his cellphone, hung up on a reporter, and did not respond to an email seeking comment on his letter. Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Mr. Trump's campaign, issued a vague legal threat to The Times in a statement...."

Gary Robertson of the AP: "More North Carolina residents turned out to cast ballots on the first day of early voting this year than in 2020, even as residents from the mountainous western portion of the state continued to recover from the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene. Preliminary data shows a record 353,166 people cast ballots at more than 400 early voting sites statewide on Thursday, compared to 348,599 on the first day in October 2020, the State Board of Elections said Friday."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: "The leader of Hamas, Yahya Sinwar, was killed by a gunshot wound to the head, according to the director of Israel's national forensic institute, Dr. Chen Kugel, who oversaw the autopsy and described its findings in an interview with The New York Times on Friday. He said that shrapnel, possibly from either a small missile or tank shell, had earlier hit Mr. Sinwar's arm, causing bleeding that he was trying to stanch by using an electrical cord as an impromptu tourniquet. 'But it wouldn't have worked in any case,' Mr. Kugel said. 'It wasn't strong enough, and his forearm was smashed.'"

Michael Shear, et al., of the New York Times: "President Biden on Friday urged Germany and other Western allies not to waver in their support for Ukraine, using what may be his final trip to Europe as president to bolster the grueling fight against Russia's invasion. 'German leaders had the wisdom to recognize a turning point in history, an assault on a fellow democracy, and also on principles that upheld 75 years of peace and security in Europe,' Mr. Biden said after receiving Germany's highest honor during a ceremony at the Bellevue Palace in Berlin. Mr. Biden added that the allies must continue to work tirelessly to 'ensure that Ukraine prevails and Putin fails and NATO remains strong and more united than ever.... We're headed into a very difficult winter... We cannot let up. We cannot.'"

Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "House Democrats on Friday accused ... Donald J. Trump of accepting 'hundreds of unconstitutional and ethically suspect payments' through the Trump International Hotel in 2017 and 2018, moving weeks before the election to remind voters of the ethical issues raised by his refusal to divest from his businesses while in office. The 58-page report from Democrats on the Oversight Committee includes their final findings in a yearslong investigation.... It accuses Mr. Trump of ripping off the Secret Service by charging the agency exorbitant rates and of inappropriately accepting payments from clients who worked for state governments or were seeking appointments and pardons from him. 'Mr. Trump has made clear that he will not only refuse to divest from his businesses in a possible future presidency, but he will seek to multiply opportunities to commodify the Oval Office for his personal enrichment by turning thousands of civil service jobs into patronage positions -- all with the attendant payoff possibilities from supplicant job-seekers and the prospective blessing of his handpicked Supreme Court justices,' said Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee."

"A Very Stable Genius." Brett Samuels of the Hill: "Former President Trump on Friday responded to a barrage of attacks from Vice President Harris that he's 'unstable' and 'unhinged.'... 'First of all, the question is a pretty rough question because you know you're giving this whole argument of this woman who, I don't think she knows where she is. She's a low IQ person. She's not smart,' Trump said of Harris [during an in-studio visit to 'Fox & Friends']. 'I am the most stable human being. Remember they said "a stable genius,"' Trump added, referring to his own tweet in which he described himself as a 'very stable genius.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Notice that Trump is so disoriented, disconnected with reality, and might I add, unstable and unhinged, that he thinks that "they," i.e., other people, described him as "a stable genius" when in fact it was he who asserted, in what I consider an odd choice of descriptors, as a "stable genius." We have often accused Trump of projecting his own traits onto others, but in this instance he's projecting a projection of a trait onto himself.

Filip Timotija of the Hill: "Veteran journalist Bob Woodward outlined a recent email he received from former Defense Secretary James Mattis, where he seemingly agreed with Woodward's dire warning about a second Trump administration. During an appearance Thursday on 'The Bulwark Podcast,' Woodward told the host that Mattis -- who served under former President Trump -- acknowledged Gen. Mark Milley's assessment that the former president is 'the most dangerous person ever' and seemed to concur. 'He thinks the book is important,' the muckraker said of Mattis. 'He believes it's true. And it was a kind of, you know, "Hey, I understand this." It was the strongest endorsement.'... Mattis was Trump's first defense secretary. He resigned in December 2018 after a fallout with the former president over the withdrawal of American troops from Syria."

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Presidential Race

Maeve Reston of the Washington Post: "Vice President Kamala Harris chided Donald Trump on Thursday for his revisionist history on the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol -- accusing him of 'gaslighting' the American people with his recent assertion that it was a 'day of love.'... At all her rallies this week -- including here in Wisconsin -- Harris has said Trump is 'unstable' and 'seeking unchecked power.' Campaigning in two Wisconsin cities, Harris touted her own combative performance on Fox News on Wednesday night as a show of her willingness to speak to people 'no matter their political party' or 'where they get their news.' She noted that on the same night, Trump had appeared at a Univision town hall where a 56-year-old self-described Republican said he was alarmed by what took place on Jan. 6, 2021, and wanted to give the former president the 'opportunity to try to win back my vote.' Trump responded by calling it 'a day of love' and seemed to include himself when referring to those who entered the Capitol that day as 'we.'... Harris's criticism of Trump followed a week in which her campaign has tried to paint him as confused, incoherent and unstable." More on Trump's recent remarks re: January 6 below.

Yes, Trump Is a Fascist. Jonathan Weisman of the New York Times: "The word 'fascist' has hovered around ... Donald J. Trump from the moment he rode down his golden escalator in 2015 to warn of Mexican rapists and drug dealers.... But for most top Democrats, it was a provocative term loaded with dread, historical import and potential incitement -- best left unsaid. Until Vice President Kamala Harris this week made clear -- again and again -- that it would be just fine with her to use the word. On Tuesday, as the radio host Charlamagne Tha God interviewed Ms. Harris, he interjected as the vice president contrasted her vision with her rival's. 'The other is about fascism,' he said of Mr. Trump's vision. 'Why can't we just say it?' Ms. Harris's response: 'Yes, we can say that.' On Wednesday, speaking in Washington Crossing, Pa., Ms. Harris quoted Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Mr. Trump, describing his former boss as 'fascist to the core,' as detailed in a new book from the journalist Bob Woodward.

"The quotation of Mr. Milley may have opened the floodgates for Democrats, granting new permission with the authority of his uniform and his unique closeness to the inner workings of Mr. Trump's administration. But an element of political risk remains, even as Mr. Trump freely uses the word himself against Ms. Harris.... Mr. Trump's running mate, Senator JD Vance, singled out the term 'fascist' as an incitement to violence that was beyond the pale."

     ~~~ Marie: Got that? According to both Weisman and JayDee, it's dangerous for Democrats to accuse Trump of being a fascist even though he is one. And according to JayDee, it's unacceptable. But it's okay for Trump to call Harris a fascist, though she has shown no fascistic bent; according to the linked story, he had called her a fascist at least five times by mid-September. Democrats must politely pull their punches because they're expected to be nice and reasonable. Trump can say whatever he wants because people expect him to be rude and crude. Both-siderism is so over. We're going full double standard here. ~~~

~~~ ⭐Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times: "Let's stop for a second. It is simply extraordinary that the nation's top general would tell anyone, much less one of the most famous reporters in the world, that the former president of the United States was a 'fascist' -- a 'fascist to the core,' even -- and a threat to the constitutional order. There is no precedent for such a thing in American history -- no example of another time when a high-ranking leader of the nation's armed forces felt compelled to warn the public of the danger posed by its once and perhaps future chief executive. More important than the novelty of Milley's statement is the reality that he's right....

As if to prove the point, Trump ... [said on X], 'I make you this vow: November 5th, 2024 will be LIBERATION DAY in America.'... And 'to expedite removals of this savage gang..., I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American Soil.' To be clear, the Alien Enemies Act ... does not distinguish between 'legal' and 'illegal' immigrants and foreign nationals, a distinction that did not exist at the time of passage. This means that any immigrant deemed an 'enemy alien' by the Trump administration could be subject to arrest and removal by the federal government. And as he explained later in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, this crusade wouldn't stop with immigrants[, but would extend to 'the enemies within.']"

Heck, I'm only two months younger than Donald Trump. But good news for you is I will not spend 30 minutes swaying back and forth for you. I will not clap off beat, nor will I pretend to be a conductor, because we got a race to win. And we have to win it. I've been doing this a long, long time, and I can honestly say that this time I am not here running for anything anymore except for my grandchildren's future. -- President Bill Clinton, at a rally in North Carolina ~~~

~~~ Dylan Wells & Patrick Svitek of the Washington Post: z'Former president Bill Clinton campaigned for the first time alongside the Democratic ticket Thursday, appearing with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and reprising his role as 'explainer in chief' to make the case to North Carolinians to elect Kamala Harris on the first day of early voting here.... Clinton appeared with Walz as part of a multistate tour by the former president targeted at mobilizing rural and Black voters.... Clinton dedicated much of his remarks to acknowledging concerns voters have about the economy and explaining the conditions that led to the current rate of inflation."

Erin Doherty & Andrew Solender of Axios: "Former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) revealed he voted for Vice President Kamala Harris and blasted former President Trump in a statement first shared with Axios.... '[Harris] and I will not agree on every issue, but in her, we have a capable leader who will always put the interests of our country before her own, unlike her opponent who will always put his personal interests ahead of those of the United States,' Dent said.... Dent, who endorsed President Biden over Trump in 2020, said Thursday that he cast his absentee ballot for Harris in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Dent offered a searing rebuke of Trump, saying that his 'affection for autocrats like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jung Un, his hostility toward the free press, our allies, and anyone who dares to disagree with him are reprehensible.'... A Trump critic while in the House, Dent resigned from Congress in 2018."

Kevin Manahan of NJ.com: "Fox News anchor Bret Baier is taking criticism from all sides: -- Donald Trump supporters are screaming that that the anchor from the Trump-friendly cable giant wasn't tough enough in his hourlong interview with Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday night; -- Democratic supporters have called him rude for interrupting Harris many times during her answers -- Media critics are pointing out that Fox deceptively edited a clip of Trump -- and were fact-checked by Harris in real time -- And many, in all circles, are claiming that Baier, in an attempted takedown of Harris, was no match for her. Even Baier seemed to acknowledge that Harris won the day. 'I think she had a mission that she wanted to do,' Baier said after the interview. 'Maybe she wanted to have a viral moment or pushback. She came to Fox News and she wanted to have a go-after-Donald-Trump viral moment that plays on a lot of other channels and on social media. She may have gotten that.'" ~~~

~~~ Margaret Sullivan of the Guardian: "... Baier came out guns blazing, barely allowing the vice-president to finish a sentence before jumping in with objections and arguments.... Immigrant hatred. Transphobia. And later, Joe Biden's age. Baier was running through the Fox News greatest hits playlist. This was grievance theater, not political journalism." ~~~

~~~ Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post: "One of the people Vice President Kamala Harris might want to thank in her victory speech, if she wins the election, is Fox News anchor Bret Baier. His combative interview Wednesday gave Harris the chance to display qualities -- and present facts -- that Donald Trump desperately wants to keep hidden from the network's millions of viewers.... Baier presented a too-brief clip from a town hall event, aired on Fox earlier Wednesday, in which Trump denied [calling his critics 'enemies of the people']. This was gaslighting: A slightly longer clip would have shown Trump railing against 'the enemy from within' and naming two leading Democrats, Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff, as being part of that 'sick' group. Baier obviously knew that -- and Harris called him on it....

"[During his inquisition,] Baier repeatedly interrupted the vice president, trying to talk over her and posing questions seemingly cut and pasted from the list of Republican talking points. Intentionally or not, all of this was a gift to Harris. She stood her ground, refuting the Trump campaign's claim that she is weak and easily pushed around. She spoke fluently and cogently, putting to rest GOP claims that all she offers is word salad. She brushed off the most tendentious questions, engaged with the substantive ones, and insisted on finishing her answers whether or not Baier liked it." ~~~

~~~ An interesting update to all that: ~~~

     ~~~ Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Fox News host Bret Baier said the wrong clip aired during his interview with Vice President Kamala Harris.... During a contentious 30-minute sit-down, Harris referenced remarks by former President Donald Trump on Sunday Morning Futures on Fox News. Trump suggested using the military against 'the enemy from within,' which he explained are 'radical left lunatics.' Baier responded by teeing up a clip of a Fox News town hall.... 'We asked that question to the former president today,' Baier told Harris. 'Harris Faulkner had a town hall, and this is how he responded.' 'They were saying I was like, threatening,' Trump said in the snippet. 'I'm not threatening anybody. They're the ones doing the threatening....'... Harris took exception. 'Bret, I'm sorry, and with all due respect, that clip was not what he has been saying about the enemy within that he has repeated when he's speaking about the American people,' the vice president said. 'That's not what you just showed!' Baier addressed the dustup at the end of Thursday's Special Report. '... I did make a mistake,' he told panelists Faulkner and Harold Ford Jr. 'And I did want to say that I did make a mistake. When I called for a soundbite, I was expecting a piece of the "enemy from within" from Maria Bartiromo's interview to be tied to the piece from your town hall, Harris, where you asked the former president about "the enemy from within." It just had the piece about the town hall.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Baier went on to say, "My point was that we asked him about the question about that sentence and what he was trying to mean." So, even though Baier says he made a mistake, he also admits that the whole purpose of airing the clip from the town hall was to give the audience a chance to see Trump try to clean up his act. That is, even before he interviewed Harris, Baier had planned to give Trump the chance to falsely deny he was threatening detractors. Airing the clip of Trump's false denial was not a mistake at all; the mistake was failing to air an "enemy from within" clip, too. AND there's this: ~~~

     ~~~ Daniel Hampton of the Raw Story: "On Thursday night, Gretchen Carlson, who joined Fox News in 2005 and was a co-host on Fox & Friends until 2013, blasted Baier on X. 'Now Bret Baier says "his mistake" he ran wrong Trump "enemy from within' clip during interview w/ Harris. Newsflash: When wrong clips run (which happens) hosts can easily say "Sorry that was the wrong clip". He or his producers would have known it was the wrong one right then,' she said."

Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris both delivered remarks to the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, Ms. Harris in a recorded video and Mr. Trump in person in a ballroom in Manhattan packed with New York's political elite, business leaders and religious luminaries. Mr. Trump rushed through prepared remarks, stumbling at times as he read through pointed political jokes, bitter grievances and crude and at times profane personal attacks. He seemed most energized when he ditched his script, caught between being an insult comic or just being insulting. Ms. Harris was campaigning in Wisconsin.... She ... appear[ed in a video] with the actress Molly Shannon as her Catholic schoolgirl character Mary Katherine Gallagher." Gold relates some of the "jokes" and jokes. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: I won't embed a video of Trump's remarks, and so far YouTube doesn't have a good copy of Harris's video, but the brief local report below gives you a flavor of Trump's flat, halting delivery and of Harris's video presentation: ~~~

     ~~~ Update. Here we go: ~~~

     ~~~ Admittedly, since Harris' remarks were recorded, she had the advantage of being able to do retakes (which is not to say she did so). But anyone who listens to her and to Trump for about 15 seconds each has to be daft (or Mitch McConnell -- see link below) to say, "I'm liking old Orange Man there." Harris's competence and dynamism shine, while Trump clearly is not capable of reading a script. (He never was, according to [NYT link] John Lithgow and other reports I've read.) Even if you knew nothing else about Harris or Trump, it wouldn't be a close call: you'd pick Harris to be Leader of the Free World.

Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump blamed President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine for Russia's invasion of his country in a podcast interview released on Thursday, inverting the facts of the largest military action in Europe since the Second World War.... Mr. Trump, in a rambling, muddled answer on a conservative podcast, was criticizing President Biden's leadership when he abruptly brought up his skepticism over the administration's continued military aid to Ukraine."

Trump Advisors Concerned He's a Babbling Idiot. Michael Bender of the New York Times: "... some Trump advisers and allies say privately they are concerned that ... Mr. Trump's impetuousness and scattershot style on the campaign trail needlessly risk victory.... At a time when ... Vice President Kamala Harris has stepped up her attacks on him as 'unstable,' Mr. Trump has struggled to publicly hone his message by veering off script and ramping up personal attacks on Ms. Harris that allies have urged him to rein in." Bender offers numerous examples of Trump's wacko behavior & unfocused remarks from just this past week. Here's one: "At the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday, he answered a question about whether he would break up Google by complaining about a Justice Department lawsuit against Virginia election officials. When he was reminded the question was about Google, he said he 'called the head of Google the other day' to grouse about the difficulty of finding positive news stories about his campaign on the company's search page." Bender notes that the Harris campaign is taking advantage of Trump's instability with remarks and in ads.

Marie: (I wrote this earlier, but I'm leaving it in, because it backs up an assertions Maeve Reston made in the WashPo story linked above.) Nicolle Wallace of MSNBC said yesterday that Trump had made a "confession" during his Univision town hall when he responded to a question about January 6 and identified himself with the Capitol marauders. Here's a part of the transcript of Trump's response:

Some of those people went down to the Capitol, I said, peacefully and patriotically, nothing done wrong at all. Nothing done wrong. And action was taken, strong action. Ashli Babbitt was killed. Nobody was killed. There were no guns down there. We didn't have guns. The others had guns, but we didn't have guns. And when I say 'we' these are people that walk down, this was a tiny percentage of the overall, which nobody sees and nobody shows. But that was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions, it's like hundreds of thousands. ~~~

     ~~~ If this is a "confession," everything else Trump says here is a lie. As Maeve Reston of the Washington Post writes (linked above), "Trump supporters, trying to stop the affirmation of Joe Biden's 2020 win, assaulted 140 police officers, damaged the building and destroyed government property.... Babbitt was one of five people who authorities said died as a consequence of the siege.... It is still unclear how many in the crowd were armed before the riot occurred. But six men were arrested that day for having guns in the vicinity of the U.S. Capitol...." As for the crowd size at the Ellipse, PolitiFact went with the House Select Committee's estimate of 53,000, not "like hundreds of thousands."

The Miracle of Evolution: A Turtle Morphs into a Chicken. Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Mitch McConnell said after the 2020 election that ... Donald Trump was 'stupid as well as being ill-tempered,' a 'despicable human being' and a 'narcissist,' according to excerpts from a new biography of the Senate Republican leader that will be released this month. McConnell made the remarks in private as part of a series of personal oral histories that he made available to Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Associated Press. Tackett's book, 'The Price of Power,' draws from almost three decades of McConnell's recorded diaries and from years of interviews with the normally reticent Kentucky Republican.... Despite those strong words, McConnell has endorsed Trump's 2024 run...." (Also linked yesterday.)

⭐ Confessions of a Suit. John D. Miller in a U.S. News opinion piece: "I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster.... I led the team that marketed 'The Apprentice,' the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns. To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty.... At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.... To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show." Read on. (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: Decades ago, when Steve Martin was a stand-up comic, he did a joke where he gave advice on how to make a million dollars and not pay any taxes: “First, make a million dollars. Then, when the IRS asks you why you didn't pay any taxes, say 'I forgot.'" Well, I've got a joke that's not so funny. Because it works: "Here's how to make a billion dollars (or 247 billion) and take control of a major foreign country. First get 247 billion dollars; then, become a U.S. citizen & bribe Donald Trump." This is intended to highlight Elon Musk's influence, but without much massaging, it applies to Rupert Murdoch, too.

Marie: In her stump speech, Kamala Harris zeroes in on the "freedoms" Americans have a right to expect. One of them is the "freedom to breathe clean air, and drink clean water and live free from the pollution that fuels the climate crisis." She knows whereof she speaks: ~~~

~~~ Project 2025 Oil & Gas Industry Addendum -- Stinks. Evan Halper & Josh Dawsey of the Washington Post: "An influential oil and gas industry group whose members were aggressively pursued for campaign cash by Donald Trump has drafted detailed plans for dismantling landmark Biden administration climate rules after the presidential election, according to internal documents obtained by The Washington Post. The plans were drawn up by the American Exploration and Production Council, or AXPC, a group of 30 mostly independent oil and gas producers, including several major oil companies. They reveal a comprehensive industry effort to reverse climate initiatives advanced during nearly four years of Democratic leadership. At the same time, the documents contain confidential data showing that industry's voluntary initiatives to cut emissions have fallen short. The lobbying blueprint takes particular aim at a new tax on emissions of methane, a gas that the International Energy Agency (IEA) says is responsible for nearly a third of human-caused global warming. The documents show the methane emissions of nine of 19 AXPC member companies that responded to an internal survey are increasing -- in many cases sharply."

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "An independent panel reviewing the failures that led to the attempted assassination of ... Donald J. Trump in July called on the Secret Service to replace its leadership with people from the private sector and focus almost exclusively on its protective mission. The recommendations, part of a report released Thursday commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security, outlined deficiencies that have already been identified in the months after the rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13. Those include the failure of the Secret Service to secure a nearby building where a rooftop would-be assassin fired eight shots toward Mr. Trump. That and other security lapses, members of the panel said, result from an absence of 'critical thinking' among agents and supervisors. The panel was particularly struck by a 'lack of ownership' conveyed by the agents it interviewed. Those involved in the security planning did not take responsibility in the lead-up to the event, nor did they own failures in the aftermath. And, the report added, they 'have done little in the way of self-reflection in terms of identifying areas of missteps, omissions or opportunities for improvement.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: There's a biting irony here: every intellectual lapse the panel identifies in Secret Service leadership is one that the target of the assassination shares: an absence of critical think, lack of ownership of mistakes, failure to take responsibility from the git-go right on through the follow-up and "little in the way of self-reflection in terms of identifying areas of missteps, omissions or [making] opportunities for improvement."

Kyle Cheney of Politico: "U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has agreed to release a dossier of evidence amassed by special counsel Jack Smith, ruling Thursday that the high public interest in the document outweighs Trump's demand that she keep it hidden until after the election. In a five-page ruling, Chutkan rejected Trump's argument that releasing the potentially explosive material constitutes election interference. In fact, she said, suppressing the evidence -- which would typically be released as part of public court proceedings -- would be the actual political meddling. She said she plans to release the filing at an unspecified time on Friday."

Devlin Barrett of the New York Times: "Federal prosecutors have charged a man they identified as an Indian intelligence officer with trying to orchestrate from abroad an assassination on U.S. soil -- part of an escalating response from the United States and Canada to what those governments see as brazenly illegal conduct by a longtime partner. An indictment unsealed in Manhattan on Thursday said that the man, Vikash Yadav, 'directed the assassination plot from India' that targeted a New York-based critic of the Indian government, a Sikh lawyer and political activist who has urged the Punjab region of India to secede. The target of the New York plot has been identified by American officials as Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, the general counsel of Sikhs for Justice.... Authorities say Mr. Yadav recruited an associate to find a U.S.-based criminal to arrange the murder of the Sikh activist. Last year, U.S. prosecutors charged the man accused of being Mr. Yadav's henchman, Nikhil Gupta, and said Mr. Gupta had acted under instructions from an unidentified employee of the Indian government.... The indictment came just days after the Canadian government expelled India's top diplomat and five others, saying they were part of a criminal network."

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "The Biden administration has reached a major milestone in its pursuit of expansive student debt relief, announcing on Thursday that over one million people have had their federal student debt canceled through a program that offers forgiveness to public service workers. For President Biden, whose student debt agenda has been repeatedly handicapped by Republican legal challenges, the announcement marked a modest but undeniable achievement. With just weeks until the election, the administration has reported approving around $175 billion in total student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers through all the actions taken during Mr. Biden's presidency." (Also linked yesterday.)

~~~~~~~~~~

Arizona Senate Race. Shocking Divorce File Unsealed. Meh. Maria Paul of the Washington Post: "For months, Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake has speculated that her opponent, Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), had used the courts to hide 'something really, really bad' in his divorce from Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.... Lake and her allies have repeatedly sought to paint Gallego's personal life in a negative context -- running ads describing him as a 'deadbeat dad' and alleging his divorce records contain a 'massive story.'... But on Thursday, an Arizona court unsealed most of the case file -- revealing what one judge called 'one of the most garden-variety divorce files I have ever seen.' The records were made public following a 10-month-long legal battle between the Gallegos and the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative publication that filed a lawsuit earlier this year to unseal them.... The 465 pages that were unsealed Thursday by the Yavapai County Superior Court detail standard divorce proceedings.... They also include no details of any illegal activity or infidelity and expressly state that no physical abuse had occurred. Following the documents' release, the Gallegos blasted Lake and demanded an apology 'for lying about our family and the circumstances of our divorce,' the former couple wrote in a joint statement."

Arizona. Frances Vinall of the Washington Post: "A deaf Black man with cerebral palsy will no longer face charges over an incident in which he was repeatedly Tasered and punched by Phoenix police. Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said Thursday that she had reviewed the case and 'made the decision to dismiss all remaining charges.' Tyron McAlpin, 34, had been charged with resisting arrest and two counts of aggravated assault on an officer. Mitchell said she had consulted with the local chapter of the NAACP and 'convened a large gathering of senior attorneys and members of the community to hear their opinions' before concluding her review.... The arrest happened less than three months after an almost three-year federal civil rights investigation by the Justice Department into the Phoenix Police Department found it had routinely used excessive force and discriminated against Black, Hispanic and Native American people."

Florida. Ha! Lori Rozsa of the Washington Post: "A federal judge in Florida on Thursday ordered the state to stop threatening TV stations with criminal charges if they run a political ad in support of a referendum that would repeal the state's six-week abortion ban. Proponents of Amendment 4 sued the state on Wednesday over letters from the Florida Department of Health to broadcast stations around the state, threatening 'criminal proceedings' if they ran the ads. U.S. District Chief Judge Mark Walker said the state's actions amount to 'unconstitutional coercion' and violate the First Amendment.... Julia Friedland, Gov. Ron DeSantis's deputy press secretary, denounced the decision as 'another order that excites the press.'... DeSantis and his administration have been using state agencies to attack the proposed amendment ahead of the Nov. 5 general election." MB: The injunction expires October 29, so I guess it anticipates an appeal by the state. I dunno. ~~~

     ~~~ Update: The New York Times story, by Patricia Mazzei, explains why the injunction lasts only till October 29: "The [abortion-rights] campaign is seeking a preliminary injunction against the state. Judge Walker scheduled a hearing for Oct. 29."

Texas. David Goodman of the New York Times: "The Texas Supreme Court on Thursday halted the execution of Robert Roberson, a Texas man convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter, after a roller-coaster series of legal maneuvers initiated by an unusual intervention from a bipartisan group of Texas House members. The decision by the state's highest civil court related to a procedural question raised by the legislators' issuing a subpoena for Mr. Roberson to testify before the Legislature on Monday and not the details of his case. But the effect was to run out the clock for the time being. Because the execution could not be carried out before midnight, a new date would now have to be set."

~~~~~~~~~~

Israel/Palestine, et al.

The Washington Post's live updates of developments Friday in Israel's wars are here: "Top U.S. officials renewed calls to pursue an end to the war in Gaza in the wake of Israel's announcement that its troops had killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.... U.S. officials described Sinwar as having been the 'chief obstacle' to a truce, but two diplomats familiar with the negotiations -- which the United States mediated along with Egypt and Qatar -- said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had repeatedly obstructed a deal since June by placing new demands on a framework proposed by [President] Biden."

Ronen Bergman, et al., of the New York Times: Israeli soldiers were on a routine patrol Wednesday in the southern Gaza Strip when "a firefight erupted and the Israelis, backed by drones, destroyed part of a building where several militants had taken cover, Israeli officials said." One of the Palestinians killed was Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader. "Mr. Sinwar's death was the most severe blow to Hamas's leadership after more than a year of escalating violence in the Middle East, and it immediately plunged the war in Gaza into a new and uncertain phase."

Zolan Kanno-Youngs & Ephrat Livni of the New York Times: "President Biden said on Thursday that the death of Yahya Sinwar ... could create the opportunity to 'move on' to a cease-fire in Gaza, adding that he had spoken to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to congratulate him on Mr. Sinwar's death. 'It's time for this war to end and bring these hostages home. So that's what we&'re ready to do,' Mr. Biden told reporters upon his arrival in Berlin on Thursday evening. He added that he was 'hopeful' about the prospects of a cease-fire and would be sending Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken to Israel in the coming four to five days to discuss securing Gaza and what the 'day after' the war will look like." ~~~

     ~~~ Here's President Biden's statement via the White House.

Katie Rogers & Reid Epstein of the New York Times: "Declaring that 'justice has been served,' Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that the killing of Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader whom she called the 'mastermind' of the Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel, created an opportunity to end the war in Gaza. Ms. Harris spoke shortly after Israeli officials confirmed the death of Mr. Sinwar, who was viewed as the architect of the Hamas-led attack, in which militants killed roughly 1,200 people and took about 250 others hostage."

⭐ Josef Federman, et al., of the AP: "Israeli forces in Gaza killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel's most wanted man. Israeli leaders celebrated his killing as a settling of scores just over a year after Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others in an attack that stunned the country. They also presented it as a turning point in the campaign to destroy Hamas, urging the group to surrender and release some 100 hostages still in Gaza. 'Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the start of the day after Hamas,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. U.S. officials expressed hopes for a cease-fire with Sinwar out of the picture." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Israel's wars are here: "The Israeli military said on Thursday that it was assessing whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed in the Gaza Strip. The military released no further details about the assessment, but four Israeli officials said the military was taking the body of a slain militant to a laboratory in Israel in order to assess whether its DNA matches that of Mr. Sinwar." ~~~

Update: "The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that Yahya Sinwar, the powerful and elusive militant leader who has been the No. 1 target for Israel since the beginning of the war, had been killed in battle. Mr. Sinwar was viewed as the architect of the brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel that set off the 13-month war that has plunged the Gaza Strip into a humanitarian crisis and began a wider conflict that now includes the fighting in Lebanon." (Also linked yesterday.)

The New York Times has an obituary of Sinwar here. (Also linked yesterday.)

The Conversation -- October 17, 2024

⭐ Confessions of a Suit. John D. Miller in a U.S. News opinion piece: "I want to apologize to America. I helped create a monster.... I led the team that marketed 'The Apprentice,' the reality show that made Donald Trump a household name outside of New York City, where he was better known for overextending his empire and appearing in celebrity gossip columns. To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty.... At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was.... To sell the show, we created the narrative that Trump was a super-successful businessman who lived like royalty. That was the conceit of the show. At the very least, it was a substantial exaggeration; at worst, it created a false narrative by making him seem more successful than he was." Read on.

Marie: Decades ago, when Steve Martin was a stand-up comic, he did a joke where he gave advice on how to make a million dollars and not pay any taxes: "First, make a million dollars. Then, when the IRS asks you why you didn't pay any taxes, say 'I forgot.'" Well, I've got a joke that's not so funny. Because it works: "Here's how to make a billion dollars (or 247 billion) and take control of a major foreign country. First get 247 billion dollars; then, become a U.S. citizen & bribe Donald Trump."

Zach Montague of the New York Times: "The Biden administration has reached a major milestone in its pursuit of expansive student debt relief, announcing on Thursday that over one million people have had their federal student debt canceled through a program that offers forgiveness to public service workers. For President Biden, whose student debt agenda has been repeatedly handicapped by Republican legal challenges, the announcement marked a modest but undeniable achievement. With just weeks until the election, the administration has reported approving around $175 billion in total student debt relief for nearly five million borrowers through all the actions taken during Mr. Biden's presidency."

Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "An independent panel reviewing the failures that led to the attempted assassination of ... Donald J. Trump in July called on the Secret Service to replace its leadership with people from the private sector and focus almost exclusively on its protective mission. The recommendations, part of a report released Thursday commissioned by the Department of Homeland Security, outlined deficiencies that have already been identified in the months after the rally in Butler, Pa., on July 13. Those include the failure of the Secret Service to secure a nearby building where a rooftop would-be assassin fired eight shots toward Mr. Trump. That and other security lapses, members of the panel said, result from an absence of 'critical thinking' among agents and supervisors. The panel was particularly struck by a 'lack of ownership' conveyed by the agents it interviewed. Those involved in the security planning did not take responsibility in the lead-up to the event, nor did they own failures in the aftermath. And, the report added, they 'have done little in the way of self-reflection in terms of identifying areas of missteps, omissions or opportunities for improvement.'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Here's the irony: every intellectual lapse the panel identifies in Secret Service leadership is one that the target of the assassination shares: absence of critical think, lack of ownership of mistakes, failure to take responsibility from the git-go right through the follow-up and "little in the way of self-reflection in terms of identifying areas of missteps, omissions or [making] opportunities for improvement."

The Miracle of Evolution: A Turtle Morphs into a Chicken. Mary Jalonick of the AP: "Mitch McConnell said after the 2020 election that ... Donald Trump was 'stupid as well as being ill-tempered,' a 'despicable human being' and a 'narcissist,' according to excerpts from a new biography of the Senate Republican leader that will be released this month. McConnell made the remarks in private as part of a series of personal oral histories that he made available to Michael Tackett, deputy Washington bureau chief of The Associated Press. Tackett's book, 'The Price of Power,' draws from almost three decades of McConnell's recorded diaries and from years of interviews with the normally reticent Kentucky Republican.... Despite those strong words, McConnell has endorsed Trump's 2024 run...."

⭐ Josef Federman, et al., of the AP: Israeli forces in Gaza killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, a chief architect of last year's attack on Israel that sparked the war, the military said Thursday. Troops appeared to have run across him unknowingly in a battle, only to discover afterwards that a body in the rubble was Israel's most wanted man. Israeli leaders celebrated his killing as a settling of scores just over a year after Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel and kidnapped 250 others in an attack that stunned the country. They also presented it as a turning point in the campaign to destroy Hamas, urging the group to surrender and release some 100 hostages still in Gaza. 'Hamas will no longer rule Gaza. This is the start of the day after Hamas,' Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said. U.S. officials expressed hopes for a cease-fire with Sinwar out of the picture."

The New York Times' live updates of developments Thursday in Israel's wars are here: "The Israeli military said on Thursday that it was assessing whether Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar had been killed in the Gaza Strip. The military released no further details about the assessment, but four Israeli officials said the military was taking the body of a slain militant to a laboratory in Israel in order to assess whether its DN matches that of Mr. Sinwar." ~~~

Update: "The Israeli military confirmed on Thursday that Yahya Sinwar, the powerful and elusive militant leader who has been the No. 1 target for Israel since the beginning of the war, had been killed in battle. Mr. Sinwar was viewed as the architect of the brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel that set off the 13-month war that has plunged the Gaza Strip into a humanitarian crisis and began a wider conflict that now includes the fighting in Lebanon."

The New York Times has an obituary of Sinwar here.

~~~~~~~~~~

Presidential Race

Nicholas Nehamas & Katie Rogers of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris sat for the most adversarial interview of her campaign on Wednesday, sparring with the Fox News anchor Bret Baier over the border, President Biden's mental fitness and whether ... Donald J. Trump is a threat to American democracy. For a Democratic presidential candidate, appearing on Fox News is about as close as going into the lion's den as it gets.... But Ms. Harris -- giving her first interview on Fox News in an attempt to reach millions of voters, especially conservative-leaning women, who have probably not heard much of her message -- largely steered the conversation in her preferred direction. Here are six takeaways from the interview. [1] She broke with Biden (a little).... [2] An aggressive Bret Baier pushed right-wing arguments.... [3] For Harris, the interview was largely meant to appeal to women ... [4] and those women saw the vice president being interrupted repeatedly.... [5] The interview showed the limits of her outreach to Republicans.... [6] Harris flipped a Trump transgender attack back on him." ~~~

     ~~~ Glenn Thrush of the New York Times: "A campaign ad released by ... Donald J. Trump in battleground states slams Vice President Harris for supporting taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for prisoners and migrants, concluding: 'Kamala is for they/them. President Trump is for you.' But ... Trump appointees at the Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Justice Department, provided an array of gender-affirming treatments, including hormone therapy, for a small group of inmates who requested it during Mr. Trump's four years in office." ~~~

     ~~~ Fritz Farrow, et al., of ABC News: "Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday hammered ... Donald Trump as thin-skinned and a threat to U.S. democracy in a combative interview with Fox News.... The interview was testy throughout, including multiple exchanges in which Harris and Fox News anchor Bret Baier repeatedly spoke over each other." ~~~

     ~~~ Brian Stelter of CNN: "Fox is effectively a television extension of Donald Trump's campaign.... Analysts have described the vice president's appearance on Fox as a surprising visit to 'enemy territory.' [Bret] Baier has tried to position himself above that partisan fray as 'fair, balanced and unafraid,' as he says in his sign-off every night. But a review of Baier's emails and comments during the 2020 election aftermath suggests otherwise. And his recent social media activity shows that he is supremely aware of the Fox base's extreme disdain for Harris and distrust of the media. Baier, the anchor of Fox's 6 p.m. 'Special Report' newscast, is also the network's chief political anchor.... Baier expressed a remarkable degree of sympathy for the Trump base's unsupported screams about a stolen [2020] election."

Erica Green of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday made her most direct and expansive pitch yet to conservative and moderate voters, appearing in Pennsylvania with a phalanx of Republican elected officials who have set aside their party loyalties to try to defeat ... Donald J. Trump. At a campaign event in Bucks County, Pa., Ms. Harris tried to strike a unifying tone even as she castigated her opponent, casting her campaign as one that embraced anyone who believed that Mr. Trump should not serve a second term.... The gathering in Washington Crossing, Pa., [close to where George Washington crossed the Delaware to attack the Hessian garrison in Trenton] featured distinctly patriotic notes not found at other campaign events, including a large, red banner reading 'Country over party,' the presenting of the colors and the Pledge of Allegiance.... Ms. Harris laid out a broad, historically based argument about the sanctity of democracy.... As she recited how Mr. Trump tried to overturn the 2020 election, she went out of her way to praise former Vice President Mike Pence, who has declined to endorse his former boss, for his 'courage and patriotism' in preventing Mr. Trump from 'overturning the will of the American people.'" ~~~

     ~~~ You can watch Harris's full speech here.

Here was Gov. Tim Walz in rural Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, discussing gun control to people who just might be gun owners. There's a punch line: ~~~

     ~~~ There's a somewhat hilarious update on those 34 felonies. See Rachel Maddow's live report, embedded below, & Megan Lebowitz's print story, linked below, which is based on Maddow's reporting.

~~~ And here's Walz talking about venture capitalist JayDee: ~~~

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 on Oct. 1 and has been in hospice care since February 2023, submitted his absentee ballot on Wednesday, according to Jason Carter, the former president's grandson. Jason Carter, the chairman of the Carter Center, said in a text message on Wednesday that his grandfather's ballot had been deposited at a drop box at a local courthouse. For weeks, according to the Carter family, the former president was privately playing down becoming a centenarian. Instead, Mr. Carter's relatives said, he was most eager about voting for Vice President Kamala Harris." (Also linked yesterday.)

Michael Gold & Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump faced blunt, direct questions in both English and Spanish from undecided Hispanic voters throughout [a Univision] town hall, which will be broadcast [Wednesday] at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Men and women from across the country came to Univision's Miami-area studio in Doral, Fla., and questioned the former president's positions on climate change, gun control and abortion rights, and his baseless claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio.... Mr. Trump kept his composure, avoiding the hostility he often exhibits when similarly questioned by the news media. But Mr. Trump did not directly engage with many of the thoughtful questions from these voters. Skirting specific answers, he retreated to his standard campaign language, often talking up the achievements of his administration and making vague promises for the future.... When Mr. Trump was asked about immigration, a central issue of his presidential campaign this year, he also remained vague about his policy plans. In front of an audience of about 100 Latino voters, he did not once mention his pledge to undertake the largest deportation operation in American history." (Also linked yesterday.)

Marie: That was a televised town hall. A teevee network gave citizens the opportunity to discuss issues with a politician, in this case a politician running for office. The event was supposed to allow for the free flow of ideas (as much as that is possible in a made-for-television show). The town hall -- in its ideal form -- constitutes a useful, if not necessarily essential, tool for democracy, giving both the politician and the citizens a chance to learn from each other. But when is a televised town hall not a town hall? When the only people in attendance, including the moderator, are part of the cult of the politician, when all of the questions put to the politician are prescreened, and when these deceptions are kept secret from the television audience, to the point clues to the character of the audience are edited out. ~~~

~~~ Trump's Potemkin Town Hall. Hadas Gold & Liam Reilly of CNN: "Fox News hosted an all-women town hall with ... Donald Trump, billed as an opportunity for female voters to ask the Republican candidate questions that matter to them. The Georgia town hall, where Trump took questions on reproductive laws, transgender rights and other issues, aired Wednesday morning. But Fox News did not disclose that the female audience it selected for the event was packed with local Republican supporters and the network edited its broadcast to remove some of their vocal advocacy of Trump. The Georgia Federation of Republican Women wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday that the group helped host the event, posting photos from the venue and writing they were 'Super excited for the opportunity of hosting this event right here in Georgia!'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: This is how the authoritarians do it. There is a dramatic and ironic contrast between Harris's "going into the lion's den," as the NYT put it, on the same day Trump granted an audience to his courtesans. When Trump calls Harris "weak," he is projecting again. ~~~

~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump declared himself the 'father of I.V.F.' in a town-hall event Tuesday focused on women's issues, an eyebrow-raising nickname that was his latest attempt to claim an advantage on a matter that has become a political liability. The Supreme Court justices Mr. Trump appointed enabled the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a ruling that he has praised and that opened the door to possible restrictions on in vitro fertilization.... Congressional Republicans have voted twice in the past four months to block bills that would protect the legality of I.V.F.... Mr. Trump said, as he has before, that he learned how significant the Alabama Supreme Court ruling was from Katie Britt, the state's junior senator and a Republican.... He added that he had asked Ms. Britt to explain to him what I.V.F. was before concluding that he supported it." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The first IVF baby was born in 1978. Donald Trump admits he didn't know what IVF was until last year when Britt became a U.S. senator. Forty-five years later. He is the "father of IVF" the way he is the historian who discovered that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. He thinks that when he occasionally learns something he didn't know before (even if millions of people already knew it), that he invented it. When the shrinks are writing down the symptoms of narcissism, they should add this one. ~~~

~~~ Daniel Dale of CNN: At the fake town hall, Trump "told a bunch of lies.... [He] made at least 19 false claims in the one-hour event that aired Wednesday morning..., notably including an absurd claim that he is 'the father of IVF.'"

Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said Wednesday that former President Trump did not lose in 2020 'by the words that I would use' -- some of his most extensive comments yet on the subject of the last presidential election results. '... on the election of 2020 -- I've answered this question directly, a million times -- no,' Vance said a campaign event in Pennsylvania when a reporter asked what message Vance thought it sent to independent voters when he didn't directly answer the question 'Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?... I think there were serious problems in 2020. So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use,' Vance said." (Also linked yesterday.) The New York Times story is here.

Neal Katyal in a New York Times op-ed: "In 2024, the judicial branch may be unable to save our democracy. The rogues are no longer amateurs. They have spent the last four years going pro, meticulously devising a strategy across multiple fronts -- state legislatures, Congress, executive branches and elected judges -- to overturn any close election. The new challenges will take place in forums that have increasingly purged officials who put country over party. They may take place against the backdrop of razor-thin election margins in key swing states, meaning that any successful challenge could change the election.... In the courts, dozens of suits have already been filed.... State officials and local election boards also can wreak havoc by refusing to certify elections, and this time they will have new tools to manufacture justifications for undermining democracy.... State legislatures ... might make baseless allegations of fraud and interfere to get a different slate of electors appointed to the Electoral College, as happened in 2020.... The Congress has the power to swing the entire election."

Spencer Hsu & Perry Stein of the Washington Post: "A Supreme Court ruling in June dealt a blow to the Jan. 6 prosecutions: More than 100 of the people at the Capitol riot, the high court said, had been improperly charged with obstructing an official proceeding. But Donald Trump was not among them, because he did far more than interrupt the proceedings at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, special counsel Jack Smith asserted in a new filing Wednesday. In the filing -- the first time Smith has formally given his view of how the Supreme Court's decision in Fischer v. United States affects the Jan. 6 prosecution of the former president -- the special counsel pointed to what he alleges were efforts by Trump and his allies to have slates of electors in states where President Joe Biden won cast their vote instead for him. That, Smith argued, qualifies as impairment of evidence and obstruction of an official proceeding, even under the Supreme Court's new, narrower guidance." The NBC News report, by Ryan Reilly, is here.

Trump Offers Stormy Daniels More Hush Money. Megan Lebowitz of NBC News: "... Donald Trump this summer offered a financial incentive to adult film star Stormy Daniels if she agreed to keep quiet about Trump -- including about the relationship that became the center of the hush money payments that ended up the subject of a New York criminal trial -- ... MSNBC's Rachel Maddow reported on Wednesday.... In a [civil] case separate from the [criminal] hush money trial [in which Trump was convicted of 34 felonies], Daniels was ordered to pay for Trump's legal fees after she lost a defamation suit she filed against him. About two months after the hush money trial, Trump's lawyer told Daniels' representative that the former president would agree to a lower payment if she agreed not to make any disparaging comments about Trump.... In a statement to MSNBC, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung falsely asserted that the documents Maddow referenced 'were attained as part of an illegal, foreign hacking attack against President Trump and his team.'... MSNBC obtained the documents from Daniels' lawyer, not through a hack." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: In October 2016, Donald Trump agreed to pay Stormy Daniels hush money, an agreement that eventually led to his conviction on 34 felony counts. Now, in October 2020, Trump has once again offered Daniels hush money. It isn't only that you can't teach an old dog new tricks; this old dog can't stop doing the old tricks. Here's Rachel Maddow reporting on her findings on last night's Chris Hayes show: ~~~

Okay, this is mighty gross opinionating, but I guess Trump deserves it: ~~~

Two stories from the "How Low Can They Go?" File Drawer: ~~~

⭐ 1. Anna Massoglia of Open Secrets: "An initiative called Progress 2028 that purports to be Kamala Harris' liberal counter to the conservative Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 is actually run by a dark money network supporting ... Donald Trump. Building America's Future, the dark money group at the helm of the network, has steered money to a constellation of groups and initiatives boosting Trump's agenda and spreading messaging aimed at chipping away voters from Harris. The dark money group reportedly received over $100 million in funding from billionaire Elon Musk, along with other donors, the New York Times recently reported.... Some of the policies listed in Progress 2028 highlight disproven and misleading claims about Harris' positions. Policies listed include 'Empowering Undocumented Immigrants, Building Our Future' and 'Expanding Medicaid to Undocumented Immigrants.'... Some individuals have received text messages directing them to the Progress 2028 page.... Progress 2028 has also started pouring money into digital advertising.... Building America's Future ... has a history of fueling initiatives impersonating and parodying Democrats."

2. David Corn of Mother Jones: "In Arizona, older people recently received a mailer declaring Medicare had been cancelled. It had a big red stamp that proclaimed, 'Medicare Cancellation Notice.' Also emblazoned on its front was this: 'Warning: Rates are going up & plans are being cancelled. Details enclosed.' Its return address was the 'Department of Medicare Cancellation, Kamala Harris Administration.' That return address should have been a tip-off that this was not an official notification -- along with a scrawled add-on in cursive: 'I hope you can afford to lose your insurance! -- Kamala Harris XOXO.' It's hard to know whether any recipient saw this and received a shock, fearing their Medicare was being cut off. But the group that sent out this official-looking piece of campaign literature, Make America Great Again, Inc., a pro-Trump super PAC, was spreading false and misleading information about Medicare and about Harris.... MAGA, Inc. is the top pro-Trump super PAC."

Sam Woods in McSweeney's on the dilemma of the undecided Hobbit, torn "between the Dark Lord determined to return to power and stay there until shadows drown all of Arda, or the Elf Galadriel, who seems to be great and exceedingly normal, but I just wish I knew more about her."

Justin Jouvenal Maxine Joselow of the Washington Post: "The Supreme Court cleared the way Wednesday for a Biden administration plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions from power plants burning fossil fuels, denying an emergency appeal by more than two dozen Republican-led states, utilities and others.... The Biden administration said the plan was calibrated to avoid economic harm and problems for the electric grid, and that the rule would protect communities from pollution and help the nation meet long-term goals to combat climate change. The initiative is one of the administration's most significant actions on global warming.... As is customary, the majority of the justices did not give a reason as to why they denied the emergency request on carbon emissions from power plants. But a statement attached to the denial order indicates that some justices may be inclined to eventually block or strike down the power plant regulations." MB: Usual suspects (Thomas, Kavenaugh, Gorsuch), except Alito recused himself for no specified reason.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Ethel Kennedy, the widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and matriarch of a political dynasty, was remembered on Wednesday by three presidents, star musicians and many, many relatives during a memorial service in Washington. President Biden eulogized Mrs. Kennedy, who died last Thursday at 96, as 'a hero in her own right, full of character, full of integrity and empathy, genuine empathy.' Growing emotional, Mr. Biden credited her for encouraging him to stay in the Senate after a car accident killed his first wife and infant daughter in 1972. 'Ethel Kennedy would hear none of it,' Mr. Biden said in the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle. 'Fact is, like she did for the country, Ethel helped my family find a way forward.'... Mr. Biden and two former presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, gave speeches. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi honored Mrs. Kennedy 'from an official standpoint and from a girlfriend standpoint.' Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the civil rights leader, compared Mrs. Kennedy to his mother, saying she built 'beautiful bridges of greater understanding.'"

~~~~~~~~~~

California. Ruth Graham & Orlando Mayorquín of the New York Times: "The Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the nation's largest, has agreed to pay $880 million to 1,353 people who say they were sexually abused as children by Catholic clergy. The settlement, which experts said was the highest single payout by a diocese, brings Los Angeles's cumulative total in sex abuse lawsuits to more than $1.5 billion. The settlement was announced on Wednesday in a joint statement by lawyers for the plaintiffs and the archdiocese.... The agreement represents the near conclusion to decades of litigation against the archdiocese, with only a few suits remaining. Over the years, the archdiocese has sold off real estate, liquidated investments and taken out loans to cover the staggering costs of litigation."

Georgia. Amy Gardner of the Washington Post: "A Georgia judge [-- Fulton County Superior Court Judge Thomas A. Cox Jr. --] on Wednesday blocked a series of rules approved this year by a pro-Trump majority of the state's election board, admonishing the board in stinging language that the rules are 'ILLEGAL, UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND VOID.' The judge struck down more than a half-dozen new rules, including one that allowed county election officials to launch investigations of irregularities, which critics feared would delay certification." CNN's report is here.

Montana Senate Race. "Little Black Girls." Igor Bobic of the Huffington Post: "Republican Senate candidate Tim Sheehy of Montana wants to abolish the U.S. Department of Education, claiming it is meant to 'indoctrinate and enslave' students across the country, according to The Daily Montanan.... 'We formed that department so little Black girls could go to school down South and we could have integrated schooling. We don't need that anymore,' he [said].... [Sen. Jon] Tester [D-Mont.] slammed his GOP opponent and vowed to protect the public school system on Tuesday."

Texas Senate Race. Saul Elbein & Julia Mueller of the Hill have some takeaways from the debate between Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) & Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Allred is challenging Cruz for the Senate seat. (Also linked yesterday.)

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Italy. Emma Bubola of the New York Times: "Italy passed a law on Wednesday that criminalizes seeking surrogacy abroad, a move the country's conservative government said would protect women's dignity, while critics see it as yet another crackdown by the government on L.G.B.T. families, as the law will make it virtually impossible for gay fathers to have children. Surrogacy is already illegal in Italy. But the government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has vowed to broaden the ban to punish Italians who seek it in countries where it is legal, like in parts of the United States. Analysts saw the legislation as a way for Ms. Meloni to assert her conservative credentials and appeal to her political base, which disproportionately opposes surrogacy and adoption by gay couples. Italy, home to the Vatican, already ranks low in Europe when it comes to civil liberties, and Italian critics say that by imposing further restrictions on gay families, Ms. Meloni has taken a particularly hard line."

Israel/Palestine, et al. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Thursday in Israel's wars is here: "The United States carried out strikes in Yemen using long-range B-2 stealth bombers to target underground weapons storage facilities used by the Houthis, an Iranian-backed militant group, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters that there had been 'some improvement' in food aid delivery to northern Gaza in recent days, after no aid had entered for about two weeks and the Biden administration warned Israel that military aid could be affected if the flow of aid did not increase."

Ukraine, et al. Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden surged $425 million to Ukraine's defense against Russia on Wednesday.... Mr. Biden spoke by telephone to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine about the security package, which includes munitions, armored vehicles and other weapons, the White House announced. The package comes as Mr. Biden is set to travel to Germany on Thursday for a brief trip that is likely to be his last visit to Europe as commander in chief. He will use the opportunity to remind the world of the importance of alliances just three weeks before the U.S. presidential election." (Also linked yesterday.)

News Lede

New York Times: "Mitzi Gaynor, the bubbly actress, singer and dancer who landed one of the most coveted movie roles of the mid-20th century, the female lead in 'South Pacific,' but who abandoned film as the era of movie musical came to an end, died on Thursday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 93."

The Conversation -- October 16, 2024

Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden surged $425 million to Ukraine's defense against Russia on Wednesday.... Mr. Biden spoke by telephone to President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine about the security package, which includes munitions, armored vehicles and other weapons, the White House announced. The package comes as Mr. Biden is set to travel to Germany on Thursday for a brief trip that is likely to be his last visit to Europe as commander in chief. He will use the opportunity to remind the world of the importance of alliances just three weeks before the U.S. presidential election."

Michael Gold & Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Mr. Trump faced blunt, direct questions in both English and Spanish from undecided Hispanic voters throughout [a Univision] town hall, which will be broadcast [Wednesday] at 10 p.m. Eastern time. Men and women from across the country came to Univision's Miami-area studio in Doral, Fla., and questioned the former president's positions on climate change, gun control and abortion rights, and his baseless claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio.... Mr. Trump kept his composure, avoiding the hostility he often exhibits when similarly questioned by the news media. But Mr. Trump did not directly engage with many of the thoughtful questions from these voters. Skirting specific answers, he retreated to his standard campaign language, often talking up the achievements of his administration and making vague promises for the future.... When Mr. Trump was asked about immigration, a central issue of his presidential campaign this year, he also remained vague about his policy plans. In front of an audience of about 100 Latino voters, he did not once mention his pledge to undertake the largest deportation operation in American history."

Hadas Gold & Liam Reilly of CNN: "Fox News hosted an all-women town hall with ... Donald Trump, billed as an opportunity for female voters to ask the Republican candidate questions that matter to them. The Georgia town hall, where Trump took questions on reproductive laws, transgender rights and other issues, aired Wednesday morning. But Fox News did not disclose that the female audience it selected for the event was packed with local Republican supporters and the network edited its broadcast to remove some of their vocal advocacy of Trump. The Georgia Federation of Republican Women wrote on its Facebook page Wednesday that the group helped host the event,posting photos from the venue and writing they were 'Super excited for the opportunity of hosting this event right here in Georgia!'" ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Oh noes! I think this mean that CNN should lose its broadcast license the way Trump says CBS should lose its because "60 Minutes" did a few industry-wide standard edits. (Never mind that CNN is not a broadcast network & the CBS network doesn't have a broadcast license [its owned-and-operated stations & affiliates do]). ~~~

~~~ Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump declared himself the 'father of I.V.F.' in a town-hall event Tuesday focused on women's issues, an eyebrow-raising nickname that was his latest attempt to claim an advantage on a matter that has become a political liability. The Supreme Court justices Mr. Trump appointed enabled the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a ruling that he has praised and that opened the door to possible restrictions on in vitro fertilization.... Congressional Republicans have voted twice in the past four months to block bills that would protect the legality of I.V.F.... Mr. Trump said, as he has before, that he learned how significant the Alabama Supreme Court ruling was from Katie Britt, the state's junior senator and a Republican.... He added that he had asked Ms. Britt to explain to him what I.V.F. was before concluding that he supported it." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: The first IVF baby was born in 1978. Donald Trump admits he didn't know what IVF was until last year when Britt became a U.S. senator. Forty-five years later. He is the "father of IVF" the way he is the historian who discovered Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. He thinks that when he occasionally learns something he didn't know before (even if millions of other people knew it), that he invented it. When the shrinks are writing down the symptoms of narcissism, they should add this one.

Caroline Vakil of the Hill: "Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) said Wednesday that former President Trump did not lose in 2020 'by the words that I would use' -- some of his most extensive comments yet on the subject of the last presidential election results. 'First of all, on the election of 2020 -- I've answered this question directly, a million times -- no,' Vance said a campaign event in Pennsylvania when a reporter asked what message Vance thought it sent to independent voters when he didn't directly answer the question 'Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?... I think there were serious problems in 2020. So did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use,' Vance said."

Alan Blinder of the New York Times: "Jimmy Carter, who turned 100 on Oct. 1 and has been in hospice care since February 2023, submitted his absentee ballot on Wednesday, according to Jason Carter, the former president's grandson. Jason Carter, the chairman of the Carter Center, said in a text message on Wednesday that his grandfather's ballot had been deposited at a drop box at a local courthouse. For weeks, according to the Carter family, the former president was privately playing down becoming a centenarian. Instead, Mr. Carter's relatives said, he was most eager about voting for Vice President Kamala Harris."

Here's Rep. Colin Allred, (D-Texas) who is challenging Sen. Ted Cruz, answering a moderator's question about January 6, 2021, in the only debate between the two: ~~~

~~~ Saul Elbein & Julia Mueller of the Hill have some takeaways from the debate.

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Presidential Race

Nicholas Nehamas & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris agreed on Tuesday with the radio host Charlamagne Tha God that former President Donald J. Trump was a fascist, going a step further than she had before in casting her Republican rival as a dangerous authoritarian leader. During a free-flowing interview that often spoke to the concerns of Black Americans, Ms. Harris was contrasting her vision for the nation with Mr. Trump's when Charlamagne jumped in to say: 'The other is about fascism. Why can't we just say it?' 'Yes, we can say that,' Ms. Harris replied.... Here are five takeaways from the interview."

Zach Montague & Zolan Kanno-Youngs of the New York Times: "President Biden and Jill Biden, the first lady, joined the pitched electoral struggle over Pennsylvania on Tuesday, fanning out with three appearances across the Philadelphia area intended to aid Vice President Kamala Harris in what may be the most consequential swing state. While his wife helped staff a phone bank across town, Mr. Biden joined a dinner held by the Philadelphia Democratic City Committee at the local sheet metal workers' union hall, where he revved up attendees with a punchy speech and unleashed a long list of attacks against ... Donald J. Trump.... But as often as Mr. Biden sought to contrast his record with Mr. Trump's, he carefully tacked back several times to express support for Ms. Harris. He compared her to himself in growing out of his role as former President Barack Obama's running mate, seeking to support her without defining her in his own unpopular image."

Jazmine Ulloa of the New York Times: "Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, wearing a camouflage baseball cap and red-and-black plaid flannel, took the stage on Tuesday as the skies cleared on a muddy farm in Lawrence County, Pa.... 'Been a lot of talk about outsiders coming in, coming into rural communities, stealing our jobs, making life worse for the people who are living there,' he said, alluding to [Republicans'] hostile remarks about immigrants.... 'Those outsiders have names. They're Donald Trump and JD Vance,' he said, eliciting laughter and a few whistles from the audience. The event on Tuesday was part of a Wisconsin and Pennsylvania swing that Mr. Walz used to unveil his ticket's plans to address the needs of rural voters.... The Harris-Walz plan promises to expand telemedicine, increase the number of ambulances and add 10,000 health care professionals in rural areas. It also includes efforts to increase access to credit for small- and midsize farmers and producers, to lower the cost of child care and to spur new construction to lower housing costs." Trump continued his "enemy within" refrain.

Marie: What Tim Walz says in the video below is along the lines of what I was thinking yesterday when I read about Trump's townhall abdication. His behavior was "bizarre" only in the sense it was, well, bizarre. For Trump, his pathetic dance party was completely in character and not at all atypical. He does what he wants when he wants to, no matter what his obligations. If what he wants to do is inconvenient or difficult or cruel or even dangerous to others, so what? So whether he wants to cancel a town hall after taking only a few questions, or leave thousands of supporters stranded in the desert, as long as it suits him, it's all good. ~~~

Lisa Lerer & Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump is pushing to the forefront of his campaign a menacing political threat: that he would use the power of the presidency to crush those who disagree with him. In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Mr. Trump framed Democrats as a pernicious 'enemy from within' that would cause chaos on Election Day that he speculated the National Guard might need to handle. A day later, he closed his remarks to a crowd at what was billed as a town hall in Pennsylvania with a stark message about his political opponents. 'They are so bad and frankly, they're evil,' Mr. Trump said.... And on Tuesday, he once again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power when pressed by an interviewer at an economic forum in Chicago.... Never before has a presidential nominee -- let alone a former president -- openly suggested turning the military on American citizens simply because they oppose his candidacy. As he escalates his threats of political retribution, Mr. Trump is offering voters the choice of a very different, and far less democratic, form of American government." ~~~

     ~~~ David Edwards of the Raw Story: "Donald Trump clashed with Bloomberg Editor-In-Chief John Micklethwait after the former president claimed to have had a peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election.... 'If you look at the events of January the 6th, 2021, it showed to many people America's democracy was unruly and violent,' [Micklethwait] said. 'Will you commit now to respecting and encouraging a peaceful transfer of power?' 'You had a peaceful transfer of power,' Trump insisted. 'Come on, President Trump!' Micklethwait exclaimed. 'You had a peaceful transfer of power compared with Venezuela, but it was by far the worst transfer of power for a long time.'"

Peter Baker of the New York Times: "When he was president, Donald J. Trump grew incensed that former Secretary of State John Kerry still talked with foreign officials after leaving office -- so much so, in fact, that he tried to have Mr. Kerry thrown in prison.... In meeting after meeting, [Mr. Trump] repeatedly badgered Attorney General William P. Barr to charge Mr. Kerry.... But ... Mr. Trump said on Tuesday that it would be 'a good thing' for him to have stayed in touch with [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. The former president and current Republican nominee did not explicitly acknowledge talking with Mr. Putin over the past four years, as reported in a new book by the journalist Bob Woodward. But he did not dispute it, either, when asked during an appearance at the Economic Club of Chicago on Tuesday...." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: One big difference between Kerry's contact with foreign officials and Trump's, according to previous stories I've read: Kerry kept in contact with the State Department about his talks; Trump is keeping his little chats with Putin secret.

Alan Rappeport & Ana Swanson of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump has been offering up new tax cuts to nearly every group of voters that he meets in recent weeks.... On Tuesday, Mr. Trump made clear that he was unfazed by [criticism of his careless promises] and offered a one-word solution: growth. Despite the doubts of economists from across the political spectrum, Mr. Trump said that he would just juice the economy by the force of his will and scoffed at suggestions that his pledges to abolish taxes on overtime, tips and Social Security benefits could cost as much as $15 trillion. 'I was always very good at mathematics,' Mr. Trump told John Micklethwait, the editor in chief of Bloomberg News, in an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago.... Mr. Trump maintained that the threat of draconian tariffs would be the centerpiece of his economic agenda ... and denied the possibility that the tariffs would hurt American businesses.... Asked to explain how his ideas all added up, Mr. Trump praised his [own] math skills and lashed out at Mr. Micklethwait for appearing skeptical. 'You've been wrong all your life,' Mr. Trump said." The Guardian's report is here. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: What's remarkable here is that Trump seems to have no idea that "math skills" have almost nothing to do with developing sound macroeconomic policy. You could be tops at calculus and have no idea about supply & demand curves or monetary policy. Whatever Trump's grades in high-school algebra 65 years ago, they do not suggest he would be good at steering economic policy. In fact, the evidence of his own irresponsible proposals, along with his lifelong refusal to accept the advice of others ("my primary consultant is myself") mitigates against his ever initiating wise fiscal policy. ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: AND Another Thing. According to her NYT page, Ana Swanson "cover[s] trade and international economics." So you might think the article she co-wrote where they cover Trump's proposed tariffs would, you know, do some pushback. But no. The reporters do call Trump's tariffs "draconian" and "punishing," but here's their "analysis": "Many economists have said those moves [i.e., imposing high tariffs] would push up prices for American households and could even threaten to cause a recession in the United States. When confronted with those criticisms on Tuesday, Mr. Trump disagreed with the idea that tariffs would push up prices for American consumers." So some anonymous economists are critical, but hey, Trump disagrees. Both Fucking Sides. The WashPo does much better: ~~~

~~~ Jeff Stein & David Lynch of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump is campaigning on the most significant increase in tariffs in close to a century, preparing an attack on the international trade order that is likely to raise prices, hurt the stock market and spark economic feuds with much of the world.... These proposals would go far beyond the disruptive trade wars of his first term even if they are only partially implemented. They would wrench the nation out of the system of global interdependence that arose in recent decades, making the U.S. economy much more isolated and autonomous, like it was in the late 19th century. (Trump last week falsely claimed that the United States was never richer than in the 1890s, when it had high trade barriers.)... Americans would be hit by higher prices for grocery staples from abroad, such as fruit, vegetables and coffee. Domestic firms dependent on imports would need to either figure out new supply chains or raise costs for consumers. U.S. manufacturers would almost certainly see sharp declines in orders from abroad as foreign nations impose retaliatory tariffs." ~~~

     ~~~ Marie: Yeah, but maybe the voting public has figured this out by now, so no use reiterating it. Really? According to Stein & Lynch, "More than half of registered voters said they would be more likely to back a candidate who supported imposing both a 10 percent tariff on all imports and a 60 percent tariff on imports from China, according to a mid-September Reuters-Ipsos poll." That is, the majority of voters think Trump tariffs are a great idea.

Liam Reilly of CNN: "Donald Trump has backed out of an interview with CNBC, marking the second time this month the former president has canceled on a mainstream press interview. Joe Kernen, the 'Squawk Box' co-anchor, broke the news of the unannounced interview's cancellation during Tuesday morning's broadcast. Kernen added that the network had also offered to sit down with Vice President Kamala Harris, but said 'she's not coming on.'" ~~~

~~~ Aaron Rupar of Public Notice: Donald Trump's "campaign undoubtedly realizes his rapidly degrading condition doesn't play well with audiences beyond the MAGA cult. As a result, they're retreating to the safer terrain of nonstop rallies and fawning Fox hits.... By any objective standard, Trump's Economic Club of Chicago interview ... a rare event that wasn't a festival of sycophancy ... was a disaster.... Trump repeatedly refused to answer questions [Bloomberg editor John] Micklethwait asked him, instead going on self-absorbed rants about how Google is unfair to him or about how he could do a better job as Federal Reserve chairman than Jerome Powell.... Trump's campaign events this week have made clear that something is just off about the guy as he hustles around the country in hopes of becoming the oldest president in history.... Then..., Trump traveled down to Atlanta for a low energy rally where he seemed to have trouble stringing together cogent sentences when he wasn't reading from the teleprompter.... At other points, Trump barely seemed able to get words out....

"Trump, however, reliably gets help from a mainstream press that too often sanewashes his speeches.... he New York Times, for instance, described Trump as 'swaying soberly' during his musical 'detour' in Pennsylvania, adding that he's known 'for improvisational departures.' The WSJ's headline about the event read 'Trump's Pennsylvania Town Hall Ends in Concert,' as though the plan all along was to have Trump behave like a maniac. ABC News' TV report on the bizarre spectacle was even worse, with a reporter praising the 'almost intimate' atmosphere and noting 'people were having a good time. It did not seem out of the ordinary.' (It was very much out of the ordinary.)"

Marie: If you are still thinking Trump must have been crazy to abandon his town hall & sway to his Spotify playlist for the better part of an hour, maybe not. Philip Bump of the Washington Post repeats Trump's "answer" -- in full -- to one of the few prescreened questions that made it pre-dance-off. A woman asked how Trump proposed to lower her grocery bill. Trump's response is lengthy and is apparently one of his "genius weaves" that unfortunately never weaves itself around one single element of his "concept of a plan" to reduce the high cost of grocery items. On the other hand, Trump does get to Hannibal Lecter, immigration, fake news, his great poll numbers and an appeal to everyone to vote on January 5. As for me, I definitely hope all of Trump's supporters wait till January 5 to vote.

Maya King of the New York Times: On Tuesday, Donald "Trump fielded questions from an audience of all women in Cumming, Ga., an Atlanta exurb an hour north of the city. Roughly 110 women from local churches and mothers' groups attended, according to a spokeswoman for Fox News. The women who asked him questions introduced themselves as Georgia residents and posed questions about his plans for the economy, public safety and immigration. Mr. Trump responded with a range of promises about what he would do if sent back to the White House, including pledges to lower energy prices by 50 percent, expand the child tax credit and outlaw sanctuary cities. [Fox News anchor Harris] Faulkner asked several follow-up questions after Mr. Trump made these claims, but he rarely specified how he would achieve his policy goals.... The group of women seemed overwhelmingly supportive of Mr. Trump, laughing at his jokes and cheering as he condemned Democrats."

Marianne LeVine, et al., of the Washington Post: "With three weeks left until Election Day, Trump is running an unorthodox, freewheeling campaign, directing threats and insults at a wide mix of people and institutions, pushing his travels deeper into Democratic states..., and wielding darkening rhetoric about undocumented immigrants and personal attacks against [Vice President] Harris at campaign events where he often veers off-script and has mixed up words.... Trump went online after midnight Tuesday to brag about acing cognitive exams he never released and his cholesterol, then misleadingly called ... Harris's allergies a 'dangerous situation.' By midday he was meandering through an interview in which he would not directly say whether he would allow a peaceful transfer of power after the election and later complained about Fox News having a Harris aide on air."

At a campaign event in Arizona on Sunday, Donald Trump introduced the Azure-Asians in the crowd. This confused many observers, including Jimmy Kimmel, who wondered why a man who hates ethnic minorities would invent a new one. But Aaron Rupar noticed that a number of people at the rally were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with "Assyrians for Trump." So Mesopotamia. Not, say, Blue-toned Pakistanis.

"Sweeping Pronouncements." Peter Bergen of CNN: "Typically, in [Bob] Woodward's books, he lets his reporting speak for itself and doesn't make sweeping pronouncements that tell the reader about his own conclusions, but 'War' is different. Woodward, who has covered every president since Nixon, writes that Trump is 'not only the wrong man for the presidency, he is also unfit to lead the country. Trump was far worse than Richard Nixon, the provably criminal president.... Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history.' Ouch! By contrast, the final sentence of 'War' asserts, 'Based on the evidence available now, I believe President Biden and this team will be largely studied in history as an example of steady and purposeful leadership.'"

Clara Morse & Maegan Vazquez of the Washington Post: "Billionaire Elon Musk gave nearly $75 million to the political action committee he created to campaign for Donald Trump, marking his latest contribution in support of the former president in the final stretch of the campaign.... Miriam Adelson, a doctor and the widow of casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, donated $95 million to Preserve America PAC between July and September. The PAC, which is primarily funded by Adelson, has been one of the largest pro-Trump advertising super PACs this election cycle."

John Ismay of the New York Times: "The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that more than 800 service members who were kicked out of the military under the now-repealed 'don't ask, don't tell' policy will receive honorable discharge upgrades. Pentagon officials said they had completed a review of about 2,000 cases, as Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III ordered last year. Mr. Austin said in a statement that the military would 'continue to honor the service and the sacrifice of all our troops -- including the brave Americans who raised their hands to serve but were turned away because of whom they love.'... People who leave the military without honorable discharges usually suffer some loss of benefits they would have been eligible to receive through the Department of Veterans Affairs, including educational benefits and health care through the V.A.'s nationwide network of hospitals and clinics....

"A Pentagon official ... said that 97 percent of the roughly 9,000 men and women kicked out under 'don't ask, don't tell' who had served long enough to be eligible for honorable discharges had now received them. The official said that there were no formal plans to look into additional cases, but that anyone who was discharged because of their sexual orientation was still eligible to apply for a review to potentially have their status upgraded."

Madeleine Ngo of the New York Times: "The Small Business Administration has run out of funds to provide low-interest loans to homeowners and businesses to repair property damaged by disasters, the Biden administration said on Tuesday. The drawdown of funds comes as residents across the Southeast are still recovering from the destructive impacts of Hurricanes Milton and Helene. Federal officials urged eligible people to continue to apply for loans, which they would continue to process while they wait for lawmakers to pass 'much-needed funding.' But Congress is not set to reconvene until Nov. 12, and congressional leaders have not committed to calling members back sooner to approve more funding for the S.B.A. or the Federal Emergency Management Agency."

When the Obituary Is the Story. Alex Traub of the New York Times: "Megan Marshack, who as a young aide to Nelson A. Rockefeller found herself at the center of sensational conjecture about the circumstances of his sudden death in 1979, died on Oct. 2 in Sacramento. She was 70. Her death, at a live-in medical facility, was announced in an obituary that her brother, Jon Marshack, said she had written herself last year.... The obituary represented Ms. Marshack's first public comment about Mr. Rockefeller, the former Republican vice president and New York governor, since she witnessed his death, also at 70, on Jan. 26, 1979. Ms. Marshack, who was widely believed to have been romantically involved with Mr. Rockefeller, had for decades remained silent about the circumstances of the death.... Ms. Marshack's self-written obituary disclosed some previously unreported details about her association with Mr. Rockefeller but did not mention a romance -- although it ended suggestively, quoting from the 1975 musical 'A Chorus Line.' Ms. Marshack wrote that she 'won't forget, can't regret what I did for love.'"

Amanda Holpuch of the New York Times: "Walgreens plans to close about 1,200 stores over the next three years, its parent company said on Tuesday, in an effort by the struggling pharmacy giant to cut costs and change focus.... There are more than 8,000 Walgreens stores in the United States, [the CEO of the chain's parent company] said, and about 6,000 of those stores were profitable."

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Georgia. Jason Morris, et al., of CNN: "A record number of early votes have been cast in Georgia on Tuesday as residents headed to the polls in a critical battleground state that is grappling with the fallout from Hurricane Helene and controversial election administration changes that have spurred a flurry of lawsuits. More than 328,000 ballots were cast Tuesday, Gabe Sterling of the Georgia secretary of state's office said on X. 'So with the record breaking 1st day of early voting and accepted absentees we have had over 328,000 total votes cast so far,' he said. The previous first day record was 136,000 in 2020, Sterling said." ~~~

~~~ Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A county judge in Georgia on Tuesday blocked a new rule mandating a hand count of election ballots across the state. Enacting such a sweeping change for the November election, he said, was 'too much, too late.' Judge Robert C.I. McBurney did not, however, knock down the rule outright; his decision was confined to the current election, halting the rule from taking effect for 2024 while he further weighs its merits.... The rule was one of many new election provisions approved in Georgia since summer that hewed closely to policy goals of right-wing election activists. It was a key achievement of the State Election Board, which has recently been governed by a 3-2 right-wing majority." The NBC News story is here. ~~~

~~~ Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A county judge [-- Robert C.I. McBurney --] in Georgia has rejected an argument by allies of ... Donald J. Trump that local election officials have the power to refuse to certify election results, finding the process to be mandatory and one that must meet critical deadlines. The ruling cuts at the heart of a key argument from right-wing activists following the 2020 election, when Mr. Trump sought to disrupt the certification process as part of his bid to subvert the results. In years since, right-wing groups have been seeking much broader authority and power over the certification process, an ambitious -- and legally dubious -- attempt to reimagine decades of settled law." (Also linked yesterday.)

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Israel/Palestine, et al.

The New York Times' live updates of developments Wednesday in Israel's wars are here: "Israel's military carried out airstrikes early Wednesday in Hezbollah-dominated areas in southern Lebanon and outside Beirut. They were Israel's first attacks in days near the Lebanese capital and came a day after the United States said that it had expressed concerns about the scale of Israel's weekslong bombardment there. The strikes in southern Lebanon hit municipal buildings in Nabatieh and killed at least five people, including the city's mayor, Lebanese officials said. The Israeli military said that it had struck Hezbollah targets in and around Nabatieh, one of the largest cities in southern Lebanon, many of whose residents have fled after recent Israeli evacuation warnings." ~~~

     ~~~ The Washington Post's live updates Wednesday are here.

Michael Crowley & David Sanger of the New York Times: "The Biden administration warned Israel over the weekend that a failure to allow the delivery of more humanitarian aid within 30 days to the nearly two million people trapped in Gaza could trigger a cutoff of military aid, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The sharply worded warning was sent on Sunday in a letter signed by Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, rather than President Biden. It was addressed to Israel's minister of defense, Yoav Gallant, and its minister of strategic affairs, Ron Dermer. The decision not to put the letter in Mr. Biden's name, some aides said, may provide a level of insulation for Vice President Kamala Harris, who as the Democratic nominee for president has walked a fine line, declining to issue any threats to Israel even while urging that the war must end quickly, in part to end the 'heartbreaking' loss of Palestinian lives."

Ephrat Livni & Johnatan Reiss of the New York Times: "Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the Israeli government to explain why there appears to be no comprehensive system in place to facilitate evacuations of sick Gazans who are not involved in the Hamas-Israel war to other countries for needed treatment. The order stems from a petition filed by three Israeli human rights groups in early June, following the closure of the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt after the Israeli military began assaulting the area in May."