Category: Politics

It’s Labor Day weekend, and people are up to all kinds of crazy things .. like going onto a lake in relatively calm weather, and still managing to sink four boats.

There were no injuries. So it’s hard for me not to have a little schadenfreude over the mishap during the Lake Travis Trump Boat Parade.

From the New York Times:
Mr. Salinas (organizer of the boat parade) said he had seen boats of all sizes Saturday — from 60-foot yachts to eight-foot boats. Mixed with the number of boats headed in the same direction, their various sizes and the choppy water, Mr. Salinas said, accidents were bound to happen.
“You can have really great water one second, and it could get some pretty heavy swells in a matter of minutes,” he said. “Once boats get on a lake, mother nature has its own plans.”
Boaters were set to travel around the lake, which is about 15 miles northwest of Austin, at 10 miles per hour, according to the event’s Facebook page.
Other boat parades to display support for President Trump have taken place this summer.

There it was, on the radio today: the undecided voter. Some clueless person from Pennsylvania that told the interviewer that neither Trump nor Biden was an appealing option, and that she ‘had not made up her mind’.

So! I thought: you’re telling us that you cannot choose between the blue skies of a sunny day, or the pitch black of a moonless night; between candidates that are polar opposites — one good, and one a destroyer of decency and democracy.
We cannot help you. Don’t bother. Just stay home.

Here are some 1,500 people (very few masks, no social distancing in the seating), sitting through 71 minutes of Trump’s rambling acceptance speech for his nomination as the Republican presidential candidate, in front of the White House at the final night of the Republican National Convention.

All this violates the Hatch Act of 1939*. And now the White House is good enough as a prop for Trump .. did he not once call the White House a ‘dump’?

*The Hatch Act (1939), an ‘Act to Prevent Pernicious Political Activities’, prohibits federal employees from engaging in political activities while they are working in an official capacity (such as setting up & hosting a political convention at the White House!).

Here is Steve Schmidt on Twitter@SteveSchmidtSES, mincing no words:

The desecration of the White House for Trump’s perverse political use is an abomination. The question of whether voters care about the Hatch Act is beside the point. It is the law. Trump’s convention was a pageant of breathtaking dishonesty, racial incitement and demagoguery. 1/

It was an exposition of lawlessness where the powerful symbols of State that belong to all of us were profoundly abused in the name of Trump’s personal vanity and political narcissism. The playing of Hail to the Chief and the use of USMC sentries attired in dress uniforms for 2/

political purposes was grotesque. Make no mistake about what Trump declared over these last four days. In essence he said, I AM THE TRUTH, I AM THE LAW, I AM THE STATE. The Republican Party’s platform has but one demand. One requirement. Obedience and loyalty to Trump. 3/

It is the definition of a cult of personality. This cult of personality is sustained by a vast, disaggregated and pernicious propaganda network that includes misinformation incepted and distributed by Russian Intelligence Services and other state actors, Fox News, OAN, 4/

Breitbart, a rancid collection of pundits and talk radio hosts , Internet trolls, Q Anon, and a thousand Facebook sites that teem and boil with conspiracy theories, extremism, menace, racism, antisemitism and misogyny. All of it together represents a grave danger to our 5/

national unity and democracy. There is a war being waged on truth and it turns out truth like the concepts of duty and patriotism was surrounded by many faithless friends. The complicity through both deed and silence of Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, Susan Collins and 6/

so many more in service to the maliced alternate reality of Trumpism seen this week isn’t just disgraceful, it’s tragic and deadly. The RNC began with the appearance of the contemptible McCloskeys. Their awfulness was experienced by the children of the Synagogue who have 7/

the misfortune of worshipping God next door to the McCloskeys. The children established bee hives to curate honey for the Jewish holidays. The hives were accidentally placed inches over the property line. McCloskey took an axe to them. The only reason they were on television 8/

this week was for pointing weapons at Black people who were peacefully marching for justice and equality on their street. Their message speaks for itself. Their words had meaning. Matt Gaetz’ words had meaning. Kimberly Guilfoyle’s messianic blatherings of devotion had meaning.9/

A 17 year old heard the message. He lived in Indiana. He sat in the front row of a Trump rally. He heard it all. He took it all in. He was poisoned by it. He was converted by it. He was radicalized by Trumpism the same way young men in the Middle East are radicalized by extremism 10/

He drove to Wisconsin with his AR-15 to join the fight. He became a killer there. We ignore this radicalization at our great peril. There is indisputable cause and effect. We do not have the luxury to pretend there is not. 11/

This was another week of needless suffering and death in America. Thousands are dead since the gavel was struck on Monday. More families are shattered and more businesses are shuttered. That is the reality. School openings are in chaos and there is no plan. This week was 12/

Another putrid chapter in this ghastly Trump era. America knows the truth and the truth is this. Trump is untrustworthy and dishonest. He is a liar. He doesn’t care about anything or anyone but himself. He doesn’t care about your family or mine. He doesn’t care for our troops 13/

And he doesn’t care for America. He lacks humanity and decency and processes none of the noble virtues that built our nation. It is all on the line in November. Vote. @ProjectLincoln

Joe Biden’s acceptance speech, of his Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States in the 2020 general election, was well received.

Next week is the Republican Party’s Carnival of White Grievance (they call it a convention). Then there will be three debates —as if there is anything to debate— between Joe Biden and Donald Trump on Sep. 29, Oct. 15 & Oct. 22.

It’s official: 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden (age 77) has picked Senator Kamala Harris (55) as his running mate for vice president. Ms Harris’s father is Donald Harris, a renowned Stanford professor and an immigrant from Jamaica. Her mother, Shyamala Gopalan, was an India born Tamil American cancer researcher and civil rights activist (she passed away in 2009).

The pundits say at least part of Biden’s choice of Harris was driven by demographics: he needs women, and African American voters to turn out in 2008 numbers (when they came out to vote for Obama).

In 1984 we had Walter Mondale that picked Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro, only to lose big against Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush. That was the last time a Republican presidential candidate won the state of Washington. (Good).

Then just in 2016, we had Hillary Clinton at the top of the ticket with Senator Tim Kaine, narrowly losing to Trump. (Will we ever forget that in this lifetime? No).

P.S. On the Republican side there was John McCain in 2008 and his ‘maverick’ pick for VP, Sarah Palin.

Who will Joe Biden pick as 2020 Vice-Presidential running mate?
Well, we know it’s going to be a woman: Biden said it will be, some time ago.
Some political experts say that he has taken care of the ‘heavy lifting’ already, in terms of commiting to picking a woman. That would build on the success of female Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterm elections, and be a nod to  empowering women in politics (and a thorn in Trump’s side). So it does not matter too much which woman he chooses.

The Lincoln Project is holding accountable those who would violate their oaths to the Constitution and would put others before Americans.
– The Lincoln Project

Trump used his pardon power corruptly on Friday, to commute the prison sentence of his personal advisor Roger Stone. Here is the transcript, and stills from The Lincoln Project’s political ad, made in response to it.

It’s not a campaign.
It’s a billion dollar criminal enterprise.
Donald Trump says he’s running on law and order.
Who’s he kidding?
Trump’s campaign manager is a felon.
His deputy campaign manager is a felon.
His national security advisor? A felon.
His foreign policy advisor is a felon.
His personal lawyer is a felon.
His longtime personal advisor? A felon.
Nixon was BAD.
Trump is WORSE.
Now, Trump saves Roger Stone.
Stone lied to cover up Russian involvement in Trump’s campaign, to protect Donald Trump.
Seven felony convictions.
Trump: ‘I am the law and order candidate’.
Trump is the most corrupt president in U.S. history.
There is only one way to end the Trump crime spree.
Throw him and his crooks out of office.
On November 3rd, vote for justice.

I see political science professor Helmut Norpoth — who has correctly predicted five out of six elections since 1996 — gives Trump a 91% shot at winning in November. (The model places an emphasis on how much enthusiasm candidates were able to generate early in the nominating process, and Joe Biden did particularly poorly in the early Democratic primaries. The Cult of Trump barely had any opposition in the Republican primaries).

Hey, professor: add in 11% unemployment/ 40 million still out of work by Nov., and therefore tens of millions with no health insurance in a pandemic, 250,000 lives lost in preventable deaths, and 4x more people needing housing & help with meals than before the pandemic.

What does your model predict for that scenario?

It’s a muted 4th of July Independence Day here in the United States.
Here’s to hoping that Nov. 3 will bring us a president, and a government for all of We The People.