Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

Mental Acuity: Last night during a Fox TV interview, parts of which were shown on Tucker Carlson’s night time show, Trump repeatedly bragged about his ability to remember and repeat a chain of five words as if that accomplishment was indicative of his superior intellectual capability. So with the virus raging and people dying at the rate of 1000 per day, we are at the point in the coronavirus crisis  where the person leading the country thinks that his most notable achievement is his ability to repeat the words “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV” during a dementia test.  He is so confident that his achievement, which was neither  remarkable nor worthy of the “extra credit” that he insists he got for it, is so amazing that he wants Joe Biden to be subjected to the same test as he’s so sure that Biden wouldn’t get any of that extra credit and to be fair Biden wouldn’t because the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test that Trump took doesn’t have a provision for extra credit for anyone.  During that same interview Trump once again blamed increased COVID testing for spiking virus levels while also saying, sure wear a mask, it might help. By the way, last week Tucker Carlson was off the air for a few days after his head writer was forced out over racist social media postings that were so over the top that even Fox management couldn’t ignore them and though Tucker is back on the air, he is now named in a really disturbing sexual harassment lawsuit. 

Viral Musings: But I digress, back to Trump, the leader who remains fixated on the results of his dementia test or tests, we really don’t know how many times his doctors have felt compelled to examine him.  Yesterday, Trump held another one of what now may be daily Coronavirus Update press conferences.  The good news for him is that this time around he didn’t wish an accused sex trafficker well.  Instead he talked about how parts of the country, mostly in the south, west and southwest which sounds like most of the country, is experiencing waves of virus that “no one could have anticipated” that is no one, except everyone who’s been calling him out for a lack of a nationwide virus strategy and criticizing him for pushing governors to reopen places like bars, restaurants and schools before achieving his own task force’s staged opening criteria.  As to a strategy, on Tuesday he said that the task force is working on one, five months in and they’re still working on a strategy? How reassuring. Trump defended the absence of either Dr Debby or Virus Guru Fauci by saying that their presence wasn’t necessary because he can deliver their message more concisely.  By concisely he must have meant less accurately, because he then went on to make several claims that were wrong.  For example he insisted that it’s safe to fully open schools because school aged children don’t shed the virus.  That claim flies in the face of recent studies that indicate that middle school and older students shed and transmit the virus at the same rate as adults.  He also spouted something about how we either have or are close to having a cure for COVID, that would be stunning news if true, but sadly it’s not true.  Of course, whenever possible he pivoted back to the economy, the only thing he really cares about, going so far as to assert that there would be new statistics released the week of the November election that would prove that the country is in a full rebound.  Note to all, though a virus cure may not be on the immediate horizon, someone in Trump land may have figured out how to doctor economic indicators.  As to Dr Debbie, perhaps because she was the subject of criticism in a recent NY Times articles, Trump  wants us to know that she’s terrifically stylish because of her superb scarf tying skills. Doesn’t that make you feel better?

Civil War: Trump and his trusty AG Bill Barr are all in on the war against the cities, or at least against Democratic led cities so they’re expanding beyond Portland, planning assaults throughout the country.  And why not, things are going so well in Portland, that last night Department of Homeland Security troops tear gassed the city’s Mayor, Ted Wheeler, who was out talking with and marching with demonstrators.  The Mayor got some pushback from those demonstrators some of whom were calling for him to resign largely because that’s what demonstrators do, but to be clear, he wasn’t in danger until the Federal forces gassed him.  Some of those forces are on their way to Chicago, where Mayor Lori Lightfoot, another one of those Black women that Trump likes to verbally attack whenever possible, said they can help with gun violence but no way will she let them do anything else.  As to that gun violence, which is and has been a big problem in Chicago for some time, Trump and his Federal forces could help by shutting down the supply of illegal guns flowing in from nearby states with loose gun laws, states like Mike Pence’s Indiana, but that’s not going to happen because, let’s face it, the NRA endorsed Trump likes loose gun laws. Though Trump has also cited NYC as another planned destination for Barr’s stormtroopers, Governor Cuomo has apparently gotten a promise that their “visit” isn’t imminent.  Yesterday, attorneys for Oregon were in a federal court asking for a restraining order against the stormtroopers, one that would restrict them from whisking people off the streets without probable cause and would limit them to protecting only federal facilities. It’s not clear how that will turn out but it is clear that Trump with the help of Barr and all those acting heads at Homeland Security really wants to scare the you know what out of all those turning blue suburbanites, pulling them back into the “red’ fold by inspiring fear of marauding left wing Democrats, socialist, and antifa violence doers.  To that end, yesterday Barr bragged that his forces had successfully suppressed violence saying that they had arrested 200 evil doers in Kansas City as part of what is now being called Operation Legend, only to have to walk that back when the press asked for details because only two perps had been arrested, largely because there were only two to arrest.   

Et Cetera:  Ohio’s Former Governor John Kasich, a Republican,  is expected to speak at the Democrat’s “virtual” convention where he will endorse Joe Biden.  Those other Republicans, the ones in the Senate, are closing in on their version of a new coronavirus relief package, one that, despite Trump pushback, will fund some more virus testing and tracking and will provide some funding for education.  It’s still not clear if the plan includes Trump’s payroll tax cut, something that few want.  It’s also not clear if the package includes an extension of all or some of the $600 weekly unemployment supplement which is due to expire at the end of the month or whether that extension will be included in a separate emergency package.  In any case, the Senate plan which isn’t even supported by all of the increasingly fractious Republican contingent will still need to be negotiated with the House, meaning Speaker Pelosi so it’s not done yet.         

Have a good day!