On the Road Again

Twenty-two Days:  Depending on who you ask, Trump is either completely cured and the picture of health or still shedding virus, suffering from COVID pneumonia and about to keel over.  Judging by his weekend radio and TV appearances, the truth is probably somewhere in the middle but since his ethically compromised doctor/supplicant has issued a murky letter saying says he’s good to go, Trump plans to go, to every swingy nook and cranny of the country between now and November 3.  As to the rest of his squad, it’s still not clear why VP Pence took the “red” eye back to Washington on Friday, maybe it was to get a discrete COVID test, maybe it was to discuss campaign strategy or maybe it was to just to punk us and the pundits.  If he and/or mother are COVID positive, they’re not telling.  Former governor/debate prepper Chris Christie was finally released from the hospital and Rudy Giuliani who always looks sick is out and about, looking a pasty shade of blue.  We haven’t seen  Ivanka but there were reports that the ghostly Jared was seen walking around the White House in full hazmat gear.  Eric, proved why he is known as the simple son, by claiming that his father was fully recovered due to the Regeneron therapeutic that he said was the “vaccine” that had cured his father’s case of the virus and will be available to cure yours too assuming you can get a dose.  Eric also tried to pivot away from a question about another article in the NY Time’s series about his father’s criminally curious financial machinations by pointing the finger at Joe Biden’s Delaware digs, that’s the  Biden who has provided his tax records dating back forever.  Those tax records show that Biden was able to afford his new home because after years on a government salary he cashed in with a book and some lucrative speaking fees.  As to those NY Times articles, on Friday one detailed an “unusual” $21 million payment from a Las Vegas partnership, $10 million of which circuitously made it to Trump’s 2016 campaign coffers at a time when the campaign and Trump were desperate for cash. It’s hard to know where those funds really came from and the contribution appears to have violated campaign finance laws but sadly no one seems to react to those kind of disclosures anymore, if they ever did.  On Sunday, another NY Times article detailed how Trump’s swamp worked, linking millions of contributions to his campaign and to his still under investigation inaugural fund directly to “favors” and business deals granted to contributors and Mar a Lago members, including a few new ones who joined the club just to get those favors granted. Images of a feudal King receiving jewels and dead goats in exchange for blessings and land come to mind. 

Packing Heat:  Sadly, most of the weekend’s talk shows spent more time focused on whether Biden would “pack” the Supreme Court by increasing the number of Justices than Trump’s past and likely ongoing financial machinations.  As to that whole packing thing, shouldn’t the focus be on Senate Majority Leader McConnell and his shenanigans? He’s the one who blocked dozens upon dozens of Obama’s lower court nominees and Merrick Garland’s appointment to the Supreme Court before gifting us Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh and a kindergarten crop of right wing judges.  And of course, he’s not done yet.  The Amy Coney Barrett hearings begin today.  In case you need a reminder, she’s the handmaid, who forgot to mention signing on to an anti-abortion, anti-IVF advertisement and also forgot to mention her two speeches to a Right to Life forum when she went through her lower court appointment and again for this SCOTUS one.  Senate Judiciary Chair Lindsey Graham is so anxious to grease her hearing process, that he dropped out of a debate against his super well-funded opponent Democratic Senate candidate Jaime Harrison after Harrison demanded that he get a COVID test leaving everyone with the distinct impression that Graham, who has spent too much time near a number of other COVID positive folks knows or fears that he is an asymptomatic spreader. By the way, Graham is okay with Black men like Harrison as long as they are super polite as in not uppity.  It’s not just Lindsey who fears revealing a COVID positive result, octogenarian Chuck Grassley, another Republican member of the Senate Judiciary is also refusing to get tested.  Notably the ranking Democrat on the committee is Senator Diane Feinstein, another octogenarian whose seat puts her between the two possible Republican spreaders,  VP candidate Kamala Harris plans to protect herself by participating via Zoom. Getting back to Judge Amy, she released her introductory remarks yesterday. She promises to check her personal beliefs at the door, says that the courts shouldn’t be engaged in activism, and asserts that she is a Constitutional originalist, all of which is code for yeah, of course I am going to do my best to overturn Roe v Wade, trash Obamacare, join with Justices Alito and Thomas to overturn the Obergefell gay marriage decision, and rule for Trump and the Republicans on any election determining cases and so on, because turning the social clock back to the 1950s and more years of Trump rule is so desirable, isn’t it?  Absent a few more Republican members becoming both COVID positive and too sick to hide it, she’s likely to get that chance. By the way, Mitch McConnell who admitted this weekend that he’s all in on his version of court packing, revealed that he hasn’t been to the White House since August because no one there follows virus protocols and why would he want to run the risk of catching COVID when he can implement all his nefarious policies from afar. In addition to getting his judges on the bench, those policies include blocking another round of stimulus legislation which is why, despite the White House’s assertions that the lack of any such legislation is due to Democratic intransigence, the Senate has not agreed on a deal with either Speaker Pelosi or Trump’s very own Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin even though Trump’s really wants to get another Sharpie signed stimulus check out to the voting public, along with a drug debit card to Medicare recipients. 

Profiles in Courage?   The Trump campaign’s newest advertisement suggests that Virus Guru Fauci believes that Trump has dealt with the virus pandemic admirably and goes on to imply that he endorses Trump’s reelection.   Fauci, who’s has not been given permission by the White House to appear on any of the Sunday news shows for months despite being regularly invited, has not endorsed anyone, in fact, he prides himself on being apolitical.  It’s reported that he is furious that his image and “out of context” words are being used to advance Trump’s campaign. At this point, with about 8 million Americans infected and more than 211,000 dead,  Fauci should just call Trump’s bluff, accept those media invitations and force a confrontation. Sadly, though he’s released a statement pushing back on the ad campaign, it’s not clear that he will do much more. It’s also unlikely that CDC Head Robert Redfield will respond to the letter written to him in September by Carter and Reagan era CDC head William Foege.  The well-respected Foege asked Redfield to expose the "colossal failure" of the Trump administration's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though he said it meant Redfield likely would be fired.

Other Stupid Things: Over the weekend a number of news outlets reported that reality maven Trump seriously considered adding a special reveal to his staged exit from Walter Reed Medical Center. He planned to “fake” being very weak before ripping off his suit and tie to reveal a Superman costume.  Someone managed to talk him out of that stunt but no one talked him out of his Saturday Blexit party.  That little charade, organized by his ardent Black supporter Candace Owens, involved “inviting” thousands of Black and Latino “former Democrats” to the White House for a law and order event.  ABC later revealed that the 400 attendees who actually showed up, many mask-less and none socially distanced, had their travel and lodging comped and were paid $100.  Notably, Trump’s current medical advisor, Radiologist Scott Atlas was also at the event, though he too was mask-less, the not so good doctor stood miles away from the crowd because while he endorses achieving herd immunity, he doesn’t want to be one of the cows.  Attorney General Barr, who may or may not be COVID positive, has been quietly telling Republican members of the House and Senate that the long promised report by Connecticut US Attorney Durham will not be completed or released before the election.  That’s the report that is supposed to “prove” that the Obama team illegally investigated the Trump team’s Russia related activities.  Trump isn’t all that pleased that Barr hasn’t forced the report out and, at least so far, hasn’t even produced a faux Mueller like summary, so instead the viral leader is now urging Secretary of State Pompeo to release all the emails that Hillary Clinton, who is not running, sent during her stint as Secretary of State.  Remember all those concerns that Hillary’s improper use of her personal email account risked secret information getting hacked and released to our enemies, that concern seems to have fallen by the wayside.  At this rate we will soon know all of Hillary’s secret cookie recipes as well as TMI about Bill, nukes and other such things. One more thing, Trump was endorsed by the Taliban this weekend.  That tells you about as much as you need to know.