Presidenting Under the Influence

Roid Rage: Trump is back in the White House but all is not right in Washington.  So many more people in the WH orbit turned up COVID positive yesterday that going forward it probably makes more sense to list only the few who remain negative. The recent positives include notorious aide/immigrant hater Stephen Miller, four of infected Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany’s deputies, at least two WH housekeepers, one of Trump’s valets, the Coast Guard aide responsible for carrying the nuclear football and many unnamed others who, having been advised to keep their status under the radar, are trying to do just that.  In addition, after learning that one of their members is COVID positive, the Joint Chiefs of Staff voluntarily placed themselves in quarantine. Most, if not all of them attended a White House reception for Gold Star families last week, making it highly likely that a few of those heroes’ family members are also infected, not that any of them have been warned as the White House doesn’t appear to be doing any contact tracing nor will anyone say when Trump who was clearly not being tested regularly had his last negative test. And we still don’t know Rudy Giuliani or William Barr’s status although Rudy was seen mask-less at a Manhattan roof party last night, not that a positive test result would stop him from sharing. As to Trump, White House physician Sean Conley released another one of his deceptively vague reports in which the complicit osteopath insisted that the spreader-in-chief was doing remarkably well but once again avoided acknowledging that Trump is most likely suffering from COVID pneumonia. 

Amplified Crazy: Despite indications that he was planning to deliver another one of his “impromptu” speeches, Trump made no appearance during the day, possibly because stringing together words, while gasping for air is neither a good look nor all that easy to do.  Instead Patient Number One took to twitter, proving what many fear, that a pumped-up on steroids, irrational leader, with a history of impulse control problems making decisions is not a good thing. Despite a warning from Federal Reserve Chief Jerome Powell that the economy desperately needs more stimulus, with a flick of his twitter thumb, Trump derailed Speaker Pelosi and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s efforts to agree upon another coronavirus relief deal.  That’s not to say that the two had come to terms, but they were getting closer and the markets had been optimistic that something was in the offing so when Trump tweeted that he had “instructed my representatives to stop negotiating until after the election when, immediately after I win, we will pass a major Stimulus Bill that focuses on hardworking Americans and Small Business," adding "I have asked Mitch McConnell not to delay, but to instead focus full time on approving my outstanding nominee to the United States Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett," the stock markets took a dive.  It’s not often that a sitting president facing a tough reelection battle owns up to screwing voters out of much needed relief in exchange for a Supreme Court Justice that most of them don’t want and does so while the markets are still open but then again Trump isn’t one for following norms. Mincing no words, Speaker Pelosi, pointed out the steroids might have influenced Trump’s action. You think? It’s fair to assume that Senate Leader McConnell egged Trump on, anticipating that Trump may well be on his way to defeat and expecting that his leadership role might follow him out the door, Mitch probably figures that getting his SCOTUS in place while handing the Democrats an irreparably broken economy is the way to go, and why not, it’s not like the Republicans haven’t handed the Democrats a broken economy before.  The Roidcoaster climbed back up last night after the erratic Trump reversed course. He issued a series of tweets calling on Congress to approve some coronavirus relief measures that he said he would immediately sign, including a new round of $1,200 stimulus checks, an airline bailout and more funds for small businesses.  So it’s back to the table for Mnuchin and Pelosi, but with Trump already having assumed responsibility for screwing things up, it’s fair to assume that the Speaker won’t agree to anything that doesn’t include aide to the states and most of what was in the package that her House passed last week.   

Plexiglass Politics:  The VP debates are still on for tonight so naturally Mike Pence and Kamala Harris spent yesterday fighting over plexiglass.  First, Pence’s people agreed that it would be okay to ensconce both candidates in protective plastic, then they backed off with Pence’s spokesperson, Katie Miller, spouse of newly infected Stephen Miller, saying that her milk white boss didn’t need or want the plexiglass, more than implying that protection was for wimps like Kamala, but by the end of the very long day, Katie, who may or may not be immune due to her earlier bout with coronavirus, was out of the picture, back quarantining with hubby Stephen and the Pence team had agreed to the two plexiglass solution.   As to Pence, he continues to insist that he hasn’t spent much time with anyone who has COVID which can’t possibly be true since there are countless reports of him attending meetings and marches with the infected but since he says he’s fine, the debate is still scheduled to go forward tonight even though he really should be in quarantine.  As to debates, Trump and his team insist that he still plans to participate in next week’s townhall with Biden though Biden says he’s only going if Trump coughs up some negative tests before hand.  And despite Fox assertions to the contrary Biden is neither senile or in his basement.  Yesterday he delivered an impressive speech at Gettysburg, one in which he called for the country to come back together.  He also pressed for the healing of racial wounds, quoting NBA Coach Doc River who memorably said “We're the ones getting killed. We're the ones getting shot. We've been hung. It's amazing how we keep loving this country, and this country does not love us back.”  Michele Obama weighed in too telling her followers to “vote for Joe Biden like your life depends on it.”  Apparently, both the NY Times and Boston Globe agree, both papers wholeheartedly endorsed Biden yesterday.    

Et Cetera:  Remember back when separating migrants kids from their parents was a the scandal of the day?  Well the NY Times reports that a soon to be released report from the Justice Department Inspector General lays a lot of the responsibility for the separations at the hands of former Attorney General Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein who pressed some conscience ridden government attorneys at the border to pull kids, even nursing babies from their parents arms, because of the awesome deterrence value in doing so.  Yesterday, no doubt further enraging the already bent out of shape, Trump,  National Counter Intelligence Security Center Director Bill Evanina, FBI Director Chris Wray, NSA Director Paul Nakasone, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Krebs released a Public Service Announcement on the security of the upcoming 2020 election. They reaffirmed their confidence in the US election system “despite the persistent foreign threat” and Trump’s repeated claims that the process is “rigged” and vulnerable to mass voter fraud.  And adding further fuel to Trump’s ire, Twitter marked his recent statement that COVID is no worse than the flu as inaccurate and Facebook took it down altogether, while also banning QAnon conspiracy accounts from its platform leading some to surmise that Mark Zuckerberg thinks that Trump isn’t going to be in the White House come January 20.      

Twenty-seven days.