Free Press?🌴 ✡️🌻✡️🌻✡️ 🌴

Fascists-R-US: Former Chief of Staff/Retired General John Kelly said that Trump will rule like a fascist, a sentiment that Kamala Harris doubled down on during her CNN townhall.  Kelly also said that Trump had praised Hitler for the “good” things he did and ironically JD Vance, when he was just the Hillbilly guy, called Trump a modern- day Hitler.  Trump, who appointed Kelly to two important positions in his administration and who used to tout him as one of “his” great generals, responded to Kelly’s scathing critique by calling him a degenerate and a lowlife.  Trump’s reaction is predictable, like a grade school bully, he always lashes out at anyone who criticizes him, especially former allies and appointees.  He routinely besmirches two of “his” other Generals, Milley and Mattis calling them dopes and threatening to have them prosecuted but continues to lavish praise on the increasingly insane Mike Flynn.  What’s more concerning right now is how the fitting fascist label is falling flat with so much of the electorate, especially so many Republican officials when it should be causing them to flee his train especially since, with the exception of the Lauren Boebert high school drop-out crowd, most Republican politicians, particularly those in the Senate and House, know or should know what fascism is and, unlike Trump, could probably identify who were our enemies during World War II.  Unfortunately, it’s increasingly obvious that many others, including vast swaths of the Republican base have no idea what fascism is and why supporting someone who aspires to be an unchecked dictator is a really bad thing. Aided by his creepy moustache, they probably could pick Hitler out of a line-up but would be hard pressed to recognize Benito Mussolini and might even admire Joseph Stalin, not for being a communist, but for his Hitler-level purges. We’re supposed to find some comfort in the belief that US military leadership wouldn’t follow clearly immoral or illegal orders even from a Commander in Chief but that’s naïve at best. Yesterday it was reported that in response to push back from the right-wing Heritage Society, the folks who brought us Justices Kavanaugh, Gorsuch and Coney-Barret and Project 2025, historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s invitation to speak at the US Naval Academy was rescinded by the Pentagon.  Professor Ben-Ghiat is an expert in global authoritarianism and the future of democracy.  How can we believe that our military leaders will serve as a bulwark against fascism and Trump’s plans to use them to implement his retribution plan and roundups of opponents and “illegals” if they aren’t allowed to be educated about the consequences of blindly following the orders of tyrants?

Musk Madness:  Elon Musk who is trying to buy the election for Trump or really for JD Vance and his Peter Theil puppet master is a bigly problem. At least for now, after receiving a warning from the Department of Justice, he’s no longer raffling off $1 million daily awards to voters willing to hand over their personal data to his political organization.  That’s a good thing but trying to buy the election is only the tip of the Musk iceberg.  Last night the Wall Street Journal, possibly the most schizophrenic newspaper ever given the divergence between its Murdoch dominated editorial board and it’s still respected investigative reporters, posted an article detailing how Musk routinely holds secretive conversations with Vladimir Putin.  Those conversations likely explain why Musk who was initially supportive of Ukraine has grown increasingly pro-Russian.  It’s not just Musk’s shifting position on Ukraine that’s concerning, the WSJ reports that at the request of China’s Xi,  Putin asked Musk to avoid activating crucial Starlink satellite service over Taiwan, the nation that China would like to give Ukraine treatment to someday soon. Through Starlink and SpaceX, Musk “has forged deep business ties with US military and intelligence agencies” as well.  Because of those ties he has a security clearance that provides him with access to lots of classified information which makes his conversations with Putin that much more concerning.  Ironically, Trump doesn’t have that kind of access right now partly because, for obvious reasons, he hasn’t been granted the usual courtesy access given to former presidents and also because his team has refused to sign the usual transition documents that candidates’ teams sign at this point in the election cycle. That’s a different subject but is also concerning because while the specter of Trump’s team having access to security information is alarming, it also means that the odds of a smooth transition should they win decreases daily. Getting back to Musk and Trump’s good friend Vlad, yesterday the WSJ also reported that Russia has been helping the Houthis’ access satellite data so that they can target vessels, including some US ones, in the Red Sea. Also, Trump’s other BFF North Korea’s Kim Jong un has sent troops to help Vlad with his war against Ukraine.  

Free Press?  It should surprise no one that Murdoch’s other paper, the NY Post endorsed Trump today because the NY Post has long been totally enamored of all things Trump. More concerning is what is happening at both the LA Times and The Washington Post.  The Los Angeles Times’ current owner Patrick Soon-Shiong, who bought the paper in 2018 has blocked the paper’s editorial board from publishing its planned endorsement of Kamala Harris.  In response the paper’s editorial chief Mariel Garza resigned saying she wanted “to make it clear” that she “is not okay with us being silent…in dangerous times, honest people need to stand-up.” Last night it was reported that the Washington Post which has recently acquired new right leaning Murdoch style leadership may sit on its endorsement as well. Makes you wonder if the paper’s current leadership would have greenlighted the Watergate investigation or instead sent Woodward and Bernstein packing.  Ruth Ben-Ghiat notes that a free press is one of the first things to go during the march towards autocracy and fascism. It does seem like some of ours is starting to hedge its bets given that Trump keeps referring to it as the enemy of the state. 

Born in the USA:  Unfortunately, elections aren’t typically won by who has the best concerts and celebrity endorsements, but wouldn’t it be nice if they were because Kamala and Tim have the support of Taylor Swift and concerts featuring Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, James Taylor (!), and Beyonce who will be performing at a Harris rally in Houston. While the swing states get the A listers, we New Yorkers are getting a neo-Nazi rally in the Garden. Rudy Giuliani may or may not be at that MSG rally, but if he’s in town, he won’t be staying at his penthouse.  His upper east side coop now belongs to Georgia election workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss.  Not a lot to say about this week’s polls, they’ve been all over the place, so if you feel like you are on a rollercoaster, you are not alone. It’s totally frustrating that Kamala is expected to be perfect while so many politicians and pundits make excuses for the increasingly demented orange 🤡 who by the way has another sexual assault accuser, this one a former model who was introduced to him by his friend Jeffrey Epstein, not that any of his supporters or even much of the press will care.

Early voting starts tomorrow in NY!

#BringThemAllHomeNow