Trump Is Contagious

 “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

  • Out-of-the-mouth-of-knaves update: “I don’t wear masks like him.” Recall, that was Donald Trump’s predictable, surly—and beyond ironic—taunt directed at Joe Biden during their regrettably repellent first (and hopefully final) debate. But some things cannot be masked. Trump’s hubris, cavalier attitudes and utter indifference to truth and responsible leadership are foremost. Even though he had a mask with him—in his coat pocket—that he pulled out dismissively as a prop. It’s what a reality-TV performer does.

It was a prime example of arrogant misleadership, diversionary optics and a sobering reminder that none of it will end as long as there’s Trump political contagion in the White House. As the personification of recklessness, Trump can’t set an example for prudent, societal self-protection. Plus, he doesn’t believe in transparency and still hasn’t apologized for the mismanagement and lies that have needlessly cost thousands of American lives.

And then he tested positive for the coronavirus.

Given what he has put America through, it’s no surprise that polls show no sympathy bounce for Trump. Then his hospitalization and treatment devolved into an exercise in  theatrics and media manipulation, including medical double talk. And then, most blatantly, there was his spin around Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to wave to fans when he still should have been in isolation. His Secret Service handlers, presumably, took one for the team.

The best we can hope for is a teachable-moment duality. First, that Trump becomes Exhibit A for what can happen to anyone not taking common-sense, public-health measures such as masks and social distancing. Even one who revels in crowd worship and face time with minions. As a result, maybe even cult followers can ostensibly see the folly of characterizing mask-wearers as wimps and those without them as avatars of freedom. And, oh yeah, masks can also protect jobs and our national economy. Second, the super spreader-in-chief has ultimately—and inevitably—arrived at the convergence of karma and Faust. Leave it at that.

  • An abundance of caution.” That was the reasonable rationale for taking President Trump to Walter Reed Medical Center. Too bad “abundance of caution” wasn’t in evidence since the onset of the pandemic.
  • “Look, we have a great vice president. We have a government that is steady at the tiller. We’re prepared.” That was National Security Adviser Tim O’Brien, when asked about contingency plans if the president were incapacitated.
  • According to unidentified White House sources, Vice President Mike Pence has tested positive for evangelical hypocrisy and sycophantic fealty to Trump.
  • The point is not that Trump “misspeaks.” This president misthinks and misacts. As a result, the country is misinformed, mismanaged, misled and misgoverned.
  • “1776 Commission”: What Trump says he will create to advance a new “pro American” curriculum and help “restore patriotic education to our schools.” It’s necessary, says Trump, to counter revisionist ideas about the nation’s founding and history that has led to a generation of “Marxist” activists and proponents of “critical race theory.” Joe Goebbels would have agreed.
  • Amid the turmoil of all things Trump-related–from Proud Boys shout-out to presidential coronavirus–we don’t pay much attention to the United Nations these days. But there was a notable—and quotable—moment the other day with the U.S. ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft trying, unsuccessfully, to pressure that world body into enforcing new economic sanctions against Iran. “We will stand alone to protect peace and security at all times,” said Craft. “We don’t need a cheering section to validate our moral compass.” But it would, arguably, help to have the UN and the EU on our side.

BTW, Kelly replaced Nikki Haley and has been UN ambassador for a year. Prior to that, she was the Trump-appointed ambassador to Canada. Prior to that, she and her husband donated more than $2 million to the Trump campaign. Prior to that, she was a delegate from Kentucky to the 2016 Republican National Convention. That’s how that works.

  • Speaking of things international, one of America’s most outspoken ambassadors, Pete Hoekstra, made news recently—and that’s never what a diplomat wants to do. But Hoekstra, the Trump-appointed envoy to the Netherlands, held a fund-raising reception for a far-right Dutch political party, the Forum for Democracy Party, in the American embassy. Hosting a political fundraiser is more than just undiplomatic. On its face, it’s considered interference in domestic politics and a violation of the (1961) Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. Hoekstra is a conservative former GOP congressman from Michigan who helped found the Tea Party caucus.
  • Stare decisis”: We could soon be hearing more of this Latin (“to stand by things decided”) phrase as we approach the confirmation hearing on SCOTUS nominee Amy Coney Barrett. It has to do with precedent, as in, say, Roe v Wade. “Stare decisis,” Judge Barrett has written, is “not a hard-and-fast rule in the court’s constitutional cases.” Stay tuned.
  • Melania F. Trump is in the news for reasons beyond a positive COVID test. Some unflattering quotes are attributed to her in the book “Melania and Me,” by her former advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff. Somehow the Worst Lady managed to work Christmas and an F-bomb into the same sentence.
  • “There was always just enough virtue in this republic to save it; sometimes none to spare.” That was William Seward, President Abraham Lincoln’s secretary of state, weighing in soberly—and, alas, presciently—on America’s still fragile democratic republic.
  • The infighting Irish: Bad luck–and optics–for Notre Dame to see its president, Rev. JohnJenkins, test positive for COVID less than a week after having attended the Rose Garden ceremony–sans mask and seen shaking multiple hands–for Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett. “I regret my error of judgment,” said Rev. Jenkins, 66, who is a member of the Commission on Presidential Debates. “I failed to lead by example.” Too bad that candid admission didn’t come from that other president.

And speaking of awkward optics, recall that former Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz spoke at the Trump-fawning, virtual Republican National Convention.

COVID Bits

“AloneTogether”

  • Countries whose leaders have been infected by the coronavirus: United States, Great Britain, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Bolivia.
  • Masks are (still) not mandatory at the White House.
  • It’s official. To the surprise of no one, the February, pre-Lenten Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is canceled because of the pandemic. To date, Brazil has already reported more than 4.6 million cases and nearly 140,000 deaths. And Carnival doesn’t exactly lend itself to a virtual experience.
  • 6,000: The maximum number of pilgrims allowed per day to enter the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
  • During October, TIA is rolling out a first-of-its-kind initiative by doing coronavirus testing right in the terminal. TIA is teaming with BayCare Health System to offer the voluntary testing for every passenger departing from or arriving at the airport. Costs range from $57 for a rapid antigen test to $125 for a polymerase chain reaction swab.
  • 277,000: The number of schoolchildren in 38 states who have tested positive.
  • 28,000: The number of employees who will be laid off by Disney across its theme-park division in the U.S. About 6,700 layoffs are expected to hit non-union workers at Walt Disney World starting Dec. 4.
  • 7.9 percent: U.S. unemployment rate for September. 8.4 percent: U.S. unemployment rate for August. 14.7 percent: U.S. unemployment rate for April.
  • 2,000: The number of people in Florida who are in the hospital with a primary diagnosis of coronavirus. 420: The numbers for the Tampa Bay area.
  • “Infodemic”: Falsehoods involving the pandemic.

Dem Notes

“Yes, we can.”

  • One challenge for the Biden campaign is to remain careful with its response to Trump being hospitalized for COVID. No rhetorical spiking of the coronavirus ball; no public “poetic justice” references, however appropriate and tempting. Maybe this is the one time that the sincerity-challenged, “thoughts and prayers” cliché would suffice. Good move to take down negative campaign ads for now—and just maintain the country-first, anti-racism, pro-science, positive message of unity, competence, decency and empathy—plus education, infrastructure and tax-and-health-care policies and plans. No need to risk disrespecting the office of the presidency, however loathsome its occupant, when sheer juxtaposition to a Biden agenda–and character–should say it all.   
  • Although it’s quite the high-profile compliment, we won’t be seeing it in a Joe Biden ad—but maybe in a Biden memoir. That’s because the person who once called Biden “as good a man as God ever created” is Sen. Lindsey Graham.
  • The vice presidential debate in Salt Lake City between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris carried a context we haven’t seen before. Their presidential ticket mates are both septuagenarians. Not a time for a Dan Quayle or a Sarah Palin.
  • We know that the Republicans are not conceding the Hispanic vote—and are going after more than Cuban-American voters. Trump kickstarted it by telling voters that “Joe Biden is just a Trojan horse for socialism,” which was intended to strike fear in those whose families have lived under the likes of Cuba’s Fidel Castro as well as Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro. Hopefully, the blatant pandering will encounter a demographic that above all, fears all authoritarians—and understands that American “socialism” doesn’t mean a dysfunctional command economy controlled by autocrats and oligarchs. That there’s a difference between Denmark and Cuba/Venezuela.
  • Dec. 14: That’s when the electoral college meets. It’s usually a ceremonial confirmation of the choice made by voters. Nothing about this Dec. 14 looks merely ceremonial.

Media Matters

  • Get well—and get it together.” That was CNN’s Jake Tapper in wrapping up his Sunday “State of the Union” show with an editorial on the president’s mismanagement of the coronavirus.
  • This was Sen. Rick Scott during a recent appearance on Fox News. “I was tested yesterday, I think for the sixth time, and I tested positive again.” Say what? Oops. He actually meant negative. He tested positive for misspeaking.
  • “If I could say one thing to all of the people out there watching: Forget the politics. This is a public safety health issue. Wear the damn mask.”—Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.
  • “I worry because Facebook and Twitter have become giant engines for destroying the two pillars of our democracy—truth and trust.”—Thomas Friedman, New York Times.

Sports Shorts

  • Thanks again, Tampa Bay Lightning. You won, and we won. A feel-good story never felt so good. The ultimate cup to runneth over. In the midst of an unimaginably horrific, perfect storm, we’re going to milk this for a while. May the bubble never burst.
  • The sports world—football—lost a special one recently: Gayle Sayers, the former Chicago Bears star. He was one of the two greatest running backs of all time: he and Jim Brown.

Quoteworthy

  • “Barbados could be a tipping point. If Barbados is successful in taking this step, it would inspire other countries to do the same.”—Richard Drayton, professor of imperial history at Kings College London, on the announcement that Barbados would remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state and become a republic next year.
  • “If totalitarianism comes, it will almost certainly not be Stalinism 2.0., with gulags, secret police and an all-powerful central state. … The power of surveillance technology, woke capitalism and fear of losing bourgeois comfort and status will probably be enough to compel conformity by most.”—Rod Dreher, the American Conservative.
  • “It makes me despondent about America. The country we have looked to for leadership has descended into an ugly brawl.”—Former British diplomat and chief of the British Security Intelligence Service (M16) John Sawers, on the optics of the presidential debate.
  • “The biggest surprise was that the president of the United States was the single largest driver of misinformation around Covid. That’s concerning in that there are real-world, dire health implications.”—Sarah Evanega, director of the Cornell Alliance for Science.
  • “A negative test isn’t enough to break quarantine. Isolation is the key.”—Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician and former health commissioner of Baltimore.
  • “(Republicans’) monomaniacal drive to confirm Judge Barrett at all costs needlessly threatens the health and safety of senators, staff and all those who work in the Capitol complex.”—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
  • “(Trump) may be vulnerable to financial blackmail from a hostile foreign power, and God knows what else.”—Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
  • “Americans should be concerned about the president’s debt because it’s a national security risk for our country.”—Donald Sherman, deputy director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
  • “The main reason Trump could avoid paying income taxes is that he was a lousy businessman.”—Jonah Goldberg, The Dispatch.
  • “The unpaid-taxes story may be more of a threat to Trump than the Access Hollywood tape. The president never pretended to be a good guy around women; he has pretended, however, to be a brilliant businessman—and the knowledge of all that debt, and all those losses, could pull out the block that will send his Jenga-tower reputation toppling.”—Molly Roberts, Washington Post.
  • “Trump is becoming more frantic and unhinged by the day. He is staring not only at a possible landslide defeat, but potentially also economic ruin and criminal prosecution.”—Jennifer Rubin, Washington Post.
  • “There are some break-glass options available to us if there really is an extremely chaotic and, worse still, violent set of circumstances.”—Nick Clegg, Facebook’s head of global affairs, in underscoring that the company was war-gaming election night scenarios.
  • “I am confident that your vital energy, high spirits and optimism will help you cope with the dangerous virus.”—Russian President Vladimir Putin to Donald Trump.
  • “This is a sobering reminder that COVID-19 is not a hoax, and this pandemic is far from over. Continue to wear a mask.”—Florida Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried.
  • “I hope that everyone saying maybe once somebody is sick, they can be off limits for criticism.”—Brian Ballard, prominent Florida lobbyist and Trump fundraiser.
  • “The larger the crowd, the greater the probability that someone in that group is positive, including asymptomatically.”—Jay Wolfson, professor of public health at USF.
  • “There’s not going to be any type of closure in Florida.”—Gov. Ron DeSantis.
  • “I’m sorry for wasting your time, and thanks again for doing such a great job keeping us safe each and every day.”—Florida Republican (lame duck) Congressman Ross Spano, after security workers found a loaded pistol in his bag at a TSA checkpoint at TIA. Spano has a concealed carry permit.
  • “Job growth, investment, is driven by the access to talent. That talent wants to be downtown. Jobs and investments will follow. … Everyone we’re working with expects this formula to be fully in place.”—David Dixon, vice president of Stantec, the urban planning group that is a lead figure in the development of Water Street Tampa.
  • “I’m not playing. We’re going to implement them across the board.”—Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri, in announcing plans for body cameras for deputies.
  • “This is the best hockey town ever.”—Steven Stamkos.

Transfer of Power And First Debate

 “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

  • “We’re going to have to see what happens.” That was Donald Trump’s go-to, wink-and-nod non-answer response to a media question about whether he would commit to a peaceful transfer of power if he loses in November. In short, that’s a de facto “No.”
  • “The winner of the Nov. 3 election will be inaugurated on Jan. 20. There will be an orderly transition just as there has been every four years since 1792.” That was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, speaking as if this were just another quadrennial, business-as-usual presidential election—or somehow akin to the rather reluctant George Washington’s virtually uncontested re-election. As if autocratic, Constitution-dismissing Donald Trump were someone whom the Founding Fathers could ever have imagined as an American president. As if McConnell’s party-first, hypocritically compromised credibility means anything.
  • If anyone should be a prominent advocate for mandatory, anti-pandemic mask-wearing, it should be Mitch McConnell, one of the few who, frankly, looks better in a mask. Elaine Chao might agree.
  • It was always a given that COVID, SCOTUS, election scenarios, racial injustice and protests would be part of the first debate. Good for moderator Chris Wallace to make sure climate change was included. Its obvious impact on the planet transcends issues that are institutional and societal. That, unfortunately, was just about it for the good part. The presidential debate Tuesday night was an embarrassment for America and for democracy. “SNL” cold openings have been more dignified. Certainly more dignified than “There’s nothing smart about you, Joe” or “Will you shut up, man?” And, yes, there was a Trumpian Proud Boys “Stand back and stand by” shout-out and even a “Pocahontas” reference.

In short, if we can’t prevent one of the participants from turning a debate into a debasing farce that disrespects and abuses the frustratingly ineffective moderator and pre-empts his opponent, then cancel the two remaining ones. America, with a sociopathic punk for president, will be even further demeaned by international ridicule. When contentiousness would be an upgrade, you need a paradigm shift or a presidential change.

Three quick takeaways from this appalling, rhetorical train wreck that trashed another democratic norm. First, Trump is behind and needs to add to his cult-enamored base. But his obnoxious, interrupting, preening performance didn’t help that cause. Biden tried to look presidential, and at times succeeded in projecting welcome understanding and empathy—from health care and pandemic response to job creation and American unity–in direct addresses to viewers. Biden “won” by default. Second, new rule: No more presidential debates unless both parties agree to a kill switch on the microphones. Third, “Elections have consequences,” as we were ironically reminded by Trump.

  • It’s been said that the confirmation of Trump’s choice for Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor, the Federalist Society-approving Judge Amy Coney Barrett, would be the most dramatic ideological swing since Clarence Thomas took the seat of Thurgood Marshall. Alas, that’s as true as it is outrageous and ideologically sacrilegious.  
  • Judge Barrett, who once clerked for Antonin Scalia, would be Trump’s third appointee on the Supreme Court. That’s fully one third of SCOTUS appointed by a president who didn’t win the popular vote. More reprehensible than representative.
  • Barrett, whom Trump had previously appointed to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, also represents a promise kept to white evangelicals who seemingly no longer wonder “What would Jesus say?” Probably not: “OMG, what a great move! She could surely help Trump with post-election litigation.”
  • Trump, for all his pandering to Cuban Americans, doesn’t mention that he registered his (10-year) trademark in (not-free, Communist) Cuba in 2008 to build hotels, golf courses and, what the hell, casinos.
  • “(Trump) lacks the empathy, integrity, intellect and maturity to lead.” That was Tom Ridge, the first secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (under President George W. Bush) and the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania.
  • “Vote him out!”: Chant from the crowd honoring the flag-draped coffin of the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg outside the U.S. Supreme Court. 
  • So another insider, former top homeland security aide to VP Mike Pence Olivia Troye, has gone public with Trump Administration criticism–and has endorsed Joe Biden. The mismanaged coronavirus was the final straw. “At this point, it’s country over party,” she explained. What she didn’t explain is why it took this long for “country over party” to finally resonate with an unhinged president who’s been an ongoing threat to American security and democracy since day one.
  • “American patriot.” “A shining symbol of the American fighting spirit.” That’s how the high-profile, high fund-raising defense of Kyle Rittenhouse has characterized its client, the teen who came to Kenosha, Wisc., brandishing an assault weapon and wound up killing two protestors.
  • “I am not engaged in sabotaging the election.” That was Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. Imagine needing to say that?
  • It’s no surprise revelation—or fake news—that Trump, who played the oxymoronic “populist”/business-mogul card in his otherwise nativist, cartoonish presidential pitch, is a lot better at playing a “mogul” than, well, being one. Revealed tax information confirms years of minimal ($750) or zero federal income taxes—in the context of depreciation, tax credits, bankruptcies, lawsuits and chronic losses of Daddy’s money. Then there’s that less-than-populist item about deducting $70,000 in hair-styling expenses. Trump biographer Tim O’Brien has called him a “human billboard” and a “serial bankruptcy artist who gorges on debt he may have a hard time repaying.” There are lots of reasons the grifter-in-chief is the only president in modern history to not release his tax returns.
  • American exceptionalism: Has there ever been a country this big, this economically and military powerful, this globally impactful and this close to failing-state status?  

COVID Bits

#AloneTogether

  • 700 million: That’s the number of vaccine doses that should be available by April, according to CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield at a Senate health committee hearing.
  • According to the International Air Transport Association, the only realistic hope of reviving demand for flights in the absence of a vaccine is to require universal coronavirus tests for departing passengers. Rapid antigen tests should be available in October. They would cost as little as $10—and deliver results within 15 minutes.
  • 45 percent: That’s the estimated current national mask-usage, according to the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics.
  • Scammer update: In Boston, U.S. Customs officials seized more than 20,000 counterfeit N95 respirator masks from Hong Kong.
  • Whether the governor approves or not, Florida’s public universities should be playing the student-discipline card. It’s what adults in charge do during a pandemic. It should be seen as part of preparing students for that real, non-virtual world that awaits. And a reminder that, even if you’re of college age, immortality is not an option.
  • 11 percent: Florida’s average positivity rate. 5 percent: Hillsborough County’s rate.
  • Pinellas County for Mask Freedoms: a Facebook group that posts talking points to help those challenging local ordinances.

Dem Notes

“Yes, we can.”

  • The Biden campaign has created a “special litigation” unit, which will include hundreds of lawyers and be led by two former solicitors general, Donald Verilli and Walter Dellinger, plus former Attorney General Eric Holder, acting as a liaison between the campaign and various independent groups. As we know, legal battles over voting and ballot-counting are already ratcheting up.
  • The National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare has endorsed Joe Biden. It’s the first-ever presidential endorsement for an organization with deep roots in New Deal politics. Indeed, the vice chairman of the NCPSSM advisory board is James Roosevelt Jr., FDR’s grandson.   
  • Speaking of first-ever such endorsements, the respected scientific journal Scientific Americanhas done just that as well. In its own words: “Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in our 175-year history—until now. The 2020 election is literally a matter of life and death. We urge you to vote for health, science and Joe Biden for President.”
  • A big reason Trump won in 2016 is because so many Americans—from primary opponents to casual voters—thought it could never happen. That’s no longer the case. Call it an existential mulligan for an electorate that has seen what an unfit reality TV charlatan has wrought.
  • “Biden is a man who doesn’t do culture war, who will separate the cultural left from the political left, reduce politics back to its normal size and calm an increasingly apocalyptic and hysterical nation.”—David Brooks, New York Times.
  • It used to be that senators, including politically prominent ones, didn’t need to overplay the party- or presidential-fealty card when voting on a SCOTUS nomination. To wit: Republicans Strom Thurmond, Bob Dole and Mitch McConnell voted for Ruth Bader Ginsburg in 1993. Seven years earlier, Democrats Al Gore, John Kerry and Joe Biden voted for Antonin Scalia.

Media Matters

  • The Poynter Institute will honor Chris Wallace with its Medal of Lifetime Achievement in Journalism. It will be an online presentation after the election. Wallace is the son of the late “60 Minutes” icon Mike Wallace and the host of Fox New Sunday. He’s also the one who tried to moderate the first presidential debate this week.  
  • “Saturday Night Live” will begin its new season this Saturday (Oct. 3). Look for regular appearances from Jim Carrey as Joe Biden.
  • Scary when Facebook is the chief vector for QAnon. No, that’s not a conspiracy theory.
  • Google will halt all election advertising after the polls officially close on Nov. 3—a move designed to limit false messages about the outcome. That also applies to YouTube.
  • Since 2007, the State Department has been annually giving out an International Women of Courage prize. It’s not known for controversy—until this year. One of the 10 women to be honored, Finnish journalist Jessikka Aro–whose reporting helped expose Russian disinformation campaigns–has had her award revoked. Seems that some of her posts on Twitter and Facebook were quite critical of Donald Trump for his media assaults.