The US coronavirus caseload has reached record heights with more than 83,000 infections reported in a single day, the latest ominous sign of the disease’s grip on the nation.
What, me worry? Trump says worst is over as COVID rampages across US | The New Daily
If Trump and the Republicans hold on and retain control of the Senate the future is less clear – there is no published Republican platform for a second term – but it seems reasonable to assume more of the same.
Disruptive outlier: the election outcome that could shake markets
When I pointed that out at his rally in Des Moines, I was spit on by one of his supporters. That’s right. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when Trump himself has been diagnosed with the virus, a supporter of the president decided that he would spit on me to keep me from telling the truth. It’s going to take a lot more than spit to keep me from speaking out. Together with Our Revolution activists across the Midwest, I’m organizing working people and spreading the word about Trump. We need real action to save our jobs and communities, not more lies and bluster.
Trump Sold Out Workers Like Me | The Smirking Chimp
https://player.fm/series/the-lincoln-project/donald-trumps-last-debate-ever
Essential listening Republicans against Trump and Trumpism
The combination of Trump’s attacks on the institutions and the principles of democracy and the Republican Party’s repressive methods means that democracy itself is on the ballot.
The end of democracy? If Trump loses, Trumpism still wins
A report released on Wednesday by Columbia University estimated that between 130,000 and 210,000 COVID-19 deaths could have been avoided in the US, calling the federal government’s response to the pandemic an “enormous failure”. “The weight of this enormous failure ultimately falls to the leadership at the White House – and among a number of state governments – which consistently undercut the efforts of top officials at the CDC and HHS,” the report said, referring to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Health and Human Services.
Coronavirus: US COVID-19 single-day deaths top 1200 for first time since August
CNN cited a source as saying Melania has no upcoming appearances, nor does she have any campaign-related travel plans with the President. “She does what she wants, when she wants … She can be a contrarian,” one former White House staffer told the news outlet.
Missing Melania: The First Lady still MIA as US election looms
A poll of debate watchers by CNN showed that 53 per cent of viewers believed Biden won the debate compared to 39 per cent for Trump. That compared to 60 per cent for Biden and 28 per cent for Trump after the first debate.
Presidential Debate: Trump, Joe Biden clash for final time before 2020 US election
The president, appearing to be in a foul mood during the interview, repeatedly complains that he faces “tough questions” while his Democratic rival Joe Biden gets “softball” questions.
Donald Trump airs 60 Minutes interview, decries ‘bias’
On October 14, Donald Trump held a rally attended by several thousand in Iowa, despite White House guidelines that gatherings in the state should be limited to 25. Trump visited Iowa numerous times in 2016, a political outsider promising he would “give working people a voice for the first time in a very, very long time”. He won the state by nine points.
Trump has changed America by making everything about politics, and politics all about himself
A 72-year-old voter in Dayton, Ohio, said, “I’m angry about everything.” A retired veterinary technician in Detroit said she voted for one reason only: “Donald Trump. To make sure he’s not reelected.” A federal employee who waited in line for 10 hours in suburban Atlanta explained simply: “I have three black sons.”
‘Black people are literally voting like their lives depend on it’
“The United States is not in a place where we would feel comfortable reopening those borders,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.
Amid Trump Failure to Get Pandemic Under Control, Canada Extends Border Closure With US | Common Dreams News
Even if Trump loses, he can go on screwing up the country for two and a half months thereafter, and it will take years to undo the damage he has done. Pandemics are the sort of thing you want to nip in the bud. If you let them go to national community spread, they become far more difficult to quash. Some analysts are looking at winter 2023 for the US to “put the pandemic in the rear-view mirror,” and that is assuming we get an effective vaccine fairly soon (something of which there is no guarantee), and that it can be mass manufactured and widely distributed and that people will get it.
China grows nearly 5%; Will historians look back at Trump’s disastrous Pandemic Response as the Moment Beijing Overtook the US?
Donald Trump considers any election in which he is not the “winner” to be null and void. Trump’s appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court is an obvious quid pro quo to secure his “reelection” if his attorneys and other agents can sufficiently sabotage the vote on Election Day and beyond.
Historian Timothy Snyder warns that America is already in its own “slow-motion Reichstag Fire” | Salon.com
The hard drive, obtained from a Delaware repair shop owner by Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, has become a damaging story for Joe Biden, who has seen his national poll numbers slip. That’s despite social media platforms suppressing the story over worries of it being factually unverified, and Biden himself slamming the entire thing as a “smear campaign.”
‘Disaster for Joe’: As Hunter Biden’s lawyers allegedly ask for his laptop BACK, Trump calls its explosive revelations ‘REAL DEAL’ — RT USA News
Former presidents normally don’t go to jail, but few have committed so many obvious crimes unrelated to their duties in office.
How Donald Trump Is Vulnerable to Prosecution
Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric appears to be informing extremism in Australia and right-wing media is helping, writes James Cutler.
Trumpism: Its firing up the far-Right
With President Donald Trump’s re-election very much in doubt, his administration is rushing to ram through regulatory rollbacks that could adversely affect millions of Americans, the environment, and the ability of Joe Biden—should he win—to pursue his agenda or even undo the damage done over the past four years.
Critics Say Deregulatory Rush Shows Even If Defeated the Trump White House Willing to ‘Scorch the Earth Before They Go’ | Common Dreams News
The nation’s top political reporters actually focused on the extreme contrast between the candidates, not spectacle
A dueling town halls upside: Media finally focuses on the wide gulf between Biden and Trump | Salon.com
Trump is alive because he got the best treatment science can deliver, buttressed by data gathered from the corpses he has already caused. Upon recovery, he declared his intent to abandon millions more to a choking, solitary death so he can keep his job and salvage his junkyard ego. Not for one second does he think this Great Barrington Declaration will do anybody but him any good. It gets him out from under, and that is all that matters. Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States.
Trump Got the Best COVID Treatment. For the Rest of Us He Wants “Herd Immunity.” | The Smirking Chimp
On Wednesday morning, the New York Post broke the genuinely unbelievable story about a soggy laptop with a hard drive that contains emails suggesting that Joe Biden had a previously unreported meeting with a Ukrainian businessman … and video of Hunter Biden having a crack-laced party with a sex worker. Because, sure, if you’re going to have illegal drugs while engaging in illegal sex, you have to be sure to film it, right after the email that’s a threat to your father.
Details Emerge On Giuliani-Post Story, And The Obvious Frame-up Looks Clearly Like Russian Propaganda | Crooks and Liars
The White House has abandoned the idea of controlling the virus and instead is openly embracing the idea of “herd immunity.” Officials are arguing that the nation should protect our most vulnerable neighbors — the elderly and the infirm — and the rest of us should go about our lives normally, without waiting for a vaccine.
Donald Trump is an autocratic nightmare wrapped in incompetence, made in the USA.
Intercepted Podcast: American Mythology, Part One
Plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor grew from the militia movement’s toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths
The U.S. militia movement has long been steeped in a peculiar – and unquestionably mistaken – interpretation of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and civil liberties. This is true of an armed militia group that calls itself the Wolverine Watchmen, who were involved in the recently revealed plot to overthrow Michigan’s government and kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Plot to kidnap Michigan’s governor grew from the militia movement’s toxic mix of constitutional falsehoods and half-truths
But the most chilling moment of her Supreme Court confirmation testimony Tuesday came when she said she would “need to hear arguments” about whether President Trump can postpone the election. “President Trump made claims of voter fraud and suggested he wanted to delay the upcoming election,” Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, observed. “Does the Constitution give the president of the United States the authority to unilaterally delay a general election under any circumstances? Does federal law?” AD
Opinion | Postpone the election? Voter intimidation? Amy Coney Barrett is open to it. – The Washington Post
This past week, 13 men belonging to paramilitary groups were arrested in a horrifying plot to kidnap Michigan’s Democratic governor, Gretchen Whitmer. Based on what can be gleaned from the men’s social media pages, they fit a familiar profile of far-right vigilantism in America.
All The President’s Men | HuffPost Australia
Rather than admitting that its belated and ineffective response to the novel coronavirus outbreak has cost more than 210,000 American lives and taking measures now to prevent any more loss of lives, the US administration unashamedly continues to blame other countries for the spread of the virus. The international community hoped that after testing positive for COVID-19, the US president’s attitude toward the pandemic would change. Yet the world is greeted by the same chicanery. Because when it comes to “America first”, it is the US administration first; the rest just don’t matter.
Hollowness of ‘America first’ to the fore at UN meeting: China Daily editorial – Opinion – Chinadaily.com.cn
Donald Trump has secured a critical endorsement just 24 days before the election: the Taliban. CBS News is reporting that the Taliban really wants Donald Trump to be reelected for a second term.
I wonder how the military and the rest of the Republican Party feels about this?
Only Trump
President Trump’s reelection bid received a vote of support Friday from an entity most in his party would reject: the Taliban.
The Taliban on Trump: “We hope he will win the election” and withdraw U.S. troops – CBS News
Portland protesters report severe and lasting side effects from the chemical weapons used during Trump’s “Operation Diligent Valor.
Toxic Chemical Smoke Grenades Used in Portland
On the eve of the most important election of our lifetimes, more than 200,000 Americans have died, more than 7 million have been infected, and the numbers in many states are still getting worse. And now, an outbreak centered around Trump and his White House has further exposed just how careless and callous his response to the virus has been. This timeline details how we got here.
Superspreader in Chief – Mother Jones
Soon after the US President’s refusal to attend the debate, Trump’s campaign team then issued a statement suggesting pushing back the encounter to October 22, the scheduled date of a third debate between the candidates, while using the town hall-style format planned for October 15. The Trump campaign proposed holding what would be a third debate on October 29.
US 2020 Election: Second US Presidential debate to be virtual amid concerns of Donald Trump’s COVID-19
A MODERN DAY NERO
US President Donald Trump has described his COVID-19 infection as a “blessing from God” in a new video filmed at the White House in which he promises to make the experimental drug he received available for free to all Americans. Introducing himself as “your favourite president”, Trump said he regarded the experimental antibody treatment, made by pharma company Regeneron, as a “cure” for coronavirus. There is no cure for the virus, according to medical experts.
Trump says COVID-19 infection ‘a blessing from god’, promises Regeneron for free
In fact, throughout his first—and, hopefully, only—term in office, Trump has turned the presidency into a huge swamp, rife with corruption.
King of the Swamp – Progressive.org
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‘Promises Made, Workers Betrayed’: Trump Gave $425 Billion in Federal Contracts to Corporations That Offshored 200,000 Jobs | Common Dreams News
Trump won in 2016 by pledging to voters in key industrial swing states that he would end job offshoring, but 200,000 more American jobs have been offshored during his presidency.”
‘Promises Made, Workers Betrayed’: Trump Gave $425 Billion in Federal Contracts to Corporations That Offshored 200,000 Jobs | Common Dreams News
Wall St dives Trump tweets the reverse (ODT)
Wall Street took a nosedive late in the session on Tuesday (US time), reversing solid gains to close deep in negative territory after President Donald Trump announced he was calling off talks on coronavirus relief legislation until after the November 3 election.
Wall Street dives as Trump orders halt to stimulus talks until after election
“Millions falling into poverty, millions on the edge of eviction, millions going hungry, millions losing their healthcare and this megalomaniac dime store dictator puts his knee of the neck of a nation.”
‘What an Anti-Everybody Agenda Looks Like’: AOC Excoriates Trump for Walking Away From Covid-19 Relief Talks | Common Dreams News
“These groups have been waiting for the signal from Trump for some time,” Wagner added. “Many of them explicitly reference the president in waiting for orders.”
“Stand back and stand by”: New report links Trump and NRA to rise of militias behind violent threats | Salon.com
The argument that has been screamed – and often backed by weapons – is that liberty, and the economy, is more important than death. Trump and his supporters (which is probably too gentle a term) think of Trump as the embodiment of the economy, liberty and freedom. He was the WWE Superstar that asked you to believe that his Presidency was real. He asked you to believe that all of his Administration were good guys — then the next week were the bad guys. Every WWE week promised new battles, new heroes, new villains. There was no-one he couldn’t defeat. Kim Jong-un. Stormy Daniels. The first WWE President in history promised us that he would never die. And now he might. That is, of course, if you believe. Because now, as you know, opinion is fact.
Trump and the death of belief
Whether he recovers or not, Trump’s presidency is moribund; so utterly corrupted it is rotten to the core. Mendacity and recklessness are two of its worst traits, notes Frank Bruni. Add a third: Trump’s petty tyranny. If you wanted the boss to be happy, you left your mask at home, report Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman of The White House’s top-down culture of fear. A staff too frightened to displease their boss cannot tell him the hard truths he needs to know. In the end, this is the illness that has undone Trump. He is the architect of his own decline.
Trump is the architect of his own decline – » The Australian Independent Media Network
If a mother tells her son not to touch a hot stove, and the kid does it anyway, and gets burnt, this isn’t irony. It’s the behaviour we expect from a young boy, and the result we all know will happen. Trump was told by many people that mask-wearing and social distancing would inhibit the spread of the disease; he ignored the advice, and the expected result has occurred. When the subjects are a young boy and his mother, there is a lesson to be imparted when he burns his fingers. But what do we do when the young boy is a septuagenarian, and incapable of learning? Someone who is indolent, resentful, reckless and seemingly incapable of experiencing empathy?
US election: How Trump infantilised the presidency and infected the White House
You don’t need me to tell you this: The Trump campaign gaslights you every day. That’s even more the case with a president holed up in hospital signing blank pieces of paper. On Sunday morning, the campaign took to TV in an attempt to wave its hands and make reality, poof, disappear.
Trump’s Campaign: Screw What You’ve Seen With Your Own Eyes, We’ve Been Super Safe – Mother Jones
His Narcissism can’t allow him to admit he is wrong
The entirely self-inflicted nature of this tragedy is one of its central elements, as is the way Trump’s incredible irresponsibility and arrogance was mimicked by his supporters, significantly exacerbating the pandemic. It’s a hugely important element of what’s going on here.
Never forget: All of this was his own damn fault | Salon.com
“A thing that happens when you lie compulsively for years…is that NO ONE F***ING BELIEVES YOU.”
But unless you say BULLSHIT he gets away with it and reinforces his behaviour. Why isn’t he being charged fro “Wilful Murder”? (ODT)
Timeline of Trump’s Illness Confounds Experts, But Critics Say What’s Clear Is President ‘Knowingly Exposed People’ to Covid-19 | Common Dreams News
Fox News made him sick. For months, Fox has pumped poisonous, anti-science rhetoric into the airwaves, ensuring a sizeable portion of the population, including Trump, will refuse to do its part to help America heal. Fox has worked hard to divide the country and make it impossible to have a common sense conversation in times of crisis.
Trump Has Covid-19: How Fox News Infected America | Crooks and Liars
Trump’s shift from demonizing immigrants to targeting leftists is straight out of the fascist playbook.
Trump’s Turn From Immigration to the Enemy Within
President’s doctor reveals treatment with experimental antibody cocktail REGN-COV2
Donald Trump receiving Covid-19 treatment yet to be peer-reviewed | Donald Trump | The Guardian
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