Less than 100 days and counting... (Trump thread #103)

[Roussette]

Here we go...

That piece of reporting is shocking. The money involved, the expenses, the salaries, the non reporting of what they did with money...

Asking There was something about changing the definition of 'habitat' under the Endangered Species Act. It would make it easier for companies to get mining/drilling leases. Right now it's just a 'proposal'.

This is a pretty good resource for the general deregulation Scrotus has been doing. Not just environmental ones, either.

www.brookings.edu/interactives/tracking-deregulation-in-the-trump-era/

Speaking of announcements, I heard that there was supposed to be a 'special announcement' by the NY office doing the Deutsche Bank investigation today at 11 am EDT. I'll have to have a google because I've been out all morning.

Oh, OK. That must have been the NRA announcement. I was hoping it was about the Scrotus records that they'd obtained.

Thanks, Across! I was sure they said something about it, but it looks like a roundup of previous news.

Meanwhile, wasn't it in the NRA that there was a scandal a couple of years ago about its President Oliver North complaining about the expenses being claimed by LaPierre and his general malfeasance (and then being drummed out of the organisation)? www.businessinsider.com/oliver-north-resigned-nra-president-2019-4?op=1&r=US&IR=T
He won that one, but maybe this time he is going to lose big-time.

More from the Lincoln project

This is worrying.

Meet the white, middle-class Pinterest moms who believe Plandemic
Think only fringe people believe in outlandish conspiracy theories? Think again
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/06/coronavirus-conspiracy-theories-plandemic-moms

Conspiracy theorists have always been out there, of course. And more recently Russia has enjoyed pushing conspiracy shit, particularly anti-vax stuff, as part of its overall assault on other countries' trust in their institutions and on populations' ability to judge truth.

But with Covid and Trump's position as deluder-in-chief, the Trump campaign now has incentive to push this conspiracy theory too. It also has the access and know-how to get Covid conspiracies to take hold, and creating self-reinforcing bubbles is what social media algorithms do best.

I'm concerned that the habits of disinformation could become more damaging to the fabric of the US than either Covid itself or the economic impact of Covid.

They won't be able to decide whether to push the anti-vaxxers' conspiracy theories or the "we will have a vaccine by October and all will be well, we will save the world" line.

www.newsweek.com/50-white-americans-would-vote-trump-if-election-were-held-today-1523164?amp=1&utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter&__twitter_impression=true

They won't be able to decide whether to push the anti-vaxxers' conspiracy theories or the "we will have a vaccine by October and all will be well, we will save the world" line.

But they can push both!

That's the point of microtargeting.

Plus actually Trump (and Johnson) has shown that, if you get the emotion cookies right so that people want an excuse to vote for you, then you can say both things at the same time to the same people!

Hence Trump's trademark "Some people say, I don't know, maybe it's not true, but some people say." Each listener only listens to the bit they like, and listeners with mutually incompatible beliefs each come away feeling that Trump agrees with them.

It sounds like a fake spiritualist. Say just enough to convince each and every person in the room that there is some truth to what you say. Wnting to believe it carries the crowd the rest of the way.

Same old.

edition.cnn.com/2020/08/05/politics/donald-trump-press-briefing-beirut-coronavirus-voting-fact-check/index.html

I’ve been out of the loop for a while so wanted to check the Republicans have definitely hitched their wagon to Trump for this election. Have they already passed the point where they can swap him out for a saner, less incoherent candidate?

Not yet time for buyer's remorse.

www.thedailybeast.com/e-jean-carroll-who-accuses-trump-of-raping-her-can-proceed-with-defamation-suit-judge-rules

What on earth is the point of lying about Beirut? I mean, what does he gain by it?

boatyardblues as I understand it the Republicans officially choose their candidate at the National Convention which is scheduled for August 24–27.

So IIUC technically they could could choose someone else.

Politically, that would be... exciting...

It would certainly be interesting although I wouldn't put it past them to mutter about an alternative, if only to rally the base.

time.com/5876596/portland-federal-agents-shooting/

'Our president wants you to believe I am a terrorist, a professional agitator stalking the Pacific Northwest.

Four days before federal agents shoot me in Portland, Ore., I riffle through the garage, shooing spiders from my son’s snowboarding helmet. Will it buckle beneath a steel baton? I press my daughter’s swim goggles to my face, testing the fit. Can they repel tear gas? I run my hands over my husband’s life jacket. Can it stop a bullet?'

I'm think the GOP sees itself as 'stuck' with Scrotus. IMO it's one of the reasons they're telling Congressional candidates that it's OK to 'distance' from him and campaign hard on their own 'merits'. I think at this point they may have realized that they're pretty likely to lose the WH so they're focusing on keeping control of the Senate and trying to gain seats in the house. I think they're already looking to 2024.

And they hHave to obey the law, apparently.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-07/congress-has-a-right-to-sue-the-white-house-appeals-court-says

'House Democrats scored a significant and potentially far-reaching victory over the Trump administration and its expansive view of presidential power with a federal appeals court ruling that Congress can sue to enforce subpoenas of senior White House officials.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington on Friday rejected the administration’s arguments that Congress lacked legal standing to sue to compel the testimony of President Donald Trump’s top aides and that the judiciary had no authority to resolve a dispute between the legislative and executive branches.'

*have

Subpoena and deposition trouble.

www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-07/trump-fails-to-stall-rape-accuser-s-lawsuit-deposition-looms

I think history books might have a tad more to say than that...

Mission impossible? The new duo running Trump's campaign is working overtime to control the president and prevent him from going down in the history books as a one-termer
www.businessinsider.com/bill-stepien-jason-miller-attempt-impossible-mission-to-control-trump-2020-8

One former Trump adviser said he'd never seen anyone truly control Trump. The person noted that a string of campaign managers and chiefs of staff had failed at the task, from the former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon to the current chief of staff, Mark Meadows. The only people to have come close are Kushner and Trump's eldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, the former adviser said.

"Nobody can tell that guy what to do," the former adviser said.

Still, current and former Trump advisers praised the work Stepien and Miller are doing to rein in the president wherever and whenever it's possible.

"Stepien and Miller are having an impact," a third Republican close to the campaign said, mentioning Trump's recent schedule of talking with local TV reporters that had helped the campaign get extended positive coverage in battleground states. "Everything is tighter; it's more strategic, and it's more targeted."

Optimistic Republicans have insisted that the swing-state polling gaps between Trump and Biden will start closing around Labor Day when more voters start paying closer attention to the election and Biden's frequent verbal missteps.

thehill.com/homenews/senate/511055-pelosi-schumer-say-white-house-declined-2t-coronavirus-deal

How can they talk of Biden's 'verbal missteps'? Why go down this route when Trump's presidency is littered with this?

His news conference at his golf club...

Here he is defending his golf customers who are not wearing masks. He is calling them 'peaceful protestors' of the media

twitter.com/atrupar/status/1291891372161667073

Says it all.... he holds a press conf in the ballroom of his own golf club that bans people from congregating without masks, and dozens of his supporters are there without masks to cheer him on.
How can a press conf be held like this?