I don’t think the question of whether Trump is “on the ins or outs” with Putin is the accurate framing. Trump works for Putin. I don’t know whether it’s because Putin has blackmail material, whether it’s business (money laundering)-related, the promise of future business, a genuine ideological harmony or some combination of the above. But Trump works for Putin. Nothing he does makes any sense until and unless you consider that; then everything makes perfect sense. And don’t forget that Trump had classified documents in his motel bathroom while he was having these private conversations with Putin. (One of many things I like about the Harris campaign is that she’ll go out there and say the obvious, that Trump was giving away this information, and not let the Trump-apologist “fact checkers” at the Times and Post stop her.)
Also, you keep making an important point that I kept trying to make constantly in my last newsroom job: We DON’T want reporters to hold Trump to some new standard; we want him to be treated like any other news source, including remembering his track record and assuming it colors his present and future actions, instead of letting him emerge with a clean slate every morning like Wile E. Coyote after every face plant off a cliff.
My wife and I are listening to Rachel Maddow's "Ultra" about the fascists among us since the 1930s. Donald Trump isn't the first to lie comfortably, frequently and without shame - Joe McCarthy did it in the 1950s, destroying countless lives. Of course, Roy Cohn, Trump's early consigliere, was McCarthy's lawyer.
Always wondered why press coverage for an offensive, embarrassing act would be different for a Trump than for a Biden or Harris. Assuming Brian is right for why, still a damnation on the press: Supporters of Trump will not change their minds regardless of what is reported, so why make a big(ger) deal out of the revelation if done by a Trump, just more of the same. But if a Biden or Harris did the same thing, OMG....Breaking News!!!
Obama said it all last night after a long list of examples: When did such behavior become ok? Note now how Breaking News is when FOX fact checks as they recently have about the hurricane and claimed lack of support by FEMA, coverage is not that the truth revealed so we are not mislead, but that any fact check took place in real time, during an interview. But even then, continual omitting news coverage of a serious transgression or nonsense comment by a Trump is another form of non Fact Checking one side? The Double Standard is Trump's biggest asset, nothing close.
It’s interesting that Trump’s instincts on FEMA and the storms are so counter to the interests of a real political party: in a Democratic administration, disasters in a red state are an opportunity to dispense patronage and reset loyalties, NOT an opportunity to punish the opposition.
Which is why, fundamentally, Trump is a bad politician: not so much that he is now trying to muddle and sabotage Uncle Sam’s support for disaster victims, but that his vengeful, mob boss mentality prevented HIM from managing blue-state disasters ‘constructively.’
But will any and all scandalous revelations break the MAGA fever? It seems that nothing that has been revealed about tRump - and several thick PhD theses barely would cover his KNOWN peccadilloes and transgressions - would deter a near-majority of voters to claim tRump as their Messiah, as his basic CHARACTER, subsuming monstrous failings in both simple morality and ethics, has been deemed acceptable by not only his supporters, but also the national media, by means of tortuous rationalizations of what "normality" really means in a politician.
Not even if the "Steele dossier" tapes featuring tRump and prostitutes in a Moscow hotel were actually to surface and deemed to be authentic, would the tRump support waver, as that behavior is part of the package, and why would we be surprised?
No, at this point of tRump's life as a politician, nothing of a scandalous or damning nature would make ANY difference in how the American public view this creature, as views and opinions are locked in and remain invariant to virtually any undisclosed revelations yet to come, so sad to say.
Even without a disclosure of additional evidence, a set of clip-shows, you know, the greatest hits, would work wonders, starting with "Rapists and Murderers" and the Access Hollywood tape.
Nice article, continuing to highlight rump's atrocious behavior of all he has done to undermine democracy is important. While rump/lance continue to double down on their actions, one poll of women showing they consistently used the word "pig" and "gross", 70 percent of female respondents. That is the hidden part that won't become clear until the votes are counted, women are really angry and the polls just don't go that deep.
Asa Huffington, former governor of AK and an astute politician, did an interview yesterday where he spoke of what he felt was the most important metric, momentum, saying Harris had it lost a little bit of it but has now regained it through her massive personal media blitz. She presently has it, rump doesn't. That seems about right.
More electoral facts: rump is at his peak number of voters, 48 percent, trying to pick up more white males but it appears he has all he can get, no more exist.
On the other hand, Kamala is at 51 percent and still has room to grow with women, Gen Z and people of color. Her upward trajectory is still open.
Harris continues to keep a lead, however slight, we just don't know...in the battleground states, MI, WI and PA, her small lead has been constant for a month. Contrast that with GA and NC that only are about .5 percent up, have been dropping for weeks, meaning those races are pretty much tied, much closer to tied than PA, MI and WI.
Nevada appears they will vote Blue. Arizona is basically tied.
Which gets back to what will really be most important, turnout (and momentum) will be the keys and blues may be more motivated to vote. Republican women could cross over because of their future under rump, if not disgust for his many past bad actions and speech.
Yesterday one commentator spoke of a poll showing Harris leading with elders. This is one of the key demographic she was missing. Rump has only young and middle aged white men. No room to grow.
If Harris/Walz can keep the momentum to the last week of the race and if Democrats vote in overwhelming numbers, we're going to win this thing.
Momentum, is key, let's keep it happening.
We got this.
Postscript: it's interesting how Republican officials in NC are scrambling to put into place the same voting law exceptions Republican national leaders previously called voter fraud during the pandemic: mail in ballots, extended time to count votes, less identity verification, more "unguarded" drop boxes, more changes to make it easier to vote.
I wouldn't take this to mean Republicans have seen the light re voter restrictions, but only for this one situation, similar to what the Justices stipulated for Bush v Gore, that it could never be used as precedent.
I don’t think the question of whether Trump is “on the ins or outs” with Putin is the accurate framing. Trump works for Putin. I don’t know whether it’s because Putin has blackmail material, whether it’s business (money laundering)-related, the promise of future business, a genuine ideological harmony or some combination of the above. But Trump works for Putin. Nothing he does makes any sense until and unless you consider that; then everything makes perfect sense. And don’t forget that Trump had classified documents in his motel bathroom while he was having these private conversations with Putin. (One of many things I like about the Harris campaign is that she’ll go out there and say the obvious, that Trump was giving away this information, and not let the Trump-apologist “fact checkers” at the Times and Post stop her.)
Also, you keep making an important point that I kept trying to make constantly in my last newsroom job: We DON’T want reporters to hold Trump to some new standard; we want him to be treated like any other news source, including remembering his track record and assuming it colors his present and future actions, instead of letting him emerge with a clean slate every morning like Wile E. Coyote after every face plant off a cliff.
My wife and I are listening to Rachel Maddow's "Ultra" about the fascists among us since the 1930s. Donald Trump isn't the first to lie comfortably, frequently and without shame - Joe McCarthy did it in the 1950s, destroying countless lives. Of course, Roy Cohn, Trump's early consigliere, was McCarthy's lawyer.
And Soviet intelligence buzzed around Cohn like flies around Robert Hanssen.
Always wondered why press coverage for an offensive, embarrassing act would be different for a Trump than for a Biden or Harris. Assuming Brian is right for why, still a damnation on the press: Supporters of Trump will not change their minds regardless of what is reported, so why make a big(ger) deal out of the revelation if done by a Trump, just more of the same. But if a Biden or Harris did the same thing, OMG....Breaking News!!!
Obama said it all last night after a long list of examples: When did such behavior become ok? Note now how Breaking News is when FOX fact checks as they recently have about the hurricane and claimed lack of support by FEMA, coverage is not that the truth revealed so we are not mislead, but that any fact check took place in real time, during an interview. But even then, continual omitting news coverage of a serious transgression or nonsense comment by a Trump is another form of non Fact Checking one side? The Double Standard is Trump's biggest asset, nothing close.
It’s interesting that Trump’s instincts on FEMA and the storms are so counter to the interests of a real political party: in a Democratic administration, disasters in a red state are an opportunity to dispense patronage and reset loyalties, NOT an opportunity to punish the opposition.
Which is why, fundamentally, Trump is a bad politician: not so much that he is now trying to muddle and sabotage Uncle Sam’s support for disaster victims, but that his vengeful, mob boss mentality prevented HIM from managing blue-state disasters ‘constructively.’
But will any and all scandalous revelations break the MAGA fever? It seems that nothing that has been revealed about tRump - and several thick PhD theses barely would cover his KNOWN peccadilloes and transgressions - would deter a near-majority of voters to claim tRump as their Messiah, as his basic CHARACTER, subsuming monstrous failings in both simple morality and ethics, has been deemed acceptable by not only his supporters, but also the national media, by means of tortuous rationalizations of what "normality" really means in a politician.
Not even if the "Steele dossier" tapes featuring tRump and prostitutes in a Moscow hotel were actually to surface and deemed to be authentic, would the tRump support waver, as that behavior is part of the package, and why would we be surprised?
No, at this point of tRump's life as a politician, nothing of a scandalous or damning nature would make ANY difference in how the American public view this creature, as views and opinions are locked in and remain invariant to virtually any undisclosed revelations yet to come, so sad to say.
All true, but it could keep him out of power.
Wrong. If trump returns to power, we will NEVER LEARN THE TRUTH!!!
Even without a disclosure of additional evidence, a set of clip-shows, you know, the greatest hits, would work wonders, starting with "Rapists and Murderers" and the Access Hollywood tape.
Thank you Brian, Right on the Mark(s)!
Nice article, continuing to highlight rump's atrocious behavior of all he has done to undermine democracy is important. While rump/lance continue to double down on their actions, one poll of women showing they consistently used the word "pig" and "gross", 70 percent of female respondents. That is the hidden part that won't become clear until the votes are counted, women are really angry and the polls just don't go that deep.
Asa Huffington, former governor of AK and an astute politician, did an interview yesterday where he spoke of what he felt was the most important metric, momentum, saying Harris had it lost a little bit of it but has now regained it through her massive personal media blitz. She presently has it, rump doesn't. That seems about right.
More electoral facts: rump is at his peak number of voters, 48 percent, trying to pick up more white males but it appears he has all he can get, no more exist.
On the other hand, Kamala is at 51 percent and still has room to grow with women, Gen Z and people of color. Her upward trajectory is still open.
Harris continues to keep a lead, however slight, we just don't know...in the battleground states, MI, WI and PA, her small lead has been constant for a month. Contrast that with GA and NC that only are about .5 percent up, have been dropping for weeks, meaning those races are pretty much tied, much closer to tied than PA, MI and WI.
Nevada appears they will vote Blue. Arizona is basically tied.
Which gets back to what will really be most important, turnout (and momentum) will be the keys and blues may be more motivated to vote. Republican women could cross over because of their future under rump, if not disgust for his many past bad actions and speech.
Yesterday one commentator spoke of a poll showing Harris leading with elders. This is one of the key demographic she was missing. Rump has only young and middle aged white men. No room to grow.
If Harris/Walz can keep the momentum to the last week of the race and if Democrats vote in overwhelming numbers, we're going to win this thing.
Momentum, is key, let's keep it happening.
We got this.
Postscript: it's interesting how Republican officials in NC are scrambling to put into place the same voting law exceptions Republican national leaders previously called voter fraud during the pandemic: mail in ballots, extended time to count votes, less identity verification, more "unguarded" drop boxes, more changes to make it easier to vote.
I wouldn't take this to mean Republicans have seen the light re voter restrictions, but only for this one situation, similar to what the Justices stipulated for Bush v Gore, that it could never be used as precedent.
Biden hates Trump. What could keep him from doing this? Maybe it would expose sources. But...so what? Get them out.
Superb!
Is Trump getting national security briefings now?
No. (Gift link)
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/09/us/politics/trump-presidential-transition.html?unlocked_article_code=1.RU4.NL1w.2F0-07X3u-KE&smid=url-share
thank you.