Just Another Dangerous, Crazy, and Stupid Day in Trumpland, USA
There are less than 180 days Until the election. Every one of them is critical
If you want reasons to get off your duff and start getting ready for the General Election, May 7th was chock full of them.
By sundown DC time on Thursday, my head was spinning. How low can the Trumpies go?
I’m afraid there is no bottom. I write this not to discourage readers, but to remind them that every single day counts. Every dollar donated, every letter or email written, every bit of your time motivating those in your circles is important.
Let me give you some reasons to care, since some or all of this news will get buried behind the daily wall of bullsh*t coming out of Washington.
First up on the big news, and the story that the media is almost guaranteed to not present the basic facts on, is the announcement by the Department of Justice saying they were dropping the case against Gen. Michael Flynn.
The President reacted to the news by claiming Flynn was a target of the Obama administration, calling the investigation into his former national security adviser treasonous. “They’re human scum,” Trump said. “It’s treason.”
You gotta give the prez credit, he does know how to tell a whopper. Flynn was prosecuted under Trump's presidency by an office led by a Trump appointee. He pled guilty. Told the judge he’d done the crime in the face of overwhelmingly damning circumstances.
Then, suddenly, Flynn charged his mind about cooperating with the government. And the US Attorneys (who are no longer willing to associate themselves with this case) said “okay, go to jail.”
Good ol Billy Barr stepped up and took one for the team in declaring the government’s intention to drop the case.
https://twitter.com/vinceoutlaw/status/1258488929562566656?s=20
Vice President Pence had a photo opportunity on Thursday, assembling the news media to watch him unload donated PPE to a nursing home. There was just one weee small problem: nobody was practicing social distancing and/or wearing facemasks.
Apparently this display of manhood was inspired by the President’s Arizona visit to a facility manufacturing facemasks.
Via CNN:
"I had a mask on for a period of time," Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday. "I had it on back -- backstage. But they said you didn't need it, so, I didn't need it. And by the way, if you noticed, nobody else had it on that was in the group."
https://twitter.com/jimmykimmel/status/1257808681791455232?s=20
The Associated Press reported the administration's deep sixing of a 17-page report by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention team, titled “Guidance for Implementing the Opening Up America Again Framework,” intended to offer guidance for state and local governments. As is true with so much of what the administration does, now there are no rules.
It was supposed to be published last Friday, but agency scientists were told the guidance “would never see the light of day,” according to a CDC official. The official was not authorized to talk to reporters and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Blame the victims… Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told a bipartisan group that he believed infected employees were to blame for bringing the COVID-19 virus into meat processing plants.
Via Politico:
Azar noted in particular that many meatpacking workers live in congregate housing, allowing that more testing at facilities would help but that the bigger issue was employees' home environments. One possible solution was to send more law enforcement to those communities to better enforce social distancing rules, he added, according to two of the lawmakers on the call...
...At least 6,500 meatpacking plant employees have contracted Covid-19 so far, raising concerns about the conditions for a mostly low-income workforce that's made up predominantly of racial minorities and immigrants. Some 44 percent of meatpackers are Latino and 25 percent are African American, according to an analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The League of United Latin American Citizens estimates 80 percent of those working in meat processing plants are undocumented or refugees.
The outbreaks have driven a spike in cases across rural areas in the Midwest and in Georgia, where state officials say the close quarters inside the plants — where hundreds of employees often work elbow-to-elbow — have exacerbated the virus' spread.
https://twitter.com/TrinityResists/status/1258451292361338880?s=20
No healthcare for you! On the last day before for the Trump administration to change its position in a Supreme Court case challenging the Affordable Care Act, the president told reporters his administration was staying the course in its efforts to overturn the law. The Washington Post reports the decision came despite pressure from advisors to temper the opposition.
Democrats, who view the fight over the Affordable Care Act as a winning election issue for them, denounced the president’s decision.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement that “the President’s insistence on doubling down on his senseless and cruel argument in court to destroy the ACA and every last one of its benefits and protections is unconscionable, particularly in the middle of a pandemic.”
Trump’s declaration caps months of debate within his administration about the best course of action, in which the stakes have only become greater now that the nation’s health-care system is struggling to deal with the spread of the coronavirus, which has killed more than 70,000 Americans.
It’s a win-win for the President, actually. He gets to act tough pre-election and doesn’t have to worry about consequences, since the Justice Department has stalled the case to the point where a decision won’t be announced until 2021.
https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1258525911697113088?s=20
Republican election plans in three parts:
The Republican National Committee and Trump reelection campaign are doubling their legal budget to $20 million to fight efforts at expanding mail-in voting.
Via Politico:
Trump, who has long been fixated on voter fraud, has taken a personal interest in the project. He is expected to discuss the legal maneuvering during a meeting with his political team Thursday.
The battle over voting laws — specifically Democrats' efforts to make it easier for people to vote remotely during the pandemic — has emerged as a key front in the general election showdown between the parties.
In case the legal efforts don’t bear fruit, the Trumplicans have a second line of defense. Louis DeJoy, a North Carolina businessman who is currently in charge of fundraising for the Republican National Convention, has been selected to serve as postmaster general.
Via the Washington Post:
Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the Postal Service, denounced the move as a reward by Trump to a “partisan donor.”
“The Postal Service is in crisis and needs real leadership and someone with knowledge of the issues,” Connolly said. “This crony doesn’t cut it.”
After criticizing the agency for years, Trump has been consolidating his influence lately. Three Republicans and one Democrat sit on the board of governors after the vice chairman, David Williams, a Democrat, resigned last week.
Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale took to Twitter on Thursday to boast about the capabilities of his organization and used an unfortunate image to make his point.
https://twitter.com/parscale/status/1258388669544759296?s=20
For those of you unfamiliar with the Star Wars storyline, the “deathstar” weapon was created by the Evil Empire to destroy entire planets. It was destroyed at the last minute by a scrappy group of freedom fighters.
Finally, in case all else fails, the Trump administration is calling upon its friends among the owners of National Football League teams to restore a sense of normalcy in the runup to the election.
https://twitter.com/EdgeofSports/status/1258407675316121600?s=20
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Lead image: Screenshot from Saturday Night Live