Et tu, Cheney!
In my rare conversations with Trump supporters, they are incapable of realizing that he poses an existential threat to democracy in the United States. There is a reason that the only living former Republican nominee (Romney), his running mate Paul Ryan, former president George Bush, and former vice-presidents Dan Quayle and Mike Pence are all refusing to endorse him. But I was not expecting to see a former Republican vice-president go this far. Dick Cheney is urging people to vote for Kamala Harris, not because of her policies, but because he knows the danger posed by Donald Trump winning this election. I’ll let him speak for himself here:
Trump strategist Steve Bannon once said, openly, that his media strategy was to “flood the zone with shit.” This wasn’t a new idea, you may be familiar with the Gish Gallop, but he put it rather eloquently. Simply put, create enough negative stories and the media won’t be able to appropriately respond to all of them. It’s been incredibly effective these last nine years as major outlets struggle to keep up with the onslaught of Trump news. My goal here is to arm you with information that’s nearly impossible to keep up with without a summary. So let’s dive in.
The largest national police union has endorsed Donald Trump. Trump is a convicted felon and has now pledged to pardon the January 6th criminals who were attacking police at the capitol. His campaign said recently anyone convicted of a crime should spend time behind bars. These may seem like contradictions but they aren’t. Both Trump and the Fraternal Order of Police are referring only to certain people when they talk about crime. The FOP is fine endorsing a convicted felon because when they talk about crime, they’re not referring to crimes committed by the rich or powerful. It’s a real life illustration of Wilhout’s Law.
Speaking of Trump’s crimes, sentencing for his hush money trial has been postponed until after the election. Multiple legal scholars I follow have been debating if this is good or bad and I see the merits of both arguments. In the primary election interference case, Jack Smith has filed a superseding indictment which contains the same charges, but removes any issues the Supreme Court invented immunity for. The judge in that trial has set a pre-trial briefing schedule, though the trial won’t begin before the election. And finally, in the stolen classified documents case, Jack Smith has appealed Judge Cannon’s ruling tossing the case out. In her order, she effectively said that US v. Nixon was not a binding decision and special counsels require Senate approval. Both of these issues have been to the Supreme Court multiple times and she is absolutely completely wrong here. Meanwhile the GOP in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and Nevada have chosen 14 of the same electors who committed fraud in 2020, claiming Trump won their state and they were the rightful electors.
Moving on to sexism, Donald Trump posted a meme about Kamala Harris advancing her career via blowjobs. Before 2016, this would have devastated a candidacy with the party immediately calling on that candidate to withdraw. Trump continues to defame E. Jean Carroll who won a judgement against him for denying he raped her. The court found that he is in fact a rapist and that it is not defamation to call him as such. His lawyers are still trying to get the decision overturned, most recently with the ridiculous argument that the courts cannot examine the woman he sexually assaulted on a plane as it was in international waters. Just yesterday Trump again repeated his assertion that this accuser isn’t attractive enough for him to assault. He’s been saying that for years now.
Trump said this week Jews who vote against him need “to have your head examined.” Trump only took 23% of the Jewish vote in 2016.
He was asked what specific legislation he would support to reduce childcare costs. After briefly mentioning a plan supported by his daughter and Senator Rubio (a complete disaster were it implemented), he went into a long ramble about how tariffs and lowering the deficit will address childcare costs by… well I’ll just let you listen to it or read it:
Per Bob Woodward’s books, Fear and Rage, Trump’s advisors tried explaining to him multiple times that tariffs are not taxes on foreign countries and are paid by US-owned importers. He was not capable of understanding this and just today said his massive tariff increases will be paid by foreign governments. Tariffs are simply a form of sales tax. If his massive increase in these taxes is implemented, the consequences for US consumers would be disastrous.
He has continued his lie that in Democrat controlled states, mothers can kill their children after birth. He has been telling this lie for years, borrowing it from the pro-life crowd who formed it in response to laws regarding palliative care vs resuscitation for newborns with no chance of survival.
Trump went to Arlington National Cemetery for a campaign photo op, which is not merely against their rules, but illegal. (There are images of past presidents in this area, taken by staff photographers which is allowed). Two members of Trump’s campaign got into an altercation with a Cemetery staff member, with one of them physically assaulting her. The Trump campaign responded to the staffer being assaulted by accusing her of being mentally ill
And finally on race, Trump appeared at National Association of Black Journalists convention and said both that Kamala Harris was not previously black and one day “turned black” and that immigrants were coming to the US and “taking black jobs.” He has repeated the latter claim multiple times.
I know this was a long update so thank you for sticking around until the end. Please consider sharing this newsletter or donating via my Ko-fi link below.
As of writing, there are 58 days until the 2024 election.
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