…guess who? [DOT 7/12/20]

it's message for you, rudi...

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/06/rudy-giuliani-coronavirus-covid-donald-trump

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/trump-announces-rudy-giuliani-has-covid

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/rudolph-w-giuliani-trumps-personal-lawyer-tests-positive-for-coronavirus-president-says/2020/12/06/story.html

…well…maybe not nothing…I mean…can you imagine after you’ve gone out there & burned every shred of dignity you once had for the sake of some orange sack of shite they go ahead & use your diagnosis with a potentially fatal disease as an excuse to trot out the phrase “china virus” for the umpteenth time, grind their little waah-I-shoulda-won-it’s-not-fair axe some more…& then close with basically saying “even if you die it won’t make any difference to me”…with a triple-exclamation-mark to really rub it in?

…that’s gotta sting

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kansas-covid-obituary-excoriates-mask-deniers

…speaking of which

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/05/new-jersey-investigates-republican-gala-over-covid-rule-breaches

…but as was discussed a little yesterday

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/06/miserable-end-miserable-presidency

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/04/trump-election-lawsuits-losses-michigan-nevada-georgia-arizona

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nevada-trump-lawsuit-dismissed/2020/12/04/story.html

…despite the series of fuckups in the actual court proceedings

…there’s a long game of sorts at work with these assholes

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/06/trump-rails-against-election-result-at-rally-ahead-of-crucial-georgia-senate-runoff

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-giuliani-s-georgia-election-fraud-farce-underscores-republican-party-civil-war

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/06/how-trump-tried-spin-his-election-fraud-alternate-reality-into-pitch-georgia-gop-senators

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/trump-s-false-fraud-claims-are-laying-groundwork-new-voting-restrictions

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/05/donald-trump-georgia-senate-republicans

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/what-do-u-s-senate-runoffs-georgia-have-do-puerto-rico-statehood

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/12/04/tea-party-trumpism-conservatives-populism

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/04/republicans-are-standing-up-to-trump-unfortunately-its-too-little-too-late

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/trump-s-bold-moves-raise-fear-destructive-final-days-office

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/joseph-mccarthy-movement-trumpism/2020/12/04/story.html

The president, however, remains undeterred. On Wednesday, he tweeted out a Facebook link to a 46-minute recorded speech in which he railed against “corrupt forces … stuffing ballot boxes,” and blamed the outcome on “fraud and abuse … on a scale never seen before.” Contesting the result of the presidential race, Trump said, “is not just about honoring the votes of 74 million Americans who voted for me, it’s about ensuring that Americans can have faith in this election and in all future elections.” This task, he suggested, may prove to be his “single greatest achievement.”

Even after Trump’s presidency ends, that message will pave the way for GOP politicians and judges to further one of their party’s and the conservative movement’s most important ongoing projects: restricting voting rights. Trump lost this election, but he can still help Republicans win in the future.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/12/05/trump-republicans-concede-fraud

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/12/05/bogus-suitcase-story-rolls-away-fox-news

https://www.washingtonpost.com/powerpost/trump-republicans-kinzinger-house/2020/12/05/story.html

…but from the perspective of the debt-riddled asshole that indisputably lost the election to biden

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/trump-demands-names-of-the-congressional-republicans-who-said-they-recognize-biden-as-winner

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/survey-who-won-election-republicans-congress/2020/12/04/story.html

…those cases are going pretty great

Trump raised more than $200 million in the three weeks between Election Day and Nov. 23, which is a record. The period included nearly 500 fundraising emails replete with baseless, incorrect and misleading claims.

But one thing Trump hasn’t spent much money on thus far? Actual legal fees. That is expected to rise in his next report, but this one reinforces the very real monetary value of him continuing to press his baseless case — outside of actually contesting the 2020 election:
[…]
But despite his narrow loss in the decisive states and his plea for cash to overturn the results, Trump hasn’t put his money where his mouth was — or is. Trump made no contributions down the stretch or after the election, leaving his total personal investment in his 2020 effort at about $8,000.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/12/04/what-we-learned-final-2020-fundraising-reports

…& that’s gotta be important as the cases against him keep stacking up

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-tenants-lawsuit/2020/12/04/story.html

…& while there’s a race of sorts on to preserve some things

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/white-house-record-archive-preservation-lawsuit/

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/12/05/trump-presidential-records-lawsuit-historians

…& indications that the incoming administration might indeed make a difference

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-trump-dueling-transition/2020/12/05/story.html

…meanwhile

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/families-brink-fear-what-s-next-pandemic-benefits-expire

…some clocks already ran out

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/05/27/retail-pandemic-bankrupcy-chapter11-list

…oh, & speaking of things that are bankrupt

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/media/trump-biden-press-freedom/2020/12/04/story.html

…in this sense intellectually

…which kinda begs the question about the people that got elected while claiming to support that brand of crazy…or the likes of this guy pulling this kind of shit

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-loyalist-kash-patel-blocking-some-pentagon-officials-helping-biden

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/pentagon-blocks-biden-transition-team/2020/12/04/story.html

…which is presumably the sort of shit that he’ll be expecting from appoinments like these

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2020/12/04/trump-administration-appoints-loyalists-corey-lewandowski-david-bossie-defense-business-board

…by the way

…for those who like advent calendars…if you pick up one at a discount post-christmas I believe the math works out such that you can use it to count down to inauguration day

https://www.truthorfiction.com/if-you-buy-a-discounted-advent-calendar-the-day-after-christmas-it-will-count-down-to-inauguration-day/

…just a thought…& a somewhat more appealing one than these, at that

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/covid-19-testing-capacity-strained-surge-in-demand

https://www.today.com/health/ppe-shortages-does-decontaminating-n95-masks-actually-work

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/05/us-coronavirus-covid-infections-vaccines

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/new-mexico-hospitals-covid-crisis/2020/12/04/story.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/winter-approaching-homeless-shelters-face-big-challenges-against-coronavirus

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/05/operation-warp-speed-coronavirus-vaccine-shortfall

…given how much of the support for utter nonsense skews to an older demographic it’s hardly surprising that we seem to be leaving more & more to “the kids”…but some of it is at least surprising to me, I guess

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/student-scientist-inventor-gitanjali-rao-time-magazine-s-first-kid-of-the-year

…still…if we imagine for a moment that things go well in georgia come january

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/young-voters-look-play-key-role-georgia-runoffs-senate-control

…does that mean this might go the distance?

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/congress-takes-historic-bill-decriminalize-cannabis

…because…not gonna lie…that would go a long way to taking the edge off…not to mention open the door to reviewing the huge number of people currently incarcerated for minor weed-related infractions…which, again, is better to contemplate than stuff like this

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/police-jackson-mississippi-want-access-live-home-security-video-alarming-privacy-advocates

…or even this

https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/warner-bros-movie-releases-on-hbo-max/2020/12/03/story.html

The only entities that seem to be benefiting from this brave new world are the companies that sell us strictly limited licenses to enjoy entertainment for as long as they see fit.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/warner-bros-isn-t-just-sending-movies-hbo-max-at-t-is-limiting-content-to-its-platforms

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2020/dec/05/retailers-tactics-spend-more-online-stores

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/05/companies-are-now-writing-reports-tailored-for-ai-readers-and-it-should-worry-us

…& I dunno…is this good news…or a terrifying set up to a sci-fi dystopia?

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/05/if-we-can-grow-cruelty-free-meat-in-lab-what-is-there-to-beef-about

…because there’s still a lot of the not-great news out there

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/fewer-troops-wont-end-wars-most-us-combat-involves-airstrikes/2020/12/04/story.html

…so forgive me if there’s something I’ve overlooked…or if I haven’t managed to come back to this & pick some tunes to go at the end here before you’re kind enough to come & scroll your way down here

…I do aim to do that…but I also need to at least pretend to sleep or I shall lose whatever scraps of sanity I still possess at this point

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10 Comments

    • Even closer in time, tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of John Lennon’s murder. Forty years. I wonder what a time traveler from 1980 would make of the country now. They’d probably recognize a lot of it, the rise of Christian fundamentalism and “grass roots” populism from the right, the presidency held (NOT FOR LONG) by  a celebrity-driven character, but even most of them, I think, would think, “So this Trump guy is a little nutso, huh?” Actually Reagan hadn’t been inaugurated yet but everyone knew it was coming, but still.
       
      If I may opine, there is such a thing as Reaganism. It is a coherent set of beliefs deeply rooted in intellectual thought with deep roots in the western tradition and gained traction among conservative Republicans after WWII. It can be described. Name a proposition and I could almost certainly tell you whether it is “Reaganist” or not. What is Trumpism without Trump? Inchoate rage? That’s about it, as far as I can tell. 

      • There’s an interesting analysis of Trumpism here:
        https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2020/11/10163687/what-is-trumpism
         
        Here’s an excerpt:
        Sarah Kendzior, author of Hiding In Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America, acknowledges the existence of Trump’s personality cult, but told Refinery29, “He’s also a vehicle for a lot of different people and their disparate agendas: for the GOP extremists that have been trying to dismantle government since the Reagan era, for theocrats like Mike Pence, for transnational organized crime, for white supremacists. But I think in Trump’s mind, it’s about Trump, the Trump family, the Trump brand, the Trump Organization, and the ideological component is just kind of extra. He does what his backers tell him to as long as it’s the route to more money, more power, and immunity from prosecution.”
         
        The only “ideology” that exists there is the primacy of Trump, and the utter acceptance of any dementia babblings that issue from his orange face. But “inchoate rage” sums it up pretty well. 

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