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marmar
marmar's Journal
marmar's Journal
October 11, 2020
As every media outlet should......
https://twitter.com/Local4News/status/1314648097725743104?s=20
October 10, 2020
The week that Donald Trump lost the election
He might recover from catching the coronavirus. He can't recover from being himself
LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
OCTOBER 10, 2020 12:00PM (UTC)
(Salon) After the debate, he couldn't hide what an asshole he is. After he got sick, he couldn't hide how weak he is.
Trump was already down in the polls, both nationally and in many swing states, and after his unhinged performance in the debate with Joe Biden last week, his people knew he would lose more ground. Sure enough, two days later, an NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll had Biden up by 14 points, 53% to 39%, among registered voters. Biden's margin among women was 20 points last month; in the new poll, he led by 27, 60% to 33%.
A CNN poll conducted at the same time, and largely after Trump first tested positive for the COVID virus, had Biden up over Trump by 16 points, 57% to 41%. Women in the CNN poll, who a month ago favored Biden by 20 points, now favored him by 34 points, 66% to 32%.
By last weekend, Trump was tanking in the polls, he was sick with COVID and he was in the hospital. So what did he do? Almost immediately after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and making his mock-Mussolini triumphant return to the White House, he tweeted an end to any possible new stimulus package for COVID relief, calling off negotiations with Democrats.
....(snip)....
That's the way Trump could have turned his illness into his October surprise. Instead of running from reality, he could have embraced it. He could have confronted the virus he has lied about for nine months and transformed a hit on himself into help for everyone else. ....(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/10/the-week-that-donald-trump-lost-the-election/
The week that Donald Trump lost the election
The week that Donald Trump lost the election
He might recover from catching the coronavirus. He can't recover from being himself
LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
OCTOBER 10, 2020 12:00PM (UTC)
(Salon) After the debate, he couldn't hide what an asshole he is. After he got sick, he couldn't hide how weak he is.
Trump was already down in the polls, both nationally and in many swing states, and after his unhinged performance in the debate with Joe Biden last week, his people knew he would lose more ground. Sure enough, two days later, an NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll had Biden up by 14 points, 53% to 39%, among registered voters. Biden's margin among women was 20 points last month; in the new poll, he led by 27, 60% to 33%.
A CNN poll conducted at the same time, and largely after Trump first tested positive for the COVID virus, had Biden up over Trump by 16 points, 57% to 41%. Women in the CNN poll, who a month ago favored Biden by 20 points, now favored him by 34 points, 66% to 32%.
By last weekend, Trump was tanking in the polls, he was sick with COVID and he was in the hospital. So what did he do? Almost immediately after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and making his mock-Mussolini triumphant return to the White House, he tweeted an end to any possible new stimulus package for COVID relief, calling off negotiations with Democrats.
....(snip)....
That's the way Trump could have turned his illness into his October surprise. Instead of running from reality, he could have embraced it. He could have confronted the virus he has lied about for nine months and transformed a hit on himself into help for everyone else. ....(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/10/the-week-that-donald-trump-lost-the-election/
October 10, 2020
(Detroit Free Press) The Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot wasn't exactly a sophisticated operation, if the alleged ringleader's conference room was any indication.
It was a dark and cluttered basement underneath a vacuum store, photos and court records show, accessed by a trap door that was hidden by a rug.
It's also where the alleged mastermind lived with his two dogs, his only company other than the strangers he met online who shared his love of guns, and hate of government — especially Whitmer.
Adam Fox, the 37-year-old man at the center of a sensational domestic terrorism case that included death threats and bomb threats, lived in the basement of the Vac Shack on South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids. ...........(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/10/whitmer-kidnap-scheme-planned-vacuum-shop-grand-rapids/5939827002/
Under the 'trap door' of a vacuum shop: Where Gov. Whitmer kidnap plot unfolded
(Detroit Free Press) The Gov. Gretchen Whitmer kidnapping plot wasn't exactly a sophisticated operation, if the alleged ringleader's conference room was any indication.
It was a dark and cluttered basement underneath a vacuum store, photos and court records show, accessed by a trap door that was hidden by a rug.
It's also where the alleged mastermind lived with his two dogs, his only company other than the strangers he met online who shared his love of guns, and hate of government — especially Whitmer.
Adam Fox, the 37-year-old man at the center of a sensational domestic terrorism case that included death threats and bomb threats, lived in the basement of the Vac Shack on South Division Avenue in Grand Rapids. ...........(more)
https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/10/10/whitmer-kidnap-scheme-planned-vacuum-shop-grand-rapids/5939827002/
October 10, 2020
The Face of American Insurgency
The Michigan plot wasn’t about Donald Trump. It goes deeper than that.
By FRED KAPLAN
(Slate) The most striking thing about the six domestic terrorists arrested on Thursday for conspiring to kidnap the governor of Michigan isn’t that they actually took steps to carry out their plot—though that is unusual and frightening (most groups of this ilk talk big but do little). More, it’s what the gang reveals about the steep rise in American militia activity this year.
Some of these groups—including this one, which, had it succeeded, would have been the season’s most brazenly violent—seem to be inspired not by white supremacist ideology or left/right partisanship, but rather by an off-the-cliff radical variant of a feeling deeply rooted in American culture: fear and hatred of government.
The 15-page FBI affidavit against the terrorists—who called their group the Wolverine Watchmen—contains verbatim excerpts of conversations, which were recorded by two informants and two FBI infiltrators. (The two informants—neither of whom knew that the other was an informant—were members of the group who got spooked by talk of committing violence, went to law enforcement, and agreed to wear wires while attending meetings.) At least in the passages cited in the affidavit, there are no racist remarks or references to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric. More typical is this soliloquy on July 24 by Adam Fox, clearly the group’s leader:
....(snip)....
The wannabe terrorists in Michigan weren’t very bright, judging from the affidavit, but this shouldn’t be too reassuring. “Most terrorists are idiots,” Kilcullen said. “That doesn’t mean they can’t commit some very deadly acts.” The number of truly violent groups is also quite small, but that doesn’t mean much either. “The sequence goes like this,” he said. “Mass protests, for instance against lockdown laws, inspire small groups that want to commit violence. Some in those groups drop out. But a small core group sticks around, goes underground, and becomes more dangerous. It only takes a few people to inflict a lot of damage.” ..........(more)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/michigan-plot-wolverine-watchmen-whitmer.html
The Face of American Insurgency
The Face of American Insurgency
The Michigan plot wasn’t about Donald Trump. It goes deeper than that.
By FRED KAPLAN
(Slate) The most striking thing about the six domestic terrorists arrested on Thursday for conspiring to kidnap the governor of Michigan isn’t that they actually took steps to carry out their plot—though that is unusual and frightening (most groups of this ilk talk big but do little). More, it’s what the gang reveals about the steep rise in American militia activity this year.
Some of these groups—including this one, which, had it succeeded, would have been the season’s most brazenly violent—seem to be inspired not by white supremacist ideology or left/right partisanship, but rather by an off-the-cliff radical variant of a feeling deeply rooted in American culture: fear and hatred of government.
The 15-page FBI affidavit against the terrorists—who called their group the Wolverine Watchmen—contains verbatim excerpts of conversations, which were recorded by two informants and two FBI infiltrators. (The two informants—neither of whom knew that the other was an informant—were members of the group who got spooked by talk of committing violence, went to law enforcement, and agreed to wear wires while attending meetings.) At least in the passages cited in the affidavit, there are no racist remarks or references to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric. More typical is this soliloquy on July 24 by Adam Fox, clearly the group’s leader:
In all honesty, right now … I just wanna make the world glow, dude. I’m not even fuckin’ kidding. I just wanna make it all glow, dude. I don’t fuckin’ care anymore. I’m just so sick of it. That’s what it’s gonna take for us to take it back. … Everything’s gonna have to be annihilated, man. We’re gonna topple it all, dude. It’s what great frickin’ conquerors, man, we’re just gonna conquer every fuckin’ thing, man.
....(snip)....
The wannabe terrorists in Michigan weren’t very bright, judging from the affidavit, but this shouldn’t be too reassuring. “Most terrorists are idiots,” Kilcullen said. “That doesn’t mean they can’t commit some very deadly acts.” The number of truly violent groups is also quite small, but that doesn’t mean much either. “The sequence goes like this,” he said. “Mass protests, for instance against lockdown laws, inspire small groups that want to commit violence. Some in those groups drop out. But a small core group sticks around, goes underground, and becomes more dangerous. It only takes a few people to inflict a lot of damage.” ..........(more)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/michigan-plot-wolverine-watchmen-whitmer.html
October 10, 2020
(Slate) Just like the coronavirus, murder hornets sure haven’t gone away. And they are about to start their “slaughter phase” if their nests aren’t located and destroyed in time.
Murder hornets, also known as Asian giant hornets, first appeared in British Columbia—most likely through an aircraft or shipping container from East Asia—last year before making their way to Washington state. The ferocious creatures can grow to 2 inches long—five times the size of a honeybee. In their looming slaughter phase, they are known to destroy entire beehives and decapitate their bees all within a few hours, threatening crops that rely on pollination. Though not generally a threat to humans, the hornets kill about 50 people in Japan yearly, mostly from allergic reactions.
Murder hornets have been spotted six times in Washington state over the past two weeks, bringing the total number of sightings or captures in the U.S. to 12. On Sept. 21, a family in Whatcom County, Washington, found the first hornet in a paper wasp nest in their home, then deployed a citizen trap where they caught a second and third. The fourth hornet was found dead in a streetlamp by a Washington State Department of Agriculture spokesperson. The fifth was photographed by a doorbell camera, and the sixth was found dead on a porch. .....(more)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/murder-hornets-slaughter-phase-washington-state.html
The Murder Hornets Are About to Start Murdering
(Slate) Just like the coronavirus, murder hornets sure haven’t gone away. And they are about to start their “slaughter phase” if their nests aren’t located and destroyed in time.
Murder hornets, also known as Asian giant hornets, first appeared in British Columbia—most likely through an aircraft or shipping container from East Asia—last year before making their way to Washington state. The ferocious creatures can grow to 2 inches long—five times the size of a honeybee. In their looming slaughter phase, they are known to destroy entire beehives and decapitate their bees all within a few hours, threatening crops that rely on pollination. Though not generally a threat to humans, the hornets kill about 50 people in Japan yearly, mostly from allergic reactions.
Murder hornets have been spotted six times in Washington state over the past two weeks, bringing the total number of sightings or captures in the U.S. to 12. On Sept. 21, a family in Whatcom County, Washington, found the first hornet in a paper wasp nest in their home, then deployed a citizen trap where they caught a second and third. The fourth hornet was found dead in a streetlamp by a Washington State Department of Agriculture spokesperson. The fifth was photographed by a doorbell camera, and the sixth was found dead on a porch. .....(more)
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2020/10/murder-hornets-slaughter-phase-washington-state.html
October 10, 2020
LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
OCTOBER 10, 2020 12:00PM (UTC)
(Salon) After the debate, he couldn't hide what an asshole he is. After he got sick, he couldn't hide how weak he is.
Trump was already down in the polls, both nationally and in many swing states, and after his unhinged performance in the debate with Joe Biden last week, his people knew he would lose more ground. Sure enough, two days later, an NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll had Biden up by 14 points, 53% to 39%, among registered voters. Biden's margin among women was 20 points last month; in the new poll, he led by 27, 60% to 33%.
A CNN poll conducted at the same time, and largely after Trump first tested positive for the COVID virus, had Biden up over Trump by 16 points, 57% to 41%. Women in the CNN poll, who a month ago favored Biden by 20 points, now favored him by 34 points, 66% to 32%.
By last weekend, Trump was tanking in the polls, he was sick with COVID and he was in the hospital. So what did he do? Almost immediately after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and making his mock-Mussolini triumphant return to the White House, he tweeted an end to any possible new stimulus package for COVID relief, calling off negotiations with Democrats.
....(snip)....
That's the way Trump could have turned his illness into his October surprise. Instead of running from reality, he could have embraced it. He could have confronted the virus he has lied about for nine months and transformed a hit on himself into help for everyone else. ....(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/10/the-week-that-donald-trump-lost-the-election/
He might recover from catching the coronavirus. He can't recover from being himself
LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
OCTOBER 10, 2020 12:00PM (UTC)
(Salon) After the debate, he couldn't hide what an asshole he is. After he got sick, he couldn't hide how weak he is.
Trump was already down in the polls, both nationally and in many swing states, and after his unhinged performance in the debate with Joe Biden last week, his people knew he would lose more ground. Sure enough, two days later, an NBC/Wall Street Journal national poll had Biden up by 14 points, 53% to 39%, among registered voters. Biden's margin among women was 20 points last month; in the new poll, he led by 27, 60% to 33%.
A CNN poll conducted at the same time, and largely after Trump first tested positive for the COVID virus, had Biden up over Trump by 16 points, 57% to 41%. Women in the CNN poll, who a month ago favored Biden by 20 points, now favored him by 34 points, 66% to 32%.
By last weekend, Trump was tanking in the polls, he was sick with COVID and he was in the hospital. So what did he do? Almost immediately after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center and making his mock-Mussolini triumphant return to the White House, he tweeted an end to any possible new stimulus package for COVID relief, calling off negotiations with Democrats.
....(snip)....
That's the way Trump could have turned his illness into his October surprise. Instead of running from reality, he could have embraced it. He could have confronted the virus he has lied about for nine months and transformed a hit on himself into help for everyone else. ....(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/10/the-week-that-donald-trump-lost-the-election/
October 8, 2020
Police in armed standoff with suspect involved in Michigan governor kidnapping plot
Law enforcement officials are currently involved in a standoff that’s related to the militia plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Local news station WLNS reports that the standoff is occurring in the township of Munith, Michigan, and involves State Police, Federal Law enforcement, and the Jackson County Sheriff’s department. ....... (More)
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/10/police-in-armed-standoff-with-suspect-involved-in-michigan-governor-kidnapping-plot/
October 7, 2020
(Salon) The Age of Trump is a horrible never-ending story. One page is turned, and another appears. "The End" is nowhere in sight. Although Election Day 2020 is less than a month away, the days and weeks ahead feel interminable.
As a story the Age of Trump is simultaneously drama, comedy and tragedy. In terms of genres, it is a spy thriller (Russia's control and influence over Trump), a crime story (Trump and his taxes, a political mafia family, vast corruption), dystopian speculative fiction (how could so many horrible things all happen at once?), and a political drama and documentary (how fascism came to America). Donald Trump's story, unfortunately, is also a distasteful softcore farce (considering the sordid details of his known or alleged affairs).
In the season of death caused by the coronavirus and Trump's negligent and criminal response, life in the Age of Trump is also a horror movie.
At some point last week Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. On Friday he was hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center. The Trump regime, of course, distorts, lies, dissembles, circulates disinformation and refuses to tell the whole truth about Trump's health and related matters — including just how many people in the White House and Trump's inner circle have contracted COVID, and how and when the infection began.
As a story, Trump's personal experience with the coronavirus, and the regime's reporting on it, resembles a North Korean and/or Russian propaganda film. After what Trump has presented as a miraculous recovery — quite likely a temporary steroid high — he was released from the hospital on Monday. For his cult members and other followers, Trump's saga of infection and "recovery" makes him even more into a type of Christ figure, or an Übermensch blessed with "good" genes. ............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/07/donald-trump-is-the-greatest-show-on-tv-critic-james-poniewozik-on-how-it-all-ends/
How Will the Trump Show finally end?
(Salon) The Age of Trump is a horrible never-ending story. One page is turned, and another appears. "The End" is nowhere in sight. Although Election Day 2020 is less than a month away, the days and weeks ahead feel interminable.
As a story the Age of Trump is simultaneously drama, comedy and tragedy. In terms of genres, it is a spy thriller (Russia's control and influence over Trump), a crime story (Trump and his taxes, a political mafia family, vast corruption), dystopian speculative fiction (how could so many horrible things all happen at once?), and a political drama and documentary (how fascism came to America). Donald Trump's story, unfortunately, is also a distasteful softcore farce (considering the sordid details of his known or alleged affairs).
In the season of death caused by the coronavirus and Trump's negligent and criminal response, life in the Age of Trump is also a horror movie.
At some point last week Donald Trump tested positive for the coronavirus. On Friday he was hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center. The Trump regime, of course, distorts, lies, dissembles, circulates disinformation and refuses to tell the whole truth about Trump's health and related matters — including just how many people in the White House and Trump's inner circle have contracted COVID, and how and when the infection began.
As a story, Trump's personal experience with the coronavirus, and the regime's reporting on it, resembles a North Korean and/or Russian propaganda film. After what Trump has presented as a miraculous recovery — quite likely a temporary steroid high — he was released from the hospital on Monday. For his cult members and other followers, Trump's saga of infection and "recovery" makes him even more into a type of Christ figure, or an Übermensch blessed with "good" genes. ............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/07/donald-trump-is-the-greatest-show-on-tv-critic-james-poniewozik-on-how-it-all-ends/
October 7, 2020
Trump's incoherent COVID bluster is destroying him — but America continues to suffer
Trump is back home and tweeting like a lunatic — maybe he's fine! But this has been a massive political train wreck
HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
OCTOBER 7, 2020 1:00PM
(Salon) President Trump spent Tuesday night tweeting madly for hours about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and various conspiracy theories about the 2016 election. Twitterati speculated that his experimental drug cocktail and steroid treatment for COVID-19 might be making him manic and grandiose. But how could you tell, really? This is pretty much his normal modus operandi. The only reason one might suspect that his drug treatment was contributing to the burst of energy and wild commentary is that he is a 74-year-old man with co-morbidities who has been seriously ill with a disease that has killed more than 210,000 Americans. Since he didn't even make one of his "proof of life" videos on Tuesday, it's possible someone else was tweeting for him. But in the end the best guess is that Trump was lying in bed with Fox News on as usual, scrolling through his Twitter feed and incoherently venting his spleen — just as he might do on any other Tuesday night.
Sick or high or just having a normal one, it is perfectly understandable that Trump would be melting down in spectacular fashion. His only concern for the last four years has been getting re-elected for four more years, and that's not going well at all at the moment. This tumultuous last couple of weeks brought him only one piece of good news: the death of a beloved liberal icon, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The insensitive glee with which Trump and his GOP accomplices greeted that event, and their shameless hypocrisy in insisting on filling the seat just weeks before the election, was a true high point for the Republicans this year. I hope they enjoyed their moment, because everything that's happened to them since then has amounted to an epic train wreck.
While Republicans were still swilling champagne, the New York Times reported out a major exposé based upon Trump's long-hidden tax returns. It turns out he didn't bother to pay federal income taxes in most recent years — apparently that's for the little people. In normal times that would have been a huge scandal, but Trump managed to distract everyone away from that by acting like a deranged barbarian in the first presidential debate with Joe Biden, quickly followed by the news that the White House had become a major COVID cluster, with dozens of people diagnosed with the virus, including the president, the first lady, at least three senators and several of Trump's top aides and campaign officials.
After all that, I think we've all been wondering how the American people would react. From the looks of the polling so far, they're not pleased. In fact, the vast majority seems to believe that Trump and his administration were asking for trouble and they got it.
According to a CNN/SSRS poll released on Monday, 63% said Trump acted irresponsibly in handling the risk of getting the virus and giving it to others. Only 33% said he had done the right thing, which means even some of his own voters aren't impressed with his actions. And 69% said they couldn't trust what the White House was saying about Trump's health. Considering the Soviet-style propaganda campaign they've been running at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that's no surprise. .........(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/07/trumps-incoherent-covid-bluster-is-destroying-him--but-america-continues-to-suffer/
Trump's incoherent COVID bluster is destroying him -- but America continues to suffer
Trump's incoherent COVID bluster is destroying him — but America continues to suffer
Trump is back home and tweeting like a lunatic — maybe he's fine! But this has been a massive political train wreck
HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
OCTOBER 7, 2020 1:00PM
(Salon) President Trump spent Tuesday night tweeting madly for hours about Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and various conspiracy theories about the 2016 election. Twitterati speculated that his experimental drug cocktail and steroid treatment for COVID-19 might be making him manic and grandiose. But how could you tell, really? This is pretty much his normal modus operandi. The only reason one might suspect that his drug treatment was contributing to the burst of energy and wild commentary is that he is a 74-year-old man with co-morbidities who has been seriously ill with a disease that has killed more than 210,000 Americans. Since he didn't even make one of his "proof of life" videos on Tuesday, it's possible someone else was tweeting for him. But in the end the best guess is that Trump was lying in bed with Fox News on as usual, scrolling through his Twitter feed and incoherently venting his spleen — just as he might do on any other Tuesday night.
Sick or high or just having a normal one, it is perfectly understandable that Trump would be melting down in spectacular fashion. His only concern for the last four years has been getting re-elected for four more years, and that's not going well at all at the moment. This tumultuous last couple of weeks brought him only one piece of good news: the death of a beloved liberal icon, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The insensitive glee with which Trump and his GOP accomplices greeted that event, and their shameless hypocrisy in insisting on filling the seat just weeks before the election, was a true high point for the Republicans this year. I hope they enjoyed their moment, because everything that's happened to them since then has amounted to an epic train wreck.
While Republicans were still swilling champagne, the New York Times reported out a major exposé based upon Trump's long-hidden tax returns. It turns out he didn't bother to pay federal income taxes in most recent years — apparently that's for the little people. In normal times that would have been a huge scandal, but Trump managed to distract everyone away from that by acting like a deranged barbarian in the first presidential debate with Joe Biden, quickly followed by the news that the White House had become a major COVID cluster, with dozens of people diagnosed with the virus, including the president, the first lady, at least three senators and several of Trump's top aides and campaign officials.
After all that, I think we've all been wondering how the American people would react. From the looks of the polling so far, they're not pleased. In fact, the vast majority seems to believe that Trump and his administration were asking for trouble and they got it.
According to a CNN/SSRS poll released on Monday, 63% said Trump acted irresponsibly in handling the risk of getting the virus and giving it to others. Only 33% said he had done the right thing, which means even some of his own voters aren't impressed with his actions. And 69% said they couldn't trust what the White House was saying about Trump's health. Considering the Soviet-style propaganda campaign they've been running at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, that's no surprise. .........(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/07/trumps-incoherent-covid-bluster-is-destroying-him--but-america-continues-to-suffer/
October 5, 2020
"Donald J. Trump defeats COVID": The absurd Soviet-style propaganda campaign around his illness
Mixing the worst totalitarian traditions with uniquely American narcissism, the Trump regime tries to deny reality
HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
OCTOBER 5, 2020 1:05PM
(Salon) Four years ago, almost to the day, Donald Trump was on the campaign trail mocking Hillary Clinton's bout of pneumonia and insisting that contracting such an illness rendered her too weak and unfit to be the president. The campaign ran what was called by some the nastiest political ad ever, called "Dangerous." It depicted Clinton as a doddering invalid who was so incapacitated she couldn't handle foreign policy and national security.
It's not news that Donald Trump is a crude and cruel piece of work, of course. But it's worth recalling that ugly incident because it provided a window into his twisted psyche and the way he views his "brand" as being a virile strongman with superior genes. One aspect of that brand is that he isn't one of those losers who gets sick.
Perhaps the best way to understand exactly how Trump wants people to view him is to read the ludicrous letter he dictated to his New York physician, Dr. Jacob Bornstein, during the 2016 campaign, in which he described himself as potentially "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," whose "physical strength and stamina are extraordinary."
Various reports have trickled out since we found out that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, revealing that at first he was in denial about having been exposed to the virus, so much so that he flew around the country, further exposing hundreds of his supporters and donors to it. When he finally realized that he was sick, Trump reportedly got scared, asking his staff if he was "going to go out like Stan Chera," an old friend of his from the New York real estate world who died of the disease last spring. .............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/05/donald-j-trump-defeats-covid-the-absurd-soviet-style-propaganda-campaign-around-his-illness/
"Donald J. Trump defeats COVID": The absurd Soviet-style propaganda campaign around his illness
"Donald J. Trump defeats COVID": The absurd Soviet-style propaganda campaign around his illness
Mixing the worst totalitarian traditions with uniquely American narcissism, the Trump regime tries to deny reality
HEATHER DIGBY PARTON
OCTOBER 5, 2020 1:05PM
(Salon) Four years ago, almost to the day, Donald Trump was on the campaign trail mocking Hillary Clinton's bout of pneumonia and insisting that contracting such an illness rendered her too weak and unfit to be the president. The campaign ran what was called by some the nastiest political ad ever, called "Dangerous." It depicted Clinton as a doddering invalid who was so incapacitated she couldn't handle foreign policy and national security.
It's not news that Donald Trump is a crude and cruel piece of work, of course. But it's worth recalling that ugly incident because it provided a window into his twisted psyche and the way he views his "brand" as being a virile strongman with superior genes. One aspect of that brand is that he isn't one of those losers who gets sick.
Perhaps the best way to understand exactly how Trump wants people to view him is to read the ludicrous letter he dictated to his New York physician, Dr. Jacob Bornstein, during the 2016 campaign, in which he described himself as potentially "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," whose "physical strength and stamina are extraordinary."
Various reports have trickled out since we found out that Trump had tested positive for COVID-19, revealing that at first he was in denial about having been exposed to the virus, so much so that he flew around the country, further exposing hundreds of his supporters and donors to it. When he finally realized that he was sick, Trump reportedly got scared, asking his staff if he was "going to go out like Stan Chera," an old friend of his from the New York real estate world who died of the disease last spring. .............(more)
https://www.salon.com/2020/10/05/donald-j-trump-defeats-covid-the-absurd-soviet-style-propaganda-campaign-around-his-illness/
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