Trump and his campaign are flailing around trying to find a message, or an issue, that will cause the nation to rally around His Orangeness once more. Or, at least enough to close the gap in the polls. Recently he’s been tweeting LAW AND ORDER randomly. And we assume the deployment of jackbooted thugs unmarked federal law enforcement officers to Portland was supposed to do something other than just make street violence in Portland worse. One suspects Trump thought he would be lauded and admired for getting tough with the demonstrators. Maybe his staff is lauding and admiring him, and probably the usual echo chamber of right-wing media approves, but that’s not going to grow his voter base.
But the Trumpers are dropping broad hints that the martial law tactics are not going to be limited to Portland. It appears advance troops have shown up in Chicago already.
The most alarming warning I’ve seen comes from David Atkins — Trump May Use DHS Stormtroopers To Stop People from Voting. “We could end up seeing armed private contractors hired by the RNC and affiliated conservative organizations to intimidate Democratic-leaning voters, bolstered by camouflage-wearing taxpayer-funded rifle-toting border patrol agents aggressively checking papers of every voter in line in the guise of “securing against voter fraud” on the president’s orders.” I’m not going to review all the reasons Atkins thinks this could happen, but do read the article.
I personally see the stormtroopers as an extension of the Bible Stunt, a way for Trump to show off what a tough guy he is. But so far, polls are not showing that it’s helping him any. Most Americans are worried about the pandemic, about money, about whether their children are going back to school. They aren’t fixated on some rock-throwers in Portland.
Meanwhile, there are no end of in-depth stories on the general theme of How Badly Trump Has Screwed Up the Pandemic Response. Here’s a nice one at WaPo — The crisis that shocked the world: America’s response to the coronavirus. It includes this graphic:
That’s kind of awful. Stay safe out there.
Paul Waldman notes that if we lefties were given to conspiracy theories, we might speculate that Trump is deliberately trying to destroy America. His “handling” of the pandemic is so bad, he might as well have been trying for the worst possible response. I don’t think it’s deliberate, though. Trump doesn’t know how to do anything.
I am nearly through the Mary Trump book. One revelation in it that I hadn’t heard elsewhere was about Donald’s move into Manhattan real estate in the 1970s and 1980s, when he renovated the old Commodore Hotel into a Grand Hyatt and built Trump Tower. This was when he built a reputation as a master deal-maker. But all the deal-making involved in those transactions was done by daddy Fred Trump Sr., according to Mary. Donald was just a front man. That was true of the Manhattan projects until Fred succumbed to dementia in the 1990s. He died in 1999.
The first thing Donald did on his own was to start buying real estate in Atlantic City in the 1980s. He developed the casinos on his own but with daddy’s money backing him. Fred didn’t know anything about the casino business, and of course neither did Donald. If he’d stopped at one casino it might have been a success, but going into huge debt to build three casinos in the same place turned out to be really stupid. There wasn’t enough gambling profit in Atlantic City to make the debt payments for all three. So the whole project collapsed.
Trump doesn’t know how to do anything. He’s a bumbling fraud. Things will get worse.
"Things will get worse."
Jaybus Keeerisst, that sounds so… so… So Russian!
Like the end of a bad fairy tale, "And remember, 'things will get worse.'" Yeah, things will get worse. But for whom? And from whom?
Who knows, at this point, what tRUMP might or might not do? He might try a mini-coup, or a pandemic lock-out of elections.
A NEW civil war?
He will do his worst. Let us do our best.
For a freelancing cop to conduct voter intimidation (while armed and in uniform) with witnesses taking pictures is an invitation for federal charges. Under Barr that wouldn't happen but in 2021, Barr is out of a job. How many cops are stupid enough to ignore the risk in a BLM environment? Looks like we'll get an exact count. Make sure you have memory in your phone in November.
I suggest everyone start learning how to acquire a cheap burner phone for the project. The Customs and Border Patrol, ICE, Bureau of Prisons guys, armed guys from the Federal Aviation Administration and other armed agencies created since 9/11 aren't familiar with the Fourth Amendment or any of the others, and they never face accountability. If they're "poll watching" and see you taking pictures they're likely to arrest you and either break your phone or search it for evidence that you're antifa.
OT: I've waited five years for a solo protester who could beat my stunt. She did.
https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2020-07-19/portland-protest-naked-athena
PS – My daughter, 17, had the following comment: "Dad, don't do that in a gyrocopter. They would DEFINITELY shoot you down." I think I've been insulted but there may be some other interpretation.
Trump has to win Florida – this is why he changed his residence to FL. This is why he moved the convention to Florida. DeSantis is a Trump Mini-me – I doubt he can use emergency powers to suspend a law in order to make way for federal level voter intimidation but DeSantis is stupid enough to order schools to open statewide.
From the Florida State Web https://dos.myflorida.com/media/696684/dsde125.pdf:
Bottom line: by state law, Poll Watchers in FL MUST be from the county they propose to serve in. They can NOT be law enforcement of any type. Can NOT interact with voters directly. To change this law, the legislature would have to meet and they aren't in session until March UNLESS the governor calls for a special session.
1. Each candidate/political party/political committee may have only one poll watcher per polling room or early voting area at any one time.
2. A candidate whose name will appear on the ballot in a future election may not designate poll watchers for an election in which the candidate’s name is not on the ballot.
3. Designation of Poll Watchers, Form DS-DE 125, must be used to request designation of poll watchers. Separate forms must be submitted for designating Early Voting and Election Day poll watchers. Sufficient information concerning the desired poll watcher must be completed on the form so that the Supervisor of Elections can identify the person as a registered voter in the supervisor’s county.
4. Form DS-DE 125 and any attachments to it may be provided to the supervisor of elections by personal delivery, mail, fax, or email.
5. The deadlines to submit a request for poll watcher designation:
For Early Voting (EV) — No later than noon at least 14 days before EV begins.
For Election Day — No later than noon of the second Tuesday preceding the election.
6. The Supervisors of Elections must approve or disapprove the designation of poll watchers for early voting areas no later than 7 days before the start of early voting and the designations for poll watchers for polling rooms on Election Day, on or before the Tuesday before the election.
POLL WATCHERS A poll watcher: 1. Must be a qualified and registered voter of the county in which they serve as poll watcher.
2. Cannot be a candidate, sheriff, deputy sheriff, policeman, or other law enforcement officer.
3. Who is designated for a specific location is not precluded from going to another polling room/EV area if the number of poll watchers at any particular polling room/EV area does not exceed the allowable number for the applicable candidate/political party/political committee.
4. Who is designated for “All locations/areas” (at-large) is not permitted to be present in a polling room/EV area at the same time as another poll watcher designated by the same candidate/political party/political committee.
5. Will be provided a Poll Watcher Identification Badge by the Supervisor of Elections. The poll watcher must wear his or her Poll Watcher Identification Badge while in the polling room or EV area.
6. Must bring his or her own materials and necessities.
7. Is allowed within the polling room to observe the conduct of the election. He or she may not obstruct the orderly conduct of the election.
8. May observe the voter check-in process. He or she may not come closer to the inspectors’ table or the voting booths than is reasonably necessary to perform the poll watcher’s functions.
9. May not speak to or otherwise interact with voters nor provide assistance to a voter in any way with the voting of his/her ballot, unless a Request for Assistance Form is completed at the voter’s request.
10. May make and provide written voter challenges to the precinct clerk.
11. Shall pose any questions regarding polling place procedures directly to the precinct clerk for resolution.
My theory about why he moved to FL – apart from the weather and a nice golf resort – is the same reason why OJ Simpson moved there: the Homestead law. This law shields his property from seizure by the court.
I wonder if the Homestead Law only applies to civil suits. I cannot imagine that if a crime is committed, it would apply.
What about properties in NYC?
They're all either leveraged to the hilt, or the only connection to Trump is his name on the facade per a licensing arrangement