Dear Everybody:
It’s Halloween, just four days until the midterms, and the scariest thing around is Trump, who’s back to doing rallies:
–Trump, complaining about having to do rallies: “I thought this was going to be my last one! I thought this was it. I thought I could relax. 28 days in a row of this crap is a lot. It’s a lot.”
–Trump: “They asked me, ‘Have you ever married your sister?’ You know what I said? ‘No,’ I said. ‘No, I haven’t.’ ‘Swear.’ ‘I swear I did not marry my sister. I never proposed to them…they’re beautiful, but I was never particularly attracted to either of them. It’s not my deal. I did not marry my sister! I have two luhlaaaa…lubbly…I have two two lehrrrrr…two lovely uhhhh…I have one left.”
–Ron Filipkowski: “Another cognitive glitch that will never be shown on any network news show.”
–Will Cutlip: “Glitch…glitch…he doesn’t even realize he’s doing it now.”
–He posted photos of packed rallies, which had all been cropped to leave out the empty tiers of seats that were in every news photograph. He claimed his rallies were always full. “I never have empty seats! Never have and never will!”
–Abhishek Singh Chandau: “Trump doesn’t need enemies. His own madness is dragging him down faster than anyone else ever could.”
–Trump told a truly bizarre story in which he claimed he called Melania after the rally and said, “First Lady, let me ask you a question. How great was I tonight? How good a speech was that? We have a crowd. We have 58,000 people. Darling, how good was I?’ She said, ‘Well, what was wrong with you? You couldn’t find your way off the stage?’” (Note: There are no 58,000 people rallies. At this point he is having trouble filling high school gyms.)
acumenata: “He calls his wife ‘First Lady?’ What did he call her before he was elected? ‘Third wife?’”
–Trump’s talking about his uncle again, the one with the genius IQ. He’s boasting that his uncle invented radar. (He didn’t. He did work on radar systems for D-Day, which is not nothing, but he didn’t invent it. Dr. Robert Watson Watt invented it.)
–Trump’s talking about those cognitive tests again: “I’m the only president to pass without exception. I passed three cognitive tests. I’m the only president to take them into their heart.” (Into their HEART? What? That’s the way evangelicals talk–“taking Jesus into their heart”–it’s like he started out talking about one thing and ended up talking about another.)
–Trump went on: “Obama couldn’t have passed. Biden we don’t even talk about. Republicans wouldn’t have passed him. I won’t mention names because I’m supposed to be a nice Republican.”
–Mary Trump: “What a compelling message five days until the midterms.”
–And when Trump’s not doing rallies, he’s back to posting strange AI stuff. Today he posted a map of Greenland with a military base, planes, etc. covering all of it.
–Yolanda Arnold: “That the President spends all hours of the day and night, day after day, week after week, posting and tweeting memes, lies, racism, insults, and threats, are not the actions of a sane man.”
Trump and his thugs can’t even do Halloween right. First, Trump thought it would be a great idea to fly low over Washington, DC, and scare the shit out of everybody:
–Marisa Kabas: “Just got a message from a witness in DC that a large plane flew extremely close to the ground a few minutes ago and scared the shit out of people. ‘Flashbacks to 9-11,’ they said.”
–AFP White House reporter Danny Kemp confirms it was a stunt for the White House Halloween party and posted a video on Twitter that shows the plane barely skimming the White House. Now we’re finding out it was Air Force One.
–JD: “Flew over twice. No warning. Ridiculously low. Absolutely terrifying.”
–Justin M: “Reddit is lighting up. So many people thought they were in danger.”
–weather and noise: “What in the world is wrong with these people?”
–FREEBROOKLYN: “Not acceptable. Signed, New York City, and not only New York City.”
Then, at the White House Trick or Treat Event:
–They had more gray pumpkins than orange ones. (They obviously let Melania decorate the place again.)
–When Trump tried to take Melania’s hand at the event, she let him hold it for a couple of seconds, then let go and went inside the White House.
Then, the White House official account posted a photo of a pumpkin with a sombrero carved into it and the caption, “Spooky szn is here.”
–Nick Kasznavolgyri: “Quite literally just blatant racism.”
–Keller: “Insanely racist. this administration is so disgusting.”
–BRAZI: “This can’t be an official government account of a world super power. Can’t be.”
–stox_up: “What better way to shore up your support with the Hispanic community 6 days before an election?”
–Dave: “Blatant racism now on this account, not even trying to hide it. Truly a low point for our country–but not for much longer. Go fuck yourself.”
This is just one of Trump’s (and the Republicans’) racism, which is getting more and more blatant as the election gets closer:
–Trump on El-Sayed: “I hope you send him back to where he came from.” (Note: That would be Michigan. He was born in Michigan.)
–Trump on El-Sayed: “His name is actually Abdulalalalala. It’s Abdulabababa Mohammed El Sayed. So I was right. He’s a jihadist.”
–El-Sayed: “He says the name just fine when he’s begging the Qataris for a personal jet or the Saudis for funding for his son-in-law’s private equity firm. Wonder what’s changed?”
Escapades by Elaine Soloway sums it all up: “What more does Trump have to do or say to light a fire under Republicans and urge them to see who/what will be dragging them down with him in history books?…Fortunately, Trump does not need any opposition to push him out of office. he is doing a magnificent job all by himself.”
In other Trump news, he seems to be getting more paranoid by the day:
–Federal officials have increased security around Mar-a-lago, putting in Avenger Air Defense Systems around Mar-a-lago.
–Trump is pushing a proposal to permanently lock down air space over Mar-a-lago.
–A pair of Avenger Air Defense systems are now positioned on a floating barge in the Lake Worth Lagoon on the west side of the seawall next to Mar-a-lago.
–The Secret Service is operating in a heightened threat environment.
–(Note: Of course as the old saying goes, just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean people aren’t trying to kill you. Trump has turned many, many people into enemies, including the Iranians and Mohammed “Bonesaw” bin Salman, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he was getting threats from them. Or maybe he’s doing this in advance of his doing something so terrible EVERYONE will want to kill him.)
In Trump’s and the DOJ’s vindictive prosecution news:
–Having failed once to convict James Comey and probably having failed twice (the seashells case), the DOJ went after Comey again, charging him with violations of the Espionage Act, going back to 2016 right before the statute of limitations expires.
–They charged him on “information,” which means they didn’t get a grand jury to indict, which means the whole case will probably be thrown out. In the meantime, they are showing beyond a shadow of a doubt that they have it in for Comey and that these are vindictive prosecutions. (Which can also get them thrown out.)
–The DOJ now has 30 days to get a grand jury indictment, which is November 4.
–Ron Hitchens: “The deadline for an indictment is the day after election day? Hmmm….”
–They also fired his daughter from the FBI to punish him, but she just won her case and the FBI has been ordered to reinstate her and pay her all her back pay.
The second scariest thing out there is JD Vance. Here’s Reason #13,992 to despise him:
–JD Vance at a town hall two days ago: “One of the things we’ve been very careful about is that when we bring a criminal case, we make sure it’s a good one and we’re not putting our thumb on the scale.”
–The Olympian Daniel Heard, James Comey, the sandwich guy, Ilhan Omar, Jerome Powell, James Comey, the Broadview Six, Adam Schiff, James Comey, Letitia James, and Cassidy Hutchinson would beg to differ with that.
–Rise Up!: “They can’t get an indictment to save their lives because it’s all revenge prosecutions.”
–Marly Marie: “No true bills weren’t a thing before this administration, but sure.”
–Note: You’ll notice that he says “when we bring a criminal case,” even though the executive branch should not have anything to do with bringing cases. That’s the job of the DOJ. He’s basically admitting that the DOJ is wholly in the pocket of Trump and doing his bidding.)
–sb writer: “By using ‘we,’ he admits the DOJ is a political shop being run out of the White House.”
In Resistance news:
–A federal judge ruled to put an injunction on the DOJ’s threats toward election officials in California.
–In New Haven, Connecticut, the Registrar, Town Clerk, and Mayor have told the DOJ in no uncertain terms to stay out of their polling places.
–In numerous polling places, officials are giving the kids that accompany their parents “Future Voter” stickers.
–In Austin early voting, the polling locations stayed open until 10 p.m. Anyone in line at 10 p.m. got to vote, which meant some locations ended up staying open till after midnight.
In promising news:
–In Colorado, 32.74% of active registered voters have returned their ballots and had their votes banked.
–In Nevada, almost 700,000 statewide ballots have been tallied. About 70% of the vote is already in.
–So far black voters have cast over 160,000 more ballots than in 2022. (Which is what happens when you gerrymander every southern state out of black representation, destroy DEI, fire all the black officers in the military, and gut the Voting Rights Act.)
–Charlie Sykes: “Voters elsewhere may take voting for granted. Black voters in the South never will. The price they paid was too high…Trump may have reawakened a sleeping giant.”
–The number of Hispanics voting is off the charts. The vote in Reeves City, Texas, so far is almost 90% Hispanic, and more Hispanic women under 30 have voted in Tarrant County than in the whole 2022 election. (That’s what happens when you drag them off the streets while they’re at work, handcuff them, shoot them, stick them in disgusting detention centers, and then deport them.)
–What’s even more amazing is that the Republicans are utterly gobsmacked by what’s happening with the black and Hispanic votes and DID NOT SEE IT COMING, even though everybody else could.
–Michael Bloomberg gave another $36 million dollars to Democratic candidates in the closing days of the campaign.
–JD Vance had six–count ’em, SIX–protesters in the first few minutes of his rally.
–Pollster Nate Silver: “So far in early voting data, you have seen irregular voting Democratic voters, but not Republicans.”
–Dan Rather: ‘The MAGA coalition, once thought to be rock-solid, is showing signs of cracking.
–One of Trump’s faithful “Front Row Joes”, Rich Frazier, who’s been to 100 Trump rallies, said, “Trump can’t be trusted.” He said he is “to the point of not going to the polls in November.”
–In October, Fox had its lowest-rated month in 25 years.
And in REALLY promising news:
–Rick Wilson: “This is a good year. In my eleventh year as a voice in the Never Trump movement and my 6th at the Lincoln Project, I’ve rarely felt like the odds were more in our favor. Victory is in sight, a cleansing, sweeping, tangible victory.”
–Charlie Cook is calling this “a unicorn election.”
–Greg Dworkin: “Specials (special elections), primary turnout, where money is spent (red areas,) Republican mood, early vote all matches polls.”
–Pollster Nate Silver: “In a twist I’m not sure I’ve seen before, Republican vibes about this election…almost seem to imply a worse outcome for Republicans than Democratic ones.”
–Erin Burnett: “This has the potential to be a generational wipeout for Republicans.”
In other news:
–60 MINUTES producers turned down an assignment to do a profile of Abdul el-Sayed because they were afraid CBS head Bari Weiss would interfere with it and make them do a negative story on him right before the election.
–A Texas grand jury indicted an ICE agent for running over a man and lying about it in spite of the fact that ICE deported two of the material witnesses before the grand jury could talk to them.
–After months and months and millions and millions of dollars, the Reflecting Pool now looks exactly like it used to.
In good news:
–UAW Workers issued a statement saying they stand against the disgusting divide and conquer policies being used in the Michigan Senate race against the candidate of the working class, Abdul el-Sayed.
–A federal judge slammed Trump’s attempt to disenfranchise 20,000 voters in California, saying democracy was “in danger as Trump threatens an ongoing election,” and “the court declines to e a party to such a process.”
–For Halloween, hippos at the Cincinnati Zoo are being given whole pumpkins as a treat. You can see the video here:
Watch the Cincinnati Zoo’s hippos eat whole pumpkins like potato chips
Best conversation of the day (with apologies to JRR Tolkien: “Frodo: ‘I wish so much unbelievably stupid shit had not happened in my time.’ Gandalf: ‘So do all who live to see such times…This is all exceptionally stupid, though.”
Best sign of the day: Next to a Republican sign on a lawn that says, “Stop Fraud–Vote Republican,” someone put up another sign with an arrow pointing to it and the single word, “Hilarious.”
Best Halloween costume I’ve seen: https://www.facebook.com/DreadpunkGothicHorror/posts/i-think-originally-this-was-a-game-of-thrones-costume-but-it-would-also-do-well-/757250606436393/
Best comment of the day, from necturus: “The Trick or Treaters are coming! And so are the Trick or Traitors. We must be ready for them.”
HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
Keep calm and carry on,
Connie Willis
