Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

David Nakamura reflects on Cheeto Benito's Mount Rushmore rant:

In his inaugural address, President Trump sketched the picture of “American carnage” — a nation ransacked by marauders from abroad who breached U.S. borders in pursuit of jobs and crime, lured its companies offshore and bogged down its military in faraway conflicts.

Nearly 3½ years later, in the president’s telling, the carnage is still underway but this time the enemy is closer to home — other Americans whose racial identity and cultural beliefs are toppling the nation’s heritage and founding ideals.

Trump’s dark and divisive 42-minute speech at the foot of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota late Friday served as a clarion for his campaign reelection message at a time when the nation — already reeling with deep anxiety over the devastating public health and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic — is also facing a cultural reckoning over the residue of its racially segregated past.

He then quotes former Bush speechwriter and never- Trumper Peter Wehner:

“It’s an insight into him: He doesn’t view his job in terms of governing. He just views it as a platform to vent and be angry,” Wehner said. “He’s not just appealing to the base, but he’s appealing to the base of the base. The aperture of the campaign is constricting, not expanding — he’s energizing a smaller and smaller group of angrier and angrier Americans. And to try to energize that base, he has to say more and more extreme things.”

This will be the darkest, ugliest, dirtiest campaign in American history.  As E.J. Dionne, Jr., says, it's all Cheeto Benito has left in his quiver:

Trump’s spiteful and hostile moves on a weekend when we celebrate the equal rights of all to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are alarming. But they are also a sign of weakness. They suggest his own lack of faith in his predictions that our economy will take off like “a rocket ship.” [snip]

What is Trump offering? When Fox News’s Sean Hannity recently asked Trump what he wanted to do in a second term, the president offered 138-words of rambling emptiness adding up to nothing. Lacking even a few ideas scribbled on a “sheet of notepaper,” he can only conjure terrorizing national nightmares.

It’s true that Trump’s Independence weekend escapades mean we face months of being led by someone so desperate to avoid defeat that he will warp our history, shatter what little unity we have left, and leave it to others to clear the wreckage. But there is hope here, too: Trump is acting like a frightened man who realizes that if his opponents keep their heads and avoid rising to his bait, his days are numbered.

Here's what polling tells us:

A new Monmouth University poll finds former Vice President Joe Biden with a 53% to 41% lead over President Donald Trump.

The average live interview poll conducted over the last month has Biden ahead by a similar 11-point margin.

What's the point: Usually, this is the point where someone like myself says we have four months to go until the election and polls are a snapshot in time. Both of those statements are true, but they obscure an important fact.

Polls taken around Independence Day in an election year are actually pretty highly correlated with the November results in incumbent contests. That means Trump is in a lot of trouble.

There are now 120 days until November 3.  Keep the foot on the gas, take nothing for granted and work like hell.

The issue most likely to be driving voters is Cheeto Benito's criminal incompetence in handling the coronavirus pandemic and the attendant catastrophic job losses and business closings. STAT asked reporters who've been covering the pandemic for their thoughts on which failures a future pandemic commission would likely focus on:

The country’s long list of missteps includes decisions from President Trump, governors, local officials, and even activists who have vocally resisted mitigation measures like wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.  Looking more broadly any examination could begin with the country’s failure to build infrastructure for testing and contact tracing in early 2020, Trump’s consistent downplaying of the virus even amid mass death, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s highly publicized testing debacle.

The areas highlighted at the link include sidelining the CDC, politicizing evidence- based decision- making, the aforementioned testing debacle, oversight of the strategic P.P.E. stockpile, the decisions to reopen non- essential businesses, and shifting guidance on wearing protective masks.

Finally, today the Supreme Court is expected to hand down decisions on several major cases, including Trump's financial records / taxes, and the contraceptive mandate under the Affordable Care Act. Stay tuned.

As always, do yourself a favor and check out Infidel 753's link round- up for a really comprehensive guide to posts around the internet that you'll find interesting.  If you haven't become a regular reader, shame on you!