Monday Reading

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

Joe Biden, in addition to calling out mango Mussolini's actions to provoke violence (see post below), also commented on the decision by the Trumpist Director of National Intelligence to end election interference briefings for Congress. Here's a snippet:

Nothing is more important than the security and integrity of our elections. And we know that President Trump is unwilling to take action to protect them. That leaves Congress as the best defender of our democracy. But now President Trump, through his hand-picked DNI — chosen for loyalty, not experience — is attempting to deprive Congress of the information they need to do their part.

There can be only one conclusion: President Trump is hoping Vladimir Putin will once more boost his candidacy and cover his horrific failures to lead our country through the multiple crises we are facing. And he does not want the American people to know the steps Vladimir Putin is taking to help Trump get re-elected or why Putin is eager to intervene, because Donald Trump’s foreign policy has been a gift to the Kremlin.

They're pulling out all the stops to steal this election, from the Low Barr Justice Department to Homeland (In)Security to the ODNI to Moscow.  That's why the vote must be as overwhelming a rejection of mango Mussolini and his fascist party as possible.  We can and we will do it.

Here's pollster/ forecaster Harry Enten --

Biden has a larger lead of any challenger at this point against an elected incumbent since... Well ever tbh. (Note: this includes Perot questions from 92.) Part of that is an unpopular incumbent, but it's plausible Biden's a better candidate than many here give him credit for.

— (((Harry Enten))) (@ForecasterEnten) August 30, 2020

And David Rothkopf --

Good morning. It's still 2020. This means that the "law and order" candidate in this year's presidential race is actually a career criminal running the most corrupt admin in history who feels his only path to victory is breaking more laws and promoting violence in US cities.

— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 30, 2020

Apparently another tell all book from a former insider is out.  Melon Trump's former senior advisor Stephanie Winston Wolkoff dishes largely confirmatory dirt about the First Crime Family, but this nugget about mango Mussolini's inaugural plans stands out:

Donald Trump wanted his inauguration to look like a North Korean military parade. When discussing the parade with Winston Wolkoff and Ivanka during the transition, Trump said: “I want tanks and choppers. Make it look like North Korea,” he told them. Winston Wolkoff wrote: “He really wanted goose-stepping troops and armored tanks? That would break tradition and terrify half the country.” [snip]

For the inauguration, Mark Burnett, creator of “The Apprentice,” the reality-TV show that cemented Trump’s popularity, also wanted to “light the sky with drones, and Donald and Melania loved the idea.” No drones ended up being used to spice up the inauguration — they could have posed a safety risk.  (our emphasis)

Following four years of anger and frustration that boiled over in an epic Twitter rant, comedian Jim Gaffigan talks about his decision to come out forcefully against malignant mango Mussolini, and what "undecideds" should consider:

“I didn’t want to explain to my grandchildren that I didn’t fight to stop Trump,” he wrote. “Maybe they will see that I stood up for decency, rule of law and equality.”

Gaffigan also urged Trump voters to apply that same test to their own actions ― specifically to who they vote for in the coming presidential election. 

“If you are still on the fence I encourage you to vote not for who I want you to vote for but for who your grandchildren would be proud you fucking voted for,” he wrote, followed by an apology to his wife, Jeannie Gaffigan, for his use of profanity.

Lee Drutman at fivethirtyeight.com has a good read about why there are so few "moderate Republicans." Here's his bottom line:

... American political parties are not top-down entities, capable of turning on a dime. They are loose networks and coalitions of many actors and groups. And because the Republican Party has been pulling in a more extreme direction for decades now, most Republican moderates have either quit the team or reoriented themselves in a more combative, Trumpian direction to stay alive. And these forces will most likely continue to tug at the party, leaving would-be moderates with the same choice they’ve faced for decades: Quit, or get on board.

Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein pegged it back in 2012 in their book "It’s Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided With the New Politics of Extremism,” and others long before that.

We close with our usual recommendation to check out Infidel 753's excellent link round- up for many more "points of light" (we found the Drutman article there).  Don't miss out!