August 15, 2020

5,316,637–168,481 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans t4he beginning of the day)

Were it not for the fact that we are in the Age of Trump in the United States of Crazy, the fact that the first three attacks on Kamala Harris’s presumptive Vice Presidential candidacy were epic. Here they are in order of stupidity:

1. She is angry, mad (as in angry, not mad as in Trump) and she is nasty;
2. She sounds like Marge Simpson (Marge Simpson immediately issued a strongly worded expression of outrage at being “disrespected by Team Trump – I cannot make this stuff up); and
3. Harris is not a natural U.S. citizen, even though she was born in Oakland, California, because both of her parents were immigrants making her an “anchor baby” (spoiler alert – there is no such exception of “anchor babies” in the Constitution.

One has to wonder if this is what amounts to Team Trump’s best shot. Or is this some Machiavellian strategic plan to lull the Biden-Harris team into a sense of complacency – kind of a Trump-style Rope A Dope. And since Trump can’t even spell Machiavelli, the smart money is betting that items 1,2 and 3 represent the Trump Team’s best shot.

The smart money is also betting that Team Trump will go back to sewer diving and gutter hunting and will come up with something a lot more offensive.

 August 16, 2020

5,361,613–169,489 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans t4he beginning of the day)

The day begins with what is supposed to be a good day in the new reality of Trump World because “only” 1,000 Americans died yesterday. The phenomenon of Trumpthink will result in the devastation of the Republic.

Meanwhile it was announced that former Republican Governor John Kasich will speak at the Democratic convention. What might have been a moment of apostasy a few years ago seems very much like common sense who senses the lurking abyss in a second Trump term as president.

And the Trump Sound Machine continues to beat the birther drum at Kamala Harris while claiming that it isn’t. The latest Trump strategy is to blame the entire birther controversy on “the media” even though everyone watches Trump peddling bizarro theories regarding her citizenship that do indeed originate from sources outside of the White House. But of course it is the White House remix that gives the these theories legitimacy in the fevered minds that inhabit MAGA World.

And tomorrow, the Democrats host the first national convention that will be totally virtual.

Welcome to the Brave New World.

 August 17, 2020

5,404,115–170,052 (number of confirmed COVID-19 cases – the number of dead Americans the beginning of the day)

The countdown begins as the virtual Democratic National Convention will begin this evening. Trump will be hosting rallies throughout several swing states this evening in an effort to distract attention from this evening’s events. And somehow we are not supposed to notice that we are in the middle of a cataclysmic pandemic while the President of the United States is hopping around the country as if the American people don’t have a care in the world.

As if tens of millions of Americans haven’t lost their jobs. As if close to 200,000 Americans have lost their lives while another 5,000,000 Americans have been infected. As if millions of businesses haven’t closed for good, turning lifelong hopes, dreams and aspirations into bitter ashes. As if fear stalks even the bravest as well as the most foolish because it is clear that no one knows what tomorrow may promise.

Ostensibly we are supposed to take some comfort in knowing that Trump is doing his damnedest (an intentional choice of words) to confuse, confound and derail the upcoming election by effectively dismantling key elements of the U.S. Postal, never mind that millions of Americans rely on the postal system not only to vote, but to receive medication, checks, and a range of goods and services. Clearly, Trump doesn’t know and/or doesn’t care.

Meanwhile the latest polls have the race between Biden and Trump narrowing to the point where it is virtually a statistical dead heat (an apt choice of words here). And one has to wonder who is it that, upon seeing the carnage that Trump has visited upon this country is convinced that he should be reelected?

Can it be, that with the death and disruption occasioned by the incompetence and intentional ignorance of the Trump regime being clear for all the world to see, that half of the American voting public will still want him to continue in office.

Clearly there is still a place for racism and stupidity and vile hatred in American politics…….and we should all be very afraid.

And now, the most unusual Democratic National Convention in history will start shortly and we shall see what the new normal looks like.

And then Michelle Obama decided it was time to eviscerate Trump in real time. As she recounted his many faults and multiple missteps she concluded with, “….he’s in over his head. It is what it is.” Ouch.

And if that last part sounds familiar it is because she was repeating Trump’s response when questioned about the (then) 150,000 American COVID-19 fatalities – “it is what it is was Trump’s memorable expression of empathy and sorrow for the deaths of so many Americans.