Uglier and Uglier, Redux

We don't know how bad things will get. We know they'll get worse, much worse, as Donald Trump and his minions desperately try to save his election chances. We know racism will play a massive role in the story. We know our souls will be tried.

Protests continue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police fired seven rounds into the back of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was unarmed and presenting no threat. It looks like Blake will live with paralysis. His three sons witnessed the shooting from close range.

While people are protesting police violence, let's remember that Donald Trump has emboldened police violence. In 2017 he offered this encouragement to an audience of police members:

Please don't be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? You can take the hand away, OK?

Wednesday night a 17 year-old decided to "protect" Kenosha from the protesters. Armed with an AR-15, he wound up killing two people and maiming a third. 

The shooter, who wanted to be a police officer and identified himself as a pro-police vigilante, was a big Trump supporter. He may have been part of a group of armed people who asked Kenosha officials to deputize them--so there are more like him.

And let me say this plainly: this white boy walked right by police with his rifle across his body after a shooting while people shouted at police that he was the killer. Walked right by. Police had already tossed water bottles to the kid and other vigilantes, thanking them for their support--after curfew.

But here's what's scary. The right wing is rushing to defend this kid who rushed into conflict with a deadly weapon. Fox luminaries Tucker Carlson and Ann Coulter publicly expressed their sympathies for the shooter, Coulter tweeting, "I want him as my president."

These people realize public violence gives Trump a shot. Kellyanne Conway said so:

The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.

This is a strong signal that things are intensifying. Coulter is a Trump critic. But she's also a racist menace. When you have public figures expressing support for a vigilante murderer, you're looking at a plan to stir up violence. That's where we are.

Flashing Red Lights

Let's say you're visiting the NASA Command Center in Houston during a space launch. You notice a flashing warning signal coming from a technician's computer screen. The technician gets activated, and you know a problem needs to be solved. But then two, three, four other screens light up, and pandelirium ensues. You go from concerned to scared. It's one thing to address a problem on a space mission. That's complicated enough. But what chance do you have when multiple problems flare up at the same time?

That's Donald Trump's presidency. Way too many flashing red lights. And today was one of those days.

First, all day long Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, was flashing lights about the intelligence his committee was receiving on Russian election interference in 2020. Yes, Blumenthal's a Democrat, but he's usually fairly measured.

Tactics & techniques described frighteningly in this global report make past Russian disruption look quaint & rudimentary—like child’s play.

So 2016 was bad, but it was just child's play compared to what the Russians are already cooking up. But he can't share it because it's classified.

Then the Republicans announce that Trump may make his Republican Party nomination acceptance speech from the Rose Garden, almost surely an illegal use of government resources for campaign purposes according to the Hatch Act. Asked about that today, Trump replied:

There is no Hatch Act because it doesn't pertain to the president.

He's not entirely wrong. There are certainly technicalities. But we've never had a president use the White House as a campaign prop in the ways Trump does.

Earlier in the day, Trump was saying vote by mail is okay in Republican-run states because they're managed well, but no way in Democratic states. He : 

You'll never know who the winner is, but the winner's going to be me.

How comforting, right? The Russians are cheating, but the Republicans don't want us to know. And Trump is cheating. So it's all good. 

Of course we're still in a pandemic. As his press conference was ending, more news broke out: for the first time, Facebook took down a Trump post because it was, well, a lie. Trump told Fox News that children are "almost immune" from Covid-19, then posted the clip on social media. Facebook and Twitter both took it down.

During today's coronavirus press briefing Trump had already said, "“It’s going away. It’ll go away. Things go away."

Poof. Like magic.

One more item. Yesterday, and with zero evidence, Trump told reporters the massive explosion in Beirut was likely a terrorist attack. It's hard to overestimate the irresponsibility of this claim, which Trump attributed to generals. As experts began ruling out that theory, today Trump lowered his claim essentially to, some people say this, and some people say that. That left it to Defense Secretary Mark Esper--how does he still have a job?--to correct Trump: although the US is "still getting information on what happened," "most believe" the explosion "was an accident, as reported."

In some ways Trump is dumber than a box of rocks. But do not underestimate him. 

1. Maybe he's dumb in some ways, but he still has a certain kind of crocodile intelligence that allows him to amass power and money. He's still considered charismatic by his followers.
2. Trump is surrounded by people who are less stupid and quite strategic. They give him advice.
3. Republican politicians are terrified of Trump and will back him up on every point. 
4. Sometimes it's accidental. And sometimes it's strategic. But every day Trump sets off so many fires that nobody can keep up. That makes him very dangerous.

Update: Reports indicate that Deutsche Bank has complied with NY prosecutors, sending them Trump's financial records. 

"Extensive and Protracted Criminal Conduct"

Seeking Donald Trump's tax records, New York DA Cyrus Vance cited public reports of "extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization." According to a court filing,

These reports describe transactions involving individual and corporate actors based in New York County, but whose conduct at times extended beyond New York’s borders. This possible criminal activity occurred within the applicable statutes of limitations, particularly if the transactions involved a continuing pattern of conduct.

Prosecutors 

cited several newspaper articles, including one in the Washington Post examining allegations that Trump had a practice of sending out financial statements to potential business partners and banks that inflated the worth of his properties by claiming they were bigger or more potentially lucrative than they were.

It really is about the corruption, which continues through government even now.

Deutsche Bank is conducting an internal investigation of the banker who supplied "favorable" loans to Trump and to Jared Kushner, including why said banker bought a $1.5 million apartment from a company partially owned by Kushner.

In June Trump thanked Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn for blocking legislation that would require campaigns to report receiving foreign assistance. 

After the Senate refused to act on Trump's nomination of retired Gen. Anthony Tata as Defense undersecretary for policy, Trump simply appointed him as "the official Performing the Duties of...."

Trump is using the coronavirus to advance the concerns of his super-rich cronies. 

All skeevy, all the time. 

It's taken the pandemic to sour key supporters on Trump, opening the space for people to see just how corrupt his government is. In current pandemic news,

• Today the FDA "revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed for chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine."
• Barron Trump's private school announced online-only learning for the time being while Trump cajoles schools into opening. 
• Most alarming, yesterday Dr. Deborah Birx told CNN's Dana Bash that we're in a world of hurt. "What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It's into the rural as equal urban areas." She even advised people who live with elderly relatives to wear masks in the home.
• Finally, just read this by an Arizona public school superintendent. 

And isn’t it fun to check this out? Once busted, Trump deleted his ridiculous tweet.