Trump Moves to Block Voting by Veterans, the Disabled, Small-Business Owners, Puppies
Trump lawsuit would make it harder for Michigan voters to vote in Michigan
July 18: Trump voting lawsuit … More Dem calls for Biden to step aside … Biden has COVID … GOP convention …
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The presidential campaign of potential Represident Donald Trump on Monday filed a lawsuit seeking to make it harder for Michigan veterans, disabled people, and small-business owners to vote in the 2024 election. They know what they did.
Trump is well known for his antipathy toward all three groups. He has disparaged and/or disrespected prisoners of war, combat fatalities, and veterans too inconsiderate to get killed in World War I someplace where it wasn’t raining.
As for the disabled, Trump mimicked a disabled reporter by parroting contorted arms and hands and sharing his ‘O’ face with a non-consenting world.
Small-business owners, of course, routinely got stiffed by Trump when he was pretending to be a businessman.
On Monday, Trump bundled all three groups together and filed a lawsuit, Salon reports, to make it harder for them all to vote. His campaign is challenging a directive from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), who last year expanded the number of government facilities that could serve as voter registration sites.
The directive makes it easier for people to register to vote by establishing additional registration sites in government facilities.
Among the sites Trump doesn’t want helping Michiganders to vote: Michigan Veterans Affairs offices, the state’s Worker’s Disability Compensation Agency, and offices of the Small Business Administration.
Michigan, of course, was one of the states Trump lost in 2020, and then tried to find again with lies and crime and dishonor. And he might have just increased the 2024 turnout.
The Call Is Coming from Inside the House. And the Senate.
After Pres. Joe Biden said only the party’s “elites” want him out of the race, yesterday we learned exactly who they are. It’s former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA); Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY); House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the odds-on favorite to be California’s next senator; two out of three of all the registered Democratic voters in the universe, and all told roughly 200 million elites.
PELOSI According to multiple outlets, the former speaker — still influential after stepping aside to make room for a younger generation’s leaders; well, at least the ones that would still listen to her — told Biden last week that he stands to doom their party’s shot at taking back the House of Representatives. And that he can’t win back the White House.
Which, in fairness, no one knows, regardless of the polls. Reportedly, though, she told Biden that more House members will soon call publicly for him to step aside. Also reportedly, one of their names rhymes with elosi.
Pelosi has already said so publicly, albeit passive-aggressively. She has been quoted saying Biden should decide soon whether he’s running, which is hilarious because Biden keeps saying he already decided. He just better make up his mind soon!
SCHUMER A grim assessment of Democratic chances of holding the Senate with Biden atop the ticket was delivered to him on Saturday by Schumer, before Trump got his ear shredded by a sad, stupid unknowable 20-year-old with sad, stupid, unknowable motives.
Schumer reportedly warned that with Democratic control of the Senate already so shaky, Biden could cost them the entire chamber. Meaning MAGA legislation would actually make it to Trump’s desk. In the Oval Office. Not to mention judges. Pretty sure Jeanine Pirro’s available.
Schumer’s office wouldn’t confirm whether he told Biden to get out of the race, saying only, “Leader Schumer conveyed the views of his caucus.” Which wants him to get out of the race.
JEFFRIES The man who will be House speaker if Democrats regain control of the House delivered a similar message to Biden on Thursday, the Washington Post reports. Jeffries briefed House Democrats on the meeting in a letter afterward, telling them he shared their views. Which are to get out of the race.
SCHIFF One guy who definitely doesn’t want to jump from being in the House minority to being in the Senate minority is Schiff, now cruising to a Senate seat in his race against an old baseball player. True story!
In a statement yesterday, Schiff said — publicly! — that it’s time for Biden “to pass the torch.” And, yes, I’d love to be able to quote that statement more fullier, but the L.A. Times didn’t see fit to share that with us, so democracy dies in darkness.
SOMEONE The Washington Post reports that “a person close to Biden” told him to get out of the race, saying it’s the only way to preserve his legacy and prevent a Trump represidency. Biden presumably had them killed.
THE POLLS As Perry Bacon, Jr. writes for the Washington Post, one thing in Biden’s favor is that the polls haven’t moved much since Biden attempted to debate Trump earlier this month. The bad news is that also means Biden’s full-court press to improve his standing hasn’t registered. The good news is polling is for shit and that Biden says he’s seen polls showing him winning. The bad news is that those polls don’t exist.
THE OTHER POLL The other more bad news is a new poll yesterday that broke out the sentiment of Democratic voters. Sixty-five percent of Democrats think Biden should leave the race and let another Democratic run against Trump, according to new polling yesterday.
Seven out of ten grownups overall think Biden should drop out. Only 57% say that Trump should drop out, not so much because of his age but because of all the lying, raping, criming, and other youthful indiscretions he keeps committing at 78 years old.
Even among Biden’s strongest constituency, his continued candidacy isn’t the preference. Black Democrats are essentially split; 50% say he should keep running, while 49% want him replaced by another candidate.
BIDEN The White House says the man himself has told everyone telling him to get out that he’s not gonna get out. He thinks he can win. The problem, of course, is that his thinking is what people are worried about.
The New York Times reports this morning that Biden has given no indication he might change his mind about dropping out, but that he’s now “more willing” to hear arguments that he should. (Which is an indication he might change his mind about dropping out.)
According to the Times, he’s been willing to listen to terrifying polling data, and is asking about how Vice Pres. Kamala Harris could win if she replaced him.
At this point, though, don’t be surprised if Biden starts arguing that it doesn’t matter who controls Congress because Represident Trump is just gonna do what he wants anyway.
TFN I lost track of which report called all these talks extraordinary discussions, but that would surely come as a surprise to anyone swirling in America’s corporate workplace toilet who’s been reamed out by a boss or an official HR memo letting them know they’re not feeding their corporate overlords quickly enough.
As I’ve said, I don’t think all this Democratic sturm und/oder drang is necessarily bad. I think it’s good. Democracy means arguing about shit. Whoever wins this debate comes out stronger for having had it.
But I do think Biden needs to start accounting not just for his own opinion that he can beat Trump, but for the fact that so few Democrats agree with him.
Republicans Celebrate Terrible Country They’re Blessed to Live In
On Day Three of the Republican National Convention, the theme was crime. Not the 34 counts on which their nominee has been convicted, but the imagined crime wave fueled by immigrants, drag queens, antifa, Black Lives Matter, and presumably single women.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said that it’s Republicans who “put criminals in prison” while Democrats “stand with criminals.” Never mind that former Pres. Donald Trump is campaigning on springing hundreds of Jan. 6 criminals from prison because they were convicted of criming to help their criminal ringleader who is him.
And while you’re never minding that, never mind that Vice President Kamala Harris is literally a former prosecutor. Both she and Pres. Joe Biden have histories that the GOP delegates should love, of putting Black people behind bars.
And definitely never mind that speakers on last night’s episode of Law & Order: GOP included former Trump advisor Peter Navarro, who literally got out of prison that morning and presumably still had prison waffles stuck in his teeth along with I shudder to think what else.
Nevertheless, Republicans told us last night that this violence-ravaged nation, economically devastated and beset by people using the wrong fucking bathrooms, is the greatest nation on Earth. Which only Trump can make great again the way it was less than four years ago but only for four years.
Take former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC), as Trump didn’t for his veep pick. Last night, Haley told the GOP delegates, “We are blessed to live in America,” where:
“Americans are fearful.”
“Families are suffering from inflation and wages that don’t keep up with prices.”
Even though Americans are blessed to live in fear and economic suffering, Haley lamented the fact that young people are “indoctrinated” to think of America as racist and evil, offering examples of how America is racist and evil:
“The Jewish community is facing an obscene rise in antisemitism.”
“Too many minorities are trapped in communities devastated by our foreign enemies”
“Americans hate each other.”
As Roll Call notes, vice-presidential candidate JD™ Vance was introduced with a country music song bemoaning that “Our bridges and highways are falling apart,” calling for us to “rebuild America first.”
Of course, our bridges and highways are falling apart…after four years of neglect by the guy who didn’t even build things when that was ostensibly his business, and whose businesses had a habit of falling apart.
It was Pres. Joe Biden who got $1.2 trillion in infrastructure spending from Congress.
SIDEBAR Roll Call caught this fun little fact from Vance’s musical accompaniment. “God bless the Army,” the song says. Vance is a former Marine. But then, he used to sing a very different song about Trump, too.
Biden Narrowly Survives Viral Infection Attempt
Pres. Joe Biden yesterday bravely survived an attack that, according to former Pres. Donald Trump, had its origins in China. The attack came in the form of the novel coronavirus, which just grazed Biden’s immune system. Biden managed to keep his shoes on and presumably raised his fist defiantly while chanting, “C’mon, man!”
Biden is said to be experiencing mild COVID symptoms. No debates for you, young man!
Per the recommendations of Represident Trump’s 2025 surgeon general, Dr. Stephen Strange, Biden is expected to begin a rigorous course of bleach and direct sunshine applied to his internal organs.
The Republican Party Is Not the Taliban
It’s a common line, that the modern-day Republican Party is the Christian nationalist version of the Islamic extremist Taliban government of Afghanistan.
But in at least one crucial way, that’s not true.
As climate crusader Bill McKibben writes, he’s exhaustively studied the teeny little pamphlet that passes for the 2024 Republican Party platform and can authoritatively confirm that the modern GOP is worse than the Taliban when it comes to climate policy.
The Taliban acknowledge that climate change is real. And they would like to do something about it — they’ve just been severed from much of the international community over their shitty-ass treatment of women, an area where the GOP is also behind them, but is at least working to catch up.
As McKibben notes, the 2024 Republican Party platform has nothing to say about climate change. Nothing to say about insurers fleeing entire states. Nothing to say about 100s of people — presumably including voters — dead in Maricopa County, AZ, from the heat. Nothing to say about the effects of heat, drought, storms, wildfires, and more on our infrastructure, outdoor workers, or even the corporate entities that rich people use to exploit our infrastructure and outdoor workers. Just drill baby drill shit.
The Taliban, meanwhile, one of the top 10 countries most vulnerable to climate change, sees its droughts and flash floods as the work of yet another invasion by a foreign airpower: the carbon emissions created by American Big Oil.
Meanwhile, in Washington temperatures topped 101° for three days in a row, for the first time in 94 years. Remember those Republicans who used to laugh whenever it snowed in Washington? Hardy har now, sweaty-ass motherfuckers.
The Republican Convention Climax: Trump Is Coming!
I’ll wait while you scrub that image from your brains.
You missed a spot.
Okay, we’re good!
Today’s the big night! Former Pres. Donald Trump and his ear will take the stage to unite America with a unifying call to destroy everyone who disagrees with him.
Expect Trump to do absolutely nothing to call attention to just how fetishistically he’s satisfied the masochistic coprophilia of his slavish evangelical Christian base.
First he nearly assassinated dropped from his ticket his former actual evangelical vice president, now persona non grata. Then he chose as his new running mate a Catholic non-evangelical who’s publicly shat on evangelicals and isn’t even fully doctrinaire on abortion medication.
Plus Trump’s said he won’t support a national abortion ban. That said, evangelicals play the long game (not counting their belief that Earth is only 6,000 years old). They know the real prize here isn’t four years of the White House, but lifetimes on federal judicial benches.
So what else is on tap for tonight? Finally we get a prayer breakfast, sponsored by the Faith and Freedom [sic] Coalition. Donald Trump, Jr., has a book signing. I didn’t even know he’d read a book! Also signing books that someone wrote is convicted criminal Peter Navarro. And because the scheduler has a delicious sense of humor, Navarro’s signing takes place exactly the same time as a screening of some movie called “Government Gangsters.”
Kari Lake is taking time off from her job as Arizona governor or senator or whichever office she’s still claiming she won to also sign books. (You can read my report on how Jesus snuck Lake into the National Prayer Breakfast here.)
Today’s climactic convention theme is Make America Great Once Again, also known as MAGOA, the god of avarice and stupidity. The high point, of course, will be Trump’s triumphant appearance, with at least ¾ of his birth ears, to accept his party’s nomination and outline his utter lack of plans for fixing the prosperity and low crime rates that Pres. Joe Biden has inflicted on this great, terrible country.
TCB
CONFESSION Trump didn’t actually ignore Abbott, as I lied said in the caption of today’s lead photo. It appears they shook hands and chatted for as long as Trump could stand to maintain eye contact with someone in a wheelchair. It was just funnier to lie say that he ignored him.
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Go get ‘em, kids. You got this.
From a quick search: "Portuguese word magoa, which means sorrow, grief, or hurt in English." Yep, seems about right.
Interesting three registered democrats in the household and none of them wants him out of the race. We have never won when change candidates this close to the election. But some folks prefer to take the risk.