Biennial Republican celebration October is normally leaf-looker season here in the Cesspool of Sin. But after Hurricane Helene’s tragic visit last month, not this year. (We can’t drink the water yet and victims are still missing.) But neither rain, nor snow, neither darkness of heart nor climate change-spawned natural disaster will stop MAGAland’s celebration of migrant caravan season. Republicans celebrate biennially, like clockwork, observes The New Republic’s Greg Sargent. Caravan season may not be an October surprise these days, but it is an October miracle. Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York is chair of the House Republican Conference. And by Jiminy, she will “stop the madness” by electing a madman. A Customs and Border Patrol spokesperson tells Newsweek: “We are aware of recent reports of a migrant caravan that has materialized in Southern Mexico, as we hear about several times per year.”
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Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee sent out a statement this week drawing attention to the fact that the Trump campaign is dragging its feet with respect to the presidential transition process in which both candidates are expected to participate in anticipation of a possible win in November. Generally they start months ahead of time to get a head start on vetting people for staffing the large number of political appointee jobs throughout the administration and coordinating with the current staff to ensure a smooth transition to the new presidency. So far, the Trump team has missed two important deadlines to sign agreements to get it started. Trump, you may recall, doesn’t respect this process very much, having fired his first transition team right after the election in 2016. And he prevented the Biden team from accessing the process in 2020 while he contested the election dangerously delaying them from getting started. However, one might think it’s a bit odd for them to do that this time since once you sign the papers you have access to money and services that make the whole thing easier.
Bi-coastal sea otters! Those eyes will charm you! Two adorable female southern sea otters, rescued off the coast of California, have made their New York City debut and will likely steal your heart. Pumpkin and Clover were rescued at young ages, deemed non-releasable, and cared for as pups by caregivers at other accredited aquariums prior to arriving at the New York Aquarium. They’re now settling in at the Sea Cliffs exhibit, where visitors can also enjoy exhibits featuring sea lions, harbor seals and penguins. “We are happy to provide a home for these rescued southern sea otters,” said Dr. Leigh Ann Clayton, director of the New York Aquarium, located in Coney Island, Brooklyn. “These two otters have incredible stories, and we are pleased to see how well they are settling into their new home.” The New York Aquarium has provided a home for 11 rescued sea otters since 1991. Southern sea otters (Enhydra lutris nereis), also known as California sea otters, live on the coast of California. Like all wildlife, they have an important role in the ecological health of the environment, according to the New York Aquarium.
Tyler Perry’s analogy We are a quilt in this country, Tyler Perry told a Kamala Harris rally in Atlanta on Thursday. A nation of immigrants. “We are all shapes, sizes and colors, but we are one.” Look, unless you are a Native American, you and your people came from somewhere else. And even indigenous people on this continent came from somewhere else. Just over 20,000 years before Donald Trump and his America Firsters arrived. I mean, if we’re claiming privilege based on who was here first? But no. MAGA wants it all. Perry launched a pointed barb against Donald Trump and his MAGA movement, saying he voted for a candidate who understands that America is a quilt. “And I could never stand with a candidate who wants America to be a sheet.” Perry paused to let the dual meaning sink in. The crowd didn’t miss it in Atlanta, Georgia.
That;s all well and good. But here’s a CNN piece from last month: “She’s a Marxist, communist, fascist, socialist,” Trump said at an Arizona rally on Thursday. “This is a radical-left, Marxist, communist, fascist,” Trump said while attacking Harris at a news conference on Friday. This wasn’t new rhetoric. “We have a fascist person running who’s incompetent,” Trump told Virginia residents during a campaign stop in August; at an Arizona rally in August, Trump said the true divide in American politics is between patriots with traditional values and “these far-left fascists led by Harris and her group.” And Trump has gone beyond saying that electing Harris would mean an end to American democracy. He has said this summer that electing Harris would mean “you’re not going to have a country anymore” and that “we’re not going to have a country left.” Not to mention him calling his political enemies vermin and saying they’re poisoning the blood of the country as well as a thousand other demeaning insults.
Trump had a “town hall” with a bunch of rightwing Christians today. He’s been doing a lot of those lately. They must be concerned about the evangelical turnout: I don’t know about you but I find it very concerning that he’s talking to Netanyahu every day, no doubt telling him to keep that war going to hurt the Democrats and promising that as soon as he wins he’ll give the green light for Bibi to go wild. How can this be legal? I know it violates the Logan Act but that’s a toothless law that’s been violated many times. But we’ve never seen anything like this before. Trump is running a shadow government from Mar-a-lago. Oh well, I guess that’s no big deal… Sure, he’s fine. By the way, there’s a rumor all over twitter that there’s a video of Trump groping the young daughter of a wealthy donor that’s about to break. The Trumpers are all saying it’s a deep fake. I have no idea if it’s true. But I also doubt that it would make any difference because the right will convince themselves that it’s a Democratic deep fake election interference ploy and who knows, it might even help him.
Good God: The crowd started chanting “Daddy’s Home.” Make it stop. Please.
Don’t vote with them “The label now seems not just acceptable but necessary,” wrote Robert Paxton, 92, in Jan. 11, 2021 Newsweek article. Previously reluctant to use a loaded term like fascism to describe the Trump presidency, Trump’s “open encouragement of civic violence to overturn an election,” was the breaking point for the retired Columbia University historian of fascism. Elisabeth Zerofsky writes in The New York Times (gift article): Calling someone or something “fascist” is the supreme expression of moral revulsion, an emotional impulse that is difficult to resist. “The temptation to draw parallels between Trump and the fascist leaders of the 20th century is understandable,” the British historian Richard J. Evans wrote in 2021. “How better to express the fear, loathing, and contempt that Trump arouses in liberals than by comparing him to the ultimate political evil?” The word gets lobbed at the left too, including by Trump at Democrats. But fascism does have a specific meaning, and in the last few years the debate has turned on two questions: Is it an accurate description of Trump?
Republicans in glass houses Republicans who complain about weaponization of government shouldn’t throw stones in their glass house. But they shamelessly do. Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby at Popular Information: Three Republican state senators in North Carolina have demanded an investigation of state Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. The state senators, Buck Newton (R), Amy Galey (R), and Danny Britt (R), claim that Riggs has “blatantly violated” the North Carolina Code of Judicial Conduct. They called for an investigation into Riggs’ conduct by the North Carolina Judicial Standards Commission. What was Riggs’ transgression? She mentioned reproductive rights in a campaign ad. Riggs was appointed to fill a vacancy in the North Carolina Supreme Court in September 2023. It is an elected position, and now Riggs is running for a full eight-year term.
Of course he will. And he’ll do this too: Former President Donald Trump said Thursday that, if elected to a second term in November, he would immediately fire special counsel Jack Smith, who brought two federal indictments against Trump. Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt asked Trump if he plans to pardon himself or fire Smith on the day he would take the oath of office. “It’s so easy — I would fire him within two seconds,” said Trump, who added that he got “immunity at the Supreme Court” and called Smith a “crooked person.” Last year, Trump warned that Smith and other Justice Department officials would wind up in a mental institution if he’s re-elected. He’s going to be a dictator on day one. He’s made that clear.