Author: A.T.

Trump is falling apart.

This video gets pretty rough — but c’mon.  After all the damage he’s done to the dignity of the presidency, and to so much else, is it so wrong to mock him as the dreadful man he is?

Kamala, by contrast, is on fire.  The optimism!  The excitement!  The joy!  The sense of possibility!

She is so good . . . so stable . . . so morally centered.

And the team behind her is so good and competent and morally centered — namely, the 4,000 Biden appointees who have helped build the remarkable Biden/Harris record.

Electing the Harris team will disappoint Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un . . . disappoint Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon, David Duke and Michael Flynn . . . even disappoint folks who save said horrible things about him in the past like Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson, and JD Vance (a “con man,” “America’s Hitler,” a “pathological liar” “who destroys everything he touches”).

But for most voters it will mean the brighter future that they, like everyone else, deserve.  And the freedom to pursue happiness as they see fit.

VENEZUELA

Following up on Wednesday’s post: U.S. says Maduro lost Venezuelan election, calls for talks, transition.  “Maduro claims that he won the vote Sunday, despite exit polling and, the opposition says, the government’s own records, which indicate that Edmundo González won twice as many as votes.”

Trump — who claims he won the last election by a landslide and plotted to hold onto power even though he lost — is our Maduro.  

GYMNASTICS

Glenn Sonnenberg:  “Watching the men’s gymnastics team reminds me of what often is forgotten about this great country of ours. Most national teams are homogeneous (or nearly so). But America’s team is extraordinarily diverse. The men’s gymnastics team includes Black, Asian, and white men, some recent immigrants, cheering each other on. It’s enough to make one proud. We are a nation of diversity and a nation of immigrants.”

Have a great weekend.

Data Don’t Lie: Harris Has the Facts to Refute Trump’s Lies About the Economy

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Candidate Harris has a compelling economic narrative based purely on the facts—about growth, business investment and creation, employment, and the measures that helped us get there—the bipartisan infrastructure and semiconductor acts and the Democratically passed Inflation Reduction Act. Yes, inflation hit the United States like other countries — and the Biden-Harris policies beat it.

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Worth reading in full if you’re not already sold.

Project 2025 — the Barbra Streisand effect.  Trump is trying to distance himself from Project 2025, just as he once pretended not to know who Davd Duke is.  It may not be working for him.  “Trump owns Project 2025.”

. . . who is (by the way) a convicted felon under multiple additional criminal indictments for things for which you or I would have long since been imprisoned.

But that’s where we are.

And why the money and support keep pouring in.

But first . . .

“Stop calling us weird!” (48 seconds).

Who says it’s a cult?!

And now . . .

Doonesbury cartoonist Garry Trudeau is the first (of only two) comic strip artists ever to win a Pulitzer Prize.

He begins his forthcoming book with this preface:

It’s a beautiful spring day, and I’ve just concluded a spirited discussion with myself over whether this latest volume should be titled “Day One Dictator” or “Day One Dementia.” I chose the former on the grounds that it’s less terrifying.

Some readers may disagree. The stench of pending authoritarianism is so overpowering that it may distract from the gathering psychiatric consensus that Trump is rapidly slipping into senility — doubly alarming as this new deficit is eating away at the brainpan of a sociopath. Last weekend in Dayton, Trump said, “Joe Biden won against Barack Hussein Obama! Has anyone ever heard of him? Barack Hussein Obaba (sic)!” Rallygoers, primed to cheer, instead exchanged nervous glances.

As well they might. MAGA long ago embraced the crazy — Trump’s loud, transgressive behavior is what endeared him to the mob in the first place. Humans, like apes, are wired to respect the bellowing of alphas, which in Trump’s case, his followers still mistake for strength, not the hypomania it actually is. Dementia, on the other hand, is scary. Most people have seen it in their own lives — a sad, silent aunt, a raging, profane grandfather — and regard it with abject horror. As they listen to Trump free-styling around the stems of common words, at least some of them are surely starting to think, “Uh-oh.”

Or not. Cult members are by definition resistant to reality, and with the help of right-wing media, they have set up false equivalencies, likening Biden’s occasional lapses to Trump’s aphasic word salads. But you have to wonder if there might be some concern among campaign workers, those who see Trump with his guard down, exhausted, floundering, deeply frightened that he’s sliding into the same dark realm that swallowed up his father. Do they worry, not for themselves, but for the country? Are they truly comfortable about the prospect of installing a mad king in the White House? Reagan was in absentia for the last year of his presidency, but at least he had a good heart and was surrounded by institutionalists, career public servants who kept the ship steadied. Trump will have no such support — he’s done with competence in his advisors. The old ones all betrayed him. Only ideologues, sycophants and idiots need apply.

Let’s be clear: It’s no fun mocking someone falling apart before our eyes, but what are the alternatives, particularly given the country’s current glide path to calamity? As you peruse the strips that follow, don’t judge me harshly for doing exactly that to Trump.

Garry Trudeau March 19, 2024

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In this full-length interview, Mayor Pete suggests that, if this election turns out right, the fever could finally break.  

It certainly did in Venezuela this past Sunday.

It’s just that it may have broken too late.

Listen to an American friend who’s been living in Venezuela for 50 years helping the poor: 

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The democratic opposition actually won in an overwhelming 70% landslide.  Maduro’s claimed 51% victory was orchestrated FRAUD, as most “elections” are down here now.  But this was by far the most blatant example to date, maintained only by brute force (the military and the government-sponsored criminal militia), and repudiated by the population.

The bravery of so many in Venezuela in standing up against intimidation and documenting electoral fraud, at great risk, is MAGNIFICENT.

So many people here once believed in the promise of Chavismo, just as so many North Americans currently believe in Trumpismo.  Now they are deeply disillusioned and are fighting valiantly to recover the soul of their country.

The huge lesson for the United States is clear.  Do not let your country descend into authoritarianism because it is brutally hard to turn that around, once it happens.

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Reports CNN:

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. . . [T]he opposition, galvanized this election cycle and posing the most significant threat to Maduro’s grip on power in years, had promised to restore Venezuela’s democracy and rebuild the economy if it won.

But there have been mounting concerns that the opposition would not see a fair contest, as Maduro’s government controls all public institutions in Venezuela including the Supreme Court – which could be the final arbiter on any claim of electoral fraud.

The government has also been accused of rigging votes in the past, which it denied.

A loss in the election could have devastating consequences for Maduro, who is facing drug trafficking and corruption charges in the US and is under investigation for crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court. If he were to relinquish control, he could end up in prison.

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Oh, my.

However things play out in Venezuela, we get to determine how they play out here.

The money and support keep pouring in.

It’s pronounced CALM-a-la — and Doug Emhoff doesn’t think Trump will have to pretend not to know that for much longer (30 seconds).

Long gone are the days when Republican presidential candidates treated their opponents with respect.  Remember John McCain defending Obama?  Trump couldn’t even treat McCain with respect.  Or any other Republican who failed to kowtow.

Heather Cox Richardson’s latest must-read post begins with the French and Indian War — she’s a historian, after all — and ends with this:

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When President Joe Biden announced just a week ago that he would not accept the Democratic nomination for president, he did not pass the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris.

He passed it to us.

It is up to us to decide whether we want a country based on fear or on facts, on reaction or on reality, on hatred or on hope.

It is up to us whether it will be fascism or democracy that, in the end, moves swiftly, and up to us whether we will choose to follow in the footsteps of those Americans who came before us in our noblest moments, and launch a brand new era in American history.

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These Lincoln Project 90 seconds ring true.

The money and support keep pouring in.

We’re gonna win!

BILLION DOLLAR IDEA

Not original with me, but yes!

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A smoke alarm that shuts off when you yell, “I’m just cooking!”

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Alexa — are you listening?

Of course she is.

Especially because:

WINDOWS-H

I’m typing this paragraph with my voice!  Try it!  If you’re using a PC, just hold down the Windows key and press H. A microphone appears.  Start talking.

CAN’T-LOSE BET

Will Trump fire Vance?  Currently, the betting market puts the chances at just 12%.  I think it’s way higher — and dearly hope I’m wrong.  But if he does fire Vance and we’ve taken that bet, at least we make some money.  Either way, we win.  (I’m not actually bothering to do this myself but thought you might want to.)

Vance is a disaster.

There are so many links to share.  You’ve doubtless seen a million already so I’ll mostly spare you.  Here’s two minutes making the case that, for all his smarts and academic achievement, he’s a moron.  Or else just very brave:  “It’s bold for someone seeking votes to home in on ‘childless cat ladies’ when the leader of Childless Cat Ladies is Taylor Swift,” British writer Caitlin Moran posted on X,” reports the BBC.

We’ve long known Trump is a terrible judge of people.  (The utter collapse of Donald Trump’s ‘best people’ boast – 2018.)  And it’s not as though he had to make a snap decision; he had four years to think about this.  But his sons liked Vance, and Russia likes Vance, so there you go.

Kamala has a much shorter window for choosing her running mate, and she’s got some great ones to choose from (none of whom has ever called her “America’s Hitler”):  Andy Beshear!  Josh Shapiro!  Roy Cooper!  Chris Coons!  Mitch Landrieu!  Governor Tim Walz could shore up “the blue wall”.  Senator Mark Kelly could highlight solutions to Trump’s border crisis.

It was solved until Trump insisted it be extended for a year.  “He alone” kept it from being fixed so he could campaign on it.

It’s his crisis now.

He alone now deserves 100% of the blame.

BONUS: THE VIEW FROM DOWN UNDER

Now that our campaign is filled with excitement and laughter, enjoy this Aussie review of the Republican Convention.  Most Republicans are fine people . . . hopefully they’ll see the humor here, too.

And the money and support keep pouring in.

Energy!  Joy!  Positivity!  Forward!  (90 seconds).  The starkest possible contrast to “vermin,” “revenge” and “retribution.”

Donald Trump Is Suddenly Running Scared — And He Ought To Be.

If you can afford to, please add yet more resources to the campaign.  (Thank you!)

And/or volunteer!

The economy is in a good place. 

“In inflation-adjusted terms,” reports Bespoke Finance, “the current pace of [US] factory investment dwarfs any prior period. Dating back to 1929, there’s never been a period of factory construction activity even close to what we’re seeing today.”

The economy — and investors — almost always do better when Democrats are in charge.  It’s been true for the last 100 years, and so long as Republicans resist forward looking investments — and favor the uber rich at the expense of the middle class — it will always be true.

Trump and Vance (until Trump drops him, let’s hope not soon) will do all they can to tell voters crime is at record highs (it’s so not!), inflation is raging (it’s so not!), and the border is in crisis (it is! and that’s now entirely Trump’s fault!).

They are determined to win, and they have an agenda.  Your weekend reading: Inside the Trump Plan for 2025.

Trump’s 90-minute Convention speech?  It seems like ancient history by now, but I found Donald Trump’s Lies, Debunked by Data breezy reading and important.

Breezier still — and SO important: Bill Maher’s What This Comedian Said Will Shock You.  He is right about almost everything — from fat-shaming to Hamas, from movies to Covid.  A great listen.

Loving this teacher’s lesson plan (2 minutes).

Hillary Clinton: How Kamala Harris Can Win and Make History.

And the money and support keep pouring in.

We are gonna win.

In case you haven’t seen this 60-second spot.*

Suddenly Trump Looks Older and More Deranged. 

“Now the Republicans are the ones saddled with a candidate who can’t make a clear argument or finish a sentence” — a twice-impeached felon, who puts more faith in Putin than in the FBI (except when they’re investigating Hillary).

Trump’s Alarming New Rant About Dictators Exposes Media’s Epic Failure

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At a rally in Michigan over the weekend, Donald Trump uncorked one of his longest rants ever in praise of the world’s autocrats, strongmen, and dictators. He hailed Xi Jinping of China as “brilliant” for controlling 1.4 billion people “with an iron fist,” and described Xi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and Hungary’s Viktor Orbán as “tough” and “smart.” We talked to Rick Wilson, the prominent Never Trumper and Substacker, about Trump’s explicit campaign promise of authoritarian rule, the GOP’s enthusiastic embrace of it, and the media’s utter failure to alert voters to what’s coming. Listen to this episode here.

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It’s particularly rich for Trump to claim to be the candidate of order when the crime rate rose during his presidency and is plunging during Joe Biden’s. In 2023, there was a record decrease in the murder rate, and violent crime, ABC News reported, “plummeted to one of the lowest levels in 50 years.”

Trump’s argument about foreign policy is also fundamentally deceptive. . . .

Trump wants you to be a goldfish. He wants you to empty your mind of the past so that he can fill it with his own “alternative facts.” The Republican National Convention was one long exercise in creating memories of a Trump term that never existed. The real Trump term was chaotic and dangerous from start to finish, and if Americans’ memories don’t improve soon, the voters who seek peace and stability will instead bring us violence and tears.

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The money is flooding in.  Feel free to pile on.

ANIX

The news was released before Tuesday’s opening — FDA Approves Anixa Biosciences’ Individual Patient Trial Application For Ovarian Cancer CAR-T Therapy — and the stock promptly fell 9% on very heavy volume.

I asked my pharma guru how that could be, and he explained:  “The FDA doesn’t “approve” you to dose a second patient. You propose to them a scenario and so long as they don’t have serious safety concerns, you’re welcome to go ahead. It’s like saying that Harvard “approved” you to apply to go to school there by accepting your application.  Meanwhile the board of directors is insane and derelict in their duty if they’re wasting 5 million dollars buying their stock instead of conducting clinical trials.”

Having the happy gene, I remain hopeful that ANIX may indeed have a therapy for this terrible disease — as well as an effective vaccine to prevent breast cancer.  If either panned out — which guru considers a long shot at best — the company would be worth fifty times its current valuation.  Clearly: only for money you can truly afford to lose.

And speaking of speculations . . .

BOREF

If you download this new report on sustainable airport taxiing, you’ll find WheelTug on pages 78-80.  That the WheelTug concept makes sense and continues to be taken seriously is a hopeful sign — but (needless to say) no guarantee that our decades-long wait will be rewarded.

*In part: “As a tough prosecutor, Kamala Harris dealt with men like Trump all the time: rapists, con men, frauds, criminals.”  (I added those links because it’s amusing to see who called him those things.  I couldn’t find a prominent Republican for the last one; it would be political suicide.)

He did it.

As LZ Granderson and so many others have opined, Biden’s decision to drop out is one of the most patriotic moments in a long life of service.

In case you’re looking for the link to express your support and help keep the nation on course, click here.

We’re gonna win!

Pete versus JD.  A debate I think we’d all like to see.  (Bill Maher – 3 minutes.)

Don Jr.’s girlfriend thinks we stormed the beaches of Normandy to fight communism.  And this was no unscripted slip-of-the-tongue (40 seconds).

Fareed Zakaria explains how the parties have changed.

“To understand how complete that transformation is, notice that not a single former nominee of the Republican Party for president or vice president is attended the Republican National Convention.”

He goes on to say:

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Biden was a strong candidate against Trump in 2020 and has been an excellent president with major accomplishments in both domestic and foreign policy. His manner and tone have been dignified, decent and empathic.

But for months now, it’s been clear that this would not be enough. In early May, I pointed out that polls had Biden headed for a loss and that the key number to look at was the question of who voters felt was more competent. In 2020, Biden led Trump by nine percentage points; earlier this year, Trump led Biden by 16 points — a 25-point shift. This is obviously a reflection of people’s sense that Biden was just too old for the job, a perception he could not change. And that was before the debate.

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Crime is falling, inflation is falling, mortgage rates are falling, we’re producing more oil and gas than any country in history — including in Trump’s best year — and the border crisis persists solely because Trump has willed it to.

There’s still lots we need to do — starting with that border crisis he insists we not end until he can ride it back to power.  But we’ve made real progress and are poised to make lots more.

If I had to predict: Joe will get the thunderous, prolonged standing ovation he deserves next month as he takes the stage to support our nominee.

That nominee and his or her VP will forcefully prosecute the case against Trump and — with our help, help, help — save America from fascism.

Which someone should tell Kimberly Guilfoyle is what we stormed the beaches of Normandy to defeat.