SICKOFITRADLZ: The power of Kamala

That's Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Dancing With Himself" and somebody should have told Old Man Trump to sit his tired, fat ass down.

Kathleen Culliton (Raw Story) reports:

Michigan college student with a history of challenging Sen. J.D. Vance took to MSNBC this week to argue a crucial flaw in former President Donald Trump's attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Marcus Johnson, a political science major at Oakland University, slammed former President Donald Trump and his running mate Vance (R-OH) in a new editorial published by the cable news site.

"College students such as myself not only want to see a campaign based on the issues — and not on the character attacks, hateful rhetoric and fearmongering that the Trump campaign keeps using," Johnson wrote. "But we also want to see a campaign that’s based on facts and not obvious lies."

[. . .]

The student argued Trump and Vance were deliberately misleading the public in a last-ditch effort to recycle campaign attacks they could no longer lob at Biden, who withdrew from the race earlier this year over concerns about his age.

"It’s fair to associate her with the successes and failures of the administration," Johnson wrote. "But it’s an insult to our intelligence to argue, as Trump and Vance are doing, that she could have already done as vice president everything she says she wants to do as president."

Johnson argued that Trump and Vance's rhetoric masked an ugly challenge set for the first Black and Asian-American woman to gain a major political party's presidential nomination.

Good to read that. It's like C.I. was saying the other day, Kamala isn't issuing executive orders, she's the vice president. JD Vance needs to stop lying and people need to grasp just how big a liar Miss Sassy actually is. Miss Sassy is destroying his own reputation. If Kamala's elected, I would be surprised at all if JD Sassy ended up not being re-elected to the Senate.

Katherine Fung (Newsweek) reports:

Vice President Kamala Harris has taken the lead from former President Donald Trump among a key voting group in Michigan, a new poll shows.

Harris now has a double-digit lead over Trump among Michigan voters over 65, pulling in 53 percent support, according to a new AARP poll released Tuesday. Trump received 42 percent support among the state's oldest voters. In August, Trump lead by 6 points, drawing 48 percent to Harris' 42 percent.

AARP's October poll showed a dead heat in Michigan, with Harris and Trump tied at 46 percent among all voters, Robert F. Kennedy—who has since dropped out and endorsed Trump—still receiving 3 percent and other candidates combining for 2 percent. Another 2 percent remain undecided. In a head-to-head match, Trump leads by just one point in the swing state.

Trump narrowly won Michigan by some 10,000 votes in 2016, making him the first Republican to win the state since 1988, while Joe Biden flipped it back in 2020 with approximately 154,188 votes.

The latest poll is welcome news for Harris who has been seeing movement among older voters that could spell electoral success for the Democrat.

Older voters are very important to this election and I am hitting them in my state. Ava and C.I. are hitting them across the country including in Michigan. They are an important group to court. And thanks to the training C.I. gave me, I know how to do that. It's been a lot of fun.

In other polling news, Jason Lange (Reuters) notes, "Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris held a marginal 3-percentage-point lead over Republican Donald Trump - 45% to 42% - as the two stayed locked in a tight race to win the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll found." And Sara Dorn (Forbes) notes, "Harris leads by four points in Morning Consult’s weekly poll released Tuesday, a one-point decline from her standing in its two previous polls. Trump trails Harris 51% to 49% in a Harvard CAPS/Harris survey of registered voters released Monday, after the two were tied in the groups’ September survey."

So the polls are going her way and so are the crowds. Ewan Palmer (Newsweek) reports:

Vice President Kamala Harris drew a bigger crowd than Donald Trump as both presidential candidates appeared for campaign events in Pennsylvania on Monday.

Pennsylvania, with its 19 Electoral College votes, is one of the most vital swing states of the 2024 election. Both the Republican and Democratic candidates' clearest paths to 270 Electoral College votes involve winning The Keystone State in November.

It's happening. Old man Trump is getting more and more senile and voters are seeing the power of Kamala.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, October 15, 2024. Every day the stakes in this election get higher.

Let's open with this from Kamala Harris noting a passing:

Lilly Ledbetter was a tireless leader in the fight for equal rights.

After finding out that she had been systematically underpaid for nearly two decades compared to her male colleagues, Lilly became an advocate for equal pay. Her efforts contributed to the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which strengthened protections against pay discrimination, and which was the first bill signed into law during the Obama-Biden Administration.

I have always believed when we lift up the economic status of women, we lift up the economic status of families and communities – and all of society benefits. That’s why I co-sponsored the Paycheck Fairness Act in the United States Senate, a bill that Lilly was a powerful supporter of, and which would further increase pay transparency. And that’s why I continue to fight for the Paycheck Fairness Act – to honor Lilly’s legacy, and continue building a more fair and equitable future for women, and all Americans.

Lilly’s advocacy has improved the lives of millions, and will inspire generations to come. Doug and I send our condolences and prayers to the Ledbetter family.

That's a passing of a life that mattered because she stood for something. The United States is supposed to stand for something and if we allow our democracy to pass in this election, I wonder who would be left to note it.

He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he is a toral fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.

That's what Gen Mark Milley, former Joint Chiefs of Staff, told journalist Bob Woodward who discussed his new book WAR with Lawrence O'Donnell on MSNBC last night.

Steve Benen (MSNBC) notes:

Milley’s assessment of the Republican candidate is rooted in first-hand experience: Trump handpicked Milley to serve as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the general worked alongside the then-president for more than a year.

“No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump,” the general told Woodward. “Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.”

Milley went on to note that he feared a possible court martial in a second Trump term — despite the fact that he’s now a civilian — and those concerns are well grounded. After all, according to Trump’s former Defense secretary, Mark Esper, Trump set out to have two highly decorated retired military leaders — Stanley McChrystal and William McRaven — court martialed for saying things about the former president that he didn’t like.

(It was, of course, impossible to court martial civilians in private life, so the then-president talked to military leaders about the Pentagon recalling the retired general and admiral to active duty so that Trump could formally punisPeoh him.)

As for Milley, Trump used to target the retired general with juvenile taunts — calling the general a “dumbass” and an “idiot” — but it was last fall when the Republican falsely accused Milley of having committed a “treasonous act” in the wake of Trump’s 2020 defeat. “[I]n times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote on his social media platform.

The accusations were bonkers, though Milley felt the need to take “adequate safety precautions” to protect his family in the wake of the Republican’s radical offensive.

Or put another way, civil life in the United States now involves a former president falsely accusing his former handpicked Joint Chiefs chair of treason, forcing the decorated former general to fear that a politician’s enraged followers might harm his family. The former president’s political party doesn’t find any of this alarming, and Americans might soon return him to power.

People need to grasp that this not normal, this is not politics as usual. When Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger speak out, they know they're risking their own safety -- from the nuts in Donald's cult to Donald himself if he becomes president again. This isn't minor, this is about democracy, this is about the country we're going to live in and what type of country it is.

Christopher Mathias (HUFFINGTON POST) explains:

Part of Milley’s warning about Trump revolves around the former president’s promise to get revenge on his perceived political enemies. Trump has frequently told his supporters on the campaign trail: “I am your retribution.” Milley, who clashed with Trump in the White House and who has since been publicly critical of the current Republican presidential nominee, told Woodward that he’s afraid of being recalled from retirement to be court-martialed if Trump wins the election next month.

According to the Guardian’s report on Woodward’s book, Milley warned his former colleagues in Washington that Trump was “a walking, talking advertisement of what he’s going to try to do,” adding: “He’s saying it and it’s not just him, it’s the people around him.”

Milley was pointing in particular to how Steve Bannon — who rose to White House strategist after chairing Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, and who is now in jail for being found in contempt of Congress — has threatened him. “We’re gonna hold him accountable,” Bannon has said of Milley.

Woodward’s book also details a tense Oval Office discussion Milley had with Trump and his second secretary of defense, Mark Esper. Trump reportedly wanted to get revenge on, or potentially court-martial, William McRaven, the retired Navy admiral who led the 2011 mission in which al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed. Trump was enraged that the retired admiral publicly criticized him.

Milley told Woodward he was able to mollify Trump by saying he would “take care” of it but then warned McRaven and other former military commanders to keep off the “public stage” for a while and ease up on their criticisms of Trump.

The Trump campaign did not respond to a HuffPost request for comment about Milley’s reported comments to Woodward.

Milley’s stories about Trump in the White House are similar to recollections from other military figures, including retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, who was Trump’s chief of staff. As noted by the Guardian, Kelly said Trump reportedly insisted that generals should be “like the German generals” serving under Adolf Hitler during World War II, who were “totally loyal.”

On the campaign trail this year Trump has said he’d be a “dictator” on his first day in office. He has also repeatedly used explicitly fascist rhetoric while talking about immigrants in the United States.

Milley is not alone in his assessment that Trump is a fascist.

Robert Paxton, considered one of the foremost scholars of fascism, initially declined to call Trump a fascist during his rise to the White House in 2016, but he changed his tune after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

“Trump’s incitement of the invasion of the Capitol on January 6, 2021 removes my objection to the fascist label,” Paxton wrote at the time. “His open encouragement of civic violence to overturn an election crosses a red line. The label now seems not just acceptable but necessary.”

That's pretty serious but MEDIA MATTERS' Tyler Monroe notes the media silence that has greeted this:

National broadcast news networks and print outlets buried recent comments from Donald Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff retired Gen. Mark Milley calling the former president “fascist to the core.” Almost all broadcast news shows and the major newspapers ignored the comments, with only NBC’s Meet the Press and The Washington Post covering Milley’s “fascist” remarks.

Reporting surfaced on October 11 that Milley called Trump “fascist to the core” in comments reported in journalist Bob Woodward's upcoming book War. The comments were the latest in a long back and forth between Milley and Trump, with the former president previously suggesting Milley be executed for his comments that Trump was “shameful” and “complicit” in the January 6 attack.

Broadcast and print news almost completely ignored Milley’s characterization of Trump as “fascist.” From October 11, when the comments were first reported, through 12 p.m. ET on October 14, ABC’s Good Morning America, World News Tonight, and This Week; CBS’ Mornings, Evening News, and Face the Nation; and NBC’s Today and Nightly News all failed to mention Milley's comments. Among corporate broadcast news programs, only NBC's Meet the Press discussed the comments at all, with anchor Kristen Welker asking former Rep. Liz Cheney about Milley's comments.

Media Matters also reviewed print articles across five of the top U.S. newspapers by circulation for coverage of Milley's comments and found only one article in The Washington Post mentioning them. The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal all failed to cover Milley's comments calling Trump fascist.

On the October 11, 2024, edition of All in with Chris Hayes, Ian Bassin stressed the need for the American press to put the comments from Milley on “banner headlines.”

Milley's description of Trump as a fascist is just the latest example of a former Trump official denouncing the extremism of the former president.

Greg Sargent (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes this morning:

Over the weekend, J.D. Vance tried to argue that Donald Trump will not target his political enemies if he’s reelected president. Yet at around the same time, Trump was confirming the opposite point with a new rant Fox News, declaring flatly that he’ll use the military to target the “enemy within.” Indeed, Trump regularly says openly at his rallies that in a second term, he will persecute unnamed enemies of MAGA. We talked to Politico reporter Myah Ward, author of a great new piece on what he’s been saying at these rallies, about how blatant he is now being about his second-term intention to grotesquely abuse presidential power. Listen to this episode here. A transcript is here.

With all that's going on, you'd think FAIR would be very busy noting how the news outlets work overtime to make Donald sound sane and to ignore his racist threats but, as a former FAIR staffer pointed out to me last night on the phone, FAIR apparently can no longer cover more than one topic. And everything it's done in October -- which we're halfway through with -- has been on Gaza.

Donald's made very clear what he plans to do -- kill Palestinians -- but let's all pretend that didn't take place and let's all pretend -- like FAIR does -- that things are safe and sound in the US and we can put all of our attention across the ocean because we're not in the midst of an election -- certainly not one that'll determine whether we remain a democracy or become a fascist state.

Matthew Chapman (RAW STORY) reports:

Former President Donald Trump's one-time National Security Adviser Michael Flynn is ramping up his apocalyptic rhetoric to a new and dangerous extreme, Ja'han Jones wrote for MSNBC's "ReidOut Blog."

Flynn, who was fired from Trump's administration and took a plea deal for lying to federal investigators about his ties to Russia before being pardoned by Trump, has since descended into extreme conspiracy theory circles, in particular forming close ties to the QAnon movement, which believes Trump must save America from Satanic child sex trafficking cannibals. He has previously suggested the U.S. should undergo a military coup like that in Myanmar.

His latest rhetoric suggests he hasn't backed down from that position at all, Jones wrote.

Flynn recently spoke at the Rod of Iron Freedom Festival, sponsored by a radical schismatic sect of Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, which worships the AR-15 as a holy instrument ordained by God. And when an attendee in the crowd asked him about the possibility of military tribunals and executions of Trump's enemies, Flynn promised a lot more than that if the former president secures victory.

“I think a lot of people actually think like you do, and I think that that’s your right and our privilege. ... There’s a way to get after this, but we have to win first,” said Flynn. "I’m about winning. We have to win. And these people are already up to no good. So, we gotta win first. We win, and then, 'Katy, bar the door.' OK? Believe me: The gates of hell — my hell — will be unleashed."

Let's wind down with the speech Kamala gave on Sunday in North Carolina:

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Good afternoon, church. Good afternoon.

Oh, please have a seat. Please have a seat. (Laughter.)

Bishop O’neal, I thank you so very much. We — we’ve had some time to visit before we came out into the sanctuary, and I just thank you for the leadership that you have provided for so long.

You know, in times of crisis, and — and we’re looking at the images of the aftermath of the hurricane. But it — it is easy in these moments of crisis to — to question our faith, to sometimes lose our faith for a moment, because what we see is so hard to see that we lose faith or a vision of those things we cannot see but must know. (Applause.)

And you are such a leader in all of those ways, and I thank you. (Applause.) I’m honored to be with you. I’m honored to be with you. I’m honored to be with you. Thank you.

And, KCC family, thank you for welcoming me today. (Applause.) (Laughs.) Thank you. And thank you for the opportunity to allow me to worship with you. It does my heart and soul good.

So, scripture teaches, “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Applause.)

So, I first encountered the words of Galatians as a young girl at 23rd Avenue Church of God in Oakland, California, which is where I sang in the children’s choir and first learned the teachings of the Bible. My earliest memories of those teachings are about a loving God, a God who asks us to speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, to defend the rights of the poor and the needy.

And so, at an early age, I learned that faith is a verb. It is something we show in action and in service. And we show it by heeding the words of my pastor, who Bishop spoke with yesterday, Reverend Dr. Amos C. Brown, who often invokes the words that we all know: One must do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God.

That truth is important at all times and especially in moments of difficulty and disaster, especially in moments like this, as we navigate storms that have inflicted so much harm across our country.

And to all those who have loved ones who have been affected by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene, Doug and I, my husband, are holding of you close in our hearts and in our prayers. And we are thinking of everyone who has been affected by these storms.

Now, I know Helene’s impact was further west, but I also know that the people of Greenville, like all Americans, have been inspired by the way communities are coming together, Bishop, in the wake of these storms. Amid ruined homes, downed power lines, swollen rivers that have been choked with debris, we have seen — we have seen children rescued by neighbors in a kayak; we have seen those who have lost everything gathering donations for others.

You know, it’s been my experience to see that in a moment of crisis, isn’t it something when you know that, often, it is the people who have the least, give the most? (Applause.) Right?

Moments of crisis, I believe, do have a way of revealing the heroes among us, the angels among us, and of showing us all the best of who we are. And these hurricanes have revealed heroes around all of us, heroes who do not ask the injured or stranded whether they are a Republican or a Democrat — (applause) — but who simply ask, “Are you okay?”; who ask, “What can I do to help?” — heroes who, as I like to say, see in the face of a stranger, a neighbor.

Yet, church, there are some who are not acting in the spirit of community. And I am speaking of those who have been literally not telling the truth — lying — about people who are working hard to help folks in need; spreading disinformation, when the truth and facts are required. And the — the problem with this, beyond the obvious, is it’s making it harder, then, to get people lifesaving information, if they’re led to believe they cannot trust.

And that’s the pain of it all, which is the idea that those who are in need have somehow been convinced that the forces are working against them in a way that they would not seek aid.

And let’s let that sink in for a moment. Right now, fellow Americans are experiencing some of the most difficult moments in their lives. Yet, instead of offering hope, there are those who are channeling people’s tragedies and sorrows into grievance and hatred. And one may ask, “Why?” And I think, sadly, frankly, the motives are quite transparent: to gain some advantage for themselves, to play politics with other people’s heartbreak. And it is unconscionable.

Now is not a time to incite fear. (Applause.) It is not right to make people feel alone. That is not what — and this is a church full of leaders — that is not what leaders, as we know, do in crisis.

Now is a time to bring folks together, to come together, to be there for one another, and follow the example of all of the heroes all around us. And now is the time to live up to the fundamental values that reflect our nation at its best: the values of compassion and community and honesty and decency — the values that define the people of Greenville, the — the people of North Carolina, and — and the people like a fellow who I met recently. His name is Eddie Hunnell. And I’m going to tell you a quick story about Eddie Hunnell.

So, I met him in Charlotte the other week. He was visiting Grassy Creek for his son’s wedding when he saw a woman in the raging floodwaters. First, he tried to rescue her by canoe. When that didn’t work, this ma- — a perfect stranger, he’s watching — he jumped in the river and pulled her ashore.

And when I talked with Eddie about his act of courage, here’s what he said to me. He said, “Well I didn’t feel I had a choice.” But, of course, he had a choice. Of course, he had a choice.

But his choice was to take a risk for the sake of another. Didn’t even reflect on the risk he might have been taking. (Applause.) Right?

His choice was to follow his conscience. His choice was, in the words of Isaiah, to be “a refuge for the needy in their distress.” (Applause.) He chose to remember that we are all in this together.

And if that is true during a terrible storm, it is also true when the storm passes. (Applause.) It is true in our everyday lives.

When Paul wrote his letter to the church in Galatia, he knew folks might feel the weight of the burden of doing good, that they may feel a temptation to turn away from others in their time of need, to believe, “What does it matter?” But Paul reminded them and us that God calls us not to become weary of doing good.

Because we each have the power — God tells us this — the power, each one of us, to make a difference. And that tells us that the measure of our strength will be clear when we see what we can do to lift other people up — (applause) — just as Eddie did and as the heroes and the angels in this church and all over are doing after these storms. Across North Carolina, Florida, and impacted communities, we are witnessing faith in action. (Applause.)

So, I close with this. Let us continue to look in the face of a stranger and see a neighbor. (Applause.) Let us recognize that when we shine the light in moments of darkness, it will guide our feet onto the path of peace. And let us always remember that while weeping may endure for a night, joy cometh in the morning. (Applause.) (Laughs.)

Thank you. May God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.

Thank you, church. (Applause.) END

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