NATIONAL BRUSH DAY
Whether It's Hair, Teeth, Sink, Car, Fate, Death, Dog or Cat - HOORAY FOR BRUSHES!
-We start today's Bonus Update with news from last night ... and if I'm adding the three dots, it's something you'll need to gear up for ...
-Last night in Arizona, while being interviewed by Tucker Carlson after a treasured endorsement from Hungarian Fascist leader Viktor Orban, Republican Presidential Nominee REALLY Old REALLY Weird Convicted Felon Ex-President Trump (R-apist) decided to amp up the threat level of the final weekend of 2024 campaigning. The clearly cognitively impaired Trump decided to go after former Republican Liz Cheney (Still a Cheney), and after calling her "dumb" and "stupid" and "a moron" (because Trump has words! he has the BEST words!), he changed things up by calling her "a war hawk" before adding this charming dream:
-"Let's put (Cheney) with a rifle standing there with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let's see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face."
-Now, if we wanted to break this down analytically we could discuss whether Trump was dreaming of Cheney on a war front or in front of a firing squad which typically has about nine guns, but however one wants to parse things, this was not Trump looking to mend fences or invite her to the White House for a ton of cold hamberders. Cheney responded quickly noting, pretty accurately, that "This is how dictators destroy free nations. They threaten those who speak against them with death. We cannot entrust our country and our freedom to a petty, vindictive, cruel, unstable man who wants to be a tyrant."
-The worst part of it is that the Cheney crack managed to hide other vile things Trump said to Tuckums in his third event of the day (including showing up in the likely-not-winning New Mexico to make a tenth-hearted attempt to patch up things with Puerto Ricans and other Hispanic voters). In AZ, besides the Cheney threat, Trump also called Vice President Harris "a sleaze bag," 2020 Presidential election winner Joe Biden "a stupid bastard," crowed that he would allow Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to "do anything he wants" (which would likely include banning ALL vaccines), and insisting that the "only" way he would lose Tuesday is if there was "cheating."
-The problem with that last item is that, at least according to newer polls and increasing concerns from people within his campaign who do not talk to Trump but are talking to outlets like Politico, is that the trends are that Trump may be in danger of losing because of not getting as many votes as Kamala Harris. The trends nationally, and specifically in the seven 'battleground states,' is that early voting is massive, dominated by women (about 55% or so), dominated by older women, and dominated by Democratic voters with a pronounced advantage in excitement over the election (77% of Democrats excited about the race vs. 67% MAGAGOPers).
-The trends are so pronounced that they are being openly discussed in MAGA media in pronounced to apocalyptic terms. Terminally prepubescent MAGA figure Charlie Kirk was screeching to Megyn Kelly that "Trump may LOSE!" if the dudebro vote Trump has been courting does not show up (and apparently they have not been). There is an inordinate amount of MAGA agita over an ad produced by Julia Roberts that shows women slyly smiling in voting booths while their MAGA men brag about knowing how they will vote, encouraging said women that nobody knows who they vote for, so it's okay to vote for Kamala. And Fox decided to highlight their worry (and condemnation) over wives crossing their husbands by trotting out Jessee Waters and Newt Gingrich - two men who dumped their wives for younger women - to try to morally condemn their would-be brood mares.
-Trump hasn't forgotten, either. At a gathering earlier this week, Trump talked about how his advisors told him not to speak about the women's vote and definitely NOT to talk about them in a creepy, rapey way (maybe not in those words, but with that sentiment). But Trump can be controlled by nobody - especially in his increasingly unstable state - and instead, speaking wearing his orange vest he wore to cosplay as a garbage man to OWN DA LIBZ over a rando Joe Biden comment in WI, Trump calmed the ladies and said that he will "protect" American women "whether they like it or not!"
-A final Halloween note: tons of MAGAts, including Megyn Kelly and failson Don Jr., beat the Joe Biden "garbage" comment to the ground by gleefully dressing up in garbage bags as "garbage" (because JOEBIDEN SEZ WE'RE GARBAGE SEE WE ARE HA HA OWN YOU LIBZ (please vote guys?!) for Halloween. In comparison, five Democratic Governors - MD's Wes Moore, MI's Gretchen Whitmer, MA's Maura Healey, ME's Janet Mills, and NJ's Phil Murphy - all dressed as Vice Presidential candidate Tim Walz, from Hunter Tim to Coach Walz. The gesture was also met by a TikTok video produced by Walz' daughter Hope showing a Day in the Life of campaigning with her dad, and was capped by Walz using some coach speak to drive more Democrats to the polls, either early (if your state still allows early voting) or Tuesday.
-Another TikTok trend that has emerged is also designed to help Harris and further drive Trump beyond whatever edges are left in him. One of the most popular trends of the last 48 hours involves Harris voters playing back to younger voters the infamous Access Hollywood audio of Trump bragging about how he likes to use his wee tiny hands with women and what he likes to grab - because "when you're a celebrity, they let you." The viral responses is not likely to help Trump with Gen Z, and it is aimed in part at younger men asking them how they would react if a man in their family acted towards a woman that way - or if a man went after a woman they cared about in that same way.
-As the stretch run begins, the Harris campaign and Democratic Party announced a last-weekend push to ask volunteers nationally to place 20 million calls to undecided or yet-to-vote voters by Election Day. Aside from an appearance tonight in Milwaukee (with a program that includes the Isley Brothers, MC Lyte, and Cardi B), the campaign has not yet announced where Harris will be appearing this weekend. Harris looks like she will be setting up her watch party on Election Night at Howard University in Washington, DC, but her appearances will both reveal where she thinks votes may be mined and to troll Trump, who is already gearing up to attend at least one event in a state that nobody believes is in play (Virginia) with tentative plans to go to an equally not-outwardly-competitive state, New Hampshire.
-It's never wrong for gratuitous attacks on Putin puppet Jill Stein, so let's! THIS JUST IN: Politico reports officials in Europe's Green Party - which there is a functional party with voices and some power in various legislatures - has asked Stein to step aside and not run to allow Trump to win, given concerns that campaigning in Michigan with a Muslim leader who has openly said he wants to see Trump win to punish Joe Biden over the Israel/Palestine War might siphon off Harris votes and lead to an even more catastrophic policy under Trump. The plea is not likely to fall on receptive ears given Stein's open relationship with Vladimir Putin and her ultra-pure attitude about everything. (Not to mention her out-of-control ego.) So always and forever, Eff Jill Stein.
-In any event, as one online wag put it, right now the best way to describe the state of the election in the bodies of Harris supporters could be "nauseously optimistic." For MAGAts, they always feel like they own liberals and are also always victims, so we know what they think. And we won't even venture what could be firing through the sludge and dead tissue and synapses of the MAGAGOP nominee, so again - do what you can. Vote, call, knock, volunteer, talk, hug, BREATHE. Things are feeling solid, so keep nurturing that feeling!
-On this date in 1765, the Stamp Act was passed in England to tax its colonists in America without input from the colonies (it did not end well for the Crown). On this date in 1800, John Adams moved into the White House. On this date in 1938, Seabiscuit defeated War Admiral in a match horse race that caught the imagination of the United States. On this date in 1950, members of a radicalized sect from Puerto Rico tried and failed to assassinate Harry Truman. On this date in 1952, the United States tested a thermonuclear bomb for the first time. On this date in 1985, the recording industry agreed to affix warning labels with alleged offensive lyrics onto record covers. And on this date in 2012, scientists discovered evidence of light from the first stars created from the Big Bang about 500 million years ago or so.
-Debuts on this date: The Sistine Chapel (1512), THE TEMPEST (1611), THE EMPEROR JONES (1920), the National Basketball Association (1946), the hockey goalie facemask (1959), the Filmore West (1965), COOL HAND LUKE (1967), COLD SPRING HARBOR (1971), AUTOBAHN (1974), Antigua and Barbuda (1981), the European Union (1993), MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK (1994), TITANIC (1997).
-Happy Birthday to Benjamin Guinness, Stephen Crane, Grantland Rice, Betsy Palmer, A.R. Gurney, Al Arbour, Edward Said, Gary Player, Barbara Bosson, Barry Sadler, Robert Foxworth, Marcia Wallace, Kinky Friedman, Bobby "the Brain" Heenan, Jim Steinman, Ted Hendricks, Lyle Lovett, Fernando Valenzuela, Tim Cook, Anthony Kiedis, Rick Allen, Sophie B. Hawkins, Tie Domi, Erik Spoelstra, Jenny McCarthy, Toni Collette, Coco Crisp, and Anthony Ramos.
-Rest in Peace/Rest in Power to Man o'War, Dale Carnegie, Pier Paolo Pasolini, Mamie Eisenhower, James Broderick, King Vidor, Phil Silvers, Noah Beery Jr., Walter Payton, Skitch Henderson, William Styron, Charlie O'Donnell, Fred Thompson, and Pat Martino.
-Feed the Worms: Charles Koch entered Earth on this date. Ezra Pound and Bobby Knight bought it on this date.
-Larry Flynt was born on this date. You decide if he gets a Happy Birthday or if he Feeds the Worms.