American Fascism Failed-- They Couldn't Make The Trains Run On Time

 

What Blows Up Must Come Down by Nancy Ohanian

As I sit down to write this post, neither Trump nor any of the fascist slime around him who God infected with COVID, has died. Maybe they won't. We'll just have to see. (Personally, aside from Trump, I'm most rooting for Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson and William Barr, the ones who pose the biggest threats to my country.) Anyway, that was off-topic. But first a little background-- the latest polling piece from the NY Times, Poll Finds Voters in Two Crucial States Repelled by Trump’s Debate Behavior. "By overwhelming margins," wrote Nate Cohn, "voters in Pennsylvania and Florida were repelled by" the Orange Blob's conduct in the first general election debate. Biden led by seven points, 49% to 42%, among likely voters in Pennsylvania and 47-42%, among likely voters in Florida." Numbers like that predict an immense tsunami nationally that won't just sweep the fascists in the White House out of power, but that will hand the Senate back to the Democrats and end the political careers of countless Republican politicians in Congress and state legislatures from coast to coast-- and in between.

Mike Allen spoke with some Republican Party political operatives after the debate and after COVID started sweeping through the ranks of the Trumpist inner circle. One told him "The bottom is falling out everywhere." Trump's infantile, disrespectful behavior at the debate, as the NY Times polling found, turned off swing voters. Allen's GOP insider told him that "Everyone knew Trump was capable of this kind of behavior. But these voters had never had 90 straight minutes of that behavior thrust in their faces."

Trump's behavior seems to be making reelection battles for Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dan Sullivan (R-AK), Steve Daines (R-MT), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA)-- each of whom was considered "safe"-- much harder. Republicans might as well triage Cory Gardner (R-CO), Martha McSally (R-AZ), Susan Collins (R-ME) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) now and use the resources to save Lindsey Graham and Joni Ernst while they still can.

As for House races, Trump's toxicity is exactly what candidates in districts that were once considered long shots needed. Suddenly progressive candidates in districts the DCCC showed no interest in-- like Mike Siegel (TX-10), Julie Oliver (TX-25), Adam Christensen (FL-03), Liam O'Mara (CA-42), Audrey Denny (CA-01), Nate McMurray (NY-27), Jon Hoadley (D-MI) and J.D. Scholten (IA-04), have legitimate fighting chances and are real pickup opportunities for the Democrats-- and, more important, for the progressive movement. These are all races worth investing in right now-- which is why I've embedded the Blue America 2020 congressional thermometer on the right. Each of these candidates came through a primary season and each is an extraordinary and independent-minded progressive. None of these men and women is a "lesser evil." These are the kinds of Representatives we need in Congress if we're going to have any chance of structural reform and of cleaning up after the horrific mess Trumpism is leaving us with. No garden variety Democrats on this list.

Meanwhile, as one Trumpist after another goes down for the count, Barr is running around-- probably spreading COVID everywhere. (Trump Jr and the Newsom woman have a different set of well-deserved problems.) Jake Sherman's Politico post this weekend, outlines the parameters of the demise of the GOP DC elite. "Let’s not mince words," he wrote: "Washington has been plunged into a crisis of historic proportions, frozen by a disease it is both unwilling and unable to control. Washington crises typically conform to a predictable rhythm: They simmer, boil and come to their expected conclusion. The government shuts down for a few days, but it always reopens. A national security emergency demands an urgent response-- and gets one. But this time, America’s capital itself is crippled, leaving the country rudderless, leaderless and riven with bitter partisan fighting in the middle of a pandemic that has already claimed more than 200,000 lives and is nowhere near over."

One month before Election Day, with ballots already being cast, President Donald Trump is in a military hospital, where he will remain for days, being treated for Covid-19, a disease that’s particularly dangerous for people of his age and weight. His physician Saturday morning said he’s doing well and is fever free, but declined to say when precisely he was diagnosed, how long he expects him to be in the hospital. Asked if the president was ever on supplemental oxygen, he was evasive.

Then, minutes later, a “source familiar with the president’s health” told a White House pool reporter this: “The president’s vitals over the last 24 hours were very concerning and the next 48 hours will be critical in terms of his care. We’re still not on a clear path to a full recovery.”

The public is being given conflicting messages about the commander in chief’s health, fueling speculation and sowing confusion.

It’s not only the president who is ill: His campaign manager Bill Stepien, informal adviser Kellyanne Conway, the Republican Party chair Ronna McDaniel and Chris Christie, who advises the president, have all tested positive. The disease is rippling through the president’s innermost circle.

The coronavirus is also coursing through the United States Capitol, the power center and beating heart of American democracy. Three Republican senators-- Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Thom Tillis of North Carolina-- have tested positive. Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Ben Sasse of Nebraska are quarantining themselves as a precaution.

Congress has been unable to agree on the size and shape of a new relief package, even as the economy throws off continued signs of distress. Airlines are on the brink of firing tens of thousands of workers, businesses are shutting their doors and state and local governments are starving for cash. Yet Congress may not be able to stop that. The leaders are at loggerheads over a rescue package. Even if they come to a deal, will the legislature be able to approve it if lawmakers are ill?

The Senate is now likely to take the next 16 days off, hoping to rid the virus from its ranks-- but pushing the confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice closer to Election Day.

Moscow Mitch insists Judiciary Committee hearings for Amy Coney Island will commence on the 12th, but Mike Lee, Thom Tillis and Ben Sasse won't be able to take part. Is anyone else on the committee likely to come down with COVID-19? Ted Cruz? Marsha Blackburn? Chuck Grassley? Joni Ernst? John Cornyn? We'll have see. "Senators," wrote Sherman, "sit next to each other at lunch, frequently lower their masks on the Senate floor and fly back and forth to D.C. each week. More infections seem inevitable. The Capitol is filled with Republican lawmakers who decline to wear masks, ignoring nearly universally accepted scientific evidence that it prevents the spread of this disease. For example, Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina was on the street on Friday with no face covering, talking to a small group of people. Rep. Doug LaMalfa was strolling through the rotunda with two women earlier this week bare faced. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY)-- who had the coronavirus-- doesn’t wear a mask. Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS) was chatting on the Senate floor earlier this week with nothing covering his face. On the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, Mark Meadows, the president’s chief of staff, conceded that the public should be prepared for more positive results in the White House in the coming days."

Congressional leaders-- Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California-- have stubbornly refused to mandate testing for members of Congress, or punish people who don’t wear masks, leaving hundreds of lawmakers, aides, reporters and Capitol workers susceptible to a virus without a cure. They first said it was insensitive, since Americans couldn’t get tests. They privately said the politics would be too tricky. Either way, the Capitol has the potential to be a super spreader event every single day.

Washington’s dysfunction often has scant impact on the rest of the country, but this time the real-world implications are massive. Will the Senate be able to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court in three weeks? Or will Covid prevent McConnell from filling Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s seat, raising the specter of a deadlocked high court in the aftermath of a disputed election?

There are 470 federal elections this November, and they will be conducted in a country where the death count from coronavirus is 208,779. The president and his Republican allies have spent months suggesting the balloting would be riddled by fraud and corrupted by his opponents. Now, there’s a likelihood that the president and his party will have to wrap up election season from the sidelines.

I hate to quibble, but by election day the number of deaths is certain to have passed 230,000 and be rushing towards a quarter million. States with big recent infection rates (California, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, South Carolina, Arizona and Texas) have started leveling off but the numbers are spiking dangerously in Wisconsin, Missouri, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Utah and Iowa and the pandemic appears to be starting up again in New York, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania. The 15 states with the most cases per million residents:

• Louisiana- 36,010
• Mississippi- 33,452
• Florida- 33,141
• Alabama- 31,958
• Georgia- 30,199
• Arizona- 30,193
• North Dakota- 29,780
• Tennessee- 29,052
• South Carolina- 28,975
• Iowa- 28,854
• Arkansas- 28,424
• Texas- 27,492
• South Dakota- 26,589
• Nevada- 26,356
• New York- 25,513