Clear and Present Danger

Michael Corleone’s consigliere asked him, at the Godfather’s funeral “Do you know how they are going to come at you?”  Meaning — You know the other mob bosses are coming after you, do you know how they will do it?

Michael knew and he stopped them.

We know how they are coming after Kamala Harris.  We know.

The GOP standard smear operating procedure is to hit on one or two pseudo-scandals and hammer them home endlessly, until clouds and shadows appear, or at least until there are enough meta-stories about how while this isn’t really a scandal the fact that people think it’s a scandal makes it a valid issue because the views of the Common Clay of the New West must not be dismissed out of hand by people who are really into sopressata and mid-century modern etc. So we had Swift boaters and the whitey tape, and the long form birth certificate and Hunter Biden’s laptop, and of course the Platonic Ideal of the genre, EMAILZ.

Right now the scream machine is in overdrive, looking for a scandal that does not exist, so it will be necessary to invent one (h/t Voltaire).

This is how they will come at Kamala Harris.

(1) The DEI candidate. Of course they tried this with Obama back when you said “affirmative action” instead of DEI, but Harris seems like a very poor target for this. Unlike Obama, who did have a fairly thin political resume in 2008 for a major party presidential candidate, Harris has held high profile elective office for 20 years now, creating a long track record of accomplishments, after a successful career as a line prosecutor, prior to become San Francisco’s DA. I mean they’re still going to go with this because throwing some racism into the Republican meme machine is like tossing a bowl of Colombian into a Led Zeppelin afterparty in 1973, but as a line of attack I would say it’s pretty weak sauce.

(2) She has a weird laugh. “Weird” here just means hey look it’s a woman! Since misogyny is an even stronger force in this context than racism (h/t Karen), the sheer absurdity and pettiness of this kind of thing doesn’t preclude from becoming something Fox News will mention 1,743 times in the next 100 days.

(3) She’s Not a Real Mom. A feminist colleague of mine who may wish to remain anonymous pointed out to me recently in a related context that, in the standard patriarchal model, all women are either wives/mothers or whores, and Harris does not have any biological children. For the last ten years she’s been the stepmother of two children, who were 20 and 15 at the time she married Doug Emhoff, and she apparently has a great relationship with them, but she’s not a Real Mom as these things are calibrated in fundie land. This kind of thing is pure red meat for the loathsome Trumplandia base, but in a post-Dobbs/look out for Griswold next environment it seems like an incredibly risky thing to emphasize. If the scream machine does it anyway it will be largely out of some combination of desperation and it just can’t help itself.

(4) Closely related: She’s a slut who slept her way toward the top. The basis for this is that Harris dated Willie Brown for about a year around 1994-95, when he was at the end of his 15-year term as speaker of the California house, and was running for mayor of San Francisco. Brown appointed her to a couple of commissions at the time, and it’s an unfortunate detail for propagandistic purposes that he was still legally married, although by that point he had been separated from his wife for 12 or 13 years. Thus to call his relationship with Harris an extra-marital affair is an abuse of the term, since the relationship was out in the open and Brown had long been married in only a purely formal legal sense. An even thinner reed upon which to construct a slut shaming narrative is that Harris dated Montel Williams for a few months in 2001, after Williams was divorced. This again will be an extremely tricky line of attack, given that in recent centuries the idea that it’s OK for women to have sex even if they’re not married has become widely accepted outside of fundamentalist religious circles, and the GOP knows that Dobbs etc. has been blowing up in its face. But, as with the case of the childless Career Woman line of attack, it’s going to be very hard for the right wing in general, and Vestal Virgin Donald Trump in particular, to resist going there, although in Trump’s case I expect it will largely come in the form of the sort of sleazy innuendo he loves to slime people with.

(5) She’s not really a Christian, because she was raised as a Muslim, specifically the Hindu type of Muslim, where they have thousands and thousand of gods, rather than the theologically approved three-in-one combo package. Again, we’re in dangerous territory here, but if the GOP gets desperate enough in the fall I don’t doubt they’ll start trying to hammer this one in some way or another.

In any case oceans of slime are going to be flowing very soon, to the extent they aren’t already, and a key question will be: How much will the mainstream/elite media launder this stuff, by doing meta-stories about the “controversy” that has arisen about the existence of these stories, with the discussion in respectable venues being not about the stories themselves (heaven forfend!), but about the stories about the stories, in good postmodern Zizek fashion.

But we know all this is on the way, because that’s how the right wing works, and it works that way because they’ve been rewarded for it, over and over again.

Trump has never released medical records to the extent that other candidates have.

Trump is an old man who shows signs of creeping dementia.

We know that Trump gets no exercise.  When he plays at golf, he rides in a golf cart, including driving the cart onto the greens — which is a mortal sin for any other golfer.

We know his diet is heavy in beef and Diet Coke, with him consuming around ten Diet Cokes per day.

His father died of Alzheimers and his onset was at an age slightly older than Trump’s 78 years.

A professor of Neurology at George Washington University says he believes there may be legitimate concerns over President Donald J. Trump’s “forward-listing posture” that goes beyond the comical memes and gif responses normally shared on social media.

“I know something about political figures and observable signs of illness from afar,” Richard E. Cytowic M.D. wrote in Psychology Today. “. . . The American public deserves an accurate account of our president’s health.”

“While most frequently observed in Parkinson’s Disease, the bent posture so evident in Trump may also be seen in Alzheimer’s Dementia, movement disorders of the basal ganglia, and as the side effect of certain medications,” Cytowic continued. “Also noted are the sudden, jerking movements of Trump’s right arm. Since they occur only on one side, the prefix “hemi” is applied, while “ballistic” means sudden or flinging in the manner of a projectile. Trump’s hemiballistic arm movements are evident in news clips from Memorial Day (also here via C-Span) at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, as are his uncontrolled swaying and forward tilt. He is seen to grab his wayward arm with the left one in an effort to keep it under control.”  (4:00 – 4:20)

According to Cytowic, “It is true that individuals who have balance and gait issues similar to those observed in Trump can have degenerative brain disease in the frontal lobes, such as fronto-temporal dementia or Pick’s Disease. Other possibilities are normal pressure hydrocephalus, sensory ataxia, peripheral neuropathy, small lacunar strokes in the basal ganglia, supranuclear palsy, the effects of too many medications, and Parkinson’s Disease, which can begin on one side and also show early cognitive impairment.”

Regardless, “The president is a public figure whose judgment we must trust,” Cytowic said. “The American public is entitled to know about his neurological health given the enormous responsibilities placed on our commander in chief.”

On Monday, Ohio state Sen. George Lang introduced Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, at a rally by saying, “I believe wholeheartedly Donald Trump and Butler County’s J.D. Vance are the last chance to save our country politically.” Fair enough.

“I’m afraid if we lose this one,” Lang continued, “it’s going to take a civil war to save the country.”

The rally was held in Vance’s hometown of Middletown, Ohio, at the high school he attended. As for Vance’s speech? He attempted to make a joke about liberals being oversensitive about race.

All joking aside, this isn’t the first time a Trump ally has threatened violence if the majority of Americans don’t comply with the MAGA agenda. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts recently said, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

In May, ABC News reported that it was able to find 54 cases of violence, threats of violence, and alleged assaults against Americans where Trump’s name was invoked. The 54 cases were linked through both law enforcement and court documents.

And here is my response

I spent two years in a place called Vietnam with an M16 in my hand and I used it damn near everyday for its intended purpose.  You assholes want a civil war, bring it the fuck on . . . I now own an AR-15 and a number of other firearms and am quite proficient in their use.  I may be an old guy, but I’m ready to meet your punk ass in the street.  Name the date, time, place.

And don’t forget:  If Trump starts this “stolen election” shit, Joe Biden is still President and he will NOT tell the DC National Guard to stand down as Trump did — Biden likely will unleash not just the DC Guard but also the Regular Army.

Republicans are doing their best to pump up the misogyny:

She is childless.  Childless women are not women.

She had a short affair years ago.

She has a weird laugh.

I’m waiting for them to start in on her emails.

. . . so he could lose to a woman!!

ROTFLMAO!!!!

Meanwhile, there’s this Harris ad that lays out the stakes in the election.

Wow.

The Harris team are out of the blocks in lightening quick time with this superb ad
pic.twitter.com/YAuod7w8Se

— John O’Brennan (@JohnOBrennan2) July 21, 2024

And — remember:  Now there is only one old man with dementia in the race.

This is a list of lies to watch for in Trump’s speech in Michigan today, however, the list fits all Trump rallies . . . he spews the same lies every time he opens his mouth.

Donald Trump and, JD Vance are the most extreme, anti-worker presidential ticket in American history.

We know Trump will spew more lies in Michigan today, and his new sidekick, JD Vance, is sure to join in.  And . . . these lies will pop up again and again at every Trump and Vance rally.

A rundown of the facts before those of you in Michigan get bombarded with lies:

Takeaway 1: Donald Trump screwed over workers as a developer and as President. He left office with the worst jobs record in modern history, and his Project 2025 plans would do even more damage.

Trump’s Broken Promises to Michigan: Trump promised Michigan “won’t lose one plant” and a “complete revitalization of the Michigan manufacturing sector.”

• Trump’s Reality: Under Trump, GM’s Warren plant closed and workers lost jobs, Fiat Chrysler closed their assembly plan in Detroit, and Ford closed its Romeo engine plant. Under Trump, Michigan lost hundreds of thousands of jobs – including tens of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

Meanwhile, in Joe Biden’s Michigan: More than 350,000 new jobs.

FACT: As president, Donald Trump shipped jobs overseas and routinely broke his promise to protect American jobs, including in Michigan.

• Politifact: Trump lost 8,800 auto jobs, Joe Biden has created more than 127,000
• Bloomberg: The Offshoring of U.S. Jobs Increased on Trump’s Watch
• CNN: Trump told GM workers he could save their plant, but it’s gone for good
• Reuters: How offshoring rolled along under Trump, who vowed to stop it
• Reuters: Trump steel tariffs bring job losses to swing state Michigan
• According to the New York Times, 18 counties that Trump carried in Michigan in 2016 lost manufacturing jobs under his presidency.

FACT: Trump left office with the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover. The Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda will trigger an “inflation bomb” and raise taxes on Michiganders by more than $2,500 a year.

• Washington Post: Trump will have the worst jobs record in modern U.S. history. It’s not just the pandemic.
• A Moody’s analysis showed Trump’s agenda would trigger a recession by mid-2025, inflation would rise, and the U.S. would have 3 million fewer jobs.
• Another analysis by the Peterson Institute found that Trump’s agenda “would cost jobs, ignite inflation, increase federal deficits, and cause a recession,”

FACT: Trump has a long history of screwing over workers and contractors.

• As a developer, Trump screwed workers and contractors out of the pay they were owed.
• Hundreds of workers and contractors have accused Trump of not paying his bills over the years.
• As President, Donald Trump rolled back worker protections for workers pay and safety.

Takeaway 2: Trump’s hand picked Vice Presidential nominee, JD Vance, is no friend to workers.

FACT: JD Vance opposes the PRO Act to support organized Labor

• Vance opposes the PRO Act, which union leaders have spent years trying to get passed, and would address loopholes in labor law and expand protections for workers seeking to unionize.
• Vance explained his stance by saying, “I think it’s dumb to hand over a lot of power to a union leadership that is aggressively anti-Republican.”

FACT: Time and time again, Vance has sided against unions in the Senate

• Vance has cosponsored the Teamwork for Employees and Managers Act, which would “effectively undermine labor unions by allowing voluntary ‘employee involvement organizations,’ which would not be covered by collective-bargaining agreements and could be dissolved by an employer.”
• Vance rejected pro-worker nominees to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who were supported by labor unions.
• Earlier this year, Vance voted in favor of a resolution to strike down the NLRB’s updated joint-employer rule, which would have given workers more leverage when organizing at companies—like Amazon—that rely heavily on third-party contractors, by forcing both employers to participate in labor negotiations.

REMINDER: Vance is no friend to labor

• AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said, “A Trump-Vance White House is a corporate CEO’s dream and a worker’s nightmare, and called Vance “a rubber stamp” for Donald Trump’s “anti-worker vision.”
• President of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA Sara Nelson said, “Don’t be fooled—behind all his slick rhetoric, JD Vance is just another shill for the corporate class who will sell out workers to corporate America. This ticket isn’t pro-worker or pro-union. It’s the billionaire ticket through and through.”
• Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio), a longtime union ally, roasted Vance on a United Auto Workers (UAW) picket line in their home state – pointing out that despite Vance’s lip service to the labor movement, it was his first time joining a picket line.

Takeaway 3: Despite Trump’s lies to the contrary, inflation is at its lowest level since March 2021 and falling, unemployment has been cut by more than half in the last four years, and inflation-adjusted wages are higher than at any point pre-pandemic.

FACT: Under President Biden, wages are rising – particularly for lower income workers.

• President Biden’s leadership has produced the “fastest wage growth over the last four years among historically disadvantaged groups”
• Hiring and wages are up and growing under President Biden’s leadership.
• President Biden raised the minimum wage for federal contractors and tipped employees working on government contracts to $15 an hour.

FACT: Under president Biden, unemployment is low, inflation is falling, and our economy is the envy of the world.

• New York Times: “Left-behind counties added jobs five times faster in the first three years of the Biden administration than they did in the first three years of the Trump administration.”
• Economic Policy Institute: “Fastest wage growth over the last four years among historically disadvantaged groups”
• Wall Street  Journal: “Hiring and Wages are Up, Reinforcing the Economy’s Resilience”
• AP: “Manufacturing jobs have climbed to their highest totals in nearly 15 years. This is the first time since the 1970s that manufacturing employment has fully recovered from a recession, expanding by 789,000 jobs since Biden took office.”
• Forbes: “Consumer Price Index: Core Inflation At Lowest Level In 3 Years”
• Axios: “The United States economy grew faster than any other large advanced economy last year — by a wide margin — and is on track to do so again in 2024.”

Takeaway 4: Despite Trump’s lies, there is no “electric vehicle mandate.” Under Joe Biden, America is competing again.

FACT: There is no electric Vehicle Mandate

• PolitiFact: “Despite the U.S. sector’s challenges, Trump is wrong to say there is a ‘Biden mandate’ to replace gasoline-powered cars with EVs.”
• New York Times: “Especially potent is the false claim that the new rule is a ‘ban’ on conventional cars, analysts said. The E.P.A. regulation is not a ban. Rather, it requires carmakers to meet tough new average emissions limits across their entire product line, starting in model year 2027 and ramping up through 2032.”
• CNN: “Facts First: Trump’s claim is false. Biden has not mandated that ‘everybody has to have an electric car’ or outlawed cars powered by gasoline.”

FACT: Trump slowed American innovation in the EV industry, undermining our competitiveness abroad. Under President Biden, America is laying the groundwork for a boom in EV manufacturing, growing jobs and increasing our competitiveness.

• Wired: “In the Age of Trump, China Eyes Electric Car Dominance”
• President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act “is designed to wean the United States off the Chinese supply chain for electric vehicles (EVs)” and “was specifically written to move the manufacturing supply chain for clean energy technology like solar panels and EV batteries away from China and to the United States.”
• President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is triggering the “biggest auto-factory building boom in decades,”

Takeaway 5: Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 plans will raise taxes on middle class families by $2,500 and give giant handouts to corporations.

FACT: Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 agenda will raise taxes on working and middle class Americans by $2,500 while lining the pockets of giant corporations – just like Trump did as President

• PIIE: “Under Trump’s agenda the top 1% will see a boom, while working and middle class families get a tax hike.”
• Washington Post: “Trump has asked wealthy donors for donations, promising large tax breaks in return if he retakes the White House.”
• CAP: “Trump’s latest idea to replace all income taxes with tariffs … would dramatically increase income inequality and raise taxes for the bottom 90 percent of households. It would raise taxes for middle-income households by $5,100 to $8,300 while cutting taxes for the top 0.1 percent by at least $1.5 million annually.”
• CAP: “The combination of [Trump’s] 10 percent tax on all imports and a 60 percent tax on all imports from China would raise taxes for a typical family by $2,500 each year. This includes a $260 tax on electronics, $160 tax on clothing, a $120 tax on oil, and $110 tax on food.”
• Washington Post: “Your total tax burden will go up under Trump. Yes, up.”

The final takeaway? Donald Trump can’t hide from his record of shipping jobs overseas and screwing over workers to benefit himself and his billionaire donors. If JD Vance is looking to defend Trump’s failed record, he’s welcome to try.