Mark Robinson, Matt Gaetz, and Other, Um, Issues

Mark Robinson did not drop out of the gubernatorial race in North Carolina. He blew past the deadline for dropping out and will be the GOP candidate until the bitter end. Several news stories say that Trump is trying to ignore the mess. But Trump has a rally scheduled in North Carolina tomorrow. Robinson will not be there, but if any of the press can get close to Trump they’ll no doubt ask Trump to comment on Robinson. And Trump will no doubt say he barely knows the guy. Meanwhile, the Harris-Walz campaign is said to be preparing television ads tying Robinson to Trump. None are online yet, but I bet they will contain some of the same news bits as this CNN report:

Update: Here’s the ad, just made available.

In other salacious news, see New Court Filings Place Matt Gaetz at a Party at the Center of the Sex Trafficking Scandal. And with a teenage girl. Unfortunately, according to the one poll I could find, Gaetz is currently 47 points ahead of his Democratic opponent for his House seat. As long as that’s the case I doubt he’ll be pressured to drop out.

Yesterday, as the Robinson bombshell was all over the news, Stable Genius Trump addressed Jewish audiences about rising antisemitism in the United States. He brilliantly made his point by adding to the rising antisemitism. According to The Forward,

In a speech Thursday billed as former President Donald Trump’s answer to rising antisemitism, he said Jews would bear much of the responsibility if he loses the presidential election.

And in a second speech later in the evening, to the Israeli American Council, Trump elaborated on his past assertions in recent weeks that Israel would not survive if he doesn’t win in November, by painting a doomsday scenario in which Iran launches nuclear weapons and invoking the Holocaust. 

“The Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss,” Trump said during the first speech of the evening, an hourlong address at an event called “Fighting Antisemitism in America,” organized with GOP megadonor Miriam Adelson, at the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill.

“You can’t let this happen,” he told his largely Jewish audience. 

Trump in recent weeks has offended many Jews by questioning their mental health for voting for Democrats — as most Jews do — and predicting Israel’s demise should Harris win. But Thursday night’s comments seem to represent an escalation in Trump’s rhetoric, in that he singled out Jewish Americans — who represent only about 2% of the electorate — as a significant reason he might lose the election, one whose results he has never pledged to accept. 

Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said after the speech that Trump’s remarks endanger Jews. …

… Trump often talks about his support for Israel in transactional terms, suggesting Israelis owe him loyalty in return. Many Israelis appreciate how, in his first term, Trump relocated the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognized Israel’s control over the Golan Heights, withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal and brokered the Abraham Accords. 

And while his complaints about American Jews voting for Democrats have grown common in recent weeks, the theme is not new. After the 2020 presidential election, in which 77% of Jewish voters chose President Joe Biden, Trump accused them of ingratitude.

In these and other remarks Trump consistently conflates all Jews with Israelis, and assumes that American Jews owe their first loyalty to Israel, not the U.S. See also Rolling Stone. Once again, Trump’s utter lack of self-awareness is stunning.

And speaking of bigotry, the very Republican governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine, has an op ed in the New York Times defending the Hatians of Springfield and (more in sorrow than anger) calling out Trump and Vance for spreading vicious lies about them.

What’s Up with the Teamsters?

What’s really pissed me off today are the Teamsters. There’s something seriously out of kilter with its leadership. See especially The Gigantic Failure That Led to the Teamsters’ Decision Not to Endorse Harris or Trump by Steven Greenhouse at Slate. Do read this. Open in an incognito window if you hit a paywall. The difference between Trump and Harris on unions is massive. There’s no excuse for this.

The Teamsters say that the decision was based on an “internal survey” of members. What they didn’t tell you was that this “survey” was not an actual polling of members but taken from responses to a survey printed on the back of a Teamster magazine. Steven Greenhouse continues,

But to my mind, that internal survey showing so many Teamsters backing Trump highlighted something else: The union’s leadership must have done a dreadful job informing and educating rank-and-file members about how hugely anti-union Trump is and how aggressively anti-union and anti-worker Trump’s first administration was (and appointees were). Also, Teamster leaders evidently also failed to explain to rank-and-file members that Harris has fought for policy after policy strongly backed by the Teamsters and other unions, including the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which is the labor movement’s No. 1 legislative priority and would make it considerably easier for the Teamsters and other unions to organize. Trump opposes the PRO Act. Harris also supported the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which together will create hundreds of thousands of good-paying union jobs for Teamsters and other union members. Harris, unlike Trump, also supports increasing the pathetically low $7.25-an-hour federal minimum wage to at least $15.

This could be the real reason:

Many Teamsters remain angry at Biden for signing legislation in December 2022 that blocked a threatened nationwide rail strike. The Teamsters board seemed to be making this a litmus test, wanting Harris and Trump to pledge not to block a national rail strike even though presidents and Congress are specifically empowered to do so under the Railway Labor Act.

The problem was that a prolonged rail strike at the time would have devastated the fragile economy, in particular the Biden Administration’s work to lower inflation without triggering a recession.

Update: See Timothy Noah, The Teamsters President Is Out of His Depth.

In Other News

MAGA Republicans Pass New Election Rules in Georgia That Could Rig the State for Trump

Digby, Will This Election End Up Before The Supreme Court?

House Republicans work to defuse Trump as they defy shutdown demands

 

6 thoughts on “Mark Robinson, Matt Gaetz, and Other, Um, Issues

  1. Beyond the last shred of human decency Mark Robinson poses as the poster child for the last stand of perverted elitism.  It will be pure joy to have that politic getting smaller in the rear-view mirror.  

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  2. I've read Teamsters locals are doing their own thing and endorsing Harris. The people on the ground know the score, if the leadership doesn't.

    Ah, the sweet feeling of North Carolina going Democratic, thanks to the "Black Nazi".

    Sean Diddy Combs is a big scandal, there's photos of him with Trump. Crank up the misogyny, more reasons for women to step up and throw out the male jerks.

    Heard that Tim Walz is practice debating with Pete B. Walz is going to run rings around JD Vance, who's got that Brett Kavanaugh air of entitlement that's going to come out and sicken everyone. It'll be interesting to see the moves Walz will make to throw JD off balance and erupt.

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  3. Agree with Moonbat about the VP debate.

    Walz is good. He's got a sincere folksy style. Butigieg is more surgical – he cuts with precision.  Both tend to be very rational in their arguments, in stark contrast with JD or Don. I don't think Vance is capable of anything more than platitudes. There's a limited number of "issues" or attack points Vance will go to regardless of what he's asked. 

    (IMO, this where Harris nailed Trump. She -or her debate prep team – studied Trumps speeches.) It's not hard to unravel Trump. It's not like there are layers and layers to the man. But the debate prep team should have no problem with Walz.

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  4. Just a brief scorecard of polls at 538;

    Today – One poll

    CA – Harris by 28

    Yesterday – All General Election

    Harris by 2, Harris by 7, Harris by 6

    Day before Yesterday

     

    Three NC polls (This was in the can BEFORE the news about Robinson)

    Trump by 4, EVEN, Harris by 2

    Six GA polls

    EVEN, Harris by 2, EVEN, Harris by 2, Trump by 2, Trump by 1

    Two WI polls

    Trump by 2, Harris by 8

    Four PA polls

    Even, Harris by 5, Harris by 4, Harris by 2

     Two NV polls

    Even, Harris by 4

    Two MI polls

    Harris by 1, Harris by 8

    Two polls in AZ

    Trump by 1, Harris by 1

    One MN poll

    Harris by 8

    From Sept. 17th  General Election four polls

    Harris by 4, Harris by 4, Harris by 4, Harris by 5

    Two polls in MI

    Harris by 5, Harris by 3

    WI two polls

    Harris by 1, Harris by 3

    MI two polls

    Harris by 1, Harris by 3

    PA two polls

    EVEN, Harris by 1

    ————————————

    A few interesting notes Trump is up in TX by 4 and in FL by only 3. It makes no difference in this election but both of those states could flip in a few years.

    Ted Crus is down by 1. Please.

    Conclusion. It;s soooooo close in so many places but barely favors Harris. Abortion is on the ballot in AZ and NV in November. (Also FL)

     

     

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  5. How did Rachael Maddow do on her first documentary?  I only got the audio on satellite radio, so my perspective is atypical, but IMO Emmy award level.  From Russia with Lev is truly enlightening, funny, and touching.  Lev coined a word for getting out of the rabbit hole, shucking the cult if you will.  Not by his own bootstraps but with a wife and family that hung with him.  At the end she talks of the days not in the same chapter or book with Lev, much less the same page.  Yet she preserved what they call receipts, terabytes of records, pictures, dates, and other data of the journey.  Barr and the justice department still have a copy under seal they reported.  

    The biggest reveal is how complicit Barr was in a coverup that makes Watergate pale in comparison.  Trump's current desperation is a result of too much truth winning out.  He needs to take reality bending to levels never seen before.  Many, like Ted Cruz, were like Barr, probably way more complicit than apparent.  Unlike Lev, they cling to the cult like cockroaches cling to their nest…under a cover in rapid disintegration.

    • I watched it and agree with you. It tied the whole mess together. It also showed that Lev and Igor were both part of Trump's inner circle during the 2016 campaign and for a long time after, which I did not know. I get the impression Lev was genuinely stunned when Trump disavowed knowing him.

      For those who don't have on demand through cable, you can stream it on Hulu, for a little while anyway. 

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