Today in Bits and Pieces

I don’t know what went on in the meeting — which I understand just ended — but I just saw this in the New York Times:

As Trump met with European leaders and Zelensky, Trump paused the proceedings to call Putin, according to two people familiar with the matter. Earlier today, Trump said he would call the Russian leader after the meeting. The call was reported earlier by several German news outlets, including NTV and Bild.

He has to call his boss to be sure he’s negotiating correctly, I guess.

More to come, maybe …

Probably the bigger issue that came out of today is that Trump wants to end mail-in voting and voting machines, because Putin told him to. He’s going to sign an executive order about it. Of course, he has no authority whatsoever to change how elections are run. But here is what the Constitution says, Article I, Section 4:

The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations, except as to the Places of chusing Senators.

You’ll probably remember that originally U.S. senators were elected by state legislatures until 1913, when the 17th Amendment was ratified. And the whole nonsense about the Electoral College electing presidents is in Article II. The practice of choosing the electors by popular vote just sorta kinda evolved until all the states were doing it by the latter part of the 19th century.

Anyway, it sounds as if Congress could write a regulation that impacts how states hold elections. And, of course, red states can ban mail-in ballots and voting machines all they like. This could do a lot of mischief.

Another view from Josh Marshall:

President Trump has a new post up on Truth Social today in which he claims that states only run elections and count ballots as agents acting at his direction as president of the United States. The key lines are “the States are merely an ‘agent’ for the Federal Government in counting and tabulating the votes. They must do what the Federal Government, as represented by the President of the United States, tell them …” He claims he’s going to issue an executive order to ban voting by mail and any voting machines he doesn’t like.

Put simply, this is total bullshit.

The president has basically nothing to do with election administration. States run American elections. Period. Congress, within certain parameters, can make laws with standards that states must apply. But states still administer them. This is a foundational, constitutionally-mandated and structural feature of the American republic. Trump’s claims are so far from anything even remotely legal or constitutional that I doubt even the corrupted federal judiciary will have much truck with it.

Today Trump claimed that the U.S. is the only country in the world that uses mail-in voting. Uh, wrong.

12 thoughts on “Today in Bits and Pieces

  1. I'd say this was a setback for Putin, not a defeat. Putin was able to "play" Trump in Alaska but Zelenski and Company "played" Trump today. Nothing consequential will come of it. Trump tried to pretend he's gonna bring the two sides together to make a deal. Putin won't show up because he'll be asked to back off when his plan is to take all of Ukraine. 

    Trump has no backbone, He caved to Putin and saw that Zelenskii set the stage with the gang he brought along to paint Trump as a weakling. So Trump pretended to be what Zelenski wants and the act has a life expectancy of…. well, it's already dead.

    As I see it, the next move belongs to Europe. Pitch in weapons and.or troops. I'd like to see Ukraine with the ability to strike deep into Russia. 

  2. "The president has basically nothing to do with election administration. States run American elections. Period."

    Correct so why go on about it? All Stump does is run his mouth about anything and everything. If congress gets involved and looks like they are going to try to interfere with the states then it is a story. Right now it's just more distraction from the pedo files!

    I don’t understand why Ukraine isn’t being admitted into NATO asap. I know Stump would veto it but why wasn’t it done under Biden? That is the only path to end the war, Ukraine needs to be in NATO.

    • Correct so why go on about it?

      Have you not been paying attention? About three-fourths of what Trump does is outside his constitutional authority. He gets away with it. And it's entirely possible Republicans in Congress will pass "regulations" that eliminate or seriously hinder mail-in voting and voting machines.  And, of course, this will get hung up in courts long enough to be in effect for the midterms. Further, red states will fall in line and pass whatever Trump wants, which could stop any Democrat from ever being elected on this states.  

      • My comment was quoting Josh Marshall who says later in his post that "Trump’s claims are so far from anything even remotely legal or constitutional that I doubt even the corrupted federal judiciary will have much truck with it". So I ask why even talk about it? My point is that Stump says lot of things, he talks shit he can't stop running his mouth, if and when the house decides to pursue some sort of mail in voting ban, his words are just as worthless as his pledge to make the Commanders change their name back to the redskins or that people are going out to dinner again in DC when in fact reservations are down 35% since he sent in the National Guard. He has attempted and succeeded with all kinds of extra-constitutional orders, banning mail in voting nationwide won't be one of them. If and until the GOP in the house and senate decide to attempt to write a law (certainly in the majorities right to pursue) it will be a story worth covering in my opinion, right now it is just diaper don running his mouth about something other than Epstein.

        1
  3. Anonymous put together TV clips from the meeting, Trump’s Collapse Before Europe, Caught on Live TV. It's like watching a resident from the nursing home, regressing to babyhood dealing with a high powered team of grown adults. Or at times a psychopath babbling lies and callousness before the whole world.

    Besides demonstrating solidarity with Zelinsky, I'm sure one of the reasons the European leaders took this group strategy is that their command of English is better than Zelinksy's, and they'd be more ready and able to deflect the kind of nonsense Zelinsky suffered  weeks ago from the likes of JD Vance.

    There has got to be discussion of the 25th Amendment, particularly among those around JD Vance. 

    1
  4. When in that level of company, fearless leaders' brain spurs do tend to stand out quite a bit more than usual. Just think of how big of a delulu he would look amid that refined group on more their home turf.  Good of the OED to recognize the term.

  5. Seen on an MSNBC chyron: "Trump says Putin told him: 'It's impossible to have mail-in voting and have honest elections'". 

    We are lucky that Trump is so ingenuous.

  6. Did you hear from a later interview, Trump explained he went to another room to call Putin, because calling Putin in front of all those leaders would be disrespectful… to Putin!?

    I really had felt Trump had smacked my gob for the last time, and somehow, he managed to do it again. 

     

    2
  7. Newsom trolling 47 (sorry no link):

    RUSSIA IF YOU ARE LISTENING, DONALD (TINY HANDS) TRUMP HAS NOT RELEASED THE EPSTEIN FILES. IF YOU CAN FIND THEM YOU WILL BE REWARDED MIGHTILY BY OUR PRESS.

    IF YOU CAN'T FIND THEM, CHECK WITH BIG BALLS, HE MAY HAVE COPIES ON HIS BIG HARD DISK.

    THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION IN THIS MATTER. GCN

    1
  8. I wonder if anyone in the US media has asked Demtry Peskov about Putin's the alleged "Don't use  mail-in voting and voting machines" advice.

    Once he stops laughing, he probably will come up with a diplomatic answer. 

    1
  9. Gavin Newsom is talking like Trump – And it's Infuriating the Right

    …Newsom’s team is trying a different approach — one that’s earned the governor praise from the Democratic base and lots of eyeballs. According to Newsom’s office, the aggressive new strategy has resulted in the @GovPressOffice account on X gaining more than 250,000 followers, more than 225 million impressions, and more than 1.5 million profile visits since Aug. 1.

    That's what I want to see, a Democrat on the offensive, skillfully knocking their opponents back on their heels. Incapable of responding with anything but sputtering disbelief.  The latest:

    DANA "DING DONG" PERINO (NEVER HEARD OF HER UNTIL TODAY!) IS MELTING DOWN BECAUSE OF ME, GAVIN C. NEWSOM! FOX HATES THAT I AM AMERICA’S MOST FAVORITE GOVERNOR ("RATINGS KING") SAVING AMERICA — WHILE TRUMP CAN’T EVEN CONQUER THE “BIG” STAIRS ON AIR FORCE ONE ANYMORE!!! TRUMP HAS “LOST HIS STEP” AND FOX IS LOSING IT BECAUSE WHEN I TYPE, AMERICA NOW WINS!!! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER. — GCN

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *