The crazy stuff Trump's pulling lately — the latest being this notion he can end Birthright Citizenship (you know…that thing in the Constitution) by Executive Order — strike me as desperation/panic acts by a guy who's pretty sure he's going to end up with a Democratic Congress. That is to say, a Democratic Congress that will have the power to hold hearings and issue subpoenas and even vote to impeach. I wonder how his supporters would have felt if President Barack Obama had said the Chief Exec has the power to change one syllable of the Constitution.
Well, let's go to the news…
- As Jonathan Chait notes, Trump and his mob are lying when they claim to be behind a health plan that protects those with pre-existing conditions. This is not one of those cases where there are two sides to the matter and they just have a different interpretation of some legal language than others do. This is a case of just outright lying. And by the way, let's remember that what some of us want is not insurance for those with pre-existing conditions. It's affordable insurance for those with pre-existing conditions. Any insurance company can cover folks with pre-existing conditions if they charge them enough.
- Josh Marshall discusses the utter cluelessness shown by Mike Pence. He appeared at a campaign rally and brought up a "rabbi" to offer a prayer of mourning for those killed in the synagogue attack in Pittsburgh. All fine except that the "rabbi" (and the reason I put that in quotes) is a R.I.N.O. — a Rabbi In Name Only.
- Ezra Klein discusses Trump's strategy. To him the "opposition party" isn't the Democrats. It's CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, MSNBC…
- Politifact explains about that $450 billion Saudi arms deal that Trump brags about and which really doesn't exist.
- William Saletan "defends" Trump from accusations that his speeches are creating unrest, divisiveness and maybe even violence in this country.
And have you noticed that the chanting of "Lock her up!" or "Lock him up!" that he so loves and encourages has come to have just about nothing to do with anyone being charged with a crime? It's all about the idea that we should be able to throw people in prison because we just plain don't like what they say. Yeah, that's what we do in this country…