Dictator Donald Trump (DDT) is having another hard week. His polls keep going down compared to Joe Biden, and media questions aren’t easy like they are on Fox. He walked out on an interview with Leslie Stahl for 60 Minutes, after Stahl pointed out he was lying about never saying “Lock her up” in questioning about DDT’s attacks on Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer following DDT’s supporters threatening to kidnap Whitmer. During the second presidential debate, he glowered, lied, and deflected although most of the time he restrained himself from excessive interruptions for the first hour.
DDT and his personal lawyer were convinced Giuliani’s fabricated story about unauthenticated material on a laptop a blind computer store owner identified as somebody named Hunter Biden, maybe Joe Biden’s son. The only media source willing to publish the story was the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid New York Post. That debacle was followed by the release of movie footage in which Giuliani was pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen in his recent mockumentary, a sequel to his Borat film. The scammed Giuliani was filmed in a hotel room, his hand down his pants and lying next to an actress who had pretended to be a journalist. The easy pranking of Giuliani shows how susceptible he is to Russian false propaganda being sold on the street in Ukraine 18 months ago.
DDT’s bribe of $200 discount cards for prescription drugs for seniors before Election Day may be illegal, according to the HHS general counsel, a political appointee. The $7.9 billion would take from Medicare’s trust fund. Officials who originally approved the idea are now ducking for cover.
The Government Accountability Office will investigate DDT’s alleged interference with COVID-19 response at CDC and FDA in an effort to forcibly match the agencies’ policies and communications to his own political lies.
Greg Sargent suggests that Fox watching may lessen the number of votes for DDT. A new poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found Fox-loving Republicans are “not all confident” vote-by-mail will be secure. Strategists predicted that outcome since DDT began raging against the convenience of mail-in voting. Republicans who believe voting is fraudulent because of DDT’s lies may not even vote on Election Day. According to the polling, 39 percent of U.S. people think vote-by-mail is not as secure, 34 percent are somewhat confident, and 27 percent are very confident. Republicans are twice as likely as Democrats to say they aren’t confident at all in vote-by-mail—56 percent to 25 percent. With independents, 38 percent are not confident in mail-in voting. Almost three-fourths of Fox-trusting Republicans are not confident at all in sending their ballots by mail. Even robocalls from the RNC encouraging vote-by-mail doesn’t seem to change Republicans’ minds.
In the courts, Elliott Broidy, one of DDT’s biggest donors and DDT’s friend, pled guilty to acting as an unregistered foreign agent for accepting millions of dollars to secretly lobby DDT for Malaysian and Chinese interests, described a case study of foreign governments’ influence on U.S. policy through politically influential proxies. Broidy could be paid over $80 million for successful lobby in ending U.S. investigation into a multibillion-dollar embezzlement of a Malaysian state investment fund. He worked on a senior Chinese security minister to return Chinese exile Guo Wengui to his home country from the U.S. Broidy also pled guilty in 2009 in an unrelated pension fund bribery case.
A federal judge ruled decisions by William Perry Pendley when he was acting Bureau of Land Management are invalid. Pendley served illegally in his position for 424 days. DDT withdrew Pendley’s name from nomination in August: Pendley’s beliefs are so extremist that even the “confirm-anybody” Republicans might not vote in favor of him. To save the Pendley’s decisions, DDT gave him another title in early October but kept his job description the same. A judge has already struck three industry-favored, illegal Resource Management Plans in Montana and allows people to challenge other Pendley decisions.
A federal judge struck down DDT’s removal of food stamps from almost 700,000 people to annually save about $1 billion. The Department of Agriculture refused to say how many people would have lost food if the new policy regarding benefits had been denied in spring during the pandemic. Enrollment in the program increased when millions of people lost their jobs because of COVID-19. About 10 percent of adults live in households without enough to eat sometime during the past seven days. AGs from 19 states, the District of Columbia, and the City of New York challenged the USDA rule to remove food stamps. The USDA still hopes to take benefits from over 300 million people and free school meals from almost 500,000 children. Another plan is taking allowances for utility expenses.
A federal judge ordered the Treasury Department and the IRS to give prisoners their stimulus money of $1,200 per person after the agencies disallowed people their rights and tried to pull back the money if it had already been sent. The law did not exclude incarcerated people. The money must be sent to prisoners, and they have until October 30 to file paper returns to get their owned money before the end of the year. Prisoners are not usually permitted to use computers which would give them easier access to requesting the money. IRS must also contact correctional facilities to communicate the ruling.
A three-judge panel for the 2nd Circuit Court upheld a lower court when it declined to consolidate multiple appeals by Ghislaine Maxwell, alleged madam to child predator Jeffrey Epstein who died in a New York jail last year, and struck down the release of her deposition in a now-settled civil lawsuit. The case involved then-teenaged Virginia Roberts Giuffre and her claim Maxwell told her to have sex with Prince Andrew. Epstein had escaped serious sentencing although he was well-known for sexually abused underage girls. Epstein was a friend of DDT, and HHS Secretary Alex Azar, then Florida’s U.S. attorney, approved a plea deal from Epstein to let him off with a 13-month sentence in highly comfortable circumstances and blocked any further investigation in Epstein’s crimes.
The Supreme Court denied an appeal from Kim Davis after the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled same-gender couples can sue Davis in her individual capacity as county clerk for refusing them marriage licenses. Davis spent five days in jail because she defied court orders to issue licenses. Both Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito maintain the case Obergefell v. Hodges, granting marriage equality, has “ruinous consequences” for religious liberty. Only three judges ruling for marriage equality remain on the high court, scheduled to hear a case about Philadelphia’s refusal to use a Catholic agency barring same-gender couples from become foster parents.
A three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court ruled 2-1 against DDT using $3.6 military construction funds for building his southern wall. The decision determined DDT’s actions illegal in upholding a December 2019 ruling. The blockage comes in Texas where the government is taking privately-owned land through eminent domain. DDT’s Judge Daniel Collins dissented from two Clinton appointees. The case will be taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court.
For two years, DDT largely ignored the torture and dismemberment of U.S. resident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but the human rights organization Khashoggi founded and his fiancée, Hatice Cengiz, have filed a lawsuit against Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for Khashoggi’s murder. The case claims MBS killed Khashoggi because he advocated for democracy and human rights for all. In 2018, the CIA concluded MBS order the murder, but DDT has defended the crown prince. The suit has been filed under the Alien Tort Statute and a 1991 law called the Torture Victim Protection Act, providing recourse in U.S. courts for violations of international law and for victims of “flagrant human rights violations,” including torture and summary execution abroad. MBS lured Khashoggi to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul by promising his safety when he required his presence to obtain a document Khashoggi needed for his marriage. Two months ago, former top Saudi intelligence officer Saad Aljabri accused MBS of targeting him for assassination and taking his children hostage because of Aljabri’s damaging knowledge about MBS’ rise to power.
In requiring taxpayers to bear the cost for DDT’s defamation lawsuit by E. Jean Carroll, AG Bill Barr said DDT’s denial of rape was an official act.
In my favorite recent court case, DDT’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, swore under oath people should not believe DDT’s tweets. On October 6, DDT tweeted, “I have fully authorized the total Declassification of any & all documents pertaining to… the Russia Hoax.” BuzzFeed reporter Jason Leopold had used DDT’s statement for access to Robert Mueller’s unredacted report through a Freedom of Information Act request. A federal judge demands DDT be asked about his intentions. The question: Is the report fully declassified or does DDT not mean anything he tweets? Maybe we’ll see.
There’s lots more to make DDT uncomfortable, including tonight’s presidential debate. Only his staunchest supporters will declare a “win” for him. In the conservative Gallup poll, 56 percent of voters say DDT doesn’t deserve to be reelected; only 43 percent disagree. We can only hope they vote the same way.
Nel's New Day 