Sunday’s Forum
Steven L. Taylor
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Sunday, November 29, 2020
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62 comments
About Steven L. Taylor
Steven L. Taylor is a Professor of Political Science and a College of Arts and Sciences Dean. His main areas of expertise include parties, elections, and the institutional design of democracies. His most recent book is the co-authored
A Different Democracy: American Government in a 31-Country Perspective. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Texas and his BA from the University of California, Irvine. He has been blogging since 2003 (originally at the now defunct Poliblog).
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Trump supporter who gave $2.5m to fight election fraud wants money back
A fool and his money are soon parted.
ETA I love this part:
“Our mission is much bigger than just one election. It is about repairing the system for all future elections,”
The grift continues.
(3:08 video)
The Trumpkins really know how to turn lemons into lemonade. Apparently last night’s loss in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is no big deal, because it means they’re off to the United States Supreme Court, where Amy Coney Barrett will rescue them.
@CSK:
Nietzsche said something like “If I appear to be going backwards, it only so I can get a running start on getting over the hurdle.”
The difference of course is that Nietzsche was a genius who went crazy (apparently they now think from brain cancer), while Trump’s followers are crazy people who are idiots. Trump on the other hand isn’t an idiot (at least in this), he’s a con man who found his marks.
@CSK:
Laches waits for no man.
@CSK:
Sounds like they are nearing the promised land. Supreme Court cases are very expensive though! I’m sure the call to be patient, and forth coming with donations will be heard from sea to shining sea! Freedom isn’t free, and all that.
I have found the theme song for my life.
@Northerner:
A few of them like to quote Sun-Tzu, whom none of them ever heard of prior to Sarah Palin, who’d never heard of him, either.
@sam:
Indeed.
@ImProPer:
Sidney Powell certainly seems to be raking in the chips like a croupier.
A few of them seem to be getting impatient. I’m not sure what that portends.
@CSK: The same as when the mark starts to get antsy about the money the Nigerian prince promised to send him–more promises, more assurances, and more delay.
I wonder if Trump will get mad at the amount of ca$h that Sidney is raking in for herself?
@grumpy realist:
If she’s scooping up vast amounts of cash, I’m sure Trump will feel it rightfully belongs to him.
There’s a lot in this Washington Post story.
20 days of fantasy and failure: Inside Trump’s quest to overturn the election
It’s pretty long, but definitely worth the time.
“I never thought leopards would eat MY face,” sobs woman who voted for the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.
What is it with Trump and dogs, anyway?
@Mikey:
This may answer your question:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/02/12/trump-first-president-century-with-no-dog-explains-why-i-dont-have-any-time/
@CSK:
I’m no longer worried about the SCOTUS this election cycle. The court action up to this point indicates that the only way Trump can win is basically to toss the mail ballots after the fact in enough states. There’s no way to keep such a decision from spilling over to all vote by mail states. Neither Roberts nor Gorsuch will agree to that this time.
@Michael Cain:
Oh, I think Trump knows he lost. All these shenanigans are just to keep his fan club inflamed. That’s why I’m predicting he’ll hold a rally on inauguration day, and hint that he’ll run again in 2024.
@CSK:
Who will pay for it? His previous rallies came out of campaign funds.
@Kylopod:
You don’t think he’ll find some saps to subsidize it?
In any case, as a private citizen, he can charge admission.
Maria Bartiromo will be interviewing Trump on Fox News at 10 a.m. today.
I’m so excited.
@Kylopod:
An admission charge?
@charon:
That’s what I think.
So now my weekly dive into the Covid numbers.
Covid data at this site: https://91-divoc.com/pages/covid-visualization/
7-day rolling average. new cases/100K:
U.S. National Totals:: ..
11/29/2020: 49.4/100K
11/22/2020: 51.4/100K
11/15/2020 : 44.1/100K
11/08/2020 33.1/100K
11/01/2020 24.2/100K
—————————
U,S. Midwest states:
11/29/2020: 79.7/100K
11/22/2020 : 91.3/100K
11/15/2020 : 88.4/100K
11/08/2020 62.2/100K
11/01/2020 44.3/100K
—————————
U,S. West states:
11/29/2020: 46.7/100K
11/22/2020 : 44.0/100K
11/15/2020 : 33.8/100K
11/08/2020 24.4/100K
11/01/2020 18.5/100K
—————————
Arizona:
11/29/2020: 53.9/100K
11/22/202 43.7/100K
11/15/2020 : 30.8/100K
11/08/2020 22.4/100K
11/01/2020 18.5/100K
Maybe light reporting last few days, but a few of the worst states peaked even earlier – for now at least.
Here is a dishonor roll of current state Covid leaders:
(7-day rolling average, cases per 100K):
MT – 191.6
MN – 120.4
WY – 118.5
SD – 116.4
ND – 106.7
WI – 104.4
NM – 100.5
OH – 94.6
IA – 92.9
NE – 91.1
So Kristi Noem has fallen back to #4, off the pace.
@Kylopod:
Didn’t he file the paperwork for the 2020 campaign before he was inaugurated? Lots of time between now and Jan 20 to file the official paperwork to be running. He gets to carry over any unused campaign funds — assuming there are unused campaign funds — to a new campaign.
How sharper than a serpent’s tooth:
@sam:
But he’s being interviewed by Maria Bartiromo on Fox News, during the daytime, as we speak.
@Michael Cain: The remarkable lameness of Team Trump’s legal arguments means that I can see no way that the Court could do anything other than rejecting them.
Plus, even in the most remarkable outcome would not give Trump all the EVs he needs.
So, I agree, I am not worried about SCOTUS either.
Well, this is riveting news. According to the NYPost, Melania is “in talks” to discuss writing a memoir of her White House years.
I’m trying to think of possible titles. I Really, Really Don’t Care; Do U? comes to mind.
Any suggestions?
@CSK:
“Sidney Powell certainly seems to be raking in the chips like a croupier.
A few of them seem to be getting impatient. I’m not sure what that portends.”
Hopefully this transparent view of what Trumpism really is, behind the smoke and mirrors, will do what the election failed to do,
kill it! The myth of the omni-competent leader, and his uncanny ability to find the best possible people has got to be testing the faith of even the faithful in his flock. Even Job, if he were among them, would’ve bailed by now.
Hope I’m not sounding Q-ish, but maybe there is a plan by the courts not kicking them out with prejudice, and keeping their true selves in the public eye.
https://twitter.com/StevenTDennis/status/1332740006927077377
For perspective, deaths from all causes in a normal year in U.S. nationwide: about 7,700.
@Kylopod:
“Who will pay for it? His previous rallies came out of campaign funds.”
Captain Obvious here, I can tell you who won’t pay for it, and his name rhymes with chump. Also I can tell you who will get paid from it, his name coincidentally, rhymes with chump as well.
@CSK:
I Signed Up to be Arm Candy and Got This
@Sleeping Dog:
If I Weren’t Beautiful, Would I Be Here?
@CSK:
“Leaving Mar-a-lago, my sacrifice for the ugly people”
@CSK:
@ImProPer:
We need to consider this as 2 books, the WH years and an after she dumps him tell all.
@ImProPer: @Sleeping Dog:
I’d read a tell-all. But the woman seems to be a complete cipher. She once said her days were constituted of reading fashion magazines and doing Pilates. Between that and the perpetual round of facelifts and Botox treatments, what does she have to say about anything?
@CSK:
Well nothing, nothing intelligent anyway. But tell alls, needn’t be good, they only need to be gossipy.
@OzarkHillbilly: When I was young and dumb, I bought a Porsche 944 from a gay guy desperate to pay his wife off in cash so he could keep his house. 3 months later the clutch broke. $1600.
@Sleeping Dog:
Well, damn. I was totally looking forward to immersing myself in the very deep thoughts of Melania Trump on the Mundell-Fleming trilemma.
@CSK: Or the Banach-Tarski paradox.
You’ll receive her meditation on the correlation between hand size and …., and why that is acceptable if they can be inversely proportional to bank account size.
According to CNBC, Trump told Maria Bartiromo that his election challenges “probably won’t make it to the Supreme Court.”
@Sleeping Dog:
Well, given that Melania apparently has Trump’s approval to proceed with her memoir, I doubt she’ll have anything to say about his male member except for a discreet hint that it’s YUGE.
Bigly, even.
@CSK:
@Sleeping Dog:
Carl Hiaason would be perfect to do an autobiography when she gets back to Florida. She and the rest of the Trump crew seem as if they were born out right out of one his novels.
@charon: what is your number referring to? Deaths in that state? Because that is not the all causes number of deaths in the US.
54 dead in 1 day in SD equates to 61 per 1,000,000 population.
61 X 330 equates to 20,130 daily if nationwide at that rate.
2,800,000 / 365 equates to 7,700 daily nationwide in a normal year.
Thanks for the clarification, pre coffee brain not computing.
@charon:
Currently per this site
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/national/coronavirus-us-cases-deaths/?itid=sf_coronavirus
nationwide deaths running about 1500 daily as 7-day average.
@CSK:
The title is obvious: https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/3sqZO9xlnfg1JALqgx7Bqv9nqfY=/1400×1050/filters:format(jpeg)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/11578797/My_Post__21_.jpg
@dazedandconfused:
That’s what I suggested, only with an extra “really.”
@CSK: Jackpot: My life as a belly warmer for Donald J. Trump.
@Jim Brown 32:
Well, that conjures up all sorts of revolting images.
@charon:
Worldwide, the 7-day rolling average daily deaths has now topped 10,000 for the first time.
Italy is now seeing 800 deaths per day, roughly the same as at the top of their initial peak in late March. This after having reduced daily deaths to around a dozen for much of the summer.
By the end of the year, US deaths from COVID-19 will surpass Indonesian deaths from the 2004 tsunami.
@ImProPer:
I think we’d need Richard Condon for the bios.
@DrDaveT:
Correction: the US has already passed worldwide 2004 tsunami deaths (roughly 230,000).
A stray thought about COVID deniers…
How do they explain the major sports leagues’ obvious acceptance of the pandemic as real?
The Denver Broncos today played with a practice-squad wide receiver at quarterback, after unsuccessfully petitioning to activate an offensive coach so that someone who knew the offense could run it. They did this because their number three QB tested positive and the other three roster quarterbacks (including the starter) were in close contact with him. All are now quarantined. The NFL is not known for its liberal stances; why would they do this if it weren’t a real thing?
I assume there is some absurd “explanation” floating around out there, probably involving George Soros. If anyone has run across it, please share.
@DrDaveT:
The local reports (from unattributed sources) are that the Broncos are being punished because the head coach said publicly that keeping the practice-squad QB isolated to the degree required by NFL policy to guarantee he would be eligible was “an unnecessary precaution.”
@sam:
Just came across this while casting an eye over yesterdays forum.
Quick answer: who knows?
After all, The Crown is fiction.
There’ve been contradictory reports over the years re. Thatcher’s relations with the Queen.
Often by people with reason to shade it one way or the other.
Also reportage that the relation changed over time as Mrs. Thatcher became more accustomed to power.
But again, a lot of this is speculative: the Queen is a sphinx most of the time, and their meetings were on Privy Council terms = no records. And generally, no witnesses who will ever speak in public. And Mrs Thatcher certainly never spoke much about the Audiences.
As to Mrs Thatcher’s class attitudes.
Well, she was very much a middle-class background (N.B. middle class in UK does NOT mean the same as it does in the US).
Husband Denis Thatcher was of wealthier origins but also somewhat outside the system (father a New Zealander, non-conformist by religion).
And she was by all accounts the butt of a lot of upper class disparagement in her rise to power and the first term of office. So she had cause for a bit of resentment.
Then again some of the high aristocracy are reputed rather look down on the Royals as a bunch of German parvenus (e.g. Diana’s family, the Spencers, are in some respects a lot “posher” than the Windsors), so Her Maj and Mrs T. might bond over that. LOL.
(Actually, no, just to be clear.)
As to whether she hated the working class: I rather think not, in her own mind at least.
But it depends what you mean by “working class”.
Most accounts I’ve read are that she wanted to assist a (rather theoretical) aspirational, patriotic, “hard working” ordinary folk; and hated the (similarly illusory) “shirkers”, “layabouts”, “union militants”, “lefties” and “hooligans” of middle class demonology.
That’s my tuppenceworth anyway.
@JohnSF:
If you would, discourse for a bit on what middle class means to Brits and Yanks. I know what the difference is, but it would be interesting to read your thoughts.
@CSK:
Well, I may be getting it wrong as to the American usage, so feel free to kick me.
But here goes…
It seems to have originated with the Jeffersonian thing of “the sturdily independent yeomanry” …yadda yadda.
And then became anyone who was “non dependent”; and then anyone who was not dependent on the state or indigent. Perhaps, charitably, what a Marxist might mean by lumpenproletariat.
But I have a suspicion that what a lot of people meant by it was “OK, working class but WHITE, dammit!”
But try finding an American who self describes as “upper class” LOL.
British usage is more socio-economic hierarchy:
Working class = wage labourers (with sub-divisions !) largely “blue collar”:
Lower middle class = clerical, junior managers, independent craftsmen, technical, basically “white collar working class”
Middle class = retailers, middle to upper managers, teachers, administrators, clergy
Upper middle class = wealthy businessmen, professionals, very senior managers, heirs of such, financiers: they may work, but could often live on capital if they wished; a LOT of overlap with the:
Upper class = the landowning, and formerly political, elite, subdivided into the untitled gentry and the titled aristocracy; (may or may may not include the financial elite depending on how snobby the nobility are feeling today).
Then there is the Marxist formulation:
Working class = anyone dependent for livelihood on the wages of their labour;
Middle AND upper class = anyone who can live off their capital returns, either passively as an investor or actively as an owner/manager.
Differentiation being that the upper class were seen as a relict, the old ruling class still largely invested in land/agriculture and vanquished and subsumed by the new capitalist ruling class.
A Brit will sometimes switch between the “social” and the “marxist” formulations depending on circumstances.
@JohnSF:
I think part of what you’re missing here is the British fixation on bloodlines. In the UK, you can be wealthy but not upper class, because your money is recent/foreign/whatever. If you don’t trace descent from successful Viking bandits who settled in Normandy 1200 years ago, you’re not “upper class”.
In the US, it’s only money and race. If you’re white, and rich, you’re upper class. (Raises hand.) Even if your great-great-great-grandparents were all illiterate dirt farmers on the frontier. (Raises hand.)
@JohnSF: @DrDaveT:
You’re both right. Thanks, although in the U.S. I would draw a distinction between Old Society (old blood, old money) and Cafe Society (new blood, new money).
Two additional points re. British attitudes –
The finer social gradations are often collapsed into the basic three: working, middle, upper.
People often refer to “background” or “origins” as a class reference point.
But it is usually only done as a self-identification, and only in one direction e.g. someone who is well off and plainly middle/upper middle economically and in social circles, will refer to themselves as being “working class” if their parents could be categorised as such.
Especially true of Labour politicians LOL.
It doesn’t happen the other way round, because it doesn’t need to.
No one is likely to mis-identify the background of someone from the upper classes.
@DrDaveT:
Actually you don’t need to go that far back to be upper class: four generations of a title or an estate will do just fine. So long as you mind your manners. 🙂
And not all the upper class are enormously wealthy. Some are (the Grosvenors, Cavendishes, etc are fabulously wealthy by any standard) but others may have just inherited little more than a freehold farm and/or some investments. Just need sufficient for the basic lifestyle.
Money has always found the barriers permeable; plenty of titled families these days started as Victorian grocers LOL.
So long as the new money remembers that Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk, is the hereditary Earl Marshal of the Kingdom, and they ain’t.