The answer to the question never changes
There should be no surprises as September yields to October. Donald Trump continues to raise the temperature with his venom, insanities and lies. His latest outburst was at a rally in Wisconsin on Saturday with his claim that Kamala Harris is ‘mentally disabled,’ which once again seems to be an instance of Trump projecting his liabilities onto others.
Predictably, America’s political media couldn’t stay away from the red cape waves in front of them. They repeated the smear over and over again, sometimes as a question to Trump stooges like Tom Emmer, the House Majority Whip, and the tongue-tied Kevin McCarthy, who somehow matched his ineptitude as a legislative leader with an inability to communicate either complete or coherent thoughts.
Here are the questions that went to Tom Emmer on yesterday’s edition of ABC’s “This Week:”
Martha Raddatz: Do you think Kamala Harris is ‘mentally disabled’? Do you approve of that kind of language?
Tom Emmer: I think Kamala Harris is the wrong choice for America.
Raddatz: Do you approve of that language?
Emmer: I think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He’s going to fix it again. That – those are the issues.
The evasiveness is almost comical. At this point, it’s a parody of a parody of a parody.
Here is the full interview if you’re interested in watching it:
Here is an even more absurdist version, featuring the former Speaker in Name Only, on CNN’s “Inside Politics:”
Manu Raju: He called her ‘mentally disabled,’ and questioned her intelligence. Effective line of attack, or should he focus on something else?
SINO: You’re using one little clip there, and you don’t put what was said before or what was said after.
Raju: But he’s questioning her intelligence.
SINO: I would question anyone’s intelligence who’s allowing 13,000 murderers into our country, and doesn’t know where they are…”
Raju: So you’re okay questioning her intelligence? You’re okay with saying ‘mentally disabled, that’s the bottom line.’
SINO: No [and then he restated his talking points about ICE data.]
What I’d like to know is why the question?
Manu Raju has covered Capitol Hill for many years. The answer to the question never changes. Ever.
Trump is the leader, and no matter what he does and says his MAGA minions will stand by him. That means up to and including the coming massive lie about a lost election that was somehow stolen.
Trump has conditioned the field perfectly. No matter what he says, no matter how vile, cruel or racist, it simply will not be repudiated by any GOP politician. No matter how absurd the claim, the line was crossed long ago. What is true inside of MAGA is whatever Trump says. Anyone on the wrong side of that is either criminal, insane or disabled — or maybe all three.
These attacks are a preview of what is to come. They are just a taste.
September is over. October is at hand, and this month will determine if America will soon face catastrophe.
The lies have been perfectly seeded, and Trump is ready to make his move. Unlike January 6, 2021, this time they are ready. The first step has always been in making sure every lie is believed, and none are confronted. That was the hard part.
This will be a wild month in America. There is no excuse to sit on the sidelines. Everything is at stake. Everything.
Thirty-six days to go.
The lies are so transparent, but they just keep flowing. Let’s stop them in their tracks. When a pundit refuses to answer the question, end the interview.
"Emmer: I think we should stick to the issues. The issues are, Donald Trump fixed it once. They broke it. He’s going to fix it again. That – those are the issues."
Lying liars with unlimited platforms to lie.
Years of messaging malpractice by the Democratic Party abetted by a we-repeat-you-decide news media has led us into a Twilight Zone "dimension of imagination" where Biden gets blamed for inflation while Trump gets a pass on cratering the economy with his what-me-worry approach to the pandemic.
The Harris campaign clearly understands this but playing catch-up in a compressed time frame. Democrats need to blame inflation squarely on Trump's extravagant corporate tax cut for the wealthy which incentivized price gouging, his mishandling of the pandemic and the subsequent supply chain shutdown. Not to mention Trump's dopey and inflationary pledge to be the "tariffs President". Do what the Republicans do and repeat this line of attack like the proverbial broken record, which is Trump's secret sauce.
"More than 400 economists and former high-ranking US policymakers are endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris and her vision for the American economy" according to CNN. Harris will be better for the economy according to the experts. However, the misinformed majority of American people beg to differ. (Maybe this is because the same furrowed brows at the network criticize Kamala for lack of specifics while shrugging off nonsense from her blustering opponent).
The Harris campaign needs to take a sledgehammer to the misperception that Defaultin' Donald and his half dozen business bankruptcies are the magic elixir for America.
I know we're not the same people, but still...Republicans are shameless about lying and they're masters of deflection. Why is it so hard for Democrats to weaponize the truth with the same ferocity?