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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / ‘Stop trying to make Comey happen!’

‘Stop trying to make Comey happen!’

by Betty Cracker|  October 22, 202011:13 am| 130 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Open Threads, Politics, Republican Stupidity, Trumpery

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As Election Day looms and polling indicates that it may bring a good old-fashioned beat-down, the malignant narcissist in the White House is desperate to pull another Comey out of a hat. But approximately four centuries have passed since Comey decided the FBI director role was too small for such a big man.

The schemes and political constraints that existed in 2016 seem as outlandish and quaint as the machinations around the Second Treaty of Ulm. Rather than Comey trampling over dithering Justice Department lawyers at the eleventh hour to take center stage and play Last Honest Man to disastrous effect, we’ve seen an open, years-long effort by Trump and his toadies to tip the scales.

But they keep coming up short. Trump got himself impeached for his personal efforts to rig the election. The henchmen he deployed to dig up dirt on the Obama administration found precisely jack and shit.

The pseudo-scandal hype-cycle on Fox News keeps raising and dashing the hopes of the network’s most avid viewer. The Barr boondoggle to investigate the origins of the Mueller probe, the “unmasking” wild goose chase, the Durham snipe hunt — all came to a sad trombone conclusion.

It’s driving the man with the remote buggy. From The Post:

President Trump and his advisers have repeatedly discussed whether to fire FBI Director Christopher A. Wray after Election Day — a scenario that also could imperil the tenure of Attorney General William P. Barr as the president grows increasingly frustrated that federal law enforcement has not delivered his campaign the kind of last-minute boost that the FBI provided in 2016, according to people familiar with the matter.

The conversations among the president and senior aides stem in part from their disappointment that Wray in particular but Barr as well have not done what Trump had hoped — indicate that Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, his son Hunter Biden or other Biden associates are under investigation, these people say. Like others, they spoke on the condition of anonymity to disclose internal discussions.

Rudy unzipped the latest deus ex machina and promptly fell down his own open fly. With the possible exception of Wray, there isn’t a shred of integrity among the players, so I don’t rule out an official attempt to make allegations too hinky to be taken seriously outside the Murdoch-Breitbart ecosystem a thing.

But Trump’s seething frustration as described above might be a tell that he thinks official wingnut DC has forsaken him. With all that rattling around in his tiny pea-brain, it would not be surprising if Trump is even more feral during tonight’s debate. “Fuck it, I’ll do it live,” he’s probably thinking.

Are y’all going to watch the Trash-Spill in Nashville? I’m not sure I have the fortitude, so I’m a maybe.

Open thread.

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Reader Interactions

130Comments

  1. 1.

    Nicole

    October 22, 2020 at 11:17 am

    I’m doing a play reading tonight on Zoom at 7, but I’ll tune in as soon as we’re done. Right now, I’m practicing intermittent fasting (I don’t eat or drink caloric beverages from 7PM to 9AM) but I make an exception on debate nights so I can drink alcohol while I shout at the TV screen.

  2. 2.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:18 am

    It really says it all about James Comey that Donald Trump’s hand-picked FBI Director and even his ludicrously unfit and partisan AG have done a better job staying out of the election than that legend in his own mind did. I can almost understand why Trump just assumed that he’d get that final reality show twist before every election.

  3. 3.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 22, 2020 at 11:19 am

    Jacob T. Levy @jtlevy ·2h
    The attempted reliance on *exactly* the same story structure at the end of the campaign— discovered laptop, discovered emails, and, Trump hopes, a dramatic announcement of an investigation— suggests just *how* firmly rooted Trump’s thinking is in pro wrestling and “reality” TV.

  4. 4.

    Almost Retired

    October 22, 2020 at 11:20 am

    Jeffrey Toobin invited me and a few other guys over to sit in a circle and watch the debate with him, but I think I’ll decline and watch it at home.

  5. 5.

    trollhattan

    October 22, 2020 at 11:21 am

    I don’t foresee watching the debate-adjacent shitshow, with the door slightly ajar due to my curiosity of watching Donny’s freaking out at having his mic cut.

    He, of course, believes as always that he will triumph over Biden due to his manly ways of establishing manliness over feeble just-at-the-horizon-of-death Joe. And Joe will just swat him around like a bug, but a silent bug? Very unTrumplike. Donny needs his Precious Airtime. Especially since he’s fucking broke.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    October 22, 2020 at 11:24 am

    I don’t watch debates— labile blood pressure. Also, I prefer reading commentary, so sue me. Also, I have limited insight into the reactions of the few undecided voters out there, which is what actually matters.

  7. 7.

    Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.)

    October 22, 2020 at 11:25 am

    Good God, I can’t even think about watching that shit show.  I feel bad for Joe Biden.  He has to be there.

  8. 8.

    Cermet

    October 22, 2020 at 11:28 am

    Barr is scared – he knows if he does a “bridge too far” effort, and Biden wins, he will do very hard time in a federal jail. The orange %art cloud might skip the country but Barr can’t. Nor would that pile of garbage named rump give him a pardon. So Barr isn’t likely to do anything that gets him a special jump suit for ten to twenty.

  9. 9.

    clay

    October 22, 2020 at 11:28 am

    Even after everything we’ve seen, it’s still pretty shocking that Trump is openly wishing for the Justice Department/FBI to become his political hatchet men, and wanting to fire people when they don’t lower themselves to his standards.

    It’s good that I’m still capable of shock, I guess.

  10. 10.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 11:29 am

    We’ll have it on for the kids who are HS and college age and this is frankly the first election they are really paying attention to.  Well, the older ones remember Hillary I guess, and remember Obama fondly.  But they don’t really remember any of the Obama campaigns.

    I don’t know if I’m going to be able to take it though.

  11. 11.

    MattF

    October 22, 2020 at 11:31 am

    @clay: Why, I recall— back in Paleolithic days— when even the concept of an ‘enemies list’ was considered a major scandal.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:31 am

    This could be the last presidential debate ever.

  13. 13.

    Bruuuuce

    October 22, 2020 at 11:33 am

    I have no intention of watching the implosion live. Instead, I expect to be watching and listening to Dar Williams’ livestream “Many Great Companions” with Shawn Mullins, The Nields, and more. Since my work shift begins at 9 PM, it’s just as well that I don’t get agitated to the point of putting my hand through a screen.

  14. 14.

    TS (the original)

    October 22, 2020 at 11:34 am

    @Baud:

    Trump has ruined many traditions, getting rid of this one may be the only positive part of the past 4 years.

  15. 15.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 22, 2020 at 11:36 am

    I always figured Trump will fire Barr for the simple fact Trump owes Barr.

  16. 16.

    CaseyL

    October 22, 2020 at 11:36 am

    A friend asked if I’d be watching, and I said no. She said the only reason she’d be tuning in was in hopes of seeing Trump go berzerk when his mic is cut.

    I figure I can catch that afterward, when the meltdown is posted somewhere. No reason to subject myself to that walking pustule live.

  17. 17.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:37 am

    @TS (the original):

    No.  Also White House Correspondents Dinner.  Give the man his due.

  18. 18.

    MattF

    October 22, 2020 at 11:37 am

    @Bruuuuce: Ah, yay Dar. Her rendition of ‘The Ballad of Mary Magdalen’ is on my all time fave list. It helps that the song has one of the funniest lines in any song.

  19. 19.

    jeffreyw

    October 22, 2020 at 11:38 am

    I think I’ll just catch the highlights a little later.  A laurel and hearty handshake to those that choose to see it live.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    October 22, 2020 at 11:39 am

    I really don’t want to watch this thing, but my John will insist because he has never missed a debate. Ugh. I’m planning on sitting in the back part of the room (or perhaps in the bonus room) trying not to pay attention unless something really crazy happens. Which, I figure, has about a 70/30 chance of happening. I will be following here for the commentary and possibly jump around to NYMag or TPM for theirs, if they are doing live blogging.

    Guy has lost what little mind he had, so it should be interesting. I see he’s still screaming about Leslie Stahl.

  21. 21.

    Bruuuuce

    October 22, 2020 at 11:41 am

    @MattF: It has been a good week for livestreams. Christine Lavin and Robin Batteau were on a few days ago, and then this tonight. Can’t reasonably ask for more than that. (I have a bunch of UNreasonable wishes, but I’m still part of the reality-based community.)

  22. 22.

    Ivan X

    October 22, 2020 at 11:42 am

    I, for one, do not have the fortitude. I’ll read what the jackals have to say.

  23. 23.

    Van Buren

    October 22, 2020 at 11:43 am

    @Cermet: If he acts ethically this one time, the village will not hesitate to excuse all his other BS. He will be whitewashed and ready to serve the next R admin. There will be op-eds telling us to be fair and give him a chance.

  24. 24.

    cain

    October 22, 2020 at 11:43 am

    With all that rattling around in his tiny pea-brain, it would not be surprising if Trump is even more feral during tonight’s debate.

    He is going to go for ‘the kill’ and will outright accuse Biden of being a corrupt and talk about hunter biden. The whole debate is going to be about Hunter Biden. It’s going to be an utter shit show.

  25. 25.

    cain

    October 22, 2020 at 11:45 am

    @Almost Retired:

    Jeffrey Toobin invited me and a few other guys over to sit in a circle and watch the debate with him, but I think I’ll decline and watch it at home.

    Wise.

  26. 26.

    TaMara (HFG)

    October 22, 2020 at 11:46 am

    I guess Don Jr was on Fox accusing Hunter of the entire Qanon child porn thing. I hope Hunter has Secret Service protection.

  27. 27.

    Betty Cracker

    October 22, 2020 at 11:47 am

    Y’all. According to The Guardian, a Dutch security expert hacked Trump’s Twitter account by guessing the password: “MAGA2020.” I shit you not.

  28. 28.

    Immanentize

    October 22, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @Almost Retired: . I wouldn’t hang out with Toobin either, that guy’s a jerk.

  29. 29.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @Almost Retired: Jeffrey Toobin invited me and a few other guys over to sit in a circle and watch the debate with him, but I think I’ll decline and watch it at home.

    Sounds like my kind of party, except the whole part where it includes Jeffrey Toobin.

  30. 30.

    MattF

    October 22, 2020 at 11:48 am

    @cain: Trump’s whole schtick is ‘dominance’, so there’s really no doubt about what he’ll try. The only question is how Biden and the moderators will respond— and it’s not worth risking a stroke to find out.

  31. 31.

    Zelma

    October 22, 2020 at 11:48 am

    Gee, I have a choice. The debate or the Eagles/Giants game. I do believe that, even though I have been an Eagles fan for 70 years (except when the play the Steelers) and that watching them this year causes me great emotional distress, that I will watch the game.

  32. 32.

    geg6

    October 22, 2020 at 11:50 am

    @Betty Cracker:

    Jesus Christ, just when I think they can’t be any more stupid, they do a high jump right over whatever wall of idiocy I thought couldn’t possibly be breached.

  33. 33.

    Hungry Joe

    October 22, 2020 at 11:50 am

    I’m starting to think that the October Surprise Game has played itself out — we’re all hip to the scheme, so anything short of a live boy/dead girl scenario (with pics!) is unlikely to elicit much more than the predictable squeal from the frothing base and a collective eye roll from the sane(r) quadrants.

    Debate: Although I gave up watching football many (many!) years ago, I remember that trying to hold a lead by employing a Prevent defense tended to fail 78 times out of 79. But that’s because the other team had a credible offense. Trump’s team has nothing. Biden’s team needs to play its standard defense — the Trumps ain’t scored on ‘em yet, so it’s working — and when QB Joe gets the ball, he just falls on it three times, then punts. Trump’s team has no time outs left, the Bidens can see the Statue of Liberty play coming a mile away and are ready for it,* and Trump’s below-Tebow arm is taking them nowhere.

    * This is a stretch; I’m not even sure if/how it applies. But even on second and third reading, I still like it, so I’m leaving it in.

  34. 34.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:50 am

    @Betty Cracker: 

    Off to try “malarkey” on Biden’s twitter.

  35. 35.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @Baud: Why do you think that?

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 11:51 am

    @Baud:  Try C0me0nmaN2020$

  37. 37.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:52 am

    @Hungry Joe:

    I’m not even sure pics will be enough given how easily they can be faked.

  38. 38.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 11:53 am

    @Kent: Was Baud thinking or hoping?

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    October 22, 2020 at 11:53 am

    What was I thinking–I have the 1-5 Giants taking on the 1-4-1 Eagles to occupy my evening. Problem solved!

  40. 40.

    A Good Woman

    October 22, 2020 at 11:53 am

    Yeah, I will be tuning in, and possibly channel surfing through it all. The mic cutoff for the first 2 minutes should be entertaining because I believe The Orange Menace will lose it. I predict that he’ll finally walk off the stage while the debate is still on, complaining about the unfairness of it all. That would be perfect.

  41. 41.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:53 am

    @Kent:

    Because Trump made them a disaster, and people had been growing tired of them anyway.  I don’t know if they’ll come back absent some significant reforms.

  42. 42.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 11:54 am

    @Hungry Joe: Yeah, but the Biden team isn’t punting to use your football analogy.   They are staying on offense.  And teams don’t come from behind 78 out of 79 times.  In most football games, the team that is behind in the 4th quarter loses.  Comebacks are rare in football.  Not impossible, but pretty rare.

  43. 43.

    Yarrow

    October 22, 2020 at 11:54 am

    I’m going to watch, at least for a bit. Kind of want to see how the microphone muting thing plays out. Pathetic Orange could be very pouty about it.

  44. 44.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @Hungry Joe: I’m starting to think that the October Surprise Game has played itself out — we’re all hip to the scheme

    October surprises should derive naturally from the plot and not be crudely implemented by a ham-fisted author.

  45. 45.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:55 am

    @Zelma:

    . I do believe that, even though I have been an Eagles fan for 70 years (except when the play the Steelers) and that watching them this year causes me great emotional distress, that I will watch the game.

    Less brain damage.

  46. 46.

    Brantl

    October 22, 2020 at 11:55 am

    One thing that bears major consideration is that all Stump’s sneers are very grotesque, minus sound. He’s going to look like Quasimodo , silent

  47. 47.

    trollhattan

    October 22, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @Hungry Joe:

    Yeah, what am I supposed to do–go down to the county and demand my ballot back? (I had NO idea Biden’s cousin’s sister-in-law’s friend had embezzled from her church.)

    No do-overs.”

  48. 48.

    sdhays

    October 22, 2020 at 11:56 am

    I hope he does fire Christopher Wray after the election (assuming he loses). That would clear the way for Biden to install his own untainted FBI Director. I have figured that Biden would leave Wray in place for the duration of his term since he has done better than others at resisting overt influence from the Very White House, but Wray is still a Dump appointee, and they ALL need to go.

  49. 49.

    Geo Wilcox

    October 22, 2020 at 11:56 am

    @Van Buren:  The only way this will happen is if he is drugged to the gills with downers.

  50. 50.

    Darkrose

    October 22, 2020 at 11:58 am

    @Betty Cracker: 

    Worse, it was maga2020! All lower-case, 9 characters (though at least there’s a special character in there), and two-factor authentication not enabled.

  51. 51.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 11:58 am

    @sdhays: Agreed.

  52. 52.

    James E Powell

    October 22, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @Baud: 

    This could be the last presidential debate ever.

    That would be great. We’ve had enough of people who get votes because they can look & sound good on TV. It has almost no relation to good governance or effective policies.

  53. 53.

    MisterForkbeard

    October 22, 2020 at 11:59 am

    @Betty Cracker: My god. I hope he pulled the DMs. Those had to be eye opening.

  54. 54.

    Benw

    October 22, 2020 at 12:00 pm

    @Betty Cracker: I wonder who picked maga2020? Jared or Ivanka? Trump certainly isn’t smart enough to remember to have reset his password since 2016!

  55. 55.

    MomSense

    October 22, 2020 at 12:00 pm

    I always watch the debates and don’t plan to let the Apricot Asshole stop me.  I did make sure to stock up on some session IPA for courage.

  56. 56.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 12:01 pm

    @Baud: We might be tired of them, but I don’t think “people” are tired of them.  They get good ratings.  And honestly, it’s one of the few unscripted moments we get.  Everything else is curated.

    I don’t see them going away.  No future candidate is going to want to be the one who kills the debates and suffer things like having guys in chicken suits follow them around to every campaign event.

    But yes, reforms needed.

  57. 57.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers was fidelio

    October 22, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    By and large, working from home during this mess has been a relief, and not just because I’m happy to skip the commute. But I’m even happier today, as presidential visits really screw up the traffic. I hope this is worth it for Belmont University and the Southern Baptists.

  58. 58.

    opiejeanne

    October 22, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    I don’t know if I’m watching the debate tonight. I’m having surgery on my right hand this afternoon to remove a ganglion cyst, so I may be on painkillers when the debate is on. It’s very minor surgery, out-patient, but I may need those drugs tonight.

  59. 59.

    geg6

    October 22, 2020 at 12:02 pm

    @Kent:

    That’s why those kinds of games are almost always instant classics.  They are so rare.  It’s why the 2005 Steelers season and playoff run to the Super Bowl is so legendary here.  They ended the regular season at a not very impressive 11-5 and sixth seed in the playoffs.  But they won it all.  Drumpf already had his improbable win in 2016.  These things don’t happen twice in a row in exactly the same way.  They just don’t.

  60. 60.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 12:03 pm

    @James E Powell:That would be great. We’ve had enough of people who get votes because they can look & sound good on TV. It has almost no relation to good governance or effective policies.

    If we pull the debates, all we will have left is scripted TV appearances.  At least they are semi-unscripted.

  61. 61.

    Winston

    October 22, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    I want to see the first mic cut.

  62. 62.

    geg6

    October 22, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    I could probably handle it if I was on major pain meds.

  63. 63.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    @Benw: I wonder who picked maga2020? Jared or Ivanka? Trump certainly isn’t smart enough to remember to have reset his password since 2016!

    Probably changed it to maga2020 the day after the 2016 election and then neglected to change it for years.

  64. 64.

    Joey Maloney

    October 22, 2020 at 12:07 pm

    I’d have to wake up at 3 am to watch it live. That ain’t happening. If there’s any really festive orange meltdown I’ll read about it on Wonkette.

  65. 65.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 12:09 pm

    @geg6: To continue the football analogy.  Trump is trying to run the same exact playbook as 2016.  That never works the second time around.  The average NFL team wouldn’t gain 2 yards if the opposing defense had their playbook and knew which play was coming.

    I’m nervous as hell about this election.  But every new day that passes without a major event upsetting this race brings us closer.  We are now up to nearly 46 million votes already cast.  Every day closer to November 3 means this election is more and more baked in.

    Without Covid I think we would have been in a real nail-biter right now.

  66. 66.

    pat

    October 22, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    I’ll be watching, at least the pre-game show, on MSNBC. Love Joy, Rachel and Nicole.

  67. 67.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 12:12 pm

    @Kent: 

    Even without debates, you’d still have candidates doing individual town halls.

  68. 68.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    @Kent: Without Covid I think we would have been in a real nail-biter right now.

    2018 and all the special elections since 2016 point the other way.

  69. 69.

    Tim C.

    October 22, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    Nopeity Nope Nope Nope.

    Thankfully, I’m going off to cabin-camp in the woods with no wi-fi. I’ve voted, I’ve donated, I’ve pushed people so I’m taking this weekend to not be engaged and just enjoy the cool weather and playing board games with my kids and spouse.

  70. 70.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    @Kent: I don’t see them going away.  No future candidate is going to want to be the one who kills the debates and suffer things like having guys in chicken suits follow them around to every campaign event.

    If we start a new tradition that serves the same theoretical purpose, that may end the debates.  Debates, too, were a novel idea at one point.

  71. 71.

    geg6

    October 22, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    @pat: 

    I will definitely be catching the pre- and post-game shows with these ladies. They are highly entertaining.

  72. 72.

    Subsole

    October 22, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    @Betty Cracker: 

    “That’s amazing, I have the same combination on my luggage!”

  73. 73.

    Baud

    October 22, 2020 at 12:15 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: 

    I think Biden would still win, but it would be closer.

  74. 74.

    James E Powell

    October 22, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    @Kent:

    The value of unscripted moments is what? A chance for the candidate to sneeze, misspeak, or maybe show a facial expression that supposedly reveals the candidate’s inner soul?

    Can we just disagree and remain friends? I don’t want to beat it into the ground

    @Baud:

    Even without debates, you’d still have candidates doing individual town halls.

    That would be much better. A series of them, like PM question time.

  75. 75.

    zzyzx

    October 22, 2020 at 12:17 pm

    It’s like every time Trump tries to make his move, he does something that causes him to lose a day with people mocking him again. maga2020!

  76. 76.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 12:18 pm

    @Baud: I agree.  My point, though, is that it isn’t just Covid.  He’s been a bad president, and the country has seen that.

  77. 77.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    Y’all. According to The Guardian, a Dutch security expert hacked Trump’s Twitter account by guessing the password: “MAGA2020.” I shit you not.

    @Subsole:“That’s amazing, I have the same combination on my luggage!”

    Cover your luggage in Biden stickers and I promise you no one will ever guess that.

  78. 78.

    gvg

    October 22, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    It will be interesting to hear if the mike cuts make the debate tolerable. If so that might be permanent, which I have wished for many times before Trump came on the scene. I hope Trump visibly keeps melting down but Joe is able to give substantive answers to non Trump directed questions. I want the benefits of Trump turning more people off in debates while giving Biden a chance to actually use the debates traditionally. He will of course look decent in comparison to rageholic nutcase. Don’t know if this will really work as planned. Biden’s team will have the difficult task of preparing for the way it’s supposed to go and the ways in might not.

  79. 79.

    Betty Cracker

    October 22, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    @pat & @geg6: Me three — they really do have great chemistry and complementary skills. It pisses me off that Brian Williams has to come in and ruin everything at the end.

  80. 80.

    Suzanne

    October 22, 2020 at 12:19 pm

    I might watch. I might be too tired. It’s been a rough week, sleep-wise. Spawn the Youngest wakes up around 4AM every morning and wants to come sleep in bed with Mom and Dad, which we have been allowing, because, well, 4AM and cuddles. But she wants to be in physical contact with us when she sleeps, so she is just all over me. It’s simultaneously cute and annoying. But more cute.

  81. 81.

    Kathleen

    October 22, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @Van Buren:  PIVoT!

  82. 82.

    James E Powell

    October 22, 2020 at 12:20 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Agree. I don’t see Biden losing the Evil Three that voted for Trump because the idea of a female president was scarier than a black president.

    For four years Trump refused to do anything that would have expanded his appeal since he lost the popular vote in 2016.

  83. 83.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:21 pm

    @James E Powell: What if the debates were run by people who made it their mission to inform the American public, instead of the news media?

  84. 84.

    trollhattan

    October 22, 2020 at 12:22 pm

    @gvg:

    How separated will they be, I wonder? If they’re as close as Pence and Harris Biden’s mic will pick up Donny’s bellowing.

  85. 85.

    Subsole

    October 22, 2020 at 12:22 pm

    @Kropacetic:

    Nah, I’ll just change it to something better.

    Like 12345.

  86. 86.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    October 22, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    Will look for live blogs and feel sorry for the people who are actually watching so they can update the blogs.

    Late-night comedy is making me crazy. I need the laughs, but they all keep making me listen to Trump’s voice before poking fun at him. So I’ve ended up hearing him more in the last few months than I had in the previous 3-1/2 years.

    Not going to do anything to increase the dosage.

  87. 87.

    Kathleen

    October 22, 2020 at 12:23 pm

    @Immanentize: To quote Aretha Franklin, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who”

  88. 88.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    October 22, 2020 at 12:24 pm

    @Kathleen: oh, there’s a tumble into the Wayback Machine!

  89. 89.

    Anoniminous

    October 22, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    Republicans went with their Go-To Southern Never-Failed-Before Strategy, i.e., racism, and it didn’t work.

    Suburban white women are refusing to be terrified about THE NEGROES!!!!!

    And, also (too,) the majority of new voters in, e.g., Georgia, are Negroes and refuse to be terrified by themselves.

    So, in short: the Republicans are fucked. They are likely to lose Yet More seats in the House and the odds of the Senate flipping are increasing.

  90. 90.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    October 22, 2020 at 12:25 pm

    @Kent:

    I largely agree. Though I worry about some of the “normies” being influenced by Hunter Biden child pr0n BS that some hack at the DOJ/FBI announces just days before the election. My local Ogden-owned rag has pushing Hunter Biden since earlier this week.

    Or even that the Barrett nomination could give the GOP a boost a week out from the election. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing. I’m still confident Biden will likely win, but I can’t help but feel this way

  91. 91.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 12:26 pm

    @James E Powell: Another, and more generous, way to look at it is that 2016 was, for example, the first election in which the Voter ID was enforced in WI.  We now have that example and have had four years to get people prepared to meet the requirements.  I believe it will make a difference.

  92. 92.

    James E Powell

    October 22, 2020 at 12:29 pm

    @Kropacetic:

    I don’t believe the format will allow that no matter who is running the show. And it is, after all, just another show.

  93. 93.

    Kathleen

    October 22, 2020 at 12:31 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: If I weren’t on my phone I’d post a link to the song which is better than I remembered it.

  94. 94.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    @Baud: Even without debates, you’d still have candidates doing individual town halls.

    The Bush 2000 campaign was basically one long series of scripted moments of Bush looking rugged and manly in front of stacks of hay bales and shit.  He didn’t do questions from actual voters.  He was the ultimate fake candidate with the “compassionate conservative” bullshit.

    I don’t know how you fix that.  I think it’s even worse today.

    Debates are probably more important in the primaries though.  Candidates who skip the primary debates rarely go anywhere (Bloomberg, for example).

  95. 95.

    James E Powell

    October 22, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    My generous spirit toward the good people of Wisconsin will return just as soon as they elect a Democrat in place of Ron Johnson in 2022.

    From the people of my beloved home state of Ohio, it will require more. Much more.

  96. 96.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    @James E Powell: I get that, though I would like to see something that serves the purpose the debates theoretically serve; contrasting the candidates and give them opportunities to directly challenge one another.

    Though there I mostly was trying to throw shade at what passes for news media in this country.

  97. 97.

    Ken

    October 22, 2020 at 12:34 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: *how* firmly rooted Trump’s thinking is in pro wrestling and “reality” TV.

    That’s offensive to wrestling and reality TV. Both genres are formulaic, but neither would try to reuse exactly the same plot twist, especially not twice in a row.

  98. 98.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 12:35 pm

    @James E Powell: Again, voter suppression is 2016 helped Johnson too.

  99. 99.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:38 pm

    @Ken: That’s offensive to wrestling and reality TV. Both genres are formulaic, but neither would try to reuse exactly the same plot twist, especially not twice in a row.

    That’s because the people who produce pro-wrestling and reality TV are professionals, unlike their poor imitators in the Trump administration.

  100. 100.

    Ken

    October 22, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    @Hungry Joe: live boy/dead girl scenario (with pics!)

    There was that picture circulating yesterday, of the young woman bending over a corpse on a bed.  There was also a closeup of some corpse’s necrotic hands.  Do those count?

  101. 101.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 12:39 pm

    @Goku (Amerikan Baka):

    @Kent:

    I largely agree. Though I worry about some of the “normies” being influenced by Hunter Biden child pr0n BS that some hack at the DOJ/FBI announces just days before the election. My local Ogden-owned rag has pushing Hunter Biden since earlier this week.

    Or even that the Barrett nomination could give the GOP a boost a week out from the election. Maybe I’m worrying over nothing. I’m still confident Biden will likely win, but I can’t help but feel this way

    Look, the FOX news ecosystem is going to be pushing some sort of crazy shit 24/7 from now until the election.  That’s absolutely guaranteed.  If it wasn’t Hunter it would be scary black ANTIFA shit or something else that they would just make up out of thin air.  And people here would be hand-wringing about the ANTIFA crazies in Portland fucking up the election for us.

    We just have to take it as a certainty that they will be spraying shit at the wall with a firehose.  At least they picked something ridiculous.

    Why I don’t think the Hunter Biden thing is going anywhere is because the American people have over a decade of experience with Joe Biden in the public eye and they don’t think he is corrupt.  They just don’t believe it and they have good reason not to believe it because it isn’t believable.  There are attacks one can make against Joe Biden.  But corruption for personal gain isn’t one of them.  Fox can do all the “gotcha emails” they want. But no one who hasn’t drunk the Kool Aid really actually believes that Biden is actually corrupt.  Especially through some convoluted Ukrainian shit

    The 2016 emails thing worked better against Hillary because she did a shitty job of responding to it and it reflected a certain Clinton trait of being secretive and defensive.  No one actually believes that Joe Biden ran some complicated kickback scheme related to Ukrainian prosecutors to line his pockets from the Vice President’s office.

  102. 102.

    zzyzx

    October 22, 2020 at 12:40 pm

    I wish we could have debates where we could actually discuss relevant issues, but that ship has long sailed. So now we root for funny zingers.

  103. 103.

    Kropacetic

    October 22, 2020 at 12:43 pm

    @Kent: Look, the FOX news ecosystem is going to be pushing some sort of crazy shit 24/7 from now until the election death of the sun.

    Fixt

  104. 104.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 22, 2020 at 12:46 pm

    One of the things I have been noticed, every election since 2000 has had the candidates taking turns on having a good week, not this one. It’s all been: horrible week for Trump, not so bad week for Trump. Short of someone crazy like there is this huge number of Apprentice fans who just to show up and vote for their celebrity like it’s some kind of American Idol thing and otherwise don’t pay attention, I just don’t see how Trump wins this.

  105. 105.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 12:52 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques: As of today, over 46 million people have already voted.  That’s about 1/3 of the entire 2016 electorate.

    Trump may actually be leading in the early vote.  Who the hell actually knows.  But every new day that dawns makes a 2016-style Comey thing less and less likely to influence the outcome.  You don’t just have to swing the electorate by a few percentage points.  You have to swing the remaining voters tens of percentage points.  There’s already over a million votes cast in every single swing state and multiple millions in some like NC and FL.  The only states not yet voting are ones like NY.

  106. 106.

    sherparick

    October 22, 2020 at 12:56 pm

    @Lord Fartdaddy (Formerly, Mumphrey, Smedley Darlington Mingobat, et al.): I keep having the fantasy of Trump going off on Hunter and then Beau and Joe saying “Excuse me for violating the social distancing rules,” and then walking over and punching the Orange Troll on the nose. I know it is at least 2 to 3 different felonies if he did that, but I would not think a jury of his peers would convict.

  107. 107.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 22, 2020 at 12:58 pm

    @Geo Wilcox:  The only way this will happen is if he is drugged to the gills with downers.

    That’s my bet, if Trump is up on the nose powder again it will be one long irrational scream about how Hunter Biden is a reptilian skin walker from Rigeal here to eat all the children.  IF Trump’s handlers sedate him it will be non stop blubbering from Trump about how the whole world is out to get him.

  108. 108.

    Felanius Kootea

    October 22, 2020 at 1:00 pm

    @Kent:  He’s not leading the early vote because over 50% of early voters in states that track party affiliation are Democrats, 26% are Republicans and 21% are not affiliated with either political party. I think more Dems are voting early and many Republicans plan to vote in person on November 3.

  109. 109.

    sherparick

    October 22, 2020 at 1:00 pm

    @Kent: Also, the NYT proved a perfect conduit of RW slime against the Clintons for 25 years, with their then premier conservative colunmnist, William Safire, (a dirt bag who came up working for Richard Nixon for 15 years), reporting from sources in Ken Starr’s office that Hillary would be indicted at any moment for argle-bargle.

  110. 110.

    Ken

    October 22, 2020 at 1:02 pm

    @Felanius Kootea: The Trump hotel in Chicago was hit by a rare simultaneous triple lightning strike last night.  If on election day freak rain and snowstorms keep millions of Trump voters from making it to the polls, we’ll definitely know whose side Thor is on.

  111. 111.

    David Anderson

    October 22, 2020 at 1:04 pm

    @Almost Retired: Jerk

  112. 112.

    Goku (Amerikan Baka)

    October 22, 2020 at 1:05 pm

    @Kent:

    Again, I think you’re correct. I guess it’s just jitters from 2016

  113. 113.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 1:07 pm

    @Felanius Kootea: @Kent: He’s not leading the early vote because over 50% of early voters in states that track party affiliation are Democrats, 26% are Republicans and 21% are not affiliated with either political party. I think more Dems are voting early and many Republicans plan to vote in person on November 3.

    Covid is ramping up in every swing state. They may wish they hadn’t encouraged all their old seniors to wait until election day to vote in person. A bunch of them might say “fuckit, I’m not risking death for a losing cause”

  114. 114.

    Omnes Omnibus

    October 22, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    @David Anderson: That’s horrible.  Congratulations.

  115. 115.

    Frank Wilhoit

    October 22, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    @MattF:  It’s not only about undecided voters. It is even more about turning up the heat on all the bad actors and making it (if only marginally) more likely that they will lose their nerve…

    …which they always do, tho’ usually only after a lot of irreversible collateral damage has been done.

  116. 116.

    Bex

    October 22, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    @Ken:  RBG hit the smite button again.

  117. 117.

    misterpuff

    October 22, 2020 at 1:15 pm

    Clinton Rules

    Comey Rules

    October Rules

    Trump Fools

    GOP Tools

    but finally

    Biden Rules and Moscow Mitch Droolz

  118. 118.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    October 22, 2020 at 1:16 pm

    @Kent:  That and all their voter harassment is planned for election day, when their people will be voting.

    It would be peak Trump if it ends up he screwed his own vote over.

  119. 119.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    October 22, 2020 at 1:18 pm

    I’m struck by the timing of the threat to fire Wray. Why the day after the election? Do they anticipate he’ll be in the way of their attempts to screw the vote?

  120. 120.

    RandomMonster

    October 22, 2020 at 1:26 pm

    @misterpuff:

    Clinton Rules

    Comey Rules

    October Rules

    Trump Fools

    GOP Tools

    “We didn’t start the fire”

  121. 121.

    TheOtherHank

    October 22, 2020 at 1:33 pm

    In the immortal words of Ed Burmilla (the Gin and Tacos guy), I don’t hate myself enough to watch it.

  122. 122.

    oatler.

    October 22, 2020 at 1:41 pm

    Warren is on The View right now. Bonus: no Meghan McCain on to say “but Nancy Pelosi,,,”

  123. 123.

    Kent

    October 22, 2020 at 1:45 pm

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    @Kent:  That and all their voter harassment is planned for election day, when their people will be voting.

    It would be peak Trump if it ends up he screwed his own vote over.

    But the election day fuckery is only planned for heavily Dem minority precincts in places like inner city Philly and Milwaukee.  They aren’t sending armed militia out to white suburbs and rural GOP precincts where Aunt Bessie votes.

  124. 124.

    J R in WV

    October 22, 2020 at 1:53 pm

    @geg6:

    October 22, 2020 at 12:06 pm

    @opiejeanne:

    I could probably handle it if I was on major pain meds.

    My first thought when I read opiejeanne’s comment — that would help keep me from destroying my laptop, upon which I access broadcast TV and streaming video in the innertubes.

  125. 125.

    J R in WV

    October 22, 2020 at 2:00 pm

    @Suzanne:

    Spawn the Youngest wakes up around 4AM every morning and wants to come sleep in bed with Mom and Dad, which we have been allowing, because, well, 4AM and cuddles.

    Aw, that’s so cute sounding!

    We have a similar problem with youngest female puppy, 45 pounds of loves to cuddle at 3 or 4 am. When she is still, that’s cute and cuddles, but she isn’t always still. And youngster offspring isn’t a 45 pound puppy either. But you gotta live with what you got, and we gots the puppies.

    I do see that the Thursday night NFL game starts well before the debate, and then winds up after the debate wraps, so I may channel surf back and forth, or sit at the kitchen table with wife, who WILL watch the debate. We can have both laptops up and running.

  126. 126.

    otmar

    October 22, 2020 at 2:20 pm

    Well, watching the debate is a non-starter for me: I’m 6 hours ahead of the east coast, and I won’t pull an all-nighter for that shitshow.

  127. 127.

    mrmoshpotato

    October 22, 2020 at 2:38 pm

    Rudy unzipped the latest deus ex machina and promptly fell down his own open fly.

    Now you’re just mocking us mere mortals with your wordcraft! 😚

  128. 128.

    BruceFromOhio

    October 22, 2020 at 3:31 pm

    Are y’all going to watch the Trash-Spill in Nashville? I’m not sure I have the fortitude, so I’m a maybe.

    I’d rather be eaten by wolves.

  129. 129.

    Ruckus

    October 22, 2020 at 4:13 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: 
    I believe I’d rather eat wolf shit than watch/listen to shitforbrains.

  130. 130.

    There go two miscreants

    October 22, 2020 at 4:19 pm

    Love the “trash-spill in Nashville”, and I still like “henchmen” better than any other term for Dump’s goons and hangers-on. I know it’s been devalued somewhat but not as much as “minions”!

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