This is likely to be the final edition of the Trump New Lows Tracker. If Trump is re-elected, I have neither stomach nor stamina to chronicle the new lows of a second term; if he is defeated, I have no interest in following his misadventures in retirement. That, of course leaves the period between November 3 and January 20. It is ample time for numerous new lows, but those lows may demand individual coverage.
The last New Lows Tracker was posted on September 14. Since then, the major events have involved the Covid-19 pandemic and the presidential campaign, each of which spawned its own share of new lows.
The Pandemic.
No. 40. Trump’s Reckless Personal Behavior. On September 26, Trump hosted a super-spreader event in the White House Rose Garden to celebrate the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to serve on the Supreme Court. Neither masks nor social distancing were in evidence and in the following days numerous attendees would be diagnosed with Covid-19. Those infected included key members of the White House staff, Senators, and the President himself. The White House declined an offer by the Center for Disease Control to do contact tracing, and the White House did little or none on its own.
Trump, after being diagnosed with Covid-19, was taken to Walter Reed Hospital on Friday October 2, where he was given treatment including a combination of medications unavailable to any other American citizen. Trump returned to the White House the following Monday and, upon his arrival, immediately proceeded to remove his mask and endanger those around him.
No. 41. Trump’s Political Stance on the Pandemic. This is perhaps the lowest of Trump’s New Lows, costing tens, possibly hundreds, of thousands of American lives. Throughout the pandemic, Trump has clung stubbornly to a strategy of “playing it down,” which as he admitted to Bob Woodward, he deliberately pursued last spring.
Trump seized upon his own recovery from Covid-19 as grounds for dismissing the seriousness of Covid infection. While making an occasional reluctant endorsement of masks, he scoffed at mask-wearing by Joe Biden and insisted on holding rallies conspicuously marked by few masks and no social distancing. Even worse, Trump repeatedly insisted that we are “turning the corner” on the pandemic. To anyone who has not been marinated in the Trump Kool Aid, that posture is either delusional or a malevolent lie. We may well be turning a corner, but what is around the corner is horrifying. Trump has tried to brush off the breathtaking surge in reported coronavirus cases as just a product of increased testing–a view that is supported by no credible scientific or medical expert and that, on Wednesday, was explicitly contradicted by Trump’s own testing czar, Admiral Brett Giroir. And even Trump could not brush off the rising rate of hospitalizations and deaths. To date, increases in hospitalizations and deaths are less than the increase in reported cases, but they are still alarming and certain to get worse.
Trump has ignored, or sometimes disparaged, the advice of his most highly respected advisor, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Another formerly prominent advisor, Dr. Deborah Birx, also highly respected, has largely disappeared from public view. In their stead, Trump has turned to Dr. Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist and conservative ideologue. While Dr. Atlas has strong credentials as a conservative (he is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution), he has none as an epidemiologist. His advocacy of herd immunity (or, as Trump put it, “herd mentality”) is viewed by an overwhelming majority of the medical community as pseudo-science and a prescription for mass fatalities.
Trump has also inflicted serious damage on the reputations of the Center for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration by his relentless efforts to politicize those agencies. As reported in the New York Times on October 10, “Pressure is mounting on the leaders of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention — from inside and outside the agency — to speak publicly against the White House’s manhandling of C.D.C. research and public health decisions, with career scientists so demoralized they are talking of quitting if President Trump wins re-election.”
At the FDA, the agency caved to White House pressure on various occasions (most notoriously in authorizing the use of hydroxychloroquine), but finally stood up to the President by issuing guidelines on vaccine development that the White House had disapproved. Still, experts have been concerned that public confidence in a potential covid vaccine, was seriously undermined by Trump’s frantic pressure to get a vaccine approved prior to the election. Although the possibility of Trump’s hoped for October Vaccine Surprise has now evaporated, public trust may not be easily restored.
The Political Campaign.
Nos. 42-43. The Debates. No 42. I have previously commented on the first Trump-Biden debate (Special Bulletin: The Debate, September 30) and there it is little more to be said except that it was a performance so appalling that it brought cringes to all but the most loyal of Trump supporters.
No. 43. In the second debate, Trump exceeded expectations, and may have even helped himself, simply by behaving a bit more like a normal politician. Despite his improved demeanor, however, Trump outdid himself with a gusher of false and misleading statements. For readers interested in the pathology of the event, numerous examples were collected by the New York Times in “Fact-Checking the Final Presidential Debate.”
No. 44. Scurrilous Attacks on Joe Biden. There is an old aphorism that “politics ain’t beanbag,” but there is no precedent in modern history for the kind of ugly slurs that Trump has flung at Joe Biden. For example, he re-tweeted a ludicrous but vile claim that the Navy SEALs who took down Osama bin Laden actually killed his body double so the team was then killed by Biden and President Obama. When questioned about it at the NBC Town Hall, Trump’s pathetic response was:
That was a retweet. That was an opinion of somebody. And that was a retweet. I’ll put it out there. People can decide for themselves. I won’t take a position.
Ah, there was presidential responsibility. Not surprisingly, host Savannah Guthrie responded, “I don’t get that. You’re the president. You’re not like someone’s crazy uncle.” Unfortunately, “crazy uncle” is the exactly the impression Trump gives all too often.
Then, in Florida on October 16, Trump attacked Hunter Biden and asserted that the Bidens were a “crime family” and a “criminal enterprise.” The “basis” for this slur was apparently a groundless claim that Hunter Biden and Joe Biden had received millions of dollars from an investment in China. Apart from the falsity of the claim, Trump made no effort to explain why, even if it was true, the Bidens had somehow committed a “crime.”
No. 45. Trump’s Attempt to Weaponize the Department of Justice. On October 7 and 8, Trump unleashed a blizzard of tweets complaining that no one had been arrested for the alleged “spying” on his 2016 campaign. One sample:
“DO SOMETHING ABOUT THIS, THE BIGGEST OF ALL POLITICAL SCANDALS (IN HISTORY)!!! BIDEN, OBAMA AND CROOKED HILLARY LED THIS TREASONOUS PLOT!!! BIDEN SHOULDN’T BE ALLOWED TO RUN – GOT CAUGHT!!!”
Trump’s Attorney General, Bill Barr, became the butt of criticism for having indicated that no charges would be brought prior to the election. While Barr had been remarkably nimble in acting as Trump’s lawyer (starting with his deceptive handling of the Mueller report), indicting Biden and Obama, or indicting anyone else prior to the election, was apparently a bridge too far even for him.
No. 46. Attacks on Mail-in Voting. Trump has been relentless in his attacks on mail-in voting, presumably in anticipation of post 11/3 litigation or even chaotic conditions that might inspire Republican legislatures to appoint their own slates of electors in derogation of the popular vote. (See Blog No. 269.The Coming Trump Coup? Part II.) The latter possibility is particularly disquieting in the light of Trump’s steadfast refusal to commit himself to a peaceful transition to a new administration if Biden is elected.
In his most recent comments on the subject, Trump dug in further. On Monday he produced a tweet so brazen that it resulted in a corrective note from Twitter:
Big problems and discrepancies with Mail In Ballots all over the USA. Must have final total on November 3rd.
If anything is clear, it is that we will not have a “final total” on November 3. Twitter added a label with an understated warning to users that some or all of the content shared in the tweet “is disputed and might be misleading,” and it disabled the tweet from being shared.
The tweet has now been removed, but on Tuesday at the White House, Trump was at it again:
It would be very very proper and very nice if a winner were declared on November 3rd, instead of counting ballots for two weeks, which is totally inappropriate and I don’t believe that that’s by our laws. I don’t believe that. So we’ll see what happens.
Although there is no telling what Trump meant by “our laws,” it is quite possible, perhaps likely, that mail-in ballots will be the subject of litigation. Nevertheless, it is unlikely, that even a Supreme Court disposed to favor Trump would indulge him with a wholesale disallowance of mail-in ballots simply because they are tabulated after November 3. But we shall indeed have to see what happens.
To readers: If I have omitted any comment or action by Trump that you think deserves recognition as a New Low, please do send it in.
If you have not yet voted, be sure to do so and encourage your friends and neighbors to vote. (And, if they’re undecided, you might just want to forward a copy of this post.)
Douglas — you done good! Tom
Perhaps the lowest of the lows came this week when Trump claimed doctors were profiting from the coronavirus. These are many of the same people who have been working such long hours they couldn’t even find their bank to deposit all that money they allegedly made.
Doug, I’m not sure you can stop the Trump lows tracker just yet…after all, every day brings a new low.
Tonight I learned that when VP Biden was sent to Turkey to improve relations, he was asked by Turkish strongman/ President Erdogan to get rid of a lawsuit – as well as the judge handling same lawsuit – being handled in NY courts regarding Halkbank, a state-owned Turkish bank accused of violating US sanctions by funneling gold and silver worth billions to Iran. Erdogan suggested that if the US was serious about improving relations with Turkey, the Obama administration should make this lawsuit disappear. At the same time, Erdogan wanted the US to extradite a Turkish religious leader, a political rival, who was living in Pennsylvania.
Biden responded (diplomatically but firmly) that although it might be difficult to understand, Obama had no legal power to do so, as in the US the judicial branch is not dictated by the executive branch. Obama could not extradite on a whim, or interfere with our judicial system. Evidently, although Biden’s response was caught on camera, the request regarding the bank lawsuit wasn’t widely publicized at the time. I saw that footage tonight on the Rachel Maddow show. I may have been living under a rock during this time, but I don’t remember this. I’m just glad to see Biden handled these particular favor requests from Erdogan in a way that made our standing clear.
Fast forward to a similar request made by the Turkish president to President Trump, who asked Barr to make it happen. After all, besides Halkbank, individuals in Erdogan’s family and his political party would be hurt by the fallout from this investigation and lawsuit. Trump was eager to grant this favor, but this time there was some publicity: Berman of the NY court said no to Barr’s idea of offering to settle with just a fine, acknowledgement of wrongdoing, and dismissal of the lawsuit. Why? Among other reasons, there were ongoing investigations to see if that funneled money helped fund Iran’s nuclear weapons program. It wasn’t right to negotiate a dismissal until these important investigations were completed. It was a serious matter, not one to make “disappear”.
Although the lawsuit in NY regarding Halkbank did eventually go through with Barr’s approval after a US dustup with Turkey over Syria, it was Berman himself who was later dismissed. This transparent payback for legally doing the right thing on multiple occasions rather than buckle under directives from Barr or Whittaker, both U.S. Attorney Generals (both acting and confirmed) under Trump was widely seen as wrong.
I do remember the publicity about this, so technically I guess it’s not a “new” low. It was just great to see the old footage of Biden talking to Erdogan, and to remember when our administration had a more cohesive relationship with our own set of laws, something Trump often challenges or simply ignores. In the current tsunami of misconduct, my attention span can only last until the next appalling event or behavior surfaces. Does anyone even remember that Trump was impeached this year? In Clinton’s time, that blue dress was all we heard about or read about for years! Now …as Maddow said…it’s just Thursday.
We are closing in on Nov. 3, and wonder what will come next. After all, Donald Trump didn’t stop talking about rigged elections even after he won in 2016! And he has been talking of little else for the past 6 months, not only to instill distrust in the results but to prepare us for his assault on them, should he lose. I think there will be more Trump lows to document, even if Biden prevails.
But Doug, you have done an awesome job with Rinocracy. I hope your mission with Rinocracy can continue in any way you want it to, but understand your exhaustion of discussing Trump. I appreciate your many words of wisdom, your sharing of ideas, and your thought-provoking essays. In whatever way you decide to go, I wish you the best and thank you for making your readers better educated and well informed through your long hours of research and writing. You’re the best.
Doug,
I wd only add that Trump left hundreds of his supporters stranded in frigid temps for 3-1/2 hours after his rally in Omaha the other night (during which Trump had announced from the stage/lectern that he was “freezing”). Apparently the buses chartered to take the faithful to the rally never returned to ferry them back to the parking lots 3-4 miles away where they’d left their cars. Reportedly, 7 people were hospitalized for hypothermia, and the Trump campaign’s response was that hot chocolate had been distributed to the frozen masses. Egad, what more cd these bothersome peasants want???
Monica
Let them eat cake
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