October 03, 2020

We should wish Trump well. But hes been astoundingly irresponsible at every turn
Concern for a person’s health should not suppress debate about their conduct. And Trump’s policy choices have been disastrousA veil of solemnity descends upon the land at times like this, when elected officials or public figures get sick or die.We wish them speedy recovery, or extend sympathies, as we should. We ignore their faults and failings, as we would want our own ignored.These are the norms of politics and public life. Established norms, like behaving with dignity and self-restraint in a presidential debate, or condemning racist terrorists and murderers.For the record, we should all wish Donald and Melania Trump a full and speedy recovery. But that does not answer the fundamental question this president will leave behind when he leaves office. What norms survive a man who takes pleasure in destroying norms?First, let’s place the current norms in context. Concern for a person’s health – or respect for their death – should not suppress an honest discussion about their own conduct.You can’t ignore a smoker’s choices as you lament their lung cancer. And we can’t ignore the president’s choices in a pandemic, even as we wish for his recovery from Covid-19.From the beginning, Trump has been wrong about almost everything to do with the Coronavirus. Even as he knew about the pandemic’s dangers, his policy choices were recklessly, dumbfoundingly, disastrously wrong. At every turn.The pandemic didn’t disappear like a miracle, or with the summer. It couldn’t be treated with an injection of disinfectant or bright light. It wasn’t halted by banning some air passengers (but not all) from China. Testing, tracing and mask-wearing has never been established on a national basis to stop the national spread of the disease.For months, Trump claimed that cases were only rising because testing was rising. So now he knows, as he has all along, that his own case exists regardless of testing.Which brings us to the most damaging impact of all, beyond the physical damage to the body of a 74-year-old man who makes mysterious trips to hospital.Trump’s infection with Covid-19 destroys what’s left of his credibility as someone who can lead a nation through the pandemic. If he can’t protect himself, how on earth can he protect American citizens?This is essentially the same question that destroyed what was left of George W Bush’s credibility when Hurricane Katrina submerged New Orleans. If you can’t protect an American city, how can you protect American forces in Iraq or the American people against terrorists?Looking back at what may well be the first and last presidential debate in this election, it’s hard to see Trump’s argument about mask-wearing as anything but suicidal – both personally and politically.“I put a mask on when I think I need it,” said our now-infected president. “Tonight, as an example, everybody’s had a test and you’ve had social distancing and all of the things that you have to. But I wear masks when needed. When needed, I wear masks. I don’t wear a mask like him. Every time you see him, he’s got a mask. He could be speaking 200 feet away from me and he shows up with the biggest mask I’ve ever seen.”Trump was speaking in a room that included his family who, naturally, were not wearing masks, despite the entreaties of a physician from the Cleveland Clinic. There’s a chance he was already infected at the time he was explaining why he didn’t need to wear a mask.“Masks make a big difference,” said Biden. “His own head of the CDC said if we just wore masks between now, if everybody wore a mask and social distanced between now and January, we’d probably save up to 100,000 lives. It matters. It matters.”One of those lives may, or may not, include his debate opponent, who disputed that idea on Tuesday.“They’ve also said the opposite,” Trump heckled.“No serious person has said the opposite,” replied Biden. “No serious person.”> Trump could emerge as a changed man. Pigs could also grow wings and begin service from New York to LondonTrump is not a serious person. Not for the last four years, and especially not now. His entire re-election campaign hinged on his promise that he could rebuild the economy – his economy, he claims.But his own infection means that promise looks even less serious than it did before his Covid test. When asked why voters should trust him to handle the pandemic at Tuesday’s debate, Trump blamed China, attacked Biden, and said: “We’ve done a great Job.”Quite possibly a heckuvajob.There are moments in almost every presidential cycle when you know the die is cast: a point of no return where the momentum pushes the contest beyond anything the candidates – or external events – can influence in time for the election.In 2008 it was the combination of the financial crisis and the first debate, when the McCain campaign self-immolated and Barack Obama sailed through his final test unscathed. In 2016, it was a final weekend bookended by James Comey’s unprecedented opening and closing of an email investigation into Hillary Clinton.This 2020 contest was already mostly baked. Early voting has begun across the nation. Trump’s disastrous first debate served to dig a deeper hole for a president who has lagged far behind Biden all year.The most recent polling averages give Biden an eight-point lead nationally, and similar leads in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – three states that Trump narrowly won to give him an electoral college majority four years ago.Now, with Trump’s infection, you can stick a fork in it. There are unlikely to be any more presidential debates, even if the veep candidates meet next week. There are no more Trump rallies worthy of the name. Nothing to change the dynamic of a blowout Trump defeat.Trump himself could emerge from his bout of Covid as a changed man, ready to take the pandemic seriously and scientifically. Pigs could also grow wings and begin passenger service from New York to London.Alternatively, he could emerge as an entirely unchanged man, dismissing it as a case of the sniffles. That’s if he can escape the intensive care experience that his young friend Boris Johnson suffered.With so many septuagenarian and octogenarian members of Congress within a hug’s distance of a White House official, it’s entirely possible that Capitol Hill shuts down for the remainder of this election.Despite Mitch McConnell’s insistence, Trump’s Covid infection could effectively suspend his own Supreme Court nomination. McConnell will then be forced to make this confirmation a life or death issue for those who say they support the right to life.For a political party that has proudly undermined any reasonable policy response to the pandemic, this turn of events is as ironic as it is irresponsible.In the words of the classic bumper sticker, their karma has finally run over their dogma.
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How much would former President Donald Trump's proposed 10 percent tariff plan actually cost the average American household?The wave of tariffs Trump enacted when he was last president caused chaos, but there are many complexities that muddy this somewhat. However, MSNBC's Chris Hayes took an educated and simple guess at just how badly the country would be hit in the pocketbook under Trump's second-term plans."We don't know exactly how much everything would cost," said Hayes, but "just add 10 percent on the back of the napkin. Here's the cost of living under the Trump Tax."ALSO READ: ‘Don't have enough’: Wealthy Trump allies balk at helping Donald pay legal bills"Start with groceries," he said. "A dozen eggs cost about $3. Once you apply the Trump Tax, that is up to $3.30, with the U.S. importing over 4 million eggs a year, but cost consumers over $1.2 million. If you like oranges, they currently go for about $1.53 per pound. With the Trump Tax, that would be $1.68 per pound, which would cost American consumers almost $71 million for the nearly half a billion pounds of the import. Bananas. We don't really grow them in the U.S., do we? They average about $.63 per pound and going up to $.69 per pound with the Trump Tax, thanks to the U.S. importing more than 10 million pounds per year, that could cost Americans at $609 million and that's a $609 million tax on American consumers. Then there's tomatoes. They go for about $2.13 per pound. Apply the 10 percent Trump Tax. They would be $2.34 per pound, potentially costing Americans $3.5 million thanks to the 6.8 million pounds we import per year. If you are spending $1,200 on groceries, add another $120 to the bill. That's more than the peak of inflation in 2022, which topped off at 9 percent. This is 10 percent."Groceries are just the start, he continued."How about the refrigerator?" said Hayes. "You need to keep the groceries fresh. The average cost of a new fridge is about $1,300. With the Trump Tax, that could go up to $1,430, costing Americans $1.95 billion for the 15 million refrigerators that we import. Again, $1.95 billion of new taxes. What about the car that you need to drive to the grocery store? On average, a new car costs about $48,808 today. With Trump Tax, it costs $53,684, with Americans potentially taking a $66.3 billion hit across the board on the 13 million cars we import. That's not including the 50 percent tariff which would make it another $25,000. Even the smartphone in your pocket cost on average about $940 right now. With Trump Tax, it can go up to $1,034, with Americans potentially paying an extra $13.2 billion for the nearly 141 million smartphones that we import per year.""Everyone hates when you have to pay more for things," he added. "Inflation is one of the biggest liabilities for a sitting president. Yet here is Donald Trump, in the Year of our Lord 2024, running against President Biden, promising to make things more expensive for every American."Watch the video below or click here. Chris Hayes breaks down "Trump Tax" www.youtube.com
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'Some prosecutor should be looking into' Trump's latest legal defense scam: expert
Mar 28, 2024
Former President Donald Trump's sprawling network of ostensibly independent political groups raising money for him, much of it in service of paying legal expenses, seems to walk right up to the line of breaking the law, former prosecutor Kristy Greenberg told MSNBC's Alex Wagner — and may in fact cross it."Kristy, how is this legal?" asked Wagner. "How can he keep saying this one thing and doing another?""Well, I think the big question here will be looking behind all of this as to who is coordinating it," said Greenberg. "If Donald Trump is coordinating between his campaign and these PACs that are supposed to be third parties and independent — the Save America PAC is independent, even though he directs it, independent third-party — if there is sufficient coordination, you could prove that, then maybe you would have something to say these expenditures are not purely personal, these are really campaign contributions. And therefore they should be subject to the limits of $5,000 that campaign contributions are subject to."ALSO READ: ‘Don't have enough’: Wealthy Trump allies balk at helping Donald pay legal billsWhat it looks like, Greenberg went on, is that Trump and his allies are "just trying to do an end-run around these various regulations, and it seems so transparent.""[Special counsel] Jack Smith ... had served some subpoenas in connection with that nonexistent, as it turns out, election defense fund," Greenberg said. "He served some subpoenas and then he withdrew them and it was unclear why, because that seemed like such a clear-cut fraud. I questioned why that happened. Perhaps it was optics. Perhaps he thought like he had such strong cases, the January 6 case and the national security case, that he didn't want to seem as though he was trying to drain Trump of the ability to legally defend against those cases. Hard to say. But I questioned it at that time because that seemed like such a clear wire fraud case that it seemed like it should be looked into, but maybe they just had limited resources and didn't like the optics of it.""But I agree with you, this raises a lot of questions," she added. "Someone, somewhere, even if not the special counsel's office, because they are pretty busy — some prosecutors should be looking into this."Watch the video below or at the link. Kristy Greenberg on the legality of Trump's PACs www.youtube.com
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