Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

A Senator Walker would also be an insult to reason, rationality, and decency.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Second rate reporter says what?

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

This really is a full service blog.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You are here: Home / Healthcare / COVID-19 Coronavirus / Late Night Open Thread: Bleak Plague House

Late Night Open Thread: Bleak Plague House

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67Comments

  1. 1.

    JoyceH

    I think the non-political workers at the White
    House should walk out over unsafe working conditions. Maybe picket too. Let’s see how they do without cleaning staff, maintenance, clerical, and security. I’m sure the Secret Service would have to stay on the job, and the Navy portion of the food services. But Trump has been risking all these people’s lives and needs to be held to account.

  2. 2.

    Another Scott

    TBogg posted this yesterday.

    Kayleigh McEnany hangs around Trump without wearing mask and she has a daughter who is not even one yet.

    Let that sink in… pic.twitter.com/ugo7VNYjwk— TBogg (@tbogg) October 5, 2020

    It’s a cult.

    We must vote them all out.

    J and I drop off our ballots to the drop box in 12 days…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  3. 3.

    Ken

    I watched some of the videos of Trump today, and figure it’s about a 50/50 chance that one of tomorrow’s open thread titles is “Well That Was Fast”.

  4. 4.

    Brachiator

    Yep. Definitely a death cult. Previously I thought that most of these people, especially the plutocrats were hypocritical enough to pay lip service to Trump’s blather about the virus being a hoax, but to take steps to protect themselves. Instead we see them going without masks at fund raisers, and we see the super spreader nominee announcement event and all the people who have subsequently tested positive for the virus. And on the most recent Inside Edition segment, a gaggle of Trump supporters appearing on a Zoom session all claimed that they would be happy to attend a Trump rally.

    They are all willing to go down for him.

    Sad.

  6. 6.

    Bill Arnold

    It’s better politically for them if we don’t know how many people became infected as a result of the event, even though contract tracing could potentially save lives.

    If it’s not clear, this smells like a coverup. A proper CDC would do contact tracing, and would be insulated from orders otherwise, and might even do sequencing of virus samples, to establish a causal (who infected who) timeline.
    That this is being forbidden suggests that the this process would generate politically damaging results, and that the Trump administration is trying to bury the true infection time-graph (what’s the real name for this?) with plausible deniability, or at least implausible deniability.

  11. 11.

    randy khan

    @Ken:

    If he goes back into the hospital, the election is over, so they will do everything in their power to keep that from happening, whether or not it’s good for his health.  (And he will agree.)

  12. 12.

    MC

    Oh no! If they don’t cover this up, it might damage their otherwise excellent approval ratings!

    Seriously though, I really, really want to see some people go to jail for a long time for this.

  13. 13.

    Another Scott

    Oh, ICYMI, the monsters are coming after marriage and Obergefell too. Reuters:

    The court turned away an appeal by Kim Davis, who had served as Rowan County clerk, of a lower court ruling that let the lawsuits accusing her of violating the constitutional rights of the couples proceed.

    In an opinion accompanying that action, Justice Clarence Thomas, joined by Justice Samuel Alito, wrote that the same-sex marriage ruling, known as Obergefell v. Hodges, continues to have “ruinous consequences” for religious liberty. Thomas and Alito both dissented in the Obergefell ruling.

    “Davis may have been one of the first victims of this court’s cavalier treatment of religion in its Obergefell decision, but she will not be the last,” Thomas wrote.

    Thomas and Alito agreed on technical grounds with the decision to reject the Davis appeal. But Thomas took the opportunity to assert that the Obergefell decision has left “those with religious objections in the lurch” and made it easier to label them bigots “merely for refusing to alter their religious beliefs in the wake of prevailing orthodoxy.”

    The court “has created a problem that only it can fix,” Thomas added.

    LBGT advocacy groups took those comments as an ominous sign for same-sex marriage and gay rights on a court moving further rightward.

    “These comments made clear that the war on marriage equality, against the lives of same-sex couples, is alive and well,” said Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign LGBT advocacy group.

    If the Senate confirms President Donald Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett, a favorite of Christian conservatives, the court would have a 6-3 conservative majority. With Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death and Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement, only three of the justices who comprised the court’s 5-4 majority in the Obergefell ruling still serve on the bench.

    Jim Obergefell, a lead plaintiff in the 2015 case, said the opinion by Thomas and Alito signaled that the justices are willing to overturn the right to same-sex marriage.

    “It is unthinkable that Alito, Thomas and others on the Supreme Court would want to take away that right and the dignity that comes along with it,” Obergefell said.

    The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last year that Davis could be sued in her individual capacity as the former county clerk. It rejected her argument that she is protected by a legal doctrine called qualified immunity, which can shield government officials from liability in certain cases.

    Davis was jailed for five days for defying court orders in the aftermath of the Obergefell decision to issue licenses to same-sex couples.

    […]

    We must take the Senate and probably must expand the SCOTUS and do other federal court reforms.

    The USA is not a theocracy.

    If people want to believe that a twin Earth is on the opposite side of the Sun; or that a beautiful china teapot, too small to be seen by our best telescopes, is in space, orbiting the Sun between the Earth and Mars; or that the Bible says that they have the right to sell their daughter into slavery; that’s fine. You can believe what you want. But if you refuse to obey the law, and refuse to do your job, well, screaming “my religion!!” isn’t a get-to-do-whatever-I-want card.

    This stuff isn’t that hard. Grr…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  15. 15.

    Danielx

    Continuing a theme (sorta) from the end of previous thread: I want to see some prosecutions.

    I’ve had enough of this let bygones be bygones, look forward and not back bullshit. It’s been this way since Gerry Ford let Nixon walk, and I’m tired of it.

    The whole idea of maximum punishment, three strikes laws, all that -!aside from sticking to brown people and making sure they can’t vote – has been, ostensibly, deterrence.
    Which seems to apply to, say, somebody selling a pound of weed, but not to the Sackler family selling fifty gazillion opioid pills. Because they have influence and senators at their beck and call.

    If there are no consequences for the likes of Trump and other rich fucks who misbehave and get and/or stay rich and powerful by so doing, they’ll go on doing it. Why not, there’s no downside! All you need is enough money and lawyers.

    I could go on forever, but…end rant. I will say that Joe Biden might be amazed by how popular he could become by seeing some real justice done, even among MAGATs.

  16. 16.

    West of the Rockies

    @Pete Downunder:

    It’s one of their best ads yet.

    Trump clearly was gasping during his Mussolini moment.  A lot of BJers predicted a Thursday return to Walter Reed.  I hope it happens.

  17. 17.

    Another Scott

    The NRCC is pulling out of the VA-05 race where they have been helping @GoodForCongress. They are being drastically outspent there and want to instead focus on VA-02 and VA-07 where they see more of a chance to make a difference.

    — Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) October 6, 2020

    All things are possible, given enough resources.

    VA-05 is Cameron Webb (D) trying to take the seat.
    VA-02 is Elaine Luria (D) trying to keep the seat.
    VA-07 is Abigail Spanberger (D) trying to keep the seat.

    AFAIK, the women are doing well. As is Webb. The GOP is in real trouble in VA.

    Let’s run the table everywhere we can. We have to vote the monsters out.

    (via NotLarrySabato)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  18. 18.

    Calouste

    @randy khan: 
    I assume that over the last few days they’ve done their best to upgrade the medical facilities in the White House so that they can put off taking him back to Walter Reed a bit longer. We’ll see how that works.

    Having said that, there’s another presidential debate coming up in 10 days. Whether the patient can make it through 90 minutes or even is able to show up at all remains to be seen.

  20. 20.

    Jay

    An 80 year old man in West Seneca NY asked another man to put on a mask. In response the non-masker shoved the 80 year old man to the ground, he hit his head, and now he's dead.He asked for safety and was killed in response. https://t.co/o3pGp8Hu4Y— Erin Biba (@erinbiba) October 5, 2020

  21. 21.

    Jay

    A few days ago, EPA "reversed a Clinton administration-era policy that required major U.S. sources of hazardous air pollution like arsenic and lead to maintain pollution control technology throughout the lifetime of their operation." https://t.co/eAGW5cN9j5— David Roberts (@drvox) October 3, 2020

  22. 22.

    Another Scott

    @Pete Downunder: Indeed.  I think it’s their best (that I’ve seen) so far.

    (Roughly)

    “He didn’t care about his family and the people around him.  What makes you think he cares about you?”

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  24. 24.

    MoCA Ace

    I too hold the Presidential Protection Division and Uniformed Division Secret Service in my heart and prayers along with the White House butlers, housekeepers, ushers, chefs, electricians, florists, curators and all of the Whitehouse staff.

    The orange shitstain can fuck off and die.

  25. 25.

    Marcopolo

    @Another Scott:   The cool thing about VA is that 4 weeks before the election ~650,000 folks have already voted.  That’s ~16% of the total 2016 vote.   This is a great example of what can happen when Ds control a state gov’t and make it a goal to make voting as easy as possible for residents.

    Nationally we are currently at ~2.8% of the 2016 vote already cast (with the caveat that there are definitely states that are voting whose numbers aren’t included).  For example, the local paper reported today that 4% of registered voters in StL County have already voted but MO is not included in the list of states that are being scraped for voting info–I guess that means our R SoS is not publishing the information for some reason.

    Last but not least, ~13.5% of the total vote cast so far in 2020 is by folks who did not vote in 2016 & ~16% of the AA vote cast so far in 2020 is by folks who did not vote four years ago.  I’m really liking those last two figures.

    Have a good night everyone.

  26. 26.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    It’s better politically for them if we don’t know how many people became infected as a result of the event, even though contract tracing could potentially save lives.

    I confess, part of me wants to know that the author of this tweet was informing *others*, not discovering for the first time, that neither Trump nor the GOP gives a damn about people who are dying, so long as it doesn’t hurt their poll numbers.

    I try never to wish ill on others – but if Trump doesn’t relapse, or die, it will hurt America.

    @Danielx: 
    The only thing *worse” for America would, in fact, be a lack of prosecutions.
    I mean, come on, people. The entire world now knows that the Republican Party can’t be trusted. Ukraine is the target of a shakedown if they won’t open corrupt (because they’re baseless) investigations; not only does the Republican Senate caucus help with the coverup, they blow off the retaliation against those who did the right thing by calling it out.
    I know, Republican polling numbers weren’t hurt too badly by it, so they don’t care, *but the rest of the world really fucking does*. Ditto for “they don’t care about pardons for war criminals; or for walking away from international agreements, meaning no agreement with the US is expected to survive a Republican President who doesn’t like it.”

    If, against all odds – okay, granted, I *hope* it’s against all odds – Trump isn’t the death of the current Republican Party as it stands now, we are in for some very dark times.

  27. 27.

    Jay

    McEnany briefed the press without a mask *yesterday.*This entire administration is the moral equivalent of people who bareback after testing HIV+ and don’t tell their partners.Wear your ding dang face condoms people!!! ?? https://t.co/HwdP1Uhzdi— Tae Phoenix ?⭐️?? (@TaePhoenix) October 5, 2020

  28. 28.

    prostratedragon

    Well I for one certainly didn’t have Don Jr. down as Cordelia:

    The friend said that as Fred Sr.’s disease worsened––he once came down the stairs wearing three neckties––the family created a system so that Fred could think he was still running the Trump Organization. Every day Fred Sr. would go to the office in Brooklyn and they would give him blank papers to sort through and sign. The phone on Fred’s desk was set up so that it could only dial out to his secretary. “Fred pretended to work,” the family friend said. [My emph.]

  29. 29.

    MoCA Ace

    If, God willing, Putins’s bitch succumbs to Covid-19 and any of my Trump loving family gives me shit for not being properly respectful I will quote a great leader who once said “it is what it is”.  Fuckemall.

  30. 30.

    LongHairedWeirdo

    @Jay: Crazy thing is, most studies I’ve seen say that masks provide *some* protection for the wearer, as well. Yeah, the biggest, most important thing is, you’re far less likely to spread asymptomatically; I’ll use the condom because *I* might have something I don’t want *her* to get, but every guy should remember, the condom also helps if (s)he has something *you* don’t want to get.

  31. 31.

    The Dangerman

    @Ken: Wouldn’t be the least bit surprised.

    Im still trying to figure out what Trump means by taking this virus on. Sounds like herd immunity thinking. I think I heard that strategy would kill around 2M people in the US. This sounds like a problem to me.

  32. 32.

    Fair Economist

    @Ken: Part of the point of having Trump in the WH is that they can cover up his medical status more securely, with no independent civilians involved in this care. Of course he’s supposed to have medical privacy but if he gets vented it might well leak, HIPAA or no. In the WH they can restrict access to cultists and captive WH employees.

  33. 33.

    Jay

    @LongHairedWeirdo:

    I keep looking for it, a series of three photo’s with vape, ( same size and hang time as Sars-Covid 19) but I can’t find it again.

    YellowDogGranny posted it in one of her daily meme threads.

    first photo shows them 6 feet apart, unmasked and it’s pretty clear 6 feet isn’t even close to being enough.

    second photo, 6 feet apart, only one wearing a mask, better, but for the masked, 6 feet is clearly not enough distance,

    3rd is both wearing a mask, 1foot is clearly safe.

  34. 34.

    John Revolta

    One of the many many things that pisses me off about this whole business is that this event was to celebrate not even this person’s confirmation but merely her nomination to the Court. I don’t recall ever seeing such a display of arrogance- like it was a done deal, before any hearings or any public input at all.

    Like “Hoorah, His Highness has made his choice! Let us honor her, and Him! Oh and we’ve got three times the allowed number of people here, but you know, no virus would DARE intrude on the King and  his Court!!  Party ON!”

    Fuck these people SO MUCH

  35. 35.

    Brachiator

    @Fair Economist:

    Part of the point of having Trump in the WH is that they can cover up his medical status more securely, with no independent civilians involved in this care.

    I don’t think it matters. Trump could have stayed in the White House all along. I also don’t think that he would have any problems maintaining security had he stayed in the hospital. And if he becomes seriously ill in the coming days, the sudden evaporation of campaign events will be noted by everyone who is not Fox News.

    ETA. Where’s Melania?

  40. 40.

    Philbert

    @prostratedragon: Supposedly when Salazar, late dictator of Portugal and contemporary of Franco, had a stroke, and his last 2 years they did the same, pretending to take and carry out his orders. Loyal to The Leader!

  42. 42.

    BeautifulPlumage

    Even newer Lincoln Project ad is pretty fierce, also. I seem unable to copy the link, but it’s on their twitter feed.

  43. 43.

    smike

    @Brachiator:

    Come to think of it, I can’t think of another first lady who would be of such unconcern to the public/media.

    Hmmm, wonder what that means….

  44. 44.

    Jay

    @Achrachno:

    everything from the White Supremacy House/Masque of the Red Death House has been performative, not substantive.

    They believe that the “message/image” is more important than actually doing stuff.

  45. 45.

    SFAW

    In other news, LGM tells me that the Murderers in the White House are preventing — or trying to prevent — the CDC from enforcing vaccine approval regulations. The ones which would push approval out past Election Day.

    Back when I started calling that motherfucker the Murderer-in-Chief, it was because of his preventing Blue states from receiving PPE, etc., so that Red states could get more/any. Based on his latest fuckery (re: people have “nothing to fear” from COVID), Mass-Murderer-in-Chief seems appropriate.

    At times like this, I wish there were such a thing as a Just God, because the Mass-Murderer-in-Chief, Ron Johnson, Barr, Meadows, Jared, Uday, Qusay, Lucrezia, Kay-lie, Traitor Turtle — the whole fucking lot of them would be grease spots.

  46. 46.

    Mary G

    #RudyGiuliani is supposedly awaiting results of a Covid test, but tonight he coughed his way through an interview on Fox News. It was so bad, I stood 12 feet away from my TV with a mask & a shield on. Just kidding, I don't watch Fox.— bettemidler (@BetteMidler) October 6, 2020

  47. 47.

    Captain C

    @Brachiator:

    @Fair Economist:

    Part of the point of having Trump in the WH is that they can cover up his medical status more securely, with no independent civilians involved in this care. Of course he’s supposed to have medical privacy but if he gets vented it might well leak, HIPAA or no. In the WH they can restrict access to cultists and captive WH employees.

    Either way, I’m sensing more than a whiff of late-Brezhnev/Andropov/Chernenko medical obfuscation in all this.

  51. 51.

    JaySinWA

    @Calouste: They most likely haven’t done that because (as the Brits say) they couldn’t organize a piss up in a brewery.  I said earlier, they might put up a plexiglass panel and call it an I see you.

  52. 52.

    sukabi

    @Fair Economist: he might think he’s more protected in the WH, but there are an awful lot of “invisible” people working there doing all the things rich, powerful people don’t have time to do for themselves….being lied to and exposed to a potentially lethal virus and dragging it home to your family….the potential for a rage reaction is huge, especially since I’ll bet this WH and all the “important people” don’t treat the help very well at all.

  53. 53.

    Jay

    CNN IS NOT A NEWS NETWORK. BRIAN IS CORRECT WHAT PRAVDA WAS TO THE SOVIET UNION, CNN IS TO THE CORRUPT DEMOCRAT PARTY. PRAVDA CIRCULATED ANY LIES FOR THE COMMUNIST PARTY.JUST THINK HOW OFTEN CNN, MSNBC AND DEMOCRATS USE EVEN THE SAME KEY WORDS.— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) September 29, 2020

  55. 55.

    TS (the original)

    @prostratedragon:

    And trump owns the media – to show your tweet

    All three networks just handed their entire broadcasts to an extended photo op for @realDonaldTrump . Thoughts???????)
    — Katie Couric (@katiecouric) October 5, 2020

    Honestly I find it infuriating. Why didn’t anyone have the balls to say we are not doing this? Please network executives. You were just played.
    — Katie Couric (@katiecouric) October 6, 2020

  56. 56.

    mrmoshpotato

    It used to be a running joke that the White House would have to be scrubbed down and fumigated after Trump & Co. departed. Less funny now.

    Don’t forget about combing the place for Kremlin bugs, David.

  57. 57.

    mrmoshpotato

    @JoyceH:

    and the Navy portion of the food services. 

    The US Navy runs a McDonald’s inside of the White House?

    (I’m sure the Breaded Patty o’ Minced Fish is still crap.)

  59. 59.

    Bruce K

    I woke up and saw that not only is the Trump campaign claiming that Biden’s less qualified to deal with COVID than Trump because Trump caught COVID and Biden didn’t, but apparently Pence’s people are implying that Harris is a coward for wanting plexiglass shielding for the VP debate?

    Is this really where the GOP is now? Or am I missing something because the stress broke my brain?

  61. 61.

    Sloane Ranger

    Trump’s doctors have shown themselves to be either true MAGATS, toadies or cowards. They have given him steroids which make the taker feel strong and powerful but should only be used when they are essential because they have numerous side effects,  both physical and mental.

    When the doctors try to wean him off them, what are the chances that Trump will object when the effects start wearing off? And what are the chances that a medical team which has shown such a lack of judgement and intestinal fortitude will give in? Pretty much 100% I’d say.

    Be prepared for his manic, erratic and, quite frankly, delusional behaviour to dial up to 20 over the next 30 days. Quite frankly I don’t care about the physical side effects as they’ll only affect him.

  64. 64.

    Amir Khalid

    @Bruce K:

    A complete inversion of the truth. They’ve mocked Biden and Harris for campaigning safely. But Biden is not sick, Harris is not sick, no one in their campaign is sick, and no one has gotten sick because they were at a Democratic campaign event. You can’t say that about the Republican counterparts. Trump’s actions have shown only that he has no clue about protecting himself, his White House and campaign staffs, or his supporters.

  65. 65.

    Brachiator

    @Sloane Ranger:

    Trump’s doctors have shown themselves to be either true MAGATS, toadies or cowards. They have given him steroids which make the taker feel strong and powerful but should only be used when they are essential because they have numerous side effects,  both physical and mental.

    Don’t blame the doctors. Blame Trump. Like many rich fools (and pretenders), Trump rode in and demanded to be given every state of the art and experimental treatment available. Based on his own past statements, it’s clear that Trump believes in magic bullets and snake oil. He is impatient and stupid.

    The best that any doctor could do would be to give Trump what he demanded and monitored him.

    Trump will continue to make poor decisions. And he may end up harming himself and harming the country more.

  66. 66.

    Bruce K

    @Amir Khalid:  I know that the GOP claims of cowardice on Biden/Harris’s part are completely counter to the actual facts, but my brain’s breaking at the thought that they’re actually trying to sell that spin to people.

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