Don’t be Glenn Youngkin. History will remember.
October 15, 2024
In a speech on Monday, Kamala Harris significantly ratcheted up her attacks on Donald Trump's ugly threats to persecute his political enemies. She described Trump as increasingly “unstable and unhinged.” Harris’s comments came four days after Trump called for the military to be deployed against the “enemy within”—enemies identified by Trump as the “radical left.” See MSNBC, Trump suggests using the military to address ‘the enemy from within’. Trump later identified Rep. Adam Schiff as one of the “enemy within.”
Trump made the following statements to Fox personality Maria Bartiromo in an interview last Friday:
I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. . . .
It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard — or if really necessary, by the military, because they can’t let that happen.
Trump's threats of using the military are not idle. During his term, he repeatedly ordered his subordinates to use the US military against civilians—including “just shoot[ing] protesters in the legs”—but those subordinates refused or ignored his orders. See, e.g., Council on Foreign Relations (6/5/2020), Trump’s Threat to Use the Military Against Protesters: What to Know.
In her speech in Eerie, Pennsylvania, Kamala Harris strongly condemned Trump's threats to use the military against political opponents. See CNN, Harris uses Trump’s ‘enemy from within’ comment to portray GOP rival as dangerous and unstable.
Kamala Harris’s new aggressiveness against Trump's promised despotism is something that many (frustrated) Democratic faithful have been hoping for. Harris’s full speech in Eerie is here: YouTube | Kamala Harris in Eerie, PA. It is worth watching the entire thirty-minute speech.
If you don’t have time to watch the entire speech, I urge you to watch the final ten minutes. Kamala Harris is on fire as she describes Trump as the threat to democracy he is. And she uses a video montage of Trump's repeated threats to persecute his political enemies. It is a “must-watch” moment of history. See YouTube | Kamala Harris addresses Trump's comments re "the enemy within".
Go ahead and watch the final ten minutes of Kamala’s speech, here. I’ll wait!
Using the military against civilians is the common tactic of fascist governments everywhere. It is a singular moment in American history when a major party candidate is using threats of military force against US citizens as a campaign promise.
How did we get here? Answer: Glenn Youngkin.
Why Glenn Youngkin? Because Youngkin spent Sunday excusing and defending Trump's threat to use the military against Americans. Trump makes such threats because spineless cowards like Glenn Youngkin not only refuse to condemn him but rise to defend him. In the absence of the Glenn Youngkins of the world (and his ilk), there would be no cover for Trump's obscene threats against Americans and the rule of law.
On Sunday, Jake Tapper read Trump's comments to Glenn Youngkin and asked the governor of Virginia to condemn Trump's remarks. In a tortured five minutes, Youngkin refused, repeatedly claiming that Tapper was “misinterpreting” Trump's remarks. When Tapper repeatedly said, “I am reading his comments verbatim, let me show you the video,” Youngkin refused to condemn the comments and suggested that Trump didn’t mean what he said.
See CNN, Tapper presses Youngkin on Trump’s authoritarian rhetoric. If you can, watch five minutes of this interview. Warning: You may nauseous.
Youngkin clearly (and wrongly) believes he has a political future that is dependent on not angering Trump's cultish base. Youngkin has made the political calculation that advancing his future political prospects is more important than protecting Americans against a threat of military force to achieve the partisan pollical goals of the president.
Can you imagine what the Framers would say about such a proposition?
Glenn Youngkin is, of course, a surrogate for every Republican politician who pretends to be a reasonable and moral leader with the nation's best interests at heart. In reality, they are faithless cowards whose only loyalty is to themselves. They represent the worst of America. They are depraved, soulless, and spineless. The are cloyingly self-righteous as they look straight at the camera and lie for someone JD Vance called “America’s Hitler.”
There will be a time (soon) when Americans will face a moral and political reckoning for the depravity of the Trump presidency and MAGA movement. There is no ambiguity in where the moral and political judgments will fall or how future historians will view Trump's supporters, enablers, and co-conspirators.
They are hoping only that they can delay that day of reckoning on which their white nationalism, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and depravity will be universally condemned. The historical precedents for such a reckoning abound.
On Monday, Kamala Harris began the process of moral and political reckoning. Good. She should keep it up until the major media begins every news cycle with this headline, “Candidate for US presidency threatens to use US military against Americans.” There is no story bigger than that—and it deserves to be at the top of the news 24/7 until Election Day.
Trump holds bizarre campaign rally that turns into a 39-minute Trump dance party
As Kamala Harris was calling Trump “unstable and unhinged” during her campaign rally in Eerie, PA, Trump was proving Harris’s point at his rally in Oaks, PA. Trump was supposed to host a townhall, but answered only two questions in his incoherent, non-linear, incomprehensible fashion. After two people in the crowd fainted, Trump said,
Let’s not do any more questions. Let’s just listen to music. Let’s make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?
See WaPo, Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes in bizarre town-hall episode. (Accessible to all.)
The bizarre scene is described by WaPo as follows:
For 39 minutes, Trump swayed, bopped — sometimes stopping to speak — as he turned the event into almost a living-room listening session of his favorite songs from his self-curated rally playlist.
He played nine tracks. He danced. He shook hands with people onstage. He pointed to the crowd. Noem stood beside him, nodding with her hands clasped. Trump stayed in place onstage, slowly moving back and forth. He was done answering questions for the night. [¶]
. . . . Trump’s decision to cut the question-and-answer portion of the town hall short and instead have the crowd stay to listen to his favorite songs was a somewhat bizarre move, given that the election was only 22 days away. It also comes as Vice President Kamala Harris has called Trump, 78, unstable and called into question his mental acuity.
Trump is descending into madness. The major media should lead every news cycle with scorching questions about Trump's mental fitness—right after stories about his promise to use the military against the American people. Trump is unraveling in front of our eyes. Make sure everyone knows about this story. It is important—especially given that Biden was forced out of the race over a single debate performance.
New York Times reports on Mecklenburg County, NC, in feature story
Many readers have watched the interview by Jessica Craven and me of Drew Kromer, Chair of the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party. If you haven’t watched the interview, it is here:
More than 400 readers of this newsletter have volunteered to help Mecklenburg County deliver the votes to enable Kamala Harris to win in North Carolina. If Kamala Harris wins in North Carolina, her prospects for victory in the electoral college will increase dramatically.
The New York Times just published a feature article on Mecklenburg County that highlights its critical role in helping Kamala Harris over the top. See NYTimes, Can Charlotte, N.C., Deliver for Kamala Harris? (Accessible to all.) Charlotte is the largest city in Mecklenburg County.
Readers who have phone-banked in Mecklenburg have responded with rave review about the training and the experience of calling into a pivotal county where Democrats are enthusiastic about Kamala Harris.
If you are moved to donate or volunteer for the Mecklenburg County Democratic Party after reading the NYTimes article or watching the video, here are the links:
Join me and Jay Kuo in a live discussion about the 2024 election
On Tuesday, October 22, 8 pm Eastern, Jay Kuo and I will hold a live discussion as part of The Substack Election Dialogues. The discussion is part of a series featuring Substack’s top political writers. Jay Kuo and I have been paired to discuss coping with traditional media, the state of the election, and avoiding polling doom-casting.
I am excited and honored to be paired with Jay Kuo. For those of you who are not familiar with Jay, I highly recommend his Substack, The Status Kuo. Jay is an important voice with a broad reach. Check out Jay’s Substack and join us as we talk about the state of the race.
Substack has a wide variety of viewpoints. We need more voices like Jay’s on the platform.
Several of my favorite Substack authors will also be live streaming discussions, including Joyce Vance and Judd Legum (Oct. 16 at 8 ET), Sarah Longwell (of the Bulwark) and Dan Pfeiffer (Pod Save America) (Oct. 29 at 9 ET), and Mehdi Hassan and Steve Schmidt (Oct. 23 at 8 ET).
Opportunities for Reader Engagement
Join Media and Democracy Project with Malcom Turnbull, former Australian Prime Minister
Please join the Media and Democracy Project on Wednesday, October 16, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific / 8 p.m. Eastern for a Zoom conversation and Q&A with former Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. Turnbull has said: “I say this without any sense of hyperbole: I do not believe that there is any individual alive today that has done more damage to American democracy than Rupert Murdoch.”
We will discuss Turnbull’s perspective on the impacts of the Rupert Murdoch media empire: in Australia (where the Murdoch empire began), on undermining democracies, and on subverting essential efforts to address the climate crisis. There will be inspiration in hearing about efforts of Australians to fight back. Rupert Murdoch is not only a malign influence on American minds through his control of Fox N*ws, the New York Post, and Wall Street Journal, he wields a global media empire that can bring governments and political figures around the world to their knees.
RSVP for the free Zoom event and submit a question in advance for the Q&A.
The Media and Democracy Project is a grassroots, non-profit organization that engages people in activism for a better-informed America - in support of American democracy. Among many other initiatives, we are actively challenging a FOX-owned TV station’s broadcast license renewal at the FCC. Support our actions here: https://www.mediaanddemocracyproject.org/donate.
Walk the Walk Zoom Sunday!
Join Walk the Walk USA for Zoom Sunday, on October 20th at 5:00pm PT / 8:00pm ET for one last opportunity to impact the election. Sign up here!
"Since that awful day in November 2016, we have vowed to do everything we could, so that what happened that day does not happen again. We ask ourselves, and invite our 9,000+ new friends to also ask: What more can I do so that come November 2024, I will know that I've done everything I could?"
Our grassroots partners’ staff and volunteers are making repeat contacts to fight disinformation and Get Out the Vote. They work in select micro-geographies, some long ignored by political campaigns, and have outsized impact, up and down the ballot, nationally and locally. This kind of trusted local outreach is the most effective strategy. Walk the Walk USA collaborates with other groups and is run entirely by volunteers. It has no overhead and every dollar raised goes to its effective grassroots partners.
Concluding Thoughts
My mailbox is filling up with emails from readers forwarding an article that predicts Republicans will interfere in the 2024 election. While I do not doubt that they will attempt to do so, the author of the article does not acknowledge the relevant provisions of the Electoral Count Reform Act (ECRA) or the Constitution.
A few facts can help you assess the newest round of misguided claims about Republican interference. Again, Republicans will try to cheat but we should assess that risk in light of the ECRA and the Constitution.
Start with the fact that when we vote for a presidential candidate, we are actually voting for a slate of electors who stand behind the candidate’s name. Your vote “passes through” the candidate’s name on the ballot and is assigned to the electoral slate appointed by that candidate. Every state has laws that facilitate this “pass-through” arrangement in which electors are appointed based on the outcome of the popular vote. See The National Archive, About the Electors.
So, on election day, when news reports say, “Kamala Harris won North Carolina,” what that really means is that “the slate of electors representing Kamala Harris” has been appointed by the popular vote.
Here is where the Electoral Count Reform Act comes into operation. The newly revised ECRA provides that
The electors . . . shall be appointed, in each State, on election day
in accordance with the laws of the State enacted prior to election day.
Got that? The electors are appointed “on election day.” How are they appointed? By popular vote. The state legislatures have NO ROLE in the appointment of the electors. Repeat: The state legislatures have NO ROLE in the appointment of the electors. The electors are appointed “on election day” by popular vote, as provided by state law in all fifty states. One slate of electors wins, and one slate of electors loses based on the popular vote.
Moreover, the ECRA provides that electors are appointed on election day in accordance with the laws in effect “prior to election day.” That means that state legislatures cannot change the rules or the selection process after the winning slate of electors has been appointed on election day by popular vote.
In the most recent article making the rounds, the theory is that Republican legislatures will “ignore the vote and declare their own slate of electors.” Again, the state legislatures have NO ROLE in appointing electors. Remember that part about electors being appointed on election day by popular vote?
The ECRA provides that the state executive (the governor) must send a “certificate of ascertainment” to the National Archive identifying the winning slate of electors on or before December 11. The winning slate of electors then meets on December 17 to cast their ballots for the candidate (e.g., Kamala Harris) that selected them. Notice that the state legislatures have NO ROLE in appointing the electors or sending the certificate of ascertainment to the National Archive (the governor does that).
Then, on January 6, 2025, the ballots from the 50 slates of electors that were appointed on election day are counted. Per the Constitution, the candidate receiving a majority of the electoral votes is president.
That is more information than you needed, but I hope you take away one point: state legislatures have NO ROLE in appointing electors. Anyone who tells you differently is ignoring the ECRA and the Constitution.
There are plenty of other ways Republicans can cheat. But I hope the above disposes of the current disinformation making the rounds. I will address those other ways of potential interference in future newsletters, but the answer will almost always be that the counting and certification of the popular vote are ministerial acts that can be compelled by the courts if a recalcitrant local official attempts to interfere in the counting of the vote.
Talk to you tomorrow!
Daily Dose of Perspective
The image below is of the Spider Nebula, about 7,100 light-years from Earth.
A great one by Robert today! Thank you Robert!
I’ve sent portions of it out to my base & suggest you do the same! Just donated $ to Mecklenburg NC Democratic Party as believe that will be key to winning there. Do whatever you can in these final days while Trump is truly losing his mind. Nothing like it in US history….
Thank you, once again. In 2016, I was concerned that even though it appeared that HRC would win (and she did win the popular vote), that somehow DJT would end up being President. And so the worst possible outcome came to pass. That’s when I truly understood for the first time how just a few states could distort the intent of the majority. In 2020, I was not a big Biden fan, but (of course) voted for him. He turned out to be the right man at the right time, & I’ve been thankful for his dedication & love of country ever since. Now we have Harris/Walz & their supporters who are enthusiastic for a more youthful slate of politicians to lead us into the future. I hope with every fiber of my being that they succeed. I’ve been off the grid for a few days (Milton took out my electric & internet, but nothing serious, just uncomfortable) & upon my return to the grid, I am seeing that the election is (still) close (& how is that even possible!), and doom & gloom rears its ugly head that somehow MAGA will succeed in stealing the vote, & we will lose our democracy. Your reassurance that the new laws that have been set in place to avoid a MAGA takeover on a local level will avoid this possibility is music to my ears. Thank you.