Let’s focus on what we can control!

October 21, 2024

With little more than two weeks until Election Day, the political news is becoming stranger and more frustrating with each passing day. The MAGA disinformation machine is dropping low-quality polls at a hectic pace, Elon Musk is offering cash incentives to Pennsylvanians who have registered to vote (probably illegal), a Musk-funded PAC is sending texts claiming to be from the Harris-Walz campaign, Trump is staging mock campaign events that media outlets are reporting as real, and Trump is telling vulgar stories during campaign appearances that would terminate the bid of any other candidate.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris is powering through campaign stops in swing states, staying on message while highlighting Trump's increasing instability and madness. Indeed, as Kamala Harris celebrated her 60th birthday, she spoke at a Baptist church in Atlanta about the need for compassion for fellow citizens. She said,

When we come across our brothers and sisters in need, let us, as the Good Samaritan, did see in the face of a stranger, a neighbor, and let us recognize that when we shine the light in moments of darkness, it will guide our feet into the path of peace.

Later in the day, Trump invoked the “Bad Samaritan” version of that parable, repeating his description of his political opponents as the “enemy within.” Per The Guardian,

During an interview with Howard Kurtz on Fox News, broadcast on Sunday, the former president said that “radical left lunatics … the enemy from within … should be very easily handled, if necessary, by the national guard, or if really necessary, by the military” – before singling out Pelosi and Schiff.

Despite the overwhelming and understandable impulse to direct emotional energy (read: rage) at the anti-democratic and illegal actions of Trump and his supporters, the most effective response is to “run up the score” to protect the integrity of the election against Trump's inevitable claims of fraud.

We must trust that state and federal officials will do their jobs by investigating possible illegal activities by Trump and Musk. Indeed, the alarm has been raised in major media, social media, and by elected officials. See CNN, Elon Musk’s daily $1 million giveaway to registered voters could be illegal, experts say.

Billionaire Mark Cuban tweeted a note to Governor Josh Shapiro reminding the governor that all lotteries are illegal under Pennsylvania law unless specifically permitted by statute. (“I’m pretty sure, that while it may or may not violate voting laws, it may violate gaming laws in Pennsylvania. @JoshShapiroPA). Shapiro, in turn has said that Musk’s tactics are “deeply concerning.”

While Attorney General Merrick Garland has been excruciatingly slow off the mark in prosecuting Trump, he has taken a more aggressive stance in protecting voting and fair elections. See DOJ.gov, Office of Public Affairs | Attorney General Merrick B. Garland Convenes Election Threats Task Force Meeting. Although I have strongly criticized Garland over his delay in prosecuting Trump, all signs point to an active task force in the DOJ looking to stop voter fraud and election interference.

If the DOJ is doing its job, it should announce this week efforts to investigate deceptive texts and websites masquerading as Harris-Walz campaign efforts. And, at the very least, the DOJ should issue a statement that it is investigating Musk’s one-million-dollar-per-day giveaway.

Let state and federal officials enforce election laws and protect voting rights. With sixteen days to go, we cannot waste a moment. Every additional voter we drive to the polls is extra protection for the integrity of the election. Ignore the noise. Keep your head down. Stick to the plan. Kamala Harris is doing just that. We should, too. It is the only path to victory.

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Sorry we have to talk about this, but we do!

During a campaign rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, Trump rambled for ten minutes about Arnold Palmer’s path to becoming one of the greatest golfers ever. That ramble, standing alone, should have been shocking. The man has sixteen days remaining to campaign for president and he is wasting his campaign appearances with an extended biography of Arnold Palmer.

But then he went off the rails so badly that no other candidate would ever recover. Here is the NYTimes revised reporting on the story:

Former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday spewed crude and vulgar remarks at a rally in Pennsylvania that included an off-color remark about a famous golfer’s penis size and a coarse insult about Vice President Kamala Harris.

The performance, 17 days before the election in a critical battleground state, added to the impression of the Republican nominee as increasingly unfiltered and undisciplined. It comes as some of Mr. Trump’s allies and aides worry that Mr. Trump’s temperament and crass style are alienating undecided voters.

The “famous golfer” is Arnold Palmer, who passed away in 2016. By Sunday morning, news anchors had dropped all pretense and were asking Speaker Mike Johnson if he thought it appropriate for Trump to be talking about “a dead golfer’s penis.” Mike Johnson practically begged Jake Tapper to stop asking questions about the story. See Salon, "Why is he talking about Arnold Palmer's penis?": Tapper grills Johnson on Trump anecdote

There are two attributes of this story worth noting. First, if anyone in our families told the Arnold Palmer anecdote in a public speech, the family would stage an intervention to ensure that the speaker got the care he needed. Here, not only is no one in Trump's life telling him he needs to step away from public life, those surrounding him are defending his comments as “entertaining the crowd.”

Second, the initial story by the NYTimes—by reporter Michael Gold—referred to Trump telling “golf stories”—a euphemism that covered-up Trump's deteriorating mental state. Readers raked Michael Gold over the coals, and he reportedly responded by telling the Times subscribers to take the matter up with his senior editor, who excised the details of the anecdote from Gold’s story. Several hours later, the Times revised its story to include the full details.

Feedback and pressure worked—this time. Keep it up!

Notably, the Times ran a story on Sunday that featured the unedited, incoherent answers that Trump had given over the previous seventy-two hours. The Times is apparently responding to criticism that its “summaries” of Trump's speeches are “sane-washing” mental deterioration and hate statements. See NYTimes, Four of Trump’s Most Meandering Remarks This Week. (Accessible to all.)

Again, feedback and pressure appear to be shaping the Times' coverage. Keep up the good work!

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Elon Musk’s PAC engaged in possibly illegal activity

As noted above, Elon Musk’s PAC is offering voters in Pennsylvania a cash incentive for recruiting others to register to vote and sign a petition supporting the First and Second Amendments. NBC News, Elon Musk's PAC offers $47 payouts to refer swing state voters to sign petition.

Last week, sources reported that a Musk related PAC was microtargeting Muslim and Jewish voters in Michigan with antisemitic and Islamophobic social media messages, respectively. See Michigan Advance, Musk-connected PAC behind mailers targeting Muslim and Jewish voters in Michigan

On Sunday, Talking Points Memo reported that a Musk-funded PAC was impersonating the Harris campaign. See TPM, Elon Musk’s Fake Sites and Fake Texts Impersonating the Harris Campaign.

As explained in the article, the Musk PAC has set up websites that look and feel like Kamala Harris's without explicitly saying that they are campaign websites. The website takes Harris’s positions to an extreme. For example, they say that Harris supports the ability of teachers to give sex change operations to students at school.

Per TPM,

[I]n late September Building America’s Future set up a site called Progress 2028 which purports to be Kamala Harris’s response or counter to Project 2025. The site is designed to have the general appearance of a Harris site in the sense of being in favor of gun regulation, supportive of gender-affirming care, etc. but with wildly over-the-top versions of those policies. So for instance, it calls for minor children to be able to get sex change operations at school without the knowledge of or interference from parents, calls for a mandatory gun buy-back program etc.

The PAC also funded a text message campaign which pushes the same fake policy messages impersonating Harris’s campaign and drives recipients of the texts to the site.

As TPM notes, the same PAC is sending text messages impersonating the Harris campaign.

Although a prosecutor would need to evaluate the content of the websites and text messages carefully, the activity likely violates Federal Election Campaign Act. See FEC Record | Commission approves Notification of Disposition and Interpretation. Per the FEC interpretative rule,

The Federal Election Campaign Act (the Act) prohibits fraudulent misrepresentation in two specific ways.

First, the Act prohibits a candidate or their agent from purporting to speak, write or act for another candidate or political party in a way that is damaging to them.

Second, the Act prohibits any person from falsely representing that they are speaking, writing or acting on behalf of a candidate or political party to solicit contributions.

The Musk-funded PAC may be violating the FEC Act in both ways noted above. I assume that this matter has the attention of the DOJ at the highest level. If any readers are in a position to flag this matter to the attention of the DOJ, time is of the essence!

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A comment on the Al Smith Memorial Dinner in NY

The Catholic Archdiocese of New York holds an annual charity fundraising dinner honoring the late Al Smith. By tradition, both presidential candidates attend the dinner to help raise money for Catholic charitable operations.

This year, Trump appeared at the Al Smith dinner while Kamala Harris did not. (Harris provided a video recording of her comments). As expected, Trump delivered remarks that were crude, insulting, and completely at odds with the teachings of the Catholic Church. By inviting Trump, the Catholic Archbishop of New York helped normalize Trump's criminal and corrupt behavior.

The Catholic Archbishop, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, said he was “doubly disappointed” that Kamala Harris did not attend the dinner in person—but offered no criticisms of Trump, whom Cardinal Dolan has praised in the past.

The conservative newspaper National Catholic Reporter published an editorial criticizing Cardinal Dolan for hosting Trump. See National Catholic Reporter, Editorial: Cardinal Dolan's 'Al Smith dinner' disappointment is misdirected.

Per the National Catholic Reporter,

The mistake — and the cardinal is hardly the first or last to make it — is to judge the moment as if it were somehow still attached to a degree of normalcy, or what we've always known in presidential politics.

The sin here is not that Kamala Harris had the good sense to reply, "No thank you, I'm previously engaged." The real scandal is that the good Catholic cardinal of the great city of New York would not have the courage to say, this year, that the current Republican candidate is a walking example of so much the Catholic Church finds repugnant in today's politics that he would suspend the normal invitations.

. . . . We are disappointed [Cardinal Dolan] didn't have the courage to stand up to Trump, a looming threat to the democratic ideals that allow the church to host such a high-profile public gathering.

The Catholic Church is allowing Trump to inflict immense damage on its tattered reputation. The Church undoubtedly believes that support for Trump's presidency and candidacy helps impose its moral teachings on a secular nation that largely disagrees with Church doctrine. In the process, Trump is making hypocrites and fools of every clergy who embraces a man who is the antithesis of nearly every moral principle in the Church.

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Concluding Thoughts

Frankly, it is frustrating to head into the final weeks of the campaign while Trump and his major funder appear to be flouting federal election law. In a just and rational world, Trump and Musk will be held to account for any illegal actions in the 2024 campaign. But they are making the risky calculation that if Trump wins, they will get away with their illegal conduct. If he loses, they nonetheless believe their wealth and fame will allow them to avoid accountability for their actions for many years.

The four years of Joe Biden’s presidency have felt unsatisfying and disquieting because of lack of progress in prosecuting Trump. That is water under the bridge. We must focus on what we can control at this moment.

We stand at an inflection point in which our votes not only protect democracy but also ensure that the guilty are held to account for their crimes (after due process and a fair trial).

Our primary motivation should not be to hold Trump accountable, no matter how righteous that justice might be. But dispensing justice is critical to defending democracy against future threats. That is why it is important for the DOJ to acknowledge this week that it is investigating the reports of impersonating Harris-Walz websites and text messages, as well as the dubious practice of awarding a lottery prize of $1 million per day to Pennsylvania registered voters who have signed Elon Musk’s petition.

Regardless of whether the DOJ lives up to its obligations to protect election integrity (and I believe it will), our obligations remain the same: Drive massive turnout that will insulate the outcome from interference by MAGA extremists.

It all comes down to turnout. So, let’s put our outrage aside and keep working to convince Americans to vote like their democracy depends on it!

Talk to you tomorrow!

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Daily Dose of Perspective

A quick request: Each year, my wife and I put out Halloween decorations that include “gravestones” with witty, semi-political epitaphs. Funny, but not offensive. This year, we are stumped. We are thinking of “Concepts of a Plan | D.O.A.” and “Democracy | 1789-???? | Not Dead Yet! | Vote!” We are soliciting suggestions from readers for additional epitaphs. Email replies to rbhubbell@gmail.com. Fertile subjects might include Musk, Tesla, GOP, Supreme Court (last year: “Supreme Court Ethics | On Vacation.”)

The image below is my second attempt at the Helix Nebula, which is only 655 light-years from Earth. It was formed by a low-mass star shedding its outer layers near the end of its life cycle.

I selected the Helix Nebula because it was one of the few objects available for imaging before the bright moon rose in the East. I was surprised by the quality of this image, given that the nebula is low on the horizon (32 degrees altitude) and, therefore, bathed in the glow of city lights. I tried to image other objects after the moon rose with no luck. Everything was washed out.

Enjoy!