Right-Wing Media IS "Mainstream" Now

The Right-Wing Media Machine regularly rails against mainstream media, often calling it "lame-stream media," or even "the real fake news," as Sean Hannity often calls it.

Trouble is, that form of news is no longer "mainstream." Not even close.

Fox News currently occupies nearly 50% of all cable news viewership, according to Nielsen ratings. Which means everything else, CNN, MSNBC, Newsmax, OAN, all fits into that remaining half, and only one of those is ostensibly progressive-leaning. Newsmax and OAN carry roughly 9% of cable news viewership, meaning the right-wing side of biased news is only just shy of 60%. With CNN twisting in the wind like a weather vane, it's fair to say that two-thirds of cable news is now right-wing.

Newspapers are dead, with most of them having been bought up by oligarchs and hedge funds, stripped down to their barest essentials, and most of their reporters shown the door. We famously saw the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post refuse to endorse Kamala Harris, not because the staff felt this was right, but because of owners' edict. Both publications suffered backlash, but the owners are rich enough not to care.

Radio? According to the Center for American Progress, a startling 91% of political talk radio is conservative-leaning.

Television? Forget it. Roughly 40% of all local television networks are owned by Sinclair, a right-leaning broadcast company. True, they've been looking to sell off about 30% of what they currently own, but they're still dominant. Right behind them is Nextstar Media Group, which owns nearly all the rest, and dominates all television media in general with roughly 70% of all television stations, local or otherwise.

And then came recently this report from CNN, showing how 40% of young voters, particularly young men, get their news from social media sources, most of which lean to the right. In particular, X.com and Joe Rogan were frequently cited as news sources.

In fact, I think we can safely say that when Elon Musk blew millions on buying Twitter, which seemed to be a horribly stupid waste of money, he was wasting all that cash to have an outsized effect on the 2024 election.

And it worked!

And yes, everybody of sound mind is currently leaving X.com. An "X-odus," if you will (I wish I'd been the one to come up with that). But, as frequently is the case among us liberals, it's too little, too late. And what's left of X.com will continue as an even more depraved right-wing conspiracy-theory-ridden hellhole than ever before.

And that's before factoring in all the other social and digital media outlets which are right-wing. Or, for that matter, factoring all the foreign propaganda (looking at you, Russia & China) which poisons the social media of even balanced platforms.

Let's face it, Kamala lost for precisely the reasons I outlined in my earlier blog post.

Two words: Institutionalized disinformation.

So we need to re-define our terms. "Mainstream media" must now be regarded as the media of the political right. "The liberal media" simply no longer exists. Frankly, it hasn't existed for a very long time. Everything else which has heretofore been regarded as "mainstream," must now assume a different name. Legacy media seems to be the term which is winning out. And most of it isn't even left-leaning. The bulk of it is just the balanced media; the responsible media.

There is no counterweight.

So we're basically fucked as far as media is concerned. The oligarchs came in, and took away freedom of speech by buying up all the free speech outlets they could, then filling our ears with outrage porn aimed at defaming the Left. There's no way we can fix this easily. And we can't re-balance the airwaves by simply re-launching Air America Radio (remember that one?), or somehow bolstering NPR, or turning to the quixotic podcasts done by Keith Olbermann and Thom Hartmann.

We need to pass some laws requiring balance!

I'm not advocating censorship, any more than it is censorship to require a food product to faithfully report a package's contents on its label. The law recognizes that if a food company mislabels its contents, the consumer who buys it could get seriously sick. We need a similar set of laws governing our news outlets, and for precisely the same reason.

No one should be able to mislabel propaganda as "news" anymore! That's simply fraud!

I look forward to the possibility that Fox News might get forced to change its name to "Fox Infotainment" or some such. Certainly, the likes of Hannity, Gutfeld, and others will continue to spew their liberal-hatred as much as they are able.

But at least they might do so with a little less legitimacy. With reduced artificial authority.

No more institutionalized disinformation! It is our #1 enemy and, assuming we ever get another shot, stopping it must be our #1 priority.

Eric

**

Don't Call RFK Jr A "Vaccine Skeptic"

I am a Skeptic.

I say this using a capital "S," because it is not just a self-description, it is a creed. I've been part of the Skeptic movement for over almost 30 years now, having joined it in 1997 shortly after the untimely death of my hero (and hopefully yours, too) Dr. Carl Sagan. I was a member of the Center for Scientific Inquiry (CSI) way back when it was still called "CSICOP" (the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims Of the Paranormal).

So it absolutely frosts me when everyone in the media keeps describing RFK Jr. as a "vaccine skeptic."

He is no such thing.

A Skeptic (capital "S") doesn't dismiss claims outright. A Skeptic investigates. A Skeptic confirms. Even if the claim is absurd, the Skeptic investigates anyway. If someone claims to have seen a UFO, the Skeptic will not simply dismiss it outright. He will look into it. He will likely find a much more rational explanation than our humble planet being visited by extraterrestrials, but he will at least take a look. Or at least count on the appointment of someone else (usually from Skeptical Inquirer magazine) to go take a look.

The classic example of this is Joe Nickell, who regularly made cable TV paranormal shows as the guy who looked into claims of haunted houses (back when cable TV was still a thing) and debunked them. Like the gang from Scooby Doo, he always found a human explanation rather than an actual ghost, but he never guffawed or ridiculed people for their beliefs. Instead he looked at the evidence, and found a natural rather than a supernatural reason for a seemingly ghostly encounter. In nearly all cases, the ghost-claimant acknowledged that Nickell was probably right.

Rejecting a claim outright with no investigation is not skepticism. It is cynicism.

In RFKJ's case, it is even worse than cynicism. RFKJ has taken a position of faith regarding vaccines. He ignores the mountains of evidence showing how vaccines are effective at preventing disease and instead embraces wild conspiracy theories which were debunked long ago. Such as claiming thimerosal, used in tiny amounts as a vaccine preservative, causes autism in children. He ignores that no vaccines administered to children under the age of 6 ever contains thimerosal, and hasn't done so for generations. He also ignores that thimerosal uses ethyl mercury, which the human body can expel in waste. Methyl mercury, an entirely different molecule, cannot be expelled from the body. RFKJ regularly confuses or conflates the two. What's more, any vaccine which contains thimerosal has it in only about 50 micrograms. For scale, that's roughly the equivalent of eating 2 cans of tuna.

I don't eat a lot of tuna, but I've certainly eaten a lot more than 2 cans' worth in my lifetime. I suspect you have, too.

RFKJ is no more a skeptic than a creationist is a "skeptic" regarding evolution, or a flat earther is a "skeptic" regarding our spherical planet. He is no more a "skeptic" than someone who denies we landed on the Moon in 1969, or that the Holocaust ever happened in Nazi Germany. These are conspiracy theories -- cults of the fantastical which prey upon those who are prone to jumping to conclusions.

In taking a position of faith regarding vaccine denialism, and founding an organization to promote and bolster his mad claims, he has literally made himself a cult leader.

So call him a denier. Call him a crackpot. Call him a fool for misusing his worm-eaten brain.

But please, stop calling him a "skeptic."

You soil the word each time you make that mistake.

Eric

**

Why Biden Met With Trump

A lot of people were incensed by the above photograph. Those who know Trump effectively wants dictatorial control see this as a betrayal. Why would Biden agree to shake this monster's hand?

I found this picture offensive, too. I mean, who has a roaring fireplace in 50-degree weather?

But here's where Biden's integrity and intelligence outshines many of us. He recognizes that a peaceful transfer of power will ensure less animosity between Trump and the Democratic Party. He knows that if Democrats are to get another shot at all, it will depend upon Trump not seeing all Democrats as enemies. It will depend upon him merely circumventing the process rather than destroying it.

I know, I know, it sounds very much like the "roll into a fetal-position ball and the bear will get bored with you and go away" sort of defense. It's admittedly weak sauce. I get it. But honestly, it's one of the few options we've got with a realistic shot at working.

In my earlier blog post, I pointed out that Trump may well leave the democratic process alone so long as he gets his own way - for now. This gives us a narrow lane of opportunity to prevent a complete slip into fascism. I know perfectly well that J.D. Vance will not be so magnanimous, which makes our situation even more precarious. Vance outright admitted he is a fan of dictatorial systems.

Which leads me to part 2 of this blog post. I normally ignore the various emails I get wanting me to send money to them. A lot of these so-called funding drives and/or petitions are scams. But this one especially drew my ire:

That is exactly the ONE thing we can't do!

This junk email came from the Progressive Turnout Project. DON'T sign their petition! DON'T give them any money! This petition is so stupid I can't even begin to say. 

1) We're getting this email NOW?! AFTER the goddamned election?! I know we liberals are great at swimming after the ship long after it's set sail, but damn!

2) Why the hell should we expel Trump (assuming that's even possible) just to supplant him with J.D. Vance?

Why exchange an incompetent, hopefully temporary, dictator with a more competent, permanent one?!

Hang in there, folks. These are precarious times where we have to navigate some very treacherous waters. We cannot afford any more stupid mistakes. The only way we survive is by outsmarting the opposition.

And possibly outlasting them, too.

We need to use all our defenses, whether they be kindness or camouflage.

Eric

**

The Next Big Lie

Responsible news sources called Trump's false claim that the 2020 election was stolen "The Big Lie." And so it was. In fact, it was just one of many lies designed to convince people that up is down, black is white, and day is night, grass is purple, and voting for a criminal rapist/racist is actually a good idea. But under Trump's pending neo-Grover-Cleveland era, there is a new Big Lie coming. You can feel it already starting in various right-wing media outlets, and it's going to be very easy to sell. At first.

The lie will go something like this: "You see? Liberals said Trump was going to be a dictator. But he's clearly not. Life goes on just like before. It was all paranoia."

And that argument will seem true - until suddenly it doesn't.

Because Trump will probably interfere with the midterms. And it's even more likely he will mess with the 2028 election, especially if a "blue wave" hits him hard in 2026.

If he's still alive, that is. As the oldest elected president in history (he is currently older than Biden was when he was elected) he could very well die in office. And then it's J.D. Vance, the person who was caught on video espousing pro-totalitarian, pro-dictator views, who will preside over the election interference.

And then our elections will have no more of a (small "d") democratic outcome than the elections in Russia do.

It will be at that point when we tell the disciples of right-wing media, "I told you so." But of course, if they haven't hearkened to reality by now, they certainly won't then. They'll pretend those elections are absolutely legit, even though we on the left, and the remaining free nations of the world, will know better.

What will we do then? I can only imagine. But it will likely have to be drastic.

The jackboots aren't coming any time soon. Tanks will not be rolling through our city streets right away. That will likely take years. The move toward totalitarianism will be slow, and many of us won't even notice the moment the "Miracle of Philadelphia" finally expires. But it will.

Unless Trump fumbles the football at the goal line, and We the People actually get another shot. I'm not counting on that, but I won't rule it out, either.

Watch for it. It's coming. The Big Lie 2.0.

Eric

**

Five Reasons To Hope

I've been rather doom-and-gloom in my posts lately. That's for good reason, of course, but always being negative doesn't do our collective mental health any good. So in this post, I thought I would do something positive and outline five reasons why we might have hope that democracy isn't quite dead yet. We may yet be able to snatch democracy from the jaws of fascism. (And if we do, we'd better make damned sure we don't blow our opportunity.)

Here are my five reasons. See if you agree:

1) Trump is utterly incompetent. We're seeing it already, as a transition team he should have had fully assembled way back in June or July has yet to name any but the most rudimentary of cabinet members, such as Chief of Staff. This is exactly the same mistake Trump made in 2016, and he never quite recovered from it. In fact, at no point during his first four years did Trump ever have a fully staffed cabinet, or diplomatic corps. There is a realistic chance that what saves democracy isn't the failure of those who defend it, but the ineptitude of those who would destroy it.

With Captain Wrongway Peachfuzz back at the helm, the one thing you can count on is a bevy of mistakes.

2) Because Trump won this election with an actual majority, he may not be tempted to subvert it in the future. Trump really and truly believes that he will always win. Twice now he has overcome being behind in the aggregate polling average up until the last possible minute, at which point he somehow manages to win. By winning an actual majority this time, he (and Vance, we hope) may come to believe that the vote will always go his way, and will therefore not attempt to subvert the electoral process in either 2026 or 2028.

You can count on a delusional man to maintain his delusions.

3) Biden can use these last remaining months to blunt Trump's future retribution. Perhaps he will give a blanket presidential pardon to all those Trump has named as enemies, preventing Trump from using the Justice Department to enact revenge. Perhaps he will enact other measures to blunt any future takeover or move towards totalitarianism. I very much hope he will, and it's something to watch for. Hell, I hope he pardons his son, Hunter, too. That would be a nice, parting kick to the Republican groin.

You can count on Biden in his final days, just as you could these past four years.

4) There will be a strong sense of betrayal which will play to our favor. The entire crossover vote will feel the pain of buyers' remorse as Trump's administration unfolds in a way other than what they expected. Muslims who voted for Trump or didn't vote altogether because they didn't like the Biden administration's approach to the genocide in Gaza will be shocked to see Gaza utterly destroyed to make room for new Jewish settlements. Young black men who voted for Trump in order to shake things up will find themselves dismayed as they and/or their friends fall victim to reinstated "stop and frisk" policies, racial profiling, and immunity for police brutality. White women who chose religion over a woman's autonomy will find themselves shocked by one news story after another of a woman dying of sepsis as doctors, too afraid of abortion bans to give the appropriate care which was needed in a timely fashion, end up waiting until the last possible minute, which proves to be too late for the patient. Latinos who voted for Trump will be shocked as their friends, and possibly even their relatives, are suddenly arrested and deported, despite many of them being documented.

You can count on customer complaints when you sell a phony product.

5) If the worst truly happens, and blue states are forced to secede from the Union, the majority of those within the MAGA echo-chamber will undoubtedly say, "Screw 'em! Let 'em go! We never liked those damned liberal states anyway! Good riddance!"

You can count on MAGA's irrational hatred of "woke liberals" to help prevent a Civil War.

Eric

**

White Rose Movement 2.0

There was a time when those whom we think of today as "the Founding Fathers," were doing something radical, and more than a little bit foolish.

In the late 1700's, to stand against the might and power of the British Monarchy was foolhardy, to say the least. But some brave men actually did. They had names which were well-off, but not particularly well-known. Names like Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin, Payne, Washington, Hancock, and Madison.

And what they wrought was a democracy which lasted almost 250 years.

Until this past November 5th, that is.

But their boldness came at a true fulcrum point -- a moment in history when great Men (in the non-gendered sense) are either made, or fall. In the end, their gamble paid off, and they forged a great democracy. It didn't last forever, but it was the first of many to follow.

Now is such a time.

There was also a time when people stood up to the likes of Adolf Hitler within Nazi Germany. They knew they were risking their lives to do so. They knew the price of failure. But they chose to stand up for what was right and good anyway. They chose to fight.

Their anti-Hitler movement was known as the "White Rose" movement. Many within it died. But a good many others succeeded after Germany lost the war.

Now is such a time.

Now is the time for the likes of Oskar Schindler (of "Schindler's List" fame) to stand up and save lives.

Now is the time for the likes of Dietrich Bonhoeffer to stand up for human rights, just as Jesus Christ would have in such a situation.

Now is the time for "Tank Man" to stand up to the massacre of Tiannamen Square. Remember that news story? When a lone, Chinese man, armed with only a shopping bag, stood up to a line of tanks and shouted, "Why are you attacking us?!" That type of courage is needed right now.

And we should also remember another great man, Mahatma Ghandi, who, like our nation's founding fathers, stood up to the might of the British Empire -- and won.

In all these crises, those who stood up were not always the ones who were victorious.

But they were all remembered.

Now is that time. Now is OUR time. White Rose 2.0! Now is when we fight back against Trump and Trumpism, as all people of conscience must.

Now is when we succeed, or fail. We may not win. But in resisting, we will never lose.

Either way, we will be remembered.

Eric

**

A Message Of Hope For A Post-Democracy America

Well, I thought I was going to take a break from blogging, but...

Democracy has always had one, glaring flaw: that people have the power to vote for its own destruction. Last Tuesday, that's precisely what happened.

It's not Kamala's fault. Don't blame her. Sure, she had some missteps, mostly in not distancing herself from Biden enough and not speaking out enough for Gaza. But she ran a flawless campaign otherwise. As I've said before, in a sane world, she wins in a landslide. Trump, on the other hand, ran a reckless campaign, made one gaff after another, had one October surprise after another go against him, played to his twisted base instead of to the rational center, and somehow won anyway. No, this is not Kamala's fault. 

It wasn't "the economy, stupid." Not with inflation down to 2.1%, record job growth, and grocery prices slowly coming down. If Trump had presided over these economic numbers, he and all his followers would be bragging loud enough to rattle everyone's windows! Biden somehow gets zero credit.

No, the real problem, as I've been saying for years, is the Right-Wing Media Machine giving the illusion of legitimacy to utter falsehoods.

Two words: institutionalized disinformation. That's what did us in.

On the surface, the election seemed to have an air of democracy to it. The flawed Electoral College actually agreed with the popular vote totals for once (something we haven't seen for the Republican side since 1988). But here's the thing: There can be no true democratic choice if voters are being systematically and maliciously misled.

As I pointed out earlier, propaganda disguised as news IS election interference.

And that leads into a thorny question for political scientists everywhere: If the general public is fooled into thinking that day is night, up is down, back is front, and demented criminal rapists/racists somehow make good candidates, can there truly be a democratic choice? Or does institutionalized disinformation render the democratic process impossible?

I would argue it does. We just saw proof.

For a long time, we have been less a democracy and more an oligarchy. We have now, officially, slipped down to 100% oligarchy. Our votes were bought, because our news media was bought. And now we face the likelihood of becoming an outright dictatorship. Because roughly half of us were duped into thinking that was actually a good idea.

Because institutionalized disinformation, bought and paid for by the ultra-rich, drove us utterly insane.

So what do we do now? Cry in our beer? Wallow in depression? Wait for the Technological Singularity to come and save us? Flee to some other country while we still can?

No! HELL, no!

I will NOT give up! 

And most importantly, I will not SHUT up!

I intend to be at the vanguard of the last guardrail keeping Trump in check. I will endeavor to be a policy maker within the Democratic Party, seeing as how the current leadership is obviously too incompetent to target the primary problem. I will undermine Trump and the Right-Wing Media Machine in every way I can.

And I ask that you join me.

So my message of hope is simply this: It's never truly over if we decide it isn't over.

One way or another, we will find a way to bitch-slap this mass delusion called Trumpism into the dustbin of history. Where it belongs.

Truth! Above! All!

(But I'll also have a go-bag packed, just in case.)

Eric

**

The Truth About Voter Fraud

Here's the truth about voter fraud:

It happens.

In every election which has ever been done in the history of democracy, there has always been a small percentage of error, and a few bad actors who try gaming the system. Because, whenever you get tens of millions of people doing the same thing all at once, there's going to be some screw-ups, as well as some who try to cut corners.

No problem if there's a clear winner. But when the election is close, it can cause massive problems.

But here's the part we all need to remember: Comparatively speaking, 2020 had some of the lowest rates of error or malfeasance in the measurable (and measured) history of elections.

Yet many people came to the conclusion that the 2020 election had the most fraud out of any recent presidential election. Why the disparity? Because in 2020 the entire electoral process had a proverbial proctological scope jammed up its ass! People were constantly looking for any little thing that might be wrong, and every little thing that was inevitably found, legitimate or not (more often not), got immediately reported before any fact-checking was done, and blown way, WAY out of proportion.

The same thing is undoubtedly about to happen again. Especially with the Right-Wing Media Machine being stronger than ever. You have been warned.

That means two things:

1) Trumpists are going to again lose their shit over every little complaint.

2) There will likely be even less error and fraud in this election than there was in 2020 as a direct result.

So let's all just relax take a deep breath, here! Or count to ten. Or take a Benzo. Or do whatever it takes to calm down.

When the vote totals come in tonight, we all need to remember that we're NOT watching four quarters of a playoff game where two teams are scoring on each other, and if one team makes a sudden, last-minute comeback, it makes the other side feel cheated and start bitching about the officiating. That's NOT what's happening, here! And if you're taking that approach at an election watch party, you have the wrong attitude. The final score has already been made! The game is over, and the winner has already been determined. The only thing that's happening is the final score being tallied and slowly reported as a running total.

So when you see a "blue shift," as absentee and mail-in ballots are counted, don't assume there's some sort of shenanigans going on. This is just how counting works.

And I know counting. I'm an accountant. It's boring work and when you're done, somebody always wants to bitch about the result, no matter how accurate.

So, everybody, chill the fuck out. As Adam Conover recently said, "I'm not worried about the election, because worry is a useless emotion." Instead of worrying, get out there and DO something.

Because your influence doesn't begin and end with a vote.

It begins when you get involved. When you volunteer. When you use your hands. When you use your brain. When you give your heart to the community. When you actively work to make the change you want to see.

Let's do that instead of stressing out.

See you on the other side of the election, folks!

Eric

**

If Trump Wins... (a.k.a. The Final Guardrail)

I'm on record as predicting Kamala Harris will win. The surprise polling in Iowa shows that many assumptions pollsters have been making might well be wrong. There's also the X factors of the secret women's vote, the youth vote (which is almost impossible to poll because young people simply do not talk to pollsters, but remember the "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!" gaff?), or the turncoat Republican vote, or the pissed-off Latino vote. We also have heard that many "polls" are garbage, designed to largely paint a rosier picture for Trump. I'm cautiously optimistic. 

Still, even if the polling is wrong, and Harris actually leads by a decent percentage, it remains undeniably (and inexplicably) close in this election. IF Trump wins (perish the thought), what do we do? What's going to happen? I'm going to explore that dark thought in this blog post. I'm sad to say it, but if Trump wins, there is only ONE guardrail remaining which can stop him.

One.

But we'll get to that in a minute.

First, let's have a glimpse into the future which MIGHT be, should Trump actually pull off the improbable tiebreaker. Or worse, succeeds in swindling the election process.

First (and nobody disputes this), he will pardon himself and get rid of any federal cases pending against him.

He will then almost certainly target Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and Judge Juan Merchan for retribution regarding his 34 convictions of fraud. He will find a way.

He will then bring manufactured lawsuits for ridiculous charges against any and all Republicans and former members of his staff who turned on him, and do everything in his power to destroy their careers. Or worse.

There will then be legal reprisals upon all sorts of people as Trump turns the Attorney General's office upon any other people he considers his enemies.

He will inevitably hand over much of Ukraine to Russia. Perhaps by declaring all territory Russia has gained so far to be the new Russian border. He will also likely defund all Ukrainian support completely and allow Russia to make a surge into the country afterward to take over the entire country, not entirely unlike Hitler with the Sudatenland and Czechoslovakia.

That will be shocking enough. But there's more. Next will come the shock of betrayal among those who voted for him.

Muslims in Michigan who voted for Trump or stayed home because Harris was too much of a "squish" when it came to opposing the awful ethnic cleansing in Gaza will find themselves shocked and betrayed when, under Trump, Netenyahu begins bombing Gaza even more while settlements are brought back in and bombed-out buildings are transformed by Jared Kushner into prime real estate.

Young black men who voted for Trump because they couldn't bring themselves to trust Harris find themselves shocked and betrayed as racial profiling, "stop and frisk," and marijuana prohibition are reinstated, and many of them get hauled off to jail for minor offenses.

Yes, JAIL! And they voted FOR it!

Young Latino men who voted for Trump because they were convinced Harris was a Castro-like Communist find themselves shocked and betrayed as their green cards get rescinded and they are deported based on their racial identity despite their legal documentation. Yeah, we all saw THAT one coming.

Economy voters who felt Trump would do better with the economy are shocked and betrayed as huge tariffs are levied everywhere, prices skyrocket, manufacturing drops, and Trump resorts to massive deficit spending to try and cover it all up - just like he did last time when his trade war with China failed.

Christians are the only ones who do not feel betrayed -- at first. The final destruction of Church/State separation takes place, forcing institutionalized prayer into public schools and instituting Christianity as the only official religion, while declaring all other creeds illegal. BUT THEN, these Christians wake up and realize they've been utterly betrayed when the inevitable internal fight begins among various Christian factions to determine which form of Christianity is the "true" or "legal" version. Oh, the irony!

And all this is just the beginning of the nightmare.

RFK Jr. becomes Surgeon General? Yeesh!

Elon Musk gets a cabinet post? Ugh!

There will then be an all-out assault on Obamacare. Don't think so? There certainly was one last time. Were it not for John McCain, it would have succeeded!

The U.S. will likely pull out of NATO. Especially if NATO panics over Ukraine being handed over to Putin as an "election gift" in gratitude for Putin's cyber-support of Trump's campaign. Putin will be elated, Western democracies will be horrified, and that's all the excuse Trump will need.

And all that is before the final guardrail comes into play.

And what IS that final guardrail? Wait and see...

With huge tariffs causing economic collapse, and Trump doing massive deficit spending (his one talent) to cover up the entire mess, the dollar collapses. What happens then? Why, Trump turns to crypto-currency in a desperate attempt to re-invent the American monetary system. He has already hinted at doing this, so it should come as a surprise to no one. Naturally, this all devolves into utter chaos.

And at this point, he suspends the Constitution and declares Martial Law.

Here at last, is the final guardrail. In such a scenario, the unwillingness to capitulate, exercised by the freedom-loving public, is the only thing that keeps Trump from stealing it all. And in such a scenario of chaos, many state governments will refuse to bend the knee.

Which ones? Well, Certainly, the Pacific Coast (California, Washington and Oregon) and New England (New York, New Jersey, and almost everything north of Virginia) would refuse to cooperate. Illinois and Minnesota would certainly refuse, and with them would probably go Wisconsin and Michigan. Ohio, Indiana, and Pennsylvania might remain on the fence, but even they know totalitarianism when they see it. Nevada? No way. And so go also New Mexico, Colorado, and maybe, if we're lucky, Arizona. There might even be some surprises among the defectors, such as Iowa or Nebraska.

And then what? Civil war?

Perhaps. Perhaps not. There will certainly be a grab to retain certain military assets within blue states. Such as Annapolis Naval Base in Maryland, Great Lakes Naval Base in Illinois, the various military stations in California and New Mexico, etc. And Trump will want loyalist Generals and Admirals to take his side.

I dare say most will not. But there are some. This too, is part of the final guardrail.

Canada, Europe, and all freedom loving democracies will side with the blue secessionist states. They will provide financial and, if necessary, military support. Trump will realize this, and even his madness will be given pause. There will also be many within MAGA who will say, "Screw the blue states! Let 'em go!" And that too, is an unintentional final guardrail.

In which case, the Civil War 2.0 will be over without firing a shot.

There is even an outside chance that Texas decides to secede, on the general principle of wanting to determine its own future in the midst of all this chaos.

I really hope none of this happens. But in the event of a Trump victory, I think it's very probable. And in such a scenario, the unwillingness of the American people to capitulate to a dictator is the final guardrail, the ONE thing that could keep our democracy intact. What's left of it, that is.

And bear in mind, if Trump dies in office (and if he wins, he will never leave, meaning he must inevitably die in office) that means someone worse, like J.D. Vance, will take over.

Don't fear the one who thinks he's Moses. Fear the one who thinks he's Joshua. Because Joshua did all the conquering.

I really hope none of this happens. Honestly, it sounds like one of my crazy science fiction plots. But if it does, don't say I didn't warn you.

Eric

**

IF Kamala Loses...

I predict Kamala Harris will win this Tuesday. It may be close, but if the secret wives' vote comes through, she will. Or if the secret Republican vote comes through, she will. Or if the insulted Latino vote comes through, she will. Or if the late-breaking undecideds come through for her (and numbers show they are at roughly 2-to-1 in her favor), she will. I dare say all four of these will factor in to a Harris victory. She may even sweep all the swing states. (I would be pleasantly surprised at that, but it's entirely possible.)

But as I've repeatedly said on this blog, IT SHOULD NOT BE THIS CLOSE! In a sane world, this should be a slam-dunk. There shouldn't be any competition between a competent woman, and a 1) convicted criminal, 2) sexual assaulter, 3) demonstrable racist, 4) repeated business failure, and 5) proven charlatan who is 6) clearly starting to lose his mind.

So IF Kamala Harris loses (and that's a big IF), it will be for a whole host of reasons. But it will NOT be for the reasons a lot of news pundits will undoubtedly claim.

It will NOT be because she went with Tim Walz instead of Josh Shapiro as her vice presidential nominee.

It will NOT be because she didn't sufficiently distance herself from Biden when Oprah gave her the softball-question-opportunity to do so.

It will NOT be because she is eloquent within the talking points but less so when handed a question she's unprepared for.

It will NOT be due to her record as Attorney General for California, or the false claim that she was named some sort of "Border Czar."

No. HELL, no! Here are the REAL reasons:

It will be because the Right-Wing Media Machine started to go off the rails under George W. Bush after 9/11, and raged unchecked for decades, until it spiraled so wildly out of control that when it came time to report regarding a race between the worst, most racist, most criminal charlatan that we've ever seen in politics, and (again) a highly competent woman, the machine actually went full-throated in favor of the CRIMINAL!

It will be because nobody heeded MY warnings about this Right-Wing Media Machine/Cult. People failed to heed me when I warned them about it in November of 2010.

And again in February of 2011.

And again in April of 2015.

And again in November of 2016.

And again in October of 2020.

And again in November of 2020.

And again in January of 2022.

(And those are just a small sample of the many warnings I gave.)

No, they would rather have listened to the disgraced likes of Tucker Carlson and Art Jones. (?!?!)

It will be because Barack Obama wasted eight years' worth of opportunity to stop this Right-Wing Media Machine. Oh, yes! I'll call Obama out on this one! He could have restored the Fairness Doctrine and prevented all this crap. In fact, he did the exact opposite! On August 22, 2011, in response to Obama's own executive order directing a "government-wide review of regulations already on the books" to eliminate unnecessary regulations, the FCC voted to remove the rule that implemented the fairness doctrine, along with more than 80 other rules and regulations, from the Federal Register. Hell, Obama could have simply left the remaining shards of the Fairness Doctrine alone and blunted what was to come! He didn't. Maybe he was trying to throw the right-wing media off of him with that move. If so, not only didn't it work, it ruined us all, too. Yes, hindsight is always 20/20, but I said then, and still say now, that our beloved Barry committed a colossal fuck-up with that one!

It will be because Joe Biden wasted four more years failing to deal with our nation's #1 problem of disinformation, which by this point was beyond obvious. Why did he do nothing? Why does a crooked moron like Lewis DeJoy still have a job as Postmaster General during a time in which mail-in voting is so very crucial? Why did we fuck around?

It will be because four years of Trump seemed to give legitimacy to all the right-wing craziness being bandied about on social media, to say nothing of biased appointment to various offices (some of which still stand!) and hideously biased press briefings by the likes of Kayleigh McEnany and Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

And we again did nothing afterward.

It will be because social media outlets such as Twitter/X were allowed to be bought out and turned into the equivalent of 4chan or 8kun.

It will be because Russian disinformation campaigns have been allowed to run rampant through American media.

It will be because our news outlets have been bought out by billionaire oligarchs who interfere with the journalistic process to make sure that their biases are endorsed over the truth, as outlets such as the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have their endorsements of Kamala Harris blocked by their interfering owners.

It will be because hedge funds have systematically bought up our nation's newspapers and dismantled them, firing most staff and leaving behind bare-bones operations that barely even cover sports.

It will be because most A.M. news stations and even many local television news programs have been bought out by oligarchic interests.

It will be because too many voters on the political left couldn't bring themselves to hold their nose and vote for Hillary in 2016. In an overreaction to Bernie Sanders not being named the candidate, they preferred to cast a protest vote for Jill Stein instead. (And then actually dared to protest Trump's election afterward!) Thus allowing nearly all of the above items to take place. (That one's on us, folks!)

It will be because of the horrifying Citizens' United SCOTUS ruling in 2010, which wrongly equated money with free speech.

It will be because Bill Clinton allowed oligarchs to take over the news media with his horrible Telecommunications Act of 1996.

It will be because the Supreme Court threw the 2000 election to George W. Bush on a 5 to 4 vote, thus making literally all the above possible.

It will be because Ronald Reagan first dismantled the Fairness Doctrine in 1987, creating a watershed effect which we are still reeling from today.

It will be because of all this and more. WE let this happen! WE dropped the ball over, and over, and over again. We let this monster grow and grow until it became an absolute dragon. The death-spiral of our nation's democracy has come down to this: We failed to address the one, biggest threat which has been boiling up for decades upon decades. We failed to require that our news be objective. We failed to address the lies.

And if we win on Tuesday and waste another four years not addressing this #1 concern, then I'll have no choice but to quit the Democratic Party entirely and do something utterly drastic. I'm not sure what, but fuck this shit!

Still, I can afford to be cautiously optimistic. For now.

Eric

**

Jon Stewart Is Just Plain Wrong

I love Jon Stewart.

Over the years on The Daily Show and other projects, his wit and humor have sustained me through some dark times -- when certain people's stubborn adherence to the Right-Wing Media Machine has come close to driving me into deep depression. I'm so very grateful to him, and remain a devoted fan.

But on Monday night, he really stepped in it.

Stewart has returned to The Daily Show as an occasional, usually-once-per-week host. And having him return to his old venue, in this trying time where we are actually on the brink of throwing democracy away permanently, is a breath of fresh air to a drowning man. Still, brilliance is no guarantee against being dead wrong, and Stewart demonstrated that spectacularly.

How? By actually defending Tony Hinchcliffe!

In his opening monologue, he said of Hinchcliffe's MSG performance, "Now obviously in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before election day and roasting a key voting demographic, probably not the best decision by the campaign politically. But to be fair, the guy’s really just doing what he does."

Yeah. What he does is throw an entire race under the bus.

Understatement much, Jon?

Stewart then proceeded to play some clips of Hinchcliffe roasting other people, like Tom Brady. And those jokes, unsurprisingly, are every bit as tasteless and over-the-line as the ones he gave in New York on Sunday.

"There’s something wrong with me," Stewart admitted. "I find that guy very funny. I’m sorry, I don’t know what to tell you."

Well, I know what to tell you, Mr. Stewart. Stop making excuses for the moron that just handed us the salvation of democracy on a silver platter! What, are you trying to get us all killed?! You idiot!

Now, after I've calmed down a bit and my blood pressure's returned to normal, I do get it, somewhat. Comedians like to defend other comedians, even and especially if they just self-destructed on stage. It's a kind of brotherhood among all those who have bombed at least a few times in their career.

And maybe, just maybe, in certain situations, Hinchcliffe's routine might actually have been objectively funny. Like at a White House Correspondents' Dinner, or maybe an awards show. Or at a "Roast of Puerto Rican Culture" event (as if any such thing could ever exist).

But to ruthlessly roast the next-largest voting block after white people, en masse, during what was ostensibly a campaign rally, in a critically close election? Come on!

There's no excuse for that, no matter what Jon Stewart says. And I think deep down he knows that, which is why he admitted, "There's something wrong with me."

And Stewart rightly points out that Trump's comments at the MSG rally were far worse. But that has never moved people before. Why should it now? You see, Hinchcliffe is NOT Trump, and that's what makes this scandal stick to him. It's not that Trump laughed at the jokes and refused to apologize for them afterward, but that everyone there laughed too (except, I'm sure, the stunned Latino voters) and refused to apologize. Even Hinchcliffe himself doubled down.

It was a huge, undeniably racist shit-show that should give all Latino voters pause. Then shock, anger, realization, fear, and finally, a whole bevy of changed votes against Trump.

Stewart wasn't wrong about one thing: there is something wrong with him. If his first instinct is to find excuses for this, the epitome of the inexcusable political gaff, then maybe he's lost touch and needs to retire from the Daily Show again.

Sorry, Jon. I love ya, but ya done fucked up.

Eric

**

The Defining Pitfall

There are moments in close elections where historians point and say, "Yep, that's where [insert name here] lost the election. That moment. Right there.

Such a moment took place last Sunday at a Trump rally in Madison Square Garden. The racism exhibited there was rampant, flagrant, and undeniable.

In a way, it reminds me of that defining moment on October 16, 2012, when a video was leaked onto social media showing Mitt Romney insulting lower income Americans (what he called "the lower 47% who pay no taxes") and nakedly placating to the ultra-rich who were attending that particular fundraising dinner. It was a close election, but that particular October surprise did him in, and there was no recovering from it.

Now, we have the Madison Square Garden debacle. Let's run down the list of the impossible-to-excuse occurrences there:

"Comedian" Tony Hinchcliffe torpedoed Trump's campaign with a bevvy of racist "jokes." He started by saying that he currently lives in Texas, a state with a "wide open border." Then he said, "Where are my Latinos here tonight?" (Some cheers from the audience responded to him.) "You guys see what I mean?" he answered. "It's wide open. There's so many of them."

Ouch! Talk about tone deaf!

He didn't even try to walk it back. He went on to say, "Believe it or not, people, I welcome migrants to the United States of America. I welcome them with open arms. And by open arms I mean..." Here, he waves his arms in a gesture that indicates, 'No, no, go back.'

And that wasn't even the worst of it. He then said, "And these Latinos, they love makin' babies, too. Just know that. They do. They do. There's no pulling out. They come inside. Just like they did to our country."

He tried laughing it off by saying, "Republicans are the party with a great sense of humor."

No, Tony, it obviously really isn't. You're the prime example of that.

It descended from there. "I don't know if you guys know this, but there's an island of garbage out in the ocean right now. I think it's called Puerto Rico?"

Wow! Jesus H. Christ!

I'm not sure if any Latino voters walked out just then, but I certainly would have!

Now, some might say, "Oh, those comments don't reflect the attitudes of the Trump campaign. That was just a comedian being a comedian."

Oh yeah? Then why has the story been confirmed that his jokes were vetted beforehand? And that the only joke removed was one where he called Kamala a "cunt?" 

Seriously! That was in there! And at least they cut that one, but the fact that they left the others in is an indication of just how racist the Trump campaign truly is at heart!

And Trump might win Hispanic voters back over if he apologizes. But he won't. Because, as we all know, he doesn't apologize for jack shit, no matter how egregious.

That isn't all. At this rally Dr. Phil (Bwahahahaaaa! Dr. Fucking Phil???!!!) said, “We didn’t choose the name [Diversity Equity Inclusion] for that by random… this country was built on hard work, added value and talent. Not on equal outcome, not on DEI, this country was built on hard work.”

Oh, brother.

And there were other lowlights:

Stephen Miller, in a breathtakingly racist moment, actually dared to say, "America is for Americans and Americans only!"

Hello? 1930's Nazi Germany called. They want their slogan back.

Tucker Carlson (Bwahahahaaa! Tucker Fucking Carlson?!) actually said Kamala Harris was a, "Samoan, Malaysian, low-IQ former California prosecutor." (Wrong on all counts.) Certainly, Kamala is far smarter than anyone who would say something like that!

Some clown named David Rem actually called Kamala "the Antichrist." (A flip-universe comment if I ever heard one.)

And, of course, because there was no shit-burger these people wouldn't eat, the lie was repeated that Harris has imported criminal migrants from "prisons and jails, insane asylums and mental institutions from all around the world, from Venezuela to the Congo."

If I'm working for the Harris campaign, I'm replaying those Hinchcliffe insults to Hispanics on every Spanish-language radio station and TV channel I can buy air time on. Trump stuck to them, and now they're going to stick to him. I'm playing it over and over again on a loop!

The Right-Wing Media Machine is going to have one hell of a time overcoming this one. Even with Elon Musk teaming up with Vladimir Putin. (Oh, yeah, that happened too! Elon is now a national security threat!)

This rally has taken the Latino vote, lit it on fire, danced triumphantly around it, and then urinated on the ashes. How can any self-respecting Latino voter approve of this?

Now, I'm not going to say it's over. I've seen this cult of personality bounce back from one scandal after another. But once again, I'm going to insist that it should be. In a sane world, it is.

Let's find out how sane we are, and specifically how sane Latino voters are, on November 5th.

Eric

**

Disguising Propaganda As News IS Election Interference!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

I Know How Kamala Wins!

Kamala can win this thing! And I know how.

I don't pretend that the Harris/Walz campaign reads this blog, or even knows who I am, but hopefully the campaign will do one or more of these things in the remaining days before election day. If it does, it's in the bag!

See if you agree:

1) The first thing Kamala needs to do is strongly condemn the ethnic cleansing in Gaza. No, that won't "alientate the Jewish vote." That fear is unfounded. Democrats have the Jewish vote in the bag, and have always done so. That voting block is safe. Kamala's husband is Jewish. She's already come out strongly in favor of Israeli defense. But if she adds something like, "While I support Israel, in the end, genocide is genocide. The civilians of Gaza have suffered enough, and it needs to stop immediately."

Suddenly the Islamic voting block in Michigan comes off the sidelines, decides not to vote third party or leave the top of the ticket blank, and votes for Harris! Harris then takes Michigan by seven points or more!

Somebody, make this happen!

2) Kamala needs to address the concerns of Hispanic voters. If she speaks to a group of Latin voters and speaks a few phrases to them in Spanish, it will go a great deal towards her victory. More than anything, Hispanic voters just want to be listened to. The candidate that seems to care more directly about their concerns will suddenly gain several points in the polls.

Or more! Why? Because if Kamala addresses the Latin voting block in Spanish (even if she isn't fluent, which I don't think she is), it will likely bait Trump into saying something racist, which will cost him even more of the Hispanic vote. The white Fox News voters aren't going to move. So focus on those voters who WILL move. Depending on how badly Trump is baited (and so far, he's never been able to resist being baited by Kamala, not ever), he might lose a significant chunk of the Hispanic vote with a racist comment. Suddenly, all 50 states are in play, not just the seven swing states!

3) Kamala needs to publicly disagree with Biden on a major issue. In fact, this ties in very nicely with item #1. She could say something like, "This is one of the few areas I disagreed a little bit with Joe Biden, because I wished he would support the civilians of Gaza more strongly." Or, as Bill Maher suggested in his "New Rules" segment this past weekend, how about, "Joe Biden's executive order on border security is working. I just wish he'd done it a little sooner. I like to think, had it been me in the oval office, that I would have done something sooner than he did."

Boom! Out go the "she was the 'Border Czar'" bullshit talking points. And at the same time, in come the moderates who weren't sure if she would simply be a continuation of Biden's policies when she told Oprah, "Nothing comes to mind," when asked if she would do anything differently.

It can work!

One or all three of these things needs to happen immediately. Oh, we could always hope that Trump will have a stroke while onstage, but I don't think we should put all our eggs in that particular basket, do you? Trump has his lucid moments. He also has his crazy, batshit, babbling moments. But those don't seem to be shaking his acolytes, nor is it dissuading the Right Wing Media Machine. Sadly.

We need this change in tactics.

I can't persuade the Harris/Walz campaign to do these things. But maybe, just maybe, someone who pays attention to this blog can. Or knows someone who can.

Please?

Pretty please?

Eric

**

Why Does Biden Get No Credit?

By nearly all measurables, Joe Biden has done an outstanding job.

254,000 jobs were added in September, marking a prolonged stretch of positive economic growth. Unemployment is down to 4.1% Inflation is down to 2.4%.

In 2022, Vladimir Putin started a war, and inflation began to skyrocket. Yes, this economic crisis brought to you by Russia. Yet in spite of the war not concluding, the Biden administration still got inflation under control. That's nothing short of an outstanding job! Grocery prices remain higher than they were, in large part due to Ukraine's grain supply being disrupted, but those too are beginning to gradually descend.

Meanwhile, immigration numbers are also trending positive, mostly because Biden's executive order cracking down on illegal border crossings is working. It's basically the same thing the border deal had, and which Trump derailed. (Which derails the right-wing talking point that the border bill was a "bad bill which wouldn't have done anything.") The Texas Tribune reported that illegal border crossings dropped by 32% in June. CBS News confirmed in September that border crossings dropped yet again. 70% of those apprehended are being immediately deported. Asylum seekers must largely seek their status outside the U.S.

Crime numbers are also trending positive, according to the FBI. The newly released numbers comparing crime between 2022 and 2023 show that murder rates are down, violent crime is down 3%, property crime is down 2.4%, burglary is down 7.4%.

So why isn't Joe Biden being given any credit for a job well done? Why do 2/3rds of Americans actually think that Biden is taking the country in the wrong direction?

Some point to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel/Gaza/Lebanon as evidence that Biden hasn't done well. But is that fair? The blame for those wars is entirely upon Vladimir Putin, Hamas, and Benjamin Netenyahu.

Call me old fashioned, but I blame the actual perpetrators, not the guy who just happens to be president when they, not he, initiate warfare. Especially since Biden is the only guy trying to get a ceasefire done in Israel and drive Putin out of Ukraine.

So why is Biden taking the blame for the actions of Putin and Netenyahu?

This is partly because the Right-Wing Media Complex constantly denigrating Biden, and that's hideously unfair, but it's equally due to the so-called mainstream media, and even left-wing media, refusing to sing Biden's praises.

Fucking why? Because of something so irrelevant as trans women in college sports?

With that kind of negative riptide, it's no wonder so many Americans don't have a good impression of the wonderful job Biden has done.

Right now, Kamala is losing a little bit of ground because she hasn't adequately distanced herself from Biden. It might be just barely enough for Trump to sneak in on yet another Electoral College debacle. But honestly, why the hell should she distance herself from Biden? He's done an outstanding job! Who wouldn't want another four years?

If Kamala, the best candidate I've seen in a long time, actually loses to the convicted criminal with zero redeeming qualities whatsoever, and who is in mental decline to boot, it will be because the entire media has remained silent about a man who is, in my opinion, one of the greatest presidents of all time. Yes, he's old, yes he's in doddering, but he's leaving his office in far, far better shape than it was when he entered it.

As usual, it's only me and my little blog reporting what nobody else will. Come on!

It's time for the media to get its act together and finally report on this.

Eric

**

Craziest Attack On Biden I've Ever Seen

I've seen some crazy political stuff on social media, but sometimes I encounter something that really takes the cake.

Case in point: when I pointed out to one particular woman how nakedly racist Donald Trump is, she actually responded with a laundry-list of attacks casting Joe Biden as the racist one.

No, really!

This line of attack is not really so old. It was most lately used by Nikki Haley in her bid for the Republican nomination in 2024. But it's still silly, regardless of whose mouth it comes out of.

I'm going to go through the entire list, and deal with them all. That's tiring, exhausting, and ought to be unnecessary in a sane world. But I love you all out there, and I love the truth, too. So it's worth a trudge through the weeds. But to keep things fun, I will also juxtapose that debunking with some of the many examples of Trump's blunt, obvious racism to remind the reader what a real racist looks like.

There were 14 lines of attack this oddball woman blasted at me, but I came across the original American Presidency Project web page and found that there were actually 23. What they show isn't a racist man, but rather one who tried to walk a tightrope between his constituents, who were not as liberal as he was when it came to integration, and his principles, which he didn't want to compromise, but did slightly in order to remain a Senator. In 1972, he was in favor of busing. But when his constituents loudly protested this, he changed his tune. By 1974, he took a nuanced but tough stand against school busing, while still arguing in favor of integration in other ways - something which allowed him to appease his more conservative constituents in Wilmington, Delaware, while still appearing progressive, at least on paper. He later came to regret this, but it was a calculated political move, not a racist one. Naturally, he's not the same man today.

Here is the worst the opposition can dig up about Biden's journey of self-change, compared with Trump's actual racist track record:

1) From 1971 to 1974, Biden's legal residence had a deed barring ownership by African Americans.

I believe it. My parent's old house on the north side of Milwaukee had a similar statement on its deed. (I remember being shocked when I saw it among their old papers after they passed!) But such phrases were standard inserts done by racist mortgage bankers during that era. The Fair Housing Act of 1968 rendered all such clauses illegal, but in the years that followed, many of the bankers kept putting the clause in anyway. Biden had no hand in it. So whether or not it was on the deed to Biden's home is moot. It wasn't Biden who wrote it, and it didn't legally count.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In 1973, Donald, his father, and Trump Management were sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination (along with some other property owners) because of a policy against renting apartments to African-Americans. The case was settled out of court to avoid negative publicity, but the charge was valid. Donald tried counter-suing the Justice Department for $100 million for making false statements. That counter-suit attempt was dismissed out of hand.

2) In 1974, Biden made an analogy of himself as a 29 year old in the Senate to being a "token black."

Biden did indeed say this. There's video footage of it. But he was joking about how he was able to raise money in a world where nobody wanted to contribute to a 29-year-old. In 1974, that was a joke that didn't raise much dander. It doesn't sound very good by today's standards, but it hardly makes Biden a racist.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: Perhaps Trump's most famous racist line is the one which he used when he first launched his presidential bid in 2015: "When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best... They're sending people that have lots of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, they're rapists, and some, I assume, are good people." [Why the HELL would anyone have to "assume" THAT part?!]

3) In 1975, Biden asked if "the only way a black man or woman can learn is if they rub shoulders with my white child?"

Yes, Biden said this. There's a transcript of the entire interview here. But it's taken out of context. Biden was clarifying his opposition to busing. He didn't opposed it because he endorsed the racism of others who opposed it, but because he felt back then that it didn't accomplish its primary goal of integration. He felt instead that it encouraged quotas, which he said encouraged mediocrity. 

Now, that argument wouldn't fly today! It's a similar argument that's often been used against Affirmative Action measures. But since conservatives are universally using this same argument today, and they insist they are not racist for doing so, how can it be used to tarnish Biden as racist by 1975 standards?

Bear in mind, in this same interview, Biden was asked, "Could you support [George] Wallace [for president]?" To which Biden answers, "No, I could not support George Wallace as the Democratic presidential or vice-presidential candidate under any circumstances. He's the only one I could say that about for certain." Remember that quote, it will be important later on. He said other negative things about Wallace in that interview as well.

Actual Example of Racism by Donald Trump: It's a well-publicized fact that Trump kept and read a book of speeches by Adolf Hitler which he kept at his bedside. This revelation came from a 1990 interview in Vanity Fair, published shortly after Donald divorced his first wife, Ivana. The magazine reported: "Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, 'My New Order,' which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed." Vanity Fair reporter Marie Brenner followed up on this and asked Trump if his cousin had given up a copy of the book to him. Trump responded: "Actually, it was my friend Marty Davis from Paramount who gave me a copy of 'Mein Kampf,' and he's a Jew." Brenner then asked Marty Davis whether he gave Trump a copy of the book. "I did give him a book about Hitler,' Davis told her. "But it was 'My New Order,' Hitler's speeches, not 'Mein Kampf.' I thought he would find it interesting. I am his friend, but I'm not Jewish."

4) In 1977, Biden said that busing would cause his children to grow up in "a racial jungle."

Yes, Biden said this in a hearing before a Senate Committee Hearing on the Judiciary. But again, this is taken out of context. He was again giving his nuanced opinion against busing. But before he did, he said this:

"We have a fundamental disagreement, you and I [referring to Sen. Martin Greenburg of New Jersey] I suspect, as to what is needed to insure that we do have orderly integration of society. [Emphasis mine.] I am not just talking about education but all of society."

These are not the words of a racist! He then goes on to say:

"Unless we do something about this, my children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle with tensions having built so high that it is going to explode at some point. We have got to make some move on this."

In other words, Biden was in favor of integration. He just didn't think busing was the way to do it.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: Perhaps Trump's most infamous quote was in reference to a horrible incident in Charlottesville, Virginia known as the 'Unite the Right Rally,' which took place on August 11th & 12th of 2017. Sparked by opposition to the removal of a statue of General Robert E. Lee, it had large numbers of alt-right extremists, including neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and far-right militias. Some groups chanted racist and anti-Semitic slogans and carried weapons. There were clearly visible Nazi and neo-Nazi symbols, the Valknut, and Confederate battle flags, among others. On August 12th, these protesters clashed with counter-protesters and the scene turned violent. Governor Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to clear the area. As the crowds dispersed, a white supremacist plowed his truck into a crowd of counter-protesters, killing 1 and injuring 35 others. In Trump's initial statement following this tragedy, he famously said, "But we’re closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides, on many sides. [Emphasis mine.] It’s been going on for a long time in our country."

Now, to be absolutely fair, Trump did condemn hatred, bigotry, and violence. Right-wing talking heads seize upon this to insist Trump was not actually siding with the neo-Nazis and scream themselves hoarse about this. And Trump did indeed later exclude his statement from the neo-Nazi contingent of the crowd. But he did so belatedly. He did not immediately condemn the neo-Nazis. And the initial statement, which included the "on many sides, on many sides" comment, made it seem as though he were putting the white racists on equal moral footing with their protesters. Finally, two days later, he stepped up and said, "Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs."

When a reporter followed up with Trump regarding this on August 15th, asking why it had taken 48 hours for this statement, Trump said, "...you had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides." Again making moral equivalence between neo-Nazis and those who oppose them.

It should go without saying, but no one who marches with neo-Nazis, whether they were "just there to protest the removal of a statue" or not, counts as "very fine people."

Trump did backpedal. He did eventually qualify his initial statements. But it was too little, too late. This was an unforced error he made while speaking off-the-cuff, one which betrayed his true loyalties and racist nature. And he did it TWICE within three days. No spin-doctoring by right-wing apologists can change that.

5) In 1977, Biden voted against Black Justice Department nominees specifically over his opposition to busing.

True, but not the whole story. In fact, by now, it should be clear that Biden was one of the lone liberals opposing busing for reasons of "letting the perfect be the enemy of the good." Thing is, he already knew these nominees were foregone conclusions for approval. Biden cast his one vote against, not because he disapproved of the black justices themselves (in fact he openly praised them), but as a protest vote on the one issue he disagreed with them about.

Actual Example of Racism by Donald Trump: In April 2005, Trump appeared on the Howard Stern radio show, and proposed that the fourth season of The Apprentice would feature an exclusively white team of blondes competing against a team of only African-Americans. Stern asked Trump if that would start a "racial war", to which Trump replied: "it would be handled very beautifully by me ... I'm very diplomatic." Naturally, NBC rejected the proposal. When the actual fourth season of The Apprentice concluded, Trump dared to ask the male African-American winner of the season, Randal Pinkett, to share the honor with the runner-up, a white woman. Pinkett refused and rightly called Trump out for his racism.

6) In 1977, Biden said he asked to join the Senate Judiciary Committee specifically to lead the charge against busing.

Sensing a theme, here? I am. He was apparently successful in getting onto the committee. He was not successful in stopping busing.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: On Monday, November 7, 2016, the eve of the election, Trump mocked hip-hop music, criticizing a performance Jay Z and Beyonce delivered at a rally for Hillary Clinton. “The language is so bad and as they were singing – singing right? Was it talking or singing?"

7) In 1979, Biden voted to allow racially segregated private schools to keep their tax exempt status.

They key here is to note how those schools were "segregated." They didn't have actual segregated policies. Rather, housing and the phenomenon of "white flight" resulted in all-white schools in the deep suburbs. Biden even called these "white flight schools." Since Biden opposed busing, he was able to vote against the integration of those schools on anti-busing grounds. It was cold, but again, a politically calculated move. The people of Delaware are different today. So is Biden.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In 2011, Trump seized upon the conspiracy theory, originally launched by certain Hillary Clinton supporters, that Barack Obama's birth certificate wasn't real, that he was born overseas, and that he therefore wasn't a U.S. Citizen. It made him a hero on FoxNews. This was debunked right away by newspaper articles announcing Barack Obama's birth in Hawaii. Obama himself eventually released a scan of his birth certificate to the press, though he insisted for a time he shouldn't have to for such ridiculous nonsense. Nevertheless, Trump continued to insist Obama was foreign-born for years afterward. Even after 2017, when he finally begrudgingly admitted Obama's birth certificate was genuine, he privately muttered that he doubted whether it was real. This was undoubtedly the point in Trump's life when he realized just how powerful the Right Wing Media Cult truly was.

8) In 1981, Biden said George Wallace was "right about some things."

This is severely misleading. This was at a different Judiciary hearing, and Biden again reiterated his pro-integration stance while insisting busing was not the way to do it. He then went on to say:

"One of the reasons I was reluctant to say anything is that I did not want to be associated with these folks [meaning Wallace or his like]. I did not like being near them. I did not want to be with them. I did not want to be any part of it. I figured, if George Wallace was saying it, then it had to be bad."

Here, Biden is interrupted by someone who says, "You were right then, Senator."

Biden continues, "I am right. I was right then about him and his motivation. But sometimes even George Wallace is right about some things."

Clearly, this was giving only a very slight concession to Wallace after completely damning him. Not exactly a Wallace sympathizer, was he?

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In 2013, the State of New York filed a $40 million civil suit against Trump University alleging that the company had made false statements and defrauded consumers. Two class-action civil lawsuits were also filed naming Trump personally as well as his companies. During the presidential campaign, Trump criticized Judge Gonzalo P. Curiel who oversaw those two cases, alleging bias in his rulings because he is "a Mexican judge. He’s of Mexican heritage." (Although his parents immigrated from Mexico, Judge Curiel is an American citizen, born in East Chicago, Indiana.) Trump said that Curiel would have "an absolute conflict" due to his Mexican heritage which led to accusations of racism. Immediately following this, the Speaker of the House, Republican Paul Ryan (Wisconsin), who was also a Trump supporter, commented, "I disavow these comments. Claiming a person can't do the job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment. I think that should be absolutely disavowed. It's absolutely unacceptable."

9) In 1984, Biden used the word "boy" to refer to Jesse Jackson.

Misleading. Here's the actual quote:

"He [Jackson] is one of the brightest guys around. That boy ain’t no dummy, just like Gary Hart, that boy ain’t no dummy either."

Both Gary Hart and Jesse Jackson were Democratic candidates for president that year. (The nomination would eventually go to Walter Mondale.) But Biden correctly pointed out that he also used the term "boy" on Gary Hart, who was white. He said he didn't intend the term to be racially disparaging against Jesse Jackson and apologized. In fact, it's quite obvious in context that Biden was giving Jackson a compliment.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: On August 19, 2015, two white men (who later pled guilty to the attack) assaulted a man who was sleeping outside a subway station in Boston. Police detained the assailants, and one of them confessed his motivation for the attack: "Donald Trump was right, all these illegals need to be deported." When Trump was informed about the incident later that day at a news conference, he responded without condemning the men at all! He said: "I haven’t heard about that. It would be a shame...I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again."

10) In 1985, Biden made a favorable comparison between segregationist Senator John Stennis and Confederate General Stonewall Jackson.

In other words, Biden is a racist, not for saying actual racist things, but merely by giving a compliment, that's all, just a compliment, about a segregationist Senator from the Deep South - one of the last of the conservative Dixiecrats before all the Southern conservatives switched their allegiance to the Republican party (because that's where all the racism migrated to from the 60's through the 90's).

We need to know something about John C. Stennis. He was indeed a supporter of segregation. He was also an opponent of the voting rights acts of the 1960's. But Stennis later came around and reformed. He made no apology for his earlier views, but came to embrace civil rights. Biden wrote about it in his autobiography 'Promises to Keep.' He described an encounter with the older senator in 1989 when Stennis retired and Biden moved into his old office. Biden recounts him saying, "You see this table, Joe? This table was the flagship of the Confederacy from 1954 to 1968. We sat here, most of us from the Deep South, the old Confederacy, and we planned the demise of the civil rights movement. And we lost. And, Joe, now it’s time that this table go from the possession of a man who was against civil rights to a man who was for civil rights." Stennis later said, "The civil rights movement did more to free the white man than the black man." When Biden gave him a quizzical look, Stennis pounded his chest and said, "It freed my soul. It freed my soul."

Bear this in mind later on, because Stennis will be referenced again.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: At a rally in Birmingham, Alabama on November 21, 2015, Trump falsely claimed that he had seen television reports about "thousands and thousands" of Arab Americans in New Jersey celebrating as the World Trade Center collapsed during the 9/11 attacks. This, of course, never happened. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Trump doubled-down on the assertion, insisting that "there were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations."

11) In 1987, Biden "sought to appeal to white voters" by touting an award he received from George Wallace in 1973 where he praised Biden as "one of the outstanding young politicians in America."

Once again, the old "guilt by association and not actual position" is being played.

First, for those who don't know, George Wallace was a segregationist who left the Democratic party and campaigned as an independent opposing segregation in 1968, acting as a spoiler against Lyndon Johnson's VP Hubert Humphrey, who helped Johnson pass the Voting Rights Act. This helped secure Richard Nixon the White House. Since then, Wallace has been remembered by historians as one of the most nakedly racist politicians in history.

There's no record of Biden ever receiving an award from George Wallace. But it's just possible that in 1973, Wallace may have had enough lingering sympathies towards the Democratic party that he praised Joe Biden. But that's a far cry from Biden endorsing Wallace's views, and by the same token, doesn't mean Wallace entirely endorsed Biden's, either.

Remember #3 above? Where Biden said that he wouldn't endorse Wallace no matter what? I told you that would be key later on. Yeah. Biden never really liked Wallace. Never.

Actual Example of Racism by Donald Trump: In his 1991 book 'Trumped!' John O'Donnell quoted Trump as allegedly saying: "I've got black accountants at Trump Castle and at Trump Plaza. Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys wearing yarmulkes.... Those are the only kind of people I want counting my money. Nobody else... Besides that, I've got to tell you something else. I think that the guy's lazy. And it's probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks." Trump later told Playboy magazine in an interview published in 1997, "The stuff O'Donnell wrote about me is probably true." (Two years later, when seeking the nomination of the Reform Party for president, Trump finally denied having made the statement.)

12) During his 1988 campaign, Biden falsely claimed he was part of the civil rights movement, saying he "marched" in his "youth."

There was an incident in Delaware in February of 1959 (Biden would have been 16) in which the desegregation of a place called Collins Park was protested. Biden says he was there, but it's unclear what exactly he was doing. In earlier versions of the story, Biden says that police "took him home." Much later, on the Howard Stern Show in 2022, Biden said he'd "been arrested."

There's no record of any role the young Biden may have played in this incident. His earlier accounts that police picked him up and took him home are probably more believable than the ones he told later in life. FactCheck.org rated Biden's claim as false. That's fair, in so much as he certainly wasn't "arrested." But that's a far cry from being a racist. He probably did participate in the pro-civil-rights demonstrations in some way. But we'll probably never really know for sure.

Actual Example of Racism by Donald Trump: On April 19, 1989, a white woman named Trisha Meili was brutally raped in Central Park. Police arrested five young black and Latino men and charged them with the crime. They came to be known as "The Central Park Five." They were tried, found guilty, and sentenced. Trump took out full page ads in the New York papers on May 1st, 1989, calling for these five to receive the death penalty. But later, in 2001, a man named Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. Based on that confession, the case was re-tried in 2002, and DNA evidence exonerated the Central Park Five. (They were later known as "The Exonerated Five.") Trump never retracted or apologized for his attempt to have these five minority men executed. Furthermore, a slightly earlier highly-publicized rape and murder of a black woman (May 4, 1989) who was thrown off a four-story roof, received no attention from Trump at all. And in June 2019 in response to Ken Burns' documentary and the Netflix miniseries 'When They See Us,' Trump doubled down on his previous statements, saying "You have people on both sides of that. They admitted their guilt."

13) In 2006, Biden said, "You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."

Biden did indeed say this. But here's the complete quote:

"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking,"

Now, obviously he probably meant to say something like, "You can't go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts without hearing a slight Indian accent." But however he meant to phrase it, he clearly was trying to pay a compliment to Indian-Americans, not disparage them.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In August 2016 Trump campaigned in Maine, which has a large immigrant Somali population. At a rally he said, "We've just seen many, many crimes getting worse all the time, and as Maine knows—a major destination for Somali refugees—right, am I right?" But the police chief of Lewiston, Maine (which is home to the largest population of Maine Somalis), set the record straight. He said Somalis had integrated into the city and they had not caused an increase in crime. In fact, he said, crime was actually going down, not up.

14) In his 2007 book, 'Promises To Keep,' Biden admitted that, as a young person, he had "no real relationships with black people."

Yeah, I'll buy that. Then he became the VP of the first black president. I dare say he found a real relationship with a black person.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: The number of racist Tweets Trump put out on Twitter are too numerous to recount here. But during his 2016 campaign, he was found to have retweeted the main influencers of the #WhiteGenocide movement over 75 times! Twice he even retweeted a user with the handle @WhiteGenocideTM.

15) In 2007, Biden called then-Sen. Barack Obama "the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy."

Yeah, this one was a gaff. Obviously Barack Obama wasn't the first. He wasn't even the first to have run for president. (Jesse Jackson or Ambassador Alan Keyes come to mind.) But a slight gaff like this is hardly indicative that one is a racist, and saying so is just wishful thinking. At this point in the "list," people are just piling on for the sake of piling on.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In June 2016, at a rally in Redding, California, Trump pointed to a man in the audience—Gregory Cheadle, a real estate broker—and said, "Look at my African American over here. Look at him. Are you the greatest?" Cheadle later declared in 2019 that he was so unhappy with Trump's "white superiority complex" and the "pro-white" Republican Party's usage of blacks as "political pawns" that he was leaving the Republican Party.

16) In 2010, Biden delivered a 22-minute eulogy, the longest speech, at Senator Robert Byrd's (D-WV) memorial service, calling the former KKK member a "friend," "mentor," and "guide."

Again, this is an attempt at "guilt by association." A similar line of attack was levied against Hillary Clinton in 2016. But Robert Byrd was a reformed man. A former KKK member who spoke out against his former views later in life. Why not eulogize such a man? We should champion such transformations, not cite them as a way to demonize others.

Actual Example of Racism by Donald Trump: In the late 90's, Indian casinos were beginning to compete with Trump's Atlantic City casinos, threatening his investments there. So, working with Roger Stone, he spent millions on an advertising campaign criticizing the proposal of building more Native American casinos in the Catskill Mountains. The ads, falsely claiming to be funded by "grass-roots, pro-family" donors, alluded to Mohawk Indians doing cocaine and bringing violence, asking: "Are these the new neighbors we want?" In 2000, Trump and his associates were fined $250,000 for this stunt and forced to publicly apologize.

17) In 2016, Biden praised segregationist Senator John Stennis as a "friend" and an "honorable" man.

Remember #10 above? Stennis was opposed to civil rights at first. But he reformed later on. Although he never apologized for his former views, and he only did so after his side lost, he expressed relief that the civil rights side of the argument won. That's why Biden called him "honorable."

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In a February 2017 presidential press conference, White House press correspondent April Ryan (a black woman) asked Trump if he would involve the Congressional Black Caucus when making plans for executive orders affecting inner city areas. Trump replied, "Well, I would. I tell you what. Do you want to set up the meeting?" Ryan responded that she was just a reporter. Trump then said, "Are they friends of yours?" The New York Times later wrote that Trump was "apparently oblivious to the racial undertones of posing such a query to a black journalist". Another journalist, Jonathan Capehart commented, "Does he think that all black people know each other and she's going to go run off and set up a meeting for him?"

18) In 2019, Biden recalled the era when "he was able to get along with segregationist senators."

"Getting along with" and agreeing with are two totally different things. Duh.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: Also, when a member of the Congressional Black Caucus told Trump that cuts to welfare programs would hurt her constituents, "not all of whom are black", Trump had a tone-deaf moment. He replied, "Really? Then what are they?" (Most welfare recipients are actually white.)

19) In 2019, Biden boasted that segregationist Senator James Eastland called him son, not boy.

Here's the full quote: "I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me boy. He always called me son."

So what? It's true, Eastland was a segregationist from Mississippi. But cordiality and civility between people does not equate to them always agreeing. If anything, it just shows Biden is nice to everybody.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In June 2017, Trump called together a staff meeting to complain about the number of immigrants who had entered the country since his inauguration. The New York Times reported that two officials heard Trump read off a sheet stating that 15,000 persons had visited from Haiti, at which point he commented, "They all have AIDS." And when he read further that 40,000 persons had visited from Nigeria, he said that after seeing America the Nigerians would never "go back to their huts." Both officials who heard Trump's statements relayed them to other staff members at the time, but the White House denied the quotes.

20) In 2019, Biden said the Obama administration went "into the hood" of Detroit to recruit minorities.

How, for the love of Pete, does a white politician simply using the word "hood" get taken as racism?

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In January of 2018, Trump referred to Haiti, African nations, and El Salvador as "shithole countries." (Remember that one?)

21) In 2019, Biden claimed a major problem Black communities face is illiteracy, saying Black "parents can't read or write themselves," leaving Black attendees "shocked and frustrated."

Biden made this gaff in a private meeting with black mayors in Georgia, and it was in 2018, not 2019. But the quote was resurrected in the New York Times in 2019 just as Biden was preparing for the primary vote in North Carolina. At the time, he was polling a distant fifth place for the Democratic nomination, trailing behind Pete Buttigieg, Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and Amy Klobuchar. As such, the New York Times article recounted that earlier gaff, and took the position that Biden was in trouble. But then Biden spoke with the pastor of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where white supremacist Dylan Roof had shot 9 people during a service in 2015. Biden related the loss of his own son and sympathized, reminding him that he'd visited the congregation after that tragedy when he was Obama's VP. In so doing, he won over that minister, and with him, the entire black vote of North Carolina. He then carried North Carolina by such a wide margin that nearly all the other Democratic candidates dropped out.

It's quite clear that black voters remembered why they liked Biden in the first place. Had Biden been seen as racist, he couldn't have gotten as far as he did.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: Remember Hurricane Maria? In September 2017, after Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico and decimated services across the island, the Mayor of San Juan Carmen Yulín Cruz went on television to plea for help and accused the federal response of fatal inefficiency. Trump responded with a series of tweets claiming that the Puerto Rican leadership were "not able to get their workers to help" because "They want everything to be done for them" while claiming that federal workers were doing a "fantastic job." But the death toll on the island reached into the thousands (something to bear in mind as Trump criticizes the response to Hurricane Helene, whose death toll, despite huge infrastructure damage, is only about 250 so far). Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and others criticized the federal government and suggested that racism was partially to blame for the insufficient response. Given Trump's cavalier attitude while tossing rolls of paper towels to Puerto Rican residents afterward, that assessment was undoubtedly correct. Puerto Ricans were the wrong ethnicity for Trump to care!

22) In 2019, Biden said that "poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids."

Yes, this is one of Biden's classic gaffs. But one he apologized for, and one that doesn't necessarily indicate some sort of innate racism. He made the remarks in Iowa before the caucus there, but as the overwhelming support of blacks in North Carolina later showed, he was forgiven for this particular mistake.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In August of 2016, Colin Kaepernick made headlines by kneeling during national anthems at football games to protest police brutality against black people. Trump weighed in saying, "I think it's personally not a good thing, I think it's a terrible thing. And, you know, maybe he should find a country that works better for him. Let him try, it won't happen."

23) In 2020, Biden suggested some people were able to quarantine during Covid because "some black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf."

If this were a racist remark, what could it even mean? It makes no sense!

Actually, Biden was quoting a realization he believed the American public was having about the diversity of essential workers. Here's the complete quote:

"Because the American public, the blinders have been taken off. They all of the sudden see a hell of a lot clearer. They see, ‘Jeez, The reason I was able to stay sequestered in my home is because some Black woman was able to stack the grocery shelf, or a young Hispanic is out there, these dreamers are out there, 60,000 of them acting as first responders and nurses and docs.’ Or all of the sudden people are realizing, ‘My lord, you know, these people have done so much. Not just Black, white, across the board have done so much for me. We can do this. We can get things done.'"

In other words, many people could self-isolate against Covid thanks to a racially diverse workforce stepping up. Could Biden have phrased this better? Sure! But is it a racist remark? In context, no.

Actual Example of Racism by Trump: In her 2012 campaign for the Senate, Elizabeth Warren's opponent raised accusations concerning Warren's having listed partial Native American ancestry on her profile in a faculty directory. Warren denies that she ever claimed to be a minority for the purpose of securing employment, but one of her distant ancestors was Native American. But Trump sensed a controversy, and has freuently referred to her as "Pocahontas" ever since. He even did so at a White House event where he addressed Native American veterans who served in the US military during World War II. Warren responded: "It was deeply unfortunate that the President of the United States cannot even make it through a ceremony honoring these heroes without throwing out a racial slur."

****

In the end, most of these attacks against Biden amount to Biden's stand against busing, or being civil towards the opposition, or just making gaffs. But it's clear that in his heart of hearts, Biden is not a racist. Trump is exactly the opposite. His racism is so bone-crunchingly obvious that I can scarcely believe he ever got one, single vote from anyone.

Meanwhile, we haven't even listed all of Trump's many racist quotes and tells. Things like proposing an idiotic border wall, or reversing Obama's guidelines on race being a factor to consider in college admissions, turning our nations military on unarmed, civilian migrant caravans, or delaying the replacing of racist Andrew Jackson on the twenty-dollar bill with Harriet Tubman until 2026, or telling the four female Congresswomen of "The Squad" to "go back to their countries" (even though all but one is a naturally-born US citizen), or attacking Baltimore Representative Elijah Cummings, or calling Jewish voters who support Democrats "disloyal," or inciting racist mass shootings such as the one in El Paso, Texas in August of 2019. The list goes on, and on, and on.

There's recognizing Trump as a racist, or there's being absolutely brain-dead. There's really no in-between at this point.

Eric

**