Harry

The Republican party was hijacked by the tea party and freedom caucus and that led to further and further polarisation but sadly most voters either went with the radicalisation or were too dumb to notice. I agree though that its unfortunate that the democratic party has become the sane persons party with many former Republicans and now has too much ideological ground to cover.

I wouldn't dismiss everyone formerly pro GOP as being terrible. There have always been broad coalitions of people in each party including those pulling it back towards the centre, and who are doing that in the mindset that America needs both it's major parties to be coherent, sensible and electable. The GOP now though had purged most of those types, and become pretty radical, and for the good of America long term needs to be punished, and spend two decades in the electoral wilderness finding their way again. Expansion of the supreme Court, abolition of the electoral college, statehood (and 4 new senators) for DC and Puerto Rico would be what's required to make that a likely reality but would be a tough battle to pull off especially if you're not taking that to an election as your established position

I normally hate this meme. But the photoshoppery made me lol

The main talking points seemed to be: 1. Talking over Kamala and frequently ignoring the female moderators wind ups, which seemed a bit ignorant in the metoo era. 2. Refusing to endorse a peaceful transfer of power. (He cops flak for this but if he answers honestly he's toast with Trump the next day.) Those states are the closest contests but if Biden wins Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin he doesn't need any of those you listed to win.

There's just no way to know how much of an impact the voter suppression measures will close the gap. But the more states that Biden can compete in the harder it will be for that to become the differentiator. The two big truths that are relevant as I see it: Biden is doing much better at this same point than Hillary Clinton was. Trump being president means he has much more potential to undermine the election (postal ballots, voter intimidation from supporters, supreme Court majority, etc)

He can still win but the campaign is an unmitigated disaster. Brad Pascale the guy who was running his campaign for the last two years was arrested last week. His new campaign manager has been sidelined with COVID. A lot of the key players for his campaign currently have Covid. Trump himself having COVID is a big pain for his actual campaign.

He will debate. This is just hot air This image has gone viral about his debate refusal. He will not be able to accept being seen as weak or scared to attend.

Is it the same government making the decisions across all those locations? When you say a political decision I presume you mean an economic decision?

I would be surprised in most people under 60 would really on average test negative 14 days after first testing positive. In flu season viruses tend to hang around for a while and take some effort to beat.

So Trump's favourite musical is Evita. And alot of people have noted the similarity of yesterday's balcony moment with the scene from that movie. The lincoln project took the trolling up a notch with a great rendition of the power ballad. They have been useful for the Biden campaign as they are willing to go where Biden's own advertising could not.

The official story is he got tested after he learned hope Hicks tested positive. However unofficially he felt symptomatic before Hicks. What's weird is that lots of information had been disclosed, but what they are refusing to say is quite telling. Doctors will not reveal the date of his last negative test before the positive one. (He's supposed to be tested daily). Also they won't reveal what "expected findings"they saw on his chest scan. I think that means he either tested positive earlier than revealed, or that he wasn't testing daily as he was supposed to be. The scans I think reveal that he has Covid pneumonia which is the main expected finding you would get from a scan like that on a COVID patient.

Hillary was up by a similarly large albeit lesser margin. But this time trump is president. He's a narcissist who cannot accept defeat and has no shame. A fuck ton of people are voting by mail, which won't be counted on the night, and he'll be sitting on a 6-3 Supreme Court majority there to decide any contested election result.

Well in the 4 days before this story: His tax returns had leaked, showing him to be in 400m debt and having paid no tax almost at all in a 15 year period (except one big return which he is still in court trying to get back) His campaign manager jumped ship with 25m in funds and was arrested Tapes leak on Melania portraying her as heartless and unsympathetic He put in a debate performance derided as the worst in the history of the American presidency. He told the proud boys to stand by. All of this has stopped being talked about, with him engineering an issue which has his 40% base hailing him as a Messiah, has 40% dem base absolutely livid, and a biggish chunk of people that hated the thought of their president dying, are probably glad that no longer seems likely, and aren't quite sure what to make about the two other camps and how it's all happened.

Has any country politicised COVID more than the US?

If he follows through with that rant into the election he will be doing so much damage. Literally that will basically guarantee way more preventable deaths.

I've never been less sure. At this point I think there's a 33% chance he's faked the whole thing. A 33% chance he's still sick as fuck and back in hospital by next week. Probably a 33% that he had COVID for about a week longer than was said and told noone, until it became clear he needed hospital at which time he acted like he just caught it. And 0.001% chance he's r caught Covid on Thursday and got better by Monday, basically faster than any person ever, with Kim Jung UN like perfection. This is currently what we're being asked to swallow as the truth, which is fucking bizarre.

Wow. Covid is no big deal. Stop letting it control your lives. Get back to work.

Saturday Night Live had its season opener yesterday. The season cold opens with a reenactmentnt of the first debate. Debuting Jim Carrey in the role of Biden and Maya Angelou as Kamala Harris.

I feel like I'm watching the West wing play play out in real life. You know the episodes where Bartlett's multiple sclerosis plays up, and you see what's happening behind the scenes with them not wanting the public to panic... However this time is seems like a bunch of meercats have replaced the majority of the president's inner circle and are running interference.

Confusion reigns: - trump was already being given oxygen at the White house before he left for Walter Reed. Confirmed by multiple sources and outlets. - there's now well substantiated reporting that trump had been symptomatic before Hope Hicks. This was fuelled by the doctors releasing a timeline of the president's treatment which suggests 72 hr history not 48. Looks like they were hoping to wait and see in hope his case turned out mild. They only disclosed Trump's Covid when it became clear he'd be needing to be admitted to hospital. - refusal by doctors to share Trump's oxygen levels and temperature, nor will they confirm/deny he's been given dexamethasone. Dexamethasone would suggest he has severe/critical Covid. - 3 or 4 senators who were in attendance at the Supreme Court nomination party at the White house now have COVID. - 11 staffers who traveled for the debate - Chris Christie, who was one of 6 locked away doing debate prep with Trump now in hospital. Biden has tested negative but is still in the incubation period. Bottom line I would assume trump is a severe case with a bad prognosis. Be careful what you say.

What a weird News day. Half Trump's inner circle now have Covid. Kellyanne Conway. Two senators. Talk of the trip to hospital being done early while he could still walk to the chopper. A mix of well wishes and told you so's from across the world. And the irony that if this had been Biden hospitalised Trump would already be leading the call for him to exit the presidential race.

He's been given experimental antibody cocktails, and being described as expected to stay at Walter Reed for a few days. Thats a concerning development. He could be well attended by doctors in the white house and is not going to be the type to take this step unless it's absolutely necessary. First reports he was assymptomatic, then mild symptoms, now being described as a moderate case. That has escalated quickly for 18 hours.