His daily preoccupations are a growing list of enemies. He is at war with the WHO for daring to spread information that doesn't fit his coronavirus narrative. He is at war with the G7, who won't come to his phony photo-op summit. He is at war with China, who he seems surprised to have discovered has been pursuing its own interests all along. He is at war with North Carolina because they won't let him have a 50,000 person gathering WITH NO SAFETY MEASURES AT ALL. He is at war with a growing number of Republicans who are just fed up with making excuses for his outrageous and corrupt behavior, and who don't want to be in a party with him as the standard bearer. He is at war with Twitter, his essential propaganda tool, because they have the audacity to suggest that not all of his tweets are entirely true. He is at war with Fox News, whose job it is -- he says -- to help him get re-elected. He is at war with the press more generally because he thinks their job is simply to repeat the nonsense he says without fact-checking or asking inconvenient questions. He is at war with the Democrats, of course, but I mean literally at war, seeming to suggest that they should simply be wiped out (tweeting "the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat"). He is at war with states who are trying to make it easier and safer for people to vote, because more voters is the last thing he wants in the fall. And he is at war with all the individuals from both parties with whom he feels a personal rivalry or feud, because there is no slight so minor or trivial that he can ever let it go.
His vision of the presidency is as CEO of his own family business, because that is all he knows. He says or tweets what he wants, and thinks it is the job of government, even the other branches of government and independent agencies, to follow his whims. He talks to and listens to fewer and fewer people, and even then only people who will flatter and enable him. He has systematically removed everyone of character and integrity who will tell him when he is wrong, and he keeps piling more and more responsibilities onto his own family members. The job of his staff is to excuse and explain the uninformed nonsense he spews out, sometimes having to back-fill policies and facts to fit his misstatements. He reads nothing and spends more and more of each day watching TV, not to learn anything, but to see what they are saying about him -- because everything, everything he says and does is driven by a desire to appear "strong" and not "weak"
Trump ratchets up Twitter turmoil
Donald Trump will use this moment to fan the flames of hatred, just like every other moment
Violent Protests Could be a Gift to Trump
What the HELL is he talking about? (verbatim)
@realDonaldTrump · They professionally managed so-called “protesters” at the White House had little to do with the memory of George Floyd. They were just their to cause trouble. The @SecretService handled them easily . . . Great job last night at the White House by the U.S. @SecretService. They were not only totally professional, but very cool. I was inside, watched every move, and couldn’t have felt more safe. They let the “protesters” scream & rant as much as they wanted, but whenever someone have been greeted with the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons, I have ever seen. That’s when people would have been really badly hurt, at least. Many Secret Service agents just waiting for action. “We put the young ones on the front line, sir, they love it, and good practice.” As you saw last night, they were very cool & very professional. Never let it get out of hand. Thank you!
Trump: “MAGA Loves the Black People”
Trump says the DC police didn't protect the White House. That was a lie
Trump finally gets around to calling George Floyd's family. It did not go well
Can you feel it?
President Trump on Saturday called the death of George Floyd a “grave tragedy” . . .
More amazing (and peaceful) protest photos from around the country
Black protestors don't want white agitators messing with their thing
Trump "postpones" G7 meeting (they weren't coming anyway), and still wants to invite Russia back
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he will postpone until the fall a meeting of Group of 7 nations he had planned to hold next month at the White House despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And he said he plans to invite Russia, Australia, South Korea and India as he again advocated for the group’s expansion. Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida that he feels the current makeup of the group is “very outdated” and doesn’t properly represent “what’s going on in the world.” . . .
Another way in which Trump helped make the virus death toll worse
Trump's pandemic lies
Trump has been spreading medical disinformation for decades
“In 1993, Trump promoted the widely-debunked claims that AIDS could be spread by kissing and that AIDS patients intentionally spread the virus. As the swine flu pandemic began in 2009, he warned Americans against taking flu vaccines. When the Ebola virus outbreak devastated West Africa in 2014, he disputed guidance by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how it spreads.
“Today as the nation’s chief executive overseeing his own public health crisis, Trump continues to comprehensively misinform the public about the coronavirus, offering remarks riddled with false, misleading or scientifically questionable claims.”
In investigation news . . .
The release of (some) Michael Flynn conversations certainly doesn't help his case
Michael Flynn did something far worse than lie to the FBI. He betrayed the United States. That’s the major revelation of the just-released transcripts of the conversations he had during the presidential transition with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. . . .
The Purge
The FBI's top lawyer is resigning amid renewed pressure from President Donald Trump and Republican allies for the bureau to remove any remaining officials associated with the Russia investigation. . . .
In other news . . .
The Supreme Court issued a rare late-night ruling on Friday against a California church challenging their state’s stay-at-home order. In a 5-4 vote, Chief Justice John Roberts broke from other conservative justices to rule in favor of the state. The case was brought by the South Bay United Pentecostal Church in Chula Vista, Calif., which said Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D) stay-at-home order ignored religious freedoms. Roberts noted in an opinion concurring in the unsigned ruling that the restrictions in place are applied to non-religious gatherings and therefore don’t pose a threat to religious liberties. “Although California’s guidelines place restrictions on places of worship, those restrictions appear consistent with the free exercise clause of the First Amendment . . . Similar or more severe restrictions apply to comparable secular gatherings, including lectures, concerts, movie showings, spectator sports, and theatrical performances, where large groups of people gather in close proximity for extended periods of time,” he wrote.
Roberts . . . opinion ends with a clear swipe at Kavanaugh: “The notion that it is ‘indisputably clear’ that the Government’s limitations are unconstitutional,” the chief justice wrote, “seems quite improbable.” Roberts went out of his way to telegraph his displeasure with the raft of lawsuits contesting COVID-19 restrictions as unconstitutional burdens on religious liberty. Even in borderline cases, he suggested, courts must defer to the people’s representatives if they decide the health crisis requires limitations on public assemblies. . . .
Supreme Court denies Illinois churches' request for action after state eases restrictions
Kansas has only had three Democratic senators, ever. It tells you something that it could happen again this fall
Bonus item: SpaceX
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