Where democracy has become a blood sport

My Sunday movie was Heartstopper, season 3, episodes 7 an 8, which are the end of the season. As before there are plot points (also known as spoilers) and my discussion. The start of episode 7 is a moment in sex ed class. Yeah, they’re teenagers and one thing on their minds. So we know where Nick and Charlie’s relationship is headed. In episode 5 both Charlie and transgender Elle have body image issues that get in the way of sex with their partners. Elle is also facing confidence issues from the interview that went wrong in episode 6. In these two episodes Nick is now looking at where he wants to go to University. One concern is how far he’ll be from Charlie, who has one more year of high school. Charlie is feeling more fully recovered from his eating disorder and more ready to get on with life. A big question about the series. There have been three seasons, yet there are six books. So I checked the later books in the series. The description of book 5 matches what happens in season 3. Will there be a season 4 with what happens when Nick leaves for University? Will it be filmed before the characters are too old to play the parts? I finished the book Pudd’nhead Wilson and the Extraordinary Twins by Mark Twain, published in 1894. The author explains that after writing the novel he saw that it wasn’t working and it took a while for him to realize that he had crammed together two stories, one a tragedy and one a comedy. He separated the two stories, though they are published together. They share the same setting – Dawson’s Landing, Missouri before the Civil War – and many of the same characters and even some of the same incidents, though told from a different point of view. The first story is Pudd’nhead Wilson. Though he’s the title character, he’s actually rather minor. He’s trained as a lawyer, but in his first day in town he makes a comment the locals think is stupid and they name him Pudd’nhead. The name sticks and there goes his efforts to be a lawyer. Beyond the odd jobs he does to get by he collects fingerprints of the locals. In the 1840s the uniqueness of fingerprints is not known, and not so much in 1894. It’s much later than that before fingerprints are used by police and the courts. So Twain was ahead of his time. Roxy is one of the main characters. Her single black ancestor is four generations back, but because of the laws of the time she is considered black though she could easily pass for white. Her son Chambers is born the same day as her master’s son Tom. The two boys look very much alike and she cares for them both. When the boys are just a few months old Roxy realizes her son could be sold “down the river” to a harsher owner. To protect him she swaps clothing and cradles and her son is now Tom. And he grows up to become the arrogant son of the estate. Yes, fingerprints play a major role. And Pudd’nhead does the lawyering. Roxy is one of Twain’s better black characters, perhaps even better than Jim in Huckleberry Finn. She is a driver of a great deal of the plot. She is quite annoyed at how arrogant her son has become. Each chapter begins with an excerpt from “Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar” – a witty saying for each day. A couple examples:

Why is it that we rejoice at a birth and grieve at a funeral? It is because we are not the person involved. The true Southern watermelon is a boon apart, and not to be mentioned with commoner things. It is chief of the world’s luxuries, king by the grace of God over all the fruits of the earth. When one has tasted it, he knows what the angels eat. It was not a Southern watermelon that Eve took: we know it because she repented.

Now for the Extraordinary Twins. They are supposedly Italian Counts who come to town. Since nobility in Dawson’s Landing is rare they are fawned over. In Pudd’nhead Wilson they are portrayed as one expects twins to be portrayed. However, in Extraordinary Twins they are conjoined twins – two heads and four arms on one pair of legs. This gives Twain the chance to have a bit of fun with how absurd he can make the situation. Morgan Stephens of Daily Kos discussed several ways Republicans are trying to restrict free speech. Florida Gov. DeathSantis and Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo tried to block local TV stations from playing ads for the state abortion amendment on the ballot. The nasty guy threatens any news organization that tells the truth, which makes him look bad. He said he would talk to Fox founder Rupert Murdoch to ban negative commercials in the last three weeks of the campaign. There are also those who try to exploit free speech by running gruesome ads that displayed dead fetuses. ABC aired them, because they had to, though added a content warning. Stephens concluded:

The ultraconservative second Trump administration blueprint, Project 2025, created by 140 of Trump’s allies and colleagues, details plans to defund PBS, NPR, and any other public broadcasting. Trump’s ongoing threats to media networks and calls by those like DeSantis to cease and desist what they don’t like and revoke licenses, only reiterate the GOP’s broader strategy of controlling narratives and silencing any voice that does not placate their lies.

In a pundit roundup for Kos Greg Dworkin included quotes discussing the nasty guy’s appearance at the Al Smith dinner that raises money for Catholic charities. Jonathan Last of The Bulwark equated the whole thing to Japanese Kabuki theater.

Donald Trump has inverted this proposition. His presence at the Al Smith dinner last night turned the event itself into kabuki theater, in which everyone participating pretended that the man who attempted a coup, says he wants to be a dictator, calls his opponents “vermin” and “the enemy within,” and has raised the possibility of using the military against American citizens is normal. ... Trumpism corrupts. And Trumpism has turned events like the Al Smith dinner—which used to be balms for democracy—into weapons against it. The people running the dinner thought they were using Trump to raise money for Catholic Charities. The reality is that he was using them to normalize his authoritarian project.

The National Catholic Reporter commented that the problem wasn’t that Harris declined to attend but that the nasty guy did attend and spoke.

The real controversy is that an event that touts its history of raising funds for society's most needy is going to host someone who is one of the culture's greatest threats to that kind of caring. The real outrage is that Trump, given the public nature and extent of his repulsive record, should be invited to a fundraiser for an organization, Catholic Charities, that has long worked in the trenches to save and transform lives on society's farthest margins. It is tragic that the guest of honor this year will be someone whose personal example and policy wishes are in a collision course with the principles of Catholic social teaching.

Down in the comments are a couple of good cartoons. In the nasty guy’s trial for inciting the Capitol attack he tried to block some of the evidence from being made public. He said it would election interference. Judge Chutkan refused his request. A cartoon by Dave Whamond covers that moment. He has Judge Chutkan saying, as she points to an image of the attack, “Releasing evidence isn’t election interference, Mr. Trump... That’s election interference!” The second cartoon is by Bill Bramhall. It shows Harris wearing a shirt that says, “I went on Fox News and all I got was interrupted.” Oliver Willis of Kos reported that on Sunday the nasty guy pretended to work at a McDonald’s. As part of her life story Harris has been saying she worked at a McDonald’s for a while, so she knows what that kind of job is like and will help people in those jobs. The nasty guy has been claiming that she never worked there and somehow his stunt would reveal that. Or at least mock it. And yes, it was a stunt. The restaurant was closed. Those who came to the drive-through window were fans and screened by Secret Service. The fans didn’t order, they just took what he gave them. While there reporters asked about raising the minimum wage. He ducked the question. Willis reminded us of his other policies that help billionaires at the expense of the people who normally work at McDonald’s. Willis also reported the reaction to the stunt. Republicans were, of course, delighted. Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina gave the nasty guy a “French fry certification pin” while Hurricane Helene debris can be seen in the background. Democrats and many entertainers were scornful of the stunt, calling it “cosplay” and insulting. Emily Singer of Kos wrote that the nasty guy’s incoherence has increased over the last few weeks. She gives many examples. Media, such as the New York Times are starting to write articles about his mental fitness. And Harris is talking about his fitness during her campaign events. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev included several good quotes. First, from Michael Tomasky of The New Republic:

How Republicans win presidential elections, according to the factual record: They cheat. This has been true in most elections in recent American history...

The full article listed many of the different ways they cheat. Lora Kelley and Elaine Godfrey of The Atlantic discuss one of those ways to cheat – disinformation and conspiracy theories that will continue to bombard us through Election Day. Laurie Roberts of the Arizona Republic wrote about security measures around the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center. A 7-foot high wrought iron fence, concrete barriers, armed guards, metal detectors, snipers on the roof, and drones.

Sounds like overkill, but this is Arizona 2024, where democracy has become a blood sport and the red, white and blue has given way to the red, white and black and blue. ... Inside, election workers have been drilled on how to barricade themselves into a room or wield a fire hose to repel armed mobs. In the pursuit of democracy, everything has changed.

Down in the comments are several cartoons about the nasty guy at McDonald’s. One by Nick Anderson shows the nasty guy hanging out the drive-through window saying, “Want lies with that?” Beside him is Elon Musk saying, “Want bribes with that?” Further down exlrrp posted a meme with the same setting and the words, “Do you want crimes with that?” And a ways below that exlrrp posted another meme, “She worked at McDonald’s. He pretended to work at McDonald’s. ...Good analogy for how they’ll govern.” A tweet by Joe G shows a photo of Harris with the words, “Please don’t tell Donald that I also took ballet lessons.” Just below that posted by TruthPlease is an image of the nasty guy with a tutu wrapped around his suit. And exlrrp posted a meme with this question, “Why is it black people are told to get over slavery but white people always have Civil War reenactments?” Willis reported that in the nasty guy’s tax plan is the goal to eliminate taxation on Social Security benefits. Sounds good? Well, other than most of that benefit goes to the richest people, the ones with the biggest Social Security benefits. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget explains it this way. Those taxes on Social Security benefits go back into the SS fund. So not taxing benefits means a $2.3 trillion shortfall (time span not specified), causing a 33% benefit cut for everyone. And the ones most reliant on SS benefits would be the most hurt. Lisa Needham of Kos wrote about the nasty guy holding a rally in California (the one where he stranded his followers in the desert) and a big fundraiser in New York. He won’t win either state, so why campaign there?

It’s not just weird that nine days before the election, Trump is holding a rally in New York, which he lost by roughly 22 percentage points to Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 and then did even worse against President Joe Biden in 2020. It’s also weird that nine days before the election, Trump is doing a massive fundraiser instead of stumping for votes. But he’ll need that money if he plans to win the election via post-election litigation instead of, you know, votes.

Now that I’ve mentioned Musk... Eric Lipton of NYT tweeted:

Musk is simultaneously in fights with the FAA, DOJ, FCC, FTC, Interior, EEOC, NLRB, EPA, etc. Now Musk has nudged Trump to put him in charge of an effort to curb government rules. Why is Musk working so hard to get Trump elected?

Yeah, a huge conflict of interest. The tweet has a link to the NYT article and I think it’s not behind the paywall.