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NY Times, Jim Rutenberg and Alan Feuer, 2 Nov 2024<\/strong>: Trump, Preparing to Challenge the Results, Puts His 2020 Playbook Into Action<\/a>, subtitled “Step by step, Donald J. Trump and his allies are following the strategies that caused chaos four years ago. Election officials say they are ready this time.” [gift link]<\/p>\n Former President Donald J. Trump and his allies are rolling out a late-stage campaign strategy that borrows heavily from the subversive playbook he used to challenge his loss four years ago.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This time, however, he is counting on reinforcements from outside groups built on the false notion of a stolen election.<\/p>\n With Election Day only three days away, Mr. Trump is already claiming the Democrats are \u201ca bunch of cheats,\u201d as his allies in battleground states spread distorted reports of mishaps at the polls to push a narrative of widespread fraud.<\/p>\n Mr. Trump and his most prominent supporters have pointed to partisan polling<\/a> and betting markets to claim that he is heading for a \u201ccrushing victory,\u201d as his top surrogate Elon Musk recently put it. The expectation helps set the stage for disbelief and outrage among his supporters should he lose.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Summary: Claim Victory; Sow Doubt; Disrupt.<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n Just when you think Trump can’t any worse…<\/p>\n The Atlantic, Tom Nichols, 2 Nov 2024<\/strong>: Trump Needs Help<\/a>, subtitled “Last night he simulated oral sex in public.”<\/p>\n I do not know how to put this gently or tastefully, so I will factually describe what happened last night in Milwaukee: A former president of the United States held a rally, during which<\/a> he used a microphone holder on his podium to pantomime the act of giving fellatio.<\/p>\n I could have put it differently. I might have said that \u201ca cognitively impaired man, who has long been showing signs of serious emotional instability and has a history of sexism and racism, engaged in crude behavior in front of a large audience.\u201d But that wouldn\u2019t capture an important reality:<\/p>\n This deeply impaired man is tied in the race to become the next president and could be holding the codes to the U.S. nuclear arsenal in less than three months.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n And his fans do not care.<\/p>\n \\\\\\<\/p>\n The Week<\/strong>, 2 Nov 2024: Saturday Wrap<\/a><\/p>\n A section of this page quotes Jonathan M. Katz in his Substack column:<\/p>\n Victory at all costs<\/b> \\\\<\/p>\n Robert Reich reminds of all worst things Trump has done. This relates to that piece about voters in their 20s who don’t remember the things that made his reputation.<\/p>\n Robert Reich, 1 Nov 2024<\/strong>: The 101 worst things about Trump\u2019s shambolic presidency<\/a>, subtitled “No one should forget”<\/p>\n I’ll quote the beginning.<\/p>\n Friends,<\/p>\n Some people seem to have forgotten how bad a president Trump was, so I made a list of the worst things about the Trump presidency, in no particular order. Please share and add anything I missed.<\/p>\n And a few more bizarre items:<\/p>\n Any serious understanding of human nature has to account for how so many people admire a person who’s done all these things. The basic answer: ancient tribalism. Behavior that is inappropriate in the modern world, and conflicts with the ideals of democracy and our Constitution.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It’s happening right before our eyes. How Trump’s 2020 Playbook is being put into action; Trump simulates oral sex in public; Jonathan M. Katz on what Trump’s team will do following the election; Robert Reich reminds us of 101 terrible … Continue reading \n
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\n\u201cTrump supporters and far-right accelerationists are going to try to intimidate, cancel, purge, and in some cases burn the votes of potential Harris supporters in an attempt to grab a winning margin on election night. If that doesn\u2019t work, Trump will declare victory anyway. His team will cite the closeness of the pre-election polls, and their own stewed-brain, racism-informed images of Kamala Harris to demand she concede the election, or that the presidency be handed to Trump anyway, whether by the Roberts Court, a Republican Congress, or some other means. These claims will be boosted by the large pro-Trump media universe, which now includes the former Twitter.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n![](\"https:\/\/substackcdn.com\/image\/fetch\/w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep\/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa10927c7-4cfb-46a8-82ab-ff8073099054_1200x810.webp\")
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