Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany spewed many dimwitted talking points during Friday’s press briefing that’s it’s hard to pinpoint just one to dunk on. We could point out how she lied about Democrats not working to extend $600 weekly unemployment benefits, or how she condemned Hong Kong’s decision to postpone their election just after President Trump floated around the very same proposal. Or, we could talk about how the Trump administration wants to use $377 million of covid-19 relief funds to renovate the White House.
But I think I’ll focus, instead, on her refusal to “politicize Herman Cain’s passing.” The businessman, former Republican presidential candidate, and Trump ally died Thursday from covid-19 complications at the age of 74. While how Cain contracted covid-19 is unknown, he famously attended Trump’s Tusla, Oklahoma rally in June—maskless—and was vocally opposed to social distance and mask mandates.
A reporter asked McEnany if there is any concern that Cain contracted covid-19 at Trump’s Tusla rally. McEnany pivoted into a cute little eulogy about Cain, lauding his rags to riches life story, before saying, “I will not politicize Herman Cain’s passing, and I will just note the great contributions he’s made to our society. We’ll always remember his and his legacy will stand.”
I mean, OK, but… maybe it’s fair to politicize the death a Republican who was a loud and proud subscriber of Trumpism, was the co-chair of Black Voices for Trump, and was very opposed to basic health and safety measures, going so far as to praise the governor of South Dakota for requiring social distancing at Trump’s Mouth Rushmore speech in early July the very same day he was hospitalized with covid-19.
I don’t know, just a thought!
This might have seemed impossible a year ago, but if things continue trending the way they are, Republicans could be in danger of losing the Senate. So Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is giving Republicans in danger of losing re-election permission to do whatever they can to hold on to their seats. That includes shitting on Trump… just a little bit.
From CNN:
In recent weeks, the Senate majority leader has become so concerned over Republicans losing control of the Senate that he has signaled to vulnerable GOP senators in tough races that they could distance themselves from the President if they feel it is necessary, according to multiple senior Republicans including a source close to McConnell.
That could mean breaking with Trump on the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the continued efforts by the President to paint an optimistic picture despite rising cases and deaths across parts of the country, especially in many Republican states in the South and Midwest.
[…]
“These vulnerable senators can’t afford to explicitly repudiate Trump,” said one senior Republican on Capitol Hill. “They just need to show they are independent on issues important in their states.”
So they have to find a delicate balance between distancing themselves from the most bullshit garbage that Trump manages to spew out of his mouth, and kissing a little Trump ass. (Ew). Hell, no Republican senator wants to wake up knowing that Trump has been trashing them on Twitter for hours on end. But maybe—just maybe—being a complete sycophant for Trump can’t save them in the middle of a pandemic. But this is America, so who knows.
- Dr. Fauci is pretty sure we’ll have a covid-19 vaccine by 2021. [AP]
- The Trump administration is still trying to convince us that they didn’t completely fuck up their covid-19 response by releasing some statement about how great our testing is:
- Twitter suspended professional racist David Duke. [Washington Post]
- Boston Bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev won’t be executed after all. [AP]