msnbc--2020-10-31--Are you suffering from 2020 election burnout? You're not alone.

Like so many other people I know , I ’ ve spent the least eight months figuring out how to spread out my Covid-19 and election-related stress in a way that makes everyday life liveable .
I metered my anger ; I figured out anxiety-diluting strategies ; I got through one day of uncertainty and fear , then the next , then the next .
I created basic , anchoring routines for each day , and worked to cultivate spare moments of peace and something that approximates happiness .
I figured it out because I had no other choice .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ but it was bearable .
But this week , my body began to tell me a different story .
After all these months , my anxiety dreams began to incorporate Covid-19 — in them , I show up in a store or to an event and I ’ ve somehow forgotten my mask , or everyone else has .
My sleep , which had largely steadied , is beginning to disintegrate again .
My misophonia — an actual medication condition in which particular sounds , especially chewing , make you feel like you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wall — is off the charts .
My stomach churns , my muscles ache .
I feel totally scattered , unable to concentrate , sensitive to everything .
My partner ’ s migraines rolled in every day for the past week .
No one I know was sleeping well .
Once manageable conditions — tinnitus , hot flashes , colitis — have spiraled out of control .
All of our already bad digital habits , especially doomscrolling , have gotten worse .
As I sit here writing , a devouring headache has traveled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and into my jaw bone .
“ All my coping strategies are failing , ” one person told me recently .
“ I am coming undone.
” It ’ s not just fears of contracting Covid-19 or anxiety about who will win the presidential election — it ’ s more , “ How will my community and my state and my country recover from this physical and economic calamity ?
” And , “ Will American democracy be dismantled ?
” It ’ s constantly wondering : Are you doing enough ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ more money , more desperate energy to give ?
What more can you wring out of your already wrung-out self so that you can change the direction of this country ?
There ’ s also the knowledge that there will be no catharsis on Election Day , because the president and the GOP have quietly and not-so-quietly been setting up an infrastructure to ensure that any win will be contested .
Imagine running a marathon , seeing the finish line , and then having someone on the sideline yell that you need to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ home .
That ’ s what this election burnout feels like .
The unknowns — about the virus , a potential cure , just how long all of this will last — just continue to cascade .
The approach of winter feels like being in a dark tunnel closing in on both sides .
Your fatigue accumulates gradually , until one day you realize you ’ ve been struggling to breath for weeks .
The foundations of this stress are not new , even if they are new to some people .
For @ @ @ @ @ @ @ middle-class people in the U.S. have been insulated from the reality that an election could have dramatic effects on their lives .
Trump pulled that privilege away , and introduced bourgeois liberals to what BIPOC , poor people , queer people , and disabled people have been feeling for centuries .
Feeling unsafe in public spaces , uncertain that law enforcement will protect you , fearful that certain rights could be taken from you without warning — for millions of Americans , the stress and threat was always there .
But the thrum @ @ @ @ @ @ @ like someone screaming in your ear .
What ’ s changed is that our surge capacity — the body ’ s ability to process stress — was depleted months ago .
We have so much grief and nowhere to put it .
When you can ’ t process something , it builds up , like bile .
And no matter how creatively or diligently you try to ignore it , it ’ s still there , slowly festering .
At some point your body begins to betray your best compartmentalization strategies .
Our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sleep is one of the places we allow ourselves to confront our sadness and fear .
This sort of chronic instability , and the burnout and exhaustion that accompanies it , fundamentally changes us .
In some cases , our bodies and minds force us to check out entirely .
We turn inward , become apathetic and withdrawn , neglect the effects of our actions on others , and indulge our worst , most selfish and desperate selves .
If that ’ s what you need to do in order to keep going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
But dropping out of civil life — of caring — is a worst-case scenario .
What you can do , at least in the short term , is take the advice of my friend , clinical psychologist Darcy Lockman : Lower the bar .
Now , look at that bar , and lower it again .
That philosophy can apply to basically everything in your life that you , personally , control : your appearance , the cleanliness of your house , your to-do list , your parenting , even your relationships @ @ @ @ @ @ @ where can you give yourself some much-needed , even if temporary , slack ?
How can you give yourself the smallest — but nonetheless substantive — break from the relentlessness of your life right now ?
If , like me , small measures of control make you feel better about a lack of control elsewhere , what ’ s something that will give you some form of short-term catharsis ?
You ’ re not the only person in your life who feels like things are falling apart , even more than they were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the group chat .
Actually talk to your partner about it .
If you have kids and they are old enough , talk to them , too .
Our struggles can feel unique and unknowable to anyone else .
But just admitting out loud that you ’ re feeling broken can produce something like strength .
I ’ m still oscillating between hope and despair , between believing the polls and rejecting them , between imagining the possibilities of radical , wide-ranging societal change and steeling myself for four more dark years @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that prospect is , as Dahlia Lithwick pointed out in her recent piece on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett , the point .
If Republicans can ’ t win the popular vote , they ’ ve decided to win by simply wearing down the opposition : in the courts , in the legislature , through disinformation , and on social media .
This arduousness has not been accidental .
The response to this virus didn ’ t have to be another battle in the culture war .
Voting doesn ’ t have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s journey .
Applying for unemployment , taking a Covid test , feeling confident that people will respect rules about masks — none of it should be this hard .
That difficulty was always the point .
Make things hard , and infuriating , and time-consuming , and eventually people will give up — or at least fall in line .
The rallying cry that emerged in the wake of Trump ’ s election was resist .
Resist normalizing Trump ’ s behavior .
Resist his policies .
Resist the spread of Trumpism @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Some people have been resisting for as long as they can remember .
And others , new to this fatigue and fear , are arriving at new stages of empathy and solidarity .
And all of this resistance has exacted a steep toll .
But if you ’ re on the brink of falling apart , it ’ s not a symptom of failure .
It ’ s evidence of bone-deep care and commitment to a different vision of what this country can be : for yourself , for your family , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you , but deserve it nonetheless .
Be gentle on yourself these next few days .
And remember that part of what we ’ re fighting for is to never feel this way again .

Like so many other people I know, I’ve spent the least eight months figuring out how to spread out my Covid-19 and election-related stress in a way that makes everyday life livable. I metered my anger; I figured out anxiety-diluting strategies; I got through one day of uncertainty and fear, then the next, then the next. I created basic, anchoring routines for each day, and I worked to cultivate spare moments of peace and something that approximates happiness. I figured it out because I had no other choice. My life wasn’t great — but it was bearable.
It’s not just fears of contracting Covid-19 or anxiety about who will win the presidential election — it’s more, “How will my community and my state and my country recover from this physical and economic calamity?”
But this week, my body began to tell me a different story. After all these months, my anxiety dreams began to incorporate Covid-19. In them, I show up in a store or to an event and I’ve somehow forgotten my mask, or everyone else has. My sleep, which had largely steadied, is beginning to disintegrate again. My misophonia — an actual medical condition in which particular sounds, especially chewing, make you feel like you want to bang your head against the wall — is off the charts. My stomach churns, my muscles ache. I feel totally scattered, unable to concentrate, sensitive to everything.
My partner’s migraines rolled in every day for the past week. No one I know was sleeping well. Once-manageable conditions — tinnitus, hot flashes, colitis — have spiraled out of control. All of our already bad digital habits, especially doomscrolling, have gotten worse. As I sit here writing, a devouring headache has traveled up my spine, over my skull and into my jaw bone. “All my coping strategies are failing,” one person told me recently. “I am coming undone.”
hi, if you're doomscrolling, I understand why because of the election. You're likely also really tired.
No matter what happens, you are someone worth taking care of. You still deserve extra sleep, nightly breaks from this website, good food, and other kinds of nourishment. — Doomscrolling Reminder Lady (@karenkho) October 29, 2020
It’s not just fears of contracting Covid-19 or anxiety about who will win the presidential election. It’s more, “How will my community and my state and my country recover from this physical and economic calamity?” And, “Will American democracy be dismantled?” It’s constantly wondering: Are you doing enough? Do you have any more hours, more money, more desperate energy to give? What more can you wring out of your already wrung-out self so you can change the direction of this country?
There’s also the knowledge that there will be no catharsis on Election Day, because the president and the GOP have quietly and not-so-quietly been setting up an infrastructure to ensure that any win will be contested. Imagine running a marathon, seeing the finish line and then having someone on the sideline yell that you need to turn around and run all the way home. That’s what this election burnout feels like. The unknowns — about the virus, a potential cure, just how long all of this will last — just continue to cascade. The approach of winter feels like being in a dark tunnel closing in on both sides. Your fatigue accumulates gradually, until one day you realize you’ve been struggling to breathe for weeks.
The foundations of this stress are not new, even if they are new to some people. For years, a lot of white, middle-class people in the U.S. have been insulated from the reality that an election could have dramatic effects on their lives. President Donald Trump pulled that privilege away and introduced bourgeois liberals to what BIPOC, poor people, queer people and disabled people have been feeling for centuries. Feeling unsafe in public spaces, uncertain that law enforcement will protect you, fearful that certain rights could be taken from you without warning — for millions of Americans, the stress and threat was always there. But the thrum of constant worry has started to feel like someone screaming in your ear.
Imagine running a marathon, seeing the finish line, and then having someone on the sideline yell that you need to turn around and run all the way home. That’s what this election burnout feels like.
What’s changed is that our surge capacity — the body’s ability to process stress — was depleted months ago. We have so much grief and nowhere to put it. When you can’t process something, it builds up, like bile. And no matter how creatively or diligently you try to ignore it, it’s still there, slowly festering. At some point your body begins to betray your best compartmentalization strategies. Our dreams have become vivid and terrifying because sleep is one of the places we allow ourselves to confront our sadness and fear.
This sort of chronic instability, and the burnout and exhaustion that accompany it, fundamentally changes us. In some cases, our bodies and minds force us to check out entirely. We turn inward, become apathetic and withdrawn, neglect the effects of our actions on others and indulge our worst, most selfish and desperate selves.
If that’s what you need to do in order to keep going just one more day: Do it. But dropping out of civil life — of caring — is a worst-case scenario. What you can do, at least in the short term, is take the advice of my friend, clinical psychologist Darcy Lockman: Lower the bar. Now, look at that bar, and lower it again.
That philosophy can apply to basically everything in your life that you, personally, control: your appearance, the cleanliness of your house, your to-do list, your parenting, even your relationships. What is actually essential, and where can you give yourself some much-needed, even if temporary, slack? How can you give yourself the smallest — but nonetheless substantive — break from the relentlessness of your life right now?
If, like me, small measures of control make you feel better about a lack of control elsewhere, what’s something that will give you some form of short-term catharsis? You’re not the only person in your life who feels like things are falling apart, even more than they were falling apart before. Ask your friends in the group chat. Actually talk to your partner about it. If you have kids and they are old enough, talk to them, too. Our struggles can feel unique and unknowable to anyone else. But just admitting out loud that you’re feeling broken can produce something like strength.
I’m still oscillating between hope and despair, between believing the polls and rejecting them, between imagining the possibilities of radical, wide-ranging societal change and steeling myself for four more dark years. But the exhaustion we feel at that prospect is, as Dahlia Lithwick pointed out in her recent piece on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett, the point. If Republicans can’t win the popular vote, they’ve decided to win by simply wearing down the opposition: in the courts, in the legislature, through disinformation and on social media.
If Republicans can’t win the popular vote, they’ve decided to win by simply wearing down the opposition: in the courts, in the legislature, through disinformation, and on social media.
This arduousness has not been accidental. The response to this virus didn’t have to be another battle in the culture war. Voting doesn’t have to feel like a mythical hero’s journey. Applying for unemployment, taking a Covid-19 test, feeling confident that people will respect rules about masks — none of it should be this hard. That difficulty was always the point. Make things hard, and infuriating and time-consuming, and eventually people will give up — or at least fall in line.
The rallying cry that emerged in the wake of Trump’s election was resist. Resist normalizing Trump’s behavior. Resist his policies. Resist the spread of Trumpism — and resist his vision for America. Some people have been resisting for as long as they can remember. And others, new to this fatigue and fear, are arriving at new stages of empathy and solidarity. All of this resistance has exacted a steep toll. But if you’re on the brink of falling apart, it’s not a symptom of failure. It’s evidence of bone-deep care and commitment to a different vision of what this country can be: for yourself, for your family and for those who are nothing like you but deserve it nonetheless.
Be gentle on yourself these next few days. And remember that part of what we’re fighting for is to never feel this way again.


msnbc--2020-10-31--ER Doc on Trump’s conspiracy against doctors: ‘A bald-faced brazen lie’

Maddow : Take heart that Americans still believe in democracy ; early vote numbers prove it

Meacham: Pence probably saved the republic, but I don't always want to count on one person to do it


msnbc--2020-10-31--Black, Latino voters targeted with disinformation as Election Day approaches

Rachel Maddow shares reports that Black and Latino voters are being subjected to an exceptional amount of misinformation and disinformation about the 2020 election and the candidates, designed to cause confusion and discourage their turnout at the polls, an effect the Biden campaign may already be experiencing.Oct. 31, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-30--Trump crashes as RNC chair and Michael Moore back Biden

Bernie backer and filmmaker Michael Moore and former RNC chair Michael Steele form a dynamic panel in a special interview with MSNBC’s Chief Legal Correspondent Ari Melber. The pair discuss how voter ideology has changed over the past four years under Trump and what the Democratic and Republican parties might look like post-election.Oct. 30, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-31--Jarrett on why Obama is joining Biden on the campaign trail now

Memo to Trump : 'Lincoln was on the side of the righteous , and you are on the side of @ @ @

Jarrett on why Obama is joining Biden on the campaign trail now
President Barack Obama is ‘the closer’ who can make the best case for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to win the 2020 presidential election and White House, former Obama Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett says.Oct. 31, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-31--Olivia Troye: ‘I was asked to write a report for the Vice President’s office saying COVID was over’

Olivia Troye: ‘I was asked to write a report for the Vice President’s office saying COVID was over’
Olivia Troye, a former COVID Taskforce advisor to Vice President Pence, says the White House has been trying to “wrap up” the pandemic since late springtime and asked her to write a report declaring victory over the virus.Oct. 31, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-31--That exhaustion you feel from election burnout? It's by design.

Like so many other people I know , I ’ ve spent the least eight months figuring out how to spread out my Covid-19 and election-related stress in a way that makes everyday life livable .
I metered my anger ; I figured out anxiety-diluting strategies ; I got through one day of uncertainty and fear , then the next , then the next .
I created basic , anchoring routines for each day , and I worked to cultivate spare moments of peace and something that approximates happiness .
I figured it out because I had no other choice @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — but it was bearable .
But this week , my body began to tell me a different story .
After all these months , my anxiety dreams began to incorporate Covid-19 .
In them , I show up in a store or to an event and I ’ ve somehow forgotten my mask , or everyone else has .
My sleep , which had largely steadied , is beginning to disintegrate again .
My misophonia — an actual medical condition in which particular sounds , especially chewing , make you feel like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the wall — is off the charts .
My stomach churns , my muscles ache .
I feel totally scattered , unable to concentrate , sensitive to everything .
My partner ’ s migraines rolled in every day for the past week .
No one I know was sleeping well .
Once-manageable conditions — tinnitus , hot flashes , colitis — have spiraled out of control .
All of our already bad digital habits , especially doomscrolling , have gotten worse .
As I sit here writing , a devouring headache has traveled @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and into my jaw bone .
“ All my coping strategies are failing , ” one person told me recently .
“ I am coming undone.
” It ’ s not just fears of contracting Covid-19 or anxiety about who will win the presidential election .
It ’ s more , “ How will my community and my state and my country recover from this physical and economic calamity ?
” And , “ Will American democracy be dismantled ?
” It ’ s constantly wondering : Are you doing enough ?
Do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money , more desperate energy to give ?
What more can you wring out of your already wrung-out self so you can change the direction of this country ?
There ’ s also the knowledge that there will be no catharsis on Election Day , because the president and the GOP have quietly and not-so-quietly been setting up an infrastructure to ensure that any win will be contested .
Imagine running a marathon , seeing the finish line and then having someone on the sideline yell that you need to turn around and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s what this election burnout feels like .
The unknowns — about the virus , a potential cure , just how long all of this will last — just continue to cascade .
The approach of winter feels like being in a dark tunnel closing in on both sides .
Your fatigue accumulates gradually , until one day you realize you ’ ve been struggling to breathe for weeks .
The foundations of this stress are not new , even if they are new to some people .
For years , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. have been insulated from the reality that an election could have dramatic effects on their lives .
President Donald Trump pulled that privilege away and introduced bourgeois liberals to what BIPOC , poor people , queer people and disabled people have been feeling for centuries .
Feeling unsafe in public spaces , uncertain that law enforcement will protect you , fearful that certain rights could be taken from you without warning — for millions of Americans , the stress and threat was always there .
But the thrum of constant worry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in your ear .
What ’ s changed is that our surge capacity — the body ’ s ability to process stress — was depleted months ago .
We have so much grief and nowhere to put it .
When you can ’ t process something , it builds up , like bile .
And no matter how creatively or diligently you try to ignore it , it ’ s still there , slowly festering .
At some point your body begins to betray your best compartmentalization strategies .
Our dreams have become @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the places we allow ourselves to confront our sadness and fear .
This sort of chronic instability , and the burnout and exhaustion that accompany it , fundamentally changes us .
In some cases , our bodies and minds force us to check out entirely .
We turn inward , become apathetic and withdrawn , neglect the effects of our actions on others and indulge our worst , most selfish and desperate selves .
If that ’ s what you need to do in order to keep going just one more day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of civil life — of caring — is a worst-case scenario .
What you can do , at least in the short term , is take the advice of my friend , clinical psychologist Darcy Lockman : Lower the bar .
Now , look at that bar , and lower it again .
That philosophy can apply to basically everything in your life that you , personally , control : your appearance , the cleanliness of your house , your to-do list , your parenting , even your relationships .
What is actually @ @ @ @ @ @ @ yourself some much-needed , even if temporary , slack ?
How can you give yourself the smallest — but nonetheless substantive — break from the relentlessness of your life right now ?
If , like me , small measures of control make you feel better about a lack of control elsewhere , what ’ s something that will give you some form of short-term catharsis ?
You ’ re not the only person in your life who feels like things are falling apart , even more than they were falling apart before .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Actually talk to your partner about it .
If you have kids and they are old enough , talk to them , too .
Our struggles can feel unique and unknowable to anyone else .
But just admitting out loud that you ’ re feeling broken can produce something like strength .
I ’ m still oscillating between hope and despair , between believing the polls and rejecting them , between imagining the possibilities of radical , wide-ranging societal change and steeling myself for four more dark years .
But the exhaustion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Dahlia Lithwick pointed out in her recent piece on the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett , the point .
If Republicans can ’ t win the popular vote , they ’ ve decided to win by simply wearing down the opposition : in the courts , in the legislature , through disinformation and on social media .
This arduousness has not been accidental .
The response to this virus didn ’ t have to be another battle in the culture war .
Voting doesn ’ t have to feel like a mythical @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unemployment , taking a Covid-19 test , feeling confident that people will respect rules about masks — none of it should be this hard .
That difficulty was always the point .
Make things hard , and infuriating and time-consuming , and eventually people will give up — or at least fall in line .
The rallying cry that emerged in the wake of Trump ’ s election was resist .
Resist normalizing Trump ’ s behavior .
Resist his policies .
Resist the spread of Trumpism — and resist his vision for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for as long as they can remember .
And others , new to this fatigue and fear , are arriving at new stages of empathy and solidarity .
All of this resistance has exacted a steep toll .
But if you ’ re on the brink of falling apart , it ’ s not a symptom of failure .
It ’ s evidence of bone-deep care and commitment to a different vision of what this country can be : for yourself , for your family and for those who are nothing like you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on yourself these next few days .
And remember that part of what we ’ re fighting for is to never feel this way again .


msnbc--2020-10-30--Russian hackers are targeting U.S. hospitals. The White House is going after the victims, not the pe

Russian hackers are targeting U.S. hospitals. The White House is going after the victims, not the perpetrators.

This week , more than 43,000 Americans have been hospitalized for Covid-19 .
In intensive care units across the country , patients are separated from their families and loved ones , some waiting in the hush punctuated by the beeping of monitors .
But many are oblivious to another threat looming over them : a cluster of attacks from hackers , some allegedly Russian , targeting the hospitals fighting to save their lives .
The FBI has announced that hackers are attempting to break into hospitals ’ systems using a botnet known as Trickbot in order to insert a malware @ @ @ @ @ @ @ data hostage until a ransom is paid .
The alleged Russian hackers had reportedly been circulating a list of 400 American hospitals they planned to target .
In 2020 , ransomware has become an increasingly prevalent threat as we see more cities , hospitals and companies shut out of their operations .
The victims of corporate or civic ransomware face a terrible choice : pay the ransomer ’ s demands or engage in the expensive , time-consuming and potentially futile effort to rebuild entire operations .
The U.S. government has struggled to figure @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Understandably , the government encourages victims to report these incidents and tries to dissuade them from paying ransoms so that the crime is no longer profitable .
The U.S. military has been working to disrupt hackers ’ cybertools , as has the private sector .
These efforts have been effective at taking some attackers offline temporarily .
But unfortunately , the government ’ s efforts have at best been temporary disruptions , and at worst made things far worse for the victims .
This has been especially true for the latest wave of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to these ransomware attacks , accessing medical data is literally a life-or-death matter .
Doctors may not be able to access patient medical histories or admit new patients .
Ambulances may be diverted to other hospitals , increasing the time it takes patients to get access to life-saving care .
Surgeries and other procedures may be delayed at cost to patients ’ health .
There are many reasons why a hospital might decide that the quickest , most effective way to get up and running is to pay the ransom .
For many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a life or cooperating with the government , paying a ransomware is the responsible choice .
And amid the difficult decision of whether to pay the ransomer , a hospital under attack must contend with a further complication .
On Oct. 1 , the Treasury Department issued an advisory that if a victim pays a ransom and the perpetrator turns out to be from a sanctioned country like North Korea , Iran or Russia , the victim may be liable for violating U.S. sanctions law .
The department does allow a victim to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ payment at the Office of Foreign Asset Control .
But for a hospital administrator wrestling with the urgent question of whether to pay a ransom , applying and waiting for an OFAC license is an untenable bureaucratic delay when lives hang in the balance .
It ’ s not enough to disrupt the attacker ’ s systems or shame victims out of paying to get their data back .
In order to permanently disrupt these ransomware attacks , you have to get to the people behind the attacks either by arresting them or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and cybersecurity analysts point out that these attackers are often in countries like Russia , where Russian President Vladimir Putin ’ s government is uninterested in turning them over for prosecution and , in some cases , actively fights against the extradition of cybercriminals .
Still , indictments are a powerful tool , even if another country is harboring the cybercriminal .
Issuing an indictment makes clear that the U.S. is holding the individual behind the illegal acts accountable .
By seeking an arrest and presenting a request for extradition , the U.S. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a violation of international norms , akin to the targeting of hospitals in wartime .
A refusal by a country like Russia to honor such a request would make clear that they are willing to harbor those who would kill innocent people for greed .
If nothing else , indictments could at least help apply international pressure on a foreign government .
During the previous administration , President Barack Obama expressed his displeasure at Chinese hackers who target the intellectual property of U.S. companies by directly speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ after which we saw a marked decline in Chinese hacking .
Unfortunately , President Donald Trump has demonstrated his refusal to believe that the Russians are behind any hacks .
And worse , he has refused to confront Putin over reports that the Russians were paying the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan .
If Trump won ’ t stand up to Putin for the lives of American troops in the field , there ’ s little chance that he would confront Putin over targeting vulnerable patients in American hospitals .

This week, more than 43,000 Americans have been hospitalized for Covid-19. In intensive care units across the country, patients are separated from their families and loved ones, some waiting in the hush punctuated by the beeping of monitors. But many are oblivious to another threat looming over them: a cluster of attacks from hackers, some allegedly Russian, targeting the hospitals fighting to save their lives.
In 2020, ransomware has become an increasingly prevalent threat as we see more cities, hospitals, and companies shut out of their operations.
The FBI has announced that hackers are attempting to break into hospitals’ systems using a botnet known as Trickbot in order to insert a malware called Ryuk to encrypt and hold hospital data hostage until a ransom is paid. The alleged Russian hackers had reportedly been circulating a list of 400 American hospitals they planned to target.
In 2020, ransomware has become an increasingly prevalent threat as we see more cities, hospitals and companies shut out of their operations. The victims of corporate or civic ransomware face a terrible choice: pay the ransomer’s demands or engage in the expensive, time-consuming and potentially futile effort to rebuild entire operations.
The U.S. government has struggled to figure out how to stop these hackers. Understandably, the government encourages victims to report these incidents and tries to dissuade them from paying ransoms so that the crime is no longer profitable. The U.S. military has been working to disrupt hackers’ cybertools, as has the private sector. These efforts have been effective at taking some attackers offline temporarily. But unfortunately, the government’s efforts have at best been temporary disruptions, and at worst made things far worse for the victims. This has been especially true for the latest wave of hospital attacks.
For hospital administrators responding to these ransomware attacks, accessing medical data is literally a life-or-death matter. Doctors may not be able to access patient medical histories or admit new patients. Ambulances may be diverted to other hospitals, increasing the time it takes patients to get access to life-saving care. Surgeries and other procedures may be delayed at cost to patients’ health. There are many reasons why a hospital might decide that the quickest, most effective way to get up and running is to pay the ransom. For many, when it comes down to saving a life or cooperating with the government, paying a ransomware is the responsible choice.
And amid the difficult decision of whether to pay the ransomer, a hospital under attack must contend with a further complication. On Oct. 1, the Treasury Department issued an advisory that if a victim pays a ransom and the perpetrator turns out to be from a sanctioned country like North Korea, Iran or Russia, the victim may be liable for violating U.S. sanctions law. The department does allow a victim to apply for a license to make said payment at the Office of Foreign Asset Control. But for a hospital administrator wrestling with the urgent question of whether to pay a ransom, applying and waiting for an OFAC license is an untenable bureaucratic delay when lives hang in the balance.
It’s not enough to disrupt the attacker’s systems or shame victims out of paying to get their data back. In order to permanently disrupt these ransomware attacks, you have to get to the people behind the attacks either by arresting them or convincing them to stop. Law enforcement and cybersecurity analysts point out that these attackers are often in countries like Russia, where Russian President Vladimir Putin’s government is uninterested in turning them over for prosecution and, in some cases, actively fights against the extradition of cybercriminals.
Still, indictments are a powerful tool, even if another country is harboring the cybercriminal. Issuing an indictment makes clear that the U.S. is holding the individual behind the illegal acts accountable. By seeking an arrest and presenting a request for extradition, the U.S. would make clear that targeting hospitals is a violation of international norms, akin to the targeting of hospitals in wartime. A refusal by a country like Russia to honor such a request would make clear that they are willing to harbor those who would kill innocent people for greed. If nothing else, indictments could at least help apply international pressure on a foreign government.
Issuing an indictment makes clear that the U.S. is holding the individual behind the illegal acts accountable.
During the previous administration, President Barack Obama expressed his displeasure at Chinese hackers who target the intellectual property of U.S. companies by directly speaking with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two governments reached an agreement, after which we saw a marked decline in Chinese hacking.
Unfortunately, President Donald Trump has demonstrated his refusal to believe that the Russians are behind any hacks. And worse, he has refused to confront Putin over reports that the Russians were paying the Taliban bounties to kill American soldiers in Afghanistan. If Trump won’t stand up to Putin for the lives of American troops in the field, there’s little chance that he would confront Putin over targeting vulnerable patients in American hospitals.


msnbc--2020-10-31--‘Lack of listening’ on systemic racism slammed among GOP leaders

Mike Pence and Sen. Susan Collins have apparently denied that systemic racism exists while on the 2020 campaign trail, Pence also implying that 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Joe Biden is in error for acknowledging racism in America. Jonathan Capehart and his panel discuss.Oct. 31, 2020


msnbc--2020-10-31--Actor Sean Connery dead at 90

Actor Sean Connery dead at 90

Legendary actor Sean Connery has died at the age of 90. Connery captured hearts around the world as the first Bond, James Bond, and would go on to star in numerous films throughout his distinguished career.Oct. 31, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--President Obama and Joe Biden campaign together in Michigan

With 3 days to go until Election Day, President Obama and Former Vice President Joe Biden join forces campaigning together in the Midwest. The Biden Campaign’s Director of Strategic Communications, Kamau Marshall, sits down with NBC’s Joshua Johnson to discuss the campaign’s strategy in this final stretch.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--AOC and Julián Castro on the last-minute push to win the Latino vote

Both parties are going all out in the campaign’s final days to win votes from the Latino community in southern states like Florida and Texas. But these voters are not a monolithic voting bloc; they’re comprised of different nationalities with different ideas about what they want in a leader. MSNBC's "American Voices" host Alicia is joined by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former HUD Secretary, Julián Castro, to get their thoughts on this voting bloc that could very well decide the election.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--A look into how NBC News is preparing for Election Day

A look into how NBC News is preparing for Election Day
NBC’s Director of Elections John Lapinski explains NBC News’ game plan going into Election Day and how the network will be calling the real-time results.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--Memo to Trump: 'Lincoln was on the side of the righteous, and you are on the side of the racists'

Jones: "What the Republicans attempted to do here in Tennessee was crucify democracy and is that what they have done is resurrect the movement" 09:56


msnbc--2020-11-02--Trump plans to declare victory if it looks like he is ‘ahead’ on election night

Sharpton : 'If your vote did n't matter , no one would be trying to take it from you '

Trump plans to declare victory if it looks like he is ‘ahead’ on election night
Axios sources have reported that President Trump told confidants that he will declare victory if it looks like he is ahead on election night. Axios reporter Jonathan Swan explains Trump’s plans.Nov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--Velshi Across America: Pennsylvania voters discuss the COVID-19 pandemic

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi speaks to voters in the battleground state of Pennsylvania ahead of the 2020 presidential election. They discuss the Trump administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic and the candidates’ differing approaches to masks on the campaign trail.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Biden addresses Trump supporters intimidating campaign bus on the trail in Texas

Trump claims it would be 'sort of foolish' for him to attend first GOP primary debate 03:33


msnbc--2020-11-01--Mary Trump says president expects ‘reckoning’ if not re-elected

Donald Trump’s niece Mary Trump says the president is ‘desperate’ to win, because he knows there will be a ‘reckoning,’ if he doesn’t win the 2020 presidential election. Mary Trump and Jonathan Capehart discuss.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--Cindy McCain: Americans deserve better than Trump

Donald Trump should not be president again, Cindy McCain says regarding working for Joe Biden’s election in the 2020 presidential race. McCain, widow of Sen. John McCain and a Republican, says, ‘Americans deserve better,’ in conversation with Jonathan Capehart.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-01--Biden highlights Trump's handling of the coronavirus at Pennsylvania rally

'To the right of this government, is only a wall' Impact of new judicial law in Israel 05:32


msnbc--2020-11-01--Former Trump administration officials speak out against Trump

Former Trump administration officials speak out against Trump
Donald Trump is slammed by former Trump administration officials, as the president travels America holding large rallies. Jonathan Capehart and his panel discuss the final 48 hours before Election Day.Nov. 1, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Garrett Haake says Texas early vote turnout means the state could be ‘anybody’s ballgame’

Chris Hayes : Biden doesn ’ t have to win in a landslide .
He just has to win

MSNBC correspondent Garrett Haake reports from Texas where he speaks to the state’s record-high early voting turnout, and how in the wake of Trump supporters trailing a Biden campaign bus on a highway, Texas Democrats want people to understand that they will be safe coming out to voteNov. 2, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-03--Steve Kornacki says Trump ‘playing defense’ in states he won in 2016

Steve Kornacki goes to the big board to break down the latest polling. Kornacki says a lot has ‘to go right’ for Trump to get to 270 electoral votes and that he’s playing defense in states he won in 2016 per polling.Nov. 3, 2020


msnbc--2020-11-02--Here's an A-to-Z guide for Trump's worst moments as president (so far)

“ The real opposition , ” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon proclaimed once , “ is the media .
And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with s -- - . ''
President Donald Trump has proved to be the master of this strategy .
The sheer volume of gaffes , scandals , controversies , crises and even potential crimes makes it feel impossible to keep track of them all — or to stay outraged on a 24/7 basis .
So , this is my attempt , ahead of Election Day , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ years and remind us of ( at least some of ) the destructive behavior we have witnessed .
( Trump years , though , feel like dog years . )
For this purpose , I ’ ve created an A-to-Z of the moments and issues we must never forget or overlook ; these are things we must never normalize or become numb to .
They matter .
Antisemitism .
The president accused American Jews of being “ disloyal ” to Israel , suggested the financier George Soros was behind the caravans of migrants @ @ @ @ @ @ @ America , and mocked his first economic adviser , Gary Cohn , as a “ globalist.
” Soros and Cohn are Jewish .
Trump has reportedly remarked in private that Jews are only “ in it for themselves . ''
( See also : Neo-Nazis and `` Very Fine People . ''
) Bone saw .
Trump stood up for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ( MBS ) in the cover-up of the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi , whose body was reportedly dismembered with a bone saw .
Don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Take the president ’ s .
`` I saved his ass , '' Trump told Bob Woodward , referring to MBS .
`` I was able to get Congress to leave him alone.
” Coronavirus .
At the time of this writing , more than 230,000 Americans have died from the virus .
Yet the president dismissed and downplayed the threat from the coronavirus from the very beginning ; he knew , for example , that this particular virus was deadlier than the common flu but told Americans the exact opposite .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ . )
Disinfectant .
In what was perhaps one of the most bizarre moment of a bizarre presidency , Trump told his top scientific advisers live on national TV , `` I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute , one minute , ” before asking , “ And is there a way we can do something like that , by injection inside or almost a cleaning ?
” ( See also : Coronavirus and Hydroxychloroquine . )
`` Enemies of the people . ''
Trump has borrowed from the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and incite violence against journalists .
According to his former national security adviser John Bolton , the president even suggested that some journalists were “ scumbags ” who should be ‘ “ executed.
” Family separation .
The Trump administration separated more than 5,400 migrant children from their parents to try to deter them from crossing the southern border — a practice described as `` government sanctioned child abuse '' and “ torture ” by experts .
As of October , lawyers were still unable to find the parents of 545 kids .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ Obama for playing golf as president , has reportedly played far more golf than his predecessor — often at properties he owns .
The president has visited golf clubs 283 times since coming to office , according to the Trump Golf Count website .
Hydroxychloroquine .
The president obsessed over the anti-malarial drug as a possible miracle cure for the coronavirus despite evidence suggesting otherwise .
This makes it curious that , when he ended up at Walter Reed Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19 , Trump took a bunch of various experimental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
( See also : Coronavirus and Disinfectant . )
Impeachment .
In December 2019 , Trump became the third president of the United States to be impeached for “ high crimes and misdemeanors , ” specifically , for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress .
He is the only impeached president to run for re-election .
( See also : Russia . )
Judges .
Trump has appointed one-third of the Supreme Court and more than 200 federal judges — the fastest first-term rate of any president since Jimmy Carter .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ all active federal judges on the U.S. appeals courts were appointed ” by Trump , reports the Financial Times .
These conservative judges are almost all men and almost all white .
Kim Jong-Un .
Over the course of his four years in office , Trump fell in love with the world ’ s worst dictator .
He said it himself when he revealed at a September 2018 rally : “ He wrote me beautiful letters , and they ’ re great letters .
We fell in love.
” Trump ’ s nuclear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ since collapsed .
Lies .
There has never been a president as consistently dishonest as Trump .
He began his presidency lying about the size of the crowd at his inauguration .
According to Washington Post fact-checkers , he has made more than 22,000 untrue or inaccurate statements over the course of his presidency .
Muslim Ban .
A week into his presidency , Trump banned citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States , cutting off Muslim American citizens from their families and provoking mass protests access the country .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ upheld the third iteration of the Trump travel ban .
Neo-Nazis .
The president has retweeted the far-right Britain First party ; told the Proud Boys to “ stand back and stand by ” ; and heaped praise on groups chanting “ Jews will not replace us.
” ( See also : “ Very fine people.
” ) Obamacare .
In the midst of the worst pandemic for a century , with millions of Americans losing their employer-sponsored health care , the Trump administration went to the Supreme Court to demand that , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Affordable Care Act ( ACA ) , “ the rest of the ACA must also fall.
” But , hold on , the Trump administration must have a replacement for Obamacare , right ?
Surely it ’ s coming soon ?
Maybe not .
Puerto Rico .
Hurricane Maria battered the U.S. territory in 2017 , killing an estimated 3,000 people on the island .
Trump , however , dismissed the death toll , lashed out at the island ’ s political leaders and tossed paper towels during a visit with survivors @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ever happened to Puerto Rico , '' the president declared in September .
QAnon .
Described by the FBI as a new domestic terror threat , this cult believes Trump is locked in a struggle with a cabal of Satan-worshipping , Democratic Party-supporting pedophiles .
Yet the president has repeatedly refused to condemn QAnon , saying that “ these are people that love our country ” and “ I do know they are very much against pedophilia , they fight it very hard.
” Russia .
Did someone say “ collusion ” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to find evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government but it did conclude that “ the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion , ” and the Trump campaign “ expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts , ” and it “ welcomed ” this help .
( See also : Impeachment . )
“ S -- -hole countries.
” The president ’ s racism is as crude as it is brazen .
`` Why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s -- -hole countries come here ? ''
the president once asked a group of lawmakers , referring to Haiti , El Salvador and African countries .
`` He once asked me if I could name a country run by a Black person that was n't a 's -- -hole , ’ ” Trump ’ s former lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress in 2019 .
Tear gas .
In May , the president had a group of protesters and reporters outside the White House assaulted and tear-gassed so that he could go for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ church with a Bible in his hand .
He was , to quote the New Yorker ’ s Masha Gessen , “ performing fascism.
” United Nations General Assembly .
The world ’ s leaders literally laughed at the president of the United States at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September 2018 .
Nor was it the first nor the last time he was humiliated in this way .
“ Very fine people.
” “ You had some very bad people in that group , but you also had people that were @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Few can forget Trump ’ s shocking remarks in the wake of the murder of Heather Heyer by a far-right extremist in Charlottesville , Virginia , in August 2017 .
( See also : Neo-Nazis . )
War criminals .
The president pardoned or granted clemency to three U.S. service members accused , charged or convicted of war crimes .
Former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher , who met with Trump at his Mar a Lago estate , was described by his fellow SEALS as “ toxic ” and “ freaking evil.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regaled Boy Scouts with a tale of orgies , and been accused by prosecutors of paying “ hush money ” payments to a porn actress .
The president has also been accused of sexual assault and rape .
Yemen .
It may be deemed by the U.N. to be “ the world ’ s worst humanitarian crisis , ” but Trump vetoed a bipartisan Senate bill aimed at ending U.S. involvement in the brutal Saudi bombardment of Yemen .
More than 100,000 Yemenis have been killed .
( See also : Bone saw @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when the president promised the number of coronavirus cases in the United States — and , by extension , deaths — would hover near zero ?
Yes , zero ?
Well , I do .
“ You have 15 people , and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero , ” Trump predicted in February .
Eight months later , the U.S. has more than 9 million cases .
The highest in the world .
There have been more than 230,000 deaths .
Again @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is Trump ’ s presidential legacy .
And this is why the election on Tuesday is literally a matter of life and death .
Yes , Trump has flooded the zone with s -- - as planned , but the United States has also been flooded with corpses .

“The real opposition,” former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon proclaimed once, “is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with s---."
President Donald Trump has proved to be the master of this strategy. The sheer volume of gaffes, scandals, controversies, crises and even potential crimes makes it feel impossible to keep track of them all — or to stay outraged on a 24/7 basis.
These are things we must never normalize or become numb to. They matter.
So, this is my attempt, ahead of Election Day, to try to sift through these past four years and remind us of (at least some of) the destructive behavior we have witnessed. (Trump years, though, feel like dog years.) For this purpose, I’ve created an A-to-Z of the moments and issues we must never forget or overlook; these are things we must never normalize or become numb to. They matter.
Stephen Colbert And Elizabeth Warren Talk Trump: “There Are Dog Years, Now There Are Trump Years” https://t.co/n1sprKsRH2 pic.twitter.com/Dk1Fbkn5uX — Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) November 21, 2017
Antisemitism. The president accused American Jews of being “disloyal” to Israel, suggested the financier George Soros was behind the caravans of migrants headed to the United States from Central America, and mocked his first economic adviser, Gary Cohn, as a “globalist.” Soros and Cohn are Jewish. Trump has reportedly remarked in private that Jews are only “in it for themselves." (See also: Neo-Nazis and "Very Fine People.")
Bone saw. Trump stood up for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) in the cover-up of the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, whose body was reportedly dismembered with a bone saw. Don’t take my word for it. Take the president’s. "I saved his ass," Trump told Bob Woodward, referring to MBS. "I was able to get Congress to leave him alone.”
Coronavirus. At the time of this writing, more than 230,000 Americans have died from the virus. Yet the president dismissed and downplayed the threat from the coronavirus from the very beginning; he knew, for example, that this particular virus was deadlier than the common flu but told Americans the exact opposite. (See also: Disinfectant and Hydroxychloroquine.)
Disinfectant. In what was perhaps one of the most bizarre moment of a bizarre presidency, Trump told his top scientific advisers live on national TV, "I see the disinfectant that knocks it out in a minute, one minute,” before asking, “And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?” (See also: Coronavirus and Hydroxychloroquine.)
"Enemies of the people." Trump has borrowed from the language of dictators and tyrants to demonize and incite violence against journalists. According to his former national security adviser John Bolton, the president even suggested that some journalists were “scumbags” who should be ‘“executed.”
Family separation. The Trump administration separated more than 5,400 migrant children from their parents to try to deter them from crossing the southern border — a practice described as "government sanctioned child abuse" and “torture” by experts. As of October, lawyers were still unable to find the parents of 545 kids.
Golf. Trump, who lambasted Barack Obama for playing golf as president, has reportedly played far more golf than his predecessor — often at properties he owns. The president has visited golf clubs 283 times since coming to office, according to the Trump Golf Count website.
Can you believe that,with all of the problems and difficulties facing the U.S., President Obama spent the day playing golf.Worse than Carter — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 14, 2014
Hydroxychloroquine. The president obsessed over the anti-malarial drug as a possible miracle cure for the coronavirus despite evidence suggesting otherwise. This makes it curious that, when he ended up at Walter Reed Hospital after testing positive for Covid-19, Trump took a bunch of various experimental treatments and meds ... but not hydroxychloroquine. (See also: Coronavirus and Disinfectant.)
Impeachment. In December 2019, Trump became the third president of the United States to be impeached for “high crimes and misdemeanors,” specifically, for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. He is the only impeached president to run for re-election. (See also: Russia.)
Judges. Trump has appointed one-third of the Supreme Court and more than 200 federal judges — the fastest first-term rate of any president since Jimmy Carter. “Today, almost a third of all active federal judges on the U.S. appeals courts were appointed” by Trump, reports the Financial Times. These conservative judges are almost all men and almost all white.
Kim Jong-Un. Over the course of his four years in office, Trump fell in love with the world’s worst dictator. He said it himself when he revealed at a September 2018 rally: “He wrote me beautiful letters, and they’re great letters. We fell in love.” Trump’s nuclear negotiations with Kim, however, have since collapsed.
Lies. There has never been a president as consistently dishonest as Trump. He began his presidency lying about the size of the crowd at his inauguration. According to Washington Post fact-checkers, he has made more than 22,000 untrue or inaccurate statements over the course of his presidency.
Muslim Ban. A week into his presidency, Trump banned citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, cutting off Muslim American citizens from their families and provoking mass protests access the country. In June 2018, the Supreme Court upheld the third iteration of the Trump travel ban.
Neo-Nazis. The president has retweeted the far-right Britain First party; told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by”; and heaped praise on groups chanting “Jews will not replace us.” (See also: “Very fine people.”)
Obamacare. In the midst of the worst pandemic for a century, with millions of Americans losing their employer-sponsored health care, the Trump administration went to the Supreme Court to demand that, because Congress eliminated the individual mandate for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), “the rest of the ACA must also fall.” But, hold on, the Trump administration must have a replacement for Obamacare, right? Surely it’s coming soon? Maybe not.
Puerto Rico. Hurricane Maria battered the U.S. territory in 2017, killing an estimated 3,000 people on the island. Trump, however, dismissed the death toll, lashed out at the island’s political leaders and tossed paper towels during a visit with survivors. “I'm the best thing that ever happened to Puerto Rico," the president declared in September.
QAnon. Described by the FBI as a new domestic terror threat, this cult believes Trump is locked in a struggle with a cabal of Satan-worshipping, Democratic Party-supporting pedophiles. Yet the president has repeatedly refused to condemn QAnon, saying that “these are people that love our country” and “I do know they are very much against pedophilia, they fight it very hard.”
Russia. Did someone say “collusion”? The Mueller report may have failed to find evidence of a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russian government but it did conclude that “the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion,” and the Trump campaign “expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts,” and it “welcomed” this help. (See also: Impeachment.)
“S---hole countries.” The president’s racism is as crude as it is brazen. "Why are we having all these people from s---hole countries come here?" the president once asked a group of lawmakers, referring to Haiti, El Salvador and African countries. "He once asked me if I could name a country run by a Black person that wasn't a 's---hole,’” Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen told Congress in 2019.
Cohen: Mr. Trump is a racist. The country has seen Mr. Trump court white
supremacists and bigots. You have heard him call poorer countries “shitholes.”
In private, he is even worse.
He once asked me if I could name a country run by a black person that wasn’t a “shithole.” pic.twitter.com/mHNmZJB6cJ — Public Citizen (@Public_Citizen) February 27, 2019
Tear gas. In May, the president had a group of protesters and reporters outside the White House assaulted and tear-gassed so that he could go for a walkabout and pose outside a nearby church with a Bible in his hand. He was, to quote the New Yorker’s Masha Gessen, “performing fascism.”
United Nations General Assembly. The world’s leaders literally laughed at the president of the United States at the U.N. General Assembly meeting in September 2018. Nor was it the first nor the last time he was humiliated in this way.
“Very fine people.” “You had some very bad people in that group, but you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.” Few can forget Trump’s shocking remarks in the wake of the murder of Heather Heyer by a far-right extremist in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017. (See also: Neo-Nazis.)
War criminals. The president pardoned or granted clemency to three U.S. service members accused, charged or convicted of war crimes. Former Navy SEAL Eddie Gallagher, who met with Trump at his Mar a Lago estate, was described by his fellow SEALS as “toxic” and “freaking evil.”
X-rated. Trump has dropped F-bombs, regaled Boy Scouts with a tale of orgies, and been accused by prosecutors of paying “hush money” payments to a porn actress. The president has also been accused of sexual assault and rape.
Yemen. It may be deemed by the U.N. to be “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” but Trump vetoed a bipartisan Senate bill aimed at ending U.S. involvement in the brutal Saudi bombardment of Yemen. More than 100,000 Yemenis have been killed. (See also: Bone saw.)
Zero. Do you remember when the president promised the number of coronavirus cases in the United States — and, by extension, deaths — would hover near zero? Yes, zero? Well, I do. “You have 15 people, and the 15 within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero,” Trump predicted in February. Eight months later, the U.S. has more than 9 million cases. The highest in the world. There have been more than 230,000 deaths. Again, the highest in the world.
This is Trump’s presidential legacy. And this is why the election on Tuesday is literally a matter of life and death. Yes, Trump has flooded the zone with s--- as planned, but the United States has also been flooded with corpses.


msnbc--2020-11-02--The next fight for universal suffrage begins on Election Day

So when I tell you that nothing else accurately captures the importance of the next few years for the right to vote in America , please understand that it 's not my preference .
But how else do you describe a concerted campaign to limit access to the ballot box by any means necessary ?
It 's a war being fought in several theaters at once , in all three branches of government and in every jurisdiction , from the local to the federal .
The GOP 's motives are n't secret .
Trump put it pretty well during an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in March .
`` They had levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you 'd never have a Republican elected in this country again , '' the president said in response to Democratic proposals to make it easier and safer for the election to be held despite the coronavirus outbreak — proposals he ultimately rejected .
He doubled down on that stance months later when he admitted that he was keeping the U.S .
Postal Service underfunded to hamper mail-in voting efforts , claiming without evidence that the practice is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day before Election Day , another slowdown in postal deliveries is occurring in swing states .
In between , Trump has said mail-in balloting is another term for fraud while encouraging his own voters in safely red states to vote early .
Trump knows that he lost the popular vote in 2016 and that an increase of votes from Democrats could prevent a repeat of his much-fetishized winning electoral map .
Throughout the rest of the party , there 's a similar acknowledgment that greater participation — especially by Black and Hispanic voters @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also much-fetishized ) shrinking pool of white voters .
If their motives are on display , their methods are lit up like Times Square , especially in these recent weeks .
Across the country , the need to prevent `` voter fraud '' serves as justification for the GOP 's attempted crackdown .
But Republican election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg recently admitted that it 's all a myth .
`` Proof of systematic fraud has become the Loch Ness Monster of the Republican Party , '' Ginsberg wrote in a Washington Post op-ed .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ time looking for it , but it does n't exist . ''
The New York Times last week detailed a half-dozen of the more egregious instances when state Republican parties or the Trump campaign have asked the courts to count fewer ballots .
Wisconsin 's Republican-dominated Supreme Court ruled Oct. 26 that rather than have to be postmarked by Election Day , ballots now have to arrive at election offices by 8 p.m. Tuesday for election officials to count them , no matter when they were dropped in the mail .
A federal @ @ @ @ @ @ @ case , just days before the election .
The federal judges warned Minnesotans to find an alternative way to vote for now — they still have n't decided whether any ballots that come in the mail after Election Day will be considered legal .
The Texas GOP has been particularly brazen , refusing to expand limited access to mail-in voting ballots for the general population and restricting each of Texas 's 254 counties to only one mail-in ballot drop-off point .
That has n't kept Harris County — home to Houston — from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ voting this year .
The fourth-largest city in the U.S. had already topped its total of votes cast in 2016 by Thursday , thanks to options like drive-thru voting and keeping early voting centers open late .
The Texas GOP and the Harris County branch of the party tried to get the drive-thru voting centers shut down — the all-Republican Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit without issuing an order or an opinion on Oct. 22 .
But U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen has ordered the plaintiffs to appear in an emergency hearing Monday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to throw out more that 100,000 ballots that Houstonites cast at the drive-thru centers .
The state Supreme Court tossed out the case , as well , on Sunday , and former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has denounced it , but who knows how Hanen , who has a history of partisan rulings , will decide ?
Republicans have reason to feel confident that their arguments , no matter how specious , will play well before the federal bench .
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Ky. , has spent the Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ — 220 of them , according to The Washington Post 's count , including three Supreme Court justices , `` 53 circuit court judges , 162 district court judges and two to the U.S. Court of International Trade . ''
The investment is paying off : The Post also found that federal judges whom Trump has nominated have ruled against efforts to make voting easier in `` nearly three out of four opinions issued in federal voting-related cases . ''
The Supreme Court is n't immune , with several justices threatening to intervene @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Justice Brett Kavanaugh 's concurring opinion in the court 's denial of an expansion of Wisconsin 's window to count absentee ballots raised eyebrows for its mention of the Supreme Court 's 2000 election decision , Bush v. Gore , claiming federal courts should step in during some state electoral disputes .
( Normally , that 's left up to state supreme courts , given that states set their own election laws . )
Aside from being riddled with errors , Kavanaugh 's opinion also gave a legal veneer to the president 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Postal Service , claiming , without data , that `` chaos and suspicions of impropriety '' can ensue if mail-in ballots in particular are counted after Election Day .
He also echoed Trump in his belief that , contra history , states should `` be able to definitively announce the results of the election on election night , or as soon as possible thereafter . ''
Kavanaugh 's colleague Samuel Alito , meanwhile , has said the Supreme Court may have to examine whether ballots that arrive after Election Day in Pennsylvania @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a 4-4 split , rejected hearing a case seeking to overturn the state Supreme Court 's decision allowing ballots that arrive as late as Friday to count .
Alito authored a dissent saying that he and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas all view the Pennsylvania Republican Party 's petition as still on the docket , giving the court another chance to invalidate any latecomers .
The same people who pushed the reshaping of the courts are also providing a backbone for Republican efforts to count fewer votes and shrink voter rolls @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is Leonard Leo , one of the architects of the current federal judiciary .
Leo is a former executive vice president of the Federalist Society , the conservative and libertarian law organization that has worked for decades to place its members into seats in the judiciary .
`` Alongside lawyers who also work for the Republican National Committee , during this election cycle Leo and his team have teed up lawsuits about voter rolls , run ads and filed court briefs to support litigation against mail-in voting , '' NBC News reported Sunday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advisory board of Lawyers for Trump , which is recruiting a battalion of attorneys ready to go to court in the wake of the election . ''
These litigative efforts perfectly sync with previous anti-voting tactics in a strategy that has played out for decades .
From the North Carolina Republican Party 's blatantly racist gerrymandering efforts to the campaign for strict voter ID laws , it 's all part and parcel of reducing the number of people who can vote .
Republicans have also consciously negated efforts to correct these limits .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ amend the state Constitution to allow former felons to vote , offering restored rights to hundreds of thousands of people .
State Republican lawmakers in response passed a law requiring that these new potential voters pay off any fines and court fees they 'd built up to become eligible to vote .
The law was ruled unconstitutional — a federal judge rightly called the move a `` poll tax '' — before it was reinstated by the conservative 11th U.S .
Circuit Court of Appeals .
ProPublica reported in October that as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of Florida 's felons have registered to vote since Amendment 4 passed .
That 's a much lower rate , though over a shorter time frame , than in other states that have restored their voting rights . ''
So far , these are all methods to legally keep people from voting — but as Election Day approaches , the fear of violence from state and nonstate actors is on the rise .
Trump 's campaign has recruited an army of `` poll watchers , '' raising fears of intimidation directed at minority @ @ @ @ @ @ @ members of a caravan that surrounded a Biden campaign bus in Texas , forcing an event to be canceled .
Beyond Trump himself , police in North Carolina 's Alamance County deployed pepper spray Saturday against people marching to the polls .
And in Michigan , the Democratic secretary of state , Jocelyn Benson , is appealing a judge 's decision to allow firearms at polling places .
Election Day will be cathartic , acting as a collective release of breath held for months .
But as encouraging as the 24-hour voting sites @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , this battle wo n't end in the days or weeks after the election is — eventually — called .
None of these systems that the Republicans have put into place will automatically vanish , and as we 've seen , there 's no telling how long past Tuesday their onslaught will last .
But the results of the election will set the rules for the next 10 years , allowing Democrats a chance to change the tide of the conflict .

Tuesday's election looks like it's set to break voter turnout records around the country, even in the middle of a worsening pandemic. Signs thus far indicate that the election should be a victory for democratic norms after they've taken a battering the last half-decade. Instead, no matter which candidate wins, Election Day will be just Day One in what's sure to be a yearslong battle, a war of attrition over whether the U.S. will ever allow every citizen the right to vote.
It's not partisan to say the Republican Party is the aggressor in this conflagration — it is a fact. This can't be dismissed as the work of individual conservatives who just happen to be Republicans. We are talking about President Donald Trump atop the ticket, the Republican National Committee and the state parties coordinating an all-out assault against counting every ballot cast.
Before we continue, let the record show that I'm not exactly a fan of using war as a metaphor for politics, no matter what Herr Clausewitz said in his classic "On War." It cheapens war and all of its attendant tragedies; it transforms minor political disagreements into lengthy sieges and campaigns into crusades. Transferring that kind of thinking into electoral politics encourages, with yet another apology to Clausewitz, politics by other — often violent — means.
It’s not partisan to say the Republican Party is the aggressor in this conflagration — it is a fact.
So when I tell you that nothing else accurately captures the importance of the next few years for the right to vote in America, please understand that it's not my preference. But how else do you describe a concerted campaign to limit access to the ballot box by any means necessary? It's a war being fought in several theaters at once, in all three branches of government and in every jurisdiction, from the local to the federal.
The GOP's motives aren't secret. Trump put it pretty well during an appearance on "Fox & Friends" in March. "They had levels of voting that if you ever agreed to it you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again," the president said in response to Democratic proposals to make it easier and safer for the election to be held despite the coronavirus outbreak — proposals he ultimately rejected.
Trump openly admitting if we made voting easier in America, Republicans wouldn't win elections
Trump: "The things they had in there were crazy. They had levels of voting, that if you ever agreed to it you'd never have a Republican elected in this country again." pic.twitter.com/x5HmX6uogo — Lis Power (@LisPower1) March 30, 2020
He doubled down on that stance months later when he admitted that he was keeping the U.S. Postal Service underfunded to hamper mail-in voting efforts, claiming without evidence that the practice is rife with fraud. Now, the day before Election Day, another slowdown in postal deliveries is occurring in swing states. In between, Trump has said mail-in balloting is another term for fraud while encouraging his own voters in safely red states to vote early.
Trump knows that he lost the popular vote in 2016 and that an increase of votes from Democrats could prevent a repeat of his much-fetishized winning electoral map. Throughout the rest of the party, there's a similar acknowledgment that greater participation — especially by Black and Hispanic voters — means a dilution of its (also much-fetishized) shrinking pool of white voters.
If their motives are on display, their methods are lit up like Times Square, especially in these recent weeks. Across the country, the need to prevent "voter fraud" serves as justification for the GOP's attempted crackdown. But Republican election lawyer Benjamin Ginsberg recently admitted that it's all a myth. "Proof of systematic fraud has become the Loch Ness Monster of the Republican Party," Ginsberg wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. "People have spent a lot of time looking for it, but it doesn't exist."
The New York Times last week detailed a half-dozen of the more egregious instances when state Republican parties or the Trump campaign have asked the courts to count fewer ballots. Wisconsin's Republican-dominated Supreme Court ruled Oct. 26 that rather than have to be postmarked by Election Day, ballots now have to arrive at election offices by 8 p.m. Tuesday for election officials to count them, no matter when they were dropped in the mail. A federal appeals court ruled similarly in a Minnesota case, just days before the election. The federal judges warned Minnesotans to find an alternative way to vote for now — they still haven't decided whether any ballots that come in the mail after Election Day will be considered legal.
The Texas GOP has been particularly brazen, refusing to expand limited access to mail-in voting ballots for the general population and restricting each of Texas's 254 counties to only one mail-in ballot drop-off point. That hasn't kept Harris County — home to Houston — from being a model for easing access to voting this year. The fourth-largest city in the U.S. had already topped its total of votes cast in 2016 by Thursday, thanks to options like drive-thru voting and keeping early voting centers open late.
The Texas GOP and the Harris County branch of the party tried to get the drive-thru voting centers shut down — the all-Republican Supreme Court rejected the lawsuit without issuing an order or an opinion on Oct. 22. But U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen has ordered the plaintiffs to appear in an emergency hearing Monday to present their arguments in a lawsuit to throw out more that 100,000 ballots that Houstonites cast at the drive-thru centers. The state Supreme Court tossed out the case, as well, on Sunday, and former Texas House Speaker Joe Straus has denounced it, but who knows how Hanen, who has a history of partisan rulings, will decide?
Republicans have reason to feel confident that their arguments, no matter how specious, will play well before the federal bench. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has spent the Trump administration loading the courts with conservative judges — 220 of them, according to The Washington Post's count, including three Supreme Court justices, "53 circuit court judges, 162 district court judges and two to the U.S. Court of International Trade." The investment is paying off: The Post also found that federal judges whom Trump has nominated have ruled against efforts to make voting easier in "nearly three out of four opinions issued in federal voting-related cases."
The Supreme Court isn't immune, with several justices threatening to intervene in numerous states' vote-counting processes. Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurring opinion in the court's denial of an expansion of Wisconsin's window to count absentee ballots raised eyebrows for its mention of the Supreme Court's 2000 election decision, Bush v. Gore, claiming federal courts should step in during some state electoral disputes. (Normally, that's left up to state supreme courts, given that states set their own election laws.)
Aside from being riddled with errors, Kavanaugh's opinion also gave a legal veneer to the president's unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud through the Postal Service, claiming, without data, that "chaos and suspicions of impropriety" can ensue if mail-in ballots in particular are counted after Election Day. He also echoed Trump in his belief that, contra history, states should "be able to definitively announce the results of the election on election night, or as soon as possible thereafter."
Insane rhetoric from Kavanaugh decrying "chaos & suspicions of impropriety that can ensue if thousands of absentee ballots flow in after election day and potentially flip the results of an election"
This comes on some night Trump tweets winner of election must be announced Nov 3 pic.twitter.com/Y9iZcBGOGy — Ari Berman (@AriBerman) October 27, 2020
Kavanaugh's colleague Samuel Alito, meanwhile, has said the Supreme Court may have to examine whether ballots that arrive after Election Day in Pennsylvania should be counted. The court, in a 4-4 split, rejected hearing a case seeking to overturn the state Supreme Court's decision allowing ballots that arrive as late as Friday to count. Alito authored a dissent saying that he and Justices Neil Gorsuch and Clarence Thomas all view the Pennsylvania Republican Party's petition as still on the docket, giving the court another chance to invalidate any latecomers.
The same people who pushed the reshaping of the courts are also providing a backbone for Republican efforts to count fewer votes and shrink voter rolls. At the center of this effort is Leonard Leo, one of the architects of the current federal judiciary. Leo is a former executive vice president of the Federalist Society, the conservative and libertarian law organization that has worked for decades to place its members into seats in the judiciary.
"Alongside lawyers who also work for the Republican National Committee, during this election cycle Leo and his team have teed up lawsuits about voter rolls, run ads and filed court briefs to support litigation against mail-in voting," NBC News reported Sunday. "Leo is also on the advisory board of Lawyers for Trump, which is recruiting a battalion of attorneys ready to go to court in the wake of the election."
These litigative efforts perfectly sync with previous anti-voting tactics in a strategy that has played out for decades. From the North Carolina Republican Party's blatantly racist gerrymandering efforts to the campaign for strict voter ID laws, it's all part and parcel of reducing the number of people who can vote.
Republicans have also consciously negated efforts to correct these limits. Florida's electorate voted in 2018 to amend the state Constitution to allow former felons to vote, offering restored rights to hundreds of thousands of people. State Republican lawmakers in response passed a law requiring that these new potential voters pay off any fines and court fees they'd built up to become eligible to vote. The law was ruled unconstitutional — a federal judge rightly called the move a "poll tax" — before it was reinstated by the conservative 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. ProPublica reported in October that as a result, "fewer than 8 percent of Florida's felons have registered to vote since Amendment 4 passed. That's a much lower rate, though over a shorter time frame, than in other states that have restored their voting rights."
So far, these are all methods to legally keep people from voting — but as Election Day approaches, the fear of violence from state and nonstate actors is on the rise. Trump's campaign has recruited an army of "poll watchers," raising fears of intimidation directed at minority voters. He also expressed support for members of a caravan that surrounded a Biden campaign bus in Texas, forcing an event to be canceled. Beyond Trump himself, police in North Carolina's Alamance County deployed pepper spray Saturday against people marching to the polls. And in Michigan, the Democratic secretary of state, Jocelyn Benson, is appealing a judge's decision to allow firearms at polling places.
Election Day will be cathartic, acting as a collective release of breath held for months. But as encouraging as the 24-hour voting sites and predictions of record youth turnout are, this battle won't end in the days or weeks after the election is — eventually — called. None of these systems that the Republicans have put into place will automatically vanish, and as we've seen, there's no telling how long past Tuesday their onslaught will last. But the results of the election will set the rules for the next 10 years, allowing Democrats a chance to change the tide of the conflict.
Election Day will be cathartic, acting as a collective release of breath held for months.
State legislatures will be at the vanguard of this effort. Democrats are heading into Election Day riding the wind in former Vice President Joe Biden's sails with a stronger focus on down-ballot races than they have had in years. They're hoping to flip 10 state legislative chambers, NBC News reports, sweeping both houses in Arizona, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Democrats also have their sights on the Michigan, Texas and Iowa Houses and on capturing the Minnesota Senate.
Those and other lawmakers — or at least those who haven't delegated the process to nonpartisan panels — will have the task in 2021 of translating the 2020 census into new congressional districts at the state and federal levels. State legislators could then turn their attention to voting reforms, locking in the changes laid out during the pandemic to enfranchise more voters, and passing the sort of election security measures that should have passed in 2016.
Should Biden be elected along with a Democratic-controlled Senate, they should move quickly to shore up efforts at the federal level by finally passing a renewed Voting Rights Act. Republicans have blocked any and all efforts to do so since the Supreme Court gutted the core of the 1965 law in 2013.
And honestly, to win this battle once and for all, cementing the right to vote for every American, Democrats will need to be creative. As New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie has noted, the Constitution — especially the Reconstruction amendments — offers Congress sweeping powers to ensure equality, powers that have been viewed too narrowly in the past. If they come up the victors Tuesday, be it in the White House, Congress or statehouses, Democrats should take up the weapons they have before them once the dust settles. For too long, they've been on defense, trying to prevent Republicans from whittling away at the concept of democracy and its tenets of majority rule. One side wants fewer people to vote; one side wants more people to be able to participate. It's time for the latter to go on the offense.