The Trump/Vance Lie Machine

And Harris's decency

A few observations on a Monday.

An informal survey of lawn signage here in downeast Maine were I am for a few days: more Harris signs that Trump signs like 10 to 3. I was pleasantly surprised.

Trump’s hair is turning purple.

Trump called Harris “mentally disabled.” “She was born that way.” This is clear racism. The video of him saying this is chilling because he seems to revel in the audience’s hatred towards Harris emanating as he says this (and their joy in it).

In a rally in PA, Trump suggested that one way to eliminate crime is to have “one really violent day” and then that would deter others. “One rough hour — and I mean real rough,” Mr. Trump said. “The word will get out and it will end immediately.” That’s a police state.

Do you ever wonder how the lie-machine works in the Trump campaign? Do they just make stuff up out of whole cloth, or take pieces of truth an twist, enlarge them? Apparently, Trump said that Harris “let in” 13,000-14,000 immigrant murders in the last three years. The Department of Homeland security said those stats are from the last 40 years.

I tried to draw a lie machine but frankly got too depressed and really had no clue how to draw such a thing.

The CBS moderators, Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Bennan, are not going to fact check the VP debate with Tim Walz and JP Vance tomorrow night. I’m disappointed in CBS for this decision, although they will have a QR code on the CBS broadcast screen for viewers to check the facts. How many will actually do that, I have my doubts. Tim Walz will have to fact check AND get his message out. I will be live drawing it tomorrow night, stay tuned.

This from Heather Cox Richardson, her newsletter is chock full of information today: “On Saturday, Julia Terruso of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a woman in a Philadelphia suburb received a letter that looked like an official document from the fake ‘Pennsylvania Congressional Office of Immigration Affairs’ telling her that she was expected to provide living space to five migrants under a program ‘written into Law by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.’” 

“As Terruso wrote, ‘No office exists, nor does such a government-mandated housing program, but the letter, doctored to look like an official government document, provided specific details designed to mislead someone less attuned to a scam—and laid the blame for the fake program at the feet of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris during a heated and close election in which immigration has increasingly become a focal point.’”

It feels as though the Trump/Vance/Maga campaign is getting even more—if possible— outrageous with the lies.

The NY Times endorsed Harris today, “The Only Patriotic Choice.” Here is the opening paragraph:

It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump. He has proved himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest. He has proved himself temperamentally unfit for a role that requires the very qualities — wisdom, honesty, empathy, courage, restraint, humility, discipline — that he most lacks.

The New Yorker also endorsed Harris.

For nine years, Donald Trump has represented an ongoing assault on the stability, the nerves, and the nature of the United States. As President, he amplified some of the ugliest currents in our political culture: nativism, racism, misogyny, indifference to the disadvantaged, amoral isolationism. His narcissism and casual cruelty, his contempt for the truth, have contaminated public life. As Commander-in-Chief, he ridiculed the valor of fallen soldiers, he threatened to unravel the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and he emboldened autocrats everywhere, including Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Viktor Orbán. When Trump lost to Joe Biden, in 2020, he tried every means possible to deny the will of the electorate and helped incite a violent insurrection on Capitol Hill.

In contrast, the Democratic Party’s nominee, Vice-President Kamala Harris, has displayed the basic values and political skills that would enable her to build on the successes of the Biden Administration and to help end, once and for all, a poisonous era defined by Trump.

Thank you to Substacker and friend Rick Sloan for alerting me to the idea of decency in JoJo’s post this afternoon. It inspired my drawing at the top of this post.

Thanks for being here, see you tomorrow.