The White House is going after former Veep Joe Biden for not traveling to Kenosha, Wisconsin, unlike President Trump who “shows up.”

The only issue? The governor of Wisconsin has politely asked Trump to actually … not show up.

One of the President’s supporters, who was actually filmed cheering him at a Trump rally, brought an AR-15 to a BLM protest and murdered two protestors and seriously injured a third. The President won’t condemn his actions.

Asked whether President condemns supporter and Trump rally attendee Kyle Rittenhouse who murdered two protestors, Press Secretary says Trump's "not going to weigh in on that." pic.twitter.com/ZeoaYP5oHB

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 31, 2020

The President continues his policy promoting a maximal climate of violence and instability in the hopes that fear, uncertainty and demoralization will give him another term in power. He continues his tacit embrace of Kyle Rittenhouse, the self-styled 17 year old ‘militia’ member who gunned down two protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin last week. This morning NBC reports that Rittenhouse’s lawyer will argue that his client was part of a “well-regulated” militia and that at least the weapons charges against him are unconstitutional. That argument seems unlikely to succeed. But it is another sign of how the brazen murders of two civilians are being embraced as a new cause celebre on the right.

My roommate just asked me this question. There’s not a solid answer, but it’s related to news out of New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt’s forthcoming book, which was obtained by CNN.

TPM Reader SD has a reply to my post about the psychology and ideational worlds of Republican and Democratic partisans …

I think your post on the jitters of Democrats understates the really dramatic role consistent winning of elections can bring to the psyche of your average Democratic voter. It has been 52 years since 1968, and in those 52 years, the Republicans were really in the ascendancy for more than half of the period and then in the last 20 years the two sides have had an uneasy, unsteady equilibrium with each side gaining temporary advantages (and with Republicans doing a better job than Democrats at preserving or entrenching their otherwise temporary gains). Almost no Democrat under the age of about 70 (someone who would have been 10 years old in 1960) remembers a time where the Democrats had super majorities in the Senate and House while also holding the Presidency. Democrats who were 40 years old in 1960 would have essentially conceived of themselves as being a member of the dominant political party, accustomed to running the country and seeing the government reflect their values, because it is all they would have known in their lifetimes. Even a Republican holding the Presidency as Eisenhower did from 1953-1961 did not revisit the changes wrought by the New Deal. Instead, he could probably be more properly seen as a person of the other party holding the office in an era of the other party’s dominance. I think of Bill Clinton’s Presidency in similar terms.

This is all pretty much in the open now. Trump has the US intelligence agencies running interference for and assisting Russian interference and disinformation campaigns against the Democrats.

They couldn’t even find a willing participant. So they replaced a shop owner with someone who’d be happy to play his game.

Tomorrow, September 3, from 5 – 7 p.m. ET TPM is hosting a virtual Zoom event focused on the unique challenges of holding an election during the crisis that is 2020.

TPM staff will be joined by Hannah Fried, All Voting is Local’s national campaign director and the former national director and deputy general counsel for voter protection on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, and Tammy Patrick, senior adviser at the Democracy Fund and an expert on vote by mail, to discuss efforts to take advantage of the crisis to suppress votes.

This is the President’s campaign press secretary again defending accused double-murderer Kyle Rittenhouse and saying his behavior is a logical consequence BLM and criticism of the police.

President's Press Secretary again defending accused double-murderer Kyle Rittenhouse, says it's the logical consequence of Black Lives Matter movement. "If you don't allow police to do their job then the American people have to defend themselves some way." pic.twitter.com/onxmeMtaOG

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) September 2, 2020

From TPM Reader JB, a physician and professor at a major academic medical center …

I think we now know what the October surprise will be for the election: It will be the rolling out of a COVID19 vaccine. The CDC has already said that states should prepare for distribution in October/November and the head of the FDA, Stephen Hahn, has said he may Fast Track approval for a vaccine.