A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version.
Trump’s Mandate Would Be Horrific
As we veer toward Election Day in just three weeks, Donald Trump’s increasingly fascistic rhetoric is setting himself up to declare any ensuing victory to be a broad mandate for disregarding the rule of law, making unprecedented misuse of the power of the state to punish his political enemies, and targeting people of color and migrants.
Over the holiday weekend, Trump’s language became more sinister, unhinged, and unapologetic, baiting his legions of supporters with promises of violence, retribution, and purifying purges. He continued to evoke key tenets of the Great Replacement Theory: America under attack by migrant invaders soiling the purity of traditional towns and villages. He threatened to unleash police and to use the military to go after “radical left lunatics.” All of this came against the backdrop of Trump refusing to abide by the results of any election he loses.
The way that Trump has ramped up his darkest rhetoric in recent weeks suggests he is building toward an Election Day crescendo that is intended (i) to activate his supporters to vote for him; and (ii) to rally them for his post-election plans to dispute, disrupt, and delegitimize any results that don’t show him as the winner.
At the same time, Trump is giving himself the opportunity to point to any victory – whether by hook or by crook – as creating a mandate for exactly the kind of hard-core, extremist, racist fever dreams he is engaging in during the campaign’s final days.
Whatever you thought of Donald Trump in 2016 or 2020 or even in the aftermath of Jan. 6, 2021, Trump is promising in no uncertain terms a new more apocalyptic and unrepentant version of himself. After a decade of listening to his jeremiads, you may be inclined to tune out Trump by now. But the rhetoric he’s engaged in now – even if it’s mixed into a slop of droning, meandering, and incoherent phrasings – is the Trump that would be elected and the version he would claim has a mandate to follow through on the worst of his threats.
Trump’s Racism Is Unconcealed
It’s not new, but it’s important that Trump continues to center his campaign around racist attacks – mostly on immigrants of color, whether undocumented or not – and that those attacks are becoming more toxic and virulent as Election Day approaches:
Trump Raises Specter Of ‘Enemy From Within’
In campaign appearances and national TV interviews, Trump is ratcheting up his threats to misuse and abuse the military to consolidate power and target his political foes, what he is now calling the “enemy from within”:
Trump to Bartiromo on what worries him about election day: "I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within … sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military." pic.twitter.com/twRsilNJnz
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 13, 2024
Meanwhile, former Trump national security adviser Gen. Mike Flynn was asked by a supporter if he would “sit at the head of a military tribunal to not only drain the swamp, but imprison the swamp, and on a few occasions, execute the swamp.” Flynn was, ummm, noncommittal.
‘A Fascist To The Core’
Former Joint Chiefs Chair Mark Milley fears being court-martialed if Trump wins, according to Bob Woodward’s new book, which quotes Milley as saying of Trump: “He is the most dangerous person ever. I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country.”
Harris Strikes Back
- Vice President Kamala Harris is dialing up her direct attacks on Donald Trump as a threat to democracy and to real people: “Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged,” she told a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on Monday.
- In an unusual move, Harris played video for her rally’s audience of Trump’s weekend comments about using the military before she launched into her criticism:
"You heard his words, coming from him … Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged" — oh wow — Kamala Harris at her rally in Erie, Pennsylvania, plays the clip of Trump telling Maria Bartiromo that he would use the military against his domestic foes pic.twitter.com/nLKxyhoq4U
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2024
- The Harris campaign has a new video ad up highlighting Trump’s “enemy from within” rhetoric:
Disinfo In The Real World
- Armed North Carolina man arrested after allegedly threatening FEMA workers.
- Aaron Blake: How reported threats in N.C. trace to Trump-fueled misinformation
- Charlie Warzel: I’m Running Out of Ways to Explain How Bad This Is
- North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) is forced to try to counter Trump’s misinformation.
- Irony alert: After whipping up hysteria by falsely claiming Biden was withholding relief aid to Americans, Trump threatens to withhold relief aid to Americans:
Trump threatens to withhold aid to California: We'll force it down his throat and we'll say, Gavin, if you don't do it, we're not giving you any of that fire money that we send you for all the forest fires you have pic.twitter.com/EBneSYZrTG
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 13, 2024
On The Legal Front …
- Kate Shaw: Lawyers Should Not Assist Trump in a Potential Power Grab
- WSJ: Trump Loyalists Push for a Combative Slate of New Judges
‘When Did That Become Okay?’
Brian Beutler: Barack Obama asks THE central question of the Trump era — one we should have been asking all along.
Policies That Matter
Jonathan Cohn: What Real People Get About Kamala Harris’ Big New Idea That The Political Set Can’t Grasp
2024 Ephemera
- NYT/Siena poll: In Pennsylvania, Harris leads Trump among likely voters 50%-47%. In Arizona, Trump leads Harris among likely voters 51%-46%.
- NYT: Harris’s Turnout Machine vs. Trump’s Unproven Alliance
- The Guardian: Trump ground game undercut by slow internet that crashes app
- NYT: Republican Operatives Function as Hidden Hand Behind Pro-Trump Efforts
Meanwhile, In Florida …
Politico: “Florida’s public universities are purging the list of general education courses they will offer next year to fall in line with a state law pushed for by Gov. Ron DeSantis targeting “woke ideologies” in higher education.”
Trump Gets Even Weirder
A Trump town hall event in Pennsylvania went off the rails Monday tonight. After two separate medical incidents in the crowd, Trump abandoned the Q&A session and turned the rally into a musical event, with him listening to his playlist faves while bobbing and weaving to the music:
Wow — this was weird. Trump wrapped up his "town hall" in Oaks, Pennsylvania, after just a few questions, and right after he said he would take a few more questions. More music then played while Trump stood around on stage. Deeply bizarre scenes. pic.twitter.com/C3SJpsQagV
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) October 15, 2024
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Huh, first and no cat picture to post or Frist to vote for.
Found a pic of the cat we’re pet sitting for a year.
I voted!!
Just got back from dropping off my ballot at the county voters’ services office.
I’m still in Cleveland, not happy.
All I can think of, where is his family? The only explanation is they are a bad as he is. I mean the man needs help.
Amazing. Glad to see David covered this in MM.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump turned a town hall in Pennsylvania into a concert, singing along and dancing for nearly 40 minutes while his favorite hits played on stage.
Musta been an awkward 40 minutes of watching TSF sundown to YMCA.