In the year of our lord 2020, the headline above doesnt even qualify as the strangest one Ive written this week.
There are two good arguments for Biden declining to hold any further debates with Trump. Theres the obvious one, that its foolish to give your opponent a chance to get back in the race when youre up big. Thats a time to play it safe and run out the clock, not go into gladiator mode.
But the other is less appreciated. As we get closer to Election Day and Trump becomes more desperate for a gamechanger, hes liable to say a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g to try to jolt the polls. Biden cant stop him from doing that, of course; the president of the United States has free media available to him at a moments notice. But he can certainly deny him a forum to do so thats apt to draw an audience of 80 million people.
As zany as hes been since leaving Walter Reed, yesterday felt like the true start of the say a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g ending to the campaign.
The president retweeted an insane article alleging "Biden and Obama may have had Seal Team 6 killed" posted by a QAnon account and written by "an ex-Community Organizer and Homeschool Mom." pic.twitter.com/ydoCEFLkAt
Christian Vanderbrouk (@UrbanAchievr) October 13, 2020
The Daily Beast has details on Trumps new favorite conspiracy theory:
Parrot claims that Biden cut a deal with Iran to set up Bin Ladens 2011 death in Pakistan. But when Iran double-crossed the United States and switched in a Bin Laden body double, in Parrots telling, Biden and Clinton arranged for a Navy SEAL helicopter to be shot down to keep the truth about the raid from getting out a reference to a real-world helicopter attack in Afghanistan that killed 38 people, including 25 Navy SEALs.
Vice President Biden paid with the blood of Seal Team 6, Parrot said in the video. He spent their blood like currency.
Later in the video, Noe claims that the Benghazi compound was attacked to cover up the fact that, supposedly, the missile used in the helicopter attack came from the United States.
Because we live in a bad television show now, one of the SEALs on the Bin Laden mission who claims to have fired the fatal shot at OBL himself was standing by to refute the latest garbage information being shoveled at the public by the commander-in-chief. Even weirder, that SEAL is well-known to MAGA types. Its Robert ONeill, whos been on Fox News many times as a commentator since revealing that he participated in the Bin Laden raid. Trump is spraying so wildly at Biden now that even people who are sympathetic to him are being hit by the crossfire.
Its true that members of SEAL Team 6 died tragically in a helicopter crash not long after the Bin Laden mission, but the particular soldiers who perished werent part of that operation, says ONeill. And needless to say, it was the real Bin Laden who was killed, not an incredible facsimile.
Very brave men said goodby to their kids to go kill Osama bin Laden. We were given the order by President Obama. It was not a body double. Thank you Mr. President. Happy birthday @USNavy
Robert J. O'Neill (@mchooyah) October 13, 2020
Shit. I just found out that I killed Osama bin Johnson. Drinks are on me, I guess
Robert J. O'Neill (@mchooyah) October 14, 2020
I know who I killed, homie. Every time. https://t.co/sGuf6ZMskw
Robert J. O'Neill (@mchooyah) October 14, 2020
Every SEAL from the UBL Mission is alive while you are reading this. https://t.co/6mvAh37Cep
Robert J. O'Neill (@mchooyah) October 14, 2020
The most newsworthy aspect of this episode is that it wasnt considered very newsworthy by major media. Even granting that its an unusually busy time between the election, COVID, the Barrett hearing, and the stimulus standoff, its not every day that the president casually endorses a theory that his opponent had American soldiers mass-murdered and then had several more Americans murdered, including an ambassador, to cover up the previous murders. Yet it barely registered anywhere. How come?
Because we expect it, of course. Trump tweeting conspiracy theories about the Bin Laden raid would have been headline news in 2016, when there was a still question of how he might behave in office if handed the presidency. In 2020, thats called Tuesday. The cynical read on Americans shrugging at tweets like yesterdays is that theyre now so inured to the head of state sounding like a YouTube crank that they no longer hold it against him or expect better. The more idealistic view, though, is that theyve already resolved to toss him out next month precisely because theres been far too much nonsense like this over the past four years and are now just patiently indulging him as they prepare for his departure.
Honestly, all the moms I know, we are really nervous about our kids, what kind of future theyre going to have. And Trump is the one making us nervous, Jessica Morschakov, a 38-year-old ballet studio owner, told me in the wealthy, ultra-conservative township of Brighton. Hes just so angry all the time. I really believe that he brings out the worst in people, the worst in situations.
Its this sentiment, from this voting demographic, thats echoing all across Michigan especially in its rich white suburbs. Even voters who describe themselves as single-issue, pro-life Republicans, such as Karen Kudla, have said theyve given up on Trump. I cannot in good conscience vote to keep this man in the White House, Kudla told me in Lake Orion.
Its like having an erratic tenant whom youre in the process of evicting. Theres going to be a certain amount of ranting and raving as the cops tell him its time to go. The easiest thing for everyone involved is to just let him yell while hes packing up. Dont make it worse by antagonizing him or challenging him on the nutty things he says. He is who he is. Hell be gone soon. Take the path of least resistance.
What Im really interested in seeing is whether the say anything finale to his campaign ultimately leads him into full-throated support for QAnon before November 3. Hes spoken warmly of Q-bots publicly but he hasnt confirmed any of the particulars of the Q mythology. If he did, that *would* get media attention just because of how many members of that particular cult there are. It would do Trump no good electorally and plenty of harm if he took to flirting with QAnon, but as we saw yesterday with his needless spat with Fauci, hes not thinking strategically, hes simply reacting to things impulsively. If he feels the race slipping away, he might impulsively seek the embrace of a group that already treats him as a sort of messiah ridding the world of Satanic evil. Well see. Twenty days to go.
Ill leave you with this. Loefflers not a crank, but shes willing to pander to cranks for her own electoral ends. The party has a bright future.
Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) October 14, 2020