Week 199 - Vote Twice

This week, with no discernible post-convention  bounce and the election two months away, Trump was frenzied. He started  the week with a storm of tweets, and then embarked on espousing a series  of bizarre conspiracy theories that made him appear mentally unfit to  lead, some of which were then backed in part by Attorney General William  Barr — our country’s chief law enforcement, who openly lied and  obfuscated in a television interview. While continuing to attack the integrity of the  election, Trump encouraged his supporters, at campaign rallies in two  swing states and on Twitter, to vote twice, an illegal act. Notably,  reporting this week indicated the attack lines used by his campaign,  including disparaging the integrity of mail-in voting, nearly mirrored  those of Russian intelligence. The entire week felt not only chaotic,  but almost surreal given the bizarre conspiracies, lies, and calls for  both violence and illegal acts Trump openly floated. The week closed with blockbuster reporting by the Atlantic on  Trump’s disparaging of members of the U.S. military, calling them  “losers” and “suckers” for the ultimate sacrifice. A story Trump denied,  but was confirmed by the Post, the AP and even Fox News. The story shook the nation, and Trump could not  shake its impact on his image as a pro-military strong man as the week  came to a close. In between, this was the longest week so far, by  far. There are so many stories that needed focus, and got very little  or none. They are recorded here for posterity and to be undone when this  nightmare of an era is over. Notably also in the midst of the gravest  public health crisis in a century, Trump has managed to undermine the  trust in all our public health agencies, as we near 200,000 Americans  dead, with projections showing more than double that could die by  year-end in the pandemic. Read the full list here: https://theweeklylist.org/weekly-list/week-199/