If you're having trouble remaining calm and rational as this election draws to its climax, be assured you are not alone. One can be forgiven for feeling anxious as Trump's ever-escalating effort to mobilize the white grievance vote destabilizes the country.
If you fear your BP may be spiking, you can get one of those handy DIY units.
We are already seeing illegalities by Trump-inspired mobs on our streets (see news summaries below), and what is playing out right before our eyes is a chaotic series of right-wing assaults on our democratic institutions.
Trump's lieutenants are intimidating voters who oppose ihr Anführer by executing voter suppression maneuvers in key states and mobilizing the armed crazies who call themselves "militias."
It is time to prepare for the worst.These flare-ups of violence are evidence of no less than an attempted coup by a sitting President.
In the haunting words of the brilliant former world chess champion Garry Kasparov:
"After four long years of chaos and lies from the Trump administration, it's time to prepare for the worst, even as we hope for the best. Every time we thought he could stoop no lower, that there were no boundaries of legality or decency left for him to violate, he has outdone himself.
"After praising dictators, attacking veterans, demeaning women, discrediting our democracy, and surrendering to a raging pandemic, we can only hope that Trump has also undone himself. We cannot know exactly what Trump will do in these final days, only that whatever it is, he will be thinking only of himself.
"If he declares victory on election night, regardless of the uncounted ballots, what then? What if he calls the entire election a fraud, a hoax, and demands that the counting stop? Or if armed Trump supporters heed his call to intimidate voters at the polls? What if he takes to Twitter with "LIBERATE AMERICA!" and his MAGA zealots respond?" (published on CNN.com)
So for the next few days keep that blood pressure kit close by your side.
***
Some headlines...
* Biden campaign cancels Texas event after Trump supporters surround bus on interstate. Trump applauded the action. (CNN)
* Participants at a rally in a small North Carolina city to turn out the vote ahead of Tuesday’s election were pepper-sprayed by law enforcement officials on Saturday. (Reuters)
* Anxious but determined, Americans are pushing through challenges like the pandemic and long lines to cast their ballot. The country is on course to surpass 150 million votes for the first time. (NYT)
* In 2016, Robert Cahaly of The Trafalgar Group used unorthodox polling to correctly predict five swing states and Donald Trump's electoral college tally. Rebuffing skeptics, he says undercounted voters will again elect Trump. (CNN)
* With just a few days left before Election Night and the president trailing in numerous state and national polls, Donald Trump’s inner circle is increasingly whispering the same thought: Our guy blew it. (The Daily Beast)
* Republicans, Not Biden, Are About to Raise Your Taxes -- President Trump built in tax increases beginning in 2021, for nearly everyone but those at the very top. (NYT)
* American Medical Association rips Trump's claim that doctors inflating COVID-19 numbers (The Hill)
* Protesters against COVID-19 restrictions clash with police in Spanish cities (Reuters)
* Latest polls in Pennsylvania: Biden 51%, Trump 44% (CNN)
* Travelers to New York must quarantine for three days, then get coronavirus test (Reuters)
* A once restrained Fauci unleashes on White House coronavirus approach days before election (CNN)
* A federal judge in Texas scheduled an emergency hearing for Monday on whether Houston officials unlawfully allowed drive-through voting and should toss more than 100,000 votes in the Democratic-leaning area. (Reuters)
* Store fronts in New York City and Washington, DC, are being boarded up ahead of Election Day (CNN)
* Austria orders curfew and shuts restaurants to fight 'exploding' COVID (Reuters)
* Britain to impose new lockdown on all of England (NHK)
* Iran imposes new restrictions to stem coronavirus spread (Reuters)
***
Personal anecdote from Halloween. The sun was still up here when the kids went trick or treating. I trailed along with my wraparound sunglasses and cane, my aged craggy face and long white hair.
"He's going as a blind man," my daughter explained to neighbors.
"Yes, in other words as a Trump voter," I added.
***
Riders on the storm
Into this house we're born
Into this world we're thrown
An actor out alone
Riders on the storm
There's a killer on the road
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