Various political matters (not pleasant to linger upon, but unavoidable) – Evening statistics
Normally I go hiking with the Vigorous Hikers on Tuesdays but today I had to forego this pastime on account of an appointment with my financial advisor. Indeed I was not sorry for an excuse to remain indoors most of the day, for it was very hot and oppressive. Thus this entry focuses more on political than personal concerns.
Matters are not going well for Trump and his adherents. Today Rudy Giuliani was supposed to appear in Atlanta in response to a subpoena in the Fulton County investigation of the pressurizing of Georgia’s Secretary of State to tamper with the state’s ballot in the 2020 election. Yesterday Giuliani filed an emergency application to postpone his appearance. His lawyers cited a doctor who said Giuliani is unfit for air travel following a heart stent operation earlier this summer. But today Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney, who is overseeing the special grand jury, ordered Giuliani to appear for grand jury testimony on Aug. 17th, saying that if Giuliani is unable to take an airplane flight he can travel by car or bus. William Thomas, Giuliani’s attorney, said that the district attorney has not responded to questions as to whether Giuliani is also a target. To judge from his reluctance to appear in court, Giuliani certainly believes that he will not fare well in this investigation and will doubtless continue to try to wriggle out of appearing in the courtroom for as long as he can.
And Trump himself is now being subjected to some legal embarrassment. Specifically, the FBI is currently searching his Mar-a-Lago residence to determine whether or not he stored any classified documents there after leaving the Oval Office.
As a matter of course, Republicans such as Kevin McCarthy, Rick Scott, and Marco Rubio are claiming that Trump is the victim of political conspiracy, conveniently ignoring the fact that Christopher Wray, the FBI Director, is a Trump appointee who has been in his position for five years, and also ignoring the fact that when Hilary Clinton, Trump’s opponent in the 2016 election, was accused of similar charges, Trump was among the most vehement in his condemnation of her, even going to the extent of firing James Comey, the FBI Director at the time, for pursuing the matter with insufficient zeal. Andrew McCabe, a former Deputy Director of FBI, commented that the agency would not have undertaken such a drastic step if Trump had merely forgotten to remove a few documents from his personal belongings; they must have received some indication of willful violation on his part if they are prepared to proceed to such lengths.
Unsurprising also, but depressing, is that one of these would-be vindicators of the party’s brazen idol is . . . Mike Pence. The man whose execution was expressly urged by Trump’s adherents was among the first to demand an accounting from Merrick Garland and to write that “the appearance of continued partisanship by the Justice Department must be addressed.” He forgets that an independent federal judge had to sign off on the warrant after establishing that FBI agents had shown probable cause before they could descend on Trump’s home. Or rather, he has forgotten that a man ought to be able to stand upright on two legs and instead prefers to grovel on all four limbs, so desperate is he to curry favor with the extremists of the GOP party.
There are two encouraging factors in this new episode: first, that Mitch McConnell has taken some care to distance himself from Trump, on the grounds that his attention is occupied with flood victims in his state of Kentucky, and, better still, Trump is currently in New York and thus unable physically to interfere with the agents’ search.
Biden is providing cause for concern as well. Today he made a speech from the South Lawn, just before signing the CHIPS and Science Act. This act is a major legislative victory for the administration, but its triumph was diminished by the fact that the President was continuously coughing throughout his address, despite repeated doses of water and cough drops. He also appeared, after shaking hands with Chuck Schumer, to have forgotten that he had done so a bare five minutes afterwards, extending his hand for a second time and apparently nonplussed when Schumer did not respond. Biden has twice tested negative after having had a bout of COVID. White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor declared this past Sunday that Biden has fully recovered and could “safely return to public engagement and presidential travel,” His performance today, however, did not inspire confidence. He has previously suffered from asthma, and his symptoms could simply be the result of this underlying condition, but the possibility of long COVID cannot be ruled out.
Today’s statistics as of 8:00 PM – # of cases worldwide: 590,801,306; # of deaths worldwide: 6,440,702; # of cases U.S.: 94,114,447; # of deaths; U.S.: 1,059,582.