The Banter Brief: "Stupid, Injured Manchild That He Is"
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Hello everyone and welcome to this week’s edition of The Banter Brief!
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1. Most Important Story Of The Week
Trump does not want you to vote
Americans must pay great attention to what is happening with their democracy right now. The right to vote is under grievous attack from the Trump administration, and it is about to get much, much worse.
This week, Bob Cesca reported on Trump’s truly frightening attempts to stop Nevada from offering absentee ballots. “So far, the campaign to re-elect our first fascist president has spent more than $20 million in its jihad against voting during a severe pandemic, and there’s no end in sight,” wrote Bob. “To be clear: We know he’s already defied the Supreme Court. We know that he’s entertaining the authority to make his own laws, including one that would apparently stop the use of absentee ballots -- state authority to conduct elections be damned.”
This election is going to come down to several swing states, and if Trump successfully purges voter rolls, stops absentee ballots, and forces recounts, it could be enough to hand him a victory.
Go Deeper With Banter Members:
Trump's Latest Declaration Is Beyond Terrifying
Trump said, “I have the right to do it. We haven’t gotten there yet. We’ll see what happens.” - by Bob Cesca
2. Poll Analysis
This is a highly instructive chart that looks at polling averages in battleground states in this year and in 2016. Of all the states that will make a difference in 2020, Trump is up in only Georgia, Iowa and Texas (barely):
Trump is within striking distance in a number of states, but as it stands, he has a monumental battle ahead of him to beat Biden in November.
3. Quote Of The Week
“As Donald Trump has secretly known all along — stupid, injured manchild that he is — none of the people in the privileged classes of New York or Washington or California who pretended to love and admire him truly understood his greatness, and now that the waves are crashing over the bow they’re scurrying off the deck. He’ll be left at the end with the losers and incels and rubes in the red hats — stricken, lonely people who looked to him as a savior and for whom he feels only contempt. People he probably hates more than he hates Muslims or Mexicans or Black people, and possibly even more than he hates himself.”
- Andrew O’Hehir on Trump’s impending electoral disaster
4. What to Watch
What: ‘Starship Troopers’ - the cult classic 1997 science fiction movie directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier.
Why: Based on Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 science fiction novel, Starship Troopers was widely misunderstood when released 23 years ago. Panned as a juvenile rip off of ‘Alien’, Starship Troopers was in fact, as Calum Marsh in the Atlantic notes, “a ruthlessly funny and keenly self-aware sendup of right-wing militarism.”
Starship Troopers has experienced a Renaissance in recent years, probably because it so accurately foretold the Iraq War and the ridiculous patriotic jingoism of the Bush era. It could have served as a warning when it was released, but apparently it took America over a decade to get the joke (and the lesson). The high tech, testosterone fueled future depicted in Starship Troopers will have you chuckling and grimacing in equal parts.
Above all though, the movie is great fun and the special effects still hold up almost a quarter of a century later. Well worth revisiting.
Where: Netflix
5. Good News
The NRA might disappear
We might governed by a mad man and be in the midst of a deadly pandemic, but this is undoubtedly great news (via NPR):
The attorney general of New York took action Thursday to dissolve the National Rifle Association following an 18-month investigation that found evidence the powerful gun rights group is "fraught with fraud and abuse."
Attorney General Letitia James claims in a lawsuit filed Thursday that she found financial misconduct in the millions of dollars and that it contributed to a loss of more than $64 million over a three-year period.
The suit alleges that top NRA executives misused charitable funds for personal gain, awarded contracts to friends and family members, and provided contracts to former employees to ensure loyalty.
James’s move to dissolve the organization is incredibly bold — and likely given she has jurisdiction over the New York registered association. As NPR notes, the lawsuit “seeks to dissolve the NRA in its entirety and asks the court to order LaPierre and other current and former executives to pay back unlawful profits.” It’s about time.
Have a great weekend!
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Trump's Latest Declaration Is Beyond Terrifying
Trump said, “I have the right to do it. We haven’t gotten there yet. We’ll see what happens.” by Bob Cesca
Our School Will Be Virtual In The Fall. Thank God.
This is not an article that will be welcomed by a good number of the people who read it. by Justin Rosario
Can't believe you picked Starship Troopers haha. The movie is criminally underrated considering its relevance to today but it really is an outstanding movie regardless.
What's hilarious about the investigation into the NRA's shady dealings is that its got the ammosexuals out there whining that it's all a false flag by the NY AG to try and take away their firearms (penis extenders that is!). Like the fate of their precious Second Amendment is somehow connected to the existence of the NRA!