The Banter Brief: Trump Is In Deep Sh*t

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Banter Brief, the greatest round up on the interwebs!

1. Most Important Story Of The Week

Unemployment at 38 million

This might not be getting a lot of press attention, but it is still a huge story for obvious reasons. Reports the Washington Post:

The latest round of threats came hours after the U.S. government released dour new jobless figures showing an additional 2.4 million Americans sought unemployment aid just last week, further compounding an economic crisis that already rivals the Great Depression in its severity. Over the span of nine weeks, more than 38 million Americans have filed unemployment claims across the country because of the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

38 million people unemployed. The number is truly astonishing, yet the stock market has basically rebounded to pre-coronavirus levels and has been surging all week. The disconnect between what happens on Wall St and what happens in the real economy (ie that the majority of people in America live in) is absolutely mind blowing and proof that the economic system we have create for ourselves makes no sense whatsoever. Capitalism — or this version of it — has officially gone insane.

2. Poll Analysis

This is extremely significant (via USNews):

Trump trails presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, 51% to 45%, in Michigan, according to the survey by Public Policy Polling for the health care advocacy group Protect Our Care.

Further, the poll suggests that Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic is damaging his prospects in the state. The survey revealed that 6 in 10 voters said Trump and his administration deserve a great deal or at least some responsibility for the loss of both American lives and U.S. jobs from the virus.

Michigan is absolutely crucial for Biden, and he is pulling ahead so significantly that the state might become out of reach for Trump. Even better for Biden is news that he is surging in Arizona and Pennsylvania. If he locks up this trio — arguably his best bet — he wins the presidency. In other words, Trump is in deep sh*t.

(image via Getty images)

3. Quote Of The Week

“In the case of Reade, the overwhelming weight of evidence suggests no sexual assault occurred. To conclude she is telling the truth, you would have to believe that, for the first and only time in his career, Biden decided to assault a woman in a fully visible spot in the Capitol. Reade, as previously reported, repeatedly modified her story. At one point she claimed the assault had been documented in a written complaint. After Biden denied the incident, she said come to think of it, the complaint wouldn’t have included the assault portion. There was plenty here to set off alarm bells. Sure enough, the more media entities investigated, the more flaky Reade’s story seemed.”

- Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post

Go deeper with Banter Members:

The Tara Reade Story Is Over

Tara Reade's accusation against Joe Biden simply isn't credible, and those pushing the story are going to end up ruining her, says Ben Cohen.

4. What to Watch

Scott and Bailey is a superb British female buddy cop drama starring Suranne Jones and Lesley Sharp available on Amazon Prime. Set in Manchester, England, the show follows Detectives Janet Scott (Sharp) and Rachel Bailey (Jones) and their escapades in the Syndicate Nine Major Incident Team in the Manchester Metropolitan Police.

While the writing is excellent, the characters truly make this series great. Bailey is the younger, wilder, and more talented of the pair, but Sharp is wiser and far more experienced, making the duo a formidable force and a nightmare for Manchester’s criminal class. Scott and Bailey work fearlessly take on hardened criminals, violent predators and ruthless serial killers, all while juggling complex personal dramas that often spills over into their professional lives.

Scott and Bailey is most certainly a rebuttal to the all male buddy cop dramas where women are supporting characters in a man’s world, but it genuinely does more than that. The show is funny, fast paced, and intelligent. Combined with the unfussy, rainy northern England setting, it feels, well, real. The male characters are a bit of a let down, but the female leads more than make up for it.

5. Good News

Coronavirus vaccine could be on the way

There is still a way to go, but early results from the Moderna Inc vaccine trials have shown real promise — so much so that Dr. Anthony Fauci has stated it could be ready and available by the end of the year (via NPR):

Dr. Anthony Fauci expressed "cautious optimism" Friday about the initial results from a coronavirus vaccine trial — which were widely celebrated this week — and said it remains "conceivable" that a vaccine for the deadly pathogen could be available by the end of the year.

Amid a global race for a vaccine, the nation's leading infectious disease expert said in an interview with NPR that he was encouraged by findings from the phase onetrial of a vaccine under development by researchers at the Massachusetts-based biotech company Moderna Inc. On Monday, the company said the vaccine appears both safe and capable of stimulating in test subjects the type of immune response needed to ward off an infection.

If we can create a successful vaccine before the end of the year, it would be unprecedented in human history given the quickest turnaround for a vaccine (mumps) was four years.

Have a great weekend!

Read the latest for Banter Members:

Trump Supporters Almost Assaulted My 12-year-Old Autistic Son Because He Was Wearing a Mask

This is Trump's America - by Justin Rosario

The Tara Reade Story Is Over

Tara Reade's accusation against Joe Biden simply isn't credible, and those pushing the story are going to end up ruining her.

Trump Is Extorting These American States To Win In 2020

Trump Is Recycling His Ukraine Scam to harm Joe Biden and suppress the vote in 2020.