Can't See The Forest.

By Sniffles

We just heard that 2020's version of Josef Mengele, Scott Atlas, has resigned as White House coronavirus adviser. It's never been clear why a radiologist would be advising the Executive Branch on a viral pandemic, but you also have to wonder: Benedict Donald is so checked out, either spending hours on the golf course or ranting over the phone about the election... will he notice?

Nobody knows what the future holds for Atlas, a.k.a. Mr. Herd Immunity, but we sincerely hope Stanford University will distance itself even further from him. He is a disgrace. Maybe some whacky Trump-loving Governor in, say, North or South Dakota will hire him as a COVID adviser, but one thing's for sure: He'd never qualify to be a Walmart greeter (and mask enforcer). Sorry, Scott!

Meanwhile, Moose & Squirrel has unveiled the last holiday decorations she'll ever do at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and thank God for that. Like the Trumpsters we just blogged about who adorn their homes with multiple flags, Melania clearly just doesn't know when to stop. We cats look forward to January 20, after which the White House can return to a blessed state of spare elegance. And we HISS.

Funny Houses, Stupid Flags

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats were driving in rural upstate New York this afternoon, and saw plenty of houses like this. We know that they don't represent the majority of Americans on whom Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will depend to turn our country around post-Trump. But — what about them? If they're still flying their flags today, what will they think tomorrow? And will they ever realize that Trump's "stop the steal" nonsense is merely a fundraising ploy for his reality show? We cats worry for the future of American democracy, and we HISS.

Editorial Decisions

By Miss Kubelik

THE BIDENS ARE GETTING A CAT.

Sorry, was there any other news today besides this? Because if so, we haven't seen it.

Oh, wait a sec — maybe we have. Seems that Benedict Donald thinks he's going to hold some sort of 2024 campaign event on Joe Biden's and Kamala Harris's Inauguration Day. As with all things Trump, we'll believe it when we see it, because the story will probably change a dozen times between now and January 20. But for right now, let's assume that it happens. What should the news media do? We cats have some advice.

The story is the new administration coming in, not the old one going out. So the press must cover the Inauguration first and foremost. They won't have the usual stories to assign: coffee at the White House, and, thanks to the pandemic, big crowds at the Capitol and zillions of parade watchers along Pennsylvania Avenue. But the main story will be Joe and Kamala, full stop.

How they cover a Benedict Donald event is anyone's guess at this point. For example, where will it take place? Has anyone explained to Trump that if he flies out of Washington on Air Force One on the morning of January 20, his plane will no longer be designated Air Force One in the afternoon, after his rally? So will that have an impact on his site selection? Or should he just pick the godforsaken state of Florida, have some kind of dumb, COVID-busting event there, and go home to sleep in his own tacky Mar-a-Lago bed?

Whatever location Benedict Donald picks, the media should simply cover it later, as news that also took place during the Inauguration. In other words, after the fact.

We're confident that most reputable news organizations will follow that formula. But the interesting question is: What will FOX "News" do? They like to style themselves as a serious news organization. So we're guessing that they will resist any temptation to do split-screen and simply go with the Biden-Harris swearing-in. After all, the truly important people in America will be there. We cats PURR.

Tea Party

If you're new to this meme, you have a lot of catching up to do! But don't worry — it's all explained here. We cats PURR.

A Return To Normalcy

Guess who we're most thankful for today? Hint: Their initials are "JB" and "JB." We cats PURR.

Erev Turkey Day

Team, please don't travel for Thanksgiving. Or, if it's too late for that, please don't gather in large groups and then disperse back to your respective corners of the country to infect others. Stay within your immediate households, wear masks, wash your paws, be careful. Since Biden's election, the world is looking at us with joy and relief. Let's not make them horrified again. We cats HISS.

Please Have Snow And Mistletoe

By Zamboni

"I'll Be Home for Christmas" is a poignant product of an America in 1942 that was coping with its first full holiday season at war. Today we're fighting a global pandemic, and our "wartime President" has completely checked out. He hasn't even mentioned the 250,000 dead and the surges that are happening around the country. Instead, he whines about the timing of Pfizer's vaccine announcement.

So this Christmas, we're left to defend ourselves until the January cavalry arrives. Most folks — in our neck of the woods, at least — are scaling back, acting responsibly, and as the song says, seeing our loved ones only in our dreams.

In the meantime, we cats salute the postal service. Against all odds, they managed to deliver America's 2020 ballots nearly without a hitch. We hope that come 2021, Joe Biden gives them the leadership they deserve. And we PURR. 

Pipe Dream

By Baxter

In a letter they released yesterday, nearly 200 corporate CEOs called for Benedict Donald to, um, paint or get off the ladder. "Every day that an orderly Presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished," the letter said. Soon after, the walking, talking Thanksgiving Day parade balloon known as Emily Murphy grudgingly released GSA funds and granted government informational access to the Biden team.

It's a welcome development — although a little depressing that it took the business world to shake the Trumpsters loose, not the votes of 80+ million Americans or a conviction that the well-being of the country was at stake. But it was also a handy reminder that an idea that's been floated for Benedict Donald's post-White-House life — making highly paid speeches at corporate events — is a ridiculous notion.

Had Benedict Donald not behaved like a democracy-destroying spoiled toddler in the last few weeks, there was maybe an outside chance that some company would book him, despite his previous perfidy and corruption. But now he's even more radioactive, which means:

1. What company is going to want to deal with the inevitable backlash? Think boycotts of their products, and protests from their communities and maybe even their own employees. Their sales, marketing and branding teams will be shaking in their boots at the prospect.

2. Donald Trump doesn't make speeches. He rambles through stream-of-consciousness nonsense with no syntax, tosses around accusations and assertions without evidence, and can't stand at the lectern for five minutes without insulting somebody. Who wants that for the keynote at their annual meeting?

3. By the time any such opportunities roll around, if they do, who knows what physical, mental or legal shape Trump will be in? He could be debilitated by a post-COVID episode — and/or have Tish James or Cy Vance hauling him off to the courtroom or, it is devoutly to be hoped, the hoosegow.

4. Even if he were not sick with something or under indictment, Trump will no longer have access to Air Force One. So he'd have to take his stupid purple plane out of mothballs and fly less conveniently from, we guess, West Palm Beach. He also famously does not like to travel to places that are too far away to let him sleep at night in his own bed. Would he only accept bookings in red states in the Eastern time zone, then? It's hard to picture him putting up with it all.

So scratch the corporate-speaking fantasy. Maybe he'll write that "score-settling" book that people keep talking about instead — except that he doesn't read, can't write, and may have a hard time finding another Tony Schwartz to pen something bearable. We cats HISS and PURR at the same time.

(IMAGE: Larry, Chief Mouser at No. 10 Downing Street. We hear he gives a great speech.)

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Haul Out The Holly Edition

By Sniffles

We cats were out on our COVID-careful errands today and got behind a car with... wait for it... a fir tree strapped to its roof. Whut! It's not even Turkey Day yet. It seems that pandemicked-out people need a little Christmas now.

It's fine with us, as long as they stay home, use masks, practice social distancing and don't act like MAGA fools. The hospitals here in New York are not jam-packed like they are in the red states, and we'd like to keep it that way, thank you.

In the meantime, there's plenty of news today that lends to the holiday cheer. We're tracking it in case you're busy stringing the popcorn and untangling the twinkle lights:

We don't often agree with Chris Christie, but yes, Benedict Donald's "elite strike force" legal team is an embarrassment. Not for us, naturally, but for Trump and the entire GOP. A few more Republicans have inched forward to say publicly that Trump's silly game needs to end: Christie, who probably thinks Jared and Rudy blocked him from becoming AG four years ago, and Michigan Congressman Fred Upton, who is friendly with Joe Biden. John Bolton has been his blunt self. And Larry Hogan got into a cat fight with Trump on Twitter! Don't string all the popcorn yet — this movie's not over.

Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler has tested positive for COVID. So has Florida's first Martian Governor (now Senator). Did they catch it at that November 11 fundraising event that the Martian did for Loeffler and David Perdue? If so, who else got it there? Pass more popcorn, please.

On the subject of Georgia, here's a fun idea: Some MAGAts are threatening to boycott the Senate run-off if the Republican Party doesn't make sure that Trump wins. In the words of one: "For any Republicans not explicitly helping Trump to 'stop the steal,' we will make sure you are never elected ever again." Great! Keep up the good work, guys, and if you do go to the polls on January 5, write in Trump's name for both Senate races.

Finally, let's not forget what this coming Thursday is, and take a moment to appreciate what we can be grateful for — like the election of Joe Biden as President and Kamala Harris as VP. We're even grateful for Emily Murphy. Every time we see a picture of her, we're reminded that we have to watch Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. We cats PURR.

With Prejudice

By Hubie and Bertie

We cats are not lawyers, but it looks like a federal judge in Pennsylvania has simply torched Benedict Donald's legal gang and their bogus overturn-the-election lawsuit today.

"Defendants' motion to dismiss the first amended complaint is granted with prejudice." This means that the judge agreed with Kathy Boockvar, Secretary of the Commonwealth, who asked to have the flimsy case tossed. The judge not only granted her that, he said that Trump's case is so effing stupid, it can never be tried in court again.

Within a few hours of today's decision, Pennsylvania Republican Senator Pat Toomey declared that Trump has exhausted all legal options. "I congratulate President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on their victory," he said. See, was that so hard?

As for the rest of the Republican Senate, there have been predictions that more Toomey-esque statements will follow. We cats will believe it when we see it. But here's one way to put the pressure on: By our count, 19 of the 53 current Senate Republicans are lawyers. They need to be asked if they would willingly walk into a courtroom and argue these Trumpy cases — and if not, why not.

They need to be asked why they think Trump has lost 30 of these cases. 

And they need to be asked if each of the judges who has ruled against Benedict Donald — some of them Trump appointees — should be removed from the bench.

Even after January 20, if one of those clowns shows up on the Sunday shows, he/she should be asked questions like this. The damage that Trump is doing on his way out is immense, and Republicans who have been silently enabling it should be held to account. We cats HISS.

The Inexorable, Inevitable Thing

By Miss Kubelik

President-elect Joe Biden says we'll hear his choice for Treasury Secretary soon. And the tight-lipped Biden team has let slip the following candidates for Attorney General: Merrick Garland, Sally Yates, Deval Patrick and Doug Jones.

This is all swell. Biden should keep it up. In fact, we're pleased to see that Team Joe has decided to accelerate the announcements of his Cabinet picks, because it just makes everything more inevitable. Why not? He's got the support of 80 million Americans and 306 Electoral College votes behind it all.

Meanwhile, Team Traitor Trump is flailing along with its democracy-destroying freak show. It doesn't appear that it's going to work — mainly because people whom Benedict Donald is trying to woo realize that they could be ensnared in legal action (conspiring to commit fraud, don'tcha know, and we assume the laws in DC are pretty strict). And also because the press isn't playing along. There is no "but her emails" both-sides-ism going on here, thank God. Better late than never.

But if the media really wanted to out Trump on his nefarious ruse, they could ask the following questions:

• If he's truly preparing for a second Trump term, as his Secretary of State avers, who is his second-term transition coordinator? Who is his transition spokesperson? Personnel director? Who are his liaisons with every Cabinet-level and executive department?
  

• Why hasn't he asked for the pro forma resignations of his Cabinet? That's traditional during a transition. He doesn't have to accept them. So... 'sup?
  

• Who is chairing the second-term Trump Inaugural Committee? Surely they're planning a maskless, pandemic-busting, Obama-exceeding boffo celebration. So who are the lead corporate sponsors? What fabulous, A-list entertainers will be performing at the pre-Inaugural and Inaugural balls?

You get where we're going here. If none of these things happened or exist, which they haven't and don't, the gig is up. Everything Benedict Donald is doing is for show. At the same time, we shouldn't relax our vigilance on the very real damage he's doing to our democracy and the way the world views us. For that alone, he should be hauled off to the hoosegow at noon on January 20. We cats HISS.

Okay, There's One

Actually, Joe Biden won Michigan by 157,000 votes. And Ben Sasse should let himself be videoed getting coffee at a Dunkin' Donuts tomorrow morning so he can prove to all the quislings in his party that he wasn't struck dead for saying this. (Although he should have added that the phrase "Rudy and his buddies" includes the individual known as "Trump." We cats HISS.)

Emily Murphy Hits The Box Of Wine A Little Early

 She (or somebody) deleted this, but the Internet is forever.

The Elephant's Ass

 By Zamboni

So how long do we want Benedict Donald to keep his grip on the Republican Party?

Remembering all the Democrats who thought Trump would be the ideal Republican nominee in 2016 because he'd be the easiest to beat — and bearing in mind all the terrible damage he and the Republicans have done (and continue to do) to the country — there's still hope that by bending its knee to him, the GOP has sown the seeds of its own destruction.

Frustratingly, though, despite everything, it never happens. Long ago, we imagined the GOP splitting into two: traditional Republicans, and a Know-Nothing party of MAGA fools. So we're going to have to come up with a different scenario.

It involves Benedict Donald's unhealthy habits (Big Macs, little sleep) and his post-COVID co-morbidities (obesity, age, maybe high blood pressure, constant rage) getting the better of him. Yes, he got the best care at Walter Reed, but we still know too little about the long-term effects of the virus. What if he becomes too physically incapacitated to host his podcast/star on his new network/run again?

If that were to happen, it would probably be okay if it waited until December 2023. That way, Trump could be a looming, destructive presence over the Republicans throughout the 2022 midterms, and freeze the Republican Presidential field long enough to wreak havoc on them for 2024. After that, it would be refreshing if members of the Grand Old Party would believe in democracy again. We cats HISS.

(IMAGE: The Atlantic)

Republicans Are Certifiable

By Baxter

The red pandas worked their magic! Right after we posted last night, the Wayne County, Michigan, Board of Canvassers reversed itself and certified election results from the overwhelmingly African-American city of Detroit. (The two Trumpy Republicans on the board had previously refused to certify, using predictably flimsy excuses.)

Well, maybe it wasn't the red pandas. Maybe it was the hundreds of Wayne County voters who turned out to speak their minds during the public comment period. But perhaps it was also this epic takedown of the Trumpsters by board member Ned Staebler, who calls them out for what they are: racists.

It's depressing to know how many haters there are in America. (Ironically, it was one of them who posted this video to YouTube — perhaps not realizing the power of the punch it would deliver.) Benedict Donald has done many terrible things, but one of the worst is allowing the fringiest of the fringe crawl out from under their rocks and enter the mainstream of American politics. We'll be dealing with that for a long time — but as long as we have public servants like Ned Staebler, maybe there's hope. We cats PURR.

Red Panda To The Rescue!

What a disgusting day. Republicans are acting like racist pigs in Michigan, and Benedict Donald fired the nation's top cybersecurity dude. Time for some red panda, because pictures of cute animals always make you feel better. We cats PURR.

Obstruction

By Sniffles

It looks like Lindsey Graham has been caught red-pawed trying to commit election fraud in Georgia. Which kind of makes you wonder what the heck happened in his South Carolina Senate race, right? Hmmm!

But at least Lady Lindsey's felonious meddling is a distraction from Benedict Donald's temper tantrums (which have sunk us deeply into ennui with their flailing sameness). As one of our favorite tweeps has said, "I was hoping to live long enough simply to see Lindsey Graham shuffled off to oblivion, but the possibility of seeing him arrested, tried, convicted and disbarred is increasingly appealing." Stay tuned, everyone: This story could be dyn-o-mite.

Sadly, though, the Presidential meltdowns are starting to alarm. It's becoming clear that Trump and his merry band of grifters and traitors are perfectly willing to see thousands more Americans die from COVID, as long as they achieve some sort of hobbling (at best) and de-legitimizing (at worst) of Team Biden.

Remember how, after Barack Obama won decisively in 2008, the downhearted Republicans gathered on Inauguration Night and decided what to do? They would refuse to cooperate with anything the new President wanted. It was such a cunning plan that they left their nefarious dinner with spirits lifted. At the time, the country was staggering under the effects of the financial meltdown. But being sore losers was more important to them than, say, passing a stimulus bill and saving the economy.

This time, they're not waiting until January 20: They're trying to kneecap Joe Biden right away. What they need to remember, though, is that Biden was part of that incoming Administration back in 2009 — and his memory is long. Let's hope the media's is, too. If the press calls bullsh*t on the Republicans, they might not be able to play that game so easily this time. That would make us cats PURR.

A Quick Editing Job And... Voila!

Benedict Donald's niece is smart and funny. How can she be a Trump? As for the rest of the tweet, it was just more conspiracy-laden, pity-party drivel, which Twitter has flagged. We cats PURR.

One Small Step

Isn't it wonderful to know that we'll soon have a President who smiles? We cats PURR.

Patch Of Blue

By Hubie and Bertie

Jimmy Carter has famously said that he wants to live until the last guinea worm in Africa is eradicated. The Carter Center has made near-perfect progress on that: Cases of the horrific disease have declined from 3.5 million in 1986 to just 24. Now, we're happy to report that President Carter has also lived long enough to see a Democratic Presidential candidate carry his home state of Georgia.

Twelve years ago, Democrats marveled that we were able to flip Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada. Now, New Mexico and Colorado are totally gone for the Republicans at the Presidential level. And Nevada is a near-elusive dream for them. Meanwhile, this year we flipped Georgia and Arizona, put a scare in the GOP in Texas, and seized back the Blue Wall in the upper Midwest. 

The lesson here, as Stacey Abrams has proven in the Peach State, is that nothing is easy or quick. Like eradicating the guinea worm, it takes years of work, but it can pay off. In the words of that other Georgia son, John Lewis, "Change often takes time. It rarely happens all at once."

Memo to Team Biden: You cannot let a second go by in which you are not working on the next election. Government can't be above politics, because you can't govern if you don't win. Democrats, led by our new President, must continue to shore up Georgia, Arizona and NE-02 (and Nevada and Wisconsin-Michigan-Pennsylvania, et. al.). We need to figure out how to flip ME-02, and work to win back North Carolina. And someday, Texas will be ours, too.

Joe Biden will have the power, the megaphone and the fundraising capabilities of the White House. He needs to use them boldly.

Finally, here's a fun fact: The 2020 Electoral College results are a mirror image of 2016's — 306 for Biden, 232 for Trump. Don't forget that the Trumpsters described their reverse win four years ago as a "landslide" and a "blow-out." We'll take it. We cats PURR.

Signs Of Defeat

By Miss Kubelik

This is outside the White House right now. No doubt the MAGA fools who are supposed to demonstrate in Washington tomorrow will tear these signs down and/or put up their own. But as long as this awful fence remains, we anti-Trumpsters will put them right back.

Building that fence around the People's House is one of the most terrible things Donald Trump has ever done, and that's saying a lot. Another one is infecting more than 130 members of the Secret Service with the coronavirus. Not to mention ripping out Jacqueline Kennedy's Rose Garden. We want Joe and Jill Biden to tear down the barricades, put the garden back, and — as we know they will — show respect for the capable professionals who serve and protect them.

We also look forward to an East Room without campaign banners, and a South Lawn unbesmirched by Hatch-Act-violating political paraphernalia and events. A President who shows up for work before 11 AM, and a White House staff that wears masks and practices social distancing, would also be nice. Additionally, it will be a bonus to have a Presidential Press Secretary who is not a stupid liar, and a POTUS who doesn't tweet authoritarian bullsh*t because it's not in his DNA.

In short, the less the United States can resemble Belarus, the better. In the meantime, let's all hope that the MAGA rallies tomorrow go off with a whimper, that few people show, and that no one bothers to counter-demonstrate. Paying them any attention at all is more than they deserve. We cats PURR.

Wanted: Trump Voter Data

By Zamboni

After more than a week, the political world is coalescing around the idea that Joe Biden has carried Arizona. FOX, of course, in a move that infuriated Benedict Donald, called it on Election Night — as did the Associated Press. Now Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report has said he's seen enough. Which means that for the first time since 1996, a Democrat has won Barry Goldwater's and John McCain's home state — and both their US Senators are Democrats, too.

Add to that Biden's 77.4 million popular vote count, and it's a pretty impressive win. We cats just knew all those people weren't standing in line to vote for Trump.

On the other hand, of course, there's that 72 million or so who, after four years of mayhem, malevolence and madness, went into the voting booth and said, "More, please." It's discouraging and alarming. But we've been giving some thought to those folks. Surely not all of them could be rabid red hats, could they? Here are some possibilities.

First, there's the simple explanation that they went with the incumbent. Even in a crazy year like 2020 — in a pandemic and with a grifter and traitor in office — incumbency is an enormous advantage. There are reasons a sitting President hasn't lost in 28 years, and they are: "name recognition, national attention, fundraising and campaign bases, control over the instruments of government, successful campaign experience...and voters' risk aversion." That last one is important: While the coronavirus hurt Trump, historians and analysts say, it also probably caused some people to want to stick "with the devil they know."

Second, it is a sad possibility that some of those Trump votes could be bigoted judgments on Kamala Harris's race and gender. Yes, people don't generally vote on the basis of the VP nominee. And anyone who did would have to be informed enough to know Biden's age and then take that one step farther — that if anything happened to him, it would be Harris stepping in. So a small slice of voters, yes. But maybe a large enough one to matter, as Sarah Palin's candidacy ended up hurting John McCain in 2008 for different reasons.

Finally, never underestimate the impact of low-information voters. While we cats (and our faithful readers) are political junkies, most Americans aren't. Millions of them headed to the polls without fully understanding the pandemic and how Trump has failed us, or that the economy was in freefall, or the grievous harm that Trump has wreaked on the government and the country. A ton of them probably don't even remember he was impeached. (It's been a busy year.) And then there was the neighbor on our local version of the "Next Door" website who asked, "Oh, are we voting for President this year?" Seriously!

We look forward to seeing some analysis on this as final votes are tallied and our fellow lefties calm down a bit. But as the days pass, Biden's landslide-y victory becomes clearer and clearer. Yes, we have a ton of work to do. But maybe the soul of America isn't terminally ill after all. We cats PURR.

Simple Logic

 

By Baxter

"I smell a coverup, not a coup," tweets former FBI special agent Asha Rangappa,who believes that the delay in authorizing GSA funding for the Presidential transition — which would provide Team Biden with access to intel — is to give the Trumpsters time to erase their tracks in the Ukraine shakedown. (Which, as you'll recall, involved Benedict Donald attempting to blackmail the Ukraine President to dirty up the Democratic candidate he most feared — Joe Biden.)

Just thinking of all the Trumpian perfidy that will come to light after January 20 makes our tails fat and our fur stand on end. There appears to be no end to it — no bottom to the barrel that Benedict Donald and his merry band of grifters and traitors are willing to scrape.

Meanwhile, not that we'll ever believe another poll again, but a new one from Reuters/Ipsos reveals that 79 percent of respondents say Joe Biden won the election. Only 3 percent think Trump won. You gotta wonder about that 3 percent — and why a pollster would even have to survey the question in the first place. But such is the world we live in.

We cats have been pretty annoyed these last few days by the Republicans' petulant, anti-democratic behavior. Let's hope that it only destroys their party and not the country. The administration's lack of cooperation on the transition and Trump's beheading of the Pentagon and intelligence community leadership puts America at risk. But to them, covering up their crimes is vastly more important. We cats want them all in jail, and we HISS.

De Adder Du Jour (Remembrance Day Edition)

 

(IMAGE: Michael de Adder)

A Few Facts For Your Tuesday

"Pfizer's vaccine, which early data shows is 90 percent effective, is the only leading candidate to not take any funding from the White House-led Operation Warp Speed program to help with research, development or manufacturing." (Bloomberg Business)

"A Pennsylvania postal worker whose claims have been cited by top Republicans as potential evidence of widespread voting irregularities admitted to US Postal Service investigators that he fabricated the allegations." (The Washington Post)

"Joe Biden just crossed 10 million votes in California, becoming the first Presidential candidate ever to hit eight figures in any state." (Dave Wasserman, Cook Political Report)

"The entire Trump campaign is a criminal operation. They need to control it so people cannot see what is happening. It’s a money-laundering operation." (Stuart Stevens, The Lincoln Project)

"Many COVID-19 survivors are likely to be at greater risk of developing mental illness, psychiatrists said on Monday, after a large study found 20 percent of those infected with the coronavirus are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within 90 days." (Reuters)

"World leaders continued to reach out to congratulate President-elect Joe Biden on Tuesday even as President Trump still contests the election results. Biden said...he's already spoken with six world leaders, including [from] Germany, France, the United Kingdom and Ireland. 'I'm letting them know that America is back,' Biden told reporters. 'We're going to be back in the game. It's not America alone.'" (NPR)

Apology Necessary

By Baxter

We cats have heard a lot of chatter about how Democrats and Biden supporters need to try to "understand" where Trump's voters are coming from and "reach out" to them for unity and reconciliation. No doubt this springs from Joe Biden's own words: "Let's give each other a chance. It's time to put away the harsh rhetoric. To lower the temperature. To see each other again. To listen to each other again."

Hmmm, about that harsh rhetoric, Joe. Check out this post on the right-wing version of Twitter from a police chief in Arkansas. Or, we should say, a former police chief, since he had to resign because of this.

Yes, this dude is pretty fringe-y, but please. Nobody on our side talks like this. And it's a sure bet that nobody on the Republican side has condemned it, either. Nobody on the Republican side ever condemns anything.

So our question is, why is it the Democrats who are always told they have to offer the olive branch? Shouldn't the 70 million who wanted more chaos and hate be the ones to reach out to the 75 million who voted for kindness and calm? We cats HISS.

Tidbits And Cat Treats: Election 2020 Edition

By Sniffles

What a week! Our humans thought on Tuesday night that they might have to change their citizenship, but we cats always knew Joe would win. (That's because we're superior creatures, of course.) But with all the excitement, we needed a quiet Sunday to rest up and take stock. Here are a few thoughts we've been entertaining as we finish off the champagne.

We loved Kamala's white pantsuit last night. It was a tribute to both the suffragists and to Hillary Clinton. And it goes without saying that the spontaneous celebrations across the country were wonderful. But hey, Republicans: You really need to look at the joy that was unleashed in America yesterday, and try to understand it. The fact that only a few of you have congratulated Joe Biden, or urged the Trumpsters to accept the results and move on, is despicable.

Joe Biden has so much to do — end the pandemic, fix the economy, fight climate change, ensure racial justice, rebuild the government. But we hope the item at the top of Jill Biden's to-do list will be restoring the Jacqueline Kennedy Rose Garden. We can assign that to her, right? And of course the Bidens need to take down that damn wall around the White House. Good times are coming back.

Predictions: Moose & Squirrel, with Lurch in tow, are gone as soon as Lurch's DC school goes on winter break. There will be no niceties, like inviting Biden for a chat, or having both Bidens over for coffee before the swearing-in. Trump himself will have left Washington by New Year's — maybe earlier. Our only question is whether he'll continue to hold superspreader events around the country as long as Air Force One is available. We wouldn't put it past him.

Politically, one of Biden's most important decisions is who will take the reins at the DNC. We need someone who will relentlessly implement a 50-state strategy, like Howard Dean did back in 2006. Maybe that person is Jen O'Malley Dillon. Maybe it's Mayor Pete. But whoever leads us, we Democrats have to be bold and badass, lest we hand the House to Kevin McCarthy in 2022. That means we have to look at all the states where Trump came in under 55%, and turn them into Democratic strongholds. We have to recruit 2022 candidates for Ohio and Iowa now. We must expand the map — and not end up playing defense the way we did in 2010. Just our $0.02.

Finally, historian Michael Beschloss scared us to death last night — imagining a future with a re-elected Benedict Donald, a Republican Senate, a right-wing Supreme Court and tons of conservative judges. It would have been the end of American democracy. So with Biden-Harris in the bag, the job before us now is clear: Win those January Senate runoffs in Georgia, our newly blue-y state. After all, as John McCain once said, "We are all Georgians now." (Get it?) We cats PURR.

Into The Future

 (IMAGE: @briagoeller and @goodtrubble)

"We're Going To Be Okay"

By Hubie and Bertie

First, the votes have to be counted, and until they are, we have to wait. But things are trending our way.

In the meantime, thinking back on when we cats were kittens and first met Joe Biden, it's hard to believe that he could possibly hold such sway over our ability to get back to normal life now. Incredible power is on the verge of being handed to a guy who was just a likable young Senator then. At a large public event, we made a joke at his expense that brought the house down, and he handled it with humor and grace. We've had a soft spot for him ever since — but never thought he might someday hold the future of American democracy in his hands.

The years haven't been kind to him, though: Two failed Presidential campaigns, a brain aneurysm, losing Beau, and oh, those Clarence Thomas hearings. Those were, and remain, simply and unforgivably awful. But going into 2020 pre-pandemic, we knew that with Kamala Harris dropping out, he would be the Democrat we'd support. (By the time we voted for him, in June, the race had wrapped up.) After that, we hoped he'd put Kamala on the ticket. And he did.

Democrats have lots of reasons to be unhappy this week. Senate candidates who were supposed to be a lock ended up losing. (Looking at you, Sara Gideon. WTF?) We lost Doug Jones. We lost seats in the House. Our own Trumpy Congresswoman won re-election, ugh. But we have two Senate runoffs coming up in Georgia, and we're getting very close to achieving the big goal: running the Republican grifters out of the Executive Branch, and having a kind, thoughtful, loving human being in the Oval Office again.

As for the nearly 70 million Americans who voted for four more years of Donald Trump's lying, perfidy, rampant criminality, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, shattering of norms, destruction of government, and murderous neglect of both people and planet, that is unfathomable. We don't know what this Soul Of The Nation is that Joe keeps talking about, but it appears we have a lot of work to do on it. Until then, though, it might be enough to believe that we'll be okay. We cats PURR.

De Adder Du Jour: Almost There!

 

(CREDIT: Michael de Adder)

Movie References

We're as jumpy as a cat on a hot tin roof today. But as Maggie the Cat told Brick, the victory is to stay on it — long as she can. (Or at least until Pennsylvania comes in.) We cats wait.

Sleeping It Off

More on the election later. In the meantime, here's a nice picture.

What We Hope The Country Is Doing Today

 

(IMAGE: Jay Westcott Photo)

Closing Arguments

By Miss Kubelik

Team Biden is ending its 2020 Presidential campaign with a host of uplifting messages: Americans can do anything they put their minds to. We have tough jobs ahead on COVID, racial justice, climate and the economy, but we can rise to the occasion. We won World War II and landed on the moon. We won the Cold War. We are better than Trump says we are. Vote for America.

Here, by contrast, are Benedict Donald's:

1. We know we can't win fair and square, so we're going to suppress the vote and try to get ballots thrown out.

2. Traffic jams. 

Yep, traffic jams. Last week, Trumpsters tried to run a Biden-Harris bus off the road in Texas. (The FBI is investigating, but first Trump and then jackasses like Marco Rubio egged them on.) Then, over the weekend Trump caravans stopped traffic on the Garden State Parkway and on the Tappan Zee Bridge. Rumors flew that they would try the same thing outside of Olympia, Washington. These people are incredibly stupid to be doing stuff like this in states with Democratic Governors.

You'll note that Hunter Biden's laptop doesn't rank as a Trump closing message. That's because, unlike in 2016 with Hillary Clinton's emails, the media aren't buying it. It's partly because the story is bullsh*t, and partly because criminals and buffoons like Steve Bannon and Rudy Giuliani are pushing it. (And Sacha Baron Cohen sure helped "expose" Rudy on the buffoon front.)

We'll take uplifting over perfidy and chaos, thank you. We cats send good vibes to Biden, and we PURR.