Daily Kos Recommended: Proud Boys show up to support Pence, Philly police while harassing protesters

Daily Kos Recommended

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• Organized rally against Kansas facemask order results in 5 people milling around
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  Democratic Governor Laura Kelly put forward an emergency proposal indicating that Kansans would be required to wear facemasks in public areas. Conservatives were furious. How on earth could the governor do this! They would stage a rally! Organizing on Facebook, they called the proposal a violation of their rights. The Topeka Capital-Journal was prepared to report on the event, but, after all the organizing only five people attended.

  The rally was planned to protest Kelly’s July 3 executive order mandating the use of masks in public spaces. The event was announced on the Facebook page Liberty Unmasked. The page stated the event would be hosted by the Kansas City Area Preparedness Network.

  Conservatives held on, saying this wasn’t a fair representation of the anger.

  “We the people must deside [sic] are we on the side of liberty or will we alow [sic] tyranny to prevail! show up send a message” was the only text on the invitation. Shortly after noon Thursday, the page was taken down.

  Five individuals gathered at the base of the steps on the south side of the Capitol, discussing why the event failed to attract more people. A few more people stood at a distance, waiting to see if the rally would materialize. None of them said they were familiar with the Kansas City Area Preparedness Network. Attempts to contact the organization failed.

  Five people showed up. Five. Now, assuming one of those who attended is an organizer, it shows where the Republican zeal to organize really exists right now. 
• 
  
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• Trump's effort to disparage Biden generates questions about Trump's cognitive impairment tests
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• During yet another nighttime phone chat with Sean Hannity, Donald Trump started off with an effort to once again claim that Democratic candidate Joe Biden is confused. In the process, Trump wandering into a claim that he took a cognitive impairment test, “very recently when I, uh—when I—you know, the radical left was saying ‘Is he all there? Is he all there’ And I proved I was all there ‘cause I got—and I aced it. I aced the test. Heh. [Biden] should take the same exact test, a very standard test, I took—took it at Walter Reed, uh, medical center, uh, in front of doctors, and they were very surprised. They said, ‘That’s an unbelievable thing. Rarely does anybody do what you just did.’”

  Trump may believe that this little tale both defends his own brainpower and challenges Biden, but there are a number of things to note here. First, Trump is known to have taken the Montreal Cognitive Assessment test in 2018. That test is a “screening instrument” for cognitive dysfunction that uses language and spatial orientation to assess possible damage. Trump was said to have passed that test. However, that was over two years ago, which doesn’t seem like “very recently.” Which brings in the question of why doctors were administering another cognitive impairment exam to Trump, and does it have a connection to something much more recent: Trump’s still-unexplained late night trip to Walter Reed?

  Trump is slated to pay a visit to Walter Reed in the next two weeks, and has even said he expects to wear a mask while he’s there. But the last time he was there was back in November, when he slipped out of the White House on a Saturday evening and made an unplanned visit to the medical center. The White House attempted to pass this off as an attempt by Trump to get an “interim checkup,” but it was clearly done in response to some real or perceived medical emergency that no one in the White House has revealed.

  It’s also worth noting that Trump’s statement seems at odds with the White House official statements on his Walter Reed visit. In addition to claiming that Trump had not suffered any chest pain or “acute” condition, the White House statement at the time specifically said “he did not undergo any specialized cardiac or neurologic evaluations.” It seems like a test for cognitive impairment would fall under that umbrella.

  
  

  

  A portion of the cognitive impairment test which Trump took in 2018

  
  

  Based on Trump’s statement that he “very recently” took a cognitive impairment test at Walter Reed, it seems very likely that after Trump was taken from the White House on a Saturday, he was given a second cognitive impairment test, which he took in front of “doctors”—plural. According to Trump, he “aced” this test. But then, this is the guy who hired someone to take his SAT, so Trump’s real score on the test is far from certain. In any case, Trump claims that doctors were “very surprised” at how well he did.

  Why would doctors be shocked that Trump could draw a clock face and pin a name on zoo animals? It seems likely this was because of something like a transient ischemic event, or minor stroke. If the Trump’s own statements are to be trusted—and really, they are not—he was taken to the hospital on a Saturday evening, doctors administered a cognitive impairment test, and were surprised that he scored well on this test. All of this points to an expectation that he would not score well because of some perceived impairment.

  Cognitive impairment and dementia in all forms are not a joke. They’re also not a cause for shame. However, they are a cause for concern, especially when someone is charged with making critical decisions for the nation.

  It’s clear that Trump has made the idea that Joe Biden “isn’t all there” a key element of his campaign for the fall. But why do Donald Trump’s doctors keep asking him to take these assessments, and why are they surprised if he does well?
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• Gen. Mark Milley is almost outraged over Russia putting bounties on the people who report to him
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  Start the clock on Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Mark Milley. It’s been clear for some time that Milley is tired of supporting Trump’s misuse of the military and efforts to insert active forces into nonviolent protests. Milley was pulled into Trump’s attack on protesters in Lafayette Square and the wholly inappropriate stroll across the street so Trump could wave a Bible over a deserted church, but following that event, Milley apologized for being part of Trump’s PR stunt, saying, “I should not have been there. My presence in that moment and in that environment created a perception of the military involved in domestic politics.” But criticizing Trump’s actions is one thing. On Thursday, Milley did the one thing unforgivable for the Trump White House—he criticized Russia. And he did so in a way that entangles the actions of Trump and Vladimir Putin.

  “If in fact there’s bounties,” said Milley, “I am an outraged general. If, in fact, there’s bounties directed by the government of Russia or any of their institutions to kill American soldiers, that’s a big deal. That’s a real big deal.” Now if the media would only treat it that way.
  Of course Milley did walk across to the church, despite knowing it was wrong. And he did back off his outraged general act long enough to provide the latest excuse for Team Trump.

  The story of Russia paying bounties to the Taliban to kill American soldiers and throw a monkey wrench into ongoing peace talks is just two weeks old, and every day it seems that another shoe drops. Even so, the attention it’s getting is decidedly tiny.

  We now know this wasn’t a singular or marginal intelligence report. It was the result of a series of reports that went back to shortly after Trump took office. Intelligence first suggested that Russia was involved in sending financial aid to the Taliban as early as 2017 while Michael Flynn was still in charge of the NSA. By 2019, the story of bounties being paid for the murder of American and allied forces was John Bolton gave Trump a personal briefing and U. S. intelligence shared the information with allied nations. Six months ago, police raided locations in Afghanistan and located men directly involved in transferring Russian funds to the Taliban—along with a stack of cash. In February of this year, the information was covered again in Trump’s daily brief.

  This is not a wild idea. This is the consensus opinion of U. S. intelligence, and has been for over a year.

  The question put to Milley during a hearing in the House wasn’t whether he believed Russia is engaged in these payments; it’s obvious they are. The question is: Why isn’t Trump doing anything about it? That brought on Milley’s claim of outrage, but it also immediately generated a significant incident of weasel-wording. 

  Rather than directly address the fact that Trump is not just failing to act against Russia, but openly supporting Russia’s cause over that of allies, Milley instead moved to a different issue. He claimed that if there are Russian bounties, then we’re not sure they’re connected to specific casualties. In other words, we know:

  • Russia was offering money to the Taliban for the death of Americans
  • Americans were killed by the Taliban following Russia’s offer.
  • Russia delivered money to the Taliban through a series of intermediaries.

  But we can’t be sure that any specific murder of U. S. forces was paid for by a specific payment to the Taliban. That’s apparently enough uncertainty for Milley to moderate his outrage.

  Still, even though Milley was miles away from the clear presentation of the intelligence assessment, he’s even further away from Trump, who continues to describe the whole thing as “a hoax.” Which is a good sign that General Mark Milley may soon discover how much nicer it would be to join all the rest of “Trump’s generals” … in retirement.
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