#presidential ties rambles

[mayz1er]

little thank u note but i’m very thankful for all the long presidential ties received. it’s a story i wrote during a hard time of my life where everything was a little harder to love but i can say w honestly that i love nothing more than everyone who’s read or bookmarked or commented on brpt. i’ve met so many amazing ppl bc of my writing and have thankfully improved my writing as well. i didn’t even write for like two years b4 brpt!!!! and i only got tumblr bc of it too so w/o it i wudnt have known a lot of the ppl i’m mutuals and friends w. wish i cud make more like write an anniversary fic but i’m always forever grateful for the love i received for blood red presidential ties :]

[the-crimson]

I’m just spinning q!bbh in my mind rn I’ve got theories and analysis and bits of it are a stretch and it is rambly and long so it’s going under a cut but here we go XD

Everything he’s done since the eggs were taken has been so incredibly deliberate and he developed this plan when he was in the depths of the greatest despair. According to what he told Baghera today, he developed this plan before the anger stream when he lava cast the presidential office as that was part of the plan to draw out the workers.

So Bad blatantly lying and gaslighting and just being incredibly suspicious to everyone today feels deliberate. It feels like he’s intentionally burning these bridges. The whole gun debacle is a great example of this. I saw a post that suspected bbh took Ron to test Baghera and her loyalty to him by doing something he knows she’d disapprove of and while I don’t think that’s why he took Ron, I defiantly think that’s part of it.

The whole gun thing I feel is Bad’s test for Forever. Bad has lied to his face and changed the story so many times that even when Bad tells him the truth Forever doesn’t care. I think Bad is intentionally pushing Forever just like he is Baghera. He’s pushing him to see what it would take for Forever to cut ties. It’s brutal and is actively hurting Forever just like how Baghera was hurt learning what Bad had done to Ron.

Bad feels no guilt for what he’s done to Ron. All he cares about is what others would think of his actions. He knows what he’s doing is “wrong” but he doesn’t care. Such black and white morality is beneath him. He’s doing what he thinks is necessary.

And that includes his own self destruction. He is testing all of these relationships knowing full well that he might destroy them. He knows Baghera is so much more moral than him and has such a higher value of life so he intentionally showed her something that would shatter her perception of him. Bad knows that trust is very important to forever so he intentionally lies and gaslights him knowing full well that Forever may never trust him again.

Bad created this plan when he was at his lowest point. On an average day, Bad’s value of his own life is nonexistent. He designed a plan to uncover how the federation spies on them knowing full well that it could turn everyone against him. That sure sounds familiar doesn’t it? Bad’s proposed this exact same plan under different circumstances(“joining” the feds to make them worse so everyone revolts against them inspired by his building inspector bit”). He doesn’t care about himself and is willing to throw himself to the wolves and make everyone hate him if it means defeating the federation and getting their children back. Previously, bad never went through with the plan because he wasn’t as desperate but now… during the depths of his grief after the kids were stolen, there was nothing holding him back from complete self annihilation.

I think Tubbo discovering/catching on to bbh’s kidnapping put a hitch in Bad’s plans because now his tests for others are being influenced by an outside variable he can’t control, that’s why he spent the whole day doing damage control. He’s trying to spin the story in such a way that he’s still somewhat in control of the situation. He knows that the cats out of the bag. Everyone is going to suspect him now so what does he do? He spends the day making himself even more suspicious. He admitted to torturing foolish in the past. He admitted to imprisoning forever during the happy pills arc. He admitted to planning on abducting a player in the future. He’s making himself look so much more guilty.

Everything he does is with intent. What could be the intent here? He’s told several people that he wants to be arrested so he has access to the federation prisons/facilities. He’s told several people that he is capable of kidnapping/torturing someone. He denies he’s guilty of Ron’s disappearance while simultaneously making himself look guilty. Is he trying to push the federation? To see if they actually will arrest him? All fingers point to bbh and the federation knows this - they basically say so in the journals Tubbo found. But they continue doing nothing. The workers are warned to stay away from him at all costs but… why wouldn’t they just arrest him? They’ve done so to others for less. That’s the question I want Tubbo to be asking. He’s smart enough to realize there’s something off here. Yes bad has a guy in his basement but why hasn’t the federation done anything about it?

Maybe that’s Bad’s test for Tubbo. Bad knows Tubbo is fiercely intelligent and that he can’t bullshit has way past him so he gave Tubbo so much. Yes there was a lot of bullshit but Bad intentionally gave Tubbo more ammunition against him. Is that Bad’s test? If Tubbo finds proof that Bad has Ron in his basement and the federation continues not to act, will that clear Tubbo of suspicion in his eyes? Tubbo knows the worker Bad is trying to find, is Bad giving Tubbo a chance to unknowingly prove himself by uncovering Bad’s secret? “Has anyone ever told you your too smart for your own good, Tubbo?” It sounded like a threat but it could have been an invitation.

Fred has become an incredibly important npc and I have a feeling he is the key to unlocking the mysteries of the eggs and the great evil. I’m pretty sure he’s the one in the radio transmission that talks about why the eggs disappeared and Ron said he overheard Fred talking about the evil. Fred knows so much more than he lets on and one way or another, the players are gonna find out.

I’m also fascinated by Bad’s conversation with Bagi about Boo. Only after Bagi confessed to telling Forever about the secret did Bad put in his clipboard that she passed the test. We’ll how did she pass the test? She told someone about his secret. We’ll, she came clean about it. She told someone she thought was Bad’s best friend then admitted it. She wasn’t trying to go behind his back and thus was trustworthy. However, as the day went on and Bagi learned about Ron, this changed. Her perception of Bad changed and Bad updated his notes about her in response. She went from trustworthy to sometimes trustworthy to be careful what you tell her. She still passed the test but the level of trust dropped dramatically - which is so fascinating.

At the end of it, I think… through all of this, Bad is gonna burn all his bridges in order to find the eggs and destroy the federation. He’s accepted that at this point. He was so dismissive of Baghera’s concerns for Ron and Bad and almost felt like he was placating her, just telling her what she wanted to hear. If Baghera interferes with Ron, I don’t think Bad will accept that and he would sacrifice their relationship to continue his plans. If anything, I could see him releasing Ron into Baghera’s hands only to capture Fred in his place - and this time he wouldn’t tell a soul.

Just the sudden switch in attitude when everyone triggered his radar was palpable. “Get out of my house or die” he was so furious that this test had been interrupted but he masked it while with baghera. When Bad went flying into the hall of grim shouting at everyone to get out and attacking them mercilessly, you could feel the rage (part of that was the lore secrets being accidentally revealed but still) the entire visit with Ron was a performance for both Ron and Baghera and I feel so bad for Baghera because she’s in an impossible position.

She wants to be there for Bad she wants to support him but this… this is so far beyond what she is willing to excuse from him. This has crossed so many lines but there isn’t any turning back. She doesn’t want to lose Bad either through breaking his trust or being taken by the federation but at the same time she can’t stand by and do nothing. She needs to help him. Unfortunately, that means it’s highly likely Bad will end up immolating their friendship if she pushes too hard.

And just the way Bad acts around Ron is so fascinating. It’s all a performance. The large furnished home. The fridge full of food. The fish. The weird attachment Bad shows - almost a reverse Stockholm syndrome - while simultaneously talking over/for Ron in such a dehumanizing way. It’s so fascinating in the moments when the mask falls away. When Bad was watching Baghera talk to Ron - idk if it was just me - but I felt like Bad was a hawk observing it’s prey. He plays up the sugary sweetness and dependence but he still feels like a tiger prowling the bars of his cage eyeing the snacks on the other side. It’s the way he moves and what he choosss to look at during these scenes idk bbh’s body language is insane and I could devote an entire essay to analyzing it

Like Bad’s stream title before he started stream, there are only two sides. Either ur with him or against him and the only thing he values is finding the eggs and tearing down the federation. He doesn’t care if everyone grows to hate him. He doesn’t care if he grows to hate himself. There are no lines he won’t cross. It’s all worth it. It’s all inevitable.

[smythewmu]

7. do you have any favorite kinks?

I'm me. I have a list that's a mile long and is comically large, that rolls out the door when you unravel it.

But since you're so curious and I don't think I could find it in myself to deny you of all people such an answer.

Let's see...Bondage is always a good one, it's always fun to take control of someone and tie them to the bed or with their arms behind their back. And it's just as fun to be the one tied up. The joys of being verse.

Mercades stole my line earlier but Daddy kink? Some guy calling you Daddy while on his knees will short circit my brain in about five point five seconds. It's like my version of the the presidential nuke button. That shit can let have me let you get away with anything.

Facials are always fun- just painting a boy with come is like, just plain hot. I love it. Like, top four kinks easily.

Breath-play is great as well- sort of goes into that whole power play thing, and a little bit of the rougher sex which is just..fucking fun. Like damn, give me a guy to face fuck and I'm a happy guy. Throw in spanking or a guy with a belt and it's a good night.

Group sex or like, Exhibitionism is also up there. Which shouldn't shock anyone who knows me because-..yeah, obviously I wanna fuck a group of hot guys or show of me fucking a hot guy.

Right. I'm rambling now. Sorry. But hey, I have more if you're curious B.

@wmublaine

[goldensunset]

anyone else get just the wildest sense of glee from watching two people get into a heated debate when you either disagree with both of them or don’t care about the subject

[elytrafemme]

& okay i know that i was not there for a lot of earlier DSMP so rather than developed thoughts abt it here’s some rambles that may or may not make sense-- 

-- b/c nlm!beeduo is hearts under floorboards but that’s the most obvious piece of it. it threatens to grab your ankles & pull you down & sometimes it’s easier to be stuck in the splintering wood falling forever than be above or below it, caught in the in between. it feels like the in between of something to live for & something to die with; country & presidential races & bad decisions before it all, maybe. posters on the wall & you leave mr. president asleep in the office never knowing when you’ll see him again, shove the bottles under the desk don’t forget to pull off his boots and lace them he’s never gotten rid of that pair, the smoke’s still thick & there’s no pretending it didn’t come from his lips, but he’s asleep & there’s nothing you can do so you hope you can try again later. but then you don’t because when you think you’re finally close to that or something close to anything it’s gone again & it’s the minutes man being a traitor being a candidate being pretty being awful etc etc & it’s wanting to know something so badly pry into the scarred skin & who is under the floorboards & will you come to war with me, because he would always come to war with you if you asked, you’re the president but that’s not the reason, it’s the fact that there’s something to him that dies out for everyone else but still is inside him & you think that means he’s on the verge of death, want to take him to war so that he can survive but you’re so caught up in the desire to make him stronger the way that you learned w/ ties & policies & hunting men down, that you forget he’s not dead already. it’s not like a cadaver can be strong but they’re stronger than you are & sometimes you think he has to be dead. you want to kiss the president because you want to kiss history, & you like how intelligent he is about the things you care about, & you don’t think much about war beyond the fact that it’s bad, but there’s some things worth going to war for, you’re sure. & there’s a man in vitro dying on the cough of wishing you saw it; praying to his dead friend’s god that you never have.

[baroquebucky]

Italian days

request: could you write something about going to Italy with timothee? Im just imagining how cute and romantic it would be 🥺

a/n: this is so cute !!! prepare for typical tourist attractions also i have no idea where any of these things are in relation to each other so :-) i literally googled what to do in these places bc I’ve never been sorry guys:-( this ones long so strap in and get ready !!! let me know what y’all think abt it ! i kinda wanna make headcanons about this too hehe >:) I hope you all enjoy it and send me some requests 🥰

You quickly finished packing your last t shirt in the already full suitcase, putting your weight onto it so that you could zip it up fully. You were excited for the trip that timothee had planned for the two of you, giddy to finally spend some alone time with you favorite boy. “ma cherie are you almost done?” you heard timmy call out from the living room. Quickly you grabbed the final bag off the bed and scanned the room, going over a mental checklist to ensure you didn't forget anything. 

“okay i have everything, did you get everything? Do you have all the things you need? What time is it? Are we gonna be late? Oh god what if the plane leaves without us” you began to ramble, going through every worst case scenario possible. Timothee looked at you in awe, he had never seen you this nervous about anything before, he least expected it to come out right before a romantic getaway.

“angel, calm down, it’s fine let’s go to the airport we’re right on time” he smiled at you, giving you a quick kiss before he helped you with your bags and you two headed to the Uber waiting outside your shared apartment. As you helped him squeeze the luggage in you both sat in the backseat, you were so excited for the trip.

“You know we should go to Paris for our next anniversary” timmy spoke offhandedly, mindlessly playing with your hair as the movie you had chose played on the tv. “That would be fun, I’ve never been there” you smiled, looking at him briefly before your eyes settled on the screen again.

“where have you traveled to?” He questioned, curious as to all the places you’ve visited. “mmm i mean I’ve never been to Europe, i left the state a couple times for road trips but that’s about it” you replied, not thinking anything of the question. “You mean to tell me that you’ve never been to Italy?” He gasped and you laughed at his shock.

“We aren’t all stars or rich Chalamet” you suppressed laughter but one look at his facial expression caused you to burst into a fit of laughter. “That’s it im booking a flight to Italy, we can go to venice and oh we could even travel to where we filmed call me by your name! And then we could go to Rome!” He gushed, moving quickly to get his laptop.

You were excited, until you realized you had $20 in your wallet and maybe $67 in you bank account. “Timothée wait no” you spoke, rushing behind him to stop him. He turned around confused as to why you didn’t want to go.

“do you not wanna go? I thought you liked Italy? You show me videos about people going there all the time” he asked, searching your face for an answer. “I do! I’ve always wanted to go there” you stated, sighing as your gazes met. “it’s just- how am i gonna pay for my ticket? I don’t have enough money and-” before you could finish timothée cut you off.

“what makes you think you’re paying?” He grinned, running to the room to get the laptop once again. You messed with your fingers for a second, you didn’t want him to spend money on you, you’ve always felt bad about it.

“timmy no you can’t just buy me a ticket there” you spoke, walking into the room, seeing the boy sitting on the bed, legs crossed with the laptop in his lap. He furrowed his brows and replied without looking up from his screen. “Why not? You’re my girl, think of it as a present” he smiled, you opened your mouth to protest but he quickly stopped you.

“i just bought them so you can’t take it back” he beamed, you frowned for a second before he gave you the puppy eyes. Of course you couldn’t resist, you tackled him with a hug and kissed him, thanking him a million times.

And so here the two of you were, sitting in the backseat on your way to the airport, going over the loose itinerary timothée had made for the two of you once you landedin Venice. He had gone beyond what you expected to make this trip memorable despite telling him to not worry.

When you got to the airport everything went surprisingly smooth despite you being nervous the whole time. The two of you bought breakfast and ate it in the little food court, then headed to the gate which your plane would be in and played games while waiting to board.

Once the plane arrived the two of you got on, of course he had bought first class, you wanted to scold him for spending so much but as soon as you saw how excited he was you couldn’t be mad at him. “look! we get pillows and everything” he giggled, you smiled at him and nodded, equally as excited as him. The two of you ended up watching two movies, falling asleep during the second one.

You woke up first, smiling at the sight of timmy with messy hair, mouth slightly parted and cheeks lightly flushed as he slept. You decided to wait on waking him up, instead you occupied yourself by looking out the window and listening to your music.

The landing woke timothée up and he smiled at you brightly, it took him a couple minutes to really wake up, mumbling incoherently before he came fully to his senses.

As soon as you got off the plane you were excited, pulling timothée along to get out of the airport as soon as possible. When you finally got everything and exited you got into the car timothée had ordered for the two of you and headed to the hotel to unpack.

Timothée posted a picture of you staring out the window in awe onto his Instagram story, “she’s excited right now, just wait until she sees the canals” he wrote, smiling as he thought of all the pictures the two of you would take.

You expected an average hotel room, if timothée really splurged then maybe above average, you did not expect to get the presidential suite at a five star hotel. The smile on your face made everything worth it to timothée, he made sure this trip would be memorable. “Timothée Hal Chalamet! How much did you fucking spend!” You squeaked, rushing around the room to check everything on.

“That doesn’t matter, what matters is that you get changed and get ready, we’re in Venice for two days before our next stop and I have so much for us to do” he smiled, pulling you in for a kiss which you quickly returned. Resting your head on his chest you sighed, taking a Monet to let everything sink in. You’re in Italy with the love of your life. Holy shit.

Timothée had bought multiple disposable cameras for the two of you to use, wanting to develop all of them by the time you guys got back home.

Before you knew it you were wandering the streets of Venice, a permanent smile on your face as you took so many photos of the scenery and of timothée and of course together. The two of you visited the top tourist spots like Saint Marks Basilica, the both of you in awe of its beauty and laughing until your stomach hurt feeding the pidgeons.

Timothée was scared for his life when a pidgeon landed on his shoulder, immediately going stiff and begging for you to help him. You quickly pulled out your phone, recording him and zooming into his face, a face of pure fear. After you posted it you quickly shooed the pidgeon away, holding his hand and a small pidgeon landed on your shoulder and you fed it out of your free hand.

You smiled brightly at timothée who had moved away from you slightly causing you to giggle. “You laugh now but I’m gonna be the one poop free, those things are ruthless” he stated, a serious look on his face which quickly turned soft as you attempted to pet the bird on you. “Look at him he’s so cute!” You gushed, drowning as it flew away.

“Cmon sweet girl, we have a ride to catch, in the canal” he winked and you gasped, pulling him before you stopped, realizing you didn’t know where you were even going.

When the two of you arrived he helped you into the boat, it was only the two of you and the one driving the small boat, you were sitting next to each other, pointing at everything, a constant smile on both of your faces. He held your hand the whole time, most of the time looking at you rather than the sights you were in such awe of. A small smile on his face as he admired how beautiful you looked, you looked so stress free and happy and he knew everything else he had planned was so worth it if he got to see you like this.

After the ride on the canals the two of you ate at a small little restaurant, drinking some wine and talking about the days events.

“I just think it’s funny that you were that scared of the pidgeons” you giggled, and he frowned at you, “i wasn’t scared, i was just- cautious” he smirked, watching you roll your eyes at his remark.

The two of you finished dinner, walking around the now calmer streets, admiring everything at night for about an hour, kissing under streetlights and chasing one another through the streets, laughter bouncing off the buildings.

The two of you showered once you got back to the hotel and absolutely crashed after you had snuggled under the sheets. The two of you exhausted from the plane ride and walking everywhere all day.

You both woke up late in the morning to the sound of timothées alarm, you yawned, burying yourself more into timothées side, wanting ten more minutes. “Wake up mon amour i still have some stuff planned for today before we leave for Florence” he spoke softly into your hair, kissing the top of your head. He had decided to skip on taking you to Crema, deciding it would make for a good excuse to come back.

You woke up slowly, getting ready and waiting for timothée on the bed once you had finished. You were starving but you didn’t want to eat without him. You laid on your stomach and dozed off only to wake up to a now fully dressed timothée, smiling at you and kissing your nose. “let’s go eat and then we can head out” he whispered and you nodded, getting up from the bed and following him out the door.

The two of you spent the day walking around and seeing anything else you wanted, eating much too much food and buying way too many souvenirs. The day seemed to fly by and before you knew it you were headed to Florence, of course shoving all your luggage into the bus that the two of you were taking to the wonderful city. You slept most of the way while timothée read through a script for a new movie. He woke you up gently when you guys arrived, piling out along with everyone else as the two of you found the car timothée had ordered for this city, heading to yet another 5 star hotel with an amazing room.

It was late at night so the two of you only slipped into bed and set an alarm for later tomorrow morning, cuddling through the whole night, waking up once to eat some of the fruit that the hotel had given to the two of you as a gift.

The next morning the alarm went off and you quickly turned it off, placing your head on timothées chest, a smile on your face while he played with your hair.

“let’s get ready, i have something special planned, wear that one outfit you brought, you know the one that you said you’ve always wanted to wear?” He smiled, a mischievous glint in your eye. You gave him a kiss on the cheek and nodded, going to get ready.

After you finished you scrolled through your phone, replying to people and sifting through the pictures from Venice, deleting the ones which turned out bad or way too blurry. You decided to lay on your side, thinking you wouldn’t fall back asleep but you were wrong. Before you knew it you felt a gentle nudge.

“Cmon sleeping beauty i have a picnic for us” he beamed, a twinkle in his eye. You woke up quickly, a giant grin on your face as your mouth fell open. “A picnic? Oh my god this is a dream, angel you’re so amazing oh my god! I love you so much” You gushed, tackling timothée once you got off the bed and hugging him tightly, kissing him all over his face.

“i love you more ma cherie, now lets go” he smiled, opening the door for you and quickly taking your hand while walking down the halls.

You had ended up accidentally falling asleep in the car, head on timothées shoulder, he recorded you, saving it but not posting it, knowing if he did you would get him back and start a full fledged war.

As the car approached the Piazzle Michaelangelo he shook you softly, your eyes fluttered open and a small smile overtook your features. “Oh my god it’s so pretty” you gasped as the two of you stepped out of the car and onto the concrete floor, he got the picnic basket from the car as you went to save a spot on the steps. He quickly found you and opened the basket between the two of you, eating the food and making conversation, laughing and enjoying the fact that both of you were in Italy, overlooking Florence.

After sitting there for a while, cuddling and pointing things out the two of you drove into the city, excited to see everything the city had to offer. The two of you walked down the streets hand in hand, taking pictures once more and in awe of the beauty the city offered.

Of course the two of you drove all over the city visiting museums, seeing all the statues and artworks you had always admired through your phone screen. You almost wanted to cry of happiness seeing everything in person, you walked quickly in the museums, timothée barely keeping up with you as you rushed everywhere, making sure you absorbed every last detail.

Of course timothée took the typical you looking at art picture, and of course he posted it and captioned it “art looking at art” causing his fans to go feral, everyone tweeting and posting about how cute the two of you were. You held timmys hand when you realized he was dragging behind, pulling him along and forcing him to move at your speed.

“oh my god I love this painting, look at the brushstrokes! I read once that when he was painting this-” you began, going into detail about said artists life. Timothée stared at you, his chest swelling with love, a smile on his face as you went on and on about the paintings, he hung onto every word you said, loving the way your eyes lit up and the amount of emotion in your voice as you spoke of what you loved.

After you had visited the museums l, the two of you walked all over the city, taking in the culture and also taking many breaks and calling a cab to go to places he had planned to take you. Of course he set up a reservation at a fancy restaurant, eating to your hearts delight and drinking amazing wine, overseeing the bustling city as the sun set.

“i cannot believe we’re in Florence Italy” you sighed happily, looking out at the city while you sipped on your wine, timothée smiled at you. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to thank you enough angel, you really made my dreams come true” you spoke, turning towards your curly headed boyfriend and he shook his head.

“you don’t have to thank me ma cherie. I love seeing you happy, you deserve the world and I’m going to give everything i can to you, you’ve always supported me through anything and everything, you know me so well, i just love you so much” he answered. “but- you can thank me by letting me post a bunch of pictures of you everywhere” he smiled shyly, blushing slightly. You smiled brightly at him, your love for him growing. “oh baby of course” you giggled.

The next day was just as action packed, going to multiple cathedrals and basilicas which you hadn’t gotten to the day before, and then spending time in the gardens, taking so many pictures of each other, half of them turning out blurry because the two of you couldn’t stop laughing.

He held you hand the whole time, keeping you close to him the whole time, kissing you at times and always looking at you with so much love. All over Twitter and Instagram were pictures of the two of you holding hands and laughing, many of them with one of the two of you pointing at something, many of the ones with you pointing had timothée looking at you with a smile rather than what you were showing him, it gave you butterflies.

That night you headed to the hotel early, packing everything to catch the late night flight to Rome, the last destination on the trip. The two of you packed quickly, racing to see who would finish first. This made timothée sneak up behind you and unfold your tshirts, run back to his area and rush to finish, an attempt to beat you. You were one step ahead, you had hidden his shampoo so you had no problem re folding while he ran around everywhere.

“I’m done!” You announced proudly, smiling at your boyfriend and he rolled his eyes, a pout on his face. “That’s not fair! I finished before you i just lost my shampoo” he responded, you smirked at him. “Check under your pillow” his eyes went wide and raced to get it, jaw dropping when he found it. “y/n i swear one day im gonna beat you at these competitions” he huffed, pushing you playfully and you shoved him back laughing.

The two of you cuddled the whole time in the airport, attached to the hip, and napping until your flight boarded, where the two of you also slept the whole time. When you finally arrived in Rome, you both headed to the hotel, knocking out there too, excited for the next two days in Rome before returning home. The two of you only had two cameras left, it filled you with excitement to get the photos developed, knowing you would have so many pictures of him to post and an endless amount of wallapapers.

When the two of you awoke the next morning you headed out quickly, excited to spend yet another day together.

“timothée oh my god look at that dog! Do you think he speaks Italian?” You questioned, smiling at the small dog that walked past the two of you. “I’m sure he does my angel” he replied, laughing. Pulling you along the busy street, putting his arm around your waist.

The two of you marveled at the colosseum, mind running wild at the thought of people using it. “You think they ever had a concert in there?” You asked your boyfriend who giggled, “im not so sure they did my angel” you thought about someone using it today. “What if someone tried to have on in there today” you smiled and timothée quickly replied, “as soon as the speakers start blasting everything would just crumble” you laughed at the thought of someone wanting to have fun only to ruin one of the most iconic pieces of history.

The two of you walked along the streets, holding hands and swinging them back and forth, debating where to go next. “How about the pantheon?” You suggested and he nodded with a smile, “you read my mind darling.”

The two of you got there surprisingly quickly and sat down for a second, both of your guys’ feet hurting. You put your head on timmys shoulder, closing your eyes for a second, you could hear everyone talking, the sound of cars and the wind. “Are you tired mon amour?” Timothée asked, not wanting to tire you out so much, he wanted you excited and happy not tired.

“just a bit, but I’m sure it’ll leave as soon as we see the Vatican” you spoke, a smile forming on your face as you opened your eyes and looked at the brunette next to you. He kissed your cheek, getting up and extending a hand to help you up. “Let’s go see what all those shops we passed have had to offer later yeah?” He grinned and you nodded, stretching a little before falling into step with him.

The two of you arrived at the Vatican and you swear you had never felt more in awe than staring at everything inside, everything was so adorned and beautiful, even the pillars on the outside when the two of you were waiting (only for like 5 minutes) made you smile in amazement. Timothée and you kept pointing out everything, a smile on both of your faces. Both of your cheeks hurt from smiling so much but neither of you complained, too happy to care.

After the two of you walked around for a bit more you left and entered the busy streets of Rome once again, taking pictures of each other all the time and stopping to look at anything and everything. “Let’s go get something to eat” you suggested. “Oh yeah I’m starving after all that walking” he replied, pulling out his phone to find a nice place to get food.

Soon enough he found a nice spot and the two of you arrived there quickly, excited to eat. After ordering and eating the two of you sat in comfortable silence, taking the time to wind down before going back out. “can we go to the Trevi Fountain? I brought coins for us to throw in” you asked and timothée wanted to kiss you all over and hug you and never let you go because god you were so fucking cute.

“of course we can go mon amour, are you ready to go right now?” He asked and you nodded, he paid quickly before taking his hand in yours, the two of you walking slower than before, you were leaning on him slightly, he was talking about some story that had happened to him in high school. You don’t remember exactly how the story had come up but you were grateful that it had.

As the two of you continued walking hand in hand and smiling at the sights you realized that no one had disturbed the two of you this whole trip which was very surprising, but you were grateful that his fans were respectful of the two of you. “okay i told you am embarrassing story of me in high school you tell me one” he pushed and you groaned, stealing the water bottle from his hands and gulping down the drink.

“i wasn’t really embarrassing in high school, i had like five friends and we always looked out for one another, middle school i was the biggest emo alive” you shuddered thinking back to all the diary entries you had made. “I remember i wrote this one poem that was so cringe and i thought it was the best thing ever written” you cringed at the memory and he bursted our laughing, leaning into you as he did so.

“Do you still have said diary?” He questioned, a mischievous smile forming on his face, “back at my parents house yeah” you replied, narrowing your eyes at him, “but you will never lay your eyes on a single one of those pages Hal” you sternly replied, smiling as he rolled his eyes and pulled you closer to him, putting his arm around you. “We’ll see about that one” he smiled.

“oh my god! Timmy there it is!” You shrieked, energy suddenly overflowing as you ran, pulling timothee with you causing him to almost trip over his feet. You pushed through the crowd, saying excuse me and sorrys until you got the the front of the fountain. Timothée arrived a couple seconds after you, out of breath and amazed at how fast you had ran.

“ma cherie you need to slow down” he spoke, leaning over to catch him breath. You stared at the fountain in awe, a smile sprawled across you face, taking in the beauty of it all. “I can’t believe I’m really here” you whispered, timothée got up, wrapping both his arms around your waist. “Believe in my love” he smiled, kissing you on the cheek.

Suddenly you heard a crack of thunder and soon enough rain started pouring, the once crowded area was now close to empty as everyone ran for shelter, you and timothée didn’t budge, mainly because you didn’t even flinch and refused to move.

you turned to timothée, hair sticking to both of your foreheads a wild smile on your face as you dig into your pocket, looking for the coins you had brought. Quickly you handed one to timothée. “Ready?” You smiled and he nodded. “Okay, 1, 2, 3!” You shouted, the coins flipping into the water at the same time. Turning to timothée you found him smiling at you and you laughed.

“When in Rome” you said before bunching his shirt into your fist and pulling him into a kiss, you eyes shutting as rain fell around the two of you. The kiss was what you imagined the movie ones were like, passionate and loving. You smiled into the kiss before you opened your eyes and pulled away.

“you drive me crazy y/n” he whispered, a giant smile on his face as you wiped away the water from your eyes and pushed the hair out of your face. “Should we get out of the rain?” You giggled and he nodded, “probably, we don’t wanna get sick” he joked and you punched him. “Don’t fucking jinx it!” You yelled, running to the nearest shelter you could find, which so happened to be a tourist shop.

Shopping with timothée was always fun, shopping with timothée in another country was another level. He wanted to buy you everything you looked at, he would buy you at $50 shirt if you really wanted it. The two of you were dripping wet and needed to buy new clothes or else you would definitely get sick. You ended up wearing tacky tourist shirts, getting matching ones of course and buying souvenirs for everyone back home as well as a few things to decorate and to keep for yourselves.

Considering how hard it was pouring and the fact that the two of you now had wet socks you decide to call it a day and go back to the hotel room, not wanting to get sick considering tomorrow was the last day. You were glad that it was already 5 pm, you wouldn’t have missed that much that you had planned and you could easilh get to them tomorrow.

You guys quickly got into a car and made your way back to the hotel, opting on showering together. As the two of you stepped in you let out a sigh at the feeling of the warm water. You let the water rinse the two of you off before shutting it off and getting timothées shampoo, telling him to turn around so you could wash his hair.

“thank you for this whole trip baby, it’s really been a dream come true” you spoke, massaging the shampoo into his hair. “Im sorry that it rained sweetheart, i really wanted us to be able to do everything because this was supposed to be perfect and-” you frowned at him despite his back being to you. “Timothée you can’t control the weather! And even then this trip is already perfect because I’m here with you. I’m in Italy with the love of my life dammit, ive drank so much good wine and eaten even more good food! We haven’t gotten this much time alone in god knows how long, you’ve literally had a chauffeur in every city so that we didn’t have to worry about parking and you made us an itinerary! Everything about this trip has been perfect, even the hiccups in the road.” You stated, smiling at the memories the two of you had already made.

You turned the water back on to rinse the shampoo out of his hair and he smiled at you, kissing you on the forehead. “And plus, i finally got my kiss in the rain AND it was infront of the trevi fountain, how am i supposed to complain again ever?” You smiled up at him, he laughed and quickly closed his eyes as shampoo rinsed from his hair. He grabbed your shampoo and began to wash your hair, you relaxed at his touch and closed your eyes.

“I love you so much angel, you don’t even understand” he whispered, you hummed in response. He gave you a soft kiss to your neck, giving you goosebumps.

Soon enough you guys hopped out of the shower, warm and clean and changed into some pijamas, snuggling into bed and looking out of the giant window next to you. Between the sound of the rain hitting the window and timothées soft breathing, you quickly dozed off, not caring that it was only 6:30 pm and you’d probably wake up at 2 am with an insane amount of energy. Timothée asked you something,confused as to why you weren’t replying until he looked at you, a bashful smile on his face when he saw you sleeping.

“you know i love you so much, you mean the world to me mon amour, there isn’t anything i wouldn’t do for you” he whispered, brushing your hair lightly to get it out of your face. He placed a gentle kiss on your forehead, turning the lights off in the room before closing his eyes and drifting off the sleep alongside you.

You ended up not even waking up throughout the night, instead sleeping until early the next morning. You hadn’t realized how tired you had been until now since you were more energetic than ever, excited to get as much in on the last day.

Timothée was the one dragging you around everywhere today, determined to get through the list had made, you smiled at him as he explained everything to you, surprised at how much he knew. “When did you make this list anyway?” You asked over lunch, looking up at him after you chewed your food. “I woke up at 2am and i couldn’t sleep but i didn’t wanna wake you up so i made this list and researched everything so i can give you the full tour guide experience” he replied, a giant smile on his face as you gawked at him.

“yeah that’s it, I’m gonna marry you” you shrugged, continuing to eat as timothée blushed and kept eating. The conversation flowing easily between the two of you and a comfortable silence falling into place at times.

The day continued quickly, visiting many more sites and before you knew it your disposable camera came to an end, and 30 minutes later so did timothées as the sunset. The two of you sat down on a bench, waiting on your guys’ driver to arrive so the two of you could pack up and head home.

“i can’t believe it’s over” you smiled softly, sad that it was over but happy that it happened. “Don’t worry mon amour im sure we’ll be back soon enough” he smiled and you put your head on his shoulder. “I love you with everything I have timothée” you spoke, looking up at him from your position. He kissed your forehead gently, “i love you so much more y/n” he smiled.

The two of you once again raced to pack up, you purposefully ‘lost’ your favorite shirt and let him win, although he would always hold it against you, it didn’t matter because you would lose over and over and over again if it meant seeing the amount of joy on his face when he shouted “IM DONE” and looked over at you with an unzipped suitcase.

As the two of you were waiting at the airport gate you had to make the obligatory Instagram post, gathering pictures of the two of you together and of yourself to post, you smiled as you picked out the photos. Searching the internet to see if anyone had caught the two of you kissing in the rain in front of the fountain, which of course they had. You looked over at a napping timothée, smiling as you set the photo as your lockscreen and added it to your post, quickly you typed out your caption.

“Italian days <3”

[thevultur]

self para // the architect of decay

TIME: through the finale of the 125th Games, towards the 126th Victor’s Ball LOCATION: the Capitol & District 13 PARTS: end of 125, 125th victor’s ball (skippable), end of 126, the fall of the Capitol, district thirteen WORD COUNT: 2,674  TRIGGER WARNINGS: alcohol, drugs

end of 125

They moved out gradually. When she took the children to her parents, in Three, with the same train that carried the corpse of her best friend, for the second time, because of him, it was because the Capitol wasn’t safe. She didn’t mention betrayal. She wasn’t her initially angry self. Instead, she was lost, and scared, and confused. It was easier to run away from the consequences of violence and rebellion, than to deal with the unsaid and to admit surrender. A month later, she asked for a box of their favorite belongings. Lysander prepared the package for delivery, and never quite removed the tape scraps from everywhere on the floor and furniture.

He didn’t move her toothbrush, even months later. Instead, he gathered courage to call her on the phone. Suddenly, her voice was more a surprise than a familiarity. Suddenly, he didn’t know what to say to her. She rambled, and rambled -- and, for a little while, he settled for listening. She was pushing forced excitement out of her mouth, pretending that the point of the call was the great weather they’ve had the other day, planting carrots in the garden, or how Haydn now knows his way around a phone better than she does. When he let out a chuckle, as she carried on her glowing tale, they both froze. She didn’t expect the chuckle to echo as something he didn’t know she missed, he was embarrassed -- it felt like a slip. 

As silence sank into the phone call, he knew it was the moment for the heavy question. “When are you going to be back?” It created louder silence, for longer. There went his need to know it all, with his straightforward, practical questions, not afraid of the truth. For a little, she could no longer talk, so he did. He tried to push logic down her throat, to rationalize in a desperate attempt to change her mind, to make it less than what it was. The desperate struggle for reason and the enfeeblement were deafening to him and his ego. She confessed, defeated, that she didn’t know. That she would call him as soon as she would know. For now, she needed space to eventually find some clarity in her mind. Space was all he used to have, so he offered it with grace. The conversation didn’t move him, not for the longest time. However, every time he walked into that bathroom and his eyes met that damned red toothbrush, something stabbed him. 

125th victor’s ball

She was gracious and cordial at the Victor’s Ball, while he was too stressed to ask her to dance even once. Over them hovered the certainty he planted into his own mind, that he was going to die, that they were going to dispose of him as soon as the light moved away from the Quell incident, as soon as people stopped paying attention. He didn’t tell her. He played pathetic nonchalance. Luckily, he still remembered how to tie his own tie. It didn’t look like he needed her, necessarily. It only felt like it. After the ball, she took more of her stuff from his place, not quite cleaning the apartment of all her belongings, but it became obvious she didn’t like that mauve sweater she left behind that much. He, on the other hand, loved that mauve sweater. He didn’t move or touch the bits of her still left behind, clinging onto their original state, how she left them, as if that would eventually take her back. 

He remembered solitude for an old friend, though, this time, the old friend was a sad surprise. As all of the walls were raising tall around himself, he built up the tallest arena, to match. He spent his everyday, running plane simulations, climbing up and down to check all platforms -- with ropes tied to him and all the focus he had in him to distract him from nausea. Eventually, when he was out of things to do, he started doing the interns’ tasks, early in the morning, before everybody else in the office woke up. If he concentrated enough, it wouldn’t ache. If he gave it all to the arena, he wouldn’t have time for himself and for all of his thoughts. 

Eventually, he gave away his pet snake. It became clear that he needed as little as possible attaching him to the world. If he was about to die, he preferred to die without the guilt of abandoning and letting an animal into his apartment, to starve before anyone found either of them. Eventually, he stopped locking the door. Maybe she’d be back, maybe they would come to shoot a bullet in his head. Either way, it felt like a waste of time. The snake found its new home in the arms of a Gamemaker colleague, one who knew snakes and had a dozen of them already. It was a fine gift from a boss. He didn’t need it back.

The president was announced dead, unexpectedly. With no instructions from higher up people, he decided it didn’t change anything. Instead of weeping tears or worrying about his fate now more than ever, he poured himself a cup of coffee, drank it bottoms up, all at once, and went back to work. There was so much work left to do -- there was always work. When they captured Prim, he turned off the screen. He didn’t know what that meant for him, and, at that point, it didn’t even matter. When the president turned out to be alive, he neither cheered nor booed. It was all the same to him. He had work to do.

end of 126

The summer Games passed, and he was happy to see all three of them around the Tower, even if temporarily. He gifted Haydn his favorite book growing up, he replied to all of Gwen’s almost words, he had a few late night talks with her, too. They kept their mouths shut about the elephant in the room, instead enjoying the moment. He didn’t say anything about the ring he had in his nightstand, the one he bought over a year ago. It would rot there, box unopened, as everything else eventually would. No word about his demotion, about the trial and about how he was certain of his timely death, upcoming by now. Instead, she told him she didn’t think she was coming back for the next Games, that she needed a break from it all. To her, the Capitol probably smelled like him too much for it to be a fair fight. To him, the Capitol smelled nothing like her, causing him to subconsciously look for her perfume everywhere. 

The Games wrapped up, and he had to do it over again, except this time, the cards have been already distributed. With a losing hand, he had to keep going. He started building the arena on autopilot, not quite taking it in. On the other side of the world, she called late in the night about Gwendolyn having a bad fever. He asked if she wanted him on a train to Three, but they settled on her taking the baby to the hospital first thing in the morning. A day later, she sent a couple of pictures of a grinning baby he no longer recognized by heart. If she was growing up happy, however, that was more than what he could offer.

There was no way of postponing his meeting with his lawyer any longer. The world was burning, but the trial was knocking on his door, not quite knowing it’s unlocked. Two hours into meeting with his lawyer, the man already answered all the possible questions he could have. There was one, unworded, vile, about split custody, but he held it in. He preferred her to be happy. She was the healthy parent, the experienced parent, the loving parent, too. He didn’t want to take anything away from either of them. Instead, he shook hands with the lawyer, thanked him for his efforts and information given, and moved on. 

the fall of the Capitol

One afternoon, working in the Tower, they declared an emergency. A bomb had been located within the Tower. He didn’t panic. His life felt already over, anyway. He kept working on the next arena, programming at his desk now, instead of any other place within the Tower. His desk, a fort against other people, was the only place he could stand, with no risk of running into anyone. He couldn’t afford the risk of hoping he would run into someone, at least. However, he did call her, almost certain they would all blow up. He didn’t speak a word about the threat -- she’d find out on the news and feel less guilty than if he brought it up in the spur of the moment. Instead, they conversed about weather, about Gwendolyn’s first steady steps that he was missing. He asked about her, too. She didn’t have anything to answer with. The bomb was diffused before he could stress about it. 

He watched from his wall-sized window as the rebels drove their cars into the foundation of the Tower. Pouring himself a drink, he watched the world burn under him, and it felt like nothing different from before. With detachment, he kept on working on his project on the background of explosions. At one point, someone intervened, walked into his office despite his clear request not to be interrupted, and asked him to step away. The Tower was being evacuated. Despite the immediate danger, he didn’t rush. He took his time unplugging all the hardware and placing it in his backpack before lowering himself with the elevator into the underground parking lot. 

A black car drove him through the tunnels, to the outskirts of the city. A president representative was waiting for him in the car. They advised him to lie low until further instructions. He refused the offer of being brought to the presidential manor for further work. He knew he could work from home just as well. With the beginning of the next arena in his backpack, he walked home, back downtown. He left his backpack in his vault and locked the door for the first time in ages.

As the world was building around them, he entered one of the clubs he used to go to without feeling like dying. He didn’t like most of the nighttime entertainment the Capitol provided, but he did like this one -- dark, underground, heavy but instrumental music, not much dancing. Instead, he took a seat at one of the smaller bar isles, and ordered a melancholic Cuba Libre -- her drink, not his. He asked if his favorite bartender still worked there -- and they did not. It’s been years. He knew that, too. The second drink followed, then the third, then the fourth. When he came back home, he struggled to unlock the front door.

The next day he woke up before sunrise, he plugged everything into his apartment, he invited over a small group of the most trustworthy architect, logistics and plot drop Gamemakers to keep working on the arena while the president figured out a more sustainable solution. After a long day of work, where he had to build up morale for everyone in the room, he went out again, to supress the gaps of his evening. This time, a girl with curly hair sat at his table, and he didn’t excuse himself, for once. Instead, he listened to her talking about her dreams of becoming a stylist. He even humored her efforts to pick him up. She was witty. It felt wrong and flattering at the same time, so he allowed it as he kept sipping from his fifth glass. Then, he fucked her in the bathroom. Only afterwards did he excuse himself and disappear.

He took two showers in the morning, poured himself a cup of coffee in his perfectly orderly kitchen, and kept working on the scheme of plot drops -- permanent, potential and mandatory. He videochatted with a bigger number of the Gamemaking team, explaining just what he knew of what was about to happen to their schedules, where the Games were going to be thrown next. The days were clean, bright, minimalistic like his computer screen. The nights turned into black holes, controlled only by his reason, insisting this was a phase he needed to go through. 

Around him, water systems were being poisoned. He started testing water before drinking, he had a filter made, he decided poison wasn’t what would kill him, if anything had to. For three days after the rebels bombed the Odysea Lounge, he didn’t go out, even though his preferred bar was nowhere on the hottest lists. On the third day, the curly haired girl called him. He was confused as in how she got the number, especially a week after. She openly described what seemed like a complicated adventure for a girl who didn’t quite have all connections. He confessed that he didn’t feel comfortable being called on his phone. She asked if her coming over would feel better. After a brief laughter, he admitted that it wouldn’t. He wondered if she was a rebel spy. There was only one way to find out. Eventually, by the end of the conversation, he invited her over.

He didn’t explain that he wasn’t looking for anything. He simply stopped returning her calls. Instead, he started going out again. Someone offered ecstasy, and he felt nostalgic for his university years. He took one, washed it over with rum, and wrote the whole experience with a digital pen onto his phone, documenting every last thought. Something in him was dancing, but he refused to stand up from the bar. At some point, he found himself having sex with someone he didn’t recognize in a poorly lit room he didn’t recognize. Somehow, he found his way back to the bar. That was when he decided he had to leave. At home, he couldn’t sleep. In the early AM, he was on a hovercraft to Thirteen, with all that was left of him in his suitcase, as the effects of last night were wearing off.

district thirteen

When they arrived, he was chewing gum, to both get a sense of his own numbed jaw and to cast away the pregnant smell of alcohol, ashamed it might become noticeable. He shook hands with Radia Thorn -- “The man who designed Nikita, an honor!” she quickly exclaimed, all thrilled out of courtesy. He then pointed out the woman who handled clones was, in fact, dead. The food in Thirteen was terrible. As a vegetarian, he was underwhelmed to find out how dry and not at all green their vegetables were. He was going to die in there, underground, without vitamins, so he requested some that the next batch of Gamemakers brought with them a week later. 

To welcome the Capitol into Thirteen, a luxurious feast was thrown. The Deputy Head Gamemaker had a knot in his throat -- certain words did give him that. Feast was one of them. However, it was exquisite and the display of District Thirteen culture was interesting. Their music, their dances, their food, their language -- “It was called French, wasn’t it?” he quickly inquired, in control of his past world references. However, he excused himself early, as he always would, and continued to work on the arena. They had so, so much work left to do, especially in a foreign space.

Underground, Lysander felt at ease, as if he’d always belonged there. One day, he would be underground forever. He made peace with that, as well. He thought about Clover, too -- often, even -- but he didn’t call those days, not from Thirteen. It simply wasn’t wise to, and she did ask for her space. She left, and it depended on him for the show to go on, so there was not much to be considered.

[verycleverboy]

Welcome to October 8th.

Where we are this afternoon:

A game of Telephone

After spending the weekend at Walter Reed Medical Center for treatment of his COVID-19 infection, President Donald Trump returned to the White House yesterday afternoon, where he is expected to continue treatment under quarantine. He returned to the Oval Office late Wednesday afternoon after conducting business from makeshift offices next to the White House medical facilities.

Trump opened his Thursday with a lengthy telephone interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. More so than usual with his Fox phone-ins, it was an unhinged freeform rant that revealed much more than he intended to. In the latest sign that he's still running the 2016 race in his head, he answered a question about the Barrett confirmation by pivoting without warning into Hillary Clinton's emails. He also returned to his unceasing effort to place the full blame for the virus in America on China, called Kamala Harris a “monster” and a Communist, and (for one last note of disgrace on this oldies tour from hell) threatened to put Joe Biden in jail for being a part of the administration that launched an investigation into a campaign with a suspicious number of Russian ties. 

On the political front, his message is what it's always been: everyone is a liar and a criminal but poor pitiful me. So much for the party of "personal responsibility".

But it was when the questions turned to his health and the virus that things went from deeply concerning to highly alarming. If we take him at his word, President Trump doesn't believe he's contagious anymore, and wants to be on the campaign trail right now. Barely a week after he first began showing symptoms, he wants to go back to the densely packed, badly protected campaign rallies which have not only been a signature of his campaigns but his presidency in general.

How he knows he’s gotten over it is anyone’s guess because of the other big revelation about his current health that he blurted out: In spite of returning to a residence in full-blown panic mode over the plague he’s brought back the house, Trump still isn’t getting coronavirus testing on a regular basis. 

As a New York Times report mentioned on Tuesday, rapid testing has basically been used in the West Wing throughout this health crisis, often in place of the actual preventative measures which the President openly mocked again this morning. However, the report also revealed that Trump himself was tested infrequently, and so the question still lingers whether he was tested at all in the week before the Hope Hicks diagnosis set this most recent catastrophe into motion. The one thing we do know for sure from last week is that he skipped a pre-debate virus test because he arrived well behind schedule. Everything else is being hidden behind the claim of “private medical history”. 

There’s another thing we know about the recent state of the West Wing with absolute certainty: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, while insisting the President is doing well, has not set foot inside the White House since the beginning of August, and he made his reasons crystal clear, almost to the point of bluntness.

 "I actually haven't been to the White House since August the 6 because my impression was their approach to how to handle this is different from mine and what I insisted that we do in the Senate which is to wear a mask and practice social distancing,"

Anyway, that’s the Trump-on-Trump part of this morning’s interview. But if you’ve been paying attention, you already know it gets much worse.

And now, the part that pisses me off...

Now that Trump considers himself an "expert" on the coronavirus, because he's convinced himself that he's completely recovered, his advice has gone beyond depressingly and predictably wrong into a disgusting slap in the face to the people who've lost everything to his inept leadership. "Remember this: when you catch it, you get better, and then you're immune."

The picture above is the funeral service of Freddie Lee Brown Jr. and Freddie Lee Brown III., a father and son who died within three days of each other last spring during the first wave of the pandemic in America. In spite of the "young people are immune" narrative this administration perversely continues to push, Freddie III was only 20 years old when he left this world. They caught it. They most definitely did not "get better".

220,000 Americans are dead from the virus, but none of them are Trumps yet, so he can't be bothered to even mention them, let alone understand what their families have gone through.

A brief ray of “sunshine” in all of this 

Trump's insistence that he and Biden do the next debate in person or not at all is promising to derail the remaining debate schedule entirely, the virtual debate format unanimously agreed to by the members of the Commission on Presidential Debates being completely unthinkable to a man who currently carries a deadly disease.

Frank Fahrenkopf, head of the Commission, answered the Trump protest with a  shrug, indicating that he’s under no legal obligation to be the enabler for Trump’s worst possible impulses. “There is no law requiring any presidential candidate to debate. In fact, in 1980, Jimmy Carter, president of the United States, refused to participate in the first debate, but he did participate in the second debate. So it is up to every candidate to decide whether they want to debate or not.”

Later in the morning, the Trump team indicated their willingness to delay the second debate an extra week, provided that it’s an in-person format. Meanwhile, Biden’s team has scheduled a solo town hall appearance on the originally-announced night of the second debate.

Biden’s ability to appear both in sound and vision underlines an inconvenient truth in Trump’s medically-mandated nonexistent public schedule. While this morning’s incoherent phone ramble definitely qualifies as “proof-of-life”--and dear God, did it ever--Trump’s last on-camera appearance at that time was a pre-recorded statement on Monday night. The absence of visual evidence since then of a man who never met a camera he didn’t like filtered into the ongoing speculation about how well the President really is, and how deep the cover-up of his condition goes. 

(edit: After I finalized this ridiculous post, it turned out Trump released a Twitter video in the early afternoon that, if anything, fed fresh fuel to the fire.)

The coronavirus is not your usual “October surprise”, but in revealing the measure of the commander-in-chief who has suddenly found himself as its  target, it’s definitely playing the part of one.

First Lady Melania Trump, who did not join her husband at Walter Reed, continues to rest at the White House during her recovery.

No fresh cases of infection related to recent White House events have been reported since yesterday’s update. If new cases are announced, I’ll post the revised list later.

[mayz1er]

sometimes i think abt how sad and stupid and slightly graphic brpt is and i die a little inside like why in the world did i ever write that for someone else to see but they were happy in the end so ig it’s ok

[bountyofbeads]

Trump Acknowledges Discussing Biden in Call With Ukrainian Leader https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/22/us/politics/trump-ukraine-biden.html

Trump and the GOP will go to any lengths to win including for a 2nd time asking a foreign power for help in winning an election, extortion, subverting the Constitution, and sacrifing national security. #EnoughIsEnough #ImpeachTheMFNow

#VoteBlueToSaveAmerica

Trump Acknowledges Discussing Biden in Call With Ukrainian Leader

By Peter Baker | Published Sept. 22, 2019 Updated 4:41 p.m. ET | New York Times | Posted September 22, 2019 |

WASHINGTON — President Trump acknowledged on Sunday that he discussed former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. with Ukraine’s president as Democrats ramped up calls for an investigation into whether he improperly pressured a foreign leader to investigate a political opponent.

While Mr. Trump defended his July phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine as perfectly appropriate, he confirmed that Mr. Biden came up during the discussion and that he accused the former vice president of corruption tied to his son Hunter’s business activities in that former Soviet republic.

“The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place and largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine,” Mr. Trump told reporters before leaving for a trip to Texas and Ohio.

Mr. Trump did not directly confirm news reports that he pressured Mr. Zelensky for an investigation. The Wall Street Journal has reported that Mr. Trump urged Mr. Zelensky about eight times during the July 25 phone call to work with the president’s lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, on an investigation of Mr. Biden and his son.

Mr. Giuliani has already publicly acknowledged pressing Ukrainian officials to investigate the Bidens, and Mr. Trump told reporters on Friday and again over the weekend that the former vice president should be investigated without saying whether it came up during the phone call.

The president’s interest over the summer in a Ukrainian investigation into Mr. Biden, a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination and the right to run against Mr. Trump in next year’s election, coincided with his administration’s decision to hold up $250 million in security aid to Ukraine. But there have been no indications that Mr. Trump mentioned the money during the call. The president finally agreed to release the money this month after coming under bipartisan pressure from Congress.

Mr. Trump’s interactions with Ukraine are at least part of a whistle-blower’s complaint that has generated intense interest on Capitol Hill. The administration has refused to release the complaint to Congress. Mr. Trump said on Sunday that he would “love” to release a transcript of the call “but you have to be a little bit shy about doing it.”

The revelations increased pressure on Democrats to impeach Mr. Trump after months of stutter-start investigation into other matters and after resistance by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pursue such an effort, with polls showing only limited public appetite for Congress removing the president from office.

“This would be, I think, the most profound violation of the presidential oath of office, certainly during this presidency, which says a lot,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff of California, the Democratic chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. “There is no privilege that covers corruption.”

Mr. Schiff, speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said impeachment “may be the only remedy” if Mr. Trump did in fact withhold aid to Ukraine in the hopes that the country would pursue an investigation into the Biden family. “The president is pushing us down this road,” he said. “We may very well have crossed the Rubicon here.”

Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, said Congress had to take action. “If we do have the evidence from this whistle-blower that the president indeed did try to bully a foreign power into affecting our elections, then we have to do something about it,” he said on “Meet the Press” on NBC as he called for release of the whistle-blower’s complaint.

Mr. Murphy, who recently visited Ukraine, said Mr. Zelensky expressed consternation to him that the security aid was held up. The senator said administration officials gave him two explanations for holding up the money — that Mr. Trump was concerned about corruption in Ukraine and that he thought Europe should be the one to assist Kiev rather than the United States.

But Mr. Murphy cast doubt on those explanations and said the situation was clearly suspicious. “Obviously, the timing of this looks really terrible,” he said.

While most Republicans remained silent, one prominent senator added his voice to the chorus of concern. “If the President asked or pressured Ukraine’s president to investigate his political rival, either directly or through his personal attorney, it would be troubling in the extreme,” Senator Mitt Romney of Utah wrote on Twitter on Sunday. “Critical for the facts to come out.”

In Kiev, Mr. Zelensky has not commented on the matter since the issue erupted in news reports in recent days, but Ukraine’s foreign minister, Vadym Prystaiko, was quoted telling a Ukrainian news outlet on Saturday that the country’s leaders did not take Mr. Trump’s phone call as pressure.

“I know what the conversation was about and I think there was no pressure,” Mr. Prystaiko said. “This conversation was long, friendly, and it touched on many questions, sometimes requiring serious answers.”

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Sunday denied any link between the security aid and Mr. Trump’s interest in an investigation into his potential rival. “Well, that I can tell you, that there was no connection,” Mr. Mnuchin said on “Meet the Press.” “I have been involved with Secretary Pompeo and others on the national security team on the issue.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, appearing on several Sunday shows, did not answer in specifics when asked if there was a “quid pro quo” agreement between Mr. Trump and Ukrainian officials. He insisted more generally that any discussions of aid delivered to Ukraine were “100 percent appropriate” and “100 percent lawful.”

On the other hand, Mr. Pompeo did not hesitate to advance allegations that Mr. Biden should be investigated for wrongdoing.

“If there was election interference that took place by the vice president, I think the American people deserve to know,” he said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. If “Vice President Biden behaved in a way that was inconsistent with the way leaders ought to operate, I think the American people deserve to know that.”

While vice president, Mr. Biden threatened in 2016 to withhold $1 billion in American loan guarantees if Ukraine’s leaders did not dismiss the country’s top prosecutor, who was widely seen as failing to fight corruption. Ukraine’s Parliament complied and the prosecutor was forced out.

That was the policy of the Obama administration at the time, a consensus policy to try to strengthen the rule of law in Ukraine as it fended off military intervention from Russia. But Mr. Biden’s son Hunter served on the board of an energy company owned by a Ukrainian oligarch who had come under scrutiny by the fired prosecutor.

Mr. Biden asserted on Saturday that he had never spoken with his son about overseas work. On Sunday, Mr. Trump and Mr. Mnuchin both accused him of lying or misstating that, without citing any evidence.

The New Yorker this summer quoted Hunter Biden saying that his father did discuss his Ukrainian business but just one time. “Dad said, ‘I hope you know what you are doing,’” the younger Mr. Biden told the magazine, “and I said, ‘I do.’

“Donald Trump tried to bully a foreign leader into creating a false smear campaign against me and my family,” Mr. Biden said in a fund-raising solicitation on Sunday. “He is intentionally misleading the American people in order to win four more years.”

Mr. Trump spoke with Mr. Zelensky in July shortly after the Ukrainian was elected as a reformer and inaugurated in May. The White House readout of the call that day said only that Mr. Trump congratulated him on his election and that the two “discussed ways to strengthen the relationship between the United States and Ukraine, including energy and economic cooperation.”

The Ukrainian readout of the call at the time, however, hinted at other topics, saying that Mr. Trump had expressed his faith in the new Ukrainian government to “complete investigations into corruption cases that have hampered Ukraine-U. S. cooperation.”

In his comments to reporters on Sunday, Mr. Trump said there was nothing wrong with the call. “The conversation, by the way, was absolutely perfect,” he said. “It was a beautiful, warm, nice conversation.”

Making an unscheduled appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Mr. Giuliani tried to focus attention on Mr. Biden’s actions rather than his own or the president’s.

In an 11-minute, often rambling interview, Mr. Giuliani delivered accusation after accusation against Hunter Biden, painting the former vice president’s son as a grifter and career criminal. “And the kid, unfortunately, is a drug addict,” Mr. Giuliani said.

He called out various Ukrainian officials and the Democratic donor George Soros by name as being involved in a vast criminal conspiracy, connecting the dots on “Ukrainian collusion” that was aimed at influencing the 2016 presidential election.

“When the rest of this comes out,” Mr. Giuliani said, referring to additional allegations about Hunter Biden’s business dealings in China, “this will be a lot bigger than Spiro Agnew.”

Mr. Trump, too, mentioned China and attacked Hunter Biden, saying he was unqualified to be making the money he did with his overseas ventures. “The son, he knew nothing, the son is a stiff, he knew nothing,” the president said.

Other than Mr. Romney, most Republican lawmakers remained silent over the weekend. “I can’t imagine why people have lost their minds so much over these, these daily reports of one thing or another,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said when reporters encountered him in Houston while waiting for Mr. Trump to arrive for a visit. “They seem to consume everybody’s attention in the news coverage.”

Mr. Cornyn demurred when asked whether a president should pressure a foreign leader to investigate a political rival. “I’m not going to speculate,” he said. “I think the president ought to be able to talk to world leaders and have a conversation without necessarily being public because that you need to have those discussions.”

Senator Patrick J. Toomey, Republican of Pennsylvania, said more needed to be known to draw a conclusion. “Look, it is not appropriate for any candidate for federal office, certainly, including a sitting president, to ask for assistance from a foreign country. That’s not appropriate,” he said on NBC. “But I don’t know that that’s what happened here.”

Emily Cochrane and Chris Cameron contributed reporting from Washington, and Michael D. Shear from Houston.

Comment's From Readers Of Article Are More Important Than The Article Itself:

"What I want to write is “When will even a *handful* of Republicans finally condemn and stop this president?” But we’ve been waiting for that moment for two and half years and it’s not going to come. The damage to our country and our democracy is probably irreversible. Norms have been destroyed. Republicans have not only learned that they can continue to deadlock Congress (as they have for years) they have now learned, from Trump, that they can play and even nastier and more lawless game with no repercussions. We are in real trouble."

"So first he says he had a "beautiful" conversation with the President of Ukraine, but never mentioned Biden, and would never do something like that. Now that what happened is slowly coming out, Trump now admits that he did bring up Biden, but that it was totally appropriate and wasn't an attempt to dig up dirt on a political opponent. We've seen this pattern of rolling disclosures from this administration before."

"Oh for crying out loud. This issue isn't complicated, brain surgery nor rocket science. If Trump is as innocent as he claims, then kick the complaint into the sunlight instead of keeping it hidden behind door #3. This continual Monty Hall version of "Let's Make a Deal" attitude is becoming as tiresome as it is lame. How about more of Bud Collyer's version of "To Tell the Truth"? Now that would be a refreshing change."

"once again, the "fake news" turns out to be the real news"

"I am getting tired of waiting for Democrats to up their game. They seem to be playing by the rules of 1980. I have pretty much given up listening to them saying they’re going to investigate things, because their investigations are so utterly pathetic. I fully expect this latest episode, with Trump and Ukraine, to blow up in the Democrats faces. Fox and the Swiftboaters will turn it into a big issue against Biden. And it will cost Biden votes. And Democrats will be shocked, shocked, that this happens. I want Trump out. But, boy, am I getting mad at Democrats. Their pathetic record since getting back the House is one reason why people are so disgusted with politicians. Trump has nothing to worry about. He’s playing a rotten game but at least he’s playing it well, and the Democrats are hopelessly inept at fighting him."

"Trump knows that the tapes will have to come out, so he's trying to spin his mentioning Biden as an offhand comment. However, he brought Biden up eight times. That wasn't a comment, it was an arm twisting rant. Brow beating a foreign leader into investigating a political opponent to benefit himself is an impeachable offense."

"For the umpteenth time, if the contents of the complaint is such "a ridiculous story, a partisan whistle-blower,” as Trump has told reporters in the Oval Office, then why not release the dang report, once and for all? Trump can't have it both ways and still expect folks to believe him - all of his posturing and denials and grandstanding on one hand while being resistant and balking at releasing the complaint on the other hand. If the contents of the complaint were not a threat to national security, I highly doubt an intelligence officer AND the inspector general would have been alarmed, stressing the urgency of the contents to be shared with Congress. Innocent people don't stonewall. Innocent people aren't fearful when the truth is on their side."

“The conversation I had was largely congratulatory, with largely corruption, all of the corruption taking place and largely the fact that we don’t want our people like Vice President Biden and his son creating to the corruption already in the Ukraine,” What language is this? The man is completely out of his mind."

"It is time, without delay, to impeach. Anything less is a dereliction of duty and a stain on our democracy."

"Of course he admitted it. If there is anything Trump is good at, it’s committing crimes out in the open and getting away with them. And if there’s anything his party is good at, it’s lying, cheating, aiding and abetting."

"Trump is the most profoundly ignorant, laziest and most blatantly corrupt US President ever. A total con man!"

"I understand Pelosi's reluctance to get behind impeachment proceedings. It's not going anywhere in the Senate, but if this is true she may have no other choice. Trump is off the rails and his arrogant disregard for the law has to be confronted, or who are we now?"

"Trump lives in his own little sordid make-believe world that he fully intends to drag all of us into. His "admission" that he tried to extort Ukraine to do opposition research for his re-election campaign is a variation of "I Could Stand In the Middle Of Fifth Avenue And Shoot Somebody And I Wouldn't Lose Any Voters". There's more than just a whiff of desperation in his attempts to goad Pelosi into an impeachment fight, which is the only way he can divert attention from his spectacular failure as President. If he can turn it into a Me-Against-the-World brawl played out at his high school spirit rallies, on twitter and Fox, he thinks he can claim his spotless record of serial failure is the doing of the Democrats and "the deep state" (aka the resistance or "rule of law"). This is Nero fiddlin' while America burns, hoping his ear-splitting cacophony diverts us from the fires, the smoke and horrific screams. The damage Trump has done to America, all of humanity, the fate of the earth and to history in just 3 years tells us how fragile and precarious are the operating ideals of democracy. America isn't Denmark, Hillary said. But there is something very rotten here."

[opedguy]

Letter Explains Comey’s Firing

LOS ANGELES (OnlineColumnist.com), Jan. 18, 2021.--When 74-year-old President Donald Trump leaves office 12-Noon Wednesday, Jan. 20, it ends an era of unprecedented government surveillance, exceeding the worst of the 1950s McCarthy era communist witch hunts.  During McCarthyism no U.S. president of presidential campaign was accused of conspiring with Russia, until Trump.  At the heart of the controversy was 60-year-old former FBI Director James Comey who was fired by Trump May 9, 2017, prompting former Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein to appoint 76-year-old former FBI Director Robert Mueller to investigate Trump’s campaign.  So, Trump leaves office having been harassed for his entire four years in office, without any consequences to any of the former Obama administration officials who participated in the illegal witch-hunt.  Contents of a letter that was never sent to Comey have now been revealed.     

        Comey was fired by Trump May 9, 2017 for egregious insubordination, running the FBI like his own Mickey Mouse club.  Before Trump was elected, there were already red flags with Comey’s erratic behavior.  During the 2016, Comey took center stage in the media over former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s email investigation, using an unsecured server to retain and delete emails while she ran the State Department.  Hillary blamed practically everyone for her loss to Trump Nov. 8, 2016 but especially Comey.  Comey made announcement about investigating Hillary only 10 days before the election, prompting Hillary to blame Comey for her loss.  While Trump was happy to benefit from Comey’s grandstanding, it was only a matter of time before Comey turned his ire onto Trump and his campaign.  Comey opened up a counterintelligence investigation into Trump’s alleged ties with Russia in 2016.  

           Former Mueller investigators recently revealed contents of the White House letter to Comey that was never sent.  Composed by Trump and his senior adviser Stephen Miller, the letter said Comey was unhinged.  “Your conduct has grown unpredictable and even erratic—including rambling and self-indulgent public performances that have baffled experts, citizens and law enforcement professionals alike—making it impossible for you to effectively lead this agency,” read the letter.  Just like Comey played kingmaker with Hillary, he tried to do the same with Trump with his illegal counterintelligence investigation AKA “Crossfire Hurricane.”  Comey’s probe used Hillary’s fake “Steele Dossier” as probable cause, given to him by the late Sen. John McCain (R-Az.).  Comey used his office to bully the Trump administration before summarily dismissed May 9, 2017.     

        No matter how out-of-control and deplorable Comey’s behavior, it was backed by the media and Democrats because it attacked Trump.  When Atty. Gen. William Barr said publicly April 10, 2019 that Comey spied on Trump’s campaign, Comey acted dumbfounded.  But Barr finally admitted that that his Crossfire Hurricane counterintelligence probe of the Trump campaign was not properly predicated based on Hillary’s Steele Dossier.  Comey denied everything after getting caught red handed.  What the unreleased letter said didn’t expose forcefully were Comey’s constant leaks of fake tidbits to the New York Times and Washington Post, giving him power to manipulate the press, more than willing to attack Trump.  Comey knew all about the active conspiracy inside the FBI to stop Trump from becoming president and once elected, to destroy his presidency.     

        Comey got away with murder until Trump fired him for running the FBI like his own private social club.  “You’ve shown a total inability to control leaks, both within and outside the agency.  As a result, intelligence—real and fake—has been weponized into an instrument of partisan warfare,” Miller’s letter said.  Trump and Miller didn’t say the obvious that Comey was the source of the leaks, feeding his oversized ego that he could control the news cycle, especially when it came to Trump.  Comey was protecting his conspiracy inside upper management at the FBI to defeat Trump but, once president, to get rid of him.  What’s truly sickening is that a vaunted U.S. agency like the FBI went rogue under Comey, deciding he was the one calling the shots in U.S. politics.  Barr, who headed the Justice Department, never held Comey accountable for egregious violations at the FBI.     

        Today’s media has so much hatred toward Trump they’re not concerned with the Constitution or the rule of law in the United States.  Concerned only with getting Trump out of office, the media succeeded, tossing their First Amendment role a government watchdog to the wind.  Comey got away with egregious Constitutional abuses with media complicity, all for one common purpose, to get rid of Trump.  “I have accepted the recommendations and you are hereby . . . removed from office,” the letter read, never sent to Comey.   Trump leaves office knowing that Comey’s only consequence for breaking the law and violating the Constitution was getting fired.  Trump paid a draconic price living through the unending Russian hoax and witch hunt against his presidency.  Since Christopher Wray took over for Comey Aug. 2, 2017, he’s done almost nothing to prevent future FBI abuse.

About the Author

John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news   He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma

.

[goldensunset]

anyone else get just the wildest sense of glee from watching two people get into a heated debate when you either disagree with both of them or don’t care about the subject

[anarkhebringer]

I’ve finally got another dream rambles post. It’ll be under a cut due to length, with a warning of body horror during a part of it.

Anyways, so it starts out being in what was supposed to be Animal Crossing New Horizons, except it was more a show? If that’s the way to word it? Everything was styled like in the game, but the original plot wasn’t there, and there was a new kind of tool type called “Godlike” that was a dark grey and red gradient. There was also new stuff you could craft, and I remember seeing a “Godlike Whisk” in my inventory. For a while it was just me randomly wandering, but then it suddenly cut to a scene where my character was in this room at night with a TV on in the middle of the room, put her hands out, and absorbed the energy of a ghost that was in there apparently. It was some big green glowing orb that appeared suddenly.

Then the dream suddenly cut again to this thing where these random guys were all going into a state of “hibernation” and being dropped out of planes into these snowy places , and I watched them all landing and bouncing and spinning around without any harm being done to them despite no parachute. They all looked completely different before the “hibernation” since I got to see pictures of them, but in that state they all looked the exact same, and looked so skinny and shriveled up that they could be compared to a mummy, but they all had extremely pale skin and some stringy strands of black hair. They also had no limbs and were like shriveled up little humanoid beans. There was one random part in the dream where they were saying good things about me from the Animal Crossing portion in letters they wrote before their “hibernation” for some reason?

Then comes the final and shortest cut, which was to what was supposed to be in The Sims universe during The Sims 2, but wasn’t tied in with the original plot and lore like the Animal Crossing portion. I only vividly remember seeing some cheesy-ass banner thing on TV advertising a presidential election of “Clinton vs. Bush” that looked like it was done in MS Paint. There was some statement of distaste from someone at the end that went something like “Clinton vs. Bush? If you’re all for that, I won’t be happy at all!” or whatever. 

And then my mother woke me up.

[thedivinemsem]

Outside, its literally the calm before the storm.  We have warm winds, a slight drizzle, and apparently something quite fascinating beyond the screenroom walls today.  This Christmas Eve calls for a lot of rain and high winds beginning around six pm and continuing into Christmas morning, with flash flood warnings already in effect.  I’m grateful I have nowhere I need to be, and I trust that the Grandfather Tree will stand up to the storm as it has so many times before.

I took my morning walk down at the river - alone as my friend has family commitments for the next few days.  When I’m by myself, my step count suffers as my normal pace is slower than hers, and I take the opportunity to play Pokemon Go as I wander since there is no conversation.  I’m not very good at spotting birds in the first place, nor identifying them once I do.  And that’s why I’m grateful for woodpeckers, because they are loud, large, and distinctive.  This morning I was treated to a Pileated Woodpecker choosing to feed on a dead tree not more than ten feet from me.  There was a lot of brush between us, so I couldn’t get a good photo....but I probably spent a good three or four minutes just watching him at work.  He alternated between drumming on the trunk and calling out his pleasure at whatever he’d found.

Also this morning, I dropped off some homemade fudge on a few neighbor’s porches.  In the past, my neighbor Dee and I used to leave a case of Coors for the neighbor between us this time of year.  We’d deny any knowledge of it and insist that it must have been the beer fairy stopping by. She died just a few days before Christmas last year and I miss her a lot.  

Which I guess, in a way, is a measure of a life lived well and with purpose.  I’ve said before, I think all we can wish for is to be remembered when we are gone.  And Dee was truly a shining star, wise and kind who will never be forgotten by her family or her friends.

My goodness this has turned into an unintended ramble.  Tis the season for deep thoughts, I guess. 

So I’ll finish with one more.  Although in terms of weather, this is the calm before the storm, I think that in many other ways, this is the storm before the calm.  At least I hope that it is - that the Covid 19 vaccine, the Brexit agreement, the collapse of Israel’s government, and our own presidential transition, although tumultuous, will take our world to a better place.

[brajeshupadhyay]

As US polls draw near, Joe Biden, in a rarity, attacks Donald Trump from battleground Pennsylvania

Joe Biden faced his first sustained questioning from voters as the Democratic presidential nominee Thursday, as Pennsylvanians pressed him on issues including health care, racism and policing at a CNN town hall-style event held less than seven weeks before Election Day.

At a gathering in Moosic, Pennsylvania, not far from his childhood home in Scranton, Biden — who played up his local, middle-class roots — sought at every opportunity to turn the focus to President Donald Trump’s stewardship of the coronavirus, casting the president as a callous leader who cannot empathise with the concerns of most Americans and who has exacerbated the hardships they face.

“You lost your freedom because he didn’t act,” Biden declared. “The freedom to go to that ballgame, the freedom for your kid to go to school, the freedom to see your mom or dad in the hospital. The freedom just to walk around your neighbourhood, because of failure to act responsibly.”

The appearance offered a test of his verbal agility less than two weeks before the first presidential debate, after Biden spent the summer largely off the campaign trail with limited and often controlled interactions with the news media. Headed into the evening, he may have benefited from the low expectations Republicans have set about his ability to communicate clearly, seeking to throw doubt on his mental acuity.

But as the night got underway, while there was the occasional tangent, Biden delivered a relatively energetic performance defined by withering criticism of Trump and palpable enthusiasm for connecting with voters after many months without much significant interaction with them, indicating to several that he would be open to follow-up conversations.

The setting reflected the extraordinary nature of campaigning in a pandemic: a stage was constructed in a parking lot at PNC Field, where the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre minor league baseball team plays. Biden and CNN’s Anderson Cooper stood a significant distance from each other, and the Democratic nominee often gestured with his mask in hand. Audience members listened from their cars, as if it were a drive-in movie, according to CNN. And voters stood at a distance from Biden as they asked him questions.

Biden seemed keenly focused on the location, making frequent references to his working-class ties as he sought to connect in a region where Trump’s populist message had significant appeal in 2016. The former vice president has long hoped to cut into Trump’s advantage with white voters without college degrees.

“Maybe it’s my Scranton roots, I don’t know — but when you guys started talking on television about, ‘Biden, if he wins, would be the first person without an Ivy League degree to be elected president,’ I’m thinking, ‘Who the hell makes you think I have to have an Ivy League degree to be president!’” Biden demanded. Numerous presidents have lacked Ivy League degrees, but he earned applause in the crowd.

“We are as good as anybody else,” Biden continued. “Guys like Trump who inherited everything and squandered what they inherited are the people that I’ve always had a problem with, not the people who are busting their neck.”

A number of Biden’s allies have urged his campaign to talk more about the economy, an area where Trump has traditionally had an advantage, according to polls. Earlier Thursday, as Trump’s campaign unfurled new ads focused on the economy, Biden’s advisers painted the president as an opponent of “working people.”

“I really do view this campaign as a campaign between Scranton and Park Avenue,” Biden said that evening. “All he thinks about is the stock market.”

“How many of you all own stock?” Biden continued. “In my neighborhood in Scranton, not a whole hell of a lot of people own stock.”

In a statement, Tim Murtaugh, a Trump campaign spokesman, said that Biden should have received more scrutiny of his plans and record on matters including the economy.

“This was classic Joe Biden: untethered to the facts, his own record, or reality,” he said in a statement.

Trump made his own campaign appearance Thursday in Mosinee, Wisconsin, where he spoke outdoors for more than 90 minutes to a crowd on a blustery airport tarmac just feet from a wingtip of Air Force One, which was parked behind him.

In rambling remarks, Trump warned that the 2020 election was a choice “between law and order on one side and chaos on the other".

“On 3 November, Wisconsin will decide whether we will quickly return to record prosperity or whether we will allow Biden and the Democrats to impose a $4 trillion tax hike, ban American energy, confiscate your guns” and “shut down the economy”, Trump said, in remarks that significantly distorted Biden’s agenda. He also proclaimed Speaker Nancy Pelosi “crazy as a bedbug” and said he looked forward to seeing what Vice President Mike Pence “does to” Biden’s running mate, Senator Kamala Harris of California, in their debate next month.

Biden, often seeming to be in a punchy mood, lobbed his own attacks on Trump’s sense of reality.

“He may be really losing it — he’s president,” Biden said, as he addressed the civil unrest that has played out in some American cities. “I am not the president. This is Donald Trump’s America. You feel safer in Donald Trump’s America?”

Biden’s appearance came as he has sought to centre the presidential campaign on the response to the coronavirus. On Wednesday, he stepped up his warnings that Trump was politicising the rollout of a vaccine, and at the town hall, he discussed the issue at length, stressing his deference to scientists even as he described the staggering uncertainties that would accompany the successful deployment of a vaccine.

The opinion of the federal government’s top infectious disease expert would be important, he said: “I don’t trust the president on vaccines,” he said. “I trust Dr Fauci. If Fauci says a vaccine is safe, I’d take the vaccine.”

Throughout the event, Biden blasted Trump’s handling of the coronavirus crisis — as he has many other times in recent months — and pointed to revelations from a new book by journalist Bob Woodward that the president knowingly minimised the risks of the coronavirus. He also sought to connect many voters’ questions back to that subject.

But the issues that arose were wide-ranging, and Biden, who visited firefighters after the event, seemed keenly attuned to the politics of Pennsylvania.

“I will win Scranton,” Biden later insisted to reporters, according to a pool report. “Listen to me. I will win Scranton. And we were losing Scranton and Lackawanna County till I got put on the ticket. This is home. I know these people.”

Asked by reporters whether he believed that he was the reason Barack Obama had won the county, he replied: “I know I helped in this county. I helped in this state. We were losing by seven points in Pennsylvania. I get announced as the candidate. Five days later, we were up by six.”

It was not immediately clear what polls Biden was referring to — a RealClearPolitics compilation of polls from the 2008 race, when Biden was added to the ticket, did not show Obama losing Pennsylvania in the general election.

In a critical battleground state that Trump won in 2016, one where hydraulic fracturing is both a contentious issue and a source of jobs, Biden declared that there was “no rationale” for eliminating fracking at the moment.

As Biden focused on Pennsylvania, Trump declared his love for the state of Wisconsin, although at times he had a curious way of showing it: he had to ask the crowd how to pronounce Mosinee and then did not repeat it himself.

“I don’t know why the hell I like Wisconsin, but for some reason,” he said, trailing off, as the crowd — in which many people did not wear masks — chanted, “We love you!”

Also Thursday, Biden embraced a proposed income subsidy that is a focus of growing Democratic support. The plan, an expansion of the child tax credit, would offer $3,000 per child a year ($3,600 for those under age six) for all but the wealthiest families — essentially creating a guaranteed income for families with children.

Analysts have estimated the move would cost roughly $100 billion a year, a significant sum but less than half the annual cost of Trump’s tax cuts, which mostly benefit the wealthiest Americans.

Katie Glueck c.2020 The New York Times Company

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