I could live to be a thousand and not understand how more than 40% of Americans can still look at Donald Trump and see a president. While I’ve covered the unreality news bubble that some of these voters live in, it would be a mistake to think that’s the only thing propelling Trumpism. In the NYT, Thomas B. Edsall provides a very interesting look at why Trump maintains support in some circles, and why Biden’s lead is far from making this election a sure thing. “The question of the hour, though, is what happens if and when Trump himself is taken out of the political equation. In what guise might the ethnonationalism he has mobilized re-emerge? Can Biden contain the forces that are now on the loose? How likely is the country, or the world for that matter, to reach a state of near ungovernability? Is there any candidate, or any movement, that represents a way out of today’s extreme partisanship? Or are we venturing toward the point of no return?”

+ “Those who would minimize the threat that Trump poses take solace in his personal weaknesses: his laziness, his ignorance of the mechanics of government. But the president is not acting alone. The Republican politicians who normally might have been expected to restrain Trump are instead enabling and empowering him.” David Frum in The Atlantic: Last Exit From Autocracy. America survived one Trump term. It wouldn’t survive a second.

+ Think these are exaggerations? NYT: “The Justice Department sued a onetime close friend and aide to the first lady, Melania Trump, on Tuesday to try to recoup the profits from a tell-all book that disclosed embarrassing details about her, the third lawsuit in recent months where the department has taken on a White House antagonist.”

+ Unmasking probe commissioned by Barr concludes without charges or any public report.

+ A new Harvard study shows that President Trump is the main vector of misinformation about mail-in voting. Folks, this all amounts to Authoritarianism 101.