Down here at the Salon we’re popping popcorn and making lemonade.  We’ll have plenty for Michael Cohen’s  I Fall on Trump’s Sword show watch party today.  We’ll even rent you a lawn chair for a very small sum.  In the meantime, we’ve noted that North Carolina election fraudster, Republican Mark Harris, has withdrawn from the revote after his very own son confirmed that he had warned his dad not to hire “Mr. Dowless”, a shady convicted felon who acted as an operative stealing absentee ballots from elderly and infirm voters.  Harris won the election by 905 votes, but only by winning a heavily Democratic county; the skewed vote attracted the attention of voter officials prompting the now well-known investigation.

Withdrawing from the race, Harris has cited “health” issues.  Clearly, it’s unhealthy to commit blatant election fraud.  I’m now wondering if the NC attorney general is going to show up next.  Not likely, is my guess.

The White House released Jeff Sessions undated resignation letter today, throwing the government once again into absolute chaos after a frenzied election day that ended less that 12 hours earlier.  After forcing out Sessions, Trump named a radical partisan talking head, Matthew Whitaker as interim AG.  Whitaker has often talked on television about how the Mueller investigation is too far reaching and that he would have indicted Hillary Clinton for her emails.  What a great choice as the US’s top cop.  The drinking game continues where you name the absolute worst person Trump could name for a top job, then when that person is named, DRINK!  This is how the day began (after he threatened to use his political power in the Senate to retaliate if House Democrats dare investigate him for his numerous violations of the rule of law and common decency.

It’s clear now that Trump is going to try to shut down the Mueller investigation.  I’m hoping Mueller is about done, if he’s not, he better hurry.

Tomorrow, we’ll be talking about Trump’s meltdown during the press conference today.  That’s worth a post only about that.

As we all know, Cruz beat Beto last night in a tighter race than anyone could have imagined a year ago.  In his victory shout, Cruz actually offered a fragment of an olive branch to Beto supporters saying, “I want to also say millions across this state were inspired by his campaign. They didn’t prevail and I am grateful the people of Texas chose a different path.   But let me say to all of those who worked on his campaign, all of those who were inspired that I am your Senator as well. My responsibility is to represent every Texan.”  Questions for Raphael – does this mean you’re going to stop trying to destroy health insurance and public schools in Texas?  I doubt it.  Are you going to stop demagoguing and spending all of your time running for president in Iowa?  No way.

In more dark news, Kim Olson lost to the worst human being in Texas, Sid Miller, and all other statewide offices were kept in the death grip of deplorables.  It’s so depressing.  I’m reading that turnout was even larger than in 2014 AND 2016, but straight party voting was the kiss of death to really good statewide candidates on the Dem side.

One really bright spot, though, was that “Liberal Lizzie Fletcher” decisively beat John Culberson.  Lizzie is a real breath of fresh air, and the message was clear that Houstonians are sick and tired of being unrepresented by an unresponsive, out of touch career politician.  Don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out the door, John.

Dems also had strong showings in Dallas and Tarrant Counties as well as in Harris and Fort Bend. At a minimum, the Dems wrested control of the House of Representatives from Republicans, so at least one part of the legislative branch will begin doing its job holding His Orangeness in check.  That should prove to be ugly, but I’m looking forward to the entertainment value.

All in all, though, I am personally sick to death of Texas being controlled by stupid people.  I’m sick and tired of the Texas Democratic Party being the millstone around great candidates necks instead of the wind at their backs.  I’m tired of poor turnout that simply hands races to the Repubs.  Yeah, I’m still in the ditch, but I’m still here.

NBC News is calling the race for Raphael Cruz over Beto.  It was a good run, and super competitive.  Can you imagine how well we’d do if most Texans actually f**king voted?  Jack Daniels, here I come.

Career liar and all-round dirtbag James O’Keefe is at it again.  His ironically named company Project Veritas, which has actually nothing to do with Veritas (truth), released another of his highly edited and misleading undercover videos, this time accusing staffers working for Beto O’Rourke using campaign fund to buy…wait for it…diapers and baby food for a legal charity in El Paso to help immigrants stuck there.  In his normal hyperbolic style, O’Keefe ominously narrates the highly edited video to mislead people into believing that something illegal was going on, which, of course, was a lie.  O’Keefe is well known for blatant lying and law-breaking while trying to trap people into compromising situations to make them look bad.  The tactic works only with people who agree with him, and sometimes, like in the case of the community service organization, ACORN, the lies work.  The vast majority of the time, though, his fiction draws laughter and derision.

This video is one of his silliest, where O’Keefe accuses Beto’s staffers of illegally helping charities who help immigrant refugees.  There is certainly nothing wrong with their activities, and certainly not illegal.  Predictably, right wingers went nuts crying foul and demanding an investigation.  Cruz is being all sniffy on Twitter about it, lapped up by his sycophants.  More fun to whip up outrage over a fake issue rather than defend his own record.

This kind of dishonest “reporting” in which O’Keefe engages is a cancer.  Funded by big right wingers allows that cancer to metastasize, widening the gap between truth and manure.  O’Keefe is over his eyeballs in manure, and his work shows it.

The Caravan; mobilizing 5,200 federal troops to the border; executive order to end birthright citizenship.  Besides the “…gleeful cruelty and dickishness,” as Jon Stewart describes Trump’s behavior, these moves are simply pandering to the Knuckledragger GOP Base to drive them to the polls. This “crisis” is, yes, I’m going to say it, “Trumped up” by Trump doing the bidding of his enfant terrible aide, Stephen Miller, resident white supremacist.  It’s all nonsense, based on lies and exaggeration.  On November 7, all this will go back into the normal background noise, just like in 2014 when the Ebola outbreak in the US and ISIS fighters on the border ceased to exist on November 5, the day after election day.

After much consideration and contemplation, I have determined that the American electorate is stupid.  It has to be whipped up into a frenzy to just go to the neighborhood polling place to cast a vote.  Apparently, politicians have figured out that scared voters are active voters.

Stupid.