Trump has always been unfit and monstrous, and that’s been obvious to virtually every person paid to talk about politics. Now he’s at his purest and worst, demanding others be exposed to disease so he can pretend to be tough in ornate rooms...

while (maybe literally?) feverishly tweeting conspiracy theories and spreading misinfo about a pandemic that rages on and on because of his indifference and incompetence. It’s a crisis. There’s no defense. Even indulging the defense by apologists is humiliating at this point.

It is playing pretend to say that what we have now is anything approaching a contest to duke out our differences! Even that is debasing, when one campaign believes its only path is to lie about everything while stirring chaos and fear around democracy itself.

This is nothing we don’t know. But it is striking today. Trump can still eke out a win. There may already be enough rot and propaganda to swamp politics and democracy. But that is what this is about now. There’s no real argument. The last bits of edifice are gone.

It’s not a race inside of democratic politics, it’s a race for democratic politics. I was glad to see Biden speak to this at Gettysburg. I hope Kamala wipes the floor with Pence. But I think a lot of people who are not partisans but cover politics are willing to see it now too.

Not about objecting to “false equivalence.” Even that gives Trump the credit of being inside of a debate. Things are not so rosy! You are either honest about what is happening right now, or you are a victim of it. Those are the options.

Here is a picture of a dog.