[Republishing this edition to correct an error: Donald Trump is not a “convicted ex-felon.” He’s a convicted felon … and, yes, also an ex-president. Chicago Public Square really, really, really regrets the mistake.]
[Correction: Midnight!] Noon today’s Midnight tonight’s the deadline for nominations in the Reader’s Best of Chicago awards. Chicago Public Square would be honored to get your nod—twice, as Best Email Newsletter and Best Independent Website, both in the “City Life” division. And now the news:
Trump’s threat to reporters. The convicted felon told a Pennsylvania rally Sunday that he wouldn’t “mind that so much” if an assassin were to shoot at him “through the fake news.”
■ His campaign spokesman deployed some tortuous logic in defense.
■ Trump also said he regrets surrendering the White House after he lost.
■ Harold Meyerson (no relation) at The American Prospect: “The growing violence of his speech… is a very conscious strategy to turn out those Trump supporters who are least likely to vote.”
■ Journalist and author Jonathan Alter: Trump’s “weird thing for Hitler … is not exaggerated.”
■ John Oliver on HBO last night: “Trump will do anything if it gets him applause. He’s like Tinkerbell if Tinkerbell also kind of quoted Hitler and called Neverland a sh*thole country.”
■ USA Today’s Chicago-based columnist Rex Huppke: “This election, distilled down, is decency vs. indecency. The choice could not be more clear.”
‘Cranks in charge.’ Popular Information’s Judd Legum dissects the threat of Trump’s pledge to give Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “control” of all federal public health agencies.
■ Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch: The Republican Party’s biggest gaffe of 2024: “Telling the truth about … the horrors of its real agenda.”
■ Satirist Andy Borowitz: “Trump Enraged After RFK Jr.’s Worm Endorses Harris.”
Trump’s equal time. After Vice President Harris’ surprise appearance on Saturday Night Live, NBC made it up to the ex-president by giving him time during Sunday Night Football and a NASCAR race.
■ Here’s the SNL skit featuring Harris.
■ Real CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins was in the audience as SNL’s Chloe Fineman played her.
■ It may have seemed a joke, but an SNL skit about a New York City Council candidate with the unfortunately familiar name Harvey Epstein is about a guy really on the ballot.
■ Media watcher Oliver Darcy lists “The 27 Most Consequential Media Figures of the 2024 Election.”
■ Columnist Jeff Tiedrich has had it with mainstream media types—like The Washington Post’s often-wrong Kathleen Parker, whose 2024 message he summarizes thusly: “Both sides suck, and there’s no one to vote for.”
The Wisconsin county that could decide it all. The Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet reports from Waukesha County—a battleground county in a battleground state.
■ Declaring it “one of the most important things I’ve done,” a longtime dyed-in-the-red Wisconsin Republican state senator says he’s voting for Harris.
■ Ctrl-Alt-Right-Delete columnist Melissa Ryan: “I won’t lionize Republicans who are supporting Harris … but … we need them.”
‘I did not see this coming.’ Trump niece Mary L. Trump says a surprise poll out of Iowa signals that “Harris’ electoral power has been underestimated.”
■ Law professor Joyce Vance smells Republican desperation in Georgia.
‘Harris is going to …win big.’ Filmmaker and author Michael Moore—who, you may recall, predicted Trump’s 2016 win: “Contrary to the breathless punditry of how ‘dangerously close’ this election is—It’s a tie! It’s a 50-50 country! It’s neck-and-neck! It’s kneecap-to-kneecap! Trump’s gonna win!— … Trump[’s] going to lose.”
■ Pollster Rachel Bitecofer: “Dude, where’s my man wave?! It’s starting to look like America understands the assignment.”
‘Election deniers are out in full force. We went where they did.’ Wired surveys the “vast networks of true believers, convinced beyond all reason that the last election was stolen … preparing to undermine this one.”
■ Stop the Presses columnist Mark Jacob appeals to the mainstream media: “Don’t help Trump lie about the election.”
■ Bloomberg’s Austin Carr, who’s spent lots of time lately learning how voting machines could be hacked, concludes they’re too dumb to pose a risk.
■ Reason to fret if you’re a fan of The New York Times’ election-predicting needle: The Times’ Tech Guild went on strike this morning.
■ Notus: Democrats are preparing for the worst after the election with extra security, legal insurance and disguises—including an “insurrectionist getaway costume.”
Polls open … at 6 a.m. tomorrow, Election Day, in Illinois.
■ Jonathan Alter again: Take a sick day Tuesday, “stop wringing hands and start ringing phones and doorbells.”
■ Don’t go into that booth unprepared. Check the Chicago Public Square Voter Guide Guide.
On another note. Axios spotlights a national campaign to station musicians—from all genres and all political bents—outside polling places Tuesday.
■ Performers—individual musicians or ensembles—can sign up here.
‘Our response should not be to collapse in a heap and declare ourselves terrorized. I refuse.’ Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg counsels Jews intimidated by the shooting of a man on his way to a West Ridge synagogue.
■ The Tribune assesses the impact of “a decades-long uptick in attacks on transit workers.”
■ CWBChicago: “A man … repeatedly accused of attacking women on CTA trains has been detained … after prosecutors charged him with assaulting five more women since summer.”
Bucket alert. Rain in Chicago’s forecast could bring flooding …
■ … ahead of which the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District has issued an “overflow action alert,” imploring residents of the region to ease up on showers, baths, dishwashing, clothes-washing … and flushing.
■ A senior researcher at the nonprofit Revolving Door Project, scrutinizing the cozy relationship between business and government: “Trump’s hostility to climate action … threatens to saddle ordinary people with rising energy, food, and housing bills for years to come.”
From Chicago’s gangs to show-biz pinnacle. Chicago-born Quincy Jones—whose music has touched virtually any generation still around—is dead at 91.
■ He told GQ in 2018 that Chicago in the 1930s was awful: “We saw dead bodies every day. Guys hanging off of telephone poles with ice picks in their necks.”
‘You want to know that you made America love again.’ In Chicago Saturday as part of what’s billed as his final tour, Stevie Wonder encouraged his fans to vote.
■ Bloomberg: In the age of streaming, greatest hits albums have lost their mojo.
‘The one newsletter I make a point to read every day’ — Fresh praise from a reader for this service. Your kind words—and your financial support—keep it coming.
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Thanks. Greg Brewer and Ron Schwartz made this edition better.