The rally

That will be today's election, since I'm a day behind with this rally shit.

"It's going to take at least four more years to drain that swamp," Pence says in introducing Trump.

Trump starts on script, praising Bishop and expressing the "unwavering solidarity of the American people" with communities hit by Hurricane Dorian.

Trump says he won "one of the greatest" elections. He says this way "the fake news" won't say, like, George Washington won a better election. (Washington did not face competitive elections.)

Trump correctly says that African American unemployment rate is at a record low, at least under the current 70s-onward methodology, and then incorrectly says Asian American unemployment is at a record low; it's slightly higher than it was at the end of the Obama era. Trump, as usual, needlessly exaggerates a great number for him, falsely saying women's unemployment is at the lowest level in "72 years." Aside from earlier in his term, it's the lowest in 66 years.

Not to disparage African Americans, but my guess is that most of their employment is in service and low paying jobs.  We often hear about high employment but rarely about the type of employment it is.

Trump: "Our evangelicals are here tonight, and they're all over the place." Trump claims "the other side" is "not big believers in religion," if you "listen to some of them."

Trump usually claims his wall is going up "very fast" or "rapidly." This time he said "going up very big." (Zero new additional miles had been built as of August; 60 miles of replacement fencing had been built; some is big.)

Trump says there is "a lot of illegal voting going on" in California. As always, there is absolutely no evidence for this. Trump baselessly alleged mass voter fraud in California while campaigning in a special election necessitated by credible allegations of Republican ballot fraud in North Carolina.

There's a medical issue in the crowd. The rally pauses. Trump breaks the silence to say this happens because people line up so long to get in.

Sir Alert: Trump says that since the weather in the state was bad (though it's fine in Fayetteville), people told him "maybe we could skip North Carolina today, sir," but he said "no thank you." (This tale of him rejecting advice not to come has become a staple of his rallies.)

Trump, thanking a long list of people, shouts out Republican congressmen Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and Devin Nunes. He congratulates Nunes for being an early attacker of James Comey, when it "wasn't in vogue."

 Trump gives a shoutout to his children, whom he says love America, and then to Diamond and Silk, to whom he says he was alerted by the First Lady. There are loud cheers. "They are incredible. Incredible people," he says.

Trump says that, in many cases, "it's our allies that took the greatest advantage of this country," but not under his watch.

Trump says China has had its worst economic year in "57 years." It is 27 years, according to official data. There is no apparent reason for Trump to have made it 35 years, 50 years, 52 years, 54 years, 57 years or 61 years, all of which he has done in the last few weeks.

"We're putting up miles and miles" of wall, Trump says, though he has not added any additional miles. He says that by the end of next year it'll be between 400 miles and 500 miles of "serious wall."

The president is talking about his hair. He says it might not be great, but "it's better than most of my friends' who are the same age. A lot better. A lot." There are mild cheers.

Jesus wept.

Trump repeats his usual false claim that unions "want" the USMCA. There are a lot of unions, but it's generally opposed by the labor movement. AFL-CIO prez Richard Trumka said it needs to be changed to be enforceable; without that, "it's a disaster for workers." Trump falsely claims Canada and Mexico have already voted on the USMCA. Mexico's Senate has ratified it but Canada's Parliament hasn't.

Overdose deaths dropped last year for the first time in 28 years, according to preliminary CDC data. Trump said it's the first time in nearly 31 years. He does this kind of pointless exaggerating in every rally speech.

Trump is telling his now-regular story about an unnamed businessman he hates and who hates him who is nonetheless working for his reelection because of how radical the Democrats are. 

"We'll always protect patients with pre-existing conditions...you have my word," Trump says as he supports a Republican lawsuit seeking to overturn the entirety of Obamacare without putting forward a plan to preserve those pre-existing protections if the suit succeeds. 

Trump: "We are keeping even more promises, by far, than we made, or than we promised. So many more. So many more. Sooo many more."

How do you keep a promise you didn't make?  He's just that amazing, I guess.

Trump repeats his usual false claim that people had been trying to get the Right to Try law passed for "45 years" (he often says "44"). These laws are a newish idea; the libertarian Goldwater Institute started pushing at the state level in this decade.

Trump, defending his spending, says "we had no choice; we had to rebuild our military." (A minority of his deficits are related to military spending; tax cuts are biggest contributor.) He says, "You know, budgets are fine. I love budgets. We'll get to that, don't worry about it."

 Trump on how he gets NATO members to increase their military spending: "King! You gotta pay!" He claims that unnamed foreign leaders told him nobody has ever asked them to do this before. In fact, Obama and Bush both hectored allies to boost spending. Trump falsely claims that NATO spending was declining until he came in. It rose in 2015 and 2016, before Trump took office, after NATO members recommitted in 2014 to their 2%-of-GDP guideline. Increases have been faster under Trump, but they were happening before.

 Trump, putting his hands together in a prayer gesture, claims that his opponents or the media, I'm not sure, have been saying, "Please, please let there be a recession, please."

Trump: "Under the normal rules," he'll be out in 2024, before the 2026 World Cup, "so we may have to go for an extra term." There are cheers. He says people are "going crazy" over this, and are going to say "he's a dictator," but "I'm only kidding." 

Trump says Bill Belichick is a very good coach. He then talks about ending AIDS.

! Trump on his decision to weaken energy efficiency rules for light bulbs: "I'm not a vain person...But I look better under an incandescent light than these crazy lights that are beaming down." Trump is selling his decision to reverse an environmental regulation by telling his supporters they'll look better without it.

Trump has concluded. It was the same dishonest stuff as always. Only real new thing was his vanity-centric defense of his decision to weaken efficiency standards for light bulbs.

UPDATE:





UPDATE:  Bishop won.  Typical Trump...