Trump sticks by his losing message: Fauci and the scientists are “idiots”

[View in browser]( [Mother Jones Daily Newsletter]( October 19, 2020 Clearly, our president is having a Normal One. Today, he unleashed a tweetstorm in which he [dunked on]( the very lukewarm "October surprise" of Hunter Biden's laptop, [made fun of]( the 79-year-old Dr. Anthony Fauci for throwing out a less-than-perfect first pitch at a Washington Nationals game, and called Chris Cuomo [a name]( so offensive to the CNN anchor as to have sent him into a [public tirade]( in the past. Internally, Trump has kept up his schtick of [lying and denying]( any discord among his staff as he makes a last-ditch effort to convince swing-state voters to sign up for another four years of chaos and misery. It's going to be an exhausting two weeks ahead of the election. Buckle up. —Abigail Weinberg P.S. Last week, my colleague Ben Dreyfuss wrote about how infuriating it was to learn that [Facebook intentionally made changes]( to show you less news from Mother Jones. And it is infuriating! But it's also been inspiring to know that our readers have our back. We've got less than two weeks left in our fall fundraising drive, and it would mean a lot to all of us if you're able [to pitch in and help us reach our $350,000 goal with a donation today](. (Thank you so much to everyone who already has!) [Chronicle Books]( [Top Story] [Top Story]( [Trump Sticks by His Losing Message: Fauci and the Scientists Are “Idiots”]( Two weeks before the election, the anti-science president refuses to ditch the themes that have imperiled his campaign. BY INAE OH [Trending] [Here's a long list of shady financial mysteries Trump still refuses to explain]( BY DAVID CORN AND RUSS CHOMA [New eyewitness accounts: Feds didn’t identify themselves before opening fire on a Portland antifa suspect]( BY BRYAN DENSON AND CONRAD WILSON [A radical housing activist wants to upend Oakland government from the inside]( BY JAMILAH KING [Science and democracy actually have something very important in common]( BY ADAM SOBEL [Chronicle Books]( [Health & Environment] [Special Feature]( [On Climate, Amy Coney Barrett Demurs, "I'm Not a Scientist."]( Ah, that old chestnut. BY REBECCA LEBER [Fiercely Independent] Support from readers allows Mother Jones to do journalism that doesn't just follow the pack. [Donate]( [Recharge] SOME GOOD NEWS, FOR ONCE [See the Big Winners of Nikon’s “Small World” Photo Competition]( It wasn’t much of a break, but in my few days off, I went for a hike, saw the sun, and returned to a broken fridge and leaking freezer and everything in it thawed or spoiled, including some damn good spanakopita (recipe at recharge@motherjones.com). I also learned that Facebook had, you know, juiced its algorithm to show you less from Mother Jones and more from dubious conservative sites, siphoning our revenue and reach—deliberately. I knew the deck was stacked but didn’t know how [sabotaging]( the dealer was, how in the tank the house was, or, like my broken appliances, how energy-sucking and wasteful some of those behind the foul play are. Not everyone at Facebook, no, but I do feel some validation for having rained on Facebook’s FACEBOOK [stunt]( last year. Engineering your newsfeed to actually harm you is more enraging than anything stylistic, but it’s of a piece with a company that would default to SCREAMING AS IF VOLUME WERE SUBSTANCE. It’s not a pretty picture, but there are pretty pictures: [Here are some](. Nikon announced the winners of its Small World contest, and the photos are stunning. Scientists and photographers had submitted more than 2,000 images of microscopic wonders from 90 countries: a knotted human hair, the wings of a butterfly, a moth, a dinosaur bone, slime mold, and a 20 million-year-old winged ant trapped in amber resin (not Mark Zuckerberg). Not all is doom and gloom at the granular level. Sometimes the small picture is as revealing as the big. [Here’s that look](. Enjoy your 20 million-year-old glimpse, and if you want that spanakopita recipe, let me know. —Daniel King Did you enjoy this newsletter? Help us out by [forwarding]( it to a friend or sharing it on [Facebook]( and [Twitter](. [Mother Jones]( [Donate]( [Subscribe]( This message was sent to {EMAIL}. To change the messages you receive from us, you can [edit your email preferences]( or [unsubscribe from all mailings.]( For advertising opportunities see our online [media kit.]( Were you forwarded this email? [Sign up for Mother Jones' newsletters today.]( [www.MotherJones.com]( PO Box 8539, Big Sandy, TX 75755