Dispatches from Vilnius

Kamala took to the airwaves this week to counter all the accusations that she has been ducking the press.  The big one was a special 60 Minutes segment on Monday night where she batted away the more pointed questions and fielded the more genial ones.  She also had interviews with Howard Stern , The View and a podcast Call Her Daddy , which seemed to generate the most controversy largely because the host, Alex Cooper, normally doesn't interview politicians, but made an exception given the historic nature of Kamala's campaign.  Oh, and she had a beer with Stephen Colbert. It's hard to say what the impact of these interviews will be on the campaign.  Trump provided a running commentary for his MAGA folk, filled with the invectives we have come to expect from the anointed one.  He had a chance to do a separate interview for 60 Minutes but bailed at the last minute , saying he wasn't going to allow himself to be fact checked on air.  If there is one thing these MAGA folk

More and more, Trump resembles that man on the street corner holding up his apocalyptic sign.  His "normies," as Jonah Goldberg calls his normal defenders, dismiss the vile rhetoric as "trash talk," saying they wish Trump would "stick with the issues" but that we shouldn't put too much stock in his vitriol.  The question remains is this doomsday talk working for Trump?  Can he really pull that many persons out of their bunkers and basements to vote for him on election day, which is now only 32 days away, with most states already engaged in early voting? At this point, he needs them to offset all the Republicans who have openly expressed their support for Kamala.  It's an ever growing list that now includes Jeff Flake , the former Republican Senator from Arizona, a crucial state.  The Trump campaign dismisses these defectors as RINOs but surely they still have some pull in their states.  Every vote counts, especially in a presumably close election.