These strange political times just seem to get weirder

It seemed fitting that voting in California began last week amid a string of bizarre developments.

That’s the kind of year it’s been.

How strange was this past week?

We could count all the ways, though that would take a good deal of time. But looking at just a smattering of things that happened over the last seven days shows convention was repeatedly turned on its head, at times pushing reality into the surreal. In some cases, it was downright scary.

That may seem par for the course these days. After all, the previous week featured the off-the-rails presidential debate followed by Trump’s announcement that he tested positive for COVID-19. What could top that?

Maybe last week, in which:

• A top firm on Wall Street, a land where investors tend to lean Republican, said a Democratic election sweep would mean a quicker economic recovery.

• The San Diego Unified School District pulled a letter signed by the president of the United States from free meal boxes for families because the message was deemed, in essence, unsafe.

• President Donald Trump’s campaign suggested that he gained a political advantage by contracting COVID-19, because Democratic nominee Joe Biden hadn’t.

• The FBI foiled a plot by violent anti-government extremists to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and overthrow several state governments.

That just scratches the surface. Individually, some of last week’s developments were big news. But collectively, they are even more jarring.

Just two days before the Whitmer plot was revealed, a Department of Homeland Security report stated that White supremacists remain the “most persistent and lethal threat” to the United States.

“I am concerned about any form of violent extremism,” wrote acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf. “However, I am particularly concerned about white supremacist violent extremists who have been exceptionally lethal in their abhorrent, targeted attacks in recent years.”

Various news organizations reported that a whistleblower had said the report’s release had been delayed in an effort to benefit Trump. The president, who has been criticized for not speaking out strongly against White supremacists,

has yet to comment on the report.

In the Whitmer case, six people were charged federally with conspiracy to kidnap, and seven other people, associated with the militia group Wolverine Watchmen, were charged by the state, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced on Thursday.

In April, demonstrators — some of them heavily armed — protested stay-athome rules enacted by Whitmer early in the coronavirus pandemic. Trump later tweeted “LIBERATE MICHIGAN” and posted similar messages about other states.

San Diego Unified’s safety concern had to do with one aspect of the COVID-19 precautions mentioned in the Trumpsigned letter, which recommended that people “consider wearing a face covering when in public.”

Superintendent Cindy Marten said masks are required in California and on every one of the school district’s campuses. She further said the “science is clear” that wearing a mask helps prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Trump’s reluctance to go all in on masks has been central to criticism of his response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

The Trump campaign’s director of press communications, Erin Perrine, said the president’s approach to the pandemic has benefited from him catching the disease.

Trump “has experience now fighting the coronavirus as an individual. Those firsthand experiences, Joe Biden, he doesn’t have those,” Perrine said on Fox News Monday, the day Trump was released from Walter Reed.

“Those firsthand experiences are what are going to get President Trump four more years,” she added. Never mind that the president received treatment that is unavailable to just about every other American.

The day after Trump returned to the White House, he made a political move that was said to surprise and perplex even some of his closest advisers. He pulled the plug on coronavirus stimulus talks with Congress, tanking the stock market temporarily. The president has attempted to reverse course and is again seeking a stimulus deal.

Independent of that, Goldman Sachs said a Democratic sweep in November likely means a faster economic recovery, according to CNN. While Biden’s proposed tax increases would eat into corporate profits, a large stimulus package and other big government spending would be more likely with Democrats in control.

Meanwhile, for the first time in a decade, big Wall Street investors are giving more money to Democrats than Republicans, according to National Public Radio, citing a report by the Center for Responsive Politics, a research group that tracks money in politics.

Among the odder things that surfaced last week was a report that U.S. Surgeon General Vice Adm. Jerome Adams had been cited in Hawaii for breaking the state’s coronavirus rules. Adams and two other men were taking photos in Kualoa Regional Park. The problem was the park was closed due to the pandemic and they were spotted by a police officer.

Granted, that didn’t stop the world from turning. It just underscores how weird the week was. It’s unclear whether the officer knew who he was citing, and a spokesperson for the surgeon general said Adams wasn’t aware the park was closed, according to The Washington Post.

Still, “America’s Doctor” was cited for a misdemeanor violation of COVID-19 safety laws — while in Hawaii to work with Gov. David Ige on COVID-19 prevention.

Then there’s the political scientists who laid out an election scenario that is otherworldly, based on what could happen if there’s a tie vote in the Electoral College. That’s only happened once before, in 1800. Now that we’re all “Hamilton” buffs, we have been reminded that a presidential election ultimately could be decided by Congress — and how messy that can be.

No, this isn’t about the possibility of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi assuming the presidency under the Presidential Succession Act. That’s old hat.

The title of the piece by professors Robert Alexander and David B. Cohen published by CNN? “How Donald Trump could win the presidency — and have Kamala Harris as his VP.”

Improbable? Very much so.

Possible? Of course. It’s 2020, when it seems everything — everything — is just nuts.

Tweet of the Week

Goes to the Los Angeles Times (@latimes) on Friday. Just imagine.

“Today would have been John Lennon’s 80th birthday.”