Today's one item about Trump: I am very confident that if the election were held today, Joe Biden would win with a wide margin. Which wouldn't mean D.J.T. wouldn't scream it was all rigged. About the safest prediction you can make for this election is that he'll do that. If he loses, he'll say it was rigged and that he really won. And if he wins, he'll say it was rigged and he really won by a massive landslide. Right now though, I trust this article over at Charlie Cook's Political Report that says that in the key battleground states, Trump seems to be stuck in the low-to-mid 40% range. I won't worry until I see that changing.

And hey, remember when the two worst things a Republican could say about a Democrat running for office was that (1) he was a Draft Dodger and/or (2) that "he hates the military"? Okay, that's more than one item but it's a development worth noting.

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Jeffrey Klein wrote to ask me what factors I will use in determining when to end my personal isolation here in the Fortress of Solitude. Well, the first and main one will be that my doctor will advise me it's okay. I have a real good doctor and while I don't have absolute faith in everything he says, I have way more faith in his assessment of a medical situation than in my own.

It looks like we may wind up with an array of vaccines and arguments as to which ones have been tested sufficiently and whether certain ones have been rushed to market too rapidly. Georgia may begin distributing one that California won't accept.

I'll wait and see what my physician says. I'll also wait and see what reasons, if any, I have for modifying my little isolation. (I am not always alone, by the way. I have carefully-selected friends visiting from time to time.)

Right this minute, I leave the house for walks, for doctor visits and for occasional shopping when deliveries won't do. Even after there's a vaccine around that my doctor says is good enough to inject into me, I bet he'll still suggest mask-wearing "just in case," especially since you won't be able to tell who's been vaccinated and who hasn't. Some folks probably won't get it no matter how safe and effective it seems to be because some folks feel that way about all vaccinations, even ones that have been around for years.

So I'll mask up and avoid strangers for a while. I also have an awful lot of hand sanitizer to use up.

Unlike a few friends of mine, I do not dearly miss dining inside a restaurant, nor do I miss traveling. I do miss being in the same room with certain friends but teleconferencing ain't that bad. I suspect that after The Pandemic is history, we'll still be doing way more of that than we ever imagined…and there will be more people working from home.

I doubt I'll be on an airplane for a long time. The next convention I might attend is WonderCon in Anaheim, which I drive to and which will not take place — assuming it does take place — until March 26-28 of next year. So I have plenty of time to decide about that and the operators of that event might even make the decision for me, sparing me having to think about it at all.

But right now, there's no place I want to go — no parties, no premieres, no live performances, no plays. The Magic Castle is closed and my reservation for the night before Halloween — which I made the day after Halloween last year — is probably no good. What I read about Las Vegas these days makes it sound like a place I don't want to be.

I'm thinking the folks who stage live performances have a vicious circle facing them. They don't want to put on plays (especially expensive ones) until they're confident audiences won't stay away for fear of being too close to strangers. But they won't know how many people feel that way until someone puts on some enticing shows.

I'm recalling when records were going away and I had to decide when to get a CD player. I'm also recalling when Beta was going away and I had to decide when to buy a VHS machine, when VHS was going away and I had to decide when to buy a LaserDisc player, when LaserDiscs were going away and I had to decide when to switch to DVDs, when DVDs started to give way to Blu-Ray…

In each case, I decided to make the leap once something came out on the new format that I really wanted and it wasn't available on the old format. I remember in the first switchover, they brought Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America, Volume 1 out on CD and it contained several tracks that hadn't been on the record album. That was when I knew I had to get a CD player. I expect to take that approach with COVID-19. I'll start attending live entertainment events when there's one that I just can't resist. Assuming my doctor doesn't advise against it.

There was no line to get into my local Costco yesterday and not much of one to check out even though I think they removed a few cashier stations so they could move the remaining ones farther apart. No free samples, of course…but they had plenty of hand sanitizer, masks, toilet paper and paper towels for sale. The last time I was there, which was in March, they didn't have the first two and they were rationing the last two. I didn't need any of those things then or yesterday but yesterday, they were totally out of two vital things on my shopping list.

So that was a disappointment and as I left, I thought there was another one: No funny anecdote to share here. But then outside as I paused to take a cell call, I began watching a man eat a Costco-sized slice of pizza with his mask on (see this tweet).  And as I ended the call but continued to watch the slice-eater, a lady stopped to ask where she could get a mask like mine.  I told her and she said, "You know, I don't like this whole mask thing but I suppose it's necessary."

I said, "Only if you care about silly little things like survival."  She chuckled and I added, "I don't think it's such a big deal to wear them."

She replied, "Oh, I don't mind wearing one.  I just don't like everyone else wearing them.  I like to recognize celebrities on the street and with everyone wearing masks, it's awfully hard.  Two days ago in Beverly Hills, I think I saw Martin Sheen but with the mask, you can't be sure."

Just then, someone walked by wearing not a mask but one of those transparent face shields.  She pointed to him and said, "See?  They oughta make celebrities wear those."  I thought that was silly but I also thought it might be easier to eat a slice of pizza with one of those on.

I wasn't going to post anything more about You-Know-Who today but our friend Shelly Goldstein has just released her newest video and it's a good one. Share it with someone who'll enjoy it or needs a reminder of what's at stake…

• This afternoon at a Costco, I saw a man eat an entire slice of their giant pizza without taking off his mask. He just squeezed it in behind the cloth, thereby doing something enormously healthy and enormously unhealthy at the same time.

Your one Trump link on this blog for today is to Robert Reich's list of 40 promises that Donald has broken. And none of them are small ones.

Thank you for all the nice comments on my overlong-but-fun Conversation with Max Maven. I know we sent some viewers scurrying to YouTube to check out some of the magicians we mentioned. Coming Up: On Tuesday, September 8, I will do a Conversation with Carl Gottlieb, chatting with a fine screenwriter (Jaws, The Jerk and many others), and a man who was on the premises or very close-by for some of the most important advancements in comedy since the sixties.

Then on Tuesday, September 15, there will be a Conversation with Dennis Palumbo. Dennis was my partner when I broke into writing for television and I'd say we'll discuss all the fights we had amongst ourselves but I don't think we ever had one. We parted friends and he went on to become a screenwriter (like of your favorite movie, My Favorite Year) and a mystery novelist and a psychotherapist, mainly for folks in show business who need such assistance. I'm sure he has no shortage of clients. You will enjoy this webcast but not as much as I will.

No plans for any more Cartoon Voices Panels yet. There will be more. I just don't know when. I have promised Shelly Goldstein she can interview me one week like Sergio did and I've also agreed to do one with Scott Shaw! so those lurk in my future. Several other fine folks have agreed but I don't have firm dates yet.

That's it for now. I am off to Costco where I expect to bring back cases of supplies, a rotisserie chicken and probably at least one Tales From Costco. I always come home from there with more anecdotes than paper towels.

I'm still wondering where all the great plate-spinners of the future will come from. I'm speaking of skilled artists like Charlie Callas…

On comic book message boards, I see a lot of what seems to me like misplaced, useless anger about comics done long ago. For example, in 1967, longtime Flash artist Carmine Infantino was promoted into a management position at DC Comics and no longer had time (or probably the interest) to draw the Flash comic. He had drawn all its previous issues since the hero was revived in 1956 so his style was very much a part of that comic.

As one of his first decisions in his new position, Infantino announced he'd selected Ross Andru to take over that strip. Ross was an experienced artist — a good one, I felt — but an odd choice. His style was quite different from Infantino's and clearly he was not selected to continue but to change the look and feel of that comic. If fans love something, they usually do not like having the look and feel of it changed on them. They often get mad…

…and in this case, at whom did they get mad? Why, at Ross Andru, of course, and some of the mad people couldn't have been madder if Ross had come to their homes and killed a beloved housepet or sibling. A few are still mad at him. A few weeks ago on Facebook, someone posted a message that read in part, "I'm furious at what Marvel is doing with the X-Men lately but it's still not as bad as when Ross Andru took over The Flash."

And just in case you missed the year mentioned above, let me remind you: Andru took over drawing The Flash 52 years ago. The man died in 1993. He was put on that comic by the guy he replaced and in the industry back then, freelancers didn't have a whole lotta say in their assignments. If the company wanted you inking Green Arrow, you inked Green Arrow. It seems to me that if you're angry that he didn't draw that comic like Carmine Infantino, your argument is with Carmine Infantino…who is also no longer with us.

Also: This was over a half-century ago. If Mr. Andru had robbed a liquor store or committed assault, the Statute of Limitations would long since have rendered his crime a distant memory. But getting assigned to the wrong comic? That's something you just don't forgive.

Richard Kelsey wrote to ask…

You have been to every Comic-Con and probably a lot of other comic conventions. Is shopping still a part of the convention experience for you? Is there still a comic or other type of collectible that you try to find when you go to a convention? Or is that no longer a factor for your trips to conventions?

If the latter, when was the last time that you shopped and found something at a convention and what was it?

Once upon a time, I bought lots of stuff at every comic convention I attended. Of course also, once upon a time, I had empty space in my home. For reasons of Nowhere To Put Stuff, I had to curtail my purchasing. Also, as I became more active in the business, I was placed on a lot of comp lists and as I wrote columns and blogged, I was on more lists to receive review copies. So some things I might once have purchased came to me free and some, I just decided I could live without.

I stopped filling in missing issues in my comic book collection. At some point, I reached the stage where anything I wanted but didn't have was going for a price I wouldn't pay. Many of you are nodding your heads in understanding. So I wasn't buying old stuff and the new stuff I wanted and didn't receive gratis could be easily ordered online. My purchasing at conventions went way, way down…some years, to Zero.

An awful lot of what I did buy at the Comic-Con in San Diego when I did buy, I bought from Bud Plant's wondrous display. For a long, long time, Bud Plant Books had the biggest/best spread of new books filled with comics or new books about comics. I also bought a lot of stuff from Bud via mail order…which I preferred because I didn't have to carry it around the con for hours, then back to my room, then down to my car (assuming I had a car there that year) and then into my house. A couple of years there, I walked around Bud's booth, took notes and then placed an order they would ship to me when they got back to their base of operations.

Bud finally stopped exhibiting at San Diego. 2017 was his last year there and with great luck, that was the year I decided to take along a certificate I had from him for credit. I'd found it some time earlier in a folder in my file cabinet and thought, "Hey, I ought to take this down to the con and use this up." And then I forgot and I forgot and I forgot until finally in '17, I remembered.

I have no idea why but I had around $250 worth of credit on it. I took the slip to his booth and asked one of Bud's salesfolks if there'd be any problem honoring it. It was dated 1993. The fellow's eyebrows hit the ceiling but he checked with Bud and Bud said sure, of course, fine. I then wound up buying about $600 worth of books and paying the difference so I think — I hope — Bud made a profit on my redemption. That was the last purchase of anything notable (anything except food and beverage) I recall making at a convention. It was also the first in quite some time.

I'm going to try limiting myself to one Trump-related post a day. Today, it's this article by William Saletan. One of my long-held peeves — and I'm sure I've mentioned this before, not in reference to our current White House occupant — is folks who talk tough. As I've learned, talking tough and being tough are often two separate things and in my experience, most who talk tough aren't tough. They're just trying to scare others from challenging them or crossing them or somehow putting them in a situation where they would need to actually be tough. Because they aren't and they're terrified of being exposed in that regard.

On to matters that are happier to think about…

Tonight at 7 PM PDT, I'll be chatting online with Max Maven, a superb magician. There are some magicians who just dazzle you with their sheer skill. There are some who make you laugh. There are some whose performances make you think, often for long periods after you see them do what they do. Max checks all three boxes with what he does on stage. You can watch our conversation right here while it happens or come back later and watch replays-on-demand.

I'm lining up future guests. Just got a commitment from someone I really, really wanted but he can't do it until October. I've also had requests for more interviews of me and I'll schedule another one of those before long.

A lot of questions are coming in about the platform I use for these webcasts. When I started, many pandemic months ago, I looked at several options and selected Streamyard, which is one that a lot of webcasters are using. I use that for webcasting and Zoom for business-like private conferences. Since I decided on Streamyard, many new options have entered the marketplace and all the ones that were already there have done considerable upgrading…so I have no idea what I'd pick if I went shopping today. But I'm very happy with Streamyard.

I have a Zoom conference at 11:45 and I need to shave 'n' shower and pick out something nice to wear from the waist up so I'll be back here later with something to say. Assuming I think of anything…not that that usually stops me.

New York Times obit for Joe. It's a shame there probably won't be a big public memorial for him. A lot of people loved Joe and I would have liked to hear more stories about the man. He was a very important guy in his field.

I've tried unsubscribing to these things but I continue to get them. Maybe I continue to get them because I've tried unsubscribing to them…

Mark, you've been identified as one of President Trump's BEST supporters, and we wanted to reach out to let you know about your EXCLUSIVE offer.

President Trump originally authorized a 600%-MATCH on all contributions, but we're SO CLOSE to CRUSHING our $30,000,000 End-of-Month Goal that he's decided to up the stakes. FOR ONE HOUR: all contributions will be 700%-MATCHED!

That's right, Mark. When you make your next contribution, it will make 700% MORE of an impact.

This offer is only available for the NEXT HOUR, so you need to act fast.

Please contribute ANY AMOUNT RIGHT NOW to help us CRUSH our End-of-Month Goal and your gift will be 700%-MATCHED.

The President will be reviewing the updated list of Deadline Donors later tonight. Will he see your name on it?

I don't quite get how this works. Trump says to his guys, "Tell them that for every $100 they give, we'll get $700 instead of $600." Who from? It makes it sound like Trump is donating the money to himself but only on the condition that I send some money first. If I don't send him the $100, he won't give himself the other $600.

And this e-mail arrived in my e-mailbox around 4:00 in the morning so by the time I saw it, the one hour was long over. So I guess now if I were to give him the $100, he wouldn't give himself the extra money so what's the point? Oh, if only he'd made his generous offer to himself good for six hours.

But I do believe Trump's personally going to look over the list of donors tonight and notice that my name is not on there. And he's going to turn to some aide and say, "What's with Evanier? He used to be one of my BEST supporters." And maybe someone will gently break the crushing news to him that I've never given him a nickel and I've always thought he was a horrible, destructive human being.

Is there anyone more appropriate to introduce a great plate-spinner than an Ed Sullivan impersonator?

I started to write a piece about Trump and about a third of the way into it, I suddenly got sick of thinking about the guy and stopped. Sometimes, it's so on my mind that I have to write about it just to get it out of my head. Sometimes, I can stop by just stopping.

I've been out of the house a bit lately to some stores, two "to-go" restaurant pick-ups and even one car wash. I don't think I saw one person not wearing a mask even though a few of them don't seem to understand that it's supposed to cover at least the bottom half of your nose. I even saw a couple of homeless people with them on.

Got a message from a guy writing to ask how come I haven't written anything condemning the violence we're seeing in the streets a lot these days. Has it come to that, America? That if someone doesn't explicitly state that they're against looting and vandalism and shooting people in the back, they just might be in favor of them? Hey, in case I forget to mention it, I'm against the torturing of puppies. And all those other things.

For those of you who asked: I thank everyone who wrote in with suggestions about my broken DVD player. A lot of the suggestions — like just throwing it in the trash — had occurred to me. But one person — Mike Frank — recommended a repair service that ain't that far from me and the folks there say that if I bring it in, there's a good chance they can get it working. We'll see. Either way: Thanks, Mike!

Just had a lovely phone call with my ol' neighbor Betty Lynn, who sounded great on the phone. I couldn't get through to her yesterday because she got so many Happy Birthday calls…and couldn't go out to celebrate because — well, you know. But I told her than when all this COVID stuff is over, I'll get back to North Carolina to see her again. This is the most optimistic thing I've written in months.

No further Cartoon Voices Panels are scheduled. There will be more…I just don't know when. But I'll be doing my Tuesday Night Conversations for a while and this Tuesday, I'll be talking with a great magician and a very wise gent named Max Maven. Magic is one of my interests and if I had fewer interests, I'd probably be a lot better at all of them than I am…but magic especially.

One of the topics I want to explore with Max is the difference between the magician lying when he says "I just put the three of clubs in my pocket" and lying when he says "The person I selected from the audience to aid in this illusion is a complete stranger and we have never met or planned anything." I have on a couple of occasions been an Audience Plant and I still feel guilty about it. I also want to discuss the many parallels I, at least, have observed between performing magic and performing stand-up comedy…and many other topics. Join us if you can.

• You ever get the feeling that somewhere, the Republican Party we've known for so many years is bound and gagged and being held as prisoners while Trump and his minions impersonate them? The guy playing Lindsey Graham sure ain't convincing in the role.