The only thing worse than having Donald Trump gallivanting off to his luxurious golf resorts every weekend is having him in the White House doing more harm to the country. He has already spent about thirty-one percent of his presidency (175 days) at Trump owned properties like Mar-A-Lago. It’s an unprecedented negligence of duty for the alleged Commander-in-Chief, but a welcome relief to the nation and, most likely, the long-suffering staff at the White House. Now if we could just get him to stop tweeting as well.
In addition to his vacation getaways, Trump is a frequent flyer on Air Force One to political events across the country. On Friday he posted a message on Twitter announcing that he will be appearing at a tremendous gathering of his true believers in Tampa Bay, Florida next Tuesday. That will mark his twenty-third purely partisan revival meeting this year alone. That averages out to three times a month that the President has assembled his staff, security detail, and transportation crews to venture from Washington on the taxpayers dime, delivering nakedly partisan speeches to adoring throngs of Deplorables. These are expensive excursions that every American is footing the bill for. While some costs are reimbursed by Trump’s campaign committee, the trappings of the presidency are borne by us hard working rubes, most of whom voted for Hillary Clinton. And if you want to know what Trump thinks about forcing this financial burden on regular folks, just refer back to his tweets on the subject when Barack Obama was President:
Taxpayers are paying a fortune for the use of Air Force One on the campaign trail by President Obama and Crooked Hillary. A total disgrace!
On Friday Trump had a surprise phone-in interview with his shadow chief of staff, Sean Hannity. Among the things they discussed were the upcoming midterm elections. Most prognosticators are predicting a massive Blue Wave that will sweep the Democrats back into the majority in the House of Representatives, and perhaps the Senate as well. But Trump has a different opinion. He believes that the power of his personality will shock the experts and produce a glorious Republican victory. Who knows? Maybe he’s right. And no Democrat should get complacent about winning given the unpredictable nature of this electorate. But in the furtherance of his goal, Trump told Hannity (at about 26:05) that “I am going to work very hard. I’ll go six or seven days a week when we’re sixty days out.”
So what he’s saying is that he’s going to take a leave of absence from the presidency to become a full-time campaign shill. This isn’t really new. Last December his people said that he intends to spend more time campaigning. But this does present some problems. Does he think the country will just wait around for two months until he’s through politicking and returns to the Oval Office to see if he has any messages? Will Vlad know where to reach him? And when, for the love of God, will he have time for golf?
Why he needs to take these measures is puzzling. His rallies to date have been carbon copies of each other where he does and says virtually the same thing every time. It’s just like his Twitter endorsements of GOP hopefuls that are veritable robo-tweets on behalf of interchangeable Stepford Republicans. And for the most part, he’ll talk more about himself than the the candidate he’s suppoedly there to support. But he will play all the hits (“Crooked Hillary, Build the Wall,” and the epic “Witch Hunt”) while castigating the ever-present media as “the enemy of the people.” These affairs are so mindlessly repetitive that they could be performed with a mannequin and tape loops. And his glassy-eyed disciples wouldn’t know the difference.
However, at least the country will know where he is and that he won’t be able to do as much damage as he would while playing president and barking orders from the big chair in the Oval Office. And he won’t be cozying up to foreign dictators and selling out the country to our enemies. Of course, he could still relay messages to them from the stump, and they would be listening while waging another cyber war against America during an election. So we’ll have to alert wherever he is. Because we know that Trump and his lackeys won’t be.
Posted by Mark NC on July 27, 2018 at 11:53 am.
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On Laura Ingraham’s Thursday night Fox News program she hosted former federal prosecutor and Fox contributor, Andrew McCarthy. The segment was focused on the recent bombshell disclosure about Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen. The report alleges that Cohen is prepared to testify that Trump knew in advance about the meeting his son and senior campaign staff had with Russian operatives pitching negative information from Hillary Clinton’s stolen emails.
Cohen’s testimony would make Trump’s repeated prior claims of having no knowledge of the meeting a lie (Trump lied? Shocking, isn’t it?). On Friday morning Trump reiterated his ignorance of the meeting in a tweet that also disparaged Cohen. But all of that was of little concern to Ingraham and her guests. For the most part the conversation was typically defensive of Trump and sought to malign Cohen’s credibility. Ingraham even offered the long-ago debunked excuse that the meeting was only about Russian adoptions and was an attempt to lobby Trump’s people to support repealing the Magnitsky Act that imposed sanctions on Russia. Don Jr’s own emails refuted that red herring with a subject line that read “Russia – Clinton – private and confidential.”
In addition to trying to dismiss and trivialize the significance of the Cohen revelations, Ingraham and company likewise argued that there wasn’t anything wrong with the apparent collusion by Trump with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election. She actually defended the practice of getting campaign dirt from hostile foreign countries. Although she did manage to criticize Clinton in a bizarre rant (video below):
“Hillary Clinton paid for dirt that was assembled by the Russians in the form of the Steele dossier. She actually went further than meeting with someone. Her people actually paid for it. They got dirt and then it ended up making its way all the way through the U.S. government.”
Ingraham is to truth what Donald Trump is to, well, truth. Clinton did not pay for “dirt that was assembled by the Russians.” Her campaign paid an opposition research firm whose activities were first funded by a conservative Republican website. That firm hired a former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, to gather information about Trump and his associates. It was Steele, an American ally who the FBI regarded as credible and trustworthy, who assembled information that he obtained from his sources. The Russians had nothing to do with “assembling” the data, and Clinton had no interactions with Russians or Steele. And while portions of the dossier were cited in FISA warrant applications, they were merely a part of the evidence that the government presented.
So Ingraham was just mouthing off with a flurry of false, right-wing, Trump-sponsored talking points. And if that wasn’t bad enough, her guest, McCarthy, concurred with the opinion that there was nothing to see here:
“I don’t think that it’s bad if campaigns are turning to foreign governments for dirt. It’s not collusion. It’s not something that’s impeachable. It’s icky. But that’s what this is.”
Actually, when campaigns turn to foreign governments for dirt, that absolutely is collusion by definition. It is also conspiracy to aid and abet a foreign government’s interference with an election. And that’s both illegal and impeachable. But I’ll give McCarthy credit for at least admitting that “It’s icky.” I guess that’s a legal term that Fox News contributors use to sound smart.
Monday morning Donald Trump held hands with his bestie, Vladimir Putin, for the duration of a surreal press conference wherein he repeatedly took Russia’s side on every issue (here are some must see excerpts). It was a festival of betrayal the likes of which have never been seen.
The reaction to this internationally televised farce was nearly unanimous disgust and, for most Americans, anger and embarrassment. Trump refused to condemn Russia for interfering with our election. He dismissed his own intelligence agencies in favor of Putin’s promises. He kept bringing up debunked conspiracy theories about Democratic computer servers and Hillary Clinton’s emails.
It was a pitiful sight that marked Trump as the deceitful dotard that he has become known to the world as. And he received the reception that he deserved from most rational observers. Which, of course, leaves out Sean Hannity. On his radio show Monday morning he unleashed an extended rant defending Trump and denigrating his critics. That included some of Hannity’s Fox News colleagues. Hannity said in part:
“These Republicans have been so pathetically weak. They have been so feckless. They have been so visionless.”
And it only got worse from there. Let’s review just who Hannity is referring to, and what they said that rattled Hannity so:
Abby Huntsman: No negotiation is worth throwing your own people and country under the bus.
Stuart Varney: It was not a very forceful presentation from President Trump with Putin standing right next to him. Not forceful at all.
Neil Cavuto: Trump’s performance was disgusting. I’m sorry. This is the only way I feel. It’s not a right or left thing to me. This is wrong. A U.S. president on foreign soil talking to our biggest enemy…is essentially letting the guy get away with this.
Trish Regan: This was clearly not his best performance… He should have defended us! He should have defended his own intelligence community.
General Jack Keane: What happened today is stunning and disappointing.
Brit Hume: Because Trump is unable to see past himself, he sees the Russia meddling investigation as only about him and the collusion claim, and thus calls it a witch hunt.
Shepard Smith: Shameful, disgraceful, treasonous. Three of the descriptions of what Trump did today in Helsinki.
John Roberts: There is a growing consensus tonight across this land that the President threw the United States under the bus.
And those are just the folks from Fox News. Republican politicians like John McCain, Jeff Flake, and Lindsey Graham weighed in as well. Even the Worm of – I mean the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, distanced himself from the Trump train wreck. It’s no wonder that Trump chose Hannity for his post-summit interview, which was so lame it doesn’t even warrant a review. But it was probably just the sort of tongue bath that would restore Trump’s orange glow.
The long-anticipated (well, not really that long) summit between Donald Trump and his boss, Vladimir Putin, is now history. And history will surely record this as one of the most troubling displays of subservience to a foreign enemy by an American president ever witnessed. Trump’s flagrant deference to Putin throughout the press avail following their suspiciously private tete-a-tete should horrify every American.
There is no better way to illustrate just how dangerous Trump’s Putin-worship is than by simply transcribing his own words. They reveal a man who is locked in the throes of advanced senile dementia. What follows are the verbatim responses to selected questions by our brazenly traitorous president as he cowers before the dictator he idolizes and embarrasses America before the entire world:
QUESTION: Mr. President, you tweeted this morning that it’s U.S. stupidity, foolishness, and the Mueller probe that is responsible for the decline in U.S. relations with Russia. Do you hold Russia at all accountable for anything in particular. And, if so, what would you consider that they are responsible for? TRUMP: Yes I do. I hold both countries responsible. I think that the United States has been foolish. I think we’ve all been foolish. We should have had this dialog a long time ago. A long time, frankly, before I got to office. And I think that we’re all to blame. I think that the United States has now stepped forward, along with Russia. And we’re getting a chance to do some great things. Whether it’s nuclear proliferation, in terms of stopping. Have to do it. And ultimately that’s probably the most important thing we can be working on.
But I do feel that we have both made some mistakes. I think that the probe is a disaster for our country. I think it’s kept us apart. It’s kept us separated. There was no collusion at all. Everybody knows it. People are being brought out to the fore, so far as I know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. And they’re gonna have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. It was a clean campaign. I beat Hillary Clinton easily. And frankly, we beat her – and I’m not even saying from the standpoint – we won that race. And it’s a shame that there can be even a little bit of a cloud over it. People know that. They understand it. But the main thing we discussed also- zero collusion. And it has had a negative impact on the relationship of the largest nuclear powers in the world. We have ninety percent of nuclear power between the two countries. It’s ridiculous. It’s ridiculous what’s going on with the probe.
Notice that he didn’t answer the question as to what responsibility Russia has for the decline in U.S. relations. He’s putting all the blame on the U.S. Outside of a few vague references to “both” sides, every example is one that holds only America accountable. And then he wanders off into a defensive posture concerning his collusion with Russia during the 2016 election and the tainted victory he still can’t stop obsessing over.
QUESTION: Why should Americans and why should President Trump believe your statement that Russia did not intervene in the 2016 election? Do you have any evidence that U.S. intelligence agencies have provided? And would you consider extraditing the twelve Russian officials that were indicted last week by a U.S. grand jury? TRUMP: Well I’m gonna let the President (Putin) answer the second part of that. But as you know, the whole concept came up, perhaps a little bit before, came out as a reason why the Democrats lost an election which, frankly, they should have been able to win because the electoral college is much more advantageous to Democrats, as you know, than it is to Republicans. We won the electoral college by a lot. 306 to 223, I believe. And that was a well fought battle. We did a great job.
And frankly, I’m gonna let the President speak to the second part of your question, but just to say it one time again, and I say it all the time, There was no collusion. I didn’t know the President. There was nobody to collude with. No collusion with the campaign. And every time you hear all of these – twelve and fourteen – it’s stuff that has nothing to do with – and frankly they admit that these are not people involved in the campaign. But to the average reader out there, they’re saying well maybe that does it doesn’t and even the people involved, some told mis-stories. And in one case the FBI said there was no lie. There was no lie. Somebody else says there was. We ran a brilliant campaign and that’s why I’m president.
Once again, without addressing the actual question, Trump is fixated on his election fetish as he hijacks a question directed at Putin. And he continues to try to absolve himself of his obviously guilty conscience with regard to colluding with Russia.
QUESTION: President Trump, just now President Putin denied having anything to do with election interference in 2016. Every U.S. intelligence agency has concluded that Russia did. My first question for you, sir, is who do you believe? My second question is, would you now, with the whole world watching, tell President Putin, would you denounce what happened in 2016, and would you warn him to never do it again? TRUMP: Well, let me just say that we have two thoughts. We have groups that are wondering why the FBI never took the server. Why haven’t they taken the server? Why was the FBI told to leave the office of the Democratic National Committee? I’ve been wondering that. I’ve been asking that for a month. And I’ve been tweeting it out, and I’ve been calling it out on social media. Where is the server? I wanna know where is the server? And what is the server saying.
With that being said, all I can do is ask the question. My people came to me – (Director of National Intelligence) Dan Coats came to me and some others – they said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin, he just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be. But I really do wanna see the server. But I have confidence in both parties. I really believe that this will probably go on for a while. But I don’t think it can go on without finding out what happened to the server. What happened to the servers of the Pakistani gentleman that worked on the DNC. Where are those servers? They’re missing. Where are they? What happened to Hillary Clinton’s emails? Thirty-three thousand emails gone, just gone. I think in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily. I think it’s a disgrace that we can’t get Hillary Clinton’s three thousand emails. I have great confidence in my intelligence people. But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.
In a stark diversion from the question, Trump veered off into an incoherent rant about the DNC server, a wholly imaginary controversy (you can find the truth about the server matters here and here). But more worrisome is Trump’s explicit renouncement of American intelligence. He very plainly took sides with Putin saying that, despite the unanimous conclusions of his own intel resources, he doesn’t “see any reason why it would be” Russia. His manic obsession with some nefarious servers is rooted in ludicrous conspiracy theories. And he still can’t let go of the non-issue of Clinton’s emails, which he says “in Russia they wouldn’t be gone so easily.” That’s more proof that he prefers the Russian model of tyranny to America’s democracy.
Trump goes on to say that he has “great confidence in my intelligence people,” but that that was overridden by his admiration and awe that “Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today.” Well, in that case we should all just let it go. Would Putin lie to us? And just before cutting off any further questions, Trump interjected a totally off-topic swing at Peter Strzok, who recently made the GOP inquisitioners in Congress look like rabid fools.
What we all witnessed in this press conference was the public Trump literally bending over for Vladimir Putin and choosing to trust our enemy more than our own intelligence professionals and patriots. Which has to make one wonder what happened behind the closed doors of the Treason Summit. And this is not just the opinion of partisan lefties determined to destroy Trump. Immediately following the press conference many conservative pundits and politicians spoke to the horror they just suffered through. They include: Neil Cavuto, Brit Hume, John Roberts, and Abby Huntsman of Fox News. And Republican senators Jeff Flake and Lindsay Graham Even Dick Cheney’s daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney. And to top it all off there is this exchange between the press and Putin that tells the whole story of collusion:
QUESTION: Did you want President Trump to win the election? And did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? PUTIN: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.-Russia relationship back to normal.
Notice that Putin appears to have answered both parts of the question: his preference and his directions. And if that isn’t enough for the highly complicit congressional Republicans to finally get off their asses and remove Trump from office, than there is absolutely no hope left for their cursed souls.
Beginning in 2004, and continuing for the next decade, Donald Trump was the host of a television reality game show known as “The Apprentice.” His hosting duties were minimal as he generally appeared only the the opening sequence and a staged “board meeting” at the end. So like most of Trump businesses he merely lent his name to the venture, collected a paycheck, and went off to play golf.
That’s pretty much what Trump has done to the presidency. His name is widely promoted as he tries to take credit for anything positive that happens – or even that doesn’t happen, but which he says happened anyway. At the same time he lays the blame for anything negative on anyone but himself. Then he gets paid, mostly in the form of profits from his private enterprises that flagrantly exploit his position. And then he trots off to his golf resorts where he continues to advertise his Trump-label businesses.
In his free time Trump lounges in the White House executive suite where he watches Fox News and live-tweets what he sees. It doesn’t matter that the many of those Fox stories are riddled with inaccuracies and lies. In fact, that only makes it more consistent with the Trump brand. So it should surprise no one when Trump rattles off delusional commentaries on Twitter that are as far removed from the real world as the Chronicles of Narnia. Case in point:
The Rigged Witch Hunt, originally headed by FBI lover boy Peter S (for one year) & now, 13 Angry Democrats, should look into the missing DNC Server, Crooked Hillary’s illegally deleted Emails, the Pakistani Fraudster, Uranium One, Podesta & so much more. It’s a Democrat Con Job!
This tweet reads like classic fantasy fiction. There is literally nothing in it that approaches the truth. But it does employ many of the tricks of effective storytellers. It could actually be a pitch for a new primetime fairy tale coming to a TV near you this fall. Let’s break it down:
Trump begins by introducing the heartwarming love story of FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page. For some reason Trump and the right-wing press have become obsessed with their (alleged) relationship. It’s almost as important in the narrative as the content of their clandestine love letters. And as with any good fantasy, it is infused with phony characterizations and motives, but no substantive evidence of any wrongdoing. Despite repeated harping on this plot point for months, no one has shown that there was any bias whatsoever in their work product.
Then Trump unveils the story’s villains, which he has dubbed “the 13 Angry Democrats.” This theme is taken from Trump’s deranged perception of the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his investigators. It’s a brilliant plot twist because what could be more frightening than angry Democrats? Their “strongly-worded memos” are like swords of vengeance that can pierce the heart of our sainted hero. How could Trump ever face this baker’s dozen of bad guys when all he has is the entire force of the United States government. So unfair. However, Trump missed a gap in this plot point that ignores the fact that there are actually more than 65 million angry Democrats, and that isn’t even counting Independents and more than a few patriotic Republicans.
From here Trump’s story heads into episodes that explore specific adventures in the Trump World fantasy. First comes “The Mystery of the Missing DNC Server.” The mystery is that the server was never missing at all. Trump’s frequent assertions that the FBI was denied access to it are a figment of his imagination. The DNC actually worked with the FBI and a private security firm to deliver everything that the FBI required.
Next we delve into “Crooked Hillary’s Illegally Deleted Emails.” This is a yarn so unsettling because it involves a retired grandmother and her horror-filled communications that are mostly about vacation plans and grocery lists. And to top it off, none of these dastardly emails were deleted illegally.
At this point in the story, Trump introduces a super-villain know only as “The Pakistani Fraudster.” Well, the notorious PF was actually just the tech guy who worked for a Democratic member of Congress. He was caught committing a garden variety bank fraud that was unrelated to anything political. But it sure has a scary name.
Finally, Trump dives into a controversy that caught the whole nation in a web of utter indifference. “The Uranium One Affair” concerned allegations the Hillary Clinton secretly sold America’s supply of uranium to the Russians. Why that would bother Trump is unexplained. He loves the Russians and wants to be besties with Vladimir Putin. Nevertheless, when Clinton does it there must be a devious intent to harm America. What makes this affair all the more curious is that there actually wasn’t any uranium at all sold or otherwise provide to Russia. None, zero, zip. The transaction involved a a Canadian processing facility located in the U.S. that was sold to a Russian energy company. And the sale was approved by nine separate government agencies of which Clinton’s State Department was only one.
Trump wraps up his scenario with vague references to John Podesta (who was the victim of a Russian hack) and a “Democrat Con Job.” The latter is Trump’s way of projecting his own motives onto his perceived enemies. Taken in full, “The Rigged Witch Hunt” promises to be a wild romp that splashes Trump’s famous lies and paranoid delusions across the small screen. If you’re the sort who enjoys getting lost in total fantasy that has no basis in truth whatsoever, “The Rigged Witch Hunt” may just be the entertainment event of the season for you. And you can catch it all on Fox News without having to pay anything extra for one of the elite Hollywood movie channels.
On Sunday morning Fox News aired another in its long-running series, “Everybody Loves Donald,” wherein the the lead character, Donald Trump, is slathered in a tsunami of wet kisses by a hopelessly infatuated State TV hostess. It was as embarrassing an episode of propaganda as has ever been broadcast on American television. And it can hardly be called an interview since there wasn’t a single question that didn’t lavish praise on the President or lambaste his critics.
The love interest in this story is Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, who used to be a financial reporter, but has fully transformed into a Class A Trump-fluffer. Her dialog with Trump could not have been more obsequious (look it up Donnie), as she endeavored to canonize the President and adoringly agree with every lie told. See if you can figure out why Trump loves Bartiromo so much.
During this tongue bath Trump said that “The European Union is possibly as bad as China.” And that “Everybody who bought a Harley-Davidson voted for Trump.” Really? Even the Hell’s Angels and the Mongols? He said that he believes Kim Jong Un’s promise to denuclearize North Korea, even though evidence shows he’s ramping up. When Trump says “There’s no Russia with me,” Bartiromo subserviently replies “I know.” When Trump, lying about the Democratic National Committee, says they “threw them [the FBI] out of the office,” Bartiromo dociley agrees. And she affirms Trump’s oft-repeated lie that Hillary Clinton disposed of subpoenaed emails.
But that was nothing. At one point during the love-fest, Trump and Bartiromo engaged in a conversation wherein Trump made an overt threat to any American citizen who dares to disagree with him (video below):
Bartiromo: Here we see your lovely press secretary getting asked to leave a restaurant. We see Peter Fonda, Robert De Niro having ‘Trump Syndrome.’ They’re going crazy. All of this vitriol in this country. As the commander-in-chief, as the President of this great country, what can you do to bring us together?
Oh, the poor beleaguered (and lovely) Sarah Sanders, an unabashed lie dispenser, has been the victim of naughty Hollywood actors going crazy. Bartiromo completely ignores the fact that Trump himself is the source of more vitriol than anyone currently in public life. The chat continues, but note that Trump never answers the question about how he would bring the country together. In fact, he goes the other way entirely with a not-so-subtle threat:
Trump: Well some of them do it for publicity, I hate to say it. Some of them do it for publicity. Now the Hen [It’s the Red Hen] restaurant I thought was terrible with Sarah, I thought it was terrible. Bartiromo: It was awful. Trump: I think some of the things that are said are terrible. And our people are so incredible. You know, there’s probably never been a base, in the history of politics in this country, a base like my base. I hope the other side realizes that they better just take it easy. They better just take it easy because some of the language used, some of the words used, even some of the radical ideas, I really think they are very bad for the country. I think they’re actually very dangerous for the country. Bartiromo: And all the while you’re creating economic growth and you’re creating job opportunity.
Thanks, Maria, for inserting that non sequitur lie about the economy in response to Trump’s political intimidation. For Trump to imply that “the other side…better take it easy” blatantly suggests that there will be consequences if they don’t. And those consequences will be mete out by his historically unprecedented base. In fact, there are historical parallels to Trump’s base. They are often referred to as Brown Shirts, Storm Troopers, and now Republicans.
And thanks also to Donald Trump who, in response to a question about bringing people together, managed to send an undisguised message of hostility and potential violence. His battle warning to anyone who opposes him should make decent Americans cringe. But it should also make them mobilize for the upcoming election in November in order to insure a massive renunciation of Trump’s anti-American regime and his transparent aspirations for a brutal, totalitarian tyranny.
No one with any credibility or knowledge of democracy would describe Donald Trump as a champion of freedom or self-government. His entire presidency has been a quickly metastasizing tumor of fascism. He exudes the totalitarian tendencies of the dictators he most admires: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi Jinping, etc. And he boasts about advancing initiatives that are overtly discriminatory and suppressive.
Yet somehow he continues to be treated as if he were a legitimate leader of a democratic nation. Never mind his repeated assaults on the free press, which he has tagged in Stalinist terms as “the enemy of the American People.” This is the ideology of tyrants, which it is clear that Trump aspires to become.
One of the more obvious signs of Trump’s despotic desires is his personal and slanderous attacks on political opponents. It’s been a year and a half since his inauguration and he is still clamoring to “lock up” Hillary Clinton, despite no evidence of any wrongdoing on her part other than challenging Trump. But he is going even further than that by making absurd characterizations of the agenda of Democrats. One example that perfectly illustrates this came in a tweet Tuesday morning:
The face of the Democrats is now Maxine Waters who, together with Nancy Pelosi, have established a fine leadership team. They should always stay together and lead the Democrats, who want Open Borders and Unlimited Crime, well into the future….and pick Crooked Hillary for Pres.
Trump is ranting about recent comments by Rep. Maxine Waters that called for people to make their feelings known to Trump’s surrogates when encountered in public. That’s nothing more than good old fashioned dissent as guaranteed by the Constitution. Of course Trump falsely accused Waters of advocating violence, which she didn’t do. But then he made his own unambigous threat of violence in response. That’s nothing new for a man who told his supporters assault protesters at his rallies, and then promised to pay their legal bills if they did.
But the claim by Trump that Democrats “want Open Borders and Unlimited Crime” is an unprecedented misrepresentation by an American president. It goes without saying that no Democrat has ever advocated for open borders. Not one, ever. And certainly no Democrat has ever done or said anything in support of crime, unlimited or otherwise. This rhetoric is just plain stupid and would be rejected by all reasonable people.
The problem with this particular moment in history is that Trump has succeeded in aggregating a following of brain-dead cultists who believe everything he says literally. He affirmed that during the campaign when told a rally that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose support. And just yesterday he bragged about a supporter who was asked if there was anything Trump could do to lose her support and she answered “absolutely nothing.”
Perhaps it’s time to fight fire with fire. If Trump thinks it’s acceptable to make hideous assertions about Democrats that have zero basis in fact – or reality – then maybe he should get a taste of his own medicine. Maybe Democrats should start accusing Trump of heinous activities and ideas. For instance:
Oh, wait. All of those are true. If we want to emulate Trump’s contemptible and dishonest rhetoric, this wouldn’t be the same thing at all. We would have to be even more extreme than his reality by saying things like “Trump drinks the blood of immigrant babies.” Or “Trump demands prison for any American who doesn’t drop to both knees and chant his name whenever they see him, or even hear his name.” Or “Investigators have incontrovertible evidence that Trump is the Zodiac killer.” Or “Russian doctor planted a microchip in Trump’s brain that gives Putin control over his thoughts and actions.”
That ought to do it. And it would be just accurate as any of the things that Trump says about Democrats. Unfortunately, American liberals aren’t brainwashed the way that Trump’s glassy-eyed disciples are. So no one would believe any of it. But it might still be a useful exercise to demonstrate what a pile of walking bullshit this president is. He needs to be held accountable for his words. And if the media won’t do it, the people need to step up.
Last week the Inspector General of the FBI released a comprehensive report on the Bureau’s handling of probes into Hillary Clinton’s email. Donald Trump and his fluffers in the right-wing media immediately set out to convince the American people that the report “totally exonerates” him. It didn’t do anything of the sort.
However, facts have never stopped Trump and Co. from blathering incoherently about his infallible awesomeness. And his obsessive need to constantly exalt himself was exhibited yet again on Tuesday during a speech before the National Federation of Independent Businesses. Although it was difficult to find anything in his address that related to independent businesses.
The speech (which aired in full only on Fox News) was a typical Trumpian stemwinder that caromed wildly between unrelated subjects primarily focused on praising himself and smearing his critics. He once again falsely blamed Democrats for his own policy of traumatizing innocent immigrant children. And, of course, he ranted idiotically about Democrats wanting open borders and welcoming MS-13 gang members. He accused the media of helping child traffickers. He proposed cutting off aid to countries where immigrants come from (which would only result in more people needing to leave those countries). And he actually adopted the crackpot conspiracy that the children in his concentration camps are “crisis actors.”
Included in this televised meltdown was another stab by Trump to pretend that the FBI’s IG report exonerated him from charges being investigated separately by special counsel Robert Mueller. The IG’s report had nothing at all to do with that. Trump’s latest tantrum was triggered by hearing himself saying the name of Hillary Clinton. He segued from that to a conclusion that the IG report had incriminated Clinton. It didn’t. Trump whined:
“Didn’t she already have her chance? I tell you what, when you read that IG report with these really dishonest people – and I was never a ‘Deep State’ guy – lemme tell ya, we got some bad people that are doing bad things. But when you read that IG report about how she got away with what she got away with, it’s a disgrace.”
Back in the real world, the report did not find any wrongdoing by Clinton whatsoever. In fact, it wasn’t even part of the purpose of the inquiry. The IG was looking into the the conduct of the Bureau and it’s employees. It did find that there was some inappropriate activities by the director, James Comey, and a couple of agents. But on the whole it concluded that Clinton was more often the victim of the bad behavior at the Bureau, and that it likely led to disadvantaging her – not Trump – in the election.
This fact was addressed in a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee where the IG, Michael Horowitz, and the current FBI Director, Chris Wray, testified. The Republicans on the committee were uniformly focused on trivial aspects of the report that they twisted into impotent attacks on Clinton. However, they ignored the more salient aspects, including the conclusion. The Democratic ranking member of the committee, Elijah Cummings, did not ignore that. Cummings, quoting the IG report, said:
“We found no evidence that the conclusions by the department prosecutors were affected by bias or other improper considerations. Rather, we determine that they were based on the prosecutors’ assessment of the facts, the law, and past department practice.”
No Evidence of Bias. That should put a big fat period on the debate over whether the FBI acted out on any internal bias. It should, but when you’re dealing with a dishonest crybaby like Trump, and his genuflecting defenders, anything goes. Trump will never stop whining about his delusional “Witch Hunt” because deep down he knows that it is a false narrative.
He knows that he’s guilty and that he’s very likely going to be exposed and held to account. He sees his former lackeys (Paul Manafort, Michael Cohen, etc.) flipping on him, or getting ready to. And nothing he does hinders the progress of special counsel Mueller. So he has little else to offer in the way of a coherent defense other than to shout maniacally in all caps. And that is already wearing thin.
Fresh from his return from Fantasy President Camp in Singapore, Donald Trump is reconnecting with his friends at home. Even though he already misses his new BFF, Kim Jong Un (who he wants so badly to emulate), Trump tried to mask his sadness by lashing out at old foes in the media, which he regards as “our country’s biggest enemy.”
Watching from his bathroom window where he tweets his official presidential pronouncements, Trump saw his pals from Fox and Friends on the White House lawn and went downstairs to play. Unfortunately, he also ran into those meanies from the other news networks who keep insisting on asking him real questions, rather than the tongue baths he gets from Fox News.
In the course of a few awkward encounters, Trump managed to challenge his own record for lies-per-minute. He brazenly lied about the FBi’s Inspector General report exonerating him. It did no such thing. While it found some opinions expressed inappropriately by a couple of agents, it concluded that there was no bias in their work. It also found that all of the errors of judgment identified resulted in harm to Hillary Clinton’s campaign, not Trump’s.
He also lied about his administration’s heinous policy of ripping apart immigrant families. He blamed it on Democratic laws that do not exist. He lied about Paul Manafort, who he said worked for his campaign for only forty-nine days. It was actually 144 days during a critical period where he relied on Manafort to secure him delegate votes at the Republican National Convention.
But he wasn’t through lying yet. He blamed President Obama for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea. Naturally he wouldn’t blame his buddy Vlad, who he still doesn’t press to get out of Ukraine. And Trump also told a bizarre lie about the parents of Korean war dead asking him to bring back their remains. Those parents, who numbered in the hundreds, would have to be over 100 years old.
Perhaps the most telling exchange occurred between Trump and Fox and Friends co host, Steve Doocy. Trump revealed what is the highest priority of his presidency. In his banter with Doocy he said (video below):
Trump: You have a lot of fun, right? Supposing Hillary got elected instead of Trump. You think it would be so exciting? Your ratings would be way down. [To the camera] Number one show in the morning folks. Doocy: Well, thank you. In cable news, that’s right. Trump: Also beyond cable news you’re doing pretty well. Doocy: We’re doing okay. Thanks for dropping by. Trump: I like ratings. I study ratings.
So Trump is validating his election because it goosed the ratings for Fox News? And if Clinton had won their popularity would have suffered? That’s literally what he thinks is one of his great achievements. He even brags about his affinity for television ratings and his expertise in the subject. Never mind his prior statements that he doesn’t have time to watch TV because – documents.
It’s good to know that he studies ratings, because he sure doesn’t study legislation, economics, foreign policy, or any other prerequisite for being president. He’s obviously obsessed with his own ratings. He stages bill signings with silly photo ops where he proudly displays his penmanship before the gathered press corps. He frequently boasts about the attendance at his rallies and the ratings for his speeches, even when those numbers are embarrassingly low. And whenever there is a poll that shows him tick up a fraction of a point, he blasts it out to his Twitter followers, despite the fact that he remains in the thirties or low forties, and has never gotten near fifty percent.
This is what happens when a TV game show host with no experience in politics or governing is put in the White House by Russian cyber-spies and domestic white supremacists. Now America must endure until either Congress or the law enforcement authorities succeed in putting him where he belongs: a prison camp where he can make new friends with the same diseased morals that he has.
It’s a day that ends with the letter “Y” so obviously Donald Trump is posting on Twitter about how the special counsel’s investigation of him is just a “Russian Witch Hunt Hoax” designed to frame him for crimes that he is totally allowed to pardon himself for (except that he isn’t).
In today’s tweet Trump takes aim at his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions (again). Trump believes Sessions should have told him about his intention to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation. Never mind that that would have required Sessions to know the future because there was no investigation at the time. Nor did Sessions have any idea that he would need to recuse himself, because that didn’t become necessary until after he testified at his confirmation hearing about meetings with Russians (which he falsely denied).
Now a new book is providing additional evidence that Trump and his campaign did collude with Russia. What’s makes this book significant is that it contains new revelations by “Campaign Carl” Cameron, formerly of Fox News. Cameron was interviewed by ThinkProgress and elaborated on some the things that are outlined in detail in this book: How To Go Viral and Reach Millions.
Cameron’s account included Trump’s connections to various Russian operatives, Wikileaks, and the corrupt data enterprise, Cambridge Analytica. However, much of the story involves Trump’s close association with the notorious dirty trickster, Roger Stone. According to ThinkProgress:
“‘Trump confidant Roger Stone’s success was having the connections and creating the opportunities for [Russian intelligence officer] Guccifer2.0 and other Russian groups to really start taking advantage of social media and pounding these negative memes that Hillary’s a crook, et cetera,’ Cameron explained to ThinkProgress’ Joe Romm”
It has been well documented that Stone was working with Julian Assange and Wikileaks to disseminate anti-Clinton propaganda and stolen emails. His relationship with the hacker Guccifer only exacerbated his complicity when it became known that Guccifer was a working for the Kremlin. Cameron further revealed that:
“The president, Roger Stone, and other campaign officials have put a lot of effort into lying about their meetings and contact with Russians linked directly to the Kremlin and its cyber attack on the United States. But they put even more effort into coordinating their message with the Russians. It will be up to Mueller to determine just how extensive that coordination was.
“As Cameron explained to ThinkProgress, a key goal of this coordination was to create opportunities for Russian intelligence and Russian trolls. The point was to viralize the anti-Clinton memes and narratives to suppress the vote for her.”
Despite the mantra from right-wing media (especially Fox News) that there hasn’t been any evidence to tie Trump to collusion, the truth is that the evidence is abundant and more than incriminating enough to sink Trump and his whole crime family. And this new contribution from someone who had a place of prominence in the Fox propaganda machine only makes what is already known even more damning and perilous for Trump.
