;)
The Commentariat -- August 4, 2016
Afternoon Update:
"Tut, Tut." -- Ryan to Trump. Alexander Burns, et al., of the New York Times: Donald Trump has "risked alienating a ... pivotal constituency in the swing states that will decide the presidential election: military communities dismayed by his crude and sometimes offensive comments about the armed services. Starting last week when he clashed with Khizr and Ghazala Khan..., Mr. Trump has reignited a set of controversies surrounding his approach to the military. He has drawn fresh attention to his derisive comments about Senator John McCain's capture in Vietnam, as well as to his own avoidance of military service during the same war. He attacked Gen. John R. Allen, a retired Marine who endorsed Hillary Clinton, as a 'failed general' over the weekend, and he joked at a campaign event on Tuesday about receiving a Purple Heart, the military decoration for soldiers wounded in combat." -- CW ...
... Mike DeBonis of the Washington Post: "House Speaker Paul D. Ryan repeated Thursday that his endorsement of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump was 'not a blank check' and delivered a sharp critique of Trump's flailing campaign two days after Trump declined to endorse Ryan for reelection to his Wisconsin congressional seat.... [But Ryan said] he would remain behind Trump even after the Khan controversy while continuing to speak out against his various controversial utterances." -- CW ...
... Morgan Winsor of ABC News: "Donald Trump's campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, acknowledged that 'there's a conflict within the Trump campaign' over the Republican presidential nominee's hesitation to endorse House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin for re-election. 'But Ryan is also running against somebody who's not going to win but nonetheless is a strong supporter of Mr. Trump's'' Manafort told George Stephanopoulos on 'Good Morning America.'" -- CW
Rosalind Helderman & Mary Jordan of the Washington Post: "The [Trump] campaign has not responded to questions asking how [nude] photos [of Melania Trump] could be shot [in New York City] in 1995 if Melania Trump arrived in 1996." The report is in Q&A format. A number of the As are "We don't know. The Trump campaign would not answer this question." The reporters do write that if Melania Trump was not compensated in any way -- that is, including such benefits as airfare or housing -- her 1995 photo shoot would not have been illegal if she had traveled to the U.S. a visitor's visa. -- CW
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Presidential Race
Julian Hattem & Amie Parnes of the Hill: "Instead of finding a way to let the [e-mail] issue die, [Hillary] Clinton has time and again inflamed criticism about the server, at times growing increasingly defensive.... The strategy has caused grumblings within her campaign and led to the persistent image that she is dishonest. This week, Clinton is catching new flak for unnecessarily mischaracterizing FBI Director James Comey's comments to suggest that she never misled the public.... Aides to Clinton ... acknowledged to The Hill that they were confused by her latest remarks.... Those in her orbit chock it up to Clinton's stubbornness." -- CW
Nicholas Confessore & Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump all but erased his enormous fund-raising disadvantage against Hillary Clinton in the span of just two months, according to figures released by his campaign on Wednesday, converting the passion of his core followers into a flood of small donations on a scale rarely seen in national politics. Mr. Trump and the Republican National Committee raised $64 million through a joint digital and mail effort in July, according to his campaign, the bulk of it from small donations. All told, Mr. Trump and his party brought in $82 million last month, only slightly behind Mrs. Clinton's $90 million, and ended with $74 million on hand, suggesting he might now have the resources to compete with Mrs. Clinton in the closing stretch of the campaign." -- CW
Michael Shear of the New York Times: "A cash payment of $400 million delivered to Iran in January became part of the presidential campaign on Wednesday, as Donald J. Trump seized on the money transfer as a sign of what he called the administration's failed foreign policy -- prompting a forceful White House rejection. Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, said the payment to Iran was part of the resolution of a longstanding financial dispute between the two nations, and was delivered in cash on pallets because the two nations do not have a banking relationship." -- CW ...
Our incompetent secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, was the one who started talks to give 400 million dollars, in cash, to Iran. Scandal! -- Donald Trump, in a tweet, August 3
Trump is simply wrong that Clinton started the talks that led to the release of $400 million to Iran. She initiated the talks on Iran's nuclear program, but that's as far as her involvement goes. Perhaps resolution of claims could not have been achieved without a deal on the nuclear issue, but that's going too far. Iran's claim for the $400 million was made long before Clinton took office -- and was resolved after she left. -- Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post
... Saeed Dehghan & Mazin Sidahmed of the Guardian: "... Donald Trump has jumped on reports that the US paid $400m in cash to Iran after the country's historic nuclear deal, saying that the episode was a 'scandal' for Hillary Clinton, who started the talks as secretary of state. The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that US officials secretly sent 'wooden pallets stacked with euros, Swiss francs and other currencies' to Iran, carried into the country by an unmarked cargo plane, suggesting that it may have been linked to the release of a group of Americans held in Iran. The US state department has denied this.... Although the cash payment to Iran coincided with the release of a group of Iranian American prisoners, there is no evidence to suggest any link between the two events." -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Trump Confuses Pallets of Money with Hostages. Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "At a rally in Daytona Beach, Fla., on Thursday [CW: actually, Wednesday] afternoon, Trump announced that [a] months-old video [of the transfer of $400K from the U.S. to Iran] had been recorded by the Iranian government.... 'And they have a perfect tape, done by obviously a government camera, and the tape is of the people taking the money off the plane. Right? That means that in order to embarrass us further, Iran sent us the tapes.'... The video [Trump is referring to] is often labeled as being from Jan. 17 in Geneva where three American hostages first landed after being released from Tehran." -- CW ...
... Margaret Hartmann of New York: "'I'll never forget the scene this morning,' Trump sa[id]. 'Iran ― I don't think you've heard this anywhere but here ― Iran provided all of that footage, the tape, of taking that money off that airplane.'... Trump's description was pretty detailed (especially for a guy whose policy proposals usually consist of how he'll make things 'so good'); he references 'top secret' video shot with a 'government camera.'... But, as the Huffington Post notes, 'Contrary to what Trump said about the video he claimed to have seen, this video was not shot in Iran, it did not show the exchange of cash, it was not "top secret," it was not "a military tape," and it was not "provided by Iran." Nor was it released to "embarrass the United States," as Trump repeatedly claimed.'" ...
... CW: This solves the mystery of Trump's seeing those A-rabs dancing on New Jersey rooftops to celebrate the downing the World Trade Center. Following the 9/11 catastrophe, CNN did run footage of Palestinians celebrating the multiple attacks. Trump just can't tell the difference between Hoboken & East Jerusalem. When you get all your foreign policy views from "watching the shows" & when you half-watch TV while doing other things (see transcript of Philip Rucker's remarkable interview of Trump, linked yesterday), you're going to misunderstand a lot. Of the many reasons Trump is unfit for office, his inability to concentrate on any one thing, other than himself, is a huge one.
... Aaron Blake of the Washington Post: "In his speech Wednesday afternoon in Daytona Beach, Fla., Trump appeared to be heeding his advisers' reported wishes and giving a subdued, policy-heavy speech criticizing Clinton's foreign policy in places like Libya. He said President Obama probably regretted making her secretary of state.... Then he went back to name-calling. 'She should get an award from them as the founder of ISIS,' he said...." -- CW
Sabrina Siddiqui of the Guardian: "A Republican congressman who is a veteran of the Iraq war has said he cannot support Donald Trump in the wake of the presidential nominee's ongoing feud with the parents of an American soldier. Kinzinger, whose district Trump carried in the Illinois Republican primary in March, said he would not support Clinton nor tell voters how to cast their ballots." -- CW
Eli Stokels of Politico: "On Wednesday, Paul Manafort, Trump's top strategist, flatly denied a report that Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, Newt Gingrich and Rudy Giuliani are planning an intervention after a stunning streak of unforced errors: the Republican nominee's combative response to a Gold Star family that criticized him during last week's Democratic National Convention; his apparent lack of knowledge related to Ukraine and Russia; and his purposeful snubbing of GOP stalwarts Sen. John McCain and House Speaker Paul Ryan. Mike Pence, Trump's running mate..., sa[id] he endorsed Ryan and that Trump had encouraged him to do so.... But ... even Priebus ... abandoned his softer demeanor when he spoke with senior Trump staff on Tuesday afternoon. 'He lit into him [Trump] pretty good,'[TM Trump] said a source.... Amid reports suggesting that he and other staffers are beginning to 'phone it in,' Manafort ... admitted that Trump's comments in response to Khizr and Ghazala Khan were 'not smart.' And he made it clear that it's Trump ... who is responsible. 'Well, first of all, the candidate is in control of his campaign...,' Manafort said in a TV interview. 'And I'm in control of doing the things that he wants me to do in the campaign.'" -- CW ...
... However Could This Have Happened? Philip Rucker & Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "The Republican Party was in turmoil again Wednesday as party leaders, strategists and donors voiced increasing alarm about the flailing state of Donald Trump's candidacy and fears that the presidential nominee was damaging the party with an extraordinary week of self-inflicted mistakes, gratuitous attacks and missed opportunities.... Meanwhile, Trump's top campaign advisers are failing to instill discipline on their candidate, who has spent the past days lunging from one controversy to another while seemingly skipping chances to go on the offensive against ... Hillary Clinton." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chuck Todd! & Hallie Jackson of NBC News: "Key Republicans close to Donald Trump's orbit are plotting an intervention with the candidate after a disastrous 48 hours led some influential voices in the party to question whether Trump can stay at the top of the Republican ticket without catastrophic consequences for his campaign and the GOP at large. Republican National Committee head Reince Priebus, former Republican New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich are among the Trump endorsers hoping to talk the real estate mogul into a dramatic reset of his campaign in the coming days, sources tell NBC News." CW: Definitely need Newt & Rudy when it comes to advice on stability & probity. (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Gail Collins: "it does tell you something that Giuliani and Gingrich are supposed to be the voices of moderation and self-control in the campaign. The former mayor who told a press conference that he was going to end his marriage before he told his wife. And the former House speaker who once presided over a government shutdown, which he seemed to attribute to the bad seat he got on Air Force One." -- CW
... AND, as Jonathan Chait puts it, "Enraged Trump Toady Reince Priebus Contemplates Lashing Out With Nice Email. The gloves are off." (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Chait has a very good synopsis of the Trump/Republican dumpster fire. -- CW (Also linked yesterday.) ...
... Frank Rich of the (minor) effects of the Trump meltdown: "What does it say about [John] McCain, who stood up heroically to his North Vietnamese captors, that he is not brave enough to stand up to a bully like Trump out of fear of losing his reelection bid?... And what does it say about [Paul] Ryan's much-touted intellect that he thinks that Trump, if elected president, will allow him to pursue his sacred conservative agenda in Congress? President Trump will humiliate and disregard the Speaker of the House ... just as candidate Trump is doing now. When Trump withheld his support for Ryan's reelection yesterday, the reason he gave was his skepticism that Ryan was capable of 'very, very strong leadership.' On this point, at least, Ryan has proven Trump completely right." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Michael Crowley of Politico: "Trump has spoken positively about Putin for years and from the beginning of the Ukraine crisis, he has focused less on Putin's aggression and more on what Trump calls Obama's weakness.... Until recently, Trump also frequently suggested that the U.S. needed to take a stronger stand in response.... While the reason for his shift is not clear, Trump's more conciliatory words -- which contradict his own party's official platform -- follow his recent association with several people sympathetic to Russian influence in Ukraine. They include his campaign manager Paul Manafort, who has worked for Ukraine's deposed pro-Russian president, his foreign policy adviser Carter Page, and the former secretary of state and national security adviser Henry Kissinger." ...
... CW: Crowley argues that Trump's past statements prove he knew, during his interview with George Stephanopoulos that Crimea was part of Ukraine. I think he did know -- in 2014 & '15 -- but -- perhaps because of the influence of Manafort, et al., -- he forgot. As contributor Marvin S. & others have noticed, Trump only knows what he knows in the moment. ...
... Jeff Nesbit in Time: "... several of Trump's businesses ... are entangled with Russian financiers inside Putin's circle.... As major banks in America stopped lending him money following his many bankruptcies, the Trump organization was forced to seek financing from non-traditional institutions. Several had direct ties to Russian financial interests in ways that have raised eyebrows. What's more, several of Trump's senior advisors have business ties to Russia or its satellite politicians.... It is Trump's financing from Russian satellite business interests that would seem to explain his pro-Putin sympathies. The most obvious example is Trump Soho, a complicated web of financial intrigue that has played out in court. A lawsuit claimed that the business group, Bayrock, underpinning Trump Soho was supported by criminal Russian financial interests.... There are other Russian business ties to the Trump organization as well." Via Jonathan Chait. -- CW
Jenna Johnson of the Washington Post: "As Donald Trump holds off endorsing House Speaker Paul D. Ryan in Wisconsin's Republican primary, his running mate [mike pence] enthusiastically endorsed Ryan on Wednesday, calling him a 'longtime friend' and 'strong conservative leader.'" CW: I don't think is what the meaning of "split ticket" is. (Also linked yesterday.)
Julian Hattem of the Hill: "Donald Trump's presidential campaign denied a report on Wednesday [by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough] that the Republican presidential nominee had three times asked a foreign policy adviser why the U.S. could not use its vast nuclear arsenal." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Steve M. thinks the unnamed foreign policy advisor may have been Henry Kissinger. Trump "sincerely believes the conspiracy theories he peddles, so not only will he respond to a loss by saying he was cheated, he'll mean it. He's a pure product of right-wing propaganda. He believes in nukes because thinks every problem has a simple solution ('toughness,' 'resolve'), and he believes he'd win a fair election because the right has been telling us for years that Democrats only win elections as a result of fraud. So no, he's not going anywhere." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.) ...
... Joe Concha of the Hill: "Fox News host Megyn Kelly went after MSNBC's Joe Scarborough during her prime-time program Wednesday night, saying the 'Morning Joe' host altered his coverage of Donald Trump after Republican presidential nominee turned on him. 'Even MSNBC and their morning program over there, I mean, they could not have promoted Trump more,' Kelly told her on-set guest... 'And now today, Joe Scarborough is out there talking about how "In three times in one meeting, he [Trump] asked why he couldn't drop a nuclear weapon." Once Trump got mad at him,' she concluded, 'he stopped saying nice things about him.'" -- CW ...
... AND Daniel Drezner of the Washington Post has some questions for "journalist" Joe Scarborough. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Where's the Outrage, GOP? Andrew Sprung in Xpostfactoid: "... something strange happened -- or didn't happen -- [Wednesday]. Republican leadership, reeling from Trump's a) relentless attacks on a Gold Star family, b) refusal to endorse two Republican leaders facing primary challenges who have denigrated themselves for him, and c) ejection of a crying baby from his rally, have not denounced [President Obama's] all-but-unprecedented direct assault on their nominee's fitness for office.... No one in the Republican leadership is willing to make the case that Trump is fit to serve as president." Via Paul Waldman. -- CW
Donald Trump, Insulting His Way to Electoral College Victory. Louis Nelson of Politico: "... at a rally Tuesday in Northern Virginia, Trump said Harrisburg[, Pennsylvania,] 'looked like a war zone' as he flew above it on his way out of town, a characterization that the city objected to strongly enough to release a statement about it." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Illinois State Senator Did Not Start Iraq War, After All. Nick Gass of Politico: "Donald Trump's national spokeswoman on Wednesday cleared up whom she holds responsible for the death of Army Capt. Humayun Khan in 2004, and it's not Barack Obama. It's Hillary Clinton. Less than a day after blaming the policies of Obama and his secretary of state for Khan's death in Iraq despite George W. Bush having been in the White House, Katrina Pierson laid the blame at the feet of Clinton, who as a U.S. senator representing New York voted to authorize the war in 2002." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Callum Borchers of the Washington Post: "It is becoming commonplace for people in the media to wonder about the mental health of a major-party nominee for president of the United States. This is not a normal, every-four-years kind of trend.... Some of the speculation is based on observations from legitimate medical professionals." -- CW
Trumpenproletariat, Uncensored:
... Ashley Parker, et al., of the New York Times: "... what struck us [reporters] was the frequency with which some Trump supporters use coarse, vitriolic, even violent language -- in the epithets they shout and chant, the signs they carry, the T-shirts they wear -- a pattern not seen in connection with any other recent political candidate, in any party.... While protesters are often shouted down, crowds seldom express disapproval of the crude slogans and angry outbursts by Mr. Trump's supporters. Indeed, these displays have become inextricably bound with the Trump show itself...." -- CW
CW: This is a picture of Donald Trump signing his tax returns, which are piled up next to him. Trump tweeted out the photo in September 2015. Take a good look. This is as clear a picture as we're going to get of them:
... This is what Trump told Philip Rucker of the Washington Post:
... The poor schmuck with the teeny-weeny returns to whom Trump alludes is Mitt Romney. Seldom in the storied history of male dominance play has a guy proffered the size of his tax returns as evidence of his superiority.
Ben Schreckinger & Gabriel Debenedetti of Politico: "Nude photographs published this week are raising fresh questions about the accuracy of a key aspect of Melania Trump's biography: her immigration status when she first came to the United States to work as a model.... While Trump and her husband ... have said she came to the United States legally, her own statements suggest she first came to the country on a short-term visa that would not have authorized her to work as a model.... Trump has also said she came to New York in 1996, but the nude photo shoot places her in the United States in 1995, as does a biography published in February by Slovenian journalists.... Trump's description of her periodic [visa] renewals in Europe are more consistent with someone traveling on a B-1 Temporary Business Visitor or B-2 Tourist Visa, which typically last only up to six months and do not permit employment, [not an] ... H-1B [work] visa [which] can be valid for three years and can be extended up to six years -- sometimes longer...." CW: Donald Trump's wife was an illegal immigrant. Why would anyone think that was an issue?
* CW: As you can see, I have commissioned a fancy new 2016 Presidential Race logo by a renowned graphic artist. In the spirit of Trvmpvs, I first criticized the artist's work, then stiffed her on the commission. If she complains, I'll sue her for a yuuuge amount. After all, I expect to be treated fairly.
Congressional Races
Ken Vogel & Rachel Bade of Politico: "... a group of former Trump campaign hands is quietly working to defeat the House speaker [Paul Ryan] in his primary election next week. More than half a dozen of Trump's former campaign staff members or leading volunteer organizers from around the country -- and many more local volunteers -- have signed on to the long-shot campaign of Ryan's primary challenger, businessman Paul Nehlen, who openly embraces Trump and casts Ryan as an impediment to Trump's agenda." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Dave Weigel of the Washington Post: "Sen. Bernie Sanders's (I-Vt.) movement scored its cleanest victory yet when [state Sen. Pramila] Jayapal, a progressive state senator, blew past two rivals in the primary for Washington's bluest House district. (Washington, like Louisiana and California, has a 'top two' system in which the highest vote-getters advance to November, regardless of party.) In an April message to his donors, Sanders said he'd need members of Congress like Jayapal 'when I'm president,' crediting her with leading 'the fight for a $15 minimum wage and paid sick leave in Seattle.'" Weigel also has more on Tim Huelskamp's primary loss in Kansas. Thanks to Dan L. for the link. -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Stupidest Senator Also an Ignorant Conspiracy Theorist. Tierney Sneed of TPM: "Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) compared those mounting the efforts to address climate change to Joseph Stalin and Hugo Chavez [and the Castros, the nutcases in North Korea], while claiming that it has been 'proven scientifically' that the climate is not in fact warming. He suggested in a radio appearance that progressives' concern about climate change was driven by their desire for government control of Americans lives.... Last year was the warmest year in recorded history, scientists said." -- CW
Other News & Views
Richard Perez-Pena of the New York Times: "A police officer with the Washington transit system has become the first American law enforcement officer to be charged with supporting the Islamic State, accused of trying to send financial help to the group after advising a friend on how to travel to Syria to join it. In court papers filed on Tuesday and made public on Wednesday, federal law enforcement officials charged the officer, Nicholas Young, with attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization." -- CW ...
... The Washington Post story, by Rachel Weiner, is here. -- CW
... Oops! Missed this yesterday. Kevin Freking of the AP: "President Barack Obama celebrated 50 years of diplomatic relations with Singapore Tuesday with a state dinner for a leader Obama praised as respected around the world and a trusted partner. Obama reserved the 12th state dinner of his presidency to honor Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife, Ho Ching. Obama said the nations' ties go back nearly two centuries when Singapore was still a colony, and the U.S. had recently emerged as an independent country. He said the alliance is about more than shared strategic interests in a rising Asia Pacific." -- CW ...
... AND the big news -- Michelle Obama's dress! Rosemary Feitelberg of Women's Wear Daily: "The First Lady wore an ivory-colored Brandon Maxwell dress, according to a White House pool report. The New York-based designer is a favorite of Lady Gaga's...."
Sarah Wheaton of Politico: "President Barack Obama commuted the sentences of 214 people on Wednesday, bringing his total number of commutations to 562." -- CW (Also linked yesterday afternoon.)
Adam Liptak of the New York Times: "The Supreme Court on Wednesday temporarily blocked a court order that had allowed a transgender boy to use the boys' bathroom in a Virginia high school. The vote was 5 to 3, with Justice Stephen G. Breyer joining the court's more conservative members 'as a courtesy.' He said that this would preserve the status quo until the court decided whether to hear the case. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan dissented." -- CW
Paul Weber of the AP: "Texas agreed Wednesday to weaken its voter ID law, which federal courts have said discriminated against minorities and the poor and left more than 600,000 registered voters potentially unable to cast a ballot. The state worked fast to soften the law before November's election, moving from requiring voters to show one of seven forms of suitable ID -- a list that included concealed handgun permits, but not college IDs -- to letting those without such an ID to sign an affidavit. That will allow them to cast a regular full ballot, and their vote will be counted. Texas must also spend at least $2.5 million on voter outreach before November, according to the agreement submitted to U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos, who must still approve the changes." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Whatever Is Happening in Brownbackistan? Mitch Smith of the New York Times: "Republican voters in Kansas rebelled against the policies of Gov. Sam Brownback on Tuesday, ousting his fellow conservatives in at least 11 state legislative primary races amid widespread angst about Kansas's financial situation." -- CW
Elise Schmelzer of the Washington Post: "Using a power granted to him in a single line of state law, Missouri's top public defender appointed [Gov. Jay] Nixon [D] as attorney for a central Missouri man charged with assault. But the decision has little to do with the man's case -- it's an attention-grabbing cry for help in a state where public defenders have long said they are overworked and underfunded.... Michael Barrett, director of the Missouri State Public Defender System..., [made the appointment and] laid out his grievances in a letter to ... Nixon: A vetoed bill that would have lightened public defenders' caseloads. Repeated budget cuts. Unfairly withholding money allotted to the office." -- CW
News Lede
Guardian: "A Norwegian national of Somali origin has been arrested [in London, England,] on suspicion of murdering an American woman and injuring five others, including Britons, in what was described by police as a 'spontaneous attack'. Speaking outside Scotland Yard headquarters, Metropolitan police assistant commissioner Mark Rowley said there was no evidence that the 19-year-old suspect had been radicalised or was motivated by terrorism and reasserted the view that 'mental health issues' played a significant role. The suspect emigrated from Norway to the UK in 2002, at the age of five, according to the Norwegian Embassy." -- CW
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Reader Comments (23)
So the great Paul Manafort, another in the immense line of right-wing moral midgets, has basically laid the groundwork for absolving himself of any responsibility should the Small Hands Boy slither his way into the Oval Office and begin planning for a nukular celebration at some perceived enemy 's expense ("We got 'em, why not use 'em?"), by throwing out the standard retort of authoritarian enablers: I just do what I'm told. No wonder foreign dictators (and now a wannabe domestic one) love this worm.
And leave us not forget the essential aiding and abetting by Ryan, McConnell, McCain and all the other Confederate nightcrawlers.
Slimy invertebrates all, saying "Thank you sir , may I have another" as Trvmpvs paddles their rvmpvs.
In 1989 David Duke, the Grand Wizard of the KKK, ran for a seat in the Louisiana state legislature. There were enough voters who apparently liked the idea of a Klan man representing them. But other voices sounded their outrage: Reagan and Poppy Bush came out swinging reminding people that David was dangerous! He had endorsed Nazism, denied the Holocaust, had an ugly record of racism, and was an "insincere charlatan"–––the latter was uttered by Poppy who said it with that special Bush grimace we grew to be so fond of. Bush even had his attack dog, Lee Atwater try to stop Duke. Nothing worked. David won. .
Then in 1991 Duke ran for Governor––and lost. Now in 2016 he is running for David Vetter's senate seat and at present there are 24 candidates vying for it.
So the rumors of trying to somehow stop Trump may be a fool's errand. The time to have tried to do so would have been at the very beginning when his lies were apparent but never ferreted out: "You have lots of people in Hawaii looking into Obama's birth business? How many? Who are they? He won't tell you? Then check it out for yourselves. Confront and confront again. We let him slide down those slippery slopes and were even there to catch him. It's too late now. We are stuck with a guy who has a major psychological defect and a following that identifies just like all those Klan voters who thought it really cool to hang people from trees. Now we have them calling for the killing of Hillary and once from the mouth of a ten year old boy, "Stop the bitch!"
And didn't Donald say he never met or knew David? And yet––there they are together in a photo––David and Donald ––brothers in arms.
@PD Pepe: Can you provide a link to the photo of Trump & Duke together? I couldn't find it on the Internets & I don't recall having seen such a picture.
You're right about Trump's getting away with birtherism. Maybe it didn't make any difference when Trump was only toying with a presidential run, but it matters now.
CNN reported in April 2011, "'I have people that have been studying it and they cannot believe what they're finding,' Trump said an interview that aired Thursday Morning. Asked if he has assigned people specifically to search in Hawaii, Trump said, 'Absolutely.'"
Now I want particulars. What "unbelievable" things did Trump's investigators find? Let's see the documents & other work product. Put them on the teevee. Let's see how much Trump paid them. Did he stiff these purported investigators, too?
Trump tells so many lies, I'm finding it hard to keep up, but his presidential "career" is a product of his public questioning of President Obama's place of birth, so Americans have a right to know every detail of the Crap that Launched a Presidential Nomination.
BTW, I had forgotten, when I linked to a story about Corey Lewandowski's wanting to see Obama's Harvard transcripts to find out if he was a foreign student, that this hooey was also a line of Trump's birther baloney. Huff Post, October 2012: “'A lot of people want to see his college transcripts,' Trump said in an interview with CNBC. 'They’re not looking at his marks, his grades.... They want to see, what does he say about place of birth. Now, those transcripts have disappeared, nobody seems to be able to get them.'”
Marie
Again, Trump never lied about Hillary's involvement in the Iran money deal. The second he heard about it he made his statement. He never checked the story in any way.
And talk about delusional. The Republicans think they can talk Trump into behaving rationally?
So the term NPD is starting to make its way into the media. The other term, 'sociopath' is even more popular. There is some co-morbidity between the two. The problem is that the word 'sociopath' is simply used for any set of characters common in many disorders. It is not a DSM characteristic.
There is a European version that in part fits. Very bad behavior using the excuse that you are not being treated fairly. You know, the election is rigged!
@Marie: I have combed the archives and have come up empty. I'm thinking that the picture that I remember might have been photo shopped. Trump is standing next to Duke at one of his casinos. Could it have been on a program like the Daily Show where they put together photos like that? Too bad, it's obviously not real, but we do know that our Trumpster sure as hell knew who David Duke was.
I drove by a church this morning here in Red State USA and a billboard out front said "Jesus said it. I believe it. That's the end of it."
A substantial number of stormtrumpers have a similar relationship to Donaldo. The only proof they need is that he said it. He says Obama's a Kenyan, or Mexicans are rapists sent here by their government, or the election is already rigged against him, they believe it and that's the end of it.
And like any experienced con artist, he knows when he has the marks hooked. At that point, he can say anything he wants. Step right up, this crap cures bandy legs, hair loss, peptic ulcers, muscle aches, bad eyesight, halitosis, lack of "virility", oh, and cancer. Don't forget. LOTS of cancer. The WORST cancers. I have it all.
And as with the most proficient of carny barkers, the more the rubes are told not to believe such malarkey, the more sure they are that the con man is telling the truth. "That's the end of it."
So none of these people will be won over from the dark side.
The really bad thing about that is how they choose to react when and if their con man king loses the office he has told them is his by right. Of course, should that be the outcome, Trumpskeyev could tamp things down by doing the right thing, congratulating the winner, thanking his supporters and asking everyone to come together to move forward for the good of the country.
Anyone think there is the remotest possibility of that happening?
This is the epitome of the scorched earth, zero sum game, "we're never wrong" approach advocated by winger pols, Fox, and hate radio. And very soon, we could all be paying for their giddy, willful ignorance, lust for power, and hatred. "Good of the country" has never been a concern for these people.
And that's the end of it.
@Akhilleus: Your analogy is excellent. The joke is that Jesus didn't say anything. The Gospel stories, which are in some particulars contradictory of one another, are a compilation of sayings of a host of philosophers, politicians, military men as well as religious teachings & folk tales, all woven into short "biographical" sketches of what each writer (or writers, in the case of John) thought an ideal messiah would be. The idea isn't that "the Gospels are a hoax," as some would have it; rather, they are typical of religious tracts or "novels" of the time. The Jesus character was both mystical and mythical. It's only in more modern times -- deep into the Enlightenment, I think -- that people decided to treat Jesus as a real flesh-and-blood character, who "said things." There's no reason to think that was ever the intent of the Gospel writers, who were simply following the literary fashion of their time -- late-first to early-second century C.E.
Donald Trump "says things," too. The problem is that his sources -- "people are telling me" -- are way more ephemeral than the Gospel writers' sources, infinitely more stupid, far more useless, & huuugely darker. Yet you're right, Trump's followers adhere to his word as if he were a god for our times. And it's easy to see how someone who would say, "Jesus said it; I believe it," could be duped by Trump -- or by anyone who fed into their own worldviews.
Marie
And about that birther bullshit...
CNN has a lot to answer for in giving a platform to this execrable creep Lewandowski who is still flogging that birther horseshit, years after it's been disproved, years after his boss (still his boss) Donaldavich Trumpskyev has been completely unable to back up his vicious lies about the president. He's still dragging this shit out and CNN sees nothing wrong with allowing this cheap thug to go on the air and spew his fetid opinions like a tongue-flicking snake spitting venom.
The whole college transcript thing is just so stupid, stupid, stupid, but producers at CNN (and Zucker) allow this anal crevice to keep it up. As Marie has pointed out, college transcripts don't include that kind of biographical information. They offer grades, not country of origin. And while we're on the subject, how 'bout we see Trumpy's transcripts, or--god forbid--his tax returns?
Lewandowski supposedly went to UMass Lowell, but apparently has never seen a transcript. Maybe his was so bad he couldn't bear to look at it.
Oh, whatever. It wouldn't matter if he had. He's just another lying Trump surrogate pretending to have reasonable opinions. Perennial asswipe, broadcasting loser, and longtime Trump buddy Jeff Zucker (Trvumpvs calls Zucker "his personal booker") who hired this piece of shit at CNN, is defending his every lie as a way to "support" the Republican candidate. Good job, Jeff. Zucker is not called the "gimmick king" for nothing. Since daily and devoted deceit is the best way to support the most proficient liar in US presidential history, you've got the right guy.
Good of the country be damned.
"http://www.npr.org/2016/08/03/488550662/with-80-million-july-haul-trump-narrows-fundraising-gap-with-clinton". Trumps (and Hill's) July fund raising is all based on campaign statements until August 20 when they are filed with the FEC. Trump lies about everything; why shouldn't he seed his fundraising by chumming for chumps to cough up small contributions by suggesting how popular it is to donate to his campaign? This, to me, is how he uses the media as his patsy and they lap it up.
AK: One of the reasons CNN hired Lewendowski is he fits so nicely into their usual format of panel discussions between those "for" Trumpism and those "against." I previously wrote about that blond number who is now a permanent fixture on these panels whose loyalty to Trump is laughable. We wait in anticipation if there will be anything she can't defend––shooting someone on the streets of New York city? Nah––she'd say, that "someone" deserved it. The back and forth slinging arrows are great entertainment. How much fun it is to watch that blond number get told by one of the liberals that she is out to lunch and for the other side a delight to hear someone like Lewandowski run down Hillary because he can't really defend Donald. It's a numbers game as you well know. It's void of real substance, but then intelligent discussions don't draw in the crowd ––hence stupid means money and money is the end game here.
@Marie: Oh Noes! Jesus isn't real? And all this time I've prayed to a figment of lots of old writer's imaginations? Damn! Guess I'll have to find another savior to savior. Hmmmm––who will it be?
Love & smirks,
Ted Cruz––the independent Thinker of our time.
There’s something about that photo of Trump with his 4-foot high stack of tax returns that makes me wonder if just before the picture was taken—had someone been dispatched to Staples to buy a dozen or so reams of white paper?
By the way, wasn't Trump's campaign down to merely a few million last week? Supposedly he was far behind HRC's ongoing fund-raising success, yet all of sudden, miracle of miracles—$82,000,000 poured in? That means roughly 3,280,000 'unfiltered, vitriolic' voices @ $25.00 a pop from those in that Times video donated...or 16,400,000 nuts @$5.00. Doable? Maybe. Believable? Seems a bit hyperbolic!
MAG,
I had the same thought about Trumskyev's pile of forms, that they're nothing but blank paper, and they probably are, he being such a liar. My next thought was that anyone filing even half that number of forms would never do it on paper, but according to Forbes, filing electronically makes it easier for the IRS to check your work. Ooops. Not a good thing for a tax cheat.
In an article on "audit-proofing" your return, they suggest paper returns since it's much more difficult for investigators to trace everything, the hope being that they'd just give up, or let some things slide. That being the case, I'm guessing Trump may send in a four foot pile of paper after all, he having lots to hide.
If he wasn't so pathetic and small, he'd need a serious beating.
And I'll bet the farm that the papers in that picture are emptier than his moral core. There's no way he'd let anyone near those documents without they sign over their lives and allow him to exercise droit du seigneur with all the female members of their family under the age of 25.
"Trumpenproletariat". Damn, that's a good one. Wish I'd thunk of it.
Play this clip. It is funny. (No rickroll, promise):
http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a47195/donald-trumps-inner-voice/?click=my6sense
In the NJ Star Ledger today there was an editorial about Trump and Russia. I don't know if I have seen this before but this statement tells it all. 'His son, Donald Trump Jr., said so in 2008: "Russians make up a pretty disproportionate cross-section of a lot of our assets," he noted, adding, "we see a lot of money pouring in from Russia."'
Has anyone seriously looked into that idea called conflict of interest?
Maybe we need a congressional investigation.
@Akhilleus: My accountant e-files my returns, but she also has me sign the original 1040s. The copies she gives me do not have signatures on them. I'm not sure what the IRS gets. The fact that Trump is signing the returns may not mean that his accountants didn't e-file them.
Also, my returns every year are about one-third as thick as one of those packets on the bottom of the Trump pile. Since Trump's investments are wa-a-a-y more extensive than mine, I find the stack next to him believable. After all, he is signing for a lot of different corporate entities. Why, the 1040 for Trump Steaks alone must be yuuuuge.
The one thing I have to remember to do next time is to have someone take my picture while I'm signing my returns. Should I go to a tanning salon first?
Marie
IOKIYAR, 2016 version.
A couple of articles, coming at the IOKIYAR thing from two sides, very nicely point up the supreme--not to say vicious--hypocrisy of the right in play during this election season.
First, Jonathan Chait demonstrates that the Republican reaction to certain Trump "plans" (such as they are) proves that Obama hatred was never, ever about his ideas. Chait traces the development of several big ticket policy items that found little if any opposition from wingers. Until they were adopted by Obama. Drawing off the observations of a conservative (!), Chait brings up Trump's recent plan to revitalize infrastructure spending (no doubt to counter Hillary's), a plan that can only be described as a stimulus package. "The entire Republican Party treated Obama’s stimulus as a threat to the Republic, yet has said nothing as Trump has embraced a proposal with equally objectionable features."
The same can be said of a healthcare plan modeled on one championed by a Republican governor who became the GOP presidential nominee largely on the success of that plan. Suddenly Obama proposes it and it's toxic, undoable, a danger to democracy!
Hmmm. Funny that, no?
Could it have something to do with, oh, I dunno....BLACK GUY?
Coooourse not, say the Republicans as they drive off to the David Duke rally, running down a couple dozen Black Lives Matter protesters on the way, with the Stars and Bars flying off their car antennas and Glocks stuffed down their pants where their balls should be.
From another point of view, we have the ever popular "Character Matters!!" argument for not voting for people like Obama, the Clintons, and pretty much any Democrat who doesn't believe that hellfire and brimstone await any who do not toe their conception of the Biblical line.
A screed published in the 90's by big deal Evangelical theologian Wayne Gruden decreed the absolute unfitness of Bill Clinton for the presidency in words and tone no self-respecting Old Testament firebreather could fail to admire:
"We are aware that certain moral qualities are central to the survival of our political system, among which are truthfulness, integrity, respect for the law, respect for the dignity of others, adherence to the constitutional process, and a willingness to avoid the abuse of power. We reject the premise that violations of these ethical standards should be excused..."
And yet, wonders of wonders!, here is that same Gruden fellow excusing Donaldo, whose epic immorality makes Bill Clinton look like a portrait of innocence and virtue.
"He is egotistical, bombastic, and brash. He often lacks nuance in his statements. Sometimes he blurts out mistaken ideas (such as bombing the families of terrorists) that he later must abandon. He insults people. He can be vindictive when people attack him. He has been slow to disown and rebuke the wrongful words and actions of some angry fringe supporters. He has been married three times and claims to have been unfaithful in his marriages. These are certainly flaws, but I don’t think they are disqualifying flaws in this election."
In other words, he's a unethical, lying, scheming, fucking prick, but he's our unethical, lying, scheming, fucking prick.
And if this sounds like satire, lemme tell ya, brothers and sisters, it ain't far off. Earlier today, looking up something about dung heap groundskeeper David Duke, I found a piece purporting to encourage Evangelicals to overlook all those unfortunate KKK bits.:
"I have credible reason to believe that Duke is a baby Christian. In fact, a friend of mine who pastors a large church in Houston, which is located quite close to Duke’s home state of Louisiana, has given me his personal assurance that Duke prayed the sinner’s prayer with him recently...Does he occasionally still use racial slurs when describing minorities? Sure.
Is he penitent about his divorce from his wife? No clue!
Does he still hand out Mein Kampf to people? Well, sometimes.
But we all stumble, guys. No one is perfect."
Ha! "No one is perfect." Doncha love it? It took me a bit, but I realized finally that this piece actually IS satire (and the fact that I had to think about whether or not it was sincere is, in my mind, a very bad sign). But it's so close in tone and Christianist hypocrisy to the one penned by a real theologian, that the two are nearly indistinguishable. Gruden is saying that exact thing about Trump: "No one is perfect" but the same quarter is not for the likes of Bill Clinton. In that case, it's off to hell he goes, and anyone who votes for him.
So what to make of all this, besides an extra large roll of triple-ply toilet paper?
First, Confederates don't have a problem with Obama's ideas. They hate him because he's black, and because he represents a diminishment of white, Christianist, total control. Second, right-wing Christians don't hate immoral assholes unless they're the wrong kind of immoral assholes. They are perfectly fine drumming up the most morally stinky apologies for one who will promise to save them a seat at the table and to praise their hypocrisy as the revealed word of god, as long as that revelation makes him king. And, once again, I'd like to mention that it's never a good sign when your most central arguments are hard to distinguish from a Saturday Night Live sketch.
It's really quite simple. These people are not Americans. And they sure as shit aren't Christians, at least not the Christianity I was taught about.
They're Confederate douchebags. And cut rate ones at that. Christ, if you're gonna embrace the dark side, do it up.
Like Trump.
Akhilleus, I have said this before it needs to be repeated. The idea that apparently no one seems to recall that our BLACK President had a WHITE mother and was raised by her and her WHITE parents. I guess you are totally defined by the color of your skin. Pathetic.
I found this article by Rosa Prince of the Telegraph from 6/24/16, right after the Brexit vote, to be alarming at the time. And even more alarming, now, as our presidential race sinks to lower levels.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/politics/britains-decision-to-leave-the-eu-is-hillary-clintons-worst-nigh/
"For more than a year, Democrats have assured themselves that America surely would not be foolish enough to favour a maverick, proudly xenophobic, boorish billionaire over the wisdom, experience and poise of Mrs Clinton.
"Their confidence echoes that of the British establishment, so sure the electorate would not - could not - defy the collective authority of virtually all the country’s senior politicians, economists and international leaders - until it did."
"As Brexit proves, working people around the world are in no mood for common sense. They are angry, restless, uncooperative.
"They demand a response to their cries in the dark on issues which, for some time now, politicians from Washington to Westminster have proved deaf to."
He ain't a champion, but he is a...
The Great Donaldo reveled in strutting out onto the big stage, waving those itty bitty hands at adoring idiots, all to the strains of Queen's "We are the Champions" (you guys know it...), members of the trumpenproletariat, moved momentarily from their dreams of beating up some liberal gay guy who believes in stuff like science, world peace, and animal rights to savor the image of their authoritarian savior come to give them the right to pound the piss out of anyone they don't like and shoot off nukular weapons, and shit.
But then....ooops! One of the largest music rights organizations, BMI, has told Trump to go shit in his hat.
"But under BMI (the PRO that licenses Queen’s music), musicians are allowed to request that their songs be pulled from a given politician’s available catalog if they don’t want their work associated with the campaign. After Queen and Adele made such requests this year, BMI sent letters to the Trump campaign and the RNC detailing the artists’ objections. That means their songs are no longer available to Trump under the blanket license."
And by the way, the guy who wrote "Champions", the legendary Freddie Mercury, was gay and his bandmate Brian May was, besides being a killer guitarist, a PhD in astrophysics and a longtime activist in support of animal rights.
I just love thinking about that whenever I see the bullies and troglodytes and wingnut haters bellowing out "We are the champions, my friend..." Morons.
But never fear, I've got a great replacement song for Trvmpvs. He should play it all his rallies.
It's perfect for him.
Patrick,
Just watched your clip. Okay, that was pretty funny. I hadn't bothered to watch the original, but I had no idea how many times this weenie boy said he wanted to hit someone. I thought originally he might have said it in passing, but it seems like he talked about hitting someone "soooo hard!" about ten times. Schmuck.It's always the biggest cowards who go on at length, long after their targets are gone, about what they would have done had they been there. "Ooooooh if I ever get my little hands on that guy, I would give him such a hit!"
Tell your story walking, schmoe.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/04/157670201/the-thomas-eagleton-affair-haunts-candidates-today
Electro shock therapy was scandalous in 1972. We now have a candidate that will drive the electorate to seek the same treatment.