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Oh The Lies They Tell For Trump: Sh*thouse or Sh*thole Countries?

16 January 2018
When Trump first indicated that he would ban immigrants from certain countries he expressed a preference for Norwegian (read Aryan) immigrants and a desire to ban immigrants from what he called “shithole countries” meaning African and other predominantly black or brown countries.  At least two Republican Senators overheard Trump’s remarks that were later leaked to the press.  Initially, both Senators Cotton and Perdue, of Arkansas and Georgia respectively denied on air having overheard the remarks (more accurately, they couldn’t recall hearing the remarks).  Later when pressed the Senators recalled that Trump did make an unflattering reference to third world countries in Africa and elsewhere but that they heard “shithouse” not “shithole”.  Now I for one do not understand the distinction between a shithole country and a shithouse country but apparently there was enough nuance for the Senators to avoid characterizing Trump’s remarks as racist.   Looking back I see that this post is the first of many posts that started me to thinking about how main stream media (MSM) felled us when we needed it most./span>

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What I find most remarkable about this sad chapter in Trump’s presidency is that his racism is considered “news” and not settled fact. For more than a year the media and Trump supporters have looked high and low for other ‘isms’ to explain his remarks to avoid the obvious one: racism. It started way back when with “nativism” then “nationalism”, then “populism” and, the latest, “authenticism”. His supporters know what he is and support him for it. Their defense is simply a strategy of misdirection and obfuscation. Others, but by no means enough, know what he is an oppose him for it. Only the media is confused. Giving him and his enablers the benefit of the doubt time after time. Refusing to ask obvious follow up questions that get to the heart of the matter. This latest outrage will fade in a few weeks and then replaced altogether by new remarks that provide fresh evidence that Trump is a racist. An unending cycle that will not end until he is out of office.

And the price Trump paid for Senators Cotton’s and Perdue’s failure to recall?  Tanking the DACA deal. And yet some still think that the Russians are not blackmailing Trump even though he so easily created a situation that put him in a position to be blackmailed by two Senators of his own party. More evidence of his stable genius I guess.

Trump Hates Puerto Rico

2 November 2017

From July 2012 when Hurricane Maria hit the island until November 2012 there were several stories that showed Trump’s disdain for Puerto Ricans (see here, and here The photo of him tossing paper towels to people devastated by Maria was haunting.  But looking at it again, I noticed something I missed back then: the joviality of the reporters and camera crews recording the spectacle. They look like they are at a comedy show. Laughing it up and having a great time. It turns out Trump considered selling Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.  I think the election will get Trump within cheating distance of a 2d term and his Postmaster General’s sabotage of voting by mail and Russia’s hacking will bridge the gap.

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Trump  has damaged our nation and our standing on the world stage almost beyond repair.  If he does not pass a single piece of legislation, he has done irreparable harm.

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Trump Spars With Grieving Widow

23 October 2017
In retrospect you can see the foreshadowing of Trump’s disdain for the military made apparent by a recent report appearing in The Atlantic that he on more than one occasion referred to our men and women who died, were injured or were captured in combat as “suckers” and “losers”.  It started with his feud with a Gold Star family while on the campaign trail.  And at the time many thought that the story that prompted the post below a few months later, as awful as it is, was a reflection of Trump’s lack of empathy and general tough guy persona.  But it was so much more even then.  It was a clarion warning that he was unfit to serve as Commander-in-Chief.
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You can fool some of the people all of the time if they are complicit in the foolishness, Trump supporters do not care that he is the Liar-in-Chief, They do not care that he is El Supremo Racisto. They do not care that he is a danger to democracy and a threat to our species. They do not care that he is not just amoral but immoral. They do not care that he lacks the capacity to feel empathy or compassion, genuine or otherwise. They do not care that he is too dumb to be an idiot. All they care about is that he put those “others” in their place. In a better America his approval rating would be in single digits. But sadly it is not. And more telling than any of his antics is the fact that his supporters are unmoved by them. Trump remains in an office he colluded his way in to and is clearly unfit to hold because too many of us want him there. This is not the moonrise after our darkest day but the sunset before our blackest night.

Oh The Lies This Man Tells

31 August 2017

Trump says he witnessed the “horror and devastation” of Harvey Weinstein’s harassment.  The White House admits he didn’t. In Trump’s world of alternative facts and situational reality nothing is as presented.  You need these 10 Rules for Understanding Trump Speak to distinguish the real from the surreal in Trump World.

  • #1) If I say it did happen, it didn’t (“I witnessed the devastation first hand.”; “Largest inauguration crowd ever.”)
  • #2) If I say it didn’t happen, it did (“No one in my campaign colluded with Russia.”)
  • #3) If I have “confidence” in someone or say that he’s “a great guy”, the bus is stuck in traffic but it will be pulling up shortly. I’ll be thanking him for his service tomorrow.
  • #4) If I say, “someone just found out” something you already knew, I mean “I didn’t know that.”
  • #5) If I say “everybody is saying”, I mean “just saying”.
  • #6) If I say “somebody said”, I mean “I said”.
  • #7) There is no bridge too far, no utterance too vile, no act too low, no lie too obvious that I won’t go there and take you with me.
  • #8) Feigned outrage is my go-to strategy for masking guilt.
  • #9) the unpardonable sin is getting caught.
  • #10). Everything and everybody serves me but I serve nothing and no one.

 

Trump Pardons Arapaio: What Happens When a Criminal Has the Power to Pardon

26 August 2017
I posted this when Trump first fired one of the most powerful weapons in his arsenal against democracy:  The power to pardon.   Arpaio’s pardon was news in and of itself but lost in all the stories about the pardon was an understanding of what this act portended for the future of the rule of law.  The power to pardon gives Trump a get-out-of-jail-free card for loyalists who break the law in his service.  It also sends a powerful message to former loyalists that if they turned on Trump they would do some time no matter the plea agreement but if they stood silent they would avoid jail altogether.  Trump pardoned Dinesh Joseph D’Souz who wrote a book attacking Obama and is a poster child for kooky conspiracy theories.  He pardoned an officer court martialed for murdering an Iraqi and  Conrad Black a friend, supporter and Trump biographer.  He granted a few symbolic clemencies to dead Americans like Jack Johnson, a nod to the Black vote, and Susan B. Anthony to court the feminist vote.  But the most egregious misuse of the power to pardon was reserved for Roger Stone, convicted for crimes directly related to the investigation and impeachment of Trump.  And there’s every indication that Trump will pardon Manafort, convicted of lying to Mueller and obstruction of justice.  In other words since Arpaio Trump has demonstrated a willingness to use pardons to thwart the Mueller probe and obstruct impeachment proceedings.  There is nothing to prevent him from dangling a pardon if caught and rewards if not to motivate an overzealous staffer or a WH official to break the law to keep Trump in the White House.  
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Trump’s pardon of Arpaio is not the least bit surprising. There is consistency in this chaos; method to the madness. The pardon serves 3 purposes. 1) It sends a message to the klanzi’s that Trump embraces the racist and fascist doctrines at the core of their beliefs notwithstanding Bannon’s and Gorka’s forced departures. 2). It sends a message to witnesses whose testimony in the Mueller investigation would prove damaging that they should deny his involvement and, if convicted, he will pardon them. In this context, the pardon is just another, more subtle form of obstruction. 3) It deepens the racial divisions in our country that Trump (and Russia) exploited to commandeer the WH and will continue to exploit to keep it. Trump is a dangerous and desperate man being squeezed on all sides by Putin, home grown fascists, microscopic but growing Republican dissent, Mueller’s investigation and the possibility of a Democrat-controlled Congress after 2018. Military intervention in Venezuela, a trade war with China and Mexico, civil war at home, defaulting on our debt and a nuclear war with Korea are all tactics he won’t hesitate to use to save himself. The power to pardon Is just another tactic to this end.

The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offenses against the United States, except in Cases of impeachment.  Article Two of the United States Constitution, Section 2, Clause 1