This is what Progressives are all about

Barack Obama did a great job in the White House, considering he had the entire Republican Congress against him led by the scourge of the Senate, Moscow Mitch McConnell. Among his major accomplishments: The Affordable Care Act; doubled Pell grants; signed the Paris climate accords; negotiated a decent nuclear deal with Iran. On the other hand, Democrats have regularly maintained...

"right-wing policies with a friendlier face were the only way Democrats could win or maintain power, and prevent another Reagan-like figure from seizing control of the country."

In my mind, that is centrism at its worst. Salon sums up the last four years...

"Over the past few weeks, the Republican Party has proven itself hostile to freedom and democracy; its merciful incompetence the only thing saving whatever remains of our republic from the fascist insurrection of a con man. The absurdity of the cast members — from Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell to their incoherent Michigan "witness" and of course Donald Trump himself — have made the entire fiasco seem more like a satirical film than political reality."

Now that's what we should have been fighting during the Donald Trump nightmare, not creating animosity among ourselves, denying a large faction of liberals an equal input, which could have well won bigger numbers last November. With Progressives branded as Socialists, and many Americans afraid of this political philosophy, the leftist movement has not had its chance. But it will, and it very well could be during Joe Biden's administration. 

This is what The Nation has to say...

"Too many congressional Democrats are making a potentially fatal political miscalculation about the reason the party lost several seats in this year’s elections. And those incorrect interpretations of why Democrats lost at least 12 seats could lead to grievous missteps that will imperil their majority in 2022."

According to Data for Progress, although the overall positive attitude toward Socialism is less than half that of negative approval, those neutral are almost equal to the negative. There are several more interesting data in this article that seem to illustrate that the U.S. public is warming up to Socialism. And I want to emphasize that this is Democratic Socialism that supports change through legislation, not Socialist change through revolution which advocates violence.

Some defeated centrists claim that their association with Progressives, or any of their causes like Black Lives Matter, "damaged their contests this year." Not so says The Nation...

"The truth behind the unexpected losses, however, is exactly the opposite of what those members believe."

And the real reason is that...

"It was their failure to inspire progressive and Democratic voters to the same extent that Donald Trump galvanized his supporters to turn out in extraordinarily large numbers to defend him and his race-baiting presidency."

Progressives will not give up and the sooner Democrats learn this, the better off the Party will be.  

Another top Republican disowns his party in disgust

The exit of the latest Republican to dump the party is further evidence of the decline of the GOP. The good ones are departing, leaving only those with the mentality of their mentor, Donald Trump. Thankfully, the Trump era is almost over, putting an end to one of the most appalling White House administrations this country has ever known. Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-Mich.) even laid it out in a letter in The Hill's piece for his leaving. Reason: "President Trump's efforts to dispute the presidential election."

This is his thinking...

"If Republican leaders collectively sit back and tolerate unfounded conspiracy theories and 'stop the steal' rallies without speaking out for our electoral process, which the Department of Homeland Security said was 'the most secure in American history, our nation will be damaged."

"Will be damaged?" It is already beyond belief the damage Donald Trump and his minions have done to this country. The most important is his inattention to the COVID-19 pandemic, letting it run wild while calling it a hoax and exclaiming it would go away soon. Because of this there have been 310,331 deaths in the United States, leading the world. 7,098,109 cases of the virus, also leading the world. It might also be noted that Mitchell voted 95% for Trump's agenda. Not admirable.

Karl Rove started it all in 1977 when he joined George W. Bush to turn the GOP into a fear-mongering party of corruption and misinformation. GWB enjoyed two terms using this strategy, but Donald Trump turned all three into an art that has prevailed and almost brought down America. It will take Joe Biden at least one full term to dig out if this disordered anarchy. It will also require the removal of Moscow Mitch McConnell to realize the U.S.'s full potential.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg and who will take her place on the Court

 

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was famous for her quotes. They ranged from men and women on the Court to abortion rights. Here are a few...

"When I'm sometimes asked 'When will there be enough (women on the Supreme Court)?' and my answer is: 'When there are nine.' People are shocked. But there'd been nine men, and nobody's ever raised a question about that."

"My mother told me to be a lady. And for her, that meant be your own person, be independent."

"This [abortion rights] is something central to a woman's life, to her dignity. It's a decision that she must make for herself. And when government controls that decision for her, she's being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices."

This is an idea on how she voted on the issues over the years, while she always had the respect of Court members and the American public. Her body was no doubt still warm when Republicans began positioning to fill her chair with the Court, with hardly a mention of this woman's commendable career. The GOP is desperate and they have already mounted a campaign on behalf of Trump's choice, Judge Amy Coney Barrett. But Democrats are playing their cards and they are strong.

Nancy Pelosi says she will even consider impeachment, if necessary. From my September 19, post, "there are already three Republican Senators who have voiced opposition with filling Ginsburg's position prior to the election. They are: Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Another step would be Democrat Mark Kelly's win in Arizona (currently ahead 6.7 points). Here's the Kelly/McSally outcome...

“Two Republican and two Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practices would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed.”

The Daily Beast added...

"Tomasky had 3 ways McConnell could be stopped. One, to threaten expansion of the Court after the election; Two, Moscow Mitch may decide the polls are against it enough that proceeding could damage the GOP even more; and three, McConnell may just feel Democrats have the numbers to win and not want to rock the boat. This would be based on the three Republican Senators, above, and Mark Kelly's win in Arizona."

You can see where more Senators stand on the Ginsberg replacement in this New York Times article. It doesn't look good for Republicans but, then, we all know you cannot depend on Donald Trump nor Moscow Mitch to play fair. Dems beware!

At least 3 ways to stop Trump/McConnell Ginsburg replacement

 

DOES IT LOOK LIKE A SINKING SHIP, ABOVE? First of all, there are already three Republican Senators who have voiced opposition with filling Ginsburg's position prior to the election. They are: Lisa Murkowski (AK), Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Susan Collins (R-ME). Another step would be Democrat Mark Kelly's win in Arizona (currently ahead 6.7 points). Here's the Kelly/McSally outcome...

“Two Republican and two Democratic election attorneys agree that state law and Senate practices would make Kelly eligible to take over the seat once held by Sen. John McCain as soon as Nov. 30, when the state election results are expected to be canvassed.”

Daily Beast columnist Michael Tomasky remarked...

“Place yourself in the White House private residence, or down in Louisville, at Chez Mitch, when the news about Ginsburg was conveyed Friday. Do you think either of them took even 30 seconds to reflect on her service to her nation?”

The answer to that, of course, is a resounding no! 

Tomasky had 3 ways McConnell could be stopped. One, to threaten expansion of the Court after the election; Two, Moscow Mitch may decide the polls are against it enough that proceeding could damage the GOP even more; and three, McConnell may just feel Democrats have the numbers to win and not want to rock the boat. This would be based on the three Republican Senators, above, and Mark Kelly's win in Arizona. 

Returning to the November election and the control of the Senate, there are more vulnerable candidates. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (he is tied with Jaime Harrison); Cal Cunningham (D) leads incumbent Thom Tillis (R) by 3.6 pts; and in Georgia, David Perdue (R) v. Jon Ossoff (D) (Perdue ahead by 4.3 pts.) plus a runoff election. More you can see here. My point is there are several chances for the left to take the Senate, made more positive by the current state of affairs.

And now a GOP Governor, Charlie Baker (R-MA)...

"issued a statement on Twitter urging Senate Republicans to hold off on filling Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat until after the November election."

So it would appear the damn is breaking with Moscow Mitch's support, accompanied by the realization by many, on both sided of the aisle, that this corrupt, conniving, bogus head of the United States Senate is not to be trusted or listened to. He'll get even less attention after Joe Biden enters the White House. That is, if McConnell beats Amy McGrath. 

Republicans out of touch beyond reality

The GOP has always been out of touch to the point they continually risk their credibility by their actions. After almost four years of Donald Trump with his antics in the White House, laughable at times, these poor souls believe the Oval Office lunatic has performed well, even if you can accept it, on the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. OK, the economy is doing well but aside from killing 180,000 Americans, it has created unemployment in the U.S. of around 10%.


 CBS published their Poll today that makes the Grand Old Party even more comical. Here's an excerpt...

"The vast majority of Republican voters approve of the U.S. economy’s state and how the government handled the coronavirus, and more than half say the level of deaths has been “acceptable,” a new poll shows."

180,000 deaths due to COVID-19 are "acceptable?" A clear picture of just how little Republicans value your life. This is despicable, but should illustrate to voters across the U.S. how this Party has only one thing in mind, to win at any cost. Any cost! The osmosis of Moscow Mitch McConnell has instilled his sick philosophy into the ranks of the GOP; nothing matters matters more than power and the Party. Here's more from the CBS Poll...

"Heading into their party’s convention on Monday, 75% of Republicans say the U.S. is in better condition than it was four years ago, with 82% crediting President Donald Trump for that, according to the national survey from CBS News and pollster YouGov released Sunday."

Yet, when you look at all voters, only 25% say the U.S. is better off than four years ago, 65% say it’s not. There's more and you can see it on CBS here.

How to beat Trump/Moscow Mitch at their own game

Pariah of the Senate Moscow Mitch McConnell

As I indicated, the miscreants we are up against are Donald Trump, who is double-jeopardy right now by fighting the stimulus program along with trying to gut the U.S. Postal Service for the sole purpose of preventing a mail-in vote. The other is Senate leader Moscow Mitch McConnell, who is against everything from the left, plus he has recessed the Senate until September 8. Contrary to this stupid move, Speaker Nancy Pelosi has cancelled the House recess.

The question is what do we do about it. Assuming the American public could be codified to the point of shaming the Trump administration to back off (he has done it before if he thought it would benefit him) the new Postmaster General could be forced to stop his bulldozing of the Post Office. Because Moscow Mitch is running a tight Senate race in Kentucky against Amy McGrath, McConnell could be enticed to cooperate.

In case none of this works, the next move is a huge decision. Should we just vote in person? In view of the COVID-19 situation, that is a tough decision for some, especially the older seniors, particularly the elderly. There is one more option, and it is somewhat simple. States must send out the mail-in ballots earlier than normal to compensate for slow mail delivery. I would suggest you contact both your Senator and representative, using the following sites:

U.S. Senate
U.S. House of Representatives

In keeping with sending ballots out early, states should extend the date for receiving them, again, to compensate for a slowed down postal system. Put this in your note to your Senator and Congress person. And I realize these ideas won't fly with Republican governors, so the pressure on Congress must be the max to get anything done. Donald Trump and Republicans will do anything within their power to thwart this election in their favor. Those on the left must do more.

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Is racism still a dirty word, or...just accepted today?

Racism is worse than that old weather saying. People have been talking about it for years, but no one has seriously done anything about it...

My take is that it is definitely a dirty word, even many racists would agree with that, but it is like one of those rogue genes that are the basis for a particular kind of behavior which allows those who have it to justify what they do. I grew up in the South, fighting with racists all my life, even within my own family, and when I finally left in the 1960s, there were still lynchings of black people, their houses being burned to the ground, all orchestrated by the Ku Klux Klan.

Like the Mafia, the Klan slowly faded away, but as is the case for both, there is still evidence of their activity around. Here's a scenario from NPR...

"For the fourth year in a row, the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks hate groups, reports that hate and domestic extremism are rising in an unabated trend. The center found a 30 percent increase in U.S. hate groups over the past four years and a 7 percent increase in hate groups in 2018 alone."

NPR adds, "The watchdog group blames President Trump, his administration, right-wing media outlets and the ease of spreading hate on social media platforms for the alarming increase." Trump has promoted and encouraged white nationalism since being inaugurated, hiring people like Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, of which the latter is still on his staff. Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project said...

"The numbers tell a striking story — that this president is not simply a polarizing figure but a radicalizing one."

Excellent video on the Trump-Miller relationship...

This added...

"Heidi Beirich, director of the SPLC's Intelligence Project, said in a statement. "Rather than trying to tamp down hate, as presidents of both parties have done, President Trump elevates it — with both his rhetoric and his policies. In doing so, he's given people across America the go-ahead to act on their worst instincts."

"Worst instincts," resulting from that rogue gene that wallows in racism. And here's more on Stephen Miller from the Daily Beast...

"Stephen Miller, the highly influential advisor to President Donald Trump, is the end result of a shadowy network made up of racist organizations and PAC’s designed to push a white nationalist worldview from the fringes into deep inside the White House."

The Confederate battle flag

Now there are even rumbles that Steve Bannon is attempting to work his way back into the White House. The combination of Miller and Bannon, especially should there be a Trump second term, God forbid, and with the White House maniac at his highest level of mental instability since entering office, could turn this country into a national Confederate States of America. What would a new flag look like? Would future elections even be allowed?

Miller was a close ally of John Tanton, an Ophthalmologist from Michigan, founder of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and considered by SPLC the "puppeteer" of the nativist movement and a man with deep racist roots. Stephen Miller, practicing Tanton's ideology, is considered the architect of Donald Trump's immigration policies. The Beast's Mark Potok reports...

"Miller is both a promoter and, to some extent, a product of a much wider racist network aimed at preventing non-white immigration into the United States.”

He also thinks there is little chance of Miller leaving the administration, able to now influence, as I stated earlier, a much more mentally unstable Donald Trump, who is already making the worst of bad decisions. I would surmise when the black community sees this rampant racism originate from the highest office in the land, they feel there is just no hope. And they may very well be right as long as Trump occupies the White House and Mitch McConnell controls the Senate.

Donald Trump starts war with Barack Obama

There is no doubt who started this war, but there is also no doubt who will finish it considering the two levels of mentality in the skirmish. The mentally confused, inarticulate Trump on one side, the educated, sophisticated and eloquent Obama on the other.

It's Joe Biden who is your competitor in the November election, you idiot, not Barack Obama. Obama is the guy who handily won two terms in spite of the dirty politics of Moscow Mitch McConnell. Obama is the guy who ran a class-act presidency in comparison with the lowlife, classless administration you have given us for almost four years. Obama is the guy who will help Joe Biden win back the White House for the left in November.

According to Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson this is Trump's reasoning...

"Noting that Trump has been presented with internal polls showing him losing to Biden, Robinson stated that Trump appears to have fallen back on the strategy that helped him win in 2016 — appealing to his follower’s racism. And that means going after Obama instead of Biden who is white."

Robinson, who is black, is not playing the race card since Donald Trump has been well steeped in racist activism during his entire administration. With Biden pretty much guaranteed the black vote in November, and with Trump's latest tirades of racism, he is hoping to get somewhere near Barack Obama's 2008 results where the "black turnout actually exceeded white turnout, 66.6 percent to 64.1 percent."

The Daily Show comedic remarks Trump's racism...

Robinson adds, and it is the most pathetic part, there is nothing tactical about these attacks, they are purely personal. Moving on to more personal immaturity on the part of the Oval Office lunatic, he has now refused to host the unveiling of Barack Obama's portrait in the White House. But the former president has publicly said, he would not appear there anyway as long as Donald Trump is still in the building. AlterNet says...

"The message they (the Obamas) want to send is the opposite. No one should try to play nice with this administration or behave as if things are okay. That will give others the courage to do the same."

Before Donald Trump entered the political scene, this kind of thinking would be unheard of. And as you know from me, the Washington Post's Jennifer Rubin always knows the right things to say about Donald Trump, although her less than complimentary comments are from a conservative columnist. How's this for starters?...

"It makes zero sense, you would think, for President Trump to attack his predecessor, since President Barack Obama is the most popular politician around (next to his wife) — someone who instills in Democrats a feeling of solidarity, of nostalgia for decent leadership and of hope. Even those critical of Obama’s presidency regard that era as akin to a Golden Age compared with the Trump calamity that brought us the Great Depression 2.0."

Obama criticizes Trump's handling of COVID-19...

Rubin doesn't think this is just to draw attention from "Trump’s meltdown or from the almost 90,000 deaths resulting from the pandemic." She has two other reasons...

ONE: "Trump has been in a juvenile competition with his predecessor since the day he took office. Trump insisted the economy was stronger under him than under Obama. (That was false then and is now, well, self-evidently ludicrous.) Trump tore up the Iran deal and backed out of the Paris accords in part because Obama was associated with them. " (There's more, read the article.)

TWO: "Trump seeks to make Obama out to be a criminal or unfit. It goes back to the original sin of Trump’s political career — birtherism — and to his campaign, which channeled cultural and racial animosity among whites against elites, nonwhites and immigrants."

And if you think the racism has been bad up until now, Rubin projects...

"Should Biden select an African American vice president (as I think he should), the grotesque racism that will ooze from the right will make birtherism seem innocuous. "

This country is doomed beyond comprehension if we don't get rid of Donald Trump, and soon. 

Donald Trump is completely obsessed with Barack Obama

David Smith of the Guardian says Donald Trump is being eaten alive inside by his manic compulsions with Barack Obama.

Barack Obama looked like a great president as he entered the White House in 2009, with the kind of enthusiasm, energy and capacity to get things done as John F. Kennedy. Kennedy was struck down by a bullet, Obama with a bullet of a different name, Moscow Mitch McConnell. President Obama had the overwhelming support of the American people as the racist McConnell began to spread his game plan of a one-term presidency.

That didn't work as Obama won with another landslide against Mitt Romney. But, as was the case in his first term, he was dogged by Moscow Mitch, who convinced his Republican colleagues to support him in keeping anything Obama from happening, actually anything Democrats. With the Dems, that hasn't changed. The Oval Office has changed and it is the startling difference between two men, Barack Obama and Donald Trump, that is the subject of this post.

Donald Trump's obsession with Barack Obama...

David Smith quotes journalist, Jon Karl, as he observed the then president and the one coming into office. He thought of Trump as actually "humbled," out of sorts, awed by the situation, and definitely not in control of the room. Obama was turning over the torch in the classy way he had conducted his presidency, to his predecessor, who “seemed a little dazed” and “a little freaked out.” These would be two of the earliest signs of Donald Trump's incompetency.

Then Smith comments...

"But what became clear in the next three and a half years is that Obama remains something of an obsession for Trump; the subject of a political and personal inferiority complex."

Here, the why...

"Observers point to a mix of anti-intellectualism, racism, vengeance and primitive envy over everything from Obama’s Nobel peace prize to the scale of his inauguration crowd and social media following."

Barack Obama criticizes Donald Trump's handling of coronavirus pandemic...

Obama criticizes Trump's handling of coronavirus...

CNN Politics says Trump has been backed into the corner on his incompetence with the COVID-19 pandemic, so he simply reverts to his favorite subject, Barack Obama...

"With the death count from the coronavirus rising and its economic fallout deepening, President Donald Trump is trying to fire up his base and divert the national conversation by promoting a baseless conspiracy that casts his predecessor, Barack Obama, as the architect of a plot to subvert his presidency."

And you can always depend on Jennifer Rubin, conservative columnist for the Washington Post, to zero in on Donald Trump's real intentions...

"It makes zero sense, you would think, for President Trump to attack his predecessor, since President Barack Obama is the most popular politician around (next to his wife) — someone who instills in Democrats a feeling of solidarity, of nostalgia for decent leadership and of hope. Even those critical of Obama’s presidency regard that era as akin to a Golden Age compared with the Trump calamity that brought us the Great Depression 2.0."

Donald Trump's absurd Obamagate conspiracy theory...

There's always a 'yeah, but'...

"And yet over the past week or so, Trump has rekindled “Obamagate,” a made-up scandal that has become a bumper sticker for Obama-haters. Trump’s claims are so thoroughly baseless and hopelessly convoluted that Trump cannot even explain it."

She also agrees with Jake Tapper's assessment...

"President Trump and his team are launching an unprecedented smear campaign against rivals, leveling wild and false allegations against critics in the media and politics, ranging from bizarre conspiracy theories to spreading lies about pedophilia and even murder."

Have we arrived at the pinnacle of Donald Trump's desperation, and are we dangerously close to the edge, or will this latest debacle simply fade away like all the others have because Republicans, plus an uncaring media, give him another free pass? Right now, I have to go with the latter.

Obama/Biden can beat Trump in 2020?

For some time now I have prescribed the idea that if we stay on Donald Trump's back with daily criticisms that eat at his ego, he just has to break.

Looks like to me Obama saw what was coming in 2016

Well, he hasn't, but at times you can almost see the breaking point at hand when the Oval Office lunatic hesitates, but then moves on to another crisis. Looks like this has saved T-rump from barreling right over the cliff, but not from ending up with the most disarrayed, chaotic, incompetent administration that has ever been in Washington. This is not good for the American people, but the pressure is necessary to prevent more disasters, and to dump Trump in November.

Donald Trump is obsessed with Barack Obama because, as his predecessor, he is constantly being reminded of the difference between a class presidency, that of Obama's, as compared to his own style that is crude, ignorant, lowbred, downright vulgar at times. It also doesn't help that...

"a recent poll showed that a majority of Americans, 52 percent, say Obama would be a better leader for the current crisis than Trump, who weighed in at only 38 percent."

Brian Kilmeade, a Fox News anchor even commented...

"When this election happens ... it's not gonna be Biden against Trump, it is gonna be Obama against Trump."

Obama criticizes Trump on COVID-19 pandemic handling...

David Frum, a political commentator, who worked in G.W.B.'s White House, is convinced about Donald Trump's horror of being rejected, and that is looking like just what will happen to him in the the Fall election. He bases this primarily on T-rump's predilection with Obamagate, and the fact that he is falling more and more out of touch with his followers. But, as he continues to play to his base with this nonsense, how many borderline supporters is he losing?

I did a post yesterday about Moscow Mitch and his denial of a COVID-19 Playbook from former President Obama, something that turned out to be entirely false. McConnell seems to have the same propensity to lie as does Trump, and he has become just as big a target in November. Amy Klobuchar, who opposed Joe Biden in the Democratic Primary, but now endorses him, said...

“You always imagine the different world it would have been if Barack Obama was president right now, because he is someone that understood that service is about sacrifice and looking out for the people of this country instead of yourself.”

In reality Donald Trump detests Barack Obama, and we all know the more he dislikes someone, the more he talks about them. Like Hillary Clinton. But, in this case he is biting the hand that represents everything Trump cannot be, a decent person. It is comical how the whole T-rump gang insists on making Obama a center-point in this election when he represents the politics of the man Trump is running against, Joe Biden.

Comparison between Trump and Obama on science, relating to COVID-19...

I will conclude by showing a comparison between the Obama and Trump administrations...

"And his administration was more free from scandal than any in memory — which was not for the GOP’s lack of trying. Republicans used their power in Congress to promote one faux scandal after another — including eight separate investigations of the 2012 Benghazi attacks — in the vain hope that one would eventually reveal wrongdoing by the president. But none ever did. There was never even a hint of personal malfeasance on Obama’s part." 

Just keep it going, it's rah rah rah Barack Obama all the way to the White house in November for Joe Biden.

Obama's COVID-19 Playbook denied by Moscow Mitch

Mitch McConnell wasn't smart enough to bring Barack Obama down when he was President, and McConnell was Senate head, and he is still lying about the former Obama administration.

The team that created Obama's coronavirus Playbook...

Moscow Mitch, along with Donald Trump, has regularly criticized the former president for leaving T-rump in a lurch on specific issues, this time for not providing a "game plan" on a potential crisis like COVID-19. To begin with, the White House maniac has created every "lurch" he has found himself in. Second, the accusation is an outright lie, since McConnell knows full well Obama left a 69-page Pandemic Playbook.

Daniel Dale of CNN reports...

"The playbook -- 40 pages plus appendices -- contains step-by-step advice on questions to ask, decisions to make, and which federal agencies are responsible for what. It includes sample documents that officials could use for inter-agency meetings. And it explicitly lists novel coronaviruses as one of the kinds of pathogens that could require a major response." 

Dale adds...

"The color-coded, checklist-style document addresses issues like testing, funding, personal protective equipment, emergency declarations, border control measures, diplomacy, the use of the military, public communication, even mortuary services."

Obama warned Trump of COVID-19 back in 2014...

What Barack Obama failed to realize, or perhaps being the nice guy he is, simply was giving them the benefit of the doubt, that Republicans, particularly Trump and McConnell, need a literal blueprint, a picture drawn to point out what needs to be done. Since no one in Donald Trump's administration was bright enough to follow the playbook, the boss resorted to lying, along with his pathetic ally. Or, was it just to deny Obama's efforts yet again?

Aside from being stupid and unable to read, the lowlife McConnell has absolutely no empathy. He is callous and cold-blooded to the point of nit giving a shit about the American public. CNN reports...

"Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he would rather bankrupt states rather than send federal aid during the coronavirus pandemic.

If it doesn't advance his power in Congress, or help the Republican Party, Moscow Mitch is not interested. There's more...

"The Kentucky Republican, whose state is among the most heavily dependent on federal aid, told talk radio host Hugh Hewitt that states should be allowed to declare bankruptcy to get out from beneath burdensome public employee pension costs."

Obama defines Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic...

In other words, screw the people, those who have worked hard for their pensions, just hang them out to dry, with little hope, especially in today's situation, which is experiencing unemployment at a rate comparable to the depression. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo tore into McConnell for his statement saying...

“this is really one of the dumb ideas of all time,” adding that not funding state and local governments is “incredibly short-sighted’ Cuomo went on to say that McConnell’s plan ignores police and fire departments, teachers and schools.

Cuomo goes on and on over McConnell's ignorance but one of his major questions about withholding funding was, “How do you not fund police and fire and teachers and schools in the midst of this crisis?” Cuomo asked incredulously. But there is one bright spot in all this, Democrats are grabbing on to the opportunity of using this against him in his Kentucky Senate race against Amy McGrath. The race is close with McGrath leading in fundraising. 

Another impeachment?...Let's go!

But Donald Trump is asking the Supreme Court to block the release of "certain secret grand jury material from Robert S. Mueller III’s special counsel investigation."

Mueller Report locked up by Republicans

Donald Trump, the 45th person to sit in the White House as head of this country, was impeached by the U.S. House on December 18, 2019. On February 5, 2020, he was acquitted by a bunch of cowards in the Senate, led by lowlife Moscow Mitch McConnell, the one responsible for ages to come as the demon who put the freakshow back in the Oval Office, most recently leading us into a COVID-19 pandemic of colossal proportions. With little recovery in sight.

He was guilty in his first impeachment, and in my opinion is guilty today of ignoring the coronavirus threat in the beginning, calling it a hoax, then blaming it on Democrats. However, The Democratic House is focusing on the more likely material of "possible misconduct by the president." They're looking for obstruction of justice, which T-rump seems to have committed all the way back to James Comey's firing.

Putin and Trump on Jame Comey firing...

The House committee believes Mueller's Report will shed light on "whether Trump obstructed Mueller’s investigation and whether to recommend new articles of impeachment...

“This remains true today. The current pandemic notwithstanding, the Committee’s investigation is not ‘dormant.’ The Committee continues to exercise its investigative and oversight responsibilities; its staff are ready and able to review the requested grand jury materials as soon as they are provided by DOJ; and the Committee remains able to convene formal hearings to further its investigation.”

D.C. Circuit orders release of Mueller Report...

In its 2-1 opinion, the D.C. Circuit Court...

"said grand jury records are court records — not Justice Department records — and have historically been released to Congress in the course of impeachment investigations involving three federal judges and two presidents."

Here's more...

"The Committee has repeatedly stated that if the grand jury materials reveal new evidence of impeachable offenses, the Committee may recommend new articles of impeachment,” wrote Judge Judith Rogers, who was joined by Judge Thomas B. Griffith.

There is question over the authority of the House Judiciary Committee seeking the Mueller Report, but the House persists that its investigation is not yet over and needs this material to complete it. And finally, I'll leave you with this comment from the article...

"The United States is now officially a Russian Republic because of the treason of Trump, Flynn, Barr and McConnell. Treason most foul and injurious to this country is now the order of the day every day. The American dream is now a nightmare. The war against evil has been lost."

Could you congratulate yourself for something 600 times? Trump did

Trump has never done anything I know of where he should be congratulated. Therefore, it seems both unbelievable and bizarre he could come up with 600 pats on the back...

Thanks to our neighbor

But he did and it was for another most ludicrous reason, his handling of the coronavirus situation. Here is DAILY BEASTS headline: "Trump Has Congratulated Himself 600 Times During Coronavirus Briefings, Says Report." The New York times analyzed all Trump's press briefings to get this number concluding, “The level of self-congratulations that occurs every day at these press conferences is unprecedented.”
And it would seem that Moscow Mitch McConnell has taken up Donald Trump's mantle exhibiting his brand of ignorance and idiocy. According to the Washington Post has basically told U.S. states to drop dead by refusing them aid and saying you are pretty much on your own. Although he has moderately backed off this position, it is a clear sign of this slimeball's disdain for American citizens, and his aversion to our democracy.

With the current press of the public to reopen the U.S. economy amid over 1 million cases of COVID-19 in this country, growing on a daily basis, 30,000+ since yesterday, and almost 60,000 deaths, there is reason to pause and reflect on this move. Here is a statement from an expert: "Infectious disease expert Michael Osterholm warned that the states starting to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic 'will pay a big price later on.'” There's more...

"Osterholm, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday that states like Georgia, Colorado and others that are easing social distancing restrictions were 'putting gasoline on fire.'

“I think right now, this is one of the things we’ve learned, if we’re going to learn to live with this, then you just don’t walk in the face of it and spit in its eye, because it will hit you,” said Osterholm.

Taking out the Trash

Here's the Guardian's opinion: "Trump is a danger to the American people. But the Republicans refuse to stop him." Bingo. This hits the jackpot and my blog posts over the years portrays the one man most responsible for this, Moscow Mitch McConnell. The Guardia expands...

"I don’t know how many psychological profiles I have read of him in which he is diagnosed as a malignant narcissist, or it is suggested he has a cognitive impairment, or suffers from delusional thinking or a sociopathic inability to experience basic empathy. Yada yada yada. None of it matters. He promised an end to “American carnage”, but that is exactly what he is presiding over."

By the way, he didn't look like congratulating himself after walking off the podium recently after remarks on his disinfectant decision. He said nothing. 

A Very Stable Genius Trump...NOT

Coming from Washington Post writers, Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig, "A Very Stable Genius" is the continuing brilliance of those on the inside to portray a mentally challenged Donald Trump...

I am two-thirds way through "A Very Stable Genius" and am amazed at the way these two reporters have organized the information on Donald Trump to the extent you actually feel you are in the room where it is happening. It is hard to select something to quote but in consideration of Trump's totalitarian governing approach, there was a part in the book where he gives kudos to Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey's president.

A senior aide describes the two's speakerphone conversations as "un-fucking-believable, like hearing Hitler at a Nuremberg rally." Says Erdogan's voice was chilling, like Satan's, but Trump has long admired the man for his ruthless rule in Turkey and the ease with which he dispatched political rivals. This is unadulterated mental sickness at its worst, when you are talking about the person who rules the freest country in the world.

Best friends, Erdogan and Trump

Jennifer Rubin's Washington Post opinion piece recently headlined, "‘Stable genius’ or dangerous ignoramus?" is a good question but one that has been answered repeatedly over the last few months, with each time Donald Trump opens his mouth. She quotes from one of his recent press conferences...

“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out, in a minute. Is there a way we can do something like that? By injection, inside, or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs. So it would be interesting to check that. You’re going to have to use medical doctors, right? But it sounds interesting to me.”

This is the leader of the world's most advanced nation in such a confused state that what he is recommending could immediately kill thousands of people if they took his advice. But it was right after this at a later press conference where the disinfectant thing was brutally criticized, Donald Trump actually showed signs of doubt, both in what he was saying and also from the harsh criticism he received. He quietly left the room without taking questions.

I'm only a puttering psychologist, but are we seeing the first breaking point in the Trump facade, the latest of many that have come down the line, and are sure to eventually push Trump over the edge. A tragic way to have to get rid of a president but the only way when you have the head of the U.S. Senate, lowlife Moscow Mitch McConnell, constantly propping him up. Cody Fenwick, writing in AlterNet said...

"Of course, if Trump does genuinely feel shame, it’s not likely to last long. He’ll likely revert to his vastly overconfident self in short order."

Trump coming off the spool at a press conference...WATCH!

We'll be watching for more signs. After over three years, Donald Trump still does not know how to do his job, according to another piece by Cody Fenwick, this time in RawStory. The writer believes the Oval Office lunatic has contrived this reality show in his head, much like his former show, "The Apprentice," where he interviewed and fired people. In today's show, here's how Fenwick sees it...

"He likely doesn’t have the ability to coordinate all the relevant actors, tap into the expertise of the administration, and craft a long-term strategy for fighting the pandemic and saving as much of the economy as possible. But regardless of whether he could do what is needed, it’s clear that he’s not interested in this hard work."

Trump just cannot shed the carnival barker personality that so often shows him for the idiot he is. Like this...

“It’s just a suggestion, from a brilliant lab, by a very, very smart, perhaps brilliant, man,” Trump said. “He’s talking about sun, he’s talking about heat. And you see the numbers. So that’s it. That’s all I have. I’m just here to present talent. I’m here to present ideas. Because we want ideas to get rid of this thing.”

We're all waiting for the next episode of Donald Trump's new reality show. Don't forget, "A Very Stable Genius," a great read.

What's wrong with America?-Donald Trump...What's wrong with Donald Trump?-Mitch McConnell...

Trump latest from The New Yorker: Mitch McConnell is still refusing to rein in Trump — and things are getting worse for Americans...

The relationship is bending

And folks it is Moscow Mitch that has allowed the Oval Office lunatic the freedom to do what he pleases from the White House, most recently screw up the response to the coronavirus pandemic and fight with the scientific experts for who knows the best about the clinical approach to the disease. On some fronts this moron has won, like the widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, in which he has a financial interest along with his cronies.

Here's the scenario...

"New Yorker reporter Jane Mayer explained that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is enabling President Donald Trump’s bad behavior at a time that Americans need a leader the most."

 There's more...

"The New Yorker explained that McConnell’s worship for Trump is really a kind of 'cynical political genius.' He’s both protecting his caucus and covering himself in a deeply red state where Trump is more popular than even he is. "It is well known that McConnell interfered with witnesses against Donald Trump at his impeachment trial, a move thought by many to have turned the trial in T-rump's favor. 

Columnists and Gov. Cuomo on Mitch McConnell...

"Columnist and journalism professor Al Cross called McConnell’s partnership with Trump 'the most important political relationship in the country.'” And with McConnell in control of the Senate, this lowlife, with absolutely no ethics and no concern for what happens to this country as long as he maintains his power, it will never get better until we get him out of Congress, out of Washington. Here's what a Common dreams writer had to say...

"A decade ago, in my first public writing since leaving Capitol Hill, I warned that the Republican Party, in its evolution towards an extremist conservative movement allied with extremist Christian fundamentalism, was becoming like 'one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe.'”

His conclusion: "They value only absolute power or ruin." Changed to "He valued only absolute power or ruin," should be on Mitch McConnell's tombstone. The author professes a more simplistic approach and...

"simply call the Republicans and their religious and secular conservative allies what they are, and in unadorned English: a death cult."

Now that's heavy and perfectly corresponds to earlier GOP talk during the Obamacare hassle where the Republicans recommended death panels for citizens age seventy-four and over, today it's...

"cheerfully suggesting that a few dead elderly people would be a small price to pay to protect the U.S. economy in the coming weeks."

A year ago but still appropriate on McConnell's destruction of the Senate...

It is obvious how far this Grand Old Party has gone to shore up its power and what it will do to get it and keep it. It is why Progressives find Republicans so disgusting. And there is yet one more idiot Congressman from Indiana, Trey Hollingsworth, who made the comment...

“it is always the American government’s position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life, of American lives, we have to always choose the latter.”

But this blockhead took it even further with this comment...

“'It is policymakers’ decision to put on our big boy and big girl pants and say it is the lesser of these two evils.' This encapsulates the stereotype of the economic conservative: Dickens’s Thomas Gradgrind, the rigid, condescending, and heartless pedagogue."

And this is the kind of Republican that is running this country today, and a primary reason the White House maniac can get away with what he does. But the latest play of Moscow Mitch is his latest position re. the plight of U.S. states during the COVID-19 pandemic. His attitude is there will be no more federal aid and as far as he is concerned, they can just go bankrupt. Since the Democrats in Congress are all wimps, there is no choice but to dump them with the GOP.

How I did it...Sabotaged COVID-19 response

It is impossible to compare Donald Trump with any past president - not likely that there will be anything like him in the future...

Always with the mouth open, yet nothing to say.

According to RawStory, Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt rank at the top of the U.S. presidents. Lincoln for his handling of the Civil War, Roosevelt for his efforts in the Great Depression, and World War II. George W. Bush comes in at close to the bottom of the list, and Donald Trump, if there is any way to place him under the bottom of the list, well, that is where you would find him. It is hard for one to reconcile how the one running this country could be so appallingly labeled.
The article explains that the only reason Trump has been able to preserve a 40% approval rating is the fact that he is by...

"riding his predecessor’s economic coattails and effectively manipulating the lizard brains of white Republicans, but even before the coronavirus hit, Trump was considered one of the worst presidents in the two surveys of scholars done in 2018."

Trump's delayed efforts on COVID-19...

Trump's first efforts in the coronavirus crisis was on March 13, over two months from when his "administration claims to have first become aware of the virus." There was another alert from Alex Azar, Secretary of Health and Human Services, on January 18. Here's the latest scenario...

"With two thousand Americans dying every day and reported cases in the States increasing by a hundred thousand each week, we are only now beginning to grasp the depths of human misery unleashed by Trump’s inattention to the coronavirus for those ten long weeks."

In most modern civilizations Donald Trump would be classified as a murderer for allowing this to happen. But not in the United States, where the Senate is controlled by Moscow Mitch McConnell with a Republican Congress scared of the Oval Office lunatic. Here's another example of GOP ineptness...

"Ronald Reagan was able to ignore the AIDS crisis for years because it was “a gay disease” and didn’t impact anyone close to him until his old Hollywood acquaintance Rock Hudson asked for—but did not receive—his help in 1985."

Ronald Reagan's absurd response to AIDS epidemic...

 While increasing an "already-bloated defense budget and passed a $1.5 trillion tax cut overwhelmingly tilted to the 1%" in his first budget to Congress, he...

"cut funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the agency tasked with protecting public health in the face of the opiate epidemic, AIDS, flu, and infectious outbreaks."

And then a couple years later along came the COVID-19 pandemic. It was February 1, 2018, that the Washington Post reported the CDC would cut 80 percent of its efforts to prevent a global disease outbreak. And this is one of the major reasons the CDC was so inadequate, and still is, in its efforts to fight the coronavirus in this country. Here's a summation of T-rump's assault on U.S. healthcare...

“Collectively, warns Jeremy Konyndyk, who led foreign disaster assistance at the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Obama administration, ‘What this all adds up to is a potentially really concerning rollback of progress on U.S. health security preparedness.’

“‘It seems to actively unlearn the lessons we learned through very hard experience over the last 15 years,’ said Konyndyk….‘These moves make us materially less safe. It’s inexplicable.’”

The entire Donald Trump presidency can be considered "inexplicable," or worse if you can find the words. And here's the next stupid move...

"On May 10, 2018, Trump’s national security adviser John Bolton [just hired in April] “re-organized” the National Security Council (NSC), or more accurately “fired the government’s entire pandemic response chain of command, including the White House management infrastructure” which had been set up by the Obama administration after the Ebola crisis, by collapsing the NSC’s Office of Global Security."

There's more...

"In the wake of Bolton’s action, the top official tasked with coordinating a response to a pandemic, Rear Adm. Timothy Ziemer from the National Security Council, resigned on the same day that a new Ebola outbreak was reported in the Congo."

Donald Trump hires and fires John Bolton...

It is now evident that Trump has made it his goal to undo all the great programs Barack Obama had put in place during his administration, and the White House maniac continues that course of action today. And there was even more notice of the coming COVID-19 pandemic late last year...

"In September of 2019, a 'study by the Council of Economic Advisers ordered by the National Security Council predicted that a pandemic similar to the 1918 Spanish flu or the 2009 swine flu could lead to a half-million deaths and cost the economy as much as $3.8 trillion.'”

It was that same month that " the Trump administration ended PREDICT, a “pandemic early-warning program aimed at training scientists in China and other countries to detect and respond to such a threat.”  If it is possible to believe, there is so much more and Dan Benbow from Raw Story has done an excellent job of bringing it to you in his opinion piece here...a must read.