Donald Trump: Thousands of lies and still going strong

PROGRESSIVE STREET/Where Liberals Walk:

July 11, 2019: Since lying seems to be what Donald Trump does, and he is certainly known for it around the world, how many lies will it take to win the 2020 election? And can the Democrats summon the strategy to beat this megalomaniac? As an aside, would you agree that Trump makes Karl Rove look like a Sunday school teacher when it comes to lying? He is already lying that "he has better support among key demographics — women, Hispanics, young voters — than he actually does."

When I Google "Trump's latest lies," I get 55,400.000 hits. I also get a treasure trove of deception, dishonesty and disinformation, most all associated with the Oval Office lunatic, Donald Trump. On one site I found a report from the Washington Post that said Trump had made 10,000 “false or misleading claims” since entering the White House. 'You were indicted for one,' Nicolle Wallace told Trump who had just said, “I don’t do cover-ups,” re. Nancy Pelosi's charge.

Jimmy Kimmel on Donald Trump 2,000 lies...

And the most interesting was a site by a former card magician exclaiming, "How Trump Gets Away with Lying, as Explained by a Magician." Ben Chapman continues, asking these questions, “How does he just keep lying?” “He can’t possibly get away with this again.” “Why do people still trust him?” Chapman has his own opinion of Donald Trump...

"Our current Administration has shown an unprecedented disregard for the truth, and many Americans are flabbergasted at how few people are disturbed by this disregard. As a former card magician — and therefore someone with a bit of experience deceiving audiences — I have developed some strategies to catch other people in their lies."

His strategies are very interesting, starting with, "1. Dress for the Occasion."
With five in all, you will gradually begin to visualize the subject of his piece, then see the actual picture of Donald Trump. I wouldn't bestow T-rump with the credibility of a magician, but he has certainly developed some of these tactics, turning them into the implements of his warped mind. Ben Chapman's site is well worth your time, providing unique insight into the Donald Trump psyche.

But, back to the original question, "Can Democrats beat Trump lies in 2020?" Here's where it stands right now...

"The Trump campaign has been spending about $1 million weekly on Facebook and Google ads. In comparison, the Biden campaign spent about $75,000 last week. The Trump team knows that the online world is where their campaign thrives and they also know that they can expect little to no regulation from Facebook even when their ads are a direct violation of Facebook policy."

Distortion and deceit without regulation, a strategy that hearkens back to Karl Rove's handling of the George W. Bush campaign. And yes, the Democrats employ their own version of deception but nowhere near as blatant as Republicans, especially Donald Trump, the world's most egregious liar. The best example recently is a fake Joe Biden website run secretly by an operative working for the Trump campaign. Not even sure Karl Rove would do that.

Is Donald Trump Cabinet planning a coup?

August 21, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump's lies finally catching up with him  

LYING: The epitome of Donald Trump

Although Anthony Scaramucci doesn't name names in this particular article, he says "that some current administration officials will soon turn on Trump and work against his 2020 re-election." Scary Tony adds...

“It’s a little bit like a cycle,” Scaramucci said. “I mean, if you can get the cycle started, some people that are fear-based due to the president’s bullying or the nonsense on his Twitter feed or how he handles himself personally, they’re intimidated by him.”

It has been obvious how some have been irked at the Oval Office lunatic, like former Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson who once called Trump a "fucking moron." Scaramucci concluded with...

“What we saw over the week is the balloon is coming out of the president’s bombast,” he added. “The balloon is coming out of his rhetoric.”

 And then Scaramucci came out with, "These 6 former Trump officials are the most likely to throw him under the bus in 2020," Former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Former Defense Secretary James Mattis, Former chief of staff John Kelly, Former DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Additional comments...

"The president has not been shy about expressing his disdain for Tillerson ever since he left his position, and he sent out an angry tweet calling his former top diplomat 'dumb as a rock.'”

"In his resignation letter, Mattis took thinly veiled shots at the president’s notorious disdain for America’s system of international alliances."

"He [John Kelly] was caught on camera twice shoving his face into his hand when the president did something embarrassing, such as when he referred to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un as 'Rocket Man' in front of the United Nations."

Fact checking for Donald Trump lies has become a major business...

There's more you can read in the AlterNet article. And in the 'I can't believe Trump told that lie" column, he made the claim that Google threw over 2.6 million votes to Hillary Clinton. "On Monday’s edition of CNN’s “Cuomo Prime Time,” fact-checker Daniel Dale told host Chris Cuomo that not only is President Donald Trump’s claim a lie, the professor he’s citing, Robert Epstein, has repudiated Trump’s interpretation of it."

Now, the clincher is that "Trump is in panic mode because his ability to lie to his fans may soon face its greatest test," and he may fail miserably. Here's how...

"Economic reports increasingly warn of a coming recession, likely to be exacerbated by the pointless trade war with China, which was largely launched as an ego boost for Trump. So Trump and his allies are clinging to their favorite strategy — lying their heads off — in order to convince his followers that the U.S. economy is going great."

A documentary of Donald Trump lies...

Here's more from Maggie Haberman of the New York Times...

"Trump’s main response to reports of a possibly looming recession is to go into full conspiracy-theory mode, accusing his own hand-picked chair of the Federal Reserve and the news media of conspiring against his re-election chances."

But with the American public finally getting smart about the White House maniac, "Trump’s presidency is backfiring as the public grows more and more opposed to his views." While still wildly popular among his hardcore far-right base, it's not representative of the United States on the whole. Although in agreement with T-rump's views in the past, “There’s just one catch: the public is turning against Trump’s views.” This because of at least one major factor...

a Reuters poll found that Americans “were more likely to empathize with African-Americans” — including “whites without a college degree,” who played an important role in Trump’s victory over Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Now on to 2020.

READ MORE of my posts on Donald Trump Lies. 

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.

Top Republican says Trump everything but electable

September 4, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump completely unqualified for his office 

And that's an exaggeration

“He’s unqualified, he is unfit, he’s a child, he’s reckless, he’s erratic, he’s a narcissist, he’s mean, he’s cruel and he lies every time he opens his mouth.” That was a Republican talking about Donald Trump, not a Democrat. It was former Rep. Joe Walsh from Illinois, and the above tirade was followed by Walsh's assessment that the "GOP is in big trouble." There's more in this article reported by RawStory...

“If he’s our nominee in 2020, the Republican Party is going to get spanked because young people don’t like Trump, women don’t like Trump and people who live in the suburbs don’t like Trump,” Walsh explained. “I heard you earlier, Joe, the Republican Party right now is at a real crossroads and because of Trump they’re in trouble.”

You have to understand here that Joe Walsh is challenging Donald Trump in the Republican Primary. Then MSNBC's Joe Scarborough asked former RNC head Michael Steele...

“You have run the Republican Party before and it’s looking like another political tsunami is coming the Republican Party’s way if Donald Trump is at the top of the ticket,” he prompted.

“Yeah, it will be very hard for the president to sustain the races beneath the presidential campaign,” Steele conceded.

Joe Walsh challenging Trump in 2020 Republican Primary...

Vanity Fair says...

"his [Donald Trump's] first victory was a miracle. A second, after four years of embarrassments and betrayals in office, might take an act of God."

There's more and it's classic...

The best you can say for Trump is that he became less scary to a lot more people, and the devil you know is always preferable to some.

The magazine continues with its assessment of Donald Trump on everything from gun violence to trade tariffs, and most of it isn't complimentary, but it's definitely worth reading.  Salon/AlterNet reports on a Steve Bannon statement from the 2016 election, “The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.” Donald Trump took it from there with his lies and racism, concluding...

"Nearly three years into Trump’s tenure the American news media is still struggling with how to cover a president and an administration that have no use for democratic norms, the Constitution, the rule of law, and the truth or reality itself."

Republicans exit the House en masse...

Now here's an interesting viewpoint...

"The media covers President Trump because it must — and because he is highly entertaining and good for ratings. Those two factors together mean that Trump the president and TV character is highly profitable for the corporate media. He stands at the center of the country’s and the world’s attention in two roles. He is both the Mad King and the King of the American Kakistocracy."

And here's another glaring illustration that Republicans are looking at disaster in 2020, "GOP lawmakers are quitting at a ‘stunning’ pace rather than serve under Trump." That is perhaps one of the, if not the most, damning condemnation of Donald Trump I've heard yet. Here's the scenario...

CNN’s “New Day,” contributor John Avlon highlighted the exodus of GOP House members who have chosen to step down and not run for re-election under Donald Trump, calling the sheer number of them “stunning.”

The results: “Since Trump took office, the House GOP has seen a stunning 38 percent turnover." It can only bode well for Democrats, but will 2020 come too late?

Latest News Digest/Page 3

Capitol riots enablers Republican Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Josh Hawley of Missouri, already the target of congress for helping to incite the Capitol riot, have...

"frantically searched for a political sweet spot: They’ve tried to condemn the violence without retracting or apologizing for their active role in sustaining the big lie that incited it."

But the horror is actually seen in the video that accompanies this piece. Scroll down for the video and, folks, it is a MUST WATCH! Here's the article: Appalling new video of the rioters is a big problem for Trump’s GOP enablers

Trump is headed for debtors prison when he leaves office. In the same period of time he spent hallucinating in the Oval Office, loans in the hundreds of millions of dollars will come due, and there may be nowhere to go for more. The Hill says debt holders have...

"backed away from business arrangements with the Trump Organization, sapping future income from the debt-laden president. Three banks have announced they’re cutting ties with him — including Deutsche Bank, his biggest creditor — limiting his ability to refinance debt."

There's more...

"Trump owes creditors at least $315 million, mainly through mortgages for Trump Organization hotels, resorts and golf courses, according to his 2020 financial disclosure. A Forbes analysis of Trump’s finances, however, found that Trump likely owes at least $1 billion to creditors, some of which he has personally guaranteed."

The financial industry is calling him,  'Toxic Trump. Read more:  Debt cloud hangs over Trump post-presidency

 

Donald Trump met with his elite advisory duo, Ivanka and Jared, to discuss some 100 pardons he has planned including...

"white-collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others. It will likely include some pardons aimed at advocating for criminal justice reform, as well as controversial pardons for political allies."

Reportedly, there are those who have paid for pardons. Business as usual. Read more: Trump preparing another 100 pardons, commutations beforeleaving office: reports

Billy Graham was a religious icon that most anyone could admire, even atheists. His son, Franklin Graham, on the other hand, has a twisted mind that has led his followers down the trail of Donald Trump idolatry. Although Graham said after seemingly criticizing Capitol rioters, "I don't think it was the president's finest moment." Then, the article exclaims...

"But Graham said he doesn't expect the tumult at the Capitol to deter evangelical Christians from supporting Trump."

There's more...

"I don’t think he had any understanding in that moment of what was going to take place," he said. "None of us did."

Franklin Graham, like so many of his pathetic religious followers, have helped make Donald Trump the maniac he is today. And this is why so many Americans have left the church. Read more: Evangelicals and other faith leaders still support Trump after deadly US Capitol attack

Time for a quick compendium on Donald Trump's lies racked up in his four years in the White House. AlterNet leads with this...

"For the last four years, fact-checkers have had their hands full keeping up with President Donald Trump's unprecedented level of dishonesty. While The Washington Post reported that Trump had delivered more than 22,000 false or misleading claims..."

The article calls Trump's dalliance with untruths a "disgraced president's" tweeting claims that likely had something to do with the outcome of the 2020 election. We're thankful for that and there's much more. Read the article: Here are the most dangerous and notable lies Trump spewed during his presidency

Arizona Republican representative Andy Biggs is the scumbag of this state's lowlife GOP. Biggs, along with twin scumbag Paul Gosar actually wrote a letter to Donald Trump in 2019. "reinforcing their support for the president’s desire to spend billions of tax dollars on a border wall." Today, Biggs has been accused of being part of the recent Capitol riots. The rep. denies but...

"Ali Alexander, who led rallies nationwide to try to overturn the results of the presidential election, called Biggs a hero of the movement during the rally at the Arizona Capitol and led a chant in his name."

Another GOP jerk to dump in 2022. Read more: New videos emerge tying Arizona Republican Rep. Andy Biggs to 'Stop the Steal' movement

The time has finally arrived where it is likely that this country will find out whether Bernie Sanders' Progressive agenda is feasible. The Ps know it is and some moderates think there are possibilities. My gut tells me that President-elect Joe Biden, deep down, believes in Bernie as his Chairman Senate Budget Committee, and is convinced his issues can help this country. God knows it needs help after Donald Trump. Yet Republicans see a nightmare...

"that a champion of working-class people and the common good—one who has dedicated his political career to curbing poverty and injustice while denouncing corporate greed, endless war, and the cruelty of a for-profit health system that leaves millions upon millions uninsured or without affordable access to care—would assume the powerful position of chairing the Senate Budget Committee is about to become reality."

Go get 'em Bernie. Read more: GOP nightmare of Senate Budget Chair Bernie Sanders is about to come true

Republican fears just might come true. Donald Trump could well be the defining factor that the GOP is so misguided and corrupt that it no longer deserves the right to exist. At least as it is. It started with Karl Rove in the Geo. W. Bush administration where lying and deceit became staples for the Party. The progression of fabrication of the truth compounded by the GOP's corruption provided T-rump the perfect 'welcome wagon' he needed. But...

"The last four years under President Donald Trump's leadership have been tumultuous for politics but the end of Trump's reign has dealt a hefty blow to the Republican Party."

And now after the Capitol riots, incited by Donald Trump, we are going into a modicum of quietude under our new president, Joe Biden. With Kamala Harris at his side, the hopes for this country are once again optimistic. And if the Republicans implode, well, it couldn't happen to a better gang. Read more: Some in the GOP worry the party will not survive after 4 years of Trump

 

Donald Trump spawns corruption

PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where liberals Walk

Robert Reich talks about Donald Trump's "deep state," (ie. Steve Bannon) but concludes the Oval Office has now progressed to Trump’s Corrupt State. He adds...

"Not since Warren G. Harding’s sordid administration have as many grifters, crooks and cronies occupied high positions in Washington."

 Just look at the resignations of do many top people in the administration; Scott Pruitt, Ryan Zinke, Tom Price, and Michael Flynn. It was recently reported that "a real estate company partly owned by Trump son-in-law and foreign policy advisor, Jared Kushner, has raked in $90 million from foreign investors since Kushner entered the White House." Thus signifying the fact that Donald Trump bought the presidency for the purpose of establishing a money machine.

The corruption is compounded by the conclusions by the media, private sector, and some in government that, "this is a White House out of control, with a Commander-in-Chief not in charge." Here's a shocking example from CNN’s Alexander Marquardt, a Senior National Correspondent focusing on National Security...

"He makes clear Trump’s not the one calling the shots, and is only making decisions to fend off internal bickering and power plays in his administration."

Bob Cesca of Salon says...

"Worse yet, there are millions of Americans who will do anything to circulate Trumpism until it becomes fact and therefore the basis for governing the country from now on. In the face of all this, too many news outlets refuse to act in accordance with the challenges of this existential crisis."

He points to a recent interview by Chuck Todd of NBC's “Meet the Press” with Donald Trump Cesca termed, "another example of the perpetually nauseating confluence of Trump’s gratuitous lies and a TV news reporter too timid to treat him like the despot he is." Cesca comments that Trump voters simply believe "Trump’s worthless word" and "repeated as truth the following whopper lies told to Todd the other day."

Want a laugh? Watch Chuck Todd, Donald Trump interview...

Typical of Trump's lies in perpetuity, still using former President Barack Obama as his customary whipping post, Trump tells Todd...

"'Congress never approved Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, aka the “Iran Deal.' Since it wasn’t a treaty, Congress didn’t have to approve. But Congress passed legislation, signed by Obama, allowing legislators to evaluate the terms of the deal. To his credit, Todd caught that lie."

 What is so pathetic, and also fearful, is that Chuck Todd treated Donald Trump in such a way to legitimize the Oval Office lunatic who is far from earning it. Cesca says...

"Let’s put it this way: When Trump starts to act like a president, then maybe he’ll earn the right to be treated like one."

I think most of us will agree that will never happen.

Did George Orwell predict Donald Trump in 1984?

Donald Trump-George Orwell

I am an ardent fan of George Orwell's work including, Animal Farm and 1984. Animal Farm is political satire at its best, depicting the unrest of the animals at the Manor farm because they are treated poorly. Mr. Jones, the farmer, was a mean and drunken man who exploited them, leading to a rebellion by the animals that eventually gets out of hand. It's a short read that will illustrate the kind of uprising that is imminent when people, or animals, are unhappy with their situation. Or their government. It's an issue I'll cover later using the book to draw similarities with the U.S.

But 1984 offers a multitude of possibilities for comparison with the new Donald Trump admin., even as it completes just over a month of tenure. The timing only emphasizes the number of conspiracy theories Donald John has been able to concoct in such a short amount of time. They are numerous and at times so bizarre that they defy the reality that the man that has just been elected to the presidency of the United States is the one who spawned them. It is more likely that we would expect such disjointed discourse from Jack Nicholson in One flew Over the cuckoo's Nest. Examples...

1. Trump's phones in Trump Tower were tapped
2. Said there was Rampant voter fraud in 2016
3. Anti-Trump protesters are paid
4. Obama is coordinating the [Trump] protests
5. There were 1.5 million people who attended his inauguration

In none of these cases has Donald John come up with any corroboration for the statements he made, with the most blatant number five. This was where Trump cried to the heavens how much larger his inauguration crowd was than Barack Obama's in 2008, when independent photos proved him wrong. But the freakish behavior of Donald Trump isn't the basis for this post, rather just some background and sidebars to explain the aberrant nature of the man who has risen from mediocrity to the President of the most powerful nation n the world. And how Orwell's 1984 has its parallels.

This isn't the first post or article on this issue, there have been several, but, notably, believe mine is the first to use the Orwell Today site in drawing these comparisons and cross-referencing with Jackie Jura's excellent notes and correlations with the future. On March 5, CNN's headline blazed, "The President of the United States traffics in conspiracy theories," then goes on to document Donald Trump's ongoing perpetuation of lies and misinformation. Jackie Jura n Orwell Today has a section on "Conspiracy Goes Mainstream," which chronicles history's most unique conspiracies. 

But time now to look at George Orwell and then Donald trump through the eyes of "Orwell Today." And the only way to begin is to start with Orwell's most imposing creation, Big Brother. It was the Proles who marched through the streets with placards celebrating Big Brother’s ability to 'Make Oceania Great Again.' Fast forward to the 2016 campaign when Trump followers with red hats were marching everywhere with signs that said, 'Make America Great Again.' Now Donald Trump is not Orwell's Big Brother, but he is the epitome of his oligarchs. 

1984's Winston character tries to recall the past when everything had been better but today's world was the remnants of a society that was free and uncomplicated, unlike 1984, and the new world order where the world was broken into three super-states. Steve Bannon has three tenets on which he plans to build the new "Trumpism" and, although they aren't geographical like Orwell's three nations, they do represent the kind of one-nation ideology of a country that is at the current time highly divisive. They are Capitalism, nationalism, and “Judeo-Christian values.”

It was the plan of the 1984 autocrats to "Keep the Masses Down" in order to maintain a hierarchical society that could only be possible through the proletariat's poverty and ignorance. Although not directly related to Donald Trump, it is the policy of the Republican Party to amass the wealth in only a few (1% of the population) and keep the rest in the dark over what the Party is really doing, in order to maintain the blind votes of their followers. Like Orwell's world, Donald John and the GOP feel their complete survival depend on collectivism.

1984's "Ministry of Truth" must have been the prototype for Donald Trump's communications dept. with Sean Spicer playing the part of the book's character, Winston, whose job it was at the Ministry to take news items he received and turn them around to mean what the higher-ups in the Party wanted said. To be certain, the Ministry of Truth was only the front for a persisting procession of lies to the citizens of Oceania, tied in a neat bundle that, when exxhibited, was meant to be bona fide. Well, in 2017, as in 1984, there is nothing truthful about Donald John's Ministry of Truth.

Orwell's "Falsification of the Past" follows closely to the Ministry of Truth in the fabrication of any information that is granted to the public. If Trump doesn't like what has already been said, he will change it to fit what he wants. Like right after the inauguration when he removed the term "climate change" from the official White House website. In Oceania there was Oldspeak and "Newspeak," when translated corresponds to the civil tone coming from the White House during Barack Obama and earlier presidents, compared to Donald John's crude and sometimes lewd rhetoric.

PoliticoMagazine talks of the multitude of contradictions of Donald Trump: "Has anyone ever disagreed with Donald Trump more than Donald Trump?" The Inner Party in 1984 was governed by adherence to a common doctrine of "Doublethink," which means "the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them." Here are Politico's examples...

“I have no intention of running for president.” (Time, September 14, 1987)
“I am officially running for president.” (New York, June 16, 2015)

 “I don’t want it for myself. I don’t need it for myself.” (ABC News, November 20, 2015)
“I wanted to do this for myself. … I had to do it for myself.” (Time, August 18, 2015)

“Politicians are all talk and no action.” (Twitter, May 27, 2015)
“I’m not a politician.” (CNN, August 11, 2015)
“I’m no different than a politician running for office.” (New York Times, July 28, 2015)

Orwell's "Ministry of Love" is like other of his poetic symbols that mean the opposite of what they
say. This one is actually a torture chamber for people who have been picked up by the Thought Police for thinking bad things against Big Brother. Now Donald John has no thought police per se, except for his minions who try to unsuccessfully control the media, but he does have a lot of love he spews on a regular basis, like how much he loves women. How much he loves immigrants. How much he loves blacks. And then he degrades each with a vehemence not found when expressing the love.

I could go on for some time but it will be much more interesting for you to browse Jackie Jura's Orwell Today site and come up with your own conclusions of how George Orwell's book, 1984, corresponds with the idiocy of the Donald Trump administration. Check the 45 topics she has documented on the left-hand side of the site. and when you go to something like "Big Brother" be sure and take advantage of the notes and analogies she has referenced as they will often point directly to current events. Good Reading!

The epitome of the disgusting is Donald Trump

Remember Donald Trump's often touted book, "The Art of the Deal," something he hasn't been able to accomplish since being in the White House? Well there's another twist from the book's co-author, Tony Schwartz, who revealed a shocking observation...

“To know Trump is to hate Trump,” said Schwartz. “Meaning everybody who knows him, deep down, hates him completely.”

Not really shocking is it? Actuall,y that isn't the real shocker; This is even closer to home, that his oldest daughter, Ivanka, "despises him," can't stand him anymore. Of course it's hard to tell with all of the "sweetness" we see between her, Jared Kushner and Daddy Warbucks. Schwartz's reasoning...

“When you’re around a person who devalues you, humiliates you, ignores you, shames you, what possible other reaction could you have other than to despise him?”

Trump was in Orlando last week to kick off his 2020 presidential campaign--many say that he's never stopped campaigning since 2016--but is it significant that Orlando is a city completely enclosed by swampland? This is certainly appropriate considering the Oval Office lunatic's promise entering office was to drain the Washington swamp. He didn't and what we ended up with was an even bigger quagmire of corruption led by none other than the professed liberator.

Joe Biden on Donald Trump

But it is even more laughable that just hours before Trump's campaign kickoff in Orlando, the Orlando Sentinel announced that it would endorse anyone but Donald Trump. The newspaper commented...

"After 2½ years we’ve seen enough. Enough of the chaos, the division, the schoolyard insults, the self-aggrandizement, the corruption, and especially the lies. So many lies — from white lies to whoppers — told out of ignorance, laziness, recklessness, expediency or opportunity."

Wow! That's a statement that perfectly clarifies the maniac that had been inhabiting the White House now for around two-and-one-half-years, posing as a head of state for the most powerful nation in the world. Or at least it was until T-rump took office. But the Democrats don't get an official nod out of this from a paper that has a history of endorsing Republicans, rather, it's more a mandate that Donald Trump must go.

And finally, Trump has lost the support of one of his largest 2016 supporters, the wealthy Mercer family. Here's the loss...

"The Mercers supported Trump aggressively in 2016, donating at least $15.5 million to pro-Trump organizations..."

According to sources, the Mercers have become disillusioned with Trump for a variety of reasons. One, they favored Steve Bannon; Trump fired him. There were others but supporting Steve Bannon tells you enough about this family to place them in a category of the radical right of the Republican Party. Donald Trump can't afford to lose too many of this brand since it is the thrust of the GOP in all elections. One can only hope that the entire Trump campaign fails...soon.

Donald Trump as Julius Caesar

July 21, 2019: WEEKEND NEWS BYTES  

Donald Trump-Fascist in the White House

Could Donald Trump play Shakespeare?

Jim Hightower of Creators Syndicate relates back to the classics and wonders if Shakespeare "could do literary justice to the tortured madness of Donald Trump." Having participated in a little of the Bard's work in college, I say the playwright would have been totally disgusted with the subject. That would be unfortunate since one of his specialties was "tragedies" and we certainly have all of the material for that in the White House today. Hightower says...

"His brags are especially weird because they usually involve achievements he hasn’t made. It’s as though his saying something makes it true — even though everyone except his most naive devotees can clearly see that he’s either hallucinating or lying."

And finally the Oval Office lunatic recently declared "it’s intolerable to have such homelessness in our rich country, but not because so many poor people are suffering..."

"but because business people and shoppers face the indignity of having to walk past the homeless to get to their offices, banks, cafes, etc."

This is so, so pathetic!

Donald Trump/Julius Caesar NY production gets standing ovation...

The cult of "totalitarianism" that supports Donald Trump's lies

Matthew Chapman of AlterNet makes a statement that is so frightening it would make any contra-Trump person cringe with non-belief. He says...

"Trump’s base is a ‘cult’ that may never be deprogrammed."

Do you realize what that means? These poor uninformed, double-digit souls will walk around this earth until they die, spewing the same old crap about how wonderful this moron is. I know one and here are a couple of his comments on Facebook to my criticisms of T-rump...

"Trump does not have a spiteful bone in his body." 

"Why do [you] say that? I feel he [Donald Trump] is the most real person ever elected. He has done, or at least made an all out attempt to do everything he said he was going to do. And he calls things for what they really are."

In an analysis of Donald Trump’s base by The Daily Beast’s Kelly Weill, she says experts label them as totalitarians, based on recent behavior, adding this comment...

“Trump has long stoked bigoted grievances among his followers, but the Greenville rally saw him act as a more overt radicalizer than ever before. And with a portion of Trump’s fanbase now openly clamoring for the physical removal of several prominent Democrats of color, experts are questioning whether the country can repair the damage — even if Trump loses in 2020.”

If the curse of Donald Trump is destined to live on, the moon's population could explode by 2021.

White house burns during Donald Trump fury

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2019 NEWS BYTES

The White House may burn...again   

White House after Donald Trump implosion

The White House has been set on fire twice before: once when James Madison was president, second during Herbert Hoover's administration. The third burning is due soon but it won't necessarily be intentional like the other two. As Donald Trump begins to implode, which will include an excessive amount of friction with his staff, aides and the Cabinet, a fiery explosion from within is sure to happen. It's only a matter of time and here are the many reasons why...

As Brad Reed in RawStory puts it, "The dam starts to crack," referring to the Republicans who have been loyal to Donald Trump, but are now turning on him. In particular...

"Rep. James Comer (R-KY) has now told CNN’s Jim Sciutto that he believes Congress ought to investigate the White House’s use of a codeword-protected server to store President Donald Trump’s phone records."

The act of using these private servers to hide Trump material, in one instance, a NSC computer, have been deemed more impeachable than the information concealed. And remember what T-rump once said, he believes the Constitution lets him do “whatever I want as President.” Here's what Ralph Nader said in Common Dreams, published in AlterNet...

"In over two and a half years, Trump has been a serial violator of the Constitution, unmatched by any president in American history. Just about every day he is a constitutional outlaw."

There's more...

"Constitutional scholar Bruce Fein has documented twelve categories of major constitutional transgressions. Some are also statutory crimes. Many of these involve Trump overpowering the critical separation of powers that our founders rigorously established to assure that the president does not become a monarch like King George III."

Trump: The Constitution allows me to do anything I want to...

Among his other costitutional foibles, the Oval office lunatic "totally defies Congressional subpoenas for documents and witnesses. That grave overthrow of constitutional government is alone enough for eviction from office." And he lies, lies even more and then he lies again. If you can't believe anything the "supposed" president of the country you live in says, that alone should be grounds for impeachment.

Rory Cooper says in the Daily Beast, "We’ll Deserve What We Get if Republicans Can’t Say Trump’s Wrong." Some have come across now like Rep. James Comer (R-KY), who wants Congress to investigate Trump's use of a secret database to cover up his corruption. More will no doubt come forward when it becomes even more obvious that T-rump is going down. Here's Cooper's take...

"At best, President Trump used his office to seek personal and political gain and engage in 2016 conspiracy peddling with a strategic ally engaged in a war with Russia. At worse, Trump held back military aid to Ukraine in order to extract this personal and political gain. It’s a difference without a distinction when it comes to his fitness to serve."

And now there's a second whistleblower "who claims to have evidence of misconduct regarding the Internal revenue Service’s auditing of President Trump. According to this federal employee there were “inappropriate efforts to influence” the audit process. Trump has resisted releasing any tax returns since being elected and New York state investigators appear closest to breaking that wall of defense. What does he have to hide and just how bad is it?

David Cay Johnston on Trump perpetual tax corruption...

Here's the status...

"On August 8, Neal [House Ways and Means Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA)] sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asking for communications between the IRS and Treasury employees who were involved in the agency’s audit of Trump and asked him to reply by August 13. It’s still not known if Mnuchin replied or not."

 And finally, the whistleblower's lawyers are saying that Trump has endangered their client as the president publicly threatens "big consequences." It is a call to action by this moron of his double-digit troops who follow his lead, no matter what he tells them to do. Pure and simple it is more inciting of violence like he has done so many times in the past, like Charlottesville. One death and several injuries.

It may well come down to 'burn, baby, burn.'

Stephen King's latest horror story: Donald Trump

Donald Trump is in deep doo doo the Russian interference in the 2016 election and whether or not his election campaign staff was involved, while at the same time he must defend the lowlife Jeff Sessions he nominated for Attorney and a gutless Republican approved. So, does he do what any self-respecting individual would do--especially the President of the United States--build a palatable defense for each with facts? And since the world knows there is no defense for what has been done, what's left. Simple, we go on the offense with more lies and misinformation. Trump's tweet 3/4...

“How low has President Obama gone to tapp [sic] my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!”

First of all, the man is illiterate when it comes to spelling, and second, as has been the case with past accusations, he gives absolutely no proof. Here's what the master of handed-over misinformation, Sean Spicer, had to say 3/5...

“Reports concerning potentially politically motivated investigations ahead of the 2016 election are very troubling.”

What the hell are these people talking about? Fact checker asked for evidence of this "dramatic claim" but received nothing. The Washington Post reports that possibly Spicer's "reports" refer to news stories and not concrete information. But, "The Washington Post for months has sought to confirm this report of a FISA warrant related to the Trump campaign but has been unable to do so." More so, WP assumes other major news media have done the same and also come up empty. The gist of the matter is that month of FISA for information on Russian hacking have been denied.

McClatchy reported in January...

"The FBI and five other law enforcement and intelligence agencies have collaborated for months in an investigation into Russian attempts to influence the November election, including whether money from the Kremlin covertly aided President-elect Donald Trump, two people familiar with the matter said."

"The agencies involved in the inquiry are the FBI, the CIA, the National Security Agency, the Justice Department, the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network and representatives of the director of national intelligence."

 FISA court (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), has been approached from about every direction including the former White House, for the purpose of uncovering Donald John's connection to the Russians in the 2016 campaign, not for the purpose of wiretapping Trump Tower. There is more investigation into how money transferred from the Kremlin "may have been used to pay some email hackers in the United States or to supply money to intermediaries who would then pay the hackers. More from McClatchy...

"On Jan. 6, the director of national intelligence released a declassified report that concluded Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered an influence campaign to “undermine faith in the U.S. democratic process,” damage Hillary Clinton’s election prospects and bolster Trump’s. The campaign included the hacking of top Democrats’ emails and fake news distributed by Russian sources."

But the real story here is horror writer Stephen King's assessment of Donald John... 

“A Trump presidency scares me more than anything else. I’m terrified that he’ll become president.”

This, of course, was pre-election, and sounds like he may be comparing the then coming election of Donald Trump with books of his like Carrie, It, and Misery. If you lump all of King's chillers together, they wouldn't equal the repugnance of the Trump administration. Stephen King likens the Trump presidency with his 37-year-old book, Dead Zone, about a salesman who fights the establishment to run for president. He doesn't make it but King has some interesting tweets mocking Donald John's charges over Obama's wiretapping of Trump Tower...

"Not only did Obama tap Trump's phones, he stole the strawberry ice cream out of the mess locker."

"Populist demagogues like He Who Must Not Be Named aren't a new thing; see THE DEAD ZONE, published 37 years ago."

"Obama tapped Trump's phones IN PERSON! Went in wearing a Con Ed coverall. Michelle stood guard while O spliced the lines. SAD!"

It is pretty pathetic when one of the greatest writers of all time spends part of his valuable time to poke fun at the new president of the United states, not in a playful way, but to point out the absurdities and lunacies of this new administration. Avi Selk, in the Washington Post story once again reiterates...

An Obama spokesman and a former intelligence director said there was no wiretap. Some speculated that Trump was referring to claims on talk radio and the conservative website Breitbart that Obama used “police state” tactics against him. Others accused Trump of trying to distract from reports that his staff covered up conversations with Russian officials during the campaign.

On the legal side, FBI Director James Comey feels there is no credibility in Trump's claims that Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower phones and told the Justice Department to refute the charges. Donald John fired back refusing to "acknowledge" Comey's judgment, probably leading to some kind of confrontation with the head of the nation's leading law enforcement agency. The New York Times is leery of the fact that Trump would fire Comey because that could very well backfire into a cover-up over his campaign connections with the Russians.

Although Sean Spicer has made several comments stating Donald Trump's conclusion that former President Barack Obama did in fact wiretap trump Tower during the 2016 presidential campaign. He offered no evidence at the time, nor has Donald John since his accusations. Yet the two of them are adamant it happened. But not so sure are others in the White House, including Sarah Huckabee Sanders who pretty much hedges on most of Spicer's and Trump's allegations. This is why Spicer didn't really want to talk about this...

"During an at-times-painful interview with ABC's Martha Raddatz, Huckabee Sanders repeatedly suggested that Trump's allegation was worth looking into but declined to vouch for it. Raddatz pointed this out repeatedly, and Huckabee Sanders responded by saying 'if this happened,' 'if this took place,' 'if it did' and 'let's find out.'”

Martha Raddatz is one of those reporters that gives no quarter when it comes to getting the truth and

Martha Raddatz-Sarah Huckabee Sanders

didn't relent with Huckabee Sanders continued use of the preposition "if" when Raddatz finally exclaimed, “If,” “if,” “if,” “if.” Huckabee Sanders reply, ""I agree." Raddatz added...

"Let me just say one more time. The president said, “I bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October.” So the president believes it is true?"

HUCKABEE SANDERS: I would say that his tweet speaks for itself there.

In a nutshell, Donald Trump "trumped" up this conspiracy theory of Barack Obama wiretapping Trump Tower during the 2016 campaign, solely for the purpose of diverting attention away from the issues that he and his staff were in cahoots with Putin and the Russians in 2016 to aide his election chances and damage Hillary Clinton's, And the other issue, the skaggy lowlife he nominated for AG, Jeff Sessions lying about his contact with the Russians during the election. With a lack of support from his FBI Director, now some of his staff, where does the American public draw the line?

Donald Trump turns conspiracy theories into an "art"

August 15, 2019: DAILY NEWS BYTES

PROGRESSIVE STREET...Where Liberals Walk

  

The minute the Oval Office lunatic took on the mantle of white supremacy, thinking it would please many of his followers, he started diving in the polls, and it doesn't look like this trend is abating. As an example, a new poll from Quinnipiac University cites the fact that "Most Americans think Trump is racist." Although that may appeal to some of his supporters, most don't accept it.

And harking back to his 2016 win in the Electoral College--not the popular vote--2020 doesn't look good. In "six NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls spanning January-July 2019. And in all but one of them, Trump’s approval is 'underwater among suburban residents.'” 

Conspiracy theories have been with us in U.S. politics for years; remember JFK's death? But it has taken a moron like Donald Trump to move this "art" into, well, the 22nd century. In 2018, yes, even a year ago, Simon Maloy of Media Matters has compiled some of T-rump's best. Like when Trump pressured DOJ to "start an investigation into their own department’s investigation of Trump’s campaign." MSNBC’s Chris Hayes said...

“The president has now crossed one of the brightest red lines in the American rule of law: demanding the Department of Justice open a politically motivated investigation designed to sabotage the criminal and counterintelligence probe into the president’s own campaign. ”

CNN's Anderson Cooper takes on Trump conspiracy theories...

Here's a headline for ya, "White Nationalist Terrorism Is a Problem. Trump Is a Bigger One." This a statement from the Intelligencer's Eric Levitz. And then...

"Four days after a white nationalist targeted Latinos in a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso — and three weeks after the director of the FBI confirmed that white supremacist ideology is the leading driver of domestic terrorism in the U.S. — the Fox News host assured his viewers that white supremacy was a 'hoax.'”

That was one of Fox's mentally challenged reporters, Tucker Carlson. But the network says his job is safe for now. Why not, as long as he comes up with disinformation like this, he is right at home.

 Raw Story says that there are 20 different ways Donald Trump mirrors Hitler. A new book, "When at Times the Mob Is Swayed: A Citizen’s Guide to Defending Our Republic" by Burt Neuborne, he "describes how America’s constitutional checks and balances are being pushed to the brink by a president who is consciously following Adolf Hitler’s extremist propaganda and policy template from the early 1930s—when the Nazis took power in Germany."

Here's its focus...

"how America’s constitutional foundation in 2019—an unrepresentative Congress, the Electoral College and a right-wing Supreme Court majority—is not positioned to withstand Trump’s extreme polarization and GOP power grabs."

There's more...looks like the book is worth reading.

Even back to 2016 election, Trump compared to Hitler...

Is Donald Trump trying to provoke a recession? Salon's Bob Cesca had hoped for an embargo on the Republican Party after the George W. Bush years but instead, laments...we got something much worse...

"Eight years later, 62 million voters recklessly ignored the lessons of 2001 to 2009 by installing an even more incompetent, dangerous and unstable Republican administration in the White House."

Added to that, the lies and misinformation spewing from Fox News convinced Trump's base of double-digits that "the steadily improving economy of the Barack Obama administration was 'American carnage.'” Thus initiating a return to...

"the stewardship of Republicans who had been responsible for a $1.4 trillion deficit, the collapse of the stock market, more than 800,000 jobs lost in a single month and the near disintegration of both the housing market and America’s auto industry."

Donald Trump's contribution...

He "deregulated everything, weakening the post-Great Recession laws meant to curb Wall Street abuses, and punctuated his Bush-era linkage by also authorizing a massive tax cut for the wealthiest Americans without paying for a goddamn cent of it."

But just how much is Donald trump doing to enrich himself and his family, using the American economy to do it? Read this article to find out.

READ MORE: "Wall Street panicking: There’s a 1-in-3 chance of a recession by 2020 thanks to Trump’s trade meddling."

No one wants to work for Donald Trump

July 20, 2019: WEEKEND News Bytes 

Donald Trump's revolving door

AG Wm. Barr the dolting pawn of Donald Trump

Paul Rosenberg of Salon says Republican lies and hypocrisy have hit an all-time high, and uses Attorney General William Barr’s perpetual suck-up to Donald Trump to illustrate his point. "Barr is Trump’s enabler in undermining the rule of law — first in the census case, then in the challenge to the Affordable Care Act." From University of Michigan law professor Nicholas Bagley...

“In both, Barr directed his lawyers to make bad-faith arguments, just because Trump said so. That’s a blow to the integrity of the Justice Department and a threat to the rule of law.” 

Nothing new for Trump, and Republicans have been playing this game for years dating back to the Supreme Court decision re. Al Gore/Geo. W. Bush 2,000 election, and the "the long history of lying during Supreme Court confirmations, with Brett Kavanaugh’s example only the most recent." Donald Trump didn't start it, he simply perpetuated the GOP way with his inherent swindling talents.

Read more...

Donald Trump created biggest White House revolving door ever

"President Trump’s 'A Team' turnover is 74% as of July 15, 2019," reports Brookings Institute. That doesn't include the Cabinet, which is also high in dropouts. Any foreign power would look at this and say, with that kind of governing, the U.S. is a great target. They haven't, and they won't because there are enough level headed people in Washington--mostly Democrats--to prevent this. Let me urge you to look at this fascinating Brookings study.

And Fortune magazine asks, "Who’s Next to Go?" in speculation over the Trump administration's soaring turnover. The author of this article, Kathryn Dunn Tenpas says, “The pace is record-setting. It’s off the charts.” I doubt seriously if even T-rump's misinformed loyalists can keep up with the turnaround. Many of the exits are due to pressure, as was the Eric Acosta incident. Some of those who have left include...

"Health and Human Services secretary Tom Price, secretary of state Rex Tillerson, secretary of Veteran Affairs David Shulkin, attorney general Jeff Sessions, secretary of defense Jim Mattis, and secretary of the interior Ryan Zinke."

 There are also the acting Cabinet members, which Trump favors because he doesn't have get Congress' approval. Dunn Tenpas says this all has caused a lot of instability in Donald Trump's administration, which is certainly obvious to the world and the people of the United States who care about their country.

First step, Donald Trump impeachment conviction - Second step Prison

 

Donald Trump is being tried in the Senate for inciting an angry mob of his double-digit followers to take over and attempt to destroy the U.S. Capitol. His conviction is at best 75/25, 75 against, but there have some indications since the trial began that Republicans are feeling the heat, recently hearing that their constituents are fleeing the party by the 1,000s. And this may not be his biggest problem. NY Atty. Gen. Letitia James is preparing her case against Trump and it's a doozy. 

Trump's complicity in the Capitol riots is settled in his speech to the rioters the day of the insurrection. He takes his last shot at Biden's election results amassing a hoard of lies that mirror the 20,000+ deceptions he spewed during four years in office. By the way, during this diatribe the audience chanted, “We love Trump.” He tells these idiots to go to the Capitol and fight. They did and CNN's Erin Burnet lays it all out in a ghastly timeline that cinches Donald Trump's involvement.

I want to see Trump put in prison, and for a long period of time for his criminal acts while in the White House and what he did on January 6. The most reprehensible act from the ex-oval office lunatic is his incompetence in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic. First it was a hoax, then, it'll go away when the weather gets warm, followed by an insanity of the ages in belittling the CDC and the only one in the administration that knew what was going on, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

And then he appointed Louis DeJoy as Postmaster General, many feel to dismantle the USPS. It helped that DeJoy was a large donor to Trump's election campaign. DeJoy did his appointer's bidding by removing one of the most important tools of the UPSP to expedite mail, sorting machines. Working in the junk mail industry for 35 years and witnessing what these appliances are capable of, I can understand how this move slowed the mail at a critical period during the pandemic and Christmas. 

But the kicker comes from a Republican representative from Illinois, Adam Kinzinger, who voted to impeach Trump, and continues to condemn him and his loyal followers for what this maniac has done. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Kinzinger said, "My fellow Republicans, convicting Trump is necessary to save America." Continuing, I say this as a lifelong Republican who voted to impeach Trump last month. There's more...

"Winston Churchill famously said, 'Those who fail to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.' All Americans, but especially my fellow Republicans, should remember this wisdom during the Senate’s trial of former president Donald Trump."

Will Kinzinger's rhetoric do any good, especially considering that fellow

Republicans continue to support Donald Trump. The congressman doesn't think this is all for naught...

"It’s a matter of accountability. If the GOP doesn’t take a stand, the chaos of the past few months, and the past four years, could quickly return. The future of our party and our country depends on confronting what happened — so it doesn’t happen again."

And hate to say it but don't think most of the GOP has learned their lesson, or any lesson, based on the outlook for Trump's conviction. Without this the United States will become the laughingstock of the world (again) and the Republican Party will assume the reputation of nation destroyers. But hopefully the New York Atty. Gen. will proceed with their evidence and put Donald Trump in jail so my wife and I can enjoy our final days knowing there is some justice in our country.