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. 

White Supremacist Evangelical Republican Party loves Donald Trump

August 16, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET...News Bytes where Liberals Walk

Paul Krugman is a Nobel Prize-winning economist who muses over how Donald Trump openly and without restraint, spouts his perpetual bigotry...  

Donald Trump in his environment

"how prominent Republicans had failed to link President Donald Trump’s incitements to violence to a rise in hate crimes following the weekend’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, that was carried out by a gunman suspected of holding white supremacist views."

He continues...

“So the party remains in lockstep behind a man who has arguably done more to promote racial violence than any American since Nathan Bedford Forrest, who helped found the Ku Klux Klan, a terrorist organization if there ever was one.”

As have other critics of Donald Trump commented, this pretty much puts T-rump on the same level as Adolph Hitler. Harking back to the atrocities of Nazi Germany, and considering the Oval Office lunatic is in charge of the most powerful country in the world--at least currently--just very simply...how can this be? Krugman told us, because of an inept and cowardly Congress. And it is something the American public will have to deal with in 2020.

Trump insider on his racism...

What is even more terrifying is the White (Supremacist) Evangelical Republican Party is solidly behind Donald Trump and will not be swayed by his white nationalism and blatant racism. I left the organized church years ago and this kind of realization makes me understand why. Here's another extremely alarming statement...

"No matter what Donald Trump does or says, most Republicans and white evangelicals are not going to criticize or break from him in 2020. It is also a fantasy that his racist rhetoric and policies will turn off most Republicans and white evangelicals."

And here's the reason from David Schultz of Counterpunch...

"What Trump has achieved is the merger and consolidation of white supremacy, white evangelicalism and Republicanism into a party that simply is about racial identity. This is the new Republican Party."

That's about as scary as it gets, at the very least when you consider the Ten Commandments. People of God are supposed to be giving and forgiving, not raging racists who hate anyone who doesn't look like them. "Recent Pew Research Centerpolls puts Trump’s approval among evangelicals at 69%, although down from a high of 78%, but still overwhelming." Schultz adds...

"The Republican Party today of Donald Trump is the product of three political movements that have consolidated to a core set of principles that focus mostly on race, but also on guns, abortion, and gay rights."

This is chilling.

Evangelicals still support Donald Trump, regardless...

Here's advice from Trump's evangelical adviser Robert Jeffress : "Make kids scared of Jesus again and stop teaching evolution to end mass shootings." This article goes on to discuss the part religion plays in ending gun violence. Matthew Chapman of Raw Story comments, "Trump is the end result of 40 years of right-wing radio hate-mongering," as Chapman quotes CNN’s Michael Smerconish...

“That’s the day [August 1, 1980] that Rush Limbaugh takes to the radio,” said journalism expert Brian Rosenwald. “And people tune in, what they hear every day is calls for action. It doesn’t make for good radio to say, hey, nuance, compromise, that stuff is boring. But fighting, that’s good radio. And Donald Trump captured that.”

Agreed, white supremacy, racism and particularly hate, could not be discussed without mentioning Russ Limbaugh, perhaps one of Donald Trump's biggest mentors. 

Dominant factor in 2020 election could be racism

August 29, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

How Donald Trump is suffering for 2020  

Donald Trump's anti-black supporters

Anti-black voters were an important asset to the Donald Trump campaign in 2016, as he encouraged racism, something that has been centerpiece since winning the White House. Without these voters T-rump could be in trouble as a new wave sweeps the U.S. voting public...

"According to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll, 82 percent of people who reject anti-black ideas said they were strongly interested in voting, up from 70 percent in 2016. In comparison, 75 percent of anti-black voters expressed a strong interest in voting in 2020."

Donald Trump is a confirmed racist, which is replayed weekly, sometime on a daily basis. Just recently he was criticized...

"for racist tweets he sent telling four lawmakers of color — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) — to 'go back' to the 'corrupt' countries they’re from. Shortly after, his supporters chanted 'send her back' as Trump attacked Omar during a rally in North Carolina."

The racism thing seemed to take a backseat during the Obama administration, but reared its ugly head with a roar when the Oval Office lunatic was elected. And it has made the left think about their vote and certain values for the upcoming election. I did two recent posts documenting the appalling incidents of racism occurring around this country you can see here and here. It is the blatant display of this racism since Trump came along that is so troublesome.

How farmers feel about Donald Trump...

There is another angle on Donald Trump's loss of followers for 2020, the farmers of the U.S. who solidly supported him in 2016, but who are now "reeling from plunging prices and unsold crops during what is now more than a year-long trade war with China." And then most recently T-rump made the decision to allow more oil refiners to skirt biofuel laws and use less corn-based ethanol. At recent campaign stops Joe Biden has said the trade war was “crushing” American farmers.

There's more...

"A round of more bad news for farmers last week, including extra tariffs Beijing announced on soybeans and other key U.S. agricultural exports, gave Democrats a fresh opening to attack Trump. He gave regulators the green light to grant exemptions to more than 30 small refineries so they can use less ethanol, Democratic candidates pounced on it as evidence Trump favors the oil industry."

5 top Democrats would beat Donald Trump today...

Donald dufus appears to be searching seriously for ways to lose the 2020 election with his bizarre actions that seem to be really pissing off American voters. And based on some recent figures, it definitely isn't the time to screw around with voters. Just recently AlterNet accused Trump of lying again about his approval numbers with Republicans. But his is how it really is...

"He says that he has 94 percent approval with them, and at one point, he actually did poll that well. But recent surveys from Monmouth, Zogby Analytics, AP-NORC, and Fox News all show him polling significantly lower than that. It appears that his support has been slipping and is now somewhere in the low-to-mid eighties."

There's more...

"The above might still sound impressive, but his approval with Democrats is in the low single digits, and he’s polling in the thirties-to-low forties with independents. He actually needs to be doing better with his base to compensate for this."

Michael Tomasky of the Daily Beast comments...

"If Trump were telling the truth about having 94 percent support from the GOP base, he’d be in reasonable shape, although Romney lost pretty badly at 93 percent."

How many U.S. presidents have actually lied themselves through a reelection? 

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.

Racism is here to stay

Racism hasn't really changed over the years

You can talk about the strides that have been taken since the Civil Rights Act of 1964, but, in a nutshell, they haven't worked. I said in an earlier post that since 1964, radical racism has simply gone underground, with those who practice this vile lifestyle, playing in the shadows, putting on the good-guy front. Until Donald Trump. Until the White House loaded up with racists, white nationalists, and a bigotry that isn't disguised, rather, put right there in the open for all to see. Steve Bannon is proud of his white supremacist label, flaunting it regularly around Washington. And Donald Trump is quick to tell you, Steve Bannon is his man.

Donald Trump afraid to offend white nationalist supporters

After days of not repudiating white nationalists and the Ku Klux Klan after the murder in the Charlottesville demonstration, T-rump finally denounced the KKK and neo-nazis. This was his statement...

• "Racism is evil, and those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists and other hate groups."

The media made me do it

Daily Progress reports that the only reason Trump changed his tone--it is widely known that he does not adhere to political correctness--is that the media made him do it. What a pathetic moment in history when it takes outcry from the media to make the President of the United States do a duty that should have been his top priority the moment that woman was killed by James Alex Fields' car. But that would have insulted Donald Trump's base of double-digit IQ bigots. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said, "From the beginning, President Trump has sheltered and encouraged the forces of bigotry and discrimination." Why would we expect more just because of a death?

Sports personalities criticize Trump

LeBron James, basketball star, said, “Hate has always existed in America. Yes we know that but Donald Trump just made it fashionable again!” Steve Nash, another basketball great said...

• “To defend white supremacists and then slang his [crappy] a— grape juice pretty much sums the man up.” Nash was referring to Trump’s remark that he knows “a lot about Charlottesville” because he owns “one of the largest wineries in the United States,” located there.

Seth Meyers on Trump Charlottesville news conference...

Even the Jews were included in Charlottesville protest

Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally was universal in its appeal with anti-Semitic lines like “Jews will not replace us”? Also heard, “This city is run by Jewish communists and criminal niggers,” one demonstrator told Vice News’ Elspeth Reeve during their march. The Atlantic reported, "As Jews prayed at a local synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel, men dressed in fatigues carrying semi-automatic rifles stood across the street." There was more, "In the minds of white supremacists like David Duke, there is a straight line from anti-blackness to anti-Judaism." I learned from the deep South, when you learn to hate like these people do, there are no bounds.

T-rump again reverts to bad taste

Donald Trump created an analogy between his re-tweet that was eventually pulled, where the Trump train collides with a person from CNN News (logo across face) obviously killing them. He did this just three days after the white nationalist drove into the Charlottesville woman killing her. Trump literally sanctions violence; remember when he wanted to punch the Black Lives Matter protester in the face? He also recently told a group of Long Island police that they shouldn't be too nice with criminal suspects. That drew fire from people all across the country, including police departments. There is no end to the Oval Office lunatic's lunacy.

Why are people still racist? A terrifying answer

The Washington Post recently asked, "Why are people still racist?" They go on to answer using a scientific point of view. The answer...

• “In some ways, it’s super simple. People learn to be whatever their society and culture teaches them. We often assume that it takes parents actively teaching their kids, for them to be racist. The truth is that unless parents actively teach kids not to be racists, they will be."

That is scary as hell, especially when you consider the fact that Donald Trump is President of the United States, espousing his rhetoric of bigotry.

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?

Donald Trump likes racism for 2020 campaign

July 19, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES

Donald Trump fears politics of 4 congresswomen 

Donald Trump is a racist

"Donald Trump is scared," says the Guardian, in an article that analyzes the Oval Office lunatic's psyche, concluding this is why he has viciously attacked these women with racist tweets. Continuing, "it appears he knows he is unpopular," and the firing of five of his pollsters who told him so adds to the unknown. Something which T-rump cannot tolerate. The problem...

"The Republicans know this, too. But they also have no substantive policy agenda to present to the American people, only white rage and resentment, racism and xenophobia, all of which have culminated in the Trump administration’s spectacle of wanton cruelty along the southern border."

The Guardian claims the Republicans...

"intend to foment hatred of “the other” among their predominantly white base, to weaponize false accusations of antisemitism against progressive politicians, to pour kerosene on the fires of the culture wars and fight – against women’s rights, LGBT rights, reproductive rights – with renewed vigor."

And the Democrats aren't ready for this, nor are they preparing for it.

Read more...

Independent voters see Trump racist attacks as negative

There is data, according to CNN polling analyst Harry Enten...

"showing that Trump’s racist attacks on the four women are seen negatively by the independent voters whom he needs if he wants to win reelection in 2020."

Independent voters account for 28% of those registered to go to the polls, and political pundits say attention will shift to this group as we head for the 2020 elections. The key here will be for Democrats to focus on issues they favor, one of which is immigration. This would also correlate with their distaste for Trump's racist actions.

Read more... 

Donald Trump sees racism as a winner for 2020

Following the impact of Trump's racist attacks on the four congresswomen, the psychopath has actually decided to build his 2020 campaign strategy around his barrage of bigotry. At the same time, there has been a GOP backlash of select Republicans like...

"The chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) blasted the controversial 'send her back' chant that took place at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally on Wednesday."

CNN says that "Trump views his attacks on the four congresswomen of color as an unbridled political success people familiar with his thinking say, and plans to continue his efforts as he moves into a period of politicking." Is Karl Rove lurking around the White House somewhere? Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois had this to say about Donald Trump's Wednesday rally...

"when the crowd yelled 'send her back' as the President targeted Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota -- 'ugly' and 'wrong' and said it 'would send chills down the spines of our Founding Fathers.'"

Trump is a racist coward, according to Rex Huppke of the Chicago Tribune with his article headline, "There’s no difference between supporting a racist and being one." He was aghast, as most of us were, at the Wednesday rally chants, "Send her back! Send her back! Send her back!” Huppke said...

"It was chilling. An angry mob wanting an American citizen whose views they disagree with run out of the country. It’s the kind of thing that gets out of hand. It’s the kind of thing that gets people killed."

Then he added:  "Trump lit the racist fire that led to those chants." Pathetic!

Populism Bernie Sanders:YES-Populism Donald Trump:NO

Steve Bannon

Steve Bannon's populism seems sketchy from his past, so why is he where he is now, leading ring-nosed Donald Trump down the path for his style of populism and nationalism? Both Trump and Bannon have evoked the name of Andrew Jackson because of his populist beliefs, but Jackson also had to deal with sectionalism between the North and the South, due to the stark difference in economies. The North was industrial, the South agricultural. This became highly complicated when Congress passed the Tariff of 1828, favoring the North.

The reason I bring this up is that, although he would tell Congress what he was going to do, then do it, regardless of their concerns, he did things with a background from experience that had led to his first election in 1828. Andrew Jackson won with and governed with a substance neither Donald Trump nor Steve Bannon could ever claim. So why all the comparisons? It is Bannon's obsession with Jackson's populism and nationalism that the White House adviser intends to steer in the direction of his own version that includes white nationalism along with racism and general bigotry.

Andrew Jackson is from Tennessee. I am from Tennessee. Jackson's view on white nationalism and racism does parallel both Trump and Bannon, according to U.S. News...

"...Jackson's belief that democracy and race were inextricably bound together, that whiteness was a prerequisite for self-governance, fits neatly with Trump's own worldview – a worldview that is coming to define not just Trump's administration, but also the Republican Party."

We also know that Andrew Jackson was also a co-founder of the Democratic Party. And Democrats regularly paid tribute to Jackson for years, until the issue of racism came into focus. You see...

"His policy of 'Indian removal,' an act of ethnic cleansing that killed thousands, moved to the forefront of his legacy, as did the fact that he held nearly 300 enslaved people, the source of his significant wealth."

It was then that Andrew Jackson began to tank with the Democratic Party. It was obvious that, "For Jacksonian democracy to work, non-white people had to be subjugated, either through their removal or their enslavement (and, in later eras, through Jim Crows old and new)." But if the Democrats now shun Jackson, Republicans in the present form of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon have picked up the gauntlet and are running with the white nationalism, tinged with racism and feminine hatred. Old Hickory surely had his faults but nothing to compare with the Trump/Bannon debacle.

Concourse tries to explain the insanity of Steve Bannon. The younger Bannon blames it all on the financial hard luck of his father...

"...a hardworking man who spent 50 years working for AT&T, accumulating as much AT&T stock as he could during that time in the belief that it would constitute a safe inheritance for his kids—saw the value of those shares crater during the 2008 financial crisis, and sold them at a loss in a panic."

As an afterthought Stevo contends that he was "outraged" that no one went to jail in the financial community over the chicanery during the Geo. W. Bush administration, Hell, so was I and millions more, but we didn't take it out on people of color nor did we debase women. Hamilton Nolan, the Concourse writer states...

"I am in no position to judge Steve Bannon’s honesty, so I’m willing to assume it’s true that the crash is indeed what spawned his political philosophy. If so, Steve Bannon is an insane man. Has he helped to fix the root causes of the 2008 financial crisis by guiding Donald Trump into the White House? No. He has helped to put in power an ignorant billionaire who has vowed to slash Dodd-Frank and other regulations designed to help prevent another financial crisis, and who has turned the regulation of Wall Street over to a coterie of Wall Street insiders and deregulation zealots."

The Daily Beast reported that Trump's fascination with Andrew Jackson only began in 2013, and there was another short conversation about the former president when there was talk during the 2016 election about removing Jackson from the $20 bill. DB says...

"But the reason Jackson has taken on such a physical and rhetorical presence in the Trump White House is, in fact, primarily because of Bannon, Trump’s chief strategist and the former head of Breitbart. According to officials in the Trump campaign, presidential transition, and administration speaking to The Daily Beast, Bannon would often discuss Jackson’s historical legacy and image with Trump on and after the campaign trail, and how the two political figures were a lot alike."

Bannon even gave Trump a suggested reading list on Jackson. And Trump placed a biography of Andrew Jackson on his desk he frequently pointed out to reporters, but no one could ever confirm that he had read it. All nice window-dressing for an administration in the throes of taking this county back to the dark ages of racist hangings, house burnings, and a Ku Klux Klan that gave rise to the 784 hate groups that now reside in the U.S. Thanks in great part to Donald Trump adviser, Steve Bannon. Let me leave you with this from the Daily Beast...

"The simplest explanation for Steve Bannon’s actual political philosophy is 'He is racist, xenophobic, and has deep-seated resentments and anger issues with origins that we can only begin to explain.'”

God help us all! 

Wrapping up the worst of.racism documented

August 23, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES, Where Liberals Walk

More on today's racism fostered by Donald Trump  

Racism" NOT

This is a continuation of my post yesterday with 10 examples of flagrant racism that occurs daily in this free nation. I say free because with bigots abounding and becoming more unabashed with each incident, those people of color could be on the way to something similar to neo-slavery, only with racism as its common denominator. So, it is time to focus on the source of the problem. And that would be Donald Trump. Here's more shameless racism...

"Explosion totally destroys interracial family’s home in what appears to be a shocking racist attack." An interracial couple’s northeast Ohio home was blown up and vandalized with swastikas in an apparent hate crime.

"Texas Cops Paraded a Black Man Through the Streets by a Rope." Texas once again has renewed its bid for Most Racist State in the U.S. after a pair of Galveston, TX, police officers on horseback arrested a black man and walked him through the town to the station by a rope. The department’s officers, identified only as P. Brosch and A. Smith, were not disciplined.

It can be done

Some of my posts on racism...

"Arkansas jailer’s wife pulls gun and detains four black children going door-to-door for school fundraiser." A jail administrator’s wife in Arkansas was arrested this week after she allegedly pulled a gun and detained four black students who were going door-to-door for a school fundraiser. Kelly was arrested “on four counts of aggravated assault, false imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a minor.” Sweet justice!

"WATCH: Michigan police stop black man for ‘looking suspiciously’ at white woman." Police in Royal Oak, Michigan were caught on video stopping a black man for allegedly “looking suspiciously” at a white woman.

"Mother and daughter arrested after ‘insane’ racist rampage leaves several people injured at Indiana beach." A mother and daughter are facing a wide array of charges after the pair were arrested for initiating a brawl that police say was racially motivated.

"Tennessee priest bans black housekeeper from his property — then blames his ‘racist dog’" According to a report from WHBQ, a Collierville, [Memphis] Tennessee priest is under fire for banning a black housekeeper in the employ of the diocese from entering his church-provided home because he claims his dog is racist.

"GOP lawmaker cut the mic on black woman’s facts — but let white men spew ‘lunacy and lies.’" The Republican chair of a Tennessee legislative committee is under fire for cutting off the microphone while a woman of color was speaking — but allowing white men to spew “lunacy.”

Some of my posts on Donald Trump racism...

Racism of yesteryear is back

"Black woman reveals how Trump is ruining her marriage: ‘My white Republican husband is starting to hate me.’" A black woman revealed over the weekend how President Donald Trump and right-wing media are straining her marriage. “My white Republican husband is starting to hate me because the longer we live through this administration the ‘BLACKER’ I become,” she revealed. Now, that is true bigotry.

"‘Go back to Harlem!’: Florida woman has n-word laced meltdown after bumping black woman’s shopping cart." On Saturday, the Atlanta Black Star reported an incident in Florida, in which a white woman screamed racial slurs at a black woman at a Publix supermarket in Miami after their shopping carts jostled each other. After the woman allegedly banged into Nicki Johnson’s cart, she refused to apologize, saying, “I didn’t hit you with my cart, and f**k you, you f**king n****r.”

"WATCH: Gang of white people release dog to viciously attack black man during fistfight." A black man in Roseville, Michigan is recovering from multiple injuries after what appeared to be a gang of white men ordered a dog to attack him last Wednesday. The 32-year-old William Lafave admitted to fighting the 20-year-old victim. The fight escalated when Lafave’s stepson released a dog to attack the victim who they alleged had a knife.

And that's the latest on nationwide racism and the miscreants who foster their hate on anyone who isn't like them. I am like them in color only, because I would not want to be compared with the scum of the earth. Racists. But can you even envision what it's like to be the target of these people who must certainly be at the bottom of the IQ scale. Hopefully this and my earlier post will open a few eyes and watch me for future coverage of racism.

Donald Trump responsible for hate crimes

July 22, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Hate crimes tied to a president unheard of  

Donald Trump-White Supremacist

Many in the media and groups like So. Poverty Law Center have warned of Donald Trump inciting violence with his racist targeting of women of color in Congress. Jim Cavanaugh, a retired ATF special agent-in-charge was interviewed by Anchor Joy Reid on Friday evening’s “The Last Word.” She asked...

“So those threats beginning about two years ago, increases in white nationalist activity. Have you ever heard of these kinds of increases in hate and potential hate crimes being tied to a president of the United States?”

Reid answered, “No,” he replied. “That’s very, very unusual, Joy, to have that happen.” Reid added...

“You know, when you get more power, your words carry more weight. When you get into this undercurrent of the Nazis and the white nationalists and the klansmen, they feed off of this. They feed off of public figures — on the regular media, in the government, congressmen, senators, the president — saying the things they always say,” he explained. “It bolsters them. It gives them strength and power.”

You can't get much more power than that of the President of the United States, so it is safe to say the white supremacists have the capacity of the greatest nation on earth. And that is very, very scary. The Oval Office lunatic has even primed these Nazis recently with his attacks on the four congresswomen, and there appears no abatement for Trump's racism. This country may be doomed to relive the race wars of the 1960s.

Read more...

White Supremacists love Donald Trump...

Stephen Miller-Donald Trump's scariest aide

Stephen Miller is a far-right political activist who serves as a senior advisor for policy for President Donald Trump. He took over as the chillingest member of Trump's team when Steve Bannon left. Although I don't consider Fox New generally credible, I do think Chris Wallace, because of his father Mike, to be honest and believable. Wallace adamantly shut down Miller as the latter repeatedly tried to defend T-rump's racism.

Here's an example from Think Progress...

"Wallace also pointed out that Trump has criticized the four lawmakers for comments he deemed critical of America, yet attacked the nation, and Obama, with comments that were far more negative. President Obama is ignorant, this country is killers, on and on.'”

"Miller attempted to spin a 'fundamental distinction' between 'people who think we need to lean into and strengthen American’s core values' and 'people who think we need to turn America into Venezuela.' But Wallace again responded with Trump’s own quotes that were explicit attacks on America."

Chris concluded the interview with...

“I’ve never called any of his tweets racist,” Wallace admonished Miller. “But there’s no question he is stoking racial divisions.”

Read more... 

The Hill says Trump has nothing to fear from Robert Mueller testimony

There are disagreements with this statement from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who is convinced that Robert Mueller's report "presents very substantial evidence" that President Donald Trump "is guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors." There is no reason to ask who is right since there can be no real right or wrong until a court, probably eventually SCOTUS, interprets sections of the report.

Here's what Mueller said: “The report is my testimony. I would not provide information beyond that which is already public in any appearance before Congress.”

Here's what House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler said: "Democrats on the committees plan to get around this reluctance by having Mueller read from his report, and by asking him for commentary about what he’s read."

It may even be a strategy welcomed by Robert Mueller.

Read more...

Presidential administration of a racist

July 23, 2019: TODAY'S NEWS BYTES  

Robert Mueller between a rock and a hard place

4 Congresswomen who will bring down Donald Trump 

Robert Mueller requested guidance from the Dept. of Justice on his Wednesday testimony to Congress. Associate Deputy Attorney General Bradley Weinsheimer answered stating whatever he said must be within the boundaries of the now public report. Weinsheimer added...

"matters within the scope of your investigation were covered by executive privilege."

In case you are interested, the hearing is scheduled to start at 8:30 AM ET, Wednesday, and several TV networks will cover it. The Democrats plan...

"to push Mueller on several aspects of his investigation as well as the question if he would recommend charges against President Donald Trump were he not the President."

As an observer of Robert Mueller's actions from the beginning to the end of this whole frolic in Donald Trump stupidity and incompetence, but more significantly at the end, I got the feeling Mueller secretly wants to testify, and hopes Democrats will ask some very pointed questions he must answer under oath. If I am wrong, the hearing won't be worth wasting your time on. The testimony starts where I live at 5:30 AM and at this point I'm thinking I'd rather sleep.

Read more...

4 Congresswomen who could beat Donald Trump in 2020

Donald Trump is all about racism

The smug, pompous Oval office lunatic first defended those who chanted “send her back” to Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Later, he even called Omar a "disgrace," then he attempted to renege on support for the crowd chants, next he returned to "a full-throated defense of the people who participated in it while talking with reporters in the Oval Office just one day later." Now this is the moron that was elected by his double-digit followers to run this country. Go figure.

He called these poor souls in No. Carolina "incredible people -incredible patriots.” Back to Trump attacking Omar...

“I’m unhappy when a congresswoman goes, ‘I’m going to be the president’s nightmare,'” Trump said, referring to remarks that Omar made during a town hall in Minnesota Thursday night. “She’s lucky to be where she is, let me tell you. And the things that she has said are a disgrace to our country.”

Well, not only has Ilhan Omar committed to making T-rump's life a nightmare, but so have her three colleagues, also racially violated by Trump. They are Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Talib of Michigan. It has been said by someone recently that the best way to bring down Donald Trump is to keep pushing his buttons until he finally breaks. Have a feeling these four women of color can do the job.

If only that could happen before the 2020 election. Proof that the White House moron doesn't learn, there is word that he will use racism as part of an election strategy to appeal to the same lowlifes that cheered him on in No. Carolina. But get this, by doing so...

"he is writing off 45.9 percent of the American population and implying that because they are not sufficiently white or native-born, they are not part of the “America” he represents."

Here's the breakdown...

"14.1 percent of Americans are either black or mixed race, including African-American, like Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar. 18.1 percent of Americans are of Hispanic descent like Alexandria Ocasio Cortez. And 13.7 percent of Americans are foreign-born, like Ilhan Omar."

Either Donald Trump can't count, or his ego has grown so big that he believes he can regularly debase people of color and they will forgive all and still vote for him. I think it is a little of both. The No. Carolina rally consisted of mostly white, elderly people but T-rump thinks...

"he’s looking at the United States of America. He’s wrong. As apparently everyone but Trump knows, the population of this country is getting browner, blacker, younger, and more foreign, in the sense of being from recent immigrant stock."

 Here's a depressing statement by Lucian Truscott of Salon...

"The kind of racist hatred that used to be hidden away in backwaters like Mississippi and Alabama and Louisiana and practiced by the likes of David Duke is now part of our national conversation."

I moved away from that years ago when I left the South. Not in a million years did I ever think it would come back to haunt me right out of the White House. 

Trump in danger of engineering a global manufacturing recession

August 23, 2019: PROGRESSIVE STREET NEWS BYTES...Where Liberals Walk

Donald Trump's inept administration will doom his second term 

The clown and his minions

If the country should go into recession, the misfits Donald Trump has put in place to run the economy wouldn't have the slightest idea what to do, including the Oval Office lunatic.  Here's the scenario...

"Washington Post economics columnist Catherine Rampell on Friday warned that President Donald Trump’s team of economic advisers is woefully unprepared to handle a recession should one strike within the next year."

There is no plan she laments...

“We have this clown car of economic advisers… you have a guy who plays an economist on TV, you have a former Hollywood producer. This is not the dream team who will be handling a crisis if we face one."

Trump in danger of engineering a global manufacturing recession...

The stock market is tanking and the White House ego maniac is still playing games with China, resulting in their latest $75 billion tariff on U.S. goods just today. You have to wonder when this will all end until the realization hits; it won't until we get rid of Donald Trump. But perhaps there is light at the end of the tunnel with the fact that some GOP donors are running scared that T-rump's tactics will result in Republicans losing big in 2020. Former Sen. Jeff Flake says...

"he’s received calls from several nervous Republican donors who fear a slowing or shrinking economy will doom the GOP in 2020 — and they’re looking to find a primary challenger for President Donald Trump."

These donors took the step even further...

"Some donors even asked Flake if he would personally consider running a primary challenge against the president, but he said he does not want to run right now and admitted that the odds of such a challenge succeeding are slim to none."

Impeachment or voted out in 2020?...

There's additional reason for trump to worry and wonder about his crazy antics that have screwed up the country and turned a large portion of the population against him. He won in 2016 with the Electoral College, the popular vote went heavily for Hillary Clinton (3 million more votes) but this time around polls show Trump's...

"net approval ratios being underwater (i.e., negative) in 10 states he carried in 2016: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin."

This translates into only 119 electoral votes for T-rump when 270 are needed to win the presidency. There is another factor that has been responsible for Trump's downfall; the fact that he has been solidly and accurately labeled a racist. It is a label that is sticking, and this is driving him crazy since he is one of branding's biggest advocates. Taegan Goddard's Political Wire says...

“Being called a racist has led Trump in recent days to lash out — in tweets and in public comments — behavior his advisers and allies explain as the natural reaction of anyone who does not consider himself a racist but is accused of being one.”

And finally, this CNN's Anderson Cooper video is a must see in a documentation of Donald Trump's blatant racism. I have said this repeatedly, having come from a South of the 19402/1950s, where the Ku Klux Klan ran rampant over the black population and committed unimaginable atrocities, I still cannot comprehend what this white fascination of dominance over those of color is all about. I left the South to get away from this but quickly discovered...racism is everywhere.

Meltdowns will send Donald Trump to the showers

July 21, 2019: WEEKEND NEWS BYTES  

Democrats may outsmart the GOP in 2020

Dr. Brandy Lee exposes Donald Trump

It is certainly woeful when an article asks the question, "Are Democrats too stupid to beat Donald Trump?" Is it really stupidity or simply a party that has miserably lost its way and needs an overall revamping? Perhaps some of the old hands like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi are, shall we say, a bit out of touch with the party constituency. Like hanging so firm in the middle when a majority of voters are headed further left.

Bernie Sanders, God love him, started it and we should all be thankful there was someone with the integrity of this man to show us the way. I don't give a damn if you like Socialism or not. We've already got it and it will become even more prominent in the future. So, live with it! What we should be striving for is a country that caters to 100% of the population, not just 1%. Martin Longman of Washington Monthly says...

"the Democratic Party is not currently the default majority party in the country and it is not coming apart at the seams or circling the drain. If anything, the Democrats are about dead-even with the Republicans and have the wind at their backs, as demographic trends (in both youth and ethnicity) heavily favor them to make advances in the near future."

Like it or not, it looks like prosperity for the Democrats. And to confirm this Ted Cruz just commented that Democratic voters would come out in "staggering" numbers in 2020.

Read more... 

Are Democrats doing enough about Donald Trump's racism?

Meltdowns will send Donald Trump to the showers

Dr. Brandy Lee, the Yale psychiatrist who has said repeatedly that Donald Trump sitting in the White House is a national emergency, recently stated that T-rump is headed for ‘disgrace and downfall.’ Can't remember exactly where but recently heard that the way to get rid of the Oval Office maniac is to keep pushing his buttons until he goes over the edge. His recent meltdown from the Washington Post article about his racist tweets apparently sent him reeling.

Josh Israel talked about Trump...

"Echoing his standard smear of news stories that are unfavorable to him, Trump attacked the story as 'Fake News' with 'phony sources who do not exist,' despite its reliance on on-the-record quotes from key supporters."

Psychology also tells us that when a person begins to repeat a phrase, like "fake news" repeatedly, there is an uncertainty in their actions, which has now replaced confidence. Science is not clear on just how many meltdowns are necessary to blow a gasket, but it would appear that Donald Trump is on the verge.

Bigotry, racism and hate in Donald Trump's presidency

Mark Potok, Editor of the Southern Poverty Law Center Intelligence Report, said in the Spring 2017 issue...

"The campaign language of the man who would become president sparks hate violence, bullying, before and after the election."

He was, of course, talking about Donald Trump who had adverse effects on the lowlife of our country even back in 2015. The story goes, two guys left a Red Sox ballgame late one night and ran across a homeless Mexican immigrant sleeping outside a commuter rail station. They proceeded to beat him with a metal pipe, punched him repeatedly, urinated on him and called him a “wetback." Elated with what they had done, Guillermo Rodriguez was left with cracked ribs and broken fingers plus other injuries. Arrested just a short time later,  one of them, 38-year-old Scott Leader said...

“Donald Trump was right. All these illegals need to be deported.”

In another incident in Portland, Oregon, a man stabbed three people when two of them attempted to stop a man who was ranting and raving and shouting anti-Muslim insults at two young women. It was n a light-rail train where the attacker stabbed and killed the two men and seriously injured another. There were witnesses and police were able to capture 35-year-old Jeremy Joseph Christian, of north Portland. The Southern Poverty Law Center had Christian in their records that indicated he held racist, white supremacist and extremist beliefs. Trump/Bannon related? Who knows.

It is noteworthy that Donald trump had kicked off his presidential campaign just two months prior to the attack, above, on a homeless Mexican man, with a speech describing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug smugglers. In his article Mark Potok takes us from the attack on the Mexican homeless man through Trump's inauguration. One of the first things he did was call for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the country. He attacked a Muslim Gold Star family, insinuating that Khizr Khan, whose son died in Iraq, was a terrorist sympathizer.

Here's more from Potok's SPLC article...

"He had retweeted utterly bogus claims that black people were responsible for 80% of the murders of whites. He had cozied up to some of the country’s hardest line gay-bashers. He had retweeted anti-Semitic memes and called many immigrants “not well.” He had attacked a debate moderator by insinuating that her tough questions were the result of her menstrual cycle. And his earlier boasts about grabbing women by the genitals had been revealed."

Wow! We had just elected a real gent, huh? But there's much more...

"After a Black Lives Matter activist was beaten at a Trump rally in Birmingham, Ala., he told Fox News that “maybe he should have been roughed up. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he urged supporters to 'knock the crap' out of protesters, adding, 'I promise you, I will pay your legal fees.' When a backer at a Fayetteville, N.C., rally sucker-punched a black protester being led away by police — an act described by the local sheriff as 'a cowardly, unprovoked attack' — Trump told two national news outlets that he was looking into paying the man’s legal fees."

Mark Potok has done a great job of documenting Donald Trump's bigotry, racism and hate ranting. But Donald Trump throughout it all remains oblivious to how terrible what he is doing and saying, and even makes this unbelievable statement following the beating of Guillermo Rodriguez. His reaction was, "While the attack was 'a shame,' Trump’s main conclusion was that 'people who are following me are very passionate.'" It is impossible to figure out what kind of blood runs in the veins of this lunatic or just how his brain synapses operate...or don't.

And finally...

"In the immediate aftermath of the election, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) noticed a dramatic jump in hate violence and incidents of harassment and intimidation around the country. At the same time, a wave of incidents of bullying and other kinds of harassment washed over the nation’s K-12 schools. The SPLC decided to make an effort to document all of this in real time."

Thanks to the Southern Poverty Law Center for the great material and I suggest you visit their site and make a donation: Southern Poverty Law Center 

Even the white nationalists are turning on Trump

Iowa has always been the come-to state for Presidents and 2016 was no different for Donald Trump. He took the state 51.1% to win against Hillary Clinton's 41.7, garnering the 6 electoral votes. Des Moines, where I spent several years, went for Clinton as did another major metro area, Cedar Rapids. Iowans are considered good, down to earth, stable people with common sense. That's pretty much true as I can attest to after spending several years in the capital city, but also having experienced a hard-line cliquishness there that forbids outsiders in until proven. I never made it.

I left in the late sixties, never sorry for my decision, and have never looked back. I tell you this to qualify the fact that I am a maverick, always have been, and always will be. Mavericks don't do well in the state, although there is a basketball team there by that name who are apparently winners. But it is people like Tom Godat, a union electrician from Clinton, Iowa, that represents a state that has been a combination of Democrat and Republican in the past, but recently has been attacked by the Tea Party. It elected Joni Ernst to the Senate, something many in the state still can't believe.

But back to Mr. Godat, who has always voted for Democrats, decided to cast his vote for Donald Trump in 2016, not that he particularly thought Trump was best, but because he thought Hillary Clinton was worse. An excellent case in point to shore up the fact that Bernie Sanders should have been the Democrats nominee, not Clinton. Tom now says he is "embarrassed" over his vote. I would suspect that a lot of good people out there are also coming to the same conclusion. What I don't understand is, after viewing Trump's campaign, why wasn't Tom Godat horrified with what he saw?

There were Donald John's comments about Mexican immigrants, about women, about veterans, the disarming of Clinton's bodyguards, saying Obama was the founder of ISIS, sicking the gun nuts on Hillary, encouraging Russia to hack Clinton's campaign, more racism calling for a ban on Muslims in the U.S., saying people in New Jersey were cheering on 9/11, suggesting one of his protesters should be roughed up, referring to his daughter in a sexual way, his bizarre comments about Megyn Kelly's menstrual period, I could go on forever but you get the idea. Why didn't Tom Godat?

Washington Post reporter, Jenna Johnson, and her photographer, Michael S. Williamson, ran into "...more than 100 Iowans [who]explained why so many of them are already disappointed in the new president." It only took four days which means they encountered 25 a day. That's an impressive number of people when you consider that Iowans aren't that open and easy to get to talk to by people they don't know. And then there's Lost Nation, Iowa, where the president received 66 percent of the vote. After Trump's election, the Iowa legislature voted to dramatically scale back the collective bargaining rights of the state’s public workers, distressing my Lost Nation residents.

The Huff Post reports that "thousands" of people across the country are unhappy with their vote for Donald John, and they are tweeting it in response to the "head tweeter's" barrage of lies and misinformation. Here's an example...

“I’m starting to feel like the biggest mistake of my young 23 years of life has been voting for [Trump],” Joseph Richardson tweeted on Nov. 21.

And that's less than two weeks after the November 8, election day. Richardson said it was a bitTrump’s Cabinet picks or the 'very childish' behavior he exhibited at a press conference last week. And he does regret his vote. Sort of." Even if he did it over, Richardson says he still couldn't vote for Clinton continuing with, “I still think Trump would be the better candidate. I’d still regret it. I’d vote for him again but I’d still regret it.” Go figure. But it is this exact kind of reasoning that political pundits were clamoring over during the 2016 election.
unsettling and added, "He doesn’t like

Now here's a guy you just have to shake your head over. Not sure if he is misinformed, full of indecision or just not too bright...

"Bill said he would like Trump to act more like President Barack Obama, who he voted against twice but considers 'an extremely honorable man who served the country fantastically.'”

I could understand a statement that said, served the country "well," or "fine," or even "right." But how can you call Obama "extremely honorable" and a man "who served the country fantastically" but still have voted against him twice? Makes no sense unless there is an ulterior motive. And that's what is wrong with our political system, people voting who haven't the slightest idea what they are doing. There were some that lashed out at Donald John for not following up on his promise to investigate Clinton’s handling of sensitive emails, a decision that also puzzles some of the pundits.

Others voiced their reason to vote for Trump was his promise for change, to drain the swamp. Many of this group think the swamp is fuller than ever, but others believe Trump is following through on his promises. Even the alt-right and its white nationalists are down on Donald Trump. Remember Richard Spencer? The guy "who stood at a podium shortly after Donald Trump's election and, in a video that went viral, shouted 'Hail Trump!' while several in the crowd celebrated the victory with a Nazi salute." He's not sure now his President will be racial enough.

From what I have read, a large number of Trump voters have combined to strongly object over the fact that Donald John did not investigate, subsequently prosecute Hillary Clinton over the email issue. This is a major campaign promise that he broke, and the fact that this is one of the primary annoyances of those who voted for the man, it is yet just one more instance that reflects the amount of animosity toward Hillary Clinton. This was clear from the early 2016 campaigning right through the November election. A leading reason Democrats are in the hole they are now in.

Donald Trump's top adviser and chief White House strategist, Steve Bannon, described Richard Spencer as one of the leading intellectuals of the alt-right movement. CNN reported that...

"Spencer is a white nationalist who believes that there should be a 'peaceful ethnic cleansing,' where people who are not of European descent voluntarily leave the United States."

Not that it is important since this deranged kind of thinking probably has no chance of ever being initiated in this country, but what if they don't leave voluntarily? But just maybe the thought of ethnic cleansing isn't so far out when you consider Trump has already provided the model in his latest Muslim ban of now six countries just announced in Monday's address to Congress. More from Slate on Bannon/Spencer connection...

"In August, [2016] Bannon proudly described his site as 'the platform for the alt-right,' a movement with Spencer as one of its intellectual leaders, again, according to Bannon’s own site."

It is said the Vice President is only a heartbeat away from the presidency. In the case of Steve Bannon, this is a heart beat that could change the direction of the greatest free nation of all time.