8/8/17: The
president takes a tough tone with North Korea. “North Korea
best not make any more threats to the United States,” he tells reporters
visiting him, as is so often the case, at one of his golf courses. “They will
be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Speaking
of Kim Jong-un, Trump insists, “He has been very threatening beyond a normal
state, and as I said, they will be met with fire and fury, and frankly power
the likes of which this world has never seen before.”
Fire and
fury like the world has never seen.
The
North Koreans quickly respond: “It is a daydream for the U.S. to think that its
mainland is an invulnerable Heavenly kingdom.”
The
North conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.
More
recently, the North threatened South Korea and 23,500 U.S. military personnel stationed there. At the first sign of any offensive
move by our side, Kim Jong-un promises large parts of the USA “will be reduced
to ashes and flames.” North Korean missiles will “turn Washington, the
stronghold of American imperialists and the nest of evil, and its followers,
into a sea of fire.”
(Did he
just promise to drain the swamp?)
8/9/17: A
draft report of a major scientific study due on climate change is leaked to the press. Government scientists fear
that the Trump administration will whitewash it if they don’t get it out.
The draft
states that “evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths
of the oceans.”
Alas,
the report is headed to a White House committee chock full of political hacks.
By the time E.P.A. head Scott Pruitt gets done the report will be reduced to
one sentence: “Coal is freaking awesome!”
8/10/17: The New
York Times and other “Fake News” outlets report that the F.B.I. has
conducted a search of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort’s home. Legal
experts say this is a signal from Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller to
Manafort, indicating the investigation is heating up.
Already
under fire for his role in a secret meeting including Donald Jr., Jared
Kushner, and shady Russian operatives offering dirt on Hillary Clinton,
Manafort may face charges under the federal Bank Secrecy Act.
 |
| Is is still a "witch hunt" when you find witches? |
8/11/17: President
Trump clearly seems himself as a young Clint
Eastwood, only with nukes. If North Korea wants a fight, he’s ready to
challenge Kim Jong-un to make his day. He’s feeling frisky and he’s ready to
send troops to Venezuela. “Venezuela is not very far away,” he tells reporters,
“and the people are dying. We have many options for Venezuela, including a
possible military option if necessary.”
As for
North Korea, President Clint insists U.S. forces are ready to fight. We’re
“locked and loaded.”
On Guam,
an American possession, which would be a prime target in case of war, people
worry. Guam’s Office of Civil Defense passes out flyers titled “Preparing
for an Imminent Missile Threat” to aid residents in readying for
nuclear attack.
If North
Korean missiles are launched, inhabitants will have fourteen minutes to
take cover. They are instructed to head for the nearest underground concrete bunker.
If they find themselves outside, unable to reach safety, they should go “flat
on the ground” and cover their heads. If they survive, they should shower with
plenty of soap and water to remove any radioactive contamination. (See:
8/12/17.)
“Locked
and loaded,” sounds a lot cooler if you’re not thinking about nuclear warfare.
8/12/17: Who’s
worried about nuclear war! Not President Clint! Taking time out from a
busy schedule, he calls Governor Eddie Calvo of Guam and offers reassurance (sort of). North Korea has threatened to
bracket the island with long-range missiles to prove its strike capability.
Trump tells Calvo not to sweat. “We are with you 1000 percent…. Don’t worry
about a thing.”
Clueless
Commander-in-Chief Clint congratulates the governor for “becoming extremely
famous.” “All over the world they’re talking about Guam.”
“Tourism…”
Clint continues in his inimitable, tone-deaf style, “I can say this…you’re going to go up ten-fold, with the
expenditure of no money…. It just looks like a beautiful
place.”
Sadly,
the island won’t look like a beautiful place if it suffers a direct hit from a
nuclear weapon.
*
CLOSER
TO HOME, a march in Charlottesville, Virginia, involving neo-Nazis and Ku Klux
Klan types turns violent.
Blame on
both sides.
One of
the marchers, a 20-year-old from Ohio, decides to prove his love for the white
race by plowing his 2015 Dodge Charger into a crowd of
counter-protesters. Nineteen are
injured, five critically.
Heather
Heyer, 32, is killed.
At her
funeral her father will say she was there to protest peacefully and “to put
down hate.”
In his
first comments on the tragedy, Trump makes it crystal clear he can see equal blame on “both sides.” Pretty
much everyone in America—not counting professional bigots—is stunned by his stance.
8/13/17:
Chastened by a firestorm of negative reaction to his “both sides” comment, the
president refrains from tweeting for an entire day. He does provide links to
tweets by others, including one from the Governor of Guam.
The
Governor says he has never felt safer than
he does now, with Trump “at the helm.” (See: 8/11/17.)
8/14/17: Trump
continues to take heat for his response to Charlottesville. Aides convince him
to try a do-over.
All they
ask is that he read a prepared statement without going off the
rails. “As Americans, we condemn the recent violence in Charlottesville and
oppose hatred, bigotry, and racism in all forms,” he reads, looking like a
schoolboy reciting a story about why he should not grab female classmates in
inappropriate places.
He
finishes with a flourish:
No matter the color of our skin
or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same
great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God.
We are a Nation founded on the
truth that all of us are created equal. As one people, let us move forward to
rediscover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans.
Mission
Accomplished. Trump sounds like an actual president.
8/15/17: Okay:
Mission not Accomplished.
In the
Marine Corps we had a saying about people who needlessly fucked up. “He stepped
on his dick,” we’d say.
Somebody
shoot the president with a tranquilizer dart!
Trump does just that in a wild, unscripted exchange in
the lobby of Trump Tower. The president is there to talk about a plan to spend
heavily on infrastructure. He even has a cool chart that aides want him to display.
Aides don’t expect him to take
questions; but he does. Before anyone can shoot him with a tranquilizer dart,
he goes rogue.
He’s mad
about Charlottesville—but not because a young lady was killed and nineteen were
injured. He’s mad because the press is mean. He insists he waited to condemn
the neo-Nazis until he “had all the facts.”
Okay,
let’s see what he does with those facts. Asked about the “alt-right,” and
whether he condemns them, Trump replies combatively. He demands that the
reporter who asked the question, define what “alt-right” means.
Trump
still can’t admit these groups are different. “What about the alt-left that
came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right,” he adds angrily. Then he
launches into an elaborate defense of hate groups who, in his view, were
unfairly attacked. He even points
out that the “alt-left” groups (a term he just made up) lacked a permit.
Those neo-Nazis, what solid citizens they are.
They had
a parade permit!
8/16/17: If you
love Trump you assume The New York Times is fake news.
Still, the Times tends to quote actual people.
If those
people are misquoted, they seek retraction.
At
the Times, reporters begin coverage for the day by defining what
the alt-right is and what it stands for. It is “anti-immigrant, anti-feminist, and
opposed to homosexuality and gay and transgender rights.” (That sounds an awful
lot like the Republican Party.) Leaders of the movement believe “higher
education is ‘only appropriate for a cognitive elite’ and that most citizens
should be educated in trade schools or apprenticeships.”
(I think
we can assume the alt-right does not believe dark-skinned people are part of
the “cognitive elite.”)
The
alt-right is obsessed with a fear of “white genocide.” The Times explains:
“White genocide is a white
nationalist belief that white
people, as a race, are endangered and face extinction [emphasis
added, unless otherwise noted] as a result of nonwhite immigration and marriage
between the races, a process being manipulated by the Jews,” according to Ryan
Lenz, editor of Hatewatch, for the
Southern Poverty Law Center.
Many
neo-Nazi types in Charlottesville carried shields painted with a “14.” The
number stands for fourteen words: “We must secure the existence of our people
and a future for white children.”
The
slogan was created by David Lane, currently serving a 190-year prison
sentence for murdering Jewish radio host Alan Berg.
Head of
American Nazi Party approves of Trump statement.
Well
then, who did enjoy Trump’s
performance the day before? “Thank you
President Trump for your honesty & courage to tell the truth,” David
Duke tweets. He’s a former leader of the K.K.K.
Richard
Spencer, head of the American Nazi Party, is also impressed. “Trump’s statement
was fair and down to earth,” says Spencer.
Pretty
much everyone else is aghast. The commandant of the Marine Corps tweets that
there is “no place for racial hatred or extremism in @USMC. Our core values of
Honor, Courage, and Commitment frame the way Marines live and act.” This makes
me proud to say I’m a former Marine.
8/17/17: Julius
Krein, founder of American Affairs, explains in The
New York Times how he became a Trump supporter. He admits having watched
one of Trump’s campaign rallies. “I was riveted,” he says. He supported
Candidate Trump in dozens of articles and TV appearances.
Now he
admits he was wrong.
I can’t stand by this
disgraceful administration any longer, and I would urge anyone who once
supported him as I did to stop defending the forty-fifth president. Far
from making America great again, Mr.
Trump has betrayed the foundations of our common citizenship. For
months, despite increasing chaos and incoherence pouring out of this White
House, I have given Mr. Trump the benefit of the doubt.
He tried
to convince himself that Trump wasn’t a racist and wasn’t catering to racists. “It is now
clear that we were deluding ourselves. Either Mr. Trump is genuinely
sympathetic to the David Duke types, or he is so obtuse as to be utterly incapable
of learning from his worst mistakes.” (See:
8/16/17.)
8/18/17: It’s a
sad day for “alt-right” types (see:
8/15/17). Steve Bannon, self-proclaimed voice of the movement, is ousted as chief strategist for the Trump
administration.
Alex Marlow, editor in chief at Breitbart News, explains the frustration right-wing extremists are
feeling with Bannon being tossed:
The president was buoyed to
election by capturing the hearts and minds of a populist, nationalist movement.
A lot of it was anti-Wall Street, anti-corporatist, anti-establishment. And now
we’re seeing that a lot of these guys remaining inside the White House are
exactly the opposite of what we told you you were going to get.
Here, the typical liberal might pose a question: What fool
was stupid enough to believe the
GOP establishment—or billionaire Donald J. Trump—would turn on Wall Street
and multinational corporations?
8/19/17: The
White House announces that the President and First Lady will not be attending
the Kennedy Center Honors program scheduled for December. “The president and
first lady have decided not to participate in this year’s activities to allow
the honorees to celebrate without any political distraction.”
Good job, Mr. President! You’re finally thinking of others!
Oh…wait.
Honorees for lifetime work in art, music, dance, film,
television and culture make it clear, in light of Trump’s Charlottesville remarks,
they will skip a White House gala normally held in conjunction with the awards.
Three of five honorees have said they’d not attend.
Carmen de Lavallade, a dancer and choreographer, 86, explains
her decision to bow out. “In light of the socially divisive and morally
caustic narrative that our current leadership is choosing to engage in,”
she says, “and in keeping with the principles that I and so many others have
fought for, I will be declining the invitation to attend the reception at the
White House.”
So: The gala was going to lack gala. A fourth honoree LL Cool
J hadn’t said for sure whether he’d attend.
The fifth, Cuban-American singer Gloria Estefan, said she’d
show up, but only to press the president on his immigration policies.
Trump chickens out.
8/20/17: You
know how Republicans swear we can always trust businesspeople with our lives
and even hand over our wallets—and nothing can go wrong? Wells Fargo (already
famous for signing up customers for millions of credit card accounts they
didn’t…um… authorize) is reported
to have tricked customers into buying car insurance they didn’t
need. This drove 274,000 individuals into loan delinquency and caused 25,000
vehicles to be repossessed.
8/21/17:
Charles Blow, in a New York Times
editorial, perfectly captures the essence of President Trump’s comments on
Charlottesville. Says Blow: “He wasn’t there to plead the case that America
could rise on the wings of its better angels. He was there to defend the
demons.”
8/22/17: In
another raging speech in Phoenix, Trump defends his stance on Charlottesville.
This time he reads from his statement on Saturday but conveniently leaves off
the “both sides” ad lib, which faulted everyone equally.
Petulant as always, he calls for a government shutdown in September if he doesn’t get funding
for a border wall. (See: 1/19/18.)
Trump also tells his audience that talking tough to the North
Koreans is working. A North Korean threat to fire missiles in the
direction of Guam has not materialized. Trump can’t resist crowing: “I respect
the fact that he [Kim Jong-un] is starting to respect us.” (See: 8/28/17.)
8/23/17: A
Quinnipiac poll finds that by a 62%-31% margin, Americans feel the
president is doing more to divide than unite the country. To put it plainly, most
Americans realize Trump is a dick.
8/24/17:
Administration officials make it clear the president is willing to shut down the
government in September if he doesn’t get funding for his border wall. Trump
fans are too dumb to wonder why Mexico isn’t going to pay, which Candidate
Trump swore a thousand times they would.
Members of Congress in
districts along the border are polled to see if they think we need a
big, beautiful wall. Eight U.S. senators and eight members of the House of
Representatives all agree.
We don’t.
8/25/17: Staff
turmoil continues to roil the White House. Extreme-right-wing
adviser Sebastian Gorka resigns, or
gets booted, depending on whom you ask. According to Gorka, he resigned
because “it
is clear to me that forces that do not support the MAGA promise are—for
now—ascendant within the White House.”
New
Chief of Staff John Kelly gets credit for pushing Gorka out, after pushing
Gorka’s main ally, Steve Bannon, out the previous week. There are reports Kelly
may soon boot Omarosa to the curb. (See: 12/14/17.)
8/26/17: With Texas, Louisiana
and Florida having been pummeled by wind and rain, a long recovery looms. Trump
seems ready for another “Mission Accomplished” moment (see: 8/14/17). Speaking to reporters in the Rose Garden he decides,
if they won’t pat him on the back, he’ll pat his back himself. “We are doing a great job in Texas,” he says, “a great job
in Florida, a great job in Louisiana. We hit little pieces of Georgia and
Alabama. And frankly….”
The
Great One pauses a moment………
What’s
that other place he’s supposed to be helping? Oh yeah, Puerto Rico! That’s a
little harder, even if you are the greatest. “It’s on an island,” Trump informs
stunned reporters. “You can’t just drive your trucks there from other states.”
(Who
knew.)
At a
joint news conference later, with the Prime Minister of Spain, Trump decides to
do all the talking. He says the relief work his administration is doing is
“amazing,” “tremendous,” “incredible” and “really good.”
You
almost expect him to say his efforts are “bootylicious.”
8/27/17: Trump seems surprised
experts are calling Hurricane Harvey a “once in 500-year storm.” If he bothered
to read the scientific reports earlier in the month (see: 8/9/17) he might realize they’ve been predicting steady
increases in freak weather events as global temperatures rise. Harvey was the Houston area’s third “500-year flood” in the last
three years.
The
nation as a whole has had at least 24 of these “500-year” events since 2010. According
to scientists, we’re due for plenty more.
8/28/17: So much for North
Korea showing “respect” in the face of the president’s carnival barking. They
fire a ballistic missile that
travels over the top of Japan and breaks into pieces before
splashing down in the Pacific, 1,678 miles away.
Clearly,
they can hit Guam. (See: 8/11-12/17.)
8/29/17: The Hill reports that television evangelist Jim Bakker has warned of disaster
if Trump is impeached. “If it happens, there will be a civil war in the United States of America. The
Christians will finally come out of the shadows, because we are going to be
shut up permanently if we’re not careful.”
For context, we should remember that back in the 90s, Bakker
spent five years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.
*
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
reports on a change of heart by conservative
congresspersons from Texas. You may remember, in 2012 the eastern seaboard was
pounded by Superstorm Sandy. Massive damage resulted. Congress had to
decide—help states like New York and New Jersey—or focus on fiscal
responsibility.
Texas
delegation in Congress once voted against storm relief.
That was then, when Texas wasn’t hurting. Five years ago, Tea
Party stalwarts wanted to offset every penny the federal government spent.
Almost the entire Texas delegation voted against storm relief.
Today, Sen. Ted Cruz is all in for hurricane aid. Let’s not
quibble about pennies—or billions! Not when Texans are hurting. If they keep
hurting, they might not vote for Ted again.
Rep. Peter King is one of a number of Republicans who does
not suffer from amnesia. He greets this change of heart with scorn. “Ted Cruz
& Texas cohorts voted vs NY/NJ aid after Sandy,” he tweets, “but I’ll vote
4 Harvey aid. NY wont abandon Texas. 1 bad turn doesnt deserve another”
8/30/17: The Pentagon announces it has increased the number of troops in Afghanistan to
11,000. (The next day Secretary of Defense James Mattis signs orders to send an
additional 4,000 soldiers.)
After
sixteen years we still can’t win the war. U.S. casualties number 2,403 dead and 20,000 +
wounded. Our allies have lost heavily, too. The cost to our nation, not counting future expenses to treat
disabled veterans, has passed $1.07 trillion.
If the
population of Afghanistan is 34.66 million (recent estimate) that means we could have given every man, woman and child in that country
$30,871.32 if they simply agreed to give us all their guns.
8/31/17: The remnants of
Hurricane Harvey linger over Texas and Louisiana. Before the storm dies out it dumps fifty inches of rain.
(Climate change scientists have long predicted rising temperatures will lead to extreme rain events.) Tens
of thousands of homes are flooded. At least 82 deaths result. Damage estimates range from $65 billion to as much as $190 billion. (See 8/9/17; 8/27/17.)
September
1, 2017: The month starts with a fizzle. The Bureau of Labor Statistics
tallies jobs created in August.
A total
of 156,000 were added to the U.S. economy, continuing an 83-month trend that
began back in October 2010 when the guy born in Kenya got the financial
recovery off to a start.
The
jobs report is disappointing to economists and Trump decides not to tweet about
such tepid success.
“It’s been a wonderful
thing.”
9/2/17: Texas
and Louisiana recover slowly in the wake of Hurricane Harvey. On Fox News, we
are treated to extensive coverage of President Trump and the
First Lady arriving in Houston for a visit. We see them mingle with flooded out
men, women and children in a crowded relief center. The president hands out hot
dogs in white containers carrying a Red Cross.
Houston TV channel KHOU catches up for a talk. Trump doesn’t focus on the suffering. He
focuses on—what else—himself. He wants
everyone to know he’s there and he’s doing a fabulous job. He has spoken
with families at the center. They’re happy to see him! “It’s been very nice. It’s
been a wonderful thing. As tough as this was, it’s been a wonderful thing. I
think even for the country to watch and for the world to watch. It’s been
beautiful.”
This seems an odd way to describe massive destruction, since
the nation’s fourth largest city is a wreck.
9/3/17: It
took six months to discover that the president was: A) a pathological liar; or,
B) a paranoid fool.
Trump’s original tweet (see:
3/4/17): “Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my ‘wires
tapped’ in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is
McCarthyism!”
Later
he called Obama a “sick man.”
Now Time magazine
has the audacity to quote the
Department of Justice. That would be Trump’s DOJ:
“Both FBI and NSD [Department of Justice’s National Security
Division] confirm that they have no records related to wiretaps as described by
the March 4, 2017 tweets,” the DOJ wrote in a summary judgment court
filing on
Sept. 1. “FBI again confirmed that Case 1:17-cv-00718-RCL Document 12 Filed
09/01/17 Page 4 of 39 they do not have any such records by consulting with
personnel knowledgeable about Director Comey’s statements and the surveillance
activities of the FBI.”
There is a sick
man in this story.
It’s Trump.
9/4/17: Did
you know Texans are really conservative? They don’t want the federal government
messing in their lives! Ever! Think incredible paranoia! Think Walmart and Jade Helm! Think
calls for Texas to secede from the union after Barack Obama won
reelection!
Now, with the Texas coast in ruins, guess who’s clamoring for
federal aid! Go ahead. Guess. We’ll give you ten guesses if you watch Fox News.
(See: 8/29/17.)
It’s Texas!!!
9/5/17: How is
Orange Leader doing when it comes to the DACA program (Deferred
Action for Child Arrivals)? During the campaign he promised to scrap it, build
a wall a thousand feet high along our southern border, and twist the arm of
Mexico’s president till he agreed to pay—and said so in English.
President Obama implemented DACA. If Obama played a role
Trump must kill it! Trump officially kills
DACA.
You came here from Guatemala with your parents, at age three,
and have no memory of any country but this one? Too bad! Back you go, college
student, age 20.
Your parents snuck into the United States from Bangladesh?
You were five? Now you’re twenty-five and working legally as a nurse—because
DACA allows it—and paying taxes like any nurse? Back to Bangladesh!
Trump talked himself into a corner and can’t talk himself
out. Recently, he told reporters he would treat the Dreamers with “great
heart,” even referring to them by that name. “We love the Dreamers,” he said. Aides portray his order to end
DACA “as a difficult emotional decision for the president.”
Down in Houston, DACA recipient Jesus Contreras, a trained
paramedic, has just finished a week helping people impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Alonso
Guillen, another Dreamer, has drowned while trying to rescue neighbors.
Aracely Martinez-Ramirez, 20, has seen her family home
destroyed. She came to the U.S. when she was two. She works multiple jobs to
help her mother and siblings and watches three sisters, ages 12, 9 and 7. (All
are U.S. citizens.) DACA allows her to drive legally and walk the girls to the
school bus stop without fear of being arrested and sent “back” to a country she
can’t recall.
The president makes his bold decision to end DACA. Then he
begins to regret what he’s done. (See:
9/14/17.)
Naturally, it’s not the fate of the Dreamers, per se, that
troubles Trump. The man displays the same degree of empathy we might expect of a
garden gnome. No. What worries him is the political math:
 |
9/6/17: Trump
heads to North Dakota to talk about his tax plan. It’s the best tax plan in the
history of tax plans. Okay, true: The plan is expected to add $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over
ten years. Why worry! The economy will boom and the cuts will pay for
themselves!!! (See: 9/26/17.)
Meanwhile, a Republican-controlled U.S. Senate passes a $700 billion National Defense Authorization
Act. Republican Senator Bob Corker notes that this is $83 billion more than
Congress agreed to when it put in place spending caps while President Obama was
still in office.
Deficit-schmefficit. The GOP no longer cares about the red
ink!
It’s like 2001 again, when GOP “fiscal hawks” stopped
swooping and diving and decided to fight a war, then a second, and still cut
taxes. When George W. Bush took office the U.S. government had run a surplus of
$128 billion the previous fiscal year—and for four years in succession under
Bill Clinton.
Despite those GOP tax cuts, which were absolutely going to
cause the U.S. economy to boom, what was the situation when W. left the White House? By fiscal year
2009, including policies implemented before
Obama took over, the deficit had ballooned to $1.4 trillion. Counting
debt service, it was $1.6 trillion.
Who “inherited a mess?”
Obama. (See: 9/26/17.)
9/7/17: We all
know how much the GOP loves Big Business and how much the GOP hates regulating
same. For example, we would live in utopia if Republicans could kill the
Consumer Protection Agency. Then Equifax and other credit-rating companies
could do their jobs with skill and speed and…
…Equifax reports a massive
breach when hackers crack their system and steal the personal data of 143
million Americans.
No sweat! The Department of Justice is on the case! I mean,
the case involving the baker who doesn’t want to bake a wedding cake for gays. I
hope nobody stole the baker’s identity, or the identities of the two gentlemen
who wanted the cake.
9/8/17: You
know what this country needs! Less regulation! We don’t need to regulate drug
companies. Drug companies only want to help us with our sad sex lives. Here,
have some Viagra!
If you watch a lot of Fox News you know government is always
the problem, especially when courts are processing a rash of sexual harassment
cases against Fox owners, anchors and hosts.
Equifax
execs dump stock before public can get wise.
On this day we get fresh evidence. You can always trust the Big
Business types. We learn that Equifax was hacked five months earlier but didn’t take the
necessary steps to protect itself and its (your) data. By keeping the hack
quiet, company executives were able to
use their time wisely and sell any Equifax stock they owned,
before prices tanked, to suckers.
Also on this day: Facebook admits Russian trolls bought ads and created countless
fake personal accounts and issue pages, all in an effort to swing voters during
the 2016 campaign. Their two main goals: First, undercut faith in American
democracy. Second, insure defeat for Hillary Clinton.
Take Melvin Reddick of Harrisburg, Pa.. Pictured on Facebook,
you could see him, baseball cap turned backwards, holding a cute little girl. You
could read posts from Melvin like this one on June 8, 2016: “These guys show
hidden truth about Hillary Clinton, George Soros and other leaders of the US.
Visit #DCLeaks website. It’s really interesting.”
Not only was Reddick not a real person, the DCLeaks website was created by the
Russians.
“It’s a cult of personality. He’s fundamentally, at the core, about Donald Trump.”
Rep. Mark
Sanford
9/9/17: Trump
spends the day rattling the GOP establishment. Angered by “disloyalty”
on the part of lawmakers who fail to do his bidding, he pushes for primary challenges
in 2018. Three moderate GOP members of the House of Representatives decide
serving time in the time of Trump isn’t worth the misery and pain. They
announce plans to retire. Mark Sanford—a fourth—describes the dilemma his party
faces. “It’s a cult of personality.” Trump doesn’t care about party or
principles. “He’s fundamentally, at
the core, about Donald Trump.”
True that.
9/10/17:
Hurricane Irma flattens the Florida Keys. It moves slowly north, pulverizing
homes and bringing storm surge and flooding as far north as Jacksonville.
Damage estimates range from $50 billion to $100 billion. (See: 8/31/17.) At one point, Irma is 420 miles wide, more than twice as wide as Ohio.
9/11/17: The
United States marks sixteen years since the attacks on New York and Washington
and the downing of Flight 93 near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Trump speaks at a
memorial service and manages not to insult anyone.
Meanwhile, ESPN host Jemele Hill excoriates him in a series of tweets. “Donald Trump is a white supremacist who has largely surrounded himself
w/other white supremacists,” reads one.
“Trump is the
most ignorant, offensive president of my lifetime. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy.
Period,” she tweets again.
“He is unqualified and unfit to be president,” a third reads.
Well, at least we still live in a country that honors free speech. (See:
9/13/17.)
9/12/17: The
White House tells reporters the number of refugees allowed annually to enter
the United States may be cut to 50,000.
Then again, Najib Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia, will be welcome if he wants to come. Did you realize that rich
individuals and their rich children, up to age 21, can acquire green cards and
permanent residency in the U.S.A. by investing $500,000? Well, now you do. The
Statue of Liberty should ditch the torch and start waving a giant green, copper
bank book.
Jared
drums up business with Chinese oligarchs.
And guess who pushed to get Chinese oligarchs (who became
rich by rigging a communist system) to invest $500,000 in his luxury apartment tower?
Jared Kushner!
All kinds of superrich Chinese “communists,” oil-drenched
Nigerians and even Mexicans carting suitcases stuffed with drug money manage to enter the U.S. if they have sufficient
piles of dough. You could say, metaphorically, that if Trump does build his
wall a Mexican with connections and plenty of narco cash could stack up his or
her gold ingots and come climbing into the U.S. of A.
At any rate, Trump invites Razak to the White House. This
seems ironic since Razak is under investigation by the Justice Department. When
it was revealed Razak had a cool
$681 million stashed in a secret bank account, his own Attorney
General (way more loyal than Jeff Sessions) swore the Saud royal family had donated the money.
Anyone who said bribery or other crimes were involved was
part of a liberal Malaysian “witch hunt.”
Okay. I made that last line up.
Postscript: Honestly, a few months later
Razak will start talking about shutting
down the Malaysia purveyors of “fake news.”
If nothing else, we can say the Prime Minister knows how to
spend the dough. So does his wife. She is the proud owner of a $27.3 million
necklace with a 22-carat diamond pendant. She once bought 27 gold necklaces
during a single L.A. shopping spree. The Prime Minister gave supermodel Miranda
Kerr an $8 million necklace. He also handed over $12 million in artwork to his
pal, Leonardo DiCaprio.
(In December 2019, Razak will finally stand trial. He and his accomplices are
accused of looting Malaysia to the tune of $4.5 billion. When you need to launder
money, you do what this crew did. You buy yachts, private jets, Picasso paintings, jewelry, and lots
and lots of real estate. See also, 2/2/20: Trump and the Russians; Trump and the Ukrainians.)
9/13/17: Press
Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders makes it clear to reporters how much she and the boss treasure
free speech, free press and the right to protest. Referring to Jemele Hill and
her tweets, including one in which she called the president a racist (see: 9/11/17), Sanders has this to say:
“That’s one of the more outrageous comments that anyone could make and certainly something that I think is a
fireable offense by ESPN.”
Could someone direct Sanders to Donald J. Trump’s Twitter
feed, in which he once called President Obama “a racist.”
 |
| Trump Twitter Archive: Use of the word "racist" is common. |
9/14/17:
President Trump suddenly realizes ending
DACA and deporting 800,000 young people (see: 9/5/17) might be a horrible idea. After talking with his
friends, “Chuck and Nancy” (Schumer and Pelosi), he decides he doesn’t want to
deport all these nice young folks.
In
their hearts they’re as American as you or me.
Even Fox News reports in April that the U.S. Army recruited 359
Dreamers to serve the previous year. These enlistees are American in every
sense, except on certificates of birth. They speak like Americans, dress like
Americans, go to school and off to work like Americans. They also enlist like
good Americans. In their hearts they’re as American as you or me.
DACA has been in place for five years. Let’s take a conservative
estimate and say 1,000 recipients have enlisted in the U.S. military during
that time.
If Congress fails to protect the Dreamers, and we lose a
thousand troops, the next move is clear. If we lose these patriots at the
stroke of a pen, then White House adviser Stephen Miller must step up. Miller should
rush down to the nearest recruiting
office and join the
Marines.
9/15/17:
Remember when the president said he had a plan to defeat ISIS? And remember when
he said it was stupid to tell the terrorists when an attack on Mosul was
coming? The city has now fallen to Iraqi forces. Trump decides to claim credit in
a tweet: “We have made more progress in the last nine months against ISIS than
the Obama Administration has made in 8 years. Must be proactive & nasty!”
The joy of tweeting
is the simplicity of the arguments you can make; but the battle
to defeat ISIS is complex. Know how many Iraqis—all of whom would have been
blocked from coming to the U.S.A. under Trump’s first travel ban—were killed
and wounded retaking Mosul?
Know who came up with the policy of letting Iraqis do
most of the fighting? President Obama.
Fourteen American servicemen and service women died in combat
in Iraq during all of 2016.
See how that works?
9/16/17: During
his run for president, Trump insisted he would tear up the nuclear deal with
Iran as soon as he took a seat in the White House. “A businessman-turned-politician
who has never held public office,” Reuters explained, “Trump called the nuclear pact a ‘disaster’ and
‘the worst deal ever negotiated’…and said it could lead to a ‘nuclear holocaust.’”
Let’s check and see how he’s doing. What! Three times, he’s
had a chance to put the deal in a paper shredder but has decided against it. It could be because his Secretary of
Defense thinks tearing up the deal would be stupid. It could be
because his Secretary of State argued against withdrawal from the agreement.
You can read up on the complexities of the issue if you want.
Or, if you’re a Trump fan, you can just wait for the next idiotic
tweet. You know it won’t be long.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency, tasked
with monitoring Iranian compliance, keeps reporting that Iran
is in compliance. (See also:
10/3/17.)
Do our most important allies support the deal? Great Britain?
Yes. Germany? Yes. How about France? Yes.
9/17/17: Rex
Tillerson is busy bringing “business efficiency” to the State Department. This
year only 140 U.S. officials, policy experts and scientists will be attending
opening sessions of the U.N. General Assembly. Last year twice as many
attended. Therefore: big savings for taxpayers!
Also: no one from the U.S. delegation will utter the words
“climate change,” unless in a sentence including the word “hoax.”
As a bonus for dictators, Tillerson will send no representatives to meetings devoted to promoting
democracy. No State Department personnel will attend meetings on
human trafficking, on oceans and the environment, on cyber issues, on military
issues, or on foreign assistance.
Meanwhile, extreme temperatures—as in climate change—lead to
an increase in wildfires across the American West. On this summer day there are
23 active blazes in four states. A fire
in Montana incinerates 78 square miles of forest in a single night.
In Oregon a major wildfire leaps the Columbia River. This has never happened
before, and 150 hikers are trapped by flames. Luckily, they are airlifted to
safety. For the year 8.3 million acres have been torched.
That’s like setting
fire to Maryland.
9/18/17: How’s
the “witch hunt,” involving Russians, coming? Trump hasn’t mentioned it on
Twitter since July 29. That could be because he’s worried as investigators
discover brooms in various closets.
Investigators raid Paul Manafort’s home in the dark of night. They pick his front door lock because
they fear he might destroy evidence, like a drug dealer flushing a stash down a
toilet.
We now know Special Counsel Mueller is working with the
Attorney General of New York and may charge former Trump campaign aides—and possibly
Don Jr. and Jared, too—with state crimes. Why state crimes? A president can’t use the pardoning
power to wipe away state convictions.
(Donald Trump Jr. and Jared Kushner are never charged;
this blogger would argue that both of them got lucky.)
9/19/17:
Demonstrating his maturity level, in his first speech to the U.N. Trump refers
to the leader of North Korean as “Rocket Man,” as if he’s back on the campaign
trail insulting “Little Marco” or “Crooked Hillary.” The problem with his
approach is that Kim Jong-un is equally immature.
And both possess nukes.
Trump
has plan for incinerating 25 million men, women, children.
Trump warns that North Korea must change course. “The United States has great strength and patience, but
if it is forced to defend itself or its allies, we will have no choice but to
totally destroy North Korea.”
It sounds like the president has a
plan—if you call it a plan to talk off-handedly about incinerating a nation of
25 million human beings, most of whom don’t like Kim Jong-un any more than we
do.
9/20/17: The
GOP charges ahead on its latest healthcare plan. This plan is their best plan
ever!
You know, I could maybe give you ten reasons why
this bill shouldn’t be considered. But Republicans campaigned on
this so often that you have a responsibility to carry out what you said in the
campaign. That’s pretty much as much of a reason as the substance of the bill.
Okay, kids, we promised to take you on a boat ride—even
though we know the boat is going to sink.
9/21/17: Three
million U.S. citizens in Puerto Rico wake up to a world turned inside out, upside down, and
stomped flat.
Tens of millions of other Americans—including President
Trump—apparently wake up to the fact Puerto
Ricans are U.S. citizens. Also: Puerto Rico is in the middle of a
“big ocean, very big.”
Hurricane Maria, a Category 5 storm, has caused “apocalyptic
damage” across the island. But Trump is too busy tweeting about other concerns
to focus on Puerto Rico. He does have time over the next six days to fire off
fourteen tweets complaining about NFL players kneeling during the
National Anthem.
9/22/17:
Republicans are closing in on the Holy Grail. They have a new, new healthcare plan.
This one is sponsored by Senators Lindsey Graham and Bill Cassidy. It is going
to…huh? What?
Well, that leaves them with fifty votes in the Senate. Vice
President Jesus can still break the tie.
The president starts cooling the champagne. (See: 9/25/17.)
Trump
calls protesting NFL players “sons of bitches.”
Meanwhile, Trump holds a campaign-style rally (because that’s
about the only thing he really does well). He calls NFL players who protest during the National
Anthem “sons of bitches.” He says players who protest should be “fired.”
Various athletes respond. Michael Bennett, who sat in protest at the
start of a game, responds: “My mom is a beautiful lady she has never been a
bitch.” Bishop Sankey tweets, “It’s a shame and disgrace when you have the
President of the US calling citizens of the country sons of bitches.” Steph
Curry, star of the championship NBA Warriors, tells reporters he’ll vote against the team visiting
the White House to celebrate their 2017 title. (See: 9/23/17.)
9/23/17: Trump
is up early but he’s fuming. Forget Puerto Rico! He has more important matters
to attend to, such as salving a bruised ego. “Going to the White House is
considered a great honor for a championship team,” he tweets at 7:45 a.m. “Stephen Curry is hesitating,
therefore invitation is withdrawn!” (See:
9/22/17.)
LeBron James enters the fray, tweeting this response: “U bum @StephenCurry30
already said he ain’t going! So therefore ain’t no invite. Going to White House
was a great honor until you showed up!”
I’m sure we can all agree. This is a great country where we
all enjoy the right to protest and free speech.
Or not…
9/24/17: Trump
insists kneeling NFL players are disrespecting veterans, the nation, the flag,
and spitting on mom’s apple pie.
He thinks they should be punished for exercising their right
to protest, which is just what we’ve come to expect from Mr. Thin Skin. On this
Sunday, players from 28 of 32 NFL teams join in protest, not against veterans
or the flag, but against a president they suspect has racist inclinations.
Rico Lavell, an African-American, sings the National Anthem
at the Detroit Lions game. When he finishes he takes a knee.
Both teams at the Seattle-Tennessee game remain in the locker
room during playing of the National Anthem. Seahawks players release the
following statement:
As a team, we have decided we
will not participate in the national anthem. We will not stand for the
injustice that has plagued people of color in this country. Out of love for our country and in honor of the
sacrifices made on our behalf, we unite to oppose those who would
deny our most basic freedoms. We remain committed in continuing to work towards
equality and justice for all.
9/25/17: Put
away the “repeal and replace” champagne. Republican Senator Susan Collins says
she’ll vote no on Graham-Cassidy too.
The last-gasp GOP healthcare plan is dead.
9/26/17: Trump
travels to Indiana to tout tax reform. He swears he has the biggest, baddest
plan ever. He promises the rich
won’t get richer. Not under his plan.
Sadly, his “plan” is still only half-baked, like the
“replace” part of the Republican healthcare plan.
We do know the Koch brothers, Charles and David, are excited
by the thought of fresh tax cuts. Why? Apparently, taxing the rich reduces
their incentive to work! Each Koch brother is currently worth $42,000,000,000. So, you can understand
why they have trouble getting motivated and climbing out of bed on Monday
morning. What do they have to work for, with all those taxes?
One exciting facet of the GOP plan: Eliminating the estate tax
entirely—paid by any individual with assets of $5.5 million and up and any
couple with assets of $11 million or more at his or her decease.
One estimate puts the
cumulative savings for members of Trump’s cabinet at $1.5 billion
if this tax is wiped from the books. As for Mr. Trump, the day he passes on to heavenly
glory, his children would be well-repaid for their time working in government
and talking to every Russian they can find. (And they can find a lot.) Depending
on how much Trump is worth he might save as “little” as $554 million or as much as $1.9
billion if he can get the estate tax repealed.
9/27/17: We all
know Republicans hate to see tax dollars wasted. Luckily, Secretary of Health
and Human Services Tom Price is hard at work saving tax doll…
Oops.
Politico reveals that Price has a fondness for taking charter
flights everywhere he goes. One charter took him to St. Simons Island, an
exclusive Georgia resort, where he and his wife own property.
Another deposited Price in Nashville, Tennessee, so he could go
have lunch with his son. The cost of that charter: $17,760. Cost of a
commercial flight from D.C. to Nashville and back that same day: $333.
Another charter saved Price a grueling drive of thirty minutes from St. Simons to his
next engagement.
9/28/17: Trump
is ready to tout any good news he can. Today, he tweets: “GDP was revised
upward to 3.1 for last quarter. Many people thought it would be years before
that happened. We have just begun!”
Who it was who thought it might take years, one can only guess.
The economy grew at an even
better 3.5% in the third
quarter of 2016.
Obama was in charge.
“This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean
water.”
President
Donald J. Trump
9/29/17: Trump
& Co. spend the day grading their own homework. Recovery in Puerto Rico is
coming along fine! Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke tells
reporters, “I’m very satisfied.” It’s been “a good news story in terms of our
ability to reach people and the limited number of deaths that have taken
place.”
Trump assures reporters, as with healthcare, that helping
victims of natural disasters is harder than anyone knew. Did they realize
Puerto Rico was in the middle of an ocean! Well, it is!
“This is an island surrounded by water, big water, ocean
water,” he adds, like a geography expert talking to three-year-old’s.
In the afternoon he takes questions from reporters. “Puerto
Rico, as you know, has been going really well,” he claims. “The loss of life, it’s always tragic. But it’s
been incredible the results we’ve had with respect to loss of life. People
can’t believe how successful that has been, relatively speaking.”
“This
is a ‘people are dying’ story.”
The mayor of San Juan does an interview with CNN and begs for additional help. “Well maybe from where
she’s standing it’s a good news story,” the mayor says in response to Asst.
Secretary Duke.
When you’re drinking from a
creek, it’s not a good news story. When you don’t have food for a baby, it’s
not a good news story. When you have to pull people down from buildings—I’m
sorry, that really upsets me and frustrates me. Dammit, this is not a good news
story. This is a “people are dying” story. It’s a life-or-death story.
It might have been cool to have Secretary Price fly to Puerto
Rico to help. That man loves to fly!
Alas, Price gets canned after Politico reveals he has been taking unnecessary military flights to
cities like Geneva, Berlin and Tokyo. This brings the total cost to taxpayers for his joyriding to just under
$1,000,000.
9/30/17: The
month ends with a conservative bang! Roy Moore beats Luther Strange in the
Republican primary for a U.S. senate seat in Alabama. Trump, of course, backed Mr.
Strange. Trump responds to this defeat by deleting tweets hinting he ever backed Luther the Loser.
Who
hates homosexuals, besides Judge Roy Moore?
Americans thrill to the knowledge that Moore may soon be one
of 100 senators to represent the freest nation on earth. In a 2005 interview he
told the reporter Bill Press, “Homosexual conduct should be illegal, yes.”
Press sought clarification.
“Do you know that bestiality, the relationship between man
and beast is prohibited in every state?” Moore added.
“You mean homosexuality is same thing as bestiality?” Press
wondered.
“It is a moral precept upon which this country was founded,”
Moore explained.
Other gems from Moore: He ruled in a custody case in 2002
that a mother who had come out as lesbian and sought divorce from an allegedly
abusive husband, could not be granted custody of the couple’s children.
Homosexuality “would render” any man or woman “an unfit parent.”
A woman once asked Moore what he thought about Muslim American
workers asking for break times at work to pray. Was this a case of Sharia law taking
over the land? “False religions like Islam,” the judge assured her, “who teach
that you must worship this way are completely
opposite with what our First Amendment stands for.”
When the people of Minnesota elected Keith Ellison, a Muslim,
to the U.S. House of Representatives, Moore insisted he be barred from his seat. “Islamic law is
simply incompatible with our law,” he warned.
In 1943, we would never have
allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on Mein Kampf, or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the Communist Manifesto. Congress has the
authority and should act to prohibit Ellison from taking the congressional oath
today!
This would make sense only if Moore was too dumb to read the
U.S. Constitution, which he may be. The U.S. Constitution clearly states that
any officeholder must swear to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
One does not swear to uphold it on some random book—such as Who Moved the Cheese? or The Cat in the Hat.
The U.S. Constitution says clearly that no religious test for office shall be imposed.
You can swear on the Bible. You can swear on the Quran, as did Ellison. You can
offer oath of affirmation if you choose.
Then you don’t need a book.
Even the conservative National
Review has described Moore as “a bigoted, theocratic and ignorant
buffoon.”
*
IN KEEPING with the racist subtext of his administration, the
president answers criticism from San Juan, Puerto Rico’s mayor in a tweet (see: 9/29/17). Puerto Ricans, he
grumbles, “want everything to be done for them.”
Those rotten, lowdown, lazy dark-skinned people!
October
1, 2017: Puerto Rico is still reeling from the blows of Hurricane
Irma. Three million people struggle to
find food, potable water and shelter. Power is out across the island.
Trump gets madder with each passing day because not everyone
agrees he’s doing a fantastic job on relief.
Trump
calls Puerto Ricans “politically motivated ingrates.”
He decides to devote time to tweeting insults (26
tweets on 9/30/17 alone). He’s mad about “Fake News” because he’s not getting
credit for the greatness he knows—every time he gazes in the mirror—that he
exudes. He’s still tweeting about NFL players disrespecting the flag, when
almost all the players have made it clear. They’re disrespecting him. (See: 9/24/17.)
As for those who are suffering in
Puerto Rico, Trump says they have no right to complain. Like NFL players, they
should kneel only if they kneel in homage to Orange Leader. Puerto Ricans who
insist on saying what they think are “politically motivated ingrates.”
*
TRUMP DOES FIND TIME in his busy schedule to make clear he’s
ready for war with North Korea. At 9:30 a.m. he fires off one of his many daily
tweets: “I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is
wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...”
“...Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”
That’s all the governing he’s up to for the day. He departs from
the golf club he owns, where he’s spending the weekend, and heads for a golf
club he doesn’t. He devotes the afternoon to watching tournament golf.
10/2/17: In Las
Vegas, an American citizen, heavily armed with a dozen guns and thousands of
rounds of ammo, opens fire on a crowd attending an outdoor concert Saturday
night. When the shooting stops, he
has killed 58 Americans and injured 500 + more.
It falls on Trump to give a brief speech. He and the First
Lady offer “thoughts and prayers.”
Reporters ask Trump if he plans to take any substantive
action. “We’ll see,” he smirks. What he really means is, I have no fucking
clue.
10/3/17: In the
wake of the Las Vegas bloodbath, leaders of the GOP do their best to obscure
the fact they have nothing in the way of legislative mitigation to offer. Asked
what must be done, Sen. McConnell replies: “I think it’s premature to be discussing legislative
solutions, if there are any.”
“Premature
to be discussing legislative solutions.”
It was premature after the Pulse Night Club massacre. It was
premature after the slaughter at Sandy Hook. It was premature after the theater
tragedy in Aurora, Colorado. It has been premature too many times to count.
Speaker Ryan is equally baffled by the question. He probably
wants to check with N.R.A. President Wayne LaPierre first. Ryan does tell
reporters a bill to make it easier for every man, woman, child and psychopath
to buy silencers for guns is no longer up for a vote. This bill—boosted by
lobbyists from the gun industry—and touted by Don Jr. as a health issue (good for our
ears)—is now dead.
Word choice intentional.
10/4/17: The cringe-worthy moments keep
coming. Various sources report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has called
Trump “a moron.” It may have been “a fucking moron.” No one is sure.
Tillerson is forced to
explain during a hasty press conference. Put on the spot, he praises Trump,
because anyone who doesn’t praise Trump effusively gets canned. When asked if
he did call the leader of the Free World a “moron,” he doesn’t deny it.
Senator Bob Corker
decides it’s time to defend Tillerson. He tweets: “I think Sec.
Tillerson, Sec. Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos.”
Speaking of cringe-worthy, Trump’s petulance is on full-blown
display all week, regarding Puerto Rico. At a press conference he praises the
governor and says the governor isn’t “playing politics.” And what leads the
president to this happy discovery? Ah, the governor praised Mr. Trump.
Anyway, isn’t Puerto Rico lucky and isn’t America even
luckier to have Donald J. Trump at the helm! Trump riffs on the death toll in
the wake of Hurricane Maria. Wow! Only 16 killed. (The official toll has since
been raised to 64. At least one study places it closer to 1,000.)
In Trump’s warped worldview this proves his administration is
fantastic! By comparison, his leadership is way better than President George W.
Bush’s when “hundreds and hundreds” died after Hurricane Katrina.
Most Puerto Ricans might be without electricity (95%) or cell service (88%). Almost
half (45%) might lack access to clean drinking water. In some
communities 80-90% of homes are destroyed. But aren’t they blessed to have Orange Leader
on the job! Also: they have paper towels!
In the most cringe-worthy moment of all, the president, who is
visiting the island, stands in front of a gathering of first responders, local
officials and ordinary Puerto Ricans. These people have been displaced from
businesses, schools and homes. Gleefully, he tosses rolls of paper towels to
the throng. All that is lacking is one of those t-shirt guns they use at
sporting events.
10/5/17:
Republicans high-five in the House of Representatives after passing legislation
by a 237-189 vote, limiting abortion to the first twenty weeks of pregnancy.
GOP
hypocrites on abortion.
One House stalwart who voted for the bill stops high fiving
when a text from his mistress is revealed. She had previously wondered why he
kept posting anti-abortion messages on his Facebook page “when you had no issue
asking me to abort our unborn child just last week.”
Still seated is fellow hypocrite and Tennessee Republican,
Dr. Scott DesJarlais. He likes to brag about his “100 percent pro-life views.”
In recent divorce proceedings it has been shown he encouraged both his now
ex-wife and a patient with whom he
was having an affair to have abortions. (See: 4/14/18.)
10/6/17: Post
later withdrawn.
10/7/17: Trump rises early on a
fine Saturday in fall. What’s foremost on his mind? Gun issues in the wake of
the Las Vegas slaughter? How to get aid to a badly battered Puerto Rico more
quickly?
Late night TV hosts are out to get President Trump.
He’s mad because comedians are making fun of
him. At 7:00 a.m. he yawns twice, rolls out of bed in nothing but
tightie-whities, and tweets: “Late Night host [sic] are dealing with
the Democrats for their very ‘unfunny’ & repetitive material, always
anti-Trump! Should we get Equal Time?”
Apparently, the president forgets he already has an entire
comedy network on his side: Fox News.
Jimmy Kimmel gets wind of the tweet and responds with one of
his own. He offers to trade jobs with Trump and help him make
America great again. This provokes a response from Don Jr. in defense of dear
old President Dad. Don Jr. wants to know what Kimmel thinks about the story of
Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood producer and major donor to Democratic causes.
Weinstein is suddenly up to his pussy-grabbing eyebrows in a sex abuse scandal
of his own.
Don Jr. apparently thinks he has Kimmel in a box. Kimmel
doesn’t hesitate in reply. “You mean that big story from the failing, liberal,
one-sided @nytimes? I think it is disgusting,” he says, in reference to
Weinstein’s disgusting behavior. See how easy it is to condemn sex abuse?
Cough,
cough. Your dad!
“Great!” Don Jr. cluelessly replies. He will “look forward” to
a changing tone in Kimmel’s monologues next week.
Kimmel suggests—in the meantime—Jr. might “enjoy this.” He
links a clip of the Access Hollywood
tape featuring Don Sr. and Billy Bush in a philosophical discussion involving
how to get away with assaulting women.
The New
York Times, which Don Sr. and Don Jr. routinely label “Fake News,” published a lengthy indictment of Weinstein days earlier.
Any decent man, Democrat, Republican or Whig, who read the exposé would be
appalled. And while we’re on the subject of sexual harassment, we should note
that the Times also published exposés
involving Bill O’Reilly and Roger Ailes.
That’s how real news organizations work.
10/8/17: Today, in honor of President
Trump, the nation celebrates the first annual Grab a Woman (or a Girl!) by the
Pussy Day. This marks the anniversary of the release of the Access Hollywood tape.
Okay, I made that up.
The White House is now an adult day care center.
Actually, the president claims that Sen. Bob
Corker “begged” him to endorse him in a run for a third term. Corker, who
announced he would be leaving the U.S. Senate in 2018, responds: “I don’t know
why the president tweets out things
that are not true. You know he does it, everyone knows he does it,
but he does.”
Most likely explanation: the president is a
lying sack of poodle poo.
On the Sunday talk-show circuit, Corker
lambasts Trump. He says he’s treating the office of the presidency like “a
reality show.” Tweeting out policy postions—if you can call them that—the
president has put the United States of America “on the path to World War III.”
“He concerns me,” Corker admits. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”
“It’s
a shame the White House has become an adult day care center,” he adds.
*
VICE PRESIDENT JESUS is busy on this fine
day. First he flies from Las Vegas to
Indianapolis at taxpayer
expense. His office puts out a picture of Pence in blue and white Indianapolis
Colts gear.
(It turns out later the photo is from 2014.)
According to a spokesperson, the VP will be
attending the Colts’s home game, simply to honor Peyton Manning, longtime
Indianapolis star. Manning’s statue is to be unveiled before the game.
It’s just a coincidence that Pence is there,
standing tall, “Mother” by his side, when the first notes of the National
Anthem sound. When a few players on the San Francisco 49ers take a knee, as
everyone knows they will, Pence and “Mother” bolt for the exit. This wasn’t
planned at all, the White House will claim.
Still, Pence is immediately ready with a
statement and a tweet. On Twitter, he explains, “I left today’s Colts game
because @POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers,
our Flag, or our National Anthem.”
With that, VP Jesus and Mrs. VP Jesus hop on
Air Force Two and fly back to Los Angeles for the remains of the day. Estimated
costs of this cross-country-and-back-again jaunt
run from $88,000 to $242,5000.
10/9/17: A writer for The New York Times sums up the tension
between the president and a free press in one sentence. “The press is in search
of truths and the President is a fount of lies, which makes them natural
adversaries.” (See: 10/10/17.)
10/10/17: Up and at ‘em, Mr.
President! You’ve got more stupid tweeting to do. Tappity-tap-tap go his furious
fingers—and
out comes this prose ruby: “The Failing @nytimes set Liddle’ Bob Corker up by
recording his conversation. Was made to sound a fool, and that’s what I am
dealing with!”
It’s vintage Trump, including the puerile insult: “Liddle”
Bob Corker.
And there’s the false claim that The New York Times is failing. CNBC reported earlier this year that taking on Trump had been
like “rocket fuel” for the Times.
Both print (11%) and digital subscriptions (62%) are up.
Finally, you have a president too lazy to check facts. Corker
asked to be recorded. The Times
obliged. You can listen here for proof if you wish. Damn. Tillerson was
right. (See: 10/4/17.)
10/11-12/17: Did
the President of the United States just say what we think he said? Did he just
casually threaten to undermine the First Amendment?
He
did.
Networks
that criticize Trump may have licenses revoked.
If you
missed it Wednesday, he carried his assault on constitutional norms to a new
low. And previous lows have been very low indeed. Here’s his menacing tweet,
aimed at NBC: “Network news has become so partisan, distorted and
fake that licenses must be challenged and, if appropriate, revoked. Not
fair to public!”
*
WHEN THE
SUN RISES over the Rose Garden on Thursday, the president is up tweeting again.
At 5:04 a.m.: “Clips from tax speech and @seanhannity on @foxandfriends now.
Have a great day!”
The fool
loves Fox News.
Search
his Twitter feed. You’ll see. Twice recently he suggested everyone watch Jesse
Watters on Fox News. Four times he touted a show called The Five.
Sixteen times since swearing to uphold the Constitution and 41 times as
candidate he advocated for Hannity’s show. Bill O’Reilly was a favorite during
the campaign (87 tweets). But O’Reilly received only six mentions after Trump
assumed office. This had nothing to do with Trump trying to be “more
presidential.” It had everything to do with the fact a free press brought the
serial sex abuser O’Reilly crashing down.
10/13/17: Remember watching the
president tout his great tax plan? Remember how he promised his plan would not benefit the rich?
It’s
Friday the 13th and Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin lets slip
the dogs of truth. A key element of the plan is elimination of the estate tax.
“Obviously,” Mnuchin tells an audience at the Institute for International
Finance, this “I will concede,
disproportionately helps rich people.”
Mnuchin—who
$tands to benefit greatly, him$elf—explain$, it’$ only “fair” to end the “death
tax.” $ome really rich people pay half their income$ in taxe$ during their
live$. Why $hould they have to pay another tax when they die?
Might we
point out again ($ee: 9/26/17) how
much Trump him$elf will $ave if the e$tate tax i$ wiped from the book$?
At
minimum: $554 million.
At be$t:
$1.9 billion.
Al$o $et
to make a killing (bad pun intended) if the “death tax” i$ repealed:
mega-donor$ to the Trump campaign (Rupert Murdoch, Robert Mercer, Charle$ and
David Koch, $heldon Adel$on and many more).
Here’s
an idea. If the superrich really hate paying high taxes maybe they could start
paying employees more. You know, spread
the wealth around to workers who helped them pile it up.
Postscript: Allow
me to offer this patriotic suggestion. Let U.S. multinationals bring back to
our shores the $2.6 trillion they’ve hidden overseas. Pay the taxes owed—like regular
plumbers, truck drivers and teachers. Pay like the man who owns the small lawn
care service pays—like the woman who runs the corner bar pays—like the baker
who doesn’t want to bake a cake for gays pays.
You
figure he needs a little exercise and fresh air on the links, because he must be
feeling glum.
Since the last week of March more than 150 national opinion
polls have been conducted, asking Americans if they approve or disapprove of
the job he’s done. He hasn’t been in positive territory
once.
10/15/17: It’s
Blind Americans Equality Day, proclaimed by President Trump. Finally, a group he hasn’t
insulted.
Or groped.
We think.
10/16/17: Guess
who’s looking unpatriotic now! Don’t be morons, Trump fans! It’s your boy!
In a fiery speech Monday night Senator John McCain—yes, that
war hero—torches the president. Deeply concerned with the policy direction
being charted (if you can say anything Trump tweets about is “charted”), McCain
has this to say regarding the current occupant of the Oval Office:
To fear the world we [Americans]
have organized and led for three-quarters of a century, to abandon the ideals
we have advanced around the globe, to refuse the obligations of international
leadership and our duty to remain “the last best hope of earth” for the sake of
some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would
rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment
to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap
of history.
*
General Colin Powell.
10/17/17:
Congressman Tom Marino withdraws from consideration to lead the White House
Office of National Drug Control Policy. What went wrong? According to Republicans,
it was all Obama’s fault since he signed some bill into law! Who sponsored that
bill—and pushed for policies that were worse? Who snuck in a policy change
to the bill that went unnoticed?
Marino.
What the bill did was make it harder for D.E.A. and the Justice
Department to curb suspicious
shipments of opioids. This was back when the drug was first flooding
the nation and fueling an epidemic of drug-overdose deaths.
And need we mention what this proves again!!! Government
regulation of big corporations is always a terrible idea.
These corporations are run by saints who have only the purest
motives. If major drug manufacturers want to sell more painkillers, why would
anyone want to interfere with their painkilling efforts—and free market
profit-making? After all, the drug
industry spent $100 million lobbying Congress from 2014 to 2016. Mr. Marino
raked in $100,000 in donations himself.
Republican Senator Orrin G. Hatch, who shepherded a similar
bill through the Senate, defended his efforts. Naturally, he reminded everyone
Obama signed it into law. What Hatch did
not remind anyone was how
he received a $750,000 shot to his re-election campaign
from—big drug manufacturers. (See: 6/7/17.)
(For additional fun with Big Pharma, read about the “fine
work” of GOP Congressman John Shimkus here.)
10/18/17: The
stock market closes above 23,000 for the first time. Trump is still an ass; but
the market is hot.
The president spends the day embroiled in another controversy
of his making. When asked by reporters on Monday, October 16, why he had not
spoken about, to, or tweeted regarding four U.S. soldiers killed in Niger,
twelve days before, Trump did what Trump does. Unlike President Truman, for
whom the buck always stopped on his desk, Trump has a different conception. For
Trump the buck stops in the past. He tried to deflect blame by piling it on
predecessors. First, he implied other presidents had failed to contact families
of fallen soldiers.
Not him! He called them all.
Naturally, he mentioned Obama. Trump can’t help himself,
politicizing even fallen heroes.
Accusations soon begin to fly. Democratic Congresswoman
Frederica Wilson claims Trump botched a condolence call she overheard to the
widow of one of the dead soldiers. Trump insists Wilson “fabricated” the story.
The widow backs her up.
Assorted veterans, generals and Gold Star families weigh in from all sides.
Some say they appreciate what Trump told them during talks. One Gold Star
father says Trump promised to personally send him a check for $25,000. (The
check had not been sent as of Wednesday morning, the day the story breaks.)
It also becomes clear Trump’s predecessors had regularly contacted
the families of the fallen. (See:
10/20/17.)
 |
| Trump can't even talk about fallen heroes without stepping in poo. |
10/19/17: Reporters
ask Trump to give himself a mark for his work on hurricane relief. Is anyone
surprised? He gives himself a “10.” He was going to say, “20,” but he’s trying
to learn to be humble.
10/20/17:
General Kelly gives a moving speech, calling on Americans to hold sacred the
sacrifices of our servicemen and women. For the first half of his talk he keeps
the focus on the four who died in Niger (see:
10/18/17). His words regarding the death of his son in combat bring
tears to every parent’s eye.
When
women and religion were held sacred.
Unfortunately, Kelly begins talking about the good old days,
when women and religion were held sacred and America was great. It’s hard not
to note he works for a president
who has never held women “sacred,” not even his wives. Kelly truly
tarnishes his image when he calls Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who has been
critical of Trump’s response in a call to the widow of a dead soldier, an
“empty barrel.”
He says she tried to claim credit for getting funding for an
F.B.I. building going up in Miami two years ago. Kelly says Wilson never
mentioned two dead agents, for whom the building was being named.
Alas, if you value veracity, a tape shows she did.
Agreeing that Kelly is in error: Factcheck.org, the Tampa Bay Times, the Miami Herald, USA Today, CBS, NBC,
CNN, The New York Times, the New York Daily News, the Los Angeles Times, McClatchy, Newsweek, the Business Insider, the Washington Post and the Sun Sentinel (a South Florida
newspaper).
Later, White House Press Secretary Pinocchio Sanders tells
reporters and the American people tuning in that no one should ever question General Kelly—because he’s a four-star
general.
So there.
10/21/17:
President Me-Myself-and-I announces the defeat of ISIS in Raqqa, calling it a “critical
breakthrough.” This means he’s the best president ever. “We have made, alongside our coalition partners, more progress against
these evil terrorists in the past several months than in the past several
years,” Trump asserts.
As usual, Trump supporters are too lazy to think for
themselves. They won’t realize the coalition that defeated ISIS was put together long before Trump took
office. All he had to do was not mess it up. (See: 9/15/17.)
According to Pentagon estimates 60,000 ISIS fighters had already been wiped off the map by February 15, 2017.
10/22/17: First
things first for President Trump, when he rises in the morning. Study up on
what happened to our soldiers in Niger? Guess again. Check in on the recovery
effort in Puerto Rico? Why bother? Those people are “ingrates.” What matters
most to the man in the White House?
Tweets.
Trump has to tell the world at 7:08 a.m. that the American
people are coming around. “It is finally sinking through,” he taps, mostly in
caps, “46% OF PEOPLE BELIEVE MAJOR NATIONAL NEWS ORGS FABRICATE STORIES ABOUT
ME. FAKE NEWS, even worse! Lost cred.”
Trump
does something Obama never could do.
If
you like polls, Mr. President, how about this: 56% of American voters think you’re not fit to serve as president.
By 59%-37% the people think you’re not honest. By a 60%-38% margin they believe
you lack leadership skills.
Last, but amazingly, not least, Trump has done something
President Obama could never do. He has managed to make the Affordable
Healthcare Act popular. Since he took office the “favorable” numbers of the ACA have
been rising, with 49.4% of Americans now in favor of keeping the law vs. 40.4% still
dreaming of some miraculous GOP plan to “repeal and replace.”
10/23/17: We learn the E.P.A. will block three scientists—from the E.P.A.—from speaking at a conference in Rhode Island.
The researchers were set to talk about their findings,
included in a detailed 400-page report, linking climate change to damage to the waters, wildlife and fish
in and around Narraganset Bay.
As for Trump, he is up early and focused on the gravest
threat to America’s future. The tweet comes at 6:53 a.m.: “Two dozen NFL
players continue to kneel during the National Anthem, showing total disrespect
to our Flag & Country. No leadership in NFL!”
His second tweet shows just how much he cares about his own
eggshell ego. At 7:30 a.m., after finishing a second bowl of Lucky Charms,
Trump taps out another tweet. “I had a very respectful conversation with the
widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without
hesitation!” he insists.
Yes, Trump fans, it’s true, even if all you do is stare at
the television and never switch off Fox News.
Your favorite president has doubled down in an argument with
another Gold Star family. First, he claimed a congresswoman who reported on the
call he made to Sgt. Johnson’s widow was a liar (see: 10/18/17). Now, after Johnson’s widow backs up the congress-woman “100 percent,” the
President of the United States can’t
help implying the widow is lying too.
*
IN AN IRONIC COINCIDENCE, Trump spends part of the afternoon pinning the Medal of
Honor on Vietnam War hero, retired U.S. Army Captain Gary M. Rose. It’s an
honor long overdue.
Not far away, Senator John McCain stops to chat with a
reporter. During the conversation, McCain mentions an unfair feature of the
draft used during the Vietnam Era. “One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I
will never ever countenance is that we drafted the lowest-income level of
America, and the highest-income level found a doctor that would say that
they had a bone spur.”
He
isn’t saying someone got out of the draft because they had a bone spur. He is saying
they found a doctor who would say they did.
I think
McCain is hinting that while he might not have been a hero according to some,
this much is clear. Trump was chicken shit all the way. (See: 12/26/18.)
10/24/17: Some
days, you just have to admit the President of the United States is a giant
dick.
Who is pissing off the president today? It’s Senator Corker,
ironically, one of the first
establishment Republicans to back him during the campaign. Now Corker
is one of Trump’s harshest critics.
At 7:13 a.m. Trump launches the first in a barrage of tweets:
“Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn’t
get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts....”
Again, at 7:20 a.m. “...Corker dropped out of the race in Tennessee
when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look
at his record!”
Seventy minutes later: “Isn’t it sad that lightweight Senator
Bob Corker, who couldn’t get re-elected in the Great State of Tennessee, will
now fight Tax Cuts plus!”
At 9:13 he’s tap-tapping furiously again: “Sen. Corker is the
incompetent head of the Foreign Relations Committee, & look how poorly the
U.S. has done. He doesn't have a clue as.....”
Seven minutes pass. Trump must be scratching his crotch. What
to tweet? Ah, it comes to him: “...the entire World WAS laughing and taking
advantage of us. People like liddle’ Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back. Now
we move forward!”
This is your president at work.
10/25/17: This much would seem true. “We have a leader who has a personality disorder,” former Sen. Tom Coburn, a conservative Republican, says Wednesday. We know Trump craves unconditional love. Increasingly, this is clear: What he most desires is to be fawned over like Kim Jong-un.
“We have
a leader who has a personality disorder.”
By now,
even his fans probably suspect that the president suffers from what experts
call a “narcissistic personality disorder.” According to the Mayo Clinic, this
condition is rare, with only 200,000 cases in the United States every year.
Let’s check the symptoms Trump has displayed.
An
affected individual may:
Have an
exaggerated sense of self-importance (slaps name all over buildings; biggest
inaugural crowd ever)
Expect
to be recognized as superior even without achievements that warrant it (his
comparison to all other presidents)
Be
preoccupied with fantasies about success, power, brilliance, beauty or the
perfect mate (I went to the best schools, I have a great mind)
Believe
they are superior and can only associate with equally special people (loves
to hang out at Mar-a-Lago and his private golf clubs)
Monopolize
conversations and belittle or look down on people they perceive as inferior (rampant)
Expect
special favors and unquestioning compliance with their expectations (demands
loyalty from F.B.I director, et. al.)
Take
advantage of others to get what they want (marital history, Trump University)
Have an
inability or unwillingness to recognize the needs and feelings of others (Gold
Star mothers, widows, pretty much everyone)
Be
envious of others and believe others envy them (knows Obama was more
popular; knows Hillary got more votes; can’t deal with it)
Behave
in an arrogant or haughty manner, coming across as conceited, boastful and
pretentious (belittles aides, calls Jeff Sessions an “idiot,” etc.)
Insist
on having the best of everything—for instance, the best car or office (calls the White House “a dump”)
At the same time, people with
narcissistic personality disorder
have trouble handling anything
they perceive as criticism, and can:
Become
impatient or angry when they don’t receive special treatment (attacks mayor
of San Juan, Puerto Rico)
Have
significant interpersonal problems and easily feel slighted (can’t get along
even with Republicans)
React
with rage or contempt and try to belittle the other person to make themselves
appear superior (“Liddle Bob Corker,” “wack job,” “loser,” “sick guy,”
“she’s a pig”)
Have
difficulty regulating emotions and behavior (easily frustrated; can’t stop
talking about Hillary, even to Boy Scouts)
Experience
major problems dealing with stress and adapting to change (whines because no
one knows how hard his job is)
Feel
depressed and moody because they fall short of perfection (aides must
present him daily information praising him)
Have
secret feelings of insecurity, shame, vulnerability and humiliation (okay,
I'm guessing here; possibly a small penis)
Certainly,
we know Trump’s biggest fan is Trump. Questioned by reporters, he gives himself a “10” for hurricane
relief. He grades all his efforts “A+.” At the
nine-month mark he told reporters he’d done more than any other president in such a span.
You had to think he’d like to see blasting start on Mt. Rushmore—and if they
had to blow up Stone Abe to make room for Stone Don, he’d be fine with that.
Just
yesterday, our Narcissist-in-Chief described a White House luncheon with GOP
senators as “a love fest.” Trump wanted the entire nation to know he had received “multiple standing ovations.”
The man
is an emotional mess.
 |
| Everybody loves Kim Jong-un. Everybody should love Trump. |
10/26/17: Trump declares an
opioid emergency for the nation. Okay, problem solved. It’s been declared.
Are we
going to spend more money to attack the problem? Nope. Time to get to work on
tax cuts for billionaires!
Republicans
are busy voting, by a 216-212 margin in the House of Representatives, to speed
“tax reform.” No one knows what the reform plan will look like, not even
Speaker Ryan. But it’s going to be great! Most estimates seem to indicate it
will add $1.5 trillion to the national debt.
This is
not as bad as the Bush tax cuts in 2001, which added several trillion to the deficit, but no one
needed to worry then either. Those cuts were sure to goose the economy and pay
for themselves. Only they didn’t. Budget deficits combined for Fiscal Years 2002-2009 totaled $3.548
trillion.
10/27/17: Trump
is so excited he nearly pees his Depends. His name has totally been cleared! He
has never seen a Russian in his entire life. Even in Moscow he kept his eyes
closed (except when entering the dressing rooms of half-naked Miss Universe
contestants, an activity he always enjoyed).
Up
early on a Friday, at 5:58 he taps away on Twitter. Birthday greetings go out
to Lee Greenwood. Joy Villa, a singer gets a dose of tweet-tweet love.
Naturally, the president must insult someone to feel fulfilled. This time his
target is the “wacky & totally unhinged Tom Steyer.” Between tweets, the
president watches Fox & Friends
and then thanks the hosts for another heaping serving of pro-president
propaganda. Plus, he can’t get enough of Ainsley Earhardt’s legs.
Finally, at 8:33 a.m. he buckles down to the issue at hand.
“It is now commonly agreed, after many months of COSTLY looking, that there was
NO collusion between Russia and Trump. Was collusion with HC!” he tap-taps.
10/28/17: As one
might expect, Trump tweets any good news he can. Yes, it’s true. The economy grew
3% in the third quarter of 2017. “Very little reporting about the GREAT GDP
numbers announced yesterday,” he whines, “(3.0 despite the big hurricane hits).
Best consecutive Q’s in years!”
Job creation is supposedly picking up. It’s good now. It was good before Trump took office.
Anyone who can click a link and read a chart from the Bureau of Labor
Statistics can see that.
Charging
up to $440 per hour for labor.
Know who’s really hiring? Whitefish Energy! They just landed
a $300 million contract to do hurricane repair work in Puerto Rico. That means they
need a few electricians, mechanics, linesmen and lineswomen and helicopter
pilots. Right now, Whitefish has only two full-time workers. The company does,
however, have a close connection
with Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
That helps.
A copy of the contract online (not yet verified), indicates the no-bid
deal calls for Whitefish to charge $188.07 to $440 for hourly labor, which I’m
sure we can all agree is a bargain for an island whose electric grid is in
desperate need of repair.
We can also assume it didn’t hurt in winning the contract
that a financial backer of this company was a major donor to the Trump campaign. (See: 10/29/17.)
10/29/17: Now
that the story has leaked, Puerto Rico scraps the Whitefish Energy contract, which is sad for
both full-time employees. Rumor has it, employees gathered at a Whitefish
tavern (where they filled two entire seats at the bar) to drown their sorrows.
Otherwise, it’s a fine fall Sunday and we can assume Secretary of Education
Betsy DeVos, a true Christian lady, is enjoying a day of rest.
DeVos needs rest. She has been spending an inordinate amount
of time on the road, visiting America’s elementary and secondary schools. At
least the ones run by for-profit charter operations. She’s a huge fan of
vouchers, charter schools and corporate education. She believes in her heart that if we put the future of education in the
hands of Big Business leaders we’ll get “business efficiencies” in schools and
all our children will live happily ever after.
What could go wrong???? (See:
Whitefish Energy; 10/28/17. See also:
8/20/17; 9/8/17; 9/18/17; 10/17/17.)
Last, but not least—by a few billion—Secretary DeVos has been
working hard to keep students in higher education safe from the predatory
practices of the for-profit college sharks. She has done this by making it
harder to hold those same crooks accountable for those same practices.
Her handpicked choice to guard against fraud in the for-profit college industry
is Julian Schmoke Jr.
What was Mr. Schmoke’s previous job, which fit him to ferret
out fraud? He worked for DeVry
University, which settled a $100 million lawsuit for perpetrating fraud
upon students.
Robert Eitel is another top adviser. His experience with
for-profit colleges includes working with another pirate organization, one
forced to refund $23.5 million to students related to bogus loan
deals.
None of this crookery is to be confused with famed Trump
University (forced to repay $25 million to bilked students).
Nor are we talking about Corinthian College (fined $30 million for deceptive practices, now
defunct, leaving taxpayers on the hook for $183 million in student loans
that must be forgiven).
We also do not intend to link the fine enforcement policies of
Secretary DeVos to stories about Education Management Corporation (forced to pay a $95.5 million fraud settlement and
later forced to offer $103 million in restitution in a second
case), Career Education Corporation (which paid a $10.25 million fine) or
Ashford University (fined $7.25 million after recruiters lied to students).
We do not mean to say that the Secretary would turn a blind
eye to the misdeeds of Charlotte School of Law (forced into bankruptcy in the
wake of a fraud scandal), Chester Career College (fined $5 million after
students complained courses were a “sham”), ITT Educational Services
(forced to close 130 locations after students filed a class action lawsuit alleging predatory
lending practices) or Le Cordon Bleu ($40 million settlement in a suit filed by students).
A
for-profit college hires the sluttiest girls.
In fact, let’s finish our list with a for-profit college
bang! Consider the trials (many) and tribulations of Alejandro Amor,
founder of FastTrain College in Florida. Business was good for a time. Amor
bought a 54-foot yacht. He had his own private plane. He could afford a $2
million home on the beach.
What went wrong at his fine institute of learning?
Investigators found FastTrain had enrolled 1,300 students who lacked high
school diplomas and the school lied about their eligibility to win federal
loans.
Ex-employees told investigators
that Amor boosted enrollments by hiring former strippers as recruiters, some of
whom wore “short skirts and stiletto heels” to work.
Amor told one employee to “hire
some hot mommas” and “hire the sluttiest girls he could find.”
And, lo, it came to pass. The
courts ruled. FastTrain went off the trestle and smashed up in a ravine. The
school closed and Amor went to jail. And the slutty recruiters went back to
doing what they did best.
Stripping.
10/30/17: This
is not one of President Trump’s best days, even though he tweeted early in the
morning that there was “NO COLLUSION” between Russia and his 2016 campaign.
Say what
you will, Mr. President, but Paul Manafort, 68, your former campaign manager, just got indicted for money
laundering and lying all day, every day, and lying in his sleep.
Manafort
is almost certain to end up in jail. The only question is, “How long?”
Also
indicted was Rick Gates, 45, a Manafort protégé. Gates was a part of the Trump
Team up to Inauguration Day, when he was part of the largest imaginary crowd
ever to attend Inaugural events. (See: 1/21/17.)
Gates is
young. He has a wife and small children to worry about. He cannot relish the
idea of spending twenty years in a jumpsuit. That means he has reason to
cooperate with the Mueller investigation.
If I was
a betting man—and I am—I’d bet he’s going to flip.
*
IN
RELATED NEWS, George Papadopoulos, now described by Press Secretary Pinocchio
as a nobody in the campaign, pleads guilty to federal charges. Trump surrogates
call the young man a “coffee boy,” of no import
during the campaign. The president tweets about some guy named “George,” like
he never laid eyes on the man.
We know
Candidate Trump informed the Washington Post that Papadopoulos
was a top adviser on his team. As late as August 2016 a campaign adviser (unnamed
in the indictment) was suggesting “George” take a trip to Moscow and look into
a deal with Russians to get dirt on Hillary Clinton.
That
means the next target of
investigation may be that top campaign adviser mentioned in the coffee boy’s
indictment. Different sources suggest “George” might have been talking to
Sam Clovis, co-chair of the campaign. He might have been talking to Cory
Lewandowski, another former Trump campaign manager. Lewandowski denies any wrong-doing, as you
would expect.
In fact,
if we are to believe Sean Hannity and all the assorted liars on the Trump
campaign team, all “George” was really asking about was did the Big Bosses want
two lumps of sugar or one?
We do
know the F.B.I. interviewed Papadopoulos just seven days after Trump took
office. Agents quickly caught him in several lies, leading to charges of
obstruction of justice. If this sounds familiar it should.
“George,”
the coffee boy, lied about meeting
with Russians.
10/31/17: The
World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announces that carbon-dioxide in
the atmosphere spiked last year to levels
not seen in 800,000 years. E.P.A. Administrator Scott Pruitt, tool of Big
Coal and stooge of Big Oil, continues to push increased burning of fossil
fuels.
Pruitt
won’t be satisfied till we drill for oil in the Rose Garden and in Hillary
Clinton’s front yard.
November
1, 2017: Another sickening terrorist attack in New York City kills
eight. The deaths of these eight human beings represent eight tragedies. These
kinds of attacks make all good people
sick. Let’s not compound the tragedy. For too many narrow minds this will seem
true: All Muslim Americans, and all Muslims, will be seen as complicit.
Today, on yet another bitter day in the battle against
terrorism, it would be wise to keep our wits. Informants who help us thwart
similar attacks and concerned citizens who alert police to potential dangers
are often Muslim American. The Kurds in Iraq have suffered thousands of
casualties fighting ISIS. They are Muslims. Afghan soldiers who have fought by
our side for years are Muslim. There are millions of Muslim Americans living in
our midst, who do not carry out cowardly attacks on bike paths in New York.
ISIS and Al Qaeda have killed thousands of Muslims all over the world. They have
slaughtered the innocent in Indonesia, Iran and Iraq. They have tracked a
bloody path across Kuwait, Lebanon, Somalia, Syria and Yemen. Muslims aren’t
the problem. Terrorists are the evil we must stamp out.
Keeping one’s head proves too much for Trump. In a cabinet
meeting he describes the kind of quick justice he’d like to see terrorists
receive. “They’ll go through court for years,” he complains.
At the end, they’ll be—who knows what
happens. We need quick justice and we need strong justice, much quicker and much stronger
than we have right now. Because what we have right now is a joke and it’s a
laughing stock and no wonder so much of this stuff takes place.
I think what the president means is: “Wouldn’t a good lynching be nice!” We could
start with terrorists—lock up political foes next—go after reporters who
criticize, too. Who has some rope???
11/2/17: When
the sun rises on Thursday, the ink is drying on a climate report compiled by experts at thirteen U.S. agencies. The report
finds that long-term trends are clear. The evidence is “unambiguous.” Human
activity is causing the Earth to warm. Environmental damage will continue
to accelerate.
That’s
the consensus of our best scientists.
“Whether we’re talking about unprecedented heat waves,
increasingly destructive hurricanes, epic drought and inundation of our coastal
cities,” Michael E. Mann, professor of atmospheric science at Penn State,
explains, “the impacts of climate change are no longer subtle. They are upon
us. That’s the consensus of our best scientists, as laid bare by this latest
report.”
“This report has some very powerful, hard-hitting statements
that are totally at odds with senior administration folks and at odds with their
policies,” Philip B. Duffy, head of the Woods Hole Research Center—an actual
scientific organization with a long history of investigative work—says.
11/3/17:
Revised numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics give Trump something to
brag about, not counting the fact that so far only three members of his 2016
campaign have been indicted. Job numbers for September have been revised upward
to + 14,000 jobs gained, instead of a previous estimated loss, followed by
261,000 jobs (preliminary) added in October.
This keeps a healthy string alive: 85 months in a row with job growth—75.629 of those months
(figuring from the swearing-in at noon on January 20, 2017) under President
Obama.
11/4/17: Apparently, the president is thinking about goosing jobs numbers (see: 11/3/17) by adding a few federal hangmen and hangladies to the Department of Justice payroll. A torture chamber in the White House basement might be cool. Son Eric could become High Keeper of the Thumb Screws.
Trump
makes it clear again. He is a HUGE fan of executions—and swift justice—even if
people he wants swiftly executed sometimes turn out to be innocent fourteen
years later. (See: Central Park Five.)
What the
president really wants is to run the judicial branch all by himself—screw James
Comey—and screw Jeff Sessions—without getting tripped up by those pesky
articles and clauses in the Constitution.
Donald
J. Trump would love it if the Department of Justice and F.B.I. stopped
investigating crooks associated with him and stopped asking staffers, aides and
family members about obstruction of justice (see, for example: recent
F.B.I. demands for documents from Jared Kushner). He would
like it if they got busy investigating Hillary Clinton and, the hell with it,
just locked her up and announced they were finished.
As the
president admitted in a recent interview, he’s very frustrated by his inability
to control the F.B.I. and the DOJ.
Who came
up with this goddamn three-branch system of government anyway!!!!
Last,
but not least, Trump weighs in when a military court rules that Sergeant Bowe
Bergdahl, who deserted in Afghanistan in 2009, and ended up a Taliban captive
for five years, should not spend additional time in prison. Trump had called for Bergdahl to be executed—which
would have made him the first U.S. soldier to be executed since Pvt. Eddie
Slovak in January 1945.
Now
Trump calls the U.S. Army judge’s decision “a complete and total disgrace to
our Country and to our Military.”
Stop a
moment and parse that nugget of presidential cogitation. According to Trump the
U.S. military was disgracing…the U.S. military.
11/5/17:
Conservative friends on Facebook seem increasingly out of sorts as I continue
my crusade to mock their boy Don every day, so long as he shall remain president
of these United States.
The
political equivalent of the Bataan Death March.
Allow me to quote a few “non-liberal” sources to bolster my
point on Day 290 of the Trump presidency, a presidency which has been the
political equivalent of the Bataan Death March.
George H. W. Bush recently revealed he voted for Hillary in
2016. Trump is a “blowhard,” he said. George W., next in the GOP line, voted
the straight Republican ticket in 2016 but left a blank at the top. Mitt Romney
said Trump was totally unfit for high office and you can add John McCain to the
list of Trump haters. That means the GOP nominees for president in 1988, 1992,
2000, 2004, 2008 and 2012 are on record as objecting to this objectionable human
being. John Kasich, Bob Corker, Colin Powell and Robert Mueller have all been Republicans
longer than the president. None like Trump.
Postscript: And how is the Mueller
investigation going? John McCain told a reporter, “It’s like a centipede.
There’s always another shoe to drop.”
11/6/17: Twenty-six Americans, ages 5-72, do not wake up to worry about border walls or transgender people using the same bathrooms today.
They do
not wake up at all.
A gunman
armed with a military-style Ruger AR-15, the weapon of choice of for most
modern psychopaths, shoots up a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas. The toll,
including wounded, rises to 46.
What an
unspeakable tragedy. What will Republican leaders do, now that they control all levers of power,
to make a change?
They
will do nothing.
It will
be the same again, again and again, somewhere in blood-soaked America, and all
too soon.
Thoughts
and prayers will be offered. That’s not enough. Somehow, we can spend $21.6 billion (possibly three
times that much) to build a “big, beautiful wall” along our southern border to
keep “criminals” out. Yet we can’t lift a legislative finger to staunch the
carnage in our churches, schools and on our streets.
11/7/17:
Good morning, Tax-Paying Chumps. I know you plumbers, speech therapists and
tattoo artists pay your taxes every April. You can’t help it. You’re not rich
enough to pay a $1,000-per hour tax lawyer to finagle a deal.
Anyway, you know what Paul Ryan says. What this country
needs most is—healthcare for poor kids. No, we’re joking! Funding for the CHIPS
program is stalled in Congress right now.
What we really need is to put an end to the estate tax—which
almost no Americans pay. That way poor billionaires like Secretary of Commerce
Wilbur Ross won’t be taxed twice. You know, once on income, a second time when
he dies.
Wilbur
Ross won’t even be taxed once.
We all
know guys like Ross never game the system! They pay more than their share. Oh,
wait.
A)
Ross has lucrative business ties with Russians, despite U.S.
sanctions imposed after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of the Ukraine.
B)
Ross “forgot” to mention these ties during his
Senate confirmation hearing.
C)
Ross has most of his cash stashed where he doesn’t have to pay taxes,
in secret bank accounts in the Cayman Islands.
Do you
have a secret account to hide your cash in the Cayman Islands, Mr. or Ms.
Tax-Paying Chump?
No, you
do not.
 |
| Where do you stash your cash? |
11/8/17: I
realize Trump fans will swear this is “Fake News” but British papers are
digging into 13.4 million leaked files from Appleby, a powerhouse law firm
operating out of Bermuda. Nicknamed the “Paradise Papers,” they provide insight
into the sleazy world of total tax avoidance. Guess which famous Brit has cash stashed in offshore accounts where avoiding taxes is
key?
The Queen!!
As far as this country goes, 31,000 Americans hold
Appleby accounts. All are working hard (or paying their lawyers to work hard)
to avoid paying any taxes at all while also covering their tracks.
Who might some of these evaders be? We mentioned one
yesterday (see: 11/7/17). Let’s add
to our list. Working hard to avoid taxes we have Gary Cohn, Trump’s
chief economic adviser; Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Treasury
Secretary Steven Mnuchin. That’s right! The Treasury Secretary of these
United States is stashing cash overseas
in a gambit to dodge taxes. (See: 6/29/19 for more detail.)
11/9/17: Syria announces plans to sign on to the Paris Climate Accord.
Nicaragua, one of the last holdouts, signed last month.
That leaves one
nation to bravely stand alone, a nation whose leaders are too
bleeping dumb, or too willfully ignorant, or too beholden to Big Oil and Big
Coal, to face the most basic facts.
That country is the U.S.A.
You could attempt to argue with right-wingers on this topic.
It would be like trying to explain Stoic philosophy to a moose. As for Trump,
we have in the Oval Office a gentleman whose grasp of even second grade science
is so poor he can’t understand how the human body produces energy. According to
the president, human bodies are
like batteries. They have “a finite amount of energy,” which exercise
depletes. Once you use the energy up it’s gone forever.
 |
| All of the above nations signed the climate agreement. |
 |
| All the nations that did not. |
11/10/17: Wow!
Roy Moore. Roy Moore—accused
pedophile—and GOP candidate for U.S. Senate from Alabama.
Wow.
11/11/17: Today
the Trump clan celebrates Veterans Day the same way it has since the holiday
was created as Armistice Day nearly a century ago. In keeping with tradition,
all members of the Trump brood remain safely at home. Trump’s grandfather,
Friedrich, first of the clan to arrive on these shores, could have enlisted
during the Spanish American War. The 29-year-old did not.
Fred Christ Trump, his son, the president’s father, turned 36
a few weeks before bombs fell on Pearl Harbor. He would have been older than
most who signed to fight. But the path to patriotism was open. Henry Fonda
joined the U.S. Navy in 1942 when he was 37 and saw action in the Pacific.
Jimmy Stewart, another Hollywood star, flew B-24 bombers over Germany at 36.
Fred wasn’t interested in fighting and eventually died peacefully in his bed,
aged 93.
President Trump had a chance to serve, turning 18 in 1964,
just as the conflict in Vietnam was heating up. He avoided tramping through
rice paddies and hacking though jungle, piling up five draft deferments in a
row.
The
mountains Trumps battle on have ski-lifts to the top.
Don Jr. and Eric might have rallied to the flag after 9/11.
They were the perfect age to join the fray. Neither young man had any desire or
interest in getting the desert sands of Iraq in their gelled hair or humping
weapons and gear up the side of godforsaken mountains in Afghanistan. The only
mountains on which any of the Trumps have ever done battle have ski-lifts to
the top.
11/12/17:
President Trump is still off on a trip to Asia—and still sucking up to Vladimir
Putin. Trump tells reporters he asked Putin again. Did you meddle in the last
U.S. election? Putin says no.
Case closed!
Meanwhile, the president describes former heads of the F.B.I., C.I.A. and former
director of National Intelligence as “political hacks.”
11/13/17: Wow!
Judge Roy Moore! Wow, wow, wow, wow! A fifth woman accuses him of sexual harassment, this
time Beverly Young Nelson. Mrs. Nelson points out that she and her husband
voted for President Trump.
“No
one will believe you. You’re a child.”
As she explains, when she was sixteen, Moore—then a county
prosecutor—offered her a ride home one night, after she finished a shift as a
waitress. He immediately began groping her and touching her breasts. “I tried
fighting him off,” she said, “while yelling at him to stop, but instead of
stopping, he began squeezing my neck, attempting to force my head onto his
crotch.”
Finally realizing he couldn’t force her to perform, Moore
warned her not to complain. “No one will believe you,” he said. You’re only a
“child.”
The young girl used makeup to hide bruises on her neck, told
her sister about the attack two years after the fact, told her mother years
later, and related what happened to her husband before they were married.
Now Moore, the man who made a Ten Commandments statue his
shield and criticizing those who failed to live by those rules his brand, has
been accused by five women, all teens at the time they claim they were
attacked.
Let’s not forget President Trump. During the campaign he was accused by five former teen beauty contestants of walking into their dressing rooms
while they were naked or only partially clothed.
Trump’s base insisted it was a liberal smear.
Then CNN dared to dig up a conversation Trump had with shock
jock Howard Stern in 2005. At the time, Trump was proud to admit—at least with older contestants—that he
could get away with anything he liked. “I’ll tell you the funniest [part of
running the pageants] is that I’ll go backstage before a show and everyone’s
getting dressed,” Trump told Stern.
No men are anywhere, and I’m
allowed to go in, because I’m the owner of the pageant and therefore I’m
inspecting it….“Is everyone OK?” You know, they’re standing there with no
clothes. “Is everybody OK?” And you see these incredible-looking women, and so I sort of get away with things like that
[emphasis added, unless otherwise noted].
Jia Tolentino, writing for The New Yorker, revisits a list of accusers who came out against Candidate
Trump. “By the end of October [2016],” she notes, “twenty women had gone on the
record to describe Trump’s sexual misconduct. Twelve of them recounted being
physically violated, corroborating Trump’s own description of his behavior—he
grabbed women by the pussy, he said to Billy Bush, because he could.”
So, he did.
11/14/17: The GOP is pushing hard to ram
“tax reform” through Congress and have a bill ready before Christmas. According
to the White House Council of Economic Advisers this bill, not yet finalized, will
be great for the typical household. Corporations
will see taxes fall and pass on savings to workers. The ordinary American
family will see an increase in wealth of $3,000 to $7,000.
Tax
dodgers move hundreds of billions through Luxembourg.
We already know what corporations do to “cut” their tax
burden. They don’t pass savings on to workers. Charles and David Koch, leading
advocates of tax cuts, have watched their wealth balloon in the last decade.
Each is worth an estimated $48.5
billion. So, they could already
give raises to workers. They just don’t.
This is particularly odd since Koch Industries has been
revealed to be piling up massive savings by working a complicated tax dodge through a network of interlocking companies in
havens like Luxembourg and the Cayman
Islands. Companies located, on paper, in Luxembourg pay as little as 1% taxes, annually.
It’s not just the Koch brothers. A massive document leak
indicates plenty of multi-national corporations already have all the tax
savings they need. Those savings haven’t translated into higher wages. The
dodgers have moved “hundreds of billions” through Luxembourg bank and shell
company accounts. Those dodgers include American International Group (AIG), Amazon,
Blackstone, H.J. Heinz, JP Morgan Chase, Burberry and Procter & Gamble.
In fact, donating to the GOP and expecting payback is a solid
corporate investment. According to a British paper, seven large donors to the
GOP in 2016, with a combined wealth of $142 billion, kept that wealth
safe by hiding as much as possible in the Cayman Islands. Those
seven include the Brothers Koch,
Warren Stephens, owner
of a payday lending company being sued for predatory practices, and Sheldon Adelson, the casino
magnate who gave Republicans $100 million in 2012, $77.5 million in 2016, and
$5 million for the Trump inauguration. Rounding out the pirate crew are Geoff Palmer, a dealer in Los
Angeles real estate, Steve Wynn,
another casino magnate, and Paul
Singer, a hedge fund manager and “vulture capitalist.”
In one recent poll 71% of Republicans, 85% of independents and 85%
of Democrats said they did not think corporation tax cuts would result in an
increase in their own pay.
Duh.
$$$$$
11/15/17: The
president returns from his trip to Asia and gives a press conference, minus questions
from the press. Rambling on for half-an-hour, he praises himself and whines because the mainstream media
doesn’t grovel in the face of his orange greatness.
Trump doesn’t dare take questions because he knows he’ll be
asked about accused pedophile and GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, Judge Roy
Moore. If the Groper-in-Chief says he believes Moore’s accusers he faces an
obvious follow-up question. “Why would the accusers of Harvey Weinstein,
Bill Cosby and Moore be believed, but the women who accused you, Mr. President,
would not?”
#TrumpDidIt.
 |
| Can we get one of these for Roy Moore's house? And another at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue? |
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