Detective Donald and the Case of the Missing Reporter

As long as Trump remains in office there will never be a day where something idiotic or dangerous to democracy does not transpire. (See: Anything New? The Daily, Hourly Craziness of Donald J. Trump; Part V.) 

This week, we learn that the president is putting his detective skills to work again. He’s tracking down the story of the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

What could go wrong?

10/15/18: Detective Donald is hard at work. This is the same Detective Donald who once grilled Vladimir Putin. Did you interfere in the U.S. election?” he demanded. I think he shined a bright light in Putin’s face.

“No, Detective Don! I did not,” Vladimir said.

“Okay, I believe you.”

That’s how you close a case, folks.

Later, Kim Jong-un promised to get rid of all his nuclear weapons. Don was on it like a cat on a three-legged mouse. “North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat,” he announced.

(North Korea still had all its nukes.)

You may recall: Detective Donald first made a name when he insisted the Central Park Five were guilty and we should fry them.

(Eventually, DNA evidence cleared them.)

Still, you couldn’t keep Detective Don down. He was on the case again in 2011, promising to get the goods on President Obama. He would show the American people their president was not really an American!

(After five years, he “cracked the case.” “Okay, he was,” said Don. You could even read that story on Fox “Never Fake” News.) 

Now Don’s on the case once more. Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist, permanent resident of the United States, and reporter for the Washington Post, walks into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. You can watch him enter on surveillance cameras. No one ever sees him leave. The Turkish government soon claims it has evidence Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered and snuck out of the consulate in diplomatic pouches. Detective Don calls King Salman of Saudi Arabia. He grills the poor royal, just like he grilled Vladimir this past summer in Helsinki. This is the most feared grilling any dictator or royal potentate can ever face.

“Did you do it?” Don demands

“No. Never!!!” King Salman swears.

Detective Don tells reporters the king “vehemently” denies having Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the royal family, murdered. Don posits the theory that the journalist might have been killed by “rogue actors.”

Naturally, Detective Don has several theories to work through. It might have been Hillary. It could have been Obama.

It might have been that same “400-pound guy sitting on his couch,” who might have hacked the 2016 election. Yes, that might be who it was. Old Fatso hoisted himself off his couch, jumped on a plane to Turkey and managed to slip past security cameras. He entered the Saudi consulate. He killed the journalist. No one saw him do it. No one heard the victim screaming. Next, Old Fatso grabbed the body without anyone noticing and ran down the street, although no security footage shows a 400-pound guy lugging a body out of the building.

Well, Detective Don isn’t jumping to conclusions. He’s a legend in the crime-busting community, for his investigative precision. When Judge Roy Moore was accused by five women of sexual harassment, Don cleared him! Don cleared Roger Ailes, Bill O’Reilly and Judge Kavanaugh too.

Detective Don even cleared himself when more than a dozen women accused him of unwanted groping.

Anyway, enough about that! Don’t forget, the Saudi’s buy U.S. weapons! Detective Don has already made it clear. He doesn’t care who they murder and he doesn’t like journalists in the first place.

He just wants to sell weapons. 

  

10/16/18: Detective Donald is still hard at work. He’s leaving no pebble unturned in his investigation of the disappearance of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. First, he sends Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh, to meet with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—suspected by most of the known world as having ordered the reported killing.

Pompeo spends most of his time on camera grinning beside the prince like some rube who just met a Victoria’s Secret model. 

Fun with killers!

Detective Don can’t be fooled, either. He calls the Crown Prince on the phone. The Crown Prince says he didn’t have anything to do with the alleged crime. Detective Don, who has all the resources of the American intelligence-gathering community at his beck and call, seems satisfied.

In other words, it’s time to tweet!

Detective Don buys the Saudi story.

Unfortunately, Detective Donald can never get a moment’s rest. Reporters as various “Fake News” media outlets go digging for evidence and uncover details that the government of Saudi Arabia would like to remain buried.

Sorry, poor word choice.

Don decides he must comment publically. It’s very sad that people are blaming the Saudis—just because a journalist walked into their consulate two weeks ago and has not been seen since.

“Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Detective Don grouses. “I don't like. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned. So we have to find out what happened.”

So what do we know?

On one side, King Salman and the Crown Prince deny involvement in whatever happened. And you can’t fool Don. He believes them. “Innocent until proven guilty” has always been his mantra—which is why he enjoys it when crowds at rallies shout, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” in reference to rival politicians who have never—minor technicality—been indicted or tried or sentenced.

What else do we know? Khashoggi was a fierce critic of the Crown Prince. He entered the Turkish consulate on September 28 to get documents necessary to marry his fiancé. Officials told him to return October 2 to pick up his paperwork. Khashoggi did so. He hasn’t been seen since.

Originally, the Saudis denied any knowledge of what happened to the reporter. They insisted he left the consulate freely soon after. Maybe he tripped over a rosebush after leaving.

The Turkish government wasn’t buying it. They announced they had evidence Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and his body sliced up like flank steak.

The Turks soon produced video of two Saudi planes landing in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi disappeared. Fifteen Saudis debark. They include “Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert.” They head for the consulate. Who knows? Maybe they are going to try to catch some “rogue actors” who might want to harm the journalist.

The Turks provide evidence to show that the same 15 Saudis depart later that day, but fly in two directions, one plane landing in Dubai and then flying on to Riyadh. The other goes by way of Cairo, then on to Riyadh. Maybe agents were using some frequent flier miles to get good deals.

Remember: We don’t want to think these people are “guilty until proven innocent!” Although, there are reports that Khashoggi managed to record his interrogation and murder on an Apple watch he owned.

On October 9, the “failing Fake News” New York Times runs a story, citing an unnamed Turkish official. Khashoggi was killed and cut up within two hours of arrival at the consulate he says. “It’s like Pulp Fiction.”

The Times notes that Saudi officials, including the Crown Prince insist the reporter left the building shortly after his arrival.

He was probably really happy to have those marriage documents, too. Oh, boy! Next comes the honeymoon.

The Times reports that various Turkish officials had been hinting that a video of the murder is already in their possession:

A commentator close to Mr. Erdogan’s government said so publicly on Tuesday.

“There is a video of the moment of him being killed,” Kemal Ozturk, a columnist in a pro-government newspaper and the former head of a semiofficial news agency, said in an interview on a pro-government television network, citing unnamed security officials.

On October 10, Sabah, a Turkish paper, posts airport and customs videos and photos of all fifteen Saudis entering the country. One is a forensic doctor who specializes in autopsies. Among other items in his baggage, he’s carrying a bone saw. Two others are identified as Saudi Air Force officers.

Caught with their thawbs half down, the Saudis do some serious alibiing. First, they claim the consulate cameras, which show Khashoggi entering, are a “live feed” and don’t record. Robert W. Jordan, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President George W. Bush, takes a giant step down the “guilty until proven innocent” road. “Their explanation that their closed circuit TV is only a live feed and not recording makes no sense at all and would be absurd in terms of security tradecraft.” It is “95 percent certain,” he says, the Saudis bumped off the reporter.

The “Fake News” folks aren’t done faking stories. On October 16, with Detective Don already swallowing Saudi excuses, and Pompeo having enjoyed his Grinfest with the Crown Prince, the Washington Post starts to pin down the roles of the fifteen Saudi travelers and their ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khalid Aedh Alotaibi is a member of the Saudi Royal Guard. He often flies to the United States when the Crown Prince or other members of the royal family visit. Seven others appear to have identified themselves on social media as Saudi security agents. Several appear to be members of the Royal Guard or employees of the royal palace. Naif Hassan S. Alarifi and Saif Saad Q. Alqahtani are reportedly “even closer to the royal family—specifically as employees of the ‘Crown Prince office.’”

For some odd reason, and despite repeated requests from the “Fake News” folks at the Post, the Saudi Embassy in Washington declines to comment on any of the men. They have been described in pro-government Saudi newspapers as “tourists”. All newspapers, by the way, in Saudi Arabia are “pro-government.”

It’s as if all American media outlets were “Fox News.”

In any case, journalists keep digging. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, one of the fifteen, shows up in photos on numerous occasions, getting off planes with the Crown Prince, walking behind the Crown Prince, hanging around as the Crown Prince talks to a lady in Houston or shakes hands in Boston.

Finally, the Post explains: 

Among the most prominent names on the Saudi team list is Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert known for pioneering rapid and mobile autopsies, who flew into Istanbul shortly after Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate and flew out nine hours later, Turkish officials say.

In closing, reporters note: “Tubaigy has not responded to email and phone messages left at three numbers associated with the profile he had set up on an Arabic subscription phone app.”

And when we take all this evidence together, we can see exactly why Detective Don is so anxious to accept the Saudi government when they say they had nothing to do with the killing.

If there was a killing, that is. So far they haven’t admitted there was.

I think the moral of the story, if we asked Don would be, “Don’t forget your bone saw next time you plan a vacation.”

Anything New? The Daily, Hourly Craziness of Donald J. Trump (Part V)

We continue to chronicle the sad, sorry saga of President Donald J. Trump and his misfit, misanthropic crew. See also: Part IV.

The president continues to insult and attack anyone who challenges him, and proves, more and more, his dickishness.

For the next installment, go to Part VI.

THE TRUMP ARCHIVE

9/12-13/18: With Hurricane Florence bearing down on the Carolina coast, President Trump decides this would be a perfect time to start bitching about how everyone is out to get him—and, no, he says, not that many people died when Puerto Rico was pummeled by hurricanes in 2017.

Plus, you figure, Trump doesn’t care how many Puerto Ricans died, anyway. They’re not rich white folks and they don’t vote in presidential elections.

Incredibly, Trump decides to make a story about death and destruction all about him. People were killed in the storm? Thousands saw homes and property destroyed? Parts of the island were without electricity for over a year? Well, he, Donald J. Trump, is the real victim in this story.

Why is Trump mad and sad? He’s not getting the credit he deserves for his “unsung success” in dealing with the damage in Puerto Rico. How much credit does he believe he deserves? All of it! He has already given himself an “A+” for his work in handling the hurricane disasters that hit Texas and Florida. He expects everyone else to give him “A+” grades, too. Is there anything higher?

Originally, the death toll in Puerto Rico was thought to be only 16 or 17, remarkable in light of catastrophic structural damage that resulted when a Cat 4 hurricane hit, followed by a second Cat 5, not long afterward.

Naturally, Trump bragged at the time about the low death toll compared to the toll from Katrina in 2005.

Puerto Ricans slowly put their lives back together—and the federal government did help. But the death toll rose to 64.

With conditions finally returning to normal, a team of researchers from George Washington University went to work to study the figures. They spent six months poring over death certificates, and comparing rates before and after the storm. They talked to doctors. They talked to eyewitnesses. They talked to funeral home directors and talked to hospital administrators.

The real death toll from the paired storms, researchers estimated was not 16 or 17, or 64, but 2,975.

Each death was a human tragedy; but Trump cared only about one storm victim.

Himself.

If the toll was higher, he couldn’t brag about the job he had done. “SAD!” as he might put it in a tweet.

So, tweet he did. Twice:

3000 people did not die in the two hurricanes that hit Puerto Rico. When I left the Island, AFTER the storm had hit, they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much. Then, a long time later, they started to report really large numbers, like 3000...

.....This was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible when I was successfully raising Billions of Dollars to help rebuild Puerto Rico. If a person died for any reason, like old age, just add them onto the list. Bad politics. I love Puerto Rico! 

It was classic Trump. First, he’s wrong in the facts. The report wasn’t put together by Democrats. Second, researchers adjusted the death toll in regard to age and weighed all kinds of factors. Third, the report was put together by researchers from George Washington U. Fourth, no one was “blaming” you. Most of the deaths would have occurred no matter what the federal government did. But you opened yourself up for criticism when you bragged about the low death toll last year. Fifth, you sound like a giant asshole—because you are. You only care about yourself, how much praise you can reap. You don’t care about the 16 or 17 people who died, or the 64, or, now, the nearly 3,000.

You, Mr. President, don’t care about anyone except yourself.

*

In the face of withering criticism for his soulless comments about the death toll, Trump decides to double down.

He re-tweets a link to Lou Dobbs, so that all Trump fans can listen to Dobbs howl. How dare researchers estimate that nearly 3,000 Puerto Ricans died! The numbers are “inflated,” Dobbs bellows. It’s the “media” again, out to get the president—by quoting damn researchers! Why not use a report issued by Harvard, which, in Dobbs’ mind undercuts the findings in the GWU report. According to Dobbs, the Harvard study put the estimated death toll between 800 and 8,000. That means, in Nut Job World, that the estimate of 3,000 in the GWU study can’t be correct.

So, the real toll must be closer to 16 or 17 or 65, the highest number Dobbs is willing to cite.

Dobbs has nothing but scorn for Florida Republicans he believes stabbed the president in the back. Governor Rick Scott, currently running for the U.S. Senate, and Ron DeSantis, running to replace Scott, say they accept the GWU estimate.

“Obviously,” Dobbs fumes, “the two men don’t care that the numbers aren’t related to facts, nor do they care about how those numbers were arrived at.”

So, let’s just give Trump what he wants. Let’s all admit the death toll was zero. President Trump is the greatest president ever. In fact, let’s just claim that after he visited the island and threw rolls of paper towels to waiting disaster victims—to show how seriously he took their suffering—people who had died from non-hurricane causes rose from the dead. Everyone now says it was a miracle. And the president gently placed red MAGA hats on all their resurrected heads.

9/14/18: The president apparently learned his lesson after pretty much everyone who has anything to say, says he sounds like an ass arguing about how many people died in Puerto Rico as another hurricane smashes into North Carolina and floods large parts of South Carolina.

His first fifteen tweets of the day all relate to hurricane warnings, “6 inches of moving water can knock an adult off their feet. STAY AWAY from moving water,” “1,500 Red Cross disaster workers are helping,” if you are ordered to evacuate “Turn off the gas, electricity,” even this: “RT @FEMAespanol: Hoy es el último día para desalojar. Si está en la ruta de #Florence, escuche a las autoridades locales para órdenes de de…”

Then a shout out: “Incredible job being done by FEMA, First Responders, Law Enforcement and all. Thank you!”

Which is to say, “I did this. Me. Trump. I organized this incredible job being done.” Me, myself and I. We all agree. I am the best.

Eight more hurricane-warning type tweets follow—which is fine.

But Trump can’t help himself. Trump has to be Trump. And Trump is an asshole. Suddenly, he’s arguing about the death count in Puerto Rico again, using four more tweets to defend himself and his record as the greatest hurricane savior of all time.

Then he wraps it up for the night at 10:08 p.m. with the most irrelevant tweet in the history of President Twitter Thumbs. “When President Obama said that he has been to ‘57 States,’ very little mention in Fake News Media. Can you imagine if I said that...story of the year!”

Trump posts 31 tweets in a single day.

9/15/18: The president wakes to grim reality Saturday. Hurricane Paul is bearing down on Washington, D.C.

Friday, with Hurricane Florence lashing the Carolinas, and Trump angrily tweeting about Barack Obama’s twenty-four second slip of the tongue in 2008, Cat 3 winds battered the White House.

Paul Manafort, a man the president insisted would never “break,” a “brave man,” with a “wonderful family,” finally succumbed.

Manafort knows where the bodies are buried and may be able to prove,
President Trump helped with the burying.

For over a year, Manafort insisted that he was as innocent as O.J. Simpson in a cutlery factory. Then a Virginia jury convicted him on eight felony counts. Having been lodged in jail since June 16 (after a judge ruled him a serious flight risk), Manafort, 69, was staring harsh reality in the face. If he went to trial again, on a fresh battery of additional charges, and lost again, he was likely never going to live in a penthouse bought with laundered money again.

For three long months, Manafort pined for a pardon from the president. But President Twitter Thumbs was busy. Besides, if the president awarded him a pardon before the midterms it would look, even to many Trump fans as if Donald J. Sr. had something serious to hide.

So the “good man” broke.

Manafort, who ran the Trump 2016 campaign for several critical months, coped to another pair of felonies, catapulting himself into the lead among Trump campaign operatives with a total of ten. In fact, under a general charge of “conspiracy,” he admitted in court on Friday that ten more felony counts with which he had previously been charged—yeah—he also committed those.

A jury in his first trial had deadlocked 11-1 for conviction on those charges. But that had been enough of a hook for Ol’ Twitter Thumbs to hang his hat upon. “A large number of counts, ten, could not even be decided in the Paul Manafort case,” Trump noted on August 22. That could mean only one thing: “Witch Hunt!” he added. Now that consolation was gone.

Hurricane Paul was already taking form. What might have been a Category 1 storm a month ago is now a Cat 3. Friday, Manafort agreed to a plea deal which requires him to cooperate “fully, truthfully, completely and forthrightly…in any and all matters” with the Russia investigation.

Another witch had just joined the witch hunt.

So what would bother the totally innocent orange-colored man in the White House on a fine September morn? What kept the president tossing and turning and tangling his sheets all last night?

Not Melania. The First Lady has wisely been sleeping in a separate bed every night.

First, Trump understands that Manafort attended a June 2016 meeting when agents of the Russian government offered campaign dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Trump also knows that Manafort knows whether or not he himself approved the meeting beforehand or received a briefing afterward. Don Jr. and Dad for sure and former White House Babe Hope Hicks, probably, have already lied at least once about what went on behind Trump Tower’s closed doors.

Immediately after the meeting ended, Don Jr. made an 11-minute call to a blocked number. He forgets who he called. But Don Jr. and Dad must know by now, how thorough the Mueller investigators are. They have to think that Mueller has Don Jr.’s phone records; and now the witch hunters have a witch from that meeting who has to talk.

Trump knows plenty for once—because this is a subject he actually cares about—namely himself. He knows the door to a useful pardon, one that shuts Manafort up, is almost entirely closed. Several of the charges Manafort has pled to could, if he were pardoned on federal charges, be revived by state courts. Trump knows Manafort knows he’s going to spend a long time in jail. The only real question is how long. Three years? Five? Ten? Or, considering his age, the rest of his born days? Trump knows Manafort agreed to work for his campaign for free. He only hopes his fans don’t realize how bizarre this is because Manafort was dealing with spiraling debts at the time. Trump knows (if he watches any other channel than Fox News), that Manafort offered to provide “private briefings” to a Russian oligarch, Oleg Deripaska, during the 2016 campaign.

Trump doesn’t watch other channels, of course.

But for purposes of our discussion let’s point out that Deripaska is a bosom buddy of Vladimir Putin and now himself under sanction by the U.S. government. Why? Because Deripaska is a money-laundering crook. He has ties to the Russian mob and may be complicit in at least one murder. How close is he to Putin? Deripaska once told a reporter that he understood he controlled the aluminum business in Russia only so long as Putin allowed it. “If the state says we need to give it up, we’ll give it up,” the billionaire said. “I don’t separate myself from the state. I have no other interests.”

Deripaska is Putin’s man.

And how close was Manafort to Deripaska? Close enough to do the oligarch’s bidding for years, to get a $10 million annual contract and to put in place a secret plan “to greatly benefit the Putin government.” Close enough—and shady enough—to fall millions of dollars into debt to Deripaska. And close enough, once he took over the Trump campaign, to see a way forward to get out of that debt and maybe cash in big. We already know Manafort was cooking up some kind of scheme with a Russian friend, Konstantin Kilimnik. “I assume you have shown our friends my media coverage, right?” Manafort emailed him that summer.

“Absolutely,” replied Kilimnik. “Every article.” The Russians knew they now had an ally inside the Trump camp.

“How do we use to get whole,” Manafort inquired. “Has OVD operation seen?”

A true believer in a red MAGA hat might discount that line. Investigators do not. It is believed that Manafort was hoping to wipe out his debt to Deripaska and that “OVD” refers to him by initials (Oleg Vladimirovich Deripaska).

The president also knows that Manafort’s lawyer explained in court Friday his client’s decision to reach a plea deal. “He wanted to make sure his family was able to remain safe and live a good life.”

See, for example: Deripaska’s ties to Russian crime syndicates; also, the murders of assorted critics of Vladimir Putin.

Trump now knows that the courts can seize assets if those assets were obtained by illegal means. Manafort has agreed to forfeit three houses and two apartments, one in Trump Tower, of all places, and cough up funds he had hidden in several secret bank accounts, investment funds, and even a life insurance policy. His five properties alone are worth an estimated $22 million.

So, if nothing else, Ol’ Twitter Thumbs can stop tweeting about how much money the Mueller investigation is costing taxpayers for a while. As recently as June 18, Trump said the “scam investigation” had cost the government $17 million.

Now, Mueller’s team has paid off all its bills, so far, and they’re not done.

Finally, due to climate change in Washington, conditions are ripe and Hurricane Paul may gather strength to become a Category 5. This past March, The New York Times reported that John Dowd, then the president’s lawyer, had floated the idea of presidential pardons in front of lawyers for Manafort and another confessed witch, former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

Trump and Trump fans might call it all “Fake News,” but Manafort and Flynn are now in perfect position to tell the truth.

Was this offer really an attempt to obstruct justice?

So the president tossed and turned Friday night, into Saturday morning, in large part because he heard Manafort’s legal team had already made two “proffers” to Special Counsel Mueller. That means they have twice approached investigators with proposed offers. “Here is what our client knows and what he is willing to say,” Manafort’s lawyers would have said. If Mueller felt the defendant had information that was of great value he could respond with a counter-offer of his own.

And now the president knows: Manafort has something of great value he’d like to share and Mueller wants him to share it.

So: a plea deal has been made.

What else bothered the President of the United States as he lay abed in the night, feeling increasingly abandoned, frustrated, angry, a flickering blue-gray light from the television his only companionship, as he watched reruns of Lou Dobbs’ show?

The president knows that “Lock Her Up” Flynn is still cooperating with prosecutors. Rick Gates, who worked on his campaign throughout, is also cooperating. Now Manafort makes three.

It could be four: White House Chief Counsel Donald McGahn has reportedly talked with investigators for 30 hours; and McGahn has told friends he doesn’t want to end up like “John Dean.”

Dean was Richard M. Nixon’s counsel, got caught in the Watergate Scandal, lied to protect his boss, and ended up behind bars.

(And we all know what happened to President Nixon.)

There could soon be five. Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, has also reportedly been in talks with the Special Counsel. According to one reporter, Cohen has expressed a desire to “be on the right side of history” in the end.

9/16/18: Trump sleeps late after a hard day dealing with reality on Saturday. Naturally, his first thoughts are for the families of the 14 dead in North and South Carolina, the 400 people who had to be rescued from flooded New Bern, the people of Lumberton trying to keep flood waters from breaking a levee and causing toxic materials to spill from a nearby coal ash pit, people downstream from various pig farms, where thousands of gallons of pig manure may be mixed with flood waters, and the million people without power across the two states. Hurricane Florence has now set records for rainfall in North Carolina, dumping more than 30 inches in places, breaking by six inches a record set by Hurricane Floyd just a decade ago.

Yes, Trump is deeply concerned about the catastrophic flooding…

No, of course he’s not! Donald J. Trump has less capacity for empathy than a full-grown zucchini.

In fact, his first inclination upon rising is to tweet about how it’s so unfair that people who worked for his campaign keep confessing to felonious activities in various court. His 9:20 a.m. post:

The illegal Mueller Witch Hunt continues in search of a crime. There was never Collusion with Russia, except by the Clinton campaign, so the 17 Angry Democrats are looking at anything they can find. Very unfair and BAD for the country. ALSO, not allowed under the LAW!

Am I the only one who senses growing desperation on the part of President Twitter Thumbs?

*

In other news Republican mega-donor Seth Klarman announces plans to support Democrat candidates in the midterm elections, telling The New York Times, he believes “democracy is at stake.”

Klarman donated $2.9 million to Republicans in 2016, but now he explains: “We need to turn the House and Senate as a check on Donald Trump and his runaway presidency.”

Republicans in Congress, he says, have been “spineless” in the face of the president. They’re “profiles in cowardice.”

He says he’s willing to spend up to $20 million in 2018 in hopes Democrats can retake at least one if not both houses of Congress and “act as a check and balance” to a dangerous fool in the Oval Office.

Meanwhile, Les Wexner, longtime Republican donor and Ohio billionaire, announces he is leaving the Republican Party. He says he’s had enough of the “nonsense” he’s witnessed with Trump at the GOP wheel.

Wexner tells a reporter he felt “dirty” watching Trump’s response to the Charlottesville, Virginia riots.

And he came away from watching former President Obama speak at a recent rally in Ohio. “I was struck by the genuineness of the man; his candor, humility and empathy for others,” Wexner said.

Trump will probably respond with insults. Perhaps he’ll call Klarman a “loser” and Wexner a “lowlife.” That’s how this president rolls.

What might actually get his attention: Wexner’s L Brands owns among its many properties, Victoria’s Secrets.

Suddenly, Trump might actually care about someone besides himself. We all know he has a soft spot in his heart and a hard appendage in his pants when it comes to scantily-clad women. He’s especially fond of them if they’ll let him get away with grabbing them wherever he likes.

And Melania is freezing him out.

9/17/18: The president is up by 4 a.m. and tweeting. For once he sticks to the key story: catastrophic flooding in the Carolinas.

Scientists have warned repeatedly that climate change will increase the amount of water the atmosphere can hold. Now, record rainfall totals from Hurricane Florence have caused rivers to overflow across the region. Gauges used to measure flood stages have broken.

Trump, who believes climate change is a “hoax,” tweet-advises people not to run generators more than twenty feet from an opening, to keep their pets safe and says he’ll be traveling to North Carolina tomorrow. At 5:01 a.m. Trump realizes he’s been up for an hour and hasn’t bragged about himself yet:

A lot of small & medium size enterprises are registering very good profit, sometimes record profits-there stocks are doing very well, low income workers are getting big raises. There are an awful lot of good things going on that weren’t during Pres. Obama’s Watch. 

Perhaps he falls asleep, exhausted from tapping on his phone. Not till 9:23 does he tweet once more. This time he’s trying to stay afloat in a flood he caused himself, as a rain of felony convictions rises round his circle of aides and advisers.

He turns on Fox News, likes what he sees, and forgets about the legal deluge:

“Lisa Page Testimony- NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION BEFORE MUELLER APPOINTMENT.” @FoxNews by Catherine Herridge. Therefore, the case should never have been allowed to be brought. It is a totally illegal Witch Hunt! 

Immediately after Comey’s firing Peter Strzok texted to his lover, Lisa Page “We need to Open the case we’ve been waiting on now while Andy (McCabe, also fired) is acting. Page answered, “We need to lock in (redacted). In a formal chargeable way. Soon.” Wow, a conspiracy caught?

Of course there was “NO EVIDENCE OF COLLUSION” before Mueller started to investigate. That’s why we have investigations. Since neither Strzok nor Page has anything to do with the Mueller investigation, we may have to answer that “conspiracy” question by turning to Trump’s own convicted aides.

Flynn, Gates, Manafort, and Cohen, probably, have all agreed to cooperate with the Mueller team.

9/18/18: Scientists are clear about climate change. A warming atmosphere means the air can hold more moisture.

Hurricanes gather strength from warmer oceans.

There’s nothing complicated with the science—but America has a science idiot in the White House.

For a little light reading, simply go to NASA’s website and start worrying about what they’re reporting.

And if that doesn’t cause you to spit out your morning coffee, try a visit to the website of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

You know: scientists doing science.

The warning signs are right there on the bottom.

*

THE DEATH TOLL from Hurricane Florence reaches 33. Experts say there was a 0.1% chance a single storm would dump so much rain on the region, meaning Florence would be a “once-in-a-thousand-years” event.

Wilmington, N.C. received a record 26.58 inches of rain.

Flooding is widespread. Many rivers are expected to rise to record levels. The Lumber River has already hit 22.21 feet, a record. The Washington Post notes that besides the Lumber, the:

Cape Fear, Neuse and Black rivers in North Carolina, which also flooded during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, will set records this week.

In Fayetteville, N.C., the Cape Fear River surpassed flood stage early Sunday after rising 20 feet in 24 hours. It won’t hit major flood stage in Fayetteville until Monday night, according to the National Weather Service, and will peak around 62 feet—three feet higher than its maximum crest in Hurricane Matthew.

In South Carolina, the Pee Dee and Waccamaw rivers are expected to crest sometime Saturday, also at record levels.

Flood-related pollution is expected to complicate recovery. Four coal ash holding ponds have already been breached, dumping heavy metals like arsenic and mercury into the water. Near Lake Sutton, enough coal ash slurry spilled from a holding pond to fill 150 dump trucks. Nine hog “lagoons” filled with manure have been inundated. Seventeen others are threatened.

First, your house is flooded.

Second, you have to deal with pig shit in the water!

*

NORTH CAROLINA LAWMAKERS, at least Republican ones, might want to rethink the way they look at climate change. A law passed in 2012 ordered state and local agencies to ignore scientific models that predict rising sea levels when determining coastal development policies.

Michael Mann, a climate expert at Penn State, predicts that Trump administration policies, added to willful blindness at the state level, will only add to future problems. Florence, “fueled in part by bathwater-hot Atlantic Ocean temperatures” churned across the Carolinas at the same time Trump was ordering “another assault on policies aimed at curbing carbon emissions.”

Future generations are going to pay for our sins.

*

A DANISH SHIP, the Venta Maersk, is currently sailing through the Arctic Ocean. The ship left Vladivostok on August 23, steamed north through the Bering Strait, then turned east across the top of Russia.

Since humankind first learned to travel by sea, this route has never been open without the aid of powerful icebreakers.

Now, the Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the planet and the ice is retreating. Since 1979, Arctic ice has been shrinking by 33,220 square miles annually. That means every four years an area the size of New Mexico is ice-free for the first time. Scientists are worried.

9/19/18: Diplomacy is always a bitch. Every president in U.S. history could have told Donald J. Trump that.

Still, the leaders of North Korea and South Korea are talking about bringing a permanent peace to the peninsula. It’s a start—and Trump may deserve some credit for what is to come.

Same as Obama—keeping the Iranians from getting nukes while he was in office. Diplomacy is always complex.

See, for example: the inability of Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton, Bush 43, Obama, and Donald J. Trump to find solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian problem.

*

TRUMP SPENDS much of the day inspecting hurricane and flood damage in North Carolina. “This is a tough hurricane, one of the wettest we’ve ever seen from the standpoint of water,” he says at one point.

“Rarely have we had an experience like it, and it certainly is not good.” He mentions the “incredible” people of affected states. “There’s been a loss of life. May God be with them and their families. That’s a tough one, it’s tough to understand, but this has been a really difficult period of time for a lot of people.”

Then he thanks FEMA, first responders, the military, and everyone else for doing a great job.

Which means: Hey, look at me. I’m doing a great job, myself!

“Florence has been a nasty one, a big one, like that area has never seen before, so the waters are still rising…” he adds, before closing with a blessing to those affected.

That’s true, Mr. President. A storm like Florence, that far north, has never been seen before.

Any idea why? (See: 9/17-18/18.)

*

IN AN INTERVIEW with The Hill.TV, the president lashes out at Jeff Sessions, saying, “I don’t have an Attorney General:”

I’m so sad over Jeff Sessions because he came to me. He was the first senator that endorsed me. And he wanted to be Attorney General, and I didn’t see it. But he came very strongly he really wanted to be. And, I let him be. And then he went through the nominating process and he did very poorly. I mean, he was mixed up and confused, and people that worked with him for, you know, a long time in the Senate were not nice to him, but he was giving very confusing answers. Answers that should have been easily answered. And that was a rough time for him.

At least one GOP strategist suggests that Trump will try to replace Sessions with Rudy Giuliani.

Trump demurs on whether he might one day fire the attorney general.

“We’ll see what happens. A lot of people have asked me to do that. And I guess I study history, and I say I just want to leave things alone, but it was very unfair what he did,” he said, referring to the recusal decision.

“And my worst enemies, I mean, people that, you know, are on the other side of me in a lot of ways, including politically, have said that was a very unfair thing he did.”

He concluded: "We’ll see how it goes with Jeff. I’m very disappointed in Jeff. Very disappointed."

I think Trump just cited anonymous sources.

He hates anonymous sources.

9/20/18: ABC News reports that Michael Cohen is talking to the Mueller team. The president’s former personal lawyer has had “multiple interview sessions lasting for hours.” Those interviews have been held in both Washington, D.C. and New York City, where Cohen has spoken to prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York.

Topics of interest include:

Trump’s dealings with Russia—including financial and business ties (possible money laundering)

Collusion with Russians during the 2016 campaign (a.k.a. conspiracy)

Any pardon offers Cohen might have received (i.e. obstruction of justice; witness-tampering)

The inner workings of the Trump family charity and Trump Organization, where Cohen served as executive vice president for ten years (tax fraud)

We can also assume investigators will ask Cohen:

Did you travel to Prague in early 2016 and meet with Russians about covering up payments to hackers who were going after Clinton’s emails? (conspiracy)

Who knew about the secret June 9, 2016 meeting with Russians? Was there another meeting, three days earlier, to strategize? (perjury; obstruction of justice)

Did Trump pay other hush money settlements to other than the two women already known, and the doorman, during the campaign? (campaign finance violations)

What light can you shed on Donald J. Trump’s taxes? (tax evasion)

And, more generally:

As a businessman, is Trump a crook? (everything)

ABC also reports: “Cohen’s participation in the meetings has been voluntary—without any guarantee of leniency from prosecutors, according to several people familiar with the situation.”

9/21/18: We know President Trump never seems to believe women who say they were sexually abused. Now, with accusers coming out to say that U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh was guilty of abusive behavior in his youth, Trump can’t resist commenting.

On Fox News he weighs in on the story told by Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. Ford says, when she was 15, and Kavanaugh was 17, he attacked her at a party. He and a friend, Mark Judge, had been drinking heavily and dragged her into a bedroom, locked the door, turned on loud music to muffle her protests, and then Kavanaugh held her down and tried to take off her clothes.

Trump now says the girl should have called the F.B.I. back in 1982. “You say, why didn’t somebody call the FBI 36 years ago? I mean, you could also say, when did this all happen? What’s going on?”

Apparently the president is too dumb to know this would be a local matter to be handled by local police.

Today, he tweets out a backhanded slap at her and her parents. Either the attack she describes wasn’t so bad or her mother and father failed to defend their daughter.

“I have no doubt that, if the attack on Dr. Ford was as bad as she says,” he says, “charges would have been immediately filed with local Law Enforcement Authorities by either her or her loving parents [emphasis added]. I ask that she bring those filings forward so that we can learn date, time, and place!”

9/22/18: Yet another book about Trump and the Russians is scheduled for release. This time it’s Pop Stars, Pageants and Presidents: How an Email Trumped My Life by Rob Goldstone.

Goldstone is the man who touched the fuse that led to the explosive meeting of Don Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort with a team of Russians bearing gifts at Trump Tower in the summer of 2016.

I, for one, will not be rushing out to get an autographed copy of his book; but Goldstone’s insights may be telling. He says he has no doubt the Russians interfered in the election—and believes the Trump campaign was open to foreign assistance. Was this a “dirty offer,” he was asked in a recent interview?

“Yes,” he replied. “That is true.”

Goldstone, made a living as a publicist for many years, had several ties that now interest investigators—and admits he has already spent a total of nine hours talking to the Mueller team.

He once won a spot on The Celebrity Apprentice for a client, Venezuelan actress Patricia Velasquez. So he knew Trump before he became president.

In 2012 he took on a new client, Emin Agalarov, a “Moscow-based crooner.” (The Washington Post tells the Goldstone story in great detail, hinting at potential legal problems for the president.)

In the spring of 2013, Emin and Goldstone, who has dual U.S. and British citizenship and lives in New Jersey, approached Paula Shugart, president of the Miss Universe Organization. Would she help them book a pageant contestant to appear in one of Emin’s music videos?

Not only would she try, she’d talk to Trump about a cameo. Shugart mentioned the possibility of bringing the pageant to Russia. Emin suggested Moscow. He and his father would pay for the move and would eventually spend $15 million to host the Miss Universe show.

Eventually, Emin, Goldstone and Emin’s father, Aras Agalarov met Trump in Las Vegas, where the Miss USA pageant was being conducted. Goldstone sat at dinner next to Michael Cohen, Trump’s personal lawyer at the time.

As Goldstone explains:

Trump appeared to hit it off with Emin Agalarov. At one point during dinner, Trump loudly challenged the young singer: “‘Hey Emin! I’ll reduce the [pageant] fee right now by a million dollars if you tell me if you’ve ever slept with any contestants!’” Goldstone recalled Trump saying.

Agalarov shot back: “Interesting. I’ll increase your fee by $5 million right now if you tell me if you’ve ever slept with any contestant.”

Trump responded with a smile, “We should just forget the bet.” The room cracked up.

“It was like frat boy behavior,” Goldstone said. “It was kind of a bonding thing.”

At any rate, the “frat boys” bonded. The Miss Universe pageant in Moscow was a success. (Trump either did or didn’t sleep with a number of Russian hookers while he was there.) And Emin got his wish.

In November 2013 he released a nearly four-minute music video of his song, In Another Life. Lip-synching all the way, we get to see the handsome Russian spill coffee on his t-shirt. This affords him the opportunity to strip off his shirt, dance across the top of a living room sofa and perform an exuberant handstand. All the while he fantasizes about pageant contestants. The first appears behind him in a mirror as he brushes his teeth. Miss Russia plunks down on the bench beside him later, as he plays the piano and lip-synchs. She disappears, only to be followed by a sultry Miss USA in a red-sequined dress. Poof and she’s gone, only to be replaced by Miss Puerto Rico, Miss Switzerland and Miss Poland, clearly lip-synching, as well.

Eventually, the confused crooner looks under his bed, trying to figure out where all the babes have gone. You lose track of all the beauties, five following him down a flight of stairs, a dozen scattered about an indoor pool. Then a hefty older woman jumps into the pool, splashes Emin, and he awakes from a dream. 

I think the moral of the story is that Emin is trapped in a terrible nightmare, because Donald J. Trump now appears at the head of a conference table, demanding, “Wake him up right now! Emin, wake up. Come on. What’s wrong with you? What’s wrong with you, Emin? Let’s get with it.”

The video ends when Trump fires Emin.

And that’s it.

(I was hoping the last scene would show Trump turning into a Mr. Potato Head-like version of himself.)

So, what do we know? We know the future president and the Russian tune-smith knew each other well. We know a meeting scheduled between Trump and Putin during the time the pageant was in Moscow fell through only because Putin was delayed by a session with the King of Holland. And when Trump decided to run for president Emin and his dad remembered how much fun they had had with the orange-tinted tycoon.

Goldstone had high hopes too. He remembers thinking, in early 2016, that if Trump won perhaps his client would be invited to sing at the inauguration or visit the White House. Instead, on the morning of June 3, Goldstone fielded a call from the singer, asking him to use his contacts with the Trump family.

Emin wanted to hook up a few agents of the Russian government with the leaders of the campaign.

Agalarov had met a “well connected” lawyer earlier that day; and that lawyer had some serious dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Goldstone sat down and banged out an email to Don Jr. The Russians, he said, had info that “would incriminate” Hillary. But Don Jr. should beware. This offer was “very high level and sensitive.”

Goldstone explained that the information was “part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.”

Today, he insists that he was puffing up his story a little, bragging as it were, to get Don Jr.’s attention.

Jr. quickly responded, “Íf it’s what you say I love it.”

From that point forward, Don Jr.’s memory begins to fail him. According to the Goldstone interview in the Washington Post, phone records provided to Congress show Jr. talked briefly with Emin on June 6.

Called before Congress to testify in front of a House Intelligence Committee, chaired by Rep. Devin Nunes, Don Jr. claims he has no memory of that call.

In fact, you had to wonder if someone slugged him upside the head on or about June 10, because Jr. eventually forgets:

A) having had the meeting with the Russians on June 9;

B) who he talked to on the phone (at a blocked number that might well have been his dad’s) before, during, and after the meeting;

C) who was at the meeting;

D) and why he, Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort and the Russians gathered at all.

Goldstone makes one particularly interesting point during his Post interview. He notes that Don Jr. must have been impressed by what Emin said over the phone. “My email didn’t get a meeting at Trump Tower,” he claimed. “My email got a call.” Unless Jr. or Jared or Paul can offer insight, Goldstone adds, “we’ll never know why there was a meeting” on June 9, 2016.

Jr. clearly isn’t going to “remember.”

Ivanka might have to kill Jared if he ever tries to talk.

Manafort was there—and he’s cooperating with prosecutors—and he just might have something to say.

9/23/18: Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Az.) wakes up in a foul mood. His re-election bid for a seat in Congress has taken a hit after six of his siblings come out and urge voters to pull the lever for David Brill, his Democratic opponent.

“It would be difficult to see my brother as anything but a racist,” sister Grace Gosar says in an ad for Brill.

Still, Gosar’s mother, Bernadette, 85 (in other words: the target demographic of the current GOP), backs her son, saying she’s shocked her own children would attack their brother.

In case you don’t remember, Gosar has claimed that George Soros, who is Jewish, secretly organized the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017. Also, according to Gosar: Obama is a Kenyan-born Muslim.

“I share the same philosophy and policies that Paul does,” mom tells reporters. “He’s done a hell of a job for Arizona, and they love him.”

9/24/18: George Packer, writing in The New Yorker, captures the essence of the Trump administration in five words:

“Only snakes and sycophants survive.”

*

JUDGE BRETT KAVANAUGH appears on Fox News to interview. It’s conservative’s safe place and the Judge wants to make it clear he deserves to be confirmed to a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court because he was a virgin in high school and for years after. I think that’s the point he’s trying to make.

Unfortunately for Judge Kavanaugh, he has been accused of sexually abusing a young woman when he was in high school.

Host Martha MacCallum gives him a good old Fox News going over. She thanks the nominee, accompanied by his wife, for coming. “What made you decide to speak out before the hearing on Thursday? Judge Kavanaugh?” she asks

“I am looking for a fair process, a process where I can defend my integrity and clear my name. And all I’m asking for is fairness and that I’d be heard in this process.”

This is Fox News, so MacCallum serves up a creampuff for his wife. “Ashley, what has this been like for you the past couple of weeks? I know you’ve had death threats and all kinds of things coming your way. What—how does that feel?”

Mrs. Kavanaugh admits the confirmation process has been “incredibly difficult. It’s harder than we imagined.”

One reason it’s harder, is that one woman has come forward to claim Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her when she was fifteen and he was a senior in high school. A second accuser says Kavanaugh exposed himself during a drunken doom room party at Yale, during their freshman year.

McCallum asks the Judge about that.

“I never did any such thing—never did any such thing,” he exclaims. “The other people alleged to be there don’t recall any such thing. If such as thing had a happened, it would’ve been the talk of campus. The women I knew in college and the men I knew in college said that it’s unconceivable that I could’ve done such a thing.”

Did he attack the fifteen-year-old, McCallum wonders?

“No. I had never sexually assaulted anyone, not in high school, not ever. I’ve always treated women with dignity and respect.” He cites a letter signed by 65 women who knew him in high school who all say he was a great guy.

(I am wondering: What guy in high school knows 65 women well enough for them to vouch for his purity—particularly a guy who went to an all-men’s private prep school; but let’s put that aside.)

“Let me ask Ashley, when this came out what did you say to your husband?” McCallum inquires. “Did you question him and have moments where you wondered if he was telling you the truth?”

“No. I know Brett. I’ve known him for 17 years. And this is not at all character; it’s really hard to believe. He’s decent, he’s kind, he’s good. I know his heart. This is not consistent with—with Brett.”

I am doing the math in my head. MacCallum clearly is not. Or she is and this is Fox News. And she doesn’t want anyone else to know the math doesn’t necessarily work. That would mean the alleged incidents occurred two decades before Kavanaugh met his wife.

Is the Judge sure he never did anything bad at Yale?

Not a chance, the Judge insists.

What about the allegations of excessive drinking, MacCallum wonders? Could Kavanaugh have been so drunk in high school, for example, he couldn’t remember what he’d done?

Kavanaugh admits there were parties—which is pretty much like admitting you went to high school in the first place:

And the drinking age was 18, and yes, the seniors were legal and had beer there. And yes, people might have had too many beers on occasion and people generally in high school—I think all of us have probably done things we look back on in high school and regret or cringe a bit, but that’s not what we’re talking about.

We’re talking about an allegation of sexual assault. I’ve never sexually assaulted anyone. I did not have sexual intercourse or anything close to sexual intercourse in high school or for many years thereafter. And the girls from the schools I went to and I were friends—

If MacCallum is surprised by such a response, she’s not showing it. She merely asks for clarification: “So you’re saying that through all these years that are in question, you were a virgin?”

“That’s correct,” he says.

“Never had sexual intercourse with anyone in high school?” she wonders.

“Correct.”

“And through what years in college since we’re probing into your personally life here?” she probes.

“Many years after. I’ll leave it at that.”

What about having the F.B.I. investigate the new allegations, MacCallum asks? “Ashely? And then I’ll ask you that, Brett.”

“I mean, I’ve said all along and Ashley, too, I want to be heard,” the Judge responds, cutting off Mrs. Kavanaugh. “I was first interviewed last Monday, the day after the allegation appeared by the committee staff under penalty of felony, and I denied this categorically and unequivocally and I said twice during that, I said, ‘I want a hearing tomorrow,’ last Tuesday, a week ago.

MacCallum wonders if it bothers the Judge to hear Democratic senators have already said they believe the accusations. “When you hear United States senators who are making judgments, final judgments, what does that make you think about the presumption of innocence in this country?”

This is good Fox News “journalism,” signaling viewers that Democrats are unfair and don’t believe in the “presumption of innocence,” a hallmark of justice.

You know MacCallum isn’t going to ask about the comments of President Trump, who has already said the second accuser, the woman at Yale, “has nothing” and that the Democrats are running a con-job.

“In America, we have fairness,” the Judge replies.

“We hear from both sides. I’ve spent my life in the judiciary, the — our judicial system, and part of the judicial systems as I’ve said during my first—my hearing was process protection. That’s what judges believe that’s what our system was built on, the rule of law, about fair process.”

MacCallum isn’t taking any chances. She works for Fox News; and she wants to send signals to viewers about what they should think.

“Let me ask you this,” she says. “Separately from these allegations, is it fair to judge someone on something they did before they were 18 years old? When they were 17 years old? Should anything they did then follow them later in life, or should it enter into any decisions made about them later in life?”

Kavanaugh replies: “What I’m here to do is tell you the truth, and this allegation from 36 years ago is not —

“But separately from what you’re being accused of just as a judge, if you were looking at this case as a part of what you’re going through and someone said, ‘This person did that at 17 years old,’ is it fair to judge them on something that when they’re in their 50s, 60s?” MacCallum presses.

If she’s doing her job, all the knuckleheads at home will start nudging each other and saying, “Naw, that ain’t right. Why this good Christian fellow, if he tried to rape a woman back then, well, do you want more commie liberals on the Supreme Court?”

Kavanaugh assures her he’s a good person.

“So in terms of the process now and what happens now, when you look at how all of this—where all this generated from, do you have thoughts? Is this about Roe v. Wade? Is this about people who initially right off the bat said they wanted to see you never take the spot on the Supreme Court? Where’s all this coming from?” MacCallum posits. Again she and her handlers at Fox News want that idea to sink in. This is another damn witch hunt, they hope viewers to decide.

Kavanaugh says he just wants a “fair process.”

MacCallum tries again to get him on record, saying he’s being persecuted. He says he wants a “fair process.”

MacCallum tries it a third time: “You don’t want to talk about where you think this is coming from?”

Watching at home myself, I want to shout at the television: “It’s coming from a woman who has nothing to gain, who says this ‘choir boy’ virgin tried to strip off her clothes when she was fifteen! Come on, MacCallum, ask the Judge or his wife, ‘You have daughters, what would you say if this happened to them.’”

The Judge replies again, “I just want an opportunity, a fair process where I can defend my integrity.”

Speaking of closed minds, three days before Milksop Mitch McConnell assured Christian conservatives that Kavanaugh was going to be confirmed.

9/25/18: President Trump has clearly watched Kavanaugh on television the night before. He tells reporters outside the White House that the second accuser of the Judge has “nothing” on him because she was “messed up” at the time of the alleged incident she described.

Trump doesn’t care that she has admitted that—or that she pointed out that Kavanaugh was messed up too.

The fact these two women have accused his pick for the court proves its part of a “con game” run by the Democrats.

“The second accuser,” he says,

has nothing. She thinks maybe it could have been him, maybe not. She admits that she was drunk. She admits time lapses. There were time lapses. This is a person, and this is a series of statements, that’s going to take one of the most talented and one of the greatest intellects from a judicial standpoint in our country, going to keep him off the United States Supreme Court?

We know Trump’s stance. He never believes the woman in the case. He said Roger Ailes was innocent. Fox News had to pay at least $45 million to settle sexual harassment claims against him.

Trump said Bill O’Reilly was innocent. O’Reilly paid $32 million to settle one claim of sexual harassment and a total of $13 million to five other women with similar harassment claims.

Trump defended White House aide Rob Porter despite the fact that both of his ex-wives accused him of domestic abuse. “He says he’s innocent, and I think you have to remember that,” Trump said. “He said very strongly yesterday that he’s innocent, but you’ll have to talk to him about that.” 

Soon after, a photo of one of those wives, with a pronounced black eye, surfaced.

 *

THE DAY DOESN’T GET MUCH BETTER when the president appears in front of the United Nations General Assembly to give a speech.

This is Trump we’re talking about; so expectations from world leaders are low. They’ll be happy if Trump refrains from declaring war on Canada or calling Angela Merkel a “low I.Q. Kraut.”

Naturally, Trump starts off by bragging about himself. He tries out one of his favorite lines which he uses at rallies where everyone is wearing red MAGA hats. “In less than two years, my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country. America’s…”

That’s as far as he gets. Laughter ripples through the audience of 130 world leaders.

“So true,” a surprised Trump smiles wanly. The laughter becomes pronounced as listeners from many nations get their translations. Trump is silent for five seconds. Finally, he gives an awkward shrug.

“Didn’t expect that reaction,” he says. “But that’s okay.”

Laughter fills the hall and Trump returns to his text, attacking the very idea that animates the United Nations. Clearly, he’s oblivious to the fact that the United States took the lead in founding the organization in 1945.

Later, Trump later tells reporters he used that line because he wanted to get a laugh from the audience. “Oh it was great, well, that was meant to get some laughter, so it was great,” he said.

For September 30 to October 2 ( the Kavanaugh hearings) go to Republicans Nominate Two Candidates for One Supreme Court Seat.

Those two candidates: 

Judge Brett Kavanaugh

Judge Kavanaugh’s virgin weenie.

10/3/18: Richard Ojeda, a former U.S. Army paratrooper is running for a seat in Congress from West Virginia as a Democrat. Among other positions, he led the teachers’ strike that overcame years of Republican lawmakers’ failure to raise their salaries. He favors the legalization of marijuana, in part as a way to combat “Big Pharma” and help fight the opioid addiction epidemic that grips the state. He likes coal jobs—but can’t stomach coal company executives. And he doesn’t like the way Trump stuffed his cabinet with billionaires such as Education Secretary Besty DeVos.

In 2016, he says, he voted for Donald J. Trump. Now he feels the president has failed the people of his district, West Virginia 3.

Ojeda served 24 years in the military, and rose to the rank of major, did two combat tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. He has two Bronze Stars and thirteen tattoos to represent the names of soldiers he lost in combat..

An average of three recent polls for the district, show Ojeda with a razor-thin lead over his Republican opponent. In 2016, the Third Congressional District went to the Republican candidate by a margin of 67.9% to 24% for the Democrat.

Naturally, Trump (who never got closer to combat than skiing in Aspen during the 60s and 70s) responds to Ojeda’s criticism by labeling him “a total whacko.”

10/4/18: Florida officials confirm that low to moderate amounts of the algae that cause red tides have appeared off the state’s Atlantic coastline for the first time in more than a decade.

This adds to the problem of red tides that have blanketed the Florida Gulf Coast for ten months, ruining tourism and decimating sea life.

As the Miami Herald explains,

Since the weekend, beach goers have complained about coughing, itchy eyes and other symptoms linked to red tide. Gerare Rimesso, a neurology researcher at the University of Miami, said he and his wife fled Fort Lauderdale beach after about an hour of coughing and runny noses Saturday morning.

“She covered her face with a shirt. I tried to be a tough guy, but I was too irritated by the end,” he said.

Dead fish began washing ashore in MacArthur State Park in Palm Beach County on Wednesday where amounts of Karenia brevis, the algae that cause red tide, have been detected at amounts high enough to cause fish kills and respiratory distress. State biologists were sent to investigate the kills. County beaches have been closed since the weekend.

Increasing pollution flowing into coastal waters and higher ocean temperatures, a result of climate change, mean conditions for the spread of red tides are increasingly favorable. The Florida Gulf Coast has had at least one red tide “bloom” every year since 1994. This year the state also saw a “massive blue-green algae bloom on Lake Okeechobee.”

Or, as one Naples resident put it, “The Florida we know is ruined. That’s our new reality and people are living it in this beach town. Naples beaches are known as some of the state’s best for their tidy white sands and pristine waters, but the toll of the toxic red tide invasion is relentless….

The ocean waters are pools of dark brown muck.

Dead crabs and other sea life litter the sands.

Oh, the stench!

You can’t swim. There’s not a soul in the water.

The usually crowded beach is mostly deserted, except for the few who come to sun, to wait for the sunset—test the waters, so to speak—and also to document what happens when government enacts bad environmental policy. A videotape of a pod of dolphins struggling in dark waters too close to shore near the pier makes The Naples Daily News. It makes you very mad.

If you sit for long on the sand you begin to experience trouble breathing, the resident adds. You can’t stand the smell, even with a thick beach towel covering your mouth and nose, nor do you or your family members feel like eating the picnic you brought to the beach. You certainly don’t want your children going in the water or picking up dead crabs along the shore.

“You have to witness the environmental destruction to believe it,” he explains finally

But, hey, there’s good news, too!

For the last eight years, Florida Republicans have been busy cutting back “unnecessary” environmental regulations.

*

IF WE TOOK HURRICANES 101 and paid attention we know the season for great Atlantic storms is late summer, when ocean waters are at their warmest. We know if you slowly increase the ocean temperatures (a.k.a. climate change) you turn the people along the coasts of the United States—not to mention round the world—into the proverbial lobsters who don’t know what’s hitting them.

As scientists have predicted, warmer air holds more moisture. That means hurricanes, when they come, can dump greater rainfall as a result. The two worst storms for rainfall—trillions of gallons—recorded in the last seventy years: Hurricane Harvey in 2017 and Hurricane Florence in 2018.

As Newsweek reported recently, “heavy precipitation events,” have increased across most of the United States as weather alters. The Northwest saw a 71% percent increase in such events between 1958 and 2012. The Midwest was hit with 37% greater frequency, the Southeast 27% more often.

And with warmer ocean temperatures you get “turbocharged” hurricanes.

Plus: red tides!

  

Fun at the beach!

10/5/18: Remember when Republicans and the president promised they could cut taxes and the deficit would shrink? Before you could say, “Boy, Republicans really seem to have a soft spot for men who molest young women,” the deficit would disappear and all Americans could live happily ever after—without affordable health care, true—but able to say, “Merry Christmas,” pretty much at will.

First, you had the Bush tax cuts. We know how those worked. During Fiscal Years 1998-2001, President Bill Clinton ran four consecutive surpluses and cut $559.35 billion from the national debt.

(And, yes, he did have sex with that woman.)

Republicans took over in 2001 and jacked the deficit by putting two wars on the federal credit card and cutting taxes! Estimated cost of those wars, according to the Wall Street Journal: $5.6 trillion.

For Fiscal Year 2008 the federal deficit had increased to $458.55 billion, the worst year on record, topping another George W. Bush year, FY 2004: $412.73 billion. But FY 2009, when GOP policies were pretty much in place before President Obama ever sat down in the White House, was terrible. The economy tanked and the deficit ballooned to $1.413 trillion.

You could tell yourself the GOP cared about fiscal responsibility during President Obama’s time in office. The Tea Party crowd did have a point—although they sometimes seemed a little nutty. You can’t run massive deficits endlessly. Three years of trillion dollar deficits followed, as the U.S. dug out of the Great Recession. By FY 2015, however, the deficit was a more manageable $438.49 billion.

Soon congressmen began itching to spend more money, especially on defense. The FY deficits rose again in 2016 and 2017.

Then, “thankfully,” the Republicans took charge. They had the House. They had the Senate. With Trump, they had the White House.

Meanwhile, they cut taxes, especially for the wealthiest Americans, who already have billions and struggle with monthly bills. Again, Republicans promised. The economy will boom! The deficit will shrink. And if Trump can serve eight years it will disappear. He promised. But GOP policies didn’t quite work the way they said. The budget deficit for FY 2018 was:

$782 billion!

According to the Congressional Budget Office, with the Trump tax cuts in place and the GOP charting the nation’s fiscal course, the estimated deficits are expected to be:

FY 2019: $984.40 billion!

FY 2020: $986.95 billion!

FY 2021: $915.92 billion!

The deficits for FY’s 2022 through 2029 are now estimated to be around a trillion dollars annually, too.

  

Guess who's ballooning the budget, even with a healthy economy?

10/6/18: Once again we learn a hard lesson about the need for government regulations. A limousine owned by a New York company with a history of failed safety inspections and sometimes known to hire drivers without proper licenses is involved in a catastrophic crash. The driver, all seventeen passengers and two pedestrians are killed. This makes it the deadliest transportation crash in the U.S. in years. So, yes, government regulations are often necessary.

See also: NFL brain damage, unsafe Duck Boat operations, failing hip replacement devices, for-profit colleges ripping off students, U.S. banks laundering money for drug cartels and, of course, Big Pharma pushing “safe” opioid pain killers because, they promised, nothing could go wrong.

  

10/7/18: Sunday night the pop music star Taylor Swift weighs in on social media and urges her 113 million Instagram followers to register to vote.

The 28-year-old Nashville resident says she’ll be voting in Tennessee in the November midterms.

In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country [emphasis added]. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. 

I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.

She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives.

Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway.

So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting!

In the next 24-hours, Vote.org has 65,000 new voters register, more than they had during the entire month of August.

Naturally, the President of the United States can’t resist saying later that he now likes her music “25 percent less.”

At least he refrained from calling her a “dog,” or “pig,” or “lowlife.”

Swift will be voting for Democrats.

10/8/18: Now that Judge Kavanaugh and his innocent weenie have been confirmed to the Supreme Court, the president can’t resist taking a victory lap and insulting the accusers. Previously, he had said that Dr. Christine Blasey Ford was a “fine woman” and a “very credible witness.”

Now, Trump is back to insulting people even when insults are unnecessary. At various points during the day he tells reporters the judge was “caught up in a hoax set up by the Democrats….The things they said about him, I don’t even think he ever heard of the words. It was all made up. It was fabricated and it’s a disgrace and I think it’s gonna really show you something come November 6.”

Actually, listening to Senate testimony, more Americans came away believing Dr. Ford than Judge Kavanaugh. According to NPR, 45% of Americans believed her while 32% believed him. A second poll showed that 51 percent of Americans did not want the judge confirmed vs. 40 percent who did.

In terms of the sexual allegations, 52 percent believed the judge’s accusers, 38 percent bought his denial.

Among women—who tend to be the victims of most sexual assaults—the numbers were 61 percent to 31 percent against Judge Kavanaugh.

Trump—accused by more than a dozen women of sexual improprieties—was having none of it! The Judge had been “really tortured.” What Democrats did to him was a “disgrace.” “I thought it was one of the most disgraceful performances I’ve ever seen.”

Monday afternoon the Groper-in-Chief was at it again. “He’s a great person,” Trump said of the new Supreme Court justice, “and it was very, very unfair what happened to him. False charges, false accusations, horrible statements that were totally untrue that he knew nothing about. It was a disgraceful situation, brought about by people that are evil and he toughed it out.”

Monday night, the president confirmed Kavanaugh on television—even though he had already been sworn in Sunday. Naturally, Trump couldn’t move on nor could he acknowledge there were ever reasons for concern:

On behalf of our nation, I want to apologize to Brett and the entire Kavanaugh family for the terrible pain and suffering you have been forced to endure. Those who step forward to serve our country deserve a fair and dignified evaluation. Not a campaign of political and personal destruction based on lies and deception. What happened to the Kavanaugh family violates every notion of fairness, decency and due process.

Our country, a man or a woman, must always be presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. And with that I must state that you, sir, under historic scrutiny were proven innocent. Thank you.

Yes, that’s right: Trump was calling for “fairness, decency and due process” for all Americans.

Oddly enough, Trump had a different point of view when a Democratic senator, Al Franken, was accused of inappropriate touching and having posted a photograph in poor taste.

Now, having seen Kavanaugh prevail, despite the accusations of three women, the president had to go back to the Franken case. Suddenly, he no longer believed Franken was guilty. Or he didn’t care if he was.

At a campaign rally he mocked Franken. And Trump’s fans—apparently incapable of remembering his previous positions—ate up his insults. “That guy was wacky. Boy did he fold up like a wet rag, huh?” Trump said at a rally in Rochester, Minnesota, Franken’s home state.

“He was gone so fast, I don’t want to mention Al Franken’s name, he was gone so fast,” he added.

In other words:

A)   Trump originally believed Franken had his hands all over a woman while she was sleeping.

B)    Trump was shocked by the senator’s hypocrisy when it came to comments on sexual harassment.

C)   Trump now thinks Franken folded like a weakling when he should have fought it out for his job, just like Judge Kavanaugh, who was accused of much worse.

D)   In other words, Trump doesn’t care if you’re guilty or not.

E)    Finally, Kavanaugh’s accusers were evil—and, by the way, the women who accused Trump were liars.

For some “odd” reason a number of recent polls have shown that a solid majority of men approve of the job Trump is doing as president while women generally disapprove. A July poll found that men preferred Republican candidates by eight points in the midterms, and women preferred Democrats by a margin of…58 percent to 33 percent. (That poll also found that by a 63-31 margin, voters agree with the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade.

At this point you have to wonder if even Tiffany Trump is going to vote for Republicans.

10/9/18: Nikki Haley announces her resignation as ambassador to the United Nations, effective at the end of the year. In a surprise press conference she says it has been the “honor of a lifetime” to have served in the role. And look at what has happened, she claims, now that “the United States is respected.”

Yes, that has never happened before!!! Other countries, she adds, “might not like what we do, but they respect what we do. They know if we say we’re going to do something, we’ll follow it through.”

Yes. They know we’re going to pull out of international treaties having to do with climate change, just as the Climate-Denier-in-Chief promised. They know we’re going to say NATO no longer matters. They know we’re going to insult our closest allies and mean it. They know if Trump says Trump loves Putin he does indeed love Putin. They know if the president promises to tear up the treaty that kept Iran from getting nuclear weapons for a decade he’s going to do it and not worry what happens next. And if Trump promises to rain down “fire and fury” on North Korea, but later says they are “no longer a nuclear threat” even though they still have all their nuclear weapons, and then Trump tells fans at a rally that he “loves” Kim Jong-un, one of the world’s most brutal dictators, because he wrote our president “beautiful letters,” well, yes. We are going to be respected!

In fact, you know we’re going to see the great results in the latest poll! According to Pew Research, confidence in President Trump “to do the right thing in regard to world affairs,” stands at 7% in Spain. Our allies in France and Germany are more optimistic. A whopping 9% of the French and 10% of Germans expect Trump to do what is right in the realm of world affairs.

Exactly half of all people surveyed in 25 countries have a favorable view of the United States today, vs. 43% unfavorable.

When asked to respond to this statement: “The U.S. takes into account the interests of other countries,” 7 in 10 answer, “not too much” or “not at all.”

Even worse, 57% of Western Europeans answer “no” when asked if the United States respects the freedoms of its own people. That’s the first time a majority has ever answered the question with a “no.”

People who watch Fox News might not notice; but around the world views of our country are changing for the worse. Finally, 70% of respondents believe, compared to ten years ago, that China plays a “more important role” in the world, 41% say the same for Russia and only 31% feel the United States is playing a more important role. The only good news: most people surveyed still say they would prefer that the United States—and not China—remain the world leader.

 

10/10/18: Hurricane Michael, a near-Category 5 storm piles into the Florida Panhandle, causing billions in damage. Michael is the strongest hurricane to strike the area since record-keeping began in 1851. Original estimates put Michael at the “tropical storm” level but the hurricane quickly gained intensity as it passed over much-warmer-than-normal waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

Or, as climate experts might put it in a tweet—assuming they were giant assholes like President Trump: “See. We told LOSER Republicans this would be the direct result of rising global temps! Climate deniers are pathetic. Their corporate masters are a disgrace. #WePredictedThis.”

*

RICHARD PINEDO, “a California computer whiz caught by the special counsel's office selling fake online identities to Russians,” gets a six-month prison sentence, meaning score one for Robert Mueller and his team.

Pinedo is a small fish, but may know where the big fish like to swim. CNN—also known to Trump fans as “Fake News,” because they report stories Trump fans don’t want to hear—explains:

Prosecutors told the judge that Pinedo gave them “significant assistance” and that his admissions and testimony “saved the government significant time and resources in the investigation.”

Pinedo helped the investigators identify previously anonymous Russians who allegedly ran the social media propaganda scheme during the election. He then explained to investigators how the scheme of using false identities worked….

Pinedo testified before a federal grand jury in DC, which approved the indictment of the Internet Research Agency, Concord Management and Consulting and the oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as “Putin’s chef.”

In other words, Mueller’s investigators pull one thread and several begin to unravel. We have one Russian and two possibly complicit American companies. Keep digging Mr. Mueller.

10/11/18: Floridians wake up to catastrophic damage. And where was Trump last night? Focused on recovery efforts? Making sure the federal government could move quickly and marshal resources?

I mean: Trump’s not like that “golfing” dude from Kenya, Trump loved to criticize. Where was President Obama during the recovery period from Super Storm Sandy? Let’s check Citizen Trump’s Twitter feed:

So, Obama was “wrong” to campaign—the day before the presidential election—even with Springsteen. And Springsteen was a New Jersey native doing all he could to bring relief for victims of Super Storm Sandy.

Where exactly was Trump today? Why, this must be “Fake News!” There is no way the man is a giant orange hypocrite!

Yet, according to the Associated Press—and there are photos—Trump was campaigning in Erie, Pennsylvania. (See also: 10/12-13/18)

*

EVEN BETTER, when not campaigning, President Trump is busy casting doubt on climate change science again. (See: 11/23/18.)

He says a United Nations report predicting dire consequences in the near future if the world does not address the issue, is just one of many reports on the topic. He doesn’t necessarily believe what the 91 scientists from 40 countries are saying. He could, he tells reporters, find other reports that say the climate is “fabulous.”

Really! He says the climate is “fabulous.”

If the President or his benighted fans would care to see a few more reports on climate change they could go to the NASA website and read a little. The banner for that website notes:

Carbon Dioxide: 409 parts per million ↑;

Global Temperature: 1.8° F ↑ (since 1880);

Arctic Ice Minimum (down): 12.8 percent per decade;

Ice Sheets (down) 413 Gigatonnes per year;

Sea Level ↑ 3.2 millimeters per year.

Next, Trump could stop tweeting and going to rallies and go to the website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and try a little harder to get a grip on what scientists are saying.

Did you know, for instance, that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere are the highest in 800,000 years?

Did you know carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is the main driver of climate change?

Did you know methane gasses are roughly 25-30 times more damaging, molecule for molecule, in terms of climate change, than carbon dioxide?

Did you know the Trump administration is rolling back Obama-era rules to cut methane emissions into the atmosphere? Damn! You can look this up!!!! So could the Science-Moron-in-Chief.

Did you know Andrew Wheeler, head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is a former lobbyist for Big Coal?

Did you know Wheeler replaced Scott Pruitt—partly because Pruitt was a paranoid jerk who had members of his security detail go pick up his laundry? And did you know that when Pruitt was Oklahoma Attorney General he so loved fossil fuel companies that he liked to take letters from oil companies complaining about unnecessary E. P. A. regulations, copy their documents exactly to state letterhead, and send them along with his signature at the bottom?

Did you know that a Republican senator, James Inhofe (a friend of Scott Pruitt’s) once said, if he could make a snowball in January in Washington, D.C., then global warming wasn’t real!

Good luck young people. You’re going to need it. Because these guys, environmentally speaking, are totally screwing the pooch.

*

WE KNOW TRUMP likes to talk about how he loves coal and coal mining jobs. Since he took office the number of coal miners at work has risen from 50,700 to 52,600, a gain of less than two thousand jobs.

And for this: you get increasing threats to the planet on which all 7.6 billion human beings currently live.

This is weather.

Four years later and not one bit smarter: Still weather!!!

10/12/18: In case you haven’t noticed, President Trump never apologizes for anything. He never admits he’s wrong, even when he contradicts himself. If anything good happens—he hogs every iota of credit.

If anything bad happens it’s someone else’s fault. This week the stock market has taken a dive. Naturally, Trump insists you can’t blame him. If the market goes up, it’s because his policies are magic. If the market tumbles, his policies are not to blame. The problem now, he claims, is the Federal Reserve System.

Trump calls it “loco,” says the policies of the central bank are “ridiculous.” The board members are “going wild.”

The market loses 1,300 points in two days—shaving two trillion dollars off the books—and it’s not Trump’s fault in the slightest.

*

DID WE MENTION that Trump criticized Obama for campaigning in 2012, while people were still recovering from Super Storm Sandy?

That is a rhetorical question. We did.

Where is Trump on this fine Friday? He is campaigning in Lebanon, Ohio. (See: 10/11/18 and 10/13/18.)

People in Florida and other states are still recovering from Hurricane Michael. 

*

TRUMP WASTES part of his afternoon meeting with Kanye West. It just might be the strangest interview ever conducted in the White House. 

10/13/18: Have we mentioned yet that Trump once criticized Obama for campaigning while people were still recovering from Super Storm Sandy?

Of course we did!

Today Trump is off again speaking at campaign rallies, this time in Richmond, Kentucky? That allows the president to complete the exceedingly rare Hypocrite Trifecta in just three days! (See: 10/11-12/18.)

10/14/18: Speaking of hypocrites, imagine that you earned $1.7 million in salary and investments in one year, specifically 2015. Imagine how much fun you could have spending $4,657.53, which you earned every single day.

But, oh, the taxes!

Well, not if you had a sharp tax lawyer, like Jared Kushner, son-in-law of “I-Can’t-Show-You-My-Taxes” Donald J. Trump.

You simply claim “depreciation” on real estate you own—and presto, you don’t pay a dime in federal taxes.

(See also: Donald J. Trump, if he ever reveals his taxes.)

So this is how it works: Jared is worth an estimated $324 million. In five of the last eight years, records now in the possession of The New York Times indicate he managed to pay no federal income taxes—and did it legally. How? Because fat cats donate to lawmakers, who write tax codes friendly to fat cats, who then donate gratefully once again to fat-cat-friendly lawmakers.

There is a very real possibility—but the records are not entirely clear—that Kushner has paid almost no taxes in the last decade. When asked to comment, no one from his camp wanted to answer questions from the Times.

Keep paying your taxes, Trump fans.

And keep telling yourselves that Trump and his fat cat cronies and fat cat relatives care about you. 

In five of six years it appears Kushner paid no federal taxes.
And yet his net worth increased by almost $218 million.

*

TRUMP SITS DOWN with a real journalist, Leslie Stahl, for a change and takes a few hard questions, not the usual “grooved pitches” served up by Fox News pitchers.

Stahl wants to know what he thinks of Secretary of Defense James Mattis, a man the president once described as “one of the most effective generals we’ve had in many, many decades.”

Is his job safe?

Trump hedges. “I think he’s kind of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth.” He might leave the administration. He might not. Trump doesn’t know. But, as always, he claims he has a “very good relationship” with Mattis.

Still, the two have clashed in the past, on NATO, for example, which Trump has been quick to bash. Was it true, then, Stahl wondered, that Mattis had to explain that NATO existed to keep us out of World War III?

“No, it’s not true,” Trump replied. “Frankly, I like General Mattis. I think I know more about it than he does.”

Yes, what TV personality-turned-president doesn’t know more about NATO than a great general?

Anyway, Trump has now lumped “Mad Dog” Mattis, as he once loved to call his Secretary of Defense, in with Democrats. Those are the people he describes as “an angry, left-wing mob” intent on smashing the nation.

Among others, Mattis has clashed with National Security Advisor John Bolton, considered a war hawk, and Mira Ricardel, his top deputy. Ricardel has never spent a single day in the U.S. military.

As for Bolton, he once explained his decision while still studying at Yale to join the U.S. Army Reserve. True, in the summer of 1970, he would have to go through 18 weeks of basic training. Also, he would have to attend weekend sessions for six years. But at no time would he ever have to dodge actual bullets. He wrote for his Yale undergraduate 25^th reunion, “I confess I had no desire to die in a Southeast Asian rice paddy.” By way of excuse, he added, “I considered the war in Vietnam already lost.”

You’d think a guy like Bolton, today a leading war hawk, would have wanted to do his part when young to turn that effort round.

But no.

If Americans had to bleed, he preferred to leave it up to other young men too poor to attend Yale and career Marines like Mattis.

10/15/18: Detective Donald is hard at work. This is the same Detective Donald who once grilled Vladimir Putin.

“Did you interfere in the U.S. election?” he demanded. I think he shined a bright light in Putin’s face.

“No, Detective Don! I did not,” Vladimir said.

“Okay, I believe you.”

That’s how you close a case, folks.

Later, Kim Jong-un promised to get rid of all his nuclear weapons. Don was on it like a cat on a three-legged mouse. “North Korea is no longer a nuclear threat,” he announced.

(North Korea still had all its nukes.)

You may recall: Detective Donald first made a name when he insisted the Central Park Five were guilty and we should fry them.

(Eventually, DNA evidence cleared them.)

Still, you couldn’t keep Detective Don down. He was on the case again in 2011, promising to get the goods on President Obama. He would show the American people their president was not really American!

(After five years, he “cracked the case.” “Okay, he was,” said Don. You could even read that story on Fox “Never Fake” News.)

Now Don’s on the case once more. Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi-born journalist, permanent resident of the United States, and reporter for the Washington Post, walks into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. You can watch him enter on surveillance cameras. No one ever sees him leave.

The Turkish government soon claims it has evidence Khashoggi was murdered and dismembered and snuck out of the consulate in diplomatic pouches. Detective Don calls King Salman of Saudi Arabia. He grills the poor royal, just like he grilled Vladimir this past summer in Helsinki. This is the most feared grilling any dictator or royal potentate can ever face.

“Did you do it?” Don demands

“No. Never!!!” King Salman swears.

Detective Don tells reporters the king “vehemently” denies having Khashoggi, a frequent critic of the royal family, murdered. Don posits the theory that the journalist might have been killed by “rogue actors.”

Naturally, Detective Don has several theories to work through. It might have been Hillary. It might have been Obama.

It might have been that same “400-pound guy sitting on his couch,” who might have hacked the 2016 election. Yep. Old Fatso hoisted himself off his couch, jumped on a plane to Turkey and slipped past security cameras. He entered the Saudi consulate. He killed the journalist. No one saw him do it. No one heard the victim screaming. Next, Old Fatso grabbed the body without anyone noticing and ran down the street, although no security footage shows a 400-pound guy lugging a body out of the building.

Anyway, enough about that! Don’t forget, the Saudi’s buy U.S. weapons! Detective Don has already made it clear. He doesn’t care who they murder and he doesn’t like journalists in the first place.

 *

DID WE MENTION, Trump once said Obama should not be campaigning while people were recovering from Super Storm Sandy in 2012.

Yes, yes, yes. We did (See: 10/11-13/18.)

Trump is now scheduled to campaign Thursday in Missoula, Montana; on Friday in Mesa, Arizona, and on Saturday in Elko, Nevada. 

That makes six days of hypocrisy in a little more than a week. Even by Trumpian standards, that is a lot.

10/16/18: Detective Donald is hard at work. He’s leaving no pebble unturned in his investigation of the disappearance of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. First, he sends Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to Riyadh, to meet with King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman—suspected by most of the known world as having ordered the alleged killing.

(Pompeo spends most of his time on camera seated beside the prince, grinning like some rube who just met a Victoria’s Secret model.)

Well, Detective Don can’t be fooled. (He’s famous for cracking the Putin case and proving NO COLLUSION!)

He calls the Crown Prince on the phone. The Crown Prince says he didn’t have anything to do with the alleged crime. Detective Don, who has the resources of the entire American intelligence-gathering community at his beck and call, seems satisfied. In other words, it’s time to tweet!

Unfortunately, Detective Donald can never get a moment’s rest. Reporters at assorted “Fake News” media outlets go digging for evidence and uncover details that the government of Saudi Arabia would like to remain buried.

Sorry, poor word choice.

Don decides he must comment publically. It’s very sad that people are blaming the Saudis—just because a journalist walked into their consulate two weeks ago and has not been seen since.

“Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent,” Detective Don grouses. “I don’t like. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned. So we have to find out what happened.”

So what do we know? On one side, King Salman and the Crown Prince deny involvement in whatever happened. And you can’t fool Don. He believes them. “Innocent until proven guilty” has always been his mantra—which is why he enjoys it when crowds at rallies shout, “Lock her up!” in reference to rival politicians who have never been indicted, tried or sentenced.

What else do we know? Khashoggi was a fierce critic of the Crown Prince. He entered the Turkish consulate on September 28 to get documents necessary to marry his fiancé. Officials told him to return October 2 to pick up his paperwork. Khashoggi did. He hasn’t been seen since. Originally, the Saudis denied any knowledge of what happened to the reporter. They insisted he left the consulate freely soon after. Maybe he tripped over a rosebush after leaving. The Turkish government wasn’t buying. They announced they had proof Khashoggi was killed inside the consulate and his body sliced up like flank steak.

The Turks produced video of two Saudi planes landing in Istanbul on the day Khashoggi disappeared. Fifteen Saudis debark. They include “Saudi special forces officers, intelligence officials, national guards and a forensics expert.” They head for the consulate. Who knows? Maybe they are going to try to catch some “rogue actors” who might want to harm the journalist. (See: 10/15/18.)

The Turks provide evidence to show that the same 15 Saudis depart later that day, but fly in two directions, one plane landing in Dubai and then flying on to Riyadh. The other goes by way of Cairo, then on to Riyadh.

Remember: We don’t want to think these people are “guilty until proven innocent!” Still, there are reports that Khashoggi managed to record his interrogation and murder on an Apple watch he owned.

On October 9, The New York Times runs a story, citing an unnamed Turkish official. Khashoggi was killed and cut up within two hours of arrival at the consulate. “It’s like Pulp Fiction, he says.” The Times notes that Saudi officials, including the Crown Prince insist the reporter left the building shortly after arrival. He was probably happy to have those marriage documents.

Oh, boy! Next comes the honeymoon!

The Times reports that various Turkish officials had been hinting that a video of the murder is already in their possession:

“There is a video of the moment of him being killed,” Kemal Ozturk, a columnist in a pro-government newspaper and the former head of a semiofficial news agency, said in an interview on a pro-government television network, citing unnamed security officials.

On October 10, Sabah, a Turkish paper, posts airport and customs videos and photos of all fifteen Saudis entering the country. One is a forensic doctor who specializes in autopsies. Among other items in his baggage, he’s carrying a bone saw.

Caught with their thawbs half down, the Saudis do some serious alibiing. First, they claim the consulate cameras, which show Khashoggi entering, are a “live feed” and don’t record. Robert W. Jordan, a former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia under President George W. Bush, takes a giant step down the “guilty until proven innocent” road. “Their explanation that their closed circuit TV is only a live feed and not recording makes no sense at all and would be absurd in terms of security tradecraft.” It is “95 percent certain,” he says, the Saudis bumped off the reporter.

On October 16, with Detective Don already swallowing Saudi excuses, and Pompeo having enjoyed a Grinfest with the Crown Prince, the Washington Post starts to pin down the roles of the fifteen Saudi travelers and their ties to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Khalid Aedh Alotaibi is a member of the Saudi Royal Guard. He often flies to the United States when the Crown Prince or other members of the royal family visit. Seven others appear to have identified themselves on social media as Saudi security agents. Several appear to be members of the Royal Guard or employees of the Royal Palace. Naif Hassan S. Alarifi and Saif Saad Q. Alqahtani are reportedly “even closer to the royal family—specifically as employees of the ‘Crown Prince office.’”

For some odd reason, and despite repeated requests from the Post, the Saudi Embassy in Washington declines to comment on any of the men. They have been described in pro-government Saudi newspapers as “tourists”. All newspapers, by the way, in Saudi Arabia are “pro-government.”

It’s as if all American media outlets were “Fox News.”

In any case, journalists keep digging. Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, one of the fifteen, shows up in photos on numerous occasions, getting off planes with the Crown Prince, walking behind the Crown Prince, hanging around as the Crown Prince talks to a lady in Houston or shakes hands in Boston.

Finally, the Post explains: 

Among the most prominent names on the Saudi team list is Salah Muhammed al-Tubaigy, a forensic expert known for pioneering rapid and mobile autopsies, who flew into Istanbul shortly after Khashoggi entered the Saudi Consulate and flew out nine hours later, Turkish officials say.

In closing, reporters note: “Tubaigy has not responded to email and phone messages left at three numbers associated with the profile he had set up on an Arabic subscription phone app.”

And when we take all this evidence together, we can see exactly why Detective Don is so anxious to accept the Saudi government when they say they had nothing to do with the killing.

If there was a killing, that is. So far they haven’t admitted there was.

I think the moral of the story, if we asked Don, would be, “Don’t forget your bone saw next time you plan a vacation.”

10/17/18: The president continues to express doubt about involvement of Saudi royals in the apparent killing of Jamal Khashoggi. Trump says he’d like the Turks to turn over audio or video evidence of his murder, “if it exists.”

The New York Times, does what Trump should be doing, instead of tweeting, and continues to dig for facts.

A top Turkish official describes for the paper what happened when Khashoggi entered the Saudi consulate sixteen days ago: “Mr. Khashoggi was dead within minutes, beheaded, dismembered, his fingers severed, and within two hours the killers were gone.” Turkish officials allege that an assassination squad was waiting inside the consulate when Khashoggi entered around 1:15 p.m. He was shown into the office of the Saudi consul, Mohammad al-Otaibi, and immediately grabbed. The beating and torture began almost at once and his fingers were hacked off.

“Whether Mr. Khashoggi was killed before his fingers were removed and his body dismembered could not be determined,” the Times added.

Otaibi did object—perhaps to all the gore, or to the victim’s screaming. “Do this outside,” he told the killers. “You will put me in trouble.”

“If you want to live when you come back to Arabia, shut up,” one of the agents replied.

Considering what al-Otaibi was witnessing, you have to assume that was a warning he’d be inclined to heed.

The Turks insist they have proof that Khashoggi’s corpse was cut in pieces. This would be gruesome work, even for hardened assassins. If it turned the agents’ stomachs, the doctor who accompanied the team had some friendly advice. Listen to music he suggested.

Then “he donned headphones himself” and went about his business.

10/18/18: Amid the turmoil of the Judge Kavanaugh hearings and the pummeling of Florida by Hurricane Michael, several developments in the Russia investigation may have escaped notice.

First, did you know President Trump had not tweeted, “ WITCH HUNT,” in almost a month! That streak was broken two days ago, complete with lots of question marks and Trump’s trademark use of CAPITAL LETTERS: 

Is it really possible that Bruce Ohr, whose wife Nellie was paid by Simpson and GPS Fusion for work done on the Fake Dossier, and who was used as a Pawn in this whole SCAM WITCH HUNT, is still working for the Department of Justice????? Can this really be so?????

While he was at it, the president also thought it might be a good idea to attack Stormy Daniels, a private citizen, just for fun.

Recently, a judge dismissed one of two lawsuits filed by Daniels against our beloved Chief Executive. In case you live under a bridge where the Three Billy Goats like to cross, Stormy is the porn star Trump paid off in 2016 so she wouldn’t talk about their one-night stand a decade ago.

Melania might not be pleased.

So, with “victory” in hand, Trump couldn’t resist a tweet. Would his tweet demean the office of president? Trump pondered that a moment, giving it the kind of serious consideration he used to give before grabbing women by the pussy. Then he started to type:

“Federal Judge throws out Stormy Danials lawsuit versus Trump. Trump is entitled to full legal fees.” @FoxNews Great, now I can go after Horseface and her 3rd rate lawyer in the Great State of Texas. She will confirm the letter she signed! She knows nothing about me, a total con!

I, for one, am trying to imagine Abraham Lincoln communicating in the same way. Maybe, during a debate: “Get ‘Liddle Toadstool’ off this stage! Am I the only candidate running in 1860 who thinks Stephen Douglas looks like a midget?”

Well, Stormy is a porn star with rather large breasts. So she’s not easily embarrassed. She fires back at once:

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present your president. In addition to his...umm... shortcomings, he has demonstrated his incompetence, hatred of women and lack of self control on Twitter AGAIN! And perhaps a penchant for bestiality. Game on, Tiny.

“Tiny!” It has a certain ring. Even more insulting, in the Trumpian style, than “Lyin’ Ted” or “Crooked Hillary.”

*

ANYWAY, AS I WAS SAYING before I got distracted: Russians!

We now know that Paul Manafort has dropped by to talk to Mueller and his investigators nine times in just the last month. We also know investigators have zeroed in on Roger Stone, whom they suspect may have played a direct—and illegal role—in release of all the stolen Hillary Clinton and Democratic National Convention emails. Several of his associates have been called in for questioning. Stone claims he’s innocent and says any stories to the contrary are “defamatory.”

But he has also predicted—and for once I agree—that he will soon be indicted by Mueller and his team.

Investigators also want to know about any contacts with Russians that Manafort might have had during the campaign. If he had contacts—and it seems certain he did—who else in the campaign knew? A key area of inquiry, of course, is: Who knew about the secret meeting with Russians in Trump Tower in June 2016? What was really discussed? Did Don Jr., who helped set it up, brief his dad?

Manafort was in that meeting, and the potential for a “smoking gun” to turn up as a result is not easily discounted.

If that’s not bad enough for Team Trump—but good for the country—we also know Michael Cohen has been talking to Mueller’s crew. And he is talking a lot. Like 50 hours, so far.

His old boss, the president, is worried enough to start downing Cohen whenever possible. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Trump says Cohen’s claim—that then Candidate Trump told him to pay Stormy Daniels $130,000 to buy silence—is “totally false.”

Trump says he hardly remembers the man, who was his personal lawyer for a decade! Cohen was nothing but “a PR person who did small legal work.”

(This denial was somewhat undercut by the fact authorities now have clear evidence Stormy got her check—or cash—or coupons. Also, they have helpful audio, during which Trump and Cohen talk about making payoffs.)

In the meantime, honoring a tradition of not interfering in coming elections, Mueller’s investigators have been quietly going about their jobs during the run-up to the midterms. Reporters note, however, “a flurry of court paperwork.” The Grand Jury has continued to meet almost every Friday. Scores of witnesses have been called as investigator try to build a case. Those not called—indicating they could be targets of investigation—include Stone, Donald Jr. and Jared Kushner.

Rick Gates, who is also cooperating with investigators, has been providing valuable insights into the machinations of the Trump campaign. According to The New York Times, Gates has told Mueller’s people that in early 2016, he solicited proposals from an Israeli company “to create fake online identities, to use social media manipulation and to gather intelligence to help defeat Hillary Clinton.”

That’s a little better than working with Russians—a hostile power—but still indicative of a campaign that might have been willing to accept help from foreign nations to impact a U.S. election.

First, Gates wondered if the company could create “bogus personas” to sway the opinions of 5,000 delegates to the 2016 National Republican Convention. The target in that case would be Sen. Ted Cruz, by then Trump’s only remaining GOP challenger. Another proposal, sources told the Times, would involve “complimentary intelligence activities” to damage Mrs. Clinton and individuals close to her.

A third proposal involved the Israelis working to “expose and amplify” divisions among rival campaigns and among the American people in such a way as to aid Candidate Trump. That operation would be code named, “Project Rome.” Mr. Trump would be “Lion.” (Given his weird orange mane, I think “Orangutan” would have been better.) Mrs. Clinton would be “Forest.”

Ted Cruz would be “Bear.”

The Times is careful to note that there is no evidence the campaign acted on any of these proposals. But the owner of the company, Psy-Group, Joel Zamel, did meet with Donald Trump Jr. in August 2016.

Sources told the Times that Mueller’s team had copies of the proposals and had questioned Psy-Group employees.

Again, before anyone doses off reading this story, keep this clearly in mind. This would be an effort to let an Israeli company shape the election. Gates told investigators he first heard about Psy-Group during a March 2016 meeting with George Birnbaum. The Times calls him “a Republican consultant with close ties to current and former Israeli government officials.” Birnbaum is a protégé of Arthur J. Finkelstein and Finkelstein is remembered for helping Benjamin Netanyahu win election to be the prime minister of Israel in 1996.

We know Netanyahu had no love for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Evidence hints at several legal problems for Team Trump. Birnbaum allegedly initiated contact with Gates, first asking a man named Eckart Sager, to pitch ideas to Gates. Sager’s name came to light this past summer when investigators charged Paul Manafort with witness tampering. That is: he wanted Sager to lie about what he had been up to during the campaign. So Sager may know more than the Trump folks would like investigators to know. And there are plenty of signs that the people floating these ideas knew they might be breaking the law. The proposals all promise high-level secrecy, with code names for people involved and password-protected documents. All this for the low, low price of $3,000,000! Psy-Group would hire an additional fifty employees to make sure the work got done, including at least a few Americans. (It would definitely be illegal for foreigners to perform campaign work on U.S. soil—which gives you some idea how closely these people were skirting the line.)

We do know that on August 3, 2016, Mr. Zamel pitched his ideas on interference in a meeting with Donald Trump Jr. Also attending that day were George Nader, an emissary of the United Arab Emirates—holy crap, another foreign power—and Erik Prince, former head of Blackwater Security.

What would make you think, then, that these same people might not work out the same kind of deal, or something better, with Russians?

(By the way, Nader is also cooperating with the Mueller investigation.)

It is not yet known if any members of the Trump campaign crossed any lines into illegality in these matters. It is crystal clear, however, that they were perilously close to the line. We do know they have repeatedly lied about what they doing.

Marc Mukasey, a lawyer for Mr. Zamel, obviously understood the danger his client might be in if more damaging information surfaced. “Mr. Zamel never pitched, or otherwise discussed, any of Psy-Group’s proposals relating to the U.S. elections with anyone related to the Trump campaign, including not with Donald Trump Jr., except for outlining the capabilities of some of his companies in general terms,” he told reporters for the Times.

Yet there seems to be disagreement among thieves. Zamel and Nader clash over whether any work was ever carried out for the campaign.

Mueller’s team is interested, then, in why Nader paid Zamel $2,000,000 after the election. We do know U.S. investigators presented a court order to Israeli police to confiscate Psy-Group’s computers.

So the threads Mueller and his team need to pull lead all the way to Petah Tivka, just east of Tel Aviv, where the company was once located. Psy-Group, as the Times report concludes, “is now in liquidation.”

*

ANY OTHER PRETINENT NEWS, involving President Trump and the Russians? Yes, there is. And thanks for asking.

Mueller’s team has presented questions to the president to be answered and—surprisingly enough—seem willing to let Trump’s lawyers help him craft written responses. The virtue of getting Trump’s answers in writing, even if his own lawyers do have to sedate him to keep him from going off on wild tangents and perjuring himself, might not be clear. Several legal experts note that if investigators get his answers on paper and have other evidence to undercut those answers, good old Donald won’t be able to weasel his way out of trouble.

And here it strikes me: “Weasel” would also have been a good code name for Trump in all the Psy-Group proposals. I’m sorry the Israelis never thought of that.

In any case, Trump was asked in a recent interview with the Associated Press, if he would sit for an interview with Robert Mueller, or stick to written answers.

“You know that’s in process. It’s a tremendous waste of time for the president of the United States,” he grumbled.

Yes, this from the man who really, really hates to “waste” presidential time. That’s why, since he took office he has tweeted roughly 6,000 times and limited the time he spends away from Washington at his own private golf clubs to a mere:

162 days (so far, as president).

*

DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL Rod Rosenstein was asked about the “witch hunt” recently. He told the Wall Street Journal, that Mueller was not conducting a “witch hunt. The probe is “appropriate and independent.” And “at the end of the day, the public will have confidence that the cases we brought were warranted by the evidence and it was an appropriate use of resources.”

For Trump and his sycophants it’s all bad news.

*

WITH THE WHOLE WORLD watching and wondering how Trump will react to evidence that the Saudis have murdered a reporter—who was living in the United States—and who has three children who are U.S. citizens—Trump decides to go to another campaign rally. This time it’s in Montana.

He decides to compliment Greg Gianforte, Montana’s lone member in the U.S. House of Representatives, for body-slamming a reporter during his run for office in a special 2017 election.

Trump points at other reporters in attendance and grins, as if to say, you could be next if you keep criticizing me. Then he mimics slamming a person to the ground. His fans laugh and cheer like happy witnesses at a lynching. Trump beams at the audience, like the man who brought the rope.

His fans don’t care that Gianforte lied and said he didn’t slam the reporter. Trump doesn’t care either. (Reporters from Fox News helped catch the candidate in that lie.) Neither Trump nor his fans care that Gianforte was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and 20 hours of anger management. They don’t care that he was ordered to pay court costs or provide the reporter $4,464.97 in restitution. And they are too obtuse to understand why pounding reporters—or cutting them up in little pieces—is what all terrible governments prefer.

It helps you avoid the irritations of dealing with a free press.

Ironically, as part of Gianforte’s plea agreement—which allowed him to dodge conviction on a felony—he agreed to donate $50,000 to the international organization, Committee to Protect Journalists.

So, yes, attacking journalists? Not funny. You’re not laughing at Hitler and Stalin and Saddam and others.

You’re laughing with them.

10/19/18: Reporters want to know if Trump has any regrets after seeming to encourage attacks on journalists at a rally in Montana.

Isn’t this a mistake, in light of the fact the Saudis now admit they have murdered Jamal Khashoggi?

“No, no, no, not at all,” Trump replies. “No, that was a different league, a different world.”

He doesn’t see any problem with his laughing support for Rep. Greg Gianforte who slammed a reporter to the ground in 2017 after being asked an inconvenient question. He’s also the man who lied about what happened (see: 10/18/18). “That was a tremendous success last night in Montana,” Trump says of the rally, “and Greg is a great person, he’s a tough cookie, and I’ll stay with that.”

Condemnation is swift from around the free world. Prime Minister Theresa May is not amused by the president’s comments about assaulting a reporter working for a British newspaper. Her spokesperson issues a statement: Trump “obviously made comments at a political rally and those are for him but more generally we would always say that violence or intimidation against a journalist [emphasis added] is completely unacceptable.” 

Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief of the Guardian, for whom the victim was working, puts it succinctly:

At a time when reporters around the world are being harassed, arrested and even murdered these are incredibly irresponsible comments, which fly in the face of press freedom [emphasis added] and send a dangerous message to autocrats and dictators around the world.

The world’s press would welcome a clear statement from the US government that it remains committed to the rights of journalists everywhere to do their work without fear of violence or repression.

PEN America, a writer’s organization, warns that Trump’s “explicit praise” for an attacker

“marks a startling new low [emphasis added] in terms of the White House’s open hostility toward the press….Trump’s remarks are a chilling reminder that US global leadership on press freedom has collapsed utterly under the president’s watch. In its place is an attitude of contempt, excusing and now even applauding violence toward the press.”

See, Trump fans, how easy this is to grasp?

You either believe in a free press, or you don’t. If you don’t then you are paving the way to a day when Sean Hannity gets body-slammed, if a crazy, f-----g Democratic version of Donald J. Trump ever takes over.

When the free press dies it dies for everyone, conservative, liberal, and everyone in between.

10/20/18:  If you haven’t been paying attention the federal deficit has ballooned since Trump took over.

Suddenly, Milksop Mitch McConnell is concerned again. But it’s not the fat tax cuts for the superrich that caused the problem.

Old Milksop is staking out a new position, now that he and his GOP pals have rammed through a $1.5 trillion tax cut package that went almost entirely to the wealthiest Americans and after jacking up defense spending to $675 billion per year. Suddenly, as the young people say, Milksop is “woke.” Newsweek explains,

The debt, he said, was very “disturbing” and driven by “the three big entitlement programs that are very popular, Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.…There’s been a bipartisan reluctance to tackle entitlement changes because of the popularity of those programs. Hopefully, at some point here, we’ll get serious about this.”

Yes, what can Old Milksop and Buff Paul Ryan and “Tiny” Trump (see: 10/18/18) do all by themselves, when they control all levers for passage of legislation? Why don’t they ram through reforms now when they can?

You know, have some guts.

I’m sure their base, old goats over the age of 65, will love to hear that in return for their big, beautiful tax cuts—an estimated $1,610 for an average household—Social Security has to be slashed, and help with medical costs under Medicare, which continue to skyrocket, must be curtailed. Also: your grandchildren are going to get several trillion dollars more in debt to address.

10/21/18: Slowly but surely it dawns on the president. The Saudis have been lying with abandon about what happened to Jamal Khashoggi. He wasn’t killed by “rogue actors” as Trump first posited. Saudi statements on Saturday weren’t really “a good first step,” as the president indicated.

Asked if he believed the Saudi claim that Khashoggi died in a fist fight, Mr. Trump replied, “I do. I do. Again, it's early. We haven’t finished our review, our investigation. But I think it’s a very important first step.”

Sunday, pretty much everyone else insists Saudi explanations are ridiculous. “They would have been better off saying that Colonel Mustard did it in the library with the candlestick,” one observer insists.

On Fox News, even Newt Gingrich argues Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman can’t be allowed to get away with murder. “First of all, their explanation is insultingly stupid,” he tells Fox News host Chris Wallace.

“The idea that this guy walked in the room with 15 security people, got in a fight, and was accidentally killed, and then they happened to have apparently an ability to dismember him and get rid of him that happened to be there?”

Who could possibly fall for anything so absurd?

Oh yeah, Trump.

Amid a storm of criticism of the Saudis and himself, President Dimwit finally admits there has been “deception” in the matter.

*

NEVERTHELESS, Trump continues to insist the United States shouldn’t be too hard on Saudi Arabia, just because they murdered a journalist and cut off his head. Hey, the Saudis are going to buy a whole bunch of U.S. weapons!

(Am I the only one who thinks that sounds like the same kind of logic Siemens applied when the company decided to sign a contract to build the gas chambers needed for the Holocaust?)

Well, Trump is all about jobs, jobs, jobs—and not paying any taxes on the profits he makes from the jobs, jobs, jobs he creates with his companies.

Last March, he said new Saudi business with the U.S. would create 40,000 jobs here in the U.S. On October 13 he upped that number “slightly,” to 450,000. Four days later the number jumped in telling to 500,000.

On Friday, at lunchtime, the number jumped again to 600,000. By the time the president digested his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, he was claiming the actual number was “over a million jobs total.”

*

SUNDAY MORNING, Carl Bernstein weighs in on Trump and his penchant for ignoring facts and ignoring realities. In an interview on CNN, Bernstein cites Nixon’s lying during Watergate. Trump is different:

We have had presidents in the past who have lied, there’s no question about that, but what we have never had is a president of the United States who uses lying and untruth as a basic method [emphasis added] to promote his policies, his beliefs and his way of approaching the American people and engaging in the world.

Speaking of lying and untruth, see the next following.

10/22/18: In news you may have missed, Ty Cobb, the president’s former lawyer is asked during a CNN forum if he believes the Mueller investigation is a “witch hunt.” Cobb doesn’t waste time answering.

“I don’t think it’s a witch hunt,” he responds.

Cobbs’ answer may be informed by his work with Trump, of whom it has been reported he once said was a man incapable of telling the truth.

*

IN A MEETING with Russian officials in Moscow, National Security Advisor John Bolton informs them he knows they meddled in our last election.

“Today, I told our Russian colleagues I don’t think their meddling in our election had any real effect,” he explains to reporters. “But something else is important. The very desire to meddle in our affairs creates mistrust toward Russians, toward Russia. I consider it intolerable, it should not be allowed.”

News also leaks in regard to the Mueller “witch hunt.” Prosecutors have presented twelve hours of evidence against Roger Stone to a Grand Jury. It is thought Stone may have been a conduit between the Trump 2016 campaign and Russian-operated internet sites offering dirt on Hillary Clinton.

Stone himself has said he expects to be indicted. His protestations of innocence are undercut by his belated admission that he did meet with at least one Russian offering dirt on Clinton during the 2016 election.

10/23/18: The Trump administration moves to undo Obama-era regulations related to gender identification.

A recent memo indicates Team Trump plans to reduce a complex issue to two categories. Individuals will be rated “male” or “female” based on genitalia at birth.

Period.

According to the Intersex Society of North America—which you have probably never heard of unless you or your family is affected—as many as 1 in 1,500 children born has serious questions involving proper sexual identity. Some have both male and female sex organs. Others have an extra X chromosome or catastrophic hormone imbalances, making sexual identification nearly impossible.

Now, even those who have undergone complicated sex-change surgeries will be re-classified as “male” or “female,” as per birth certificates.

Apparently, this winning policy was designed to protect all the bigots in Trump’s base, from having to share bathrooms with transgender individuals. Counting Trump administration efforts to protect them from eating wedding cake baked for gay couples and bolster their right to say, “Merry Christmas” to random strangers even in September if they want.

True, Trump and the Republicans may soon move to cut back on grandma’s Medicare or do away with healthcare coverage for individuals with pre-existing conditions, but God didn’t plan for Adam and Steve to marry and if he wanted that, why would he create babies with the genitalia of both sexes, so that unlucky children wouldn’t know which they were, Adam or Eve.

I happen to be a regulation male of the species and a lifelong fan of the typical female. But I wouldn’t wish transgender confusion on my worst enemy—although it might be karma if Trump’s next grandchild was the 1 in every 1,500 babies to be born with both male and female sex organs. (I wouldn’t actually wish that on any baby.) My sympathy rests with the estimated 1.4 million Americans (including 2,000 or more currently serving in the United States military) who identify as “transgender” and I hate to think their problems in life might soon be exacerbated.

By the way, those 2,000 serving are 2,000 more than all the Trumps who have ever served this great nation.

*

PRESIDENT TRUMP is now promising a 10% middle class tax cut next week or right after the midterms. So, could you please just vote for all the nice Republicans? Reporters try to pin the president down a little on what his plan includes or how he’s going to pass it next week—since Congress isn’t in session.

This exchange actually occurs:

Reporter: You said “lower tax cuts.” You said that you wanted tax cuts by Nov. 1. Congress isn’t even in session. How is that possible?

Mr. Trump: No, we’re going to be passing—no, no. We’re putting in a resolution sometime in the next week, or week and a half, two weeks.

Reporter: A resolution where?

Mr. Trump: We’re going to put in—we’re giving a middle-income tax reduction of about 10 percent. We’re doing it now for middle-income people. This is not for business; this is for middle. That’s on top of the tax decrease that we’ve already given them.

Reporter: Are you signing an executive order for that?

Mr. Trump: No. No. No. I’m going through Congress.

Reporter: But Congress isn’t in session, though.

If Trump’s magical plan to pass the tax cut wasn’t silly enough, he promised again that these tax cuts would definitely not increase the federal deficit. You hade his word for it….

Hey, stop laughing.

Just like the Bush tax cuts in 2003 wouldn’t, and the Trump tax cuts in 2017 wouldn’t, and it is totally “fake news” if the Congressional Budget Office now says the deficit grew by 17% last year.

But, hey, Trump can still brag about the stock mark….

Oops.

The market, when it was up—Trump said he did that all by himself. Now that the market is stumbling, down from a high of 26,828 on October 3, and  up only slightly from 24,824 on January 2, Trump isn’t taking any blame.

He says the Federal Reserve is at fault. Trump says Chairman Jerome Powell “almost looks like he’s happy raising interest rates.” Central bank policies, he grumbles, are the “biggest risk” to the U.S. economy. “Every time we do something great, he raises interest rates,” the president whines.

“I’m very unhappy with the Fed because Obama had zero interest rates,” he adds.

That’s because Obama inherited a mess, not you, you fool. So suck it up and do your job, you big orange infant. The Fed is worried about inflation undercutting a healthy economy. That’s how fiscal policy works.

*

SINCE WE’RE talking fiscal policy, every American’s favorite topic for party discussion, let’s talk Paul Volcker!

Yes! The Paul Volcker! The man who chaired the Federal Reserve from 1979 to 1987, when St. Ronald of Reagan led the GOP. If you’ve forgotten the good old days of President Jimmy Carter, you might not remember the crippling inflation rates of those years: 7% in 1977, 9% in 1978, 13% in 1979, 13% again in 1980 and 9% in 1981, with Reagan in the White House.

(If you multiply it all out, groceries that cost $100 in 1976 would cost $162.33 five years later.)

Volcker told The New York Times recently, that he was deeply concerned for the future of democracy. Washington, D.C. is overrun with lobbyists and Republicans are chipping away at rules to reign in Wall Street.

Volcker says we’re being turned into a “plutocracy.” That is: government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.

“There is no force on earth that can stand up effectively, year after year, against the thousands of individuals and hundreds of millions of dollars in the Washington swamp aimed at influencing the legislative and electoral process,” he writes in a new memoir soon to be released.

Volcker believes the swamp exists. He faults policy makers for forgetting the American worker who saw his good factory job shipped overseas. He faults them for glib talk of “retraining” textile workers and coal miners for a “new economy.” In fact, as a flaming liberal, I sympathize with Trump supporters when they complain that in recent years the deck seems increasingly stacked against them. It is. I’d just like to point out that Trump and his ilk are the ones who did the stacking.

Conservatives might tell you government is the real danger. But it was Big Business that started eliminating worker pensions. The government didn’t shift jobs to Bangladesh and China (capitalism helping cut its own throat by shifting work to and enriching a communist nation). Greedy corporations did it. Government didn’t hire illegal immigrants to do jobs Americans could—like building houses down in Texas. Greedy business types did. Government didn’t jack up prescription drug prices or promise opioid painkillers were safe. Big Pharma did. Big Oil dumped millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Bureaucrats in government weren’t the problem.

The tax laws which allow the fattest cats (including several members of the Trump cabinet and possibly the president himself) to hide money in offshore tax havens? Those laws were written by legislators swimming in campaign donations provided by those fattest cats. The Citizens United case, decided on a 5-4 vote, with five conservative U.S. Supreme Court justices declaring that donating money to politicians was a form of “free speech” opened up the sluices.

The four liberal members of the court were powerless to close them.

If you feel like the democratic system isn’t working fairly, you’re right, whether you’re a Trump supporter or a liberal like me. But you might want to consider who rigged the game. If Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers, Charles and David, and the Walton siblings and President Trump and Wilbur Ross and Steve Mnuchin run the show, don’t expect the “common man” to come out on top. At best, you’ll get a few crumbs, just enough to keep you hoping.

When money dominates a government it’s no longer a true democracy or even a republic.

It’s that simple.

10/24/18: If you missed it, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, usually referred to by his initials M.B.S., continues to deny involvement in what the president of Turkey has called a “savage murder” of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

In fact, to prove that he had no role and doesn’t control everything that happens in Saudi Arabia, M.B.S. was filmed offering condolences and shaking hands with Salah Khashoggi, the victim’s son.

According to The New York Times, the son looks “pained,” but has no choice but to shake the prince’s red hand. He’s forbidden from leaving the kingdom.

Critics say M.B.S. now stands for “Mr. Bone Saw.”

*

DIPLOMACY, AS I ALWAYS ADMIT, can be a bitch. It’s not clear what the United States can or should do to punish the Saudis for this heinous murder. But this much is clear. Trump often sounds like a blithering idiot.

First, he complained because people were blaming M.B.S. for the crime without all the facts available, “guilty until proven innocent,” as he described it. He was reminded, he said, of the fate of poor Judge Kavanaugh. (I am suddenly thinking we should not let Kavanaugh around women if he has a bone saw.)

Later President Trump said the Saudi explanations for what happened to Khashoggi were “credible.”

Now he says the Saudis are guilty of the “worst cover-up ever.” In an Oval Office talk with reporters he describes the murder like a business deal gone sour. “They had a very bad original concept,” he says of the Saudis, “it was carried out poorly, and the cover-up was one of the worst in the history of cover-ups….Bad deal; should never have been thought of. Somebody really messed up. And they had the worst cover-up ever. And where it should have stopped is at the deal standpoint [emphasis added].”

Yes, Mr. Trump, murder is a bad deal. And you, sir, sound like a moron.

10/25/18: Yesterday was not the best day of President Trump’s first (and, hopefully, last) term in office.

First, a whole bunch of people he loves to attack, using incendiary language, calling them “enemies of the people,” “traitors,” and the like, receive bombs in the mail. Recipients include Barack Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton and CNN. This morning, we wake to learn there are more targets. Former Vice President Joe Biden had two bombs delivered. Robert De Niro had one.

Trump is forced to go on national television and call for civility and condemn what he says are “despicable acts.”

Hours later, however, he tells fans at a rally in Wisconsin (and the enablers at Fox News bolster his argument), yes, but. But, don’t blame him! The hate he spews and the hysteria he fosters daily aren’t the problem.

Trump’s words are harmless!

The words of the media (but only the part of the media that criticizes Trump), those words are dangerous.  

“The media” the president shouts, “also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks.”

*

NOW, AT 6:18 A.M. this morning, Trump is up and at ‘em, tweeting again. He lays the blame for the bombs right where it belongs. CNN is at fault, if I interpret correctly, for sending itself bombs:

A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST! 

So, hateful, lying Mainstream Media, clean up your act “FAST.” Or else you may get a bomb in the mail.

*

IN OTHER NEWS, C.I.A. Director Gina Haspel listens to a recording of the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, provided by Turkish intelligence. Okay, the Saudis finally admit, the crime was premeditated.

The only person they appeared to fool with previous explanations? President Donald J. Dimwit.

10/26/18: Right-wing nuts are busy floating the idea that the bombs sent in the mail to leading Democrats and Trump critics were actually sent by Democrats to make Trump look bad.

This theory is similar to other right-wing nut job theories: children were being held hostage and were victims of sexual slavery in a Washington pizzeria; Obama was really born in Kenya (a Trump favorite for years); the slaughter at Sandy Hook Elementary was a government inside job to give Obama an excuse to seize all the guns; the Air Force used weather weapons to drown people in Texas; chemicals in our water are turning frogs gay; and Robert Mueller has “raped kids in front of people” and gotten away with it. In other nut-job news, federal troops were going to come storming out of tunnels under abandoned WalMart stores and conquer Texas during Jade Helm. And the Parkland school shooting involved a bunch of “crisis actors.” (See: 10/28/18.)

Reporters ask President Trump if he has any plans to reach out to those who received bombs in the mail. That would include two of the men who have previously held the same office Trump tarnishes daily.

You already know the answer.

“Uh, if they wanted me to,” he responds. “But I think we’ll probably pass.”

Of course, he won’t reach out to Obama or Clinton—or any of the other targets. That would require empathy, a quality he totally lacks.

In fact, Trump bristled at the idea he was to blame in the slightest. “I think I’ve been toned down if you want to know the truth. I could really tone it up [emphasis added],” he tells reporters, “because as you know the media’s been very unfair to me and the Republican Party.”

Did he just threaten to tone it up, to employ even harsher language? That would indicate he knows very well his words matter.

*

WITH ONLY DAYS left before the election, the news is filled with stories of a Trump supporter who sent bombs to a dozen leading Democrats and Trump critics (including the homes of two former presidents). Trump now hints that the whole story is rigged and paints himself as the actual victim. Friday morning, October 26, he tweets: “Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!”

Yes, this “‘Bomb’ stuff happens.” Very unfortunate your party might suffer! No big deal if Democrats get bombs in the mail!

10/27/18: At 9:50 a.m. a heavily-armed man enters a Pittsburgh synagogue and opens fire on worshippers. Four minutes later the first 911 call goes out and police are seen rushing to the scene.

At 10:00 a.m. one officer sends out warning: “We’re under fire, we’re under fire. He’s got an automatic weapon, he’s firing at us from the synagogue.”

At 10:01 a second officer radios, “We are pinned down by gunfire. He is firing out the front the building with an automatic weapon.”

Not until 10:47 are police able to enter the building, retrieve the wounded, and count 11 bodies. On the third floor they encounter the shooter and a second gun battle erupts. Two SWAT team members are hit multiple times. One is critically injured. Nine minutes later the suspect, also wounded, gives his name to police, Robert Bowers, 46, and agrees to surrender.

At 11:08, he crawls from the room where he has been hiding. “Suspect is talking about all these Jews need to die,” one officer reports.

What allows the killer to be so “successful?” In part, he’s a successful mass-murderer because he’s carrying the weapon of choice in domestic terror attacks: an AR-15. The local paper will note this fact prominently.

So will police reports on the massacre.

Right-wingers will immediately deny the man had an AR-15, or quibble about exactly what kind of assault rifle he carried. Some will call this story a “false flag,” and blame Obama, globalists or unicorns.

Asked to comment, Trump says gun laws aren’t the issue. “This has little to do with it if you take a look,” he assures reporters. “If they had protection inside the results would have been far better, maybe it could have been a very much different situation.”

Yes, this is true. If every church and synagogue and mosque in America would hire guards, dress them like SWAT team members, and provide AR-15s for defense, we could attend places of worship in full confidence that right-wing psychos wouldn’t wipe us all out. See, for example: the Oak Ridge, Wisconsin shooting in 2012; the Charleston, S.C. shooting in 2015; and the 2017 bombings of mosques in Illinois and Minnesota.

Also, you have the generic heavily-armed psychos, as per the Sutherland Springs, Texas slaughter in 2017.

Otherwise, according to Trump, there is nothing the government can do. For that reason we also need to arm teachers. And people attending movies. And concerts. And dancing in gay bars. And sitting at desks at work.

Not to mention, people in Kroger stores.

This Trump policy will create jobs, jobs, jobs. More guns made—more jobs for arms manufacturers!

Plus, there will be jobs for armed guards! Christianity Today estimates there are 384,000 congregations in this country. There are an additional 84,000 non-denominational churches. You will need guards for 4,000 synagogues and Jewish community centers. Then we will really need guards  at the nation’s 2,100 mosques and 250 gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship), because right-wing psychos hate Muslims with a special hatred and are often too dumb to be able to tell the difference between Muslims and Sikhs, because to right-wingers they all look the same.

Throw in Buddhist and Hindu temples, and maybe Zoroastrians, and you have 400,000 new guard jobs, easy.

If we pay the guards each $40,000 annually we can be protected, while praying, at an annual cost of only $16 billion.

Then we need to guard an estimated 120,000 U.S. schools, and 6,000 theaters, and 2,400 Kroger stores…

*

THERE IS IMMEDIATE TALK in the wake of the Pittsburgh shooting, about how the hateful rhetoric of the president might be fueling the actions of Bowers and his kind. A story in The Forward, a leading Jewish newspaper later the same day, carries the title: The Straight Line from 5,000 Trump Lies to 11 Jews Murdered in Pittsburgh.

Trump might hide from reality, the author warns, but the rest of us cannot. For all of us, words matter, especially from the man who occupies the Bully Pulpit (of Twitter) every day.

The Forward explains:

When Trump says someone is “evil,” rather than disagreeable, or that someone is “fake news,” rather than a critic, or that someone is a “globalist,” rather than someone is a Jew, he is putting targets on the back of people [emphasis added] for whom he is supposed to work. The 5,000 lies he’s told in office from the middle of his reality TV fantasy don’t matter to him, but they can be, and have been, fatal to others. Words don’t matter to fantasists. But—at least in America—ballots do.

In other words, turn out on Tuesday and vote.

*

NATURALLY, ONE MAN who doesn’t want anyone blaming the president for the actions of assorted shooters and bombers is the president himself.

At a rally Saturday night, just hours after the massacre in Pittsburgh, Trump tells fans he gave serious thought to cancelling the rally. Then he remembered how Americans stood strong after the 9/11 attacks.

“And then I said to myself, I remember Dick Grasso, a friend of mine, great guy,” Trump claimed. “He headed up the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 11. And the New York Stock Exchange was open the following day.”

So, Trump was standing strong—and his cheering supporters lapped up his words and cheered in their lusty fashion.

Of course, the president was lying, if I might say so, like a prayer rug.

The simplest check of the records shows the New York Stock Exchange was closed immediately on September 11 and did not reopen until September 17, to avoid a market panic. When it did reopen six days later, shares fell 684 points, a 7.1% decline.

Should we be surprised that the president lied? Again? This is the same liar who claimed in November 2015 to have seen “thousands and thousands” of Muslim Americans celebrating the fall of the Twin Towers. Trump saw the video.

Trump saw it with his two peepers.

At a rally in Birmingham, Alabama, during his 2016 campaign, he told a crowd, “I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down. And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”

The next day, when reporters tried to pin him down, Trump repeated his assertion. In an interview on ABC’s This Week, he claimed: “It was on television. I saw it,” Trump insisted, like a kid swearing he had seen the Tooth Fairy leaving money under his pillow. “It was well covered at the time,” he told George Stephanopoulos. “Now, I know they don’t like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.”

Yes, it is true. “They” don’t like to talk about it, whomever “they” are, probably because this story is complete fiction.

No one, not even Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or Anne Coulter has ever seen that video again.

But the blind hatred Trump helped spawn lives on. (See: 10/30/18.)

110/28/18: President Trump comes in for criticism after commentators notice striking similarities in the language he uses to petrify supporters and language used by recent right-winger attackers. Consider, for instance, the stickers on the van of the mail bomber, Cesar Sayoc, now under arrest.

At rallies, Trump likes to listen as fans chant, “CNN sucks!” Sayoc has a “CNN sucks!” sticker on a window.

Trump enjoys hearing supporters shout, “Lock her up!” in regard to Hillary Clinton. Sayoc has a sticker with a gun sight superimposed on Clinton’s face slapped on his van.

Trump likes to refer to members of the press as “enemies of the people.” Several recipients of Sayoc’s bombs are members of the media.

Another image plastered on Sayoc’s van depicts a triumphant Trump standing, George Patton-like, backed by an American flag, holding an assault rifle, and bestriding a red, white and blue tank.

The far-right has no choice but to begin claiming Sayoc is a registered Democrat. But this claim is undercut slightly by: A) reality; B) tapes and pictures of Sayoc at Trump rallies; C) Sayoc’s social media posts.

Also, his voter registration records.

Even Fox News can’t avoid reporting that Sayoc’s lawyer says his client saw Trump as a father figure.

Then we have the Pittsburgh killer, Robert Bowers. On a website called Gab, Bowers complained because sinister Jewish forces were supporting the migrant caravan headed toward America. “I have noticed a change in people saying ‘illegals’ that now say ‘invaders’,” he posted six days before his bloody rampage. “I like this.” Five minutes before he began his attack, he posted on Gab again, “can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

Who calls the people in the caravans “invaders?”

Trump does.

Who says Jews might be paying for the caravan?

Trump does; or he leaves that impression. As he does when asked a question he’d like to lie about, but knows he might be caught, he answers cleverly when a reporter wonders who he thinks might be funding the caravan.

Is it George Soros, Jewish boogie man, hated by the right-wing nuts?

“I don’t know who, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Trump responds. “A lot of people say yes.”

Yes, almost all the neo-Nazis who read The Daily Stormer say yes.

For people like Bowers, inclined to hatred, primed for violence, that’s as good as a green light to start shooting.

Sayoc's van.

10/29/18: Kellyanne Conway, whose salary is actually paid by taxpayers, appears on Fox News. She is there to defend the president. Really, that is the only job this benighted woman performs.

Did Trump’s daily dosage of hate in any way fuel the actions of any of this past week’s haters? Oh, no, she explains. In fact, the true victims are people like herself, Conway says, people who are religious. What led the killers and would-be-killers to act? “The anti-religiosity in this country that is somehow in vogue ... making fun of people who express religion, the late-night comedians, the unfunny people who go on TV.... It’s always anti-religious,” she tells the Fox News host.

Yes, damn those comedians with their…humor…making people hate others and go buy automatic weapons and stockpile ammunition.

Conway cites Dylan Roof, an avowed white supremacist, who shot up a church in South Carolina in 2015. She fails to mention a white Kentucky man who murdered two African Americans in a Kroger store just days earlier—after yanking at the door of a nearby African American church and finding it closed. But it wasn’t the white supremacist beliefs of both shooters that caused them to start blasting. It was all those damn comics and all their punch lines, made up of words.

Trump words don’t hurt.

Stephen Colbert fans are going to kill us all!

Finally, to wrap up one of the dumbest arguments ever put forward by any aide for any president, Conway opines, “this is no time to be driving God out of the public square.”

Unless, of course, you happen to be a Muslim; because Trump and the right-wing nut jobs believe all Muslims are terrorists. (See: 10/27 and 10/30/18.)

*

FORMER U.N. AMBASSADOR Nikki Haley also comes to Trump’s defense and says this is no time for assigning blame.

Nobody blamed Obama for the shooting in Charleston, she says. So why blame President Trump now?

This seems odd, of course, because in 2016, during the last campaign, Haley, then governor of South Carolina, specifically blamed Trump and his hateful diatribes for the Charleston shooting.

“I know what that rhetoric can do. I saw it happen,” she said then.

10/30/18: Fox News is busy running scary stories about the “migrant caravan” heading toward America. President Trump has said the caravan includes some “very scary people.” Also known to many Fox News fans as: “non-white individuals.”

There could be “Middle Eastern people” hiding among all the Spanish-speaking asylum seekers. Also known to Fox News viewers as Muslims: and therefore terrible people.

According to David Ward, some kind of expert who appears in one Fox News segment, these people are bringing diseases like leprosy and smallpox and we can’t allow them to reach the border.

Smallpox! I for one am suddenly scared shitless and think I should go buy guns and head south to defend America.

Oh, wait, no. Smallpox was eradicated in 1980. So I guess Fox is just running stupid, scary stories.

That would be “Fake News?”

*

IN RELATED right-wing nut news, three Kansas men are convicted in a plot to blow up mosques and the homes of Somali immigrants.

Their lawyers beg for leniency in sentencing, basically arguing that Trump made their clients do it.  Trump, lawyers for one of the defendants insisted, appealed to “lost and ignored white, working-class men” like the defendant, who was “an early and avid supporter” of the president.

“The court cannot ignore the circumstances of one of the most rhetorically mold-breaking, violent, awful, hateful and contentious presidential elections in modern history, driven in large measure by the rhetorical China shop bull who is now our president [emphasis added],” the lawyers wrote in their sentencing memorandum.

Lawyers for a second defendant note that President Trump continues to stoke fear with his warnings about caravans filled with dangerous individuals.

As long as the Executive Branch condemns Islam and commends and encourages violence against would-be enemies, then a sentence imposed by the Judicial Branch does little to deter people generally from engaging in such conduct if they believe they are protecting their countries from enemies identified by their own Commander-in-Chief.”

So, there’s that.

I'd be scared, too, if I didn't know smallpox was eradicated nearly forty years ago.

10/31/18: Once the midterms pass, Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his team may kick their investigation into overdrive.

For some odd reason, this makes Don Jr. nervous. Newsweek notes that the president’s eldest son is telling reporters he’s not worried.

Then again, he is.

“I know that I’m not worried about anything I actually did,” he insists to all who care to listen. “That doesn’t mean they don’t totally fabricate all of this stuff at this point.”

This is similar to what Jr. said a month ago in an interview with Good Morning America. Newsweek sums up:

“I’m not [worried about the investigation], because I know what I did, and I’m not worried about any of that,” the president’s eldest son said. “That doesn’t mean they won’t try to create something. I mean, we’ve seen that happen with everything. But, again, I’m not.”

Trump Jr. in that same interview admitted that Mueller’s probe “has been very difficult” for him but that he has been able to separate it from the rest of his life.

“In the end, I know what I’ve done and I’m not worried about that at all, because you know, I’ve done nothing that anyone else wouldn’t do in that position, in my opinion,” he said.

He also downplayed the indictments and plea deals that Trump campaign associates have been hit with in the investigation.

“I understand that they are trying to get my father, and they’ll do anything they can to get that,” Trump Jr. said.

Yes, investigators will do anything—to stop Russians from interfering in U.S. elections—by indicting 25 Russians. They will do anything to secure 32 felony convictions (so far) from members of the Trump 2016 campaign. And, yes, they may indict your sorry ass, since you met with Russian agents in June 2016 and somehow “forgot” about the meeting, what the meeting was about and who you told about the meeting. Then you wrote a letter lying about the topic of discussion. And your father helped you write that letter and then he lied, too.

Good old Dad weighed in on Jr.’s concerns this past August—naturally—in a tweet:

Fake News reporting, a complete fabrication, that I am concerned about the meeting my wonderful son, Donald, had in Trump Tower. This was a meeting to get information on an opponent, totally legal and done all the time in politics - and it went nowhere. I did not know about it!

Yes, totally legal and everyone would do it; and that’s why all the participants from the campaign “forgot” about it for more than a year, until The New York Times started digging up evidence.

And why the president is at pains to say, just to be safe and cover his orange butt, “I did not know about it!”

*

SPEAKING OF LIES—an almost daily topic in Trumpistan—former Secretaries of State Colin Powell and Madeline Albright lambast the immigration policies of the current administration. Powell, a decorated war hero and a Republican, whose parents came to America from Jamaica, says, “We have come to live in a society based on insults, on lies and on things that just aren’t true. It creates an environment where deranged people feel empowered.”

Albright, who served in the Clinton administration, adds, “I’m deeply troubled by the direction we’re going. I’m a naturalized American citizen. I came when I was 11 years old. I’m very upset about the image we’re projecting abroad.”

Powell adds this warning: “My parents came from Jamaica on banana boats and raised two children here, that one became a teacher and the other had success as a soldier. We are giving that image up, and we shouldn’t. It’s the strongest message we give [emphasis added] the rest of the world.”

Albright talks about escaping the Nazis and learning that 26 Jewish relatives died during the Holocaust. 

“I’ll never forget what it was like to come to America, on the SS America, past the Statue of Liberty. I remember [years later] giving a certificate to a man, a refugee, who said, ‘Can you believe I’m a refugee and the secretary of state is handing me my naturalization certificate?’ I said, ‘Can you believe the secretary of state is a refugee?’”

“You see things that should not be happening,” Powell warns in another interview.

How can a president of the United States get up and say that the media is the enemy of Americans? Hasn’t he read the First Amendment? You are not supposed to like everything the press says, or what anyone says…that’s why we have a First Amendment, to protect that kind of speech.

Simple explanation: No. Trump does not understand the import of the First Amendment. Or he does.

And he considers the free press an impediment.

11/1/18: The President of the United States is off again on an anti-immigrant kick. Earlier this week he suggested he would sign an executive order to end “birthright” citizenship in this country.

Even many Republicans, including Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, point out that this would be to ignore the Fourteenth Amendment and a number of previous Supreme Court decisions.

Ryan, for example, notes:

You cannot end birthright citizenship with an executive order. As a conservative, I’m a believer in following the plain text of the Constitution, and I think in this case the 14th Amendment is pretty clear, and that would involve a very, very lengthy constitutional process.

This irks Trump, even though Ryan agrees with him that “unchecked illegal immigration” is the “root issue.” Clearly miffed to learn he can’t just ignore the U.S. Constitution whenever the mood strikes, Trump tweet-attacks Ryan. Then he warns that if the infamous caravan does reach our southern border and members of caravan throw rocks or stones at troops guarding the border, those rocks and stones will be considered “firearms.”

That means, according to Trump, that U.S. troops will be authorized to fire on civilians, including women and children.

Make America great again, c. 1890, as at Wounded Knee.

*

IN OTHER RACIST NEWS, Trump decides to tweet a campaign ad that has been deemed so objectionable even Fox News won’t air it.

Yes! Even Fox News!!!!!!!!!

Al Cardenas, former chairman of the Florida Republican Party, responds in a scathing tweet, saying of Trump: “You are a despicable divider; the worse [sic] social poison [emphasis added] to afflict our country in decades. This ad, and your full approval of it, will condemn you and your bigoted legacy forever in the annals of America’s history books.”

   

11/2/18: In a Massachusetts gubernatorial debate, incumbent Charlie Baker is asked to describe President Trump in three words. He chooses, “outrageous,” “disgraceful” and “divider.”

And he’s the Republican.

*

PRESIDENT TRUMP hasn’t said anything outrageous for several hours. So, he decides to announce that the Fourteenth Amendment is a disgrace and should be repealed and replaced. At another one of his many midterm rallies—because holding rallies is really the only thing he does well, besides tweeting—he tells a chanting crowd  that granting citizenship to all children born in the United States is a “crazy, lunatic policy.” At the mention of immigrant babies, his adoring supporters begin chanting, “Lock them up! Lock them up!”

*

IN RELATED HATE-AND-FEAR NEWS, Trump warns that if any of the members of the caravan advancing toward the border throw rocks at U.S. troops, our troops will respond as if they had “rifles.”

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, a decorated Vietnam War hero and former Secretary of Defense responds, “My reaction ... is one of disgust. That is a wanton incitement of unnecessary violence. It is a distraction, it is a distortion, it is a rank political purpose to use our military like this.”

*

TWO TELLING REPORTS are released. The first is designed to scare ignorant Trump fans and green-lighted by some knothead on the White House staff. This report warns in chilling language that socialism is coming to America. If Democrats can’t be turned back on Election Day they’re going to take away not only all our guns, they’re going to commandeer our consumer goods.

According to this tax-payer funded waste of paper and ink, we’re going to end up like Venezuela. When we do, real GDP will be reduced “by at least 40 percent,” or by “$24,000 per year for the average person.”

Also, forget those Nordic countries, like Finland and Sweden, which already have socialist governments. Living like the Finns and Swedes would be terrible and billionaires would suffer irreparable harm. And have we mentioned Karl Marx and Lenin yet? In this report both men are socialists, not communists, and the people who wrote it hope you are too dumb to know socialists and communists are historic enemies. Well: Marx and Lenin are out to get us!

This expensive waste of White House staff time and taxpayer dollars says that should the U.S. go to a system of socialized medicine, like the Nordic countries, we’re doomed. “Evidence on the productivity and effectiveness of single-payer [healthcare] systems,” the authors claim, “suggests that ‘Medicare for All’ would reduce both short- and long-run longevity and health despite increasing somewhat the population with health insurance.”

That is exactly the problem! More Americans would have access to doctors! And that is why, in Nordic nations, the suffering men and women of Iceland die off in droves, at an average age of 82. 7 years. The people of the other Nordic nations are cut down almost in the cradle. Swedes are done for at an average of 82.4 years, Norwegians at 81.2 years, Finns at 81.1, and Danes die in their diaper days, living an average age of only 80.6 years.

By comparison, we are free in America not to have health insurance, especially if we had pre-existing conditions (prior to Obamacare), and to live in a country where an estimated 17.2 percent of GDP goes for medical costs. Whereas, costs in the following Nordic nations are lower: Denmark, (10.2 percent of GDP) and…

Okay. Costs are much lower in all five Nordic nations.

But you know what they say. You get what you pay for, and for a little extra, say five or ten thousand dollars more per person—and to make sure we live in a free country where White House staffers can write about socialist boogie men hiding under our hospital beds—we get to live to, what, probably an average age of 90? Yes, the average American lives until the age of 79.3.

WTF! You mean we pay more in America, by far, and we die younger? Yes, that is a plain fact.

*

FAR LONGER, at 369 pages, and focusing on a very real threat to us all, whether we be socialists, manicurists or podiatrists, the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine releases its own report, warning that time is running out to address the dangers of climate change.

In this case we get true science, not cow patties of fiction like White House staffers just plopped all over the South Lawn. Scientists say efforts to reduce emissions, which Team Trump has been fighting, will no longer suffice. The technology necessary to capture carbon and remove it from the air must be developed. It will require a sustained government effort to fund new technology. Planting trees can help a little. Scientists also note that certain minerals, like peridotite (which this stupid blogger had never heard of before), can bind with carbon dioxide and convert gas to rock. In Oman, for instance, they have been studying ways to use that nation’s “vast mineral deposits for carbon removal.”

You get the idea. Lots of complex science in this report; but this danger is vivid and definitely real.

You know too that Trump won’t read a science report, unless it’s five paragraphs long and written in crayon. He’d rather tweet about how climate change is a “hoax.” Or he might tweet about how a change in weather (one cold spell in New York City) proves climate change (rising global temperatures, measured across the globe, over the course of decades) isn’t real.

This should be clear. You don’t have to be a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to understand how much of a nitwit Trump is when it comes to this topic.

And he’s the nitwit driving U.S. policy.

According to the NOAA, 2018 will be the fourth hottest year on record.
The other three hottest years, in no particular order: 2015, 2016 and 2017.

11/3/18: Scott Beierle, 40, who has repeatedly splashed misogynistic and racist vitriol across social media, walks into a yoga studio in Tallahassee, Florida. Without warning he opens fire, killing two women, injuring four other females and one man.

Beierle is angry because women have shunned him in the past and interracial dating appalls him.

In an online video, Beierle can be seen expressing admiration for Elliott O. Rodger, who had similar trouble dating (go figure) and killed six and wounded fourteen in a rampage in Isla Vista, California in 2014.

I think this is why we need to send thousands of American troops to the border to stop the caravan.

*

THE IDEA THAT VOTING doesn’t matter has never made any sense to me. Democrats gave us Obamacare, flaws and all. Obamacare allowed my college-age children (and millions of others) to remain on my insurance (or their parents’) till they hit age 26.

The Affordable Care Act also insured that people with pre-existing conditions could not be denied health insurance or charged exorbitant rates. That was good news for my youngest daughter, who has type-1 diabetes, a lifelong disease and a daily threat to her health and even her life.

Are their crooks and bums in both parties? Of course there are. But not all politicians are crooks, not all are the same, and differing policies matter greatly. I believe in climate change, for instance, and consider Trump administration policies to be dangerous and short-sighted. (See: 11/23/18.)

*

SINCE I’M A LIBERAL BLOGGER, let’s look at a few politicians who prove we should all go out and vote for anyone else. First up, we have Michael Santomauro, GOP candidate for mayor of Hilton Head, S. C.

Santomauro runs RePortersNoteBook.com—a website “offering rewards to people who can disprove the validity of Holocaust events like the number of those killed or the existence of Nazi gas chambers at extermination camps.”

Arthur Jones, a member of the American Nazi Party, running as a Republican, is hoping to win a seat in the House of Representatives from the Third Congressional District in Illinois. On his campaign website he claims the Holocaust never happened and the “idea that six million Jews, were killed by the National Socialist government of Germany, in World War II, is the biggest, blackest lie in history.”

In California’s Eleventh Congressional District, Republican John Fitzgerald is hoping to win a chance to go to D.C. and “drain the swamp,” and maybe get rid of all the Jews. The candidate enjoys appearing on neo-Nazi podcasts when he’s not running for office and claims the Holocaust is a “lie.”

According to a report by Media Matters,

He appeared on the June 23 edition of The Realist Report with host John Friend. Friend is a neo-Nazi who has said that the “Jews Did 9/11,” Adolf Hitler was “the greatest thing that's happened to Western civilization,” and the “alleged ‘Holocaust’ of 6 million Jews at the hands of Adolf Hitler and National Socialist Germany during WWII is one of the most egregious and outrageous falsehoods ever perpetrated.”

In fact, if you were to believe Fitzgerald—and a certain portion of the Trump base probably will—calls to embrace “diversity” in America are all part of a sinister, race-tainting, Jewish plot

*

WHO ELSE MIGHT BE in an electoral jam? Rep. Steve King of Iowa, running for a ninth term in Congress is taking heat for his recent dabbling in racism and/or anti-Semitism. This is not King’s first dabbling—just the most recent. After traveling for five days in Europe, he decided to stop for a chat with leaders of Austria’s far-right Freedom Party, a party founded by a former Nazi SS officer. King did not help his cause when he later defended this chat, saying that members of the Freedom Party “would be Republicans” if they lived in the U.S.A.

In any case, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, calls on Speaker Paul Ryan to take disciplinary action against Rep. King, saying he had “met with outright anti-Semitic organizations and individuals.” In the wake of the Pittsburgh massacre, Greenblatt says, “What the moment demands is our country’s leaders, from all sectors of society, to make it crystal clear that anti-Semitism and hate have no place in the United States.”

Clearly, that’s not what you should expect from Rep. King.

In the past, he has:

A)   Retweeted posts from a British man, Mark Collett, who likes to warn about the dangers of dark-skinned people flooding into Europe. Collett is an avowed “Nazi sympathizer.”

B)    Endorsed a candidate for mayor of Toronto, Faith Goldy, who likes to warn that Canada is facing a “white genocide.” King has described Goldy as “pro Rule of Law, pro Make Canada Safe Again, pro balanced budget, &...BEST of all, Pro Western Civilization and a fighter for our values.”

C)   Made pork chops an issue, complaining when he learned Somali immigrants working in Iowa meat packing plants needed “a special dispensation” from their imams to handle pork. “The rationale,” King claimed without really knowing what he was talking about, “is that if infidels are eating this pork, [the Muslims] are not eating it. So as long as they’re preparing this pork for infidels, it helps send them to hell and it must make Allah happy.” At that point, King almost choked on his breakfast sausage. “I don’t want people doing my pork that won’t eat it, let alone hope I go to hell for eating pork chops,” he concluded.

D)   Said during his meeting with leaders of the Freedom Party, that immigration really offers nothing of value to our country. “What does this diversity bring that we don’t already have? Mexican food, Chinese food, those things—well, that’s fine. But what does it bring that we don’t have that is worth the price? We have a lot of diversity within the U.S. already.”

E)    Displayed a Confederate flag on his office desk—perhaps forgetting that between 1861 and 1865, Iowa sent four batteries of artillery, nine regiments of cavalry, and 46 regiments and battalions of infantry to fight the forces of the slave-holding Confederacy.

F)     Defended the predominantly white face of the current GOP during one interview, by offering up this nugget: “I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out, where are these contributions that have been made by these other categories of people that you’re talking about, where did any other subgroup of people contribute more to civilization?”

G)   Justified his anti-Dream Act position during one interview by insisting, sure, a few good people (like 689,000) might come into this country as children—grow up here—serve in the U.S. military—go to college—consider themselves as American as King himself. But, hey, they aren’t worth the trouble. “Some of them are valedictorians, and their parents brought them in,” King insists. “For everyone who’s a valedictorian, there’s another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they’re hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert.”

H)   Tweeted that America is endangered by current immigration because “culture and demographics are our destiny. We can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies.”

I)      Vehemently opposed replacing a white guy on the $20 bill with an African American woman.

(Of course, Candidate Trump had warned in April 2016 against the very same attack on American values, calling the move to put Harriet Tubman on U.S. currency, “pure political correctness.”)

So let me point out a few problems with King’s thinking (or lack of thinking) and Trump’s stirring defense of paper money plastered with the mugs of white folks. First, “the American way of life is endangered by immigrants” warnings have been used throughout our nation’s history. German immigrants were seen as a threat even in colonial times. Catholics and Quakers were banned in several of the Thirteen Colonies. Waves of Irish in the 1840s were seen as an existential religious threat. The Chinese, sometimes called the “Yellow Peril,” were excluded by law, after 1882, from entering. New waves of Italians and South European immigrants were blocked by means of a quota-system after 1924. Japanese-Americans were rounded up and packed off to prison camps in the wake of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Prisoners included 77,000 U.S. citizens, because “those people” just couldn’t be trusted.

As a fan of Western Civilization, myself, I should also point out that Western Civilization brought the world: centuries of virulent anti-Semitism, church-sponsored witch hunting, genocide for the indigenous people of two continents and enslavement for and estimated nine million Africans. As a “bonus,” Western Civilization brought on the two most devastating wars in recorded history, birthed communist theory which went on to infect China, spawned Stalin and Hitler, and left the indelible stain of Nazism on the historical record.

So, just maybe, taking Andrew Jackson (a slave owner) off the $20 bill and replacing him with Tubman (who escaped slavery and went on to help hundreds of others escape) won’t threaten civilization as we know it.

*

IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE in “Fake News” delivered by a liberal blogger, Rep. Steven Stivers of Ohio, head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, also takes time to lambast King. A source familiar with Stivers’ thinking says he felt he “could not stay silent.”

So Stivers tweets: “Congressman Steve King’s recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior.”

See: Just like I said before.

Not all politicians are the same.

*

OKAY, ENOUGH with the Nazis! Let’s move on to more important issues, like standing up during the National Anthem, because if anyone kneels, America cannot survive, and besides, the only protests we should allow are protests President Trump and his loyal fans totally support.

Carla Maloney, secretary of the Republican Committee of Beaver County, Pa. may not personally be running for office; but she’s supporting candidates who think the same way she does and want us all to show unflinching respect for the flag of this nation and the freedom it represents.

Sadly, Maloney has to resign after it leaks that she has referred to kneeling NFL players, mostly African American, as “baboons” in a series of Facebook posts.

Just a smidge of her racism should suffice:

“Steelers are now just as bad as the rest of the over paid baboons,” she says in one post.

“You respect your flag, country and our national anthem,” she says in another. “How many men and women have lost limbs or died to protect this country and you baboons want respect.”

Yes, nothing says “respect your flag, country and our national anthem” like dehumanizing other Americans.

*

THE MARCH of racists and idiots continues. Ron DeSantis, GOP candidate for Florida governor—who happens to be white—kicks off his campaign in old-fashioned Southern style. “Let’s not monkey this up,” he says, explaining to voters why they should choose him over his Democratic opponent—who happens to be black.

Get it?

Yes, yes, we know, my dear conservative friends. Southern Democrats were once stalwarts of racism. In the 1960s, however, when President Lyndon B. Johnson pushed for new civil rights legislation, racist Southern Democrats tended to jump ship and become Republicans.

(See: Strom Thurmond. As a member of Congress for decades he fought “gallantly” against miscegenation, doing his part by fathering a child with an African American woman who worked for his family.)

In any case, the Miami New Times listed several occasions when DeSantis sounded racist “accidentally” in the past.

The “best” example would be when a supporter at a rally called for a return to lynching in an effort to deal with a convicted Florida rapist and DeSantis refused to condemn the comment.

“I have a tree and a rope in my back yard,” his happy fan had shouted. “Bring back the hanging tree!”

Sure. What could go wrong.

*

HERE IN HAMILTON COUNTY, Phil Heimlich, longtime Republican official, comes out against the re-election of Republican Rep. Steve Chabot. Heimlich endorses Aftab Pureval, the Democrat.

Heimlich is justifiably worried about the future of our nation and the threat is not from kneeling football players:

 “As a former prosecutor, this makes me sick,” Heimlich said, referring to Chabot’s criticism of special counsel Robert Mueller. “I want to be on the right side of history. We are living under the most dishonest president in history.”

“What is Steve Chabot’s position on that? Nothing. He refuses to speak out against this mountain of dishonesty.”

*

FORMER REPUBLICAN CONGRESSMAN David Jolly officially announces that he is leaving the party.

His decision is sparked by the knowledge that he and his wife are expecting their first child, a girl. He says he cannot look a daughter in the face someday and say he supported Donald J. Trump. He also advocates voting for Democrats in the midterms. “I think we’ll be safer in a divided government.”

*

Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and Republican Scott Wagner threatens to walk over his Democratic opponent’s face with….well, this is so stupid, you should watch it yourself.

*

MEANWHILE, right-wing types have their red, white and blue undies in a wad. They are outraged because former Attorney General Eric Holder has said Democrats should “kick” Republicans when they go low.

This story is catnip for chumps. You can go to YouTube right now, type in “Eric Holder kick em,” and pull up a dozen videos using the same abbreviated clip. All the right-wing nuts cut off as soon as Holder says he disagrees with Michelle Obama’s approach, when they go low, we go high. 

“No, no,” Holder can be seen saying, “When they go low, we kick ‘em. That’s what this new Democratic Party is about.”

Cue the right-wing horror! The left is going to kick people. God damn, we need to buy ten million more guns!!!!

And purchase golf spikes, maybe.

Sean Hannity, for one, is horrified by Holder’s comments and does an entire show filled with hair-gelled indignation.

Naturally, he cuts off the clip right after Holder says “kick ‘em.”

Trump watches Hannity and flips out too. He warns Democrats they had better watch out. Right-wing nuts then watch Trump and another cycle of Holder-related hysteria ensues.

None of the right-wingers dare to mention what Holder says a few minutes later, also on tape. He continues:

“When I say we, you know, ‘We kick ‘em,’ I don’t mean we do anything inappropriate. We don’t do anything illegal. But we got to be tough, and we have to fight for the very things that [civil rights leaders] John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Whitney Young—you know, all those folks gave to us.”

You know: Follow the example of King and those who preached non-violence and peaceful civil disobedience.

That’s not really scary.

*

IF YOU are a right-wing nut case, worried about getting kicked by a crazed Democrat (new conspiracy theory: that’s why the party symbol is a mule), even though Eric Holder said he didn’t mean actually kicking you or anyone else, at least your ceiling fans may be safe until 2020. Marsha Blackburn, Republican senatorial candidate from Tennessee, has built a comfortable lead over her Democratic opponent.

Blackburn, if you have forgotten, came out against EPA efficiency standards for electric devices and appliances in a passionate speech in 2013.

This lady was not messing around—paralleling a famous anti-Nazi poem, “First, they came for the Jews.”

Jackbooted feds were on the march and Blackburn wasn’t going to sit around until it was too late. “First,” she warned, “they came for our health care, then they took away our light bulbs, and raided our nation’s most iconic guitar company—now they are coming after our ceiling fans.”

Of course, an overwhelming majority of Americans believe climate change is occurring (70%). A solid majority believe humans are the cause (58%). But as long as we have Blackburn we’ll have inefficient ceiling fans to stir up the increasingly warm air that blankets our planet.

Also, we’ll have lots of energy-wasting light bulbs, because if the liberals ever get control they’ll probably kick over all our lamps, and we’ll have to go back to candles and signaling that the British are coming with lanterns.

11/4/18: Did we mention the excellent jobs report for October? No, we did not. This is probably because “we,” as in the royal “we,” are really just a liberal blogger out to amuse ourselves.

To the math then! We who believe in facts admit that a healthy 250,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in October. This brings the total number of jobs added in 21 full months (February 2017-October 2018) under President Twitter Thumbs to a respectable 4,054,000.

That boils down to 193,048 jobs monthly.

Now we can look at how Mr. Obama did in his last 21 full months before Trump took over and “inherited a mess,” as Twitter Thumbs likes to whine. In those 21 months, 4,400,000 jobs were added. That comes out to 209,524 per month. You can easily look this up, if you like.

Just check out the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ math.

11/5/18: President Trump’s closing argument to voters before the midterms is a rank appeal to fear and paranoia. “As we speak,” he tells listeners at a series of final-day rallies, “Democrats are openly encouraging millions of illegal aliens to break our laws, violate our borders and overrun our country. And they want to sign them up for free welfare, free healthcare, free education and most importantly the right to vote. They want them to vote.”

He continues, “I am asking every citizen, from every party, every background, every race, color and creed to reject the Democrat politics of anger, division, destruction and to unite behind our proud, noble and righteous destiny as Americans.”

Joining him on stage are Jeanine Pirro and Sean Hannity, paragons of righteous, unbiased Fox News reporting.

Hannity—totally unbiased—stirs the crowd when he points to the back of the auditorium where other biased news people are recording the event. “By the way,” Hannity shouts, “all those people in the back are fake news.”

This is unbelievably stupid; but Trump fans cheer wildly.

Even Fox News faults Hannity and Pirro for showing up on stage with Trump, while still masquerading as journalists and representing a network that claims to provide “fair and balanced” coverage. 

*

IN A FINAL WARNING Trump tweet warns trillions of illegal immigrants not to show up at the polls and vote. “Law Enforcement,” he says, “has been strongly notified to watch closely for any ILLEGAL VOTING which may take place in Tuesday’s Election (or Early Voting). Anyone caught will be subject to the Maximum Criminal Penalties allowed by law. Thank you!”

Not a single state election commissioner in 2016 said illegal immigrants showing up to vote was a major problem.

Most said it was no problem at all.

Trump's imaginary illegal immigrant voters are like unicorns.

11/6/18: Election Day arrives. The president is convinced a red wave is coming. Trump fans, too, have been duped by right-wing “Real News,” and believe all the polls are wrong. President Twitter Thumbs insists to everyone who will listen that the American people really love him.

On August 31 he tweeted: “Rasmussen Poll just came out at 48% approval rate despite the constant and intense Fake News. Higher than Election Day and higher than President Obama. Rasmussen was one of the most accurate Election Day polls!” 

Yes, when he gapes in his mirror, Trump knows without any doubt that he is more popular than Obama. His numbers would be higher, too, but the “Fake News” people keep writing stories about what he says and does and what he says and does tends to depress his approval ratings.

If we do go back, however, we can easily see that on January 27, 2017 an average of polls at RealClearPolitics showed Trump with an approval rating of 44.3 percent, and a disapproval rating of 44.2 percent. So, he’d be up, as he claims, if we compared only the most recent Rasmussen poll to the average of all polls the week after he sat his large orange posterior down behind the Resolute Desk and started insulting 60 percent of all Americans. Only a Rasmussen poll, conducted between January 22-24, 2017, had Trump with an approval rating of 57 percent.

So, if Rasmussen is the only accurate poll, Trump is clearly sliding.

And the average of all polls today (on the day I am typing this up) shows Trump with an approval rating of:

42.9 percent.

Now, with the election at hand, President Twitter Thumbs is still complaining about the media and the polls. He says a CNN poll just out, showing Democrats leading in most congressional races is a “Fake Suppression Poll.” His fans should “watch for real results Tuesday.”

So, how do pollsters fare by the time the voters finish up casting their ballots? Rasmussen, the president’s favorite poll, had shown Republicans with a 1 point lead among voters in congressional races. CNN had the Democrats up 13. The polls, on average, gave Democrats a 7.3 point advantage.

In an average of pre-election simulations Democrats are favored to take 27 seats from Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives.

When it comes to control of the U.S. Senate the map is more favorable and the average of all polls, the night before the election, shows Republicans picking up one seat for sure, in North Dakota.

The following Senate races are rated as “toss-ups:” Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Tennessee and West Virginia.

Finally, voters turn out—but way more than normal—thirty million more than voted in the last midterm election. Despite this unexpected development, the polls turn out to be quite accurate. The Democrats do lose the seat in North Dakota, as predicted. Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee go Republican, meaning Republicans knock off three Democratic senators and keep a grip in Tennessee. Democrats hold West Virginia and Montana. They also knock off a GOP incumbent in Nevada.

Florida remains “undecided” as Americans, voters and non-voters alike, head off to bed. So does Arizona.

Democrats take that seat away from the GOP a few days later.

Overall, Democrats outpoll Republicans by 8.6 million votes in the combined House races, or 7.9 percent (as of 11/21/18), meaning poll averages were right on target. Rasmussen, Trump’s favorite poll, which is any poll that makes him feel good, ends up off by 8.9 points. CNN is off by 5.1. And, if anything, the polls were off, in favor of Republicans. They lose at least 39 seats in the House.

So now we know. Trump was spreading “Fake News!”

 11/7/18: Everyone who stayed up late to watch election returns knows Republicans have lost control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Nevertheless, at 1:27 a.m. the president is still tweeting about how great he did in the midterms.

Apparently, he’s quoting someone he just saw on television:

“There’s only been 5 times in the last 105 years that an incumbent President has won seats in the Senate in the off year election. Mr. Trump has magic about him. This guy has magic coming out of his ears. He is an astonishing vote getter & campaigner. The Republicans are.........”

Yes! Magic. Trump can turn a beating into a victory in his own mind. And make his fans believe him.

*

UP EARLY a few hours later, Trump tweet-congratulates himself once more: “Those that worked with me in this incredible Midterm Election, embracing certain policies and principles, did very well. Those that did not, say goodbye! Yesterday was such a very Big Win, and all under the pressure of a Nasty and Hostile Media!”

He’s so proud of himself he has to tweet a second time: “To any of the pundits or talking heads that do not give us proper credit for this great Midterm Election, just remember two words - FAKE NEWS!”

The president suddenly decides he needs to insult someone different for a change. Perhaps he’s bored insulting immigrants. During a post-election White House press conference he decides to mock GOP candidates who went down to defeat after failing to “embrace” him.

Proving once again what a giant dick he is, Trump calls them out by name. These are members of his political party:

Carlos Curbelo; Mike Coffman—too bad, Mike; Mia Love. I saw Mia Love. She’d call me all the time to help her with a hostage situation. Being held hostage in Venezuela. But Mia Love gave me no love, and she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.

And Barbara Comstock was another one. I mean, I think she could have run that race, but she didn’t want to have any embrace. For that, I don’t blame her. But she—she lost. Substantially lost.

Peter Roskam didn’t want the embrace. Erik Paulsen didn’t want the embrace. And in New Jersey, I think he could have done well, but didn’t work out too good.

Bob Hugin, I feel badly because I think that’s something that could have been won. That’s a race that could have been won. That’s a race that could have been won. John Faso.

Those are some of the people that, you know, decided for their own reason not to embrace, whether it’s me or what we stand for. But what we stand for meant a lot to most people. And we’ve had tremendous support, and tremendous support in the Republican Party. Among the biggest support in the history of the party. I’ve actually heard, at 93 percent, it’s a record. But I won’t say that, because who knows. But we’ve had tremendous support.

Trump faces a flurry of follow-up questions. What about the Mueller investigation? Is he worried?

He’s not worried, he says. It’s “a hoax.”

Is he going to fire Attorney General Jeff Sessions?

Trump says we’ll find out later.

Does he have any concerns about Russia?

Trump says he had great time with Vladimir Putin in Helsinki this past summer. The only real problem between the two nations, he grumbles, is President Obama!

Here’s the transcript of his remarks:

THE PRESIDENT: But the fact is that I had a very, very good meeting—a very, very good meeting with President Putin, and a lot was discussed about security, about Syria, about Ukraine, about the fact that President Obama allowed a very large part of Ukraine to be taken. Right now, you have submarines off that particular parcel that we’re talking about. You know what I’m talking about.

Q: That was President Putin who annexed Crimea, sir.

THE PRESIDENT: That was President Obama’s regime. That was during President Obama. Right? That was not during me. No, that was President Obama —

Q: But it was President Putin who did the annexation.

THE PRESIDENT: No, no. It was President Obama that allowed it to happen. It had nothing to do with me.

In other words, one American president blames his predecessor because the Russians invaded the Crimea and because the Russian still remain there with the current president sitting like a fat lump in the White House.

Equally stunning, reporters ask the president if he has any comments about the defeat his party suffered on Election Day.

Trump proves delusional, as always. “I thought it was very close to a complete victory,” he replies.

*

IN OTHER NEWS, multiple sources tell Vanity Fair the president is “very depressed.” In private, they say, he’s furious about the midterms. He also knows Don Jr. may soon be indicted in the Mueller investigation.

This explains why Don Sr. fires Attorney General Jeff Sessions less than 24 hours after the people cast their ballots.

Vanity Fair captures the mood in the White House:

Trump’s move against Sessions today arrives at a moment when Trump allies are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump Jr.’s legal exposure. In recent days, according to three sources, Don Jr. has been telling friends he is worried about being indicted as early as this week. One person close to Don Jr. speculated that Mueller could indict him for making false statements to Congress and the F.B.I. about whether he had told his father about the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians to gather “dirt” on Hillary Clinton. This source had heard that the case could revolve around Trump’s former deputy campaign chairman, Rick Gates, who’s cooperating with Mueller and who was deeply involved in the campaign at the time of the meeting. Trump, this person continued, is “very upset” about the risks Don Jr. faces. “The president is very depressed,” this person said.

In any case, the new acting Attorney General, who can legally fill that post for no more than 210 days without Senate approval, is Matt Whitaker. A consensus quickly forms: Matt Who?

Whitaker is an unqualified hack.

Don Jr. with his now ex-wife. He lied to her about having an affair.
Lying: It's what Trumps do best.

11/8/18: President Trump says he’s excited about the “complete victory” he scored in the midterms, pretty much all by his lonesome. But there are still recounts going on and he’s not having it! Naturally, he has to tweet: “Law Enforcement is looking into another big corruption scandal having to do with Election Fraud in #Broward and Palm Beach. Florida voted for Rick Scott!”

This claim will be badly undercut—by Florida law enforcement officials—less than twenty-four hours later.

They say they are not investigating.

*

MEANWHILE, WE HAVE 6,000 U.S. troops along the southern border, guarding against a “caravan” of “invaders.”

If Trump is to be believed (and Fox News is to be watched) the “caravan” includes 500 “Middle Easterners” (also known to Trump fans as “500 terrorists”), 100 Mexican murderers, 350 dark-skinned rapists, an unknown number of smallpox carriers (see: 10/30/18), six dozen lepers, 1,200 members of the MS-13 gang, and assorted miscreants of every sort who want to gain asylum by lying about why they’re walking thousands of miles to safety.

Luckily, the troops will protect us.

A "dangerous" immigrant from the Middle East.
According to President Trump every immigrant from the Middle East 
secretly wants to tip out and eat the hearts of "real Americans."

*

NOT SO LUCKILY, the military won’t be able to protect people in a bar in Thousand Oaks, California. Late Thursday night, a shooter walks into a Country Western bar and opens fire. Twelve are killed, including Ron Helus, a Ventura County deputy, the first police officer at the scene. Helus bravely rushes in only to be shot dead by the killer.

CBS describes the bloodbath:

Nearly 200 were trapped as celebration turned to chaos. A gunman, dressed in all black and armed with a .45 caliber Glock handgun with an extended magazine, had stormed inside. He first shot a security guard at the front entrance, then deployed smoke bombs inside and opened fire, shooting at random.

Inside, 11 lay dead and panicked patrons scrambled for safety. Some dived through windows while others hid in restrooms.

“Our friends got the bar stools and they starts slamming them against the windows so we could get out... Just so we were able to get out,” one person said.

Naturally, the N.R.A. issues its standard boilerplate statement: Guns don’t kill people. People kill people. There’s no reason to ban guns. What next, you want to ban pitchforks? Rocks can kill, too! Rocks, paper and scissors can all be deadly. Only a good guy with a gun (or scissors) can stop a bad guy with a gun (or scissors). And no, we do not want to make it harder for bad guys to get guns—which don’t kill people anyway. If we impose universal background checks the Second Amendment will be dead faster than you can list the dozen victims of this latest mass shooting.

Expanding on its usual “all kinds of guns for all kinds of Americans at all times and in all places” position, the N.R.A. also decides that this would be a perfect time to criticize doctors for pointing out that guns are increasingly at the root of a public health crisis.

Response from the medical profession is swift. “We are not anti-gun; we are anti-bullet holes in our patients,” Dr. Esther Choo says.

“We take care of these patients every day,” Dr. Joseph Sakran, director of emergency general surgery at Johns Hopkins Medicine, replies. “Where are you when I’m having to tell all those families their loved one has died?”

The Annals of Internal Medicine, journal of the American College of Physicians, which represents 33,000 members, pledges to urge members to talk to at-risk patients about gun violence.

Again, CBS notes:

Gun-related deaths are on the rise in the U.S., bucking a decade-long decline, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During 2015-2016, the federal agency says there were 27,394 homicides involving firearms and another 44,955 gun suicides—the highest levels recorded since 2006-2007.

In 2015-2016, the latest year available, homicide was the 16th leading cause of death among U.S. adults and the third leading cause for children between the ages of 10 and 19, according to the report. Guns were used in 74 percent of all recorded homicides, and used in 87 percent of homicides involving youth.

“It is too soon to know whether recent increases in firearm homicide rates represent a short-term fluctuation or the beginning of a longer-term trend,” the CDC wrote in its report published Friday. The report referred to firearm homicides and suicides as “a continuing public health concern in the United States.”

ANGERED BY THE N.R.A.’s response to legitimate concerns, doctors begin posting pictures of their bloody clothing after they have operated on the latest in an unending parade of gunshot victims:

11/9/18: President Trump heads for France to mark the 100th anniversary of the ending of World War I.

Foremost in his mind are results of the recent midterms. Several close contests remain undecided.

In case you missed it, the Washington Post sets the scene:

As Trump walked out of the White House residence to board the Marine One helicopter on Friday morning [on the way to the airport for the flight to France], he paused to answer questions from the press corps and snapped when CNN correspondent Abby Phillip asked whether he wanted Whitaker to rein in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III.

“What a stupid question that is,” Trump said. “What a stupid question. But I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”

This is the same man who revoked the press credentials of Jim Acosta, another CNN reporter, who he called a “terrible person” during a nationally-televised press conference, because Acosta is “rude” to others. CNN is challenging that move in court.

Even Jay Wallace, head of Fox News, backs Acosta. “Secret Service passes for working White House journalists should never be weaponized,” Wallace says.

Time also captures the president in a foul mood. The midterms, he tells gathered reporters, were rigged:

“There’s a lot of bad stuff going on in this country, and we’re finding out, and I’m getting to the bottom of it. And I’ve done a hell of a job,” he said, offering no evidence for his assertions.

During the flight to Europe, Trump repeatedly tweeted baseless claims that the Florida vote counting was “election theft” and “potential corruption.” “How come they never find Republican votes?” he tweeted.

Trump offers “no evidence.” His claims are “baseless.” Does that mean the president will soon add Time to the list of purveyors of “Fake News?” Or should reasonable human beings stack up the work of hundred reporters and all their sources, on record and off, against one presidential liar?

Trump’s incendiary tweets (emphasis added, below) for just this one day read:

You mean they are just now finding votes in Florida and Georgia – but the Election was on Tuesday? Let’s blame the Russians and demand an immediate apology from President Putin!

As soon as Democrats sent their best Election stealing lawyer, Marc Elias, to Broward County they miraculously started finding Democrat votes. Don’t worry, Florida - I am sending much better lawyers to expose the FRAUD!

Rick Scott was up by 50,000+ votes on Election Day, now they “found” many votes and he is only up 15,000 votes. “The Broward Effect.” How come they never find Republican votes?

 Mayor Gillum conceded on Election Day and now Broward County has put him “back into play.” Bill Nelson conceded Election - now he’s back in play!? This is an embarrassment to our Country and to Democracy!

In the 2016 Election I was winning by so much in Florida that Broward County, which was very late with vote tabulation and probably getting ready to do a “number,” couldn’t do it because not enough people live in Broward for them to falsify a victory!

Thank you @marcorubio for helping to expose the potential corruption going on with respect to Election Theft in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. The WORLD is now watching closely!

 Just out — in Arizona, SIGNATURES DON’T MATCH. Electoral corruption - Call for a new Election? We must protect our Democracy! 

*

THE FREE PRESS, doing what the free press does best, has had 48 hours to dig up dirt on Matt Whitaker, Trump’s pick for Acting Attorney General. And there’s dirt to be dug. Reporters point out that by the summer of 2017 Whitaker already knew everything he wanted to know about the Russia investigation. That is, he didn’t want to know anything at all. The investigation, he said, was “crazy.” There was no collusion. It might be possible for a new Attorney General (if Trump dumped Jeff Sessions) to starve the Mueller team by cutting funding.

Whitaker had his mind made up fourteen months ago. That was before Paul Manafort was convicted by a jury—before Michael Cohen decided to cop a plea and start cooperating—before Rick Gates did the same—all three of them, now-convicted felons, leading figures in the Trump campaign.

The free press keeps shoveling.  President Trump is soon caught in a flat-footed lie, saying he didn’t know Whitaker when he tapped him for the job. Who called our president a liar this time? It was the ghost of Donald Trump Past. In an October interview on Fox & Friends, Mr. Trump assured the three hosts: “I can tell you Matt Whitaker’s a great guy. I mean, I know Matt Whitaker.”

(Oddly enough, Fox News did not point out this incongruity; other media outlets had to do the deed.)

Newsweek then reported that Trump was claiming he didn’t know Whitaker despite having met with him “more than a dozen times” according to one senior official within the Trump administration.

Vox learned that Whitaker had advised Trump last year on how to push the Department of Justice to investigate Hillary Clinton.

Fresh reports surfaced that Mr. Whitaker once called the federal judiciary “the inferior branch” of government. Whitaker had made it clear he considered the decision in Marbury v. Madison in error. Yeah, who ever thought the courts should be allowed to rule a law unconstitutional!

What kind of dumb “checks and balances” idea is that?

Even better, in the “drain the swamp” world of Donald J. Trump and all his alligator pals, Whitaker once served on the board of, and touted the entrepreneurial virtues of, World Patent Marketing, a Miami company that was shut down and fined $26 million for scamming customers.

Last, but not least, Whitaker’s appointment looked suspicious because he had once headed the campaign of Sam Clovis, a fellow Iowan who ran for state treasurer in 2014, but lost. Soon after, Clovis went to work for the Trump 2016 campaign and is now a witness in the Mueller investigation.

That (not to mention his previous comments and actions) would appear to be a classic case of “conflict of interest” and necessitate Whitaker’s recusal in regard to the Russia investigation.

11/10/18: President Trump, in France to mark the anniversary of the end of World War I, decides if it’s raining he can’t be bothered to visit a cemetery to honor the war dead.

Later, aides insist rain made it impossible for Marine One to operate safely and the president, always concerned for others, worried that a motorcade would have been “disruptive” for the French.

So Trump hung out at the U.S. embassy for four-and-a-half hours. In his stead White House Chief of staff John Kelly and Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made the trip…via motorcade.

This desire to avoid rain—or sleet or snow—or heat—or any kind of physical discomfort or exertion in service to country—is a Trump Family tradition. Let others sweat and shiver and die for their country.

Trumps don’t get damp if they can avoid it.

The president’s decision to remain behind, warm and toasty, ignites a firestorm of condemnation. Nicholas Soames, grandson of Winston Churchill, tweets: “They [millions of soldiers] died with their face to the foe and that pathetic inadequate @realDonaldTrump couldn’t even defy the weather to pay his respects to The Fallen #hesnotfittorepresent thisgreatcountry[.]”

But the best reaction of all comes from a French weather forecaster. 

(Somehow, the rain does not keep Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Emmanuel Macron or German Chancellor Angela Merkel from visiting the cemetery.)

*

SPEAKING OF RAIN, which California could desperately use, Trump decides to show his compassion for victims of two deadly fires sweeping the state. He tweets:

There is no reason for these massive, deadly and costly forest fires in California except that forest management is so poor. Billions of dollars are given each year, with so many lives lost, all because of gross mismanagement of the forests. Remedy now, or no more Fed payments!

That’s how Trump responds to disaster when it strikes people he doesn’t like—namely people living in areas that don’t vote for him and politicians and citizens who don’t profess undying love.

Tens of thousands of Americans who he represents have seen almost everything they cherish reduced to ashes. “I lost everything that I received from my mom, from my grandparents from the baby grand piano to china,” Ilene Mickens, whose story is typical of so many others, tells reporters. “I lost my wedding album. I lost my children’s baby albums.”

But Trump has to tweet.

The Camp Fire essentially wiped out the town of Paradise, destroying 9,700 homes and 144 apartment buildings; 71 are known to have died in the flames. Almost every police officer and firefighter in Paradise lost his or her home while fighting valiantly to halt the blaze and save others.

Trump has to tweet.

The Woolsey Fire has incinerated 600 homes, killed three, ruined roads, burned up power lines and polls, compromised water lines and infrastructure and charred 140 square miles in the state. The situation remains confused and as of November 17  hundreds of Americans are still missing.

And Trump has to tweet insults. The President of the United States has to attack California authorities for poor forest management—and threaten to cut off disaster funds. That’s how dickish he is.

The smoking wreckage of Paradise Elementary School.

*

BRIAN RICE, president of the California Professional Firefighters union, responds in a statement:

The president’s message attacking California and threatening to withhold aid to the victims of the cataclysmic fires is ill-informed, ill-timed and demeaning to those who are suffering as well as the men and women on the front lines.

At a time when our every effort should be focused on vanquishing the destructive fires and helping the victims, the president has chosen instead to issue an uninformed political threat aimed squarely at the innocent victims of these cataclysmic fires.

Rice also points out that 60 percent of California’s forests are managed, poorly or not, by the federal government.

Scott Austin, head of the Pasadena Fire Association, replies to the president’s idiot tweets with a tweet of his own: “Mr. President, with all due respect, you are wrong. The fires in So. Cal are urban interface fires and have NOTHING to do with forest management. Come to SoCal and learn the facts & help the victims.”

Show a little empathy, Mr. President, with “all due respect;” because, as is so often true, you do not act like someone who deserves respect.

11/12/18: The sun comes up and the president piles out of bed, takes a poop, and starts tweeting:

The Florida Election should be called in favor of Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis in that large numbers of new ballots showed up out of nowhere, and many ballots are missing or forged. An honest vote count is no longer possible-ballots massively infected. Must go with Election Night!

The imbecility of his position should not be lost on anyone who understands how elections work.

Countless races remain undecided every Election Day. Mail-in ballots are still being opened and tallied. In Arizona, for example, 75 percent of voters mail in ballots, meaning there are giant piles of votes still not counted by the time polls close and poll workers go home to get some rest. In Florida votes received from military personnel and Americans living overseas can be counted if received before November 16. That’s state law. So the president is arguing that the votes of military personnel overseas, which tend to run heavily in favor of the GOP, should be ignored.

And automatic recounts are required by law in close races in almost all federal, state and local elections.

Trump might not like it—but that’s the law—and you don’t get to say the election is over just because your side is ahead.

*

IT’S VETERANS DAY in America. The entire presidential schedule reads: “The President has no public events scheduled.”

He does not travel to Arlington National Cemetery to honor the fallen heroes. Perhaps he’s afraid the ghost of John McCain will get him.

Later, in the face of intense criticism, Trump actually admits he made a mistake; he guesses he should have gone to Arlington; but he does claim he was busy making phone calls and running the country.

Oddly enough, a check of his Twitter feed shows that he had time to tweet at 7 a.m. at 10 a.m. at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

So it looks like he had plenty of “me” time, too.

*

ANY NEWS IN REGARD to the Mueller investigation? There is. Noted conspiracy-theorist Jerome Corsi, an ally of Roger Stone, admits he expects to be indicted.

Corsi, one of the first promoters of birtherism, was served a subpoena at his home on August 28.

Since then, he has had several conversations with investigators. According to Corsi, he got confused and stepped into a “perjury trap” and Robert Mueller and all the prosecutors were mean!

*

AT LEAST we don’t have to worry about North Korea as a nuclear threat anymore. Or so Twitter Thumbs Trump has assured us.

Then again: a new study from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, based on commercial satellite images, dashes that claim. They warn that new evidence shows sixteen new missile bases are currently under construction in the mountains of North Korea.

Focusing on one in particular, The New York Times explains the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ findings:

The base runs through a narrow mountain valley over an area of three square miles. Each tunnel entrance, the report says, is protected by a neighboring berm of rock and dirt about 60 feet high and two outward-opening doors about 20 feet wide. They are meant to protect the tunnel entrances from artillery fire and aerial attack.

The report says the Sakkanmol base conceals seven lengthy tunnels that can accommodate up to 18 transporters that move the missiles. Each is typically fitted with one warhead.

If tensions rose, the report says, the missiles would be transported from the base to prearranged launching sites — often no more than a wide spot in a road. The mobile launchers can move quickly — they can be ready to fire in under an hour — which is why the United States has been trying to get the small satellites [proposed by the Obama administration] into the sky for early warning. The satellites have a special kind of sensor using “synthetic aperture radar” that cuts through clouds.

Those satellites, however, are still not operational and the new construction was revealed by small commercial satellites, instead.

Again, diplomacy proves to be a bitch for President Trump. He’s not doing terrible in regard to North Korea, which has been a thorn in America’s side for decades. But he probably shouldn’t be going around talking about how he and Kim Jong-un “fell in love” after their last meeting. 

Dealing with North Korea has been a problem for decades.
Trump is the first president ever to fall in love with a North Korean dictator.

11/13/18: President Trump has his presidential undies in a wad and he’s not going to let a foreign enemy make him look bad! Kim Jong-un, has him riled up? Could it be Vladimir Putin?

Nope. Trump is mad because Emmanuel Macron, leader of France, a longtime U.S. ally, has said “nationalism” is bad.

Time for Trump to turn dickish yet again! Time to tweet:

Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!

Did our president just mock the French because they suffered millions of war dead between 1914 and 1918, and got overrun by the Nazi juggernaut in 1940?

Yes he did.

And there’s more to come:

The problem is that Emmanuel suffers from a very low Approval Rating in France, 26%, and an unemployment rate of almost 10%. He was just trying to get onto another subject. By the way, there is no country more Nationalist than France, very proud people-and rightfully so!

In a variation of his own campaign slogan, Trump finishes with a dickish flourish:  “MAKE FRANCE GREAT AGAIN!”

*

OKAY, MAYBE KIM JONG-UN still has all his nuclear weapons. And maybe crazy haters are shooting up bars and synagogues and yoga parlors. Still, we’re safe from the caravan for now. But it turns out not even all of our military leaders are convinced the troops we have guarding the border are serving any real purpose.

“Now that the political utility of troops on the southern border [emphasis added] to face a fictitious caravan invasion threat is over,” Admiral James G. Stavridis, a former commander of the military’s Southern Command, tells reporters, “let’s hope the president will stand down the troops so they can be with their families—especially over the holidays.”

John A. Nagl, a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served in Operation Desert Shield in 1990 and 1991, compares his experience with that of troops currently stationed along the border. “Having spent months in the desert with nothing to do,” Nagl says, “at least we had scorpions to have scorpion fights with. But we had a real mission,” he adds.

“These guys don’t have that.”

*

DEVELOPMENTS REGARDING the midterms continue to rile up an already riled up and pissed president. Democrats continue to pick up seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, several governorships and hundreds of seats in state legislatures. Martha McSally concedes defeat in Arizona and Democrats take the Senate seat once held by Trump nemesis, Sen. Jeff Flake.

McSally’s calm concession speech also blows a giant hole in Trump’s claim of rampant voting fraud across Arizona.

Grant Woods, a former Republican state attorney general in that same state, who recently registered as a Democrat, warns that Trump and the Republican Party have simply moved too far right for Southwest voters. “The extremism of the current Republican Party [emphasis added] is a losing strategy for the future,” he says. “In the Southwest in particular, where we’re talking about a diverse population and, increasingly, a younger population, people just aren’t going to put up with it.”

*

IN OTHER NEWS, the F.B.I. reports that hate crimes increased for a third year in a row, up 17 percent in 2017. The leading motivators are race and ethnicity, followed by religion and sexual orientation.

The groups being attacked with increasing regularity are the same groups Donald J. Trump and extremists on the right most love to hate: Muslims, Jews, Sikhs (usually mistake as Muslims) dark-skinned immigrants, African Americans, gays, lesbians and transgender individuals.

The New York Times provides details:

A spate of seemingly racially motivated incidents grabbed headlines last year, including a white man’s fatal stabbing of two men who were protecting a woman wearing a hijab in Portland, Ore.

Black people accounted for nearly half of hate crime victims last year, according to the F.B.I. report. Of those targeted based on religion, 58 percent were Jewish.

“For the N.A.A.C.P., we began to see this during the presidential election in 2015,” said Derrick Johnson, the president of the organization. “The level of tribalism that was being fueled by presidential candidates, the acceptance of intolerance that has been condoned by President Trump [emphasis added] and many others across the country has simply emboldened individuals to be more open and notorious with their racial hatred.”

11/14/18: Delusional Donald can’t believe it. Neither can anyone else who isn’t delusional. He insists Republicans lost the House of Representatives because illegal Democratic voters proved masters of disguise!

 In an interview with the Daily Caller, a conservative outlet, Trump insists, “When people get in line that have absolutely no right to vote and they go around in circles. Sometimes they go to their car, put on a different hat, put on a different shirt, come in and vote again….It’s really a disgrace what’s going on.”

Alas, rational observers aren’t buying Trump’s latest fever dream. The “Fake News” folks at Newsweek dismiss his claim as “absurd”. “There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the United States.”

Vox describes Trump’s latest rant as “make-believe.”

Trump goes on to tell the Daily Caller we need a national voter ID law because we have to keep our Rice Krispies out of the hands of terrorists. He continues with his illegal-voters-in-different-shirts theme: “If you buy a box of cereal—you have a voter ID. They try to shame everybody by calling them racist, or calling them something, anything they can think of, when you say you want voter ID. But voter ID is a very important thing.”

Save our Fruit Loops!

*

MEANWHILE, TURMOIL continues to roil the madcap bunch at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

The First Lady publically calls for the firing of Deputy National Security Director Mira Ricardel. Ricardel, says FLOTUS, “no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House.”

The president himself is said to be ready to drop the hammer on Homeland Security Director Kirstjen Nielsen. There are rumors that Chief of Staff John Kelley is about to get the boot, or that he may have threatened to resign if the president dumps Nielsen.

Meanwhile, Trump’s top economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, lashes out at White House trade adviser Peter Navarro. Remarks Navarro made regarding the trade war with China, Kudlow says, were “unauthorized,” “way off base” and did the president a “great disservice.”

“It’s like an episode of ‘Maury,’” one former Trump aide tells Politico. “The only thing that’s missing is a paternity test.”

Trump, says another top administration official, is furious. “He’s pissed—at damn near everyone.”

Gabriel Sherman, reporting for Vanity Fair, describes a toxic atmosphere inside the White House.

“This is a level of insanity I’ve never seen before,” one former West Wing staffer told me. Current and former officials are debating different theories for Trump’s outbursts, ranging from his fears over his son Don Jr.’s legal exposure to the prospect that House Democrats will unleash investigations in January. “He’s under a tremendous amount of mental stress,” one prominent Republican close to him told me.

Among other problems, Trump is said to be seething because of the flak he took for skipping a rainy visit to a cemetery to honor the war dead during his trip to France. But the blame would seem to lie on his head and shoulders:

One Republican briefed on the internal discussions said the real reason Trump did not want to go was because there would be no tent to stand under. “He was worried his hair was going to get messed up in the rain [emphasis added],” the source said. “[John] Bolton and everyone was telling him this was a big mistake.” A former administration official said Trump hates being outside in wet conditions. “What I honestly think? He woke up and said, ‘It’s pouring rain. This is a joke and I’m not doing this.’”

The trickledown effect of the President of the United States’ anger is causing all kinds of problems. Sherman reports that Trump has wanted to get rid of Kelly for months, but,

he doesn’t want to make Kelly a potent enemy on the outside. “Kelly has decided to hang in there and get humiliated day after day,” a person close to Trump said. Trump recently told a former official that he was worried Kelly would campaign against him in 2020 if he fired him, a person briefed on the phone call said. 

As for the firing of Ricardel (who ends up being transferred), Sherman reports, “The president called [White House aide] Johnny DeStefano today and said, ‘Get the bitch out of here or you’re gone,’ a source briefed on the conversation recalled.”

*

IT PROBABLY WON’T raise the spirits of the beleaguered president or Republicans generally, if they study the recent analysis done by Pew Research. By a 59-40 margin, women said they voted for Democratic candidates in the midterm election. College women went for Democrats by 59-39. Blacks voted for Democrats, 90-9, Latinos, 69-29 and Asian Americans, 77-23.

The GOP continues to be the party of old folks. Voters, 18-29, went for Democrats, 67-32, voters 30-44, by a 58-39 percent margin.

Republicans did best among voters with walkers and hearing aids, white voters who did not attend college, and voters who believe minorities are favored in this country and sexual harassment is not a problem.

11/15/18: Clearly, the president is losing whatever marbles he has left. He appears to realize something bad is coming.

Does he know, perhaps because his Acting Hack, Matt Whitaker now in charge at the Department of Justice, has been fully briefed on the Russia inquiry, that a new batch of indictments is coming?

Roger Stone and Jerome Corsi, a fringe player, have said they expect to be served with court papers.

Could Don Jr. be the next target?

Recently, Trump and his lawyers spent three days trying to formulate written answers to questions posed by Special Counsel Mueller. Experts wonder if Twitter Thumbs might now understand how hard it’s going to be to craft a story that keeps him out of trouble without pitching him headlong into the realm of perjury and obstruction of justice.

When Trump is in a foul mood we know what’s coming. A Twitter typhoon blows in at 7:14 a.m.:

The inner workings of the Mueller investigation are a total mess. They have found no collusion and have gone absolutely nuts. They are screaming and shouting at people, horribly threatening them to come up with the answers they want. They are a disgrace to our Nation [emphasis added]and don’t... 

There’s a pause for eighteen minutes. Then:

....care how many lives the ruin. These are Angry People, including the highly conflicted Bob Mueller, who worked for Obama for 8 years. They won’t even look at all of the bad acts and crimes on the other side. A TOTAL WITCH HUNT LIKE NO OTHER IN AMERICAN HISTORY! 

Trump is still incensed at 9:49 a. m.:

Universities will someday study what highly conflicted (and NOT Senate approved) Bob Mueller and his gang of Democrat thugs [emphasis added] have done to destroy people. Why is he protecting Crooked Hillary, Comey, McCabe, Lisa Page & her lover, Peter S, and all of his friends on the other side?

Ten minutes later: “The only ‘Collusion,’” Trump fumes, “is that of the Democrats with Russia and many others. Why didn’t the FBI take the Server from the DNC? They still don’t have it. Check out how biased Facebook, Google and Twitter are in favor of the Democrats. That’s the real Collusion!”

*

WHAT EXACTLY is bothering the president? Is it that Democrats have gained a total of 35 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and may end up gaining 40? Does he realize that starting in January they’re going to subpoena the shit out of his family and members of his administration?

Trump’s Twitter feed, says pundit and writer Eugene Robinson, is, “A window on the id” of this president.

(A quick refresher may be in order. As the website Simply Psychiatry reminds us the human psyche has three parts:

…the id is the primitive and instinctual part of the mind that contains sexual and aggressive drives and hidden memories, the super-ego operates as a moral conscience, and the ego is the realistic part that mediates between the desires of the id and the super-ego.

Trump seems wracked by fear and anger. He feels cornered and he’s lashing out. His super ego has always been stunted.

His id is in total control.

Politico reports:

Lawyers for President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. insist they aren’t worried about special counsel Robert Mueller.

But half a dozen people in contact with the White House and other Trump officials say a deep anxiety has started to set in that Mueller is about to pounce after his self-imposed quiet period [in weeks leading up to the midterms], and that any number of Trump’s allies and family members may soon be staring down the barrel of an indictment.

*

IF YOU DON’T THINK we might be facing a constitutional crisis in the weeks ahead, you need to pay much closer attention.

Even members of the Federalist Society, which helped Trump stack the federal bench with a fresh crop of conservative jurists, are growing restless. A dozen members have formed a group called “Checks and Balances.” They believe Trump is undermining the rule of law. The group includes George T. Conway III, husband of White House aide and fulltime Trump apologist Kellyanne Conway, and John B. Bellinger III, former White House lawyer under George W. Bush.

“Conservative lawyers are not doing enough to protect constitutional principles that are being undermined by the statements and actions of this president,” Bellinger explains.

Peter D. Keisler, former Acting Attorney General adds this:

“It’s important that people from across the political spectrum speak out about the country’s commitment to the rule of law and the core values underlying it—that the criminal justice system should be nonpartisan and independent, that a free press and public criticism should be encouraged and not attacked. These are values that might once have been thought so basic and universally accepted that they didn’t need defending, but that’s no longer clearly the case.

A similar article in the Washington Post adds fair warning:

Having three functioning branches of government is the healthiest way for a democracy to work, said Marisa Maleck, a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas [and member of the Federalist Society]. Since Trump took office, he has repeatedly attempted to consolidate the power of those branches himself, she said.

“The worst part about it is that he normalizes it. Most people don’t realize what he’s doing poses a threat to a constitutional democracy,” she said.

“We believe in the rule of law, the power of truth, the independence of the criminal justice system, the imperative of individual rights and the necessity of civil discourse,” the group says in a statement. “We believe these principles apply regardless of the party or persons in power.”

11/16/18: It’s a good day for President Donald J. Trump and a bad day rolled into one. First, no one at the top of his administration gets indicted.

It’s a bad day because a Trump-appointed judge (see: Obama-appointed judge: 11/20/18) rules that he can’t take away the press credentials of Jim Acosta of CNN just because he doesn’t like Acosta’s questions.

There’s more bad news for Trump. A court filing reveals (by mistake) that Julian Assange may soon be indicted. If Assange is indicted and the indictment has to do with the Russia investigation it can’t be good for Trump and his misfit band. Roger Stone has to be choking on his Egg McMuffin. Don Jr. might want to start checking Booking.com for one-way flights to Moscow.

The president puts on a good face and assures reporters he’s been finishing up his written answers to questions from the Mueller team. He’s not worried even a teensy little bit about being indicted.

“I’ve answered them very easily. I’m working on them,” he says. “My lawyers aren’t working on that, I’m working on that.”

“My lawyers don’t write answers, I write answers. I was asked a series of questions. I answered them very easily…very easily. I’m sure they’re tricked up because they like to catch people with the, gee, ‘was the weather sunny or was it rainy.’ Oh, he said it may have been a good day. It was rainy, therefore he told a lie. He perjured himself.”

So Trump is being very careful about any questions related to raindrops.

“You always have to be careful answering questions from people who probably have bad intentions,” Trump continues. “I haven’t submitted them yet. I just finished them.”

Anyway, he’s getting ready to submit his take home test.

The process has been such a snap he and his lawyers have only been puzzling over the matter since April. (See: 11/18/18.)

*

IN OTHER NEWS, the president decides to criticize the man who oversaw the capture of Saddam Hussein and the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.

Before he can take care of that matter, however, he feels the need to attack Rep. Adam Schiff in an infantile tweet (Schiff will chair the House Select Intelligence Committee starting in January, once Democrats take control.)

Remember, this is coming from the President of the United States:

Trump is doubtless upset because under GOP Chairman Devin Nunes zero witnesses were subpoenaed by that committee.

The Republican majority offered hard-hitting questioning of Don Jr. and others that went like this:

Rep. Nunes: Did you ever collude with Russians?

Don Jr.: Nope.

Rep. Nunes: Thank you for your totally believable testimony. You are free to go.

At any rate, President Twitter Thumbs decides it’s time to insult a retired admiral. The following exchange takes place during an interview with Chris Wallace, one of a handful of real journalists at Fox News.

At one point, Wallace asks what Trump thinks of retired Admiral William McRaven. McRaven blasted Trump last summer, after he threatened to revoke the security clearances of several top intelligence officers who had been critical of the president’s friendship with Vladimir Putin. “Through your actions,” McRaven wrote at the time, “you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.”

During a speech at the University of Texas, McRaven described Trump’s repeated attacks on the free press as “the greatest threat to democracy” in his lifetime. Wallace wanted to get the president’s reaction.

WALLACE: Bill McRaven, retired admiral, Navy SEAL, 37 years, former head of US Special Operations —

TRUMP: Hillary Clinton fan.

WALLACE: Special Operations —

TRUMP: Excuse me, Hillary Clinton fan.

WALLACE: Who led the operations, commanded the operations that took down Saddam Hussein and that killed Osama bin Laden, says that your sentiment is the greatest threat to democracy in his lifetime.

TRUMP: Okay, he’s a Hilary Clinton, uh, backer and an Obama backer and frankly —

WALLACE: He was a Navy SEAL 37 years —

TRUMP: Wouldn’t it have been nice if we got Osama bin Laden a lot sooner than that, wouldn’t it have been nice? You know, living — think of this — living in Pakistan, beautifully in Pakistan, in what I guess they considered a nice mansion, I don’t know, I’ve seen nicer. But living in Pakistan right next to the military academy, everybody in Pakistan knew he was there. And we give Pakistan $1.3 billion a year and they don’t tell him, they don’t tell him—

Wallace is incredulous. “You’re not even going to give them credit for taking down bin Laden?”

No. Trump is not.

*

IT TURNS OUT McRaven isn’t the only former top U.S. commander who feels a need to break with tradition and question the current occupant of the Oval Office. The military has been reluctant for 229 years to get involved in politics. But Trump is different and dangerous.

In response to Trump’s attacks on McRaven, retired Major General Mark Hertling offers this pointed commentary:

“We can never become immune to this kind of narrative, to this kind of ‘jackassery,’” he tells CNN on Sunday.

“I don’t need to defend Bill McCraven. He’s a good friend of mine, he’s a true patriot, a hero. We both have served during the same period of time and under multiple presidents from both parties.

“We serve in the military the Constitution of the United States. We don’t serve an individual [emphasis added], that’s what makes our military different from all the other militaries in the world. So this comment by the president was disrespectful, it was demoralizing, it was shallow, and it was unprofessional.”

11/17/18: California firefighters gain ground in the fight against raging wildfires that have killed dozens, burned down thousands of homes and left hundreds of square miles and entire towns charred ruins.

Having traveled to California to survey the damage, Trump gets the name of the town where he’s standing (now a hell scape of blackened foundations and burned out hulks of vehicles and melted appliances) wrong. “Pleasure,” he calls the town. Ironic, he says, using a tone he imagines shows he cares. “Pleasure,” he muses. An aide has to lean over and whisper: the ruins are all that remains of Paradise, California. Standing next to Trump, Gov. Jerry Brown, looks as if he’s just as happy to be there as he would be if handcuffed to an arsonist.

Reporters catch up with Trump later and ask if he thinks climate change has anything to do with the extended fire season in the state (and all across the West) and the increased chances of uncontrollable wildfires. Trump sounds like an ill-prepared third grader presenting a science report to the class.  “No. No. I have a strong opinion: I want great climate,” he actually says.

WTF! I “want” great climate???

“We’re going to have that, and we’re going to have forests that are very safe,” he adds.

Well, then, reporters put the question, how is he going to insure that we have forests that are safe?

We already know his administration proposed a 12% budget reduction for the Department of Interior in Fiscal Year 2018. That’s the department that manages wide swaths of forest across the West, including more than 74,000 square miles in California. Congress balked at such shortsighted policy.

So, Trump and his cronies tried again this past February, calling for a 14% reduction in funding for Interior.

Trump isn’t worried about climate change. He tells reporters he recently talked to the president of Finland—or Westeros—or Munchkin Land. With this guy you can never tell. Anyway, he talked to the president of Finland, he claims, who told him a key to preventing the spread of forest fires was “raking.”

The president of Finland told Trump you had to rake the forest floors. You had to rake tens of thousands of square miles. Then, we can assume, you bagged the leaves and pine needles and fallen nuts and maybe picked up a few dead squirrels. You put everything out at the curb for trash collectors to carry away; but you definitely needed lots of rakes and rake-wielding foresters.

The president of Finland says later he has no idea what the president of this country is talking about.

The Finns, who almost universally believe in climate change and don’t like our president, have a great time mocking his pro-raking position. The hashtag #RakeNews gains currency.

A diligent Finn cleans up the forest in an effort to combat forest fires.

 

11/18/18: On the international front the Saudis now admit they not only murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but they also dismembered the body.

Trump promptly labels Saudi Arabia “a spectacular ally.”

Trump also admits he hasn’t bothered to listen to a tape of the Khashoggi killing, which the Turkish government shared with the C.I.A. Trump calls it “a suffering tape, it’s a terrible tape.”

He’d rather tweet.

Meanwhile, almost every country in the world and almost every expert in foreign affairs insist the killing could not have occurred except on orders from the Crown Prince. Trump tells reporters that he has talked to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman five times and he denies a role.

If the Crown Prince sounds like a shameless liar you can see how a kindred spirit like Trump might be willing to buy the story.

11/19/18: Republicans continue to hemorrhage seats in the U. S. House of Representatives as ballots are tallied and sometimes tallied again in very close races. But they still have Denver Rigglemen. When not drafting legislation, Rigglemen, an author, likes to dabble in “Bigfoot erotica.”

Here’s the basic plot of a Rigglemen novel: Lonely girl camper or hiker meets hunky forest creature.

They have steamy sex in the leaves.

The End.

Also, Republicans have Dennis Hof (sort of). Hof, a Nevada brothel owner and author of The Art of the Pimp, won a seat in the state legislature, despite the inconvenient fact he was, technically, dead.

But, “sadly,” all their Nazi-loving candidates went down to defeat. (See: 11/3/18.)

11/20/18: The president takes another shot to the orange glass jaw when a federal judge rules that he can’t abrogate the law on a whim.

Some weeks back, Twitter Thumbs issued a proclamation ordering all individuals seeking asylum at our southern border—including toddlers—to appear at official ports of entry. Failing to do so, Trump decreed, would render them ineligible for asylum.

NPR brings us up to speed on what happened in court:

The plaintiffs’ complaint [asylum seekers were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union] alleged the administration violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, or INA, which maintains that if a person makes it to U.S. soil—even if they’ve crossed the border illegally—they are eligible to apply for asylum.

U.S. District Judge Jon S. Tigar agreed with the complaint in his ruling, issuing a temporary restraining order on the proclamation.

“Whatever the scope of the President’s authority, he may not rewrite the immigration laws to impose a condition that Congress has expressly forbidden [emphasis added],” he wrote. “Defendant’s [the Trump administration], claims that the rule can somehow be harmonized with the INA are not persuasive.”

“Failure to comply with entry requirements such as arriving at a designated port of entry should bear little, if any, weight in the asylum process,” the Obama-appointed judge continued.

You knew Trump and his fans were going to hear: “Obama-appointed judge,” and start foaming at the mouth. Trump almost always responds to court decisions he doesn’t like by labeling them a “disgrace.”

I decide to go to his Twitter feed…at 10:22 a.m.…and check. No, not yet. He has not called the courts a disgrace.

By midafternoon, he has filled the void. He tells reporters that what’s happening with the Ninth Circuit Court is “a disgrace” and “a total disaster,” because the judges of the Ninth Circuit keep shooting down his potentially unconstitutional ideas.

Trump would be a lot happier if our government had only one branch and he could rewrite the U.S. Constitution.

Conservatives used to claim they feared a federal government with too much power. But they never question Orange Leader.

11/21/18: Trump is running out of people to insult. But a target of opportunity presents itself when Chief Justice John Roberts faults him for his attack on an “Obama-appointed judge” who blocked his new policy on immigrants seeking asylum. (See: 11/20/18.)

Knowing that faith in the American system of justice is critical, Chief Justice Roberts releases the following statement: 

We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges. What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them. That independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”

Trump is not thankful at all. Twitter Thumbs believes he should have his way all the time in court. In fact, if you get right down to it, Trump would really like all judges to be “Trump judges.” He tweets:

Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have “Obama judges,” and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country. It would be great if the 9th Circuit was indeed an “independent judiciary,” but if it is why.....

.....are so many opposing view (on Border and Safety) cases filed there, and why are a vast number of those cases overturned. Please study the numbers, they are shocking. We need protection and security—these rulings are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!”

One could attempt to explain why Trump is dangerously wrong—noting, for example, that the Founding Fathers created an “independent judiciary” specifically to serve as a check on the power of the executive branch.

You could point out that Obama-appointed judges aren’t against safety, so much as they are against locking up children in cages—and presidents who would love to ignore all the laws they find inconvenient.

Trump supporters might not be able to see the forest for the fat orange slug in the Oval Office. But the president’s continued attacks on the federal judiciary are increasingly alarming.

Robert Carlson, president of the American Bar Association, releases a statement condemning Trump:

“The American Bar Association is committed to an independent, impartial judiciary that is free from political influence. An independent, impartial judiciary is critical to upholding our democracy and our system of government.

“We agree with Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’s observation that we do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges, and that an independent judiciary is something we should all be thankful for.”

Carlson continues,

“disagreeing with a court’s decision is everyone’s right, but when government officials question a court’s motives, mock its legitimacy or threaten retaliation due to an unfavorable ruling, they intend to erode the court’s standing and hinder the courts from performing their constitutional duties.”

Chief Justice Roberts was right, the ABA concludes, in his defense of the judiciary in the face of Trump’s unprecedented attacks. “As we celebrate this Thanksgiving holiday,” the ABA concludes, “let us all count our blessings as Americans–free speech; free press; an independent, impartial judiciary; and the ability of every person in our country to stand up and speak out in favor of the rule of law.”

*

IN OTHER NEWS, President Twitter Thumbs hears weather forecasters predicting the coldest Thanksgiving in nearly a century in the Northeast). The high for Boston is expected to be 21°.

That means Trump has to do what Trump has to do. And that means he puts out a stupid tweet: “Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS. Whatever happened to Global Warming?”

(Sadly, when I check two days later this tweet has 103,760 “likes,” a damning indictment of the nation’s education system.)

Real scientists are appalled. Michael Mann, an expert on climate science at Penn State says in an email: “This demonstrates once again that Donald Trump is not an individual to be taken seriously on any topic, let alone matters as serious as climate change. He is a clown—a dangerous clown.”

Bill McKibben, the Schumann Distinguished Scholar at Middlebury College, provides a map to help explain global trends vs. local weather events. “I know you’re Mr. America-is-all-that-matters,” McKibben tweets, “but climate is actually a global phenomenon. Here’s today’s global weather map (oh, and red=hot.) As a whole, Earth is about 1.2 degrees above preindustrial temps today.”

If you’re not a lazy, intellectually-stunted blob, like President Trump, you can easily look this up. 

The four hottest years—globally—ever recorded are the last four, not counting 2018.

If you want evidence of the dangers of climate change, it’s not hard to find. The president could try not tweeting for a week, turn off all the Fox News TV, and do a little reading himself.

Like Jim Bridenstine, the new head of NASA, appointed by Trump, he might learn climate change is real after all. (See: 11/23/18.)

11/22/18: While most Americans spend the holiday dumping gravy all over their mashed potatoes, some are trying to choke down President Trump’s explanation for how he intends to address the Saudi murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

According to multiple news organizations the C.I.A. has concluded that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. An intercepted phone call is said to provide one link. A brother of the prince contacts Khashoggi and tells him to go to the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

A hit squad lies in wait.

According to one U.S. official, the C.I.A. has little doubt the Crown Prince had a hand in the planning. “The accepted position is that there is no way this happened without him being aware or involved.”

A newspaper with close ties to the Turkish government also reports that a recording from a C.I.A. wiretap captures the Crown Prince ordering agents to get rid of Khashoggi as soon as possible.

So, what will Trump do? Khashoggi was a permanent resident of the United States and has children who are American citizens.

Unfortunately, historians will likely hark back to this moment and try to distill the “Trump Doctrine.” They will place this president in historical perspective, and if our nation is still free, they will cringe.

Unless others stand up to Donald J. Trump—unless institutions like an independent judiciary hold—this will be the moment America begins stumbling into authoritarianism. The history books will record that under President Trump our nation ceased to be a beacon of hope for the rest of the world. America—flaws and all—will have abdicated its role as a defender of democracy and democratic institutions, a bulwark against injustice and the model for a society based on the rule of law. The United States, under Trump’s craven leadership, will stand with Russia and Putin, Saudi Arabia and Mohammed bin Salman, the Philippines and Rodrigo Duterte.

If “We the People” allow it.

Under the “Trump Doctrine,” the essence of our foreign policy will be this: America is on the make. Profit trumps all. It’s the philosophy that gave us Trump University, brought to the world stage.

So: The president decides to issue a statement outlining our new Trump Doctrine. Clearly he wrote it himself, complete with his trademark exclamation points. It’s imbecilic from the first line to the last. Here we provide it provide it in full:

The world is a very dangerous place!

The country of Iran, as an example, is responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen, trying to destabilize Iraq’s fragile attempt at democracy, supporting the terror group Hezbollah in Lebanon, propping up dictator Bashar Assad in Syria (who has killed millions of his own citizens), and much more. Likewise, the Iranians have killed many Americans and other innocent people throughout the Middle East. Iran states openly, and with great force, “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” Iran is considered “the world’s leading sponsor of terror.”

On the other hand, Saudi Arabia would gladly withdraw from Yemen if the Iranians would agree to leave. They would immediately provide desperately needed humanitarian assistance. Additionally, Saudi Arabia has agreed to spend billions of dollars in leading the fight against Radical Islamic Terrorism.

After my heavily negotiated trip to Saudi Arabia last year, the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States. This is a record amount of money. It will create hundreds of thousands of jobs, tremendous economic development, and much additional wealth for the United States. Of the $450 billion, $110 billion will be spent on the purchase of military equipment from Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and many other great U.S. defense contractors. If we foolishly cancel these contracts, Russia and China would be the enormous beneficiaries - and very happy to acquire all of this newfound business. It would be a wonderful gift to them directly from the United States!

The crime against Jamal Khashoggi was a terrible one, and one that our country does not condone. Indeed, we have taken strong action against those already known to have participated in the murder. After great independent research, we now know many details of this horrible crime. We have already sanctioned 17 Saudis known to have been involved in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, and the disposal of his body.

Representatives of Saudi Arabia say that Jamal Khashoggi was an “enemy of the state” and a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, but my decision is in no way based on that – this is an unacceptable and horrible crime. King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Our intelligence agencies continue to assess all information, but it could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!

(My god, the C.I.A. says he did. You’re the president; you have to make up your mind.)

That being said, we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi. In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They have been a great ally in our very important fight against Iran. The United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region. It is our paramount goal to fully eliminate the threat of terrorism throughout the world!

I understand there are members of Congress who, for political or other reasons, would like to go in a different direction - and they are free to do so. I will consider whatever ideas are presented to me, but only if they are consistent with the absolute security and safety of America. After the United States, Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producing nation in the world. They have worked closely with us and have been very responsive to my requests to keeping oil prices at reasonable levels – so important for the world. As President of the United States I intend to ensure that, in a very dangerous world, America is pursuing its national interests and vigorously contesting countries that wish to do us harm. Very simply it is called America First!

Sen. Rand Paul, to cite just one example, is horrified by Trump’s feckless response. “I’m pretty sure this statement is Saudi Arabia First, not America First,” he says. 

*

ON THIS FINE Thanksgiving Day the president decides to speak with America’s service members round the world. During a teleconference with the troops Trump makes a fool of himself again.

Rather than stick with tradition, thank them for their service, and ask how they are doing and how he knows their families must miss them, Trump turns to his favorite subject: himself.

“We’re doing well at home. The economy is doing really great. When you come back, you are going to see with the jobs and companies coming back into our country and the stock market just hit a record high,” Trump tells our men and women wearing the uniform of the United States overseas. (He’s plunked down safely at his Mar-a-Lago resort and reading from a prepared script because he’s not really interested in what the troops might have to say. He’s only interested in talking about how great he is.) “Unemployment is the lowest it’s been in 17 years,” he adds. “So you’re fighting for something real, you’re fighting for something good [emphasis added].”

Did this idiot just tell our soldiers, sailors, marines and air crews they’re risking their lives to bring unemployment down?

And they should be proud because the stock market just hit a new high?

Yes. Yes, he did.

Wait—and did he also lie? Because the market didn’t “just hit a record high;” it tanked in recent days—and it’s down for the year.

In any case, reporters watching the president work the phone, soon have a chance to ask questions. Who does he blame for the Khashoggi killing?

Trump actually replies: “Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a vicious place.”

If that doesn’t sound moronic enough, he decides to add: “So I hate the crime and I hate what is done and I hate the cover-up. And I will tell you this, the Crown Prince hates it more than I do.”

But Trump gets it all wrong.

Mohammed bin Salman hates the gruesome murder of a journalist the way Trump hates that Special Counsel Robert Mueller keeps indicting individuals who worked on his 2016 campaign. He doesn’t hate it because he has any moral bearings. He hates it because he knows he might get caught.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo shares a laugh with the butcher.

*

POSTSCRIPT: You really can’t make all this dumb shit up; but reporters ask the president, who is celebrating Thanksgiving with his family at Mar-a-Lago, what he’s thankful for on this happy day.

It’s probably the easiest question in the world to answer without sounding like a complete fool. Yet, the president manages to blow it. Trump says he’s thankful for his “great family [which is fine] and for having made a tremendous difference in this country [which is Trump bragging, something he always loves to do].”

“I made a tremendous difference in this country,” he adds. “This country is so much stronger now than it was when I took office and you wouldn’t believe it and when you see it, we’ve gotten so much stronger [that] people don’t even believe it.”

What many people don’t believe, Mr. President, is what an egotistical orange asshole you always are.

11/23/18: The Trump administration decides the Friday after Thanksgiving is the perfect time to release a scientific report on climate change, hoping most Americans will be too busy shopping and digesting to notice.

Three hundred scientists from thirteen government agencies have compiled 1,656 pages of what Trump and his enablers might call “Fake News,” outlining the growing damage that will result as climate change accelerates.

Let me be the first to admit, I’m not going to read that entire report anytime soon. But I’m willing to bet I’ll read more about it than the president ever does. About the only chance we have of interesting Trump is if the White House staff can hire a couple of Playboy Bunnies or porn stars to brief him.

(Admit it. In this administration, you can’t safely say they won’t.)

The findings are ominous: the U.S. can expect to see temperatures increase by 3° degrees between now and 2100, on top of an increase so far of 1.2°. Damage to the nation’s economy and environment will be extensive unless “substantial and sustained reductions” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions begin now. Dry parts of the country will get hotter and drier. Fire season will lengthen from Colorado to Montana. Wildfires similar to those ravaging California will become a fact of life in Tennessee and Georgia. Droughts will become more pronounced and ranchers in Texas and Kansas will watch their livestock suffer. When it does rain, rainfall events will be more intense, washing away top soil in Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. Winter wheat and soybean crops will decline. Flooding along rivers in Missouri and Iowa will be more damaging. Ticks will thrive in a warming Maine and tropical diseases will spread to Florida. Miami will have to deal with rising sea waters backing up into its wastewater system. Charleston, S.C. will see 180 tidal flooding events annually in 2045 compared to only 11 in 2014.

Federal, state and local governments must prepare. There’s still hope scientists say, if we are determined to act. “Future risks from climate change depend primarily on decisions made today.”

So, for now, we’re screwed. We’re stuck with the Science-Moron-in-Chief. (See: 11/27/18.).

11/24/18: Several thousand U.S. troops are celebrating Thanksgiving week down along the Mexico-U.S. border. They are there—and they will do their best—to “protect” the rest of us from the threat of imaginary smallpox (see: 10/30/18) and “dangerous immigrants,” quite a few of whom look like these:

Are there some dangerous individuals in any group, including the feared “caravan” that keeps Donald J. Trump up late at night? Yes. There are. And there have always been bad customers in every group of immigrants to this country, starting with those who landed at Plymouth Rock.

(John Billington, I’m talking about you.)

*

YET, AS MUCH as Trump likes to talk about “my military” and “my generals” and pretend he has the best interests of those who serve at heart, not everyone is convinced he knows what he’s doing in that regard:

“There was the belief that over time, he would better understand, but I don’t know that that’s the case,” said Col. David Lapan, a retired Marine who served in the Trump administration in 2017 as a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security. “I don’t think that he understands the proper use and role of the military [emphasis added] and what we can, and can’t, do.”

As The New York Times makes quite clear, Col. Lapan isn’t the only officer who seems to have his doubts.

“If a president routinely and cynically leverages our nation’s armed forces for short-term political advantage, the professional ethos” of the officers corps will be degraded, said Karl W. Eikenberry, a retired three-star Army general and a former commander of American forces in Afghanistan. “This, in turn, would threaten one of the foundational principles of our republic [emphasis added]—that our military must remain outside of politics.”

In fact, a group of soldiers actually asks Defense Secretary James Mattis when he visits the border what their mission is. “Short term, get the obstacles [barbed wire, etc.] in,” Mattis tells them.

“Long term, it is somewhat to be determined.”

In reality the mission is probably this: Hunker down and serves as props to make President Trump look good.

11/25/18: Trump can sit back and relax after the holidays, knowing he and his lawyers have turned in his answers to questions posed by Special Counsel Mueller and his team.

Also, he can relax a little because he now has Matt Whitaker, a lackey, in charge at the Department of Justice.

In an interview with Chris Wallace earlier, Trump has also made it plain. He’s not about to sit down for an interview with investigators, barring a subpoena, for sure. Wallace wondered why? Why not sit down, tell the truth, and get the investigation over with? Trump, a man who has spent more than 160 days as president hunkered down at various golf resorts he owns, replied, “We’ve wasted enough time on this witch hunt and the answer is, probably, we’re finished.”

Trump also made it clear during that interview that even when his answers were complete and he turned them in he wasn’t going to answer questions related to obstruction of justice.

Why not?

“There was no obstruction of justice,” he said.

Just how ludicrous did he sound? Trump further claimed he had no idea that Matt Whitaker, his surprise choice to take over as Acting Attorney General, had ever expressed opinions on the Mueller investigation.

It just so happens, that Whittaker—entirely unknown to the president, or so Twitter Thumbs claimed—had already said the investigation was a hoax and a witch hunt and Robert Mueller was probably a transvestite.

The New York Times picks up the story:

When Mr. Wallace pointed out to Mr. Trump that Mr. Whitaker had predetermined that there was no collusion in his public commentary over the last two years, Mr. Trump said: “He’s right. What do you do when a person’s right? There is no collusion. He happened to be right. I mean, he said it. So if he said there is collusion, I’m supposed to be taking somebody that says there is?”

Not necessarily. But you should select someone who actually believes in the rule of law.

11/26/18: Reporters stop the president on the South Lawn and pepper him with questions. He’s leaving for Mississippi to lead a campaign rally for Cindy Hyde-Smith, the Republican candidate in a U.S. Senate runoff election.

Well, they ask, what does he think about the 1,656 page climate report just released by 13 government agencies?

“I’ve seen it. I’ve read some of it. And it’s fine,” he responds in lame-ass fashion. You know  he hasn’t read much of the report, if any at all.

Asked if he agrees with the report’s assessment—that our nation will face serious negative environmental, economic and social consequences from climate change, he replies: “I don’t believe it.”

That’s his answer and he’s sticking to it.

(See his almost identical reaction to a United Nations report, put together by scientists from 40 nations: 10/11/18.)

11/27-28/18: These two days are covered separately in a post titled go to “Trump Tries Witness Tampering in the Mueller Investigation.”

11/29-30/18: President Trump departs for the G-20 Summit in Argentina on Thursday. You have to wonder if he’ll ever come back.

And what do we learn: Mueller has documents!!!

Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, who worked for Trump for twelve years, opens up a Pandora’s Box brimming with fresh legal and ethical questions when he admits lying in court about the Trump Tower deal in Moscow. Did we mention that Mueller has documents! Cohen lied, he now says, to insure his story meshed with the tall tale Candidate Trump was telling.

And it won’t be just a case of, “Cohen said, the president said.” The Special Counsel has documents to back up what Trump’s fixer has said.

First the lies: Cohen previously testified before Congress that efforts to win a contract for a Trump Tower in Moscow ended in January 2016. Thursday he admitted and documents proved contacts with Russian government officials continued into June.

This is Lie #147 related to the Russia investigation.

A $50,000,000 apartment for Vladimir Putin.

Technically, Cohen admitted to lying on multiple occasions; but we’ll lump the assorted lies together and call them one, since the topic is the same: He was covering up for the fact Team Trump was working on a lucrative deal with Russians while Candidate Trump was standing for president.

How lucrative? Some experts say it might have turned out to be Trump’s biggest deal ever; but I haven’t been a specific dollar figure. We do know this. The deal was big enough to convince Cohen and other Trump associates to offer to sweeten the deal on the Moscow end by giving Vladimir Putin a penthouse worth $50 million.

“NO COLLUSION?” Trump loves to tweet. Well, then, how about a $50 million bribe to the leader of a hostile power?

At the same time we know Candidate Trump was telling anyone who would listen, that he did not have financial ties with Russia. “How many times do I have to say that?” he asked at a news conference in July 2016. “I have nothing to do with Russia. I have nothing to do with Russia.”

Mueller can now show—including with documents—that Trump and his team were working on a deal as late as June 14.

(Flag Day, ironically.)

With Trump, of course, the lying continued. In a presidential debate on October 16 he responded to Hillary Clinton’s claim that Russian was interfering in the election, in hopes he’d win:

I notice, anytime anything wrong happens, they like to say the Russians are—she doesn’t know if it’s the Russians doing the hacking. Maybe there is no hacking. But they always blame Russia. And the reason they blame Russia because they think they’re trying to tarnish me with Russia. I know nothing about Russia. I know—I know about Russia, but I know nothing about the inner workings of Russia. I don’t deal there [emphasis added]. I have no businesses there. I have no loans from Russia.

That statement, read today, obviously includes a series of brazen lies: By then his advisers already knew the Russians were doing at least some of the hacking; his campaign had already been offered dirt on Clinton by Russians; and he had been dealing in Russia, just not with success.

Lies #148-150.

As president-elect, Trump continued lying. At a press conference on January 11, 2017 he told reporters, “So I have no deals, I have no loans and I have no dealings. We could make deals in Russia very easily if we wanted to, I just don’t want to because I think that would be a conflict. So I have no loans, no dealings, and no current pending deals.

“Because I think that would be a conflict.” Donald J. Trump

That statement contains an additional falsehood and a fundamental truth. First, he’s lying when he says he doesn’t want to make a deal.

And this is the fundamental truth: Trump is aware that his efforts to land a deal for a Trump Tower in Moscow would be a conflict.

Lie #151: Trump knows dealing with the Russians is a conflict; so he lies about it.

*

TODAY, WE KNOW that a confluence of events occurred in June 2016. The “Fake News” people and investigators have slowly laid this all out. George Papadopoulos, a campaign aide met in April with a man he believed could provide dirt on Clinton. Papadopoulos later lied about it. Roger Stone met with a Russian man in May and was offered dirt on Clinton. But the man wanted $2 million. Stone didn’t reject the idea of accepting the dirt; he told the Russian the price was too steep. So the Russians well knew Trump and his team were open to working with a hostile foreign power. Finally, in June the two sides came to an understanding of some kind. Mueller is still working to find out what that understanding was. But he’s gathering documents. In June, the Trump campaign/Russian effort all begins to come together:

June 3: Rob Goldstone, the agent for the singer Emin Agalarov, who Don Sr. and Don Jr. know from working with Emin and his father on the 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow, sends Don Jr. an email.

Goldstone says an official high in the ranks of the Putin government is “offering material that will incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father.”

Don Jr. doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t notify the F.B.I. He responds within hours: “If it’s what you say I love it especially later in the summer.”

June 6: Trump knocks out his last remaining opponent in the Republican primaries: “Lyin’ Ted” Cruz.

Cohen claims that top campaign officials and Don Jr. held a strategy meeting that day to discuss plans to meet with the Russians and see what dirt they could provide; and Don Sr. was aware of and green-lighted the meeting.

June 7: Candidate Trump announces to the nation:

“I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week [June 13] and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons.

“I think you’re going to find it very informative and very, very interesting. I wonder if the press will want to attend. Who knows? Hillary Clinton turned the State Department into her private hedge fund. The Russians, the Saudis, the Chinese all gave money to Bill and Hillary and got favorable treatment in return. It’s a sad day in America when foreign governments with deep pockets have more influence [emphasis added] in our own country than our great citizens.”

(See: Trump Tower deal in Moscow! See: free $50 million apartment.)

June 9: Don Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort meet secretly at Trump Tower in New York City with Russians they believe are bearing gifts—frankincense, myrrh and dirt on Hillary.

June 10: Leaders of the campaign suffer from mass amnesia. No one in the meeting on June 9 remembers ever having had the meeting, discussing having it beforehand, talking about it after, having dreams or nightmares about it, or can recall what was discussed by the participants. Don Jr. can’t even remember who he called and spoke with at a blocked number for four minutes before the meeting, who he spoke with briefly at a blocked number during the meeting, or who he spoke to at a blocked number for eleven minutes that evening.

Don Sr. has a blocked number.

June 13: Monday comes and goes. The major speech promised by Candidate Trump on Hillary Clinton fails to materialize.

June 14: It’s Flag Day. But members of the Trump campaign seem confused about which flag they’re honoring.

The Washington Post breaks the first story about Russian involvement in the hacking and release of damaging emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee. These emails do immediate damage to the Democratic Party, driving a wedge between Clinton and Bernie Sanders and his supporters.

According to the Mueller indictment revealed this week it is then, on June 14, that Trump and his people finally pull the plug on the Moscow deal. Suddenly, they realize Trump could be elected. The Russians know a victory is a longshot but they’re more than happy to help. And they know Trump and his lackeys are willing to accept any aid they might provide.

For the next thirteen months (until July 2017) no one in the Trump campaign utters a word about the secret meeting in Trump Tower (New York City, not Moscow) until the free press starts jogging their memories in a series of articles by the New York Times and Washington Post.

In response to a barrage of damaging stories President Trump helps write a misleading letter about the purpose of the meeting, which everyone forgot, but has now been revealed by the free press.

Then he forgets until June 2018 that he wrote that letter.)

 *

SINCE OUR FOCUS is sleazy, money-grubbing leaders, we might point out that it is never a good idea to associate with convicted felons, which is definitely an ongoing problem for Donald J. Trump.

On the U.S. end of the line during the negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow in 2015-2016, you had Cohen (now a convicted felon) and Felix Sater working the phones. Sater had already been convicted of multiple felonies, including a $40 million securities fraud case, but stayed out of jail by becoming an F.B.I. informant.

On the Russian end of the line you had General Evgeny Smykov, a man not known to have ever been convicted of any felonies, but definitely known to have worked for Russian intelligence. So you can see why this story raised investigators’ eyebrows back in 2016 and still raises them now. You can also see why Candidate Trump/President Trump would want to cover up any connections for the last two years. (Well, there’s good news, at least: No porn stars are involved in this episode.) Indeed, as late as January 2017, President-Elect Trump was insisting during a press conference, “I have no deals that could happen in Russia, because we’ve stayed away.”

That’s like telling your wife. “I’m not having an affair, I’m keeping away from my hot young secretary!” without mentioning you just ended your affair two days before. And, frankly, if you were being honest, you’d say you already regret breaking it off and you’re not sure you won’t sleep with her again.

*

AS TRUMP FLIES OFF to Argentina he has to understand something ominous is brewing. Mueller has documents—he’s likely gathering more—and the president knows it. On Thursday, F.B.I. agents raid the Chicago offices of Ed Burke, a man the Chicago Sun-Times describes as having “dodged dozens of federal investigations over five decades in Chicago politics.”  Agents “kicked everyone out and papered over the windows.” Later they debarked with boxes of documents and computers in hand.

Burke has previously done property-tax-appeal work for Donald J. Trump.

Could this raid be related to the president’s burgeoning legal problems? We don’t know for sure. But we know Cohen did the dirty work for Trump for years and Cohen knows where the rotting corpses are interred. We know he’s cooperating with Mueller—having talked for 70 hours with investigators.

And we’re still not done listing suspicious characters and corporations. In Germany a wave of police, prosecutors and tax authorities descends on the headquarters of Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. Electronic records and documents are seized at five locations as part of an investigation “into whether the lender helped criminals launder money through offshore tax havens.”

Greed drives everyone in this story.

Again, we can’t know if this has anything to do with President Trump; but if you don’t think the people he hangs with and does business with aren’t willing to commit every kind of crime you can think of to reap a fortune, you’re watching more Fox News than is good for you and should seek therapy. Deutsche Bank was fined $425 million last year “for helping clients of its Moscow office illegally move $10 billion out of Russia.” In fact, the bank has also been fined for failing to monitor financial transactions that involved cash going to terrorists.

Does Trump do business with Deutsche—a bank known for working with money-launderers? Of course he does. This past May it was reported that Mueller had subpoenaed bank records related to our fearless, fat, fool leader’s finances. Market Watch reported that the president had liabilities (basically: outstanding loans) totaling between $356 million and $480 million, including $175 million owed to Deutsche Bank.

Here’s what we do know. None of these developments prove that the President of the United States is a gigundous crook. But we know greed drives him and everyone in this story.

If all else had failed, and Clinton had defeated him, Trump could still hope to land a huge financial windfall in Moscow by building his hotel.

Or: with Russian help, he could win the presidency.

What would the Russians get in return? If the deal went through Putin would get a free $50 million penthouse. If Trump won, he might end sanctions imposed on Russia after Putin invaded Crimea. That would allow Russian oligarchs to get their mitts on all those billions of laundered dollars stashed in Western banks and invested in real estate in places like Florida and New York City. As a bonus, Trump would be their tool in the White House, possibly subject to blackmail.

If he lost, he would help blacken the reputation of a President Hillary Clinton, whom Putin already hated.

*

WE DEFINITELY KNOW that Special Counsel Mueller takes Cohen’s plea deal seriously. Mueller signed it himself, a first during the investigation.

We know several committees in Congress will be cranking up their investigations starting in January, this time with Democrats in control of the House of Representatives, wielding subpoena power. We know Don Jr. and Felix Sater and others witnesses, who got the gentlest possible treatment when the GOP ran the committees, will be called back and have their past testimony reexamined. And we know Mueller has all kinds of documents. I’m willing to bet we’re going to find out that several members of this administration have already perjured themselves.

We also know that the Senate Judiciary Committee is going to revisit testimony given previously, that panel led by a Republican, Richard Burr of North Carolina. Burr has already shown the kind of spine standing up to Trump you’d never see from Milksop Mitch McConnell. “This is why you shouldn’t lie to Congress,” Burr replied in answer to a reporter’s question about what steps his committee might take once Congress is back in session.

Finally, we know Trump is badly rattled. If Twitter is, as one pundit said, really the president’s id on display, we know Trump is furious. His Twitter howls have reached new decibel levels.

Thursday morning, early, we heard him shriek:

Did you ever see an investigation more in search of a crime? At the same time Mueller and the Angry Democrats aren’t even looking at the atrocious, and perhaps subversive, crimes that were committed by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats. A total disgrace!

Seven minutes later Trump let out a primal scream:

When will this illegal Joseph McCarthy style Witch Hunt, one that has shattered so many innocent lives, ever end-or will it just go on forever? After wasting more than $40,000,000 (is that possible?), it has proven only one thing-there was NO Collusion with Russia. So Ridiculous!

Then, after flying to Buenos Aires for the G-20 Summit, and just before bedding down for the night, the president exploded:

“This demonstrates the Robert Mueller and his partisans have no evidence, not a whiff of collusion, between Trump and the Russians. Russian project legal. Trump Tower meeting (son Don), perfectly legal. He wasn’t involved with hacking.” Gregg Jarrett. A total Witch Hunt!

Nothing is more convincing than when Trump quotes someone from Fox News as “evidence” of his innocence.

When Trump rises again, Friday morning, we had two more yelps, the first at 4:52 a.m.—when you might hope the Orange Fool was busy preparing for talks with other world leaders:

Oh, I get it! I am a very good developer, happily living my life, when I see our Country going in the wrong direction (to put it mildly). Against all odds, I decide to run for President & continue to run my business-very legal & very cool, talked about it on the campaign trail...

...Lightly looked at doing a building somewhere in Russia. Put up zero money, zero guarantees and didn’t do the project. Witch Hunt

Trump may insist he’s innocent; but he’s sleeping poorly, like a criminal who hears distant sirens in the dark.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE PLEA AGREEMENT

If you want to understand which witches Special Counsel Mueller’s team might be hunting you need go no further than the first sentence of the charging document recently revealed in Cohen’s latest plea agreement.

The case laid out in United States v. Michael Cohen begins:

“From in or around 2007 through in or around January 2017, MICHAEL COHEN, the defendant, was an attorney and employee of a Manhattan-based real estate company (the “Company”). COHEN held the title of “Executive Vice President” and “Special Counsel” to the owner of the Company (“Individual 1”).

For months now, “Individual 1” has been firing shots at Mueller and his team, if nothing else in hundreds of tweets.

Here you have the first fire returned by Mueller, directed at “Individual 1,” Donald J. Trump, President of the United States.

And it draws blood. The sad fig leaf of denial Trump has been trying to position to shield his fat, orange, presidential privates is stripped away. Last April, when evidence—again including documents—of Cohen’s role in payoffs to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal began to blow up, Trump tried to downgrade his relationship with Cohen. In an interview with Fox News, he insisted, “This doesn’t have to do with me. Michael is a businessman. He’s got a business. He also practices law. And they’re looking at something having to do with his business. I have nothing to do with his business.”

Asked how much legal work Cohen did for him, Trump claimed, “As a percentage of my overall legal work, a tiny, tiny little fraction.”

In August, when Cohen pled guilty to an array of crimes and started cooperating with investigators, Trump tried to downgrade their ties even further. Suddenly, all of the president’s sycophants began clamoring, “Cohen is a liar!” Trump himself said nobody should hire Cohen for legal work, he was a terrible lawyer, and only worked for him for a very short decade. In fact, if you listened to Trump he would hardly have known Cohen if he walked into the Oval Office and said, “Hey, Boss, do you want me to pay off the porn star?”

So, Mueller starts off the latest charging document by blasting that story to bits.

Cohen was a Trump guy.

The legal meat of the matter is easy to explain. In January 2017 the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (“SSCI”) and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (“HPSCI”) in the U.S. House of Representatives began to investigate possible links between Russia and the Trump campaign. The Senate panel managed to develop a level of bipartisan cooperation. The House panel, led by Rep. Devin Nunes, a California Republican, couldn’t have found a Russian if you sent the whole committee to Moscow on a plane and let them roam the streets for a month.

I mean: the Democratic members of the committee could have found all kinds of Russians; but Nunes and the Republican majority would promptly deny that any Russians had been seen and issue a report on their “findings.”

“Individual 1.”

Mueller now makes it plain. Cohen lied to both committees. Cohen had testified that the project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow was ended in January 2016. Cohen, himself, said, “I determined that the proposal was not feasible for a variety of business reasons and should not be pursued further.”

In that way, Cohen offered a legal shield for his Boss. “To the best of my knowledge,” Cohen said at the time, “[Individual 1] was never in contact with anyone about this proposal other than me on three occasions. . . . I did not ask or brief [Individual 1], or any of his family, before I made the decision to terminate further work on the proposal.”

Cohen further insisted he never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Tower project. He “never considered” asking “Individual 1” if he should go. Instead, he claimed he “primarily communicated” with a Moscow-based company “through a U.S. citizen third-party intermediary, [Individual 2].”

Individual 2 would be Felix Sater, the convicted felon.

Sater asked Cohen to travel to Moscow to push the deal forward. Cohen claimed he “never agreed to make a trip to Russia.” He never asked Individual 1 “to travel to Russia in connection with this proposal.” Yes, Cohen testified, he did send Russian officials a number of emails about the project; but there was little interest. So, in January 2016, “I decided to abandon the proposal… [and from that time forward] do not recall any response to my email, nor any other contacts by me with [Russian Official 1] or other Russian government officials about the proposal.”

By the time of the Iowa caucuses, the story was, Trump had terminated all contacts with Russians about building business ties in that country. Cohen issued a public statement to that effect in September 2016. On October 25 he so testified before Rep. Nunes’ GOP-controlled committee.

Mueller’s team now has documents and can lay out all kinds of lies. If you’re the president or one of his many crooked friends, you immediately start to perspire. It’s not just Cohen agreeing to cooperate that represents a threat. Investigators have documentation. Mueller makes the case:

In truth and in fact, and as COHEN well knew, COHEN’s representations about the Moscow Project he made to SSCI and HPSCI were false and misleading. COHEN made the false statements to

1.    minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1 and

(2) give the false impression that the Moscow Project ended before “the Iowa caucus and . . . the very first primary,” in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations. COHEN attempted to conceal or minimize through his false statements the following facts:

a. The Moscow Project was discussed multiple times within the Company and did not end in January 2016.

“Instead, as late as approximately June 2016,” investigators know, Cohen and Sater were still discussing efforts to obtain Russian government assistance with the project, and Cohen “briefed family members of Individual 1” about the proposal. Cohen made plans to travel to Moscow to pursue the deal—and he and Individual 1—by then the presumptive nominee for president—discussed plans for Individual 1 to travel to Russia.

It only gets “better” as you continue to read through the evidence. Cohen asks “a senior campaign official about potential business travel to Russia.” The official is not named; but like every other member of Team Trump, that official apparently forgets ever having this discussion.

Russians willing to cooperate with the campaign on any subject.

In fact, as late as May, the project seems more on than off. Sater writes to Cohen on May 4:

“I had a chat with Moscow. ASSUMING the trip does happen the question is before or after the convention . . . Obviously the pre-meeting trip (you only) can happen anytime you want but the 2 big guys where [sic] the question. I said I would confirm and revert.” COHEN responded, “My trip before Cleveland. [Individual 1] once he becomes the nominee after the convention.”

The next day, Sater writes Cohen again, assuring him that,

“[Russian Official 1] would like to invite you as his guest to the St. Petersburg Forum which is Russia’s Davos it’s June 16-19. He wants to meet there with you and possibly introduce you to either [the President of Russia] or [the Prime Minister of Russia], as they are not sure if 1 or both will be there. . . . He said anything you want to discuss including dates and subjects [emphasis added] are on the table to discuss.”

Note that last line—the willingness of the Russians to cooperate with the campaign on any subject they might like to introduce.

On May 6, 2016, Sater asks Trump’s lawyer to confirm those dates, if they would work for him to travel. Cohen replies, “Works for me.”

On June 9, we now know, Don Jr., Jared Kushner and convicted-felon Paul Manafort agree to meet with Russians in Trump Tower, offering those gifts. Mueller’s investigators have proof that

From on or about June 9 to June 14, 2016, Individual 2 sent numerous messages to COHEN about the travel, including forms for COHEN to complete. However, on or about June 14, 2016, COHEN met Individual 2 in the lobby of the Company’s headquarters to inform Individual 2 he would not be traveling at that time.

Does that mean the Moscow project is on hold, or even dead, finally? Or does it mean the people at the top of the Trump campaign know an even better deal has now been placed on the table?

That is: do they now know the Russians are willing to offer direct assistance in an effort to defeat Hillary? This would be a switch from the mad pursuit of cash to what amounts almost to treason. If Trump and Cohen and other top aides know Russia is willing to help them—and they’re now they were willing to jump into bed with a hostile power—you can understand why they’ve been fighting so hard for more than two years to cover up their tracks.