April 23, 2019: Founder of "Students for Trump" Busted, and U.S. Navy Wants Icebreakers

 

4/23/19: Is it just me, or does Team Trump naturally attract swindlers, charlatans, and thieves? 

In 2015, John Lambert and Ryan Fournier, students at Campbell University, a North Carolina school with strong Baptist ties, founded “Students for Trump.” The group grew to include 300 chapters. The Trump campaign embraced the organization and Lambert showed up on Fox News explaining with youthful enthusiasm plans to help Trump “Make America Great Again.” 

So far, so good. 

If you cherish the right of every American to speak his or her mind and vote, then Lambert and Fournier are to be commended. 

Unfortunately, Lambert has been now charged with wire fraud by prosecutors from the Southern District of New York. By posing online as a lawyer named “Eric Pope” he allegedly bilked would-be clients out of thousands of dollars. Mr. Lambert/Pope’s fake online firm even copied attorney biographies from another website.

 

 

The U.S. Navy prepares for the future.

FUN FACT: Dimwit Donald may believe climate change is a hoax; but the U.S. Navy does not. A contract worth $746 million, in order to build three new icebreakers for use in the Arctic has been awarded. 

(An option to buy two heavy icebreakers is included in the contract, which could bring its value to $1.94 billion.) 

Why might the Navy want such vessels? To compete with Russia and China, which are increasingly involved in exploring the now open seas at the top of the world, and breaking new passages in thinning ice. 

Yes. Climate change.

June 5, 2020: President Trump Has a Busy Day of...Tweeting

 

6/5/20: At 12:21 a.m. President Trump gets a busy day as leader of the Free World off to a rousing start. He’s up late, a rarity. He notes his happiness that Iran has released Mike White, a Navy veteran, held hostage for two years. “So great to have Michael home. Just arrived. Very exciting. Thank you to Iran. Don’t wait until after U.S. Election to make the Big deal. I’m going to win. You’ll make a better deal now!”

 

____________________ 

Why a good deal before the next election?

____________________

  

Yes. Good news to have Mr. White back. 

But why was Trump offering a country he considers a sworn enemy a good deal before the next election? Kind of like asking Ukraine for help? Or listening to Russian offers in 2016? Trump should be trying to get the best deal with Iran possible, before the election, or after. Timing wouldn’t matter.

 

*

Tweeting is what the man does best.

IT WAS off to bed soon after, for Mr. Sleepy. And then Trump rose again and began tweeting like a man who couldn’t stop watching porno. There were 55 retweets during the six a.m. hour, almost one per minute. 

That included Trump quoting Sen. Deb Fischer announcing: “I cannot think of a better way to celebrate Beef Month than by eating a burger today for #NationalBeefBurgerDay and sending a thank you to all our NE [Nebraska] cattle producers who are working hard to put beef on our tables.” 

You could perhaps commend the president for stamina and lightning quick thumbs, because in the seven a.m. hour he posted 74 times. He was, for example, excited to learn that the U.S. recovered 2.5 million jobs in May. So, he retweeted the White House, which reported, “With 2.5 MILLION jobs added in May, we’re on the way to an incredible period of growth!”  

Trump laid off at 8:01 and didn’t log back on to Twitter until 10:43. The onslaught recommenced. Trump went with the utter simplicity of retweeting a rabid Fox News host and Trump fan:

 

  

The president tweeted in the eleven a.m. hour, the twelve p.m., the one p.m., the two p.m. and the three p.m. hours. At 3:08 p.m., with a nation torn by protests, Trump spent his time as leader of a great nation, critiquing NFL quarterback Drew Brees. Brees had first said he did not believe players should kneel in protest when the 2020 season begins. Then he thought it over and apologized for insensitivity. In Trump’s world you never apologize. Sensitivity is weakness. So is human decency. 

He tap-tapped: 

I am a big fan of Drew Brees. I think he’s truly one of the greatest quarterbacks, but he should not have taken back his original stance on honoring our magnificent American Flag. OLD GLORY is to be revered, cherished, and flown high...

 

...We should be standing up straight and tall, ideally with a salute, or a hand on heart. There are other things you can protest, but not our Great American Flag - NO KNEELING!

 

The job of being president distracted him until after dinner. But in the six p.m. hour he was doing what he does best – lashing out at other Americans, who he is supposed to represent. He called the mayor of Washington D.C. “grossly incompetent,” which is a great way to help keep order in any city. 

In the next hour he retweeted the founder and co-chair of TrumpStudents, Ryan Fournier, who offered up another burst of simplicity: “Barack Obama put a target on the back of every cop in this country.” Because, sure. Criticizing what the only African American president we’ve ever had supposedly did four years ago will help sooth frayed nerves now. 

Then we had Trump talking about Gov. John Hickenlooper, “who got caught big time with his hand in the cookie jar.” 

And Trump outraged to find Portland, Oregon had paid a “violent Antifa leader for getting hit with a rubber bullet.” 

And the president retweeting some dude, retweeting some other dude, who was criticizing The New York Times. 

 

In the eight p.m. hour, an apparently rejuvenated President of the United States began tweeting vehemently once more: another 36 posts, including a revisit to his first tweet of the day, welcoming Michael White home. 

By now, bedtime was approaching. Trump got in a formulaic shot at the free press. “The Lamestream Media is out of control,” he said. “It would be impossible to fully explain how dishonest they are!” 

At 10:19, Trump signed off with a plug for a book you figure he’s never going to read (and I don’t mean the Bible). Exhausted by a busy day of tweeting – more than 200 posts – he collapsed into bed.

May 11, 2021:

 

5/11/21: Team Trump keeps taking a beating. In court news, we learn that John Lambert, co-founder of “Students for Trump,” has been sentenced to thirteen months in jail. Crime: creating a fake law firm to bilk the unknowing. Lambert was ratted out by co-operating witness, fellow co-founder of “Students for Trump,” and unindicted co-conspirator Ryan Fournier.

Court documents show that Fournier began providing information to prosecutors in April 2018, in hopes he might avoid charges “for his role in the wire-fraud conspiracy.” 

So Fournier – one crook – slides – and still has 375,000 followers on Twitter, if you’d like to check it out. 

The other crook – Lambert – goes to the slammer.

Fournier, left, Lambert, right.

 

____________________ 

“My fear is that all of this is further tearing at the foundations of our democracy and tearing at people’s faith in our electoral systems.” 

Bill Gates, Maricopa County supervisor

____________________

  

* 

TRUMP HIMSELF came out of hiding today, to issue a condemnation of President Biden’s efforts to advance offshore windfarms to help address the threat of climate change. One farm off Martha’s Vineyard is expected to produce enough electricity for 400,000 homes. But Loser Don hates windmills

 

So, he howled about how wind power “kills birds, affects the sea, ruins the landscape, and creates disasters for navigation.” (Thankfully, he left out his false 2019 claim that windmills cause cancer.) 

“In any event, Martha’s Vineyard, an absolutely wonderful place, will never be the same,” he warned. “Good luck!”  

Someone should probably explain to Rejected-President Trump that the turbines will be twelve miles away, and almost impossible to see, given the curvature of the earth. Also, the 84 proposed turbines that will make up the farm will be well marked on nautical charts, and carry lights. 

Plus, ships have radar.

 

* 

IN ARIZONA, the voting audit continues – with the end not yet in sight. The New York Times asks Bill Gates, the Maricopa County supervisor to comment. Gates is blunt in response: 

My fear is that all of this is further tearing at the foundations of our democracy and tearing at people’s faith in our electoral systems. If there were fraud going on, if there was systematic corruption going on, I would be the first to speak out against it. But we have looked at this again and again and again with numerous audits here. These issues have been litigated and relitigated in the courts, both state and federal courts. And there was no basis. And now we’re seeing these conspiracy theories that are being pursued.

 

If people lose faith in the electoral system, then I mean, where we go from there is very scary, right? Either people just disengage, they stop voting, or they cannot redress the government any further. They pursue what — armed rebellion? These are things that I can’t believe are even coming out of my mouth. This is such unchartered territory.

 

Gates goes on to say he got into politics because he was inspired by President Ronald Reagan. 

I’ve been a Republican my whole life. I mean, it’s like Liz Cheney: Nobody’s ever questioned her conservative credentials. That’s not what this is about at all. It has become about the big lie. And sadly, I feel like that is now the defining feature of the Republican Party. Whether you believe that the 2020 election results were a big lie.

 

Gates is asked, how ordinary Republicans can be convinced – that Biden won the 2020 election. 

I think it’s a real challenge because unfortunately so many of our leaders of the party are telling them something else. I’m concerned that at this point, this is something that is going to take a while. It’s so important that we deal with reality and we’ve gotten away from that. We’re not living in our sort of normal human environment. We’ve all gone into these rabbit holes on social media.

 

And so there’s got to be this kind of civic reawakening, a belief in democracy. 

 

BLOGGER’S NOTE: See 5/18/21 and compare what one lifelong Republican says with what the other short-time Republican, Donald J. Trump, says.