Comments by "" (@DavidJ222) on "Face the Nation"
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What do Putin, Kim Jong Un, Mohamad bin Salman, and Xi Jinping all have in common? They are all brutal strongmen and dictators who demand respect, obedience, loyalty, and want their followers to willingly believe and do anything they tell them. What else do they have in common? They are all men that Trump admires and looks up to.Ā
Trump: ā Kim Jong Un speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.ā Trump later said anyone who doesnāt cheer for anything he says is a traitor committing treason.
It doesnāt matter to Trump cultists that Trump chooses to side with Russia, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia over America, because all Trump has to do is hold a rally, hug the American flag, while telling the crowd to shout, āU-S-A!ā And then all of a sudden, that warm and fuzzy feeling of counterfeit patriotism washes over them.
At a rally held by Steve Bannon this past March, an angry and hostile woman took the mic and said, āNever in my life did I think I would like to see a dictator, but if thereās gonna be one, I want it to be Trump!ā which was met with loud cheers and applause from Bannon and the crowd of cultists. It goes without saying that any American who would cheer for that, doesn't believe in liberty, freedom, or the Constitution. Anyone American that cheers for that clearly supports fascism and dictatorships. Trump's cultists don't want an elected official to govern on behalf of the people, theyĀ want an authoritarian dictator who will force on everyone else what he believes, and punish those who donāt.
Trump claims to support veterans after they return from service, but in the last two years he slashed funding for military housing assistance programs which help keep veterans off the street and gutted mental illness programs which help those dealing with PTSD and suicidal tendencies.
Trump cultists always brag about their love and support for our troops and veterans, then continue to worship a man who steps on the military every chance he gets. Trump promised he would donate to military charities, then didnāt, then lied about it. He attacked John McCain during the campaign for no reason, attacked him throughout his term, and continues to attack McCain after his passing.
When Republican Congressman and war veteran Dan Crenshaw, who lost his eye in combat serving this country, tweeted to Trump, āSeriously stop talking about Senator John McCain,ā Trump supporters turned on veteran Crenshaw and harassed, threatened and insulted him on twitter. They defended a known coward and draft dodger, and attacked Crenshaw, a wounded war veteran who served this country honorably. Let that sink in for a moment.
At a rally in August 2016, a war veteran presented his Purple Heart medal to Trump, and he took it and said, āI always wanted one of these, this way is much easier.āĀ Utterly disgusting.
No other politician, Republican or Democrat, would have EVER accepted that from a veteran.
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āYou donāt even have to be convicted of a crime to lose your job in this constitutional republic. Because if this body [Congress] determines that your conduct as a public official is clearly out of bounds in your role . . . because impeachment is not about punishment. Impeachment is about cleansing the office. Impeachment is about restoring honor and integrity to the office.ā
-- Lindsey "Two Faced" Graham Jan 23, 1999
"If we nominate Trump, we will get destroyed.......and we will deserve it."
-- Lindsey "Two Faced" Graham, May 3, 2016
āI think heās a kook, I think heās crazy. I think heās unfit for office."
--Lindsey "Two Faced" Graham on Trump,Ā Feb, 2016
"Hereās what youāre buying: Heās a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot. He doesnāt represent my party. He doesnāt represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for. And you know how you make America great again, by telling Donald Trump to go to he//."
--Lindsey "Two Faced" Graham on Trump, Dec 8, 2015
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If Trump ever sits down for an interview with Mueller, he will surely walk out of that interview in handcuffs, and Trump's lawyers know it.
In 2007, Trump sued reporter Tim O'Brien. In 2009, a judge dismissed Trumpās case against OāBrien. Trump appealed, but in 2011 that was denied too. Trump accused O'Brien of being reckless and dishonest in a book that raised questions about Trumpās net worth. The reporterās attorneys turned the tables and brought Trump in for a deposition. During the deposition on Dec.19 and 20, 2007, Trump was caught lying at least 30 times. The lies Trump told during the deposition were unstrategic ā needless, highly specific, and easy to disprove. When he was caught lying, Trump would blame others for the error. or explained that the untrue thing really was true,Ā at least in his mind. Trump's lying deposition is now a part of the public record.
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The dawn of American democracy didnāt come in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence. It didnāt come in 1788, when the Constitution was ratified by the states, or in 1789, when George Washington took office. According toĀ Harry Rubenstein, chair and curator of the Division of Political History at theĀ American History Museum, the symbolic birth of our system of government didnāt come until its noble ideals were actually put to the test. On September 19, 215 years ago, Washington publishedĀ his farewell address, marking one the first peaceful transfers of power in American history and cementing the countryās status as a stable, democratic state.
This moment, Rubenstein says, āis crucial for creating the in-and-out system of government that we have. And this is unique. In that time and era, politicians would gain power, or kings would stay in office until theyDie.ā At that nascent stage in American history, before precedents such as the two-term limit were even set, many were uncertain about what would happen after a galvanizing figure like Washington resigned office. But at this critical juncture, the leadership of Washington and others proved more than adequate to preserve the democracy. āStepping down is unique,ā says Rubenstein. āItās a powerful statement about Washington and American democracy.ā
Saying that what happened at the Capitol on January 6th was legitimate political discourse is like saying the Civil War was just legitimate political discourse.
So according to the RNC, sedition, along withBeating theCrap out of cops, is considered legitimate political discourse. Fascinating.
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Former Republican Rep. Charlie Dent expressed his disgust over rioters who stormed the Capitol, and Trump's rhetoric that sparked the insurrection.
"He'sĀ committed a mortal crime against the republic," Dent said. "He should have resigned over this, but he won't, of course."
In an interview, Dent conveyed his anger with a pro-Trump rioter carrying a Confederate flag inside the Capitol building, calling it a "desecration."
"I always proudly took my constituents to a plaque right by the east-front Capitol, right by the front door. It's a plaque dedicated to the honorary first defenders from Allentown, Pennsylvania, in Redding, Pennsylvania ... who went to the Capitol, at the call of Abraham Lincoln, to defend the Capitol during the Civil War. ... The confederates never got there. They were there to protect against the rebellion. And here we are, watching Confederate flags running through the Capitol. To see this desecration to me, it's so upsetting as an American, as a Republican. How could this happen?"
"The voters, the courts, the states ā they've all spoken. They've all spoken. If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever. This election was actually not unusually close. Just in recent history, 1976, 2000Ā and 2004 were all closer."
āIf this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter aDeath spiral. Weād never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would bring a scramble for power at any cost."
--Mitch McConnell, Jan 6.
A Texas man charged in the Capitol insurrection threatened to ki// hisChildren if they told the FBI he had taken part in the riot, according to court documents.
Guy Reffitt, who the FBI says is part of a far-rightExtremist group called "Texas Freedom Force," (hilarious) wasĀ arrested and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and obstruction of justice.
The FBI said in a charging affidavit that Reffitt, a 48-year-old oil worker from Wylie, Texas, first bragged about his trip to Washington, DC, to his family, saying he had filmed the riot on a GoPro-style camera.
Upon learning of the FBI's investigation into the insurrection, Reffitt threatened toShootHisChildren if they turned him in to authorities, the affidavit said.
His wife told the FBI that Reffitt told his son andDaughter: "If you turn me in, you're a traitor and you know what happens to traitors ā¦ traitors getShot."
He separately told his daughter he'd "put a bulletThrough her phone if she posted about him on social media, according to the affidavit.
But Reffitt's family did end up speaking to the FBI, the affidavit said, and days later, agents arrived at Reffitt's door with a search warrant.
This guy loves Trump more than his own family.
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Jared Kusher has been given a major role in the federal response to the national health crisis that has taken more than 7 thousand American lives. Many people were shocked and even horrified that Jared, who has absolutely zero medical or health experience, and zero experience in crisis management, would be given such a role on the coronavirus task force. But it turns out that Jared is married to Trump's daughter, and Trump had an uncle who attended MIT, which automatically makes Jared qualified to help lead America through a global pandemic. According to Trump, Jared might actually be over qualified for the job.
Jared suffers from what's called Dunning-Kruger effect, a psychological phenomenon that leads incompetent people to overestimate their ability, because they are totally oblivious to just how ignorant and incompetent they truly are. Even though Jared has less than zero experience in dealing with foreign affairs, the Middle-East conflict, crisis management, infectious diseases, or the medical field, he automatically believes he knows everything there is to know about all of them. NOW HOW SCARY IS THAT?!?!š²
Would you be okay with Trump picking Jared to perform major surgery on you, even though he's not a surgeon, and he has no medical background?Ā Because I promise you, Jared would not hesitate for one secomd to perform that surgical procedure on you if given the greenlight by his father-in-law. The fact that he has no idea what he's doing wouldn't even cross hisĀ mind. NOW HOW SCARY IS THAT?!?!š²
This is the type of unbridled buffoonery we've all come to expect from Trump and his backwards and reckless administration. He appoints the most unprincipled and least qualified people, to the most crucial and vital positions. So now, in an hour of existential death and horror for the country, when more than 7 thousand Americans have already died, Jared will be making life-or-death decisions for all Americans. Let that horror sink in for a moment.
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The true character of a person will always be revealed when they are faced with a crisis or adversity. And the eternal question will always be, when it truly mattered, did they do the right thing?Ā So far, Trump has failed. And Trump has never failed to fail, because failing has always been the easiest thing for him to do.
When this is finally over, there will be an independent commissionĀ tasked with investigating and producing a full and complete accounting of the nationās preparedness and response to the coronavirus. Donald "I believe in magic not science" Trump, will be held accountable for his indifference, criminal ineptitude, and his failure as president to properly protect and defend this country from a pandemic that has already cost more than 8 thousand American lives. And many of these Americans did not have to die.
When Ebola broke out in West Africa in 2014, President Obama recognized that responding to the outbreak overseas, while also protecting Americans at home, involved multiple U.S. government departments and agencies, none of which were speaking to one another.
So to bring order and harmony to the chaos, he create a coherent multiagency response overseas and on the homefront. Building on the Ebola experience, President Obama set up a permanent epidemic monitoring and command group inside the White House National Security Council, and another in the Department of Homeland Securityāboth of which followed the scientific and public health leads of the National Institutes of Health, and the CDC, and the diplomatic advice of the State Department.
But thatās all gone now. In May 2018, TrumpĀ orderedĀ the NSCās entire global health security unit shut down. This was the directorate charged with preparing for when, not if, another pandemic would hit the nation.
Trumpās elimination of the office suggested, along with his proposed budget cuts for the CDC, that he did not see or comprehend the threat of pandemics. Trump said that COVID-19Ā ācame out of nowhereā and āblindsided the world.āĀ His comments left scientists, doctors, and national security experts in a state of shock. Because experts had been warning about the next pandemic for years.
āOne year later I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like COVID-19,ā Beth Cameron, the first director of the unit, wrote in an op-ed. She said the directorate was set up to be the āsmoke alarmā and get ahead of emergencies and sound a warning at the earliest sign of fire ā āall with the goal of avoiding a six-alarm fire.ā
In the spring of 2018, Trump pushedĀ Congress to cut funding for Obama-era disease security programs, reducingĀ $15 billionĀ in national health spending and cutting the global disease-fighting operational budgets of the CDC, NSC, DHS, and HHS. And the governmentāsĀ $30 millionĀ Complex Crises Fund was eliminated..
America would never survive another four years of Trump, and his criminally incompetent administration. Unfortunately, many Americans did not, and will not survive the first 3 years of his administration. May they rest in peace.
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Trump: "For the record, I was never a big fan of testing, because I like the numbers where they are right now. So when the number of infection cases goes up because of more testing, don't blame me. And I take no responsibility for any of this, and the reason why is because everyone knew I was fundamentally unfit intellectually, morally, temperamentally, emotionally, and psychologically to be president.Ā Someone as mentally unstable and divorced from reality as I clearly am, should have NEVER been allowed anywhere near the White House. So again, don't blame me, blame the people who voted for me. Blame republicans in Congress who aided, abetted, and pardoned my crimes. Blame people like Lindsey Graham who continues to defend me. I'm the same person that I've always been, an unethical con-man and a sociopath, but you already knew that."
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The Founders understanding of bribery was derived from English law, under which bribery was understood as an officeholderās abuse of the power of an office to obtain a private benefit rather than for the public interest. This definition not only encompasses Trumpās conductāit practically defines it.
The Ukraine scandal began in the spring of 2019, with a series of contacts between Trumpās personal lawyer, Rudy, and Ukrainian officials. In mid-July, Trump decided to withhold nearly $400 million in aid to Ukraine that had already been appropriated by Congress. The White House offered no explanation, except to blame āinteragency delay.ā A week later, Trump spoke by phone to the recently elected Ukrainian president, Zelensky. TheĀ memorandumĀ released by the White House describing that callāwhich is consistent with the accounts of theĀ whistleblower complaintĀ that first brought this scandal to lightāreads like a classic shakedown.
According to the memo, after exchanges of flattery, Trump states that āwe do a lot for Ukraineā and that āwe spend a lot of effort and a lot of time,ā before he complains that the relationship is not always āreciprocal.ā Zelensky then raises the question of military aid to Ukraine, to which Trump immediately responds, āI would like you to do us a favor though,ā and proceeds to ask Zelensky to investigate two unfounded conspiracy theories: one involving the server containing emails stolen from the DNC during the 2016 election, and the other involving the thoroughly debunked claim about then-VP Biden, his potential reelection opponent.
Trump asks Zelensky to work with Giuliani and AG Barr to investigate his potential opponent and so aid his own reelection campaign. There can be no misunderstanding that Traitor Trump was abusing his official power in the conduct of foreign policy to get a foreign government to investigate his political rival.
Article II, Section 4, says the president āshall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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As it stands now, practically anyone, and anything connected to Trump is now under investigation. His inauguration, his transition team, his Trump crime organization, his fake charity foundation, his fraudulent taxes, his tainted campaign, and his illegitimate presidency, are all under investigation. Most Americans already knew that Trump was totally unfit, and unqualified to be president, but I don't think anything prepared us for an unmitigated disaster of this magnitude. Trump's presidency has been such an unprecedented, and unimaginable debacle, that it can only be defined as a miracle. Because it cannot be explained with logic, reasoning or science.
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Why should anyone believe Trump when he can't even tell the truth about whether or not he ever met Putin before the election?
Trump's 2015 interview with host Michael Savage, Trump was asked again point-blank whether he'd ever met Putin.
"Yes," Trump said. "One time, yes. Long time ago."
"Got along with him great, by the way," Trump added.
"I got to know so many of the Russian leaders and the top, top people in Russia," he said.
At a July, 2016 press conference, at the height of the general election campaign, Trump denied ever having met the Russian leader.
"I never met Putin, I don't know who Putin is," he told reporters in Florida. "He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius. I said, 'Thank you very much' to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin. Never spoken to him. I don't know anything about him other than he will respect me."
David Letterman asked Trump in 2013 interview if had ever met Putin.
Trump: "Well I've done a lot of business with the Russians," Trump said. "He's a tough guy. I met him once," said Trump.
Feb. 17, 2016: At rally, Trump insists he has no relationship with Putin. āI have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius,ā Trump says. āHe said, āDonald Trump is a genius, and he is going to be the leader of the party, and heās going to be the leader of the world or something.āā
Trump's July 2016 interview with George Ā Stephanopoulos Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet you said for three years, '13, '14 and '15, that you did have a relationship with Putin."
TRUMP: "No, look, what ā what do you call a relationship? I mean he treats me..."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I'm asking you."
TRUMP: "with great respect. I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "You would know if you did."
TRUMP: "I think so."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I mean if he..."
TRUMP: "Yes, I think so. So I've ā I don't think I've ever met him. I mean if he's in the same room or something. But I don't Ā think so."
LOL!!!....šš.Ā Ā Trump tells lies that a 5 year old would tell.
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A person as profoundly ignorant and divorced from reality as Trump, should never be placed into a position of power or leadership. Especially when the safety, health, and lives of others are at stake..
It's no secret that Trump hates it whenever anyone tries to tell him the truth. And over the last 3 years, heĀ fired all of the most qualified and experienced people within his cabinet and administration.Ā He's now left with an unqualified staff of C and D list sycophants, grifters, nincompoops, scallywags, and the most unprincipled neophytes ever assembled. These yes men will say and do anything in order to avoid the wrath of the orange bully's ire.
President Obama left Trump with a global health infrastructure within White House national security council, and in typical Trump fashion, he got rid of it simply because he didn't understand it, and didn't care enough to even try to understand it
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Make no mistake about it, your civil liberties are on the ballot in the midterms.
If you value your right to vote, then vote blue.š
If you believe every vote should be counted, then vote blue.š
If you believe that no politician should be able to make decisions for you in your private life, then vote blue. š
āI donāt want everybody to vote,ā Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. āAs a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.ā
A GOP precinct chair in Utah wrote on Facebook that he thinks giving voting rights to women was a āgrave mistake.ā
āThe more I study history, the more I think giving voting rights to others not head of household has been a grave mistake,āĀ Casey Fisher, a Davis County precinct chair who oversees Republican caucuses in his district.
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Make no mistake, Trump is a sociopath.
Trump quote from 2004, a response to a Larry King Live caller asking how he handles stress. Trump: āI try and tell myself it doesnāt matter. Nothing matters. If you tell yourself it doesnāt matter, like you do shows, you do this, you do that and then you have earthquakes in India where 400,000 people get killed. Honestly, it doesnāt matter."
Spoken like the true sociopath that he is. Trump meets pretty much every diagnostic criterion of a sociopath..
ā¢ Manipulative and ConningĀ
They never recognize the rights of others and see their self-serving behaviors asĀ Ā Ā Ā Ā permissible. They appear to be charming, yet are covertly hostile and domineering, seeing their victim as merely an instrument to be used. They may dominate and humiliate their victims.Ā
ā¢ Grandiose Sense of SelfĀ
Feels entitled to certain things as "their right."Ā
ā¢ Pathological LyingĀ
Has no problem lying coolly and easily and it is almost impossible for them to be truthful on a consistent basis. Can create, and get caught up in, a complex belief about their own powers and abilities.
ā¢ Lack of Remorse, Shame or GuiltĀ
A deep seated rage, which is split off and repressed, is at their core. Does not see others around them as people, but only as targets and opportunities. Instead of friends, he has victims, and accomplices, who will also end up as victims. ( Cohen, Manafort, Stone, Flynn) The end always justifies the means and they let nothing stand in their way.Ā
ā¢ Shallow EmotionsĀ
When they show what seems to be warmth, joy, love and compassion it is more feigned than experienced and serves an ulterior motive. Outraged by insignificant matters, yet remaining unmoved and cold by what would upset a normal person. Since they are not genuine, neither are their promises.Ā
ā¢ Callousness/Lack of EmpathyĀ
Unable to empathize with the pain of their victims, having only contempt for others' feelings of distress and readily taking advantage of them.Ā
ā Poor Behavioral Controls/Impulsive NatureĀ
Rage and abuse. Believe they are all-powerful, all-knowing, entitled to every wish, no sense of personal boundaries, no concern for their impact on others.Ā
ā¢ Irresponsibility/UnreliabilityĀ
Not concerned about wrecking others' lives and dreams. Oblivious or indifferent to the devastation they cause. Does not accept blame themselves, but blames others, even for acts they obviously committed.Ā Trump blamed Dems for his government shutdown, even after he said he would take full responsibility for the shutdown.
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Former Republican Rep. Charlie Dent expressed his disgust over rioters who stormed the Capitol, and Trump's rhetoric that sparked the insurrection.
"He'sĀ committed a mortal crime against the republic," Dent said. "He should have resigned over this, but he won't, of course."
In an interview, Dent conveyed his anger with a pro-Trump rioter carrying a Confederate flag inside the Capitol building, calling it a "desecration."
"I always proudly took my constituents to a plaque right by the east-front Capitol, right by the front door. It's a plaque dedicated to the honorary first defenders from Allentown, Pennsylvania, in Redding, Pennsylvania ... who went to the Capitol, at the call of Abraham Lincoln, to defend the Capitol during the Civil War. ... The confederates never got there. They were there to protect against the rebellion. And here we are, watching Confederate flags running through the Capitol. To see this desecration to me, it's so upsetting as an American, as a Republican. How could this happen?"
"The voters, the courts, the states ā they've all spoken. They've all spoken. If we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever. This election was actually not unusually close. Just in recent history, 1976, 2000Ā and 2004 were all closer."
āIf this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter aDeath spiral. Weād never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would bring a scramble for power at any cost."
--Mitch McConnell, Jan 6.
A Texas man charged in the Capitol insurrection threatened to ki// hisChildren if they told the FBI he had taken part in the riot, according to court documents.
Guy Reffitt, who the FBI says is part of a far-rightExtremist group called "Texas Freedom Force," (hilarious) wasĀ arrested and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in any restricted building or grounds without lawful authority and obstruction of justice.
The FBI said in a charging affidavit that Reffitt, a 48-year-old oil worker from Wylie, Texas, first bragged about his trip to Washington, DC, to his family, saying he had filmed the riot on a GoPro-style camera.
Upon learning of the FBI's investigation into the insurrection, Reffitt threatened toShootHisChildren if they turned him in to authorities, the affidavit said.
His wife told the FBI that Reffitt told his son andDaughter: "If you turn me in, you're a traitor and you know what happens to traitors ā¦ traitors getShot."
He separately told his daughter he'd "put a bulletThrough her phone if she posted about him on social media, according to the affidavit.
But Reffitt's family did end up speaking to the FBI, the affidavit said, and days later, agents arrived at Reffitt's door with a search warrant.
This guy loves Trump more than his own family.
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From day one most Americans knew that Trump's presidency was going to beĀ one of the worst in modern history,Ā but I don't think any one ever imagined it would be an unmitigated catastrophe of this magnitude.
The crux of Trump's total and complete failure as a leader and president, is not so much that he refuses to do his job as president, Trump's problem is that he was never capable of doing his job to begin with. He is not equipped to do his job. He doesn't have the necessary tools or the wherewithal to do his job. Trump is grossly incapacitated intellectually, mentally, emotionally, socially, and psychologically. He couldn't properly do his job as president even if he wanted to. He was always going to fail, and he was always going to blame his failure on someone or something.
Trump's complete and utter failure as a president, and as a leader, was inevitable
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Soooo....Trump said he fired Flynn for what again???
One of the key questions that congressional investigators have for Kushner is why he ignored the intelligence communityās warnings about Russia. āOnce it became public that they were interfering in our election, which was in June, why did you continue to have contacts with them?ā
In fact, Kushner never raised Russiaās meddling during his two post-election meetings with Russians, according to his own accounts. Kislyak contacted Kushner on November 16th, and they met on December 1st. Once again, the Russians seemed to have a level of access to the Trump campaign that other countries, including Western allies, could only dream of. In his testimony, Kushner confirmed that at this meeting, which took place in Trump Tower, he and Kislyak and Michael Flynn, the incoming national-security adviser, who also attended, discussed using communications equipment at the Russian Embassy.
Trump and his people were warned by Obama,Ā Sally Yates, and the FBI, that Russia was actively trying to infiltrate Trump's inner circle. And what does Trump do? He fired Comey,Ā and Sally Yates, the very same people who were warning him about what the Russians were up to. Even after Trump had been warned, his people were still holding secret meetings with the Russians, and they all lied about it......every single person lied about their meetings with the Russians. And then on the day after Trump fired Comey, the guy who was in charge of the FBI, the agency charged with catching Russian spies, Trump invites the Russian foreign minister, andĀ Russia's Ambassador to the Oval Office, and brags about firing the head of the FBI.Ā Ā Let all of that sink in for a minute.
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In her new book, Trump's niece says Trump was scarred by his father and developed habits of lying and self-deception that shadowed him into the White House.
Trump's niece Mary describes Donald as a ātoxicā bully who practices ācheating as a way of life,ā and someone who values money above anything.
"This is far beyond garden-variety narcissism," Mary Trump writes. "Donald is not simply weak, his ego is a fragile thing that must be bolstered every moment because he knows deep down that he is nothing of what he claims to be," she writes.
"In Donald's mind, even acknowledging an inevitable threat would indicate weakness. Taking responsibility would open him up to blame. Being a hero ā being good ā is impossible for him," she writes.
When it comes to Trump, I'll take the word of Trump's own sister, who has known him his entire life?Ā She knows him better, and longer than anyone alive today. And if she wouldn't support him as president, why on earth should anyone else?
In the released audio of Trumpās sister Maryanne Trump Barry, she describes Trump as being among other things, unprepared, a brat, and cruel.Ā
āItās the phoniness of it all. Itās the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel,ā Barry told her niece.
āAll he wants to do is appeal to his base,ā Barry said. āHe has no principles. None."
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It's very important that we remember the comments made by moral cowards like Ted Cruz concerning President Obama's response to the Ebola outbreak.Trump and Republicans had a field day criticizing Obamaās response to the Ebola virus. Trump even tweeted that Obama should resign after only 11 reported Ebola cases and 2 deaths.
Darrell Issa, said the response had been inept, characterized by over-confidence and ill-considered procedures to protect U.S. healthcare workers at home.
āAny further fumbles, bumbles or missteps ... can no longer be tolerated,ā Issa told a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
Then-Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.)Ā saidĀ Obama was ānot protecting our country and our families from Ebola,ā suggesting the administration wasĀ not doing enoughĀ to combat the disease.
Ted Cruz called Obamaās Ebola response āfundamentally unserious."
Ultimately, the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak in West AfricaĀ resultedĀ in 11 confirmed cases and only two deaths in the U.S. Obamaās quick response to the virus includedĀ deployingĀ nearly 3,000 service members to West Africa to help contain the outbreak there.
Because of Obama's leadership, the Ebola virus did not spread in the US. There were only two deaths from the disease in the country, and both of them were people who contracted it in Africa. History has proven that the Obama administrationās response to the Ebola virus was competent and effective.
After the Ebola virus outbreak, President Obama created the NSC directorate for global health and security and bio-defense, and he passed it on to Trump in 2017. And then Trump dismantled it in 2018.
āI think, importantly, what Obama did leave Trump is a global health infrastructure that we had set up informed by the lessons of the Ebola outbreak,ā Ben Rhodes said before pointing toĀ a National Security Council (NSC) pandemic directorate that was dismantled by the Trump in 2018. "And what we did is set up, in the White House,Ā ... an office that was responsible for managing pandemics, managing global health threats that was shut down two years ago by President Trump." Rhodes said.
"And when you donāt have an office like that, you donāt have dedicated people inside the White House who are ensuring that information is acted upon. When you see an outbreak in a place like Wuhan, China, you want people in the White House who are thinking about what needs to be done right away so that you donāt get behind the curve, which is what happened in this White House."
Public-health experts have stated that Trump's early efforts to downplay the threat of the virus robbed the US of valuable time needed to prepare for what is now a pandemic ā potentially costing thousands of lives..
Trump spent "two months of completely ignoring every bit of scientific advice," Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute stated in mid-March. "We've wasted two months. And this is not a disease where you're allowed to waste two months."
Jha criticized Trump for telling Americans that everything was "under control" when it was very clear to anybody paying attention that it was not under control."
"I don't use these words lightly, and it's incredibly painful for me to say it," he said, adding: "The cost of all of this is that tens of thousands of Americans are going to die unnecessarily. It was wholly preventable, and not just preventable in hindsight ā it was preventable in foresight. Everybody said this is how it was going to play out if they didn't act."
Experts have criticized Trumpās decision in 2018 to dismantle the National Security Council directorate at the White House, that was created by President Obama, and was charged with preparing for WHEN, NOT if, another pandemic would hit the nation.
āOne year later I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like COVID-19,ā Beth Cameron, the first director of the unit, wrote in an op-ed. She said the directorate was set up to be the āsmoke alarmā and get ahead of emergencies and sound a warning at the earliest sign of fire ā āall with the goal of avoiding a six-alarm fire.ā
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All 44 presidents before trump would have been impeached and removed from office for what Trump has done, and for what he is still doing.
A sociopath like Trump, with no impulse control, who doesn't know right from wrong, and believes he's impervious to consequences, is 100% incorrigible. He is completely incapable of being corrected..
Trump is like a child who has never been told no, and has never been told that what he is doing is wrong. He doesnāt know right from wrong because he's never been punished for his wrong doings, instead, he is like a child who is rewarded for his bad behavior. This child will inevitably grow up to be an incorrigible monster without boundaries, and republicans are continuing to feed this monster.. The Republican party should be called "The League of Extraordinary Cowards."
"The subtle and deadly change of heart that might occur in you, would be involved with the realization that a civilization is not destroyed by wicked people; it is not necessary that people be wicked, but only that they be spineless.āĀ
āĀ James Baldwin,Ā The Fire Next Time
āIn a word, I was too cowardly to do what I knew to be right, as I had been too cowardly to avoid doing what I knew to be wrong.āĀ
āĀ Charles Dickens,Ā Great Expectations
This is the state of the GOP today.
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Jim Jones convinced his cultists that they should give their kids cyanide laced punch, and then they should drink the same poisoned punch themselves, and they did. I am 100% certain that Trump could convince his cultists to do the exact same thing.
Trumpism is a dystopian slavish cult that worships at the alters of hypocrisy, alternative facts,
pathological ignorance, self-righteous bigotry, gaslighting, authoritarianism, doublespeak, and blind dogmatic obedience.
At a Trump rally held by Steve Bannon this past March 17th, an angry hostile woman took to the mic and said, āNever in my life did I think I would like to see a dictator, but if thereās gonna be one, I want it to be Trump!!!ā which was met with loud cheers and applause from Bannon and the crowd of cultists. It goes without saying that any American who would cheer for that, doesn't believe in liberty, freedom, or the Constitution. Any American that would cheer for that,Ā clearly supports despotism and dictatorships. Trump's cultists don't want an elected official who will govern by the Constitution, on behalf of the people, theyĀ want an authoritarian dictator who will force his will on the nation, and punish anyone who doesn't submit to dogmatic obedience.
This is what happens when for the first time in American history, we have a president who openly admires dictators, and brags about how he has fallen in love with Kim Jung Un, the most despotic dictator in modern history.
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Trump's 2015 interview with host Michael Savage, Trump was asked again point-blank whether he'd ever met Putin.
"Yes," Trump said. "One time, yes. Long time ago."
"Got along with him great, by the way," Trump added.
"I got to know so many of the Russian leaders and the top, top people in Russia," he said.
At a July, 2016 press conference, at the height of the general election campaign, Trump denied ever having met the Russian leader.
"I never met Putin, I don't know who Putin is," he told reporters in Florida. "He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius. I said, 'Thank you very much' to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin. Never spoken to him. I don't know anything about him other than he will respect me."
David Letterman asked Trump in 2013 interview if had ever met Putin.
Trump: "Well I've done a lot of business with the Russians," Trump said. "He's a tough guy. I met him once," said Trump.
Feb. 17, 2016: At rally, Trump insists he has no relationship with Putin. āI have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius,ā Trump says. āHe said, āDonald Trump is a genius, and he is going to be the leader of the party, and heās going to be the leader of the world or something.āā
Trump's July 2016 interview with George Ā Stephanopoulos Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet you said for three years, '13, '14 and '15, that you did have a relationship with Putin."
TRUMP: "No, look, what ā what do you call a relationship? I mean he treats me..."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I'm asking you."
TRUMP: "with great respect. I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "You would know if you did."
TRUMP: "I think so."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I mean if he..."
TRUMP: "Yes, I think so. So I've ā I don't think I've ever met him. I mean if he's in the same room or something. But I don't Ā think so."
If anyone still had any doubt as to whether or not you can be believe anything that Trump says, I hope this clears everything up.
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Greed over lives. Money over lives. Metal over lives.
Oh well, the only question now is, who's next? We can say this with confidence, because Trump, Moscow Mitch and republicans in Congress have made it abundantly clear, that greed, the NRA, and money, is more important than your life and even your kid's life. So....whose next?Ā What will be the name of the next school I wonder. Whose kids will be next I wonder? Who will be the next parents to have to bury their child I wonder?Ā
There is at least one Republican in Congress who finally gets it. He finally understands. That Republican is Congressman Mike Turner of Ohio. Mike Turner announced his support for a ban on sales of āmilitary style weaponsā following the deadly mass shooting in Dayton Ohio after he discovered his daughter came close to being one of the casualties.
āI believe these are necessary steps forward in protecting our country and a testament to American values, which include protecting human life,ā Turner, said in a statement
Turner, a Dayton native, said he would also support legislation placing restrictions on high-capacity magazines as well as so-called red-flag laws, which allow police and family members to āquickly identify people who are dangerous and remove their ability to harm others.
Turner made this statement after he found out that his teenage daughter was across the street from the shooting that night and she had just missed being out on the street when the shooting started by just seconds.
So now all of a sudden he cares. It took his daughter nearly being one of the victims for him to finally get it. He should have gotten it after Vegas, Orlando, and after Parkland. He should have cared back in 2012 when 20 babies, 6 and 7 years of age, were cut down with an assault rifle.
So.....whose going to be next?
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Trump's failure as a president was inevitable. Trump was never equipped to do his job. He doesn't have the necessary tools or the wherewithal to do his job. Trump is grossly incapacitated intellectually, mentally, emotionally, temperamentally, socially, and psychologically. He couldn't properly do his job as president even if he wanted to. (Which he doesn't)Ā
Trump was always going to fail, and he was always going to blame his failures on someone or something. Lying, cheating, and bullying are his only tools for survival. They are the tools of his trade, which is being an agent of chaos, misery, and destruction. It's all he knows. He is a sad and pathetic excuse for a human being. In fact, he is less of a human being, and more of a collection of every human flaw known to mankind, all rolled into one man.
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The true character of a person will always be revealed when they are faced with a crisis or adversity. And the eternal question will always be, when it truly mattered, did they do the right thing?Ā So far, Trump has failed. And Trump has never failed to fail, because failing has always been the easiest thing for him to do..
āI think, importantly, what Obama did leave Trump is a global health infrastructure that we had set up informed by the lessons of the Ebola outbreak,ā Ben Rhodes said before pointing toĀ a National Security Council (NSC) pandemic directorate that was dismantled by the Trump administration in 2018.
And what we did is set up, in the White House,Ā ... an office that was responsible for managing pandemics, managing global health threats that was shut down two years ago by President Trump.
And when you donāt have an office like that, you donāt have dedicated people inside the White House who are ensuring that information is acted upon. When you see an outbreak in a place like Wuhan, China, you want people in the White House who are thinking about what needs to be done right away so that you donāt get behind the curve, which is what happened in this White House.
You need a president whoās willing to hear bad news, willing to understand that theyāre going to have to focus on something that they may have not intended to focus on. President trump clearly did not want to hear that bad news when he heard about the outbreak in coronavirus,ā
--Ben Rhodes, Former Deputy National Security Adviser under President Obama
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So nearly everyone in Trump's inner circle and campaign, were in some way, in contact with, or secretly meeting with the Russians, and they ALL lied about it. Enough said.
Former CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said the plan by chief White House adviser Jared Kushner who discussed plans with the Russan Ambassador, to establish a secret communication channel with the Kremlin ā using Russian facilities ā without any monitoring by the U.S. was āoff the mapā and like nothing he has seen in his lifetime. āWhat manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the Russian ambassador was a good or an appropriate idea?ā Hayden stated.Ā
What Kushner tried to do is exactly what American traitors have done in the past when they've decided to start working for the Russian government.Ā It'sĀ basicallyĀ what Aldrich Ames did in 1985, when he walked into the Soviet Union Embassy in DC, and turned over highly classified information to the Russians.
Trump and his people were warned by Obama,Ā Sally Yates, and the FBI, that Russia was actively trying to infiltrate Trump's inner circle. And what does Trump do? He fired Comey,Ā and Sally Yates, the very people who had warned him about what the Russians were up to. Even after Trump had been warned, his people were still holding secret meetings with the Russians, and they all lied about it......every single person lied about their meetings with the Russians. And then on the day after Trump fired Comey, the guy who was in charge of the FBI, the agency charged with catching Russian spies, Trump invites the Russian foreign minister, andĀ Russia's Ambassador to the Oval Office, and brags about firing the head of the FBI.Ā Ā Let all of that sink in for a minute.
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Trump: "I'm not taking responsibility for any of this. People are acting like I'm a REAL president and a real leader. I'm the same guy who betrayed America in front of the entire world in Helsinki. I'm nothing more than a fraud, who with the help of Putin, managed to con my way into the Oval Office. Plus most people knew I was fundamentally unfit intellectually, morally, temperamentally, emotionally, and psychologically to be president.Ā Someone as mentally unstable and divorced from reality as I clearly am, should have NEVER been allowed anywhere near the White House...
So again, don't blame me, blame the people who were dumb enough to vote for me. Blame republicans in Congress who aided, abetted, and pardoned my crimes. Blame people like Lindsey Graham and Moscow Mitch. They both know exactly who and what I am, but yet theyĀ continue to defend me. For crying out loud, Lindsey Graham even stated on fox, that I was in fact, a Krazy, race-baiting bigot. So you see, I'm the same person that I've always been, an irredeemable con-man and a sociopath, but you already knew that."
āI think heās a kook, I think heās crazy. I think heās unfit for office."
--Lindsey Graham on Trump,Ā Feb, 2016
"Hereās what youāre buying: Heās a race-baiting, xenophobic religious bigot. He doesnāt represent my party. He doesnāt represent the values that the men and women who wear the uniform are fighting for. And you know how you make America great again, by telling Donald Trump to go to he//."
--Lindsey Graham on Trump, Dec 8, 2015
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Deutsche Bank has launched an internal investigation into the longtime personal banker for Trump and Jared Kushner. The bank is looking into Rosemary Vrablic to determine if she had acted improperly when she and two colleagues bought an apartment for about $1.5 million in 2013 from Bergel 715 Associates.
In a financial disclosure report, Kushner and Ivanka said they had received $1 million to $5 million from Bergel 715 in 2019. The couple had not previously reported having an ownership stake in the company.
Kushner and Trump were clients of Vrablic at the time of the 2013 sale and had received about $190 million in loans from Deutsche Bank. Both were also granted hundreds of millions of dollars after that point, according to the Times. Banks usually prohibit employees from conducting personal business with clients out of concerns of conflicts of interest.Ā
Even before Trump became president, his relationship with Deutsche Bank fell under scrutiny because of his TREMENDOUS debts to the bank, which at the time was being fined by US regulators over its provision of toxic mortgages that played a role in the 2008 housing crash. There were concerns that if elected, Trump could intervene in the Deutsche Bank case with a view to protecting his own companies.
One of the bankās more troubling activities was laundering billions of Russian rubles (via sham transactions known as āmirror tradesā) into U.S. dollars. Then there was client Trump. The smooth persuasions, the obsequious flatteries, the lying about his net worth to garner loans for office buildings, resorts, casinos. Just how disconnected and delusional the bank became can be seen in its ongoing relationship with Trump, whose multiple bankruptcies had made him a pariah in the banking world.
When Deutscheās real estate team cut off Trump, private banking opened the spigot. When a loan came due, Trump had NO INTENTIONS of repaying, as if the rules for him were different. Deutscheās brass was so in-thrall to Trumpās fake celebrity, and so eager to expand in America, one division lent $48 million to cancel the debt on a Chicago skyscraper ā a debt Trump had defaulted on with another wing of the same bank. But the private banking division, which catered to the rich and famous, arranged the loan anyway ā and then, when Trump stopped making payments, arranged another loan for Trump. š²
Deutsche Bank bought Trump's con the same way American voters would. In what could serve as a requiem for the countryās lost innocence, the general counsel at Deutsche said, āWhat the he// are we doing lending money to a guy like this?ā š
In the summer of 2016, Kushnerās real estate company (which received lavish financing from Deutsche) was moving money to various Russians. A bank compliance officer filed a āsuspicious activity report,ā but the report was quashed and she was fired. The suggestion is that maybe the money was payback for Russian campaign meddling. Management at Deutsche tended to look the other way when employees broke the rules, even when they did business with dictators like Putin and their friends.
Trump and Jared's relationship with the bank became a subject to the Mueller investigation. The special counsel specifically focused on aĀ $285m loanĀ that Deutsche Bank granted Kushnerās company only a month before Trump was elected ā and just as the bank was settling with state prosecutors over charges it had aided in a Russian money-laundering scheme.
The bank is fighting off subpoenas for Trumpās financial records, in particular his tax returns. Trump sued to prevent his records from being turned over, but the Supreme Court ultimately ruled 7-2 that presidents are not immune from criminal investigation.
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Dr. Fiona Hill testimony before the House Intel committee.
"Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our countryāand that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did. This is a fictional narrative that has been perpetrated and propagated by the Russian security services themselves.
The unfortunate truth is that Russia was the foreign power that systematically attacked our democratic institutions in 2016. This is the public conclusion of our intelligence agencies, confirmed in bipartisan Congressional reports. It is beyond dispute, even if some of the underlying details must remain classified.
The impact of the successful 2016 Russian campaign remains evident today. Our nation is being torn apart. Truth is questioned. Our highly professional and expert career foreign service is being undermined.
Right now, Russiaās security services and their proxies have geared up to repeat their interference in the 2020 election. We are running out of time to stop them. In the course of this investigation, I would ask that you please not promoteĀ politically driven falsehoodsĀ that so clearly advance Russian interests.
Ukraine is a valued partner of the United States, and it plays an important role in our national security. And as I told this Committee last month, I refuse to be part of an effort to legitimize an alternate narrative that the Ukrainian government is a U.S. adversary, and that Ukraineānot Russiaāattacked us in 2016.
These fictions areĀ harmfulĀ even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes. President Putin and the Russian security services operate like a Super PAC. They deploy millions of dollars toĀ weaponizeĀ our own political opposition research and false narratives.Ā
If the President, or anyone else,Ā impedes or subverts the national securityĀ of the United States in order to further domestic political or personal interests, that is more than worthy of your attention. But we must not let domestic politics stop us from defending ourselves against theĀ foreignĀ powers whoĀ trulyĀ wish usĀ harm."
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Trump despises working class everyday Americans, He has always looked down on them. And this comes as no surprise to anyone who has personally known Trump for years.
On his show on May 19, Howard Stern asked the same question I've been asking myself since the 2016 campaign. Howard Stern, who has personally known Trunp for decades, questioned why people would vote for Trump, when in reality, Trump is disgusted by his biggest supporters. According to Stern, like himself, Trump isnāt cut out for running a government, and the Trump supporters are to blame for the countryās troubles. Stern went on to say that Trump would be ādisgustedā by the MAGA crew..
Howard Stern: āThe oddity in all of this is the people Trump despises most, love him the most,ā Stern said. āThe people who are voting for Trump for the most part... he wouldnāt even let them in a f---ing hotel. Heād be disgusted by them. Go to Mar-a-Lago, see if thereās any people who look like you. Iām talking to you in the audience - the Trump voter who, you know, idolizes the guy. He despises you."
āI donāt hate Donald,ā he continued. āI hate you for voting for him, for not having intelligence. For not being able to see whatās going on with the coronavirus, for not being able to see what the Justice Department is doing. I hate you, I donāt want you here.ā
Trump: āMaybe this Covid thing is a good thing. I donāt have to shake hands with these disgusting people.ā
In case any of you Trump supporters are confused, he's talking about YOU. š
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July 16, 2018. That was the day Traitor Trump betrayed America. That was the day that every deceased American president, from Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Reagan, and Bush, sat straight up in their graves.
Trump: "My people came to me, Dan Coates came to me, and some others, they said they think it's Russia,Ā I have President Putin, he just said it's not Russia . I will say this, I don't see any reason why it would be. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."
Putin was extremely strong and powerful by the way he resisted the urge to burst out laughing when Trump uttered those words.
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Recently President Obama held a virtual meeting with mayors and local leaders across America. In that meeting, Obama advised them on the BIGGEST MISTAKEĀ any leader could make during a crisis such as the ongoing COVID-19Ā pandemic.Ā Ā
āThe biggest mistake any of us can make in these situations is to misinform, particularly when weāre requiring people to make sacrifices and take actions that might not be their natural inclination. leaders in a crisis have to give the people the truth. Speak the truth. Speak it clearly. Speak it with compassion. Speak it with empathy for what folks are going through. The more smart people you have around you, and the less embarrassed you are to ask questions, the better your response is going to be."
-- President Barack Obama
But that's not at all what we got at all during this national health crisis. What we got instead, was Trump, who makes it his mission, to go on TV and lie to the American people every single day. And that's exactly what he's been doing, since day one.
According to Trump, he doesn't have to be intellectually curious,Ā or informed, he just has to be loud, boisterous, and assertive. It also helps if you can lie with confidence.Ā You have to be able to overwhelm the masses with so many lies,Ā that by the time they've debunkedĀ just one of your lies,Ā you've already told 20 more new lies.
Meanwhile, Trump's is continuing his mission of gaslighting to oblivion, the feeble and atrophied minds of his cultists, with lies about how great of a job he's doing.
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Trump: "For the record, I was never a big fan of testing, because I like the numbers where they are right now. So when the number of infection cases goes up because of more testing, don't blame me. And I take no responsibility for any of these, and the reason why is because everyone knew that I was fundamentally unfit intellectually, morally, temperamentally, emotionally, and psychologically to be president.Ā Someone as mentally unstable and divorced from reality as I clearly am, should have NEVER been allowed anywhere near the White House. So again, don't blame me, blame the people who voted for me. Blame the people like Lindsey Graham who continue to defend me."
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On Fox, Rudy said he's not worried about Trump throwing him under the bus, because he has "insurance." Well clearly that can only mean one thing, Rudy is admitting to having evidence of Trump's criminality.š
And make no mistake, Trump's other longtime partner in crime, Roger Stone, will definitely try to cut a deal. Because there is absolutely no way a coward like him is going to go to prison if he can help it. His only chance of preventing that from happening is giving up Trump.
This is usually what happens with any criminal organization when the feds are closing in on them. Trump's den of thieves has quickly turned into Barter Town in Mad Max Beyond the Thunderdome. We are witnessing the treacherous behavior of criminals when they start hedging their bets. Nonstop chaos, upheaval, back-stabbing, unbridled buffoonery, cowardice, and betrayal is about to ensue.
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Trump: "But if you only count the votes that were for me, I won by a tremendous landslide." š
š¤£
This is how he thinks.
Let's be clear, the only reason Trump won in 2016 was because millions of Americans didn't vote. The voter turnout in 2016 was only 54%. Voter turnout in 2020 was exceptionally high at 66.8%. If voter turnout had been 66% in 2016, Trump would have lost that election as well. And this is why Republicans are engaging in voter suppression.
DJT openly admitted on fox that making it easier for more Americans to vote would hurt the Republican party.
DJT: āThe things they had in there were krazy. They had things, levels of voting that if youād ever agreed to it, youād never have a Republican elected in this country again,ā Trump said during an appearance on Fox.
āI donāt want everybody to vote,ā Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. āAs a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.ā
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Trump: "For the record, I was never a big fan of testing, because I like the numbers where they are right now. So when the number of infection cases goes up because of more testing, don't blame me. And I take no responsibility for any of this, and the reason why is because everyone knew that I was fundamentally unfit intellectually, morally, temperamentally, emotionally, and psychologically to be president.Ā Someone as mentally unstable and divorced from reality as I clearly am, should have NEVER been allowed anywhere near the White House. So again, don't blame me, blame the people who voted for me. Blame the people like Lindsey Graham who continue to defend me."
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Trump tried to rewrite his father's will in 1990 to strengthen his position as the only person to inherit his father's estate. But Fred Trump foiled the attempt, as he feared his son could strip his estate and use it to rescue his own failing businesses, The Times reported, citing depositions and other documents it obtained.
Trump had sent his father a document that would make him the sole executor of the estate and protect his portion of his inheritance from creditors and his impending divorce settlement.
Despite his father's will having already been written by a top real estate lawyer, Trump had his own lawyers draft a new copy and sent it to his father in December 1990. Trump sent his father the 12-page document and asked him to sign it immediately. Fred Trump, then 85, and in the hospital, had not seen the document before, and saw the move as an attempt to go behind his back.
He showed the document to his daughter Maryanne Trump Barry, a federal judge at the time. She recalled in her deposition that he told her, "This doesn't pass the smell test," The Times reported.
Then Fred Trump had lawyers draft new documents stripping his son of sole control of the estate. Notes from those lawyers cited by The Times show that Fred Trump's instructions were to "protect assets from DJT, Donald's creditors."
Sworn depositions made by unnamed members of the Trump family during a dispute over Donald Trump's nieces' and nephews' inheritance were obtained byĀ The Times. Those depositions showed that Fred Trump believed the document his son wanted him to sign would put his vast business empire at risk.
Had his father signed the document, which he did not, it also would have given Donald Trump sole control over his dying father's estate.
Fred Trump was, according to the sworn Trump family testimonies obtained by The Times, angered by his son's attempt to rewrite his own will without his prior knowledge or consent.
If Trump would do this to his own father and siblings, what do you think he would do to the country and the American people?
If Trump's own father and siblings couldn't trust him, why on earth should the American people trust him?
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My favorite part of the Mueller report is Trump's reaction when he found out about the creation of the Special Counsel investigation.
On May 17, 2017 then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions told Trump about the special counsel investigation.
āWhen Sessions told the President that a Special Counsel had been appointed, the President slumped back in his chair and said, āOh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my presidency. I am f-----dāā according to the report, which based its retelling of this conversation on notes taken by Jody Hunt, Sessionsā chief of staff at the time.
Trump then became angry, according to the report, and ālambastedā Sessions for his decision to recuse himself from the investigation.
āHow could you let this happen Jeff?ā the president said, according to the report..
Trump told Sessions that the Attorney General was his āmost important appointmentā and said Sessions had let him down. Sessions told investigators Trump told him āyou were supposed to protect me.ā
This does not sound like the reactions of an innocent man who has nothing to hide, and nothing to worry about. This sounds like the reactions of a criminal and a traitor, who has just been caught, and now has a lot to worry about. š²
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Ā @TheOuskieĀ
Wrong!!!
The Civil War was Started over an act of sedition when Fort Sumter was attacked.
The south tried to secede from the Union, which unconstitutional.
Fun Fact: No state can secede from the Union, period. Because there is no provision within the constitution that would allow a state to secede from the Union.
The only thing they can do is engage in sedition and treason. And the confederacy tried that once.
The late, and VERY conservative Supreme Court Judge, Antonin Scalia answeredĀ a letter from a screenwriter asking for tips on a screenplay involving Maine seceding from the union:
Scalia: "I am afraid I cannot be of much help with your problem, principally because I cannot imagine that such a question could ever reach the Supreme Court. To begin with, the answer is clear. If there was any constitutional issue resolved by the Civil War, it is that there is no right to secede. (Hence, in the Pledge of Allegiance, "one Nation, indivisible.)"
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In April 2018, aĀ federal judge finalized the $25 million settlement between Trump and students of his now defunct fake Trump University with New York's attorney general claimingĀ āvictims of Donald Trumpās fraudulent university will finally receive the relief they deserve.ā
The order from a U.S. District Judge came a year after heĀ first approvedĀ the settlement.Ā It marks the end of two class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit from NY accusing Trump of "swindling thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars through Trump University," in the words ofĀ NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
"This settlement marked a stunning reversal by President Trump, who for years refused to compensate the victims of his sham university," Schneiderman said in a statement.
Trump University was not an actual university but a for-profit seminar scam, and former students waged a years-long battle claiming the course misled them with claims of teaching real estate success. The program ended in 2010. Some elderly plaintiffsĀ who paid $20,000-plus in tuition died waiting to receive theirĀ checks from the settlement.
November of last year, Trump was ordered by a judge to pay $2 million in damages for illegally using funds intended for charity to boost his 2016 presidential election campaign.
Trump had to admit to personally misusing charity money, according to the New Yorkās attorney general office, despite having previously denied any wrongdoing. The fine adds to several other investigations into allegations that he is using public office for self-enrichment..
The lawsuit last year states that Trump, and his three money grubbing useless children - Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric - broke campaign finance laws in 2016 by using Trump Foundationās tax-exempt status āas little more than a checkbook to serve Trumpās business and political interests.
Trump and his crime family had violated their fiduciary duties as officers and directors of the now-shutteredĀ Trump Foundation. As a result of that failure, charitable dollars ā consistently and over many years ā often benefited Trump rather than the causes he repeatedly claimed he supports.
There was āa shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation ā including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more,ā the suit claimed.
In the agreements, Trump admitted to misusing funds from the foundation,Ā which he dissolved last year,Ā including to pay for a portrait himself that cost $10,000. He also agreed to pay back $11,525 he spent on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala.
Trump also directed the foundation to use money for charity to buy aĀ Tim Tebow helmetĀ for himself,Ā and to settle aĀ couple of lawsuits.
Trump also admitted in the agreements to directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over an 80-foot flagpole he had built at his Mar-a-Lago resort, instead of paying the expense out of his own pocket..
The biggest donation that Trumpās fake foundation ever gave appears to have been to contribute $264,632 to fixing a fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time. āIt shows you what this "foundation" was all about. Which was basically all about advancing Trumpās interests,ā said Brian Galle, a professor of tax law at Georgetown University.
In addition, Trump used his charity foundation to pay-off a $158,000 lawsuit over a prize for a hole-in-one contest at a Trump-owned golf course, and $5,000 for ads promoting Trumpās hotels in the programs for charitable events. Trump admitted these transactions were also improper.
Why on earth anyone would trust or believe anything that Trump has to say is beyond me.
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Parnas should have listened to Michael Cohen's warning about getting close to Trump. Just imagine that you're a loyal MAGA hat wearing Trump cultist. And for more than a year, you worked for Trump by partnering with Rudy to help carry out Trump's bribery scheme in Ukraine. You even put yourself in legal jeopardy for Trump by illegally funneling tons of Russian money into his super-PAC, and republican campaigns.
Parnas received a $1 million payment from Russia and tried to hide it from investigators, prosecutors have now stated.Ā Parnas, who was charged withĀ illegally funneling foreign cashĀ to Republican politicians, including a pro-Trump super PAC, received $1 million from a mysterious account in Russia in September, which he conveniently forgot to disclose to the government.
So then you get caught, arrested, and indicted. Then you turn on the TV one day, to see your cult leader, the man you loved and admired, the man that you risked everything for, announce to the world, that he's never met you, and has no idea who you are. š²Ā How would you feel? š
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Deep down Trump has always despised America and our democratic republic. He has nothing but contempt for our Constitution, and the " idea" of America. Trump has always favored despotic dictatorships. It's the reason why he speaks so highly of tyrants like Putin, Kim Jong Un, Xi,Ā Duterte, and MBS. And anyone who has been paying attention, knows that Trump has never hidden his true feelings about any of this. When someone repeatedly tells you, and shows you who they are, it would behoove you to believe them.
āThe liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerated the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than the democratic state itself. That in its essence is fascism: ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or any controlling private power.āĀ
āĀ Franklin D. Roosevelt
āThe biggest mistake of a democratic country is to underestimate the power of a democratically elected pro-fascist leader, because it is always easier to destroy a castle from within!ā
ā Mehmet Murat ildan
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Russian propaganda and disinformation is bad enough as it is, but it's even worse when it's coming from fox, the current president, and his defenders like Graham, Nunes, Jordan, and Rudy. It should be reported that these traitors are all willing partners in Russia's disinformation campaign on America. And they should be treated as a threat to America, because that's exactly they are. They are all carrying water for Putin. By spreading Russian GRU lies, conspiracies, and propaganda, they have all become Putin's proxies here in America.
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Why should anyone believe Trump when he can't even tell the truth about whether or not he ever met Putin before the election?
Trump's 2015 interview with host Michael Savage, Trump was asked again point-blank whether he'd ever met Putin.
"Yes," Trump said. "One time, yes. Long time ago."
"Got along with him great, by the way," Trump added.
"I got to know so many of the Russian leaders and the top, top people in Russia," he said.
At a July, 2016 press conference, at the height of the general election campaign, Trump denied ever having met the Russian leader.
"I never met Putin, I don't know who Putin is," he told reporters in Florida. "He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius. I said, 'Thank you very much' to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin. Never spoken to him. I don't know anything about him other than he will respect me."
David Letterman asked Trump in 2013 interview if had ever met Putin.
Trump: "Well I've done a lot of business with the Russians," Trump said. "He's a tough guy. I met him once," said Trump.
Feb. 17, 2016: At rally, Trump insists he has no relationship with Putin. āI have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius,ā Trump says. āHe said, āDonald Trump is a genius, and he is going to be the leader of the party, and heās going to be the leader of the world or something.āā
Trump's July 2016 interview with George Ā Stephanopoulos Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet you said for three years, '13, '14 and '15, that you did have a relationship with Putin."
TRUMP: "No, look, what ā what do you call a relationship? I mean he treats me..."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I'm asking you."
TRUMP: "with great respect. I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "You would know if you did."
TRUMP: "I think so."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I mean if he..."
TRUMP: "Yes, I think so. So I've ā I don't think I've ever met him. I mean if he's in the same room or something. But I don't Ā think so."
LOL!!!....šš.Ā Ā Trump tells lies that a 5 year old would tell.
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The January 27 transcript of Trump's phone call with Mexican President, PeƱa Nieto, came seven days after Trump entered office. PeƱa Nieto had insisted publicly his country would not pay for the wall's construction, but Trump begged him to stop making that claim.š
Trump: "You cannot say that to the press," Trump said on the phone call. "The press is going to go with that and I cannot live with that. You cannot say that to the press because I cannot negotiate under those circumstances."
Trump said he was willing to say publicly that he and Mexican authorities would continue to negotiate over the wall's payment, which he said "means it will come out in the wash and that is OK."
But Trump continued to plead with PeƱa Nieto to stop saying to the media that Mexico would never pay for any wall.
Trump" "You cannot say anymore that the United States is going to pay for the wall," he said. "I am just going to say that we are working it out. Believe it or not, this is the least important thing that we are talking about, but politically this might be the most important talk about."
šš
Trump told many lies during the campaign, but the wall was one of his biggest lies. Now he is desperately looking for someone to come and bail him out, and lead him out of the corn maze of lies he created. He first tried to get the President of Mexico to bail him out.Ā Now he's trying to get the American taxpayers to bail him out.Ā Well that's a negative Ghost Rider.....the pattern is full..
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What Americans want to know, is who's going to investigate Trump's reckless and irresponsible handling of the coronavirus outbreak.
Being held accountable is something that Trump has avoided his entire fraudulent life. But when this is finally over, there will be an independent commissionĀ tasked with investigating and producing a full and complete accounting of the nationās preparedness and response to the coronavirus. Donald "I believe in magic not science" Trump, will be held accountable for his indifference, criminal ineptitude, and his failure as president to properly protect and defend this country from a pandemic that has already cost more than 14 thousand American lives..
Public-health experts have stated that Trump's early efforts to downplay the threat of the virus robbed the US of valuable time needed to prepare for what is now a pandemic ā potentially costing thousands of lives..
Trump spent "two months of completely ignoring every bit of scientific advice," Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute stated in mid-March. "We've wasted two months. And this is not a disease where you're allowed to waste two months."
Jha, who received his doctorate in medicine from Harvard Medical school, criticized Trump for telling Americans that everything was "under control" when it was very clear to anybody paying attention that it was not under control."
"I don't use these words lightly, and it's incredibly painful for me to say it," he said, adding: "The cost of all of this is that tens of thousands of Americans are going to die unnecessarily." He went on to say: "It was wholly preventable, and not just preventable in hindsight ā it was preventable in foresight. Everybody said this is how it was going to play out if they didn't act."
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The biggest threat to America is not Iran. The biggest threat to America is the very desperate, panicked, deranged, cornered, and currently impeached man-baby in the Oval Office.
Only someone as criminally incompetent as Trump would believe that going back to having NO inspectors, cameras, check marks, and inspections, is better than the Iran deal. Pulling out of the Iran deal put us back to where we were before, which is exactly where we are today, which is totally blind to what's going on in Iran and NK.
President Obama was able to bring 5 countries together, and secure a deal with Iran. It was something we had never had before, and the deal was working.
In July 2015, Iran had almost 20,000 centrifuges. Under theĀ Iran deal--JCPOA, it was limited to installing no more than 5,060 of the oldest and least efficient centrifuges at Natanz until 2026. Iran's uranium stockpile was reduced by 98% to 300kg (660lbs), a figure that must not be exceeded until 2031. It must also keep the stockpile's level of enrichment at 3.67%.
Under the deal, the Atomic Energy Agency would have cameras installed to provide 24-hour monitoring at the Natanz facility, and inspectors will have daily access to the facility for 15 years. Within a year, there would beĀ 130 to 150 inspectorsĀ in Iran.
By January 2016, Iran had drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at Natanz and Fordo. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, continuously monitored Iran's declared nuclear sites and also verified that no fissile material is moved covertly to a secret location to build a bomb. Iran also agreed to implement the Additional Protocol to their IAEA Safeguards Agreement, which allowed inspectors to access any site anywhere in the country they deem suspicious.
But theĀ best part about it was that President Obama didn't have to praise the Ayatollahs or the Iranian leadership. He didnāt demean himself, or the office of the presidency, by meeting with them, which would have only given them the perception of being on the same footing as a US President. Trump on the other hand, disgraced himself, and the office of the presidency, by meeting with the most despotic and maniacal dictator on the planet....not once, but twice.
He then proceeded to compliment him, and wax poetically about how he and Kim Jung Un fell in love after exchanging letters.Ā And what does Trump have to show for disgracing himself and the office of the presidency? NOTHING....other than love letters, a photo-op, and heightened tensions with Iran and NK. Trump is simply an agent of chaos, mind blowing ineptitude, and corruption. Trump doesn't solve problems, he only creates them..
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Multiple Obama-era officials have said they left the Trump administration with a 2016 āpandemic playbookā that detailed exact steps to take in the event of an infectious disease outbreak.Ā
Ronald Klain, the White House Ebola response coordinator from October 2014 to February 2015,Ā tweetedĀ out a link to aĀ documentĀ titled āPlaybook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents.ā
The document is a 69-page National Security Council guidebook developed in 2016 with the goal of assisting leaders āin coordinating a complex U.S. Government response to a high-consequence emerging disease threat anywhere in the world.ā It outlined questions to ask, who should be asked to get the answers and what key decisions should be made.
Nicole Lurie, another Obama administration official, confirmed the existence of the NSC pandemic playbook and also said similar documents were created for the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The playbook listed types of infectious disease threats that could emerge. āNovel coronavirusesā were among pathogens flagged as having potential to cause heightened concern.
āWe absolutely did leave a plan. It was called a playbook,ā saidĀ Lisa Monaco, former homeland security adviser to President Obama. The goal, she said, was to share the lessons learned during the Ebola and Zika outbreaks.
Susan Rice: "The Obama administration left Trump with a 69 page playbook that I like to call, "Pandemics For Dummies."
And that's exactly where President Obama and his security counsel messed up. They should have left Trump with an audio book version called "Pandemics for illiterate dummies." š
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"COVID-19 is certainly revealing some uncomfortable truths about America. For example, everyday brings a new reminder that we are a country of extreme-haves, and extreme have-nots. And I'm not talking about money - we all knew that. I'm talking about people having accurate information. In this pandemic, "accurate" information has made toilet paper seem plentiful.
America, the country that has the most Nobel Prizes in science, also has the most willfully ignorant people per capita when it comes to understanding science.
How else can we explain electing a low-information bu.ffoon, who wheezes medical tips on our TVs about poisoning ourselves with disinfectants.
And maybe the most clueless aspect of that supposedly "sarcastic" advice is that Trump thinks we can still find disinfectants at stores. I guess we're finding that a pandemic isn't the ideal thing to happen to a country that believes science is just an opinion. Just something you roll the dice and decide whether you believe, instead of something you actually try to understand. And whether it's evolution, vaccines, or viruses, Americans are far busier dismissing inconvenient science as politically motivated, than they are learning about how it will effect their lives. Because NOT believing in Darwinism, IS Darwinism.
Because America is a country that cares more about the financial health of its corporations, than the actual health of its citizens. After all, who got most of the bailout cash? Corporations!!
And who is behind the "grassroots" push to prematurely reopen America? Corporations, and the (republican) politicians corporations pay. But science doesn't watch foxnews, so it doesn't know that it's just a DNC "hoax" or some other childish QAnon conspiracy.
Republican Governors believe that sacrifices have to be made for corporate profits. And that your grandmother, may just be one of them. And because Donald " I don't take responsibility at all" Trump, is passing the buck to Governors to make decisions, so Donald won't be blamed.
America's approach to this pandemic is ad-hoc, conflicting, and piecemeal. Exactly the type of uncoordinated response that helps spread a pandemic. South Korea's response was like a well conducted symphony. America's is like an open mic night at improv.
We have states with policies founded on epidemiological research, surrounded by states with policies founded on Twitter hashtags. Oddly enough, viruses don't respect state lines. Or your beliefs in how deadly they are. The worst states spread the virus, and prolong the pandemic for the rest of us.
This pandemic has proven two things: You're only as healthy as the most stupid person in America; and his name, is Donald J Trump.
Trump: "And then I said, supposing you brought the light inside the body."
--Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian
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Trump said he would drain the swamp. His supporters bought it. Then he proceeded to drain the swamp directly into his white house. He has brought into his administration, more billionaires, CEOs, and Wall Street moguls than in any administration in history, to make laws that will only enrich their businesses.
Trump said he'd be the most transparent president ever. His supporters bought it. Trump has now told more than 15k documented lies since taking office, making him the most prolific liar in history, and for any foreseeable future imaginable.
He said heād use his business experience to whip the White House into shape. His supportersĀ bought it. Then he created the most chaotic, dysfunctional, criminally incompetent White House in America history. It's an administration spinning in a vortex of lies, pandemonium, betrayal, unbridledĀ buffoonery, treason, upheaval, nepotism, skulduggery, moral turpitude, and sanctioned lawlessness.
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Trump: "But if you only count the votes that were for me, I won by a tremendous landslide." š
š¤£
This is how he thinks.
Let's be clear, the only reason Trump won in 2016 was because millions of Americans didn't vote. The voter turnout in 2016 was only 54%. Voter turnout in 2020 was exceptionally high at 66.8%. If voter turnout had been 66% in 2016, Trump would have lost that election as well. And this is why Republicans are engaging in voter suppression.
DJT openly admitted on fox that making it easier for more Americans to vote would hurt the Republican party.
DJT: āThe things they had in there were krazy. They had things, levels of voting that if youād ever agreed to it, youād never have a Republican elected in this country again,ā Trump said during an appearance on Fox.
āI donāt want everybody to vote,ā Paul Weyrich, an influential conservative activist, said in 1980. āAs a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.ā
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A cult of personality, or a cult leader like Trump, arises when an individual uses the media, propaganda, the big lie, spectacle, counterfeit patriotism, demonstrations and rallies, to create an idealized, heroic, and worshipful image of a leader, often through unquestioning flattery,
praise.
The term came to prominence in 1956, in Nikita Khrushchev's secret speech On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences, given on the final day of the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. In the speech, Khrushchev criticized the lionization and idealization of Stalin, and by implication, his Communist sidekick Mao Zedong. Mao'sĀ cult of personality, like Stalinās, portrayed him as larger-than-life and endowed with unrivaled wisdom. Cults of personality fell out of favor in the 1950s after Khrushchev's speech, but Trump's handler Putin, has revived the practice, guiding a wave of nostalgia for Stalin as he advocates for Russian nationalism and anti-West sentiment.
A main feature of Stalinism was itsĀ cult of personality. Whereas Lenin had claimed that the workers suffered fromĀ false consciousnessĀ and therefore needed a vanguard party to guide them, Stalin maintained that the Communist Party itself suffered from false consciousness
and therefore needed an all-wise leaderāStalin himselfāto guide it. The resulting cult of personality portrayed Stalin as a universal genius in every subject, from linguistics to genetics.
The best modern-day example of a cult of personality comes to us from North Korea and its leaderĀ Kim Jong-un, the despotic dictator that Trump admires so much.
Kim Jong-un's cult of personality paints him as a man who can do anything. According to this propaganda, he can climb tall mountains, even though like Trump, he is horrendously obese, and in terrible physical shape. Like Trump, Kim Jong Un brags about being able to make strong and intelligent military decisions, despite neither one of them having a military background. And when architects design new apartments and shops, he is given credit for doing so.
"This man is a genius at every level! Why can't we all be like him? He must be something special, and we are clearly not. Ergo, let's listen to him since he knows best."
-- Trump supporters
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John Dean served as White House counsel to Nixon from 1970 to 73, he was a key figure in the Watergate sagaāparticipating in, and then helping to expose, the most iconic political scandal in modern U.S. history at the time. Back in 2016, Dean said that Trump could easily be the most corrupt presidents everāand possibly get away with it..
āThe American presidency has never been at the whims of an authoritarian personality like Donald Trump,ā Dean stated. āHe is going to test our democracy as it has never been tested."
Dean stated that he is not only convinced that Trump will be worse than Nixon in virtually every wayāhe thinks he could possibly get away with it.
āI used to have one-on-one conversations with Nixon, where Iād see him checking his more authoritarian tendencies,ā Dean recalled. āHeād say, āThis is something I canāt say out loud...ā or, āThat is something the president canāt do.āā To Dean, these moments suggested a functioning sense of shame in Nixon, something he was forced to wrestle with in his quest for power. Trump, by contrast, appears to Dean, to be unmolested by any such struggle."Ā Dean went even further in his assessment, stating: āI donāt think Richard Nixon even comes close to the level of corruption we already know about Trump.ā
Trump and republicans continue to rage against the Constitution in their ongoing war with our democratic republic. They have made it abundantly clear that we must vote them out of office in order for our democracy to survive.
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On Aug. 7, 1974, Sen. Barry Goldwater, R-Ariz., House Minority Leader John Rhodes, R-Ariz., and Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott, R-Pa., made it clear to Nixon that he faced all-but-certain impeachment, conviction, and removal from office in connection with the Watergate scandal...
Nixon announced his resignation the next day, effective at noon on Aug 9, 1974.
In his 2006 book "Conservatives Without Conscience," former Nixon White House Counsel John Dean wrote that the Capitol Hill trio "traveled to the White House to tell Nixon it was time to resign."
In his 1988 autobiography, Goldwater wrote that after hearing their grim assessment, Nixon "knew beyond any doubt that one way or another his presidency was finished."
This was back when the Republican party still had at least a modicum of dignity, decency, integrity, and a sense of right and wrong. Today, thanks to Trump, Moscow Mitch, Graham, Nunes, Jordan, Barr, Meadows, and others, the wholesale corruption of the GOP is now complete.
The Republican Party is now led by a kleptocratic crime boss who rules over the most scandal-ridden administration in history. Many of his closest advisers and associates have either been imprisoned or are facing prison time. Trump himself is trying to cheat in this election in order to stay in office and avoid prosecution. Nixonās administration may have beenĀ riddled with criminalityābut in 1973, the Republican Party was still a somewhat normal party,Ā that still played by the rules, so Nixon was forced to resign. But not anymore. Those days are long gone.
The corruption we see in the Republican party today can be defined as institutional depravity. It isnāt an occasional failure to uphold norms, but a consistent repudiation of them. It isnāt about dirty money so much as the pursuit and abuse of powerāpower as an end in itself, justifying almost any means.
Todayās Republican Party has cornered itself in with a base of ever older, more male, more rural, more radical conservative voters. They could have tried to expand; instead, theyāve hardened and walled themselves off. This is why the Republican Party lies about the risksĀ of voter fraud, so that it can pass laws to suppress voter turnout.
Taking away democratic rightsāextreme gerrymandering; blocking an elected president from nominating a Supreme Court justice; selectively paring voting rolls and polling places; creating spurious anti-fraud commissions; misusing the census to undercount the opposition; calling lame-duck legislative sessions to pass laws against the will of the votersāis the Republican Partyās main political strategy.
Republicans have chosen suppression and authoritarianism, because unlike the Dems, their party isnāt a coalition of interests in search of a majority. The Republican party isn't interested in what the majority of Americans want.
Trump is now the grotesque face of the rot within the party itself. And it reeks of corruption, paranoia, fascism, wild conspiracy theories, racism and other types of hostility toward entire groups. Trump is no different than his authoritarian counterparts abroad: immoral, demagogic, hostile to institutional checks, demanding and receiving demagogic obedience and protection from the party, and knee-deep in the financial corruption that is integral to the political corruption of authoritarian regimes.
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I'm absolutely sure that Rudy, Trump, and the entire GOP is being PAID by Russia.
Republican campaign finance reports, which are, available to the public, show connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to Trump and a number of top Republican leaders. And thanks to changes in campaign finance laws, the political contributions are legal. Bottom line,Ā our campaign finance laws are now a threat to our country.
Len Blavatnik, is a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. Blavatnik's family emigrated to the U.S. in the late '70s from the the Soviet Union and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late '80s.
In 2015-16, Blavatnik's political contributions soared as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Moscow Mitch, Rubio and Lindsey "Two-faced" Graham.
Oleg DeripaskaĀ is said to be one of Putin's favorite oligarchs, and he is founder and majority shareholder of Russia's Rusal, the second-largest aluminum company in the world. Blavatnik holds a stake in Rusal with a business partner.
Nearly 4% of Deripaska's stake in Rusal is owned by Putin's state-controlled bank, VTB, which is currently under U.S. sanctions.Ā VTB was exposed in the Panama Papers in 2016 for facilitating the flow of billions of dollars to offshore companies linked to Putin.
We already know that Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, began collecting $10 million a year in 2006 from Deripaska to advance Putin's interests with Western governments. Deripaska's name turned up again in an email handed over to Mueller's team by Manafort's attorneys.Ā In the email dated July 7, 2016, just two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, Manafort asked an overseas intermediary to pass a message on to Deripaska: "If he Deripaska needs private briefings, tell him we can accommodate."
Viktor VekselbergĀ is one of the 10 richest men in Russia. He and long-time business partner Blavatnik hold a 20.5 percent stake in Rusal. Vekselberg has connections to at least two Americans who made significant GOP campaign contributions during the last cycle.Ā
Andrew Intrater,Ā is Vekselberg's cousin. He is also chief executive of Columbus Nova, Renova's U.S. investment arm located in NY.Ā in January 2017 he contributed $250,000 to Trump's Inaugural Committee. His six-figure gift bought him special access to a dinner billed as "an intimate policy discussion with select cabinet appointees,"Ā
Simon KukesĀ is an oil magnate who has something in common with Intrater. From 1998 to 2003,Ā he worked for Vekselberg and Blavatnik asĀ chief executive of TNK. In 2016, Kukes contributed a total of $283,000, much of it to the Trump Victory Fund.Ā
In total, Blavatnik, Intrater, and Kukes made $10.4 million in political contributions from the start of the 2015-16 election cycle through SeptemberĀ 2017, and 99 percent of their contributions went to Republicans. The common denominator that connects the men is their association with Vekselberg.
Moscow Mitch knew from receiving intelligence briefings in 2016 that our electoral process was under attack by the Russians. Two weeks after the Dept of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement in October 2016 that the Russian government had directed the effort to interfere in our electoral process, Moscow Mitch's PAC accepted a $1 million donation from Blavatnik's AI-Altep Holdings. The PAC took another $1 million from Blavatnik's AI-Altep Holdings on March 30, 2017, just 10 days after Comey publicly testified before the House Intelligence Committee about Russia's interference in the election.
It's safe to say that Trump and the GOP have been bought and paid for with Russian money.
It's why repubicans are fighting so hard to defend him instead of the Constitution. It's also why Republicans have been repeating the exact same lies and propaganda of the Russian government and Russian security services like the GRU.
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PresidentĀ ObamaĀ said that when making a decision, it's helpful not to watch TV or read social media.That's because that "creates a lot of noise and clouds your judgment," He also said it's important to "have a team with a diversity of opinion" to help with making decisions and providing context.
President Obama had two important tips for any president to help make good decisions.
First, Obama said, you should "make sure you have a team with a diversity of opinion sitting around you."
"The other thing that's helpful is not watching TV or reading social media," he said. "Those are two things I would advise, if you're our president, not to do. It creates a lot of noise and clouds your judgment."
Obama spoke about entering office during the Great Recession, and he said that the presidency is like "drinking out of a fire hose."
"That's doubly true when you're in the middle of a crisis," Obama said.
A president can't absorb all the information on their own when making a decision, so it's important to have teams to provide information and context about the problem, he said.
"Then what you have to do is create a process where you have confidence that whatever data is out there has been sifted and sorted," Obama said.
Obama said that because there's so much information out there now, including "opinion wrapped up as fact" and clickbait, it's important to filter through the noise.
"What it does mean is that if you are susceptible to worrying about what are the polls saying or what might this person say about this topic, or you start mistaking the intensity of the passion of a very small subset of people with a broader sense about your country or people who know something about the topic, that will sway your decision-making in an unhealthy way,"
"I am asking you to hold fast to that faith that is written into our founding documents...that ideal whisper...by slaves and abolitionist, that spirit sung by immigrants and homesteaders, and those who marched for justice. That creed...reaffirmed by those who planted flags from foreign battle fields, to the surface of the moon. A creed at the core of every American, who's story is not yet written....YES WE CAN!!"
--President Barack Obama
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Trump's Professor,Ā William T. Kelley taught marketing at Wharton School of Business and Finance, University of Pennsylvania,Ā for 31 years, ending with his retirement in 1982. Kelley, who also had vast experience as a business consultant, was the author of a then-widely used textbook calledĀ Marketing Intelligence:The Management of Marketing Information...
Professor Kelley stated that āDonald Trump was the dumbest g*dd@m student I ever had.ā says Psychologist Frank DiPrima.
"Professor Kelley told me 100 times over three decades that āDonald Trump was the dumbest g*dd@m student I ever had.ā KelleyĀ told me this after Trump had become a celebrity, but long before he was considered a political figure. KelleyĀ often referred to Trumpās arrogance when he told the story that Trump came to Wharton thinking he already knew everything."
Professor Kelleyās view seems to be shared by other University of Pennsylvanians, from the Daily Pennsylvanian, stating:Ā
Biographer, Gwenda Blair, wrote in 2001 that Trump was admitted to Wharton on aĀ special favorĀ from a āfriendlyā admissions officer. The officer had known Trumpās older brother, Freddy..
Trumpās classmates doubt that the real estate mogul was an academic powerhouse.
āHe was not in any kind of leadership. I certainly doubt he was the smartest guy in the class,ā said Steve Perelman, a 1968 Wharton classmateĀ and a former Daily Pennsylvanian news editor.
1968 Wharton graduate Louis CalomarisĀ recalled that āDon, was loath to really study much.ā
Calomaris said Trump would come to study groups unprepared and did not āseem to care about being prepared.ā
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We can't even expect Traitor Trump to tell us the truth, about anything, big or small.
Trump's 2015 interview with host Michael Savage, Trump was asked again point-blank whether he'd ever met Putin.
"Yes," Trump said. "One time, yes. Long time ago."
"Got along with him great, by the way," Trump added.
"I got to know so many of the Russian leaders and the top, top people in Russia," he said.
At a July, 2016 press conference, at the height of the general election campaign, Trump denied ever having met the Russian leader.
"I never met Putin, I don't know who Putin is," he told reporters in Florida. "He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius. I said, 'Thank you very much' to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin. Never spoken to him. I don't know anything about him other than he will respect me."
David Letterman asked Trump in 2013 interview if had ever met Putin.
Trump: "Well I've done a lot of business with the Russians," Trump said. "He's a tough guy. I met him once," said Trump.
Feb. 17, 2016: At rally, Trump insists he has no relationship with Putin. āI have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius,ā Trump says. āHe said, āDonald Trump is a genius, and he is going to be the leader of the party, and heās going to be the leader of the world or something.āā
Trump's July 2016 interview with George Ā Stephanopoulos Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet you said for three years, '13, '14 and '15, that you did have a relationship with Putin."
TRUMP: "No, look, what ā what do you call a relationship? I mean he treats me..."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I'm asking you."
TRUMP: "with great respect. I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "You would know if you did."
TRUMP: "I think so."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I mean if he..."
TRUMP: "Yes, I think so. So I've ā I don't think I've ever met him. I mean if he's in the same room or something. But I don't Ā think so."
If anyone still had any doubt as to whether or not you can be believe anything that Trump says, I hope this clears everything up.
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In 2015, Western European intelligence agencies began picking up evidence of communications between the Russian government and people in Donald Trumpās orbit. In April 2016, one of the Baltic states shared with thenāCIA director John Brennan an audio recording of Russians discussing funneling money to the Trump campaign. In the summer of 2016, Robert Hannigan, head of the U.K. intelligence agency GCHQ, flew to Washington to brief Brennan on intercepted communications between the Trump campaign and Russia.
The contents of these communications have not been disclosed, but what Brennan learned obviously unsettled him profoundly. In congressional testimony on Russian election interference last year, Brennan hinted that some Americans might have betrayed their country. āIndividuals who go along a treasonous path,ā he warned, ādo not even realize theyāre along that path until it gets to be a bit too late.ā In an interview this year, he put it more bluntly: āI think [Trump] is afraid of the president of Russia. The Russians may have something on him personally that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult.ā
In July 2016, a loose-knit community of computer scientists and cybersecurity experts discovered a strange pattern of online traffic between two computer servers. One of those servers belonged to Alfa Bank in Moscow and the other to the Trump Organization. Alfa Bankās owners had āassumed an unforeseen level of prominence and influence in the economic and political affairs of their nation,ā as a federal courtĀ once put it.
The analysts noted that the traffic between the two servers occurred during office hours in New York and Moscow and spiked in correspondence with major campaign events, suggesting it entailed human communication rather than bots. More suspiciously, after New YorkĀ TimesĀ reporter Eric LichtblauĀ askedĀ Alfa Bank about it but before he brought it up with the Trump campaign, the server in Trump Tower shut down. The timing strongly implied Alfa Bank was communicating with Trump..
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The wheels have fallen off Republican claims (LIES) that Trumpās massive corporate tax cuts would pay for themselves by generating increased growth and government revenues over the next decade. Reminds me of Cheney's claim that the Iraq war would pay for itself. Republican voters fell for that one too.
āNot only will this tax plan pay for itself but it will pay down debt,ā Treasury Sec Steven Mnuchin famously boasted (LIED) in September 2017.
The national debt surpassed $22 trillion for the first time last year, a milestone that experts warned is further proof the country is on an unsustainable financial path that could jeopardize the economic security of every American.
The Treasury Department reported the debt hit $22.012 trillion, a jump of more than $30 billion in just this month.
TheĀ national debtĀ has been rising at a faster rate following the passage of Trumpās $1.5 trillion tax-cut package after a little more than a year. The nation has added more than $1 trillion in debt in the last 11 months alone.
Trump has quickened the rate at which the debt is growing by widening the deficit to finance his $1.5 trillion package of sweeping tax cuts for himself, his wealthy friends, big banks, and corporations.
Trump promised these tax cuts would pay for themselves by spurring on economic activity, but revenues have since stalled. Federal spending by the Trump administration is around 6.6 percent higher than it was before. In 2017, the national debt grew by 4 percent, according to CBO data, which excludes intragovernmental holdings. By the following year, Trump's second in charge, this had accelerated to 7 percent.
It's a similar story with the deficit. When Trump was elected in 2016, the size of the deficit measured as a portion of GDP was 3.2 percent. By the end of 2018 this had increased to 3.9 percent.Ā The deficit is expected to hit 4.2 percent in 2019. It is on course to reach a nominal value of $1 trillion by the end of the year.
That increase comes despite the economy doing well, so yes, it can be attributed directly to his tax cuts for the wealthy, which clearly aren't paying for themselves, as most professional economists warned. Trump's tax cuts was nothing more than corporate welfare, OR, a tax cut for the swamp.
Trump thinks about the national debt as he does his own personal debt. AĀ 2016 Fortune magazine analysisĀ revealed Trump's business is $1.11 billion in debt. That includes $846 million owed on five properties. This is not surprising considering that Trump famously bragged about being the "King of Debt" along with the fact that Trump has filed for bankruptcy 6 times, and has relied on Saudi Royals, and Russian Oligarchs to come to his rescue and bail him out numerous times over the years.
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Trump spent "two months of completely ignoring every bit of scientific advice," Dr. Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute stated in mid-March. "We've wasted two months. And this is not a disease where you're allowed to waste two months."
Jha criticized Trump for telling Americans that everything was "under control" when it was very clear to anybody paying attention that it was not under control."
"I don't use these words lightly, and it's incredibly painful for me to say it," he said, adding: "The cost of all of this is that tens of thousands of Americans are going to die unnecessarily. It was wholly preventable, and not just preventable in hindsight ā it was preventable in foresight. Everybody said this is how it was going to play out if they didn't act."
Trump said that COVID-19Ā ācame out of nowhereā and āblindsided the world.āĀ His comments left scientists, doctors, and national security experts in a state of disbelief. Medical experts had been warning about the next pandemic for years and criticized Trumpās decision in 2018 to dismantle a National Security Council directorate at the White House, that was created by President Obama, and was charged with preparing for WHEN, NOT if, another pandemic would hit the nation..
Trumpās elimination of the office suggested, along with his proposed budget cuts for the CDC, that he did not see, comprehend, or care about the threat of pandemics. Trump has defended his record,Ā arguing, āIām a "businessperson." I donāt like having thousands of people around when you donāt need them. When we need them, we can get them back very quickly.ā
Except experts argue thatās not how pandemic preparedness works, and that's definitely not how a virus works.Ā āYou build a fire department ahead of time,ā Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security stated. āYou donāt wait for a fire.ā
āOne year later I was mystified when the White House dissolved the office, leaving the country less prepared for pandemics like COVID-19,ā Beth Cameron, the first director of the unit, wrote in an op-ed. She said the directorate was set up to be the āsmoke alarmā and get ahead of emergencies and sound a warning at the earliest sign of fire ā āall with the goal of avoiding a six-alarm fire.ā
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Gary Cohn's email describes what it was like to work in Trump's dumpster fire of a white house before he finally had enough, and resigned as Trump's chief economic advisor in 2018.
"Itās worse than you can imagine.
An idi0t surrounded by clowns.
Trump wonāt read anythingānot one-page memos, not the brief policy papers; nothing.
He gets up halfway through meetings with world leaders because he is bored.
And his staff is no better.
Kushner is an entitled baby who knows nothing.
Bannon is an arrogant pr'ck who thinks heās smarter than he is.
Trump is less a person than a collection of terrible traits.
No one will survive the first year but his family.
I hate the work, but feel I need to stay because Iām the only person there with a clue what heās doing.
The reason so few jobs have been filled is that they only accept people who pass ridiculous purity tests, even for midlevel policy-making jobs where the people will never see the light of day.
I am in a constant state of shock and horror."
Gary Cohn lashed out at some of his former colleagues, charging in a radio interview that the U.S. is losing the trade war as administration officials pursue a strategy that hasnāt worked.
Cohn, who was Trumpās first director of the National Economic Council, specifically pointed his finger at Peter Navarro, who serves as director of the National Trade Council, and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for drawing the country into a misdirected tariff battle.
āTariffs donāt work. If anything, they hurt the economy because if youāre a typical American worker, you have a finite amount of income to spend. If you have to spend more on the necessity products that you need to live, you have less to spend on the services that you want to buy.ā
Cohn said he also had several high-profile disagreements with the administration, including one point where he nearly resigned following Trumpās comments on the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville.
Among the other revelations from his time in the White House, Cohn said a tipping point for him leaving was a meeting Navarro and Ross secretly set up with heads of the steel and aluminum industry to notify them that the administration wasĀ planning to levy tariffs on imports of the metals.
āWhat happened in the White House is we got to a point, unfortunately, where one or two people decided that they were going to no longer be part of a process and a debate,ā he said.
When asked to confirm if itĀ was Navarro and Ross who set up the meeting, Cohn said, āYes. Those are the two people. When the process breaks down, then youāre, sort of, in my mind, living in chaos. I donāt want to live in a chaotic organization.ā
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It's been said, that doing the right thing, even when no one is watching you, is a good test of someone's integrity, and character. Unfortunately, Republican members of Congress, can't even do the right thing, even when the entire world is watching them.
They simply don't care.
Why is it that we never see Republicans writing or passing legislation that will actually help the American people?
It's because instead of doing the job that they're being paid with taxpayer money to do, they choose to spend their time gerrymandering districts, suppressing
your right to vote, issuing threats ofViolence, and plotting coups to overturn elections and bring down our democratic republic.
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Konstantin Rykov is a propagandist for the Putin government machine. āRykov is considered to be one of the leading pro-Kremlin bloggers in Russia,ā said Michael McFaul, the former U.S. ambassador to Russia .
Konstantin Rykov is the Russian who created Putin's troll farm, and has boasted online that he helped get Trump elected. His claims of involvement with the Trump team can't be dismissed for 2 reasons: first, he is very close to Putin, and had a long history of involvement with top levels of the Russian government; and, second, his description of how Trumpās campaign put together an effective internet strategy forĀ information warfare is very close to the evidence revealed in the Mueller Report.
At about 11:14pm on November 6th, 2012, enough states were called for President Obama that he was declared the winner of the election. At 11:29pm, Trump blasted out the following defiant tweet:
Trump: "We can't let this happen. We should march on Washington and stop this travesty. Our nation is totally divided!"
11:29 PM - Nov 6, 2012
Konstantin Rykov saw Trumpās tweetĀ pop upĀ in his Twitter feed.
Almost exactly four years later, on November 12th, 2016, Konstantin Rykov tells what happened next in aĀ pairĀ of FacebookĀ posts. In the first post, Rykov explained how he first made contact with Trump:
"Without a momentās thought, I wrote him a reply, āIām ready. What should I do?ā
Trump replied with a picture. In the picture he was sitting in the armchair of his jet, smiling cheerfully giving the thumbs-up sign.
Rykov explaines how things went from there:
"For four years and two days .. it was necessary to get to everyone in the brain and grab all possible means of mass perception of reality. Ensure the victory of Donald in the election of the US President. Then create a political alliance between the US, France, Russia (and a number of other states) and establish a new world order.
Our idea was insane, but realizable.
In order to understand everything for the beginning, it was necessary to ādigitizeā all possible types of modern man.
Donald decided to invite for this taskāāāthe special scientific department of the āCambridge University.ā
British scientists from Cambridge Analytica suggested making 5,000 existing human psychotypesāāāthe āideal imageā of a possible Trump supporter. Then .. put this image back on all psychotypes and thus pick up a universal key to anyone and everyone.
Then it was only necessary to upload this data to information flows and social networks. And we began to look for those who would have coped with this task better than others.
At the very beginning there was not very much. A pair of hacker groups, civil journalists from WikiLeaks and political strategist Mikhail Kovalev.
The next step was to develop a system for transferring tasks and information, so that no intelligence and NSA could burn it.
Keep in mind, Konstantin Rykov revealed all of this on Facebook just four days after Trump was elected. It was before people started asking questions about Cambridge Analytica or targeted social media ads. Rykov might have been boasting as he spiked the football in the end zone. What he didnāt think at that point, however, is that he had any reason to hide what heād done..
His comments were also made well before details of Russian meddling in the presidential election were reported in the mainstream media. If Rykov wasnāt involved, then how on earth would he know as much as he confessed?
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Remember when Trump wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David? I do.
Ultimately the "deal" Trump made with the Taliban wasn't just a deal, it was also a double-cross. The double-cross was baked into the deal. Because he betrayed the Afghan government, the Afghan army, and the Afghan people with that deal.
History will record Aug. 15, 2021, as the date that the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban retook control over that troubled and war-torn country. But the real date that the Taliban's victory was assured is Feb. 29, 2020, the day the Trump administration signed what it characterized as a "peace" deal with the Taliban.Ā Once thisĀ agreementĀ was signed - the tragic collapse we witnessed was inevitable.Ā
Imagine that you and a partner have been in a 20 year life or death struggle with a common enemy. A fight where you have both bled together. And then one day, your partner decides to enter into peace talks with your common enemy, but decides to exclude you from the negotiations. Your partner then signs a peace agreement with this terrorist organization, that doesn't include you at all. It doesn't even mention you. That's exactly what Trump did to the Afghan army, the Afghan government, and the Afghan people.
This only emboldened the Taliban. They started taking even more territory, and more quickly than it had in years. As the Taliban's power increased, it had even less reason to engage in peace negotiations with the Afghan government.
Once the agreement was signed, the fate of the Afghan government was signed, sealed and delivered. There was no way that the government could possibly survive.Ā
And why would anyone think that cleaning up the 20 year debacle that is Afghanistan would be easy or pretty? Especially in a country like Afghanistan, and especially after the "deal" that Trump made.
Name one thing about Afghanistan that has ever been easy, pretty, or smooth.
So far, the US and it's partners have done something that's never been done before.
They've evacuated more than 109,000 people by airlift since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul. That's an historic number, especiallyĀ considering the chaotic situation on the ground there.
Keep it up President Biden.šš
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Hundreds of former federal prosecutors have signed onto an open online letter that says Trump's behavior toward the Russia investigation more than justified an indictmentāfor obstruction of justice. TheĀ open letterĀ organized by the nonprofit group PROTECTĀ DEMOCRACY,Ā had roughly 400 signatures when it wasĀ initially posted. The letter neared 700 signatures by the following day.
The letter's second paragraph states, āEach of us believes that the conduct of President Trump described in Special Counsel Robert Muellerās report would, in the case of any other person not covered by the Office of Legal Counsel policy against indicting a sitting President, result in multiple felony charges for obstruction of justice.ā
In making the case that Trump obstructed justice, the letter singles out three of his alleged actions that are detailed in the Mueller report: his effort to get Don McGahn, the White House counsel, to fire the special counsel; his attempt to limit the scope of the inquiry by instructing his former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, to carry a message to then Attorney General Sessions; and his repeated efforts to tamper with witnesses, including Cohen and Paul Manafort, by, among other things, raising the prospect of pardons.
The letter says Trumpās actions āsatisfy all of the elements for an obstruction chargeā and asserts that the evidence of ācorrupt intentāāa key element of any obstruction caseāis overwhelming.
The full list of names shows that more than three hundred of the signatories served at the Department of Justice for at least a decade. A hundred and sixty of them racked up twenty years or more. More than sixty did at least thirty years. And two of them did forty years: John Kolar, a former senior trial counsel, and E. Thomas Roberts, who headed the narcotics division in the District of Maryland.
Many of the signatories worked for different parts of the DoJ, in many parts of the country, at many different levels. There are former heads of major divisions, such as the financial-crimes and civil-fraud units, and former U.S. Attorneys. But there are also countless trial attorneys, appellate attorneys, and assistant U.S. Attorneysāthe anonymous figures who prosecute cases on a day-to-day basis. And all of them are agreed that if Trump were sitting anywhere except the Oval Office, he would be facing a lengthy rap sheet.
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In April 2018, aĀ federal judge finalized the $25 million settlement between Trump and students of his now defunct fake Trump University with New York's attorney general claimingĀ āvictims of Donald Trumpās fraudulent university will finally receive the relief they deserve.ā
The order from a U.S. District Judge came a year after heĀ first approvedĀ the settlement.Ā It marks the end of two class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit from NY accusing Trump of "swindling thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars through Trump University," in the words ofĀ NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
"This settlement marked a stunning reversal by President Trump, who for years refused to compensate the victims of his sham university," Schneiderman said in a statement.
Trump University was not an actual university but a for-profit seminar scam, and former students waged a years-long battle claiming the course misled them with claims of teaching real estate success. The program ended in 2010. Some elderly plaintiffsĀ who paid $20,000-plus in tuition died waiting to receive theirĀ checks from the settlement.
November of last year, Trump was ordered by a judge to pay $2 million in damages for illegally using funds intended for charity to boost his 2016 presidential election campaign.
Trump had to admit to personally misusing charity money, according to the New Yorkās attorney general office, despite having previously denied any wrongdoing. The fine adds to several other investigations into allegations that he is using public office for self-enrichment..
The lawsuit last year states that Trump, and his three money grubbing useless children - Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric - broke campaign finance laws in 2016 by using Trump Foundationās tax-exempt status āas little more than a checkbook to serve Trumpās business and political interests.
Trump and his crime family had violated their fiduciary duties as officers and directors of the now-shutteredĀ Trump Foundation. As a result of that failure, charitable dollars ā consistently and over many years ā often benefited Trump rather than the causes he repeatedly claimed he supports.
There was āa shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation ā including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more,ā the suit claimed.
In the agreements, Trump admitted to misusing funds from the foundation,Ā which he dissolved last year,Ā including to pay for a portrait himself that cost $10,000. He also agreed to pay back $11,525 he spent on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala.
Trump also directed the foundation to use money for charity to buy aĀ Tim Tebow helmetĀ for himself,Ā and to settle aĀ couple of lawsuits.
Trump also admitted in the agreements to directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over an 80-foot flagpole he had built at his Mar-a-Lago resort, instead of paying the expense out of his own pocket..
The biggest donation that Trumpās fake foundation ever gave appears to have been to contribute $264,632 to fixing a fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time. āIt shows you what this "foundation" was all about. Which was basically all about advancing Trumpās interests,ā said Brian Galle, a professor of tax law at Georgetown University.
In addition, Trump used his charity foundation to pay-off a $158,000 lawsuit over a prize for a hole-in-one contest at a Trump-owned golf course, and $5,000 for ads promoting Trumpās hotels in the programs for charitable events. Trump admitted these transactions were also improper.
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In April 2018, aĀ federal judge finalized the $25 million settlement between Trump and students of his now defunct fake Trump University with New York's attorney general claimingĀ āvictims of Donald Trumpās fraudulent university will finally receive the relief they deserve.ā
The order from a U.S. District Judge came a year after heĀ first approvedĀ the settlement.Ā It marks the end of two class-action lawsuits and a civil lawsuit from NY accusing Trump of "swindling thousands of Americans out of millions of dollars through Trump University," in the words ofĀ NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.
"This settlement marked a stunning reversal by President Trump, who for years refused to compensate the victims of his sham university," Schneiderman said in a statement.
Trump University was not an actual university but a for-profit seminar scam, and former students waged a years-long battle claiming the course misled them with claims of teaching real estate success. The program ended in 2010. Some elderly plaintiffsĀ who paid $20,000-plus in tuition died waiting to receive theirĀ checks from the settlement.
November of last year, Trump was ordered by a judge to pay $2 million in damages for illegally using funds intended for charity to boost his 2016 presidential election campaign.
Trump had to admit to personally misusing charity money, according to the New Yorkās attorney general office, despite having previously denied any wrongdoing. The fine adds to several other investigations into allegations that he is using public office for self-enrichment..
The lawsuit last year states that Trump, and his three money grubbing useless children - Don Jr, Ivanka and Eric - broke campaign finance laws in 2016 by using Trump Foundationās tax-exempt status āas little more than a checkbook to serve Trumpās business and political interests.
Trump and his crime family had violated their fiduciary duties as officers and directors of the now-shutteredĀ Trump Foundation. As a result of that failure, charitable dollars ā consistently and over many years ā often benefited Trump rather than the causes he repeatedly claimed he supports.
There was āa shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation ā including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign, repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more,ā the suit claimed.
In the agreements, Trump admitted to misusing funds from the foundation,Ā which he dissolved last year,Ā including to pay for a portrait himself that cost $10,000. He also agreed to pay back $11,525 he spent on sports memorabilia and champagne at a charity gala.
Trump also directed the foundation to use money for charity to buy aĀ Tim Tebow helmetĀ for himself,Ā and to settle aĀ couple of lawsuits.
Trump also admitted in the agreements to directing that $100,000 in foundation money be used to settle legal claims over an 80-foot flagpole he had built at his Mar-a-Lago resort, instead of paying the expense out of his own pocket..
The biggest donation that Trumpās fake foundation ever gave appears to have been to contribute $264,632 to fixing a fountain outside of the Plaza Hotel, which he owned at the time. āIt shows you what this "foundation" was all about. Which was basically all about advancing Trumpās interests,ā said Brian Galle, a professor of tax law at Georgetown University.
In addition, Trump used his charity foundation to pay-off a $158,000 lawsuit over a prize for a hole-in-one contest at a Trump-owned golf course, and $5,000 for ads promoting Trumpās hotels in the programs for charitable events. Trump admitted these transactions were also improper.
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Russian propaganda and disinformation is bad enough as it is, but it's even worse when it's coming from fox, the current president, and his defenders like Graham, Nunes, Jordan, and Rudy. It should be reported that these traitors are all willing partners in Russia's disinformation campaign on America. And they should be treated as a threat to America, because that's exactly they are. They are all carrying water for Putin. By spreading Russian GRU lies, conspiracies, and propaganda, they have all become Putin's proxies here in America.
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Trump Dec 7, 2019:
āPeople are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once. They end up using more water. We have a situation where weāre looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other elements of bathrooms, where you turn the faucet on in areas where thereās tremendous amounts of water, where it rushes out to sea because you could never handle it. And you donāt get any water. You turn on the faucet and you donāt get any water. You canāt wash your hands practically, thereās so little water comes out of the faucetā and then you āend up using the same amount of water.ā
šššš
On Dec 23, at turning point USA, Trump gave what could be considered his most stupefying soliloquy to date.
āI never understood wind. I know windmills very much, I have studied it better than anybody. (Don Quixote disagrees) I know it is very expensive. They are made in China and Germany mostly, very few made here, almost none, but they are manufactured, tremendous ā if you are into this ā tremendous fumes and gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes and everything. You talk about the carbon footprint, fumes are spewing into the air, right spewing, whether it is China or Germany, is going into the air. Itās our air, their air, everything ā right?"
--Trump
Trump at a rally in Milwaukee, Jan 14, 2020
"I'm also approving new dishwashers that give you more water so you can actually wash and rinse your dishes without having to do it 10 times ā four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, TEN.š
"Anybody have a new dishwasher? I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for that. It's worthless. They give you so little water. You ever see it? Air comes out. So little water."
"Sinks, toilets, and showers ā you don't get any water. You go into a shower ā and I have this beautiful head of hair. I need a lot of water," (to wild cheers from the crowd) "And you go into the shower, right? You turn on the water. Drip. Drip. Drip. I call the guy: 'Is something wrong with this?' 'No, sir, it's just the restrictor.'"
"We're getting rid of the restrictors!!!Ā You're going to have full shower flow!!"Ā Once again, his crowd of cultists goes wild!!!
Just let all of that sink in for a moment.Ā Trump really enjoys giving the world little peeks inside of his diseased riddled mind. I dare any Trump cultist to try and explain to me exactly what it was that Trump was trying to say, or what salient point he was trying to make. I dare you...
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Trump Jan. 24, Twitter:
āChina has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. In particular, on behalf of the American People, I want to thank President Xi!ā
Trump Feb. 7,Ā Twitter:
āJust had a long and very good conversation by phone with President Xi of China. He is strong, sharp and powerfully focused on leading the counterattack on the Coronavirus. He feels they are doing very well, even building hospitals in a matter of only days ā¦ Great discipline is taking place in China, as President Xi strongly leads what will be a very successful operation. We are working closely with China to help!
Trump Feb. 7,Ā Remarks beforeĀ Marine One departure:
"Late last night, I had a very good talk with President Xi, and we talked about ā mostly about the coronavirus. They're working really hard, and I think they are doing a very professional job. They're in touch with World ā the World ā World Organization. CDC also. We're working together. But World Health is working with them. CDC is working with them. I had a great conversation last night with President Xi. It's a tough situation. I think they're doing a very good job.ā
Trump Feb. 10, Fox interview:.
"I think China is very, you know, professionally run in the sense that they have everything under control," Trump said. "I really believe they are going to have it under control fairly soon. You know in April, supposedly, it dies with the hotter weather. And that's a beautiful date to look forward to. But China I can tell you is working very hard."
Trump Feb. 10,Ā rallyĀ in Manchester, N.H.:
āI spoke with President Xi, and theyāre working very, very hard. And I think itās all going to work out fine.ā
Trump Feb. 23,Ā before boardingĀ Marine One:
"I think President Xi is working very, very hard. I spoke to him. He's working very hard. I think he's doing a very good job. It's a big problem. But President Xi loves his country. He's working very hard to solve the problem, and he will solve the problem. OK?"
Trump Feb. 27, press conference:
āI spoke with President Xi. We had a great talk. Heās working very hard, I have to say. Heās working very, very hard. And if you can count on the reports coming out of China, that spread has gone down quite a bit. The infection seems to have gone down over the last two days. As opposed to getting larger, itās actually gotten smaller.ā
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In May of 2018, when China's President Xi Jinping, leader of the COMMUNIST PARTY of China, changed the countryās constitution to allow him to stay in power indefinitely, Trump, who admires dictators, said it was a good idea, and he had dreams of doing the same thing.
During remarks at Mar-a-Lago, delivered inside the ballroom during a lunch and fundraiser, Trump praised the Chinese presidentās power grab, and said he wouldnāt mind trying it himself.
Trump: āHeās now president for life. President for life. No, heās great,ā Trump said. āAnd look, he was able to do that. I think itās great. Maybe weāll have to give that a shot someday.ā
Trump tried to do exactly that on January 6. He failed.
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Remember when Trump wanted to invite the Taliban to Camp David? I do.
Ultimately the "deal" Trump made with the Taliban wasn't just a deal, it was also a double-cross. The double-cross was baked into the deal. Because he betrayed the Afghan government, the Afghan army, and the Afghan people with that deal.
History will record Aug. 15, 2021, as the date that the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban retook control over that troubled and war-torn country. But the real date that the Taliban's victory was assured is Feb. 29, 2020, the day the Trump administration signed what it characterized as a "peace" deal with the Taliban.Ā Once thisĀ agreementĀ was signed - the tragic collapse we witnessed was inevitable.Ā
Imagine that you and a partner have been in a 20 year life or death struggle with a common enemy. A fight where you have both bled together. And then one day, your partner decides to enter into peace talks with your common enemy, but decides to exclude you from the negotiations. Your partner then signs a peace agreement with this terrorist organization, that doesn't include you at all. It doesn't even mention you. That's exactly what Trump did to the Afghan army, the Afghan government, and the Afghan people.
This only emboldened the Taliban. They started taking even more territory, and more quickly than it had in years. As the Taliban's power increased, it had even less reason to engage in peace negotiations with the Afghan government.
Once the agreement was signed, the fate of the Afghan government was signed, sealed and delivered. There was no way that the government could possibly survive.Ā
And why would anyone think that cleaning up the 20 year debacle that is Afghanistan would be easy or pretty? Especially in a country like Afghanistan, and especially after the "deal" that Trump made.
Name one thing about Afghanistan that has ever been easy, pretty, or smooth.
So far, the US and it's partners have done something that's never been done before.
They've evacuated more than 109,000 people by airlift since Aug. 14, the day before the Taliban entered Kabul. That's an historic number, especiallyĀ considering the chaotic situation on the ground there.
Keep it up President Biden.šš
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garrett21
The Founders agreed on articles of impeachment, and they placed those articles of impeachment in the Constitution for the purpose of protecting our democracy from any corrupt would-be dictator. Those articles were tailor made for someone like Trump. Someone who clearly has no respect for our democracy, and who is systematically trying to tear it apart.
We already know that Trump bribed the President of Ukraine with taxpayer money. This fact has been corroborated by the whistleblower, by official documents, texts messages, by the under oath testimony of multiple witnesses, by Trump's own senior white house aides and staff, by Mulvaney, and by State Department officials, and by Trump's own words. Trump's own National Security Adviser Bolton quit over Trump's scheme to bribe Ukraine.
Article II, Section 4, says the president āshall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."
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The Republican party has been replaced by a cult known as Trumpism. It's a cult rooted in lies, absurdities, wild conspiracy theories, self-deception, hypocrisy, pathological ignorance, self-righteous bigotry, doublespeak, and blind dogmatic obedience to the "Chosen One."
Psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton, who once taught at Harvard Medical School, wrote a paper titledĀ Cult FormationĀ in the early 1980s. He delineatedĀ primary characteristics, which are the most common features shared by destructive cults, destructive cults like Trumpism..
1.Ā A charismatic leader, who increasingly becomes an object of worship as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose power. That is a living leader, who has no meaningful accountability and becomes the single most defining element of the group and its source of power and authority.
2.Ā A process of indoctrination or education is in use that can be seen as coercive persuasion or thought reform commonly called "brainwashing".
The culmination of this process can be seen by members of the group often doing things that are not in their own best interest, but consistently in the best interest of its leader.
3.Ā The exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling members.
Here are warning signs of a potentially unsafe group or leader.
ā¢Ā Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
ā¢Ā No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
ā¢Ā No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget or expenses, such as an independently audited financial statement.
ā¢Ā Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
ā¢Ā There are records, books, news articles, or broadcast reports that document the abuses of the group/leader.
ā¢Ā The group/leader is always right.
ā¢Ā The group/leader is the exclusive means of knowing "truth" or receiving validation, no other process of discovery is acceptable or credible.
As we've all seen,Ā when it comes to the warning signs and characteristics of a cult, Trump and his followers check most of the boxes..
"I have a chapter in the book on malignant narcissism as a characteristic of destructive cult leaders. These are people who have a deep need for grandiosity, to be the center of attention, who need to control others, and who lack empathy and lie without hesitation. These are psychological traits perfectly attuned to manipulation and projection.
But the malignant part is about sociopathic tendencies. Almost every cult leader thinks heās above the law, which is why heās allowed to persecute and harass or harm anyone he wants. When someone really believes this, they can rationalize all kinds of destructive behavior.
I began this book with the assumption that Trump is a malignant narcissist. Actually, watching him and listening to him reminded me of Sun Myung Moon, the leader of the cult I joined in college, in that both have a kind of God complex where theyāre the only one with the answers, the only one who can fix things. Moon was going to create a theocracy and Trump was going to ādrain the swamp.ā But the way they carry themselves is similar.
But what really made me think of Trump as a cult was the way the groups who supported him were behaving,Ā especially religious groupsĀ who believed that God had chosen Trump or was using Trump. There are actual pro-Trump religious groups, likeĀ the New Apostolic Reformation, whose leaders were saying, āWeāre of God. The rest of the world is of Satan, and we need to follow our chosen leaders who are connected to God.ā
There was this blind-faith aspect to the whole thing and an unwillingness to look at any inconvenient facts. Thatās all very cult-like.
The bottom line is that I see very sophisticated mind-control techniques being used through the media, through religious broadcasters and radio talk-show hosts. Itās a black-and-white, all-or-nothing, good-versus-evil, authoritarian view of reality that is mostly fear-based. And thereās a deliberate focus on denying facts in order to protect the image of the leader."
--Steven Hassan, The Cult of Trump
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Republican campaign finance reports, which are, available to the public, show connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to Trump and a number of top Republican leaders. And thanks to changes in campaign finance laws, the political contributions are legal. Bottom line,Ā our campaign finance laws are now a threat to our country.
Len Blavatnik, isa dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. Blavatnik's family emigrated to the U.S. in the late '70s from the the Soviet Union and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late '80s.
In 2015-16, Blavatnik's political contributions soared as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Moscow Mitch, Rubio and Lindsey "Two-faced" Graham.
Oleg DeripaskaĀ is said to be one of Russian President Vladimir Putin's favorite oligarchs, and he is founder and majority shareholder of Russia's Rusal, the second-largest aluminum company in the world. Blavatnik holds a stake in Rusal with a business partner.
Nearly 4% of Deripaska's stake in Rusal is owned by Putin's state-controlled bank, VTB, which is currently under U.S. sanctions.Ā VTB was exposed in the Panama Papersin 2016 for facilitating the flow of billions of dollars to offshore companies linked to Putin.
We already know that Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, began collecting $10 million a year in 2006 from Deripaska to advance Putin's interests with Western governments. Deripaska's name turned up again in an email handed over to Mueller's team by Manafort's attorneys.Ā In the email dated July 7, 2016, just two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, Manafort asked an overseas intermediary to pass a message on to Deripaska: "If he Deripaska needs private briefings, tell him we can accommodate."
Viktor VekselbergĀ is one of the 10 richest men in Russia. He and long-time business partner Blavatnik hold a 20.5 percent stake in Rusal. Vekselberg has connections to at least two Americans who made significant GOP campaign contributions during the last cycle.Ā
Andrew Intrater,Ā is Vekselberg's cousin. He is also chief executive of Columbus Nova, Renova's U.S. investment arm located in NY.Ā in January 2017 he contributed $250,000 to Trump's Inaugural Committee. His six-figure gift bought him special access to a dinner billed as "an intimate policy discussion with select cabinet appointees,"Ā
Simon KukesĀ is an oil magnate who has something in common with Intrater. From 1998 to 2003,Ā he worked for Vekselberg and Blavatnik asĀ chief executive of TNK. In 2016, Kukes contributed a total of $283,000, much of it to the Trump Victory Fund.Ā
In total, Blavatnik, Intrater, and Kukes made $10.4 million in political contributions from the start of the 2015-16 election cycle through SeptemberĀ 2017, and 99 percent of their contributions went to Republicans. The common denominator that connects the men is their association with Vekselberg.
Moscow Mitch knew from receiving intelligence briefings in 2016 that our electoral process was under attack by the Russians. Two weeks after the Dept of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement in October 2016 that the Russian government had directed the effort to interfere in our electoral process, Moscow Mitch's PAC accepted a $1 million donation from Blavatnik's AI-Altep Holdings. The PAC took another $1 million from Blavatnik's AI-Altep Holdings on March 30, 2017, just 10 days after Comey publicly testified before the House Intelligence Committee about Russia's interference in the election.
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Why should anyone believe Trump when he can't even tell the truth about whether or not he ever met Putin before the election?
Trump's 2015 interview with host Michael Savage, Trump was asked again point-blank whether he'd ever met Putin.
"Yes," Trump said. "One time, yes. Long time ago."
"Got along with him great, by the way," Trump added.
"I got to know so many of the Russian leaders and the top, top people in Russia," he said.
At a July, 2016 press conference, at the height of the general election campaign, Trump denied ever having met the Russian leader.
"I never met Putin, I don't know who Putin is," he told reporters in Florida. "He said one nice thing about me. He said I'm a genius. I said, 'Thank you very much' to the newspaper, and that was the end of it. I never met Putin. Never spoken to him. I don't know anything about him other than he will respect me."
David Letterman asked Trump in 2013 interview if had ever met Putin.
Trump: "Well I've done a lot of business with the Russians," Trump said. "He's a tough guy. I met him once," said Trump.
Feb. 17, 2016: At rally, Trump insists he has no relationship with Putin. āI have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius,ā Trump says. āHe said, āDonald Trump is a genius, and he is going to be the leader of the party, and heās going to be the leader of the world or something.āā
Trump's July 2016 interview with George Ā Stephanopoulos Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet you said for three years, '13, '14 and '15, that you did have a relationship with Putin."
TRUMP: "No, look, what ā what do you call a relationship? I mean he treats me..."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I'm asking you."
TRUMP: "with great respect. I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "You would know if you did."
TRUMP: "I think so."
STEPHANOPOULOS: "I mean if he..."
TRUMP: "Yes, I think so. So I've ā I don't think I've ever met him. I mean if he's in the same room or something. But I don't Ā think so."
LOL!!!....šš.Ā Ā Trump tells lies that a 5 year old would tell.
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sino rich
Meanwhile, Trump and his grifter family have been on a 3 year long crime spree since Trump took office.
Jan, 2016
Trump: "My whole life Iāve been greedy, greedy, greedy. Iāve grabbed all the money I could get. Iām so greedy."
Jan 9, 2016
"Now, Iāll tell you, Iām good at that ā so, you know, Iāve always taken in money,ā he said at a rally in Iowa. āI like money. Iām very greedy. Iām a greedy person. I shouldnāt tell you that, Iām a greedy ā Iāve always been greedy. I love money, right?
Trump has grossly violated the Emolument Clause. He has clearly not divested from his businesses, and he has been caught red-handed using the Presidency to boost his own personal financial gains.
Not only have the U.S. and foreign governments spent money at properties owned by Trump, but Trump's own political campaign and affiliated political committees have alsoĀ spent about $16.8 million at his businessesĀ since he launched his 2016 bid, according to an analysis of federal election spending records. Trump is literally using his own campaignās money to line his pockets with millions. It's basically the same crime he committed with his fake charity foundation.
Trump campaign events create a ātwo-ferā benefiting Trump. When he holds a fundraiser at one of his properties, not only do donors contribute to his campaign, his business collects funds from his campaign for space rental and catering, some of whichĀ ultimately ends up in his pocket.Ā
48 Republican members of Congress also spent campaign money at Trump businesses through their campaign and affiliated committees, according to the center. Some of the top spenders for the 2020 cycle included campaigns for former Rep. Sean DuffyĀ of Wisconsin ($21,000), who resigned last month, Mike Penceās brother, Indiana Rep. Greg PenceĀ ($14,000), Rep. Jim JordanĀ of Ohio ($12,000) and House Minority LeaderĀ Kevin McCarthyĀ of California ($8,000).
The most recent example of Trump's emoluments clause violations came last year in AugustĀ when a visit from Saudi officials to Trump's Trump International Hotel in NYC helped boost the hotel's quarterly revenue by 13% in 2018's first quarter. The bump came after two straight years of booking declines for the property.
Since Trump took the oath of office, the Saudi government and lobbying groups for it have been lucrative customers for Trumpās hotels. A public relations firm working for the kingdom spent nearly $270,000 on lodging at his Washington hotel through March of last year, according to filings to the Justice Department. A spokesman for the firm told The Wall Street Journal that the Trump hotel payments came as part of a Saudi-backed lobbying campaign against a bill that allowed Americans to sue foreign governments for responsibility in the Sept. 11 terror attacks..
Attorneys general for Maryland and the District of Columbia cited the payments by the Saudi lobbying firm as an example of foreign gifts to Trump that could violate the Constitutionās ban on such āemolumentsā from foreign interests.
Fun fact:Ā The emoluments clauses, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, and Article II, Section 1, Clause 7, are our countryās original anti-corruption laws. They are written into the document that created our government and defined our system of laws.
At a Cabinet meeting, Trump blamed the backlash and outrage over his attempt to profit from holding the G7 Summit at his Doral resort on āyou people with this phony emoluments clause."š²š²
A perfect example of the utter contempt that Trump has for our Constitution, and the rule of law.
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The crime is called conspiracy, which is a felony. And just because Trump wasn't indicted, doesn't mean he's not guilty. Remember, the DoJ has stated that a sitting President cannot be indicted. That's why Mueller's report doesn't contain any indictments against Trump, but that doesn't mean that Trump isn't guilty. What it means is that, Trump could be guilty of many things, but simply because he's a sitting President, he is protected against indictments.
June 3, 2016, Don Jr receives this email at 10:36 AM, from Rob Goldstone.
"Emin just called and asked me to contact you with something very interesting."
"The Crown prosecutor of Russia met with his father Aras this morning and in their meeting offered to provide the Trump campaign with some official documents and information that would incriminate Hillary and her dealings with Russia and would be very useful to your father."
"This is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government's support for Mr. Trump - helped along by Aras and Emin" Goldstone wrote.
Don Jr. agrees to hold the meeting at Trump Tower, and sets the date for June 9.
On June 7, 2016, just days before the Trump Tower meeting, Trump announced a āmajor speechā he claimed would reveal damaging information about Hillary. "I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and weāre going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons,ā Trump said. āI think youāre going to find it very informative and very, very interesting."
On June 9, 2016, a meeting was held in Trump Tower between three senior members of the Donald Trump presidential campaign ā Don Jr., Kushner, and Manafort ā and at least five other people, including Russian Russian agents.
On July 27 2016, on national tv, Trump invites Russia to meddle in our elections.
āRussia, if youāre listening, I hope youāre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,ā Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clintonās deleted emails. āI think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.ā
Later that same day, the 12 Russian operatives indicted in the special counsel investigation, launched the 1st cyber attack against the DNC.
Translation: Trump is guilty of treason.
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The question every American should be asking is why do republicans continue to block election security bills?Ā Senate Republicans blocked 3 election security bills just last week.
Republican campaign finance reports, which are, available to the public, show connections between a group of wealthy donors with ties to Russia and their political contributions to Trump and a number of top Republican leaders. And thanks to changes in campaign finance laws, the political contributions are legal. Bottom line,Ā our campaign finance laws are now a threat to our country.
Len Blavatnik, is a dual U.S.-U.K. citizen and one of the largest donors to GOP political action committees in the 2015-16 election cycle. Blavatnik's family emigrated to the U.S. in the late '70s from the the Soviet Union and he returned to Russia when the Soviet Union began to collapse in the late '80s.
In 2015-16, Blavatnik's political contributions soared as he pumped $6.35 million into GOP political action committees, with millions of dollars going to top Republican leaders including Moscow Mitch, Rubio and Graham.
Oleg DeripaskaĀ is said to be one of Putin's favorite oligarchs, and he is founder and majority shareholder of Russia's Rusal, the second-largest aluminum company in the world. Blavatnik holds a stake in Rusal with a business partner.
We already know that Manafort, Trump's former campaign manager, began collecting $10 million a year in 2006 from Oleg Deripaska to advance Putin's interests with Western governments. Deripaska's name turned up again in an email handed over to Mueller's team by Manafort's attorneys.Ā In the email dated July 7, 2016, just two weeks before Trump accepted the Republican nomination, Manafort asked an overseas intermediary to pass a message on to Deripaska: "If he Deripaska needs private briefings, tell him we can accommodate."
Moscow Mitch knew from receiving intelligence briefings in 2016 that our electoral process was under attack by the Russians. Two weeks after the Dept of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence issued a joint statement in October 2016 that the Russian government had directed the effort to interfere in our electoral process, Moscow Mitch's PAC accepted a $1 million donation from Blavatnik's AI-Altep Holdings. The PAC took another $1 million from Blavatnik's AI-Altep Holdings on March 30, 2017, just 10 days after former Comey publicly testified before the House Intelligence Committee about Russia's interference in the election.
The contributions are legal because the Supreme Court's 2010 ruling, Citizens United, allowed American corporations to give unlimited amounts of money to PACs, regardless of how they make their money, where they make their money, or with whom they make their money.
The man who led the winning fight for Citizens United was David Bossie, president of the conservative non-profit since 2001. Bossie served as Trump's deputy campaign chairman.
The Super PAC, Make America Number 1, is funded by Trump's largest donor, Robert Mercer. His Renaissance Technologies hedge fund donated $15.5 million to the PAC.
Mercer's daughter, Rebekah, assumed control of Make America Number 1 in September 2016 and is now tainted by her role in the communications between Wikileaks and Cambridge Analytica, the firm that Jared Kushner, hired for $5.9 million to handle the digital portion of the Trump campaign...
Citizens United must be overturned. It represents the biggest crime ever perpetrated on the American people. It was created by republicans and powerful corporations, for the sole purpose of finally controlling our government for their own financial gains, all while undermining the will of the people..
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Obama was able to bring 5 countries together, and secure a deal with Iran. It was something we had never had before, and the deal was working.
In July 2015, Iran had almost 20,000 centrifuges. Under theĀ Iran deal--JCPOA, it was limited to installing no more than 5,060 of the oldest and least efficient centrifuges at Natanz until 2026. Iran's uranium stockpile was reduced by 98% to 300kg (660lbs), a figure that must not be exceeded until 2031. It must also keep the stockpile's level of enrichment at 3.67%.
By January 2016, Iran had drastically reduced the number of centrifuges installed at Natanz and Fordo. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the global nuclear watchdog, continuously monitored Iran's declared nuclear sites and also verified that no fissile material is moved covertly to a secret location to build a bomb. Iran also agreed to implement the Additional Protocol to their IAEA Safeguards Agreement, which allowed inspectors to access any site anywhere in the country they deem suspicious.
But theĀ best part about it is that Obama didn't have to praise the Ayatollahs or the Iranian leadership. He didnāt demean himself, or the office of the presidency, by meeting with them, which would have only given them the perception of being on the same footing as a US President. Trump on the other hand, disgraced himself, and the office of the presidency, by meeting with the most despotic, and maniacal dictator on the planet....not once, but twice. He then proceeded to compliment him, and wax poetically about how he and Kim Jung Un fell in love after exchanging letters.Ā And what does Trump have to show for disgracing himself and his presidency? Nothing....other than heightened tensions with Iran and NK. Trump doesn't solve problems, he creates them.
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"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of Liberty.āĀ
āThomas Jefferson
At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787,Ā Benjamin Franklin was asked as he left Independence Hall on the final day of deliberation. In the notes of Dr. James McHenry, one of Marylandās delegates to the Convention, Ā a lady asked Dr. Franklin: āWell Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
Benjamin Franklin replied:Ā āA republic....if you can keep it.ā
Today, Trump and Republicans are telling the American people that we can no longer keep it.
America's democracy and Constitutional republic, has never been in more peril than it is right now. Trump and republicans, are attempting to reverse our victory in our War of Independence, that began 1775 and ended in 1783. They are attempting to throw it all away, like it never happened, and install a new King, a new monarch, a new tyrant, to rule over the American people. We are witnessing history folks. This is America's darkest hour.
āIf there is one fact we really can prove, from the history that we really do know, it is that despotism can be a development, often a late development and very often indeed the end of societies that have been highly democratic. A despotism may almost be defined as a tired democracy. As fatigue falls on a community, the citizens are less inclined for that eternal vigilance which has truly been called the price of liberty; and they prefer to arm only one single sentinel to watch the city while they sleep.āĀ
āĀ G.K. Chesterton,Ā The Everlasting Man
āWhatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it mayāĀ
āĀ Daniel Webste
āThereās no English equivalent for silovik. It doesnāt translate succinctly because to create something as Machiavellian as a silovik requires both the KGB and the GRU, and then a shift from communism to capitalism, followed by a gear-grinding reverse into despotism.āĀ
āĀ Tanya Thompson,Ā Red Russia
āThe actions of government, we are told, bear down only on imprudent souls who provoke them. The man who resigns himself and keeps silent is always safe. Reassured by this worthless and specious argument, we do not protest against the oppressors. Instead we find fault with the victims. Nobody knows how to be brave even prudentially. Everyone stays silent, keeping his head low in the self-deceiving hope of disarming the powers that be by his silence. People give despotism free access, flattering themselves they will be treated with consideration. Eyes to the ground, each person walks in silence the narrow path leading him safely to the tomb..āĀ
āĀ Benjamin Constant,Ā Principles of Politics Applicable to All Governments
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I know there are some Dems who don't believe Biden should run. I'm not one of those Dems. I really like all of the Dem candidates so far. They each bring a little something different to the table, while at the same time, united together in bringing a sense of normalcy and decency back to the white house, and the country. If this was going to be a normal election,Ā like elections of the past, I would probably support one of the other candidates, but there is nothing normal about the situation the country is in today.
We currently have a demagogue, traitor, and a wannabe dictator in the Oval Office. The way I see it, the best person suited to take down a national disgrace like Trump is Biden.Ā I'll never forget how Joe systematically dismantled Paul Ryan in their VP debate. Ryan came to the debate armed with nothing but lies, and Joe shot everyone down, and he did with a smile on his face. I thought Paul Ryan was going to cry. I have no doubt that he would do the same thing to Trump. I also believe that out of all of the candidates, Joe is the only one with the experience, and knowledge, to be able to walk into the white house on day one, and immediately start repairing the damage that Trump has done to this country, and the damage that Trump has done to the relationships with our foreign allies.
There were some who didn't think that Pelosi should be the next Speaker, and I was one of them. I believed it was time for some new and fresh blood to take the lead. And if these were normal times, that would have been true. But these aren't normal times. What we are witnessing now is unprecedented. And Pelosi turned out to be the perfect person to confront Trump. I don't believe any other Speaker could have checked Trump like Nancy has done. If Joe does get the nomination, I'm pretty sure he will pick a female VP as his running mate. And I like all of the female candidates so far, however my 3 favorites are Warren, Harris, and Klobuchar. Regardless of who he gets the nomination, I look forward to them taking down the traitor in the Oval Office, and the SDNY will be waiting for him with open arms when they do.
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If truly you believe in democracy, freedom, and liberty, why would you ever vote republican?
The origins of the term LiberalĀ traces back to the Latin word liber (meaning āfreeā), which is also the root of the wordĀ "libertyĀ "("the quality or state of being free").
Conservative:
tending to preserve or protect, preservative, having the power to keep whole or safe," from Old FrenchĀ conservatif, from Medieval LatinĀ conservativus, from LatinĀ conservatus, past participle ofĀ conservareĀ "to keep, preserve, keep intact, guard.
In other words, to maintain and protect the status quo, and the establishment.
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception, and has no place in the modern world..
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Leslie Franklin
Exactly, and well stated. Capitalism is fine, but unregulated Capitalism is a cancer, because the 2 fundamental flaws of capitalism are greed and corruption. The government has a responsibility to but regulations in place as a check on greed and corruption, for the simple fact that greed cannot stop itself. So whenever you hear republicans say they want smaller government, it's code for less regulations on big banks, corporations, and billion dollar industries. And less regulations is code for corporate welfare, less regulations is a green light for Wall Street and others to move full steam ahead with ruining the economy again, and then asking the government and the American people to bail them out again. And it's already begun. Many of the regulations that Obama but into place because of the recession, have already been stripped away by republicans.
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KT
But Hillary isn't the president now is she?
When are Trump cultists going to get over the fact that Hillary lost the election?
The 5 stages of Trumpism:
1. It's a total lie, never happened, fake news.
2. Ok, so it happened, but it's not a big deal.
3. Ok, so it might be a big deal, but it isn't illegal.
4. Ok, so it's illegal, but but but Hillary and Obama, something unintelligible, so it's okay.
5. WHATEVER LIBBY!! YOU'RE JUST A SORE LOSER. MAGA!!!
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