Comments by "" (@DavidJ222) on "Face the Nation"
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The Republican party has been replaced by a cult known as Trumpism.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 titled Cult Formation in the early 1980s. He delineated primary characteristics, which are the most common features shared by destructive cults, destructive cults like Trumpism..
1. 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. 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. The exploitation of group members by the leader and the ruling members.
Here are warning signs of a potentially unsafe group or leader.
• Absolute authoritarianism without meaningful accountability.
• No tolerance for questions or critical inquiry.
• No meaningful financial disclosure regarding budget or expenses, such as an independently audited financial statement.
• Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
• There are records, books, news articles, or broadcast reports that document the abuses of the group/leader.
• The group/leader is always right.
• 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, 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 he’s above the law, which is why he’s 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 they’re 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 “drain the swamp.” 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, especially religious groups who believed that God had chosen Trump or was using Trump. There are actual pro-Trump religious groups, like the New Apostolic Reformation, whose leaders were saying, “We’re of God. The rest of the world is of Satan, and we need to follow our chosen leaders who are connected to God.”
There was this blind-faith aspect to the whole thing and an unwillingness to look at any inconvenient facts. That’s 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. It’s a black-and-white, all-or-nothing, good-versus-evil, authoritarian view of reality that is mostly fear-based. And there’s 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, 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 Deripaska 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. 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. 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 Vekselberg 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.
Andrew Intrater, is Vekselberg's cousin. He is also chief executive of Columbus Nova, Renova's U.S. investment arm located in NY. 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,"
Simon Kukes is an oil magnate who has something in common with Intrater. From 1998 to 2003, he worked for Vekselberg and Blavatnik as chief executive of TNK. In 2016, Kukes contributed a total of $283,000, much of it to the Trump Victory Fund.
In total, Blavatnik, Intrater, and Kukes made $10.4 million in political contributions from the start of the 2015-16 election cycle through September 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. “I have no relationship with him other than he called me a genius,” Trump says. “He said, ‘Donald Trump is a genius, and he is going to be the leader of the party, and he’s going to be the leader of the world or something.’”
Trump's July 2016 interview with George Stephanopoulos
STEPHANOPOULOS: "Yet you said for three years, '13, '14 and '15, that you did have a relationship with Putin."
TRUMP: "No, look, what — 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 — I don't think I've ever met him. I mean if he's in the same room or something. But I don't think so."
LOL!!!....😄😂. 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 I’ve been greedy, greedy, greedy. I’ve grabbed all the money I could get. I’m so greedy."
Jan 9, 2016
"Now, I’ll tell you, I’m good at that – so, you know, I’ve always taken in money,” he said at a rally in Iowa. “I like money. I’m very greedy. I’m a greedy person. I shouldn’t tell you that, I’m a greedy – I’ve 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 also spent about $16.8 million at his businesses since he launched his 2016 bid, according to an analysis of federal election spending records. Trump is literally using his own campaign’s 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 “two-fer” 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 which ultimately ends up in his pocket.
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 Duffy of Wisconsin ($21,000), who resigned last month, Mike Pence’s brother, Indiana Rep. Greg Pence ($14,000), Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio ($12,000) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California ($8,000).
The most recent example of Trump's emoluments clause violations came last year in August 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 Trump’s 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 Constitution’s ban on such “emoluments” from foreign interests.
Fun fact: The emoluments clauses, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, and Article II, Section 1, Clause 7, are our country’s 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 “you people with this phony emoluments clause."😲😲
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 “major speech” he claimed would reveal damaging information about Hillary. "I am going to give a major speech on probably Monday of next week and we’re going to be discussing all of the things that have taken place with the Clintons,” Trump said. “I think you’re 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 – Don Jr., Kushner, and Manafort – 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.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
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? 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, 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 Deripaska 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. 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 the 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 the best part about it is that Obama didn't have to praise the Ayatollahs or the Iranian leadership. He didn’t 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. 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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