If only we could find this “Nobody” person — LOL
“We’re going to have [health] insurance for everybody … much less expensive and much better.” … “Nobody knows health care better than Donald Trump” … “Nobody knows more about debt” … “Nobody knows more about trade than me” … “Nobody knows banking better than I do” … “Nobody knows the tax code better than I do.” … “Nobody knows politics better than I do.” … “Nobody knows the politicians better than me.” … “I know more than the Generals” … “Nobody knows the system better than I do … which is why I alone can fix it …” https://wapo.st/2IR5SYv YouTube http://bit.ly/2QHfszR
If only we could find this “Nobody” person!
“Billy, look, look, you just tell them [anything] and they [the rubes] believe it. That’s it, you just tell them and they believe it. They just do.” — Donald Trump, as related by Billy Bush: http://bit.ly/2lD6dTP (8:39).
“And just remember, what you’re seeing and what you’re reading [in the media] is not what’s happening.” — Donald Trump, addressing more rubes. http://bit.ly/2KrW5r9 (0:30).
Trump has no concept of “truth;” for him, lying is innate; barely a word that comes out of his — or much of his kakistocracy’s — mouth can be believed; “truth” is a variable for whatever suits his personal interests — after he’s received his daily briefing from the “knuckle draggers” on his favorite TV channel, “Faux Noise.” As a result, Trump’s grasp of reality is even more delusional than that of Alice’s following her fall down the rabbit hole. http://bit.ly/2Ne2QyV (12:22).
As George Costanza once said, “It’s not a lie if you believe it.” And, due to Trump’s gross sense of entitlement, narcissism and psychopathy, he may well believe in the “reality” of his never-ending stream of inane mendacities.
Still, Trump’s legal team is fearful of a “consultation” with Dr Mueller; half are afraid he’ll lie — the other half afraid he’ll tell the truth.
***
Trump’s a clueless — and dangerous — sociopath. Unscripted, his only constant is incoherent, mendacious and delusional blathering. Watch Trump perform unscripted — he’s a jabbering idiot! http://bit.ly/2Gdlbrl (1:32). Even his audience of “deplorables” appears bewildered …
Trump’s a loathsome, crass, transactional opportunist — he’ll adopt any ideology, exploit any situation, to advance his personal interests. His sole reason for being is to feed his insatiable narcissism. Anyone that thinks that he, or his family, has ever had any sense of service other than self-service, or that a man who has spent much of his adult life promoting his vulgar “brand” and the many scams/products to which he has licensed his name — to the cost of his beloved “poorly educated” — cares one iota about anyone but himself, or that he or his familial/crony grifters will pass up any opportunity to profit from his presidency, is naïve — in the extreme!
Trump’s a man of principles, none — a master charlatan — a shameless, crass, arrogant, ignorant, bigoted, racist, unscrupulous, mendacious, malevolent, illiterate, inarticulate, cowardly, petty, thin-skinned, autocratic, divisive, spiteful, vindictive, incompetent, misogynistic, nepotistic, narcissistic psychopath; a five-times draft-deferred, much sued, six times bankrupted, congenital liar and, politically, a gross neophyte; his adolescent brain is severely affected by chronic “status twitterus” — a debilitating mental condition where fits of impolitic tweeting follow one another without recovery of consciousness between them. Trump is mentally, morally and intellectually unfit to be POTUS. http://bit.ly/2Ne2QyV (12:22).
Indeed, is there any derogatory descriptor for the human male that couldn’t be accurately applied to Trump?
In the final analysis, Trump’s the classic “Dunning-Kruger”/“Peter Principle” affectee; but for his having been born into great wealth it’s likely he’d now be living under a bridge somewhere.
***
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” — H.L. Mencken, “In Defense of Women” (1918) http://bit.ly/2m22TSi.
“Notes on Democracy” — Henry Louis Mencken (1926)
“The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. The demaslave is one who listens to what these idiots have to say and then pretends that he believes it himself.” http://bit.ly/2QlUw1u
The politics of the masses is one of envy. Nursing grievances in grim wastelands, where jobs are scarce and progress has long passed him by, the average mob-man “hates the plutocrats of the cities, not only because they best him in the struggle for money, but also because they spend their gains in debaucheries that are beyond him.” Moreover, “What is worth knowing, he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to know; what he knows is not true. The cardinal articles of his credo are the inventions of mountebanks; his heroes are mainly scoundrels.”
Such voters are “constantly bamboozled and exploited by small minorities of their own number, by determined and ambitious individuals, and even by exterior groups,” … “The business of victimizing them is a lucrative profession … a delicate and lofty art.”
Ambitious and adept demagogues “can hear the murmur of mob dissent even before they are conscious of it themselves.” Skillful at gaining popularity such politicians know how to arouse the fears of the mob and awaken its hatreds. “He holds them by his shrewd understanding of their immemorial sentimentalities; around him clusters all the romance that used to hang about a king.”
— Marion Elizabeth Rodgers (Nov. 7, 2016) http://bit.ly/2qhgSFY
As Rodgers also said, does this sound like any person you know?
***
The only thing scarier than the “bouffanted buffoon” is the ~63 million gullible rubes that voted for him, about whom — “believe me” — this crass charlatan cares not one iota! — It’s only ever been about him, him, him! Then, I am reminded of an old “Snake” comic strip by cartoonist Allan Salisbury (“Sols”): Q: Oh, great spirit, what is the lesson for today? A: Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups! http://bit.ly/2qO4TQS
“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their hearts desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” — H.L. Mencken (1920). — Mencken’s prophecy has finally come to pass — Rex Tillerson (2017).
“There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that ‘my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge’.” — Isaac Asimov, “A Cult of Ignorance” (1980) http://bit.ly/2C5FE4A
“I did not mean that Conservatives are generally stupid; I meant, that stupid persons are generally Conservative. I believe that to be so obvious and undeniable a fact that I hardly think any honorable Gentleman will question it.” — John Stuart Mill (1806–1873) English philosopher and economist; Debate in Parliament with John Pakington (31 May 1866) https://wist.info/mill-john-stuart/2818/ — Regrettably, there’s no fix for congenital “stupid” — it’s forever!
“I love the poorly educated!” — Donald Trump (2016)
***
“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.” — Adolph Hitler. — Trump’s lies all too readily become reality for gullible people who are neither critical thinkers nor learnt anything from history.
“I’m a very stable genius” — Donald J. Trump http://bit.ly/2zE5efV (1:00) — LOL
“If you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card, you need ID. You go out and you want to buy anything, you need ID and you need your picture.” — President Trump — LOL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgSm0jT4U88
“Donald Trump was the dumbest … student I ever had.” — Prof. William T. Kelley, University of Pennsylvania https://trib.in/2qt04Mz
***
“The demagogue is one who preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots. The demaslave is one who listens to what these idiots have to say and then pretends that he believes it himself.” — H.L. Mencken, “Notes on Democracy” (1926).
George F. Will best described Trump in 2012 — “bloviating ignoramus” http://bit.ly/2Gc2pRa (1:08)
“The mystery is how anyone finds him acceptable.” — Kathleen Parker (2016).
“Donald Trump is epically unprepared to be president. He has no realistic policies, … no capacity to learn. His vast narcissism makes him a closed fortress. He doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and he’s uninterested in finding out.” — David Brooks (2016). https://nyti.ms/2yRin4V
“Trump is the demagogue that America’s founders feared” — Michael Gerson (2016)
“[Trump is a] complete idiot … graceless and divisive.” — Karl Rove (2016)
“[Trump is] dangerously unhinged.” — Glenn Beck (2016)
“[Trump is] loathsome,” “a con man” and “a charlatan and a demagogue” who is “soiling the robe of conservatism.” — Bill Kristol (2016)
“Donald Trump is a national disgrace.” — Colin Powell (2016)
“Never underestimate Trump’s ignorance … Trump is crude, mean and prejudiced — but most notably he is the least-informed candidate to run for the presidency in modern times.” — Jennifer Rubin (2016)
“Trump is Nixon with all of the megalomaniacal willingness to abuse power and none of the crafty realpolitik.” — Ruth Marcus (2016)
“[Trump] lives in a cocoon of solipsism where the world outside himself has value — indeed exists — only insofar as it sustains and inflates him.” — The late Faux News contributor, Charles Krauthammer (4 August 2016)
“[T]he problem isn’t that he [Trump] does not know this or that, or that he does not know that he does not know this or that. Rather, the dangerous thing is that he does not know what it is to know something.” — George F. Will (2017) http://wapo.st/2EHVByg
“This sad, embarrassing wreck of a man” — George F. Will (July 2018) https://wapo.st/2uJURS1 YouTube http://bit.ly/2LnNVEu (13:46)
“The problem in Washington is not a conspiracy against the President; it’s the President himself.” — David Remnick, editor, “The New Yorker” magazine (2017).
***
Watch Trump perform unscripted — he’s ignorant, incoherent, unhinged — literally, a jabbering idiot! http://bit.ly/2Gdlbrl (1:32). Even the audience of “deplorables” appears bewildered …
The Trumpian oaf on full display: “I Have Very Good Brain.” — LOL http://bit.ly/2Qn3Ul6 (0:59)
Highlights from Trump’s Phoenix “brownshirt” rally, 22 August 2017 — a most mendacious, divisive display by Trump — put on for his adoring “poorly educated” rubes — that you are ever likely to witness — copied straight out of Hitler’s Nuremberg rally handbook. Demonstrably, Trump is a dangerous psychopath … http://bit.ly/2N6hf0n (13:29)
Trump’s Great Falls, Montana rally (5 July 2018), in three minutes: http://bit.ly/2lUQkbv (2:52). Another psychopathic display …
“Why the poorest county in West Virginia has faith in Donald Trump”: http://bit.ly/2IWrZLC (10:30). The shame of it is, these “left behind” people will get absolutely nothing from the world’s greatest con man, Donald Trump.
Trump’s KKK (Keystone Kops Kakistocracy) appears now to be approaching terminal velocity — hopefully, soon to crash back to Earth, where Dr Mueller is waiting to perform proctological examinations on all those involved. Meanwhile, we should all be very afraid of this crass, ignorant charlatan in the White House.
I look forward to the day when — as in the north of England — the word “trump” will again be remembered only as a word for “fart” — like Donald Trump, loud, full of wind, and very unpleasant. http://bit.ly/2yYBAyC OED: “Half asleep and looking up at him, I yawned a long, deep yawn and just as I closed my mouth and opened my eyes, he relieved himself, not by burping or trumping however, but by throwing up into my face!” Does that not say it all about Trump? http://bit.ly/2FeLkLm
Regardless, those who still endorse this “bloviating ignoramus” and his keystone kops kakistocracy (KKK) should proudly have ‘MAGA’ tattooed across their foreheads so that the remainder of the populace can know and forever shun them …
***
“Trump: What’s the Deal?” (1991) A documentary film by Libby Handros exploring the unscrupulous personal and professional activities of Donald Trump. The trailer http://bit.ly/2m50pms (1:56). The full documentary (well worth the small pay-to-view fee) http://bit.ly/2J5gku3 (1:22:45).
“It is deeply unfair to say that Trump lies all the time. I would never have suggested that he lies while he’s asleep.” — Mark Singer, author, “Trump Solo” (2005); “Trump and Me” (2016). http://bit.ly/2NJgoWq
Mark Singer talks about time with Trump — “Tulsa World” Review, 10 July 2016 http://bit.ly/2E3atYP “He [Trump] doesn’t want to be President — he just wants people to vote for him …” Although the content is now dated, as events turned out, it’s still well worth a read.
An insightful — and scathingly critical — commentary on, then Republican presidential nominee, Trump by author David Cay Johnston (August 2016): YouTube http://bit.ly/2xeosaX (58:00). An update (29 Jan 2018): http://bit.ly/2kzVCIH (1:07:00).
Oxford Union, 4 Nov 2016: “The Truth About Trump”: http://bit.ly/2NsJsyN (56:28). Another insightful analysis of the then presidential nominee from the real author of Trump’s book, “The Art of the Deal”, Tony Schwartz, who, while writing the book, spent six months with Trump on a daily basis, and knows Trump well!
“TrumpNation” biography author Tim O’Brien: Who exactly is Donald Trump? And is he really the hugely successful businessman he claims to be? One man — Tim O’Brien — made it his mission to find out when he wrote this biography. http://bit.ly/2KVZ8fe (6:42); http://bit.ly/2u3G84R (5:11).
Ex-Fox News contributor Col. Ralph Peters comments critically on Trump and Fox News: http://bit.ly/2ySCEqO (9:58).
Hoover Institution, 29 March 2018: George F. Will on Donald Trump, and other things: http://bit.ly/2KVtLS2 (48:42).
***
Never fear Trumpians, we all know the normal rules don’t apply to Trump — or so he thinks! And he’s so “very smart” — his firing of James Comey was a masterstroke — LOL
If Trump has committed no crime, he has nothing to fear; why then does he continually act like he does have something to fear?
We eagerly await Dr Mueller’s findings as to what Trump’s mortgagee, Vlad, is holding over the head of Trump that he has been so cravenly uninterested in Vlad’s election interference, or in calling out his banker/controller for virtually anything, or applying the further sanctions on Russia approved so overwhelming by the US Congress.
Notwithstanding the crass, opportunistic charlatan that Trump so demonstrably is, he is not totally clueless; he knows — as doubtless would any person conversant with Trump’s shenanigans, as Michael Cohen / Paul Manafort, may be — that the only way he is going to avoid Mueller ultimately hanging, drawing and quartering him, is for him to stop the Mueller “witch hunt,” as, if he can’t stop that investigation, then he may get to spend some time in prison — for, what other reason can there be for Trump becoming so incoherently agitated every time Mueller’s name is mentioned?
Trump’s lawyers have given up trying to give him dietary advice in preparation for his forthcoming proctological examination by Dr Mueller. Fortunately for Mueller, the Trumpian “genius” takes advice from no one but himself. Still, I suspect that Trump will never voluntarily submit himself to be examined by Dr Mueller and a constitutional crisis may ensue.
Unlike Trump’s kakistocracy, Mueller’s investigative team does not leak. We will hear nothing from Mueller about any of Trump’s nefarious activities until Mueller has first rounded up and examined all the supporting petty gangsters.
Dr Mueller’s evisceration of this incoherent, jabbering idiot may require some time; so, as to not interfere with Trump’s week-day viewing of “Faux Noise,” this procedure could be performed on a weekend in place of executive golfing — and be broadcast live on TV? http://bit.ly/2IfZMzL
In Korea, “Park [Geun-hye] was removed from office last year [2017] and in April was sentenced to 24 years in prison.” https://wapo.st/2NSllcX If Korea can do it, surely, there’s hope that Trump too will end up in a like place …
Still, the thought of George F. Will’s “oleaginous” Rev. Pence ascending to the presidency fills me with equal, if not greater, dread. https://wapo.st/2jOYtgK YouTube http://bit.ly/2tBjm46
Maybe, Trump (with Pence) could divert AF1 to Moscow and ask his murderous mate Vlad for political asylum — somewhere in Siberian Russia — LOL
Hopefully, if not impeached, Trump will eventually be indicted for various obstruction / financial / mercantile / taxation crimes and the courts penalize him to the extent that much of his and his family’s ill-gotten assets are forfeited, and he may get to wear one of those ill-fitting orange jump suits for a goodly while. The only question then is, will Trump be entitled to Secret Service protection while he’s in prison? http://bit.ly/2Owv6NT
Whatever, Mueller’s (and the many others’) investigations into the activities of Trump & Co. will undoubtedly ultimately make this crass, arrogant charlatan (and his family / associates) sorely regret he ever threw his “bouffanted hairpiece” into the political ring.
Breaking News: Man Wins “Why Trump Shouldn’t Go to Prison” Essay Contest. The man, Brett Kavanaugh, received his award for the winning essay at a ceremony at the White House on Monday night. — Satire from The Borowitz Report, 10 July 2018. http://bit.ly/2NKECgq
“What Most Disqualifies Brett Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court? The nominee is an instrument of Trumpism, an insurance policy that the con man is writing for himself.” http://bit.ly/2yepTEr
***
Russia …
Breaking News: Dutch authorities catch Putin’s GRU hackers in the act! (https://wapo.st/2E2qdva). This short WaPo article, with additional “Bellingcat” citations, is well worth a read. There are pictures for Drumpf …
“Trump has a weak man’s banal fascination with strong men whose disdain for him is evidently unimaginable to him.” — George F. Will. https://wapo.st/2uJURS1
Trump told Lester Holt that he fired Comey because Comey refused to end the “Russia thing,” and — thanks to Russian reporting — later, in the Oval Office, tell the Russians, Ambassador Kislyak and Foreign Minister Lavrov, that he fired Comey to “ease the pressure on him over the Russia investigation” — a clear indication that Trump’s intention was the obstruction of that investigation. As to the facts of this matter, Trump indicts himself; Mueller needs little help from anyone else.
Trump’s naïveté/duplicity regarding Putin/Russia is striking — he likes strong men, and believes that Putin likes him, so he thinks it’s safe to share tidbits of classified info with the Russians, and that indicates just how dangerous Trump is. He is such a gross narcissist he simply can’t help himself, he cannot but boast about, and seek acclaim for, his every cretinous thought/action — even from the grinning Russians visiting the Oval Office. Putin is no friend to the US, nor to him, and Trump is an idiot to think that such will ever be otherwise.
The effort that Putin put in to get his “Manchurian Candidate” elected has not been productive; Russia remains beyond the pale of civilised nations; US sanctions remain in place and, if the US Congress had its way, would — and should — be increased. Notwithstanding that Putin must have something on his “Man in the White House,” Putin’s fingers appear not yet to have been able to manipulate his “sock-puppet” to Russia’s benefit. Still, the fact that Trump himself is proceeding apace in undermining the foundations of Western alliances / institutions is, doubtless, a long-term win for Putin. The only remaining question is, what’s the murderous Putin got on Trump that makes him so beholden? http://bit.ly/2OkAkfp
Notwithstanding its nuclear arsenal, Russia’s is a tin-pot economy based mainly on energy and some armaments and vodka exports. If Russia is not interested in integrating with the civilised nations of the world then those civilised nations should discreetly isolate/sanction Russia and let it stew slowly in Tsar Vladimir’s juice; that should soon enough bring Russia to economic collapse. The Soviet Union eventually collapsed; doubtless Putin’s Russia will likewise eventually collapse …
***
James Comey …
Trump has said that he would not have asked Comey to do him any favors, because he hardly knew the man. Yet he set up a private dinner with Comey. At another time, Trump asked all others, including the VP and A-G, to leave the room, so he could talk privately with the FBI director, a person that he claimed he hardly knew. Why?
Trump claims that Comey’s notes on those two private meetings, that Comey memorialized directly thereafter, are all lies, and accuses Comey of “leaking” — when the contents of those memos are later published — which could suggest that the contents of the memos are indeed true! What’s the problem, anyway, with Comey sharing his personal notes about these two meetings that so concerned him, the details of which Trump claims are untrue?
And now, the fuller Comey story has arrived via his book “A Higher Loyalty”. Watch the ultimate master of disingenuous discombobulation, the blathering Kellyanne Conway, not so masterly, and incoherently and mendaciously, fail to demolish same. https://abcn.ws/2jjtl8y
***
Michael Cohen, “Stormy Daniels” et al …
Now that the FBI has the “records” of Michael Cohen, who knows what will eventually be found on Cohen — and on Trump? Cohen has now stated that he will “plead the fifth” at any continuation of — the now stayed — proceedings in the “Stormy Daniels” matter — which invites the question, what had he otherwise intended to do?
“The mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” — Donald J. Trump http://bit.ly/2jRKVki
Notwithstanding that Trump has previously expressed a 100% willingness to “talk to Mueller,” doubtless, the reality is, he’s never had any intention of voluntarily doing so — for if he does do so, “the oaf is toast” — and the oaf knows it! http://bit.ly/2K0Cjrc
The material question is, will Trump too “plead the fifth” when he is ultimately forced to face Mueller’s questioning, he (now) knowing what Mueller will have gleaned from Cohen’s records?
It appears that, as a lawyer/fixer, Michael Cohen has only one client, Trump; the other couple of supposed clients appear to be acquaintances of Trump’s who’ve likely also needed some “fixing” done for them. What did Michael Cohen “fix” for Sean Hannity? Sounds like a job for the cadaver dogs — sniff, sniff. Then, as the old saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together.”
Was it really on behalf of Elliott Broidy that Michael Cohen arranged an agreement to pay $1.6 million, in eight quarterly installments, to Shera Bechard, Playboy’s Miss November 2010, she, supposedly, Broidy had impregnated and then had the pregnancy terminated? https://nym.ag/2jNhQa1—And now, having paid only two installments, Broidy is ceasing those payments, apparently: https://nym.ag/2u22PWs—Just who is Elliott Broidy, and how does he connect with Trump? https://wapo.st/2khce7R and https://wapo.st/2rYBowC
Trump’s old attorney, Jay Goldberg, in an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett, has attempted to muddy the water by appearing to suggest that the FBI will suborn Michael Cohen to save himself by falsely “making stuff up” on Trump. https://cnn.it/2rdj16w and http://bit.ly/2HKCRfw—Well, of course, Cohen will “make stuff up” — he’s already “made up” all those records the FBI are currently cataloging!
The FBI likely won’t need any testimony from Cohen as the facts of his records will likely speak for themselves — always assuming that there are therein “goods on” Trump to be found, and from observing Trump’s agitation regarding this matter, one can only hope.
Then, “Why do people keep showering cash on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen?” — Paul Waldman, Opinion, WaPo, 9 May 2018 — LOL https://wapo.st/2wvzxDT
“Trump wagered last month that Cohen won’t flip.” — Such a statement appears to imply that Cohen may have something to flip about, and if Cohen does flip, Trump knows that he will be in trouble. https://wapo.st/2JVCkN9
And now Trump has yet another new lawyer/shill, Rudolph Giuliani — LOL
“[In Utopia] they have no lawyers among them, for they consider them as a sort of people whose profession it is to disguise matters, …” — Sir Thomas More (1478–1535), “Utopia” (1516) http://bit.ly/2JKwXMd
ABC News, July 2, 2018: “Michael Cohen says family and country, not President Trump, is his ‘first loyalty’” — Yes please, Michael: https://abcn.ws/2NjjhdJ
CNN, July 5: Michael Cohen tells friends he doesn’t think Trump would pardon him: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msS7H6IQQrw (7:20)
WSJ, Aug 7: “Michael Cohen Under Investigation for Tax Fraud” …
***
Gary Cohn on Trump …
“It’s worse than you can imagine. An idiot surrounded by clowns. Trump won’t read anything — not 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 he’s 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 I’m the only person there with a clue what he’s 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, White House chief economic advisor, 2017–18 (via Michael Wolff’s book).
***
Trump is a congenital liar
Billy Bush recalls Trump’s exaggeration of “The Apprentice” ratings: ‘Well, he’s been saying №1 forever, right. Finally, I’d had enough. I said, “Wait, Donald. Hold it. Wait a minute. You haven’t been №1 for five years, four years — whatever it is. Not in any category, not in any demo.” He goes, “Well, did you see last Thursday? Last Thursday, 18–49 … last five minutes.” I said, “No. I don’t know that stat.” So, he was like, “I told you.” And then later, when the cameras were off … he says, “Billy, look, look, you just tell them and they believe it. That’s it, you just tell them and they believe it. They just do.”’ — WaPo https://wapo.st/2smSZh2 YouTube http://bit.ly/2lD6dTP (8:39).
“Faux Noise” has been providing similar Kool-Aid to its gullible viewers for years: “That’s it, you just tell them and they believe it.”
In November 2016, Lesley Stahl, 13-time Emmy award-winning “60 Minutes” correspondent, interviewed then president-elect Trump. After Trump began to unload on the news media, she asked him whether he planned to stop attacking the press — a hallmark of his campaign — now that he had been elected. She said, “you know, that is getting tired, why are you doing this? You’re doing it over and over and it’s boring and it’s time to end that …” He said, “you know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all, so when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.” https://wapo.st/2s3sPQd YouTube http://bit.ly/2GOK796
In May 2018, ‘Trump told one ally … that he wanted “to brand” the [longtime U.S. government] informant [Stefan Halper] a “spy,” believing the more nefarious term would resonate more in the media and with the [gullible] public.’ http://bit.ly/2seTeuC
“If you are going to tell a lie, tell a big one and if you tell it often enough, people will begin to believe it.” — Adolph Hitler, “Mein Kampf”
***
Trump lied about his wealth to get onto the Forbes 400
“In the early 1980s, Trump had zero equity in his father’s company. According to Fred’s will (portions of which appeared in a lawsuit), the father retained legal ownership of his residential empire until his death in 1999, at which point he left it to be divided between his four surviving children and some of his grandchildren. That explains why, after Trump went bankrupt in the early 1990s, he borrowed $30 million from his siblings, secured by an estimated $35 million share of his future inheritance, according to three sources in Tim O’Brien’s 2005 biography, “TrumpNation.” He could have used his own assets as collateral if he’d had any worth that amount, but he didn’t. …” — Jonathon Greenberg. https://wapo.st/2qPa5Ef
***
Trump & Co’s Taxation Returns …
The tax returns of any person can be accessed by the Congress via 26 USC §6103(f)(1) and (4)(A) …
(f) Disclosure to Committees of Congress
(1) Committee on Ways and Means, Committee on Finance, and Joint Committee on Taxation
Upon written request from the chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of Representatives, the chairman of the Committee on Finance of the Senate, or the chairman of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the Secretary shall furnish such committee with any return or return information specified in such request, …
(4) Agents of committees and submission of information to Senate or House of Representatives
(A) Committees described in paragraph (1)
Any committee described in paragraph (1) or the Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation shall have the authority, acting directly, or by or through such examiners or agents as the chairman of such committee or such chief of staff may designate or appoint, to inspect returns and return information at such time and in such manner as may be determined by such chairman or chief of staff. …
The incoming House Joint Committee on Taxation will, doubtless, promptly commission Dr Robert Swan Mueller III to do a proctological examination of the entrails of the taxation returns of Trump & Co.
***
How Trump avoided paying taxes on nearly $1 billion
“[Trump] deducted somebody else’s losses,” said John L. Buckley, who served as the chief of staff for Congress’s Joint Committee on Taxation in 1993 and 1994. Since the [stiffed] bondholders were likely declaring losses for tax purposes, Trump shouldn’t be able to as well. “He is double dipping big time,” Buckley told the Times: https://cnnmon.ie/2HJuLUz
Surely, the IRS can’t be too happy about multiple taxpayers claiming the same ~$1 billion-loss deduction? And, did Trump pay tax on the benefit he received when the bondholders wrote off his massive debt? Who knows?
Author David Cay Johnston has opined that Trump will never voluntarily produce his tax returns because they will doubtless show that Trump’s wealth is nowhere as great as he claims and that he has paid little or no tax for many years … http://bit.ly/2xeosaX
I look forward to the new Democratic House-ordered proctological examination of all things Trumpian, including the entrails of Trump’s taxation returns.
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Donald Trump, scam artist
“The facts on the table suggest he [Trump] is not a great philanthropist — he is a scam artist.” https://wapo.st/2tAFUlE—So, what’s new?
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“New York Times” Exposed Trump’s Tax Fraud
“The many scams executed by Donald and his family have now been exposed. It’s time for Congress, the IRS, and New York state to step up. …” — David Cay Johnston https://thebea.st/2CRcFBl
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Trump, Children Accused of Fraud in New Lawsuit: NYT
A lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court Monday accuses President Trump of endorsing sham companies in exchange for hefty, undisclosed fees, according to a report from The New York Times. Ivanka, Eric, and Don Jr. are also named as defendants. The lawsuit, which has been underwritten by a company whose chairman has donated to Democratic candidates, claims that Trump and his children were secretly paid to promote three businesses — telecommunications marketing company ACN, vitamin-marketing company Trump Network, and real-estate advice company Trump Institute — that were actually “get-rich-quick schemes,” the newspaper reports. “This case connects the dots at the Trump Organization and involves systematic fraud that spanned more than a decade, involved multiple Trump businesses and caused tremendous harm to thousands of hardworking Americans,” two lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement cited by the Times. https://thebea.st/2Q3b9yQ
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Trumps Repeatedly Lied to Real-Estate Investors to Make Money
October 17, 2018: “Donald Trump claims he only licensed his name for real estate projects developed by others. But an investigation of a dozen Trump deals shows deep family involvement in projects that often involved deceptive practices. …” ProPublica http://bit.ly/2QZWHYx So, what’s new?
October 19, 2018: Yet another view on the same subject in the “New Yorker” — What is the Trump Organization? What is it good at? Where do its profits come from? It is becoming increasingly clear that much of the company’s business may have come from fraud. Daniel Braun, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney who specialized in fraud cases, told the reporters on the story, “You’re describing the basic elements of a long-running and significant scheme to defraud investors. So is that the sort of thing that the F.B.I. and the Justice Department pay attention to? It is. It has a number of kinds of ingredients that you would typically see in an investigation or even prosecution of fraud.” http://bit.ly/2ymb7LS
October 4, 2018: How about an investment of your retirement savings in a room unit in one of Trump’s hotels? — LOL https://wapo.st/2RsdyV6
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Trump paid legal settlements with his charity’s money
For nearly ten years, the Donald Trump Foundation has been funded almost exclusively by people who aren’t named Donald Trump. Since 2007, the GOP nominee has used his personal charity as a scheme for rebranding other people’s generosity as his own. […] Trump used his charity to signal his concern for the greater good — and then exploited other people’s faith in that concern to advance his own material interests. Will he use his presidency for a similar purpose? You can bet on it. https://nym.ag/2KrRMjl
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Trump, finally asked about his foundation scandal, descends into complete incoherence
Trump was asked to “explain to people why you may have used some charitable donations for personal uses.” “The foundation is really rare. It gives money to vets. It’s really been doing a good job,” Trump replied. He added that “we put that to sleep just by putting out the last report.” That was his entire response. It’s unclear what “report” Trump is referencing and how it put the controversy “to sleep.” But Trump has not responded substantively to the controversy, which may have involved multiple violations of tax laws. http://bit.ly/2tL3cEy
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Donald Trump’s foundation of fakery
“The latest revelations center on the foundation receiving money from companies that owed money to Mr. Trump or one of his businesses but that were instructed instead to make donations to the foundation. Mr. [David] Fahrenthold detailed cases involving $2.3 million that raise questions about whether the money should have been taxed as income and whether that income was properly reported.” So, the suggestion is that some, if not or all, of the major “donations” to Trump’s Foundation were not donations at all but deflections thereto of income owed to Trump. https://wapo.st/2IzaHnj
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Legal troubles for Trump’s Foundation
“Barring an unexpected change, the Donald J. Trump Foundation will be defending itself in a New York courtroom shortly before this fall’s midterm elections. … it is only [Allen] Weisselberg who can recount the essence of the Trump Organization from the beginning of Donald Trump’s involvement: in the nineteen-seventies, when the company first discriminated against African-Americans; in the eighties, when Trump appears to have been in business with the New York mafia; in the nineties, when Trump’s casino was in violation of anti-money-laundering laws; and through the aughts, as Trump developed ties to many Russian and former-Soviet oligarchs and political figures. … His deposition in the case is fascinating reading. Weisselberg makes it quite clear just how sloppy an operation the foundation was, with no meetings and no careful accounting. In a compelling exchange, Weisselberg describes how he flew to Iowa with a checkbook to give money to political allies of Trump, then a Presidential candidate, and he makes it clear that he did this because his boss told him to.” — More at “The New Yorker” http://bit.ly/2tOa9Vx
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Report: New York Launches Tax Inquiry into Trump Foundation
July 18, 2018: Tax authorities in New York state are investigating the Donald J. Trump Foundation for possible violations of state tax law, The New York Times reports. Two state officials familiar with the situation said the inquiry, already underway by the New York state Department of Taxation and Finance, could lead to a criminal referral if any evidence of illegal activity is uncovered. It could also reportedly lead to the release of Trump’s tax returns. No further details were available on what activities in particular investigators are focusing on, but New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood last month accused the foundation of violating campaign-finance laws and illegally coordinating with Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Read it at The New York Times — And about time too. https://thebea.st/2OzuyWO
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How Trump Could Be Forced to Liquidate Part of His Family Fortune
A Times investigation suggests that the President and his siblings could owe hundreds of millions of dollars in state taxes and penalties. http://bit.ly/2zWx8C6
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Trump borrowed to build his empire. Then he began spending hundreds of millions in cash
“In the nine years before he ran for president, Donald Trump’s company spent more than $400 million in cash on new properties — including 14 transactions paid for in full, without borrowing from banks — during a buying binge that defied real estate industry practices and Trump’s own history as the self-described ‘King of Debt.’ …” — WaPo https://wapo.st/2jLKUi9 and https://wapo.st/2pLLY8q
Hopefully, Trump’s upcoming proctological examination by Dr Mueller will provide the answer to from whence erupted Trump’s sudden “rash of (laundered Russian?) cash.”
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Trump v. Bezos/Amazon/WaPo …
Trump dislikes Jeff Bezos not because of WaPo’s “fake news” but more likely because in August 2007 when the share prices of Amazon and eBay+PayPal were each ~$40, Trump chose to invest in eBay+PayPal instead of Amazon — LOL!
Then, as Trump is so “very smart” and “knows all the best people,” I’m surprised that he hasn’t yet offered that other mercantile idiot, John Joseph Donahoe II, a cabinet post in his kakistocracy.
To help smooth Trump’s way to impeachment/imprisonment, Jeff Bezos should do what Trump himself has in the past done; as a public service: take out some full page ads offering rewards for anyone supplying information that contributes to the impeachment / indictment / prosecution / conviction / imprisonment of Trump — for, if it’s good enough for Citizen Trump to have, in the past, attacked people via such means, why should it not be appropriate for Bezos to reply to Trump’s crass attacks on him in the same way? I’d happily contribute to a GoFundMe appeal for such a worthy cause.
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Evgeny Freidman — Evgeny who?
The New York Times is reporting that Michael Cohen’s business partner, Evgeny Freidman (aka the Taxi King), has reached a plea deal with prosecutors and will cooperate with the government on state and local cases.
“Do you understand the nature of the benefit your attorneys have accomplished on your behalf?” Judge Patrick Lynch asked Freidman on Tuesday, a question that should frighten both Cohen and President Trump’s legal team. https://wapo.st/2IG2iDC
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The “short-fingered vulgarian”
In 1988, “Spy” magazine described Donald Trump as “a short-fingered vulgarian.” The founding editors of the magazine, Graydon Carter and Kurt Andersen, recognized Trump for what he was: the id of New York City, writ large — a bombastic, self-aggrandizing, un-self-aware bully, with a curious relationship to the truth about his supposed wealth and business acumen. http://bit.ly/2HFiEMp
“Decades Later, ‘Spy’ Magazine Founders Continue To Torment Trump” https://n.pr/2JK3It0
Either story is well worth a read. Even back then, Drumpf’s character — or lack thereof — was well understood and documented …
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“Donald Trump: The Ugly American”
“… Not surprisingly, it being the 80s, Trump was a recurring fixture in the pages of “Spy”. We ridiculed not just his fingers but also his business judgment, his jaw-dropping pronouncements, his inflated wealth, his hair, and his marital situations. There was a threatened lawsuit, resulting in a lot of back-and-forth legal letters between him and me. And we printed all of those. At one point we sent checks for $1.11 out to 58 of the “well-known” and “well-heeled” to see who would take the time to endorse and deposit the checks from a firm we called the National Refund Clearinghouse. The ones who deposited the $1.11 checks were sent 64-cent checks, and the ones who deposited those were sent checks for 13 cents. This being in the days before electronic deposits and such, the exercise took the better part of a year. At the end, only two 13-cent checks were signed — and we couldn’t believe our good fortune. One was signed by arms trader Adnan Khashoggi. The other was deposited by Donald Trump.” — Graydon Carter, “Vanity Fair”. http://bit.ly/2u2IeCi
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Trump and “Faux Noise”
Fox News host Neil Cavuto called out Trump for his own “fake news” on 3 May [2018] after Trump spokesperson, Rudolph W. Giuliani, said Trump reimbursed his former attorney, Michael Cohen, for a $130,000 payment to adult-film star Stormy Daniels. http://bit.ly/2Id6XNa
When Rupert Murdock’s, usually sycophantic, “Faux Noise” starts to criticize him, Trump should realise that a tsunami is in the making; then, in reality, I doubt that IQ45’s that smart.
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Hitler/Mussolini …
“How Hitler Won Over the German People”
“I overcame chaos in Germany, restored order, enormously raised production in all fields of our national economy…I succeeded in completely resettling in useful production those 7 million unemployed who so touched our hearts…I have not only politically united the German nation but also rearmed it militarily, and I have further tried to liquidate that Treaty sheet by sheet whose 448 Articles contain the vilest rape that nations and human beings have ever been expected to submit to. I have restored to the Reich the provinces grabbed from us in 1919; I have led millions of deeply unhappy Germans, who have been snatched away from us, back into the Fatherland; I have restored the thousand-year-old historical unity of German living space; and I have attempted to accomplish all that without shedding blood and without inflicting the sufferings of war on my people or any other. I have accomplished all this, as one who 21 years ago was still an unknown worker and soldier of my people, by my own efforts…” — Adolf Hitler, Reichstag speech, 28 April 1939. http://bit.ly/2I9H0Ow
Does any of that rhetoric sound familiar? This article — particularly “Part 5: Fatal Narcissism,” should be required reading for any Trump supporters capable of rational thought. Indeed, except for Trump’s inheriting of great wealth, without which he would likely now be living under a bridge somewhere, the parallels between the rise of Hitler and Trump are frightening …
Trump apparently reads little, but he must have, at some, time watched video of Benito Mussolini, as his blustering, arrogant style mimics that of Mussolini’s during his devastating reign; but, apparently, Trump missed the end bit where Mussolini ends up hanging by his ankles …
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Abortion (Roe v. Wade) …
To paraphrase Art Buchwald (1982): For gun-toting, bible-thumping conservatives, the “right to life” begins at conception and ends at birth. http://bit.ly/2romq55
“I wouldn’t under any circumstances condone an abortion in my private life, but that has nothing to do with whether or not those who have different views are entitled to have them and are entitled to be protected in their exercise of them.” — William J. Brennan Jr, Associate Justice of the SCOTUS, 1956–90. (https://wapo.st/2xLTZhd) Obviously, Brennan interpreted the Constitution as he understood it to be, not how his personal beliefs wanted it to be. One can only hope that this same secular reasoning will continue to prevail.
I’m not pro-abortion, I’m pro-choice. No woman is forced to have an abortion, and no woman chooses to have an abortion lightly; she may so choose for medical reasons or because she is unable or unwilling, due to circumstances, to bear the great responsibility of raising a child, and that choice, rightly, should be between the individual woman and her conscience, and no one else!
Those who think that they ought to have a say in what is undoubtedly the most intimate, personal and difficult decision that any woman can ever make, hypocritically exhibit the antithesis of the very “freedom of religion” that they demand for themselves.
Regrettably, many “evangelicals” and the like think their “freedom of religion” gives them the right to impose their religious beliefs onto everybody else; they are oblivious to the fact that their constitutionally protected “freedom of religion” equally means “freedom FROM religion” for those of us that choose not to be governed by such primitive mythoi …
I have no problem with “freedom of religion” for those people incapable of independent moral reasoning — as long as I can have “freedom FROM religion” — and, in particular, freedom from those extreme ideologues who claim the right to impose their particular religious beliefs on everyone else, particularly those who claim to care so much about the “unborn child” — but are utterly unconcerned about that child after it’s born.
“I do not believe that just because you’re opposed to abortion, that that makes you pro-life. In fact, I think in many cases, your morality is deeply lacking if all you want is a child born but not a child fed, not a child educated, not a child housed. And why would I think that you don’t? Because you don’t want any tax money to go there. That’s not pro-life. That’s pro-birth. We need a much broader conversation on what the morality of pro-life is.” — Sister Joan Chittister, Benedictine nun. http://bit.ly/2n74IhK
Gallup finds 64% of Americans want Roe v. Wade to stand; only 28% want it overturned. (http://bit.ly/2N0keGc); even now-retired Justice Anthony Kennedy supported the Roe decision. Yet Trump has vowed that he will overturn Roe “automatically” by nominating to the Court conservatives who will decide to that effect. http://bit.ly/2C0BARx
Even “Catholic” Ireland has recently passed a referendum that will allow women, cost-free, on-demand, “early-term” abortion — which, in the US, represents 92% of terminations …
CDC Abortion Surveillance — United States, 2010:
65.9% of legal abortions were performed within the first eight weeks of gestation; 91.9% within the first 13 weeks [ie, first trimester]; 6.9% within 14–20 weeks; 1.2% at or after 21 weeks. http://bit.ly/2N6Petg
The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision explained http://bit.ly/2y1HAH5 And, for balance, a view from the conservative side, “William Brennan and the Creation of a Right to Abortion” http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2010/12/1993/
Ultimately, the evangelical rubes don’t care even about Russian election interference; all that matters to them is that they’ve now got their right-wing religious stooge, “Bart O’Kavanaugh,” elevated to the Supreme Court and they will soon be able to command how we all must live our lives under their distorted form of individual “freedom” …
Bart O’Kavanaugh: Even more repugnant than any alleged drunken teenage misconduct by “Bart O’Kavanaugh” are Bart’s mature-age thoughts on unenumerated Constitutional rights — see the story about Bart’s opposition to Roe v. Wade in The Intercept at http://bit.ly/2xoc8Bw. And, in the only abortion-related case that he has previously heard, he dissented to a decision that allowed an undocumented teen to receive a prompt abortion. “What goes around, comes around” — so true Bart
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Contraception …
“It is now quite lawful for a Catholic woman to avoid pregnancy by a resort to mathematics, though she is still forbidden to resort to physics and chemistry.” — H.L. Mencken, notebooks (1956). And it is still the case in many “red” states.
On January 18, 2017, on “CNN Newsroom,” the bible-thumper Rick Santorum ranted about President Obama requiring the “Little Sisters of the Poor to buy abortions”; it turns out he was referring to the ACA “contraception mandate” for women in employer-provided health care plans. So, to Santorum, and his ilk, “contraception” equates to “abortion”, apparently. YouTube: http://bit.ly/2FWyOw9 (2:00).
“One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country. … Many of the Christian faith have said, well, that’s okay, contraception is okay. It’s not okay. It’s a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be. …” — Rick Santorum (2011), YouTube: http://bit.ly/2zV68oz (2:14).
Yeah, you tell ’em Rick — there should be no human sexual activity except for the explicit purpose of procreation!
The Roman Catholic Church considers all forms of contraception, even “coitus interruptus”, to be a sin. Then, if the Catholic Church is ever to regain control over the feeble minds of the bulk of the world’s ignorant peasants, it has to get its hutch of mindless rabbits to breed — “bigly”. The only question then is, which of the major religions can, in the future, produce the greatest number of church/home-schooled ignoramuses, Christianity or Islam?
Bart O’Kavanaugh has only two children so it’s doubtful he’s using the only Catholic-condoned form of birth control — “Vatican Roulette”! As with too many such religious conservatives, hypocritical to the core!
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On “evangelical” conservatives …
“Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is right and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work of men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have whooped them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always skeptical and tolerant, in this field as in all others. His culture is based on “I am not too sure.”―H.L. Mencken
“I’m frankly sick and tired of the political preachers across this country telling me as a citizen that if I want to be a moral person, I must believe in ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C’ and ‘D.’ Just who do they think they are? And from where do they presume to claim the right to dictate their moral beliefs to me?” — Barry Goldwater (1909–1998), American politician, Speech, US Senate (16 Sep 1981) https://wist.info/goldwater-barry/31886/
“Today’s so-called ‘conservatives’ don’t even know what the word means. They think I’ve turned liberal because I believe a woman has a right to an abortion. That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to the pope or some do-gooders or the Religious Right. It’s not a conservative issue at all.” — Barry Goldwater (1909–1998), American politician, Interview, Los Angeles Times (1994) https://wist.info/goldwater-barry/30896/
“When you say ‘radical right’ today, I think of these moneymaking ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others who are trying to take the Republican Party away from the Republican Party and make a religious organization out of it. If that ever happens, kiss politics goodbye.” — Barry Goldwater (1909–1998), American politician, “Barry Goldwater’s Left Turn,” The Washington Post (28 Jul 1994) http://wapo.st/2svB2zY
“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.” — Barry Goldwater (1909–1998), American politician, Discussion with John Dean (Nov 1994) https://wist.info/goldwater-barry/16312/
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High Crimes and Misdemeanors …
http://www.constitution.org/cmt/high_crimes.htm
In short, the charge of high Crimes and Misdemeanors covers allegations of misconduct peculiar to officials, such as perjury of oath, abuse of authority, bribery, intimidation, misuse of assets, failure to supervise, dereliction of duty, unbecoming conduct, and refusal to obey a lawful order …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_crimes_and_misdemeanors
… The Judiciary Committee’s 1974 report “The Historical Origins of Impeachment” stated: “‘High Crimes and Misdemeanors’ has traditionally been considered a ‘term of art’, like such other constitutional phrases as ‘levying war’ and ‘due process.’ The Supreme Court has held that such phrases must be construed, not according to modern usage, but according to what the framers meant when they adopted them. Chief Justice [John] Marshall wrote of another such phrase:
“It is a technical term. It is used in a very old statute of that country whose language is our language, and whose laws form the substratum of our laws. It is scarcely conceivable that the term was not employed by the framers of our constitution in the sense which had been affixed to it by those from whom we borrowed it.”
Since 1386, the English parliament had used the term “high crimes and misdemeanors” to describe one of the grounds to impeach officials of the crown. Officials accused of “high crimes and misdemeanors” were accused of offenses as varied as misappropriating government funds, appointing unfit subordinates, not prosecuting cases, not spending money allocated by Parliament, promoting themselves ahead of more deserving candidates, threatening a grand jury, disobeying an order from Parliament, arresting a man to keep him from running for Parliament, losing a ship by neglecting to moor it, helping “suppress petitions to the King to call a Parliament,” granting warrants without cause, and bribery. Some of these charges were crimes. Others were not. The one common denominator in all these accusations was that the official had somehow abused the power of his office and was unfit to serve.
Benjamin Franklin asserted that the power of impeachment and removal was necessary for those times when the Executive “rendered himself obnoxious,” and the Constitution should provide for the “regular punishment of the Executive when his conduct should deserve it, and for his honorable acquittal when he should be unjustly accused.”
James Madison said, “…impeachment… was indispensable” to defend the community against “the incapacity, negligence or perfidy of the chief Magistrate.” With a single executive, Madison argued, unlike a legislature whose collective nature provided security, “loss of capacity or corruption was more within the compass of probable events, and either of them might be fatal to the Republic.”
The very difficult case of impeaching someone in the House of Representatives and removing that person in the Senate by a vote of two-thirds majority in the Senate was meant to be the check to balance against efforts to easily remove people from office for minor reasons that could easily be determined by the standard of “high crimes and misdemeanors”. It was George Mason who offered up the term “high crimes and misdemeanors” as one of the criteria to remove public officials who abuse their office. Their original intentions can be gleaned by the phrases and words that were proposed before, such as “high misdemeanor”, “maladministration”, or “other crime”. Edmund Randolf said impeachment should be reserved for those who “misbehave”. Cotesworth Pinkney said it should be reserved “… for those who behave amiss, or betray their public trust.”
As can be seen from all these references to “high crimes and misdemeanors”, there is no concrete definition for the term, except to allow people to remove an official from office for subjective reasons entirely. …
Trump would appear to be well and truly cooked; come January, he should only need to be stuck with a fork …
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Impeachment/Indictment of Trump
The Constitution of the United States http://constitutionus.com/
Article I, Section 3, Clause 6: The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. … And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present.
Article I, Section 3, Clause 7: Judgment in Cases of impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States: but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.
Article II, Section 2, Clause 1: … and he [the president] shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.
The idea that the founders intended that a president, while in office, cannot be investigated / indicted for criminality and could anyway pardon himself for any (federal) crime surely has to be a nonsense. Regardless, the U.S. Supreme Court is the arbiter of what the words in the Constitution document mean, and I cannot imagine them deciding that the president is so “above the law,” and I look forward to them so finding when Trump ultimately attempts to test the self-pardon concept.
It’s also been suggested that the president can preemptively pardoned anyone, without the offence for which they are receiving a pardon being specified. If so, a person so non-specifically pardoned could thereafter be effectively “above the law” for any other, then unknown, possibly serious, crime(s) committed prior to such pardon. Certainly, as absurd a suggestion as this appears, if this was found to be so, then the master charlatan and world’s greatest con man, Donald J. Trump, would be “above the law” for all of all his many earlier alleged crimes. Surely, this is an absurd proposition!
Come January 2019, the process for ridding the world of the cretinous Trump appears to be: impeachment / indictment; trial; judgment; imprisonment …
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How could an oaf such as Trump have ever been elected POTUS?
In New York, where Trump is best known, he received only four percent of the vote.
In a true democracy, the preference of the majority is supposed to prevail. In a U.S. presidential election this may not be the case due to one, a distorting of the result by the additional “Electoral College” process, and two, simple “first past the post” voting may also produce a distorted and illogical result. Further, the U.S. Senate with its two senators per state, irrespective of the population size of the state, is supposedly the “states’ house”; and, given that that is effectively so, the Electoral College is an undemocratic anachronism.
Under the Westminster system of government, electors vote for the policies of a party — not for an individual person — and the leader of the party with the majority in the House of Representatives becomes the “Prime Minister”; thereafter, if, at any time, a majority of the elected representatives of the governing party lose confidence in that leader, that is, the leader demonstrates incompetence, insanity, those representatives can change that leader.
In the past decade or so, the elected representatives of the governing party in the Australian parliament have deposed the “prime minister” several times — on both sides of politics: Rudd–Gillard–Rudd and then Abbott–Turnbull–Morrison …
Under the Westminster system, as exists in the UK, Canada and Australia, it’s simply not possible that a clueless oaf like Donald J. Trump could ever become, let alone long remain, the executive head of government.
In a “first past the post” system, a vote for a minor third-party candidate is effectively a wasted vote; votes for other than the two major parties simply do not count. So, the US presidential election is effectively a two-horse race.
In “first past the post” Westminster elections, where there is a substantial third party, a coalition of like-minded parties may form government, as has been the case in the UK and Canada; still, votes for minor “fringe” parties are worthless.
“[The two-party political system is] an old-fashioned, noisy, illogical unnecessary nuisance.” — Marjory Stoneman Douglas
Ultimately, if you want to encourage a diversity of ideas, and allow all votes to have a value, a “preferential” (or “ranked choice”) system of voting is required.
There is no pure “democratic” system; voters rarely get to vote directly on any measure — not even for the US presidency, which popular vote count is subsequently weighted by the US Electoral College system.
With no Electoral College weighting of the popular vote, Trump would have lost as Clinton outpaced Trump by almost 2.9 million votes with 65,844,954 (48.2%) to his 62,979,879 (46.1%); the other 5.7% of the votes cast, having been for minor parties, had no effect on the final result.
In a first-past-the post presidential election, a majority of the total votes cast is not required to win; for example, in the extreme, if you have 98 “progressives” running and they each receive one vote, and you have one “conservative” running and he/she receives two votes. The person with the plurality, the conservative, is elected — with only 2% of the total votes cast! How can that possibly be equitable or, indeed, desirable?
True democracies have “preferential” voting systems (eg, Australia) or “run off” elections (eg, France) for when no one candidate initially receives a majority of the total votes cast.
The French Presidential system provides better equity in that it provides for a second voting cycle if no majority of the votes cast is initially achieved.
There is even greater equity with “preferential” voting; for, as each of the candidates with the then least number of primary votes is, in turn, eliminated, that candidate’s voters’ next preference is applied to the remaining candidates; this cycle is repeated until only one candidate is left standing.
Either of these two systems represent a truer accounting of the will of the electorate. The material point being, minor-party voters’ votes still have a voice. That is true representative democracy, and “preferential” voting can be easily implemented with today’s computerized ballot reading.
The Australian Westminster electoral system is more equitable than the Canadian, UK or US systems as it does have optional “preferential” voting; minor-party voters may have some influence on the final result. And, to force people to take some interest in their governance, Australia also has compulsory voting — even morons, like Trump, are forced, under nominal monetary penalty, to post in or place a ballot paper into the ballot box. And, all elections take place on a Saturday so there is no disincentive for people to so attend and vote.
There has been debate in Australia about the direct election — or, alternatively, the nomination by the parliament — of a nominal, ceremonial “president,” in place of the existing nominal Governor-General, when Australia eventually dumps the British Crown as its nominal head of state. What better argument could one then have against such direct election and/or first-past-the-post voting than that of the election of the Trumpian Oaf.
Washington may be a swamp requiring some draining but the idea that the country’s greatest ever charlatan, the bloviating ignoramus, Donald J. Trump, is the person to drain it, is an absurdity — in the extreme! Indeed, he has already filled the swamp with his own alligators.
Updated: 8 November, 2018 at 16:43