Donald Trump owns a sprawling international empire of scores of business interests, many of them in other countries. Other presidents have placed their assets in a blind trust to remove any conflict of interest. Trump has refused to do so. He says his adult children will manage the business but he can’t be unaware that his decisions as president will affect the success of his empire.
During the campaign, Trump broke tradition by refusing to release his tax returns. Now it appears there is no likelihood that he will seaparate himself from his far-flung business interests.
Turkey is a nation in crisis, scarred by government crackdowns following a failed coup attempt and on a potential collision course with the West. It is also home to a valuable revenue stream for the president-elect’s business empire: Trump Towers Istanbul.
Donald Trump’s company has been paid up to $10 million by the tower’s developers since 2014 to affix the Trump name atop the luxury complex, whose owner, one of Turkey’s biggest oil and media conglomerates, has become an influential megaphone for the country’s increasingly repressive regime.
That, ethics advisers said, forces the Trump complex into an unprecedented nexus: as both a potential channel for dealmakers seeking to curry favor with the Trump White House and a potential target for attacks or security risks overseas.
The president-elect’s Turkey deal marks a harrowing vulnerability that even Trump has deemed “a little conflict of interest”: a private moneymaker that could open him to foreign influence and tilt his decision-making as America’s executive in chief.
But the ethics experts eyeing Trump’s empire are now warning of many others, found among a vast assortment of foreign business interests never before seen in past presidencies. At least 111 Trump companies have done business in 18 countries and territories across South America, Asia and the Middle East, a Washington Post analysis of Trump financial filings shows….
Some companies reflect long-established deals while others were launched as recently as Trump’s campaign, including eight that appear tied to a potential hotel project in Saudi Arabia, the oil-rich Arab kingdom that Trump has said he “would want to protect.”
Trump has refused calls to sell or give his business interests to an independent manager or “blind trust,” a long-held presidential tradition designed to combat conflicts of interest. Now, policy and ethics experts are scrambling to assess the potential dangers of public rule by a leader with a vast web of private business deals.
“There are so many diplomatic, political, even national security risks in having the president own a whole bunch of properties all over the world,” said Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush.
“If we’ve got to talk to a foreign government about their behavior, or negotiate a treaty, or some country asks us to send our troops in to defend someone else, we’ve got to make a decision. And the question becomes: Are we going in out of our national interest or because there’s a Trump casino around?” Painter added.

“Trust Me” Trump will simply deny that he has any conflicts of interest.
I know that sounds absurd, but why abandon absurdity when it’s still working for ya.
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We will be lucky if corruption is the worst Trump does.
He tweeted that Chuck Schumer was “cunning”. I just happened to read a passage in Proust where “cunning” is used by an anti-Semitic character to describe a Jew. Trump knows this is an old slur. I am not Jewish but I thank God for the Jews in this country. We’d be vastly diminished without them. One more reason to thoroughly loathe this loathsome creature.
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Give the guy a break! He is setting up a government faster than Obama and considering a blind trust with his children for his businesses. This cannot be easy! You can count on an army of Soros radicals watching every move he makes and a liberal media itching to take him down at every turn.
I do not remember the reaction to Obama after he won the presidency as radical as this. It is embarrassing and disgusting…and yes, utterly deplorable.
You should be more concerned about matters of education and offering up candidates for the Secretary of Education…or you mighty get a truly objectionable head..worse than the last 2. A bright spot–at least you could have a say in the matter.
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I remember the reaction to Obama: he’s a Muslim, he’s not American, he wasn’t born in America, he’s a Marxist-Leninist, he doesn’t love America, he’s a community activist, he was pals with Saul Alinsky, he was pals with Bill Ayers and the GOP heads promised to obstruct everything from day 1.
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nevermind the viciously racist flow of “personal” emails and facebook postings
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“Soros radicals.” Really?
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“. . . the Secretary of Education…or you mighty get a truly objectionable head..worse than the last 2.”
That, April, is a logical impossibility.
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Right April! Trump called me last night for my input on his education agenda. He was anxious to find out the views of real teachers in the trenches. Ivanka is sending me a bracelet as a token of appreciation.
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This situation is going to cause enormous problems within the Trump administration. Every action will have to be scrutinized for possible conflicts of interest. The fact that he intends to rely on the advice and council of his children only increases the cause for concern since he intends to have them run his empire. There is something that tells me that we may be dealing with a Pence presidency sooner than we think. I cannot believe that there are not people on both sides of the aisle questioning how he can govern without self interest especially since self interest has been evident in even his “charitable” ventures.
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And the Clinton Foundation ?
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You know, howardat58, I don’t disagree w/your questioning, but, in the face of everything, isn’t this rather moot right now?
Also, in answer to the title of this post…he won’t.
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howardat58 says : “And the Clinton Foundation”? Please tell me how that comment is helpful? We are not in campaign mode any more. We are in survival mode.
And Joe: What don’t you understand about false equivalence?
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Catherine: I don’t think you understood my point in response to April who thinks we should not be criticizing Trump. April is the one who made the false equivalence NOT I! Reread her comment, then reread my response and perhaps then you will get it.
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Joe: Got it.
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Touché!
De acuerdo.
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Diane, don’t you know that only “liberal elites” worry about complicated issues like conflict of interest. Mr. Trump is a businessman and we should let him apply the free market principles of business to the operation of government. His business ties to these countries will enable him to strike much better deals for the rest of us who haven’t built a multi-billion dollar real estate empire and avoided paying taxes.
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wgersen: Also, I’m sure our troops will be willing to die to protect Donald Trump’s business interests.
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Lord knows enough of them died to further Cheney’s …
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Jon: And we thought Bush and Cheney were bad . . . . Where are the Bushes anyway?
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Jon Awbrey: Here’s another thing about Trump voters: I think it’s reasonable to think that many of their fathers and grandfathers fought and died in WWII where, if I remember correctly, the fight was against fascism and all of its biased vomit.
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Whose America first?
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The answer depends on one’s wealth, privilege and social connections. The more you have, the closer you are to first. Remember the good old days when you had to hit a single to think you’d reached third base? Now some folks don’t even have to leave the locker room.
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To GregB who answered “whose America First?” with “The answer depends on one’s wealth, privilege and social connections. The more you have, the closer you are to first. Remember the good old days when you had to hit a single to think you’d reached third base? Now some folks don’t even have to leave the locker room.”
The shift is subtle but huge: from “Whose America First?” to “What is America?” Whose/who (and who belongs here, by any name) emphasizes the significance of the tribal principle; whereas What emphasizes the principles of intelligence and excellence which are fundamental to the US Constitution and which have been assumed by most of us for a very long time.
When the later takes precedent, it rejects no “who,” but includes all “who” are involved under the umbrella of “we the people,” and regardless of the tribe-cum-group any of us happen to belong to.
At the core level of principle, the shift is enormous. And it’s that shift that is the fundamental source of our gut-level, unnamed, but ongoing outrage . . . and it’s that shift that brought Trump into office. If you want to understand what is “American” as well as what is “UN-American,” that’s where you start. If it’s about white-only (whatever that means), except where Jews are concerned, for instance, who are also white, we can see how deep the rip is in our National Fabric when we ask “whose America?”–down to the level of fundamental principle.
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GregB: Addendum to “whose America?” post: Under whoinstead of what, the person (the Big Who) who is at the top of the “who-group” in power need not follow the law–it’s made under the principles that govern What is America.
We will soon find that The Big Who is above the law. And if he doesn’t like the present law, he will try to change it. So the next attack will be on the tri-part system itself insofar as it’s in the way.
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Excellent commentary, Catherine!!
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We all need some humor.
Alec Baldwin Returns to ‘S.N.L.’ as President-Elect Trump
Published on Nov 20, 2016
When faced with making good on his campaign promises, president-elect Donald Trump (Alec Baldwin) starts to panic.
Donald J. Trump (Twitter response to SNL)
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I watched parts of @nbcsnl Saturday Night Live last night. It is a totally one-sided, biased show – nothing funny at all. Equal time for us?
…………
The episode’s cold open features Mr. Baldwin portraying Mr. Trump as stunned and unprepared for the reality of being president. In the skit, he meets with various figures, including Kate McKinnon’s Kellyanne Conway, a campaign staffer from coal country and a general, who is eager to hear about the president-elect’s secret plan to defeat ISIS. After the general leaves, Mr. Trump promptly begins searching online for “What is Isis?” Mr. Trump proceeds to renege on assorted campaign promises, including repealing Obamacare, deporting illegal immigrants and creating coal-mining jobs.
Jason Sudeikis, a former cast member now starring in an Off Broadway production of “Dead Poets Society,” appeared as Mitt Romney, and Beck Bennett played Vice President-elect Mike Pence, who was confronted by the “Hamilton” cast on Friday. In the sketch, Mr. Trump asks him about attending that Broadway show and Mr. Pence responds evenhandedly, “It was good; I got a free lecture.”
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Carolmalasia who wrote: “We all need some humor.” Of course, you are right. But historically, humor is commonly one of the first victims of fascism. Don’t ever make fun of a bully.
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True. The comic, political and satirical writer Kurt Tucholsky was at the top of the list of enemies of the Nazis when they took power. He fled before that. One of his aphorisms seems apt today: “Nothing is more difficult and demands more character than to be in open opposition to one’s own times and loudly say: no.” (Nichts ist schwerer und nichts erfordert mehr Charakter, als sich in offenen Gegensatz zu seiner Zeit zu befinden und laut zu sagen: Nein.)
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GregB: I don’t want to go too off-course here, but I have found myself wondering in the last few days just what kind of leader Obama really is. It’s not the same playing field any more. The question is how to maintain one’s integrity when forced onto the field with a different sort of character? I keep thinking: “clear and present danger.” And what’s the risk if “we” let the whole horrible thing play out? I’ve pretty-much stopped watching the news–it’s like binge-watching a nightmare named: Political Suicide.
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Catherine Blanche King,
I am embarrassed to say I too find it hard to watch the news. I wish it were a bad dream. I heard the new National Security Advisor say on the radio that Islam is not a religion, it is a political movement. Oh, my God! Can he be serious? I think he sees every person of the Muslim faith as a terrorist. There are more than 1 billion Muslims in the world. Most are good people who abhor terrorism. George W. Bush understood this. Why can’t Trump’s National Security Advisor.
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Hello Diane: I don’t know if I will change my mind–I hope so; but I find myself feeling a sense of wastefulness at expecting coherence from these people.
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Beautiful, GregB!
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Greg, I googled Tucholsky and learned some but not enough. Where did you encounter his work?
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Catherine, I’m with you one the news. When I take breaks from work, I find myself rereading books I’ve loved or binge watching Father Ted on youtube.
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“Don’t ever make fun of a bully.”
Sure, make fun of them. Just remember to bring a gun when the bully challenges you to a knife fight.
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Duane: I appreciate your comment. The view, it seems to me, is towards authentic leadership by those who understand what’s at stake and can do anything about it, namely, conservatives, Republicans in Congress, and President Obama, while he has the chance. The president-“elect” thinks he’s God and will act that way as long as he can.
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Remember to go over the rules, first, too.
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Good one, FLERP! Haven’t seen that movie since it came out.
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I’m concerned about that, too. But to give in and shut up is worse.
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gitapik: “. . . But to give in and shut up is worse.” I know . . . .
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Diane, I’m an amateur student of Weimar Germany and Nazi resistance. Tucholsky wrote for Die Weltbühne, the most prominent left wing social and political commentary weekly in Germany, from 1914 until its closing in 1933. He started as a theater critic but soon expanded to other topics such as politics, militarism, education, poetry, humor, travel, aphorisms, and basically anything that interested him. In addition to his own byline, he wrote under four pseudonyms.
Tucholsky started writing about the threat of Hilter and the Nazis in 1920. His harsh, prescient writings put him and his editor, Carl von Ossietzky, on the top of the Nazi enemies list. He went into exile in Sweden in 1932, but Ossietzky was arrested on the night of the Reichstag burning and was one of the first concentration camp prisoners. Tucholsky was one of the leaders of the movement to award the Nobel Peace Prize, which was accomplished in 1937—the first time it was used to highlight a contemporary political issue. Tucholsky committed suicide in 1935, but recent scholarship suggests it may have been an accidental overdose of sleeping pills. Ossietzky died shortly after he was announced as a Nobel Prize awardee.
Tucholsky’s romantic comedies Schloss Gripsholm and Rheinsberg, still sell well and, to my knowledge, are among his only writings that have been translated into English. Thematic collections of his essays continue to sell well in Germany today. His books were among the first to be burned in 1933.
Some good aphorisms: “Language is a weapon, keep it sharp,” “He who wants to measure the narrowness of his home, travel. He who wants to measure the narrowness of his time, study history,” “In Germany one doesn’t bribe. In Germany one influences. And what is written in the newspaper is half as important as what isn’t there,” and “I like a skeptical Catholic better than a believing atheist.”
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Wonderful aphorisms, Greg! I have books of aphorisms and maxims. The best are those that condense wisdom into a few words or a couple of sentences.
I wish some of Tucholsky’s works were published in English.
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Here’s what I wrote about Tucholsky a while ago: “When I try to describe him to my American friends, I ask them to envision a writer whose style roughly evokes elements of Mark Twain, Ambrose Bierce, H.L. Mencken, James Thurber, P.G. Wodehouse, Philip Roth, Christopher Hitchens and a prototypical chanson lyricist…Tucholsky was, to paraphrase Duke Ellington, ‘beyond category.'”
If you want to get a sense of more of his writing, you can try my Goodreads page on his works, each has a review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/26552534-greg-brozeit?shelf=tucholsky
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Best Explanation of False Equivalence —
Another good one is the IRBYG (I’m Rubber But You’re Glue) argument.
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That’s one of my “go to” videos when the name calling starts. That routine is right up there with Abbot and Costello’s work.
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Yes, we need a laugh. From Garrison Keillor: “He will never be my president because he doesn’t read books, can’t write more than a sentence or two at a time, has no strong loyalties beyond himself, is more insular than any New Yorker I ever knew, and …”
For the rest of the article go to:
http://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/Garrison-Keillor-Life-after-the-election-10616258.php
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Reblogged this on Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" and commented:
How Will Trump Deal with Conflicts of Interest?
by dianeravitch
Donald Trump owns a sprawling international empire of scores of business interests, many of them in other countries. Other presidents have placed their assets in a blind trust to remove any conflict of interest. Trump has refused to do so. He says his adult children will manage the business but he can’t be unaware that his decisions as president will affect the success of his empire.
During the campaign, Trump broke tradition by refusing to release his tax returns. Now it appears there is no likelihood that he will seaparate himself from his far-flung business interests.
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“. . . said Richard Painter, chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush.”
Like the Bush administration had any ethics whatsoever. Gimme a break!
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Duane–and still, there is a huge difference.
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I hope I don’t have to agree with you, Catherine. But for now we don’t know quite yet. Not looking good at all but as is said, the proof is in the pudding. And unfortunately it looks like it’s going to be a burnt over-baked pudding at that.
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Duane: Sure . . . I’m for that. And Trump is depending on our still-alive hope for and trust in the basic civility that naturally flows from those who follow the other principle (what instead of who). Or as one civilized (black) TV-interviewee said–it’s certainly troubling. Indeed it is. And in my view, that gets the prize for the understatement of the century.
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Compared to Trump, W was a paragon of ethics
Trump has so many conflicts of interest that no one can even count them
His transition groups in crucial areas, like energy, are lobbyists for the industry
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Oh, no doubt about Trump’s conflicts of interest. But that comparison is like saying nil is better than nothing.
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It’s amazing that this group, nor the media outlets, seemingly were not concerned one iota regarding the millions that the Clinton Foundation was sucking in from international countries during Hillary’s status as Sec of State nor the possibility of how it would effect her decisions as a president. Bias here
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Jack,
Hillary Clinton is not President-elect. Donald Trump is. He will not put his business interests into a blind trust, like other presidents. He has massive conflicts of interest. He was negotiating new deals while he was campaigning for the presidency. Will he continue to run his global empire and use the American military as his personal police force?
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To jack scheidell who writes: “It’s amazing that this group, nor the media outlets, seemingly were not concerned one iota regarding the millions that the Clinton Foundation was sucking in from international countries . . . ”
Who said others here (I for one) didn’t wonder about the Clinton Foundation and its relationship to Hillary’s State Department developments? And I heard the same critique many times from “the media outlets.” I trusted her, but also wondered as I would have with anyone, and still think there is good reason to do so. So your “one iota” comment doesn’t wash.
But what does that have to do with anything now? . . . or if it does, the fact that (as Diane said) the comparison is a matter of degree of power and influence (State as distinction from the leader of the world?). Then there is the difference between a faux non-profit and a real one<–there’s two of your false equivalences . . . again. I’m beginning to think too that some things just won’t get through the habitual wall of logical fallacies that have come forward in the discourse (such as it is) around this election.
About the fundamental issues that have been discussed here recently, however: I really hope we are all wrong. I hope that Trump will not be able to break into our democratic institutions (as Hillary never tried to do); and that he and his trolls will have a massive moral and political conversion, build a WALL (ahem) between (a) his business and family interests and (b) those of the USA and its people in whose name he will be president; and then maybe he and Bannon will “get it” about women, gays, and how dark skinned people can be and often are smarter than they are, and then push Lilly Ledbetter legislation/equal pay for women (for instance).
But really, I’d be happy if Trump read the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and googled habeas corpus. Tra-La.
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I’m sure that if they haven’t already, the Republicans will investigate thoroughly…again.
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Judging from past actions, he might very well do all he can to turn a profit on those conflicts of interest.
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I’m getting tired of the Trump supporters who are appalled at the public outcries against his cabinet choices and coming presidency. Do you think we live in a vacuum? His campaign rhetoric was filth. Both in his speeches and in that second debate. Forget Hillary. We’re talking about Trump having to deal with the fallout from an ugly campaign and announcing appointments of climate change deniers, a white supremacist enabler, a man who claims Islam is not a religion, and more.
And when people “question” him or his appointments, he’s demanding apologies and Conway is warning Reid”he’d better watch what he says”.
Law and Order. Watch what you say. Can you honestly say that this is “ok”?
Obama got his feet put to the fire and so will Trump. Deal with it.
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April: please tell me I have no cause for concern:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/king-alt-right-full-nazi-bannon-lands-white-house-job-article-1.2882385
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Someone clue David Brooks on Education. Here is a link to a recent article that was thoughtful, but “off” where “reform” that includes education is concerned. Also, the listening comment refers less to Trump and more to the group of Americans who voted for Trump for reasons that were overlooked by both parties and that were held by those who were not captured in the polls. Link and excerpt below:
Fellow Trump Critics, Maybe Try a Little Listening
David Brooks NOV. 22, 2016 http://www.nytimes.com
Fellow Trump Critics, Maybe Try a Little Listening “. . . Finally, surely a little universal humility is in order. Orthodox Republicans spent the last 30 years talking grandly about entrepreneurialism while the social fabric around their core voters disintegrated. Maybe a little government action would have helped?
‘The Democratic Party is losing badly on the local, state and national levels. If you were a football team you’d be 2-8. Maybe you can do better than responding with the sentiment: Sadly, the country isn’t good enough for us.
“Those of us in the opinion class have been complaining that Trump voters are post-truth, that they don’t have a respect for expertise. Well, the experts created a school system that doesn’t produce skilled graduates. The experts designed Obamacare exchanges that are failing. Maybe those of us in the professional class need to win back some credibility the old-fashioned way, with effective reform.
“There will be plenty of time to be disgusted with Trump’s bigotry, narcissism and incompetence. It’s tempting to get so caught up in his outrage du jour that you never have to do any self-examination. But let’s be honest: It wouldn’t kill us Trump critics to take a break from our never-ending umbrage to engage in a little listening.”
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