Donald Trump met today with reporters and editors of the New York Times. He walked back most of his campaign promises. He won’t prosecute Hillary Clinton. He won’t bring back torture. He didn’t actually mean to do anything he said. He has an open mind about climate change.
But this was the most astonishing thing he said:
But pressed to respond to criticism in other areas, he was defiant. He declared that “the law’s totally on my side” when it comes to questions about conflict of interest and ethics laws. “The president can’t have a conflict of interest.”
He said it would be extremely difficult to sell off his businesses because they are real estate holdings. He said that he would “like to do something” to address ethics concerns, and he noted that he had turned over the management of the businesses to his children.
But he insisted that he could still have business partners into the White House for grin-and-grab photographs. He said that critics were pressuring him to go beyond what he was willing to do, including distancing himself from his children while they run his businesses.
“If it were up to some people,” he said, “I would never, ever see my daughter Ivanka again.”
Mr. Trump rejected the idea that he was bound by federal anti-nepotism laws against installing his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, in a White House job. But he said he would want to avoid the appearance of a conflict and might instead seek to make him a special envoy charged with brokering peace in the Middle East.
When he said that the president can’t have a conflict of interest, I think he meant that that is all he needs to avoid, and that if he can run both his businesses and the presidency “perfectly”, then there is no conflict of interest.
Adventures in Absurdistan.
“He didn’t actually mean to do anything he said.”
I wonder when the deplorables will wake up and realize they have been conned by the messiah they blindly voted for, the one who metaphorically walked on water and claimed that only he could make America Great Again and bring back the jobs, etc., etc., etc.
Is it possible that Trump will go too far and on December 20th, he’ll wake up and discover that many of members of the Electoral College changed their votes and he is no longer the president elect, that maybe no one is the president elect?
It isn’t just the deplorables.
It is every smug Sanders supporter who insisted that Hillary Clinton was so corrupt that it was no problem if Trump won. Those voters were just as conned by the alt right, whom they believed more than their hero Bernie, who kept telling them they were wrong.
Who knows yet if the deplorables have been conned or not. Maybe it’s just the rest of us being conned right now to think that Trump’s appointment of Steven Bannon as his right hand man is meaningless. Or that his appointment of other alt-right favorites in positions of power is no big deal.
And given the rhetoric we heard at the white supremacist rally in DC, if Ivanka gets tired of Jared Kushner, I have no doubt that Jews will make very handy scapegoats.
We should say “Neo-Nazis,” not Alt-right.
I am fed up with your constant yapping NYC, that it was the “smug Sanders supporters” when in fact 52% of White educated women did not vote for Hillary because, as they were polled, they said she was the “wrong” woman. I knew for the last two years she was the wrong woman and yet I voted for her solely because she was the only game in town. Almost every teacher here was a Bernie supporter yet voted for her for the same reason.
As to Jews being scapegoats, Jews have been forced into that role for thousands of years…and now Bannon and Richard Spencer have Trump to front for them as they plan the anschluss. When I write about the rise of anti Semitic aggression on campuses, there is dead silence from many here. When I write about the destructive BDS movement planned by foreign students and their foreign governments, and accelerated by Jew-hating thugs, again too often there is silence.
Diane speaks up for the Jews. I speak up for the Jews, and a few wonderful others do to, and I thank them. But many who write here every day stay silent.
The two authors I posted here from The Guardian today say it is now the death of neo liberalism, and the neo liberals are to blame. Makes much sense to me. Obama and Arne, Holder and the banksters, Bill and Glass Steagal, and the Clintons with an abundance of arrogance focusing on Beverly Hills money instead of Detroit poverty, and more…led us to the Fascists who are now in office.
It is bull turd to keep repeating that “it was Bernie supporters fault”. So, like the new POTUS-Elect, I say ‘stop it.’ If you have nothing better to offer, be polite, and offer nothing. We are all so sick at heart that your battering is an outrage.
It is time to shape up and fight…not to keep insulting those who do not agree with you. It literally disgusts me to have this small mindedness here every time I look to my thoughtful and intelligent colleagues for strategies for the future.
And it is time to speak out every single time we hear a racial or religious slur…or there will be no future left.
Did you see this. That ‘chyron..the words that sit at the bottom of the screen when the talking heads discuss a subject,. THIS subject is an example of the hidden messages. What a question RE THE JEWS PEOPLE?
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/cnn-sees-backlash-jews-are-people-headline-chyron-949834?utm_source=Microsoft&utm_campaign=Syndication&utm_medium=CNN+Sees+Twitter+Backlash+Over+%22If+Jews+Are+People%22+Headline+Crawl
“It is every smug Sanders supporter who insisted that Hillary Clinton was so corrupt that it was no problem if Trump won” .
Those Sanders supporters overwhelmingly voted for Hillary. It was about the the lower turn out by Blacks than showed up for Obama. It was about the 29% of Hispanics who voted for Trump. It was about “suburban white moms” who voted for Trump . It was about the man at 1600 Pen. hoisting a red flag with TPP on it over the Democratic held White House. Raising his middle finger to working class Americans in Ohio,Pennsylvania,Michigan ,Wisconsin and the rest of the Nation.
But I guess you would have been happy if no one challenged the anointed one , No one made any demands for change. Then your pathetic candidate could have blown this anyway.
I am not talking about Sanders supporters who voted for Clinton, so why are you so defensive? If so, I would be talking about myself.
Those white women voters who voted for Clinton were convinced she was corrupt. Just like they can be convinced that whatever progressive candidate put forth next election is corrupt or a coward, or whatever meme the alt right decides to use.
If you think any democrat is immune, you never met Mike Dukakis, Al Gore or John Kerry.
Let’s finally acknowledge that 4 years of Hillary Clinton would not have been “just as bad” as Donald Trump. Because far too many people believed it. Including moderates who were not Bernie supporters but kept hearing from them about how corrupt Hillary Clinton was.
If we don’t learn that lesson, then it doesn’t matter what “angel” is put up — he or she will be smeared. The only time the disaffected Democrats whose primary candidate lost didn’t help the right do it’s dirty work number on the Democratic candidate was President Obama. If the Hillary supporters had picked up the meme that Obama’s dealing with Tony Reznak or anti-American minister was a sign of great corruption, we’d have President McCain.
Joel Herman said:
“Then your pathetic candidate could have blown this anyway…”
FYI, Bernie was my first “pathetic” candidate. Hillary was my second. And yes, if EITHER of them had blown this election away we would be in better shape.
And the fact that you are still arguing otherwise is exactly why Trump is going to win re-election. Just wait until we have “faux Native American” Warren meme going and you see disaffected Dems jumping on the bandwagon to nail her on her corruption.
Let’s recognize the problem and move on. Or maybe you believe we just need to pander to racist white working class voters and all will be fine.
OMG…the turd just picked Betsy DeVos for Sect. of Ed.
From the Guardian….
” Feminists misunderstood the presidential election from day one
Liza Featherstone
Read more
The age of Obama was the last gasp of neoliberalism. Despite some progressive words and symbolic gestures, Obama chose to ignore Wall Street crimes, reject bailouts for homeowners, oversee growing inequality and facilitate war crimes like US drones killing innocent civilians abroad.
Rightwing attacks on Obama – and Trump-inspired racist hatred of him – have made it nearly impossible to hear the progressive critiques of Obama. The president has been reluctant to target black suffering – be it in overcrowded prisons, decrepit schools or declining workplaces. Yet, despite that, we get celebrations of the neoliberal status quo couched in racial symbolism and personal legacy. Meanwhile, poor and working class citizens of all colors have continued to suffer in relative silence.
In this sense, Trump’s election was enabled by the neoliberal policies of the Clintons and Obama that overlooked the plight of our most vulnerable citizens. The progressive populism of Bernie Sanders nearly toppled the establishment of the Democratic party but Clinton and Obama came to the rescue to preserve the status quo. And I do believe Sanders would have beat Trump to avert this neofascist outcome!
In this bleak moment, we must inspire each other driven by a democratic soulcraft of integrity, courage, empathy and a mature sense of history – even as it seems our democracy is slipping away.
We must not turn away from the forgotten people of US foreign policy – such as Palestinians under Israeli occupation, Yemen’s civilians killed by US-sponsored Saudi troops or Africans subject to expanding US military presence.
As one whose great family and people survived and thrived through slavery, Jim Crow and lynching, Trump’s neofascist rhetoric and predictable authoritarian reign is just another ugly moment that calls forth the best of who we are and what we can do.
For us in these times, to even have hope is too abstract, too detached, too spectatorial. Instead we must be a hope, a participant and a force for good as we face this catastrophe.”
Ellen’s quoted article says, in part: “In this sense, Trump’s election was enabled by the neoliberal policies of the Clintons and Obama that overlooked the plight of our most vulnerable citizens.”
While I am “up” for self-examination and critique, and can find several “issues” there; but I think there’s a bit missing here? uh . . . We might refer to it as “Republican”? on oh-so-many levels.
I think the question here is: What could Obama have done if not for the absolution of Republican resistance to ANYTHING Obama tried to do; and what he DID get through got watered down so much they could then say: Look how bad it is? Hmmm…sounds like what the oligarchs are doing to education and anything for the “common good.” It’s sort of like blaming a black man for being black because the racist’s don’t like him being in the “White” House.
“You said, “For us in these times, to even have hope is too abstract, too detached, too spectatorial. Instead we must be a hope, a participant and a force for good as we face this catastrophe.”
Exactly. Well said. You and I, Ellen are on the same page1
Catherine Blanche King
“I think the question here is: What could Obama have done if not for the absolution of Republican ”
You could start with just prosecuting a few Bankers . Reagan who I seldom give credit to went after criminal prosecutions of close to 1000 close to 800 convictions.
Do we want to discuss his education policy? I think we better skip that one because it is all to indicative of how many policy issues played out during his tenure. Were the republicans forcing him there.
Were Republicans forcing him to pick the man most responsible for supervising the Banks during the most flagrant period of unbridled greed and corruption to be Treasury secretary. Why who better to pick than the head of the NY Fed Bank under whose watchful eye this situation unfolded, Geithner .
Caterpillar was the first major Corporation to follow Reagan’s lead. They broke the UAW . Obama chooses to go to that very same plant to announce the stimulus. The equivalent of Bitburg to Labor.
Did those comfy slippers ever go on in Wisconsin.
Gee I must have missed the first two years when Democrats had control of both houses and the Presidency. Must have missed the fact that the Free Choice Act a minor revision to Taft Hartley never made it out of committee.. Even when they held a supper majority.
As obstructionist as the Republicans were, did he have to accept the Tax cuts in the budget conflict. . Did he have to accept a bill with a poison pill that gutted protections in multi employer pension plans . He will get another opportunity before he leaves. .
And what sums it all up was his “waving the red cape in-front of the raging bull with TPP written on the front”
And guess what TPP is not even about trade. There are no tariffs of any consequence.. Its not even about growth .The projected growth by February of 2032 will be what it would have been by March of 2032 without it ..
It’s about Corporate domination and if there is one thing that Obama has proven to be very effectively it is a Corporate lackey.
You think voters in Michigan, Wisconsin ,Ohio, and Pennsylvania were more influenced by that or Bruce Springsteen .
Joel: All very interesting, and some truth there of course–compromise is certainly, well, . . . compromising. . . . but . . . doesn’t answer the question. What could/would have been had the Republicans’ political attitude been more like Shumer’s is now rather than obstructionist. What a concept–to work together for the good of the nation and its people.
Trump will find back channels to do his bidness–or just do what he wants anyway regardless. if we don’t think so, or if the Republican Congress gives him a blank check on this where the Constitution is so clear, as in the President’s relationship with foreign states, “we” are more gullible and stupid than I thought.
It’s about the integrity of the United States. We are a nation of laws. The question is, will the Congress kiss the Constitution goodbye? I still have a modicum of hope. But my bet is we’ll hear arguments about why this is “a special and different case” really soon.
My guess is that Trump will find a loophole big enough to drive his business empire through. He didn’t release his tax returns. He will never release his tax returns. He will have his son-in-law on the White House staff or some other key role in the administration. His son-in-law is married to Ivanka, who is running the business. She sat in on his meeting with the Japanese prime minister. Foreign governments will see that the way to win the president’s favor is to open Trump hotels and golf courses and country clubs and casinos. When they visit DC, they will stay in the Trump Hotel.
This man has no ethics. None. Will Congress curb his endless self-aggrandizement? Not likely.
Who will sue based on the Constitution? He will say he is not being paid by foreign governments. They just happen to be dealing with his children and enriching the business.
Or maybe, as he told the NY Times, he will both run the country and his business at the same time. Or let Mike Pence run the country, while he continues to manage the business.
How can Republicans abide this rank hypocrisy? Isn’t it enough to be President? Why the endless greed? There must be a billionaire who has even more money than Trump and he wants to be #1.
Diane: I have heard criticism of the “left” for being continually outraged, for instance, David Brooks recent article. To that I say “bull.” It’s those who don’t understand the severity of situation who say “get over it.” I think we are all feeling what we should feel when our centuries-old Constitution (both small and large “c”) is being torn apart before our eyes, every day.
I’m with you, Catherine.
Rage keeps me going.
“Foreign governments will see that the way to win the president’s favor is to open Trump hotels and golf courses and country clubs and casinos.”
At least THE Trumpster was honest when he said he was planning on making a lot of money off of his presidential ambitions.
When Trump states the oath to, “support and defend the Constitution of the United States,” which I doubt he has ever read, I’m afraid the Constitution will burst into flames.
Threatened Out West: I have this picture in my head (like a cover of the New Yorker, for instance) of a very nice group of mid-western families standing there together on a dark hill, with tearful hope on their upturned faces, looking at a huge rising dragon, with flames dripping from his mouth, looking hungrily at the heads of their children.
News from der Alte-Reich —
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/?utm_source=atlfbcomment
Of course Trump was never going to prosecute Hillary Clinton. Of course he would not build a wall. He really did not mean any of that stuff, it was just to get him elected.
So what will he do, if we let him. And what will he do in spite of congress? Considering the coalition of extreme views he is parading by in choosing a cabinet, we might guess. He will attempt a wide range of right-leaning reforms designed to extend the Republican dominance as far as possible. These will include continued attempts to restrict the electorate to a particular demographic, rollbacks of environmental initiatives designed to point us toward future energy sources, foreign policy bluster and threaten, and education leadership pointing toward ending the public school. All of this will be done against a backdrop of tweets about controversial subjects designed to divert attention from the real moves he and Newt are making. No one will ever know the difference, because they will be too busy talking about whether someone was actually rude to one of his family members.
We will also get two right wing appointments to the Supreme Court.
Not if the people make their legislators aware of what THEY WANT!
News from das Alte-Reich —
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/11/richard-spencer-speech-npi/508379/?utm_source=atlfbcomment
We will not let them redefine this nation!
Omg! Do they know anything about history? Or is this hysteria? Either way, OMG!
Whatever “moral authority” we had left after invading Iraq and President Obama stabilized is now completely gone. Unfortunately, I doubt few Trump supporters can make sense of terms like fascism and kleptocracy, but that’s we they and we have now.
“. . . Iraq and President Obama stabilized. . . ”
Iraq is “stabilized”?
Please contact me for some great white sand beach ocean front property over at Lake of the Ozarks in Central Missouri. Quite cheap. Probably the same cost as similar property on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates.
Poor sentence structure on my part. I was referring to moral authority, not Iraq. Moral authority lost under Bush after invasion of Iraq (compare how US was perceived immediately after September 11). Obama, whatever we may think of him, gave people around the world a better opinion about the motives of US policy. At least for a while. It’s all down the dumper now.
Thanks for the clarification, GregB!
My English 101 prof would be horrified.
Legally, he appears to be correct:
“The law at issue is Title 18 Section 208 of the U.S. code. It says federal executive branch employees can’t participate in government matters in which they or their immediate family has a financial interest.
But the president and the vice president, despite being executive branch employees, are exempt. According to the law’s definitions, Title 18 Section 208 does not apply to them, nor does it apply to members of Congress or federal judges.”
Ray: The Constitution is pretty explicit about accepting anything from foreign states. I’m no expert, but that, along with the tax situation recently uncovered, and then the lawsuit about Trump University–what a mess. And that takes the situation way beyond party politics to changing what kind of political system we have–again, we are a nation of laws.
A couple of options for clarifying your last statement:
“We are SUPPOSEDLY a nation of laws.”
or
“We are a nation of laws FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FEW.”
Duane writes: ““We are a nation of laws FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE FEW.”
You can say that from a silo of negativity, I suppose.
Not from a silo of negativity, Catherine, but from years of not wearing rose colored glasses to more clearly see what actually happens with our justice system. Call me a cynic, I’ll wear the label proudly:
“CYNIC, n. A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be. Hence the custom among the Scythians of plucking out a cynic’s eyes to improve his vision.”
When I find myself in times of trouble Brother Ambrose comes to me! (apologies to the Beatles)
Duane: that’s the difference between a “realist” and a realist. I certainly don’t do enough to make things better; but the reality (without quotation marks) is about knowing what is the case now, but also knowing that people made it that way, and so, it doesn’t have to remain that way.
The other thing is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights and our other founding documents, and the real transcendence we have experienced at times in our history because of its framework. (The arch of justice is long? MLK) The realist knows that (as you say) we haven’t lived up to those documents but (as I say), they are still there and: we can.
I think perhaps underneath it all, you once were an idealist-optimist who became disappointed with your too-high expectations of reality (real-politic); and so went to the other extreme; skepticism and pessimism (cynicism). It seems to me that you have, in fact, folded up your chair and left long before the game has ended.
I don’t claim to know what will happen, or even what IS happening behind the curtain, so to speak. But I did put away my rose-colored glasses a long time ago; but neither did I exchange them for ones with mud on the lenses.
Catherine,
I don’t understand your distinction between the two realist idea. Help me out.
Also because I choose to verbalize what I see to be problems doesn’t mean that I have gone “to the other extreme-skepticism and pessimism (cynicism)” at all. I see pessimism manifest itself daily here with the comments on THE Trumpster. Was I young and more optimistic then? Yes, but now I see, not with mud covered lenses (actually I can’t stand any speck on my glasses-ha ha) with a more realistic lens even when that means pointing out and engaging the negatives. I can handle it as I have no need to self deceive or let someone else do so.
Yes, and more than once I’ve been “bit” by those in authority over me and I’ve learned that there are a whole lot of folks whose only interests are their own and damned be the rest. I refused and refuse to be damned by self-centered egotists (I don’t include you in that group, Catherine).
And no, I haven’t “folded up my chair and left long before the game has ended”. You know not what I do, have done and continue to do in my life in having helped and continuing to help others enjoy their time on earth other than the little I let on here. I see way too much of the arm chair psychologist (yeah, it’s a mixed metaphor-on purpose) blatherings here (and elsewhere) about what someone supposedly is, was or might be and find it to be, well, inane and useless.
And generally I don’t see that coming from you, Catherine, as your commentary is usually of the intellectual caliber that raises the conversation. This one didn’t. And that’s okay, I don’t take any of it personally-we all succumb to it at times.
Be that as it may, I still don’t understand your differentiating the two “realists”.
Duane: I’m sure you don’t want a lengthy analysis of what I meant by realist/”realist.” so: I meant by “realist” what I thought you meant by cynic–seeing everything from a “negative silo.” It’s the opposite extreme of the idealist (equally “realist”) who (tra la) thinks all is good and will work out for the best regardless.
Also, I don’t pretend to know you or what you have done in your life. But I do know that a lot of negative comes through in your posts–as if it can be no other. And I don’t think that’s true aka real. I appreciate the conversation and hope you have a good Thanksgiving weekend. For me, it will be the first time I WON’T want to talk about the political situation because my guess is my son’s in-laws are Trumpists. So my mantra is: Wane smiles and lip-zip tolerance so that I can play gleefully with my Grandchildren. Tra la.
Thanks, now I get the distinction.
Yes, I can come across as a bit cross and even crass in my writings on blogs-as I am wont to say “I say/write it as I perceive it”. No sugar coating or as you say “tra la” here. Just the way I am-a bit of a malcontent, faultfinder and sourpuss. Although, actually, I’d like to think I can be rather delightful in person-LOL!! I’ll let others judge that.
And I hope you also have an excellent T-Day! Sounds like you have a lot of cooking to do! Good luck and good cooking. Didn’t Julia say something like that?
Trump will get sloppy. He will be caught with his hand in the cookie jar and just may get impeached.
The law is clear – he can not hire any family member to a white house position – even as a peace negotiator. That law was created after Kennedy hired his brother.
The law is clear – he or his family – can not accept payments from any foreign state.
Who will enforce the law?
Congress has “an institutional, constitutional obligation to make sure that Trump isn’t violating this clause.”
Cheryl writes: “Congress has “an institutional, constitutional obligation to make sure that Trump isn’t violating this clause.”
Yes. The question of this Republican Congress: Will they?
With both Houses majority Republican, we do not have a chance of impeaching this turd.
Only the little people sell off their assets to avoid a conflict of interest.
Leona Helmsely
You see, he has no acquaintance with he actual Constitution, but more important, he does not get it…that th founders of this document, this nation, were escaping king, and privileged lords and barons (LOL),
He wants the Koch Brothers version of our nation, where dynastic wealth is passed on, as it was in the ‘guilded age’; that is the definition of his ‘get America, when white men of privilege ruled… well…that was until they did what all lawless humans, do, the broke the bank. They did it again in the 1980’s and in 2008.
You see, because no banister or wall street manipulator went to jail (except Madoff), he really believers that ‘people like him are above the law.” What escapes his midget mind, is that the actually says it OUT LOUD. tweets it, in fact. Most moguls without conscience usually kept their vision of what makes a great society, between themselves.
Look at the barons of corporate personhood, who lord it over our legislatures. Behind closed doors, they hatched up the common core crap and the all kids left behind plan. They didn’t brag and say, ” people like us need to ensure that our kids go to the best schools, but we need a population to serve us, so lets make sure they are really, really ignorant. They formed a group, http://https://dianeravitch.net/2015/10/24/the-educational-industrial-complex/ hatched a plan, and destroyed public education… and people who were busy trying to pay rent and put food on the table, and pay for living expenses, didn’t notice, because not only were they busy… when they had a minute to rest, they went online and were fed lies.
Our president told the most outrageous lies, and as a result, he won.
That lesson makes him feel high above the rest of us.
But, you see, it is a funny thing about lies.
There is a reason that humankind developed communication. It allowed them to explain to their tribe the observable reality that they would face to do anything, especially to do work or to survive in a difficult world.
Lies are not enshrined in our CONSTITUTION because no civilization ruled by liars ever lasted. You know the old…’you can fool some of the people…”
What you cannot do, is ensure that your nation “will long endure” if mendacity becomes the way it is.
Mendacity. It began with the greatest propaganda machine ever.
Vance Packard nailed the psychological manipulation in “The Hidden Persuaders” which I read in the sixties. http://www.thesocialcontract.com/artman2/publish/tsc1004/article_903.shtml
Marshal McLuahn, in a world devoid of the internet and screens… wrote that THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE! he saw the future. I read his book, too, in the sixties.
So, along comes the Liar Incarnate. A charlatan of such proven success a lair, that scores of his businesses fail, but leave victims in his wake.
Even as he moves up to the loftiest office in America, this needy child-man is faced with the people he defrauded out of their life’s savings, in his four university.
Does he go to Jail? No, he ‘settles,’ because he does not have to admit guilt. His lies work for him again. He believes, that people like him, are very, very special.
Trevor Noah, in a Daily show segment, nails the utter shame of mendacity.
locker room talk is not about assault
http://on.cc.com/2dhKqO9
Locker room talk is not what Trump did. That is a baldfaced example of mendacity.
Noah points out, locker room talk may use scattalogical words for female genitals, but what Trump explained proudly, in that bus, to the man who would interview him for tv, was how HE COULD PERSONALLY ASSAULT A WOMAN, and that People like him could do it… and pass a lie, that it was just boy talk. He cannot know that there are millions of women who knew his contempt was real. It never enters that sick orange head, that there can be no possible spin that makes acceptable his pride on to the ability to walk in on naked women.
Donald Trump defines clueless, and you may quote me. Tweet that one. Clueless Donald.
Watch that Daily shoe segment, and you will GRASP the great surprise awaiting this very damaged man — as he learns that this behavior may be ok for president of a high school class * but is not for the PRESIDENT OF THE US.
The president, as our founding fathers decided, was just a man, but one who is held to the high principles of that office and our land.
Our founding fathers made sure that a dictator or king will not stand above us all, but must OBEY AND FOLLOW the laws that he himself SWORE TO UPHOLD.
Finally, This delusional, hurt child, still trying to prove to his dead dad that he is special, cannot fathom that the LAWS WILL HOLD HIM ACCOUNTABLE.
He will discover that no matter how much his fans applaud, nepotism and his brand of business chicanery, his unbridled mendacity are not permitted in this high office.
Our nation will not survive the LIES!
Our nation is built on truth!
He can piss the night away tweeting, but his mendacity will be his downfall.
it must be!
He must be held accountable for lying to you and to me, to US!
To Susan Schwartz: Well said, bravo! And thank you for the links.
Along the way, Trump is making himself known elsewhere. I understand he recommended an ambassador to the United States–from Britain, who of course already has one and, “thank you, but we’ll do the choosing.” Add to USA’s gut-fear and contempt, embarrassment on the international scale. I understand the Brits are having fun with it. It feels like laughingstock to me. But the marriage of such a brute man to such brute power . . .not so funny.
Trump had the nerve to tell the Brits to send us the man who lost to the Brexit-leading woman, Theresa Lee. He is a hard nose capitalist like Trump. What endless nerve he has.
Suggest to my friends here a read the Stiglitz book, Euro. He wrote it in 2012 and it is applicable to the US today, but he uses as his example Greece, not England, because what happened in England in their last election happened so fast and was so unpredictable, just as we got Trump, their voters turned inward and left the European Union.
Using Trump’s inimitable words, what did they have to lose? Well, from differing economic philosophies, they, and we, have much to lose for the same reason, the effects of rampant uncontrolled radical capitalism which overlooks the poor. That is why Hillary lost.
Ellen, the logic escapes me. Hillary lost because the radical right Republicans have more to offer the working class?
Working people will be jettisoned by the Trump administration. The tax plan will favor the 1%. He won’t bring jobs back. He will walk back every promise he made. He has nothing to offer working people but blather.
To Ellen Lubic who writes of Trump’s “endless nerve.” I think that’s normal behavior–for a bully-cum-dictator. His horizon of thought is the BEST and ONLY horizon of thought; and so why wouldn’t the Brits say: “Oh, of course, why didn’t we think of that,” and just send the person Trump wants. The world is his puppy dog (to him); and when the pup misbehaves, . . . . He’s also a chameleon. We can look for stability in the same way we look for it in a house of mirrors.
Here is a quote to ponder: “If when I die I am still a dictator, I will certainly go down into the oblivion of all dictators. If on the other hand I succeed in establishing a truly stable foundation for a democratic government, I will live forever in every home in China.” Chaing Kai-shek.
You said,” Using Trump’s inimitable words, what did they have to lose? Well, from differing economic philosophies, they, and we, have much to lose for the same reason, the effects of rampant uncontrolled radical capitalism which overlooks the poor. That is why Hillary lost.”
You nailed it, as usual! THAT is exactly what happened..BUT, the other cause is the fake news that the internet promoted. Most people get their news from the internet…I do not make that up It is a fact, Facebook did this..
Did you just read that he picked Betsy DeVos to be Sect. of Ed? She is Michelle Rhee wrapped in a gold cloak…no more funding of public schools. Amway will be in every school in the land.
Ellen: Yes–the appointment came through on my “news alert” from three papers and EdWeek. To Diane and anyone who has an “ear” of the powerful: Keep talking to everyone, every chance you get. Is anyone writing an op-ed for any newspaper about this?
People who say that it is pointless to keep up discussions like this are wrong. The ethical issues must be discussed, also the hate mongering, the brush off of the media, and the rest. “Let’s just see how everything works out” is too easy even if is ordinarily, the “fair” thing to do. The Trump does not care about fairness. He only cares about “winning” and saving face, literally not being depicted with three chins. Unflatering photos will get you some wrath.
There is a difference between what is legal and ethical. I know that. But that difference should not be used as an excuse to be silent about his bigotry and willingness to so serious damage to our nation in order to get his way.
You are correct Laura about not being silent about the wrath this person sends us with his Alt Right choices and does not condemn,nor even admit, their bigotry….because it is his. This is far from the moment to keep quiet. No more silently walking into the interment camps and the gas chambers. Never again.
My first thought when I heard this: “Well, when the president does it, that means it is not illegal.” – Richard Nixon.
“Conflict of Interest” is an ethical term.
Trump has no ethics.
Ergo, Trump has no conflict of interest.
That’s GOP Logic, better get used to it.
NO IT IS A LEGAL TERM WHEN IT IS DEFINED AND SET INTO LAW.
Huh? Duh? That’s my take re: Trump.
Remember: He’s a minority president.
From The Guardian….
” Goodbye, American neoliberalism. A new era is here | Cornel West | Opinion | The Guardian
A key point go follow here is that the Bush and Clinton dynasties even though from different parties, were broken. I don’t necessarily agree that neo-liberalism is dead. Much of the Republican Party is still neo-liberal and in fact no matter what Trump says that looks like populism, the reality is that privatizers are expressing neo-liberalism and Trump is a privatizer — people think he will be big government – from what I’ve read the infrastructure Trump plan is privatizing in spades. The latest data shows that Trump support came from educated, wealthy people, and that more poor people voted for Hillary. So be careful about focusing just on the white uneducated. Oh, it’s too complicated for my poor brain. Let me know when the new era arrives. And if you see fit to donate at the end of reading this piece.
US elections 2016
Opinion
Goodbye, American neoliberalism. A new era is here
Cornel West
Trump’s election was enabled by the policies that overlooked the plight of our most vulnerable citizens. We gird ourselves for a frightening future
The neoliberal era in the United States ended with a neofascist bang. The political triumph of Donald Trump shattered the establishments in the Democratic and Republican parties – both wedded to the rule of Big Money and to the reign of meretricious politicians.
The Bush and Clinton dynasties were destroyed by the media-saturated lure of the pseudo-populist billionaire with narcissist sensibilities and ugly, fascist proclivities. The monumental election of Trump was a desperate and xenophobic cry of human hearts for a way out from under the devastation of a disintegrating neoliberal order – a nostalgic return to an imaginary past of greatness.
White working- and middle-class fellow citizens – out of anger and anguish – rejected the economic neglect of neoliberal policies and the self-righteous arrogance of elites. Yet these same citizens also supported a candidate who appeared to blame their social misery on minorities, and who alienated Mexican immigrants, Muslims, black people, Jews, gay people, women and China in the process.
This lethal fusion of economic insecurity and cultural scapegoating brought neoliberalism to its knees. In short, the abysmal failure of the Democratic party to speak to the arrested mobility and escalating poverty of working people unleashed a hate-filled populism and protectionism that threaten to tear apart the fragile fiber of what is left of US democracy. And since the most explosive fault lines in present-day America are first and foremost racial, then gender, homophobic, ethnic and religious, we gird ourselves for a frightening future.
What is to be done? First we must try to tell the truth and a condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. For 40 years, neoliberals lived in a world of denial and indifference to the suffering of poor and working people and obsessed with the spectacle of success. Second we must bear witness to justice. We must ground our truth-telling in a willingness to suffer and sacrifice as we resist domination. Third we must remember courageous exemplars like Martin Luther King Jr, who provide moral and spiritual inspiration as we build multiracial alliances to combat poverty and xenophobia, Wall Street crimes and war crimes, global warming and police abuse – and to protect precious rights and liberties. “
addendum the initial paragraph is written by the NY teacher who writes the blog, Feedblitz…and she urges paying for the Guardian. Cornel West writes just below.
To Ellen Lubic and the Guardian article: When I read the Guardian excerpt above, I thought of those documentaries about groups of dentists and physicians travelling around Appalachia giving free medical treatments to the recalcitrant poor. In the light of so much money floating around in rich American’s bank accounts, you have to wonder “What’s wrong with this picture”?
At this point, thought, as I see it, the whole thing depends on the balancing act of the tri-part structure of Government and, in this case, whether those in Congress who understand, in fact, will act on what they are up against. So far many have acted in a hypocritical way (Never Trump, and then embracing him), and now perhaps being fearful of what will happen to their careers if they resist. (So much bigger than that now.) I had hope that Obama might act in this window of time in terms of a “clear and present danger.” But now I don’t think so. But it clearly IS a clear and present danger.
“Make American Great Again.” Ha. If Trump has any “better angels,” they have been beaten down and “disappeared” by his hubris.
Yes, Catherine…there are good honorable people like the docs who work to help the poor, but unfortunately they are NOT, or rarely are, politicians. And certainly many teachers who struggle with the hard to teach, and low wages, paying for their own supplies. However…
As to our tri-partite system…a brilliant structure of design by the Founders, I cannot imagine how it can work as intended when SCOTUS is now 5 -4 conservative and may be 6 – 3 in a very few years, and for the next 30 years….and both houses of the Congress are now firmly Repub.
Some of the writers over the weekend, including some from National Review and PBS, suggest an effort to woo a few Repubs with consciences to vote with the Dems. I hesitate to mention their names because we will hear diatribes against them from the neolibs here, but you do know them as well as I.
All I can see is the portent that Putin will continue to invade other countries surrounding Russia, and will work to build their, and other dangerous states, nuclear arsenals, while Assad continues to massacre his own people, while the Saudis destroy Yemen…and that finally might grab the attention of ardent loyal Repubs like Paul Ryan, as Trump does his tap dance with Putin. If enough get scared, it could change the dynamic, but by then we would be on the brink of disaster, both nuclear and environmental.
Ellen: About the doctors in Appalachia–good people, of course. However, I was pointing to the disparity of wealth in the country making it necessary for events like that to even occur; and the fact that some of those Appalachians were probably Trump voters who felt left behind by everyone and heard his lies for truth.
And yes, to “suggest an effort to woo a few Repubs with consciences to vote with the Dems.” I’m hoping they are way ahead of us. They must know what’s at stake–way beyond party politics. I sometimes wonder about Trump’s understanding, even of himself as an autocrat and his movements towards fascism. Does he even know what that is–if it’s just the pattern of his disturbed personality that naturally turns fascist when his hubris gets to the field of big power. He has pissed off the fault-right now (headlines about broken promises). What’s going to happen there? And if he really doesn’t understand the implications of what he is doing on the country, there are plenty out there who think of him as a pawn and who are ready to power-grab in any way they can. Just speculating here.
Catherine and Ellen,
This is not just about doctors and other people and system helping the poor. It is not about them helping the poor AND the middle class, lower middle class, and working classes. Millions of people in those categories have homes with mortgages or kids in colleges . . . or rent an apartment and are single or are homeless or have few assets but have earned a pension for 20+ years and are having threatened by things like the Composite Law. The variety is limitless.
To Norwegian Filmmaker: Disparity of wealth was the point.
Cx:
So sorry!
I meant to say “It IS about them helping the poor AND the middle class, lower middle class, and working classes.” . . . .
Norwegian Filmmaker: I get it. The Appalachian documentary made the problem of disparity of wealth (and the missing political policies) incisively evident–the tip of the iceberg that everyone could see.
Trump is proud to “take 60 meetings a day”…which is like a spinning top. He is NOT one who introspects and listens, one who seeks a carefully thought out end game, but rather, he is ADHD, and makes instant decisions to our detriment. The only solace I hope for is that Romney and Ryan prevail and govern. Who would have thought a Leftie such as I would end up hoping for that?
But imagine a war room led by Bannon, with Flynn and Giuliani and Sessions and the others he has already chosen, screaming at each other and deciding about dropping the bomb on No. Korea…while Trump sucks a lolly pop with his fingers on the red phone. Scary as hell.
To Ellen who writes: “Scary as hell.” You read my thoughts about Romney. He was one of the first to say “no” and walk away from Trump. At least Romney has a moral compass (such as it is), and, I’m stretching here, perhaps his seeming hypocrisy is about putting aside the truth of his earlier correct analysis, and Trump’s funny-farm comportment, so that he, Romney, can actually work for the good (as he sees it). I drew some comfort from that pick. As far as Nikki Haley is concerned, she does have a beautiful smile.
Trump plays three card Monte with us, a sleight of hand to keep us off balance and focused away from what is going on.
Today Kelly Anne Conway (who will probably act as/in place of, First Lady, if Ivanka does not get FBI clearance) told the pundits that the Sect. of State should not be flying all over the world, but should be like Kissinger and Schultz and stay near the WH. I think she is preparing us for Romney who will be anointed the worker bee in the WH to advise the Prez who will then make the decisions.
The team of Romney and Pence will run the country while Trump runs his multitude of businesses and spends most of his time in Trump Tower with Melania and Baron…or interviews foreign dignitaries at the golf course or Mar-a-lago. For surely it does not look like anyone will challenge him on much of anything. He has gotten things all his way and why would it change? Is Paul Ryan going to say impeach? Is Mitch McConnell? Is the DoJ and /or the AG he appoints going to say impeach?
What a coup….he is using Hitler’s playbook…keep doing it all your own way, ignore any protests, and have Goerring=Bannon/Conway do the sales pitch to the ignorant peasants…lie after lie until it is all seen as truth. It is tne New Normal, the New World Order…the media is already normalizing the whole scenario.
Meanwhile the Dems keep shooting themselves in both feet, now with Keith Ellison being pushed by the neoliberals to run the DNC. The man who until just the last few years supported Farrakan. And Pelosi is bad mouthing Tim Ryan behind closed doors to save herself. And Schumer controls things to keep the other old timers who failed us, in their very lucrative jobs.
It is imperative however that brave Americans be outspoken publically, and that pundits and comedians not be shut down. The whole world is watching the great American coup…and most of them are as frightened as the rest of us, at least Angela Merkel and Theresa Lee are…Le Pen and Putin are delighted.
Well said, and true.
“lie after lie until it is all seen as truth. It is tne New Normal, the New World Order…the media is already normalizing the whole scenario.”
It is amazing to me how Trump can lie outright or deny he ever said something when he DID or walk back his “promises.” That quote about how people took Trump “seriously but not literally” is incredible. So what does that mean? Are we to take NOTHING he says literally? If not, and he is speaking “symbolically”, that means he can lie, deny, obfuscate and twist the peoples’ interpretations of his words any way he wants. We can never really pin down the real meaning of ANYTHING he says. It’s an ingenious and nefarious use of language which allows him to get away with basically anything he wants.
Scroll back here, and read my comment about mendacity, and this man.
You must realize by now, that the makes Sarah Palen seem brilliant.
He is unable to tell the difference between campaigning for President and actually running a nation according to the laws that the oath of office promises to uphold.
So, now that Romney, and a cadre of lawyers and legislators have met with him, he is being told, that HE CANNOT FULFILL HIS PROMISES. There are laws that make it impossible. So, now, suddenly, he is ‘rethinking’ his vows.
Here is the link that I find it is an applicable solution for our concern:
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/21/opinion/the-art-of-the-protest.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-0&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&pgtype=article
The Art of the Protest
Tina Rosenberg FIXES NOV. 21, 2016
I like the strategy as shown here:
[start paragraph]
Pull out the pillars. Gene Sharp, an American academic who is the guru of strategic nonviolence, argues that every leader, no matter his power, relies on obedience. Without the consent of the governed, power disappears. The goal of a civic movement should be to withdraw consent. Pull out the pillars, and the whole structure falls.
Senior citizens and his police were two of Milosevic’s most important pillars. Otpor members worked on both whenever they were arrested (which was quite often). Grandparents got angry when high-school students were repeatedly arrested or accused of terrorism.
And every arrest presented a chance to talk to the police. At the barricades, Otpor led cheers for the police. Over time, the police got to know the students they kept arresting, and some came to admire the youths’ commitment to nonviolence.
“Police officers would complain to us about their salaries,” said Slobodan Homen, an Otpor leader. He offered some advice for Milosevic: “If later you order these people to shoot us — well, don’t count on it.”
[end paragraph]
It is sinfully for Congress, Senator and Supreme Court who accept UNQUALIFIED leader and his administration to pull America into THE WORST NIGHTMARE through manipulation of “rigged electoral system.” Where is the conscience in all intelligent and conscientious lawyers, politicians, educational veterans, writers, and journalists?
Please STOP beating around the bush, stop being sarcastic, stop blaming on voters, and begin to PAY ATTENTION to whoever is behind Trump and his Administration.
Please using the educational and legal knowledge to directly tackle the utmost important issue = policies and leaders in Trump’s Administration.
In short, I wish that millions of readers will unite with Dr. Ravitch’s strategy in order to build the STRONGEST resistance = the PILLAR of “strategic nonviolence.” This will be the only way to regain American DEMOCRACY through “intelligent” debate about American HISTORY and STRATEGIES in humanity and civility of the past 200+ years.
It is time to unite and to rectify whatever we can do with our honesty and our survival. Back2basic.
Like a child talking about adult concerns:
“I would love to be the one who made peace with Israel and the Palestinians, that would be such a great achievement,” Trump told the New York Timeson Tuesday.
“A lot of people tell me, really great people tell me, that it’s impossible, you can’t do it. I disagree. I think you can make peace.”
And he is sending his 35 year old developer son in law to negotiate peace in the Middle East…with ZERO experience or training. One more Trump whacko decision.
Ellen,
J Kushner as Middle East peace negotiator. Too much! I guess Trump proved you don’t need experience or knowledge to become president. Let’s see how that appointment works out.
Diane and Ellen: With regard to Kuschner as middle-east negotiator: Maybe he could give Paul Bremer a call and get some good advice about what not to do. What “to do” is another question altogether.
Another blast from the past Catherine. Bremer who orchestrated so much disaster in Iraq could help Jared to do the same. How come Bremer never came up on multiple charges of war crimes?
Ellen: Now there’s a question (about Bremer and war crimes). I don’t know, but I can guess.
Prosecutors and courts will decide if the Donald is violating any laws And, if not, then a new law (or more) will need to be passed. Maybe no time soon but perhaps eventually.
Or, if the Donald commits “treason, bribery and other high crimes and misdemeanors” then he may well face possible impeachment and even conviction. Not likely but possible.
Hence, the slow moving wheels of our 228-year-old Republic will grind on. (I imagine this wonderful, giant, steampunk-style machine, complete with well worn gears and a whirling, brass flyball governor.) This old, reliable mechanism of government has taken us quite a distance, hasn’t it?
What I find VERY much a concern in this election, though, is the new technology that our buffoon-elect took advantage of to get himself to the White House. The 4 a.m. rants via twitter, the Facebook fake news, the hijacking of the media’s 24/7 appetite for the outrageous. His campaign was all so incredibly faster, brighter, flashier -and such a good match our society’s machine-addicted attention span. (So much for Hillary’s much anticipated, vaunted “ground game”. Doesn’t that all sound so 20th century now two weeks later? Her “ground game”. )
Really, will it matter to some citizens what the president said last month when to them last week is now so…..ancient. (Full disclosure: I start to feel restless, even anxious, if a page takes more than a couple seconds to load on this computer. This effect isn’t just psychological….it’s physical.) How has all this technology affected our democracy…affected us?
I read not that long ago that the post-September 11 security apparatus created in the U.S, (of course, including the digital surveillance capabilities of the N.S.A). has created a “turnkey” opportunity for some group or individual to take dictatorial control over our nation. I doubt these “leaders” would call this new type of government a dictatorship or fascist state. I imagine some other, huge terrorist attack on our country…then so many citizens would just go running to throw their civil liberties away. Not all, but enough to give some cabal unprecedented, emergency powers. Look what happened 15 years ago. Let’s hope we never suffer another attack like that again.
Donald Trump might still be inspired to lead our nation in a heroic direction. But, so far, some of his staffing choices, his persistent, unstable demeanor, and his brazen use of new technology to deceive and mislead are alarming.
The internet can free people…..it can also be used to oppress. Just look at what China is trying to do with computer technology right now. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/08/business/international/china-cyber-security-regulations.html
One specific concern for January 2017: what’s to become of “net neutrality” in the U.S. now that the Republicans will control the full government? I recall the very close, partisan vote that preserved net neutrality. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/05/15/fcc-approves-net-neutrality-with-partisan-vote And, http://www.politico.com/story/2016/06/court-upholds-obama-backed-net-neutrality-rules-224309
“Conflict of interest”….? In this post-truth, high tech world will that idea become another quaint relic of a bygone time? A victim of our cultures increasing comfort floating amidst so much cognitive dissonance?
It is all, as Diane said above, “astonishing”.
To John Ogozakek, who writes: “What I find VERY much a concern in this election, though, is the new technology that our buffoon-elect took advantage of to get himself to the White House. The 4 a.m. rants via twitter, the Facebook fake news, the hijacking of the media’s 24/7 appetite for the outrageous.”
Don’t forget Wikileaks and technical probing (hacking) to influence an election.
And don’t ignore that Arab Spring failed because the internet and tweet capability were shut down in Eygpt. Also happening now in Syria, and in other war zones. There is no magic bullet…cut of the grid and all is lost. When all communication is gone, anything and everthing goes.
Ellen writes: “When all communication is gone, anything and everything goes.” All we need ask is what would happen if we were all unplugged for a time? Which is why we need hand-held books–but that’s least of it. How giddy they must feel–the one’s who hacked the USA election and changed the course of history. The power of the bomb in the hands of terrorists joins with that power in the hands of Trump, and then the power of technology (and its disruption) in the hands of Putin and anyone with an adolescent brain, a cold-war mentality, and a laptop.
Read Ted Koppel’s new book on this scenario…all factual…we in the US have only three grids supporting all the internet (and other) communication. Putin has already tampered with it this year.
John…and as of today, Britain announced tightening of their version of the Patriot Act and will be watching all internet searches of all residents throughout the Kingdom. Isolation is the more of the New Normal world wide. Wonder how Nicky Haley will sell this to the UN.
Jaded Kushner is going to bring peace to the Middle East? Right. When are we going to realize that no one is going to bring peace to the Middle East?
Jared