Whom should we believe?
The people Trump appointed to head the FBI, the CIA, Director of National Intelligence, abs Secretary of Homeland Security? They all held a joint press conference today to warn that Russia is planning to attack the 2018 election, as it did in 2016?
But tonight Trump said at a rally that fears of Russia interference are a “hoax.”
Whom should we believe? Him or his administration? Is this a reality show?
https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/02/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-pennsylvania-rally/index.html
That was soon after he unleashed attacks on the media.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The US government vs the US president — stranger than fiction
Trump is a treasonous liar.
The reason why Trump is so dangerous:
We have had corrupt Presidents who just wanted to enrich their friends and family. But Trump seems to be the first to be willing to sell out the entire country to a foreign leader whose main interest is to undermine the US because we are one of the few threats to Putin’s thirst for more power.
It’s odd to watch Trump with Putin because his body language is completely different than with any other person — from the Queen of England to his wife to leaders of every other country, Trump always places himself front and center. With Putin, Trump looks like a cowed dog.
The other Presidents had family — children and/or grandchildren — and even in their greed and corruption had some motivation to keep America a decent place for them to live. But Trump doesn’t care about his children or grandchildren. Whether or not America survives as a democracy doesn’t matter at all to him. And none of this would matter if the entire Republican Congress had even one member with integrity. If the Democrats don’t win at least the House or Senate, we are in very dangerous times. Even if they do, it might be too late.
Survives as a democratic republic would be more accurate.
Representative democracy is accurate, too. Nothing like missing the whole point of NYCpsp’s cogent comments to quibble over terminology.
Joe, conservatives love to do that…cite the republic rather than concede that it’s based on democratic principles. Because, the fact is, conservatives don’t like democracy, and they don’t really care for democratic values and principles.
It’s also branding, a way of promoting the Republican party every time democracy is mentioned, as if the GOP should get the same free air time that’s ostensibly going to Democrats then.
If people associate Democrats with democracy, maybe that’s because they are the party that actually wants everyone to get out and vote, while the Republicans do virtually everything they can to win elections by preventing people from voting, especially those from historically marginalized groups that are more inclined to vote for Democrats –since that is the party which is indeed more likely to care about and represent them than the GOP.
The United States is a Constitutional Republic — not a democratic republic — if we can keep it.
From wikipedia: In American English, the definition of a republic refers specifically to a form of government in which elected individuals represent the citizen body[2] and exercise power according to the rule of law under a constitution, including separation of powers with an elected head of state, referred to as a constitutional republic[4][5][6][7] or representative democracy.[8]
I’m stunned that anyone is arguing that America isn’t a democracy.
Here is the definition of democracy that I am using — from Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary:
b : a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
Why isn’t a democratic republic also a democracy? Why isn’t a Constitutional Republic also democracy?
Here is what Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary says about that:
“Is the United States a democracy or a republic?
One of the most commonly encountered questions about the word democracy has nothing to do with its spelling or pronunciation, and isn’t even directly related to the meaning of the word itself. That question is “is the United States a democracy or a republic?” The answer to this, as with so many other questions about meaning, may be phrased as some form of “it depends.”
Some people believe that a country calling itself a democracy must be engaged in direct (or pure) democracy, in which the people of a state or region vote directly for policies, rather than elect representatives who make choices on their behalf. People who follow this line of reasoning hold that the United States is more properly described as a republic, using the following definition of that word: ”a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law.”
However, both democracy and republic have more than a single meaning, and one of the definitions we provide for democracy closely resembles the definition of republic given above: “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.”
So if someone asks you if the United States is a democracy or a republic, you may safely answer the question with either “both” or “it depends.”
FYI — for the record, I am using the meaning of democracy that applies to the USA. At least until Trump and his fascist followers end it.
The United States is a Constitutional Republic where voters elect representatives — except for the President — and those representatives take an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution against both foreign and domestic enemies.
The oath does not mention obeying the popular vote.
Those elected representatives must do their job within the guidelines spelled out in the US Constitution and when the people vote for a bill that violated the U.S.Constution, the people eventually lose when that issue reaches the US Supreme Court.
If you want to call the US a democracy, that’s up to you, but:
“To be sure, in addition to being a representative democracy, the United States is also a constitutional democracy, in which courts restrain in some measure the democratic will. And the United States is therefore also a constitutional republic. Indeed, the United States might be labeled a constitutional federal representative democracy. But where one word is used, with all the oversimplification that this necessary entails, “democracy” and “republic” both work. Indeed, since direct democracy — again, a government in which all or most laws are made by direct popular vote — would be impractical given the number and complexity of laws that pretty much any state or national government is expected to enact, it’s unsurprising that the qualifier “representative” would often be omitted. Practically speaking, representative democracy is the only democracy that’s around at any state or national level.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/13/is-the-united-states-of-america-a-republic-or-a-democracy/?utm_term=.5c92b4cda2eb
Yes, I agree with the quote you posted:
“where one word is used, with all the oversimplification that this necessary entails, “democracy” and “republic” both work. Indeed, since direct democracy — again, a government in which all or most laws are made by direct popular vote — would be impractical given the number and complexity of laws that pretty much any state or national government is expected to enact, it’s unsurprising that the qualifier “representative” would often be omitted. Practically speaking, representative democracy is the only democracy that’s around at any state or national level.”
The United States IS a democratic republic. Stop with all the nonsensical parsing of words.
“we are a representative democracy, which is a form of democracy…John Adams used the term ‘representative democracy’ in 1794; so did Noah Webster in 1785; so did St. George Tucker in his 1803 edition of Blackstone; so did Thomas Jefferson in 1815. Tucker’s Blackstone likewise uses ‘democracy’ to describe a representative democracy, even when the qualifier ‘representative’ is omitted… James Wilson, one of the main drafters of the Constitution and one of the first Supreme Court Justices, defended the Constitution in 1787 by speaking of the three forms of government being the ‘monarchical, aristocratical, and democratical,’ and said that in a democracy the sovereign power is ‘inherent in the people, and is either exercised by themselves or by their representatives.’ And Chief Justice John Marshall — who helped lead the fight in the 1788 Virginia Convention for ratifying the U.S. Constitution — likewise defended the Constitution in that convention by describing it as implementing ‘democracy’ (as opposed to ‘despotism’), and without the need to even add the qualifier ‘representative.’… the United States might be labeled a constitutional federal representative democracy. But where one word is used, with all the oversimplification that this necessary entails, ‘democracy’ and ‘republic’ both work… there is no basis for saying that the United States is somehow ‘not a democracy, but a republic.’ ”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/05/13/is-the-united-states-of-america-a-republic-or-a-democracy/?utm_term=.497e587a84e6
I am coming to this part of the conversation a bit late owing, ironically to the reading of an article in a scholarly journal about the “democratization” of Europe in the 19th century. While everyone here has correctly agreed that the US federal government is a republican style organization in which representatives elected make laws, it is equally true that authors use democracy as a more general term, often practically synonymous with the phrase representative government. When Woodrow Wilson famously called for a war to make the world “safe for democracy”, he was using the word this way. Since representative government is accomplished by the vote, either on specific laws like the proposition approach in California or the paradigm common to lawmaking in the various towns and states where elected representatives make laws, using the shorter word democracy is perfectly legitimate. It is widely used from academia where I was seeing it, to the corner drug store.
Those who make arguments about the use of the general term democracy in the middle of another argument are engaging in linguistic hair-splitting that detract from the original debate, as one of the posts above points out. It is easy to see from context which use of the word democracy is being used, and it need not be a point of contention unless a party in a discussion is interested in making the conversation diverge for the fun of it.
“Whom should we believe?”
Well, the record makes clear that we cannot and should not believe Agent Orange. About anything. Sure, like a broken clock, he might actually be truthful every once in a while. But not often. His press conferences and his “rallies” and his tweets prove it. He’s a congenital liar. And, he’s a traitor.
We cannot believe the Republican party either, about anything. For decades, party leaders have lied about trickle-down tax cuts. They don’t trickle down, and they don’t pay for themselves, and they don’t promote prosperity for everybody.
They’ve lied about climate change, calling it a “hoax.” and yet, it is happening right now, before our very eyes. It’s real.
They lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. An incredibly costly lie, in lives lost, in wounded, in dollars, in damaged reputation of the U.S., in the destabilization of the Middle East.
They’ve lied about a “liberal” bias in the mainstream media. They’ve lied about being the party of “small” government and personal responsibility, when they use government to enrich themselves and their selected friends, and when they steadfastly refuse to accept any responsibility for what they’ve done to the country.
And – in a nation that is a democratic republic, founded on the principle that “We, the People” are the source of governmental authority – Republicans have essentially declared war on “We, the People,” contending that a government “of the people, by the people, for the people, is the “problem.”
Should any of us be surprised that a traitor now leads the Republican party, which is – itself – traitorous to the core values and principles of the Republic?
Nope.
Good summary of what is happening.
This is the plan to ‘Make America Great Again.’
“Corporate tax receipts are down…government spending is up…the Treasury Department expects to borrow more than $750 billion to pay its bills during the last six months of this year… fiscal watchdog Stan Collender, who blogs about federal finances as ‘The Budget Guy’ said, ‘the deficit is just getting bigger and bigger, to the point where it will be at least a trillion dollars every year during the Trump administration and beyond.’…Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, blamed an outbreak of fiscal ‘free-lunchism’ for the growing mountain of government debt…The growing deficit also means higher borrowing costs. So far this fiscal year, growth in Social Security, Medicare and defense spending have all been eclipsed by rising interest on the debt.”
https://www.npr.org/2018/08/03/635071790/despite-strong-economy-federal-deficit-soars
Orange is the new red. With a treasonous Russian asset in our White House it’s easy to forget that this unprecedented dissonance is not just between Trump and his intel community but between Trump and his entire party. Seeing those Q’anon wackos and anti- free press knuckle draggers at his rally shows just how delusional his shrinking base is becoming. We are witnessing the self-immolation of a cowardly anti-constitutional Republican Party that cannot see that their silence implies consent.
This is bad when we are getting comments from the UN about Trump’s attacks on journalists.
The UN Human Rights Commission issued a report in June against the US on how it treats its poor people. Trump wasn’t a bit happy about that report. Of course the researcher who wrote that report didn’t know what he was talking about. Sad what this country has turned into. We are becoming a pariah to the world. Trump is an ignorant, narcissistic, misogynistic dictator-in-waiting. Dementia? He keeps repeating himself and used to speak better English.
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Trump’s attacks on media raise threat of violence against reporters, UN experts warn…The Guardian
Donald Trump’s attacks on the media have been condemned by experts at the United Nations, who warned that the US president’s vitriolic rhetoric could result in violence against journalists.
In a joint statement, two experts on freedom of expression – David Kaye, who was appointed by the UN human rights council, and Edison Lanza, who holds the corresponding position at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, said: “These attacks run counter to the country’s obligations to respect press freedom and international human rights law.”
Trump’s attacks “are strategic, designed to undermine confidence in reporting and raise doubts about verifiable facts”, they added, while noting the president “has failed to show even once that specific reporting has been driven by any untoward motivations”.
“We are especially concerned that these attacks increase the risk of journalists being targeted with violence.”
The rebuke comes as Trump has intensified his criticism of the media and appeared to embrace the hostile attitude among his supporters towards members of the press.
The president unleashed a Twitter tirade against the media on Sunday, labeling reporters as “unpatriotic”.
“When the media – driven insane by their Trump Derangement Syndrome – reveals internal deliberations of our government, it truly puts the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk! Very unpatriotic!” Trump tweeted.
“Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news … …accurately,” he added. “90% of media coverage of my Administration is negative, despite the tremendously positive results we are achieving, it’s no surprise that confidence in the media is at an all time low!”…
Trump has often used his podium to hurl insults at the press and single out reporters by name, frequently before an angry mob of his supporters, and has derided coverage he dislikes as “fake news”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/02/donald-trump-un-media-press-freedom-journalist-danger?CMP=share_btn_link
“…a CBS News poll said 91% of strong Trump supporters trusted the president to give them accurate information. Only 11% said they trusted the mainstream media…”
This fat, misogynistic, ignorant creep is a terror to this country. How much more vile can Trump get? His narcissistic side that can’t take any criticism keeps spouting hatred.
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Trump blasts back after New York Times publisher decries ‘enemy of the people’ attacks
Martin Pengelly in New York
Sun 29 Jul 2018 20.25 EDT
Hours after saying he had a “very good meeting” with the publisher of the New York Times about his labelling the press the “enemy of the people”, Donald Trump launched a blistering attack on “anti-Trump haters in the dying newspaper industry”.
“The failing New York Times and the Amazon Washington Post do nothing but write bad stories even on very positive achievements,” Trump tweeted. “And they will never change!”
Earlier, the White House confirmed Trump met Times publisher AG Sulzberger on 20 July. Sulzberger then issued a statement that opened an exchange over whose activities were more damaging to America.
Sulzberger said he had raised “concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric” and “implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country”.
Sulzberger did not say how the president responded. Hours later, Trump obliged.
In a multi-tweet rant, he claimed reports on “internal deliberations of our government … truly put the lives of many, not just journalists, at risk”. He added: “Freedom of the press also comes with a responsibility to report the news accurately.”…
Knox, of Sirius XM, told the audience in Annapolis he divided “threats against journalists into two eras: before 17 February 2017 and after 17 February 2017. That’s because on 17 February 2017, the president of the United States, using his Twitter account, declared us enemies of the American people.”
That tweet named the New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS and CNN. The president’s use of the phrase has attracted criticism, including from within his own party. Trump has regularly attacked the Post over its ownership by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon billionaire.
His tactics appear to have benefits. On Sunday, a CBS News poll said 91% of strong Trump supporters trusted the president to give them accurate information. Only 11% said they trusted the mainstream media…
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/jul/29/new-york-times-washington-post-trump-attacks-press-warning?CMP=share_btn_link
I am very worried as I go back to school, what my students have been hearing all summer. I work in a VERY republican district and many of my students wore 45 gear all year last year…how do you teach them about facts in the media. We cover the news…is the scholastic reader now ‘fake’ news? who knows what they will have been hearing at home all summer.
And if you actually teach, which I know you do, you have to fear the retribution of their parents. I hope and wish you will find the strength to do your works as you know it should be done. Truly scary times we live in. When I grew up and was later a teacher, I associated stories like yours with Latin American dictatorships.
Just realized the beginning of my first sentence could be read in a way I didn’t intend. I know you are a dedicated teacher. What I intended was more to the effect of “…if you actually teach in the way that you, as a professional, want to teach” as opposed to what others tell you to teach. I’m glad we have people like you who care about their mission.
You start the year with a question:
What is a fact?
Students will get to the idea that facts are verifiable. How are they verifiable? This will generate lots of discussion, and open up the differences(s) between substantiated belief and unsubstantiated belief.
A good way to open up the whole year – depending on what class you teach – is to do a unit of study on perception.
Frankly, every teacher should be reading books on the brain.
Absolutely we should believe the people who brought us WMD in Iraq and “no, we’re not spying on Americans”. They are totally, utterly believable. I’d say we pre-empt those Russkies and nuke ’em now.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/ct-cia-james-clapper-spying-steve-chapman-oped-080-20140807-column.html
Dienne,
Your lack of interest in Trump’s peculiar obsequiousness to Putin is bizarre.
dienne77,
I am not sure whether facts matter to you, but you might recall that Dick Cheney had to create his own new intelligence arm because the CIA was not confirming his claims that Saddam had WMD. You might recall that Valerie Plame was CIA and Cheney’s men outed her because she wasn’t playing ball. To simply claim that the CIA cooked up a Russia threat is misleading, so would you claim that?
In the matter of Trump/Russia, however, I don’t believe the CIA. I believe my own eyes. Trump jr, Manafort, et al invited Russians offering dirt to a meeting in Trump Tower. Soon after that meeting, Trump’s people demanded a platform change to be more pro-Putin. Trump — while meeting with Putin — dictated a lying letter about why he invited those Russians into Trump Tower for a meeting — “adoptions”.
Trump was such a huge credit risk that American banks would no longer lend him money. His own son bragged that their companies received a lot of Russian money.
I believe the evidence.
Finally, what is most appalling is that every time the subject of Russian meddling in our country is brought up, you immediately say “let’s nuke Russia.” NO ONE has ever said we should nuke Russia. What we have said over and over again is that our election needs to be secured and Trump and the Republicans refuse to do this.
Can you imagine if every time you bring up something bad about the Center of American Progress, I replied “let’s round up everyone who has ever been associated with CAP and let’s not just exterminate the members of CAP but let’s round up all their children and exterminate them too, just like dienne77 wants.” Imagine that next time you criticize Hillary Clinton, I answer with “let’s just bring her in front of a firing squad and kill her, along with Chelsea, Bill, and their grandchildren, just like dienne77 wants.”
You claim you want to discuss and debate these issues, and yet every time someone brings up Russia involvement you imply that we want to nuke the country or wage nuclear war. That isn’t coherent debate and discussion.
Either take your own advice, or stop being a hypocrite.
And if that is too much of an “attack”, then I apologize in advance. It is not intended to be. It is just saying that you write one thing and then act entirely differently.
Let me repeat again — none of us wants to nuke Russia and intentionally murder millions of people — including children and babies — in the process. Please allow people to discuss this issue without making such an abhorrent suggestion with insults all of us.
What we want is to insure there are free and fair elections. And if I make the suggestion that there are not free and fair elections in Russia, please don’t post that I want to nuke Russia.
^^Also – a continuation of my comment above which is in moderation:
\dienne77, you posted an interesting article and if you had posted that without accusing Trump critics of wanting nuclear annihilation, that would have been helpful.
Here is another article written by the very SAME writer.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chapman/ct-perspec-chapman-trump-putin-helsinki-disgrace-20180718-story.html
Steve Chapman, the writer, of the article dienne77 posted and the article that I posted quotes:
“Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide,
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side.”
Maybe it’s that time for you.
^^Just to be clear, the article that I posted written by the same author who wrote the interesting article that dienne77 posted is headlined:
“Trump is on Putin’s side, not America’s”
dienne77, I know you dismiss everything I say, but you obviously believe Steve Chapman. I IMPLORE you to read what he wrote. He is not saying that US should annihilate Russia in a nuclear war. He is saying that Trump is not acting in the interests of our country.
You posted a link to a very good article Steve Chapman wrote that rightly criticized the CIA. Chapman is not an apologist for the CIA. Chapman does not believe everything the CIA is telling him and that’s why he criticizes Trump. Chapman does not want to nuke Russia.
Chapman is looking at evidence with a clear and open mind.
All I ask is that you do the same. Or at least explain why you refuse to do so when it comes to any criticism of Trump.
Buzzfeed, Jul. 31, connects dots from court filings, subject- Russian, Maria Butina, and the NRA.
So Orange Trump defends domestic Nazi’s but it is the Democrats who are like Nazi’s? This makes sense only in Trumpland. Is this whole family totally crazy? Now, even history is not to be accepted as truth. The Trump family whips up all sorts of nonsense and there are people who believe this trash. Sickening.
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Donald Trump Jr. Says Democrats Are More Like Nazis Than Republicans Are
Donald Trump Jr. said Thursday that the platform of the Democratic National Committee is “awfully similar” to the Nazi Party’s.
Trump, President Donald Trump’s eldest son and head of the Trump Organization, made the remark during an interview with One America News Network while attending a premiere for Dinesh D’Souza’s film “Death of a Nation,” which also attempts to frame similarities between Democrats and Germany’s Nazi Party.
“I’ve been hearing the left talking about these things ― fascism, Nazism on the right — and when you look at the actual history of how these things evolved, and you actually look at that platform versus the platform of the modern left, you say, ‘Wait a minute, those two are very heavily aligned and, frankly, contrary to the right,’” Trump told the conservative cable news channel.
While promoting D’Souza’s film, Trump also suggested that people shouldn’t trust what they learned in a history class because “academia has been so wrongly influenced by the left.”…
Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-jr-compares-democrats-nazis_us_5b622361e4b0fd5c73d5f319
Amazon removes Nazi-themed goods from its store
…In a report released last month, the Partnership for Working Families and the Action Center on Race and the Economy said Amazon was helping Nazi and modern white nationalist groups prosper by letting them sell their merchandise and materials.
It said Amazon had a history of responding “slowly” to reports about these types of goods.
The report prompted Congressman Keith Ellison from Minnesota to write to Amazon expressing his “alarm” that it was allowing the sale of “products that promote hateful and racist ideologies”…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-45057061
About those Trump believers: We thought Jim Jones was bad. CBK
I doubt many—if any—of the Dear Leader cult ever heard of Jim Jones’s cult, much less identify Guyana on a map (or any country on the globe for that matter). And if they did, they would probably love the idea of having a Democratic congressman murdered. For those few of you who remember and liked punk music, here’s a great memory CBK awakened in me:
As serious as Russian infiltration into our political system is, it is just one more example of the inescapable conclusion that many of us reached before the election: this president* and his most devoted followers have disdain for the very idea of democracy. It is no longer a talking point that he and they are more comfortable with an autocratic fascism that gives “them” power and special privilege. I rattled of a letter to the editor of my local paper immediately after the conclusion of a press conference with Prime Minister May underscoring this. In its wisdom, the paper decided to ignore it. So here it is, a topic I have not heard anyone mention:
Donald Trump revealed his complete ignorance of—and contempt for—the American constitutional system of governance in the July 13 joint press conference with Theresa May.
Twice, in comparing his term with that of Barack Obama, he used the word “regime” to describe the executive branch. According to Webster’s dictionary, a regime is “a government, especially an authoritarian one.”
In the United States, we refer to the executive branch as an “administration,” which Webster’s defines as “the management of public affairs.”
Should we be surprised when our closest allies distance themselves from us while the president aggressively seeks to cozy up to repressive despots? Or when fundamental American institutions are systematically undermined?
The current occupant of the White House and his rabid devotees simply do not understand or care about the fundamental differences between the concepts of regimes and administrations.
Let’s hope the majority of the American people do starting this November.
And people say – in reference to the rise of the Nazis and totalitarianism in Germany – that it could never happen here.
If enough people do not care about the core values of the democratic republic, it can.
And right now, Republicans are incredibly antithetical to those values.
This is Trump playing his usual games. He supports his admin in their concerns over Russian election interference & suggests they make a strong public statement. Then he’s a no-show at the briefing & tweets a contrary statement. So he’s thrown a bone to party centrists & red meat to his base. It’s theater. The only “belief” he’s concerned with is that folks believe he.won the election fair & square. His extreme myopia on this subject blinds him to the dangers of electorate losing trust in democratic institutions. He plays the short game, manipulating such things to his advantage, playing both ends against the middle.
It isn’t that hard to discern that Trump is a congenital liar.
Stable geniuses- a former leader of the S.C. Republican Party (he held his position sometime between 2007-2014) has been arrested for killing his mother’s 10 year old, beagle dog, named Bailey, while his Mother cowered, scared in her bedroom. In a prior incident, the lawyer was charged with domestic violence against his wife. Mental illness?
Trump said he could kill a person on 5th avenue and his base would still support him.
Trump is a hoax. Trump is an enemy of the truth, and he is no friend to most people, no more so than a common con artist or Ponzi scheme.
Just in case you didn’t know, the Trump administration is doing a marvelous job of protecting the integrity of our election system. We all should be happy!!!! [sarcasm] This “fact” comes from the WH, a source of great truth. Does Putin know about the ‘security’ of our election system?
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PROTECTING AMERICAN ELECTIONS: President Donald J. Trump and his Administration are defending the integrity of our election system.
FOREIGN POLICY
Issued on: July 17, 2018
From the beginning of his Administration, President Trump has taken action to defend our election system from meddling and interference.
In May 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order to strengthen and review the cybersecurity of our Nation and its critical infrastructure.
This has included long-delayed modernization of our cyber security systems across the Government…
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/president-donald-j-trump-protecting-elections-standing-russias-malign-activities/?utm_source=link
Trump said at his rally that Putin opposed him in the election in 2016. At the press conference, Putin said he supported him. My head is spinning.
dianeravitch The viewpoint from which this head-spinning actually makes sense is totalitarianism and the fascist playbook. We can find an account of that viewpoint in Hannah Arendt’s “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”
We have mentioned this book on this site before; but perhaps we should remember it–and not only for an explanation of what fascism is and how it works, but also for a narrative about its weaknesses, which point to what we, and others who understand what is poised to happen, can do to stop it.
If you have a copy, or can get one, the last half of the book is most relevant to our present time. CBK
And the Trump Administration will probably hire, behind closed doors without witnesses or a record of what they said, a Russian company recommended by Putin to be in charge of that cybersecurity for US elections and Trump will label the name of that company a “top secret” so the “fake media” can’t report those facts to the people and if there is a leak to the media, Trump will call it a “hoax” and proclaim the media is the enemy of the American people, except for Fox and Hannity.
The U.S. government long hired a Russian cyber security firm called Kapersky to oversee major parts of our government including the Defense Department.
Richard Engle on NBC did a special report about Kaspersky. Scary. He attended KGB school.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/russian-kaspersky-labs-faces-new-scrutiny-suspicion-1012640835507?playlist=associated
I’ve read about Kaspersky.
The US government banned Kaspersky software citing fears about Russian intelligence. Kaspersky then went to court to get rid of that ban.
Kaspersky fires another lawsuit at US government over federal ban
Russian security firm claims software ban is unconstitutional
https://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/3026644/kaspersky-fires-another-lawsuit-at-us-government-over-federal-ban
But: Kaspersky Lab lawsuits against U.S. government dismissed in D.C. federal court
A D.C. federal court judge on Wednesday dismissed a pair of lawsuits filed by Russian antivirus vendor Kaspersky Lab over rules prohibiting the U.S. government from using its products.
In a 55-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly upheld both a Department of Homeland Security directive and congressional legislation banning government agencies and offices from using Kaspersky Lab products, rejecting the Moscow-based company’s claims of being unconstitutionally targeted …
DHS “is concerned about the ties between certain Kaspersky officials and Russian intelligence and other government agencies, and requirements under Russian law that allow Russian intelligence agencies to request or compel assistance from Kaspersky and to intercept communications transiting Russian networks,” the Trump administration explained when it issued the binding operational directive (BOD) last September.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/30/kaspersky-lab-lawsuits-against-us-government-dismi/
Worse than Watergate! Yep.
https://www.google.com/amp/thehill.com/homenews/media/400295-carl-bernstein-situation-with-trump-is-worse-than-watergate%3famp
in less than one week – his closest advisors refute him –
Cabinet members go on TV and counter everything the President says
Ivanka goes on TV and says separating families is bad and press is not the enemy
Koch brothers hold their big tent meeting and criticize president’s trade policy
Conspiracy theorists out of nowhere show up at president rallies
Guiliani just speaks crazy (and diminishes his legacy leading after 9/11 every time he opens his mouth)
Junior compares democrats to nazis.
Media are still the enemy
And, the ONLY “news” his base gets is on twitter.
COINCIDENCE?
no way those folks go on tv without president knowing.
Wait, What? Fascists use authentic people to help quell those who are fearful about what’s going on, and who don’t really understand exactly WHAT is going on. I felt better after that conference, then I remembered Arendt’s book: The Origins of Totalitarianism.”
Trump understood quite well that those at the press conference were exactly opposed to what Trump himself keeps saying. The conflict is straight out of the fascist playbook. CBK
I suspect most of them are trying to save the GOP from destruction.
People who know and have been around Trump say that he is mentally off. He used to be able to speak better. This decline has been shown on U-tube videos between how he sounded in his 40’s and the mess that comes out now.
…………………
Omarosa Claims Trump Has ‘Mental Decline That Could Not Be Denied’
“While watching the interview I realized that something real and serious was going on in Donald’s brain. His mental decline could not be denied. Many didn’t notice it as keenly as I did because I knew him way back when. They thought Trump was being Trump, off the cuff. But I knew something wasn’t right,” she wrote in the book excerpt.
Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/omarosa-trump-mental-decline_us_5b63f880e4b0fd5c73d822ab
Trump: “Even these horrible people say they have never seen anyhing like what happened in November 2016.” [He still doesn’t get that he didn’t get as many at his inauguration as Obama. He is loosing it.] The press tells facts and he can’t take that, hence, 90% of the media is ‘fake news’.
Trump Calls Media ‘Horrendous People’
VIDEO: Trump Calls Media ‘Horrendous People’
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
At his latest rally in Pennsylvania, President Trump used inflammatory language to denounce the news media.
‘The most bizarre thing I’ve ever been a part of’; Trump panel found no voter fraud, ex-member says – Chicago Tribune
Maine Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap, one of the 11 members of the commission formed by President Donald Trump to investigate supposed voter fraud, issued a scathing rebuke of the disbanded panel on Friday, accusing Vice Chair Kris Kobach and the White House of making false statements and saying that he had concluded that the panel had been set up to try to validate the president’s baseless claims about fraudulent votes in the 2016 election….
Trump’s claim that as many as three to five million fraudulent votes were cast in the 2016 election remains one of his most notable falsehoods.
No credible evidence has ever been produced, by the White House or anyone else, to substantiate the claim…
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-trump-voter-fraud-panel-documents-20180803-story.html#share=email~story
carolmalaysia Trump may actually be in a state of mental demise. But it doesn’t matter. Fascists are known to hate those who, in their view, are smarter than they are–and so they burn their books and kill them (like Pol Pot did). His being a lesser than-before intellect only lowers the bar to qualify for those he hates and cannot control. CBK
What do Russia and, the founder of TD Ameritrade/mega conservative donor, Ricketts, have in common? In Kansas, Ricketts funds duplicity via ads that are aimed at influencing the Democratic election primary.
He and his Koch brethren show us the lessons of the Paul Weyrich training manual. Theocracy Watch posted the lessons at its site.
This just came out from the WH. Russian attack on elections was a hoax but now Trump is fixing it. Nothing like consistency in thinking.
Also, I hope workers are enjoying their big pay hikes. See, trickle down is working. [sarcasm]
………
Thanks to Trump, American Workers are Getting Big Raises
-The Hill
“U.S. workers have finally received a pay hike — the best in nearly a decade. Forgive us for saying: We told you so,” Liz Peek writes. “Donald Trump ran for the presidency promising we could do better and arguing that U.S. workers deserved a raise. Skepticism from the left was cutting.”
Top US Officials Warn of ‘Pervasive’ Russian Meddling in Midterm Elections, 2020 Cycle
-Washington Examiner
“A group of senior intelligence and national security officials warned Thursday that Russia is waging a ‘pervasive campaign’ to undermine upcoming U.S. elections and influence voters, and said the Trump administration is taking several steps to prevent such meddling,” Gabby Morrongiello reports.