I saw this item first as a Tweet, retweeted by Trump himself.
It reminded me of my first visit to the Soviet Union, back in the 1980s.
One of the high points was a viewing of Lenin’s Tomb.
His body was in a glass casket.
The young man showing us around said in a low voice that he had so much was in him that if they put a wick on his head and lit it, he would burn forever.
A candle!
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The Orange sexual predator won an election partially because the NYT wrote more about Hillary’s emails than Trump’s sexual misdeeds.
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The New York Times’ disastrously empty rape apology
But her emails.
June 25, 2019
On Monday, the New York Times ran a piece which quotes its own executive editor, Dean Baquet, admitting that the paper was wrong to underplay the latest rape allegation against President Donald Trump. “We were overly cautious,” says Baquet.
On Friday, New York Magazine ran an excerpt of writer E. Jean Carroll’s memoir, in which Carroll accuses Trump of holding her against the wall of a department store dressing room, pulling off her tights, and forcing his penis into her vagina.
Though the Times did run a short piece acknowledging Carroll’s allegation on Friday evening, it “did not promote the story on its home page until late Saturday morning and did not run a print story until Sunday,” according to the Times’ own coverage of its decision to downplay the story….
But where is the Times’ apology for its decision to treat the fact that Hillary Clinton used a personal email account to conduct work business as a much bigger story than the fact that Donald Trump admitted to sexual assault on camera? Where is the apology for the Times’ decision to treat Her Emails as the single biggest issue of 2016 — far bigger than all policy matters combined?
The price of the Times’ 2016 malpractice is catastrophic. In an election as close as 2016, every factor mattered….Had the nation’s preeminent newspaper made minimally competent decisions about which stories to emphasize and which ones to downplay in 2016, it is very likely that Hillary Clinton would be president of the United States.
In that world, children are likely not being held in American internment camps. Trump officials are not sabotaging Obamacare. The U.S.-Iran nuclear deal is still in full effect, and the United States and Iran are not teetering on the edge of war. Neil Gorsuch isn’t quietly gathering the votes he needs to render the Environmental Protection Agency impotent. Congress did not give a massive tax giveaway to the richest Americans. A sexual predator does not occupy the most powerful job in the world.
https://thinkprogress.org/the-new-york-times-disastrously-empty-rape-apology-b3d110eb8e42/
yup
And it wasn’t just the Times. Pretty much every major news organization glommed onto the emails and ignored Trump. That’s not new information. By the orange cretin’s inauguration, studies had already shown that the news focused far more on Clinton’s emails than on ANY of the garbage Trump was spewing. Many people I know said that “they are both the same” and voted for Trump. Sickening.
I watch Years and years on HBO last night, and in the first episode which takes place in the future, Tump is in the WH still, and at mid-episode he sends. nuclear bomb to a Chinese Island. Fiction or prognisticaiton? https://www.hbo.com/years-and-years
Trump will be president for four more years unless the Democrats can get behind a palatable alternative. I don’t think they will – as I’ve said before, they’d rather lose to Trump than win with Bernie (or any other true progressive). Bernie represents much more of a threat to their donor class than Trump does, and the donor class is the only class they care about.
If at some point we do get another neoliberal democrat, we’ll just see a further spiral. If you look back, Ronald Reagan was considered an aberration among Republicans – he was an actor! He wasn’t qualified! He said horrible things in public! Then we had Clinton who normalized and codified a lot of what Reagan did.
Then we got GWB and suddenly Reagan didn’t seem like such a bad guy any more. Now GWB was the aberration. He’s not qualified! He say’s horrible things in public! He’s a laughing stock! Executive overreach! Then we had Obama who normalized and codified a lot of what GWB did.
Then we got Trump and suddenly GWB didn’t seem like such a bad guy any more…..
Do you see where this is going? If you thought it couldn’t get worse than Reagan, and then thought we were at the bottom with GWB, you now need to wonder if we could indeed go lower than Trump and how it is we keep getting lower.
Because there is no real difference between Dems and Reps. Trump is simply a real face of hypocritical politicians.
“Bernie represents much more of a threat to their (the Democrats) donor class than Trump does, and the donor class is the only class they (the neo-liberal corporate democrats that control the party) care about.”
I cringe when I write this, but “I agree with you.”
Doom! Doom! Doom! Doom! Doom!
WE are “the Democrats”. Voters who are going to listen to the debates and vote for the candidate in the primary they prefer are “the Democrats”.
I would not “rather lose to Trump than win with Bernie (or any other true progressive).” Does anyone else here feel that way?
There are a lot of Democrats on here so I don’t know who you are talking about. Who is this “they”?
If you are talking about African-American voters who may have a different preference than Bernie in the primary, then it sounds racist to me for you to insist that African-Americans would rather lose to Trump than have Bernie.
African-American voters don’t care about the “donor class”. They care about issues that are important to them just like you care about issues that are important to you. That doesn’t mean that those voters don’t ALSO care about issues that are important to you.
There is no reason to believe that African-American voters who may vote for a different candidate in the primary wouldn’t vote for Bernie if Bernie is the ultimate winner of the primary. It is shocking for anyone to imply those voters would rather have Trump win.
And I assume every voter that prefers Bernie would also care enough about racism to vote for the candidate African-American voters prefer if Bernie loses the primary to the candidate African-American voters prefer.
I am absolutely shocked that there are white voters who are already indicating that they won’t vote for Elizabeth Warren if she wins the primary and Bernie does not.
They are the real problem. The white Bernie voters who would rather seem Trump win than Elizabeth Warren.
I have never met a Democrat who would refuse to vote for Bernie against Trump if he won the primary. I don’t know why you believe there are lots of Democrats who would not vote for whoever wins the primary if their preferred candidate doesn’t.
Everyone who cares about racism and xenophobia and preventing the fascist takeover of America would vote for whoever wins the primary, period. They want to stop Trump.
Therefore, Biden is considered most electable. He best represents the donor class. Of the Trump supporters of my acquaintance, only one has regrets. We are teetering on the edge of another meaningless Middle East military engagement. In the meantime, we are subjecting desperate migrants to inhumane conditions on our southern border. We refuse to provide all our citizens with medical care. What are the characteristics of a civilized society and how will we be remembered?
Abigail,
I don’t think Biden will win the primary. But in the unlikely scenario where Biden does win it, it will probably be because of support from African-American voters in the primary.
It won’t be because some unnamed “donor class” has forced all of us voters to vote for Biden in the primary when we really want to vote for a different candidate.
I’m leaning Bernie, but if I decide on Warren instead, it isn’t because some unnamed “donor class” has forced me to vote for their candidate.
The nice thing about the “unnamed donor class” is that I have never yet heard them threaten primary voters by saying if Bernie wins, they will do everything they can to sabotage his campaign by repeating right wing lies about him as if they were truthful.
I have never seen a “donor class” try to sabotage a primary winner on the left in a general election.
In 2018 lots of primary winners on the left were able to win the general election precisely because the “donor class” did not try to sabotage their campaign. The only “donor class” that tried to sabotage their campaigns were on the far right.
Exactly, Ms. Shure. Very well said.
Lenin died in 1924, so he is no more around us as Christ. Trump is too incoherent and inconsequential to be compared with Stalin. Maybe in ten years or so he will be able to pull late Brezhnev.
BTW, the mere act of running for president shows that this is not fascism. Fascists don’t run for the presidency. They just take it.
dienne77: He ran for president but now believes that he is above the law. He has his own publicity channel blasting how great he is. The big question is will he ever leave? He got elected but doesn’t want to be ‘done in’ by some inferior Democrat. Only he can fix everything that is wrong with this country. Only us libtards believe differently.
He will probably claim that the elections were all fraudulent because those drug dealing, criminal immigrants were voting. He KNOWS that he is the best thing that ever happened to this country. There are a lot of people in his cult who also know that is the truth. My brother said that Trump was the best president this country has ever had. I have a friend in Florida whose brother says the same thing.
“Fascists don’t run for the presidency…”
Hitler came to power because he won an election. Hitler ran for office.
Fascists win elections and turn that win into grabbing full power.
Hilter was appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg after his party won, by election, the most seats but no party attained a majority.
It really does not matter whom the Dems nominate. The advantages of incumbency are enormous, and Trump has a history of getting what he wants. Unless the Dems can move to the center, and get enough interior states to assemble an EC majority, Trump is virtually assured a second term.
2024 is another matter, entirely. After 8 years of Repub in the WH, the nation will be ready for a change. I believe that the current crop of Dem hopefuls, is already conceding the 2020 election to Pres Trump.
The current Dem selection and nomination of a candidate to run in 2020, is a “prep” for 2024. The Dem nominee in 2024 will in all likelihood, be one of the crew that is running in this field now.
Moving to the center will ensure a Trump victory. Democrats need to show some courage and put a real alternative forward, someone who will galvanize the Democrats and bring them to the polls.
Feel the Bern.
Presumably, if a candidate can’t muster enough support to win the primary, they won’t muster enough support to win the general election.
Right now Elizabeth Warren is getting a lot of support and galvanizing supporters. In a few months it may be some other candidate.
Maybe a candidate will impress during the debates.
The way for Democrats to win is to not bash the winning candidate and destroy them the way all “losers” were destroyed by false attacks. Michael Dukakis was winning big against Bush 1 until he got mischaracterized. Gore was winning big against Bush 2 until he got mischaracterized. Kerry was winning big against Bush 2 until he got mischaracterized.
Neither Bill Clinton nor Obama got that kind of negative mischaracterization during the general election. Oh the right wing tried, but the disaffected Democrat voters who preferred another primary candidate refused to play along.
No matter who wins the primary, we cannot play along with the mischaracterization that the Democrat will not be a huge change from Trump.
Whether Bernie wins, Elizabeth Warren wins, or even Corey Booker (who I despise) wins the primary, it will be a change.
Yes, FEEL the BERN!
Don’t need another neo-liberal from the DNC. Sick of them.
I keep thinking about that horrid “Manifest Destiny.” I knew this was sick when in elementary school.
No one is ceding the election, Charles. The nation is more than ready to dump this chump Trump.
“Trump has a history of getting what he wants.”
Charles, let’s revise your allegation ti be more accurate.
Trump has a long history of being a bully, lying, not paying his bills, lying, breaking contracts, lying, stiffing workers, lying, fraud, lying, cheating on all of his wives and even his mistresses, lying, laundering money for Russian gangsters, lying, physically abusing women and even raping them, lying, helping a drug smuggler get his product into the U.S., lying, and getting away with all of it.
The 2020 election will not be an election for an incumbent, it will be the voters deciding if they want a bully, serial liar, troll, fraud, and con-man like Trump as the president of the United States. That is what all the polls are showing and why most of the voters’ minds are already forged in steel. 2020 will not be a traditional election. It is going to be an election based on values.
Always Trump voters have low to non-existent standards.
Never Trump voters have higher standards.
Since April 2018 the RCP average of all polls reveals that the gap between Always Trump and Never Trump voters has not budged much and there are not enough undecided to make that big of a difference.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_trump_job_approval-6179.html
That gap reveals that there are about 15-million more voters that belong to the Never Trump crowd.
The only way Trump can legally win in 2020 is if too many of those Never Trump Americans stay home and do not vote like too many of them did in 2016 thanks to the successful Russian’s warlike propaganda campaign to keep them from voting.
And it isn’t just the RCP average that shows how people feel.
How many people trust the Mass Media news also matches how the public feels about Trump.
“Democrats’ Trust in Media Highest in Past 20 Years”
“All party groups’ trust in the media hit record lows in 2016 and has increased in the past two years. Democrats’ trust surged last year and is now at 76%, the highest in Gallup’s trend by party, based on available data since 1997. Independents’ trust in the media is now at 42%, the highest for that group since 2005. Republicans continue to lag well behind the other party groups — just 21% trust the media — but that is up from 14% in 2016 and last year.”
76 percent of Democrats trust the news they read in the mass media. That means the majority of Democratic voters are not relying on FAKE FOX News like the Always Trump Republicans do so Hannity can think for them.
Voters trusting the mass media news instead of social media where the Russians and corrupt GOP will launch their major offensive of lies and deceit will decide if Trump wins or not.
TRUMP: He’s not my type, 2020
Groaner!
Mao was similarly embalmed for eternal viewing. The body is displayed in a crystal coffin. Peasant under glass.
Mao is not on display all the time. He only comes up from his underground refrigerator for special occasions.
This piece from Business Insider explains the process – how they preserved Mao’s body.
https://www.businessinsider.com/afp-live-long-and-endure-how-chinas-mao-was-preserved-2016-9
Funny post, Diane. We all know, ofc, that Trump is already wicked.
We should note that Trump’s Russophilic assault on American democracy is being essentially facilitated by the other 2 branches of government. Congress under Yertle the Republican is supine and neutered as they ignore 400+ pages of treasonous conduct. And as the Court in Brazil blocks their right-wing Putin-puppet Balsonaro from transferring indigenous lands to corporations ours……. really really likes beer. I’m not worried about 4 more years. I’m worried about 24 more years. Maybe David Byrne is more prescient than I thought because “we’re on a road to nowhere, come on inside”….
This woman has no business being a DOJ lawyer. Hoe do we get such incompetents? I’d hate to stand next to her if basic hygiene products aren’t needed.
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DOJ Lawyer Defends Herself After Viral Testimony on Child Migrant Treatment
06.26.19
Video of Sarah Fabian’s testimony went viral after she argued that migrant kids in detainment don’t need soap or toothbrushes.
A Justice Department lawyer has defended herself after she was roundly criticized for saying that migrant children detained by the Trump administration don’t need soap, toothbrushes, or blankets. A video of Sarah Fabian’s testimony last week before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals went viral after she argued the legal requirement that the government provide “safe and sanitary” conditions for detained children didn’t necessarily require very basic hygiene products…
https://www.thedailybeast.com/sarah-fabian-doj-lawyer-defends-herself-after-viral-testimony-on-child-migrant-treatment?source=email&via=desktop
Good luck with wanting help from Trump. “Buy America”???
An examination of shipping data associated with Ivanka Trump’s clothing and accessory brand reveals that a significant amount of her brand’s shoes, clothes, and handbags are imported from China and Hong Kong, going against President Donald Trump’s ‘buy American’ policy. Workers at her factory made $62 a week after working 60 hours.
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From Inkstone: News from Hong Kong
Hong Kong activists march for global attention
…”Help Hong Kong,” activists chanted in front of the US consulate, with some waving signs that said: “President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong.”
“I hope Trump would have a talk with Xi Jinping at G20,” said a 23-year-old protester, who only gave his surname Chan.
“America is a country with democracy and freedom. It is the most powerful country in the world. It should have the ability and determination to help Hong Kong.”
Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet at the G20 summit in the Japanese city of Osaka this week.
https://inks.tn/7qas?utm_source=email&utm_medium=share&utm_campaign=share_button
This makes me cry. They aren’t fetuses so they don’t matter to the Trump administration.
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DISTURBING: Photo Of Drowned Father And Daughter Highlights Migrants’ Tragic Struggles
Óscar Alberto Martínez Ramírez and daughter Valeria drowned on the bank of the Rio Grande.
MEXICO CITY (AP) — The man and his 23-month-old daughter lay face down in shallow water along the bank of the Rio Grande, his black shirt hiked up to his chest with the girl’s head tucked inside. Her arm was draped around his neck suggesting she clung to him in her final moments.
The searing photograph of the sad discovery on Monday, captured by journalist Julia Le Duc and published by Mexican newspaper La Jornada, highlights the perils of the latest migration crisis involving mostly Central Americans fleeing violence and poverty and hoping for asylum in the United States…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/photo-drowned-father-daughter-migrants-struggles_n_5d129258e4b04f059e4b2222
Hmmmm reminds me of…
And on the pedestal, these words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
You got lucky, Diane. I was at a swimming competition in Moscow in 1975, and after the competition, in the evening, we went to the Red square to stand in line to see Lenin. We were there until about 2am, and we were happy not to find anybody else in line, so we could see Lenin as soon as the mausoleum opened in the morning. Then somebody told us, the mausoleum was not open the next day. He added “You won’t miss much, believe me, since by now he is barely 120cm tall, and there is just nothing impressive about him.”
So maybe by the time you saw Lenin in the ’80s, he might have shrunk to a yard or so. As you said, by the ’80s only a yard long candle remained from the hero of the Great Russian Revolution of 1917.
Similarly, in a few years, fans of our orange leader can pay their respect by visiting his immortalized remains that are exhibited in a fruit basket .
Máté Wierdl: “Similarly, in a few years, fans of our orange leader can pay their respect by visiting his immortalized remains that are exhibited in a fruit basket .”
That shrinkage will make him look even better than the Orange Moron figure that he now portrays.
Ewwwww on both of them. Here’s hoping that he lands for a L-O-N-G term in prison and nobody has to ever look at him.
A fruit basket. LMAO!
“exhibited in a fruit basket”
Really!
Does it have to be a fruit basket?
Instead, I want Trump exhibited in a toilet with his head extending from the bowl and the gold plated seat tilted up so it looks like a crown of light behind his head – that is if anyone can tell the difference between his orange hair and the gold toilet seat.
Sure, Lloyd, we can have the Trump memorial according to your specification.
One year of Trump seems like an eternity. Vote him out, vote Democratic even if it’s Biden or Booker. I’m feeling the Bern but he’s not leading in the polls right now so anything can happen. For those people who say that there’s no difference between the parties: is there a difference between Ruth Ginsburg and Sam Alito? Or Breyer and Thomas?
Exactly
I do not think it matters what the poll numbers report now.
Once the contender list is reduced to three or four, the numbers will change drastically because there will not be as many choices to divide the vote. After the first Democratic debates that start tonight, the number of contenders should drop, hopefully before the end of July.
I won’t be watching these early debates. I’ll read about them after they are over probably from FiveThirtyEight.
And then there is this: “How Popular is Donald Trump?” 2 hours ago
51.7 percent disparoove
42.3 percent approve.
FiveThirtyEight’s (538) poll gap hasn’t changed much since April 2018. Real Clear Politics comes up with a different number but they are not as precise as 538.
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/democratic-debate-poll/
I’m not sure why people are so upset that there are so many Democratic contenders. How else do we get to see the range of opinion? Strong support for certain policies may get things in the platform that might not have made it otherwise. Change happens incrementally. We’re moving in the right direction. We will keep moving toward a more just and equitable society as long as no one throws a hissy fit because everything they believe in didn’t become the mantra of the Democratic party or whoever ends up as the candidate. Bernie knows that. After what Trump has done, we should all know that and vote to get Trump out.
Amen, “we should vote to get Trump out,” and … and … and kick the GOP majority out of the Senate while increasing the gap in the House.
Then once the election fog clears, we go after Kavanaugh, impeach him, and boot him from the US Supreme Court.
Once Kavanaugh is gone and has been replaced with a moderate, then Ginsberg retires and is replaced with another moderate.
And Trump is watching/hearing all of this happen from his grimy prison cell in Rikers Island without any access to Twitter and the rest of the internet thanks to a judge’s ruling.
Propaganda Minister of the Trump Misadministration Stephen Miller, Hypocrite, Racist, Criminal. Here, his uncle describes Miller’s family history:
I believe the whole problem is Fox, Rush L, Hannity and Alex Jones. They continue to lie and therefore nothing Trump does, no matter how evil, is ever seen or understood by around 40% of the population. This is particularly obscene when Trump bragged about being attracted to beautiful women like a magnet and he can get away with it because he is a star. Obviously Carroll was ‘Trump’s type’ when she was younger. Wait until Melania starts showing wrinkles. Then she’ll no longer be ‘his type’.
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Trump’s 22nd Sexual Assault Allegation | The Daily Show
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Published on Jun 25, 2019
Donald Trump faces his 22nd sexual assault allegation and denies it by saying, “She’s not my type” about his accuser E. Jean Carroll. How has he survived the #MeToo movement virtually unscathed?
The Dalai Lama has the brains to speak out against Trump when our sycophant GOP doesn’t.
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“When he [Trump] became president, he expressed, ‘America first.’ That is wrong,” the Dalai Lama told Vaidyanathan. “America, they should take the global responsibility.”
The Dalai Lama also described the U.S. president as scatterbrained, saying that his “emotions” are a “little bit too complicated.”
“One day, he says something,” the Dalai Lama said of Trump. “Another day, he says something.” And he added that Trump suffers from a “lack of moral principle.”
Donald Trump has ‘lack of moral principal’ says Dalai Lama
Guardian News
Uploaded on Jun 26, 2019
“We are a country that’s respected again,” President Trump said before taking off for Japan.
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I think he made up that grand idea. It exists inside his empty head.
I think Trump is a fool and I certainly don’t share his sense of humor. I think this is the only time Trump has shown any inclination to joke. He’s SICK. [We all know that Russia was involved in getting Trump elected. Isn’t he being a traitor to the USA to continue to stand up for Putin?] Pompeo is also laughing at the humor.
HA, HA, HA! NOT FUNNY!
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‘Don’t Meddle In The Election’: Trump And Putin Are Openly Joking About It Now
The president wagged his finger at the Russian leader and told him not to meddle in the U.S. election.
President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin joked about election meddling on Friday at the G-20 summit in Japan.
As the two sat next to each for a meeting and press opportunity, a reporter asked Trump if he would tell Putin not to meddle in the upcoming U.S. election as Russia had done in 2016.
“Don’t meddle in the election,” Trump said to Putin, then wagged a finger and repeated it. “Don’t meddle in the election.”
Putin laughed, as did Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who was seated near Trump…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-putin-dont-meddle_n_5d15abd0e4b082e55366f801
Trump is now wishing journalists could be gotten rid of and wants the US to be like Russia. Bolsonaro is the Trump of Brazil who hates indigenous people and supports the interests of industries that want greater access to protected lands.
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On Friday, in a further attempt to lighten the mood, Trump sought common ground with Putin at the expense of the journalists who had gathered to catch the leaders at the outset of their meeting.
“Get rid of them. Fake news is a great term, isn’t it. You don’t have this problem in Russia but we do,” Trump said.
To which Putin responded, in English: “We also have. It’s the same.”
Trump later held talks with Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro, “He is a special man, doing very well, very much loved by the people of Brazil,” Trump said, smiling broadly.
President Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil has compared indigenous communities living in protected lands to animals in zoos.