Ignorance is usually not a good defense when you get caught. In Trump’s case, it is the default response when things go wrong.
You could write a book about what Trump doesn’t know. He doesn’t know that Greenland is not for sale. He doesn’t know that Finland is not part of Russia. He doesn’t know that Frederick Douglass is a historical figure, not someone living today. He doesn’t know that climate change is real and dangerous to the planet. There are so many things that he never learned in school or in his adult life.
Dana Milbank of the Washington Post figured out that the White House now uses “he didn’t know” as an all-purpose excuse. When the story about Russians paying a bounty for dead American and coalition forces in Afghanistan was published, the White House defense was that no one told Trump. Long ago, this was called “plausible deniability.” In the case of Trump, it is perfectly reasonable to assume that he didn’t know. What he thinks he knows is wrong (hydrochoroquine does not cure COVID-19, drinking disinfectants does not prevent getting the disease, windmills do not cause cancer, the pandemic is not over, etc.).
Milbank writes:
If things weren’t already bad enough for President Trump — economic collapse, botched pandemic response, mass unrest — U.S. intelligence believes Trump’s “friend” Vladimir Putin paid Taliban fighters bounties to kill U.S. troops.
But the White House is ready with a defense: The president has no earthly idea what’s going on.
Totally in the dark.
Not a clue!
“The CIA director, NSA, national security adviser, and the chief of staff can all confirm that neither the president nor the vice president were briefed on the alleged Russian bounty intelligence,” White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany declared at Monday afternoon’s briefing.
So, asked NBC’s Kristen Welker, Trump was kept “out of the loop by his own intelligence community?”
“It would not be elevated to the president until it was verified,” the press secretary explained.
Shouldn’t the president have been told about such a serious matter?
“There are dissenting opinions,” McEnany ventured.
Reporters pointed out that intelligence, by definition, is generally unverified, and that the bounty intelligence was solid enough that U.S. officials shared it with the British.
McEnany indicated Trump’s advisers didn’t find it “necessary” to brief him.
But “given these reports,” asked Jeff Mason of Reuters, “does the president have a specific message for Moscow?”
“No,” McEnany said, “because he has not been briefed.”
In fact, McEnany suggested, Trump still hadn’t been briefed on the Russian bounties by Monday afternoon, even though administration officials were, at that hour, briefing lawmakers.
Previous presidents have claimed not to have been briefed about things they shouldn’t have known about, as when then-Vice President George H.W. Bush claimed he was “out of the loop” on the Iran-contra affair during the 1980s. But this is quite unusual: The White House insisting the president was out of the loop on something he should have known about. It’s as though Trump’s ignorance is a point of pride.
The out-to-lunch excuse has been getting more use as things get worse for Trump. On Sunday, Trump shared a video in which a man chanting “white power” (Trump’s tweet thanked the “great people” in the video) and deleted it only after an outcry that included Republicans. McEnany claimed Trump “did not hear that particular phrase” when he watched the video.
By Trump’s own account, he was kept in the dark by China on the coronavirus. He was oblivious to the significance of Juneteenth or of Tulsa when he scheduled a campaign rally on that day in that city. And John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser says Trump was unaware of many things, including Britain’s status as a nuclear power.
Ignorance may be the only bliss for Trump as his presidency dissolves into failures. As other countries keep the coronavirus in check, states that followed Trump’s encouragement to reopen early — Florida, Arizona, Texas, Georgia, South Carolina — are seeing record levels of infections. His allies are calling for a campaign shakeup as polls show the unpopular president trailing Democrat Joe Biden by nearly 10 points.
His rally in Tulsa was a debacle. His dalliances with white supremacists (McEnany declined Monday to disavow the display of Confederate battle flags at Trump rallies) has galvanized the opposition. Bolton revealed that Trump sought reelection help from China. And now, Russians have apparently put bounties on the heads of U.S. troops.
McEnany opened her briefing with a statement decrying “anarchy in our streets,” “chaos,” “shootings,” “rioting,” “domestic terrorism” and “rampant destruction.” Standing against anarchy, she said, “is President Trump’s vision for the future.”
That’s quite a reelection pitch.
But, in one sense, McEnany has a point about anarchy: When it comes to the nation’s troubles, our head of state is MIA.
Trump’s own secretary of health and human services is saying the “window is closing” to get control of the situation — but Trump’s spokeswoman says that “we’re encouraged to see that fatalities are coming down” and that mask wearing should be a “personal choice.”
Okay, so Trump isn’t going to act to stop the virus’s resurgence. How about action to stop Russia from paying for the killing of U.S. troops?
“The president is briefed on verified intelligence,” McEnany said.
“If he hasn’t been briefed,” the Dallas Morning News’s Todd Gillman asked, “how is he certain that Russia didn’t put out these bounties?”
The press secretary replied by condemning the “absolutely irresponsible decision of the New York Times to falsely report that he was briefed on something that he in fact was not briefed on.”
How dare the Times report that Trump was informed! Get it right: This president’s ignorance is total — and you can quote the White House press secretary on that.
“That’s not fair! You didn’t tell us this would be on the test.”
And ignorance has become much more than a point of pride, it’s now a political philosophy.
I don’t believe tRump. He works for Putin.
If tRump really didn’t know about bounties on American soldiers, COVID-19 and how debilitating and lethal it is, his ignorance is not an excuse. He’s potus … and should know.
Sorry tRump does NOT get a pass. That DUMP is the worse potus ever, and America has had some real stupid and corrupt doozies for potus.
Beautiful
Ever since Richard Nixon was forced to resign in the face of his involvement in multiple scandals, presidents have insulated themselves against knowledge. This president seems better than any at doing just that. Not knowing seems to come natural to him. You have to admire a special talent in a person.
Sorry, can’t help but add a little history here. John Banner, who played Sgt. Schulz, was an Austrian actor who fled Naziism (he has a minor but significant role in the Brando/Martin/Clift film The Young Lions that shows his dramatic acting chops). Both he and Werner Klemperer, whose father Otto is one of the great conductors of the 20th century, and played Col. Klink expressly took these roles with the stipulation that they would look like idiots and not in any way glorify or legitimize Naziism, only make it look silly and inept. I grew up laughing at them and was sure this would never, ever be broadcast in Germany, where American television series were constantly dubbed and rebroadcast in the 60s-80s. Much to my surprise, it was dubbed and introduced on German television (with the translated title, A Nest of Crazies) in the 90s and was quite popular and is still being shown, developing a niche audience. Banner and Klemperer are two actors whose legacies deserve our respect and honor.
So many defendants have been found guilty in court cases in which defendant maintains he was ignorant of the law. Ignorance of the law is not a defense for not following the law. A person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law. While not a law, being informed a responsibility of leadership. If every day Americans are held to this standard, how can we expect less of the Commander-in-Chief? It is a dereliction of his duty!
“It is a dereliction of his duty!”
YES, a resounding YES.
Trump magically feels that COVID-19 will “sort of just disappear.” COVID-19 is NOT going to magically disappear, no matter how much Trump wishes it away. Pence wants us all to pray it away.
This country desperately needs leadership. One that recognizes that this country must contain the virus before any sound economic growth…jobs…can come back.
On Monday, Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director at the CDC, was interviewed by The Journal of the American Medical Association. The coronavirus is spreading too fast and too widely to bring it under control in the U.S., she said.
Florida had over 10,000 new cases in ONE day. Magically disappearing is as likely to happen as the tooth fairy.
Given that there is little doubt that Donald Trump is a Russian asset, I would hope (expect, more like it) that our intelligence community has withheld a great deal from him!!!!! Otherwise, we would be profoundly compromised–I mean even more profoundly compromised than we are, before the world, because of the idiot in the now Offal Office.
To someone a bit smarter than Trump, the entire world is “deep state”–something whose functioning just escapes him or her. Why are all these people protesting? But for Trump, the questions–what’s really going on here? how does that work? why is this happening–don’t arise much because he’s not only clueless about the world but also clueless about his cluelessness. He lives in a comic book fantasy world from the 1950s. In someone without the power he has, it would be comical to listen to him, again and again and again, state the obvious, the widely known, as though it were revelation: “A lot of people don’t know this but, . . . water is wet.”
BTW, this always happens with the extreme narcissists with power. The conversation among the aides become not about the grave issues but about what and how to tell the Boss, if anything.
But there is one thing that the traitor at the top does know: he knows who the boss is. MAGA: Moscow’s Asset Governing America.
So, suppose that I am right, and that our intelligence and defense people do withhold certain information from Don the Con because he can’t be trusted with it, what about this information, in particular? One would think that they would, in this case, want him to know that they know and would want to force him, by making this information known, to do, however reluctantly, what actually might be good for the country. So, I suspect that they did include this in his briefing (which for other presidents has been a daily briefing but for him is about once a week), and others have come forward and said that they spoke with Trump about this. So, he knew, even though he doesn’t read. Even though people have to draw pictures for him, he knew.
Trump was probably the student that overused “the dog ate my homework” excuse. The sad part is captain bone spurs is still up to his old excuses. He is pathetic!
I said that in someone without his power, Trump-level ignorance of just about everything (Belgium is a city; inject disinfectant; send astronauts to the sun; countries pay when we impose tariffs on their goods; the two Corinthians; Frederick Douglass is doing great things these days; when the Continental Army captured the airports) would be amusing. But ofc it wouldn’t be amusing, it would be terribly sad.
Two Corinthians walk into a bar…
Very good! I’m waiting for the rest of the joke!
I forgot my all-time favorite Trumpism (after injecting disinfectants): The airplane you can’t see:
https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/trump-thinks-stealth-planes-are-invisible
Bob Shepherd: I loved the looks on the faces of the men behind Trump in the last scene where he once again says that this plane cannot be seen. It looks like they know better but aren’t sure how to react.
IKR?
So, Jesus and two Corinthians walk into a bar. Jesus orders one fish sandwich and feeds everyone in the bar with it. “Pretty impressive,” says Sheila, the bartender. “Thanks,” Sheila,” says Jesus. “Have you met my friends Typhus and Diphtheria?”
Seventh-Grade Book Report
Old Yeller is a grate book. It is by Fred Gipson. In fackt. Its my favurit book by Fred Gipson. I new I wud like it. Because my father is named Fred to. He is a very good authur. (Mr. Gipson). It has 128 pages in it. The book I mean. Why is this such a grate book? Because it is ful of many things that happen. Very exciting. Details–It is about a dog. His name is Yeller. He is old. I dont want to go on and on. So. I recoment it highli. I havnt read any books. this good in a long time. It is the best book out of the many many many many many books i have readed.
The End
Donnie Trump
P.S. I would Like to thank my Dad. who is also named fred. for the monie he gav to this skool. that pay my teechers saleree. so I cud reed grate books here. like old yeller.
You misspelled book. I think it would have been written as buk.
Books, to Trump, are bunk. Why read when you already know it all? Except, of course, his favorite book, The Bible, and his second favorite book, The Art of the Feel, uh, Deal.
Sorry, Greg. That was just locker room talk. So, it’s OK.
In 2021, after losing the November 2020 election and attempting to go start a Civil War, Ruth Bader Gensburg sentences Trump to prison: “While serving in solitary confinement with no internet connection, Donald Trump will be eligible for parole only after he has read the 1,232 books listed by Greatest Books.org. To prove that he read and understood the 1,232 books, Donald Trump must take a test for each book. The tests will be written by Hillary Clinton and corrected by President Obama. To pass each test, Donald Trump must earn a score of 80% or better.”
https://www.thegreatestbooks.org/the-greatest-fiction-from/-10000/to/1960
😂
Bingo …. “MAGA: Moscow’s Asset Governing America.”
In my military and corporate careers I quickly learned that a leader is responsible for all that happens or fails to happen. Great leaders live by that belief. Trump, as we we’ll know, is not a great leaders. Not even a good leader. He fails to recognize his mistakes. He fails to recognize the failures of his administration. When he claims something has happened as being good it is usually a failure. I would imagine Trump knew what the Russians were doing but failed for many reason to take any action. IF he did not know then the intelligence community should be totally held accountable and people loose their jobs. There is absolutely no excuse of how this Russian situation was handled by either Trump, his administration, and the intelligence community. This people all failed in their sworn duties and military personnel died because of these failures.
AMEN: “There is absolutely no excuse of how this Russian situation was handled by either Trump, his administration, and the intelligence community. This people all failed in their sworn duties and military personnel died because of these failures.”
There is no cure for stupid. People by now should realize that this virus kills. Trump is personally responsible for many deaths. Trump should know by now that things aren’t going well for this country, yet he is determined to hold another photo op at Mount Rushmore where 7,500 tickets have been sold and masks are optional. No social distancing will be required. STUPIDITY!!
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On June 20, 2012 Republican presidential contender Herman Cain attended Trump’s mask-optional rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Twelve days later, the tenders of Cain’s Twitter account announced that Cain has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently hospitalized with “serious” symptoms.
As campaign surrogate, Cain has been contemptuous of mask usage and dismissive of pandemic dangers.
https://t.co/Oykdz4xThD?amp=1
Just yesterday, Cain bragged that masks “will not be mandatory” for Trump’s Friday event at Mt. Rushmore, tweeting “PEOPLE ARE FED UP!”
Famous quote from Casablanca–Captain Renault: “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here.”
With Trump, it’s even worse: He’s shocked, shocked to find out…. Double denial as he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to learn anything.
lol
“He didn’t know” is the most credible defense. After all, he spends countless hours watching Fox News.
Hmmm. You have a point there, Daniel Spaniel!!!
Here is some of that “news” from Fox:
……………………………………………………….
Trump touts business gains, warns of 1929-level economic ‘crash’ if he loses election
Ronn Blitzer | Fox News
Trump expressed optimism over the economy ahead of the holiday weekend
President Trump recognized small businesses and touted an economic recovery on Thursday, during a “Spirit of America” celebration at the White House, a precursor to this weekend’s Fourth of July celebrations. | Fox News
…With the economy gradually reopening and jobs coming back, Trump predicted that by next year the country will be in an even stronger position than prior to the pandemic. That is, he warned, as long as he wins in November and remains in office.
“You’ll have a crash like you’ve never seen before,” Trump said, warning against potential Democratic tax hikes. “You put the wrong person in office, you’ll see things that you would not have believed were possible.”
Reprising a warning he delivered earlier in the day about the prospect of Democratic challenger Joe Biden raising taxes, he said, “That will be, all of this incredible job that we’ve done, will go down like that. It will be a terrible, terrible sight. It might even be a 1929 situation. So you have a chance to have the greatest numbers in history.”…
https://fxn.ws/3eUgGnV
“It’s as though Trump’s ignorance is a point of pride.”
Trumpty Dumpty doesn’t think he is ignorant. He sees his thoughts as alternative facts. Then he repeats his alternative facts every chance he gets just like dedicated me-first fascists have always done.
After all, Trumpty Dumpty’s lying heroes are Roy Cohn, Putin, Kim in North Korea, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Goebbels.
“How Donald Trump and Roy Cohn’s Ruthless Symbiosis Changed America”
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/06/donald-trump-roy-cohn-relationship
Trump has repeatedly demonstrated that he believes “if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes accepted as truth” an expression from Joseph Goebbels that was coined by Adolf Hitler, when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf, about the use of a lie so “colossal” that no one would believe that someone “could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously”.
But, Trump will never admit he lies. To the Kremlin’s Agent Orange, what he wants everyone to believe is his list of alternative facts, lies that he repeats with a goal to turn them into truths just like his heroes taught him.
Before we get rid of Trump, we might see the United States crumble into more than one country.
States controlled by Trump’s deplorable followers will start in Montana and Idaho and flow south like an ocean of blood to the gulf states to the east of Texas toward Florida and they will become Trumpeekstan
Then there will be the NorthEast United States and on the other side of what was once America the Western United States.
And, Alaska, Texas, and Hawaii all might become independent countries on their own.
Trumpeekstan will become like North Korea, a threat to world peace that will never go away, and Trump’s children and their children’s children will become just like the Kim Dynasty.
Trump can’t be very happy that Ghislaine Maxwell is in custody.
Ghislaine: “Sing. Sing a song. Sing it loud. Sing it long.”
She is a dangerous woman. Let’s hope she lives to tell her story.
Barr just awarded Ghislaine a law degree and appointed her the prosecuting attorney and judge in her case. All objections are overruled.
After that, she will be nominated by Trump to fill the next vacancy on the Supreme Court.
When it comes to Trump, your prediction is too close to the truth.
Fred: LOL. But one does wonder how they are going to prevent her from talking. Too obvious to do to her what they did to Epstein.
It was too obvious to do to Epstein what they did to Epstein.
Well, maybe it’s not too obvious, bizarrely enough. The U.S. press still largely refers to Epstein’s death by suicide. You know, like all those doctors throwing themselves out windows in Russia.
Will Ghislaine Maxwell die under strange circumstances, too?
What unrelieved misery is this Trump,
A nuclear wedgie on the stump.
Unloading him — the Ultimate Dump.
One of–it not the first thing(s)–new law students learn is: Ignorantia juris non excusat~
“Ignorance of the law excuses no one” or “…excuses not.”
Perhaps WHit should have been a lawyer…& NOT a liar.
Certainly, WHit should never, ever have been crowned (Electoral College, not we, the people) president.
Next excuse: ignorance of what the word ignorant means.
Trump made it through his very divisive speech at Mt. Rushmore yesterday evening. His supporters put out a photo on Twitter of Trump joining the other presidents on top of the mountain. THEN, critics posted what they thought would be how to improve the whole lot. Think they should have just ‘blasted’ off the creature on the far L.
I’m possibly rethinking what I wrote. This carving was a violation of land given to the Lakota Native Americans.
I don’t have the answer except to say that putting Trump up there in any way is sickening.
First, Trump wanted a Nobel Prize.
Second, Trump wants his racist, hate-mongering, divisive (I’m sick and tired of seeing his) ugly mug carved into Mt. Rushmore.
What is he going to do next to become immortal in his own stable genius of a mind?
Trump is mentally deranged. The L is overthrowing the American Revolution? We are destroying the progress that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence and hunger?
Personally, I’d say Trump and the GOP are doing a great job of that. Millions with no healthcare is fine because the U.S. doesn’t want socialism and can’t afford healthcare for everyone. Disease [COVID-19] isn’t being noticed by our Orange Menace. The GOP wants to cut food stamps because lazy people who are hungry go out a find a job. Crapola.
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Trump responds to calls to tear down monuments with creation of ‘National Garden’ of statues
07/03/20
The White House unveiled an executive order Friday evening to create a “National Garden of American Heroes” that will feature statues of prominent Americans.
…Trump also railed against those tearing down statues of Confederate leaders during an impassioned speech at Mount Rushmore, accusing them of wanting to “overthrow the American Revolution” and fundamentally change the country.
“There is a new far-left fascism that demands absolute allegiance. If you do not speak its language, perform its rituals, recite its mantras and follow its commandments, then you will be censored, banished, blacklisted, persecuted and punished. Not going to happen to us,” he told a packed crowd.
“Make no mistake, this left-wing cultural revolution is designed to overthrow the American Revolution. In so doing, they would destroy the very civilization that rescued billions from poverty, disease, violence and hunger and that lifted humanity to new heights of achievement, discovery and progress,” he continued. “To make this possible, they are determined to tear down every statue, symbol and memory of our national heritage.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/505842-trump-responds-to-calls-to-tear-down-monuments-with-creation-of
I do love the idea of a National
Garden of American Heroes. Frederick Douglass, Dr. King, and Harriet Tubman should tower over Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis and hector them for eternity.
I wonder who will make the decisions on which heroes will be included in the garden — “We the People” or politicians. The list provided by Trump clearly is one made by a pseudo-politician with a very vague understanding of history. When it comes down to it, I think Trump is trying to come up with a place that his statute can be placed and this is nothing more than a political opportunity prior to the upcoming election just like the photo-op with the Bible in front of the statute.
“this is nothing more than a political opportunity”
When it comes to Trump, everything he says and tweets is nothing more than what he thinks is a political opportunity.
Trumpy Dumpty’s deranged mind is coming up with all kinds of ideas in a desperate attempt to become our country’s first dear leader for life. If he losses, his ugly mug will be dragged into one court trial after another for the rest of his deplorable life.
In Trumpelstilktskin’s mind, the Rushmore Debacle is like the Boston Tea Party for white supremacists. The Kremlin’s Agent Orange is counting on the racist-right to become his army for the Civil War he wants to start that he thinks will launch the Trump Dynasty for ten thousand years.
I wonder if the heroes to be recognized include: the farmers who have plowed the fields and fed this nation, the workers broke their backs and died to lay the railroad tracks that linked this nation from coast to coast and north to south, the women who worked the factories during our wars building planes and tanks while their men were overseas fighting and dying, workers who built the great dams that hold back water so we can have the electricity we need, firemen/women, police officers, health professionals who save lives everyday, etc., etc. The list is endless of those considered to be just the common men and women who actually are the backbone of the great nation. These are the people that get up everyday and go to jobs that are tedious, sometimes boring with low pay but in the end are the very jobs that keep this nation alive. These are the people that need to be recognized as heroes. How do we recognize this people? Or don’t they really count?
Trump has been a micromanager all of his life. Correct me if I am wrong, but this monument was Trump’s idea. If correct, then do not count on anyone from the working class being represented in that monument or anyone with power and wealth that Trump dislikes for any reason. Trump will make all the final decisions and statues of his family will probably represent the majority. The rest of the statues will depend on how much money the alt-right billionaires donated to Trump’s re-election campaign.
The Trump Reich?