Today, Trump made a point of defending the Confederate flag, responding to NASCAR’s decision to ban it and Mississippi’s decision to remove it as part of the state flag.
Trump has become the nation’s leading defender of the Lost Cause, the great champion of states’ rights and white supremacy.
The New York Times reports:
President Trump mounted an explicit defense of the Confederate flag on Monday, suggesting that NASCAR had made a mistake in banning it from its auto racing events, while falsely accusing a top Black driver, Darrell Wallace Jr., of perpetrating a hoax involving a noose found in his garage.
Mr. Trump’s reference to the Confederate flag, and its role in a sport whose mostly white fans Mr. Trump remains popular with, was the latest remark by the president as he tries to rally his culturally conservative base behind his struggling re-election effort.
While NASCAR and other organizations have moved to retire symbols of the Confederacy, and lawmakers in Mississippi voted to bring down the state flag featuring the Confederate emblem, Mr. Trump has increasingly used racist language and references to portray himself as a protector of the history of the American South. He has called the phrase “Black Lives Matter” a “symbol of hate,” and he has repeatedly tried to depict pockets of violence during protests against entrenched racism as representative of the protest movement as a whole.
Trump’s campaign rests on an appeal to white nationalism and racism.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I never understood how or why someone raised in NYC would care about the confederate flag. Does he really believe in its legitimacy, or is he just playing to his southern base?
The way to understand Trump is to start by realizing that he has no beliefs, other then self and money. Everything else is transactional.
Not only that, his ancestors weren’t even in the U.S. during the Civil War. It is not “our heritage,” at all, but especially not his. It’s so confusing, except under the lens that he’s an outright racist creep.
Trump is holding an event at the White House on reopening schools.
I assume it will be the usual ed reform DC event. No one from a public school will be invited and public schools will receive a stern tongue lashing from the assembled private school graduates who now work full time as professional public school critics.
What we can bet on is there will be no practical or useful assistance of any kind that will in any way benefit any actual public school student or family.
Anyone who supports the Idiot no longer can claim that they are not racists, bigots and/or sociopaths. Not one. Especially Republicans in Congress. There are no excuses left.
There is a sad truth to what you write, GregB. It is very disheartening. What a horrible chapter in our nation’s history. I find myself wondering how people will describe it decades from now….what the nickname will be -if there is one?
So many ed reform orgs got PPP loans. Not charters. The ed reform orgs that lobby for charters and vouchers.
The professional public school critics associations are now federally funded, but no one can find any money for the actual public schools.
Oh, well. The actual schools will all be closed but we’ll get a ton of op eds on how public schools suck, so that was a good investment. Good job everyone. Nice to see we have our priorities in order. Elaborate analysis on all the many ways public schools are “failing’ from people who make 3 figures a year but no functioning public schools.
Our poor kids. They’re so poorly served by the “leaders” they pay. The dead last priority- always.
Since Trump is not a reader (even brags about it), he is getting his ideas from Fox and lying pukes like Rush Limbaugh, Alex Jones, and Hannity.
“The President Who Doesn’t Read” and doesn’t write any books that were published with his name as the author (all written by ghost authors).
“He (Trumpy Dumpty) didn’t process information in any conventional sense,” Wolff writes. “He didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-literate.” …
“In March, Reuters reported that briefers had strategically placed the president’s name in as many paragraphs of briefing documents as possible so as to attract his fickle attention.”
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/americas-first-post-text-president/549794/
Trump also has a CLOSED mind (if there is a mind between his orange-tinted ears.)
“An open-minded person is fine with new, unfamiliar strategies and ideas. This can extend to adopting new cultures or finding faster ways of achieving a goal. They don’t let their ego prevent them from questioning their beliefs.
“A close-minded person or narrow-minded person is someone who is against considering new ideas and who believes his opinions about how life works must be right. There are many reasons why this happens, including fear of the unknown, comfort with familiarity, and ego.”
https://willyoulaugh.com/open-minded
Good choice of a word, Lloyd. “Puke” is exactly right.
I was down in town a few weeks ago getting a fishing license and the owner of the sports shop (by far no liberal, that’s for sure) called Trump a “yo-yo”. I thought that was a good description and welcome news coming from the source.
Pukes and yo-yos.
An unpredictable yo-yo.
We never know which way it is going to fly and what or who it is going to hit.
Wonderful!
LOL.
Aint no problem, Jon. Jist bleech it. If, that is, y’aint allready injected all yore bleech to keep from ketchin the car owner virus.
Trump will say and do anything to pander to his right wing base. He loves the uneducated, and he will use them to fleece this country. He is accomplishing this at an alarming rate. Billions of dolllars in Covid money have gone to Trump lobbyists.https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-connected-lobbyists-secure-coronavirus-financial-aid/
White supremacy is fundamental to the GOP base.
Another part is gender conservatism and libertarian economics.
“A brand of narrow Christianity that has enormous political power” (9-5-2019, Commonweal).
In the Commonweal article, readers are informed about George Weigel, who is an associate of Robert P. George. Robert George is a Heritage Foundation (Koch) board member and he is linked to the Ethics and Public Policy Center in D.C. Commonweal’s article describes a conference at Tim Busch’s Napa Institute, that had 17 speakers, 16 were white and 16 were male.
A reviewer of Weigel’s new book (article from a different magazine) identifies Weigel’s thinking, “The next pope should challenge the world’s democracies to rebuild their moral foundations offering Catholic social doctrine as one tool (to achieve) the urgent task.”
The doctrine is posted at Manhattan Declaration. It was authored by George and it has been rejected by U.S. democratic opinion.
As one columnist wrote, Germany preserves the landmarks so as to “never forget.”
But there are no new cities or towns named after them and there are not statues of Hitler, Goebbels, and others.
And, Al Sharpton makes the point quite clear: These men committed TREASON. They attempted to overthrow the government.
So why would we retain their statues and why name military bases of all places after them.
II suppose if this is the status quo, this president stands a chance of getting a statue and having a base named after him.
He is a racist and would love to overthrow the government.
Been there, done that… Public places were named after Ronald Reagan, the pretty face of states rights bigots.
While Charles, and David Koch and, Leonard Leo extinguished democracy, vainglorious churches backed the despots.
These narcissists with power surround themselves with toadies, and they start believing their own bs. Trump is holding onto the belief that he has this enormous base that will pull off a repeat of 2016 if he just keeps appealing to their nativism.
I am shocked (shocked!) that there is so little respect for Donald J. (for Jesus) Trump on this blog.
The Libtard Dimocrats aint gonna let reel Americans add are Presidint to Mount Rushmore. Thats why Darlene and I is startin a petishun to add Mr. Trump to the carvings of Confederate HEros on Stone Mountain.
I can think of a better monument where they should carve a likeness of Trumpeekthinskin’s mug.
The U.S. National Park Service museum on Alcatraz Island. Select one of the solitary confinement cells inside this former maximum-security federal prison, and have artists carve Trumpty Dumpty’s face in the concrete wall where all the tourists will see it for centuries, through the bars of the locked, cell door.
Ah, that is a very satisfying image, Lloyd!!!
Trump better watch out. There are rumblings that Susan Collins is considering becoming “concerned” again.
Thanks for the laugh. I’m reminded of the perpetual warnings a judge gave Roger Stone.
“There are rumblings that Susan Collins is considering becoming ‘concerned’ again.”
Being “concerned” doesn’t mean Susan Collins will change her stripes.
Newsweek reported 22 hours ago that Susan Collins is in danger of losing her Senate seat to a Democrat, Polls Show.
https://www.newsweek.com/susan-collins-danger-losing-her-senate-seat-democrat-polls-show-1515722
To stay in office, most if not all politicians will tell the most voters possible what they think those voters want to hear. Collins seems to be an expert at that.
Collins has been ‘concerned’ before but that hasn’t changed her votes that support Moscow Mitch or Trump-Eek-Orange-Thin-Skin.
Voters should demand more than just “concern”. Collins should publicly demand that Trump be impeached AGAIN, and then do more than demand but do something about it to make it happen.
We all know that Trump is too lazy to read, or doesn’t have the intellectual ability.
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Donald Trump, the unbriefable president
Opinion by Chris Whipple
July 6, 2020
In the wake of reports that Russia offered the Taliban cash bounties to kill U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, the question arises: What was President Trump told by his intelligence briefers, and when was he told it?
Another question may be as important: How does Trump absorb information? For decades, the president’s daily briefs (PDBs) have sounded early warnings on everything from enemy troop movements to pandemics to terrorist attacks. Yet under Trump, the president’s intelligence briefings have almost completely broken down. His oral briefings, given daily to most presidents, now take place as rarely as once or twice a week. These sessions often turn into monologues in which the president spitballs woolly conspiracy theories from Breitbart, Fox News and hangers-on at Mar-a-Lago, say intelligence officials who are familiar with his briefings. Convinced that the intelligence community is a “deep state,” honeycombed with traitors, the president rarely believes anything the CIA tells him.
But Trump does not read the PDB. Or much of anything else, a former senior White House official told me. As his presidency began, it was an open question: Would Trump even bother to sit for CIA briefings? He didn’t, at first, and did so only after Mike Pompeo, then his CIA director, agreed to be there. Trump’s distrust of the intelligence services was stoked by their conclusion that Russia had intervened in the election on his behalf. Given his hostility toward the intelligence community, and his Twitter-sized attention span, Trump would be a challenge for any briefer…
But Trump preferred his own sources. In July 2017, he batted away the CIA’s conclusion that the North Koreans had developed an intercontinental missile that might soon be capable of reaching U.S. soil. How could the president be certain the agency was wrong? Because, he said, Vladimir Putin told him so…
In short, Trump is unbriefable. He will not listen to anything he does not want to hear.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/07/06/donald-trump-unbriefable-president/
Please beware of this story. We have no evidence whatsoever except the leaked words of some anonymous “intelligence officials”. This is exactly how Iraq started. And, like Iraq, the basic story doesn’t make sense. Why would people we’ve been at war with for 19 years need incentives to kill our soldiers? And if they did, why did they kill so few (about 20 in 2019)? And why do we have our briefs in such a bunch when we routinely offer bounties (which is why GITMO was so full of innocent men)? And why was this story released just when we were poised to bring over 4,000 soldiers home from a war that there is ample evidence that we have made no progress on?
https://consortiumnews.com/2020/07/05/bountygate-scapegoating-systemic-military-failure-in-afghanistan/
BTW, this story was written by Scott Ritter, the weapons inspector who tried so hard to convince us that the “intelligence” in Iraq was phony. Maybe we should listen to him this time.
Dienne77, why are you a propagandist supporting Trump and Putin over the Afghan bounty issue?
“Russian Bounty Suspicions Were Supported by Financial Data”
Analysts have used other evidence to conclude that the transfers were most likely part of an effort to offer payments to Taliban-linked militants to kill American and coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Do ‘bounties’ on US troops in Afghanistan reflect a line crossed or ‘nothing new’ in long US-Russia history?
“Russian support for the Taliban has been apparent for at least two years. A steady, slow flow of small arms and cash from Russia has been trickling into Afghanistan, according to a U.S. official familiar with intelligence reports but not authorized to speak publicly.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2020/07/03/russian-bounties-us-troops-did-russia-cross-line-taliban/5354686002/
“Did Russia pay Taliban-linked militias to kill coalition and U.S. troops in Afghanistan? It’s a story that was first reported by The New York Times. The Times reports that President Trump knew about this, that intelligence officials told him. The president says that’s not true. He says the intelligence community told him that they didn’t brief him because they didn’t consider the information credible.”
https://www.npr.org/2020/06/29/884551328/russia-reportedly-offered-bounties-to-taliban-to-kill-u-s-troops
‘Fully Briefed’ Trump Calls Russia Bounty Report ‘Fake News Media Hoax’
U.S. President Donald Trump is dismissing intelligence reports suggesting Russia may have offered a bounty to Taliban-linked militants for attacks on U.S. forces after top aides said he was fully briefed on the matter.
In a series of early morning tweets Wednesday, the president called media reports about the intelligence “just another HOAX!” and said the source for the original report in The New York Times “probably does not even exist.”
https://www.voanews.com/usa/fully-briefed-trump-calls-russia-bounty-report-fake-news-media-hoax
“Russian Bounties on U.S. Soldiers in Afghanistan Fit Right Into Putin’s Playbook
https://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/articles/28885/russian-bounties-on-u-s-soldiers-in-afghanistan-fit-right-into-putin-s-playbook
“Current and former Taliban leaders say Russia really did pay bounties to kill American troops in Afghanistan”
Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared on Business Insider.
Taliban commanders have confirmed that Russia has offered financial and material support to its members in exchange for attacking US forces in Afghanistan.
https://taskandpurpose.com/news/taliban-confirms-russian-bounties-for-killing-american-troops
This is about 30% too high. Remember when Hillary was sure to win according to polls?
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TRUMP’S JOB APPROVAL RATING SINKS TO 38%
Only 38% of Americans approve of Donald Trump’s job performance in the latest Gallup poll, a rating that’s among the lowest of his presidency as the race for the White House nears the homestretch. Only 33% of independents approve of the job Trump is doing, down 6 points from early June. The president has also lost support among his traditional backers. His job approval rating among white people fell from 57% last month to 48%, and dropped from 66% to 57% among whites without a college degree. [HuffPost]
The “Trump of Brazil” now has COVID-19.
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Axios:
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced Tuesday that he tested positive for coronavirus.
Why it matters: Brazil’s coronavirus outbreak is one of the largest in the world, topped only by the U.S., and Bolsonaro has long downplayed the effects of the virus, pushing businesses to reopen over the last few months in order to jumpstart the country’s economy.
Social distancing has steadily become less prevalent in the country, according to the influential IHME model.
Brazil’s health ministry has frequently qualified its daily coronavirus death tolls with statements indicating the fatalities did not all take place within a 24-hour period, due to delays caused by investigations into the deaths.
Over 1.6 million people have contracted the disease in Brazil, and more than 65,000 have died, per Johns Hopkins data.
The big picture: Bolsonaro joins U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Monaco’s Prince Albert among the world leaders known to have tested positive.Flashback: Bolsonaro had a coronavirus scare earlier this year, when his press secretary tested positive for the disease in March — days after meeting President Trump at Mar-a-Lago.
Do you believe this? He truly is the Trump of Brazil. May people who live in that country not believe him anymore than intelligent readers believe our Orange Virus.
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Brazil’s Bolsonaro Is Guzzling Trump’s Unproven Malaria Drug to Treat COVID-19 Infection
TRIBUTE ACT
Jamie Ross
Reporter
Published Jul. 08, 2020 5:37AM ET
Reuters TV
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has said he’s using the unproven malaria drug touted by President Trump as a treatment after he tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Bolsonaro, whose positive test was confirmed Tuesday, said he’s confident he’ll survive his brush with the disease thanks to treatment with hydroxychloroquine. Bolsonaro has spent months downplaying the severity of the pandemic as thousands died in his country. “I’m, well, normal. I even want to take a walk around here, but I can’t due to medical recommendations,” Bolsonaro said, according to AP. He posted a video to Facebook of him taking hydroxychloroquine Tuesday, and said: “I’m a lot better, so certainly it’s working… We know today there are other remedies that can help fight the coronavirus. We know none of them have their efficacy scientifically proven, but I’m one more person for whom this is working.” There is no solid evidence that hydroxychloroquine offers clinical benefit to patients who have COVID-19.
Read it at AP
After announcing his infected status, Bolsonaro removed his mask and said “there is no need to panic,” indicating that his attitude to the deadly disease hasn’t changed. [HuffPost]
Carol, our of a sense of decency, I hesitate to say what I think should happen to the odious Bolsonaro.
Meanwhile in Texas, the state Republican Party plans to hold its state convention in Houston, where the virus is raging. No doubt they will follow the example of Trump and ignore masks and social distancing. They will bring the virus to towns across Texas. This turning Texas blue.