Dabs Milbank is a regular opinion writer for the Washington Post. In this post, he reminds us of the numerous Trump allies who have been arrested or indicted or convicted or pardoned. So much for “Draining the Swamp.” What a joke! Trump’s Swamp is bigger and badder than anyone else’s.
He writes:
As Donald Trump’s chief strategist in 2016, Steve Bannon helped shape Trump’s “America First” campaign. Now, Bannon is inadvertently helping to test Trump’s 2020 reelection message: “Me First.”
On the eve of this week’s Republican National Convention, federal authorities arrested Bannon aboard a Chinese billionaire’s $28 million, 152-foot yacht and charged Bannon and three other men with defrauding donors giving to a private effort to build a wall along the border with Mexico. Bannon and his alleged co-conspirators had promised donors that “not a penny” would go to the organizers and “100 percent” would go to the wall. Instead, they allegedly used donations for such things as home renovations, boat payments, a luxury SUV, a golf cart, jewelry, cosmetic surgery, personal tax payments, credit-card debt, travel, hotels and consumer goods. Bannon allegedly squirreled away $1 million for himself and another organizer, much of it funneled through a nonprofit Bannon created called Citizens of the American Republic, ostensibly devoted to “economic nationalism and American sovereignty.” To top it all off: The small section of the wall the group did build was so poorly done that it is now in danger of falling into the Rio Grande.
Give Bannon credit: The alleged fraud perfectly captures the cynicism and self-dealing among leaders of the American right at this moment. As the president seeks reelection, the moral rot of Trump and his retinue has spread to the core.
At the National Rifle Association, chief executive Wayne LaPierre and other leaders have drained millions of dollars from the organization, the New York attorney general alleged this month, much of it for private jets, security, yachts in the Bahamas and personal payouts.
On Tuesday, Jerry Falwell Jr. said he had resigned as president of Liberty University, which he had used as a forum to vouch for Trump’s moral integrity and religious bona fides. Falwell acknowledged a multiyear affair in which he is accused of watching his wife have sex with a pool boy.
On Monday, the New York state attorney general, Letitia James, reported that the Trump Organization has refused to hand over some documents and that Eric Trump canceled an interview with prosecutors looking into whether the company paid proper taxes when a lender forgave more than $100 million of debt on a Trump hotel in Chicago.
Separately, the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus Vance Jr., continues to seek Trump’s financial records as part of an investigation into payoffs made in 2016 to women who claimed they had affairs with Trump — and potentially into Trump business dealings.
Last week, a bipartisan report by the Senate Intelligence Committee concluded that Trump’s 2016 campaign chairman, Paul Manafort (now doing prison time over his ill-gotten gains), was a “grave counterintelligence threat” because his receptivity to Russian outreach during the campaign made the Trump campaign vulnerable to “malign Russian influence.”
These developments are on top of former adviser Roger Stone’s prison sentence (which Trump commuted); former Trump adviser Michael Flynn’s guilty plea (which Trump’s Justice Department wants dismissed); the upcoming trial of two associates of Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani; and former Trump aide Michael Cohen’s three-year prison sentence for what he called “my duty to cover up his dirty deeds.”
But the biggest swindle happens in front of our eyes: a president using his office to promote his business properties around the world, to push for tax policies that benefit his businesses, and to pressure foreign countries to help his campaign.
Former national security adviser John Bolton attributes our current pandemic woes to the president’s pursuit of self-interest: Trump ignored early warnings “because he didn’t want to concede that the pandemic . . . could have a dramatically negative impact on the U.S. economy and therefore his ticket to reelection.”
At the convention this week, we see Trump stripping the GOP of policy (the party declined to approve a platform) and replacing it with a cult of personality. He has stacked the speaking program with members of his family, his friends and himself — nightly. The lead consultant to the convention? A guy who produced “The Apprentice” for Trump and was a judge for Trump’s Miss Universe pageant.
Trump is using federal property — the White House itself — as a political backdrop for his campaign. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, using Israel as his campaign backdrop, is one of a host of officials violating laws and rules in ways previously unimaginable to play overtly political roles in the convention.
With Trump in charge, is it any wonder those around him are also taking a “Me First” approach? The same day as Bannon’s yacht-deck arrest last week, We Build the Wall posted a picture of Trump on Facebook. Written across the photo: “The Most Honest Man in Washington!”
It would be very interesting to put out a survey that weaves into it just the facts we know about Trump and his cohort and leave out all reference to the true main characters. “Would you support an individual running for public office who had used insider information to enrich themselves?” The commentary on the results could include a list of those associated with the Trump administration who had done so. I know this question is rather squishy and such behavior is not exclusively a Trumpist problem, but the weight of all those identified by this survey, I think, would be quite damning. The Lincoln Project could probably design such an instrument.
The correctly-drawn DEEP STATE is actually draining the swamp by implementing justice. CBK
The original reason Washington DC is called a swamp is because of all the corporate and special interest lobbyists that floods the capital every year.
MarketWatch points out that spending by Washingion lobbyist has climbed to a 9-year high since Trump has been in office.
“Hauser also said the Trump administration seems to be signalling that “lobbying is nothing to be ashamed of” as many former lobbyists have executive-branch jobs, and at the same time more people might be disclosing their lobbying activities now that former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort is in prison after failing to register as a foreign agent.
“So how does the increase in lobbying spending square with President Donald Trump’s promise to ‘drain the swamp?’
“’ think Trump is redefining what the term ‘swamp’ means,’ Hauser said. ‘It was initially understood to be excessive influence of money on politics, but I think the term has morphed in how it is understood on the right. Now it means entrenched people in Washington, especially progressives.’”
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/drain-the-swamp-spending-on-washington-lobbying-rises-to-9-year-high-2020-01-27
Anyone that “thinks” the media is not reporting what Trump has done to turn the swamp into a more toxic environment is wrong.
Just Google “The Washington DC Swamp Refers to the money lobbyists spend each year in Washington DC”
Even The Hill that almost always seems pro GOP and pro-Trump in its reporting and OpEds says. “Trump is flooding the swamp that Obama drained”.
https://thehill.com/opinion/white-house/481407-trump-is-flooding-the-swamp-that-obama-drained
Lloyd Another complementary neo-definition of “swamp:”
Who ever is not 100% loyal to Trump. . . . remembrances of Hitler’s loyalty oaths. CBK
Trump is a salesman, and what he is selling is himself. He does this by catering to those who know how to praise him and please him. He wants you to be grateful for his existence. He needs to be liked.
The story line about his mission to drain the swamp in DC appealed to Republicans. They liked him. Many still support him. Current defections from the Republican party illustrate that Trump has not drained the swamp. He has become a happy swamp dweller, along with many others.
The swamp of corruption and scandal has grown very very very large in less than four years.
Diane I think everyone is probably suffering from some degree of constant gutter avoidance, or like walking around in a busy barnyard trying not to step in something; . . . a kind of “dialectical fatigue.”
That is, most of what’s said has little kernels of truth in it and most of us like truth; but those kernels are covered in a sticky dirty substance. So you cannot listen to what they say without responding with a mentally exhausting mixture of YES and NO; YES, this is true, but NO, that’s not and then trying to get them apart . . . all the while thinking . . . nothing will change them into truth-searchers and tellers.
So you get out your mental carving knife . . . because we all want to be open to truth, but closed to falsity. . . . but it’s exhausting . . . preparing to listen to them is like a boxer preparing to enter the ring. You know it’s about your getting hit, over and over again, until you are knocked stupid.
I’m looking for another metaphor. Here’s one. It’s like trying to clean bubble gum off a carpet, or washing oil-based crayon off water-based wall paint. You cannot get the gum off, and the crayon-color keeps coming through. I appreciate others here telling about what’s going on. I just cannot look at Trump without the metaphors piling up. CBK
Laura Chapman, CBK, and Diane Ravitch on one post thread! Brilliance, brilliance, and brilliance.
the dump doesn’t do anything for himself. He gets others to do his bidding and all because some people think he has money and will take care of them, Boy are they stupid.
that dump only cares about himself … period. He is arrested at age 2 1/2 to 3.
I just want to hear Melania speak again at the convention. Ooooh. DonOLD, you mayek me zo warum twalkink about Mother Russia end ahboot dis vireus zo lyek my leetle Donnie Wonnie Weenie Troopeenski.
LOL! Good one, Bob.
I regretted this the moment I posted it. Gee, I wonder if Donald ever feels that way.
And yes, I know that Melania is from Slovenia.
Her father was head of the local Communist Party. Now he and her mother live in the White House.
I think that Melania totally rocked the Fidel Castro look last night. But she needed a cigar to complete it.
The GOP has lost its way. The platform is literally nothing. They are Trump enablers, nothing more. I am voting blue down the ticket. Any Democrat is better than what the wrong right wing stands for. Their policies go from bad to worse. Voting blue is at least a message of hope in an otherwise dreadful year.
AMEN, retired teacher. I am with you.
2020 is the first time in history that the Republican Party adopted no platform.
They submitted entirely to whatever Trump wants.
So sad.
This is about as foul as can be imagined. These people are starving and desperate and our filthy administration is thinking about using a ray that makes their skin feel like it is burning. So, he is not a racist? Nikki Haley is missing something upstairs.
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Border Officials Weighed Deploying Migrant ‘Heat Ray’ Ahead of Midterms
August 26, 2020
Even as the Republican convention tries to soften President Trump’s image, he has made it clear that the extreme immigration policies of his first four years will be central to his re-election pitch.
WASHINGTON — Fifteen days before the 2018 midterm elections, as President Trump sought to motivate Republicans with dark warnings about caravans heading to the U.S. border, he gathered his Homeland Security secretary and White House staff to deliver a message: “extreme action” was needed to stop the migrants.
That afternoon, at a separate meeting with top leaders of the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection officials suggested deploying a microwave weapon — a “heat ray” designed by the military to make people’s skin feel like it is burning when they get within range of its invisible beams.
Developed by the military as a crowd dispersal tool two decades ago, the Active Denial System had been largely abandoned amid doubts over its effectiveness and morality. Two former officials who attended the afternoon meeting at the Homeland Security Department on Oct. 22, 2018, said the suggestion that the device be installed at the border shocked attendees, even if it would have satisfied the president.
Kirstjen Nielsen, then the secretary of Homeland Security told an aide after the meeting that she would not authorize the use of such a device, and it should never be brought up again in her presence, the officials said…
It is not known whether Mr. Trump knew of the microwave suggestion, but the discussion in the fall of 2018 underscored how Mr. Trump’s obsession with shutting down immigration has driven policy considerations, including his suggestions of installing flesh-piercing spikes on the border wall, building a moat filled with snakes and alligators and shooting migrants in the legs…
His campaign will also concentrate on making searing, and often false, attacks against former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., telling voters that the president’s rival wants to fling open the nation’s borders to criminals and disease-carrying immigrants who will take hard-working Americans’ jobs…
“The public health necessity and the economic necessity of controlling immigration has placed the view of the Democrat left even more radically outside the pale of mainstream American thought,” Stephen Miller, the architect of the president’s immigration policies, said in an interview this week.
The president tweeted last month, “The Radical Left Democrats want Open Borders for anyone, including many criminals, to come in!”…
The first two days of the convention have featured several speeches by immigrants and one citizenship swearing in ceremony with Trump in attendance. To look at this, you would think that our Racist in Chief was a champion of immigrants and immigration. He is such a lying POS.
Immigrants and black people are props in his stage show. Trump is more interested in appearances than substance. Trump is no more than a brand ambassador. He is a vapid influencer like some people on social media. As Obama stated, Trump cannot do the job. He is incapable. His inept, lack luster handling of the pandemic illustrates Trump’s failure to rise the occasion. We must dump Trump, and get this country back on a track of positive possibilities.
retired teacher: “We must dump Trump, and get this country back on a track of positive possibilities.”
I agree but how do we fight a cult? Listen to the speakers at the RNC. They are all lying and making Trump out to be a person that doesn’t exist. He loves immigrants and is working to help workers. He faces tremendous difficulties but this country can’t afford to go to Biden who is a socialist who will destroy our democracy.
Facts come from media that aren’t respected by Republicans. Give a Trump supporter a fact and it is immediately labeled ‘fake news’. There is no way to get through to these people.
We can’t totally trust polls. Some people probably will vote for Trump but won’t admit it to poll takers.
Too bad Jerry Falwell, Jr., isn’t speaking the the convention! He could appeal to the swing voters.
Bob Shepherd : Oh, that’s a good one.
Trump’s first choice for Secretary of Education after his election was Jerry Falwell Jr. He turned it down because he was making so much money at Liberty U.
“JERRY FALWELL, JR., AS SECRETARY OF EDUCATION!!!!!!! WHAT THE . . . !” Bob said in his bestKimberly Ann Guilfoyle Challenge scream.
Oh ICK! I didn’t know it could get worse than Devoid. It just did.
Nice, Bob–perfect, really.
And these are the ‘best’ people to speak…crooks.
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Trump’s Corruption Was On Full Display At The RNC
08/26/2020
Eric Trump is running the president’s company and is under investigation in New York, but spoke at the convention Tuesday. That was only the beginning.
…As Florida’s attorney general in 2013, Bondi was considering joining the state of New York in a lawsuit against an affiliate of Trump University, Trump’s now-defunct for-profit education company, which was facing allegations of fraud. But after Trump donated $25,000 through his charity to a political action committee supporting Bondi’s re-election — violating federal tax laws in the process ― Bondi quietly decided not to join the case. (Trump’s campaign later claimed the donation was a “mistake,” and Trump himself paid a $2,500 IRS fine, because as a nonprofit, his charity is prohibited from making political gifts.)
Bondi is also a registered lobbyist for Qatar, which the U.S. Department of Justice has accused of bribing FIFA officials in exchange for hosting the 2022 World Cup, as The Daily Beast reported.
And then there was Eric Trump, who is still executive vice president of the Trump Organization but spoke during prime time at the RNC, urging people to vote for his father.
It was another bold move: Earlier in the day, the New York state attorney general asked a judge to force Eric Trump to answer subpoenas about whether the Trump Organization committed fraud by inflating its assets to get loans and tax breaks. To date, Eric has refused to comply with seven subpoenas about the matter…
At least 12 foreign governments made payments to Trump Organization properties during Trump’s first two years in office, according to the watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Scores of political committees and special interests have done the same. Trump has constantly visited Trump Organization properties as president, and even awarded the Group of 7 summit to his Trump National Doral resort in Florida before reversing course…
In another possible Hatch Act violation, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressed the RNC from Jerusalem, where he taped his remarks while on a foreign tour…
Article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-corruption-rnc_n_5f45d42ec5b64f17e135c471?ncid=engmodushpmg00000006
I am scared about trump. There is no reason for anyone to be supporting him, except for those wealthy enough to stitch together some sort of reasoning about the economy….which would be easily challenged, one way or another. But there are two things…racial prejudice, and the I love Trump no matter what he does, because of the people who hate him…it includes a lot of white males without a huge total of education…..but…..they cannot be talked to. They will have to be out voted, and if women really want to be taken seriously in the future of government……they damned well better get this chore of removing Trump successfully….hopefully hugely successfully, or else.
Trump has to lose in a landslide or he will say the election was a fraud
“no reason to support him”- What if you were the 3rd largest employer in the U.S. and Trump’s SCOTUS appointments exempted you from civil rights employment law? What if lawsuits had bankrupted you but, you could tap tax money from education vouchers (and, the money is more than you are getting from worshippers)? What if you were like the Taliban and wanted to deny women rights which Trump promised you he would do (you gave it a dry run during Covid)?
“no reason”. What if your legal advisors told you Trump’s court justices would allow you to prohibit your employees from voting”?
(Minnesota bishop)
And, if you could count on not being called out, by claiming as defense that your opponents are religious bigots…it would be tempting
“women”. More than forty percent of U.S. women are groomed in patriarchal religious sects. Some number of them will vote the way their pastors, bishops or priests tell them. The ministerial counsel to vote GOP will be packaged as the contrived issue of pro-birth. One of the RNC speakers, a woman, said before her speech that when a wife’s vote was inconsistent with what her husband wanted her to vote, she should agree to his decision.
‘groomed’
One of the strongest emotions known- a mother’s protective feeling for her children…
Catholic mothers in the parishes of abusive priests, if not in denial, what?
Linda What a stretch . . . I wish you knew what you were talking about. CBK
Years ago, Linda, when I was 16, I was the night manager of a fast food restaurant. One of my waiters was a woman of 25 or 26 who used to come to work with bruises all over. I tried to explain to her that a husband who would hit her would, at some point, possibly kill her and that he would be equally abusive or worse to any children they might have. But she was adamant that theirs was “a Biblical marriage” and that her husband was the ruler of the household and that it was not only his right but his duty to “discipline” her if she got out of line and that even if he were sometimes wrong, it was her lot to follow the Biblical commandment to obey him. I won’t rehearse, here, the arguments that I gave her to try to dissuade her. (I had been raised by my grandmother in a fundamentalist church and knew the Bible well.) Let me just say that nothing I could say to her would change her mind. A cult mentality.
Bob Good example . . . that’s why they open shelters for battered women, and have men’s groups to initiate changes in attitudes, and have done so for decades.
Do correct me if I am wrong here, but I doubt you would hastily generalize that 40 percent of women who belong to religious organizations are “groomed” to identify with that kind of thinking. NOT in my experience. Even the evangelical groups (that are wool-dyed 14th century misogynists) at least foster loving relationships in marriages and families.
But let me restate this: I am the first to think ALL religions are in need of criticism and accountability; and in our time, a person would have to be deaf/dumb/blind to think otherwise of the Catholic Church.
AGAIN, my criticism of Linda’s posts is about her obvious anti-religious and anti-Catholic bias; along with the open use of logical fallacies, extremes, and egregious omissions, all of which, as a constant din on a site that I otherwise-enjoy, leave a grossly distorted vision of religion as such, the Catholic Church and, more generally, the living of a faithful religious life in community with others.
The distortion flies in the face of everything good that I know about the Church’s foundations and activities. Linda focuses on only the bad and judges everyone by that alone. Most of her posts are about Catholic-bashing. CBK
CBK, I am not, myself, a Christian, though I admire much in the teachings, as I understand them, of the much-misinterpreted (I think) Yeshua of Nazareth. In general, I am left shaking my head at what adults are capable of believing and at their inability to distinguish between warranted observations about the world and speculative or fanciful thinking. And I think that the Church has a lot to atone for given the river of blood it left throughout history and its life-denying contemptus mundi and subjugation of women. However, I have, like you, known many people whose religion made them better people, including most of the nuns whom I taught with years ago, who were smart, generous people who loved their students and gave enormously of themselves. George Santayana wrote in his Reason in Religion that it’s child’s play to enumerate the scientific inaccuracies and contradictions in religious dogmas and doctrines and practice but another matter altogether to explain why religion has so often led to the best in human behavior. Just down the street from me is a food bank where local evangelicals serve many of the food insecure in this area without proselytizing. Bless them, as people say here in the Deep South.
Basically, I continue to be shocked by what people profess to “know” about ultimate realities, though I, too, am a great fan of speculative fictions.
Bob The turn TO historical thinking FROM classical thought left ultimate human knowledge in the dust. It’s an epochal movement we are in where its roots are philosophical and not wholly religious; but we ARE finding or way. CBK
I hasten to say, CBK, that I dropped out of a humanist/freethinkers group I belonged to because I found their skepticism not quite skeptical enough. Laplacean deterministic materialism seems to me entirely bankrupt–simply not supported by contemporary science–and has had too long an afterlife. We are creatures, like others, with a certain cognitive and perceptual makeup, and so we have a limited view of things.
Bob No wonder you left. In my view, however, the hope in that group rests in the fact that they were after an answer to an extremely important question or set of questions. . . . here’s not the time or place, however. That said, I add below a brief quote from a philosopher I study that relates directly to your point:
“Just as scientific method does not confuse knowledge of method with its fruits, so critical method does not confuse our formulation of unrestricted understanding with a claim that we understand everything about everything. Just as the scientist is ready to abandon every scientific hypothesis and theory without losing confidence in the correctness of scientific method, so the metaphysician affirms the reality of what the scientist seeks to know . . . ” (B. Lonergan, Insight, A Study of Human Understanding [2000, p. 708]).
You are right about the time and place, CBK. Great quotation, BTW.
I don’t know why Bob is shocked by what people profess to “know” about ultimate reality. All he has to do is look at what people profess to “know” about everyday, ordinary events. I believe there is some ultimate, spiritual reality beyond human understanding. I was raised as a Christian (casual) and find it easiest to explore that ultimate reality through Christian thought. Perhaps we are totally scientific accidents, or perhaps we are spiritual accidents, for that matter. In any case, we cannot know. The human religious institutions obviously have their failings. They are human organizations after all. Why should we expect otherwise? Christianity helps me frame my understanding of ultimate reality and a way of being. I’ll let you know if I figure it out. 🙂
Beautifully said, speduktr!
Why does Trump manage to AWAYS get away with rotten behavior?
NYT:
The Hatch Act is widely thought to prohibit presidents from using the trappings of their office in their re-election bids. But the Office of Special Counsel, an independent government office that has authority to enforce the Hatch Act, released a statement today saying that it considered parts of the White House, such as the Rose Garden and South Lawn, viable for political acts, and wouldn’t be “grandstanding” about “potential violations that may or may not occur.”
A friend of mine just sent me photos of Putin coming through big, double doors in the Kremlin, flanked on either side by guards saluting and of precisely the same with Trump on the second night of the convention. The resemblance was uncanny. Is Trump getting a little help with the choreography?
The CR*P never ends with this administration:
NYT [fake news media] /s
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was not acting independently when it changed its coronavirus guidelines earlier this week to cut down on the number of people required to be tested.
The new guidelines, which state that asymptomatic people do not need tests even if they’ve been exposed to the virus, were instituted on the instructions of higher-ups from within the Trump administration, officials told The Times.
No teenager should be involved in protesting against women’s rights. The RNC falsely attempts to make Trump the caring, compassionate person who doesn’t exist. Mary Trump, a psychologist says, Donald Trump has a destructive personality that could bring about an “end to American democracy”. The president meets “all nine criteria” to be diagnosed with a narcissistic personality disorder. She knows Trump much better than this young man.
Nicholas Sandmann speaks at 2020 RNC
Aug 25, 2020
ABC News
Sandmann was involved in a well-publicized encounter with a Native American last year at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington
Reportedly, Mitch McConnell attended a course in tribalism at the Kennedy School of Government, taught by the lawyer who subsequently represented Sandmann.
Tribalism will be the reason Mitch wins in Ky.
“John Roberts’ Dark and Sordid History Bodes Poorly if the 2020 Election Goes to SCOTUS”. Alternet 8-26-2020
Linda….I am glad you recognize the danger of the supreme court appointments…..I phrased things poorly….what I meant was that the mass numbers of support would not be there from the people you described….they would be from the huge numbers of non college educated men…..who Trump leads over Biden by by 15 or 20 points, not as much as he led Hillary…….and their reasons are often not helpful to them—but helpful to Trump. I hope women do not turn against Kamala….there will be pressure for them to do so—she could very well become president……forgive me…I believe women have a crucial role to play to make sure Trump is gone.
More than 40% of U.S. women are groomed in patriarchal religious sects.
Linda “Groomed”? Women go to church so therefore we are “groomed”? Good grief . . .what century are you living in? CBK
Linda I doubt even the worst patriarchal priest on the planet would make such a sexist statement: “More than 40% of U.S. women are groomed in patriarchal religious sects.” Still reeling . . . CBK
I reacted the same way, CBK. Do you feel like a Stepford wife?
speduktr Ha! . . . not exactly. How about you? CBK
Age and experience have cured me of most of those tendencies with the full encouragement of my church.
speduktr I came to the Catholic Church late, and so with full knowledge of its many problems . . . but because it was there that I also found the most insightful intellectual-philosophical tradition. The dialectical conflicts are many, but that’s the case in any group environment, and churches are no exception. Thanks, CBK
The top 10 nations ranked by women’s equality are in Western Europe. The U.S. power structure, when the country became a magnet for immigration, was Western European in derivation. The U.S. currently ranks 19th in women’s equality. The U.S. evolved differently from countries like Iceland, Sweden, etc.
It may have been serendipitous but, I think most scholars would identify a religious component.
Linda Perhaps we don’t mean the same thing by “grooming.” I looked it up on dictionary.com. It refers firstly to grooming horses and other animals, then to “a groom,” as in a wedding. And lastly to grooming someone, for instance, to become president.
In any case, no church I’ve ever attended, or know of, comes anywhere close to what commonly grooming means. You speak as if all women who attend church (40%?) have no autonomous thought or self-direction. Your bias right on the table there.
Also, how can you pretend to think you know what’s going on in the thinking of 40% of religious communities, broad-brushing religious women with such an obviously-false generalization, and still expect to be taken seriously? CBK
I know that this is a place where frowned upon is the denigration of people based on their looks, and I know that denigrating people’s looks is almost always wrong. I know that. But what I need to tell you is not about anyone’s appearance. This is about me. It’s not about Vice President Pence. His appearance is just fine. So please don’t think I write what I am about to write as criticism; it’s really a confession. I stole Mike Pence’s eyebrows and replaced them with B movie silicone facial special effects. I’m sorry.
A genius epiphany (sarcasm) from AEI (Frederick Hess’ employer), “We ought to consider that (in backing a political candidate, the goal” may be to bolster their clients’ interests.”
Diane This is an aside, but this article shows the clear pattern of how ALEC works. First a snip, then the link: (my emphases)
SNIP: “The Chamber of Commerce has worked with another corporate lobbying group, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) to encourage states to adopt laws limiting corporate liability for coronavirus exposure. ALEC shared a blueprint for such laws on its website earlier this year that has been closely followed by several state legislatures, said Hugh Baran, a staff lawyer at the nonprofit National Employment Law Project, which has tracked the rollout of state bills.
Link: in The Washington Post by: Aaron Gregg & Douglas MacMillan
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/25/americas-biggest-business-lobby-is-behind-republicans-push-shield-employers-coronavirus-liability/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most
The utter moral bankruptcy of Donald Trump and his maladministration is most vividly illustrated by the fact that in order to make a case for reelecting him, his toadies have had to present, at the convention, a portrait of a man PRECISELY THE OPPOSITE OF TRUMP–one who is wise, compassionate, generous, patriotic, Christian, caring, decent, concerned, capable, honest, and so on. Someone waking from a coma for the last four years and watching this would think that Trump is a champion of immigrants, black people, women, Hispanic people, the working class, the poor, small business, farmers, people with disabilities, the environment, and so on–exactly who Trump is NOT. The entire convention has been a festival of lies and distortions. A complete accounting of these would require several thick books.
All this would be completely hilarious if it weren’t precisely calculated to appeal to the roughly half of Americans who are brain dead.
What a pile of hogwash. These ‘religious’ people have no concept of what Jesus stood for. The Democrats are coming for their churches, their schools, their families. Isn’t lying supposed to be a sin? “Thinking biblically’ means supporting the ‘Chosen One’ who was sent by God. The ‘sanctity of life’ only refers to the unborn. Once out of the womb death by starvation, lack of medical care or guns is totally acceptable. Hypocrites.
88% of black Protestants accept Biden. They understand racism.
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Christianity Today: Trump’s Faithful: Franklin Graham, Navajo VP, Freed Pastor Andrew Brunson on GOP Convention Lineup
During this year’s event in Charlotte, evangelicals are praying inside, outside, and remotely.
AUGUST 25, 2020
…Attorney and Trump advisor Kimberly Ann Guilfoyle gave a passionate speech in favor of Trump’s vision for a country where “we kneel in prayer and we stand for our flag.” Football great Herschel Walker mentioned praying for his friend, the president: “I pray every night that God gives him more time. Give him four more years.”…
During presidential election years, “I watch the key points of both conventions to help me know how to pray for our country and make sure Christians are involved,” said Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, who has visited the White House multiple times under Trump and applauded outreach to evangelicals. “We need to both think and vote biblically. I encourage every believer who cares about the future of our country to do the same.”
Chaplains from the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association (BGEA) have been on the streets offering prayer around the Charlotte, North Carolina, convention center that’s hosting a downsized version of the GOP event. BGEA president Franklin Graham is scheduled to offer a prayer at the convention on Thursday.
While Graham—who also prayed at Trump’s inauguration— is the biggest evangelical name on the lineup, he’s not the only one. Myron Lizer, a former bivocational pastor in Arizona who now serves as vice president of the Navajo Nation, will speak Tuesday….
As Wheaton University politics chair Bryan McGraw predicted, Republicans’ message will declare “the Democrats are coming for their churches, their schools, their families,” as an attempt “to make evangelicals believe that unless they vote for Trump—and vote for him in large numbers—they will be on the receiving end of a kind of cultural revolution.”..
In a Pew Research Center survey released last month, 82 percent of white evangelicals and 55 percent of all Christians said they planned to vote for Trump while 88 percent of black Protestants supported Joe Biden. As CT reported last week, his campaign has emphasized his Catholic faith.
Samuel Rodriguez, pastor and president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, said as a believer, he doesn’t vote for “parties or for politicians but for policies that advance the Lamb’s agenda of protecting the sanctity of life, advocating for biblical justice, and protecting religious freedom.”…
https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2020/august/republican-national-convention-speakers-trump-evangelicals-.html
carolmalaysia “In a Pew Research Center survey released last month, 82 percent of white evangelicals and 55 percent of all Christians said they planned to vote for Trump while 88 percent of black Protestants supported Joe Biden. As CT reported last week, his campaign has emphasized his Catholic faith.”
It doesn’t seem to matter . . . if you are a Trump supporter, NOTHING ELSE MATTERS. Religious or not, they just accept whatever fits into their Trump-Identity, and reject whatever doesn’t. CBK
Trump is a POS. He is surrounded by grifters, sycophants and liars.
…………………………………
Trump seeks to flip pandemic script with convention
– 08/26/20
…“Then came a once in 100-year pandemic,” Kudlow said after championing the economic achievements of Trump’s first three years. “It was awful. Health and economic impacts were tragic. Hardship and heartbreak were everywhere. But, presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively.”
While cases have recently dropped in the United States, the nation has by far the most reported infections and deaths from COVID-19 of any country in the world, with 5.7 million infections and roughly 178,000 deaths.
The Trump strategy at the convention banks on persuadable voters being convinced that the worst of the pandemic has passed, even as thousands of new cases are reported each day and deaths climb.
The president has been featured in multiple pre-recorded segments. In one, he stood with front-line workers who complimented his actions during the pandemic.
In four convention events attended by Trump at the White House, there was minimal social distancing and neither the president nor any of the guests wore masks, flouting recommendations from his administration’s top health officials…
“This convention has taken the issue of the coronavirus head on,” communications director Tim Murtaugh said in a statement, citing the first lady’s speech and the president’s segments with front-line workers.
The first lady’s speech was delivered in front of dozens of White House officials, lawmakers and other guests who were seated closely together without masks. CNN reported that guests were not tested for COVID-19 prior to the event, adding to the risk.
The president’s speech on Thursday is expected to feature an even larger crowd, with guests arriving from around the country to look on from the south lawn.
The campaign has consulted with a coronavirus adviser and instituted “necessary precautions,” according to an official, but it’s unclear if guests will be tested prior to Trump’s address.
Polls are providing some encouraging news for Trump. A new CNBC-Change Research poll released Wednesday found the number of likely voters in six battleground states expressing serious concern about the coronavirus dropping 4 points since earlier this month, from 69 percent to 65 percent.
The share of respondents who said they have “very serious concerns” about the pandemic fell from 49 percent to 45 percent in recent weeks, according to the poll of voters in Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Meanwhile, the number of battleground state respondents who approve of Trump’s handling of the pandemic is on the upswing, rising to 47 percent from 44 percent earlier this month.
Nationally, the number of likely voters who are seriously concerned about the coronavirus pandemic held steady at 71 percent. And approval of Trump’s handling of the situation also remained the same at 42 percent, according to the CNBC-Change Research poll…
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/513773-trump-seeks-to-flip-pandemic-script-with-convention
While accepting the nomination as Trump’s running mate, Pence assailed Biden as a “Trojan horse for the radical left,” wrong on domestic and international policy and a threat to “life and liberty.”
Speaking from a flag-bedecked Fort McHenry in Baltimore, Md., Pence used the third night of the Republican National Convention to argue that Trump’s opponent would set the United States on a “path to socialism” and must be defeated on Nov. 3.
The vice president also touted the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic as head of the White House coronavirus task force. Pence commended the administration’s leadership during the six-month-old crisis as the “greatest mobilization since World War II,” pointing to what he said are 800,000 daily tests and efforts to fast-track an effective vaccine.
“Last week, Joe Biden said ‘no miracle is coming.’ What Joe doesn’t seem to understand is that America is a nation of miracles,” Pence said, continuing, “and we’re on track to have the world’s first safe, effective coronavirus vaccine by the end of this year.”
In closing, the vice president offered a glancing nod to the pandemic’s effect on the economy, saying that with four more years of a Trump presidency, “we will make America great again, again.”
I feel like I’m beating a dead horse. Trump and his lying sycophants are saying the U.S. is doing a great job on the COVID-19 debacle. The truth is much different. This information comes from that ‘fake news’ source NYT. [Everything really is almost back to normal. The number of confirmed cases and deaths don’t matter. Numbers have been raised to make Trump look bad. /s]
……………………………………
Quarantine rules are expanding around the world, but not in America.
As many countries maintain or even tighten their quarantine requirements for international arrivals, the United States is moving in the opposite direction.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its guidance for travelers on Friday, dropping its recommendation that anyone coming from overseas or a state with a high infection rate should self-quarantine for 14 days. Travelers are now advised only to “follow state, territorial, tribal and local recommendations or requirements.”
A number of states have their own quarantine policies in place, but with the exception of a few places like Hawaii, they are rarely enforced.
U.S. quarantine policies stand in stark contrast to those of many other countries and regions — including Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa and South Korea — that have strictly monitored international arrivals for months. Travelers are sometimes required to stay in designated hotels or government quarantine facilities, wear electronic tracking devices or report their temperatures daily, with violations punishable by fines or imprisonment.
Many of those rules were implemented after some travelers carrying the virus contributed to fresh outbreaks in places where it had been mostly under control. Some countries, including Australia, South Africa and Spain, have even restricted or banned travel between states and provinces for the same reason.
European countries that had loosened their travel and entry restrictions earlier this summer are now experiencing a surge in cases and reinstituting quarantine requirements for people coming from certain countries. Britain recently added Belgium, France, the Netherlands and other countries to its quarantine list, while France is planning to impose a reciprocal quarantine requirement for visitors from Britain.
The C.D.C. also updated its testing guidelines on Sunday to say that people who have been in contact with someone who tested positive for the coronavirus for at least 15 minutes, been in a high transmission area or attended a large gathering “do not necessarily need a test.” Studies indicate that the virus can spread from a seemingly healthy person, and that a person may spread the virus before showing symptoms.
Liar, liar, pants on fire.
Kayleigh McEnany, the White House press secretary, movingly recounted her double mastectomy on Wednesday night, saying the president “stands by Americans with pre-existing conditions.”
“The same way President Trump has supported me, he supports you,” she said.
The Trump administration is currently trying to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a move that could disqualify as many as 54 million Americans with pre-existing conditions from getting health insurance coverage.
“Hey, you know what would be a huge joke on the Americans?” said the Red Sparrow. “What if I gave the entire speech dressed in a Russian military outfit?”
Or maybe this was a signal, like those given by hostages when they are being videotaped.
This is how much the GOP is “working to help people”. 15 Democrats voted against this bill. There should be a huge protest. Idaho is a red state.
………..
Idaho Legislature passes bill shielding businesses, schools from coronavirus liability
AUGUST 26, 2020 03:47 PM , UPDATED 10 HOURS 43 MINUTES AGO
On the third day of the Idaho Legislature’s special session, lawmakers kicked it off with discussion about businesses, schools and local entities not being held liable for coronavirus transmission — one of the issues that led Gov. Brad Little to call the extraordinary session.
They ended the day with legislation that will provide that protection — to the point that critics say it goes too far in shielding those whose negligence might lead to disaster, including long-term care facilities. Democrats were unanimous in their opposition to the measure.
Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, pitched House Bill 6 — the Coronavirus Limited Immunity Act — to the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee on Wednesday morning. It was forwarded by the panel on a party-line vote, and then it passed the House in a 54-15 vote, with one legislator absent…
Read more here: https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article245263695.html?#storylink=cpy
Were churches shielded in the legislation?
PLEASE . . . no one ever suggest Linda run for public office? CBK
Here is a link that is still working, I hope. I am not a subscriber to the Idaho Statesman. This comes from a TV station. there is no mention of churches.
Coronavirus liability bill shields Idaho businesses, schools even if they are negligent
On the third day of the Idaho Legislature’s special session, lawmakers kicked it off with discussion about businesses, schools and local entities not being held liable for coronavirus transmission — one of the issues that led Gov. Brad Little to call the extraordinary session.
https://www.kivitv.com/news/political/inside-the-statehouse/coronavirus-liability-bill-shields-idaho-businesses-schools-even-if-they-are-negligent
Tribalism
Outsiders are sanctioned for criticizing the tribe’s members, leaders or actions. Sanctioning may take the form of appealing to an authority for censorship.
Tribalists select words (or choose among definitions) that are perceived to best minimize the outsider’s influence. The reactions aren’t defensive, instead they present as an offense, taking the form of name calling, personal insults, pronouncing the outsider ignorant, etc. A rule exists, the insider is permitted to criticize the group but not the outsider. Tribalists find comfort among those who confirm their bias.
A person who is asked repeatedly, by a third party, to refrain from engaging when the outsider states and illustrates opinions, and can’t…
Is my 7:46 comment going to be placed in moderation?
Linda: No.
IT NEVER ENDS!!
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Room rentals, resort fees and furniture removal: How Trump’s company charged the U.S. government more than $900,000
August 27 at 11:26 AM
The Secret Service had asked for a room close to the president. But Mar-a-Lago said it was too late. The room was booked. Would agents like a room across the street from the president, instead?
“I do have a Beach Cabana available,” a staff member at President Trump’s club in Palm Beach, Fla., wrote in March 2017 to a Secret Service agent seeking rooms for the upcoming weekend. “Across the street at the Beach Club, North end of the pool.”
The next time, the Secret Service didn’t take the same risk. It paid Mar-a-Lago to book rooms for two weeks at a time — locking them up before the club could rent them to others, according to newly released records and emails.
For Trump’s club, it appeared, saying no to the Secret Service had made it a better customer. The agency was paying for rooms on nights when Trump wasn’t even visiting — to be ready just in case Trump decided to go, one former Trump administration official said.
Trump has now visited his own properties 270 times as president, according to a Washington Post tally — with another visit planned for Thursday, when he is scheduled to meet GOP donors at his Washington hotel…
https://wapo.st/3lqcgbW?tid=ss_mail
Trump is now mad at WaPo for telling about how much taxpayers have been cheated.
…………………………
White House Threatens WaPo for Reporting His Company Charged U.S. Govt More Than $900,000
Cheat Sheet, Breaking News Intern
Published Aug. 27, 2020 1:43PM ET
Sarah Silbiger
The White House on Thursday threatened The Washington Post after it reported how President Donald Trump’s properties have profited off the U.S. government and bilked taxpayers for at least $900,000 since he took office.
Through his 270 trips to his own clubs, Post reporter David Fahrenthold revealed on Thursday, “Trump has brought the Trump Organization a stream of private revenue from federal agencies and GOP campaign groups. Federal spending records show that taxpayers have paid Trump’s businesses more than $900,000 since he took office. At least $570,000 came as a result of the president’s travel, according to a Post analysis.” Much of that cash came from charging the Secret Service—“captive customers” due to their requirement to be near Trump at all times—with excess fees and forcing them to book rooms even when the president was not scheduled to be at the club.
“The Washington Post is blatantly interfering with the business relationships of the Trump Organization, and it must stop,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement to the Post, before pivoting to a direct threat: “Please be advised that we are building up a very large ‘dossier’ on the many false David Fahrenthold and others stories as they are a disgrace to journalism and the American people.”
Read it at The Washington Post
“I feel like I’m beating a dead horse…”
No harm, no foul. If it “floats your boat”, why not? After all, who doesn’t have a
boat of their own design?
If “beating a dead horse” trips your trigger, go for it. After all, it’s your gun,
your “weapon” of choice. Take your pick from the timeworn arsenal of Oz.
Too many to list, but here are some favorites.
The wrong-right gun. Who is “right” is determined by defining who is wrong.
The divination gun with various, switchable barrels and projectiles.
1) Predicting the future barrel, for unveiling the future.
2) The mind reading barrel , for claiming what “they” know, think, or meant.
The authority gun.
Invoke authority. Claim for yourself or associate yourself with authority and present your argument with enough ‘jargon’ and ‘minutia’ to illustrate you are
“one who knows”.
The name calling gun.
The primary “attack the messenger” ploy. Associate opponents with unpopular titles such as ‘kooks’, ‘right-wing’, ‘liberal’, ‘left-wing’, ‘terrorists’, ‘conspiracy buffs’, ‘radicals’, ‘militia’, ‘racists’, ‘religious fanatics’, ‘sexual deviates’, and so forth. This makes others shrink from support out of fear of gaining the same label.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you’re in starts playing different tunes
I’ll see you on the dark side of the moon
Pink Floyd
Everything that isn’t from Fox is ‘fake news’. Facts never matter but fear and devotion to the Great One are ALL that count. I heard some of the RNC speakers and agree that they have created an alternative universe. It’s made up of fear, lies and a cosmetic unreality of how great Trump is and all that he does for everyone.
……………………
Welcome to the R.N.C.’s Alternate Universe
A meaningful percentage of Americans are living in a collaborative fiction, built one conspiracy theory at a time.
One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned covering the daily information wars of the Trump era is that a meaningful percentage of Americans live in an alternate reality powered by a completely separate universe of news and information.
Some are armed with their own completely fabricated facts about the world while others, as the journalist Joshua Green wrote in this section in 2017, rearrange our shared facts “to compose an entirely different narrative.” There is little consensus on the top story of the day or the major threats facing the country. You will have noticed this if you’ve ever watched a congressional hearing and flipped between CNN or MSNBC and Fox News. The video feed is the same but the interpretation of events is radically different.
Personally, I’ve never seen a clearer demonstration of the Two Universes phenomenon than this week’s Republican National Convention.
For three nights, in a shameless display of loyalty to President Trump, the party has conjured up what my colleague Frank Bruni described as an “upside-down vision” of the world. Theirs is a universe in which the coronavirus pandemic is largely in the rear view (on Aug. 25, 1,136 Americans died from the virus) and where, according to Representative Matt Gaetz, radical Democrats threaten to “disarm you, empty the prisons, lock you in your home and invite MS-13 to live next door.” A universe where the existential dangers of climate change pale in comparison to those of cancel culture — even as the West is ravaged by blackouts and wildfiresand the Gulf Coast is slammed by a devastating hurricane.
This week, my colleague Jamelle Bouie described some of what we’re seeing as the “Fox Newsification of the Republicans” by “a president who rose to political power via the cable news channel and who exists in a codependent relationship with the network.”
The comparison is apt, as Fox News has been extremely successful in crafting and selling an alternate reality to its viewers each night for well over a decade. The trick is to evoke two dueling emotions — fear and devotion — one conspiracy theory at a time. Fox News has mastered this and so has the R.N.C…
UNFIT: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DONALD TRUMP – OFFICIAL FILM TRAILERJul 16, 2020
UNFIT: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DONALD TRUMP
SCIENCE OVER POLITICS – A DUTY TO WARN – TRUTH OVER PARTISANSHIP
New documentary feature ‘UNFIT: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF DONALD TRUMP’ to be released September 1, 2020 on all digital/streaming and cable VOD platforms
Is Donald Trump fit to hold the office of President of the United States? #UNFIT presents an eye-opening analysis of the behavior, psyche, condition and stability of Donald Trump. It takes a sociological look at the electorate that chose him, and the collective effect he is having on our culture and institutions. During the 2016 campaign, mental health professionals felt policy-bound from speaking publicly. Now, after years of observation, for the first time ever, they have decided enough is enough.
President Trump likely suffers from a range of mental disorders developed over the course of a turbulent childhood, cheated his way into a top college, subjected his own brother to severe emotional abuse and turned himself into a scruples-free bully who could now bring an “end to American democracy'”, says his niece Mary Trump, a trained and licensed psychologist. The president meets “all nine criteria” to be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder. She firmly believes her uncle is unfit for public office.
Leonard Cohen must be rolling in his grave that the fascist Trump used his song “Hallelujah” in the obscene and illegal fireworks display at the end of his obscene, lie-filled speech tonight.
Trump is completely lawless. Every other incumbent has always understood that the people’s house and monuments are not HIS and could not be used for campaigning. This is what fascists do. They appropriate the symbols of government of, by, and for the people for the promotion of a cult of personality. Trump’s is government of the people by and for Trump.
Oh, BTW, Trump:
I’ve seen your flag on the marble arch
And love is not a victory march
It’s a cold and it’s a broken Hallelujah.
I know, Donald, that that’s WAY over your inflated head with its teensy, weensy little reptilian brain.
There was a darkly appropriate gaffe by Trump during his speech tonight. His words, when he veered from his speech into his usual Toddler English: “We have pioneered the fatality rate.”
A gaffe, but true. His denials and failure to act cost countless U.S. lives.
My favorite part of the convention is still Melania’s speech, when she came out dressed as Joseph Stalin.
I know. This is horrifying. But you have to admire the subtlety of it.
Steven Colbert did a bit on her dress Thursday night demonstrating how her dress made a perfect green screen. Watch on Youtube.
I was talking about the outfit she wore for her full-length speech. Khaki green. Military cut. Very like a Soviet or Russian military uniform. Fascinating, that.
Yeah, I know. Just wanted to continue the “theme.”
Kathleen Smith nails what Trump did with this convention in the following piece. The whole style was taken straight out of the autocrat’s playbook:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/08/27/trump-isnt-playing-nice-guy-hes-playing-tsar-403821
Trump, get off our lawn.
Trump dog whistle during his speech last night: He talked about “this great house,”
turned to the White House, pointed at it, and asked “What color is it”?
Before the scandal, Falwell wrote a college recommendation letter for the young man whose story brought him down. The letter was to Georgetown University. In an interview today, the young man expressed the general understanding that Falwell had political connections.
It is sickening to think that Trump portrayed himself as a person who welcomes immigrants. Why would they put themselves on display for an obviously racist person who looks down upon anyone who isn’t a white wealthy male…preferably one who bows and tells Trump how wonderful he is.
It isn’t a bit surprising that Mary Trump heard The Donald degrade brown and black people.
…………………………………
Mary Trump: ‘Of Course I Did’ Hear Donald Trump Use Racial Slurs | Rachel Maddow | MSNBCJul 16, 2020
MSNBC
Mary L.Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, talks with Rachel Maddow about her new book, “Too Much and Never Enough,” and the casual racism and anti-Semitism in Donald Trump’s family upbringing. Aired on 7/16/2020.
Who wrote this speech for The Donald? He doesn’t speak this way. It is pure BS. I can’t stand to look at him lying and bloviating nonsense. I wonder how long he had to practice this speech which uses words he no longer understands. [I’m assuming that he’d use these words if they were part of his working vocabulary.] President Donald Trump is a lying POS. [That’s the best I can say of him.] Trump focuses on science and the Republicans have an agenda that is more detailed than lying and worshiping Trump?
I’ve printed out parts of his speech so nobody has to watch him. Ewwwh.
…………………………………………..
In a new term as President, we will again build the greatest economy in history – quickly returning to full employment, soaring incomes, and RECORD prosperity! We will DEFEND AMERICA against all threats, and protect America against all dangers. We will LEAD AMERICA into new frontiers of ambition and discovery, and we will reach for new heights of national achievement. We will rekindle new faith in our values, new pride in our history, and a new spirit of unity that can ONLY be realized through love for our country. Because we understand that America is NOT a land cloaked in darkness, America is the torch that enlightens the entire world…
We are delivering lifesaving therapies, and will produce a vaccine BEFORE the end of the year, or maybe even sooner! We will defeat THE VIRUS, end the pandemic, and emerge stronger than ever before…
This election will decide whether we SAVE the American Dream, or whether we allow a socialist agenda to DEMOLISH our cherished destiny…
Your vote will decide whether we protect law abiding Americans, or whether we give free reign to violent anarchists, agitators, and criminals who threaten our citizens.
And this election will decide whether we will defend the American Way of Life, or whether we allow a radical movement to completely dismantle and destroy it….
At the Democrat National Convention, Joe Biden and his party repeatedly assailed America as a land of racial, economic, and social injustice. So tonight, I ask you a very simple question: How can the Democrat Party ask to lead our country when it spends so much time tearing down our country?
In the left’s backward view, they do not see America as the most free, just, and exceptional nation on earth. Instead, they see a wicked nation that must be punished for its sins.
Our opponents say that redemption for YOU can only come from giving power to THEM. This is a tired anthem spoken by every repressive movement throughout history….Joe Biden is not the savior of America’s soul – he is the destroyer of America’s Jobs, and if given the chance, he will be the destroyer of American Greatness…I have done nothing but fight for YOU….
Days after taking office, we shocked the Washington Establishment and withdrew from the last Administration’s job-killing Trans Pacific Partnership. I then approved the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipelines, ended the unfair and costly Paris Climate Accord, and secured, for the first time, American Energy Independence. We passed record-setting tax and regulation cuts, at a rate nobody had ever seen before. Within three short years, we built the strongest economy in the history of the world….We have already built 300 miles of Border Wall – and we are adding 10 new miles every single week. The Wall will soon be complete, and it is working beyond our wildest expectations….
I have done more for the African-American community than any president since Abraham Lincoln, our first Republican president. …
We have spent the last four years reversing the damage Joe Biden inflicted over the last 47 years….China would own our country if Joe Biden got elected. Unlike Biden, I will hold them fully accountable for the tragedy they caused…
When the China Virus hit, we launched the largest national mobilization since World War II. Invoking the Defense Production Act, we produced the world’s largest supply of ventilators. Not a single American who has needed a ventilator has been denied a ventilator. We shipped hundreds of millions of masks, gloves and gowns to our front line healthcare workers. To protect our nation’s seniors, we rushed supplies, testing kits, and personnel to nursing homes and long term care facilities. The Army Corps of Engineers built field hospitals, and the Navy deployed our great hospital ships.
We developed, from scratch, the largest and most advanced testing system in the world. America has tested more than every country in Europe put together, and more than every nation in the Western Hemisphere COMBINED. We have conducted 40 million more tests than the next closest nation…The United States has among the lowest case fatality rates of any major country in the world….
The cost of the Biden shutdown would be measured in increased drug overdoses, depression, alcohol addiction, suicides, heart attacks, economic devastation and more. Joe Biden’s plan is not a solution to the virus, but rather a surrender.
My Administration has a different approach. To save as many lives as possible, we are focusing on the science, the facts and the data. We are aggressively sheltering those at highest risk – especially the elderly – while allowing lower-risk Americans to safely return to work and school…
At the Democrat convention, you barely heard a word about their agenda. But that’s not because they don’t have one….Joe Biden’s campaign has even published a 110-page policy platform co-authored with Far-Left Senator Bernie Sanders. ..
The Biden Plan would eliminate America’s borders in the middle of a global pandemic.
Biden also vowed to oppose School Choice and close down Charter Schools, ripping away the ladder of opportunity for Black and Hispanic children. In a second term, I will EXPAND charter schools and provide SCHOOL CHOICE to every family in America. And we will always treat our teachers with the tremendous respect they deserve…
President Donald Trump Full Acceptance Speech at 2020 Republican National Convention
Aug 27, 2020
C-SPAN
C-SPAN
Fascism- wrapped in a flag carrying a cross- the quote is attributed to Sinclair Lewis. He had more to say on the subject, “the worst fascists…preach enslavement to capitalism….”
The nation’s current dark days are the result of the marriage of Charles Koch’s money and agenda and, a powerful segment of an American church.
Many of the RNC speakers who weren’t Trumps were members of that church and one of them disowned Biden from the church.
We will await reaction from the USCCB and,….wait….and, wait….
Last week, in a tweet, Providence, R.I. Bishop Tobin disowned Biden.
The rights of women, black people and liberals are not going to be preserved.
The SCOTUS decision in Biel, which exempted religious organizations from civil rights employment law cracked a major hole in protections.
A lawyer’s decision which was carried out by a religious leader in Minnesota gave the religious permission to prohibit employees of religious organizations from voting in a scheduled American election.
It can be deduced that the lawyers for the state religious conference view employer reprisals for disobeying the Minnesota edict as justifiable.
Two more liars are fired. Trump keeps racking them up. Trump mentioned the benefits of blood plasma in his speech. He makes it sound as if he did this work all by himself.
He sent me a letter with his Sharpie signature after I received my $1200 stimulus check. I knew it didn’t come out of his own pocket. I threw it in the recycle bin with the other trash.
Trump is a walking pile of lies and distortions.
……………………..
The New York Times
BREAKING NEWS
Two P.R. advisers at the F.D.A. were ousted from their positions after the agency’s chief acknowledged exaggerating plasma’s benefits for Covid-19.
Friday, August 28, 2020 12:14 PM EST
The F.D.A. commissioner, Dr. Stephen Hahn, removed Emily Miller as the agency’s chief spokeswoman. The White House had installed her in the post just 11 days earlier. Ms. Miller had previously worked in communications for the re-election campaign of Senator Ted Cruz and as a journalist for the conservative cable network One America News.
Ms. Miller’s termination comes one day after the F.D.A.’s parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services, terminated the contract of another public relations consultant, Wayne Pines, who had advised Dr. Hahn to apologize for misleading comments about the benefits of blood plasma for Covid-19.
carolmalaysia I received that Trump/sharpie letter also. I kept it however for its historical value. . . . CBK
Things are so off-kilter right now. I think presently we have but two political parties:
(1) for truth and truth tellers.
(2) for Trump loyalists.
Joe Biden broadcast this two minute ad on ALL NETWORKS during coverage of President Trump’s convention speech.
#JoeBiden #Joe2020 #Biden
ForPresidentKeep Up | Joe Biden For President 2020
Aug 27, 2020
Joe BidenVerifiedhttps://youtu.be/C3UsWMbUpF4
This false rattling of ‘bringing the people along’ sounds very familiar. “The people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders”. This should be pasted along the bottom of the screen when the Orange Monster is speaking his versions of ‘truth’.
………………………………………
“Of course the people don’t want war. But after all, it’s the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it’s always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it’s a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger.” — Herman Goering at the Nuremberg trials
Money does strange things to people. Bowing to the Orange Moron will have benefits if you bow and lie often enough. To me RNC shows that women can lie as well as men. Kimberly Guilfoyle has to win the loud mouth division of lying.
……………………
The Trump Women, Trying to Help Trump With Women
Tiffany Trump, Lara Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle and, of course, Ivanka Trump all took a turn at promoting the family business — for all intents and purposes, President Trump — on the convention stage.
…As it happens, all four adult children spoke at the convention this week, though Ivanka, as usual, got prime position as the one to introduce her father Thursday night. In a weeklong hagiographic spectacle that deviated from political norms so much that at times it felt less like a political convention than a competitive exercise in hyperbolic fealty to a single person, it made perfect sense that two other family-adjacent figures with jobs in the Trump campaign also had convention slots: Eric’s wife, Lara Trump; and Donald Jr.’s girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle…
But Mr. Trump, perhaps even more than most politicians, places a high value on appearance, particularly on how things play on television. And it is no secret that he believes it is the job of his family to promote the family business — which is, for all intents and purposes, himself. Even still, it was striking how many family members had prime spots at the Republican convention, and how many of them were women…
Visually, the Trump women come across as variations on a theme, in the Fox News mold — long glossy hair, high spiky heels, clingy outfits, sparkling teeth — but their job is to help improve Mr. Trump’s standing among women. They are there to prove that despite all the unpleasant stories, despite the decision to roll back equal pay regulations, despite the “Access Hollywood” tape, despite the many women who have accused him of harassment and assault, despite the fact that he cheated on his pregnant wife with an adult-film star and then paid her (the star) to keep quiet, Mr. Trump is a champion of their gender…