Trumpian 'New Lows' 5

Trump and his White House minimize pandemic surge as he focuses on denying election loss
Ashley Parker, Josh Dawsey, Yasmeen Abutaleb and Philip Rucker
November 14, 2020

...The president is no longer regularly briefed on the pandemic by his team of doctors, and he rarely reads the daily virus reports prepared by Birx, a senior administration official said. The reports have grown increasingly grim in recent weeks, aides said, but are largely ignored in the West Wing. Several of the administration’s top medical experts — including Birx, Fauci and Surgeon General Jerome M. Adams — have only infrequently visited the White House in recent weeks, administration officials said.

Olivia Troye, a former adviser to Vice President Pence and aide on the White House coronavirus task force who resigned from the administration and supported Biden’s presidential bid, described the current situation as “very upsetting.”

“You would think that now that his presidential campaign is over that he could perhaps leave a legacy of last-minute leadership during this time — an ounce of it, maybe,” Troye said. “He has an opportunity here to focus on the well-being of Americans.”

Jack Chow, a U.S. ambassador for global HIV/AIDS during the George W. Bush administration and a former World Health Organization assistant director general, was similarly alarmed by Trump’s handling of the crisis.

“The duty of a president is to protect the national security of the United States, and this is the most prominent disease of mass destruction America’s ever faced, and we have a commander in chief who has run away from the problem and has made it worse,” Chow said. “We had an opportunity twice over the past eight months to bring it down to safer levels, and we failed. We are on the verge of losing control of this pandemic.”...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-coronavirus-response/2020/11/14/61...
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The chairman of the COVID Task Force? VP Pence cancelled his FL vacay to focus on Trump’s legal challenges over his defeat in the presidential election!!

Pence Cancels His Post-Election Florida Vacation
CALLED OFF
Tori B. Powell | Nov. 10, 2020 9:16PM ET
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vice-president-mike-pence-cancels-his-post-electio...
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Without national evidence-based leadership, state Rs seek to defang governors, twiddle thumbs, and push responsibility down to counties and towns!

As Covid cases soar, GOP state lawmakers keep fighting to limit governors' power to respond
Adiel Kaplan | 11/14/2020

...In public health emergencies, governors have broad powers to impose quarantines and other actions to stop the spread of disease. As emergency orders have stretched on for months, state lawmakers around the country have objected to what they say is governors’ unprecedented use of power for such an extended period of time.

The efforts to limit their power have targeted governors across party lines, but those that have had the most success have been in states with Democratic governors and Republican-controlled legislatures. In Michigan and Wisconsin — two states with Democratic governors, GOP legislatures and largely conservative courts — several challenges have succeeded, limiting state executive authority as cases in those and neighboring states rise.

Similar court battles between Democratic governors and GOP elected officials in Kentucky, Illinois, Minnesota, and North Carolina have all been decided in the governor’s favor. A challenge to the Louisiana governor’s emergency order is headed to the state supreme court, but an appellate court this week ruled in support of his use of power...

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/covid-cases-soar-gop-state-lawmak...
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State legislatures, lead, follow, or get the %*^? out of the way!

As pandemic worsens, Michigan lawmakers should step up or step aside
Detroit Free Press Editorial Board | Nov 15, 2020

...The most recent numbers confirm an acceleration of the discouraging reversals that began almost immediately after Michigan justices struck down Whitmer's emergency orders on Oct. 2.

The state health department reported 8,516 new coronavirus cases on Friday, shattering a record established only the previous day. Confirmation of another 118 COVID-19 deaths brought the state's pandemic toll close to 8,000. And leaders of five of the state's largest health systems say hospitalizations linked to the virus are doubling every two weeks.

With hospitalizations and deaths soaring in virtually every state, it would be unfair to lay responsibility for Michigan's surge on state legislators. But Whitmer's proactive leadership kept Michigan's pandemic numbers well below the national average throughout the summer, and GOP legislators who rejoiced at undercutting her authority have done precious little to exercise their own

Michigan's legislative leaders have doubled down on that policy of abdication, insisting that Lansing should cede management of the pandemic to the state's counties and municipalities.

...Michigan isn't the only state where Republicans have moved to decentralize pandemic management.

...It seems clear to almost everyone else that Michigan and other states will have to strengthen restrictions, not loosen them, if they hope to avoid a public health catastrophe this holiday season. If the state's legislative leaders don't have the stomach for that fight, they should at least get out of the way of the governor and state health officials who have led it thus far.

https://www.freep.com/story/opinion/editorials/2020/11/15/coronavirus-pandemic-p...

Not exactly smoothing the waters, this deplorable excuse for a president, hiding behind fence, Secret Service, limo, and his private golf course. "Stand back and stand by", indeed.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump | 11:17 PM · Nov 14, 2020:
ANTIFA SCUM ran for the hills today when they tried attacking the people at the Trump Rally,
because those people aggressively fought back.
Antifa waited until tonight, when 99% were gone, to attack innocent #MAGA People.
DC Police, get going — do your job and don’t hold back!!!

>1 margd: contd. Unbelievable that Trump poodle, Radiologist Scott Atlas, calls for insurgence in Michigan.

Armed anti-maskers invaded MI legislature in the spring.
Recall that Trump spring tweet "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" was followed by kidnap plot.
R lawsuit reduced Gov Whitmer's emergency powers.

With cases and deaths surging, MI Department of Health and Human Services now calls for a three-week pause of restrictions less sweeping than those that flattened Michigan's curve last spring, the one which earned the ire of Trump and state Rs and armed nutballs. This time Atlas tweeted, "The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept."

Oh yeah, not related I suppose that Michigan overwhelmingly voted for Biden, not Trump, this time ... GRR!

Scott W. Atlas @SWAtlasHoover | 6:41 PM · Nov 15, 2020:
The only way this stops is if people rise up. You get what you accept. #FreedomMatters #StepUp
6:41 PM · Nov 15, 2020

------------------------------------------
Whitmer's response:

Trump coronavirus adviser Scott Atlas urges Michigan to 'rise up' against new Covid-19 measures
Paul LeBlanc and Jeremy Diamond | November 15, 2020

...Responding to Atlas' tweet Sunday evening, Whitmer told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, "We know that the White House likes to single us out here in Michigan, me out in particular. I'm not going to be bullied into not following reputable scientists and medical professionals."

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/15/politics/scott-atlas-coronavirus-michigan/index.h...

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Michigan's 3-week pause/restrictions:

Michigan orders restaurants to end indoor dining; high schools and colleges to pause in-person classes
CBS News | November 15, 2020

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/michigan-orders-restaurants-to-end-indoor-dining-hi...

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How did state Rs respond to attempt to stop the fall deluge of cases and deaths? Like the science-denying, responsibility-dodging, hyper-partisans they are. BTW they are on extended recess until Dec 3, one of their number having tested positive for COVID--hypocrites!

Michigan Republicans rip state's new COVID-19 orders
FOX 2 Staff | Nov 15, 2020

https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/michigan-republicans-rip-states-new-covid-19-or...

________________________________

A FISH ROTS FROM THE HEAD DOWN.

Today Trump could have urged Americans to behave responsibly in light of the pandemic.
He could have asked Congress to move on a COVID package.
He could have made sure the government was helping with testing and PPE.
Instead he pardoned Flynn and claimed the election was rigged.

- Bill Kristol @BillKristol | 7:00 PM · Nov 25, 2020

______________________________________________

Compare:
0:53 ( https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/status/1331744978859552774 )
ETA
Image of the two: https://twitter.com/jaketapper/status/1331989996828577792/photo/1

>4 margd: Yet there are still people, even on this board, who think Trump is a great president. Nay, they think he is the GREATEST president ever.

Those brains are locked into that path.

>7 Earthling1:
>8 Earthling1:
Flagged as trolling

Trump declares Twitter national security threat after #DiaperDon trends following meltdown at miniature table (Independent)

Donald Trump has angrily declared Twitter a national security threat after #DiaperDon went viral following a news conference in which he repeatedly complained about perceived injustices. “Twitter is sending out totally false ‘Trends’ that have absolutely nothing to do with what is really trending in the world. They make it up, and only negative ‘stuff’,” the US president tweeted without providing evidence... “For purposes of National Security, Section 230 must be immediately terminated!!!” Mr Trump added, in reference to part of a 1996 law which protects websites from lawsuits over content posted by users. Any changes to these protections would fundamentally change how the internet works...

>11 John5918:
He can bloviate about ending laws all he likes. It takes both houses of Congress or a lawsuit that reaches the Supreme Court todo that.

And the truly surreal thing about it is that he is the biggest, most prominent liar on Twitter.

Honestly, one has to wonder what goes on in his mind.

>12 Matke:

Well, it's probably true that his own bloviations (lovely word!) on Twitter are a threat to national security!

This is another case where Trump equates himself with the state; L'etat c'est moi. He really has the instincts of a despot.

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump | 10:56 AM · Nov 27, 2020:
Biden can only enter the White House as President if he can prove that his ridiculous “80,000,000 votes” were not fraudulently or illegally obtained. When you see what happened in Detroit, Atlanta, Philadelphia & Milwaukee, massive voter fraud, he’s got a big unsolvable problem!

-------------------------------------------

Twitter: This claim about election fraud is disputed

>13 John5918: That lovely word, 'bloviate', has a connection with the president who is widely considered one of the worst presidents the United States has ever had, Warren G. Harding.

From Merriam-Webster:

"What's the Connection Between Harding and bloviate?

Warren G. Harding is often linked to "bloviate," but to him the word wasn't insulting; it simply meant "to spend time idly." Harding used the word often in that "hanging around" sense, but during his tenure as the 29th U.S. President (1921-23), he became associated with the "verbose" sense of "bloviate," perhaps because his speeches tended to the long-winded side. Although he is sometimes credited with having coined the word, it's more likely that Harding picked it up from local slang while hanging around with his boyhood buddies in Ohio in the late 1800s. The term probably derives from a combination of the word blow plus the suffix -ate."

So very apt, eh?

Poison gas, firing squads: US approves more execution methods (Al Jazeera)

The outgoing administration of President Donald Trump is paving the way for additional methods of executing prisoners who have been sentenced to death in the United States. The Justice Department is quietly amending its execution protocols, no longer requiring federal death sentences to be carried out by lethal injection and clearing the way to use other methods like firing squads and poison gas. The amended rule, published on Friday in the Federal Register, allows the US government to conduct executions by lethal injection or use “any other manner prescribed by the law of the state in which the sentence was imposed”. A number of states allow other methods of execution, including electrocution, inhaling nitrogen gas or death by firing squad...

>17 John5918:
So much for the whole “Pro-Life” hypocrisy.

>18 Matke: My First thought as well. And then, “What happened to painless execution?”

A grifter to the end... Grass-roots donors--wake up!

Trump raises more than $150 million appealing to false election claims
Josh Dawsey and Michelle Ye Hee Lee | November 30, 2020

...The donations are purportedly being solicited for the Official Election Defense Fund, which is blazed in all red across the Trump campaign’s website, with an ominous picture of the president outside the White House.

There is no such account, however. The fundraising requests are being made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee that raises money for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. As of Nov. 18, that committee also shares its funds with Save America, a new leadership PAC that Trump set up in early November and which he can use to fund his post-presidency activities.

...The contributions, from thousands of grass-roots donors across the country, are split into several accounts, including the leadership PAC that is loosely regulated and could be used to personally benefit the president after he leaves the White House.

According to the fine print in the latest fundraising appeals, 75 percent of each contribution to the joint fundraising committee would first go toward the Save America leadership PAC and the rest would be shared with the party committee, to help with the party’s operating expenses. This effectively means that the vast majority of low-dollar donations under the current agreement would go toward financing the president’s new leadership PAC, instead of efforts to support the party or to finance voting lawsuits.

...The leadership PAC could be spent, for example, to pay for events at his own properties, or to finance his travel or personal expenses. There are very few limitations on how money going to the group can be spent...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-raises-more-than-150-million-appea...

______________________________________________

Text appeal from Jr: https://twitter.com/gtconway3d/status/1333698805129244672/photo/1

______________________________________________

Trump Raises $170 Million as He Denies His Loss and Eyes the Future
Shane Goldmacher and Maggie Haberman | Nov. 30, 2020

...A donor has to give $5,000 to Mr. Trump’s new PAC before any funds go to his recount account...

..The $170 million figure, raised in less than four weeks, is an enormous sum that rivals the amounts of money brought in at the peak of the campaign. While a breakdown of the money was not immediately available, the deluge of donations would appear to have paid off any remaining Trump campaign debt (in the first days after the election, the fine print showed that contributions were earmarked for that purpose)....

In October, Mr. Trump’s campaign began automatically checking a box on its website so that more donors would make additional, weekly donations from their accounts through Dec. 14 — the day the Electoral College will vote — to create a postelection revenue stream. Donors can opt out with an extra click, but critics called the tactic misleading...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/30/us/politics/trump-campaign-donations.html

I'm all for encouraging Trump supporters' donations to their cult leader. At this point in time, after 4 years of non-stop lies, non-stop conspiracy theories, and non-stop golf weekends paid for by tax-payers, I think anyone who remains a sheep in the Trump Herd deserves to be fleeced. Mightily.

Jingle Bells -- Grifting All the Way!

The Trump Organization and Kushner Companies are major beneficiaries of PPP loans.

Sweeping data released by the Small Business Administration on who benefited from pandemic relief programs raises questions about the equitability and distribution of loans intended for small businesses. . .

The analysis found that properties owned by the Trump Organization as well as the Kushner Companies. . .profited from the program.

Here are the salient data points.

Over 25 PPP loans worth more than $3.65 million were given to businesses with addresses at Trump and Kushner real estate properties, paying rent to those owners. Fifteen of the properties self-reported that they only kept one job, zero jobs or did not report a number at all.

Loans to Trump and Kushner properties included a $2,164,543 loan to the Triomphe Restaurant Corp., at the Trump International Hotel & Tower in New York City. The company reported the money didn’t go to keeping any jobs. It later closed.

Two tenants at 725 5th Avenue, Trump Tower, received more than $100,000 and kept only three jobs.

Four tenants at the Kushner-owned 666 5th Avenue combined received more than $204,000, and retained only six jobs.

On top of all that 15 of the businesses on Trump and Kushner properties that took loans reported saving one job or fewer, or didn’t even both reporting a jobs saved number.

All of it tax-free. I'll posit that those double handsfull of jobs "saved" are the same people at the head of those entities, over and over again -- Donald and Jared.

And all those two super-grifters need do to avoid paying any of it back, is to apply for PPP loan forgiveness. Who's to deny them?

This is the real voter fraud!

Trump Gave His Big Business Supporters $1.5T Tax Cut: Now Wants to Shaft Federal Employees with Pay Freeze

GOP Senators want to freeze pay of Federal workers in the midst of Covid-19 pandemic and the Grifter-in-Chief is gung-ho all for it.

In a letter positively dripping with empathy for working stiffs (NOT!) who, in many cases, are food challenged,

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Trump’s budget director said that the White House “supports the policy in the bill to maintain for 2021 the current level of federal civilian employee pay,” pointing to “budgetary constraints and recent, pandemic-related impacts on non-federal labor markets.”

Gee, you'd think that if Trump just wanted to slap civil servants in the face, he could at least use a frozen turkey instead of a limp piece of paper.

David Frum @davidfrum | 10:25 PM · Dec 2, 2020·TweetDeck
December 2, 2020.
Day of peak US death toll from the COVID-19 epidemic.
Nine Trump tweets (and counting) about what's on TV.

If you want to know why Trump was personally crushed under by 46% of the vote - 7 million vote margin - in an otherwise solid Republican year ... his behavior tonight is the whole story. The deadliest epidemic in half a century, and he cannot even pretend to care about it

In his final days in office, Trump orders series of executions (BBC)

As President Donald Trump's days in the White House wane, his administration is racing through a string of federal executions. Five executions are scheduled before President-elect Joe Biden's 20 January inauguration - breaking with an 130-year-old precedent of pausing executions amid a presidential transition. And if all five take place, Mr Trump will be the country's most prolific execution president in more than a century, overseeing the executions of 13 death row inmates since July of this year...

US speeds up pace of federal executions as Trump nears final days of presidency (Guardian)

Trump will leave office having executed about a quarter of death-row prisoners, despite waning US support for capital punishment...

>26 John5918: Apparently at least one execution became a COVID spreading event. These things do bring a lot of people together in a hot environment over a couple weeks: prison staff, chaplain, witnesses, etc. COVID only adds to the horror...

Trump admin offered $700M to 9/11 victims to save Sudan deal (ABC)

It's part of its last-minute scramble to secure Sudan's deal with Israel...

In a last-minute pitch to save President Donald Trump's deal with Sudan, the Trump administration offered to pay victims of the Sept. 11 attacks $700 million of U.S. funds to drop their pursuit of claims against the African country, according to two sources familiar with the negotiations. In response, lawyers for the 9/11 claimants said they wanted as much as $4 billion, a steep price the administration and Senate Republicans rejected, sources said...

>28 John5918: Doesn't seem like a problematic solution to me. I would certainly not feel comfortable trying to extract weregeld from the people of Sudan.

>29 prosfilaes:

Oh I certainly agree that the USA shouldn't be exacting a price from the newly liberated people of Sudan for the sins of the former Islamist military dictatorship. What is problematic is the way the USA is pressuring Sudan to make a deal with Israel.

White House staff members will be among the first to be vaccinated.
Annie Karni and Maggie Haberman | Dec. 13, 2020

White House staff members who work in close quarters with President Trump have been told they are scheduled to receive injections of the coronavirus vaccine soon, at a time when the first doses of the vaccine are being distributed only to high-risk health care workers...

The goal of distributing the vaccine inside the West Wing is to prevent additional government officials from falling ill in the final weeks of the Trump administration. The hope is to eventually distribute the vaccine to everyone who works in the White House, but will begin with some of the most senior people who work around the president...

It is not clear how many doses are being allocated to the White House, or how many are needed. While many Trump officials said they were eager to receive the vaccine and would take it if it were offered, others said they were concerned it would send the wrong message by making it look like Trump staff members were hopping the line in order to protect a president who already had the virus and has bragged that he is now “immune.”...

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/13/world/white-house-staff-members-will-be-among...

What?! What?! I'm so confused. Where did the whole hoax go? You don't need immunization against a hoax, do you? Wouldn't taking this shot immunize you against future hoaxes?

No wonder RWNJs don't want to take it.

>32 Limelite: Don't worry Limelite, our in-house conservative will explain all.

I think those vaccines should go to the support staff and Secret Service.

Trump’s deal on Morocco’s Western Sahara annexation risks more global conflict (Washington Post)

Last week, President Trump formally recognized Morocco’s annexation of Western Sahara as part of a deal to get Morocco to normalize relations with Israel. But Morocco’s claim on Western Sahara is rejected by the United Nations, the World Court, the African Union and a broad consensus of international legal scholars that consider the region a non-self-governing territory that must be allowed an act of self-determination. This is why no country had formally recognized Morocco’s takeover — until now...

>35 John5918: Ugh. Trump doesn't care what he has to sell to get what he wants. But I got to say that I'm a little tired of the existence or attempted existence of micronations like Western Sahara*, and I'm tired of countries like Morocco and Israel trying to settle the land to make their claims inevitable, and I'm tired of groups like Polisario Front accepting a status quo that leaves them in an unlivable situation instead of making a deal with the de-facto winners.

* If you don't have at least a million people, or one ten-thousandth of the world's population, you're just wasting everyone's time and demanding grossly disproportionate power at places like the UN. At least if you're part of the EU or any organization that reaches EU-like unity, many negotiations can and will be done with the state-like organization that has a real population, not the nations that make it up.

Don't anyone dare try to tell me that Trump's attempt to frame the Biden men with unsupported "Ukrainian business crimes" wasn't his direct attempt at unsuccessful quid pro quo bribery.

For Trump, quid pro quo is "the art of the deal."

Trump Shafts States, Shorting Second Shipment

Officials from more than a dozen states say the Trump administration has informed them that next week’s Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine allotments to their jurisdictions are being cut by 40% next week, prompting confusion and outrage.

The development comes even as Pfizer insists that it has millions of doses ready to ship if given instructions by the federal government.

Pfizer on Thursday denied that underproduction is the cause of diminished vaccine distributions, instead assigning fault to the lack of direction provided by the Trump administration.

President Do-nothing strikes again -- "Screw you, America, you didn't re-elect me!"

>38 Limelite: It's amazing how Trump is just bad in so many ways. Some of it, I think, is the advantages of a sane government. Presidents or prime ministers or even most monarchs have someone who would have handled this; just letting this go out on this news like this would be a major screwup, which they would be doing their best to handle. Had Fauci and the CDC had gone unchecked by the president, like most presidents, prime ministers or monarchs would have done, this would have been handled. But that's not Trump's way.

Only 4 presidents have been impeached or resigned.
Only 5 presidents failed to win the popular vote.
Only 13 presidents failed to get re-elected.
Only 1 has done all 3!

- Irishrygirl @irishrygirl | 11:17 AM · Dec 20, 2020

As people around the globe look on with horror at the mess Trump is leaving ~

Trump's die-hard supporters have fallen prey to a life-
long con man/cult personality via the Stockholm
syndrome.

Don Winslow donwinslow | 3:30 PM · Dec 21, 2020:

Congress will vote today to give ANOTHER $1 billion to Trump's failed border wall.
WATCH AS TWO GUYS CLIMB IT IN SECONDS.
AND THEN CLIMB BACK OVER THE OTHER WAY.
THIS IS BILLIONS DOWN THE DRAIN.
BUT YOU GOT $600 dollars.

NEW VIDEO: #TrumpsGreatWall *TURN SOUND UP*
Dear @realDonaldTrump
This video short highlights the complete failure of your border wall.
Listen to your own words as you sell the BIGGEST FAILED PROMISE IN POLITICAL HISTORY!
Watch as people easily climb your fake "great" wall.

0:33 ( https://twitter.com/donwinslow/status/1341114486426517504 )

He Thinks Anyone Is Still Listening To Him

That's it. That's his new low.

For the discussions about what we would say for another country:

The North American country of the United States of America (USA) has been going through disruption after their president has refused to accept the results of the latest election. Inside sources have reported discussion by the reigning president of a military coup. Analysts have responded that with the USA's democratic history, a successful military coup seems unlikely, but concerns remain...

>44 prosfilaes:

Well said.

He Undoes Justice, Abuses Plenary Power, Usurps the Rule of Law by Pardoning the Unpardonable

That's it. That's his new low.

Trump’s two motives for election denial, according to Michael Cohen (Independent)

Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen says that his ex-boss’ motives for continuing to contest the election come down to his ego and money.

“He knows he lost the election. He knows it. But the problem is he has an incredibly fragile ego and his fragile ego will not allow him to acknowledge that he is a loser, that he lost the election to Joe Biden,” Cohen told Vanity Fair in an interview published on Monday. He added: “This is a cash grab. When you finish a job, you’re always thinking about how to reinvent yourself. That’s what Donald Trump is doing right now”...

Poor Mikey didn't get a pardon with all the others. (Yet.)

‘A lifetime of torture’: the story of the woman Trump is rushing to execute (Guardian)

Lisa Montgomery, the only woman on death row, was found guilty of an ‘especially heinous’ crime – but those who have looked deeply into her agonized life see it differently...

“This is a story about a woman who is profoundly mentally ill as a result of a lifetime of torture and sexual violence... Lisa is not the worst of the worst – she is the most broken of the broken”...

Trump’s Final Insult
Kevin D. Williamson | January 5, 2021

...It would be entirely appropriate today to impeach Trump a second time and remove him from office before his term ends.

No one who has participated in this poisonous buffoonery should ever hold office again...

...I believe that the Republican Party has been both mutilated and laid bare at the same time. It will be a very long time before it can with a straight face once again call itself the Party of Lincoln, though it may aspire to be that once again. Party of Lincoln? The Republican Party would have to undergo the political equivalent of one of those reality-television makeovers if it wanted to stand so tall as to be the Party of Gerald Ford.

The modern Republican Party, whatever it was, is gone, even if much of the staff and the incorporation papers remain.

The next question: What will be built on its ruins?

https://www.nationalreview.com/the-tuesday/trumps-final-insult/

Trump's Most Monumental "Low"

His trip to GA Sunday, January 4, 2021 where he murdered the GOP while committing political suicide.

And now the lowest...he watches the anarchists storm the capitol and WILL NOT address the rioters nor ask them to cease their terroristic acts.

Apparently, he's enjoying it. (this is an unsourced report, though)

He has asked them to go home, although he “loves them” and “the election was stolen.”

Even Fox has called him out for causing this riot.

Your president. I hope to hell you’re proud of him, and of his supporters, with whom you align yourselves.

And stop, stop, stop saying it’s the Democrats who cause political violence.

You should be, but won’t of course, be thoroughly ashamed of the lies, the sheer arrogance, and the brutality of your lot.

Make America Great Again. Right.

First order of business: impeachment and conviction of Donald J. Trump.
I suppose it may make sense to seat the new senators from Georgia first.

Slice the letters E.S.A. into perpetrator if he's found!
(One year ago, we visited another one of FL's clear springs filled with manatee (incl a baby), and it was a magical experience.)

Federal officials seek information on manatee harassment
Matthew Beck | Jan 11, 2021

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the harassment of this manatee. The animal was reported to federal authorities over the weekend when it was discovered with the words "Trump" etched in its back. It was discovered in the Blue Hole on the Homosassa River. The USFWS is looking for any information regarding the harassment of this animal. Call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation hotline at 1-888-404-3922 with information.

It was discovered in the Blue Hole on the Homosassa River...

https://www.chronicleonline.com/news/local/federal-officials-seek-information-on...

One last (perhaps) low action. He revokes his own EO ethics rule for “draining the swamp”:

https://www.npr.org/sections/inauguration-day-live-updates/2021/01/20/958710562/...

It frees his staff to profit as lobbiests.

China announces sanctions against 'lying and cheating' outgoing Trump officials (Guardian)

Chinese foreign ministry announced sanctions against Mike Pompeo and 27 others as Biden was taking presidential oath...

>58 John5918: China should include sanctions against that spawn of Trump, 'Ivanka', as well.

Trump slammed for failing to pardon Assange, Snowden (Al Jazeera)

The WikiLeaks founder and NSA whistleblower, seen by many as free-speech icons, were not included in outgoing US president’s list of people being pardoned...

Christine Assange, the Wikileaks founder’s mother, said she was “not shocked, just disappointed”...

'So petty': Donald and Melania Trump fired chief usher before leaving White House to spite Bidens
Travis Gettys | January 22, 2021

...Donald and Melania Trump sent White House ushers home early on Inauguration Day in one of their last acts in a tense presidential transition, a well-placed official not associated with the Biden team told the National Journal.

"The Trumps sent the butlers home when they left so there would be no one to help the Bidens when they arrived," the official said. "So petty."

...chief usher Timothy Harleth, a former executive of Trump Hotels hired by Melania Trump, was summarily fired by the outgoing president and first lady -- and not by the Bidens, as was widely reported afterward.

Harleth was already gone by the time Joe and Jill Biden arrived at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, leaving no one in place to open the doors for their inaugural entry and leading to an awkward pause.

"It's a big protocol breach for the president to ever stand in front of a closed door at the White House," said a veteran White House social expert...

The rest of the usher staff was back on the job Thursday, but Harleth -- considered to be a Trump loyalist -- was not expected to be retained by the Bidens for long.

https://www.rawstory.com/white-house-chief-usher/

Outspoken @Out5p0ken | 1:36 PM · Jan 24, 2021:
Looks like the Patriot Party has filed docs Donald J. Trump for president, Inc. with the FEC
https://docquery.fec.gov/cgi-bin/forms/C00767095/1489852
Image ( https://twitter.com/Out5p0ken/status/1353411490678714368/photo/1 )

Trump’s Patriot Party: prior trademarks could be “significant hurdle” to new political venture
World Trademark Review | Jan 20,2021
https://www.worldtrademarkreview.com/brand-management/trumps-patriot-party-prior...
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Tim Marks @tmarks11 | 1:46 PM · Jan 24, 2021:
They are registering as a Political Action Committee (PAC), not a political party.
This is a fund-raising organization.
Genius move to jump early to fleece the credulous sheep of their money…

Trump once again requests mail-in ballot despite repeatedly attacking method (Guardian)

Donald Trump requested a mail-in ballot for Palm Beach county’s municipal election in Florida earlier this week, despite a long record of attacks against what he has labeled a “fraudulent” voting method. The local election marked the third instance of the former president voting by mail since changing his residency from New York to Florida in October 2019...

Trump went to sit Shivah with his accountants family for his mother, and was his rude, crude self.

https://www.rawstory.com/allen-weisselberg-donald-trump/

>63 John5918: Despite the fact that he's not technically allowed to reside there, and therefore is falsely claiming residence - which I think probably would count as "voting illegally"

How Trump Steered Supporters Into Unwitting Donations
Shane Goldmacher | April 3, 2021

Online donors were guided into weekly recurring contributions. Demands for refunds spiked. Complaints to banks and credit card companies soared. But the money helped keep Donald Trump’s struggling campaign afloat.

Recurring donations swelled former President Donald J. Trump’s campaign coffers in September and October, just as his operation’s finances were deteriorating.

...Facing a cash crunch and getting badly outspent by the Democrats, the campaign had begun last September to set up recurring donations by default for online donors, for every week until the election.

Contributors had to wade through a fine-print disclaimer and manually uncheck a box to opt out.

As the election neared, the Trump team made that disclaimer increasingly opaque, an investigation by The New York Times showed. It introduced a second prechecked box, known internally as a “money bomb,” that doubled a person’s contribution. Eventually its solicitations featured lines of text in bold and capital letters that overwhelmed the opt-out language.

The tactic ensnared scores of unsuspecting Trump loyalists — retirees, military veterans, nurses and even experienced political operatives. Soon, banks and credit card companies were inundated with fraud complaints from the president’s own supporters about donations they had not intended to make, sometimes for thousands of dollars...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/03/us/politics/trump-donations.html

>66 margd:

This indicates how little Trump and his enablers cared about the day-to-day lives of his Main Street cult followers/voters. Trump's DNA has always had an overactive con-man gene.

>66 margd: Here are a couple of donor stories:

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/trump-donors-fume-over-fine-print-which-all...

A 63-year-old cancer patient in Kansas City named Stacy Blatt told the Times that he gave $500 to the campaign in September, despite living on less than $1,000 a month, and was completely blindsided by what followed.

“That single contribution — federal records show it was his first ever — quickly multiplied,” the report stated. “Another $500 was withdrawn the next day, then $500 the next week and every week through mid-October, without his knowledge — until Mr. Blatt’s bank account had been depleted and frozen.”
He was forced to seek help from his brother after his utility and rent checks bounced and he learned his account had been drained of $3,000 in under 30 days.
“ It felt like it was a scam,” Russel told the Times, adding that the family reported the Trump campaign withdrawals to the bank because it thought Stacy had been the victim of fraud.

Another 78-year-old from California made what she thought was a one-time donation of $990 that wound up costing her more than $8,000.

Who needs Twitter? Trump wishes happy Easter to 'radical left crazies' (Guardian)

Ex-president marks holy day with brief, abusive statement... On Sunday the former president seemed to test the theory, mimicking world leaders including Pope Francis, if not echoing their sense of dignity and appeals for peace on a major religious holiday, by releasing a statement to mark Easter Sunday. “Happy Easter to ALL,” Trump said, “including the Radical Left CRAZIES who rigged our Presidential Election, and want to destroy our Country!” The presidential election was not rigged, however often Trump repeats a lie repeatedly thrown out of court. Joe Biden beat him by more than 7m votes and by 306-232 in the electoral college...

It seems that Trump has raked in around $75 million in the first 1/2 of 2021 on the promise that he’s fighting the results of the 2020 election but has spent ZERO DOLLARS of that money on those challenges.

- Laurence Tribe (Harvard Law Emeritus) @tribelaw2:25 PM · Jul 23, 2021

>70 margd: The problem is, one side considers that fake news, and the other considers that obvious and thus uninteresting.

Trump praises Putin's 'genius' plan to invade Ukraine: 'You gotta say that’s pretty savvy'
David Edwards | February 22, 2022

..."I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius,'" Trump recalled. "Putin declares a big portion of the Ukraine — of Ukraine -- Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that’s wonderful."

"I said, 'How smart is that?'" the former U.S. president continued. "And he’s gonna go in and be a peacekeeper. That’s the strongest peace force… We could use that on our southern border. That’s the strongest peace force I’ve ever seen. There were more army tanks than I’ve ever seen. They’re gonna keep peace all right. No, but think of it. Here’s a guy who’s very savvy."

Trump added: "But here’s a guy that says, you know, 'I’m gonna declare a big portion of Ukraine independent,' he used the word 'independent' and 'we’re gonna go out and we’re gonna go in and we’re gonna help keep peace.' You gotta say that’s pretty savvy. And you know what the response was from Biden? There was no response. They didn’t have one for that. No, it’s very sad. Very sad."...

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-putin-ukraine/

He's not wrong. De facto Precedent Biden severely underestimated Putin's mettle, and now the crisis successfully avoided during Precedent Trump's first mandate unfolds. Unfortunately Mr Biden's not the one who will pay the price for his incompetence, others will.

I disagree about Putin smarts although he IS persistent on the subject of Ukraine. I think he may have set in play his own probably violent demise, although he's going to take a lot of young Russians and Ukrainians with him. As for Trump:

What does "Politics Stops at the Water's Edge" Mean?
Tricia Christensen | February 15, 2022

...Republican Senator Arthur Vandenberg about 1947 (Truman era)...One of his principal statements was that American politicians should always present a united front to other countries...

https://www.infobloom.com/what-does-politics-stops-at-the-waters-edge-mean.htm

>73 Kuiperdolin:

Trump's America First anthem has led to his buddy Putin forging a Russia First mission after Trump's loss. Clueless 2016 voters in flyover country and swing states who were unhappy with their lives in 21st century America made it all possible. The dominos keep falling.

https://www.mediaite.com/online/trump-social-media-app-reportedly-bombing-hard-s...
Trump Social Media App Reportedly Bombing Hard, Signups Plunge By More Than 90% Since Launch

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Did Nunes not realize this was a con ~ or ~ is he one of the con-job members? The perps are going to shut it down very soon and take off with the money clueless dudes invested in the apps formation. It's an echo chamber Trump NEVER uses.

>76 Molly3028: As I recall, the technical "development" that they did was basically re-skinning Mastodon (you could do that for yourself this weekend, it'd be a fun project), and they clearly didn't spend much money on legal, since they didn't even understand the terms of the licensing.
I don't know what they told their investors they were spending their money on, but they're not wasting it on running a company.

https://www.mediaite.com/politics/shock-trump-white-house-photographer-got-shaft...
SHOCK: Trump White House Photographer Got Shafted By Trump

Former President Donald Trump released a photo book last December, which denied his White House photographer an opportunity to showcase her four years documenting his presidency.....

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Shock???????? This is the kind of thing a life-long con man does ~ it is in Trump's DNA.

https://www.dailydot.com/debug/truth-social-accounts-impersonate-government-agen...
‘That is not an official CIA account’: Trump’s social media platform is filled with fake government profiles

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What an unsurprising discovery for people with half a brain.