Nepotism proves to be a recipe in failure for Trump clan
Another ad produced by the super PAC known as – The Lincoln Project takes a shot at Jared Kushner, calling him the “secretary of failure”. Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law has been given a large handful of very important tasks, one of which was heading the response team uncharge of coming up with a plan to contain the spread of the pandemic.
So far the total lack of an effective “plan” and instead the obvious outcome that more and more Americans are losing their lives (150,000 and counting), he has definitely failed on that front.
The “Trump Whisperer” Sarah Cooper Triumphs again with new clip
These days there’s easy and endless material, updated on the hour that presents insane opportunities to laugh at our president. In all the horror and seriousness of the past week, still the comic parade continues. Never would I have guessed that a portion of a cognitive assessment test would bring about so much media attention, especially in a comical way.
Five simple words: “Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV” has sparked a virtually endless barrage of content and has become a viral moment; a feeding frenzy of material from social media, of course, and TV comedians. Writer and comic Sarah Cooper is one that made a particularly noteworthy appearance. She shared one of her signature lip-syncing videos “How to person woman man camera tv.” This kind of hilarious, great work is nothing new for Cooper, who has been active over the past months making over 20 lip-sync videos titled “How to President” that have clocked over 1.5 million views on her YouTube and Tik Tok accounts.
The Lincoln Project also released a funny ad that doctored a video to resemble a laugh-track laden situation comedy such as the hit comedy sitcom show “Seinfeld”. The clip plays out hilariously edited bits and pieces of the President’s interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace.
When asked about the Fox poll that posits the question – whose is more competent? Wallace tells Trump that Biden beats him. Trump then crafts his reply, as he attempts to defend himself, claiming the test “gets very hard, the last five questions” and “Nobody has done what I’ve done.”
The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) which is not really a test, is a series of mental tasks that include being asked to identify images of animals, recall the date and memorize a sequences of words. The assessment is actually supposed to be quick and easy as its a straightforward screening tool to measure different areas of the brain responsible for short-term memory, spatial awareness and executive brain function.
Trump has made it a point to brag that he “aced” the cognitive tests, while most people, rightly, are aware that the test isn’t to gauge a person’s IQ/intelligence but rather to measure for potential impairment in cognition which includes memory. His pride in passing this impairment “test” has been inspiration for a wide variety of comic gold.
Enter Late Night for some more laughs
Stephen Colbert’s “A Late Show”, Jimmy Fallon’s “The Tonight Show” and Trevor Noah’s “The Daily Show” all took turns poking fun at President Trump.
A Book of Historic Importance as November Election approaches
Mary Trump’s book, the memoir titled “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” went on sale on July 14, 2020. There has been much buzz leading up to its release and it is now clear that a serious number of people are going to read this book. Those that do will get an intimate insider’s view of the president and his family dynamics.
Publisher Simon & Schuster reported that the title has already sold almost 1 million units, with approximately 950,000 copies sold at the end of its first day on the market. The totals also include pre-orders, audio and e-books. This also represents a new opening-day sales record for the publishing company.
On June 23,2020 when former National Security Advisor John Bolton’s book “The Room Where It Happened: A White House Memoir” was released, yet another exposé about Trump, also published by Simon & Schuster, it too also held massive sales, yielding in more than 780,000 copies on its first week.
Both books endured repeated attempts by President Trump and his family to block any release. Trump claimed Bolton’s book would reveal classified information and that Mary Trump had violated her nondisclosure agreement. In each case, a judge denied requests for injunctions and both books are now available for mass public consumption.
After the judge’s ruling in her favor, Mary Trump took to social media and began posting on her Twitter account, her first tweets since 2018. Welcome back, Mary
Doctor Anthony Fauci has held the position of Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Institute of Health (NIH) for nearly 50 years and most recently the lead expert in the Trump Administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force. Dr. Fauci has, from the beginning, vocalized his predictions about COVID-19, warning the public of its seriousness and the urgent need to take precautions (social distancing and wearing a face covering). Recently, however, The White House has lobbed seemingly random criticisms against the doctor. For example, Trump, in an interview with Sean Hannity of Fox News, called Fauci a “nice man, but he’s made a lot of mistakes.” Also Peter Navarro, Trump’s Trade Advisor, in an op-ed in USA Today, wrote that Fauci “has been wrong about everything I have interacted with him on”. In a recent response Fauci called the attacks “bizarre”, and added that Peter Navarro was “in a world of his own”.
The Lincoln Project has put together a succinct and poignant look at this exchange in a new ad, released on July 15, 2020, contrasting the “American Hero” and “Natural Leader” with the abysmal conduct of the President during the coronavirus pandemic and crisis. (above)
So why would anyone attack and blame Fauci, who has served as a medical advisor for 6 different presidents? Perhaps, as shown in the video, while Fauci has been nothing but upfront and honest, Trump has failed America and repeatedly lied about the severity of the virus, confidently stating, the now obviously absurd opinion, that the virus will just “disappear one day like a miracle”.
In the text accompanying the clip on their web site, the group added:
“Dr. Fauci has served both Republican and Democratic administrations. He is a profoundly respected physician, whose work has improved the lives of millions of Americans,” said Reed Galen, co-founder of The Lincoln Project. He continued, “President Trump’s incompetence has cost 130,000 Americans their lives, sickened millions more and wrecked our economy
The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project is a super-PAC formed in 2019 by a group of Republicans that hold a singular mission: To defeat Donald Trump and Trumpism.
Conservative Republican Org a.k.a. RVAT’s new ad highlights the need for a Nov. 3rd Trump Loss
Another video has been released from Republican Voters Against Trump, who are more simply referred to as RVAT, a political initiative launched by Defending Democracy Together, with a view to safeguarding the 2020 presidential election against a Trump victory. The clip below shows how the president and in particular his adoring VP, Mike Pence, have uttered numerous falsehoods about the realities of the coronavirus, in stark comparison to the truth and facts, such as the increasing spread of the virus and how case numbers are rapidly rising.
The United States continues to report record high totals of daily new cases during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many states have had different approaches to reopening and face-covering restrictions, and those with more lenient restrictions have had major surges of new confirmed cases. As the new academic year is fast approaching, there are many school districts struggling to decide if they will be opening up normally or will start with online classes only.
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Despite plenty of legal shenanigans it is unlikely the book will be held back
Donald Trump and his family have tried to silence many people over the course of his presidency. From reporters, to writers, to scientists, and more, the presidential family has a knack for blocking out information that is daunting, unflattering, or threatening to their national image. Most recently, however, the extended First Family carried this censorship into the family itself, trying to stifle the publication of Mary L. Trump‘s new tell-all book about the POTUS’s lineage.
Mary Trump is President Trump‘s niece, the daughter of his late brother Fred Trump Jr, who died of alcoholism in 1981. She holds an M.A. in English from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Adelphi University. Other than a Twitter account where she will occasionally criticize her uncle or express support for groups such as Black Lives Matter or the LGBTQ+ community, her politics have not been overly exposed. The last time she spoke publicly on political matters was 20 years ago, when she shamed her family to the New York Daily News. Unlike many members of the Trump family, though, Mary has largely kept herself out of the spotlight until now.
And that although also bound by the agreement the President “has spoken out about our family and the will dispute on numerous occasions”— implying that this would have voided the agreement in any case.
Could this be the bombshell that fatally taints POTUS’ already suspect reputation?
Her new book is titled “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” and it offers an inside perspective on the Trump family, intensely revealing the familial structures that gave rise to the nation’s current controversial leader.
Published by Simon & Schuster, Mary’s book is rumored to include never-before-exposed information about the Trumps, much of which is bound to be shocking, raw, and scathing. Perhaps this is why the rest of the Trump family tried to bar it from publication in court.
The president’s brother and Mary’s first uncle, Robert Trump led the brigade in trying to halt “Too Much and Never Enough” from hitting book stores, citing a Non-Disclosure Agreement from Fred Trump Sr’s estate that prohibits descendants from exposing family secrets. Robert brought this evidence to the Queen’s Surrogate’s Court in New York, but Judge Peter J. Kelly tossed the case, calling the claims “fatally defective.”
For starters, Robert Trump’s allegations were based off of Fred Trump Sr’s probate, which was resolved in 2001 and is therefore irrelevant today. Because the case has nothing to do with wills and assets after all, Judge Kelly deemed it beyond the Surrogate Court’s jurisdiction, and suggested that Robert take it to the New York Supreme Court, which handles civil and criminal matters.
Recently in response to the legal challenges mounted by her Uncle Donald and his brother Robert Trump in the various court proceedings, Mary said she was telling her “life story”— which she deems outside and restrictions set forth in the non-disclosure agreement and that here personal story includes, incidentally “the conduct and character of my uncle, the sitting President of the United States.”
“None of the parties to the Settlement Agreement, including my uncles Donald Trump and Robert Trump, or my aunt Maryanne Trump, has ever sought my permission to speak publicly about our family or their personal relationships with me, my brother Fred, or among each other”
Mary L. Trump
Another book is out there for a peek into inner sanctum scuzz
Even then, however, the Trump family would likely be ineffective in blocking Mary’s book. With the Fred Trump estate already wrapped up, she has every right to publish a book about her own family. Such is her first amendment right— it is hard to argue against the first amendment in a court of law, no matter what kind of elite lawyers the Trump family has on its side.
During the rising election season, the Trumps have been extra vigilant about protecting the President’s reputation on the printed page. Earlier this summer, the publication of former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton‘s “The Room Where It Happened” was quite embarrassing for the commander in chief, as it heavily criticized his political actions and exposed his incompetence from the inside. Despite inconsistent reviews as a text, Bolton’s book garnered lots of attention and effectively stained the President’s image.
Bolton was simply served as the 27th United States National Security Advisor in the Trump administration from 2018 to 2019, so we can only imagine the kind of dirt Mary has on the man. Her book is scheduled for a July 28th release.
More Financial Corruption Trails Emerge, Politico’s Changing Headline Notwithstanding
Ever since his campaign began in 2015, President Donald Trump has been very vocal about China. He often brags about having the country wrapped around his finger while boasting his signature “America First” ideology. Recently, he’s not been afraid to point fingers at the country for the coronavirus either, and he uses China’s impeding global influence as a talking point in his campaign against former Vice President Joe Biden. He claims that if Biden wins the election, then China will essentially take over all of America.
Not only is this rhetoric overdramatic, but it is also quite hypocritical coming out of Trump’s mouth. The President can accuse the Biden all he wants, but a recent Politico feature exposed that Trump owed (originally published as “owes”) China millions of dollars for a real estate deal he made with them back in 2012.
Although the original Politico story has been re-published and disputed, these dealings remain part of a larger pattern of corruption and conflicts of interest by this president and need to be heavily scrutinized for the good of the country.
The deal involved Trump taking a massive loan from the state-run Bank Of China for a 30% stake in the Avenue of America skyscraper in Manhattan, a property worth over $1 billion total. Trump reportedly owes the bank $211 million for his share, and that debt could mature during Trump’s second term.
Follow the Money is Still the Mantra for Combatting Corruption
The President’s conspicuous relationship with China does not end with this single loan, though. According to Politico, “Chinese state-owned companies are constructing two luxury Trump developments in United Arab Emirates and Indonesia. The president and his daughter Ivanka Trump, a White House adviser, have been awarded trademarks by China’s government. And his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has courted Chinese investors in at least one other real estate deal.”
Thus, Trump has clear reason to be personally invested in and politically defensive of China. Even if he plays the role of a bullish international diplomat for the media, our president has multiple questionable financial ties to China. He even brought up the Avenue of America property during a 2015 speech, citing it as an example of his business-savviness when dealing with the foreign country. What he left out, however, is that he still owed China millions of dollars, and would continue being in their debt well into his presidency.
No matter what kind of dirt Trump has (or has tried to attain) on Biden and the VP’s international dealings with Ukraine, they do not nullify his own actions with China. And it’s hard to imagine Trump always putting America first when China has a $211 million sway over his hallowed wallet.
Local print and digital news industries have been in a fragile state for the past decade or so. As print journalism becomes outdated, digital news grows oversaturated, and Facebook and Google dominate the online advertising market, newspapers—both young and old, established and local—have been downsizing, reprogramming, and, in some cases, abandoning operations. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic tanking the economy, these papers are getting yet another potentially fatal blow, this time at a moment when we need them the most.
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While subscriptions to various outlets could certainly be higher, the real culprit behind the industry’s recent setback has been a lack in ads. With businesses are closing their doors and the stock market chronically sinking amidst orders for most consumers to stay at home. Temporarily shut down businesses with no active customers naturally have no purpose in increasing or continuing advertising campaigns. People are steadfastly living in isolation, pausing the conventional market flow and thus rendering most ads futile or impotent at best.
Unfortunately for many news media outlets, ads are where most of the revenue comes from. Advertisements fund nearly all of the journalism that makes these publications worthwhile. While actual subscription sales do a part of the job, their contributions are meager compared to the ads. Therefore, while isolation might actually yield increased readership, the ad supported outlets still face financial losses and sink further into debt during this crisis.
While Journalism Struggles America Needs Professional Reporting more than Ever
“Crisis” is the apt word for the present situation, which should speak volumes to the current necessity for quality journalism. Fear, half-truths, political discord, and downright uncertainty grips the nation. The Press has a longstanding Democratic obligation to keep Americans informed and feed them the whole truth. If it ceases to operate—especially in these unstable times—then people may turn to unreliable sources, court misinformation, and render the already scary situation even more dangerous.
In previous periods when journalism hit roadblocks, such as during the Great Recession in 2008, most papers found ways around the situation by increasing pay walls on digital services or seeking private funding. These options might still be available for major publications like The New York Times or The Washington Post. However, smaller, local and regional news outlets are unlikely to find similar rescue options.
A Huge Need For Local and Regional Reporting Exists
Local news organizations are the most vulnerable outlets during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they have tighter readerships, rely on smaller business ads, and don’t share the same major connections that some of the bigger publications boast. They are no less important, though, as they cater to parts of the country removed from urban hubs and spread localized information to contained populations.
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Consequentially, the News Media Alliance and America’s Newspapers—two trade associations representing over 2000 newspapers both big and small—are turning to the federal government for help. On March 30th, NMA President David Chavern and America’s Newspapers CEO H. Dean Ridings penned a letter to President Donald Trump, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. In the letter, they beseech the feds for relief funding, making a case for journalists as essential workers and crucial parts of the current fight against COVID-19.
In the meantime, however, things are sadly only getting worse for America’s newspapers. According to PressGazette on April 1st, newspaper ad revenues have dropped by 50% since the corona virus shutdowns began. With newsrooms clearing out and many journalists working from home, papers are growing pickier about who and what is essential, cutting costs by laying off personnel and printing fewer stories.
And all of this happening at a time when the Press perseveres as a last line of defense between truth and hysteria.
Lines Blurred in Tinsel-town in Must Win Election Year
Variety magazine, the renowned weekly entertainment trade, always sports pictures of familiar Hollywood faces on its covers. From Oscar winners to television tycoons, the trade typically displays stars synonymous with entertainment success. Thus, subscribers were likely surprised to find Nancy Pelosi on the cover of the March 3rd issue, and for the 79-year-old Speaker of the House to be the primary subject of the feature article.
While some might enjoy going to the movies or turning on the TV to forget about complicated, real world matters such as politics, global warming, or high-strung elections, the gap between entertainment and government is narrowing. Mainstream movies and shows are reflecting contemporary ideologies more transparently than ever before, and celebrities are using their influences to voice political thoughts. For evidence, one needs to look no further than this year’s politically fueled acceptance speeches at the Golden Globes and Oscars.
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Granted, politics have always overlapped with entertainment. Ever since the first televised presidential debate took place between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960, political theater has become a swaying source of amusement for many constituents. This became evermore prevalent in 1980, when former movie star Ronald Regan took office and led the nation with an endearing Western-cowboy-like kind of performance. Add in immense marketing campaigns, choreographed speeches, and pre-prepared rallies meant to evoke emotional responses for certain candidates, and elections start looking a lot like movie or TV productions, ongoing serials aired in episodic bursts on morning and nightly news programs.
This took on an entirely new level of truth in the 2016 election, when a literal reality TV star won the republican ticket and eventually took home the general election with an unprecedentedly theatrical campaign. The trend has continued in the media ever since, as Donald Trump now sits in the oval office and has been a goldmine of riveting, controversial stories over the past four years.
American politics are no longer the dry, niche subject that they were pre-Trump, and behaving apolitically is hardly acceptable anymore. This new push of activism has found its way into Hollywood quite palpably. Being that moviemakers and stars have lots of money and influence, several politicians have made friends with powerful members of tinsel town. As Variety outlined in its Pelosi article, the Speaker of the House has strong support and personal relations from the likes of producers Katie McGrath, JJ Abrams, Damon Lindelof, David Zaslav, and James L. Brooks.
The “Stay in your Lane” refrain no Longer Applies for Hollywood Stars
Meanwhile, many starts have publically endorsed candidates for the 2020 election. Before Super Tuesday, actor Michael Douglas supported Mayor Michael Bloomberg and actor/producer Seth MacFarlane co-hosted events for Mayor Pete Buttigieg. Meanwhile, Senator Elizabeth Warren has the support of John Legend, Chrissy Teigen, Jonathan Van Ness, and Scarlett Johanson amongst others in the industry, while Joe Biden has Tom Hanks, Michelle Kwan, and Alec Baldwin in his corner. Recently, you also may have noticed actor Danny DeVito lending his charisma to ads for Senator Bernie Sanders, who also has support from Ariana Grande, Dick Van Dyke, and Mark Ruffalo.
This is just the surface. Each candidate has an exhaustive list of celebs backing him or her. Each candidate except one, that is—the one currently in the White House.
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While people in Hollywood are taking their picks of which candidate they want to support, the industry as a whole is uniting against Donald Trump. The foremost rhetoric behind each celebrity endorsement implies that this election’s primary objective should be defeating Trump. Thus, the film and television community (a community that has always been left leaning) is likely to rally behind whomever wins the Democratic nomination and vote Blue no matter what come November.
Endorsing Trump has proven to be unwise in Hollywood. The handful of actors, directors, and producers who openly supported Trump in 2016 have had trouble finding work since the election. Agencies and management companies often hesitate to represent Trump supporters, for Producers will rarely hire them. Simply stated, in a Liberal industry, those in charge do not want Trumpish toxicity on their sets or in their offices.
Vote Blue No Matter Who is Standard Stance
Actors who backed Trump in 2016 such as Dean Cain, John Voight, and Antonio Sabato Jr have been all but blacklisted for the past few years. Sabato has even moved to Florida and taken on a construction job, ending his career in Hollywood for lack of work. Meanwhile, steadfast Republican celebrities such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Clint Eastwood have retracted their support for Trump despite his political affiliation.
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Evidently, the ~3,000 mile distance between Hollywood and Washington DC is shrinking, as candidates are crisscrossing the continent for support from powerful and influential individuals. Historically speaking, this is hardly anything new, as celebrities have played roles in politics for decades. In World War II, the federal government solicited studios to create and distribute wartime propaganda films. During McCarthyism, troves of creative people were put on trial for creating films with Communist sentiments. As recently as the Obama administration, former Disney CEO Bob Iger held close relations and political counsel with the President, giving Mickey Mouse an influential voice of our federal government.
At the same time, political theater is getting all the more theatrical these days. The news feels more like “House Of Cards” everyday. It is entertaining, but unlike drama television, the consequences of real life politics do not end after 58 minutes. They remain authentic and oftentimes quite harsh. Trump proved in 2016 that a melodramatic, highly staged campaign can be triumphant in the modern era. In order to defeat him now, the Left has to hold their own in this sphere, but they are doing their best to uphold truth and dignity while giving the constituents the show they crave.
Although these titles are all coming from a perspective that challenges the current resident of the White House, the details are stunning and do matter – great research and reporting can help us to get beneath and beyond the slogans and the rhetoric. With this year being possibly the most important election year in history, staying informed is key. If you are one of the millions of Americans that have suffered during the chaos that President Trump has instigated during his time in office these books might add a deeper level of understanding just how we got to this point and what will be required to change the direction for the better in the next four years.
Click to Buy “Running Against the Devil” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
Donald Trump is exactly the disaster we feared for America. Hated by a majority of Americans, Trump’s administration is rocked by daily scandals, and he’s embarrassed us at home and abroad. Trump can’t win in 2020, right? Wrong.
As 2016 proved, Trump can’t win, but the Democrats can sure as hell lose. Only one thing can save Trump, and that’s a Democratic candidate who runs the race Trump wants them to run instead of the campaign they must run to win in 2020. Wilson combines decades of national political experience and insight in his take-no-prisoners analysis, hammering Trump’s destructive and dangerous first term in a case-by-case takedown of the worst president in history and describing the terrifying prospect of four more years of Trump. Like no one else can, Wilson blows the lid off Trump’s 2020 Republican war machine, showing the exact strategies and tactics they’ll use against the Democratic nominee . . . and how the Democrats can avoid the catastrophe waiting for them if they fall into Trump’s trap. Available on Amazon.
If you’ve asked yourself the question, what more can I do to make sure Donald Trump does not continue to occupy the Oval Office on January 20, 2021?–then this book is for you. A playbook for the common citizen, A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump addresses the many things individuals can do in 2020 every day, without having to leave their jobs, move to Iowa, or spend every waking moment on the election. In A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump, Plouffe’s message is simple: the only way change happens, especially on scale, is one human being talking to another. It won’t happen magically, it won’t happen because of debates and conventions, it won’t happen because of ads.
It will happen because citizens take action. And Plouffe is here to help, with specific strategies and tailored talking points to make sure your time and energy aren’t wasted. He lays out why different activities the average citizen can take can make a difference to getting to 270 electoral votes, how people can go about doing them and examples of where it’s worked in the past. There are at least 65 million Americans who are likely committed to voting against Trump. It is entirely in our control to grow that number and make sure the support materializes in actual votes. Plouffe arms us with advice on how to defend against misinformation online, how to create and spread content, how to register and get out the vote early, how to make a difference in the battlegrounds and how to stay involved after the big election. Filled with stories from the last sixteen years, both successes and failures, as well as political strategies that have evolved in the wake of the breakthrough campaign that Plouffe masterminded, A Citizen’s Guide to Beating Donald Trump is a pragmatic, specific, and very motivational guide for the path forward. Also Available on Amazon.
Click to Buy “Un-Trumping America” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
Dan Pfeiffer, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Yes We (Still) Can and cohost of Pod Save America, is back — a sharp political playbook for defeating Trump and saving the nation from Republican-driven disaster.
There is nothing more important than beating Donald Trump in 2020, but defeating Trump is just the start of this timely book. Un-Trumping America offers readers three critical insights: first, Trump is not an aberration, but rather the logical extension of the modern Republican Party; second, how Democrats can defeat Trump in 2020; and third, preventing the likes of Trump from ever happening again with a plan to fix democracy.
“[UN-TRUMPING AMERICA] lays out the path for Democrats to save the day, not by beating Republicans at their own (dirty, he convincingly claims) game but by, like, actually doing democracy.”–Booklist. Available on Amazon.
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Washington Post national investigative reporter Carol Leonnig and White House bureau chief Philip Rucker, both Pulitzer Prize winners, provide the definitive insider narrative of Donald Trump’s unique presidency with shocking new reporting and insight into its implications.
“I alone can fix it.” So went Donald J. Trump’s march to the presidency on July 21, 2016, when he accepted the Republican presidential nomination in Cleveland, promising to restore what he described as a fallen nation. Yet over the subsequent years, as he has undertaken the actual work of the commander in chief, it has been hard to see beyond the daily chaos of scandal, investigation, and constant bluster. It would be all too easy to mistake Trump’s first term for one of pure and uninhibited chaos, but there were patterns to his behavior and that of his associates. The universal value of the Trump administration is loyalty – not to the country, but to the president himself – and Trump’s North Star has been the perpetuation of his own power, even when it meant imperiling our shaky and mistrustful democracy. Available on Amazon.
Click to Buy “Everything Trump Touches Dies” and at the same time help Lynxotic and All Independent Local Bookstores. Also Available on Amazon
In the #1 New York Times bestselling Everything Trump Touches Dies, political campaign strategist and commentator Rick Wilson delivers “a searingly honest, bitingly funny, comprehensive answer to the question we find ourselves asking most mornings: ‘What the hell is going on?’ (Chicago Tribune). The Guardian hails Everything Trump Touches Dies, saying it gives, “more unvarnished truths about Donald Trump than anyone else in the American political establishment has offered. Wilson never holds back.” Rick mercilessly exposes the damage Trump has done to the country, to the Republican Party, and to the conservative movement that has abandoned its principles for the worst President in American history.
Wilson unblinkingly dismantles Trump’s deceptions and the illusions to which his supporters cling, shedding light on the guilty parties who empower and enable Trump in Washington and in the media. He calls out the race-war dead-enders who hitched a ride with Trump, the alt-right basement dwellers who worship him, and the social conservatives who looked the other way. Publishers Weekly calls it, “a scathing, profane, unflinching, and laugh-out-loud funny rebuke of Donald Trump and his presidency.” No left-winger, Wilson is a lifelong conservative who delivers his withering critique of Trump from the right. A leader of the Never Trump movement, he warned from the start that Trump would destroy the lives and reputations of everyone in his orbit, and Everything Trump Touches Dies is a deft chronicle the tragicomic political story of our time. From the early campaign days through the shock of election night, to the inconceivable train-wreck of Trump’s first year. Rick Wilson provides not only an insightful analysis of the Trump administration, but also an optimistic path forward for the GOP, the conservative movement, and the country. Available on Amazon.
Skyline of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, Headquarters of Deutsche Bank – Photo / Adobe Stock
Great Title, Extensive Research, ‘Follow The Money’ at its Best
Based on its title, David Enrich’s new book “Dark Towers” might sound like an appendix to the nine part horror-fantasy series that Stephen King wrote between 1982 and 2012. In reality, though, Enrich’s book is a true story of financial corruption, with the full title “Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank, Donald Trump and an Epic Trail of Destruction.” Nevertheless, the tale is just as riveting as any novel, and is perhaps even darker than any work of fiction.
Enrich’s book, recently released on February 18th, follows the trajectory of Deutsche Bank, a German bank that formed in 1870, helped finance the Nazi’s through World War II, and then came to America in the late 20th Century to get in on the deregulated American economy. And, in particular, during the most recent decade when Deutsche started financing a volatile real-estate tycoon named Donald Trump.
As Enrich makes clear over the book’s 400+ pages, Deutsche has been a portrait of Wall Street depravity and recklessness. The company grew to be the largest bank in the world, with 90,000 employees and nearly $2 trillion in assets. It took on Trump as a client when no one else would, for the bank, as is well documented in this tome, relished in rule-breaking and loaned the young(er) Donald billions of dollars for risky projects. According to Enrich, without the help of Deutsche, Trump probably would’ve never become the ragged edge gambler that he did, and subsequently, he probably would’ve never become President.
At the Heart of the Corrupt Story, of course, is Russia
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The book was researched over a long period of time, most notably during the period Enrich was Financial Editor for the New York Times. His direct contacts and stories relating to several top officials at Deutsche Bank that died via suicide under mysterious circumstances gave him access to some unique documents and data. During a period between 2010 and 2015 massive sums of money were loaned to Trump at a time when no banks other than Deutsche would even consider a loan, due to his multiple bankruptcies and other irregularities. Ultimately, through some complex maneuvering a Russian financial concern called VTB was involved in the process. The same VTB that was also involved in negotiations for a project to build Trump Tower Moscow.
Due to Trump’s seemingly endless legal battles to prevent his tax returns from being seen, even within a closed trial setting, it is likely that the ultimate truths in this part of the saga will only be revealed once he has left office. Needless to say, along with many other legal issues there will be a lot riding on the November elections for the Nation and, in many ways detailed in this book, for Trump personally.
Aside from the bank’s dealings with Trump—which are now the topic of federal investigation—Enrich also describes Deutsche’s multiple cases of criminal behavior. In a promotional interview the author did with NPR, he explains that Deutsche “had more money-laundering schemes than I can even count off the top of my head. They were evading taxes. They were bribing people. They were violating international sanctions. Look at any major financial scandal in the past 10 or 15 years, Deutsche Bank has been at or near the center.”
Naturally, this all leads up to the financial crash of 2008, where the bank yet again narrowly escaped dreadful consequences by using shady methods of exploitative foresight.
Some Hard Evidence is Here but the Reckoning will Require A Legal Battle
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However, Enrich’s book is not a dry account of contemporary American finances, nor is it a bland record of numbers and figures. With the voice of an accomplished journalist, Enrich shares a compelling narrative through “Dark Towers,” one filled with colorful characters and interwoven plotlines.
While it is certainly a work of non-fiction, reading the book is a novelistic experience. It opens with the mysterious death of former Deutsche employee Bill Broeksmit, which Enrich uses as the starting point to unravel the bank’s incredible history—one that spans interactions with everyone from Trump to Russian oligarchs.
As aforementioned, “Dark Towers” is an entirely true story, but that just makes it all the more twisted. It is a telling tale for the post-truth age: a story of power constructs and hard-to-digest realities that will leave you second-guessing the burden of knowing the cold hard facts.
David Enrich is the Financial Editor for the New York Times. He is the recipient of the 2016 Gerald Loeb Award for feature journalism amongst other awards. “Dark Towers” is his second book, following 2017’s “The Spider Network” which was shortlisted for the Financial Times’ Best Book of the Year award.
The Press Responds with Extreme Concern as Last Line of Public Defense Against Trump’s Lawlessness
Media reporters have frequently panned Donald Trump ever since he announced his presidential campaign way back in 2015, and oftentimes for good reason. While many in the public like to play coy, find loopholes, and forgive the controversial President for his past and present wrongs, the objective press have done their job from day one, covering the Trump campaign and administration in nonpartisan print, for the most part, mirroring the facts on the ground.
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All throughout the sexual allegations, the Mueller Report debacle, tax evasion accusations, and more, Trump has managed to weasel his way out of facing consequences and the press has dutifully reported on each occasion with measured impartiality. Bending over backwards, as it were, even as he attacked with cries of “fake news” and even singled out individual reports for his ire.
By 2017 the word “lie” in describing the, well, lies of Trumps tweets and speeches became commonplace. There was little alternative language that would suffice.
Recently, however, ever since the Senate acquitted Trump during the impeachment trial, there has been a second change in the press’ language and a shift in the media zeitgeist.
Because all evidence pointed to Trump’s guilt in soliciting election interference from Ukraine, yet he still got off scot free, many reporters are taking on a new, quasi-apocalyptic tone. According to several journalists, academics, writers, and theorists, Trump’s recent acquittal is the final straw, placing the United States in an unprecedented state of post-law politics that demands a call-to-action.
In “How far will you go to save our democracy from Donald Trump?” in Daily Kos the spectre of Tump refusing to accept the outcome of an election he loses is explored:
So then what? What if Trump loses the election, refuses to leave, and the GOP doesn’t make him? Can you imagine a scenario where Trump loses the popular vote AND the Electoral College, yet is still in office after a 5-4 vote in the Supreme Court? What would you do in this case? I am seriously asking YOU: Then what?
Trump has the GOP in his back pocket it seems, as all Republican Senators except Utah’s Mitt Romney defended him at the impeachment. Afraid to side with Democrats or damage their political careers, Republicans are essentially making Trump untouchable, prioritizing politics over morals and placing the President above the law.
Due to Trump’s political record of successfully bypassing legal boundaries, reporters are starting to question where the buck stops. If Republicans won’t reprimand Trump even when the evidence is glaring, then how far is the he able to go? If the Senate and House will protect Trump at all odds, then checks and balances become futile and American Democracy gets deformed.
Even well known outlets such as Salon.com are weighing in at this critical juncture in a way that goes beyond any previous level of alarm – and, bear in mind, Salon has been publishing since 1994 and was named by Time magazine one of the Best Web Sites of 1996.
In the recent Salon.com article “This isn’t an election: It’s a civil war, and our side isn’t necessarily winning” the venerated digital media outlet’s Lucian K. Truscott IV did not mince words:
…Trump also learned from Roy Cohn that you can steal stuff in plain sight and get away with it if you just say “Fuck you” loudly and often enough. I think that’s what Trump is doing to the whole country. He’s saying, “Fuck you. I never believed in your democracy, I never believed in your capitalism, I never believed in your establishment, and look what I did! I got elected president! Fuck you! I’m going to take everything I want! I’m going to fly Air Force One anywhere I want, and I’m going to play golf more often than Arnie Palmer, and I’m going to bellow racism and lies at my rallies, and I’m going to jack up the Secret Service for rooms at my resorts, and I’m not going to pay a fucking cent and what are you going to do about it? I’m going to call Vladimir Putin on the phone and I’m going to get him to help me steal another election, and fuck you.”
That’s Trump’s philosophy in a nutshell: do whatever you want and say “Fuck you.” He’s getting away with it the same way he got away with stiffing contractors and welching on bank loans and going into bankruptcy and taking out more loans and when they come due saying “Fuck you.”
-LUCIAN K. TRUSCOTT IV
Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist and screenwriter. He has covered stories such as Watergate, the Stonewall riots and wars in Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels and several unsuccessful motion pictures. He has three children, lives on the East End of Long Island and spends his time Worrying About the State of Our Nation and madly scribbling in a so-far fruitless attempt to Make Things Better. He can be followed on Facebook at The Rabbit Hole and on Twitter @LucianKTruscott.
Many now fear a Trump dictatorship built from chaos and lawlessness. Especially with the 2020 Election on the horizon, Trump has been quipping about the prospect of never leaving office—something that is obviously illegal in America and more fit for a monarchy. He is likely just saying this to enliven his followers and ruffle the media’s feathers. However, democracies have crumbled many times in the past and Trump has defied the Constitution enough times already, so who’s to say he won’t do it again?
One of Trump’s former confidants, Michael Cohen, has suggested that Trump won’t leave. In his congressional testimony before heading to prison, Trump’s former attorney said, “Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, there will never be a peaceful transition of power.”
Likewise, with the high turnover of people within Trump’s cabinet, the media is picking up on yet another domineering trend in the current presidency—whenever someone even hints at betraying the Commander in Chief, he or she ends up fired.
This manifested itself most recently with Trump’s removal of Joseph Maguire form the Director of National Intelligence position. On February 13th, Maguire found evidence that Russia planned to interfere with the 2020 election and briefed his findings to the president. All this was part of Maguire’s job, but Trump threw an enraged fit in response and ended up kicking Maguire out for good.
Perhaps MSNBC reporter Rachel Maddow summarized the state of the nation best in saying “The dark days are not coming, the dark days are here.”
“This is not a warning. The dark days are not coming. The dark days are here, And so those of us who have imagined times like this for our country. You know, who might have thought that heroic thing for us to do as citizens if our country ever took these turns would be to sound the alarm, to articulate what’s wrong with the direction our country is taking and to warn people about where it’s heading.
For those of us who thought that would be the kind of heroism called for, we were wrong. Because at least now that’s no longer the form of heroism that we need. That time is past. These guys are not sneaking around trying to get away with stuff, and the heroism is catching them and telling people what they’re doing. They are proclaiming openly that the rules gone, they will do what they want, the government will be turned against you if you stand against this president. That is not a warning. That is where we are. And so what do we do?”
Waiting idly as Trump’s dangerous behavior and actions are framed as mere potential is no longer an option for the press. Reporters have an obligation to remain impartial, but they also have an obligation to tell the truth, and when America’s democracy is in jeopardy, the truth can often come off as more theatrical and incredible than any dodgy, downplayed professional omission ever could.
Even Democrats are Repeating the Nonsense that Sanders is “Putin’s Choice”
On February 21st, Democratic Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders revealed in an interview that, about a month ago, U.S. Intelligence Dept. Officials briefed him that Russia has plans to ‘assist’ him in the 2020 election. Sanders response to the prospective foreign assistance was direct—he told Russia to “Stay out of American elections, and as president I will make sure that you do.”
The Vermont Senator also went on to call Russian President Vladimir Putin “an autocratic thug” and clarified, “Unlike Donald Trump, I do not consider Vladimir Putin a good friend… I stand firmly against (Russia’s) efforts, and any other foreign power that wants to interfere in our election.” He speaks of course of Trump’s close relationship with the Russian leader, and of Trump’s encouragement, in plain sight, of Russian interference in his 2016 campaign.
Despite Sander’s straight answer to the news regarding Russia, Trump was not hesitant to bring it up during a Las Vegas rally the day before the Nevada caucus. He quipped about Bernie honeymooning in Moscow and snidely warned Democrats to be careful about foreign interference in elections. Then, he bragged that Putin really wants four more years of Trump.
Trump’s snarky speech is ironic given the fact that when Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire first informed the President about Russia’s support of him for 2020, he reportedly threw a fit, angry that Maguire would disclose such information with Democratic nemesis Adam Schiff in the room. Even though reporting such activity to the POTUS is part of the DNI job description, Trump ended up terminating Maguire for, essentially, telling the truth and doing his job.
No one Knows Who is “Electable” even though all the Candidates Try to Claim they are the One that can Beat Trump
The conventional wisdom is that only a moderate centrist Democrat can defeat Trump. There are, however, only a lot of theories, based on the standard data, to support this contention and the same people espousing those theories are the ones that said that Hillary, based on the same methods of predicting election outcomes, would beat Trump with ease.
Bernie Sanders does have “extreme” proposals, compared with the bland, compromise based plans of the more moderate wing of the party. Maybe, just maybe, going up against the most extreme most volatile and completely corrupt politician in recent history requires an extreme challenger? Trump will cheat and lie, that is clear, and someone to take him on must be ready for that and must be able to show that he (or she) can survive the shit storm he will create and then take the country out of this nightmare.
You can not compromise with a sociopath.
2016 All Over Again but with a twist, and perhaps, a Different Outcome
The propaganda spin that appears to have been planned long in advance seems to be working already. Viewing various tweets from Democrats who are not aligned with Sanders indicate that they are actively parroting the Putin planted misinformation.
The two threads they have, apparently subconsciously, picked up are:
A – Sanders has no chance and the proof is that he is the Putin’s preferred opponent for Tump (unsubstantiated inferences stated as fact and as original thought)
Or
B – That Sanders is going to be called a Communist (or is a Communist) and that his past, regardless how innocent compared to Trump, makes him an easy target that he has no chance to win in the general election. There are even those that posit that he must be a Communist because Putin “likes” him.
In other words, they have taken the bait, hook, line and sinker.
According to the New York Times:
The Russians have been preparing — and experimenting — for the 2020 election, undeterred by American efforts to thwart them but aware that they needed a new playbook of as-yet-undetectable methods, United States officials said
They have made more creative use of Facebook and other social media.
Rather than impersonating Americans as they did in 2016, Russian operatives are working to get Americans to repeat disinformation, the officials said. That strategy gets around social media companies’ rules that prohibit “inauthentic speech.”
(emphasis mine)
Typical examples of the parroting of the Russian disinformation:
Not even close…tells us something when Russia and trump are fronting for him…
The disturbing thing is that these supposedly intelligent Democratic voters are immediately jumping to the first thoughts that Putin has planted in their minds.
The real truth is that Sanders is the most dangerous candidate to both Trump and Putin and should be seen as such. They have an elaborate plan to stop him but they fear that he will do the one thing that they can not overcome; awaken the American people to the power they already have.
And Outsider Rises Up in Spite of Both Republican and Democrat Establishments being Against Him: Sound Familliar?
The cable news pundits have already started repeating that Sanders, “a socialist candidate” has little chance to win and will hurt down ballot races for the House and Senate. Naturally, they have no proof of this and no idea if another candidate would do any better in that regard. They are parroting conventional “wisdom” and creating noise just like Putin wants.
There are also already rumblings and propaganda-troll posts that are implying that because Sanders was in Moscow many years ago on his Honeymoon (supposedly) that he is therefore, obviously, a Communist.
The fact that so many have taken it at face value that Putin is “helping” him, although zero evidence has been revealed and no details exist showing what exactly this “help” consists of, creates a perfect launching pad for what is likely to be the most blatant and ridiculous-nonsense mudslinging contest in history.
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On the other side is the rock-solid record and consistency of Sanders. People can disagree with his goals and platform but it will be difficult, indeed, to rattle him when trying to sling random insults and trying to make up lies about him to dissuade those who have followed his political career.
Likewise, Trump’s response to the briefing—both his hysterics in Washington and his jests in Vegas—illustrates a subliminal touch of fear. Fear that Bernie will win the primary, which he did, “bigly”, without but in reality in spite of, supposed Russian assistance.
As Bernie leads the Democratic race after definitive wins in New Hampshire and Nevada, it is looking increasingly likely that it will ultimately come down to “Trump v. Sanders” in November.
Trump and the Republicans will undoubtedly try to turn this murky Russian briefing report against Bernie again, spinning the wheels of propaganda over and over. We can all relate, in the meantime to the sentiment of Bernie’s final word when interviewed on the topic on the eve of the Nevada Caucuses: “I don’t care, frankly, who Putin wants to be president.”
Ask anyone who took American history in high school if they have ever heard of Roy Cohn, and you may get blank stares. Of course, those who lived in the United States during the sensational attorney’s controversial career should recall the name, but otherwise, this immensely powerful, remarkably influential, and at times, terribly harmful figure in American politics has mostly been kept in the dark, hidden away in a backlog of national figures despite the tremendous effects he’s had on the country.
The son of a New York City judge, Roy Cohn was born in the year 1927. After a Jewish upbringing in the Bronx, he received a BA and JD from Columbia University and made a name for himself as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice. He was particularly successful in locking up Communists and soon became a close member of Senator Joseph McCarthy’s counsel.
For the next few decades, he had vast, yet subtle influence over American politics, informally advising presidents Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, and even representing a young Donald Trump in a business case. He stood as a pillar of xenophobia and homophobia, ingraining such values into our leaders, all in the interest of preserving a perverse image of the American way.
Indeed, Cohn is not the kind subject often discussed in a civics classroom. However, he is the perfect anti-hero for an enlightening and entertaining cinematic experience. With feature films like “Vice” focusing on Vice President Dick Cheney and docuseries like Netflix’s “The Family” about White House evangelist Douglas Coe, there is an obvious market for media that digs deep into the true stories of individuals manageing to garner and manipulate power without ever really entering the spotlight—individuals like Roy Cohn.
A Cinéma-Vérité view of Corruption as a Lifestyle
Sony Pictures Classics’ documentary “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” screened earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival and it is getting a wider release at the end of the week. Behind the camera is journalist-turned-director Matt Tyrnauer, who has previously proved his affinity for creating historical bio-docs with 2008’s “Valentino: The Last Empire” and 2016’s “Citizen Jane: Battle for the City.”
“Where’s My Roy Cohn?” of course places the attorney’s controversial work with American politicians at the story’s core, unveiling in striking detail the level of silent sway he managed to attain over some of the nation’s most public leaders. However, Tyrnauer’s film does not end there. The documentary does a thorough investigation into Cohn as a human being, starting at his childhood to try and understand the origins of his narrow American vision and his insatiable drive for preserving it.
The doc will also look at Cohn’s personal complications as an adult. Although the lawyer worked with Senator McCarthy to rid the federal government of homosexuals during the 1950s Lavander Scare, Cohn himself was allegedly attracted to men. Whether as a latent power trip or a hidden secret, Cohn reportedly had sexual relations with many men throughout his life, and suspicions surrounding his sexual orientation continued and even intensified after he died of AIDS in 1986.
Cohn with senator Joseph McCarthy Photo / Sony Pictures Classics
The documentary will also view his career as more than just the facts. Continuing with the intimate approach, the movie will look at the personal relations he held with Washington’s most powerful people. It will investigate what happened behind closed doors between him and sitting presidents, and it will look at the master-apprentice dynamic that he held with Trump during the 1970s.
Evidently, there is more to Cohn than just the egregious effects he had on policy and national morale. For everything he did on paper, Roy Cohn was a human, and the human soul is a convoluted thing. He is definitely not an American hero.
In fact, one could even call him a villain, but as Freddy Kruger, Jason Voorhees, or Dick Cheney have proved before him, villains, especially ones that hold power in the palm of their hands, make for fascinating movie topics. And if “Where’s My Roy Cohn?” approaches the topic of Cohn well, maybe the audience will also be able to learn something about America along the way.
We don’t celebrate 49 year anniversaries. But is 50 just a number? The echos of the past are haunting us, with politics drifting into conflicts that would meet or even surpass the standards of that tumultuous year, 1969.
And as we count down the hours and days to the 50th anniversary of the first man to walk on the lunar surface, and watch as Woodstock 50 preparations begin, and see the climate boil for one more summer of record temps, we can only look skyward to that orb of earthly dreams, and notice it’s full eclipse.
Lunar eclipses always coincide with a full moon. Tonight, the alignment of all the necessary heavenly orbs, the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun, will all collaborate to create the conditions that will yield a lunar eclipse.
Visible in Europe, Australia, Africa, and most of Asia, the Earth’s shadow will darken the moon, with a visible penumbra outer ring as well as the deep dark umbra, almost fully obscuring the moon in the area that it covers. Since it will happen during US daylight hours (starting around 3pm Eastern Daylight Time), this spectacular event will only be seen from our shores via photographic evidence, received from the countries above.
This particular eclipse will not be total, but will produce an eerie, red shade wherever the shadow, after passing through the Earth’s atmosphere, hits its target.
In the USA, however, the so-called Buck Moon will begin, post eclipse at approximately 5:38pm Eastern Time. The moonrise will commence shortly after and, should be something special to view, assuming no cloud cover. Called “Buck”, according to the Farmer’s Almanac, due to the fact that a buck’s antlers are in full growth season at the time of this, first of the summer, full moon.
If your area is clear tonight this will be a dramatic sight.
Reuters
Heat, Passion, Conflict and, Hopefully Beauty to Behold
Sure it was HOT in 1969, but was it the summer with the highest temperatures in recorded climate history in France?
As the year moves on, it is certain that events of 2019 will echo, in some strange ways, those of 1969, and we may also use this 50 year span to measure how much has changed, how far we have come, and yet, how much remains the same.
We can use the Apollo Mission’s anniversary to reflect on what is new, private space missions, mars on our minds, looming climate crises and, oh yes, computers in our pockets. What’s the same? Sadly, racists and political division and mind bending change on all sides.
At a staged speech in front of the White House on Monday under the auspices of a pre-planned “Made In America” event, Mr. Trump started off, as he often does, from the teleprompter, then, veered off into continuation of the weekend’s twitter tirade. The traditional, annual, event which is coordinated with “Made in America Day” and “Made in America Week” is a standard “pro-America” pep rally meant to give the President the opportunity to tout his patriotic agenda.
After a few remarks from the usual scripted pro-American manufacturing playbook, and his usual boasts about how the stock market and job market success are due, exclusively, to his having been elected, he launched into a defense of his racist tweets that have been dominating the news cycle over the weekend.
Reporters present pushed Mr. Trump to respond to the trending topic, rather than continue with the purported theme of the day, praise for American made jobs, products and manufacturers. In response to one reporter’s query:
“Does it concern you that many people saw that tweet as racist and that white nationalist groups are finding common cause with you on that point?”
He replied:
“It doesn’t concern me because many people agree with me. And all I’m saying, they want to leave, they can leave.”
Everything New is Old Again
This exchange led to additional back and forth on the theme “Love It Or Leave It”, a hackneyed slogan from the sixties, and, with 50 year anniversaries of the Apollo Moon landing and Woodstock this summer, it seems oddly fitting that a Republican President, echoing Nixon, should be trying to re-ignite that tired refrain.
Even as reporters continued to try and question the motives and meanings of his, clearly racist, tweets aimed at the congresswomen, Trump continued to beat the “love it or leave it” drum:
“If you’re not happy in the U.S., if you’re complaining all the time, very simply, you can leave. You can leave right now. Come back if you want, don’t come back, it’s OK too. But if you’re not happy, you can leave,” Sadly this all seems like a scripted melodrama straight out of the Nixon campaign.
Meanwhile the specter of alleged communist sympathy, taking us all back to the “HUAC” witch hunts of the 50s, of all things, was hurled at the target of Trump’s weekend tweets, by none other than that schizophrenic sycophant, Lindsey Graham:
I see [Lindsey Graham’s] biggest issue w/ Trump’s racism is that it doesn’t go far enough – Graham wants to bring back 1950s McCarthyism, too.
GOP is doing this because they have no plan for our future.
We’re the ones fighting for healthcare, edu, good jobs, & they got nothing.
– ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ – IN A TWEET
I see @LindseyGrahamSC’s biggest issue w/ Trump’s racism is that it doesn’t go far enough – Graham wants to bring back 1950s McCarthyism, too.
GOP is doing this because they have no plan for our future.
We’re the ones fighting for healthcare, edu, good jobs, & they got nothing. https://t.co/pfAEATWbJl
Tired, Old Ploy, Once Again Trotted Out to Muddy the Waters
This entire episode, starting with the offensive tweets, is obviously a ploy to draw battle lines – again harkening back to the Nixon campaign and his “Silent Majority” refrain, complaining that protesters against the Vietnam war were a small minority, and that he spoke for the majority in his (soon to be proven criminal and corrupt) positions and policies.
Sadly, unless the strategy is undone by a more enlightened electorate, we could be headed for a similar fate: Nixon won in a landslide in 1972 only to resign before almost certain impeachment in 1974 after a “long national nightmare”.
Hopefully the parallels with ‘69 – ‘72 will end in November 2020.
