The plan for TikTok’s American operations to Oracle and Walmart has been delayed, most likely indefinitely. According to WSJ, in a recent court filing, the Biden admin has begun to review whether there are threats to national security as claimed by the Trump administration that would warrant the ban.
Representative of ByteDance (TikTok’s owner) and US National security are in discussions regarding data security and preventions on American data being accessed by Chinese government.
“We plan to develop a comprehensive approach to securing U.S. data that addresses the full range of threats we face,” National Security Council spokeswoman Emily Horne said. “This includes the risk posed by Chinese apps and other software that operate in the U.S. In the coming months, we expect to review specific cases in light of a comprehensive understanding of the risks we face.”
The revenge campaigned, couched in some kind of theory that China would use the platform to spy on, or gather and maliciously use the data of, U.S. citizens, was also, in a monumental coincidence, a reaction to K-pop fans sabotaging his campaign rally in Tulsa, OK, by using the platform.
Hilariously, after Trump and the then campaign chair, Brad Parscale, bragged at the projected 19,000 sold-out attendance, the venue was shown in numerous photos and videos as nearly empty. The TikTok mob had ordered thousands of tickets, which were free online, for reserved seats, causing the organizers to assume that the rally would have full attendance.
Naturally the TikTok gang only wanted to embarrass the campaign and did a fantastic job. In retrospect this was the beginning of the end of Brad Parscale as Trumps main guy and, one could almost say, of Trump’s re-election campaign itself, as things generally went downhill from there.
Will the man Trump says is a “Pussy” ultimately have the last laugh?
On the same day Pence ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment to remove Trump after last week’s violence on Capitol Hill, Lincoln Project released this new ad. After the drama that transpired when Trump supposedly said that if Pence refused to singlehandedly overturn a bona fide election win for Biden, that he would be a “Pussy”, in spite of the fact that it was literally impossible for him to do since the VP had no such powers. Pence certified the election results in favor of Biden, apparently therefore, according to Trump, becoming a “pussy”.
Next up: his qualifications to run for office in 2024, presumablly on that platform.
This comes also alongside the historic news of the house of representatives officially impeached Trump for the second time for “incitement of insurrection”.
As Vice President, Mike Pence has proven that even in the face of a constitutional crisis which he alone was uniquely empowered to deal with, he could remain steadfast in his commitment to doing nothing at all. This makes him the obvious and most qualified leader to take over the role as the leader of the MAGA movement. And the only choice in 2024 to lead our nation into the next era of disappointment.
The D.C. showdown, from all angles, appears unlikely to be the start of Trump’s “revenge”, but rather the beginning of the end for him
His law suits crashing left and right, his own party “rebelling” against the endless repetition of unsubstantiated fraud claims, and then he pressures his own VP to reject the electoral college vote on January 6th, something that he has no legal power to do.
All in all it’s not been going well recently for Trump. The trend is very likely to continue as the various desperate and potentially illegal tactics play out in what appears to be building to some sort of crescendo on or before the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden on January 20th.
No, sir, he does not:
The Vice President has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors.
The Constitution does not give the vice president any such power, period.
“Proud Boys” leader Enrique Tarrio was arrested on destruction of property charges. The judge ordered him to stay out of Washington D.C. and then released him on his own recognizance. Unless he defies the judges orders, he will therefore not be present for the planned “wild” demonstrations that Trump has called for in Washington DC on January 6th.
Since carrying a gun is already against the law in Washington D.C., and Washington DC’s mayor has called in the the National Guard to help local authorities, as needed there is a concerted effort to minimize any potential for violence. According to various local officials, the troops will not be armed and they will be there to assist with crowd management and traffic control.
To borrow a phrase from Trump himself, this, most likely, will add up to a “nothing burger” and a lot of flag waving and yelling and swearing. Meanwhile the electoral count may be delayed by the various objectors but the outcome, a “landslide” win for Joe Biden, does not appear to be in any doubt.
And, although the Right has talked in terms of a “civil war” either in the larger sense of violently pitting Trump “forces” against the entire rest of the US population, and in another sense, between one wing of the Republican party and another, it remains unlikely that either one will be much of a “war” at all in the scariest sense of the word.
Looking at the most extreme opposing view, there is also the fact that all 10 living former secretaries of defense, both as Republicans and Democrats, issued a statement , in the form of an opinion article in The Washington Post questioning, implicitly, Trump’s willingness to follow his Constitutional duty to peacefully relinquish power on Jan. 20. Although they did not mention him by name, they referred to his failed law suits and attempts to overturn the election results.
This warning is meant, it appears, to also be a tacit rebuke of any current pentagon officials that may be considering aiding Trump’s possible plan to engage the armed forces or declare martial law, at any time before January 20th, if there is indeed such a plan in the works. The rumors and evidence, that there may indeed have been consideration of such a plan, involving ideas credited to Retired Lt. General Michael Flynn, former national security advisor and newly pardoned admitted felon, has been discussed in the media and by political insiders, and roundly rejected as both unconstitutional and alarming.
Needless to say, any election related actions involving the military, in any form whatsoever, domestically or internationally, potentially as some sort of distraction or diversion, would be highly dangerous and shocking, to say the least.
Trump tweeted an invitation to his followers to come to Washington D.C. on January 6th for a “wild time”. There are many tweets and a social media barrage to make this into a public spectacle, ardently in the hope that a large turn-out will somehow have an effect on the official counting of the electoral votes. It won’t.
In typical Trump style, the plausibly-deniable-adjective “wild” is meant to imply, depending on which way you spin it, to be harmlessly “high-energy” or a kind of veiled threat of violence by the militant fringes of the far-right.
Many are on edge ahead of this attempt to turn the 6th into something dangerous sounding – and it is right to remain vigilant with all the bizarre twists that have already happened.
As we have stated before, in previous articles, whatever “malarky”, to use Joe Biden’s go to phrase, Trump and his wacko band of followers are planning they will fail and fail miserably.
The telegraphed, scheduled-coup attempt has awoken counter-measures, you can be certain
The massive failures can be easily predicted for one simple reason: everything beyond a “peaceful” and benign protest is against the law and we still have laws and a constitution. For each illegal act the response by the “state” will be 100 times larger and more consequential. And, of course, it won’t take more than a tiny response by law enforcement to quell this fake unrest.
”The massive failures can be easily predicted for one simple reason: everything beyond a “peaceful” and benign protest is against the law and we still have laws and a constitution.”
— D.L.
Trump will whine and bellow that it is not the sate, but rather the “deep-state” that is against him, as it has been (in his mind) all along. He will try to turn himself into some bizarre kind of martyr- hero who is at the same time also a carnival-barker clown.
In his mind, just as with the original run for the presidency, it’s a no lose situation. Either he somehow manages to succeed beyond all reason, or he can continue to monetize the chaos and his position as King of Fools, a world where his marks are, at the same time, his most ardent followers.
There will be no need for him to end up like Mussolini, or to be taken seriously with his tin-pot army. It’s highly likely now, actually, that the military, FBI, CIA and all the rest of the national security apparatus is receiving two messages, related to this publicly telegraphed “coup” attempt.
Be on heightened alert for any activities inspired by Trump’s, basically ridiculous, stunt, and at the same time, do not say or do anything to draw attention to its existence.
Even if there are small disruptions and illegal acts by his most crazed “supporters” these will be small, not-coordinated and local. Washington D.C. will be, as we have seen in Portland and elsewhere, a lot of pick-up trucks with waving flags and people wearing silly red hats.
There is no reason not to be on guard, considering the statements and thinly veiled threats that have been made by so many
This is not to say don’t remain alert. It is truly sad that this kind of behavior is being drummed up by Tump and the least informed and most gullible amongst the population. At the extreme edge, of course, organizations such as Qanon and Proud Boys are very deranged and should not be excused or tolerated in any way.
But the veiled threats that some kind of uprising to bring down democracy and execute a coup by a deluded minority is about to take place , both in the general population and among lawmakers, is just wishful thinking by a deranged man that still, technically, remains president for a few more weeks.
More likely, we will all be witness to Trump’s greatest day of failure in his entire life. Bigger than his 6 chapter 11 bankruptcies, bigger than his many humiliating business and personal defeats, this will be the day that every hope he has to milk some kind of benefit out of losing the 2020 election will die.
And, afterwards, starting on January 7th, 2021 he will have to decide wether he should flee the country and go into exile, or stay and try to avoid the arrests, convictions and incarcerations that are likely in his near future.
January 6th will be remembered, but not for what Trump’s devotees are threatening
Since the end of the Bush years and Obama’s rise there has been a simple yet devastating truth haunting the Republican Party. The demographic realities do not support a continuation of the racist stance that was the bedrock of the party’s appeal for more than half a century. The Southern Strategy does not work when the non-white majority is growing daily.
Instead of shifting gradually, for example during the eight years of Obama, a bolt from the blue sent the party back to the stone age with a fluke, a mistake of history, called Donald Trump. A “Rhino” who was able to say anyone who disagreed with his disgusting extreme racist politics was the real “Republican in name only”.
That has led to the current “civil war” within the Republican Party. In essence it is the suicide party of Trump, rather dead than rainbow, vs. the “democratic” Republicans, those that believe that the US Constitution and the rule of law should be upheld, even if it means that people of color have a demographic advantage and must be included in government going forward.
Groups like the Lincoln Project and RVAT (Republican Voters against Trump) helped to defeat him and represent a more “sane” idea of what they believe the Republican should be about in the future. In reality, the fanatical backing that a reality show demagogue has managed to assemble is both too large and too sick to change anytime soon, particularly not if that change involves disavowing racism as a core belief.
While talking about his former Party, Schmidt touches on the larger issues for the rest of America
Therefore, as Steve Schmidt, a GOP strategist who co-founded the Lincoln Project, said is a series of tweets this weekend, the coming ‘civil war’, oddly scheduled for January 6th and being announced by many wackos, from “Proud Boys” to Republican senators and congressmen, is not one of a country divided, but the death throes of the Republican Party itself:
“The die is cast for the Republican Party. It will be destroyed on January 6th”
Referring to the suicidal nature of this hopeless attempt to declare a “real” civil war, one where Trump’s 70 million-plus base literally take up arms against the rest of the country including the government, military and law enforcement infrastructure.
The implication that the threatened war would never take hold, that the armed forces and the entire infrastructure of the country is not ready to commit treason in order to save a crying baby who lost an election, is an unspoken phrase underscoring the prediction of what will actually take place:
That date “will commence a political civil war inside the GOP,” he continued.
He also admits that the Trump led “autocratic” leaning Republicans outnumber the p”pro-democracy” wing of the party and, therefore, the party as a whole will collapse.
“The autocratic side will roll over the pro-democracy remnant of the GOP like the Wehrmacht did the Belgian Army in 1940. The ’22 GOP primary season will be a blood letting. The 6th will be a loyalty test. The purge will follow.”
The implication of his words are that the party will be split with the Trump faction to remain, weaker yet held together by zealous insanity, while any sane former Republicans will be “purged” and will have to go it alone:
“Fascism has indeed come to America and as was once predicted it is wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. This movement must be defeated. It cannot be appeased, accommodated or negotiated with. It must be recognized for what it is and we must all recognize the new age of American politics it has wrought,” he wrote.
The future will eventually reflect current reality; ethnic diversity can not be wished away by racism
What is missing from the post is an answer to the question of what this new fascist Republican party will do with a small minority and a leader who will likely be in exile or jail. Perhaps “Trump the Martyr” will cast a long powerful shadow over American politics for years. More likely he will be immortalized in the dustbin of history.
His most rabid and crazed followers may commit illegal acts, for which they will pay with incarceration or fate, but more than a few impotent and isolated incidents are highly unlikely. Like Trump himself, it will be the incompetence and stupidity, along with the corruption and evil, that will be remembered from his rise, and derided and, rightly, mocked in his fall.
Plans appear to show that being out of the country for his ouster is a high priority
For months there has been speculation that Trump, given very few options for what to do beginning on January 20th, 2021, once the Biden Presidency begins, will take refuge overseas. As if right on cue, it appears that he could be planning a trip to Scotland. Now it appears that there is a plan already in place, with the precise timing needed to avoid the dreaded event, according to UK aviation sources.
Dailyrecord.co.uk has reported that a plan exists for what could be a first leg of an extended sojourn:
“Prestwick Airport has been told to expect the arrival of a US military Boeing 757 aircraft, which is occasionally used by Trump, on January 19 – the day before his Democratic rival takes charge at the White House.
Speculation surrounding Trump’s plans has been fuelled by the activity of US Army aircraft, which were based at Prestwick airport for a week and said to be carrying out 3D reconnaissance of the president’s Turnberry resort.”
Aircraft used by the President, First Lady and Vice-President are known to have a US special call sign, rather than a tail number making it easier when air traffic controllers need to give them special treatment.
In various Lynxotic articles since November, based on the various options and statements “leaking” from Trump himself, we had some confidence that he would not remain in the US once Biden was officially taking over. The remaining uncertainty is if or when he would return, assuming that this report is ultimately confirmed.
“Sore loser” is, as so often in the case when trying to describe Trump’s character, a massive understatement
Per my NBC News colleagues: Trump may announce for 2024 on inauguration day. Either way, he won't attend the inauguration and does not plan to invite Biden to the White House or even call him.
“Trump may announce for 2024 on inauguration day. Either way, he won’t attend the inauguration and does not plan to invite Biden to the White House or even call him.”
Meanwhile, with UK (and the US) in the middle of restrictions related to the coronavirus, just arriving at that time would potentially violate Tier 4 rules which forbid travel into the area of Trump Turnberry which is effectively closed until February 5, according to its website.
After the Electoral College affirmed what the majority of us already knew, that President-elect Joe Biden won over President Trump, with an electoral count of 306 vs 232, coincidentally the same margin as Trump had and called a “landslide” in 2016, perhaps a sigh of relief can finally happen. Or even a little laugh. What better way to bid farewell to Trump than with a viral Twitter video.
Paul Lee Teeks shared a hilarious video of Trump being rolled out of the White House while he rants and raves about the “rigged” and “stolen” election. Trump blabs and continues to flap his gums all the way until the end when he is wheeled and lifted up into a moving truck.
The original video comes from creator of the “The President Show” Tony Atamanuik from the Comedy Central network. Teeks recreated the video placing the head of Trump (versus a caricature in the original) with dubbed audio, creating mass interest within the social media world. The hashtags #LoserOfTheCentury and #TrumpIsALaughingStock trended as a result.
Above: Photo Collage / Time Inc. / Mock up of Der Spiegel Concept
Changing America’s Story and Awarding Trump what he has Earned
On the same day that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris received the “Time’s Person of the Year” designation, jointly, in another of the new twists that Time likes to feature, Trump got his own award from Germany’s ‘Der Spiegel’ magazine: Loser of the year.
While anyone who has been paying attention, noticed that Trump deserved this award most, if not, all the years of his life, this year it is particularly fitting as he earned it with the most lies and potentially, the most alleged indictable crimes.
Featuring Kamala Harris as co-Person of the year is a nice touch, since she is both a woman of color and was attacked in a particularly vicious and personal way by Trump and his Republican minions during the campaign.
Further, the possibility of real partnership to oust a misogynistic and racist foe showed that humility, dignity and compassion for others could actually win against a bully and, with Kamala Harris on the ticket, could demonstrate leadership and leaders, who are not bullies or failed human beings but empathetic and fully functioning people capable of cooperation and teamwork.
For so many, indeed, over 81.2 million, the time was right to join together and take the old saying “nice guys (or gals) finish last” and turn it on its head – This year, the best man & woman won and the world’s biggest a-hole lost big, which, though long-ish, makes for a more apt phrase to sum up 2020, in the presidential race, at any rate.
Witnesses of Evil and survivors deserve a decompression phase
For nearly all of 2017 the word “lie” rarely if ever appeared in an article written about the president. The reasons for this are more complex than it would first appear, and relate to the history of political journalism reaching back at least 50 years. The reason why, beginning in 2018 and early 2019, “lie” became a daily and oft used word in connection with this lying-president is a more subtle and interesting story.
As of this writing it is 100% clear that Trump has lost the election (odd to even have to say that, considering how obvious it is to any sane, rational observer) and that, ultimately, we will all benefit from forgetting about this attention-addicted-sociopath. However, with regard to something we all experienced, witnessed and endured over a period of four plus years; before forgetting there must first be a remembering.
And, for the benefit of those of us who have various forms of PTSD as a result of what he perpetrated and what we had to witness, that remembering is a healthy, necessary step.
For nearly all of 2017 the word “lie” rarely if ever appeared in an article written about the president. The reasons for this are more complex than it would first appear, and relate to the history of political journalism reaching back at least 50 years. The reason why, beginning in 2018 and early 2019, “lie” became a daily and oft used word in connection with this lying-president is a more subtle and interesting story.
As of this writing it is 100% clear that Trump has lost the election (odd to even have to say that, considering how obvious it is to any sane, rational observer) and that, ultimately, we will all benefit from forgetting about this attention-addicted-sociopath. However, with regard to something we all experienced, witnessed and endured over a period of four plus years; before forgetting there must first be a remembering.
And, for the benefit of those of us who have various forms of PTSD as a result of what he perpetrated and what we had to witness, that remembering is a healthy, necessary step.
Perhaps rushing forward to “fix” everything he broke, destroyed or tried to destroy must be combined with looking back.
Seeing some of the events that shaped the last four years through the eyes of the media and the press
The public perceptions and reactions to history during significant and extreme events are shaped over time, and meaning are not always clear until we look back. If this article was a typical “2020 Looking Back” year-end recap, and did not run 5000 words or more it’d be about the coronavirus, the election, and a skim through the various events on the periphery. Instead, we must begin on June 16th, 2015 when Donald J. Trump began his assault on America.
And, as we all remember, it started with “Mexicans”:
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best, they’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us [sic]. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Donald J. Trump, as he descended on his golden escalator
This technique of viciously attacking a particular ethic group, generally, and pandering to negative stereotypes was just getting started.
Also couching broad statements, that often included boldfaced lies, within statements that could have a tiny sliver of truth would also be a propaganda technique he would use, sometimes dozens of times in a day, over the next nearly 4.5 years.
Then came the nicknames. Again, maybe “little Marco” was not the tallest guy and “Low-energy Jeb” was not the most exciting. But Trump’s character traits that would later expand and multiply were not pretty, and were on full display even during the initial phases of the election.
Belittling opponents in an ugly personal way, pushing all dialog away from substance and toward personal attacks of the lowest form was standard operating procedure. All the signs were there of a mental sickness, one that we would all later experience more intimately, but at the time it was all an amusing diversion, since most believed he had “zero chance” of winning the 2016 presidential election.
Phase 2, 3, 4 and beyond: testing the limits of outrage
Just making a laundry list of outrageous and disgusting behavior by this man is easy, but of little value, beyond our mutual sharing of “I was there” recollections publicly. More interesting, it seems, would be an exploration of how “we”, the media, and the public, reacted and adjusted to having such a malignant presence in the White House.
It’s easy to forget that, around the time of the 2016 inauguration, many in the media went on and on about how the outrageous tactics were just a ploy, and a successful one at that, for him to get elected, and now that the election was over, Trump would magically become “Presidential”.
Then the lies began to multiply. All during 2017, however, it was very difficult to find the word “lie” in any article from a mainstream outlet that was about Trump, well, lying. The lengths that journalists went to avoid that word was, in a word, incredible. To look further into the history of not saying the word “lie” when a president lies, this Politco article from 2017 is a great deeper dive.
In the final paragraph summation the overall view at the time was encapsulated:
“Using the word “lie” promiscuously may, in the short term, score a point against a president who has shown a contempt for the facts. But over the long-term, the authority and credibility of aspirationally objective mainstream news organizations like the New York Times are best served by scrupulously trying to report the news in ways that can be trusted by readers of any political viewpoint. And it’s by upholding and reinforcing that authority and credibility that the Fourth Estate will best guide readers to the truth amid the misinformation, propaganda and lies produced by the administration of Donald J. Trump.”
David Greenberg, a professor of history and media studies at Rutgers in Politico Magazine
This viewpoint, ultimately, disintegrated and was abandoned, generally, by the middle of 2018 into the beginning of 2019. Trump literally bashed down that wall of civility with thousands and thousands of lies.
Terms and phrases like “decorum”, “deference”, “non-partisan” and “civilized discourse” became meaningless in the endless assault of lies, hate speech and outrageous acts. At Lynxotic, we made a decision fairly early that this was not a “normal” president and these were not normal times. We seriously had to ask ourselves, if this was an emerging danger to this country and to democracy itself, who would we be serving by mincing words?
And further, the news has always been, to a certain degree, opinion infused facts with a, sometimes, thin veneer of artificial authoritative eminence. And wasn’t the media often guilty of using “impartiality”, similarly to an arms dealer, selling ammunitions to both sides in a civil war?
As time went on, the incredible border “cages” scandals, then the impeachmentdrama came and went and on and on, until Trump’s massive coronavirus failures, and finally the election madness.
In the end all pretense of, and use for civility, any belief that a non-corrupt outcome was possible, revealed a truth that the choices for the nation were, and are, to jail the man famous for chants of “Lock her up” or let him continue until he destroys the democracy and possibly, ultimately the country itself.
The good thing that was bestowed upon all of us by a bad man
Of course, in all of this, he did do one good thing for the media and journalism. Not “ratings” or prosperity through scandal. No, what he did was to help us to remove the hypocrisy of the long standing “deference” to any and all sitting in the White House, just because they are there.
“When he “won” in 2016 it was on the shoulders of Russian hackers and social media “bots” that influenced the thinking of real, living, breathing humans. In 2020 those real humans showed up, 80 million strong, and took back the country.”
D.L.
The blurred lines between observation, opinion, facts and fiction are ones that have, in reality, always been blurred. To face that fact, and to grapple every day with the issues of how to communicate the hard truth, is also a legacy of this evil man.
When he “won” in 2016 it was on the shoulders of Russian hackers and social media “bots” that influenced the thinking of real, living, breathing humans. In 2020 those real humans showed up, 80 million strong, and took back the country.
That is also a lesson we owe to “The Donald”. That, if a pretender rises up, the rest of us have to rise up as well, to put him down.
The favor he did us all was to force us to examine the real facts, and make the real news and not the fake news matter, even if that news is that he is a liar, a grifter, a cheat and a criminal. And if any of his ilk come to power again, or continue to remain in power, they should be treated the same way, as needed.
Above: 80 Million in Washington D.C.? Photo Collage / Lynxotic / Adobe Stock
Pseudo-conciliatory tone vanishes in a haze of Tryptophan
Chalk it up to just another day in Trump-world where nonsense is fact and facts don’t exist. After making another non-concession-consession on Thursday, stating that “of course” he would vacate the White House if Biden has won the electoral college vote by December 14th (which is the deadline for those votes to be certified), on Friday, he had, apparently, re-thought that whole “be a reasonable human” thing.
In two tweets that were both marked “This claim about election fraud is disputed” the current election result “denier in chief” postulated that president-elect 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,” and further, that “Biden only did well in the large cities of Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee, which he claimed have “long [been] known as being politically corrupt.”
The latter is, of course, completely false, and the former is an absurd assertion, even from this source.
Also claiming, with as much false bravado as someone in his losing position could muster, that Biden has a “big, unsolvable problem”.
Trump, laughingly, put forth the theory that “Biden only did well in the large cities of Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee”, and added a baseless claim that those cities (that were most assuredly not the “only” ones where Biden did well) have “long [been] known as being politically corrupt.”
Um, Los Angeles ? New York City? We could go down this list all day. “Only did well?”
Which leads to the real question here: who, outside of the thoroughly brainwashed, would even consider such nonsense. Do losing teams in the Super-bowl get to dispute every point on the scoreboard, after the game is over? Does winning by more than 6 million votes count for anything in this wacko universe?
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!
Perhaps, to insure absolute certainty, 80 million people should show up at the White House to remind Trump why he must, and will, be moving out on January 20th, if not before (wink).
Biden did poorly in big cities (Politico), except those of Detroit (more votes than people!), Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milwaukee, which he had to win. Not surprisingly, they are all located in the most important swing states, and are long known for being politically corrupt!
Trump’s continued efforts to overturn election results: …laughable (literally)
Most of us know, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election. With the records showing the President-elect reached 80 million popular votes, with still more counting to be done. Yet, even though the electoral college votes, which determines the White House winner have been clearly laid out on Nov. 7 with the resounding 306-223.
Trump has done almost everything in his power to deny the facts. The “red mirage” has yet to fade for 45. He’s been seen tweeting from the rooftops that the election was rigged and riddled with fraud, he’s flat out tried to deny it, he has refused to concede or peacefully transfer power, Trump even begged battleground states for a recount of votes. None of the above was the truth; the simple fact is, he just lost.
Yet, the American people have had to bear witness to just how badly of a sore loser Trump has been. Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all reconfirmed that Biden is the victor.
On Nov. 23, head of the GSA Emily Murphy formally approved for the transition, pushing reality even that much further, that now, perhaps the 2020 presidential elections can be finalized.
As a result, “Joe Biden winning” memes have been spreading throughout the internet wide and far, showing Biden winning multiple times while highlighting a range of feelings – hilarity, relief, to just plain absurdity of how this presidential election year has gone down.
The inauguration isn’t until Jan 20, 2021 and if you are like the majority of us, that means there, unfortunately, is still two more months of having to deal with Trump’s antics. It’s far past time for Trump to end his delusional battle and come to some sort of acceptance of the obvious election reality.
Biden transition team reveals multiple top position picks, NYT reveals
According to a New York Times article, Joe Biden’s transition office said that they plan to announce multiple new top national security picks on Tuesday. The news will be accounted officially at an event in Washington.
The picks are said to include Alejandro Mayorkas, who will be the first Latino to head the Department of Homeland Security. Additionally, Avril Haines is slated to be his director of national intelligence and will become the first woman to head the intelligence community.
John Kerry will be nominated to for climate czar. Kerry, who was formerly secretary of state, will also will be on the National security council, which, since it is not a cabinet position will not need to be confirmed by the Senate.
Janet Yellen will be Treasury Secretary & Antony Blinken and Jake Sullivan in cabinet positions
Janet Yellen, formerly chair of the Federal Reserve, from 2014 – 2018, is said to be on the list and expected to be nominated for head of the treasury depart. and would therefore be the first woman Treasury secretary of the United States
According to the transition team President-elect Biden also plans to nominate Linda Thomas-Greenfield, an African-American woman to be ambassador to the United Nations and, as a result of his intention to restore the position to cabinet-level status, will thereby also give Ms. Thomas-Greenfield a National Security Council seat.
These picks follow the announcement that Antony J. Blinken will be nominated for secretary of state, Jake Sullivan is to be White House national security adviser, also reported through sources from the transition team.
Made in secrecy during the past 6 months with interviews from administration insiders
The election is exactly three days away. The United States, in the past week, has recorded 500,000 new covid cases, which is the worst week ever. Therefore, this would seem the perfect time to watch, for free, the documentary “Totally Under Control”, which details the failures of Trump and his administration to handle the crisis.
Currently streaming on Hulu, for those that have a subscription, it is also available in case you don’t have a Hulu subscription, for free until November 3rd. Click here to watch for free.
Just when it seemed like 2020 could not get any stranger, President Donald Trump announced via Twitter on October 2nd that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19. In what some would see as a ‘karmic’ coincidence, within twenty-four hours of this breaking news, Neon media dropped a trailer for the new documentary “Totally Under Control,” which focuses on the President and his administration’s unsuccessful response to the coronavirus.
“Totally Under Control” is the second Trump-focused project from documentarian Alex Gibney. Earlier this year, the director released “Agents Of Chaos,” an HBO mini-series centered on Russian involvement in the 2016 election. Gibney is also responsible for the 2010 Oscar nominated doc, “Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Eliot Spitzer” and the 2007 Oscar winner, “Taxi To The Dark Side.” Most of his films take on timely topics through an investigative lens. “Totally Under Control” will be no different.
Unsurprisingly, Gibney latest movie condemns the Trump administration, as it chronicles how the President handled the coronavirus across the first half of 2020. Its synopsis states:
“On January 20th, 2020 the US and South Korea both discovered their first cases of COVID-19. However, nine months later, the novel Coronavirus has claimed the lives of over 200,000 Americans and caused staggering economic damage, while in South Korea, there were no significant lockdowns and, in an urbanized population of 51 million, only 344 lives have been lost. Where did we go wrong?”
The film aims to answer this question and shed light on America’s complicated, corrupted, and fruitless reaction to the global pandemic. To do this, Gibney uses news footage from the past ten months— much of it showing Trump’s early, woefully dismissive thoughts on the coronavirus before it hit the United States.
He also interviews experts from doctors, to scientists, to government officials, all of whom agree that the current administration’s reaction to COVID was absolutely abhorrent from the start.
The trailer plays out like that of a disaster movie, beginning with former Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority leader, Rick Bright explaining, “The scientists knew what to do for the pandemic response. The plan was in front of us, but leadership would not do it.” Bright goes on to recall how he tired bringing this vital information to the public, but was consequentially fired from his federal position.
As the trailer unfolds, the music gets more and more intense. The interviewees retell the all-too-familiar 2020 story of how COVID got worse by the day and the United States government did nothing to combat it. Meanwhile, quasi-apocalyptic images of ubiquitous ambulances, omnipresent sirens, medial personnel in hazmat suits, restless political rallies, and so on flash across the screen.
All the while, Trump’s voice comes in and out with infamous phrases such as “It will disappear,” “It will be wonderful,” and most egregiously, “I don’t take responsibility at all.”
Art imitates life as covid disbeliever enters hospital after contracting virus that affects ‘almost nobody’
Today, these statements are more ironic than ever before, as Trump himself has been checked into the Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland for COVID. The diagnosis occurred just two days after the first presidential debate, where Trump continued to downplay the coronavirus in favor of reopening the country.
“Totally Under Control” will be available On-Demand starting October 13th and will stream on Hulu starting October 20th. Although the film focuses on current (and ongoing) events, it is not the first piece of media to tackle the coronavirus, and it surely won’t be the last.
official trailer – “Totally under control” / youtube
Snowden may indeed receive a pardon and shortly after a bunk-mate in the form of the same soon-to-be ex-President
Trump says so many crazy things on any given day, it is easy to let any one particular thing just float on by and get ready for whatever the next outrageous or just wacko thing that comes out of his mouth.
Ascribing some kind of motivation is often a fools errand of second convolution logic that leads to a parlor game of either elevating this mental-midget to a “very stable genius” or trying to follow clues as to his source for the “idea” (like what was aired on Fox News in the 12 hours prior to his tweet or crazy proclamation).
The idea he came up with of leaving the country, after he loses to “the worst candidate in the history of politics”, is not one of those run-of-the-mill , dime-a-dozen utterances. No. It is a very real concern that appears to be weighing heavily on his mind, and that he feels the need to discuss with thousands of his closest friends (the audiences at his super-spreader rallies).
If there is a genius to Trump, it is his ability to go so far beyond the pale that even those that know his predilection for bizarre suggestions and actions have not followed his twisted logic quite as far as he is about to take it.
Floating the idea of a Pardon for Snowden was Clue #1
The backward inverted idea of a pardon initiated by Trump for someone he once called a “traitor” is pure, simple Trump-ian thought at it’s most absurd. All Snowden needed to do to become Trump’s new friend was to hang out for a while with Trump’s other friend; Putin. So, as is so often the case with the most obtuse and simultaneously transparent maniac, one only has to connect the dots to reach a simple rock-solid conclusion: Trump is shopping for a post-election-loss safe-haven and joining Snowden in Moscow is his very first choice.
Now, never mind that Snowden is not a Trump supporter or sycophant, his proximity alone, to Putin, in Trump’s bent mind, makes him an ally of sorts. And if pushed, I am certain Trump would somehow use this thought process to link Wikileaks, which he “loves” when they leak Democratic dirt, and Assange, though strange bedfellows don’t begin to cover that trio of compatriots.
The phrase: “Banana republic” comes to mind
This prediction, written on this very parchment at 21:21 on October 21, 2020, is herby put forth – however, in fairness, it is actually at least 3 predictions.
First, that Trump will lose Bigly on or around November 3rd. Second, that he will opt for plan c, after his wannabe civil warriors fail to show up for any dubious would-be battles, and leave the USA forthwith. Third that he is already entertaining offers but has Moscow very high on his list, since the shit-hole countries, that he bad-mouthed on the way up the ladder of infamy, do not have an interest in harboring him.
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Has Trump learned anything? Or was it all Intentional.
Sara Gideon, the Maine House speaker is taking a jab at both Donald Trump and Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins. In a video put out by her campaign akin to that of the Lincoln Project, who retweeted this video, the video clip shows how Trump admitted he knew the severity of the pandemic and intentionally misled and downplayed the American public.
Unfortunately, she never stood up or even wavered from her blind loyalty. Her anti-impeachment rubber-stamp was historically myopic and she is now a prime target for removal on November 3rd. She is, make no mistake, a Trump follower and in no-way a lone voice of dissent within her party.
Trump lies do matter, as hundreds of thousands of people have already lost their lives to the pandemic, and many of those deaths could have been prevented.
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Short but pointed speech gives the future political force a platform in the spotlight
In a ceremonial act, via pre-recorded video (above) U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez nominated Bernie Sanders during the virtual DNC 2020 night two. She lauded Sanders for organizing “a historic grassroots campaign to reclaim our democracy.”
Showing her solidarity and respect for his campaign goals, she seconded the nomination citing his efforts to build a “mass people’s movement working to establish 21st century social, economic and human rights, including guaranteed healthcare, higher education, living wages, and labor rights for all people in the United States.”
Next up will be the build toward the climax on Thursday…
Naturally the nomination is a formality only as he officially dropped out of the contest four months ago in April. Joe Biden already won the number of delegate needed in June, cementing his status as the presumptive nominee. Sanders was permitted to keep his delegates at the convention as a symbolic olive branch in the hopes of winning over the senator’s supporters.
Ocasio-Cortez, supports Biden as the presumptive nominee. She was key in the crafting of policy on the Biden-Sanders Unity Task Forces platform, which consisted of supporters from the Biden and Sanders campaigns.
If you were confused, no worries!
Convention rules require roll call & nominations for every candidate that passes the delegate threshold.
I was asked to 2nd the nom for Sen. Sanders for roll call.
The progressive political action committee MeidasTouch has released the latest anti-Trump advert. The video specifically cautions Trump’s donors to be wary of giving the campaign any more money – and alleges millions of dollars are supporting Trump’s family and friends. $180,000 a year to Trump’s sons’ girlfriend and wife, $17 million on Trump properties, $40 million on Trump’s former campaign manager, and $157 million on Jared and Ivanka’s salary.
The case for looking behind the Swiss-cheese curtain at the “wizard of lies” and his wannabe mafia
Who would like, believe, much less admire or even trust a man like Michael Cohen? If you are a Trump supporter he is a rat and was rightly relegated to the shadows even in the best of times. If you are a Democrat or a liberal or a Biden supporter, or let’s just say it, a Trump hater , Never-Trumper or a member of the RVAT, why would you believe the guy who was, by his own admission, a dirty, criminal, perjury committing low life?
“…permit me to make a point: If you only read stories written by people you like, you will never be able to understand Donald Trump or the current state of the American soul. More than that, it’s only by actually understanding my decisions and actions that you can get inside Trump’s mind and understand his worldview.”
– Michael Cohen in forward to “Disloyal”
And now he (Cohen) is suddenly and permanently a paragon of virtue? Or at least no longer an “eager and willing” liar for a wannabe dictator?
Then again, as Cohen argues himself in his just released book excerpt, isn’t it always necessary to talk to and believe criminals, liars and “bad guys” in order to incriminate and convict a Mafia Don? Aren’t they, often after they are in witness protection and protective custody, the ones whose testimony is essential to finding out the true actions and character of the bosses and Capo dei capi?
From golden showers in a sex club in Vegas, to tax fraud, to deals with corrupt officials from the former Soviet Union, to catch and kill conspiracies to silence Trump’s clandestine lovers, I wasn’t just a witness to the president’s rise—I was an active and eager participant.”
Click to order “Disloyal” and help Lynxotic. Also available at Amazon
…As anyone in law enforcement will tell you, it’s only gangsters who can reveal the secrets of organized crime. If you want to know how the mob really works, you’ve got to talk to the bad guys. I was one of Trump’s bad guys. In his world, I was one hundred percent a made man.
While Cohen openly refers to himself as a “keystone cop” and the “Trump Mafia”, to the degree that such a thing exists, is more like a tragicomic almost childish attempt to emulate the Italian-american organized crime structure and behavior, as depicted in movies and folklore. Nevertheless the rise of this “buffoon” to the Presidency is a grave and serious matter, one that is now threatening us all.
Looking at Trump’s history of legal and illegal behavior, and the attempts by the US Justice system to rein him in, one sees a legal strategy of using an eminence front and a claim of innocence due to ignorance and incompetence. This was a major thread, along with the cries of “witch hunt”, in his attempts to avoid any consequences for the alleged collusion with Russia during the 2016 election. Cohen hits this point head on:
Both sides were wrong. I knew that the reality was much more complicated and dangerous. Trump had colluded with the Russians, but not in the sophisticated ways imagined by his detractors. I also knew that the Mueller investigation was not a witch-hunt. Trump had cheated in the election, with Russian connivance, as you will discover in these pages, because doing anything—and I mean anything—to “win” has always been his business model and way of life.
…Trump had also continued to pursue a major real estate deal in Moscow during the campaign. He attempted to insinuate himself into the world of President Vladimir Putin and his coterie of corrupt billionaire oligarchs. I know because I personally ran that deal and kept Trump and his children closely informed of all updates, even as the candidate blatantly lied to the American people saying, “there’s no Russian collusion, I have no dealings with Russia…there’s no Russia.”
For anyone who has viewed the recent Netflix series “Fear City: New York vs. the Mafia” the story is a familiar one: the code of silence makes the mafia immune to prosecution, other than low level crimes by “soldiers” while the bosses and the “godfather” are untouchable. Ultimately the use of the R.I.C.O. statute and, most importantly, audio bugging and recordings are combined to finally crack and dismantle organized crime.
Similarly, the famous tapes that ultimately brought down Nixon illustrate how an insulated boss can only be caught red handed via a “smoking gun”, in the form of an audio tape recording of a careless private “confession” of an overt criminal act.
“The President of the United States wanted me dead. Or, let me say it the way Donald Trump would: He wouldn’t mind if I was dead. That was how Trump talked. Like a mob boss, using language carefully calibrated to convey his desires and demands, while at the same time employing deliberate indirection to insulate himself and avoid actually ordering a hit on his former personal attorney, confidant, consigliere, and, at least in my heart, adopted son.”
Unfortunately, Trump and his keystone cop mafia saw all the movies and know the anecdotal accounts of the fall of Nixon, and so on. According to Cohen, this led Trump to create a system of plausible deniability through the use of euphemism and facial expressions, almost as if audio surveillance was considered a “given” and this new-age code of silence was elevated to an integral part of the criminal culture and way of life.
Cohen, of all people, was the perfect fall-guy to carry out these unspoken, deniable orders as his mission in life, right up until he turned on his idol:
“…I’m certain that Trump knows he will face prison time if he leaves office, the inevitable cold Karma to the notorious chants of “Lock Her Up!” But that is the Trump I know in a nutshell. He projects his own sins and crimes onto others, partly to distract and confuse but mostly because he thinks everyone is as corrupt and shameless and ruthless as he is; a poisonous mindset I know all too well.
”…I see the men who have replaced me and continue to forfeit their reputations by doing the President’s bidding, no matter how dishonest or sleazy or unlawful. Rudy Guiliani, William Barr, Jared Kushner and Mike Pompeo are Trump’s new wannabe fixers, sycophants willing to distort the truth and break the law in the service of the Boss”…
“Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020 that there will never be a peaceful transition of power,” I concluded. “This is why I agreed to appear before you today.”
– Michael Cohen, in testimony before Congress
The book is available for pre-order and will be released on September 8th, 2020. It is already sitting at #1 on the bestseller list.
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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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New ad highlights the hypocrisy of the first family
Some of the many appalling and even disgusting facets of the Trump era are reflected in the primitive psychological tactics that emanate from any speech or off the cuff remark from the President. “Gaslighting“, “Whataboutism” and “I know you are but what am I” playground level taunts and name calling abound. And, above all, the tactic of projecting whatever you are accused of onto your enemies, no matter how ridiculous it appears. Like on July 4th when trump implied that Antifa was a “fascist” organization. How can a group with “anti” and Fascist” in the very name be accused of being the thing that they have clearly and overtly declared themselves to be against? Ask Trump.
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And now, in an apple-falling-not-far-from-the-tree moment of imbecilic genetic transference, Don Jr. employs all of the above in a recent twisted tirade on Fox. Unfortunately for him, the folks that call themselves the “Meidas Touch” were able to illustrate just how ridiculous and revealing this web of insanity really is. Take a look:
On a their web site in text accompanying the clip they added:
“The Trump children, propped up in this regime by the bizarre and shameless nepotism seen in banana republic dictatorships, represents the blend of incompetence, entitlement and cringeworthy hypocrisy that has propelled America into disaster we are now in under Trump.”
Along with the great work from The Lincoln Project and RVAT (Republican Voters Against Trump) anti-Trump, pro-Biden ads have been coming out almost daily. All using Trump’s own words and actions to show his various lies, his hypocrisy and downright creepiness in sharp focus with a view to ousting him in November.
Above: A truly creepy look at actual footage of Trump in various interviews and impromptu moments featuring Ivanka, and his ol’ convicted-sex-offender pal Jeffrey Edward Epstein. It’s astonishing how this old footage can make the Trump family look even worse and, yes, even more creepy, than the recent events touched on in the first video clip above. November 3rd can’t come soon enough, it would seem, for any of us who have witnessed these ads.
The Meidas Touch is not specifically a Conservative Republican organization, which the other two mentioned above are, but rather is headed by attorney Ben Meiselas, who has been involved in high profile cases involving civil rights and more, such as the lawsuit brought by Colin Kaepernick against the NFL.
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