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Proactive

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Dan Wasserman
© Dan Wasserman

Republicans are on the job finding solutions to problems that don’t even exist. Don’t you feel protected?

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The Candidate of Misinformation

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

A detailed analysis of voting during the Republican primaries shows that two of Donald Trump’s main claims – that he is bringing in new voters to the Republican party, and that he is even attracting Democrats to vote for him – are just lies and misinformation. Or as Politico puts it:

Donald Trump likes to say he has created a political movement that has drawn “millions and millions” of new voters into the Republican Party. “It’s the biggest thing happening in politics,” Trump has said. “All over the world, they’re talking about it,” he’s bragged.

But a Politico analysis of the early 2016 voting data show that, so far, it’s just not true.

It is true that GOP turnout during the primaries is way up, but these are not new voters. Instead, these are staunch Republicans who have voted reliably in the general election, but who (until now) rarely voted in primaries (many were voting in the primary for the first time).

So while the GOP primaries have been exciting, the 2016 electoral map is still tilted against the Republicans. Trump is not getting anywhere enough new voters to change that. Furthermore, the excitement in the primaries doesn’t translate into excitement in the general election. Indeed, Trump is so unpopular with young people, Latinos, Asian-Americans, and African-Americans, that it is likely to have the opposite effect.

And speaking of misinformation, which one of these two popular Trump themes is true?

Jake Clark
© Jake Clark

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Late Night Political Humor

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

[Jokes from May 3, 2016]

“Today was the Indiana primary, and the results are in. Donald Trump saw his shadow, so there are six more months of the election!” – Jimmy Fallon

“Trump had a big win. Indiana is a basketball state. He’s worried that if he spent too much time there, people might try to grab his orange head and try to dribble it.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Earlier in his campaign, Trump was calling Carly Fiorina ugly. Now he’s saying he might pick her up if she falls down. Guys, that’s growth. He’s getting more presidential every day.” – James Corden

“The Indiana primary was today and we’re this much closer to having a president who starts Twitter fights with Cher.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Today was the Indiana primary and the winner was, of course, Donald Trump. But the big news was that Ted Cruz ended his presidential campaign. I can’t believe Cruz is quitting the race. I mean, who quits just because they’ve lost?” – James Corden

“Cruz said he’s looking forward to being able to spend more time with his family. In response, his family said, ‘Are you sure you want to quit?'” – James Corden

“Just before Cruz exited the race, Donald Trump implied that Ted Cruz’s dad may have been involved in the Kennedy assassination. This is very unlike Trump. Usually, he thoroughly investigates a story before repeating it to millions of people.” – James Corden

“Trump is trying to spread the tabloid story that Ted Cruz’s dad is somehow involved in the assassination of JFK. While I’m pretty sure Rafael Cruz didn’t have anything to do with the assassination of JFK, he does look like a James Bond villain from the Sean Connery era.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Donald Trump is implying that Ted Cruz’s father had something to do with the Kennedy assassination. Even worse, Ted Cruz’s father had something to do with Ted Cruz.” – Conan O’Brien

“Yesterday, Heidi Cruz was asked about rumors that her husband is the Zodiac Killer, and she said, ‘I’ve been married to him for 15 years, and I know pretty well who he is.’ That story again: Heidi Cruz didn’t actually deny that her husband was the Zodiac Killer.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Today in Indiana, Ted Cruz called Donald Trump ‘a pathological liar’, ‘a narcissist’, ‘utterly immoral’, and ‘a serial philanderer’. Then Cruz turned to Trump and said, ‘Teach me, Master!'” – Conan O’Brien

“Ted Cruz suspending his campaign is great news for the only other candidate, John Kasich, who is now just waiting for Donald Trump to drop out.” – James Corden

“Trump now leads Ted Cruz by 42 points, which is too many points. Is anybody else starting to feel bad for Ted Cruz? Poor guy probably wants to lock himself up in a transgender bathroom and never come out.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Today is Teacher Appreciation Day, and President Obama thanked his fifth-grade teacher, Ms. Mabel Hefty. Then Bernie Sanders thanked his fifth-grade teacher, Aristotle.” – Conan O’Brien

“A high school girl brought a cardboard cut-out of Bernie Sanders as her prom date. Meanwhile, another girl brought a cardboard cut-out of John Kasich that turned out to be John Kasich.” – Conan O’Brien

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Vacation

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

I’ll be off on vacation for a few days, far away from any internet connection. There will be new posts (they will appear after this post).

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Voting Against Their Own Interests?

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

The New York Daily News (yeah, I know) has an interesting article, where they interviewed some Trump supporters. But these weren’t regular Trump supporters, they are members of groups that tend to not like Trump very much. Americans like women, Muslims, Blacks, Asians, Mexicans, and from India. People who have been insulted by Trump in the harshest ways, and yet they plan on voting for him.

For example, there is the Mexican-American woman whose father emigrated illegally from Mexico in the 80s and became a citizen 8 years later, but she now thinks that Trump should build his wall to keep other illegals out.

Or the Muslim-American teenager who is the son of two immigrants who fled Afghanistan, but who supports Trump’s “temporary” ban on Muslims entering the US because:

I’m Shia, and most of the refugees are radical Sunnis. … It’s not that I don’t like them; it’s that I don’t support what they do. … They killed my people and stuff, so I don’t want them to come here.

Then there is the Black pastor who has even spoken at numerous Trump rallies, because Trump will “create jobs”. He also blames the Democrats and Obama for currently heightened racial tensions.

And finally the woman who claims that Trump is not sexist because he insults everyone:

I really don’t care about what he says to other women. Women have fought very long to be treated equally to men. … If he talks about women and talks about men the same, then there’s really no difference.

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It is all about Money

Monday, May 16, 2016

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Some of us were hoping that once Donald Trump became the presumed GOP nominee, that the media would stop talking about him incessantly. But apparently, the media is as addicted to talking about Trump as ever. After being criticized for basically bankrolling Trump’s campaign by giving him massive amounts of free publicity, they are “making amends” by still giving him publicity, but now they are trying to balance things by giving him negative publicity.

The problem is, they are talking about things that don’t matter. For example, Saturday the New York Times published “Crossing the Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women in Private” where they interviewed more than 50 people who had either worked for Trump or observed his crude behavior. But this is not news. Does anyone not know that Donald Trump is a sexist pig? Hasn’t he made that abundantly clear over and over again?

The people who support Trump know it. In fact, I’d guess that some of them are happy that he doesn’t feel any need to be “politically correct” and says what he feels. And if you already dislike Trump, this article will not make any difference.

Another example are the shocking reports that Donald Trump called the media and pretended to be someone else so he could brag about himself. Again, does anyone not know that Trump is a narcissist and has an ego that is bigger than his bank account? And that he would say or do almost anything to get attention?

What I want to know is why they aren’t concentrating on stories that are actually germane to the election. For example, the fact that despite promising that he would never be beholden to rich donors because he would self-fund his election (which was pretty much the entire appeal of his candidacy) Trump has now completely reversed course, and is busy courting those rich donors. So all those people who voted for an “outsider” who couldn’t be bought, you were played like a cheap violin. Where’s the outrage?

On Friday morning, casino magnate Sheldon Adelson endorsed Trump, and even urged other GOP donors to join him in supporting Trump. Reportedly Trump and his team have been courting Adelson for months. Doesn’t anyone want to know what Trump promised Adelson in return for his backing? It must have been a whopper.

Trump also claims he doesn’t need money from super-PACs, but another Vegas casino owner, Phil Ruffin, just wrote a $1 million check to “Make America Great Again”, a super-PAC that was supposedly shut down after the media exposed that it was illegally coordinating with the Trump campaign a little too much.

Another example is Stanley Hubbard, a billionaire media mogul. It wasn’t that long ago that Hubbard wrote a check to “Our Principles PAC”, whose sole purpose was destroying Trump’s candidacy. But apparently Hubbard has seen the light and is now supporting Trump. Did Trump have to promise him something really big to make him flip-flop like a dying fish?

And there is T. Boone Pickens, the oil tycoon who desperately wants the US to stay addicted to fossil fuels, who is hosting a fundraiser for a super-PAC that supports Trump.

So people who are supporting Trump because they are tired of the special interests controlling Washington are now going to turn Washington over entirely to those special interests. Heck, they want to elect a special interest as president.

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Late Night Political Humor

Monday, May 16, 2016

[Jokes from May 2, 2016]

“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was on Saturday, and President Obama ended his speech by saying ‘Obama out’ and literally dropping the mic. Then Hillary Clinton caught the mic mid-air and said, ‘LET’S DO THIS!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner was this weekend. President Obama said it was fun. Larry Wilmore said he was honored. And Bernie Sanders said the portions were too small.” – Seth Meyers

“During an after-party following the Correspondents’ Dinner, a fight broke out between reporters at Fox News and The Huffington Post. But no major details came out about the fight – ‘cuz it was only witnessed by CNN reporters.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The White House announced yesterday that Malia Obama will attend Harvard University, but that she plans to take a year off before starting. Malia got the idea after seeing how much fun her dad is having with HIS year off.” – Jimmy Fallon

“As Bernie Sanders’ campaign is winding down, he had to fire hundreds of staff members. Now Bernie is down to a campaign director, a speechwriter, and a 22-year-old whose job is to keep explaining to him what Snapchat is.” – Conan O’Brien

“Donald Trump criticized Hillary Clinton today for making a remark he says is offensive to Native Americans. Trump’s exact words were ‘you stole my speech.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Indiana is holding its primary tomorrow, and Donald Trump is currently leading Ted Cruz by 15 points. While John Kasich still holds a narrow lead over ‘Not Sure’.” – Seth Meyers

“At a Ted Cruz rally, Carly Fiorina fell off the stage and Cruz didn’t help her up. The entire crowd immediately began chanting, ‘Metaphor! Metaphor!'” – Conan O’Brien

“At a Ted Cruz rally, a young boy yelled ‘you suck’ at Ted Cruz. In other words, there is hope for America’s future after all.” – Conan O’Brien

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Trump is Nothing Like Reagan

Sunday, May 15, 2016

If you have read this blog for a while, you know that I love a good rant, and I recently read one. Paul Kengor, who has spent most of his life researching Ronald Reagan, including writing six major books about him, finally got fed up with people comparing Donald Trump to Ronald Reagan. The rant starts out a little slow, but it soon works up a great head of steam.

But to cut to the chase, here is Kengor’s conclusion:

Let me state unequivocally and undeniably that not only is Donald Trump not the “next Reagan,” but he is the anti-Reagan. Really, I find not only that the two men have preciously little in common, from their policies to their person, but I think there may be no two men more glaringly different. Donald Trump is a polar opposite of Ronald Reagan.

For example, while both Reagan and Trump have favorability/unfavorability ratings in the 60 to 70 percent range, in Reagan’s case it was a favorability rating, while in Trump’s case it is an unfavorability rating.

Kengor gives example after example. I’ll let you go read the whole rant.

But while we are talking about comparing Trump and Reagan, Trump himself tried to compare himself to Reagan, saying at a rally “I haven’t even started on Hillary, and my numbers are better right now than Ronald Reagan’s numbers were with Jimmy Carter.” PolitiFact found Trump’s numbers “false”. Trump’s numbers are not better, they are twice as bad as Reagan’s numbers were with Carter. Furthermore in a CBS News / New York Times poll in April 1980, only 13% said they would never vote for Reagan, while in two recent polls, a full 54% said they would definitely not vote for Trump. Every other “number” they could find was worse than for Reagan.

And finally, even Reagan released his tax return.

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Late Night Political Humor

Saturday, May 14, 2016

[Jokes from April 28-29, 2016]

“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is tomorrow, and Bernie Sanders will be attending. You could tell Bernie Sanders was a guest at the dinner when they had to schedule it at 3 p.m. Bernie was like, ‘I’m going to start a revolution — at the dessert table!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Vice president Joe Biden made a surprise trip to Iraq this morning, and no one was more surprised than him. ‘Last time I use Expedia!'” – Seth Meyers

“During Donald Trump’s foreign policy speech yesterday, he said when it comes to military action, we have to be unpredictable. Scary news for Iran, but terrifying news for Canada.” – Seth Meyers

“During his foreign policy speech yesterday, Donald Trump mispronounced Tanzania and called it ‘Tanzainia’. Then Melania was like, ‘That’s nothing. My name is actually Kathryn.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump yesterday gave his first foreign policy speech and accused President Obama of handling Iran with tender lovin’ care. Eric and Donald Jr. were like, ‘Sometimes that works, Dad.'” – Seth Meyers

“Last night Donald Trump tweeted from Indiana that he was staying at a Holiday Inn Express, and said it was ‘not bad’. Which, I believe, is just one of their ads: ‘Holiday inn Express: Not bad.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Exit polls from Tuesday’s primary showed Donald Trump won about 50 percent of Republican voters with college degrees. Well, technically they have college degrees. Their diploma was a steak.” – Seth Meyers

“Yesterday Ted Cruz, the man mathematically eliminated from becoming president, picked his vice president. Cruz chose Carly Fiorina as his running mate: The first woman ever to lose the Republican nomination twice in three months.” – James Corden

“Just to be clear, there is no way Ted Cruz could even get the nomination. He’s now like a 6 year old, pretending to be president.” – James Corden

“I’m pretty sure we’re going to see Ted Cruz drive around in a minivan with ‘Air Force One’ spray painted on the sides. He’ll be dressing up all of his daughters’ dolls like advisers going, ‘Yes, that is a good point about healthcare. Thank you, Malibu Barbie!'” – James Corden

“We are basically one month away from Cruz holding his own Republican National Convention at the Hooters in Texas.” – James Corden

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Auditing Trump

Friday, May 13, 2016

Donald Trump is refusing to release his tax returns. He claims that it is because he is being audited by the IRS, but that argument doesn’t hold a drop of water. First of all, Trump has plenty of older tax returns that are not being audited, and he refuses to release those too. And second, there is nothing wrong with releasing a tax return while it is under audit. In fact, Richard Nixon did so in 1973.

Donald Trump is the first major presidential candidate to not release his tax returns in 40 years. Given that Trump is not shy and talks about his private life all the time, it is obvious that his tax returns must contain a bombshell of epic proportions.

Electoral vote speculates on some of the possibilities:

  • He’s paying a very low effective tax rate
  • He’s using trickery of various sorts to (legally) game the tax system
  • He’s not as wealthy as he claims to be
  • He’s not giving much (or anything) to charity
  • He’s been giving money to Democratic candidates

Unless proven otherwise, we can only assume that all of these are true. In fact, an editor of Bloomberg News has seen Trump’s tax returns, and while he legally cannot reveal what he saw, he strongly hints that there are multiple bombshells in them. At the very least, we already know that Trump routinely lies about how wealthy he is.

UPDATE: For several years, Trump has been receiving a deduction from New York State that is only available to people who make $500,000 or less. So, does this mean that Trump is cheating on his taxes, or does he really make that little, given that he claims to be “really rich”? What’s really ironic is that the tax break was worth a measly $302, and he had to apply for it.

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The Election

Friday, May 13, 2016

Michael Ramirez
© Michael Ramirez

I’m not really sure what the cartoonist meant by this one, but for some reason I can’t stop laughing. What does this cartoon mean to you?

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Irony from West Virginia

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Exit polls in West Virginia show that many Bernie Sanders voters in this week’s primary plan to vote for Donald Trump in the general election. But the ironic part is that 39% of people who voted for Sanders in the Democratic primary would vote for Trump over Sanders, if Sanders is the Democratic nominee.

How did this happen? West Virginia is one of those southern states that was dominated by Democrats for years. Even now, 51% of voters are registered as Democrats compared to just 29% registered as Republicans. But West Virginia hasn’t voted for a Democratic president since Bill Clinton, and likely won’t for a long time to come.

I guess these people haven’t gotten around to changing their registration, even though they vote like Republicans. Another theory is that now that the GOP nomination is wrapped up, Republicans are trying to damage Clinton by voting for Sanders.

Whatever the reason, it is just another sign that our politics are really screwed up.

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Who is to Blame for the Incredible Trump?

Thursday, May 12, 2016

Tom Tomorrow
© Tom Tomorrow

I think Donald Trump is the personification of The Big Lie. Even liberals can’t believe he would be as bad as he says he would be.

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Jon Stewart on Hillary Clinton

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

Jon Stewart was interviewed by David Axelrod on Monday. He has some sharp criticism of Hillary Clinton:

I agree with Stewart about how Clinton appears inauthentic, and I think Clinton might agree with him as well (if she were being candid). She has said on more than one occasion that she is not a natural politician (like her husband). Plus the fact that Clinton is attacked for pretty much everything she says or does (and even quite a bit she didn’t actually say or do) makes her cautious, and as a result appears calculating. But as Stewart also says, that is not necessarily bad. Appearing to be authentic can also be a sign of being a sociopath.

Speaking of sociopaths, Stewart savaged Donald Trump, calling him “Fuckface von Clownstick”, and a “man-baby”:

There is also a good discussion of what’s wrong with our current politics.

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Trump Might Just Destroy the World Economy

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

If you were worried about whether Donald Trump would destroy our economy, you don’t have to worry any more. In an interview last week on CNBC, Trump explained how he was going to destroy our economy. Bonus points: he will not just destroy our economy, but likely most of the world economy.

Don’t believe me? Just read this article by Matthew Yglesias in Vox.

Short version: you remember how the out-of-control national debt is a really bad thing. Heck, most of the argument against Obamacare was that it would explode the national deficits (it didn’t, but still). Well, according to Trump you don’t have to worry about that any more. Trump just said “I am the king of debt. I love debt. I love playing with it. … I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal. And if the economy was good, it was good. So therefore, you can’t lose.”

Trump is describing his career as a “successful businessman”. Using his Trump brand, he has repeatedly borrowed other people’s money for a series of “huge” projects. When the projects failed, he declared bankruptcy, leaving his investors holding the bag. When they succeeded, he raked in the cash, despite having invested little of his own money. You could call it a “celebrity economy”. Trump’s brand is a license for him to print money.

There’s just one problem. As Yglesias puts it:

With his statement, Trump not only revealed a dangerous ignorance about the operation of the national monetary system and the global economic order, but also offered a brilliant case study in the profound risks of attempting to apply the logic of a private business enterprise to the task of running the United States of America.

If the United States were forced into bankruptcy, all hell would break loose. Your savings would likely lose most of its value, including your home. Many businesses (including most banks) would fail. Unemployment would spike to unprecedented levels.

Want even more evidence that Trump could cause this? Trump recently proposed that Puerto Rico declare bankruptcy to solve their financial problems, even though doing so is illegal. Taking advantage of the bankruptcy laws to dump his debt on other people has worked very well for Trump, and it is the only game he knows.

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