Reports are circulating that Donald Trump’s top campaign staffers have cut of his Twitter access until after the election. All I can say is it is about time. Can we cut it off permanently? I think Trump + Twitter = hate crime.
Of course, Trump’s campaign has denied those reports, but I see no compelling reason to believe them. They would deny the sky was blue if they thought it would help them.
[Jokes from Oct. 13, 2016]
“After that ‘Access Hollywood’ tape came out, a number of prominent Republicans called for Trump to drop out. But now, because of the pressure from the ‘Trump-ublican’ base, some of those who denounced him say they’re still planning to vote for him. They essentially un-unendorsed him so as not to anger those who might vote for them.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“This is putting a lot of Republicans running for re-election in a tough spot. If they support him, they lose a lot of moderates, but if they don’t, they lose the rest. It’s like they found themselves in a ‘Saw’ movie just before Halloween.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“Donald Trump spoke at a campaign event in Florida today where he once again said Hillary Clinton should be locked up. Well, Donald, if it’s any consolation, it looks like the election is locked up.” – Seth Meyers
“We are 25 days away from the election and Donald Trump is burning up like a meteor entering the atmosphere. Five women have come forward this week to claim he behaved inappropriately with them, touching, etc., including a reporter from People magazine and former pageant winner. Which is very bad news for his campaign. The good news is, he just got an offer to be the spokesman for Jell-O pudding. – Jimmy Kimmel
“During a rally in Florida yesterday Donald Trump boasted about his plans for ISIS and said he will ‘be their worst nightmare.’ Oh, wow, so he’s also running for president of ISIS?J” – Seth Meyers
“I got a personal email from Mr. Donald J. Trump who offered me an exclusive Trump Presidential Black Card. For a one-time initiation fee of $35, you can get a card that has no benefits or rewards whatsoever. A black card? Is this how he’s reaching out to the black community, with the card?” – Jimmy Kimmel
“There’s also a Trump Gold Card. That’s $49. So you can get the elite Black Card for $35, or the even less exclusive Trump Gold Card for $14 more. There’s finally a card that’s more embarrassing to carry than Discover.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“How did Donald Trump get my email address? I bet the Russians had something to do it.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“The third and final debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump is coming up in Las Vegas next week, and Hillary’s holding a contest where the winner gets to actually go watch it in person. Everyone was like, ‘Yeesh, what does the loser get?'” – Jimmy Fallon
“The best email that’s been leaked so far claims that Hillary met with rapper Q-Tip last year to discuss how to appeal to hip-hop fans. The big takeaway for Hillary: Whatever you do, don’t try to rap.” – Jimmy Fallon
“I guess the meeting with Q-Tip really affected Hillary because afterwards, she actually came up with some rapper names for herself. First, she tried Lil’ Wheezy. Then she tried Run DNC. And finally, she tried Wiz Deleeta.” – Jimmy Fallon
“President Obama has only 100 days left in office. Obama was like, ‘I just can’t wait to get home to Kenya.'” – Seth Meyers
As this story is posted, I’m flying far away from the US. I will watch the US election from Paris. Regardless of the outcome, I’m really glad to be away. And as an added bonus, I get a foreign perspective on what is happening and what it means.
Of course, there have been plenty of elections in Europe that are at least as crazy as what is going on in the US. But those countries are not the leaders of the free world.
At least 100 pro-Trump websites are being run from a single town in Macedonia (a little known country just north of Greece in an area called the Balkans, which is where the term Balkanization comes from). And these foreign websites are feeding false pro-Trump news to Trump supporters. How did this happen?
It is all about money. They do this so that they get shares and likes from Facebook, which is a fast way to make advertising money. The sites don’t actually care about the US election, they are just taking advantage of Trump supporters who will believe anything anyone says that is pro-Trump or anti-Clinton, no matter how outrageous or obviously false.
“Yes, the info in the blogs is bad, false, and misleading but the rationale is that ‘if it gets the people to click on it and engage, then use it,’” said a university student in Veles [Macedonia] who started a US politics site, and who agreed to speak on the condition that BuzzFeed News not use his name.
Many of these sites are run by teenagers. For example:
“I started the site for a easy way to make money,” said a 17-year-old who runs a site with four other people. “In Macedonia the economy is very weak and teenagers are not allowed to work, so we need to find creative ways to make some money. I’m a musician but I can’t afford music gear. Here in Macedonia the revenue from a small site is enough to afford many things.”
Some sites have been created with left-leaning content, including Bernie Sanders, but they didn’t make nearly as much money as pro-Trump sites. And almost all of these stories are false.
For example, the most successful post had the headline “Hillary Clinton In 2013: ‘I Would Like To See People Like Donald Trump Run For Office; They’re Honest And Can’t Be Bought.’” In just one week, this post got half a million shares on Facebook. As a comparison, the New York Times article that broke the news that Donald Trump lost close to a billion dollars in 1995 received around 175,000 shares over a month. Of course the Clinton quote is false.
Another highly successful story claims that the pope endorsed Trump. Stories like this generate ad revenue of around $3000 a day.
I guess this is what happens when politics collides with a culture of celebrity like that of Trump.
[Jokes from Oct. 12, 2016]
“Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, said this morning that Republicans should decide whether or not they support Donald Trump and ‘stop pussyfooting around’. That’s the worst choice of words since Abraham Lincoln said, ‘I need slavery like I need a hole in the head.'” – Seth Meyers
“Trump denied the (groping) allegations, calling them ‘ludicrous’ at a rally today. But here’s the problem for Trump: There’s very good reason to believe he did what he’s accused of. Why? Because an irrefutable, inside source told us so: Donald Trump. Donald Trump is his own Deep Throat. He’s Creep Throat.” – Seth Meyers
“A former ‘Apprentice’ contestant says that Donald Trump didn’t know the names of all the women on the show, and would describe them by their bodies and looks. When asked about it, Trump said, ‘Which woman said that? Brown Hair/Lazy Eye or Blond Hair/Nose Job?'” – Jimmy Fallon
“Donald Trump, last night, criticized Republicans who are dropping support for his campaign, saying, ‘I wouldn’t want to be in a foxhole with a lot of these people.’ Trump made the comment while talking to everyone’s favorite foxhole, Bill O’Reilly.” – Seth Meyers
“Some very prominent Republican donors are reported to be asking for their money back. Because if there’s one thing Donald Trump is known for, it’s giving money back.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“Asking Donald Trump for your money back is like asking Chris Christie for a bite of his cheeseburger, it isn’t going to happen. You’ll have to pry it out of his cold, tiny hands.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“Former House Speaker John Boehner says he still plans on voting for Trump even though he said, ‘Donald wasn’t my first choice, wasn’t my second choice, for that matter he wasn’t my third choice.’ ‘Who was your fourth choice?’ whispered Jeb.” – Seth Meyers
“Donald Trump told supporters last night to go out and vote on November 28th, when Election Day is actually November 8th. Unless November 8th is just a lie being spread by the liberal media.” – Seth Meyers
“Donald Trump just released a new TV ad attacking Hillary Clinton’s health, with clips of her coughing. Which was effective till the end, when he says, ‘I’m Donald Trump and I approve this message. (LONG SNIFF)'” – Jimmy Fallon
“Yesterday, Al Gore campaigned for Hillary Clinton at a Florida rally attended by 1,600 people. Unfortunately for Gore, a recount showed that it was only 1,300 people.” – Jimmy Fallon
“President Obama is winding down his time in office. He’s got less than 100 days left. But he’s keeping busy, still pushing his agenda, he’s working to fight climate change, he’s shortening sentences for drug offenders, every night he goes down to the basement to visit Merrick Garland, his nominee for the Supreme Court.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“The reason President Obama is working so hard up to the end is to avoid helping his wife pack the house; it’s a pain in the ass, and he wants no part of it.” – Jimmy Kimmel
“Today was Yom Kippur, or as Gary Johnson calls it, ‘The capital of Thailand?'” – Seth Meyers
Samantha Bee shows how easy it is to start a political rumor, even without any actual evidence.
Using football analogies, of course!
Rednecks of all political persuasions should know that the final employment report before the election just came out, and the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.9%.
Meanwhile, two top aides of Chris Christie — who is heading Trump’s transition team — were just convicted of massive corruption in causing massive traffic jams on the nation’s busiest bridge in an act of pure political revenge. That’s how little these guys feel for what happens to normal people (including rednecks).
The Associated Press has found proof that Melania Trump worked illegally in the US as a model when she first came here on a visitor’s visa. She has maintained that she arrived in the US legally and never violated the terms of her immigration status, but that was a lie.
Will people who support Trump because he is going to stop immigrants from taking their jobs realize the hypocrisy?
This is also yet another example of Trump breaking a promise. When Melania was first accused of being an illegal alien, Trump said that proof that Melania was a legal immigrant would be released publicly “soon”. But that never happened. Trump lied, and now we know why.
Trump also promised to release his tax returns, so the obvious conclusion is that there are lots of damaging things in those returns that Trump doesn’t dare reveal (even beyond the bad things that we already know about his taxes).
The Atlantic has a short, concise summary of what is going on with the FBI. You should read it.
Basically, anti-Clinton insiders at the FBI, with help from the Trump campaign — including Rudy Giuliani and Steve Bannon — leaked information saying that an investigation into the Clinton Foundation was likely to lead to an indictment. That information is now known to be false, and even Fox News apologized on-air for spreading it.
There is some irony that even as the Trump campaign is alleging improper communication between the Department of Justice and the Clinton campaign, a top Trump adviser is receiving just that kind of information. Giuliani’s statement has already attracted the attention of Democrats on the House Oversight Committee, who wrote a letter Friday to the inspector general of the Justice Department requesting an investigation into the leaks.
So we have another double standard for the campaigns. Bill Clinton is accused of improperly colluding with the Justice Department, while Rudy Giuliani brags on TV that he is improperly colluding with the FBI and pretty much gets away with it.
But the bigger question is why do FBI agents feel like it is their right to create leaks, some of which are actually false, to influence an election?
The point is not that some of these leaks are good and some of them are bad. The point is not that Clinton is innocent or not innocent, or that Trump is pro-Russian or anti-Russian. The point is that a presidential election should not depend on the ability of candidates to successfully intimidate or cultivate favor among American national-security agencies.
We recoil in horror at military coups in banana republics, but what is going on in the US is almost as bad — an internal security agency determining the results of an election.
This week, yet another Trump branded and managed hotel went bankrupt. Just four years ago, Trump (and his family) cut the ribbon on the 65-story Trump International Hotel & Tower Toronto. Most of the financing for it came from a Russian-born billionaire. And now, a bunch of middle-class investors who bought condos in the tower got screwed.
Trump is not the project’s developer or even an investor; one of his partners, a Russian-born billionaire who got rich in Ukraine’s steel industry, controls the firm that’s in default. The Trump Toronto is still a posh hotel, and even though nearly two thirds of the tower’s condo units remain unsold, they’re still upscale residences. Still, the saga of the property’s glittering rise and rapid fall is classic Trump, featuring a tsunami of litigation and bitterness, money with a Russian accent, and a financial wreck that probably won’t hit its namesake particularly hard.
Trump has vowed to run the country the way he runs his businesses, and Trump Toronto is yet another reminder that his businesses do not always run smoothly.
It is likely that after the bankrupt hotel is sold off, Trump’s name will be removed from it. Trump’s name has become a liability.
It is looking like every (living) ex-president is voting for Hillary Clinton. If you are keeping score, that’s three Democrats and two Republicans (both named Bush).
Newsweek investigated and found that Donald Trump destroyed hundreds of thousands of emails, digital records, and paper documents, including many that he was under court order to preserve. And then he lied about it. And of course, he did this to screw other people out of money. He did this over and over again.
Their conclusions:
This review of Trump’s many decades of abusing the judicial system, ignoring judges, disregarding rules, destroying documents and lying about it is not simply a sordid history lesson. Rather, it helps explain his behavior since he declared his candidacy. He promised to turn over his tax returns and his health records—just as he promised to comply with document discovery requirements in so many lawsuits—then reneged. As a result, he has left a sparse evidentiary trail that can be used to assess his wealth, his qualifications for the presidency or even his fitness. Should voters choose him to be the next U.S. president, he will enter the Oval Office as a mystery, a man who has repeatedly flouted the rules. He has solemnly told the country to trust him while refusing to produce any records to prove whether he speaks the truth or has utter contempt for it.
Are we really not that far away from electing a con man as president of the United States?
The Democrats are starting to panic, while the Republicans are turning into sheeple and flip-flopping once again. Will it be enough to change the race? Only a few days left!
Seth Meyers looks at the current state of the presidential race, with clarity and humor:
Two sources within the FBI, speaking off the record and anonymously, told Fox News that the investigation of the Clinton Foundation is likely to lead to an indictment.
Considering that the FBI has no power to issue indictments (that is done by a Grand Jury), and that there is no evidence of wrongdoing with the Clinton Foundation (granting meetings to donors is not illegal), this sounds very much like a dirty trick just before the election.
The FBI is not supposed to comment publicly on ongoing investigations, and certainly not just days away from the election. Doing so is a violation of the Hatch Act. As Electoral Vote puts it “Comey has very clearly created an environment where agents (some of them, at least) are putting partisanship over professionalism.” When law enforcement agencies become political tools, that is a strong indicator of a “banana republic”.
Instead, these anonymous leaks are actually an indictment of James Comey, who has lost control of the FBI. As director, the buck stops with him. And considering that the FBI director can be fired at any time by the president (either this one or the next one), it seems likely his days are numbered.
UPDATE: The Guardian has an inside look at what is going on at the FBI, saying “The FBI is Trumpland”.
The currently serving FBI agent said Clinton is “the antichrist personified to a large swath of FBI personnel,” and that “the reason why they’re leaking is they’re pro-Trump.”
Donald Trump is the executive B.P. Richfield from the TV show “Dinosaurs”. Seriously!
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