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Defensive Posture?

Monday, October 10, 2016

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Trump’s Real Debate Pivot?

Monday, October 10, 2016

Taegan Goddard has a very interesting reaction to Sunday night’s second debate. Trump didn’t try to act presidential — saying that Clinton should be thrown in jail and generally attacking her constantly. That may endear him with his base, but won’t gain him any new votes, which he desperately needs to actually win.

Why is he doing that? Goddard’s theory is that Trump has given up on winning the presidency. Instead, he is laying the foundation for a media venture targeted at his angry supporters. “He’s now speaking only to the audience for a speculated media venture. It’s not a mistake that his top advisers are former Fox News chief Roger Ailes and Breitbart’s Stephen Bannon.”

In addition, this debate marks the official divorce of Donald Trump from the Republican Party. Trump even dismissed his own running mate’s comments on Russia. It is only a matter of time before the GOP returns the favor.

Clinton might call Trump’s supporters “deplorables”, but Trump sees them as a cash cow willing to throw money at Trump. As usual, he is figuring out how to make money off this whole thing. Especially since his days as a real estate developer are almost certainly over. He’s comfortable with media through “The Apprentice”, so why not start the Trump News Network? He probably even needs the money.

I keep seeing a meme going around that someday in the near future, Donald Trump will claim that he never actually ran for president. I now believe it.

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Late Night Political Humor

Monday, October 10, 2016

[Jokes from Sept. 15, 2016]

“We have Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on the show tonight, which means security is very tight. On their way in, everyone in the audience had to put their keys into a tray and their deplorables into a basket.” – Jimmy Fallon

“It’s been a busy week for Trump. Earlier today, he appeared on ‘Dr. Oz’ and said that he wants to lose about 15 pounds. And his barber said, ‘Hey, come by any time you like!'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump admitted to Dr. Oz that he is overweight, loves fast food, and doesn’t exercise. In a related story, Trump just won Wisconsin.” – Conan O’Brien

“The White House has announced that America will accept 110,000 refugees next year. Meanwhile, Canada announced if Donald Trump wins, they’ll accept 110 million refugees.” – Conan O’Brien

“During a campaign rally yesterday, Donald Trump said, ‘You think Hillary Clinton could stand up here for an hour?’ Then he debuted his new campaign slogan, ‘I Can Stand Up for an Hour.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Hillary Clinton is featured in the upcoming issue of Women’s Health magazine. While next month she’ll be featured in ‘Bad Timing’ magazine.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Recent polling has shown that Hillary Clinton’s lead over Donald Trump has almost totally disappeared and the candidates are basically tied. They’re neck and neck. Well, for Hillary it’s the neck. For Trump it’s more like a gizzard thing.” – James Corden

“Everybody’s talking about these leaked emails from former Secretary of State Colin Powell. In one, he actually called Dick Cheney an idiot. Cheney was very hurt. In fact, he said the comments broke his latest heart.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Ivanka Trump abruptly ended an interview with Cosmopolitan magazine because she felt the questions were ‘unfair’. Of course it’s understandable, most of us wither under the intense political grilling of Cosmopolitan magazine.” – Conan O’Brien

“Ivanka Trump cut short an interview with Cosmo because of what she said was all the ‘negativity’. Which is weird because all the interviewer said was, ‘So, your dad is Donald Trump, right?'” – Conan O’Brien

“We’ve been hearing a lot recently about Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. But there is finally another politician in the news, because former President George W. Bush announced today that he is releasing a book of his paintings.” – James Corden

“This week a study was released by the World Health Organization showing that the United States is the third most depressing country in the world after India and China. When Americans heard the news they were like, ‘Oh, we only got third?'” – James Corden

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His Own Lawyers Testified that Trump Lies

Sunday, October 9, 2016

In early 1990s, Donald Trump had 3 major bankruptcies: The Trump Taj Mahal Casino, Trump Plaza, and The Trump Castle. As reported by the Washington Post, these failures were largely self inflicted.

Trump’s bankruptcy lawyers were Patrick McGahn and George Miller. In a 1993 bankruptcy deposition of McGahn comes the following curious exchange:

Q. Did Mr. Miller always do everything together with you when he was active in this case?
A. Not everything, but we — it’s always been our practice to make sure that two people are present, and we don’t have a problem of people lying.
Q. You are meeting with your client?
A. That’s right, your client. Hey, Trump is a leader in the field of expert — he’s an expert at interpreting things. Let’s put it that way.
Q. That’s interestingly put. As I recall in your letter to Mr. DeSanctis, which we marked yesterday, you indicated the policy of your office was to have two attorneys present for meeting with public officials?
A. Correct.
Q. Here, you are meeting with your client?
A. That’s right.
Q. Was it necessary for both you and Mr. Miller to always attend the meeting —
A. We always do that.
Q. Always?
A. We tried to do it with Donald always if we could because Donald says certain things and then has a lack of memory.

In plain English, Trump’s own lawyers say he lies so much they had to meet with him in pairs so they would have a witness to what he said.

What we see is that Trump is not only a pretty piss-poor businessman, he isn’t even a very good liar.

Lee Judge
© Lee Judge

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Parallels?

Sunday, October 9, 2016

So Melania Trump has forgiven Donald, announcing:

The words my husband used are unacceptable and offensive to me. This does not represent the man that I know. He has the heart and mind of a leader. I hope people will accept his apology, as I have, and focus on the important issues facing our nation and the world.

And yet, hypocritically, Donald Trump has repeatedly blamed Hillary Clinton for Bill Clinton’s infidelity. His surrogate, Rudy Giuliani, declared that Hillary was too stupid to be president because she didn’t leave Bill.

So if Hillary is responsible for Bill’s behavior, why isn’t Melania responsible for Donald’s behavior?

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Pussygate

Saturday, October 8, 2016

I find it ironic that Donald Trump is suddenly being done in, not by anything related to being president (such as policies) but by the fact that he is a sexist asshole, which should have been long obvious to everyone (even if they weren’t actually paying much attention). As Jonah Goldberg put it:

Donald Trump is a fundamentally dishonorable and dishonest person – and has been his whole adult life. The evidence has been in front of those willing to see it all along. And there’s more to find.

On the heels of Trump being sued for sexual assault by Jill Harth, and saying insulting things about former Miss USA Alicia Machado (not to mention his comments about Rosie O’Donnell and Megyn Kelly), now there is video of him bragging about sexually assaulting women.

The video is from just a few months after Trump married his third and current wife, and when she was pregnant with his child. I think The Daily Beast sums it up neatly:

Character is what you do when nobody’s looking. And this video captures Trump in the middle of day, sober, a few months after being married, talking with a man he barely knows, bragging about sexual assault, while wearing a microphone.

So much for Trump’s claims to having “great judgment” and “the best temperament”. And for once, it does not look like he will be able to bounce back:

This entire campaign has been an exercise of the electorate being slowly simmered in a pot of boiling water, losing our sense of outrage amid a steady of onslaught insults and lies. But sex and cruelty resonates in a way that financial scandals or demagoguery just don’t.

Trump’s response to this latest revelation? “I’ve never said I’m a perfect person, nor pretended to be someone that I’m not.” Again, he lies. In 2014 Trump tweeted “I consider myself too perfect and have no faults.”

And of course, Trump also claimed that he had personally heard far worse from Bill Clinton. But back in 1999, Trump told the New York Post:

People want me to run for president all the time … I don’t like it. Can you imagine how controversial I’d be? You think about Clinton and the women. How about me with the women? Can you imagine?

So what happens now? I’m going to guess that the Republicans will give Trump the “Dole treatment”. About 30 days before the presidential election in 1996 the GOP abandoned Bob Dole when it became clear that he was going to lose to Bill Clinton, and focused on down-ballot races. Already, many Republicans, including those who have endorsed Trump in the past, are calling for him to drop out of the race. Unfortunately, there is zero chance Trump will agree to do that.

UPDATE: Robert DeNiro does not mince words about Donald Trump:

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Drudging through the Archives

Saturday, October 8, 2016

The Drudge Report has been spreading rumors that Bill Clinton had an illegitimate child with an Arkansas prostitute. But they should have checked their own publication first. Way back in 1999, they were the publication that broke the news that a paternity test on the alleged child had turned up negative.

This would not be the first time that Trump or his supporters just threw crap out there, hoping something would stick. Like Trump himself insinuating that Ted Cruz’s father was involved in the assassination of JFK, or that Hillary Clinton was dying from some kind of brain disease.

What’s worrisome is that there are a growing number of people who believe utter crap like this. Like the people who still believe that Obama is Muslim, that Michelle Obama is a man, and that the first couple kidnapped their children from another family. Trump seems to bringing stupidity and character assassination to the mainstream.

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Discrimination in Action

Friday, October 7, 2016

North Carolina law HB-2 isn’t just about bathrooms and transgender people. It also allows businesses to discriminate against homosexuals. So, the Daily Show wonders what this will look like in reality. Hilarity ensues:

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Late Night Political Humor

Friday, October 7, 2016

[Jokes from Sept. 14, 2016]

“Today Republican candidate Donald Trump decided to clear the air and reveal the results of a recent physical, on ‘The Dr. Oz Show’. Which is an interesting move. Like for Donald Trump, you know, sure, Dr. Oz is a respected doctor — you know, in the same way that Dr. Dre is a respected doctor.” – James Corden

“Donald Trump taped an appearance on ‘Dr. Oz’ today to discuss his health and his diet, and reportedly told Dr. Oz that he likes fast food because, ‘At least you know what they’re putting in it.’ Then workers at Taco Bell and Arby’s said, ‘You keep telling yourself that.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“Donald Trump will appear on ‘Dr. Oz’ tomorrow, while his traditional doctor will appear on ‘Law & Order SVU’: ‘I didn’t know she took all of those pills!'” – Seth Meyers

“If you think that a presidential candidate appearing on ‘Dr. Oz’ is ridiculous, later Donald stopped by the Maury Povich show and found out that he is not the father.” – James Corden

“Tomorrow, Hillary Clinton is going to be cleared of all email charges by Judge Judy.” – James Corden

“Hacked emails from former Secretary of State Colin Powell show he recently referred to Donald Trump as ‘a national disgrace’ and ‘an international pariah’. Trump was like, ‘Listen, I love Pariah. I have all of her albums. So that’s a compliment to me.'” – Seth Meyers

“In newly leaked emails, former Secretary of State Colin Powell calls Hillary Clinton ‘greedy’, and Donald Trump ‘a disgrace’, and Dick Cheney an ‘idiot’. In response, Americans everywhere said, ‘Hey, three for three.'” – Conan O’Brien

“In the leaked emails from Colin Powell, he calls Donald Trump ‘a national disgrace.’ Trump was furious and said, ‘Hey, I’m an international disgrace.'” – Conan O’Brien

“A new poll shows that Donald Trump is now leading in Nevada. Which actually makes sense, since 50 percent of Nevada voters are also failed casino owners.” – Conan O’Brien

“Donald Trump’s childhood home in Queens is going up for auction next month. Apparently, the house has five bedrooms, or as Trump calls it, ’20 walls’.” – Jimmy Fallon

“The upcoming movie about President Barack Obama’s college years reportedly shows a young Obama shirtless, smoking cigarettes and smoking weed. Or as the president calls him: 2017 Obama.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson took out a full-page ad in today’s New York Times asking to be included in the first debate. Green Party candidate Jill Stein took a full-page ad out of The New York Times and folded it into a neat little hat.” – Seth Meyers

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Not Charitable!

Thursday, October 6, 2016

It turns out that when we were calling the Trump Foundation a charity, we were being extremely charitable. Because it turns out that our presidential candidate who claims to be a genius businessman didn’t even bother to file the paperwork to register the foundation as a charity. Or file any of the reports required of a charity.

Not only that, but Real Clear Politics did a study of the Trump Foundation’s filings (which are public) and found that Trump repeatedly used money from his Foundation to secure endorsements and other personal benefits to advance his political campaign. So Trump’s charity, which wasn’t actually a charity, was using other people’s money to buy political influence. Which makes it doubly illegal.

I guess because rules — like paying taxes, or against calling yourself a charity or a university fraudulently — “are for the little people”, not Donald Trump.

So, how did the Trump campaign respond to this? As usual, they attacked. During the vice presidential debate, Mike Pence flat-out lied by insisting that only 10% of the Clinton Foundation’s money goes to charitable endeavors. According to PolitiFact and major charity watchdog groups, the number is actually at least 87%.

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The Wall

Thursday, October 6, 2016

Ted Rall
© Ted Rall

It’s true, there are more Mexicans leaving the US than coming into it. So building a wall doesn’t make any sense at all.

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Winning Temperament?

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

John Oliver brilliantly takes Trump to task for his self-proclaimed winning temperament and for quoting bogus polls:

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Political Dance

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Why can’t we have a dancing debate? Maybe we can!

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Why Watch the Vice Debate?

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

Tuesday night is the debate of the Vice Presidential candidates: Governor Mike Pence of Indiana and Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia. Most people don’t know who these people are, but that shouldn’t deter anyone from watching them debate.

First of all, if Trump is elected he would be the oldest person ever to assume the presidency. If Clinton is elected, she would be the second oldest. So their vice presidential picks have a better than normal chance of assuming the presidency.

Second, who a presidential candidate picks to be their second says a lot about the candidate.

In particular, I think it will be good for people to get to know Tim Kaine. It turns out that I know someone well who lives in the same city as Kaine, and is friends with him. He thinks Kaine is great. I think he could be a rising star in the Democratic party, so he is worth getting to know.

Besides, this may be our only chance to see a debate about actual policies for a change, which is something we claim we want to see.

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Pot Meet Kettle

Tuesday, October 4, 2016

The Republicans just pushed through a law that will allow victims of 9/11 to sue Saudi Arabia in US courts. The law would allow courts to waive claims of foreign sovereign immunity (because terrorism). Obama vetoed it, and the Republicans swiftly overrode his veto.

There’s just one huge problem. The new law will open up the US to lawsuits for things we have done in other countries. You know, like invading Iraq on false pretenses for starters. Not to mention torturing people. And a long list of other things we have done around the world, where the US is at least as complicit as Saudi Arabia was in 9/11. The bill will also of course make it more difficult for Saudi Arabia to continue helping us fight terrorism and the Islamic State.

Now here’s the ironic part. The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell is now blaming the White House for not warning the Republicans that this bill could have these disastrous unintended consequences.

Thanks Obama.

You know, the problem isn’t just Trump. It is time to take a long close look at the Republicans and their “shoot first and ask questions later” attitude. They were in such a hurry to pass this bill to make it look like they support 9/11 victims they didn’t pay any attention to what a disaster it would turn out to be. And now they are trying to blame it on Obama.

roge160930
© Rob Rogers

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