Trump

Day 5 million

Someone recently wrote to me and said, “I didn’t know you were a socialist?” To which I replied, “I’m a what works kind of guy” (or words to that effect. I believe in a level playing field and in giving everyone a chance. I believe that a rising tide lifts all boats. Many folks I know who seem to want to hurry out and label people socialists don’t seem to believe in those ideas (call them principles if you like). They seem to believe that “they made it on their own.” While they worked hard, granted, they did so within a system or framework that allowed them to prosper. That framework is a controlled system. The question becomes “who do you want controlling that framework?” People who espouse free market systems don’t seem to realize that most of those systems are really government regulated. There have been times when individuals (ie capitalists) controlled those systems. J.P.Morgan, Fiske and Gould, the Robber Barons are all examples of that. How well did that work? If you look at the history of the U.S. from an economic perspective there were a series of boom and busts when those folks were in charge. They worked hard to keep others out and poor, but they also caused huge panics and runs on the banks, etc. I think the question becomes, “How much do you want someone regulating the system within which we operate?” one person I know calls it “bridled capitalism” Another calls it “democratic socialism.” Whatever you call it we are talking about a system that has rules and regulations of some sort and we are asking “Whom do we want in control of those systems?”

I keep going back to the history of Constantinople and the end of the Roman Republic. In the case of Constantinople it was a struggle between the landowners and the church versus the middle class. Whenever the landowners and church came to power they changed the tax laws so they didn’t have to pay anything. The weight fell on the middle class who then left the city. They literally “took to the hills.” In the case of the Roman Republic (and I’d say Constantinople too) the Republic fell due to two underlying conditions 1) as far as anyone alive knew the Republic had always been there so they thought it always would be, and 2) many in charge were chipping away at the republic, taking a little bit for themselves (who would notice?) Most democracies last 200 years. They are considered transitional times by historians. If we wish to survive as a democracy then we need to stand up for the principles that our country is. We need to get back to helping our fellow man, helping the less fortunate and giving everyone a chance.

Meanwhile, Hope Hicks testified in front of Congress and refused to answer any questions about her time in the White House, including, “Where was your office?” She did however corroborate that the president paid off two women with whom he had affairs for political reasons. 

And now another woman has come forward and said that Trump raped her. He says he never met her. Except, there’s this photo of him with her in the picture. 

Now there have been released hundreds of messages between Sean Hannity and Paul Mannafort. Those messages deal directly with Mannafort’s trial. Now Hannity talks directly to Trump, so if Sean is relaying messages to Paul from Trump and Paul is relaying his responses to Sean and Sean is talking to Trump is that what I think it is? Wit … wit … ness tampering? Or Obstruction of Justice? 

Then Roger Stone may be going to the pokey until his trial. This is hard to believe (NOT) that Roger couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Oh yes, and Mike Flynn fired his legal team and hired a Fox News person who says the Mueller Inquiry is illegal and all bunk, etc. etc. etc.

Meanwhile, there is a hew and cry for impeachment proceedings from both the left and the right. The Republicans seem to think it will bolster their chances in 2020 and the other folks who want it because it seems to them the right thing to do. But there is hesitancy on the Dem leadership side to go forward. Because history has shown that impeachment hurts the folks who bring it. The question here, I think, is “would it really hurt those who bring it?” Somehow, I don’t think so.

This is so flagrant, so criminal, that the proceeding would show what has been going on to a segment of the population that has been consistently lied to. I think it could serve as the turning point. The point at which those diehard Trump supporters might – might – say, “Hey, wait a minute.” 

I dunno. I’d like to believe that they are good people who believe in the principles that this country was founded on, like The Rule of Law, and No One is Above the Law.

Oh yes and we were 5 minutes away from war with Iran (yawn.)

Day 897 Saturday June 22, 2019

499 Days until the 2020 election and 577 days until the Inauguration

PS Good Vibrations

 

Day 3,578,328 or something like that.
God, will it ever end?
I’ve been away for almost a month, when I got back it’s the same old, only different. I’m just not ready to do the math for the countdown. I was in Indonesia and there I saw references to some of the goings on, but not much. I asked for news. I got “Trump is being an idiot.” It didn’t matter on what area or subject. He was being an idiot. The biggest news thing about him seemed to be his ill-fitting tux.
When I got back I was stunned at the criminality and the lack of concern by the Republicans. They seem to like to purposely mispronounce Mueller, calling him “Mule – er.” Then there was the news about Elaine Chow and her criminality. Plus Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows unconcern about the very things they were so distraught over during Obama’s term in office. And Sarah Sanders is resigning. What a loss (Not).
One thing Trump is good at is wearing people down. That’s what he did in New York and what he is trying to do to the country. There are the ten items in the Mueller Report that as lawyers say “fulfill” every part of the criminal statue of Obstruction of Justice. It makes me wonder, if Trump were to shoot someone dead, would he be arrested?
Then there was a right wing friend who posted some nonsense. Oh yeah, I remember it compared a city in Texas to Chicago. Both about the same size, same population makeup. However, Texas had more gun stores than Chicago, but Chicago had many more murders. She asked the question, “Tell me again how having fewer gun stores makes you safer?” Well, by this logic then the answer to Chicago’s murder rate is to open more gun stores. Every time the Chicago murder rate comes up in the news typically the report points to the fact that many of the guns used in the murders come from guns bought outside of Chicago and outside of the state of Illinois. Many of the guns come from Texas. In fact, I think there are three gun stores on the Texas border that are responsible for many of those guns. The Texas border has 1900 gun stores. Obviously, for the sheep farmers living on the border.
Then she posted something else, I can’t remember exactly what it was but it was supposed to be some horrible thing I guess in her mind. To which I responded “Hooray” or some such, and the response was “I didn’t know you were a socialist.” Kind of a “when did you stop beating your wife?” sort of comment. To which I responded that I’m not; I’m a person searching for answers and solutions. Then her friends got in on it and I raised the question, “are you opposed to the military or Federal roads?” and that got the “It’s in the Constitution” response. (Spoiler alert: Federal Highways aren’t in the Constitution! In fact, it’s a German idea. Eisenhower, a Republican, liked the Nazi highway system and modeled the Federal highways after them. So I guess that makes him and by extension all Republicans Nazis – right?) So I’m making a silly extension of logic to make a point.
Those who think that socialism is a bad idea typically embrace socialism on some level. Let’s define the term. The use of tax dollars and government assistance to help a group of people. That to me is socialism. For me, I’m a believer in “a rising tide lifts all boats.” Others believe in what I call the myth of rugged individualism. That says you appreciate things if you do them all by yourself without help from anyone else. The problem with that idea is that in every example that such people give they got help from somewhere else. Typically, their parents or the government or a benefactor of some kind.
As examples: it was Glenn Beck or someone of his ilk who said he was poor and he made it one his own. He went to the library where books were free and they lived on food stamps. Wait a second, the books aren’t free, as Jon Stuart pointed out. Someone paid for those books and the government paid for the food stamps. Then there are the farmers who people like to point to as examples of salt-of-the-Earth hard working blah blah blah. And they are, no doubt, but they get help, a lot of help from the government. Be it grain subsidies, or the rural electrification project in FDR’s time or low interest loans via The Agricultural Department. Michael Lewis pointed out in his book The Fifth Risk that a big time Fox News contributor who hated big government and socialism, etc. etc. etc. had a farm project that he was doing and very proud of because he had done it all on his own. He had a big press conference and there was a lady standing there and he asked who she was. She told him and said she was from the Agriculture Department. Really? he said and why are you here? She replied that she was the one that got him the loan so he could do his project. So much for rugged individualism and doing it on your own. Lewis also points out that if the Ag Department didn’t help rural America it would look like rural China.
The there was the George Bush time that one of the staff was in a tough spot and George passed the hat to get them some money. Tip O’Neil said that the week before Bush had vetoed a bill that would have helped thousands that were in similar situations.
That I think sums up the problem with this “I didn’t know you were a socialist” argument. Yes, it would be great if everyone could make it on their own. The reality is that we all need help. That we rise on the shoulders of others who came before us.
A Sequoia tree on it’s own will easily be blown over. It needs a group, a network of roots and fellow trees to be able to stand tall. It can’t do it on it’s own.
We need to realize the simple human fact that everyone needs help at some point. I’m reminded of the Inca Empire. No one starved. Everyone was cared for. Yes, you had to pay tribute and it was figured out by what you did and could do. Everyone contributed and everyone was taken care of.
We can argue about how much one should be taken care of by government entities or regulated entities, and how that should be done, but there really is no question that there is a need for such care and help.
Perhaps, you disagree. That’s fine. You can go live by yourself in the woods I suppose. But if you come out of the woods. If you walk on a road, drink from a fountain, work for money – you owe. You need to give back.

Meanwhile, Trump has so embarrassed us that no one seems to care. “Prince of Whales.” How do you get to be his age and still be such a rube? Such a simpleton? So unsophisticated? So pathetic? So unwilling to learn? So uncaring as to not want to do even a mediocre job? It is staggering.
There have been some interesting statistics that are really reverse sort of psychology I guess is the best way to put it.
The NRA is in trouble financially.
So is the supplier of guns to Cabella and others. They stocked up big time knowing Hillary was going to win and there would be a run on guns because she was going to take them away. Trump stole the election so no need to buy those guns. Whoops. bye bye.
Immigration is up big time. Why? The smugglers are telling folks they better get in quick before the border is sealed. Obama had the numbers at a fifty year low.
The problem and the reason people are coming here from Central American countries is the conditions in their home countries are deplorable. This isn’t any secret. Henry Kissinger pointed this our over fifty years ago. The solution was to dump money into those countries to bolster their infrastructure and their fragile institutions. What did Trump do? Cut the little aid we give them.
Then there is the corruption and the graft. We thought we were above this sort of thing. At least, I did. Surprise. Is there any member of Trump’s cabinet that isn’t trying to personally enrich themselves?
I don’t know. I don’t think so.
Then we get to the screwing with the Constitution. There’s the Republican gerrymandering specialist who wants to suppress the Census count by asking a citizenship question. To be clear, the Constitution makes it clear that everyone gets counted. Period. In fact, you might say that the reason we fought a war for independence was largely due to this question. The question of being counted. Remember, “No taxation without representation”? Yeah, well, see back in the 1600s the British decided that one county looked like another so why bother re-apportioning them just because the population moved around. When folks started to moved to formerly sparsely populated areas, they didn’t get any representation. Other areas that had few people or even got flooded did have reps. It was very unfair. The Brits extended this idea to the colonies and America got no voice in Parliament. So we dumped some tea in Boston Harbor, fought a war, and wrote a Constitution that directly addressed that problem I.e. everyone gets counted and representation is reapportioned based on that count.
The Republican don’t like that. They want to make sure minority groups are under counted so they won’t get the services they need. A treasure trove of emails has revealed this is exactly why they are doing it. They tried to say other things and when the folks at Census said, oh we can get you that data cheaper and easier and faster than putting it in the Census the Republicans weren’t interested.

Speaking of Republicans, I think the party should be renamed the RussoRepublican Party. I mean, is there a Republican who hasn’t taken money or intel or meetings with Russians?
And what’s with the nasty mispronouncing of Mueller’s name to “Mule – Er” ? Clever huh? Just like their saying “Democrat” party. WTF? How petty and nasty can you be?
I was re-reading my copy of the Mueller Report the other day. Their was an additional article in my copy about Robert Mueller and his time in Vietnam. He spent a year there. Took heavy fire. Got shot in the leg. Much of his group got wiped out. He directed the counter attack and rescued wounded men while under heavy fire. All this while Trump was getting a medical deferment for non-existent bone spurs.

Then there’s the taking his kids to England fiasco. He has no shame.

PS Me with The Donald.
No wait. It’s a big fat lazy dragon. (On Komodo Island, Indonesia.)

3,578,328 days, minutes, seconds, something until this nightmare is over.

Day 855 Saturday May 11, 2019

541 Days to the 2020 election and 619 Days to Inauguration Day

Liars are lying and the time to choose is drawing nigh. 

A few days ago I caught a bit of an interview with Chris Christie. It was hard to watch, because Christie is such a despicable human being. Eventually, I turned it off. No, not eventually, I turned it off after a minute, maybe two. He was asked about something involving a statement Andrew McCabe made. Christie said he wouldn’t believe anything McCabe said because McCabe was a liar. “What about Trump?” was the next question. 

And here is where the interview turned into the classic kind of Christie bullying and lying that makes him so despicable. His autobiography is aptly named, “Let Me Finish,” which is what his style of argument seems to be most, if not all, the time. 

The response of Christie went like this: “What about Trump? McCabe is a liar. He was found to be lying by the … I wouldn’t trust anything Andy McCabe said. Trump is a totally different situation. It’s up to the American people to decide…”

He reiterated these points over and over again. He wouldn’t move off of it. I turned off the TV.

I read McCabe’s book. I had to think to myself, “Did McCabe lie?” 

It took awhile to recall, and there is a difference of opinion, based on the recollections of McCabe and James Comey, of exactly what was said and how it was interpreted with a legal entity accepting Comey’s opinion. (I don’t remember the name of the legal entity. It was one of those titles like Office of …) But the circumstances I remember. A newspaper was getting ready to publish a report. They asked the FBI for comment. The report was incorrect in a number of places. McCabe’s job at that time was to interact with the media. He was in a difficult position in this case because the story was incorrect and it was about an ongoing investigation. He couldn’t tell the news anything about the ongoing investigation, yet the report was factually incorrect. He had to steer the conversation and the report in such a way so as to make sure the reporter understood. Whatever he did, Comey had one opinion and McCabe had another, as to what was said and how it was interpreted. A review of the matter agreed with Comey. In other words, this was a difference of opinion, hardly a lie, but Christie took this as reason to never trust anything McCabe said.

What is becoming all to common is this kind of argument by conservatives, Republicans, Trumpers, and their enablers and their sycophants. When I listen to people like McCabe, Comey, Bharara, Chuck Rosenstein,  James Baker (the former FBI legal counsel) I am struck by their sense of duty, of fairness, of commitment to doing the right thing. 

When I listen to people like Christie, Trump, Gulliani, or any of a host of others that support Trump I am struck by the casualness of their lying, prevaricating, and dishonesty. The lack of genuineness is so apparent.

In the same week I listened to Christie say McCabe was a liar I listened to Christie’s former deputy chief of staff Bridgette Kelly speak about her role in what is called Bridgegate. She wrote the infamous email saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” For this she is going to serve 13 months in prison.

When I heard Kelly speak, I was struck by her genuineness and how she had been set up. Christie had something to gain (in his mind) by causing traffic problems in Fort Lee, and Kelly who had nothing to gain and seemed to only be carrying out the wishes of her boss. She was told that it was a traffic study and she understood very well that this would cause huge traffic problems in Fort Lee and was engaged in friendly banter with the guy behind the real scheme, hence her email message. To bolster her evidence as to that thinking on her part you have only ask why a good friend of Christie offered to be her lawyer and then backed out after gathering all the information she had in her defense. Now Christie knew he could lie about saying he knew nothing and Kelly didn’t have absolute proof that he did know.  How slimy can you be? How does Chris Christie sleep at night? What mental hurdles and hoops do you have to go through to convince yourself that this is okay?

Meanwhile, Congress’ head of The Ways and Means Committee has issued subpoenas for Trump’s tax returns of the last six years to the treasury secretary and the head of the IRS. It is coming to a head and either the rule of law will prevail, or it won’t. There is no other course that I see. It is a sad time that it has come to this.

Trump and McConnell have rammed through many conservative, and unqualified, judges. Will there be enough sycophants to overturn the rule of law? We’ll have to wait and see.

It is now plainly evident to anyone who still gets real news and not fake news littered with lies that Trump is a terrible businessman. Perhaps, one of the worst in U.S. history. He has done a great job of covering that up and hiding it, all the while burnishing the opposite image. He is the original “media influencer.”

Will his lies, distortions, bullying, and criminal behavior be enough to protect him from the truth?

Once again, it’s not clear.

541 Days to the 2020 election and 619 Days to Inauguration Day

PS Let’s be Fabulous

Day 854 Friday May 10, 2019

542 Days to the 2020 election and 620 Days to Inauguration Day

Last night I saw an interview with the man who wrote Trump’s second book, “Trump, Surviving at The Top”.

What was interesting about the interview was how it clarified some things for me about Trump that I kind of already knew, but this really focused them. There’s something about saying something out loud, something you were thinking about, that makes it clearer, more real. That’s what this interview with the ghostwriter of the book did for me about Trump and his personality.

Here’s the gist of it. 

Many thought after Trump’s first book, “Art of The Deal” came out that he was a great businessman. He wasn’t. In fact, he wasn’t interested in the things you have to know to run a business. He liked the openings, the buying of a business, that kind of stuff, but actually running it? No. He was uninterested. He wasn’t good with math, which explains why he overpaid for things. He liked the buying, not the running. 

He sat around in his office and let stuff come to him and he’d react. When this author, the ghostwriter, saw when visiting Donald was him looking at fabric swatches. He seemed obsessed with them. There were these business Trump had bought, and they needed attention, but he was looking at fabric swatches. Why? Because that was something he could handle. The businesses, he couldn’t handle, so he ignored them.

Bang, there it is.

Now that we’ve had a glimpse at Trump’s taxes we know he lost a lot of money, his money, his dad’s money, the bank’s money – lost it all. Why? He wasn’t interested. He didn’t really know, or care, to run a business.

But he managed to promote an image of himself as this business mogul, this big deal maker, and as the real author of “Trump, Surviving at the Top” says, banks ignored what they saw on paper (or the papers were false???) and bought the image, that is until they were in too deep, then they figured out a way to survive and with it Trump managed to survive as well.

Here’s where it gets scary for us. Ask yourself why was it that Trump was so pro Russia during his campaign? Why did he say disparaging things about our allies, about NATO, and so many things that were exactly what Putin and the Russians wanted to hear? 

We now know that during the campaign Michael Cohen was negotiating a deal with the Russians to build a huge building in Moscow. Cohen said that he’d be at a rally where Trump would say he had no dealings with Russians and as Trump exited the rally he’d ask Cohen how things were going with Moscow, meaning building the building in Russia, in Moscow. Trump was saying positive things about Russia in order to make a deal to have a building in Moscow. 

In other words, he was willing to sell us: the American people, our friends and allies, and all of western democracy out. For what? A tower in Moscow. 

Spin it any way you want. For a building in Moscow, Trump was willing to stab us and everyone else in the back. He lied to his supporters, to their faces, at his rallies. He lied on twitter. He lied to the press. He lied. To build a building in Russia. 

The art of the deal. Surviving at the top. 

PS Do what you gotta do. 

Day 853 Thursday May 9, 2019

543 Days to the 2020 election and 621 Days to Inauguration Day

I became aware of Donald Trump about the time his book “The Art of the Deal” came out. I read it. I took away from it that he had gotten cement poured on the Wohlman Skating Rink in New York’s Central Park, when it was delayed in bureaucratic snafus. 

I was quite familiar with the skating rink. In the summertime Schaeffer Beer held concerts there. Almost, every night in the summer someone was performing. They were big names too! The tickets were $2 general admission and $4 to sit in the bleachers at the back end of the rink, opposite the stage. The stage was arranged in such a way that if you got too close you couldn’t see the act. It was raised about twenty feet. I saw Sly and the Family Stone there, and Led Zeppelin ( They weren’t very good. I think it was one of their first shows. Maybe, we just weren’t used to the music? ) People would sit out on the hills around the park and listen for free. It’s where Simon and Garfunkel recorded their well known album.

Trump had a reputation as a big deal maker. He was called “The Donald.” My impression was he was the biggest name in New York City real estate. It was all kind of tangential information. Then he opened his casino.

It was about that time I went out to Long Island to visit some in-laws. I was talking to the wife of a son of a … it’s a long story, but she said she worked for a collection agency. 

“Oh yeah? So what does that mean?”

“Donald Trump is our main client.”

“Really? How so?”

“He has a casino in New Jersey. He extends credit to folks who want to keep gambling by letting them sign over their homes.”

“What?”

“Yeah, you can sign over your house. If you lose we are the ones that collect.”

“You kick people out of their homes?”

“Yes. Every week Mr. Trump rides out in a limo to see how many homes we have collected on.”

“Every week?”

“Every week.”

And that’s when I started to pay attention. That’s when I saw the first shred of the real Donald Trump.

It seemed odd to me. Why would a multi-millionaire go out every week to see how many homes he had acquired? Why would he let people put their homes up for collateral to continue gambling? It didn’t make sense, and it seemed really low.

Then came The Apprentice. This continued the Trump as a business mogul motif. I can’t watch those kind of shows. It’s like watching “Let’s Make a Deal” or “Queen for a Day.” The question in all of them is “How far are you willing to go? How deep are you willing to debase yourself? How pathetic are you willing to appear?” I remember watching “Queen for a Day.” Once. The woman who won that day lived in a double wide. Her dryer had caught fire and burned the laundry area. She wanted money to get a new dryer, linoleum, and some paint. They put the Applause-o-meter over her and the decibel meter gave her the highest number. They slapped what looked like to me the Imperial Margarine Crown on her head, hung the robe that looked like it was a second for The Miss America Pageant around her shoulders, and the guy who was the MC, who looked liked the slimy owner of Frederick’s of Hollywood, would sing in a slightly flat off key way, “There she is she’s Queen for a Day.” Even as a kid I remember distinctly thinking that something was wrong about all this. That it was weird, but when you’re young; satire, and odd behavior isn’t something you necessarily understand or grasp.

Then when Trump ran for president more stories came out. He didn’t pay contractors. He used foreign scab labor and didn’t pay them. When they complained he threatened to deport them. His casino in New Jersey went bankrupt. Many of the slot machines weren’t working when the first opened. He said they were used so much they broke down. It wasn’t true. He was sued by many people including people who had invested thousands to learn the secrets of real estate from Trump University, which he said had “the best people.” That he had selected those teachers. None of that was true. His airline went under. There were murmurings of his holding the Miss Universe Pageant in Russia and that there was some shady stuff  that went on. There were rumors that he decided to run for President when Barrack Obama made fun of him at the Correspondence’s Dinner. He had been touting conspiracy theories about Obama, not being born in Hawaii. He said he had people out in Hawaii investigating and “You’d be surprised what they are finding.” We never heard what they found. 

There was a pattern to his talk. He seemed to use the same phrases in every situation. He repeated things like: he’s very smart; he went to the best schools; he knows the best people. There were stories that yes he went to Wharton, but was a lackadaisical student. The people he knew were kind of sleazy. He said things during his campaign that were stupid, racist, and seemed to lack any real knowledge of what he was talking about. There were rumors that women were groped by him, that the models in his modeling agency were underage, that he walked in on the Miss Universe contestants when they were changing clothes. Yet, he painted Hillary with her husband’s past indiscretions. 

It turned out that everything he accused Hillary or Bill about he had done and worse. In fact, some of it he was doing as he accused them. 

Now it’s been revealed that for ten years he paid no taxes and in fact lost more money than perhaps any person in the U.S. The only thing that kept him afloat was his daddy’s money, all of which he squandered. When you look at the money he lost and the loans he couldn’t pay it came to over $3.7 billion dollars. Yet, he was thought to be a great business man. Some of the commentators at Fox still think so. (“He had his name on the side of a plane!” “It’s more money than we can think of.”) 

Hopefully, those who have been conned for so long are waking up from their deep sleep.

543 Days to the 2020 election and 621 Days to Inauguration Day

PS The White Mandala