He sexually harassed and assaulted 27 women. He stuck his hand under their skirts in public places. He grabbed their breasts without even knowing who they were. He raped one woman in a public dressing room in a department store. He bragged about abusing women to a reporter for a national television show and the tape became public.
I recommend the book, Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Trump is step-by-step following the pattern for taking control of the country established by Mussolini, Hitler & Putin, among others. The scary part: they were all successful.
All you write is valid on its face but the hardest thing for a lot of us to accept is such a large percentage of our nation is willing to accept his debasement. So, why is that? IMHO it has to be because that cohort is not just willing to overlook these "sins" but because they consider the acceptable behavior. No , not for politicians but for the society as a whole. And, that is the shame. That such large percentage of the American pubic has become as debases as this man himself.
I think COVID has shown us how if we allow a deadly virus to run amok among us it will be fatal. In the same way Trump and his beliefs are a deadly virus which has become an active ingredient to those in our society who are not just willing but active participants in a campaign to overturn the morality and decency we would like to believe are integral to the American psyche and experience. Trump has made it more than OK for a lot of us to do what we probably have always wanted to do but were afraid to do lest we be seen as boorish. He unleashed a Kraaken and , voila , a lot of us discovered there were a lot like us out there willing to join his unholy crusade.
Donald Trump is not the problem, It is to one degree or another the 70+ million Americans who voted for him thinking they could walk away from the experience unsullied. They can't . Now they are the problem and the rest of us are still left to wonder why could so many of us have thrown in with this man and his values so easily and quickly.
I want the Democratic Party to grow some balls…BIG ONES! Their long drawn out rhetoric is boring and quite frankly, inept. Vocally, I want them to challenge these SOBs with all the might they have. Enough with the bullshit!
My view of the game plan is his speech is the opening of a call for civil war.
‘ 74 million stood by me in 2020; our congressional representatives have stood by us since. Now stand by those patriots who have been or will be unlawfully arrested; demonstrate your support by protesting when, where, and how you think it will help us defeat this crooked government.’
I was wondering if anyone had listed all of this man's crimes against society and now we have a list (at least a good portion of the ones we know about). But they continue as we speak like his recent calls for mass protests against those who are investigating him. He has also promised to pardon the insurrectionists and said Pence had the power to overturn the election. What a piece of work this guy is.... To paraphrase Robert Burns, God give him the gift to see himself as others see him. But what does this sayy about those who supported him and still even now support him?
So good, Lucian. Such a scathing indictment of our poor America that 74 million of us are so preternaturally demented. Who among us, as we made deservedly savage fun of him for decades, could have even imagined his transformation from local buffoon to global menace? Here’s my fantasy: upon hearing himself sentenced to 20 years in prison, he suffers a stroke so severe it leaves him in a condition that makes Stephen Hawking seem acrobatic. Then every day they come into his cell, strap him down with his eyes pried open like Alex’s in A Clockwork Orange, and force him to watch videos that we all send in making fun of him the way he mocked that handicapped reporter (in a moment which not only should have ended his campaign on the spot but should have made him a lifelong pariah shunned unto eternity). He has no phone, and playing in his cell 24/7 — except, of course, for when he’s watching those humiliating videos — are, on an endless loop, the audiobooks of Barack and Michelle Obama. Oh, and he’s served nothing to eat but salad.
In many states our votes already don’t count. TN has just gerrymandered the Congressional district I live in to take away a Democratic seat. Basically they have taken away our ability to choose our representative. The Republican Party is rotten to the core, but it’s support is increasing ( if one believes the polls). Why? People are frustrated at the government’s performance. They don’t feel the government listens to them. This is true. Big money reinforces this every day and there does not seem to a way to stop it. The SC says money is free speech. That means rich people have more speech than poor or middle class people. People vote their frustrations, and the Republican Party and it’s media voices reinforces it. This can lead to wins at the ballot box, and, if not, cry fraud, which leads to more frustration and lack of trust in our government. Soon the big money autocratic power brokers take over the country. In order to stop the beast that the Republican Party has become you must cut off the head(t-rump). That means trials and convictions. Even that may not work, but it’s the only path I can see at this time.
This article ranks the US in 27th place on the corruption scale, 1 being the least corrupt. It certainly explains why Trump has gotten away with all he has over his entire lifetime.
well gee, I couldn't have said it better myself. and hardly for want of trying. seriously, though: this new information (continuously changing new information that only implicates him more deeply every day) really is shocking. which is to say that I am shocked, despite the fact that I thought I was immune to TFF shocking me more than he already had. I am prepared to be shocked tomorrow, which ought to be some sort of inoculation, but it's not. he's the gift that keeps on giving, if your idea of a gift is to be shocked on a daily basis.
How did this happen? How could so many think that he is an acceptable leader? He is not even an acceptable human. He’ll never fade away if he keeps being lauded by the big basket of deplorables. Thank you for this. I shall put it on a daily desk calendar where each day will be an affirmation of WHY THE NAME WE WILL NOT UTTER can never be elected to any future office.
What he has done is only part of the point. This is the rest of it:
"It didn’t hurt his support even a little bit."
"It didn’t affect the support of his political party at all . . . "
"Support among his base went up, not down."
"It didn’t affect his poll numbers at all."
"Evidence of his guilt was laughed at by his supporters in the Senate."
Etc. And apparently rational pundits talk as if Republicans taking back one or both houses of Congress is not only likely but possibly inevitable. In what universe is this even possible?
Thank you yet again. You pretty well define what investigative reporting can provide for us who intimately know the details of everything you brought up , but are entirely incapable of putting it all is such succinct context.
I read this to someone and stopped now and then to fill about things like just how rotten Manifort is and his resume, and and the extent of the "acting" administration.
"Never held accountable" seems to have opened the door to a feeling of total imperviousness, which has led to carelessness, which hopefully brings the entire Republican house of cards to its knees.
Thanks for giving it your very best because without it the right and honest and democracy saving path wouldn't be quite so clear.
I asked a FL Repub 20+ son of a friend to send me a link to something that helps define his path.
He sent me Rogan's Malone podcast which is so full of lies and bullshit that the first hour took me no time, but considerable time to poke dozens and dozens of holes through with actual facts.
He listened to is driving and in bed before dozing off. Never checked one shred of it, but it was his best example of where his head is at.
He's a UF grad and hawking real estate in the boom. Contrary to all facts he believe Repubs are good for the economy., even though 10 of the last 11 recessions happened under Republican administrations, employment has always been higher under Dems and tax cutting has never, never paid for itself.
Still and regardless, he is obviously unswayable in his belief that Repubs are the path and he loves DeSantis. He's not stupid and back in the day was an adorable happy sweet kid with a great smile. His parents totally disagree with his views, but don't want to mar their relationship, so they let it be. They are Dems in heart, but typical of Florida they couldn't find NPR on the dial. So they have no back up or experience with even that so so version of balanced reporting.
Even with the horridly ignorant clown costumed rallies Trump thrives on, he won't be swayed.
Even with the obvious totally despicable fools representing him in gov't, he won't be swayed.
Florida born and raised, he's stuck knee deep in the muck and along with most of the folks around me in this small FL town, he could never be convinced that Biden isn't feeble, that Dems will ruin the country and his opportunities, and that even Trump is better than the alternative.
He's not alone and it bodes no good that I would never be able to reach him with facts from what he is assured comes from fake news.
He's impervious and it sucks for this country that he is.
HE is the epitome of corruption , the Hitler of the Century—and the criminal syndicate called the GOP protects his vile existence.
I recommend the book, Strongmen by Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Trump is step-by-step following the pattern for taking control of the country established by Mussolini, Hitler & Putin, among others. The scary part: they were all successful.
All you write is valid on its face but the hardest thing for a lot of us to accept is such a large percentage of our nation is willing to accept his debasement. So, why is that? IMHO it has to be because that cohort is not just willing to overlook these "sins" but because they consider the acceptable behavior. No , not for politicians but for the society as a whole. And, that is the shame. That such large percentage of the American pubic has become as debases as this man himself.
I think COVID has shown us how if we allow a deadly virus to run amok among us it will be fatal. In the same way Trump and his beliefs are a deadly virus which has become an active ingredient to those in our society who are not just willing but active participants in a campaign to overturn the morality and decency we would like to believe are integral to the American psyche and experience. Trump has made it more than OK for a lot of us to do what we probably have always wanted to do but were afraid to do lest we be seen as boorish. He unleashed a Kraaken and , voila , a lot of us discovered there were a lot like us out there willing to join his unholy crusade.
Donald Trump is not the problem, It is to one degree or another the 70+ million Americans who voted for him thinking they could walk away from the experience unsullied. They can't . Now they are the problem and the rest of us are still left to wonder why could so many of us have thrown in with this man and his values so easily and quickly.
I want the Democratic Party to grow some balls…BIG ONES! Their long drawn out rhetoric is boring and quite frankly, inept. Vocally, I want them to challenge these SOBs with all the might they have. Enough with the bullshit!
My view of the game plan is his speech is the opening of a call for civil war.
‘ 74 million stood by me in 2020; our congressional representatives have stood by us since. Now stand by those patriots who have been or will be unlawfully arrested; demonstrate your support by protesting when, where, and how you think it will help us defeat this crooked government.’
I was wondering if anyone had listed all of this man's crimes against society and now we have a list (at least a good portion of the ones we know about). But they continue as we speak like his recent calls for mass protests against those who are investigating him. He has also promised to pardon the insurrectionists and said Pence had the power to overturn the election. What a piece of work this guy is.... To paraphrase Robert Burns, God give him the gift to see himself as others see him. But what does this sayy about those who supported him and still even now support him?
So good, Lucian. Such a scathing indictment of our poor America that 74 million of us are so preternaturally demented. Who among us, as we made deservedly savage fun of him for decades, could have even imagined his transformation from local buffoon to global menace? Here’s my fantasy: upon hearing himself sentenced to 20 years in prison, he suffers a stroke so severe it leaves him in a condition that makes Stephen Hawking seem acrobatic. Then every day they come into his cell, strap him down with his eyes pried open like Alex’s in A Clockwork Orange, and force him to watch videos that we all send in making fun of him the way he mocked that handicapped reporter (in a moment which not only should have ended his campaign on the spot but should have made him a lifelong pariah shunned unto eternity). He has no phone, and playing in his cell 24/7 — except, of course, for when he’s watching those humiliating videos — are, on an endless loop, the audiobooks of Barack and Michelle Obama. Oh, and he’s served nothing to eat but salad.
In many states our votes already don’t count. TN has just gerrymandered the Congressional district I live in to take away a Democratic seat. Basically they have taken away our ability to choose our representative. The Republican Party is rotten to the core, but it’s support is increasing ( if one believes the polls). Why? People are frustrated at the government’s performance. They don’t feel the government listens to them. This is true. Big money reinforces this every day and there does not seem to a way to stop it. The SC says money is free speech. That means rich people have more speech than poor or middle class people. People vote their frustrations, and the Republican Party and it’s media voices reinforces it. This can lead to wins at the ballot box, and, if not, cry fraud, which leads to more frustration and lack of trust in our government. Soon the big money autocratic power brokers take over the country. In order to stop the beast that the Republican Party has become you must cut off the head(t-rump). That means trials and convictions. Even that may not work, but it’s the only path I can see at this time.
You left out so many other things he did:
— called anyone who fought in WWII a “loser” and a “sucker.”
— mimicked physically disabled people
— defended neo-Nazis and white supremacists
— etc etc… ad infinaseum
This article ranks the US in 27th place on the corruption scale, 1 being the least corrupt. It certainly explains why Trump has gotten away with all he has over his entire lifetime.
https://www.axios.com/most-corrupt-countries-424c32f4-60a0-48a3-81b7-2732f490b76c.html
well gee, I couldn't have said it better myself. and hardly for want of trying. seriously, though: this new information (continuously changing new information that only implicates him more deeply every day) really is shocking. which is to say that I am shocked, despite the fact that I thought I was immune to TFF shocking me more than he already had. I am prepared to be shocked tomorrow, which ought to be some sort of inoculation, but it's not. he's the gift that keeps on giving, if your idea of a gift is to be shocked on a daily basis.
How did this happen? How could so many think that he is an acceptable leader? He is not even an acceptable human. He’ll never fade away if he keeps being lauded by the big basket of deplorables. Thank you for this. I shall put it on a daily desk calendar where each day will be an affirmation of WHY THE NAME WE WILL NOT UTTER can never be elected to any future office.
What he has done is only part of the point. This is the rest of it:
"It didn’t hurt his support even a little bit."
"It didn’t affect the support of his political party at all . . . "
"Support among his base went up, not down."
"It didn’t affect his poll numbers at all."
"Evidence of his guilt was laughed at by his supporters in the Senate."
Etc. And apparently rational pundits talk as if Republicans taking back one or both houses of Congress is not only likely but possibly inevitable. In what universe is this even possible?
Well said.
Thank you yet again. You pretty well define what investigative reporting can provide for us who intimately know the details of everything you brought up , but are entirely incapable of putting it all is such succinct context.
I read this to someone and stopped now and then to fill about things like just how rotten Manifort is and his resume, and and the extent of the "acting" administration.
"Never held accountable" seems to have opened the door to a feeling of total imperviousness, which has led to carelessness, which hopefully brings the entire Republican house of cards to its knees.
Thanks for giving it your very best because without it the right and honest and democracy saving path wouldn't be quite so clear.
I asked a FL Repub 20+ son of a friend to send me a link to something that helps define his path.
He sent me Rogan's Malone podcast which is so full of lies and bullshit that the first hour took me no time, but considerable time to poke dozens and dozens of holes through with actual facts.
He listened to is driving and in bed before dozing off. Never checked one shred of it, but it was his best example of where his head is at.
He's a UF grad and hawking real estate in the boom. Contrary to all facts he believe Repubs are good for the economy., even though 10 of the last 11 recessions happened under Republican administrations, employment has always been higher under Dems and tax cutting has never, never paid for itself.
Still and regardless, he is obviously unswayable in his belief that Repubs are the path and he loves DeSantis. He's not stupid and back in the day was an adorable happy sweet kid with a great smile. His parents totally disagree with his views, but don't want to mar their relationship, so they let it be. They are Dems in heart, but typical of Florida they couldn't find NPR on the dial. So they have no back up or experience with even that so so version of balanced reporting.
Even with the horridly ignorant clown costumed rallies Trump thrives on, he won't be swayed.
Even with the obvious totally despicable fools representing him in gov't, he won't be swayed.
Florida born and raised, he's stuck knee deep in the muck and along with most of the folks around me in this small FL town, he could never be convinced that Biden isn't feeble, that Dems will ruin the country and his opportunities, and that even Trump is better than the alternative.
He's not alone and it bodes no good that I would never be able to reach him with facts from what he is assured comes from fake news.
He's impervious and it sucks for this country that he is.
I’ve said the following before…’where is Jack Ruby when you need him!’