On the bright side, you seem to have stopped talking about Charlottesville. On the down side, it’s because you’ve pivoted to other destructive zaniness.
[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]
===
So the big news the last 24 hours was a major terror attack in Barcelona, and subsequent counter-terrorism activities there. Which apparently was a tremendous relief to you, as it gave you something to Stand Tall and In Charge about, rather than the continuous hole digging of the past week.
The United States condemns the terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, and will do whatever is necessary to help. Be tough & strong, we love you!
See? That’s how a presidential tweet is done. Compassion, firmness, targeting the behavior being condemned, offering to help. I knew you had it in you, Donald!
Now, if you can just avoid saying something too stu…
Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!
So this isn’t the first time you’ve brought up this story, Donald. And every time you bring it up, people correct you to note that it’s simply not true, or certainly not part of the historical record.
Which is really funny, given that you’ve been trying to convince us this past week that you are very careful about gathering all the facts because you don’t want to say anything that others will later point out as wrong.
While there’s some evidence that commanders in the US Army fighting the Moro insurgency in the Philippines did occasionally use bury pig carcasses with the bodies of dead insurgents, there’s no evidence that Pershing himself did such a thing (though he was aware of it), let alone using magically blood-cursed bullets himself in executions to deter them.
In fact, his stint as military governor was as much about “winning hearts and minds” as about terrorizing the terrorists (who may not have been particularly deterred by such tactics anyway). Pershing negotiated with the Moros, he got the leader of the Ottoman Muslims to reach out to them to ask for peace, he drank tea with them, and he convinced them that, unlike the Spanish, he wasn’t there to push them off their land, just to quell the violence.
Historians have also pointed out that the Moro Wars didn’t actually stop under Pershing’s tenure, and even when hostilities scaled back, violence did continue.
And even that, Donald, ignores your historically bizarre conflation of the Moro conflicts with the outside colonizers of the Philippines (first the Spanish, then the US) with modern terrorist conflict in the Middle East. Suggesting that the Philippine Muslims of turn of the 20th Century had anything particular in common, as motivations, with ISIL or al-Qa’eda, a century later and thousands of miles away is just goofy.
So, to summarize, Donald. (1) There’s no record of anyone using bullets dipped in pig’s blood, (2) there’s no indication that Pershing did anything even resembling that, (3) nobody magically stopped “Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years” (or 25 years, the last time you told the yarn), and (4) the Moros were not ISIL or al-Qa’eda.
Of course, all this ignores your thesis that the only way to discourage terrorists is to be more brutal than they are. Suggesting that summary shooting of prisoners, not to mention humiliating them religiously, is a valuable tactic that the Spanish government should consider, is not only the attitude that got us Abu Ghraib (which ultimately did far more harm to the US than to the Iraqi insurgents), but simply isn’t in keeping with national or international law or the Military Code of Conduct. It’s a warcrime.
For the President of the United States to make such a suggestion shows a fundamental unfitness to be the Commander in Chief. You might want to consider that, Donald.
(Interesting side note: Pershing, one of the great US military commanders, was commonly known as “Black Jack” — but that reference was a softening of the epithet “Nigger Jack”, given to him as a West Point instructor by students who disliked him and because he had held a command in the 10th Cavalry Regiment, a “Buffalo Soldier” African-American unit. Now _that’s_ trivia worth repeating, Donald.)
Then, this morning:
Homeland Security and law enforcement are on alert & closely watching for any sign of trouble. Our borders are far tougher than ever before!
While I realize that DHS would and should be more vigilant after such an attack … it seems a bit odd, Donald, that you had to emphasize that. Are you trying to be reassuring, or are you trying to take on the mantle of National Protector?
The Obstructionist Democrats make Security for our country very difficult. They use the courts and associated delay at all times. Must stop!
So are there any particular issues that have arisen cause by “Obstructionist Democrats” that have led to loss of life — or, heck, even possible loss of life — since you took office? Or are you just doing that fear-mongering thing?
Radical Islamic Terrorism must be stopped by whatever means necessary! The courts must give us back our protective rights. Have to be tough!
And this is most likely just being rhetorical, Donald, right? I mean, “any means necessary” is kind of a broad way to phrase things, esp. after your bullshit tweet about John Pershing. What means are you talking about to “stop terrorism” (which, like “stopping crime,” seems a bit quixotic a goal)? And what means are off the table?
I mean, are we stepping back, for some reason, to the “and kill their wives and children, too” rhetoric you were playing with during the election campaign? What US (or International) laws are you proposing be set aside? What limits on brutality, inhumanity, and destruction are allowable, Donald?
Heading to Camp David for major meeting on National Security, the Border and the Military (which we are rapidly building to strongest ever).
And Camp David? I thought you hated that place, Donald? What, all the banquet rooms at Bedminster already booked?
Of course, a lot of this is simple theatrical posturing on your part, Donald. I mean, you’ve taken a hell of a (largely self-inflicted) shellacking the past week, so it’s not at all surprising that you’d launch into an effort to do the thing that garners you most support: Talk Tough on Terrorism. That’ll bring those mean GOP politicians back into line, right? That’ll distract from your bungling of the Charlottesville situation and all the other problems and scandals circling the White House.
I don’t think it will work, Donald, but I have little doubt it will make things worse.
And because, even in the midst of a National Security Crisis, you can always be distracted by someone saying flattering things about you, you retweeted a couple of messages from radio pundit Hugh Hewitt …
#NeverTrumpers elite MSMers and virtue signalers are persuading themselves that @realDonaldTrump supporters are deserting. They are not. 1.
Hear that, Donald! Your support in California is increasing! Awesome! Now if you can just pick up a few million more votes there, you just might be able to win the state!
Your Social Media Minion also tweeted …
… a retweet of VP Pence condemning the Barcelona attack [on @POTUS].
… about elevating the status of the US Cyber Command to Unified Combatant Command.
This is the guy leading the Donald Trump legal team.
Mr. [John] Dowd received the email on Tuesday night and forwarded it on Wednesday morning to more than two dozen recipients, including a senior official at the Department of Homeland Security, The Wall Street Journal editorial page and journalists at Fox News and The Washington Times. There is no evidence that any of the journalists used the contents of the email in their coverage. One of the recipients provided a copy to The New York Times.
“You’re sticking your nose in my personal email?” Mr. Dowd told The Times in a brief telephone interview. “People send me things. I forward them.” He then hung up.
Mr Dowd, you’re getting pissy because someone you forwarded the email on to sent it further on? What are you, ten years old?
What do you know about Jerome Almon, the conspiracy nut who forwarded this to you? Because he sounds like a real jewel.
Are you nuts? Or did you just never learn any American history?
The key portion of the email (apparently there’s other rantings and ravings in it as well) focuses on a series of assertions that Lee and Washington were nearly identical in every important way.
LEE IS NO DIFFERENT THAN WASHINGTON
Both owned slaves.
Well, yes, that’s true. Gen. Lee was evidently a very harsh slave owner, but let’s not cavil over that. Neither man is traditionally acclaimed for their slave-holding ways, and neither feature distingishes the men from many, many others prior to 1865.
Both rebelled against the ruling government.
The implication here is that there was no substantive difference between the governments being rebelled against (Britain’s monarchy vs the United States that the Confederate states were a voting member of), nor in the cause being fought for (“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” in the complaints Jefferson codified in the Declaration of Independence, vs. the right to own chattel slaves).
Do you not think that makes a difference, Mr Dowd?
Both men’s battle tactics are still taught at West Point.
And, arguably, Lee was a better tactician than Washington.
Both saved America.
The rationale here for Washington is fairly obvious.
The argument here for Lee, based on post-Civil War hagiography, is that he “saved” America by not shifting to a longer, bloodier guerrilla war when the conventional forces of the Confederacy had to surrender. That’s … a bit of a stretch for “saving America” (it seems unlikely that a guerrilla fight would have seriously endangered the Union, though it would have dragged out the conflict for a longer, bloodier time).
Both were great men, great Americans, and great commanders.
Great commanders, certainly. Great Americans is a bit sketchier; though Ulysses Grant argued against putting Lee on trial for treason after the war, it’s hard to plausibly suggest that someone who was willing to be the military leader of a rebellion against the United States (and renounce his oath to the US as a military officer) was a “great American.”
Neither man is any different than Napolean [sic], Shaka Zulu, Alexander the Great, Ramses II, etc.
I don’t recall, offhand, Washington acting as king or emperor or tyrant. I recall no grand campaigns of imperial conquest against his neighbors. On the contrary, Washington exercised significant lawful restraint with the Constitution as the first president, and then voluntarily surrendered the presidency after two terms, setting a precedent for orderly turnover of control in our democracy that has lasted for centuries.
Whether Lee could or would have been so conscientious a political leader is impossible to say, as he lost and was never then afforded the opportunity.
You literally cannot be against General Lee and be for General Washington, there is literally no difference between the two men.
I literally can be, because there literally is.
That said, Mr. Dowd, this not only demonstrates some serious quirkiness in your sense of reason and knowledge of history, but in your political savvy and judgment, forwarding around this sort of crap while serving as legal counsel to the President of the United States … and then being surprised when someone forwards it on in turn to the media.
Where has the week gone, Donald? I mean, just a week ago, the city of Charlottesville was prepping itself for a big white nationalist rally, “Unite the Right.” Who knew what would come next?
Well, surely things have settled back down again after all that. Let’s go to that Twitter stream, Donald …
[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]
Charlottesville (still)
Hey, Donald … you may not have seen that long piece I wrote yesterday about the First Rule of Holes (When You Find Yourself In One, Stop Digging) [16]. In fact, you probably didn’t, which would explain a few things about your continuing thrashing about on this topic.
Memorial service today for beautiful and incredible Heather Heyer, a truly special young woman. She will be long remembered by all!
That’s a very nice sentiment, Donald. But … what made her “incredible” and “truly special”? What do you think she will be “long remembered” for? What was her cause? Why was she there?
I mean, I realize you’re trying to throw some folks a bone here, but just saying she was “beautiful” and “special” without expanding on it is like … well, saying that “hatred is bad” but not calling out the folk you are seeing hatred from: it just doesn’t get the message across.
Rather than putting pressure on the businesspeople of the Manufacturing Council & Strategy & Policy Forum, I am ending both. Thank you all!
Okay, Donald, this was perhaps the most amusing event all week, as a substantial number of CEOs quit — or seriously considered — some elite advisory panels of yours, in response to your tepid condemnation of white supremacist groups in Charlottesville. And, probably, due to your public lashing out at the first one to do so, the CEO of Merck.
Oh, Donald — you’re so charming when you’re attacking people who have been mean to you. Your angry “No, you’re a poo-poo face!” rants will truly be legendary in presidential history.
I’m no Graham fan, but I have been interested in watching how he’s taken on the role of GOP Gadfly (one of several) in the US Senate toward your particular brand of governance.
In regards to your accusation … well, yeah, you pretty much did create a moral equivalency between the racist and fascist crowds protesting in Charlottesville and the counter-protesters against them. Indeed, you noted in your press conference multiple times that the counter-protesters didn’t even have a permit! Gads!
Oh, I’m sure you included Mr Heyer in the “very good people” on “that side”. But do you have any idea what she was doing there, what her opinions were, what actions she’d taken Friday and Saturday? And by branding her “side” as a whole as containing just as many “bad people” as the white supremacist protesters and of engaging in the same kind of violence and hatred and bigotry as their “bad people” did … well, yeah, you did tar Ms Heyer with the same brush. I don’t know that you necessarily meant to, but your inability to see that (and attacks when someone points it out) is telling, Donald.
The public is learning (even more so) how dishonest the Fake News is. They totally misrepresent what I say about hate, bigotry etc. Shame!
Every word, Donald. The media and the public have been hanging on every word. And reporting it. And discussing it. If they are somehow completely misunderstanding what is going on, it’s because you are not communicating clearly and coherently.
Of course, you have some of the public supporting you. Unfortunately, they seem to be wildly misinformed as to what actually went down in Charlottesville.
It’s not yet too late, Donald. If you announced you were making a speech on TV tonight, every single network and news channel would cover it live. You could unequivocally condemn neo-fascism and white nationalism. You could clarify that unprovoked violence was not legally or (as Martin Luther King would note) ethically permissible, even against people shouting hateful things, but you could leave no doubt in the American mind that you morally disapprove of and distance yourself from white supremacy, from the KKK and neo-Nazis. Do it without muddying the waters with critiques of “Antifa” or BLM or “the other side.” Just make it clear you hate Nazis. That’s the message here.
Just make it clear that, all other factors aside, you hate Nazis.
Do that, and you could recover this still, if you are anything like the great communicator, the ultimate salesman, you claim to be.
Or, y’know, you could instead double down on how lovely those Confederate statues are …
Sad to see the history and culture of our great country being ripped apart with the removal of our beautiful statues and monuments. You…..
This? This is your take-away from all of the blood and pain and anger? This is what you pivot to, Donald?
Have you ever been an historical preservationist, Donald? Of course not. You’re a real estate developer — you’d tear down a monument or rename a park in a hot minute if it got in the way of a new hotel or country club you were putting up.
Why do you call them “our” statues and monuments, Donald? Are you talking on behalf of the American people? Or some smaller group?
If the public, and their local, public, elected officials, decide (as you said they could, Donald), that a given statue no longer represents what they, as a community, believe in — why is that something that makes you sad?
Does the provenance of these statues — most of them erected not right after the Civil War, but in the first third of the Twentieth Century, in response to the political sentiments of white supremacists and history revisionists and segregationists — factor into your feelings here?
How does this destroy history, Donald, or culture? What is the culture being “ripped apart” here? What is the history somehow being forgotten?
What are the lessons to be “learned” of a statue of Robert E. Lee, or a Stonewall Jackson?
What values and culture does a Stonewall Jackson monument bring vs. a Thomas Jefferson one?
Do you see no discernible difference between George Washington and Robert E. Lee?
Why should we be preserving statues and monuments to military and political leaders of a rebellion against the United States, fought in the name of preserving chattel slavery? Why should monuments that laud that effort, that speak of the Lost Cause, be seen as essential to our culture?
Maybe, if these are such essential elements of our history and culture, Donald, you should personally offer to take them off the hands of these communities. You could install them at Bedminster, maybe, a statue at each tee. Or maybe at Mar-a-Lago, since Florida was part of the Confederacy. They’re huge and overwrought and gaudy, which means they’d blend in perfectly.
Give that some thought, Donald.
Oh, and one more thing: the Charlottesville rally was not about the statue and the park. Not really. It was to “Unite the Right,” to pull together the racist and fascist elements of the the “Alt-Right” to one place to demonstrate their power.
Which is why the “history” and “culture” elements here are so problematic, Donald. Because Jason Kessler, the initial organizer of the gathering, said that it was “about an anti-white climate within the Western world and the need for white people to have advocacy like other groups do.” And Richard Spencer, an alt-Right figure who brought in additional groups, said it wasn’t “just a Southern heritage festival” and that the statue removal was “a metaphor for something much bigger, and that is white dispossession and the de-legitimization of white people in this country and around the world.”
Is that the history and culture you are sad to see being ripped up, Donald?
Enemies
I suppose your diatribe about Lindsay Graham above would count here, but he wasn’t the only target of your ire in the last 24 hours.
Great to see that Dr. Kelli Ward is running against Flake Jeff Flake, who is WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in Senate. He's toxic!
Because, of course, GOP Senator Flake dared to write a book criticizing you and your leadership and what you’re doing to this country. So, of course, you have to take not just political vengeance by supporting his primary opponent, but call him names.
Because leadership!
Friends
Wow, Senator Luther Strange picked up a lot of additional support since my endorsement. Now in September runoff. Strong on Wall & Crime!
That’s a very interesting, or even contra-factual, interpretation of the polling data, Donald. Back in July, Moore’s polling was in the high 20s, low 30s. He ended up getting 39% of the vote. Strange’s polling was in the mid-30s; he ended up with 33%.
Mind you, I’d still rather see Strange win than the theocratic zany Moore. But it’s not clear to me that, even with your very high polling in Alabama (because, Alabama), you’re having that much effect on this race.
You retweeted the head of an investment firm and “Trumpenomics Expert”:
There’s nothing new there, of course — you were crowing about those numbers earlier this week and last week. It’s just noteworthy that you _keep doing it,_ as well as dragging in other people’s endorsements about it.
Interestingly enough, Sanctuary City leaders argue the opposite, that it increases public safety when the public don’t see the local police and other public safety workers as enforcers of federal immigration laws. When that happens, some people become less likely to report crimes, seek assistance, or cooperate in investigations of more serious crimes. That, in turn, affects not just immigrant populations, but everyone in the city.
As well, the implication that Sanctuary Cities somehow shelter crime lords and drug gangs is silly. Laws against such crimes are enforced. But Denver’ policy, to take an example, simply does things like prevent the city from detaining individuals beyond their sentence without a judicial warrant (vs ICE’s preference of letting cities hold onto possible deportees, at the city’s cost, until they come to pick them up), and declining to collect information about immigration or citizenship status of people they interact with (except as actually required by state or federal law).
No actual laws are being broken here, Donald — federal law on immigration still applies (but must be enforced by federal law enforcement), and judicial warrants for detention or interviews are being respected. It’s just that, for very good reasons, the city is not actively partnering, beyond the requirements of the actual law, with federal immigration officials to identify potential deportees, because of all the risks that doing so entails.
Why does the President of the United States need to hold a rally? Not an address to the nation, not an appearance at some newsworthy event or locale. Just a big organized love-fest of people cheering and screaming and chanting for the President of the United States.
I don’t know about you, Donald, but that still strikes me as bizarre.
Other
You or your Social Media Minion also tweeted about …
… landing back in Bedminister, NJ. [P]
… signing (in Bedminister) a veterans education act. [P]
… many meetings in Bedminster today.
… retweeting the VP about meeting with the President of Chile, and how the President wants “free and fair” trade.
This Bloomberg article argues with some force that Trump has, over 7 months, demonstrated an inability to be an effective President, as laid out in Richard Neustadt’s 1960 political science classic, Presidential Power.
Neustadt’s thesis was that the Presidency was inherently weak, based on its Constitutional powers. An effective presidency came less from the Constitution than the Chief Executive’s ability to articulate policy and vision, and persuade and influence governmental partners (the public, his party, his own Administration leadership, the bureaucracy, the courts, and the Congress) to go along with what he wants.
Trump’s ramshackle appointment process, his division of others into his minions or his enemies, his disdain for policy over polemic, his preference for rallies of fans over engaging the nation, his tendency to issue orders to Congress rather than make them his allies, and the anger / insecurity / ad libbing issues that continue to distract from his goals and derail any actions he does actually take, have made him (the author posits) a significantly weaker president than even the powers of the office allow.
Which isn’t to say he doesn’t have an ability to work mischief (as his environmental and immigration policies demonstrate, as well as his actions to alienate most US allies), just that it will tend to be more from thrashing about in impulsive and angry jerks than from a concerted, careful effort. Indeed, a lot of what is actually being accomplished is more at the hands (and will) of the individuals Trump has put into positions of power, than any coherent “Trump Agenda.” The man who rode into office claiming to be the consummate business leader and the master of the Art of the Deal, has shown himself an awful salesman, let alone CEO.
Which carries with it its own costs. It means Trump’s explicit effect is likely to be far less than people have feared. But his implicit effect, his inability to articulate and carry through policy and vision that carries the nation, that can address the inevitable crises, that can actually work — there Trump’s weakness and inability could spell disaster for the United States for years to come.
That rule being, of course, “when you find yourself in one, stop digging.”
It’s a rule that Trump breaks repeatedly, but rarely as egregiously as his steadily deteriorating response to the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, this past weekend. That response consisted of:
Issuing a set of statements Saturday afternoon ranging from pablum to vague accusations that “many sides, many sides” were responsible.
Once criticism over a lack of calling out white supremacists, Neo-Nazis, and KKKers at the heart of this got too heated, you finally mid-day Monday critiqued those groups by name.
Later on Monday, cheesed off at folk still criticizing his overall performance, he blamed it all on the “truly bad people” of the “Fake News Media”.
And then yesterday …
… he basically reverted back to your original moral equivalency statement, only this time not in a calm, sad way, but with belligerence and anger. Which may have been in part because he really, really wanted to talk about infrastructure, and the press really, really wanted to hear him talk more on this subject, because clearly he was on the path to self-destruction here.
And they got what they wanted, hand-delivered by Trump.
REPORTER: Why did you wait so long to denounce neo-Nazis?
TRUMP: I didn’t wait long. I didn’t wait long. I didn’t wait long.
The first protests (and scuffles) started on Friday evening. The violence continued throughout Saturday. Trump didn’t call out Neo-Nazis until mid-day Monday.
I wanted to make sure, unlike most politicians, that what I said was correct, not make a quick statement.
When have we ever known Trump to use caution and lengthy consideration before making a statement?
The statement I made on Saturday, the first statement, was a fine statement, …
… in which he blamed the violence as coming “on many sides, many sides.”
… but you don’t make statements that direct unless you know the fact. And it takes a little while to get the facts. You still don’t know the facts. And it is a very, very important process to me. It is a very important statement. So I don’t want to go quickly and just make a statement for the sake of making a political statement.
But Trump rarely waits for all facts (which he seems to think people still don’t know). And he makes off the cuff statements all the time without consideration of process or how important they are.
Indeed, the word is that Trump’s response here was all off the cuff, unprepared, and nothing that his staff coached him on (much to their groaning displeasure).
I want to know the facts. If you go back to my statement, in fact I brought it. I brought it. As I said on remember this, Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence. It has no place in America. And then I went on from there.
Calling out “hatred, bigotry and violence” in general is not denouncing Neo-Nazis. Especially when he also through in that “many sides, many sides” comment.
Now here is the thing. Excuse me, excuse me. Take it nice and easy. Here is the thing, when I make a statement, I like to be correct. I want the facts. This event just happened. A lot of the event didn’t happen yet as we were speaking. This event just happened. Before I make a statement, I need the facts, so I don’t want to rush into a statement.
Ha!
So making the statement when I made it was excellent.
Of course it was.
In fact, the young woman who I hear is a fantastic young woman and it was on NBC, her mother wrote me and said through I guess Twitter, social media, the nicest things, and I very much appreciated that. I hear she was a fine, really actually an incredible young woman, but her mother on Twitter, thanked me for what I said.
Apparently, Susan Bro, the mother of the woman killed by one of the white supremacist protesters, did in fact express appreciation for Trump’s “denouncing those who promote violence and hatred.”
Honestly, if the press were not fake and if it was honest, the press would have said what I said was very nice. – excuse me – unlike you and unlike the media, before I make a statement, I like to know the facts.
Ha!
REPORTERS YELLING INDISTINCTLY
TRUMP: They didn’t, they didn’t. They don’t.
REPORTERS CONTINUE YELLING INDISTINCTLY
TRUMP: How about, how about, how about a couple of infrastructure questions.
Trump had no luck turning the discussion back to infrastructure.
REPORTER: The CEO of Walmart said you missed a critical opportunity to help bring the country together. Did you?
TRUMP: Not at all. I think the country — look, you take a look. I’ve created over a million jobs since I have been president. The country is booming, the stock market is setting record, we have the highest employment numbers we’ve ever had in the history of our country. We are doing record business.
Trump tried to make this all about … him?
We have the highest levels of enthusiasm, so the head of Walmart, who I know, who’s a very nice guy, was making a political statement.
And how does that make any sense?
I mean, I would do it the same way, you know why?
Because Donald Trump can never admit he did something wrong?
Because I want to make sure when I make a statement that the statement is correct. And there was no way – no way – of making a correct statement that early. I had to see the facts, unlike a lot of reporters, unlike a lot of reporter.
Have to get a slam in here about the media, of course.
I didn’t know David Duke was there. I wanted to see the facts.
So there’s this thing going on — protests turning into violence and scuffles and police and all that … and the President of the United States had no recourse or way to “see the facts” or get any information on what was happening, who was behind it, who was involved, then sitting around and waiting for the next Fox News bulletin. There was nobody he could call Friday night, or Saturday morning, to get more “facts”? In which case, he should fire all of his staff.
And the facts, as they started coming out, were very well-stated. In fact, everybody said his statement was beautiful.
Yes, that’s as incoherent as it sounds. And I believe that “his” refers to him, Trump.
Though, clearly, not everybody thought it was beautiful, since otherwise this wouldn’t have come up again, or have required clarification by the White House, or have needed to be spelled out more clearly by Trump on Monday.
If he would have made it sooner, that would have been good. I couldn’t have made it sooner, because I didn’t know all of the facts. Frankly, people still don’t know all of the facts.
What facts aren’t known, or are suspected of being not yet known, Trump does not specify.
It was very important – excuse me, excuse me. It was very important to me to get the facts out and correctly. Because if I would have made a fast statement and the first statement was made without knowing much other than what we were seeing.
There was, in fact, plenty of information already available. It’s difficult to avoid concluding that Trump simply did not want to make a statement more than some requisite vague condemnations of violence, etc.
The second statement was made after it with knowledge, with great knowledge.
Not just knowledge, mind you, but great knowledge.
There are still things – excuse me. There are still things that people don’t know.
Again, unspecified things that “people don’t know.”
I want to make a statement with knowledge, I wanted to know the facts, okay.
The more he keeps saying that, the sketchier it sounds.
REPORTER: Two questions: was this terrorism? […]
TRUMP: I think the driver of the car is a disgrace to himself, his family and this country. And that is – you can call it terrorism, you can call it murder. You can call it whatever you want. I would just call it as the fastest one to come up with a good verdict. That’s what I’d call it. And there is a question. Is it murder? Is it terrorism? Then you get into legal semantics. The driver of the car is a murderer, and what he did was a horrible, horrible, inexcusable thing.
Well, Trump somehow managed to condemn the guy who everyone, even the folk on the extreme right, seemed quick to back away from.
On the other hand, after having said he couldn’t possibly make any sort of statement about racists and Nazis until he had “facts,” he’s quick to bypass the whole “trial” thing and simply decree someone as guilty of murder and/or terrorism, whichever is “the fastest one to come up with a good verdict.” Trump has a habit of making extra-judicial decisions and then sticking with them.
After answering some questions about Steve Bannon, and then slamming John McCain for his health care vote, the press conference continued:
REPORTER: Senator McCain said that the alt-right is behind these attacks, and he linked that same group to those that perpetrated the attack in Charlottesville.
TRUMP: Well, I don’t know. I can’t tell you. I’m sure Senator McCain must know what he is talking about, but when you say the alt-right, define alt-right to me. You define it. Go ahead. Define it for me, come on, let’s go.
REPORTER: Senator McCain defined them as the same group.
TRUMP: Okay, what about the alt-left that came charging at [indiscernible] – excuse me – what about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?
And that’s when things really slid off the rails.
I’ll leave aside that some transcripts have him saying “alt-left that came charging at us.”
Trump then proceeded to drift back into the “all sides were at fault, but not everyone on one side was a bad person” thing:
TRUMP: What about this? What about the fact that they came charging – they came charging with clubs in their hands swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.
While I won’t assert that everyone amongst the counter-protesters was a follower of MLK’s calls for peaceful resistance (though a large number were), the coverage of the events not only indicates that the majority of the violence was initiated by the gang of KKKers, white supremacists, white nationalists, and Neo-Nazis. And they were the ones who organized this hoe-down, and came armed for it.
TRUMP: As far as I’m concerned, that was a horrible, horrible day. Wait a minute, I’m not finished. I’m not finished, fake news. That was a horrible day.
More media bashing.
TRUMP: I will tell you something. I watched those very closely, much more closely than you people watched it.
Because he was gathering so many “facts.”
And you had, you had a group on one side that was bad. And you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that, but I’ll say it right now. You had a group – you had a group on the other side that came charging in without a permit, and they were very, very violent.
Not only were they violent, they didn’t have a permit! I mean, we all know who are the real criminals here!
REPORTER: Do you think what you call the alt left is the same as neo-Nazis?
TRUMP: Those people – all of those people, excuse me – I’ve condemned neo-Nazis. I’ve condemned many different groups, but not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me. Not all of those people were white supremacists by any stretch.
REPORTER: Well, white nationalists –
TRUMP: Those people were also there, because they wanted to protest the taking down of a statue Robert E. Lee. So – excuse me – and you take a look at some of the groups and you see, and you’d know it if you were honest reporters, which in many cases you’re not. Many of those people were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.
Leaving aside the merits of statues to military leaders of a rebellion against the United States on behalf of the cause of chattel slavery …
… or that this statue of Lee was erected in the 1920s, in the Klan era of Virginia …
… this was not a rally of the “Daughters of the Confederacy” or “The Society for the Preservation of Bronze Equestrian Statuary” or the “Robert E. Lee Fan Club.” The planned removal of the statue (and renaming of the park it was in) was the initial germ of the idea for a protest, but the organizers of the shindig quickly made it into the “Unite the Right” gathering. Jason Kessler, the originator of the shindig, noted that it was “about an anti-white climate within the Western world and the need for white people to have advocacy like other groups do.” Richard Spencer, an alt-Right figure who rallied additional troops, said it wasn’t “just a Southern heritage festival” and that the statue removal was “a metaphor for something much bigger, and that is white dispossession and the de-legitimization of white people in this country and around the world.”
So, yeah, white supremacists, white nationalists, skinheads, KKKers, Neo-Nazis — the protesters seem to have been mostly the usual Gang of Deplorables. Their chants and shout weren’t “This statue fills me with pride for my Southern Heritage.” The flags they were flying didn’t look particularly patriotic (at least not for the patria Trump is supposed to be serving). Trump’s attempt to make them seem like art lovers isn’t in line the “facts.”
So this week, it’s Robert E. Lee, I noticed that Stonewall Jackson’s coming down. I wonder, is it George Washington next week? And is it Thomas Jefferson the week after. You know, you really do have to ask yourself, where does it stop?
Actually, a lot of people have asked themselves that, though the President doesn’t seem to have collected that particular fact.
Whose statues stay up and whose come down and when is a problem of history. But it’s not difficult to see that the causes of Lee and Washington are very different. Though Washington and Jefferson, to their discredit, certainly owned slaves, nobody erected statues to their cause as slaveholders. Lee’s slavery history is problematic (he appeared to both condemn slavery and to be a particularly harsh slaveholder), but he fought for the Confederacy, an institution that was focused on the right to own other human beings as chattel slaves. That is the core of his heritage, and either for that or for the cause of the Confederacy itself (whose flag festooned the protesters’ ranks, amidst swastikas and other white nationalist symbolism), local municipalities and individual states are certainly acting properly (and legally) to remove statues to him, and Jefferson Davis, and Stonewall Jackson.
TRUMP: But, they were there to protest – excuse me – you take a look the night before, they were there to protest the taking down of the statue of Robert E. Lee.
Carrying torches and chanting “Blood and soil!” “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
TRUMP: Infrastructure question. Go ahead.
It was a valiant effort.
REPORTER: Does the statue of Robert E. Lee stay up?
TRUMP: I would say that’s up to a local town, community or the federal government, depending on where it is located.
Truest and most defensible thing Trump said.
But bear in mind that the Lee statue wasn’t being torn down by outside agitators or by some sort of federal law. The Charlottesville city council made the decision. And outsiders came to protest it with torches and rifles and clubs and shields in the name of a broader protest against whites not being treated as special snowflakes.
REPORTER: Are you against the Confederacy?
Sadly, Trump didn’t get to answer that one.
REPORTER: On race relations in America, do you think things have gotten worse or better since you took office with regard to race relationships?
TRUMP: I think they’ve gotten better or the same – look – they have been frayed for a long time, and you can ask President Obama about that, because he’d make speeches about it. I believe that the fact that I brought in, it will be soon, millions of jobs, you see where companies are moving back into our country. [Triumphal laundry list of job claims from Trump omitted.] I think that’s going to have a huge, positive impact on race relations. You know why? It is jobs. What people want now, they want jobs. They want great jobs with good pay. And when they have that, you watch how race relations will be.
So Trump thinks there are race problems in the US … because of jobs?
I mean, economic hard times will create social stress that will lead to folk scapegoating other groups. But the alt-Rightists in Charlottesville weren’t protesting because of jobs.
And I’ll tell you, we’re spending a lot of money on the inner cities – we are fixing the inner cities – we are doing far more than anybody has done with respect to the inner cities. It is a priority for me, and it’s very important.
Remember that “inner city” is a Trump code word for “racial minorities,” even though that’s demographic nonsense. But it also seems to be either an attempt by Trump to claim he’s not racist because of all he claim to be doing for inner cities, or that the racial problems in this country are because racial minorities in the inner cities are causing problems because of lack of jobs and attention.
It actually none of it make sense.
REPORTER: Mr. President, are you putting what you’re calling the alt-left and white supremacists on the same moral plane?
TRUMP: I am not putting anybody on a moral plane, what I’m saying is this: you had a group on one side and a group on the other, and they came at each other with clubs and it was vicious and horrible and it was a horrible thing to watch, but there is another side. There was a group on this side, you can call them the left. You’ve just called them the left, that came violently attacking the other group. So you can say what you want, but that’s the way it is.
So the answer is yes. In fact, the way Trump describes it, it was the “alt-Left” that “came violently attacking the other group.” So I think he just called them worse than the alt-Rightists there.
REPORTER: You said there was hatred and violence on both sides?
TRUMP: I do think there is blame – yes, I think there is blame on both sides. You look at, you look at both sides. I think there’s blame on both sides, and I have no doubt about it, and you don’t have any doubt about it either. And, and, and, and if you reported it accurately, you would say.
It’s all about the media, of course.
REPORTER: The neo-Nazis started this thing. They showed up in Charlottesville.
TRUMP: Excuse me, they didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis, and you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides. You had people in that group – excuse me, excuse me. I saw the same pictures as you did. You had people in that group that were there to protest the taking down, of to them, a very, very important statue and the renaming of a park from Robert E. Lee to another name.
Of course, “very fine people.”
REPORTER: George Washington and Robert E. Lee are not the same.
TRUMP: Oh no, George Washington was a slave owner. Was George Washington a slave owner? So will George Washington now lose his status? Are we going to take down – excuse me. Are we going to take down, are we going to take down statues to George Washington? How about Thomas Jefferson? What do you think of Thomas Jefferson? You like him? Okay, good. Are we going to take down his statue? He was a major slave owner. Are we going to take down his statue? You know what? It’s fine, you’re changing history, you’re changing culture …
I’ve already discussed the “who’s next?” argument — and, for the record, I would object to taking down statues of George Washington or Thomas Jefferson on that basis.
More important are Trump’s comment that this constitutes “changing history … changing culture.” Which is exactly what a white nationalist would argue. Except that it’s bushwah, as it’s not changing anything. Nobody is planning to strike Washington from the history books. Nobody is talking about throwing out the Declaration of Independence because Jefferson owned slaves. It does mean that evaluation of both those gentlemen — and others from that era — becomes more sophisticated and considered, as well as leading us in our modern era to consider how our own actions might be thought of in generations to come.
… and you had people – and I’m not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists, because they should be condemned totally –
So there’s that.
— but you had many people in that group other than neo-Nazis and white nationalists, okay? And the press has treated them absolutely unfairly.
Pardon me, let me shed a tear for … um, which people involved in the protest who were just there to represent their love of 1920s bronze artwork?
Remember, this was the “Unite the Right” rally, not the “Save the Statue” rally. There’s a reason why the governor of the state raised concerns about the protests before they happened, and the city tried to move the protests.
Now, in the other group also, you had some fine people, …
Nice of him to say so .
… but you also had troublemakers and you see them come with the black outfits and with the helmets and with the baseball bats – you had a lot of bad people in the other group too.
A lot?
Again, without defending people who came looking for a fight (and, largely, got one), Trump really seems to want to make them the centerpiece of the counterprotests.
TRUMP: […] No, no. There were people in that rally, and I looked the night before. If you look, they were people protesting very quietly, the taking down the statue of Robert E. Lee. I’m sure in that group there were some bad ones. The following day, it looked like they had some rough, bad people, neo-Nazis, white nationalists, whatever you want to call ‘em. But you had a lot of people in that group that were there to innocently protest and very legally protest, because you know, I don’t know if you know, but they had a permit. The other group didn’t have a permit.
Again with the permits.
Ironically, Trump’s infrastructure bill (which he really wanted to talk about) was all about reducing permits needed for infrastructure construction.
By the way, the photos and descriptions of the crowd on Friday night don’t show a lot of “very quiet” protesters (carrying tiki torches and chanting white power slogans as they went).
So I only tell you this: there are two sides to a story. I thought what took place was a horrible moment for our country, a horrible moment. But there are two sides to the country.
Y’know, two sides. Two groups of very nice people. Two groups of bad people (though only one of them had a permit, remember). Yeah, that’s not moral equivalence.
Does anybody have a final – does anybody have a final question? You have an infrastructure question.
Remarkably, he got one before the subject returned to Charlottesville.
REPORTER: Mr. President, have you spoken to the family of the victim of the car attack?
TRUMP: No. I will be reaching out, I’ll be reaching out.
REPORTER: When will you be reaching out?
TRUMP: I thought that the statement put out, the mother’s statement I thought was a beautiful statement. I’ll tell you – it was something that I really appreciated. I thought it was terrific. And really under the kind of stress that she’s under and the heartache she’s under, I thought putting out that statement to me was really something I won’t forget. Thank you all very much. Thank you.
REPORTER: Do you plan to go to Charlottesville, Mr. President?
TRUMP: Did you know I own a house? It’s in Charlottesville, oh boy. It’s in Charlottesville, you’ll see.
REPORTER: Is that the winery or something?
TRUMP: It’s a, it’s a, it is the winery.
REPORTERS YELL INDISTINCTLY.
TRUMP: I mean, I know a lot about Charlottesville. Charlottesville is a great place that’s been very badly hurt over the last couple of days. I own – I own actually one of the largest wineries in the United States. It’s in Charlottesville.
Because it’s always, ultimately, about Donald Trump.
REPORTER: What do you think needs to overcome the racial divides?
TRUMP: Well, I really think jobs are going to have a big impact. If we continue to create jobs – over a million – substantially more than a million, and you see just the other day, the car companies come in with Foxconn, I think if we continue to create jobs at levels that I’m creating jobs …
Because, again, it’s all about Donald Trump.
… I think that’s going to have a tremendous impact – positive impact – on race relations.
REPORTER: And what you said today, how do you think that will impact?
TRUMP: Because the people are going to be working and making a lot of money, much more than they ever thought possible. That’s going to happen. And the other thing, very important, I believe wages will start going up. They haven’t gone up for a long time. I believe wages now, because the economy is doing so well, with respect to employment and unemployment, I believe wages will start to go up. I think that’ll have a tremendously positive impact on race relations. Thank you.
Because racial conflict is all about jobs. Excluding, of course, the involuntary jobs that Robert E. Lee fought for.
And that was that. In summary:
Trump stood by and said nothing because he was gathering facts, and there are still facts that haven’t been gathered yet.
He then failed to condemn in a timely fashion racists and fascists and skinheads and the Klan and the Neo-Nazis because there were some bad people on the other side, too (and those bad people didn’t have permits).
If you commit acts of hatred and violence you should not be called out for it if you can point to people on the other side who did some bad things, too.
Protesting against a statue being taken down is perfectly legit, even if the statue represents a guy who fought for an awful cause, was put up long after the fact, is being taken down by legitimate local authorities, and is actually only an excuse for a “Unite the Right” rally where you burn tiki torches and chant racist slogans. At least if you get a permit.*
Donald Trump is improving the racial divide by creating jobs, including at his huge winery, so get the hell off his back and ask him about infrastructure, dammit!
PRO TIP for last Saturday morning: “While the white nationalist protesters in Charlottesville today have a constitutional right to express their opinion, and a legal right to gather and march in protest, I find their bigotry, fascism, and belief in racial superiority and separatism to be personally abhorrent and un-American. I urge the people of Charlottesville and their elected representatives to stand strong in the face of their pressure. Unlawful violence, from any side, should be condemned just as strongly, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”
There, Donald — I fixed it for you.
Or if you don’t like that, then consider this: any time you leave doubt as to whether or not you are giving moral support to Nazis and the Klan and white nationalists … figure out how not to do it, rather than digging your hole deeper.
* And it is, in fact, legit and legal to do so, but it’s not morally defensible, nor does it cover up what’s really being said, nor should it render one immune from moral condemnation from the guy with the bully pulpit.
I was feeling a bit down yesterday, Donald. It just seemed like the same ol’ same ol’, and one can only batter one’s head against the Twitter for so long until a headache ensues.
Today I’m feeling a bit more vigorous, so we’re going to dive back in to see what’s going on in that head of yours. I’m sure it will be an exciting journey.
[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]
Charlottesville
Made additional remarks on Charlottesville and realize once again that the #Fake News Media will never be satisfied…truly bad people!
Made additional remarks a couple of days later, after staying silent on the violence in Charlottesville until someone was killed (and many injured) by a Nazi sympathizer, and, even then only condemning “many sides” for the violence going on.
The “additional remarks” were apparently calling out the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists who marched on Charlottesville in the first place, and who are … well, they’re freaking KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists, so calling them out shouldn’t be a huge stretch for you, Donald, and you shouldn’t be surprised when people comment about your not doing so for two days.
And after delaying days about doing so, then you get pissy that people are still being critical of you?
And, while we’re talking about KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists, you have the balls to say that the media are “truly bad people”?
The only thing that would make this any zanier is if you walked back your additional remarks and tried to once again assert a moral equivalence between the KKK, Neo-Nazis, and white supremacists who came to Charlottesville to protest and the anti-racist, anti-fascist people who counter-protested.
That’s true. Because you didn’t. Or, rather, when you did (finally) address the matter, you did so in a “well, many sides are to blame, many sides” kind of way.
Nazis, Donald.
Big Business
.@Merck Pharma is a leader in higher & higher drug prices while at the same time taking jobs out of the U.S. Bring jobs back & LOWER PRICES!
Just as a reminder, when last we left you had just attacked Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck, who had announced he was dropping out of your Manufacturing Council over your tepid response to the Charlottesville events.
Later that afternoon, you attacked him again. Because, hey, that’s kind of got to piss you off, Donald.
For every CEO that drops out of the Manufacturing Council, I have many to take their place. Grandstanders should not have gone on. JOBS!
Um … as has been noted many times, Donald, Amazon is now collecting and paying sales tax in all states that have it, and has been for months. I mean, I realize you have a beef with Jeff Bezos, who also owns the Washington Post, but you might even try to include a little accuracy in your accusations.
Apparently the DPRK has said that it isn’t going to (yet) “test” fire missles “near” Guam. And, honestly, Donald, that’s about as gracious of a tweet on the matter as I could have hoped for you, even if the “both catastrophic and unacceptable” construction is a little odd.
Alabama
Senator Luther Strange, who is doing a great job for the people of Alabama, will be on @foxandfriends at 7:15. Tough on crime, borders etc.
I continue to root for your choice of candidate here, Donald, if only because Strange is a run-of-the-mill conservative politician, and Roy Moore is a theocratic lunatic. But I could have wished that, in this case, your repeated endorsements of Strange had actually moved the needle some. Moore beat Strange in the primaries, 40-32%.
Potpourri
Feels good to be home after seven months, but the White House is very special, there is no place like it… and the U.S. is really my home!
This was on your return to New York. It’s … not the most coherent statement you’ve ever made, esp. in context of people criticizing you for never spending time at White House and (allegedly) calling it a “dump”.
According to report just out, President Obama knew about Russian interference 3 years ago but he didn't want to anger Russia!
You know, Donald, it would be nice if you could decide on one story here. Are accusations about Russian interference baseless, could be anyone, not convinced? Did they happen, but to no effect? Is it all just a “witch hunt”? Or was it something very real, something that the _previous_ Administration (certainly not yours) should have done something about.
Pick one, Donald, not “all of the above.”
The report you cite is an interesting one, Donald — not nearly as clear-cut as you assert in your tweet, but it does indicate, with 20-20 hindsight, that the signs of Russian plans to interfere with elections in Europe and the US were there, and State and the White House both resisted some intelligence recommendations for diplomatic counter-measures.
And, of course, it comes out of the right-of-center Politico, and it’s chock-fill of unnamed sources (which you’re always railing against, right, Donald?). And, of course, you understand completely about not letting intelligence agencies dictate what you choose to do internationally, right, Donald?
Also, it would be nice to hear what your Administration is doing about all of this for _future_ elections (aside from standing by while the GOP dismantle federal assistance to help secure the election process).
Retweeting Fox & Friends (!):
FOX NEWS EXCLUSIVE: President Trump 'seriously considering' a pardon for ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio https://t.co/Rgw8l7i9Xl
Because of course you are. I mean, it lets you reward someone you like, piss off more Latinos (who don’t like you anyway), and poke a thumb in the eye of the judiciary (whom yo dislike, too).
Also, isn’t it weird that you’re retweeting Fox & Friends talking about something you are going to do? As opposed to simply telling us straight out? It’s almost like someone else is doing some of this tweeting for you.
Retweeting Fox News:
.@POTUS: "Our infrastructure will again be the best in the world. We used to have the greatest infrastructure anywhere in the world." pic.twitter.com/2fF4GitC47
Yeah, a real shame the GOP stopped us from spending any money on it twenty, thirty years ago.
But your answer seems to be, “Hey, too many permits are required,” and some of those permits and reviews had to do with considering flooding related to (gasp) climate change. And why worry about that?
Remember the Alamo! 54-40 or Fight! Tastes good like a cigarette should!
I mean, if you can randomly throw out slogans, why can’t everyone play?
Other
You or your Social Media Minion also tweeted under your name about …
… being back in Washington DC for “great trade deals”
… going to New York City for “trade” and military purchases.
… retweeting someone complementing you.
… retweeting someone complaining that the national media is not covering gun violence in Chicago.
… retweeting the VP about Argentina (three times)
… congratulating the guy who won the GOP nomination to replace Jason Chaffetz
… retweeting Jesse Watters (a Fox News flack whom you keep retweeting) thanking a fan who was congraulating him on his cable news ratings (!).
… retweeting the House Majority Leader supporting your infrastructure initiative
Well, Donald, there was weekend for you! Crikey, all that sound and fury. Being a President can be such a drag, don’t you think? I mean, you tee up all this cool workforce retraining stuff, and everyone’s busy paying attention to white supremacists marching in Charlottesville. So frustrating!
Anyway, let’s take a look at what’s going on with you and the Twitterverse …
[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]
Charlottesville
Well, this was the story of the weekend … which, for whatever reason, was met with Twitter silence from you Friday night and Saturday until someone was actually killed there. At which point you boldly stepped forward, condemned the racist, white supremacist protesters that came there to keep the statue of the military leader of a rebellion against the United States in the name of chattel slavery from being taken down …
We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!
This would be a much more interesting, even inspiring, tweet, Donald, if (a) you were actually calling out the specific racists and bigots who were in Charlottesville to disunite us, and (b) if you ever seemed interested in uniting Americans except when it’s convenient rhetoric for you.
I mean, really, Donald — most of the time you seem to be finding people and groups in this country to attack, to deny their American-ness, to claim that they are out to destroy the nation. Immigrants, Muslims, people of Latin American descent, transgender people, Democrats … calling everyone to be “united” and to “come together as one” feels a bit … disingenuous.
Am in Bedminster for meetings & press conference on V.A. & all that we have done, and are doing, to make it better-but Charlottesville sad!
The video includes your infamous “on many sides, many sides” quip, where you effectively blamed the goings-on in Charlottesville equally on the white supremicists and neo-fascists who met there to “Unite the Right,” and on the anti-racism, anti-fascism counter-protesters who were there to meet them. Moral equivalence is not a game you play well, Donald.
We must remember this truth: No matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are ALL AMERICANS FIRST. pic.twitter.com/FesMiQSKKn
Again, that would be more convincing if you showed any sign of believing it or behaving in accordance with it even half of the time, Donald. Instead, you and your team target groups like Black Lives Matter and the NAACP; you single out Muslims as a particular threat to the nation, and you regularly denigrate Democrats.
We will continue to follow developments in Charlottesville, and will provide whatever assistance is needed. We are ready, willing and able. pic.twitter.com/mCTYBgUePi
So it’s a fine and presidential thing to do to sympathize with and offer condolences to the families and friends and colleagues of people who have been killed. It’s a bit odd to emphasize (by tweet count) the deaths of the two Virginia State Police (who died when the helicopter they were using to monitor the disturbances crashed), vs. a woman killed by a Nazi sympathizer driving his car into a crowd of counter-protesters. The former is a tragic accident in the line of duty. The latter is an intentional intent to harm that led to one death and many injuries.
After tweeting some about North Korea, you retweeted:
The DOJ is opening a civil rights investigation on the car attack in Charlottesville https://t.co/bkqmQENipV
It’s a weird press conference — there were Korea questions (“We’re all prepared!”), then it segued into all sorts of zaniness, as you continued to praise yourself for the great job, very few others have ever done such a good job, in your first six months. Also, you threw Mitch McConnell under the bus some more and ran back and forth several times.
Dan Scavino, your official Social Media Minion, retweeted himself under the @POTUS account:
Message from PM @TurnbullMalcolm of beautiful Australia 🇦🇺to North Korea…
Which was the same “If he issues one threat or does anything to American territory” threats that you’ve been saying multiple times this week (even as Kim has continued to utter threats).
“He’s believed because he’s so unpredictable.” Well, I don’t know that I’d characterize it as “believed” as much as “feared,” as one might “fear” a lunatic waving around a gun.
Miscellaneous
Your Social Media Minion, Dan Scavino, retweeted himself on the POTUS account:
I’m sure it feels good being able to (procedurally) hang up the phone on the Venezuelan leader and then brag about it. I’m not sure what all it proves, but I’m sure it feels good.
"Consumer Comfort Reaches 16-Year High on U.S. Economic Optimism" via Bloomberg pic.twitter.com/X6KdszrxsS
Which is very nice, Donald. Of course, you haven’t actually enacted much in the way of significant policies, it’s not clear why “Consumer Comfort” is continuing to rise … except that it’s been continuously rising since early 2009 (when it hit rock-bottom during the Great Recession). In other words, you’ve inherited steadily growing economy: don’t mess it up.
And today, after all the Charlottesville brouhaha from yesterday was safely tucked away as far as you are concerned …
Heading to Washington this morning. Much work to do. Focus on trade and military. #MAGA
Despite your support, Donald, Strange seems to be actually losing ground. I would make a snarky comment, except that the guy in the lead, Roy Moore (yes that Roy Moore) would be a horrifying person to join the US Senate. So … um … I’m with you on this one, Donald.
The Obstructionist Democrats have given us (or not fixed) some of the worst trade deals in World History. I am changing that fast!
You know, Donald, I once heard a prominent political figure say, “No matter our color, creed, religion or political party, we are ALL AMERICANS FIRST.” Who was it who said that again?
Now that Ken Frazier of Merck Pharma has resigned from President's Manufacturing Council,he will have more time to LOWER RIPOFF DRUG PRICES!
So just to get this straight, Donald — you were fine with Ken Frazier being on the President’s Manufacturing Council. You weren’t publicly criticizing him as long as he was a supporter.
So apparently while a lot of people (myself included) were having a fairly pleasant, otherwise engaging and distracting day … a large gang of racists, white supremacists, white nationalists, Neo-Nazis, “alt-Rightists,” Neo-Confederates, KKKers, open-carrying militia types, and other deplorables held a march in Charlottesville, Virginia. Their immediate cause was the plans to take down a statue of Robert E. Lee — not one erected during the Civil War, mind you, but one put up in 1924, at the height of Klan influence in the region.
Their broader cause was to “Unite the Right.”
There were counter-protests. There were clashes. There were brawls. There was some white supremacist plowing his car into a group of counter-protesters, killing one and injuring dozens more.
Torchbearing, Nazi-saluting protesters protecting the Lee statue
We’re not talking here about a group of folk with calm, cool, rational arguments. We’re not talking about people with different views who love America but simply have varying ideas as to how best we, as a nation, can prosper together. The “Right” the protesters sought to unite were not your garden variety conservatives, Rotary Republicans,
We’re talking about folk in hoods and robes. We’re talking about people in white supremacy regalia, badges, patches, shields, quasi-uniforms. We’re talking about people brandishing torches and firearms.
We’re talking about people waving Confederate Flags.
We’re talking about the waving of flags with swastikas on them.
We’re talking about Nazi salutes.
We’re talking chants of “Blood and soil!” and “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”
Fascist protesters. The 2nd from the left, James Alex Fields Jr., is accused of driving his car into counter-protesters later.
Swastikas and Nazis. That’s who were protesting the taking down of a statue, erected in the Klan era to celebrate a rebellion in the name of chattel slavery.
And in the midst of this, there was our President, exercising his moral leadership and bully pulpit by … refusing to name the problem, and attributing a false equivalence between the protesters and counter-protesters.
At his Bedminster golf club hangout, Trump spoke out during a press conference ostensibly about his VA reforms: “We’re closely following the terrible events unfolding in Charlottesville, Virginia. We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. On many sides.”
“On many sides.” He repeated that again.
And he tweeted (after a night and a morning of protest and conflict had already passed by in silence):
We ALL must be united & condemn all that hate stands for. There is no place for this kind of violence in America. Lets come together as one!
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke had appeared at the “Unite the Right” rally on Saturday prior to the violence erupting. The purpose of the rally, he said, was to fulfill the promise of Donald Trump.
“This represents a turning point for the people of this country,” Duke said. “We are determined to take our country back, we’re going to fulfill the promises of Donald Trump, and that’s what we believed in, that’s why we voted for Donald Trump, because he said he’s going to take our country back and that’s what we gotta do.”
And there was Trump, refusing to call out the bigots who came with Duke and others to “take our country back” (from the Jews, from the blacks, from the liberals, from the Mexicans, from the Muslims, from the race-mixers, from the people who would take down a Klan Era statue to the military leader of a rebellion 150 years ago to protect slavery as an institution). The problem, as Trump described it, that many sides weren’t being united, that many sides were being hateful.
The Stormfronters were encouraged, too.
Again, that’s why the folk posting at the white supremacist Stormfront site were so encouraged.
Of course, even those vague words weren’t enough for David Duke, who replied to Trump’s tweet:
I would recommend you take a good look in the mirror & remember it was White Americans who put you in the presidency, not radical leftists. https://t.co/Rkfs7O2Ykr
Another group of calm, peaceful protesters in Charlottesville
Trump’s refusal to specifically condemn Nazis — Nazis — and Klan members who were claiming his blessing and inspiration for being there, is part and parcel of his blind eye to the excesses of the far right nationalist conservatives on the fringes of his ostensible party and his base. It goes right along with his continued silence over the mosque bombing in Minnesota a last week, even as he called out Islamist terrorism overseas the same day.
And there’s Trump sadly tsk-tsking the violence and noting that he’s not responsible, nosirree, and that, heck, even his predecessor — the man he claimed for years wasn’t an American, the man he called the most divisive President ever, wasn’t responsible (today). In talking about the violence in Charlottesville, without calling out any parties in particular, he noted, “It’s been going on for a long time in our country. Not Donald Trump. Not Barack Obama. This has been going on for a long, long time.”
More KKKers in Charlottesville
Whaddaya gonna do? Long time, y’know? Haters gotta hate. Sad.
Indeed, Trump found a way to still pivot to making a campaign speech.
I just got off the phone with the governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, and we agree that the hate and the division must stop, and must stop right now. We have to come together as Americans with love for our nation and true affection– really, I say this so strongly, true affection for each other. Our country is doing very well in so many ways. We have record — just absolute record employment. We have unemployment the lowest it’s been in almost 17 years. We have companies pouring into our country, Foxconn and car companies and so many others. They’re coming back to our country. We’re renegotiating trade deals to make them great for our country and great for the American worker.
Nazis and Klanners and anti-Semitic chants, and Trump would rather we be thinking about employment levels. Bald and seething hatred, racism, and harkening back to rebellion … and what Trump really wants to talk about are the great trade deals he’s been cutting.
White supremacist car attack on counter-protesters
Heck, even when someone was killed by one of the white supremacists who traveled from Ohio for the protest — and who drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters — Trump couldn’t bring himself to name the crime.
Condolences to the family of the young woman killed today, and best regards to all of those injured, in Charlottesville, Virginia. So sad!
“Best regards” to “all those injured.” Yes, that’s damned “sad.”
They broke out some nice, crisp, new flags for the occasion.
Meantime, what’s to be done? Quoth Trump at the press conference, “We want to get the situation straightened out in Charlottesville, and we want to study it. And we want to see what we’re doing wrong as a country where things like this can happen.”
I suppose encouraging white nationalist zanies to think that they have a friend in this Administration, that all that talk about “taking back our country,” that all that pointing at those dangerous furriners and divisive blacks and threats to law enforcement, along with the casual laughing off of political violence a rallies — I suppose that might be part of “what ‘we’re’ doing wrong as a country.”
Is Trump an alt-Rightist white nationalist? Meh. I think Trump is Trump, and his only interests are the Trump name and personal accolades. But he sure likes surrounding himself with folk who portray themselves as being members of the alt-Right (like Bannon), or who use white nationalist arguments (like Miller), or who think that people are just way too harsh on white supremacists (like Gorka). He seems perfectly happy throwing out accusations about foreigners and refugees as security risks, with characterizing Latin American border crossers as drug-runners and rapists, with lionizing (and welcoming comparisons to) Andy Jackson.
Other prominent politicians seemed to have no problem calling this out by name.
Give them credit, some of Trump’s supposed allies in the GOP weren’t happy about his (you should pardon the expression) whitewashing of the source of the problems at the Charlottesville protest.
Mr. President – we must call evil by its name. These were white supremacists and this was domestic terrorism. https://t.co/PaPNiPPAoW
“Unite the Right!” seemed to unite a lot of other people, too.
Trump’s priority in all of this seems more to keep it from distracting from the rest of his message (thus the laundry list of “achievements” in the middle of a serious discussion), and trying to avoid any blow-back from either his political enemies or his less savory political supporters. In what could have been an inspirational moment, the man who spends most of his time on Twitter attacking people who get in his way and demonizing group that just coincidentally happen to be the targets of these white supremacists … pretended his was the way of brotherly love:
My administration is restoring the sacred bonds of loyalty between this nation and its citizens, but our citizens must also restore the bonds of trust and loyalty between one another. We must love each other, respect each other and cherish our history and our future together. So important. We have to respect each other. Ideally, we have to love each other.
Respect for others, loving others — none of those seem to be Trumpian traits, at least not in his public persona. And, that, too, is a message from Trump that the racists and white nationalists marching on Charlottesville clearly heard before they arrived … and failed to hear anything different after.
It’s hard to take these guys seriously. Except that they take themselves seriously, and we’ve seen what happens when they get their way.
As an additional note: I’m not necessarily a fan of the “Punch a Nazi” school of counter-protest. I understand the impulse, and even applaud the intent, but in most cases it seems counter-productive and muddying of the waters as to where the real threat to order and unity is. I would rather see these yahoos be allowed to march down the street as people on the sidewalks point and laugh at their stupid costumes and ridiculous macho-man symbolism.
On the other hand, I’m not one of their clear and present targets for suppression, deportation, or extinction, so that’s easy for me to say. And when you do have actual regalia-touting Nazis and KKKers and other white supremacist, white nationalist, and fascist groups banding together for a protest for an execrable cause, I can also see where clashes with anti-racism, anti-fascism counter-protesters might get heated to the point of blows. In which case I know where my sympathies lie.
That it’s impossible to tell where Trump’s sympathies lie is, to my mind, the core of his moral failing in this incident, and as president.
[Being a look at the @RealDonaldTrump Twitter account, with a glance at the @POTUS account, grouped for your topical pleasure.]
Friday? Already? How the time flies, Donald, when you’re wondering if missiles will be …
What’s crawled out of the Twitter Stream from the Id today, Donald?
The Senate!
How are things going up on Capitol Hill, Donald? Are you vigorously working with the leadership and rank-and-file of GOP lawmakers to craft a plan that will fulfill your campaign promises and Make America Great Again?
Mitch, get back to work and put Repeal & Replace, Tax Reform & Cuts and a great Infrastructure Bill on my desk for signing. You can do it!
Ah. Still winning friend and influencing people in the US Senate, Donald. You do realize that Sen. McConnell is pretty essential to the passage of anything that you want to brag about. Most people would be encouraging, supportive, collaborative, all that. And, in a vacuum, that tweet might have applied … except this isn’t a vacuum, and coupled with your tweets about McConnell earlierthis week, make it clear this is marching orders / cajoling, not cheering from the sidelines.
Apparently you’ve decided McConnell threw you under the bus with his “excessive expectations” comment the other day, so he’s fair game to be thrown under the bus first. That’s a real leadership lesson, Donald.
Then you retweeted a couple of Fox & Friends (of course) articles:
The story talks about how Dean Heller, Jeff Flake, and, yes, Mitch McConnell are facing the potential (or even the reality) of well-funded primary threats back home.
(Also, does that really strike anyone as a particularly “fair” or “balanced” headline? I mean, really? C’mon, Donald, it sounds like you wrote it.)
Trump fires new warning shot at McConnell, leaves door open on whether he should step down https://t.co/tJIRc0usWl
The weird thing here is, Donald, this sort of thing is clearly just playing to your audience. I mean, McConnell knows what you said. He even knows about this Fox article. Your calling it out isn’t a message to him, it’s a message to your Trumpists to start calling for McConnell’s resignation (or at least his compliance with your demands). It’s … an interesting choice of tactics, Donald, but it’s completely your style.
International Brouhaha!
Since we all need a reminder about US military might, etc., you retweeted:
Again, isn’t it interesting that you’re posting a news story from Fox & Friends (of course!), rather than a Pentagon statement. (More, less breathless, coverage of the attack here.)
But, of course, what everyone’s concerned about is North Korea. Are you going to reassure us that we remain safe? Or promise that if we’re attacked, we’ll slap ’em down? No surprise there:
Military solutions are now fully in place,locked and loaded,should North Korea act unwisely. Hopefully Kim Jong Un will find another path!
I’ll bet you’ve always wanted to say “locked and loaded,” Donald. It sounds very tough and military!
It does call to mind the question of what you consider “act unwisely” to mean, Donald. I mean, it gives you lots of wiggle room to pick and choose, but I do have to wonder about what the DPRK would actually have to do in order to draw a US military strike. I’m sure they are wondering that, too. So are the millions of people in South Korea (including 300K Americans).
Hopefully we’ll all find another path other than acting “unwisely.”
[Retweeted on @POTUS, because it’s sooooo Presidential.]
Isn’t your Administration a little bit new to be called a “comeback kid,” Donald, even by a fawningly conservative newspaper?
The survey is one from Zogby, and their overall analysis doesn’t sound that encouraging (emphasis mine):
The president’s approval rating has reboundedsomewhat since our July poll. Following a series of disastrous weeks, Trump’s approval numbers have moved up slightly, especially among his base and a few other sub-groups not known for their support of the president
Zogby, which tends to have mediocre accuracy scores, shows your overall approval at 45% vs 51% disapproval. As bad as that sounds, it remains an outlier. Even your previously favorite polling shop, Rasmussen, isn’t quite that optimistic, showing 45% vs 53%, though they’ve shown an overall rise in the last week. 538’s aggregate score is at 37%-57%, but, yes, trending in your favor.
Of course, as your many-multi-million dollar missile lobbing at Syria demonstrated, being tough and military is always good for a few ticks of support increase. Muscle flexing is popular, reflexively, as is rallying behind a military threat.
As long as you don’t go too far, Donald.
You or your Social Media Minions also tweeted about …
Ivanka leading a US delegation this fall to India to discuss women’s entrepreneurship.
A couple of tweets talking about VA Secretary Shulkin.
Back on 26 July, Trump rambled off a prepared (but unexpected) trio of tweets about how transgender people would not be allowed to serve in the military. Apparently he’s given the Pentagon no further instruction, no policy guidelines about what to do regarding trans folk already serving, etc. The Pentagon, in turn, basically said they would keep on keeping on per current policy until something more definitive got passed on from the Commander-in-Chief.
“It’s been a very confusing issue for the military, and I think I’m doing the military a great favor,” Mr. Trump said during an impromptu news conference at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J.
He declared that he has “great respect” for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and denied that his ban amounted to a betrayal after pledging to protect it during last year’s campaign. “I’ve had great support from that community,” Mr. Trump said. “I got a lot of votes.”
He said the military is “working on it now,” adding that “I think I’m doing a lot of people a favor by coming out and just saying it.”
Who, precisely, he’s doing a favor for, and what “it” specifically means, was not clarified by the President — and the Pentagon apparently still has no official guidance on the matter.
As to the military — well, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense certainly haven’t expressed any “confusion” over the issue, simply asking for time to work policies out as to how best to address and integrate trans soldiers into the service. Apparently all of them were blindsided by the initial tweets, and I don’t see anything in this update that’s likely to be helpful to them.
I’m on vacation, Donald, so it’s hard to keep up — but I didn’t want you to think I had forgotten about you …
(Tweets may be reorganized to group topically and/or coherently.)
===
► While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried! [1]
How do you know this, Donald? What have they “tried”? What have we tried? Is that read on China’s “trying” based on intelligence, or what China has told you?
Not that I mistrust you, Donald, of course. I mistrust China. As you used to profess to, before they started acting all nice and respectful toward you.
===
► Things are looking great for Karen H! [2]
► Thank you @FoxNews “Huge win for President Trump and GOP in Georgia Congressional Special Election.” [3]
► Congratulations to Karen Handel on her big win in Georgia 6th. Fantastic job, we are all very proud of you! [4]
► Ralph Norman ran a fantastic race to win in the Great State of South Carolina’s 5th District. We are all honored by your success tonight! [5]
Interestingly different tone between those two congratulations, Donald.
► Well, the Special Elections are over and those that want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN are 5 and O! All the Fake News, all the money spent = 0 [6]
Was there any particular “fake news” in those elections you wanted to call out? Does “all the Fake News” mean “all the media attention”? Because that would be kind of weird to say, Donald.
But, yes, the five special elections in deeply red districts went red. In some cases (like in South Carolina) it was far closer than expected, and in others it was still a remarkable showing for such deeply conservative districts.
But, yes, when all was said and done, the GOP won those districts.
Of course, the Dems lost a bunch of special elections in 2005, too. Then in 2006 …
► Democrats would do much better as a party if they got together with Republicans on Healthcare,Tax Cuts,Security. Obstruction doesn’t work! [7]
Really, because the GOP seems to have made it work for the last eight years, even with the Dems inviting in Republican amendments on the ACA, etc. And they obstructed and stonewalled and dragged their feet and filibustered and blocked everything they could … and, look, they won back both houses of Congress and the Presidency.
► I certainly hope the Democrats do not force Nancy P out. That would be very bad for the Republican Party – and please let Cryin’ Chuck stay! [11]
Stay classy, Donald. Always.
===
So the following is a remarkable chain of tweets, Donald (I actually missed one in when first copying them over). It sounds like you’re back to denying Russian interference with the 2016 election — claiming Jeh Johnson said there wa no “grand scheme,” that the Obama Administration did nothing about it, that the Dems committed a “HOAX,” and that it’s all a “big Dem scam” and “excuse for losing the election!” [14]
Is that really the case, Donald? Do you really, truly not believe that Russia was interfering in the election, even as there was further testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday about attacks on states? [15]
Or are you just trying to shout down people who are saying inconvenient and irritating things to you about all this?
► Former Homeland Security Advisor Jeh Johnson is latest top intelligence official to state there was no grand scheme between Trump & Russia. [8]
And as with all the other Obama Administration folk who have testified on the subject, his knowledge stopped as of the day you assumed office. He cannot speak for anything that has come out of DHS (or the Mueller investigations) since then.
At the same time, Donald, he also testified that the scope and size of Russian interference in the election, based on the knowledge he had at that point, was “unprecedented”. [16]
So why do you believe him on the one thing that’s convenient for you, but deny the rest of what he had to say?
► By the way, if Russia was working so hard on the 2016 Election, it all took place during the Obama Admin. Why didn’t they stop them? [9]
Yes, it took place during the Obama Administration. There’s still a lot we don’t know about what steps prior, during, and after the various hacking attempts were made by the various cyber-security arms of the Federal Government. And, in reality, the only successfully exploited hacks that we know of, I believe, were the hack of the DNC server and the separate phishing attack on John Podesta’s Gmail account.
As to the question of why the Obama Administration wasn’t even more public about it, various folk yesterday, including (cough) Jeh Johnson, addressed that.
“One of the candidates, as you recall, was predicting that the election was going to be ‘rigged’ in some way. We were concerned that by making the statement we might, in and of itself, be challenging the integrity of the election process itself.” [16]
In other words, Donald, you, yourself, made it toxic to talk too much about Russian interference while it was happening, and the Obama Administration made the decision, rightly or wrongly, to not outwardly make the proverbial federal case about it.
Of course, they thought you were going to lose badly, so it wouldn’t make a difference. That was clearly an error.
► ..Why did Democratic National Committee turn down the DHS offer to protect against hacks (long prior to election). It’s all a big Dem HOAX! [13]
The DNC says that the DHS offer came some time after the break-in had been announced, and that they had already long been in touch with the FBI and their own security company on how to secure their servers.
► ..Why did the DNC REFUSE to turn over its Server to the FBI, and still hasn’t? It’s all a big Dem scam and excuse for losing the election! [10]
You keep asking that question, Donald. The answers haven’t changed, no matter how many times you ask it. The DNC decided that having their own private security group (one that remains praised by both the FBI and DHS folk who have addressed the issue) analyze the systems and turn their results over to law enforcement would suffice; those agencies, in turn, though they would of course have preferred to get their own hands on the boxen, have not criticized the information they received.
As to why, that remains only speculative. But given strained relations between elements in the Democratic party and the FBI (after all the email brouhaha), and ties between your campaign (e.g., Giuliani) and groups with the FBI, they may have been concerned, wrongly or rightly, that turning over servers with a mass of campaign information in them to the FBI would have led to leaks of still more sensitive or embarrassing information.
You know, Donald — all those “leaks” you keep kvetching about?
Finally, of course, we’ve previously (and multiple times) dismissed the “it’s all an excuse” thing, given that large-scale and detailed reports about Russian interference came out months before the election, when nobody (except, possibly, you, Donald) thought the Dems were going to lose.
===
► With all of the recently reported electronic surveillance, intercepts, unmasking and illegal leaking of information, I have no idea……whether there are “tapes” or recordings of my conversations with James Comey, but I did not make, and do not have, any such recordings. [12]
Well, that’s kind of anticlimactic, but not a huge surprise. Given that you, yourself, raised the issue of “tapes,” you’ve only yourself to blame, Donald, for letting this particular issue stretch on for so long.
Assuming that people believe you, of course,
===
You and/or your Social Media Minions also tweeted about …
… condemning the North Korean regime.
… meeting the President of Ukraine
… going to Iowa for a big campaign rally (a total of three tweets on that particular soiree).
(Only researched the @RealDonaldTrump account today, Donald. But that’s where the juicy stuff usually is.)
Well, I had a busy Easter weekend, Donald. Hope you had a fine time in Mar-a-Lago (yet again). What sort of Tweet-of-consciousness did I miss while I was spending time with the family?
===
► Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens! [1]
What a very odd tweet. My first thought, Donald, is to say, “Because you repeatedly and vigorously called China a currency manipulator all through the campaign, even though economists and trade specialists told you that label was at least a decade out of date.”
What’s fascinating here is that you’re linking calling China a currency manipulator, not to whether they are doing it or not, but to whether they are “working with us” on North Korea. Read that again — you’re telling us, Donald, that your accusations and name-calling are based not on the truth but on what’s to your advantage.
That’s not really new news, Donald, but it’s breathtaking to actually see it so clearly spelled out.
===
► I did what was an almost an impossible thing to do for a Republican-easily won the Electoral College! Now Tax Returns are brought up again? [2]
It’s amazing watching your brain work, Donald. With one breath, you revel in the election like it happened yesterday. Then with the next breath, you dismiss calls to reveal your taxes because the election was sooooooo long ago.
So a few things:
1. You didn’t “easily win” the Electoral College. Your margin of victory depended on a handful of extremely tight races and was lower in Electoral Votes than the vast majority of presidents elected.[3]
2. Wanting to know about your tax returns isn’t just an election thing. It’s an ongoing thing. Where does your income come from? How much in debt are you, and to whom? What investments do you have that your presidential actions might impact? It’s not a request that’s going away any time soon, Donald — get over it.
► Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over! [4]
And there’s the counter-attack. I mean, “organized rallies” are obviously suspicious, right (except for your own, of course). And they must be “small” because you’re so popular (they don’t look small to me,[5] but I suppose it’s in the eye of the beholder), and certainly some secret, sinister force must have “paid for” them, because such protest couldn’t possibly have just happened without a deep, dark conspiracy!
===
► Our military is building and is rapidly becoming stronger than ever before. Frankly, we have no choice! [6]
Um … yeah, I kind of think we do, Donald. I mean — why do you think we have no choice than to have a military that is “stronger than ever before.
In the past, Donald, you were all about how Obama had, somehow, been making us weaker — but this tweet makes it sound like you’re looking not just to undo whatever damage to our military force you’re going on about, but actually increase our military beyond that.
Why? Against whom? What wars are you planning on fighting?
We spend more on our military than the next seven highest spenders — and a number of those are our allies. We spend 37% of the world’s military expenditures. Why do we need to spend even more?[8]
===
► The recent Kansas election (Congress) was a really big media event, until the Republicans won. Now they play the same game with Georgia-BAD! [7]
But, Donald — that election is over … doesn’t that mean we should stop talking about it?
No, but seriously, Donald, I read plenty of media stories about the Kansas election after it was over. Including (as you’ll recall from last time we chatted) how a district you won by 30-odd points, and that every GOP candidate has won by 20+ points since 2002, was suddenly only barely won by 7 points … and that with a last-minute full-court press of robocalls with you and VP Pence and visits by Ted Cruz and $150K from the RNC in TV ads.
So, yeah, that election.
But, then, we heard from you about that election only beforehand[11], then right after the GOP candidate won,[12] and nothing since. Which just about mirrors the media coverage you’re criticizing, Donald. Bad!
► The super Liberal Democrat in the Georgia Congressioal [sic] race tomorrow wants to protect criminals, allow illegal immigration and raise taxes! [16]
Wow. He’s a super liberal! And a Democrat! Hide your children!
I guess the fact you’re not even championing the GOP field (there are several of them) but trying to keep the Dem from hitting 50% in the primary (which would win him the seat) says that maybe you’re a bit worried here, Donald. Polls are close,[17] but you probably will be able to revisit this during the run-off in June, at which time we’ll see where your popularity is.
===
► “The first 90 days of my presidency has exposed the total failure of the last eight years of foreign policy!” So true. @foxandfriends [9]
Oh, Donald. Watching Fox & Friends for your news again? You know that never ends well. But while it’s a cool phrase to (misquote) from Fox & Friends,[10] for those of us without the spare time to watch them in the morning, what specific “total failures” have your first 90 days exposed? How have you made things better since then, aside from blowing $100M on a Tomahawk strike, and another $230K on a MOAB? Inquiring minds want to know.[13]
A bit later you tweeted about a book that was flacked on Fox & Friends[10,14], and then a bit after that you noted:
► The Fake Media (not Real Media) has gotten even worse since the election. Every story is badly slanted. We have to hold them to the truth! [15]
Which is hysterical from a guy who has been tweeting from Fox & Friends (not to mention the Drudge Report). This presumably came from a Fox & Friends segment about slanted media coverage of the Tax Day Protests.[10]
===
And finally, you retweeted Drudge Report (!):
► TRUMP APPROVAL HITS 50% [18]
This in turn links to the Rasmussen poll results[19] that show that 50% of Likely US Voters approve of your job performance. That’s still down from your peak at 59% right after your inauguration, but up from your 42% nadir in that poll. 30% strongly approve; 39% Strongly disapprove, which means you have Presidential Approval Index of -9.
While there’s some skepticism (Fake News!) about Rasumssen’s polling, which usually trends conservative, and other current surveys aren’t quite as bullish on you, Donald (Gallup approval 41%, disapproval 53%; Marist approval 39%, disapproval 49%; CBS News approval 43%, disapproval 52%), everyone agrees that your approval rating has climbed since you stopped focusing so unsuccessfully on health insurance reform and started lobbing missiles at Syria.[20]
So … um … good job?
===
You and/or Your Social Media Minions published under your name breathless news about …
… meeting Atlanta first responders.
… a new VA website that had wait times and performance data.
… a CENTCOM press release about dropping a MOAB.
… your weekly address [P]
… the daughter of an NYPD 9/11 victim who just joined the NYPD.
… a retweet of Melania looking forward to today’s Easter Egg Roll [P]
… a retweet of a Drudge Report (!) tweet about a Fox News article about an arrest in a 2010 Border Patrol agent during the Fast & Furious thingamajiggie.
… a Happy Easter wish. [P]
… live coverage of the Easter Egg Roll!
TGIF, Donald.
