A man who
This is a useful compendium of Trump’s bad actions, by Keith Olbermann. Mind you, the first item on the list is a dud, because it’s “he attacked the pope.” Verbally, I presume, and I think the pope richly deserves verbal attack. But after that it’s a good list. I’ve been wanting a master-collection, and this is one.
Trump is a guy…
Who lied about why he wouldn’t release his taxes, because he was being audited and proved himself a liar by saying he would release his taxes if Hillary Clinton released her e-mails; who lied about how much money his father gave him or helped him get, coming out of college; who lied about sending his private jet to ferry stranded U.S. servicemen; who lied about talking to the Attorney General of Florida, who declined to investigate Trump University after she was given acampaign donation; who lied about his business in Russia; who lied about meeting Russian president Putin; who lied about offering child care to his employees, when it was child care for his hotel guests; who lied about “some people” wanting a moment of silence for the murderer of five Dallas policemen; who lied about seeing thousands of Muslims in New Jersey celebrating 9/11; who lied about 9/11 hijackers sending their wives and girlfriends home to Saudi Arabia.
…
The Republican Party has actually nominated for president a man who has proposed that Russia or China should enact a Watergate-like hacking of Hillary Clinton’s e-mails; who has proposed banningMuslims from entering the country, then said it was only a suggestion, then proposed it again; whose running mate has proposed banning members of other religions; who has proposed open racial profiling; who has proposed banning people from “terror nations,” saying, “Look it up, they have a list”; who has proposed “ideological certification” for immigrants; who has proposed worse than waterboarding while praising how Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-unhandled protest and terrorism; who has proposed that American civilians be tried by military commissions at Gitmo; who has proposed killing the families of terrorists or suspected terrorists.
A man who has proposed teaching mandatory patriotism in schools; proposed that his supporters appoint themselves as election-day voting monitors; proposed making American protection of fellow NATO members C-O-D; whose campaign proposed purging the governmentof all Obama appointees; proposed avoiding government debt byprinting more money; proposed reducing national debt by paying lessthan we agreed to; proposed forestalling newfinancial regulations by executive order—and then in the same speech proposed eliminating…someexecutive orders.
There’s much much more.
H/t Dave Richards
I rather wish that the “called Bill Clinton a rapist” bit wasn’t on there–there is a standing accusation against Clinton, and given his treatment of women subordinates in general, it would not be any less likely to be true than it was of Cosby when the early reports came out.
And when Olbermann mentions lying about the Chicago police telling him to cancel the rally, it’d be nice if he also touched on why it was really cancelled–namely, that Trump’s ego wouldn’t let him handle a hall that had an entire section full of protestors (as opposed to the usual handful that managed to get into his prior rallies).
Still, as you say, it’s a useful (and damning) list.
(Blinks at ‘mandatory patriotism classes’…)
Not for the first time, I find myself wondering if there’s a handbook for clowns like this somewhere. Mandatory moves for asshole demagogues. If you wish to be even considered among history’s least wanted, ya gotta do these.
Except that Trump didn’t criticize the Pope for misogyny, he criticized the Pope for caring about the poor.
Well the problems with the pope are not limited to misogyny, to put it mildly. He may be a lovely man himself, but he’s the head of a loathsome and very powerful religious institution.
The current pope may be a lovely man, at least in part – humans are generally complex. I seriously doubt anyone rises to the ranks of Bishop, then archbishop, let alone pope, by just being a lovely man. There has to be a huge dose of politician and the ability to do down right nasty things by preference, belief or through an ability swallow dead rates in pursuit of an objective. Amongst other things.
I’ll regard him as a lovely man when he stands in St Peter’s Sq and announces “You know, the Church has done and continues to do some really shitty things. That ends now. Love who you want when you want. Plan your families. Protect the health, lives and liberties of those already on this planet. Report kiddy fiddlers, even if they are your local priest.” etc etc
@Ophelia Benson
The Pope may have other issues, but Trump wasn’t criticizing him for those. It may have been the Pope’s view on immigration.
Colin Day – Yes but that’s not the point. The point is what Olbermann said, which was just “he attacked the Pope.” I’m saying that by itself is not a bad thing to do. Olbermann presented it as if it were, which is in line with the conformist media habit of paying huge deference to the pope and his church.