Tag: Trump

The White House has now released the transcript of Trump’s dreadful, clumsy statement this morning. It was clumsy because he’s so desperately bad at reading a prepared speech. It was also worse than clumsy.

Good morning.  My fellow Americans, this morning, our nation is overcome with shock, horror, and sorrow.  This weekend, more than 80 people were killed or wounded in two evil attacks.

On Saturday morning, in El Paso, Texas, a wicked man went to a Walmart store, where families were shopping with their loved ones.  He shot and murdered 20 people, and injured 26 others, including precious little children.

Then, in the early hours of Sunday morning in Dayton, Ohio, another twisted monster opened fire on a crowded downtown street.  He murdered 9 people, including his own sister, and injured 27 others.

The First Lady and I join all Americans in praying and grieving for the victims, their families, and the survivors.  We will stand by their side forever.  We will never forget.

That’s what makes it worse than clumsy. It’s a pack of lies. He won’t stand by their side forever; he’ll forget about them the instant he stops talking. He doesn’t join all Americans in praying and grieving – he can’t, because it’s not in him. He will forget, because he’s a trivial stupid shallow sack of wind.

These barbaric slaughters are an assault upon our communities, an attack upon our nation, and a crime against all of humanity.  We are outraged and sickened by this monstrous evil, the cruelty, the hatred, the malice, the bloodshed, and the terror.  Our hearts are shattered for every family whose parents, children, husbands, and wives were ripped from their arms and their lives.  America weeps for the fallen.

And that’s even worse. It’s so false. Trump loves cruelty and hatred and malice. Trump performs cruelty and hatred and malice all the time, right in front of us. His heart is not the least bit shattered and he doesn’t weep for anyone.

This is something his people really ought to take on board. They shouldn’t try to bullshit us to this extent. Trump is a mean, angry, spiteful, belligerent man, so they shouldn’t put words in his mouth that try to invoke the opposite of all that. It’s wrong, it’s not appropriate, it’s not honest, it’s not even respectful to the people mourning. He doesn’t mean any of it and we know he doesn’t mean any of it, so making him say it is just insulting to all of us.

We are a loving nation, and our children are entitled to grow up in a just, peaceful, and loving society.  Together, we lock arms to shoulder the grief, we ask God in Heaven to ease the anguish of those who suffer, and we vow to act with urgent resolve.

We’re not. We’re especially not now, since he took office. We’re not a loving nation. He’s made us a far more hating nation than we were three years ago. He’s a torrent of hatred, and he’s been spraying it all over us.

The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate.  In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy.  These sinister ideologies must be defeated.  Hate has no place in America.  Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul.  We have asked the FBI to identify all further resources they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism — whatever they need.

Again – he’s the wrong person to say that. He can’t sell it, he can’t put it across, he can’t convince us he means it. His people should write a different kind of statement for him, because a pack of flagrant lies just does not cut it.

How did Trump manage to swap Toledo for Dayton in his hostage video address to the nation today?

He can’t read, so he misread the teleprompter.

The Trump campaign owes El Paso hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And yet…

President Donald Trump has pledged the federal government will provide “whatever is needed” to help El Paso, Texas, recover from a mass shooting Saturday that killed 22 people.

But Trump’s own 2020 re-election committee still hasn’t paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in police and public safety-related bills and late fees that El Paso city officials say it owes from Trump’s campaign visit on Feb. 11.

“The Trump campaign has not paid the invoice as of yet,” El Paso spokeswoman Laura Cruz-Acosta confirmed to the Center for Public Integrity late Monday morning.

Well. You know. That’s Trump money – money to promote Trump’s interest in getting elected again. He said the federal government will provide, not that he will. He’s there to make money from being president, not to give it away, or let his Elect Me Again campaign give it away.

How much do they owe? $569,204 plus change. Half a million; lunch money.

In all, at least 10 local governments — from Mesa, Arizona, to Erie, Pennsylvania — are still waiting for Trump to pay public safety-related invoices they’ve sent his presidential campaign committee in connection with his political rallies, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation in June. In all, the bills total $841,219.

Listen, he didn’t get rich by paying people the second they sent the invoice.

In the least surprising news ever…

President Donald Trump tried to blame a lot of things Monday for a series of horrific shootings over the weekend. What he didn’t do was take any of the blame onto himself or pledge to change his rhetoric.

Well. This is Trump. Has he ever in his life taken any blame for anything?

I don’t know for a fact that he hasn’t, because I wasn’t there, but I think if he ever had we would have been told. From everything we’ve been all too able to see, he never does and he is incapable of ever doing so. He’s incapable of it in the same sense I’m incapable of speaking Mandarin. I’ve never learned Mandarin, so even if you put a gun to my head and told me to speak it or get the bullet, I wouldn’t be able to. Same with Trump. He’s never learned donaldtrumpcanbewrong, so he can’t speak it even if you try to force him.

Reading from a teleprompter at the White House, the President sounded nothing like the Trump who goes off-script when he tweets or is whipping up crowds of political supporters at campaign rallies.

Indeed. He sounded like someone reading Mandarin phonetically spelled on a teleprompter, with a wad of cotton in his mouth and a severe head twitch.

“In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Trump said Monday. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart and devours the soul.”

It’s Mandarin to him. He doesn’t understand a word of it.

Trump says this could be GREAT. It’s up to us. We can do this! We can make it GREAT! Make American mass-murder great again! MAMGA!

We cannot let those killed in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, die in vain. Likewise for those so seriously wounded. We can never forget them, and those many who came before them. Republicans and Democrats must come together and get strong background checks, perhaps marrying……..this legislation with desperately needed immigration reform. We must have something good, if not GREAT, come out of these two tragic events!

Come on, kids! Make it GREAT!! It’s in your hands!

Trump gave a “statement” this morning. I tried to watch it but it’s too unbearable, watching him try to pretend to care, try to pretend to be shocked and sad, try to pretend to be an adult.

The Guardian calls the statement “scattered,” which is tactful.

Trump issued a statement on the attacks in El Paso and Dayton in which he blamed violent video games and mental health-care, among other things, for mass shootings.

Condemning the “barbaric slaughters,” Trump called on the nation to reject racism. “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” Trump said.

But he then pivoted to any number of other subjects — including violent video games, access to mental-heath care and the federal death penalty.

Criticism was prompt.

Trump’s statement on the shootings was quickly criticized for downplaying the role of white supremacy and lenient gun laws.

Although the president called on America to “condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy,” he avoided any mention of his own role in fueling such rhetoric. One political scientist put it this way:

Brian Klaas✔@brianklaas

Sure, it’s good to finally use the words. But let’s be clear: no figure in modern American history has done more to encourage and embolden these hateful ideologies than Donald Trump. It defined his campaign. It has defined his presidency. A reluctant sentence changes none of that https://twitter.com/jimsciutto/status/1158380246749650944 …

Jim Sciutto✔@jimsciutto

“In one voice our nation must condemn racism, bigotry and white supremacy”, says Trump. He also calls the violence “domestic terrorism”. These are both firsts since the shootings.

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7:16 AM – Aug 5, 2019

His focus on violent video games and mental-health care also enraged commentators who emphasized that Trump avoided outlining any specific action he would take to reform gun laws.

He also managed to say Toledo when he meant Dayton, which didn’t sit well.

Democratic presidential candidate Tim Ryan, who represents Ohio’s 13th District in the House, slammed Trump for confusing Dayton with Toledo in his statement this morning.

As Trump was concluding his remarks, Trump accidentally offered his condolences to the victims in Toledo, which is roughly 150 miles from the shooting site in Dayton.

“It just shows the level of disengagement,” Ryan told CNN, arguing that Trump’s mistake reflected his “diminished mental capacity” to deal with America’s pressing problems. “It’s a slap in the face to the people here in Dayton.”

Whatever, dude. At least they’re both in Ohio.

Yesterday Trump retweeted Pastor Darrell Scott saying

There is nothing racist about President #Trump‘s suggesting that those who regularly spew hate at #America might spend their time more productively elsewhere

Trump’s next tweet says

‘God be with you all’: Trump pledges full support for El Paso shooting victims as lawmakers also grieve.

I wonder if the first one is meant to absolve him of any responsibility for the El Paso racist murder-spree. Pastor Scott is wrong, unfortunately, despite being black himself. He’s wrong because the people Trump told to leave are all non-white. Pastor Scott is free to pretend that’s irrelevant if he chooses, but he’s still wrong, wrong on the facts and wrong morally. Trump’s racist record is long and by now boringly familiar, so yes, when he does something that looks racist, it’s safe for us to conclude that it is racist and he intends it to be racist and he does it with malice aforethought.

Seven hours later he shared his thoughts again:

Today’s shooting in El Paso, Texas, was not only tragic, it was an act of cowardice. I know that I stand with everyone in this Country to condemn today’s hateful act. There are no reasons or excuses that will ever justify killing innocent people….Melania and I send our heartfelt thoughts and prayers to the great people of Texas.

Somebody wrote that for him, and whoever it was is a damn fool. Who cares whether or not “it was an act of cowardice”? What’s that got to do with anything? Why would that matter?

And we know it’s a lie about the heartfelt thoughts and prayers. We know perfectly well they don’t actually care at all.

Eight hours after that oops he had to mention another mass shooting; they’re coming every few hours now.

The FBI, local and state law enforcement are working together in El Paso and in Dayton, Ohio. Information is rapidly being accumulated in Dayton. Much has already be learned in El Paso. Law enforcement was very rapid in both instances. Updates will be given throughout the day!

The cops arrived fast. That’s what he singles out for mention. We’re supposed to be thrilled about the sirens and the speeding cars, I suppose. Oooh it’s just like tv!

And the jaunty exclamation point at the end.

He’s been playing golf all day.

But he sent a message before he left.

God bless the people of El Paso Texas. God bless the people of Dayton, Ohio.

That’s fine then.

Military Veterans Against Fascism:

Trump offered Putin help with fighting wildfires in Siberia…planes, personnel, money, and materials.

When California was burning from wildfires he blamed the state and threatened to stop federal funding from going to the state.

Analysts believe Trump’s call to Putin was him looking for more support (election meddling on his behalf) going into 2020. Given his pick of nominees for the head of the nation’s intelligence system is a Trump loyalist with no intention of preventing Russia from interfering…we may be seeing Trump actively colluding with Russia to rig the 2020 vote.

Moscow Mitch’s refusal to secure our election suggests the criminal conspiracy extends beyond the White House to several prominent GOP leaders.

The Republicans are selling America out to Russia to stay in power.

The Trump administration tried to keep the phone call a secret until someone leaked it and they had to admit it had taken place.

That’s not ominous at all.

What Trump inspires:

A man has been charged after he punched an anti-Trump protester outside the president’s rally in Cincinnati Thursday night. Footage obtained by CBS affiliate WKRC shows Dallas Frazier, 29, being immediately arrested after hitting another man multiple times.

Before President Trump was set to give a speech inside U.S. Bank Arena, video shows Frazier, dressed in a green polo shirt, opening the door of a red pickup truck and going after 61-year-old Mike Alter. (The footage, which contains some profanity, can be seen here.)

Frazier is seen sizing up the victim and asking, “You want some?” –– before swinging at the man three times and knocking his sunglasses off. Officers then arrest him.

They go low.

Now for Aaron Rupar’s report on the Cincinnati fascist rally:

Trump made it more clear than ever before that he conceives of himself as the president of the states that voted for him, and little more. At various points during his speech in Cincinnati, he ridiculed living conditions and violent crime in blue “inner cities” like Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

Arguably the lowest point in Trump’s speech came when he escalated his one-sided feud with elected officials representing one of America’s blackest cities by turning victims of gun violence in Baltimore into a political cudgel to wield against Democrats. The spectacle of the American president trying to score partisan points on violent crime in an American city was a highly unusual one and left Baltimore residents gobsmacked.

It’s unusual for a non-fascist state, but it’s right out of the Nazi playbook.

Trump has made demeaning Democrats and the cities they represent a key feature of his stump speeches. That shamelessness was on full display at another point when his speech was interrupted by protesters holding a banner that read, “immigrants built America,” right after Trump started to talk about how many people were murdered in Chicago last year.

While the protesters were being forced out of the arena, Trump could be heard on a hot mic asking people in the crowd if the mayor of Cincinnati is a Democrat. After they confirmed that he is, Trump said to his audience, “you must have a Democrat mayor!” — as though the disruption wouldn’t have happened if the city was governed by a Republican.

This will all definitely end well.

Trump wants to help Putin with the fawrest fiyas because apparently we’re especially good at putting out fawrest fiyas.

It’s funny/disgusting that he twice explains to us how bad the fiyas are by saying they’re the worst he’s ever seen.

One – he hasn’t seen them. Two, why would what he’s seen be the measure of anything? Three, he’s relying on reports by people who do know what they’re talking about, just like the rest of us, but he frames it as if he had taken a godlike trip up above the planet to check on the size of the fires in Siberia. It’s just so dopy and clueless and inept.

Also of course he contemptuously brushes off the question of Russian interference in our elections – because that’s such a trivial little thing, and because if he’s lucky it will get him re-elected.

The churchy people who run “the National Cathedral” in DC have issued a rebuke of Trump. (What actually is “the National Cathedral”? Is that just the name it gave itself? We’re not supposed to have a federal cathedral, surely. But anyway.) Mostly I don’t publicize what churchy people say, but given that presidents are expected to do things there (again, why?), this one is of interest.

The escalation of racialized rhetoric from the President of the United States has evoked responses from all sides of the political spectrum. On one side, African American leaders have led the way in rightfully expressing outrage. On the other, those aligned with the President seek to downplay the racial overtones of his attacks, or remain silent.

They accompany this opening with an apt photo.

Oh zing, racist in chief Trump pretending to be pious at the National Cathedral.

We have come to accept a level of insult and abuse in political discourse that violates each person’s sacred identity as a child of God. We have come to accept as normal a steady stream of language and accusations coming from the highest office in the land that plays to racist elements in society.

The child of God bit is beside the point. Human rights don’t and shouldn’t depend on a god. Insult and abuse are insult and abuse, and we should avoid them so as not to make people unhappy and angry.

But then they get down to the job.

This week, President Trump crossed another threshold. Not only did he insult a leader in the fight for racial justice and equality for all persons; not only did he savage the nations from which immigrants to this country have come; but now he has condemned the residents of an entire American city. Where will he go from here?

Make no mistake about it, words matter. And, Mr. Trump’s words are dangerous.

These words are more than a “dog-whistle.” When such violent dehumanizing words come from the President of the United States, they are a clarion call, and give cover, to white supremacists who consider people of color a sub-human “infestation” in America. They serve as a call to action from those people to keep America great by ridding it of such infestation. Violent words lead to violent actions.

When does silence become complicity? What will it take for us all to say, with one voice, that we have had enough? The question is less about the president’s sense of decency, but of ours.

As leaders of faith who believe in the sacredness of every single human being, the time for silence is over. We must boldly stand witness against the bigotry, hatred, intolerance, and xenophobia that is hurled at us, especially when it comes from the highest offices of this nation. We must say that this will not be tolerated. To stay silent in the face of such rhetoric is for us to tacitly condone the violence of these words. We are compelled to take every opportunity to oppose the indecency and dehumanization that is racism, whether it comes to us through words or actions.

The Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington
The Very Rev. Randolph Marshall Hollerith, Dean of Washington National Cathedral
The Rev. Canon Kelly Brown Douglas, Canon Theologian of Washington National Cathedral

This should make it awkward for Trump ever to go there again, yet he will be expected to.

Good.

Trump’s latest contribution to the conversation:

CNN’s Don Lemon, the dumbest man on television, insinuated last night while asking a debate “question” that I was a racist, when in fact I am “the least racist person in the world.” Perhaps someone should explain to Don that he is supposed to be neutral, unbiased & fair,……..or is he too dumb (stupid} to understand that. No wonder CNN’s ratings (MSNBC’s also) have gone down the tubes – and will stay there until they bring credibility back to the newsroom. Don’t hold your breath!

The “dumb (stupid}” is a nice touch, especially the mismatched brackets.

Anyway, no worries, it’s all political correctness run mad.

“Everybody’s called a racist now,” Trump said in an interview with C-SPAN’s Steve Scully that aired Tuesday.

“The word is so overused, it’s such a disgrace,” he continued. “I’m the least racist person there is in the world, as far as I’m concerned.”

Oh, well, as far as he’s concerned, of course, because as far as he’s concerned he’s the most miraculous excellent not-a-disgrace person in the world in every possible way including honesty and selfless dedication to others.

Trump accused Democrats of falling back on the racist moniker as filler language. “They use it almost when they run out of things to criticize you — they say, ‘He’s a racist. He’s a racist.’ … But with me they have a hard time getting away with it, and they don’t get away with it.”

We haven’t run out of things to criticize you, Don. Far from it. As far from it as here to Pluto. We have so much things to criticize you, I promise. For instance, we can say, “He’s ignorant. He’s ignorant.” And that’s just one adjective; there are so many more.

Hmmyeahno.

Trump to reporters this AM: “I’m the least racist person there is anywhere in the world.” Fact check: False.

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) July 30, 2019

I can think of less-racist-than-Trump people without even resorting to Google.

He does say it. You can see him say it, and then go on to say a bunch of racist crap.

President Trump: "I am the least racist person there is anywhere in the world…Al Sharpton, now he's a racist. He's a racist."

Full video: https://t.co/nmbeeOLn2i pic.twitter.com/vqWpUOU4L2

— CSPAN (@cspan) July 30, 2019

WATCH: Trump insists he is the ‘least racist person in the world’ as he angrily rails against black leaders https://t.co/a0wcQd6mv9

— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 30, 2019