Still More Bizarre Is Coming Out About Trump and His Political Party

Between the Republicans themselves and their extreme Right Wing and then the QAnon people, I can barely keep up. And with Trump out of the White House, I thought the bizarre stories of him were behind us but no, there's still more. Did you see this?

Russia has been cultivating Trump as an asset for 40 years, former KGB spy says

Just a bit from the article:

• The KGB cultivated Trump as an asset for 40 years, a former operative told The Guardian.
• Yuri Shvets told The Guardian that the KGB had identified Trump as a potential asset in the 1980s.
• Shvets said it was stunning when Trump took out an ad repeating anti-Western talking points after a trip to Moscow.

Seriously, that last one must have had the Russians deliriously happy at the time, that they could get this famous reality TV host to parrot their criticisms of HIS OWN NATION??  And then to get him planted at the head of that nation?  As PRESIDENT??  Their wildest dreams surely came true.

It would normally be extremely upsetting, too, to the fellow members of his political party but they just COMPLETELY DENY IT. Just deny it all. That way you can tell yourself it never happened. And then accuse Democratic Socialists like AOC and Bernie Sanders and the like of being Communists. 

I tell you, I can't believe where we are.

Republicans and Right Wingers actually attacked our own nation's Capitol and no one is really being held accountable for it. Some of the actual trespassers have been charged but that's it. Nothing else.

With that attack on the Capitol, so many of us were sure even the Republicans would hold Trump accountable, for the nation's sake but no. Certainly not. This took place yesterday, for God's sake.

House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy visited Trump in Florida to seek his favor, showing how the party is still beholden to him

Additional proof:

Forget about a GOP crack-up: Republicans rally around a defeated Trump because they understand power

Meanwhile, there is this:

‘The Enemy Is Within’: Pelosi Says Lawmakers Have ‘Threatened Violence’ Against Other Members

As further proof, there's this guy.

GOP Rep. Andy Harris Tries To Bring Gun Into House Chamber

GOP congressman tries to bring a GUN onto the floor of the House but is turned away by police after he set off metal detectors put in place following MAGA riot

Then, one Republican taking a gun into Congress and the Capitol, no, certainly not.

Another GOP Lawmaker Attempted To Bring A Gun Into House

Then, from Texas we have this pretty incredible development.

Kyle Biedermann, Texas State Rep Who Marched to Capitol, Introduces Bill to Secede From Union

Here's a guy who was part of the attack on our nation's Capitol and now he goes back home and proposes his state leaves our union, leaves the United States.

How are both of those not treason, separately?

How is this guy getting any support from his political party on the local, state or national level?  How is that possible?

Into what ultra-bizarro world has Donald J Trump and his political party dumped us all?

How do we get it all to stop?

Fortunately, Trump is Going to Defeat Himself

Fortunately, honestly, as I said above, this President Trump is going to defeat himself. Thank God and goodness for that. Look what he did in Arizona to a supporter just a few days ago.

In the last days of the campaign, Trump wallows in his contempt for his supporters

It's no surprise that Trump thinks his supporters are a bunch of morons. 

Now he isn't even pretending any longer

Some of the article:

Sen. Martha McSally, an Arizona Republican, has paid her bootlicking dues. She's repeatedly gone out of her way to show obeisance to Donald Trump, most famously in January when she yelled "liberal hack" repeatedly at a CNN reporter who asked her if the Senate should consider evidence before rushing to acquit Trump during his impeachment trial.

But despite years of bowing and scraping and, of course, voting to acquit Trump despite his obvious guilt, McSally has earned no loyalty in return from her orange master. She's in a tough race against former astronaut Mark Kelly, a Democrat, and has consistently trailed in the polls. At a recent Arizona rally, Trump didn't bother to hide his disdain for McSally's standard political desire to address her own potential voters.

"Martha, just come up fast. Fast. Fast. Come on. Quick," Trump barked at her. "You got one minute! One minute, Martha! They don't want to hear this, Martha. Come on. Let's go. Quick, quick, quick. Come on. Let's go." It was clear that, as always, Trump resents every moment when the spotlight's not on him, even in the context of helping a sycophant.

I ask again---who does this? 

Who but one Donald J Trump treats other, fellow adults like this at ANY time, anywhere but especially in public and especially when you know you are a) on camera because you are, after all, either President of the United States or supposed to be or b) even worse, even more so, you're in a political reelection campaign for the office you want to and are working to keep?

Who does this?

Ironically, he actually needs her in Arizona, too, and in the Senate, God knows and she's behind in the polls against her opponent, Mark Kelly.

Even if it were only for common decency and respect and manners--any one, let alone all of those---you'd think he'd treat her decently out of his own greedy, self-serving needs.

But no, not this one Donald J "Jenius" Trump.

We'll have no manners, we'll have no decency.

We've seen it time and again.

But wait, there's more. Link:

Who has the most contempt for Trump voters: Liberals, or Donald Trump? Not even close

Trump believes his followers are a bunch of racist morons. Sadly, a lot of them are eager to prove him right

Trump Continues to Just Stun

I was stunned--again--by this President and what I just read this morning.

Trump and his company renewed the internet domain name TrumpTowerMoscow.com.  This year. This election year.

Trump Organization Renewed the TrumpTowerMoscow.com Domain Name — This Year

Again. 

And he has done every year of his Presidency.

Think about that.

The President of the United States, trying, still trying to get a hotel built in Moscow. Russia. Our known, publicly-sworn enemy. Added to this is that he did it during his reelection campaign, to boot, folks.

Keep in mind this hasn't been built.

Yet.

He still, clearly, thinks he may get to build a Trump Tower hotel in Moscow, Russia and he has a bank account--or bank accounts--in China.

TRE45ON, anyone? Everyone?

86 45

BYEDON

The US, This Pandemic and the Fall of an Empire, Part II: The Conversation

I posted about this yesterday but it was just the opening to the conversation the author had with Mr. Hedges.

Pulitzer winner Chris Hedges: These "are the good times — compared to what's coming next"

Author of "America: The Farewell Tour": We're heading for a steep decline; Biden and the Democrats have no answers

Herewith, that conversation. Again, it's an eye-opener.

What has the sudden shock of the coronavirus pandemic revealed about America? If you were to take a snapshot of this moment, what does it reveal about the country?

These days are the good times, as compared to what is coming next.

How does a society change so fast?

A society can change so quickly because the underlying structures are rotten. There is the patina or the veneer of a functioning system, but the foundations of it are so decayed that they can't take the stress. That was true in the Weimar Republic in Germany, before the Nazis took full control. That was true in Yugoslavia before the civil war and ethnic violence. It is true here in the United States too. This country cannot withstand the stress of the coronavirus pandemic. Beyond the obviousness of what the Republicans are doing, the Democratic Party's response to this crisis exemplifies the problems America is facing as a whole.

Twelve hundred dollars to individuals suffering during this crisis is not sufficient. The Democrats were only really trying to block the equivalent of a $500 billion slush fund that is going into Mnuchin's hands, a man who acts like a criminal. That $1,200 is going to get vacuumed right up by the credit card companies and the banks who hold the mortgages.

This is like a repeat of 2008, where Congress is dumping staggering sums of money into the hands of Wall Street thieves. What happened in 2008? The plutocrats and the corporations gave themselves massive stock bonuses and other income and returns. I do not see how the United States is going to avoid another Great Depression, which in turn will lead to a further consolidation of power by an authoritarian, oligarchic elite. Those elites are not really worried about the coronavirus pandemic because they will have their own ventilators and private medical staff and all the other things that they need to survive. The average person will be left to take care of themselves.

The president, his party, the corporate overlords and Trump's Christian nationalist cult are now telling the American people to go out and risk death from the novel coronavirus as an act of "patriotism" and "love" for the economy.

I would also add that huge numbers of people are going to die unnecessarily. Profit is always the most important thing for the oligarchs, and because of Fox News and other right-wing outlets a significant portion of the American public will downplay the severity and dangers of the coronavirus. Quite predictably, there is an accompanying spike in racist attacks against Chinese-Americans or any people of Asian descent.

I think the pandemic and the response to it could lead us into virtually uncharted territory within the United States because as things deteriorate, the violence against nonwhites and other groups who are demonized by Trump and the right wing will increase. The desire for an authoritarian solution will grow more pronounced. I remember speaking to Fritz Stern, the great scholar of fascism, who himself fled Nazi Germany as a teenager. He said that in Germany there was a yearning for fascism before the word "fascism" was invented. We already see that yearning in America. The coronavirus crisis will make that yearning even more pronounced.

What of public memory, especially in the short and the medium term? There are many voices who believe the coronavirus will spur positive social change in the United States. I worry that there will be a type of organized forgetting, where several months from now the coronavirus pandemic and what it exposed about the country's underlying rot will be forgotten — all of it thrown down the memory hole.

I don't think we're going to be able to go back to a time before the coronavirus pandemic. I believe that the coronavirus is going to trigger a decline unlike anything the country has seen since the Great Depression. That is why the business class and other ruling elites are panicking. It is why Trump, the corporate leaders, Republicans and others aligned with them are telling people to go back to work — but to wear masks — which may really not keep them 100% safe.

The pandemic was predictable. And yet, of course, especially under the Trump administration, we dismantled the mechanisms through which the United States could prepare. The needed infrastructure, such as hospital beds and ventilators and other needed equipment, was not there because, like with all decaying empires, the resources go to the defense industry and the military.

The other part of this decay and vulnerability was the assault against public education and the corruption of the media. The fact that Fox News is even considered a news organization is staggering — although I don't think CNN is much better. In total, that contributes to a yearning for a system or a figure that can promise to tame the demons that have been unleashed.

I am unsure if we have any mechanisms left in the United States by which we can effectively push back against the elites, the oligarchs and other anti-democratic forces. We don't have any ability to pit power against power. We can beg Pelosi or Mitch McConnell or some other politician all we want for help. We are not going to get it.

Watching Trump stand before the country and speak about the coronavirus pandemic while he is flanked by corporate CEOs — never mind how Trump has filled the government with people from some of the world's largest corporations — really speaks to how the country is a naked plutocracy. The elites do not even try to hide it anymore.

The oligarchs don't care about democracy. They don't care about truth. They are not interested in the consent of the governed. They could care less about social and income inequality. They are not going to rein in the surveillance state. In fact, as things deteriorate, the surveillance state going to expand. The oligarchs do not care about job losses because, as Marx said, unemployment creates greater pools of desperate surplus labor. The oligarchs do not care about the climate. It's all about the primacy of profit and corporate power — and those values and systems are extinguishing our democracy.

And of course, they are all thrilled that nobody can go out in the streets because of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing. Mass mobilization and civil disobedience is what is needed to defeat the oligarchs and take those first steps necessary to win back an American democracy.

America's current political system is a corporate political duopoly. A person can either vote for nativists and racists and climate deniers and creationists on one end, or a person can vote for people who speak in the language of tolerance and are willing to put gay people or women or people of color into positions of power as long as they serve the system. Of course, that is the role that Barack Obama fulfilled at the expense of the American people.

American society is in crisis, and in decline. As you point out, the coronavirus, in combination with Trump's authoritarian, neofascist movement are just symptoms of a deep societal rot. Where do we go from here?

Let's take Biden. What does it mean to vote for Joe Biden? He has this kind of goofy persona which some people find charming. What is Biden's record? What is a person voting for if they back Biden on Election Day 2020?

The humiliation of courageous women like Anita Hill who confronted her abuser. You vote for the architects of endless war. You vote for the apartheid state in Israel. Biden supports those things. With Biden you are voting for wholesale surveillance by the government, including the abolition of due process and habeas corpus. You vote for austerity programs. You vote for the destruction of welfare. That was Biden. You vote for cuts to Social Security, which he has repeatedly called for cutting, along with Medicaid. You vote for NAFTA, you vote for "free trade" deals. If you vote for Biden, you are voting for a real decline in wages and the loss of hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs.

With Biden you are also voting for the assault on public education and the transfer of federal funds to Christian "charter schools." With Biden you are voting for more than a doubling of the prison population. With Biden you are voting for the militarized police and against the Green New Deal.

You are also voting to limit a woman's right to abortion and reproductive rights. You are voting for a segregated public school system. With Biden you are voting for punitive levels of student debt and the inability of people to free themselves of that debt through bankruptcy. A vote for Biden is a vote for deregulating banking and finance. Biden also supports for-profit insurance and pharmaceutical corporations.

A vote for Biden is also a vote against the possibility of universal health care. You vote for Biden and you are supporting huge, wasteful and bloated defense budgets. Biden also supports unlimited oligarchic and corporate money to buy the elections.

That's what you're voting for.

A vote for Joe Biden is a vote for more of the same. The ruling elites would prefer Joe Biden, just like they preferred Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump is vulgar and an embarrassment. But the ruling elites also made it abundantly clear about their interests: Many of these people were quoted by name saying that if Bernie Sanders was the nominee — or even Elizabeth Warren — they would vote for Donald Trump.

One of the dominant narratives in the mainstream news media is that Trump is done. The coronavirus pandemic and his incompetence are dooming his re-election chances; the tide has finally turned.

My response has been that this is too hopeful and borders on the delusional. One, there is no guarantee that there will even be a presidential election in 2020. Trump and the Republican Party are experts at vote-rigging and other ways of cheating to steal elections and subvert democracy. After the coronavirus crisis recedes, I believe that Trump may very well be even more powerful because he leads a cult and will proclaim that he led the country to "victory" over the virus.

Liberal elites offer hope that is not grounded in an understanding of political reality. I do not believe that Joe Biden will necessarily be able to win against Trump. Biden is an extremely weak candidate because he represents the neoliberal gangster capitalist policies that the Democratic Party has embraced and that so many Americans are revolting against.

James Baldwin explained why black people don't have midlife crises. Why? Because they do not buy into the myths of America. Black people know that the system in America is rigged. Black people know this when they are children. By comparison, white people buy into these illusions of meritocracy and individualism and American exceptionalism and similar beliefs. That is why the highest rates of suicide right now are among middle-aged white men, because they are finally starting to realize that the system does not care about them.

The US, This Pandemic and the Coincidental Fall of An Empire

Holy cow, folks.  You ought to read this article. It's by Chauncey DeVega at Salon. He interviews Chris Hedges. Important, if also scary to the point of frightening. It is truly an eye-opener.

Pulitzer winner Chris Hedges: These "are the good times — compared to what's coming next"

Author of "America: The Farewell Tour": We're heading for a steep decline; Biden and the Democrats have no answers

Just a bit from the article:

Empires fall a little bit at a time and then all at once. Over the last two decades, America has proven itself to be well along on that journey. The coronavirus pandemic has simply pushed our nation further along that downward spiral.

Ultimately, the pandemic has further exposed and exacerbated — for those still somehow in denial about the decades-long reality of America as a decaying empire — deep political, social, economic, cultural and other societal problems.

The country's infrastructure is rotting. Trump presides over a plutocratic, corrupt, cruel, authoritarian, pathological kakistocracy. The commons is being reduced to rubble while the ultra-rich extract ever more wealth and other resources from the American people. Excessive military spending has left the United States incapable of attending to the basic needs of its people. A culture of distraction and spectacle has rendered many Americans incapable of being responsible engaged citizens. Our public educational system does not teach critical thinking skills. Radical right-wing Christians, white terrorist organizations and other neofascist paramilitaries and extremists are engaging in a campaign of thuggery, intimidation and violence against multiracial American democracy.

Writing at the Atlantic, George Packer described this woeful state of affairs:

The crisis demanded a response that was swift, rational, and collective. The United States reacted instead like Pakistan or Belarus — like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering. The administration squandered two irretrievable months to prepare. From the president came willful blindness, scapegoating, boasts, and lies. From his mouthpieces, conspiracy theories and miracle cures. A few senators and corporate executives acted quickly — not to prevent the coming disaster, but to profit from it. When a government doctor tried to warn the public of the danger, the White House took the mic and politicized the message.

Every morning in the endless month of March, Americans woke up to find themselves citizens of a failed state.

In the New York Times, Pulitzer-winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen diagnosed the health of America's body politic in the age of Trump and the pandemic he has empowered and accelerated:

If anything good emerges out of this period, it might be an awakening to the pre-existing conditions of our body politic. We were not as healthy as we thought we were. The biological virus afflicting individuals is also a social virus. Its symptoms — inequality, callousness, selfishness and a profit motive that undervalues human life and overvalues commodities — were for too long masked by the hearty good cheer of American exceptionalism, the ruddiness of someone a few steps away from a heart attack.

Chris Hedges, the Pulitzer-winning journalist, author, and philosopher, is not surprised by America's decline. In places such as the former Yugoslavia, he has personally witnessed what happens when societies fall apart. In his most recent book, "America: The Farewell Tour," Hedges both details the country's many cultural and political crises and what could potentially happen next. The coronavirus crisis has shown his analysis to be eerily prescient.

In this conversation, Hedges warns that the tumult and pain of Trump's coronavirus crisis is but a preview of far worse things in America's future, as social inequality and political failure combine to create a full collapse of the country's already declining standard of living, as well as its ailing democracy.

Hedges also explains how the Democratic Party and its presumptive presidential nominee, Joe Biden, will likely not be able to respond to the Age of Trump and the economic and social destruction created by gangster capitalism, in combination with the coronavirus pandemic. Why? Because the Democrats are also part of the plutocratic establishment that has failed the American people.

It goes on from there to a podcast (and also written conversation) with Mr. Hedges on our current national situation, not to be missed.

I've said here, several times, many times, how bad this President is, citing facts and showing resources, not opinion. Him and his political party both. 

This clearly shows, to me, the larger, bigger picture, the entire picture or where we--the US--is just now.

And where we may be--are likely?--headed.

Damn.

It's far from pretty.

"Fasten your seatbelts. It's going to be a bumpy night."

Not done there, as if that's all not depressing enough, there's also this from The New Yorker just now:

Is America’s “One Nation Indivisible” Being Killed Off by the Coronavirus?

Exactly How Bad Is This Republican President's and Congress' Plan for Spending?

After the Republican Party's Congress and President released their tax and spending plans, exactly how bad is it all?

Don't ask Democrats or the Left Wing or "libruls" for their opinion, oh no.

Let's go straight to the heart of the Right Wing:

Heritage Foundation: Republicans are 

“bankrupting the country” 

Yes sir. And it comes from this article:

Alarm bells are ringing on the federal debt

This is the author:

Thomas Binion is the director of Congressional and Executive Branch Relations at The Heritage Foundation.

For those who don't know---who, exactly, is the Heritage Foundation, you ask? Well, here you are:

The Heritage Foundation - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation

The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage's policy study Mandate for Leadership.

Here, then, is what Mr. Binion has to say about this latest spending boondoggle by this Republican Congress:

The Bipartisan Budget Act is 652 pages long. The bill increases spending by $386 billion over two years and nearly $1.5 trillion over 10 years. It also suspends the debt ceiling until after the next election.

This is a massive and sweeping increase in federal spending. The increase in domestic spending is three times larger than even the increase requested by President Obama in his last budget.

Sure, those pesky Democrats insist this Republican tax plan shovels yet more money to the already-wealthy and corporations---their contributors---as well as taking money from programs that help the middle- and lower-classes (and it's factually true, by the way), but let's not rely on their input or opinion. Let's stick with Right Wingers and Republicans on this.

Even they think this is not just a bad plan but downright dangerous. 

Bankrupting, even.

But hey, Republicans are doing it so it must be okay?

Right?

Not done spending there, however. Mr. Trump also wants to have a parade, we can't forget that.

Trump's military parade could cost as much as $30 million

Link:

CBO: Senate tax plan would increase deficit 

by $1.4T over 10 years

The First 48 Hours of the Debacle That Is the Trump Presidency

How we've begun, how they've begun, in the first two days, the first 48 hours of this new Trump presidential administration. It's at least as bad as we thought/said it would be.

It had an historically low turnout, in terms of Americans being there for the inauguration.

Furthermore, the Women's March on Washington, the next day, was far larger, by multiplications.

Scientists: Women’s March Had 3X Attendance Of Trump Inauguration

Not just scientists but our own, the nation's own, now President Trump's own Secret Service says the inauguration was small.

Secret Service slaps down White House claim that ‘magnetometers’ shrank inaugural crowd size

Seems not that many of us wanted to even watch on television, either.

TV ratings for Trump inauguration far lower 

than for Obama

Trump inaugural TV ratings lower 

than Obama, Reagan: report

And not just a little bit lower TV viewership, either.

Trump inauguration had 7 

mill less viewers than Obama

Mr. Trump himself misrepresented, if not out and out lied, about the numbers and the people there.

FACT CHECK: Trump overstates crowd size 

at inaugural

The truth about the crowd at 

Trump's inauguration, in one photo

Spicer Assails Media For 'Misrepresenting' 

Inauguration Crowd (VIDEO)

Apparently this is okay for a Republican president to do. Can you imagine if Barack Obama was caught lying to us all in the first two days of his presidency?

It was followed by yet more lies on those numbers attending by Mr. Trump's White House Press Secretary.

Trump Spokesman's Lecture on Media 

Accuracy Is Peppered With Lies

Mr. Trump then went to the CIA and gave a really awful speech to staffers there and again, attacked the media, along with trying to talk himself up, "bigly" and repeatedly.

Trump, in CIA visit, attacks media for coverage of his inaugural crowds

Former Director of the CIA John Brennan was stunned and would have nothing of it.

Former CIA Director John Brennan Was 

'Angered' By Trump's CIA Visit

Ex-CIA director John Brennan: 'Trump should be ashamed of himself' over CIA remarks

Trump's new Press Secretary, Mr. Spicer, then also scolded the media for "misrepresenting"---read: reporting---the low numbers.

Trump's New WH Press Secretary Scolds 

the Media

Trump Press Secretary Slams Media 

Over Inauguration Crowd Size

There were protests, for the first time in the nation's history, against Mr. Trump and his presidency.

Protesters rally against Trump 

around the nation

There were protests, again, for the first time, across the globe, famously, in cities across nations, across the planet, against Mr. Trump and his presidency.

PHOTOS: Millions of Women March 

Against Trump on All 7 Continents

 Millions of Women March Against Trump 

on All 7 Continents

Women's march: Protesters rally worldwide 

in solidarity

Meanwhile, just as we both feared and, in worst cases, predicted, Mr. Trump and his family are, in fact, trying to capitalize on his being in the White House, on his being President. They're prostituting the White House itself and the office of the Presidency.

White House website touts Melania Trump’s modeling and jewelry line

So there you have it, ladies and gentlemen, fellow citizens of America. The first 48 hours of the Trump Presidency. Only the first 48 hours and the lies and lying and misrepresenting and hell, even the prostitution and hustling of the nation has begun.

Thanks, once more, once again, Republicans.

This will no way get better.

Link:  Donald Trump to Michelle Malkin: “You were born stupid!”

¿Quién le teme a Donald Trump? 

(Who is afraid of Donald Trump?)

Trump’s Vainglorious Affront to the C.I.A.

Question for Republicans: Donald Trump??

A question for Republicans just now.

How?

How in the name of all that is good and sane and intelligent and true is Donald J. Trump your candidate?

How is he your presidential candidate?

The highest office in the nation. Easily, arguably the most powerful position on the planet, given our nation's economy, relative to the rest of the world alone, but also given that he would be Commander in Chief of the most powerful, expensive, weapons-laden military force in the world?

How?

Let's go over his traits.

He's sexist.

Former Donald Trump Executive: 

'He's a Supreme Sexist'

Donald Trump’s Unconscious, Unending Sexism

He's misogynist.

Donald Trump has one core philosophy: 

misogyny

He's deeply, deeply racist.

Here Are 13 Examples Of Donald Trump 

Being Racist

He's homophobic.

Trump courts the homophobes

He's a simpleton, frankly.

Donald Trump speaks like a sixth-grader

Donald Trump Talks Like a Third-Grader

Donald Trump's approach to terrorism 

is simplistic — and seductive

The North Face Just Destroyed Trump's 

Simplistic Opinion On Jobs

He's wrong about any number of topics, both national and international.

Donald Trump gets a basic fact wrong about black Americans

Everything Donald Trump Says About Syria 

Is Crazy, Wrong, or Both

He has courted and even praised Russia's leader, Vladimir Putin.

Donald Trump lavishes praise on 'leader' 

Vladimir Putin

He's a widely known and repeated liar, publicly and privately.

Donald Trump's 'Big Liar' Technique

The weekend America's newspapers 

called Donald Trump a liar

With all his bankruptcies--is it 4 or 6?--he's a horrible businessman. And that's supposed to be one of his BEST traits.

Donald Trump's Many Business Failures, 

Explained

Trump, the Bad, Bad Businessman

And geez, he's even fighting you all. He's fighting what is supposed to be his own political party.

Donald Trump Attacks Paul Ryan and 'Disloyal Republicans'

Donald Trump launches war on Paul Ryan, slams Republican Party

And he's been doing it through the entire campaign. This next link is from back in May of this year.

Donald Trump keeps attacking fellow 

Republicans

And with all that, rather understandably, there are plenty, plenty of you who cannot and do not support Mr. Trump, your own candidate.

More Than 160 Republican Leaders Don't 

Support Donald Trump

So much of him and his candidacy is unparalleled, unprecedented in the history of our nation, it's so bad and apparent.

It's one thing if you all did this to yourselves but you're proposing to do this, to unleash him, on the rest of us, on the entire nation. Heck you're proposing unleashing this deeply dangerous man on the world.

Truth be told, at this point, even given all the above, I could go on about him, about Trump and what other, additional, ugly, negative traits he has but for now, here, I'll stop with these.

About what other candidate for the presidency of our nation could this have ever been said? One of them, maybe but all of them? There's no one, no one. Go all the way through our history, no presidential candidate has ever been this phenomenally bad and/or so unfit for this office.  Again, no one.  Warren G. Harding, bad as he turned out to be wasn't this bad.

So I ask you Republicans---how in the love of God and nation and all that is good is this your candidate for the presidency of our United States?  We all know how we got here but how could you let this happen? And a lot of you aren't even apologetic about it. A lot of you are STILL supporting this man.

We know you've all been "party firsters", putting the success of your political party ahead of the nation's best interests and for years. It's obvious. For the last nearly 8 years, you've obstructed anything and everything our twice-elected President has put forward, nation and people be damned, because you wanted your party to somehow "come out on top." Sure. That's obvious.

But none of us thought you would go this far or this low, to even propose, let alone try to elect someone of Donald Trump's character and low abilities to the highest office in our nation.

No one.  We no way thought you would go this far. Heck Dan Quayle, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney and George W. Bush weren't this bad.  (Well, truth be told, Sarah Palin was this bad but she was only the Vice Presidential candidate and we knew those two didn't have a chance).

So please, now, at this point, we're only 28 days away from this election, again, for the love of God, will you please, please all come back from the brink and somehow, somehow fix this? Take Trump off your ticket, put in someone else, admit defeat, give it up, lose this election and let's all move on. It's for even your own good but especially for the good of the nation.

And yes, we know you won't do it but we're this desperate. We thought we'd ask, anyway.

So here's a thought. Once Mr. Trump is beaten so badly, so thoroughly this November 8 in the polls, once he and all of you are cast out (and frankly disgraced, once you see the votes against him and you), as you most surely will be, won't you all join us back in the world of sanity and, again, intelligence? Won't you, once again, work for the better of the entire nation and not just your political party? Please? You used to compromise and work together with others, with (shudder), Democrats.

It would be good for all the people, sure, but heck, it would even be good for you, good for your party, good for your brand. You used to be for Unions and higher wages and and the middle- and lower-classes and Social Security and just, all around, the good and growth and health of ALL the people, not just the already-wealthy and corporations.

Won't you join us?

Please?

Largest Employer in Missouri?

I saw this column last evening on Facebook, calling out the largest employer in each state.

The Largest Employer in Each State 

- 24/7 Wall St.

I'll get to Missouri but first, I was struck by what organization it is in Kansas. Perhaps you'll be surprised, too.

16. Kansas
> Largest employer: University of Kansas
> Employee headcount: 13,862

The University of Kansas spans five campuses and 13 schools, including the state’s only pharmacy and medicine schools. The university system employs 13,862 people. Excluding student workers, however, the headcount falls to 10,089, in line with the workforce of another major employer in the state, aviation manufacturer Spirit Aerosystems.

Now, here's the sad part.  

Missouri.

25. Missouri
> Largest employer: Walmart
> Employee headcount: 42,312

Walmart is the largest employer in Missouri by a considerable margin. As of March 4, 42,312 state residents worked in the retailer’s 157 locations throughout the state. The company’s presence in the state may be dwindling, however, as it closed four locations in early 2016 as part of a broader effort to focus on Supercenters and e-commerce.

Low wage paying, tax money absorbing Walmart.

Wal-Mart Relies On Taxpayers To Subsidize 

Low Wages

How disgusting. That's an eye-opener.

But wait. There's more. It gets sadder. And more desperate and pathetic and pitiful.

As the world’s largest retailer, Walmart has an outsized impact on state labor markets. Walmart is the only company to claim the top employer spot in more than one state. In fact, the nation’s largest retailer employs the most people in 19 states.

10 reasons Walmart is the worst company 

in America

Here's a List of Ten Reasons Walmart 

is the Worst

10 reasons Wal-Mart is the worst company 

in America

"The Truth of the Matter Is Walmart Is 

a Horrible Place to Work"

Walmart - Horrible place to work, verbally abusive managers

Remember when the best middle-class jobs in America were for the auto companies and they paid a decent, living wage?

Good luck, fellow Missourians.