Where to start, where to start. Let’s begin small and work up to the obvious:
1). London’s Calling: Well at least he didn’t take to Twitter to pìšš øff people who don’t like us. Instead he outraged our allies by declaring, Just out report: “United Kingdom crime rises 13% annually amid spread of Radical Islamic terror.” Not good, we must keep America safe!. Now yes, crime rates in England have gone up, thanks to rises in knife use, sexual assaults and murder. But to conflate it with radical Islam and use it to imply his idiotic travel bans aimed at Muslims is okay is, frankly, just the kind of idiocy we’ve come to expect. Nor is the UK thrilled with his declarations. Green Party MP Caroline Lucas declared it “inflammatory.” Tom Wilson, the labor deputy leader, said, “Officer, I’d like to report a hate crime.” I very much doubt that England will declare war on us, but Trump is doing nothing to endear himself to them.
2). Bring in Thomas Crown to check: Donald Trump has a painting on his airplane which he insisted is an original Renoir. It’s called “Two Sisters on the Terrace.” Would you like to see it? You can. Do you have to go on Trump’s plane? Heck no: All you have to do is head to Chicago and go to the art institute. It’s hanging right in the same place that it’s been since 1933. This was pointed out to him back in 2005 when he brought his biographer, Tim O’Brien, onto his plane and mentioned that the picture he had hanging there was the original. O’Brien insisted it wasn’t. The next day when they were back on the plane, Trump pointed out his original Renoir as if the previous day’s conversation hadn’t happened. This is what O’Brien recounted on a recent podcast. So it’s clear that Trump’s senility is not a recent development; it’s been going on for over ten years.
3) Flippity floppity flip. So Trump announced that he wanted to end subsidies to insurance companies. Then he was asked about the proposal by senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray–a Republican and Democrat respectively–that would wind up overturning his decision. His response? He endorsed it. That lasted about 24 hours because the next day he tweeted out that he wasn’t supporting it. Why did he do that? Well, either he literally forgot about endorsing it the previous day, or else when he endorsed it he didn’t actually know anything about it. And rather than admitting that he was ignorant and waiting to comment on it, he naturally had to have a comment that stemmed from his non-existent awareness.
4). Thank you for your service. Who are you again? Remember when Trump picked on the Gold Star parents during the election. That was nothing compared to what happened this week. Either he didn’t contact people (four out of eleven that the Washington Post contacted) or he did contact them and created unnecessary problems.
One gentleman he called, Chris Baldridge, whose son had died in Afghanistan, stated that Trump promised he’d send him a personal check for $25,000 to help with his dead son’s family. The check never came…until the Post reported on it and then suddenly the check was in the mail. Even worse was when he spoke to the widowed Myeshia Johnson and said her husband “knew what he signed up for.” Now believe it or not, I’m almost willing to write that one off, because he immediately said that it was still a tragedy when it happens. So I tend to think he was genuinely trying to offer comforting words, even if he was being a bit clunky about it. I think it sounds worse when it’s printed than spoken. If it was a cop’s funeral and they said, “Johnny knew the risks going in, but he didn’t care because he just wanted to help others,” people would nod and agree. Trump’s bigger mistake, though, was that he didn’t bother to learn the name of the person he was talking about. He kept referring to him as “your guy,” leaving the bereaved widow to say that the Commander in Chief didn’t even know her husband’s name. And even worse, when Rep. Frederica Wilson recounted the disastrous phone call, Trump denied saying it.. Of course he did. He could have clarified it. He could have apologized for the clunkiness of what he did, or for upsetting Johnson. But no, Trump can never make a mistake (“That’s a real Renoir!”) Naturally Johnson’s mother was there and she verified everything Wilson said.
As for the people he didn’t call? Naturally he can’t admit a mistake, so instead he claimed that Obama hadn’t called soldiers. Because when there’s someone in the world you hate, naturally you want to use everything they do as an excuse for yourself. Except of course that was another lie, because Obama did indeed call them.
The most incredible thing this week.. George W. Bush, who should be grateful to Trump because he’s bumped W. off the top of the “Worst President Ever” list, gave a speech this week where he trashed Trump’s America. Although he didn’t mention Trump by name, he spoke about the rise of White Supremacy, how the country is effectively falling apart and that we need real leaders and people for voters to aspire to, which clearly we do not have now. Let’s face it: even Jeb would have been better than this. The fact is, we’ve gone beyond asking how could Trump be president. Instead we’re asking how Trump could even be considered a sentient human being.
PAD
I’m curious… A while back you said Trump couldn’t sink any lower because of his comments on “good Nazis”. Has he, in your mind, proven you wrong yet? I ask only because I think he has, in fact, sunk lower than ANYBODY expected and keeps sinking.
As sad and frightening as it is to write this, I don’t think that either Trump or GWB meet the standard of worst president ever. You’ve got to be extra supremely awful to make it into the top three of James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce, and Andrew Johnson – the guys that bracketed Lincoln. As awful of Bush was, it’s my opinion he didn’t push any of those three out of that infamous bracket. Trump: no, he hasn’t managed that either…yet. The terrifying thing is I think he could do it. I’d already place him as the worst president of my lifetime and I lived through the Nixon Administration.
This is why I use the qualifier “modern” when describing W. and Trump.
I’m not sure the changing stories and opinions can be attributable to senility (although I wouldn’t rule it out). He just says whatever is convenient for him to say at the moment. The problem with lying is having to keep track of the lies. He just doesn’t bother. I don’t attribute to senility anything that can be more easily explained by complete apathy.
Yes. This places Trump’s typical false statement outside of the category of Lie and into the category of Bûllšhìŧ. Someone who is lying is purposefully concealing/attacking some true thing. They have to know what the truth is to lie about it. For someone who is bûllšhìŧŧìņg, the truth or falsity of their statements are irrelevant. They simply say what they think advantageous without worrying whether it’s true or not. In many ways, this is worse than lying.
The most disgusting aspect of the week surrounding Trump’s behavior over the calls and letters to the fallen solders’ families was what truly kicked it all off; Trump’s ego and his need to make everything about getting people to praise him.
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This entire firestorm and very likely his bìŧçhëš call was started by a simple question by the press. He was asked why there had been no public comment about the four soldiers killed in Niger. He wasn’t asked about contacting the family or giving condolences. He was asked why there had been not a single comment from the Commander in Chief on the ambush and slaying of four US soldiers in the close to two weeks since it had happened.
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It was a valid question. After all, it certainly wasn’t because of lack of time to comment on things or from lack of a platform. Trump had been commenting to cameras and tweeting regularly. So why no comments on the fallen soldiers?
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So how did Trump answer? By making it all about him and how he’s so much greater and better than everyone else. BY ignoring the topic of the actual question and changing it to contacting the families. So he launched into his default mode of lying about others, attacking Obama, and stroking his ego in order to make the death of four soldiers in Niger all about him and how great and much better than everyone else who have held the office before him he was.
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He took that sacred, solemn task and turned it first into a distraction from the actual subject being asked about, and then he turned it into a cudgel to attack his predecessors with; but only after wrapping that cudgel in lies.
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And the only reason he did it was to brag about himself. The only reason he did it was to stroke his ego and seek praise and adulation from his cult of followers.
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He did little more than essentially piss on the dead in order to serve his own vanity.
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And the worse thing about the last week was seeing so many people- from the common man on the street to Kelly in his press conference -rationalize, excuse, and defend Trump and his vulgar actions. The only thing lower and more disgusting at this point than Donald Trump are the people who still choose to support him.
This entire firestorm and very likely his botched call was started by a…
You know, when you said, “bìŧçhëš”, I thought you were referencing his surrogates and staff. I call them his “enablers”, but when I read your comment, I thought, “Shìŧ, Jerry came up with a much better term to use than I did…”
There’s the problem, Jerry. To Trump, the only things sacred or solemn is himself.
And now, this.
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The Sun Sentinel released the full video of Frederica Wilson’s dedication speech in 2015 to the new FBI building, showing conclusive proof that Gen. John Kelly lied to the entire world yesterday while he tried to smear her reputation.
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But of course he did. He works for Donald Trump, and, while leading by example, Trump makes it clear that truth, honor, and dignity have no place in his administration.
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Video Of Rep. Wilson’s FBI Building Dedication Proves Gen. Kelly Lied
http://crooksandliars.com/2017/10/video-released-proves-gen-kelly-lied-about
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Full video of Frederica Wilson’s 2015 FBI speech shows John Kelly got it wrong
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/local/broward/fl-reg-wilson-kelly-tape-of-speech-20171020-story.html
Anyone who doubts that Trump has some sort of age-related dementia, just watch this 1980 interview (or any of several others from the early 1980s). While still an elitist jerk, it’s hard to believe it’s the same mind. And remember, this was the guy that Biff Tannen of Timeline 1985-A was based on according to a head writer of Back to the Future II!
In that interview from 37 years ago, he’s on point, he’s articulate, his grammar and sentence structure are educated, he isn’t yelling or mugging for additional attention, he doesn’t interrupt, he isn’t irrationally fixated, and he shows concern for other people — all the qualities which are no longer in his life.
While I am not a physician, I think that it’s a reasonable assumption that he has had physical brain damage. His vocabulary is reduced, his sentence structure is fractured, he has obsessions — something has definitely gone wrong in his health.
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Gradual change is not noticeable unless one goes way back for comparison, as in this example. As the boss over time became more ill and demanding, the probability is that reasonable, non-enabling people unwilling to cater to that left for elsewhere, with the only ones remaining being those willing to be Yes Men, and reinforcing the deterioration.
One doesn’t have to be a neurologist to see how large his current deficits are when presented with evidence such as this.
Peter David: Green Party MP Caroline Lucas declared it “inflammatory.”
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Luigi Novi: Peter David, does your bias-fueled hatred of Trump and all things Republican know no bounds? Can’t you at least get your basic facts right? Your post is filled with LIES, ALL LIES.
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Caroline Lucas called it fearmongering.
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It was MP Yvette Cooper who called it inflammatory.
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Sheesh.
http://news.sky.com/story/imbecile-donald-trump-slammed-by-mps-for-uk-crime-comments-11089807
“even Jeb would have been better than this”
Oh, Peter; well done. You’re not normally this funny…
Hi PAD, I agree with most of what you say but I just wanted to say as a British citizen one of the many things that Trump has done to annoy me is the mistake that most Americans make and that is confusing the UK with the countries that the UK is made up of and that is England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The crime figures were for England and Wales only. Not the UK as Trump says and not England as you said. When discussing things like this I think it is important to get the facts right. It is always awful when crime is high in a place I proudly call home but it is also important to note that the rise is also to do with better crime reporting and recording. Not that that makes it much better but important to note and nothing to do with ‘radical Islam.’ Also some of the rise is attributed to a rise in hate crime aimed at people like Muslims for example.