It’s a sad time to be a Trump loyalist. This is what they are reduced to:
Right-wing radio talker Hugh Hewitt vowed never to buy Lysol again after the company that makes it publicly warned that its disinfectant products should not be ingested in an effort to fight the coronavirus.
Lysol’s UK-based maker, Reckitt Benckiser, issued the warning, in what might be called an excess of caution, after President Donald Trump used one of his live briefings last week to ask aloud whether disinfectants could be studied for potential use by injection inside the body against the virus.
To be fair to Trump, he did not literally suggest that anyone buy Lysol or any other disinfectant and drink it to fight off or prevent Covid. But (and you knew there was a big but coming) Trump’s totally unnecessary and incoherent remarks on the subject of disinfectants and their power to kill viruses led to concern that some frightened Americans might try to immunize themselves or treat their symptoms by ingesting disinfectants.
Since the company sells many disinfectants, it decided to issue a statement urging people to please, please, under no circumstances ingest any of their products. It carefully neither mentioned nor said anything derogatory about the current occupant of the Oval Office.
But Hewitt, who actually seems quite smart and could certainly have figured out why Lysol’s maker issued such a warning (and really, what’s the harm of such a reminder, that you shouldn’t drink disinfectants) decided to take the warning as an unfair attack on his hero, Trump.
Here’s what Trump said (and he obviously had no need to go down this path, or use his daily briefings to speculate about such things rather than let the doctors and scientists do it):
Trump: “And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it out in one minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning, because you see it gets in the lungs and it does a tremendous number on the lungs, so it’d be interesting to check that, so that you’re going to have to use medical doctors with, but it sounds interesting to me.”
Again, Trump did not recommend drinking Lysol or any other disinfectant, but it is not ridiculous for disinfectant sellers to worry that this incoherent totally unnecessary word salad issuing forth from the White House might cause some concerned makers and sellers of disinfectants to want to underscore that its products should not be ingested (nor, for that matter, “injected”) into humans, which Trump actually did say.
If you are so biased in favor of excusing Trump’s crazy, dangerous rants that you focus on the detail that Trump didn’t exactly suggest drinking Lysol, what about his musing about the possible benefits of “injection [of disinfectants] inside?”)
Here’s the Reckitt Benckiser statement (see if you can find a syllable in this that is objectionable):
Improper use of Disinfectants
Due to recent speculation and social media activity, RB (the makers of Lysol and Dettol) has been asked whether internal administration of disinfectants may be appropriate for investigation or use as a treatment for coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2).
As a global leader in health and hygiene products, we must be clear that under no circumstance should our disinfectant products be administered into the human body (through injection, ingestion or any other route). As with all products, our disinfectant and hygiene products should only be used as intended and in line with usage guidelines. Please read the label and safety information.
We have a responsibility in providing consumers with access to accurate, up-to-date information as advised by leading public health experts. For this and other myth-busting facts, please visit Covid-19facts.com.
For more information on our response to COVID-19, visit this link: Coronavirus information.
Trump himself should surely have seconded the message, as soon as possible, and perhaps should learn the lesson to be more careful about throwing around speculation on possible COVID treatments and defer to the scientists and doctors.
But instead, at least to Hewitt (who once had me on his show to attack me for disrespecting Michele Bachmann), any effort by the maker of Lysol to make sure people didn’t self-medicate by swallowing disinfectants was a cause to vow in front of his audience: “I’m never buying Lysol again.”
CNN’s Jake Tapper also rehashed Trump’s musing about disinfectants, at the end of yesterday’s edition of “State of the Union.” He slammed those Trump allies who attempt to distort or explain away such ridiculous medical advice from the Trumpian mouth. Here’s what Tapper said:
We’re running out of words to describe this era. Republicans in Congress and in the Trump administration know that not only is the president failing to rise to this moment to, for example, get the nation on a path to wide spread testing, the president’s now making open ponderings about treatments that experts worry could actually harm people.
(Trump’s) … anti-scientific musings have been dangerous. We saw this with his weeks of downplaying the virus. Two months ago today the president said he’d done a good job since the U.S. had only 15 cases which would soon go down to almost zero. Then the president was pushing the use of hydroxychloroquine. ‘What have you got to lose?’ he said. Well the FDA on Friday issued a caution against the use of that drug outside a hospital or a clinical trial due to the risk of heart rhythm problems.
Republican leaders need to acknowledge the reality of the situation. They need to intervene. They need to convince President Trump to defer to the experts and focus on the needs of not his ego but the sick and the dying and the people trying to care for them.
There is going to be a history of this era written and those who are pretending this irresponsibility is not happening, they will be remembered as villains.
The above is from Tapper, who may be suspected of some liberal bias I suppose, but who is actually a serious journalist who, like many others, is trying to figure out how to play the old game by the old rules when you have a president like Trump who regularly says things so stupid, crazy or wrong that you don’t feel you have the option of just quoting them noting what Tapper cautiously alluded to as “the reality of the situation.”
As for me, I’ll defend to the death Trump’s right to express his views, and to purchase the disinfectants of his choice and pour them into the orifice of his choice. (Actually, freedom of disinfectant choice is not mentioned in the Bill of Rights, but perhaps it’s implied.)
That was indeed a word salad. Consider this; neither the POTUS or the #1 Democratic contender to replace him can be trusted to give unscripted statements lest the incoherent babble that pours forth from them confuse the less intelligent among the viewing audience into believing that something of value was said.
Quite a time we’re living in, indeed.
Trump should stick to seating judges and erecting border fence if he wants to keep his job.
While Biden certainly has a well-deserved reputation for being gaffe-prone, comparing his mumble-mouthedness to the outright lies & misinformation spewed by Donald Trump is false equivalence.
The difference between the two is that Biden does not rely on a personality cult. Trump surrounds himself with loyal followers who will question no wisdom that flows from him. There is no one putting the brakes on, because the Trump administration is all about Trump, not so much about administration.
Biden does not inspire that same degree of servility. If he ever got even close to Trump’s apparent mental state, the 25th Amendment would be a real possibility.
“Trump should stick to seating judges and erecting border fence if he wants to keep his job.”
The only reason for building that fence now would be to get the easily distracted members of his base all riled up about it, and have them forget the complete pig’s breakfast Our Beloved Leader has made of anything else he touched. So,m look for an announcement within the week.
I readily admit that Trump is possibly the worst communicator the WH has ever seen, why would I not? But I wholeheartedly disagree with your opinion of his achievements in office.
Despite a determined (some would say deranged) opposition from the left, he has delivered on the lion’s share of his campaign promises; certainly he has exceeded our expectations in regards to safeguarding SCOTUS against far left extremists.
They might not be things you wanted, but as Barack Obama famously said, elections have consequences and those that voted for Trump are, in the main, pretty satisfied and will most likely be voting to return him to office.
But we do wish he’d hush.
Trump has done nothing that any bog-standard Republican would have done. His appeal, such as it is, lies in his rhetoric.
You may wish he would shut up. To the MAGA-hatted loyalists, shutting him up would be a betrayal of all that he stands for.
“safeguarding SCOTUS against far left extremists” So what we now have is far right extremists not capable of understanding the majority of voting Americans are more liberal minded (Trump lost by 3M votes) than conservative minded. So the preference is minority rule of the majority, so much for all that Revolutionary War stuff 1776 and all! Or is the objective to roll all the laws and rights back to 1776? .
“Trump lost”
Really? You must be pleased about that.
It’s like losing a baseball game, and claiming you won because you got more hits and more Homers than the winner. While that might be an interesting footnote, the outcome isn’t changed no matter how many years you go on about it.
If you don’t show up in Wisconsin, even once, in the general election, you shouldn’t expect their vote. If your campaign makes such basic missteps, you shouldn’t expect to win. At least, win in the conventional sense – by the rules.
It was refreshing to read Eric: “Again, Trump did not recommend drinking Lysol or any other disinfectant”. Usually these truths need to be revealed in the Comments.
“Again, Trump did not recommend drinking Lysol or any other disinfectant”.
Very true: he supported direct injection, coupled with shooting sun beams up our hind parts. Intense sun beams.
Score one for factual correctness. And along those lines, the fake NYT reported that Trump has devoted 260,000 words in his Corona Virus updates to praising himself.
When the NYT gets serious about investigating the Tara Reade accusations, then they can be regarded as other than fake. In the meantime, they are ditching #MeToo.
In the math I learned : 65,853,514, is a bigger number than 62,984,828, Fake math?
That is real math. While an interesting footnote, it is also irrelevant math.
Trump received 304 electoral votes and Clinton 227, as two faithless electors defected from Trump and five defected from Clinton. Trump is the fifth person in U.S. history to become president without winning the nationwide popular vote.
No, he only mused (sarcastically) about it – the deep thinker he is.
Here’s a classic case of taking a quote out of context. “Trump lost” is part of “Trump lost by 3 million votes” which was not akin to baseball game stats but rather to illustrate that Trump had no real mandate to implement his platform without taking into account the views of voters who opposed him. That’s what presidents do when they squeak by with the narrowest of victories. They modify their programs accordingly to suit the broad middle. Instead Trump repeatedly lied during his early days about illegitimate popular votes (never proven) and exaggerated about his electoral vote victory (“one of the biggest ever”), the clear purpose being to legitimize his uncompromising rule and non-stop disrespecting the opposition.
Is that what Presidents do? Which ones adjusted their agenda towards their opposition? The relative delta of Trump’s Electoral College victory was 34%. Trump did what presidents do; he acted like he won.
Yes, a man who failed in business after business has now failed as a president.
That’s a heckuva tradeoff. SCOTUS appointments, but spewing deadly misinformation from “we’ve got the virus under control,” to promoting hydroxochloroquine and speculating on injecting disinfectants into human beings.
I have hope in the long game. The demographic groups that support Trumpism are shrinking & will eventually lose their political influence; and the current terms of SCOTUS appointees will end, so the rest of us can get on with making the world a better place.
Interestingly, one of the demographic groups that supports Don Trump the most, the elderly, are the ones most susceptible to COVID. Given how they’ve bought into the Dear Leader’s denial of COVID reality, they’re even more susceptible. Plus, he doesn’t want to make it easier to vote for him.
They’re counting on “their” elderly showing up in small towns and suburbs with short waiting lines at the polls, more manageable social distancing and superior health care, while “the other” elderly, urban based, die off in greater numbers and will face much longer lines and fewer polling sites.
Bush 43 ran on the right, lost the popular vote, governed more to the center. When he won a plurality in 2004 bragged about his “political capital”. Conservatives fell out with him over Medicare drug expansion, not the Iraq war.
Nixon won a narrow popular vote and governed from the center to win a landslide reelection.
I very much disliked them both, but they knew the presidential language of unity. Never ever from Trump, but his lame attempts fall on deaf ears due to his much louder bluster, lies and divisiveness.
What about Kennedy, who beat Nixon by only 113,000 votes (0.17%), and scored fewer electoral college votes than Trump? Not a lot written about the mandate he didn’t have. Certainly, Kennedy is conspicuously absent from your mandate analysis.
And of course you are going to say he governed from the far, far, far ultra left. Especially Bay of Pigs, and challenging t go to the moon. Just more twist turn what ever change the subject to fit the twist or the turn. What’s new in right wing nut land. “Historians and political scientists tend to rank Kennedy as an above-average president”
Roy can address the absence of Kennedy from his mandate analysis.
Most would agree that the Bay of Pigs was at best a failure, and honestly a humiliating disaster.
The mandate argument is a losers’ position. It is as if to say, we almost won, so we deserve a place at the table. Winners don’t buy into the mandate argument. It is a digital; you won or you lost, and losers don’t govern.
The Bay of Pigs Invasion was to the Kennedy administration what Operation Eagle Claw was to the Carter administration; an embarrassment – not much to brag about there. Not that either President was directly to blame for the outcomes, but certainly not cornerstones of Presidential legacy.
This is an informative piece on the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/hostage-rescue-mission-ends-in-disaster
Jim, do you really think Mexico paid for the wall?
Promises made….
Frank, I think the only people that ever thought Mexico was going to write a check are the ones still complaining that they have not.
That being said, I think a tax on remittances would be an appropriate vehicle for some claw-back.
I think the only people that ever thought Mexico was going to write a check are the ones who believed anything the Goniff-in-Chief has ever said.
Does not follow. The only wailing of disappointment I hear is from people who substitute invective for Trump’s name.
If you think anyone is “disappointed” that the wall has not been built. Those of us who oppose the wall are glad that Trump’s ineptitude and ignorance have kept in from going up. Trump supporters firmly believe it’s the fault of the liberals, so they have another reason to rage.
It’s a win-win.
We were talking about Mexico paying for the wall…in fact, you brought it up. But hey, if that wasn’t a good topic for you, OK.
The fact is, several hundred miles of new fence has been installed, and although it will be short of the 500 miles Trump promised would be completed by the next election, it’s hundreds less than the Democrats failed at keeping from being built.
I’m convinced it will get completed by the end of his next term.
And has Mexico paid for it, as he promised? Or are they going to pull a Trump, and stiff us for the bill?
Yes indeed. Merrick Garland, far left extremist!
What Trump (and McConnell) have done is destroy the political legitimacy of the Supreme Court, by installing a (democratically illegitimate) 5 man “conservative” majority, whose 5-4 rulings are necessarily also illegitimate.
But rule by minority faction is all “conservatives” have left.
What was Biden’s remark about the signing of Affordable Care Act. Being a big “—–ing” deal.
So? This reminds me of Trump’s “grab them by the p***y” quote, when his apologists seemed to think the problem was vulgar language, not the fact he was admitting to sexual assault.
Again, false equivalence.
Biden may occasionally lose track of his referents, but he does not lie outright, or make self-contradictory statements.
In my book, lying is saying something that you know is not true. From my perspective, that’s not what Trump is doing. I suspect that Trump actually believes the stuff he says. And that changes frequently depending on the last TV show or friend he talked to. That’s very different than intentionally trying to mislead someone.
What do you call it when someone says something that isn’t true, and later denies that he said it?
Frankly, the sheer magnitude of Trump’s false statements makes me think that, if he believes all of them are true, he must be the most ignorant, deluded person on the planet.
When he says something and then denies he said it a few days later, how is that not lying? The only way it isn’t is from some serious kind of memory impairment. Is willful ignorance better than outright lying?
Everything about Trump is a lie. He’s an utter failure as a businessman, but has presented an image that is the exact opposite.
Forcing human traffickers and drug mules to cut through, climb over and tunnel under fences is 100% more effective in keeping them out than the silk roads that existed before Trump got to work.
Let’s agree on that.
Watched a bio on drug king pin “El Chapo Guzman” this weekend.
He established his credentials by constructing an underground railway across the border in the 1980’s. Trump’s endless wall is irrelevant to any law enforcement need.
Just like his failure to listen to the intelligence apparatus of the US on Russia and the science and medical apparatus of the US on the virus, he has done the same with the customs and border enforcement apparatus of the US. He does have a lot of “gut instincts” though. Their utility was proven out during his 6 bankruptcies.
“Trump’s endless wall is irrelevant to any law enforcement need”
That isn’t what law enforcement says. https://www.npr.org/2019/01/11/684037990/border-patrol-makes-its-case-for-an-expanded-border-barrier
And who funds the Border Patrol?
I do. So do you. They appreciate our support, too.
Nope. It does nothing to stop that. Zero. Nada.
And Trump knows that. The whole purpose of the wall is to stoke racial division. The fact that anyone thinks the wall will do anything just demonstrates the level of ignorance being pumped out by Fox News.
“Nope. It does nothing to stop that. Zero. Nada.”
OK, I’ll bite. You know that because you patrol a section of the border? Or you work in Border Patrol administration? Or you make your living as one of the foremost authorities on border protection?
Please elucidate on the source of your insights. Educate the poor deluded Fox News audience.
Mostly because the border is a couple thousand miles long. Ladders, ropes, tunnels – getting over the wall adds mere minutes to a border crossing. Even a child should be able to understand. Sadly, viewers of Fox News and other conservative media are ao misinformed, so prone to obviously false information, some of them actually believe it. And the Trump people who know its all nonsense are laughing at the people who think the wall does anything other than to stoke racial prejudice.
And who would be goofy enough to believe what Trump said, well, it appears lots of folks, Like the folks in Arizona that did themselves sin with the fish tank cleaner and:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=hospital+calls+about+disinfectants+
But don’t blame Trump, he is just the end result, (ignorance), of Fox and the right wing conspiracy theory/propaganda gang fighting against an intelligent America for what 30-50 years now? The dumber they make America the smarter Trump and those folks look!
Hmmm… In black and white, the President’s incoherence seems even more obvious than when I heard him say it live. That Mr. Trump possesses pretty much the same qualifications to be issuing medical advice or opinions to the public as he does to be governing the country seems equally obvious.
Alas, Trump loyalists, displaying a depth of intellect similar to that of their leader in the hours and days since Mr. Trump suggested exploring the efficacy of ingesting disinfectant as a means of treating COVID-19, have now reportedly made numerous phone calls to Governors’ offices in several states around the country, asking – they don’t appear to know, or even have an informed opinion – about the safety of such a practice.
The lesson Mr. Trump appears to have learned from his latest display of hubris is that he’s better off (as are we, though I doubt this was his primary consideration) if he just doesn’t answer any questions after a briefing. I’ve read that presidential aides are even suggesting that he not appear at such briefings at all – surely a blow to his strategy of turning those briefings into mini-campaign rallies. Apparently, when someone points out that the emperor is actually naked, the emperor, just as in the old fairy tale, doesn’t much care for the exposure.
Just one more dose of Covid covfefe
The debates should be fun, two guys word-salading each other tilting toward dementia, while we all pretend we aren’t voting for the Vice President nominee (Pence vs Michele Obama? aka Capitalist Theocracy vs Dynastic Capitalism?)
I agree. The debates will be epic. Can’t wait.
Enjoy the debates. There is no evidence they have any effect on the election.
Probably when Trump is acting like a man-child and Biden is acting like he belongs in a retirement home for patients with memory loss, most Americans will be so appalled they will opt out or vote for Mr Potato Head or whatever, which would definitely have an effect on the election.
The difference is that Biden knows enough to hire competent people and delegate to them.
He wouldn’t try to be a one man show.
Well, every president since Clinton at least “hired” alums of Goldman Sachs to run the economy, so I’m sure Biden will agree with Trump about who are the most competent adults in the room.
Perhaps you could clarify, what office, when you say economy you are talking Treasury? Those are the folks that have major impact on the economy, like the TARP program etc.
Two lists of Goldman Sachs alumni’s who went into gov, by no means comprehensive. Three Treasury Secretaries since Clinton, plus…
I did not bother to add lists of former Citigroup alum. But the point is, between Citigroup and Goldman, two of the most corrupt institutions in America, their alumni have quite effectively defined the course of economics since Reagan. This has been very great for a comparative few in America, and devastating over the long term for most people in America.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/goldman-sachs-alumni-who-went-on-to-wield-real-power-154002237.html
https://www.nationalreview.com/2010/04/obama-and-goldman-sachs-michelle-malkin/
Sorry dude, Here’s the list!
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=Treasury+secretaries+
Not seeing what you are seeing with the multiple click deep dive!
PS: We are talking Sec. of the Treasure not miscellaneous other folks, Kind of like saying ATT folks are all over Telecommunications.
The White House said the dimwit was musing when he told us to drink Lysol, or irradiate our bodies with UVC light. The problem is he is incapable of serious reflection or thought, so no, he wasn’t musing at all, merely confirming what a fool he is.
Then Sunday, he tweeted about hamburgers, spelling that word wrong, twice, and also misspelled Nobel twice again, and confusing the Nobel Prize with the Pulizter Prize – and yet, there are sentient people who continue to believe he’s the man.
And now, the ignorant racist is stopping his daily pressers, I guess because his idiocy is front and center for all to see. His decision is just another example of his dereliction of duty – what could be more important in his day than addressing the issue, well maybe golf I guess.
“The White House said the dimwit was musing when he told us to drink Lysol, or irradiate our bodies with UVC light.”
On the other hand, that’s the closest he’s come to proposing a health care plan.
Thanks for all the carefully worded sentences. My hats off to journalists who take the erratic and bizarre ideas of the spouter in chief and report on them with all the balance you do. .
I think it is notable that no Trump loyalists have spoken up to defend him from Eric Black’s commentary – which is, I think, objective journalism.
The nation’s distressing partisan political divide becomes widen and more ridiculous daily. More maturity is shown in some grade school playground fights.
That nation badly needs a viable, moderate third party.
I don’t think a third party is the answer. It’s not just that the wacky extremities of the left and right have the media spotlight, it’s that no intelligent, capable person would ever put themselves through the media meat grinder.
Justice Kavanaugh’s ordeal has made the very idea of running for office untenable for our best and brightest (Which, btw, begs the question of what the Democratic party plans to do about Tara Reade). Until we demand a return to a modicum of civility from all parties, but most especially from the press, we are stuck with the narcissistic megalomaniacs that remain.
Bret Kavanagh is not one of America’s best and brightest.
In fact, his emotional unbalance at the Senate hearing was so pronounced that it drew a condemnation from a retired Supreme Court Justice: This candidate does not have a judicial temperament.
Kavanagh was not a victim. he was the perpetrator of something awful that revealed not only his character (or lack of same), but of his sense of class and gender privilege.
When will Joe Biden address credible and verifiable Tara Reade allegations?
When Trump releases his tax returns.
That’s a fine false equivalency, and no a release of tax returns would not trigger the media to ask the questions that need asking, which is their job.
Rachel Maddow had one of the Trump tax returns, which was not that interesting. In 2005, he paid $38 million of income tax – an effective rate of 25%.
What is more equivalent is how Brett Kavanaugh was treated by the media. In his case, the accuser gave a completely uncorroborated account of an event of unknown time and place. A story Christine Blasey Ford’s friend Leland Keyser doesn’t believe; details follow.
Excerpt from the article linked below”
“The New York Times had a significant story to tell about Brett Kavanaugh. It’s this: In a new book, the Times reporters produced new evidence that profoundly undermined the central claims against Kavanaugh. Leland Keyser — Christine Blasey Ford’s friend and the person Ford herself testified was also at the party where Ford claimed Kavanaugh assaulted her — has stated on the record that she doesn’t have “any confidence” in Ford’s story.
“Not only does she not recall the specific party at issue, she doesn’t recall “any others like it.” Moreover, Keyser maintains this recollection in spite of a determined effort by old friends to get her to change her testimony — a pressure campaign that Keyser admirably resisted.”
https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/09/ongoing-smear-campaign-against-brett-kavanaugh/
Yes, Mr. Rose, I have seen from your exhaustively researched comments that you have a strong objection to false equivalencies and deflections. I’m sure you wold never respond to, say, a comment about Trump’s unkept promises with a recitation of “if you like your doctor . . .”
No, such a cheap trick would be far beneath your dignity.
You work in false equivalencies in the way in which an artist might work in oils or clay. Obama’s ACA whopper about saving $2500 per year has cost me and many Americans thousands of dollars every year for the past ten. The President not releasing tax returns has only cost me your two cents. Harmless.
“Obama’s ACA whopper about saving $2500 per year has cost me and many Americans thousands of dollars every year for the past ten.”
Is that why Trump proposed that great plan that was going to cover everyone, and do it more cheaply? How much has waiting around for that one set you back?
The President you support is a crook and a liar, Mr. Rose. No amount of “What about Obama and Hilary?” will ever change that very simple fact.
Support? What have I said in support of our President? Something from your exhaustive research of my comments?
Words fail me. They really do.
That is a Trump-level denial.
Your assumptions fail you. Couldn’t find anything.
To use a favorite retort around these parts, that’s a false equivalent and silly to boot.
Biden is going to have to explain himself, and Trump’s tax returns are not forthcoming, ever. Of both those things there can be no doubt.
“Biden is going to have to explain himself”
Yes, he will.
“and Trump’s tax returns are not forthcoming, ever.”
Despite the fact that he promised he would. You’re okay with the Great Helmsman breaking his word, as long as you can find a way to snipe at a Democrat.
I really couldn’t care less about his tax returns. Don’t care if he said he’d show them, don’t want to see them. If there was anything shady, the IRS would have taken care of it.
Trump’s tax returns and Mexico paying for the wall…who knew the nights it would keep liberals awake?
“If there was anything shady, the IRS would have taken care of it.”
Shady has always been his business model, but as long as he makes the lefties mad, you’re happy, right?
How concerned were you when the ignorant racist continued to press for President Obama to release his birth certificate? I’mma guess here, but probably not too much.
First of all, Kenya isn’t a race.
Beyond that, you’re right. I didn’t care about Obama’s birth record any more than I do about Trump’s tax returns, and for pretty much the same reason; irrelevant, useless information that will change nothing.
He has addressed them. When will Trump address the dozens of women who have claimed he sexually assaulted them?
Do tell, what did he say? His campaign stating that the accusations are false isn’t addressing it.
At this point, it is journalistic malpractice for those interviewing him not to ask about Reade’s corroborated account.
Perhaps he could say she wasn’t his type. It seems to have worked for the other guy.
Or did I miss the many times you highlighted the hypocrisy of those who are giving a pass to the many sexual assault allegations against Trump? I must have glossed over the times you said that his statements that the allegations were false is not good enough. Because you may not be a Trump supporter, I’m sure you let the welkin ring about his deeds.
And if reporters were to ask Trump about Karen McDougal and Stormy Daniels etc. every day you would call it fake news or harassment, we know how this never guilty or responsible unless its my way works.
They did ask about them, every day, for years. Finally, even the fake news got the joke.
You demonstrate my point. The press needs to go after these stories regarding Biden just as they went after similar stories regarding Trump. That is their job. I made no defense of Trump.
Dozens of women have claimed the ignorant racist sexually assaulted them, and you shrug, but 1 accuses Biden, and he’s got to be guilty – I see.
To use the Republican response, why didn’t she raise this at the time instead of waiting all this time?
One?
The idea that there is one woman with a Biden story certainly supports that this issue is being under-reported.
In this New York Magazine article, we hear the names and stories of the first seven women. There now is an eighth, and there will be more that will come forward.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04/joe-biden-accuser-accusations-allegations.html
This article is about admittedly creepy behavior, none of which rises to the level of sexual assault. If you think that this compares in any way to what Trump has been accused of by at least 25 women, you are clutching at straws to prove equivalence.
One might suggest it is hypocrisy to get in a high dudgeon about personal space violations while studiously ignoring the allegations against Trump (“That’s enough of that! On to Biden!”).
“There now is an eighth, and there will be more that will come forward.”
There “will” be? Wow. Does your prescience help you at the race track, or does it just take all the mystery out of life?
Clearly, you didn’t read the Tara Reade account. If you don’t think Biden sexually assaulted her, you need to check your standards.
Yes, my prescience serves me well, like when I stated right here on the MinnPost comment boards that Hillary Clinton would not be President.
I have read the Tara Reade account, or, more accurately, accounts. There are serious problems with the story, but I know that certain types automatically deemed it “credible” because it’s made against a Democrat rather than the Great Helmsman.
What serious problems? I have heard this same defense other places without specifics. You may hope that will make it go away, and it actually worked for three or four weeks. But, not any more; hope is not a strategy,
I understand that you desperately want Biden to be guilty, and nothing is going to shake your very firm conviction that he is.
I, however, along with (I suspect)many of us have better things to do than continue to hash this out. Have at it.
What is desperately needed is for Biden to receive the same media scrutiny as Trump regarding #metoo allegations.
To be frank, Biden has bigger electability issues. Hillary had some of the same issues and some other ones too, but she lead in the polls by a wide margin until the day after the election.
This CNN article tells of “the first detailed and on-the-record corroboration of Reade’s allegation against the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.”
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/28/politics/tara-reade-neighbor/index.html
CNN
Come on, CNN, Trump has already said they lie and are fake news, can’t trust them!
Yes, even CNN is too embarrassed to remain silent any longer. Hannity to CNN, and several whistle stops in between.
I don’t think you understand the rules. When the accuser of a Democrat is scrutinized, you’re blaming the victim and what about Clinton? The accuser of a Republican, on the other hand, must have every facet of her life examined and ridiculed, even in the most absurd manner (“She said she was afraid to fly, but she took a plane to Washington to testify!”).
The irony is, they all claim to object to hypocrisy and double standards.
Clearly, you don’t understand the rules.
Headline: “Believe all women’? Now that Reade has accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, never mind.”
Excerpt: “But the calculus has suddenly changed now that it is a Democrat on the receiving end. Many in the #MeToo movement have traditionally interpreted the noble goal of eradicating sexual violence from our society to mean that you must “believe all women.” Now, those same people are backtracking on their own advice.”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/04/29/joe-biden-tara-reade-sexual-assault-allegation-me-too-column/3040158001/
“A New Account Bolsters Tara Reade’s Allegation Against Joe Biden”, according to Mother Jones News on Tuesday (4/27).
https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2020/04/joe-biden-tara-reade-business-insider/
If it isn’t FOX and or far right wing its all fake news! Them is the Trump rules, how come you want to keep changing the Trump rules?
Not a claim I made.
Your reaction to the Mother Jones article?
Really, Ronan Farrow? If the Tara Reade story supported the narrative that Farrow wants to promote, he would have written it a month ago.
In September 2018, Farrow first revealed the content of a letter for the New Yorker, that accused Kavanaugh of holding down a girl at a party and attempting to force himself on her as a high school student in the early 1980s. The allegation was widely covered across the media the same day Farrow’s piece ran. Blasey Ford’s identity wasn’t known, no journalist had spoken to her, and no one had corroborated her accusation. Reade’s story has all those elements missing from the Blasey accusation published by the New Yorker.
That is an indictment of Farrow’s journalistic standards and those of the news outlets that re-reported his “story”.
Who are “you people”?
Headline: “Law professor says response to Biden allegation could signal ‘end of MeToo’ movement”
Excerpt: “Activists who have fought to change society’s response to women coming forward with allegations of sexual assault have said former Senate aide Tara Reade’s accusation against the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden presents a challenge, The Washington Post reports. Many activists, the Post reports, want to ensure President Trump, who is the subject of multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment himself, is defeated in November, but there is also concern that a lack of scrupulous investigation into Reade’s claims against Biden — who has denied them — could be damaging to the movement overall. “I think that this could potentially be the end of MeToo,” said Michele Dauber, a Stanford University law professor who heads the Enough is Enough Voter Project. “The failure to investigate, and the failure to live by our principles, will become silencing.””
https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.yahoo.com/amphtml/law-professor-says-response-biden-183759434.html
The Washington Post and Stanford University are certainly not conservative institutions. True supporters of the #metoo movement aren’t willing to throw it under the bus by giving a candidate a pass; those that would use the movement for their own purposes are willing to sacrifice it in a vain attempt to protect someone deserving of examination and accountability.
Putting aside the allegations, Kavanaugh was an unfit and unqualified judge. The laughable notion that he was among the best and the brightest is just proof of the brainwashing of Fox News.
And so, I take it, you are proposing something precisely midway between a cult of nihilism and an imperfect democracy. I’m interested to know what you would call that.
A third-party is often touted as a panacea to our political ills. Why? Can a third-party offer more than “We’re neither Republicans nor Democrats?” What would a third-party hope to accomplish?
“Moderate” is a term so overused that it has become meaningless.
Hugh Hewitt is like the Republican’s Michael Cohen, only smarter, an amoral lawyer who can argue whatever side the party needs to smooth over a PR fiasco. Eight years ago his client was Mitt Romney and he was a fierce deficit hawk (Obama was president, natch). His hero isn’t Trump, it’s Hugh Hewitt.
“Republican leaders need to acknowledge the reality of the situation. They need to intervene.”
No they need to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove this dangerous sociopath – even a snake handling, speaker in tongues like Pence is preferable at this point.
The 25th Amendment relies upon the worst Trumpian stooges and sycophants–his Crackpot Cabinet–to take action. That is beyond impossible.
Repub “leaders” (i.e. McConnell’s Majority) had a tailor-made chance to remove this mentally unbalanced and power-abusing authoritarian from office in January 2020, via the House’s impeachment and trial. They elected to treat the charges as a joke that should be ignored, despite the overwhelming evidence presented. Party over Country, Always.
Expecting Repub leaders to act for the good of the nation is Waiting for Godot. There’s no way out now.
You may have heard, 2020 is an election year. The President is running for re-election, and again the American people have the right to choose. If they want to throw Trump out, they will. There is no need for the House or for the President’s Cabinet to undo the election, to disenfranchise millions of American voters. I can tell you really want that, and you are not alone. But, that’s not going to happen.
So, actions allowed under the Constitution of the United States shouldn’t be used?
That’s mighty rich.
All of those Constitutional actions are available, as they should be. Which ones have given you your desired results? Do you favor them over the ballot box?
Hard to take any politician on the national stage seriously these days – and it will only get worse as November approaches.
Actually, when you eliminate most of the dingbat Republicans in office (Lindsay Graham, anyone? Jim Johnson?), there are a lot of really talented, smart, dedicated political figures who are ready and willing to help the United States as a nation of people. Not a Trump, Trump, Trump place where everybody around him has to behave as though he were The Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland.
Most of the bright politicians are Democrats.
The ultimate R mistake is that they were incapable of accepting an improbable victory in 2016 and tempering it with:
“You know, he is not a conservative, has a shady background as a business person, questionable morals and really has a hard time with the truth. He has to prove himself in office and if he does not we must be ready with primary challengers who reflect our conservative values.”
The reality became best exemplified by Mitch McConnell who privately has said Trump is the dumbest person he has ever met in politics (Mitch no doubt knows politicians from local Soil & Water Commissioners to the President, and rates Trump the dumbest) and has shown no courage what so ever to do anything about it.
The inmates are running the asylum and they all have red MAGA hats on.
All Biden has to do to win is adorn every bill board available with:
“I’m not a jerk! Vote for me!”
Well, I suppose the high point of being a Trump supporter was the glorious day he attained office through the anti-democratic mechanism of the electoral college, which assured that he could not possibly be considered a legitimate president in any sort of objective sense. For conservative coaches like Hewitt and the online Trumpite foot soldiers that show up at Minnpost, it’s all been an exhausting rear guard effort to defend the indefensible ever since. Once more into the breach, good friends…
It’s reached the point that no defense is even attempted by Dear Leader’s “conservative” defenders, simply Machiavellian ends-justify-the-means rationalizing by hard core rightists who have now made clear that they will support to the bitter end a completely unqualified serial lawbreaker with extreme personality disorders in order to obtain their (democratically illegitimate) rightwing judges and justices. While Mr Tingsdale also mouths support for Trump’s (unconstitutional) “wall” protecting him from drug mules (actually hapless refugees), methinks his heart is not really in it. Not hard to understand after 3+ years of constant struggle.
As the global epicenter of the Covid pandemic, we are the only advanced nation not to have a national strategy in place for combating the virus, as a result of “conservative” ideology, Trumpian incompetence and the (inevitable) partisan politicization of the pandemic. But the (rightwing extremist) judges!
Why is nobody pointing out that Donald Truimp is not working at his job?
He watches TV all morning, every morning. The he goes back to TV wstching in the evenings, when he’s not on an unsecured private cell phone he uses to chat with his buddies (not experts in any field but maybe a business like real estate).
Trump has been refusing even to listen to a special-for-Trump-who-won’t-read five-minute oral summary of the daily intelligence briefing presidents normally receive. He has been doing about 90 minutes each day of campaign rallies, called coronavirus briefings, so he’s able to vent on whatever, insult whomever, ignore scientists and medical experts and do the “preening” he seems to need so badly to shore up his very unstable and needy ego.
He’s by far the laziest president this nation has ever had. Yet no one is calling him out on it.
And this is the man who accused Barack Obama of playing too much golf.
His laziness minimizes the damage, maybe?
But Connie, Trump has tweeted that he is (in reality) the “hardest working president in history!”
And his chief of staff (Tea Party extremist-extraordinaire Meadows) has revealed that his most difficult job by far is to ensure that our self-denying MAGA Martyr has eaten his lunch!
This is more than adequate reassurance for a card-carrying cult member, although one would naturally have wished Trump’s tweet to be in ALL CAPS to ensure the highest level of truthfulness and reliability….
“And his chief of staff (Tea Party extremist-extraordinaire Meadows) has revealed that his most difficult job by far is to ensure that our self-denying MAGA Martyr has eaten his lunch!”
The mental image that sentence conjures up is priceless.
“Come on, Mr. President, here comes the choo-choo train! Open up the tunnel!”