I look forward to the day, soon I hope, when I can stop obsessing on Donald Trump. It would help if he would concede the election, but I’m not counting on his better angels to win that battle over his id.
The smart analysts are all saying that he has no realistic hope of reversing the outcome of the election, even after packing the Supreme Court after stating explicitly that he is counting on “his” justices in case of an election dispute. I’m not sure why the smart analysts assume that that “his” justices” won’t come through for him, but I’m living in that hope and in their confidence.
For the moment, he hasn’t conceded nor ever, once, promised to leave if he loses.
Ironically (if that’s the word I want), if the remaining not-fully-counted states go the way they are leaning, Joe Biden will win the electoral vote by 306-232, which is the same as the count by which Trump won in 2016 (if we disregard a small number of “faithless electors” in 2016 who were trying to throw the election into the House).
This irony has been remarked upon. An electoral margin of 74 is a solid win. But for some reason I keep remembering that Trump in 2016 explicitly called that margin a “landslide” and even a “massive landslide,” for reasons that seem too obvious to explore here but which would be fine starting place for a 1,000 page work on the lies and deceptions and ignorance and egotism of the soon-to-be-former president. Or would 1,000 pages be enough?
In fact, it was not a “landslide” then, nor now, because the absurd magic of electoral votes more often than not leads to a much bigger margin than the national popular vote margin. Roughly no one, outside of Trump’s family and dependents, saw his 2016 win as a landslide. And, of course, everyone other than the Trump family understands that Trump was one of just five out of 58 presidential election winners who managed to win the electoral vote while losing the popular vote, thanks to the adorable Electoral College system.
The buffoon isn’t doing anything that was not expected. The most generous analysis I’ve seen is that the guy just needs time to deal with his loss and he’ll come around in the end even if he won’t say anything remotely meaning, “I lost.” It’s all about him instead of the usual transition in the midst of a surging pandemic, with a crippled economy, and in a world where our standing has been eroded. That’s a whole lot better than this adolescent bully is going to wreck as many things as he can before he finally gives up, I guess.
He’s going to continue to act like that because of gutless Republicans like Graham, Mitch, Cruz, etc. And because of his cult who still see him as someone invincible, despite loads of evidence to the contrary. Here, in a county where he got nearly two-thirds of the vote, I expect to see the “Trump 2020” flags continue to flutter until they’re just tattered strips of blue cloth.
One of his strategies I’ve seen theorized is to get this delayed long enough that he can pressure a couple or so state governments to assign electors who will throw the votes to him in contravention of the will of the voters.
Well, I guess Trump has delivered one thing:
COVID19 crowd common sense will keep those Biden inauguration day crowds down and insure Trump can claim to have had a BIGGER inauguration day.
Probably a thousand lives have been saved by not holding a 2021 Trump Inauguration super spreader event.
President Trump won more votes than any other presidential loser, including Hillary. So he has that accomplishment on which to hang his hat. Perhaps it is that victory that will, finally, make The Donald tired of winning.
He also lost by more votes than any presidential loser.
There’s about an 8 million vote gap between what Trump lost by in 2016 and what Biden won by in 2020. Again, says something about the electoral college and the will of the people (the voters).
Irony is lost on fascists. And authoritarians.
And make no mistake, what we are watching is a very serious attempt by a fascist regime (and movement) to illegitimately hold onto power, despite the will of the people. The fact that it appears most elected Repubs are going along with the gambit demonstrates that Donito Trumpolini is simply not going to transfer power peaceably. He has already instructed the Trumpite head of the GSA to refuse to issue the documents that allow the Biden transition teams to get access to government resources, with no real basis for delay. The more Trumpism resists, the more fascist it (necessarily) becomes.
When the polls start coming out, I’ll wager we are very likely going to see that 95% of people who voted for Trump will agree with the corrosive lie that the election was (somehow) “stolen”. What we now have are rightwing conspiracy theories without even an attempt at a “theory” behind them, They are now nothing more that mere assertion: “Mass cheating!” “I got more legal votes!” “I got 70 million votes, so I must have won!” (the fact that Biden got more is meaningless, because democracy in now meaningless to the Trumpites.) The bare assertion is all that is needed.
How is this mass delusion being perpetrated in 2020? Via the nationwide “conservative” disinformation machine that the rightwing plutocrats have constructed. Via Rush’s ReichsRadio and Facebook “group”. Via smartphone text coming from the Trump machine. In short, via a propaganda machine that Goebbels and Stalin could only dream of.
This anti-democratic, irrational lunacy is not going to go away quickly, since fascist and authoritarian regimes (historically) do not peaceably relinquish power.
“He has already instructed the Trumpite head of the GSA to refuse to issue the documents that allow the Biden transition teams to get access to government resources, with no real basis for delay.”
An interesting first test for Biden.
He spoke of his ability to work with the “other side” in his long political career. Getting Senate R leadership either vocally or behind the scenes to get the transition started ASAP is the test.
If this stretches later into the week without definition we have a problem. McConnell should quietly tell Trump now to get this started immediately and if he does not he will start squeezing his members to make “It’s time to accept the results” statements. 90% Of these guys are secretly happy to see Trump go and just want a way to send him down the road without alienating Trump Nation.
Well, if 90% is the correct number, then why are so many (Cruz, Graham, McCarthy, the many “legal team” heads, etc) out there actively advancing the lies about a “stolen election”? They could just remain quiet and let Trumpolini hang himself, but instead they are actively aiding the fascist regime’s attempt to remain in power. Which makes them enthusiastic fascist as well. That’s what I see, anyway.
And now the failed strongman is out “terminating” the Defense Secretary as retribution for refusing to do some illegal act or another. More firings and national sabotage will follow, as Trump now starts to take out his rage at the nation that “failed” him. We’ll forgo the analogy to Hitler’s final days here, but Repubs will have plenty of chances to stand with fascism or democracy in the coming days.
I predict very few Portraits in Courage. Will the House need to impeach him again?
“Well, if 90% is the correct number, then why are so many (Cruz, Graham, McCarthy, the many “legal team” heads, etc) out there actively advancing the lies about a “stolen election”?”
Hmmm….
Flexible morality I would say.
I cannot believe Cruz just forgives and forgets that Trump accused his Dad of plotting with Oswald to kill Kennedy and his wife was a crook. That Graham meant it when he said: “You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell,” and still does. Same for Rubio and all the little Marco stuff. They and their Senate R comrades are still so afraid of Trump nation that they do not know what to do next and doing the right thing is not traditionally their first reaction….
Just out that Trump has fired SEC DEF Mark Esper, still peeved that he did not give him proper support during Summer protests.
Again, time for the Senate leadership to constrain the Presidential child by widely agreeing through official statements that Biden has won and it is time to move on as Trump pursues whatever legal avenues he has available to him.
70 Days of chaos to come…
Eric:
No, a thousand pages would not NEARLY be enough to contain all of Trump’s lies, deceptions, ignorance, egotism, etc., etc., etc. I’m not sure a million pages could contain them all. I keep hoping that someone will persuade him to bow out gracefully, but grace is just something that is not in his very limited vocabulary, is it? Rev. Franklin Graham supported President Trump during his presidency – might he somehow be willing to count on his (Trump’s) “better angels” to leave with some semblance of dignity intact? I don’t see how Paula White, Trump’s Spiritual Adviser, could be of much help right now. Last I saw, she was praying for angelic forces to dispel the demonic forces keeping this 2020 presidential victory from DJT.
Please, I don’t mean to poke fun at spiritual things – I am a Christian and a follower of Jesus – I just never understood how any evangelicals could possibly support such an apparent hypocrite/liar/division creator, as Donald J. Trump seemed to be. Perhaps Vice President Pence can speak to him – it’s time to move on with a small amount of dignity and grace, even if it has to be faked, which I have no doubt it would be.
How? a paraphrase quote from HD Thoreau: “Civil Disobedience” They serve the devil as god and not know the difference.
Thoreau might argue that America serves Mammon/Devil, and calls him either God or a material universe devoid of agency.
Not only did white evangelicals support the Serial Adulterer In Chief, they could hardly have been more enthusiastic. So much so, one might wonder if they forgot that commandment about false gods.
Sorry Eric, Trump and his corrupt family are not going away, they are already campaigning for 2024! He will try to regain the spot light day 1 out of office with more lies and falsities, (the Trumpian republican party) He won’t ever concede and may not allow a transition until the Secret Service walks him out the door, he and his minions fascist followers would rather see the country burn to the ground, just ask Esper!
Wonder if Esper knows people who could disconnect power and plumbing into the White House? It probably has generators and water supply, but three months worth? Imagine if Trump had to go three months without washing his hands!
Trump can issue all the self-pardons he wants, pardons for his adult children, and his closest associates. While I don’t see Trump himself running again in four years, I do see one of his sons, or perhaps even Ivanka, seeking the Republican nomination.
They may, but Nikki Haley or another young non-Trump-connected Republican is more likely to get it.
And besides, Trump can only issue pardons for Federal charges. The New York courts are after him on both civil and criminal charges, and Cuomo ain’t gonna let him walk.
Eric, re the analysts saying there is no realistic hope for Trump to prevail “even after packing the Supreme Court after stating explicitly that he is counting on “his” justices in case of an election dispute”: I think the point is that there is a difference, which we have no reason to think Mr. Trump’s narcissism allows him to understand, between ideology or legal philosophy and legal distinctions as to matters of fact, i.e. evidence or the lack thereof. One hopes it would be difficult, regardless of ideology, to find even one, let alone five, members of the Court who would be willing essentially to say that fiction is fact. It’s one thing to pack the Court with folks who espouse “conservative” ideologies, and another to imagine five legal scholars who would basically take the Court to Wonderland. The elected Repubs who are going along with him for the moment are doing so either (i) for political, rather than legal, reasons or (ii) because they don’t get it, either. That said, it’s scary to recognize how precarious it feels even to say that!
WHY do so many still expect things from Trump that he simply does not have in him, and so can never produce???? Even those who claim to revile him and see through him still think he is capable of cting with class and grace ultimately. ***NO.***
Well, Justice Kavanaugh did state his opinion that counting all those mail-in ballots had the potential of “flipping” the election-night Trump victory in on-the-election-day ballot count, and that would be awful. Justice Kagan (or Sotomayor?) had to point out that, until all the ballots are counted, there is no election victory to “flip.” Kavanaugh was repeating a Trump fiction in direct contradiction of any democratic [small “d”] system’s essence of waiting for all the voters to decide.
Doesn’t inspire one to trust the Supreme Court. At least the weakish ones Trump has appointed.
Kavanaugh was referring to late arriving ballots. The so called “waiting for all the voters to decide” is a sham process. So how long shall we wait ? If you state 7 days, i say 70 days. If you say 70 days i say 700 days ? Haven’t you heard of mail arriving late ? So maybe a ballot will also show up after 10 years.
Excellent use of reductio ad absurdum!
The time period for receiving absentee ballots after election day is set by state law.
the Pennsylvania ballot delay that Kavanaugh was ruling on, WASN’T passed by its legislature. Would help if responses and original posts are based on facts not absurdium
I recognize from many of your posts that civics wasn’t your strong suit in school. But, seriously, you should at least get a passing familiarity with the legal and Constitutional reality before going all-out hyperbole. There is no slippery slope. Where courts prevented “extending” deadlines, state law either had: 1. no specific recognition of a deadline after election AND no specific recognition of power granted by the legislature to a non-legislative body/individual to deal with election matters; or 2. state law expressly identified the deadline as being on or before election day. For MN and PA, courts held that the late arriving ballots be held separately regardless of the status of #1. In any case, any “late” arriving ballots that were counted or are yet to be counted are provided for by each individual state law. The Constitution grants the states (and particularly their legislative bodies) power over the presidential elections processes. Here’s how each state treats “late” arriving mail-in ballots: https://www.ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/vopp-table-11-receipt-and-postmark-deadlines-for-absentee-ballots.aspx While there might be a way for some states to accept ballots for longer than the 7 day period you mention, the Constitution does set an absolute deadline on when the new president must be inaugurated (January 20). Thus, 700 days isn’t possible. Furthermore, Federal law (as empowered by the Constitution) sets an absolute deadline for when the Electoral College votes must be in (4th Wednesday in December), so 70 days isn’t possible, either.
One more thing that will really blow your mind: many states have laws that allow for a general presidential election to be postponed due to an emergency (you know, like a pandemic). Theoretically, any state that had such a law could postpone their election until the day before the 4th Wednesday in December, and it would be legal under the Constitution and Federal law.
If you believe civics was your strong supposed strong suit, i urge you to have a rethink before “explaining” the Constitution to me. Your statement ” the Constitution does set an absolute deadline on when the new president must be inaugurated (January 20). Thus, 700 days isn’t possible. “, isn’t backed up by any fact. The 20th Amendment Section 3 allows for a scenario where a President is NOT inaugurated
“If a President shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the President elect shall have failed to qualify, then the Vice President elect shall act as President until a President shall have qualified; and the Congress may by law….”
Furthermore I’d be more than happy to point you to the Presidential Succession statute that governs this. It contains the words “Absent a clear winner of the presidential election on January 20, ”
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/19
If you need any more clarification of the Constitution, Judge Kavanaugh’s referral to the PENNSYLVANIA legislature (which is the constitutional authority) NOT PROVIDING for any such extension or any matter i’ll be glad to help.
Just to clarify:
1. Kavanaugh was writing in a case involving WI, not PA.
2. Historically, and until this election, courts have been considered to have the power to interpret state law regarding elections, as well as protect the right to vote.
3. Kavanaugh’s statement that courts have no power to interpret state election law and protect the right to vote is contrary to precedent, and is (another) example of his far-rightwing extremism. As was predicted when he was confirmed.
4. The various legal sources you are citing are concerned with making sure there IS a president on Jan 20.
You’re welcome, and have a good day.
1. Kavanaugh was writing in a case involving WI, not PA. – Stand corrected. The WI legislature passed no ballot extension deadline.
2. courts have been considered to have the power to interpret state law – Prove it, with prior cases.
3. Changing of ballot date is not an interpretation. It’s rewriting.
4. The various legal sources i cite point clearly that the constitution envisages a situation where there’s no President by Jan 20.
“Furthermore I’d be more than happy to point you to the Presidential Succession statute that governs this. It contains the words “Absent a clear winner of the presidential election on January 20, ”
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/19”
No, it doesn’t.
Wrong link. https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/does-the-constitution-allow-for-a-delayed-presidential-election
” power to interpret state law” – Still looking forward to show me which case law allows a State Court to change the law as being discussed (ie. valid last day for ballots)
“One more thing that will really blow your mind: many states have laws that allow for a general presidential election to be postponed due to an emergency (you know, like a pandemic). ”
The problem with this uber argument, you know the pandemic, is that the pandemic was well known for months and months and months before the election. And the Pennsylvania legislature obviously felt the multiple weeks (6-7? ) given to mail your ballot in was more than sufficient.
The Constitution thereby provided Pennsylvania legislature, every opportunity to extend the ballot deadline, but they chose not to.
I didn’t say that any state decided to do that. It’s simply a power that the legislatures have. That is, there is no requirement for states to require any ballot to be cast on or before election day at all. So, all this fuss about election day as being a deadline on a federal level is misguided.
Nowhere did i state that theres a federal deadline. I was pointing at state courts changing the ballot deadlines in my “slippery slope” argument. Your entire statement was in my response to state courts changing, not legislatures changing ballot deadlines.
The point that you’re missing is that all the ballots counted were cast on or before election day. In the real sense, there ARE no late ballots, just timely ballots arriving late.
The law is very clear. A ballot that does not arrive by election day is NOT a ballot. If you want to change that the Supreme court is pointing to the legislature. Each voter had about 7 weeks to track and mail their ballot. If they can’t do it in that time period, tough luck. The endless excuse machine has to stop.
At some point everyone agrees on a law or not. Not start rewriting rules during the election based on what one thinks what it should be. Republicans are doing the same shenanigans i disagree with.
Which law? In some states that’s true, in others it’s not. So, there is no “THE” law. States decide what counts as a ballot within the boundaries of the Constitution and Federal law.
” that the Supreme court is pointing to the legislature. ” – We were discussing Kavanaugh and the Wisconsin state law.
Actually, that’s completely false. 100 percent wrong. The ballots are to be segregated, but there has been no finding that they aren’t valid ballots.
Conversely it hasn’t been ruled that they are legal ballot.s
Looks like we’ll have at least another three months without an effective Federal government.
Putin and Kim must be doing a high five (or a low one — neither one has much in the way of stature).
Insert “Congress” for Federal and expand your timeline. When was the last time Congress passed a budget rather than a continuing resolution? And there you have it….
With McConnell running the senate, it’s at least 2 years of disfunction.
Any thought that any GOP leaders might act like adults, slip on their big boy pants, & stand up to Don Trump have vanished with Mosocw Mitch’s pandering today.
“I look forward to the day, soon I hope, when I can stop obsessing on Donald Trump.”
Don’t we all? Readers? Agree or disagree? Please be honest.
I might actually prefer Eric Black obsessing about Trump, to Eric Black making excuses for Biden making war or exacerbating income inequality. Time will tell.
Indeed it has.
Welcome to the 21st century.
I read something yesterday where Trump’s former fixer, Michael Cohen, was asked to give his opinion. I did find his prediction interesting … Trump will continue to cause chaos through November and into December. In December he will head to Mar-a-Lago for Christmas and just not come back to the White House. His legal team has to know these lawsuits aren’t going to gain traction; recounts aren’t going to change the results, only delay things. In the meantime, he can quietly issue a string of pardons for himself, his adult children, and closest associates. He’ll hole up at his resort through January, and the GSA will have to be sued and court-ordered to participate in the transition. This will all be chaos.
I hope he pardons Snowden and Assange. And then if the Commentariat here and Dems generally have a collective freakout, anyone with eyes open can see the Democratic Party is a party embracing total surveillance, eternal war secrecy and the opposite of transparency in all things.
Again, he can only issue pardons for Federal charges, not State (NY) ones.
There is a sad class of abused female spouses,…
whose strength and assertiveness has been physically or emotionally beaten out of them by the families, communities of faith and social communities in which they were raised,…
who will nearly always seek (unconsciously) to regain that strength by developing deep emotional (I can’t live without you) attachments to the strongest men.
Even if those men are routinely belligerent, enraged, and abusive,…
these abused spouses continue to feel that overpowering emotional attachment to them,…
and feel their husbands’ have every right to act this way (because they were abusively raised to believe this to the core of their beings).
Such spouses will stay forever, no matter how bad it gets, and weep broken-heartedly over the casket of their spouse, should he die before them,…
and after a spouse dies, will (unconsciously) seek someone just like him for their next relationship.
What does this have to do with the cult of Trump?
In those same “conservative” families and cultures in which the members of the Trump cult were raised,…
the top dog, top daddy, or top patriarch in the family is empowered,…
to beat out of every other male in that culture, emotionally or physically,…
those same attributes of strength and assertiveness.
Those traumatized, damaged, wounded men,…
then seek men who appear to be “top dog” types to whom they can emotionally attach themselves,…
in order to as if they are whole people, again.
(Many also attach themselves to large firearms which serve that same purpose.)
It’s really just like falling “in love,” in the “I can’t live without you sense,” though they would never, ever, call it falling in love, since homophobia is required of acceptable males in these cultures.
They are completely emotionally dependent on their attachment to that “top dog,” for the their sense of strength and well being.
Being rejected by, or having the object of that attachment taken from them,…
as will happen if and when Trump fades into obscurity,…
threatens to leave them feeling weak, unable to control their own lives,…
and deeply broken-hearted.
They will do almost anything to prevent that from happening;…
anything to prop up their “top dog.”
Their desperate to believe almost anything required to convince themselves that he’s STILL the “top dog.”
What’s worse, is that, like that abused woman whose abusive husband has died,…
they will now go on to look for a new “top dog” to which they can develop a similar irrational emotional attachment,…
no matter how likely that new “top dog” seems to others to turn out to be an abusive creep.
If we do not find a way to repair the damaged psyches of all those,…
especially men, but some women, as well…
who have been raised in abusive, “conservative” homes, churches, and communities,…
we will be in even GREATER danger of descending into fascism after Trump is gone,…
as his cult members desperately search for a new and even MORE toxicly masculine “top dog,”…
especially since there’s a great deal of money to be made by the media,…
in attracting these damaged, wounded people,…
pouring salt on their wounds and further damaging them, through massive misdirection and misinformation,…
and pointing them toward identifiable groups of others as the source of their (internal) misery,…
and guiding their search for a new “top dog.”
In all of this “Conservative” media is the functional equivalent of “Agent Smith” from the Matrix movies,…
seeking to take over the personality of every single person in the nation.
“There is a sad class of abused female spouses,…”
Pretty much everything that follows this sentence is a combination of blaming the victim and armchair psychologizing half the country into damaged goods.
Ah…
So the shoe fits so well,…
that it must be reflexively dismissed,…
without even considering the reality expressed.
There is a nut of truth in every stereotype and caricature we make of people to tear down their whole being with.
That such a preening, weak, cowardly, boastful and obviously stupid blowhard as Donald Trump (a man both afraid of and contemptuous of military service!) is seen as a “strongman” by those whose minds (male and female) have been poisoned by the “toxic masculinity” life-model is really quite a mystery.
It is, however, the truth.
For four years I have been hearing what a fascist Trump is, here in Eric Black’s commentariat. Never mind, if he were really the fascist he has been anointed by Dems, Eric Black and half of this commentariat wouldn’t feel so free to call him a fascist for four years.
I mean really, who cares about Mark Esper? What, he got fired, so now that makes him one of the good guys? Meanwhile, word is Biden would choose Michelle Fourney as Defense Secretary, who was an architect of the demolition of Libya, who is arguably more of a war profiteer and surely more of a hawk than Esper, but she is one of the good guys too because the good guy Biden would choose her?
If you all want to talk authoritarian, what is twitter and media generally and the intelligence community coming together to excise an article based on facts that is critical to Biden, keeping that article from the public eye? Authoritarian, that’s what.
“I mean really, who cares about Mark Esper? What, he got fired, so now that makes him one of the good guys?”
No, although I understand he was fired for a “good guy” reason (refusal to deploy the military to quell protests. We don’t care about Mark Esper so much as we care (or should care) that there is no Secretary of Defense, or any Senate-confirmed appointee overseeing the country’s military. There is an acting Secretary, chosen solely for his loyalty to Cadet Bonespurs.
But hey, Biden is not going to appoint the peace committee from a liberal church to head the Defense Department, so *&^% ’em both.
It is possible to be a weak fascist.
That’s why the moniker ‘Trumpolinni’ is so apt.
Trumpolini?
Mussolini ruled for 21 years. His highly organized blackshirt squadrisimo were in the habit of brutalizing and disappearing their political opponents, increasingly so over time.
Speaking of the false equivalency I am ever accused of here, Trumps record is vastly more equivalent to Obama’s than el Duce’s.
Get to year 21 of Trumpian rule and then let me know how the el duce comparison shakes out.
All we know is years 1-4 and el duce like Trump came from a media inspired following, initially emphasized a strong nationalism theme, sought to vilify and eliminate the opposition and then built from there.
Geriatrics don’ t make great el Duce’s. Trump in 17 years will be 91, and likely dead well before that.
If Nationalism leads to fascism as you assume, then does internationalism lead to love bubbles and enlightenment? Because it seems to me the more distant the “landlord” the greater the abuse. I’m not sure why we can’t have love of country and an appreciation of our global humanity, without ceeding power to fascists or corporatists or oligarchs or international tribunals or any other PTB.
With 70 days remaining in his term, a U.S. president suddenly fires the Secretary of Defense – the THIRD SecDef of his administration. Why bother to do that now? Agent Orange, he who admires the “strength” of Czar Putin and Emperor Xi, is “in love” with the butcher ruling North Korea, and is denying electoral reality, now wants someone “more loyal” in charge of our Armed Forces. This action, coming at this moment, is VERY ominous.
There is “classified” information that details how there was collusion between many parties in power trying to remove Trump on mostly specious accusations of his supposed collusion with Russia.
Director of National Intelligence Ratcliffe released some of that, part of it revealing Brennan wrote a memo to Obama that the Hillary campaign was cooking up a plan to attach Trump to Russia, and shortly after the campaign and Obama brought it up to the media, Aug 2016 (Major media has mostly ignored this/run cover for it.)
Torture maven Gina Haspel and Esper are/were sitting on similar info, so Trump, if he is going down, wants to take down with him those who tried to take him down illegally.
In order to advance the interests of a now openly fascist regime, the complicit Repub party, most especially Moscow Mitch, is now endangering national security by ignoring Trumpolini’s instructions to his courtiers to refuse to work with the incoming Biden admin, including instructing his ethically compromised lackey heading the GSA to refuse to “acknowledge” Biden’s win. Add in Trump’s illegal move to install another lackey as Defense Secretary for a 2 month period, after “terminating” the confirmed Secretary without explanation. All without comment by the increasingly fascist Repub party, once seen as the “national defense” party. No longer, that’s for sure.
And it makes not the slightest difference to the ditto-head dead-enders who can’t wait to flock to Trump’s final Nuremburg rallies, frothing at the mouth over obvious lies from the mouth of a pathological liar. Anyone who thinks this is going to work out well for the nation can’t think straight. For this we can now largely thank Mitch McConnell, the Gravedigger of Democracy. It appears he has finally finished the grave!
Let’s not forget, Trump called an election where he lost by three million votes, a landslide. Trump can’t be cited as an authority on anything because he doesn’t make an effort to say true things. He just says things that make him feel better at any given moment.
Maybe Trump was right and there WAS fraud involved.
Given how much Trump’s apparent vote exceeded the polls, something smells fishy. Trump has a pattern of accusing others of his own crimes.
Mr. Trump has receded into a place where reality doesn’t affect him. I believe this is due to the verbal abuse which he has received during his time as president, and long before that. If his niece, the psychologist, is right about him, his mentality won’t allow him to recognize his likely loss.
What ails me is the constant harping of my Democratic and other friends which are vitriolic and which continue to stun Mr. Trump into his place of fear and regret. He has a different way of relating to truths than most people. We should recognize this and not react in a caustic manner to his behavior. Reacting in a caustic way to his behavior may give us a sense of vindication for the years of his lies and crude behavior, but it only makes matters worse as Mr. Trump continues to recede and is comforted by sycophants who support him regardless of the effect he has on society and history.
While I am a Democrat and voted for Mr. Biden, I agree with Senator Mitch McConnell in his statement to the effect that Mr. Trump has a right to contest the election. While he will likely not find anything that will aid in his attempt to win, it is his right.
A Facebook friend of mine who was a CBS local news anchor in Duluth, Minnesota, has indicated that nine senior attorneys from Mr. Trump’s chosen law firm of record are concerned that their firm may create a nuisance to democracy by aiding Mr. Trump. They are also concerned that he will not pay his bills, as has been true of Mr. Trump and his organization in the past.
Mr. Trump is a very sad man who has wrestled with reality and grandeur his entire life. While I hope that this episode will end with Mr. Biden being the next U.S. president, I wish Mr. Trump peace and calm. He has led a troubled life. Several years ago, he stated that becoming president of the United States was on his “bucket list” of things to do before he dies. He thinks only of himself, which so many people who are against him also think of when they see him flailing around with his tweets and his firing of officials.
May there be mercy for all of us.
This election was a unique failure for Trump. His prior flops have been either dealt with by an infusion of his cash from his father, were blamed with some justification on market conditions, or spun as a clever business strategy (bankruptcy). It was never a real failure, and it was never really his fault.
This time, it’s different. The election cannot be reversed or papered over by an infusion of cash. Deutsche Bank doesn’t have that much money. Losing an election is not a sophisticated strategic move that cannot be appreciated by the “disgusting” people he wouldn’t let into his golf clubs. It’s not losing the popular vote but winning because of the Electoral College. He lost this election, and he lost it because of his performance in office and his personality. This time, it’s all on him.
Losing this way must be a hard pill for him to swallow. Sure, he can keep fighting, but the enthusiasm he used to get from his supporters is bound to go away soon. All he will be left with is the rantings of a few fringe conspiracy theorists. Crackpots on the internet are no substitute for an arena full of followers.
I appreciate RB Holbrook’s steady manner and considerate and thoughtful tone. Mr. Trump has had a lot of leeway, which money and “reputation” can buy. A lot of people believe that billionaires lead a life which is either pristine or which is marked by constant deceit. Neither two within this dichotomy is completely accurate. Most of us, including billionaires, lead complex and often complicated lives. Limiting our thoughts to either one hand or the other, or right-wing versus left-wing, or Democrat versus Republican, leaves us blinded to the complexities in life — and the options we may find to alter our realities.
An old friend of mine, actually, two old friends of mines, are the nephews of two different billionaires: one who has lived in New York City throughout his life; the other which lived in Santiago, Chile, throughout his life. The nephew whose uncle lived in New York was a hippie and is still a hippie — someone who threw out the sense that being in business or in the military were the only way to go, and who threw out many (not all, by any means) conventions. “K” is a considerate and well-spoken man. He is a chef. His ability to hold a conversation is great and profound. He is diplomatic, but often very pointed, without being rude, when disagreements follow in a conversation. “C” is a traditionalist. He went to a Jesuit day school in Genoa, Italy. He is a non-practicing Catholic and social scientist with an interest in economics. He received a $40 million gift from his family when he turned 18, most of which is held in an Italian financial society (sort of like a trust fund), which is taxed at a high rate when it is cashed out at any level. He, too, is a great conversationalist and highly interested in crime stories, travel, history, and an enjoyable and sometimes macabre and ironic sense of humor.
K hasn’t let his family’s prestige, gained from the New York City garment district, interfere with his sensibility about treating people with dignity for the decisions they make about their lives. On the other hand, C can be very judgmental if he disagrees with something, to the point of cutting them off from his life, which happened to me in our friendship after 21-years. His family were movers and shakers at the pinnacle of one of the hottest department store corporations in the Americas. Sadly, he has been lonely and to the point, I believe, of being brittle. His uncle’s wealth, like that of K’s family wealth, rivals that of Donald J. Trump, our current U.S. president.
Getting back to Mr. Trump, he grew up in a family which was very focused on creating wealth. His grandfather and dad were magicians in business, even though some of their practices included either traditionally immoral behavior or outright illegal behavior. I say these things having read about the family and having also seen a movie about the Trump Family. Members of his family who brought home a lot of money were entirely mission-focused and left little room for the niceties found in humanism and glowing warmth and acceptance of the children who decided to march to a different drummer. Marlo Thomas, an actress and writer, produced a a collection of stories entitled “Free to Be You and Me.” I speculate, but I don’t believe the spirit of that work was recognized as the way that some of the Trump family permitted their children to grow up.
It is with this understanding, despite the radical ills that Mr. Trump’s continued presence as a U.S. politician or other political leader, that I have encouraged readers to refrain from vitriolic statements about Mr. Trump. They only intensify his anger and mission to “lead” in his style of leadership. They cause him intense discomfort and lead him farther from the type of man we hope to see of U.S. political figures.
However, I am encouraging people to be honest and thoughtful in their responses for how Mr. Trump might go about his life as President of the United States, for as long as he may be a U.S. president or other political leader. Using vitriolic language offers no rewards other than an emotional surge that we feel good about getting something off our chest. It offers no thoughtful and succinct alternatives to how he might go about life. Sarcasm rarely works with people who do not are about what others think of them.
Mr. Holbrook held the sort of line that I appreciate when discussing people who are so far removed from sensibility and civility as Mr. Trump appears to be at this time in his life.
Clarification on President Trump’s family: They were never indicted or convicted of a crime (referring to his dad and his dad’s partner). They were investigated for profiteering, but nothing moved forward. The Eisenhower Presidential administration, however, tightened restrictions on businesses so that the actions of the Trump family could not be used again in a lawful manner. I apologize.
Trump’s grandfather came from Bavaria and made his fortune in the Alaska goldmine era brothel and bar business in the 1800’s. Men and women came together at the business, for a fee, and became enebriated and had sex on the property. His grandfather was also shrewd, and found ways to save money rebuilding his business after a tragedy.
I found a C-Span interview with New York Times Best Seller David Cay Boyle Johnston, about Donald Trump, on Youtube at about 3 :00 a.m. hours after my last two posts. Boyle Johnston has interviewed and studied Trump for decades, and has spoken about him to television audiences around the world.
The run time is short of 53 minutes and goes by in a flash. It is highly educational and very entertaining. People from all backgrounds who are willing hear and see anecdotes about Trump and his family should enjoy this and may find that it turns some minds to another view of Trump — noting that the author, a seasoned investigative reporter who seeks truth and has faced (and ignored) intimidation from lawsuits by Trump and others, has found information and dirt on the President dating back decades.
While this isn’t vitriolic, it likely brings Mr. Trump discomfort. That is not my intention — and my earlier comment that his family had engaged in illegal behavior in the 1950’s was an error on my part soon corrected (before publication) after I checked the facts, and apologized with the word “clarification” (which is more aptly a correction).
Here is the link to the video, which I believe is entitled “What Donald Trump Does Not Want You to Know”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8bAHb4yVko
I appreciate your empathy. It’s something I used to have circa early 2016 and before.
But I do have to point out that, while Trump’s behavior is likely in great part the product of his upbringing, many of his behaviors are objectively immoral and/or illegal. That is, his behavior has passed the point of simply being boorish and overprivileged. Yes, he likely suffers from a number of pathologies. The same is true of millions of other Americans–most Americans will suffer some form of mental illness over their lifetimes. It is also true of pretty much any person who winds up in prison for a number of harmful social behaviors, from drug use to murder.
However, there is a difference between committing harm under the influence of an illness that does not allow you to know you are committing harm and knowingly committing harm. The former should be treated differently than the latter, and there are clear signs that Trump is in the latter category. I’m not saying that the latter does not deserve a fair trial, due process, and freedom from cruel and unusual punishment under the law. But I am saying that Trump deserves no kid gloves or gentle treatment by society, particularly given that he has neatly and deftly socially engineered things to create a hostile social environment for his “enemies.” He has openly egged others on to do awful things to people he disagrees with. Remember the guy who sent bombs to Obama, Pelosi, and others because Trump told him to? Well, Trump can say he didn’t because technically he didn’t, but he knows very well the power of suggestion on weak minds. He knowingly incited others to commit crimes. He knowingly lied to the American public. He’s currently working on a coup–we have a new president-elect and he is withholding the tools he himself had when he was president-elect so that he could effectively take control when his term started. Why? I’m sure he’s afraid that the moment he leaves the White House, someone will have cuffs ready for him. He’s probably right. It’s the first time that he might actually have to live with real, dire consequences.
Tough.
We do not throw mores out the window out of pity. No, we shouldn’t be cruel to others, especially when they are broken in so many ways. The problem is, Trump is so thin skinned that you don’t have to be cruel for him to behave like a caged animal. And he can call people names, like snowflake, Sleepy Joe, Crooked Hillary, Shillary (obsessed much?), and we’re supposed to just turn the other cheek? We’re not even allowed to say the truth about him, like that he lies almost all the time, because it will hurt his feelings. He feels like a caged animal, but he’s the one who set the trap, and society will do what societies do. My empathy is tattered and diminished. Because of him. I can’t, and I won’t, feel guilty for not wasting it on him. I feel bad enough that he’s ruined it for people who probably do deserve a chance at redemption.
Rachel,
Thank you for your response. My hope is that once Mr. Trump is out of office, he stands trial for any crime he may have committed. My basic concern is for the vitriolic language that so many people have been using about the man. It only drives him further into his place of evil. I have seen people with personality disorders react to the kind of hatred that Mr. Trump has experienced throughout his term. I know that vitriolic language does no good for anyone. While it may make us feel as though we’ve gotten something off our chest, the bad stuff just keeps happening.
There is likely nothing anyone can do to change Mr. Trump’s behavior. What I would like to see is a full psychological check-up for all U.S. presidents during their annual physicals. I would like to see the 25th Amendment in place and used for presidents that show themselves to be severely mentally ill. As one with moderate depression (low energy and a lack of interest in doing the things I once did), and anxiety disorder from having been physically abused for many years in my youth, I have experienced the types of testing that I would like to see done on presidents. They can be very helpful in determining the mentality of a person, and can be extremely helpful in developing diagnoses and a plan of action to both assist the patient and to create a plan of how others close to the patient can respond to their malaise.
This individual, Mr. Trump, does not see a value in getting psychological help for himself. I have found therapy to be both extremely helpful and rewarding. With my experiences in mind, I try to be empathetic to even people who I do not like. I hope readers understand my take on Mr. Trump and my encouragement to not use vitriolic language. I want to see Mr. Trump out of office just as most others do. He has created harm to our standing in the world, and he has fomented anger and criminal behavior on the part of his less intelligent and educated followers. The divide that we are seeing in our nation right now is extremely saddening for most people around the world. I have friends in Europe, Africa, and Asia who have taken news of Mr. Trump’s apparent loss as a good tiding. I hope, once Mr. Biden is in office, we can again work toward becoming a nation which is not so divided and which can create value for all of us.
There’s also a lack of documentation that Grandpa Drumpf entered this country legally.
If he entered before 1924, he entered the country legally (assuming he was not Chinese). THere were no restrictions on European immigration before that.
OK, Eric, he’s been defeated. New topic, please …
I don’t put it past Trump to try every dirty trick in the book to stay in power (with willing support by his fawning enablers). I’m not breathing a sigh of relief until January 20 when Biden is installed in the (hopefully freshly sanitized) Oval Office and Trump is off the premises.
Until then (and probably for a while after) Trump will continue to give Eric rich source material to write about, and I welcome him to do so.
Yes, but he, his sycophant courtiers, his enabling party and his propagandized base have not accepted his (obvious) defeat and are marinating in a tsunami of baseless lies and fevered conspiricism about “vote fraud”, apparently across six or more states, while refusing to begin the routine steps to transfer power to the winner. Which is rather unprecedented in the modern age.
And this is the most important topic that exists as of Nov 10, 2020.
I briefly read today that Senator Mitch McConnell would not accept President-elect Biden’s choices for cabinet members. If this is true, he is carrying his role to consent to a point that I believe no senate leader has ever done before and interfering with the role of the president to choose leaders. He has already denied President Obama his choice of supreme court justices.
This is an ominous time in the U.S.
It’s not so much that Mr. Duncan is incorrect, though he sometimes is. It’s that most of the points he’s raising are irrelevant – proverbial red herrings, tossed in various directions. Voters were not given a choice between The Devil Incarnate and The Messiah. The choice was between two elderly, affluent white males: on the one hand, an emotionally-damaged bigot with massive insecurities and a narcissistic streak a mile wide on the one hand, and on the other hand, a long-time politician who has lived a materially-comfortable life punctuated by personal tragedy, and who, through most of his career, has been far more closely tied to the financial industry than I’d like to see in any elected official.
In the few days since the election, Trump has revealed himself to be more of a traitor to the United States than I thought he’d be willing to show the public quite so blatantly. Mitch McConnell, Mike Pompeo have earned the label “traitor” as well, and more than 40 Trump allies in the Senate are not far behind, having foregone even the notion of serving the nation in favor of maintaining power at any and all cost. I won’t live long enough to read it, but I certainly hope a credible historian is able, at some point in the future, to lay out for a reading audience just how Trump was able to get so many formerly-decent (at least in their public personas) public servants to abandon what used to be their principles, not to mention their loyalty to the nation and the Constitution, in favor of licking the… um… boots of someone who so obviously is devoted only to himself.
Pompeo earned his traitor stripes when he left Ambassador Marie Yovanovich to bleed out on the field of battle in order to cover his own, substantial rear end.
If this is what a guy who was #1 in his class from West Point see’s as honor, his fellow cadets should lead the charge to keep this jerk from ever holding an important government position ever again: Go back to Wichita and return to scramming the US on airplane parts…
“I won’t live long enough to read it”
The first draft of history begins with the release of the unredacted Mueller report.
The Roger Stone stuff unredacted during/after his trial offers a few morsels of the blatant Trump disregard for the law. Stone earned his pardon not through DJT friendship and generosity, but DJT butt covering.
A perfect gift from the Biden DOJ to the Trumpian crowd.
Mr. Blaise,
You may be interested in the C-Span interview I spoke about a few frames up. I believe the run time is 52 minutes and 12 seconds: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8bAHb4yVko. It is hardly a dry interview. The journalist who was interviewed is very candid and outgoing.
He wrote the book: The Making of Donald Trump.
I see it as an overdeveloped sense of contrarianism.
“It’s not so much that Mr. Duncan is incorrect, though he sometimes is. It’s that most of the points he’s raising are irrelevant – proverbial red herrings, tossed in various directions.”
I only appear this way because I am being projected upon by those who see profound evil on the Right and little but the greatest of good on the Left. That I dare to question the policies of Democrats gets me thrown, in the eyes of many here, into the camp of the evil right, no matter how much the reality does not fit.
Future historians will criticize the Right of today, as well as the Left, for having undermined the people of America in favor of centralized power. The only difference is, who is the centralized power, undermining America.
“Future historians….will criticize….centralized power”
Um, no, most of them won’t.
The Constitution intentionally sets up a central, federal government of certain powers. Being overly concerned with the very existence of “centralized power” as “undermining America” is traditionally a far-rightwing obsession.
Leave aside the fact that, absent a “centralized” government (with power!), there is no possible avenue available to protecting the environment and 11,000 year old stable climate, one of your chief concerns, supposedly. To say nothing of addressing “income inequality”. (Yes, I know: “war profiteering!, CIA! NSA! Assange! Snowden!”…etc, etc…)
The centralized power I am refering to is our government captured by corporations, banks and billionaires, such that no legislation is made law no matter how much Americans want it, unless CBB agree to it, and whatever CBB want they get it even if the people are opposed.
Also this centralization refers to the monopoly/oligopoly controls of Amazon, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Major Media, Cargill etc
Ok, never mind, now I get it.
But why use “centralized” power when what you are really talking about is the exercise of corporate power? Which is not particularly “centralized” in any real way. These monopolies are each off doing their own thing in their assigned “market” fiefdom. Their goal over the past 4 decades has been to paralyze (centralized) government power. They (mostly) rely on government inaction and dithering, until they have crashed the economy.
Mr. Duncan,
A group of over two dozen CEOs from fortune 500 companies gathered this past week to discuss Mr. Trump and their desire to see him out of office. Mr. Trump is not the most enlightened person and his grandiose and narcissistic personality are proving to be a concern for those who work with wealthy people on a daily basis.