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Donald Trump: “If Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps, I would be dating her.”
President Obama: “As the father of two young daughters, I know that being a father is one of the most important jobs any man can have.”
‘Nuff said.
Photos | politicususa.com; Pete Souza/The White House via AP
This past week, after the horror in Orlando, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee called President Obama an ISIS sympathizer. He then followed that up with telling Republican Party leaders who criticized him to either support him or shut up. He’ll run his own damn campaign, thank you!
Hardly the actions of a serious presidential candidate, ya think?
To the chagrin of the GOP establishment, Trump remains stuck in primary election mode. There is no modulating his divisive rhetoric to appeal to a broader general election populace. With the most recent ABC News/ Washington Post poll showing Trump is disliked by 70% of all American voters, can there still be any question about Trump’s true desire to be our nation’s next Commander in Chief?
Yesterday, Vanity Fair put out a report that could very well make sense out of this whole mishegoss.
“Trump is indeed considering creating his own media business, built on the audience that has supported him thus far in his bid to become the next president of the United States,” said Vanity Fair writer, Sarah Ellison.
Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, and owner of The New York Observer, was quoted as saying, “We’ve triggered a base of the population that hasn’t had a voice in a long time.”
That Trump wants to create Trump TV by making sure the inevitable happens in November makes perfect sense and explains why the former TV reality star is acting in the most “unpresidential” manner that he can. He wants to keep that 30% of the American public who support him entertained and primed to back his next business venture.
Of course, Hope Hicks, Trump’s spokeswoman, vehemently denied such a thing.
“There is absolutely no truth to this whatsoever,” said Hicks. “This hasn’t been even uttered. Not even thought about.” Such a strong denial from the Trump camp can only mean one thing … there is an element of truth to the story.
Whether or not Trump is crazy enough to try to establish his own media empire, ala Rupert Murdoch, after his landslide loss, he surely is not crazy enough to give up all the perks and luxuries he currently enjoys for the god-awful task of actually governing! Does Trump, and his lovely wife, Melania, really want to step-down from gilded penthouses to the relative spartan White House? Would you?
Photo |conservativetribune.com
After locking up the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, Trump promised, and GOP elites believed, he would act “more presidential.” He would now tone down the hateful rhetoric used to vanquish his 16 primary opponents. He would stop his brutal attacks against Hispanics, blacks and women. He would somehow unite the party.
The most powerful elected Republican, House Speaker Paul Ryan, bought the line, as did many powerful members of the donor class.
The new softer, gentler Trump never emerged, however. He has stuck to the same maliciousness used during the primary campaign.
In a new ABC News/ Washington Post poll, Trump’s previously high unfavorable ratings shot up to a new staggering level: 70% of Americans have an unfavorable view of the Republican nominee.
The poll, conducted June 8-12 among 1,000 adults, showed 77% of women held an unfavorable view of the purported “billionaire.”
Trump also had devastatingly high unfavorable ratings among African-Americans (94%) and Latinos (89%).
With numbers like those, Trump stands no chance of winning the presidency.
Why would Trump continue his divisive ways? Why wouldn’t he take the advice of his party’s elders and pivot into a more appealing general election candidate?
The answer is obvious. He does not want to be president. Or more preciously, he knows he cannot be elected president.
I believe what Trump is doing, now that he’s hijacked the Republican Party, is using it as a vehicle to lay the groundwork for a new political party he will head. The party will be made up of mostly white, angry, blue-collar voters. The White Nationalist Party might be a suitable name.
Trump is not adopting a more measured tone as the GOP presidential nominee because he does not want to alienate his ardent followers who will stick with him no matter what. They like their man just the way he is: irreverent, obnoxious, bigoted, politically incorrect and dictatorial.
It is hard to believe but the purported Republican presidential nominee has been able to seriously play Republicans for the suckers they are.
Photo | businessinsider.com
I started a joke which started the whole world crying
But I didn’t see that the joke was on me – “I Started A Joke,” Bee Gees
For those of you old enough to remember, the Bee Gees had a hit single in 1968 entitled, “I Started A Joke.” The song is best known for its haunting melody and perplexing lyrics.
When Robin Gibb, the song’s lead vocalist, was asked to explain the meaning of the tune, he answered, “The listeners have to interpret it themselves, trying to explain it would detract from the song.”
I always felt the song was about unintended consequences. But lately I’ve come to realize, while partially right, the song was a musical forewarning of Donald Trump’s presidential bid.
No, Donald Trump did not start his bid to become the Republican Party’s presidential nominee as a joke (although some may disagree here). I believe Trump saw the presidential race as an inexpensive, surefire way to promote his brand. This view is actually confirmed by many former Trump campaign staffers who admit Trump just hoped for a good showing in the primary.
To almost every political analyst’s amazement, Trump’s racist, divisive, hate filled message resonated with the bulk of Republican voters. The Republican establishment, who never took Trump’s run seriously, is now looking at Donald J. Trump as their party’s presumptive presidential nominee.
But the joke isn’t only on the Grand Old Party; it is also on Trump himself.
Trump’s ego has so gotten the better of him that he is now doing the opposite of what got him into the presidential race in the first place. He is severely damaging the Trump name.
What Trump has worked so hard at doing, i.e. promoting the Trump brand to be synonymous with class, luxury, and glitz, has gone up in smoke in only a matter of months. The Trump name is now more associated with bigotry, stupidity and lack of sophistication.
Ego can get the better of us, sometimes; especially for a narcissistic con man like Trump.
The Bee Gees had another hit single much later in their career that also foretold of how Trump would con his way to the top of the Republican heap … “Jive Talkin”.
Photo | smoothradio.com
Racism has been a plague on our nation from its founding. It has flared and ebbed over the years. It has been directed at different groups, at different times, but it has always been passed down from generation to generation to ensure its ugliness never dies. A child has to learn to be racist.
Despite the fairy tale told by Chief Justice John Roberts nearly three years ago, when he sought to justify the striking down of the key component of the Voting Rights Act, racism in our country is far from a thing of the past.
“Our country has changed,” Roberts wrote in his opinion, Shelby County v. Holder. It has wiped away so much of its racist past that the “extraordinary measures” employed by a key provision of the Voting Rights Act could no longer be justified.
The very next day, after this “extraordinarily” horrid decision, states that had been covered by the Act started proposing legislation to make it harder for certain folks, mostly the poor and African-Americans, to exercise their constitutional right to vote!
What’s truly astounding is that nearly a half dozen states immediately moved ahead with restrictive voter ID laws, some of which had already been rejected as discriminatory under the Voting Rights Act!
You didn’t have to be a constitutional scholar to know what an abomination the Supreme Court’s decision was.
But it wasn’t until the emergence of Donald J. Trump that we truly discovered exactly how wrong was the Court.
Donald Trump launched his bid for the presidency by labeling Mexicans “rapists, criminals and drug dealers.” Of course he did not stop there. His hate speech soon covered Muslims, Asians, and blacks. His rhetoric became so popular with his supporters that he just kept doubling down with his racist rants.
And now he is the presumptive Republican presidential nominee! Even some stalwart Republicans have started to decry Trump’s over-the-top racist rhetoric.
What helped Trump most in securing the Republican nomination was that no other candidate spoke in such pure, overtly racist language. No more dog whistles here! Of course, Trump loyalists just eat up all the bile that emanates from the “billionaire’s” pie hole.
Trump is a man, say his supporters, who “tells it like it is” and who is unconcerned with political correctness. This, apparently, is what the Republican base had been wanting for so long.
It was only a matter of time before Trump supporters felt comfortable enough to show their inner, latent racism. What had been kept in check – concealed – was now on proud display.
Trump, in a real way, signaled it was OK for racists to come out of the closet.
The ‘n’ word has been popping up more frequently on social media and in public discourse lately. Latinos, Muslims and African- Americans are often beaten at Trump rallies for daring to protest the racist hero… all with the blessing of the dear leader.
“If you get sued ‘knocking the crap’ out of protesters,” Trump promised, “I will pay your legal bills.
Hey, if the man who might become our next president thinks it’s all right to call a spade a spade (no pun intended), why shouldn’t I be free to express my sincere, deeply-held hatred?
Donald Trump has single-handedly set back race relations in this country to the 1960s. I fear what he has uncovered and unleashed could take decades to repair … even with the inevitable loss Trump will suffer at the polls in November.
While Trump may soon be removed from the national political stage, his many loyal followers will still be around displaying their newly green-lighted “open carry” racism.
Photo | cnn.com
What happens when you cook up a scheme that will make you some easy money, through failure, but instead, your hoped-for bust turns into a booming success?
Of course I have just described the plot of Mel Brooks’ “The Producers,” a play and movie exploring the hilarious consequences of unintended success.
“The Producers” is the story of two theatrical producers, Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, who scheme to get rich by setting out to produce the worst play ever written, getting rich old ladies to back it and then skipping town with the money once the show is a total flop. Complications arise, however, when the play, “Springtime For Hitler,” unexpectedly turns out to be a hit!
I can’t help but think of Herr Trump when I reflect on Brooks’ comedic masterpiece.
I am convinced Donald Trump entered the Republican presidential race as an easy and inexpensive way to promote the Trump brand. He had not intention of seriously contending for the Republican presidential nomination. Trump’s own former strategist, Stephanie Cegielski, confirmed the con.
Said Cegielski, “Trump never intended to be the candidate. But his pride is too out of control to stop him now… What was once Trump’s desire to rank second place to send a message to America and to increase his power as a businessman has nightmarishly morphed into a charade that is poised to do irreparable damage to this country if we do not stop this campaign in its tracks.”
Could Trump have made the non-seriousness of his campaign clearer from day one? No genuine candidate for the presidency has ever kicked off his presidential run by calling Mexicans, “rapists, drug dealers and criminals.”
But a funny thing happened after Trump threw his sombrero into the presidential ring. Instead of his offensive comments costing him support, his poll numbers skyrocketed. And that has been the story all the way up to Trump’s securing enough delegates to become his party’s presumptive nominee.
Like Bialystock and Bloom, Trump failed miserably at failing.
But, in the end, Trump will get his intended result … he will not be president. Intentionally or not, he sabotages his campaign with each passing day. There is hardly any voting bloc left Trump has not dissed or offended.
Unfortunately for Trump, instead of enhancing his brand’s reputation, it has been severely tarnished. Talk about ironic, unintended consequences!
The brand that Trump has fought so hard to make synonymous with luxury, glitz and glamour is now one drenched in bigotry, hatred and exclusion.
Photo | thehardtimes.net
Texas U.S. Representative, Louie Gohmert, is the latest Republican to turn down Donald Trump’s offer to be his VP pick. This latest slap in the face has left the Trump campaign in a complete state of chaos.
Gohmert makes the 25th Republican politician to refuse Trump’s rose. Said a Trump spokesman, who requested to remain anonymous, “In our wildest dreams, we did not believe we would ever be in this position.”
The Trump campaign, along with the entire world of political pundits, believed Trump’s first VP pick would grab the chance at being Trump’s number two man… well, woman. Sarah Palin had lobbied hard for a second shot at the second spot but, in the end, she developed a serious case of cold feet.
“I really wanted to do it but I thought I should first check in with my lord and savior for guidance,” said Palin. “He didn’t come out and specifically tell me Donald would lose the presidency but he strongly hinted at that.”
“I really enjoyed campaigning with John last time around,” Palin continued. “I just didn’t think I could take another loss. And anyway, my life is going great! Did you know I am going to have my own Judge Judy-type TV show soon?”
The anonymous Trump spokesman confirmed there would be a new game plan going forward. The list of potential VP picks would now be made up of only non-politicians. The word is that Trump would like another celebrity to join him on the ticket.
Some names that have been rumored to be on Trump’s list are: Joe Pesci, Clint Eastwood and Ted Nugent.
Trump recently stated if he does not find a running mate soon, he would be more than happy not having one.
“Look, I am the smartest person I know. I’ve always worked better alone. Why do I need a VP anyway?” asked Trump. When confronted with the fact that a vice president is required under our Constitution, Trump morphed into his testy self.
“There are a lot of things in the Constitution we do not follow!” bellowed Trump. “Hey, we had a Canadian running for president for god’s sake! This would not even be as close a big deal as that!”
Get ready Joe for that big phone call!
Photo | breitbart.com
In breaking news that is sending shock waves throughout the political world, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, has just named Bernie Sanders, the Democratic socialist senator from Vermont, as his running mate.
The announcement was made hours ago by the former rivals at a press conference held at New York’s Trump Tower.
“I am happy to announce Bernie Sanders will be my running mate in our effort to keep ‘Crooked Hillary’ out of the White House,” said Trump. “Yes I have called my running mate ‘Crazy Bernie’ but I meant it in a good way. He is crazy like a fox!”
Asked what lead him to agree to be Trump’s number two man, the 74 year old Sanders did not mince words, “Look, Donald and I basically have the same message, namely that our political system is rigged and corrupted by big money. Only a revolution will change the status quo. Look at how the GOP tried to prevent Donald for becoming its party’s nominee? Look at how the Democratic establishment fixed the primary contest against me? That Wasserman Schultz had it in for me from day one.”
Political analysts are still trying to digest the blockbuster news.
“It actually makes a lot of sense on a number of levels,” said one pundit. “Bernie and Trump are both calling for a complete political upheaval. Hillary represents more of the some old, same old. The appetite for a revolution is strong on both sides of the political spectrum.”
“I think if there was a Trump-Sanders ticket they would pretty much win the election and it would make history in our political process and possibly end the two party system,” said Quora contributor Albert Huang, adding that “the parties would try whatever they could to prevent it with their delegate bull***t but there would be widespread revolt from millions of voters if they were not allowed to run in the general election.”
It is well known that many “Bernie or Bust” supporters have pledged to either sit out the presidential election or vote for Donald Trump. The newly formed ticket makes it easy for them to vote and eases their conscience. For Trump supporters, many of whom think Hillary Clinton should be in a jailhouse rather than the White House, Bernie is seen as a steadying, experienced hand for the sometimes “erratic” Trump.
Hillary Clinton is not taking the latest news well. Word has it she will be looking for a non-political VP pick; one with a large ego, like Trump and some celebrity panache. Some in the Clinton camp have already started floating the name of Mark Cuban.
Warning: For those about to have a conniption, just satire, folks!
Photo | burlingtonfreepreess.com
Donald Trump has a way of disparaging his opponents by giving them childish nicknames. Who can forget “Low Energy Jeb,” “Little Marco,” “Crazy Bernie” or “Lyin’ Ted?”
As silly as all this playground nonsense is, Trump’s names are short, catchy and they tend to stick.
Now Trump has saddled Hillary Clinton with “Crooked Hillary.” Clinton needs to beat Trump at his own game by coming up with a similarly silly sobriquet for the TV reality star.
How about “Don The Con” or “Con Man Don?” Either of these names would work well because, however silly, as with any good nickname there is an element of truth associated with the put-down.
Of course, Hillary herself would not hurl the disparaging nickname at Trump. That would be for her surrogates to repeat on a steady basis. Clinton does not have to get down in the mud with Trump.
As it is, the Trump name has lost much of the seductiveness it once had prior to Trump’s entering the presidential race. According to a report issued by Hipmunk, an internet travel booking and data service, reservations at Trump-owned properties have plummeted by nearly 60% over the past year!
Why not bash the Trump brand some more by associating the purported billionaire with the word “con?” Why not take some of that luster off a brand Trump has arduously sought to make synonymous with power, luxury and greatness?
In advertising, short and catchy phrases are what the consumer remembers. A good, memorable phrase seems to somehow stick in the subconscious. Who can forget “Stronger than dirt” (Ajax) or “Finger lickin’ good?” (KFC)
Yes, Hillary needs to brand Trump as the con artist he is. “Don The Con” or “Con Man Don” would do just fine.
Photo | rt.com
So much for the new and improved, more-presidential Trump!
After employing a scorched-earth policy to secure the Republican presidential nomination, Trump promised to be more gentle, more kind in his bid to become our nation’s 45th president.
“I can be more presidential than anybody, if I want to be. I can be more presidential than anybody,” Trump has said. Not sensing the contradiction in his statement, Trump went on to say, “I’ve said this a couple of times, more presidential than anybody other than the great Abe Lincoln. He was very presidential.”
Following his big win in the New York primary, Trump actually pledged to be more presidential, joking, “I will be so presidential, you will be so bored.”
The hope among establishment Republicans was that Trump wanted to be more presidential going into the general election. No more of the racist, sexist, divisive, hate-filled rhetoric he so masterfully used to vanquish his 16 primary opponents. And, for a while (two-three days), many within the GOP bought into this promised transformation.
Paul Ryan, the highest ranking Republican, certainly fell for Trump’s pledge, finally endorsing the billionaire, TV reality star.
“I feel confident he would help us turn the ideas in this agenda into laws to help improve people’s lives. That’s why I’ll be voting for him this fall,” Ryan wrote in an op-ed for the Janesville Gazette of Janesville, Wisconsin.
He added, “It’s no secret that he and I have our differences. I won’t pretend otherwise. And when I feel the need to, I’ll continue to speak my mind. But the reality is, on the issues that make up our agenda, we have more common ground than disagreement.”
Just one day after Ryan’s endorsement, Trump was back to his old tricks, criticizing the judge presiding over his Trump University fraud case as unfair because of the many rulings against him … because he is “Mexican.”
Trump’s offensive comment against U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel was followed by a similar attack on Muslim judges. Asked if he believed a Muslim judge would be unfair to him in light of the fact that he has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, Trump replied, “It’s possible, yes. Yeah. That would be possible, absolutely.”
Remember Trump’s comment that he could be more presidential … if he wanted to be? He doesn’t.
Trump will never morph into a more presidential candidate for one simple reason … he does not want to be president. This has been confirmed by former staff members and is born out by common sense.
A presidential candidate cannot alienate so many segments of the American voting public and still expect to win office.
This is only my guess but Trump is sticking to his racist, hate-filled rhetoric because he is planting the seeds for a new political party… one headed by Herr Trump for all the white racists who now form a significant part of his base.
Photo | snopes.com
