Archives for 2016

Recently, a new issue has been raised by the Trump camp … Hillary Clinton’s mental and physical strength (more precisely, the lack thereof) to be our nation’s next commander in chief. Trump and his surrogates are all over the airwaves questioning Clinton’s stamina. Of course, this is a subtle way of saying Hillary’s too old for the presidency.

“To defeat crime and radical Islamic terrorism in our country, to win trade in our country, you need tremendous physical and mental strength and stamina,” said Trump recently in Wisconsin. “Hillary Clinton doesn’t have that strength and stamina.”

Trump, who would be the oldest first-term president if elected, is questioning the energy and endurance of a woman who withstood an 11-hour inquisition by a Congressional panel investigating her role in the Benghazi tragedy. How laughable!

What about Trump’s health?

Well, we have the brilliant, but also risible, medical opinion of Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, who has stated, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

But surely Hillary Clinton is hiding something about her mental and physical condition, say conservative conspiracy theorists.  Is she mentally disturbed, unhinged, unbalanced or even incontinent?

Trump and his handlers know full well that if doubts about Clinton’s health are just vocalized, they will be believed by his gullible followers. And by questioning Hillary’s physical strength and stamina, they get a gender-age twofer, all for the price of one.

Here is Dr. Lisa Bardack’s statement regarding the health of her patient, Hillary Clinton, and the controversy surrounding “leaked” medical records:

“As Secretary Clinton’s long time physician, I released a medical statement during the campaign indicating that she is in excellent health. I have recently been made aware of allegedly ‘leaked’ medical documents regarding Secretary Clinton with my name on them. These documents are false, were not written by me and are not based on any medical facts. To reiterate what I said in my previous statement, Secretary Clinton is in excellent health and fit to serve as President of the United States.”

Will it be long before a congressional committee starts investigating the latest Clinton scandal … Dependsgate?

Photo | blackbag.gawker.com

In the good old days, presidential candidates were mostly truthful except for the occasional falsehood. Today, with candidate Donald Trump, it’s the inverse. Fact checkers have shown that only 9% of what comes out of Trump’s mouth is true or mostly true. In other words, a whopping 91% of what Trump says is half true, mostly false, false, or “pants on fire.”

Below is a link to Politifact’s list of false Trump statements:

All false statements involving Donald Trump

Below is a link to Politifact’s list of mostly false Trump statements:

All mostly false statements involving Donlad Trump

Why is a man whose default mode of speaking is to prevericate so popular with the Republican base?

Perhaps Sarah Jones, writing for Politicususa.com, said it best:

“They don’t care that Donald Trump lies; they love him because his lies soothe them. His lies appease them. His lies make them feel justified and righteous. His lies make them feel good about who they are. The voters are the children who do not want to be grown ups and the grown ups in the party have indulged them and fed them candy to keep from having to parent, and now they are stuck with a monster of a child.”

Photo | nextballotbox.wordpress.com

It seems at every turn, Donald Trump is sabotaging whatever chance he has of winning the presidency. Instead of pivoting towards the general election after clinching his party’s nomination, he remains stuck in the campaign style that brought him to the dance. Going against his own staff’s advice and the hopes of the Republican powers that be, Trump just keeps doubling down on his divisive rhetoric, committing one unforced error after another.

Since becoming his party’s presidential nominee, Trump has belittled the Muslim parents of a fallen soldier; suggested his “Second Amendment” people would prevent a President Clinton from appointing liberal Supreme Court justices; and, most recently, made the absurd claim President Obama is the actual founder of ISIS.

It is no wonder why more and more members of his own party are abandoning ship. The man just can’t find the resolve, or the desire, to change his ways.

“He can’t simply continue to preach to the choir and think he’s going to put together a coalition that will win the White House,” said Ryan Williams, a party strategist and former aide to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney. “He’s essentially guaranteeing that he will lose by refusing to clean up his mistakes and stop committing future ones.”

Some are calling Trump the candidate of self-destruction.

However, there are still those who believe Trump, even with his hateful form of campaigning, can win the White House. Hillary Clinton’s high negatives give the self-proclaimed billionaire a puncher’s chance.

Which raises the scary thought of a thin-skinned, erratic and vindictive Donald Trump as the nation’s commander in chief.

“I think anyone who listens to what Donald Trump has to say on foreign policy should be concerned, “said John Noonan, a former nuclear missile officer (and former adviser to Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush). “This is not the first time that he has talked about nuclear weapons in a reckless manner. Remember, he was interested in maybe having Japan or South Korea leave the U.S. nuclear umbrella and develop nuclear weapons of their own. That is contrary to decades’ worth of nuclear weapons policy and is, frankly, a terrible and dangerous idea.”

While many Americans have no problem with Trump being the candidate of self-destruction, they are terrified with Trump as the man with the nuclear launch keys. They rightly fear Trump as the candidate of mass destruction.

Photo | markamerica.com

The GOP is undoubtedly in meltdown mode. Many Republicans are refusing to support their party’s presidential nominee, while others are officially abandoning the Party of Lincoln.

Like other Americans of conscience, Chris Ladd, Texas Republican and founder of the website goplifer.com, is leaving his political party of thirty years. Below is his letter of resignation as a York Township Republican committeeman:

“The Iraq War, the financial meltdown, the utter failure of supply-side theory, climate denial, and our strange pursuit of theocratic legislation have all been troubling. Yet it seemed that America’s party of commerce, trade, and pragmatism might still have time to sober up.  

Remaining engaged in the party implied a contribution to that renaissance, an investment in hope. Donald Trump has put an end to that hope.

From his fairy-tale wall to his schoolyard bullying and his flirtation with violent racists, Donald Trump offers America a singular narrative – a tale of cowards. Fearful people, convinced of our inadequacy, trembling before a world alight with imaginary threats, crave a demagogue. Neither party has ever elevated to this level a more toxic figure, one that calls forth the darkest elements of our national character.

With three decades invested in the Republican Party, there is a powerful temptation to shrug and soldier on. Despite the bold rhetoric, we all know Trump will lose. Why throw away a great personal investment over one bad nominee? Trump is not merely a poor candidate, but an indictment of our character. Preserving a party is not a morally defensible goal if that party has lost its legitimacy.”

“Fast-forward to our present leadership and the nature of our dilemma is clear. I watched Paul Ryan speak at Donald Trump’s convention the way a young child watches his father march off to prison. Thousands of Republican figures that loathe Donald Trump, understand the danger he represents, and privately hope he loses, are publicly declaring their support for him. In Illinois our local and state GOP organizations, faced with a choice, have decided on complicity.


Our leaders’ compromise preserves their personal capital at our collective cost. Their refusal to dissent robs all Republicans of moral cover. Evasion and cowardice has prevailed over conscience. We are now, and shall indefinitely remain, the Party of Donald Trump.


I will not contribute my name, my work, or my character to an utterly indefensible cause. No sensible adult demands moral purity from a political party, but conscience is meaningless without constraints. A party willing to lend its collective capital to Donald Trump has entered a compromise beyond any credible threshold of legitimacy. There is no redemption in being one of the “good Nazis.”

I hereby resign my position as a York Township Republican committeeman. My thirty-year tenure as a Republican is over.”

Photo | videezy.com