John DeProspo

Dan Rather: Trump’s “Sh*thole” Comment Could Be His Worst

January 11, 2018 By John DeProspo 4 Comments

Just when you thought Donald Trump couldn’t sink any lower, he does.

We’ve heard the man say not all neo-Nazis are bad; that Haitians “all have AIDS” and that people from Africa would never “go back to their huts” once they have seen the U.S.

Insightful, and legendary, newsman Dan Rather took to Facebook today to blast Trump on his most recent racist statement. At a White House meeting on immigration, Trump asked, ““Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump was referring to immigration from African, Central American and Caribbean countries.

Below is a reprint of Rather’s remarks:

Trump’s comments about immigrants from “shithole countries” is among the worst statements he has ever uttered. It might very well be the worst.

To have this outrage come as we approach the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is to cast in sharp relief the moral gulf between America as envisioned by the civil rights activist and our current President. It was Dr. King who said “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” By all accounts, Mr. Trump does not now and has never believed in such an America.

This is undeniably and clearly outright racist. It simply cannot be allowed to continue by anyone who cares about the future of this country.

This is sad. It is hurtful. It is dangerous. It is unpatriotic.

Each elected official, each American, has a choice: where do you stand? Some may say this helps the President with his base. What about how it debases the values of our nation? This rhetoric has to be damned at every turn, at every time.

That millions of hard working men, women, and children have lives that hang in the balance at the whims of this President only makes this moment all the more tragic.

Make no mistake; America is diminished today in the eyes of the world and in the eyes of history. It will be up to every decent person to make sure that this is not our destiny.

We undoubtedly have had prejudiced presidents in the past, but never one so openly … and shamefully … racist.

Photo | sfchronicle.com

With Trump, Is It Demagoguery Or Just A Case Of Douchebaggery?

January 9, 2018 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

A war has been raging among political wonks ever since Donald Trump took the oath of office last January … is he a demagogue or a douchebag?

Demagoguery is defined as an appeal to people that plays on their emotions and prejudices rather than their rational side. It is a manipulative approach — often associated with dictators and sleazy politicians — that appeals to the worst nature of people. Demagoguery isn’t based on reason, issues, and doing the right thing; it’s based on stirring up fear and hatred to control people.

Douchebaggery is described as obnoxious or contemptible behavior. In many cases, it is blatant stupidity and arrogance all rolled into one. In other words, it is the classic definition of a putz.

Demagoguery calls for some level of intelligence to pull off… douchebaggery not so much.

Manipulating people through fear and prejudice requires planning and skill. To piss people off just requires you being an a-hole.

After the release of Michael Wolff’s tell-all book, Fire and Fury, which chronicles the dysfunction within the Trump White House, critics are leaning more towards the view that the man sitting in the Oval Office is just your basic moron. A man-child in control of nuclear weapons.

But why does it have to be a choice between demagoguery and douchebaggery? Are they necessarily mutually exclusive? Can’t both nouns be used for Trump?

This entire controversy is reminiscent of the long-running, and successful, Lite beer TV commercials of the 1970’s. You had a group of guys insisting that the beer’s best quality was that it “tastes great” while an equal group of beer drinkers thought it’s best feature was that it was “less filling.”

Of course, both camps were right.

So Donald Trump can be a demagogue and a douchebag at the same time.

Unfortunately for us, and the world, this is probably the worst combination for a leader. Manipulative and ruthless, as in Machiavellian … and “dumb as a brick”, as in how Michael Wolff describes Ivanka Trump in his controversial book.

Photo | vanityfare.com

Donald Trump Is, Like, Really Really Smart!

January 6, 2018 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

His alma mater must be so proud!

Donald Trump tweeted today: “Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.”

No doubt Trump’s “smartness” was shaped by the great college education he received at the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, Trump proudly tells people he graduated at the top of his class.

But with all the fine courses Donald Trump undoubtedly took at UPenn, English could not have been part of his curriculum.

When someone says they are “like” something, they are not actually that thing. They are merely imitating or mimicking that thing.

If Trump wanted to say he is a really smart person, he should have said, “I am a really smart person.” Throw in the modifier “like”, well, he’s actually saying he is not really a smart person.

But grammar aside, Donald Trump did go on to tweet he is a genius.

I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star…to President of the United States (on my first try). I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius….and a very stable genius at that!

Yes, we have a genius in the White House … even though he may not be the best grammarian.

This is so refreshing after eight years of that dullard Obama!

Photo | madmagazine.com

Trump: ‘Fire and Fury’ is BS … As In Best Seller!

January 5, 2018 By John DeProspo 3 Comments

‘Fire and Fury‘, Michael Wolff’s tell-all book about the Trump White House went on sale today. And it appears people can’t get their hands on the thing fast enough.

The book already sits on top of Amazon’s list of bestsellers.

Previously set to go on sale Tuesday, January 9^th, the release date was moved up to today due to the unprecedented interest in the book.

Ironically, the decision to release the book early came hours after a personal attorney for Trump sent a cease-and-desist letter to the publisher, Henry Holt & Co.,and Wolff demanding that the book not be released.

So much for that!

Yesterday, Michael Wolff publicly thanked Donald Trump for making his book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, a massive success.

Trump and his legal team’s amateurish maneuver to block the book’s release has not only spurred sales but has also proven Wolff’s main point that the Trump White House is filled with nothing but a bunch of rank incompetents.

If you are lucky enough to have gotten a copy, pleasant reading!

Photo | independent.co.uk

Michele … Don’t Ask God If You Should Run For Senate, Ask Nate Silver

January 4, 2018 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

Former Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, is contemplating running for Al Franken’s soon-to-be-vacated Senate seat in Minnesota.

Bachmann, who represented Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District for eight years, said in an interview on “The Jim Bakker Show” that people had urged her to run in 2018. She also said she is asking God if she should enter the race.

Bad idea, Michele. No, not entering the Senate race but asking God if you should run.

Let’s face it, God has a poor record of picking winners.

Do you remember all those presidential candidates in 2016 that stated God had asked them to run? Let me remind you.

You had Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, of course. But you also had Scott Walker, Ben Carson and Rick Perry who admitted God wanted them to run. You even had Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, John Kasich and Rand Paul alluding to God in their campaign announcements.

It seems as if the only 2016 presidential candidate who did not claim God asked him to run was Donald Trump. OK, he did say the Bible is his favorite book!

The thing is this, Michele. Either God is a poor picker of winners or he has a wicked sense of humor. Whichever it is, don’t bother asking God for his blessing.

Ask Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com.

Nate is great at predicting political winners and losers because he uses math and statistics. Yes, he’s a lot more scientific than the Almighty.

Okay, okay, what about Mike Pence you ask. Didn’t he say running for vice president was all part of God’s plan?

Yes he did. Yes he did. But Pence was not talking about the same God as you are.

Mike Pence was not referring to the God that sits on his heavenly throne but the deity who sits on his golden toilet at 725 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

One last thing, Michele. Remember the last time God asked you to run for office? Because of his divine command, you ran for president in 2012. How did that work out?

Photo | politicususa.com

So You Think 2017 Was Bad …

January 1, 2018 By John DeProspo 5 Comments

By almost any measure, 2017 was a bad year.

As a nation, we (with the help of a hostile foreign power) installed a wannabe dictator into the highest office in the land. A man-child with near total disregard for truth and the rule of law. A narcissist with no sense of shame or empathy. A U.S. president who believes the Constitution is merely a set of suggestions.

Two of our most basic and fundamental institutions, the press and judiciary, came under constant attack last year. No, not by some subversive domestic organization but by the president of the United States himself.

2017 saw an America divided, the likes of which not seen since the days of the Vietnam War.

The world became a more dangerous place in 2017.

Thanks to the deliberate abdication by Donald Trump and his regime, the United States is no longer seen as the leader of the free world. There is no longer that steady hand at the helm that other nations relied on. Deepening conflicts are sprouting up everywhere.

As U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres put it:

“When I took office a year ago, I appealed for 2017 to be a year for peace. Unfortunately, in fundamental ways, the world has gone in reverse. … Global anxieties over nuclear weapons are the highest since the Cold War, and climate change is moving faster than we are. Inequalities are growing, and we see horrific violations of human rights. Nationalism and xenophobia are on the rise.”

Yes, 2017 will be a year to remember… for all the wrong reasons.

Yet, as bad as this past year has been, what lies ahead in 2018 portends to be much worse.

I’m afraid we will look back, fondly, on 2017 as we now view the presidency of George W. Bush … a calamity and a failure, but nothing compared to that of Trump’s wretched rule in 2018.

2018 does hold out one glimmer of hope. No, it’s not the Mueller investigation. The odds of a Republican Congress expelling Trump are slim, no matter what wrongdoing the FBI special counsel may uncover.

This year’s mid-term elections hold the key. They need to be swept by Democrats who will have the power to restore sanity and the rule of law to a government now in distress.

Photo | aljazeera.com

Trump’s Top 10 “Accomplishments” of 2017

December 30, 2017 By John DeProspo Leave a Comment

As we come to the end of 2017, it is time to pick Donald Trump’s top 10 “accomplishments” during his first year in office. While the list of his many presidential firsts is quite extensive, even bordering on the most unprecedented in American history, here are the ones that made the cut:

U.S. no longer seen as the leader of the free world
Has given aid and comfort to white supremacists, KKK, racists, etc.
Further divided an already divided country
Helped engineer the largest tax heist on behalf of billionaires in U.S. history
Has green-lighted Russians to keep meddling in our elections
Installed the most unqualified group of Cabinet secretaries … ever
Pardoned a sheriff who refused to obey a federal court order
Undermined institutions such as the FBI, the judiciary and the free press
Endorsed and defended a sexual predator for U.S. Senate
Scored lowest approval rating of any modern president his first year in office

The hearts of Trump supporters must be swelling with pride over such an impressive list of “accomplishments.” Yet with such an amazing slate of achievements in only his first year, what can we expect in year two?

I’d like to speculate but I’m too afraid to go there!

But take heart as we enter the New Year. Many betting sites are listing the possibility of Trump leaving office by the end of next year, either through impeachment or resignation, at 50-50.

Photo | dailymail.co.uk

Biggest Loser In 2017? Evangelicalism

December 28, 2017 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

Alabama evangelical voters overwhelmingly supported an alleged serial pedophile in this month’s special election for the United States Senate. A whopping 80% of born-again Christians gave their vote to Roy Moore, a man accused of sexually molesting young women.

While this group, as a whole, gave about the same level of support to accused groper Donald Trump (81%) in 2016, getting behind an abuser of children is beyond the pale for some Christian leaders.

Fearing association with the likes of a Roy Moore is giving his faith a bad name, Mark Galli, editor of Christianity Today, did not mince words in a recent essay. “No one will believe a word we say, perhaps for a generation. Christianity’s integrity is severely tarnished.”

The angst has grown so deep, according to Galli, that he knows of “many card-carrying evangelicals” who are ready to disavow the label.

The evangelical brand “is definitely tarnished” said Galli. “No question about it.”

The religious bloc that once marched under the banner “Moral Majority” and have called themselves “values voters” is today being ridiculed as a bunch of rank hypocrites … people who acknowledge Jesus with their words, and deny him through their deeds.

It seems as though they may have sold their souls for political power.

“What’s happened with evangelicalism is, it has become so conflated with Republican politics, that you can’t tell where Christianity ends and partisanship begins,” observed Jemar Tisby, president of “The Witness,” a black Christian collective.

Many women have expressed concern that overlooking accusations of sexual wrongdoing against favored candidates, for political gain, sends a dangerous message that women who come forward can be dismissed in the service of a political agenda.

“We’ve let evil overtake the entire reputation of Evangelicalism,” wrote one prominent evangelical author, Beth Moore, the day before the election. “The lust for power is nauseating. Racism, appalling. The arrogance, terrifying. The misogyny so far from Christlikeness, it can’t be Christianity.”

It may be time for evangelicals to adopt a new name.

Mark Galli said he had recently considered a list of 50 to 100 words, looking for an appropriate substitute. Among them: Neo-evangelical, Gospel Christian, Followers of Jesus.

“Purple-cow Christianity,” he said. “It doesn’t really matter. It’s the reality underneath that we affirm.”

Amen.

Photo | Kevin D. Liles/ New York Times

Kim Jong-un – The Rodney Dangerfield of Despots

December 26, 2017 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, gets no respect.

Try as he might to make himself the most feared dictator in the world, he just gets nothing but insults and ridicule.

Donald Trump famously called Kim “Little Rocket Man” after his umpteenth ballistic missile test in November.

Last week, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to apply new, tougher sanctions against the rogue nation. Led by the U.S., the measures included reducing the import of refined petroleum products into North Korea by almost 90 percent.

Kim declared these latest sanctions an “act of war,” adding that the US and other nations which supported the strict measures will pay a heavy price.

Last September, Kim, referring to Trump, declared, “I will surely and definitely tame the mentally deranged US dotard with fire.”

But is anyone taking the man seriously? No, not with his long Trumpian history of idle threats.

During Trump’s 12-day tour of Asia, Kim called Trump an “old lunatic.”

Trump responded with a tweet:

Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me “old,” when I would NEVER call him “short and fat?” Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!

Interesting that Trump was offended by the word “old” but not lunatic. But I digress.

It appears the only way the North Korea dictator can gain the respect he craves is by actually starting a nuclear war!

Our narcissistic, bully of a commander in chief is just the guy to egg him on to such a disastrous decison.

Did you hear the joke about Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un walking into a party together? Trump asks the gathering to “say hello to my little friend,” in his best Tony Montana accent … of course.

Kim Jong-un gets no respect.

Photos | crainsnewyork.com; thesun.co.uk

Mr. Mueller, Another Indictment … Please

December 24, 2017 By John DeProspo 2 Comments

It is holiday time but we are not in a festive mood.

The national embarrassment sitting in the White House has zapped us of our usual holiday cheer. Try as we may, we just cannot jingle our bells or deck our halls as in years past. We need something only you can provide that will lift us out of our funk … an indictment or two.

Yes, we were happy when you announced your first indictments against Paul Manafort and Richard Gates. We were thrilled when George Papadopoulos was the first Trump aide to plead guilty in your Trump-Russia probe. But that was nearly two months ago.

We were more than ecstatic when you got former Trump national security advisor, Mike Flynn, to plead guilty to lying to the FBI. But that too was nearly one month ago.

We are in disperate need of a new dose of good news.

An indictment against Donald Trump Jr., or Jared Kushner, would do just fine.

We know you have the goods on these two loathsome human beings. Why not make your announcement now … before the start of the New Year?

We have been given a heads up by Senate Intelligence Committee member, Mark Warner, that something big is about to come down the pike. While appearing on MSNBC this week, Warner confirmed that “more” indictments are coming. So why not now?

Call it our Christmas present.

What’s that you say? Too cruel to announce indictments at Christmas time? You and your team of investigators would be seen as mean, biased, partisan hacks?

Sorry, but a good portion of the country, along with the man occupying the Oval Office and many congressional Republicans, already see your investigation as a “witch hunt.”

But we trust your judgment. If you are waiting until after the start of 2018 to drop the hammer of justice, I guess we can wait.

God bless you, Mr. Mueller. God bless us, every one.