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It’s Not Too Late For Dems To Embrace “Don the Con”

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Back in 2016, when then candidate Donald Trump was vilifying Hillary Clinton at every turn by calling her “Crooked Hillary,” I suggested she return the favor by disparagingly calling him, “Don the Con.” (Hillary Needs To Rebrand Trump)

She never did.

Maybe it was that whole “when they go low, we go high” thing championed by Michelle Obama. Or maybe it’s just that Democrats are not very good at political “branding.” Whatever … Clinton missed a golden opportunity to stick Trump with a simple, hit-him-where-it-hurts nickname.

Let’s face it, Republicans are masters at the art of framing issues. They understand political marketing.

According to David Aaker, “Being able to frame the discussion by imposing a perspective that’s driven by a label is key to winning — whether it’s a divisive political argument or a tough brand battle.”

The linguist, George Lakoff, has noted that winning the framing war with respect to a brand, object, or issue will dictate perceptions, attitudes and behavior — no matter what the logic and evidence may say. Strong frames or perspectives smother and distort rational information processing.

Thanks to Republican efforts, the abortion battle is framed around being “pro life” instead of “anti-choice”; inheritance taxes are labeled “death taxes” and not the rare estate taxes few people pay; The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is branded as “Obamacare” not as a law to make healthcare more affordable.

People have short attention spans and they tend to be lazy, especially when it comes to politics. So a simple, easy to remember name or label is just good old-fashioned marketing.

Look at what has happened with Mitch McConnell being labeled “Moscow Mitch.” The name has stuck; it has gone viral. You can buy “Moscow Mitch” t-shirts and mugs online! The repeating of the too-close-to-home moniker has clearly gotten under McConnell’s skin.

Can we ever forget these nicknames: “Low Energy Jeb,” “Little Marco,” “Lyin’ Ted” or “Crazy Bernie?” No, the names stuck because they were repeated by Trump ad nauseam. This is what Democrats should do with Trump.

Democrats need to burden Trump with one simple, unflattering nickname … and stick to it. It doesn’t matter if it’s “Don the Con” or some other equally disparaging name. “Lyin’ Donnie” or “The King of Corruption” would work just as well.

The key here is for Democrats to do to Trump what he so ably does to them … keep repeating the demeaning nickname until it sticks in people’s subconscious … and in Trump’s craw!

Photo | punchingbagpost.com

McConnell Hates “Moscow Mitch” Nickname … Perhaps One Of These Would Be Preferable?

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A few months ago, MSNBC’S Joe Scarborough came up with the nickname, “Moscow Mitch,” for the Senate Majority Leader’s refusal to take legislative action against continuing Russian election interference.

Scarborough said on his show, “How can Moscow Mitch so willingly turn a blind eye not only this year to what his Republican chairman of the Intel committee is saying, to what Robert Mueller is saying, what the FBI director is saying, to what the DNI (Director of National Intelligence) is saying, to what the CIA is saying, to what the United States military Intel community is saying.”

Mitch is not happy with his new, very Trumpian nickname.

He has said it’s an “over the top” effort to “smear” him.

“It’s modern-day McCarthyism,” McConnell said during a radio interview on the “Hugh Hewitt Show” when asked about the nickname he received after blocking Democrats’ efforts to pass bipartisan election security bills. “Unbelievable for a Cold Warrior like me who spent a career standing up to the Russians to be given a moniker like that.”

Fair enough, Mitch. How about one of these monikers?

  1. “Traitorous Toady””
  2. “Seditious Stooge”
  3. “Mutinous Mitch”
  4. “Deceitful Douche”
  5. “Cravenness Creep”
  6. “Corporate Comrade”
  7. “Court-Packing Putz”
  8. “Gun Lobby Lapdog”
  9. “Power-Hungry Henchman”
  10. “Worst Majority Leader Ever”

Considering all the other nicknames that could fit you so well, “Moscow Mitch” ain’t so bad, right … Yertle the Turtle?

Photo | slate.com

 

 

 

Donald Trump Is No Messiah … Just One Goddamn Mess

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Donald Trump is in the White House mainly because of overwhelming support from evangelical Christians who saw him as the second coming of Christ.

It now appears such adulation has gone to Trump’s head. In just one day, he labeled himself, “King of Israel,” “the second coming of God” and “the Chosen One.”

But, Mr. Trump, you are no messiah.

I like messiahs who don’t pay porn stars for sex

I like messiahs who don’t file for bankruptcy six times

I like messiahs who don’t separate families and cage children

I like messiahs who don’t take from the poor to give to the rich

I like messiahs who don’t shutdown governments

I like messiahs who don’t cheat at golf

I like messiahs who don’t get love letters from murderous dictators

I like messiahs who don’t think some neo-Nazis are very fine people

I like messiahs who aren’t insecure and arrogant

I like messiahs who care about the future of the planet

I like messiahs who aren’t racist

I like messiahs who can be empathetic

I like messiahs who believe in the rule of law

I like messiahs who contribute to the betterment of the world

I like messiahs who are smarter than a fifth grader

As Timothy L. O’Brien of Bloomberg News puts it,  “… when Trump gazes into the sky at the White House and says that he’s the chosen one, he’s not the type who thinks he can actually walk on water. He’s the type who’s hoping that droves of evangelical voters might keep falling for his shtick.”

Photo | spectator.co.uk

 

 

 

 

For Trump, And Republicans, Not All “Invasions” Are Of Equal Concern

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The word “invasion” has been much bandied about lately. For Trump and his allies, it refers to the hordes of brown-skinned people seeking to illegally enter our country. For our intelligence community, it’s about Russia’s attack on our country’s 2016 presidential election, and its continuing efforts to do so in 2020.

The thing about all this “invasion” talk is that one is 100% real; the other is 100% made up.

Russia did attack our country in order to help elect Trump. The crisis along our southern border is not one of forced entry but one of desperate people fleeing for their lives hoping to find asylum and safety in the U.S.

But even if you buy the Republican talking point that we have an “invasion” of dangerous people along our Mexican border, it seems not all “invasions” are created equally.

For Trump and his Republican lackeys, the two “invasions” are being treated entirely differently. For one, you do all you can to build a wall; for the other, you graciously open the front door.

There is no doubt Russia attempted, and succeeded I would say, to get Donald Trump elected president. But Republicans in Congress are just peachy keen with all that … so much so that they are, in effect, welcoming a repeat performance in 2020.

Mitch McConnell, aka “Moscow Mitch,” who, as leader of the Senate, has the power to do something about preventing a second assault on our elections, is refusing to even bring up bipartisan election security bills.

Heck, Donald Trump has had the chutzpah to publicly state he would welcome foreign interference in our next presidential election!

So where have Trump and his Republican handmaidens focused their “invasion” efforts? On the real or the fake?

Yep, they’ve been focused on building a costly, and useless, wall along our southern border; on throwing destitute asylum seekers into cages; on discouraging other migrants, desperate enough to make the 2000-mile journey from Central America to the U.S., by separating families at the border.

Yes we have an “invasion” problem in our country. But it’s not coming from our Mexican border. It’s coming 5000 miles away from the land of Putin.

Photo | salon.com

 

Democrats, You Need To Focus On What Really Matters In 2020

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If you’ve watched any of the presidential debates so far, you have witnessed two things: (1) a number of Democrats offering up their progressive “wish lists” and, more importantly,  (2) a group of Democrats attacking one another.

Yes, you first have to win the nomination before you can win the election. But this group of presidential hopefuls has focused too much on contentious, wonky policy discussions instead of presenting a more unified attack on Donald J. Trump.

The number one goal for Democrats in 2020 is to defeat the abomination currently occupying the White House. Period.

Look guys (and gals) most people know no matter how great your proposals, they will only die in the Senate … even if you regain the chamber!  Unless you secure a filibuster-proof majority (60 votes) nothing will get done, Mitch or no Mitch.

The fact is most Americans already know you all want great things for the country: better and more accessible healthcare; for the U.S. to regain its rightful place on the world stage; comprehensive (and humane) immigration reform; to combat the threat of climate change.

Martin Longman of the Washington Monthly has observed, “If the Republicans maintain their majority in the Senate, the new Democratic president will not be enacting one iota of their top shelf legislative agenda. There will be nothing major on health care or college loans or immigration or climate change.”

Take the advice of Andrew Yang who, after the second presidential debate, stressed the need for Democrats to focus on beating President Donald Trump instead of attacking each other.

“I think it’s unfortunate,” said Yang when asked about the clash between Sen. Kamala Harris and former Vice President Joe Biden. “The Democrats need to focus on beating Donald Trump in 2020 and not beat each other up.”

So, Democratic presidential hopefuls, spend more time talking about Trump’s crimes and lawlessness; zero in on what he has done (and continues to do) to the very fabric of our democracy; drive home how four more years of Trump is unacceptable as it will leave us with an America we no longer recognize.

Candidates, you need to keep it simple. Your talk about what type of healthcare system is best is enlightening but it is only confusing the American public. They don’t want to see how the sausage is made. They just want what Donald Trump promised them when he ran for office.

“We’re going to have insurance for everybody,” said then-candidate Trump in an interview with The Washington Post. “There was a philosophy in some circles that if you can’t pay for it, you don’t get it. That’s not going to happen with us.”

Here’s the deal … just work out the details once in office … if you can get Senate Republicans (and those “conservative” Democrats) to go along with you!

Unite, don’t fight!

Photo | freepik.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trump’s Racism Knows No Bounds

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Just when you allow yourself the luxury of thinking he cannot possibly sink any lower in his disgusting, despicable and vile racist remarks, BINGO! Trump outdoes himself.

There is no longer getting around this simple fact; there is no way of sugarcoating it … we have a proud, openly racist bigot in the White House.

The latest bile to spew from the mouth of our “so-called” president involves his recent remarks about certain progressive House Democrats. He claimed they “originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe” and “the worst, more corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.” He suggested they” go back” to their countries “to fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.”

Of course Trump was referring to recently elected Reps. Ayanna Pressley, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar. Four strong women; all women of color.

Whether Trump truly believes his revolting rhetoric or is simply catering to that hateful sector of the electorate that helped him get into the White House, and that just loves this kind of garbage, is irrelevant.

Let’s not forget some of the other repugnant stuff Trump unleashed before this latest display of bigotry.

Trump began his “political” career by questioning President Obama’s birthplace. Candidate Trump called undocumented Mexican immigrants “rapists” and criminals. He disparaged immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African countries as coming from “shithole countries.” He accused a judge of Mexican heritage incapable of ruling fairly in a civil fraud case against one of his companies. He once said immigrants from Haiti all “have AIDS” and that Nigerian immigrants would never “go back to their huts.”

In the 1970s, Trump’s real estate company was sued for housing discrimination. During the same decade, he placed a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of five black teenagers. Even after they were fully exonerated, he refused to back down.

During the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” rally, when an innocent woman was mowed down by a car driven by a white supremacist, Trump did not condemn the neo-Nazis, instead saying there were “some very fine people” on “both sides.”

Of course it escapes Trump’s bantam brain (he has no sense of irony) that his comments about the four freshmen Democrats (three of whom were born in the United States and the other a naturalized U.S. citizen) are spot on.

Those women do come from a country whose government is a “complete and total catastrophe” and “the worst, more corrupt and inept anywhere in the world.”

Photo | seattletimes.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Will Mueller’s Testimony Change Anything? Probably Not

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In less than two weeks, Robert Mueller will testify before Congress.

On July 17, the reluctant witness will answer questions, in open hearings in front of two Congressional committees, about his probe into Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible obstruction of justice by Trump.

While many fans of karma, and the rule of law, are excited about Mueller possibly exposing Trump for the criminal that he is, it is more likely they will be sorely disappointed. But whatever Mueller’s testimony, it will probably not change the dynamics of impeachment. It is crystal clear by now that Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders in the House do not want to start impeachment proceedings against Trump.

Republicans on both the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees think Mueller’s appearance will be a disaster for him because they plan on exposing him as an incompetent, political hack. They, somehow, will try to get at the former Eagle Scout’s credibility.

Good luck with that!

No, Mueller’s testimony will be ineffective not because a few Republican attack dogs, while making fools of themselves, will show he is a flawed individual and that members of his staff were biased against Trump. Mueller will likely disappoint because he will simply stick to the facts we already know.

Mueller has stated he plans on confining his testimony to the “four corners of his report.”

So don’t expect the ex-Marine to answer some serious questions, such as:  whether he or his team thought there was sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction, were he not president.

But even if Mueller reveals some new information harmful to Trump, it is unlikely to be the game changer that will spark impeachment proceedings the next day, or week or month.

Nancy Pelosi wants Trump to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2020 no matter what we may learn from Mueller.  In her perfect world, the Democratic candidate will trounce Trump at the polls and Democrats will flip the Senate.

Good luck with that!

The American people, Madam Speaker, need for you to do your job, Mueller or no Mueller! If you do not, you run the serious risk of demoralizing your base and helping Trump to a second term.

Photo | bostonherald.com

 

The Real Reason Pelosi Keeps Pushing Back On Calls For Impeachment

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Donald Trump has committed enough impeachable offenses to remove 10 presidents from office. Yet Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, does not want to start formal impeachment proceedings. We’ve all heard her reasoning: (1) The public doesn’t want it; (2) He’ll never be impeached anyway; (3) It turns Trump into a victim; and (4) It will badly tear apart an already divided country.

Yet I’m more than a little skeptical about Madam Speaker’s song and dance.  I believe the real reason Pelosi is against formal impeachment proceedings is that she wants Donald Trump to be the Republican presidential candidate in 2020.

If Trump were to be removed from office (a very big “if” considering Trump’s nearly unanimous support among Senate Republicans) we would end up with a President Mike Pence. Come convention time late next year, it is very unlikely Republicans would want Pence as their party’s presidential candidate. It is more likely they would go with a Romney, a Kasich or some other “moderate” Republican who would throw his/her hat into the ring. In other words, there just might be a more formidable opponent for the Democratic nominee.

Forget the myth that Trump would be a strong candidate for reelection. If Trump remains in office, after another year of Congressional (and state) investigations uncovering even more dirt, he would be a wounded duck going into the 2020 contest. This is exactly what Pelosi wants.

Proof that Trump is already in trouble, and not as daunting as some would like you to believe, comes via the most recent Quinnipiac University poll showing, if the election were held today, Trump fares badly against the top Democratic presidential hopefuls:

Former VP Joe Biden over Trump 53 – 40 percent

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders over Trump 51 – 42 percent

California Sen. Kamala Harris over Trump 49 – 41 percent

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren over Trump 49 – 42 percent

South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg over Trump 47 – 42 percent

New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker over Trump 47 – 42 percent

Trump never rises above 42% against any of the Democratic contenders in this national survey. Buttigieg and Booker besting Trump?

OK, while this poll is encouraging for Democrats, it’s very early in the game. And let’s not forget there is a thing called the Electoral College to contend with, along with voter suppression, hacked voting machines, foreign interference, voter fraud and other factors that could impact the 2020 election.

Yet, if I’m right, Nancy Pelosi is giving many reasons why not to impeach Trump … except the real one.

Photo | cnn.com

 

The Man Who Praised The Brave Soldiers Who Died During WWII Fighting Nazism Is Also A Man Who Refuses To Disavow Nazi Support

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On June 6, 1944, 75 years ago today, Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy as part of Operation Overlord. Code-named Operation Neptune and often referred to as “D-Day,” it was the largest amphibious invasion in history. The operation began the liberation of German-occupied France from Nazi control and laid the foundation for Allied victory in World War II.

Today, as part of the 75th-anniversary commemoration of D-Day in Normandy, France, Donald Trump delivered a well-written, and well-received, speech in front of a group of WWII veterans.

During his speech, Trump hailed “those who fell” saying “we honor all who fought right here in Normandy. They won back this ground for civilization.”

Yet this is the same man who, in describing the deadly 2017 neo-Nazi riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, said there were  “very fine people on both sides.”

During his presidential campaign, Trump refused to condemn the Ku Klux Klan or disavow the endorsement of former Klansman David Duke.

So, yes, Joe Scarborough, gush over what a fine speech Trump delivered today (“the strongest speech of his presidency”) but let’s not forget those were words read from a piece of paper. They are unlikely heart-felt sentiments of our commander in chief.

To get a better idea of what was on Trump’s mind during the preparation for his big D-Day speech, listen to Dana Milbank of the Washington Post (For D-Day, Trump recalls the heroism of … Donald Trump).

On the night before Trump’s speech, Milbank writes about what was really on Trump’s mind … Bette Midler:

President Trump, staying at the U.S. ambassador’s residence in London, was up early Wednesday morning and already thinking deep and profound thoughts on the theme of the day: himself. 

“Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make ‘your great president’ look really bad,” he tweeted.

It was 1:30 a.m. 

So great, Trump delivered an appropriate speech. But let’s not forget what Trump is all about … himself , his money and his power.

Photo | carlos barria/reuters

 

Bobby … Come Out, Come Out, Wherever You Are!

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Mr. Mueller (may I call you Bobby? Thanks) it has now been over two months since you handed over your Trump-Russia report to your boss, AG William Barr, and it appears you have gone into hiding.

We’ve heard from all sorts of folks about your report … from those who have actually read the entire thing to those who haven’t a clue about its contents … yet we haven’t heard from the most authoritative analyst… you.

Your findings have not only be distorted and mischaracterized, they have been used by Trump and his sycophants to further their narrative that your entire two-year investigation into perhaps our most corrupt president has been a hoax.

It is way past time for you to end this game of hide and seek,

You have been called to discuss your report before the House Judiciary Committee. You now have the opportunity to set the record straight. So what gives, Bobby?

What is preventing you from doing your duty? From defending your integrity? From getting the facts out to the American people?

We now hear from Chairman Nadler that you are willing to testify but only behind closed doors?

This is no time to be camera shy. Your country needs you. The American people must see your face and hear your voice.

Is your reticence the result of being threatened? Do you fear for you safety?

Knowing your history, I seriously doubt it.

You are a man of honor and courage. A man deserving of the utmost respect. Hell, you’re a decorated combat veteran … a patriot if there ever was one.

It’s time to end your silence and get out there before the cameras … and start talking.

It’s very possible your testimony will tilt the political scales and get members of Congress to do what the Constitution calls on them to do … impeach and remove the brazen criminal now occupying the White House.

Photo | time.com

 

 

 

 

 

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