Wow. Another busy Trump week

At a rally in July, Donald Trump said: “And we will say, ‘I will give you [Sen. Elizabeth Warren] a million dollars, paid for by Trump, to your favorite charity if you take the test and it shows you’re an Indian … we’ll see what she does. I have a feeling she will say no but we will hold it for the debates.” Now after DNA test prove that Warren has Native American ancestry he says “I didn’t say that. You better read it again.”

Trump can now really call Warren “Pocahontas”. He was using that term after she claimed for the last 6 years she has Native American ancestry but only now decided to take the test. It is suspected that it will further her bid to run for President in 2020. She now leads the Democrat’s potential nominees.

“Pocahontas (the bad version), sometimes referred to as Elizabeth Warren, is getting slammed…. She took a bogus DNA test and it showed that she may be 1/1024, far less than the average American. Now Cherokee Nation denies her, “DNA test is useless.” Even they don’t want her. Phony!,” Trump’s tweeted.

Except the Cherokee Nation hasn’t objected and she never asked for any type of Native American status. “Slammed”? By whom except this idiot. He also called her to apologize. Seems it is his way of not paying the $1 million he betted on. As well I guess the professor of genetics at Stanford and adviser to Ancestry and 23 and Me is fake to him.

[Some Native Americans have said that she hasn’t helped the Native Americans in any case. It could be said that she added her ancestry only to gain a few extra votes. If you are looking to do that shouldn’t you be looking after their interests?]

So Trump has received information regarding the missing and possibly murdered Washington Post journalist. He announced that he will speak to the Saudi king within 24 hours. Why wait that long? Talking to the king instead of the crown prince shows how serious it could be. [Plus the crown prince may have a bit of a temper.]

Trump said he spoke to the Saudi king who “firmly denied any knowledge” of what happened to the Saudi journalist and dissident. Trump now believes “rogue killers” may have killed the journalist, suggesting that was a possible explanation the king offered up during their conversation.

He says that if Saudi Arabia is involved there will be “severe” punishment but won’t kill any arms deals. Maybe sanctions against the government and anyone involved. Ah the power of money. Later, some threats were removed but the Saudi stock market took a hit as most companies on that exchange took a big hit.

“For the record, I have no financial interests in Saudi Arabia (or Russia, for that matter). Any suggestion that I have is just more FAKE NEWS (of which there is plenty)!” tweeted but he made millions selling apartments in his New York buildings to the kingdom, and the Trump Organization has benefited from Saudi business at its hotels in Washington, New York and Chicago. And why would he add Russia to his tweet?

Now there is talk that Saudi Arabia may announce that he actually was killed while interrogated [or is that “interviewed”]. And I’m sure after Trump’s threats, there won’t be any punishment.

Trump said “it certainly looks” like the journalist is dead. But, Trump said he is “waiting for the results” of investigations being conducted by Saudi Arabia and Turkey, after which he pledged to make “a very strong statement.”

Asked what consequence Saudi leaders would face if they are found to be responsible, he replied: “It will have to be very severe. It’s bad, bad stuff. But we’ll see what happens.” Yes, “bad” like a slap on the diplomatic wrist because he knows he can’t upset the Saudis too much without the Us paying dearly economically. Look how they went after Canada because of a simple tweet.

Well, it was announced that the journalist is dead. And the world is waiting for Trump’s “severe” punishment.

Among what trump said in an interview for 60 minutes:

• Russian President Vladimir Poutine is “probably” involved in assassinations and poisonings, but “it’s not in our country.”
• “They [Russia] meddled [in the 2016 election]. But I think China meddled, too. And I think other countries …”
• Trump said he knew about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s human rights violations, but that his efforts have resulted in fewer threats to the United States.
• “I think something’s happening [regarding climate change]. Something’s changing, and it’ll change back again. I don’t think it’s a hoax, I think there’s probably a difference. But I don’t know that it’s man-made. ….. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs. I don’t want to be put at a disadvantage.” Until this he has generally said that climate change is a hoax.
• Pressed about scientists who have said climate change is worse than ever, Trump said, “You’d have to show me the scientists because they have a very big political agenda.” Yes. Scientists are busy with politics more than science.
• “I’m not going to get into it, because we won. It doesn’t matter. We won” after a comment about Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford lying. I thought Kavanaugh won the confirmation.

After their interview with Trump, 60 Minutes has said they cut any Trump answer or comment that they couldn’t independently verify. Must have been plenty!

Of course many of the comments above and those I didn’t include haven’t been proven.

The ever revolving front door of the administration. Trump said in an interview that he was unsure how long Defense Secretary James Mattis planned to stay in his administration. “Well, I don’t know,” Trump said when asked whether the Pentagon chief would be leaving. “I think he’s sort of a Democrat, if you want to know the truth.” He didn’t know that when he was hired?

Already Trump has hinted that he will take credit if the Republican party does well in the mid-terms in just over 2 weeks but at the same time he won’t be taking the blame for any major loss. He claims he is not running to be elected. Meanwhile he has been doing quite a few rallies introducing candidates and interviews [see below]. His way of preparing for the worse.

In contrast, when the Democratic party got trounced in one of his two mid-term elections, President Obama did take the blame.

Russians working for a close ally of Vladimir Poutine engaged in an elaborate campaign of “information warfare” to interfere with the midterm elections, the Justice Department’s prosecutors announced that they had charged a woman in an effort “to spread distrust towards candidates for US political office and the US political system,” prosecutors said.

The woman managed millions of dollars for a company owned by Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, a Russian oligarch who was previously indicted on charges of interfering in the 2016 presidential election, to finance foreign influence activities directed at the United States.

In an interview with Associated Press:

• Trump still thinks it could be “rogue killers” who killed the journalist but how did they get access into the Saudi Consulate?
• “We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh. And he was innocent all the way” except it wasn’t a trial and there was no court or jury.
• “Look, I’m 48 and 1 in the primaries, and actually it’s much higher than that…” What score is that? Those he endorsed? If so, I am sure most were wins even before the primary took place.
• “No, I think I’m helping people.” In which Trump rejects that if Republicans lose control of the House or Senate, he will have any blame to bear for it.
• “And I was getting literally tens of thousands of people, also, more than Hillary in the same location.” He’s still going back to the elections 2 years ago. He still considers crowd size an indicator of popularity. I have prefer a specific candidate or party but I don’t go to rallies.
• “I would say, without question, first two years of office, I’ve had the most successful two years in the history of this country as a president.” This is, of course, totally unverifiable given that it’s difficult to know what Trump means by “most successful.”
• “Oh, absolutely he’s lying. And Michael Cohen was a PR person who did small legal work, very small legal work…. He represented me very little. It’s a very low-level. And what he was is also a public relations person.” Michael Cohen was Trump’s personal lawyer and the guy who fixed the problems no one else wanted to or could for more than a decade in Trump world.
• “He wasn’t in trouble for what he did for me; he was in trouble for what he did for other people.” Cohen testified under oath that he coordinated at the behest of and in coordination with Trump for two campaign finance violations.
• “….I have a natural instinct for science.” Didn’t know he was into science. Maybe he is a professor with a PhD in all sciences from Trump University.
• “And even people that are not my friends say that was a horrible thing that he did to the president, a horrible thing…. He should be ashamed of himself for doing it.” This about Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ decision to recuse himself in the Russia probe.

Trump went a bit nuts when he found out that 3200 [and growing] Central Americans were making their way slowly through Central America to reach the US. He warned countries along their path that if they don’t stop these migrants, he would cut off their foreign aid. He then told Mexico that he would seal the US/Mexico border and then threatened to new NAFTA, USMCA.

“The assault on our country at our Southern Border, including the Criminal elements and DRUGS pouring in, is far more important to me, as President, than Trade or the USMCA. Hopefully Mexico will stop this onslaught at their Northern Border. All Democrats fault for weak laws!” Hmmmm. He’s been in power for almost 2 years and are still blaming for issues that he can’t fix or doesn’t have the political strength to do so. He is also claiming that these migrants [mostly women and children according to reports] and criminals.

A heated argument in the West Wing between chief of staff John Kelly and national security adviser John Bolton over a recent surge in border crossings turned into a shouting match.

Trump threatened to shut down the southern border, took Bolton’s side during the argument. Bolton favors a harder line approach to the issue and criticized Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen during the argument. Nielsen used to serve as Kelly’s deputy when he ran DHS. Bolton reportedly said Nielsen needed to start doing her job, which incensed Kelly.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders pushed blame onto Democrats in a statement, insisting that her colleagues are “not angry at one another.” “We are furious at the failure of Congressional Democrats to help us address this growing crisis.” Seriously? The Republicans control the House and Senate. They are disorganized.

“They should be ashamed for pushing an open borders agenda and are only doing this for strictly political reasons. Despite us having the worst laws in the world and no help from Democrats, our Administration is doing a great job on the border.” She said. And again. Almost 2 years and the administration has fixed nothing. Stop blaming the Democrats.

Trump finally tours the damage that was done by Hurricane Michael – over a week since the storm came though. Probably too busy with rallies and golf.

A federal judge has dismissed adult film star Stormy Daniels’ defamation lawsuit against Trump. Daniels sued Trump after he said in a tweet that her story of a man threatening her not to come forward with her story of her alleged affair with Trump was “a total con job.”

Trump has framed the 2018 midterms elections as a choice between Republican law and order and Democratic “mobs.” In a new line for the campaign, he said “Democrats create mobs. Republicans create jobs.”

Trump has raised more than $100 million for a re-election battle that is more than two years away, giving him a massive financial advantage over a crowded field of potential Democratic contenders jockeying to challenge him in 2020. Small-dollar contributions of $200 or less represent nearly 98% of the money he collected during the third quarter of the year, campaign officials said.

In a rally in Montana, Trump said:

• “But a lot of money has been passing to people to come up and try and get to the border by Election Day, because they think that’s a negative for us….” They are getting paid supposedly by the Democrats. He later claimed, they were paid by George Soros, the liberal billionaire.
• “You have some hardened, bad people coming in.” Again, with no proof, but reports show plenty of women and children.
• “You know, I just walked in, and a big, strong guy grabbed me. And he was almost crying. It happens every time. And many times. And he said, sir, ‘Mr. President, thank you so much for saving our country.'” At every rally, it seems there is a big guy crying and hugging him.
• “We have the hottest economy on Earth. People are moving back in.” Yes. Global warming is causing people to stay in doors.
• “But maybe they’re at the State Department. They could very well be at the Department of Justice…” again 2 years later, Trump is now whining that Hillary Clinton’s Email are being kept by one or two departments without his knowledge.
• “Justice Kavanaugh, number one in his class at Yale” except Yale doesn’t have class rank.
  Trump praised Montana Republican Rep. Greg Gianforte for assaulting a reporter during his campaign last May, saying “any guy who can do a body slam … he’s my guy” and made a gesture mimicking a body slam.
• “But all of a sudden are Republicans making big progress. It’s going to be very interesting to see what happens in that race.” Yes, for the California governor’s race. A Los Angeles Times poll that came out two days ago showed Democrat Gavin Newsom with a 23-point lead over Republican John Cox. The Republicans will win the governor’s race!

Trump badmouths Democrats, Democrats cancel meeting

Top Democratic leaders abruptly pulled out of a planned meeting Donald Trump after he attacked them on Twitter, casting doubt on the prospects for a quick agreement to avert a government shutdown at the end of next week.

“Meeting with “Chuck [Schumer] and Nancy [Pelosi]” today about keeping government open and working. Problem is they want illegal immigrants flooding into our Country unchecked, are weak on Crime and want to substantially RAISE Taxes. I don’t see a deal!” tweeted Trump. Well, if you piss off people, not surprised they would cancel.

Later, Trump predicted that the Senate tax plan would pass, and accused Democratic leaders of being “all talk” and “no action” for failing to show up for the meeting. If he was actually smart, maybe he would of made his usually dumb comments after the meeting [has failed].

Schumer and Pelosi said in a statement that “Rather than going to the White House for a show meeting that won’t result in an agreement, we’ve asked Leader McConnell and Speaker Ryan to meet this afternoon.”

Congress faces a Dec. 8 deadline to pass stopgap legislation to keep the government open and a slew of other unfinished legislation including the tax bill. GOP deficit hawks pressed for a “backstop” mechanism to limit the risk of a spiral in the deficit, even as defenders of small business pressed for more generous treatment.

Poor Americans would lose billions of dollars’ worth of federal benefits under the Senate GOP tax bill, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. Just under a dozen other GOP senate members have vocalized their concerns about the proposal.

So now Trump it trying to sell the concept that the Access Hollywood tape was a fake and it wasn’t him that said those misogynistic words that reverberated around the world, even though he apologized for saying them just after the tape was revealed. What is most worrying about this bold faced liar is that his ignorant base will believe him. Why does he claim the tape is fake over a year after the video came out? Was there any news that suggest that is was fake? Nope.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Trump stands by his original apology for his remarks recorded by the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape in which he described sexually assaulting women, and that his position hasn’t changed in the days.

Trump on referred to Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren as “Pocahontas” at an event honoring Native American Code Talkers who served in World War II. “You were here long before any of us were here,” Trump said, standing beneath a portrait of former President Andrew Jackson. “Although we have a representative in Congress who they say was here a long time ago. They call her Pocahontas.”

Warren said that she had learned about her family from her parents and grandparents. Sanders’ suggestion that Warren had used it as a way to advance her career, the senator said “Never. I never used it to get ahead I never used it to get into school. I never used it to get a job.”

The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit to block AT&T’s takeover of Time Warner, the parent company of CNN. In the suit, the DOJ argues that the deal violates antitrust law because AT&T would likely “use its control of Time Warner’s popular programming as a weapon to harm competition.” Trump has vowed to block the deal while campaigning, and vociferously criticized CNN after taking office. His tweets [“…I was forced to watch @CNN, which I have not done in months, and again realized how bad, and FAKE, it is. Loser!”] could potentially now be cited by AT&T as circumstantial evidence of presidential interference.

Recently, the Trump administration would allow elephant trophies into the US. Then they put it on hold. Now Trump tweeted that his administration will announce a decision next week on allowing the import of elephant hunting trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. [No Nambia?]

The Department of Justice’s antitrust division’s Makan Delrahim took charge in September. When the deal was first announced, Delrahim had said he saw no major antitrust issues with it, but he has apparently since changed his mind. Delrahim has denied being influenced by Trump.

The US Federal Trade Commission (FCC) has voted to scale back a federal program that allows lower-income people to use a $9.25 monthly household subsidy to buy Internet or phone service. [Yes. This should help drop the government’s deficit. Not.]

Trump tweeted “I endorsed Luther Strange in the Alabama Primary. He shot way up in the polls but it wasn’t enough.” But his endorsement didn’t help as Strange list the primary to a sexual harasser.

After a border agent died and another one was injured Trump tweeted “We will seek out and bring to justice those responsible. We will, and must, build the Wall!” Of note is that they disclosed [at this time] neither were shot and it didn’t seem to be near the border [although wasn’t far]. So it may not even be related to the border. So Trump has to include his wall in his tweet.

According to a tweet [not from Trump], prototype construction for 8 models for HIS wall were to begin on Sept 26 and was to be completed in about 30 days. That is over 25 days ago.

Trump still going after the media [except Fox of course]: ” We should have a contest as to which of the Networks, plus CNN and not including Fox, is the most dishonest, corrupt and/or distorted in its political coverage of your favorite President (me). They are all bad. Winner to receive the FAKE NEWS TROPHY!”

Trump also tweeted “… I have the economy booming and have possibly done more than any 10 month President.” Trump signed 90 executive actions in his first 100 days. Yet most executive actions aren’t legislations. This is the equivalent of telling a kid to put his toys away. Number of major legislation passed? Zero.

Trump claim a number of times during his trip to Asia and after that former President Obama “never got to land” in Air Force One in the Philippines while he was President even though President Rodrigo Duterte didn’t like Obama. Actually he did.

The US has dropped to number 6 from number 1 for best international image. The source of America’s big drop? President Donald Trump, says Simon Anholt, a political consultant who developed the brand survey more than a decade ago. Germany was #1, followed by France, UK, Canada with Japan [tied] and then the US.

Somehow I missed this a few months back: The popular mobile word game Words With Friends has added one of the internet’s most popular typos in recent days — “covfefe.” The mysterious term that Trump tweeted has spread like wildfire on social media and the Scrabble-like multiplayer game has jumped aboard, defining the word as “the amount and quality of reporting when autocorrect fails you at 3am.”

Trump also recently appointed a lawyer who has never tried a case and who was unanimously deemed “not-qualified” by the American Bar Association to a lifetime federal district judgeship. He’s been stacking the courts with thousands of extreme right wing people in the image of Moore who will eventually make their way up to seats on the state superior courts.

After Keurig decided not to advertised on Fox News’ Sean Hannity’s show because he was too sympathetic to Moore, Keurig’s CEO apologized to employees for  appearing to take sides in a political debate. Hannity decided to accept the apology himself, and promised to replace the coffee machines of people who smashed their Keurigs. So, at the end of the day, Keurig seems to have actually boosted sales over the course of the drama.

While Trump was campaigning in late 2015, Trump encouraged boycotting Starbucks for its lack of Christmas cheer. Bah humbug? Does he ask all of his interns to smile?

The owner of the struggling Trump SoHo building in New York City reached a deal to end its contract with the Trump Organization early. Under their contract, CIM Group pays the Trump Organization licensing and management fees. In return, the Trump Organization handles the building’s day-to-day operations and, of course, lends the establishment Trump’s name.

Trump SoHo has been linked to a Russian ex-con, Felix Sater, who was involved in the original licensing deal that made the development possible. Basketball star LeBron James refused to stay at the hotel. Koi Restaurant closed down its operations at Trump SoHo in June, citing sluggish business. Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr. were targets of a felony-level legal probe into whether they intentionally mislead prospective buyers about how well the building’s condos were selling. In the end, no charges were filed.

The S&P 500 has soared about 21% since Trump’s election. That’s its third-best performance under a new president, behind President George H.W. Bush and President John F. Kennedy, according to CFRA Research. For the other two, it was during their terms. For trump, it’s only been 10 months.

According to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 59% disapprove of Trump’s handling of the presidency — the worst of any president at nine months in office since modern polling began. Of those who disapprove, 50% say they do so strongly. Only 37% of those polled approve of Trump’s performance in office. Trump is the first president since Harry Truman to see a net-negative approval at this point in his term.

A record percentage of respondents (65%) do not think that Trump is “honest and trustworthy,” up from 58% in April 2017. Prior to his inauguration, 61% thought he’d do an excellent or good job on the economy, while only 44% feel he is doing that well now. Fifty-six percent expected he’d do good work dealing with terrorism, while only 43% say he is doing so now.

A majority (58%) approve of Robert Mueller’s handling of the investigation; 28% disapprove. Meanwhile, 68% say they approve of the charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

A little less than half of respondents (49%) think Trump “committed a crime in connection with possible Russian attempts to influence the election,” but only 19% of that group think there is “solid evidence” of such a crime; 30% say their belief is based on suspicion only. 44% think it is unlikely that the President committed a crime.

Time for the Republicans to help govern, not block

Recently Senator Elizabeth Warren wrote an opinion for CNN was complaining that the Republicans continue to block Obama from governing the country.

I wonder what took her so long to come out with this as it has been like this for almost 8 years [and bad the last couple of years].

Even before Obama step one foot in the Oval Office as President, the Republicans have been using delay tactics for everything. Publically, they said they would work with the new government. They figure if they can’t govern effectively, they won’t be re-elected. But in 2012, Obama was re-elected. Ooops.

Particularly in the last couple of years, the Republicans have blocked nominations to fill the head agencies, fill judicial vacancies and staff other key government posts. Effectively many areas of the government have gone without heads or key positions for months. This in turn leads to confusion that runs a department.

Let’s say you were in a department, you had no boss. Who exactly approves purchases, vacation time, fires people, etc.? Maybe a more senior person or even from another department has to fill in.

[I guess if there was a positive side it’s the fact that less salaries is paid.]

It is close to three months since Obama nominated a Supreme Court justice to replace the late Antonin Scalia. Yet the Republicans are dragging their feet complaining that Obama doesn’t have the right to nominate a new justice in his final year – and yet Reagan did the same.

Meanwhile the Supreme Court could be deadlocked in a vote of 4 to 4 because the 9th justice hasn’t joined them. [And the Republics said a left leaning justice will start the equivalent of an American apocalypse with all hell breaking lose such as the loss of various amendments that would set back the country for 100 years. Maybe that’s when they think they’ll have another Republican as president.]

The Republicans claim they want the “people” to have a voice and yet wasn’t Obama and other members of Congress voted by the people [to be their proxy]? This isn’t democratic.

With the open seat they figure they will have Donald Trump to become president and choose a right leaning justice.

But aren’t judges supposed to be unbiased? They shouldn’t be judging by their party or their faith but by what is right according to the law.

Republican Party leader McConnell recently wrote that “on issues of great national significance, one party should never simply force its will on everybody else.” Oh ya?

Since taking control of the Senate in 2015, the number of appointments by the Obama administration is at the lowest amount for decades. Not because of the lack of nominees but because of delay tactics by the Republicans in the Senate.

The opposition’s job is not to halt the government’s work but add a voice. If there is no reason to [for example] block Obama’s Supreme Court justice nominee other than he is left leaning, then they are not doing their job.

The Democratic Party did their job when Clarence Thomas was investigated after the allegations made against him [whether true or not]. That is a proper opposition.

But for the Republican Party to block just about any nominee for numerous positions is just plainly bad. This may end up biting them in November. [Bad enough that they have a fairly unpopular candidate.]

If you want some light reading from Elizabeth Warren [complete with tables]….
http://www.warren.senate.gov/files/documents/2016-6-6_Warren_SCOTUS_Report.pdf