Pence doesn’t endorse Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he “cannot in good conscience” endorse presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, a stunning repudiation of his former running mate and the president he served with. “Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. That’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign,” Pence said.

[“…at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years.” Huh? There is little to no difference between Trump’s first reign and what he is proposing. At “press time”, no response from Trump but if Trump follows his usual response, he will mention disloyalty as well as something like he did a bad job as Vice-President.]

The judge, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, overseeing the Georgia 2020 election interference case dismissed some of the charges against Trump and others, but the rest of the sweeping racketeering indictment remains intact. The judge wrote in an order that six of the counts in the indictment must be quashed, including three against Trump. But he left in place other counts — including 10 facing Trump — and said prosecutors could seek a new indictment on the charges he dismissed.

Trump suggested he was open to making cuts to Social Security and Medicare after opposing touching the entitlement programs. These two programs for senior citizens are generally consider untouchable by almost all politicians. Trump campaign spokeswoman later said that Trump was “clearly talking about cutting waste, not entitlements.” That same spokeswoman says it is Biden who won’t protect entitlement programs when Biden has already said prior “Not on my watch” about cutting them.

[Trump seems to have quite a few spokespeople. I wonder if some need time off after all the running around to clarify statements Trump have said in a day.]

When Trump was president, his administration’s budget proposals included spending cuts to Social Security, primarily by targeting disability benefits, and Medicare, largely by reducing provider payments. Trump also signalled in an interview with CNBC in 2020 that he was open to cutting federal entitlements to reduce the federal deficit.

Without any changes, Social Security’s combined trust funds are set to run dry in 2034, at which time the program’s continuing income from taxes will only be able to cover 80% of benefits owed. Medicare’s hospital insurance trust fund, known as Medicare Part A, will only be able to pay scheduled benefits in full until 2031.

Attorneys for Trump want to delay the start of his upcoming New York criminal trial until the US Supreme Court weighs in on presidential immunity, according to a new motion – a ruling that may not come until late June. The criminal trial related to hush money payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to adult film star Stormy Daniels is scheduled to begin with jury selection on March 25.

[Unsure what has got to do with the other. Trump was never the president at any time during the trial or now. So immunity isn’t related.]

Recently, Trump met with the parents of a nursing student whose alleged killer was an undocumented immigrant. Trump has suggested hard-line immigration proposals, including a mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

[Unsure, but would of Trump visited the parents if they were Republicans? Current statistics said that undocumented immigrant are not a large factor in the number of murders in the US. Between that and pushing Republicans in Congress to vote against the border deal, Trump and his cronies will still put the blame on the Democrats. Remember that Trump said no deal is better that the deal the Democrats put forward. Do you think Republican voters will remember this in November?]

“He [Trump] thought [Vladimir] Putin was an OK guy and Kim [Jong Un] was an OK guy — that we had pushed North Korea into a corner,” retired Gen. John Kelly, who served as Trump’s chief of staff, said. “To him, it was like we were goading these guys. ‘If we didn’t have NATO, then Putin wouldn’t be doing these things.’”

Trump said, “Well, but Hitler did some good things.” Kelly said, “Well, what?” And Trump said, “Well, [Hitler] rebuilt the economy.” But what did he do with that rebuilt economy? He turned it against his own people and against the world. Kelly said, “Sir, you can never say anything good about the guy. Nothing.”

“There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” Trump said of the Hungarian president who visited Mar-A-Lago recently, adding, “He’s the boss and he’s a great leader, fantastic leader. In Europe and around the world, they respect him.”

[I don’t think many respect him. He’s another authoritarian leader like Trump.]

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee, overseeing the Georgia election interference case against Trump and his allies ruled that Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis may continue with the prosecution but only if Nathan Wade, the lead prosecutor she appointed and had a romantic relationship with, exits the case. The judge wrote that the defendants “failed to meet their burden” in proving that Willis’s relationship with Wade — along with allegations that she was financially enriched through trips the two took together — was enough of a “conflict of interest” to merit her removal from the case. Wade resigned later on.

Trump asked Elon Musk last summer whether the billionaire industrialist would be interested in buying Trump’s failed social network Truth Social.

Trump, who is only a few years younger than President Biden, has said several times that he doesn’t think Biden is “too old” to be president but he did recently release a digital only add poking fun at Biden with comments Biden has said about his age.

[As you know Trump is the one to talk. Saying Mercedes instead of his wife’s name Melania. How could he mix that up? He’s also said the wrong name (maybe on purpose) for others including Nancy Pelosi. Also note that Trump doesn’t have a lot of campaign cash on hand. Some going to his legal defence. Maybe he will use his own money…. Hah!]

Trump mocked Biden’s stutter at a campaign rally in Rome, Ga., the latest in a series of insults he has hurled at his rival but one that disability advocates regard as a demeaning form of bullying.

[Do you ever see Biden knock any physical characteristics of Trump like being orange or overweight or his little hands? His mental capacity is a different story. And just what group hasn’t Trump demeaned except Christian whites?]

The Republican National Committee began laying off dozens of staffers, days after Trump’s handpicked team took the reins of the organization. The layoffs affect staffers across multiple departments. The cuts also go beyond senior staff to vendors and mid-level employees. Vendor contracts will likely be cut as well. Some staff who were asked to resign could reapply for jobs at the organization.

“If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business,” Trump said in a post on his platform, Truth Social, racistly referring to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He called Facebook “a true enemy of the people” but didn’t explain his reasoning. While in office, Trump wanted to expel TikTok from the US [because they are owned by ByteDance of China]. Now that Biden is pushing to expel them, Trump is having second thoughts.

“The thing I don’t like is that without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people, along with a lot of the media,” Trump told CNBC before US markets opened. Meta [owner of Facebook] stock dropped 5% at one point. “I think Facebook has been very dishonest. I think Facebook has been very bad for our country, especially when it comes to elections.”

[I’m on Facebook. I really didn’t see anything on the platform that was directed more at Trump or the Republicans than the Democrats. It’s not like you will see something like huge banner saying “Vote for Biden” or “Down with Trump” on every page. Another lie.]

TikTok is one of the world’s most popular social media apps and is used by roughly 170 million Americans.

Kellyanne Conway [remember her?] is a lobbyist for TikTok. Trump also supposedly has a major donor who owns a small chunk of TikTok.

[That major donor would be a good reason why Trump did an about face and now supports TikTok.]

In the House of Representatives, Trump “lost” the vote as 352 voted for a TikTok ban and just 65 were against [50 Democrats, 15 Republicans]. It may be harder in the Senate.

Trump said last month he would consider imposing a tariff upward of 60% on all Chinese imports if he regains the presidency. As president, Trump imposed tariffs of 25% on $50 billion of Chinese goods in June 2018.

[Trump’s buddy, President Xi won’t be too happy.]

Musk is unstable

Aside from all the very off things Elon Musk has done in the past 6 months, now Musk is claiming that journalists from the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN were “doxxing” him under a new Twitter rule by giving out information where he and his family are located. The journalists were banned or suspended but were not given an official explanation.

Musk claims that “They were giving out assassination coordinates.”

But look closely. These are the same media services that have been critical of him. “New” policy? Was it created just to use this as a disguise to ban those who report against him.

As for the fax doxxing part, the information found was “open source” – i.e. this information can be found on the Internet or elsewhere quite easily.

Seems like Musk is inventing policies as he wants. He is blocking free speech but disguising it as something that is false.

Already the European Union is looking into the matter.

Special master chucked

A federal appeals court panel halted an outside review of thousands of documents seized from Donald Trump’s Florida residence, ruling that a lower court judge was wrong to appoint an expert to decide whether any of the material should be shielded from criminal investigators. Trump sought the outside arbiter, known as a special master, after the FBI executed a court-approved search of Mar-a-Lago, his home and private club, on Aug. 8, retrieving more than 13,000 documents related to Trump’s time in the White House. About 100 of the documents were classified, and some contained extremely sensitive government secrets, according to court records.

The House Ways and Means Committee now has six years of Donald Trump’s federal tax returns, ending a yearslong pursuit by Democrats to dig into one of the former president’s most closely guarded personal details. “Treasury has complied with last week’s court decision,” a Treasury spokesperson said.

Trump knew about a 15-year tax fraud carried out by long-time executives including Allen Weisselberg – his former chief financial officer at the Trump Organization – a prosecutor argued saying the illegal activity ended when the company cleaned up its business practices around the time Trump entered the White House. At the close of the Trump Organization’s criminal trial, prosecutors introduced the idea that Trump had knowledge of crimes committed by his top deputies.

The claim was a way of supporting their theory that the real estate, hospitality and golf company is criminally culpable for and benefited from tax cheating. If it was true, it then shows that he is incompetent as the CEO of the company. [All though we know he was incompetent… among other things.]

“People [the Trump Insurrectionists from January 6th] have been treated unconstitutionally in my opinion and very, very unfairly, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it,” he said. Trump also bemoaned the “weaponization of the Department of Justice” and said the country was “going communist.” It was at a video played during a fundraiser recently that was hosted by the Patriot Freedom Project, a group that assists families of those charged in the riot.

In a September interview, Trump said he was “financially supporting” some January 6 defendants and promised he would issue pardons and a government apology to those being prosecuted if he were re-elected. I wonder, if anything, how he helped them financially.

Elon Musk has announced that he will support Florida “governor” Ron DeSantis in his 2024 bid to be the Republican nominee for president – assuming DeSantis runs. Of course, Musk has changed his mind. [And would DeSantis really be happy if Musk supports him with Musk’s track record of late?]

A growing number of Republicans, including former US Vice President Mike Pence, criticized Trump for dining with a Holocaust-denying white nationalist, Nick Fuentes, and the rapper formerly known as Kanye West days after launching his third campaign for the White House. Trump claims he didn’t know Fuentes. So the Secret Service and his own staff did not advise him?

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a long-time Trump ally, said: “Yeah, the meeting was bad. He shouldn’t have done it.” But he added that “there’s a double standard about this kind of stuff.” What double standard? House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and others considering challenging Trump for the GOP nomination, remained silent.

McCarthy eventually did but didn’t specify what Trump did was wrong. McCarthy is hesitant of going against Trump as members of the No IQ Club [Marjorie Taylor-Greene, Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar and others] are needed to get him over the amount needed to be vote in as Speaker of the House.

Trump going for 2024?

There is talk that Donald Trump could start his campaign for the 2024 elects this fall [I would assume after the mid-term elections]. Interesting if Trump tries to start his campaign while the Select Committee in the Trump Insurrection is still going on. He could wait until it’s over and they will put the blame on him. But he’s Teflon Don and will say the usual excuses [illegitimate committee, members of the committee out to get him or destroy his 2024 campaign, etc.].

If he was actually smart, he would wait until just before the deadline to start his campaign because as other may start their campaign [like Ron DeSantis or Ted Cruz] they can’t really go after someone who isn’t campaigning. At the same time, money that comes in while campaigning have stricter rules than prior. Trump can continue to have his paid rallies and not be probed. As soon as he is campaigning, he would need to ask for donations.

Abruptly raising the question of witness tampering, the Jan. 6 committee revealed that Trump had attempted to contact a person who was talking to the panel about its investigation of Trump and the 2021 attack on the Capitol. The person Trump tried to contact declined to answer or respond to his call and instead the person alerted their lawyer who contacted the committee. The committee previously divulged examples of other times witnesses have received outreach from Trump allies, some suggesting he was aware they were talking to the committee, ahead of testimony before the panel.

The panel featured new video testimony from Pat Cipollone, Trump’s former White House counsel, recalling the explosive meeting at the White House when Trump’s outside legal team brought a draft executive order to seize states’ voting machines — a “terrible idea,” he said. “That’s not how we do things in the United States,” Cipollone testified. “Where is the evidence?” Cipollone demanded of the false claims of voter fraud.

A Washington, DC, police officer has corroborated to the House select committee investigating January 6, 2021, details regarding a heated exchange Trump had with his Secret Service detail when he was told he could not go to the US Capitol after his rally. Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson said that she heard a second-hand account told to her by then-White House deputy chief of staff Tony Ornato that Trump was so enraged at his Secret Service detail for blocking him from going to the Capitol on the day of the insurrection that “he reached up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel” and “then used his free hand to lunge towards” his Secret Service lead agent Robert Engel. Hutchinson testified that Ornato told her the story in front of Engel and he did not dispute the account.

A government watchdog accused the US Secret Service of erasing texts from Jan. 5 and 6, 2021, after his office requested them as part of an inquiry into the Trump Insurrection. The text messages should be available somewhere or maybe on a backup after the insurrection day. Sill – suspicious. Retrieving backups from the day after should have those missing text messages.

John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and former White House national security adviser, said that he had helped plan attempted coups in foreign countries. Bolton suggested Trump was not competent enough to pull off a “carefully planned coup d’état,” later adding: “As somebody who has helped plan coups d’état – not here but you know (in) other places – it takes a lot of work. And that’s not what he (Trump) did.” He initially didn’t say which countries but Venezuela was in the list.

Trump claimed that Elon Musk had told him he had voted for him, when he, in fact, had never voted for a Republican before. “I said, ‘I didn’t know that,'” Trump continued. “He told me he voted for me, so he’s another bulls— artist.” Just remember that Trump has a history of saying things that never happened. Did Musk tell Trump he voted for him? I doubt it. Nothing but a big orange baby.

Musk replied saying, “I don’t hate the man, but it’s time for Trump to hang up his hat & sail into the sunset.” Musk said that he was leaning towards supporting Florida governor Ron DeSantis for president in 2024 and “DeSantis will easily win” in 2024 against Biden.

So Ivana Trump, Donnie’s first wife, died from falling down the stairs. Wonder if there are any conspiracy theories going on. [Is Marla Maples nervous?]

Five subpoenas to the House Trump Insurrection committee

The House select committee investigating the January 6 attack [a.k.a Trump Insurrection] on the US Capitol is taking the extraordinary step of sending subpoenas to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Reps. Jim Jordan of Ohio, Mo Brooks of Alabama, Andy Biggs of Arizona and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania. They have rejected the panel’s requests to voluntarily cooperate.

“The fact that they sent it to the press before they send it to the members is just proof it’s all about headlines. This whole thing is a charade,” said Perry. Well, duh! He knew it was coming when he refused to cooperate. McCarthy still calls the committee illegitimate. Unsure in his mind what would make a committee legitimate. All Republican committee investigating Donald Trump? “But the one thing that has changed in America: higher inflation … unsecure border, gas prices and now we don’t have baby formula,” said McCarthy. Yes. I’m sure baby formula has been talking about in Congress daily.

Prosecutors have convened a grand jury to investigate Trump’s mishandling of classified documents that he improperly removed from the White House and brought with him to his resort at Mar-a-Lago after his term ended in January 2021. Charges are rarely brought in investigations into the handling of classified documents and that the Department of Justice typically conducts them to determine whether any highly sensitive information may have been exposed so the intelligence community can take measures to protect sources and methods.

In a nearly hour-and-a-half speech at a political rally recently in Pennsylvania, Trump made only a passing reference to the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn a landmark ruling that established a woman’s right to an abortion [Roe v Wade]. I think even he knows it is a hot topic and he could alienate the very few voters that are pro-choice but like him. [Polls say about two thirds of the US population is in favor of pro-choice to some degree.]

Mark T. Esper, who served Trump as defense secretary, alleges in a new book that he witnessed Trump in the Oval Office suggesting that members of the military should shoot American protesters “in the legs or something” as they are exercising their right to free speech. Esper said it was just him, Trump, Mike Pence. And a few others but only names Pence. Of course Trump denies it who claims “This is a complete lie, and 10 witnesses can back it up.”

As well, Esper claims Trump had developed a disdain for Stanley McChrystal and William H. McRaven, popular and influential military leaders who, in retirement, criticized Trump. When Trump informed Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, of his wish to see McChrystal and McRaven court-martialed, the two Pentagon leaders “jumped to their defense,” Esper writes, arguing that both completed distinguished military careers and that taking such action would be “extreme and unwarranted.”

McChrystal, an Army Ranger whom President Barack Obama famously ousted as the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, called Trump “immoral” in an interview with ABC News. McRaven, who under Obama devised the operation resulting in Osama bin Laden’s death, accused Trump in an opinion piece of having “embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.”

Would you believe three war ships that were built in the Trump era will be decommissioned because of constant hardware problems. The anti-submarine warfare system on the ships “did not work out technically.”

Elon Musk said that he would end Trump’s Twitter ban if he becomes the social media platform’s new owner. Musk said during a keynote address hosted by the Financial Times that Trump shouldn’t have been banned in the first place. “I think that was a mistake because it alienated a large part of a country and it did not ultimately result in Donald Trump not having a voice,” Musk said. You think Trump will rush to Twitter? It could show how his Truth Social is sucking. [I don’t think Mark Zuckerberg would have a personal account on a competing platform.]

Trump knows how to pick them…

The Justice Department has begun taking steps to investigate Donald Trump’s removal of presidential records to Mar-a-Lago — some of which were labelled “top secret.”

CBS News’s decision to hire former Trump administration official Mick Mulvaney as a paid on-air contributor is drawing backlash within the company because of his history of bashing the press and promoting Trump’s fact-free claims.

Matt Mowers, the former Trump administration aide who is running for Congress in New Hampshire, voted twice during the 2016 primary, opening the Republican candidate up to criticism from his opponents and charges of hypocrisy from Democrats. After New Hampshire in February 2016, Mowers cast another ballot in a presidential primary four months later, using his parents’ New Jersey address to re-register in his long-time home state and cast a ballot in the state’s June Republican primary.

Another politician Trump won’t endorse because the politician didn’t suck up to Trump in trying to get Trump to win the 2020 election. “He [Bill McSwain] was the US Attorney who did absolutely nothing on the massive Election Fraud that took place in Philadelphia and throughout the commonwealth,” said Trump. “[Former Attorney General Bill] Barr told him not to do anything [because Barr was afraid of being impeached by the Democrats], but he should have done his job anyway.”

Republicans in the state legislature have been auditing the election results — at taxpayer expense — for the better part of a year and found no issues. McSwain could have seized the election and given it to Trump. But he didn’t. Because in Trump’s words, he was a “coward.”

“Now that @ElonMusk is Twitter’s largest shareholder, it’s time to lift the political censorship. Oh . . . and BRING BACK TRUMP!” tweeted Republican “politician” Lauren Boebert. Twitter spokespeople have said that management and employees make those policy decisions, not the board. While Musk likes free speech, he’s not a fan of politicians. Now will Trump threaten to sue Twitter if he runs in 2024 but still can’t post on Twitter.

Conservatives are heralding Musk’s bid to buy Twitter as a salve for years of feeling slighted and sidelined by the platform for their political views. The self-proclaimed “free-speech absolutist” has offered to buy Twitter for $43 billion — a potential takeover that could lead to more controversial content allowed on the site, and be a boon for Republicans who allege Twitter censors their views. However, Musk isn’t a huge fan of politicians and Trump is hardly on of his either. Even though Trump said he won’t return to Twitter [even with his failing Truth Social platform], one advisor said he’d return to Twitter in a heartbeat if allowed. That would be another lie from Trump and would probably sink Truth Social for good.

In the ongoing series of Trump knows how to endorse them: Trump endorsed fellow television celebrity-turned-politician Mehmet Oz [a.k.a. Dr. Oz] in the contested Republican primary for the US Senate in Pennsylvania, where the leading candidates jockeyed aggressively for Trump’s support. Does the US need another “celebrity” who knows nothing about politics? Look at Trump. He got elected but even after four years in office he probably still doesn’t know what’s in the constitution or amendments.

Nebraska Republican State Sen. Julie Slama said she was “in shock” when Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Charles Herbster allegedly put his hand “up my dress” at a GOP dinner. Slama detailed what she has described as an “assault” in 2019 in an interview, the day the Nebraska Examiner reported that she and seven other women had accused the Republican businessman of groping them.

At one point in his term, Trump weighed 239 pounds. His then doctor [turned politician], Ronny Jackson claimed he was in great shape even though everyone knew he had a bad diet of Big Macs and other junk food. And 239 pounds isn’t good either. Now Oz has told him to loose some weight even though Trump claimed he is down to 208 pounds. No one sees him exercise or lose the junk food and yet he miraculously lost 31 pounds in the 4 years. He doesn’t look different.

Trump endorsed Ohio Republican Senate candidate J.D. Vance, potentially shaking up a major primary and capping a long and contentious fight for Trump’s support. Vance, a venture capitalist and the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” spent more than a year battling for Trump’s endorsement alongside a handful of other candidates.

But it seems that Ohio Republicans are not thrilled with the prospect of Vance being their nominee. Most polls have consistently shown Vance trailing his Republican rivals.

Side Note: So I mentioned before that I call you know who Vladimir Poutine as that’s what some of the French press [see https://www.ledevoir.com/vladimir-poutine for example] call him and as well in the French side of Wikipedia. Well, they could of also called him “putain” but that is less tasteful. The liberal or nicer meaning is prostitute. As you may know, poutine is a well known Quebec “comfort” dish that includes fries, gravy and Kurd cheese – usually.