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The most real reality show in history and we can't change the channel

8/27/2019

(WARNING: I am not a doctor. Any claims made in the following are those of a layman and not intended to be a diagnosis.)

President Trump is unhinged. Just when you think he cannot be more out of control or less of a leader than other presidents, he takes it another couple of steps forward, uh, backward.

His performance at the G-7 was embarrassing.

He actually claimed everyone got along well (Tangent: That’s not what his peers were overheard saying), and praised his host the president of France. Very un-Trump like.

He claimed the meetings were a big success yet the only true accomplishment was agreement to give a combined $20 million to Brazil to fight the fires in the Amazon. (Tangent: the President of Brazil refused to accept the money because, well, apparently because he may be as nuts as Trump.) The communique, which normally takes months to negotiate and then be made final by the principals at the meeting was in effect scratched after Trump’s performances in his first G-7 meetings.

Among Trump’s “accomplishments: at the meeting:

He relinquished the USA’s role as the world’s leader
He flipped before he flopped on several matters including the China trade war, first calling the Chinese president an “enemy” of the United States and then saying he was a fabulous man. (Tangent: He also called the chairman of the Fed, a Trump appointee, an enemy of the United States and didn’t take back that insult.)
He pitched his failing Doral resort as the next site for a G-7 meeting, which the U.S. will host. He said it had “bungalows” that house 50-70 people. (Tangent: A “bungalow” is defined as, well, not something that holds 50-70 people but far more intimate.)
He touted Doral’s mass amounts of parking (Tangent: As if these G-7 leaders need parking).
In spite of his promises to not make money while he was president because he is leveraging the presidency for himself he pitched Doral as he did when he was a developer in the private sector. Likely which will lead to a violation of the Constitution, but the courts will decide that at some point.
He praised his trade war with China even though his Agriculture Secretary was meeting with farmers at about the same time and the farmers were not happy. Total American agricultural exports to China were $24 billion in 2014 and fell to $9.1 billion last year, according to the American Farm Bureau. Instead of running their farms and businesses, the farmers are being paid out of a fund Trump set up to make up for some of their losses. (Tangent: Who says his trade war doesn’t affect you and me?)
As the TV barkers say, “And that’s not all!” Now, the China Trade War is also affecting U.S. manufacturers that Trump claims to be saving. As farmers have to cut back on their business, Deere and Company, makers of farm equipment, are losing orders because the farmers don’t need equipment when their businesses are losing money.
Trump held a press conference for more than an hour where he lied, made up “facts” and when a black journalist asked him a question he said, “I know you like President Obama” instead of answering her question which was why he continues to lie about Obama’s alleged role in Russia taking (Tangent: Yes, taking as in militarily annexing) Crimea.
On top of that, Trump spent a bunch of his time at the meeting arguing for Russia to be let back into the G-7 even though the group unanimously banned Russia after the aforementioned taking of Crimea and Russia has done nothing to rectify the violations that led to its expulsion.
He praised his BFF North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un as a good man, not long after Kim violated UN sanctions by testing nuclear missiles, which Trump says is OK with him even though he claims to want North Korea to give up its nukes.

I know I’m missing a few other matters involving Trump at the meeting. Oh, but I can’t forget that Trump claimed to get a couple of calls from senior Chinese officials regarding getting back to the negotiating table. (Tangent: That didn’t happen. Trump was conflating a few things. Oh, and by the way, it’s not typical for senior officials of any government to call the leader of another country.)

So, remembering the warning that leads this post – President Trump is around the bend, over the hill, loopy, maybe mentally unstable. And if you didn’t believe it before you have to at least begin to wonder now if he’s stable enough to lead this country and have the keys to our nuclear arsenal.

This isn’t funny anymore (Tangent: It never was funny.)

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The most important election in the USA's history

8/9/2019

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There is only one goal in the 2020 presidential campaign: Defeating Donald J. Trump.

Therefore, there is one issue in the 2020 presidential campaign: Donald J. Trump.

While I do not agree with the policy solutions offered by senators Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders, if they become president I will find ways to oppose their solutions and offer better ones. That’s a better fight to me than fighting against what could be the ruination of this country as we know it under a second term of Trump.

Former Vice President Joe Biden so far seems to be fighting the battle on the issue of Trump. Sure he will have policy positions but, again, I’d rather fight over policy than over whether the President of the United States is a racist. Even though I think she is totally unqualified to even be a candidate for President, I’d rather get mad about Marianne Williamson’s focus on spiritualism as president than on arguing over Trump being in the pocket of the NRA.

Now that I think of it, I’d rather argue with a piece of gum over whether its flavor is spearmint, peppermint or bubble than argue about Donald Trump’s racist statements and splitting families apart on our southern border.

Don’t assume Trump can’t win election. He can.

If the battle is fought on issues, he could win because he has some good things to point to (the economy, regulations) and he will lie about anything if it helps him politically. If the battle is fought on how bad he is at appointing senior officials, he will blame others for their selection. If the economy peters out, it will be the Fed’s fault. If we can’t get a trade agreement with China, it will be because China won’t give us fair treatment. If it’s over crime, it’s because we let too many immigrants in or mental health. If it’s over gun control, it’s because guns don’t kill people, people kill people.

In short, he has an excuse for everything even if history or science or facts show otherwise. Example? Climate change. Every legitimate scientist in the world agrees climate change is happening and, despite what the President says, it will not change on its own like the weather.

He has enough that he can give shade to his record and maybe, again, fool enough of the people enough of the time.

But if the battle is fought on Donald Trump the Man, he loses. Most of the country has never approved of him personally, according to the polls. But if the question is job approval, according to pollster Nate Silver, Trump actually is climbing. His personal favorable ratings have always been low, well under 50 percent, but his job approval rating (a subtle but huge difference) has been sneaking upward lately. Silver says his job approval rating is up by about 10 percentage points since 2016. It’s still below 50 percent but don’t assume he’s hit his ceiling yet.

Why? Probably perceptions that the economy is doing well during his term (forgetting about when the improvement really started). The economy has remained strong though some say it’s showing signs of weakening, likely a result of Trump’s failed trade negotiations with China. But you’ll never hear that reason from Trump, who even believes, or at least says, China is paying his ridiculous tariffs. We are paying, through higher prices. Don’t believe it? Keep a close watch on the prices you pay for things. You’ll see.

We should have learned, and most of us did, about the destruction tariffs do to our economy with when the Hawley Smoot tariffs were enacted last century.

And don’t underestimate Trump’s ability to lie and have an impact. He’s very good at that. Not every American pays as close attention to the daily shocks that come out of the White House – they have lives to lead, jobs to focus on, and families to protect. Folks like me, and probably you, are very focused on his daily mistakes or his sidling up to dictators while turning his back to allies. Or his constant lying.

Nothing is more important right now than defeating Trump. You can debate over Biden or senators Kamala Harris or the others, but don’t get too attached. I know in your heart of hearts you want whoever runs against Trump to win.

And we’ll deal with whatever those consequences come along if the Democrat is elected. At least we won’t be fighting over the values that this country has shown to the world for more than 200 years. That is what gave America its strength and made it a magnet for people from all countries who want to better their lives, and their children’s lives.

That’s why if I were advising a campaign right now I’d be focused on one issue only – reminding voters what Donald Trump has done to this country. Reminding them he promised to release his income tax records but now says he’s not going to do it. If he released those records I have no doubt the American people would learn how he really makes or doesn’t make his money, how much money he really is worth and to whom he is beholden with loans.

Donald J. Trump is a very bad, nasty man – and I know I have Trump supporters who read this but please take an honest look at this man and his lack of empathy for anyone but himself. I know you like that he gives the finger to "the establishment." But just remember how many of his own appointees he has blamed for problems they did not create. And remember how he gave them the finger as they left. And, if he needs to, to build himself up, he'll give you the finger too. Loyalty is a one-way street in Trump's world.

Standing in front of the medical staff that just had gone through the worst few days of their lives, working long hours trying to save victims of a mass shooter in El Paso, Trump stood there quickly thanked them for all they did then pivoted to a riff on how big his … crowd was when he spoke in El Paso a few months ago.

And, by the way, he lied about the size of his … crowd too.

This is the most important election in the history of our country. And I do not say that lightly. In fact, if I were running any of the Democratic candidates campaigns, especially one of the leading ones, I would call a meeting of my counterparts and suggest we not criticize each other’s candidates except on policy. Not only should we all be putting country ahead of party, the candidates should put country in front of their campaigns.

The election is that important.

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Are these debates just made for TV? What about the election?

8/1/2019

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GPut aside, for the moment, the substance of the Democratic debates. CNN over-produced them, over-dressed them up and over-prettied up the Fox Theater.

From the veteran filled honor guard (with all due respect to their service) to the over-done stage makeover (of a really nice historic theater to begin with) – the production was, simply, over-done.

Understanding the challenges of developing a format that gives 10 candidates a fair shot at free air time to give the viewer an idea of what he or she stands for and the no-win situation of trying to stop them from going over those limits, it’s hard to figure out just who can beat Donald Trump from those debates. Which means, probably, Trump won the debates without even being there.

Dana Bash did the best job of trying to keep within the time limits by simply saying thank you while the very competent Jake Tapper failed at it, as did Don Lemon. I don’t know why that was. All three are very capable TV folks. But then again, maybe that shows the format doesn’t work.

The point of these debates, supposedly, is to give the voters a sense of who is their preferred candidate. Is it former Vice President Joe Biden, who looks tired on the stage and in his answers but still seems the best bet to beat President Trump, or Andrew Yang who chose not to wear a tie and noted that’s what we probably would remember about him. And he was correct about that.

On the substance, I’d have to say Sen. Elizabeth Warren (not my favorite candidate but you have to give that she clearly was the best prepared) “won.” But should these debates be about who “won” and who “lost.” Or should they be about determining who is the best candidate to run against Trump? They are not the same thing.

I must confess that I did not watch all of either debate. It almost hurt to watch as the candidates seemed to be playing verbal bumper cars rather than explaining why they are the best candidate.

I mean, how much can you stuff into a one-minute answer or a 15-second rebuttal? And why, anyway, does that qualify you to lead the free world? At one point I thought the goal was who would shout the loudest.

Also, how much time did their staffs spend trying to come up with the words that would give their candidate "a moment?" We are to decide who will be President based on a "'moment"?

I don’t know the answer other than to wait until the field is whittled down enough so we can get a good feel of each candidate. I read several of Marianne Williamson’s books years ago when I was trying to figure myself out. I found the books quite compelling. I do not see what makes her think she should be President of the United States. Or, for that matter, why ex-Cong. John Delaney thinks he should be commander-in-chief? Ego? An opportunity to build name ID so he can succeed again at something else? I don’t know…but he is not qualified to be the President, nor are many of the other 19 candidates.

If we believe the talking heads, and why not for sake of argument, Biden didn’t lose the debate, Sen. Kamala Harris held her own, etc. etc.

Personally, I want to learn who can best beat Donald Trump. The demographics are there for a Democrat victory, the public opinion polls indicate Trump will lose and has been deemed "unpopular" since the day he was elected, and those of us who want a President we can look up to are motivated to vote against him.

All we need is the candidate.

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The most real reality show in history and we can't change the channel

The most important election in the USA's history

Are these debates just made for TV? What about the election?

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