Thinking about how to vote in 2024? I Am!
Almost as bad as the depths of gaslighting, where the money Biden 'released' to Iran goes only towards humanitarian efforts. Funny how that part always gets left out when someone brainwashed by MAGA mentions it.
Bill Maher called out the ridiculousness of the hyperbolic claims on both sides this past Friday:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hp5Ndt8xt0Anyone that believes the money "released" to Iran goes only towards humanitarian efforts is living in a fantasy world. At best it goes there, freeing up the money that would otherwise be spent there to go towards war and terrorism instead. In practice, of course, it all goes into one pot for Iran to spend as desired.
Brainwashed indeed.Do you have a credible source to back that?
To back what? That believers in fairy tales live in a fantasy world? That should be obvious to anyone smarter than a chipmunk.
Or do you think we should all believe the fairy tale that a war-mongering, terrorist nation out to destroy the West is using funds they promised to spend on humanitarian efforts on criminal activity? That doesn't even take the intelligence of said chipmunk!It is beyond frustrating to even attempt to have a rational conversation with this mindset!
Ummmm excuse me but, "do you have a credible source" that you are indeed being targeted by enemy fire?
Hello, hello, hello.........Wilderness has asked me for sources I've used to back my posts on several occasions. Maybe it's a basis for rational conversation? I've never been frustrated by the request or considered it to be "enemy fire"
No one, to my knowledge, has targeted SW Idaho for enemy fire. Is that what it takes to determine that a terrorist nation is spending money to destroy others?
U.S., Partners Continue Pushback Against Iranian-Backed Houthi Terrorist Group - Jan. 23, 2024
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stori … ist-group/
Hezbollah, Hamas, and More: Iran's Terror Network Around the Globe
https://www.ajc.org/news/hezbollah-hama … -the-globe
Iranian and Hezbollah commanders help direct Houthi attacks
https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-ea … 024-01-20/
SMH
Agree... In my view -- the cash was to keep oil headed for China and the EU. Much of what we are seeing under this administration is about keeping Europe warm in the winter... Does not Russia still supply oil to Europe, sort of supporting their war? Biden let Iran make money hand over fist, Trump had them broke.
I believe it is important to see this was more than a minor messup, more than a whoops-they-tricked-us situation.
We all know that Iran has been chanting "death to the great satan" for about, lets say, 50 years... enough time for us to notice.
So... what does Biden do... other than tuck tail out of Afghanistan giving the world great optics to consider.
He gives Iran hundreds... hundreds of billions of dollars.
Forget the $6 Billion, Biden Has Freed Up Over $70 Billion for Iran
https://www.dailysignal.com/2023/10/18/ … ck-israel/
Biden Opens up the Bank Vault for Iran
https://www.aei.org/op-eds/biden-opens- … -for-iran/
Biden Allows Iran to Access Another $10 Billion Amid Gaza War
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202311150106
Biden Keeps the Billions Flowing to Iran
https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-admi … a-df192c53
Etc. Etc. Biden isn't just funding some of the terrorist activities in the Middle East... he's funding ALL of it... by funding Iran.I strongly share the sentiment... Both Biden and Obama, in my perspective, have supported groups financially that can be considered terrorists across the Middle East. Iran appears to be a central player in this dynamic. It's perplexing that measures weren't taken to halt Russia's energy sales to Europe, essentially enabling NATO to indirectly finance Russia's prolongation of conflicts. Additionally, the US seemed to allow Iran to amass considerable wealth, which seemingly fuels various conflicts in the Middle East. The connections here are quite evident.
I don't know any of the politicians... But how could anyone trust trump I just cannot understand him. He lays wreath for the men list in wars yet would not let his son join the forces that's only what I read. And he has done so many ridiculous things how could anyone trust him. I just don't understand if I lived there I would want a responsible person to be in top position
Give me the guy that made the country run well, and avoided war, but acts the fool... over what we have now... or your typical corrupt crony politician.
Thinking about how I'll vote, as an independent, yes and this guy isn't winning me over...
Trump's statement on the assassination of Navalny..
"The sudden death of Alexei Navalny has made me more and more aware of what is happening in our Country,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “It is a slow, steady progression, with CROOKED, Radical Left Politicians, Prosecutors, and Judges leading us down a path to destruction. Open Borders, Rigged Elections, and Grossly Unfair Courtroom Decisions are DESTROYING AMERICA. WE ARE A NATION IN DECLINE, A FAILING NATION"
What on earth? First of all can you just feel the sincerity of the missing condolences? My God. Does this man have any human feelings whatsoever?
The "sudden death"? Does he think we are all that stupid? How are his grievances related to Navalny's murder? Trump really is Putin's useful idiot. I'm also fed up with the way he constantly trash talks our country.
I don't know, call me crazy but I'm not okay with a candidate who thinks it's acceptable for a leader of a nation to murder their political rivals... Probably why he thinks he needs presidential immunity but hey Putin has shown that you can do whatever the hell you want. No immunity needed!
The Putin praise and growth of Russian sympathizers in our country is honestly grotesque. A murderous thug is not to be admired.Every word of Trump's post is TRUTH.
The additional words added by you are pure speculation!
You read your own interpretations into every post...or statement, which doesn't fall in line with your brand of politics, your line of thinking.
It doesn’t matter if the word(s) aren't there, you make believe they are and then convince yourself they are.
But you don't stop there, you then pile on to your fairy tale...with your "grotesque" interpretations.Yup, he didn't put it in the best way, but, yup.
I articulated this argument, in this thread, in the posts above.
It is scary that there are those that can look at, for instance, the trail against Trump in NY, and not clearly see the politicization of the Justice system, lack of a crime, the outrageous overreach... actually in more than one case in NY in which Trump was 'found guilty'.
These are scary times... here and abroad...
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel on Sunday formalized its opposition to what it called the "unilateral recognition" of Palestinian statehood and said any such agreement must be reached through direct negotiations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brought the "declaratory decision" to a vote in cabinet, which unanimously approved the measure, according to a statement.
Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly meeting that the move comes after "recent talk in the international community about an attempt to unilaterally impose on Israel a Palestinian state."
Israel is ramping up its military efforts for Lebanon and Gaza...
Biden continues to push escalation in Ukraine...
Our DOJ is a mockery in their pursuit of Trump...
We have more than a Quarter Million migrants every month now crossing our Southern Border...
No worries.The fact that Trump is holding up aid to Ukraine, the fact that he told Russia that they have his Blessing to attack our allies and the fact that he hasn't had the courage to speak up on the death of Navalny.
Meanwhile Putin is jailing citizens for simply putting flowers on memorials to Navalny.
Haley on Fox this morning was on the money..
" it’s amazing to me how weak in the knees he is when it comes to Putin. Because you look at the fact, he has yet to say anything about Navalny’s death,” Haley continued, quickly adding, “Putin murdered him. It’s what he does to his political opponents.”
Haley said Trump should be focusing more on global threats to U.S. security and instead, she said, he “doesn’t talk about anything. All he does is go on late-night rants talking about his court cases".
Grievance and victimhood is what he thrives on and for most of us out here it's a sign of weakness. He talks about nothing of substance, just his own legal problems.
This is an example of what I would personally find to be an acceptable statement on the matter from Senator Tillis
"Navalny laid down his life fighting for the freedom of the country he loved. Putin is a murderous, paranoid dictator.”
The North Carolinian added, “History will not be kind to those in America who make apologies for Putin and praise Russian autocracy. Nor will history be kind to America’s leaders who stay silent because they fear backlash from online pundits.”
Trump's statement shows us very clearly where he stands with Putin.
And the Republicans who are trying to equate Trump to Navalny apparently have absolutely no shame.
Navalny was targeted for having the audacity to speak out against Putin’s authoritarian regime and trying to offer the Russian people a better option. He was poisoned, tortured, prosecuted without cause, imprisoned without cause, and ultimately murdered.
To see Trump as a comparable victim is just incredibly wrong . He is facing multiple legal cases not because of a Democratic plot, but because he is, for all intents and purposes, a career criminal who got caught.
The White House, meanwhile, has literally nothing to do with the criminal charges Trump is facing.
To those of us who think character counts,Trump’s indifference to Navalny’s death is outrageous.Not to disparage, but these statements are nonsensical.
Everything is in turmoil, that sums up our situation... International relations between nations, BRICS, UN/WEF efforts... Universities today being sites of indoctrination, not learning (reasoning)... and our government.
Our government has become a collection of elites, they are completely amoral, with respect to American citizens and human lives in general.
I don't think it is so much that they hate us, though some do, it's that they don't care whether we live or die (example #1 - Ukraine).
If you accept this, then the patterns we are seeing begin to make sense, the attempt to control, well, everything, from agriculture to equity to parents not having control of their kids if they 'choose' to have a sex-change.
I say agriculture because of the ongoing crisis for farmers in the EU... and typically what starts in the EU eventually arrives here, to do the same damage... how do you control people?
Through hunger?
Through denying them lack of access to a digital currency that all transactions must be made with?
What is coming is very clear, to the highly intellectual individuals I listened to this weekend, different people, different fields, different countries, all warning of what is going on.
The Pandemic, forcing vaccine mandates, unfortunately just a preview of what's to come.
And this is the reason for such efforts against Trump, they must maintain control, at all costs, to pursue their goals, to maintain control and power.
What is nonsensical are the daily ravings against 'the elites,' despite never naming a single name. That a billionaire businessman is not considered one of those 'elites' despite his one main accomplishment was passing a tax cut for the wealthy in the country. That there is a constant misunderstanding what families actually go through before deciding if gender reassignment is the best course of action for someone. That a vaccine mandate didn't have an option not to get a vaccine - that in and of itself is the dishonesty of the arguments we see from the right.
Everything is distorted and leaves out key details so they can feel outraged at their own government. I call it brainwashing and radicalization, as it has led directly to violence and domestic terror threats.A somewhat comical yet sobering clip... something to consider:
NYC gets what it votes for
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=absC3yX9G54NYC isn't alone: since decriminalizing drug usage, and providing all kinds of assistance to drug users to continue their abuse, Oregon OD deaths from illegal drug use has skyrocketed. What a surprise!
https://www.koin.com/news/oregon/twice- … in%202022.The 'Mail In Ballots' will determine the election, yet again, in 2024.
Numerous Nevada voters looked at their voter history and found their mail ballots were counted in the recent primary, even though they didn't participate in the election:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJs9ucQeBAg
What a surprise.Actually, their ballots were not counted. Yet again, MAGA is posting misinformation to this website. Something that could have been verified if they chose to do a simple google search to double check their sourcing. But apparently, that would have been too difficult.
The errors were on the website history tabulation, not the vote totals, which were accurate:
https://thenevadaindependent.com/articl … ry-records
Tulsi Gabbard lays it all out very well... worth listening to her speech
BREAKING NEWS: Tulsi Gabbard At CPAC As South Carolina Primary Nears
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7RH_Lz58RoKen, Tulsi displays remarkable eloquence and intelligence, qualities seldom found in politicians. Her impassioned speech resonated deeply with me, addressing not only my concerns but also delving into broader issues. I earnestly hope that Trump considers her for the vice presidency; together, they could form a formidable team capable of swiftly addressing and preventing challenges. Your sharing of the video is much appreciated; otherwise, I might have missed it. Tulsi embodies the qualities I seek in the first female president, and her leadership would bring pride to womankind. My admiration for her is evident, and I maintain hope that Americans will awaken to the urgent need for a true leader to safeguard our democracy. I have faith in the discernment of the American people to recognize the significance of the current situation.
What a powerful speech!
If ANY democrat wants to try to know and understand the mind-set of many people in the Republican party, they need to watch this video.
She is extremely intelligent and articulate.
I am also proud of the fact that she's an Army officer. Tulsi Gabbard has made us proud.Did I miss something here? Yes she can deliver a coherent speech in a calm manner but what did she actually say? I'm completely missing what the platform is here because MAGA continually speaks only in terms of grievance and division. Her speech was a more polished version of the "us versus them" mantra. For me it seemed to lack any substance.
Listen to this nonsense from the leader last night.. incessant whining and bragging about the freedoms he's taken away.. hearing the crowd cheer as he incoherently bloviates is disturbing. Even more so that he dares to call himself a Christian. When does the grievance and victim schtick end? Apparently, it IS the platform.
You support this? I hope everyone takes a look, tell me what you find positively presidential in this..
https://youtu.be/QzVdZOr4xuU?si=GBSyaedJtUUVJK1EThe platform is autocracy. The platform is 'how dare you hold me accountable for my many crimes.' Crimes that include trying to overturn an American election and endangering our nation's secrets. The platform is making women second-class citizens.
"Did I miss something here? Yes she can deliver a coherent speech in a calm manner but what did she actually say? I'm completely missing what the platform is here because MAGA continually speaks only in terms of grievance and division."
Her speech resonated with Americans who harbor significant concerns about the current state of the nation. She effectively addressed many grievances shared by citizens today. From my perspective, her speech did not promote division. I personally support an America-first agenda at this stage of our development, and it's evident from the polls that I'm not alone in this sentiment.
It's surprising that more people haven't acknowledged the significant portion of our society aligned with the America-first agenda. Tulsi's speech may not be universally embraced, but it did address the concerns of many Americans. She is a wonderful speaker, and she in my view gave a heartfelt speech.What were the concerns she addressed? Education? Our country's addiction problem? Crime? Border solutions? Access to healthcare? Economic concerns? Almost everything she said was framed in US versus them. She didn't speak specifically on any of these issues.
As I mentioned, she addressed pressing issues that resonate with many Americans. Her speech was a powerful call to action for voter engagement, which I found incredibly motivating. Nonetheless, I echo her concerns wholeheartedly.
I'm equally troubled by the matter you raised, and I believe the Biden administration has overlooked these issues entirely. I believe their actions have exacerbated the border situation.Trump's agenda covers your concerns. Tulsi's speech was addressing why we need to get out and vote. Oh yes, it was a clear us versus them speech. This pretty well sums up many Republican's feelings at this point.
He never speaks about any of those issues at all. I don't believe there is a published platform anywhere either. Republicans had no platform last time, I suppose this time will be the same thing?
I've heard a lot about retribution but that's about it. Nothing policy related.
Is he running on the Heritage foundation project 2025?He has shared his thoughts on education, in a most transparent nature.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/01/2 … r-00079784
He consistently addresses all the concerns raised at his rallies, covering a wide range of issues. Unlike traditional politicians, he speaks candidly and directly, delving into the core of perceived problems and offering his solutions. Many Americans find his approach refreshing and are willing to confront harsh realities head-on. It's evident that a significant portion of the population resonates with his messages. The reality is, under this administration, there has been a multitude of challenging issues: economic downturns, Open lax border security policies, and involvement in seemingly senseless conflicts.
Additionally, resources that could aid our citizens are diverted towards supporting illegal migrants. These are just a few examples of the myriad challenges faced due to what is perceived as poor decision-making by the current administration.Must watch clip of RFK speaking on Ukraine war
https://twitter.com/GigaBeers/status/17 … 7196187116Wow, Ken, this is incredibly eye-opening and deeply concerning. It's appalling to think that the prosperity of a few of the wealthiest companies comes at the dire cost of countless innocent lives in Ukraine. It's imperative that everyone watches this video. Hopefully, more people will make the effort to listen and verify the information shared, as it's all readily available for vetting on Google. However, no one looks, this tragedy is just not being reported. One can see why the Dem's are trying to bury Kennedy. He certainly poses a threat to the New World Order.
He articulated it very well...
I've been beating that drum for two years...
But naming names and spelling it out in that way, much more powerful.
Previously Tsmog had outlined, in his opening statement of this thread, and then in replies, the Economic aspect of what to consider when voting.
I would like to add to that, what we see transpiring in NY in regard to the fraud case against Trump. Also consider the rumblings that came from the Biden Administration regarding taxing Roth IRAs and 401ks.
This seems to be a political/ideological mindset of the Democratic political side, that what is yours, is not yours, if they decide to take it (it goes beyond assets, as you may know).
This is something voters should strongly consider... because this will not be a one-off against Trump, it will be a precedent to use against any American that they choose to target.
Other things to consider I mentioned before, and will again:
One:
The Open Border of the Biden Administration that helps facilitate migrants arriving here and being supported by American social services vs. the functioning effort to slow migration Trump had created in partnership with the Mexican government.
Two:
The social issues, like men having to be recognized as women and being protected as a minority class, children being mutilated rather than protected and kept from making irreversible decisions until they are an adult, and that whole shift in progressive politics to accept the insane as normal.
Three:
Continued funding and escalating global conflicts, as the Biden Administration has done, instigating and funding foreign 'proxy' wars and allowing hundreds of billions to flow to State sponsors of terrorists like Iran.
Ukraine's war is a concern, Russia over the course of last year got innovative in terms of military tactics and recruitment to fill its ranks and nationalized its war efforts (industry) to increase production of much-needed equipment.
This is a major advantage Russia has, it does not answer to a MIC, the industrial effort of Russia is not restricted by Congressional approvals, nor an industry focused on profitability.
Going forward would require doubling or tripling the investment of our debt (tax dollars) requiring America to spend hundreds of billions more than it has already invested, just to keep up with Russia's increased industrial capacity and growing forces.
Americans NEED to be brutally honest with themselves going forward regarding Ukraine and recognize for truth what I said two years ago.
Ukraine cannot win.
The only way Ukraine wins, is if America steps in and fights this war for it.
No matter what weapons we give Ukraine, no matter how far those missiles can reach, they only increase the chances that America is dragged into a war Ukraine cannot win on its own.
Putin's entire political vision for the future of Russia and international order is dependent on his maintaining control of Crimea. He has invested immense resources in this gamble and will not allow it to be taken from the Russian Republic.
That requires the complete defeat of Russia as a nation, which requires WWIII.https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump … ccee78e8ee
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Donald Trump won South Carolina’s Republican primary on Saturday, easily beating former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley in her home state and further consolidating his path to a third straight GOP nomination.
Trump has now swept every contest that counted for Republican delegates, adding to previous wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Haley is facing growing pressure to leave the race but says she’s not going anywhere despite losing the state where she was governor from 2011 to 2017.
A 2020 rematch between Trump and President Joe Biden is becoming increasingly inevitable. Haley has vowed to stay in the race through at least the batch of primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday, but was unable to dent Trump’s momentum in her home state despite holding far more campaign events and arguing that the indictments against Trump will hamstring him against Biden.
"Immigration ranked as the highest priority for South Carolina Republican primary voters today, according to NBC News exit poll results.
Thirty-seven percent of voters said that immigration was the issue that mattered most to their vote, followed by the economy (33%), foreign policy (13%), and abortion (10%).
Among voters who chose immigration as their most important issue, 82% supported Trump and only 18% backed Haley."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e … rcna139423
I'm delighted tonight to witness such a strong turnout for voting, and it's gratifying to see that many share my concerns about the issues that matter to me.That's pretty impressive considering I was watching News Reports (S.C. local) about some 'iffy' problems they were having...
I think Haley finished with around 40%?
That is not a tiny group, actually that's a large number that want an alternative.
For me, it means there remains a solid chunk of the Republican electorate as well as large share of independent voters that he likely will need to win over. As of yet, there’s little to no sign Trump is doing much to court them.
I think her numbers show that he hasn't added much beyond his base and we all know that the base isn't enough to take a general election. MAGA more often than not has been a losing agenda since 2018.40%! I would call that 'Mission Nearly Accomplished', by Dems!
When it is not even close in her home state, where Democrats were voting for her in the Republican Primary, I wouldn't call that "a large number that want an alternative".
Haley's efforts to court Democrat voters were extensive and explicit.
An advocacy group and a super PAC supporting the former South Carolina governor’s candidacy sent mailers targeting people who did not vote in the state’s low-turnout Feb. 3 Democratic primary and encouraged them to cast ballots for her on Saturday.
At least two other organizations conducted similar outreach efforts to Democrats and Independents with the explicit aim of beating Trump.
And then there were some issues with the voting machines in districts expected to be heavily favorable to Trump, reported by local news stations... in essence, all the typical shenanigans to sway an election that aren't necessarily on the up and up.
Despite all that, Trump still won, and it wasn't close.It's not about who won or lost this primary. It is about his impending problem in an upcoming general election. Haley is irrelevant but she is signaling the problems Trump is going to have in a general election.
There’s a whole swath of the Republican electorate and a good chunk of independents who appear firmly committed to not voting for him in November.
AP VoteCast survey showed that of more than 2,400 voters taking part in the South Carolina primary. In terms of Haley’s voters, it showed about half were motivated by supporting her, but nearly as many turned out to oppose Trump. That's going to be a problem for him.
These primaries and caucuses are pretty much irrelevant. I am looking to a general election.
How does he convert that 40% of dissension in his own party? That is not a small number. It's evidence of a fractured party.You've raised some thought-provoking points. However, Biden's poll numbers are quite dismal; and seem to worsen each month. For details, you might want to check out the recent release by Gallup. From my perspective, we may only be scratching the surface of potential new challenges due to his poor government. The level of adversity surrounding this individual is unparalleled in my experience.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/610988/bid … -down.aspx
FEBRUARY 23, 2024
Biden's Job Approval Edges Down to 38%
Democrats' ratings of the president's handling of immigration and the Middle East and Ukraine situations worsenI would ask that you re-read the reply I made to you, the answer is there.
There is not a 40% dissension in his own party.Trump is telling everyone he's the Republican incumbent. Biden is the Democratic incumbent. Biden won 96% of the vote in the South Carolina primary. Trump won 60%. But as you can see, the MAGA crowd remains in denial about the never-Trump vote in their own party because of their fealty to the cult leader.
As we prepare to vote...
Who believes that Grassley, Comer and Jordan should be subpoenaed to testify under oath pertaining to their association with their star witness who lied about Biden bribes and turned out to be working with Russian intelligence? Should they be forced to testify whether and when they knew their witness was lying? Let's also remember that they were warned that this witness made claims that had not been corroborated yet they continually blasted out his claims as if they were proven.
Should voters have this information before votes are cast?
Or do we just give these guys a pass for not being very bright?"A wave of violent crimes being carried out across America has been linked to Venezuelan migrants, and the U.S. government cannot deport any of them, as the South American country will not take any of its citizens back.
An illegal immigrant originally from Venezuela has been charged in connection with the violent murder of Georgia nursing student Laken Riley on the University of Georgia campus on Thursday. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, the suspect, was released into the U.S. via parole, three ICE & DHS sources told Fox News.
In New York City, the NYPD are trying to crack down on a violent Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua that it says is responsible for terrorizing residents with dozens of robberies in the Big Apple, where the group has now been blamed for scooter and moped robberies as well as retail theft."
https://www.foxnews.com/us/venezuela-mi … portations
Venezuela stops accepting flights of migrants deported from US, Mexico
https://nypost.com/2024/02/23/world-new … d-from-us/
https://www.wsj.com/world/americas/vene … o-962f6149
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/07/worl … ights.htmlDoes this impact voters?
"Fox News Host Cuts Into Trump Rally to Torpedo Laundry List of False Claims: ‘Not Entitled to His Own Set of Facts’
Kudos to Cavuto. Fact checking him in real time.
Trump supporters, does the disinformation and misinformation bother you?
Video below.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-ho … -of-facts/I think the bigger question is the misinformation and disinformation spewed forth by biden bother those on the left?
As others would say on this forum, deflection.
If you'd like to provide some sort of fact check I'll give you the answer to that but in the meantime, does Trump's misinformation as pointed out here matter to you? Or anyone else here?Yes, it matters as does other politicians. However, take a peek at the article What PolitiFact learned in 1,000 fact-checks of Donald Trump (Feb 2, 2024) published by Poynter.
It's not unusual for politicians of both parties to mislead, exaggerate or make stuff up. But few share Trump’s disregard for factual accuracy.
https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editi … ald-trump/
An interesting read inclusive of graphics. The first shared the 1000 fact checks as follows:
Pants of fire = 18.40%
False = 37.70%
Mostly false = 19.50%
Half true = 12.30%
Mostly true = 8.50%
True = 3.60%
The next graphic compares different politicians. Revealing.Thank you!
"Trump stands alone for the share of rated claims that are some degree of false. About 76% of his statements earned ratings of Mostly False, False or Pants on Fire."
I don't know about anybody else but when I find out someone believes that they can lie to me or has lied to me that it's almost as if they are saying I'm too stupid to find the truth.It is revealing if one has an open mind to at least listen/read before making a judgment. In my obscure way of thinking is the question why the need to fact-check? Yes, it is a plot, of course. Looking at how many times Obama was fact-checked I feel safe saying Trump wasn't singled out.
The inclusive links were interesting to review as well. One link was to the Washington Post Fact-Checker results for while he was in office. There findings were 30,573 false or misleading claims. They share some on the landing page and how many times they were repeated. One could consider the illusory truth effect.
In four years, President Trump made 30,573 false or misleading claims by the Washington Post (Updated Jan 20, 2021)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics … l_manual_9
At the beginning it gives the options of viewing it as a timeline and also to download as a CSV file. You can also filter them.
Why do we believe misinformation more easily when it’s repeated many times? by The Decision Lab
The illusory truth effect, also known as the illusion of truth, describes how when we hear the same false information repeated again and again, we often come to believe it is true. Troublingly, this even happens when people should know better—that is, when people initially know that the misinformation is false.
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/illusory-truth-effectI find this topic quite intriguing. As I delved into some of what WAPO labeled as Trump's mistruths, another issue caught my attention. I decided to take a quick look at Politifact, a source I perceive as unbiased. Upon examining the mistruths attributed to Biden, I discovered that many of them were significantly misleading, particularly regarding policy matters. These distortions could easily leave an uninformed reader with a favorable impression of the stated policies. However, Biden's statements were not merely misleading but outright distorted facts and figures. There seems to be a clear political motivation behind these mistruths, aimed at shaping public opinion.
While it's conceivable that some of Biden's inaccuracies stem from confusion, the deliberate nature of many of these mistruths suggests otherwise. They risk distorting the public's understanding of the reality of our nation's affairs.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/l … =joe-biden
WAPO certainly did dig hard daily to find a mistruth or two. For instance
"JAN 20 2021
“Our first lady has been a woman of great grace and beauty and dignity. And so popular with the people, so popular with the people.”
Was this a mistruth or was it a husband just sharing a kind thought about his wife?One more reason to consider RFK...
https://twitter.com/RobertKennedyJr/sta … 7345740163Thanks for the link. Curious, I poked about seeing claims of his vaccine conspiracy theories and others. I won't point out one article. I will post a Google landing page to choose an article from. I read a couple and skimmed a few.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi … +lies#ip=1Thanks for that land page.
Doing some research on the top two hits, what they were based on is a Politifact "Lie of the Year" award...
Then I looked into Politifact...
https://www.allsides.com/news-source/politifact
Allsides gives it a Left lean bias.
Fact Checkers are only as good as those who control the Fact Checking.
Funny thing about what is labeled a "conspiracy theory" these days...
Conspiracy theories that were proven to be true - Readers Digest
https://www.rd.com/list/conspiracy-theo … o-be-true/
How Things Work's version:
https://history.howstuffworks.com/histo … y-true.htm
Buzzworthy's Version:
https://www.buzzworthy.com/15-conspirac … o-be-true/
Many of the things RFK is talking about is based on knowing, on facts, on things easily checked.Thanks for the articles to consider. Interesting about conspiracies proven to be true. There was no need to introduce me to Allsides as I have used them for years now. 'Ground' is good one I subscribe to for a couple of years now that is very good. I subscribe to a few bipartisan sites for their newsletters like the 'Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget'. Link next.
https://www.crfb.org/
If you go to the landing page for Ground you will immediately see their media bias ratings for articles.
Ground
https://ground.news/
Anyway, many a time before I read an article on something of great interest to me I seek the bio of the author of the article to give background.
I know you know there is a difference between dis~ and mis~ information being that of intent. Again, I offer a landing page to pick or choose from a browser search using the phrase, "Difference between dis and mis information."
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi … nformation
Conspiracy Theories as we both know goes back shall we say eons of history. Seems there is a connection with religion regarding mindset. Key word, 'seems'.I think we can see the difference between Conspiracy and provable fact.
When RFK talks about BlackRock's investment in companies that in turn have future interest/ownership in Ukraine, this is something that should be traceable.
Similarly when Trump is fined 365 million dollars for conducting business in what is considered normal procedure, in a precedent setting case that destroys the State's reputation, it is not a conspiracy to say this is evidence of a Weaponized justice system.
Clearly there is a lot going on, across most Western nations, EU, Canada, and America.... business and property rights are under attack, free speech is being restricted, etc.
There seems to be a large scale cultural revolution going on, becoming more similar to what occurred in China in the 40s with each passing day.
She Escaped Communist China. Now She’s Warning America.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YPWkxVR-Fg
Is America Becoming Like China?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRa8rGF-wc8
I am not sure many realize how weaponized the system has become.
As well as completely unconcerned about who knows it.
This is telling... all should watch it to better understand how far, how bad, things have become in such a relatively short period of time:
Peter Navarro Speaks At CPAC Before Heading To Prison
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMMR_HRE-aQThat is a powerful and heartfelt speech.
I like the reference to "lawfare." Which is true. During a court trial ripping away every possible part of a defense until being found guilty is a forgone conclusion. Also, the likelihood of getting a fair and impartial jury in NYC, Washington DC or Atlanta is almost impossible.
THIS is what we see happening to President Donald Trump.
What more proof is necessary to prove the DOJ, FBI have been weaponized against the Republican party?
It all comes down to the left having NO respect for democracy, rule of law, or the fair application of it.
I do believe those on the left either aren't intellectually enabled enough to comprehend the ramifications of what is happening or simply so corrupt in their mind and souls they agree with it.Or when a guy goes on national television and admits to the coup plot on MSNBC, then defies a Congressional subpoena to testify about that plot, he should be sent to prison.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0DmIrrLVW8There are plenty of books out there on how to destroy a nation from within, from Marxist How-To books from a century ago to How to Destroy America in Three Easy Steps that was published two years ago.
In essence this is what we see going on today, from Campaigns funded by the Open Society foundation that has AGs across the nation that now refuse to prosecute criminals while going after businesses and businessmen.
All the way to the Biden Administration, which is clearly staffed with lunatics and incompetents... save for the fact that they push every Nation destructive agenda that they can, from Open Borders to Equity.
If you pay any attention at all to recent events and politics, its hard not to see what is going on. It hits America in the face, hard, every single day.
Using the 'way back machine' to an earlier post with Sharlee about tracking the deficit this post shares the website, 'Deficit Tracker' report for January 2024 posted on Feb 12. The 'Deficit Tracker' is provided by the Bipartisan Policy Center. The first link is to the deficit report and the second the about page for the Bipartisan Policy Center.
The Deficit Tracker
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/report/deficit-tracker/
About page for the Bipartisan Policy Center
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/about/
Highlights for January Deficit report next. At the landing page following the highlights is a comparison with 2023.
Tracking the Federal Deficit: January 2024
$21 billion deficit, decreasing year-over-year (YOY) by $18 billion.
$477 billion in revenues, increased YOY by $30 billion (7%).
$498 billion in outlays, increased YOY by $12 billion (3%).
The January 2024 deficit was impacted by unique timing shifts in outlays, if not for which it would have been $24 billion instead of $21 billion, resulting in a YOY decrease of $15 billion.*'Similarly when Trump is fined 365 million dollars for conducting business in what is considered normal procedure, in a precedent setting case that destroys the State's reputation, it is not a conspiracy to say this is evidence of a Weaponized justice system.'
There is nothing normal about inflating the size of a property to increase its value. There is nothing normal about valuing something based on false zoning claims. There is nothing normal about lying about a company that lost money but claiming they earned $26 million in a given year. Making knowingly false statements to secure better loan and insurance rates is fraud, pure and simple. If that's something Kevin O'Leary is also doing, New Yorkers would be fine with investigating him next if he's breaking the law for profit.
"Joe Biden’s disapproval rating reaches new high, according to new poll"
Biden’s approval rating came in at 38%, with Trump at 44%.
Strong voter disapproval of Joe Biden’s job performance has reached 47% – the highest negative polling number at any point in his presidency, according to a survey published on Saturday.
The Siena College-conducted poll, commissioned by the New York Times, showed that Biden currently lags behind likely Republican candidate Donald Trump 43% to 48% in registered voters nationally.
The survey found that just one in four voters (24%) think the country is moving in the right direction – a key question in the run-up to a national election – and more than twice as many voters said that Biden’s policies had personally hurt them than those who said they had helped.
Of the two-thirds of the country that feels the nation is headed in the wrong direction, the poll found that 63% said they would vote for Trump.
Conducted at the end of February, these results come as the Biden re-election campaign attempts to change the narrative on voter concerns about the Democrat candidate’s age and mental acuity and his handling of foreign policy and the economy. A majority of voters think the economy is in poor condition, the polling showed.
The survey is only the latest to reveal the depths of voter dissatisfaction with the president. Last week, a Bloomberg News poll found Biden trailing Trump in several critical states, including Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin.
In the Bloomberg survey, a large share of the respondents voiced concerns with Biden’s age and a significant percentage said Trump was dangerous, and suggested the number of “double haters”, as pollsters call voters who approve of neither candidate, is significant.
Those findings were broadly repeated in Saturday’s Times poll. Biden’s approval rating came in at 38%, with Trump faring better with a 44% favorable rating.
Nineteen percent of voters said they disapproved of both men, but among them, Biden is slightly less hated, with a spread of 7% between Biden (38%) and Trump (45%). That spread, according to the Times, is significant: the candidate less disliked by “double haters” has won the last two presidential elections.
Those findings may bolster what Democrat and Republican pollsters drew from recent primary voting.
In South Carolina last week, the number of primary voters who backed Republican contender Nikki Haley but said they would never vote for Trump is perceived to represent the margin that will ensure Trump’s defeat to Biden in November.
But the New York Times poll provides an array of red warning lights for the Biden campaign, including signals that the Democratic party coalition of female, Black and Latino voters is fraying.
Among working-class, non-university-educated voters of color, Biden is only narrowly leading, 47% to Trump’s 41%, the poll found. Four years ago, Biden held a 50-point lead.
Last week, Trump suggested that his legal problems have won him support among Black voters.
“I got indicted for nothing, for something that is nothing,” he told the Black Conservative Federation gala in South Carolina. “A lot of people said that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against.” https://www.aol.com/news/joe-biden-disa … 25402.html
Voters Doubt Biden’s Leadership and Favor Trump, Times/Siena Poll Finds
The share of voters who strongly disapprove of President Biden’s handling of his job has reached 47 percent, higher than in Times/Siena polls at any point in his presidency.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/02/us/p … -poll.html
Any thoughts? Will Joe Biden's polls get better or worse, in your view?There are a lot of cards left to be played between now and November.
The UN has allotted 1.5 billion to aid migration efforts in 2024. Migrants crossing the border will set new records, I suspect 4 million or more.
Some NATO nations are toying with the idea of sending troops to Ukraine.
Russia is currently taking territory at an increasingly fast pace, gaining momentum. Ukraine (as I have said many times) cannot win unless we step in to fight this war.
The Middle East is simmering along Israel seems determined to continue its efforts to create a nation completely free of Palestinians.Absolutely, I agree with the sentiment expressed. It's evident that there are significant geopolitical shifts underway, and the stakes are high. The UN's allocation for migration aid underscores the magnitude of the challenges we face in America, especially with anticipated record-breaking numbers of migrants, and more to come. The situation in Ukraine demands attention, and NATO's contemplation of intervention reflects the gravity of Russia's actions. The US will end up being pulled into sending troops. As for the Middle East, the tensions remain concerning, particularly regarding Israel's/ Palestinian war.
Russia is firmly entrenched in both BRICS and OPEC... there will be no defeat of Russia that will not involve the defeat of some, or all, of those member states as well.
When considering who to vote for... Biden (or Harris) means a continuation and certain escalation of the war with Russia.
Trump most likely means Ukraine will be forced to the negotiation table, and WWIII will be averted. While the free flow of funds to Iran will be turned off, again.I understand why leaders in Iran and Putin's Russia might be opposed to the return of Trump. Both nations have seen benefits under the Biden administration. Take a look at these articles—they prompt reflection on Russia's preference for a Biden victory and raise important questions. I need not point out how rich Iran has become under Biden, that has become very much common knowledge.
The Russian economy in 2023 outpaced both the United States and Europe in terms of growth, increasing in size by 3.6% despite being subject to a wide array of powerful economic sanctions and being cut off from major global markets.
However, growth appears to have been driven mostly by ramped-up spending on the military, as the Kremlin continues its full-scale invasion of Ukraine that it launched nearly two years ago, leading some economists to question whether the growth is sustainable and what side effects it might have.
Rosstat, Russia's Federal State Statistics Service, on Wednesday reported the growth numbers, which were a stark departure from the 1.2% decline in GDP in 2022, when a coalition of Western countries led by the United States imposed a set of punishing sanctions related to the war in Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who faces an election in March, has said the country's economy is successfully transitioning away from Western markets and expanding self-sufficiency while simultaneously cultivating new trading relationships.
War spending stimulates economy
The Russian economy is expected to continue growing in 2024, though at a somewhat diminished pace. The Russian government's forecast of a 2.3% increase in GDP is actually below the 2.6% forecast released by the International Monetary Fund.
Howard J. Shatz, a senior economist at the RAND Corp., told VOA that the source of Russia's economic growth is not difficult to identify.
"Russia is undergoing a massive fiscal stimulus, and that's a lot of what's behind the Russian growth that we see," Shatz said.
According to Shatz, the Russian government spent about $353.8 billion (32.4 trillion rubles) in 2023, up from a little more than 31 trillion rubles in 2022. But those numbers far outstrip prewar levels of spending. The federal budget in 2021 was only $270 billion (24.8 trillion rubles).
"They're supporting defense industries. They're supporting employment. They're paying people bonuses to join the armed forces," Shatz said. "They're paying families for service members who are killed. They're paying service members who are wounded, who are lucky enough to get sent home." https://www.voanews.com/a/russia-econom … 78952.html
https://moneyweek.com/economy/global-ec … -predictedI have read other articles regarding Russia.
What you have quoted here is an effort to convince the reader that it is not real growth, but only temporary due to war effort spending.
The Sanctions put on Russia are not nearly as bad as many think, only 45 nations agreed to them, mostly Western or reliant on the West nations.
Russia turned to China, India, yes... but it also sells to other nations that turn around and sell to the EU anyways... in other words the EU is merely paying a 'Middle-Man' nation for those same goods it would buy directly from Russia.
The EU... Germany especially, relied on cheap Russian energy and raw materials. Germany is now dying a slow death because of this war... Germany was the economic/financial engine of the EU... so they are all feeling the pain.
Russia meanwhile, feels nothing, because there are many other nations lined up to buy those much needed raw materials, energy, food resources.
Another day, another example of Trump confusing who is currently the president.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-m … ia-1875336
Trump struggling to use actual words:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii6GTS47m54Anthony Davis notes how polling is useless when one party is a cult and how the woman's right to choose issue may haunt the GOP in 2024...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8uqm8GBlGE"Many of Nikki Haley’s supporters, including longtime Republicans, aren’t persuaded that Mr. Trump deserves a second term. In New Hampshire this week, “three-quarters (77%) of Haley voters said they would not vote for Trump in November,” according to a Fox News survey of 2,000 people. This is a symptom of Mr. Trump’s political weakness, not its cause. The obvious move for Mr. Trump is to assuage the concerns of these voters and welcome them into the fold." (WSJ)
Trump's base is not enough to win a general election. How and where does he pick up the needed Republicans and Independents? MAGA is it downright unwelcoming.
Trump on his Truth Social site speaking on Haley's supporters.
“Anybody that makes a ‘Contribution’ to Birdbrain, from this moment forth, will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp. We don’t want them, and will not accept them.”
How well did the strategy work out for Kari Lake in Arizona when she told former McCain backers to "get the hell out".
The strategy has been a losing one since 2018. At some point the divisiveness needs to end. In watching Trump's current rallies it is clear they aren’t fundamentally different than they have been in past elections, but therein lies the problem:
There’s little new substance or material in this year’s revival of the Trump Show. His core grievances against the “radical left Democrats,” the deep state, the RINOs, the globalists, the media. It's all a rehash. Same schtick, spinning out juvenile nicknames for people, goading the crowd to boo the press, are all retreads. Yeah he's still full of venom and fury but is that enough to win a general election? Particularly when the latest rallies show him to be showing clear signs of cognitive decline. He had points during his rally yesterday that were just in comprehensible. The excessive sweating and slurring of speech makes one wonder.This website provides valuable insights into our nation's economy, offering compelling examples of the principles underlying Bidenomics. It is meticulously researched, impeccably presented, and filled with accurate information, making it an indispensable resource for anyone interested in economic affairs.
https://www.bidenomics.com/
"BIDENOMICS: RHETORIC VS. REALITY
If you ask Americans what they think of the U.S. economy, they will tell you things are not good. Americans are stressed about the family budget. They worry about falling behind financially. They feel like what they’ve worked so hard to earn could be gone in an instant. But if you ask President Biden, the economy couldn’t be better – so good that he put his name on it: Bidenomics.
The President brags a lot about the economy, so we decided to look at what the President has been saying, compare that to the facts on the ground, and let you decide for yourself."
Here is one example
"THE RHETORIC
“We’re bringing down prices across the board.”
– Joe Biden
"Inflation is a “hidden tax” that doesn’t discriminate – it hurts everyone alike, rich and poor. But it is particularly devastating to the poorest and most vulnerable members of society who spend a greater proportion of their income on necessities and have no way to counter its impact.
THE REALITY
Inflation is also a phenomenon that has “Made in Washington D.C.” stamped all over it, and this bout is no exception. Bidenomics has contributed mightily to the historic spike in inflation – particularly by adding another $5.5 trillion in new spending to an already bloated federal budget.
IMPACT OF INFLATION ON ORDINARY PEOPLE
The results of the President’s fiscal folly were predictable. Since Joe Biden took office, overall prices are up almost 18%, and it costs American families $11,400 more per year just to maintain the quality-of-life they had in January 2021.
The high cost-of-living is even forcing one-in-eight retirees to reenter the job market, according to a recent survey. As a retired nurse told Fox News, “If I want to continue to live my lifestyle, I needed to probably add a few more dollars to my budget. And so I felt like I had to go back to work.”
Here is how much more Bidenomics is costing families in a few selected states:
Wisconsin: $10,065 more annually
Ohio: $9,884 more annually
Pennsylvania: $9,404 more annually
Montana: $12,216 more annually
Nevada: $12,859 more annually
Everything costs more because of Bidenomics, particularly a trip to the grocery store. As the old joke goes, with the price of food these days, it’s almost cheaper to eat money. But for working Americans, it’s no laughing matter. According to figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), since Joe Biden came into office, Americans are paying 25% more for chicken, 18% more for American cheese, 31% more for ground beef, 71%(!) more for eggs, 16% more for whole milk, 14% more for fruits and vegetables, and 23% more for potatoes." Please read on.... https://www.bidenomics.com/cost-of-living/
Only Americans? Or are world prices up globally? And if the answer is globally, how does one say the cause is Bidenomics with a straight face?
Here is the UK for example from February of 2023:
A measure of UK grocery price inflation soared to a record high this month — that’s more bad news for consumers already facing a shortage of fruit and vegetables that has led to rationing at major supermarkets.
Grocery prices rose 17.1% in the four weeks to February 19, compared with the same period a year ago, according to data published by Kantar Tuesday. That’s the highest rate of inflation since the data company started tracking it in 2008.
And here is the global price index for food in case someone wanted to ignore the partisan blame games that Sharlee continues to play while ignoring worldwide data:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/111 … worldwide/My focus the context of my post is solely on America and its people. I don't have much inclination to delve into discussions about other countries' economies, as they vary significantly from ours. My comment was centered around what I perceive as the shortcomings of the current administration and Biden's economic policies, commonly referred to as Bidenomics. I express concerns about the state of our nation's economy under his leadership. However, I'm not particularly interested in tackling broader global economic issues or attempting to solve them.
In my view, the EU has many different problems that in no respect mimic the problems we see here in the US, other than economic problems that occurred with COVID. The EU faced ongoing economic challenges from 2008 to about 2014 and was showing signs of improvement before COVID-19 occurred, At this point, they are experiencing sluggish growth rates, persistent unemployment in certain regions, and a lack of fiscal cohesion among member states. The aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic has certainly exacerbated these issues. Structural imbalances within the Eurozone continue to pose significant challenges, particularly in managing debt levels and maintaining stability within the monetary union. Additionally, uncertainties surrounding trade tensions with other global powers have added further strain to the EU's economic landscape.Your focus ignores inflation as a global issue, as I demonstrated with my last link. The same spike in inflation we see in the global picture is the same one you attribute to 'Biden policies.' Having a focus just on the American people fully ignores that the United States is part of an international marketplace for many of it's goods and services. Which, as I point out time and time again, is the omission of important parts of the equation to fabricate a partisan attack and ignore any culpability from the opposing side. It's as if world markets only began in 2021 and didn't suffer any setbacks in 2020 that would have future repercussions.
Give us a break with that argument. It's tired.I hold a different perspective. The United States experiences distinct factors contributing to our elevated two-year inflation, which, although reflected in today's statistics, has certainly come down. Biden's spending habits, and interference with domestic oil production, largely account for the surge in prices. This is just my view. I see little correlation between the EU's financial problems and the US's financial problems other than the effects of COVID, which is getting to be a poor excuse after 3 years of playing that blame game. Unfortunately, we have had such a poor administration or I would predict our economy would be doing very well. It was until Biden took office.
Was it? Because I seem to remember that economy from 2020 where millions of businesses shut down because we were not protected from a deadly pandemic. Millions were laid off of work. It's amazing the amnesia that MAGA supporters have for the entire year of 2020.
And Biden has had to deal with global inflation, which increased prices globally. He and Trump both get some culpability for their policies there. But currently, the United States is one of the strongest in terms of recovery. And what is the Republican plan to lower the costs of goods and services. I've asked before and it's a vault of silence on their proposed solutions. There's a lot of whining, but haven't heard how the GOP plans to bring prices down in a free-market society.
Bidenomics = adding 1 TRILLION dollars to the debt every 3 months.
Bidenomics = government financing millions of new migrants every year.
Bidenomics = spending hundreds of billions on foreign wars every year.
Interest payments on our debt this year will exceed the Defense budget.
They don't have money to fund Social Security they say, but they have the money to send to Ukraine, Iran, and who knows where... but not for Americans most in need.Would love to see the source for the $1 trillion every three months claim, considering the CBO reported half of that from October to December of 2023.
Thank you... I have become weary of trying to get my point across.
A Good leader (or group of political people) listens to the needs of the people, HIS people. He puts HIS nation ahead of others.
We do not have that in this Administration, what the American people need, and what the Nation needs for a better tomorrow, are not what the Biden Administration prioritizes.
The needs of Ukraine, the needs of Iran, the needs of Migrants, the needs of Israel... all come before Americans and America.Is this ok? Personally I think it's disgusting and the man is showing clear signs of cognitive decline. How do people plan to vote for someone that dehumanizes others?
Trump compared migrants Monday to the character Hannibal Lecter in the film "The Silence of the Lambs"
"They’re rough people, in many cases from jails, prisons, from mental institutions, insane asylums," he said of migrants who enter the country unlawfully. "You know, insane asylums, that’s 'Silence of the Lambs' stuff."
“Hannibal Lecter, anybody know Hannibal Lecter?" he added to audience laughter during a lengthy interview with Right Side Broadcasting Network at his Mar-a-Lago estate "We don’t want ’em in this country.”
Trump further dehumanized migrants by comparing their languages to languages from Mars.
Trump also falsely claimed that there are no more sports in cities that have experienced influxes of migrants.
"We have children that are no longer going to school. They’re throwing them out of the park. There’s no more Little Leagues, there’s no more sports, there’s no more life in New York and so many of these cities," he said.
Really??
I've been listening to his speeches much more often and find that there is never any discussion of actual policy. They are generally hate filled and fear mongering and of course just jam-packed with lie after lie.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-compar … 06011.htmlYes, really!
Children in New York have lost their sports center to criminal illegals. Worse than that, residents,Veterans among them, have been forced out of their housing, in order to make room for criminal illegals.
Venezuela doesn't want them ["the rough people"] back!
"Actual policy" = Finish building the wall, deport criminals who broke into our Country, take back our border and our sovereignty and...Drill baby Drill, just for starters!
Trump 2024 MAGA!!A wall will not make Central and South America a better place to live. A wall will not stop asylum seekers from coming to the United States and being able to claim asylum. A wall will not address, let alone fix, the issues with America’s asylum system and immigration courts.
As far as drilling... We are currently breaking records for oil production.Are you suggesting that American taxpayers should make Central American nations better places to live? I am certainly not on board with that sentiment. Hey, hopefully, Biden will put that bit into his campaign.
Not sure you realize the area where the razor wire is in place is keeping migrants out... Shelby Park is showing that a border is the very best deterrent to keep out illegal asylum seekers. Come in legally or go home. Maybe razor wire will surface much cheaper than a big steel wall."Are you suggesting that American taxpayers should make Central American nations better places to live? "
No. The reasons are many that Central and South Americans leave their homes. Political unrest, poverty, climate and oppression. Those reasons drive them out and will continue to drive them out. A wall does not change that . But in history, in reality, we have played a role in creating some of the chaos in those regions.
The U.S. economic war on Venezuela is one of the main reasons for the record number of migrants arriving at the border.
You know for every action there's a reaction.
https://fpif.org/the-u-s-economic-war-o … nt-crisis/"Not sure you realize the area where the razor wire is in place is keeping migrants out... Shelby Park is showing that a border is the very best deterrent to keep out illegal asylum seekers."
Illegal asylum seekers? How so? Is it illegal to seek asylum?
Seeking asylum is absolutely legal under our current law. Under any circumstance.
Politicians and news outlets often mischaracterize those seeking asylum at the border as breaking the law or failing to seek protection “the right way.” However, under U.S. law, a person seeking asylum may do so by arriving at the border and asking to be screened by U.S. officials at a “port of entry,” or by entering the U.S. without prior inspection and then declaring their fear of persecution.
Seeking asylum is not illegalPlease note the context of my comment -- Shelby Park is not a Port of entry... Ad it would be illegal to cross at that juncture.
It is illegal to not ask for asylum at a given border entry -
Yes, it is generally illegal to enter the United States without proper authorization through a legal border entry point. This includes crossing the border through unauthorized means such as crossing rivers, deserts, or other areas not designated as official border crossings. Such unauthorized entry is considered illegal immigration and can result in various consequences, including detention, deportation, and potential criminal charges. Exceptions may exist for certain circumstances, such as seeking asylum, but these cases typically involve a specific legal process and must meet certain criteria to be considered valid.Under U.S. immigration law, migrants fleeing persecution can request asylum regardless of how they arrive on U.S. soil. Anywhere on US soil..
BUT...Biden attempted to change...
"Asylum-seekers who cross the border illegally to be deported under new Biden administration rule. The new rule is designed to push migrants to seek asylum at official border crossings or through other legal channels rather than crossing the border illegally and then requesting asylum."
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/02/21 … %20asylum.
And then...what happened ??
Federal judge blocks Biden Administration’s new asylum policy.
The court concludes that the rule is contrary to law because it presumes ineligible for asylum noncitizens who enter between ports of entry, using a manner of entry that Congress expressly intended should not affect access to asylum,”
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/25/us/p … e%20wrote.
This is exactly where we are today.
Wow...talk about taking things out of context.
First you have to comprehend they are not migrants. They are here illegally. They shouldn't be here in the first place. There IS a big difference between legal and illegal immigrants. Legal immigrants obey the laws to be in the United States.
Yes, American citizens are paying a huge price for illegal immigrants because of democrats. It is they who are giving the illegal immigrants money and none to US Citizens. It is democrats who are kicking veterans out of their retirement homes, kids out of their schools and more for illegal immigrants.
Here are crime statistics from the border. Look how it has increased under the biden administration.
https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/cbp- … statistics
Customs and Border Protection’s website shows a decline in Border Patrol arrests of convicted criminals in fiscal year 2020 followed by increases in FY 2021 and FY 2022. Many people cite these statistics as evidence that President Biden’s policies have caused a surge in convicted criminals crossing the border. But the 2020 decline never happened. In fact, the spike in criminal arrests started in 2020, and criminal arrests have trended downward under the Biden administration.
https://www.cato.org/blog/new-data-bord … highs-2020
So, yes, a lot of criminals have come across the border under the biden administration. That is true."So, yes, a lot of criminals have come across the border under the biden administration. That is true."
From the source you referenced...
"More complete CBP data obtained via Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests show that CBP’s webpage excludes all criminals arrested under Title 42 (health law). The number of criminals “apprehended” under Title 8 (immigration law) went down in 2020 simply because those people were now being arrested under a different statute, not because they stopped coming. Biden’s policies did not cause a spike in criminal migration. In fact, President Trump’s invocation of Title 42 appears to have caused an increase that escalated to the highest level on record to that point of 2,366 convicts by December 2020.
Further down in the article...
"President Trump’s immigration policies were not bad for criminal immigrants. His immigration policies backfired and created incentives for criminals to cross illegally. The former president preferred to spend $15 billion on a border wall than to pay to prosecute criminals. In 2018, his administration prioritized prosecuting asylum‐seeking parents with children over sex offenders and human traffickers. Border Patrol agents said that during family separation, they were being forced into “sending the really bad guys back without prosecution. We are learning after the fact that, for instance, sex offenders were released.”
Also...
"Despite the uptick, it is important to note that criminals made up just 0.7 percent of Border Patrol’s 2023 arrests. Moreover, although some serious criminals do attempt to enter illegally, nearly half of the convictions reported by CBP were for illegal entry or reentry into the United States."
And also from Cato...2021
"President Trump’s top policy priority was supposedly “border security.” But government data show that he failed to improve it. Border Patrol recorded 41 percent more successful illegal entries in fiscal year 2019 than in 2016 and was on pace for 47 percent more through four months of 2020. As he left office in January, reports indicate that the numbers have reached even greater heights."President Donald Trump's border policies were a huge improvement over what is happening now at the border under the biden administration.
The Trump administration did not prevent Central and South Americans from coming to the United States. One telling indicator: Pending asylum cases rose 300% between 2016 and F2020 (from 163,451 to 614,751), according to Syracuse University’s TRAC. If Trump’s immigration policies deterred people from coming to America, asylum applications would have fallen, not risen significantly.
Legal arrivals declined during his administration while illegal entries remained steady and he left behind a ton of unresolved asylum cases.
"But as the Trump tenure nears its end, analysis of immigration data shows that, despite public perception to the contrary, the administration’s policies have not led to a marked drop in the number of permanent immigrants, temporary foreign workers, international students, and those receiving asylum in the United States—at least not yet. In other words, with the exception of refugee admissions, there has not been a dramatic, across-the-board “Trump effect” attributable either to the administration’s policies or rhetoric on immigration levels.
Instead, the most significant drop in U.S. immigration during the president’s term came from COVID-19."
What specific policies would you be speaking of?
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article … on-reality
Yes, how Trump relays a message often fits the 'deplorable' definition.
In terms of the message itself, there is legitimacy to it. This is exactly what is done by some countries, Cuba did this in the mid-90s, emptying their jails of undesirables of all sorts and told them get to America or die trying.
Then there is the whole Cartels issue, the Mexican Cartels have become a multi-billion dollar business selling drugs, trafficking sex-slaves, harvesting organs. Which the Biden Administration's handling of the border only exacerbates.This is exactly what is done by some countries, Cuba did this in the mid-90s, emptying their jails of undesirables of all sorts and told them get to America or die trying.
It was the Trump administration that tightened sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, exacerbating the macroeconomic crises that have led hundreds of thousands to flee.
Today, migration is primarily driven not by Mexican economic migrants and not by a flood of criminals, as Trump claims, but rather by large numbers of families and minors from Central and South America who are seeking political asylum.
Through his misguided policies, political stunts and a failure of leadership, Trump created the conditions that allowed the asylum problem at the border to explode into a crisis.
The solution to our current border troubles lies in reforming the U.S. asylum system and immigration courts.
Looking back to this assessment in 2019...
"The Department of Homeland Security estimates that triple the number of 2017 apprehensions—more than 900,000—will occur at the southern border in 2019. Many of those will be migrants seeking asylum, and they will descend on a border and immigration court system ill-equipped to handle those claims."
He did nothing to address that.
Again reported in 2019.
"Virtually all of the desperate families from Central America who seek asylum, whether entitled to protection or not, are permitted to remain indefinitely in the United Sates while awaiting formal adjudication of their claims. These claims cannot be processed fairly, quickly and efficiently, as the immigration courts face a backlog of nearly a million cases. In fiscal year 2018, less than 15 percent of applicants from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were granted asylum, but only 1.5 percent of Central American family units apprehended in 2017 have been deported. The rest have, so far, stayed. In other words, Trump, a president fixated on stopping illegal immigration, has presided over a dramatic increase in the numbers of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S."
A backup that Biden now has to deal with.
"It is a system that was almost designed to be exploited. Smugglers and migrant advocacy organizations like Pueblo Sin Fronteras are encouraging distressed families from Central America to travel north through Mexico, surrender to U.S. officials at the border and ask for asylum. The ability to stay and work in the United States for years as their claims plod through the immigration court system is a powerful inducement to come here. Since the Trump administration has done so little to speed up the processing of claims, it is likely that these families will be staying in the U.S. for years.
Let's acknowledge Trump's historical role in the current immigration situation.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story … mp-226573/Have YOU taken any illegal immigrants into your home?
I'm willing to volunteer to drive them back across the border.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/venezu … comeuser=1
DHS will not cooperate and even answer questions about the whistleblower claims on Venezuela emptying prisons of their worst, and sending them to the US. I think the silence on their part says it all.Where is the evidence on this? Republican whistleblowers don't hold much credibility these days. Either do Republicans investigating anything.
I see that a group of senators made this claim in 2022. However, it cites only one article, from Breitbart News. A Fox News story about this DHS report cites the same Breitbart article.
Absolutely no credibility there.
I'm not even sure if this is something that we could determine considering our relationship with Venezuela in terms of our sanctions and the fact that we don't recognize Maduro as the legitimate president. But a whistleblower knows?
Venezuelans without criminal convictions and who aren’t wanted by law enforcement are allowed in the U.S. and can apply for protections afforded under immigration law.
Trump has really picked up the pace with lying. His migrant crime narrative being another example.Not sure if Congress's letter ever was responded to or if they will push for their questions to be answered. I have watched many officials including Mayorkis not give suitable answers to where these children are. Here is just one whistleblower who sat and gave testimony under oath, providing her name. I give this woman all the credit in the world for having come forward and told of the horrific issues that have occurred to the children who come in unaccompanied. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbZ5wkCAGvM
This administration has lost children and couldn't care less...
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/us/m … eview.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/us/m … eview.html
https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/3 … -children/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgAMYYvmiDU
https://kitsapiac.org/the-new-york-time … porations/The process and procedure for handling unaccompanied children have not changed since the Trump administration.
When the Trump administration was asked in 2018 about children in the system, his HHS secretary gave the same exact response as HHS today.
Actually like word for word.
Let's revisit 2018..
Trump's HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley disputed the notion that the children were “lost.”
“Their sponsors, who are usually parents or family members and in all cases have been vetted for criminality and ability to provide for them, simply did not respond or could not be reached when this voluntary call was made,” she said in a statement.
So they are lost for Biden and no one cares but under Trump it was okay? HHS was acting in accordance with the policy. I'm really just not understanding this.
As far as whistleblowers under oath, the Republicans have given us an agent of the Chinese government who is currently on the run and another who is an agent of Russia and is being held pending his trial.
https://apnews.com/united-states-congre … f4b5732f12Agree at this point to disagree. I have looked into this subject long and hard. Trump's policy in the separation of children involved I believe 1,500 families, by the time he left office 1,000 families were reunited, 500 were left and families were not readily found. Biden administration has no information if these children left over from Trump's administration were ever reunited with their families. Trump had a policy that took incentives away from those who would consider sending unaccompanied children. The number of undocumented children was low during his administration. I need not quote the enormous stats of undocumented children that have entered under Biden. It has been record-breaking.
The number of unaccompanied minors entering the US climbed to a high of 130,000 last year. That has nothing to do with Biden and everything to do with factors in the countries where these families decide to send their children off for hopes of something better. Why are folks always ignoring the 'push"factors???
But the manner in which we track these children after they are placed has not changed from Trump to Biden as evidenced in the word for word response of his HHS secretary. She said they just didn't answer the phone... Biden's HHS secretary said the same exact thing.And to the far-right, that means they are lost. And Sharlee is comparing children lost that were purposefully separated from parents to children who arrived unaccompanied. She's trying to compare apples to oranges instead of apples to apples.
Here are the numbers from HHS:
Since fiscal year 2012 (October 1, 2011 – September 30, 2012), this number has increased significantly, with a total of 13,625 children referred to ORR by the end of FY 2012. The program received 24,668 unaccompanied children’s referrals from DHS in FY 2013, 57,496 referrals in FY 2014, 33,726 referrals in FY 2015, 59,170 in FY 2016, 40,810 in FY 2017, 49,100 in FY 2018, 69,488 in FY 2019, 15,381 in FY 2020, 122,731 in FY 2021, and 118,938 in FY 2023.
Weird how it wasn't a 'border crisis' or that there weren't 158,000 lost kids from 2017-2019 during Trump's years, but only when a Democrat is in office (drips with sarcasm). Even when the numbers went from 49,100 to 69,488 between 2018 and 2019.
https://www.hhs.gov/sites/default/files … -sheet.pdfThe social services of cities across the country weren't overwhelmed by illegal immigrants under the Trump Administration. Gangs from Venezuela weren't roaming the streets of NYC robbing people at will attacking police officers and being let go.
Here is a report from the Judiciary Committee of Congress
"Three years into the Biden Administration, the crisis at the southwest border is worse than ever. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) encountered a record-breaking 269,735 illegal aliens along the southwest border in September 2023, shattering the previous record of 252,315 encounters in December 2022.1
Although official figures are not yet known, the
September 2023 record reportedly stood for just three months—December 2023 saw more than 302,000 illegal alien encounters along the southwest border.2 With such a large and seemingly unending influx of illegal aliens into the United States, Americans would be right to conclude
that the border crisis is not a side effect, but instead a goal, of the Biden Administration’s radical open-borders immigration policies.
https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-s … cement.pdfThese numbers represent "encounters," not the number of individuals who have come across the border. It’s a misleading and inaccurate way of describing the number of people coming into the U.S.
Here is some more of it.
Of the nearly 6 million illegal alien encounters from January 20, 2021, through September 30, 2023, at least 3,095,577 illegal aliens had no confirmed departure from the United States as of September 30, 2023.7 That is an increase of 631,153 illegal aliens in just the six months between March 31, 2023, and September 30, 2023,8 and does not include any releases from record-high encounters in the period from October through
December 2023 or the more than 1.7 million known “gotaways” who entered the United States under Biden’s watch.9 According to press reports, so far in fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1, 2023, “Border Patrol has released more than 386,500 illegal aliens.”10
• There are at least 617,607 aliens on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) nondetained docket who have criminal convictions or pending criminal charges.11 That means that more than half a million criminal aliens are in U.S. communities, free to reoffend and victimize more Americans. At the same time, in fiscal year 2023, the Biden
Administration removed nearly 60 percent fewer criminal aliens with criminal convictions and criminal charges than in fiscal year 2019.12
Why don't people from the left respond to my question?
If you are so supportive of illegal immigration, why don't YOU sponsor an illegal immigrant?
Should you step up and put actions behind your words rather than simply coming onto a forum like this and writing words, I'm willing to help you with my past experience in such matters. They could be here legally and be on a path to American citizenship.
It will cost money and take time. You may have to post a bond and guarantee they will obey the laws and be employed.
But, it is what you believe in...right?
To NOT to such a thing would give the appearance of hypocrisy.
I'm sure those on the left would NOT want that to happen.First off, your entire premise is wrong. They are not illegal as they have the right to come here and apply for asylum - until Congress changes the laws, which as we have seen, the GOP refuses to do. In my opinion, those that call people something they are not, in a negative slur, are bigots, plain and simple.
Second, I have no problem if my tax money goes to helping those legally trying to come here with food and housing. Being a supporter of that action does not mean that one must sponsor a stranger in their home.
A follow up question back to you - were those people that you sponsored family members or complete strangers? Or were they people you already had some semblance of a relationship with?Yes, they are illegal aliens. Over 90 percent don't show up for their asylum hearings and the majority don't apply for asylum. Read the report I provided by the Congressional Judiciary Committee.
You can still sponsor an illegal alien.
It shouldn't matter if you have a connection with them or not. If you believe in the right of an illegal alien to be a legal citizen in the United States, it is time to put action to your words.
I will volunteer my time to drive as many of them back across the border if requested.
I have a Mexican friend in El Paso, Texas. He HATES the illegal immigrant coming across the border. His family has been in the United States much longer than mine. He is the one who told me he would volunteer to drive them back across the border.
Years ago, El Paso was a really beautiful city. It is struggling now.Illegal alien: a foreign national who is living without official authorization in a country of which they are not a citizen
The act of sponsoring them means you would have gone through a formal process, as they would have to be sponsored. Meaning, they have an authorization to be in the country. So, you are using a negative slur towards them.
As for your 90% claim, it's a total fabrication from far-right members of Congress. A spokeswoman for Rob Portman said his claim that “only about half” of the people coming to the U.S. attend their immigration court hearings is based on data from the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review. It shows that nearly 50% of removal orders are issued “in absentia” — meaning the individual fails to appear — in initial case completions.
But immigration law experts argue that EOIR’s in absentia statistics undercount the number of people actually attending court hearings by excluding the many appearances people are making while their immigration cases have not been decided. The University of Pennsylvania Law Review study published last year claimed to be the “first-ever independent analysis of in absentia removal orders” based on EOIR data from 2008 to 2018.
Authored by Ingrid Eagly, a professor of law at the UCLA School of Law, and Steven Shafer, the managing attorney for the Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, the study found that “88% of all immigrants in immigration court with completed or pending removal cases over the past eleven years attended all of their court hearings.”
And it appears that you are the one refusing to answer a direct question now. Were you related to the people you sponsored? It's a simple yes or no so we can see if you want to apply a different standard for that hypocrisy you claim the left to have. Or did you sponsor strangers like you want the left to do?Good stuff after the first few moments of intro BS:
Issues Blunt Message To Biden Over Border Before State Of The Union
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wth2YE9pot0
So let Congress off the hook in terms of doing their job to enact laws that benefit the country and just take it into our own hands? Call me crazy but I expect Congress to do their job
NY Gov. Hochul dispatches 750 National Guard troops to NYC subways following spate of violence, migrants terrorizing citizens.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/03/06/ … -violence/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVUe4apGvsMI don't see the examples of migrants terrorizing citizens on the subway?
The NYPD said 14 migrants led by Victor Parra were involved in 62 incidents of theft in the city’s streets and subway system. They stole phones and purses from women.
https://ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politi … -officials
New video obtained by NBC New York showed the moments before the beat down, as a police officer and a lieutenant were talking to the group. They put their hands on one person and suddenly the cops were surrounded. The officers fall to the ground, before being kicked, stomped, punched in the face and head.
https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/n … e/5091375/Last week a subway conductor was slashed though... Was not attributed to a migrant. Most likely one of our homegrown mentally ill. By the way what is Trump's policy position on addressing those folks?
"The city’s police department data shows that crime is slightly down this year, and past studies don’t show a connection between the new arrival of migrants and higher crime.
“If we look at real data, and we look at study after study, it shows that immigrant communities make communities safer,”
Has the crime rate in New York City increased since the time it began accepting busloads from Texas?
Are there studies that show migrants commit crime at a greater rate than our native born people?
What a quote from your source...
"Violence against police officers is never acceptable." Yes, agree. I'm sure you do also.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/15/nyre … e-nyc.htmlYes, if done in an orderly fashion, in numbers that can be absorbed and properly provided for.
Yes, if we ensure through the process, no child trafficking is going on, if cartel thugs are stopped, if the safety of all are being seen to.
What the Biden Administration has done is none of that... its been an attempt to get as many into the country as they could manage, as fast as they could manage, and to hell with where they are put up, how much distress it causes others, or how they will be taken care of long term.In the city next door is a Basque community - one I have every confidence is well behaved with a low crime rate.
The city the other direction has a high number of illegal aliens - a community that is NOT well behaved OR a low crime rate. Instead, it is riddled with gangs and a high crime rate.
An established community, whether primarily recent immigrants or not is likely to fit in well. A new, poverty ridden community of new "immigrants" is the opposite.
Which one is the quote you replied to addressing?
Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) said he is not “going to lie” on behalf of the Republican Party when asked why he decided to not seek reelection.
Buck, who announced last November that he will not be running for reelection, said on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” that while his goals for the country have not changed, the world around him “has changed dramatically.”
"We’ve gone from a time when the Tea Party stood for conservative principles, for constitutional principles, to a time where the [populists] have taken over the Republican Party and are really advocating things that I believe are very dangerous,” he told host Chris Stirewalt in an interview that aired Sunday.
"But really we’re at a time in American politics, that I am not going to lie on behalf of my presidential candidate, on behalf of my party. And I’m very sad that others in my party have taken the position that, as long as we get the White House, it doesn’t really matter what we say,” he added.
Cue MAGA calling him a rhino...
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4504 … lf-of-gop/Can I call him a clueless twit instead?
Only if no one is offended, of course.a time where the [populists] have taken over the Republican Party and are really advocating things that I believe are very dangerous...
But really we’re at a time in American politics, that I am not going to lie on behalf of my presidential candidate, on behalf of my party. And I’m very sad that others in my party have taken the position that, as long as we get the White House, it doesn’t really matter what we say
Yup. Like calling these guys patriots, hostages.
Jan. 6 rioter nicknamed 'shield grampy' admits assaulting officers at the Capitol
Mastanduno admitted he "was at the front of a line of rioters who overwhelmed police officers in the Crypt" and then joined the mob outside the Capitol by the lower west terrace, where some of the most brutal violence of the day took place. Mastanduno admitted that he "picked up and threw a blue, flagpole-like object into the mouth of the tunnel, as if throwing a javelin or spear toward the line of outnumbered police officers who were defending the Capitol against the mass of rioters."
Minutes later, Mastanduno admitted, he "obtained a police shield that had been stolen from the officers, which he used to push against the same line of officers at the mouth of the tunnel. While he pushed, he also utilized a telescoping baton, which can be worn on one’s hip and which expands in length, to strike at officers multiple times."
More than 1,300 people have been charged in connection with the Jan. 6 attack, and more than 950 defendants have been convicted. Nearly 500 defendants have been sentenced to periods of incarceration...Buck to retire next week, narrowing House GOP majority
Buck — who has become known for breaking from his party on a number of issues, especially the topic of election denialism — announced last year that he would depart the House at the end of his current term, but he expedited that timeline Tuesday.
" I think this place is dysfunctional... Instead of having decorum, instead of operating in a professional manner, this place has just evolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people...
It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I've been in Congress and having talked to former members, it's the worst year in 40 or 50 years to be in Congress."Just for the sake of furthering the discussion ---
Wilkow, Ken Buck's assessment reflects common concern among traditional conservatives regarding the evolution of the Republican Party. No getting around that. While it's understandable that he may feel disheartened by what he perceives as a shift away from constitutional principles, it's crucial to examine whether his characterization of populism within the party as inherently dangerous is entirely accurate. His view is relevant, however, his time in Congress has not been long.
I think It's important to recognize that the term "populist" is often very broad and can encompass a range of ideologies and policies. Populism itself isn't inherently negative, in my view; it's a political approach that seeks to appeal to ordinary people rather than elites. However, the concerns can arise when populism veers into demagoguery or promotes policies that undermine democratic institutions or the rule of law.
Buck's assertion that the current iteration of populism within the Republican Party is dangerous may stem from specific policies or rhetoric embraced by certain factions. For example, some critics argue that elements of the populist movement have embraced divisive rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and authoritarian tendencies, which could indeed pose a threat to democratic norms.
However, it's essential to recognize that not all populism is alike, and there are valid concerns and grievances within populist movements that should be addressed. Dismissing populism entirely risks ignoring legitimate grievances among certain segments of the population and can exacerbate existing divisions within the party and society as a whole.
Moreover, it's worth considering whether Buck's perspective may be influenced by his own political stance and personal beliefs. As someone who identifies with traditional conservatism, he may naturally be more inclined to view populist elements within the party with skepticism or concern. It's clear the Republican party is splintered, and we have many at this point that have adopted a populist attitude.
I know Ken Buck as staunch conservative from Colorado's prairie East. The very same district Representative Bobbitt want to attempt the run from when Buck retires. It is far more conservative than the Southwest Colorado district she currently serves in.
Ken Buck is a classic conservative, "rock ribbed" and if he see calls for "red flag" as to the direction of the GOP, I would not dismiss it out of hand.I read his words, disappointing, perhaps he has allegiance to something beyond the best interests of the nation for making them.
It could be brushed off, perhaps, if not for the alternative that has been staring us in the face for the last 3 years.
An interesting note, Victoria Nuland, the Vanguard person most responsible (IMO) for the decisions and direction the Biden Administration has taken in Ukraine, is retiring as well.
Victoria Nuland, [second]-highest ranking US diplomat and critic of Russia’s war in Ukraine, retiring
https://apnews.com/article/state-depart … e7520e3086
It appears some of the old-establishment, which are part of the reason for the multi-faceted dangerous predicament the Nation is facing right now are scurrying away into retirement.
Trump at his Georgia rally characterized Biden's State of the Union as hateful and angry...lol from the man who continually describes America as a dark dismal hellscape. He is always saying our country is a sh*thole. Maybe it's just me but I'm not into the apocalyptic messages.
Also, who was cool with him mocking Biden stutter?
Going after policy positions are fair game but really attacking someone in this way? It harkens back to when he made fun of the disabled reporter. It's just really gross, I don't know what else to call it.
What I find also so disappointing is that children are often in these audiences. I saw a reporter talked to a 10-year-old at his rally in Virginia recently and what did this child say? "Lock up Nikki and Fani" am I supposed to think that's cute?I didn't perceive Biden's speech as angry. Rather, it felt reminiscent of an old-school style from the 70s, almost like a promise of reaching for the stars. However, it came across as outdated and disconnected from the concerns of many people today who are grappling with rising costs and frustrated by government spending on issues like war and immigration. It didn't evoke anger in me; instead, I found it somewhat patronizing, with its lofty promises reminiscent of bygone political rhetoric. To sum it up, it felt like an old politician reverting to outdated speech tactics, and frankly, I found it somewhat silly. he certainly could use a new speech writer, in my view. His speech aged him, and his age is already something that people find negative about Joe.
"he certainly could use a new speech writer"
I thought exactly the same and wholeheartedly agree. I saw an interview recently with one of Obama's speech writers and he talked about how much input and direction Obama had on his speeches. I'm assuming Biden has the same input but it doesn't come off the same. Obama was an attorney and I feel like that made a huge difference. Biden is not a skilled orator and his stutter effects him negatively. For me, he's my grandfather. But that's okay. I can see the empathy and I appreciate it. As a lower to middle class citizen, he is relatable for me. I struggle to relate to Trump as a person that mocks and makes fun of people and that was literally raised with a silver spoon and went on to golden toilets. I just can't. We don't do that from where I am from.Obama's eloquence always left audiences pondering and inspired. Always left me with food for thought.
Trump, on the other hand, possesses a unique ability to rally support from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. Despite his brash demeanor and sometimes offensive language, he addresses issues that resonate across economic lines. His straightforward approach, though shocking at times, commands attention and evokes a range of emotions, including fear and doubt, which he promises to address. Additionally, his rallies engage and unite attendees, making them feel connected to him, and his vision. When all these elements are woven into his speeches, they strike a chord with viewers from all walks of life.
I can honestly say, that I have never witnessed a candidate or a politician present himself as Trump does, and get such a huge amount of support.He speaks truth... which is why they label him a liar.
He puts the Nation first... ahead of UN/WEF International Migration efforts and Paris Accord efforts (give billions to foreign countries)... so they call him racist.
He exposes their corruption so they use the DOJ to label him a criminal.
Dave Chappelle and anyone with open eyes knows why they hate him:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfItnh-H3MUIt's hard to imagine how people unite over the mocking of someone's speech impediment or physical disability. I think it's abhorrent. People at the rally were laughing.
Back in the day, if our were children would have displayed such behavior they would have gotten a hand upside their head.
Now it's just something we can coalesce around and laugh about. Maybe Trump is right that the country is a dismal hellscape...Sharlee, please speak for yourself, I see no evidence of this universal adoration regarding Trump and his message.
I failed utterly to see where Trump's words are universally liked or appreciated.
On the other hand, it is undeniable that he gets that huge amount of support; with such virulent Democrat reaction to anything remotely connected to him it is remarkable.But there is also a huge amount of people that neither like nor trust him. Case in point: 2020 Presidential Election, was it not a 7 million vote difference in Biden's favor, were they all virulently mad Democrats?
7 million, due you realize how many citizens vote in the US?
"Biden won 81,283,098 votes, or 51.3 percent of the votes cast. He is the first U.S. presidential candidate to have won more than 80 million votes. Trump won 74,222,958 votes, or 46.8 percent of the votes cast. THATS MORE VOTES THAN ANY OTHER presidential candidate has EVER WON with the exception of Biden. (Third-party candidates picked up 1.8 percent of the votes cast.)"
So, are you suggesting that all 74,222,958 citizens who voted for Trump lacked trust in him? That they didn't see him as the better choice for president? A significant number did vote for Trump, likely for a variety of reasons.You are right, participation in the 2020 election was unprecedented. But inspite of the fact that records numbers of those voted for Trump it was enough to generate an even greater amount voting for Biden. No, of course that they voted for Trump for their own reasons, it is just that more voters felt that way about Biden.
Whereas, I believe Trump lying to the American public about the dangers of Covid took him out.
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020 … -covid-19/In my opinion, Trump made a misstep by relying on advice from individuals like Fauci regarding a disease he lacked expertise in. I've consistently believed that Fauci was Trump's major error in judgment. It's just my perspective, but Trump shouldn't have entrusted someone who might not have possessed the necessary knowledge to navigate such a crisis.
In my opinion, Trump not relying on the advice of Fauci and trying to speak as someone who had any knowledge of infectious diseases was his downfall. His undermining of the basic public health measures and giving out other false information when speaking off-the-cuff was his doom.
I can't disagree with your thoughts --- many of us felt that his comments undermined the professionals who were, in my view trying to do their best. I think some that were on the task force found themselves overwhelmed being smack in the middle of a truly virulent pandemic.
There are conflicting opinions regarding Trump's management of the COVID-19 pandemic. While he permitted the task force to determine mitigation strategies and the implementation of certain shutdown measures, there were occasions when he openly contradicted or challenged their recommendations, despite ultimately following them closely. Moreover, Trump's administration oversaw the Operation Warp Speed initiative, which aimed to expedite vaccine development, allowing significant autonomy in decision-making. Overall, perspectives on Trump's handling of the pandemic vary, with some acknowledging his adherence to expert guidance in specific instances, while others criticize his approach. It's important to note that Trump appeared to rely heavily on the input of those around him, even if he vocally disagreed with or opposed some of their advice.
As I said a bit back --- I feel Trump lost in 2020 due to COVID. So, we agree.No, we don't exactly agree. Trump would have been reelected if he had put the safety of citizens first. But he made it clear that his reelection was his top priority and safety and honesty was not. And when his narcissism led him to making absurd recommendations because he has to believe he is the smartest person about every topic on Earth, he became a danger and obvious that he could not handle a national emergency.
If he had been honest, followed the science, and did not try to undermine the actual experts, Americans might have been able to excuse something that the entire world was dealing with. Trump did not really rely on the input he was getting, instead contradicting it and undermining it to make decisions in the best interests of his reelection.
That's what truly cost him the election, and I even wrote a hub about it called, 'Trump's Inability to Grasp the Dangers of Covid 19 Will Give America President Biden.' I published that at the end of July in 2020 - that's how obvious Trump's mistakes had become.Where did he deviate from following the guidance of experts? He openly expressed his disagreement with their advice. However, he ultimately allowed them to take the lead. They were the ones making the decisions. I think his words did affect how some viewed the pandemic, and contradicting the experts he chose to listen to was not counterproductive. It is and still is clear this man is not a politician.
Let's see. He openly went against mask guidelines because it would have smudged his makeup. He held rallies against social distancing guidelines, so much so, that it ended up leading to the death of Herman Cain. The timeline indicates he knew he had Covid when he debated Biden and his family refused masking up during the debates while seated among the crowd. I'm sure I could expand on the list with a little more research. And the buck stops with the President, he is the decision maker, not the experts. They advise, he decides. And his not being a politician and making bad choices led to many excess deaths compared to our comparable countries - a few hundred thousand according to one study.
While I find it's important to acknowledge the concerns you raised and respect your thoughts as valid. it's also crucial to recognize individuals' rights to make decisions about their own lives, including their approach to COVID-19 precautions. Trump, like all individuals, has rights that must be respected, even when those decisions are controversial or criticized.
In my view, individuals have the right to make choices based on their personal beliefs and priorities, including their appearance and public image. While it's understandable to expect leaders to set an example, it's also within their rights to make decisions about their appearance, including whether or not to wear a mask in certain situations, based on factors.
Individuals have the right to freedom of assembly and speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. While large gatherings during a pandemic pose risks, individuals still have the right to gather for political rallies or other events, provided they are not violating specific laws or regulations. However, I felt organizers need to take reasonable precautions to mitigate risks to participants and the wider community.
Regarding Trump's decision to participate in debates and campaign events during COVID-19, individuals did have the right to make decisions about their own health and medical care, including whether or not to disclose their health status publicly. While transparency and accountability are important, individuals also have the right to privacy regarding their health information.
In my view, it was important to recognize that the role of public health experts to provide guidance and recommendations based on their expertise, and in my view, should have been well considered by all.
Ultimately, Trump did not heed some of the mitigations, and citizens had the right to offer criticism of his views. We must also perhaps respect the rights and autonomy that shared different views concerning COVID. As we navigated the challenges of the pandemic, it seemed crucial to find a balance that protects public health while respecting individual freedoms and rights. Ultimately, this was very hard to do. Again, do not many of our problems arise due to not trying to consider we are all individuals with different thought processes?The difference being that the personal right to spread a deadly contagion should not be one of those protected rights. If one wants to get it and die from it, so be it. Do it in the comforts of your own home. But when it's spread by close human contact, then the person is endangering others. We make laws and regulations all the time to prevent people from being a danger to others.
Your point is well taken. Just offered a bit of debate. What some might have been feeling. There are always two sides, and sometimes I like to look at both. I followed mitigations and felt we needed structure during the pandemic. We were pretty much on the same team when it came to COVID. Being an RN, Michigan asked me to come out of retirement, and help --- I did, working two days of week in an ICU, and on an IV team. I saw COVID firsthand. So, you might understand, I knew what we all, were up against, and also knew we had no real experience in handling the pandemic, and I felt all involved were doing their very best.
I also disagree with Sharlee, that as President of the United States, you should be setting the example and in getting in line with direction as provided by Washington to the public in regards to mask or no mask in the face of the pandemic. You are just not just another "individual". I wore masks and still do in public settings, I can protect myself as others have the choice to take the risk if they choose. I always have problems with those in leadership positions that do not lead but operate on their own personal preference or biases.
I was offering a form of debate, a possible other side. (it would seem, I have noted, that some here do not follow context well or perhaps just jump in and criticize). Here is my comment, hopefully, you might see my view and my critique of what may have occurred with other individuals. I have come to understand this chat is a bit of a unique forum, and many do not follow a complete conversation.
Please read my comment, and let me know where our actual views differ. Not my debate on what I feel may have been pertinent in some minds.
"While I find it's important to acknowledge the concerns you raised and respect your thoughts as VALID. it's also crucial to recognize individuals' rights to make decisions about their own lives, including their approach to COVID-19 precautions. Trump, like all individuals, has rights that must be respected, even when those decisions are controversial or criticized.
In my view, individuals have the right to make choices based on their personal beliefs and priorities, including their appearance and public image. While it's understandable to expect leaders to set an example, it's also within their rights to make decisions about their appearance, including whether or not to wear a mask in certain situations, based on factors.
Individuals have the right to freedom of assembly and speech, as guaranteed by the First Amendment. While large gatherings during a pandemic pose risks, individuals still have the right to gather for political rallies or other events, provided they are not violating specific laws or regulations. However, I felt organizers need to take reasonable precautions to mitigate risks to participants and the wider community.
Regarding Trump's decision to participate in debates and campaign events during COVID-19, individuals did have the right to make decisions about their own health and medical care, including whether or not to disclose their health status publicly. While transparency and accountability are important, individuals also have the right to privacy regarding their health information.
IN MT VIEW, it was important to recognize that the role of public health experts to provide guidance and recommendations based on their expertise, and IN MY VIEW, should have been well considered by all.
Ultimately, Trump did not heed some of the mitigations, and citizens had the right to offer criticism of his views. We must also perhaps respect the rights and autonomy that shared different views concerning COVID. As we navigated the challenges of the pandemic, it seemed crucial to find a balance that protects public health while respecting individual freedoms and rights. Ultimately, this was very hard to do. Again, do not many of our problems arise due to not trying to consider we are all individuals with different thought processes?"
We live in a world where do not always agree, but it's a problem when one can't see that we did pretty much agree regarding this issue... What I see is a wall that seems to say, hey we are on different sides, I will just come out swinging without even reading the context of a comment. Oh well, I still hold an open mind and look at every issue from both sides.
Chats are for debate, if can't be open to view others's thoughts, I think it makes us sort of like programmed zombies --- for the lack of a better word.I appreciate your perspective. I guess my best point is provided within this article.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/11 … ly-thought
Trump, in spite of being warned by Oklahoma health officials at the height of the pandemic of the danger of a superspreader at the 2020 Tulsa Ok. rally, seemed more concerned about his poll numbers than about safety. Being me, I would have erred on the side of safety and preserving lives and not needlessly putting people in danger. But again I can't possibly think that I and Donald Trump would be on the same plane as to how we would reason things out.
I expect more from my leader.... Sharlee, I acknowledge the Right of people to make their own decisions, but the leader should be better and not encourage people to behave in an unsafe manner at the height of the pandemic when people were dying like flies. Trump's behavior at least in this instance was oblivious to public health concerns, so there was no balance.
It is a substantive criticism, Sharlee, no one is fit to be my leader if he or she does not set the example.Oh my gosh ---
Even after numerous explanations, it seems you haven't grasped the essence of my comments – quite peculiar. Specifically, we concurred on the matter of Trump expressing opinions during COVID that, while his own, weren't advantageous to the broader populace. (this was the subject)
I suspect, from my perspective, that you might be cherry-picking words to fit your narrative or viewpoint, disregarding the broader context of my paragraphs. I strive for clarity in my communication here on HPS, as I deem it crucial to the conversation.
This tendency towards selective reading, neglecting the complete context, appears to be quite prevalent nowadays. However, does this manner of communication ultimately foster positive or negative outcomes? I think when one is so well dug in, they might not realize they may be stuck in the mud, and unwilling to take in all context of a conversation.What am I missing?
" Specifically, we concurred on the matter of Trump expressing opinions during COVID that, while his own, weren't advantageous to the broader populace. (this was the subject)"
There is more than just expressing an opinion, it is taking actions that were clearly disadvantageous to the general public and that is a little different. Such was the case in Tulsa.I was not aware of the actions of Tulsa. I did just quick look at the OKLAHOMA DATA
For historic statewide COVID-19 data, visit the Oklahoma State Department of Health. Additional historical data is available for review in their Executive Order Report and their Weekly Epidemiology and Surveillance Report. Their efforts showed they were willing to
https://tulsa-health.org/services/famil … d-19-data/
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/202 … cases.html
The actions demonstrated were truly commendable. From my observations, such diligence was unfortunately lacking in many states. My own state faced criticism for mishandling COVID-19 patients by placing them in nursing homes, a misstep that led to increased resident fatalities, echoing the situation in New York. Did your state undertake any noteworthy initiatives to mitigate the multifaceted challenges posed by the pandemic?
Regarding Trump, it's evident that he holds strong opinions, and it's unlikely that he will alter his stance. However, I do acknowledge his administration's efforts in implementing recommendations from both his task force and Operation Warp Speed. Despite expressing disagreement with some proposals, he ultimately acted upon them. His rhetoric resonated with many, finding agreement among certain segments of the population. I think COVID scared all of us, and at one point we were hearing so many conflicting messages, from those in the scientific world that contradicted one another. Average citizens just became very disillusioned, and confused about what to believe.
Reflecting on the broader picture, it's undeniable that America cherishes principles of free thought and expression. While there may be attempts to curtail these values, I believe the majority staunchly oppose any form of dictation regarding our freedoms.My only point that on that particular day in Tulsa, is that the President as a leader should be looking out for who it is he serves and chose safety over poll numbers.
That may well would have required that there be no rally held under the circumstances of that time and place. I certainly would have taken seriously the warning of Oklahoma health officials, saying that another superspreader scenario was not a good idea.
I would be a little more concerned about the opinions of experts in the field over Trump's opinion.
There is no conflict over the ideas of freedom of expression by the public, but I hold the President to a higher standard as I should.
As for Florida, it was a mess, DeSantis was in the same state of denial Trump had been. Fortunately, national standards had been set that overrode DeSantis, and the rather large elderly segment of the population in this state were at least properly immunized. Folks were always free to mask or unmask as long as I had the option to do so as I saw fit. And, I saw fit.Michigan was also handled poorly. People had to schedule appointments months out, and we had little to no test kits until the pandemic was pretty much on its way out. We had severe lockdowns, and public schools were closed too long. While other states owned Michigan kept schools closed. As well as businesses. Our death toll - Michigan has significantly more COVID deaths per capita than any other state in the Midwest.
You did better than Ohio, West Virginia, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Texas, Georgia and South Carolina.
In terms of Trump's handling of the pandemic. It was horrendous from the start. He handled it himself by downplaying it. His no-bad-news atmosphere really stifled attempts to combat the outbreak. Then he brought in Jared kushner for a brief time and then Pence before finally involving actual doctors and scientists. He let the educated people speak a brief bit in the beginning and then would quickly tear down what they said and clearly not follow their guidance in his own actions.
He began to increasingly call the pandemic a hoax and comparing it to a common flu. Something which Dr Fauci debunked.
The doctors were slowly pushed out. Toward the end they were relegated to sitting on the sidelines and listening to him speak about hydroxychloroquine, disinfectant and lights. Remember Dr. Birx face?? Eventually these doctors disappeared and we saw Trump tell us how he was very impressed with Dr Stella Immanuel. An individual who made videos saying that doctors make medicine using DNA from aliens, and that they're trying to create a vaccine to make you immune from becoming religious.
And then he brought in advisor Dr
Atlas, who the CDC and Dr Redfield said "Everything he says is false’ at that point it sort of became a parade of conspiracy theories and kooks.
Trump handled the pandemic horribly.
Again,
"Speaking on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle show Thursday, the former U.S. president rehashed talking points from his time in office and said: "If you really look, I didn't listen to him too much because I was doing the opposite of what he was saying."
What did Dr Birx say to a congressional committee?
"that Trump White House officials asked her to change or delete parts of the weekly guidance she sent state and local health officials, in what she described as a consistent effort to stifle information as virus cases surged in the second half of 2020."
Also..
She told the committee that Trump White House officials withheld the reports from states during a winter outbreak and refused to publicly release the documents, which featured data on the virus’s spread and recommendations for how to contain it.
"she offered similarly withering assessments of the Trump administration’s coronavirus response, suggesting that officials in 2020 had mistakenly viewed the coronavirus as akin to the flu, even after seeing high Covid-19 death rates in Asia and Europe. That perspective, she said, had caused a “false sense of security in America” as well as a “sense among the American people that this was not going to be a serious pandemic.”
Just not a great job.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/23/us/b … dance.html
Let's look back to what Trump said...
"Former President Donald Trump said he did "pretty much the opposite" of what Dr. Anthony Fauci advised during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trump made the comments in an interview on Friday with David Brody on Real America's Voice.
Brody asked the former president whether he regretted not firing Fauci, who is now Biden's Chief Medical Advisor and was formerly a lead member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Trump said that while he "got along" with the doctor, he ignored his advice during the pandemic."
"I really did pretty much the opposite of whatever he said," Trump said.
Trump said that he made his own decisions about handling the pandemic, which was often at odds with Fauci's advice.
"But as the Trump administration has strayed from the advice of many of its scientists and public health experts, the White House has moved to sideline Fauci, scuttled some of his planned TV appearances and largely kept him out of the Oval Office for more than a month even as coronavirus infections surge in large swaths of the country."
This is exactly how I remember it.
A poll from 2020..
According to a survey from Quinnipiac University Poll released Wednesday, 67 percent of registered voters surveyed do not trust information Trump provides on the coronavirus, while 30 percent do. Meanwhile, 65 percent say they trust Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, while 26 percent distrust the information he provides.
"The poll comes as some members of the administration distance themselves from Fauci"
I never had the impression that Trump was paying attention to Fauci or any other Doctor/Scientist.
And again from May of 2020
"President Donald Trump on Wednesday rejected the advice of Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, on how cautious governors and local officials need to be when reopening schools amid the coronavirus pandemic" .
And from 2021
"The Trump administration engaged in deliberate efforts” to undermine the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic for political purposes, a congressional report released Friday concludes.
"The report, prepared by the House select subcommittee investigating the nation’s Covid response, says the White House repeatedly overruled public health and testing guidance by the nation’s top infectious disease experts and silenced officials in order to promote then-President Donald Trump's political agenda."
Fauci's thoughts on working with Trump in what was a great interview.. everyone should take a look.
"My day job is that I’m the director of N.I.A.I.D. I would go to the White House, sometimes every day during the intense period, but I was considered an outside person. This is a subtlety that people need to understand. I tried to approach him and say, “Let’s sit down and talk because we obviously have some differences.” His attitude was that he intensively reviews the literature, we may have differences, but he thinks he’s correct. I thought, “OK, fine, I’m not going to invest a lot of time trying to convert this person,” and I just went my own way. But Debbie Birx had to live with this person in the White House every day, so it was much more of a painful situation for her."
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congre … t-n1286211
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-s … ice-2021-9
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra … ust-trump/
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/coronav … d=70658068
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-v … d=70330642
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/24/heal … covid.htmlThe problem was that Fauci, as well as those other experts, did not concern themselves with the price and cost of what they were proposing. Only with preventing the spread of COVID to the greatest extent possible.
Inflationary pressures, reducing product (including food) availability, loss of income...all those costs and dozens more were not a part of their consideration and Fauci made that clear.
Yet the costs have to be considered, and that is the task of the President and other legislators. Personally, I found Trump's response to COVID over the top sometimes but overall quite reasonable. Fauci's program was almost always too much, too expensive (and I do not mean money) and went too far. Certainly Biden's work was far too much; it resulted in the massive inflation we are still suffering from and which has caused so much damage to nearly every person in the country.
"Sharlee, please speak for yourself, I see no evidence of this universal adoration regarding Trump and his message."
Excuse me, but I can assure you that I was expressing my own thoughts. My response was directed towards Willow's comment, indicating that I was sharing my perspective. My assessment of Trump stems from observing his speeches. This was the topic that Willow and I were discussing.
Initially, it's evident from the polls that Trump commands significant support, as well as adoration from millions of Americans. Secondly, it would have been beneficial if you took a moment to understand the context of my response to Willow. I shared a personal view, as she did regarding presidential speech skills. She shared her views, I shared mine. No more no less.
Expressing personal viewpoints is customary in chat conversations. I feel It's inappropriate to belittle my perspective. Each person is entitled to their own interpretation of any issue.
I'm indifferent if my perspective doesn't align with yours. Because we don't share many common viewpoints.My apologies, I forget these are all your personal views. I was startled by one you expressed, that's all.
I gave an off-the-cuff view of why Trump could have gleaned such a large following from many different socio-economic groups. This is Willows's comment I replied to.
"I thought exactly the same and wholeheartedly agree. I saw an interview recently with one of Obama's speech writers and he talked about how much input and direction Obama had on his speeches. I'm assuming Biden has the same input but it doesn't come off the same. Obama was an attorney and I feel like that made a huge difference. Biden is not a skilled orator and his stutter effects him negatively. For me, he's my grandfather. But that's okay. I can see the empathy and I appreciate it. As a lower to middle class citizen, he is relatable for me. I struggle to relate to Trump as a person that mocks and makes fun of people and that was literally raised with a silver spoon and went on to golden toilets. I just can't. We don't do that from where I am from."
I believe Trump's speeches resonate with diverse audiences for various reasons. That's why I took the time to respond extensively to Willow. It's important to recognize that people interpret Trump's speeches differently. Some are drawn to his tough rhetoric, others appreciate what they perceive as transparency, some resonate with his shared perspective on societal issues, and still others find his proposed solutions appealing. It's evident to me that Trump is a complex figure, eliciting both admiration and disdain from different quarters.
Considering how to vote in 2024 often requires going back to the facts of the Trump administration.
Consider this from 2022.
"Bad government policies are gifts that keep on giving. That is the message Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell delivered in a recent speech. Powell cited Trump-era restrictions on immigration that have led to a continued worker shortfall. Economists say recent events are further evidence that a lower supply of workers—which anti-immigration advocates and organizations believe is a good thing—is damaging and even destructive. Admitting fewer foreign-born workers can—and has—lead to shortages and labor shortfalls that harm the economy by limiting output and contributing to inflation."
In a November 30, 2022, speech at the Brookings Institution, Jerome Powell said, “The truth is that the path ahead for inflation remains highly uncertain. For now, let's put aside the forecasts and look instead to the macroeconomic conditions we think we need to see to bring inflation down to 2 percent over time.”
Mark Regets, a labor economist and a senior fellow at the National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP), explains that reductions in immigration have been a “huge supply shock” to the U.S. economy. “Inflation occurs when the demand for goods and services grows faster than supply,” he said. “Increasing our ability to produce is the least painful way to control inflation. Increasing the supply of labor increases production, but immigrants also adapt to our needs in ways that add dynamism to the economy.”
"During the Trump administration, anti-immigration advocates saw their preferred policies enacted. As Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell noted, those policies contributed to inflation and have continued to damage the U.S. economy."
Do Powell and other economists have a valid point here? Remember this was written in 2022. Do we recognize that Trump policies had an effect as Biden entered office?
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartande … m-economy/" I have never witnessed a candidate or a politician present himself as Trump does"
On that point, we all agree.
Credence2: Trump appeals to the worst in people and makes it acceptable for them to rationalize their own prejudices. He gives them permission to be angry about whatever they are angry about. These people have lost their judgement.That is a big 10-4 Kathleen. I am with you, I would have smacked my kid upside the head for such public displays of discourtesy in regards to making fun of handicapped people. The very fact that we once had one of our greatest presidents confined to a wheel chair, when comparing his standard to Trump and the adoration of the crowd as a result of Trumps boorish behavior, a certain callousness is made evident as displayed by many.
and THIS is the man who would be king?
Anyone else notice another partisan unable to admit inflation was global?
I have left several comments on global inflation. Along with highlighting various factors that have been reported to contribute to the inflation rates in the EU as well as globally. Despite the global nature of inflation, both the EU and many other regions are grappling with inflationary challenges that often surpass those faced by the United States. I believe the inflationary issues in the EU stem from a multitude of factors, somewhat differing from those typically attributed by some economists to the US."
In my view, Inflation problems in the EU MAY be caused by different factors compared to those affecting the US inflation rate. While both have experienced inflation due to common factors such as supply chain disruptions, increased demand, or monetary policy decisions, there are also unique elements influencing inflation in each area. For instance, the EU's inflation may be influenced by factors such as regional economic policies, structural issues within individual member states, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, and specific challenges related to the Eurozone's monetary union. Additionally, differences in fiscal policies, regulatory environments, and economic structures between the EU and the US have also contributed to variations in inflationary pressures.
See what tomorrow brings... A key inflation reading is due out Tuesday morning.My comment wasn't really meant for you this time, but every time someone on the right blames Biden, solely, for the inflation that has happened, it's just more denial of the actual reality that has happened globally. Even that post you just made notes many other contributing factors, and yet you often try to put the blame on Biden and Biden only.
The one person you never mention as having any culpability for inflation is Trump by the way, despite plenty of evidence that some of the factors affecting the issue clearly began during his term, like those supply chains you mentioned. Two of the three stimulus payments being another piece of evidence as well as the April 2020 negotiation to reduce global oil production by 20% - which would have spiked prices when demand returned as economies reopened and the supply was not there. Biden gets culpability for his spending and green energy policies, but there's the difference between us. We on the left can live in abject reality and acknowledge factors from both sides of the aisle, as well as global issues that pertain to the issue.
The right's blame games are just laughable at this point. The country is looking to hear their solutions, but they don't have any - they just have blame. Even when their own party crafts solutions, they are unwilling to act on them. The party is a joke at this point.
And why is that?
Perchance because 68%, at that time, of nations are pegged to the dollar or use it as a Reserve?
Governments around the world have sought to stabilize their currencies and defend their economies against the Federal Reserve’s rapid interest rate increases, which have tilted the field in favor of the dollar. Their efforts highlight both the interconnected nature of the global financial system and its vulnerabilities.
The Fed has raised rates five times this year and is expected to make further moves as inflation remains high in the United States. The rate increases have lifted the returns on offer to investors buying U.S. assets, drawing money into America and strengthening the dollar. Since the U.S. economy is on firmer footing compared with the rest of the world, investors worried about a global downturn are also pouring money into the world’s largest economy — making the dollar even stronger.
As a result, the currencies of other countries — which are valued in relation to each other — have weakened, upsetting markets in some of the largest economies in the world, from Japan and China to India and Britain.
The Fed “is supercharging the U.S. dollar, curtailing the ability of other global central banks to effectively stabilize their economies,” said Seema Shah, the chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management.
Part of the impact of the Fed’s moves on other regions is economic. A weaker currency means that it costs more for a country to import food, energy and other goods. That adds to domestic inflation, hurts households and could contribute to a global downturn.
The surge in the dollar’s value has also made it harder for foreign borrowers who have debt denominated in U.S. currency to repay their loans. And, as investors have funneled cash away from their own countries and into the United States, the yields on foreign sovereign bonds — which are indicative of the cost of borrowing for foreign governments — have increased.
But there is another issue troubling investors and policymakers. Global markets are connected, with prices for assets around the world linked to one another. And so rising U.S. interest rates have prompted sharp shifts in global currencies, bonds and equities, causing markets to react suddenly and simultaneously.
“The Fed has pushed financial markets in one direction really fast,” said Claudia Sahm, the founder of Sahm Consulting and a former economist at the Federal Reserve. “Markets need time to adjust.”
For U.S. policymakers, the ructions in global financial markets present a challenge: Inflation is high and needs taming, but the solution — sharp interest rate increases — is starting to disturb the financial system so much that some analysts warn it could snowball into a bout of serious instability. But the Fed has shown little appetite to change course quickly. It is expected to raise rates again next week, and lift them further later this year and into 2023.
That has led many central banks to take steps to bolster the value of their domestic currency. Central banks hold reserves of foreign currencies and bonds to help protect against sudden or painful declines in the value of their own currency. Typically, these reserves are held in major international currencies like the U.S. dollar, the British pound and the euro.
These reserves have declined this year because most currencies, apart from the dollar, have weakened. Reserves have also shrunk because countries have sold dollars to buy back their own currencies in order to prop them up. Bond prices, too, have fallen because rising interest rates mean that investors can find higher returns elsewhere.
Precise data is hard to come by and varies from country to country, making it difficult to know the full extent of government intervention in currency markets around the world.
In September, the Japanese government spent nearly $20 billion buying its own currency to stem its rapid decline — its first intervention of this sort since 1998. Analysts said the action had reduced some of the volatility in the market, but its effects were short-lived, and the currency has continued to slide.
Last week, the Japanese yen fell to its weakest level against the dollar since 1990, down more than 23 percent for the year, before a brief, sharp snap back. That led to speculation among traders that the government had intervened again. The Japanese government has not provided official confirmation that it did.
South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand have all disclosed currency intervention.
India’s central bank has been selling its reserves of dollars, and buying back rupees, since March. In the year through August, it bought back $43 billion of rupees. Its currency has fallen roughly 10 percent against the dollar this year.
“The global economy is in the eye of a new storm,” said Shaktikanta Das, the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, in his latest monthly statement.
Most countries that have intervened to try to halt the slide in their currencies have managed only to reduce the pace of it, said Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a former adviser to the Biden administration. “It has been very hard to stop the pressure created by the Fed’s hikes,” Mr. Setser said.
Officially, China has yet to directly intervene to protect its currency despite a gentle depreciation, both because of the yuan’s strength compared with other Asian currencies and because the government has established national bank policies meant to support the value of the yuan.
“It’s a bit murky what is happening there,” said Mazen Issa, a senior currency strategist at T.D. Securities, noting that China is allowing the yuan to drop in value against the dollar more than usual. “It’s becoming harder to manage the currency weakness against such a strong dollar.”
While many nations have been using cash reserves to intervene, some have been selling U.S. government bonds. As foreign reserve balances run lower, there is a risk that countries will begin to sell Treasuries more aggressively. Bankers said China, Japan and India had sold Treasuries in recent weeks to help support their currencies.
When foreign investors sold Treasuries in large sums in 2020, U.S. government bond prices gyrated in ways that prompted investors to swiftly dump their own Treasury holdings as a set of highly leveraged bets based on typical pricing patterns unexpectedly soured. As foreign officials and hedge funds sold Treasuries, normal trading broke down, forcing the Fed to buy bonds at a tremendous scale to restore proper functioning in the world’s most important debt market.
For the United States the rising dollar will come back to bite it by chipping away at demand for American government debt — by forcing more selling and by leaving fewer buyers in the market for Treasuries. It is already tougher than usual to find buyers for U.S. bonds, and a pullback by foreign government investors [will] exacerbate that situation.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/27/busi … onomy.html
In short... everyone in the world suffered high inflation because America increased its interest rates. This impacts GDP and inflation of other nations.
This was caused as much because Biden wanted to spend Trillions of dollars more than America was taking in, on things we really didn't need to piss that money away on as it was the pandemic... the economy was already in recovery when he passed his large 'recovery' packages.
This... along with his actions using SWIFT as a weapon against Russia... his alienating Saudi Arabia... and his saber rattling against China... is going to have massive negative impacts on the American economy in the future.
Here you go Tsmog, Jon Stewart makes the case of who you should be voting for in 2024. The end really makes the point clearly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJUl77rsFEwA big thanks for the link, Valeant! I have always liked Stewart and I like Colbert too. For one they aren't afraid and do make fun of Biden and his policies pursing a laugh while, as many to most, comedians do give cause to think for a moment or two later. For instance the Dave Chappelle link Ken shared. As an aside, talk about coming out of the cave.
That novel of information would make sense if the producer price index did not rise steadily in 2021, a full year prior to any fed rate hike, that started in March of 2022. Meaning, broken supply chains were the primary cause of inflation and the rate hikes were in response to those rising prices.
Did the three stimulus packages have an effect? Sure. People were flush with cash and the goods and services they wanted to buy were low on demand. World pricing increased long before the United States began raising rates. Those are facts. So saying the rising rates were the cause of the inflation we have seen ignores the timeline.No denying there were negative effects due largely to the global shut down.
To say that the Biden Administration (Democrat controlled Congress) spending spree AND the disruption the Ukraine war (which the Biden Administration helped inflame and agitate for) didn't impact a bad situation making it considerably worse, is to be disingenuous.Agree that Biden has some culpability, have been saying that. But my point has always been that both administrations deserve some of the blame. Your post dings Biden, but then blames Covid, as if Covid made the choices that would lead to inflation. Covid wasn't running the United States government in 2020.
Even in your rebuttal, there's zero admission of the two previous spending packages that went to people like myself who didn't have any fluctuation in employment during the pandemic. The money was a bonus, not a necessity, as it was for millions of other Americans.
And basic supply and demand would help one understand that making such a drastic cut to global oil production in April of 2020 would take time to replenish once economies reopened and people were rehired in 2021, let alone the weather issues that affected production in that year, that would lead to inflationary outcomes.There is a reason for that.
Despite how much Congress despised Trump, they passed the Bill... those 'spending packages' that Trump signed off on.
Considering the Pandemic, the Global Shut Down, much of it was prudent... some of it was excess... but again... it was the Democrat led Congress that approved it.
Fast forward to Biden.
Biden could have chosen a variety of other options regarding Ukraine. He could have pushed Zelensky/Ukraine to accept the Minsk Agreement and go beyond to make Russia happy... or else they would receive no aid or support from America.
Instead of right out of the gate, starting in February 2021, making official WH statements that he/America stood with Ukraine, that we would never accept Crimea as part of Russia, that America would support Ukraine in any effort, etc. while at the same time saying repeatedly there will be no negotiation, that America will not budge, that Ukraine would be part of NATO no matter what, etc.
Instead of Biden alienating and insulting the Saudis he could have treated them with the respect every other President has since Nixon and the Petro-Dollar agreement... now, thanks largely to Biden, they are in bed with China, they are part of BRICS, and trade oil now in currency other than the Dollar.
Biden made some terrible decisions... not just on passing more spending that he begged and demanded from Congress... decisions that are going to impact our future even more than they impact our present.
This Administration has been a disaster for America... and its only getting worse, purely on the economics alone... not taking into account anything else.Jesus, so it was the Democrats that passed the stimulus and Trump had nothing to do with it? Do you guys ever hear yourselves and how silly you sound making those claims? As if the Senate wasn't Republican-controlled until Biden's election. The Uber-partisanship to try and excuse the same things you're trying to ding Democrats for is getting comical, it really is.
And the constant fearmongering about the economy when a Democrat is in office, and hitting Biden for passing infrastructure that even Trump admitted was needed and tried and failed to do. Or bringing manufacturing jobs back and passing assistance for our veterans (that the GOP looked horrible for when they voted it down for political retribution). Saying that that kind of spending is terrible is likely a minority opinion in the country, as those things have been positives.Again... the bigger issues that you like to ignore.
Ukraine
Saudi Arabia & The UAE
Huge shifts on the global stage thanks to a Biden Administration that is clueless... the spending sprees approved by Biden will not have the long term deeply harmful impacts on America that his foreign affairs will.
As I noted elsewhere not so long ago... if he were the Manchurian Candidate he couldn't have done much more to strengthen China and weaken America if he wanted to.
Now... lets consider the non-economic disaster the Biden Administration is:
Federal agencies have worked to embed the DEI agenda throughout the bureaucracy following a June 2021 executive order from President Joe Biden that cemented the ideology in the government.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo … workforce/
Biden officials in federal agencies have been aggressively working to institutionalize the DEI agenda in the inner workings of the bureaucracy.
The Internal Revenue Service, for example, recently hosted a diversity training that utilized material from an extreme transgender academic who called for the “death of whiteness. State Department Secretary Anthony Blinken told employees not to use gendered language like “mother/father,” “son/daughter,” and “husband/wife,” and to avoid “misgendering.”
Large sums of taxpayer dollars have also been used to push the far-left ideological agenda, with the Pentagon spending as much as $270 million on DEI initiatives under Biden.
The United States Air Force Academy has promoted transgenderism while the National Security Agency created a DEI glossary with terms like “settler colonialism” and “transmisogyny,” and "offensively white".
Even federal contractors have embraced the far-left ideology, with one major Pentagon contractor even hosting Critical Race Theorist Robin DiAngelo for a speaking event and providing copies of her book “White Fragility.”
Look to Canada, the UK and the EU to see where things will go should Biden get another 4 years, for example:
https://twitter.com/newstart_2024/statu … 8947380610
Maybe this is a better example:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iOSThGmbhZoWe had been talking about inflation, and I think I've made my case there. Just as you have made a solid case for Ukraine. I'll concede that. We can agree to disagree on the Saudis as I am an environmentalist and think my goals will be in stark contract to theirs.
As to the other issues you stated to justify your vote, you are entitled to those concerns. Personally, I think a military educated on how to treat people equally (without racism or sexual assaults) is a good thing. I think monies allocated for scholarships (as part of that $270m you listed but omitted from your Allsides article) is a good thing.
And not sure how someone who publishes a book titled "Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm' is someone spewing 'far-left ideology.' Sounds like she's attacking Caucasians on the left and the right with her books.
During a recent senate hearing Jim Jordan explains why biden illegally had classified papers and material
He had 8 million reasons.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdafyQZreN4In case you're thinking of jumping off the sinking ship that is MAGA, you're not alone. Listen to some others and why they are heading for the lifeboats:
https://rvat.org/#testimonialsGallup Polling
As the United States inches closer to the 2024 Presidential election, recent polls from Gallup indicate an evolving political landscape, with the number of individuals identifying as Republican experiencing a slight decline, while the ranks of independent voters continue to swell to record levels. According to February 2024 data, self-identified Republicans constitute 28 percent of the electorate, a decrease from the 30 percent recorded in February 2020. Concurrently, the proportion of self-identified Democrats has also seen a modest uptick, rising to 30 percent.
Additionally, LGBTQ+ identification in the U.S. continues to grow, with 7.6% of U.S. adults now identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or some other sexual orientation besides heterosexual. The current figure is up from 5.6% four years ago and 3.5% in 2012, Gallup’s first year of measuring sexual orientation and transgender identity.
Combined, that could be a four percent swing to the Democrats from 2020.Gallup https://news.gallup.com/poll/610988/bid … -down.aspx
"WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Americans’ approval of President Joe Biden’s job performance has edged down three percentage points to 38%, just one point shy of his all-time low and well below the 50% threshold that has typically led to reelection for incumbents.
In addition, Biden registers subpar approval ratings for his handling of five key issues facing the U.S., including a new low of 28% for immigration and readings ranging from 30% to 40% for the situation in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas, foreign affairs, the economy and the situation in Ukraine."
"Biden’s approval rating has not risen above 44% since August 2021, and his 39.8% average rating for his third year in office was the second worst among post-World War II presidents elected to their first term."
"Economic Approval Up Slightly; Democrats Down on Immigration
Approval of Biden’s handling of the economy is up a modest four points among U.S. adults since November, while his ratings on the other issues have not significantly changed from the prior readings in November (and August for immigration). Positive U.S. economic news on several fronts continued during Gallup’s Feb. 1-20 field period, including low unemployment, subdued inflation and record stock market values.
Democrats largely approve of Biden’s handling of the economy (75%), the situation in Ukraine (72%) and foreign affairs (69%). However, bare majorities of Democrats approve of the president’s handling of immigration (55%) and the Middle East situation (51%). Biden’s ratings among Democrats have dipped on the situations in the Middle East (-9 points) and Ukraine (-6 points) and on immigration (-7 points).
Meanwhile, Biden has gained some ground among independents on the economy (+6 points to 30%). Still, their ratings on this and other issues are weak -- ranging from 23% for the Middle East situation to 34% for the Ukraine situation.
"Biden’s approval rating has not risen above 44% since August 2021, and his 39.8% average rating for his third year in office was the second worst among post-World War II presidents elected to their first term."
Few Republicans express approval for Biden on any of the issues measured, with immigration (3%) and the economy (4%) the worst and the Middle East (17%) and Ukraine (16%) situations the best. Republicans’ ratings for Biden’s handling of immigration have dropped six points since August. A recent Gallup poll found that the immigration issue, specifically, is the top reason those who disapprove of Biden give for why they evaluate his performance negatively."
Economic Approval Up Slightly; Democrats Down on Immigration
Approval of Biden’s handling of the economy is up a modest four points among U.S. adults since November, while his ratings on the other issues have not significantly changed from the prior readings in November (and August for immigration). Positive U.S. economic news on several fronts continued during Gallup’s Feb. 1-20 field period, including low unemployment, subdued inflation and record stock market values.
Democrats largely approve of Biden’s handling of the economy (75%), the situation in Ukraine (72%) and foreign affairs (69%). However, bare majorities of Democrats approve of the president’s handling of immigration (55%) and the Middle East situation (51%). Biden’s ratings among Democrats have dipped on the situations in the Middle East (-9 points) and Ukraine (-6 points) and on immigration (-7 points).
Meanwhile, Biden has gained some ground among independents on the economy (+6 points to 30%). Still, their ratings on this and other issues are weak -- ranging from 23% for the Middle East situation to 34% for the Ukraine situation.
Few Republicans express approval for Biden on any of the issues measured, with immigration (3%) and the economy (4%) the worst and the Middle East (17%) and Ukraine (16%) situations the best. Republicans’ ratings for Biden’s handling of immigration have dropped six points since August. A recent Gallup poll found that the immigration issue, specifically, is the top reason those who disapprove of Biden give for why they evaluate his performance negatively."Thanks for sharing the insightful information from the Gallup Poll. I peeked at the link finding the graphic for Changes in Issue Approval Ratings of President Joe Biden, 2023 vs. 2024 most enlightening.
Speculatively, the 'Middle East situation' gave me pause about the split with factions within the Democratic party. Maybe it is generational? I wonder how that will affect the Nov ballot?
Curious! What do you think occurred around mid-month of Sept 2023 or about that was significant to cause the change of direction between Trump and Biden?
Biden vs. Trump polls by The Hill /Election Center (Trend 601 polls spanning Jan 2023 through Mar 14, 2024)
https://elections2024.thehill.com/natio … p-general/
It is Sept 2023 or about is when Biden drops below Trump while Trump has remained above since to today where he has 1.2% lead as of Mar 14.And meanwhile, at the ballot box:
According to VoteCast surveys of the 2024 Republican primaries in New Hampshire and South Carolina, Trump won only about 3 in 10 independents in each state. His support from moderate Republicans was a little higher but still notably tepid: Between 46% and 51% of this group backed him in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
70% of Independents are looking for someone other than Trump..."70% of Independents are looking for someone other than Trump..."
If true, it would not surprise me at all. In my circle of Republican friends/family it is probably higher.
But that, in itself, does not tell the "rest of the story" - the next question is what percentage of people (independent or not) are looking for an alternative to Biden. Again, in my circle it is 100%, and while that is undeniably higher than nation wide - there are undoubtedly some people happy with Biden - it would surprise me if it is less than 70%.I have not found many polls regarding independence, as of yet.
In our present time, there's a noticeable surge in independent learning, a trend unprecedented in our history. From my perspective, a growing number of Americans express dissatisfaction with the trajectory of the nation. This discontent often prompts individuals to seek change, much like we witnessed in 2016.
I believe that self-identified independent Americans are presently taking a step back, closely observing the developments under the Biden administration, and cautiously anticipating what lies ahead. Independence, in my view, hinges on exercising common sense, meticulously evaluating facts, and seeking out candidates who offer pragmatic and feasible agendas.
The direction of this independence is likely to be influenced by the effectiveness of problem-solving in addressing our current challenges. Should there be visible improvements, support may lean towards Biden. Conversely, if situations deteriorate, favor may shift towards Trump. It's probable that a portion of independents will choose to abstain from involvement altogether.
In my view, they will surely be a force this time around.
The GOP rallied around Trump's indictments, fully buying into his victimization theme. Meanwhile, in 2023, Democrats were hoping for a different candidate for 2024.
Now, in 2024, you see many of the primaries where Democrats are rallying around Biden and there's a large chunk of the GOP unable to bring themselves to support Trump.There is a long way to go.
In 2019 Trump was a lock to get re-elected. Things were going great.
Look what happened from March to November 5th in 2020.
We've just begun to see what 2024 will bring:
https://twitter.com/TheOnlyDSC/status/1 … 6120845366
https://twitter.com/MJTruthUltra/status … 0807990387
https://twitter.com/SpeakerJohnson/stat … 2550421942
https://twitter.com/YahooFinance/status … 5095291321
The big question is if the DOJ and the FBI are going to get involved with election interference as they did in 2020.
In a fair election President Donald Trump would have won the last election. If this election is fair he will win in 2024.
The democrats and media are already taking things out of context. They have nothing Americans want so they have to resort to lies and underhanded behavior combined with election interference to win an election. democrats seem to be in panic mode.
Conservatives fume that Trump's 'bloodbath' comment is taken out of context: ‘Deceptive’ headlines
Commentator Sean Parnell wrote, 'NBC pushing the bloodbath hoax now. Unreal. These ‘news’ agencies need a complete overhaul'
Prominent conservatives on social media tore into several media outlets this weekend for appearing to take former President Trump’s comments at a recent Ohio rally out of context.
Conservative commentators, Republican lawmakers, and others slammed outlets like Rolling Stone, NBC News, and CBS News for sharing headlines about Trump claiming there would be a "bloodbath" if he didn’t win re-election that didn’t mention he was referring to the automotive industry.
These critics claimed this was a new, anti-Trump "hoax" being manufactured in real time.
Addressing Communist Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Trump stated, "If you’re listening, President Xi — and you and I are friends — but he understands the way I deal. Those big monster car manufacturing plants that you’re building in Mexico right now… you’re going to not hire Americans and you’re going to sell the cars to us, no. We’re going to put a 100% tariff on every single car that comes across the line, and you’re not going to be able to sell those cars if I get elected."
Immediately after, the former president said, "Now if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That will be the least of it. But they’re not going to sell those cars. They’re building massive factories."
https://www.foxnews.com/media/conservat … -headlinesFirst of all of all, I wouldnt trust Fox News for the time of day.
Second, it is silly to think that the only fair outcome of any election is that Trump wins, totally inane I think....lI can relate, I feel the same way about CNN and MSNBC right along with Fox News.
They are all peddling BS to the people. Fabricating lies by taking things out of context, as Mike just showed, sowing divisiveness... many Americans are aware, especially those on the better side of 40.
Only the indoctrinated young, the University groomed young especially, and those who are genuinely in a state of mental disarray support the Left MSM or the Progressive political wing. Many of them are tied to TikTok for their news and information, CNN and MSNBC and FOX do not matter to them.Mike showed us a blatant partisan bias. Do you also agree that the only legitimate elections have to be won by Republicans? I don't like Republicans generally, what makes you all believe that everyone going to naturally vote for them and they should win all the time? I consider that a profound level of indoctrination in of itself.
The GOP has lost the popular vote in 7 of the last 8 Presidential Elections, were all of those elections corrupted by Democrats, Ken? I mean really...
There are a lot people that don't care for Republicans, Ken, not just your explanation of indoctrinated young, well educated young people...... Who saying that they are "mentally disarrayed"?
I think you're right, it is silly to think the only 'fair' election outcome is a Trump win. And I also don't trust Fox News opinions or interpretations, but, a quote is a quote no matter who reports it.
". . . it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country."
In the context of the remarks—the auto industry, it seems clear to me that he was referring to an economic bloodbath in the auto industry first and then for the whole country.
The media outlets promoting this as claims of a political bloodbath are being disingenuous because (like Fox) they know better. They can read at least as well as the average Joe and it's pretty clear to this 'average Joe' that they are misrepresenting this particular instance.
GAWhile I may be right about this, there is a large segment of the GOP cult that believes otherwise at least according to the polls I've read.
I did not comment on the "bloodbath" issue one way or the other. Even if it just referred to the auto industry, this Trump's use of words is wanting as he has the subtlety and discretion of busted chain saw in his use language. Certainly not the sort of person I want running things.You were expecting an argument weren't you?
GA
In terms of Trump's usage of the word "bloodbath", I'm really just fed up having to interpret incendiary language all the time.
The quote..
“Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s gonna be a bloodbath. That’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country.”
The least of it? What is going to be the least of it, the tariffs? If that's the least of it then what else will there be?
He just can never speak normally about anything. Always inflammatory, cryptic language.
But what about the other statement that he made that hasn't gotten as much attention?
, "If this election isn't won, I'm not sure that you'll ever have another election in this country."
What does this even mean? Why won't we have another election if he doesn't win?
I'm also disgusted by the way he continually calls immigrants animals... I think we should all be incensed by that considering we all descended from immigrants.
His rally speeches, in my opinion, are nothing more than fear mongering garbage.Again, it's simply misdirection.
If you read the entire quote, and were honest, you would realize he was talking about the car industry.
I think he is referring to illegal immigrants who kill people as animals. I couldn't agree more.
Again, taking things out of context and not reading the entire quote.
This is a shame.
More proof democrats are in panic mode and are very, very dishonest.Or just more proof that Trump's supporters support dehumanizing other people to justify the harm that is done to them. We saw it with the Covid virus, Trump referred to it as the 'China Virus' and hate crimes against Chinese Americans spiked. Trump's language leads to acts of domestic terror, and his supporters cheer it on. That's not so much dishonesty, just abhorrent.
Reality check...it WAS the China Virus. It came from a Lab in Wuhan China. That is a fact. How is President Donald Trump responsible for anything when stating the truth?
Democrats have got to learn to read entire quotes, put them in context and embrace honesty. It may be difficult at first, but I'm sure they can do this if they try.Thank you for proving my point. His supporters support the targeting language, even when the virus was called Covid-19. They support the things that lead to hate crimes against minorities in this country.
It's not really surprising since there's already been an admission of being on-site on January 6 - meaning that there's a gullibility to be duped by Trump's most easily identifiable lies and language. So, to think those same people won't be lured into backing language that leads to hate crimes isn't really a reach.
Being honest about who they are now will be difficult at first, but I'm sure they can do it if they try.A whole show today was on how the Loony Left MSM lies, warps, distorts, attacks, divides:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaSqU2ZYlvQ
What is your interpretation of "that's going to be the least of it"
Doesn't that imply that there is more to come?
Your quote left out the context reference: ". . . for the whole — "
The "whole" was the topic of the quote—the auto industry.
GAOr maybe Trump could choose language that does not also have meanings in violence to illustrate his point. Imagine that, asking our leaders to tone down the violent rhetoric based on multiple domestic terror attacks that have happened since they started using such language. Maybe I'm setting the bar too high here.
Yep, he could, but he won't. This example will probably seem tame compared to what we'll hear by summer.
GAYeah, and we'll get to listen to every Trump backer in here defending his language that clearly leads to violence from his supporters. In this case, that this is 'tame' compared to what is to come.
Consider this, a few days ago no one knew that China was building big Auto Factories in Mexico that would put the Big 3 out of business within a few years of operating.
Now many people know, because they took the time to go see what new BS the MSM was spouting off about Trump.
So... NAFTA, the Chinese probably found a trade loophole, if they build factories in Mexico, then can sell their vehicles in America tariff free... bypassing any restrictions on the books right now to keep Chinese vehicles from flooding American markets and killing the American Auto Industry.
Trump got a lot of free publicity and put the spotlight on yet another problem on the horizon for America that he will fix... and Biden won't.Many overlook a plethora of news amidst their fixation on Trump. Some seem solely consumed by his every utterance, fretting over today's remarks and what he might say tomorrow. It's unfortunate that more don't grasp the broader context of his statements. Perhaps then, they'd realize the wealth of information they're neglecting while preoccupied with the Trump-centric narrative.
The term bloodbath is frequently used in financial contexts to signify significant financial downturns, and Trump's context showed he employed it to forecast substantial losses in the auto industry. Anyone familiar with financial jargon would likely recognize this term. He did not use the term to imply violence in that interview. Is it fair to twist words out of context, just to suit a narrative?
Sources
https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN1340KO/
https://marketingrebelclub.com/ba-finan … bath-page/
https://www.paymentscardsandmobile.com/ … omes-next/
Where did Trump's usage of the word bloodbath in his prediction for the auto industry indicate he was promoting or invoking violence? From what I understood predicting a financial bloodbath."From what I understood predicting a financial bloodbath."
He was. We all know he was. But it can be twisted into something it wasn't, and as that sounds bad it will be done. Something to attempt to convince others of something that is not true - the short term for that action is "lie".In our media-saturated world, the repetition and widespread dissemination of information can significantly influence public perception. When a narrative is reported frequently and consistently, a portion of society may come to accept it as truth, subsequently echoing and reinforcing it in their own discourse. This phenomenon underscores the power of media in shaping collective beliefs and attitudes. A pertinent example of this dynamic can be observed in the recent coverage surrounding a political scandal, where repeated allegations led to widespread public condemnation and calls for investigation. Despite lacking concrete evidence, the persistent coverage of these allegations swayed public opinion, demonstrating how the constant repetition of information can shape perceptions and fuel belief in its veracity. -- An example
"In an “exclusive” story posted to its website Friday morning — and discussed on air throughout the day — CNN initially reported that then-candidate Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump, Jr. and other Trump campaign figures received an email on Sept. 4, 2016, offering a website and decryption key for the hacked WikiLeaks documents. That date was incorrect, though: CNN was later forced to correct it to Sept. 14, after a Washington Post report said the email had been sent then."
https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/ … ism-287914
Maybe you missed the word 'also' in my post. And considering that many of his supporters twist his words around prior to committing violence, yeah, it's more than fair to criticize him for using words that equate to violent rhetoric.
The best example of this was on January 6 where he used the word fight numerous times in his speech. It's a term that fits into the violent rhetoric category, while also having other uses. The crowd interpreted it, as many have testified to in their trials, to go down to the Capitol and begin to physically fight to 'stop the steal.' See how that can work now?In having shared the terminology surrounding the word bloodbath regarding a term used to indicate financial downturns.
However, it's important to recognize that the word "fight" holds multiple meanings and can be interpreted in various contexts. For example "fight" may connote physical combat, such as in sports like boxing or on battlefields during times of war. It can denote verbal disputes or arguments. Furthermore, "fight" can symbolize struggles or endeavors, whether it's fighting against injustices, striving for personal goals, or overcoming obstacles. Lastly, the term can also represent internal conflicts or personal struggles. Therefore, just as with the term "Bloodbath," the word "fight" encompasses a spectrum of meanings and contexts that merit consideration in communication and discourse.
Perhaps it could prove helpful to revisit the speech that Trump delivered on January 6th and carefully examine the context in which he employed the word "fight." Upon review, I found no instances where Trump's use of the word "fight" suggested or advocated for physical violence in any form.And yet, multiple people who fought that day testified that that was the way they interpreted it. So, you sitting at home safely behind your computer is quite different than being part of a crowd that has been riled up by multiple speakers.
And how do you not find an instance when he says, you have to fight or you won't have a country.' In a speech right after Rudy has said, 'we should have trial by combat.'Your argument regarding the interpretation of statements by multiple individuals strikes me as somewhat peculiar. The notion of individuality becomes paramount when people form their perspectives on various issues. What one person gathers from a conversation or even a political speech can vary greatly from another's interpretation. This remains highly pertinent in today's discourse. From my perspective, it's evident that context is often distorted. Take, for instance, the term "Bloodbath," traditionally used to signify a downturn in the financial market for as long as I can recall. However, there's been a significant outcry from those on the left regarding Trump's use of the term, suggesting potential repercussions for the auto industry should he fail to win the election.
Indeed, some have testified that they interpreted Trump's remarks as an incitement to violence at the Capitol. However, Trump's words were subject to diverse interpretations by different individuals. This variability in interpretation is inherent in all communication among individuals. It's apparent that you and I derived different meanings from the context of the speech.
"And how do you not find an instance when he says, you have to fight or you won't have a country.' "
OK --- please read the transcript where this quote was taken... Read the paragraph before and after those words. Then get back to me. Page 15 last five paragraphs. Actually, after rereading much of that speech this AM I had to laugh --- much of what Trump predicted has truely come to fruition. In my view. Grasping at a couple of words out of many hundreds just does not provide true context. One must be willing to take in an entire before and after, to ascertain the context of someone's words, and thoughts.I'm not worried about the majority of people who understand that bloodbath was in reference to the economy. I'm worried about the few who think they are justified to create their own bloodbath to prevent the one Trump thinks will happen if he is not elected. And as history has shown us, those people exist.
And I've read the transcript. Just before the fight like hell comment, there was this: 'If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country because it's illegal when the votes are illegal when the way they got there is illegal when the states that vote are given false and fraudulent information.'
You seem to understand that there are diverse interpretations of words, with some of those interpretations being violent ones. Especially when talking to a crowd that a person has sold on election fraud. Saying the same word to the media versus a mass of people are two different scenarios. And it doesn't matter what you or I derived from them, neither of us acted on those words. Others clearly did, in violation of our laws. And yet, you and most other Trump supporters are on here defending the use of such violent rhetoric when it's had violent outcomes.Problem is that anything he has ever said can be interpreted as something other than what was meant, and something other than what people would normally understand.
"March peacefully on the Capitol" was one such - one where some idiots decided he meant to riot and even kill. The TDS crowd even here constantly twists his obvious meaning into what it is not.
So when we say he should talk different because some people will not understand...well, there will always be such people, people that either want him to win and will commit violence to accomplish that and people that don't want him back and will come up with the most outrageous statements as to what he really meant. I go back to the Capitol riot where we were told by the left idiots that he was speaking in code; that he really meant to go hang Pence and others but we just didn't know the code.And yet, the TDS (Trump Demagogue Syndrome) crowd continue to fail to mention he used fight over ten times and march peacefully once, early in that speech.
Fight, bloodbath - do you deny they have violent interpretations? It's not the left that is acting on the use of such violent rhetoric, it's Trump's own supporters. And they are the ones telling you that they interpreted Trump's words to mean to commit violence. It's not the 'left' idiots, it's his own supporters. It's just the left that acknowledges that some of his people are admitting to committing violence based on his violent rhetoric. The TDS (demagogue) crowd remains in denial, and worse, defends that violent rhetoric, and by extension, the violence committed based on it.
Again, why we think MAGA is a domestic terror cult."Again, why we think MAGA is a domestic terror cult."
After seeing some of the bizarre overblown reactions to President Donald Trump; the left just seems like a bunch of immature, overly emotional people with not a lot going on upstairs. They also seem to have no grasp of reality.Don't forget "LANDSLIDE", I don't know how he will manage to make the land slide, the earth move, but it sounds like a threat to me.
Everything sounds like a threat to MAGA folks. I'm not sure how they sleep at night with all the worrying they do.
Good point. I'm scared, really scared, now that I understand he's going to make landslides all over.
"March peacefully on the Capitol" was one such - one where some idiots decided he meant to riot and even kill."
As I mentioned, some people will twist everything he says or does into something evil. You are supporting that statement with your post.It doesn't take much to twist the word fight, when spoken to an angry mob, after convincing them that someone is about to steal something from them. Why can't you admit he used that word around a dozen times? Why is that so hard for you to concede?
Since we're on the topic of semantics,
Hostage or convicted felon?
Are folks really okay with a candidate saluting as a choir of convicted felons sings?
This I believe is the entire correct quote.
"Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it."
What is your take on 'that'll be the least of it". What does that mean, what does that imply? I completely understood that he was talking about the Auto industry. If a bloodbath for the auto industry is imminent if he is not elected and that is " not the least of it" then what? What's the worst of it?
He uses violent language and then leaves a vague reference of "that's not the least of it".The direct message I heard from "That will be the least of it" meant it would also be an economic bloodbath for the nation.
Don't misconstrue my criticism of the media. It is not a defense of Candidate Trump or his words, or his ignorance that he knows how his words will be perceived—both by his supporters and detractors.
As noted to Cred: "The media outlets promoting this as claims of a political bloodbath are being disingenuous because (like Fox) they know better. They can read at least as well as the average Joe and it's pretty clear to this 'average Joe' that they are misrepresenting this particular instance."
GA
You don't need to interpret, just remove the obstacles which have you imagine the worst about this man, time after time.
If you must resort to interpretation, focus on America First, what that means exactly and why it has everything to do with, "why won't there be another election, if he doesn't win"?!
What exactly did the Hunter laptop end up proving? That the president's son was sketchy. Well, we on the left already understood that. It hasn't incriminated President Biden in the least. In fact, the corroboration the right was using turned out to be a Russian disinformation campaign.
So, what 2020 proved was that until information in investigations can be verified, especially information supplied by those with ties to the Russians like Rudy Giuliani, it's best to err on the side of safety in not allowing the Russians to influence our elections. That Trump supporters still want Russian interference, like they got in 2016 when Paul Manafort was colluding with Russian Intelligence, is just treasonous.
And while context matters in speech, so does violent rhetoric. How hard would it have been for him to say, 'The US economy is going to suffer.' The point that the right is missing is the term bloodbath has violent connotations. As we have seen, when Trump uses violent rhetoric, his supporters act on it. Cincinnati. Washington, DC. Miami. Buffalo. El Paso. All attacks tied directly to the violent rhetoric Trump has used. And we have people on here defending that causation. And they wonder why we think the MAGA movement is a domestic terror cult.Hunter Biden's Laptop IS a big deal.
WASHINGTON — A senior FBI official told Twitter that Hunter Biden’s laptop was legitimate on the same day The Post published the first article in a bombshell reporting series on documents linking President Biden to his son’s foreign business deals, according to deposition testimony released Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee.
That confirmation was not shared with voters ahead of the 2020 election as dozens of former intelligence officials and then-presidential candidate Joe Biden falsely suggested that incriminating documents were Russian disinformation.
“Somebody from Twitter essentially asked whether the laptop was real. And one of the FBI folks who was on the call did confirm that, ‘yes, it was,’ before another participant jumped in and said, ‘no further comment,'” Laura Dehmlow, section chief of the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force, recollected in a closed-door deposition Monday, according to a release from the Republican-led committee.
The FBI’s non-public verification of the laptop occurred on Oct. 14, 2020, hours after The Post published a story detailing how an email showed Joe Biden met while vice president with an executive at Ukrainian gas company Burisma Holdings — contradicting his claims that he “never” discussed foreign business dealings with his relatives.
Dehmlow’s deposition was released during a hearing on social media censorship featuring journalist Emma-Jo Morris, who authored the initial laptop stories as a deputy politics editor at The Post. Among them was the revelation that Joe Biden — referred to as the “big guy” — was penciled in for a 10% cut of proceeds from son Hunter and brother James Biden’s partnership with Chinese government-linked CEFC China Energy.
Twitter banned distribution of The Post’s initial article for two days for potentially violating its hacked materials policy — despite no evidence the material was hacked and transparency in The Post’s reporting about how the laptop was acquired from a Delaware repairman after it was legally abandoned by Hunter.
Although The Post also published an FBI form describing the bureau as taking possession of the laptop in December 2019, there remained broad public uncertainty about the authenticity of the laptop until well after the election, in large part due to warnings of possible disinformation from senior retired intelligence agency officials.
The Washington Post and New York Times verified the contents of the laptop in March 2022 — more than 17 months after The Post’s initial reports and more than 16 months after Joe Biden narrowly won the 2020 election.
Twitter’s ban on sharing links to the initial laptop article remained in effect until around 10 p.m. Oct. 15, 2020, and Twitter continued to bar The Post from accessing its accounts for another two weeks for refusing to delete initial links to the story.
Then-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden claimed at the final presidential debate on Oct. 22, 2020 — more than a week after The Post broke the story — that the laptop was a “Russian plant,” citing a letter from 51 former intelligence agency leaders that said the incriminating documents bore “all the classic earmarks of a Russian information operation.”
The letter casting doubt on the laptop was signed by five former directors or acting directors of the CIA and many of their high-ranking former subordinates. Recent testimony indicates that Antony Blinken, who was advising Biden’s campaign, inspired former CIA acting director Michael Morell to draft the document. After he won the election, Biden tapped Blinken to be secretary of state.
“No one denies that the laptop is real, that the origin story is exactly what I told you it was in the first place,” Morris said at the hearing Thursday. “This elaborate censorship conspiracy wasn’t because the information being reported on was false. It was because it was true. And it was a threat to the power centers in this country.”
The fact that the FBI actually knew the laptop was real but allowed the public debate to rage has gradually surfaced in recent months.
The FBI “verified” the authenticity of the laptop in November 2019 before taking custody of the device and a federal computer expert later assessed “it was not manipulated in any way,” IRS supervisory agent Gary Shapley told the House Ways and Means Committee on May 26.
“In October 2019, the FBI became aware that a repair shop had a laptop allegedly belonging to Hunter Biden and that the laptop might contain evidence of a crime. The FBI verified its authenticity in November of 2019 by matching the device number against Hunter Biden’s Apple iCloud ID,” said Shapley, who oversaw the tax fraud investigation of Hunter Biden for more than three years and whose testimony was made public June 22.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did Twitter, whose new CEO, Elon Musk, bought the platform last year with a stated goal of restoring free speech. Musk proceeded to release internal communications about censorship decisions, detailing early doubts about the justification for censoring The Post.
“Wow,” Musk tweeted Thursday in response to Dehmlow’s released deposition. The CEO in March set Twitter’s press email to automatically respond to all requests with a poop emoji.
Former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who currently heads Block Inc., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/20/fbi-told- … cial-says/The 10% claim has been debunked by Congressional testimony. So, it was disinformation. As was everything in the laptop relating to President Biden being involved in any way with his son's business dealings. I take it you didn't take the time to read the transcripts from Hunter's testimony. It's why the impeachment fell apart.
Everything relating to the laptop incriminating Joe Biden was false. And those claiming Biden was involved in any of Hunter's business dealings, time and time again when asked under oath, have denied he was involved. With one source being charged with perjury and admitting he got his information from Russian Intelligence. I'm personally glad that the FBI (under Trump) chose to suppress that fake narrative in the media after many of the Russian social media campaigns did succeed in 2016.
So, the laptop was part of a Russian disinformation plot and Republicans are too dumb to understand this. Buying into the narratives of our enemies to undermine the leaders we elect is another reason why MAGA cannot be trusted to run the country, in my opinion.Sounds good.
No proof of anything you state...but it sounds good.
I'll give you that.
It's surprising that some fail to recognize that Trump is from the Baby Boomer generation, renowned for its vibrant and distinctive slang. From the groovy vibes of the 1960s to the far-out expressions of the 1970s, they grew up with gangster slang from the 30s... Baby Boomers were adept at infusing their language with creativity. Slang terms not only served as markers of identity but also as a form of cultural currency through which Baby Boomers interacted and expressed themselves. While many of these expressions may now seem dated to some Boomers, they remain a testament to the ever-changing nature of language.
As language has evolved, newer generations have introduced their own slang terms. Not all Boomers utilize colorful language to express themselves, but those who were accustomed to it often continue to do so, further enriching their means of expression.
I very much doubt that Trump will change the way he is accustomed to communicating. These words are pretty much set in his vocabulary. He certainly is not a politician, and what you see and hear are what you get. Should we not all be pretty much accustomed to the way Trump's vocabulary by now?
It's fascinating how the media latches onto a single word and amplifies its significance. In this instance, simply listening to the interview and grasping the context reveals that he was likely portraying a downturn in the auto industry as a significant setback, which many Boomers might perceive as a "bloodbath". Trump has a knack for tailoring his language to resonate with specific audiences, and he excels at it in my opinion. He also has a way of using the media to get his message out to just the right ears, so to speak.
Now, the term "bloodbath" is likely entrenched in the minds of auto workers and their unions, providing them with substantial food for thought.The only "bloodbath" certain to occur would be to our economy as a result of Trump's proposed tariffs.
Have we not learned?
"Trump’s tariffs and the trade war his administration launched against China turned out to be far more damaging than many believed. That is the conclusion of research finding companies, consumers and the U.S. economy paid a heavy price for the Trump administrations trade policies."
We'll have a lot more to complain about than the price of bread.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartande … n-thought/"The only "bloodbath" certain to occur would be to our economy as a result of Trump's proposed tariffs."
Willow, I must say, you hit on the context in which Trump used the term bloodbath. Kudos
This term is frequently used in financial contexts to signify significant downturns, and Trump likely employed it to forecast substantial losses, particularly in the auto industry. It's interesting to note that those familiar with financial jargon would likely recognize this term. So sort of odd that some media thought they could start a firestorm with Trump's usage of the word Bloodbath. But, appears anything can be sold, if the context is switched up.
As for delving into discussions about Trump's tariffs, that's beyond my expertise. Your link was informative and certainly offers a good point about what we are beginning to see concerning the trump tariffs.
Here is the speech about the bloodbath comment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Hyuxp1m6CY
The media is so dishonest."Now, if I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole – that’s gonna be the least of it."
So he's talking about a blood bath for the auto industry if he is not elected. But then he continues..
"It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country. That’ll be the least of it."
So he shifts to talking about the country. Shouldn't I assume that he is going on to say it will be a bloodbath for the country if he is not elected?
Isn't that what he meant by 'that will be the least of it? That damage to the Auto industry will be the least of it if he is not elected?At the very least, most people who watch that speech, believe he is referring to economic damage.
I tend to agree with them.
Why argue about the use of "bloodbath" when this happened...
"Ladies and Gentlemen please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6th hostages!"
(stupid song)
Trump: "...you see the spirit from the hostages and that's what they are as hostages. They've been treated terribly and very unfairly and you know that and everybody knows that and we're going to be working on that soon the first day we get into office. We're going to save our country and we're going to work with the people to treat those unbelievable Patriots and they were unbelievable Patriots and are. You see the spirit..."
SMH
Yuck.Peter Navarro ordered to prison on March 19
Navarro, an economist who advised Trump on trade issues, was the second former Trump aide convicted for refusing to cooperate with the Jan. 6 panel.
Navarro, 74, was convicted last year on two counts of contempt of Congress for refusing to provide documents and testimony to congressional investigators probing the root causes of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. The committee subpoenaed Navarro in February 2022, and he quickly indicated he would refuse to comply, citing executive privilege.
The House held Navarro in contempt two months later, and the Justice Department soon followed suit with criminal charges.
Those who served his Administration, without turning on him in the endless effort by Democrats to incriminate and besmirch Trump, all face criminal charges themselves.
The message has been clear, support Trump and your life will be ruined, no-one is exempt from prosecution and persecution.Maybe Navarro shouldn't have gone on national television and confessed to the coup plot.
Today's news not like your mom's news... the great thing about our new form of information dissemination is that it is the primary transference of information to people under the age of 40. MSM news is the way of generation's past.
A very revealing assemblage of video clips that tells the Biden tale
https://twitter.com/i/status/1756215743018881225
What was the real verdict of the rape case against Trump?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GI_cMkLWEAA … me=900x900
What is happening to our farmers under Biden?
https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1 … 1397976183
Carbon Taxation coming to America if Biden is re-elected
https://twitter.com/i/status/1731251648779923821
Want an alternate take on J6?
https://t.co/0wRwfFr9Tv'What was the real verdict of the rape case against Trump?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GI_cMkLWEAA … me=900x900'
Clearly posted by someone who does not understand New York law and the difference between rape and sexual abuse. One is with genitalia and the other with something else. In other states, both equate to rape.
'What is happening to our farmers under Biden?
https://twitter.com/profstonge/status/1 … 1397976183'
Under Biden? The data looks from 2017 through 2022. Talk about a dishonest statement to try and pin blame on Biden for these losses when more than half of the years covered were under Trump.
I picked two links and realized that we see this all the time from you, where you take an article and completely misread it to come to false conclusions.
Why do democrats care so much about a civil case accusing President Donald Trump of sexual misconduct?
They boldly supported Bill Clinton and his many, many sexual misadventures with women. There was no denial of it. I can remember hearing "it doesn't affect his job performance," "all men do these things and the only problem is bill clinton got caught," Yes, the Monica Lewinsky scandal and democrats saying "it's none of our business what he does when he is alone."
These are just a few of the responses.
So, why is it a big deal now to democrats?
More proof that democrats are bathed in hypocrisy and double standards.'Why don't Republicans care so much about a civil case where it was proven to a jury that President Donald Trump committed sexual abuse (New York's term for rape when it cannot be determined if genitalia or something else was used to penetrate a woman's genitalia)?'
They boldly support someone who has raped a woman. I can remember hearing 'we are the party of law and order.'
And the false equivalency of comparing a case of consensual sex to rape is a new low, even for Republicans.There were several rape charges against Good'ol Bill.
And how many juries found that he did it? Again, equating charges to a jury finding is another one of them there false equivalencies from the right.
So all the women who came forward and claimed Bill Clinton sexually abused them should be ignored? Unfortunately, none of them dragged them dragged him into court.
"Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States (1993–2001), has been publicly accused of sexual assault and/or sexual misconduct by several women: Juanita Broaddrick accused Clinton of raping her in 1978; Leslie Millwee[1] accused Clinton of sexually assaulting her in 1980; Paula Jones accused Clinton of exposing himself to her in 1991 as well as sexually harassing her; and Kathleen Willey accused Clinton of groping her without her consent in 1993"
" Clinton denied having had a sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, a denial that, after his affair with Lewinsky was subsequently exposed, eventually led to his impeachment for perjury and obstruction of justice.[" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clin … 20exposingDid I say that all the women who make accusations should be ignored? I just don't equate accusations with something proven to a jury like every MAGA person in here continues to do. It's a false equivalency. It's why I don't rebut these false equivalencies where Clinton's accusations are listed with the bigger list of Trump's. I am talking about proven, not accused.
And "creepy Joe"... One of that we know of, thus far.
You are right it is a false equivalency.
Bill Clinton didn't have any woman accuse him of sexual assault 26 years after the fact, he had women accuse him when he was in the White House.
Yes, and a jury never heard charges against bill clinton by Paula Jones because he settled out of court.
There is NO equivalency. bill clinton was accused of sexual misconduct and even rape by several women. Juanita Broaddrick, Leslie Millwee, Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, Eileen Wellstone, Sandra Allen James, Karen Hinton...just to name a few.
Yet, the democrats defended him against all such accusations.
No laws were changed to extend the statute of limitations to go against bill clinton.
Rape and sexual assault on women is okay as long as it is a democrat doing it.
Hypocrisy and double standards.
Can't take the democrats serious.Thank you Mike! After my initial head explosion, I was gathering my thoughts to respond (for what it's worth)
Not only did Clinton's victims not wait to tell...they've never stopped telling, in great detail!Like you say, you listed accusations. If we listed all the accusations against Trump, including the one by a 13-year old in a court filing, that would be an equivalency. The hypocrisy is asking Democrats to have a different standard pertaining to the accused than the dismissal that Republicans have for all the accusations of the 20+ women that have told their stories about Trump.
The difference here is what has been proven in a court. Trump is a proven rapist, in a court, to a jury. And no Democrat thinks it's acceptable to put a proven rapist into office while the majority of the Republican Party does.V, come on man, the Clintons have been propped up and protected for decades!!Trump became the boogeyman only after daring to run for office, in order to put America first! You can spin from here on til the end of time and that fact, remains!
AB, c'mon woman. Trump became the boogeyman when his campaign chose to collude with an enemy, as proven with actual dates, times and what Manafort was exchanging with Russian Intelligence. He became the boogeyman when he committed business fraud to hide damning information that he cheated on his wife with a pornstar, while his wife was pregnant nonetheless, during the 2016 election. He also tried to blackmail a foreign nation and then steal a presidential election with lies and a pressure campaign.
Conspiring with our enemies and breaking laws, these were choices made by Trump and his campaign. He didn't become 'a boogeyman,' he made choices that were either illegal or against our nation's interests.
All of that is besides the fact that he stands alone in being found liable for sexual abuse of a woman, New York's polite way for saying he digitally raped someone. Found liable by a jury of his peers that included multiple Trump voters.
It's not me that needs a c'mon moment. This is the reality of who the right is supporting in this upcoming election, despite having better options that would have matched up much better against Biden.
Yes, such hypocrisy, it is remarkable, hard to converse with the kind of logic being presented in the case of Bill Clinton. Says something about selective thinking, and poor logic. I note the same logic is being used regarding women's claims against Biden.
I won't get in the mud, just need to put out these women's complaints. Their words speak volumes, and it would be very hard to not listen.
I agree, and Biden has had a complaint against Biden in DC "Reade, who worked in Biden's office back when he was a senator from Delaware, went a step further this week and filed a public incident report with Washington, D.C., police about a 1993 sexual assault. The report, which VICE News has viewed, doesn't name Biden, but Reade told the New York Times that it's about him."
https://www.vice.com/en/article/4ag95p/ … ed-to-know
"He just had me up against the wall, and the wall was cold. And I remember, he— it happened all at once. The gym bag, I don’t know where it went, I handed it to him, it was gone, and then his hands were on me, and underneath my clothes,” Reade said. “He went down my skirt, but then up inside it, and he penetrated me with his fingers.” Tara Reide
https://time.com/5831100/joe-biden-tara … llegation/
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52462113
Other women came forward with complaints of Biden making inappropriate gestures that made them uncomfortable.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/04 … tions.html
Lucy Flores
On March 29, in the aforementioned essay published on the Cut, former Nevada lieutenant governor nominee Lucy Flores alleged that Biden smelled her hair and gave her “a big slow kiss” on the back of her head at an event for her 2014 campaign. In that moment, she wrote, she felt “embarrassed” and “shocked.”
“I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me,” she continued. In response to the essay, Biden claimed that he had no memory of having “acted inappropriately,” but added that if he was in the wrong, he would “listen respectfully.”
Amy Lappos
When Amy Lappos was a congressional aide for U.S. representative Jim Himes in 2009, she claims that Biden touched and rubbed his nose against hers during a political fundraiser. “It wasn’t sexual, but he did grab me by the head,” she told Hartford Courant on April 1. “He put his hand around my neck and pulled me in to rub noses with me. When he was pulling me in, I thought he was going to kiss me on the mouth.”
After the incident, Lappos didn’t file a formal complaint. “He was the vice president,” she told the Courant. “I was a nobody.”
D.J. Hill
D.J. Hill was one of two women to come forward with allegations in the New York Times, which referred to Biden’s conduct as “tactile politics” in a report published on April 2. At a 2012 at a fundraising event in Minneapolis, Hill alleges that Biden rested his hand on her shoulder, and then started to move it down her back, which left her feeling “very uncomfortable.”
“Only he knows his intent,” she told the Times, adding, “If something makes you feel uncomfortable, you have to feel able to say it.”
Caitlyn Caruso
In the same Times report, a woman named Caitlyn Caruso claimed that after sharing the story of her sexual assault at a University of Nevada event in 2016, Biden hugged her “just a little bit too long” and laid his hand on her thigh. “It doesn’t even really cross your mind that such a person would dare perpetuate harm like that,” she told the Times. “These are supposed to be people you can trust.”
Ally Coll
On April 3, Ally Coll told the Washington Post that at a 2008 reception, Biden squeezed her shoulders, complimented her smile, and held her “for a beat too long.” A young Democratic staffer at the time, Coll said her initial reaction was to shrug it off. But she told the Post she now feels the alleged incident was inappropriate, adding, “There’s been a lack of understanding about the way that power can turn something that might seem innocuous into something that can make somebody feel uncomfortable.”
Sofie Karasek
In 2016, Sofie Karasek was photographed holding hands and touching foreheads with Biden at the Oscars, where she stood alongside 50 other sexual-assault survivors during Lady Gaga’s performance. It was a moment that soon went viral, and was described then by the Post as “powerful.” But in the Post’s report published this week, Karasek says she believes that Biden violated her personal space. She also told the Post that she wasn’t impressed with Biden’s two-minute-long video response to the growing unwanted-touching allegations against him — in which he never says he’s sorry — as he “didn’t take ownership in the way that he needs to.”
“He emphasized that he wants to connect with people and, of course, that’s important,” she told the publication. “But again, all of our interactions and friendships are a two-way street … Too often it doesn’t matter how the woman feels about it or they just assume that they’re fine with it.”
Vail Kohnert-Yount
In the same Post report, Vail Kohnert-Yount alleged that when she was a White House intern in the spring of 2013, Biden “put his hand on the back of [her] head and pressed his forehead to [her] forehead” when he introduced himself, and that he called her a “pretty girl.” She was “so shocked,” she said, “that it was hard to focus on what he was saying.” Though she told the Post that she doesn’t believe Biden’s conduct constituted sexual misconduct, she described it as “the kind of inappropriate behavior that makes many women feel uncomfortable and unequal in the workplace.”
I think it wise to listen to all women, not disregard those that don't suit a narrative. I think these accusations need to be kept in the light of day. These women have the right to be heard.
THOUGHTS
Thinking about how to vote and what will happen
Consider what we have seen these three years from Biden.
What is most likely to continue?
1- The continued inflow of immigrants. The number of immigrants has continued to escalate during his Administration, this will likely continue... this is what the Global Compact on Migration is all about.
2- Equity, DEI, Critical Race Theory, Social Justice will continue to dominate policy and regulation efforts throughout the Federal government and will impact education, government contracts, court appointments, agency hirings.
3- International Conflicts - Russia, China, Iran, etc. will continue to be agitated, American wealth, weapons and lives will continue to be fed into the war machine.
In short the continued effort to deconstruct America, to bring in a New World Order, a Great Reset, to attain Agenda 2030 goals will move ahead.
Consider what we saw from the first 3 years of Trump.
A return of Trump will mean more battles with the establishment on the whole, and the opposing party especially, which will do everything and anything to deter, slow, counter Trump's efforts.
1- The flow of immigration will be slowed immensely, Trump will take America out of the Global Compact on Migration, the Paris Accord, and will stop funding NGOs whose purpose it is to aid immigrants to reach our country.
2- Equity, DEI, CRT, SJ will be removed from Federal Rules and Regulations, Schools will not be forced to teach these extreme ideologies or face losing federal funds, an effort to get back to Equality and Merit will be made.
3 - International Conflicts will be cooled, relations with Russia, China, Iran will not have lighter fluid being poured on the flames. Iran will be cut off from receiving hundreds of billions, Ukraine will be forced to negotiate, not escalate."The flow of immigration will be slowed immensely, Trump will take America out of the Global Compact on Migration"
Membership in the Compact does not have any effect on any members immigration policies.
How will the flow be immensely reduced by leaving the compact yet our immigration policies remain the same?
One of the aims of the compact, which makes sense to me, is to "mitigate the adverse drivers and structural factors that hinder people from building and maintaining sustainable livelihoods in their countries of origin".
Is it positive for our economy to "immensely" slow immigration?
How does our country grow without immigration? We are experiencing population decline as well as an aging population. Without foreign-born labor, the U.S. labor pool would shrink because of lower birth rates and an aging workforce, making it harder to finance programs such as Social Security. Immigration is key to a growing economy.
"The surge in immigration will help bolster the U.S. economy by about $7 trillion over the next decade by swelling the labor force and increasing demand, the Congressional Budget Office said on Wednesday."
International conflicts will be cooled?
How? Appeasement? Gift Ukraine to Russia while simultaneously giving China the green light to take Taiwan? Reigniting a trade war with China?
At every turn, Trump and his team slow-walked, pushed back against, and undercut efforts to counter Russian aggression. They sought to block and then water down sanctions on Russia and to remove sanctions related to Russia’s assault on Ukraine. I'm sure Russia is doing everything they can to get Trump re-elected.
Trump has failed on the most important global threats.
Because of Trump, Iran has more highly enriched uranium available for a nuclear weapon, more operating nuclear facilities and more sophisticated technology.
His relations with North Korea? A series of photo ops and love letters.
Trump's idea of withdrawing from the world and letting China fill the void at our expense is not cool with me. I'm not ready to surrender global leadership to China or anyone else.
https://time.com/6692645/immigration-ec … bo-report/
https://www.bushcenter.org/catalyst/nor … igh-costs/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles … e-cbo-says
https://www.americanprogress.org/articl … -year-one/
Thinking about how to vote and what will happen
1. The continued inflow of immigrants actually escalated during Trump's first three years, slowed during Covid, and then exploded after Central American economies were devastated by a pandemic that Trump lacked the requisite knowledge of science to prevent. Every major player from his administration states that trump is a moron and most are coming out and stating he should not be given the power of the presidency ever again. Biden has shown a willingness to work with Congress to amend our asylum laws, which is one of the major problems. Trump's plans are to use executive orders - like the ones that violated the basic human rights of children - in a further display of his authoritarian tendencies.
2. Considerations of minorities will be factored into government policy. As opposed to Trump's complete failure to show any empathy on the issue that directly led to the protests and riots we saw in 2020 as minorities felt their voices were not being heard and their concerns were not being addressed. Trump's complete failure to address the issue led to billions in damages.
3. America will stand with its allies instead of alienating them all and fawning over murderous dictators. NATO will remain strong and not be dismantled as many former cabinet members believe is Trump's goal. American isolationism, when America is part of world markets, is a failed premise as we saw when we pulled key scientists out of China in 2018 at the same time the State Department was getting warnings of dangerous testing that eventually led to a global pandemic. Getting into a trade war with China, one that decimated the market for our agriculture industry and caused billions in bailouts, was not exactly cool relations as Ken has claimed. And any billions going to Iran had to be spent on humanitarian aid - funny how that part is always left out of the claim.
Thinking of how to vote, how about listening to the experts from Trump's first term. When his own Vice President won't endorse him, that should be a red flag for everyone:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/z05Bk3hNVWEAh! Something new - now Trump is responsible for the months long riots all over the country! I guess he is also responsible for governors that did nothing to stop them?
It's comical how everything under the sun that is bad is the fault of Trump, even as he had no part whatsoever in it.Had no part? A response (in Trump's case a deafening one) to a concern from a community within this country, a concern that was leading to innocent people being killed in the streets, was certainly a part we expect our leaders to play - in this case, actually doing something to drop the temperature. His lack of empathy led to national protests, which ultimately were accompanied by riots.
Dan, The situation has ceased to be amusing. The absurdity has reached such distasteful levels that it's challenging to maintain even a shred of respect for those who subscribe to such distorted thoughts. Maintaining politeness is the only course of action left.
After so many years of "Trump bad man" - I have become immune to all the crazy.Just as we on the left see all the MAGA supporters believing Trump never did anything wrong or illegal as delusional rubes. Especially when those same people were so easily convinced of a lie as ridiculous as massive fraud (during a pandemic) in multiple state elections.
Hey, I notice you're resorting to name-calling now. Funny thing is, you and maybe a few other people here seem to be the only ones who get so angry that you resort to such behavior.
And a post that uses insults such as 'absurdity, distasteful, and distorted thoughts' is not in that angry category? It was very clear where that attack was directed so let's not go clutching pearls when there's a retort about the alternate reality that the MAGA crowd is living within.
In my view, when someone resorts to derogatory name-calling in a comment, it typically reflects a lack of constructive argumentation or an inability to express oneself without resorting to demeaning language. It suggests a failure to engage with the substance of the discussion and instead relies on personal attacks to discredit the opposing viewpoint.
Absurdity - the quality or state of being ridiculous or wildly unreasonable.
Distasteful - causing dislike or disgust; offensive; unpleasant.
Distorted - pulled or twisted out of shape; contorted.
I make a conscious effort to avoid using derogatory slang labels. Instead, I opt for precise English words to convey my thoughts on various issues. The terms "absurdity," "distasteful," and "distorted" accurately capture my sentiments. These words reflect my negative perceptions of certain political matters, particularly those emanating from the left, which I find unreasonable, offensive, and sometimes even ridiculous. Additionally, I've observed instances where words have been twisted or taken out of context, prompting me to highlight such distortions. It's important to note that I refrain from resorting to name-calling, as I believe it reveals more about the speaker than the subject being discussed.
Rube - a country bumpkin. --
"Rube" implies that the person or group is considered unsophisticated, or easily deceived. It suggests that the individual lacks awareness, may be gullible, or easily swayed by simplistic explanations or manipulation.
Referring to a group as "rubes" extends far beyond merely expressing disagreement or dissatisfaction with their views.Try and justify the veiled insults any way you like. It was quite apparent the intent. We all take veiled shots at each other in here all the time, just own it.
And considering that 70% of Republicans believe Trump's lies on election fraud, pretty sure rube is the right word choice in this instance. I can make the case that the majority of MAGA is easily deceived, as the definition of the word implies.I don't mince words when it comes to expressing my opinions or addressing issues. However, I do strive to convey my thoughts using language that is respectful and civil. I acknowledge the words you highlighted and even provided definitions to clarify their meaning within my context. These words were carefully chosen to express my perspective in a more refined manner. The words described my personal feelings and were directed at an issue, not any one person or group.
While it's true that one could opt for derogatory language to convey a viewpoint, I believe that using more nuanced words allows for a more constructive dialogue. In my opinion, terms like "distasteful," "absurd," and "distorted" effectively convey the depth of my sentiments without resorting to cruder insults like "rube."
Ultimately, I stand by the notion that the words in question accurately reflect my critical perspective while maintaining a level of decorum conducive to meaningful discussion.
Here is the conversation you replied to. Please note full context -- Please note I did not direct my words to anyone or any group or did Dan... He shared a view, as did I
WILDERNESS WROTE:
Ah! Something new - now Trump is responsible for the months long riots all over the country! I guess he is also responsible for governors that did nothing to stop them?
It's comical how everything under the sun that is bad is the fault of Trump, even as he had no part whatsoever in it.
Dan, The situation has ceased to be amusing. The absurdity has reached such distasteful levels that it's challenging to maintain even a shred of respect for those who subscribe to such distorted thoughts. Maintaining politeness is the only course of action left.
After so many years of "Trump bad man" - I have become immune to all the crazy.
That my remarks were not aimed at any specific individual or group. Rather, my sentiments were directed towards those who align themselves with a particular belief or ideology. I did not target supporters of MAGA, liberals, or any other defined group. My comments were intended to address a broader concept, devoid of any specific partisan or ideological affiliation.
I attempt, to be fair, and yes, at times I single out people as well as groups. However, I try to share what led me to point out a person or group."And considering that 70% of Republicans believe Trump's lies on election fraud, pretty sure rube is the right word choice in this instance. I can make the case that the majority of MAGA is easily deceived, as the definition of the word implies."
Again this is grouping, and not giving way to the individual views, why did these 70% Conclude the election was fraudulent? Do we not need to consider them as individuals? I know from my friend their reasoning varies. I think the reasoning among those who feel the election was fraudulent is complex and multifaceted.I am fine grouping in this case, because the one common theme would likely be a constant barrage of misinformation that came from Trump. Like I said, brainwashing. And they fell for it. Like I said, rubes.
One can only speculate on the multitude of reasons behind the widespread belief among Americans that the 2020 election might have been fraudulent. In my thoughts, it largely stems from a deep-seated mistrust – mistrust in the government, mistrust in the Democratic party, and mistrust in the media.
Over the past six years, we've witnessed unprecedented challenges and controversies. From the allegations surrounding the 2016 election to subsequent investigations, trust in Washington representatives has eroded significantly. The scrutiny extended to the current president and his family, along with numerous other investigations, has only exacerbated this mistrust.
Consequently, citizens have become increasingly cautious, with many losing faith in the integrity of the election process. A sense of disillusionment has set in, leading many to question the legitimacy of the 2020 election results. So, one variable might well be mistrust. It is most likely this mistrust was formed due to being bombarded with mistruths coming out of Washington from both sides.One has to wonder where they could get such thoughts:
The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign
https://time.com/magazine/us/5936018/fe … -no-5-u-s/
https://headlineusa.com/time-admits-cab … -election/
Reports like this:
https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/17 … 1564320149
https://twitter.com/Real_RobN/status/17 … 2450703369
https://twitter.com/Rasmussen_Poll/stat … 3772633455
Then there is this:
Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin these four states exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to justify ignoring federal and state election laws and unlawfully enacting last-minute changes, thus skewing the results of the 2020 General Election.
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/ne … ction-laws
\shrug/ who knows how?
Excerpt from an interesting article, could the Trump juggernaut be ran off the rails?
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said Donald Trump’s victory in Tuesday nights’s Republican primaries across multiple states comes with some serious red flags.
While the former president won handily in Florida, Ohio, Arizona, Kansas and Illinois, the number of people who turned out to vote against him was unusually high ― especially given that all of his rivals have quit the race.
Trump won about 81% of the vote in Florida, 79% in Ohio, 80% in Illinois, 77% in Arizona and 75% in Kansas, based on results early Wednesday.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who dropped out two weeks ago, won 14-20% of the vote over those states.
Kinzinger wrote on X:
The fact that Haley is still getting almost 20 percent in these states AFTER dropping out is a badddddd sign for Chief Whiney.
— Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini)
Tonight in Florida's closed Republican primary, 200,000 Republicans have voted against Trump so far.
Biden, by contrast, consistently receives over 90% of the vote, no matter which ballot he's on.
The American people are tired of Trump's grifting, indecency, and criminality. pic.twitter.com/m0yXoROa6f
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) March 20, 2024
These results from Florida and Ohio are a klaxon in the night for the GOP. Closed primaries with large numbers of voters saying not just “no” but “never”. These aren’t Dems in Republican clothing. They are faithful members of a once-proud political party. https://t.co/6hYa1Rf2Yl
— Brent Orrell (@OrrellAEI) March 20, 2024
Nikki Haley getting over 150K votes in Florida after dropping out weeks ago can’t be a good sign for Trump pic.twitter.com/fJ2j64mg3h
— Wu Tang is for the Children (@WUTangKids) March 20, 2024
Trump is absolutely in trouble in Florida. Just in Orange County, there were at least 30 precincts in which he got less than 70% of the vote in a closed-primary in a non-election. Look at precinct 522 in Winter Park…. 49%... https://t.co/pjM1EUUG0spic.twitter.com/kZ7518FuPe
— Samuel Vilchez Santiago (@samuelvilchezs) March 20, 2024
Donald Trump only getting 80% of the 2024 Florida Republican Presidential primary vote may seem like a lot, except that he’s not running against anyone and in 2020 he got 94% of the @GOP Presidential primary vote.
— Fernand R. Amandi (@AmandiOnAir) March 20, 2024
The results of the Florida GOP primary should terrify Trump and the GOP.
Florida is a closed primary state. Nikki Haley is getting 15% of the vote.
That's a MASSIVE number of registered R's casting a protest vote against Trump. They aren't going to vote for him in November. pic.twitter.com/1y4XDdopHv
— Peter Henlein (@SwissWatchGuy) March 19, 2024
GOP primary votes against Trump tonight:
Kansas - 25%
Arizona - 25%
Ohio - 21%
Illinois - 19%
Florida - 19%
This is not a united Republican Party.
--------
So, perhaps Trump is not as invincible as MAGA would have you believe?One thing jumped out at me --- Winter park Orange County voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000. The BestPlaces liberal/conservative index. Winter Park, FL - "The political climate in Winter Park, FL is somewhat liberal.
"Trump is absolutely in trouble in Florida. Just in Orange County, there were at least 30 precincts in which he got less than 70% of the vote in a closed-primary in a non-election. Look at precinct 522 in Winter Park…. 49%."
Winter Park is in Orange County, FL is moderately liberal. In Orange County, FL 60.9% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 37.8% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 1.3% voted Independent."
Trump drew 49% --- That is some type of miracle.Understood, but I am focused on this.
"Donald Trump only getting 80% of the 2024 Florida Republican Presidential primary vote may seem like a lot, except that he’s not running against anyone and in 2020 he got 94% of the @GOP Presidential primary vote."
It was a tight race the last time for Trump, what explains the 13 percent difference between now and 2020? That deficit is bound take a toll in the general election. Why the difference, rising doubt, lack of enthusiasm, etc?It is seems to be a trend nationwide. There remains a certain amount of resistance toward his candidacy and that resistance may cost him the election next fall....and the primaries in Florida are closed. Meaning, these were all registered Republicans that voted and not a mix of Independents or Democrats.
Which is all the more damning for Trump prospects.
I'm uncertain if we can establish a metric to assess Trump's performance compared to Biden's in Florida. Biden faced no competition in Florida since Democrats in the state chose to cancel their primary, allocating all 224 delegates to him. This decision, common for an incumbent president, likely influenced the outcome significantly. It raises questions about the Democrats' intentions—did they avoid the risk of media scrutiny over low voter turnout? Why not prioritize letting voters voice their preferences in every primary?
The Deep State is real and Awesome - NYT
https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/1 … state.html
The Deep State is Real, Here is why it Matters
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWxh2oS7AysDo Jews who vote for Democrats hate their religion and Israel?
Living in the Denver area in communities where many Jews reside, I asked them that very question.
They avoid Republicans because of a unique fear of exclusion and where it had led them in the past. Ostracizing and intimidating any specific group are of far greater concern to them than the state of Israel, itself.
But leave it to Trump and conservatives to be incapable of discerning the fine points of issue such as this. The Jewish community responds this way now as they did 50 years ago.Great question, In my view, No, the political choice of Jews who vote for Democrats does not necessarily indicate hatred towards their religion or Israel. Political preferences are influenced by a multitude of factors such as personal beliefs, values, and assessments of various policies.
I feel some Jews who vote for Democrats do so because they align more closely with the party's stance on social issues, domestic policy, or other considerations, rather than out of animosity towards their religion or Israel.
Is it not essential to recognize that individuals within any religious or ethnic group have diverse views and priorities, and voting patterns should not be simplistically equated with religious loyalty or animosity?
( I think my above comment also applies to Black Americans and their loyalty to the Democratic party in many respects.)As Anti-Israel as the democrat party has revealed themselves to be as well as having so many antisemites in the democrat party, it does make you wonder how they feel about their religion and Israel.
Seems kinda addled in the cabasa to think that knowing the fact that 7 out of 10 adult Jews support the Democratic party, that somehow, they are allying themselves with antisemites. Who would think that they are not smart enough to know better?
Again, there is that issue of conservatives and fine discernment......
Democrats have an antisemitism problem on the far left
Just as Donald Trump exposed a dark and ugly underbelly of the far right, the Hamas attacks have exposed a dark and ugly underbelly on the far left, S.E. Cupp writes
The conflict between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist group that barbarically murdered 1,400 innocent civilians in a surprise and coordinated attack on Israel, has unleashed a shocking and appalling level of antisemitism from the left.
From a disturbing indifference to Jewish suffering, to an inability to make obvious declarative statements about Hamas’ atrocities, to a repeated moral equivalency between Israel and Hamas — the latter of which explicitly wants to wipe Jews off the planet — to outright hostility toward Jews, the ugly invective is coming from some unexpected places.
Inside the Democratic Party, elected state officials and members of Congress have refused to condemn Hamas, and many have called for an immediate Israeli ceasefire, essentially demanding the IDF leave Hamas alone.
U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib and others are offering conspiracy theories about the attacks akin to 9/11 trutherism. Tlaib, for example, does not believe U.S., Israeli and news media reports that an Islamic Jihad rocket misfire — not Israel — caused an explosion at a Gaza hospital. Instead, she believes Hamas, the terrorists, and is demanding an independent investigation.
“Both the White House and the Israeli government have long, documented histories of misleading the public about war and war crimes,” she said.
On college campuses, many of which are now infamous for “trigger warnings,” banning offensive speech and creating “safe spaces,” professors and students are trafficking in viciously antisemitic comments in support of Palestinians, with one national student group celebrating the massacre as a “historic win for the Palestinian resistance.”
In left-wing and mainstream media, a slew of commentators, hosts and reporters have pushed Hamas propaganda and anti-Israel sentiment.
According to Gallup, Democratic voters are also now more sympathetic toward Palestinians than Israelis, for the first time since it began asking the question.
This has all led to some soul-searching and exasperation among American Jews who once counted Democrats as supporters. Rabbi Joel Simonds says, “In these last few days, the silence is deafening, and it is hurtful and a betrayal on so many levels. It’s not going to change the way we look at justice. It’s going to change the way we look at our allies.”
Playwright David Mamet wrote of “the sick thrill of antisemitism” inside the Democratic Party, that they “repeat and refuse to retract the libel that Israel bombed a hospital, in spite of absolute proof to the contrary, and will not call out the unutterable atrocities of Hamas. The writing is on the wall. In blood.”
Jewish celebrities including Amy Schumer, Josh Gad and Debra Messing have all addressed antisemitism they’ve encountered.
I know how disorienting, disappointing and distressing this is for my Jewish friends, as many have shared with me how scared and unsafe they suddenly feel in a country they thought would “Never Forget.”
Back in 2017, I was shocked when hundreds of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, racists and bigots marched at a Virginia rally — unmasked and unashamed — wielding tiki torches and screaming racist slogans like, “Our blood, our soil,” “Jews will not replace us” and “White Lives Matter!”
In the wake of the Charlottesville violence, where one neo-Nazi rammed his car into a crowd of anti-racist protesters, injuring dozens and killing one woman, the president told America there were “some very fine people on both sides.”
‘Naked and appalling bigotry’ in GOP
I had to reconcile with a fact that made me physically sick to my stomach: This naked and appalling bigotry and hate is coming from inside my own political party.
Racism, of course, wasn’t new. It’s always been here. But to watch this level of proud intolerance take hold of a wing of the Republican Party, metastasize over the ensuing years, infect Congress and the right-wing media, and receive comfort from the party’s biggest standard-bearer — the president — has been one of the hardest things to watch in my career in politics.
If you’d told me 25 years ago the Republican Party of Lincoln would one day elect white nationalists to Congress, that a president would dine openly with neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers, that a presidential candidate would insist that slavery had its upside, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Similarly, if you’d told me the Democratic Party of Harry Truman would struggle one day to defend massacred Jews against Islamic terrorists whose stated purpose is the destruction of Israel and the annihilation of the Jews, I wouldn’t have believed this either.
I know it’s a painful reality to confront. But just as Donald Trump exposed a dark and ugly underbelly of the far right, Hamas has exposed a dark and ugly underbelly of the far left.
https://chicago.suntimes.com/columnists … ns-se-cuppThis reporter does try to provide a balanced article. Just like most in the media, he go the comments by President Donald Trump on Virginia wrong. Here is what he said.
"Trump, Aug. 14, 2017: As I said on Saturday, we condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry, and violence. It has no place in America.
And as I have said many times before: No matter the color of our skin, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God. We must love each other, show affection for each other, and unite together in condemnation of hatred, bigotry, and violence. We must rediscover the bonds of love and loyalty that bring us together as Americans.
Racism is evil. And those who cause violence in its name are criminals and thugs, including the KKK, neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and other hate groups that are repugnant to everything we hold dear as Americans.
We are a nation founded on the truth that all of us are created equal. We are equal in the eyes of our Creator. We are equal under the law. And we are equal under our Constitution. Those who spread violence in the name of bigotry strike at the very core of America."
https://www.factcheck.org/2020/02/trump … remacists/
Well, Mike, Correction: Democrats on the far left have an interest in Palestinian rights, the extremists are not the core of the party. No more than the KKK or white supremist groups are the core of the Republicans, even though the GOP are more than happy to make room for them in their "big tent". Those chants at Chancellorsville in 2017 did not come from the left, you know.
Democrats on our left flank have expressed an impatience with President Biden's cooperation with Netanyahu's policy stance in prosecuting the war and the collateral damage that Israeli foreign policy seems oblivious to.
Again, a subtle distinction conservatives seem to miss, anti-Israeli foreign policy is not anti-Semitic. Nobody is supporting Hamas and its objectives, but that cannot be an excuse to not address concerns of Palestinians in Gaza, that is what Netenyahu is not doing.
Conservatives have the nerve to speak to me about violence and intolerance. What about The dopey young man in Buffalo who killed blacks at a supermarket over some stupid replacement theory idea. Your class of people are last that should be talking.
You can rest assured in the face of rising GOP bigotry and intolerance, the Jewish community will not change its support for Democrats for the reasons I mentioned earlier. I ask them when was the last time a left oriented group assaulted a synagogue?
The racism is more than an aberration for the GOP, but is having greater influence. So the dark underbelly grows.
All the platitudes sound delightful, Mike, but the proof is in the actions and not the words."Democrats on our left flank have expressed an impatience with President Biden's cooperation with Netanyahu's policy stance in prosecuting the war and the collateral damage that Israeli foreign policy seems oblivious to."
As a former army officer this made my jaw drop. Israel was attacked and had 1,200 of their country brutally murdered, raped in public and hundreds taken hostage. Babies were beheaded. biden confirmed these things.
This is an act of war.
Netanyahu and Israel are well within their rights to execute this war and exterminate all traces of Hamas. The United States should give them unconditional support in this endeavor. biden should shut up and let the IDF conduct this war as they see necessary. They are fighting for their survival.
If the palestinian people meant so much to hamas they would surrender. hamas is an evil organization made up of evil people. They need to be exterminated from the planet.
I'm tired of American citizens forgetting there are innocent fellow Americans currently being held hostage by hamas.
shumer was WAY out of line demanding that Israel hold elections to oust Netanyahu. They are a sovereign nation and should be respected as such. democrats are on the wrong side of history on this one.It is not about Hamas, it is about the Palestian conflict that has been going the last 60 years. The Israeli government has never took their concerns seriously.
As a former Air Force officer, my jaw drops. The war against Hamas is of genocidal intent by eliminating the age old Palestinian question by simply eliminating Palestinians. I SAY that Netanyahu is just another right wing tyrant. If he does not exercise greater restraint in the prosecution of the war can expect more criticism and less support. I don't care what the conservatives say. The interests of Hamas and the Palestinian may well not be the same, but again there is the conservatives and the inability to make fine distinctions. The rightwinger see both entities as part of the same parcel.
As for what is the correct side of history? Only time will tell.
Netanyahu came to Washington directly to address Republicans in 2015 not going through official channels during the Obama administration. Under the circumstances, do you really think that I would care what Republicans and the Right think?Biden is President right?
Senate is controlled by Democrats, right?
How is this the fault of Conservatives and Republicans?
Would you like to know where things are heading for places like NY and CA?
Look no further than Haiti, the lawlessness that has taken hold there is not that far off for those two states.
Gangs attack two upscale neighborhoods in Haiti’s capital, kill at least 12
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/gang … ple-nearbyYou miss the point, conservatives, Mike and other right wingers prefer to give Netanyahu a free and barbaric hand in the region. While I believe restraint and discretion where possible should be employed.
And what does Haiti have to do with this? Is this the only nation in the world having internal national problems right now?"You miss the point, conservatives, Mike and other right wingers prefer to give Netanyahu a free and barbaric hand in the region. While I believe restraint and discretion where possible should be employed."
Foremost, Israel stands as a sovereign nation, empowered to make decisions to safeguard its people from genuine threats posed by adversaries.
Netanyahu did not enter a sovereign nation and set out to kill men, women, and children, rape women, and truly commit genocide. Netanyahu is at war, he is fighting a war where his opponents use civilians as shields, and take the aid that is being sent for their troops. It is unfortunate war always has casualties, due to combat.
However, war should not have ever included genocide of innocent citizens. But this war did... The only Barbarians are Hamas, the very Government that was voted to be representative of the Palestine people.
The toll of war inevitably includes civilian casualties, as seen in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Despite the tragic loss of over 10,500 civilians, including 587 children, and nearly 20,000 injuries due to constant bombardments and attacks, our support for this war remains steadfast.
It's disheartening to witness the lack of outcry from liberals regarding these civilian deaths, as we continue to provide weapons and aid to prolong the conflict. The hypocrisy and excuses from liberals never fail to disappoint.
Additionally, NATO's efforts to prevent Russian encroachment into NATO nations further highlight the expendability of Ukrainian lives to the international community. The justifications offered for NATO's involvement in this war leave me profoundly sickened, for the lack of a more descriptive word.
What you won't see in the news today:
Washington State Gov signed a bill mandating LGBTQ history be taught in public schools.
https://twitter.com/libsoftiktok/status … 2349188145
Venezuelan migrant tells his followers on social media that you can just squat in people's homes in the US to take them over.
https://twitter.com/stillgray/status/17 … 5028234259
Still doubting the goals of the Left... take it from them.
https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1770171578736627997"Venezuelan migrant tells his followers on social media that you can just squat in people's homes in the US to take them over.'
Have any Venezuelan migrants become entrepreneurs? Productive citizens? Contributing members to society? Why not tell their stories? I mean you're telling just one story here. You seem to use x as your only source for most things... Not really the most credibleOK, as if the fact that migrants are spreading this information on social media to others in their homelands isn't bad... there are reports about it as well:
Squatters Can Now Come In And Steal Your Home With No Consequences
https://www.dailywire.com/news/squatter … nsequencesPerhaps you could offer a positive story regarding Venezuelan migrants. Not sure the media shares those stories.
I appreciate X. This platform has evolved into a space where individuals can share information that often goes unreported elsewhere. Personally, I find all three posts relevant and significant to me. Thanks for sharing
Its part serious, part humor.... well maybe sad, but humor was intended... depends on what you think of the person ranting in that last link.
The desire by democrats to engage in election tampering is never ending and sad.
Delaware Passes Bill to Cancel GOP Primary
Donald Trump was the only remaining candidate
Delaware's Republican presidential primary is over before it even began. State lawmakers suspended the rules in the House and Senate this week to quickly pass legislation amending Delaware election law and allowing the scheduled April 2 primary to be called off, the AP reports. Democratic Gov. John Carney quickly added his signature. Passage of the legislation was prompted by former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley's decision to suspend her campaign.
https://www.newser.com/story/347937/del … gn=rss_topThe desire by democrats to engage in election tampering is never ending and sad.
From the same link.
Haley submitted her withdrawal from Delaware's primary ballot last Thursday, leaving Donald Trump as the only candidate. However, lawmakers needed to pass a bill to recognize Haley's withdrawal, as it came past the deadline to do so. Under existing law, there is only one week between the filing deadline and the withdrawal deadline. This year, the deadline to file for the presidential primary was Feb. 2, and the deadline to withdraw was Feb. 9.
Delaware's Democratic presidential primary had already been called off, as President Biden was the only candidate to file. State elections official estimate that canceling the Republican primary will save taxpayers at least $1.5 million.
Easy with the disinformation. The desperation. Now, THAT is sad.
Btw, with the numbers he's been getting, they did him a favor.
This IS election interference.
BOTH parties were deprived of the opportunity to reach out to the voters of Delaware with their message. It shouldn't matter IF the nominees are already chosen. Now there is no way to tell the makeup of the voters who will likely go to the polls. There is no accurate way to gage how Delaware will vote as well as what needs to be done to change things.
Delaware may have saved money, but they deprived their citizens of the opportunity to participate fully in the election process.
Yes, that is interfering with an election.
Could understanding this require more advanced thinking from the left than is possible?Maybe a more advanced thinking would prompt one to search who wanted and made it possible to cancel the primary.
I mean, unless, one only cares to disinform.
Delaware lawmakers eliminated April’s presidential primary elections with legislation approved Tuesday afternoon.
The House and Senate passed legislation (Senate Bill 241) to allow for cancellation of the primary.
"This will allow us to cancel the Primary election and allow the savings of $1.5-million, minimum," State Senator David Lawson, R-Marydel said.
“There’s no need to run the election, the primary, because both those cards are settled. There’s really no need to go on, and it costs Delaware $1.5 million to run a useless election," Lawson said.
https://legis.delaware.gov/BillDetail?L … nId=141074
Introduced on: 3/14/24
Primary Sponsor: Lawson R
Additional Sponsor(s): Sen. Hocker R, PettyjohnR, Sokola, Townsend
Reps. Yearick R, RamoneR
Co-Sponsor(s): Sen. Richardson R, Sturgeon
2020: As President Trump ran unopposed in several state primaries, and caucuses were canceled to grant him bound delegations by fiat, only contested elections will be listed below. States that were cancelled include: Arizona, Virginia.
These cancellations were intended to prevent any significant challenge to President Trump’s nomination, given his status as the incumbent Republican candidate. (https://www.uspresidentialelectionnews. … primaries/)
Funny how things that have been standard practice and Republicans have also done are now 'election interference.' Same thing we saw in 2020 when state officials made changes to elections to protect voters. It was standard practice, as we saw in 2018 when Governor Rick Scott modified his election (without his legislature) due to hurricanes. But suddenly, it was 'election fraud.'
Could understanding this require more advanced thinking from the right than is possible?
Related Discussions
- 15
President Donald Trump Keeps Winning for the United States
by Readmikenow 3 days ago
President Trump secured the border in unprecedented fashion.Illegal border crossings have declined to the lowest level ever recorded — down 94% from last February and down 96% from the all-time high of the Biden Administration. In one sector, illegal border crossings are down 99% over 2023.Fox News...
- 34
Don't Give Trump Credit for the Success of the Biden Economy
by Willowarbor 5 months ago
Trump will inherit "the strongest economy in modern history," "an economy primed for growth," "booming markets and solid growth," an economy that is "pretty damn good," and investments "flowing" to "rural and manufacturing communities."In...
- 68
Tonight, June 27th is the debate Trump vs. Biden. A blockbuster?
by Tim Mitchell 10 months ago
Tonight Trump and Biden go head to head offering observers perspective of this and that. A lot 'may' be learned. The rules have changed, but purpose hasn't. Are you going to watch? Any particular topic of prime importance? Where Biden and Trump stand on key 2024 issues heading into the 1st debate...
- 116
Danger: Biden's Presidency akin to the Weimar Republic redux?
by Credence2 14 months ago
I was disturbed by an article I had recently read. The main theme emphasizing similarities between the current administration and the period during the 1920's after WWI and before the deluge of Hitler's ascendency in Germany. Yes, the article is from Salon but its content is still food for thought....
- 39
Rumor Has It Biden Is Considering Another Big Money Giveaway
by Sharlee 3 years ago
It is rumored that President Joe Biden is considering a broader push to forgive federal student loan debt. Biden discussed the issue this week with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and lawmakers said he is exploring legal options to provide some type of wider relief, according to The New York...
- 19
With a New President Coming In, What Do You Think Will Happen To The U.S. Budget
by John Coviello 8 years ago
With a New President Coming In, What Do You Think Will Happen To The U.S. Budget Deficit & Debt?We have a New President of the United States taking office with big spending plans and big tax cuts. What do you think will happen to the U.S. budget deficit and debt over the next four years?