Does anyone out there still honestly think we have to give this dangerous weasel the benefit of the doubt?
The following article by Janet Allon was posted on the AlterNet website January 15, 2017:
Here are six terrible things Donald Trump did in the past week that will probably pale in comparison to what he does after he is sworn in and all hell breaks loose.
1. Attacked one of the most beloved and respected actresses in the world.
Meryl Streep masterfully used her platform at the Golden Globes to express her profound dismay at the fact that the soon-to-be leader of the free world is the sort of man who would mock a person’s disabilities.
Not a human being on the planet can deny that derisive mimicry was precisely what Trump intended at one of his campaign rallies to illustrate his displeasure with Serge Kovaleski’s reporting. But there are two subhumans who denied it. Stepford propaganda minister Kellyanne Conway accused Streep of “inciting” people’s “worst instincts,” and insisted that even if it really looked like Trump was mocking Kovaleski, that’s not what was in Trump’s so-called heart. Donald Trump also counterpunched on Twitter of course, calling Meryl Streep “overrated,” one of his five favorite adjectives, and saying she had misunderstood his perfectly marvelous piece of performance art. Why not just admit it, apologize and move on, Chris Cuomo asked Conway?
As if.
It is safe to say, the Trump team will spend the next four years denying the various truths that are in plain sight for us all to see.
2. Called himself a victim of Nazi-like tactics, much like 6 million murdered Jews.
Well, that didn’t take long. Distressed by the leak of the dossier full of embarrassing, titillating and compromising information the Russians were alleged to have on Trump, the tweeter-in-chief hauled out the Third Reich metaphor earlier than most odds makers would have bet. On the morning of his much-awaited press conference Wednesday, Trump tweeted, “Intelligence agencies should never have allowed this fake news to ‘leak’ into the public. One last shot at me. Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
At the press conference, he was asked if he thought that was the right choice of words, and yes indeed he did.
“I think it was disgraceful, disgraceful that the intelligence agencies allowed any information that turned out to be so false and fake out,” he repeated. “I think it’s a disgrace, and I say that, and that’s something that Nazi Germany would have done and did do.”
Ummm, no.
Speaking of Nazis, France’s far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen, an advocate of ethnically cleansing France of Muslim immigrants, paid a little visit to Trump Tower later in the week. The entire Trump team claimed not to have met with her, and of course they are telling the complete truth just as they always do.
3. Held a fake news conference, and lied, preened and bullied his way through it.
Trump’s long-awaited first press conference since July started with the small, and weirdly unnecessary lie that press conferences are second nature to him and very familiar events that he really enjoys. It proceeded through a multitude of attacks on the press and bogus assertions that he had now separated himself from his business by giving it to his sons, and proof of that was in all the manila folders stacked up on the table next to him like Trump steaks. Right.
More weird stagecraft included a cheering squad of staffers whenever he felt he’d landed a blow against the “dishonest media.” Trump falsely claimed he still cannot release his tax returns, and bullied a CNN reporter into silence by calling his outlet “fake news,” and nearly dispatched his goon squad to remove him. He also just generally made us yearn for George W. Bush’s expansive vocabulary.
4. Gloated about the imminent destruction of Obamacare and depriving millions of health care.
Asked for specifics on his plans for the promised “replacement” of Obamacare at his dog-and-pony press conference, Trump just repeated the mantra of how he was going to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, very quickly, possibly on the same day he takes office, maybe in the same hour.
How is that an answer?
Then, because simply dodging the question is not enough for him and he is compelled to completely turn truth on its head each time he speaks, he described how Republicans are generously actually doing Democrats a favor by destroying Obama’s signature legislative achievement that has given 20 million Americans health insurance and saved lives. “We could just sit back,” he said, “and it was a thought from a political standpoint, but it wouldn’t be fair to the people—we could sit back and wait and watch and criticize.”
Later that night, the House voted to take the first step to dismantle the Affordable Care Act. No replacement is in sight and when it is it will likely involve health savings plans, which are the same as you paying for all your medical care, chemotherapy, surgery, everything. When a cancer survivor told Paul Ryan that Obamacare had saved his life, Ryan was undaunted.
So was Trump, who later tweet-gloated: “The ‘Unaffordable’ Care Act will soon be history!”
5. Attacked a civil rights icon on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
After meeting with FBI director James Comey at week’s end, a number of Democrats were outraged and enraged at what appeared to be gross and improper favoritism toward Republicans on behalf of the bureau. While Hillary Clinton’s emails were investigated continually, and information about those investigations leading nowhere was publicized strategically to hurt her, Comey refused to say whether his bureau had even looked into the matter of the Russians hacking the DNC’s computers in order to sway the election for Donald Trump.
On Friday, Georgia congressman and civil rights icon John Lewis told Chuck Todd that in light of intelligence reports about Russia’s interference, he doesn’t “see this president-elect as a legitimate president.” Earlier in the week, Lewis had stirringly testified against Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions becoming attorney general given his long history of racism. “We need someone as attorney general who’s going to look out for all of us, and not just some of us,” Lewis told the judiciary committee.
With his legitimacy questioned, Trump took the high road, of course. Ha! Kidding! No, the world kept spinning on its axis and Trump counterattacked a man who had been beaten by police while fighting for the right for black people to vote.
“Congressman John Lewis should spend more time on fixing and helping his district,” the tweeter-in-chief said, “which is in horrible shape and falling apart (not to….mention crime infested) rather than falsely complaining about the election results. All talk, talk, talk – no action or results. Sad!”
That is in fact not what is sad, not what is sad at all.
6. Perfectly demonstrated how he has no idea how this whole ethics things works.
The recent revelation that one of the wealthy granddaughters of the L.L. Bean company, Maine Republican Linda Bean, contributed money to the Trump campaign led to a call to boycott the company. While discussion of the wisdom of buying flannel shirts and duck boots elsewhere circulated on social media, Trump decided it was time for him to use his lofty perch to help one of his supporters.
“Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L. Bean for your great support and courage,” Trump tweeted before greatly overestimating his own popularity. “People will support you even more now. Buy L.L. Bean.”
This piece of blatant advertising for the benefit of a private company led to a swift rebuke from the government ethics office, which had already had a busy week pointing out that Trump has accomplished exactly nothing in clearing up his conflicts of interest and parrying attacks from Republican hacks like Jason Chaffetz for doing its job.
That and looking for a new job on LinkedIn.
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