Friday, May 26, 2017

It Doesn't F**king Matter What Obama Does!

 
The conversation inevitably goes something like this:

TV News Host: But don’t you think that America is at risk when President Trump divulges top-secret classified info to the Russians?

Trump Surrogate: Did it bother you when Obama did....blah...blah...blah...?

This is the point where I throw my shoe at the TV and usually scream “What the fuck does it matter what Obama did or didn’t do, Jeffrey Lord!? (or Paris Dennard, Kayleigh McEnany, Jason Miller, etc). Trump is the fucking president now!”

Let me be very clear, Trumpsters: it...doesn’t...fucking...matter. Obama’s gone. He's not the president anymore. The guy you voted for is. You insufferable, horribly disingenuous Stepford Wife-like defenders of the Vag-Grabber-in-Chief really need to learn how to defend his abhorrent behavior without citing something similar you think Obama did. Even if Obama is guilty of everything you claim (which, of course, he isn’t), it still doesn’t matter. If Trump puts America’s security at risk by taunting Kim Jong Un, but Obama once slaughtered a litter of puppies with his bare hands, it...still...doesn’t...fucking...matter. 

Didn’t they all vote for Trump because they hated Obama? Thought he was a horrible president that did everything wrong? Didn’t they elect Trump because he was different? The exact opposite of this ‘weak, crooked, terrorist-appeasing Kenyan anti-colonialist non-citizen’? A brilliant, successful bizman outsider who was going to bring a fresh new approach to governing amid the existing “swamp” that was paralyzing Washington? So what’s the first thing they do when their guy’s caught slithering around the bottom of the swamp with his tiny hands in the vag-jar? They point to something Obama did. 

When they do that they’re essentially saying, “Yeah, we know our guy is a crooked dumbass, but so was Obama.” What happened to Trump being different? Better? A swamp drainer? Instead, they justify and excuse his myriad gaffes and offenses because the dude they hate was ‘just as bad.’ Am I missing something?

And they do this while Trump’s also reneging on every campaign promise and lying to them 24/7...AND giving away secrets to Russia...AND offending/endangering our allies...AND obstructing justice...AND taking away their healthcare...AND...AND...AND. Ignorance is in fact bliss.

Donald J. Trump is president. Not Obama. The colossal shitstorm that’s blown through the White House since January 20th is all on him. All due to his unprecedented, cringe-worthy words, deeds and unforced errors. Nothing Obama did, said, thought, wished, wrote, mimed, improv’d, or sang matters. Defend Trump if you must, but do so without mentioning Obama’s (or Hillary Clinton’s) name. Try it. I know it’s incredibly difficult. I bet ya can’t...

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Why Donald Trump is a Sociopath

I believe Donald Trump is a sociopath. I have no professional credentials to make that diagnosis, but I know what I see and hear, and I can intelligibly grasp what the experts say. 

Among the characteristics of a sociopath cited by Natural News is that they “invent outrageous lies about their experiences.” They also seek to “dominate others and win at all costs.” And they “never apologize.” Still not convinced? They’re also “incapable of feeling shame, guilt or remorse. And, they’re “delusional and literally believe that what they say becomes truth.” There’s more, but if by now you don’t see a giant image of Trump in front of your brain then you’re likely wearing a red MAGA hat. 

For the first time in American history we have a president who is more mentally unstable, unpredictable and dangerous than the heads of enemy states. And he has his tiny fingers within short reach of the nuclear codes. It’s a terribly frightening reality to accept, but it’s our reality nonetheless. 

As if Trump’s erratic, unprecedented behavior of the past three months isn’t enough to convince you, just take a look at paragraph two of his termination letter to FBI Director James Comey, who the coward-in-chief fired late Tuesday: 

“While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgement of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the bureau.”

So either these Comey ‘assurances’ never occurred and Trump is lying through his teeth, or, we’re expected to believe that on multiple occasions the FBI director divulged highly confidential information about an ongoing investigation to the individual being investigated....all the while bizarrely assuring him he wasn’t in fact under investigation in the investigation that he’s previously publicly announced. I’ll give you a minute to stop your head from spinning. 

The termination letter is tantamount to a confession by Trump that he interfered in an ongoing FBI investigation of Russian hacking of the 2016 election and possible collusion between the Russians, Trump himself and members of his transition team (and administration). His firing of Comey comes at a critical time when the investigation is intensifying and subpoenas are being issued. The optics are horrible.

Trump’s action constitutes a clear abuse of power. It’s a brazen act by an unhinged president. A stunning firing of the investigator by the investigated. It follows the firing months earlier of Attorney General Sally Yates and New York federal prosecutor Preet Bharara. This level of craven, audacious defiance and elimination of perceived opponents threatens the very fabric of our democracy and is a chilling display of autocratic lust. The kind we’d expect in a Third World country. So it’s not surprising that ‘many people are saying’ it’s beginning to feel like we’re experiencing an American version of a coup. We’re talking about a president who wanted tanks at his inaugural, for fuck’s sake!

As part of a frenzied Wednesday morning tweet-storm, Trump made the following self-aggrandizing prediction:

“Comey lost the confidence of almost everyone in Washington, Republican and Democrat alike. When things calm down, they will be thanking me!”

That Trump believes everyone will be “thanking” him further illustrates the severity of his pathology. He’s tone-deaf, with an insatiable hunger for praise, credit and attention. His words and actions are those of someone without a heart and soul. If a space alien inhabited a human life form, it would sound like Trump: devoid of emotion, compassion, humility and empathy. 

So what happens now at the FBI and to the status of the RussiaGate investigation? It’s now an ethical clusterfuck. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, himself recused from the investigation, yet who recommended Comey’s firing, will be involved in choosing his replacement...the same individual who will take over the investigation. If this whole saga smells like shit it’s because it is a heaping, stinking pile. Welcome to Trump’s “great America.” 

Comey’s firing, its execution and highly suspicious timing just may be the house of cards that ultimately brings down the most corrupt, dangerous administration in American history. As CNBC reported Wednesday, Trump’s firing of Comey “endangers his entire presidency.” To be sure, his raging Id has taken him to the edge of the cliff many times before, but this time there’s good reason to believe it just may have driven off at full speed...

Monday, May 08, 2017

Did Melania Trump Really 'Like' My Tweet About Her Marriage?




Last week, my 93-character tweet about Melania Trump and her marriage to President Trump “blew up the internet,” as they say. At 9:15 p.m. on May 2, I re-posted a GIF of that infamous Melania smile-turned-scowl from the inauguration with the comment: “Seems the only wall Donald Trump’s built is the one between him and Melania.”

Shortly thereafter it was “liked” by someone using the handle @MELANIATRUMP. It was the verified personal account belonging to the first lady. And it was only the second time she’s ever “liked” a tweet, the first being her own when she opened her account May 23, 2012 with, “Hello Twitter!”

Was I shocked? Yes. Flattered? Of course. But was it really Melania Trump who liked my tweet?
I’m convinced it was, despite a denial by Melania’s spokesperson Stephanie Grisham, who told PEOPLE Magazine, “The first lady wasn’t aware of this until I brought it to her attention.” When asked who did do it if not Melania herself, she nonchalantly replied, “Who knows … it isn’t her primary account these days,” adding that the password to the account had been changed.

“Who knows?” That’s it!? That’s the official answer over how the personal Twitter account of the first lady of the United States of America basically reinforced the popular belief that she hates her husband!?

Let’s assume for a second that Grisham’s correct, and that it wasn’t Melania. So then it was either a hack, a really pissed off staffer or 11-year-old Barron. Call me crazy, but any one of the alternatives is incredibly newsworthy, and the public is owed the truth.

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If Melania was hacked, who’s responsible? Was it one of President Trump’s dictator pals Putin, Erdogan, Duterte, el-Sisi or Kim Jong Un trying to stir up some serious marital shit between the Trumps? Was it stepdaughter Ivanka, thus fueling another popular belief that the two women hate each other? Was it someone in the “fake” liberal media? If so, shouldn’t there be confirmation that it was in fact a hack, which would constitute a major national security concern, and that the administration is using the full power and resources of the U.S. government to find out who it was?

Or what if it was a disgruntled staffer? Someone would have to be pretty damn angry with Melania or the president to “like” a tweet suggesting their marriage was about as much a failure as Trump’s Mexican wall and Muslim ban. Shouldn’t we know who that hater is and his current status? Is this person still roaming the White House and/or Trump Tower, able to cause even more harm or danger to the Trumps and perhaps the nation, or has she been fired?

And what if it was actually little Barron who, on his way into the kitchen for a late-night string cheese and juice box snack, noticed mom’s laptop open, saw the tweet and decided it was time for a little mischief? If so, the kid just blasted right to the top of my list of favorite Trumps.

But let’s be real: none of these possibilities seem as plausible as Melania liking the tweet herself. 

We’re supposed to accept that someone with incredibly nefarious motivations accessed the First lady’s Twitter account and made a mockery of her marriage, yet we’ve been provided no credible information to support that desperate assertion (remember Anthony Weiner’s “hack?”). Sorry, Ms. Grisham, but “who knows” is not an acceptable answer.

So back to Melania. Did she and The Donald have a fight that night and in a fit of rage she thought, “You want a wall... I’ll give you a fucking wall!” Or does the normally tight-lipped, composed first lady actually have an awesome sense of humor and thought, “Why not? Wink, wink!” Or, was it a really unfortunate slip of the finger that she was unaware of until Grisham shrieked, “OMG, Melania, what the hell did you do!?”

Until we get a more logical, detailed explanation from the Trump team, my money’s on Melania sending her absentee husband, and us, a message...

Sunday, May 07, 2017

An Open Letter to Trump Voters About Trumpcare

Dear Trumpsters,

It was a very big day for you yesterday, what with the House’s passage of the American Health Care Act ― commonly known as Trumpcare ― formerly known as the Affordable Care Act (ACA), commonly known as Obamacare. A smug President Trump, at his post-vote Rose Garden masturbatory gloat-fest, bragged, “Make no mistake about it...this is a repeal and replace of Obamacare.” Yippee! Um...er...right?

I’m not sure you’re doing much celebrating today. Yeah, I know, it was so much fun during the campaign to revel with Trump over a future repeal of the “super-awful” health care program with the black guy’s name on it. In fact, I suspect the black guy’s name had much to do with how much you hated it, which explains why so many of you ― as this video astoundingly illustrates ― thought the ACA was great and Obamacare sucked, not even realizing they were the same program.

But despite that you get most ― if not all ― of your biased, fake news from Trump’s PR firm, Fox News, I suspect you woke up this morning feeling the same sort of shame after a really bad one-night stand. That sickening feeling of looking over at the horribly unattractive person lying next to you, who somehow was so appealing the night before, and thinking, “Jeez, what the hell did I do... and can I undo it?”

Yeah, I suspect today might really be a day of mourning for you. A day filled with fear, actually, as you are starting to realize that you just got fucked way worse than in that awful one-night stand ― that Trump, Speaker Paul Ryan, and House Republicans just royally screwed you out of that super-groovy health care coverage the black dude gave you.

Did you know that the states with the highest percentages of people benefiting from Obamacare are your states? Do you know that the people who benefit most from Obamacare are you Trump voters? Do you know that roughly 50 percent of all Americans suffer from preexisting conditions? Do you realize that under Obamacare you were guaranteed cost-effective coverage if you had such a condition, but that under Trumpcare it’ll be up to the states to decide what to cover or not... and for how much?

Right about now, you may be thinking... “So what, I don’t have a preexisting condition. No cancer, diabetes or arthritis. I’m good, right?” Not so fast. Money Magazine cites as many as 50 examples of everyday maladies, including acne, heartburn, and high cholesterol ― not to mention C-sections and Lyme Disease ― that under Trumpcare could result in denied coverage or coverage with premium increases as much as 500 percent. Do I have your attention yet?

Trump promised “insurance for everybody.” He promised better coverage, lower premiums, lower deductibles. He promised that the poor and middle class would benefit most. He claimed, as he still does, that Obamacare is a “disaster” that’s on a “death spiral.” All lies.

But it’s actually Trumpcare which doctors, hospitals, and insurers (in a rare instance of unity, as the New York Times reports) think is a disaster. Also, as the Times reports, it’s the wealthy who’ll benefit most, and the poor, middle class, and elderly who’ll suffer most.

All you MAGAnificents... be very, very careful what you wish for. That Mr. Trump’s Wild Ride you’ve been on is enriching his ginormous ego and his wallet at the expense of your health care. And perhaps, your life. Remember Sarah Palin’s “death panels?” Well, they’re back, and this time they’re real. The lives of the poor, the elderly, and the sick are now in the grubby little kleptocrat hands of Trump and his Republican band of thieves. And you voted for them all! Time to get angry, people.

There’s still time to protect yourself and save your insurance. The impulsive, petulant, selfish children in the House may have rushed through Trumpcare without hearings, the critical bipartisan CBO score, or any expense estimates (astounding since healthcare comprises 1/7th of the total U.S. GDP), but the adults in the Senate, where the math and the consequences are way different, will likely kill Trumpcare on its arrival and write their own bill which looks vastly different while preserving much of the ‘good stuff’ from Obamacare.

So what do you do now? Call your Senator. Especially the Republicans. And demand they undo that horrible one-night stand...ya know, the one where ya woke up next to Donald Trumpcare.

Tuesday, May 02, 2017

Can the Media Please Do Its F**king Job!


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We just passed the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency. Ya know, that milestone that Trump either believes is the most “phony,” meaningless marker (as he’s been saying for weeks now), or, an incredibly important measure of his accomplishments (as he’s been saying for weeks now). But the more important report card belongs to the media, which so far deserves a big fat “F”...as in failure to hold Trump accountable for his lack of accomplishments, offensive behavior, bizarre comments, incessant flip-flops and pathological lying. 

The media has normalized Trump and conveniently turned him into something “different.” It dances around the obvious. The thing we know they’re all thinking but are too afraid to say publicly: that Trump is out of his fucking mind. Instead, they tell us ‘he’s a new kind of president.’ That he ‘marches to the beat of his own drummer.’ That ‘he’s unpredictable.’ No...the NY Rangers are unpredictable. Trump is fucking insane. 

By all standard measurements, it’s pretty accurate to question the president’s sanity. He’s erratic, insecure, delusional, paranoid, a narcissist, lacks empathy, is tone-deaf, is unable to distinguish right from wrong or fact from fiction. Sorry, but that makes him pretty crazy. Maybe some psychiatrists would argue that these qualities don’t necessary make him insane, but there’s no argument these are some pretty dangerous and scary traits for someone in the Oval Office with his fingers near the nuclear codes.

Please. Let’s stop this bullshit for a second and accept the fact that the 45th president of the United States of America is a madman. There’s no ‘method to his madness,’ as the media often suggests when analyzing his intellectually-bankrupt statements and outrageous behavior. He’s simply mad. And his madness has the terrifying capability to destroy world order as we know it. And maybe even kill us in a nuclear war started because the thin-skinned manbaby’s ego was bruised. 

It’s time for the media to step up and stop being terrified of this dictator-wannabe who lies so much he’d make Pinocchio’s head spin. No more free passes. No more sitting like tamed sheep when Trump says something so twisted and evidence-free that we all shudder in absolute bewilderment and/or horror. 

For example, take Trump’s stunning comments this week about Andrew Jackson and the Civil War:

“I mean had Andrew Jackson been a little later you wouldn’t have had the Civil War. He was a very tough person, but he had a big heart. He was really angry that he saw what was happening with regard to the Civil War, he said, “There’s no reason for this.” 

But wait...there’s more!

“People don’t realize, you know, the Civil War, if you think about it, why? People don’t ask that question, but why was there the Civil War? Why could that one not have been worked out?’

And then he doubled-down in a Tweet early Tuesday morning:

“President Andrew Jackson, who died 16 years before the Civil War started, saw it coming and was angry. Would never have let it happen!” 

Clearly, the Tweet was a lame attempt to fix the gaffe over the fact that Jackson died 16 years before the civil war. Nice try, Donnie. And, I’m sure for a slave owner Jackson had a “really big heart.” Seriously...the sheer stupidity of that comment is obviously lost on Trump.

But the biggest question is, will the media give him yet another free pass or will it start challenging him like never before...demanding, for example, that he explain exactly how Jackson would “never have let it (the Civil War) happen?” Remember Katie Couric’s famous “what newspapers and magazines do you read?” take-down of Sarah Palin? 

Or, how about forcing him on the spot when he lies about his/the GOP’s healthcare plan “getting better and better?” Press him to explain exactly how

Or when he touts the jobs numbers as “amazing” after saying for years the same #’s are fake. Press him to explain why they’re different now. 

Or when he says his first 100 days was ripe with more accomplishments than any other president in history. Explain to him the accomplishments of FDR, Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama, for example, and then force him to list his against that historical context.

Or when he says he’d be “honored” to meet North Korea’s brutal, murderous dictator Kim Jong Un, make him defend the absurdity of that “honor.” Make him explain how, regardless of the “right circumstances,” it’s not an utterly foolish, misguided comment to make. 

It’s time to stop the madness. It’s time for those of you in the mainstream media to do your job and aggressively and relentlessly call this president out for his endless misrepresentations and lies. Jeez, he calls you “disgusting,” “fake” and “failing” non-stop. Said you were “the enemy of the people.” Threatens to neuter you even further by changing the libel laws. What the fuck are you waiting for!? Take the damn gloves off and fight back! 

I’m not saying there are no ballsy reporters who aren’t afraid to go toe-to-toe with Trump. CNN’s Jake Tapper and Jim Acosta are two solid examples. Tapper challenges Trump’s lies daily on his show “The Lead.” Acosta valiantly stood up to Trump in early January over claims that CNN was “fake news.” Another brawler is MSNBC’s Peter Alexander. Watch what happens here when he challenged Trump in February over his bogus claim that his was the “biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.” He reduces Trump to a pile of stammering rubble. 

And there is an even bigger glimmer of hope if the Trump interview last weekend by CBS’s John Dickerson is a barometer of more aggressive encounters to come. Dickerson’s dogged pursuit of answers over Trump’s false wiretap claims about Barack Obama, which clearly pissed off Trump to the point that he abruptly and rudely ended the session, is exactly the sort of merciless grilling the liar-in-chief deserves. But will other journalists follow suit?