Trump’s midterm campaign of fear and lies

Will fear be the basis for your choices in the November election?

It should come as no surprise that Donald Trump is using fear as his motivating tactic to bring his supporters to the polls on November 6. As he descended his elevator at Trump Tower he warned us that the bad people of Latin America were coming to the United States.

The jacket cover of Bob Woodward’s book, Fear, has this quote from Mr. Trump, “Real power is-I don’t even want to use the word-fear.” The words of Candidate Donald Trump on March 31, 2016 in an interview while running for president of the United States.

Trump is now telling all who will listen that mobs of illegal immigrants are coming to rape your wives and daughters, create gang violence, and kill you.

At a Texas rally supporting Ted Cruz Trump said, “The Democrats have launched an assault on the sovereignty of our country, the security of our nation and the safety of every American,” He has even said that the Democrats organized the migrant caravan from Central America. . He has claimed without offering any evidence that the caravan includes criminals and “unknown Middle Easterners.”

Trump argues that Democrats want to create a socialist system of “gridlock, poverty and chaos” like Venezuela.

Trump has also warned of voter fraud, which doesn’t exist at significant levels, and claims the Democratic Party has been taken over by proponents of “unhinged” mob rule — even though his rallies are the ones where supporters yell for his political opponents to be locked up, and he praised a lawmaker for assaulting a reporter.

He said most Democrats opposed his opioid initiative, even though it passed 98-1 in the Senate and 393-8 in the House.

On Sunday Trump promised a new tax cut after the midterm election. Bloomberg reports, “Even if policy makers hastily pulled something together at the White House’s insistence, lawmakers are out until after the election. After that, in the lame-duck session, it would be tough to take up a bill if Democrats are poised to take over the House in January. The Senate has already shown reluctance to consider the House legislation, which would make permanent individual income tax cuts set to expire at the end of 2025.”

On Monday, in an exchange with reporters, he could not support his earlier claim that there were riots in California over so-called sanctuary cities.

As most people are affected by fear many Americans will vote to support the fear monger.

Building an Autocracy

The Atlantic Monthly October 2018 devoted most of the edition to the cover question: Is Democracy Dying?

David Frum’s piece titled Building an Autocracy is very troubling. Following is an abridged version is the first article in the magazine. For definition purposes an autocracy is a system of government by one person with absolute power.

Twenty-one months into the Trump presidency, how far has the country rolled down the road to autocracy? Yet measuring the distance traveled is vital.

Let’s start with the good news: Against the Trump presidency, federal law enforcement has held firm. As of this writing, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s inquiry is proceeding despite the president’s fulminations. The Department of Justice is ignoring the president’s Twitter demands to prosecute his opponents. As far as we know, the IRS and other federal agencies are not harassing Trump critics.

Around the world, democracy looks more fragile than it has since the Cold War. But if it survives for now in America, future historians may well conclude that it was saved by the president’s Twitter compulsion.

Yet even as Trump ties his own shoelaces together and lurches nose-first into the Rose Garden dirt, he has scored a dismaying sequence of successes in his war on U.S. institutions.

President Trump continues to defy long-standing ethical expectations of the American president. He has never released his tax returns, and he no longer even bothers to offer specious reasons, like a supposed audit.

…the president continues to collect payments from people with a vested interest in decisions made by his administration, from foreign governments looking to influence U.S. policy, and even from his own party.

Perhaps the most defining characteristic of modern autocrats such as Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Viktor Orbán, and Vladimir Putin is the way they seek to subsume the normal operations of government into their cult of personality.

Apparently to punish the Washington Post owner and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos for his paper’s reporting, Trump has pressed the Postal Service to raise Amazon’s rates—thus warning other business leaders to be careful what they say.

Trump’s tariffs personalize power too. They enable him to privilege some industries and hurt others. Some losers—farmers, say—may be compensated; others, such as aerospace manufacturers, will be disregarded.

When Trump refers to “my” generals or “my” intelligence agencies, he is teaching his supporters to rethink how the presidency should function.

To protect the president—and themselves—from the truth about Russia’s intervention in his election, Republican members of the House Intelligence Committee have concocted (and the conservative media have disseminated) an elaborate fantasy about an FBI plot against Trump.

Many Americans want to believe that Democratic victories in November will reverse the country’s course. They should be wary of investing too much hope in that prospect. Should Democrats recover some measure of power in Congress, their gains could perversely accelerate current trends. As Republicans lose power in Washington, Trump will gain power within his party.

We cannot blame democracy’s troubles in the United States or overseas on any one charismatic demagogue. Free societies depend on a broad agreement to respect the rules of the game.

The distrust of free speech on campus is being carried by recent graduates into their jobs and communities. We see in other countries, especially the United Kingdom, the rise of an activist left nearly as paranoid and anti-Semitic, as disdainful of liberal freedoms and democratic institutions, as the so-called alt-right in the U.S.

Restoring democracy will require more from each of us than the casting of a single election ballot. It will demand a sustained commitment to renew American institutions.

The road to autocracy is long—which means that we still have time to halt and turn back. It also means that the longer we wait, the farther we must travel to return home.

An Angry Man

It is sad that the choice of a Supreme Court justice has turned into a circus. Judge Brett Kavanugh came across as an angry man at yesterday’s hearing. His refusal to answer many of the questions that were asked only made him look guilty.

The hearings to select a justice are really a job interview. Have you ever been to an interview where there is more than one interviewer in the room at the same time? I have and it is a stressful experience. I was peppered with questions about my background and my capabilities. One wrong word could end the hiring process. When one of those interviewers left the room and did not return I knew that I had said the wrong thing.

Coming across as angry will most certainly end the interview. Look at the picture. It reflects that anger. The other people in this photo are obviously horrified and they are his friends and family members.

Kavanugh’s behavior would have ended the interview process when I was doing the interviewing.

What is Brett Kavanugh hiding?

Brett Kavanugh nomination to the Supreme Court

Christine Blasey Ford’s accusations of attempted rape by Judge Brett Kavanugh have created a dilemma for the GOP that could easily change the November make up of both houses of Congress. The Republicans want Kavanugh seated on the court before October 1 when the next Supreme Court session begins.

The Democrats know that when all is said Judge Brett Kavanugh will be seated on the Supreme Court since they are in the minority. My guess is that the Democrats hope that is done before the November election because then they will be campaigning that Republicans are not interested in protecting women who have been sexually harassed or have been the victim of a rape. If that campaign issue is well promoted than Democrats could easily win some additional seats in the House of Representatives and maybe win another seat in the Senate.

Can there be a Coup in the United States?

The answer based on an anonymous Op-Ed in the New York Times is YES!

Democrats should not be clapping their hands with delight over this situation. The same insider behavior could have occurred during the Obama administration.

The single person that all Americans elect to lead the country is the president. Members of the House of Representatives and Senate are elected by the district or the state. We rely on the president to lead the entire nation regardless of political party or other affiliations.

There is nothing in the Constitution that gives anyone authority to countermand the president’s decisions except laws passed by the congress or rulings by the Supreme Court.

When other people attempt to undermine or delay the president’s decisions they are interfering with the process of government that has been the basis of the American democracy since its inception.

While I view Donald Trump as a bad leader who could cause a war or an economic catastrophe he is the person that our system of elections has chosen to be president. Unfortunately his faults are many. Trump has been a supporter of groups that sew hate and he has made many nations that were considered allies into enemies.

Despite his obvious failings, I am not comfortable with an inner circle of people in the White House who are attempting to control the decision making process in the White House. They may say their actions are to protect our country but they are unanswerable to the American people.

We do have three ways of removing president. 1) Not re-elect him for a second term, 2) Action taken by the Vice President and “principal officers of the executive departments” to remove the president from power, 3) Impeachment. All of those choices are better than undermining our system of governing.

Pointless Hearings to Approve a New Supreme Court Justice

Yes the hearings are vacuous. We all know what the outcome will be. Judge Kavanaugh will be confirmed. The judge is given the opportunity to tell us what the various articles and amendments are saying and to add to the drama he refers to the Federalist papers. So we know he is no dummy. The irony is that Senator Harry Reid, the former leader of a Democratic Party controlled Senate, can be blamed for today’s lack of bi-partisan support to consent for any Supreme Court nominee. He led the decision to change a Senate rule requiring a 60 vote for approval of a Supreme Court justice appointment.

This sad situation is the result of a two party political system where everyone and every idea of the opposing party is by definition wrong.

John Brennan doubles down

It is the chaos president versus America’s security apparatus. This fight will not end soon.

✔ @JohnBrennan

John Brennan tweet

Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not onlywere Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin.
Republican Patriots: Where are you???

8:52 AM – Jul 16, 2018

During NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked if Brennan regretted accusing the president of treason.

“I called his behavior treasonous, which is to betray one’s trust and to aid and abet the enemy,” Brennan responded. “And I stand very much by that claim.”

Trump’s Enemies are America’s Enemies?

Donald Trump sees enemies everywhere. In his view all of them have just one goal. It is apparent that he sees their goal is to remove him from the presidency by any means possible.

Thus Trump claims that the press is “the enemy of the people.” It is not just the print press. It is all media. His banning of CNN and NBC at news events has become routine.

John Brennan, Former CIA director, called the US President’s performance at Helsinki “nothing short of treasonous.” Trump has fired back by revoking Brennan’s security clearance.

Trump has compiled a list of at least ten people who are all likely to be denied security clearance.

Richard Nixon also had an enemy list of more than 200 people.

It all reminds me of The Caine Mutiny. In that movie Captain Queeg loses it in a court hearing.

The similarities between Queeg and Trump are remarkable.

700K Foreign Nationals Overstayed Visas to the U.S. in 2017

More than 700,000 foreign nationals who were supposed to leave the U.S. in recent months overstayed their visas, the Department of Homeland Security said in a report released Tuesday.

Overall, an estimated 40 percent of the roughly 11 million people in the country illegally stayed past their visas.

Overstays have exceeded those entering illegally every year since 2007, and there have been half a million more overstays than illegal entries since 2007.

We have visited Canada every other year for the past decade. Canadian immigration always asks our purpose for entering but there are no arm bands or tracking device given to us. They really do not know where we are. It is the same way in the United States.

A study by the Center for Migration Studies divides the 2014 illegal population into two groups: those who enter with a valid temporary visa, but subsequently “overstay” and establish residence in the U.S. without authorization and those who “enter without inspection” (EWI) through the southern border without proper immigration documents.

Research published in June by the Cato Institute found both legal and illegal immigrants are less likely to be incarcerated than native-born Americans. This data totally contradicts Donald Trump. His language is enthusiastically endorsed by his followers.

Is a border wall really a solution to illegal immigration?

Donald Trump’s Disgraceful Summit Press Conference

I can understand Democrats criticising Donald Trump but these are some of the comments made by Republicans after the Trump Putin press conference in Helsinki Finland. I have selected just a few of the reported comments made by Republican members of congress.

I would say his words of praise of Vladimir Putin and Russia are treasonous. Congressional Republicans will have to decide whether Donald Trump should be impeached. I would support that decision.

Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican who has consistently criticized the President, said Trump’s comments were “one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in memory.”

Senate Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker said the President “made us look like a pushover” and that Putin was probably eating caviar on the plane home.

Senator Ben Sasse, a Republican from Nebraska, “This is bizarre and flat-out wrong. The United States is not to blame. America wants a good relationship with the Russian people but Vladimir Putin and his thugs are responsible for Soviet-style aggression. When the President plays these moral equivalence games, he gives Putin a propaganda win he desperately needs.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy, a South Carolina Republican, “I am confident former CIA Director and current Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, DNI Dan Coats, Ambassador Nikki Haley, FBI Director Chris Wray, Attorney General Jeff Sessions and others will be able to communicate to the President it is possible to conclude Russia interfered with our election in 2016 without delegitimizing his electoral success.”

Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican who has been constant critic, called the President’s performance “shameful.” “I never thought I would see the day when our American President would stand on the stage with the Russian President and place blame on the United States for Russian aggression. This is shameful,” tweeted Flake, who is not running for re-election.

John Brennan, Former CIA Director (2013-17) Tweet, “Donald Trump’s press conference performance in Helsinki rises to & exceeds the threshold of “high crimes & misdemeanors.” It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump’s comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???”