Category: Social Behavior

Michael Cohen says Trump is not joking about staying in office for more than 2 terms

This is serious and frightening.  I have been writing about this repeatedly. By Paul LeBlanc, CNN Updated 12:44 AM ET, Thu September 10, 2020 (CNN) President Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen said Wednesday evening that Trump isn’t joking when he floats the notion of attempting to stay in the White House beyond two terms. “Donald Trump believes that he should be the ruler — the dictator of the United States of America. He actually is looking to change the Constitution. When Donald Trump jokes about 12 more years … he is not joking. Donald Trump does not have a sense of humor,” Cohen told CNN’s Don Lemon on “CNN Tonight.” “So I want you to understand that when he says 12 more years, if he wins he is going to automatically day number one start thinking how he can change the Constitution for a third term, and then a fourth term, like what he said to President XI and like what he said to so many other people. It’s why he admires the Kim Jong Uns of the world.” Even during an uphill reelection campaign, the President has repeatedly advanced the idea of a third term while also looking to sow doubt in the integrity of November’s election. “We are going to win four more years,” Trump said at a rally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last month. “And then after that, we’ll go for another four years because they spied on my campaign. We should get a redo of four years.” Expanding on his warning against reelecting Trump on Wednesday, Cohen went on to describe the White House as “like a cult” with a culture that forbids anyone from challenging the President. “Not only is the Trump Organization like a cult, but so is the White House,” he said. “Anybody that wants to work there, God forbid you say something wrong. God forbid you do something wrong. You’re fired. That’s exactly why there have been so many people coming in and out of the administration. I think he set all sorts of records. He likes records. Well, he certainly set the record for the most people in and out of the administration.” Pressed on how Trump has been able to command loyalty within the Republican Party, Cohen offered: “Because he is a cult leader.” “And people somehow follow him. Why? I don’t know why. I did it when I had my daughter, my wife, my son continuously telling me, ‘Stop, we don’t want you to work for him. Quit, you don’t need to work for him. What are you doing? The things that you are doing are morally wrong. You lost your moral compass, wake up.” His comments come one day after the release of his book where he unleashes on the President as “a cheat, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man.” Cohen had been a vocal surrogate for Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign before he pleaded guilty in 2018 to tax fraud, lying to Congress and campaign finance violations for facilitating hush money payments to two women who alleged past affairs with the President. Trump has denied having affairs with the women. When pleading guilty, he implicated the President, telling a federal judge that he had made the payments “in coordination with and at the direction of” Trump, who prosecutors identified in court filings as “Individual 1.” “If you look at the end of the book it’s really a call. It’s a warning call to anybody who is reading the book. Put the Visine in your eyes, clean your eyes out and see that Donald Trump cares for no one or anything other than himself. So he doesn’t care if your family member dies as long as it’s not him. He doesn’t care about anything other than himself and this election,” Cohen said Wednesday. “And he is willing to sacrifice your life so he has four more years.”

Rage

Donald Trump explained to Bob Woodward, an associate editor of The Washington Post, about his decision not to tell the public about COVID in February of this year.  This was reported in the Post today. “So the fact is, I’m a cheerleader for this country. I love our country. And I don’t want people to be frightened,” Trump said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. “I don’t want to create panic, as you say. And certainly, I’m not going to drive this country or the world into a frenzy. We want to show confidence. We want to show strength.”

But it is OK to scare people into fearing that gangs, thieves, and rioters will destroy the country if he is not re-elected.

Trump knew that Woodward was working on a new book when he gave him the interviews. Interviews that were recorded.  So Trump can’t deny what was said.  The mystery is why would Trump give an interview to a Washington Post reporter?  He has repeatedly said the Post, owned by Jeff Bezos is also the primary owner of  Amazon, as an enemy of the people.

The Rage should be about two things.  Trump’s inexplicable decision not to tell the public what he knew about Covid-19 and Woodward’s decision not to reveal his interviews until the book Rage has been released.

Washington Post’s Margaret Sullivan wonders  “if putting the book’s newsiest revelations out there in something closer to real time would have made a difference.”

I doubt this book alone will change the vote in November.  However, this book along with other things Trump has done, or not done, could sway election results.

Duty, Honor, Country

: “Duty, honor, country.”  Those were the words of Joe Biden in remarks during a speech in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware, came the day after The Atlantic, citing unnamed sources, reported that Trump had made disparaging comments about military members who were wounded and killed, including at one point calling those who died in battle “losers and suckers.” Trump on Friday called the report “a fake story.” “It’s a fake story and it’s a disgrace that they’re allowed to do it,” Trump said Friday, although reporters from The Associated Press, The Washington Post and Fox News confirmed elements of the story independently. But is it a fake story?  Trump publicly in 2015 said Arizona Sen. John McCain was not a war hero because he was captured in Vietnam, as evidence of Trump’s beliefs. The question is why would Donald Trump say these words?  Obviously he considers himself a “winner” by avoiding the Vietnam War.  He obtained an exemption because of bone spurs in his feet that was based upon a letter from a doctor that was given as a favor to his father Fred Trump.  His history of lying and cheating on construction projects and his Atlantic City hotels tells you everything you need to know. Still, military families want a president who supports their devotion to their way of life.  Disparaging remarks about an all volunteer military makes no sense. If John Kelley appeared on a Sunday morning news interview show and told us what really happened in France at the World War One memorial event that would help clear the air.   Those words “Duty, Honor, Country” should be the slogan for the Biden campaign.

The Buck Stops…. Nowhere

I remember well when I had my first full time job as a youth, working in the hardware department of Sears. On the store manager’s desk was a prominent sign that read, “The Buck Stops Here.” He meant it. President Truman fostered the idea years before with the famous sign on his desk and it stuck with a lot of Americans. Like many of my generation, I embraced this philosophy as a very young man and it has guided my personal and professional life ever since. Personal responsibility is a necessity, not an option. It is what built America into a great country. However, things have become a tad different.

That was then and now is now. Today it is always about the blame game. When did this country slip on its ass and fail to get back up?

– A man kills a lion but pleads it was his guide’s fault.

– A man kills another man and says it was the Twinkie’s fault.

– A man gets lung cancer and claims it was Marlboro’s fault.

– One mass killing after another and it’s always the gun manufacturer’s fault.

– A woman burns herself with hot coffee and it was McDonald’s fault.

– A teenager gets fat and claims it was Coca Cola’s fault.

– (You can fill in the list yourself from here.)

It took the U.S. government decades to finally acknowledge its responsibility for the many health problems suffered by U.S. service personnel because of Agent Orange. Even then, they tried to shove the blame off to chemical companies who made the stuff. Through the years, personal responsibility has fully given way to blame gaming and has transformed our once proud humanity into a listless mob seeking to foist our personal responsibility onto others.

In basketball, when a player makes a foul, he raises his hand to acknowledge responsibility. It’s one of the few examples left in which responsibility is openly accepted. When something goes wrong in the rest of America, the government and its people tend to just shrug and say, “The buck stops…. nowhere.” The very concept of responsibility seems to have vanished in America. Maybe we need more basketball players in government and in our society as a whole.

Responsibility cannot and should not be passed to someone or something else.

If you have an opinion on this subject, please share it here. As for my opinions, “The Buck Stops Here!”

author Allen E. Rizzi

My response:

Sadly in Trump’s world someone else is to blame. The Chinese are to be blamed for the corona virus.  Past presidents are blamed for everything that is wrong in America.  The media is blamed for reporting information that puts Trump in a bad light.  The political polls are all formatted to report he, Trump, is behind.  Loss in the November election will be blamed on millions of fraudulent ballots.

Kristen Welker of NBC asks Trump whether he takes responsibility for the lag in making test kits available.

Trump’s reply:

No.

I don’t take responsibility at all.

Dear Red States… We’ve Decided We’re Leaving!

DEAR RED STATES… WE’VE DECIDED WE’RE LEAVING.

Dear Red States…

We’ve decided we’re leaving. We intend to form our own country, and we’re taking the other Blue States with us.


In case you aren’t aware, that includes Hawaii, Oregon, California, New Mexico, Washington, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois and all the Northeast. We believe this split will be beneficial to the nation, and especially to the people of the new country of New Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam and Washington D.C.

We also get Costco and Boeing

To sum up briefly: You get Texas, Oklahoma and all the slave states. We get stem cell research and the best beaches.
We get the Statue of Liberty. You get Dollywood.

We get Intel and Microsoft. You get WorldCom.

We get Harvard. You get Ole’ Miss.

We get 85 percent of America’s venture capital and entrepreneurs. You get Alabama. We get two-thirds of the tax revenue, you get to make the red states pay their fair share.

Since our aggregate divorce rate is 22 percent lower than the Christian Coalition’s, we get a bunch of happy families. You get a bunch of single moms.

Please be aware that Nuevo California will be pro-choice and anti-war, and we’re going to want all our citizens back from Iraq at once. If you need people to fight, ask your evangelicals. They have kids they’re apparently willing to send to their deaths for no purpose, and they don’t care if you don’t show pictures of their children’s caskets coming home.

With the Blue States in hand, we will have firm control of 80 percent of the country’s fresh water, more than 90 percent of the pineapple and lettuce, 92 percent of the nation’s fresh fruit, 95 percent of America’s quality wines (you can serve French wines at state dinners) 90 percent of all cheese, 90 percent of the high tech industry, most of the U.S. low-sulfur coal, all living redwoods, sequoias and condors, all the Ivy League and Seven Sister schools, plus Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Cal Tech and MIT.

With the Red States, on the other hand, you will have to cope with 88 percent of all obese Americans (and their projected health care costs), 92 percent of all U.S. mosquitoes, nearly 100 percent of the tornadoes, 90 percent of the hurricanes, 99 percent of all Southern Baptists, virtually 100 percent of all televangelists, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Jones University, Clemson and the University of Georgia.

We get Hollywood and Yosemite, thank you.

Additionally, 38% of those in the Red states believe Jonah was actually swallowed by a whale, 62% believe life is sacred unless we’re discussing the death penalty or gun laws, 44% say that evolution is only a theory, 53% that Saddam was involved in 9/11 and 61% of you crazy bastards believe you are people with higher morals then we lefties.

By the way, we’re taking the good pot, too. You can have that dirt weed they grow in Mexico.

Oh, and you can have all the new Coronavirus cases since you’re too dumb and self-centered to wear a mask.

Peace out, we are the people

Blue States
Thank you

Author unknown

The Twenty First Century Challenges

Doctor Fauci and other infectious disease specialists are saying the coronavirus may never go away. The best we can hope for is controlling the spread of this disease. The consequences are staggering.

No more crowding onto a San Francisco cable car. How will subways in NYC, Boston, Los Angeles and other cites function? Long waits to board a ferry because social distancing limits the capacity. Stretched lines to enter your local supermarket. Auto shows and other conventions eliminated because of social distancing requirements that cannot be reasonably enforced. Movie theaters with seats removed (can they survive with fewer attendees?). Big weddings will be a thing of the past (No hora or other group dancing).

On the plus side there will be plenty of room to stretch out at the Hollywood Bowl, the Rose Bowl, and other large venues. The public is more health conscious than ever in history.

Sadly America’s leadership is a failure. Politics prevails over national unity. Two old men fighting for the presidency and neither has one good sound idea on how to bring the country back to normalcy.

I am crying for the United States.