Donald Trump Is Scared

Source: Peter Nicholas in The Atlantic, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, and my own thoughts

People have speculated that Trump’s COVID-19 treatment altered his judgment. They are incorrect. His judgement and behavior have always been erratic. Based on all the reports from those who have known Trump for years tell of a man who believes he has the right to demand whatever he wants.

He seemed as if he might be delirious. He blasted out bewildering tweets in all caps. Sick and infectious, he circled the perimeter of the Walter Reed hospital in an armored SUV, waving to supporters. He demanded the arrest of his opponents.

None of this behavior especially surprises those who’ve heard Oval Office rants dating back to the start of Trump’s presidency. “In terms of his current behavior, to me it looks like just another day at the office,” John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, told Peter Nicholas of The Atlantic “He doesn’t need steroids to behave this way.”

Former White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John Kelly, has told friends that President Donald Trump “is the most flawed person” he’s ever known.

It is now reported that in Oval Office meetings, John Kelly, the president’s ex–chief of staff, would clear the room of lower-level aides when Trump grew irate. “His face would get contorted and red, and you could see spit flying out of his mouth because he would get so mad about something,” Miles Taylor, a former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, told Peter Nicholas. “Sometimes he’d get mad about something that wasn’t even the topic of the meeting.”

In appearances this week, he has vented his frustrations with suburban women — a critical voting bloc that polls suggest he has lost to Democratic nominee Joe Biden — mixing an uncharacteristic personal plea with raw resentment and a curious claim of achievement.

“Suburban women, will you please like me? I saved your damn neighborhood, OK?” Trump said at a rally in Johnstown, PA.

Right now, the pressure Trump may be “feeling, knowing that he’s going to lose the election, is intensifying everything that we’re seeing and putting him in a hyper-agitated state,” Michael Cohen, Trump’s former lawyer and fixer, told Peter Nicholas.

It might all get worse. As Election Day nears, Trump’s dread may only grow, and his outbursts may only become more desperate. He may step up attacks in hopes of staving off a loss that he’d see as an intolerable rebuke. For someone who craves adulation and can’t ever seem to get enough, defeat could leave a hole that no treatment can remedy.

Joe Biden Is Not the Truth Teller

Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Easter Prayer Breakfast in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, April 4, 2012, in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Donald Trump is a well known liar and obfuscator. Is Joe Biden any better? If you didn’t catch it here are three topics Joe Biden attempted to evade in last night’s town hall. This was pointed out by Alice Stewart on a CNN posting on their web site.

1. Fracking

The bad is Biden’s not-too-credible answer on fracking. Despite saying that he does not propose banning fracking, he pledged during the primaries to “establish an enforcement mechanism to achieve net-zero emissions no later than 2050,” which, as CNN has reported, “would almost certainly require a significant reduction in fracking.”

His denials that he would ban fracking are simply not credible. Even host George Stephanopoulos said “not everyone buys your denial.”

Instead of answering the question, he filibustered on renewable energy, zero emissions, and hauling chicken manure. While he talks of transitioning to new technologies, the truth is Biden is beholden to the far-left policies of the Green New Deal. In an effort to not alienate moderates, his campaign site calls the policy “a crucial framework.” You can’t have it both ways.

2. Tough on Crime

Another bad reply deals with the 1994 Crime Bill. When asked if it was a mistake to support the bill, Biden said yes, but only with regard to what happened on the state level. He neglected to mention he wrote the bill; it was his signature piece of legislation.

3. Packing the Supreme Court

The ugly is Biden’s outright refusal to tell us where he stands on the issue of expanding the Supreme Court if elected president. The Democratic nominee again refused to go on record about court packing. Expanding the court is supported by the far-left base attempting to dilute the power of the majority of conservative justices on the Supreme Court. Even CNN Democratic commentator Van Jones gave Biden a “D-” on this response when talking with Anderson Cooper.

In Dueling Events the Real Duel was Trump vs Guthrie

It was a stark contrast between Trump and Biden on display in dueling town halls. It lays bare serious issues for both candidates. I do not like either of these men.

It’s another year of voting for the lesser of two evils.

Trump and Biden were both forced to answer tough questions as the President vied for an elusive campaign reset while trying to defend his response to the coronavirus pandemic, his embrace of conspiracy theories and his stance on White supremacists under tough questioning from NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.

Here are the noteworthy parts of each town hall.

The Joe Biden Town Hall

There was no confrontation between Joe Biden and moderator George Stephanopoulos

Biden opened his ABC town hall on Thursday night by describing how he would have handled the coronavirus differently, using the comparison to lambast President Donald Trump for his somewhat uneven response to the virus.

Biden said there should have been more national standards earlier in the pandemic and that the President should be pushing all Americans to use masks as a way to stop the spread. Biden said he would lean on governors, as president, to mandate mask use.

At the same time, Biden was repeatedly pressed to clarify his position on whether he will support adding members to the Supreme Court, his work on the 1986 and 1994 crime bills and his positions on fracking and the Green New Deal. He was also forced to explain his controversial comment that if Black Americans don’t support him “you ain’t Black.”

The Donald Trump Town Hall

Savannah Guthrie, the moderator, was confrontational with Trump from the very beginning of the event. She questioned his action and behavior throughout the one hour program. Trump did what he does best. He was evasive in answering questions from Guthrie and those that asked questions.

In one of the most news-making moments of the night, the President admitted that he may not have taken a coronavirus test on the day of his debate with Biden, even though he was required to do so by the Commission on Presidential Debates and tested positive for Covid-19 two days later.

He refused to say when his last negative test was before the debate and did not express any regret for the Rose Garden event that is now widely viewed as a “super-spreader” event, where attendees were not socially distanced and did not wear masks.

When asked about the New York Times reports that he has debts of approximately $421 million dollars — loans that he has personally guaranteed and that will come due in the next four years — Trump nodded but then insisted that the newspaper’s numbers are “all wrong.” He told Guthrie that he does not owe money to Russia. But when Guthrie asked whether he owes anything to foreign banks, Trump replied: “Not that I know of.”

I doubt any minds were changed as the result of these two events. It was just interesting to see how they responded to some tough questions. Joe Biden’s refusal tp take a stand on Supreme Court packing could harm him. Donald Trump’s attitude toward wearing masks could harm him.

Watch the Town Hall Events Tonight

If nothing else tonight’s town hall events will be an evening of entertainment. So despite calls to boycott NBC, watching Donald Trump will be entertaining. After all Trump’s “Apprentice” was on NBC. It will be interesting to see how he responds to difficult questions or will there be any difficult questions? Who will decide which questions are asked?

Strangely at a campaign rally in Greenville, N.C., Trump repeatedly criticized NBC News, which is hosting a town hall with the president Thursday night. Why would he do this?

Reports are saying that 10 million people have already voted in this election cycle rather than waiting until November 3. Both Joe Biden and Donald Trump have avoided talking about everything except COVID-19, health care and the economy. The media has ridden along without bringing up any other issues.

The reason should be obvious. All those other issues are far more complicated. Politicians probably don’t have simple answers. They may not know the answers to those issues. So they resort to name calling and unsupported accusations about their opponent.

Trump says Biden is too weak to be president. He doesn’t even know he is alive. He won’t last two months. At his first rally after returning from Walter Reed hospital Trump railed against Mr. Biden, describing the Democrat’s program as “beyond socialism – Communist, that’s about right.”

For those of us that love to follow politics it will be a very interesting evening that will provide commentators with plenty of juicy evaluations and insights.

America’s Vanishing Social Security Trust Fund

This is a serious topic that neither Joe Biden not Donald Trump is interested in talking about. No wonder. It’s complicated and most people expect their elected representatives to solve the problem.

The United States Social Security Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability, and survivor benefits. But you wouldn’t know it. Politicians try to use it to their advantage.

The Social Security trust fund will run out of its funds in a dozen years or so if nothing is done. Some experts say the government should tap general revenue to pay beneficiaries.

A monthly check from Social Security is the only thing keeping millions of older Americans out of poverty. Half of married senior citizens and 70% of unmarried seniors get at least half of their income from it, according to the Social Security Administration. It is the indispensable retirement solution. But the trust fund that pays old age and survivor benefits is going to run out of money sometime in the 2030s.

Those hard facts have raised a question:
Should Social Security stop depending just on payroll taxes and the trust fund to pay benefits and start supplementing those sources with general tax revenue? The debate came to a boil in August, when President Trump floated the idea of a permanent cut in payroll taxes, which would presumably necessitate a big infusion of general tax revenue to keep benefits whole.

A lot of advocates for Social Security worry that tapping general revenue will make people perceive the program as welfare rather than a mutual insurance compact among workers.

On the other hand, drawing on general funds would make it easier to pay scheduled benefits to the Baby Boom generation without big hikes in payroll taxes.

Faced with this scenario, the usual response is to choose from an unpalatable menu for fixing Social Security’s finances, such as raising the retirement age, choosing a stingier cost-of-living adjustment, or increasing the payroll tax rate. Democratic Representative John Larson of Connecticut, chairman of the Social Security subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, is sponsoring the Social Security 2100 Act, which raises benefits slightly while gradually lifting the payroll tax rate for workers and employers from 6.2% to 7.4% and subjecting wages over $400,000 a year to payroll taxation.

But none of the choices on the menu undo the core problem, which is that American society has aged. The number of beneficiaries per 100 covered workers has risen from 25 in 1965 to 29 in 2000 to 36 this year, and it’s expected to reach 45 by 2040.

Here’s what a Biden presidential win may mean for your Social Security benefits as reported on CNBC. Biden would increase the special minimum benefit, which was created to provide low-earners with adequate benefits. Biden calls for setting that figure at 125% of the federal poverty line. That would bring it to $1,301 from $886 a month as of 2019, according to an analysis by the Penn Wharton Budget Model at the University of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump would like to cut payroll taxes to put more money in every family’s hands now to boost the economy but offers no plan on keeping the program afloat.

Trump, allies openly call for violence

This is a summary of a column by Jamelle Bouie in the New York Times in late September 2020 posted in The Week magazine. While Michael Caputo has brain and neck cancer his warnings should be taken seriously. Bouie’s conclusion are frightening and are similar to those written by Thomas Friedman in the NYT.

Max Metcalf (right) and Justin, who wouldn’t give his last name due to safety and employment concerns, say they are at a rally in Missoula, Mont., to protect protesters from violent agitators.
Nick Mott/Montana Public Radio

If President Trump loses the election it will be because it was “stolen,” and his supporters should respond to the “coup” with violence. This, said Jamelle Bouie, is what Trump’s most ardent supporters and the president himself are saying as polls show him trailing Democrat Joe Biden. This week, Michael Caputo, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human services, claimed that Biden and the Democrats will try to seize power through election fraud.

“When Donald Trump refuses to stand down at the inauguration,” Caputo warned on a video posted on Facebook, “the shooting will begin.” He recommended buying-ammunition now “because it’s going to be hard.to get.” Trump confidant and convicted felon Roger Stone is urging the-president to declare martial law and seize ballots, while Trump himself recently said “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.” He said that if there is insurrection by his opponents after the election, he’ll “put it down.” Trump has made it very clear he knows he may lose, so he is openly campaigning “to hold on to power by any means necessary.” If you think this is all ranting and raving,” you haven’t been paying attention the last four years.

Jamelle Bouie
The New York Times