The Trumpiest Week Ever
 

Great article in Rolling Stone

Donald Trump’s re-election strategy couldn’t be clearer: chaos covering up cruelty, It began with a lie and ended with an order.

Last Monday, President Trump rehashed one of his favorite conspiracy theories — that he was wrongly denied a bigger victory in the 2016 election. By the end of the week, he was “hereby” demanding American companies “immediately start looking for an alternative to China,” a desperate cry from a budding strongman that sent the stock market into a tailspin.

The moments bookended what was surely the Trumpiest Week yet. A seven-day buffet of all things Trumpian: Petty grievances, needless fights with foreign leaders, complaints about the media, conspiracy theories, casual bigotry — the kind of stuff that gets everyone talking. And while everyone was talking, Trump and his administration did truly monstrous things. It was the Trump presidency in a microcosm, the daily political chaos obscuring the steady churn of policy cruelty.

It looked like this: On Tuesday, the president once again took aim at Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Ilhan Omar (D-MN), two Democratic congresswomen of color, who had been denied entry into Israel on an official delegation. “Where has the Democratic Party gone?” Trump said, veering off-script at the end of a visit by the Romanian president. “Where have they gone where they are defending these two people over the state of Israel? And I think any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.”

Accusing Jews of disloyalty or dual loyalty is, of course, a dangerously loaded and anti-Semitic claim. It was deployed in Nazi Germany in the 1930s; it’s a popular refrain among white supremacists today. “This #antiSemitic trope has been used to persecute Jews for centuries & it’s unacceptable to promote it,” tweeted Jonathan Greenblatt, the CEO and national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “He should apologize immediately.” Philip Klein, the executive editor of the conservative Washington Examiner, shot back at Trump: “No matter which way one wants to interpret this comment, it’s sickening coming from an American president.”

That same day, albeit to less immediate outrage and breathless cable coverage, the Trump administration escalated its inhumane treatment of migrants and refugees who have come to the U.S. In the past year, at least three children have died in part from the flu at border camps — a two-year-old named Wilmer, an eight-year-old named Felipe, and a 16-year-old named Carlos. Yet despite this clear risk heading into flu season, a Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said the agency would not be vaccinating migrant families held in detention.

The next day, the president stood before a gaggle of reporters outside the White House and pronounced that he was “the chosen one” when it came to negotiating with China. This quip — later deemed a stab at sarcasm, Trump said — nearly overshadowed the clearest evidence yet that cruelty is indeed the animating force of Trump’s immigration policy. At the prodding of the White House, the Department of Homeland Security unveiled a plan to hold migrant families in border camps indefinitely. The proposed rule would eliminate the so-called Flores settlement, a hard-won agreement that set a required level of care for families held in detention and limited how long the government could keep them in border camps and other facilities.

The Flores settlement came after a lengthy court battle in the 1980s and ’90s. Lawyers representing children who had fled violence in Central America and sought refuge in the U.S. alleged that the children had experienced horrific treatment at the hands of the American government: housed in a dingy motel surrounded by razor wire, left unsupervised with strangers in overcrowded rooms, in some instances subjected to invasive body cavity searches. The children, lawyers claimed, were used as human bait to arrest their parents. With the help of TV icon Ed Asner, immigration lawyers negotiated the Flores settlement in 1997.

Before Trump, President Obama’s administration tried to get out from under the Flores settlement’s requirements. But Obama did not seek to throw it out entirely, nor seek to separate migrant families as a matter of policy. “If someone had told me in 1985 that our work to protect children would continue into 2019, there is no way I would have believed it,” one of the lawyers who worked on the Flores settlement told the New York Times.

This was how the week would go. Trump high-fived a nutty conspiracy theorist online who had said that Israelis love Trump “like he is the second coming of God.” He threw a presidential tantrum that involved calling the Danish prime minister “nasty” for having the gall to refuse to sell us Greenland. Sean Spicer and Anthony Scaramucci resurfaced in the same news cycle because the universe either hates us or has a wicked sense of humor (or both).

But there were also the very clear indications of this administration’s true colors and character. The Justice Department — the actual DOJ — sent immigration judges a blog post from a white nationalist website that contained racial and ethnic slurs aimed at sitting judges. The president used his bully pulpit to accuse the “Fake News LameStream Media” of trying to “create” a recession. Later, he unleashed his rage at his handpicked Federal Reserve chairman, asking on Twitter: “My only question is, who is our bigger enemy, Jay Powell or Chairman Xi?”

And finally, on Friday, President Trump dispensed with the pretense and let his inner authoritarian shine through. “The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP,” he tweeted. “Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.”


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
· Aug 23, 2019
Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won’t let that happen! We don’t need China and, frankly, would be far....


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
....better off without them. The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP. Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing..

55.9K
10:59 AM - Aug 23, 2019

Because nothing says free markets and liberal democracy quite like a head of state ordering private businesses to follow his orders.

If you needed any clearer indication of what Donald Trump’s reelection strategy was going to be, last week was it. Chaos and Cruelty 2020. Rick Wilson, the acerbic never-Trumper, summed it up like this: “This isn’t the madman theory. This is a madman president.”

And it will only get more chaotic and more cruel from here on out, more distraction, more detention, more rage. Don’t underestimate the depths to which this president will go to stay in office and keep his power. Don’t underestimate the breadth of damage he will do it with.

This was the Trumpiest Week ever, but it won’t be the last.

Feel free to defend Orange Julius, if you can.

In his defense,I contest it will indeed last.
Pull up a chair.
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A source close to Deutsche Bank says Trump’s tax returns show he pays very little income tax and, more importantly, that his loans have Russian co-signers.

If true, that explains every kind word Trump has ever said about Russia and Putin.
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You should spearhead a group to indict the man for these alleged transgressions if they are against the law. Your sources must be on to something if these allegations prove to be true. Great work here!
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You people forget why he ran, this is the family business show, it's making the family money and he is in the spotlight where he loves to be. This to him is reality TV at its best, if you think he even knows what is good for this country, let alone know how to best achieve that, you are drunk on the Trump lemonade. Couldn't have been more clear, as he was promoting moving the next G meeting to one of his properties, no conflict of interest there.

Bingo
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To me he is a godsend. Under his leadership we have been able to afford to send kids to college,buy a new boat and pay off our mortgage. The possibilities for average Americans have gone through the roof. I am so happy to see the hope he has spread throughout the country. He promised America first and then delivered on the promise.
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And the tax cuts you benefited from ...

Who’s going to pay for that eventually?

Glad to see your happy that the cam was kicked further down the road. I hope your kids inherit a planet that was better off than it is now and that they too are not burdened with an unfair tax burden. However, I somehow doubt that your kids and mine are going to enjoy what we have enjoyed.
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The tax cuts are the same cuts everybody benefits from.

Tough to predict the future Nebe,but we don’t get to enjoy the same planet that our forefathers did. To me it is heading in the right direction with a balance not previously realized. Naturally,we all want the best for our children with opportunities to live with a happy and healthy future. There is no recipe or way to predict what it brings. C’est la vie.
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Curious if you were worried about this when you were “Feeling the Bern”
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I knew exactly who would have paid for it.
The greatest growth this nation experienced was when the 1% was taxed at something like 70%.
It the family that owns Walmart was taxed at 70% I guarantee you that they would pay their employees a heck of a lot more.

Maybe you would get paid more too
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Yeah, the amazon is burning with fires the size of New England and you think that’s a good balance.

Unreal.
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This is Trumps fault of course.

Unreal
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There is a natural inflationary response in the economy when one of the monetary components is increased. If wages go up, prices go up and the consumer pays more. If taxes are raised, prices go up and the consumer pays more. Conversly, if prices go up wages will also. And if prices go up, more taxes will be collected. In all cases, the consumer will carry most of the burden.

Might as well blame Trump for China and their ecological nightmares too Nebe. Get real
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That’s with current tax laws ;)
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You want me to get real?? I can get very real if you want.
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I feel better knowing the Amazon fires being blamed on Trump was just a joke. Now if the fires were in California....THAT would be Trumps fault.
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Who said that was trump’s fault ? It’s a problem of putting financial wealth above the environment.
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pretty please?!

I blame Trump for not thinking of the future, unlike China.

China’s Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution issued by China’s State Council in September 2013, illustrates the government's desire to increase the share of renewables in China’s energy mix.

China is the world's leading country in electricity production from renewable energy sources, with over double the generation of the second-ranking country, the United States.

By the end of 2018, the country had a total capacity of 728 GW of renewable power, mainly from hydroelectric and wind power. That's close to 25% of it's needs. China's renewable energy sector is growing faster than its fossil fuels and nuclear power capacity.

In contrast, Trump wants to bring back coal.

Yea, you were really struggling under Obama. :rollem:

many were...we were told it was the "new normal" or something

Not struggling but not flourishing either. It is fun to watch the country grow with a comprehensive plan now in place. Time to embrace it Jeff.
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Trump fuels the anti-science crowd that purports climate change is a hoax, that preservation is in opposition to capitalism and to some that man can't destroy God's creation...

Is Trump to blame for the fires in the Amazon? No, but he's is a big part of the problem that's exacerbating them.

the fires in the amazon are not meaningfully larger than average for this time of year. THAT appears to be a hoax.

i give liberals credit, when their arguments are weak, they know how to frame an issue to smear the other side, dishonestly, as well as it can be done. the side that says that human babies aren’t human beings, calls me anti science because i’m skeptical because none of the dire predictions made by environmentalist extremists, have come true. it would
appear that your idol obama isn’t overly concerned about oceans rising, or he wouldn’t be shelling out $15m for a second home on the vineyard. this from the guy who says at some point you’ve made enough money, and that joe the plumber needs to spread some of his wealth around. no hypocrisy there, no sir.
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Use the google Jim.

i mean, what does NASA know. better to listen to rachael maddow like you do.

https://climatechangedispatch.com/na...below-average/
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It astounds me that you'd use an anti-climate change website as your evidence. Probably Koch brothers funded :jester:

NASA actually says we're on pace for the biggest fire season ever in the Amazon, but even with that, look at the cumulative loss year over year. It's staggering.

spence, anyone can quite nasa. here’s another one with exact quotes from nasas analysis saying the fires are not larger than the 15 year average. take your own advice google what nasa has said about the extent of the fires. they’re saying it’s no big deal. prove me wrong. or admit i’m right? can you do one of those two things?

https://onenewsnow.com/science-tech/...asa-scientists
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I get it Jeff. His hot air fuels the flames...

We are no longer the worlds policeman or firemen.
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That’s right. Because no one takes us seriously any more. When you elect a clown, expect a circus 🎪
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china doesn’t take us seriously? check out their economy.

there’s a lot more to america than the current president. so much more, thank goodness.
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How about being a leader?

any comment about nasa saying what i claimed they said?
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China
Growth in gdp first half 19 6.2%
Exports down 1.3%
Imports down 7.3%
Imports from USA down 30%
Exports to USA down 8.1%

That’s what happens when your motto is America Alone.

And Xi doesn’t have to win an election.
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Let’s brake a few eggs and see if we make an omelette.

I am realistic enough to breakaway a few shells
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Instead of reading what some says they think NASA says why don't you actually read what NASA says?

Instead of focusing on loss of O2 you should be thinking about what the Amazon does to eliminating CO2, biodiversity and indigenous people.

this is great...hey Pete...what if a woman making the decision decides that life begins when a kid moves out and gets a job? Is everything fair game up to that point?

"In an interview this morning on The Breakfast Club radio show, South Bend mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg attempted to rationalize his support for legal abortion until birth by suggesting that perhaps human life begins at the moment of a child’s first breath. Here’s what he said:

[Pro-life people] hold everybody in line with this one piece of doctrine about abortion, which is obviously a tough issue for a lot of people to think through morally. Then again, there’s a lot of parts of the Bible that talk about how life begins with breath. Even that is something that we can interpret differently. . . . No matter what you think about the cosmic question of how life begins, most Americans can get on board with the idea of, ‘I might draw the here. You might draw the line there.’ The most important thing is the person who should be drawing the line is the woman making the decision."