Posted in2020 election Donald Trump

Here’s what really scares me about Donald Trump

As I said a few days ago, progressives like me are going through an anxious period. There's no obvious Democratic presidential candidate who seems fully up to the job of beating Trump in the November 2020 election.  Meanwhile, polls show that Trump has managed to hold on to his base of support, and maybe even has expanded it a bit. This befuddles people, again, like me, who wonder what 44% or so of the country sees in a guy who is so obviously immoral, a habitual liar, and mean. A book I just finished re-reading gave me a new perspective on…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Iran, if you’re listening…

Even though I can be prone to magical thinking at times, I haven't gone down that rabbit hole deep enough to really believe that if I'd written a blog post with the above title a day or two ago, Iran wouldn't have fired more than a dozen ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Iraq today. But since I spent some time this afternoon prior to the attack thinking about what I wanted to say in an Iran, if you're listening... post, I might as well start off by summarizing my advice to Iran -- some of which still makes…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Jojo Rabbit, impeachment, and Trump’s authoritarianism

Let me make this clear. The United States isn't following in the footsteps of Nazi Germany. So when I speak of the danger of Donald Trump's authoritarianism, I'm not equating him with Hitler, though he does have Hitler'ish tendencies. However, this doesn't make Trump any less of a risk to our nation's democratic institutions and the Constitution. So his impeachment needs to be viewed from the broadest possible perspective, not just Trump's attempt to get Ukraine to interfere in the 2020 election and then obstruct Congress in its 100% legitimate impeachment inquiry. That's bad enough, of course. Much worse, though,…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Indivisible scorecard ranks Elizabeth Warren #1

Great idea, Indivisible folks. You've fashioned a clear, easy to understand, transparent scorecard for the Democratic presidential contenders that rates them on three criteria: Policy Platform: Indivisibles want a candidate who is committed to enacting bold, popular, progressive policies across a range of areas, including immigration, climate, economic justice, health care, and other critical policy areas. Day-One Democracy Agenda: None of the policy reforms we want to see in 2021 are possible without a democracy that responds to the people. Indivisibles want a candidate who is committed first and foremost to ambitious reforms to save our democracy. Building Grassroots Power: Indivisibles know that…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

In 300 words, Katyal makes a great argument for Trump’s impeachment

Today I started reading Neal Katyal's compelling little book, Impeach: The Case Against Donald Trump. Katyal has personally argued thirty-nine Supreme Court cases. He's a law professor at Georgetown University. He's taught an impeachment course there twenty times. And he's an excellent writer. Below is how his book starts out. In a bit less than 300 words, Katyal nails the case for impeaching Trump. The rest of the book is icing on the impeachment cake. So if you're in favor of impeachment and someone questions why this makes sense, say you'd like to read them a brief argument by a…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Supporters of Trump need to be treated as co-creators of his unethical world

Having watched a good share of the two weeks of televised open hearings in the House impeachment inquiry, I'm well-qualified to draw some reasoned conclusions about our national politics. (1) Trump is the worst president in our nation's history. Not just recent history. Our entire history. (2) Trump doesn't care about what's best for our country. He only cares about what's best for himself.(3) Congressional Republicans have sold out their ethical values in exchange for Trump not tweeting bad stuff about them.(4) Anyone who still supports Trump is guilty of aiding and abetting his unethical behavior. To me, that fourth point…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Warren Binford talks about horror of migrant child detention center

It wasn't the cheeriest City Club talk I've ever been to, but it was one of the most important. Warren Binford, from my seat at a City Club table Today Warren Binford, a Willamette University law professor and children's rights expert, spoke about the history of child separations at the Mexican border and her four day visit to the Clint, Texas Border Patrol Facility. Binford told us that the Clint facility, better termed a child warehouse, was built for about 100 adults, yet housed around 400 children.  When asked "How have you been treated," they started to cry. Binford spoke…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump

I was wrong about the wisdom of impeachment. Go for it, Dems!

Time in this age of Trumpism is a lot like "dog years." It passes seven times (at least) more quickly than what I've been used to in every other presidential administration. Only last Sunday -- which now seems like two months ago, rather than only two days -- I was opining to a friend at our usual get-together at West Salem's Urban Grange coffee house that I hoped Democrats would take the advice of Nancy Pelosi and make the 2020 election an impeachment of sorts. I said the Dems should tell voters, "Here's the horrible stuff that Trump has done.…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Trump is best mocked, not ignored

Donald Trump is a joke of a president. Except, he isn't a funny joke. He's pathetic. Which makes him eminently mockable, because he's clueless about his obvious weaknesses, failings, and insecurities.  If Trump had even a smidgen of self-awareness, if he showed even the slightest bit of compassion for other people, if he even occasionally manifested respect for truth -- then my compassionate Buddha-nature (slim though it is) would look upon Trump somewhat more favorably than I view him now. But since Trump has never shown me anything but incessant narcissism, incompetence, and non-stop lying, I've concluded that mocking him…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump

Donating to Elizabeth Warren is my way of dealing with Trump’s craziness

I watched some of Trump's hugely insane press conference after the G-7 summit on my iPhone. It was deeply disturbing. He made just about zero sense, blabbing on and on, for example, about Putin being kicked out of the G-8 because Obama felt something or other -- completely failing to recognize that Putin was ousted because he took over Crimea in defiance of international law. Then Trump blabbed on and on about how wonderful it was that the United States was extracting more oil, gas, and coal from the ground after being asked about his skepticism regarding climate change, and…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Dear Diary, Trump is batshit crazy. (Sorry for insult, bats)

Dear Diary, first, I realize I'm not actually writing in a diary, but I use my blogs as a kind-of-diary, because that way I can remember really important stuff that happens in my life.  Like today, it dawned on me more than ever before that we've got an exceedingly crazy guy occupying the White House. There's not much of a chance that Donald Trump will get saner before he's removed from office.  Still, just in case today marks the high-water mark for Trump's ascent, or descent, into Unheard Of Presidential Incompetence, I want to jot down what happened this week.…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

A Trump recession would be utterly unsurprising

This was a nasty day on Wall Street. Also, on Main Street, for anyone who owns stocks or mutual funds. A 3% drop in a single trading session would grab one's attention under any circumstances, as an iPhone screenshot shows. However, these aren't normal economic times. Nothing is normal, so long as Donald Trump is president. Which makes it more likely that a recession is on the horizon, given that everything Trump touches turns to shit. Economic analysts dance around the issue of Trump's massive incompetence by saying things like "trade wars are undermining corporate confidence." A more honest statement…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Let’s thank these Salem contributors to the Trump re-election campaign

We here at the world headquarters of the Salem Political Snark blog -- located, appropriately enough, in Salem, Oregon -- strongly believe in citizens being actively involved in politics. One great way to do this is by contributing to political campaigns. So when a fellow patriot shared with me a spreadsheet of Salem donors to President Trump's re-election campaign, information that is publicly available via the Federal Election Commission, I had two strong reactions. (1) I'm so clueless about spreadsheets, it's damn impressive that someone was able to combine donations to the Trump Make American Great Again Committee and the Donald…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Scariest thing about Trump: trashing objective reality

Every day Donald Trump does something that irritates me. But there's One Big Thing at the heart of Trumpism that worries me the most, because there's a danger it will live on after, hopefully, Trump departs the White House in January 2021. Denigrating objective reality to such a degree, people aren't able to tell the difference between fact and fiction. There are lots of signs of this happening to a scarily great extent. Here's some of them. -- Trump decrying "fake news!" at every opportunity, even though the mainstream media is hugely more truthful than the lies that constantly spew…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

We’re in a constitutional crisis. Yet Dems shouldn’t impeach.

A little while ago I watched the House Judiciary Committee vote to hold the Attorney General of the United States, William Barr, in contempt of Congress. This is only the second time in our nation's history that an A.G. has gotten a contempt citation. It's a big deal. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, the chair of the committee, just told reporters that we're now in a constitutional crisis.  The Trump administration is refusing to honor every subpoena Congress issues. The Trump administration refuses to allow Robert Mueller to testify about the report he issued into Russian interference with the 2016 election, how…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Here’s the most shocking thing Barr said today

If you like the prospect of the United States becoming a banana republic dictatorship where the rule of law doesn't apply to the Supreme Leader, you'll applaud Attorney General William Barr's trumpian display of arrogance, bad faith, and misleading testimony today at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. But being part of the majority of Americans who want our democracy to remain intact, I found one statement by Barr rose to the top of the OMG! I can't believe the head of the Justice Department just said that! pile, which was teetering precariously by the end of the hearing, the crap…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

After drenching myself in Mueller report coverage, here’s my take on it

For a political junkie like me, today's non-stop coverage of William Barr's embarrassingly awful press conference and subsequent analysis of the redacted Mueller report has felt like taking a really long hot shower that leaves you both blissfully exhausted and pleasantly energized. I've read the tweets. I've looked over Washington Post and New York Times stories. I've listened to much of what MSNBC had to offer, while fast forwarding through repetitive or uninteresting parts. I've scanned some of the report. Here's what leaps out at me after the initial coverage of the lengthy Mueller report. Barr should be impeached. Likely…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump is acting like a dictator. Our democracy is dying.

This is the week that pushed me over the edge of being merely concerned about our democracy surviving, to freaking out about the fact that it truly seems threatened by Trump. Which is scary.  Being as old as I am -- 70 -- I've lived through Richard Nixon (Watergate), Ronald Reagan (Iran/Contra), Bill Clinton (blow job, yawn), George W. Bush (no Iraq weapons of mass destruction), and various other WTF-is-going-on scandalous presidential behavior. But Donald Trump is in a league of his own. And that's not a compliment. He's the only president who has refused to abide by norms of generally…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump

Four reasons why I’m feeling fine about the Mueller report

Sorry, Trump supporters. I realize you think the Mueller report finding no collusion with Russia justifies a victory lap, with images of disappointed Democrats dancing through your heads. Think again.  I'm a Democrat who is feeling pretty darn good right now. Here's four reasons why. (1) Impeachment is even less likely now. Democratic leaders in Congress haven't been pushing for impeachment of Trump. Nancy Pelosi has said that she is against starting impeachment proceedings unless there's a bipartisan consensus in favor of this. Which will never happen. I suspect that impeachment now is even less likely, since apparently there's no…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Pelosi’s smirk made watching State of the Union worthwhile

I've never skipped a State of the Union address, but this year it crossed my mind. Well, just a few seconds of Trump's overly long and mostly boring speech made me glad that I watched it live. Nancy Pelosi's closed-eyes smirk of condescension, which was preceded by some eloquent eye-rolling, was a memorable moment. It followed Trump's ridiculous claim that the only thing standing between us and prosperity is... investigations into wrongdoing by Trump and his cohorts. “An economic miracle is taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it are foolish wars, politics…
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