Posted inDonald Trump

Buy stock in DJT, Trump’s media company (if you like to lose money)

In the 1980s my father gifted me some stock in a company he co-founded, thereby assuaging his guilt for ignoring me after he and my mother divorced, causing me to only spend one hour in my life face-t0-face with him aside from my very early years. The company, Systems and Computer Technology Corporation, traded on the NASDAQ as SCTC. That's where Donald Trump's company trades also. Its name is Trump Media & Technology Group Corporation; stock ticker is DJT. Aside from sharing a home on the NASDAQ, there aren't many resemblances between SCTC and DJT. When SCTC went public, the…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Ronna McDaniel shows what’s wrong with the Republican Party

To clarify the title of this blog post, I want to be clear that currently there are lots of things wrong with the Republican Party. For example, the failure to acknowledge the reality that humans are causing global warming and we've got to reduce greenhouse gas emissions as rapidly as possible to prevent civilization as we know it from being tossed into the garbage can of history. But there's a common denominator in many, if not most, of the flaws afflicting today's GOP: Donald Trump. Trump, who sows discord and destruction with every step he takes, like a malevolent Johnny…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Supreme Court gives Trump a big victory. But voters will decide his fate.

For progressives like me, or indeed anyone who wants to see Trump held accountable for his actions during the January 6 insurrection at the nation's capitol, today's Supreme Court decision was hugely disappointing. Trump asked the court to put on hold the January 6 case being overseen by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan until the court could rule on his bizarre contention that a president has immunity for whatever  he or she does while in office. Since it took the Supreme Court about two weeks before issuing a ruling on that request, many legal observers expected that the delay was…
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Posted inDonald Trump

The Kid’s Guide to President Trump is a scam. Naturally.

Driving around today, while listening to MSNBC on satellite radio I was surprised to hear an ad for The Kid's Guide to President Trump.  Curious to learn what this was all about, when I got home I headed to the web site mentioned in the ad. Yes, there it was -- not only the guide itself but a bundle! Even though I don't have any kids (my 52 year old daughter is an avid progressive, and no longer a kid), I like free stuff. So I was eager to get a free Kid's Guide to the Presidential Election if I…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump National politics

Trump owes $454 million in civil case penalty. Don’t vote for this fraudster.

Justice is finally catching up to Donald Trump. He's spent his whole adult life, and surely part of his childhood, feeling like he can get away with anything, thanks to the power of money he inherited from his father and subsequent business dealings that not only skirted the law, but sometimes broke the law. He's been found legally liable for defrauding people who signed up for Trump University. He's been found legally liable for defaming E. Jean Carroll, who he sexually assaulted and then lied about her making the story up. His list of other lawsuits and indictments goes on…
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Posted inDonald Trump Joe Biden National politics

Biden’s too old and forgetful to be president. So is Trump. We’re screwed.

It didn't take long for my reading of a story about the special counsel's report on Biden's retention of classified documents after he was no longer vice-president to turn from yay, good news to oh no, bad news. The good news was that Robert Hur, the special counsel who was a holdover Trump appointee, determined that Biden shouldn't be charged with a crime. That's a big contrast with Trump, who is facing "40 felony charges related to the documents case, including charges of obstruction of justice and violation of the Espionage Act for willfully retaining national defense information." But then…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump threatens border deal and Ukraine aid. He screws up everything.

I don't need more reasons to detest Donald Trump. He's given me plenty already during his disastrous appearances on the nation's political stage. But there's always a new disturbing Trump outrage that adds fuel to my Trump-hating fire. At the moment my gripe is with how Trump has inserted himself into negotiations in the Senate about a border deal that reportedly would give Republicans much of what they've been wanting. Stricter rules for individuals seeking asylum. Tightening security at the border. Not allowing whole groups of people, such as Afghans who helped us there, to be eligible to enter our…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

After New Hampshire, it’s almost certainly Biden vs. Trump

Following tonight's vote in New Hampshire, it seems clear that Nikki Haley's odds of beating Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination are about as strong as me winning a billion dollars in a lottery. Same is true of Dean Phillips beating Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination, though his odds are even lower. Phillips is on track to get about 20% of the vote in New Hampshire, where Biden wasn't even on the ballot due to his commitment to have South Carolina be the first state to award Democratic delegates.  Losing so badly when votes for Biden had to…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

Trump wins big in Iowa. May he lose big to Biden.

Living as I do in a vote-by-mail state where ballots are filled out in the comfort of one's home, then put in a mailbox with postage paid by Oregon's enlightened government, it baffles me why a state would vote in any other way. Like, by traveling to a site where you may have to stand in line for a long time before being able to vote. But that makes more sense than choosing a candidate in the Republican primary for president by having people attend caucuses in bitterly cold weather in mid-January where a couple of hours of discussion precedes…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump National politics

Republicans, January 6 criminals are prisoners, not hostages

It's a good thing that I don't have a blood pressure problem. If I did, I'd ask my doctor to increase my medication until the 2024 election is over in November, because the lies being spread by Donald Trump and his Republican sycophants are making me furious -- and it's just January 7. Which is one day after the three-year anniversary of the despicable insurrection, or riot if you prefer that word, at our nation's capitol in 2021.  Immediately after January 6 of that year most Republicans acknowledged that this violent attempt to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump

Should Trump be banned from the Oregon ballot? I say, no.

Yesterday Colorado banned Trump from that state's primary ballot. The Colorado Supreme Court issued the decision, which almost certainly now will be appealed to the United States Supreme Court. A divided Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday declared former President Donald Trump ineligible for the White House under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause and removed him from the state’s presidential primary ballot, setting up a likely showdown in the nation’s highest court to decide whether the front-runner for the GOP nomination can remain in the race. The decision from a court whose justices were all appointed by Democratic governors marks the…
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Posted inDonald Trump Oregon politics

Election workers deserve our thanks in these divisive times

We should be thankful all of the time, not just around Thanksgiving. But it was auspicious timing for the Salem City Club to have an "Elections Under the Microscope" presentation last Friday, since I came away from the presentations by Marion County Clerk Bill Burgess and Polk County Clerk Kim Williams with an increased feeling of thankfulness for the often thankless job election workers do in these divisive times. Bill Burgess By divisive, naturally I'm referring to the indisputable fact that one of our two major national political parties, the Republican, is in the thrall of Donald Trump, a notorious…
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Posted in2024 election Donald Trump Joe Biden

I’m freaking out about Biden’s weakness against Trump

With a year to go until the 2024 presidential election, is it too soon for Democrats to freak out about the horrific New York Times/Siena College poll released yesterday? President Biden is trailing Donald J. Trump in five of the six most important battleground states one year before the 2024 election, suffering from enormous doubts about his age and deep dissatisfaction over his handling of the economy and a host of other issues, new polls by The New York Times and Siena College have found. The results show Mr. Biden losing to Mr. Trump, his likeliest Republican rival, by margins…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Meet the Press shouldn’t have interviewed Trump

I'm a big fan of Meet the Press. It's been a Sunday viewing habit of mine for as long as I can remember. I enjoyed Chuck Todd when he was the host. But he's no longer with Meet the Press. Today was the debut of Todd's replacement, Kristen Welker. The show was devoted to a taped interview Welker did with Donald Trump. A transcript of the interview is here. The best part of the interview for me was seeing how old Trump looks. Either his makeup artist has gone on strike, or the pressures of his four indictments is getting…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Trump’s mug shot has an artistic quality to it

I rarely praise Donald Trump. Can't remember the last time I did this, but it could have been his Operation Warp Speed that succeeded in getting Covid vaccines to Americans in record time.  Today was another occasion for Trumpian praise. I couldn't help but think, "Dude, your Fulton County mug shot is a work of art. Great pose, with just the right combination of malevolence and irritation in your look."I suspect Trump is happy with the mug shot also. By leaning forward he appears to have managed to capture the light and dark shading on the opposite sides of his…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Georgia indictment of Trump should be wakeup call for GOP voters

A little while ago a Georgia grand jury indictment was unsealed, revealing that Donald Trump and 18 other people have been charged with criminal conspiracy for their efforts to overturn the legitimate 2020 election victory of Joe Biden in Georgia. Aug 14 (Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump was hit with a sweeping fourth set of criminal charges on Monday when a Georgia grand jury issued an indictment accusing him of efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The charges, brought by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, add to the legal woes facing Trump,…
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Posted in2020 election Donald Trump National politics

Trump’s defenses against Jan. 6 indictment make no sense

Yesterday it filled my progressive heart with joy when I heard that Donald Trump had been indicted by the Justice Department on four counts related to his attempt to steal the 2020 election after Joe Biden was lawfully elected: three of conspiracy and one of obstruction. You can read the eminently readable 45 page indictment via this PDF file.Download Trump Indictment file Today it was amusing to hear the laughable defenses trotted out by Trump's attorneys for why their client is innocent of the charges. Those defenses are so weak, Trump might as well plead guilty tomorrow at his arraignment,…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump’s federal indictment another first for the worst ex-president

Donald Trump likes to brag about himself. Well, today he got another #1 to add to his list of pseudo-accomplishments. Trump is the first former president to face federal charges. A New York Times story describes the well-deserved indictment.  The Justice Department on Thursday took the legally and politically momentous step of lodging federal criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump, accusing him of mishandling classified documents he kept upon leaving office and then obstructing the government’s efforts to reclaim them. Mr. Trump confirmed on his social media platform that he had been indicted. The charges against him include…
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Posted inDonald Trump

Trump on CNN was horrifying. Also, disqualifying.

I had no plan to watch the Trump town hall on CNN yesterday. But it was still going when I drove home from a Tai Chi class around 6 pm, so I listened to it on satellite radio for about half an hour. It was ugly. Really ugly. Trump lied incessantly. He talked over the moderator, Kaitlan Collins. He called E. Jean Carroll, who had just won a civil lawsuit where Trump was found guilty of sexually abusing and defaming Carroll, a "wack job" and said the trial was "a rigged deal." The New Hampshire audience, mostly Republicans and a…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Justice! Trump guilty of sexual abuse and defamation

Our legal system served E. Jean Carroll well today. Today a jury took just a few hours to find him guilty of sexually abusing and defaming her. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages that Trump has to pay. A New York Times story starts off this way. A Manhattan jury on Tuesday found former President Donald J. Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million in damages. More than a dozen women have accused Mr. Trump of sexual misconduct over the years, but this is the only allegation to be affirmed by…
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