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 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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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Here’s how to tell Howard Schultz “Don’t run for president”

If Howard Schultz, the ex-CEO of Starbucks, runs for president as an independent, there's too high a risk that he will siphon off enough votes to enable Donald Trump to win a second term in 2020.  So here's how to tell Schultz, "Don't run for president."  There's a Contact Us link on his website, though it isn't very obvious, being at the bottom of the site pages. That's why I'm sharing the link -- to make it easier for people to urge Schultz to hold off on his vanity presidential campaign. It's https://www.howardschultz.com/contact-us Naturally you can say whatever you like…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Trump has to be the worst presidential deal-maker ever

For someone who had a book ghostwritten for him called "The Art of the Deal," Donald Trump is a notably shitty dealmaker. So far in his presidency he's noted for breaking deals -- Paris climate change agreement, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Iran nuclear agreement -- rather than making them. Which figures. Blowing stuff up is a hell of a lot easier than putting stuff together. The worst thing I can say about Trump is that I consider myself a better dealmaker than he is. And my credentials aren't exactly sterling. Once I was negotiating with a guy in our carport about a…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Wanted: an entity to save us from Trump. No experience required.

After enduring today's Trump news, which surpassed in scariness anything our Idiot in Chief has brought us since he became president, I'm reduced to viewing this blog post as akin to a message in the bottle. Yes, I'm that desperate after: -- seeing the stock market drop almost 500 points (again)-- having the (competent) Secretary of Defense resign after Trump ordered him to remove all U.S. troops from Syria, a really bad idea-- observing Trump go back on a promise (no big surprise) to sign a continuing resolution keeping the government open, so it looks like a Christmas Trump shutdown…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Here’s what Trump didn’t say about the pipe bombs

I'm going to channel my inner Stephen Colbert for a moment. Today seven pipe bombs were discovered to have been sent to six people: Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, George Soros, John Brennan, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and Maxine Waters. Holder was supposed to get a bomb, but it was misaddressed, so it was sent to a fake return address belonging to Schultz. Because these were all people that Donald Trump has insulted, sometimes viciously, and Trump has called journalists the "enemy of the people" -- Brennan's bomb was sent to CNN, where he works as an analyst -- along with calling…
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Posted inNational politics Oregon politics

Oregon is #1 in ease of voting. I show why.

Oregonians are appropriately proud of our beautiful, prosperous, progressive state. Now we have another reason to feel superior: Oregon is the easiest place to vote among all 50 states. A professor in the Political Science Department at Northern Illinois University was the lead author of the study, described in "New study scrutinizes time and effort it takes to vote in each state." Here's the characteristics that make for easy voting: Oregon has had mail-in voting since 1998, when we became the first state to conduct all elections by mail. We have automatic voter registration via drivers license info, thanks to…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Never lose your anger at Jamal Khashoggi’s murder

I've become obsessed with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi by a Saudi Arabia hit squad, and the Trump administration's despicable attempt to absolve Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of that country (who goes by MBS, which I translate at Murdering Big Shit) of a horrendous crime. Since Khashoggi's death, many times a day I check my iPhone or laptop to see what new information about his murder has come to light. I'm pleased with my anger. I don't want to lose it. And I hope that lots of Americans express their own anger in the upcoming mid-term election by…
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Posted inNational politics

Let’s throw Kavanaugh’s angry, ugly words back at the GOP

A week ago Brett Kavanaugh said, in his off-the-rails bizarre tirade against his made-up Democratic conspiracy to deny him a Supreme Court seat, "What goes around, comes around."  Nobody really knows what this threat meant, not even Politifact.  Doesn't matter. Those of us who are opposed to Kavanaugh, which includes everyone who cares about women's rights, can appropriate those words for our own purposes. If Kavanaugh is confirmed this weekend, as seems highly possible, we need to channel our entirely justified outrage at how the White House manipulated the FBI background check for its own political purpose into making the…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Solid evidence that Russia caused Trump to win the 2016 election

Just when I thought I couldn't be more disturbed about Donald Trump becoming president, an article appeared in the October 1, 2018 issue of The New Yorker that got me increasingly angry and upset.  Why? Because Jane Mayer, who wrote "Russia Won" (online title: "How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump"), describes in convincing detail the findings of Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a scholar with solid credentials who wrote a soon-to-be-released book, Cyberwar: How Russian Hackers and Trolls Helped Elect a President -- What We Don't, Can't, and Do Know. Download How Russia Helped Swing the Election for Trump |…
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Posted inNational politics

Everybody was talking to someone else at today’s Kavanaugh hearing

Have you ever been at a party, engaged in conversation with someone, and you suddenly notice that while they're talking to you, their attention has strayed to an attractive person standing behind you, and they're now looking over your shoulder rather than at you? That's how I felt watching today's Senate Judiciary Committee hearing featuring Christine Blasey Ford and Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who Ford has accused of assaulting her sexually back in 1982. It was can't-miss drama for a political junkie like me. I watched most of the proceedings on TV. There was everything: suspense, tears, ups and…
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Posted inChamber of Commerce City Council National politics

If all politics is national now, what about local Salem politics?

Baby boomer that I am, I'm old enough to remember when what Yascha Mounk writes about in a New Yorker piece, "The Rise of McPolitics," was the lay of the political land in this country: For much of the twentieth century, the real power in American politics rested not with U.S. representatives or senators but with the governors, mayors, and assemblymen who controlled local purse strings. In many cases, men like Chafin got people elected to Congress in order to reward them for years of loyal service or to rid themselves of ambitious rivals, but national politics was of comparatively…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Here’s the scariest thing about Trump (hint: it isn’t about him)

At this point in Trump's presidency I've become accustomed to being shocked on a daily basis by the newest horror inflicted on us by the Liar-in-Chief. Today, for example, Trump cancelled pay raises for civilian workers in the federal government because our "nation's fiscal situation" can't afford it. This is the same Trump who regularly proclaims that our economy is the best it's ever been in the history of the United States, and he's the reason things are so amazingly great. And this is the same Trump who pushed for a massive tax cut for corporations, which, along with smaller…
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Posted inNational politics

Liberals, let’s honor McCain by being moderate for a moment

Today, following John McCain's death on Saturday, there's been lots of media coverage of McCain's life, courage, and maverick'ness. I also want to honor this American hero, even though I'm a liberal who didn't agree with McCain on most of his policy positions -- though I heartily share his commitment to recognizing climate change as a reality and his voting to preserve the Affordable Care Act. Now I realize there's some debate about how moderate McCain was. A Slate article argues that he was a conservative, not a moderate. Wikipedia, though, presents evidence pointing to McCain being at least moderately a…
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Posted inDonald Trump National politics

Truth isn’t dead, though Trump wants to kill it

Great timing. This morning I'd just finished Michiko Kakutani's book, "The Death of Truth: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump," when a New York Times story popped into my attention: "Giuliani Says 'Truth Isn't Truth' in Defense of Trump's Legal Strategy." Here's an excerpt from the story, which reports on today's Meet the Press interview between Chuck Todd and Giuliani. Mr. Giuliani replied he would not be rushed into having Mr. Trump testify “so that he gets trapped into perjury.” “And when you tell me that, ‘You know, he should testify because he’s going to tell the truth…
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