(from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/opinion/trump-coronavirus-briefings.html?smid=tw-share&fbclid=IwAR0loAfyugFpg-8lzdrGYR8aiOjuRhtEx3jaqHiGNdpmjlZ4fq-WlKQIzTA)
". . . Under no circumstance should these briefings be carried live. Doing so is a mistake bordering on journalistic malpractice. Everything a president does or says should be documented but airing all of it, unfiltered, is lazy and irresponsible. . . As the veteran anchor Ted Koppel told The New York Times last month, “Training a camera on a live event, and just letting it play out, is technology, not journalism; journalism requires editing and context.” He continued, “The question, clearly, is whether his status as president of the United States obliges us to broadcast his every briefing live.” His answer was “no.”. . . "
(from https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/trump-s-2020-chances-look-bright-thanks-his-democratic-rivals-ncna1053456 By Keith Koffler) with comments from moi:
". . . Among the most enviable and least recognized qualities of a presidential candidate is something they share with lottery winners and bowling champions: A talent for dumb luck" . . .
Right on the the lottery, but it seems to me that bowling most certainly requires a fair amount of skill
". . . And for those politicians blessed with this wholly undeserved and unearned gift, the most valuable form of it, the lucky break coveted over all others, is a lousy opponent. President Donald Trump demonstrated such talent in abundance in 2016 when he faced the widely despised Hillary Clinton". . .
No disagreement here
"This is not to say Trump won’t earn the presidency. Or that he did not in 2016 either. He adroitly tapped into a gold mine of discontent with the established order, understanding the anger in the hinterland far better than the professional politicians and pundits who couldn’t see the problems with the establishment because they were part of it. But he also got lucky with his opponent — and he barely won". . .
Yes! BARELY! And 'earning' is not the word I would choose to describe how he got into office. Furthermore, I hope 'earning' (at the present time) includes 'performing' and 'accomplishing' as well as 'comporting', none of which can be attributed to this president
". . . As if to ensure his reelection, the Democrats have come up with former Vice President Joe Biden as the alleged front-runner — at least according to current polls — anointing him the most electable of the lot". . .
Unfortunately, very true.
". . . (Biden) called the actual commander in chief “President Hump,” . . .
Quite possibly not unintentional, unless he meant to say 'Lump'?????
proclaimed a preference for truth over facts and briefly relocated mass shootings that had occurred in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio to Houston and Michigan.
". . . Former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro blew the dog whistle on Biden’s mental state as loudly as possible. “Are you forgetting already what you said just two minutes ago?” he demanded after the former VP denied he had said people would have to buy into his health care plan". . .
Take heed Democrat/Biden supporter. This is an indication of something.
". . . the former vice president has been veering from the truth himself, including recent claims that he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, that he didn’t oppose busing and a story about pinning a silver star on a service member in Afghanistan. . . "
See above.
". . . Neither of the two leftist Democrats running not too far behind Biden, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts or Bernie Sanders of Vermont, holds much chance of winning the presidency in a country where, according to the 2018 Election Day exit polls, a significant portion of voters consider themselves moderates". . .
Possibly, but '2018 exit polls'. . . C'MON!!! Either Warren or Sanders would, in the election, scare the orange shit out of this clown.
". . . Booker and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke. . . [are] nowhere in the polls". . .
The POLLS!!?? C'MON. You press guys and your polls should be a little more humble after calling your horse in 2016!!
After taking office, Trump asked FBI Director James Comey to abandon the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election—which the FBI had already connected to Michael Flynn.
When Comey refused to alter course, Trump fired him. . .Trump then admitted the firing was over “the Russia thing” in a televised interview. . . In a tweet months later, he stated that he “had to fire Michael Flynn because he lied to the FBI”— further affirming that he dismissed James Comey in an attempt to quash the FBI’s investigation.
2. Profiting from the Presidency
The Constitution’s Foreign Emoluments Clause prohibits the president from accepting personal benefits from any foreign government or official. . . Trump has retained his ownership interests in his family business while he is in office. . . Thus, every time a foreign official stays at a Trump hotel, or a foreign government approves a new Trump Organization project, or grants a trademark, Trump is in violation of the Constitution. . . For example: shortly after he was sworn into office, the Chinese government . . . gave preliminary approval to 38 trademarks of Trump’s name. Then, in June, China approved nine Donald Trump trademarks they had previously rejected. . . And every time he goes to golf at a Trump property, he funnels taxpayer money into his family business—violating the Domestic Emoluments Clause.
3. Collusion
In the middle of the 2016 election, Trump’s son was invited to meet with a Russian national regarding “information that would incriminate Hillary and…would be very useful to” Donald Trump . . . The Russian, Natalia Veselnitskaya, had ties to high-ranking Kremlin officials. . . Trump Jr. took the meeting. He said, “I love it,” when told Veselnitskaya may have had dirt on Clinton. Paul Manafort and Jared Kushner also attended. . . Federal law prohibits campaigns from soliciting anything of value from a foreign national. . . After journalists broke this story, Trump personally dictated a public statement on behalf of his son that lied about the intended purpose of the meeting. . . This relationship between the Trump team and the Russian national raises questions of whether the campaign aided a hostile foreign power’s active operation against the United States.
4. Advocating Political & Police Violence
When Trump gave cover to the neo-Nazis who rioted in Charlottesville and murdered a protester, he violated his obligation to protect the citizenry against domestic violence. . . When Trump encouraged police officers to rough up people they have under arrest, he violated his obligation to oversee faithful execution of the laws. . . When Trump shared anti-Muslim content on Twitter, he violated his obligation to uphold equal protection of the laws. . . This represents a pattern of disregard for some of the president’s basic responsibilities as defined by the Constitution.
5. Abuse of Power
President Trump’s decision to pardon Joe Arpaio amounted to an abuse of the pardon power that revealed his indifference to individual rights and equal protections. . . Joe Arpaio was convicted for contempt of court after ignoring a court order that he stop detaining and searching people based on the color of their skin, which constitutes a violation of their rights. . . Pardoning this conviction goes against the Fifth Amendment, which allows the judiciary to issue and enforce injunctions against government officials who flout individual rights.
6. Engaging in Reckless Conduct
High-ranking administration officials involved in foreign affairs have signaled that Trump does not have the capacity to make informed decisions in the event of a military crisis.
Even worse, his actions could spark a needless confrontation stemming from misunderstanding or miscalculation. . . We see this in full effect every time Trump tweets or makes a public statement taunting and threatening the North Korean regime. . . The president may be the “Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States,” but that does not give him the right to behave in reckless or wanton ways that put millions of lives at risk. . . If he is unfit to perform his duties as Commander in Chief, he cannot be allowed to remain in the position.
7. Persecuting Political Opponents
President Trump has repeatedly pressured the Department of Justice and the FBI to investigate and prosecute political adversaries like Hillary Clinton. . . This is not based in concerns with national security, law enforcement, or any other function of his office—it is an attempted power play, plain and simple. . . There’s no question that this constitutes an outrageous and inappropriate abuse of executive branch powers and serves as clear grounds for impeachment.
8. Attacking the Free Press
President Trump has repeatedly attacked the concept of an independent press. . . He’s called critical coverage “fake news” and journalists “the enemy of the American people,” made threats to change libel laws and revoke licenses, and his battles with CNN led him to try to interfere in the AT&T/Time Warner merger. . . This demonstrates his unwillingness to respect and uphold the Constitution, and disdain for the crucial foundations to our free society. . . Thanks to Free Speech for People, whose white paper, ‘The Legal Case for a Congressional Investigation on Whether to Impeach President Donald J. Trump,’ served as the basis for this list.
9. Violating Immigrants' Right to Due Process
Enforcing its new “zero tolerance” policy, the Trump administration separated as many as 3,000 immigrant children from their parents at the southern border. This policy was meant to deter families from attempting to cross the border. . . The children and their families have been held in internment camps and cages with what lawyers call “inhumane conditions” . . . Due to negligence, the Trump administration has no plan to reunite all children with their families, even deporting some parents while their children remain detained. . . Thanks to Free Speech for People, ‘New ground for impeachment hearings: cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of children and their families,’ served as content for this impeachable offense.
10. Violating Campaign Finance Laws
Donald Trump knew disclosure of his extramarital affairs with Stephanie Clifford (A.K.A. Stormy Daniels) and Karen McDougal could hurt his chances at winning the 2016 election. . . At the direction of Trump, Michael Cohen and American Media, Inc. (AMI), the publisher of the National Enquirer bought the rights to the women’s stories and forced them to sign Non-Disclosure Agreements to prevent them from going public. . . Cohen admitted to making illegal, hush-money payments to hide Trump’s affairs in the fall of 2016, just weeks before the election. . . Federal prosecutors, and Trump’s co-conspirators Cohen and AMI, all say that Cohen made the payments at Trump’s direction, “in concert with the campaign,” and with the intention of helping Trump win.
Trump is an unindicted co-conspirator because he directed Cohen to “cause an unlawful corporate contribution” and an “excessive campaign contribution” by paying the two women hush money with the intent to influence the election.
Seems to me, that for the two-plus years that the orange man has been the center of national attention, that our press (which, by the way we actually DO need to remain active and free) should have learned ways to better convey to the American public the character of this individual. At this writing, some outlets have improved in some ways; but how could they not, considering how ridiculous some of his antics have become. My advice is, that when a statement is issued, (for example . . . "he blamed US policy -- not Putin -- for the dismal state of relations between the two countries. . ."[from https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/16/politics/donald-trump-putin-helsinki-summit/index.html])
for which an opportunity is not provided the press for questions, a note be made. The outrageous statement should then be questioned in the very next press conference, be it with a spokesperson or 45 himself. If (and this will most certainly be the case) a clear, logical answer is not provided, the question should be asked (not necessarily during the same press conference) each time the press has an opportunity to ask questions. When the spokespeople or 45 lose patience with hearing the same question and have still not provided a REAL answer, the reporter(s) must clearly and unequivocally explain that a proper answer has not, to date, been provided and that the American people demand as much.
(from https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/09/politics/trump-line-press-conference/index.html)
". . . 1. "We've concluded a really tremendously successful G7.
2. "And you know the gentlemen up are the legendary Larry Kudlow and the legendary John Bolton."
3. "I made a lot of statements having to do with clarity."
4. "I congratulate the leaders of other countries for so crazily being able to make these trade deals that were so good for their country and so bad for the United States."
5. "I'll be on a mission of peace, and we will carry in, really -- in my heart, we're going to be carrying the hearts of millions of people, people from all over the world."
6. "We really think that North Korea will be a tremendous place in a very short period of time."
7. "Well, there's always everything."
8. "He won't have that opportunity again. It's never going to be there again."
9. "He can take that nation, with those great people, and truly make it great."
10. "And we will watch over, and we'll protect, and we'll do a lot of things."
11. "I have not spoken to Vladimir Putin in quite a while."
12. "Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in."
13. "And something happened a while ago, where Russia is no longer in."
14. "We pay nothing. We don't want to pay anything. Why should we pay?"
15. "So you go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy-free."
16. "That's the way you learned at the Wharton School of Finance."
17. "I guess, they got to go back to the drawing and check it out, right?"
18. "It's going to change, 100%."
19. "We're like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing."
20. "And so we are talking to many countries. We're talking to all countries."
21. "So when we try and bring our piece up a little bit so that it's not so bad, and then they go up -- right -- the difference is they do so much more business with us than we do with them that we can't lose that."
22. "The numbers are so astronomically against them in terms of anything, as per your question."
23. "You've studied this very well. Congratulations."
24. "Hispanic doing the best."
25. "Fake News CNN. The worst. But I could tell by the question."
26. "I would say that the level of relationship is a 10."
27. "I will blame them if they don't act smart and do what they have to do -- because they have no choice. I'll be honest with you, they have no choice."
28. "So you can tell that to your fake friends at CNN."
29. "The relationship that I've had with the people, the leaders of these countries, has been -- I would really, rate it on a scale of 0 to 10, I would rate it a 10."
30. "You know, it's like the gig is up. It's like the gig is up. They're not trying to -- there's nothing they can say."
31. "But a lot of these countries actually smile at me when I'm talking. And the smile is -- we couldn't believe we got away with it."
32. "I think that he's going to surprise, on the upside, very much on the upside."
33. "Because, you know, as a deal person, I've done very well with deals."
34. "I think within the first minute I'll know. Just my touch, my feel. That's what I do."
35. "Everyone said -- you know, the haters, they say, 'Oh, you're giving him a meeting.' Give me a break, OK?"
36. "Because the US press is very dishonest, much of it."
37. "There are many people in the press that are unbelievably dishonest. They don't cover stories the way they're supposed to be."
38. "So there's tremendous -- you know, I came up with the term, 'fake news.' It's a lot of fake news. But at the same time, I have great respect for many people in the press."
. . . "
