Trump 5: Coming up trumps

[Scribber]

The Orange One is bringing Obama's half-brother to the debate. WTF?

Proving that he is nothing more than an overgrown 5 year old as he did the last two debates too!

[GreyhoundFan]

I'm getting more and more concerned about the trumpster crazies if/when he loses. The level of unrest and violence that is being pushed is scary. The level of delusion is mind-boggling.

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Retiree Gerald Miller, a volunteer at Donald Trump’s rally here, is confident his man will win on Nov. 8 — unless there’s foul play.

Miller, wearing an NRA pin and a tea party cap over his long hair, shares Trump’s concern that the election may be “rigged” by the Clinton campaign. “It is enough to skew the election. They can swing it either way,” he said, particularly because Hillary Clinton may have “the FBI working for her” in committing the fraud.

So what happens if Clinton is declared the winner? “Donald Trump is going to holler fraud if he doesn’t win,” figured Miller, who is white and says he has PTSD from “racial violence” he suffered in the military. “I think we’re on the verge of a civil war, a racial war. This could be the spark that sets it off.”

 

The title of this op-ed piece says it all: "Trump is rigging the election: No matter who wins, America loses.

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IN AN editorial Tuesday, we described how Donald Trump is attacking both halves of a fundamental and long-standing equation of American democracy: that the loser recognizes the winner and that the winner lets the loser remain in the political arena. By claiming his loss could happen only as a result of cheating, and threatening to jail Hillary Clinton if he wins, Mr. Trump is rejecting a pillar of our republic.

But that is not the only pillar under assault: Mr. Trump’s blanket indifference to truth is similarly an attack on democracy. All politicians fudge the truth at times. But their misrepresentations usually have at least some connection to reality. Without basic acceptance that facts and evidence matter, authentic debate becomes impossible, as does governance.

Put simply, both sides must agree that two plus two equals four before they can argue about budget numbers. Mr. Trump would not concur if he concluded it was in his interest for two plus two to equal five. He invents alternate realities and encourages his supporters to inhabit them.

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[apple1]

42 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Screw that.  John McCain shouldn't assume that the Republicans will continue to control the Senate.  Or the House for that matter.  And Paul Ryan accidentally encourages progressives and liberals to turn out in large numbers to knock out all those down-ticket Republicans up for reelection. 

 https://www.thenation.com/article/paul-ryan-inadvertently-makes-the-best-case-for-a-democratic-senate-budget-chair-bernie-sanders/

These may have been posted before, but as others have the main stream press covered (that ebil left-wing conspiracy against the Farting Orange Monster) I've been looking at the  Christian Evangelical press.

Even Christianity Today doesn't want to get soiled by Trump's moral failings.  King David isn't a good enough excuse this time per this opinion piece.  Ouch. 

 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2016/october-web-only/speak-truth-to-trump.html

And the Christian Century (I see it as quite mainstream Protestant) tries to explain the strange phenomenon of the Christian Right staying loyal to Trump.   http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2016-10/why-christian-right-still-supports-trump

World says Trump is unfit: https://world.wng.org/2016/10/unfit_for_power

Not really Christian evangelical press, but -

(as I am open to saying, I self-identify as Christian) Max Lucado has recently written a couple of IMO excellent pieces about this election and American Christians. Basically, pointing out that we need to live out our professed beliefs in various ways - putting faith in God and treating our fellow citizens according to the teachings of Jesus. Lucado has also been greatly criticized by more strident and more rightist supposed-Christian-leadership who have supported Trump.

[Palimpsest]

11 minutes ago, apple1 said:

Not really Christian evangelical press, but -

(as I am open to saying, I self-identify as Christian) Max Lucado has recently written a couple of IMO excellent pieces about this election and American Christians. Basically, pointing out that we need to live out our professed beliefs in various ways - putting faith in God and treating our fellow citizens according to the teachings of Jesus. Lucado has also been greatly criticized by more strident and more rightist supposed-Christian-leadership who have supported Trump.

Exactly.  I heard him on NPR the other day:  http://www.npr.org/2016/10/16/498171491/pastor-max-lucado-worries-about-lasting-consequences-of-2016-campaign

It's good to see people like Max Lucado stand up and be counted.  I wish he'd say upfront that he is not going to vote for Trump though.

The problem as I see it  is that the Republican party sold out to the noisy far right "Christian" extremist leadership.  Those far right "Christians" should not be allowed to control the discourse any longer.  It is time for right thinking, moderate, and progressive Christians to speak up loud and clear.  Take back the meaning of true Christianity.

If this means that sane people undecided, moderate, liberal, progressive (and whether they identify as Christian or not) in swing states have to get out, hold their noses, and vote for Clinton - so be it. 

For the record, I self-identify as atheist, I am not a Clinton fan, and I am a permanent resident alien not a citizen.  However, IMO this is no time for US citizens to mess around.  This situation is typical of how dictators get elected.

[47of74]

Sometimes I wish I could just hibernate through the election. 

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-malik-obama-debate_us_5806a6d9e4b0b994d4c27568

Obama's Kenyan bro votes for gropers, therefore Hillary belongs in jail.

 

Or..?

[Cartmann99]

2 hours ago, AuntK said:

The Orange One is bringing Obama's half-brother to the debate. WTF?

Don't you understand? If Trump brings Obama's half-brother to the debate, then it will throw Obama off his game, and he'll never get elected to a third term. 

You know what would really push this election over the top? Larry Flynt showing up and offering a million dollar reward.

Quote

In fact, the Hustler magazine publisher is so disgusted that he is putting up a $1 million reward for any "scandalous" recordings of Trump. The reward will be paid for "verifiable video footage or audio recordings for use prior to the November 8 election clearly showing Donald Trump engaging in illegal activity or acting in a sexually demeaning or derogatory manner," according to a statement from the magazine.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2016/10/18/larry-flynt-trump-reward/92379706/

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/19/us-debate-in-donald-trump-americans-have-finally-found-a-man-too/

 

In Donald Trump, Americans have finally found a man too stupid even for them

[Howl]

On 10/17/2016 at 8:55 PM, AuntK said:

There should be some saner heads in the GOP that need to step up NOW and tell Trump and his minions enough is ENOUGH! This is AMERICA, not some banana republic, we hold elections, and we respect those outcomes, period. Anything else will destroy us!

Saner heads in the GOP have been attempting to rein in Trump, to make him appear to be more presidential, to get him to just SHUT THE F**K UP, and no one has been successful at doing this, although Trump has managed to do the above for a maximum of, literally, 10 minutes.  When the GOP realized it was hopeless, GOPers had some options: 

1) rats jumped sinking ship

2) collectively wrote letters confirming that Trump has all the presidential attributes of a rabid dog

3) became a trained seal*, slapping flippers, sucking up, spinning and lying, hoping to be fed a dead fish (Newt Gingrich, Rudy Guiliani, et al.) 

4) being a dead fish, i.e., the stunned walking wounded Chris Christie, wondering how one can fall to oblivion so far, so fast  

*I googled "pictures of trained seals" and ended up with a 50-50 mix of actual seals and, alternately, Navy Seals rappelling out of helicopters and doing other Navy Seal stuff.  Images here.  I love the google. 

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@AuntK said: Don't you understand? If Trump brings Obama's half-brother to the debate, then it will throw Obama off his game, and he'll never get elected to a third term. 

This made me laugh so hard.  A few minutes ago, we were watching TV and it occurred to me that Obama's half brother is being invited to the debate for a very cynical reason (other than his being a Trump supporter and a big FU to Obama):  he's a black man and Trump is desperate to  turn around his zero support among black Americans, plus it keeps the buzz going with the talking heads.   

Just a few days until early voting begins. It can't be too soon. 

[apple1]

3 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Exactly.  I heard him on NPR the other day:  http://www.npr.org/2016/10/16/498171491/pastor-max-lucado-worries-about-lasting-consequences-of-2016-campaign

It's good to see people like Max Lucado stand up and be counted.  I wish he'd say upfront that he is not going to vote for Trump though.

The problem as I see it  is that the Republican party sold out to the noisy far right "Christian" extremist leadership.  Those far right "Christians" should not be allowed to control the discourse any longer.  It is time for right thinking, moderate, and progressive Christians to speak up loud and clear.  Take back the meaning of true Christianity.

If this means that sane people undecided, moderate, liberal, progressive (and whether they identify as Christian or not) in swing states have to get out, hold their noses, and vote for Clinton - so be it. 

For the record, I self-identify as atheist, I am not a Clinton fan, and I am a permanent resident alien not a citizen.  However, IMO this is no time for US citizens to mess around.  This situation is typical of how dictators get elected.

Continuing with a little more of this discussion: Please note, this is my personal view and I am not trying to "sell" it, nor to argue, just to express my own belief relating to this topic. I have posted the following on my FB (where I have a high percentage of Trump supporters among extended relatives, where I MOSTLY avoid political anything, and where I try to keep the peace as much as possible, believing that politics on FB is generally not productive - but sometimes I just have to say something).

My FB post:

Far too many professing Christians are in reality looking for their hope in politics. Additionally, the institutional church has gone to bed with certain politics. This is nothing less than spiritual adultery and in my opinion, this has had disastrous effects on both religious institutions and on American politics.

Aside: Distressingly, yesterday I heard the statement, "I have never before heard so many Christians making excuses for bad behavior." This is not a good Christian testimony.

Each individual member of the body of Christ, because of the presence of the Holy Spirit, is able to make a personal decision about what that means to them in the voting booth. No corporate church or pastor or religious spokesperson should override the Holy Spirit in that decision-making.

No politician, nor political party, is savior. None. Not one.

Lamentations 3:24
"The Lord is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him."

 

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/nation-fears-drug-test-would-reveal-trump-not-on-drugs

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump’s suggestion that both Presidential candidates submit to a drug test has sparked fears that such a test would reveal that he is not on drugs.

In interviews conducted across the country, voters said that they would be “alarmed” and “distressed” to learn that the billionaire’s statements and actions were the product of a mind unaltered in any way by a controlled substance.

[47of74]

6 hours ago, Palimpsest said:

Just an FYI: You can report Facebook posts.  I just reported that one as "shouldn't be on FB." 

FB probably won't do anything about it but it made me feel better.

Yeah they usually don't.  I've found nasty stuff and FB 90% of the time looks the other way when that shit is reported.

36 minutes ago, AmazonGrace said:

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/borowitz-report/nation-fears-drug-test-would-reveal-trump-not-on-drugs

NEW YORK (The Borowitz Report)—Donald J. Trump’s suggestion that both Presidential candidates submit to a drug test has sparked fears that such a test would reveal that he is not on drugs.

In interviews conducted across the country, voters said that they would be “alarmed” and “distressed” to learn that the billionaire’s statements and actions were the product of a mind unaltered in any way by a controlled substance.

I couldn't see Carrie Fisher saying that she's not the expert she thought she was on blow.

[PennySycamore]

@apple1,  I wish I'd had that to post to my sister's FB this morning!  She posted some preacher saying that "Clinton did worse!"  (murdering people, etc) which is a lie.  Hillary's been the target of rightwing lies for 25 or 30 years.  How can people who claim to be Christian so conveniently and so easily throw out the Eighth Commandment?

[karen77]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-presidential-debates/wall-taco-food-trucks-line-against-trump-las-vegas-n669056

 

This is making me hungry!!! And I find it hilarious.

[Palimpsest]

 

@apple1.  An upvote is not enough.  Very nicely written.  Thanks.

[AmazonGrace]

Even Kellyanne Conway can't bring herself to agree with Trump anymore: 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-voter-fraud-conway_us_58077cf0e4b0180a36e7a3de

[Coy Koi]

I'm having such a hard time with this, you guys. My mom was just asking me why my teenage daughter seems mad at her. I asked my daughter and she said because of her support of Trump, but she didn't want to talk about it with my mom. My sister and I have been having the same issue, so we finally decided to speak up (of course we had already made it abundantly clear that we were against Trump, but we had mostly just been refusing to talk about politics at all).

My text to my mom:

I talked to [daughter] and I hate to open this can of worms but she's feeling really upset by your support of Trump. And honestly, so are [sister] and I. We all love you no matter what, but it's so hard to reconcile the amazing mom/grandma we feel so lucky to have with someone who would support the shockingly hateful, horrific views that Trump espouses. We want to just ignore it but we're struggling a lot with this.

It's been almost an hour and no reply. We are all a bundle of nerves.

My mom IS a wonderful person, she really is. I'm not just saying that because she's my mom. The Trump thing has been driving us fucking crazy for months now because it's so contrary to everything else about her

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/trump-abusing-women-wife-melania-latest-victim-article-1.2834993

Melania's only allies were her penthouse view and her gilded Louis XIV chairs. Nothing says, "My husband is a man of the people and this whole thing is a left-wing conspiracy" like a penthouse view and a gilded Louis XIV chair.

The interviews — what with Melania's long pauses, her off-camera glances looking for a clue about what to say, her English peppered with, I want to say rage — smack of a POW forced to perform on video by his captors. But you didn't need to read Morse code to see what Melania Trump's eyelids were flashing: "Help me! He's making me say this! I don't believe it!" (Indeed, Tuesday afternoon brought more evidence thatMelania is lying about the allegations brought forth by People magazine reporter Natasha Stoynoff.)

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/10/19/13329784/obama-brother-trump-debate

If Clinton wasn’t ruffled by the presence of three women who’ve accused her husband of sexual misconduct during the second presidential debate — when, due to the town hall format, she could easily see the audience — is she really going to be thrown off her game by the presence of some other dude’s half-brother somewhere in the darkened auditorium?

Of course she isn’t. The real purpose of Malik Obama’s presence on Wednesday night is to get media attention (something Donald Trump believes you can literally never have enough of). More specifically, it’s a hidden in-joke — an Easter egg, if you will — for Trump’s conspiracy-gorged base.

Trump may have officially disowned birtherism earlier in his campaign. But Malik Obama is a birther himself, not to mention a living, breathing reminder of Barack Obama’s supposed foreignness. Trump might not be running against Obama, but his argument that Democrats are globalists, trying to get rid of borders (“if you don’t have borders, you don’t have a country”) and cut deals that allow other countries to get ahead, certainly looks stronger to people who believe the current president is literally a foreigner.

But the presence of Malik, and his adoption by the far right, is ironic for this very reason. There’s no way conservatives would support a former Kenyan politician flying from Kenya to vote in a US presidential election if he weren’t voting for Donald Trump.

In fact, if Malik Obama were an immigrant, he’d be exactly the kind of immigrant to whom Donald Trump says we should deny visas: a Muslim from a country with a history of unrest who doesn’t share American family values, like belief in the equality of women and LGBTQ people.

 

http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2016/10/roger-ailes-donald-trump-no-longer-speak

Allegedly Trump has had a falling out with Roger Ailes, of all people he could have had a falling out with...

 

 

[Destiny]

FYI and all.

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/one-month-253-trump-untruths-214369

When Donald Trump ludicrously accused Hillary Clinton, at the first presidential debate, of trying to fight the Islamic State for her “entire adult life,” Clinton didn’t offer a rebuttal. Instead, she issued a request: “Please, fact-checkers, get to work.”

They were already working. Thanks to the brazenness of Trump’s deceit, fact-checking, that unglamorous journalistic activity once mostly relegated to niche websites and little boxes beside newspaper articles, is having a moment. Big news organizations now assign teams of reporters to fact-check the debates in real time. CNN, among other networks, is using its bottom-screen chyrons to challenge Trump’s most obvious lies. And every day, full-time fact checkers take a false claim, or three, or four, and meticulously explain why it is wrong.

I decided a month ago that this wasn’t enough.

What we’re experiencing from Trump is a daily avalanche of wrongness. The essential truth of this election cannot be conveyed with an examination of any one particular chunk of ice. The story is the massive accumulation of nonsense, big stuff and little stuff alike, day after day.

I’m now spending much of my time immersed in Trump’s dishonesty. I’m the Washington correspondent for Canada’s Toronto Star newspaper, and since September 15, I’ve published a daily tally—or as close to a daily tally as I can produce while also sleeping occasionally—of every false claim the Republican presidential candidate has uttered in a speech or interview. At the end of each day or the beginning of the next, I tweet a screenshot of the list, then publish it on our website, thestar.com.

The fewest inaccuracies I’ve heard in any day is four. The most is 25. (Twenty-five!) That doesn’t include the first two debates, at which I counted 34 and 33, respectively. Over the course of 33 days, I counted a total of 253 (including some that repeat).

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 All together, one of the day’s most important news items was really this: “Candidate makes up a whole bunch of things in rapid succession for no particular reason.” It went largely untold.

 

[Cartmann99]

56 minutes ago, karen77 said:

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/2016-presidential-debates/wall-taco-food-trucks-line-against-trump-las-vegas-n669056

 

This is making me hungry!!! And I find it hilarious.

I wish there was a taco truck in my neighborhood.  We have a ice cream truck that comes down our street a few times a week, but no tacos. 

38 minutes ago, Coy Koi said:

My mom IS a wonderful person, she really is. I'm not just saying that because she's my mom. The Trump thing has been driving us fucking crazy for months now because it's so contrary to everything else about her

I'm so sorry. I know if my mother were still alive, I would be having similar issues.  My late mother was one of those seniors who started to change after a steady diet of Fox News.

I really hope you are able to work things out with your mom. 

[Coy Koi]

Just now, Cartmann99 said:

I'm so sorry. I know if my mother were still alive, I would be having similar issues.  My late mother was one of those seniors who started to change after a steady diet of Fox News.

I really hope you are able to work things out with your mom. 

Thank you! We are really, really hurt by this. My mom has always been a Republican but just a nominal one. She never really paid attention to politics. Eight years ago, she thought it was so cute when I wore my Obama t-shirt, and four year ago she texted me happily "Your guy won!" as soon as it was announced. Now, she's gotten completely brainwashed. She isn't stupid, she isn't horrible. I wouldn't dream of arguing with anyone who assumes a Trump supporter has to be one of those two things, because even now, I have a hard time believing it's not the case. I'm just so disappointed and saddened. Whatever my mom does eventually reply, my sister and daughter and I are glad we finally made it clear that this isn't just a matter of political disagreement. It's about human decency. I SO hope my mom makes the right choice.

[apple1]

1 hour ago, PennySycamore said:

@apple1,  I wish I'd had that to post to my sister's FB this morning!  She posted some preacher saying that "Clinton did worse!"  (murdering people, etc) which is a lie.  Hillary's been the target of rightwing lies for 25 or 30 years.  How can people who claim to be Christian so conveniently and so easily throw out the Eighth Commandment?

Feel free.

[AmazonGrace]

Please Understand Just How Harmful Donald Trump’s Wall Would Be

http://time.com/4509501/donald-trumps-border-wall/

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“I don’t even believe the polls,” Trump said at the rally in Grand Junction. “I see these polls and they’re not terrible. They’re sort of good. Actually if the people come out and vote, they’re very nervous. I have a feeling this is another Brexit.”

“They say we’re tied. I don’t think we’re tied,” he also told the crowd. 

Trump previously read horserace polls like scores for a mythical sports team that never loses. Now polls are poison, and in their place, Trump is chanting to the already converted. 

“Let’s say we’re tied, then how come we have thousands and thousands of people, thousands and thousands?” Trump said. 

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/elections-2016-donald-trump-campaigns-colorado-conservative-parts-i-dont-believe-polls/

 

A ) who is saying that they're tied? 

B ) yeah he has thousands of people in his rallies but does he have any idea that the US population is much more than that?