Trump 5: Coming up trumps

[candygirl200413]

Living in a swing state has stressed me out completely of a trump presidency (among other things obviously). I live in one of the top 5 liberal districts in the nation but I have a deep gut feeling pennsyltucky will prevail 

[47of74]

On 10/23/2016 at 5:41 PM, Howl said:

Trump is basically a human air horn who will instantly lose pressure.  Maybe there will be enough air pressure left for a few honks and bleats tapering off to a brief wheeze. 

So glad I can vent of FJ! 

Yeah, me too.  I'd probably have blown my stack by now if I didn't have a place to vent.

Agent Orange is basically a human vuvuzela.  If anyone here don't know what one of those is, google it.  And while you're at it, get down on your knees and Thank God the NLF, MLB, NHL, etc etc do not allow the presence of those at their games.

[AmazonGrace]

On 24.10.2016 at 1:41 AM, Howl said:

Eric Trump is being interviewed by George  Stephanopoulos.  He's definitely channeling Kellyanne Conway.  He dropped the what would-have-happened-if my-dad-had-been-fed-the-debate-questions-ahead-of-time-instead-of-Hillary line, implying of course that Hillary had been prepped by being given the questions ahead of time and got away with it.

So is he saying that Daddy did badly in the debates? I thought Donald thinks he won all of them according to all the polls.

What does it matter...it's not like any of the issues is new... even if he had got all the debate questions beforehand he still wouldn't have a plan.

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

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Donald Trump yesterday claimed that the multiple opinion polls from the "disgusting" media, which have him way behind Hillary Clinton, were "phony".

"I believe we're actually winning," the Republican nominee told a crowd in Florida, showing no signs of softening his combative rhetoric. "It's a rigged system," he added. 

"The media isn't just against me. They're against all of you," he later told supporters in St Augustine. "They're against what we represent."

And what's that? Racism, misogyny, paranoia and a threat to democracy?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/25/trump-says-his-campaign-is-bigger-than-brexit-but-is-warned-by-c/

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-reads-donald-trumps-tweet-jimmy-kimmel/story?id=43032859

President Obama appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Monday night, and read a series of Mean Tweets, including one from Republican nominee Donald Trump.

"Obama will go down as perhaps the worst president in the history of the United States - @RealDonaldtrump," Obama read, quoting the GOP presidential hopeful. “Well, @RealDonaldTrump, at least I will go down as a president,” Obama quipped.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/24/trump-tv-facebook-live-us-election-media-tomi-lahren

Live from Trump Tower, it’s the far right: Trump TV launches on Facebook

To bypass the so-called liberal media, the Republican nominee launched his own ‘news program’. If they intend to compete, the hosts might want to try harder
 

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This is not Trump TV, declared the hosts – Trump advisers Boris Epshteyn and Cliff Sims. It is, instead a program called Live from Trump Tower – “an effort by us to reach out to you”, they said.

“Let’s really load this up,” Epshteyn exclaimed, as though he were in line at Sizzler and about to dump a soup ladle full of sour cream on his baked potato. Something about Live from Trump Tower makes people hungry, I guess. I’m sure someone can pop down to grab one of Trump Tower’s famous taco bowls.

But there is no discernible entertainment value to be had in Live from Trump Tower, unless your idea of a good time is significantly less professional than InfoWars, but with fewer insane people removing articles of clothing.

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/trump-clinton-florida-230275

Florida spirals away from Trump

With the GOP nominee trailing in poll after poll and lacking a ground game, a low turnout may be Trump's only hope of carrying the state.

http://www.vox.com/identities/2016/10/24/13382568/trump-sexual-assault-accusers-lawyers-pro-bono

Trump is incredibly litigious — he’s been involved in 3,500 lawsuits, even over trivial things like the height of a flagpole. So even though he doesn’t always follow through on his constant threats to sue people, there’s always a very real chance that he’ll make good on his threats.

That means Trump’s speech was a powerful intimidation tactic against any women who are debating whether to come forward; they’d have to decide whether it’s really worth the risk of facing a long, expensive, draining legal battle against Trump.

Having prominent lawyers come forward promising pro bono defenses is a major piece of good news for Trump’s accusers who have already come forward, and for any others who might want to do the same.

http://people.com/politics/president-obama-laughs-most-of-the-time-at-donald-trump/

http://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/donald-trump-and-his-supporters-have-been-caught-out-in-a-series-of-fundraising-scandals/news-story/9264bc2210b4d2488d79365edd3a2345

Donald Trump and his supporters have been caught out in a series of fundraising scandals
 

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A SERIES of fundraising scandals have rocked Donald Trump’s campaign with just two weeks to go until the federal election.

On Monday, an investigation by The Telegraph (UK) exposed key Trump proponents who were prepared to accept millions of dollars in illegal donations from what they believed to be foreign backers.

The senior figures came up with an elaborate method of getting the funds cleared by pushing them through firms that only accept funds for charitable reasons. Using these organisations — known as a 501(c)(4) — they’ve avoided scrutiny of who has donated to the campaign.

It raises questions over whom exactly the Trump campaign is getting its donations from.

Meanwhile, The Huffington Post has revealed that Mr Trump used donation money from his supporters to purchase nearly $300,000 worth of his own books, in order to generate royalty payments he could pocket for himself.

 

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In a fundraising email sent out on August 2, he offered his 1987 bestseller The Art of the Deal for a minimum donation of $184, The Huffington Post revealed.

“I’ve signed an out-of-print, hardcover copy of ‘The Art of the Deal’ just for you, because I want you on board with Team Trump!” he wrote.

But the book has never actually gone out-of-print, and is currently still available for purchase from various booksellers — including its publisher, Random House — for as little as $16.99.

 

 

[AmazonGrace]

The Racism Behind Trump's 'Rigged Election' Talk

Trump shows how little he cares about "the blacks"

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By now, it's clear Trump doesn't care about black Americans, and his debate performance last Wednesday solidified that. Because if Trump truly cared about "the blacks," as he's called us, he would've vigorously walked back his comments about monitoring polling places and would not have further insinuated that the election results might be illegitimate, given our nation's long history of voter intimidation and election violence targeted at African-Americans.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/features/the-racism-behind-trumps-rigged-election-talk-w446461

Trump at raucous rally: Clinton ‘lies more than any human being
 

Quote

“If you look at her plans for Syria, these are the plans of a child,” Trump said.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-campaign-homestretch-trump-and-clinton-turn-up-heat-in-swing-states/2016/10/24/49690710-99d7-11e6-9980-50913d68eacb_story.html
 

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/oct/24/donald-trump-attacks-media-pollsters-florida

Quote

 

Trump also escalated his attacks on media. He said the press, which he described as being composed of “thieves and crooks”, may be even more corrupt than the rival whom he has repeatedly derided as “Crooked Hillary”.

The Ivy League-educated Trump, who lives in an ornate penthouse on Fifth Avenue in New York, also slammed journalists as being out of touch with working Americans, saying: “The media is entitled, condescending and even contemptuous of people who don’t share their elitist views.” He warned vaguely of those who “rig the media” and said: “They can wield absolute power over your life, your economy, and your country.”

 

 

Why Trump Lost The Debates

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-burnett/why-trump-lost-the-debate_b_12618818.html
 

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Trump can’t maintain focus for 90 minutes. Particularly in the first and third debate, Trump began normally and then decompensated. Trump lost his composure, grew angry, interrupted Clinton, and blurted insults — “such a nasty woman.” As time passed, his remarks began to ramble and he often lost his line of reasoning. (In the third debate, Trump’s response to his first question — on the Supreme Court — was to the point; after 90 minutes, his response to his last question —entitlements — was incoherent.)

Some say that Trump — who has made Clinton’s health a campaign issue — has his own health issue: stamina. Trump brags that he only sleeps three or four hours each night. Perhaps his stamina problem is due to sleep deprivation. Writing in the New York Times Timothy Egan argued that lack of sleep explains Trump’s behavior, in general: “Sleep deprivation, we know, can make you cranky and temperamental, and throw off judgment. The severely sleep-deprived are more impulsive, less adaptable and prone to snappish decisions, and they have trouble listening to others.”

My favorite psychologist argues that Trump’s debate performance is actually a consequence of his narcissistic personality disorder. The psychologist observed that during each debate, Clinton was able to get under Trump’s skin, to attack his fragile self-esteem with a series of barbs.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/late-term-abortion-patient-slams-trump-rip-baby-remarks-article-1.2843388

Late-term abortion patient slams Donald Trump’s ‘irresponsible, callous, uninformed’ debate remarks

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/10/24/donald-trump-wants-you-to-think-that-he-wants-another-debate/

Trump's campaign is trying to craft an image of a confident candidate who kicks butt in debates and would love another shot at Clinton — especially because his team says that she is in hiding and that the media is biased, making the debate stage the only place to get through to voters. But the image just does not match reality.

 

[AmazonGrace]

How White Nationalists Learned To Love Donald Trump

Once they believed he was a secret Jew. Now he has more white-power support than any mainstream candidate in modern politics. Here’s how it unfolded.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/donald-trump-2016-white-nationalists-alt-right-214388#ixzz4O62TY2UW
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

 

B

Quote

ut not long ago, even an accidental alliance between Trump and white nationalists would have seemed utterly unlikely. Far from being a hero, Trump for years was reviled by such groups. Even after years of championing racially tinged questions about President Barack Obama’s birthplace, he was viewed with disdain and suspicion in the white nationalist community as recently as 2015. Many claimed the New Yorker was secretly Jewish, or in thrall to Jewish interests; others saw him as a blowhard and egomaniac, a mercenary who was in it only for himself. On web forums, blogs and online radio shows, they complained about his highly visible associations with “non-whites” in his reality shows and his beauty pageants.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/donald-trump-2016-white-nationalists-alt-right-214388#ixzz4O62Nv9jw
Follow us: @politico on Twitter | Politico on Facebook

[Ali]

@AmazonGrace One of the few things I have enjoyed about this election is your commentary about all the articles you find. 

[GreyhoundFan]

53 minutes ago, Ali said:

@AmazonGrace One of the few things I have enjoyed about this election is your commentary about all the articles you find. 

I so agree. I thought I was a good "finder of things" on the Internet, but I bow down to @AmazonGrace!

[AmazonGrace]

Thanks... I am a little obsessed.

 

Our trumpy friend blames all the "liberals" for lying incessantly while he is quite liberal with the truth himself. 

http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-cites-police-military-ice-endorsements-didn-t-happen-n672336
 

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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump frequently touts his support among law enforcement and military figures.

On Monday, he told News4Jax that the United States military "conceptually" endorsed him and that "virtually every police department" in the country backed his bid for the presidency. During last week's third debate, Trump said his hardline stance on immigration and pledge to build a border wall had earned him an endorsement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

But none of that is true.

Federal agencies are barred by law from endorsing candidates in political elections. Under the Hatch Act, only the president, vice president and high-ranking administration officials are allowed to dip their toe in partisan waters.

The Department of Defense, meanwhile, has its own set of guidelines that tightly restricts any active duty military or civilian personnel from publicly choosing political sides.

 

 

Probably  he thinks everyone lies all the time because that's what he does. That or his grasp of reality is quite tenuous.

 

Quote

 

Police departments as a whole do not typically endorse candidates in elections. Though that has not stopped Trump from saying they do.

After a meeting with first responders and law enforcement officials in northern Florida on Monday, Trump later boasted on Twitter that he was honored for being endorsed by the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office.

But the department did no such thing. The sheriff's office took to both Facebook and Twitter to make clear that despite Trump's comment, they have "NOT made any official endorsement."

 

 

I just can't understand how everyone who is so mad about all the perceived lying by Hillary et al can be so in love with this person who wouldn't know the truth if it grabbed him by the genitals.

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/politics/donald-trump-interviews.html?_r=0

A reporter released interview transcripts.

 

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Who does he look up to? “I don’t have heroes,” Mr. Trump said.

Does he examine history to better understand the present? “I don’t like talking about the past,” he said, later adding, “It’s all about the present and the future.”

Who earns his respect? “For the most part,” he said, “you can’t respect people because most people aren’t worthy of respect.”

 

Again, he's talking about himself I think... he's not really worthy of very much respect himself so nobody else is allowed to be either.

 

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And when Mr. Trump feels he has been made a fool of, his response can be volcanic. Ivana Trump told Mr. D’Antonio about a Colorado ski vacation she took with Mr. Trump soon after they began dating. The future Mrs. Trump had not told her boyfriend that she was an accomplished skier. As she recalls it, Mr. Trump went down the hill first and waited for her at the bottom:

IVANA TRUMP: So he goes and stops, and he says, “Come on, baby. Come on, baby.” I went up. I went two flips up in the air, two flips in front of him. I disappeared. Donald was so angry, he took off his skis, his ski boots, and walked up to the restaurant. ... He could not take it. He could not take it.

He had been bested in public. As he stormed off the slope, leaving behind a trail of equipment, she recalled, Mr. Trump could not contain his embarrassment.

 

 

This is just a big baby... about the maturity level of a four year old, and thus he calls Barack Obama a baby...

 

[AmazonGrace]

Well this is a bit strange

We won what?  

[AmazonGrace]

Quote

 

What is Donald Trump talking about? Again?

The Republican presidential nominee on Tuesday said "all of my employees are having tremendous problems with Obamacare."

"Obamacare is just blowing up," Trump said at his Doral golf resort in Florida.

Trump's claim, during an event at his Doral resort in Florida, set off an instant firestorm on Twitter

People noted that Trump's claim suggests that either his workers don't get health-care coverage from his companies — or that he doesn't know what he's talking about when he blames Obamacare.

That's because people who get insurance through their jobs don't have Obamacare. And if they do get such insurance, they wouldn't be having problems with Obamacare.

 

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In February, Trump told FoxNews' Sean Hannity that "they don't have to worry about Obamacare, my people."

"I treat them really good with health care," Trump told Hannity. "It's a very important thing."

 

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/25/trump-says-his-workers-having-tremendous-problems-with-obamacare.html

He says whatever he thinks will score him a point, regardless of whether it's true or not. 

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/25/trump-says-his-workers-having-tremendous-problems-with-obamacare.html

Stop it with the Clinton coronation. Trump can still win

http://www.cnbc.com/2016/10/25/stop-it-with-the-clinton-coronation-trump-can-still-win-commentary.html

 

[AmazonGrace]

http://www.vox.com/first-person/2016/10/25/13380272/donald-trump-pro-life-abortion

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Like my fellow pro-lifers, the prospect of a Hillary Clinton presidency fills me with an irrepressible and almost boundless despair; for anyone who shares the conviction that fetuses deserve respect, considering the prospect of abortion being further enshrined in American society is almost unspeakably deflating. I too have tasted the dismay that tempts the pro-life voter to begrudgingly vote for Donald Trump.

But my pain was worse than my pro-life peers, my sense of despair even deeper. Watching their exchange brought the cup of sorrow to my lips, and I drank to the dregs. For unlike the pro-life movement’s leaders, I cannot believe the wishful fantasy that Donald Trump would save any more infant lives than Hillary Clinton will allow to be aborted. The Trump candidacy is a long con, a trap that will destroy the pro-life movement by permanently associating it with his racism and misogyny. It has always been such a con. There is no pro-life case for voting for him, and there never has been. And there is no despair like that of those who are able to see it.

 

I am pro choice but I agree with this opinion piece. I don't believe Donald Trump gives a flying fuck about fetuses. He does not think most adults are worthy of his respect so why would he respect the primordial stage. Those fetuses may grow up  female or an ethnicity that  he will be extra contemptuous of automatically, and the rest of the people aren't Donald Trump either, so....

[AmazonGrace]

The hashtag #TrumpaNovel has been running riot on Twitter, bringing us everything from “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close: A Lesson in Debate Tactics” (thank you, Open Road Media), to The Giant Left Hand of Darkness (thank you, Joanne Harris – but should it be the Tiny Hand?).

There’s Mopey Dick, or Moby Dickhead, 20,000 Leagues Over His Head and The Gropes of Wrath. I’m particularly fond of Belittle Women, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Assgrabin, The Perks of Being a Wall Builder and No Country for Orange Men, but Great Expectations, Really Really Terrific Expectations is also very good. And whether it’s David Cop-a-Feel or The Girl I Grab on the Train or The Great Grabsy, there’s a whole world of titles riffing on the Republican presidential candidate’s attitude to (Nasty) Little Women.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2016/oct/25/great-book-titles-trump-style-belittle-women-the-great-grabsy

https://www.bustle.com/articles/191282-15-clever-trump-a-novel-tweets-that-insult-donald-trumps-campaign-using-classic-novels

War & Hair Piece #TrumpaNovel

#TrumpaNovel The Art of the Feel

Lord of the Lies #TrumpANovel

And another great tweet: 

 

nikkiseefeldt‏@nikkiseefeldt

I wanna see the birth certificate on this tree. I don't believe it grew in Brooklyn. #TrumpBookReport

[Howl]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

Probably  he thinks everyone lies all the time because that's what he does. That or his grasp of reality is quite tenuous.

It's both = perfect storm = Trumpnado

[47of74]

3 hours ago, AmazonGrace said:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/26/us/politics/donald-trump-interviews.html?_r=0

A reporter released interview transcripts.

 

Again, he's talking about himself I think... he's not really worthy of very much respect himself so nobody else is allowed to be either.

 

 

This is just a big baby... about the maturity level of a four year old, and thus he calls Barack Obama a baby...

 

 

Agent Orange is a three year old child in a seventy year old body. 

I hope he loses big on November 8.

And if I never hear again from this cheeto encrusted shit gibbon j--z trumpet after the election, it will be way too fucking soon.

 

[AmazonGrace]

Talking of a child in a man's body: 

 

[Cartmann99]

I figured you guys would be talking about this already:

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The other man… well, you’ll read his words. Both confirmed that Trump, as I’ve reported, used to host parties in suites at the Plaza Hotel when he owned it, where young women and girls were introduced to older, richer men. This is hardly aberrant behavior in the modeling business. Indeed, it is standard operating procedure. 

But both men also put Donald Trump in the room with cocaine, very young women and underage girls, and rich, old men there to—pardon my language, but if the Times can say pussy on its front page, I can say this—fuck them.

 

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/24/inside-donald-trump-s-one-stop-parties-attendees-recall-cocaine-and-very-young-models.html

[47of74]

Mrs. Clinton has proved yet again that when it comes to trolling, Donnie Dumfuck is taking a couple tiny pebbles to a death star fight...

You can go here to get a copy suitable for cutting out and wearing...

hillaryclinton.com/page/tin-foil-hat/?utm_medium=social&utm_source=tw&utm_campaign=20161024feed_tinfoilhat

[AmazonGrace]

I have the best hats, the greatest hats,  tremendous foil hats.  After 30 years Crooked Hillary has only fail hats. #MAGA

http://www.salon.com/2016/10/25/where-will-donald-trumps-violent-and-dangerous-rhetoric-lead-after-nov-8/

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Where will Donald Trump’s violent and dangerous rhetoric lead after Nov. 8?

Impromptu poll-watchers, "lock her up" and NRA fantasies of "post-freedom America" point toward possible violence

 

Grandpa revolution? 

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/10/trumps-graying-army/505274/
 

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Trump's Graying Army

In the Republican nominee’s nostalgia-fueled campaign, older voters see their last chance to bring back the 1950s. But he could be starting to lose them, too.

PANAMA CITY, Florida—The crowd at the Donald Trump rally was a sea of gray and white. They hobbled on walkers and canes into the massive outdoor amphitheater, searching for a place to sit on the lawn.

 

I never let facts get in the way of a good conspiracy theory: 

http://www.politico.com/story/2016/10/donald-trump-polls-230266

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At both rallies, Trump also referenced — and wrongly interpreted —another item in the news, an email, publicized by WikiLeaks, in which a Democratic operative asked the campaign’s internal pollster to over-sample Democrats in a survey so to provide more useful feedback about how to better target minority voters.

“WikiLeaks also shows how John Podesta rigged the polls by oversampling Democrats, a voter suppression technique, and that’s happening to me all the time,” Trump said in St. Augustine even though the email wasn’t sent by Podesta and offered no correlation to current polling of the presidential race.

Podesta did not write anything in the 2008 email chain Trump referenced, in which Tom Matzzie wrote that he would like “Atlas folks to recommend oversamples for our polling before we start in February” to “maximize what we get out of our media polling.” (If Podesta replied, his response is not included in the emails published by WikiLeaks.)

 

Because crooked pollsters were already trying to rig my 2016 presidential campaign in 2008, that's Democrats for you.  I'm telling you folks, that's how corrupt  Podesta is. 

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-mitt-romney_us_580f9bede4b0a03911ef1e1c

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Donald Trump Has Irrevocably Changed How We Will Grade Our Presidential Candidates

Just try to imagine Mitt Romney with Trump’s baggage. You can’t!

 

I have the best baggage! Tremendous baggage. No one has more baggage than I do. Make America grade again! 

[Cartmann99]

Amanda Carpenter is furious that someone let a bunch of sexists into her party.

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As a former communications aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and former senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), I can personally testify that Republican women have, for years, fended off accusations from the Democrats of the party’s allegedly anti-woman beliefs. What did we get for it? The nomination — by way of a largely older, male voting base — of a brazen and unapologetic misogynist.

I want to ask the men leading the GOP some questions. Why didn’t you defend women from this raging sexist especially after so many Republican women — for so many years — eagerly defended the party from charges of sexism? You must make us out for fools.

Finally, a conservative woman who sees what her party stands for! I eagerly look forward to seeing what she and the other sane Republicans are going to do. Will they leave the party and form a new right-of-center party where sexism and bigotry are not welcome? Will they refuse to vote for Republicans until the sexists and bigots are forced out?

Whichever route they choose, it's going to be exciting to watch these people show everyone how serious they are about not supporting bigotry in any form!

Wait, what's that?

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 I will not vote for Trump. I’ll remain a committed conservative and will vote for down-ballot Republicans, but the top of the ticket will be blank. I didn’t leave the GOP — the GOP left me for Trump.

 *sighs heavily and shakes head*

Amanda, you are teaching your party that they can treat women poorly and you'll still vote for them by supporting the down-ticket Republicans. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2016/10/25/carpenter-op-ed/#comments

[AmazonGrace]

This collection of Trump twitter insults was posted before . http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/01/28/upshot/donald-trump-twitter-insults.html?_r=1

I have now read it in its entirety and I just love it that he insults others for 

-being sexist

-being racist

-being inappropriate

-being sexually abusive

-not paying taxes

-not releasing tax returns

-not getting things done in public office 

-for lying and dishonesty

-for failing to fact check 

-losing business, money and elections

-saying nasty things about others (mainly Trump) 

-looking ridiculous 

-being angry or hostile

-being unprofessional,  not qualified and incompetent

-having bad judgement and making bad decisions

-having a dirty mouth

-being incoherent, rambling

-having a weak understanding of issues

-for saying that a losing candidate was winning

-purposely mischaracterizing statements and misleading reporting

-lack of focus and concentration

-not being  a nice person

-being negative and critical or insulting (of Trump)

-resembling a spoiled brat 

-running a campaign badly

-doing badly in debates

-being a total hypocrite 

 

And the guy mocked a disabled reporter but he seems to be blind himself... he totally fails to see the huge beam in his own eye. 

 

[kpmom]

1 hour ago, Cartmann99 said:

Amanda Carpenter is furious that someone let a bunch of sexists into her party.

  Quote

As a former communications aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and former senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), I can personally testify that Republican women have, for years, fended off accusations from the Democrats of the party’s allegedly anti-woman beliefs. What did we get for it? The nomination — by way of a largely older, male voting base — of a brazen and unapologetic misogynist.

I want to ask the men leading the GOP some questions. Why didn’t you defend women from this raging sexist especially after so many Republican women — for so many years — eagerly defended the party from charges of sexism? You must make us out for fools.

 

 

Gee Amanda, could the problem be somewhere in the first sentence of your second paragraph?

[GreyhoundFan]

I certainly understand this woman's actions.

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FALMOUTH, Maine — I committed a crime this month, along with two of my friends. I’m not the lawbreaking type. In fact, as a 52-year-old mom, my life is pretty predictable and boring. But this election, a particular candidate’s boasts about women pushed me over the edge.

In the suburban, upper-middle-class part of Maine where I live, Republicans and Democrats live together mostly in harmony. In every election cycle, there’s some tension. But the 2016 presidential campaign has been different. Tensions in my town are running at a fevered pitch.

Which is how three middle-aged moms came to be running down the road, tearing up the Donald Trump signs along our version of Main Street. We’d been talking about the infamous Billy Bush tape and the women who have since come forward to share their own stories of abuse. We were angry. Getting Trump’s name off our median strip seemed like the best way to express our rage.

In retrospect, I realize I shouldn’t be proud of my transgression. Hanging out with a bunch of moms, we started grousing about the proliferation of signs. Can you believe someone would put that many Trump signs so close together on our roads? It’s so rude. Who is this jerk? We felt assaulted by the number of signs. The idea of “cleansing” our streets seemed like the fastest way to restore balance and alleviate our election stress — at least, that night it did.

The escapade was not premeditated: We simply jumped into my Jetta wagon, drove down to the strip and got to work. In all, it took less than 20 minutes. We grabbed about 40 signs and threw them in the hatchback. I hadn’t really thought about what I would do with the signs; I just wanted them gone. At the time, we believed we were doing the right thing. There were so many Trump signs up and down our main drag — it was destroying all sense of equilibrium in our community.

But the Falmouth police happened to spot us as we were preparing to leave the scene of the crime. The officer was kind, informing us that we had stolen someone else’s personal property, which had not really entered into my mind while I was doing it. He took the signs and sent us home.

The next day, I received a summons to appear in court. The officer informed me that the signs belonged to a local Falmouth business owner and chairman of “Making Maine Great Again,” a PAC supporting Donald Trump. He had been told about our little escapade, and he was pressing charges. (Maine law allows for a civil fine of up to $250 for taking political signs.) Reality began to set in. But there was no going back.

I have not met the man I offended, but if I did, this is what I would want him to know about me: I’m not a deeply political person.  Yes, I vote, and I’m a registered Democrat, but I’m no political animal. This year, motivated to support anyone but Trump, I bought my own sign for Hillary Clinton and have it placed in my front yard. I know a lot of families who are doing the same.

Reflecting back, I realize that I momentarily snapped. But there was a deeper reason for my anger than just the signs. Over the past several weeks, grasping the depth of Trump’s predatory behavior toward women throughout his adult life (and even worse, his denial of it) has simply become unbearable. I became unhinged.

Like so many American women, I have my own story about a powerful man using his position of wealth and influence to demean my integrity and put my job at risk. My version of Trump was a board member of a nonprofit where I worked more than a decade ago. Over a period of many months, he called to talk about personal and board-related matters. He was married, so I never believed he had serious ulterior motives. Then, one day, he called to proposition me to enter an illicit “relationship” with him where he would fly me around the world to exclusive resorts. For sex.

“You’re not the marrying type of woman,” he told me. “I never see you having a family of your own, so I have an offer for you.” He described how good he was in bed. I wouldn’t regret it, he said. It would be “our little secret” and “worth my while.”

I was afraid that declining this man’s offer would insult one of my organization’s largest donors. So I told him I needed “to think about it.” A few days later, he told me he’d made a mistake.

I should have told him to go to hell. Instead, I told my boyfriend (now husband) about it and buried the secret. I was silenced, until now.

This kind of silence appears to be a concept that a lot of Trump supporters can’t understand. But these are the kinds of compromises women are put into by men who abuse power. This is the source of my rage against Donald Trump. It’s why I committed a crime. Yes, I was acting out, and I will face, with some humility, my day in court. But at the time, my act felt strangely liberating. I wanted to punish Trump and anyone who could support him. Especially now, knowing what we know about his treatment of women.

Trump’s name is his power. I can’t strip him — or that board member — of his power, but I thought I could strip the median of that emblem of power.

As I prepare for a mid-December appearance before a judge in the Cumberland County Courthouse, I am realizing that I’m not the only one going to extremes this fall. There have been Trump sign thefts in Maine and Massachusetts. Trump supporters’ cars were actually vandalized recently in Bangor. Violence at campaign events is now commonplace, and worse, a bomb went off in a North Carolina Republican Party office. The level of agitation — and fear — is rising daily, on both sides.

As someone who stooped to the level of stealing from a local businessman, I have a lot of explaining and apologizing to do. I also have advice for anyone who might be on the verge of doing something stupid. It’s not worth it. Find a healthy way to express your outrage.

And for God’s sake, please vote.

 

I'm lucky that in my county, there are fairly strict rules about political signs on public property (like in grassy medians and on signposts). I think I would probably go thermonuclear if I had to see Agent Orange signs everywhere. I was on vacation earlier this month and my hands started cramping from flipping off the ridiculous number of Drumpf signs in the rural area I drove through.