Trump 11: Worse than Expected

[GreyhoundFan]

Aaaand, we're back to bragging about the electoral college, even though it has nothing to do with the question: "Donald Trump was asked a question about anti-Semitism. His answer was about the electoral college." You have to read the article -- the quotes and Tweets are interesting, but I can't quote them here.

 

And: "Trump says Flynn was treated unfairly, a day after Spicer said he was fired because of a lack of trust". The article begins:

Quote

President Trump  criticized the intelligence community and the media Wednesday for the news reports that ultimately led to national security adviser Michael Flynn’s resignation Monday night, less than four weeks into his White House tenure.

“I think he’s been treated very, very unfairly by the media — as I call it, the ‘fake media,’ in many cases — and I think it’s really a sad thing that he was treated so badly,” Trump said at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “I think in addition to that, from intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked.”

Trump added that the leaks were a “criminal action, criminal act.”

The president was responding to a question from the Christian Broadcasting Network about whether he thinks that recent reports concerning Russia — that Flynn misled government officials, including now-Vice President Pence, about conversations Flynn had with the Russian ambassador involving sanctions, as well as news that members of the Trump campaign had repeated contact with Russian intelligence officials — could undermine the goal of preventing a nuclear Iran.

His response, in which he defended Flynn as a “wonderful man,” added confusion to the White House’s account of Flynn’s dismissal and conflicted with his press secretary’s assertion that Trump fired Flynn.

“People are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the Democrats had under Hillary Clinton,” Trump said. “I think it’s very, very unfair what’s happened to General Flynn, the way he was treated, and the documents and papers that were illegally — I stress that — illegally leaked. Very, very unfair.”

On Tuesday, White House spokesman Sean Spicer emphasized that Trump asked Flynn to resign because he could no longer be trusted, particularly after misleading Pence about discussing with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak sanctions put in place by the Obama administration.

Sigh

[onekidanddone]

11 minutes ago, AuntK said:

Rep. Gwen Graham (D-Fla) posted a photo of herself greeting Senator Bob Dole a while back along with his comment, "You know when your Dad, (former Sen. Bob Graham), and I were in the Senate years ago, we worked together, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, we were friends." 

You don't see that any more. . .

And may I add, Mitch McConnell is an asshole of gargantuan proportions and that is the nicest thing I can say about him.

As they say below the Mason Dixon line ....He is the most vile dick wad, fucking slime stain, low life trash.....bless his heart.  When is he up for reelection?  Oh and all these scum sucking freaks yammer on and on about term limits .. except they keep running,.

[AuntK]

I just don't understand why John McCain, a true American patriot, who served in VietNam, was shot down,  imprisoned and tortured by the North Vietnamese for 6 years, permanently disabled because of the torture he suffered, awarded tons of medals upon his release, cannot or will not STAND UP against the Russian-loving, inept clown in the WH!  McCain had a spine at one time. What happened?

Maybe I'll write him and ask.

[fraurosena]

Mother Jones is chiming in on the whole Russian connection scandal:

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/nyt-trump-team-had-repeated-contacts-russian-intelligence-during-presidential-cam

Quote

Just to make this clear: At the same time that Russian intelligence was hacking various email accounts in order to sabotage Hillary Clinton, multiple members of the Trump team had repeated phone calls with senior Russian intelligence officials. And during this entire time, Trump himself was endorsing a foreign policy that appeared almost as if it had been dictated to him by Vladimir Putin.

As a number of people have pointed out, the American intelligence community has all but declared war on Trump since his inauguration with leak after leak after leak. I hardly need to spell out why this is dangerous. At the same time, it's sure becoming a lot clearer why they're so alarmed by the guy.

And by the way, I shouldn't miss this chance to flog my favorite hobbyhorse again: FBI Director James Comey, who knew all about this, pushed hard not to make it public during the campaign. Instead he considered it more important to inform Congress that he had discovered additional copies of Hillary Clinton's emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop. Priorities.

I wonder what they have on Comey, or how much he was paid...

[candygirl200413]

All of my feelings:

Pence definitely knew and playing that in the dark card is BS.

Rand Paul at least he's being honest: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rand-paul-michael-flynn_us_58a36eeee4b094a129efc452

Quote

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that probing the Trump administration’s ties to Russia after the resignation of National Security Adviser Michael Flynn would be “excessive,” and that Republicans shouldn’t be wasting time investigating members of their own party.

Paul, speaking on Fox News’ “Kilmeade and Friends” radio show, took issue with calls by fellow Senate Republicans, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), for a thorough investigation.

“You know, I think that might be excessive,” Paul said. “I think that it looks like the president has handled the situation, and unless there’s some kind of other evidence of malfeasance, this sounds like something that was internal White House politics, and it looks like the president’s handled it.”

Like we get it you don't want to put county over party!

 

[Howl]

11 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

And by the way, I shouldn't miss this chance to flog my favorite hobbyhorse again: FBI Director James Comey, who knew all about this, pushed hard not to make it public during the campaign. Instead he considered it more important to inform Congress that he had discovered additional copies of Hillary Clinton's emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop. Priorities.

Surely all of this contact of Trump aides with Russian officials during the campaign was being monitored by various aspects of the U.S. intelligence community; what are the repercussions if illegal activity by Trump aides was being monitored and this was not made public?  Oh, and f**k James Comey.   I'm sure he was kept on as a useful tool and because of what he knows. 

[GreyhoundFan]

7 minutes ago, Howl said:

Surely all of this contact of Trump aides with Russian officials during the campaign was being monitored by various aspects of the U.S. intelligence community; what are the repercussions if illegal activity by Trump aides was being monitored and this was not made public?  Oh, and f**k James Comey.   I'm sure he was kept on as a useful tool and because of what he knows. 

I so agree. I despise Comey with the fire of a thousand suns.

 

Good opinion piece: "The Trump brand was built on winning. So what happens when it starts to lose?". A couple of quotes:

Quote

The White House is perhaps the best imaginable venue for product placement. But despite the fact that it now commands a presidential seal, the Trump brand seems less attractive than ever.

Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and even discount retailers such as Kmart are dropping daughter Ivanka’s fashion line. Companies such as Uber face backlash for merely giving the impression of being pro-Trump. Professional athletes, those traditional arbiters of cool, are turning their backs: So far, six of the New England Patriots have declined to meet the president, and beloved Golden State Warriors point guard Steph Curry mockingly described President Trump as an asset — “if you remove the ‘et.’ ”

The “brash business mogul” brand just hasn’t translated well from the campaign trail to leadership of the country. In fact, the move to D.C. seems to have deflated it completely.

LOL, I don't follow professional sports, but I have to agree with Steph Curry.

 

Quote

While every new administration experiences setbacks, Trump’s unpreparedness and lack of organization clearly contributed to this early defeat and others that have come with it: a lackluster inauguration whose underattendance was only highlighted by flagrant falsehoods about crowd size, a botched raid in Yemen, the resignation of a national security adviser over improper contacts with Russia. These fast-mounting failures set an ominous tone. It’s hard to trust the brand going forward.

But all is not lost. Marketing experts and corporate strategists would soothingly point out that setbacks aren’t necessarily the end of the story. A moment of crisis is an excellent opportunity to pivot — try a brand refresh, if you will. It worked for Burberry in the late ’90s. Why not Trump today?

The complication here is that this particular brand needs to be promoting an entirely different product now, one that may be beyond Trump’s reach. After Jan. 21, the country wanted not “Trump: The Renegade Candidate” but “Trump: The President of the United States.”

Yeah, that last line is not happening.

[47of74]

33 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Yeah, that last line is not happening.

Yeah we pretty much saw in the time after the election that orange fornicate stick opened his mouth that there was no fornicating way he was going to clean up his act.  Whether it was his forays on to Twitter or the people he selected to government posts we pretty much saw that he was not going to become Presidential anytime soon.  If he does note to self to check the temperature in hell.

[Howl]

The gosh darned Onion has nailed it! 

What You Need To Know About The Trump Administration’s Ties To Russia

[GreyhoundFan]

4 minutes ago, Howl said:

The gosh darned Onion has nailed it! 

What You Need To Know About The Trump Administration’s Ties To Russia

Maybe Spicey will retweet and like this one too.

 

[Howl]

An online article (with sublime perfection) just described Lord Dampnut as addled, which also adds just the right note of a befuddled aristocrat in sharp decline. 

 

[CTRLZero]

The same or similar was quoted above in an article, but this is a tweet from Trump (today!) that I thought was an amazing example of how crazy his thinking can be.  He's still harping on the campaign.  (I don't know how to copy from Twitter, but here is a cut and paste of the quote.)  There must be a saner parallel universe I can exit into...

This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Why do smart people in the White House do stupid things? Because Trump tells them to." The article begins:

Quote

President Trump has just set the all-time speed record for scandal — from zero to Watergate in 25 days.

Not yet four weeks into the new administration, Washington has already revived a favorite parlor game based on Howard Baker’s famous question in the Nixon era.

“What did President Trump know, and when did he know it?” asked conservative Max Boot.

“What did President Trump know and when did he know it?” asked liberal Joan Walsh.

The Boston Globe, the Daily Mail, the Chicago Tribune and others asked variations of the same.

It’s a have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife question, because there is no good answer. If Trump only just found out that Michael Flynn spoke to the Russians about sanctions, he’s a dupe. If Trump knew earlier, he’s been hiding something.

But the “What Did He Know?” game in this case may ask the wrong question. The real question is not when Trump found out but whether Flynn, in his contacts with the ambassador, was doing Trump’s bidding, at least implicitly. This would fit a pattern that has already developed in this White House: Trump’s aides do exactly as he orders.

Flynn is no idiot. He spent a good chunk of his career in the intelligence business. He had to know that U.S. spy agencies listen to the Russian ambassador’s phone calls — and he’s savvy enough to know that his discussions with the ambassador about sanctions the Obama administration was imposing that day would make their way up the reporting chain. Finally, he had to know he couldn’t pass it off as a casual contact; the two spoke five times that day.

So why do it? Perhaps for the same reason other smart people who work for Trump have done seemingly unwise things: Trump told them to.

It goes on to talk about many others in the administration and how they are smart people doing dumb things because of Lord Dampnut.

 

 

Another good one: Admit it: "Trump is unfit to serve". The article begins:

Quote

Let’s not mumble or whisper about the central issue facing our country: What is this democratic nation to do when the man serving as president of the United States plainly has no business being president of the United States?

The Michael Flynn fiasco was the entirely predictable product of the indiscipline, deceit, incompetence and moral indifference that characterize Donald Trump’s approach to leadership.

Even worse, Trump’s loyalties are now in doubt. Questions about his relationship with Vladimir Putin and Russia will not go away, even if congressional Republicans try to slow-walk a transparent investigation into what ties Trump has with Putin’s Russia — and who on his campaign did what, and when, with Russian intelligence officials and diplomats.

Party leaders should listen to those Republicans who are already pondering how history will judge their actions in this wrenching moment. Senators such as John McCain and Lindsey Graham seem to know it is only a matter of time before the GOP will have to confront Trump’s unfitness. They also sense that Flynn’s resignation as national security adviser for lying about the nature of his contacts with Russia’s ambassador to the United States raises fundamental concerns about Trump himself.

Of course congressional Repubs are trying to not be transparent. They don't want to admit the truth.

and the article concludes:

Quote

It will be said that Trump was elected and thus deserves some benefit of the doubt. Isn’t it rash to declare him unfit after so little time?

The answer is no, because the Trump we are seeing now is fully consistent with the vindictive, self-involved and scattered man we saw during the 17 months of his campaign. In one of the primary debates, Jeb Bush said of Trump: “He’s a chaos candidate and he’d be a chaos president.” Rarely has a politician been so prophetic.

And this is why nearly 11 million more Americans voted against Trump than for him. His obligation was to earn the trust of the 60 percent of Americans who told exit pollsters on Election Day that they viewed him unfavorably. Instead, he has ratified their fears, and then some.

As a country, we now need to face the truth, however awkward and difficult it might be.

 

[47of74]

Even dead people are happy to not have to live under Orange Hitler.

sanduskyregister.com/story/201702150018

Quote

The family of an 87-year-old Norwalk woman who died earlier this week appear confident she was prepared to for the end.

“Liz is smiling now, not to be living during the Trump presidency," M. Elizabeth “Liz” Smith’s obituary states.

Smith died Monday surrounded by her family in Stein Hospice Care Center.

A graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in music education.

 

[MarblesMom]

Pretty sure if I had to work with the Oompah Loompah, things would be frosty, at best.  No one wants a one on one with this Frosty Former HR Person.  Not even Don. (Yeah, we call him Don.  We also call L. Ron Hubbard "Ron".)

Don is *not* presidential; he is a whiny toddler and he is embarrassing his country... hell, he is embarrassing the world.  

And .....he is the new kid on the block - as in, walk softly, take notes, get to know the lay of the land, get a rapport with your staff, make no major changes for 6 months to a year, gain the respect of co workers, you know, all that shit you learn in school at some point....

....or, just jump in, piss off everyone around the globe, leave secure shit in open view, alienate EVERYONE and TWEET TWEET TWEET away.

(Was that outloud?)

[AuntK]

HOLY SHIT! There is a Russian spy ship lurking 30 miles off the coast of Connecticut near our submarine base according to CNN!  Shit, shit, shit!

[candygirl200413]

@AuntK Me and my sister have been talking about how we should look into new names in Russian and start learning the language, so I'm glad that we should start learning it now before shit hits the fan!

Also just read this. This is where we are:

Report: Intelligence officials withhold information from Trump

Quote

U.S. intelligence officials have not been sharing some sensitive information with President Trump, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.

Current and former officials told the news source that some information was withheld from the commander-in-chief in fear that that it would be compromised or leaked.
 

According to the report, some information presented to the president omitted sources and methods used by intelligence agencies during their operations.

The officials said they were not aware of any instance in which crucial national security threats were omitted from intelligence briefings.

A White House official told the publication that "there is nothing that leads us to believe that this is an accurate account of what is actually happening.”

Officials told the Journal that intelligence agencies have withheld details from past presidents, but never before out of fear over trustworthiness or leaks. The sources said that concerns stem largely from Trump's friendliness toward Russia and its president Vladimir Putin, and his encouragement of Russian operatives to hack Hillary Clinton's emails.

It is not clear how frequently officials have withheld details from Trump. 

Trump has reignited his feud with the intelligence community on Wednesday after the president accused officials of "criminal" leaks.

“From intelligence, papers are being leaked, things are being leaked; it’s criminal action. It’s a criminal act, and it’s been going on for a long time before me, but now it’s really going on,” Trump said during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

“The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ‘intelligence’ like candy. Very un-American!” Trump also tweeted the same day.

 

[VelociRapture]

3 hours ago, AuntK said:

HOLY SHIT! There is a Russian spy ship lurking 30 miles off the coast of Connecticut near our submarine base according to CNN!  Shit, shit, shit!

This actually happens more than you'd think. The US does it to other countries too. It's only concerning this time because of Trump and how aggressive Russia has been lately.

Heres an article about it from the Hartford Courant:

https://www.google.com/amp/www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-groton-sub-base-20170215-story,amp.html?client=safari

I'd rather have the Russians be obvious about it. I feel like sneaking around would indicate more serious motives. Being obvious about it indicates more that they're putting on a show more than anything in my opinion.

For the record - I am a lifelong CT resident who lives about an hour from Groton. I've been to the base there with my grandparents to visit the USS Nautilus Museum- it's pretty cool. I'm honestly not concerned about this specific incident. It should serve as a reminder for caution rather than spark panic or widespread fear.

(And here's the website for the Nautilus museum for anyone interested: http://m.ussnautilus.org/)

------------

Also, Olivia Wilde is all of us:

[fraurosena]

I found this an incredibly insightful, and confronting view on why the Tangerine Toddler isn't insane at all:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/16/donald-trump-us-president?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Quote

As Trump ascends to the throne of god-king of the US, the desire to call him “crazy” has taken hold. Armchair psychiatrists take to every media outlet to inform us that he’s an aberration, a madman, dangerously unhinged. Even if you ignore the problematic nature of trying to diagnose mental illness at a distance, this easy mantra is unhelpful. I don’t deny that the Trump phenomenon is in many ways much worse than what’s immediately preceded it in the US, but what it isn’t is unrecognisable. What it isn’t is insane.

(...)

Bad bosses are ubiquitous, and they are rarely mad. They are the result of systems that actively select for their bad characteristics. Overconfidence, a widespread cognitive bias, is selected for in managers because it is easily mistaken for competence. Overconfident people generally have excuses for their failures (think of Trump crediting everything that goes well to his natural talents, and blaming everything that goes wrong on his underlings, the media, the moon etc). Bosses also select people like themselves for promotion, so our cultish deference towards entrepreneurs, managerialism and “disruption” creates work cultures where aggression and overconfidence become the mark of a “good leader” regardless of results. Men with loud voices and firm handshakes can rise even if their actual performance is mediocre at best.

(...)

Trump’s ascension is not the result of a “depraved madman” accidentally ending up in power, but of basic, widespread and wholly predictable cognitive biases. Our rush to brand him as an aberration is also a bias – we wish to believe that we couldn’t have seen this coming, that we do not ourselves contribute to the systems that make the Trump administration’s sadistic policies possible. It is an act of self-protection. Trump the madman is a soluble problem: we just impeach and replace him. Trump the perfectly sane result of a deeply broken system is far more terrifying, which is why we are putting so much effort into inventing reasons it cannot be true.

However, there are prime examples of people who have completely lost their minds:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pat-robertson-people-who-oppose-trump-are-revolting-against-god/

Quote

Referring to Psalm 2:2, “The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed,” Robertson said that those challenging Trump are really fighting against God:

I think, somehow, the Lord’s plan is being put in place for America and these people are not only revolting against Trump, they’re revolting against what God’s plan is for America. These other people have been trying to destroy America. These left-wingers and so-called progressives are trying to destroy the country that we love and take away the freedoms they love. They want collectivism. They want socialism. What we’re looking at is free markets and freedom from this terrible, overarching bureaucracy. They want to fight as much as they can but I think the good news is the Bible says, “He that sits in the heavens will laugh them to scorn,” and I think that Trump’s someone on his side that is a lot more powerful than the media.

 

[Childless]

53 minutes ago, fraurosena said:

I found this an incredibly insightful, and confronting view on why the Tangerine Toddler isn't insane at all:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/16/donald-trump-us-president?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

However, there are prime examples of people who have completely lost their minds:

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/pat-robertson-people-who-oppose-trump-are-revolting-against-god/

 

First of all, if this is what god wants, I'm happy to say fuck god!  Second, the liberals are curtailing freedoms?!?!?  Yeah, buddy, you've got that backwards.  Fascism is a right wing trait.

[Dark Matters]

Interesting article on Pence.  Someone we definitely need to keep an eye on.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/319801-vice-president-pences-power-grows-in-trumps-white-house

The resignation of Michael Flynn as national security adviser this week underlined the growing power of Vice President Pence in the Trump administration.
Insiders say Pence’s clout has been overlooked in media coverage that has often focused on more flamboyant or enigmatic Trump advisers.
But Flynn’s demise, which came as a direct result of him apparently misleading Pence about phone conversations with the Russian ambassador to the U.S., was a reminder of the influence the former Indiana governor exerts.
“His force was shown with Flynn’s removal,” said one White House insider who was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “You cannot lie to the vice president, to Mike Pence, and expect to survive.”
Flynn had apparently told Pence that he had not discussed sanctions with Sergey Kislyak. This was untrue, which reportedly outraged Pence.

Adding to the indignity, Pence was reportedly not informed of Flynn’s deception for weeks after President Trump first learned of it from the Justice Department.
The fact that Pence was kept in the dark has led some to question how much power he actually wields in Trump’s orbit.
But people who know the vice president say his bond with Trump is real, partly based upon the loyalty he showed the business mogul during his tumultuous run for the White House.
The two men did not know each other well before Trump added Pence to the ticket.
Pence, a devout Christian, was widely reported to have been horrified when a tape emerged of his running mate talking in crude terms about grabbing women. But, in public, Pence remained a calm but fervent advocate for Trump through that drama — and many others.

[47of74]

2 hours ago, Childless said:

First of all, if this is what god wants, I'm happy to say fuck god!  Second, the liberals are curtailing freedoms?!?!?  Yeah, buddy, you've got that backwards.  Fascism is a right wing trait.

God, shut the fuck up Pat!

I cannot stand that piece of shit.

He is no man of God, that's for goddamn sure.  If whatever demon whispering in his ear was God I'd want nothing to do with God then. 

[Howl]

Quote

This Russian connection non-sense is merely an attempt to cover-up the many mistakes made in Hillary Clinton's losing campaign.

@CTRLZero, I've seen this rationale popping up here and there.  Again, it's a red meat talking point for the base and nothing more.  You can be sure Info Wars fanatics and MAGA types are firing up the grill and patting themselves on the back. 

On a happier note, "Andy Puzder confirmed Wednesday afternoon that he will pull himself from consideration for labor secretary."  Yes, Wednesday as in yesterday afternoon.  What a time warp we're in.  CNN says he had too much personal (domestic violence! illegal nanny!) and business baggage, but  I think Andy also saw Ivanka Trump's brand evaporating from stores and knew Carl's, Jr. might have a lot of empty tables.  Or maybe there are more skeletons in the closet.....

Anyway, ancient history!  That was so YESTERDAY.  However, here's something in the CNN article that caught my eye: 

Quote

The movement, though, seemingly kicked opposition to Puzder in overdrive, with liberal groups marshaling significant support to sink the nomination and keep all Democrats in line against the fast food executive. These groups, including labor unions, organized pseudo call centers to hammer senators thinking about approving the nominee.

What the hell is a pseudo call center? Do they mean the self organizing through social media, encouraging people outraged citizens to call their senators and representatives, being so successful it jammed phone lines?  

OTOH, Michelle O's Instagram makes me impossibly happy. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Donald Trump has only taken questions from the conservative media in the last 2 weeks". The beginning and end of the article:

Quote

President Trump has held three news conferences with foreign leaders over the last several weeks. The traditional format for these events is that the U.S. press gets two questions and the foreign press gets two. That's it.

Here are the U.S. news organizations Trump has called on for questions in each of those three pressers:

Shinzo Abe/Donald Trump (Feb. 10)

NY Post
Fox

Justin Trudeau/Donald Trump (Feb. 13)

ABC 7 (Sinclair)
Daily Caller

Benjamin Netanyahu/Donald Trump (Feb. 15)

Christian Broadcasting Network
Townhall

All six of those outlets are conservative or conservative leaning. In the case of the last two news conference — Feb. 13 and 15 — none of the questions asked were about Michael Flynn, the recently departed national security adviser, or the recent revelations regarding the regular contact between the Trump campaign and Russian intelligence officials. (CNN's Jim Acosta shouted a question at Trump regarding Flynn at the end of Wednesday's news conference but Trump didn't acknowledge it.) That's stunning given not only how central the Russia story has been to the political narrative over these past five days but also because it has major repercussions on our national security and America's place in the world — two key focuses for Trump's presidency.

There is a comparison with Obama and George W. Bush's press conferences.

Quote

That's a very dangerous precedent — and should worry you whether you voted for Trump, voted for Hillary Clinton or didn't vote at all in the 2016 election. Why? Because the partisan press is not the same thing as the free and independent press. (That's true of outlets on the right and the left.) The partisan press is playing to an audience who shares a certain viewpoint. The independent media is trying to hold power to account. That's not the same mission even though those things do, sometimes, run in the same direction.

Hate Trump or love him, the idea that he is purposely freezing out mainstream media reporters because he doesn't like the sort of questions they ask is chilling. Down that path lies nothing good for journalism — or democracy.

It's truly sad that the mainstream media is being locked out.

[Cartmann99]

I'm sure all of you have heard by now that Trump will be spending another weekend at Grift-a-Lago and attending a rally on Saturday.   Because of the necessary security precautions, Palm Beach area businesses take a hit when he's there, and according to that article in The Guardian I read last weekend, hotels in the area make a lot of their money during the months of February and March.

Then, I had a thought. Is Trump actually trying to run the other fancy hotels and restaurants out of business, so that Grift-a-Lago benefits? If so, the American taxpayers are paying for Trump to destroy the businesses of his competitors.