Trump 34: Leading the Alternate Reality

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

Good grief: "Trump’s ex-campaign manager cites traffic stop in a Rolls-Royce as example of ‘real guy’ experience"

Spoiler

President Trump may have been criticized as out of touch when he remarked this month that people need to show identification when buying groceries, but Corey Lewandowski said his former boss knows what it’s like to be an average Joe.

His evidence?

Trump was once pulled over by the police while driving his Rolls-Royce from Manhattan to his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J.

This was one of incidents cited by Lewandowski on Wednesday when asked by reporters to provide examples of Trump as a “real guy,” who might, say, buy things in a store or pump his own gas. He also cited Trump picking up the tab for staff at a pricey steakhouse and knowing the cost of items at McDonald’s.

“I shouldn’t tell the story because I’ll get in trouble, but I remember he was driving his Rolls-Royce from New York City one day up to the golf course in Bedminster — this was before Secret Service — and we were on the campaign,” said Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, referring to Secret Service protection, which Trump requested in November 2015 when he was running for president.

“I remember because he was talking to me on the telephone. And guess what happened, right? When you’re in New York and you’re on the telephone and you drive a Rolls-Royce out to New Jersey, you get stopped.”

Trump probably isn’t filling up his car these days, because the Secret Service will not allow him to drive a private car, Lewandowski said. But Trump “loves to drive his cars” and does so himself, as shown by the traffic stop, the former aide said at a breakfast roundtable organized by the Christian Science Monitor.

Lewandowski later said the incident occurred about four years ago and that he does not know whether Trump received a ticket. The White House did not respond to questions about whether the incident occurred, or for details about it.

The story has apparently not been told previously and is notable in part because of Trump’s threat as president to unilaterally impose a 20 percent tariff on all automobile imports from Europe on national security grounds. Rolls-Royce is a British luxury car manufacturer.

Lewandowski was hired in December 2014 to manage what would become the Trump presidential campaign. The two men were not acquainted before Lewandowski’s hiring, but he quickly became one of Trump’s most loyal defenders.

Trump fired Lewandowski in June 2016, partly at the behest of then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, now on trial for 18 charges of federal tax and banking crimes. Lewandowski said Wednesday he was unaware of any previous wrongdoing by Manafort when they worked together.

Lewandowski is now an adviser to Vice President Pence’s Great America PAC.

Despite his firing, Lewandowski has remained a frequent champion of Trump on television and elsewhere. He wrote a 2017 book complimentary of Trump and criticized former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman for attempting to “burn” the president with a tell-all account.

Lewandowski said he never heard Trump utter the n-word, as Manigault Newman claims he has done, or use other racial slurs.

As part of the discussion of Trump and his knowledge of real-world costs and challenges, Lewandowski also related a story of Trump pulling out his American Express Platinum Card to pay for dinner at a steakhouse in Des Moines and said Trump appeared well aware of the cost of such basics as a McDonald’s meal on the road.

“I think the misperception of Donald Trump is he has no understanding what things cost, and it’s absolutely not the case,” Lewandowski said. “He was so engaged in things. When we would go to a McDonald’s or a fast-food place on the campaign trail he would know what it would cost because he would take out the cash and he would pay for it.”

 

[GreyhoundFan]

Uh-oh, get ready for the tantrum: "Pentagon may delay Trump’s military parade, originally slated for November, to next year"

Spoiler

BREAKING: The Defense Department and the White House, which had targeted a November date for the Washington military parade sought by President Trump, will instead “explore opportunities in 2019,” a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement.

This story will be updated.

A massive parade that President Trump ordered to showcase American military might this fall will probably cost tens of millions of dollars more than originally expected, officials said Thursday.

A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss cost estimates that have not been finalized, said the final tally could be as high as $92 million depending on what military assets are included. The price tag, much higher than previous estimates, was first reported by MSNBC.

“Defense Department planning for the Military Veterans Day Parade continues and final details are still being developed,” Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

The unusual military exposition in the heart of the U.S. capital, which Pentagon officials are scrambling to pull together, is a reflection of the president’s fondness for military pomp. According to a Pentagon memo circulated this spring, the Nov. 11 parade will highlight the contributions of service members dating to the Revolutionary War, “with an emphasis on the price of freedom.”

Officials have been planning the event since earlier this year, when the president, apparently inspired by a similar display he observed last year in France, discussed the parade in a meeting with senior officials at the Pentagon.

The cost and the symbolism of the parade — reminiscent, critics say, of shows of force by authoritarian governments — have generated criticism from Democrats and, privately, consternation among military officials at a time when the Pentagon is trying to demonstrate its might against competitors including Russia and China. Such large parades have been rare in recent U.S. history, though the George H.W. Bush administration staged a military parade in Washington in 1991 after the conclusion of the Persian Gulf War.

Earlier this year, a senior official said the parade would probably cost between $10 million and $30 million. Some share of the higher cost of close to $100 million is expected to be paid by other government agencies that would take part in organizing or securing the event.

Planning for the parade comes at a time when Trump has boasted of saving money by suspending joint military exercises with South Korea, part of his outreach to North Korea. The affected exercise would have cost about $14 million, far less than the parade’s current expected cost.

The Pentagon has said the event will incorporate a smaller annual D.C. Veterans Day parade and will feature a display of uniforms from different eras of U.S. history, along with reenactments. The parade route will stretch from the White House to the Capitol, passing in front of the Trump International Hotel.

The parade will feature a “heavy air component” but no tanks, the memo said, to avoid damaging the streets of Washington.

The American Legion, a veterans organization, said that while it appreciated that Trump wanted to show support for U.S. troops, other priorities should win out.

“However, until such time as we can celebrate victory in the war on terrorism and bring our military home, we think the parade money would be better spent fully funding the Department of Veterans Affairs and giving our troops and their families the best care possible,” the group’s national commander, Denise Rohan, said in a statement.

 

[onekidanddone]

27 minutes ago, GreyhoundFan said:

Good grief: "Trump’s ex-campaign manager cites traffic stop in a Rolls-Royce as example of ‘real guy’ experience"

  Reveal hidden contents

President Trump may have been criticized as out of touch when he remarked this month that people need to show identification when buying groceries, but Corey Lewandowski said his former boss knows what it’s like to be an average Joe.

His evidence?

Trump was once pulled over by the police while driving his Rolls-Royce from Manhattan to his golf resort in Bedminster, N.J.

This was one of incidents cited by Lewandowski on Wednesday when asked by reporters to provide examples of Trump as a “real guy,” who might, say, buy things in a store or pump his own gas. He also cited Trump picking up the tab for staff at a pricey steakhouse and knowing the cost of items at McDonald’s.

“I shouldn’t tell the story because I’ll get in trouble, but I remember he was driving his Rolls-Royce from New York City one day up to the golf course in Bedminster — this was before Secret Service — and we were on the campaign,” said Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager, referring to Secret Service protection, which Trump requested in November 2015 when he was running for president.

“I remember because he was talking to me on the telephone. And guess what happened, right? When you’re in New York and you’re on the telephone and you drive a Rolls-Royce out to New Jersey, you get stopped.”

Trump probably isn’t filling up his car these days, because the Secret Service will not allow him to drive a private car, Lewandowski said. But Trump “loves to drive his cars” and does so himself, as shown by the traffic stop, the former aide said at a breakfast roundtable organized by the Christian Science Monitor.

Lewandowski later said the incident occurred about four years ago and that he does not know whether Trump received a ticket. The White House did not respond to questions about whether the incident occurred, or for details about it.

The story has apparently not been told previously and is notable in part because of Trump’s threat as president to unilaterally impose a 20 percent tariff on all automobile imports from Europe on national security grounds. Rolls-Royce is a British luxury car manufacturer.

Lewandowski was hired in December 2014 to manage what would become the Trump presidential campaign. The two men were not acquainted before Lewandowski’s hiring, but he quickly became one of Trump’s most loyal defenders.

Trump fired Lewandowski in June 2016, partly at the behest of then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort, now on trial for 18 charges of federal tax and banking crimes. Lewandowski said Wednesday he was unaware of any previous wrongdoing by Manafort when they worked together.

Lewandowski is now an adviser to Vice President Pence’s Great America PAC.

Despite his firing, Lewandowski has remained a frequent champion of Trump on television and elsewhere. He wrote a 2017 book complimentary of Trump and criticized former aide Omarosa Manigault Newman for attempting to “burn” the president with a tell-all account.

Lewandowski said he never heard Trump utter the n-word, as Manigault Newman claims he has done, or use other racial slurs.

As part of the discussion of Trump and his knowledge of real-world costs and challenges, Lewandowski also related a story of Trump pulling out his American Express Platinum Card to pay for dinner at a steakhouse in Des Moines and said Trump appeared well aware of the cost of such basics as a McDonald’s meal on the road.

“I think the misperception of Donald Trump is he has no understanding what things cost, and it’s absolutely not the case,” Lewandowski said. “He was so engaged in things. When we would go to a McDonald’s or a fast-food place on the campaign trail he would know what it would cost because he would take out the cash and he would pay for it.”

 

What is he crying that he was pulled over for DWAH Driving While Ass Hat?

[GreyhoundFan]

Great opinion piece: "Revoke my security clearance, too, Mr. President"

Spoiler

William H. McRaven, a retired Navy admiral, was commander of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command from 2011 to 2014. He oversaw the 2011 Navy SEAL raid in Pakistan that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Dear Mr. President:

Former CIA director John Brennan, whose security clearance you revoked on Wednesday, is one of the finest public servants I have ever known. Few Americans have done more to protect this country than John. He is a man of unparalleled integrity, whose honesty and character have never been in question, except by those who don’t know him.

Therefore, I would consider it an honor if you would revoke my security clearance as well, so I can add my name to the list of men and women who have spoken up against your presidency.

Like most Americans, I had hoped that when you became president, you would rise to the occasion and become the leader this great nation needs.

A good leader tries to embody the best qualities of his or her organization. A good leader sets the example for others to follow. A good leader always puts the welfare of others before himself or herself.

Your leadership, however, has shown little of these qualities. Through your actions, you have embarrassed us in the eyes of our children, humiliated us on the world stage and, worst of all, divided us as a nation.

If you think for a moment that your McCarthy-era tactics will suppress the voices of criticism, you are sadly mistaken. The criticism will continue until you become the leader we prayed you would be.

 

[onekidanddone]

Pentagon delays Trump’s veterans parade until at least 2019

Quote

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Defense Department said Thursday that the Veterans Day military parade ordered up by President Donald Trump won’t happen in 2018.

Col. Rob Manning, a Pentagon spokesman, said the military and the White House “have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019.”

The announcement came several hours after The Associated Press reported that the parade would cost about $92 million, according to U.S. officials citing preliminary estimates more than three times the price first suggested by the White House.

According to the officials, roughly $50 million would cover Pentagon costs for aircraft, equipment, personnel and other support for the November parade in Washington. The remainder would be borne by other agencies and largely involve security costs. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss early planning estimates that have not yet been finalized or released publicly.

Officials said the plans had not yet been approved by Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

The parade’s cost has become a politically charged issue, particularly after the Pentagon canceled a major military exercise planned for August with South Korea, in the wake of Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump said the drills were provocative and that dumping them would save the U.S. “a tremendous amount of money.” The Pentagon later said the Korea drills would have cost $14 million.

Lt. Col. Jamie Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said earlier Thursday that Defense Department planning for the parade “continues and final details are still being developed. Any cost estimates are pre-decisional.”

The parade was expected to include troops from all five armed services — the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard — as well as units in period uniforms representing earlier times in the nation’s history. It also was expected to involve a number of military aircraft flyovers.

A Pentagon planning memo released in March said the parade would feature a “heavy air component,” likely including older, vintage aircraft. It also said there would be “wheeled vehicles only, no tanks — consideration must be given to minimize damage to local infrastructure.” Big, heavy tanks could tear up streets in the District of Columbia.

The memo from Mattis’ office provided initial planning guidance to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His staff is planning the parade along a route from the White House to the Capitol and would integrate it with the city’s annual veterans’ parade. U.S. Northern Command, which oversees U.S. troops in North America, is responsible for the actual execution of the parade.

Earlier this year, the White House budget director told Congress that the cost to taxpayers could be $10 million to $30 million. Those estimates were likely based on the cost of previous military parades, such as the one in the nation’s capital in 1991 celebrating the end of the first Gulf War, and factored in some additional increase for inflation.

One veterans group weighed in Thursday against the parade. “The American Legion appreciates that our President wants to show in a dramatic fashion our nation’s support for our troops,” National Commander Denise Rohan said. “However, until such time as we can celebrate victory in the War on Terrorism and bring our military home, we think the parade money would be better spent fully funding the Department of Veteran Affairs and giving our troops and their families the best care possible.”

Trump decided he wanted a military parade in Washington after he attended France’s Bastille Day celebration in the center of Paris last year. As the invited guest of French President Emmanuel Macron, Trump watched enthusiastically from a reviewing stand as the French military showcased its tanks and fighter jets, including many U.S.-made planes, along the famed Champs-Elysees.

Several months later Trump praised the French parade, saying, “We’re going to have to try and top it.”

 

I'll just leave this here. Create your own Trump Tweet response.

[GreyhoundFan]

"Donald Trump’s compelling argument for revoking the security clearance of . . . Donald Trump"

Spoiler

President Trump decided to distract from Omarosa remove former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance on Tuesday. There has been a wee bit of blowback.

As The Washington Post’s David Nakamura and Felicia Sonmez note, “The move sent shock waves through Washington’s political class and the nation’s intelligence community, which has traditionally sought to avoid public partisanship but has been dragged into the debate as Trump has accused what he calls the “deep state” of seeking to undermine his presidency through leaks of sensitive material.”

In Lawfare, Bradley P. Moss spells out that although the president probably has the authority to make this decision, it’s an unorthodox move: “In 11 years of representing civilian employees, military personnel, political appointees and government contractors in security clearance proceedings, I can say with certainty that these types of ‘allegations’ are nothing like anything I have ever seen in a memorandum outlining bases for denying or revoking a security clearance.”

Ah, yes, the allegations against John Brennan. Let’s go to the key points of Trump’s full statement — originally dated three weeks ago but mysteriously released yesterday — that outlined his reasons for revoking Brennan’s clearance:

At this point in my Administration, any benefits that senior officials might glean from consultations with Mr. Brennan are now outweighed by the risks posed by his erratic conduct and behavior.  Second, that conduct and behavior has tested and far exceeded the limits of any professional courtesy that may have been due to him . . .

Mr. Brennan has recently leveraged his status as a former high-ranking official with access to highly sensitive information to make a series of unfounded and outrageous allegations — wild outbursts on the internet and television — about this Administration.  Mr. Brennan’s lying and recent conduct, characterized by increasingly frenzied commentary, is wholly inconsistent with access to the Nation’s most closely held secrets and facilitates the very aim of our adversaries, which is to sow division and chaos.

More broadly, the issue of Mr. Brennan’s security clearance raises larger questions about the practice of former officials maintaining access to our Nation’s most sensitive secrets long after their time in Government has ended.  Such access is particularly inappropriate when former officials have transitioned into highly partisan positions and seek to use real or perceived access to sensitive information to validate their political attacks.  Any access granted to our Nation’s secrets should be in furtherance of national, not personal, interests.  For this reason, I have also begun to review the more general question of the access to classified information by former Government officials.

So, to sum up, Trump’s dossier of allegations against Brennan is as follows:

It’s a disturbing list of allegations, one that should be taken seriously. If a policy principle were to display erratic conduct and behavior, increasingly frenzied commentary, make wild outbursts on the internet and television, monetize his official position, and lie repeatedly, well, by now you should be fully aware of the punchline to this joke.

What is so disturbing is how obvious this joke is, because we are dealing with an administration that has long since given up trying to appear above the fray. Whatever effort this White House used to make to justify its actions beyond pure partisanship has long since dissipated. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s listless demeanor on Tuesday was just another data point substantiating the argument that this White House cares about little more than its own survival.

Indeed, despite Huckabee Sanders’s lame spin, support from congressional allies, and Trump-friendly media efforts to highlight John Brennan’s flaws, the president himself gave the game away last night in an interview with Wall Street Journal reporters:

In an interview Wednesday, Mr. Trump cited Mr. Brennan as among those he held responsible for the investigation, which also is looking into whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. Mr. Trump has denied collusion, and Russia has denied interfering ….

“I call it the rigged witch hunt, [it] is a sham,” Mr. Trump said in an interview. “And these people led it!”

He added: “So I think it’s something that had to be done.”

The fact that Trump did not consult his own director of national intelligence before making this move makes it clear that this action is nothing more that a fit of presidential pique.

Trump probably has the raw constitutional power to take this action. But every charge he levied against Brennan applies to himself with much greater force. It might be the greatest act of projection Trump has engaged in as president.

But, hey, it got Omarosa off the front pages for a few hours, until Brennan published a New York Times op-ed in response. And he gets the last word on this issue:

Mr. Trump’s claims of no collusion are, in a word, hogwash.

The only questions that remain are whether the collusion that took place constituted criminally liable conspiracy, whether obstruction of justice occurred to cover up any collusion or conspiracy, and how many members of “Trump Incorporated” attempted to defraud the government by laundering and concealing the movement of money into their pockets ….

Mr. Trump clearly has become more desperate to protect himself and those close to him, which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance in an attempt to scare into silence others who might dare to challenge him. Now more than ever, it is critically important that the special counsel, Robert Mueller, and his team of investigators be allowed to complete their work without interference — from Mr. Trump or anyone else — so that all Americans can get the answers they so rightly deserve.

 

[JMarie]

6 hours ago, fraurosena said:

Dude can spew hate off the top of his head, but needs a prompt and read something somebody else wrote for him off a note when expressing sympathies. And he flubs the sincerity part, of course. He reads without any empathetic inflection in his voice. 

Oh, and did you know?  He knew this person well. And people loved her. (Note that he doesn't say I or we). 

 

I truly doubt he could name even one of her songs.

[Alisamer]

Ok so I'm a big fan of military aircraft and vintage warbirds, but this parade thing is ridiculous. They could have a few jets fly over while the pipe and drum corp march across the lawn followed by a humvee and the trumpster wouldn't know the difference. With his attention span the same people could come by over and over and he'd never notice. Heck, the Mounties could ride by and he'd be none the wiser!

Also, is anyone else getting a sneaky suspicion that the emphasis on reenactment and history "back to the revolution" is code for "bring your confederate flags, y'all!" 

Generally the losing side doesn't get represented in this sort of thing but I wouldn't be surprised if both blue and gray are included. 

[CTRLZero]

3 minutes ago, Alisamer said:

With his attention span the same people could come by over and over and he'd never notice.

That's hilarious, and I think you are right!  I vote they push the parade planning to late 2020.  With luck, we can have a "V" for "victory" parade. 

[GreyhoundFan]

"Trump has now fired or threatened most senior officials related to the Russia investigation"

Spoiler

President Trump says that although he has never obstructed justice in the Russia investigation, he does “fight back.”

And, as of Wednesday, he had “fought back” against a majority of top officials involved in leading, overseeing or making administration decisions about that probe. According to an analysis by The Washington Post, of the more than a dozen officials with what could be construed as leadership roles in the investigation, more than half have been fired and/or threatened with official recourse.

The most recent examples were the White House’s revocation of former CIA director John Brennan’s security clearance Wednesday and the threats to do the same for nine other current and former officials who have run afoul of Trump. In one fell swoop, the White House effectively more than doubled its enemies list — and served notice that ex-officials who were involved in the probe will not be permitted to criticize Trump willy-nilly.

Not all the firings have come directly from Trump or relate directly to the probe; FBI officials Andrew McCabe and Peter Strzok, for instance, were terminated by the bureau after highly critical inspector-general reports, and former acting attorney general Sally Yates refused to defend Trump’s travel ban in court. But Trump has targeted all of them, and all three also saw their security clearances threatened Wednesday (even as McCabe and Strzok don’t appear to have them anymore).

Here’s a rundown:

Attorneys general

Loretta E. Lynch: Has not been criticized by Trump for Russia investigation but has been for Clinton investigation

Sally Yates (acting): Fired for refusing to defend Trump’s travel ban, security clearance threatened

Jeff Sessions: Threatened with firing or being forced out via tweets and private comments

Rod J. Rosenstein (acting for Russia investigation in light of Sessions’s recusal): Threatened repeatedly

FBI director

James B. Comey: Fired, security clearance threatened (despite apparently not having one)

Andrew McCabe: Fired for issues unrelated to Russia probe (with Trump’s approval and after strong Trump criticisms), security clearance threatened

Leading Russia probe

Peter Strzok (as top FBI counterintelligence official): Fired for issues unrelated to Russia probe, security clearance threatened

Robert S. Mueller III (as special counsel): Threatened with firing, which Trump reportedly attempted twice

CIA director

John Brennan: Security clearance revoked

Mike Pompeo: Trump ally who later became secretary of state

Director of national intelligence

James R. Clapper Jr.: Security clearance threatened

Daniel Coats: There has been chatter recently about whether Trump might fire Coats, and Trump has questioned Coats publicly, but there hasn’t been a clear threat

National security adviser

Susan E. Rice: Security clearance threatened

Michael Flynn: Fired for issues unrelated to Russia probe

H.R. McMaster: While officially a resignation, Trump essentially fired McMaster in March after repeatedly publicly embarrassing him and a month after Trump bristled when McMaster said evidence of Russian interference was “incontrovertible"

 

[JMarie]

6 minutes ago, CTRLZero said:

That's hilarious, and I think you are right!  I vote they push the parade planning to late 2020.  With luck, we can have a "V" for "victory" parade. 

Can we save the parade for his impeachment??

[fraurosena]

43 minutes ago, JMarie said:

Can we save the parade for his impeachment??

Somehow I think that’s precisely what the Pentagon is aiming for by delaying the parade. Because we all know impeachment is going to happen as soon as the blue tsunami hits Capitol Hill.

[AmazonGrace]

 

[AmazonGrace]

 

[Howl]

I'd like to think there is epic blow back going on among high ranking military over Trump stripping security clearances as payback for criticism from retired generals; putting the military parade on hold is a great way to poke Trump in the eye. 

[AnywhereButHere]

13 hours ago, JMarie said:

Can we save the parade for his impeachment??

Seriously. He wants a parade? He gets impeached or resigns - he'll have the biggest parade ever!

[GreyhoundFan]

 

[AmazonGrace]

he's gonna go after Bruce Ohr

[fraurosena]

Seth's right. this shouldn't be sugarcoated or disguised for anything other than it is. He's committing crimes in full view, blatantly and unabashedly, and nobody is calling him out on it. 

 

[fraurosena]

    hehhhhh.... sorry, that's all I got. I just... pfffffff.... 

 

[GreyhoundFan]

[GreyhoundFan]

This is an excellent article about Jimmy Carter. I haven't heard him say much against Dumpy before. "The un-celebrity president"

Spoiler

PLAINS, Ga.

Jimmy Carter finishes his Saturday night dinner, salmon and broccoli casserole on a paper plate, flashes his famous toothy grin and calls playfully to his wife of 72 years, Rosalynn: “C’mon, kid.”

She laughs and takes his hand, and they walk carefully through a neighbor’s kitchen filled with 1976 campaign buttons, photos of world leaders and a couple of unopened cans of Billy Beer, then out the back door, where three Secret Service agents wait.

They do this just about every weekend in this tiny town where they were born — he almost 94 years ago, she almost 91. Dinner at their friend Jill Stuckey’s house, with plastic Solo cups of ice water and one glass each of bargain-brand chardonnay, then the half-mile walk home to the ranch house they built in 1961.

On this south Georgia summer evening, still close to 90 degrees, they dab their faces with a little plastic bottle of No Natz to repel the swirling clouds of tiny bugs. Then they catch each other’s hands again and start walking, the former president in jeans and clunky black shoes, the former first lady using a walking stick for the first time.

The 39th president of the United States lives modestly, a sharp contrast to his successors, who have left the White House to embrace power of another kind: wealth.

Even those who didn’t start out rich, including Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have made tens of millions of dollars on the private-sector opportunities that flow so easily to ex-presidents.

When Carter left the White House after one tumultuous term, trounced by Ronald Reagan in the 1980 election, he returned to Plains, a speck of peanut and cotton farmland that to this day has a nearly 40 percent poverty rate.

The Democratic former president decided not to join corporate boards or give speeches for big money because, he says, he didn’t want to “capitalize financially on being in the White House.”

Presidential historian Michael Beschloss said that Gerald Ford, Carter’s predecessor and close friend, was the first to fully take advantage of those high-paid post-presidential opportunities, but that “Carter did the opposite.”

Since Ford, other former presidents, and sometimes their spouses, routinely earn hundreds of thousands of dollars per speech.

“I don’t see anything wrong with it; I don’t blame other people for doing it,” Carter says over dinner. “It just never had been my ambition to be rich.”

‘He doesn’t like big shots’

Carter was 56 when he returned to Plains from Washington. He says his peanut business, held in a blind trust during his presidency, was $1 million in debt, and he was forced to sell.

“We thought we were going to lose everything,” says Rosalynn, sitting beside him.

Carter decided that his income would come from writing, and he has written 33 books, about his life and career, his faith, Middle East peace, women’s rights, aging, fishing, woodworking, even a children’s book written with his daughter, Amy Carter, called “The Little Baby Snoogle-Fleejer.”

With book income and the $210,700 annual pension all former presidents receive, the Carters live comfortably. But his books have never fetched the massive sums commanded by more recent presidents.

Carter has been an ex-president for 37 years, longer than anyone else in history. His simple lifestyle is increasingly rare in this era of President Trump, a billionaire with gold-plated sinks in his private jet, Manhattan penthouse and Mar-a-Lago estate.

Carter is the only president in the modern era to return full-time to the house he lived in before he entered politics — a two-bedroom rancher assessed at $167,000, less than the value of the armored Secret Service vehicles parked outside.

Ex-presidents often fly on private jets, sometimes lent by wealthy friends, but the Carters fly commercial. Stuckey says that on a recent flight from Atlanta to Los Angeles, Carter walked up and down the aisle greeting other passengers and taking selfies.

“He doesn’t like big shots, and he doesn’t think he’s a big shot,” said Gerald Rafshoon, who was Carter’s White House communications director.

Carter costs U.S. taxpayers less than any other ex-president, according to the General Services Administration, with a total bill for him in the current fiscal year of $456,000, covering pensions, an office, staff and other expenses. That’s less than half the $952,000 budgeted for George H.W. Bush; the three other living ex-presidents — Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama — cost taxpayers more than $1 million each per year.

Carter doesn’t even have federal retirement health benefits because he worked for the government for four years — less than the five years needed to qualify, according to the GSA. He says he receives health benefits through Emory University, where he has taught for 36 years.

The federal government pays for an office for each ex-president. Carter’s, in the Carter Center in Atlanta, is the least expensive, at $115,000 this year. The Carters could have built a more elaborate office with living quarters, but for years they slept on a pullout couch for a week each month. Recently, they had a Murphy bed installed.

Carter’s office costs a fraction of Obama’s, which is $536,000 a year. Clinton’s costs $518,000, George W. Bush’s is $497,000 and George H.W. Bush’s is $286,000, according to the GSA.

“I am a great admirer of Harry Truman. He’s my favorite president, and I really try to emulate him,” says Carter, who writes his books in a converted garage in his house. “He set an example I thought was admirable.”

But although Truman retired to his hometown of Independence, Mo., Beschloss said that even he took up residence in an elegant house previously owned by his prosperous in-laws.

As Carter spreads a thick layer of butter on a slice of white bread, he is asked whether he thinks, especially with a man who boasts of being a billionaire in the White House, any future ex-president will ever live the way Carter does.

“I hope so,” he says. “But I don’t know.”

‘A good ’ol Southern gentleman’

Plains is a tiny circle of Georgia farmland, a mile in diameter, with its center at the train depot that served as Carter’s 1976 campaign headquarters. About 700 people live here, 150 miles due south of Atlanta, in a place that is a living museum to Carter.

The general store, once owned by Carter’s Uncle Buddy, sells Carter memorabilia and scoops of peanut butter ice cream. Carter’s boyhood farm is preserved as it was in the 1930s, with no electricity or running water.

The Jimmy Carter National Historic Site is essentially the entire town, drawing nearly 70,000 visitors a year and $4 million into the county’s economy.

Carter has used his post-presidency to support human rights, global health programs and fair elections worldwide through his Carter Center, based in Atlanta. He has helped renovate 4,300 homes in 14 countries for Habitat for Humanity, and with his own hammer and tool belt, he will be working on homes for low-income people in Indiana later this month.

But it is Plains that defines him.

After dinner, the Carters step out of Stuckey’s driveway, with two Secret Service agents walking close behind.

Carter’s gait is a little unsteady these days, three years after a diagnosis of melanoma on his liver and brain. At a 2015 news conference to announce his illness, he seemed to be bidding a stoic farewell, saying he was “perfectly at ease with whatever comes.”

But now, after radiation and chemotherapy, Carter says he is cancer-free.

In October, he will become the second president ever to reach 94; George H.W. Bush turned 94 in June. These days, Carter is sharp, funny and reflective.

The Carters walk every day — often down Church Street, the main drag through Plains, where they have been walking since the 1920s.

As they cross Walters Street, Carter sees a couple of teenagers on the sidewalk across the street.

“Hello,” says the former president, with the same big smile that adorns peanut Christmas ornaments in the general store.

“Hey,” says a girl in a jean skirt, greeting him with a cheerful wave.

The two 15-year-olds say people in Plains think of the Carters as neighbors and friends, just like anybody else.

“I grew up in church with him,” says Maya Wynn. “He’s a nice guy, just like a regular person.”

“He’s a good ’ol Southern gentleman,” says David Lane.

Carter says this place formed him, seeding his beliefs about racial equality. His farmhouse youth during the Great Depression made him unpretentious and frugal. His friends, maybe only half-joking, describe Carter as “tight as a tick.”

That no-frills sensibility, endearing since he left Washington, didn’t work as well in the White House. Many people thought Carter scrubbed some of the luster off the presidency by carrying his own suitcases onto Air Force One and refusing to have “Hail to the Chief” played.

Stuart E. Eizenstat, a Carter aide and biographer, said Carter’s edict eliminating drivers for top staff members backfired. It meant that top officials were driving instead of reading and working for an hour or two every day.

“He didn’t feel suited to the grandeur,” Eizenstat said. “Plains is really part of his DNA. He carried it into the White House, and he carried it out of the White House.”

Carter’s presidency — from 1977 to 1981 — is often remembered for long lines at gas stations and the Iran hostage crisis.

“I may have overemphasized the plight of the hostages when I was in my final year,” he says. “But I was so obsessed with them personally, and with their families, that I wanted to do anything to get them home safely, which I did.”

He said he regrets not doing more to unify the Democratic Party.

When Carter looks back at his presidency, he says he is most proud of “keeping the peace and supporting human rights,” the Camp David accords that brokered peace between Israel and Egypt, and his work to normalize relations with China. In 2002, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.

“I always told the truth,” he says.

Carter has been notably quiet about President Trump. But on this night, two years into Trump’s term, he’s not holding back.

“I think he’s a disaster,” Carter says. “In human rights and taking care of people and treating people equal.”

“The worst is that he is not telling the truth, and that just hurts everything,” Rosalynn says.

Carter says his father taught him that truthfulness matters. He said that was reinforced at the U.S. Naval Academy, where he said students are expelled for telling even the smallest lie.

“I think there’s been an attitude of ignorance toward the truth by President Trump,” he says.

Carter says he thinks the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has “changed our political system from a democracy to an oligarchy. Money is now preeminent. I mean, it’s just gone to hell now.”

He says he believes that the nation’s “ethical and moral values” are still intact and that Americans eventually will “return to what’s right and what’s wrong, and what’s decent and what’s indecent, and what’s truthful and what’s lies.”

But, he says, “I doubt if it happens in my lifetime.”

On Church Street, Carter points out the mayor’s house with his left hand while he holds Rosalynn’s with his right.

“My mother and father lived in that brick one,” he says, gesturing toward a small house across the street. “We use it as an office now.”

“That’s Dr. Logan’s over here.”

Every house has a story. Generations of them. Cracked birdbaths and rocking chairs on somebody’s great-grandmother’s porch. Carter knows them all.

“Mr. Oscar Williams lived here; his family was my competitor in the warehouse business.”

He points out the Plains United Methodist Church, where he spotted young Eleanor Rosalynn Smith one evening when he was home from the Naval Academy.

He asked her out. They went to a movie, and the next morning he told his mother he was going to marry Rosalynn.

“I didn’t know that for years,” she says with a smile.

They are asked if there is anything they want but don’t have.

“I can’t think of anything,” Carter says, turning to Rosalynn. “And you?”

“No, I’m happy,” she says.

“We feel at home here,” Carter says. “And the folks in town, when we need it, they take care of us.”

‘A heart of service’

Every other Sunday morning, Carter teaches Sunday school at the Maranatha Baptist Church on the edge of town, and people line up the night before to get a seat.

This Sunday morning happens to be his 800th lesson since he left the White House.

He walks in wearing a blazer too big through the shoulders, a striped shirt and a turquoise bolo tie. He asks where people have come from, and from the pews they call out at least 20 states, Canada, Kenya, China and Denmark.

He tells the congregation that he’s planning a trip to Montana to go fishing with his friend Ted Turner, and that he’s going to ride in his son’s autogiro — a sort of mini-helicopter.

“I’m still fairly active,” he says, and everyone laughs.

He talks about living a purposeful life, but also about finding enough time for rest and reflection. Then he and Rosalynn pose for photos with every person who wants one, including Steven and Joanna Raley, who came from Annandale, Va., with their 3-month-old son, Jackson Carter Raley.

“We want our children to grow up with a heart of service like President Carter,” says Steven, who works on Navy submarines, as Carter once did.

“One of the reasons we named our son after President Carter is how humble he is,” Joanna says.

Carter holds the baby and beams for the camera.

“I like the name,” he says.

A modest life

When they reach their property, the Carters turn right off the sidewalk and cut across the wide lawn toward their house.

Carter stops to point out a tall magnolia that was transplanted from a sprout taken from a tree that Andrew Jackson planted on the White House lawn.

They walk past a pond, which Carter helped dig and where he now works on his fly-fishing technique. They point out a willow tree at the pond’s edge, on a gentle sloping lawn, where they will be buried in graves marked by simple stones.

They know their graves will draw tourists and boost the Plains economy.

Their one-story house sits behind a government-owned fence that once surrounded Richard Nixon’s house in Key Biscayne, Fla. The Carters already have deeded the property to the National Park Service, which will one day turn it into a museum.

Their house is dated, but homey and comfortable, with a rustic living room and a small kitchen. A cooler bearing the presidential seal sits on the floor in the kitchen — Carter says they use it for leftovers.

In a remodel not long ago, the couple knocked down a bedroom wall themselves. “By that time, we had worked with Habitat so much that it was just second-nature,” Rosalynn says.

Rosalynn Carter practices tai chi and meditates in the mornings, while her husband writes in his study or swims in the pool. He also builds furniture and paints in the garage; the paint is still wet on a portrait of a cardinal that will be their Christmas card this year.

They watch Atlanta Braves games or “Law and Order.” Carter just finished reading “The Innovators” by Walter Isaacson. They have no chef and they cook for themselves, often together. They make their own yogurt.

On this summer morning, Rosalynn mixes pancake batter and sprinkles in blueberries grown on their land.

Carter cooks them on the griddle.

Then he does the dishes.

 

[Cartmann99]

 

[fraurosena]

28 minutes ago, Cartmann99 said:

 

Viceroy? That literally means vice-king. Instead of the king. Since when is America a kingdom?

And why is this plan by Erik Prince being dusted off again? Do they think ‘if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?’ Because this idea was tried and failed last year, remember?

Don’t answer that. I know it’s because the presidunce is beholden to the Prince’s too. (We talked about it in depth on FJ last year)

And the viceroy part? Well, his name is Prince, after all...