On Trump

[Dude#1279435]

The G7 Summit at Doral Trump wanted to host was LOL. He had said he was hosting it for free, but he also said Washington ran his private business along side his presidency. I think someone at The Hill said, OK, now I guess we grift right out in the open.

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Why not Camp David? Because the president doesn't own it.

Because the president can't use taxpayer money to renovate and upgrade his personal property unless conducting official government business there.

It's simple grift. Easy to understand, easy to see why it should not be allowed.

But hey, it's your guy. Cognitive dissonance wins again.

Defend it, if you can.
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Forget that. The domestic emoluments clause states:
The President shall, at stated Times, receive for his Services, a Compensation, which shall neither be increased nor diminished during the Period for which he shall have been elected, and he shall not receive within that Period any other Emolument from the United States, or any of them.

His order to allocate federal government funds to his own personal business is as blatant, deliberate a breach of this constitutional provision as could be imagined.
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I agree, I like how he purposely didnt read the WHOLE clause... Leaving out the part of " without the Consent of the Congress". Wish people would read the constitution themselves instead of being sheep to the media.

he (Trump) didn’t get consent from congress tho
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Oh big deal if the Trump's are making a little do-re-mi on the side during his presidency. Don Jr. looks like he needs the money for a shave and Eric needs it for....well....something. Emoluments Clause, Schmoluments Clause. Sometimes the Constitution goes too far! This is your tax money at work!
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"Next G7 at Obama Towers, a wholly owned hotel of Obama, Inc. GOP erupts in applause and approval." Lindsay Graham quoted as saying, "Obama is just so gosh darn proud of those towers. I'm so happy for him." Sean Hannity tweets out his approval and excitement for Obama's wholly owned hotel to be hosting official government events.
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We did not vote in Trump as President just for him to act cowardly when faced with the a challenge from the Constitution. He should fight the Dems over this who are trying to enforce the Constitution on him.

 

[SithZedi]

Yes, grift, grift, grift. The system is the problem.

Wikipedia deleted their entry to Rosemont Seneca Partners last week before this NY Post story was published yesterday. The Wiki Editor, is know as "AlexEng". He has a Wiki user bio page and he admits he has an implicit bias. “I always edit with the best intentions, but I sometimes make good faith mistakes,”

Of course its in good faith, never thought otherwise. Nothing to see here.

Joe Biden met with Hunter Biden business partner at the White House

Visitor logs from the White House of former President Barack Obama reviewed by The Post cast further doubt over Joe Biden’s claims that he knew nothing of his son’s dealings.

nypost.com

 

[highfigh]

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.

H. L. Mencken

OTOH, who wants the government to tell us what we want......

never mind.

 

[Dude#1279435]

Yes, grift, grift, grift. The system is the problem.

Wikipedia deleted their entry to Rosemont Seneca Partners last week before this NY Post story was published yesterday. The Wiki Editor, is know as "AlexEng". He has a Wiki user bio page and he admits he has an implicit bias. “I always edit with the best intentions, but I sometimes make good faith mistakes,”

Of course its in good faith, never thought otherwise. Nothing to see here.

Joe Biden met with Hunter Biden business partner at the White House

Visitor logs from the White House of former President Barack Obama reviewed by The Post cast further doubt over Joe Biden’s claims that he knew nothing of his son’s dealings.

nypost.com

Ah the wiki example you used not to long ago.....

Wiki is unreliable, then you use wiki (Bush admin), then denounce wiki again. According to your own words you needed to use it to "convince" me of your claim (ie using an unreliable source to convince me what you say is reliable). Caveat: the Bush admin topic was never direct towards me.

 

[SithZedi]

Ah the wiki example you used not to long ago.....

Wiki is unreliable, then you use wiki (Bush admin), then denounce wiki again. According to your own words you needed to use it to "convince" me of your claim (ie using an unreliable source to convince me what you say is reliable). Caveat: the Bush admin topic was never direct towards me.

Not about you, just highlighting how corrupt the media is and that Wiki is part of it.

 

[highfigh]

Not about you, just highlighting how corrupt the media is and that Wiki is part of it.

Wiki is different, though- just about anyone can edit the links.

 

[SithZedi]

Wiki is different, though- just about anyone can edit the links.

You're right about that, but it does seem to tilt in one direction. It's good for a quick reference on some things but not so much on others.

Wikipedia co-founder says site is now ‘propaganda’ for left-leaning ‘establishment’

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has warned that the website can no longer be trusted — insisting it is now just “propaganda” for the left-leaning “establishment.”

nypost.com

 

[highfigh]

You're right about that, but it does seem to tilt in one direction. It's good for a quick reference on some things but not so much on others.

Wikipedia co-founder says site is now ‘propaganda’ for left-leaning ‘establishment’

Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger has warned that the website can no longer be trusted — insisting it is now just “propaganda” for the left-leaning “establishment.”

nypost.com

I took an IT networking class in 2006 and the teacher told us to use Wiki, so I use it for some info, but wouldn't for anything political. That's like going to a bar and discussing candidates. Discussing politics in a social media forum is like interrupting a bar fight to ask questions.

 

[Dude#1279435]

From Trump and Fascism. I either agree with them completely or as a mixture (ie illegal immigration is a valid concern).

...Fascism became an all-purpose term because one can eliminate from a fascist regime one or more features, and it will still be recognizable as fascist.

-- Ur-Fascism, Umberto Eco

...these groups can be thought of as concentric circles, movements that are using the same logic as fascism without filling out its entire ideological checklist.

-- Fascism Today, Shane Burley

...While some observers have explained Trump's success as a result of economic anxiety, the data demonstrates that anti-immigrant sentiment, racism, and sexism are much more strongly related to support for Trump. ... He did especially well with white people who express sexist views about women and who deny racism exists.

-- Vanessa Williamson and Isabella Gelfrand, Brookings Institution

Fascist politics exchanges reality for the pronouncements of a single individual, or perhaps a political party. Regular and repeated obvious lying is part of the process by which fascist politics destroys the information space. A fascist leader can replace truth with power, ultimately lying without consequence. By replacing the world with a person, fascist politics makes us unable to assess arguments by a common standard.

-- How Fascism Works, Jason Stanley

 

[Dude#1279435]

Umberto Eco’s List of the 14 Common Features of Fascism

Creative Commons image by Rob Bogaerts, via the National Archives in Holland One of the key questions facing both journalists and loyal oppositions these days is how do we stay honest as euphemisms and trivializations take over the discourse?

www.openculture.com

1. The cult of tradition. “One has only to look at the syllabus of every fascist movement to find the major traditionalist thinkers. The Nazi gnosis was nourished by traditionalist, syncretistic, occult elements.”
2. The rejection of modernism. “The Enlightenment, the Age of Reason, is seen as the beginning of modern depravity. In this sense Ur-Fascism can be defined as irrationalism.”
3. The cult of action for action’s sake. “Action being beautiful in itself, it must be taken before, or without, any previous reflection. Thinking is a form of emasculation.”
4. Disagreement is treason. “The critical spirit makes distinctions, and to distinguish is a sign of modernism. In modern culture the scientific community praises disagreement as a way to improve knowledge.”
5. Fear of difference. “The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.”
6. Appeal to social frustration. “One of the most typical features of the historical fascism was the appeal to a frustrated middle class, a class suffering from an economic crisis or feelings of political humiliation, and frightened by the pressure of lower social groups.”
7. The obsession with a plot. “Thus at the root of the Ur-Fascist psychology there is the obsession with a plot, possibly an international one. The followers must feel besieged.”
8. The enemy is both strong and weak. “By a continuous shifting of rhetorical focus, the enemies are at the same time too strong and too weak.”
9. Pacifism is trafficking with the enemy. “For Ur-Fascism there is no struggle for life but, rather, life is lived for struggle.”
10. Contempt for the weak. “Elitism is a typical aspect of any reactionary ideology.”
11. Everybody is educated to become a hero. “In Ur-Fascist ideology, heroism is the norm. This cult of heroism is strictly linked with the cult of death.”
12. Machismo and weaponry. “Machismo implies both disdain for women and intolerance and condemnation of nonstandard sexual habits, from chastity to homosexuality.”
13. Selective populism. “There is in our future a TV or Internet populism, in which the emotional response of a selected group of citizens can be presented and accepted as the Voice of the People.”
14. Ur-Fascism speaks Newspeak. “All the Nazi or Fascist schoolbooks made use of an impoverished vocabulary, and an elementary syntax, in order to limit the instruments for complex and critical reasoning.”

 

[SithZedi]

Interesting quotes. Sometimes it's better to go to the source fountain than rely solely on interpreters.
Quotes by Benito Mussolini: (context in quotes), State = one party/centralized government and command economy.

The fascist state is the corporate state. (Government control of private sector)

Fascism accepts the individual only insofar as his interests coincide with the State.

All within the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State.

The State reserves the right to be sole interpreter of the needs of society.

Democratic regimes may be defined as those in which, every now and then, the people are given the illusion of being sovereign, while the true sovereignty in actual fact resides in other forces which are sometimes irresponsible and secret. (Elite of society)

Italian journalism is free because it serves one cause and one purpose...Me and the State.

Journalism is not a profession, but a mission. (In 1925 Mussolini introduced press censorship and anti-Fascists newspapers and magazines were banned and the party controlled the media. Editors were replaced by Fascist supporters. Education in schools and universities was closely monitored.)

Fascism is definitely and absolutely opposed to doctrines of liberalism, both in the political and economic sphere. (liberalism as defined in the 1920s European politicians as well as by Mussolini : freemarket economics and limited government or traditional "Americanism")

When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Germany lost the Second World War. Fascism won it. Believe me, my friend.

Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners.

The last two quotes are from George Carlin. Mussolini died in 1945 and is hopefully residing in Dante's 8th circle of hell.

 

[Dude#1279435]

I think you're right. Not a good example. Best to stick with all the examples previous to this.

 

[Dude#1279435]

Kind of an Archie Bunker. "My" African American.....good grief.

This is the most racist non-racist thing I’ve heard in my life

I love how his Trump sign just slowly falls off the podium during his speech... just adds to the awkwardness

Donald Trump: 'Look at my African-American over here...

 

[Dude#1279435]

Donald Trump and the “Alt-Right”: How Much Connection Is There? | ISPI

Leggi l'articolo Donald Trump and the “Alt-Right”: How Much Connection Is There? sul sito dell'ISPI.

www.ispionline.it

From the moment he first declared his candidacy for the presidency of the United States on a strongly nationalist platform promising to “make America great again,” Donald Trump has been dogged by accusations that he is too cozy with explicitly racist, fringe-right figures and movements. Periodically, critics have seized on phrases or images in Trump’s communications that they argue send subtle messages of encouragement or solidarity to Nazis and white supremacists. This began during the 2016 campaign, when former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke expressed enthusiasm for Trump’s presidential bid. When asked for his attitude regarding the support, Trump at first equivocated and professed insufficient knowledge of Duke and his movement, before explicitly disavowing Duke and the Klan some days later. The issue arose again during Trump’s first year in office, when he asserted that there were “very fine people, on both sides” of clashes in Charlottesville, Virginia between anti-Confederate statue protestors and far-right elements. Trump’s defenders insist that the “very fine people” he was referring to were members of local heritage groups and not the violent extremists who descended on the city from outside (and, indeed, in the same press conference Trump clarified that he was “not talking about the neo-Nazis and the white nationalists because they should be condemned totally”). The issue, however, has not gone away; over the last several years, critics have periodically spotted images in Trump administration communications that they allege hearken back to historical European fascism, and recently he has been accused of using phrases with regard to law enforcement and protests that echo American segregationists. Just recently, the Trump campaign drew criticism for retweeting a video of a parade of his supporters in Florida, during which one participant shouted “White Power!” While the campaign later removed the video and claimed that they had not noticed the offending phrase, the incident reignited critics’ claims that Trump is at best indifferent toward—and at worst actively solicitous of—white nationalist support for his presidency.

Given these incidents, what is one to make of the charge that Trump is sympathetic to the “alt-right,” welcoming and even courting their support? First, it is useful to define the term. Generally, the label “alt-right” is used for those who embrace explicitly white supremacist ideologies, whose primary focus is the preservation of white identity and interests against multiple perceived threats, and who reject mainstream political figures and ideas. They are most commonly young, male, and social media-oriented, and are typically virulently racist and anti-Semitic. In America, they would include various neo-Nazi, neo-Confederate, and white nationalist groups. Collectively, these groups and their sympathizers are a very small segment of American society but, like many extremist movements, they have been boosted by the ease of communication and organization that the internet and social media have brought.

On one level, alleging that Trump is aligned with or actively courting these groups is quite dubious. Trump has appointed members of racial minority groups to many positions in his administration and, as his supporters will point out, has explicitly condemned right-wing extremism and white supremacy on multiple occasions. Moreover, multiple Trump advisors—including his daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner—are Jewish, and Trump’s affinity for Israel has itself been globally controversial (clearly, judging from his approval ratings in that country, the people of the Jewish state do not believe that Trump is a secret Nazi). For these reasons and others, much of the core, doctrinaire alt-right and its most prominent leaders have soured on Trump, concluding that he has no real commitment to a systematically white nationalist agenda and that many of their favorites among his policies—like building a border wall—were more rhetorical posturing than serious priorities. Alt-right enthusiasm for Trump in 2020 is muted compared to 2016, as Trump has proven not to be the revolutionary, transformative figure that they had hoped for. Finally, simply from a political standpoint, assiduous courting of the alt-right would be politically idiotic. Their votes are so few in the grand scheme of things, they are so likely captive to Trump anyway, and they are so toxic in broader public opinion, that the costs of appeasing or signaling them would vastly outweigh the benefits.

At the same time, however, the repeated nature of these incidents suggests that something is going on here, that at a minimum certain elements within Trump’s campaign and administration, if not Trump himself, have an affinity for alt-right themes and concerns. To be sure, there is plausible deniability in each individual case, and some of the specific claims do seem like strained attempts by his critics to make the “Trump is a Nazi” case. Trump, however, invited this level of suspicion and scrutiny by bringing into his orbit advisors with clear sympathies for alt-right causes. Steve Bannon, who served as Chief White House Strategist during Trump’s first year in office, has sought to advance the global movement for populist nationalism, and provided a platform for alt-right views (among others) during his time as Chairman of Breitbart News. Stephen Miller, who continues to serve as a senior policy advisor to the president, is militantly hostile to immigration and has a history of promoting alt-right figures and tropes (though it is worth noting that Miller is himself Jewish). The presence of Bannon and Miller within the Trump administration, combined with his campaign’s strongly nationalist themes, have lent credence to the claim that his periodic apparent nods to the alt-right are more than accidental.

In the end, an assessment of Trump’s ties to the alt-right depends on how strongly one wants to make the case. Trump is by nature not an ideologue—he has, over the course of his career, expressed support for an incoherent mishmash of ideas and figures left, right, and center. He is much more interested in self-promotion and self-preservation than in advancing any programmatic worldview, white nationalist or otherwise. He has a penchant, maddening to the alt-right, of echoing their tropes one day, then undercutting their core policy goals the next (as when he recently endorsed a path to citizenship for DACA recipients, undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children). Trump is, at the core, a fundamentally narcissistic and self-interested figure, willing to flirt with the alt-right (and just about anyone else) when convenient, but not committed to their worldview in any doctrinaire or consistent way. In terms that will be familiar to Italian readers, Trump is much more Berlusconi than Mussolini. His personality, however, is such that he is loath to repudiate anyone who offers him lavish praise, whether it be Kim Jong-un or unsavory characters on the alt-right. This trait may ultimately prove politically fatal. Trump’s dalliances with the alt-right tend to alienate exactly the kind of educated, moderate suburban voters that he desperately needs for re-election, and who vastly outnumber those drawn to a white nationalist ideology. In an election year where he is already battered by an ineffective COVID response and nation-wide racial unrest, these are voters that he simply cannot afford to lose.

 

[Dude#1279435]

After thinking on the previous paragraphs I'd have to disagree somewhat. I'd say "Trump is a Nazi bigot" is more accurate. He claims the reason for the decline in the alt-right in the later stages of his term was due to Trump. I think that simply is because the alt-right has nowhere to go but down since it's a fringe ideology to begin with. Trump that I'm aware of has never verbally condemned them, and there was a rise in the alt-right under Trump. Plus his idea that Trump was referring to these "heritage" groups during Charlottesville seems pretty silly. Trump spews hate, and people find that attractive.

 

[Dude#1279435]

Great read on Trump's plan if he were to win in '24. However, I think if it were looking like he'd lose in the primary, he'd try and steal it.

Inside Trump '25: A radical plan for Trump’s second term

Allies want to empower him to purge potentially thousands of civil servants.

www.axios.com

 

[lovinthehd]

Umm, yeah! Of course he'd steal it! Turn around is only fair play!
What a mess huh, what a f..k mess our political leaders have made of this country. You know the ole saying, when in Rome. I'm surprised the senators haven't started stabbing the Caesars up there! came close with Trump's shenanigans.

The voters had nothing to do with it? As the saying goes, we get the government we deserve.

Stealing comes natural to a grifter like drumph....

 

[MaxInValrico]

Lets hope there's better for our nation than what's up there now. Damage has been done, moving forward for a better future still comes down to policymakers and political leaders elected into office. What's still up there isn't working, Voters can vote, still doesn't change anything untill all of the corruption is removed. That ain't happening anytime soon my friend.

You know what? Other than the whiners whining, this country is doing fine and would be doing better if it weren't for Republicans.

 

[Mojo Navigator]

Republican Party Platform 2022

Lie, Cheat, Steal 2022

(pathetic, our two party system has been co-opted by Russia)

 

[lovinthehd]

Those who keep believing in that two party system. Bloated entitlement, bloated propaganda. From both of those parties. This country is a Republic. Recite this country's pledge of allegiance, come back and tell me it's not.

Which version of the pledge of allegiance, the one they inserted "under god" into in 1954? Always had to skip that part. The two party system ain't working out too well....but then does any true competition really only have two players year after year? Kinda crazy but we have a sports team mentality in this country, at least that's what I attribute it to somewhat.