Trump 101: How not to President (TrumpThread #101)

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

Two images. Same day.
161 days to November 3rd.

Thanks to BruceAnd Nosh for thread title.

Previous thread:
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3877401-Trump-100-Thread-and-Were-Way-Down-the-Rabbit-Hole?pg=1

[lionheart]

Anti-intellectualism is a powerful force.

Trump was sold as someone who 'tells it like it is'--obviously making a virtue out of a necessity.

[AskingQuestionsAllTheTime]

Trump actually tells it like it isn't.

"In 1,226 days, President Trump has made 19,128 false or misleading claims"
//www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-claims-database/

I have a feeling that Lindsay Graham is slightly distancing hiself: that isn;t the first time recently that I have noticed him not agreeing with Trump about something.

[ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia]

Anti-intellectualism is that massively different to dumb ass? Or could it simply mean the orange businessman got numerous dodgy breaks and deals in real estate, Miss Universe, casinos (Russian and Chinese money loans etc) and then after celeb trash TV had a bet that he could get fellow disillusioned voters to break the mould and put him and family/tribe in the White House?

Or does it mean as given by Siri/Alexa/Google?

Still not convinced he has any leadership qualities as Covid puts him in his place as far as fit for purpose is concerned. Can’t blame everything on hydroxychloroquine!

[Roussette]

There's loads of footage out there of Lindsay Graham calling him a fucking fool, a jackass, awful for the country, an idiot, etc

Then one day... he had a game of golf with Trump.

And did a complete 360. And Trum became the best thing since sliced bread

Sooo obvious it's kompromat.

Maybe he's sick of hiding his real self. Who knows.

[lionheart]

He doesn't have any leadership qualities.

But money will buy loyalty and obedience.

Bullying and threats will get results.

As will fear (as Roussette points out).

[lionheart]

www.mediamatters.org/black-lives-matter/fox-guest-rudy-giuliani-black-lives-matter-wants-come-and-take-your-house-away

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

Pinched from another thread but worth a read.

We've always known that conservatives have the campaigning instincts of sharks. But it's rare for progressives to see their techniques being used against a common enemy, rather than ourselves.

As dual UK-US nationals who work in communication, we have become obsessed with the Never Trumpers who are going all in to get Donald Trump out in November. They include The Lincoln Project, a super PAC which includes former strategists for John McCain and George W Bush as well as George Conway, the husband of one of Trump's closest advisers, and Republican Voters Against Trump (RVAT), a campaign that has run some ads, but mainly uses video testimonials from Republicans who will not be voting for Trump.

To give you an idea of what this might look like in the UK, just imagine if Lynton Crosby all of a sudden announced that Boris Johnson is a danger to democracy and they will now be campaigning for Keir Starmer.

www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2020/06/22/swimming-with-the-sharks-what-progressives-can-learn-from-re

[AcrossthePond55]

Roussette Yes, Gov DeSantis (R-FLA) is a wanna-be Trump. He lives for Trump's approval and compliments. His latest 'Trumpism' is blaming FLA's Hispanic and migrant workers for the rise in Covid19 cases. Nah, nothing to do with throwing open bars, clubs, and beaches, it's all the fault of those 'others'.

www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/latino-leaders-demand-gov-desantis-apologize-linking-hispanic-farmworkers-covid-n1231785

I guess now he's trying to look like he's cracking down, but it's all a nothing-burger. A bit of 'finger-wagging' and 'posturing' but no official orders re closures or mask wearing.

www.mysuncoast.com/2020/06/21/desantis-cracking-down-florida-businesses-not-practicing-social-distancing-says-median-age-new-covid-cases-trending-younger-direction/

BTW my son and DiL are in staying in The Keys for the next month or so. Luckily they're in a rented home with a pool so they'll be able to practice 'California Style' physical distancing. DS says he's going nowhere but from the living room to the pool and back. They just got there today so no real idea how the local population is behaving.

[Roussette]

That De Santis sounds a complete fool, I saw him interviewed and he made my teeth itch.

This amused me today. In response to Trumpy's assertion that if they could slow testing, they'd have less cases.....

[AcrossthePond55]

Honestly, as far as 'swing states' I really think that no one really knows what's going to happen. There are 'secret' voters on both sides in the 'usual' swing states, people who will say they're voting one way because of where they live (or who happens to be listening in), but will actually vote for the other candidate once in the privacy of the voting booth, or when they 'secretly' complete their mail in ballot and post it. I'm just hoping that most of the 'secret voters' are avowing Scrotus, but planning to vote Biden.

I'm not in a swing state, but I know a few women who are 'yes-yessing' Trump in front of their husband/partners to 'keep the peace', but who are actually planning to vote Biden. And I know one whose husband actually completed her mail in ballot for Trump in 2016 and saw to it that it was mailed himself. She would have voted Hillary if she wasn't so scared of her husband, but that's a different thread. I'm hoping Trump's anti-mail in ballot rhetoric causes him to say they have to vote in person so the 'Dems don't steal the election'. She'll vote Biden and lie to her husband. I think that's sad and cowardly. DH and I voted for different candidates in 2004 (although he now denies he voted for Bush) and neither of us were afraid to speak up for 'our' candidate to the other.

[Roussette]

My DH and I have voted for different parties at different times, but like yours, but then denies he did!
Then our DCs come home and give him a good talking to

Funnily enough we went decades without discussing who we voted for individually, but then the Tories started their austerity package and it had to be talked about whether he liked it or not

[HoldMyLobster]

I can’t speak for other swing states but I’m in northern Maine atm and there are Trump signs everywhere and not a Biden sign to be seen.

I also saw a confederate flag yesterday.

Fuckwits.

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

Trump's re-election strategy is all wrong — and his staffers know it.
One Trump campaign staffer told me after the Tulsa rally: 'Biden should have to report our costs to the [Federal Election Commission] as a campaign contribution'
www.independent.co.uk/voices/trump-2020-election-campaign-reelection-joe-biden-a9581541.html

“Trump is Tony Soprano: He's ultimately only gonna trust the family, and they have no idea what they’re doing,” Stevens said. “The whole campaign reminds me of somebody goes to a cocktail party, has some drinks, drives home safely, and decides that alcohol helps you drive.”

[B1rdbra1n]

there is no route out for Trump, the truth is such an affront to his vanity that he is unable to acknowledge it
he can only go deeper and deeper into denial

[ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia]

@TheNorthWestPawsage

I get what you say here with interest re US cf UK politics. But do you not think the two populations of voters here and stateside are so different in culture and nuance minutiae of main party politics and tactics etc? Would the UK accept and vote in the orange man here warts and all???

[Roussette]

Would the UK accept and vote in the orange man here warts and all???

I feel a bit bilious even thinking that.
It's bad enough with BoJo.

[cricketballs3]

@AcrossthePond55

Honestly, as far as 'swing states' I really think that no one really knows what's going to happen. There are 'secret' voters on both sides in the 'usual' swing states, people who will say they're voting one way because of where they live (or who happens to be listening in), but will actually vote for the other candidate once in the privacy of the voting booth, or when they 'secretly' complete their mail in ballot and post it. I'm just hoping that most of the 'secret voters' are avowing Scrotus, but planning to vote Biden.

I'm not in a swing state, but I know a few women who are 'yes-yessing' Trump in front of their husband/partners to 'keep the peace', but who are actually planning to vote Biden. And I know one whose husband actually completed her mail in ballot for Trump in 2016 and saw to it that it was mailed himself. She would have voted Hillary if she wasn't so scared of her husband, but that's a different thread. I'm hoping Trump's anti-mail in ballot rhetoric causes him to say they have to vote in person so the 'Dems don't steal the election'. She'll vote Biden and lie to her husband. I think that's sad and cowardly. DH and I voted for different candidates in 2004 (although he now denies he voted for Bush) and neither of us were afraid to speak up for 'our' candidate to the other.

Can I ask how exactly the US postal voting works as in the UK we have to provide a signature that goes on file when requesting postal voting and with every vote we have to sign a slip (separate from actual ballot slip, it's even not in the envelope containing vote but both vote and signature are posted in one big envelope) confirming this is our vote

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia Somewhat naively I used to believe that our politicians (whatever rosette they wore) had the UK's best interests at heart but Brexit and the last 3 Conservative governments have removed those scales from my eyes. So yes - I do think that the Conservatives (and their voters) would back Trump (just as they have BoJo) if they and the disaster capitalists thought they would stay in power by doing so.

[TheNorthWestPawsage]

Trump faced no significant opposition in seeking his party's nomination for a second term in office. All these people objecting to him now is a bit but better late than never I guess.

Dozens of Republican former U.S. national security officials to back Biden
www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-biden-republicans-exclus-idUSKBN23U2LY

Dozens of Republican former U.S. national security officials are forming a group that will back Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, people familiar with the effort said, in a further sign that President Donald Trump has alienated some members of his own party.

The group will publicly endorse Biden in the coming weeks and its members plan to campaign for the former vice president who is challenging Trump in the Nov. 3 election, the sources said. It includes at least two dozen officials who served under Republican Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, with dozens more in talks to join, the sources added.

They will argue that another four years of a Trump presidency would endanger U.S. national security and that Republican voters should view Biden as the better choice despite policy differences, the sources said.

[ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia]

@ TheNorthWestPawsage

Wow really? You sure Brits will vote for someone like Trump here??? That’s like Nigel but on steroids!

Unlike US we are not as polarised (apart from Brexshit) I hope. Some of the current UK blue Covid policies re government intervention are more red playbook surely!

I personally don’t think Brits are brave enough to go so outside the box with such a unique businessman/politician esp one that listens to no one other than himself even dismissing doctors when Covid is killing so many already- perhaps not his voters so much (but cynical I guess).

[Roussette]

Brutal.

edition.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/steve-schmidt-donald-trump/index.html

Steve Schmidt, who rang McCain's presidential campaign.

""Donald Trump has been the worst president this country has ever had. And I don't say that hyperbolically. He is. But he is a consequential president. And he has brought this country in three short years to a place of weakness that is simply unimaginable if you were pondering where we are today from the day where Barack Obama left office. And there were a lot of us on that day who were deeply skeptical and very worried about what a Trump presidency would be. But this is a moment of unparalleled national humiliation, of weakness.
"When you listen to the President, these are the musings of an imbecile. An idiot. And I don't use those words to name call. I use them because they are the precise words of the English language to describe his behavior. His comportment. His actions. We've never seen a level of incompetence, a level of ineptitude so staggering on a daily basis by anybody in the history of the country whose ever been charged with substantial responsibilities.
"It's just astonishing that this man is president of the United States. The man, the con man, from New York City. Many bankruptcies, failed businesses, a reality show, that branded him as something that he never was. A successful businessman. Well, he's the President of the United States now, and the man who said he would make the country great again. And he's brought death, suffering, and economic collapse on truly an epic scale. And let's be clear. This isn't happening in every country around the world. This place. Our place. Our home. Our country. The United States. We are the epicenter. We are the place where you're the most likely to die from this disease. We're the ones with the most shattered economy. And we are because of the fool that sits in the Oval Office behind the Resolute Desk."

[Roussette]

As we thought...
Daniel Dale
@ddale8
Trump is scheduled to visit Arizona on Tuesday to commemorate the construction of 200 miles of border wall. Here’s the latest official government update to CNN’s
: 210 total miles of construction since Jan. 2017, 3 of them in places where no barrier had existed before.

3 new miles....

[BruceAndNosh]

3 new miles....

Better than "4 more years"

[lionheart]

edition.cnn.com/2020/06/23/politics/george-washington-law-william-barr/index.html

[AcrossthePond55]

cricket
we have to provide a signature that goes on file when requesting postal voting and with every vote we have to sign a slip (separate from actual ballot slip, it's even not in the envelope containing vote but both vote and signature are posted in one big envelope) confirming this is our vote

Ours is pretty similar, but we sign the back of the return envelope. The envelope has a big flap on it with a perforated rectangle over where your signature is. The registrar's office can 'tear off' the perforated rectangle to reveal the signature without opening the envelope (so the ballot is still 'secret'. They verify your signature with the one on file then the envelope goes to be machine opened and counted. The ballot actually also 'scanned in' (without recording how you voted) and we can pull up the status online. It will tell us whether our ballot is 'good', 'not yet received', 'challenged', or 'void' and the instructions for the last 3.

My friend's husband filled out her ballot, handed it to her and told her to sign it.