The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

[hepcat]

I don't know but came here to see what you all were writing.
I'm very happy that the media is showing this person's consistent problems with money. Slowly, slowly the worshippers are snapping out of it... slowly.

It's interesting to watch google and facebook become tools of the left, and the putsch is on.

Li'l Rip does have a point. Why isn't the right smart enough to use social media? Lack of education? Perhaps a fear it will steal their souls?

[Defiant]

Donald Trump’s campaign is almost broke, and is paying an unusual amount of money to Trump-owned businesses. That’s according to the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s FEC filing, details of which were released Monday night.

Of the $6.7 million the Trump campaign spent in May, nearly 20% went to Trump-owned businesses or family member

Well, that raises an eyebrow. The question is, is he donating his resources (eg, giving discount rates for his hotels as a way to "donate" to his campaign) or is he just using his campaign to give his businesses money?

[El Guapo]

Well, that raises an eyebrow. The question is, is he donating his resources (eg, giving discount rates for his hotels as a way to "donate" to his campaign) or is he just using his campaign to give his businesses money?

I mean, would you like to hazard a guess on this?

[Defiant]

Li'l Rip does have a point. Why isn't the right smart enough to use social media? Lack of education? Perhaps a fear it will steal their souls?

What makes you think using social media requires smarts? I've seen plenty of counterexamples to that.

[Defiant]

Well, that raises an eyebrow. The question is, is he donating his resources (eg, giving discount rates for his hotels as a way to "donate" to his campaign) or is he just using his campaign to give his businesses money?

I mean, would you like to hazard a guess on this?

Well, sure, I suspect it's the second, but it is possible it's the first.

[hepcat]

Li'l Rip does have a point. Why isn't the right smart enough to use social media? Lack of education? Perhaps a fear it will steal their souls?

What makes you think using social media requires smarts? I've seen plenty of counterexamples to that.

Dumb and childish aren't mutually inclusive.

...and ssshhh...I'm trollin' a troll.

[Carpet_pissr]

Granted, it wasn't a very well thought out plan for someone who said he was planning it for a year.

Seriously. Isn't the guy aware how easy it is to get guns in America?

No shit. If toddlers, the clinically insane, and terrorists can easily get their hands on them, you would think this shitbird wouldn't have much trouble.

You want a gun? Hell I can get you a gun by 3 o'clock! Loaded!

[El Guapo]

That poll isn't exactly shocking. The GOP primary here was 70% Cruz, 17% Kaisch, and 14% Trump. Your rank & file Republican here really dislikes Trump

BUT if they don't, Utah could be in play, and Trump has indicated that he'll do some campaigning in Utah, which is not an ideal allocation of resources for a GOP nominee.

Please, no.

This could be his greatest contribution to Mormonism, though.

[Carpet_pissr]

Well, we all know he's great at the Book of Mormon.

[Skinypupy]

Well, we all know he's great at the Book of The Mormon.

FTFY

[Max Peck]

Well, we all know he's great at the Book of The Mammon.

FTFY

Mortoned.

[The Meal]

I don't know but came here to see what you all were writing.
I'm very happy that the media is showing this person's consistent problems with money. Slowly, slowly the worshippers are snapping out of it... slowly.

It's interesting to watch google and facebook become tools of the left, and the putsch is on.

Li'l Rip does have a point. Why isn't the right smart enough to use social media? Lack of education? Perhaps a fear it will steal their souls?

Too busy posting comments at the bottom of newspaper articles.

[Max Peck]

The AP has fun fact-checking Trump's latest epic speech. Spoiler: Facts have an anti-Trump bias.

Donald Trump's fierce denunciation of Hillary Clinton on Wednesday was rife with distortion.

He accused Clinton of announcing a withdrawal from Iraq that wasn't on her watch, pulled numbers out of nowhere on her plan for refugees and went beyond the established facts behind the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya in stating starkly that she "left him there to die." In doing so, he assigned her far more influence in the world than she exercised as secretary of state.

This one is my favourite of the bunch, because Benghazi!

TRUMP: U.S. Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and his staff "made hundreds and hundreds of requests for security. They were desperate. They needed help. Hillary Clinton's State Department refused them all. She started the war that put them in Libya, denied him the security he asked for, then left him there to die."

THE FACTS: Trump greatly exaggerates the security requests, not all of which were denied, and gets the history of U.S.-Libyan relations wrong. The reference to security requests appears to reflect the Republican-led House Select Committee on Benghazi's tally of "requests/concerns" related to the diplomatic outpost in Benghazi. For many of those, there's no record of denials. And some security upgrades did occur before the Sept. 11, 2012, attack that killed Stevens and three other Americans.

Clinton did not start the war in Libya. She supported a NATO intervention well after large-scale violence had broken out between Gadhafi's forces and rebels. Nor did the conflict put Stevens or any U.S. diplomat in Libya. The U.S. had maintained a full-fledged embassy there since President George W. Bush re-established diplomatic relations with Gadhafi's government in 2006.

Several congressional investigations have shown that Clinton had no role in military decisions related to Benghazi, and that it would have been impossible for U.S. armed forces to intervene in time to save Stevens.

[gilraen]

No mention here of the assassination attempt on Trump?

Why isn’t the assassination attempt on Donald Trump bigger news?

Creating wall-to-wall media coverage on a (very poorly planned) assassination attempt will only give more ideas to potential copycats.

[hepcat]

Hillary looks like George Washington in comparison to Trump when it comes to telling the truth.

[Holman]

My favorite is Trump's claim is that Secretary Clinton received $58,000 in gifts from the queen of Brunei.

She did. And she turned the gifts over to the U.S. government as required by law. Such gift-giving gestures are routine in international relations.

Trump's claim is like accusing a diplomat of being in communication with foreign powers.

[hepcat]

The scary thing is that each of his lies is easily fact checked. Yet some folks like to believe it's either a conspiracy or simply refuse to believe the facts. If Trump tells these people they're missing their right ear suddenly, the idiots won't even look in mirror to see if he's wrong.

Hillary lies too, don't get me wrong. But nowhere near Trump's level of audaciousness.

[YellowKing]

Echo chamber, echo chamber, echo chamber.

My stepdad watches nothing but Fox News. He wouldn't even consider going to another news source. He only reads conservative political books by highly conservative authors. So it doesn't surprise me in the least when all of his "truths" follow that narrative.

[Defiant]

Hillary lies too, don't get me wrong. But nowhere near Trump's level of audaciousness.

Hillary lies about the same amount that Sanders does, and a great deal less than most of the Republican candidates (only Bush and Graham had comparable track records, IIRC).

In other words, typical politicians.

[gilraen]

Trump and his campaign manager just parted ways.

And as of today Corey Lewandowski is the newest political contributor on CNN. Must be a much less stressful gig

[tgb]

Trump and his campaign manager just parted ways.

And as of today Corey Lewandowski is the newest political contributor on CNN. Must be a much less stressful gig

I would have thought he'd land on Fox.

[Moliere]

[Holman]

Trump's boasts are completely reflexive. "I have the best people," "I'm the best at China," "I'll be the best at military." Half the time he probably doesn't know he's saying it. He just plugs it into a formulaic claim.

Reporters should start asking him about other things.

"I have the biggest hemorrhoid, a really beautiful hemorrhoid. I can barely keep my pants up, this hemorrhoid."

[em2nought]

Trump's boasts are completely reflexive. "I have the best people," "I'm the best at China," "I'll be the best at military." Half the time he probably doesn't know he's saying it. He just plugs it into a formulaic claim.

Reporters should start asking him about other things.

"I have the biggest hemorrhoid, a really beautiful hemorrhoid. I can barely keep my pants up, this hemorrhoid."

This is what Trump should answer to every media question "My name is Dances with Wolves. I will not talk to you anymore. You are not worth talking to."

[tgb]

Behind the scenes. (NSFW)

[Skinypupy]

Behind the scenes. (NSFW)

[Zaxxon]

Terrifying.

[Carpet_pissr]

Yeah, I was hoping to laugh at the end considering the source...

Thanks for harshing my morning mellow.

[GreenGoo]

News reader has been pointing me at a number of articles on Drumpf's Scotland golf course escapades. What a complete shyster. And shame on The Scottish government for taking him at his word. Seriously. There is plenty of documented evidence that Drumpf is a liar that cannot be taken at his word, and yet they took him at his word. They deserve what they got. Almost.

University of Aberdeen revoked his honorary degree and the Scottish government revoked his International ambassador of Business honorary title.

His mother is Scottish. When he first arrived in Scotland, he told everyone he was Scotch.

Hilarious.

[Max Peck]

And another domino topples.

When it comes to Trump, a Republican Treasury secretary says: Choose country over party

Henry M. Paulson Jr. is chairman of the Paulson Institute and a former U.S. treasury secretary and chief executive of Goldman Sachs.

Republicans stand at a crossroads. With Donald Trump as the presumptive presidential nominee, we are witnessing a populist hijacking of one of the United States’ great political parties. The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism. This troubles me deeply as a Republican, but it troubles me even more as an American. Enough is enough. It’s time to put country before party and say it together: Never Trump.

I’m not the first Republican to say Trump is a phony and should not be president, and I expect there will be many more to come. But as a former chief executive and treasury secretary, I hope to bring an additional perspective to the discussion.

Let’s start by talking about his business acumen. When Trump assures us he’ll do for the United States what he’s done for his businesses, that’s not a promise — it’s a threat. The tactics he has used in running his business wouldn’t work in running a truly successful company, let alone the most powerful nation on Earth.

Every good businessman or -woman carefully analyzes all the available facts before making a decision. Trump repeatedly, blatantly and knowingly makes up or gravely distorts facts to support his positions or create populist divisions.

He excels at scorched-earth tactics in negotiations during bankruptcy proceedings. Here, the “Art of the Deal” businessman is a master at advantaging himself over his fellow stakeholders and partners. In essence, he takes imprudent risk and, when his businesses fail, disavows his debts. He has branded himself as a business genius by flaunting and exaggerating his wealth. He is adept at leveraging his brand through licensing agreements that enable him to slap his name on anything he can. But while marketing and self-promotion may translate on the campaign trail, it has little relevance to running our country. And although his business dealings have allowed him to increase his inherited wealth, none of us knows by how much — we only have his word for it.

Now let’s talk about Trump the prospective president. Are we to believe that Trump, with his intensely divisive rhetoric and behavior, could bridge our country’s partisan divide? The American people are disgusted with business as usual in Washington, and it’s not hard to understand why. They feel like they are being left behind or are afraid that they will be. They aren’t getting honest answers, and they believe that the most important problems are not being solved. This is not the fault of one political party; it’s the fault of too many partisans and ideologues on both sides who are unwilling or unable to work together.

I can’t help but think what would have happened if a divisive character such as Trump were president during the 2008 financial crisis, at a time when leadership, compromise and careful analysis were critical. The only reason we avoided another Great Depression was because Republicans and Democrats joined together to vote for the Troubled Asset Relief Program ( TARP) — a vote that they knew would be politically unpopular but in the best interest of our country. Critical to that effort was the leadership of President George W. Bush. As I led the Treasury’s efforts to fashion a difficult, imperfect, controversial but essential solution with bipartisan support, I was — and still am — grateful to have had President Bush at the helm.

Today’s challenges include economic stagnation and disruptions in the labor markets — driven to a large extent by technological advances moving at warp speed — that are widening income disparity, destroying jobs and hollowing out the middle class. And populists on each side are playing to fears and frustrations, pointing fingers at scapegoats and creating boogeymen: blaming the banks, greedy companies or foreigners for our problems. But the politics of grievance is not the answer.

Now is the time for a bipartisan approach to policy solutions that address our most difficult domestic problems. This requires a president who exhibits an ability to compromise — and basic civility — neither of which Trump displays.

There are two key principles that the next president must address to maintain our economic competitiveness and security. Populists in both parties are demagoguing these principles, with Trump leading the way.

First, we need to maintain the United States’ fiscal strength by reforming entitlements. There’s no example of a nation continuing as a great power if its fiscal strength is lost. Anyone, whether Republican or Democrat, who has studied our entitlement programs and can do basic math knows they are unsustainable in their present form. If not fixed soon, they threaten our nation with a debt burden that would undermine the retirement security of young Americans and future generations. It doesn’t surprise me when a socialist such as Bernie Sanders sees no need to fix our entitlement programs. But I find it particularly appalling that Trump, a businessman, tells us he won’t touch Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Second, we need to welcome rather than shrink from trade and economic competition. Trump calls our current trade deals “disgusting, the absolute worst ever negotiated by any country in the world.” This is simply false. According to the Peterson Institute for International Economics , average American household income is roughly $10,000 higher because of the post-war expansion of trade. Because of trade, we add jobs and foster innovation and competitiveness. That doesn’t mean that people aren’t losing jobs and suffering in certain industries. However, it is wrong to tell the American people that we can turn back the clock and win, with merely 4 percent of the world’s population, by walling ourselves off from the remaining 7 billion people and the markets they represent. Instead, we need to fix the programs that help U.S. industries and workers transition to new and better jobs. We need better training, new education programs and a more robust safety net. The policies Trump endorses would destroy, not save, U.S. jobs.

Simply put, a Trump presidency is unthinkable.

As a Republican looking ahead to November, there are many strong conservative leaders in statehouses across the United States and in Congress, whose candidacies I am actively supporting. They have a big job to do to reinvent and revitalize the Republican Party. They can do so by responding to the fears and frustrations of the American people and uniting them behind some common aspirations, while staying constant to the principles that have made our country great.

When it comes to the presidency, I will not vote for Donald Trump. I will not cast a write-in vote. I’ll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world. To my Republican friends: I know I’m not alone.

[Skinypupy]

I'm officially referring to Trump as "Toupéd fucktrumpet" from here on out.

[Max Peck]

The fetid corpse of #NeverTrump is still twitching.

Delegate files suit to avoid voting for Trump

One of Virginia's delegates to the Republican National Convention has filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to avoid voting for presumptive nominee Donald Trump at the party convention next month. The delegate, Carroll Correll Jr. of Winchester, Virginia, argues in the suit that being forced to vote against his conscience is a violation of his constitutional rights. Correll says he will not vote for Trump because he believes the billionaire businessman is unfit to serve as president. Correll's suit maintains that state law imposes criminal penalties on delegates who don't vote on the first ballot for the winner of the state's Republican and Democratic primaries. Trump won Virginia's Republican primary while Hillary Clinton won the Democratic contest. Correll filed the suit Friday in federal court in Richmond. He seeks a judgment on behalf of all delegates to the Republican and Democratic conventions.

[Chrisoc13]

I mean I am firmly in the never trump camp but I don't get that argument. You don't have to vote for trump as a delegate because you don't have to be a delegate. But as sad as it is that his state voted for Trump, they did in fact vote for Trump. The delegates should reflect that. If he can't do that in good conscience then step down.

Too many people are trying to throw the baby out with the bath water simply to avoid Trump. They are trying to make the process even less Democratic than it already is simply because the people chose wrong. That's the wrong approach in my book. Trump is the Republican nominee. They need to understand that and stop trying to invalidate it. The people made a bad choice, but it was their choice horrible as it is.

[tgb]

I mean I am firmly in the never trump camp but I don't get that argument. You don't have to vote for trump as a delegate because you don't have to be a delegate. But as sad as it is that his state voted for Trump, they did in fact vote for Trump. The delegates should reflect that. If he can't do that in good conscience then step down.

Too many people are trying to throw the baby out with the bath water simply to avoid Trump. They are trying to make the process even less Democratic than it already is simply because the people chose wrong. That's the wrong approach in my book. Trump is the Republican nominee. They need to understand that and stop trying to invalidate it. The people made a bad choice, but it was their choice horrible as it is.

Agree 100%. Trump won fair and square, and to pull the nomination away from him would do more harm than good, not only to the republic, but to the Republicans as well.

Trump is the ugly woman you picked up at the bar right before closing. You can't un-come just because it's morning.

[Isgrimnur]

The parties aren't democratic institutions.

[RunningMn9]

Agreed, this is a senseless lawsuit. If the Convention alters the rules for delegates, that's the Convention's business. But if you are a pledged delegate who is pledged to vote for someone that cannot vote for in good conscience, then step down from being a delegate. Easy peasy.

[Isgrimnur]

The idea of criminal penalties for breaking the rules of a private organization is mind boggling. Should they have their tongues ripped out and buried at a crossroads, too?

[Moliere]

Dr. James Dobson: Trump Recently Accepted Christ
"baby Christian"

[Rip]

I'm so religious Sister Christian is my favorite song........

[Grifman]

Dr. James Dobson: Trump Recently Accepted Christ
"baby Christian"

Pretty convenient timing, right? When we will see public apologies for Trump's public "sins". Dobson just wants to be relevant again. Sad to see some Christians so desirous of power that that they are willing to sell their souls.