The Trump Administration has a rocky kick off this week due to both things outside of its control and things of its own making. First there was the planned protests against the new President — demonstrations both on Inaugural Day and the next day that I criticized. Those were outside the control of the Administration. However, then there was a remarkably disappointing and lackluster Inaugural speech followed by a truly dreadful press conference. This was the first press conference for the Administration – a key moment for any new Administration. Instead of emphasizing the positive and taking control of the news cycle with strategic announcements, White House Press secretary Sean Spicer largely criticized the press and then made a series a highly dubious factual assertions about the size of Trump’s audience. It was a performance that even stalwart supporters like Charles Krauthammer on Fox called “weird.” Likewise, Fox News has described Spicer’s facts as “incorrect.” Most of us who have previously watched or covered Inaugurations thought that the crowd seemed smaller. So what? Tens of millions of people voted for Trump. That is the measure that counts. Yet, Spicer went on the attack with some shaky assertions and guaranteed that this tempest in a teapot would be the focus of the next news cycle — and gave critics an opening to lambast the new president. I have said this before that friends of this President need to call him out when his Administration goofs if they want this Administration to succeed. This is one such moment and shows an early lack of discipline and message.
In fairness to Spicer, the news conference seemed to follow the President’s lead, not Spicer’s. Indeed, President Trump was widely criticized for standing in front of the memorial wall at the CIA and went off on a tangent against reports of his crowd being smaller than Obama’s. It was viewed as highly inappropriate and trivial at such a memorial. The other agenda item was to blast some unknown reporter for a Time reporter’s story that the MLK bust was removed from the Oval Office. Ok, sloppy reporting. Maybe even too eager to find a fault. But that is the stuff of your first news conference. I have no doubt that there are people looking for every negative angle to make the Administration look bad, but you do not have to help them by taking the bait.
Part of the role of White House Spokesman is not to just be the sword and shield for the Administration (though it appears Spicer will be more sword than shield). He is also the key liaison to the media and needs to develop a sense of trust with these reporters. No president can lead by tweet. He must interact with journalists and they need to have some level of trust in facts being put forward by an Administration. The proper thing is for the spokesman to ream out the reporter in the bust story and let it be known that there was a dressing down for a false story. That is why this start was so dreadful.
As Politico and other outfits have detailed, the factual assertions of Spicer appear either demonstrably false and highly questionable. Most people, including myself, thought that the crowed looked smaller. That was not a big deal to me. President Obama was the nation’s first black president and there was an outpouring of supporters. Moreover, there was the promise of protests and higher security at this event that probably did dampen attendance. In the end it really does not matter. Trump and his aides seemed to “protest too much” and revealed a degree of insecurity in constantly returning to the issue of counting attendees. He received almost half the votes in the country — around 47 percent. While he lost the popular vote, that is immaterial in our electoral system and he won an overwhelming number of states and delegates. In other words, he has nothing to prove.
Instead, the Administration telegraphed nothing but insecurity in lashing out at reporters, which were virtually universal on the size of the crowd. Spicer tried to argue that this was the first time that the nation used floor coverings, which created an image of a smaller crowd. As Politico noted, that is not true. Coverings were previously used. However, I do not personally recall such large spaces being laid out in white coverings.
Spicer also said that the worst angles were used by some in the media. He may be right. I have been critical of the coverage of Trump during the campaign, which I viewed as overtly hostile. Yet, I watched the inauguration and it did not seem true, as Spicer claimed that “All of this space [from Trump’s platform to the Washington Monument] was full when the president took the Oath of Office.” There was an impressive crowd near the platform but it thinned toward the monument.
Spicer appears clearly wrong in saying that “We know that 420,000 people used the D.C. Metro public transit yesterday, which actually compares to 317,000 that used it for President Obama’s last inaugural.” He is right about the 317,000 figure. This was the number of people who traveled before 11 am — in time for the Inaugural speech. If the same period is used for this Inauguration, the figure for Trump would be 193,000. In terms of the whole day, there were 570,557 — a very large number. However, in 2013, the full day ridership was 782,000 and in 2009 it was 1.1 million.
Perhaps the worst assertion was that “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.” That statement was instantly ridiculed. Obama’s 2009 Inauguration was a record breaker. Moreover the television audience was smaller: 30.6 million compared to 41.8 million for Reagan in 1981 and 37.7 million for Obama in 2009.
Again, we are only crunching number because the White House used the first press conference almost exclusively to this dispute. Instead of focusing on the hundreds of thousands of people who were there and their celebration in pulling off one of the greatest upsets in U.S. political history, Spicer (and the President). made this the framing story of the first 24 hours of this Administration. Given the President’s statements at the CIA, I do not believe that this was just some tangent that Spicer unilaterally decided to take for the first press conference. However, if this Administration is to flourish, it will need to gain greater control over messaging and timing.
Once again, I do not fault Spicer in criticizing some of the angles and coverage. He must deal with what must be (and I have no aerial pictures to support this assertion) the most hostile press corps of any new president in history. He is trying to push back, but that is not the type of message that you want to be the near exclusive focus of your first conference. It is the type of thing that you release with photos outside of the conference and, if necessary, take questions on the issue while emphasizing new changes. Trump has started to keep his promises on the ACA and other issues. That should have been the focus of the conference to convey that Trump remains committed to being a vehicle for change. Rather than convey strength, the conference conveyed a hypersensitivity and insecurity.
Here is the first official press conference:
Those wanting government censorship of what they label “fake news” had better reconsider what they wish for.
Amen. I don’t think they should blame themselves, however, when the inevitable happens. Politicians of any stripe will always look for an excuse for more power and today corruption is almost rampant so they will want to add to their already absurd powers what is and isn’t fake. Obama put the ball in motion for a Ministry of Truth on the Friday before Christmas.
Just to mix it up a bit: this is a very good read.
“When Democracy in America’s second volume appeared in 1840, many reviewers noted that it was more critical of democracy than the first volume. In more recent times, Tocqueville’s warnings about democracy’s capacity to generate its own forms of despotism have been portrayed as prefiguring a political dynamic associated with the welfare state: i.e., people voting for politicians who promise to give them more things in return for which voters voluntarily surrender more and more of their freedom.”
http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2017/01/18147/?utm_source=The+Federalist+List&utm_campaign=4a4fff94f3-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_01_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_cfcb868ceb-4a4fff94f3-79248369
This is not ‘crooked Hillary,’ where if Trump just repeats false facts often enough, they suddenly become true.
Further, while photos can be photoshopped, there were enough seperate photos both in DC and from around the world to show that Trump’s position was patently false — not a good opening hand in poke-her (pun intended.)
Always watch out for ‘the woman scorned’ and her it was just adding insult to injury.
Ack:
link
On a happy note:
“Majority of 230 protesters arrested on Inauguration Day will face 10 years in prison and $25k fine as US attorney says they will be charged with felony rioting
230 people have been arrested and six police officers injured in the D.C.protests against President Trump
New Guy needs a new day tomorrow. Today was bad.
Trump needs to get on the right side of history.
Israel claims they are the ‘Chosen ones’
Why did God allow them to be the ‘Chosen ones’ of the HOLOCAUST?
Satan is their god.
http://www.buenavistamall.com/jewsnazi.jpg
Take your thioridizine.
You see. Trump was never anti-semitic. True anti-semitics don’t like his close relationship with Israel. Finally, a silver lining from when the comments section gets negative.
Off topic of the press secretary and optics of scale, but closer to policy,
From France Inter, (we have to go outside the US for -real?- news)
https://www.franceinter.fr/monde/obamacare-gaz-de-schiste-sitot-elu-trump-prend-ses-premieres-decisions
Rough translation (corrections invited):
As I’ve said before, we can either go up in a cloud of nuclear holocaust with the Hill or in an antropogenic extinction event with President Trump. The latter will be served with Maine lobster and Texas steak, though those that can’t be there for the lobster and steak need not worry about missing out on the rest.
That said, nothing explicit yet on how Trump plans to get from here to there. The Saudi’s have bragged that they brought the US fracking industry to it’s knees in their first admission that the Saudi glut of petrol over the last two years was part of an intentional oil war between SA and US. Fracking is generally unprofitable until the price of crude hits near 100 dollars a barrel, except at the most productive sites. Soooo, short of massive tax payer funded credits, the fracking industry will not get going full tilt again until 2018 at the earliest. Investors got badly burned (though nothing compared to what’s in store for us 🙂 ).
Trump has called for a nuclear build-up so don’t count out a nuclear event during his presidency.
LOL! Yes, because every time a President called for more nukes , we had a nuclear event. He should then call for better education; maybe that will trigger a critical-thinking event.
Hillary called us Deplorables, now you call us Dupes! Yes, we were duped when we were told we could keep our Doctor! When we lost 4 Americans in Benghazi, and there was no response or retribution! When a Secretary of State set up a private server to handle classified information and then lied about it! When all troops were withdrawn from Iraq against the advice of the Joint Chiefs, allowing ISIS to form! When an agreement, not a Treaty subject to Senate approval, was signed giving a green light on nuclear weapons to Iran and then gave them a billion $ to spread terror! When Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Clinton Campaign ganged up on Bernie and railroaded him out of the primary! Now that’s being duped!!!
What Nuclear Events have we had since we bombed Japan?
Reply below not meant for your comment.
Other than testing, none. That was my point.
We have used weapons that are radioactive for many years, at least since we violated international law and invaded Iraq.
It’s not how many nukes you have, but how often you use them. More nukes per se is simply a give-a-way to the nuclear arms industry for which, I imagine, Trump will be handsomely rewarded. It does not mean Trump has a hair trigger.
I would agree, however, that Trump’s attitude toward China (assuming he relaxes relations with Russia) may become more of an acute problem. China will probably tolerate a certain amount of economic tension, but they are – I think – less reasonable and more quick to alarm than Putin on the military front.
I imagine, Trump will be-> I imagine, Trump would be. Lets see if Trump follows through on this.I can certainly understand the fear one might have when a modern era President speaks. You progressives chose to applaud an executive order administrative state. Now you fear it. You deserve to be retaliated against but you know conservatives aren’t wired that way. We’ll continue to try and fix your mess. Join us to get back to the rule of law and separation of powers. Or get out of the way. In either case, stop whining already; this IS your own damn fault.
I agree it’s our own damn fault, a fair amount of it at least, and even with your point about executive orders, though oddly Republicans could have but didn’t object too much. Heavens, we were just talking about Obummer and his damned drones. As the Arnold Schwarzenegger figure in Homer Simpson said about his goggles in the poison fumes episode, (just put Republican opposition to extra-Constitutional drones in place of the goggles), They do nooothing.
These Republicans, they do nooothing!
We both expect such behavior of Dems, but House and Senate Republicans could have stopped it cold.
I await the mess fixing and will be truly grateful if and when. As to getting out of your way, I can’t even get out of my own way, but I may try. Sorry about the whining, I consider it part of Democracy, free speech and all that, hoping such notions are not soon passé. I suspect they will retain their value on this site, anyway. Finally, I can only assure you I would whine as much or more were Hillary doing the driving. If I didn’t feel these were important issues, I would say nothing.
Hell, I even find these fears at least as stimulating as those of crowd size.
Sorry Olly, it looks like your comment was not addressed to me. But anyway, my comment was not critical of your ideas – with which I fully agree (only I would use the term) the Vichy Left richly deserve, but of the whining part.
I am skeptical of the fixing it part. We (left and right) may well be doomed to bicker until there is nothing left to bicker about. Trump may indeed do some heavy lifting, he may also add to the problems, but those problems have likely gone beyond the scope of an administration, any administration, to mend. I doubt the Supreme Court could do it – even assuming the addition of a conservative Justice would give them the quorum needed to re-establish the rule of law. (I confess, that would be one hell of a start – though we might have differing views of what it consisted of).
Oh well, anyway, best, -BB
I’ve never been very tolerant of whining BB. It doesn’t solve anything and it only delays the inevitable; doing something about it. The whining that I find the most despicable is from those too ignorant to realize they created their own problem. Absolutely no self-awareness; absolutely no humility. Just ego-driven whining.
Elections should never have consequences people need to fear. But here we are, people in full on panic mode because they KNOW the power THEY approved our last President use. They were certain, perhaps not completely comfortable, that they would be okay with Clinton having those same powers. We warned these people not to support that; not because we necessarily opposed what was being done with the power, we opposed the principle that power was violating.
Trump is not a creation of conservatives. He is a response to the administrative state. He may turn out to be part of that cabal yet. Time will tell.
I have fond memories of pleading with people not to applaud Obama’s uber Presidency, because one day there would be a Republican in office, and they won’t like when the other party wields those powers. I never would have guessed it would be Trump.
But one of the positives from Trump’s presidency is that I am absolutely sure now that Democrats will finally cooperate in reeling in the powers they gave away to Obama. All of a sudden, the balance of power will be crucial.
And that’s a good thing.
Now, if we can only get an originalist to the SC, and no more of this living document nonsense. If you want the Constitution changed, then pass an Amendment. All of a sudden, I think Democrats will see the attraction of requiring an Amendment to change the Constitution, rather than interpreting it however 9 (or 8) people wearing black robes see fit, now that they are concerned that conservatives could hold that honor of serving on the SC.
Karen,
I posted just a few minutes ago an article I read regarding Tocqueville’s view of democracy and how it tends to lead to a desire for equality of conditions. The people you, I and others were pleading with believe in their hearts they are simply working toward what they value. The reality is we all usually work toward what we value, so we end up competing on values. What Tocqueville saw in America was people aligned on virtues and thus not competing on values.
I’m skeptical of the idea those that oppose Trump have had their reality rocked and now see our founding principles as something that should not be violated.
BB — I am not surprised by this. I think it is unfortunate though – my bro in law had to move off his farm in WVA because fracking destroyed his well water – just one story of many who have been adversely affected by fracking. Thing is Hil was all about fracking too.
Let’s just hope the Donald keeps his anti TPP promise and out of war(s).
Maybe TPP but once he moves the embassy to Jerusalem the tension in the mideast will escalate. Three were killed by drones today. Will be more of the same and worse. Do you think he appointed a cabinet of hawks for show?
On December 18, 2015, the U.S. enacted legislation authorizing the export of U.S. crude oil without a license. At least the foreign market can now drive up prices internally all they want by selling the stuff off shore. It’s a painful boost to solar and may yet be a huge boon to fracking (the Saudis nixed it up until now).
As to drinking water, think of it as highly over rated. Meditate on essence of Camel. I suspect NY will prevent fracking upstate, a real honest to goodness potential catastrophe for NYC should they go ahead and frack, but it will be close.
Reference to export bill (you have to search for it:( ctrl + F)):
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_exp_dc_nus-z00_mbblpd_m.htm
Yeah, how dare Trump attack the serious and unbiased reporting of the New York Times!!!
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2zM58GVQAAxOZQ.jpg
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Exactly. Clearly the left believes they just didn’t go far enough left and didn’t shout at and mock enough.
There will be daily press freakouts during the Trump administration. The press needs a theme song to go with it.
Chic’s Le Freak is a catchy song, but Frank Zappa long ago composed the freakout theme song for the presstitutes. Here it is, as performed by the legendary Mothers of Invention:
Good one. Give the press a little more time freaking out. Then it will be “Show me the way to the next whiskey bar…..”
Dear American left:
We want a divorce.
The only thing to decide now is whether we do it now or if we first throw dishes and have some domestic violence.
It’s pretty clear that the left wants some violence first.
I doubt we’re going to just sit back and take it this time, like we did in the 70s.
So let’s get started.
Your move.
Noone made a move? Need a soundtrack? People of the world, join hands and board the Trump Train….Tell all the folks in Russia and China too…..Don’t you know it’s time to get on board?
This article by Leftist JT is yet another in the long line of brainless Leftist attacks by the Media Presstitutes on the Trump presidency before it’s even started. The Pressitutes have been caught in lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie after lie. I could go on if I wanted to be more accurate, but you get the point. The Presstitutes are liars, plain and simple.
Does JT attack Time Magazine for their lie claiming that Trump removed the bust of Martin Luther King from the White House? Of course not, because he wants to PROMOTE the lie. He likes the lie. No, that isn’t accurate. . . he LOVES the lie. He wants more anti-Trump lies.
As for Trump’s inaugration crowd size, it was spectacular! And when you consider that Trump’s supporters are largely productive, society-contributing working people, who cannot afford to take a day off for this historic event–in contrast to the masses shiftless, lazy, unproductive, welfare-funded supporters of Obama and Clinton–the turnout for Trump was record breaking.
Of course, the Leftists like JT cannot handle the truth. They HATE the truth, with a passion. Thus, you have vulgar, vile esblishment-elite george-sorros-ball washing sycophants like Ashley Judd and Madonna attacking Trump for purportedly being a misogynist, when, in truth, he’s provided more employment and opportunities for women, than Clinton ever has. On top of that, they brazenly attack Trump while defending and protecting rapist Bill Clinton and his rapist enabling partner Hillary Clinton, who worked her entire life protecting rapist and attackers of women.
Thus, the perverted Leftists lie that Trump has “wet dreams” about his daughter Ivanka, when it was Bill Clinton who was caught on video drooling over Ivanka to Hillary Clinton’s dismay.
Of course, JT applauds all these lies. He LOVES them! He can’t get enough of them.
But the shameless hypocrisy and vuileness of JT and his fellow Leftists doesn’t end there. Not by a stretch. These Islamic-terrorist supporting dregs of humanity have to go out and physically assault Trump supporters, destroy their personal property and public property as well, block their free speech, and create as much havoc, destruction, and cost to society as possible. Jt loves that too. His silence on the subject proves that I’m 100% correct, no matter how “extreme” my post may appear to the gentler folk reading this blog.
The only thing that surprises me is that I am not banned from JT’s Leftist online ode to the sacred protection of the presstitution services. I suppose I will have to concede that there are, fortunately, some limits to JT’s depraved predilections. But not many.
God bless him. I want one of those lion throw pillows he has on his sofa.
DDT’s entire campaign was based on lies, exaggerations, and slander; fueled by mindless anger against the status quo-words most DDT supporters don’t even understand. Yet when the left speaks out against the lies, the shame, America’s shame, they are pilloried. Such is life and so it goes in this, the greatest oligarchy and dysfunctional political system yet. The tipping point has been reached. DDT has established anger and hatred as the new barometers measuring which way the vote goes. There is no way whatsoever, DDT would have won without the mindless anger of several million dupes.
Hillary called us Deplorables, now you call us Dupes! Yes, we were duped when we were told we could keep our Doctor! When we lost 4 Americans in Benghazi, and there was no response or retribution! When a Secretary of State set up a private server to handle classified information and then lied about it! When all troops were withdrawn from Iraq against the advice of the Joint Chiefs, allowing ISIS to form! When an agreement, not a Treaty subject to Senate approval, was signed giving a green light on nuclear weapons to Iran and then gave them a billion $ to spread terror! When Debbie Wasserman Schultz and the Clinton Campaign ganged up on Bernie and railroaded him out of the primary! Now that’s being duped!!!
Good post, Douglas. Somehow I knew it would good be even before I read it. 😉
-Tom Nash
Are you from the SC Nashes?
Tigerstatic…..
– Washington State.
My father and grandfather were originally from Minnesota.
Your evaluation of the speech is really casual and seems to suggest a bias. What objective measure is there for a speech? I thought it was a stirring and eloquent speech. I loved it.
As for the media, they have been hostile throughout the campaign and this MLK bust incident is another egregious example. I think you have to keep in mind that the media’s biased coverage has real world consequences. It can lead to violence, lack of unity, hatred, tension, etc. The whole peegate story is an egregious example. Spicer is justified.
Why should we “expect” the MSM’s SOPs according to the old school rules of Hoyle?
Try “accept”
Here’s the basic problem.
Now the Trump club is being held to standards , which they broke in order to gain control, and are now being held to those broken standards that in effect due to their winning the White House, SHOULD be obsolete.
Why should we expect the MSM’s SOPs according to the old school rules of Hoyle?
We shouldn’t.
New glasses are needed to see the new roses.
This is why I shouldn’t multitask when posting a comment. This was an example of how many times one can overuse “expect” in a single post.
I ran into the same issue. Try accept instead of expect.
We all do it. Sometime it’s actually quite effective. BTW, it’s not just the Dem MSM, it’s the Establishment MSM. Even though the MSM is owned by billionaires like Trump, they felt – and still feel – that Hillary was more suited to their purposes; more ready for pay to play I guess.
Wall St. is comprised of Dems and Repubs who all speak one language: money.
Oh well, even if I never convince you, or you me, of any of this, I enjoy you comments and responses.
Trump’s thin skin and his need for respect are going to pose difficulties for him in his Presidency. That was to be expected. He shouldn’t sweat the small stuff. It’s going to be annoying dealing with the Democratic Press machine. That, too, is to be expected, so he should try not to let it get to him. However, I don’t expect people to change. There will be some things I like and some I don’t from the 45th President.
Actually mr Turley, The parks department laid new sod in 2012 and covered that same amount of sod in 2013 and 2017, they are fierce about protecting it because it cost a fortune to install.
I’m trying to see why I should care if the Trump press secretary and the Democrat press are continuing their pissing match.
The latter are just DNC operatives so I don’t care if he sprays them with a fire hose.
It’s just theater.
Meaningless puppet shows to distract from the real activity backstage.
And the press can’t stop themselves but to play along, partly to get advertisers, partly because they hate DJT.
Means nothing to me.
True. And another thing Spicer should have objected to is the characterization that Trump was “mending his relations with the intelligence community.”
Hogwash. Trump does not have a problem with the whole dang intelligence community, and never did. Instead, he has had a problem with the LEADERSHIP of the intelligence community, specifically John Brennan. The run-of-the-mill spooks at the CIA were giving him standing ovations yesterday. Which IMHO, Brennan is a political hack, but is sooo far over-the-top that even the very liberal Washington Post called for firing him for intentional lying:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/07/31/obama-should-fire-john-brennan/?utm_term=.75f090caa399
But, the meme has been set, and now even people on FOXNews are mindlessly muttering the “Trump has to mend his relations. . .” bullsh!t.
Pretty coed. Fine trimmed lawn.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
From the video I saw the people at the CIA were already standing a the speech. In addition Trump brought his own cheering section like he had at the press conference. You are naive to believe that Trump didn’t insult the entire intelligence community.
It seems you are dealing in alternative facts Squeeky.
Because Trump is the 1st President to bring his own cheering section? Wow!
Of course not but Trump more than any president in our lifetime is concerned about crowd size and adulation even to the point of blatantly lying about the size of the crowd who attended the Inauguration.
Hi RC!!! How are things in Birther World???
Anyway, my OPINION is, that there is not, and was not ever, a feud as contemplated by you. Try this:
Also this alleged fact check image from that link:
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user230519/imageroot/2016/10/20/2016.10.20%20-%20Russia%201.png
Because really, one of the 17 agencies is the DEA. Do you really think that all 17 of these agencies investigated the alleged hacking of the DNC computers:
Air Force Intelligence, Army Intelligence, Central Intelligence Agency, Coast Guard Intelligence, Defense Intelligence Agency, Energy Department, Homeland Security Department, State Department, Treasury Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Marine Corps Intelligence, National Geospatial Intelligence Agency, National Reconnaissance Office, National Security Agency, Navy Intelligence and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
Do you really think that the Coast Guard Intelligence Agency investigated it???
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Nice obfuscation Squeeky but of course it has nothing to do with the fact that the man-child Trump defecated on the CIA by blaming them for the Bush/Cheney lies about WMD’s in Iraq.
I truly doubt that George W. went over there to Iraq himself and spied on Saddam. The FBI works on stuff inside the country mostly. Sooo, I am betting it was the CIA that spread the lie. At any rate, I think the rumor of a CIA-Trump feud is just some more made up crap by a butthurt main stream press. Heck, 400 CIA officers showed up voluntarily on a weekend to listen to him.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
You’re delusional Squeeky. It’s well documented what happened with the Iraq WMD situation. The CIA folks were there because their boss was speaking and they were standing because he never told them to be seated. It is what loyal national security workers do when their Commander in Chief is speaking. The man child is ignorant of even basic protocol.
The good thing about dealing with Birthers for years is it honed my skills for dealing with Trump supporters. They are every bit as delusional.
The bad thing is, that you and others never learned to turn those same critical facilities on yourselves and your beliefs. Where once there was Obama Derangement Syndrome, there is now Trump Derangement Syndrome.
Where the Birthers often saw what they wanted to see, now you’re the one seeing what you want to see. And not seeing the Big Picture at all. Trump just ended the TPP. He ended the “catch and release” program. He is stopping other countries from not accepting back their own criminal citizens. Meanwhile, you are mired in the minutia of who clapped, and why at the CIA speech. Might as well be obsessing about “African” on Obama’s birth certificate, or the postal stamp on the draft thingy..
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
You were the one who brought up the CIA speech and pretended to be able to read the minds of the rank and file at the CIA.
There is plenty of substantive actions to use to knock Trump. Let’s see how this plays out. By the way he is off to a flying start at 36% approval.
Now we hear that Mexico is not going to pay for the wall. It will be paid for by American consumers with a 20% tariff on Mexican goods. So the centerpiece of his campaign was a big fat lie wasn’t it?
How about that massive voter fraud thing? Are we obsessing over that or isn’t that another lie he just pulled out of his ass? His proof is that people who don’t look like him can register to vote.
Pleeeeaze keep believing the polls! Pleeeeaze! As Talleyrand said when the Bourbons returned to France under Wellington’s coattails:
Ils n’ont rien appris, ni rien oublié—They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.
As far as Mexico paying for the wall, I always figured they would just tax the Maquiladoras anyway, so who cares. As long as they put it up and keep the cheap labor out.
Re voter fraud, Trump says that is his OPINION. My OPINION, is that are less than millions of illegal votes, but far more than most people suspect. One reason, is the way the Democrats freak out at Voter ID, and I don’t think the reason is that phony-baloney race-baiting voter suppression silliness. I think it is just more risky to vote a corpse, or an illegal alien if you have to have picture ID.
Sheeeesh, do you really think the Democratic machines in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York aren’t ginning out the illegal votes like crazy? Here is you a video that you won’t watch, and if you don’t, that you won’t want to believe because. Cognitive dissonance.
http://insider.foxnews.com/2016/11/30/ice-agent-counterfeit-drivers-licenses-illegal-immigration-voters-registration-elections
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter