I think it reasonably safe to say that no president in the history of this country has ever started his reelection campaign eight months into his presidency. The answer as to why is obvious: Trump is constantly being barraged with polls that are telling him how incredibly unpopular he is. How the majority of the citizens do not trust him. That he’s an idiot or has syphilis or is just insane. And his inflated ego is so fragile that the only way he can survive is surrounding himself with mobs of brainless supporters who will cheer everything he says. This despite the fact that several thousand protestors swarmed outside. This despite the fact that it was observed that people who had waited on line to get in were swarming toward the doors the longer he went on.
You know, I hate to say this, but I’m honestly feeling sorry for him. He is clearly miserable in office. Nobody goes on tweet rampages if they’re happy.
1). Clever editing.. At the Tuesday rally, Trump read from his attacks upon the demonstrators in Charlottesville in which he said, “We condemn in the strongest possible terms this egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence.” He held that up as proof that he had remonstrated the White Supremacists and Nazis. However he conveniently dropped out the very words that got him in so much trouble: “…on many sides. On many sides.” His condemnation of the right wing instigators got him into no trouble; it was his attempt to draw a false equivalency between the haters and the protestors that landed him in hot water. He was obviously aware of this, which is why he left out the key words that he has since defended. Perhaps he truly believes that people are so unaware of history that they forget even something that was said only a week previously.
2). Filibuster Rhymes. Trump is insisting that Mitch McConnell use the nuclear option and remove the filibuster so that the Senate can vote bills into law with a simple majority. Unless that happens, Trump declares, “8 Democrats control the Senate!” Of course, since his grasp of history is tenuous-to-non-existent, Trump hasn’t considered the possibility that the GOP will not remain in control. That as of 2018 they might be in the minority, in which case the lack of filibuster will backfire against the GOP. By taking advantage of the nuclear option, it will be the GOP who suffers from the fall out. But it’s useless to explain that to Trump because, like any toddler, he wants what he wants when he wants it.
3). Climbing the wall. “If we have to close down our government, we’re building that wall.” He said that in Phoenix. “Our country needs a good ‘shutdown’ in September to fix the mess!” he tweeted as well. For someone who purports to be a good businessman, how can he be unaware that the last shutdown in October of 2013 resulted in $24 billion in lost economic output? Yet Trump is threatening to do just that: to shut down the government if congress doesn’t give him $20 billion dollars to build his wall. You remember the wall. The one that the Mexican government was going to pay for? Except now it turns out that no, he wants US taxpayers to handle the cost while the Mexicans will wind up reimbursing us somehow, magically. How will he make that happen? He’s given as much detail on that plan as he did with his plans for health care.
You know what? I think that if Disney puts him into the Hall of Presidents, he should be standing with his back to the audience. Or behind Obama so he can’t be seen. That would be the ultimate commentary on his idiot tweet in which he portrayed himself as eclipsing Obama, oblivious to the fact that he was implying Obama was the sun and Trump was just passing through briefly casting shadow before disappearing.
Did he do anything right?. Yes. He looked directly at the eclipse. He proved once and for all that he listens to absolutely no one.
PAD
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Actually Trump started running for re-election on Inauguration Day. And some of his rallies before Arizona were also campaign rallies.
Follow the money. He is making a lot of money at these rallies, selling his shirts, hats, buttons, and more. He is a businessman and while he might love these rallies for the love his minions show him, they are also emptying their wallets for him. I said back in the summer of 2016 that Trump wanted to give Obama the middle finger by winning the Presidency, but he was also doing it to increase his own personal wealth. All these regulations he is removing, how many are going to result in him getting things built easier and cheaper?
” All these regulations he is removing, how many are going to result in him getting things built easier and cheaper?”
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…And even the ones which don’t let him do things less expensively, how many of them are a result of bribes lining his pocket? And I’d bet there’s a lot of overlap between the two groups…
Thing is, the Republican party is almost certain to retain control of the Senate in 2018. Only 8 Republican seats are up for election then, as opposed to 25 Democratic/Independent seats. And the closest you get to a swing state for the Republican seats are Nevada and Arizona; the rest are Texas, Wyoming, Mississippi, etc. Meanwhile, several of the Democratic seats are in states Trump carried by double digits.
You missed one VERY disturbing aspect of his rally. The Blacks for Trump guy standing behind him. Both CNN and the Daily Show found out a bit about him and, well…
Oh dear…
http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/08/23/trump-rally-blacks-for-trump-nr-sot.cnn
Oh dear indeed…
How the $#@* did this guy get past secret service and security?
I’ll do you one better, Aaron. These guys (there’s more than one) were placed right behind Trump at two of his Florida events last year. Trump kissed one of their signs at (I think it was) a Florida rally.
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The first time I saw them I was amused. The second time I was absolutely shocked that they would be getting spots that prominent to hold their signs, wear their shirts, and plug the website. These guys have been well known lunatics in Florida for some time now.
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That GODS2 thing? It’s a part of the Yahweh Ben Yahweh cult. Yahweh Ben Yahweh was born Hulon Mitchell Jr., a preacher’s kid from Oklahoma. He grew up to lead a black supremacist group. They terrorized South Florida in the 1980s. He claimed that God and all the prophets were black and that black people would only gain true knowledge through him and by following him. He preached that whites and Jews were infidels, oppressors, and devils in mortal flesh. He pushed the idea to his followers of loyalty to him as the true son of God.
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Oh, and he demanded that his followers kill all “white devils” and return to him with a body part as proof of the kill. He had followers that were convicted of murder. One was former NFL player. Look up Yahweh Ben Yahweh if you’ve never heard of him. Freaky stuff.
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But apparently Trump and his people are so desperate to have someone at the rally who isn’t white be seen on camera that they’ll even put people like that behind him every time they show up and Trump will even kiss the sign he’s holding.
At least Donald Trump can say he is not a racist, since he gives equal opportunity to killer-happy race supremacists of all colors and creeds…
The weird thing about his rallies is that they seem to be an exercise in stroking his ego and attacking his enemies, instead of promoting any specific part of his agenda. He didn’t go out there with details on tax reform or how the next attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act will work; he promoted himself and took shots at those who didn’t support him 100% (plus the press, who he falsely said weren’t broadcasting the rally when in fact they covered every minute of it). That may make him feel better in the short term, but it won’t help him actually get anything done.
James, you should be well past the point of realizing that this is all Trump is: ego and bluster. He doesn’t give a crap if he accomplishes anything as long as he makes a dime on the side and can throw people under the bus.
“Perhaps he truly believes that people are so unaware of history that they forget even something that was said only a week previously.”
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Because the Trump supporters are and do. Well, that or they lie to themselves to amazing degrees.
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I have family who are HUGE Trump supporters. If Trump lies for 15 minutes straight in a speech with staggeringly obvious lies, they’ll tell you they didn’t hear a single lie. If Trump says X on Friday, then says Y on Monday, and X&Y cannot exist together as statements, they’ll tell you he never said X. X was just what the “lying fake news” told the “stupid liberals” he said and the “stupid liberals” believed it. Never mind that there’s video of him saying it. After all, you can do anything with FX these days.
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The true hardcore supporters in the Cult of Trump literally do not care what Trump said last year, last month, or last week. All they care about is what Trump just said. All they see as the Truth is what Trump just said. If Trump says something he’s doing or putting together is the most important thing in the coming months, it’s the most important thing ever that Trump is doing. If it falls apart and he attacks it or the people he put together to be a part of it while saying it was a pointless, trivial thing of no importance? Well, then it was always a pointless, trivial thing of no importance.
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Watching Trump supporters is literally like watching a group of cultists. It certainly veers way into indisputable cult territory with the followers who seem to want him to be a part of the Holy Trinity of God, Jesus, and Trump and proclaim his as God’s chosen one to save America.
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Seriously, these people need help.
And the cultists are more numerous than you think. 67% of Republicans think Trump handled Charlottesville well.
Let that sink in.
Two-thirds of Republicans think he did a good job handling Charlottesville. Is it any wonder that many liberals consider Republicans racists?
Above and beyond the ego stroking, I think the reason DJT holds these inane rallies is that he loves bampaigning, but hates governing. Campaigning is easy -he’s the boss! Governing is hard – he’s finding he can’t just bully Congress (not even with Republican majorities in both houses) to do what he wants, and that he actually needs specifics in proposals, and his staff is a nest of vipers, and…so it’s either golfing or campaign rallies.
“so it’s either golfing or campaign rallies.”
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Given how much the Secret Service spends renting golf carts from him, and probably renting rooms from him, either activity is probably equally profitable for him. So it probably comes down on how much his ego needs stroking any given week.
And THIS week’s already off to an appalling start. He pardoned Sheriff Racism and signed a Transgender military ban order.
Seriously, fûçk this guy.
Aaron, please. Even Melania doesn’t want that job!