Freak Out Friday – November 23, 2018

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Since yesterday was turkey day, it makes sense to talk about our turkey of a president today. Let’s see what he’s been up to.

1). Disorder in the court. Trump dismissed a judge who ruled against his desire to ban migrants illegally entering the country from seeking asylum as an “Obama judge.” This is, of course, how Trump sees the world. He has no respect for the law in general and the constitution in particular, and figures that judges operate the same way. He assumes that if a judge is appointed under Obama, his rulings will all be governed by how Obama would want things done. Chief Justice John Roberts–a Republican–fired back in a rare public statement criticizing Trump, declaring that there are no Obama judges, no Trump judges, no Clinton judges, but rather justices who simply care about the law. Trump naturally fired back, declaring, “Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have “Obama judges,” and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country.” He of course offered absolutely no proof of this assertion. Naturally he didn’t need to. His followers blindly believe him, and as far as he’s concerned, any Obama-appointed judge who rules against him does so ONLY because Obama put him in place, rather than he is, you know, wrong.

Meanwhile, displaying their typical respect for the lower court, Trump’s people are trying to speed several cases challenging his banning of transgenders from serving in the military straight to the Supreme Court. They assume that the conservative court with two Trump appointees on it will fall in lockstep behind Trump’s desires. Will they be proven correct? We’ll have to wait and see, although the SCOTUS generally prefers to wait until cases work their way through the lower courts so they have the decisions and opinions of lower judges to consider and debate.

At the same time, a New York State judge dismissed Trump’s appeal against a lawsuit brought against his charitable foundation that has allegedly been violating tax laws for over a decade. Trump’s lawyers asserted that a sitting president could not be sued while failing to provide evidence (of course) that a president was immune from civil suits. Not to mention that the suit involves activities that he was up to long before the electoral college gave him the Oval Office. So not a good week for him judicially. Then again, when is it ever?

2). You remember Saudi Arabia, right? Fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 attackers were Saudis. And several intelligence agencies, including the CIA, are positive that the Saudi crown prince was responsible for the death of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But not Trump; he continues to defend the crown prince because they buy stuff of his and that makes them swell guys in his book. And although he hasn’t said this, let’s face it: it’s not like they killed someone important. Just a journalist. Certainly a journalist isn’t worth making a big deal about.

Yet in a rare instance of bipartisan agreement, both Democrats and Republicans are shocked over Trump’s consistent refusal to take any actions, or even condemn, the Saudis. They’ve tolerated his cozying up to dictators like Putin or Kim Jong un, but this is a step too far. And you can bet that if Trump doesn’t change his tune, fast, one of the very first things the Dems will investigate come January is the reasons as to why he is coddling the Saudis. That should make for a very interesting investigation, one that even his supporters will find difficult to justify.

3). Justice for none. The New York Times broke a major story this week in which it turns out that a year or so ago, Trump wanted to order the Justice department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and James Comey. For what? Well, because they were critics of his and he didn’t like them. He apparently took the “lock her up” chants at his rallies as actually having force of law. Trump’s own top attorney, Don McGann, warned him that this was not only an unconstitutional move but one that was impeachable. On that basis Trump backed away from it, but still continued to bìŧçh about it and advocate it in privacy.

This is of course the exact sort of thing a dictator does: use government forces to take out his opponents. In Russia or North Korea they would simply have enemies poisoned or shot or jailed. Trump would do that in a heartbeat if he could, but instead wanted to order the justice department to do it even though he simply cannot. The only thing that prevented him was concern that it would rebound to his detriment, which of course it would. That is the sort of huge idiot who currently sits in the White House.

Meanwhile the government just came out with a report agreeing that climate change is destroying the world. As of this writing, Trump hasn’t commented on it, but I think we can all agree he will likely continue to ignore it. He’s far more concerned about blaming the California forest fires on failure to rake leaves than the fact that the world’s temperature is slowly rising to unsafe levels.

Did he do anything right? Yes. He served Caesar salad at his Thanksgiving feast. Good. Maybe he ate it. The White House claimed there was no romaine lettuce in it, but we can always hope.

PAD

25 comments on “Freak Out Friday – November 23, 2018”

  1. I appreciate your weekly summaries of President Rump. I also enjoy seeing you fight to think better of humanity than I do. This week in particular when you wrote: “That should make for a very interesting investigation, one that even his supporters will find difficult to justify.” You’re a better person than I if you think they flippin’ can’t justify any and all transgressions this asshat comes up with. 🙂

  2. This.
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    This right here.
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    This tells you everything you need to know about Trump’s position on it. And, frankly, the attitude of most of his supporters who have defended his indifference to the murder.
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    “Trump, in the statement, which was titled, “Statement from President Donald J. Trump on Standing with Saudi Arabia,” also repeats unsubstantiated smears against Khashoggi that have been perpetuated by the Saudi government, including that Khashoggi was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, and spreads the Saudi government claim that Khashoggi was an “enemy of the state.”

    “Trump has repeatedly derided the U.S. press as “the enemy of the people.”
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    https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/unusual-statement-disputing-cia-filled-exclamation-points-trump-backs-saudi-n938526
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    Trump has long admired dictators and dictatorships. A free press is the enemy of both. It’s little wonder he so vocally attacks the free press, and little wonder that he is totally fine with his buddies murdering a reporter. Well, just so long as they line his and his family’s pockets.

  3. Don’t forget one of the younger turkeys’ using a private email account to conduct government business.

  4. Peter David: Just a journalist. Certainly a journalist isn’t worth making a big deal about.
    Luigi Novi: And not just any journalist, either.
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    A contributing columnist to The Washington Post, a publication that has been critical of Trump, and which he has accused it of being a mouthpiece and an “expensive lobbyist” for its owner, Jeff Bezos.
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    Btw, CNN’s Supreme Court expert Steve Vladek offered this excellent takedown of Trump’s whiny complaints about how the courts blocked his attempt to take away asylum rights from illegal border crossers:
    https://twitter.com/steve_vladeck/status/1065614144576073738?fbclid=IwAR13UCCiFKDGsLBeCq22VE7XDu-gqVSMVyFWYC1nx071mICnEof2157EatY

  5. Peter David: Meanwhile the government just came out with a report agreeing that climate change is destroying the world.
    Luigi Novi: Peter, are you referring to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change from October 8? Or a U.S. government report? (Just curious. I’m compiling a Trump document with the intention of possibly turning it into a website.)

      1. Note, too, that the Administration chose to release it on Black Friday, when the public is still caught up in the holiday and/or frenzied shiping to pay much attention.

      3. It doesn’t matter when they released it, Chuck. It will be reacted to in the same manner whether they realease it on Black Friday or Taco Tuesday. People who care about the future of this planet will say, “How much proof do they need to do something!” while Trump and his followers will have their hands firmly on their ears and declaring “La la la, we’re not listening” while the EPA continues to roll back all laws designed to rein in polluters.
        .
        PAD

  7. The thing that must be understood about Trump and 21st century Fascism, is that it isn’t really about white identity or about Christianity or about Western values.
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    Sure, some of those things are used to excite their base. But their leaders don’t really give a šhìŧ about such things.
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    And they all have an incredible similarity of opinion. Trump, Putin, Netanyahu in Israel, the European Far Right, Jair Bolsonaro here in Brazil, the rulers of North Korea, Syria, Saudi Arabia.
    .
    They all value strength and ruthlessness and control. And Trump will gladly support people who hate the West (Putin), or Muslims (Syria and the Saudis) or non-whites (Nortk Korea), as long as they all have their own flavor of fascism in their own countries.
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    It’s like that guy that beats his wife, and he supports other domestic abusers, because they normalize his own behaviour. That is why these fûçkërš all support each other, and we are their battered wives.
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    And the disregard for the environment is because this modern version of fascism is also married to uncontrolled capitalism. Here in Brazil, we just got the news that the Amazon Forest has had a record year of destruction and deforestation. Left-wing President Dilma Rouseff was removed, and her Right-Wing Vice-President took power with the support of Big Business and this is the result.
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    And next president Jair Bolsonaro is also in the pocket of extractive industries. They will bleed the Earth dry to line their pockets. In this one respect, they’re actually worse than the original Fascists, who at least had a certain respect for nature with their “Blood and Soil” madness. This new lot is more “Blood and Money”.

    1. Good points, Rene. I’d add that, in Trump’s case, he’ll cozy up to anybody who fawns all over him (cf the Saudis and Netanyahu on his first overseas trip.) He likes dealing with autocrats, both because it’s his personal style, and because he can work his (real or imagined) personal relationships with them, and he doesn’t have to worry about anyone in the other government contradicting him. Note, too, how both Trump and Putin hate multilateralism and would love to see the EU fall aapart. It’s harder to push around a whole group of countries, or make Trumpian “great deals” when they have to be painstakingly negotiated instead of paraded around at summits.

      1. You misunderstand me. I don’t say this because I don’t like turkey. I like it very much. But I would prefer if people use the term “Thanksgiving” because that’s what we should be doing, especially on this day. Giving thanks for friends, family, and all we have. Calling it “turkey day” demeans the day and the great man who instituted it, President Lincoln, making us sound like ungrateful gluttons.

      2. I don’t think it matters what we call it, rather, it matters what we do. Most the people I know who call it “Turkey Day” spent the day in question giving thanks for who and what they had in their lives and letting those people know what they mean to them.
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        In contrast, our current President- who also makes a big deal of saying “Merry Christmas” to appease the dimwitted while pìššìņg all over the values of the season -calls it Thanksgiving. He used the day for self-aggrandizement and gave thanks to himself for how great he is.
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        Besides, I think Abraham had a good enough a sense of humor that he wouldn’t mind “Turkey Day” from many of the people who say it.

  10. For those of you who have missed the international news today…
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    Russia has spent a good chunk of today doing what it can to push Ukraine into a war. The Fûçkwìŧ in Chief’s response so far? He went to Twitter and attacked our allies in NATO again.
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    But, hey, I guess that’s what you do when you’re Putin’s bìŧçh.
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    Tensions escalate between Russia and Ukraine in Sea of Azov as 3 ships seized
    https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-news-ukraine-russia-navy-conflict-20181125-story.html

  11. I can’t think of a single Prez since I started voting (1980) who has stood up to the Saudis?

    I DO recall candidates like John Kerry and even Trump saying we should hold them to a higher standard but they backed off and fell line to support the kingdom.

    Anyone know what the magic power is that Saud has over us?

    1. Up until recently – oil.
      .
      But i heard a commentator on NPR the other day who said the US is about to become the world’s biggest exporter of oil…

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