39 minutes?

 Apparently, Donald Trump spent 39 minutes in silence, mostly silence, swaying back-and-forth to a long, long music medley while on a stage at his latest rally.

What?

Did he seem lost? Has he completely lost touch with the reality? His surroundings? Could he not remember what to say?  What was he is doing?

We have been watching this sad little man suffer through evermore serious cognitive decline all year. It has gotten to the point where it cannot be denied. It is time to say goodbye.

Those who see him as a coat tail to drag them into the halls of power will never allow him to leave. It is up to the voters. 

Time to say goodbye to the ever declining Donald J Trump. He’s trailing off…

Top military warns against Trump threats to America and the world

Donald Trump has:

• The Ego of Napoleon
• The empathy of Joseph Stalin
• The emotional maturity of a six year old playground bully
• The brains of a turnip 

Plus, he is sliding into Alzheimer’s like his father before him. 

I have written often of how Schedule F will remove all institutional and personal constraints on this sociopath. Using Project 2025 he will end democracy, end the rule of law, establish an extremist theocracy, establish an Oligarchy, and funnel billions into himself. 

But that is not the worst possible outcome, is it?  Do you want this uncontrollable big baby to be able to “play” with “his” nuclear toys?

What about his psychotic urge to use nukes?  He has already said “What is the point of nukes if you don’t use them?”  He has already suggested nuking hurricanes to stop them. 

Former Chairman of the joint chiefs, Mark Miley:

No one has ever been as dangerous to this country as Donald Trump,” the general told Woodward. “Now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is the most dangerous person to this country.”

Plus another 100 military and security officials:

“More than 100 Republican former national security and foreign policy officials on Wednesday endorsed Kamala Harris for president in a joint letter, calling Donald Trump “unfit to serve” another term in the White House.”

He craves being the most important and famous person in world history. Who is now? Adolph Hitler. Why? WWII. 60 million deaths. His urge to use nukes could well be irresistible. Hundreds of millions slaughtered by nukes?  Very very possible. 

He is a threat not just to the survival of American Democracy and Rule of Law. He is a threat to the survival of American life, and of the world. 

I pray that people who still think there is such a thing as the “Republican Party” wake up. It’s over. Trump and MAGA killed it. This toddler threatens us all. This is not a choice between politicians. It is a choice to survive, as a democracy, as a free nation, as living creatures in the world.  Or not. 

It was stolen

 There no longer is a Republican Party. It was stolen. It is now an anti-democracy revolutionary MAGA crusade. 

The only thing to do is to end it - at the ballot box. It should be easy to just say no to the filthy pig of an excuse of a man who sprays his face orange, rants gibberish, and has nothing but bitterness and poison in his ever dwindling brain. And just say no to the threatening anti-democratic “base” behind him. 

Vote. ..

MAGA submissives refuse to extend funds for FEMA as the South is pummeled by hurricanes

 Trump tells Congressional Republicans not to extend FEMA funding. Why? So he can claim Dems are spending all their money on Ukraine and ignoring red states. These folks, and the person they are terrified of, have all the compassion of Joseph Stalin, and all the brains of a turnip:

Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Wednesday that FEMA will run out of money before the hurricane season is over. The agency is facing a multibillion-dollar deficit, even after imposing new spending restrictions.  "We are meeting the immediate needs with the money that we have. We are expecting another hurricane hitting,"  

Here is the list of the Republicans that voted against the extension of funding for FEMA while they do the only thing they know how to do - threaten to shut down the government on the orders of their demented master, the orange mentally ill presidential candidate:

HOUSE:

Representative James Baird of Indiana

Representative Troy Balderson of Ohio

Representative Jim Banks of Indiana

Representative Aaron Bean of Florida

Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona

Representative Gus Bilirakis of Florida

Representative Dan Bishop of North Carolina

Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado

Representative Mike Bost of Illinois

Representative Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma

Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee

Representative Eric Burlison of Missouri

Representative Kat Cammack of Florida

Representative Michael Cloud of Texas

Representative Andrew Clyde of Georgia

Representative Mike Collins of Georgia

Representative Eli Crane of Arizona

Representative John Curtis of Utah

Representative Warren Davidson of Ohio

Representative Byron Donalds of Florida

Representative Jeff Duncan of South Carolina

Representative Ron Estes of Kansas

Representative Mike Ezell of Mississippi

Representative Randy Feenstra of Iowa

Representative Brad Finstad of Minnesota

Representative Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota

Representative Russell Fry of South Carolina

Representative Russ Fulcher of Idaho

Representative Matt Gaetz of Florida

Representative Tony Gonzales of Texas

Representative Bob Good of Virginia

Representative Lance Gooden of Texas

Representative Paul Gosar of Arizona

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia

Representative Morgan Griffith of Virginia

Representative Michael Guest of Mississippi

Representative Harriet Hageman of Wyoming

Representative Andy Harris of Maryland

Representative Clay Higgins of Louisiana

Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio

Representative John Joyce of Pennsylvania

Representative Trent Kelly of Mississippi

Representative Darin LaHood of Illinois

Representative Laurel Lee of Florida

Representative Debbie Lesko of Arizona

Representative Greg Lopez of Colorado

Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida

Representative Morgan Lutrell of Texas

Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina

Representative Tracey Mann of Kansas

Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky

Representative Tom McClintock of California

Representative Rich McCormick of Georgia

Representative Mary Miller of Illinois

Representative Max Miller of Ohio

Representative Cory Mills of Florida

Representative Alex Mooney of West Virginia

Representative Barry Moore of Alabama

Representative Nathaniel Moran of Texas

Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina

Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee

Representative Gary Palmer of Alabama

Representative Scott Perry of Pennsylvania

Representative Bill Posey of Florida

Representative John Rose of Tennessee

Representative Matt Rosendale of Montana

Representative Chip Roy of Texas

Representative David Schweikert of Arizona

Representative Keith Self of Texas

Representative Victoria Spartz of Indiana

Representative Claudia Tenney of New York

Representative William Timmons of South Carolina

Representative Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey

Representative Beth Van Duyne of Texas

Representative Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin

Representative Mike Waltz of Florida

Representative Randy Weber of Texas

Representative Daniel Webster of Florida

Representative Bruce Westerman of Arkansas

Representative Roger Williams of Texas

Representative Rudy Yakym of Indiana

SENATE:

Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee

Senator Mike Braun of Indiana

Senator Katie Britt of Alabama

Senator Ted Budd of North Carolina

Senator Mike Crapo of Idaho

Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska

Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri

Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin

Senator Mike Lee of Utah

Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas

Senator Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky

Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska

Senator James Risch of Idaho

Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri

Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina

Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama

So, who gets hurt?  American people.  Now hurricane Milton heads toward Florida and Trump tells the House not to come back in emergency session to extend FEMA funding? 

Looks like a Putin is part of this plan, to me. 

Musk is dangerous

 Trump is stupid, mentally ill, deluded and dangerous. Musk is smart, and dangerous. Seems to me he is aiming to take over the authoritarian, fascist MAGA revolution. Here he is upstaging the rambling orange, declining candidate:

 

From FDR decades ago, per Consevative icon, William Krystal:

I should have remembered the words of Franklin D. Roosevelt in his acceptance speech at the 1936 Democratic convention: “It was natural and perhaps human that the privileged princes of these new economic dynasties, thirsting for power, reached out for control over government itself.”

Watch out.

Why fascism?

 I think that people who feel powerless want to feel powerful so what they do as they look for someone who looks powerful to them, that is to say look for someone who scares people and they align themselves with that person. I think that explains Mussolini and Hitler and Franco. And I think it explains Orban and Le Pen and Trump today. 

Why? It’s fear. Fear of Other. Fear of different. Things seem out of control. They want to beat things back into orderly control. Is this correct? No - things are just different. And different scares them. 

So you get the rise of “Strong Men”. They support those that threaten and do violence. It makes those who feel powerless feel protected and feel safe. 

It’s a false belief. The “Strong Men” are all the same character - it’s all about me me me me me me me me.  And $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$. And power domination domination domination.  

It has nothing to do with the country they dominate, or the people who worship them, or who fight them, or who fear them… the people and the country are just supporting players to the authoritarian’s bottomless need for obedience and submission. 

They are sick puppies.  They are very needy little people. We see in The Former Guy how much he craves and needs adulation. Because he has no internal pillars of self esteem. So they remove the Rule of Law, and remove democracy, and all constraints on their bottomless needs. Of course. It’s who they are. 

And the frightened follow them down the autocratic rabbit hole. 

Prison please…

 How the authoritarian sitting president criminally tried to overturn the 2020 election.  Prosecutor Jack Smith lays out the evidence.  From the AP:  

1.  “Although the defendant was the incumbent President during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one,” Smith’s team wrote, adding, “When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office.”....

 2.  Trump “laid the groundwork” for rejecting the election results before the contest was over, telling advisers that in the event he held an early lead he would “declare victory before the ballots were counted and any winner was projected.”....

3.   Immediately after the even ection, prosecutors say, his advisers sought to sow chaos in the counting of votes....

4.   Prosecutors also argue Trump used his Twitter account to further his illegal scheme by spreading false claims of election fraud, attacking “those speaking the truth” about his election loss and exhorting his supporters to travel to Washington for the Jan. 6, 2021, certification. 

5.   They intend to use “forensic evidence” from Trump’s iPhone to provide insight into Trump’s actions after the mob of his supporters began to attack the Capitol....

6.   That “steady stream of disinformation” in the weeks after the election culminated in his speech at the Ellipse on the morning of Jan. 6, 2021, in which Trump “used these lies to inflame and motivate the large and angry crowd of his supporters to march to the Capitol and disrupt the certification proceeding,” prosecutors wrote. His “personal desperation was at its zenith” that morning as he was “only hours from the certification proceeding that spelled the end,” prosecutors wrote."

There will be a lot more evidence to come, of corse.  I hope they include evidence that armed extremists were in nearby hotels ready for a second assault wave.  Some of those are in prison now, I believe.

By the way, he is doing exactly the same thing again now in 2024.  Another attempted coup after he loses another election.  It’s being planned and organized.  Too much of the country has given up on democracy  

Prison please.

Tennessee MAGA lies about Biden response to hurricane Helene

 One of the most horrific disasters in U.S recent history is the massive hurricane Helene that savaged the south. So far over 100 deaths are reported with hundreds more missing. This is bad enough, but MAGA Republicans have managed to make it into a political accusation of Biden. Tennessee MAGA tells this despicable lie:

“Late Friday night, Tennessee House Republican Caucus chair Jeremy Faison posted “President Biden has finally approved [Tennessee governor Bill Lee’s] state of emergency request,” making it sound as if the delay in federal support for the state during the devastation of Hurricane Helene was Biden’s fault. In fact, while Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina all declared emergencies and requested and received federal approval of those declarations before the hurricane hit, Governor Lee did not. 

Instead, in keeping with an April joint resolution from the Republican-dominated Tennessee legislature calling for 31 days of prayer and fasting to “seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee,” Lee proclaimed September 27 “a voluntary Day of Prayer & Fasting.”

Lee did not declare a state of emergency until late on September 27, after flash flooding had already created havoc. President Biden approved it immediately.  

Immediately!  Of course. That is because President Biden is the president of the United  States. 

As always, MAGA accuses Democrats of the crimes that MAGA commits. Trump has a history of withholding aid to states that did not vote for him. He has promised to refuse aid to states that do not vote for him if elected. He is incapable of human caring for anyone other than himself. And MAGA worshipfully follows his dark lead. 

….we ran for our lives…

 Jeffrey Katzenberg, former Disney exec tells this from his childhood regarding Germany’s “clown”, Hitler:  

“When I was in high school, we were studying Third Reich Germany and the rise of Hitler, and over the holiday, our teacher suggested to the class that, to the degree which we could,  please go home and talk to your grandparents,” Katzenberg told the poolside Axios gathering tonight on the eve of Milken Institute conference. 

“Ask them, what did they read? “What did they see? What did they hear? What they do?”

“In the case of my family, on my mom’s side, they came from France and on my dad’s side, from Germany and they all said exactly the same thing,” the 73-year-old DreamWorks co-founder said to a group… 

“We read it; we heard it. We literally did not believe it. Thought this guy was a clown, that what he was saying was so incredibly impossible, and unimaginable. 

And then we ran for our lives, quite literally.”

We need to read it, hear it, and unlike our German and European predecessors, we need to believe it and stop it, even though it seems so incredibly impossible and unimaginable. Always believe the threats of fanatical extremists. 

It is not just Trump, it is an entire highly organized and fanaticalnetwork of right wing violent extremists, in America, and around the world. And American Rule of Law, the American Constitution, and our democratically elected Republic is the prime target. They are dedicated to force, and have given up on democracy because they can’t win.  They are just too … ugly, angry, threatening, odd, weird, dangerous,  violent. 

It’s the economy, stupid!

 It's a lot of things, but certainly one of the most important things is the economy.  Trump will destroy the American economy, and in so doing destroy the world economy.  Why? Because he is amazingly stupid and cannnot be taught anything because he thinks he knows more than anyone who ever talks to him. 

How will he destroy the economy?  His astonishingly stupid plan for tariffs.

From historian Heather Cox Richardson:

"...Trump has promised an across-the-board tariff of 10% to 20% that billionaire Mark Cubanon the Fox News Channel called “insane” and Quin Hillyer of the Washington Examiner warned “would almost certainly cause immense price hikes domestically, goad other countries into retaliating, and perhaps set off an international trade war” that could “wreck the economy.” Cuban then told Jake Tapper of CNN that Trump’s promise to impose 10% price controls on credit card interest rates and price caps is “Socialism 101.” 

Trump has had many, many, many smart expert people try to explain to him that foreign countries don't pay tariffs, the increased cost is passed on to the American buyer.  It is a tax.  A huge tax.  Inflation skyrockets.  Domestic competitors are free to raise their prices as well, to just a bit below the imports.  Everyone pays for Trump’s ignorance. 

Trump is ignorant, of course.  We are all ignorant of many things.  But Trump is more than ignorant, he is an ignoramus - my definition of an ignoramus is an ignorant person who is stupid enough, egotistical enough, delusional enough to refuse to learn and stop being ignorant.

Please, my dear Republican friends, i t' s   t h e    e c o n o m y   s t u p i d !

N****r N****r N****r - Sp*k Sp*k Sp*k - Jew Jew Jew

 The Donald Trump campaign is pretty much just one thing - bigotry.  Calling all bigots... 

N****r N****r N****r - Sp*k Sp*k Sp*k - Jew Jew Jew

• FIRST, when Donald Trump was interviewed and said:

"“She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage,” Trump said. “I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn Black, and now she wants to be known as Black. So I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?"

Get it? she is black black black. Just in case you didn't notice, she is black.  Did he mention that she is black?  You know, black?

And, oh yes, Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH?  He lies lies lies, and his VP Vance lies lies lies, saying that they are eating pets?  Haitian immigrants, black immigrants - they are black black black, remember, thery are black.

• And SECOND, you know the great crisis at the border? Brown people - you know - sp*k sp*k sp*k.  Get it? not good white people from good white countries, sp*ks.  You know, sp*ks, the kind of people who poison the blood -

"Former President Donald Trump said immigrants coming to the U.S. are “poisoning the blood of our country,”  - the kind of people coming from shithole countries:

""Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?" Trump is reported as saying."  

You know, shithole countries like Haiti - poisoning the blood of America, black immigrants.  Even worse than brown immigrants.

• And THIRD, yesterday, just to make sure everyone understands how much he admires and imitates Adolph Hitler he says if he loses it will be the fault of the Jews - you know, target Jews if he loses, you know, things like Krystallnacht in Germany - watch out you Jew bastards, you better vote for me, or...fill in the blank

""If I don't win this election" then "the Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss," Trump said"

So there he is - bigoted against blacks, hispanics, and Jews.  In his own words.  I haven't even mentioned Muslims, or women, or Asian Americans.  Anyone who is not a white man is who he is bigoted against. And, by the way, if you are a white man, but not a billionaire, he is bigotted against you as well. And by the way, if you are a billionaire and not named Donald Trump, he is bigoted against you as well. This is a very sick person.

So, there are good people who have voted twice for Trump because - they always vote Republican - they are worried about the border crisis - they want unfettered capitalism - they want to end abortion nationwide,  etc etc etc.  

But Trump has made it more and more obvious that those are just figleaves, or pretenses, or rationalizations.  Trump makes it overwhelmingly clear, to me at least, that bigotry, autocracy, the end of the Rule of Law, the end of democracy itself is actually what he stands for. He has been leading with bigotry ever since he came down his elevator to the applause of hired actors to announce his candidacy nine years ago.  

So my deepest hope that those who have been lifelong Republicans wake up and see that there is no longer a Republican Party, it is now the openly bigoted and anti-democracy party, openly and loudly calling all bigots to take over the country, and if you, a conservative, are repulsed by bigotry, please vote agaisnt this autocratic, authoritarian, bullying, overt bigot.  You are better than him and better than the Republican Party that has been debauched by his bigotry, corruption, and hatred.

Vote, please, against this Hitler/Putin/Maduro/Orban wannabe. 

He is not you. 

“They” are not Democrats

Trump had two assassination attempts, it appears.

The first attempt in Pennsylvania.  Those were real bullets.  A real person died. Two real people were wounded.  A real shooter was killed.  But…

 

Where did the blood on Trump’s face come from?  How did the Secret Service let Trump have the clear space to rise up and raise his fist in defiance for a perfect photo op?  We were told that his ear was grazed and a small chunk was removed. But that is a lie.  His ear is totally intact.  There is no report from the hospital that he went to to repair his ear.  Where did the blood come from?

 The second attempt at his Florida golf course.  About five shots were fired in rapid succession. None from the suspected assassin, all from the Secret Service.  Where did those bullets go?  On the other side of the bushes is a busy city street.  Nobody was hit by the bullets.  Buildings? Cars?  We’re glad, of course.  Did all the bullets just happen to hit a nice wide tree inside the golf course?  A witness very luckily was there to see the fleeing suspect.  He wrote down the license plate.  How lucky.  How long was the witness in that area?  Was he or she just passing by, or were they in the area for hours as well as the accused assassin?  

So now Trump and Vance and MAGA are saying “they” tried to kill Trump. “They” are not Democrats.

 

The first kid was a radicalized right winger who was thinking Trump or Biden, Trump was closer and sooner. Disturbed boy with a semi- automatic rifle. The second was some kind of radical that seemed obsessed with helping Ukraine.  

Extremists with easy access to semi-automatic rifles. Mayhem. 

What about the timings?

The ear wound was right before his convention and he wore a preposterous huge bandage over an ear that was not damaged. And his crowd of worshippers at the convention had makeshift bandages over their ears as well.  But the ear was not damaged.  

 The golf course incident came shortly after he was humiliated on the debate stage by Harris.  He was crushed. But this grabs the headlines.

Vance says “they” tried to kill Trump twice. “They”. “They” are not Democrats. Vance says stop calling for violence. What a joke. Trump has been calling for violence for nine years. Democrats call for votes. 

But Trump pledges to end democracy, so I will continue to write about it.  It is not a call to violence to describe his plans to end the rule of law and to end democracy. It is a call to vote.  

Vote.

Musk calls for the assassination of Harris and Biden

 Yesterday the Secret Service thwarted an assassination attempt on candidate Trump. Thank goodness! I am not making comment about it yet until we find out more about the man. So far it seems that he is a fanatical supporter of Ukraine. But let’s find out more. 

But the ever more dangerous Elon Musk just called for the assassination of Harris and Biden.  What is wrong with this person?

“And no one is even trying to assassinate Biden/Kamala 🤔 https://t.co/ANQJj4hNgW

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 16, 2024”

Eating dogs and cats, right out of the Nazi propaganda “Protocals of the elders of Zion”

 Trump ludicrously claimed that black Haitian immigrants were eating people’s pets in small Springfield OH. Obvious nonsense. He was mocked. Laughed at. 

But he doubled down. Insisted on the same lie on following days. His disgusting VP candidate Vance very publicly repeated the lies. What the hell?

Two things. First, as the insightful authority on autocratic regimes, Ann Applebaum, notes, the first step in establishing an autocratic tyranny is to lie, and all of his supplicants must repeat the lie in order to prove their loyalty. Was this lie any stupider than Trump’s lie that he won the 2020 election in a landslide?  Of course not.  But virtually all elected Republicans repeat that lie ad nauseam. So too, here. 

Second, and much more terrifying, Trump is copying Hitler and the Nazis by finding someone to dehumanize to the point of murderous rage. The Nazis pointed to the filthy anti-Jewish lies in the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” where the ridiculous lie was that Jews were killing babies and drinking their blood. What incendiary rubbish. Now Trump and MAGA are claiming that black immigrants are killing and eating people’s pets. 

Why? To make people afraid, to make people target the innocent, to make people want to be protected from monsters, to make people give all all all their powers to the autocrat who will protect them - from what?  from make believe, non-existent monsters. They aren’t monsters. They are people.