Trumpenstan

Trump May Well Bring Social Security To A Screeching Halt

  By Nancy Altman CNN (9/3/20) Donald Trump once claimed that he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue in New York City and not lose any voters. He’s now seeing whether the same is true if he kills Social Security. His unilateral, unprecedented step of deferring the collection of payroll taxes, the backbone of Social Security, is the murder weapon he would use. Trump has already ordered the Treasury Department to stop collecting Social Security’s dedicated payroll contributions for the next four months pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code, which permits deferrals of taxes when a disaster is declared. Once re-elected, if he…

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How Fascism Works: An Updated ALERT For The Americans

Amanour & Company (7/20/20) Jason Stanley is a professor of philosophy at Yale University, and in his new book “How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them,” he explores the inner mechanics of fascism and the forces that drive dictatorships. Stanley joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain his concern at signs of fascism on the rise in the U.S. Link To 17-Minute Video  


Historian Rick Perlstein On The RNC & Trump’s Lies & Dangerous Propaganda Driving Many To Violence

“picture of the world that bears no resemblance to reality” Democracy Now! (8/28/20) President Donald Trump formally accepted the Republican Party’s nomination on Thursday before a crowd of about 1,500 on the South Lawn of the White House. In defiance of social distancing guidelines, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. Trump spoke as the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 — by far the highest total in the world — and repeatedly defended his administration’s handling of the pandemic. Trump warned of chaos and violence if Joe Biden becomes president, but made no reference to the…


“Hatemonger”: Author Jean Guerrero On Stephen Miller, Trump’s White Nationalist Immigration Henchman

Democracy Now (8/26/20) A new book on Stephen Miller, the architect of the Trump administration’s unprecedented attack on immigrant communities and the immigration system, describes the White House adviser as a dangerous man bringing white nationalist ideology to the highest levels of government. “This is what shapes the immigration policy,” says Jean Guerrero, author of “Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda.” Miller, descended from Jewish immigrants, has been obsessed with fighting multiculturalism since his teenage years and has steadily climbed the right-wing political ladder to become one of Donald Trump’s most trusted associates. He is credited…


Ex-GOP Congressman Nails Donald Trump’s Election Stunt With Flopping Fish Comparison

  “There’s a saying in politics that fish always flop around before they die. You see candidates engage in erratic behavior when they know they’re going to lose. It’s hard to measure that behavior with Donald Trump because he’s been erratic since the beginning. But clearly this is someone who is reaching to justify a loss or to look for somewhere to blame.” — Former Rep. David Jolly (R-Fla.), Ex-GOP Congressman Nails Donald Trump’s Election Stunt With Flopping Fish Comparison  


QAnon And On And On

QAnon graffiti found along Main Street of the tiny Mississippi River village of Ferryville, Wisconsin.   Trending / BBC (7/26/20) It’s bursting into the mainstream – a bizarre conspiracy theory that casts US President Donald Trump as its hero. QAnon claims that the president is secretly fighting a cabal of high-placed paedophiles in Hollywood and the so-called “deep state”. But why has it had an apparent surge in popularity during the global pandemic? Since it first emerged in an anonymous post on an online message board in 2017, QAnon has developed into a movement which is now making inroads into…


November 3rd May Be Just The Beginning: Many Predict Trump Supporters Will Rise Up If He Doesn’t Win

  By Andrew Feinberg The Independent (7/8/20) As both national and state-level polling reveal growing support for Joe Biden’s bid to make Donald Trump a one-term president, Trump and his allies have begun framing the stakes of November’s election in increasingly apocalyptic terms — and rejecting the idea that a Democrat could legitimately win. “They will engage in violence, they will engage in trying to stop the machinery of government from even working. I can see them in states and even in DC, not even participating — walking out. A lot of it will depend on what Trump does, because I still think…


Economist Richard Wolff: The Crash IS Coming! What To Watch For

“I fear we are really heading into a blind tsunami because of the blindness and the denial of the few at the top who are doing well.” By Julianna Forlano act.tv (7/15/20) Julianna welcomes back recurring guest, Marxian Economist Professor Richard D. Wolff, to the show to discuss how Economists are warning Americans that while the recent unemployment numbers were surprisingly positive, the long-term consequences of the pandemic could be severe joblessness for millions of Americans faced with permanent unemployment. And according to Professor Richard Wolff, there has been a widespread understanding among experts that a whole raft of jobs…


Horror Clouds Every Page Of Mary Trump’s Book About Her Uncle Donald & The Family That Created Him

It’s a bleak story, and there’s no redemption. The country, like Donald Trump’s creditors, will not recoup its losses. By Virginia Heffernan Los Angeles Times (7/ Mary Trump’s book about her Uncle Donald is dark. Right from the get-go, when it begins with this feel-good epigraph from “Les Miserables”: If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. Already notorious, “Too Much and Never Enough” is Donald Trump’s story, written by his niece, a clinical psychologist and Trump family dissident. It’s being released this month after a failed effort, nominally by Donald’s brother Robert, to get a court to stop its publication. You…


What We Have To Learn From Trump: Madness Can Be Our Friend

These next months are going to be the showdown. [Editor’s Note: Yes, of course, Donald Trump a personality-disordered sociopath, but there is far more to understanding the psychology of Trump, corporate democrats and ourselves. Want to be part of the opposition? Understand the kind of opposition to all established power centers that is needed. This is a thought provoking interview. As a footnote, listen to how the French government supports of families and health care brought the pandemic under control. — Mark L. Taylor] By Michael Moore Rumble / Episode 94 (6/24/20) Dr. Steven Reisner is a psychologist and political…


What Should The Punishment Be For The Crime Of Weaponizing A Virus For Political Purposes?

Putting politics and Trump’s ego above the lives of American citizens. By Thom Hartmann Common Dreams (6/16/20) Trump’s scheduled rally in Tulsa this weekend and his moving the Republican convention to Florida both demonstrate that he is more than willing to take actions that will kill Americans in order to get his ego stroked and increase his chances of reelection. A new book by Trump’s niece tells the story of how Donald Trump cut off payments for his nephew’s medical treatment, who had cerebral palsy, as a negotiating weapon to extract more money from his father‘s estate. Meanwhile, scientists report…



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New Film Profiles Trump’s Mentor: Inside The Sinister, Brutal World Of Roy Cohn

By Charles Bramesco The Guardian (6/17/20) Back in 2004, with the documentary Heir to an Execution, Ivy Meeropol began the decades-spanning project of exorcising the demon haunting her family. The Academy-shortlisted film sheds some light on the dark heritage of the Meeropol kids, descended as they are from Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the couple executed by the United States government in 1953 having been convicted of sharing military secrets with the Soviet Union. When not teaching as an economics professor, Ivy’s father Michael spent most of his adult life on a crusade to restore and advocate for the reputation of his…


Time To Get Real: Donald Trump Is A Nazi

He’s found his bliss, and it’s in remaking this country in his own image: sour, ugly, hateful, and miserable. By Drew Magary Medium (6/2/20) He’s a Nazi. He’s not scarily reminiscent of a Nazi. He doesn’t have alarming Nazi-like qualities. Your president, my president, is a fucking Nazi. That’s not a standard bit of tweeted hyperbole. It’s a truth. It’s bedrock. There’s no sly coding to it. You don’t get to go OH DEAR PRESIDENT TRUMP IS SAYING THE QUIET PART OUT LOUD when there has never been any quiet parts to Donald Trump, nor any disguising his zeal for outright fascism. If the past…


Way Back In 1920, Journalist H.L. Mencken Predicted A Trump

“As democracy is perfected, the office of the President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart’s desire at last, and the White House will be occupied by a downright fool and a complete narcissistic moron.” — H.L. Mencken, writing for the Baltimore Evening Sun on 26 July 1920, in an article entitled “Bayard vs. Lionheart” (and reprinted in the book On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe) (Cartoon by Seth L. Taylor, 2020.)


The Real Reason Trump Wants To Put Your Life On The Line For Reopening The Economy

By Robert Reich RobertReich. com (5/13/20) Donald Trump is getting nervous. Internal polls show him losing in November unless the economy comes roaring back. So what is Trump’s reelection strategy? Ignore the warnings of public health experts and reopen the economy at all costs. Here’s his lethal 4-part plan: Step 1: Remove income support, so people have no choice but to return to work.     Trump’s Labor Department has decided that furloughed employees “must accept” an employer’s offer to return to work and therefore forfeit unemployment benefits, regardless of the risk of returning to work before it’s safe. Forcing…


Are Trump & Anti-Lockdown Militias Itching For Actual Violence?

  The implications for the 2020 election are dire. By Mehdi Hasan Deconstructed / The Intercept (5/7/20) PROTESTS HAVE BROKEN out in and around several state capitols, with demonstrators, among them armed right-wing militia members, attempting to pressure their state governments to end the Covid-19 lockdowns. Could this end in violence, and what does it portend for the presidential election? Scholar of right-wing extremism Nicole Hemmer joins Mehdi Hasan to discuss the protests. Nicole Hemmer: Donald Trump is no stranger to the language of political violence. It’s something that he has encouraged throughout his presidential campaign and throughout his presidency. Link To


‘Screen New Deal’ — How Crisis Will Lead To Every Detail & Action In Your Life To Be Tracked By Google & Other Tech Giants

Under Cover of Mass Death, Andrew Cuomo Calls in the Billionaires to Build a High-Tech Dystopia By Naomi Klein The Intercept (5/8/20) OR A FEW fleeting moments during New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily coronavirus briefing on Wednesday, the somber grimace that has filled our screens for weeks was briefly replaced by something resembling a smile. “We are ready, we’re all-in,” the governor gushed. “We are New Yorkers, so we’re aggressive about it, we’re ambitious about it. … We realize that change is not only imminent, but it can actually be a friend if done the right way.” The inspiration for these…


The Chilling Truth: Trump Is Willing To Kill You & Your Family To Win Reelection

Trump needs just enough of an economic bounce by November to help him slither through the piles of corpses. By Les Leopold Common Dreams (5/7/20) President Trump has finally made public his fateful choice. He’s all in on reopening the economy even if it sends the virus death count into the millions. Actually he made that choice long ago. His logic is simple but cruel. Before the virus struck, his re-election hinged on taking credit for the robust economy he inherited. With unemployment at record lows he hoped to hang onto just enough votes in the key battle ground states…


‘Trump Death Clock’ Nails Accountability For Trump’s Fatal Covid-19 Failures

“This suffering cannot be forgotten.” By Jessica Corbett Common Dreams (5/6/0) Drawing inspiration from the billboard-sized National Debt Clock in New York City, American filmmaker and author Eugene Jarecki on Wednesday launched an online “Trump Death Clock” to measure the cost in human lives of President Donald Trump and his administration’s “reckless handling” of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. As of press time [5/6], the clock’s count was 43,814. Below large red numbers representing the “estimated portion U.S. Covid-19 deaths due to POTUS inaction” is an explanation: “In January 2020, the Trump administration was advised that immediate action was required to stop the spread…


Brutal New Ad Thumps Trump For Making ‘America first’ — In COVID-19 Deaths

  By Brad Reed Raw Story (4/28/20) A brutal new advertisement from pro-Democrat super PAC Priorities USA takes President Donald Trump’s slogan of “America first” and throws it right back in his face. “Donald Trump said he would put America first, and now he has,” the ad begins. “The United States leads the world in coronavirus cases. More than 50,000 Americans dead, twice as many deaths as any other country. Over 26 million people have lost their jobs, and it’s only getting worse.” … Read The Rest And 30-Second Video (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2020. Open source…


The President Is Mentally Unwell — And Everyone Around Him Knows It

[Editor’s Note: This article has a link to a 1980 Tom Brokow MSNBC interview with Donald Trump in which Trump is extremely well-spoken. He has a wide range of well pronounced vocabulary, speaks in complete sequential sentences and can answer questions directly and succinctly. Compare what you see here to his current degraded mental state. — Mark L. Taylor] By Eric Levitz New York Intelligencer (1/4/18) Until recently, the debate over our president’s mental health has focused on questions of psychological pathology: Do Donald Trump’s flamboyant narcissism, hedonism, and self-delusions add up to a malignant personality — or a malignant personality disorder?…


Trump Is No Aberration. He’s The Logical Product Of A Bipartisan Failed State

  “Donald Trump’s presidency is not an aberration of U.S. history in substance. His rise to power and the policies he has implemented are, in many ways, the logical product of the U.S. as a failed state, politically and functionally. Trump says the quiet parts about the system out loud, but his agenda is firmly rooted in the bloody history of this republic. And his rise was made possible by the failed two-party system and the corporate dominance of electoral politics in the U.S. Also, let’s not pretend that congressional Democrats have not enabled Trump by regularly voting for his obscene…


Why It Needs To Be Called: Trumpandemic

See The Timeline Of The Murderous Disinformation Trump Spread About The Coronavirus By Tom McCarthy The Guardian (4/14/20) “What a problem. Came out of nowhere.” That’s how Donald Trump described the coronavirus pandemic in early March, during a televised visit to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For weeks he had been giving Americans the same advice: “We have it totally under control”; “USA in great shape!”; and, of course, “Fake news”. But privately, Trump was being warned of a “full-blown Covid-19 pandemic” and “1-2 million” American deaths, according to internal emails, memorandums and other recently unearthed evidence documenting internal deliberations. It…


Want To Understand What Is Going On In America Right Now? Then Understand The ‘Shock Doctrine’

Intercepted: Mehdi Hasan & Naomi Klein Review Mounting Cost Of  Pro-Corporate Coronavirus ‘Shock Doctrine’ Capitalism Intercepted (4/7/20) The Intercept’s Mehdi Hasan speaks with Senior Correspondent Naomi Klein about coronavirus capitalism and the selective use of emergency measures to offload risks onto workers and families, while the people who are relatively more secure get no-strings-attached bailouts. Link To 33-Minute Video (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L.Taylor, 2020. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommonercall.org ) ***** The ‘Shock Doctrine’ Documentary By Naomi Klein The Shock Doctrine is Canadian author and social activist Naomi Klein’s companion piece to…


At A Time Of Venal, Ignorant, Morally Rotted Bipartisan Leadership This Man Is A Hero

Navy Capt. Brett Crozier (US Navy photo) By Abby Zimet Common Dreams (4/3/20) In a sorrowful time when “a true patriot gets fired for doing the right thing,” the Navy captain ousted for blowing the whistle on Navy inaction as coronavirus ravaged his crew walked off his ship Friday to the stirring sound of thousands of sailors chanting, “Cap-tain Cro-zier! Cap-tain Cro-zier!” Navy Capt. Brett Crozier “was wrongfully relieved of command but did right by the sailors,” most sentient beings agree, after he wrote a pained letter leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle urging “decisive action” and warning higher-ups the outbreak could unnecessarily kill scores of sailors aboard the USS…


The Military Knew Years Ago That A Coronavirus Pandemic Was Inevitable & Warned Trump

Current pandemic was long predicted and the warning ignored by Trump administration. By Ken Klippenstein The Nation (4/1/20) Despite President Trump’s repeated assertions that the Covid-19 epidemic was “unforeseen” and “came out of nowhere,” the Pentagon was well aware of not just the threat of a novel influenza, but even anticipated the consequent scarcity of ventilators, face masks, and hospital beds, according to a 2017 Pentagon plan obtained by The Nation. “The most likely and significant threat is a novel respiratory disease, particularly a novel influenza disease,” the military plan states. Covid-19 is a respiratory disease caused by the novel (meaning new to humans) coronavirus. The…


‘Dirty Money’ is back on Netflix—and it’s investigating the FDA, the EPA & Jared Kushner

The second season of the docuseries about business gone bad broadly covers capitalism run amok, and examines the boundaries companies are willing to cross in the name of turning a profit. By Yasmin Gagne Fast Company (3/11/20) In 2006, at the age of 25, Jared Kushner purchased the storied weekly newspaper The New York Observer (now a digital-only publication known as Observer). Over the next few years, he used the media property to elevate his social standing in New York’s elite circles. At the same time, he oversaw his family firm’s disastrous acquisition of the (incredibly named) 666 Fifth Avenue for a record…


No Greater Love Hath Trump Than To Lay Down Your Measly, Trashy Little, Unimportant Life For His Re-Election

  Our fearful leader’s latest gambit is to blame everyone else as he desperately tries to squirm his way to November’s election. By Richard Wolffe The Guardian (3/25/20) Donald Trump isn’t much of a doctor or scientist. He isn’t much of a diplomat or general. His leadership skills match his business skills. There’s a reason his companies went bankrupt so many times. But he might just be a pioneer with this idea of letting people die for the sake of the country. Only a once-in-a-century leader has the guts to say out loud what the worst among us are really thinking: everyone…


Trump Sends Cease, Desist Letter On Ad Featuring One Giant Sound Bite Of HIS Mad Trumpandemic Musings

So, of course you just gotta’ see the ad, right? By Kerry Eleved Daily Kos (3/25/20) Donald Trump is angry. The Democratic Super PAC Priorities USA assembled an ad that features the sound bites of Trump and Trump only, and guess what? Turns out he’s an unhinged maniacal liar who’s gotten everything about the coronavirus wrong. That may not be news to you, but it is apparently news to Trump. And his dangerously factless musings on the coronavirus over the past several weeks have not worn well. So on Wednesday, a Trump campaign attorney released a cease and desist letter demanding that TV stations across the nation pull…


Some Of The Most Egregious Political Lies Of The Twenty-First Century

“By any rational standard, Trump’s comments qualify as either some of the most egregious political lies of the twenty-first century or as yet another indication that he suffers from a personality disorder that allows him to dissociate from reality and disclaim responsibility for any of his actions. Instead, he blames others for any harm to the public, shocks to the stock market, or damage to the wider economy.” — Bill Blum, Unequal Justice: Where Are Impeachment and the 25th Amendment When We Need Them? (Cartoon by Seth L. Taylor, 2020) ***** Trump Decimated After Admitting Keeping Country Closed Is ‘Detrimental to My Election…


REPORT: Trump Shrugged Off Repeated Intelligence Warnings About Threat That Is Now The Trumpandemic

Trump disbanded the White House Security Council Pandemic Task Force in January of 2018. ***** “The system was blinking red,” an intelligence official told The Washington Post, but no one could get Trump to “do anything about it.” By Mary Papenfuss HuffPost (3/20/20) After China reported the outbreak of a new coronavirus in December, U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned the Trump administration in classified messages about the potentially devastating threat, The Washington Post reported Friday. Yet President Donald Trump largely ignored the warnings and delayed action that might have slowed the spread of the COVID-19 disease, according to the newspaper. Intelligence reports warned…



An Optimist’s View About A Pessimistic Crisis: Could The Trump Presidency Be Over?

Donald Trump is shrinking before our eyes. By Peter Wehner The Atlantic (3/13/20) When, in January 2016, I wrote that despite being a lifelong Republican who worked in the previous three GOP administrations, I would never vote for Donald Trump, even though his administration would align much more with my policy views than a Hillary Clinton presidency would, a lot of my Republican friends were befuddled. How could I not vote for a person who checked far more of my policy boxes than his opponent? It has taken a good deal longer than it should have, but Americans have now seen the…


GOP Group Hits Donald Trump With Supercut Of His Offensive, Ridiculous Statements

  By Lee Moran HuffPost (3/7/20) The Lincoln Project — a group of anti-Trump Republicans ― on Friday hit the president with a montage of his most insulting, offensive and ridiculous gaffes. The group — of which prominent Trump critic George Conway is a member — released the supercut that contrasts Trump’s speeches to those of previous presidents in response to a similar GOP attack on Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden over his own gaffes. “Every day is a new chance for Trump to debase himself further and embarrass Americans of all political stripes,” Republican strategist Rick Wilson wrote in…


American Fuhrer: Delusionary, Dictatorial Donald Trump Is Drunk On Power

What is most troubling are the silences of the countervailing forces that Americans have a right to rely on to fight Trump the tyrant. By Ralph Nader Common Dreams (2/29/20) Delusionary, dictatorial Donald Trump is drunk on power. Trump’s monarchical and lawless actions are a clear and present subversion of our Republic and its Constitution. As soon as the impeachment trial ended and Trump was acquitted by the Senate’s supine Republican courtiers (except for Senator Mitt Romney), vengeance flooded Trump’s fevered mind. Ignoring warnings from his advisors, Trump is lashing out in all directions, unleashing torrents of foul-mouthed tweets. Note…


Trump’s 29th Trip To Mar-a-Lago Brings Golf Tab To 334 Years Of Presidential Salary

Trump’s business has charged the Secret Service as much as $650 a room per night at Mar-a-Lago ― more than three times the normal rate that federal employees are supposed to spend in South Florida. By S.V. Date HuffPost (2/14/20) President Donald Trump returned to Mar-a-Lago on Friday evening for the 29th golf-related trip of his presidency to his for-profit Palm Beach, Florida, resort, raising his total taxpayer golf tab to $133.8 million. That figure translates to 334 years of the presidential salary that Trump and his supporters frequently boast he is not taking. During Barack Obama’s presidency, Trump frequently claimed…


Scope Of The Sophisticated ‘Disinformation Campaign’ Backing Up Trump In The 2020 Election

Republicans have created the most extensive online disinformation campaign in U.S. history — one intended to reelect President Trump. [Editor’s Note: This is an extremely important article. Probably the most important article you will read this week. What the Trump campaign has achieved with social media manipulation is nothing compared to what is coming at us, including ‘deep fake’ videos designed to bend fact into fantasy . The impacts will stretch far beyond November 2020, testing and undermining the information base needed for any functioning democracy. — Mark L. Taylor] By May Louise Kelly All Things Considered / NPR (2/7/20)…


Mobster At Work: Vindman Escorted From White House For Telling The Sordid, Tacky Truth

“You can serve honorably or you can serve Trump, but it is impossible to do both.” By Abby Zemet Common Dreams (2/7/20) As threatened in what is likely the start of a vengeful new order, the impeached criminal, pathological liar, five-time draft dodger and vindictive gangster in power just had Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, patriot and National Security Council Ukraine expert who testified about his high crimes in House hearings, physically removed from the White House – thus once again proving, said one sage, “You can serve honorably or you can serve Trump, but it is impossible to do both.” The son of Jewish refugees who came to the…


Russia Monitor: The Inhabitants Of Trump’s Moral Gravity-Free Universe Scramble To Defend Their Master

By Dan Peak The Commoner Call (1/30/20) Dear Fellow Readers, Donald’s Trump’s impeachment trial seems to now turn on whether witnesses will be called to testify, primarily former Trump national security adviser John Bolton. Trump and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell want a speedy vote against the charges, they do not want witnesses, and they most specifically do not want Bolton as a witness. McConnell tells Republican senators he does not yet have the votes yet to block witnesses In a nutshell, a Bolton bombshell based on a draft copy of a book — “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing Of…