Trumpenstan

  By Craig Unger The New Republic (7/13/17) In 1984, a Russian émigré named David Bogatin went shopping for apartments in New York City. The 38-year-old had arrived in America seven years before, with just $3 in his pocket. But for a former pilot in the Soviet Army—his specialty had been shooting down Americans over North Vietnam—he had clearly done quite well for himself. Bogatin wasn’t hunting for a place in Brighton Beach, the Brooklyn enclave known as “Little Odessa” for its large population of immigrants from the Soviet Union. Instead, he was fixated on the glitziest apartment building on…

  By Robert Faturechi, ProPublica & Danielle Ivory, The New York Times, ProPublica (7/11/17) President Trump entered office pledging to cut red tape, and within weeks, he ordered his administration to assemble teams to aggressively scale back government regulations. But the effort — a signature theme in Trump’s populist campaign for the White House — is being conducted in large part out of public view and often by political appointees with deep industry ties and potential conflicts. Most government agencies have declined to disclose information about their deregulation teams. But ProPublica and The New York Times identified 71 appointees, including 28…

Donnie bestows his unique brand to the presidency.   Corroding American Dignity On The Fourth Of July By David Remnick The New Yorker (July 10 & 17 Issue) More than three-quarters of a century after the delegates of the Second Continental Congress voted to quit the Kingdom of Great Britain and declared that “all men are created equal,” Frederick Douglass stepped up to the lectern at Corinthian Hall, in Rochester, New York, and, in an Independence Day address to the Ladies of the Rochester Every day, Trump wakes up and erodes the dignity of the Presidency a little more. He tells…

  By Derek Kravitz, Al Shaw, Annie Waldman & Ariana Tobin ProPublica (6/7/17) ProPublica has been collecting disclosure forms that lay out Trump administration officials’ financial holdings and employment backgrounds. We now have disclosures from 349 officials and we’re sharing them with you. They are from White House staffers, President Trump’s Cabinet and from the hundreds of members of so-called beachhead teams that the administration has installed with little notice at federal agencies. The disclosures are crucial to understanding potential conflicts. Many lobbyists and political consultants now work at the agencies they sought to influence. We’ve also incorporated ethics waivers that the…

A semi-comprehensive list of the business concerns that may influence the president during his time in office. By Jeremy Venook The Atlantic (6/12/17) President Donald Trump still has not taken the necessary steps to distance himself from his businesses while in office. In accordance with a plan that he and one of his lawyers, Sheri Dillon, laid out at a press conference on January 11, Trump has filed paperwork to remove himself from the day-to-day operation of his eponymous organization. However, numerous ethics experts have voiced strenuous objections to the plan, which they say does very little to resolve the…

  By Dan Alexander Forbes (6/6/17) Like autumn leaves, sponsored Cadillacs, Ferraris and Maseratis descend on the Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, New York, in September for the Eric Trump Foundation golf invitational. Year after year, the formula is consistent: 18 holes of perfectly trimmed fairways with a dose of Trumpian tackiness, including Hooters waitresses and cigar spreads, followed by a clubhouse dinner, dates encouraged. The crowd leans toward real estate insiders, family friends and C-list celebrities, such as former baseball slugger Darryl Strawberry and reality housewife (and bankruptcy-fraud felon) Teresa Giudice. The real star of the day…

  By Sofia Lotto Persio Newseek (6/3/17) A Mexican lawyer is planning on helping migrants and make people “feel great again” with the help of his toilet paper brand—Trump. Corporate lawyer Antonio Battaglia was appalled at the language Donald Trump used during his presidential campaign to describe Mexicans. In an email exchange with Newsweek, the lawyer-turned-businessman recalls how he felt when Trump launched his campaign by suggesting Mexicans who came to the U.S. were criminals, drug traffickers and rapists. “I felt the need and obligation of raising my hand against such dangerous nonsense that was putting at risk my country and people,”…

  The Commoner Call (5/26/17) As the star of Comedy Central’s new “The President Show” comedian Anthony Atamanuik morphs into an outrageous version of Donald Trump. During a recent visit to Stephen Colbert’s Late Show, Atamanuik demonstrated the process of becoming Donald Trump. Without the wig, make-up and requisite floor-dragging red tie, the comedian changes before your eyes; flashing in an out of character with an ease that is fascinating. The key, Atamanuik says, is body posture – to always be leaning forward, to always be off balance. One couldn’t imagine a more succinct way to sum up the Trumpian…

  By Sasha Abramsky The Nation (5/19/17) With a cascade of leaks, a war with the FBI, and the announcement of the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations of wrongdoing, Donald Trump’s grotesque presidency now hangs by a thread. By the hour, it seems, the possibility of impeachment, of him being declared incompetent to govern—or, at the very least, of his own party bringing irresistible pressure on him to resign—grows. We have to assume that he will try to manufacture—or exacerbate—international crises as a way of rallying on-the-fencers to his side. And as that pressure grows, so balloons…

  Democracy Now! (8/10/16) David Cay Johnston began covering Donald Trump in the 1980s when he was working as the Atlantic City reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer. Johnston’s new book, “The Making of Donald Trump,” looks at a side of Trump seldom covered in the press: his ties to the mob, drug traffickers and felons. 19-Minute Video

The CommonerCall.org   By Martin Pengelly The Guardian (5/7/17) Eric Trump said three years ago the Trump Organization had “all the funding we need out of Russia” for its golf course projects, according to an author recounting the story of a 2014 meeting with Donald Trump and his son. The author also said Donald Trump “sort of tossed off that he had access to $100m”. The comments prompted widespread interest in the media and online. Two congressional committees and the FBI are investigating alleged ties between Trump campaign aides and Russian agents during the 2016 presidential election. US intelligence agencies…

“How is it Trump seems to care the least for the very folks who voted for him? Not a day passes that he doesn’t betray some of them. “And instead of bombing another country, how about building our own with better bridges, railroads, highways and airports, how about tending to those who need jobs and homes, how about health care that really gets the job done? “Then we might finally achieve the transformative moment when even Donald Trump at last becomes president for real. But don’t hold your breath. It is foolish to expect anything like this from a man-child…

By Andera Germanos Common Dreams (4/21/17) A group of mental health professionals gathered at Yale University Thursday to discuss what they believe is their duty to warn the public of the “danger” posed by President Donald Trump. The “Duty to Warn” event was attended by roughly two dozen people and was organized Dr. Bandy Lee, assistant clinical professor in the Yale Department of Psychiatry, the CTPost writes. Lee called the mental health of the president “the elephant in the room,” and said: “Colleagues are concerned about the repercussions of speaking.” “We do believe that Donald Trump’s mental illness is putting the…

Ka-CHING!! A new website – “Is Trump At Mar-a-Lago”– keeps overstretched taxpayers up-to-date on how much money they are forking over for Trump’s almost weekly runs to his super luxury Florida retreat. While regular Americans are working, taking on extra shifts or an extra job while often struggling to make the rent, trying to pay health insurance premiums for their kids or pinching pennies to pay for gas money to get to work, Melania is sunning herself by the pool while the “Bloviating Orange Child” is playing yet another round of golf (my God, does the man have nothing else…

Donald Trump Hosts The Most Terrific White House Easter Egg Hunt Ever!   (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2017. Open source and free to use with link to www.thecommonercall.org )

  By Ariana Tobin & Derek Kravitz at ProPublica Common Dreams (4/3/17) In a remarkable Friday night news dump, the Trump administration made dozens of White House staffers’ financial disclosure forms available. But they did it with an extra dose of opacity. These are important disclosures from the people who have the president’s ear and shape national policy. They lay out all sorts of details, including information on ownership of stocks, real estate and companies, and make possible conflicts of interest public. But the White House required a separate request for each staffer’s disclosure. And they didn’t give the names of…