Granted, not even a ‘Top 100’ offense for the Former Guy; hell, not even a ‘Top 10’ offense from today’s testimony, but who among us hasn’t thrown their lunch against a wall when upset by something at work?
‘This Was Trump Pulling a Putin’ from Robert Draper in The New York Times Magazine. Littered with jaw-dropping anecdotes and illuminating insights.
Count me a huge Fiona Hill fan.
From the New York Times.
“Richard P. Donoghue, a former top Justice Department official, repeatedly informed Mr. Trump that both his specific and general claims of fraud were false.”
“Instead of accepting Mr. Donoghue’s account, Mr. Trump abruptly switched subjects and asked about ‘double voting’ and ‘dead people’ voting, then moved on to a completely different claim about how, he said, ‘Indians are getting paid’ to vote on Native American reservations.”
From the New York Times, “Accounting Firm Cuts Ties With Trump and Retracts Financial Statements”.
“The firm (Mazars USA). . . disclosed that, while compiling the information for Mr. Trump, it had ‘become aware of departures from accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.'”
Someone shred those documents and flush them down the nearest toilet.
From “How Trump Coins Became an Internet Sensation“.
Some context. Watchdogs have warned that Telegram a Facebook and Twitter-like social media platform exercises far less moderation than its rivals.
“In one post, a fake account for Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican closely aligned with Mr. Trump, shared a fake story on a fake Fox News website about a fake tweet by a fake Elon Musk, falsely claiming that Tesla’s chief executive would soon accept Trump coins as payment.”
Heaven help us.
When told The Former Guy was infected with the ‘rona during one of their debates, President Biden said the one thing a narcissist NEVER wants to hear, “I don’t think about the former president.”
Given his daily “To Do” list, I believe Joe. Everyone else, the January 6th commission and professional historians aside, take note.
In large part, Trump’s 2016 upset of Hillary Clinton was attributed to his personal bravado. His supporters liked how he repeatedly said crass things that paralleled their thinking. Finally, a politician who just shoots from the hip, focus groups and polls be damned.
If there’s any truth to that analysis, how do you explain the contents of this article, “Trump Keeps Rejecting Pleas From Allies for Pro-Vax Campaign”?
Paragraphs to ponder:
“More than 400,000 Americans had died of coronavirus when Trump left office, and the death count has swelled to more than 600,000 since. But as Trump has settled into a post-presidency defined largely by prolonging his anti-democratic crusade and settling scores with Republicans who crossed him, the former president has privately dropped hints about why, exactly, he has been so derelict.
According to two of the sources who have spoken to Trump about this, he has occasionally referenced polling and other indicators—such as what he’s seen on TV—that show how the vaccines are unpopular with many of his supporters. This has left the impression with some of those close to Trump that he doesn’t want to push too hard on the subject, so as to not ‘piss off his base,’ one of the two people said.”
Maybe Trump was never that distinctive of a politician. Or the ‘swamp’ changed him. Add ‘being too busy assessing which way the political winds were blowing to help us get the upper hand on the ‘rona’ to his legacy.
“. . . the former president has not only managed to squelch any dissent within his party but has persuaded most of the G.O.P. to make a gigantic bet: that the surest way to regain power is to embrace his pugilistic style, racial divisiveness and beyond-the-pale conspiracy theories rather than to court the suburban swing voters who cost the party the White House and who might be looking for substantive policies on the pandemic, the economy and other issues.”
Lisa Lerer in the New York Times.
Beth Moore, “one of the most prominent white evangelical women in the United States” is breaking with the Southern Baptist Convention.
In an excellent article, Ruth Graham and explain:
“Moore cites the ‘staggering’ disorientation of seeing its leaders support Mr. Trump, and the cultural and spiritual fallout from that support.
‘There comes a time when you have to say, this is not who I am. I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists.’
Her stature in the movement poses a serious challenge for the Southern Baptist Convention, which has already been embroiled for years in debates not just about Mr. Trump, but about racism, misogyny and the handling of sexual abuse cases. Its membership is in decline.”
Joy Beth Smith, a fan of Moore’s said:
“She has given us permission to leave those broken institutions.”
If you own shares in the Southern Baptist Convention, sell them. The left will rip Moore for taking so long. Not me. I will just celebrate the fact that she has acted so publicly and boldly.
