Making book [Politics]

        *Bob Woodward is coming out with a book about the Trump Presidency and administration. It’s called “Fear:  Trump in the White House”. (I have already preordered the book.) The White House is already in full ‘fake news’ rebuttal mode. The problem for President Trump and the White House is that the book is written by Bob Woodard and Woodward has some excellent bona fides. He also has hundreds of hours of recorded conversations as well as documents President Trump in his recorded-with-permission conversation actually tells Woodward, “You’ve always been fair.” (As it turns out President Trump doesn’t believe the words that come out of his mouth either.)

        *President Trump supporters shouldn’t read this. It will only upset you and you’ll start name calling and that really serves no purpose. Just consider me properly told off already. I’ll have links to the President talking and lying in person and he said that you shouldn’t believe what you see and what you read so you shouldn’t believe him either. President Trump:  “Just remember what you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL65d_O5ChI I know that sounds confusing but there you are. His rules not mine. Technically hearing wasn’t specifically mentioned so perhaps audio is okay. That’s a shame really because we almost had the monkey image trifecta.

        *Now I know that I overuse parenthetical marks but I enjoy them. I could have used them here but chose not to. I also end sentences with prepositions a lot to. It’s just the way that I roll.

        *Anyway, in a call to Bob Woodward Trump claimed that he wasn’t asked to be interviewed for the book. Now keep in mind that he didn’t call until the book was already published. Why then? By his own admission in the recorded conversation he had known about the proposed book for months and that Woodward wanted to talk with him.  So, why in the world would President Trump call Woodward at this juncture AND give permission for the call to be recorded?! Why would he even want to call Woodward and talk with him since he considers the press, media and anyone that might disagree with him enemies of the people? At this point I would qualify as an enemy of the people in Trump world. It’s no wonder that his lawyers don’t want him to testify.

        *You can listen to the audio of his conversation with Woodward that was made with HIS (Trump’s) permission. It is one bizarre conversation and classic Trump. I will suggest listening to the entire conversation before you bother with reading what I have to say. Remember we have a gray area when it comes to listening. I think that’s stretching a point though because—you know…video news without the audio is kind of pointless a lot of the time.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/bob-woodwards-new-book-reveals-a-nervous-breakdown-of-trumps-presidency/2018/09/04/b27a389e-ac60-11e8-a8d7-0f63ab8b1370_story.html?utm_term=.637ee1e4d2c6

Somebody get the popcorn.

        *I have read one of Donald Trump’s books. It is probably his most important work. He “wrote” it in 1987 and it is titled “Trump: The Art of the Deal”. Tony Schwartz, who is listed on the cover, claims that Trump didn’t write any of it. Trump has since claimed that he did write it. The book is quintessential Trump. It’s really a map for how he ran his campaign. I would like to say that he’s the same man now that he was then except he has degraded some with age. Don’t we all?

        *Here’s what I mean by the above. This link is to probably one of my favorite interviews with then just Donald Trump from May of 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg-5KEt1Abg   No, I’m not being sarcastic. He was very much at ease with the reporter from Ireland’s TV3. He does talk about Ireland a lot but he also talks about the United States and some of his plans.

        *(Note:  The log information says May, 2014. The reporter talks about President Obama being reelected in 2016. He was reelected in 2012. Donald Trump says during the interview that he hadn’t decided yet to run for office.)

        *The reason that I like this interview is that he’s comfortable, articulate and is having a conversation where he talks in complete sentences. There’s none of the bombastic staccato sing song speech pattern that he has now. No repetitive jargon. He isn’t insulting people or name calling. He isn’t trying to overturn the First Amendment. He isn’t trying to incite a riot or get anybody punched in the mouth. Just well-delivered talking points. He uses the same grandiose hyperbole, but keep in mind he is selling a business enterprise.

        *In the interview with Ireland’s TV3 he said without hesitation or equivocation that he would release his tax returns if he was to run for President. Period. Obviously that was a lie. Not only did he not release his tax returns but his lawyers are fighting in court to keep his tax returns from being released. I consider this as being the start of his campaign of lies but that is not new to his nature. It is his nature.

        *When President Trump says that we shouldn’t believe what we’re seeing what does he really mean? As one small example Trump was interviewed by Fox News on September 16, 2016. The interview wasn’t shown until November 24, 1916. During the interview Trump was asked about the story of him hitting his music teacher. Trump claimed that the story about him hitting his music teacher is not true and that he hates the story. The story came from his book “Trump: The Art of the Deal”. He wrote it. On page 71 he talked about giving his music teacher a black eye and why he did it. The link is directly below.

https://archive.org/details/FOXNEWSW_20161125_020000_OBJECTified_Donald_Trump/start/180/end/240 (Click on the video at 6:03 pm. The text is below the video.)

        * Did he read his own book? Who should we believe? What should we believe? Should we believe the younger Trump or today’s Trump? Why should we think that the chaos we see every day doesn’t go on all the time?

Back to the real world  

        *Now if you listen to the audio of his talk with Bob Woodward he starts off with saying nobody talked to him about being interviewed for the book. He then acknowledges later in the same interview, when Woodward asks him directly, that Senator Graham did in fact talk with him about Woodward wanting to talk with him.

        *It was kind of fun getting to hear Kellyanne Conway crawfish to the point where she throws herself under the bus. I don’t think that she meant to. It just kind of happened. A woman that has direct access to the President didn’t use her words to tell the President of the United States that Pulitzer Prize winner Bob Woodward wanted to interview him about a book that he was writing about the President. Instead she said that she submitted a request. She also admits that she told Woodward that she would get back with him. Classy.  

        *These people are managing to make Omarosa Manigault Newman look credible and I would not have thought that possible. In her comments she has highlighted a real problem that exists in the Trump White House. She has recordings of conversations. Bob Woodward has recordings of conversations. Both of them separately talked with LOTs of people. All of these people know that recordings could have been made of them having less than complementary conversations about the President or others. That kind of complicates having plausible deniability of saying something when there might be a for real recording of them having said it.

The White House leaks like a sieve.

        *When he was campaigning for the office President Trump said a lot of things. A LOT. He said that he was only going to appoint the best people. So far his turnover has been the highest of any President in the history of not only the United States but of the universe. That is kind of fun to do. I just made that up. Oops! I just did some research and guess what? The turnover rate is the highest of any administration but not the universe. So much for hiring the best people.

        *What we do have is the same story coming out over and over from people that have left the administration and anonymously from those still working there. We have seen resignations and indictments. We have seen guilty pleas. We will see more. That’s the truth of his administration. He appointed these people. They are corrupt. The corruption is systemic.

        *It isn’t “hating” to recognize the reality that we are living in when we not only recognize what is taking place but openly acknowledge it as citizens. We have to acknowledge that we have a President that in not obsessed with running the nation every day but rather obsesses about himself. He holds rallies on a regular basis where he complains about how he is being treated. He attacks the First Amendment on a daily basis even though he swore an oath to uphold of our Constitution.

        *At the recent rally in Montana he claimed that he wasn’t stomping and screaming in the White House like media would have us imagine. First of all I can’t imagine him stomping and taking the risk of inflaming those bone spurs! (BTW I have bone spurs. You get a shot of cortisone in the heel and you’re good to go. It didn’t keep me out of the Army. I avoided the draft by enlisting for a 4 year hitch in 1966.)

        *We have a President with such an inflated ego that he has to announce several times a day that he’s the greatest, not guilty and that anything bad that is said about him is not true.

        *Don’t believe him.

Just following orders [IMMIGRATION]

        Time and time again we have heard the defense that individuals were just “following orders”. Police, soldiers and citizens alike have professed that phrase in defense of questionable actions. As a general rule when someone is using those words it’s in defense of being accused of committing a questionable, insensitive, heartless or evil act.

        Historically we have the capacity for slaughter and genocide. People of this country, with the approval of government, separated husbands, wives, children and families during the days of slavery. After all, at the time they weren’t really considered human; just animals fulfilling the need for cheap labor. The original inhabitants of what are now called the United States of America were decimated during their conquest. There are estimates that 8 to 9 million men, women and children who were native to what we now call America were slaughtered during the process of conquering them. Many tribes were wiped out completely. Eight to nine million people. By the 1900s there were only approximately a quarter million Indians still living.

        Well here we are again. Now, people of color are being separated from their families as a matter of “policy” from the current administration. Guilty only of crossing the border while brown. (Is anybody bothering to track down white Canadian immigrants, assuming there still are any?)

        This is just a rough guess but probably over a third of the country is in agreement with what is taking place if not outright celebrating. The jury is still out as to whether the children who have been separated from their families are being placed in cages or are just behind wire fencing with security. As if that makes a difference. Does it bother people that we already have internment camps? Are military internment camps being prepared in addition to the civilian ones that we already have? Is this only a temporary solution to the PROBLEM of the invasion of brown people? What is the final solution going to be? It will need to be efficient and cost effective. There will be a need for people willing to the job of—whatever it takes.

        Such people are already here. They marched with torches in the streets of Charlottesville. They will fill any need from their ranks and there will be a ready supply of new recruits. They will come from the ranks of the trolls that leave all the “I’m coming to get you” comments on the internet. They are already emboldened and a Commander in Chief that needs their talents and supports their views with his words and actions.

        Why are immigrants/brown people coming here in the first place? Wanting to work? Wanting a chance for a better life? Are they escaping violence? Are they escaping an oppressive government only to land in the hands of another?  They came here because there are employers with millions of jobs waiting for them. Jobs that employers can’t fill for whatever reason. They came here to fill an existing need. There is a market for their talent. They provide cheap labor for that waiting market. They want freedom. They want a chance for the better life that is being offered.

        Prior to where we live now, we had a Hispanic neighbor who was a contractor. He complained that Mexicans (illegals) were constantly underbidding him because they provided cheap labor. When he had his roof replaced can you guess who he hired to do the work? Did you guess illegals? If you did you would be right. BTW they were hard workers.

        President Trump uses cheap immigrant labor. He sees to it that the particular brown people immigrants from shithole countries that he needs have the proper paperwork to serve in his hotels. Well at least we assume he does. Has ICE ever raided one of his businesses?

        Well, the lady in the harbor provides a standing invitation to people. We’re at least proud of the statue. It would be better if we were proud of and supported the ideals that she represents.  

        Men and women are stopping children at the border. What kind of man or woman takes a child away from their parents? Do they consider themselves to be good people? Are they Christian? Would a Christian take a child from a mother’s arms? Is it in their job description? Could you do it or are you only comfortable with others doing it in your stead?

        I have heard and read the argument that it’s the fault of the parents and that this draconian policy of taking a breast feeding baby from a mother’s arms is to be a deterrent. Just exactly how are they supposed to get the message? Through social media? Word of mouth? They’re desperate enough to be traveling with their children. Do they expect monsters to be waiting for them? This is the stuff that nightmares are made of, oh Christian Nation. It’s immoral. It’s ugly. It’s beneath a civilized people.   

        Despots always have their loyal supporters willing to do what it takes.

        How about you? Are you onboard? Which side are you on?