Friday, September 30, 2016

Implosion

For 16 months we have all wondered, when will it end?  Lies have grown.  Trump's pivot to 1950s America, has made racism fashionable again.  As he oozes bad taste and inherited wealth, he is a self proclaimed working man's hero.

Today may be the day.  Multiple Trump misdeeds are competing for air time.  His foundation illegally accepted contributions, because it was not registered in New York.  As a corollary it failed to file required annual reports.  His starchy pro Cuban embargo stance is fatally softened by his own violations.  He illegally financed a trip by consultants to explore the possibility of  a Trump Casino in Havana.  He may get taken to the cleaners in must win Florida.

His always warm and fuzzy children, are concerned the direction of the campaign may hurt the Trump business that they are poised to inherit.  Money is thicker than blood.  Don't mess with our billions, Daddy.

For the first time in its history USA Today entered the fray.  Without endorsing an alternative, the editorial board concluded that Trump is unacceptable.  Never before has a major party candidate failed to garner a single endorsement from a big city paper.  Another black mark for Trump.

The LA Times reported, that in sworn testimony, Trump managers and employees declared that Trump wanted to fire overweight female employees, at his golf course club house.  They had to hide the heavy set from The Donald.  As a corollary, testimony confirms that he used an attractive employee as a prop to impress his male guests.

The LA Times story dovetails nicely with the Alicia Machado story that Trump has triple downed on.  His attack on the Clinton's as sleazy, sounds odd, as he tweets about sex tapes in the early morning hours.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Not So Rosie

Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway specializes in pairing women voters with unlikely Republican suitors.  She knew it was a tough night when she heard her candidate pull Rosie O'Donnell out of the ether.  That Rosie deserved it, was not a stirring defense to comparing women to various domestic and barnyard animals.

Conway's horrors continued.  After spending the night sniffling, snorting, yelling and interrupting,  Trump's effusive praise of his own temperament provoked uncontrollable laughter, from an audience admonished to show no reactions.  Hillary, always in control, merely smiled.  In fact she smiled through most of the last hour of the debate, watching her opponent flounder.

The coup de gras was Trump, under attack for his prior sexist statements that Hillary did not look presidential, pivoting to the only slightly less misogynistic claim, that she lacked stamina.  The statement was juxtaposed with Trump's tank running out of gas.  His national security rants were rambling, babbling brooks of incoherence.  He had neither the emotional, physical nor intellectual stamina to go ninety minutes with Hillary.

Kellyanne rushed to the spin room to attempt to repair the irreparable.

Saturday, September 24, 2016

Change

Pundits mouth the mantra:  This is a change election.  Lost in the mystic mumbling is the change still in the tank of the Obama/Clinton agenda.  Obama inherited a capsized kayak of state.  He had to flip it over before he could move it forward.  Rowing against a strong Republican current has been slow and hard.

Hillary is best suited to make a progressive push forward.  Change is legislation passed, regulations implemented, modified or eliminated.  As a successful Senator and a policy wonk she has the chops to get us to the left bank.

But, particularly for millennials, the most important change, is climate change.  When we boomers are six feet underground, they may be six feet under water.  Trump is a climate denier.  Gary Johnson is a policy denier.  Libertarians want to let the market decide.  You may not like big oil's decisions.  The Green Party, bless their hearts, spent two hours at their convention on breathing exercises.  If you care about breathing clean air, drinking pure water, and tackling global warming, join every major environmental group in supporting Hillary.

Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Blind Trust

Hillary Clinton has been forced to agree, that if elected, her entire family would have no interaction with the Clinton Foundation.  The premise is that people who donate to help millions fight aides and malaria, might be given favorable treatment during a Clinton administration, even though the Clintons receive no financial benefit.

Trump obviously benefits directly from his businesses.  Although his refusal to release his tax returns has shrouded his business interests, no one doubts extensive foreign ties, as well as foreign made ties.  He is believed to have loans from German and Chinese banks as well as investments from Russian Oligarchs.  He manufacturers products overseas, and has projects in other countries.  Unlike the Clinton Foundation, his businesses pose a direct conflict of interest.  If Hillary cannot have Bill and Chelsea run the foundation, how has Trump been allowed to skate with his proposal to turn over running the business to his children?

Where is the outrage?  Calls for a blind trust must be strident and continuous.


Friday, September 9, 2016

Quote of the Day from Political Wire

Quote of the Day

“Other than destroying every instrument of democracy in his own country, having opposition people killed, dismembering neighbors through military force and being the benefactor of the butcher of Damascus, he’s a good guy. This calculation by Trump unnerves me to my core.”
— Sen. Lindsey Graham, quoted by Politico, on Donald Trump’s embrace of Russian President Vladimir Putin.