Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Nevada  Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak had some choice words for COVID Donnie in the wake of his superspreader indoor rally Sunday night:

“Tonight, President Donald Trump is taking reckless and selfish actions that are putting countless lives in danger here in Nevada,” he began. “Despite reports from his own White House, despite local officials in Southern & Northern Nevada reiterating to the venues the existing restrictions in State emergency directives, tonight, the President is knowingly packing thousands into an indoor venue to hold a political rally.” [snip]

“To put it bluntly: he didn’t have the guts to make tough choices ― he left that to governors and the states. Now he’s decided he doesn’t have to respect our state’s laws. As usual, he doesn’t believe the rules apply to him,” he wrote.

“This is an insult to every Nevadan who has followed the directives, made sacrifices, and put their neighbors before themselves. It’s also a direct threat to all of the recent progress we’ve made, and could potentially set us back.”  (our emphasis)

David Von Drehle discusses COVID Donnie's delusional claims about bringing jobs back to the auto industry, and concludes with this broadside on the myth of COVID Donnie as a shmart bidnessman:

Trump has led the planet in the production of just one commodity: hot air. Long ago, he reached the point where no major bank would lend him a nickel — except Deutsche Bank, known for the large fines it has paid over accusations of laundering money for Russian billionaires. As Trump himself likes to say, Russia, Russia, Russia.

During his years as a reality television star, Trump was known for saying, “You’re fired.” A more accurate tag line would have echoed a cough syrup ad from the 1980s: I’m not a successful businessman, but I play one on TV. But he’s a billionaire! For that he can thank his daddy. In fact, Trump would be far wealthier today if he had invested his inherited fortune in an index fund and walked away, instead of tossing it down ratholes of his own making. According to the latest estimate from Forbes, the vaunted Trump economy has cost Trump roughly a third of his net worth, leaving him a billion dollars poorer than he was last winter.

Trump’s defenders like to charge those of us in the reality-based community with rooting for failure. But I have high hopes for the economic future of the United States — hopes based on the productive energy of Americans, not the windbag of Pennsylvania Avenue.

Charlotte Alter went on a Cletus safari in Wisconsin and found a common element among many supporters of COVID Donnie who live in the right- wing conspiracy dome -- they're nuttier than a fruitcake:

Kelly Ferro is a busy mom on her way to the post office: leather mini-backpack, brunet topknot, turquoise pedicure with a matching ombré manicure. A hairdresser from Kenosha, Wis., Ferro didn’t vote in 2016 but has since become a strong supporter of Donald Trump. “Why does the news hate the President so much?” she says. “I went down the rabbit hole. I started doing a lot of research.”

When I ask what she means by research, something shifts. Her voice has the same honey tone as before, and her face is as friendly as ever. But there’s an uncanny flash as she says, “This is where I don’t know what I can say, because what’s integrated into our system, it stems deep. And it has to do with really corrupt, evil, dark things that have been hidden from the public. Child sex trafficking is one of them.”  [snip]

In more than seven dozen interviews conducted in Wisconsin in early September, from the suburbs around Milwaukee to the scarred streets of Kenosha in the aftermath of the Jacob Blake shooting, about 1 in 5 voters volunteered ideas that veered into the realm of conspiracy theory, ranging from QAnon to the notion that COVID-19 is a hoax. Two women in Ozaukee County calmly informed me that an evil cabal operates tunnels under the U.S. in order to rape and torture children and drink their blood. A Joe Biden supporter near a Kenosha church told me votes don’t matter, because “the elites” will decide the outcome of the election anyway. A woman on a Kenosha street corner explained that Democrats were planning to bring in U.N. troops before the election to prevent a Trump win.  (our emphasis)

Hoo- boy. Sales of tinfoil must be strong there.  But, the far right disinformation isn't limited to Wisconsin, of course, or to English- speakers.

COVID Donnie's not going to walk away with an award in any "who's the sanest" competition with Joe Biden:

Likely voters believe that Democratic nominee Joe Biden is more mentally sound that President Donald Trump, according to a recently-released Fox News poll.

The survey of likely 1,191 likely voters found that 51% believe that Biden “has the mental soundness to serve as president.”

Only 47% of likely voters told Fox News that President Trump has the “mental soundness” to be commander-in-chief.

That 47% sounds high, and the 51% low, but this is Fox News, so...

Speaking of polls,



Finally, once again, we recommend a visit to Infidel 753's link round- up for a very comprehensive collection of links to interesting blog posts from around the Internet.  Check out his posts, too, or better yet just bookmark him!

QOTD -- It's Just Who They Are

“I voted for him, and he’s the one who’s doing this,” she said of Mr. Trump. “I thought he was going to do good things. He’s not hurting the people he needs to be hurting.” -- Crystal Minton, Trumper and Federal Bureau of Prisons employee in Florida who's not getting paid during the shutdown. Nice to know you care, Crystal.  Thank you for the unfiltered peek inside the head of the typical Trumper. (our emphasis)

Tweets Of The Day -- What I Like About You

Survey says:

The most appealing part of Trump's presidency to most supporters? Approach and personality by a 3-to-1 margin over policies and values. https://t.co/o9QiMLVEF3

— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 23, 2018

Deciphered:

more bluntly, assholes like him because he's an asshole https://t.co/Gk2F3YDStS

— Tom Tomorrow (@tomtomorrow) August 23, 2018

Optional musical accompaniment here.

Stormtrumpers' "Mother Of All Rallies" Births A Dud

Yesterday, supporters of neo- fascist deranged clown Donald "Rump" Trump held a rally on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Dubbed the "Mother Of All Rallies" (M.O.A.R.), the organizers intended a big show of support for their beloved shitgibbon:

In a statement given to CBS News last month, one of the main organizers behind the "Mother of All Rallies," who goes by the monikers "TommyGunn" and "The Pissed off American" – but whose real name appears to be Tommy E. Hodges Jr. – said he'd been inspired to organize the rally by a desire to create a "huge" event for supporters of President Donald Trump. Moreover, the event's Facebook page stated the goal was "to rally 1 million patriots to Washington D.C. to send a shock-wave message to the world that they have to go through us to take this country or change its culture."  (our emphasis)

Unfortunately for "TommyGunn," the rally crowd fell about 999,850 people short of their goal. Perhaps he should re- moniker himself "PopGunn."

Just who comprised this yuuuge crowd of 1,000,000  100,000  10,000,  1,000 150 Stormtrumpers?

While the organizers behind the pro-Trump "Mother of All Rallies" stressed the event was open to "all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, age, or political affiliation," many reporters covering the rally reported seeing members of white nationalist groups. Among the allegedly white nationalist groups documented at the "Mother of All Rallies" was the Indiana-based American Guard, which sprung from a U.S. chapter of Soldiers of Odin, an anti-immigrant and anti-refugee group, in 2016.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, there was another rally going on:

Across the National Mall, a separate and unrelated protest organized by fans of the hip-hop duo Insane Clown Posse, who call themselves Juggalos, appeared to outnumber attendees at the "Mother of All Rallies."

That's right: in the head- to- head matchup between groups, the Insane Clown Posse attracted more followers than the insane clown. Sad!

BONUS: Here's a visual --

They call today's pro-Trump the Mother of All Rallies (#MOAR). Here's how the crowd right now, almost 4hrs in, compares to the Women's March pic.twitter.com/lWkHvY3Oa4

— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) September 16, 2017

(Photo: screenshot of MOAR rally in Washington, D.C., September 16/ Jahi Chikwendiu, Washington Post)

Morning Reading - "Blank Sucking Nullity"

We've been seeing quotes from this piece by David Roth here and there, so we went to take a look. The whole essay, "The President of Blank Sucking Nullity," is a sharply written analysis, not only of Donald "Rump" Trump, but of the boot- lickers around him and the army of nitwits supporting him. While this paragraph about Rump supporters struck us as particularly on point, do yourself a favor and look at the whole read:

To understand Trump is also to understand his appeal as an aspirational brand to the worst people in the United States. What his intransigent admirers like most about him—the thing they aspire to, in their online cosplay sessions and their desperately thirsty performances for a media they loathe and to which they are so helplessly addicted—is his freedom to be unconcerned with anything but himself. This is not because he is rich or brave or astute; it’s because he is an asshole, and so authentically unconcerned. The howling and unreflective void at his core will keep him lonely and stupid until the moment a sufficient number of his vital organs finally resign in disgrace, but it liberates him to devote every bit of his being to his pursuit of himself. Actual hate and actual love, as other people feel them, are too complicated to fit into this world. In their place, for Trump and for the people who see in him a way of being that they are too busy or burdened or humane to pursue, are the versions that exist in a lower orbit, around the self. Instead of hate, there is simple resentment—abject and valueless and recursively self-pitying; instead of love, there is the blank sucking nullity of vanity and appetite.

We saw those thoughtless, howling yahoos reacting to Rump's unhinged babbling in Phoenix this week. It once again reminded us that of all the things that motivate these nihilist slugs, high on their list is their desire to let you know they don't give a damn about you or anyone else not like them. We saw it all during the primaries and the election, in the abstract and in the literal:



Well, guess what? We're just as tired of seeing, reading and hearing about these Rump- kissing morons. As Roth says, they're simply "aspirational Trumps" who share the same "howling and unreflective void" at their core that he does. Every society in the world has them in roughly the same proportion as we do, the unfortunate part for us being that they elected their avatar "president." If they ever had a sense of the duties and responsibilities of citizenship (which we doubt), it's long since been forgotten.

BONUS: Charles Pierce has also run out of f*cks to give about Rump supporters.

BONUS II: Not surprisingly and in fitting with their character, Rump's people think they're the oppressed ones.

(Photo: two of the worst people in the United States)

Eating Finger Chili And More

Here's last night's Saturday Night Live cold opening clip on the loyal supporters of neo- fascist dimwit Donald "Rump" Trump, with a bonus clip of Rump with his alter ego, Fox "News'" Bill O'Reilly:

Olbermann To Trump Supporters: "Prepare Yourselves"

Keith Olbermann has something to say to supporters of neo- fascist Putin poodle Donald "Rump" Trump, and it might not be what you think it is:

Today's Infographic: Alt-Reality

Via Democratic Underground, selected results from a new poll by Public Policy Polling (click on graphic to enlarge):



To the corporate and right- wing media:  job well done!

Be Resolute And Resist!

Charles Blow reacts to neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's being named Time magazine's "Person of the Year," and the ease with which demagogues can distract and obscure as Rump forms his administration around plutocrats and military brass:

I feel like America is being flashed by a giant neuralyzer, à la “Men In Black.” We are in danger of forgetting what has happened and losing sight, in the fog of confusion and concealment, of the profundity of the menace taking shape right before us. 

That is our challenge: To see clearly what this deceiver wants to obscure; to be resolute about that to which he wants us to be resigned; to understand that Time’s man of the year is, by words and deeds, more of a madman of the year.

It's important to be resolute in opposition, because as E.J. Dionne, Jr., writes --

For the next two and probably four years, a majority of Americans will be governed by politicians largely elected by a minority of us. With the country already sharply divided, this is a problem that can no longer be politely ignored. Worse still, a government put in place by the peculiar workings of an outdated system is threatening to pursue quite radical policies destined to arouse considerable resistance from the disempowered majority. 

Never, never forget that the shitgibbon and his toxic white nationalist movement were rejected by over 54 percent of American voters.  As Dionne says, we're the disempowered majority. Rump, his white nationalist morons, and Congressional Republicans will try to "govern" as an extremist minority that will seek to stifle dissent and intimidate opposition (see here and here for recent examples). The next 4 years are going to test many of us in our resolution to stand up for the values of tolerance, inclusion and equality that have been under siege by Republicans for decades.

Don't look for many allies in the corporate media.  Don't expect elected "let's compromise" Democrats to realize the enormous stakes and suddenly grow a spine.  For better or worse, this is likely to be a battle initially engaged at the grassroots level (and, btw, here are some good warriors that could use your help now more than ever!).  We're already seeing battle lines being drawn around Obamacare/ Medicare/ Medicaid, women's health, global climate change and voter suppression. We gain nothing by playing on Republicans' terms, only to have everything we've stood for disassembled by a gang of cutthroat Social Darwinists and white nationalist authoritarians.

These are not "normal" times, and we're not dealing with politics- as- usual.  Let's stay sharp and keep our eyes on the ball.

BONUS:  Did we say "never, never forget"? --

See, when you're making the point that Trump won despite his flaws, that's a good place to note the popular vote. pic.twitter.com/C2MVmpjFRr

— Schooley (@Rschooley) December 8, 2016

Afternoon Reading - "There's No Such Thing As A Good Trump Voter"

We're rather tired already of the corporate media's fetish -- extensive throughout the campaign, but still obnoxiously arising this morning in such places as the once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle  -- for chin- strokers about "The Trump Voter" and their "economic anxiety" and sense of (white) loss. Jamelle Bouie tells us what we need to hear amidst all this normalizing of the abnormal: "There's No Such Thing As A Good Trump Voter."

Whether Trump’s election reveals an “inherent malice” in his voters is irrelevant. What is relevant are the practical outcomes of a Trump presidency. Trump campaigned on state repression of disfavored minorities. He gives every sign that he plans to deliver that repression. This will mean disadvantage, immiseration, and violence for real people, people whose “inner pain and fear” were not reckoned worthy of many-thousand-word magazine feature stories. If you voted for Trump, you voted for this, regardless of what you believe about the groups in question. That you have black friends or Latino colleagues, that you think yourself to be tolerant and decent, doesn’t change the fact that you voted for racist policy that may affect, change, or harm their lives. And on that score, your frustration at being labeled a racist doesn’t justify or mitigate the moral weight of your political choice. 

In the same way that the election-year demand for empathy toward Trump supporters obscured the consequences of Trump’s support for his targets, this demand for empathy does the same. It’s worse, in fact. In the wake of Trump’s win, the United States was hit with a wave of racist threats, agitation, harassment, and violence, following a year in which hate crimes against Muslim Americans and others reached historic highs. With Trump in office, millions of Americans face the prospect of a federal government that is hostile to their presence in this country, and which views them as an intrusion, even if they are citizens. Even if they’ve lived their entire lives as Americans. 

To face those facts and then demand empathy for the people who made them a reality—who backed racist demagoguery, whatever their reasons—is to declare Trump’s victims less worthy of attention than his enablers. To insist Trump’s backers are good people is to treat their inner lives with more weight than the actual lives on the line under a Trump administration. At best, it’s myopic and solipsistic. At worst, it’s morally grotesque.  (our emphasis)

In Bouie's piece he notes a comment from the reptilian Chris "Lizard" Cillizza to the extent that (hot take alert!) we shouldn't treat all the shitgibbon's supporters as racists, misogynists, etc.  But, as Bouie says, the choice they made in voting for a racist, misogynist, etc., makes it "morally grotesque" to empathize with them.

Rest assured, we won't be giving out any cookies to these slugs, nor should anyone else.  In the meantime, as Bouie suggests, how about a little less attention to the Stormtrumpers and a little more to the current (a running compilation here) and future victims of the shitgibbon's white nationalism?

(Photo:  One of the more G-rated photos of good 'murrican Stormtrumpers - heil!)

Trump's "Campaign Of Destabilization"

(click on image to enlarge)

(Darrin Bell, via gocomics.com)

As we've noted below and here, the evermore destructive shampaign of neo- fascist demagogue and venomous charlatan Donald "Rump" Trump has recently taken a more sinister turn (if that was possible), in constructing an elaborate "conspiracy" to explain Rump's troubles and the looming disaster at the polls for Republicans.  The Washington Post warns about the ramifications of this in an editorial this morning.  Here are a few highlights (but please read it all at the link):

... Follow the logic here, if you can: The country is under the control of a conspiracy, involving not just his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, and the media, but also the entire political “establishment,” Republicans included, in league with unnamed international banks, whose goal is to enrich themselves by controlling “the central base of world political power . . . right here in America” and imposing “radical globalization and the disenfranchisement of working people.” Mr. Trump, and the “movement” he heads, are all that stand in the way of this evil cabal. This election, therefore, is no ordinary political contest but “a crossroads in the history of our civilization that will determine whether or not we the people reclaim control over our government.” Ergo, the cabal will destroy Mr. Trump by “slander” — unless the people stand up and resist “a small handful of global special interests rigging the system.” 

This language — which he read from a prepared text fed into a teleprompter — is inflammatory beyond any demagoguery Mr. Trump had offered previously. Coupled with his repeated warnings, echoed by his followers, that the Democrats may be cooking up Election Day fraud, the speech seems to prepare the ground for resistance in the increasingly likely event that things don’t go his way Nov. 8. Indeed, anyone who agrees that the alternative to a Trump victory is civilizational disaster, the fruit of a “sinister deal,” as Mr. Trump put it in another Florida speech, would feel obligated to deny the legitimacy of a Clinton victory, should it occur. Trump-for-President is not a campaign to redeem American democracy or even to “take it back,” as Mr. Trump puts it; it has morphed into a campaign of destabilization.  (our emphasis)

The Post then admonishes Republican politicians --

They should at least find the decency, and the patriotism, to declare that everyone must respect the results on Nov. 8 — and pursue any protests or disputes through legal channels, not in the streets. Even if Republicans can’t bring themselves to part ways politically with Mr. Trump, they can refuse to cooperate in the trashing of our public discourse and essential civic traditions. Surely that is not too much to ask.  

It's just over 3 weeks to the election, and we think it's way too much to expect of the craven, amoral, party- over- country Republicans to even commit this one act of good citizenship.  Why?  Because all they'll have left in their  arsenal in the smoking ruins of the election will be more rear guard delegitimatizing of another Democratic president. More obstruction, more outrageous apocalyptic politics. Want proof? Here's sleazy coward Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan yesterday in Wisconsin urging a vote for Rump:

“If we do not act, we will not just lose our quality of life, our standard of living — we will lose the spirit that makes America exceptional in the first place,” Ryan said. “If Hillary Clinton wins and she is given control of Washington, if she is given control of Congress, it will not be long before we come to that precipice.”

That doesn't sound to us like someone willing to accept the results of the election and work constructively with the winner.

Finally, the Boston Globe gives us just one recent example of how this destabilizing message is being internalized by Rump's loyal goons supporters:

At a time when trust in government is at a low point, Trump is actively stoking fears that a core tenet of American democracy is also in peril: that you can trust what happens at the ballot box. 

His supporters here said they plan to go to their local precincts to look for illegal immigrants who may attempt to vote. They are worried that Democrats will load up buses of minorities and take them to vote several times in different areas of the city. 

They’ve heard rumors that boxes of Clinton votes are already waiting somewhere.
And if Trump doesn’t win, some are even openly talking about violent rebellion and assassination, as fantastical and unhinged as that may seem.  (our emphasis)

Reading the frankly treasonous comments that follow are, while no longer surprising to us, still shocking in their brutality and lawlessness.  Please go read and see for yourself (hazmat suit may be required).

The only way we see for an outcome like this to be ameliorated in any way is for this to be an electoral landslide of such historic proportions that questions of legitimacy are swept away for all but the most deluded.  Every vote counts, more than ever.

Armed And Dangerously Stupid

These are neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump supporters Cletus and Zeke Aaron Wissinger and Daniel Parks outside the campaign office of Democrat Jane Dittmar, who's running for Congress from Virginia's 5th District:

They seem nice.

Why were they there and why does this matter?  Wait, there are words coming out of Cletus' Daniel's mouth:

"I'm just trying to provide a voice for someone who might be closet supporters of Trump. Other people that are a little worried to speak out because of possible persecution," he said. 

Parks and another Trump supporter who later joined him outside the campaign of the campaign office Democrat Jane Dittmar's office in Palmyra, Virginia, were openly carrying guns, Su Wolff, a volunteer for Dittmar, told Newsplex. 

"He turned sideways to be sure that we would see that he has an open carry gun, which is legal, it’s fine, but it's intimidating," she said of one protester. "If he wants to support his candidate that's fine, but don't come here and stare into the office all day." 

Parks told Newsplex that he was not a threat and that he was carrying a gun legally. 

"We're not a threat to anybody, the only threat is ignorance, and ignorance will breed fear," he said.  (our emphasis)

"[A]nd ignorance will breed fear," he says, right after saying he's fearful about "persecution."  Out of the mouth of babes boobs.

As far a being persecuted Trump supporters... WTF?  They're not in Clinton Country down there. Also, they were the only ones packing penis compensators. Maybe these ignoramuses have been listening to the fillings in their teeth a little too much lately, hearing an NRA call to arms. Or maybe they're just taking seriously what Trump and his surrogates have been saying about their civilization coming to an end and they're just practicin' for election day intimidation. Or maybe they just wanted to get on the local tee-vee strutting their manhoods pistolas.

Unfortunately, this is what we have to look forward to in the weeks leading up to and through the election.  (Musical accompaniment )

Deplorable Is As Deplorable Does, Cont'd.

Let's meet a delightful couple from Lawrenceburg, Georgia: Jimmy (of course) and Dami (ditto) Arno. They are supporters of neo-fascist bigot Donald "Rump" Trump who think (and perhaps hope) that if Hillary Clinton is elected, a civil war will break out. Here's "patriot" Jimmy, who's considering joining a militia:

“Should martial law, civil war — whatever — break out in this country, they will uphold the Constitution and rebuild our loss. The war that’s going to break out if Hillary Clinton’s elected, if that happens. Your patriots are going to overthrow the government.” (emphasis added)

We'd bet our homes that Jimmy's never read the Constitution (OK, maybe the comic book version), so he wouldn't be familiar with its definition of "treason*." It's worth noting that, until recently, Jimmy flew a Confederate flag in his front yard, his wife spoke out against Black Lives Matter at a local high school, and they have a portrait of Gen. Robert E. Lee in their living room. Oh, and who does Jimmy blame for the increase in racial tensions? Why that racist usurping Kenyan Muslim Barack Obama! We suppose because he brought all of the racists (like Jimmy) out of the woodwork when he was elected.

Deplorable.
________
*"Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort." Article III, Section 3, U.S. Constitution

Today's Tomorrow Cartoon - Did You Say Something?

(click on image to enlarge)


(Tom Tomorrow, via Daily Kos)

Even with some in the media belatedly beginning to call a liar a liar, and with more and more editorials warning of the existential danger of a neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump presidency, a disturbingly large segment of the population, both Rump supporters and nominal "undecideds" don't seem to be heeding the blaring horns and flashing lights.  Here's why:  These people are "the Republican base," and it's come home for Rump.  In fact very few of these people seem to care if the demagogue lies, or bashes women, the disabled, Muslims, Hispanic and African Americans, etc. They actually thrill to it and seem to want more threats and violence from their weasel-headed hero. That Rump is in this position is, as Charles Pierce ably put it, a reflection of our poor citizenship:

For the balance of this election cycle, and largely due to the presence in it of this ridiculous man and his ridiculous campaign, the American people have proven themselves profoundly unworthy of being called citizens. [snip] 

[On the latest scandal] This likely will occasion another spasm of impotent introspection on the part of our elite political media on the topic of, "Why doesn't any of this stick?" But few of the members of that media will dare to look at the real answer, which is that there is a substantial constituency for what Trump has been peddling and that the elite political media has been pandering to that constituency every day since Trump became a genuine phenomenon. The racism is offensive and the economic insecurity is a dodge. Americans are bored with their democracy and they don't have the democratic energy to do anything about it, so they'll settle for an entertaining quasi-strongman. When they decline, democracies get the dictators they deserve. A country mired in apathy and lassitude gets a dictator who can't even put in the hard work of becoming very good at it. (our emphasis)

Guess What Muslim Countries These Terrorists Came From

These stories are all from the last month.

From Raw Story:

A Houston man was arraigned Monday afternoon after FBI agents took him into custody when he showed up to retrieve what he believed was a package of explosives he planned to use for a terrorist bombing.

Guesses as to what Muslim country this terrorist emigrated from?

Cary Lee Ogborn, 50, was taken into on Friday after picking up the package believing he had purchased enough explosives to bring down a building, reports KHOU. [snip] 

Investigators stated Ogborn tried to order the explosive materials online from an illegal weapons marketplace via an encrypted network which disguised his IP address. Unaware that his online contact was an FBI agent, Ogborn stated in a private message that he planned to use the explosives to blow up a building. 

O.K., O.K., he seems to be a Real 'murican.  Ooh! How about this immigrant terrorist:

Police arrested an Augusta [Maine] man who they said had a history of violent crimes and who also identifies as a member of a white supremacy group. 

Jacob Hastings, 27, was wanted by the Department of Corrections and had made comments about killing police officers if they would attempt to arrest him, Deputy Chief of Police Timothy DeLuca said in a news release. DeLuca said Hastings is a member of the Aryan Nation.

Hmm, another Real 'murican. (Well, maybe he emigrated from New Hampshire!)

Let's try somewhere else.  You heard about those stabbings in Minnesota?  How about these two; they had to be Muslim immigrants:

In Washington, a 32-year-old white man, described by local authorities as a likely white supremacist, attacked an interracial couple he witnessed engaged in a kiss. 

Daniel Rowe stabbed a black man in Olympia, the capital of Washington state, outside of a bar at around 8:30pm after seeing the black man kiss a white woman. The 47-year-old black man and his white girlfriend, who is 35, had left the bar when Rowe approached them with a “weird” smile, according to a probable cause statement filed in court. Without warning, Rowe then yelled a racial slur and lunged with his knife, police say. The blade grazed the woman and went into the man’s hip, according to a news release from Olympia police. [snip] 

“He tells them, ‘Yeah, I stabbed them. I’m a white supremacist,’” said Lt. Paul Lower, a police department spokesman. “He begins talking about Donald Trump rallies and attacking people at the Black Lives Matter protest.” [snip]

[T]here was the curious case of the face-eating Florida man who killed two people while wearing signature Trump campaign paraphernalia this week. 

According to a newly released 911 call placed by Austin Harrouff’s mother, the 19-year-old who allegedly killed John Stevens II, 59, and his 53-year-old wife, Michelle Mischon, 53, outside their Jupiter, Florida, home before biting pieces of flesh off one of the victim’s face Monday evening was wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat. 

During the call, Mina Harrouff said her son, a Florida State student and fraternity member, was last seen wearing white shorts, a blue polo and a red “Make America Great Again” hat made famous by Trump.  (our emphasis)

Well, the lesson here seems to be that if you're a plain face- eating nut/ white nationalist/ Donald "Rump" Trump supporting right- wing terrorist, you don't get any exposure in the media, while those Muslim immigrants from not-Syria are getting all the ink, taking jobs making mayhem Real 'muricans can do, day after day.  How fair is that?!

Clinton Goes After Trump, "Alt-Right" (UPDATED)

Timed to coincide with Hillary Clinton's speech in Reno, NV, this afternoon, her campaign released their latest video on neo- fascist toddler Donald "Rump" Trump's ties with white supremacist "alt- right" hate groups:



In her speech, Clinton quoted an old Spanish proverb: “Tell me with whom you walk, and I will tell you who you are,"  then added,  "A few words on a teleprompter won’t change that.”  It appears, thanks to his narcissism and need for exposure, most Americans are well aware of Donald "Rump" Trump's ugly views, and they don't like him one bit.

BONUS:  Here's more on the connection with these bottom feeders from Crooks and Liars.

UPDATE:  Judd Legum notices the deafening silence of "establishment" Republicans who didn't come to Rump's defense.  Sad!

Ann Coulter: "'In Trump We Trust'... Wait What?"

As we note below, neo- fascist existential danger Donald "Rump" Trump is in the process of another unsuccessful, cosmetic "pivot," attempting to convince the "mainstream media," squishy Republicans and right- leaners that it's safe to vote for him ("Despite everything you've seen with your lying eyes, I'm not a bigot, believe me!").  They say timing is everything and, sadly, one of his truest believers, raging racist loon (M)Ann Coulter (she of the inexplicable Adam's apple), got clocked in the process. That's because last night Coulter was launching her new crackpot  book screed entitled "In Trump We Trust" (replacing "God" with "Trump" you've noticed) just as Rump decided to start tinkering with the one life- or- death issue nearest to Coulter's heart (?):  kicking those brown- skinned people out of her U. S. of A.!  Fast track to the remainder bin!

Huff Po has collected some of the schadenfreude- oozing Tweets:

.@AnnCoulter now denouncing @realDonaldTrump during promo tour for her book 'In Trump We Trust'. Is it possible to OD on schadenfreude???

— Above The Lawrance (@davidlawrance) August 25, 2016

@frankthorp @AnnCoulter what else can she say? He pulled the rug out from her the day of launch party 4 her new book...it's hilarious

— Gregory Guy (@gkgguy) August 25, 2016

Would @AnnCoulter become the first person to have a book-burning party of her own book at her own launch? https://t.co/OiyoBGzdvw

— Marcus Hawkins (@HawkinsUSA) August 25, 2016

And,

ANN COULTER on @hardball: "This could be the shortest book tour ever" if Trump's really softening on immigration.

— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) August 23, 2016

BONUS:  Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog says she'll stick with Rump -- she still has a book to sell, dammit!

(Photo:  "My Trump, why hath thou forsaken me?")

Today's Cartoon Twofer - Trump's Sad! Outreach

(click on images to enlarge)



(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)



(Darrin Bell, via gocomics.com)

For Stormtrumpers hitherto willing to overlook neo- fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump "shooting someone in the middle of 5th Avenue," his sudden concern for African Americans and especially the behind- in- the- polls "softening" of his racist, xenophobic immigration stand may cause some of the most  fervent  nutty alt- righters to start bailing on his scampaign, like this attention ho' (more on her later).  For other suckers, his continuing promise to "build the wall" will be just enough for most of them to stay aboard the garbage scow S.S. Trump, mostly because they've become invested in his schtick.  In a sense, you could say they're all participants in Trump University Extension.  As we and others have noted, all of this is not so much to gain minority support as it is to provide a veil of decency for wavering Republicans to vote for a bigot.

BONUS:  Here's Univision/ Fusion's Jorge Ramos calling out the media on Rump:

It doesn’t matter who you are—a journalist, a politician or a voter—we’ll all be judged by how we responded to Donald Trump. Like it or not, this election is a plebiscite on the most divisive, polarizing and disrupting figure in American politics in decades. And neutrality is not an option.

Looks like he's not buying what Rump is selling.

The Art Of The Steal: Trump Grifts His Own Donors (UPDATED)

Couldn't happen to a more worthy bunch of fat cats and mouth- breathers:

After bragging for a year about how cheaply he was running his campaign, Donald Trump is spending more freely now that other people are contributing ― particularly when the beneficiary is himself. 

Trump nearly quintupled the monthly rent his presidential campaign pays for its headquarters at Trump Tower to $169,758 in July, when he was raising funds from donors, compared with March, when he was self-funding his campaign, according to a Huffington Post review of Federal Election Commission filings. The rent jumped even though he was paying fewer staff in July than he did in March.

Trump has paid his eponymous golf courses and restaurants more than $260,000 since his campaign and the RNC struck a joint fundraising deal in mid-May, after he essentially locked up the GOP nomination. On May 18, the day the fundraising deal was announced, Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach was paid $29,715; Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, was paid $35,845; and Trump Restaurants LLC was paid $125,080, according to FEC records. Such large payments were much rarer when Trump was self-funding.  (our emphasis)

Let's hope these dumbasses continue to fund the "campaign" of neo- fascist con artist Donald "Rump" Trump, lining his pockets with "deals" like this one.

UPDATE:  Meanwhile, do you think Rump is sharing any of his "campaign" contributions with Republicans down ballot?  (Spoiler alert: hahahahaha)

Quote Of The Day - High Anxiety

"... I have a hard time empathizing with people who are nakedly racist, misogynistic, homophobic and xenophobic (which so many Trump supporters are). And I would also say that my empathy begins and ends with this: I vote for and support leadership and policies I know will benefit these assholes…even if they don’t know it. I feel that’s where my obligation to these people ends."  -- Beth Spencer at Lawyers, Guns and Money, expressing our feelings exactly.  She also links to a good read by Lance Mannion on the Donald "Rump" Trump voter and one of the cretin media's favorite false narratives:  that it's the po' down- and- out "economically anxious," displaced (white) workers who are Rump's base. Bullshit. That's not who the vast majority of them are, and they're not to be patronized or commiserated with.