Personally, I've been ignoring the ongoing media firestorm about Trump's remarks on the four Democratic congresswomen (seriously, for how many days is the news media going to spend so much time analyzing and re-analyzing one of Trump's asshole statements? Any normal person knows it was wrong and the media frenzy is just feeding into what Trump loves, a fight. And what real news is shortchanged because of that?).
But this is too disturbing not to post, if you know any history. I'm curious - when does Trump roll out the Nazi-style flags?
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/ ... 34426.html
...US President Donald Trump stepped up attacks against four Democratic Congresswomen of colour, including Somali-born Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, at his first campaign rally since announcing his 2020 re-election bid.
Trump termed the four legislators as un-American at the gathering in Greenville, North Carolina, on Wednesday and said they should leave the United States if they did not like his policies on issues such as immigration and defence of Israel.
"Tonight I have a suggestion for the hate-filled extremists who are constantly trying to tear our country down. They never have anything good to say. That's why I say: 'Hey, if they don't like it, let them leave. Let them leave'," he said to a roaring crowd.
...Taking aim at Omar, he said: "She looks down with contempt on hard-working Americans saying ignorance is pervasive in many parts of this country."
The crowds, decked out in the colours of the US flag and "Make America Great Again" caps, responded with the chant - "Send her back! Send her back!".
"The way they speak so badly of our country," Trump continued. "They want to demolish our constitution. Eliminate the values that built this magnificent country."...
And Trump stood there and enjoyed the chants.
btw, I think Biden had the best comment on Trump. Trump claimed he doesn't have a racist bone in his body. Biden quipped that must mean he has no bones.
https://thehill.com/policy/national-sec ... -on-russia
The Trump administration has not imposed a second round of sanctions on Russia over the poisoning of an ex-Russian spy in Britain more than eight months after telling Congress that Moscow had triggered them.
State Department officials have repeatedly insisted the United States intends to impose new sanctions, which are required under a law passed by Congress in 1991 on eliminating chemical and biological weapons.
But several months have passed without news, and members of Congress say they have heard little from the administration on the topic.
A former government official familiar with the matter told The Hill that the State and Treasury departments finalized a proposed sanctions package by March at the latest, but "... senior folks in the administration haven’t made the decision or given the green light to roll them out,” the former official said....
And this reminds me irresistibly of a bumper sticker "Is it a coincidence that the term for a large group of baboons is a congress?"
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4533 ... rom-record
Republicans on Tuesday demanded that Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-Calif.) remarks blasting President Trump’s comments about four minority congresswomen as racist be removed from the record, freezing action on the floor ahead of a House vote condemning Trump...
Earlier, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) in the same debate asked that remarks made by Rep. Sean Duffy (R-Wis.) be stricken from the record for calling Democratic lawmakers anti-American...
Beyond the political circus aspects, though, there's something serious going on here. Though the resolution to censure Trump for his remarks passed, the vast majority of the Republicans actually voted against it. That's the extent to which their loyalty to Trump extends, putting themselves on record supporting his shameful words instead of saying "no, that was wrong." Not only did they refuse to support their own colleagues against attacks, they turned their backs on simple human decency.
Edit: Unbelievable. Well, at least some people are showing their true colors.
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... iser-after
The Palm Beach County GOP disinvited Anthony Scaramucci from an upcoming fundraiser after the onetime White House communications director weighed in to criticize remarks from President Trump as racist.
"I’m the chairman of the board, I spoke with members of the board, and the overwhelming consensus was we should disinvite him. That his comments regarding the president were unfair and unacceptable," party chairman Michael Barnett told The Hill.
Scaramucci was actually among the Republicans with a sense of decency speaking out against Trump's remarks.
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/4536 ... acceptable
Former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told CNN on Thursday that he would no longer support President Trump if his attacks on four freshman congresswomen continued, dubbing his former boss's remarks "racist and unacceptable."
"They won last time, so it may be a winning campaign strategy, but it is against the idealistic values of America,” Scaramucci told "New Day" anchor Alisyn Camerota.
“And so what ends up happening, is it's such a turnoff to a large group of people that you are running a risk that 15 percent of the people that you want to get you through that electoral map and back into the presidency say, 'You know what? I love the policies, but I don't like the "send her back" rhetoric. I don't like the racist rhetoric of sending people back to the homes that they came from,' " Scaramucci added.
And the GOP chairman condemned last night's chants but tried to whitewash Trump's role in inciting them. He also pretended not to notice that Trump seemed to enjoy them and made no attempt to stop them.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4 ... -place-for
This is his attempt to spin it:
"What he was trying to say, he said wrong,” Emmer said of Trump’s remarks. “What he was trying to say is if you don’t appreciate this country, you don’t have to be here. That goes for every one of us. It has nothing to do with your race, your gender, your family history.”
In other words, it's OK as long as it's the good old "patriotic" "Love it or leave it" remarks they used to throw at those who protested the Vietnam war?
What a bunch.
This tribalism from our political leaders, left and right, has got to go if there's any hope of a reasonable future.
(and meanwhile tensions in the Middle East continue to rise, between Iran grabbing merchant ships* and the US sending more soldiers. Where the hell are the diplomats? Or have Bolton, Pompeo and Trump sidelined them so Bolton, Eric Prince's mercenaries, and the military-industrial complex can get their war?)
In this context, it's very disturbing that one of the few remaining non-sycophants in the administration may soon be gone:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administra ... rector-dan
News broke Friday that numerous White House officials are once again discussing the possible departure of Dan Coats, the president’s director of national intelligence.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ar ... st/583198/The Impossible Job of Speaking Truth to Trump
How do you offer intelligence to a president who’s not interested—and keep your job?
*Edit: Though it seems that what's going on may be murky.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/07/ ... 57048.html