We are African Americans, we are patriots, and we refuse to sit idly by

By Clarence J. Fluker , C. Kinder , Jesse Moore and Khalilah M. Harris

July 26

This op-ed is co-signed by 149 African Americans who served in the Obama administration.

This post has been updated.

We’ve heard this before. Go back where you came from. Go back to Africa. And now, “send her back.” Black and brown people in America don’t hear these chants in a vacuum; for many of us, we’ve felt their full force being shouted in our faces, whispered behind our backs, scrawled across lockers, or hurled at us online. They are part of a pattern in our country designed to denigrate us as well as keep us separate and afraid.

As 149 African Americans who served in the last administration, we witnessed first hand the relentless attacks on the legitimacy of President Barack Obama and his family from our front-row seats to America’s first black presidency. Witnessing racism surge in our country, both during and after Obama’s service and ours, has been a shattering reality, to say the least. But it has also provided jet-fuel for our activism, especially in moments such as these.

We stand with congresswomen Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, as well as all those currently under attack by President Trump, along with his supporters and his enablers, who feel deputized to decide who belongs here — and who does not. There is truly nothing more un-American than calling on fellow citizens to leave our country — by citing their immigrant roots, or ancestry, or their unwillingness to sit in quiet obedience while democracy is being undermined.

We are proud descendants of immigrants, refugees and the enslaved Africans who built this country while enduring the horrors of its original sin. We stand on the soil they tilled, and march in the streets they helped to pave. We are red-blooded Americans, we are patriots, and we have plenty to say about the direction this country is headed. We decry voter suppression. We demand equitable access to health care, housing, quality schools and employment. We welcome new Americans with dignity and open arms. And we will never stop fighting for the overhaul of a criminal-justice system with racist foundations.

We come from Minnesota and Michigan. The Bronx and Baton Rouge. Florida and Philadelphia. Cleveland and the Carolinas. Atlanta and Nevada. Oak-town and the Chi. We understand our role in this democracy, and respect the promise of a nation built by, for and of immigrants. We are part of that tradition, and have the strength to both respect our ancestors from faraway lands and the country we all call home.

Our love of country lives in these demands, and our commitment to use our voices and our energy to build a more perfect union. We refuse to sit idly by as racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia are wielded by the president and any elected official complicit in the poisoning of our democracy. We call on local, state and congressional officials, as well as presidential candidates to articulate their policies and strategies for moving us forward as a strong democracy, through a racial-equity lens that prioritizes people over profit. We will continue to support candidates for local, state and federal office who add more diverse representation to the dialogue and those who understand the importance of such diversity when policymaking here in our country and around the world. We ask all Americans to be a good neighbor by demonstrating anti-racist, environmentally friendly, and inclusive behavior toward everyone in your everyday interactions.

The statesman Frederick Douglass warned, “The life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful and virtuous.” This nation has neither grappled with nor healed from the horrors of its origins. It is time to advance that healing process now through our justice, economic, health and political systems.

Expect to hear more from us. We plan to leave this country better than we found it. This is our home.

Saba Abebe, former special assistant, Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, Energy Department

Tsehaynesh Abebe, former adviser, U.S. Agency for International Development

David Adeleye, former policy specialist, White House

Bunmi Akinnusotu, former special assistant, Office of Land and Emergency Management, Environmental Protection Agency

Trista Allen, former senior adviser to the regional administrator, General Services Administration

Maria Anderson, former operations assistant, White House

Karen Andre, former White House liaison, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Caya Lewis Atkins, former counselor for science and public health, Department of Health and Human Services

Roy L. Austin Jr., former deputy assistant to the president, White House Domestic Policy Council

Kevin Bailey, former special assistant, White House; senior policy adviser, Treasury Department

Jumoke Balogun, former adviser to the secretary, Labor Department

Diana Banks, former deputy assistant secretary, Defense Department

Desiree N. Barnes, former adviser to the press secretary, White House

Kevin F. Beckford, former special adviser, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Alaina Beverly, former associate director, Office of Urban Affairs, White House

Saba Bireda, former senior counsel, Office for Civil Rights, Education Department

Vincent H. Bish Jr., former special assistant to the assistant secretary of strategic program management, Department of Health and Human Services

Michael Blake, former director for African American, minority and women business enterprises and county and statewide elected officials, White House

Tenicka Boyd, former special assistant, Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Education Department

Tanya Bradsher, former assistant secretary for public affairs, Department of Homeland Security

Stacey Brayboy, former chief of staff, Office of the Chief Financial Officer, Agriculture Department

Allyn Brooks-LaSure, former deputy associate administrator for external affairs, Environmental Protection Agency

Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, former director of coverage policy, Office of Health Reform, Department of Health and Human Services

Quincy K. Brown, former senior policy adviser, Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House

Taylor Campbell, former director of correspondence systems innovation, White House

Crystal Carson, former chief of staff to the director of communications, White House

Genger Charles, former general deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Housing, Federal Housing Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Glorie Chiza, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House

Sarah Haile Coombs, special assistant, Department of Health and Human Services

Michael Cox, former special assistant to the assistant secretary for intergovernmental affairs, Commerce Department

Adria Crutchfield, former director of external affairs, Federal Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Joiselle Cunningham, former special adviser, Office of the Secretary, Education Department

Charlotte Flemmings Curtis, former special adviser for White House initiatives, Corporation for National and Community Service

Kareem Dale, former special assistant to the president for disability policy, White House

Ashlee Davis, former White House liaison, Agriculture Department

Marco A. Davis, former deputy director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanics

Russella L. Davis-Rogers, former chief of staff, Office of Strategic Partnerships, Department of Education

Tequia Hicks Delgado, former senior adviser for congressional engagement and legislative relations, Office of Legislative Affairs, White House

Kalisha Dessources Figures, former policy adviser, White House Council on Women and Girls

Leek Deng, former special assistant, Bureau for Global Health, U.S. Agency for International Development

Tene Dolphin, former chief of staff, Economic Development Administration, Commerce Department

Monique Dorsainvil, former deputy chief of staff, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House

Joshua DuBois, former executive director, Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships; former special assistant to the president, White House

Dru Ealons, former director, Office of Public Engagement, Environmental Protection Agency

Rosemary Enobakhare, former deputy associate administrator for public engagement and environmental education, Environmental Protection Agency

Karen Evans, former assistant director and policy adviser, Office of Cabinet Affairs, White House

Clarence J. Fluker, former deputy associate director for national parks and youth engagement, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Heather Foster, former public engagement adviser and director of African American affairs, White House

Kalina Francis, former special adviser, Office of Public Affairs, Treasury Department

Matthew “Van” Buren Freeman, former senior adviser, Minority Business Development Agency, Commerce Department

Cameron French, former deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Jocelyn Frye, former deputy assistant to the president and director of policy and special projects for the first lady, White House

Bernard Fulton, former deputy assistant secretary for congressional relations, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Stephanie Gaither, former confidential assistant to the deputy director, Office of Management and Budget, White House

Demetria A. Gallagher, former senior adviser for policy and inclusive innovation, Commerce Department

Lateisha Garrett, former White House liaison, National Endowment for the Humanities

W. Cyrus Garrett, former special adviser to the director of counternarcotics enforcement, Department of Homeland Security

Bishop M. Garrison, former science and technology directorate adviser, Department of Homeland Security

Lisa Gelobter, former chief digital service officer, Education Department

A’shanti F. Gholar, former special assistant to the secretary, Labor Department

Jay R. Gilliam, former special assistant, U.S. Agency for International Development

Artealia Gilliard, former deputy assistant secretary for transportation policy, Transportation Department

Brenda Girton-Mitchell, former director, Center for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Education Department

Jason Green, former associate counsel and special assistant to the president, White House

Corey Arnez Griffin, former associate director, Peace Corps

Kyla F. Griffith, former special adviser to the secretary, Commerce Department

Simone L. Hardeman-Jones, former deputy assistant secretary, Office of Legislative and Congressional Affairs, Education Department

Thamar Harrigan, former senior intergovernmental relations adviser, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Dalen Harris, former director, Office of Intergovernmental and Public Liaison, Office of National Drug Control Policy, White House

Khalilah M. Harris, former deputy director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans; former senior adviser, Office of Personnel Management

Adam Hodge, former deputy assistant secretary for public affairs, Treasury Department

Valerie Jarrett, former senior adviser, White House

Will Yemi Jawando, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement, White House

Karine Jean-Pierre, former northeast political director, Office of Political Affairs, White House

A. Jenkins, former director, Center for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Commerce Department

Adora Jenkins, former press secretary, Justice Department; former deputy associate administrator for external affairs, Environmental Protection Agency

W. Nate Jenkins, former chief of staff and senior adviser to the budget director, Office of Management and Budget, White House

David J. Johns, former executive director, White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans

Brent Johnson, former special adviser to the secretary, Commerce Department

Broderick Johnson, former White House assistant to the president and Cabinet secretary for My Brother’s Keeper Task Force

Carmen Daniels Jones, former director, Office of Small and Disadvantaged Business Utilization, Agriculture Department

Gregory K. Joseph II, former special assistant, Office of the Executive Secretariat, Energy Department

Jamia Jowers, former special assistant, National Security Council

Charmion N. Kinder, former associate, Press Office of the First Lady, White House; former assistant press secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Elise Nelson Leary, former international affairs adviser, National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Kimberlyn Leary, former adviser, White House Council on Women and Girls

Daniella Gibbs Léger, former special assistant to the president and director of message events, White House

Georgette Lewis, former policy adviser, Department of Health and Human Services

Kevin Lewis, former director of African American media, White House; former principal deputy director of public affairs, Justice Department

Catherine E. Lhamon, former assistant secretary for civil rights, Education Department

Tiffani Long, former special adviser, Economic Development Administration

Latifa Lyles, former director, Women’s Bureau, Labor Department

Brenda Mallory, former general counsel, White House Council on Environmental Quality

Dominique Mann, former media affairs manager, White House

Shelly Marc, former policy adviser, Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, White House

Tyra A. Mariani, former chief of staff to the deputy secretary, Education Department

Lawrence Mason III, former domestic policy analyst, Office of Presidential Correspondence, White House

Dexter L. McCoy, former special assistant, Office of the Secretary, Education Department

Matthew McGuire, former U.S. executive director, The World Bank Group

Tyrik McKeiver, former senior adviser, State Department

Tjada D’Oyen McKenna, former assistant to the administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Solianna Meaza, former special assistant to associate administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development

Mahlet Mesfin, former assistant director for international science and technology, Office of Science and Technology Policy, White House

Ricardo Michel, former director, Center for Transformational Partnerships, U.S. Agency for International Development Global Development Lab

Paul Monteiro, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement, White House

Jesse Moore, former associate director, Office of Public Engagement, White House

Shannon Myricks, former specialist, Office of Management and Administration Information Services, White House

Melanie Newman, former director of public affairs, Justice Department

Fatima Noor, former policy assistant, Domestic Policy Council

Bianca Oden, former deputy chief of staff, Agriculture Department

Funmi Olorunnipa, former ethics counsel, White House Counsel’s Office

Elizabeth Ogunwo, former White House liaison, Peace Corps

Stephanie Sprow Owens, former deputy director, Reach Higher, Education Department

Denise L. Pease, former regional administrator of the northeast and Caribbean region, General Services Administration

Danielle Perry, former special adviser to the assistant secretary, Agriculture Department

Allison C. Pulliam, former special assistant, Office of Presidential Personnel, White House

Colby Redmond, former advance specialist, Office of the Secretary, Commerce Department

Derrick Robinson, former researcher, Office of Communications, White House

Lynn M. Ross, former deputy assistant secretary for policy development, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Sarah Rutherford, former press and media operations assistant, White House

Alexander Sewell, former special assistant, Export-Import Bank

Michael Smith, former special assistant to the president and senior director of Cabinet affairs for My Brother’s Keeper, White House

Russell F. Smith, former deputy assistant secretary for international fisheries, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Commerce Department

Jackeline Stewart, former press secretary, General Services Administration

Angela Tennison, former leadership development director, Education Department

Kenny Thompson Jr., former special assistant to the president and director of message events to the vice president, White House

Ivory A. Toldson, former executive director, White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Fred Tombar, former senior adviser to the secretary for disaster recovery, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Christopher R. Upperman, former assistant administrator for public engagement, Small Business Administration

Malik Walker, former senior adviser for congressional and legislative affairs, Office of Personnel Management

Jason R.L. Wallace, former director of scheduling and advance, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Myesha Ward, former assistant U.S. trade representative for intergovernmental affairs and public engagement

Clarence Wardell III, former presidential innovation fellow

Benjamin E. Webb, former executive director of policy and planning, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security

C’Reda J. Weeden, former executive secretary, Department of Health and Human Services

Tonia Wellons, former associate director, Office of Strategic Partnerships, Peace Corps

Antonio White, former senior adviser, Treasury Department

Monae White, former special projects manager, Education Department

Aketa Marie Williams, former director of strategic communications, Office of the Undersecretary, Education Department

Jonta Williams, former adviser to the assistant administrator for Africa, U.S. Agency for International Development

Jessica Wilson, former special assistant, Office of Policy, Department of Homeland Security

Taj Wilson, former deputy associate counsel, White House

Candace Wint, former director of advance, Department of Housing and Urban Development

Brent C. Woolfork, former managing director, Overseas Private Investment Corporation

Tarrah Cooper Wright, former special assistant to the secretary, Department of Homeland Security

Ursula Wright, former associate assistant deputy secretary, Education Department

Carl Young, former adviser and assistant, Office of Management and Budget, White House

Stephanie Young, former senior adviser, Office of Public Engagement, White House

David N. Zikusoka, former senior adviser for weapons of mass destruction and nonproliferation, Office of the Vice President, White House

Read more:

Greg Sargent: New GOP panic about Trump’s racism reveals an ugly truth

Karen Tumulty: We need someone who can lift us up again. Enter President Obama.

George Conway: George Conway: Trump is a racist president

Alexandra Petri: I have no racist bones, but this exoskeleton has propped me up for decades

Mueller's Testimony RE-established That Donald Trump Is A Serial Felon Who Should Be IMPEACHED!

There were several important takeaways from Robert Mueller's hours long testimony yesterday before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees. What are your thoughts about what took place?

Trump Decoder Ring

What I Would Ask Robert Mueller By James Comey

By James Comey

Friday, July 19, 2019, 3:37 PM

Longworth House Office Building (Architect of the U.S. Capitol)

If I were a member of Congress with five minutes to question Robert Mueller, I would ask short questions drawn from the report’s executive summaries.

Volume One: Russia

Did you find that there were a series of contacts between the Trump campaign and individuals with ties to the Russian government? (p. 5)

In particular, did you find that a Trump foreign policy adviser learned that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton in the form of thousands of emails? (pp. 5-6)

Did you find that the Trump foreign policy adviser said the Trump campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to candidate Clinton? (p. 6)

Did you find that senior members of the Trump campaign met with Russian representatives at Trump Tower after being told in an email that the meeting was part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump? (p. 6)

Did you find that, despite the fact that candidate Trump said he had "nothing to do with Russia," his organization had been pursuing a major Moscow project into the middle of the election year and that candidate Trump was regularly updated on developments? (vol 1, p. 5: vol 2, p. 19)

Support Lawfare

Did the Trump campaign report any of its Russian contacts to the FBI?

Not even the indications from the Russian government that it could assist the campaign through the anonymous release of information damaging to candidate Clinton?

Volume Two: Obstruction

Did you reach a judgment as to whether the president had committed obstruction of justice crimes?

Did you find substantial evidence that the president had committed obstruction of justice crimes?

For example, did you find that the president directed the White House counsel to call the acting attorney general and tell him the special counsel must be removed? (p. 4)

Did you find that the White House counsel decided he would rather resign than carry out that order? (p. 4)

Did you find that the president later directed the White House counsel to say he had not been ordered to have the special counsel removed? (p. 6)

Did you find that the president wanted the White House counsel to write a false memo saying he had not been ordered to have the special counsel removed? (p. 6)

Did you find that the White House counsel refused to do that because it was not true? (p. 6)

Did you find that the president repeatedly asked a private citizen—his former campaign manager—to deliver a message to the attorney general to restrict the special counsel to investigating only future campaign interference? (p. 5)

Here's The THREE MOST CRITICAL QUESTIONS To Ask Robert Mueller During His Wednesday Testimony!

Here's the THREE MOST CRITICAL QUESTIONS to Ask Robert Mueller During His Wednesday Testimony!

Robert Mueller testifies before the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees on Wednesday, July 24th. There are sure to be a litany of probing questions that will be asked of him. Jesse Dollemore believes these will be three of the most important!

We Won’t Win Over Deplorable Trump Supporters, So Stop Playing Nice

After watching what unfolded at Donald Trump’s North Carolina rally this week, along with his nonstop calls for people to “get out” of our country, it has become clear that there are certain voters that we simply can’t reach.

And while some people think we have to maintain a certain level of “civility”, the truth is that these people would gladly stomp on your head if the opportunity arose.

Stop fucking around with them, and start fighting back. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

My filter is broken so I’m likely to lose a lot of followers and friends who are used to the kinder, gentler Ben. But all things considered, we don’t have time to worry about being nice.

— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) July 18, 2019

Look man, those rednecks in that audience last night won’t be won over with any policy. They would gladly give up health insurance and die of diabetes-driven gangrene than to abandon a president who lets them be their full racist selves.

— Benjamin Dixon (@BenjaminPDixon) July 18, 2019

Trump Supporters LOVE The Resident’s Hate Filled Tirades

While most of America is still angry about Trump’s disgusting comments from this past Sunday, his hardcore supporters are loving every minute of it. They seem to enjoy watching the resident make his xenophobic comments, and some even admitted to CBS News that this is why they voted for him!

This is what we’re up against in 2020, as Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains.



https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/trump-tweets-supporters-stand-by-president-amid-racist-tweets/

Trump Won’t Listen To Courts Anymore, Spokesperson Claims

According to a spokesperson for the Trump administration (Hogan Gidley), Donald Trump will no longer “be beholden to the courts.”

This is an instance of saying the quiet part out loud, because the resident, like the rest of the country, is bound by the laws of this country.

Is Congress going to take action now? Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.rawstory.com/2019/07/trump-spokesperson-boasts-the-president-isnt-going-to-be-beholden-to-courts-anymore/

Donald Trump’s Demagoguery Boils Over With “SEND HER BACK” Chants! #IStandWithIlhan

Last night at one of Donald Trump’s venom fueled MAGA rallies, he launched into an attack on Freshman Congresswoman from Minnesota – Ilhan Omar… A scripted attack filled with garbage and lies.

Let's Have This Goddamn Political Race War Already

Posted by Rude One

At least now Democrats can stop fucking pretending that there is any reasoning with Republicans or anyone on the right at this point. By refusing to condemn resident Donald Trump's blatantly racist statements as "racist," by continuing and expanding on Trump's attacks on four non-white Democratic congresswomen in saying that they should leave the United States, by getting outraged that racism is being called racism, the GOP has ripped its mask off in the clearest way possible and gone all in on attacks on non-whites.

At this point, Donald Trump could yell, "Nigger!" on Fifth Avenue and wouldn't lose any voters. And Republicans would blame whichever black person it was directed at.

Conservatives like to decry what they say is "identity politics;" that is, making policies and running candidates to appeal to a certain racial, ethnic, religious, or other background. But the GOP's appeal to white nationalists and to the idiot hordes that comprise its base is more clearly identity politics than anything Democrats have done. 'Cause, see, Trump and those who suckle at Trump's orange man teats get their votes almost exclusively from white people. By contrast, Ilhan Omar was elected with 78% of the vote in a district that is two-thirds white. I fucking guarantee you that Republican Representative Steve Scalise didn't get shit for non-white votes. But we're supposed to pretend that Omar is dividing Americans. Fuck that.

The right has been aching for a political race war. With their explicit support of Trump's "Go back to your country," now supposedly not racist "If you're not happy here, you can leave," as well as rallying around demonizing Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashid Tlaib, Republicans have tied their 2020 strategy to this racist fuckery. The four progressives are the new welfare queen, the new Willie Horton, the new Mexican rapists. And they are folding that into the oldest fucking act in the conservative book: calling Democrats socialist or "commies," as a sweaty Lindsey Graham did. There's the campaign: commies and coloreds. They really did make it 1960 again.

Hell, yesterday, Trump went back to his political origin of saying that other countries send their criminals here to seek asylum. In a cabinet meeting, while doing the supposedly official business of the supposed United States, Trump said, "Why would Honduras or Guatemala or El Salvador, why would they keep their criminals when you can put them into the caravan, lose them in a caravan, and send them up to the United States. We take everybody because the Democrats don’t allow immigration laws that mean anything. It’s horrible. It’s horrible."

As a counterpoint, here's how a mother from Honduras described the circumstances that forced them to leave their home: "The family fled Honduras after Tania witnessed her mother get killed. Her sister-in-law also was a witness and was later kidnapped, tortured and slain to keep her from testifying. The gang MS-13 then posted a note on the family's door telling them they had 45 minutes to leave, Tania said. That's when the family left to seek asylum in the U.S." Yeah, it is horrible. Just not in the way our simpering racist prick of a resident says it is. And his very approach, his very words are more anti-American than a million socialist candidates demanding that this nation take care of its people like nearly every other nation on earth.

Let me personalize this: I fucking love my neighborhood. I love the black women artists who live downstairs from me who. I love the Latino kids who ride their bikes up and down the street with rap music on old school boomboxes playing. I love the Indian family across the street who have a disabled son whose Chinese bus driver is always overjoyed to see. I love the Dominican family behind me who have parties that always end up with musicians playing amazing tunes. I love the young Puerto Rican parents who have a car with a license frame that says, "My other car is the Tardis." I love the white people who showed up to offer comfort to the Pakistani owner of the corner bodega when his father died. It ain't perfect. We've had crime and fights and everything (although that's changed since the neighborhood has become even more diverse). But I fucking love this America. I don't know who is here legally or illegally. And I don't give a shit. I just care that we all treat each other with respect. If you don't love this, too, then you don't love this country.

That's worth fighting for. That's worth pissing off the mythical "White Working Class" (which doesn't seem to contain all those working class voters who think Trump's full of shit). That's worth having the political race war the GOP has been aching to have and has been having since 1980. Let's have this throw down the nation has needed since the civil rights era. Let's define who we are and try to finally be absolutely fucking clear about it.

Call it like many of us have been saying for years now: If you support Donald Trump, you're racist. And fuck you. Double fuck you if you think calling you "racist" is racist, you dumb motherfuckers. And triple fuck you if you think anyone who doesn't want to get face-fucked by Donald Trump hates this country and should leave. You assholes aren't leaving over the Affordable Care Act, which is the law of the land. You assholes didn't leave over same-sex marriage. You put on your asshole hats and tried to change it. Which is the exact same thing that Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Pressley, and Tlaib are trying to do (minus the asshole hats and with smarter tweets).

Make this election explicitly about the meaning of America, Democrats. This is our chance to take the plot of this story back from Republicans, who have controlled the narrative for most of the last three generations. Do we stand with diversity as our strength or do we stand with white nationalism? Do we stand with the right to dissent or obeisance to a leader? Jesus, we already have to get over the bar of our current racism. If it turns out that most of the country wants to be more racist and more in the thrall of a fucking moron and his moronic policies and the moronic, racist party that props up his saggy orange ass, then we'll at least be able to be fucking honest about it.

And then we can decide if fighting on is worth it or if we want to leave.

(Note: This was supposed to be part 2 of something I started last week, but, well, then this shit started. It's coming.)

Trump Is Afraid Of Her

After Trump continued his attack on four freshmen Congresswomen, the crowd at Trump’s rally launched into a chant of “send her back!” Lawrence O’Donnell discusses with Leonard Pitts, Jr., Yamiche Alcindor, and Rep. Eric Swalwell.

DOES HE EVEN HIDE IT? Donald Trump WAS, IS, And WILL ALWAYS BE That Which His Supporters Deny!

Since Donald Trump's tweet about Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib there have been a lot of people denying the obvious about the tweet. Here are examples of what should be obvious to every single clear-eyed observer!

Republicans Are The Ones Who Hate America

Donald Trump believes that those who “hate” America should pack up and leave, but that would mean that the entire Republican Party would have to get out of the country. When you drill down to it, Republicans are the ones who hate this country, and that is obvious through their policies.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains how Republicans disguise their hatred of this country as patriotism, and why we shouldn’t buy into their lies ever again.

Trump’s Deranged Speech Shows He Must Be Impeached NOW

During a speech on Monday, Donald Trump doubled down on his xenophobic comments about “The Squad,” going even further in his attacks on Ilhan Omar. He linked the Congresswoman to extremist groups and claimed that she hates members of certain religions, which isn’t rooted in reality at all.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains how this latest speech proves that the resident is not mentally stable and must be removed from office now.



https://www.rawstory.com/2019/07/trump-goes-off-on-socialist-communist-rant-saying-democrats-are-pro-al-qaeda/

12th Dimensional Chess

Are you OK with a racist president, Republicans?

By the Editorial Board

Donald Trump Attacks Congresswomen Of Color On Twitter - Fox News And Republicans LAUGH ABOUT IT!

Jesse talks about Donald Trump's Sunday morning tweet telling U.S. citizens and Congresswomen to GO BACK TO THE COUNTRIES THEY CAME FROM. He also plays clips of video as examples of the types of people who use phrases like that. Also included is a disgusting clip from Sunday's Fox and Friends showing Jedidiah Bila LAUGHING about Donald Trump's divisive words!

Trump Election Advisers Panic After Realizing His Base Is Too Small

Donald Trump’s reelection advisers are starting to get very worried about the fact that the resident’s support seems to be coming from just his base, and that base isn’t big enough to win in 2020.

This helps explain why he gave his incoherent environmental speech earlier this week, and we can expect more of the resident trying to appeal to people who don’t wear crusty MAGA hats all day.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/07/09/trumps-base-is-not-enough-his-own-advisers-know-it/

Donald Trump Swears He’s Not A Bully

Last week, Joe Biden accused Donald Trump of being a bully, and this attack left Trump confused.

He swears that he’s never been a bully, he just likes to fight back when he feels attacked.

The problem is that he ALWAYS feels like he’s being attacked, and he lashes out against those who dare oppose him.

He is 100% a bully, but that appears to be what Republicans like. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/451756-trump-responds-%20to-biden-remarks-i-dont-think-im-a-bully

If You Shook Mitch McConnell's Family Tree, Rape Victims Would Fallout

Watch The #DLHughleyShow weeknights at an ALL NEW time, 10/9c and an ENCORE at 11/10c, only on TV ONE. Visit http://tvone.tv/ for more.

Trump Accuser Has Video Of Him Forcibly Kissing Her

*This video was recorded prior to Trump’s lawyers releasing competing footage of the interaction mentioned in the court filings.*

 Donald Trump’s disgusting remarks on the infamous Access Hollywood tape might come back to haunt him as court documents show that one of his accusers from 2016 actually has footage of him doing exactly what he described in the video.

This bombshell footage, if released to the public, could be the beginning of the end of Trump’s residency, especially considering the fact that the lawsuit against him would be easily won by the plaintiff. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins explains what’s happening.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/07/trump-accuser-has-him-on-video-forcibly-kissing-her-court-documents/

Children’s Charity Pulls Out Of Stripper Event At Trump’s Golf Resort

*This video was recorded prior to the Trump Organization announcing that the entire event has now been cancelled.*

A children’s charity has decided that they don’t want to be involved in a golf tournament at Trump’s Doral golf course that is being hosted by a local strip club. The club is actually auctioning off some of the exotic dancers to perform as “caddies” for the event, and that was just a little too much for a group that is trying to improve the lives of children.

Oddly enough, it wasn’t too much for the resident and his business to tell the organizers to find a new venue. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

Pelosi Demands Progressive Lawmakers Stop Responding To Her Attacks

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a stark warning to Democrats in the House yesterday, telling them that they need to keep their grievances with her and the Party behind closed doors and off of social media.

Pelosi has spent more time fighting back against Progressives in her own Party than she has against the Republicans, and it isn’t a good look for her. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.

No One Is Going To Save Us

Posted by Rude One

After Donald Trump was inaugurated, I heard dozens of predictions about how soon he would fall and be forced out of the residency. I talked to people In The Know or people who would mention a friend who's an intelligence agent, and they all knew, with near certainty, that we were mere months from the wheels of justice and the righteous government of the United States rejecting Trump like he was a dog's arm grafted onto our precious human bodies. I was told it would be October 2017, November 2017, "by Christmas" 2017, and then it was several times throughout 2018. "You see, they'd say, "the spooks are gonna take him down. The career officers, they know that he's up to his neck in money-laundering" or "child sex trafficking" or simply "Russia." These savior spies never appeared.

But we, oh, we hoped, god, how we hoped, listening to every confident conspiracy-spinner on MSNBC, just believing that, at any second, a thread would be pulled, the wrong Jenga piece would be moved, and everything would finally fall apart for Trump. We moved on to the investigation of Robert Mueller, and we thought that here, finally, would be the back-breaking straw. And while we have not fully grappled with what was actually in the report Mueller and his team produced, while the number of times Trump clearly obstructed justice is overwhelming and the associations with the Russian government are damning, still, it didn't shake the foundation of this administration in any permanent way.

Because we are such hopeful creatures, we liberals, we keep believing that some cataclysm will break this dark fever. Some of us even thought that the horrors that would be revealed in the indictment of child rapist Jeffrey Epstein might be awful revelations about Trump that led to his comeuppance. That case is still in its early stages, and this is not to mention what Mueller might say when he testifies next week, but stop, just stop.

No one is going to save us. It's just that simple. While there have been and may still be a couple of Supreme Court decisions that don't gut democracy and civil rights, no one is going to save us from the depravity of this administration, from its extravagant flouting of rules and laws meant to prevent corruption of public officials to its enraging, inhumane mistreatment of migrants to its utter incompetence in just about every area that requires a rational federal government to its abandonment of any policy that would mitigate the speeding train of the climate crisis that is going to wreck us.

There is no political Santa Claus. There will be no insurgency by angry intelligence agents. There is no ninth-dimensional plan that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has as to why she's not calling for an impeachment inquiry. She has no secret information that Trump is going down for some other crime. And while I could spend the rest of this post on the boggling refusal of Pelosi to impeach while she has the House pass meaningless bill after meaningless bill, I don't want to just focus on her failure in this pivotal historical moment.

We are seeing the result of decades of conservative planning to get the public to the moment where they no longer believe in anyone but the right's own media, where plain facts don't matter, where images of strength are far, far more important than actual strength. And, as Ryan Grim demonstrated in a great piece, we are dealing with a Democratic leadership group that has never gotten over its post-Reagan stress disorder. Democrats never learned to fight Republicans. We thought winning elections would be enough. We thought that the factual reality of more people having access to health care would be enough. We thought that things that polled well, like abortion rights, like stricter gun laws, like action on climate change, would be enough. We thought that Trump being a damned embarrassment every time he opens his mouth would be enough. We thought that going high when they went low would be enough.

It's not. It never was.

Republican learned back when Reagan was calling the news the "liberal media" on a regular basis, when they impeached Bill Clinton because it made the evangelicals and Clinton haters happy, when they hammered every minor thing, like a flag-burning case, into a national crisis, that the fight is all there is. They relish the fight, they live for the fight, and they can't wait for the next chance to fight, even if they have to manufacture it. They don't care about rules, they don't care about pissing off their opponents, and that's why Trump will end up appointing nearly a third of all federal judges by the end of his first term. That's why Republicans will end up contorting our voting rights until only white conservative men get a say.

And while a whole lot of us on the left, many of us who call ourselves "Democrats," have fought like hell, and while Democratic leaders may want to fight on issues, they hate it when the fight becomes personal. Sure, some Democrats will call out particular Republicans on their awfulness, but the goal is to try to shame a shameless person like Mitch McConnell. When Republicans go after someone, the goal is to destroy them and create a new identity for the person. Look at what they did with the Clintons. Look at what they're doing with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Republicans do this because it works. Democrats won't. They flinch and shy away, as if it's just too unseemly.

What do I mean by that? President Obama should have had Democrats go on the warpath over McConnell's refusal to consider the Supreme Court nomination of Merrick Garland. McConnell should have been turned into an enemy of the nation. Instead, it was treated with the political equivalent of an eye roll. Would it have worked? We'll never know.

You want something more recent? Trump was credibly accused of rape, with activity that is of a piece with other behavior he's admitted to. It should be something that Democrats say with outrage over and over, in every discussion. And if Democrats can't take the head of Labor Secretary Alex Acosta, who helped get a sweetheart deal for child rapist Epstein, then they have no business in modern politics.

That's all blind hope, the same kind of blind hope that made us think that some bit of scandal magic would take down Trump. Sorry. No one is going to save us. We're on our own. So we damn well better save ourselves.

...So We Have to Save Ourselves (Part 2)

Last week, I wrote that the opposition to Donald Trump and his supporters, apostles, and enablers needs to get its head around the idea that no one person or thing is going to save us from Trumpism. Not the Mueller Report, not a secret cabal of intelligence agents (hell, I guess you could call it the "Deep State"), not the hidden child-fucking files of Jeffrey Epstein. And, as if on cue, the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York released a statement that it was ending its investigation into the hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels by Michael Cohen under the direction of Donald Trump without indicting anyone else. As the conservative toxic waste dump RedState crowed, "The SDNY Just Crushed One Of The Left’s Biggest Dreams," which was that the honorable, dogged New York office would bring down Trump. Except everyone kind of forgot that the U.S. Attorney works for the Justice Department, which is under the Attorney General, who is William Barr, who is a lawless sow fucker. So now we've moved on to the next dream, that something something Mueller hearing something something will happen.

Except it won't. And the House still won't open an impeachment inquiry, not even after this past week's descent into racist nationalism.

So we have to figure out how to save ourselves from the fascistic threat of Trumpism, in ways that make real change and in ways that demonstrate to those in power that they are facing a greater wave of people than the human hemorrhoids in the chanting MAGA crowds. We have to face the fact that there is a political race war that needs to happen, and it's time to get the troops ready for battle.

I have two suggestions. Neither of them is particularly new (hell, I've talked about one of 'em before), but place them into the new, urgent context in which we find ourselves.

First, fuck the white working class. Fuck Trump voters.  Fuck their votes. Fuck their beliefs. Fuck everything about them. Democrats and the left attempting to appeal to Trump supporters, as if better angels exist in their cesspool, is like a wounded gazelle attempting to reason with hyenas. They're gonna eat you; you just look like an idiot for thinking you could convince them otherwise.

The emphasis for the 2020 election has to be on those who didn't vote in 2016 and 2018.  This ain't about voter enthusiasm. Jesus, if anti-Trump voters aren't fired up, then Democrats should just go beat off in a corner for the duration.  Voter registration has to be the top priority, especially in targeting non-white people of voting age. (Remember: We're in a political race war.) Republicans have a massive effort under way to get more voters. Right now,  there are lower-key efforts, like Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow PUSH organization trying to register 100,000 new voters in South Carolina.

Sure, there are great local movements, like Metropolitan Organizing Strategy Enabling Strength in Michigan.  But MOSES and other organizations aside, we need to have a national effort, perhaps led by groups with a national status, like Indivisible or Swing Left, which actually has a voter registration strategy but needs some big time boosting. We need to head to the swing states and find the voters who have sat out. And we need lots of volunteers who are willing to help people negotiate the bullshit, byzantine new voter laws in those states.

The other suggestion is way more radical and way more dangerous from a messaging position: a general strike, with the kinds of protests we're seeing in Hong Kong and (closer to home) Puerto Rico. As Will Bunch put it last year, "A general strike or even massive protests are well outside of the normal comfort zone for a majority of Americans. But the question we need to ask ourselves is this... how comfortable are we with Donald Trump spending even one more night in the White House?"

A general strike can bring together liberal causes across the board, from Black Lives Matter to the Women's March to gun laws to immigration reform to the climate crisis and more. And it strikes at the heart of the capitalist enterprise in a way that a well-ordered, well-permitted protest march never can. Right now, we have a government that is unresponsive to what the vast majority of Americans want. Our fucked up electoral system means that not only can a president win without a majority of the popular vote, the House and Senate can be controlled by a party that didn't receive the most votes.  So the voice of the people needs to made front and center again because our alleged representative democracy isn't representing us in a fair, realistic way.

The protests in Hong Kong were particularly stunning because it was essentially a movement without a central leader. Instead, a coalition of pro-democracy groups worked together, with several members, like Bonnie Leung and Jimmy Sham, taking on different roles in getting the message out there and getting the people in the streets. The progressive movement in the United States has that same kind of possibility of coalition with conveners providing guidance and direction. Of course, it's something that would need community support as people missed work for what might be a lengthy strike with a goal of forcing the resignation of Trump and his administration.

It's a pie in the sky idea, yeah, I know. There's a good chance that it would fall apart quickly, faced with a public that doesn't want to hang in there, with a media that might be dismissive and, in the case of Fox "news," derisive, with an apathetic lump of shit in the White House going golfing during the whole thing, with corporate and business leaders and Republicans declaring it a "socialist revolution" or some such shit.

Yeah, the good guys might not win, but even when they fail, at least they can say they gave it a shot. At least they found some way to find meaning and community in a time of cruelty and division. At least they laid a foundation for some future action.

Or we can all go back to where we came from.

The Sunday Talking About Stuff Show

Britain's man in the US says Trump is 'inept': Leaked secret cables from ambassador say the President is 'uniquely dysfunctional and his career could end in disgrace'

• EXCLUSIVE: Sir Kim Darroch used secret cables to impugn Trump's character
• Top diplomat warned London President Trump's career could end in 'disgrace'
• Bombshell comments risk angering the notoriously thin-skinned US President
• He describes bitter conflicts in White House as 'knife fights', sources confirmed
• And claims President's economic policies could wreck the world trade system

Says Presidency could 'crash and burn', 'we could be at start of downward spiral'

The British Trade Minister is going to be issuing an apology to Ivanka Trump and the entire Trump administration after memos leaked this weekend showed the minister referring to Ivanka and the administration as both “inept” and dysfunctional.” These were official diplomatic cables that were issued in 2017, but they are just now being seen by the public. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://thehill.com/policy/international/451934-british-minister-to-apologize-to-ivanka-trump-for-leaked-diplomatic
 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7220335/Britains-man-says-Trump-inept-Cables-ambassador-say-dysfunctional.html

Black Voters Abandon Joe Biden After Kamala Harris Embarrasses Him

Joe Biden’s incredibly weak performance in the first debate has been causing him to lose support over the last week, but the biggest drop in support comes from African American voters.

Biden’s support from that demographic has been cut in half in the past 7 days after he was humiliated on stage by opponent Kamala Harris.

Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses what’s happening in the primary, and why Biden is in more trouble than he thinks.

What To Expect At Donald Trump's America Is So Great ExMAGAganza

Posted by Rude One

From a press release from the Department of the Interior regarding the 4th of July Celebration of resident Trump:

This year's annual Independence Day celebration on the National Mall will feature music, flyovers, fireworks, and an address by resident Donald J. Trump. The America Is So Great ExMAGAganza will show the proper way to honor Donald Trump, including each of the nation’s five service branches with music, military demonstrations, multiple flyovers including a flight demonstration by the Blue Angels, and much more. The theme is "Trump Is Awesome."

The Navy's Blue Angels will do a flyover. In honor of resident Trump, they will fly in a newly-created formation called "The Sky Pussy" where five of the jets create the shape of a vulva overhead. A sixth jet moves in close to the Sky Pussy for a maneuver named "the Grabber 180." The Grabber jet quickly moves in and out of the Sky Pussy, at which point the Sky Pussy jets emit special pink contrails as an indication that the Sky Pussy loved being touched by the Grabber.

The National America Is So Great ExMAGAganza Parade will be a celebration of all the things that Donald Trump has made great. It will feature floats showing President Trump shaking hands with Kim Jong-Un while starving North Koreans cheer for them as soldiers point guns on the citizens. Another float will feature a performer dressed like Saudia Arabia's Prince Mohammed bin Salman juggling the body parts of murdered journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He'll be standing on the throats of Saudi women while doing it. A marching band will play the Russian national anthem while the Marine Silent Drill Team shows off its precision moves, culminating in a "Salute to Putin and Friendship," where everyone drops their pants and pisses on each other.

The parade will also feature caged migrants on a flatbed. This display will demonstrate how the United States under resident Trump is treating migrants seeking asylum better than they were being treated in their own countries. People in attendance will be cautioned not to hand them soap or toothbrushes or even a stuffed animal for one of the children. You never know how the caged migrant will act if they receive minimal amounts of human compassion.

When the parade reaches the VIP area, t-shirt cannons will be fired by National Guard members, but they will be filled with wads of cash in a demonstration of resident Trump's tax cut. Any money not picked up by the VIPs will be given directly to resident Trump.

One float will just be Brett Kavanaugh drinking beer. The real Brett Kavanaugh in his Supreme Court robes. Just enjoying beer. He likes beer.

Before resident Trump speaks, the American National Anthem will be played. Anyone caught kneeling, not singing, or not crying tears of patriotic joy will be immediately arrested. The subject of resident Trump's speech will be a totally nonpolitical look back on how much better the country is now that he's president. He will totally nonpolitically talk about how the press is the enemy of the people and that Democrats want open borders and crime and violence. Then he will totally nonpolitically mock Nancy Pelosi and the U.S. Women's Soccer Team as not being bangable enough for him. Finally, resident Trump will totally nonpolitically name his daughter as his Vice Presidential running mate. "And what a mate she'll be," the resident will say as a weeping Mike Pence still stands by his side.

Two fireworks displays will light up the DC skies. The first is themed "Look at This Shit Blow Up, Iran," and it will be an imitation of the annihilation that awaits Iran if it doesn't live up to its part of the nuclear deal that the United States withdrew from. The second will be "I Like Big Boom," and resident Trump will point and nod in imitation of an idiot while the First Lady looks on uncomfortably smiling, as if asking for the sweet kiss of death.

At the end, resident Trump will go fuck a tank and command the heads of the five branches of the military to all make out with each other while he does it. A blood orgy on the mall will ensue among the onlookers when Jerry Falwell, Jr. cuts open a donkey in symbolic murder of a Democrat. He will fellate the disembodied donkey dick while blood pours onto the audience, driving them into a savage frenzy of fucking and murder that will dye the reflecting pool as red as a MAGA hat.

So bring the whole family.

The Park Service has already said that the biggest crowd in the history of Independence Day is attending the Donald Trump's America Is So Great ExMAGAganza, and you were there, even if you weren't.

Donald Trump Plans To Use Military To Hijack 4th Of July Celebration In Washington D.C.

Donald Trump is planning to misuse the nation's military as a prop at the nation's Independence Day celebration on the National Mall in Washington D.C., turning the event into a partisan campaign event!

The Return Of The Detective-Resident

Ivanka Trump tried to talk to world leaders at G20 Summit. The viral video is hard to watch

By Marissa Higgins

French President Emmanuel Macron, U.K Prime Minister Theresa May, International Monetary Fund Chair Christine Lagarde, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are having a conversation, seemingly about “social justice.” Nothing too surprising there, given that they’re at a political summit.

The seemingly innocuous conversation goes awry, however, when Ivanka tries to join their talk. 

Watch below, with a special focus on Lagarde’s expression:



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/30/1868497/-Ivanka-Trump-tried-to-talk-to-world-leaders-at-G20-Summit-The-viral-video-is-hard-to-watch

Mueller to testify publicly on July 17th

Special counsel Robert Mueller will publicly testify in front of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees on July 17 following a subpoena, the panels' chairmen said Tuesday.

"Pursuant to subpoenas issued by the House Judiciary and House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence tonight, Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III has agreed to testify before both Committees on July 17 in open session," Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), the chairman of the Judiciary panel, and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the chairman of the Intelligence panel, said in a joint statement issued late Tuesday.

"Americans have demanded to hear directly from the Special Counsel so they can understand what he and his team examined, uncovered, and determined about Russia's attack on our democracy, the Trump campaign's acceptance and use of that help, and President Trump and his associates' obstruction of the investigation into that attack," Nadler and Schiff said.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mueller-to-testify-publicly-on-july-17/ar-AADqkqO

The Resident Of The United States Is Likely A Rapist And Nothing Is Being Done About That

Posted by Rude One

I believe, as I have believed for a long time, that Donald Trump is a rapist. The allegations by E. Jean Carroll of Trump raping her in the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman are horrifying, and, in any sane country, they would be the end of Trump's residency. But we don't like in anything like a sane country anymore. We are on a steep incline now, heading faster and faster into a darkness at the end of it. Each event and allegation that we simply overlook or ignore speeds us down, and, at some point, we're not going to be able to grab onto the ground to stop our fall. It's always going to get worse, it seems.

Because every day provides evidence of this, this afternoon, in a comment on Carroll's allegations, Trump made it worse. Talking to the Hill, the resident of the United States said this about a respected writer who accused him of rape: "I’ll say it with great respect: Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?"

Think about that. Sitting in the Oval Office, the center of power for supposedly the most powerful person in the world, the first thing our president wanted us to know is that his alleged rape victim wasn't his type. At best, that means Trump doesn't like strong, self-possessed women. At worst (and most likely), it means she wasn't fuckable enough for him to rape. It was more important to him for us to hear that he has a certain taste in women than it was that he didn't rape Carroll. Putting aside the truth of the allegation, you have to be an essentially terrible man to open with a judgment on how hot your rape accuser is. (And Trump has used the "not my type" reasoning often, even talking about Stormy Daniels.) And a whole lot of people are going to believe Trump on that. I've already had people send me tweets and messages saying that Carroll wasn't attractive enough for the obviously too handsome Donald Trump, as if that really matters in any way when it comes to rape.

I believe Carroll for many reasons. I know and trust two people who know Carroll, and they say they believe her. I believe her because I know many women from Carroll's generation and the nightmare of sexism and assault they had to negotiate just to work in their chosen fields. Talk to many women who were grad students or became university professors in the 1960's and 1970's or even the 1980's, as they infiltrated the old boys networks at supposedly liberal colleges. It wasn't a minefield. It was a full-on battle.

For decades, Carroll has had an incredibly successful career as a writer, as a beloved advice columnist, as a trusted figure in the lives of many people, especially women. To just make this story up now does her no good; in fact, if she were lying, she would torch her entire life's work. And she didn't need a fake Trump story (or a fake story of any of the men she writes about) in her forthcoming book to make it successful. Her thousands of readers would likely have done that anyway. She knew that she was going to get a buzzsaw of hatred and condemnation coming at her, and it's already happening.

On the socials, the right wing commentariat are saying that Carroll discredited herself this evening on CNN in an interview with Anderson Cooper. It was a fascinating appearance, with Carroll refusing to play the part of the tearful victim. She was bitingly witty with an awareness and sensitivity to women who have experienced more violent sexual assaults than she did. I'm sure that her attitude is going to confound a whole lot of sexists and Trump apologists, but they don't get to say how a woman processes her rape. She wants to own this story, although I'm sure she knows that that is going to be impossible now. I'm betting she's getting rape and death threats constantly. That's how we live now.

One of the most depressing things Carroll told Cooper is that she believes all the accusations of sexual assault against Donald Trump actually helped his candidacy. She told a story about being out to dinner with George McGovern when Bill Clinton's affairs were being revealed in 1992 (this was prior to Paula Jones and allegations of sexual misconduct). McGovern said it would help Clinton because it makes him seem more virile and manly to many people. Carroll said she thinks the same thing happened with Trump, that it made him seem like he was so masculine that he could take any woman he wanted, and that he could have sex with anyone, like porn stars, and then pay them off. That sadly makes sense, considering his supporters.

Today, I was talking to a young woman who is a Trump voter. She was trying to tell me he was a good person because he once had his limo pull over and had his employee help her mom and aunt change a flat tire and then he paid off her aunt's mortgage. I said, "Maybe, but he's a rapist." She said she didn't know what I was talking about. I repeated, "He's a rapist. He's been credibly accused of rape. More than once." She dismissed it with a wave of her hand, saying that "people just want to hurt him." I tried to point out that no one accused Barack Obama of rape (except, you know, deranged people). She didn't care. "They're all just jealous of Trump," she said.

It doesn't matter. No one is going to do anything. The New York Times and other news outlets buried the story, although the Washington Post featured it prominently. Fox "news" doesn't have anything on its website. The New York Post was ordered to scrub it from their site. I don't know how many days this story will stay alive, what with Trump's abuse of child migrants and war mongering with Iran also dominating the news.

I believe Carroll. I believe other women who have alleged that Trump assaulted them. I believe Ivana Trump when she said under oath that Trump raped her when they were married. I believe the president is a rapist, that our nation is being led by a rapist. And I honestly don't know what to do with that. I don't know what we do with that. This is where our other leaders are supposed to step in and help the country. But, as we slip further down this incline, they aren't trying to toss us ropes to save us. They are sliding with us into that chaotic, dark unknown below.

(Note: If your response to Carroll and the other allegations against Trump is "Yeah, but Bill Clinton..." then you're saying that you think Trump should get away with rape because you believe Clinton got away with rape. So you are a worthless human. Oh, and Clinton isn't president now.)

Susan Collins Gets A Solid Democratic Challenge, At Last

Sara Gideon is eminently qualified to be Maine's next US Senator. And you can bet she won't vote yes for any Trump judges.

Mom. Mainer. Speaker of the Maine House. Sara Gideon is running for U.S. Senate to put Mainers first and defeat Susan Collins. Join our campaign: https://saragideon.com/



https://crooksandliars.com/2019/06/democrat-challenges-susan-collins-last

Yet Another Week In The Stupidverse

Trump talks like a racist, thinks like a racist

Michael Eric Dyson, author of "What Truth Sounds Like," responds to a new Quinnipiac University poll that reports 49% of Americans said they believe resident Donald Trump to be a racist while 47% believe he is not.

Prepare Yourself For The 2020 Version Of Donald Trump - It's Gonna Be WAY WORSE Than 2016!

Brace yourself because the incendiary rhetoric from Donald Trump is going to be ratcheted up to levels we haven't seen before (even from Donald Trump). He is going to have to outdo the wildness of his 2016 campaign performance this time around to satisfy his rabid followers... and we just got a tiny glimpse of it.

Twitter User Bookdigger Jim Pens Unauthorized Bio Of Drumpf And It's Hilarious!

Bookdigger Jim

Twitter user Bookdigger Jim hasn’t seen the sort of hard hitting reporting on drumpf he craves so he created his own tell-all biography of the Orange Julius Caesar.

And it’s a hoot.

First, the original tweet, then a Thread Reader unrolling of the whole piece:

Seeing as how CNN, Newsweek and the New York Times can'™t do any decent reporting on the Trumps, here'™s my puff piece on Donnie:

Donald J. Trump is a privileged and mentally deficient petty conman and all-round shitlord born in 1946. Having inherited a ton of cash but no brains
Bookdigger Jim (@goodoldcatchy) June 15, 2019

Donald J. Trump is a privileged and mentally deficient petty conman and all-round shitlord born in 1946. Having inherited a ton of cash but no brains from his walking psycho’s gun license photo of a father, he spent his formative years punching teachers and diligently fostering a constellation of horrible psychological disorders.

In the early 70's Donald bitched out of Vietnam with leg rot to become a full-time pervert and thieving racist slum lord under the tutelage of his mooching dad.

In 1977, he made a formal commitment to ruin the life of model Ivana Zelnickoya Winklmayr by marrying her. The couple then ruined the lives of three children by creating them.

Around the time these lovebirds were smashing out a string of pointless clones, Donnie was sniffing around the gambling business. He got land in Atlantic City, promptly built fifty mobbed-up casinos on the same street, and ran them into the ground where they mouldered like dusty golden blocks of cheese, tragic monuments to the greed and epic stupidity of a morally and financially bankrupt opportunist.

In the nineties, DJT was so in hock he had less money than any of the minorities he hated but that didn’t stop him tossing bank loans around like confetti at a series of piss-worthless business ventures going into the 2010s. These included an airline, a mortgage company, a cosplay university course, a magazine, a board game, and vodka and steak brands, all of which shit the bed faster than a motel drunk on a suicide booze jaunt to Ebola Town.

Somewhere along the fucking way, he managed to impregnate one American lady no one remembers and the haunted plastic robot that remains his wife to this day. The resulting offspring have appeared very infrequently, and only in blurry photographs from a distance like the ones of Bigfoot.

In 2016, after years fronting a moistly ego-driven ode to sociopathy called The Apprentice, The Donald was propelled to the White House on a wave of bigotry, Russian propaganda, shit media coverage, apathy, and voter suppression.

He has spent every waking moment since then cheating at golf, tweeting typos on a greasy phone, and struggling with umbrellas while the urine-hued foot-long cotton candy he erroneously refers to as a haircut tries to flee the Chernobyl wildlife autopsy of his vindictively butchered scalp.

Meanwhile, he’s trashed the State Department and EPA while hurling stacks of money at the people who need it the very least. Hate crimes are up, real wages stagnant, and the number of chronically confused dunces braying for a wall about the same as in 2016.

Perhaps they will achieve their goal of creating a vast and oil-filled forced birth pit to roll around in, protected by an ugly circular concrete barrier mounted with cheap machine gun installations and bathed in lung-shredded smog and acid rain. There they will wallow, bellowing hallucinated false claims about pallets of hostage cash and adrenochrome-harvesting pizza joints with fictional basements, riddled with malignant glyphosate tumors and bragging about an extra dollar in their monthly paychecks.

We do not yet know what will become of their mad king Donnie, Prince of Whales, but experts predict he’ll either nuke us all or throw a blood clot around ’21, leaving behind a brittle and shell-shocked country crawling with emboldened crooks and insane conservative judges.

I tried to remain as unbiased as possible in the writing of this article.”

Source

The Brain Eating Zombie Party

Trump campaign fires some of its pollsters after leaks show poor numbers for the resident

resident Donald Trump slammed reports Wednesday that his internal reelection campaign polls show him trailing Democratic front-runner Joe Biden as well as other candidates in the 2020 presidential race.

The very definition of "shooting the messenger"

By Nicole Belle

Image from: DonkeyHotey

Uh oh, someone's having a tantrum this morning...

If you have the unfortunate habit of following Donald Trump on Twitter, it's pretty clear that he's not spending any of his Father's Day with his kids (his official schedule has him playing golf with Lindsey Graham instead). But before he steps out on the green, Trump has spent the better part of the morning lashing out against some of his favorite targets (The New York Times, etc) and insisting that he's very, very popular.

A poll should be done on which is the more dishonest and deceitful newspaper, the Failing New York Times or the Amazon (lobbyist) Washington Post! They are both a disgrace to our Country, the Enemy of the People, but I just can’t seem to figure out which is worse? The good.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

.....news is that at the end of 6 years, after America has been made GREAT again and I leave the beautiful White House (do you think the people would demand that I stay longer? KEEP AMERICA GREAT), both of these horrible papers will quickly go out of business & be forever gone!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

"6 years"????

Happy Father’s Day to all, including my worst and most vicious critics, of which there are fewer and fewer. This is a FANTASTIC time to be an American! KEEP AMERICA GREAT!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 16, 2019

Feel the prickliness of his insistence on his support? The petulance and anger about his popularity?
Donald Trump had a campaign meeting on his re-election campaign and wasn't happy with what his pollsters came up with.

So he fired them.

Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is cutting ties with some of its own pollsters after leaked internal polling showed the president trailing former Vice President Joe Biden in critical 2020 battleground states, according to a person close to the campaign.

The move comes after NBC News obtained new details from a March internal poll that found Trump trailing Biden in 11 key states.

[A] person familiar with the inner workings of the Trump campaign shared more details of the data with NBC News, showing the president trailing across swing states seen as essential to his path to re-election and in Democratic-leaning states where Republicans have looked to gain traction. The polls also show Trump underperforming in reliably red states that haven’t been competitive for decades in presidential elections.

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/elections/2019/06/16/donald-trump-campaign-fires-pollsters-after-leaks-show-poor-numbers/1472542001/

Here’s The REAL REASON Sarah Sanders Is Leaving The Trump Administration

Trump’s New Greaseball Hairdo Sparks Amazing Online Ridicule

When Donald Trump took the stage briefly to pay respects to victims in Virginia, he was sporting a new hairdo that left the internet laughing for days. His usually fluffy hair was slicked back, making him look like his grease ball sons, and the internet immediately let him know how ridiculous he looked.

But the hair may have been the least of his concerns, as his entire outfit came fresh off the golf course, showing that the president couldn’t even be bothered to change before this solemn event. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://www.thedailybeast.com/hairstylists-react-to-donald-trumps-slick-american-psycho-hair

Trump: Let's Do Some Collusion, Motherfuckers

Posted by Rude One

resident Chucklefuck McBloatface had multiple reasons for telling ABC News's George Stephanopoulos that he'd gobble up information from a foreign government about his political opponent in 2020 like an eager cum whore swallows jizz at a Pride Month circle jerk.

First, if he said that he'd go to the FBI, he'd be admitting that he or Jared "Dead Boy Eyes" Kushner or "good young man" Donald Trump, Jr., did something wrong when they were offered (checks notes) information from a foreign government about his political opponent in 2016. And this vile shithead would never say he was wrong.

This is part of the strategy of declaring, repeatedly, that what was laid out in the Mueller report wasn't a crime on the Trump campaign's part, that whether or not there was "collusion" was besides the point.

A few months ago, Rudy Giuliani, pausing while drinking the blood of an infant, stated flatly that taking information from a foreign government, even if that information was stolen, was not criminal. The only reason Mueller didn't charge Dead Eyes or Good Young Man with a crime is because he's pretty sure they were too fucking stupid to know that what they were doing by meeting with Russians was a crime.

One thing Trump said was kind of interesting. He compared getting this information to "oppo research," and that's led throbbing assholes like Lindsey Graham to speciously compare it to the Steele dossier, which brought the connection between Trump and Russia to the FBI's attention (via John McCain). While trying to split this really wide hair (research on an opponent that a candidate contracts someone to do is not the same as Syria showing up and saying, "I've got emails we stole. Let's have a secret meeting and boogie"), Trump said, "I would guarantee you that 90 percent, could be 100 percent, of the congressmen or the senators over there, have had meetings--if they didn’t they probably wouldn’t be elected-- on negative information about their opponent." When pressed by Stephanopoulos on even if the meetings were with agents of foreign countries, Trump said, "Possibly. Possibly. But they don’t call the FBI. You don’t call the FBI every time you hear something that maybe--now, you see the people."

Now, you could look at this as Trump covering his ass after he said he'd commit a crime. But another way to see that comment on members of Congress is as a threat. Because if the only people who can do anything to stop him are in Congress, then you can sure as shit bet that he's gonna let them know that they're gonna go down with him if they gun for him on this. Yeah, I think that was a warning that he's got the goods on (most likely) Republicans and the help they've gotten from other nations. I think that was him saying that they better build a wall with their bodies around him or he'll burn it all down before he takes the fall.

Of course, Trump was also announcing to the world that he's open for business. "C'mon, China and Russia, grab me by the pussy," Trump was saying, "I love it." You only do that shit if you're already in so far deep that it doesn't fucking matter anymore. And you're an idiot. So it's clearly Trumpian.

A couple of Republicans have spoken out to say, "Well, gee, that's not right." And Democrats have fumed a mighty fume and even tried to get a law passed that did something that doesn't matter because it was blocked by sentient turd pile Mitch McConnell.

That last part is particularly galling because Democrats should be going to fucking war today. See, one other thing that Trump did in the interview that hasn't really been reported is that he once again accused Hillary Clinton and Democrats of committing crimes. Yeah, that's right. Right after admitting that he didn't give a shit if he or any politician breaks the law, he got all self-righteous about Clinton again.

In one of his verbal diarrhea blasts, Trump said, "She deleted 33,000 emails from--sent by the United States Congress. They gave a subpoena to Hillary Clinton for 33,000 emails. After the subpoena was gotten, she deleted them. That’s called obstruction. And her lawyer should also be looked at because her lawyer--she’s got to have the greatest lawyer on earth because she does that, he did the deleting, supposedly. Not only did they delete, but they acid washed them."

We don't need to go through all the lies in that. And while Trump didn't specifically say that Clinton should be in jail, he did tell Stephanopoulos, "If you did that, you would’ve been put in jail."

Jesus fuck, Democrats, at least have the guts to defend your own.

(Note: If your reaction to this is that the United States interferes in foreign elections and we're just getting payback, well, you are so very smart. Have a cookie. And shut the fuck up because a whole hell of a lot of us think that meddling in other countries' elections is wrong no matter who does it.) 

Trump Is FLIPPING OUT About His Campaign's Internal Polls That Say Several Dems Are Beating Him!

Donald Trump has reportedly instructed campaign officials to lie about polling numbers which indicate that several Democrats would crush him if the election were held today!

Donald Trump Plans To "Sue Democrats" If He Is Impeached!

In (yet another) display of total ignorance of basic U.S. civics, Donald Trump keeps telling staffers and advisors that he will "sue" the Democrats if they begin impeachment proceedings.

Trump says he would listen if foreigners offered dirt on opponents - Trump Admits He's A Criminal

In a stunning admission, the resident told ABC News that he has no problem accepting dirt on a political opponent from a foreign power. In fact, Trump denied that foreign help should even be considered election interference.

During an interview with George Stephanopoulos for ABC News, Donald Trump said that he would take information from a foreign country if he felt that it could help his campaign and that no one in their right minds would contact the FBI. He contradicted himself multiple times in the short interview, but the bottom line is that he’s now willing to admit that he’d absolutely accept illegal foreign help for his campaigns. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



Donald Trump is a menace and it seems Republicans don't care and Democrats lack the fortitude to stop him. He told George Stephanopoulos that, not only is the FBI Director WRONG, but that if he's approached by a foreign operative with dirt on an opponent, he would take the meeting and the information they have to offer!







resident Donald Trump may not alert the FBI if foreign governments offered damaging information against his 2020 rivals during the upcoming presidential race, he said, despite the deluge of investigations stemming from his campaign's interactions with Russians during the 2016 campaign.

Asked by ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos in the Oval Office on Wednesday whether his campaign would accept such information from foreigners - such as China or Russia - or hand it over the FBI, Trump said, "I think maybe you do both."

Hosts: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian

 Cast: Cenk Uygur, Ana Kasparian



https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/exclusive-trump-says-he-would-listen-if-foreigners-offered-dirt-on-opponents/ar-AACMWHP

Mitch McConnell Is Blocking Efforts To Prevent Russian Election Interference In 2020!

Mitch McConnell is running interference for Donald Trump and Russia by blocking every bill aimed at curbing Russian election meddling in the 2020 presidential election!

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell keeps blocking bipartisan efforts to protect our election systems from outside interference, both foreign and domestic. And now we know why. According to a new report by Sludge, McConnell has been taking in a boat load of cash from lobbyists who represent voting machine manufacturers, and they understand that additional security is going to cost their industry tons of money, if not entirely dismantle their businesses. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this new report.

Fake News

How Payday Lenders Spent $1 Million At A Trump Resort — And Cashed In

At the Trump Doral outside Miami, payday lenders celebrated the potential death of a rule intended to protect their customers. They couldn’t have done it without resident Donald Trump and his latest deregulator, Kathleen Kraninger.

Payday lenders switched their trade show to a Trump hotel and sent Trump at least a million bucks, then he gave them carte blanche to make billions preying on poor people

 https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-payday-lenders-spent-1-million-at-a-trump-resort-and-cashed-in

Jared Kushner REFUSES To Commit To Calling The FBI If Russia Tries To Interfere In The 2020 Election!

Watch Jared Kushner simply refusing to answer whether he will call the FBI (or other authorities) if he is contacted by a hostile foreign power with offers of campaign assistance in 2020!

EPIC FAIL! Jared Kushner Refuses To Say That Birtherism Is Racist!

Jared Kushner further cemented himself as an amoral coward when he refused to directly answer YES or NO when asked by Jonathan Swan of Axios whether or not birtherism is racist.

Trump Wants To Change Libel Laws Because People Make Fun Of Him

Recently, Donald Trump suggested (not for the first time) that the libel laws in the United States needed to be changed.

He’s mad that people make fun of him on Twitter, and he’s always holding his grudge against the media who he claims are “fake news.”

But he doesn’t realize how screwed he would be if libel laws changed because he’s one of the most libelous people in this country. Ring of Fire’s Farron Cousins discusses this.



https://lawandcrime.com/opinion/trump-just-suggested-we-change-libel-laws-he-has-no-idea-how-bad-that-would-be-for-him/

Mueller Speaks