Donald Trump's No Good, Very Bad Campaign (Part XXXIV)

To my Democratic friends, some thoughts:

This fight is far from over and the ugliness ahead will be hard to comprehend. The further Trump's prospects fall, the more dangerous and odious his words will become.

Take nothing for granted, not for the next 80 days, not on Election Day, and not afterward.

We've seen this play before, don't be surprised. Open up your imagination and climb outside the politics you've known your entire careers.

Show imminent respect to those Republicans who've come out in public support of Vice President Harris. They've put everything, everything, on the line for this. Many of them live under constant threat; violent, legal, and professional. We know what happens if Trump wins and have prepared ourselves for that eventuality. Appreciate the effort and the perseverance to do what's best for the country, despite the peril.

Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but I found this:

Big Food, Big Profits, Big Lies

While blaming inflation for rising prices, the country's biggest food and restaurant companies are raking in billions and showering shareholders with payouts.

"Americans spent 25% more on food at the start of 2024 compared to 2020. During that time, the country's ten largest grocery and restaurant brands saw their profits skyrocket. Then they took their fattened profits and collectively spent $77 billion on stock buybacks and dividends to enrich executives and wealthy shareholders. They used inflation as cover to get rich while we paid the tab. Kudos to VP Harris for focusing on corporate price-gouging. This is a big deal." - Robert Reich

#greedflation

Matthew McCaffery
@McCaffery2032

Last night, my family was swatted in what Upper Merion Police are classifying as a politically motivated crime. This happened after I appeared on @CNN, where I discussed my decision not to support Donald Trump.

I want to be clear: these types of attacks are exactly why I'm speaking out against the MAGA wing of my party and why I'm proudly voting for Kamala Harris.

10:12 AM Aug 17, 2024

FTA:

A former Fulton County election official who submitted an initial draft of the rule told ProPublica that she had done so at the behest of a regional leader of a right-wing organization involved in challenging the legitimacy of American election systems. That organization, the Election Integrity Network, is led by Cleta Mitchell, who helped orchestrate attempts to overturn the 2020 election and spoke on the call in which former President Donald Trump demanded that Georgia's secretary of state "find" him 11,780 votes to undo Joe Biden's victory.

The Election Integrity Network's role in bringing forward the proposed rule has not been previously reported.

The State Election Board's Monday meeting comes on the heels of a vote less than two weeks before that empowered county election board members to conduct "reasonable inquiry" into allegations of voting irregularities. That rule did not set deadlines for how long such inquiries might last or describe what they might entail, and critics worried that this omission could cause Georgia to miss the Dec. 11 deadline for sending its certified presidential election results to the federal government.

FTA:

Sixty summers ago, Fannie Lou Hamer told millions of Americans watching the Democratic National Convention that 16 bullets came into her home after she tried to vote in Mississippi.

President Lyndon B. Johnson called a hasty press conference to get television news to cut away from her testimony.

His ploy failed. The evening news featured the sharecropper detailing the violence against her and other Black Mississippians who joined the civil rights movement. "Is this America, the land of the free and the home of the brave where we have to sleep with our telephones off of the hooks because our lives be threatened daily because we want to live as decent human beings, in America?" she asked.

On Aug. 22, the 60th anniversary of that testimony, another Black woman, Kamala Harris, is expected to make history when she takes the stage as the Democratic Party's nominee for President.

PS After the convention I think the next opportunity for Musk's dis/misinformation tactics to help Trump win the election will be when college students go back to school in the fall and whe nprotests over the suffering in Palestine have the potential to become national news again. Outside agitators could stir up violence at those protests, which could then become a flash point for wider violence in the country if what happened in Britian was indeed "a test run" and "the canary in the coalmine." Trump needs something big to change the tragectory of the race and tragically this is just the type of dirty tricks strategy that a man, campaign and party who don't give a damn about the country will gravitate towards in order to retain power at any cost.

I think the upcoming DNC is ripe for this type of disinformation campaign as thousands gather outside of the covention to protest what is happening in Gaza:

How a few Twitter posts on Elon Musk's X helped fan the flames of unrest and rioting across the UK

Social networks can't be blamed for violence, experts say " but they do have a key role in spreading the narratives that allow it to happen

Even before much at all was known about the killings in Southport, online speculation had began. Much of it was false: posts about the attacker's name, and supposed Muslim identity, were trending long before people could know the actual facts.

But they had already done what they needed to. A vast and violent far-right response had been mobilised, and almost a week later has seen towns across the country overtaken by violent riots and disorder. . . .

A large part of the inflammatory misinformation flared up on X, the social media site that is now owned by Elon Musk. In the time since he bought what was then called Twitter, at the end of 2022, both the site and his personal account have been repeatedly criticised for allowing both false and dangerous content to flourish.

Social networks have long built their systems to encourage engagement, which helps bring money, and inflammatory and antagonistic posts have long been a quick way to encourage that engagement. But experts agree that it is very unlikely that misinformation would have spread in the same way as it has done on the old Twitter, before Mr Musk took it over..

"Team Happy vs Team Mad"

I saw someone on Twitter describe it this way: "Happy Warriors vs Jaded Weirdos." I also like Happy Warriors vs Narcissistic -----------.

OPINION: After growing up with Trump chaos and COVID, young people see an optimistic and generous America

If elected, Kamala Harris will be the first post-baby boom president. (Barack Obama was on the cusp.) This really is a passing of the torch. For young Americans, it is a stunning moment " the one where they realize they really are citizens of a great nation.

I can't wait to hear what Morning Mika, who holds a women's conference for her 50 over 50 list each year, has to say about this lastest Vance "bon mot". The more these interviews are uncovered, the more I understand why JD was willing to run with such a womanizer and misogynst as Trump.

Claudio's projection is what's desperate here:

You desperate -------- don't have a leg to stand on.
#32 | Posted by Claudio

Again, your desperation is pathetic.
#82 | Posted by Claudio

Your desperation is pathetic.
#89 | Posted by Claudio

And his penchant for the word -------:

"Is is the Washington Times reporting on PEW RESEARCH -------."

"For me, I TRUST THE SCIENCE. The more liberal you are, the dumber you are and the higher the likelihood you have a mental illness...again, it is just facts -------."

"Trump agreed to take cognitive tests as the POTUS and states all candidates should be required. Yet, Biden refused - we all told you -------- his brain was broken but you were in denial until a month ago."

"You desperate -------- don't have a leg to stand on."

"So, this CA bar that you -------- think is so hard is actually well suited to people with an IQ in ~the top 40% of US adults. That isn't selective."

"In a sample size of 1.3M US lawyers, you think there is a significant skew? Really? You -------- are clueless."

"But, keep projecting -------."

Trump can't read or sit still for very long, which means he could never have gone to law school, did all the course work and then sat through taking the Bar exam.

Don't feed the trolls. Nobody thinks Kamala is stupid. Nobody thinks Trump is smart. He's a ------- moron (according Rex Tillerson) who couldn't sit through the PDBs unless they included pictures and multiple references to himself.

"I am who I am."

-----, the soon to be jailbird man?

FTA:

As a venture capitalist, JD Vance repeatedly touted his guiding principles for investing in a company: A business should not only turn a profit, it should also help American communities.

That's why, he said, he invested in AppHarvest, a startup that promised a high-tech future for farming and for the workers of Eastern Kentucky. Over a four-year span, Vance was an early investor, board member and public pitchman for the indoor-agriculture company.

"It's not just a good investment opportunity, it's a great business that's making a big difference in the world," Vance proclaimed in a Fox Business interview on the day the company went public in February 2021.

Last year, facing hundreds of millions of dollars in debt, AppHarvest declared bankruptcy.

The rise and fall of the company, and Vance's role in it, cuts against his image as a champion for the working class--an image that helped catapult him to the top of the Republican ticket as Donald Trump's running mate.

Who believes those numbers? Nobody with any sense.

Plus the icing on the cake is that Res wrote about the incident in a book she wrote and published a few years back.

FTA:

Donald Trump woke up with morning with new polls showing Harris leading nationally and in most swing states, and he had nothing on his schedule for venting other than an early tee time. So he hastily called for a press conference at Mar-a-Lago this morning on Truth Social, and national media dutifully attended with many networks covering it live (sadly).

But it was an embarrassment. A humiliation. A disaster.

Here are 10 clips of some of the biggest lowlights:

Trump holds seemingly pointless press conference filled with false claims

This is false, he was given the rank, signed the paperwork, to upon condition of completing training for the rank.
He chose not to complete the training (780hrs), thus it was rescinded. Achieving the rank would be completing the training necessary.
It's not complicated, and it's not that he did anything wrong.
OTHER THAN USE THE RANK he didn't achieve for self promotion and career embellishment.
#168 | Posted by oneironaut

That's not what the MNG said:

By the time Walz left the military, he achieved the rank of command sergeant major, one of the top ranks for an enlisted soldier. Personnel file records show that he was reduced in rank months after retiring, leaving him as a master sergeant for benefits purposes.

Capt. Holly Rockow, a public affairs officer for the Minnesota National Guard, said it is legitimate for Walz to say he served as a command sergeant major. She said the rank changed because Walz retired before completing coursework at the U.S. Army Sergeants Major Academy along with other requirements associated with his promotion.

IOW, Walz did serve as a command sergeant major, but because he retired before he finished the coursework that was also required for that position before he retired, he doesn't get the pension associated with that position.

#131 | Posted by Gal_Tuesday at 2024-08-08

FTA:

A specific but ill-informed attack on the new Minnesota law is in dire need of a reality check. Critics contend, wrongly, that it mandates menstrual products in boys' bathrooms. This has unfortunately been used to stoke ongoing culture wars over transgender individuals.

But the law's actual language provides considerable flexibility for school districts to implement it, according to Deb Henton, the executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators.

That might mean making these products available for free in various locations for all who need them, such as unisex bathrooms, girls' bathrooms, the school nurse or the front office, but not necessarily in boys' bathrooms. Henton, in an interview, lauded the "local control" the law provides for implementation, and said she's fielded no concerns about its rollout.

At Anoka-Hennepin, the state's largest school district, the free products are not found in traditional male-only bathrooms, a spokesman said. But they are provided for free to all in "nongendered bathrooms," girls' bathrooms or from health staffers.

"I could lose my license if I don't provide you with abortion on demand with no restrictions on term."

You think that the MN law says doctors must provide abortions on demand? Link?

Video at link:

Q: Would you direct your FDA to revoke access to the abortion medication Mifepristone?

Trump: You could do things... absolutely. Those things are pretty open