Tag: Donald Turmp

While Fox And Trump Make Stupid Noises, Biden Is Busy Governing

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So it turns out that the whole time Sleepy Joe Biden was hiding in the basement, he was working on a plan to render congressional Republicans irrelevant. Which, for the foreseeable future, they certainly are.

If you don’t remember—why should you?—the GOP literally had no party platform in 2020. It was Trump, Trump, Trump. A cult of personality. What they didn’t count on was a strong majority of Americans being all Trumped-out. And so now they’ve got nothing to talk about.

Except, oh yes, the budget deficit. A deficit that literally tripled on Trump’s watch, leading many to doubt that it was ever such a terrible threat to begin with. Washington Republicans who stood quiet as deficits soared over the past four years are donning green eyeshades and calling themselves “fiscal conservatives” again. Continue reading.

In Capitol, a G.O.P. Crisis. At the R.N.C. Meeting, a Trump Celebration.

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Party members at a gathering of the Republican National Committee endorsed President Trump as the man to lead the party forward, ignoring the turmoil in Washington.

AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. — In Washington, Republicans were dealing with a burgeoning crisis in their ranks, with high-profile resignations and bitter infighting over how to deal with an erratic and isolated president. But at the Republican National Committee’s winter meeting on Friday, most party members were operating in a parallel universe.

In a chandelier-adorned ballroom at the seaside Ritz-Carlton here, there was no mention of President Trump’s disruption of the coronavirus relief package or his phone call to the Georgia secretary of state demanding that he help steal the election, both of which contributed to Republicans’ losing control of the Senate.

And while the R.N.C. chair, Ronna McDaniel, condemned the attack on the Capitol, neither she nor any other speaker so much as publicly hinted at Mr. Trump’s role in inciting a mob assault on America’s seat of government. Continue reading.

Kanye West’s presidential bid bolstered by Republican operatives in at least five states

Washington Post logoOne elector trying to get rapper Kanye West on the presidential ballot in Wisconsin is married to a former chairwoman of a Republican county committee and was photographed with President Trump at his inaugural.

In Arkansas, a Republican operative who signed West’s ballot petition was at one point interviewed to be Trump’s campaign manager for his 2016 bid.

And West’s ballot petition in Ohio was signed by a lawyer who has previously represented state Republican campaign committees. Continue reading.

‘He Lied’: Trump Blows Up After Ohio GM Plant Shuts Down

On the campaign trail, Trump promised voters in Ohio and throughout the midwest that he would save manufacturing jobs. But it turns out that was just another broken promise by a boastful liar.

Instead, an embarrassed Trump melted down this weekend in reaction to a General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio, that recently stopped production.

Trump tweeted Saturday, “Because the economy is so good, General Motors must get their Lordstown, Ohio, plant open, maybe in a different form or with a new owner, FAST!” “G.M. MUST ACT QUICKLY. Time is of the essence!”

View the complete March 18 article by Dan Desai Martin with The American Independent on the National Memo website here.

Trump budget to propose slashing domestic spending, boosting defense

President Trump on Monday will propose major spending cuts across a range of domestic government programs while seeking a large increase for the Pentagon, a budget plan that’s already encountering withering opposition from Democrats who control the House, as well as some Republicans.

The budget has little chance of becoming law because of bipartisan resistance to many of its elements, but it sets forth the White House’s vision ahead of what is expected to be a fierce battle over government spending later this year.

Even with deep spending cuts, the president’s plan would not balance the budget until the mid-2030s, two people briefed on the plan said, falling short of the 10-year time frame that Republicans have sought for years. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plan ahead of its public release.

View the complete March 8 article by Damian Paletta and Erica Werner on The Washington Post website here.

Trump Tarnish On Republican Party Is Indelible

Credit: Spencer Platt, Getty Images

There were no big surprises from Michael Cohen’s recent testimony. Speaking under oath to the House Oversight and Reform Committee, the former fixer to President Donald J. Trump called his longtime boss a “racist,” a “con man” and a “cheat.” But we already knew that, didn’t we?

Indeed, Cohen revealed little that had not been previously reported or even observed. The president’s long-standing practice of stiffing contractors who built his casinos and apartment buildings was the stuff of extensive news media reports before he was elected. And the last year has seen groundbreaking (and disturbing) reports of Trump’s attempts to get projects underway in Russia, which may explain his distressing habit of cozying up to strongman Vladimir Putin. Cohen revealed that Trump may also have committed insurance fraud, but given the president’s extensive record of lying and cheating, that’s hardly a surprise. News reports have already examined his family’s history of cheating on their taxes.

If anything surprised me, it was the depths to which so many Republicans were willing to sink in their efforts to defend a man who is obviously a liar, a cheat and a con man. In his opening statement, Cohen said, “I am ashamed of my weakness and misplaced loyalty — of the things I did for Mr. Trump in an effort to protect and promote him.” How many Republicans will say the same thing in the coming years?

View the complete March 3 article by Cynthia Tucker on the National Memo website here.

Julian Assange has been charged, prosecutors reveal inadvertently in court filing

Prosecutors inadvertently revealed that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, according to a recently unsealed court filing. (Drea Cornejo /The Washington Post)

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged under seal, prosecutors inadvertently revealed in a recently unsealed court filing — a development that could significantly advance the probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election and have major implications for those who publish government secrets.

The disclosure came in a filing in a case unrelated to Assange. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellen S. Dwyer, urging a judge to keep the matter sealed, wrote that “due to the sophistication of the defendant and the publicity surrounding the case, no other procedure is likely to keep confidential the fact that Assange has been charged.” Later, Dwyer wrote the charges would “need to remain sealed until Assange is arrested.”

Dwyer is also assigned to the WikiLeaks case. People familiar with the matter said what Dwyer was disclosing was true, but unintentional.

View the complete November 15 article by Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barret on The Washington Post website here.