Still waiting...
Gloria asked me to tell her HOW I KNEW that Trump was bad.
I replied with the list below and I'm still waiting for Gloria or anyone else to respond, either to query any of the statements or to suggest a valid reason why any sane person would seriously consider voting for this man, even if only a fraction of the statements are true.
Harambe 'respected' me so much that he said he wouldn't even read the list because I didn't provide sources. My own feeling is that the vast majority of my 'claims' are so well-known and have never been debunked that they don't need sources, but if you really want to query any of them and are too lazy to google them yourself, then I'll go do the digging for you.
NB these are just the things I came up with off the top of my head. There are more - many more!
1. Documented stories from his family members that he was a nasty little bully from a young age.
2. The famous bone spurs which allowed him to skip the draft. notably he could easily prove that story false by providing X-Rays.
3. Association with the monstrous Jeffrey Epstein over a number of years including confirmation that he travelled seven times (at least) on Epstein's private plane. Ironically he and his campaign staff were back on that same plane last week.
"I’ve known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy," Trump told New York Magazine in 2002 for a story headlined "Jeffrey Epstein: International Moneyman of Mystery." "He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life."
There are multiple photos of Trump and melania partying with Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell
3. His own wife made a police report accusing him of rape, Now which one was it - he's had so many. Oh yes, Ivana, the one who mysteriously fell down the stairs and died from blunt force injuries, She would be the one who is buried in an unmarked grave on one of his golf courses. And yes I know the rape charge was withdrawn - strategically as part of the divorce settlement.
4. Trump mocked a disabled New York Times reporter in front of a crowd, saying, "Now the poor guy, you ought to see this guy," before jerking his arms around and holding his right hand at an angle. He imitated the reporter, saying, "‘Ah, I don’t know what I said! I don’t remember!’"
5. Said (on more than one occasion) when praising his daughter Ivanka's looks that if she weren't his daughter he would be dating her.
6. Numerous hateful, racist and xenophobic comments about Mexicans, immigrants, and people from shithole countries.
7. Boasted of grabbing women by the pussy.
8. refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and incited an insurrection. Even if you dispute that, he sat in the White House for three hours watching the riot unfold on TV and did nothing
9. Abused the pardon power to get a number of his cronies off serious criminal charges.
10. Convicted in court of massive business fraud - more than half a billion dollars - enough to send most people to jail for a long time.
11. Yet to be adjudicated, but the evidence is certainly very strong - stole national secrets, stored them in insecure locations, moved them around, hid them from investigators, lied about having them, pressured his lawyers to lie about them too.
Minor stuff really.
12. Made up childish nicknames for his political rivals.
13. When neo-Nazis marched at Charlotteville chanting "Jews shall nor replace us!" Trump said there were very fine people on both sides.
14. called the Georgia Secretary of State and pressured him to 'Just 'find' 11,780 votes.
15. Circumstantial but hey, birds of a feather, about a dozen of his cronies and former officials have been found guilty of serious crimes.
16. Also circumstantial I guess - out of 44 former Cabinet Secretaries 40 have refused to endorse him in this election. I wonder why?
17. Downplayed COVID, mocked mask-wearing and generally mismanaged the COVID response, potentially causing hundreds of thousands of deaths.
18. Insulted war hero John McCain. "I like people who weren't captured.
19 Demeaned US servicemen as suckers and losers.
20. Claimed the Medal of Freedom (civilian) was much better than the Medal of Honor (military) because MoH recipients were shot up or dead. The recipient of the MoF was a major donor to his campaign!
21. Trump denounced Megyn Kelly, a respected journalist as a "lightweight," and notoriously said there was "blood coming out of her wherever" during her unblinking questioning of the then-GOP hopeful.
22. Offensive and racist remarks about the Gold Star Khan family whose son had been killed in Afghanistan.
23. Claiming that a native-born judge was treating him unfairly because 'He's a Mexican.'
24. Virtually the whole Trump family are not allowed to set up or operate any charity in new York because, you know, they just take the money raised for themselves.
25. Oh dear, I haven't really scratched the surface yet. Did I mention the fraudulent university, the stiffing of contractors, the refusal to rent apartments to people of colour, the fact that he is a fat, sneering, smug, narcissistic POS, the lies, the goddamn lies the pretend religiosity...
RE: Still waiting...
Well, well, kiwi, you've just listed the qualities/accolades of a saint--ahem.
There is no sane/credible counter to your argument--though some wil/may try.
The incredible thing is that half my nation is seriously considering re-voting for this jerk/exaggerating loon as our next president, like his previous regime wasn't warning/evidence enough that his horendous policies only favor the socio-economic elite of our society, and the rest of the sane world knows he's a nutcase.
If you're a praying man, pray for us!
You may wait till hell freezes over, my friend, but you'll get no sane rebuttals.
For the sake of your mental health, thank your lucky stars for that.
RE: Still waiting...
Thank you, Go, for stating the obvious.
Almost as if they are afraid of facing the truth because that would mean having to admit that they have been wrong.
RE: Still waiting...
Steve, I was looking for a deeper reach into how you KNOW Trump is bad. I would have picked one event, ie January 6th and explored it in detail. Instead you presented the same old list of things most of us have known for years followed by a bunch of insults.
But if we're going to play whataboutism here is a quick list on Biden:
Biden's racism is more veiled than Trump's, but no less real.
https://truthout.org/articles/bidens-racism-is-more-veiled-than-trumps-but-no-less-real/
Biden falsely claimed he attended law school on a full academic scholarship.
https://www.politifact.com/article/2020/may/07/ad-watch-fact-checking-video-about-bidens-academic/
Biden, like Trump, received five draft deferments from the Vietnam War and he never served.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2020/09/16/fact-check-biden-received-multiple-draft-deferments-vietnam/5809482002/
Biden claimed he was a "full professor" at the University of Pennsylvania for four years. He was paid $900,000 but was never a full professor.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/biden-professor-university-pennsylvania/
Joe Biden's little brother received a $1.5B contract in Iraq while Biden was VP
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/beltway-confidential/1994106/1-5b-contract-in-iraq-for-bidens-little-brother-exposes-obama-ahead-of-debate/
Seven women said Joe Biden made them feel uncomfortable with "affectionate" touching.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/04/joe-biden-inappropriate-touching-accusations-list.html
A sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden has ignited a firestorm of controversy
https://www.vox.com/2020/3/27/21195935/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation
Then U.S. Senator Joe Biden withdrew from the 1988 presidential race after admitting to plagiarism.
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/joe-biden-plagiarism/
Biden claimed to have graduated in the top half of his class at law school. He later admitted that he graduated 76th in a class of 85.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/bidens-bogus-college-claim-just-195655336.html
Biden blamed his disastrous debate performance on jet lag even though he had arrived home 12 days before the debate.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/biden-says-nearly-fell-asleep-015555036.html
It might be time for some policy debates, yes?
RE: Still waiting...
Gloria, this simply doesn't cut it!
You asked how I knew Trump was bad and I gave you the first 25 snippets I thought of. just because some of them are from years ago doesn't make them any less real as evidence of Trump's unsuitability.
And why are you even bringing Biden into the conversation, especially if you want to claim he is racist because he worked with racist Republican Senators? One of his claims to fame is that he was able to get legislation passed by working with those on the other side of the aisle.
Trump is a criminal - proven several times over with even more egregious charges still pending. Just say whether you think electing a criminal is a fine idea, yes or no.
There are policies and I would be prepared to argue that Biden/harris policies are far better than Trump policies, but really, why should I? If I can't even get supposedly reasonable people here to accept that electing a conman and a liar and a rapist should not be on the ballot for this position then the world has gone crazy.
RE: Still waiting...
Steve obviously is incapable of reading or adapting his arguments in the face of thoroughly documented and cited critique of his claims, which both myself and others provided earlier, regarding use of pet names and facts. This is why on the record I am no longer engaging with him, and he'll end up just hearing the sound of his own voice in the forum, perhaps echoed by his alter-ego.
RE: Still waiting...
I guess you're voting for the rapist then. Glad you made that clear.
You speak of respect, but when I posted evidence of Trump's egregious comments and behaviour you wouldn't even read them because I didn't cite sources. Where is the respect there? You are basically saying I am a liar when perhaps it's more a matter that you can't handle the truth.
As I said before I am more than happy to provide sources and further evidence if you genuinely think there is any dispute.
I also said that, as to the subjects under discussion, I will respect anyone other than Trump who has consistently shown that HE doesn't respect anyone or anything or even the position he once held. He is an abomination and doesn't deserve my respect.
Have a lovely day everybody!
RE: Still waiting...
>> guess you're voting for the rapist then <<
That's exactly what I mean. There is no basis for your comment. I have never supported Trump and never voted for Trump, and your assertion lacks evidence. You're just trying to bring me down to your level. We're done here. If you want to engage with me, join one of the many political writing contests I sponsor on the site. Goodbye.
RE: Still waiting...
Steve, I am opposed to octogenarians serving in government at all. Besides being incredibly greedy, most old people are not capable of doing the job.
An interesting exercise for you would be to write an op-ed illustrating how alike Biden and Trump actually are. Both are men are from the same generation, both angry because they feel they have been underestimated. Both are men who avoided the draft and embellished their academic records. Both have a visceral dislike of each other that beggars reason.
I think if you explored that theme you might learn something interesting. That would be an interesting read.
RE: Still waiting...
So I am mildly amuse slightly bemused and totally confused as to how apparently intelligent folks can read what I have written and still do not get the point.
I do not want to write about Biden. The only reason I may have written about him previously is to indicate that with all his faults he is a thousand times preferable to Trump.
And no, Gloria, this is not a bloody writing exercise where I want to write something interesting! Compare Trump and Biden as if there were some sort of equality between them? You must be out of your mind!
The only reason I have to write here at all is to try to convey something that seems to be fairly important to me, but which most here seem totally impervious - that Trump is an existential danger - to his political opponents and to anyone else he has a grudge against, to the Us and therefore to the world.
The word existential is thrown around a little carelessly perhaps. Shall I explain it? If he somehow regains power - and sober experts tell us the race is still on a knife edge - our very existence will be under threat.
You will think I am over-reacting. Far more qualified people than me are making the same argument. Look at the sheer number of eminent psychologists warning us of his mental disorders, listen to Rachel Maddow, read Ruth Ben Ghiat, take note of George Conway...
I'm done. I sincerely believe that Trump will lose the election and that the loss will spark a major mental crisis which could lead to another attempted coup or attempted suicide or possibly confinement to an institution.
Of course it is also possible that the meltdown occurs before the election. Interestingly nobody seems to be considering this - not publicly at least. I have no idea what the political and legal ramifications would be if one candidate is forced out of the race at the eleventh hour.
RE: Still waiting...
Steve, every chance I have to vacate my mind, I take. The mind is like a steel cage, diesel-fueled with facts, social norms and expectations. That reminds me of another thing Biden and Trump have in common: a one-term presidency. The major difference being that Biden added a paltry $5 trillion to the accumulated debt which is a weak performance when compared to Trump who added a record $8 trillion.
Be a good sport and tell us why a significant number of Americans are still prepared to vote for Trump despite his criminal charges and moral flaws? I have some ideas about that, do you?
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