Not by itself but toss in the MAGA dogwhistle…
Ruppert Murdoch is poison to democracy. Rush Limbaugh and his AM radio copiers get a big assist here. Just toxic people spewing hate.
His only adherence to anything was whether he thought it would benefit himself.
ISTR seeing an interview with Trump from back in the '80s (I think). He looked pretty young, anyway. He was asked about universal health care, and he said it was a good idea. I believe he was asked who would pay four it, and he said the government should pay for it. I could not find the interview.
Also, Trump contributed to Hillary Clinton, the Clinton Foundation, and Kamala Harris. In 2001, he gave Biden $1,000. Cite.
Of course, the president’s past contributions to Democrats are nothing new…
Trump himself has defended his donations to Democrats on much the same grounds: as simple realpolitik for a New York City real estate developer.
“Everyone’s Democratic,” he told Sean Hannity in 2011, when he was weighing a White House challenge to President Barack Obama. “So what am I going to do, contribute to Republicans? … I mean, one thing I’m not stupid.”
So yeah, he espoused Liberal positions when it was good for his image, and because it was a good business decision. He has only one belief, and it is Himself.
That tweet is misleading. Someone asked “Is Michael Cohen a liar?” Then someone else asked about him testifying. Trump’s response is “I have a gag order as to that first question”. So he is obeying the gag order here because he can’t say shit about Cohen. The things Trump actually says are bad enough. It’s a disservice to mispresent him and give ammo to the other side who believe the truth is fake news.
So that’s the reason the officer behind him and to the left is wearing a mask. Now we know.
The one on the right looks like he’s just starting to think, “Oh, dear God, everything the sergeant told me was true…”
Reporter: Are you going to testify?
Trump: I have a gag order. I’m not allowed to answer that question
The judge needs to explain to Trump again on Monday just what the gag order says. And explain again that the gag order does not stop him from testifying in his own defense. Nor does it stop him from answering questions about it. And ask Trump directly if he understands.
Taken out of context. See:
The judge has done that how many times now? Maybe it’s time to ask Trump what he thinks the gag order allows him to do and what it does not allow him to do, and go from there. If Trump starts in on not being allowed to testify, election interference because he can’t talk about anything at his few campaign events, and the First Amendment, then the judge has no choice but to restate everything slowly, in words a six-year-old can understand, and have Trump repeat them back, followed by something like, “I understand,” so it’s on the record.
Jeez, you’d think that Trump is the only defendant in the history of New York State criminal proceedings to be hit with a gag order.
There’s a benefit to pandering to the racists when he was actually running for office. But how does that explain the racism in previous years? Recall that Trump was a major driving force keeping the racist “Birther” nonsense going during Obama’s term of office. Plus things like the newspaper ads about the Central Park 5.
News coverage, attention, building his brand by being an enfant terrible.
Supposing he is genuinely racist, why take out an ad about the Central Park 5? Why would he go out of his way, and spend actual money, to air racist views? He could have shared his opinions with his family over Thanksgiving dinner, like a thousand racist uncles. Trump did more. He must have seen some value in being seen to take that stand. It worked; we are still talking about it, and about him.
“LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! EVERYONE PAY ATTENTION TO ME!”
Mystery solved.
Exactly! "What can I say that will get every newspaper in town writing about me? What do people care about right now? What big news story can I insert myself into the middle of? I’ll call for the death penalty for these criminals that everyone is afraid of. "
I’m at the point where I don’t believe a word out of Trump’s mouth. He says he didn’t sleep with Stormy Daniels, didn’t pay her hush money, or that he will testify at his trial? None of it means anything. Remember that “always be closing” scene from Glengarry, Glen Ross? That’s Trump every waking moment of his life. His every word and action is to shape the attitudes of those around him to get him what he wants.
When I say “I don’t know if he’s racist” I’m not trying to let him off the hook. I think he is utterly devoid of belief and sincerity. My opinion of him can’t really get any lower.
Well, but does it really matter, though? If Trump goes out in front of the reporters and says the gag order prevents him from testifying, or prohibits him watching his favorite movie Bloodsport, or requires him to stick his finger up his asshole while whistling the Colonel Bogey March, while at the same time he otherwise respects the boundaries of the gag order and holds his tongue on the witnesses and so on, does it make any difference? Would the judge even bother trying to horsewhip this manchild into a forced statement of understanding? Or just let him run his idiot mouth, as long as his nonsense stays inside the guardrails?
I believe Trump is sincerely racist because it fits with some easily observable facts about him - he has no intellectual curiosity whatsoever, believes that anything he doesn’t already know isn’t worth knowing, and falls back on rudimentary stereotypes whenever he has to interact with someone different than himself. Thusly, the main way he sees people of other ethnicities is through stereotypes about them. Note, for example, his philosemitism - he believes that Jews are inherently focused on money and are good at getting it and controlling it, that they run major industries behind the scenes, and they’re loyal to Israel first and foremost rather than to the countries they live in, because those are common stereotypes he’s heard about Jews and he has no interest in looking into them further, but he admires those qualities in them because he sees them as successful in a way he wants to be.
You see a little of both sides of this in his interactions with blacks. He believes plenty of negative stereotypes about them - they’re stupid, lazy, violent, incapable of running a country or holding a job, etc., and so dismisses countries with black majorities as “shitholes” and assumes blacks are all criminals who are constantly in and out of jail and live off welfare and are obsessed with flashy material goods like sneakers. However, he also has an obsession with violence and sexual prowess, so he admires the stereotypes of blacks being strong and more sexually desirable than white men. Thus his claim in 1989 that “if I were starting off today I would love to be a well-educated black because I really believe they do have an actual advantage today.” He thinks that blacks get preferential treatment these days because of “affirmative action” and so he fantasizes about being a “well-educated black” because he thinks he’d be able to take advantage of those systems to his personal benefit.
It also fits with his lifelong worship of his father, who was truly a racist sonofabitch. The man was harsh and unloving and cruel to his kids (to the point of driving Trump’s brother to depression and alcoholism that led to his early death), yet, nevertheless, inside Trump is probably a broken little boy who just wants his father’s approval, so he’s consciously modeled himself after his dad. Obviously Donald has taken his father’s teachings about utter ruthlessness in life and business to heart (a documentary I watched years ago said something about Fred Trump telling his kids they can be sharks or they can be eaten, or something like that), and if his father was a monstrous bigot, then by gum that’s the ticket for Donald.
Don’t know if it was this, but you can see him being interviewed about it here, starting around the 13:35 mark — where he says that he’s generally conservative, but “I’m quite liberal, and getting much more liberal, on health care and other things. I really say: what’s the purpose of a country if you’re not going to have defense and health care? If you can’t take care of your sick in the country, forget it! It’s all over! I mean, it’s no good! So I’m very liberal when it comes to health care. I believe in universal health care.” He’s then asked whether he believes “it’s an entitlement of birth,” and replies “I think it is” before adding that, hey, “the fact is, it’s an entitlement to this country, if we’re going to have a great country” and then noting that, after all, “we have the money.”
Terrific post, IMHO. Says it all.
Smapti’s, too. I think you’re both right.