This isn’t a news item, but rather an op-ed from Republican political consultant Stuart Stevens. It raises several points I frequently talk about – namely the 2012 GOP autopsy calling for greater inclusion of women and minorities, and the fact that Trump is not an anomaly in the Republican party, but rather the end result of decades of racism, sexism, and xenophobia. It’s a must-read. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/29/opinion/trump-republican-party-racism.html
Trump doesn’t actually read anything he retweets and certainly doesn’t research it. That’s the real reason we’re seeing the situation with Dr. Immanuel right now. It isn’t that Trump knew about her alien DNA ideas. It’s that he had absolutely no idea who she was and couldn’t be bothered to find out. Today, the president hilariously retweeted out an op-ed about DHS activity in Portland. He obviously did not read said op-ed as it calls the administration’s actions illegal and unconstitutional, the beginnings of totalitarianism. Trump had simply searched for Portland, saw there was an article, and retweeted it. This complete lack of intellectual curiosity of effort is how he runs the entire US government.
Trump attacked those who are criticizing the insertion of nearly $2 billion into the Covid-19 aid bill to renovate the FBI headquarters. Trump wants the building renovated so as to avoid a hotel moving into the property which would compete with his own DC hotel. The president wants $2 billion of the government’s money inserted into a pandemic aid bill to assist his personal business. Like so many other things Trump has done, this alone would be one of the most corrupt acts in US history but it’s barely a blip in the news because of the rest of Trump’s horribleness.
In a new Jonathan Swan interview, Trump was finally pressed on Putin paying terrorists to murder US troops. Trump has spoken with Putin eight times since learning of the bounty program. He has not brought the subject up with him once. The president said the story may be “fake news” and that Colin Powell said as such. He’s lying. Powell did not say this. Despite Trump’s claim that the story is fake, the State Department has now warned Moscow of US retaliation if the practice resumes – the first action of any kind taken by the US. Trump was also asked about Russia directly arming the Taliban. He said he hadn’t seen anything about that and wasn’t sure if it was true. The source for this was General John Nicholson who happened to have commanded all of the US forced in Afghanistan when he publicly revealed Russia was arming the Taliban – TWO YEARS AGO. Trump went on to respond that if Russia was arming the Taliban, we supplied them weapons when they were fighting Russia. Even if this was somehow a valid response to Russia arming a group fighting the US, it isn’t true. The Taliban did not exist until years after Russia left Afghanistan and the group is unrelated to the groups which fought Russia in the 1980s. He twice today said Russia fighting the Taliban caused the breakup of the USSR, which he’s long claimed. Surprisingly, he’s wrong about this too because he doesn’t know anything about history.
Trump is following through on Putin’s goal of removing troops from Germany. Trump is rationalizing this with the same argument he’s been making for years – that other NATO countries are delinquent on their payments and need to get caught up. After three and a half years in office, the president doesn’t have the first clue about how NATO works. No countries owe the US or anyone else anything. They never have. The spending targets are targets for countries to spend ON THEIR OWN MILITARY. Several countries are below this threshold, which is a guideline, not a requirement, but it’s also not targeted to be in place for several more years. Africom and Eucom are both based in Germany. Moving them will have a gargantuan cost.
