With Trump as an asset, Democratic voter registration surges
If you want to glimpse the future of the Democratic Party, look at Riverside County, where the number of registered Democrats surged past the number of Republicans. In an historic shift, a county that was solidly conservative "red" for decades seemed to turn Democratic "blue" overnight.
This unprecedented change is the result of a concerted effort to register and engage as many California voters as possible in 2016. It was made possible by the hard work by community groups, voter engagement organizations, labor unions and the California Democratic Party.
They are building a statewide infrastructure to reach the seven million eligible California voters who have not registered, and they deserve high praise for re-energizing our democracy.
Yet none of this would be possible without one unwitting ally: Donald Trump.
His hate-filled presidential campaign has awakened Californians to the hazards of apathy at the polls. Record numbers of Californians are answering the call and registering. Despite the nonpartisan nature of most voter registration drives, Democratic registration is surging, thanks to the Republican nominee's divisive message.
The Rest:
http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_30294373/steyer-trump-an-asset-democratic-voter-registration-surges
5 Dumbest Right-Wing Moments This Week: Eric Trump’s Ridiculous Assertion
There’s been an abnormally large dose of stupid coming out of the Trumposphere.
By Janet Allon / AlterNet
August 27, 2016
The Trumpian universe vacillates between dumb and evil, sometimes in the same sentence. Following their fearless leader, Trumpians talk (or tweet) first, and think later, or perhaps not at all.
When that fails, they simply deny saying what they said, or that words have any meaning. Or they just keep saying things that are demonstrably untrue because they feel true.
Examples abound from the week that was, starting with the family.
1. Trump’s genius son reveals Trump campaign creation myth.
Donald Trump’s gifted son Eric has revealed the original lie of his father’s sh*tshow of a campaign. No, it is not President Obama’s Kenyan birth, or secret status as a Muslim “Manchurian candidate.” It is something a bit more mundane, but no less dastardly. And it’s a Christmas story. Who doesn’t love a Christmas story?
Turns out Trump entered our political sphere because the Obama/Grinches stole Chistmas. "He sees the tree on the White House lawn has been renamed 'Holiday tree' instead of 'Christmas tree,'" the young Trump said in an interview this week. "I could go on and on for hours. Those are the very things that made my father run, and those are the very things he cares about."
Except for one teeny tiny leetle thing. It’s not true. Has no basis in reality. Didn’t happen. The White House Christmas Tree is still called the "White House Christmas Tree." It’s not even the "White House Xmas Tree." There's been no concession to secularism, to separation of church and state. It’s a made-up story, a myth, a manufactured crisis, and all part of the nonexistent war on Christmas that isn’t being waged anywhere.
To be fair, Trump Jr. pointed out other outrages galvanizing his father’s run.
“He opens the paper and some new school district has just eliminated the ability for its students to say the Pledge of Allegiance, or some fire department in some town is ordered by the mayor to no longer fly the American flag on the back of a fire truck," Eric Trump told The Stream's James Robinson on Friday.
There are just a few things wrong with this statement. First of all, Donald Trump doesn’t open a paper. He opens his Twitter feed, Fox News or maybe Breitbart. Sometimes he glances at the National Enquirer, especially if “people are saying” there’s a good conspiracy theory about Ted Cruz’s father, or Hillary Clinton’s health on the cover. Second, a newspaper that covers things like that would go out of business fast due to snoozing readers.
Looks like the whole family needs to broaden their media diet, currently consisting exclusively of Faux News.
2. Maine’s governor seems genuinely perplexed about what racism is.
Trump-loving Maine gov Paul LePage can never convince anyone that he is not racist. The track record is just there, like Trump’s. It spans decades.
But it’s kind of funny to watch. LePage is like an even more ill-tempered Elmer Fudd. The more he sputters and tries, the more he shoots himself in the foot or face.
At a press conference Friday, LePage, who has lamented the fact that drug dealers come from New York and impregnate white girls in Maine, sought to prove just how not racist he is.
“A bad guy is a bad guy. I don’t care what color he is. When you go to war, if you know the enemy, the enemy dresses in red and you dress in blue, you shoot at red,” he said. “You shoot the enemy. You try to identify the enemy. And the enemy right now, the overwhelming majority of people coming in are people of color or people of Hispanic origin.”
See, not racist at all! What’s so racist about seeing people of color as the enemy?
LePage already had a busy week. The day before, he had taken his anger management issues out for a spin when he left a profanity-laced voicemail for Democratic State Rep. Drew Gattine: “I want to talk to you. I want you to prove that I’m a racist. I’ve spent my life helping black people and you little son-of-a-bitch, socialist c**ksucker.” He went on to lament that they cannot settle their differences with an armed duel.
On Wednesday, LePage called Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father who had criticized Trump at the RNC, a “con artist.” During the same speech he also said nearly all of Maine’s drug dealers are black or Hispanic.
Just another week of not being racist (or homophobic or Islamophobic) for LePage.
3. Trump’s highly sophisticated campaign tactic works brilliantly again.
A centerpiece of the Trump campaign has been, “I know you are but what am I?”
This is also known as, “I am rubber, you are glue, anything you say bounces off me and sticks to you.”
When commentators and even some doctors began to question Trump’s mental fitness to be president, suggesting in increasing numbers that he might be crazy or demented, he ramped up the conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton’s health. And since he’s been making such a sincere effort to win over black voters, which is difficult with his long history of easily documented racism, he ingeniously decided to turn the tables and call Hillary Clinton a “bigot.”
He’s rubber; she’s glue. Also, she started it!
This came on the heels of Trump’s recent highly sophisticated appeal to black voters that they should vote for him because, “what have you got to lose?” Never mind the fact that he has hired white supremacists like Steve Bannon to work on his campaign and welcomed the support of other racist members of the so-called “alt-right.” Ever enterprising, on Saturday, Trump sought to capitalize on the tragic shooting death of basketball player Dwyane Wade’s cousin. Now “African-Americans will vote Trump,” he sensitively tweeted.
For this remarkable piece of craven exploitation of a real tragedy, he was promptly and roundly destroyed on the internet.
4. Ann Coulter is having a really hard week, guys, so she’s going to need to mock disabled people.
Visiting her pal and fellow Trumpian Sean Hannity this week, Ann Coulter just had to blow off some steam. To hear the Donald “softening” his stance toward undocumented immigrants, and suggest he might not deport 11 million people at once was just really hard for her. Poor thing.
She told Hannity she was against any kind of pivoting for Trump, no matter how disingenuous. “I think it's stupid because all Trump is doing is demoralizing his base,” Coulter said. “The people who hate him still hate him, but now they can call him a flip-flopper. Way to go, whoever told Trump to say that.”
Trump’s walking back of his hardline immigration stance comes at an inconvenient time for Coulter, who has just released an entire book fawning all over him. Among the marvelous things Coulter argues in this tome is that Trump was not really mocking the physical disabilities of New York Times reporter Serge Kovaleski that time when Trump was clearly mocking Kovaleski. Coulter instead argues that Trump was just “doing standard retard.”
Wow.
Not that she needed to, but Coulter once again has reaffirmed her place in the firmament of detestable a**holes.
5. Sarah Palin, still feeling the Trump love from afar, but a teeny bit worried.
Like Ann Coulter, Sarah Palin loves her some Trump, even if his campaign has done its darndest to keep her at arm’s length after she made some truly incoherent speeches on his behalf. But like Coulter, Palin is a little worried that Trump might be going soft on all those rapists Mexico is sending here.
On Thursday, Palin decided to phone it in to Fox’s Eric Bolling, who was sitting in for Bill O’Reilly. Her main point: Donald is still going to build that wall. “Donald Trump understands that enforcing the laws and building that wall are paramount to what the will of the people is, and thank God, he’s still preachin’ that!” she reassured the worried Fox audience.
Hallelujah!
Apart from the wall, Palin also had some carefully considered, reality-based plans to discourage people who are here illegally. “Well, we have to quit incentivizing those who are here illegally, keeping them here, by not employing them, not giving them free health care, free college, free phones, free Happy Meals, free anything!” she said.
WTF is she talking about!
Perhaps Katrina Pierson summed up the whole Trump campaign words-to-reality-relationship best this week when she explained that contrary to appearances, Donald Trump was still the same old bigot he always was. “He hasn’t changed his position (on immigration),” she said. “He has changed the words he is saying.”
Well, that certainly clears everything up!
Shocking Numbers Reveal GOP’s Big Secret: Trump Is Bankrupting The Republican Party
An analysis of RNC fundraising data has revealed that beyond losing, Donald Trump’s drain of a campaign is literally bankrupting the Republican Party.
According to Open Secrets, RNC contributions are at their lowest point since before 2004:
Virtually every category of receipts shows a decline this year. Contributions from individuals where the amount given is less than $200 (the “unitemized” category) is less than half what it was in July of 2004, 2008 and 2012. There is a similar decline in direct contributions of larger amounts where specific information about the donor is included in the report. These itemized contributions total much less than July 2004 and 2008 and are even smaller than July 2012 when joint fundraising became much more important.
These joint fundraising efforts where the presidential campaign works together with the national party and state parties around the country are increasingly important, and the RNC total from those efforts also lags in July compared with 2012 and 2008. The Trump campaign has talked about huge joint fundraising successes, but neither the campaign nor the RNC has received all that much from this process so far comparatively.
People often look at cash balances and the end of the month to get a feel for how a committee is positioned for future spending. Here too, the RNC on July 31 was strikingly short of its own status on the same date in past campaigns. At a time when $70 to $90 million is the norm, the RNC finds itself with only $34.5 million in the bank.
http://www.politicususa.com/2016/08/27/shocking-numbers-reveal-gops-big-secret-trump-bankrupting-republican-party.html
@bobsal u1553115,
bobsal u1553115 wrote:Except for one teeny tiny leetle thing. It’s not true. Has no basis in reality. Didn’t happen. The White House Christmas Tree is still called the "White House Christmas Tree."
The problem is, if told often enough these lies gain traction. back in the 80s the gutter press ran a story about 'loony left,' councils in London banning the song
Ba Ba Blacksheep from schools and nurseries. It was believed even by Labour councillors in the North.
The truth that Donald is omitting is that white rapists, white thugs and white blue collar criminals in the US flee to Mexico to escape justice in the US courts at much more alarming numbers. (let's not forget to mention polygamists)
Hollywood glamorizes the "let's go to Mexico" syndrome, if we can just make it to the border we will be free!
If Mexico is so lawless why would they send their rapist and criminals here, it seems they would be welcome right at home?
Once again the right spins the truth to cover up the reality of the matter.
The reality is our criminals flee to Mexico and our guns dealers that line the Mexican border are responsible for millions of deaths in Mexico and the republicans and their politics of hate are directly responsible for this carnage!
Also, it is the red cities in the US that give homeless people free bus tickets to blue cities to avoid dealing with the corrupt republican policies and their poorly run red cities.
Republicans can’t pretend not to know what fuels the Trump campaign
IN A major speech Thursday, Hillary Clinton linked Donald Trump to bigoted elements on the fringe of American politics. But she got it wrong when she said, “Trump is reinforcing harmful stereotypes and offering a dog whistle to his most hateful supporters.”
It’s not a “dog whistle” if everyone can hear the bigotry.
Republicans supporting Mr. Trump, explicitly or tacitly, cannot reasonably claim that they do not know who he is and what he has been doing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-cant-pretend-not-to-know-what-fuels-the-trump-campaign/2016/08/26/29289112-6bb2-11e6-99bf-f0cf3a6449a6_story.html?utm_term=.21e74b73613d
@TheCobbler,
Quote:The truth that Donald is omitting is that white rapists, white thugs and white blue collar criminals in the US flee to Mexico to escape justice in the US courts at much more alarming numbers. (let's not forget to mention polygamists)
Anything to back this claim?
Quote:Hollywood glamorizes the "let's go to Mexico" syndrome, if we can just make it to the border we will be free!
Not free but harder to track.
Quote:Once again the right spins the truth to cover up the reality of the matter.
The reality is our criminals flee to Mexico and our guns dealers that line the Mexican border are responsible for millions of deaths in Mexico and the republicans and their politics of hate are directly responsible for this carnage!
Holders fast and furious... is responsible for the death of Border Agent Brian Terry but you don't seem worried about that. Those guns were also responsible for the deaths of a lot of Mexican Nationals.
@Baldimo,
Odds against fugitives who flee to Mexico
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/odds-against-fugitives-who-flee-to-mexico/
Since 2003, more than 3,500 wanted fugitives have been sent back to the United States by Mexican authorities, and the number has been increasing over the years.
An average of 341 have been captured and returned since 2011. One of the recent, high-profile arrests was that of the “affluenza teen,” Ethan Couch, who was holed up in Puerto Vallarta for a while with his mother.
- See more at:
http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/odds-against-fugitives-who-flee-to-mexico/#sthash.RRJsQ76G.dpuf
As for "fast and furious" you are talking about one minor sting operation gone bad compared to the millions of republican sanctioned guns proliferated to Mexican drug lords by greedy US gun dealers.
No comparison whatsoever.
Sorry I could not get a Fox News link for this story but Fox only reports on fake news and propaganda tabloid lies, no real journalism comes out of that network.
@TheCobbler,
This is no way says that US citizens are fleeing to Mexico to escape justice more than the other way around. In fact 3,500 since 2003 seems like a small # compared to the # of criminal illegal aliens we have deported, Obama holds a record according to those on the left.
Quote:As for "fast and furious" you are talking about one minor sting operation gone bad compared to the millions of republican sanctioned guns proliferated to Mexican drug lords by greedy US gun dealers.
Millions of sanctioned guns? You mean guns sold in the US legally and then move across the border illegally? I doubt this is GOP sanctioned, that is your bias speaking. You act like no Dems own gun shops...
@Baldimo,
That is 3,500 hardened criminals not including the general low lifes that go to Mexico to rent a prostitute and/or get drunk and urinate in public. Drunken spring break students that demolish beautiful luxury hotels overnight... Corporations that go to Mexico and bribe local politicians so they can exploit anything that is not nailed down.
One person gets shot in relation to a fast and furious sting operation and according to you that is too many! 3,500 hardened US criminals flee to Mexico and according to you that is small amount. That is US bank robbers, gang leaders, murderers, rapists, corporate embezzlers. Yea, the US' finest we sent to Mexico!
US gun dealers that line the southern border like cockroaches just waiting to exploit Mexico's sensible anti-gun laws. Sell a drug lord an automatic weapon, make big profit, vote republican!
Almost Every GOP Senator Just Voted to Keep Letting Terror Suspects Buy Guns
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/gun-safety-measures-defeated-senate-republicans-orlando
Terror suspects, Mexicans, mentally ill, felons, give every school child a gun! Give them all guns and vote republican! (cynical)
Fast and furious, my ass!
@TheCobbler,
I just don't understand how these same republicans can talk out of both sides of their mouth and don't see the contradictions in themselves. They want to take every other freedom they can get away with from ordinary law abiding Muslims, yet they want to arm those on the terror watch list?
@revelette2,
I have a transsexual friend who he has had the surgery. He now thinks he is a REAL woman and does not care to relate to what gays go through. I have no problem with his lifestyle change.
I know she/he at least likes Trump, she is cheesy like that, she voted for Rosanne Barr...
She said to me, Hillary lies, I asked her, can you name one lie? She could not.
Wait 'til Trump makes her try and go pee at a man's bathroom urinal.
@TheCobbler,
Quote:Wait 'til Trump makes her try and go pee at a man's bathroom urinal.
Trump's never going to get the chance to try to push any wacky legislation.
@TheCobbler,
Quote:Wait 'til Trump makes her try and go pee at a man's bathroom urinal.
If she had the operation, how will they know she was a biological man? Moreover, while this topic is important, not sure how it relates to people on terror watch list able to get guns legally.
But I understand you central point, most Trump supporters are illogical.
@revelette2,
Her birth certifiable states unequivocally, "male" although one could not tell by looking at her.
It is the republicans who are putting up the stink about where transsexuals use the bathroom and this is a factor in how one who cares about gender rights should vote in November.
I will care about her rights for her by voting against the republicans even thought she is too stupid to do so herself.
This is what looking out after each other is all about.
@snood,
Quote:
Trump's never going to get the chance to try to push any wacky legislation.
Your keyboard to G*d's computer screen.
