Trump: Over 13,000 Lies in 993 Days

“As President Trump approaches his 1,000th day in office Wednesday, he has significantly stepped up his pace of spouting exaggerated numbers, unwarranted boasts and outright falsehoods.

As of Oct. 9, his 993rd day in office, he had made 13,435 false or misleading claims ….”

— “President Trump has made 13,435 false or misleading claims over 993 days,” Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo, and Meg Kelly, Washington Post

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How Corporate Welfare Hurts You

“When corporations get special handouts from the government, it costs the rest of us. We have to pay more in taxes to make up for these hidden tax breaks, subsidies, and loopholes. In turn, there’s less money for good schools and roads, Medicare and national defense, and everything else we need.”

— “How Corporate Welfare Hurts You,” Robert Reich, The American Prospect

Related:

“The High Public Cost of Low Wages,” Ken Jacobs, Ian Eve Perry and Jenifer MacGillvary, UC Berkeley Labor Center

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Lindsay Graham’s Continuing Legal Education

Senator and Doctor of Jurisprudence Lindsay Graham, defending President Donald Trump against credible reports of abuse of power, addressed this arguement to the Great Court of Twitter:

In America you can’t even get a parking ticket based on hearsay testimony.

But you can impeach a president?

I certainly hope not.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) September 28, 2019

Annotation was provided by a thoughful attorney with a frightful spouse, George Conway III:

It has been a while since you’ve practiced law, so let me help:

* @realDonaldTrump’s incriminating statements are binding admissions against him and are not hearsay under Federal Rule of Evidence 801(d)(2);

* Even if that were not so, the statements would be admissible … https://t.co/8eWOOjZUYy

— George Conway (@gtconway3d) September 28, 2019

Meanwhile, In Washington ….

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Campaign Songs

“What Campaign Songs Tell Us About Presidential Candidates,” a New Yorker video with Amanda Petrusich.

More:

“Deciphering the Presidential-Campaign Songs of the 2020 Race,” Amanda Petrusich, The New Yorker

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Trump Uses Pro Wrestling’s Playbook

The New York Post‘s Miranda Devine is the latest to observe that “Donald Trump has modeled his presidential persona on WWE pro wrestling.”

“The banter, the jokes, the trash-talking, the catchphrases, the crowd manipulation, the belligerent patriotism, the villain-slamming: It’s all straight out of a preordained WWE storyline.”

“His Twitter feed, with its outlandish, self-aggrandizing dramas, is an extension of the WWE theme.”

“Is Trump a good guy or a bad guy?

‘He’s a heel to some. He’s a babyface to others,’ says ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin, once the greatest wrestler in WWE history, who now hosts a podcast drawing 2 million downloads and a USA show, ‘Straight Up Steve Austin.’

Trump seems to have modeled himself on Austin, who was an anti-authoritarian, blue-collar, cussing heel who didn’t care how he was perceived and was so admired by audiences that he ‘turned face.’

Like Austin, Trump’s persona is champion of the underdog, ‘the People’s Billionaire,’ the ‘heel’ who picks fights and always prevails.

‘The crowd know it’s fake but they believe, just like if you went to a movie.’”

— “Trump took a page out of the WWE’s playbook,” Miranda Devine, New York Post

Before his casino bankruptcies, Donald Trump sponsored two WWE WrestleMania extranaganzas in Atlantic City, and took an active part in the promotional hijinks. His efforts earned him a place in pro wrestling’s Hall of Fame before he jumped into the political arena.

Pro wrestling’s actual playbook can be found in the tricks & tips for players of WWE videogames: “Anyone who has watched even 10 minutes of WWE programming knows that talking and charisma are just as important as in-ring skills.”

Trump: 12,019 Lies in 928 days

“President Trump’s proclivity for spouting exaggerated numbers, unwarranted boasts and outright falsehoods has continued at a remarkable pace. As of Aug. 5, his 928th day in office, he had made 12,019 false or misleading claims, according to the Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement the president has uttered.”

— “President Trump has made 12,019 false or misleading claims over 928 days,” Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly, Washington Post

Updates:

“‘I don’t think this president has lied’: Trump aide denies he’s ever misled the public,” Timothy Bella, Washington Post

“Trump spokeswoman: ‘I don’t think the president has lied,'” Justin Wise, The Hill

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Gravel 2020 Campaign Goes Back to School

Gravel 2020 campaign poster, Washington DC.

The teenagers who persuaded 88-year-old former senator Mike Gravel to let them run a 2020 presidental campaign on his behalf, are headed back to school, so the campaign is going dormant. The teens had heard about anti-war Alaskan Gravel, who tried to read the Pentagon Papers into the Congressional Record in 1971, on the Chapo Trap House podcast. Mr. Gravel doesn’t like to travel, so the teens waged the campaign through through Twitter and YouTube. That should be a hell of a “What I Did On My Summer Vacation” essay.

More:

“Gravel and his campaign teens end presidential run,” Quint Forgey, Politico

“A Farewell To Mike Gravel, 2020’s Weirdest Presidential Candidate,” Nathaniel Rakich, FiveThirtyEight

Updates:

“Mike Gravel Officially Endorses Bernie Sanders,” Gideon Resnick, Daily Beast

“Mike Gravel drops out of 2020 race. He never wanted to be president anyway.” Catherine Kim, Vox

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Guy In Charge of Fixing Cities Admits He Hasn’t

Retired neurosurgeon and noted pyramid expert Ben Carson, President Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has a perfect record at HUD — he’s done absolutely nothing. HUD is also charged with enforcing the Fair Housing Act, which Dr. Carson has diagnosed as “communist.”

Ben Carson MD once worked for a living at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, in Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, so he could authoritatively echo President Trump’s description of that ivy-infested hellhole. Of course, he commuted to Hopkins from his palatial home in leafy Upperco, Maryland. As Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Dr. Carson has felt duty-bound to increase his own supply of housing, and has acquired additional estates in Vienna, Virginia and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

In a move reminiscent of his own gaffe-prone 2016 campaign, Dr. Carson showed up unannounced for a press event at a Baltimore church and was miffed to be shunted into an alley. Guess that physician “God Complex” survived retirement. In any case, the Trump Administration’s dubious claims about investing in Baltimore rest on the so-called Opportunity Zone scheme, tax incentive payoffs to the developers gentrifying Charm City.

More:

“Ben Carson says as a pediatric neurosurgeon, he hesitated to send children back to ‘infested’ homes in Baltimore,” John Wagner, Washington Post

“Baltimore Church Gives Ben Carson the Boot As He Scrambles to Demonstrate What He’s Done for That City Lately,” Dara Sharif, The Root

“Ben Carson defends Trump, compares Baltimore to cancer patient,” Katy O’Donnell, Politico

“‘Not my Baltimore’: In Cummings’s district, a rich tapestry of problems and gems,” Paul Schwartzman, Washington Post

“Why your city should imitate Baltimore. (Yes, we said Baltimore.),” Philip Bane, Smart Cities Council

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Marianne Williamson’s Creepy, Cosmic Campaign

Professional inspirational speaker Marianne Williamson is being praised for praticing her profession at the Democratic Presidential Debates, where she clearly does not belong. She spouts empty sound bites like a sententious, self-centered New Age Donald Trump, and has espoused dangerous views on vaccination, depression, and AIDS.  Ms. Williamson got rich as a spritual guru, so if you feel the urge to give her campaign $5, please burn some sage and gaze into a crystal instead.

More:

“Marianne Williamson isn’t funny. She’s scary.” Zack Beauchamp, Vox

“Marianne Williamson won the debate and we’re probably all doomed,” Brian Boyle, Los Angeles Times

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