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

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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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Trump Re-Election Campaign Begins

President Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign held its first rally in Greenville, NC on Wednesday, but the campaign actually started on Twitter the previous weekend. Mr. Trump is campaigning against four young congresswomen of color, none of whom are actually 2020 presidential candidates. At the rally he specifically singled out Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who came to the U.S. from war-torn Somalia as a child refugee. “Send her back,” responded the red-hatted crowd.

More:

“At North Carolina Rally, Trump Bets on Divisive Attacks as Way to Bolster Re-election Bid,” Michael Crowley, New York Times

“Trump slams ‘squad’ during North Carolina rally as crowd chants ‘send her back,'” John Fritze, USA Today

“Trump Goads Crowd Into Urging Deportation of Congressional Democrat,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“Trump refers to Ocasio-Cortez as just ‘Cortez’ because it ‘takes too much time’ to say full name,” Arris Folley, The Hill

“A new poll shows why Trump attacked Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar — and why it could get even uglier,” Aaron Blake, Washington Post

“Trump’s premeditated racism is central to his 2020 strategy,” Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen, Axios

Trump’s 4th of July Self-Celebration Cost Taxpayers Over $5 Million

“President Donald Trump’s Fourth of July celebration last week cost the federal government and Washington, D.C., $5.35 million, according to an Interior Department letter released exclusively to ABC News.

The National Park Service spent $2.45 million on staffing, medical services, barricades, and other logistics for the event, called Salute to America, which does not include the cost of other Fourth of July events like the Capitol Fourth concert.

The city of Washington, D.C., and Department of Defense said the Salute to America event and security cost $1.7 million and $1.2 million respectively, bringing the total cost of the event to $5.35 million.”

— “Trump’s Salute to America cost DC, feds more than $5 million,” Stephanie Ebb, ABC News

Between the $1.7 million in security costs for the “Salute to America” and the $7.3 million in security costs the 2017 Trump Inaugural Committee still owes the District of Columbia Government, DC’s security budget is bankrupt. If you attend any special events in DC from now on, you’re on your own.

Related:

“House Oversight Dems call on Trump to pay D.C. for Independence Day, inauguration,” Chris Marquette, Roll Call

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Trump, In New Hissy Fit, Wants to Fire Wilbur Ross

Commerce Secretary Wilber Ross, official portrait.

President Trump, apparently thinking he is still on his NBC reality TV show, wants to fire Commerce Secretary and noted grifter Wilbur Ross for not successfully defending his indefensible politicization of the 2020 Census. Previously, the president had unsuccessfully sought to fire his Justice Department lawyers for the same reason.

Per ZeroHedge:

“Ross would be the 10th Senate-confirmed member of the Cabinet to leave the administration, in addition to dozens of senior officials, including five communications directors, two chiefs of staff, two national security advisers, two press secretaries, the Federal Bureau of Investigations director, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, the National Economic Council director, the Small Business Administrator and the Chair of the Council of Economic Advisers.”

More:

“Trump weighs ousting Commerce chief Wilbur Ross after census defeat,” Hans Nichols, Kayla Tausche, CNBC and Hallie Jackson, NBC News

“Trump Musing Again That 81-Year-Old Commerce Secretary Who Sleeps In Meetings And Mumbles On TV Might Not Be At Top Of His Game,” Thornton McEnery, Dealbreaker

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What’s actually in the Green New Deal?

More:

“What’s actually in the Green New Deal, explained with a video,” Alvin Chang and Dion Lee, Vox

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Berlusconi’s Back. Europe Shrugs.

Billionaire octagenarian, former football team owner, Bunga-Bunga Party host, one-time cruise ship crooner and disgraced 3-time former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, forced out of the Italian Senate over his 2013 tax-fraud conviction, has started serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP). Madonna Mia!

More:

“Forget the tax fraud and sex scandals. Italy’s Berlusconi is back.” Kevin Sullivan, Washington Post

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Updates: Trump’s 4th of July Salute to Himself

Tomorrow, on July 4, 2019, Great Leader Donald J. Trump will personally harangue adoring red-hatted throngs from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. The National Park Service has diverted at least $2.5 million meant to fund park repairs and maintenance to partially-cover expenses for these last-minute White House directives. Free tickets to this political but publicly-financed event have been gifted to GOP donors , Trump 2020 campaign staff, and Republican officials. The Commander-in-Chief has bidden the Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps, the U.S. Army Band, the Armed Forces Chorus, and the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon to entertain him, and demanded that US military chiefs stand next to him. And there will be tanks. A flyover by military jets and Air Force One will ground flights at Reagan National Airport for over an hour. Also grounded: the diaper-clad Trump Baby Balloon.

More:

“Trump plans ticketed-access area for VIPs, friends and family at July 4 celebration,” Peter Hermann, Michael E. Ruane and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post

“RNC Receives VIP Tickets to Trump’s Fourth of July Celebration; DNC Does Not,” Maggie More, NBC4 Washington

“Trump Is Packing the July 4 Fireworks Because He’s Afraid of Getting Booed,” Jonathan Chait, New York Magazine

“How Trump’s 4th of July Hijacking Could Violate the Hatch Act,” Walter Shaub, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW)

“Proud Boys and Allies to Rally in D.C. to Capitalize on ‘Trumpstravaganza,’” Will Sommer, Daily Beast

“This Fourth of July, Trump will star in a movie of his own making,” Lloyd Green, The Guardian

“Trump’s July 4 Event Shaping Up To Be A Salute To Himself,” Josh Kovensky, TPM Muckraker

“‘They started this too late’: Trump officials and allies anxious about July 4 fest,” Nancy Cook, Politico

“Pentagon tells troops to say ‘I am proud of my job and my vehicle/tank’ during Trump July 4 event: report,” Marina Pitofsky, The Hill

“Trump says his generals are ‘thrilled’ with his Fourth of July salute. Their silence suggests otherwise.” Greg Jaffee, Washington Post

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Image (“4th of July: Cult of Personality”) by Mike Licht. Download copies here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com.

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