The election of Donald Trump has thrust the United States into crisis before he even takes office. Not only did we elect a president who is clearly a habitual liar and looking to profit from his office, but he’s attacking our intelligence agencies and defending a hostile foreign power. Can you imagine how the GOP would react if Barack Obama called the CIA incompetent and defended Vladimir Putin?
Republicans sat silently as their right flank, supported by talk radio and Fox News, started questioning the legitimacy of Obama’s election from Day 1. Their conspiracy theory contended that he was not born in the United States and that he was Muslim, as if that disqualified him. Their eventual nominee picked it up and ran with the lie for years with almost no push back from the GOP establishment.
We knew during the election that Russians had hacked into the DNC and were meddling in our election. Now, it appears that they were actively trying to help Trump, not just cause chaos. Trump, though, is still claiming that nobody knows who hacked the DNC, and now it appears RNC, and that it had no effect on the election. He’s also still supportive of Putin, a guy who murders his political adversaries.
Republican Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham have joined with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Harry Reed in calling for an investigation. The Republican leaders, Senator Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan, have stayed quiet. They should be called out.
Democrats should look at what the GOP did to Obama with crazy conspiracy theories and hold Trump to the same standard with information backed up by US intelligence agencies. He’s not a legitimate president because foreign agents interfered in his election and he’s now attacking our intelligence agencies. He may not be a foreign agent but he’s certainly Putin’s dupe.
For the next four years, Democrats should question everything Trump does and they should be holding Republican leaders who side with Trump and Putin over our freedom accountable. Defending Russia is not patriotic. It’s borderline treason. Trump needs the Obama treatment.
Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >
As an independent, I held my nose and voted for Trump. Now, however, after reading stories like this after the current president said on a Hillary campaign stop that our elections were fair and secure and Trump should get over it and accept the results, I now feel much better about my vote. Thank you.
What do you come up with next? The Martians hypnotized everybody?
And you’re basing those good feelings on…what? Oxygen deprivation?
Said nothing in my post about good feelings. I said I feel better about my vote. Meaning I feel I made the better choice.
Why? The very people who were whining about Trump perhaps not accepting the outcome are now the children not accepting the outcome.
But while I didn’t say it, I do have good feelings. Since the election my business has increased about 20%. I feel pretty good about that.
Your world is about to become so awesome. Everything you ever wanted is going to happen now that you have the right guy in office. The next four years are going to be win, win, win for you. Good going!
And your “…feeling better…” since your business has gotten better; and your thinking your vote aided that was well? Bravo.
Need I point out that Trump was whining about losing because the election was rigged before it even happened. How’s your feelings on that?
@Author,
Note, this is not the GOP’s fault. This is the left’s fault. For the past 12 or more years the left has pranced around as if they won a culture war, finger-wagging people for stating any opinion they disagreed with and shutting down dialogue. Many in the US got tired of it, even those that VOTED for Obama (just look at the numbers, in order for Trump to have won, people who voted for Obama, MUST HAVE Voted for Trump).
The voting booth is a beautiful thing: There is no shame, there is no one watching, and when all of those folks on the right that has been “suppressed” by your pc for over a decade find an environment and podium like a voting booth, they tend to speak very loudly.
So, don’t go around acting like this is the GOP’s fault and “what is the GOP going to do about it?”, no, this is YOUR fault, what are YOU going to do about it? I bet your instant response is to “call those that voted for Trump racists!” which means you learned absolutely nothing from what I just posted.
No, not all of them were racists. There were fascists, religious bigots, and antisemites too. More troubling is that Republicans would vote for a sexual predator whose wife appeared in soft porn video shoots and who himself appeared in porn. Do not talk to us about your sense of morality. You have none.
The level of corruption that we can expect from a Trump Administration will eclipse every previous administration by a huuuge margin. I blame Republicans for voting for a pathological liar and con man, a man who was adjudicated a fraud, a man who will not pay his workers, a man does not pay taxes but expects the rest of us to pay for him, If Trump ever revealed his taxes, he would go straight to jail and he would not collect $200. He fails to take National Security briefings but he never misses Saturday Night Live. He won’t hold a press conference, but he tweets constantly.
Republicans cannot claim to be patriotic. They are not patriots. They are not even good Americans. Trump asked for and received a pipeline of intelligence from Russia. He invited spies to provide him with information that spies stole from various government sources. That is a crime. It was a crime when Richard Nixon’s subordinates did it, and it is illegal today. Any group of people who voted for a man who spoke with such disrespect for POWs and MIAs cannot call themselves patriotic. Any American who voted for the man who showed such disrespect for the family of a dead American hero and a living one cannot claim to be patriotic.
Republicans cannot claim to be decent Americans in general. Trump likes to grab women by the pu**y. Your candidate believes his stardom entitles him to rape and molest our wives and daughters. Hopefully, once your smugness recedes, you will look at your mother, sister, wife or daughter and feel some shame about what your vote did.
Yes, but you are also racists. Your candidate used a racist lie to promote his candidacy for several years. He lied about sending detectives to Hawaii. He lied about what they found. He lied about his finding anything which would discredit the President’s birth certificate. He has encouraged racists at his rallies. He has promoted violence against blacks, Mexicans, and Muslims. He has empowered White Nationalist and racists. Incidents of racial violence are on the rise all over the country, because racists believe Trump approves of their hateful acts. Your candidate was endorsed by the KKK and his inner circle includes a White Supremacist who molds his message. So yeah, we’re going to call you racist, but that that’s not the worst of it.
You are immoral traitors.
I can’t let this slide.
“No, not all of them were racists. There were fascists, religious bigots, and antisemites too.”
So, you indeed learned nothing. Thanks for that revelation.
“More troubling is that Republicans would vote for a sexual predator”
Like the left did with Bill, you mean?
“The level of corruption that we can expect from a Trump Administration will eclipse every previous administration by a huuuge margin.”
Do you actually take payment for lotto number prophecies too? Just curious.
“a pathological liar”
Like Hitlery?
“con man”
Like Clinton/Gore?
“a man who was adjudicated a fraud”
Wut? So settling with “no blame” is now adjudication? I wonder how many judges are laughing at you right now.
“a man who will not pay his workers”
You do realize the Federal Board of Labor would swoop in and ensure hourly workers are paid their promised wages, right?
Oh, that’s more left narrative parroting going on there, so Trump refused to pay one contractor for a piss-poor job and therefore he pays no workers. That’s like saying because you returned an item to the store, you steal everything. No, that ambiguous BS just doesn’t fly with me.
“a man does not pay taxes but expects the rest of us to pay for him”
Proof?
“If Trump ever revealed his taxes, he would go straight to jail and he would not collect $200.”
I really need to talk to you about those next lotto numbers. You seem confident that you can predict the future.
Actually, no, I don’t want to know because I know this is more bs based on ambiguity — you see, his tax returns are filed, they have to be, to the IRS every year. If he did anything shady, he would have already been arrested. You know, my wife told me that, she holds a PhD in forensic accounting, but what does she know, right?
“He fails to take National Security briefings but he never misses Saturday Night Live. He won’t hold a press conference, but he tweets constantly.”
Hate to tell you, but as a US Army Veteran, I’d likely miss them too. Cooing and doating over Islam is not a room I would ever want to enter.
“Republicans cannot claim to be patriotic. They are not patriots.”
We just put a man in office who has yet to select a single politician to his cabinet lol.
“They are not even good Americans.”
Yes, we are a “basket of deplorables”, huh?
“Trump asked for and received a pipeline of intelligence from Russia. He invited spies to provide him with information that spies stole from various government sources.”
Where’s da proof?
“That is a crime.”
Sure, if you could prove it. I can prove Hillary exposed Top Secrete Emails on an unsecured email system. Do you know what would happen if I had done that in the US Army? LOL… Big rocks to small rocks, small rocks to sand… over and over again until I died.
“It was a crime when Richard Nixon’s subordinates did it”
LOL, no, Nixon’s goons broke into a building, at his bidding and stole information. If, say Trump, was given information by another country whom broke into an information system, well, Trump would be compelled to state where he got that information but he committed no crime there.
Its not like Hillary who had the debate questions leaked to her 8 hours before the final debate, though. Oh, you didn’t know that, did you? Too bad only the BBC reported on it, every other US media outlet was on blackout on it. I wonder, since when was the UK media more “free from government” than our own?
“Any group of people who voted for a man who spoke with such disrespect for POWs and MIAs cannot call themselves patriotic.”
Talk is cheap, when we look at actions, Hillary left our marines to actually, DIE. She didn’t talk about it, she didn’t say anything, her actions spoke louder than her words.
“Any American who voted for the man who showed such disrespect for the family of a dead American hero and a living one cannot claim to be patriotic.”
And what about our Marines in Benghazi? “Why does it matter at this point?” you ask?
“Trump likes to grab women by the pu**y.”
Yet Hillary’s pal, JayZ likes to talk about killing women and a lot more than just grabbing their genitals.
“rape and molest our wives and daughters”
Again, talk is cheap. Hillary actually has actually loopholed rapists out of the grip of justice. So should I pick the guy who says he grabs women’s crotches or the woman that actually turns rapists free on the streets? Oh, that’s not a hard one to make.
“Hopefully, once your smugness recedes, you will look at your mother, sister, wife or daughter and feel some shame about what your vote did.”
Never. Sorry. I have 2 daughters and a wife (who also voted for Trump and holds a PhD).
“Yes, but you are also racists.”
Are the blacks voting for Trump also racists?
“Your candidate used a racist lie to promote his candidacy for several years.”
Oh, you mean the birther movement? You mean that little lie Hillary STARTED when she campaigned against Obama?
“He has encouraged racists at his rallies.”
Except, he openly doesn’t.
“He has promoted violence against blacks, Mexicans, and ”
Except he doesn’t.. Not unless deporation is violence.
“Muslims.”
Maybe, if you interpret “defend yourself” as violence.
“He has empowered White Nationalist and racists.”
The KKK endorsed Hillary. True story.
“Incidents of racial violence are on the rise all over the country, because racists believe Trump approves of their hateful acts.”
These incidents have been on the rise for a very long time and now have boiled over by the minorities in committing those acts of violence that are constantly being blacked out on the TV. There are riots everywhere because Trump was elected. R I O T S. Talk about racists.
“Your candidate was endorsed by the KKK”
No, No. Go check your facts now.
“his inner circle includes a White Supremacist who molds his message”
Who, his daughter? What are you smoking?
“So yeah, we’re going to call you racist, but that that’s not the worst of it.”
Speaking of racism, did you know the Democratic Senator Byrd was a grand dragon of the KKK and Hillary says he, “is my greatest [political] mentor”?
“You are immoral traitors.”
Back atcha biggie.
You are being generous in your evaluation.
I have two words for you, and the first one is “bull”. There are plenty of right-wing outlets available to you, and I seriously doubt that anyone on the left has blocked your access to them. If you are such a coward that you only dare express yourself in the security of a voting booth, there are many others who are vocalizing right-wing opinions day and night. I don’t follow them myself, because I prefer my blood pressure to remain at a healthy level, but I do catch glimpses while channel-surfing, so I know they’re there.
There may well be Trump supporters whose primary motivation is not racial: I understand that he even got a few votes from African-Americans (god only knows why, but it’s their prerogative). The difference between pro-Trump voters and anti-Trump voters, IMHO, is the ability to recognize a con job when it’s presented to them. If you think you’re on the side that wasn’t conned, keep paying attention–or perhaps I should say “start paying attention”. However, I feel I should warn you, in the immortal words of Bette Davis: “Fasten your seatbelts: it’s going to be a bumpy ride.”
If the Congressional investigations are not complete and made public by the inauguration, they will never be heard of again. We will officially enter the communications black hole when the administration and the Republican Congress can censor what is released to the public. The New Dark Age.
The Electoral College meets on Monday 19th December 2016. Some may change their minds, hopefully, and will vote “the other way”..
The New York Times, July 2016, quoted Trump:
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference here in an apparent reference to Mrs. Clinton’s deleted emails. “I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
Mr. Trump’s call was another bizarre moment in the mystery of whether Vladimir V. Putin’s government has been seeking to influence the United States’ presidential race.”
It was a stunning moment in Presidential politics when a candidate for the nation’s highest office asks another nation to employ espionage to attack the candidate’s political opponent. It was a traitor’s request. Now we learn that the CIA found, in fact, a trail leading back to Russia indicating that they did, in fact, hack into the American political system. Other reporting has claimed that there was a direct line to Putin’s spies which provided regular intelligence to the Trump campaign. The similarities to Watergate are profound except that Nixon did not use foreign spies to break into the Democratic Headquarters. He used RNC operatives drawn from the CIA and FBI.
Trump’s selection of Exxon’s Rex Tillerson as a potential Secretary of State completes the circle. Tillerson’s company has ties and business interests all over the globe, but their largest investment is in Russia.
Under Tillerson’s leadership, Russia became Exxon’s single biggest exploration theater as the company amassed drilling rights across tens of millions of acres, dwarfing its holdings in its home country, formerly its largest drilling opportunity, according to U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings, according to The New York Times.
Corruption on this grand scale is breathtaking. Trump, of course, denies everything, but as a pathological liar and a fraud, he would deny the obvious.
He always used the Richard Pryor defense: “Are you going to believe me or your lying eyes?” His supporters do not care. He was right. He could stand on Fifth Avenue and start shooting people, and they would not care.
Jay Ligon, I agree with your every word. However, I believe you need to add the FBI and James Comey’s role in the defeat of Hillary Clinton. Talk about Karma – I began to feel on the Thursday before Mr. Comey dropped his letter about the emails being found on Mr. Weiner’s computer the next day, Friday, that something was dreadfully wrong and it never left me until the unbelievable verdict was announced. It took awhile for me to grasp the depth of filth that was spilling from the Trump rallies, the strange debates, the even stranger behavior of Mr. Comey and the FBI, the Twitter missiles, the Wikiki Leaks, the DNC, Russian connections, etc. As the list grew, any thinking person had to come to the conclusion that the Trump campaign had many tactical elements that only made sense when reviewed as a whole. It became apparent he had high level help in targeting his competition. The mainstream media had given him enough free advertising to hand him victory. Some have put a $$figure of two billion $$. I don’t doubt that number.
So here we are, he won, maybe. Now is the time to stand up and support these investigations that are being organized by Senators Schumer and McCain, and one by President Obama. We can’t let them get by with anything that looks suspicious or is not open and upfront. In the past I have worked for two prominent U.S. senators, known for their integrity. Members of congress pay attention to letters, petitions are okay, but when organizations (or special interests) send in hundreds or thousands of letters and there are none from Joe, Tom, Betty and Alice, to whom do you think
they listen? Start big letter writing campaigns, support the idea of investigations, then once they are in place and working, question everything you hear in more letters. Ask your friends and families to do the same, keep the chains going, etc and copy at least one important person in the media.
We need to hold Trump, the investigative committees, and the media accountable until we get the truth. I guarantee when enough letters arrive, we will get attention. Members of congress cannot deny their constituents, if so, 2018 is coming. The letters need be only a few sentences. it is the volume of letters that impresses, much more than a list of names on a petition. If you know of other groups that might join in, convince them to join. I’ve seen this approach work.
Excellent advice re the letter writing. I was once told in a senate office that few sentences from a person, even if handwritten, is worth a few dozen names on a petition or a several copies of a letter drafted by an advocacy group. By all means sign the petitions online, and send in emails to their offices. However, every legislator, every governor, mayor, etc etc knows how easy it is for all of us to sign onto petitions.
I would go one step further. Get two or three of your friends (or more if you really wish) and ask for a meeting to discuss your concerns. You won’t get the Senator or the Congressman. You may even get an intern, but you would be surprised at how few ordinary people bother. After one of two meetings, you and your friends will be known to some of the office staff. Especially if you are even reasonably well prepared, which is not as hard as it may sound. Being an expert is definitely NOT required. They hear utter partisan stuff so much that a rational response from a caring person is a relief.
Appalled that the Russians hacked into U.S political parties’ communications, but sanguine about the illegal destruction of 30,000 official U.S. government records? That’s what I call selective outrage, or more accurately, partisan hypocrisy.
And you appear to be totally oblivious to market economics. Why wouldn’t one of the world’s largest producer of fossil fuels amass drilling rights in a Nation that promotes and encourages the development of oil and gas resources, and reduce its operations in a Nation whose policies (under the Obama Administration) discourage and inhibit the development of oil and gas resources?
I’m talking about an aggressive foreign nation influencing our elections and you’re talking about a bogus email scandal. Which of our worldviews is partisan?
You are defending a foreign nation blatantly picking sides and screwing with our elections, and the best defense you can come up with is some bullshit nonsense about buying drilling rights? Forgive my language, but you’re coming up with justifications as to why its ok the Russians are (apparently successfully) hijacking our elections!
Matt, I was responding to a comment posted by Jay Ligon that was critical of Rex Tillerson’ leadership of Exxon/Mobile, not your “bullshit.” You need to chill out. You seem a little paranoid about Russian hacking. Get over it.
This feigned outrage looks more and more like an attempt by the Left to delegitimize Trump’s election Sorry sport, but as Obama once jeered, “elections have consequences.”
Your hatred of Hillary has blinded you to the existential threat to the safety and security of our nation. Our national interest is at stake. Time to stop gloating and think about your country.
Gentlemen…you’re missing the big picture here. Exxon vis a vis Tillerson negotiated a $500 billion deal for oil exploration. After Russia and Putin sojourned into the Ukraine, President Obama imposed sanctions against Russia effectively nullifying and freezing that deal.
Guess who can re-instate the tenets of that deal say, oh, 21 January on the recommendation of his Secretary of State by lifting those sanctions?
You got some bad intel there, and you don’t know what you are talking about.
It is federal policy for all federal employees, president on down, that they have the legal right to delete their personal emails from their computers when leaving the government. No one else is required to view the emails to decide if those being removed are indeed personal. Secretary Clinton did no more than exercise a legal right to delete personal emails. The fact that the emails were on a private server is not germane. And, FYI, the personal email account was used to communicate with 13 State Dept employees who worked directly with the Secretary. It was not used to communicate with embassy staff at any level. Also, Secretary of State and immediate staff occupy an area of the State Dept. that is “secure” and all personal phones, tablets, computers or any other electronic device is placed outside the area under the control of security staff posted for that purpose. (Source is the FBI investigation.) At least Sec. Clinton asked a legal team to ascertain what was personal and what was professional, which is likely to have resulted in a non-biased evaluation. What is most puzzling about all of this is the sheer lack of technical knowledge that pervades the discussion. ALL emails sent to any State Dept employee from anyone, including Sec. Clinton, should have been on the State Dept. server. In fact, they almost certainly are somewhere, but the system is way, way out of date and money for upgrading was consistently removed from the State Dept requests so finding records is next to impossible. (Not the only government agency with that problem.)
Norma: Thanks for writing.
Apparently the cold war is over, and Russia has won (thanks to Trump, who gets the US government to play with as a thank-you gift ): but at what cost remains to be seen. And here I thought the movie “The Manchurian Candidate” was fictional. (I’ve only seen the original version, so I can’t comment on the remake.) Interestingly, Trump is something of a mixture of the two main villains in “The Manchurian Candidate”: he has the right-wing politics of James Gregory’s cringing Senator and the histrionics (and something of the hairdo) of Angela Lansbury’s mommy-not-so-dearest. We can only hope (or pray) for an equally righteous resolution in real life.
Trump has met with Al Gore and Romney for crying out loud, he is trying to find the things Rep and Dems agree .
Many of these government institutions you speak of NEED to be revamped, updated or drained and started over. I get a kick when a lib says..republicans do not support public education because they want to get rid of the Dept of Education….No stoops we SUPPORT education because we want to get rid of the dept of education,….. its a failed bureaucracy and it needs to be changed. But Dems support Teachers unions more than wanting to actually teach children…thats gonna change too
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that we agree on everything you just said. Doesn’t it bother you, or worry you even a little, that our country’s chief intelligence agency now strongly believes that a foreign government spent months putting out stolen information to sway the election of our country’s most powerful office in favor of one candidate over another? I mean if its true, it would be more dangerous than President Obama lying about keeping your doctor, or even President Bush lying to pull us into a war with Iraq. I mean hell, it would be worse than Nixon and Watergate, because, though illegal and awful, at least it wasn’t a foreign government doing it.
Not to worry, it’s all fake news. 🙂
On a serious note, isn’t it amazing that none of the post-mortems (fake news, Russian interference, clueless working rubes) never even discuss that Donald Trump wouldn’t be heading for the White House if he hadn’t lucked out with the worst possible opponent the Dems could put up against him? I mean, seriously, the Party knew how much baggage she had and still insisted on violating Party rules and elbowing out any other Primary challenger so that the Entitled one could have her moment.
Now you see, I’m a small business owner, ( http://goldsborowebdevelopment if you want to check it out ) and I can tell you for fact, a union would destroy jobs, because if all of the sudden all of my employees were contracted to be paid $22.00/hr when I can only afford an average of 17.00/hr, well guess what’s going to happen? I’m going to lay people off and then tell those that stay “Guess, what? You now have to do the work of 2 people”. Oh, but I’m a greedy business owner, right? Especially that I only pay myself $12.00/hr ?
Negotiation. Ever negotiated a contract? Ever negotiated with your suppliers for product supply, raw materials, and price? That’s all it is. You get to negotiate single point with a representative. Yes I know, that weakens your divide and conquer operation.
All of which would probably be completely unnecessary if employers paid what was fair for the job being done rather that what is fair by the market.
Conceptually however, that is the one thing that is grossly misunderstood. No one wants to put you out of business. Without out you and the company, the business wouldn’t exist. Only what’s fair sir, only what’s fair.
As far as greedy, if you’re only paying yourself $12/hr and your vehicle is a Porsche owned by the company…well now…seems we have a rotten apple in the barrel. I’m not saying you do or would do that. I am saying that I’ve seen that very thing done before.
And you too can keep your healthcare and your doctor period. …….. Dude, for every lie YOU say Trump has told I got THREE PLUS from Hillary and Obama. Point is moot.
And the people of this country elected the last congress to do just that……. STOP OBAMA in his tracks. Thats called obstruction, but it was deliberately done by the people who voted them in. Of course, Obama does not know how to compromise, so he just went the role of EO….and those will be reversed sometime around 1/20/17. Obama took over and in 8 years he lost the house, senate, and most state governors too. The people spoke then and they spoke in November.
OMG! You are SO right! I never thought of that! I’m so glad you’re here to tell it like it is!
You got some bad intel, Dude. You don’t know what you are talking about.
That is some kind of karma that the legitimacy of Trump’s presidency is now being questioned after he questioned the legitimacy of Obama’s for nearly 8 years. Republicans should take this very seriously because they certainly must understand that they can just as easily be on the receiving end.
Norma, I don’t think Thomas is suggesting that democrats become obstructionists the same way republicans were throughout Obama’s administration; it’s just not our MO. But there is nothing wrong with questioning the actions and motives of the next administration.
My heart agrees that the GOP should be on the receiving end of their own nasty behavior vis a vis Trump, but my head says the problems facing us must be addressed. We have had 8 years of seeing how difficult it is to do so when one party insists of on obstructing or attacking at every opportunity. If this country stands any chance of surviving this election with its governing institutions even reasonably intact, it will be because some of our elected officials put serving their country above serving their party interests. Trump & most GOP leadership will certainly not be in that group.
Clearly many of the day to day aspects of the presidency will be left in VP Pence’s hands, who may have a slightly better grasp of the reality of government than Trump. Admittedly a somewhat limited reality, or he would not have joined the ticket.
While revenge is a loser’s game, accountability needs to be of utmost importance. For that reason, those Republicans who sit by and are complicit in Trump’s methodical destruction of our institutions and our very democracy need to be put on a list. When/if justice is ever served, these sycophants who put OBEDIENCE above MORALITY need to be dealt with accordingly—- ala the trials at Nuremberg.