18 Comments

Can you please say any of the following words when discussing how Trump is handling this? Mob, mafia, organized crime, etc. I prosecute white collar/org crime. I say that's what Trump is b/c I know what he is.

Enough with the outrage performances about his lies or that he said it's no worse than the flu. We get it, he can't be trusted. This was established with inauguration crowd size. Yet we're reminded every day how much he lies, golfs, etc. This doesn't inform citizens, it depresses them and makes them feel powerless. Yet there is a consortium of reporters who are building a following doing this. Did you know Trump pays people to attend his rallies? I can prove it, but it's never been covered.

Where are the investigative reporters and/or the critical thinkers to tell us why. You can literally go to @lincolnsbible on twitter where all of the facts are laid out. Its right in front of you. The mob creates chaos then profits off of it. The daughter of Kushner's PR flunky works at NYT and covers this everyday, yet no one confronts them? Did they sell journalistic integrity for subscriptions? LOOK AT HER FAMILY'S CONNECTIONS TO RUSSIA! JFC! See http://www.citjourno.org/maggie1

Sunlight is how you stop this. No other way.

Media gets more and more blood on its hands as this passive genocide continues. You (the media) have had 3 years to uncover this, yet you failed and continue to do so. Why? Legacy media dying + outside investment from nefarious sources? Start talking mob or stop talking. You're just making noise.

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Jared Kushner said NYC doesn't need 30k-40k ventilators?

The same Jared who is in the Saudi's "back pocket?" The same Saudi Arabia that was home to 15/19 hijackers on 9/11? Is that why Schiff compared this to 9/11?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/after-the-pandemic-subsides-the-us-must-learn-from-its-mistakes/2020/03/31/99a37368-7387-11ea-87da-77a8136c1a6d_story.html

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it’s beyond parody at this point

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I would offer a counterpoint. While their tactics follow the same playbook, Putin has a clear ideology (to reestablish the 'Russian Empire'). Trump has no ideology, he's not capable of holding a sustained belief in anything. Trump is the court jester, not the king. As long as he remains immune from accountability, able to enrich himself through taxpayer dollars and avoidance of taxes, and receives a steady diet of adulation, he will allow the real powerbrokers to do as they wish. McConnell packs the courts, donors get their tax breaks, Miller decimates minorities, Bolton broke alliances, corporate lobbyists gutted regulations. Will the Trump base continue to support Trump as his entertainment value drops and the body count mounts? I don't want to know the answer to this question.

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it is def interesting that Trump lacks an ideology. In a way I think that makes it easier for press to fall back on its preferred ‘he’s just disorganized’ narrative

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Bolton was also the guy who disbanded the pandemic response team in 2018.

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(Quora.com. A glorious website to search "narcissism". Spend an hour or two reading posts on real-world experiences with narc behavior. It will spin your head around. No mention of ideology there. Just the survival of the narc and his supply. A malignant dumbhead like Trump then is a wonderful subject for ventriloquism. From anywhere he sees gain, like in Putinism. Google that, too....

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His ideology is money, in addition to the fact-he absolutely has zero empathy for the people he represents.

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Thank you for this necessary albiet frightening and much needed research. Where can I donate?

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thanks....and soon!

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Again, nothing personal, but continuing in my "this is a continuation of pre-existing trends" theme, there was a little public health emergency in the '80s that the White House did nothing about. Only, the general public was mostly fine with that, until HIV/AIDS became perceived as affecting "innocent" people as well who "didn't deserve it", like transfusion recipients. The Reagan Administration laughed behind closed doors at people dying from AIDS, while the Christian right celebrated it as God's wrath against sinners and people like William Buckley were calling for the infected to be rounded up.

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I am unable to give the occupant credit for anything. He receives instructions from Putin on a regular basis and the one thing he can do is follow Putin's orders, because he's scared. We have seen for years that he is willing to sacrifice the country and its people for whatever is in it for him and the 1%. Those who do not watch tv (amazing how many there are) cannot fathom how totally gone donnie is. Fox watchers never see the true picture of their dear leader. He's drugged every time he goes to the mic, can barely read, and just doesn't get the totality of the virus's threat. Or does and is gleefully allowing people to die. He is purposely withholding critical PPE from states whose governor he dislikes. He has stated that he enjoys revenge. The only thing that we can give him credit for is his lying, which comes naturally to him, like breathing. His lack of soul combined with Putin's evil brilliance is a powerful weapon. Sorry, too long.

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Can we assume that Trump is “smart” enough to understand how Putin works? I may be wrong but I think Putin is probably brilliant ( but evil). I don’t want to give trump credit for anything but if he understands how to mislead and has figured out that lying works maybe the madman is not that stupid. And that is even scarier.

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Good pt! I don’t subscribe to ‘Trump plays 3-D chess’ idea. But I do think he might be able to pick up on Putin playbook

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From what I've read Putin is hardly an evil supergenius. He's just an experienced thug. The Russian state is actually a fairly chaotic mess with various factions under Putin jockeying for power, and it'll probably come apart messily after he's gone as there are currently no succession plans. Same thing was true of Nazi Germany, by the way. Someone doesn't have to be hyper-competent and intelligent to cause a lot of suffering.

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crazy/dumb like a fox...comes to mind...

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Here's the process--Anybody read this? The English translation of Surkov has such a "read between the lines" quality. He spells out the process. Any of it sound familiar? It's all there, in print. (My fear is that even bringing it into our speech could open the door for it's amplification by "the bad people").....

http://www.ng.ru/ideas/2019-02-11/5_7503_surkov.html

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Apr 1, 2020
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yeah, this kind of ties into my Monday column, and how it's increasingly difficult that incompetence is the reason Trump essentially ordered gov't to stand down for virus invasion

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