20) Trump promised, repeatedly, that Mexico would pay for the entire cost of his border wall, the one Trump wanted to build between Mexico and the USA. He PROMISED! It was a major campaign tentpole. That has changed to getting the US taxpayers to pay for it, hoping Mexico might eventually chip in something. Now a report states Trump is actually paying Mexico. He's giving them twenty million dollars to help the US to deport undocumented immigrants. (9/13)
19) Eric Trump (Tweede Dum) appeared on Fox News to defend his father from the Bob Woodward book 'Fear." He came off as an anti-Jewish bigot. He implied Woodward only wrote the book to make "three extra shekels." The term is considered to be anti-Semitic, especially coming from the son of a notorious racist. (9/12)
17) In a scary development in North Carolina, Trump had the US Attorney for North Carolina sent off numerous faxes on behalf of ICE and the DOJ, seeking every voting record from 2010 to this year, for all 44 County Boards of Elections. This would be upwards of 20 million documents, at a time when they are trying to finalize the 2018 election preparations, and preparing for a major hurricane. Experts are calling this a new front in Trump's attempt to control the elections themselves. (9/12)
16) Former White House Aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman shared a recording of Trump, where Trump was making jokes about terrorists. He was making these jokes as the White House was dealing with the deaths of the US Service members killed in Niger. On the tape, people can be heard laughing. For the record, a conversation about the death of service members is never a laughing matter, and if former President Obama was ever caught doing such a thing, Republicans would've demanded his resignation. (9/10)
14) Former Secretary of State John Kerry has enraged Trump by telling the Iranians it'd be better for them to wait out the Trump Administration as opposed to actually deal with Trump. Trump said it was illegal for Kerry to meet with Iran (it isn't). He then insisted Kerry should've been registered as some sort of foreign agent before giving any advice to a foreign government (seems to have made that one completely up). He then ended his rage tweet with "BAD!" (9/13)
13) On 9/11, Trump put out a commemorative tweet which at best would be described as glib. "17 years since September 11th!" That was it; nothing else. It comes across more like a President's Day Mattress Sale instead of a note to commemorate an attack on American soil. Also, that wasn't his first tweet on 9/11. His first was a claim of "no collusion." (9/11)
12) A US District Judge ruled Education Secretary Betsy DeVos' attempt to delay the Obama-era student loan forgiveness policies for defrauded students is illegal. The Trump Administration wants to re-wrtie the law to make the loan forgiveness for defrauded students only available for a limited amount of students. It's not clear if any of those students had loans for the fraudulent Trump University. (9/12)
11) Bob Woodwad, the author of the new book 'Fear,' says Trump almost sent a tweet which had the Pentagon scrambling. The tweet Trump did not send referred to the US pulling all dependents of US citizens out of South Korea. Trump's un-sent tweet was meant as a tough guy message to Kim Jong-un, but in reality, it would've easily been mistaken by North Korea as a sign of an imminent attack. A back channel message from the North Koreans verified indeed North Korea would've taken it as a declaration of war. In the end, Trump (thankfully) didn't hit send. (9/10)
10) Trump's candidate to be Ambassador to Romania, Adrian Zuckerman, was sued for sexual harassment by his secretary while he was at his old law firm. What's amazing about this is the White House screening process for Ambassadors should've found this in their initial background check, prior to his nomination to be an Ambassador. The discovery of such a fact should've negated his nomination, but not in the land of Trump. (9/15)
9) Former Director of the National Security Agency, Admiral Mike Rodgers, revealed Trump, even though there was irrefutable evidence the Russians hacked the US elections of 2016, told him "Mike, you know I'm in a different place on Russian hacking." Rodgers response was to tell Trump this wasn't about politics or opinion. This was about factual evidence of a foreign country trying to "subvert the very tenets of our structure." Trump didn't care. (9/13)
8) White House aides were forced to explain to Trump how dangerous Hurricane Florence was by using large colored charts to keep his attention. Apparently just explaining things to Trump is impossible, so they have had to use large color images more akin to a 2nd grade classroom to explain "hurricanes bad." (9/14)
7) Trump's National Security Advisor John Bolton made news. First, he announced a threat to the International Criminal Court, the ICC, at the Hague, threatening sanctions and to arrest ICC judges if they continue to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan. What's not clear is if the Trump Administration is upset at the investigation into US troops, or US private contractors, privately held, for-profit companies, many of whom have ties to Trump. The private contractors are usually the ones who are guilty of war zone crimes. The Trump Administration actually threatened to arrest judges who investigate their Administration's actions. WOW! Bolton also announced the decision to shutter the Palestinian mission in Washington DC. This is the latest Trump attack on the Palestinians, following the ending of US humanitarian and medical aid to Palestine. Trump and the White House say this is a tough tactic to force Palestine to agree to Trump/Israeli demands in peace talks. This hostile approach to Palestine also comes as Palestine is asking the ICC at The Hague to investigate Israeli war crimes committed in Palestine. Coincidence? (9/10)
6) Trump is fighting with facts again. He tweeted out, in regards to last year's Hurricane Maria, "3000 people did not die in...Puerto Rico. When I left the island...they had anywhere from 6 to 18 deaths. As time went by it did not go up by much." He added "this [the 2975 number of actual dead] was done by the Democrats in order to make me look as bad as possible..." The Trump Administration's official death toll on Puerto Rico at the hands of Hurricane Maria was 64 (did not go up much from 18???). Afterwards, George Washington University determined the actual death toll was 2975, a number many people agree with, a number based on facts. Many Republican officials are dumbfounded trying to explain Trump's death toll math. Then on Friday night, Trump doubled down on his claim that 2975 people did not die. He continued to use low numbers no one can substantiate. Trump insisted only 16 people had died when he toured the island, when it was actually 34 confirmed dead at that point. Trump then said 50 times as many people dying than his Administration quoted is impossible. It's actually 46.5 times bigger, and it's VERY possible, considering many communities were cut off for days, weeks and in a few cases, even months. (9/13,15)
5) Trump's stunning lack of understanding of how exactly the US economy works came through in a November 2016 meeting between him and eventual, and now former, White House Economic Advisor Gary Cohen. This story was recounted in the Woodward book, 'Fear.' Cohen was giving Trump an initial briefing on the nation's economy. Cohen stated that Trump should expect interest rates to increase. Trump's response was to suggest the country borrow a ton of money, hold and then sell it to make more money after the rates go up. It was clear to Cohen Trump didn't understand the basics of the bond market, nor did he understand how doing such a thing would dramatically increase the deficit. Trump brushed off the criticism and suggested the government just print up money. Quoting Trump: "What do you mean? Just run the presses...print more money." Cohen was astounded by Trump's low IQ in regards to how the government's financial sector operated, but yet he still went to work for him. (9/11)
4) What kind of jackass do you need to be to work for Trump? Meet head of FEMA, Director Brock Long. He said it was fair for Trump to misrepresent the death toll of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico (Trump said it was 64, when the real number is 2,975) because some of the people could've died of "spousal abuse." He said the Administration's 64 number was based on people who died of direct contact with the hurricane, from damage done as the hurricane was striking the island. Long dismissed the people who died after the hurricane struck; "heart attacks...falling off their house trying to fix the roof....car crashes...where stoplights aren't working. You know, the other things that go on. Spousal abuse goes through the roof. You can't blame spousal abuse after a disaster on anybody." WOW! A person dying from a heart attack because the medical infrastructure has been destroyed by a hurricane WOULD BE a hurricane related death, as would be someone falling as they desperately tried to fix the roof of their house, a roof damaged by the hurricane. The roads and electrical grids being damaged, and any deaths related to said damage, would also be hurricane related, but for the FEMA Director to imply many of the 2911 underreported deaths were due to spousal abuse, not the hurricane, is one of the most horrible statements any member of any Administration has ever made. (9/16)
3) With the release of Bob Woodward's book 'Fear,' another bombshell is revealed. Trump's lawyer John Dowd, after giving Trump a sample interview, to see how he'd do in regards to a Mueller interview, stated directly to Trump "you cannot testify, you are disabled." When asked by his own team why he makes up lies in these practice interviews, Trump implied he had no idea. (9/11)
2) Brett Kavanaugh, Trump's nominee to the Supreme Court might be in trouble. A letter was released accusing Kavanaugh of attempting to force himself sexually on a teenage girl while he was in high school in the 1980's. The allegation was revealed to Senator Dianne Feinstein after Kavanaugh was put forward by Trump to replace retiring Justice Kennedy. Kavanaugh denies the claim. Feinstein turned the letter over to the FBI asking them to investigate, but they have refused. The woman who accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her broke her anonymity, after Senate Republicans were openly dismissing the claim. Christine Ford told the Washington Post of the night Kavanaugh allegedly sexually assaulted her, while a friend of his (who himself seems to have a dubious history of alcohol and inappropriate behavior) watched. She explained she revealed the sexual assault prior to now, back in 2012 when she and her husband were in couples therapy. This account is backed up not only by her husband, but also the therapist's notes from the time of the reveal in 2012. Ford has already passed a polygraph test about the incident. Kavanaugh should (ironically) get his day in court, something many of the Republicans defending him were not willing to offer former Senator Al Franken when allegations against him came to light, but for the GOP to ram him through to the Supreme Court without a complete vetting of the incident is WILDLY innapprprate. Republican Senator Jeff Flake is the first to openly state he's not comfortable voting to confirm Kavanaugh without answers. (9/14, 16)
1) In a stunning blow to Trump, Paul Manafort, his former Campaign Manager, will plead guilty in his second trail as part of a plea deal he has arranged with the Robert Mueller investigation. The deal includes a maximum ten year prison term for Manafort, as well as the surrendering of various assets. Manafort will plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy as part of the Russia probe, as long as he cooperates with the Mueller investigation. Most of Trump's aides fear Trump will pardon Manafort of all charges almost immediately, only adding evidence to Mueller's obstruction of justice charges against Trump. Regardless Manafort has probably already given Mueller plenty of evidence, something which a pardon can't undo. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says Manafort, Trump's former Campaign Manager, has "absolutely nothing" to do with Trump. Manafort could potentially take down everyone in Trump's inner circle. (9/14)
That Manafort flip is HUGE! I guarantee Mueller knows exactly how the entire Russia scheme went down. Trump is clearly terrified of his legacy being complete incompetence wrapped in treason.
Make sure you help out Democrats who are running in districts where the race is close. 15 points seems to be the number, so if there is a Republican district near you where the Republican won by less than 15, that district is up for grabs!!! We all have work to do!
Get registered to vote. And take advantage of early voting if your state offers it. That way, you can be free to help others get to the polls on election day! #2018IsEveryting!
