Hodad

You are just stunningly dumb. If "Joe and the Dems" and had ANY interest in dictatorship and controlled those institutions, it would be over already. But they don't have any interest in dictatorship and they don't control those institutions--nor do they seek to. The press gives poor coverage of Trump because he's a pathological liar and toxic narcissist with no redeeming qualities. The law "persecutes" Trump because he's a crook, and always has been. Only one party--or the fringe of one party--has ever tried to overthrow democracy and end the Republic You sound, as always, like a goddamn lunatic.

For critical thinking, you're barking up the wrong trees. But it's rather like the question of the death penalty. How many innocents should the state murder to satisfy the primitive instinct for retributive justice against the guilty? How many citizens should the state disenfranchise to soothe unfounded fears of voter fraud? We prove eligibility when we register that is sufficient. Despite all the the fear mongering, rigorous study confirms every time that voter fraud is not a significant issue. There is no bogeyman to fight. We should not disenfranchise any eligible American solely to assuage the unfounded fears of their countrymen.

Or, perhaps, he does understand that.

Remember those clowns waving around stacks of paper they promised were evidence? But, they sure were taking advantage of the rubes, and not shy about it.

Lol. You hold a fantastically high opinion of the power of retirees. Retirees who didn't even work for the FBI, no less.

So weird that people would be skeptical of a woman who made unsupported claims beneficial to the Trump campaign before defecting to Russia to hang out with a convicted Kremlin spy who also sought to influence that election. Can't fathom why there would be any doubt. No collusion!

Yeah, it's not a mistake or a misunderstanding, he's just that vile. Full stop. Not to mention delusional.

WTF? Read the OP. Read the article I posted. This is not a one off comment or aberration. Again, multiple comments, multiple contexts and multiple classes of veterans. And no, he insulted all POWs. His argument was that people who get captured aren't heroes, instead he "likes" people who weren't captured. That's not just McCain, it's every POW.

It's not one time. It's many times, in many places and contexts in reference to many types of service personnel. Bullshit. He didn't attack John McCain, who just happens to be a POW. He attacked him on the basis of being a POW. (Not a hero for being captured, Trump likes people who weren't captured.) His derision applies to every POW. There are lots of reasons people IN the administration don't speak out. People are freer to talk after they leave. You claim not to be a Trump sycophant, but you're twisting yourself into pretzels to weave an alternate reality and dismiss and diminish criticism that is broad and sourced almost exclusively from people who worked shoulder-to-shoulder with Trump. When someone shows you who they are, believe them. When their closest confidants and collaborators confirm it, believe them. Again, you're welcome to say that his disdain for service, service members (especially the disables, POW and KIA) is A-okay in your book. You're welcome to say that you'll give power to an awful human being in the hope that he delivers policy that you think it good. But don't bullshit us by pretending reality isn't reality. Just own it and move on.

After 60+ court cases and numerous recounts and audits, 3.5 years later THIS random, unverified Internet post will unravel the most scrutinized election in US history. Promise, you guys won't end up looking like gullible fools again.

Automotive fatalities have gone up every year since shoulder belts became mandatory. They must be useless and/or killing people. Be sure not to buckle up. -- I mean that. Whatever we can do to reduce the chances that you reproduce, I'm all for it. We don't need any halfwit WestCanKids running around mucking things up.

No, the "stupid, dishonest game" is pretending that he hasn't made these comments a half dozen times or more. He attacked John McCain on the basis of being a POW. Trump, after all, doesn't respect those heroes. He likes people who didn't get captured. And those closest to him DO acknowledge that these things happened. The people who exited that administration were shell-shocked by how fundamentally awful Trump is. It is a plain fact that Trump neither understands nor respects military service. But sure, you can keep pretending otherwise, you spineless lickspittle. CNN exclusive with John Kelley his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. “A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all ‘suckers’ because ‘there is nothing in it for them.’ A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because ‘it doesn’t look good for me.’ A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America’s defense are ‘losers’ and wouldn’t visit their graves in France. “A person who is not truthful regarding his position on the protection of unborn life, on women, on minorities, on evangelical Christians, on Jews, on working men and women,” Kelly continued. “A person that has no idea what America stands for and has no idea what America is all about. A person who cavalierly suggests that a selfless warrior who has served his country for 40 years in peacetime and war should lose his life for treason – in expectation that someone will take action. A person who admires autocrats and murderous dictators. A person that has nothing but contempt for our democratic institutions, our Constitution, and the rule of law. “There is nothing more that can be said,” Kelly concluded. “God help us.” In the statement, Kelly is confirming, on the record, a number of details in a 2020 story in The Atlantic by editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, including Trump turning to Kelly on Memorial Day 2017, as they stood among those killed in Afghanistan and Iraq in Section 60 at Arlington National Cemetery, and saying, “I don’t get it. What was in it for them?” ... “Enough,” interestingly, contains a scene in which Hutchinson and then-White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin push back against Goldberg’s 2020 story. Griffin issued a statement to The Atlantic after that story posted denying the report. Reached for comment over the weekend, Griffin said, “Despite publicly praising the military and claiming to be the most pro-military president, there’s a demonstrable record of Trump bashing the most decorated service members in our country, from Gen. Mattis to Kelly to Milley, to criticizing the wounded or deceased like John McCain. Donald Trump will fundamentally never understand service the way those who have actually served in uniform will, and it’s one of the countless reasons he’s unfit to be commander in chief.” No other presidential candidate in history has had so many detractors from his inner circle. His former secretary of defense, Mark Esper, told CNN in November 2022, “I think he’s unfit for office. … He puts himself before country. His actions are all about him and not about the country. And then, of course, I believe he has integrity and character issues as well.” Trump’s former attorney general, Bill Barr, told CBS in June that “he is a consummate narcissist. And he constantly engages in reckless conduct. … He will always put his own interests, and gratifying his own ego, ahead of everything else, including the country’s interests. Our country can’t, you know, can’t be a therapy session for you know, a troubled man like this.” ^^The people who used to aid and defend Trump for a living--those who know him best--are telling you plainly that he's utterly unfit for office. Believe them.

Bullshit. We can all believe the reports precisely because we see the entire life of the man. We see that he is constitutionally incapable of understanding notions of service and self sacrifice. He thinks about and cares only for people named Trump. His interest in other people is only in their capacity to serve his ends. We see how unbelievably callous, cruel and selfish he is, so even the most extreme of those comments are perfectly in character. We watched with our own eyes and heard with our own ears as Cadet Bone Spurs publicly mocked a bona fide war hero and POW. And he did it on the record, because in his conception of the world, that disrespect was a winning strategy. We watched him antagonize gold star parents. We have first-hand accounts from his closest advisors and staff about how poorly he thinks of the "suckers" who serve their country--especially those who who sacrificed life or limb. This is not a made -up criticism. It's just who this scumbag is. MAGA cultists knew exactly who he was when they signed up. No need for the phony protestations of plain fact. Just admit you don't care and move on.

Yes, saving millions of lives is pretty amazing. Only in your twisted little mind is it not a success.

Far larger than what? Under Obama the deficit shrank year after year nearly every year. All Trump had to do to"heroically" balance the budget was to keep things as they were. Can you even imagine what an achievement that would have been? Instead, he decided to increase the deficits in the hope of a short term optical victory. What a loser. People are saying it was trickle down because that's exactly what it was, skewed dramatically toward the wealthy and businesses. The same warmed over, reheated garbage that we knew wouldn't work, and indeed did not. Revenue went down. Spending went up. Sort of how the oaf managed to bankrupt three goddamn Casino. Casinos, FFS. Whatever you want to blame "Biden and the Democrats" for, the fact (which, as you say, doesn't care about your feelings--or your lies) is that the deficit is about half of what they inherited from Trump's dumpster fire. Just enough to keep the soft landing. You may not know much about economics, but that's a really big deal. Has only once or twice in history. And we're looking at continued growth for at least the next three forecast years. The president is just one of many factors, but if you want to play a simplistic blame game, go ahead and blame Biden for a robust economy and the fact that we're growing rather than in recession.

No, Dummy, Trump inherited a robust economy and elected to run big deficits in the hope of further stimulating it. (We got deficit and debt, but no stimulation, because trickle down has always been preposterous.) So we were already running deeper in the red and poorly positioned to deal with the necessary COVID stimulus packages. Biden took over in the midst of a true crisis, carrying Trump's elective deficits (tax cuts) along with the necessary of stimulus. His response and fiscal policy were mostly dictated by circumstances. You simply cannot pivot from stimulus to austerity without re-crashing the economy. It was a forgone conclusion that Biden would have to run heavy deficits and we would have to wean off as the economy stabilized--the so-called soft landing. It was the Bush-Obama handoff all over again. Unhelpful tax cuts lead to large deficits followed by a crisis and heavy stimulus spending before it all gets dropped on the Democrats to repair the damage. Meanwhile, Republicans suddenly start caring about deficits and create a narrative beating up the Democratic president for running deficits that they literally have to run. We've had one fiscally conservative president in the last 45 years--and it was a Democrat. We have no idea what Obama or Biden WOULD have been like if left to their own devices and inclinations. Likely not fiscal conservatives, but certainly their records are wildly distorted by circumstance and the decisions necessary to navigate crisis.

Sure. You're so consistently even handed that your went out of your way to reply to a criticism of illogical one-sidedness with a one sided "rebuttal." Keep gaslighting yourself!👍

1. I point out that WCM is trying to absolve Trump of his deficits and blame Biden for his deficits - a criticism of logical inconsistency 2. You reply that Biden spends too much, blah blah, and the democrats are to blame for their deficits, with no mention of Trump whatsoever 3. I again appeal for logical consistency 4. You tell me that you are consistent in your criticism. Lol. Sure. All makes sense now. Consistently one-sided. I should have been more specific.

Even if the events surrounding that were a nefarious plot (they weren't) it wouldn't be fraud. 🤦‍♂️

Complains about Biden lying, while lying about what Biden said. Classic.🤪

This is a rather simplistic view of things, but all I ask is that you apply it equally. If "Biden and the Democrats" own their deficits, then Trump owns his deficits.. Easy peasy. Just apply a bit of consistency and intellectual honesty.

Jeebus, man. Talk about a total lack of self awareness. This, in a thread where you are whining about "Biden's deficits" when they are standing on the shoulders of 2 massive emergency spending packages and the need to sustain a fragile recovery. You are literally trying to absolve Trump of blame for his economic misfortunes while tarring Biden for the fallout from the same black swan event. And you have the nerve to talk about disingenuous cherry picking?

Thank goodness you're here to present the "Nuh-uh," argument.🙄

Exactly. Any such crime--and far worse--can no longer be prosecuted. Free pass for aspiring Putins.

That's not a huge qualifier. There is almost nothing that can't be argued as an "official act" for which there is full or at least presumptive immunity. Oh, I'm quite interested in honest, intelligent discussion. Do you know where I can find some? This forum seems to be filled with cheerleaders, hand wavers and people pretending that this extreme SCOTUS opinion doesn't really do anything.