PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2024!

[Hunny]

THE CANDIDATES

Vice President Harris versus the orange lying criminal Trump are running for President currently.

So also is RFK's son, which should be great, but he's nuts!!


Robert Kennedy Jr. is actually strange and terrible...NOT anything like we'd expect of RFK's son!


He comes to us as a conspiracy theorist and an anti-vaxxer, which is presidentially untenable, it's Trump terribleness frankly:  LINK   AND.. LINK

But he knows that every living Kennedy who could possibly run has been killed - so perhaps he acts unelectable to not get shot?

Though one cannot surmise his angle running at all.  And he could actually really be nuts. But either way it's a slap to us.

The death of his father, Robert Kennedy ("RFK") - who was his brother John F Kennedy's Attorney General - was the death of American democracy, our hopes, our pride, it all.
RFK would have been our greatest President. But our own corrupt government killed every Kennedy.

Because The Kennedies worked against corruption. So those who thrive from corruption killed them.

And we were spuriously told JFK's assassination was the act of "some random nut", though we know the crooked republican FBI killed them.
An investigation of "who killed JFK" was feigned, and we were promised the details would be revealed in full after anyone who could get in trouble from it was dead (Huh?)
a date that became due during Trump who of course released only a few blacked through pages, and the press made it appear we had no concern about that, and no interest.

There is no America, people. No democracy. No anything we previously bragged of.

We need only wait, now, for the climate to collapse, in hopes of at least getting to see those bastards die too. Hope in America? I just described it. There is NONE.

In the near term, however, we can look forward to a black woman being elected President. (Kamala Harris)
That should be some commiseration, after our last attempt at having a woman President was prevented by sedition, and of this we were told simply, "So".

[Hunny]

The choice:

Do you want a hateful, lying, incompetent, self-serving, country-wrecking, democracy-ending scowl? (Trump)

OR someone qualified who exudes joy? (Harris)

Vibes matter: Trump can hardly restrain his jealousy over the Harris campaign's joy

Donald Trump is stewing in frustration over Kamala Harris’ rise ! 

SALON August 11, 2024

Democratic presidential candidate, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and Democratic vice presidential candidate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz 

greet supporters during a campaign event at Temple University on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia.

Evolutionary biologists know why humans spend disproportionate energy on negative thoughts compared to positive: Teasing out threats, real or perceived, is a basic tool of survival.

Three a.m. isn’t the only time negative thoughts seize us. Even when we’re at ease, evolutionary instincts cause us to seek out whiffs of threat, real or imagined. Commonly called the human "negativity bias," we train our mental energy on perceived danger, releasing cortisol and triggering flight or fight instincts that have served mammals from the beginning.

Donald Trump is a master of manipulating people with negativity and fear. He built a naked tribalism movement on us vs. them vitriol, with immigration, crime, race, and “vermin” of different political views topping his greatest hits. His running mate JD Vance’s negative divisiveness is next level: Hillbilly vs. Silicon Valley, parent vs. childless, cat ladies vs. those with a proper stake in democracy. Almost overnight, Vance served up new antagonisms between voter categories we didn’t even know existed.
Negativity Sells. It also kills.

Stewing in frustration over Kamala Harris’ meteoric rise, Trump can hardly restrain his jealousy. In a revolting pique of petty, confirming that he would destroy America for his own personal gain, Trump insulted American hostages’ release from Russia, praising Putin instead. He then drooled giddy when the stock market tanked last week, clucking, “TRUMP CASH vs. KAMALA CRASH!” but was silent when the market rebounded.

Trump/Vance obviously understand that negativity sells, they recognize fear in particular as our most primal and powerful motivator. But too many years in the Trump hate machine, amplified by Fox News and similar propaganda, is also making people sick. Not only do negative thoughts lead to aggression and war, but compulsive or repeated negativity makes people physically ill.

It’s fairly well known that Trump supporters are more likely to die of COVID and gun-related homicides than the general population; less known is that negative thoughts create neural pathways in the brain that lead to illnesses too. Grievance politics in general may be killing its own adherents, as researchers have shown a gap in mortality rates between Republican and Democratic counties in nine out of 10 causes of death.

Even setting aside COVID deaths, American mortality rates differ by politics across the board, leading one researcher to conclude that “Political environment is a core determinant of health.” The Marquee Medical team explains that “people with high levels of negativity are more likely to suffer from degenerative brain diseases, cardiovascular problems, digestive issues, and (they) recover from sickness much slower than those with a positive mindset.”

It’s more than a theory. Neural pathways caused by nonstop exposure to Trump’s repetitive, negative thoughts can be detected physically, as most features of neural circuits can be visualized with magnetic resonance imaging.

Happy Warriors Harris and Walz to the rescue

The outpouring of enthusiasm for Kamala Harris and America’s dad Tim Walz suggests voters have grown tired of political negativity. As vice president, Harris faced relentless Republican criticism over her laugh, spun as unserious and intellectually weak. But now that she is in command, her intellect has become irrefutable, allowing her to embrace her laughter and smile often at the podium.

Anyone who missed Harris-Walz’ first rally together should treat themselves and watch it. It was a joyful, positive event. Even when Walz delivered his obligatory zingers about Trump and Vance, he did it with humor and without nastiness.

When he pointed out that crime was up under Trump, he added, laughing, “That's not even counting the crimes he committed!” On Trump’s abortion and culture wars, he delivered a plain spoken message: “In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and the personal choices that they make. Even if we wouldn’t make the same choices for ourselves, there’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business.”

Joy, common sense and positivity have emerged as Harris/Walz superpowers.

Rolling in the vibe shift

The contrast between Trump/Vance vitriol and Harris/Walz joy seems to be resonating with voters. Partly, it’s relief. Our political discourse has been poisoned with Trump’s hate-filled spittle for nearly a decade. We have watched Trump bully so many people that watching Harris/ Walz laugh at him delivers a catharsis. Everyone likes to see a bully get his comeuppance, seeing him get laughed at is a special treat. When the laughter comes from his would-be victim- eg, the one he tries hardest to dominate and bully— it’s delicious.

Walz first tapped the psychological power of calling Trump/Vance “weird” instead of dangerous. The terms aren’t mutually exclusive, but, Walz intuits, repeatedly warning about how Trump threatens our 250-year-old democracy gives him too much power. Walz advised, “Don’t lift these guys up like they’re some kind of heroes. Everybody in this room knows—I know it as a teacher—a bully has no self-confidence. A bully has no strength. They have nothing.”

Not only does worrying about Trump’s Hitler parallels strengthen him, but having Walz defang “socialist” as free lunches for poor students so they can learn and stay off the streets already just feels right. It feels like the homespun truth America has been waiting for.

Walz said early, in his first rally with Harris, “Thank you, Madam Vice President, for the trust you put in me, but maybe more so, thank you for bringing back the joy.”Optimism for America’s future, personal freedom, and yes, joy, are new welcome strangers in the public square.

Like most unhealthy habits in life, negative thoughts can become addictive and can kill you. The good news is, this particular addiction can be broken. It’s been said that it takes 21 days to truly break a habit. We have almost 90 days.

[Hunny]

[Hunny]

Ya see this faked BS?

-> American college students DID NOT suddenly support the terrorists! (Yes. Palestinians are the bad guys.)

-> The protesting at every American college WAS STAGED. AND reported as something it wasn't.

-> The entire republican party needs to be criminalized and prosecuted. Now.




This is NOT an organic interest. It's staged. Just like the whole "Swift Boats" fakery. REPUBLICANS are DAMNED LIARS AT ALL TIMES.

I mean look at it! That 'photo' implies that every American student OPPOSES DEMOCRACY. That's what they're trying to trick you with now, the sleezy lying scum!

[Hunny]

 Saturday August 24, 2024   MSNBC

'A betrayal': The Kennedies decry RFK Jr's endorsement of Trump

The Kennedies have denounced RFK Jr's decision to endorse Trump after he dropped out of the presidential race, calling it a “betrayal” of their family’s values.

In a statement released shortly after Kennedy suspended his independent bid for president and announced he's backing the Republican nominee, five of his siblings reiterated their support for the Democratic ticket and criticized their brother. “Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” they wrote. “It is a sad ending to a sad story.”

The statement was signed by five of his eight surviving siblings: Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, Courtney Kennedy, Kerry Kennedy, Chris Kennedy and Rory Kennedy.

I am sharing a personal statement that my family and I have made in response to my brother’s announcement. pic.twitter.com/j7vTTabNYZ

— Kerry Kennedy (@kerrykennedyrfk) August 23, 2024

Kennedy’s family members have been open about their disdain for his long-shot presidential bid. Several of them publicly backed President Joe Biden in April, and they have continued to support the Harris-Walz ticket since Biden stepped aside.

A member of the famed Democratic political dynasty endorsing Trump would have been unthinkable even 18 months ago. But the 70-year-old anti-vaccine activist’s distrust in government has appeal on the right, and his penchant for conspiracy theories aligns with Trump’s own leanings.

In his speech in Arizona on Friday, Kennedy railed against what he called Democrats’ “continual legal warfare” against him and Trump, and he accused the media of engaging in a conspiracy with Democrats to hinder his campaign. Kennedy also acknowledged that his involvement with Trump’s campaign “will be a difficult sacrifice for my wife and children” 

but is “worthwhile” to save children from processed foods and obesity.  [ !!   Ya' can't make this stuff up!]

At a campaign rally later on Friday, Trump praised Kennedy — an opponent he once called “the most radical left candidate in the race” — as a “great person.”

Kennedy’s endorsement may ultimately carry little weight, however. He had been performing poorly in polls and his campaign’s fundraising had been in dire straits in recent months.

[Hunny]

August 30, 2024 - NBC

Convicted Felon Donald Trump tells sexual jokes and calls for military tribunals

On his fake alternate Twitter ('Truth' Social), Donald Trump lashes out in increasingly vulgar, misogynistic and vindictive posts.

Just this week, he’s reposted messages calling for his political opponents to be jailed, calling for a return of “public military tribunals” for people like former President Barack Obama, as well as making a graphic sexual joke about Vice President Kamala Harris and Democrat Hillary Clinton, his opponent in 2016. The repost of the sexual joke now appears to have been removed from Trump’s profile.

But you’d only see that if you’re a user of Truth Social. On other more mainstream platforms like X and TikTok, Trump has maintained a more even tone, one seemingly designed for consumption by a much wider swath of American voters.

Truth Social has long been a safe space for Trump allies and acolytes, a place they’re free to lean into unfounded claims of election fraud and a search for revenge, with the distinct possibility those messages could be seen and reposted — or “retruthed" — by Trump himself. But it has a far more limited reach than the major platforms, leaving things largely out of sight and mind for the vast majority of Americans.

On Truth Social, Trump has been able to feed the frenzy of fans who post more extreme conspiracy theories and calls to action, while maintaining a far more manicured presence on larger platforms like X.

On Wednesday, Trump made and shared a particularly extreme series of posts on Truth.

“How to actually fix the system,” one Truth repost read, with photoshopped images of Hilary Clinton, President Joe Biden, Hunter Biden, former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, former public health official Anthony Fauci, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Harris all sitting in orange jumpsuits behind prison bars.

“Indict the unselect J6 committee sedition,” another reads, followed by “retruth if you want to lock them up.”

Another features a picture of Trump sitting next to Obama with the words “All roads lead to Obama. Retruth if you want public military tribunals.”

And one includes a screenshot apparently from X of a reply to a photo of Harris and Clinton that oral sex “impacted both their careers differently.”

Trump has regularly used his Truth Social platform to denigrate enemies, and weigh in on the various legal cases against him, so much so that a New York judge held him in contempt of court for violating a gag order, in part based on his posts. In March, he shared a video that included an image of Biden bound in the back of a pickup truck. And in July, he reposted another call for a “televised military tribunal” for former Wyoming GOP Rep. Liz Cheney and a quote from Ulysses S. Grant after the start of the Civil War, in which he said: “There are but two parties now: traitors and patriots.”

But the sexualized nature of the attack on Harris broached a new frontier, one that comes as all indications point to Harris running a more competitive race against Trump than Biden was.

Asked on CNN about the sexual post about Clinton and Harris, Trump senior adviser Jason Miller downplayed a discussion about the post as a “distraction,” trying to draw a comparison to the criticisms Trump has faced from Democrats “ever since he came down the escalator” in announcing his first presidential bid in 2015.

“I haven’t discussed that with the president, I don’t know if the president even saw the comment that was on there, or simply the picture. That’s not something I have asked,” Miller said Thursday on CNN.

That it hasn’t seen or discussed specific posts with the former president is often the defense Trump’s campaign uses when it comes to the more extreme posts he makes on Truth Social, and harkens back to GOP attempts to brush aside Trump’s statements on Twitter while he was in office by using the same claim.

That social media silo has also made it easier for the general public to disengage with some of the former president’s more bombastic posts. Instead of an X post that receives hundreds of thousands of likes, Trump’s Truth Social account, which sometimes sees over a hundred posts in a single day, are often unanimously applauded by a few thousands supporters on the app.

There could be a danger for Trump with the broader electorate if those highly charged posts do break through to a wider audience, former Florida GOP Rep. Carlos Curbelo told MSNBC on Thursday.

“This attack is so, just, beneath a campaign, especially a presidential campaign, that it does make sense for the Harris campaign to ignore it and to allow it to speak for itself,” Curbelo said. “Ultimately, this ends up hurting him with the types of swing voters who will ultimately decide this election.”

Trump’s posts to Truth Social stand in stark contrast to his presence on other social media platforms.

His most controversial posts on Truth Social don’t appear on his X account, which has more than 90 million followers. Instead, he’s recently touted a new crypto project, shared campaign ads and graphics, boosted his media appearances and other projects, while also criticizing Harris and the Justice Department after a federal grand jury returned a superseding indictment against Trump for election interference in response to a recent Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity.

On TikTok, which Trump joined in June after trying to ban the app while in office, he has similarly posted content that is relatively tame by comparison. In several direct-to-camera videos to his 10.7 million followers, the former president railed against inflation, promised to make the U.S. “a safe nation again,” and repeated catchphrases including “too big to rig” and “make America great again.”

His YouTube channel, which has 3.2 million subscribers, similarly posts attack ads, Trump’s Fox news appearances and his speeches.

Trump comparatively has 7.6 million followers on Truth Social, where his posts can rack up a few thousand reposts and tens of thousands of interactions.

Trump’s presidency was defined in part by his near-constant presence on X. He’d frequently spar with rivals at all hours of the day and night, and upend news cycles by announcing new policies or making personnel changes at a moment’s notice.

But after spending much of the end of the 2020 election cycle, and the months after it, repeatedly stoking false claims the election had been stolen from him, he was banned from the platform, then Twitter, two days after the failed Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection. The company said it had “permanently suspended” Trump, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence.”

Trump retreated to Truth Social, which he launched in February 2022, and has since made it his digital home base. After some initial growth, the app has struggled to attract users, and the company behind the app has seen its share price drop in recent weeks.

[Hunny]

There is no justice by the way. Trump is getting off scot-free by this ruse, this 'running for president'.
And Americans going along are just showing how stupid they all really are.

When Trump declares himself dictator, I will laugh - not cry - at stupid Americans, in their stupidly allowed plight.

No backbone, no will. Not a scintilla of gumption at all. Just shrug and go along.

And if it's stupid and terrible, so what? Americans are stupid and terrible!

"America. The greatest stupidest country in the world!"

[Hunny]

September 8, 2024

FROM: www.salon.com/2024/09/08/pledges-authoritarian-crackdown-saying-enemies-to-be-prosecuted-at-levels-never-seen-before/?in_brief=true

Trump pledges authoritarian crackdown, saying enemies to be prosecuted at levels "never seen before"

The Republican candidate promised to imprison those he falsely claimed 'stole' the 2020 election from him

Convicted felon Donald Trump is promising to carry out what he described as an unprecedented crackdown on his political enemies should he win the 2024 election,
saying that after his victory there will be a wave of arrests and prosecutions at a level "never seen before in our Country."

The Republican candidate, who recently admitted that he lost the 2020 election, returned Saturday evening falsely claiming he defeated President Joe Biden but that his victory was stolen from him. In a post shared on social media, Trump reiterated his usual litany of falsehoods about U.S. elections while promising that, "WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again."

The 78-year-old GOP nominee went on to assert that the country could not be allowed to become a "Third World Nation," a threat his campaign has repeatedly invoked in the race against Vice President Kamala Harris. In August, Trump's campaign shared an ad that echoed white nationalist language on migration, stating: "Import the third world" and "Become the third world," an image of Black men used to depict "your neighborhood under Kamala."

On Saturday, the former president denied the possibility that he could legitimately lose in November. He also emphasized that his promised post-election crackdown would be sweeping in nature, claiming targets would include "Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials." Hundreds if not thousands of people could ultimately be detained, he suggested, writing: "Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country."

Trump has previously called for terminating the U.S. Constitution so that he could return to power, while also saying he would be a dictator on "day one." Under Project 2025, a plan for a second term drafted by allies at the right-wing Heritage Foundation, Trump would purge the federal government of career, nonpartisan bureaucrats, replacing experts and others with MAGA loyalists.

The threat that a second Trump presidency poses to democracy has prompted even some former leading Republicans to speak out. On Friday, former Vice President Dick Cheney endorsed Harris, saying her opponent could not be trusted with ever wielding power again.

"In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," Cheney said in a statement.

[Hunny]

If you parrotic unresponsible Americans don't demand this criminal GO to prison as sentenced, you will get THIS:

--> www.cnn.com/2024/09/08/politics/trump-threatens-prosecution-2024-election-officials/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc




That's not inflammatory, it's factual. WAKE UP!!

[Hunny]

Trump Loses Four Billion Dollars in Truth Social Wipeout Because He's A Discredited Failure

www.cnn.com/2024/09/09/business/trump-stock-truth-social/index.html?iid=cnn_buildContentRecirc_end_recirc

[Hunny]

REMINDER: This thread documents the candidates in America's upcoming Presidential Election on November 5.

As the ballot instructs: PICK ONE!

[Hunny]

A 43-foot nude Trump statue was erected along a Las Vegas highway

September 30, 2024

A 43-foot naked Donald Trump statue is erected (Well, not quite. It's Trump!) in a fenced-in lot on Interstate 15, north of Las Vegas on September 28.

(Doesn't it just plead, "Love me"? Just as old Donnie himself does, to under-age girls right before the charges and lawsuits disappear )

A naked statue of Donald Trump, titled “Crooked and Obscene”, was erected in a fenced-in lot next to Interstate 15, north of Las Vegas, on September 28.

The statue resembles a frowning Trump and has arms attached to strings allowing them to be moved like a puppet. It is made of foam-covered metal rebar and weighs 6 tons.

The piece is a “a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability, and the public personas of political figures,”  the creators told the outlet.

This isn’t the first time Americans have experienced naked statues of the GOP nominee. In 2016, five nude Trump statues popped up in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle.  The project was dubbed “The Emperor Has No Balls” by creators Indecline, a group that describes itself as an “activist art collective.”

The statue was installed just over a month before the hotly contested presidential election.

Much like Trump himself, who has been zig-zagging the country on campaign stops, the project is expected to travel to other cities. Dates and locations have not yet been announced.

Hide the kids!

[Hunny]

Trump Proposes Stunningly Stupid Idea for Public Safety

Ellie Quinlan Houghtaling  September 30, 2024

Donald Trump threw around some strange ideas on public safety during a rally Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania—but none more bizarre than seemingly hopping on board with the premise of the 2013 horror film The Purge.

Per the former president, the best way to keep America safe would be to allow criminals to get their fix on “one really violent day.”

“Now, if you had one really violent day—like a guy like, Mike Kelly, put him in charge, Congressman Kelly, put him in charge for one day—Mike would you say, you’re right here, he’s a great congressman, would you say, Mike, that if you were in charge, you would say, ‘Oh please don’t touch them, don’t touch them, let them rob your store,’” Trump said, imagining a scenario in which thieves loot a hypothetical storefront.

“All these stores go out of business, right? They don’t pay rent, the city doesn’t have—the whole—it’s a chain of events, it’s so bad. One rough hour, and I mean real rough—the word will get out and it will end immediately,” the Republican presidential nominee said to befuddled applause.

Trump on theft: If you had one really violent day.. .. … One rough hour. And I mean real rough. The word will get out and it will end immediately. pic.twitter.com/DkOdULcV32

— Acyn (@acyn) September 29, 2024

It’s hard to imagine where Trump could have cooked up such a lawless, irrational idea—unless he had recently seen the dystopian horror flick, in which a family attempts to survive a state-sanctioned night during which all crime, including murder, is legalized.

Incredibly, the new position is just a drop in the bucket for Trump’s hair-raising ideas about how to combat crime in American cities. The former president has also advocated for expanding the death penalty to criminals convicted of minor crimes, such as drug dealing, and during his time in office revoked an Obama-era executive order that limited the distribution of military-grade weapons to local law enforcement.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Trump says ‘one really violent day’ would end retail theft

Sep. 30, 2024 -   Donald Trump has suggested that “one rough hour” of law enforcement action would tamp down retail theft, an echo of his longstanding support for more aggressive and potentially violent policing.  “If you had one really violent day ... One rough hour — and I mean real rough — the word will get out and it will end immediately, you know? It will end immediately,” Trump said Sunday in Erie, Pennsylvania.

Trump has ramped up his rhetoric with just over a month before Election Day, describing immigrants in the U.S. illegally as criminals intent on harming native-born Americans and suggesting crime has skyrocketed despite national statistics showing the opposite. The former president has a long history of encouraging rough treatment of people in police custody and saying law enforcement should be exempt from potential punishment.

Three weeks ago, as the Fraternal Order of Police endorsed him at an event in Charlotte, North Carolina, Trump pledged unyielding support for police, including expanded use of force: “We have to get back to power and respect.”

At his Bedminster golf club in New Jersey, Trump in August tied the suggestion of amped-up law enforcement activity to the deportation of immigrants. He advocated ensuring that officers “have immunity from prosecution, because frankly, our police are treated horribly. They’re not allowed to do their job.”

Trump was president during the racial justice protests that emerged in the summer of 2020 following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. He posted during the protests, “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” At the time, he signed an executive order encouraging better police practices but that was been criticized by some for failing to acknowledge what they consider systemic racial bias in policing.

During a 2017 speech in New York, the then-president appeared to advocate rougher treatment of people in police custody, speaking dismissively of the police practice of shielding the heads of handcuffed suspects as they are being placed in patrol cars. In response, the Suffolk County Police Department said it had strict rules and procedures about how prisoners should be handled, violations of which “are treated extremely seriously.”

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


I've gotta be honest folks, the posts at this thread ARE FACTUAL. Nothing less. For nine years I've documented 

this ridiculous criminal and all the shockingly terrible idiocy the retarded American people have been going along with.

Enough is enough!!! REMOVE HIM! HE'S BEEN CONVICTED AND SENTENCED TO THAT!

[Hunny]

Trump Amplifies His Dangerous Hate Speech Against Migrants

Pushing false claims & wild exaggerations about “invaders” to grim new extremes

For much of 2024, Donald Trump has used demagoguery against migrants to campaign for the White House. In numerous recent speeches and media appearances, he has continued to inveigh about an alleged “invasion” coming across America’s southern border. He has falsely claimed that hordes of violent and “insane” foreigners have been taking over “hundreds” of cities and raping and killing “thousands of Americans.” His repeated vows to deport millions of undocumented immigrants draw roars of approval at his rallies.

Inflaming Americans’ fears about immigration and border security was a hallmark of Trump’s presidency and previous campaigns—and his extreme rhetoric, as I’ve previously reported, has marked spasms of violence, including a horrific mass shooting in 2019 in El Paso, Texas. Earlier this month, he and his running mate, JD Vance, magnified racist lies about Haitian immigrants supposedly stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio—provoking a wave of fear, bomb threats, and major disruption in that community.

Now, in the final weeks of the presidential campaign, Trump’s rhetoric about migrants has grown even darker and more foreboding. In three campaign speeches since Friday, he conjured disturbing images of mayhem and death and spoke of the nation as if it’s on the brink of destruction. With no basis in reality, he blamed this cartoonishly grim portrait of American carnage on his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“She let our American sons and daughters be raped and murdered at the hands of vicious monsters. She let American communities be conquered,” Trump said at a rally in Michigan on Friday, emphasizing, “They’re conquering your communities.”

“They’ll walk into your kitchen,” Trump said of migrants. “They’ll cut your throat.”

“These migrants,” Trump said the following day in Wisconsin, “they make our criminals look like babies. These are stone-cold killers. They’ll walk into your kitchen, they’ll cut your throat.”

In a lengthy diatribe that followed, he falsely claimed that Harris had “let in 425,431 people convicted of the worst crimes.” (This was one of several ways in which Trump wildly distorted data recently released by US Homeland Security that covers a 40-year period.) He declared that these were legions of criminals who “Kamala set loose to rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people of the United States of America.”

“Lock her up!” shouted someone in the crowd.

Trump further railed against Harris as being “mentally disabled” and supposedly responsible for tens of thousands of murderers pouring into the country. “I’ve been saying this for three years,” he went on, soon adding: “She’s letting in people who are going to walk into your house, break into your door, and they’ll do anything they want. These people are animals.”

Later in the speech, he again highlighted alleged violence by “illegal aliens” and declared: “I will liberate Wisconsin from this mass migrant invasion of murderers, rapists, hoodlums, drug dealers, thugs, and vicious gang members. I will liberate our nation.”

Trump even used an impromptu moment to dehumanize migrants in ugly terms. He claimed that English was fast disappearing from the schools in Springfield, Ohio, and warned that if Harris is elected president, towns in Wisconsin and all over America “will be transformed into a third-world hellhole.” As he continued, a fly apparently landed on the podium.

“Oh, there’s a fly,” he said, shooing it away, his tone turning sardonic. “I wonder where the fly came from.”  The crowd erupted with laughter.

“See, two years ago I wouldn’t have had a fly up here,” he said, grinning. “You’re changing rapidly.”

He delivered more of the same on Sunday in Pennsylvania: “The massive number of savage criminal aliens that Kamala Harris has allowed to invade our country, this is an invasion.” He further claimed, “Last week a lot of people came in from the Congo, a big prison in the Congo in Africa. Welcome to the United States.”

“Send ’em back!” a person in the crowd yelled angrily.

This was all building to a specter of national demise—an invasion, Trump claimed, that will be larger than half the size of the current US population.

“Wait till you see what’s going to happen,” he said. “Oh, and if I don’t get in, it’s going to be the worst thing that this country has ever suffered…you’ll have 150, 200 million coming, you will have, this country will no longer be recognizable.”

That rhetoric is indistinguishable from the “Great Replacement” ideology that motivated the mass shooter who attacked in El Paso when Trump was in the White House.

As I have reported previously, dehumanizing a population by instigating feelings of contempt and disgust—whether it’s Trump smearing migrants for spreading flies, “eating the dogs,” or “poisoning the blood of our country”—increases the likelihood that his extremist followers will be inspired to commit acts of violence. The danger from this type of incitement, documented in behavioral science research, has been rising with Trump’s rhetoric, according to threat assessment and national security experts I’ve spoken with in recent weeks. “There’s nothing normal about any of this,” as one source put it. “We’ve already seen where this goes, and it can easily go there again.”

While America faces profound challenges with immigration, a top issue for voters, Trump’s depictions are as demonstrably false as they are deeply troubling. Immigrants commit crime at lower rates than native-born Americans, extensive research shows. The nation has experienced a sharp decline in violent crime under the Biden-Harris administration, according to FBI data. And in recent months, migrant encounters at the border dropped to the lowest level in four years.

It is important to recognize that Trump’s demonizing rhetoric is clearly by design. He is well known for improvising and wandering off on long tangents that turn bizarre and incoherent. But much of the incendiary rhetoric above was written into Trump’s speeches. He read most of it from a teleprompter.

[Hunny]

Jack Smith Makes Damning New Allegations About January 6
Regardless of the fate of the Trump prosecutions, the new filing matters politically.

From: Mother Jones October 3, 2024

Donald Trump inciting a seditious riot on January 6.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, in a court filing made public on Wednesday, revealed a litany of damning new allegations about former President Donald Trump’s attempts to steal the 2020 election—details that could impact the neck-and-neck presidential race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.

After Trump’s 2020 presidential election defeat, “he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office,” the 165-page motion unsealed by Judge Tanya Chutkan says. “With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost.”

The filing presents new evidence that Trump knew his election fraud claims were false but proceeded anyway with a scheme to use so-called fake electors and outside pressure to stop Joe Biden’s electoral victory from being made official. Smith’s motion contains previously unreported information on Trump’s effort to pressure former Vice President Mike Pence to illegally refuse to certify the election results on January 6, 2021.

The document directly faults Trump for inciting the mob of supporters who attacked Congress on January 6 as part of his effort to disrupt the certification proceedings that day. And it details Trump’s effort to “exploit”—rather than halt—the attack, in the hope that the violence would create an excuse for delaying certification.

The lightly redacted filing argues that Trump’s scheme to use bogus election fraud claims to stop Biden from taking office “was fundamentally a private one” and did not involve “official conduct.” If the courts accept that argument, the indictment could survive the expansive presidential “immunity” standard invented by the Supreme Court in its controversial July 1 decision.

But regardless of the fate of Smith’s legal case, the motion matters politically. It bolsters the argument that Trump’s disregard for the Constitution, democracy, and the rule of law leave him unfit to return to office. And it functions as a reminder for distractible voters about the seriousness of the charges against the first election loser in American history to incite violence in bid to retain power.

Trump’s lawyers fought unsuccessfully in court to block release of the motion based on the claim that it could affect the election, an argument Chutkan, who has repeatedly said she does consider Trump’s status as a presidential candidate to be relevant to her proceedings, rejected. Smith also filed an appendix that includes FBI interviews, grand jury testimony, and other evidence, which remains sealed, though parts of that could also be made public before election day.

Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed without evidence Wednesday that Smith’s motion was part of an effort by the Biden administration to “weaponize” the Justice Department against Trump. “The entire case is a partisan, Unconstitutional Witch Hunt that should be dismissed entirely, together with ALL of the remaining Democrat hoaxes,” Cheung said in a statement.

The new filing offers a general narrative that has previously been outlined by the media and the House January 6 Committee. But the document includes extensive details that have not been reported, along with a pointed new description of Trump’s conduct.

It says that Trump told three advisers before Election Day that, if he had an early lead in the vote count on election night due to slower counting of mail-in ballots—which were expected to favor Biden—he would “simply declare victory before all the ballots were counted and any winner was projected.”

Smith’s filing also cites audio from October 31, 2020, first revealed by Mother Jones. In it, Trump strategist Steve Bannon said that on election night, “Trump is gonna declare victory. But that doesn’t mean he’s the winner. He’s just gonna say he’s the winner.” Trump “did exactly that” on election night, the brief notes, claiming that he should have won but was a victim of voter fraud.

Smith’s brief reveals that shortly after the election, a Trump aide gave the president an “honest assessment” that his fraud claims would fail in court. “The details don’t matter,” Trump responded.

“It doesn’t matter if you won or lost the election,” Trump told members of his family at another point, according to the brief. “You still have to fight like hell.”

Smith alleges in the filing that Trump signed a “verification of fraud” that he knew was false as part of a lawsuit he filed aimed at overturning his defeat in Georgia. The motion notes that attorneys, whose names are redacted, told Trump that the document contained inaccurate claims. One lawyer told the president that any attorney who the signed the complaint the verification supported “would get disbarred.” Trump signed it anyway.

Smith also points out that even as Trump pressured state election officials in states where he was narrowly defeated to refuse to certify his loss, he didn’t bother checking with them on the validity of his claims. “These officials would have been the best sources of information to determine whether there was any merit to specific allegations of election fraud in their states,” but Trump “never contacted any of them to ask,” the motion says.

The filing also details Trump’s effort to pressure Pence to refuse to certify the election, despite the VP’s protestations that he lacked that power.

Pence, the filing reveals, repeatedly urged Trump to accept defeat. At a private lunch on November 12, Pence suggested that Trump, even if he refused to concede, should “recognize the process is over.” At another private lunch on December 21, Pence suggested Trump, once his legal efforts were exhausted, should “take a bow,” meaning admit defeat.

Pence’s refusal to break the law led Trump to include lines calling on the vice president to do “the right thing,” in his remarks, helping drive anger at Pence when he did not comply with Trump’s demands. According to Smith, Pence’s refusal left the president determined to use the mob he had assembled in Washington as a last-ditch means to pressure lawmakers not to certify his loss.

Trump knew that he had “only one last hope to prevent Biden’s certification as president, the large and angry crowd standing in front of him,” the filing says. “So for more than an hour, the defendant delivered a speech designed to inflame his supporters and motivate them to march to the Capitol.”

Hours later, Trump tweeted that Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done,” incensing rioters who called to “hang” the vice president as they ransacked the Capitol. Alone in the White House dining room, Trump “personally posted the tweet,” prosecutors said, “at a point when he already understood the Capitol had been breached.”

Minutes later, an aide entered the dining room to inform Trump of efforts to ensure Pence’s safety. The filing says that Trump looked at the staffer “and said only, ‘So what?’”

AND FROM SALON, READ -> www.salon.com/2024/10/03/jack-smith-shows-his-cards-just-in-time-january-6-case-looks-like-the-winning-hand-against/

AND READ -> www.salon.com/2024/10/03/vance-plan-for-mass-deportations-would-be-devastating-to-the-economy-report-finds/

[Hunny]

Trump’s projection is getting weirder

Over the weekend, an already deranged Trump was really on a hate-and-lies tear, once again affirming that he wants people to compare him to Adolph Hitler. Lots of alarming and false accusations were made by the ketchup-scented dictator. What struck me was how every single one of them, as usual for Trump, was psychological projection. Examples:

He accused Harris of being “mentally impaired,” saying there’s “something missing” in her that causes her to commit crimes against the nation. In reality, it’s Trump who displays the symptoms of sociopathy, and is charged with federal crimes for attempting a coup.

He accused immigrants of wanting to “walk into your kitchen and cut your throat.” But it’s Trump who wants unleash violence against the American people, calling for a “violent day” allowing police — and let’s face it, lynch mobs — to murder everyone they would like to eradicate from American society.

He accused migrants of wanting to “rape, pillage, thieve, plunder and kill the people.” It’s Trump who was found liable for sexual assault by a jury. It’s Trump who was found guilty of fraud to the tune of a half-billion dollars. It’s Trump who steals from ordinary people, whether through frauds like Trump University or his current cryptocurrency scheme. It’s Trump who cheered on the guy who tried to murder Rep. Nancy Pelosi in his name.

It’s nothing new to point out that Trump engages in projection and/or he’s the worst in every way. But I think it would be helpful for the press to frame his speeches in this way, by reminding readers and viewers that every accusation he makes is more true of him. Without fail.

[Hunny]

How Much More Radical Could the Supreme Court Become? Look to the Fifth Circuit.

Meet the power-grabbing Trump judges who are forging MAGA justice.

Imagine Obamacare is dead and millions of Americans have lost health coverage. Abortion is illegal nationwide, pills to end pregnancies are off the market, and doctors wait until the mother’s death is imminent before attempting lifesaving care. Domestic abusers freely carry guns and government attempts to stop untraceable homemade semiautomatic rifles have been quashed, rendering gun licenses and background checks useless. Environmental regulations founder as climate change worsens. With the sidelining of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Wall Street has returned to its greediest days, making bets that threaten economic stability and preying on consumers with predatory loans and hidden fees. Officials are barred from even asking social media platforms to stem disinformation or calls to violence. Police, unrestrained by federal immigration law, round up, detain, and deport suspected immigrants. Washington can no longer fulfill treaty obligations as states erect barriers along US borders, causing international chaos. And organizing a protest against any of the above may result in you being sued successfully, making free speech an expensive proposition.

These are not mere hypotheticals. The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals—transformed by appointees of former President Donald Trump—has issued decisions greenlighting every one of these eventualities. While some were put on ice by the Supreme Court, others remain in effect in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, the three states the circuit covers. In those states, women have no right to end pregnancies that threaten their health, the enforcement powers of dozens of federal agencies are in doubt, and protest organizers are vulnerable to legal retribution. Other 5th Circuit decisions, from a ruling hamstringing the SEC and similar agencies to one legalizing bump stocks—the device that enabled a lone shooter in Las Vegas to kill 60 people and injure more than 500 in just 10 minutes—are now the law of the land. This is neither the outer bounds of what this radical court will do, nor the end of its impact on all Americans. It is the beginning.

READ MORE...

[Hunny]

www.yahoo.com/news/media-finally-waking-story-trump-100000589.html

The Media Is Finally Waking Up to the Story of Trump’s Mental Unfitness

Michael Tomasky

October 7, 2024

If things go the way I hope in November, it may well turn out that Sunday’s terrific New York Times piece by Peter Baker and Dylan Freedman on Donald Trump’s age and fitness for office could stand as the single most important piece of journalism in this election. If you’ve been reading me and Greg Sargent and Parker Molloy and our Breaking News desk, then you know that The New Republic has been pretty obsessive about the topic of Trump’s mental fitness—and more importantly about the media’s general refusal to discuss it.

This is what has come to be known as the “sanewashing” of Trump: the practice by media outlets of covering him like a normal candidate and not telling their audiences in detail about all the monstrous, false, disjointed, and plain old nonsensical fountains of gibberish he serially spouts at every public appearance he makes.

We (and others) have been critical of the press in general and the Times in particular, mainly because the Times is still the most important news outlet in the country. So let’s give credit where it’s due. The Baker-Freedman piece was a deeply reported analysis that wasn’t afraid to say things most mainstream outlets won’t say. I’d also note that in recent days, Michael Gold, the paper’s Trump correspondent, has written a couple pieces that are more blunt and direct in calling out Trump’s lies and quoting some of his more outrageous comments.

The Sunday Times article puts it on the line: “He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought—some of them hard to understand, some of them unfinished, some of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own ‘beautiful’ body. He relishes ‘a great day in Louisiana’ after spending the day in Georgia. He expresses fear that North Korea is ‘trying to kill me’ when he presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks after his withdrawal from the race.”

That’s just for starters. The gist of the piece argues—with statistical analyses of Trump’s tropes and speech patterns—that his rhetoric is very different from what it was in 2015 and 2016. Which is to say, it’s worse in every way: more long-winded, more disconnected, more rambling; also coarser, far more prone to swearing. In sum, the article is devastating about whether Trump, who is now the old one in the race and who would be 82 at the end of a second term, is simply capable on a mental level of doing the job of president.

So, good job, New York Times. But now the question is, will this just stop here?

It had better not. I hope the Times keeps finding ways to raise this question, and I hope other mainstream outlets follow. The first part of that equation shouldn’t be hard for the simple reason that Trump will keep cranking out material. He has been, in case you’ve missed it, absolutely insane with regard to his lies about Hurricane Helene. He claims that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have denied money to the affected states because they’ve spent it all coddling undocumented immigrants. He actually said this. (For the record, it’s not true.) Another line is that they’ve denied aid to red parts of the states but sent money to blue parts. No, idiot, that’s you!

The press has done a decent job of covering the Helene-related lies. But again, this isn’t just a question of lies. It’s a question of whether he’s all there in the head. And it’s a relevant question because Trump makes it relevant every time he opens his mouth.

Whatever I thought of the policies of George W. Bush or John McCain or Mitt Romney, I knew one reliable thing about all of them. They weren’t going to start talking about poor misunderstood Hannibal Lecter. They weren’t going to go on WTF riffs about “vicious” mosquitoes and the Panama Canal or how Cary Grant looked in a bathing suit. They didn’t frequently get wrong what city or state they were in or say “Minneananpolis” or forget who they were running against.

But Trump has done all that and much, much more while campaigning for president. And there’s surely more coming. As George Conway tweeted Sunday morning:

"The great thing about this lengthy New York Times report about Trump’s extensive cognitive decline is how he’s going to react to it."

A key word in the Times article was “disinhibition.” It’s just what it sounds like — the loss of inhibition for one reason or another. It means that as you age and your brain starts to go, you become more yourself.

With most older adults, that’s harmless—they become a little more stubborn, a little more direct. But this is different. Does America need a Donald Trump in the Oval Office who is more himself? It means more people will be arrested, more laws  broken, more constitutional guardrails smashed. The mainstream media has four weeks to lead that conversation.

[Hunny]

This 'thread' is full journalistic coverage of the 2024 American Presidential Election, 

and so documents the scourge of Republicanism - lethal dumbism that it is - in this time.

People proud of being dumb. People winked into behaving more awful.

Going along with fake news that 'half the country' likes Trump even now.

When Trump doesn't like Trump even now.

Here. You better have some cvofefe.

As I was saying, read this whole thread every bit and you will have full knowledge of this election.

It isn't about sides. It's a nation having returned to normalcy, democracy

though an incompetent flailing goon yet sputters, moments before his inevitable death 

brought on by his sadness about it being over for him, or by a shooter who can aim.

He and his party's wreckage, the lasting damage, the intractable sickness of our society they wrought..

I wouldn't be against reorganization, to rid ourselves of such things as parties.

HERE'S TODAY:  www.salon.com/2024/10/07/im-sick-and-tired-of-this-crap-officials-debunk-truly-dangerous-hurricane-helene-lies/

sadie1263

[Hunny]

“Easily handled by the military": Trump reveals plans to squash dissent

Trump says "democratic Americans are the enemy within" in a frightening new interview

October 13, 2024

Donald Trump threatened to use the military to squash dissent after the election in an interview with Faux News Sunday.

Fox's Maria Bartiromo set Trump up to expound on his campaign's ongoing smearing of immigrants. Trump didn't take her up on the offer, instead choosing to focus on American citizens who disagree with his platform.

Echoing rhetoric he shared at his outwardly racist rally in Aurora, Colorado earlier this week, Trump called normal democratic Americans "the enemy within" and said that any uproar over his potential second-term could be put down by the military.

"I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not even the people who have come in [and destroyed] our country," he said. "We have some very bad people, sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary by the military."

RELATED:  Trump says immigrants are genetically inferior

The remarks fall in line with a ramping up of strongman rhetoric from Trump in recent weeks. During that rally in Colorado, he vowed to use the state to undertake the largest deportation scheme in American history and accused immigrants of bringing disease into the country.

Trump's alarming statements on Sunday came after Bartiromo shared President Joe Biden's worry that the election would not be "peaceful."

[Hunny]

NBC News  October 16, 2024

Georgia judge blocks rule requiring counties to hand-count Election Day ballots

A Georgia judge on Tuesday blocked a new rule from the state's election board that would have required counties to count ballots cast on Election Day by hand, a provision critics had said would cause delays and disruptions in reporting results in the battleground state.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote in his decision that the rule would be implemented too close to the election and that it would cause "administrative chaos" given the limited time available to train poll workers.

"The public interest is not dis-served by pressing pause here. This election season is fraught; memories of January 6 have not faded away, regardless of one’s view of that date’s fame or infamy," he wrote. "Anything that adds uncertainty and disorder to the electoral process dis-serves the public."

The temporary injunction, which is likely to be appealed, is a win for Democrats who filed the suit after the State Election Board voted 3-2 in favor of the hand-counting rule last month. It was set to take effect on Oct. 22, two weeks out from Election Day.

The rule required election workers to count the number of ballots — not every vote on a ballot — cast on Nov. 5 before they are delivered to the county for counting and tabulation, sparking concerns it could unnecessarily delay the reporting of results and sow uncertainty in a key state in the presidential election.

It was approved by three board members who’ve been praised by former President Donald Trump, and it was opposed by Democrats in the state, as well as by the Republican secretary of state and attorney general.

Days after the vote, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Party of Georgia, with support from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign, sued in a Fulton County court, seeking to halt the new rule from going into effect.

Democrats praised Tuesday's injunction.

“From the beginning, this rule was an effort to delay election results to sow doubt in the outcome, and our democracy is stronger thanks to this decision to block it. We will continue fighting to ensure that voters can cast their ballot knowing it will count,” Harris principal deputy campaign manager Quentin Fulks, DNC acting co-director Monica Guardiola and Rep. Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia, said in a joint statement.

Hand-counting ballots has captured the attention of many on the right in recent years in response to baseless claims about hacked voting machines, despite ample evidence that counting by hand is more expensive and less accurate than using ballot tabulators.

Georgia has been one of the primary focuses of Trump's unfounded claims that the 2020 election was stolen. He has repeatedly praised the three board members who passed the measure, saying they’re “pit bulls fighting for honesty, transparency and victory.”

The three members are Janice Johnston, Rick Jeffares and Janelle King. Johnson was appointed to the board by the state Republican Party, while Jeffares was appointed by the Republican-controlled state Senate and King by the GOP-led state House.

The two members who voted against the measure were appointed by GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and the state Democratic Party.

In August, the same Georgia board members passed other new rules that would allow county election board members to conduct “reasonable” inquiries before they certify results.

Critics say that could throw the election into chaos because “reasonable inquiry” isn’t defined and an individual board member could block certification for any reason. That ruling is the subject of another Democratic-led lawsuit.

McBurney handed Trump allies another defeat Tuesday, ruling that county election boards in Georgia are not allowed to refuse to certify election results.

[Hunny]

Someone needs to point this out so I will. Trump COINED the phrase fake news. Trump IS fake news.

The "poll" that said he had 50% of the vote since he started running to evade jail IS FAKE.

It is NOT TRUE that half of Americans want his fat skeevy wrinkled orange rump in OUR White House again!

[Hunny]

Trump's apparent decline might make his next coup tougher to pull off

Those close to Trump already know he can't handle an interview — stealing an election is a much bigger task

Amanda Marcotte, SALON

October 22, 2024

Anyone who's paying attention has noticed that Donald Trump isn't doing so well. First came the bizarre town hall last week, in which the Republican presidential nominee swayed back and forth to music for 39 minutes to avoid taking questions. Trump followed up last weekend by boring a crowd in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, with a meandering 12-minute story about Arnold Palmer, ending with the apparent boast that he'd seen the famous golfer's genitalia. As Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, even the loyal rally audience reacted with "stone silence" to most of this. Even the smattering of laughter when Trump marveled at the Palmer penis was, Bunch suggested, mostly a "nervous outlet for this American unraveling."

It remains to be seen if swing voters know how badly Trump is decompensating. Most people have better things to do than watch his long, strange rallies. His campaign team has canceled a series of press interviews, claiming the candidate is "exhausted." The press is finally starting to report how much Trump's behavior aligns with what medical experts cite as signs of age-related cognitive decline: such as disinhibition, confusion and erratic moods. He is sometimes unable to answer a basic question, forgetting what was asked and talking about random nonsense instead. At a different town hall event on Sunday, Trump bragged about his "cognitive tests" before forgetting the host's name and then seeming to forget his own age, saying he's "not that close to 80," even though that's about a year and a half away.

On CNN, Leigh McGowan suggested that the Trump campaign is hoping to distract voters just enough to get him over the finish line, where presumably he would be managed and possibly replaced by his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

It's terrifying that so many voters are ignorant and indifferent about the fact that this increasingly confused and angry person has a coin-toss chance of once again winning the presidency. That only adds to the terror of knowing that so many people actually back him, despite his past attempt to steal an election, which led to the Jan. 6 insurrection. But there's a small sliver of hope in this alarming situation: Trump's mental state will make it much harder for him to steal the election if he loses to Kamala Harris in November.

Stealing an election is hard work and requires focused leadership. As anyone who watched the Jan. 6 committee hearings or has read some of the indictment materials from special prosecutor Jack Smith can attest, Trump spent the last months of 2020 working the phones, conspiring with lackeys and pushing propaganda with a level of energy and sharpness he can no longer summon up for a 15-minute interview.

Despite his admission there is no evidence of election fraud, the certainty that Trump will attempt a coup if he loses in November is approximately 100%. But he failed in 2020, when he had the power of the presidency. As Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times wrote last week, "He has no legal authority. If he loses, he’ll be just another private citizen, urging other private citizens to commit state and federal crimes on his behalf." Melissa Ryan, a researcher who was instrumental in sounding the alarm in 2020, is far more chill about the possibility this time around. "We know what they’re planning," she wrote Monday, noting that the press now takes those plans far more seriously than they did in 2020. So does the Democratic Party is. The Harris campaign has built a small army of lawyers and election experts to fight Trump's potential coup, mostly composed of people who cut their teeth demolishing his efforts in 2020.

Politico published a lengthy article on Sunday detailing exactly how Trump plans to steal the 2024 election. As Ryan notes, it's the same plan he used in 2020: Lean on election officials in swing states to refuse to certify the results, and then send slates of fake electors to D.C. These would be criminal acts, to be clear. Many of the people who participated in Trump's last coup attempt time are now facing criminal penalties — including Trump himself, who is under both federal and state indictments for election-related felonies.

It was difficult enough for Trump to convince enough people to play along in 2020 — when he was in the White House and before those folks knew that going to prison was a real possibility.

As Bouie writes, Trump's "ability to reverse a loss is limited to his ability to inspire others to commit crimes on his behalf." As we learned from the 2020 attempt, that requires him to apply personal pressure to a large numbers of state and local officials. It was difficult enough for Trump to convince enough people to play along in 2020, when he was in the White House and before those folks knew that going to prison was a real possibility. Now the person tasked with bringing together a large-scale criminal conspiracy cannot maintain his focus or contain his temper, both of which are baseline skills for persuading others.

Republican voters may not be paying attention to their candidate's possible cognitive decline, or may not care. But Republican leaders must know that Trump, who already demonstrates a myriad of personality disorder symptoms, is falling apart. As was widely reported in the months before Joe Biden withdrew from the race, the chatter within the Democratic power class was almost deafening levels, as leaders and party officials spoke behind closed doors about the president's age-related decline. It's hard to imagine that the same thing isn't happening among Republicans, who already have a robust culture of talking smack behind each other's backs. Add to the mix that Trump frequently holds court at Mar-a-Lago, where a rotating cast of gossipy, power-hungry strivers bears direct witness to his incoherence and unpredictable behavior. That's not an environment conducive to getting everyone on board with committing a bunch more serious crimes.

Naturally, there are some caveats we must address. It may be that, as progressive researcher Will Stancil argues, "Republicans think Trump will be a vegetable in office, so Thiel/Vance were hoping to puppeteer him." If that view is widespread, it could be that Republicans reluctant to back the rapidly failing Trump in a coup could muster up the will for the far more coherent Vance. It's also true that many Republicans who stood in Trump's way in 2020 have been drummed out of the party, replaced by even more rabid MAGA types. So it would be unwise to conclude that it simply can't happen. It's good news that Democrats and the press are monitoring the situation far more than they did in 2020.

Still, Bouie is right: If Trump wants to marshal hundreds — or more likely thousands — of people into risking prison on his behalf, he will need to bring maximal powers of personal persuasion to bear. These people may giggle when Trump rambles through a bunch of unrelated MAGA buzzwords, but that's because they're not really listening. They're mostly excited that his gross and uninhibited talk triggers the liberals. But if they're forced to focus on committing crimes for this guy, they will likely pay closer attention. His declining ability to generate a comprehensible sentence, much less string together a coherent argument, will raise serious concerns. It's one thing to back a jumbled, messy figurehead when your principal goal is sticking it to the woke liberals. But when the pressing question becomes "Will I go to prison for this?" a lot of people, MAGA loyalists or otherwise, most people will require some reassurance from somebody who's capable of making sense.

Trump's mind - in the shadows.

[Hunny]

I hope this stage has a toilet!

Trump is not rising. He - or it - is dying a geriatric death of cognitive decline 

now standing about swaying to questionable choices of 'music' instead of speaking.

[Hunny]

"Mexicans are eating American's dogs. They're eating our pets!" - Trump


--> www.facebook.com/reel/837350991715107