Former Defense Secretary James Mattis denounced President Trump as a Threat to the Constitution.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind.
We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We must reject and hold accountable those in office who would make a mockery of our Constitution.”
“Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead, he tries to divide us,” Mattis writes. “We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.”
Which Way is Up?
Trump has no idea which way is up. He only knows how to do one thing well: praise himself for his brilliance.
I voted for Trump but long ago had enough. And having enough of Trump does not mean liking Biden.
Piling On
I am happy to see Mattis pile on. He is in good company of James N. Miller and Mike Mullen.
James N. Miller Accuses Trump of Crossing the Line
Defense Science Board Member and former under secretary of defense, James N. Miller, resigned today.
In his resignation letter, Miller said to the current Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper: “Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op. You then accompanied President Trump in walking from the White House to St. John’s Episcopal Church for that photo.
“
Miller also accused Esper of violating his oath of office. He also accused Trump and Esper of crossing a line.
“I must now ask: If last night’s blatant violations do not cross the line for you, what will?“ asked Miller.
I Cannot Remain Silent
Mike Mullen , Seventeenth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says I Cannot Remain Silent.
I remain confident in the professionalism of our men and women in uniform. They will serve with skill and with compassion. They will obey lawful orders.
I am less confident in the soundness of the orders they will be given by this commander in chief, and I am not convinced that the conditions on our streets, as bad as they are, have risen to the level that justifies a heavy reliance on military troops. Certainly, we have not crossed the threshold that would make it appropriate to invoke the provisions of the Insurrection Act.
Furthermore, I am deeply worried that as they execute their orders, the members of our military will be co-opted for political purposes.This is not the time for stunts. This is the time for leadership.
Something Changed for the Better: Trump’s Bubble Just Shattered
Early this morning I penned Something Changed for the Better: Trump’s Bubble Just Shattered.
Senators Ted Cruz and Tom Cotton were the only two senators I could find who supported Trump on his bible stunt.
Now that Mattis has chimed in let’s see if they attempt to walk it back or remain stuck like Trump, never willing to apologize for anything.
If you still defend Trump, then please look into a mirror and see who the problem is, in addition to Trump.
I do not look forward to saying “President Biden”. But I do look forward to saying good riddance to Trump.
Even military leaders have had enough.
Only Five More Months!
Mish
Actually it will be the Biden/Bernie supporters that will riot when Trump wins a second term.
Hey Mish… A Rasmussen poll just out is saying that Trump approval among black voters is actually up! Over 40%! The liberals keep swinging wildly, missing the mark, and loosing ground all along. That black vote that liberals have taken for granite for 50 yrs seems now to be slowly slipping away. I guess they are seeing that Trump actually took action, instead of just playing lip service, as the liberals did.. That along with the nations disgust with the left’s support of the riots and looting should come back to haunt them in November…
Kamala Harris will soon be your President. Think about the possibilities.
Liberals and Democrats have no credibility whatsoever when they talk about the Constitution. They only want to defend the Constitution when they want to hide behind it. They spend most of the time trying to undermine and destroy it.
Mish reveals his true colors and kisses the feet of the war mongers because they validated his TDS bubble.
If Trump is threat … , then Democrats leading us to totalitarian system . No doubt !
I am a seriously practicing person of faith, and I come from a Bible-Belt, conservative evangelical upbringing, culture and region.
Having said that, I have come to a personal inescapable conclusion that Donald Trump serves as a physical manifestation of the dark, previously partially-subverted collective “id” of his Religious Right base (in addition to representing their allies, his nativist, white supremacist and unbridled capitalist/Wall Street supporters), and as an example of an “id” conquering and becoming their new normative “superego” culture. This physical manifestation of the “id” is about as constructive and wholesome as it was in the classic sci-fi feature Fantastic Planet, leaving carnage and destruction in its wake.
My research in recent years exposed how the Religious Right was largely built around 1940 when the National Association of Manufacturers and Sunoco founder J. Howard Pew formed a secret league with the first “prosperity gospel” preacher in California to create a “new gospel” in which big business values taught a “new Gospel” which replaced the original Gospel taught by Jesus, which had looked out for the anawim (Hebrew for the “lost and forgotten ones”), saturating religious and mainstream media in the decades that followed, targeting the clergy, and the rest is history. I carefully documented this in my recent book, “Two Masters and Two Gospels, Vol. 1: The Teaching of Jesus Vs. the “Leaven of the Pharisees” in Talk Radio and Cable News.”
I believe that sci-fi feature was Forbidden Planet … Walter Pidgeon and Leslie Nielsen and Anne Francis
I tend to agree with the basic premise that the “Religious Right” grew up out of a symbiotic relationship with “properity gospel” preachers and followers.
For whatever the reason, Jesus’ teachings that “the love of money is the root of all evil” and “you cannot serve God and money” were conveniently forgotten or rationalized out of focus.
I meant to say “Forbidden Planet” – that was either the dreaded spell-correct or a sleepy posting at fault, but my sober-minded self doesn’t take the blame! Thank you for the correction, and check out my book!
The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission after its chair, Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. of Illinois, was an 11-member Presidential Commission established by Prez Lyndon B. Johnson in Executive Order 11365 to investigate the causes of the 1967 race riots in the United States and to provide recommendations for the future
Prez Johnson appointed the commission on July 28, 1967, while rioting was still underway in Detroit, Michigan. Mounting civil unrest since 1965 had spawned riots in the black & Latino neighborhoods of major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles (Watts riots of 1965), Chicago (Division Street Riots of 1966 [the first Puerto Rican riot in US History]), & Newark (1967 Newark riots)
Johnson asked for answers to three basic questions about the riots:
“What happened? Why did it happen? What can be done to prevent it from happening again and again?
wikipedia
Has ANYTHING changed after over FIFTY YEARS?
Wonder why we are still here!
THINK!
I believe the US mainstream media has a lot to answer for in terms of polarizing the country during both the current Republican and previous Democratic presidencies. It is a shame that we do not have a mainstream media outlet that provides factual reporting with no political bias one way or the other.
Read the KERR commission report in 1968 under Prez LB Johnson, below!
Nothing has changed over 50 years!
I can’t argue with the findings of the Kerner commission. This country has not achieved much in the way of progress in terms of addressing racial inequality in this country. The current system is stacked against African Americans and other minorities from birth. That said it is not an easy problem to solve. I honestly believe the American education system contributes greatly to the problem. We need an education system from nursery school thru college that offers the very best education to all of our students regardless of age and ethnic background. It is evident from the standardized test scores in my part of the country that students from the more prosperous school districts outperform students from lower income school districts. The current education system stacks the deck against low income neighborhood children. I will likely get pilloried for my viewpoint being way too simplistic and ignoring other factors that influence test scores such as family etc. but I firmly believe poor quality education is a significant contributing factor to racial inequality in this country.
Or this link…… https://www.bbc.com/news/reality_check
Read the KERR commission report in 1968 under Prez LB Johnson, below!
Nothing has changed over 50 years!
There are an a number of people posting links to websites supposedly supporting their viewpoints on the protests. Pretty much all of these websites have a political bias one way or the other and as such do not report actual events accurately. You might want to try reading news articles on the BBC website. BBC news provides unbiased reporting of actual events. You may want to read the following article for starters. https://www.bbc.com/news/52877751
Read the KERR commission report in 1968 under Prez LB Johnson, below!
Nothing has changed over 50 years!
One of the funniest comments ever.Lots of Brits laugh at the socialist bullshit that flows from this propaganda machine. To think you have to pay a TV license to finance this rubbish. You only have to look at their Brexit reporting to know this. Utter one sided crap.
Give me a break. The BBC has always had a very distinct liberal/Marxist bias. They are kissing cousins to NPR.
It seems to me that the President condemned the killing of George Floyd in no uncertain terms and promised justice. What more is he supposed to do? Personally assassinate the perpetrator? I wonder where all the people who claim he is subverting the Constitution were when Obama was issuing over a thousand executive orders, more than all other US Presidents combined, in order to avoid dealing with Congress. I think they were all quiet, busy looking the other way. Yet that was a lot more damaging to the Constitution than anything President Trump has done.
Really? He should discuss the issue of police brutality. Instead he is acting like there is no issue.
Doug from Ohio, a retired Army officer:
“When he was elected, I hoped the Republicans in Congress would be able to help him be a good president. Unfortunately that did not happen…Mr. Trump has abandoned our veterans…He is no friend of veterans, and I will not vote for him.” https://twitter.com/BillKristol/status/1268582235017486341
Emotions are high! its an election year. Frankly who’s been president of the United States has had about as much affect on my own personal life as who won the Super Bowl….with one notable exception: the Nixon/Humphrey administration (it didn’t make a difference who’d won in ’68) wound down our involvement in Vietnam to such a level such that I didn’t have to worry about conscription when I turned 18 (1974). We’re in a long term trend of de-globalization. Trump, BoJo, others are just a symptom of that – not the cause. Both Obama and Trump have worked toward reducing our involvement in all these petty conflicts around the world. Praise the Obama/Trump administration! This military “spat” pales in comparison to commiting hundreds of thousands of troops to unwinable wars in Iraq or Vietnam. Let’s just hope whoever wins in November (Biden, Trump, Pat Paulsen) continues that policy.
No, the Bible wasn’t upside down, Mish. I can clearly read the words Holy Bible on the spine and the red page reminder is clearly attached to the top of the book, and hanging from the bottom.
Heaven help us. What does it matter whether they used tear gas or pepper balls. It is the usage of force to clear a path thru peaceful demonstrators that is unacceptable. As my friend likes to say you can’t fix stupid.
Read the linked story below.
The protesters were not peaceful.
At 6:33 p.m. violent protesters on H Street NW started to throw “projectiles including bricks, frozen water bottles, and caustic liquid,” Monahan said.
“As my friend likes to say you can’t fix stupid.”
So why are you being intentionally stupid?
Everyone has seen the pictures and video. If those things (throwing projectiles) were happening (which is not in evidence) they were not coming from the sign-carrying protesters running from full riot-gear clad cops busy beating people with their batons and shields.
You are the one that is studiously avoiding reality.
What is not in evidence is tear gas being used.
What video is time stamped 6:33, which is the time Monahan referred to?
If the police have video of bricks being thrown around 6:30pm, they should show it.
DOES IT MATTER?
In his resignation letter, Miller said to the current Secretary of Defense, Mark Esper: “Law-abiding protesters just outside the White House were dispersed using tear gas and rubber bullets — not for the sake of safety, but to clear a path for a presidential photo op.”
Does the truth not matter to you Mish?
“They didn’t use tear gas,” Trump said Wednesday on Fox News Radio. The U.S. Park Police denied using tear gas, yet acknowledged deploying a pepper compound, which the CDC and other scientific organizations list as one form of tear gas.
Authorities, who came from more than a half-dozen agencies besides the Park Police, set loose several wafting compounds, causing people to cough and gag as they scattered, their eyes red and streaming in some cases. They displayed the results of exposure to tear gas — tears, for example.
“Tear gas is anything that makes you cry,” said Dr. Lynn Goldman, dean of the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, speaking of chemicals used in crowd dispersal. “Pepper spray is a tear gas. But there are all kinds of other ones, too.”
Compounds that are listed as riot-control agents make people temporarily unable to function by irritating their eyes, mouth, throat, lungs and skin, the CDC says. They are “sometimes referred to as ‘tear gas,’” says a CDC fact sheet.
The Handbook of Toxicology of Chemical Warfare Agents also uses tear gas as an informal umbrella term for riot-control agents and cites pepper spray as one kind. In the unrest near the White House, officers shot plastic balls with pepper powder from what looked like souped-up paintball guns, and dispersed other compounds in a stinging fog.
Again Trump runs into science and hits a brick wall with his alternate facts. Just like coronavirus.
“Again Trump runs into science and hits a brick wall with his alternate facts. Just like coronavirus.”
The cops in njbr’s video were not wearing gas masks.
The photo in the AP story was captioned “tear gas floats in the air” None of the police in the photo were wearing gas masks and none of them were gagging, despite standing in the middle of the haze.
Propaganda runs into a brick wall.
It is not worth reasoning with these people. As i said yesterday their hatred trumps everything. Excuse the pun.
Doesnt mean anything. Pepper explosives are still tear gas that doesnt affect the shooter. There are also medicines the cops can take to prevent tears. You can ignore the facts but the AP story stands.
Signed,
Trump voter in 2016
You can bang this drum all you want – no one believes you and they shouldn’t. Your exercise in semantics is stupid in the face of obvious evidence and actions. The police used dispersal agents to clear people from an area. If you want to argue about it being tear gas or not – go right ahead. You’re not going to change any minds being disingenuous about what really was happening.
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. “
Not one banker was criminally prosecuted for their financial crimes during the housing bubble. Hillary Clinton was not criminally prosecuted despite ample evidence of her reckless disregard for classified material on her private server.
The FBI broke their own protocol in order to protect her from prosecution.
Judge Sullivan refuses to drop a case against Flynn when the DOJ has dropped the charges due new evidence showing the corrupt manner in which he was prosecuted. Sullivan is violating his judicial office. He is not a prosecutor.
Mattis has publicly turned a blind eye to all of it.
But now he is angry and appalled and calling Trump a threat to the Constitution.
If Flynn wants to site a threat to the Constitution, he need look no further than the
appearance of Rod Rosenstein before the Senate. Corrupt FISA warrant applications in order to attack a presidential candidate and later president of the U.S., Donald Trump.
General Mattis should well know that a coup is not supported by the Constitution.
Yeah this country is already broken. I would agree with that. And remember, Obomba was too willing to crush Occupy Wall St. What a tool.
“@robbystarbuck
Ted Cruz is on 🔥🔥🔥 fully attacking Obamagate, Rosenstein and the corrupt attempt to stage a coup against@realDonaldTrump. “
There is your threat to the Constitution.
So the country has a deal on the table:
“If you continue to support Trump, we will set the mobs on your towns, businesses, homes and basically ruin the entire country.
On the other hand, if you let us be in charge again, we will restore peace and to ensure this will establish a super-slick surveillance state as part of a new world order that eliminates all war and disease.
Take your pick.”
So people can fight for their Representative Republic, or they can surrender. The goodwill needed between all sides for the Republic to function has been abandoned. So it’s mob rule or the elites, they will not let the country be run as a straightforward, representative republic any more.
If you think Biden would be President, or that the US Presidency would be all that relevant any more, Mish, well there’s this burning bridge in Brooklyn….
In any case: welcome to the new way of conducting an election. Hillary was prescient except she was talking about herself when she challenged Donald to accept the results of the election. Her side hasn’t, and now we are about to use violence to achieve political ends because otherwise they cannot get their way.
Bravo!
Barr wants backdoor on all encrypted communications. Have a nice day.
You mean Barr is for surveillance state?
If so, agreed, but whether he is part of setting up a global 5G transnational new world order type thing, I don’t know. For sure right now, for example, he’d want to be able to monitor all the ProtonMail communications Antifa are using to coordinate their activities.
Spying is one (nasty) thing: controlled society (digital money, credit scores determine housing units or jobs you can qualify for, medicines etc. all that dystopian stuff which might be just a few years away with 5G some say), that’s another.
Personally, I wish none of it existed.
But that world disappeared with the invention of the telephone basically.
The socialist revolution started day 1 of Trumps leadership.
Each of these individual objectors has, alas, only one vote. And waiting in the wings is a dismal alternative, unless you are for more unnecessary wars, divisive identity politics, no prosecutions for financial fraud, bailouts for Wall Street but not Main Street, bonuses to executives who have bankrupted their own company, kow-towing to China, job outsourcing and the resulting opioid epidemic, Burisma style corruption, etc. Cornell West is correct in observing that our system is incapable of reforming itself.
Hit reply too soon. He is also not very bright despite his claims otherwise. He is so worried about being found out he sued to have the publication of his college transcripts blocked.
Is that why Obama had his college transcripts blocked?
He has already driven 6 of his owned businesses into bankruptcy. Looks like he trying to drive the US into a moral bankruptcy. He has lied, cheated and insulted with impunity. The one question I have for all you Trump supporters is the following: “Would you be happy if your daughter married a man with a similar character and demeanor as our president”? I am willing to bet you would be appalled if not devastated.
George Will…
The lesson of Donald Trump’s life is: There is no such thing as rock bottom. So, assume that the worst is yet to come….
When American conservatism becomes un-American….
The Democratic Party is anti-American.
Uh-huh.
Changing the subject again, I see. You could try to defend conservatism or explain why njbr is wrong (his statement is exaggeration, so that should be easy). But no – just knee jerk “Democrats bad!” garbage. You are really not worth listening to.
“You are really not worth listening to.”
Yup.
A triple whammy of crises tests Trump’s support ahead of November’s election
Read the KERR commission report in 1968 under Prez LB Johnson, below!
Nothing has changed over 50 years!
Thomas Jefferson once said,”Dissent is the highest form of Patriotism”.To those protesting,full speed ahead.To those looting,do so at you own peril.
Some history
Trump didn’t start the riots and you’re delusional if you think he’s losing core support because he vowed to send in the military to protect blue cities being looted and burned if liberal mayors continued refusing to.
No one voted for Mattis as president and his foreign policy views weren’t the ones debated and selected by the public.
If this looting and lawlessness starts up again after Trump wins the election on some bogus Trump-Is-Illegitimate-Because-I-Didn’t-Vote-For-Him bullshit you better hold onto your fucking hats. This dude doesn’t play and he won’t have to run again.
From my outsider point of view the democrats are the biggest threat to democracy.
When they lose a vote they have hiss fits.
Clearly remember “lick my bush” protest cards after 2000 elections and ever since HRC lost, the dems have nothing but hatred and acts of sabotage against DT, including poisoning the public.
In the UK, labour is pretty much following the same play book.
Don’t care for DT, but for those that believe in a democracy, the outcome of a vote needs to be respected.
Think people are so indoctrinated with the concept of good and bad, nothing in between appears to exist.
You have to wonder if some of these Trump supporter accts are some type of bots, it’s always the same line, if they are real people then that’s pretty sad.
I honestly think the end game for the power brokers on the right is to provoke Trump to do something and in the aftermath he will have to resign for and then have Pence run. Not that they have to try very hard…..
Trumptards pass the Turing Test — they are impossible to distinguish from AI.
Mattis is another DC swamp monster upset he can’t find a job as a lobbyist because Trump doesn’t take advice from the bought and paid for Congress or K street scum.
Today a real threat to the Constitution appeared in the Senate. The repulsive dual faces of Mr. Rod Rosenstein. After leading a coup attempt against Trump he sat there dissembling and groveling before the Senate Judiciary Committee trying to save his pencil neck by repudiating everything he did in the prior 3 years.
Exactly.
Yep can’t find a job, single, never married, no kids and bored…Violate peoples constitutional rights? The Marines were sent to Los Angeles in 1992 to help stop the riots.
Yeah and he’s going to be 70 in September. You really think he needs money?
1992 was at request of the governor of CA
Senior generals aren’t poor but they look forward to making the big money when they retire in the military industrial/DC lobbying complex. Of course if you don’t play by the DC rules you get ‘Flynned’ and, in order for Mattis to slide into a directorship at Lockheed or General Dynamics andtriple his military pension Trump has to lose in November. Its that simple
Mattis is now a “Senior Counselor” at The Cohen Group, which is a swamp member run by former Defense Secretary (under Clinton) and Senator from Maine, Bill Cohen. They have a huge presence in Communist China and are known for “helping” US companies to access China and Chinese to infiltrate the US.
I didn’t expect this until 2024 but Trump has accelerated the timeline for Texas being a tossup state. The Republican party can forget about ever winning the White House once Texas turns purple.
Biden and Trump Virtually Tied in Texas Poll
The Lone Star State has been a reliable Republican stronghold but that could be changing.
By Susan Milligan, Senior Politics Writer June 3, 2020, at 4:50 p.m.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP is at risk of losing the Republican Party’s most essential prize this November, polling neck-and-neck with presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden in Texas, according to a survey released Wednesday by Quinnipiac University.
The president has the support of 44% of registered voters in the Lone Star State, according to the poll, with Biden getting the backing of 43% of voters. Trump leads among Republicans, men, whites and people 50 and older, the study found.
Biden, meanwhile, is favored among Democrats, independents, women, African Americans, Hispanics and people 18-49. That coalition is likely to be a winning one in future elections, as the nation moves toward majority-minority status, say experts who study the “rising American electorate” of younger and minority voters.
This year, those dynamics make for a close race in a state that has long been a GOP stronghold. Texas has 38 Electoral College votes to offer, making it the second biggest potential haul after California, which has 55 Electoral votes. Since California, New York and Illinois are now reliably Democratic in presidential elections, it would be virtually impossible for a Republican candidate to win the White House without taking Texas.
“Too tight to tell in Texas. As the country confronts chaos and COVID-19, perhaps one of the most important states of all is a toss-up,” Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.Texas is still considered an uphill battle for a Democrat; while urbanization and increasing power by Latino voters has resulted in Democratic pickups in U.S. House and local races, the state is still considered conservative. All nine statewide elected offices are now held by Republicans.
But polling shows that Trump is on shaky ground in a state that should be assuredly in the Republican column. A Dallas Morning News poll in April had the two men tied; other polls give Trump a lead over Biden in the low single digits.
That means that even if Texas is still a bit out of reach for Democrats, Republicans can’t just take it for granted anymore, and will likely need to spend money advertising and campaigning there.
Trump took Texas in 2016 by 9 percentage points – a smaller margin than his win in once-Democratic Iowa. And former Rep. Beto O’Rourke came within just a few percentage points of ousting GOP Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018.
The Quinnipiac poll found that half of Texas voters have an unfavorable view of Trump, with 42% approving of him. Biden’s favorability rating is 38%, with 45% disapproving. Another 14% say they don’t have enough information about Biden to make a judgment, suggesting the Democrat has an opportunity to expand his support there.
Who conducted this poll? You?
Shooting the messenger, although often a popular move, does not actually change the message.
That’s Quinnipiac. I predicted in 2018 that Texas was in the process of turning purple and blue because of 10M new latino voters between the age of 18 and 29 in the southwest. This was baked in when the Republican party embraced Trump and demonized young Latinos. The Republicans problems keep getting worse because of Trump.
You hear that? It’s the death-rattle of the conservative movement.
Trump is approaching the tipping point this summer. I suspect he has one more move in him and that may either get him removed from office or force him to step down before the November election. The GOP is looking at alternatives for November already. The last thing they want is to lose 10 seats in the Senate and hand both houses of congress to the Democrats along with the White House. That is where things are headed right now. If that happens, expect charges to be filed the first day of session in 2021 against Trump and Trump to flee to Russia to live in exile.
You haven’t seen Titanic, have you?
“One” more move?
Really?
He has a new move almost every day.
Squirrel!
President Trump should absolutely avoid deploying US military within US boarders unless the governors and mayors are willing to go to the mat for him on the decision. He might have benefited from such a decision if he had first stood up and said “The Federal Government stands ready to support the governors of this great nation in any way it can to defend and protect our law abiding people.” Then he could have waited for someone to call and deployed the military only if the local officials insisted that it had to be done.
But nooooo, he had to say that some of the governors are “weak” and that they should “dominate.” What on earth? Besides once again bringing attention to himself in a way that is unhelpful, he actively is kicking people out of his tent instead of turning them into supporters.
Drudge has a link claiming that President Trump denies he went to the White House bunker for protection earlier this week and that he was only there for “an inspection.” WTF? Why is it not okay to say “The secret service asked that I go to the bunker temporarily and I complied with their request.” Is President Trump’s ego so fragile that he cannot say that? It is difficult to believe.
The President must be less confrontational and more consoling in his public relations regarding the riots or his re-election chances are definitely toast. It might be too late already.
Narrator: he didn’t.
“Is President Trump’s ego so fragile that he cannot say that? It is difficult to believe.”
You still haven’t understood the difficult idea of narcissistic personality disorder.
He can’t. Give it up.
She nailed it.
Your an idiot. The establishment is about 80% of the country.
We’ll never get out of this mess by looking backward, and Obama is history not the future. As is Trump. As most definitely is Biden. As is anyone over the age of 50.
It is now time for the next generation to grab the brass ring and make THEIR world because we have fucked this world up beyond all recognition.
I am with them every step of the way.
Probably not wise of Mattis or Mullen to politicise the military. They can speak of own conscience regarding their oath of allegiance, but to insinuate to serving members that they are not following constitutional definition, that they are being politically manipulated, involves quite a heavy accusation, no matter how subtly it is spoken.
“Probably not wise of Mattis or Mullen to politicise the military.”
They’re not. They’re trying to do the opposite.
Maybe, but there is a political and legislative format that exists to oversee the method of use of military, to claim it is not constitutional is to speak against any authority over the military derived from that format. There aren’t opt ins and outs in the military depending on taste, there are orders and order. If you have troops question the legitimacy of that order, you are having them question national political framework from where it derives, it makes the military political. Kelly had some interesting words on this.
@ tiab The president is a political persona, anything he has to do with the military will also seem political, that is the position he is elected to take. Military or retired speaking to/of the military in political terms is very different, it can be seen as subversive. @ sechel Retired officers are subject to various seperate laws and restrictions.
They all take an oath to defend the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Writing a statement to remind them of this is not… subversive.
Orders from political leadership that might put troops in a position to break that oath is what is subversive.
Especially in the context of possibly being deployed to US cities to enact force on US citizens.
Trump used the military as a political pawn during his wall building exercise. He’s trying to use them again here because he can’t tolerate being called weak.
I understand that argument, the question is if there is political motive behind promoting that moral dispute, as well as if it is suitable for a retired officer to interfere or pronounce in this way. As a person for sure he has every right to his view, but he is also speaking with the authority built and conceded while serving the nation in a position of strict order. To use that authority, one which by nature extends into retirement, to question the order from outside of it, to place it into disrepute (and that would include open criticism of presidential use of military as you have just written), is not part of what is acceptable to that military order. He might be sincere and right, or not, does not change that the military is shielded from “the political cesspit” by its own discipline. I expect Mattis would take this through the proper channels, as per legal, if he were to really present a case. The rest is trial by media and popular sentiment, which itself is often political.
Seriously!!! OK for the president to politicize the military but when Mattis and Mullen call him on it they are politicizing it. Get real. You are an idiot.
Mattis and Mullen belong to the same circle that politicized the IRS, the FBI, and the CIA. The deep state has pulled out all the stops because they know if Trump wins a second term Barr will start mass prosecutions against those involved in Obamagate.
Once again it’s that bible picture that did him in, out of all the dum things he has done, it’s at that point that most sensible people regardless of political affiliation realized there is nothing but a hollow narcissist shell of a person.
I actually pity him and those around him, he has always been a pariah and an outsider in most circles, most people only want to deal transactionally with him for his money, no real love or human connection is possible, a doomed soul incapable of loving anything because he never received true love.
Only such a person would think that the bible stunt would actually work, if it worked for you and you actually believe that in any way was a sensible act you need to take a long look in the mirror at yourself and be honest with yourself about whom you really are.
There are worse pictures, with a group of creepy tv preachers , eyes shut in concentration, touching his suit, like they’re trying to levitate him or something. No tear gas involved though.
I know, when the clergy are publicly denouncing him — Episcopalians, Catholics — I mean those are large voting blocs there.
Even some evangelicals are against that stupid picture. trumpty done goofed.
I think this is an excellent post and he is to be pitied . Narcissistic Personality Disorder is real, and it make you unfit to be President in my book. I posted on SM Monday basically the title of Mishs blog post positing that if Obama did the Bible stunt along with aggressive action towards protestors evangelicals would be up in arms calling for his head crying charlatan, hypocrite and fraud. The trump supporters even though I cited the times and Washington post etc… came back with obscure publications and the park police . I don’t know why this bothers me but has anyone definitive sources days later? I was offended by the blatant pandering but if all of mainstream media jumped the gun then it just proves this deep state collusion bullshit against Trump in their eyes. I’m being petty, but I’d like to prove he’s an asshat. Any help?
You can’t reason with Trumplings. Once you strip away all their bullshit, you hit DeepState/SOROS/FakeNews, and that’s it. Persist and they’ll threaten violence.
I know 🤦♂️ I’m not very partisan either and tend towards conservative . I remember when Mattis was appointed the conservative press lauded him as a brilliant tactician, serious minded, brook no bullshit leader who had the respect of grunts and brass alike. Wonder how they spin his charge now of Trump being a danger to the constitution ?
Most supporters won’t back away from Trump even though he’s an obvious fraud because there are no good options. They can point to Biden as a senile fool and they’re right.
There was a window of honesty in 2016 where Trump fans admitted that he was their last best chance as an outsider. They acknowledged that if he was a failure, it would likely be the end of the republic.
Fast forward three years and they can’t let go of him despite an abysmal record. His promises fell by the wayside and he turned out to be even more fiscally irresponsible and profligate than his predecessors.
Most politicians bow to Wall St and screw the country because they’re instructed to do so, but this guy did it WILLINGLY. For that, he deserves our scorn and derision. He’s no better than the puppets he ran against!
His cult members are largely ex teabaggers. They can be compelled to join a new cult, if it makes them feel special enough.
The Trumpster is headed for the dumpster. Goodbye and good riddance. Let’s hope a number of his GOP cronies join him. They sure have a lot to answer for.
“If you still defend Trump, then please look into a mirror and see who the problem is, in addition to Trump.”
Meanwhile, the NYT has an editorial piece out today that states, “The widely accepted narrative that Mr. Mattis was the adult in the room…came to annoy the president.” I have heard that phrase before. It was in the anonymous opinion piece printed by the New York Times on Sept, 5, 2018: “It may be cold comfort in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in the room…And we are trying to do what’s right even when Donald Trump won’t.” Did the NYT just out Mattis as the author of that anonymous letter? One wonders…
This isn’t the frying pan. Multiple blocks in most major cities have burned including Washington DC. No sir this isn’t the frying pan. This IS the fire.
Great post.
Read the KERR commission report in 1968 under Prez LB Johnson, below!
Nothing has changed over 50 years!
I am going to continue to beat the drum and sound the alarm.
The Trump Cult is 40 million strong. The cultists follow the man, not the Republican Party.
Whether or not Trump is in office, those 40 million cultists belong to him. There are very few Republicans anymore. Not enough for a viable party if Trump is out of office.
It no longer matters if Trump wins in 2020. He will control American politics because he personally controls 40 million voters who will do whatever he tells them to do.
This could lead to a 3rd party — the Trump Party. Bye bye Republican Party.
For as long as Trump draws breath, he will control those 40 million robot cultists.
They do love him but they love winning even more. Rather they love him because he won and is their last hope to accomplish their goals. That’s why they ignore all the shortcomings in him. I suspect a large fraction will abandon him if he loses.
Especially if he has to leave the country to live in exile somewhere. That is typically what happens to people like Trump irrespective of whether they become President or not. I don’t also discount that Trump may get ill and “die” and just go away. He is a coward to his core and would make up anything to not lose come November. It would be the ultimate joke if Trump fired himself by death.
Yes, my wife suggested he will be stuck in litigation and criminal defense for the rest of his life. We’ll see, I’m not so sure. And I did say “for as long as he draws breath.” I really mean that the only way to be sure his cult dies is for him to die.
“And I did say “for as long as he draws breath.” I really mean that the only way to be sure his cult dies is for him to die.”
Assassinate Trump and you’ll see bloodshed on a level you never thought possible. Promise.
Maybe, but abandon him for what? A Republican Party that has had the life drained from it by Trump?
The Republicans will never find a personality that can create a cult like Trump has. They’re finished because they abandoned any pretense of principle for the short-term high of Trump.
Perhaps you weren’t paying attention but the Democratic Party had to pull out all the stops to keep the Socialist Bernie Bros wing of the party from taking control. There is **FAR** more dissent on the Left than on the Right. The percentage of vociferous Never Trumpers in the media is greatly disproportionate to their ranks in the right-leaning public as a whole.
Democrats have gone All-In on open borders, hostility to issues people of faith find important and therefore can’t persuade them but must call them “robot cultists”. Good luck with that sport. He won last time with very little organizational support. Now he’s got the entire party behind him.
Nothing like painting with a broad brush. You lump everyone who voted for Trump (or supports him) as cultists? Wow. I voted for the guy (really because I did not want a liberal as the POTUS) and will likely vote for him for the same reason. I do not defend Trump and my eyes are wide open to his failings. Unfortunately it boils down to a choice between 2 individuals and there is no way I will vote for a return to liberal judges, socialism lite and the nanny state that is the Democratic party now.
Renounce Trump. Or remain a cultist.
You don’t know anything about me, yet you call me a cultist? Man, you need to take a step back and consider your evaluation and approach to people who disagree with your politics and/or world-view. You sound much more cult-like than any of my conservative friends. Good luck on your journey, friend.
You are the problem Bill. Keep your well-wishes, it means nothing to me.
One thing he’s done wrong? Trump is a habitual liar. He is an extreme narcissist. He is not particularly intelligent or well informed. I could go on but you only asked for 1. Those are not things he has done wrong, they are personality traits. Are you really that much smarter than others here? Or that much better informed? Get over yourself. Other people who are at least as smart and well informed as you have different opinions and world views. It is simplistic to paint your political opponents as dumb, or racist, or misogynistic. I am none of those and am tired of being labeled as such by you and your ilk. Your criticisms are simplistic and intellectually lazy. I withdraw my well-wishes, they are wasted on someone as closed minded as you.
Lying is a personality trait? The ACT of lying?
FAIL.
Not even D+ work Bill.
The SECOND someone lies to me, without a sincere apology, they are dead to me. Because I have a conscience and I expect others to respect me similarly.
That you permit Trump to lie to you and still follow him means you have zero self-respect. You are a marionette.
You belong to a cult. Oh and you can’t take your well-wishes back because I already told you where you can shove them.
Sounds like something Trump would. Oh wait, it’s ok to say that if you do, I forgot.
Still quoting Trump’s favorite Bible verse I see.
It’s ok for me to say it because Trumptards have proved it to be true.
But go ahead, I’ll read your renunciation of Trump. Please tell me everything he’s done wrong. Start with one thing. I’ll wait.
Til then, you’re a cultist.
Those you call cultists are Americans holding traditional American values, and I suspect there are more than 40 million. They are the ones Obama said cling to their guns and their God. They are the ones Hillary called the deplorables. They are the ones who believe in having babies, not aborting them. Who believe in an honest day’s work for an honest days wage, not in welfare. Who believe in marriage between a man and a woman, and that a two parent family is worth sacrificing for. They believe in law and order. They believe the Constitution means what it says. If you don’t like such a country, go find one that better aligns with your values. Oh, that’s right, those opposed to traditional American values don’t have enough of a work ethic to build anything, let alone a successful nation!
I think I get the problem here. You all think I’m partisan. Tell you what, I’ll get the ball rolling.
Biden is a halfwit senile Alzheimers patient with a penchant for extreme creepiness and saying the stupidest things. His Bankruptcy Reform Act of 2005 that condemns students to debt slavery and rewards his cronies is pure evil. He was a major force in the militarization of US police forces. He sat by as Obama claimed the power to assassinate anyone, anywhere, anytime, US citizen or no, no due process on his authority alone. Except for Hillary Clinton, Biden is the worst Dem candidate since maybe Dukakis.
Everything I just wrote I sincerely believe. And yet Trump is even worse, though that would be splitting hairs. The difference is that Trump is a real threat whereas Biden is hypothetical.
So, as long as Trump is the head of what used to be the conservative movement, I believe it is a cult. Go ahead, renounce him. Tell me one thing he’s done wrong. I’ll wait.
Mish is full of crap. He loves Biden and it shows, yet lacks the courage to admit it. Mish supports a senile man for president. Lost all credibility.
Trump isn’t a threat more than he was half a year ago.
People are piling on as they sense his imminent failure and try to jump off a sinking ship and onto the winning side. Where were day half a year ago?
The infamous Photo Op is pathetic regardless the reported circumstances (true, half-true, or totally off).
Handling of the epidemic is a challenge. Lock-down – be damned, open-up – damned as well. BUT, the the Federal and State governments had a two months notice and demonstration from Wuhan, which they ALL failed to use! ALL the serving officials and senior bureaucrats should be fired for lack of preparedness and belated response.
In Mish support, his posts weren’t too enamored with Trump from the get-go. Yet, imo, Mish’ tone changed with the months.
Trump is now super dangerous. He is cornered and he knows it, expect more “winning” from him.