When news hit the other day that, almost simultaneously, Paul Manafort had been convicted of eight felonies and that Michael Cohen had pleaded guilty to eight felonies, I immediately switched over to Fox News. It’s so much fun watching them go into mega-contortionist mode.
That night, he spoke at a rally in West Virginia. He started off with the whopper that West Virginia’s growth in gross domestic product since he had taken office was among the best in the country. It’s actually in the bottom third.
Then Fox would show a crowd shot and, for whatever reason, they would focus in on this one toothless hillbilly, wearing a red MAGA hat and, obviously high on one opioid or another, constantly chanting “Lock her up! Lock her up!” I wondered if he knew that Cohen and Manafort are hims.
Somebody asked me the other day why “you (people) think Donald Trump is dumb.” I wonder why anybody doesn’t think that. You don’t have to have a heightened sense of DumbDar to spot that one. He makes all the moves of a certified dumbass. He uses big words incorrectly and tries to cram them into sentences where they don’t belong. He spells the same word two or three different ways in the same tweet, hoping that he got it right at least once. He repeats himself, trying to emphasize a point by saying the exact same sentence over and over again, only softer each time. And he’s constantly telling people how smart he is.
The only way that dude could ever be the smartest person in the room is when he’s sitting down in the water closet, and then just barely.
I am constantly amazed that anybody with a triple-digit IQ and a shred of decency would continue to support someone who is a misogynist, a bigot, a bully, a liar and a dumb-ass, all in one disgusting package. I am always trying to find a way to get through to these people. I’ll try again.
Shortly before the end of the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was in Virginia, visiting with his generals. When news came that the Confederate capital of Richmond had been abandoned by Southern troops, Lincoln commandeered a boat and crossed the James River. With the war not officially over, Lincoln (unprotected by Union troops and with the Secret Service not yet in existence) strolled down the streets of Richmond to the stunned amazement of residents peeking out their windows and the unbridled exultation of freedmen who just days earlier had been the property of other human beings.
Lincoln even went to the mansion and sat at the desk of Confederate President Jefferson Davis, who had slunk out of town under the cover of darkness. He continued walking around the town, telling the former slaves who were falling to their knees as he approached to stand up and look him in the eye, man to man.
Now seriously, can you imagine Donald Trump doing anything like that? He’s a bully so, by definition, he’s also gutless and a coward. And as for interacting with former slaves, yeah…no.
Jimmy Carter’s presidency was done in by the 444-day Iran Hostage crisis. The hostages were eventually released on the day that Ronald Reagan was sworn in. (An enduring myth has it that the Iranians were terrified of a saber-rattling Reagan and so released the hostages on his first day in office. The truth is that the Ayatollah hated Carter for having sided with the Shah and so, despite a release agreement having been hammered out in November, the Iranians waited until Carter’s last day in office, Jan. 20, to release the hostages.)
Carter flew to Germany to meet the hostages, several of whom were openly hostile to the former President, blaming him in one way or another for their captivity. Still, on one of the worst days of his life, Carter found the integrity to greet and congratulate each one of the hostages.
Can you imagine Trump doing that? After absorbing a stinging defeat, Trump would wear out three sets of baby-sized hands pointing fingers at others for the loss, after which he would cry “Fix!” And can you imagine Trump doing anything as noble and selfless as what Carter did? There’s no damn way.
Finally, what about Reagan, whom many Republicans still revere as some patron saint of tax cutting? Did you know that, depending on the metric, Reagan presided over either the largest or the second-largest tax INCREASE in U.S. history? (Largest by number; second-largest by percentage of GDP at the time.) Reagan had indeed slashed taxes in 1981, but then he and his people realized he had overdone it and passed tax increases the next year to stabilize things. It was the wise thing to do. He explained it to the American people and sailed right along.
Can you imagine Trump coming out and saying that his tax cuts were too deep, that deficits were exploding and that the long-term health of the U.S. economy was threatened? That would be tantamount to his admitting that he had made a mistake and, as we all know, he has NEVER made a mistake.
Three American Presidents, doing Presidential things. One giant tub of goo, residing in the White House and bringing shame and dishonor to the office.
This article appears in Aug 30 – Sep 5, 2018.
Somebody sounds a little jealous.
trump is jealous of many, especially the man we have lying in state here and the president before him.
Casey and H.W. Bush committed treason by making an arms for hostage deal with the Iranians. The Israelis transferred the weapons.
You don’t have to be a genius to see that Trump is a dumbass or that his Trumpuppets should have a swastika tattooed on their foreheads . They are willing to murder Democracy and honor Vladimir Putin with the dead carcass. Trump is using his nitwits to continue building the Trump brand internationally. The Trumparrots are wrapped up in their zeal for a leader who openly expresses his racism, sexism, and ignorance giving them the go-ahead to do and say what they have suppressed since the Civil War. Using reason with this army of cretins to convince them of their folly would be akin to stopping a mass suicide of lemmings intent on their own destruction.
Another Edition of the “I hate Trump Saga”, and all the whiners have a place to vent. LOLOL Go cry in your safe place, but never fear, he IS YOUR president too.
It’s not that Trump is dumb, he’s not. Trump ups the ante with gaslighting, essentially rendering facts and truth to quaint notions. Alternate facts. Don’t believe what you see and hear. The press is the enemy of the people. The economy is the strongest ever in history but we have to cut federal pay raises because they are too great a drain on the fragile economy. I never said that (despite there he is on tape saying that). We’ve had dumb presidents in the past, feel free to nominate your own but I will go with GW Bush. We survive dumb – the cards are in the air if we can afford Orwellian carnival barkers.
Tom, you are very unkind in this article. You call Trump a misogynist, a bigot, a bully, a liar and a dumb-ass. This is insulting to misogynists, bigots, bullies, liars and dumb-asses the world over.
Another diatribe about the same ole same ole., with similar commenters and comments, yuk yuk. You have a bigger responsibility here than just repeating the judgements you and others have been yammering about for the last 24 months. There are no do overs Tom. Even if he’s impeached, he’ll never be convicted It’s time to move on to another subject, lots of other things happening in the world, stop being lazy and get to it.
Tom stop being lazy. I hear it’s going to snow in Phoenix tomorrow.
Then Fox would show a crowd shot and, for whatever reason, they would focus in on this one toothless hillbilly, wearing a red MAGA hat
Liar.
constantly chanting “Lock her up! Lock her up!” I wondered if he knew that Cohen and Manafort are hims.
Liar or stupid.
Everyone knows whom the crowd was chanting about when they said lock her up. So which one is it? Liar or stupid?
“Then Fox would show a crowd shot and, for whatever reason, they would focus in on this one toothless hillbilly, wearing a red MAGA hat and, obviously high on one opioid or another, constantly chanting “Lock her up! Lock her up!” I wondered if he knew that Cohen and Manafort are hims.”
So here you go. Here is the Fox News coverage of President Trump’s speech.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVIrt2fLNM…
I challenge anyone to find one time they cut away to the crowd during the speech. Tom claims it was multiple times.
Find one time when they cut away to the crowd and they focused on one person.
Find one time they cut away to the crowd and they focused on one person in a red maga hat.
Find one time they cut away to the crowd and they focused on one person who was a toothless hillbilly in a red maga hat chanting lock her up.
Lying Liar Tom. The Liar’s liar.
Come on all of you 101 down-thumbers, defend your boy.
Jayson Blair
Stephen Glass
Lying Tom Danehy
Hey New Times, do you have any journalistic ethics and standards at the paper? Are you going to let Tom Danehy lie with impunity?
Hey Tom the internet is a bitch isnt it? Unfortunately I watched the rally live. Obviously you didnt. You lied about Trump’s rally. What keeps us from believing anything you have written? This kind of calls into question everything you have written no? Confronting “right wing idiots” at firearms shows, grocery stores, on the street, winning prizes shooting free-throws at the county fair, etc. Actually if one reads your columns regularly it is pretty obvious to see what you are lying about.
Come on down-thumbers please justify Toms lying. Satire, comedy, intentional fiction? Please say Hey President Trump lies so .
Arent we reading daily about how the fourth estate is the savior of the country, above reproach, un-impeachable, unbiased purveyors of truth, and President Trumps attack on the media is unjustified and even unconstitutional? And yet Tom is the poster boy for a biased, willing to lie to prove a point journalism.
Come on New Times. Show us you are really about truth in journalism. I have been reading this paper for 34 years. When you first started the New Times you were all about being an alternative to both left/right wing journalism. Now you have become a bunch of partisan left wing hacks that dont really care about the truth, and you are now all about how Fox News lies. You have the facts before you. Tom said one thing. The evidence proves another. Show us you have some integrity.
A Trump campaign associate was sentenced last week to 14 days in jail. For what?
Papadopoulos acknowledged that his false statements to the FBI were intentional and were aimed at concealing details about his contacts with Mifsud. I hid many aspects of my relationship with Joseph Mifsud. That was wrong and it was a crime, the former Trump adviser said.
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/07/george-papadopoulos-jail-sentence-809381
But still no, now coveted Russian collusion. The length of his sentence is much like a DUI conviction. $28M spent so far. An awful lot of people could have been fed for that kind of money. I’m starting to grow weary of this.
i’m beginning to get embarrassed living in a community of sheep who follow whatever the self proclaimed elite northern press club, including Tom boy here, emphasizes as truth. This blind faith in spun news is the real cult of ignorance. Not thinking for ones self is a tragedy