Stephen Bannon

Donald Trump Refuses To Take Responsibility For Failed Yemen Raid, Death Of Ryan Owens: As Truman Said, “The Buck Stops Here!”

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Donald Trump has demeaned the office of the Presidency by his refusal to take responsibility for the failed Yemen Raid that took place two days after his inauguration.

At dinner with son in law Jared Kushner and his White House Counselor Stephen Bannon, he decided to authorize a raid that the Obama Administration had been reluctant to do, because of lack of full intelligence information on the likelihood of its success.

Trump should have been in the Situation Room with top military and intelligence officials, but he decided to try to make himself a hero, and in so doing, caused the death of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens.

Instead of taking responsibility for this blunder and the death, Trump blamed the “Generals” for the failure, and lied that much intelligence information had been successfully gathered, which others, including Senator John McCain have challenged as untruthful.

And then, Trump paraded the sobbing widow of Navy SEAL Ryan Owens at the President’s Speech to Congress, and after a great salute to her by an applauding Congress, bragged that a record had been set for the longest applause ever at a Congressional session, an unseemly point to make at that point of time, and just to add to his narcissistic image. This is absolutely horrible behavior by a Commander in Chief.

Harry Truman had a sign on his desk, “The Buck Stops Here!”. Presidents do NOT blame others for their shortcomings and failures, and John F. Kennedy took the blame for the failed Bay Of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, and Jimmy Carter took the blame for the failed attempt at a rescue of the Iranian Hostages in 1980.

It is time for Trump to stop passing the buck, and act like a President is supposed to act, stop blaming others for his failed actions!

Trump Speech To Congress: More Sober And Balanced, But Still Full Of Lies, Mistruths, And Deceptions!

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Donald Trump’s first speech to a joint session of Congress was more sober and balanced in tone, and avoided controversial rhetoric, but Donald Trump is still Donald Trump, and to believe that Trump is really going to change his lifetime pattern of behavior, is to believe in the tooth fairy!

His speech, no matter how well it seemed to come across in performance, sticking to a script of a person known for good acting on “The Apprentice”, it was full of lies, mistruths, and deceptions.

Trump said crime was at an all time high, when the opposite is reality, but he loves to stoke fear. Instead of defending civil rights and civil liberties his Justice Department under Jeff Sessions will promote law and order, which means, as under Richard Nixon, widespread abuse of power.

Trump said most of the terrorist attacks are from outside, when that is totally false, as it is by Americans who unleash violence, and now the Republicans want mentally ill people to have the right to firearms restored. We have a far greater danger from domestic terrorism than foreign terrorism, as we already have a vetting system that makes it hard for people of ill intention to enter the nation, but instead Trump promotes fear and trepidation to grab more power, as promoted by Stephen Miller and Stephen Bannon.

Trump exploited the family of the fallen SEAL Ryan Owens killed in Yemen, saluting the widow (a touching moment), but bragging about the longest applause ever, as if this is a TV show and that he was looking for ratings. Meanwhile , the Yemen raid was a disaster, so declared by intelligence agencies, and Trump is trying to avoid an investigation called for by the father of the fallen SEAL, who sees Trump as ordering something done in Yemen on a whim, without proper information, and deciding at dinner with Stephen Bannon and Jared Kushner, and not in the Situation Room in the White House, where such decisions are made traditionally.

Trump told a group at the White House during the day that he had interest in immigration reform, rather than deporting millions, even though already undocumented immigrants have been deported or detained, including an immigrant who committed suicide once he was brought to the Mexican side of the border, and a woman detained who has breast cancer with no medical intervention available. When it came time to discuss what he had said earlier in the day, Trump avoided any discussion.

Trump used the term “radical Islamic terrorism” in his speech, despite the advice of National Security Adviser HR McMaster, and if this continues, McMaster, highly respected, might decide to leave, since Trump is ignoring his well regarded advice.

Trump distorted increased costs of ObamaCare, an average of 22 percent, not two to three times what the premiums were, so he lied, and gets away with it with many gullible people.

So Trump is depending on the moment, the audience, and the advisers around him in what he says,and is totally unhinged, totally manipulative and deceitful, totally uncaring about the effect that he has on others. No one knows what the “real” Donald Trump thinks, including himself.

So yes, the speech “sounded” better, but upon further investigation and thought, Donald Trump is still Donald Trump, a disgrace to the office he holds!

C Span 2017 Presidential Survey: The Golden Age Of The Presidency, 1933-1969 (FDR, Truman, Ike, JFK, LBJ) With Five Of The Top Ten In History!

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One final commentary on the C Span 2017 Presidential Survey is in order.

Based on the results of this survey, including 91 Presidential scholars, it is clear that there was a Golden Age of the Presidency from 1933-1969, a 36 year period in the 20th century when we had five Presidents–4 Democrats and 1 Republican—who had a transformational effect on American history.

All five of these Presidents—Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson—had bright moments in their Presidencies, but also times when their actions caused problems down the road of history. But they had a massive impact on the office and the nation, and they were ranked as Numbers 3, 6, 5, 8 and 10 in the most recent C Span survey.

Three of them—Truman, Eisenhower, and Johnson—left the Presidency with very low public opinion ratings, but have recovered to rise dramatically in image and reputation over the decades.

The four who followed FDR institutionalized the New Deal and expanded it, and yet now in 2017, everything that was accomplished in both domestic and foreign policy is in danger from the anarchistic, chaotic forces of Donald Trump, Stephen Bannon et al, who are ready to use a sledge hammer to destroy all of the progress and growth of the federal government to protect the population, particularly the vulnerable groups—the poor, the sick, the disabled, the elderly, women, ethnic and racial minorities, labor, and those concerned about the environment.

Since 1969, the Presidency has been going through crisis, first through the shortcomings and paranoia of Richard Nixon, through further decline under Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter (despite their well meant intentions), and then through the Presidency of Ronald Reagan which revived the image of the office, but started the long term decline of the middle class by its actions, continued under George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton despite some reforms, and then reaching a low under George W. Bush, leaving Barack Obama with a challenge unseen since FDR.

Obama’s response in the midst of constant obstructionism was miraculous, and his number 12 rating upon leaving the Presidency insures his eventual rise to the top ten of the list, likely through a decline of Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan by a few notches.

Donald Trump will cause the rise of all of the Presidents who have not done well in the rankings—Nixon, Ford, Carter, and the second Bush—but that reality is a sign that the American Presidency has been under attack as an institution since 1969, with the only bright moment being the rise of Barack Obama. So we are unlikely to see a new Golden Age, and the five Presidents from 1933-1969 are likely to be well entrenched in the Top Ten for the long haul of American history.

One Month Of Donald Trump: Total Alienation, Disarray, Anarchy And Mean Spiritedness

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Donald Trump yesterday reached the 31 days of our shortest term President, William Henry Harrison.

In that month, Trump has managed to divide the nation into two camps more divided than ever since the Civil War 150 years ago.

Sure, we had the controversies under Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama.

But the level of political discord is now worse than ever, and the fear that violence and bloodshed might break out is growing.

Trump has bitterly attacked the judiciary, the news media, the intelligence community, and the bureaucracy in all federal agencies, and in so doing, is creating total alienation, disarray, anarchy, and mean spiritedness.

Trump has been stopped temporarily in his Muslim ban, but is promising another travel ban. He is moving ahead on the Mexico Wall, which will cost tens of billions of dollars, adding to the national debt.

Trump has started a deportation policy which is destroying the lives of undocumented immigrants, who in the vast majority have not broken the law beyond entering illegally years ago, and have contributed to America and brought up children here, and now are having their lives destroyed.

Trump has seen his National Security Adviser forced out, and his Labor Secretary nominee backing out due to his disgraceful record as an employer, and his abusive relationship with his former wife.

Trump has had trouble recruiting for many jobs in the federal government hierarchy, due to his reckless behavior and tweets, and has lied more in one month than any President, and accepts conspiracy theories and demonstrates total ignorance of facts and truth.

Trump can be seen as a revolutionary, using an axe to destroy the federal government, and having dangerous and extremist advisers, including Stephen Bannon and Stephen Miller, who are Fascist oriented demagogues who believe in destroying the record of accomplishments of Democratic and Republican Presidents from TR through Obama.

Trump White House Aide Stephen Miller Declares President Has Ultimate Authority And Cannot Be Challenged! This Arrogance Must Be Repudiated!

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Trump White House Aide Stephen Miller is an arrogant, dangerous 31 year old man who has the gall to declare that the nation will soon learn that the President has the ultimate authority in the nation, and cannot be challenged in his grab for total control by any federal court.

Miller is a Fascist demagogue, who would fit in perfectly in a totalitarian state, such as Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, or the Soviet Union.

The shock is that Miller is Jewish, and yet is close to Stephen Bannon, the former Breitbart News Alt Right extremist, who is White House Counselor and Senior Aide to the President. He is also associated with white supremacist leader Richard Spencer, who has promoted violence against immigrants and non whites.

Miller showed up on four Sunday news programs, and talked like an authoritarian with a cockiness and self assurance that requires a quick reprimand, and yet, instead, Trump went on Twitter to support and applaud his aide’s performance.

It is clear, day by day, that Trump is moving toward establishing an authoritarian government, but it must be stopped dead in its tracks, by the Republican Party, which must love the country more than power and expediency, or go into the dustbin of history.

The question is whether critics in the media, the Democratic Party, and among the general population, can unite to pressure the Republicans to recognize that Trump is dangerous, mentally unhinged, and has dangerous aides that must be removed by a future President Mike Pence.

Will Pence do what is best for the nation, as it is hard to believe that he is not disturbed by the actions of Miller, Bannon, and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who is now in danger because he communicated with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office, about the sanctions put on Russia by Barack Obama in his last days in the Presidency.

The Russian connection of Trump and Vladimir Putin, the “bromance”, is a national security issue that must be fully investigated, and if shown to be undermining our nation, Trump must be forced out of office, but meanwhile, the nation is in danger from people like Miller, Bannon, and Flynn.

Principled Conservatives Who Oppose Trump: Ben Sasse, Evan McMullin, Bill Kristol, Peggy Noonan, David Frum, George Will, David Brooks

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Only two weeks and three days into the Trump Presidency, and many principled conservatives are clearly opposing Donald Trump, and speaking out against him.

This includes Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska; independent 2016 Presidential candidate Evan McMullin; Weekly Standard Publisher and Editor Bill Kristol; former Reagan speechwriter and columnist Peggy Noonan; former Bush II speechwriter and columnist David Frum; conservative columnist George Will; and NY Times columnist David Brooks.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, as these and others in the conservative movement and in the Republican Party in and out of Congress are horrified by his unconstitutional actions and rhetoric, and signs of a growing Fascism directed by White House aides Stephen Bannon, Stephen Miller, and National Security Adviser Michael Flynn.

There are hints that people working in the White House and in the Cabinet agencies are uneasy and disturbed, and it is possible we might have some prominent figures announce their split with their boss and his dangerous extremists who are taking charge and putting the nation in danger as a result, both in domestic and foreign policy.

With the immigration travel ban being contested now in the federal courts, we may be on the way to a quick movement to force Trump out of office for violating his Constitutional oath of office.

The nation and the world are standing by in trepidation as to how much damage Trump has wrought and will continue to do so.

The Power Behind The Throne, Undermining Rationality Of Trump: Michael Flynn, Stephen Bannon, Stephen Miller, And Jared Kushner

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Donald Trump’s White House advisors are the powers behind the throne, and are a major threat to any sense of stability in domestic and foreign policy, and undermining the rationality of Donald Trump, or whatever of that exists.

And we are just about two weeks into this Presidency, and this is already clear.

Michael Flynn is the unhinged National Security Advisor, while Stephen Bannon is Trump’s Chief Strategist and White House Advisor and Senior Counselor, and Stephen Miller is a key aide to Bannon–all three of them connected to white supremacists and neo Nazi groups, and involved in the decision on the Muslim ban last week, and the Yemen raid, which led to the death of a Navy Seal and killing of many civilians, including children.

And it is clear that Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump’s husband, also part of the White House group, is no genius either, far from it, and really an arrogant, overrated person because he is Trump’s son in law.

This group of characters may play a more important role than Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and Secretary of Homeland Security John Kelly, and that is disastrous on its face.

These people are unaccountable to Congress, and they are a sign that Trump will have a disastrous, corrupt administration, and shorten the term of Trump in the Presidency.

Censorship Beginning In Trump Era: Promotion Of Mistrust Of News Media, College Professors, Entertainment Industry As The New McCarthyism!

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It is becoming clear that Donald Trump intends to declare war on the news media, calling them dishonest and out to promote propaganda, while it is precisely Trump and his “Alt Right” White House Chief Strategist and Senior Counselor Stephen Bannon, formerly of Breitbart News, which is working to establish mistrust among the American people toward their own media that dares to challenge and investigate the many shortcomings of Donald Trump and his cabinet appointees, and his future policies in domestic and foreign affairs.

Additionally, a plan to list college professors who are felt to promote a leftist agenda, a reminder of McCarthyism in the 1950s, has been started by a group termed “Turning Point USA” under the name “Professor Watch List”, to intimidate professors from having freedom of speech in their classrooms. So academic “witch hunts” are back, in order to advocate a right wing educational system.

And the usual attack on liberals in Hollywood and the broad field of entertainment, is also clearly beginning, as censorship and attacks on civil liberties and civil rights groups are being encouraged, to attempt a total crackdown on dissent.

The ultimate goal is to sow distrust and doubt in the fields of journalism, education including universities and colleges, and the entertainment industry, including criticism of the humor of “Saturday Night Live” and other programs on cable, television, and radio, as well as film.

All this is advocated as part of the “fake news” which helped to undermine the Hillary Clinton campaign for President in 2016.

With an authoritarian oriented President coming to office, many elements of our basic freedoms of speech and press, and even assembly, are clearly under attack.

Disarray At Trump Tower: So Many Candidates, Some Totally Dangerous Or Ridiculous! And Major Problems For Midtown Manhattan!

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There is disarray in Trump Tower in Manhattan, and massive traffic issues below in midtown Manhattan.

Donald Trump seems to want to live in Trump Tower a lot of the time, rather than the White House, which creates major traffic, economic, and security issues.

Fifth Avenue and 56th Street is now barricaded, and traffic will become impossible, and trying to protect the President-Elect is a security nightmare, as it requires tremendous manpower of New York City Police and the Secret Service, and is creating problems for businesses, auto traffic, and pedestrians, which will only get worse.

But also, Trump seems totally disorganized, and rumors are spreading of some candidates for different positions in the government who are totally dangerous or ridiculous!

For Secretary of State, the candidates seem to include former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton; South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; and former Massachusetts Governor and 2012 Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney. The first two named are dangerous for the State Department, as they have no sense of personal diplomacy, and are both loud mouths, with Bolton being the more scary. Haley adds good looks and a woman to the list, but no real qualifications to be Secretary of State. Mitt Romney is the most credible, but really has no diplomatic experience to speak of. And Haley and Romney were bitter opponents of Trump, and did not endorse him.

Then we have the crazy idea of Sarah Palin being Secretary of Interior or Secretary of Energy!

Already, we have Stephen Bannon as Chief Counselor and Senior Adviser in the White House, despite his racist, nativist, antisemitic, Islamophobic, homophobic, and misogynist behavior and utterances. And we have General Michael Flynn, fired by Barack Obama from the Defense Intelligence Agency leadership in 2014, who has also shown elements of antisemitism, and suggested that Hillary Clinton be jailed, to be National Security Adviser. These two appointments do not require Senate confirmation, but it is clear with the chaos in Trump Tower, that Donald Trump will have problems with confirmation of some of his cabinet and other appointments.

Being Black, Latino, Muslim, Jewish, Gay, Or Female In Trump America

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Since the election, there has been many reports of attacks and hate inspired reactions against African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, Jews, Gays and Lesbians, and women, all in the name of representing Donald Trump’s America.

All of these groups of Americans are now living in a state of fear, a situation which is tragic and should not exist.

White Supremacists and Misogynists are encouraged by the appointment of Stephen Bannon as a key adviser to President Elect Trump, despite his past statements and actions, and his connection to the extreme Right wing Breitbart Network, and the Alt Right, which promotes antisemism, white supremacy, racism. nativism, Islamophobia, homophobia, and conspiracy theories.

Imagine the harassment and bullying going on in schools and colleges.

Imagine the danger of people of these groups being approached on public streets in an intimidating way.

Imagine the sense of insecurity for Latinos, particularly those who are undocumented, that they could be arrested and deported without any recourse, disrupting lives of people who just want to have a chance to improve their lives.

Donald Trump has made one statement on the reaction against these groups going on in America, a statement on Sixty Minutes on CBS, but it is not enough to make such a statement, and then pick a hateful extremist such as Bannon, and to be considering other hate mongers and nasty, mean spirited people, who are bullies much like Trump.