The Commentariat -- October 3, 2016
Afternoon Update:
But, but...how will I pay my legal fees?? David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post. "The New York attorney general has notified Donald Trump that his charitable foundation is violating state law -- by soliciting donations without proper certification -- and ordered Trump's charity to stop its fundraising immediately, the attorney general's office said Monday. James Sheehan, head of the attorney general's charities bureau, sent the 'notice of violation' to the Donald J. Trump Foundation on Friday, according to a copy of the notice provided by the press office of state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D). The night before that, The Washington Post reported that Trump's charity had been soliciting donations from other people without being properly registered in New York state. According to tax records, Trump's foundation has subsisted entirely on donations from others since 2008, when Trump gave his last personal donation. This year, the Trump Foundation made its most wide-ranging request for donations yet: It set up a public website, donaldtrumpforvets.com, to gather donations that Trump said would be passed on to veterans' groups." Akhilleus: Can this poor guy EVER catch a break?! I mean, that money from veterans is already earmarked for good causes. The BEST causes. Another trip to Europe for Ivanka, another animal killing safari for Little Eric, rare collectible Nazi paraphernalia for Junior (Erwin Rommel's Afrika Corps leather overcoat). Cellulite removal for Melania (why she hasn't been seen in forever...), and now this! C'mon!
Dictators do the darndest things! Wait til Trump gets to be one. J. Weston Phippen of The Atlantic. "Russian President Vladimir Putin withdrew Monday from a post-Cold War agreement with the United States in which both countries agreed to get rid of plutonium that could be used in nuclear weapons.Putin accused the U.S. for failing to stand by its side of the agreement, and for the heightened tension between the countries over the Syrian civil war. The deal was originally signed in 2000 and renewed in 2009. Putin said he was now suspending cooperation because of 'the emergence of a threat to strategic stability and as a result of unfriendly actions by the United States of America towards the Russian Federation.'"...Akhilleus
Cowardly draft dodger Trump rips veterans suffering PTSD as not tough enough. Ema O'Connor of BuzzFeed reports: '"Donald Trump on Monday suggested to a room full of veterans that soldiers who return from war suffering from PTSD are not 'strong' and 'can't handle it.' The GOP presidential candidate's statement came during a Q&A at the Retired American Warriors PAC. Some of the questions were about the suicide epidemic in the military and criticism of the Veterans Administration (VA) for falling short on providing veterans with the mental health treatment they need. After saying there are around 22 veteran suicides a day, Trump explained to the room of veterans what PTSD was.'When people come back from war and combat and they see maybe what the people in this room have seen many times over, and you're strong and you can handle it, but a lot of people can't handle it'" Akhilleus: So the coward who supported the Vietnam war but got multiple deferrments to hide from combat for some foot thing which he can't remember now, "explains" PTSD to a room full of combat veterans, and furthermore, lets them know that some of them, according war hero Donald, just don't measure up. Trump, of course, is combat tested because he went through the Sex Wars of the seventies. Poor guy. So brave. All those unmade beds! And so wonderful of him to lecture soldiers who saw actual combat about the fact that they're wusses. The worst thing? There are plenty of combat veterans -- with and without PTSD -- who will dishonor their brothers and sisters in arms by voting for this disgraceful piece of shit.
*****
Presidential Race
LeBron James, in an op-ed to be published in the Akron Beacon Journal today: "I support Hillary because she will build on the legacy of my good friend, President Barack Obama. I believe in what President Obama has done for our country and support her commitment to continuing that legacy. Like my foundation [that helps at-risk children in Akron], Hillary has always been a champion for children and their futures. For over 40 years, she's been working to improve public schools, expand access to health care, support children's hospitals, and so much more." CW: Might help. Clinton is schedule to visit Akron today. Trump is a few points ahead of her in recent Ohio polls.
Rebecca Morin of Politico: "Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday said Hillary Clinton was 'absolutely correct' in leaked comments about his supporters that she made at a fundraiser earlier this year. 'What she was saying there is absolutely correct. And that is, you've got millions of young people, many of whom took out loans in order to go to college, hoping to go out and get decent-paying, good jobs,' Sanders told host George Stephanopoulos on ABC's 'This Week.' 'And you know what? They're unable to do that. And yes, they do want a political revolution. They want to transform this society.'" -- CW
Megan Twohey of the New York Times covers "bimbo eruptions." Again.
Philip Rucker of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump is scrambling to rescue his campaign after a week in which the Republican nominee's White House hopes were effectively set ablaze by his own erratic behavior and the discovery that he may not have paid federal income taxes for as many as 18 years.... Trump hopes to recover by driving a contrast, starting Monday at campaign rallies in Colorado, between how he and Bill and Hillary Clinton made their fortunes. Trump plans to argue that he built a global real estate empire and employed thousands of people, while the Clintons got rich delivering paid speeches to financial institutions and other corporate interests, according to his aides." -- CW
James Stewart of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump racked up losses so huge in the early 1990s that he wouldn't have had to pay federal or New York State income tax on nearly a billion dollars in income. None of this seems to have made the slightest dent in Mr. Trump's opulent lifestyle over the years. At the nadir of his personal financial crisis in the early 1990s, his lenders put him on an annual monthly 'budget' of $450,000 in personal expenses -- more than enough to sustain his lifestyle of lavish homes, private jets, country clubs and golf courses.... It's hard to imagine a starker contrast with the vast number of Americans who struggle to both pay taxes and make ends meet, or a more damning indictment of a tax code that makes that possible.... It's obvious why he has not released his tax returns:... because he hasn't paid any taxes.... Such a huge loss undermines one of his central campaign themes, which is that he is an astute and successful businessman.... All of this makes it even more imperative that Mr. Trump disclose more tax information...." -- CW ...
Ezra Klein: "... whatever is in [Trump's] returns is worse than what the New York Times is telling the world is in his returns. The Trump campaign has decided it prefers the picture the Times is painting -- a picture where Trump didn't pay taxes for 18 years -- to the picture Trump';s real records would paint." -- CW ...
... Josh Marshall of TPM: "This is a deeply damaging story, both because of apparently not paying any income tax for many years while living a life of incomparable luxury and also because it puts hard numbers to the cataclysmic business failures that pushed Trump to the brink of personal bankruptcy in the early 1990s.... In the course of not denying the gist of the original Times story, Trump's campaign also threatened legal action against the Times. Is this a legit threat? Big picture: no.... If documents fall from the sky into your lap, you are pretty much free to do anything with them you want...." CW: Marshall's remarks about the law is no doubt why Craig published her story of how she acquired the tax documents: to let Trump know he hadn't a legal leg to stand on. ...
... Susanne Craig of the New York Times details how the Times reported its blockbuster Trump taxes story, starting with the documents that landed in her NYT mailbox. -- CW ...
... Jessie Hellmann of the Hill: "Susanne Craig ... declined to say Sunday whether she has more documents she will report on.... 'Are you sitting on more documents?" Brian Stelter asked Craig during her appearance on his CNN show 'Reliable Sources.' 'We're doing a lot of reporting around this so we're going to keep going' she replied." -- CW
A Billion-Dollar Loser Man Would Be a Better President than a Woman.
Eric Bradner of CNN: "Rudy Giuliani called Donald Trump a 'genius' Sunday, in the wake of a New York Times report indicating he may have legally avoiding paying taxes for nearly two decades. 'The reality is, this is part of our tax code. The man's a genius. He knows how to operate the tax code to the benefit of the people he's serving,' the former New York City mayor told CNN's Jake Tapper on 'State of the Union.'... Tapper pressed Giuliani on whether someone who lost $916 billion in one year could reasonably argue he's a good businessman. 'That doesn't sound brilliant,' Tapper said. 'Well, yes it does, because he came back,' Giuliani said.... New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie also called The New York Times' report positive for Trump because, he said, it shows his resiliency." -- CW ...
... Misogyny, Inc. Rebecca Morin: "Donald Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani on Sunday suggested that a man such as Donald Trump would be a better president 'than a woman.' 'Don't you think a man who has this kind of economic genius is a lot better for the United States than a woman, and the only thing she's ever produced is a lot of work for the FBI checking out her emails,'... [Giuliani] said on ABC's 'This Week' with George Stephanopoulos. Giuliani's statements come on the heels of a week during which the Republican nominee has been criticized by Hillary Clinton's campaign for comments he has made about women." -- CW ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Far from demonstrating that Trump is a 'genius' or a 'highly-skilled businessman,' the 1995 returns confirm what longtime observers have known for years: earlier in his career, at least, Trump was a terrible businessman. He borrowed billions of dollars to build casinos and buy overpriced trophy properties.... His businesses lost almost all of this money, and some of the biggest ones, including the Plaza [Hotel in New York], were forced to seek bankruptcy protection. Trump personally was only saved ... by the fact that his bankers believed they would get more of their money back by throwing him a lifeline.... But his comeback was due less to any innate entrepreneurial talent than to a recovery in the property market and his ability to sell himself as a success story despite his financial problems." -- CW ...
... CW: What about Other People's Money? Donald Trump's Near-Billion-Dollar Deduction was hardly the only tax revenue loss caused by his reckless business decisions. Trump leans heavily on investors to plump up his deals. So those investors experienced big losses, too, when his lousy enterprises went belly-up. So all of those investors would have taken deductions for the money they lost in Trump's failed schemes. In addition, all the contractors & vendors whom Trump stiffed took deductions, too. There's no way to know what the total of those other losses was, but I'd bet it represented more than a billion in lost tax revenues at state & federal levels. Who made up the difference? Why, you and I.
Cathleen Decker of the Los Angeles Times: "Trump played into existing concerns among Americans that the wealthy get an unfair break. A 2015 Pew Research poll found that a big majority of Americans aren't bothered by the taxes they pay. But 6 in 10 said they were bothered 'a lot' when wealthy people didn't pay their fair share. More than that, the tax issue can contribute to negative views ... about a candidate's character.... [Trump's Pennsylvania] speech [Saturday] was a disaster. He called [Hillary] Clinton 'crazy' and incompetent. He accused her of cheating on Bill Clinton, without proof. He physically mocked her stumble when she was ill with pneumonia on Sept. 11." -- CW ...
... Chas Danner of New York reprises the craziest parts of the crazy speech Donald Trump gave Saturday night in Pennsylvania. And the crowd cheered. -- CW ...
... Steve M, Monitoring the Crazy. "I think Trump's mental state is going to matter much more [than his gaming the system to avoid paying taxes]. He's out of control. He thinks whatever makes him feel good is good for his campaign. And I really think he might be on drugs -- I know everyone says he never touches drugs or alcohol, but we heard the same thing about Prince. I think he's only going to get worse in the next few weeks. I think he's going to be like this in the two upcoming debates. It's going to be amazing to watch." -- CW
"I Was on an Airplane." "I Was Working Out." Charley Lanyon of New York: While the Trump camp seemed united in its response..., prominent Republicans are using any excuse they can think of to avoid talking about Trump's recent behavior. Marco Rubio claimed that he didn't even watch the debate because he was 'on an airplane.' While [Paul] Ryan said he missed Trump's most recent Twitter meltdown because he was working out." --CW
Jessie Hellmann: "CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday called Donald Trump's suggestion that Hillary Clinton is cheating on her husband an 'unhinged' and 'wild' attack from the Republican presidential nominee that is 'indefensible.' While interviewing Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani on 'State of the Union,' Tapper questioned whether the attack was considered 'normal' or 'stable' behavior from a presidential nominee.... Trump's comments should be taken as sarcasm, Giuliani said." CW: That's the standard excuse the Trump campaign uses to explain his "wild" & "unhinged" attacks.
Paul Krugman castigates elected officials who have endorsed Donald Trump, cowardly Republicans who have not endorsed Hillary Clinton & leftist lunkheads who plan to cast votes for doofus candidates. -- CW
Other News & Views
New York magazine covers, in almost day-by-day detail, the presidency of Barack Obama, with links to articles that illuminate events. -- CW
** Jonathan Chait interviews President Obama, mostly about how the Republican party turned into the Party of No, beginning with John McCain's vice-presidential choice & GOP leaders' decision to block every bipartisan effort the President & other Democrats made. It "turned out to be pretty smart politics but really bad for the country...." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Cindy Chang & Matt Hamilton of the Los Angeles Times: "Angry demonstrators poured into the streets of a South Los Angeles neighborhood Sunday night, the second night of protests over the fatal shooting of an armed 18-year-old man." -- CW
News Lede
New York Times: "Yoshinori Ohsumi, a Japanese cell biologist, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on Monday for his discoveries on how cells recycle their content, a process known as autophagy. Autophagy, derived from Greek, means 'self-eating.'" -- CW
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Reader Comments (17)
NYT has corrected the James Stewart article (see link above).
Correction: October 3, 2016
"An earlier version of this column misstated the terms of a “budget” for personal expenses that Donald J. Trump’s lenders imposed on him in the early 1990s. The figure, $450,000, was a monthly limit, not an annual one."
That means Trump had to struggle to make it on $5.4 million dollars a year.
Nancy,
Thanks for that correction. When I read the total I was a bit confused because I had watched a recent Frontline covering the histories of both Clinton and Trumpty Dumpty and they referred to the "allowance" concocted by the banks after his yuuuuuge financial disasters. I was pretty sure the amount was ridiculous--in the millions--especially given the irresponsible and profligate way he bungled things.
I'm pretty sure that if I was given an allowance by a bank after fucking up badly it would be enough to buy a Big Mac twice a week with which to feed my whole family, but a legendary loser like Trump gets to live like a king.
@Nancy: Thanks. When I read it, I just read it as "monthly" & didn't even notice that it said "annual." Like Akhilleus, I had read some while back what poor Donaldo had to struggle along on. Wonder if he qualified for food stamps. Okay, maybe not. But I'll bet some of the unpaid or underpaid workers & small contractors he screwed were on the breadlines.
Marie
Intellectual Honesty on the right in the Age of Trump
If this sounds like an oxymoron, it is.
Last night I watched a new PBS documentary called "American Umpire". It's based on a book by Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman. The premise is that the United States, over two hundred years, has become an umpire for the rest of the world, and often a player in the game as well. The discussion centers around whether this role is in the best interest of the nation and whether being the world's policeman is something we should continue to do rather than pulling out and telling other countries, especially in Europe, to put on their big boy pants and take care of their own problems.
I take no issue with these questions. I think they are all valid and important. But I do take issue with the way the problem is presented. Many of the participants are connected to the Hoover Institute and Cato, both right-wing operations. This isn't in itself necessarily a reason for discounting an argument. I've never seen Hoover as the equal of Heritage or AEI for bald ideological pandering and slavish hatred of the left so I listened to the arguments (had I seen a parade of Inhofes, Delays, and Gohmerts, it would have been back to my book in a flash).
The film traced American foreign policy and adventures from the revolution to present day and along the way I noticed a pattern which became painfully clear when they hit the 21st century. It appears that the many problems associated by the interviewees with American interventionism and world policing can be neatly brought into focus in one place and at one point in time. Ready?
The Balkans.
Yup. It's Bill Clinton's fault. We lost prestige and wealth and the moral high ground because of Bill Clinton (and more recently because of Obama) But, I thought, what about Iraq? Oh, some interventions (quick clip of soldiers in the desert) are necessary, of course, but it's not the road we want to be going down. And it was here that they started to lose me. I admit I missed a few minutes along the way but from all I could see there was no substantial analysis of the international, world historical cluster fuck by the Bush/Cheney war criminals. None. But Bosnia got 10 minutes.
How can you talk about American foreign policy screw ups and leave out Iraq? It's like writing a history of Columbus' 1492 expedition and making no mention of the Atlantic Ocean.
So, even though Hoover might not be Heritage, its "scholars" suffer from the same right-wing sort of viral symptoms: unable or unwilling to question one's own party, incapable of acknowledging mistakes, and knee jerk need to blame others without coming up with any reasonable proposal of their own. After the hour, after listening to the talking heads bemoan our role as world policeman, there is nothing. The considered solution? Give them (European countries) the keys to car, kick them out of the house, and say goodbye, you're on your own.
This is the solution? We'll set aside the problems with complete disassociation from world affairs and the reasons it's important for us to maintain a certain engagement (if we're not at least somewhat involved, someone else will be. Putin, for instance?). But those concerns are not addressed or even mentioned.
What's really going on is a desire for head-in-the-sand isolationism. Because that's always worked so well. But even if you're sincere in that belief, why not at least address the fact that Republican foreign policy, not Bill Clinton's, not Harry Truman's, not Roosevelt's, has been the most damaging to such a view over the last thirty years. At one point Marine General Jim Mattis (considered briefly by winger billionaires as an alternative to Trump), talking about Clinton and Obama, lectures viewers that one has to know what one is doing and what the goals are and what we are legitimately able to achieve before deciding to expend blood and treasure. A fine point, with which I wholly agree. But what about Iraq? What about Reagan sending Marines into Beirut with no plan and no protection? What about Neo-con adventurism? Where was the geopolitical advantage in that for the US? There was plenty of personal political advantage for Bush and Cheney, and plenty of opportunity for neo-con douchebags like Wolfowitz, John Bolton, and Eliot Abrams to play Dr. Frankenstein with other people's lives and taxpayers' money, but what, to use the general's argument, did the country get out of it, in a globally strategic way?
And this is my problem with so much of what passes for intellectual consideration on the right. The blind spots are the size of Jupiter. Talk about foreign policy mistakes and mention Iraq only as something that probably had to be done? This is the sort of intellectual infirmity that penetrates to and dissolves the core. This is why reprobates like McConnell and Ryan can get away with ripping Hillary Clinton for trust issues but have no problem posing as profiles in cowardice for their support of the most untrustworthy lout in the history of American presidential politics.
What we're left with is the sense that nearly all right-wing endeavors of this sort are hopelessly tainted and the real tragedy is that, given the evolving problems the United States needs to address, both domestically and abroad, we are left with only one side whose intellectual work has any value. And that's too bad. A lot of the arguments put forward in "American Umpire" are entirely valid and deserve serious consideration, but when it becomes clear that one side will never admit that they are, or ever have been, or ever will be wrong, or that the other side has anything to offer, what can you do but throw up your hands?
It's all about winning for them. It's a zero sum game and they don't care how the scoring goes. If it goes against them, change the way the game is scored. If their side blunders, repeatedly, just refuse to think about it. Don't even mention it. And if the press mentions it, take the Trump approach and scream "Unfair" and "Biased!" Instead, point to minor problems on the other side and address them as tragic mistakes on a massive historical scale.
And so it is that the enormous intellectual dishonesty and moral deliquescence of Donald Trump meshes perfectly with the intellectual dishonesty that has become standard practice in academic and political circles on the right.
No wonder supporting him has not been difficult. They've had plenty of practice.
C.W's "What about other people's money" is a crucial point here. All those contractors, vendors, and investors who certainly took deductions from the their loss due to the Great Business Man's fuck-ups means exactly what C.W. cited: Our government is out billions of dollars while we little guys foot the bill.
My anger is reaching Yugge proportions.
Fuck the morons
I'm not concerning myself with the Trumpbots. Those people are stoopid, almost beyond human probability. Oh, I suppose some psych PhD candidates will make a living off publishing research explaining why anyone with the sentience of a garden slug would vote for Trump, but at this point, I just don't care.
But I do care about these idiot undecideds and the voters who want to, as Krugman suggests, "make a statement" either by voting for someone not named Trump or Clinton, or not voting at all, because purity, or idealism, or some bullshit.
I've been feeling that it's time for Bernie Sanders to be more visible and to give the Feel the Berners something to think about. I see a few items along this line, but not much. Maybe he's been doing it all along and the press has just shrugged their shoulders. I wouldn't be surprised.
"Hmmm....let's see, I'll have to ask my editor. 1,500 words on Bernie Sanders warning about the fate of the nation, or a seven page spread in the Sunday magazine with a photo essay on Trump lighting his farts on fire. Okay, photo essay it is."
Here is one of those people, as Marie mentions, that were screwed by Trump.
This is the architect who designed the clubhouse at Trump National Golf Course. After not being paid for his work, this man was summoned to the very clubhouse he designed and told he was not going to be paid properly for his work. A dozen Trump flunkies and lawyers showed up to bully him. They got him to accept a third. Then Trump didn't pay that. He went for an audience with the Orange Turd and more lawyers. They told him he now would only be getting half of that third and that he'd better settle for that or else.
As the architect, Andrew Tesoro, describes it, Trump's idea of winning, is making sure the little guy loses.
Very presidential.
Too bad the architect Tesoro didn't obtain a lawyer and go after Trump (based on quantum merit - "unjust enrichment")!
I honestly don't know how anyone living in Manhattan could get by
on just $14,000.00 a day like the trump has to. Last time I was there
it cost me $12.00 just for toast and coffee (no refills). Coke must be
awfully expensive there (not the Atlanta kind) and selling wine by
the spoonful??? I'd be broke in 2 hours.
And his excuse-makers claim he pays lots of taxes, like sales tax,
property taxes, etc. just not income tax. Most of us get hit with all
of those taxes and still pay income tax; here it's state and federal
and when I didn't live in the city I worked in, there was a city income
tax, I guess for using their streets and breathing the polluted air.
Of course, a lot of his allowance no doubt goes for hair care products
and feed for the animal on his head. Poor guy. He's so misunderstood.
Forrest,
I'm thinking that Trump must have been scrimping on the feed bill for that furry head animal. I mean, who thinks that thing looks healthy? Jeez. Looks like a demon rat nest grown in a lab from black mold DNA. If my dog looked like that the ASPCA would be knocking my door in.
@Marie: I echo your sentiment about the people Trump dealt with getting screwed.
On behalf of animal lovers, thank you for caring enough about your cat to stay home and find him/her. Hoping everything is okay.
I once had a neighbor who was getting ready to go out of town - casino hopping in Louisiana (I know. Who would go to Louisiana if they didn't have to?) - but her beloved Yorkie disappeared as she was putting the last piece of luggage in the car. She was frantic. Combing the neighborhood, calling the dog's name. After 30 minutes, she asked the neighbors to continue the search. She had to go. Couldn't be late for the buffet at the casino. Long drive ahead of her. Republican p.o.s.
Sorry. The Yorkie was not putting the last piece of luggage in the car.
I have no doubts about Trump vendors getting screwed, however I'm puzzled about their apparent inability to put liens on his property. Wasn't that an option for some of his subs?
@Haley, check Wikipedia for "Mechanic's Liens." For real property the process is not as simple as one would wish.
Oh Marie-
I am so sorry your cat disappeared--and hope s/he has reappeared, and not met a terrible fate! I am such an over-the-top cat lover (all animals, really--but especially cats) that I would be calling 911, combing the forests, harassing neighbors, and becoming generally quite unhinged. The main reason I am a vegetarian! Nevah got over Bambi!
Please let us know about your kitty!
Thanks, Unwashed. I had no idea of the limitations.
@Nancy & @Kate: I'm afraid I made the cat's disappearance sound more dramatic than it was. She does sometimes stay out for about 24 hours, but usually she comes home more often than that. I had contractors come in yesterday morning, & she always disappears when there are men around the house unless she knows them. I didn't know if she was inside or out, especially because one of the guys was working on the front door, so it was open for awhile. She has hiding places in the house where I can't find her either. She usually emerges when the men leave, but today she didn't. She finally showed up at about 6 pm -- she'd been in the house -- but I wasn't going to leave then. So as soon as it gets light today, I'll put her in her traveling box, close up the house & leave.
BTW, if you've got room in your vehicle, a great way to travel with cats is to use a large dog crate. I put a litter box in the back & a cat bed in the front & very little food & water in the feed cups, which I replenish regularly. (I use a small long-nosed plant-watering can for the water, so I don't have to open the crate.) This gives her a little room to move around, too. I did that once & it worked out well, but before I traveled the next time, I looked up what PETA recommended to see if there might be a better way, & they suggested something very similar.
Marie
P.S. @ Nancy: The English language is a funny thing. I imagine Yorkies are pretty smart, but I doubt they handle their own luggage.