The Ignorance of Donald Trump and the Shameless Capitulation of the Republican Party

by Nomad

When Trump revealed the details of his long-anticipated economic program, economists shuddered. It was suddenly clear that Trump hadn't the faintest grasp of fiscal realities. Tea Party voters and Reagan Conservatives also had their own reasons to tremble in disbelief at their own politicians' endorsements.

With Ignorance and Confidence

The sardonic Mark Twain once wrote:

All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.

Had he been privileged enough to meet Mr. Trump, Twain might have added a few other more requirements to his epigram: "an angry and ignorant electorate, a compliant or timid press and lots of ready cash."  
Apparently armed only with those five qualities, any fool can rise to the top of the Republican Party and, with a little luck, become president of the United States.

In this election, there's been a shortage of policy discussion from Donald Trump. We know he intends to build a wall and force Mexico to pay for it. He plans to stop all Muslims from entering the country.
We have been assured his plans were going to be "great" and they were going to be "huge." Other than that not much else to report. a surprising number of voters didn't seem curious so long as they were entertained.

It was assumed that he would share his wisdom at some point. sooner or later, people were bound to get tired of the Trump's schtick and start asking for a few specifics.

Mob Control: Do Trump's Mafia Connections Reflect His Lack of Ethics and Accountability?

by Nomad

Any presidential candidate should expect some in-depth scrutiny about his business relationships. In Donald Trump's case, his past contact with the Mafia opens up a lot of questions.

As a rule, front-runner presidential candidate Donald Trump likes to denigrate reporters who report things he doesn't like. Or things he doesn't want the public to become aware of.
As an egomaniac, he likes to be in control of the message. And the message must always display the positive side of the Trump story.

For instance, when New York journalist Wayne Barrett published an unauthorized biography of Trump, Trump blasted the author and his reputation.
Insinuating that the author was on some kind of personal vendetta, Trump called Barrett “a second-rate writer who has had numerous literary failures" and his book "boring, non-factual, and highly inaccurate.”

In fact, Barret has been an investigative reporter and senior editor for the Village Voice for over 20 years. Trump might try to paint Barrett as some kind of tabloid columnist but Barrett is currently a Fellow at the Nation Institute and contributor to Newsweek.

Barrett's bio reads:

He has been an adjunct at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism for years, teaching courses on investigative and political reporting, as well as advising students on investigative projects.

In addition, Barrett was awarded the 1990 Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Award as well as numerous other journalism prizes.

As far as the book, James B. Stewart, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, has called it "exhaustively researched"a penetrating portrait" and "the definitive account of how Trump got ahead and why he fell." If Trump fell, he was not too badly bruised or otherwise traumatized.

Trump might think otherwise or he might wish the rest of the world to think Barrett is "second-rate" but Barrett is no hack. Not any more than Trump is a failed real estate mogul.

Of course, the tycoon-turned presidential candidate has every reason to consider the author a threat and was apparently ready to silence him. 

Presidential Candidate JEB Threatens to Unleash his Secret Campaign Weapon: Brother George

by Nomad

For some obscure reasons, JEB thinks reminding American voters of brother George is going to give him a decided advantage in the presidential race. 

Sometimes you hear things JEB says, the way the man thinks and you have to wonder how anybody so out of touch with the American people would ever consider running for president.

Although there have been plenty of examples of this, what he said the other day left a lot of people gasping in disbelief. He told MSNBC:

“My brother, if you did the polling and actually looked at it — he’s probably the most popular president amongst Republicans in this country."

After Reagan, who else is there? Nixon? One-term Pappy?

Flatline: Why the GOP Has Become a Political Party that Deserves to Die

by Nomad

Is it time to ask whether we are actually witnessing the passing of a political party?

If you are beginning to feel like politics in the US has hit an all time low, you are not alone. 

Mike McCabe has seen the failure of the two-party system close up. 

As the executive director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, a nonpartisan watchdog group that specializes in tracking the money in state elections, he has been achingly aware that the Grand Old Party isn't so grand anymore. 

While Progressives have had their share of doubts with the Democrats, the Republican Party could hardly get any more farcical and bizarre than it is at the moment. 

The days of Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower and even Reagan are long gone and what remains is little more than hucksterism, fleecing the 1% and appealing the worst aspects of American culture, such as intolerance, irrational fear, and willful ignorance.  

Napoleon Explains Why Putin Sent Kisses and Hugs to Candidate Trump

by Nomad

A week or so ago, Russian president gave a positive assessment of Donald Trump. He called Trump "the absolute leader of the presidential race" and called Trump "a bright and talented person without any doubt." 

Putin added that he believed the candidate was "an outstanding and talented personality."
Oh, brother. 

Amid alll of those glowing reviews, there was apparently not a trace of a sarcastic smirk on that waxy face.

Some commentators claimed that Putin's remarks were quite sincere and that Putin respected "fighters" and wants "a manly adversary." 

(take that, vagina-welding Hillary!)

On the other hand, this quote by Napoleon might better explain Putin's reasoning.

Of course, if you look at it from Russia's point of view, Donald Trump in the White House could achieve what no enemy of the US could ever dream of.
In about six months.

If you were the leader of Russia, wouldn't you want Trump to be the next president of the United States?

Con-Artist Conservatives and The Great Hoodwinking of America 1/3

by Nomad

When can having a positive attitude be a negative thing? What happens when voters prefer to ignore the evidence and continue to vote for the same party despite false promises? It seems as if Americans prefer to be victims of a party of professional grifters.

The idea that opportunity to succeed is open to all of us goes back deep in American history and deep into the soul of the average American. It is one thing that makes the struggle worth it all. Knowing that things will improve has always been a mainstay of life in the US. 

The Faith and the Evidence

One recent study suggests that American economic mobility is something most of us still believe in. The problem is, according to the evidence, that belief system is largely contradicted by the evidence.

The Cornell study polled more than 3,300 Americans in all economic quintiles (20 percent income increments), from the poorest to the richest, and reached a few interesting conclusions:

• People believe there is more upward mobility than downward mobility. 
• Americans overestimate the amount of upward mobility and underestimate the amount of downward mobility. 
• Poorer individuals believe there is more mobility than richer individuals do. 
• Political affiliation influences perceptions of economic mobility, with conservatives believing that the economic system is dynamic – with more people moving both up and down.

The harsh reality is that while the real income of the top 1% of the population has soared a staggering 86% over the last twenty years, for the rest of us, it has increased by a mere 6.6 %. Those are the figures cited in the report.

According to the source:

"This rise in inequality has been accompanied by increasing hardship among those at the bottom," they write, noting that in 2010 the United States had almost 650,000 homeless people. And an additional 9.5 million families (46 million people) lived below the poverty line, a 50 percent increase since 1980.

The implications of the study are fascinating. American by and large simply haven't woken up to the fact that decades of failed policies have made matters worse of the shrinking middle-class. They should be angry- furious, in fact- but they are not.

In Honor of Eric Cantor's Loss..

by Nomad

I made this meme in special honor of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's unexpected loss in the Virginia primary to Tea Party challenger, Dave Brat. (If you look closely you can actually see the head.)