New York Times | Donald Trump's Twitter Comedy New York Times The president offered Americans a bit of levity on Wednesday morning amid his broadsides about the Russia investigation and complaints about fake news, closing out a busy day of tweeting with the message, Despite the constant negative press covfefe.. |
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Donald Trump's Twitter Comedy - New York Times
President Donald Trump does not read except in small doses and when his own name appears prominently. Prior to the presidency, his only activities were work and golf. He does not mingle with intellectuals, cultural trendsetters or artists. It should come as no surprise and it has not that he is sorely lacking in sophistication, knowledge of the world, understanding of government and a rudimentary grasp of economics.
Sitting atop arguably the great resource on the planet the body of knowledge retained by American government experts on everything from economics to medicine to military history he remains blissfully ignorant on a range of subjects. He surrounds himself with dim yes-men who know little more than he and, in any event, tremble at the prospect of correcting their "Dear Leader." But sometimes you wonder whether Trump is just, well, dumb.
The Associated Press reports:
"President Donald Trump has been handing out his cellphone number to world leaders and urging them to call him directly, an unusual invitation that breaks diplomatic protocol and is raising concerns about the security and secrecy of the U.S. commander in chief's communications. Trump has urged leaders of Canada and Mexico to reach him on his cellphone, according to former and current U.S. officials with direct knowledge of the practice. Of the two, only Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken advantage of the offer so far, the officials said. ... 'If you are speaking on an open line, then it's an open line, meaning those who have the ability to monitor those conversations are doing so,' said Derek Chollet, a former Pentagon adviser and National Security Council official now at the German Marshall Fund of the United States."
For someone who mocked Hillary Clinton for setting up a home email server that was vulnerable to hacking, Trump and his negligence defy explanation. Either he does not understand that his calls might be intercepted or does not care.
As a matter of self-preservation, however, one would think he would very much care if American enemies including terrorists could determine his whereabouts. (How is it, by the way, that American intelligence services condoned his using an unsecured line?) One would think he would be tired of being embarrassed when the content of calls is made public. It is times such as this when one wishes national security adviser H.R. McMaster had not frittered away his credibility spinning for the president and instead had the wherewithal to put his foot down and tell the president that he cannot behave in such a fashion.
When one considers this behavior and that of his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who allegedly discussed a secret communication line using Russian facilities, several explanations come to mind. First, this behavior reflects the degree to which these neophytes on the world stage are hopelessly unschooled and naive. Alternatively, their behavior denotes a shocking propensity for recklessness, even with their own financial and personal security (risking blackmail, among other things). That recklessness seems without purpose. (What goal would be served by talking on unsecured cellphone lines or on Russian lines that could not be accomplished on approved lines of communication?) Alternatively, maybe these people are paranoid conspiratorialists (who make Sean Hannity sound sane by comparison), convinced that the only thing they have to fear is the American "deep state" (or some such nonsense).
Whatever the explanation, Trump does not evidence any greater knowledge or sophistication than he possessed when he entered office. You'd think he would have learned something in four months. Then again, maybe the rudimentary practices of government are simply beyond him. One need not be a psychiatrist or an educator to see that he is incapable of performing the functions of his job executing the laws, keeping the nation's secrets, following routine security procedures. In short, maybe he is not compromised nor mentally ill, but simply dumb.
Jennifer Rubin writes the Right Turn blog for The Post, offering reported opinion from a conservative perspective.
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Donald Trump might be the dimmest president ever - Chicago Tribune
While its been months since a presidential debate dominated the headlines, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are squaring off once more, although not face-to-face.
Crooked Hillary Clinton now blames everybody but herself, refuses to say she was a terrible candidate. Hits Facebook & even Dems & DNC, Trump tweeted on Wednesday in response to comments Clinton made at Recodes 2017 Code Conference in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.
To which Clinton responded simply, People in covfefe houses shouldnt throw covfefe.
Covfefe began trending Tuesday night after Trump accidentally tweeted a fake word, causing many to wonder about the meaning.
Trumps son, Donald Trump Jr., defended his father, writing, What house if he in again??? Thats what I thought. Youre trying too hard.
This isnt the first time Clinton, 69, has gone toe-to-toe with Trump, 70, on Twitter. In June 2016, Clinton posted a sassy tweet that quickly went viral, writing to Trump, Delete your account.
Last week, Clinton returned to Wellesley College giving an impassioned speech about educations, facts, and service, along with a few jabs at Trump though the former Secretary of State never mentioned him by name.
RELATED VIDEO:Hillary Clinton Compares Donald Trump to Richard Nixon in Wellesley College Commencement Speech
Instead, shecompared the political climate she and her classmates were living in during their graduation in 1969, under the reigns of now-disgraced President Richard Nixon.
We didnt trust government, authority figures, or really anyone over 30. In large part thanks to years of heavy casualties and dishonest official statements about Vietnam, and deep differences over civil rights and poverty here at home, Clinton said. We were asking urgent questions about whether women, people of color, religious minorities, immigrants, would ever be treated with dignity and respect.
And by the way, we were furious about the past presidential election of a man whose presidency would eventually end in disgracewith his impeachment for obstruction of justiceafter firing the person running the investigation into him at the Department of Justice, she added to the laughs and cheers of the crowd.
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Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump Face Off Once More This Time on Twitter - PEOPLE.com
When it comes to defending the president, who from the White House is best suited for the job? Its not President Donald Trump.
More than half of Americans say that Vice President Mike Pence is Trumps best spokesman, according to a recent Monmouth University poll, which asked adults if they thought a specific White House staffer speaking on behalf of theTrump administration madethings better or worse for the president. Fifty-three percent of respondents said they believed Pences statements helped the White House.
Pences popularity albeit by a small margin makes him the only staffer to have a net-positive response. Trumps own press secretary, Sean Spicer, was neck and neckwith counselor, Kellyanne Conway, who were both tied with only 28percent of people saying they help the president.
The big difference is that whenSpicer speaks, 42 percent of people saidhe makes things worse, while only 28 percent saidhe makes things better.
Fortypercent of people said thatKellyanne Conway she of the alternative facts makes things worse.
For deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the problem is that a plurality of people 46 percent arent even familiar with who she is. But the overall opinion on Sanders is a bit divided as 23 percent said she helps, and 22 percent said she makes matters worse.
For Trump, the news is not too good: 61 percent believe he hurts himself more than he helps. Only 33 percent of adults polled thought that he does more to help himself. This shouldnt come as much of a surprise, as Trump often tends to deliveroff-the-cuff remarks either in public, or when hes by his lonesome with Twitter at the touch of his fingertips.
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Donald Trump is his own worst spokesman: Poll - Salon
This article originally appeared on AlterNet.
I got the notoriouswhite nationalistRichard Spencer kicked off of his podcast platform.
Spencer, the leader of the white nationalist so-called alt-right who has made it clear he believes people of color are inferior to whites, is a lightning rod for controversy. He advocate what he calls peaceful ethnic cleansing and claims thatLatinos and AfricanAmericans havelower average IQs than whites. Auburn University initially canceled a speech he was set to give in April, but a court ruled that he must be allowed to speak. Hundreds of peopleprotestedoutside the event. In January, he took aflying punchin the neck from a masked person in the middle of an interview, immediately falling out of the view of the camera.
Recently, the Virginia gym Spencer belonged torevoked his membershipafter a university professor confronted him in the weight room and outed him as a vocal white nationalist. This is our December 1932. We have a choice,wrotethe Georgetown professor, Christine Fair, in a column for the Washington Post explaining her actions. We can refuse to treat this hateful, dangerous ideology as just another way of being, and fight it in every space we occupy.
Last Monday, Inoticed that the podcast Spencerproduces with his alt-right website had a paid account at SoundCloud, the popular streaming website. TheAltRightRadio accountdidnt have many followers, but some of the podcasts themselves, which one can embed on most websites, had been listened to roughly 12,000 times.
I wondered whether Spencers hate-filled podcasts were violatingSoundCloudsterms of service. Sure enough,SoundCloudscommunity guidelineswere clear:The companyforbids content that promotes or encourages hatred, discrimination or violence against others based on things like race, cultural identity or ethnic background, religious beliefs, disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation.
Heres just one exchange on oneAltRightRadioepisode called You Say You Want a Revolution,in which Paul Kersey, founder of the racistStuff Black People Dont Like website, makes it clear that hes a racist white supremacist. And Spencer agrees withhis bigoted assertions.
KERSEY: Make America Great AgainThats a synonym for Make America White Again.
SPENCER: Mm-hmm.
KERSEY: Because wherever America isnt white, its not great. Wherever America is great, its white.
SPENCER: Yeah.
KERSEY: And wherever Americais not safe, its not white. Wherever America is safe, its white.
There are morechoice quotesfrom white nationalist Jared Taylor, whose Beyond Conservatism speech was uploaded toSoundCloudbyAltRightRadio,and anti-Semite Kevin MacDonald, aguest onapodcast episode.
Per its terms ofuse,SoundCloudcan suspend or terminate an account if it violates its community guidelines. I did atweetstormabout theAltRightRadio account and the racist, anti-Semitic ideologies of its creator, urgingSoundCloudtoterminatethe account. The next morning, the company did just that.
All weve heard from Spencer on the matter was this tweet from last Tuesday
An associated account, Radix Radio, from the journal published by Spencers racist National Policy Institute appears to be terminated as well, although its unclearwhen itwas taken down.Several podcasts thatAltRightRadio promotes,includingThis is Europa,KulturkampfandRed Ice Radioare still online.
Embedded links to podcast episodes from the AltRightRadio and Radix Radioaccountsno longer work, and as of Friday, the white nationalist sites hadnt replaced them with an alternative.The latest Alt-Right Politics episode hosted by Spencer was uploaded directly to the Alt-Right website.
I got plenty of support for what I did,although as expected, the neo-Nazi trolls came out infull force. Overwhelmingly, themostfrequentresponses from these almost unanimously anonymous users came in three categories: 1) assumptions that I was Jewish, with mentions of yellow stars, gas chambers and the size of my nose; 2) assertions that Im gay or a faggot; and 3) revelations that Im a cuck and a very skinny, slight andgenerallyweak person.
But many of the replies alsoprotestedthat no-platformingSpencer was a free speech issuean allegation that is false.
The First Amendmentprotects againstgovernment-imposed restrictions on speech.(There areexceptionsincluding advocacy of illegal action and fighting words.) ButSoundCloudis not the government; its a private companythat has every right to a terms-of-use document that its users, including Spencer,agree towhen creating aSoundCloudaccount.And the terms of use does not discriminate against any group of people; in fact, it prohibits such discrimination.
For some people, freedom of speech has come to mean freedom to discriminate.The campus free speech movement is ledprimarilyby far-right conservatives whofeel that their voices are underrepresented on college campuses, when the more likely scenario is that their ideas just arent very popular, andmanyof those ideas are both hateful andextremely poor scholarship. Charles Murrays failed argument that black people are inherently less intelligentthat whites has been panned in the academic community, yet he continues to make college tours, funded by the far-right, Koch-backed American Enterprise Institute. I have written extensively aboutright-wing fundingfor hate speechon campus, much of the money coming from the Koch andDeVosfamilies and distributedbyAEI and the Young Americas Foundation.
Many of the same wealthy figures arealso bankrolling an assaulton dissent, with a Goldwater Institute-written bill making its way through state legislatures around the country, imposing harsh penalties, including expulsion,on students who disrupt campus speakers. For some, freedom of speech applies only to guest speakers, nottothe hundreds of others in the audience.
Actualhate speech, which Richard Spencer actively engages in and promotes as both a career andapersonal ideology, has no place inmainstream society, nor does it deserve the servicesofany company that rejectsracism, sexism, homophobia,transphobia,Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and other forms of hatein its terms of use or community guidelines.Revived Nazi terms, blatant racism against black and Latinopeople and calls for ethnic cleansing should not be tolerated.This type of speech is not an argument or an opinion; it is hate, plain and simple.
Fighting against hate isnt discrimination, as the alt-right will feebly argue; its social justice.Good people should, any chance theyget, no-platform cowardly alt-right provocateurs, neo-Nazis, neo-Confederatesand other detestable groups of insecure, angrypeople.
Someone who cries, Hail Trump! ata white nationalist conference or organizes atiki-torch-lit nighttime rally defending Confederate monuments reminiscent of KKK rallies,deserves no platform. Let white nationalists build their own servers, their own infrastructure, so they can yell white genocide from the rooftops.But no honorable company should acceptwhite nationalistscause, ortheir money.