Dear Readers, Let’s get real. When the comedian Kathy Griffin made a joke that portrayed violence against the republican President President Donald Trump, she was fired by CNN. Kathy Griffin apologized profusely over her tasteless joke. When three reporters from CNN posted an article which had not been adequately vetted, they were fired and CNN printed a retraction.
This past week, President Donald Trump personally tweeted a crude, unprofessional tweet against the MSNBC Morning Joe TV Show’s Mika Brzezinski because the previous morning, Mika commented on the fake Time Magazine covers with the president’s photo on it which were prominently displayed in various locations.
TWEETS:
I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came..
…to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!
On Friday, June 30, 2017, CNBC posted the following headline news by Angelica LaVito,
- “MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough say White House officials threatened to arrange for negative news coverage against them if they did not tone down their criticism of President Trump.”
- “Brzezinski and Scarborough say they worry what effect Trump’s Twitter rampages could have on U.S. allies and adversaries.”
Even after all the above the republican lawmakers have been reticent and weak in their criticisms of the president’s behaviors while the president’s surrogates are defending his lack of decorum.
And this is post the mid June shooting at a practice base ball game where US Congress representative, Steve Scalise and others were shot by a man motivated by politics to act out with violence. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle appeared to want to tone down the ugly partisan rhetoric.
But now, the president has stepped over the line by inciting violence in a video he tweeted on Sunday morning, July 2, 2017 where he depicts himself as a WWE wrestler punching a man depicted as CNN reporter.
On July 2, 2017, Brian Selter of CNN penned the following report, “Trump punches CNN in juvenile tweet.”
“On Sunday morning the president’s personal Twitter account, which has 33 million followers, posted a 28-second video of a WWE broadcast. The video was edited to show Trump beating up a man with a CNN logo on his face.”
“Before becoming president, Trump sometimes appeared at WWE matches and occasionally joined in the fighting. So it was relatively easy for someone to tweak the old video and superimpose the CNN logo onto the other fighter’s face.”
“Who edited the anti-CNN video? There was no immediate answer, but a version of the video appeared on a pro-Trump Reddit thread several days ago.”
“The CNN public relations department responded to the president with a tweet that quoted his own deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.”
“Three days ago Sanders said: “The President in no way form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence. If anything, quite the contrary.”
In a statement, CNN said called it a “sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters.”
“Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so,” CNN’s statement continued. “Instead of preparing for his overseas trip, his first meeting with Vladimir Putin, dealing with North Korea and working on his health care bill, he is instead involved in juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office. We will keep doing our jobs. He should start doing his.”
This is nothing new...
Remember the following quotes: (Source: New Republic notes by Clio Chang)
“If you beat up a protester at Trump’s rally, he’ll cover your legal fees.”
“After receiving a notice from his security that someone might be planning to throw tomatoes at him (again), Trump told his supporters to “knock the crap out of them … I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.” The crowd vociferously cheered him on.”
“This isn’t the first time Trump has condoned violence—last year he told Fox News that a Black Lives Matter activist who got attacked at his rally “should have been roughed up.” Say what you will about George W. Bush, but when confronted with a projectile all he did was duck.”
On May 25, 2017, Richard Wolfe of the Guardian penned the following report, “Make no mistake: Donald Trump has fueled violence against journalists.”
Excerpts:
“How did we get to this point? When did our public standards fall so low that charges of physical assault were met with the sound of crickets across the Republican side of Congress?”
“The assault charge now standing against Montana’s congressional candidate Greg Gianforte is itself a disqualifying moment for anyone attempting to enter elected office. (He has been sentenced to community service, a $385 fine and 20 hours of sessions for anger management after pleading guilty and he will keep his job even though he slammed MMA style, the reporter Ben Jacobs to the ground for asking a question the night before he won the election.)
“You can trace back the decline in our politics to a single campaign and a single candidate, who riled up his crowds to turn on the press and hurl abuse in their direction.”
“That’s the same candidate who longed for the days when he could punch protesters in the face. Sure enough, his supporters ended up punching people in the face.”
“Fortunately the rule of law still endures in the courts, where a Kentucky judge recently denied the candidate’s claims that he was just exercising his rights to free speech and couldn’t be sued for inciting violence.”
“The candidate is of course now president of the United States, who calls the media “the enemy of the American people.”
This is not a small development in the long history of shocking Trumpisms.
“You don’t need to take the Guardian’s word for it. Here’s the opinion of William McRaven, the former special ops commander and architect of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden: “This sentiment may be the greatest threat to democracy in my lifetime,” he told journalism students at the University of Texas earlier this year.”
“It’s needless to say this, but given recent events, it’s also sadly necessary. Public threats and violence towards journalists – whether from candidates or elected officials – are clearly an attempt to restrain the press. And if you restrain the press from asking questions, you are restraining the people from asking the same questions of their own government.”
Gronda Morin 
For the love of God, can this imbecile and his minions just go the f*&k away? My planned retirement to a another country may come sooner than later.
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Dear Cornfedcontessa,
You’ll have a lot of company. He is out of control..and his sowing of discord has got to stop. What I don’t get is that there isn’t more outrage. I cannot and will not accept this behavior as tolerable by a US president.
Hugs, Gronda
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I agree! I wish people would wake up!
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[…] For t […]
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Dear Cornfedcontessa,
Thanks a million for sharing this post with a reblog. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Hugs, Gronda
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This is damn scary and very concerning for a free society. Those who elected him were very wrong!
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Dear Tony Burgess,
His followers are still behind him. I don’t know what it would take for the president’s cult like followers to start becoming disenchanted.
Hugs, Gronda
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
This ‘so-called president’, whose name shouldn’t be said has always been this way. Even during his childhood, young adult years … there will be no change!
The country will pay fir this behavior. Recovery will be long and hard. Thank you, Drumpf voter! 🤡
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Dear Horty,
We non-Trump followers will need therapy after he leaves to fully recover. Thanks a million for all your gracious support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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You are most welcome! I’m reaching my breaking point … I can’t stand him. I can research about him & post deep investigative pieces. All I can bare are the funny, satiric, mocking memes.
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Hugs back! ❤️
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Gronda, Katty Kay spoke of how sad people are around the globe about the lack of character of the President. As she notes, it has gone from the clownish as a candidate to carrying more weight as the President. American leadership is spoken of in past tense. On ABC News this morning, both Xi and Putin are graded higher in terms of their ability to do the right thing over Trump.
Richard Clarke said the Russians successfully influenced our election with psychological cyber warfare and they will come again – and we have done nothing. Clarke predicted a 9/11 type event and saw cyber terrorism before others warned us.
What the President has done the last few days, especially the blackmail with The National Enquirer, which he confirmed with his own tweets, is just more evidence of his unfitness to serve. At least that is what I think. Keith
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Dear Keith,
When are the republican law makers going to cry, Uncle, we’ve had enough!
The Russians played the US like a virtuoso. And he is still playing us, and the president with his sycophants are still going along to get along.
Hugs, Gronda.
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Gronda, on this same show, Michael Steele, the former RNC head spoke of the demise of his party and how embarrassing the President is. More people like him have to say this loudly and call the man on the carpet when he demeans the office. Keith
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Dear Keith,
Many republicans are disgusted as well, like Nicole Wallace and Ana Navarro. The republican lawmakers are playing with fire.
Hugs, Gronda
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Our so called president’s behavior is quite bizarre, perhaps he’ll calm down after a few years. I remember GWB being the butt of comedians’ jokes b/c everything that came out of his mouth is GOLD! That is until his party put a muzzle on him and told him to stick with the script!
Ahh the good old days when we quoted pithy Bushisms and had a good laugh. Unfortunately we could not say the same about DDT! 😦
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Dear !EarthUnited,
This president will be not be muzzled. What he doesn’t get is that he will do himself in because of his quick tweeter trigger finger.
Hugs, Gronda
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yes, it is no laughing matter anymore. It never was.
The irony of the promotion of “Psychological Health in the work place programs”, hopefully is not lost on leaders who want to be a role model of integrity, acceptance and respect and who strive to create a healthy and respectful workplace. This was the main topic of the APA conference held in Minneapolis in June 2017!
I was there, all [researchers from across the world] tiptoed around the too hot topic and the ‘elephant in the room” “we are just researchers, not politicians” I am sure, they used, to justify to not saying aloud what everyone was thinking (or so I hope as all research is done for nope if findings are not implemented).
Burnout (which is leading to anxiety and ultimately depression) can be traced back to a series of factors. One is bullying and harassment in the workplace, How can leaders of today stand for a bully-free workplace when their leader in the white house is more than ‘just” a bully. DDT “suffers” from psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism, also known as ‘The Dark Triad”. The very traits we need to identify in order to prevent that people who have these are not getting in a position of power. Who is holding him accountable?
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Dear E,
WELCOME!
What is so frustrating is that the republican lawmakers who are part of the majority party in both the US House of Representatives and the US Senate are not holding the republican president to task. They are enabling him by excusing, minimizing or downplaying his bullying behaviors towards others in public..
They are doing this out of political expediency. They are hoping to pass conservative legislation which may now be possible because they are the leading party in both the houses of congress and they have a republican in the presidency.
Also, in this past election, many peoples who voted for Mr. Trump were first time voters. And they tend to be cult like in their loyalty to this president. For the most part these folks have been disenfranchised with the system of government and businesses that had left them behind and they want to lash out. Then there are those followers in the alt-right (White supremacists/ racists, misogynists, Xenophobes) category who are backing him. While most of us are appalled by the president’s bullying behaviors, these lemming like followers are cheering him on.
The other two big factions which are part of the republican base or coalition are the Evangelicals and the wealthy who want their tax cuts.
The republican lawmakers are afraid to upset his voters. And then there are conservative billionaires who fund political organizations that will place ads against recalcitrant republican legislators or worse, they will finance another candidate to compete with the incumbent.
So “we the people” are watching a dysfunctional government like one would watch a dysfunctional business or family.
In response “we the people” are becoming more politically involved because we need to act to stop the dysfunction. Unfortunately, this takes time.
I am thrilled to hear about you and others who are educating folks about how important improving the work culture is and how crucial it is to a company’s success. I have argued that this goal should be part of every business risk management plan.This is what could have kept companies from imploding like Wells Fargo, GM, Volkswagen, United Airlines. It is too late when the consequences of their companies’ dysfunctional work cultures are exposed for the world to see.
Thanks for stopping by and Hugs, Gronda
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Thanks Gronda!
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This answers a lot of my questions and I wish it hadn’t – it is just too depressing. It is as if we have entered an alternative reality. If as you say it is mainly self interest that is the reason now see why the Republicans are not holding him to account – as I feared – then the only hope for democracy almost feels like a real revolution. It is time that big money was taken out of politics. We look on from across the pond and hope that we will not – as we so often do – follow your example in this respect. But the new reality of insidious subversion of opinion via technology is making us all unwitting pawns in sinister games. We need journalists who are not afraid to do their job and we need to pay for their work. It is reassuring to see CNN dare to challenge the President’s behaviour in such a serious manner. I had thought people were getting used to the man’s oafish behaviour, shrugging it off and just waiting and hoping, but with these new lows it seems he has at last got people really angry, angry enough to act. As you say, political reaction takes time to work but let’s hope it is really happening and that people (like you) do not give up. Mary
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.. the reason why … sorry for my haste in typing!
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Dear Mary,
Thank goodness for the US press. They are not bending, but instead this situation is making them better, tougher, and more thorough. But the competition for the truth and the story has become so competitive, that (DDT) DEPLORABLE DONALD TRUMP HAS REALLY STEPPED IN IT.
For too long the press despite what the president has been saying, has attempted to be scrupulously fair, showing two sides of an argument. But they are backing off from this because covering the president this way, has not reflected the truth, which is that we have an incompetent, immature fool in the white house.
The reason that the republican lawmakers were not able to pass their recent horrible healthcare bill despite being heavily pressured by .the president, its leadership and outside groups backed by tons of money, is that “we the voters” have been calling them in droves,, knocking on their doors, demanding meetings,showing up in large numbers, holding ad-hoc protests. And when they do NOT hold meetings or they are avoiding doing this we can be found putting up missing persons’ photo posters. We have been tweeting, emailing, mailing letters and postcards, etc. Many of us bloggers/ those who tweet, work to get the word out to others. My voice is but one pebble, but lots of fellow bloggers and those who blog/ tweet doing likewise, make a dent.
We have had legislators who said they were out of town, but if one of us find out otherwise, that lawmaker will be on video with the press following asking uncomfortable questions.
Then the reason that we now have a top notch FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller III who has hired exceptional talent to conduct and manage the TRUMP -RUSSIAN inquiry/ investigation and any prosecutions, after the former FBI Director James Comey was fired by DDT, WAS DUE IN PART TO ALL THE VOICES DESCENDING ON WASHINGTON DC DEMANDING THIS.
This part of our democracy is not getting enough news coverage, but is it alive and well.
The trump administration is also being challenged via the judicial system big time. It would be impossible to list all the lawsuits that are being filed against DDT’s conflict of interest issues..
“We the People” are in there, resisting, fighting against accepting anything that the president is doing, as normal.
Hugs, Gronda
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According to some stats (so maybe the figures are not so accurate, but you’ll get my meaning)
235,000,000 approx. voters in the USA
64,000,000 approx voted for the winner of the 2016 presidential election.
About 27% of the population.
Now that in itself is not unusual and a wise politician would bear the figures in mind and do some courting of the majority.
A fool of course goes about acting like the guy the Fraternity actually wants to throw out, well this begs for a messy and well-deserved downfall.
(You watch the process on TV, I’ll go out and buy the popcorn, you wouldn’t want to miss anything)
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Dear Roger,
Your numbers look interesting.
As per a 10/19/17 Politico article by Shane Goldbacher shows:,
TargetSmart, a Democratic political data firm, told POLITICO that the country passed the 200 million threshold in recent days as North Carolina, New Hampshire, Nevada and New York reported new voter numbers.
Tom Bonier, CEO of TargetSmart, said national registration now stands at 200,081,377 voters.
But guess what? Estimates HAVE INDICATED THAT more than 58 percent of eligible voters went to the polls during the 2016 election., The sad truth is that not everyone who is registered to vote actually takes the time to do the deed.
In the future the voting demographics look great for democrats. That is why republicans keep coming up with ways to depress the vote.
Hugs, Gronda
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Hi Gronda.
Two points spring to mind.
Firstly this administration may encourage more folk to vote, but not the way they would wish for!
Secondly. Those in the Republican movement who look to depress the vote would do well to consider the Big Picture. People in the USA grow up in the nascent understanding theirs is a democracy, and they have the right to make themselves heard. If people inured of such a belief feel their voice is being stifled then there will be a ground swell against the stifling, which would spread like the proverbial wild fire on social media. And again to return to the maths, those who would pervert your nation do not have numbers on their side. And the people of the USA are not folk given to being told what to do.
They would do well to reflect upon this.
Best wishes to you on the 4th July.
Roger
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Dear Roger,
It is human nature that if things are going relatively well, complacency with the status quo sets in for most of us.
Right now we have been forced out of this state of complacency to become politically active in some measure. And this means our legislators are not getting away with squat.
Here is some good news as per a NY Times report and based on Pew Research data, since Trump has been in the White House, 23% of young people under the age of 30, have left the republican party.
Hugs, Gronda
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The Young seemed to want to get involved again. Mrs May possibly suffered because of a combination of the Old and The Young.
It’s time to ditch the once Fashionable ‘It doesn’t matter. They are all the same’….Oh no they’re not!!
All the best Gronda
4th July- Yours not theirs.
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Reblogged this on Musings on Life & Experience and commented:
Shameful.
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Dear Suzanne,
The word shame seems to have gone out of fashion. It used to be if you were caught doing something untoward, you would be ashamed, apologize and ask for foreignness. Can you imagine the answer if someone asked the president, “sir have you no shame?”
Thanks a million times over for all of your support and for this reblog.
Hugs, Gronda
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