Tag Archives: Donald J. Trump

And the winner is…cable news networks

Business, National,

Recent polls show only 19% of US adults approved of the media. The press did better with 32 % trust .But those low approval numbers don’t prevent viewers from tuning in-and cable news profits are soaring.

“Look at this mask. Look at this mask. Oh wow. Wow, that’s beautiful. Look at that. Looks just like me.” said Donald Trump
“Look at this mask. Look at this mask. Oh wow. Wow, that’s beautiful. Look at that. Looks just like me.” said Donald Trump

[…] according to sources familiar with CNN’s finances, “the network and its related media businesses will approach $1 billion in gross profit in 2016

And of course as much as one might try, you can’t ignore Fox News:  Fox, which hosted the first GOP debate in 2015, generated $2.3 billion in ad sales and $1.6 billion in operating profit for its parent company, 21st Century Fox, in 2015, according to research firm SNL Kagan. That number will undoubtedly be higher in 2016 given the bigger audiences and higher ad rates in the election year. 

MSNBC is also having an exceptional year. In October alone, viewership was up 168 percent overall and 261 percent in the 18–54 demographic.

It would be interesting to find out how much of a role Trump,the GOP’s buffoon bigot showman had in generating viewership.There is a good chance the Trump show will  get canceled today, but could he show up in his own sequel. You know, Trump TV ?

No discernible debate strategy? Not good Donald … sad!

National, ,

Tonight mercifully, the final of the three presidential debates will be held between Republican Donald J. Trump and Hillary Clinton the Democratic candidate.

I don’t plan to watch it tonight but will catch up on it tomorrow. So figured I’d at least get a bit of a preview today of what might take place in Las Vegas.  And one of the angles All thing Considered’s (and Fox News) commenter Mara Liasson ponders is the following question:

What is Trump’s strategy? : That hasn’t been clear in the past couple of weeks. [or longer, one could argue] When you type “Is Trump trying” into the Google search bar, the first thing that comes up is “to lose.”

Here’s all of what came up for me on the Google search: is Trump trying …trumpstrategygoogled

I guess he’s got options, but at this point it seems none that are likely to help him win. Sad.

The GOP are all Trump-heads now

National, Uncategorized, ,

trump-falls-3

A poll conducted by Politico/Morning Consult allowed respondents to view the  lewd “Access Hollywood” video and Trump’s subsequent “apology.”

Those who took the poll rated their reactions to the clip on a scale from zero (very negative) to ten (positive) and a 74-percent majority had a negative reaction. However, other findings are unsettling but probably not surprising.

As of now, GOP voters largely want the party to stand behind Trump. Nearly three-quarters of Republican voters, 74 percent, surveyed on Saturday said party officials should continue to support Trump. Only 13 percent think the party shouldn’t back him.

Well, Trump knows he solidly captured the GOP base and did so early on. I am thinking back to his remark from back in January: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

The Washington Post broke the story!

NBC News had access to the Trump Access Hollywood tape for four days last week but due to legal  hemming and hawing it was finally scooped by The Washington Post. The Post moved quickly and took just five hours to vet the tape and decide to make it available to the public.

It is worth recalling that months ago a vengeful Trump took away The Washington Post’s campaign press credentials,  banning the newspaper’s staff from his campaign events. In June, Post executive editor Marty Baron wrote this: “Donald Trump’s decision to revoke The Washington Post‘s press credentials is nothing less than a repudiation of the role of a free and independent press,”

Shortly afterward blogger Charlie Pierce wisely noted what this meant for Trump:

“ […] See, in my experience, this is how Marty Baron tells someone that they f*cked with the wrong executive editor.”

Pierce suggested helpfully that it might aid Trump’s understanding of the gravity of what he had done for him to  visit disgraced Cardinal Bernard Law “[…]  at the Basilica of Our Lady Of The Clean Getaway in Rome” [also see the movie Spotlight].

The VTGOP is hair today

local/regional, National, , , ,

It’s “all business in the front and party in the back” that’s a description of the classic mullet hair cut,famous in the 1970’s and 80’s, infamous by the 1990’s. And now with 20,000  votes for Trump  in the primary the Vermont Republicans needed a general election strategy to cope with Trump for President in a blue state. So,by intent, or by accident the VTGOP has styled itself a political “mullet”cut.vtgopelephaint1

At the presentable front of the “mullet”, gubernatorial candidate Phil Scott has denounced Trump and pledged to write in Jim Douglas for president rather than the party nominee (Scott picked the “Donald Duck for President” ploy). So he isn’t brave enough to totally disown Trump’s deplorable basket of views and  vote for Clinton, as many well known national Republicans are doing.

Randy Brock, the VTGOP candidate for Lt. Governor had supported John Kasich for President and denounced Donald Trump, but as far as I know, remains mostly mum on a write-in Douglas presidential vote — or one for Clinton.

Meanwhile on the backside of the VTGOP “mullet” you can find caucus leader Don Turner in the Vermont House of Representatives joining other Vermont Trump supporters, including Darcie Johnston (Johnston ran Randy Brock’s 2012 gubernatorial campaign). Turner boldly declares: “I am not afraid to say that I’m going to vote for Donald Trump,”  He does add the thoroughly meaningless comment that he will not endorse Trump for president. So,Don Turner isn’t afraid to vote for him, but curiously is afraid of endorsing the man.

So, “Dude! Check out the VTGOP’s hair style! Equivocation in the front, Trump supporters in the back!!” Or maybe it’s not a mullet at all, just a bad GOP comb over.

And coming next week: birtherism goes local: Was Phil Scott born in Vermont? Of course I am not endorsing this ridiculous question, but since people are talking and questions are being asked …!

Monster slugs are devouring defenseless baby birds in nests

National, Uncategorized, , ,

slug.jpg.653x0_q80_crop-smartThat’s right, it is the month’s best (mostly) non-political headline!

It seems a certain type of slug has been found to be preying on young chicks of ground nesting birds in Europe. “The actual moment of slugs predating on nestlings isn’t easy to observe,” says Katarzyna Turzańska at the University of Wroclaw in Poland. “You are more likely to come across the traces of the ‘tragedy’: dead or alive nestlings with heavy injuries, covered in slime – and often slugs’ droppings found nearby.”

Scientists say this is an unusual but not unheard of behavior among slugs. Studies have recorded similar events before, and of course scientists observe that slugs do leave a slimy trail. “When a slug finds itself inside a nest – probably accidentally, or maybe by actively searching for this type of food – it just starts foraging on the living nestlings using its radula, or tongue covered in tiny teeth,” says Turzańska. “The nestlings are unable to defend themselves and are eaten alive.”Trumpslug

Luckily the resemblance Donald Trump’s hair and a slug-like caterpillar share was already made years ago, so it wasn’t toooo  big a stretch of the imagination to make a connection to this wildlife behavior. Notice that the tactics Trump used to take over and dominate the GOP presidential primary election are remarkably similar to those employed by the predatory slug for devouring ground-nesting chicks.

While in the GOP primary, accidentally, or maybe  actively searching them out, Trump was able to “devour” 16 rival Republican candidates. These were the GOP “nestlings” Christie, Rubio and all the others he defeated, who are now dead politically or alive  with heavy injuries – left covered in “slime.”

And if you need more evidence, look at the trail Donald Trump leaves behind – he is the alpha slug of the GOP.

Donald Trump, Boris Johnson and a popular idiom

International, Uncategorized, , ,

The newspaper editor decided to devote more space to photographs of the disaster than to text, since a picture is worth a thousand words.

trumpboris

In the aftermath of the UK Brexit vote to leave the EU, Donald Trump promoted his Golf course in Scotland; he seemed stunningly unaware the Scots had voted against it and were furious with the result. “They took their country back …” he happily tweeted and later said it would be good for his businesses.

And Boris Johnson … well how about Boris Johnson? Well,that’s Johnson stuck,hanging on a zipline in 2012 when he was Mayor of London. He was celebrating Great Britain’s Olympic victories. The Guardian described the event:

But after a promising start gliding along happily waving his flags, he lost momentum and came to a halt, dangling over a crowd of people, for a long and somewhat awkward moment.

Trump’s blather sounds a little like the way Boris’ Brexit victory may be remembered: a long awkward moment until he falls.

Will Phil Scott need a bigger fig leaf?

local/regional, Mojometers, , , , ,

Donald J. Trump had rough week after he questioned an Indiana-born California federal judge’s neutrality due to his Mexican heritage. Many Republicans denounced the presumptive nominee’s comments as racist. While some say they’ve had enough of Trump, many will still vote for him.

Blogger Charlie Pierce  puts it all in context: this contempt of judges is not a defect but a feature of Republican politics, and Pierce correctly says Trump’s behavior is an exaggeration, not an aberration.

Part of the conservative brand within the Republican Party has been to attack the integrity of the judicial process, and of the individual judges working within it, every time a decision comes down that sets the flying monkeys aloft.

Republicans, Feel the Quease? For those Republicans feeling queasy due to Trump’s comments — that Speaker of the House Rep. Paul Ryan (R) characterized as “a textbook definition of a racist” — relief may be at hand. Hillary Clinton’s campaign has a public-service-minded web service for the suffering GOP called Republicans against Trump. Visitors to the site can simply fill out a form, take a pledge and get a free bumper sticker.

And if anyone is wishing to keep score, MSNBC has complied a tally of 64 well-known Republican power brokers and office holders that will never support Trump (but offer no alternative) and a few that will be voting for Hillary.

figleaffPhil 2Here in Vermont the two Republican gubernatorial candidates have taken different tracks dodging Trump. Bruce Lisman is undecided,still apparently withholding judgment on Trump, still “listening to what he has to say.” What do you suppose he will have to hear from the Donald to make up his mind?

And Phil Scott keeps talking about his own common-sense leadership. Apparently though, that “leadership” doesn’t include speaking out against fellow Republican Trump’s racist language.

So for now Scott is reluctant to show much leadership, and he’s looking ever more embarrassingly foolish behind the Jim Douglas for President fig leaf.

Trump U. grifters once charged with fraud in Vermont

Business, National, , ,

In the beginning, before Trump University there was the “National Grants Conferences” (NGC). This was the business platform Trump University was built on — a classic get-rich-quick scam.griftboybest

It turns out just about the time NGC was shape shifting into Trump Institute (soon to be Trump U.) the company was successfully sued for consumer fraud here in Vermont and 32 other states .

In 2006, NGC [Trump University’s precursor] was sued by Vermont’s attorney general, Bill Sorrell, who said that it had violated state consumer protection laws. The case was settled later that year, with NGC agreeing to pay nearly $325,000 in refunds to Vermont customers, along with attorneys’ fees. [$65,000 worth of legal fees]

NGC traveled the country offering free seminars, heavily advertised in local newspapers and on TV that promised to share the secrets of real estate investment. Gaining access to “hundreds of billions of dollars” in “free government money” was the key pitch to the success they claimed to provide.

At the end of the session, dozens of attendees lined up to buy $999 NGC “memberships,” receiving two thick books full of government programs and the promise of ongoing coaching and support.

It almost goes without mentioning that the coaching, support and wealth never arrived for those who had spent thousands to learn the secrets to success NGC claimed.

Through the 1990’s the business weathered a series of lawsuits from the Texas Attorney General. However NGC was a successful model for Mike and Irene Milin, and Donald Trump caught wind of it sometime in 2006. He simply replaced the lure of imaginary “free” government money with promises to teach enrollees how to run Trump’s imaginary magic money machine. By the way, the Milins were also high rolling Republican donors including to the Romney/Ryan 2008 2012 Presidential campaign.

Eventually a “blizzard of legal woes,” including the 33-state legal action Vermont had joined, brought the original National Grants Conferences to an end. But by then Trump had partnered with the company founders using the existing template NGC provided to form his own huge University — that  he recently compared to Harvard.

And Donald J. Trump, the future Republican candidate for President, moved quickly to raise the old NGC fee from $999 to $1,300 and up.  It has been “classy” and “huge” since. According to the Donald, strictly Ivy-league caliber stuff — truly a record to run on.

Senator McConnell and the all Republican “split ticket”

National, , ,

If Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) persists, he may be running the risk of permanently twisting his brain into the shape of a pretzel. I am still half convinced the childhood story is true, you know, the one  that cautions, if you cross your eyes for too long they stay like that. Maybe that goes for brains like McConnell’s too.mcconnellmoeba

Senator McConnell has publically signed on with Trump and offered what is being called “tepid” support. But on a book tour for his new book, The Long Game, McConnell spent the week kicking Donald Trump in the knees with criticism.

He may fear Trump at the top of the ticket will mean the loss of his slim majority in the Senate.

McConnell’s balancing act with Trump underscores the challenges he faces as he tries to hold onto a Senate GOP majority and defend 24 seats in November, including a handful in states previously carried by Obama.

Trying to put distance between the political fate of his caucus and Trump’s unpredictable campaign, McConnell is downplaying the impact that the businessman might have on other candidates. He told Fox News’s “The Kelly File” that it will be a “ticket-splitting kind of year,” meaning people who vote against Trump might still vote for other Republican candidates.

And McConnell offers this logic-skewing suggestion for down-ticket Republican support in November: “He’s also making the case that Republican control of the Senate would serve as a check on Trump should he win the White House.”

Ticket-splitting voting as McConnell and everyone else well knows is “splitting” votes among different parties in the same election, not at all what he is suggesting.

However McConnell is saying let’s keep the Senate majority in Republican hands so they can “check” Republican Trump — their own candidate — should he win. Can he convince voters that a vote for Trump and a Republican Senate majority is “ticket-splitting?” You know: Vote Republican: We might be able to control Trump!

So stay tuned. Maybe the Senate Majority Leader will self-divide before our eyes like some awful single-cell Republican amoeboid. Think of the ratings!  This deserves undivided attention, it is that kind of year.

Campaign dollars to donuts

Business, National, , , ,

Insidegov.com has taken the time to catalog some of the day to day ways the Republican and Democratic presidential primary candidates have spent millions of campaign bucks. Using Federal Election Commission filings they have documented the primary season through the Iowa’s Caucus and New Hampshire primary- from Jan. 1, 2015 to Feb. 29, 2016.

Hillary Clinton’s campaign has a slight lead over Bernie Sander’s on the amount they spent at Dunkin Donuts.  However Clinton’s donut and coffee tab of $2,806.00 only slightly exceeds the $2,577.00 Sander’s campaign spent. Some still maintain Sanders will close this gap.doughnuts

In addition to coffee and donuts the Clinton campaign has spent aggressively on pizza. Clinton campaign staffers around the country were treated to $17,000 worth of pizzas –mostly from Domino’s.

While the Clinton team munched, Sanders’ campaign bought his book. Reportedly they spent almost $455,000 at Verso Books on Outsider in the White House, the book Bernie wrote.

Republicans and Democrats combined spent $111,703 on Uber Rides . And the filings show the Trump campaign loves Trump’s businesses. Trump ran up $665,461 in rent and lodging expenses with Trump owned businesses Trump Tower, Trump Grill and the Trump Payroll Corporation. It is all about what’s good for the Donald, who also spent heavily on security, shelling out almost $200,000 for  “security services” and “security consulting”.

Not sure if this spending explains anything of significance about each candidate — other than the Clinton campaign goes for pizza, Bernie bought his own book and Trump is feeding his campaign money back to his business empire .

But I for one would love to know what exactly losing Republican candidate Dr. Ben Carson got out of more than $6 million he spent on various types of consultants, or what fate has in store for $300,000 worth of Rubio bumper stickers, T-shirts, signs, hats and sweatshirts.

I wonder if Vermont GOP leadership (who cleverly supported Marco Rubio) stocked up on Rubio sweats and T-shirts?