Category: Trump

the CIA cannot play nice with Russia

The establishment cannot handle a foreign policy where Russia is not viewed with hostility. The proof that Russia hacked the DNC is simply not there, but that has not stopped news outlets from reporting that the Russians were behind leaked DNC documents which some think caused Hillary Clinton to lose the election. Instead, reports (here and here) that a disgruntled DNC worker stole the documents and delivered them to Wikileaks does not fit the media/CIA’s story, so they have been ignored. In addition, DNC employee Seth Rich was gunned down early in the morning in Washington D.C.. Wikileaks has offered $20,000 for info leading to an arrest but have not said that he leaked the documents. Makes one think….perhaps Hillary losing wasn’t so bad if this is how problems are handled.

If Trump is correct in his suggestion that the intelligence community leaked the dossier, it would support arguments that the CIA is attempting to undermine his Presidency from the beginning by forcing his hand concerning America’s relationship with Russia. If Americans think that Russia has dirty info regarding Trump that makes him vulnerable to blackmail, Trump cannot cozy up to Russia as much as he might like without appearing like a compromised President.  If Americans feel that Russia is controlling Trump and that they helped him steal the election, Trump may take a hard line against Russia to appease the people and prove he is not a puppet. That  is exactly what the CIA wants it would seem. The media in this country is worse than any state run media.

Taking the release of the dossier (which Trump blamed on the intelligence community), the blaming of Russia for the DNC hack, and the assassination of Russian ambassador to Turkey, a picture emerges of an agency hell bent on creating conflicts with Russia.

 

 

 

Trump, Streep, CNN, Press Conference and Nixon

Trump has motivated me to work on my video editing skills. This is the first fruit of my labor. It basically just strings together some TV clips with some thoughts of my own intertwined.

It isn’t anything special, but I wanted to try and make a few points.

Trump definitely mocked the disabled reporter. Before his impression, he says “you’ve got to see this guy”.

Meryl Streep discussed her concerns at the Golden Globes and Trump responded on Twitter.

Instead of conducting his press conference in a way that would make Meryl Streep appear like an “out of touch liberal” who is a sore loser, he gets in a shouting match with a reporter from CNN and wouldn’t allow him a question. It’s like a kid poking you in the eye on the play ground and then running before you can react.

Trump demonstrates no humility, and I worry that he could never see himself as having done wrong. He has done nothing to bring people together and still rubs his victory in the face of others.

He shows no signs of talking less as President.

I end by drawing a comparison with Nixon who hated the media as well. Trump will have to be very careful as President as his relationship with the press is already strained.

 

Trump fails with response to Streep’s Golden Globes speech

Donald Trump will begin leading this country in 11 days. Many people, including myself, are uneasy about the future of this country because he seems to totally lack compassion and cannot accept responsibility for his actions. Case in point is his reaction to being criticized by Meryl Streep last night for an episode that occurred while he campaigned across the country where he imitated a New York Times reporter with a chronic condition affecting the movement of his arms.

[av_video src=’https://youtu.be/PX9reO3QnUA’ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]

It is interesting to see how Fox News defends such actions. They suggest in the video below that Trump uses this impression all the time to portray someone as incompetent.

[av_video src=’https://youtu.be/CsaB3ynIZH4′ format=’16-9′ width=’16’ height=’9′]

The problem is not the impression by itself. What he says to the audience is critically important. He actually says, “You’ve got to see this guy”.  He also draws his arm up and locks it much more so than in previous renditions. The point is that he clearly aimed to imitate the reporter and discount his article because of his disability. His basic message is that he disagrees with what this reporter has written and his supporters should too. He doesn’t suggest they actually read the article. Instead, he says they “have to see this guy” and upon seeing him with his disability and his affected arms they will laugh and point along with him.

So what would a good leader (person) do in such a case where people are upset by this message? I believe the right way to address people who I upset because of something I say or do is to first consider the possibility that I was in the wrong. Donald Trump seems incapable of such considerations. Whether or not I felt I was in the wrong, I would apologize for upsetting so many people. Whether or not I felt like I was at fault, I would apologize. Trump seems to equate apologies with weakness.  I would say something like, “I’m sorry that my gimmicks on the campaign trail upset you, and I will try to keep such gimmicks to a minimum going forward.” Instead, he reacts stubbornly by suggesting that it isn’t him who is wrong, but it is everyone who watches the video and perceives it as impersonating someone with a disability.

One person who perceived it this way is Meryl Streep. Here is what she said last night at the Golden Globes.

 


Her criticism of Donald Trump seem reasonable. She suggests that Trump shouldn’t make fun of others who he “outranked in privilege, power, and the capacity to fight back” because it only leads to people throughout society seeing bullying as acceptable behavior. How this is controversial I’m not sure. Why were we so concerned about Major League Baseball players injecting themselves with steroids and human growth hormones? Trump is basically Barry Bonds who I’m not sure ever admitted to using performance enhancing drug but certainly used them. The uproar over PEDs was due to the concern that their use would trickle down to boys at lower levels of competition who would view it as a viable means of succeeding. It is a fact that people look to their leaders and those who have succeeded in any particular field as models to base their own behaviors on. If young baseball players see PEDs as acceptable in the major leagues, they will start using in order to be like the pros. With Donald Trump making fun of a disabled reporter, people see this and emulate it hoping to be as successful as Trump.

What was Trump’s reaction the morning after?

Instead of considering opposing views of his actions, he says such people are sore losers who just can’t accept his victory. Instead of helping bring a divided country together by conceding that he has flaws and made a a mistake, he stubbornly says he wasn’t (in his mind) mocking the reporter. The fact is it does not matter what he claims. A lot of people perceived him as mocking the reporter. He fights their criticisms by suggesting their perceptions are at fault, so any criticism is invalid. He is a great model for authoritarianism, and it may not be long before the”authoritarianism” entry on Wikipedia includes Donald Trump.