The Era of rivalry, Biden vs. Trump and their respective parties

Kevin McCarthy sided with President Trump in the latter's attempt to create a Constitutional crisis. Trump's two and a half month battle to steal the Presidential election from our current President ended with a failed coup attempt to overthrow the Biden government on Jan. 6, 2021.

Kevin McCarthy is now the Republican Speaker of the House. Essentially, the rural base of the Republican Party voted for a Constitutional crisis. How much more damage to our government will result from their collective decision? Will the United States default on its debts? Will the 140 or so Republicans who supported Trump's attempt to steal the election cause a government shutdown with McCarthy in charge?

ABC reports, "The House Republican leadership standoff ended early Saturday morning with Kevin McCarthy winning the speaker's gavel on a historic 15th vote..

"It was the longest such election since 1859.

"The drama stretched into a fourth day Friday with three more failed votes to decide on a speaker after 11 others over Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday -- the last one ending in a heated one-vote loss at the hands of holdout Matt Gaetz."

It is a sad day for America. This is what the predominantly rural voters in the Republican Party wanted.

In the meantime, the forum's Republicans are saying nothing when it comes to what their party is doing.

 

Sandy Shanks said:
Republican-led Alabama joined predominately Republican-led states in allowing people to carry a concealed handgun without a state permit, which also eliminated the need for a background check.

As the Republican intelligence challenged rural voters, mostly farmers and rural shopkeepers, buy guns without any checks to protect themselves from other farmers and rural shopkeepers the NRA is loving it. Business is good.
*******************************************************************************************************************************************************
ABC reports, "One person is dead and nine are injured following a shooting on New Year's Eve in Mobile, Alabama.

"The shooting happened around 11:14 p.m. local time on the 200 block of Dauphin Street, according to the Mobile Police Department.

"When officers arrived, police found a deceased 24-year-old male. Nine other people suffered gunshot wounds, according to police.

ABC reports,"A family of eight people, including five children, were found dead with apparent gunshot wounds in a Utah home on Wednesday after police conducted a welfare check, according to the officials in Enoch City, Utah.

"No suspects are at large, and there is no threat to the public according to a press release from Enoch City,.

"Enoch is a rural city with roughly 8,000 residents in the southwest corner of Utah."

The Times reports, "A 6-year-old first-grader at an elementary school in Newport News, Va., shot a teacher on Friday afternoon during an altercation in a classroom, the authorities said, leaving her with “life-threatening” injuries and renewing calls for greater gun restrictions."

The parents of the six-year-old should be sentenced to prison. We will hear nothing about what happened to them. The Times article failed to mention them. Police are investigating what happened at the school to cause this!

 

CNN reports, "It’s only early January, but so far in 2023 the pendulum on Wall Street has swung (to paraphrase Billy Joel) from sadness to euphoria.

"Stocks are off to a solid start following last year’s dismal performance. Even though the Dow fell more than 110 points, or 0.3%, to close Monday’s session it is still up more than 1% this year. The S&P 500 ended Monday down 0.1% while the Nasdaq gained 0.6%. But those two indexes are each up about 1.5% since the end of 2022.

"Even the CNN Business Fear and Greed Index, which looks at seven indicators of market sentiment, is now inching closer to Greed territory — after languishing in Fear mode for the better part of the past few weeks."

Note: this is exactly what I have been saying fore the past few months. The Biden econmy is doing quite nicely and now inflation is easing.

CNN continued, "But why is there such optimism on Wall Street all of a sudden? The headlines still aren’t necessarily that great."

That is a false statement.

The economic facts have been great as can be seen by my reports on the subject in this thread, the last one being Friday. What is not great are the dire predictions by the so-called experts.

Facts about our economy -- great. Dire predictions about our economy -- not so great. That pretty much sums it up.

 

Republicans seized on revelations that several classified documents from Joe Biden’s time as vice president were found in his former private office.

I am not going to waste a lot of time on this. A security clearances expert said it was a matter of apples and oranges when comparing this matter to the FBI seizure of classified documents at Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence.

Besides, there are serious doubts that Republicans will respond to this analysis. Why argue with myself?

CNN reports, "Bradley Moss, a security clearances expert, told “CNN This Morning” on Tuesday that so far, and if no more problematic evidence emerges, the current president team’s conduct was different because of “the cooperation and the absence of obstruction reports in which they have engaged compared to what Donald Trump did.”

“So far, it’s completely apples to oranges here,” said Moss.

Note: In Biden's case, this was clearly an oversight, not a deliberate act. Also, misplaced classified documents have happened countless times. Accidents are not crimes.

CNN continued as it described the different circumstances. Trump committed a crime. Biden deserves, at best, a slap on the wrist.

"Trump is being investigated as to whether he infringed on the Espionage Act by keeping classified material and for the possible obstruction of justice. There were fewer than a dozen documents found and they “appear to be Obama-Biden administration records. For comparison, Trump refused to turn over hundreds of documents." Trump fought the DOJ for months, refusing to give up the documents. It required an FBI search warrant to seize the classified documents from Mar-a-Lago. Trump insisted the classified documents belonged to him.

Contrast that with the Biden disclosure.

"Biden’s attorneys found the documents in a locked closet in a private office in Washington. The White House Counsel’s office immediately notified the National Archives and officials at the agency took control of the documents the morning after they were found. Biden wasn’t aware the documents were in the office until his personal lawyers reported their existence and remains in the dark of the content of the material.

"Unlike in Trump’s case, Biden doesn’t appear to have tried to assert ownership of the files, to obstruct their handover or make outlandish claims that he had previously declassified them based on an undisclosed private thought," CNN.

End of story. It is expected that Republicans will continue their silence on the issues as well as continue their assault on our President's son. Little wonder as to why they don't talk.

 

Finally, law enforcement is looking at the parents, or is it parent? Is the father around?

CNN reports, "The mother of a 6-year-old boy who authorities say shot his teacher at a Virginia elementary school could face charges, Newport News police Chief Steve Drew said Tuesday.

“I think that is certainly a possibility,” Drew told “CNN This Morning,” a day after police confirmed the boy took the firearm from his home and brought it to school in his backpack Friday before allegedly opening fire in a classroom at Richneck Elementary School, wounding a teacher and sending her to the hospital."

“We need to check with Child Protective Services on any history. We need to check with the school system on any behavioral issues they might have and put those together,” he said. “There’s still 16, 17 children that we want to work with a child psychologist to get some statement from.”

“And at the end of the day, when that’s all compiled together and the facts and what the law supports, the Commonwealth’s attorney will make the decision if there are any charges forthcoming … towards the parents,” Drew said.

 

Although this is not a big deal, desperate Republicans trying to find fault in our President will try to make it one.

More classified documents have been found.

The Times reports, "President Biden’s aides found a new batch of classified documents at a second location associated with Mr. Biden, according to a person familiar with the situation — the second disclosure in three days of his retention of government files dating from his vice presidency.

"It is not clear where or when the documents were recovered. But Mr. Biden’s aides have been scouring various places since November, when his lawyers discovered a handful of classified documents, which included briefing materials on foreign countries, when they were closing a think tank office in Washington."

The Biden administration is fully cooperating with the National Archives and the DOJ. Please note, it was "President Biden’s aides" who found the new batch of classified documents, not the FBI.

This contrasts sharply with the issues involving Trump. In Biden's case there are a handful of documents involved. In Trump's case, there are hundreds. While Biden is fully cooperating with the DOJ, Trump and his lawyers fought the DOJ and the courts for months. Moreover, they lied about the documents' existence. When that didn't work, Trump and his lawyers claimed he declassified the documents by thinking about declassification. While it is Biden's people who are finding the documents and being open about it, it required an FBI search warrant to seize the classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. Trump insisted the classified documents belonged to him. Biden wants no part of the documents themselves.

In other words, the two situations are akin to apples and oranges.

 

An unknown aide was extremely careless when packing Biden's possessions, creating some temporary misery for the White House. A Special Counsel has now been named to look into the matter.

It is too bad. Our President doesn't deserve this. Suffice to say the DOJ's investigations of Trump's theft of hundreds of classified documents will not be impacted by the carelessness of some nameless staffer.

CNN reports, "Attorney General Merrick Garland on Thursday appointed a special counsel to take over the investigation into the Obama-era classified documents found at President Joe Biden’s home and former private office.

"The special counsel is Robert Hur, who was nominated to be US attorney in Maryland by then-President Donald Trump in 2017 and he served in the role until his resignation in 2021. He had most recently been working in private practice in Washington, DC."

“I strongly believe that the normal processes of this department can handle all investigations with integrity. But under the regulations, the extraordinary circumstances here require the appointment of a special counsel for this matter,” Garland said.

“This appointment underscores for the public the department’s commitment to independence and accountability, and particularly sensitive matters and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.”

"The appointment comes hours after the White House counsel’s office said in a statement that Biden’s aides located documents with classified markings at two locations inside his home in Wilmington, Delaware. The documents were located in a storage area in Biden’s garage and an adjacent room, the statement reads." CNN added.

 

Contrary to the experts and Republicans who are predicting a recession happening soon, here is still another indicator the Biden economy is on fire.

Republicans hate that.

ABC reports, "U.S. applications for unemployment benefits fell to their lowest level in 15 weeks as the job market continues to show resiliency in the face of attempts by the Federal Reserve to cool the economy.

"Jobless claims are generally viewed as a proxy for layoffs, which have been relatively low. The labor market is closely monitored by Federal Reserve policymakers, who raised interest rates seven times last year in a bid to slow job growth and bring down stubbornly high inflation.

"Last week the government reported that U.S. employers added a solid 223,000 jobs in December, evidence that the economy remains healthy even as the Fed is rapidly raising interest rates to try to slow economic growth and the pace of hiring. The unemployment rate fell to 3.5%, matching a 53-year low."

It only gets better.

"Also Thursday, the government reported that rising consumer prices in the United States moderated again last month, bolstering hopes that inflation’s grip on the economy will continue to ease this year and possibly require less drastic action by the Federal Reserve to control it."

It is being reported that a Republican slammed his fist into a wall after reading this report.

Just kidding.

 

Taking into account McCarthy and his band of far-right naysayers this could get really interesting.

The Post reports, "The White House called on Congress to raise the nation’s debt limit “without conditions” shortly after Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said her department would begin taking “extraordinary measures” next week to prevent the government from triggering a default. Some Republicans are seeking to use their newfound House majority to force spending cuts in exchange for voting to raise the debt limit.:"

 

Our great-great-grandkids. If they're lucky. We've already spent our money, our kid's money, grandkid's money, and great-grandkid's money, may as well f up yet another generation, eh? As long as it gets lefties elected, they are for it, consequences be damned.

 

"Recession concerns in the US are widespread these days. Yet, some economists argue that the strength of the labor market — as well as household balance sheets — will keep the economy strong enough to avoid a recession.

"We disagree. Despite the relatively robust job growth we’ve been seeing, the Economic Cycle Research Institute (ECRI), which we co-founded, has been predicting recession since last spring, and it remains our expectation that the US economy will enter a recession this year," CNN

 

Sandy Shanks said: ↑
This will blow over quickly. Why? It's simple. The more this is investigated, the worse it will get for Trump, the Republican Party leader and candidate for the Presidency in 2024.

 

Cuts? Cuts???

There is no such thing as spending cuts to the American Government, an organization that officially considers an increase that isn't as large as they want to be a "cut".

You funny. You clown. Make me ha ha. Government Cuts?!?! Ain't none of us gonna live long enough to see that. Not real ones, anyway. I'm surprised they're still not spending millions on candles to light places now lit by electricity, and wouldn't be at all shocked to learn that... they still are.

 

I'm fine with that. Trump is too old, just as is the current guy, and the second in command isn't even worthy of the job she's got. Makes it easy for my boy Ronny D to slide his way into the Oval. But don't worry about that, it'll be good for ya'.

 

Just how dumb is the House Republican leadership? Being manipulated by the far right of the party, plenty dumb.

“There’s a new sheriff in town.”

CNN reports, "Last weekend, new sheriffs took over the House of Representatives, with Rep. Kevin McCarthy finally winning the speakership after 15 ballots emphasized the bitter divisions in his party. And the first week of their rule brought new faces into key leadership roles, as Republicans organized their team after narrowly wresting control of the House in November’s midterm election.

"But many things the GOP majority did were not a surprise. They moved quickly to take advantage of revelations about President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents from his time as vice president.

This empty-headed move is totally mindless. Magnified by the Justice Department’s lengthy effort to retrieve documents from former President Donald Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago, comparisons will be made with our President's complete cooperation with the DOJ.

Those contrasts will be encouraged by House Republicans who will be forced to omit the truth, manipulate reality, or outright lie.

“Republicans will try to use this as a cudgel to beat up on Biden and distract from their own issues, but if Trump’s classified documents were in the wrong place, so were Biden’s – and, just calling balls and strikes here, they deserve the same level of accountability,” said SE Cupp. “There is a huge difference between Trump and Biden, however. Remember, the FBI had to go search Mar-a-Lago for documents Trump insisted he didn’t have.”

Bradley P. Moss, a lawyer specializing in national security issues, wrote, “To paraphrase Robert Frost, the roads these two men were on diverged in a wood, and Biden took the one the law requires you to travel on.”

“Unlike Trump, who spent nearly 18 months delaying, obfuscating and arguably obstructing efforts by the federal government to recover from Mar-a-Lago all of the documents with classification markings, Biden’s team appears to have played by the book.”

Today's Republicans are simply not very smart.

 

Lest we forget!

The [Republican] Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday [4/21/2020] reaffirmed its support for the U.S. intelligence community’s conclusion that the Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the goal of putting Donald Trump in the Oval Office. https://www.politico.com/news/2020/...rms-russia-aimed-to-help-trump-in-2016-198171

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
“When you catch somebody in a fraud, you are allowed to go by very different rules."
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
"Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We are going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
**********************************************************************************************Donald J. Trump, Jan. 6, 2021

The Jan. 6 select House committee voted to refer former President Donald Trump to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation and potential prosecution for trying to overturn the 2020 election.




Politico reports, "The FBI executed a search warrant at the Mar-a-Lago estate of former President Donald Trump on Monday as part of an investigation into the alleged mishandling of White House records, including potentially classified material, according to two people familiar with the matter.

“Unlike Trump, who spent nearly 18 months delaying, obfuscating and arguably obstructing efforts by the federal government to recover from Mar-a-Lago all of the documents with classification markings, Biden’s team appears to have played by the book,”Bradley P. Moss, lawyer specializing in national security issues.

 

Image in previous post. "Edit" function failed.

 

As expected, no response from the Forum's republicans. They are losers, and they know it.

 

The White House has a communication problem. It is nothing more than that, unlike Trump who tried to hide over 360 classified documents from the American public.

CNN explains, "The White House offered its most robust – if still extremely limited – explanation of why it has repeatedly released incomplete information about classified documents located in President Joe Biden’s private office and home, insisting Tuesday that protecting the Justice Department’s investigation means restricting which details can be released publicly.

“I understand that there’s a tension between protecting and safeguarding the integrity of an ongoing investigation with providing information publicly appropriate with that,” said Ian Sams, a spokesman for the White House Counsel’s Office.

“In any investigation, as an investigation is ongoing, especially an investigation where people are cooperative and are working hand-in-hand with the department to review these matters, information is going to develop,” he said. “That’s a natural part of any investigation.”

Biden’s representatives “wanted to be respectful to try to provide as complete information as we could, trying to balance with the need to provide that information to you all consistent with the investigation,” Sams went on.

CNN added, "The steady pace of revelations have raised questions about the White House strategy, and led to accusations from Republicans that Biden’s team isn’t being forthcoming about the discoveries. House Republicans have vowed to investigate the matter themselves.

This is a prime example of the glass houses.axiom. House Republicans are not very bright. They appear to be unaware of the startling contrast between Trump and Biden when it comes to classified documents.

It is quite likely that the forum's Republicans will be unable to respond. After all, other than changing the subject, what can they possibly say?

 

The stupidity of House Republicans is once again on full display for all to see.

CNN reports, "Senior House Republicans are moving swiftly to build a case against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas as they strongly weigh launching rare impeachment proceedings against a Cabinet secretary."

That is just plain moronic. Senior House Republicans are ignoring the fact that the problems at our border have been around since the Republican administration of Dwight Eisenhower. They are ignoring the fact that Republican President George H.W. Bush was unable to solve the problem during his four years as President. They are ignoring the fact that Republican President George W. Bush was unable to solve the problem during his twelve years as President. They are ignoring the fact that Republican President Donald Trump was unable to solve the problem during his four years as President.

That is a monumental amount of ignorance by House Republicans.

CNN continued, "Key committee chairmen are already preparing to hold hearings on the problems at the southern border, which Republicans say could serve as a prelude to an impeachment inquiry against Mayorkas. Three House committees – Oversight, Homeland Security and Judiciary – will soon hold hearings about the influx of migrants and security concerns at the border.

"The House Judiciary Committee, which would have jurisdiction over an impeachment resolution, is prepared to move ahead with formal proceedings if there appears to be a consensus within the GOP conference, according to a GOP source directly familiar with the matter. The first impeachment resolution introduced by House Republicans already has picked up support, including from a member of the GOP leadership team.

“If anybody is a prime candidate for impeachment in this town, it’s Mayorkas,” Rep. James Comer, chairman of the House Oversight Committee. (Really! This is how Republicans think?)

"It’s exceedingly rare for a Cabinet secretary to be impeached, something that has only happened once in US history – when William Belknap, the secretary of war, was impeached by the House before being acquitted by the Senate in 1876," CNN.

This is what the educationally-challenged, revenge-minded rural voters in the Republican Party wanted. Never mind the real problems facing our nation, including our border problems, just impeach members of the liberal Biden administration.

There will be no show of brilliance by the forum's Republicans to this report.

 

The media is asking many questions concerning the status of the classified documents discovery. In trying to answer these questions within the confines of DOJ investigations, the White House has a serious problem.

They don't have the answers. Who did what and when?

It is why our President is so angry and frustrated. He doesn't have the answers, either.

 

The Republican Party needs to do a better job screening its candidates. For example, all of Trump's candidates in key elections lost.

Then there is this loser. This guy is what the educationally-challenged rural voters in the Republican Party wanted, too. They also chose George Santos who lied about his entire resume'.

CNN "reports, "A Republican former candidate for New Mexico’s legislature who police say claimed election fraud after his defeat has been arrested on suspicion of orchestrating recent shootings that damaged homes of Democratic elected leaders in the state, police said.

"Solomon Peña, who lost his 2022 run for state House District 14, was arrested Monday by Albuquerque police, accused of paying and conspiring with four men to shoot at the homes of two state legislators and two county commissioners in December and January – and of trying to participate in at least one of the shootings, authorities said.

"Though the shootings injured no one, Peña “intended to (cause) serious injury or cause death to occupants inside their homes,” an arrest warrant affidavit obtained from Albuquerque police reads."

 

Facebook takes all comers, and some are pretty nasty. One has to be a scoundrel to get thrown out of Facebook.

A former President of the United States, Donald Trump, was thrown out of Facebook.

Geez! That is embarrassing.

ABC reports, "Former President Donald Trump is looking to get back on Facebook.

"Attorneys for Trump, who was banned from Facebook after the Jan. 6 insurrection, have written to executives of Meta requesting a meeting to discuss "prompt reinstatement to the platform," according to a copy of the letter reviewed by ABC News.

"The letter, which is addressed to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and two other executives, claims the ban on Trump's account "has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse," and represents "a deliberate effort by a private company to silence Mr. Trump's political voice."

That's interesting. Do they mean this political voice?

“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
“When you catch somebody in a fraud, you are allowed to go by very different rules."
“We fight like hell and if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
"Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you. We are going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
************************************************************************************Donald J. Trump, Jan. 6, 2021

In the meantime, Trump is berating his evangelical followers for lack of loyalty.

CNN reports, "Just days before Donald Trump hosts his first 2024 event in South Carolina, a state whose evangelical population has long played a critical role in its presidential primary, the former president is lashing out at religious conservatives who have declined to endorse his third presidential campaign.

"Trump’s comments to conservative journalist David Brody in a podcast interview Monday, in which he decried the “disloyalty” of evangelical leaders who have withheld public support for his campaign, were the latest in a series of bewildering remarks he’s made about one of the most critical voting blocs in a Republican primary."

It doesn't surprise me in the least that evangelicals are responsible for Trump, but there is a reason they are holding back their support this time.

Trump is a loser.

Under his leadership, the Republican Party lost the 2018 election. Trump lost reelection by seven million votes in 2020, and he is still fighting that election two years later. Trump endorsed candidates lost in every key election in 2022.

So, it is possible that evangelical leaders want think this over a bit before committing to a course of action.