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

The AP reports, "The rebellious Russian mercenary commander who ordered his troops to march on Moscow before abruptly reversing course will move to neighboring Belarus and not face prosecution, the Kremlin said Saturday, as part of a deal to defuse a crisis that represented the most significant challenge to President Vladimir Putin in his more than two decades in power.

"The charges against Yevgeny Prigozhin for mounting an armed rebellion will be dropped and the troops who joined him also will not be prosecuted, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov announced, and fighters from his Wagner Group who did not take part in the uprising will be offered contracts by the Defense Ministry."

 

The AP reports, "Russian government troops withdrew from the streets of Moscow on Sunday and the rebellious mercenary soldiers who had occupied other cities were gone, but the short-lived revolt has weakened President Vladimir Putin just as his forces are facing a fierce counteroffensive in Ukraine.

"The aborted march on the capital by Yevgeny Prigozhin and his Wagner troops, some of the most effective fighters in Ukraine, also left their fate uncertain."

Don't believe this for a minute!

25,000 armed troops were marching on Moscow. Within 24 hours, Putin put down the insurgency without firing a shot and not a single casualty on either side. This has had no effect on the fighting in Ukraine, and the so-called counter offensive has had limited success. The Russian army is pretty much holding their ground.

Yet the American media is portraying Putin as a weakened ruler because a Russian, Prigozhin, was stupid and weak.

Despite the threat of 25,000 armed troops marching on Moscow, Putin remains in full control of the Russian government, and Western media is basing their invalid opinion on baseless speculation.

Part of this innuendo by the media is their constant repetition that Putin has not been seen in public since Saturday morning. President Biden has not been seen in public the entire weekend.

The propaganda by the American media is disturbing. There is no reason for it. Just tell it like it is. We can handle it.

 

Prigozhin has disappeared. Is he still among the living?

 

Well, he isn't dead ... yet.

CNN reports, "Early on Monday, Prigozhin broke his silence in an audio message, saying he called off the march to prevent Russian bloodshed and that the rising was a protest rather than an attempt to topple the government. The Wagner boss said the Russian Defense Ministry had planned for the Wagner private military group to "cease to exist" starting on July 1."

Questions remain on Prigozhin’s whereabouts. There is a reason for this. He is a dead man walking.

Putin put down this so-called rebellion involving 25,000 armed troops marching on Moscow within 24 hours without firing a shot, and there were no casualties. Still, Western media propaganda continues to portray Putin as weak.

Obviously, that makes no sense. Actual news media is showing that Putin is fully in control.

This wishful thinking on the part of the media must end.

 

Trump wants it both ways.

ABC reports, "Former President Donald Trump said the federal government should play a “vital role” opposing abortion but again failed to provide specifics on what national restrictions he would support if elected to the White House again.

"Trump, the GOP front-runner, has been reluctant to endorse a national ban and has suggested restrictions should be left to the states. He has even suggested that pushing for increased abortion restrictions would be a political liability for Republicans."

Then came these two contradictory statements.

"One of the reasons they wanted Roe v. Wade terminated," he said, "is to bring it back into the states where a lot of people feel strongly the greatest progress for pro-life is now being made."

Then he added, “There of course remains a vital role for the federal government in protecting unborn life.”

The fact remains, his three Supreme Court nominees made up the majority of justices who voted to overturn Roe v. Wade last year.

More than any other person, Trump is responsible for the abortion controversy that is ripping the GOP apart, and is responsible for many of its losses in the past election.

By a large margin, Trump remains the leading Republican candidate for the Presidency. He has yet to win the popular vote in an election.

Trump's adoring fans must enjoy losing.

We don't really know. They don't say anything about Trump or the GOP.

 

Judge Aileen Cannon is moving right along in the Donald Trump criminal case.

CNN reports, "The first hearing for Donald Trump and the special counsel’s office before Judge Aileen Cannon in the Mar-a-Lago documents case will be in Fort Pierce, Florida, on July 14.

"The hearing is set to discuss pretrial issues around classification, with Cannon on Monday granting a request from special counsel Jack Smith that she hold the hearing under the Classified Information Procedures Act.

"Trump and his co-defendant Walt Nauta are not required to be present at the hearing, according to the new court order, though it is the first time their defense teams are set to appear before Cannon.

"Additionally, Cannon ordered on Monday that the defendants respond by July 6 to the special counsel’s request that the trial be delayed until December.

"The defendants’ attorneys “confirmed they do not oppose an adjournment of the current trial date.

"Cannon previously scheduled the trial to begin in mid-August, but it was widely expected the start date would be pushed back.

"Trump is facing charges of willful retention of national defense information, obstruction, and false statements in the federal investigation into the handling of classified documents from his White House. He has pleaded not guilty. Nauta, who faces obstruction-related charges, is scheduled for an arraignment on Tuesday, where he will have the opportunity to enter his plea."

In the meantime, Trump is the Republican choice for the Presidency!

I wonder why there are no Republican responses to my informative reports.

 

CNN has the audio of Trump!

"CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify." https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/politics/trump-classified-documents-audio/index.html

I just heard it. Trump knew he was being recorded. This proves one thing.

Trump is a total dumbass!

He's toast!

 

CNN has exclusively obtained the audio recording of the 2021 meeting in Bedminster, New Jersey, where President Donald Trump discusses holding secret documents he did not declassify.

Hear the conversation: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/26/politics/trump-classified-documents-audio/index.html

CNN reports., "The recording obtained by CNN begins with Trump claiming “these are bad sick people,” while his staffer claims there had been a “coup” against Trump.

“Like when Milley is talking about, ‘Oh you’re going to try to do a coup.’ No, they were trying to do that before you even were sworn in,” the staffer says, according to the audio.

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says as the sound of papers shuffling can be heard. “I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

“I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran, and what…,’ ” Trump says.

“These are the papers,” Trump.

"This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump says.

“See as president I could have declassified it,” Trump says. “Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

“Now we have a problem,” his staffer responds.

Trump: “Hey, bring some, uh, bring some Cokes in please.”

Listen to the audio. Trump sounds like an idiot!

 

Republicans prefer to avoid reality as is evidenced by this thread. If that is not possible, then they will deny reality.

The Hill reports, "Former President Trump late Monday claimed without providing details that a newly released audio recording of him discussing a “highly confidential” document that remained in his possession after leaving the White House is “actually an exoneration.”

“The Deranged Special Prosecutor, Jack Smith, working in conjunction with the DOJ & FBI, illegally leaked and ‘spun’ a tape and transcript of me which is actually an exoneration, rather than what they would have you believe,” he said in a post on Truth Social.

Huh!

PBS reports, "A Trump campaign spokesman said the audio recording, “provides context proving, once again, that President Trump did nothing wrong at all.”

Double huh!

The Republican Party, which is led by Trump, is in serious trouble.

Also, he is the leading Republican candidate for the Presidency. That is rather hard to digest.

 

What exactly is Trump bragging about here?

To explain that, I have to go back decades to when I was the intelligence officer at 11th Marines.

Trump got his hands on one of the Pentagon's contingency plans. The Pentagon has a contingency plan for every possible scenario. Trump is showing off his possession of the battle plans for Iran.

There is a contingency plan for nearly every country on Earth, meaning not all are enemies of the U.S. There is probably even a contingency plan for Canada in case the Russkies use the northern route in the event of a land operation.

For very obvious reasons, these contingency plans are not for public consumption. The former President did our country an enormous disservice by opening this can of worms.

There has been no word in the American media concerning how Iran feels about all this. One can only guess.

 

"President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him," the conservative Washington Times.

Trump's adoring fans still admire him, making him the leading Republican for President.

Why? We don't know.

All we know is that they don't say much about Trump or the Republican Party.

 

Despite the damaging revelations to their party, Republicans are saying nothing.

That says a lot about the Republican Party.

Trump is the leading Republican for the Presidency. He is the best the Republican Party can offer. Mute Republicans chose our President once before.

Will we allow it to happen again? .

 

The Times quote explains why we are not hearing from Trump's supporters about Trump.

CNN reports, "Trump's critics (within and outside his party) on Tuesday seized on the latest Trump tape as a perfect example of why the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president is unfit to return to the Oval Office.

"But the recording also explains the former commander in chief’s undimmed appeal to GOP base voters for whom rule breaking that horrifies Washington elites is a major justification for granting him a second term.

"On the audio, Trump discusses holding a secret document. The conversation from a July 2021 meeting at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club where Trump showed classified information to others who did not have security clearances.

"Given the extraordinary circumstances in which an indicted ex-president is also the GOP front-runner for 2024, the tape will play a political role separate from its use in Trump’s trial.

"Trump has put his legal problems at the center of his campaign – portraying himself as an innocent victim of political persecution."

Note: This plays well with his base because they believe everything he says. Now we get to the crux of the matter.

CNN continued, "Yet as extraordinary as the latest example of Trump’s mockery of presidential conventions is, it is also likely to provide the umpteenth example of how Trump’s antics – while horrifying to millions of Americans – are unlikely to tarnish him with core GOP voters.

"In response to the tape, Trump – as he often does – sought to redefine an apparent example of aberrant behavior as perfectly acceptable.

“I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine. … We did nothing wrong. This is a whole hoax,” he told Fox News Digital on Tuesday."

So, according to Trump, when did he lie? At the July 2021 meeting or now?

Despite the reality of the audio tape, Trump's adoring fans will accept the alternate reality provided by the former President.

CNN added, "There is plenty of evidence to suggest that the ex-president’s strategy is working politically – at least in a GOP primary.

"Although his support among Republicans appeared to soften in a CNN poll conducted after his second indictment, he still had a firm lead in the primary field. Furthermore, 54% of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters said Trump’s conduct doesn’t matter much to them as they consider his candidacy, because a president’s effectiveness matters more."

Considering his earlier botched Presidency and succeeding events, that reasoning is surreal. Perhaps it is a reflection of the intelligence of the Republican base.

"President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him," the conservative Washington Times.

It should be noted that Trump's followers do not say a thing as evidenced by this thread that is often critical of the former Republican President.

Will his followers choose our President again as they did in 2016?

 

CNN reports, "Months into his hold on military nominees, Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama is still not relenting despite efforts by some of his own Republican colleagues to try and give him alternatives to back off his blockade.

"Since Tuberville announced his effort in March, there is now a backlog of 250 military appointments, a number only expected to grow in the months ahead. Pentagon officials have warned it’s having an impact on national security and military readiness, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell has publicly said he doesn’t back the hold.

"The Alabama senator pledges he won’t back down until he has a vote on the Senate floor on codifying the Biden-era Pentagon policy that ensures service members can access abortion services!"

 

yahoo!finance reports, "Stocks climbed Thursday, after fresh data underscored the resilience of the US economy in the face of the Federal Reserve's interest-rate hikes.

"A sharp upward revision to second-quarter GDP and a fall in jobless claims on Thursday echoed recent releases reflecting strength in the economy, seen as providing scope for the Fed to keep raising rates."

34% of U.S. adults approve of how Biden has handled the economy, a figure essentially unchanged from May. Biden's overall approval rating is 41%???????????????

Please, someone explain to me why Biden's approval rating on the economy is so low. There has been no explanation of this phenomenon on this forum. So, I'm curious as to why so many feel that way.

Is it ignorance of how the economy works? When replying, keep in mind that during prosperous times -- meaning full employment and robust spending -- inflation is a byproduct. Lower prices occur during a recession with high unemployment and less spending.

Do the complainers want a recession?

I eagerly await answers.

 

The Republican Party has gone off the reservation!

So much so, as evidenced by this thread, Republicans gave up trying to justify their party's intentions and the activities of their party's leader a long time ago.

But, they hope to win the Presidency next year.

Here is the impeachment clause of our Constitution. Impeachments don't happen on a whim or a difference of opinion.

Article II, Section 4: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

CNN reports, "House Republicans are preparing to let the push for potential impeachment proceedings dominate their agenda over the next few months, as Speaker Kevin McCarthy faces growing pressure from an increasingly restive right flank eager to take aim at President Joe Biden and his Cabinet.

"The increased focus on impeachment — with Biden’s attorney general and homeland security secretary the highest on the GOP’s list — underscores how Republicans are quickly shifting their focus to red-meat issues that could fire up their base, even as some in their conference are nervous about voter backlash over the more aggressive approach.

"Between July and September, Republicans are slated to hear high-profile testimony from a trio of Biden Cabinet officials who have been top impeachment targets on the right: Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, FBI Director Christopher Wray, and Attorney General Merrick Garland."

In other words, Republicans are going to launch impeachment proceedings for political reasons, and, in the process, they are assaulting our Constitution.

No doubt, the Republican base agrees with this scenario, which would explain their lack of response to this report. No one has accused Republicans of being intelligent.

 

If you didn't just arrive from Mars, this will sound familiar to you.

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing?” Trump says as the sound of papers shuffling can be heard. “I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him.”

“I was just thinking, because we were talking about it. And you know, he said, ‘He wanted to attack Iran, and what…,’ ” Trump says.

“These are the papers,” Trump.

"This was done by the military and given to me,” Trump says.

Then we have this as reported by CNN.

"Rob Malley, the US special envoy on Iran, has been placed on leave without pay, which occurred after his security clearance was suspended earlier this year amid an investigation into his handling of classified material, multiple sources told CNN.

"A US official said that Malley’s clearance was suspended amid a State Department diplomatic security investigation into the possible mishandling of classified information. Another source familiar with the matter said he was placed on unpaid leave on Thursday afternoon.

"For a period of time following the State Department investigation, Malley remained on the job but was not allowed to access classified information.

"Previously, Malley had played a key role in US efforts to revive the Iran nuclear deal, one of the thorniest foreign policy challenges facing the Biden administration following former President Donald Trump’s decision to walk away from the agreement that Malley played an important role in negotiating under President Barack Obama. He had also played a leading role in seeking to secure the release of Americans wrongfully detained in Iran."

Interesting. Aw, it is probably just a coincidence.

Or is it? When two unrelated events come together, I agree with Jethro Gibbs. I don't believe in coincidence.

 

Democrats are paying a steep price for naming the worst possible candidate for the Presidency in 2016.

Hillary Clinton had an enormous amount of unwanted baggage from her marriage to Bill Clinton, her involvement in the Clinton administration and impeachment, her unpopularity, and, finally, an FBI investigation of her use of a private server containing classified information while she was President Obama's secretary of state. The FBI investigation of her continued throughout most of the 2016 Presidential campaign.

Note: Despite her unpopularity, Clinton still won the popular vote over Donald Trump.

As President, Trump, vowing to overturn Roe vs. Wade, was able to name three conservative Supreme Court Justices. The three Supreme Court justices he appointed – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett – are the most by any President since Ronald Reagan (who appointed four) and the most by any one-term President since Herbert Hoover.

On June 24, 2022, In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022), the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (1973), which guaranteed a constitutional right to abortion, creating consternation and flag-waving protests from coast to coast and turning the "red tide" election to become red stain on the Republican Party.

Yesterday, the Supreme Court issued a divided ruling on affirmative action policies at Harvard and the University of North Carolina. The court ruled against the programs, and the majority opinion was written by Chief Justice John Roberts.

Today, the Supreme Court issued two monumental 6-3 decisions on the final day of its current term. The conservative court blocked President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness program and limited LGBTQ protections in which the justices ruled in favor of a Christian web designer in Colorado, who refused to create websites to celebrate same-sex weddings out of religious objections. The ruling represents the latest victory for religious conservatives at the high court and encourages discrimination based on religion, race, and ethnicity.

These rulings with more to follow from Trump's court are devastating to the liberal cause, and it is all because -- in an election they should have won over the scandal-ridden, indecisive Trump -- Democrats chose a highly vulnerable and undesirable candidate that lost.

The fact that Trump's popularity is growing with each criminal indictment and is the leading Republican candidate for President tells one a great deal about the Republican base that chose our President in 2016.

As is their custom, these same Republicans will remain silent on the issues.

 

Why are Republicans attacking harmless transgender people who make up approximately 0.6% of the American population?

The Post writes, "The Republican Party and conservative media have made it abundantly clear that transgender issues will play a central role in their efforts to mobilize the base for the foreseeable future."

Grassroots Republicans are buying it.

"New polling shows that the base is obliging. Increasingly, Republicans say that society has gone too far in accepting transgender people and that certain rights should be restricted."

The cruelty of the Republican Party enables the Republican base to divert its attention away from the party's leader and leading candidate for President with his multiple criminal indictments and a five million dollar lawsuit that declared Trump a sexual predator.

Is there a better target for the cruel diversion than a tiny group that has no way to fight back? The obvious answer is no.

So, new laws severely restricting this small, powerless group are added by Republican legislatures every month to the delight of the farmers and shopkeepers of rural America, the Republican stronghold.

President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him," the conservative Washington Times.

 

The continued silence from the forum's Republicans is puzzling. Is it a question of intelligence?

This is very strange because Donald Trump is not only the leader of the Republican Party, but is also the leading Republican candidate for the Presidency in the next election.

To illustrate my meaning this thread is particularly critical of Trump. In the past several months there has been no response from Republicans... none. The thread is entitled: A report card on the Biden administration.

Perhaps, there is the distinct possibility that the forum's Republicans have very little to work with regarding what Republican politicians are saying. They seem to be very foolish at times, or most of the time. Allow me to illustrate.

Trump has been criminally indicted twice. It would be safe to say, that if he kept his mouth shut, there would not be any criminal indictments. These contradictory quotes both came from Trump.

“He said that I wanted to attack Iran, Isn’t it amazing? I have a big pile of papers, this thing just came up. Look. This was him. They presented me this – this is off the record but – they presented me this. This was him. This was the Defense Department and him. These are the papers. This was done by the military and given to me. See as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you know, but this is still a secret.”

“I had a whole desk full of lots of papers, mostly newspaper articles, copies of magazines, copies of different plans, copies of stories, having to do with many, many subjects, and what was said was absolutely fine. … We did nothing wrong. This is a whole hoax.”

Does anyone care to talk about Trump concerning classified material and his federal criminal indictment? Yeah, I thought not.

Ron DeSantis, the current governor of Florida, is a poor second choice among Republicans for the Presidential nominee. He does not speak of it, but, in the face of 61% of Americans who favor the right to an abortion, DeSantis signed a six-week abortion ban. In addition, the Republican candidate for President has declared war on a tiny portion of our population -- the vulnerable, harmless transgender Americans, who obviously have their own problems, and make up 0.6% of our population. Why in the world he is doing this is a mystery, even among Republicans.

Does anyone care to talk about DeSantis concerning abortion and transgender rights? Yeah, I thought not.

Mike Pence was Trump's vice-president. Pence is also a Republican candidate for President. Along with Trump, Pence lost reelection in 2020. Pence has admitted to calling governors in states where he lost about their states' election.

“I did check in, with not only Governor Ducey, but other governors in states that were going through the legal process of reviewing their election results,” Pence said during an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

Does anyone care to talk about Pence concerning the appropriateness of a losing veep questioning governors of states where he lost? Yeah, I thought not.

See what I mean? If forum Republicans discuss Republican issues, they will be the laughing stock of the forum.

 

"President Trump famously declared during his 2016 campaign that he loved the “poorly educated” because voters with lower levels of schooling delivered an overwhelming share of votes to him," the conservative Washington Times.

The Trump stronghold is the rural south. He proved that again recently as one of his former lawyers finds himself being investigated by Special Counsel Jack Smith.

The rural folks of South Carolina don't care.

Politico reports, "Taking over the movie-set-like Main Street of a town of 3,300 in the hills of South Carolina on Saturday, Trump put on a show of force not only in his stronghold of rural America, but in an early primary state where he remains dominant."

The former President was nowhere to be seen on the July Fourth holiday.

Meanwhile, as it is business as usual for Trump, John Eastman is in serious trouble. He is hoping Trump is elected President so he could pardon him.

The Guardian reports, "John Eastman, who was in the vanguard of lawyers plotting schemes involving “fake electors” and other ploys to help Donald Trump thwart Joe Biden’s win in 2020, is now under close scrutiny in federal and state investigations of Trump’s drives to stay in power, and faces possible disbarment in California, say former prosecutors.

"The former California law professor is one of several lawyers whose legal stratagems have been heavily examined by Special Counsel Jack Smith’s accelerating investigation into Trump and his allies’ efforts to block Biden from taking office.

"The fake electors' scheme was a central part of Trump’s strategy to reverse his defeat.

"It was called that because Republican electors in seven key battleground states signed certificates falsely declaring themselves “duly elected and qualified” to affirm Donald Trump won the 2020 election."

Trump is well on his way to becoming the Republican candidate for President in 2024.

But you wouldn't know it if one examines Republican responses to all this. There aren't any. They don't want to talk about it.

Go figure!

 

Not a single thread by a Republican about the Republican Party or Trump!

 

Well, mr Brain Dead got 7 million more votes than Trump did.

Mr Brain Dead got the infrastructure bill passed, which, trump, during his four years, with the house and senate in his camp, though paid lip service to it, could not achieve.

I could go on, but why not listen to your dear "I have the best words' stably genius leader for senile inspirations:

 

So we don't elect presidents by popular vote. the reality is he bearly won by a couple hundred thousand votes. Who gives a crap if he won milions of more votes in california and new york?

Mr Brain Dead got the infrastructure bill passed,[/QUOTE]The disastrous green new deal in disguise and 50 billion to ****ing Amtrak the success the amazingness of this disaster of a bill is all he has.

You mean trump couldn't get this Shitty fake infrastructure bill passed? You don't have to campaign for trump.

With more reasons to vote for trump?

I can't take seriously someone who supports the legendary Gaff master, Biden, pointing out someone far less prone to it.

 

NBC reports, "The hottest day ever on Earth since records began happened on July 3, 2023. The average global temperature reached 62.62 degrees Fahrenheit."

The record lasted for one day.

The Hill reports, "July 4 was Earth's hottest day on record, based on a preliminary and unofficial data source, scientists said Wednesday. It broke a mark set the day before.

"It comes as scientists say the planet is the hottest it has been in roughly 125,000 years. Experts believe more heat records will fall this summer."

We can blame it on man.

And the Pacific Ocean.

CNN reports, "Governments must prepare for more extreme weather events and record temperatures in the coming months, the World Meteorological Organization warned Tuesday, as it declared the onset of the warming phenomenon El Niño.

"El Niño is a natural climate pattern in the tropical Pacific Ocean that brings warmer-than-average sea-surface temperatures and has a major influence on weather across the globe, affecting billions of people."

“The onset of El Niño will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean,” said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.