Saturday, August 20, 2016

Last Call For Nope, Nope, Nope

From a clinical standpoint, Donald Trump's ego is fascinating.

Donald Trump on Friday predicted he would get 95 percent of the black vote after four years as president.
"At the end of four years, I guarantee you that I will get 95 percent of the African-American vote, I promise you, because I will produce for the inner cities and I will produce for the African-Americans," Trump said at a campaign rally in Dimondale, Mich.

"The Democrats will not produce, and all they’ve done is taken advantage of your vote. That’s all they’ve done. And once the election is over, they got back to their palaces in Washington and they do nothing for you, remember it. So you have nothing to lose. One thing we know for sure is that if you keep voting for the same people, you’ll keep getting the same result. My administration will go to work for you as no administration has done before."

Trump also accused Clinton of favoring Syrian refugees over American minorities.

"Hillary Clinton would rather provide a job to a refugee from overseas than to give that job to unemployed African-American youth in cities like Detroit, who have become refugees in their own country."

I mean...every politician thinks they will win the current election they're in, that's fine. But for Trump to think he's going to get 95% of the black vote is ludicrous, especially in the same day he called us lazy.

But his ego can't abide the fact that an entire demographic group of tens of millions of Americans hate him.  Then again, facts aren't really the strong point of the GOP.

Counting On A Disaster

A new Pew Research poll indicates some very disturbing trends these days when it comes to election integrity, and shows just what kind of damage Donald Trump's ridiculous notion that the upcoming election is "rigged" has done to the public perception of American voting.

Only 11 percent of Donald Trump supporters said they were "very confident" that votes across the country will be counted accurately in the upcoming election, according to a new Pew survey, while half of his backers say they are "not too confident" or "not at all confident" that those votes will be counted correctly. 
The findings, released Friday, come after weeks of Trump comments in campaign speeches and in interviews that if he lost to Hillary Clinton it would be because the election was "rigged."

Comparatively, 49 percent of Clinton supporters are "very confident" votes nationwide will be counted accurately, while only 20 percent said they were "not too confident" or "not at all confident" that those votes will be counted correctly. 
Confidence levels rise among both candidates' supporters when they were asked if they believe their vote will be counted correctly, but the gap between Clinton and Trump backers remains. 
Ninety-two percent of Clinton supporters say they're "very" or "somewhat" confident that their vote will be counted, compared to the 69 percent of Trump supporters who fell into those groups. 
The survey also reflects a partisan shift in confidence in election integrity. In the 2004 and 2008 elections, supporters of the Republican nominee were more likely to say they were confident that their vote would be counted than the backers of the Democratic candidate.

The poll also shows a bare majority of Trump supporters (50%) believe that nationally votes will not be counted correctly(either "Not too confident" or "Not at all confident").

In other words, we've reached the point where half of Trump supporters believe the election is rigged. That represents tens of millions of Americans, potentially.

So what happens in November when Trump loses?

The Other Ukrainian Shoes Drop

As I noted yesterday, Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort abruptly resigned from the Trump team Friday morning, and now we know why: Manafort is effectively on Putin's payroll as a foreign agent and didn't disclose it.

A firm run by Donald Trump's campaign chairman directly orchestrated a covert Washington lobbying operation on behalf of Ukraine's ruling political party, attempting to sway American public opinion in favor of the country's pro-Russian government, emails obtained by The Associated Press show. Paul Manafort and his deputy, Rick Gates, never disclosed their work as foreign agents as required under federal law. 
The lobbying included attempts to gain positive press coverage of Ukrainian officials in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press. Another goal: undercutting American public sympathy for the imprisoned rival of Ukraine's then-president. At the time, European and American leaders were pressuring Ukraine to free her. 
Gates personally directed the work of two prominent Washington lobbying firms in the matter, the emails show. He worked for Manafort's political consulting firm at the time.

Manafort and Gates' activities carry outsized importance, since they have steered Trump's campaign since April. The pair also played a formative role building out Trump's campaign operation after pushing out an early rival. Trump shook up his campaign's organization again this week, but Manafort and Gates retain their titles and much of their influence. The new disclosures about their work come as Trump faces criticism for his friendly overtures to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump said Thursday night that, if elected, he will ask senior officials in his administration not to accept speaking fees, for five years after leaving office, from corporations that lobby "or from any entity tied to a foreign government." He said it was among his efforts to "restore honor to government." 
Manafort and Gates have previously said they were not doing work that required them to register as foreign agents. Neither commented when reached by the AP on Thursday.

Manafort could be facing a felony conviction on that alone, but the fun part is he was still advising the pro-Putin section of the Ukrainian government as recently as this spring.

In an effort to collect previously undisclosed millions of dollars he’s owed by an oligarch-backed Ukrainian political party, Donald Trump’s campaign chairman Paul Manafort has been relying on a trusted protégé whose links to Russia and its Ukrainian allies have prompted concerns among Manafort associates, according to people who worked with both men. 
The protégé, Konstantin Kilimnik, has had conversations with fellow operatives in Kiev about collecting unpaid fees owed to Manafort’s company by a Russia-friendly political party called Opposition Bloc, according to operatives who work in Ukraine.

A Russian Army-trained linguist who has told a previous employer of a background with Russian intelligence, Kilimnik started working for Manafort in 2005 when Manafort was representing Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov, a gig that morphed into a long-term contract with Viktor Yanukovych, the Kremlin-aligned hard-liner who became president of Ukraine. 
Kilimnik eventually became “Manafort’s Manafort” in Kiev, and he continued to lead Manafort’s office there after Yanukovych fled the country for Russia in 2014, according to Ukrainian business records and interviews with several political operatives who have worked in Ukraine’s capital. Kilimnik and Manafort then teamed up to help promote Opposition Bloc, which rose from the ashes of Yanukovych’s regime. The party is funded by oligarchs who previously backed Yanukovych, including at least one who the Ukrainian operatives say is close to both Kilimnik and Manafort. 
Kilimnik has continued advising Opposition Bloc, which opposes Ukraine’s teetering pro-Western government, even as the party stopped fully paying Manafort’s firm, leaving it unable to pay some of its employees and rent, according to people familiar with the firm and its relationship to Opposition Bloc. 
All the while, Kilimnik has told people that he remains in touch with his old mentor. He told several people that he traveled to the United States and met with Manafort this spring. The trip and alleged meeting came at a time when Manafort was immersed in helping guide Trump’s campaign through the bitter Republican presidential primaries, and was trying to distance himself from his work in Ukraine.

So yes, Manafort was basically still on Yanukovich's payroll while working for Trump, and that ties him directly to Putin in a neat little package, all while explaining Trump's continuing love for Moscow.

No wonder Manafort bailed.  The Republican candidate for president is in Putin's pocket.  And quite frankly I think he's going to jail for this.

We'll see.

Trump Cards, Con't

Donald Trump is making America great again in 2016, like it was in 1956, Just ask some of his followers, like this guy for example.

Daniel Rowe was apparently enraged at the sight of a black man and a white woman kissing on the streets of Olympia, Wash., Tuesday night. But police say he hid his violent intent behind a stony face until he was close enough to strike. 
The attack happened about 8:30 p.m. in the state’s capital city on Fourth Avenue, a classic downtown street busy with people going to a local movie theater or visiting bars and restaurants. 
Rowe had recently been released from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, about 300 miles away. Police say he may have been among the ranks of the state’s homeless, who flock to Olympia for help on their way to Portland or Seattle. 
Rowe, 32, walked up to the couple and, without warning, yelled a racial slur and lunged with his knife, police say. The blade grazed the woman and went into the man’s hip, according to a news release from Olympia police. 
“The suspect is unknown to the victims and the attack appears to have been unprovoked,” police said in the statement.

After the attack, Rowe ran off as stunned onlookers dialed 911. The 47-year-old male victim, not realizing how badly he was injured, chased Rowe and “tripped him up,” said Lt. Paul Lower, a police department spokesman. Rowe hit his head on the ground and was knocked unconscious. 
No one involved had life-threatening injuries, but police said Rowe’s behavior grew stranger as officers tried to wrestle him into the back of a patrol car. 
He tells them, ‘Yeah, I stabbed them. I’m a white supremacist,'” Lower said. “He begins talking about Donald Trump rallies and attacking people at the Black Lives Matter protest.”

Feel the greatness Donald Trump wants to bring to America.  Feel it all.
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