Annotated Statement: Trump Responds to the Manafort Plea

It took a while, but Trump finally responded to Paul Manafort coming to his senses and agreeing to cooperate with Robert Mueller's team.  Of course, he responded on Twitter.  Of course, it was not worth the power it takes to display it on a computer or phone screen.  Here it is with my annotations.

While my (our) poll numbers are good, 

Which ones?  Approval among the ever-shrinking number of self-identified Republicans?  Unless you're talking about that, you owe us an explanation as to what polls you're talking about, because I've not seen one that reflects the version of reality that you're peddling.

with the Economy being the best ever, 

By what metrics?  By what actions of yours?  The POTUS gets to much credit and blame for the state of the economy, and someone who thinks they can just "print more money" should not be taking credit for any skillful stewardship of the economy.

if it weren't for the Rigged Russian Witch Hunt, 

A "Rigged" "Witch Hunt" is redundant.  Leaving that aside for a moment, the "rigging" your referring to is actually the mechanisms of the justice system that are intended to seek the truth while respecting the civil liberties of the citizens.  As for the "Witch Hunt" claim, the volume of convictions and pleas among your floundering excuse for an administration should make it clear that the only way this is a "Witch Hunt" is if you have a lot of people commuting to the White House on brooms.

they would be 25 points higher! 

You're a pollster now?  What do you base this one?

Highly conflicted Bob Mueller 

What conflict?  The golf dues membership thing?  The interview for FBI director thing?  Really?  That's a conflict in your mind, but you think that Jeff Sessions did you dirty by recusing himself from Russia related investigations as AG?  Your lack of logical consistency is astounding.

& the 17 Angry Democrats

You have not provided one bit of evidence of the political affiliation of any of the prosecutors on Mueller's team or any evidence of why it would matter even if they were all Democrats.  Typically, Special / Independent Counsel are of the opposite party of the POTUS / target.  You have a Republican running yours.  Quit you whining, especially until you have some basis for anything your saying.

are using this Phony issue 

EVIDENCE!!! There is tons of EVIDENCE!!! Even if nothing wrong happened, we would be stupid to ignore the EVIDENCE!!!

to hurt us in the Midterms.  

They're investigating real crimes.  Don't want to be hurt electorally by crimes, don't hire criminals.

No Collusion!

Then let Mueller do his job and you shut up and do yours.

Fear(ful) Thoughts

Assuming that the reporting and sources in Bob Woodward's book about the early stages of the Trump Administration are accurate (which I do for the most part), there are two things that serve as massive warning flags that anybody who cares about the nation's physical and economic security should be absolutely terrified of.  Neither of then has anything to do with Russian conspiracies or obstruction of justice.  Both of them are troubling on their own, but both are also indicative of massive deficiencies in Donald Trump's ability to comprehend the complexities of the world we live in.

The first thing that frightens me is how Donald Trump is unable to comprehend the argument that all of the military assistance and the troops we have stationed in South Korea are actually to the benefit of the United States.  He apparently fixated on the fact that the United States was paying for a missile defense system in South Korea and was livid that the Koreans were not paying for it.  The fact that there was nearly a fifteen minute difference in the United States' ability to detect a North Korean missile launch and, therefore fifteen extra minutes to shoot it down before it could reach the United States, was apparently lost on him.

There were other intricacies to the benefits to the United States of our relationship with South Korea that numerous officials tried to explain to Trump, but his failure to grasp even this most simple of them is demonstrative of a startling lack of sophistication by Trump.  That is not to say that Trump would ultimately need to agree with those arguing to keep the South Korea relationship as it was.  The problem is that he did not even seem to grasp their arguments, even as simple as they were. 

The other main source of fear, at least for me, was Trump's utter disregard of facts in the realm of economics.  This came up in the realm of his obsession with trade deficits as a barometer for economic success.  There is an account of an attempt to explain why trade deficits do not work the way Trump thinks they do, particularly in the context of the United States' transition to a service (as opposed to manufacturing) economy.  When backed into a corner on his thinking, and confronted with all of the data to the contrary, Trump would simply say (paraphrasing) "This is what I think, I've thought it for 30 years, and if you don't agree with me you are wrong."

At one point, this came in the context of tariffs against China.  It was explained to Trump that if China wanted to retaliate, they could raise the prices on antibiotics, of which they make the VAST majority consumed in the United States or they could refuse to export them to the United States.  The United States buy them from a third party country.  Germany was used as an example.  Germany would mark them up to take a cut of the profit, like any middle-man would do.  Trump's response (again, paraphrasing, but this one is pretty close): "Then we'll buy from another country."

There is no shortage of examples of people in the administration trashing Trump in the book.  They call him all sorts of variation of stupid.  Those are the quotes getting most of the attention.  There were moments in the book that left me thinking, "Trump actually seemed to treat that particular situation with the gravity it deserved, regardless of whether I agreed with the outcome."  Such moments were in defiance of my expectations and offered brief hopes of improvement to come. 

Those moments usually were quickly followed by another demonstration of Trump's disregard for the value of facts or the way the government is supposed to work.  It are Trump's own words that are the most fear inducing.  They betray a lack of sophistication.  They betray an (at best) outdated and juvenile idea of how countries and the world operate.  The realization that we have a willfully ignorant man unable or unwilling to consider that leading the United States is not the same as running a private real estate company with nuclear weapons... that is fear.

Ivanka Trump Statement on Child Separation: Annotated Statement

In case you were wondering, being completely tone-deaf is apparently hereditary.  Ivanka Trump would do well to engage in some serious self-reflection on her supposed values.  Below is her tweet celebrating her father's brave "reversal" of a human rights and child abuse travesty he created.  In the interest of context and truth, my annotations are inserted, but the text of the tweet is copy / pasted from her original text.

Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. 

It's action he could have taken more than a month ago or, better yet, he could have not destroyed these families in the first place.  In fact, he has been saying for weeks that he couldn't end this by executive order because it was a "Democrat policy."

Congress must now act

I see you're complicit in the use of these families as legislative hostages too.  Congress has been trying to act.  They've given your dad multiple immigration compromise bills with conditions he previously said he could agree to only for him to change his mind because he didn't get enough money for his pointless wall.  This is the same predatory behavior used by hostage takers and domestic abusers all over the world.  It is disgusting.

+ find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;

Based upon your "charity" work, your lack of statement on this issue before now and the way you flaunted your ability to hug your child during this travesty that is just one of many your dad has helped visit upon the innocent, I'm guessing that we don't share as many values with you as you think.  These kids were abused by the mere act of taking them away and isolating them from their parents.  When these traumatized innocents were screaming in fear, because of your dad a well meaning caregiver could not even give them a hug.  Where the hell was your advocacy for women and families during this?  How dare you spread your sanctimonious filth after the fact (not that anybody who pays attention actually believes this is over).

You want a long lasting solution consistent with our values?  Convince your dad to fire his entire administration and then resign.  That would be half of the battle for America right there.

the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families

The only "American values" your father and the administration you work for care about is making as much money as possible at whatever cost necessary, even if that cost is only felt by others.  He has implemented a policy that is a violation of people's human rights.  He gets no credit for supposedly ending a travesty he created deliberately.

And you, Ivanka Trump, get no credit for sitting quietly by while your father / boss did this to children that you supposedly care about.

Donald Trump Returns from Singapore: Annotated Statement

This week was the perfect encapsulation of the Trump Administration.  We have corruption, false claims, exaggerations, self-gratification, and further attacks on democracy and the rule of law.  It was a normal week.  That representative week is wonderfully distilled in a twitter statement made by Donald Trump (across two tweets).  I have reproduced that statement below; however, in the interest of safeguarding the truth (something typically absent from Trump statements), I have annotated the statement as best I can.

“Now that I am back from Singapore, where we had a great result with respect to North Korea,”

You achieved nothing. You got an empty promise that is less substantive than the similar promises made multiple times in the past. You got a photo op and a chance to pat yourself on the back for a non-achievement.

“the thought process must sadly go back to the Witch Hunt,”

For those of us that care about the preservation of our democracy and the rule of law, we never stop being worried about the serious matter you falsely call a “witch hunt.” Repeating it over and over doesn’t make it true.

“always remembering that there was No Collusion and No Obstruction of the fabricated No Crime.”

It’s not a memory if it’s a load of garbage.

“So, the Democrats make up a phony crime, Collusion with the Russians,”

If you don’t understand that “collusion” is a civilian shorthand and not a formal legal accusation by now, you are willfully ignorant or incredibly stupid. The issue is the crime that may have been committed during the course of whatever collusion occurred.

“pay a fortune to make the crime sound real,”

Nobody’s actually floating “collusion” as a crime, but the criminal acts associated with collusion don’t need money to sound real. They just need your son’s emails.

“illegally leak (Comey) classified information”

Comey is not a Democrat. I’m fairly certain the information he “leaked” was not classified, though some of it may have been confidential within the Justice Department. You are not exactly one to be casting stones about disclosure of classified information.

“so that a Special Councel [sic] will be appointed,”

As Special Counsel was appointed because you fired someone in charge of an investigation that had to do with you and then shredded your own pretext when you admitted you were thinking about Russia when you fired him and then bragged to the Russians that the was a “nut job” and that the “pressure” was off because you fired him.

“and then Collude to make this pile of garbage take on life in Fake News!”

It’s not collusion for journalists to follow the facts, many of which are derived from you own associates. It’s not their fault that the ridiculous behavior that you and your campaign engaged in are so outrageous that people want to know. Anybody who cares about the integrity of democracy SHOULD care.