Legitimacy in government: Spengler’s take on Debate #2

art credit: samuel-warde.com

Some polls show Trump the winner, others Hillary. Similarly, the pundits are mostly declaring their preferred candidate the winner. David P. Goldman (a/k/a/ “Spengler”) published his take on PJ Media and here are a few short extracts:

The referee should have stopped it in the tenth. Punching at will, Donald Trump said, "Hillary used the power of her office to make $250 million. Why not put some money in? You made a lot of it while you were secretary of State? Why aren't you putting money into your own campaign? Just curious."  Reeling and against the ropes, Clinton gasped that she supported . . . the Second Amendment. It was a brilliant rhetorical device: under the rubric of campaign financing, Trump slipped in an allegation that Clinton corruptly enriched herself by using the power of her office for personal gain--and Clinton didn't even respond. That's a win by a knockout.

That's the decisive issue of the campaign: the corrupt machinations of a ruling elite that considers itself above the law, and the rage of the American people against the oligarchical ruling class that has pulled the ladder up behind it. Trump's bombshell below Clinton's waterline came at the end of the debate, well prepared by jabs at Clinton's erased emails and Bill's rapes. Trump used the "J" word--that is, jail. That was perhaps the evening's most important moment. This is not an election fought over competing policies but a struggle for legitimacy. A very large portion of the electorate (how large a portion we will discover next month) believes that its government is no longer legitimate, and that it has become the instrument of an entrenched rent-seeking oligarchy.

. . .

The Republican voters chose a reckless, independently wealthy, vulgar, rough-edged outsider precisely because they believe that the system is corrupt. 

Read the rest here. If you missed the debate (or could not bear to watch), you can see the whole thing here. 

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Trump and voter values

art credit: oratv.com

The dinosaur media is having collective apoplexy over the recently released locker room remarks that Donald J. Trump made over 10 years ago, as a private citizen, in what he assumed was a private conversation. The faux outrage expressed by the media and the political elites in the Uniparty is laughable. Most of us have heard far worse, and if we don't like what we hear, we voice an objection, ignore it, or walk away. 

And if I had to guess, since Miss Universe’s (Miss Piggy) complaints-for-hire about Trump were broadcast all over the place, and now we get the locker room remarks, well, there will probably be some more October surprises. And we can watch as more RINOs reach for their smelling salts while withdrawing their Trump endorsements. Looking at you Rob Portman.

But those in the Trump basket of Les Deplorables, vulgar as they are, don’t seem to need their smelling salts. Many reader comments posted to various websites reflect different values: voters prefer crude over corrupt. They may not like locker room sexual braggadocio, but they’ll take that over a candidate whose career is a litany of brazenly criminal actions. Trump’s words didn’t break any laws, get anybody killed, jeopardize American security, or destabilize the Middle East.

When Ted Cruz imploded at the RNC, mega-donors Robert and Rebekah Mercer withdrew their support for his campaign and transferred it to Donald J. Trump. Yesterday, following the media hysteria over Trump’s crude remarks, the Mercers reaffirmed their support for Trump. ICYMI, here is their statement (via The Washington Post):

“If Mr. Trump had told Billy Bush, whoever that is, earlier this year that he was for open borders, open trade, and executive actions in pursuit of gun control, we would certainly be rethinking our support for him. If he had admitted to Mr. Bush that he had profited privately by allowing the sale to Russia of 20% of US uranium deposits or that he had amassed his personal fortune not by hard work in the private sector but by selling favors to foreigners on the American taxpayers' dime, we would certainly be rethinking our support for him. If he had argued that he needed both a public and a private position on issues facing the American public, we would certainly be rethinking our support for him. And finally if Trump had serially terrorized and silenced the victims of violent sexual assault whom he feared could damage his political career, we would most definitely be rethinking our support for him.

“Donald Trump's uncensored comments, both old and new, have been echoed and dissected in the media repeatedly in an effort to kindle among his supporters a conflagration of outrage commensurate with the media's own faux outrage. Can anyone really be surprised that Mr. Trump could have said to Mr. Bush such things as he has already admitted saying? No. We are completely indifferent to Mr. Trump's locker room braggadocio.

“The same media that resolutely looked away when the most powerful man in the world, a sitting U.S. president with multiple violent sexual assaults to his credit, snared an impressionable young intern in his web and ruined her life, now expects us to gasp with revulsion at Mr. Trump's irreverent comments. America is finally fed up and disgusted with its political elite. Trump is channeling this disgust and those among the political elite who quake before the boombox of media blather do not appreciate the apocalyptic choice that America faces on November 8th. We have a country to save and there is only one person who can save it. We, and Americans across the country and around the world, stand steadfastly behind Donald J. Trump.”

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Part 2 on the shocking Trump Tape Scandal

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Shocking. It’s headline news everywhere. The  NY Daily Mail leads off with

Surprise, surprise: Donald Trump has exposed himself one more time — 
as a crude, sexist pig.

First, consider the source of the tape: a nephew of George H.W.Bush. We know the Bushes are voting for Hillary.

This banner headline scandal is as much about media malpractice and dirty Uniparty politics as it is about Trump’s shocking conduct. From over 10 years ago.

And look at the timing. Anything to distract from non-shocking news…
Here come the Wikileaks on Hillary’s Wall Street speeches, a/k/a pay-to-play access.

And the ongoing e-mail security breaches that compromise America’s national security.

And the latest revelation that President Obama exchanged emails with Hillary during her tenure at State, on her unsecured server.

And the ongoing lies to cover up her role in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi, include lying to the bereaved families present at the Air Force base to receive the flag-draped caskets of the deceased.

And the locking up of an inconsequential film-maker to provide further cover for the lie that the terror attack in Benghazi was a spontaneous reaction to the inconsequential video that nobody saw, rather than the planned terror attack deliberately made on the 2012 9/11 anniversary.

Or the victims of Bill Clinton’s serial sexual predatory behavior, whether in office as AG in Arkansas, right up to his terms as President. These victims continue to come forward with their stories. We know of at least one payoff, the $850,000 to Paula Jones. We know that Bill admitted his affair with Gennifer Flowers. And we also know that Hillary repeatedly attempted to discredit and demean Bill’s victims and to cover up Bill’s predatory behavior.

And she is shocked, shocked I tell you, over locker room talk - of the sexual bragging variety - by a private citizen over ten years ago?

The exposure of Trump’s scandalous conduct invites comparison. What about her own history of filthy and disrespectful language – while in office.  

Or her disparagement of blacks and millennials?

One other thing. With this shocking, shocking, shocking tape, we’re seeing more RINOs reveal themselves. Look, there goes Jason Chaffetz! Look, there goes Senator Mike Crapo. And there goes Senator Kelly Ayotte. (Never expected anything different from Lisa Murkowski or Susan Collins.)

Trump is lacing up his boxing gloves and the Clintons can look forward to the worst weeks of their lives.

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The Trump Trash Tape Scandal Part 1

art credit: janebinnion.com

Trump’s locker room talk: 

he’s really finished now

Part 1 of 2

Adapted from a FB post by Tea Party’s roving photographer Pat Dooley:

Trump counter-punches when attacked. Senator McCain was one of the gang of eight who tried to ram the immigration amnesty bill down our throats. That bill passed in the Senate but failed in the house when Majority Leader Cantor was unexpectedly defeated in his primary by David Brat, who ran on an anti-illegal immigration platform. That gave the GOP reps cold feet, and the votes Boehner had whipped up evaporated.

McCain attacked Trump by saying "This performance with our friend out in Phoenix is very hurtful to me," McCain told Lizza, "Because what he did was he fired up the crazies." First, people who want to secure our borders are "crazies" and now we are "deplorable" and "irredeemable". Our open borders result in the deaths of 4000 US citizens a year at the hands of illegal immigrants. Our open borders have flooded the country with heroin and worse, killing thousands more. McCain is fine with that. Trump is not, so he responded. It might not have been nice, but McCain deserved it.

Obama and Clinton's disastrous ME policies allowed ISIS to rise. Obama has shown no ability to wage war against ISIS. Trump, at least, wants to take the fight to them. You can read his policy on ISIS at his website.

Trump has garnered the support of black pastors like Darrell Scott, who has known and worked with Trump for many years.

It is rare that the US elects a Saint for President. JFK was a sex-crazed adulterer during his time in office. LBJ was worse.

Johnson had ‘an unfillable hole in his ego,’ Moyers says. Feelings of emptiness spurred him to eat, drink, and smoke to excess. Sexual conquests also helped to fill the void. He was a competitive womanizer. When people mentioned Kennedy's many affairs, Johnson would bang the table and declare that he had more women by accident than Kennedy ever had on purpose.

Bill Clinton's history includes violent rape, sexual assault, and an affair with a vulnerable intern that he lied about until the dress was produced. His wife viciously attacked any woman who came forward to accuse her husband of sexual misconduct.

In this company, Trump's private locker room talk pales in comparison.

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Part 2 to follow.

Hillary's Medical Problems

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Over at PJ Media a few weeks ago, Tyler O’Neil compiled a list of Hillary’s medical issues over the past 18 years. The report includes photos, timeline and text on medications and public episodes, and videos (including her collapse at the 9/11 memorial event in New York).

Here are his bullet points:

1. A "potentially fatal" blood clot in 1998.

2. February 1, 2005: Clinton faints during campaign speech.

3. June 17, 2009: A massive elbow fracture.

4. 2009: A second blood clot, "deep vein thrombosis."

5. January 12, 2011: Clinton stumbles boarding plane.

6. December 15, 2012: The concussion.

7. December 31, 2012: The third blood clot.

8. January 24, 2013: Fresnel lenses to prevent "seeing double."

9. May 14, 2014: Bill says the recovery took six months.

10. July 31, 2015: Bardack's letter and statement.

11. October 22, 2015: A coughing fit at the Benghazi hearing.

12. February 16, 2016: Coughing fit in New York.

13. July 21, 2016: A seizure on camera?!

14. September 5, 2016: Another coughing fit on stage.

15. September 9, 2016: Diagnosed with pneumonia.

16. September 11, 2016: The fainting and final release of information.

The full report is here. As O’Neil wrote, “Ultimately, the voters must decide whether or not these threaten her suitability for the presidency.”

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Trump's taxes

From a website on the US tax code:

The tax code is so long and complicated because it includes every tax law designed to promote a specific cause or benefit a certain constituency. Sometimes Congress uses the tax code to promote social welfare, such as a tax break for low-income housing construction. Congress also alters the tax code to stimulate economic growth, perhaps by making it easier to take business deductions. Other changes to the tax code are strictly political rewards for special interest groups that support congressmen during their election campaigns

Some of my liberal friends take a dim view of Donald Trump because he avoided paying his taxes. Shame on him. The easy answer is that Trump never “avoided” paying federal income tax. In 1995, he didn’t OWE any income tax, so he didn’t pay any. That’s not tax avoidance. It’s compliance with complicated tax laws. If Trump had failed to comply with tax law, that failure would show up on an IRS audit and he’d have paid yuuuge penalties or worse. Remember Leona Helmsley? She went to prison for tax evasion.

In our household, we don’t want to pay one penny more in taxes than we have to, and Trump’s tax team surely has the same goal – just with, er, much bigger numbers.

Ryan Ellis has a more detailed look at the Trump Tax Tempest-in-a-Teapot. From the Forbes website:

Trump Tax Return Story Exposes Policy Ignorance Of Political Reporters

Over the weekend, the New York Times reported that they had obtained a copy of Donald Trump’s 1995 New York state tax return (whoever sent it committed a felony). It showed that he claimed a net operating loss (NOL) of about $900 million that year.

What followed was a collective explosion of talking heads over the weekend, with the theatrics inversely proportional to the pundit’s knowledge of tax policy.

To state the obvious, political reporters don’t know a damned thing about taxes. I know this–believe me (to channel my inner Donald). Part of what I do for a living is prepare people’s taxes in the Washington, DC area. As an Enrolled Agent, I run into all sorts of clients. The most political (that is, horse race/hot take) clients compete with performing artists for the least amount of knowledge when it comes to taxes. I’ve even had some of them forget to bring their W-2s to a tax session.

That ignorance was on display in vivid colors over the weekend. We were told that this tricky NOL was some sort of “loophole” that only super-rich bad guys like Donald Trump got to use. We were told that this relieved him of having to pay taxes for 18 years, a laughably arbitrary, made up number that is the tautological output of simple arithmetic and wild assumptions.

. . .

It’s not difficult to see how political reporters got played like a fiddle here. Most of them have never actually run a business, much less learned about the tax rules surrounding them. Most went from college to a series of simple, W-2 jobs (with the occasional freelance gig) in traditional media organs. . . .

Read the rest here.

And why aren’t inquiring media minds investigating donors to the Clinton Foundation?

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Famous actors know best about climate, the election

Thanks, famous actors (via Sundance)

From Newsbusters:

“The scientific consensus is in and the argument is now over, if you do not believe in climate change, you do not believe in facts or in science or empirical truths and therefore, in my humble opinion, should not be allowed to hold public office,” [famous actor Leonardo] DiCaprio stated at the livestreamed White House South By South Lawn (SXSL) event.

Last August, DeCaprio had scheduled a fancy fund-raiser for Hillary until he decided to back out “under shady circumstances” – apparently concerning “his eponymous foundation [that] could be linked to a scandal involving a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund, at the same time Hillary and Bill Clinton’s own charitable fund is under scrutiny.” Hmmm.

Oh, these wonderful famous actors who know more than all of us lowly not-famous non-actors. The science is settled. Famous actors tell us to vote for Hillary in November. Enjoy this short and very funny video showing deplorable voters responding to all those Hollywood types (h/t Sundance):