On The Inevitability Of A Trump Presidency (Fire & Fury Excerpts #1)

Everyone it seems is talking about the new Trump book by Michael Wolff: Fire and Fury. On the blogs and on MSNBC. It's entirely a work of fiction according to the subject of the book. Although they (the Trump administration) did give Mr. Wolff unfettered access to the White House. Thinking he'd write something flattering, apparently. Even though a previous tome on Rupert Murdoch was not.

Anyway, I recently acquired a digital copy and started reading yesterday (1/7/2017). What follows are some excerpts in which Wolff confirms that Trump never actually wanted to be elected president. I've heard a number of people suggest this previously. Notably Liberal Talk Radio show personality Thom Hartmann. Trump (as well as a number of the other Republican candidates for president) didn't want to be (or think they had a chance of being elected) president. They did it to raise the value of their brand.

Now, as opposed to being speculation, Wolff has confirmed that, yes, Trump's campaign was phony. In that he never wanted or expected to win the election.

Trump's longtime friend Roger Ailes like to say that if you wanted a career in television, first run for president. Now Trump, encouraged by Ailes, was floating rumors about a Trump network. It was a great future. He would come out of the campaign, Trump assured Ailes, with a far more powerful brand and untold opportunities. "This is bigger than I ever dreamed of", he told Ailes in a conversation a week before the election. "I don't think about losing because it isn't losing. We've totally won". What's more, he was already laying down his public response to losing the election: it was stolen! Donald Trump and his tiny band of campaign warriors were ready to lose with fire and fury. They were not ready to win. In politics somebody has to lose, but invariably everybody thinks they can win. And you probably can't win unless you believe that you will win - except in the Trump campaign. The leitmotif for Trump about his own campaign was how crappy it was and how everybody involved in it was a loser. He was equally convinced that the Clinton people were brilliant winners - "They've got the best and we've got the worst", he frequently said. ... "This thing", he told the Mercers, "is so fucked up". ... by every meaningful indicator, something greater than a sense of doom shadowed what Steve Bannon called "the broke-dick campaign". ...the prospect of her husband's actually becoming president was, for Melania, a horrifying one. He offered his wife a solenm guarantee: there was simply no way he would win. The Trump campaign had, perhaps less than inadvertently, replicated the scheme from Mel Brook's The Producers. (Source: Chapter 2, Trump Tower).

The chapter goes on with more about how Trump didn't want to be president and that it was all a scam. He wanted to start a TV network. Roger Ailes, interested in a comeback, had decided that he needed a Billion dollars. After the election, however, the narrative in the delusional Trump's addled brain changed. Instead of his election being something that had no chance at all of happening, now it was inevitable. A view his cult members have adopted. The people rejected "crooked Hillary".

This they believe even though, out of all the eligible voters, only around 58% bothered to vote (around half usually being the percentage). And I don't think you can say that, by not voting, these people were actually voicing their support for Trump (an argument I've heard). Given the fact that Hillary Clinton was expected to win, I'd say that of the non voters, many of them thought Hillary would be the winner (and might have voted for her if they had bothered to cast a ballot).

Trump, on the other hand, was expected to lose. People wanting Trump as president Trump had to get out and vote. Or accept the inevitability of a Hillary Clinton presidency. Indeed, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by 2.8 million votes.

However, as far as vote totals go, I don't put much stock in them as all. How many votes were thrown out by Trump ally Kris Kobach via his Interstate Crosscheck election fraud scheme? Enough to throw the electoral college "win" to Trump according to investigative journalist Greg Palast (AZ, MI and NC electoral votes would have gone to HRC if not for the huge number of voters purged from the rolls in those states due to Interstate Crosscheck/Republican voter disenfranchisement).

My point is that, while Trump may have intended to lose, he had people working on his behalf to steal the election from the rightful victor, Hillary Clinton (Vladimir Putin, James Comey and the aforementioned Kris Kobach).

Images: (L) Virtual placard found at the top of the Right-wing blog Who's Your Daddy declaring the trumper delusion of the liar-in-chief's inevitability/destiny to be potus. (R) Pushback in line with blotus lie that Wolff's book is a "work of fiction".

Note: Link to HuffPo article about the Mercers (Father Robert and Daughter Rebecka) in Fire and Fury excerpt inserted by me.

Update 1/14/2018: On the other hand, Bill Clinton did predict the presidency of a DJT-type candidate back in 1991. A candidate that presented himself as a champion of the working man via an opposition to job killing free trade deals. Deals like NAFTA (signed by Clinton) and the TPP (championed by Obama).

In that respect, Trump did "win" because the time and place was right. The "time" being after the endorsement of job killing free trade deals by two successive Democratic presidents. The place being the Rust Belt of the United States (where former Democratic voters went for Trump).

Steve Bannon, btw, was convinced that Trump would win (even if Trump was not). Because Trump had the support of the racist Whites (the base of the Republican Party) PLUS the White working class negatively affected by bad trade deals signed or championed by Democratic presidents (people who traditionally voted Democratic). See: SWTD #390.

SWTD #400

Trump Not Legitimate Prez Says Civil Rights Icon John Lewis (Speaking The Truth)

NBC News Video Description: In an exclusive interview for Meet the Press, Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said he believes Donald Trump's election is illegitimate because of Russian interference in last year's election.

I agree 100% that Trump is illegitimate (SWTD #358). However, according to Lewis, it's because of Russian interference. Sure, the Putin-ordered "influence campaign" did have an effect. But I have to ask, what about the Kasich-ordered election fraud campaign known as Interstate Crosscheck? (DSD #54).

I mean, there are numerous reasons why Trump will be an illegitimate president, and while the Russian interference is definitely up there, that an African American member of congress says it's the Russian interference but doesn't mention the election fraud? Maybe it's just me, but I find it perplexing that Democrats are essentially (continuing to) ignore massive election fraud on the Right.

Don't get me wrong, I still commend John Lewis for speaking the truth, I just think he should have spoke the FULL truth. Because, while the Russian interference was (hopefully) a one time thing, the Republican election fraud will continue. Whenever Democrats win they have to do so by turning out enough extra people to make up for all the cheating the other side is allowed to get away with?

And, YES, the Democrats walked right into Trump's trap on that one. I refer to his proclamation beforehand that there would be rigging. People assumed that he meant rigging that would help Hillary Clinton, when he was actually referring to rigging that was going to benefit him!

I mean, Kris Kobach did act as Trump's "immigration advisor". "Election rigging advisor" is more like it.

Image: An orange reality-TV buffoon running for president points at the guy who headed up (successful) efforts to rig the election in favor of said orange reality-TV buffoon. "In the photograph, taken on 11/20/2016 at Trump's golf course in New Jersey by Associated Press photographer Carolyn Kaster, Kobach is seen clutching a stack of papers and a leather folder" (Snopes: Trump's potential cabinet picks unwittingly revealed his harsh immigration proposals).

#TrumpIllegitimate.

SWTD #369

Party Over Country

The Trump camp, they were actively rooting them on. All they cared about was winning. As long as we win, we don't care. That's not America ~ Progressive Talker Stephanie Miller on the 11/23/2016 airing of her show, re Russia hacking the DNC.

With Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead now exceeding 2 million, the evidence continues to pile up that the election was stolen. As I pointed out previously, Donald Trump told us that the election was going to be rigged, and, as investigative journalist Greg Palast has reported, it was. The rigging taking the form of bumping people off the voter rolls via Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach's Interstate Crosscheck. A voter disenfranchisement scheme that "purged 1.1 million Americans of color from the voter rolls of GOP–controlled states".

Now there are reports that the vote may have been hacked. The following is an excerpt from the article "Experts calling for recount of presidential ballots in WI, MI & PA due to possible election machine hacking" from New York Magazine.

Hillary Clinton is being urged by a group of prominent computer scientists and election lawyers to call for a recount in 3 swing states won by Donald Trump... The group, which includes voting-rights attorney John Bonifaz and J. Alex Halderman, the director of the University of Michigan Center for Computer Security and Society, believes they've found persuasive evidence that results in WI, MI, and PA may have been manipulated or hacked. ... [On 11/17/2016] the activists held a conference call with Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta and campaign general counsel Marc Elias to make their case... The academics presented findings showing that in WI, Clinton received 7% fewer votes in counties that relied on electronic-voting machines compared with counties that used optical scanners and paper ballots. Based on this statistical analysis, Clinton may have been denied as many as 30k votes; she lost WI by 27k. While it's important to note the group has not found proof of hacking or manipulation, they are arguing... that the suspicious pattern merits an independent review — especially in light of the fact that the Obama WH has accused the Russian government of hacking the DNC. The Clinton camp is running out of time to challenge the election. According to one of the activists, the deadline in WI to file for a recount is [11/25]; in PA, it's [11/28]; and MI is [11/30]. Whether Clinton will call for a recount remains unclear. The academics so far have only a circumstantial case that would require not just a recount but a forensic audit of voting machines. Also complicating matters, a senior Clinton adviser said, is that the WH, focused on a smooth transfer of power, does not want Clinton to challenge the election result. (11/22/2016 by Gabriel Sherman).

Also, according to political journalist Bill Palmer the vote totals ending up the way they did are statistically suspicious.

The following is an excerpt from Palmer's DATE You're Not Just Imagining It, The Hillary Clinton Vs Donald Trump Vote Totals Do Look Rigged".

In order to believe that the official vote tallies are legitimate, you have to accept that all of the [following] legitimately happened: African-Americans in the South went from turning out in droves for HRC in the primary to not caring if she won the general election. DJT got 60-something percent of the same-day voting in FL. The polling averages were wrong for the first time in modern history. Trump beat his poll numbers despite having spent the primary season tending to fall below them. Clinton fell below her poll numbers despite having spent the primary season tending to beat them. In every state where Trump pulled off a shocking upset victory, he just happened to do it with 1% of the vote. And in an election that everyone cared particularly deeply about [turnout was down]. I can accept any one of the above things happening as an isolated fluke. I cannot accept all the above happening. And so for once in my evidence-driven career, I'm left to believe that the conspiracy theorists are right: the vote tallies are rigged.

I urge you to read the rest of the Palmer article. What I quote above is (a portion of) what Stephanie Miller read on the 11/23/2016 airing of her program (the conclusion). "I'm not a conspiratorial minded person at all" Miller said re the possible hacking of the vote. But the article from Palmer (a "top political journalist") has her convinced the election was rigged.

As am I. And, don't forget that Republicans don't believe in fair elections. They don't believe in making their case to the American people and letting the voters decide. The proof is their efforts to manipulate the vote by disenfranchising as many voters as possible (specifically those who might vote Democratic). As the (now deceased) religious Conservative Paul Weyrich ("notable as a figurehead of the New Right") said "I don't want people to vote... In fact, our leverage goes up as the voting populace goes down".

Further evidence Republicans place Party over Country is their theft of the SCOTUS appointment from Barack Obama. Obama, as the serving president at the time the vacancy occurred (when Justice Scalia died), had the right to select a replacement of his choice. Instead Congressional Republicans stonewalled in the hope that Trump would be elected.

This, even though their internal polling said Trump would likely lose. Prior to election day John McCain announced "I promise you that we will be united against any Supreme Court nominee that Hillary Clinton, if she were president, would put up". He was talking about obstructing an HRC SCOTUS nomination for 4 years! A clear example of how Republicans put Party before Country.

BTW, as for convincing the Electors to vote for HRC instead of Trump, I read on another blog this would involve "throwing out the rules of the Constitution". An absurd assertion, given the fact that (as per FairVote) "Electors are also generally free agents, as only 29 states require electors to vote as they have pledged, and many constitutional scholars believe those requirements would not stand in a court challenge".

Article 2 does not contain within it a mandate that an Elector MUST vote for the candidate they have pledged they will support. In some states the elector is (by law) required to vote for their pledged candidate, but "the constitutionality of such mandates is uncertain" (as per Wikipedia). In other words, it would be fully Constitutional for an Elector to change his or her vote (although some states fine faithless electors).

As President Obama said, Donald Trump is "uniquely unqualified" to be POTUS. And I, as Obama does, am convinced "the Republic is at risk" if Trump becomes president.

Which is why I strongly believe that every possible legal avenue that exists to prevent Donald Trump from assuming the presidency should be attempted. I pray that Hillary Clinton listens to those who are telling her the election wasn't "free and fair" and that she should call for an audit of the votes in WI, MI & PA. Or that (enough) Electors change their votes so that Trump is denied the presidency.

Denying Trump the presidency is a longshot, but we won't know if it work or not if it isn't tried. I am SICK of stolen elections, and you know Republicans will continue to cheat in future elections. Should the response of the Democrats continue to be only to pump up turnout (in order to overcome the cheating)? Why not attack on ALL fronts? The fear (I'm positive) is that HRC will be painted as a "sore loser" if she contests the results. Which is why she probably won't. And Barack Obama (per the NY Magazine excerpt) doesn't want her to.

So the Dems are just going to roll over and accept the results, even though they almost certainly aren't kosher. But the stakes are just too high. A President Trump will seek to destroy Obama's legacy and roll back rights gained under our first African American president. I say that, FOR THE SAKE OF OUR COUNTRY, we MUST fight to prevent Trump from becoming our 45th president. Because, if Trump becomes president, we will SERIOUSLY be fucked (including the rubes who voted for him).

Also, you KNOW Trump and his supporters would be raising a stink if the election had gone the other way. So why the hell should Hillary supporters stay quiet and accept the results? Because they're afraid of being labeled "sore losers"?! I will never accept that Trump was legitimately elected (SWTD #358). Even if he occupies the White House as the Orange-Buffoon-In-Chief (which he very likely will), that doesn't mean I have to accept it or shut up about the election being rigged.

Petitions You Can Sign
->Call for an audit and recount of the vote. Target: Hillary Clinton (78,160 signatures the last time I checked).
->Demand an Audit of the 2016 Presidential Election. by Verified Voting (66,038 signatures).
->Electoral College: Make Hillary Clinton President on December 19. Change.org petition. (4,621,738 supporters with a goal of 6,000,000).

See Also
->The NSA Chief Says Russia Hacked the 2016 Election. Congress Must Investigate. [Excerpt] ...the director of the NSA, Admiral Michael Rogers, was asked about the WikiLeaks release of hacked information during the campaign, and he said, "This was a conscious effort by a nation-state to attempt to achieve a specific effect". ... Russian hackers reportedly targeted state election systems in AZ and IL. ...the Russian deputy foreign minister said after the election that Russian government officials had conferred with members of Trump's campaign squad. (A former senior counterintelligence officer for a Western service sent memos to the FBI claiming that he had found evidence of a Russian intelligence operation to co opt and cultivate Trump).
->Still time for an election audit by Ron Rivest and Philip Stark. USA Today 11/18/2016. [Excerpt] ...if we just want to check whether Donald Trump won the election, an audit might examine even fewer ballots, because it could proceed in stages. First it would check the results in the states Trump won. If auditing confirms those results, there's no need to audit in the states Clinton carried: Trump really won. That means auditing about 700,000 ballots in the 29 states Trump won, about 0.5% of the ballots cast in this election.

SWTD #361

Donald Trump Will Be An Illegitimate President

I truly believe, without the Republican Voter suppression efforts, that she would have won, and perhaps did -- Progressive Talker Thom Hartmann on his eponymous radio program, 11/10/2016.

Apparently the "American People" decided that sending an orange buffoon to the White House would be a good idea. Except that Hillary Clinton is winning the popular vote. More people will end up voting for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. The 2nd time in recent history that this has happened.

Prior to Al Gore winning the popular vote in 2000, Democrat Grover Cleveland received the most votes but lost to Republican Benjamin Harrison (in 1888). A popular-vote-winner not winning the White House has happened 4 times in total. And they were ALL Democrats! Now Hillary Clinton will be the 5th Democrat to win a majority of the votes but not serve as president.

george w. bush was, in my opinion, an illegitimate president. Because his brother, as the governor of FL, along with his Secretary of State Katherine Harris, cheated. Cheated by bumping legitimate African American voters off the rolls. This was accomplished by way of ChoicePoint, a company that produced a list of "felons" to remove from the rolls. This they did by matching names of FL voters with the names of felons in other states.

If the name matched (even if the name was a common one and even if the middle initials differed), the "felon" was "scrubbed". They weren't allowed to vote because they had the same name as someone in another state who had been convicted of a felony, in other words (Greg Plast reported on this in his 2002 article "The Great Florida Ex-Con Game").

This time around the voter suppression technique was carried out by Kris Kobach, the Secretary of State of Kansas. And, instead of "ChoicePoint", this time the voter disenfranchisement was carried out via "Crosscheck". Crosscheck is a computer program that compares lists of voters in multiple states. If a "duplicate" is found the assumption is made that someone is trying to vote twice (voter fraud), and both names are struck from the rolls.

No matter that MANY people across the United States have the same name. Even the same middle initial. But just the same first and last is good enough to get you removed from the voter list (Greg Palast reported on this election thievery method with his pre-election article "The GOP's Stealth War Against Voters").

But is anyone talking about the tens of thousands of voters losing their vote because their name is similar to a voter in another state? Hell, no! Instead the pundits are talking about how the pollsters got it "wrong". Totally ignoring GOP vote theft. As I predicted.

Donald tRump TOLD us the election would be rigged! He was right. The election was rigged. In his favor. But he said it was rigged against him, outraging the establishment Left. Donald Trump MUST accept the election results. To NOT do so would be unthinkable.

And so, When Hillary Clinton "lost", she quickly conceded. This was Trump's plan, I believe. Talk up phony "voter fraud" and imply he might not accept the election results. Get everyone riled up about how outrageous it would be if he contested losing, then when he "won", Hillary would be obligated to bow out fast.

Me, I'm not sure that, even WITH the cheating, Donald Trump would have won. A couple of things put him over the top, I think. The first would be what Van Jones termed "white-lash", which would be the Right's resentment that a Black man was elected to the White House. Twice. They stewed over that for 8 years. tRump harnessed their resentment.

But, in a democracy, that's "fair". A candidate can appeal to the voter's biases for their vote. Muslims are terrorists. Mexicans are rapists. Women need to be punished for exercising their right to chose murdering babies. Blacks are violent criminals and the police need to crack some heads shoot to kill. "Transgendered" men are sex predators who want to rape your daughters and wives in public restrooms. Gay people flaunt their immorality (by getting "gay married") and lure straight kids into the "homosexual lifestyle". Or just gross people out.

Second, Donald Trump ran to the Left of Hillary on trade. He came out against the job-killing TPP early on (as did Bernie Sanders). HRC, reading the tea leaves, decided she needed to be anti-TPP as well. But many didn't believe her flip-flop was genuine. Or was at least suspicious (myself included). This probably fed into the "untrustworthy" meme. Although Trump's promises of bringing back all our manufacturing jobs is very unlikely (IMO). Maybe we can bring some of them back.

But stemming the tide by rejecting the TPP is a no-brainer. Trump got that. None of that is "cheating". Appealing to the bigotry of the right isn't cheating either. Or appealing to their sexism. A woman can't be president. Trump went HARD for the deplorable vote. That's what the Right does. Although usually on the down-low. Trump is the first candidate in recent memory to openly and brazenly appeal to the alt-Right.

Anyway (except for running to the Left on trade), all of that is mostly par for the course for a Republican presidential candidate (except Trump did it MORE). As is the voter disenfranchisement (ChoicePoint, CrossCheck). Republicans cheat. Election fraud, not voter fraud (which mostly does not exist). But I'm convinced Hillary Clinton STILL would have won. Despite these hurdles. And despite being an imperfect candidate. Which is why something extra was needed.

Enter FBI director James Comey. Initially he said "no way" in regards to indicting Secretary Clinton for having a private server. Because, you know, everyone does it. The guy who had her job under gwb had a private email address (Colin Powell). Heck, the bush administration "lost" 22 million emails.

Yet nobody raised a stink over what the bush administration did. Even though many suspected they were covering up crimes. The fact that they cooked up a strategy to fool the American people into getting behind an illegal war in Iraq. And the fact that Alberto Gonzales fired US attorneys for not prosecuting bogus "voter fraud" cases.

But Hillary sent "classified" material via email! Oh my God! A mistake, as opposed to covering up actual crimes. "Lock her up", the rubes chanted. Chris Christie held a mock trial during the RNC convention and "convicted" Hillary. Obviously that bullshit damaged her campaign.

But then, just when everyone thought it was over... surprise! Comey found more emails (on a laptop shared by Anthony Weiner and his wife Huma Abedin) and announced more "investigating" was necessary. On 10/26/2016 Rudy Giuliani gleefully revealed he knew Comey would reveal an October surprise shortly. "You'll see", the scumbag coyly replied when pressed for details by CNN's Don Lemon.

Clear election meddling, IMO. Yet Chris Matthews and the msnbc stooges blather on and on about how they all had it so wrong. Legitimizing his win. I don't accept that the pollsters had it ALL wrong. Perhaps they overestimated the ease with which Hillary Clinton would cruise into the White House.

But, as opposed to "getting it so wrong", I think this was more a case of the usual Republican election thievery, coupled with meddling by Russia, WikiLeaks and the FBI. That is was what cost Hillary Clinton the election. And gave the presidency to an orange racist misogynist buffoon that, when he began his campaign, everyone laughed at. I'm not laughing now. I'm terrified. The Trump recession could cost me big league.

In any case, I predict that when the investigative reporters (people like Greg Palast) dig into this, they will find that my take on what happened is correct. More or less they will find that, while Hillary Clinton was a flawed candidate, the other side took advantage of Hillary's "flaws" (her email scandal), and took her down via illegal election meddling.

Even though Comey said (shortly after announcing the discovery of the new emails, followed by the Right speculating about an indictment and prison time... this time, for SURE) that all the emails were duplicates and that his original decision to not prosecute stood, the DAMAGE had already been done.

According to Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight, "while Clinton's chances were slightly declining already after she came off her post-debate peak, the rate of decline began to accelerate a couple of days after Comey [as per] post-Comey polls".

Add it all up - Trump running to the Left of Clinton on trade, the fact that HRC was a flawed candidate, the usual Republican election disenfranchisement and voter intimidation, and (lastly) the election meddling (by Russia, WikiLeaks and the FBI) and Hillary Clinton loses an election she SHOULD have won.

And, yeah, it's the illegal meddling of Comey that I think broke the camel's back. It was too much for some voters. As Glenn Beck predicted (DSB #60). I am listening to MSNBC as I type this. Earlier something caught my ear and I stopped and typed it into a text document. "The late deciders moved to Trump by 5 points". Someone (I don't recall who) said. "Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States", sez Matthews. Morning Joke and sidekick Mika (one of the pundits who gave Trump so much free airtime) did the same (while a banner scrolled across the bottom of the screen that said "The American way: the peaceful transition of power"). It's one the "hallmarks of our Democracy" according to Barack Obama (who will see his legacy destroyed in the coming years).

It sickens me that the Left is working so HARD to legitimize this doofus. I reject this legitimization. Donald Trump was the one telling us the election would be stolen from him and that he wasn't going to accept the results! Now the institutional Left is bowing to him? Not me! I say he will be an illegitimate president. Not because I'm a "sore loser" or a "cry baby" (as a troll said in an unpublished comment). But because they cheated! And more than usual.

The Republican voter disenfranchisement crap seemingly being the norm now. But what Comey did? That was surely not normal. Also quite illegal, I think. I mean, that is what the Hatch Act says. But clearly nobody cares. Whatever it takes to win is OK now. At least if the candidate in question is a Republican.

Video: Enjoy this video from 2/9/2013. Bill Maher makes fun of the birther Donald. Trump was a JOKE as a private citizen and will be a JOKE as president. He will not fulfill his campaign promises, except to repeal the ACA. Something that will HURT many of his idiot supporters. I doubt he'll blow up NAFTA. The TPP will likely be passed by the lame duck Congress. What will Trump do then? Republicans have traditionally supported job-killing trade deals. Because they enrich the oligarchs they serve. Trump will be a one term president (5:37).



Bill Maher: "I don't know what's in this man's head. It's like they took Lenny from Of Mice and Men and made him a billionaire". (re Trump's lawsuit against the comedian for saying his father was an orangutan. Comment from the 2/12/2013 airing of Conan O'Brien's TBS talkshow).

#notmypresident. #trumpIllegitimate.

 swtd-358.