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January 24 - February 4, 2019
After I graduated from Central State University with a bachelor’s degree in broadcast journalism, I continued my education at Howard University,
Throughout the 2016 campaign and his presidency, many pundits have talked about the dangers of “normalizing” Trump’s offensive, inappropriate, provocative comments and behavior. But for as long as I’ve known the man, being offensive, inappropriate, and off-color is normal for him.
Barack Obama’s presidency incensed Donald Trump. In his mind, Obama wasn’t just black, he was foreign, with a father from Kenya. He was suspicious of Obama’s otherness, which is an actual term in the study of “whiteness.” The otherness wasn’t just being black; it was being African. Foreign. Exotic. Other. By Barack Obama becoming president, he made Donald Trump look like a fool. Trump took it personally, that the nation chose Obama over him, even though he wasn’t running.
He claimed it was part of his opposition research, which everyone did. Since he was contemplating a serious run for the presidency in 2012—just like he’d said in 2004 and 2008—he considered it all fair game, just what you had to do to compete.
was in that moment, in that room, that Donald Trump made the decision, not only that he would run for president in 2016, but also that he would take his revenge on Obama’s humiliating him in front of all those influential people.
If Trump could, against every odd there was, become president, the only item on his to-do list would be to erase the legacy of Barack Obama by undoing his policies.
I believed then that Donald Trump was intentionally pitting races against each other for political gain, just as he’d pitted races against each other on The Apprentice for ratings.
What disturbed me the most about the Manafort situation was the lack of vetting. This was a major party presidential campaign, and it seemed like no one was being sufficiently legally checked out before being put in leadership roles.
It became immediately apparent that Trump lacked basic comprehension about the very complicated relationship between the United States, the former Soviet Union, and modern Russia.
Remember, Donald met her at a club while he was with another woman and not yet divorced from Marla Maples. I don’t think that Melania ever had an expectation that Donald was going to be faithful.
In fact, I lay some of the blame for Hillary’s low turnout on those assurances from the media that her victory was a sure thing. Voter behavior indicates that if voters believe their candidate has it in the bag, they will not, for example, take off work to go vote and lose a day’s wages, believing their vote isn’t needed. The press actually demotivated her base. If they’d reported the truth, that the race was very close, there is no doubt in my mind that they would have turned out for her.
Paula White is a televangelist and spiritual adviser to Donald Trump. Her ministry was one of six that had been investigated by the Senate Committee on Finance for improprieties; the ministries teach the controversial “prosperity gospel” that equates material wealth with Christian faith, and the ministers’ lavish spending, coupled with their churches’ tax-exempt status, raised questions. White refused to cooperate with the investigation, and no penalties were levied against her when it concluded in 2011.
Donald Trump has no knowledge of the Bible at all. It might as well be a paper brick to him. “We love the Bible. It’s the best,” he said during the campaign.
Jeff Sessions (whom Trump called Benjamin Button behind his back)
We went from Barack Obama, a scholar, an academic, to Donald Trump, who was just this side of functionally literate.
They make excuses for his faults and justify their own complicity, as loyal cult followers do.
his real agenda is to ensure his legacy for decades to come in the judiciary. And if that doesn’t scare you, it should. He’s quietly succeeding at this.
Any paper that goes to the president must pass first to staff secretary Rob Porter or his executive assistant, per the Presidential Records Act, so anything he touched would be documented and archived.
he would pocket sensitive notes or that once, after a meeting in the Oval with Michael Cohen, I saw him put a note in his mouth. Since Trump was ever the germaphobe, I was shocked he appeared to be chewing and swallowing the paper.
Trump constructs his own reality to make himself look good, even in horrible situations, and then he repeats it over and over again until his distortion becomes the only version he knows.
The distinction I’d made between racial and racist, with regard to Trump, was a deception I had used to convince myself.
I believe that Donald Trump is physically ill. His terrible health habits have caught up with him. His refusal to exercise (except golf). His addiction to Big Macs and fried chicken. His daily tanning bed sessions (he prefers to do it in the morning, so he “looks good” all day).
Pence was silent on the issue. He and his team are simply biding their time until Trump is impeached or resigns. He is definitely a swamp creature, opening the White House doors to lobbyists and being controlled by donors of his various campaigns for Congress and the governorship of Indiana.