"Trump is a Dangerously Stupid, Racist, Sexist, Fascist Liar: Part 3" is a 2024 election update.
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Many of my sources are at the end of the document. The rest coming soon.
Donald Trump is corrupt. Trump"s own ally Tulsi Gabbard called him corrupt, unqualified, and a bitch.
On February 16, 2024, New York judge Arthur Engoron ordered Trump "to pay $355 million in penalties, finding that the former president lied about his wealth for years in a sweeping civil fraud verdict…" "Trump, his company and executives, including his two eldest sons" were found liable "for scheming to dupe banks, insurers and others by inflating his wealth on financial statements." Engoron wrote that Trump's "complete lack of contrition and remorse borders on pathological" and "the frauds found here leap off the page and shock the conscience."
Trump has continually promised to show his tax returns like every other presidential candidate, but that was a lie, and he still has never shown them. Meanwhile in January 2023, Trump's CFO Allen Weisselberg was sentenced for tax fraud, and Trump's companies were fined $1.6 million for tax fraud. Weisselberg was later also sentenced for perjury.
I wrote in 2020 that Trump accepted foreign money through his hotel. In October 2022 it was reported that during his presidency, Trump systematically overcharged the Secret Service to use his hotels, up to $1,185 per night.
Trump's buddies are also corrupt:
So far in 2024 Trump's campaign has accepted $120M from Elon Musk. In addition, right now, Musk is running a transparent vote buying scheme where he offers voters the chance to win $1M if they register to vote and sign a petition endorsing the 1st and 2nd amendment. The Justice Department has warned Musk that this scheme "may be illegal," but the law is clear - paying people to register to vote, or accepting the money, is a crime.
Wayne LaPierre, longtime vice-president of the NRA, claimed credit for Trump's 2016 victory. Meanwhile in February 2024, a jury found he misspent $5.4M of the NRA's money to fuel his lavish lifestyle and ordered him to repay $4.3M. LaPierre resigned from the NRA.
Trump's lackey Ken Paxton, the Texas Attorney General, is corrupt: 'Paxton has been under indictment since 2015 on state securities fraud charges relating to activities prior to taking office; he has pleaded not guilty. Additionally, in October 2020, several high-level assistants in Paxton's office accused him of "bribery, abuse of office and other crimes."'
Trump's current businesses are also dubious:
Trump's largest current business, Trump Media & Technology Group Corp (i.e., Truth Social), is a meme stock. As I write this, it has a market capitalization of $7.6B, but Forbes has repeatedly pointed out that Trump Social's intrinsic value is $0.
Trump has sold millions of dollars of digital trading card NFTs, which absurdly show Trump as a superhero, boxer, soldier, etc. NFTs are of dubious value - as of September 2023, "over 95% of NFT collections had zero monetary value."
Trump has said crypto is a "scam," "not money," has values based on "thin air," and facilitates drug crime. But Trump is now promoting "his family's upcoming cryptocurrency platform", called "The DeFiant Ones."
Trump's other recent ventures include pimping "God Bless the USA" bibles made in China, $100,000 "TRUMP" watches, Trump sneakers, and Trump coins that cost $100 but have only $30 worth of silver in them.
Donald Trump is corrupt.
The week after Trump was inaugurated, he raised the cost of memberships at his Mar-a-Lago resort from $100,000 to $200,000, to profit from and sell access to the presidency. He also takes payments from foreign governments, via his hotel.
Trump promised to "absolutely" release his tax returns like every previous president, but that was a straight-up lie, and almost four years into his presidency he is still refusing to release them. The New York Times uncovered many of his returns this year, which showed that he's an incompetent businessman who loses so much money that he pays no taxes most years.
Trump has also sued to prevent the release of his information from his biggest creditor, Deutsche Bank. Trump personally owes Deutsche Bank more than $360 million, and it's a dangerous conflict of interest for the president to owe a foreign organization millions of dollars. But in addition, Deutsche Bank admits to laundering billions in Russian money, and "anti-money laundering specialists in the bank detected what appeared to be suspicious transactions involving entities controlled by Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner" including "money moving from Kushner Companies to Russian individuals."
Going the other way, buying politicians instead of being bought himself, Trump has publicly bragged about buying politicians. For instance, at a televised 2015 Republican primary debate, he said he'd bought most of the other candidates on the stage. Only Marco Rubio and John Kasich denied it - amazingly, complaining that Trump hadn't given them money.
Trump's personal circle is also corrupt. His former lawyer Michael Cohen and his former advisor and friend Roger Stone are convicted felons. Another extraordinary example is former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who was impeached in 2009 for trying to sell the Senate seat that Barack Obama vacated, and was sent to prison. Trump commuted his sentence earlier this year, saying that Blagojevic had been on Trump's Celebrity Apprentice and "seemed like a very nice person."
The Trump administration is also corrupt. For instance, Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort and his former national security advisor Michael Flynn are convicted felons, and Trump's campaign CEO Steve Bannon was arrested in August for "conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering."
Trump has moved to cover up corruption in his administration. Trump fired U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara for investigating his Health Secretary Tom Price, for pushing legislation that benefited companies that he traded in. Trump fired four investigators general, whose job is to seek out fraud and criminal activity in government. These included State Department inspector general Steve Linick, who was investigating illegal arms sales to Saudi Arabia by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Trump is going to "drain the swamp"? Grow up.
Donald Trump is a draft dodger who routinely disrespects our military and war dead.
I wrote in 2020 that Trump called American war dead "suckers" and "losers," based on a story in the Atlantic. I argued that Trump would call war dead losers because he'd called American war hero John McCain a "fucking loser." In 2023, Trump's chief of staff John Kelly confirmed all of Trump's comments in a statement to CNN. CNN reports:
'"What can I add that has not already been said?" Kelly said, when asked if he wanted to weigh in on his former boss in light of recent comments made by other former Trump officials. "A person that thinks those who defend their country in uniform, or are shot down or seriously wounded in combat, or spend years being tortured as POWs are all 'suckers' because 'there is nothing in it for them.' A person that did not want to be seen in the presence of military amputees because 'it doesn't look good for me.' A person who demonstrated open contempt for a Gold Star family – for all Gold Star families – on TV during the 2016 campaign, and rants that our most precious heroes who gave their lives in America's defense are 'losers' and wouldn't visit their graves in France.'
And:
'"There is nothing more that can be said," Kelly concluded. "God help us."'
During the final US withdrawal from Afghanistan under Biden, on August 26 2021, a bomb exploded during an evacuation at Kabul's airport. "182 people were killed, including 169 Afghan civilians and 13 members of the United States military." Biden 'made a public address following the attack. He honored the US service members who were killed, calling them "heroes" and saying they lost their lives "in the service of liberty", and also expressed deep sorrow for the Afghan victims.'
On the third anniversary of the disaster, August 26 2024, Trump visited Arlington National Cemetery to exploit the deaths for his campaign. Political campaigning in Arlington is illegal, but Trump's people "verbally abused and pushed aside" an Arlington official who tried to stop them.
"A source with knowledge of the incident said the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump staffers from filming and photographing in a section where recent U.S. casualties are buried. The source said Arlington officials had made clear that only cemetery staff members would be authorized to take photographs or film in the area, known as Section 60.
When the cemetery official tried to prevent Trump campaign staff from entering Section 60, campaign staff verbally abused and pushed the official aside, according to the source."
Afterwards, Trump's campaign spokesman disparaged the Arlington official as "suffering from a mental health episode."
Donald Trump is a draft dodger - his doctor faked a "bone spurs" diagnosis so he could evade the draft during the Vietnam war.
More recently, Trump 'cancelled a visit to pay respects at an American military cemetery outside Paris in 2018 because he thought the dead soldiers were "losers" and "suckers" and did not want the rain to mess up his hair.'
Did Trump really call American war dead "losers"? Absolutely - he made similar comments about Vietnam war hero John McCain in 2015: "He's not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured." Later in 2018, he said he wouldn't support McCain's funeral because McCain was a "fucking loser."
It's sad and telling that Republicans overwhelmingly support Donald Trump (85% Republican support), a draft dodger who called American war dead losers, but turned on John McCain (41% Republican support), an actual American war hero.
In 2020 I wrote that Trump sexually assaulted 19 women, including E. Jean Carroll. Carroll and Trump have sued each other since then; Carroll won each case and has been awarded almost $90M.
"On May 9, 2023, a jury of six men and three women found Trump liable for sexual abuse, battery and defamation…The jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse in that he nonconsensually digitally penetrated her. Carroll was awarded $5 million in damages."
The jury found that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll but didn't "rape" her, and Trump sued Carroll for saying he raped her. However, Trump lost the case when the judge ruled "that Carroll's rape claim was substantially true."
Carroll then sued Trump for defamation and won. "...a jury found Trump liable for $18.3 million in compensation for emotional and reputational harm, and $65 million in punitive damages, totaling $83.3 million."
More recently, Stacey Williams, "a former Sports Illustrated swimsuit model," "is alleging that former President Donald Trump groped her in the 1990s, in what she believes was an attempt to show off for Jeffrey Epstein."
Trump's spokesperson denied the allegations. However, Trump famously bragged about doing exactly this to other women: "You know I'm automatically attracted to beautiful...I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything....Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."
Trump sexually assaulted 19 women, including E. Jean Carroll, who he raped in a department store in the mid-1990s, and many other women who described forced kissing and fondling.
Did Trump do it? Yes, he openly bragged about assaulting women in the infamous Access Hollywood tape, saying "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet. Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star they let you do it. You can do anything….Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything."
Trump bragged about hitting on a married woman in the same tape, saying "I moved on her, and I failed. I'll admit it. I did try and fuck her, she was married….I moved on her like a bitch. I couldn't get there and she was married."
Trump was also out screwing porn stars while his wife Melania was home with their newborn baby Barron. Trump married Melania in 2005 and their boy Barron was born in 2006. That same year, 2006, Trump had affairs with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playmate Karen McDougal, who was with Trump "many dozens of times."
For Stormy Daniels, "Trump's spokespersons have denied the affair and accused Daniels of lying" but in 2016 "Donald Trump's personal lawyer Michael Cohen paid Daniels $130,000 in hush money to deny that she had an affair with Trump a decade earlier in 2006." For Karen McDougal, American Media Inc. (AMI), owner of the National Enquirer, bought the rights to her story for $150,000, but then buried it in a "catch and kill" attempt to keep it secret. Trump and Cohen discussed repaying AMI the money in a recording that surfaced later. Cohen is now in prison on charges stemming from the hush money payments, including violating campaign finance laws at Trump's direction.
Are Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal lying? No - judge for yourself by watching their interviews, linked below. Is Trump lying? Yes - he's a deer in the headlights as he lies about the Stormy Daniels payment, in the video linked below.
Trump was also friends with and supported pedophiles. He was the "wingman" of Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire who was arrested for sex trafficking underage girls and committed suicide in prison. Trump said: "I've known Jeff for fifteen years. Terrific guy. He's a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it – Jeffrey enjoys his social life." Trump explicitly supported pedophile Roy Moore for Senator from Alabama, even as the wider Republican party abandoned Moore in droves.
Generally Trump is a misogynist. He called Rosie O'Donnell and other women "fat pigs." After Fox News' Megyn Kelly asked him about the comments at a presidential debate, he attacked Kelly by referring to her menstruation saying, "There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever." He talked about his own daughter Ivanka in "crude and demeaning ways," including calling her a "piece of ass." He 'publicly shamed a former beauty queen...for her "disgusting" sexual past and then — in one of presidential history's more bizarre moments — encouraged Americans to watch a "sex tape" he said would support his case.' He said his Republican primary opponent Carly Fiorina was too ugly to vote for.
After all this, evangelical Christians and other Republicans distanced themselves from Trump, right? No, as I write this, Trump's job approval among Republicans is 95%.
Donald Trump is a racist. George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, and Trump Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany have all called out Trump's racism, and those are just the Republicans.
Wikipedia covers Trump's racism in detail, much better than I could, including the last four years and the 2024 presidential campaign. However, I'll just call out a few things since 2020.
I wrote in 2020 that Trump's lie that Obama wasn't born in the U.S. was a racist dog-whistle to Republicans who resented an African-American running for president. Since then Trump has similarly claimed that Kamala Harris and Nikki Haley, both non-white, aren't American citizens. Regarding Kamala Harris, Trump amazingly told Black journalists in July that Harris has only "turned Black" a few years ago and that "I think somebody should look into that," which was an attack on Harris's Indian and Black heritage.
I wrote in 2020 that Trump's calls for the Central Park Five to be executed were racist. Although the five were exonerated by DNA evidence, Trump reiterated his debunked accusations against them at the 2024 presidential debate with Kamala Harris, leading the five to sue Trump in October 2024. (Trump actually accused them of murder at the debate, although the crime in question was not murder.)
Much of Trump's racism is anti-immigrant. For example, Trump claimed at the debate that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, which is a classic racist trope. Local officials in Springfield debunked the claim but: "The pet-eating claims spread amid existing racial tensions in Springfield, where recent legal Haitian immigration strained some public resources. There had been previous incidents of hostility towards the local Haitian community and unfounded local rumors of Haitians stealing waterfowl for food. After the claims spread, dozens of bomb threats targeted Springfield schools, hospitals, public buildings, and businesses, often accompanied by anti-Haitian messages."
Trump also hangs with racists. In 2020 I mentioned e.g. Trump's buddy Rosanne Barr, who lost her network show after repeatedly calling Black officials apes. Since then Trump supporter and Dilbert creator Scott Adams has been dropped by "newspapers across the country" after a rant in which he 'urged white people to "get the hell away from Black people"' and 'labeled Black people a "hate group."'
Chris Christie called Trump out in 2022 for his dinner with white supremacist Nick Fuentes and anti-semite Kanye West. Christie said, "This is just another example of an awful lack of judgment from Donald Trump, which, combined with his past poor judgments, make him an untenable general election candidate for the Republican Party in 2024."
Trump also hangs with racist Laura Loomer, who he called a "free spirit," but is 'well-known for her anti-Muslim rhetoric and for spreading conspiracy theories, including that the 9/11 attacks were an "inside job" carried out by the US government.' This even shocked anti-semite and "Jewish space laser" moron Marjorie Taylor Greene, who called Loomer "appalling and extremely racist."
Donald Trump is a racist.
As a racist, Trump is probably best known for calling Mexicans rapists at his campaign kickoff in 2015, and for calling white supremacists "very fine people" after the infamous Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Similarly at the first 2020 presidential debate, Trump refused to tell the white supremacist group Proud Boys to "stand down," and instead told them to "stand by." Holy shit.
But don't forget Trump's birther lie that the first African-American president, Barack Obama, wasn't born in the United States - a racist dog whistle. Before that, in 1989, Trump took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the execution of the Central Park Five, African-Americans who were falsely accused of killing a white woman. In the ad, Trump said that "I want to hate these muggers and murderers." Before that, in 1973 and again in 1978, the US Department of Justice sued Trump for "discrimination against African Americans in their renting practices." During that time, 'Elyse Goldweber, the Justice Department lawyer tasked with taking Trump's deposition, has stated that during a coffee break Trump said to her directly, "You know, you don't want to live with them either."'
Even some Republicans have called out Trump's racism. In response to Trump's Unite the Right comments, former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush issued a joint statement saying "America must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism, and hatred in all forms." Paul Ryan said that a comment Trump made about "an Indiana-born judge with Mexican heritage" was "the textbook definition of a racist comment." Colin Powell called out Trump as a racist and liar, among many other things, on State of the Union with Jake Tapper.
Even some in Trump's own administration say Trump is a racist. Trump's current White House Press Secretary, Kayleigh McEnany called him out as a "hateful" "racist" after he called Mexicans rapists. Elizabeth Neumann, a former official in Trump's DHS, said "The fact that he continues to not be able to just point-blank say, 'I condemn White supremacy.' It boggles the mind."
Trump surrounds himself with other racists. Trump's vice president, Mike Pence, refused to simply say "black lives matter" in a television interview. Trump's first Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, was called out as a racist by Coretta Scott King. Trump supporter Roseanne Barr was forced off her own show after repeatedly calling black Obama officials "apes."
The wider Republican party is also racist. Conservative David Brooks said: "...Donald Trump is playing for the white identity party...can we side with a guy who's constantly dragging us into racial identity politics over and over again in a way that becomes offensive. I've been a conservative for over thirty years, going to all these magazines. I never used to hear racial stuff at conservative gatherings. But now it's suddenly become very hard to be a Republican and not be somehow associated with something racially reprehensible."
A simple look at the Republican party is also damning. If you look at the House Democrats' face page, it's representative of the country, whereas the House Republicans' page looks like an apartheid party. As I write this, William Hurd is the only black Republican in the House, and he isn't running for re-election on Tuesday. Similarly, Trump's White House interns also look like an apartheid party.
Jimmy Kimmel recently told MSNBC that Trump is dangerous and stupid. I want to say though, I've been calling Trump out as dangerously stupid since 2017.
Of course the most dangerously stupid things Trump has done are the January 6th insurrection, systematically lying about the 2020 election, and generally undermining faith in our elections. But I'll cover these under "Trump is a fascist" and "Trump is a pathological liar."
The most recent dangerously stupid thing that Trump has said is that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH were eating Springfield's pets. Trump's stupidity led to "dozens of bomb threats targeted Springfield schools, hospitals, public buildings, and businesses, often accompanied by anti-Haitian messages." See "Trump is a racist" for more.
Trump has embraced QAnon, the dangerously stupid conspiracy theory. "Their core belief is that a cabal of Satanic, cannibalistic child molesters is operating a global child sex trafficking ring that conspired against president Donald Trump. QAnon has direct roots in Pizzagate, an Internet conspiracy theory that appeared one year earlier, but also incorporates elements of many different conspiracy theories and unifies them into a larger interconnected conspiracy theory."
Trump amplified QAnon's dumb messaging, re-posting "dozens of recent Q-related posts." 'Pressed on QAnon theories that Trump allegedly is saving the nation from a satanic cult of child sex traffickers, he claimed ignorance but asked, "Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"'
In 2020 I wrote that Trump stupidly "refused to rule out a nuclear attack on Europe, nearly all of which are NATO allies we're sworn to defend." Now Trump has stupidly said that he would let Putin attack NATO, and even encourage him to attack. The Atlantic correctly said of this: "Not so long ago, many Americans—and especially most Republicans—would have considered anyone supporting such a view to be little more than a deranged and hateful anti-American fanatic."
Trump later stupidly praised Putin's invasion of Ukraine, which is analogous to Hitler's occupation of the Sudetenland: "I went in yesterday and there was a television screen, and I said, 'This is genius.' Putin declares a big portion of Ukraine — Putin declares it as independent. Oh, that's wonderful."
I wrote in 2020 that Trump stupidly said that global warming was a Chinese hoax. Now I find, he also stupidly said that windmills cause cancer, "for which there is no scientific backing." Wikipedia lists the claim, wind turbine syndrome, among the many stupid "Conspiracy theories promoted by Donald Trump."
Besides all of this, does Trump have the cognitive abilities to be president? Well, Trump has taken a cognitive test, and he said, "I took a cognitive test, and I aced it. Doc Ronny — Doc Ronny Johnson." Of course the doctor is actually Ronny Jackson. Similarly, Trump thinks that Apple CEO Tim Cook is named "Tim Apple." At a rally two weeks ago, Trump abruptly canceled Q&A, and stunned everyone by dancing onstage for 40 minutes to Ava Maria and YMCA.
Donald Trump is dangerously stupid.
Trump's own people have said it. Trump's former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called him a "moron," while Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former chief of staff Reince Priebus, and former Chief of Staff John Kelly all called Trump "an idiot." 'Former economic adviser Gary Cohn said Trump was "dumb as shit."' Trump's former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis 'said Trump had the understanding of "a fifth- or sixth-grader" while his former campaign CEO Steve Bannon said he was "like an 11-year-old child."
More specifically though, Trump has dangerously stupid opinions on COVID, global warming, and nuclear proliferation, among other things.
On the virus, Trump ridicules masks and social distancing. As a result, Stanford researchers say that Trump's own campaign rallies, where people don't wear masks or socially distance, have caused 30,000 cases of coronavirus and 800 deaths.
Trump said the virus would "miraculously" go away, but he soon became sick himself, and many around him also tested positive, including his wife Melania, Chris Christie, Hope Hicks, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and Kellyanne Conway.
Incredibly, Trump suggested treating coronavirus by injecting disinfectant, a poison, which led to a spike in calls to emergency hotlines and poison control centers in Maryland, Michigan, Tennessee, Illinois, and New York City. Health experts said that would be "dangerous and lethal" and Lysol had to issue "a warning against use of its products internally."
Trump also attacks his own experts at the NIH and CDC because medical fact doesn't align with his campaign lies. Trump called Anthony Fauchi, the head of his own Coronavirus Task Force, an "idiot" and a "disaster." But in fact, Fauchi is "one of the world's leading experts on infectious diseases" and "one of the most trusted medical figures in the United States," and AIDS activist Larry Kramer called Fauchi the "the only true and great hero" of the AIDS crisis. This contrasts strongly with a moron (again, Rex Tillerson's word) who tells people to inject disinfectant.
Trump also stopped funding the World Health Organization during the crisis. Bill Gates, whose foundation works to shape global health policy, said Trump's decision was "as dangerous as it sounds" and tweeted that WHO's "work is slowing the spread of Covid-19 and if that work is stopped no other organization can replace them. The world needs @WHO now more than ever."
On climate change, scientists at NASA, the National Academy of Sciences, and the American Medical Association are unanimous that climate change is dangerous and man-made. But Trump stupidly tweeted "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive."
Trump also started the United States withdrawal from the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change mitigation. Scientists condemned the move, including Stephen Hawking, who said Trump's decision "will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children." Others were less diplomatic, with Bill McKibben (who wrote the first book on climate change) calling the move "a stupid and reckless decision—our nation's dumbest act since launching the war in Iraq."'
On nuclear proliferation, Trump stupidly encouraged nuclear proliferation, saying "let it be an arms race" with Russia and saying that Japan (history's only victim of a nuclear attack) should develop nuclear weapons. Incredibly, Trump refused to rule out a nuclear attack on Europe, nearly all of which are NATO allies we're sworn to defend.
Trump is also a conspiracy theorist. He believes that Ted Cruz's father helped assassinate JFK based on a story from the National Enquirer, the most ridiculed grocery store tabloid in America. Trump said: "This was a magazine that, in many respects, should be well respected....I mean if that was The New York Times, they would have gotten Pulitzer Prizes for their reporting."
The people around Trump are also dangerously stupid. He appointed idiot Rick Perry to head the Department of Energy, when Perry was already infamous for not knowing what the Department of Energy did or even remembering its name. Trump appointed his HUD secretary, Ben Carson, just a few days after Carson himself argued he was unqualified to run a major organization. Even Trump's wife Melania was caught obviously plagiarizing swaths of her Republican convention speech from Michelle Obama's Democratic convention speech eight years before.
Bragging about his Ivy League education, Trump infamously said, "I know words, I have the best words."
Donald Trump is a pathological liar. He literally lies more than he tells the truth.
Presidents lie. George H.W. Bush said "Read my lips, no new taxes." Clinton said "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." However, Trump is the only American president who has orchestrated a continual campaign of easily disprovable lies with the explicit goal of overthrowing the democracy we live in.
I wrote in 2020: 'On the election, Trump has lied warning of a "rigged" election and attacking mail-in voting as fraudulent, creating a story to fight the election result when he loses. In the days after the election, he'll lie saying mail-in votes being counted after election day aren't valid.'
That did happen, although his lies also went far beyond mail-in votes. Within days of the election, "President Donald Trump staged a corrosive and potentially dangerous attempt at undermining the US election on Thursday, baselessly claiming the presidency was being stolen from underneath him as vote counts showed his path to victory disappearing."
In the four years since, Trump has waged a continual campaign of lies about how the election was stolen, all based on nothing. Wikipedia sums it up: 'Trump and his allies used the "big lie" propaganda technique to promote false claims and conspiracy theories asserting the election was stolen by means of rigged voting machines, electoral fraud and an international conspiracy. Trump pressed Department of Justice leaders to challenge the results and publicly state the election was corrupt. However, the attorney general, director of National Intelligence, and director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency – as well as some Trump campaign staff – dismissed these claims. State and federal judges, election officials, and state governors also determined the claims were baseless.'
Others stupidly joined in Trump's election lies. Fox News paid Dominion Voting Systems $787M for knowingly broadcasting lies about Dominion's voting machines and the election. Trump's lawyer Rudolph Guinliani lied attacking election workers, and has now lost his house and most of his other property as a penalty. JD Vance, Trump's VP candidate, once called Trump "America's Hitler" but now refuses to admit that Trump lost the 2020 election.
Donald Trump is a pathological liar.
First, Trump's own people say he lies. Trump's sister Maryanne said, "His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God....The lies. Holy shit." Trump's former chief of staff John Kelly said that "The depths of his dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else. He is the most flawed person I have ever met in my life."
Trump also surrounds himself with liars and they lie as an Orwellian political strategy. Trump's former counselor Kellyanne Conway told Chuck Todd on Meet the Press that she was giving "alternative facts" when she was caught describing a massacre that never happened. Trump's personal lawyer Rudolph Giulini said (again to Chuck Todd) that "truth isn't truth," which is literally Orwellian. Trump's campaign CEO Steve Bannon said "The Democrats don't matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit."
And then, some specific lies. Right now Trump has dangerous lies about COVID and the election on the front burner.
On COVID, Trump has regularly lied for the last two months saying the country is "rounding the corner" on the pandemic, when in fact cases have been sharply rising. He lied yesterday saying that COVID deaths are exaggerated because "doctors get more money if someone dies from COVID."
On the election, Trump has lied warning of a "rigged" election and attacking mail-in voting as fraudulent, creating a story to fight the election result when he loses. In the days after the election, he'll lie saying mail-in votes being counted after election day aren't valid. In 2017, he said that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote because millions of illegal immigrants voted, which is a lie.
And then other ongoing lies:
Donald Trump is a literal fascist.
Trump's 2024 running mate, JD Vance, called Trump "America's Hitler." Trump's own chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, said Trump is "a total fascist" and that "he is the most dangerous person to the U.S." Trump's chief of staff John Kelly said 'the former president fits "into the general definition of fascist" and that he spoke of the loyalty of Hitler's Nazi generals.' Notorious Republican warhawk Dick Cheney said, "In our nation's 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump," and that Trump "can never be trusted with power again."
One important example of Trump's fascism is January 6th, which is reminiscent of Hitler's failed coup d'etat in Germany, the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch. After losing the 2020 election, Trump assembled a mob and sent them to "fight like hell" at the Capitol. Trump's mob ransacked the Capitol and attacked Capitol police, while Trump sat in the White House for three hours and watched everything play out on Fox. The attack delayed the vote certification for Biden in Congress, interrupting the peaceful transfer of power for the first time in United States history.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, as of January 6 2024, "more than 1,265 defendants have been charged in nearly all 50 states and the District of Columbia," and that "approximately 452 defendants have been charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding officers or employees, including approximately 123 individuals who have been charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer." The DOJ estimates that "approximate losses suffered as a result of the siege at the Capitol totaled $2,881,360.20."
Meanwhile, Trump's propagandists at Fox absurdly tried to whitewash the attack as tourists peacefully visiting the Capitol, and Trump called the insurrection a "day of love." Trump called on Joe Biden to release the convicts, and 'vowed to pardon a "large portion" of Jan. 6 defendants if he wins a second term...'
In the face of all this, the 6-3 Supreme Court ruled that Presidents were immune from prosecution for anything they do in their official capacity. This disastrous ruling was consistent with Trump's own dangerously stupid claim that the Constitution gives Presidents the right to do anything.
Looking forward to our current 2024 election, Trump has said he will only accept the results of the election if he wins. So, we run the risk of repeating all of this based on nothing.
I wrote in 2020 that Trump called for political rivals - Barack Obama, Hillary Cliton, and Joe Biden - to be imprisoned for "treason." Now that Kamala Harris is running, Trump has baselessly called for Harris to be "impeached and prosecuted." I wrote in 2020 that Trump using the phrase "enemy of the people" was a classic fascist trope, and now Trump has taken to calling Democrats "the enemy within" and has said he would deploy the national guard and U.S. military against them. So, Republicans now talk about "lawfare," but of course it's Trump who would brazenly use the law and force against his political opponents.
Donald Trump is a fascist.
Donald Trump said at the 2016 presidential debates that he would imprison his political rival Hillary Clinton if he won. In October 2020, he called on his Attorney General Bill Barr to imprison his rivals Joe Biden, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton for "treason." Threatening to imprison your political opponents is textbook fascism, and strikes at the country more directly than anything else Trump has done. Similarly, Trump attacking the election, refusing to surrender power peacefully, and calling the press the "enemy of the people" are textbook fascism. Trump supporters: you're supporting a straight-up fascist.