Donald Trump is a liar, a criminal, and a danger to all of us

— 05.12.2017 10:13 AM

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…everyone who is sane knows that.  He is a draft dodger.  He is a racist.  He sexually assaults women and brags about it.  He violated the Cuba embargo. He has long been linked to organized crime. He condones violence against those who disagree with him.  He’s had multiple bankruptcies.  His ex-wife says he raped her, and treats his current one like dirt. He attacks press freedom. He has used the undocumented workers he maligns. He lies about his wealth, which is why he doesn’t release his tax returns. He hires anti-Semites.  He steals.  He discriminates against blacks in housing.  And so on and so on.

Most of all, he is a liar who was helped by Russia to cheat his way into power.  He’s a traitor to the United States and its allies.

So why – why, why, why – does his vote stay with him?  That’s the question everyone is asking: his core voters can’t be that clueless, can they?

The talk we attended this week, by Professor Justin Gest, generated a lot of response here, on Facebook, and elsewhere on the Warren-related Internets.  Gest was asked the same question a couple times by bewildered Canadians.

In answering, Gest distinguished between two kinds of Trump voters: the Nationalists, who are white supremacists, more or less, and who will never abandon Trump because they subscribe to his racist conspiracy theories.  Then, there’s what he calls the Exasperated, who aren’t lifelong Republicans, aren’t necessarily racist, and who are just simply weary of politicians lying – and won’t stay with Trump if he continues to lie.

Here’s a synopsis of Gest’s response, taken from the huge thing he did in Politico:

Put simply, a significant portion of the white working-class vote is up in the air. Yes, Nationalists will stay loyal to Trump and his party. But the support of the Exasperated depends on the complete reorientation of the Republican Party and the extent to which Democrats can develop an authentic, persuasive platform to make wary, white working-class people feel that they have a future. And that’s going to require a reorientation of their own.

See?  There’s opportunity, however slim.  Not with Trump’s bigots: they’re always going to stick with him, and who wants to coddle them, anyway?  But the so-called Exasperated?  They want to feel they are being listened to, and that change is possible.  They’re gettable vote.

My personal advice? Shut down Washington until you get an independent prosecutor, properly funded.  Fill the the streets.  Take the momentum of the Women’s March and the science demos, and demand an independent prosector, now.

The best way to show Trump is a liar, with evidence, is to empower someone to find the evidence.  So do it, America.

 


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When 25 per cent isn’t

— 05.12.2017 07:45 AM

It’s difficult to understate the political importance of the Ontario government’s 25 per cent hydro rate cut: all of the chips are riding on it, pretty much.  Youth pharmacare and free tuition are terrific, but they’re aimed at a demographic who don’t vote.  The hydro rate cut, ipso facto, is the sine qua non.  If it doesn’t fly, the Ontario Libs are in big trouble.

So, check out this Toronto Star Queen’s Park bureau scoop, which apparently emanated from the Ontario PC war room:

The short-term gain of a 25-per-cent hydro rate cut this summer could lead to long-term pain as a leaked cabinet document forecasts prices jumping again in five years.

In the briefing materials first revealed by the Star and obtained by the Progressive Conservatives, rates will start rising 6.5 per cent a year in 2022 and top out at 10.5 per cent in 2028, when average monthly bills hit $215.

That would be up from $123 this year once the rate cut — the subject of long-awaited legislation unveiled Thursday by Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault — takes full effect. 

The leaked papers overshadowed Thibeault’s efforts to tout the price break, which will be followed with four years of hydro rate increases at 2 per cent, roughly the rate of inflation.

This is revelation is disastrous, pretty much. It discredits just about every claim that has been made about hydro for the past several months.  And it landed, literally, while I was having expresso with a long-time Ontario Liberal stalwart, a Kathleen Wynne loyalist, who had told me they were going to “sit out the next election.”

If this secret cabinet document is true – and it likely is – all that is left is a hoped-for bump from the budget.  So, where is the polling to show that there was one?  Given how much the wizards are being paid for research, you’d think the Liberal caucus would have been shown it by now.

Over espresso, yesterday, my old friend said we are going to come third in the upcoming Sault by-election.  After yesterday, I don’t doubt it.

 


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