Trump's Downward Spiral

Mark Wilson/Getty Images

I went on vacation the Saturday before last and although I quite enjoyed being away from home I just couldn't stay away from writing for TMB.  As many of you that follow politics know, quite a lot has happened in the past two weeks involving President Trump, so much that it would take at least twenty pages to write!  With that said I think this calls for a simple timeline by using tweets and commentary. Let's go!

Democracy, Not Democracy

This little article of mine is aimed towards those hardcore, hardnosed, far-right Trump supporters who are perfectly fine accusing the Democrats of corruption while ignoring Trumps web of deceit.

I saw this tweet the other day and it made me grunt in annoyance:

" Our Fake Democracy " 😂 We are a Constitutional Republic pic.twitter.com/kJpFJqBo77

— Mr. Redcap 🇺🇸 (@Ghastly_Grinner) June 23, 2017

Let's clear some things up about why that caption is completely wrong (and ignorant).

Trump Monitor Podcast Episode 1: Obstruction of Justice

The first episode of the TMB Podcast is out now!  Check it out below:

...And That's the Bottom Line 'cause Russia Said So!

There is a serious issue when the President-Elect blatantly seems to only care what Vladimir Putin says instead of the American people.   When he tweets that things are false about Russian involve because "that is what Russia said when I talked to them" then he either is the most incompetent man destined for the Oval Office or worse: an agent of Putin.

Quick Muse: Congressional Term Limits

The great part about having freedoms of speech and expression means that we all have the right to agree to disagree.  Every once in awhile though, we end up being able to agree with people that have completely different viewpoints than yourself.  Case in point: Ted Cruz.

Intelligence

Donald Trump was recently given intel on the Russian hacking situation and of course seemed to scoff at the notion that this could be a possibility.  He even went on the defensive (again) accusing NBC of knowing more information on certain matters of intelligence than he had known:

How did NBC get "an exclusive look into the top secret report he (Obama) was presented?" Who gave them this report and why? Politics!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

I am asking the chairs of the House and Senate committees to investigate top secret intelligence shared with NBC prior to me seeing it.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 6, 2017

Even after the fact that the intelligence report, given by both the FBI/Department of Homeland Security as well as another report from the Director of National Intelligence saying that Vladimir Putin "sought to help" Trump win the 2016 election he still goes on to tweet this:

Intelligence stated very strongly there was absolutely no evidence that hacking affected the election results. Voting machines not touched!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 7, 2017

Come on now Donald!  You have two separate reports going against you and you are going to tweet a lie to cover yourself?  You can't.  The government will always post public reports (albeit with a lot of classified details left out) and you can't contradict what they find.  He is factual with the voting machines part, but the hacked emails definitely did play a factor into swaying the vote towards him instead of Hillary Clinton.  As a businessman he can ignore facts, but as a politician and soon-to-be President of the United States of America he can't and if he does he will be scrutinized by both his peers and the voting citizens of America.

Year in Review: 2016

I want to start things off by thanking every person that has come to the blog and read my articles!  Words cannot describe how thankful I am to each reader!  With that said, it is New Year's Eve and if you're like me, you just want this dumpster fire of a year to go away.  As worrisome of a feeling that 2017 will be, we do have to stay optimistic about the current climate.  We need to remember that the People of these United States have the final say in all decisions in this land and shall continue to let our voices be heard and considered!

This blog officially started this month and during that time there were 14 articles written for the site.  There will be many more for sure in the next year!  So let's do the Year in Review and highlight the Top 5 articles published in the year 2016!

Top Five Articles of 2016

1. Buddy System- How picking your really rich friends and campaign contributors is not "Draining the Swamp."
2. A Letter to Donald Trump and His Tweets- Donald Trump needs to be more diplomatic in his tweets.  What he posts matters more so now than it did when he was just a businessman.
3. Science: There's a Reason For It- Creationists and climate deniers need to understand that their views will lead to a lot of destruction in this world.
4. GOP Ambushes NC Politics aka Reichstag Fire Pt. 2- How a last-minute power grab by the North Carolina GOP showed the world that democracy does not matter when you lose.
5. Trump and Netanyahu: Partners in Crime- The worrisome tale of Israel and the rejection of the Two-State Solution.

Let's all have a great New Years and I look forward to writing more for Trump Monitor in 2017!  Thank you everyone!

Russian Sanctions and How They Will Affect Trump

For the joint FBI-DHS report on Russian hacking click here.

In a report released after a joint investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) they noted that there were two notable cyber attacks on the Democratic Party; one in the summer of 2015 and another in the spring of 2016.

For his response President Obama issued new sanctions yesterday against Russia in concerns of Russian involvement in the 2016 US election.  In an executive order he has given all Russian diplomats in the United States 72 hours to leave the country as well as shutting down two Russian Government-owned compounds that are located in Maryland and New York.  Vladimir Putin, on the other hand, has decided to not play tit-for-tat and will not force American diplomats in Russia to vacate.

This whole saga leads to a bigger question: What effect does this have on Trump and Republicans?

Quick Muse: Fake News

Fake News played a huge roll in the 2016 election.  Even in the technological age where we can go and verify our sources with ease we still fall for news articles that are made to be seen as real when all it was is a giant hoax.  It's not like this is a new thing of course, but the feeling that we are becoming more gullible and susceptible to the articles we read on a daily basis.  There was a time where it was funny to see who would read an article from The Onion and post it as fact, but we now have articles out there that are published as truth and have caused dire consequences.

People need to understand that they need to check their sources as any person writing a paper for a class should and yes, popular news outlets do post bogus things from time to time and they need to be shown their errors when it happens.  

What bothers me is that some news outlets refuse to own up to their fake news and instead like to finger point towards the other news companies.  Let's look at Breitbart.  Breitbart has been caught by Vice News of posting a fake election map that only showed a small percentage of Democratic support.  Breitbart did admit the map was bogus, but they still continue to tweet that the left posted more fake news than they or other right wing/alt-right news agencies did. 

With so much focus on fake news it does bring every news article posted under scrutiny, but that does bring a positive to it: journalists have to be more on it to bring facts that can be backed up if their work is ever brought up for debate.  Yes, you still should not believe everything you read, say, and hear, but you have to make sure you do your research when you post, share, and talk.

Game of Hacks

Chances are, if you have been reading the news post-election you have seen all the news articles about Russian hacking during the election.  If you haven't noticed here are some articles to get acquainted:

• Russian hacking and the 2016 election:  What you need to know (CNN)
• Russia's View of the Election Hacks: Denials, Amusement, and Comeuppance (The New Yorker)
• Russia Had Every Reason to Hack the U.S. Presidential Election (Alternet)
• Prominent Republican Joining Democrats to Solve Russian Election Hacking (Fox News Radio)

It's Official

That's it, Donald Trump is officially the President of the United States of America.  The Electoral College placed their votes today and the count was 304-228 for Trump.  What is curious to note was that there were six faithless electors, but none of them gave their votes to Hillary Clinton.  Their votes went to Colin Powell (3), John Kasich (1), Ron Paul (1), and Faith Spotted Eagle (1).  It would have have taken more than 30 electors to change their votes in order to swing the vote towards Clinton.  While Clinton did have the popular vote by almost 3 million votes, the electoral college is what determines our President.  

The electoral college is designed to make sure the people do not elect the wrong candidate which, depending on the person, becomes a hotly contested debate on whether or not we should continue it.  I, for one, am still on the fence about using just the popular vote.  I think with this election it almost feels evil to beg the electors to change their vote to let Clinton win.  This is the system we have always used and yes, there are times when the popular vote and the electoral vote do not match, but we have to respect the system.  

So, for right now, until further notice, we have to accept the fact that we need to deal with Trump and see what will happen.  As long as we still have the Constitution and our rights to free speech and press I will continue to make articles about him.  Yes, this is a rare time that I am defending him, but it's only because we have a system in place that gives him a chance to have the spot.