Tag Archive: Russia

Trump cuts and runs from self-proclaimed “wartime”status

Winston Churchill, wartime leader and Trump opposite

Back in March, Donald Trump told reporters that, when it comes to his role regarding the Coronavirus (a/k/a COVID-19 or COVID):

I view it as, in a sense, a wartime president. I mean, that’s what we’re fighting.

Since then, however, Trump has acted quite the opposite of “a wartime president.” Instead, Trump has cut and run from COVID at every turn. Trump has failed to unite the country and take bold national steps to combat the virus. On the contrary, Trump has been as divisive as any president in U.S. history, whipping up a race war, teargassing peaceful protesters, and focusing on cultural shiny objects such as Bibles and Confederate statues. Moreover, in the face of further attacks on America by Russia, Trump has stood down and done nothing. This failure to unite and protect our nation is not only fatal in terms of lives, it is proving politically fatal to Trump and those Republicans who follow him.

Mike Bloomberg is being a better Democrat now than Bernie Sanders

Michael Bloomberg riding the New York City subway

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced on Friday that he will give $18 million to the Democratic National Committee for the party’s battleground state elections in November. While this is not everything that Bloomberg spoke about when he first ran for president last November, i.e., that if he dropped out of the presidential race, he would form a super PAC and make his campaign field workers available to help the democrats and defeat Donald Trump, the $18 million is still a very generous donation that should help a lot. Indeed, right now, it can be said that Bloomberg is being a better Democrat than Bernie Sanders. Let’s compare:

Bernie Sanders finally starts to get vetted

Repeat presidential candidate Bernie Sanders

This week, the public vetting process finally began for presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Last Sunday, in a CBS 60 Minutes interview, for example, Sanders was asked about past support for the communist or socialist regimes in the Soviet Union, Nicaragua and Cuba. Sanders replied that, as to Fidel Castro‘s oppressive dictatorship in Cuba:

… but you know, you got — it’s unfair to simply say “everything is bad.” You know, when Fidel Castro came into office, you know what he did? He had a massive literacy program, is that a bad thing?

Sanders’ comments did not sit well with many Americans around the country. Sanders’ remarks caused an especially negative reaction in Florida, located only 90 miles from Cuba, and where many voters are refugees from Castro’s brutal crackdowns. Florida is America’s third most populous state, with 29 electoral votes, and is crucial to a possible Democratic victory in the 2020 presidential election.

On impeachment and governing, Democrats show they can walk and chew gum

Impeachment message in timely Christmas colors

By now, many people realize that the impeachment of Donald Trump involves a public relations war. On one side, we have Trump and the Republicans claiming that the Democrats are “obsessed with impeaching” Trump, to the exclusion of all else. So what have the Democrats done effectively to counter that charge? Quite a bit, as it turns out.

First, House Democrats unveiled their Articles of Impeachment against Trump while simultaneously announcing that they had reached an agreement with Trump on the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) on trade. This is a reminder by Democrats (and they are sure to remind us further) that, not only can they govern and impeach Trump at the same time, they have passed nearly 400 bills, all of which are sitting idly on Mitch McConnell‘s U.S. Senate desk.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg testifies before House of Representatives

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before the U.S. House Financial Services Committee yesterday. The title of the hearing was: An Examination of Facebook and its Impact on the Financial Services and Housing Sectors. As we recently indicated, Messaging Matters has pulled the plug and stopped using Facebook, due to a combination of Facebook’s data mining business model, its history of user data breaches, and its pro-Republican bent. The rest of America is not likely to take much comfort after what was heard yesterday.

Unplugging from Republican-leaning Facebook

Turning off Facebook

In the very first Messaging Matters post, nearly nine years ago, we wrote: “Republicans have placed a ‘matrix’ over this country” with the help of “news media [that] are largely controlled by giant corporations,” as well as an organized Republican “messaging machine.” Based on recent revelations, it turns out that Facebook is part of this Republican machine too. As a result, we’re unplugging from the Facebook matrix.

Democratic labeling finally gets under a Republican’s skin

Mitch McConnell, whose feelings are now hurt

It’s fair to say that Republicans are much better at going on offense against Democrats than vice-versa. Therefore, it’s quite refreshing to see Democrats turning the tables on Republicans for once. This time, it’s Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell who has fallen prey to Democratic tarring and feathering efforts. By most accounts, these efforts are working, and McConnell’s feelings are hurt.

The Democratic efforts to frame McConnell as unpatriotic, and even a tool of a foreign power, stem from McConnell’s refusal to act on bills introduced in the Senate to protect the U.S. election system from further Russian interference. Recall that Russia’s interference in the 2016 elections is undisputed by the U.S. intelligence community, as well as by lawmakers on both sides of the aisle with access to the relevant information. Just a few days ago, Special Counsel Robert Mueller, specifically tasked with investigating such Russian wrongdoing, confirmed again that Russia interfered in our 2016 elections and “they’re doing it as we sit here.” As a result, lawmakers have introduced bills to protect our elections and voting system against the type of cyber warfare and hacking that Russia committed against America. But McConnell keeps blocking the bills.

What’s in a Republican’s email inbox?

Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, current enemy in Republican email inboxes

If you have a friend or family member of the opposite political party who is politically active, and you trust each other, here’s a fun experiment you can do: ask to take a look at their email inbox. You might be amazed at what you see.

Democrats

Chances are, the Democratic person in your duo has emails on the following subjects:

–Fighting climate change

–Fighting animal extinction

–Reducing gun violence

Donald Trump‘s latest outrage, including the latest rape allegations against him

–Avoiding war with Iran or other countries

–Fair taxation, or, more specifically, raising taxes on the rich

–The latest lies of Kellyanne Conway

–The appalling conditions of immigrant kids locked in cages under Donald Trump’s family separation policy

–Extending voting rights and civil rights

–Protecting our election system against foreign interference

–Protecting the Affordable Care Act and its pre-existing conditions coverage against attacks by the Trump administration and Republican governors

–Calls for Donald Trump’s impeachment

Donald Trump just called for his own impeachment

Sign at Trump Impeachment March, July 2017

This past Wednesday, Donald Trump gave a televised interview to George Stephanopoulos of ABC News, in which Trump stated that he would once again consider accepting foreign assistance, for example, from Russia or China, to help get re-elected in 2020. This would be yet another impeachable offense to go along with all the impeachable offenses that Trump has already committed.

Likewise, when asked by Stephanopoulos why Donald Trump, Jr. did not inform the FBI when he was approached in June 2016 by an associate who offered what he claimed was damaging information about Hillary Clinton from the Russian government, but instead eagerly said, “I love it” and even met in the Trump Tower with Jared Kushner (Trump, Sr.’s son in law) and a lawyer from Russia on the subject, Trump. Sr. had this to say:

Trump: Let’s put yourself in a position, you’re a Congressman, and somebody comes up and says, ‘hey, I have information on your opponent.’ You call the FBI? I don’t think ….

Stephanopoulos: If it’s coming from Russia you do.

Trump’s lack of both preparedness and patriotism an issue

Russia’s Kremlin, home to Donald Trump’s friends and America’s enemies.

As we approach the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, it’s a good reminder that America’s space program began as a response to Russian military activity. Specifically, the Soviet Union’s 1957 launch of the Sputnik satellite set off a dramatic reaction to what was viewed as the Soviet militarization of space, with rocket technology that could be used to launch nuclear weapons. The United States, led by the Democratic-majority U.S. Senate and Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, soon tasked the Senate Preparedness Subcommittee (which had been established in 1950 to deal with the then-looming crisis in Korea) with addressing the Soviet military threat from space, and created NASA. Within less than four months of the Sputnik launch, the U.S. launched its own satellite into orbit, and the “Space Race” was on. Eventually, America surpassed the U.S.S.R. by embarking on the Apollo program that led to the moon landing. The full-scale national effort of the Apollo program galvanized America to such an extent that the term “Apollo program” is now a figure of speech that means a large coordinated effort, involving scientists and deep governmental resources, to solve a huge challenge (such as climate change.)

The issue of “preparedness” in the face of a Russian threat is something that Democrats should be using now to attack Donald Trump and the Republicans. Specifically, Russia attacked our democracy in the 2016 elections. Russia’s attacks have been termed “cyber warfare,” and even Republican Dick Cheney has said that Russia’s attacks “could be considered an act of war.” In the internet age, Russia’s attacks on America arguably are as serious as the attacks on the United States at Pearl Harbor or on September 11, 2001. However, Donald Trump and many Republicans are refusing to defend us against this threat.