She is the most vulnerable Senate Democrat running for reelection in November, if not the most vulnerable senator on the ballot in 2018. Her race, in a state President Trump won by 36 points, is ground zero for the argument that the drama surrounding Brett M. Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court may actually help Republicans keep control of the Senate. And yet, Sen. Heitkamp (D-N.D.) is voting against Kavanaugh for the Supreme Court, a decision that thins the margin of error Republicans have to confirm Kavanaugh. That’s despite one local poll taken after Kavanaugh was accused of sexual assault showing 60 percent North Dakota voters want Kavanaugh confirmed.
Tag: Donald J. Trump
👓 Dishing up lies while proclaiming the love of facts, Trump and Sarah Sanders gaslight America | Washington Post
President Trump’s assault on truth — and would-be truthtellers — has hit a new low. It may not seem possible, considering that this is a president who has misled or lied to the public thousands of times.
👓 Trump’s attorney suggests he may sue the New York Times. Don’t bet on it. | Washington Post
Donald Trump has threatened to sue all of them for something they wrote or said about him. In each case, the threat proved hollow, sound and fury signifying nothing more than Trump’s peeve at a critic. Trump has sued on occasion, though far less often than he says he will.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: How Trump Really Got Rich | New York Times
We don’t have President Trump’s tax returns. But we have his father’s.
👓 11 Takeaways From The Times’s Investigation Into Trump’s Wealth | The New York Times
Based on a trove of confidential financial records, the Times report offers the first comprehensive look at the inherited fortune and tax dodges that guaranteed Donald Trump a gilded life.
A quick précis of the whole 13,000+ word story for those without the time.
👓 How Times Journalists Uncovered the Original Source of the President’s Wealth | New York Times
Three reporters spent over a year digging through more than 100,000 pages of documents and chasing down key sources familiar with President Trump’s father and his empire.
👓 Trump Engaged in Suspect Tax Schemes as He Reaped Riches From His Father | New York Times
The president has long sold himself as a self-made billionaire, but a Times investigation found that he received at least $413 million in today’s dollars from his father’s real estate empire, much of it through tax dodges in the 1990s.
I had suspected something like this for a long time and my suspicions were pushed during the election upon reports of Trump cheating sub-contractors and not paying them and again earlier this year when Jonathan Greenberg revised some of his 1980’s reportage for Forbes, but this is simply incredible!
While there are a lot of things one can take away from this stunning, thorough, and long read, the thing that strikes me is what Trump did to attempt to cheat his own father, who had been repeatedly been digging him out of trouble, when he was against the wall. He tried to defraud and steal from his greatest benefactor. How can anyone trust him to fight for America or real Americans when his entire substance as well as facade is a complete sham?
Combined with the millions he’s losing on real estate and other deals over the past decade, one is forced (again) to wonder who exactly is funding him now?
👓 The Cruelty Is the Point | The Atlantic
Trump and his supporters find community by rejoicing in the suffering of those they hate and fear.
A searing piece of writing here. A must-read.
This makes a compelling argument about why some humans are so painfully cruel.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: How Trump Withstands So Many Controversies | New York Times
As President Trump faces a hailstorm of criticism over his meeting with Russia’s president, his supporters are doubling down. It’s a pattern we’ve seen before.
We really need some people to stand up to all the non-sense.
Presidential alert indeed! I’ve been on alert with this so-called President since November 2016. I’m not so sure about the “you don’t need to take action” part, however, which seems a bit gratuitous going into the midterms.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: Trump Sides With Putin | New York Times
In a remarkable news conference, President Trump avoided criticizing the Russian president, and instead aimed his sharpest barbs at the United States.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: The Supreme Court Loses Its Swing Vote | New York Times
The retirement of Justice Anthony Kennedy, often considered the Supreme Court’s ideological center, could fundamentally change its direction.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: The Supreme Court Upholds Trump’s Travel Ban | New York Times
What does the Supreme Court’s endorsement of the travel ban say about the extent of the president’s power?
🎧 ‘The Daily’: What Migrants Are Fleeing | New York Times
For large numbers of migrants making the journey to the U.S. from Central America, staying in their native countries is no longer an option.
🎧 ‘The Daily’: Trump Ends His Child Separation Practice | New York Times
The president signed an executive order to keep immigrant parents and children together at the border. What happens now?