A Complete History of Trump as a Jerk

Started right after the GOP Convention, July 22, 2016, and finished Nov 6. I wanted to have something completed before the election, but this proved to be quite a chore, and I have skipped over some nice material.

· (!) Let’s open with a Donald Trump quote: “Sorry, losers and haters, but my IQ is one of the highest—and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure; it’s not your fault.” He has also been quoted saying: “Being president is easy, and I’m, like, a really smart person.” Oh heck, one more: “Some people would say I’m very, very, very intelligent.” And another: “People are saying Donald Trump is a genius.” Trump may be unfamiliar with the writer’s dictim: “Show, don’t tell.”

· (!) According to Trump, Trump is not only very smart, but also very rich: “And I say this not in a braggadocious way—I’ve made billions and billions of dollars.”

· (!) Trump once claimed to have “the world’s greatest memory,” adding that this was “one thing everyone agrees on.” He demonstrated his incredible memory shortly afterwards, insisting that he remembered “thousands” of people cheering the collapse off the World Trade Center buildings. Later, testifying in the case of Trump University, he could not recall making this boast.

· (!) He’s also a very humble man—as he himself has said, on many occasions: “I think I am actually humble, I think I’m much more humble than you would understand”; “there’s more humility (in his name being on all his products) than a lot of people would think”; “the new pope is a very humble man, very much like me, which probably explains why I like him so much.” Trump also once said that he would like his Secret Service code name to be “humble.” By the way, many people refer to Trump as “The Donald,” something he likes and encourages.

· (!) When a very toadying Christian minister once commented to Trump that he was “divinely” sent to Earth to help America in its time of great need, Trump replied, “I’ve heard people tell me that.”

· (!) A Trump quote, from the past: “I don’t respect most people, because I believe most people are not worthy of respect.” Funny, I always thought that all people should be treated with respect, unless and until they demonstrate a reason why they should be not respected.

· (!!) Note to the above: As many people have noted, Trump tends to evaluate people to the extreme. He seems to see each person as either “brilliant, wonderful, amazing” or “horrible, disgusting, sad.” Either a “10” or a “1.” By the way, his main qualifier seems to be how that person speaks of The Donald. So someone who praises Trump (such as Vladimir Putin) is a great person, whereas someone who criticizes him is a scumbag.

· (!) One of the main criticisms of Donald Trump is that he avoids substantive answers. Let’s see—here are some of Trump’s declared positions. On China: “I have really strong feelings on China.” On Japan having a nuclear arsenal: “Well, it’s a position that we have to talk about, and it’s a position that at some point is something that we have to talk about.” On cyber warfare: “Cyber has to be in our thought process.” On foreign policy: “I’ll think about it.” Also, “I’ve had very strong feelings on foreign policy, and I’ve had very strong feelings on defense and offense.” On what he would do about Aleppo: “Aleppo is a mess, believe me.” On the Constitution: “I’ll be the best constitutional president ever!” By the way, his campaign slogan is “Make America Great Again.”

· (!) Maybe Trump avoids specific answers to questions because, at some level, he understands that he understands next to nothing. For example, he once explained that he would deal with the National Debt by “printing more money.”

· (!) Capitalist Trump once explained why, in 2006, he made a comment that he was hoping for the housing market crash: “I’m a businessman, that’s what I’m supposed to do.” Another Trump quote: “You can’t be too greedy.” Yet another: “I’m very greedy.” Trump, icon of the 80’s.

· (!) Hours after the Twin Towers fell on 9/11, Trump bragged that his building was now the tallest tower in lower Manhattan. Some have defended Trump by stating that it wasn’t bragging, he was simply pointing out a fact.

· (!!) Trump claims that we are “the highest-taxed nation, just about, in the entire world.” No, actually we are one of the least-taxed nations in the world (one analysis concluded that we were the third least-taxed, of all 186 nations). But this rhetoric is old-school Republican BS.

· (!!) Back on June 14, Trump announced a “Media Blackout,” saying that he would no longer accept questions from certain journalistic entities. They would not be allowed to send reporters on his bus, or attend his rallies (their credentials would be revoked), their calls would not be answered, and so. This was the Donald’s way of striking back at various outlets such as the Huffington Post, Politico, BuzzFeed, the conservative National Review, Mother Jones, even the NYTimes, and others who have had the audacity of printing the truth about Mr. Trump. The Huffington Post replied that getting on this blacklist was a mark of honor, which would be remembered in the future. Trump did finally lift the blacklist, in late October, noting smugly that all outlets were against him, anyway.

· (!!) Note to the above: By the way, Trump’s initial annoyance at the Huffington Post stemmed largely from an article written by David Fahrenthold about how Trump’s claims of donating $10 million to veterans groups were false. The final blow for the Donald was June 13, when the Post ran a story about how Trump accused trump of suggesting that Obama was involved in the Orlando shooting, which Trump denied as “phony” and “dishonest” yet it is on tape.

· (!!!) Trump first gained massive popularity among the Tea Party masses with his claims, back in 2011, that Barack Obama was actually born in Kenya, not Hawaii. Trump was not the first “birther,” but he was the one who ran with it, and made “birtherism” into a movement. Over and over he questioned Obama’s legitimacy to be U.S. President, typically using the “I’m just saying” tactic (paraphrasing: “I’m not saying he was born in Kenya—I hope he wasn’t! I hope he was born in this country, believe me. I’m just asking. I mean so many people are wondering, and why won’t he release his birth document? Why can’t any doctors or nurses recall his birth? What might he be hiding? It worries me…”). Trump pushed this BS for actually years, adding in the slur “he’s a secret Muslim.” Both of these claims are patently false, yet Obama-hating Tea Party conservatives love to hear anti-Obama (and anti-liberal) rhetoric, with absolutely no regard for the validity of such rhetoric. Even after Obama finally did release his birth certificate, and those knowledgeable about such matters all agreed that the certificate was legitimate and should end the matter, Trump continued unabated. The fact that his constant, months-long demanding that Obama “just release them” had been met, seemed to mean nothing to him. Trump then started suggesting that he had sent detectives to Hawaii to “investigate” the authenticity of the certificates, and of hospital records showing that Obama had indeed been born in Hawaii. He proudly announced that what they had discovered was “huge!” and “absolutely unbelievable,” the inference being that he was uncovering a major scandal involving Obama swindling the American people into believing that he was an American (and a Christian). But Trump never gave specifics, never answered questions about this secret info, and eventually dropped it. The ridiculous and spurious accusations had their intended effect: they brought Donald Trump tremendous popularity within the Republican Party, most of whom (yes, an actual majority) still believe, to this day, that Obama was born in Kenya, and that he is really a Moslem.

· (!) Note to the above: Today, Trump sidesteps questions about Obama’s birth certificate and his being a Muslim, but his supporters are loyal. They insist that the birth certificate Obama submitted was “questionable,” (though they won’t explain how so), and counter questions like “when is Trump going to release this absolutely unbelievable information?” by saying that Trump will release it at a time of his choosing, and that he is not answerable to the “liberal” Media that is clearly out to get him, etc. Good heavens, if he has such damaging information on Obama, what is he waiting for? Of course, he has nothing, it is all Trump BS. The other part of the “birther movement” dogma, that Obama is really a Moslem, is still hinted at. Trump has recently gone so far as to suggest that Obama is really siding with ISIS, that he is working with them, that he is part of them—and many Republicans agree. This capacity for conservatives, especially Tea Party conservatives, to completely, willingly delude themselves is what is truly “absolutely unbelievable.” And many believe it is all a subtle form of racism (though conservatives always turn indignant at this depiction). The idea is that some people cannot accept that “their” country has been taken over by a black man. Castigating him as literally non-American and non-Christian, on some level, feels good, and goes hand-in-hand with the “we want our country back” mentality.

· (!) After Trump adopted the birther issue as his own, Comedian Bill Maher ridiculed the billionaire by announcing that he would give $5 million dollars to a charity of Trump’s choosing if he could provide proof that his father was not an orangutan (or rather, that Trump was not the spawn of his mother having sex with an orangutan). Maher would put up side-by-side photos of Trump and an orangutan, which was always good for a laugh (same hair color). Despite the obvious fact that this was just silly humor, Trump took him up on it. After providing his own birth certificate to prove that his papa Fred was, in fact, a human, Trump then sued Maher for the money—which became a nice running gag for the comedian for months, and gave us an early revelation about Trump’s thin-skin (and lack of humor). Finally, Trump dropped the case, but hinted that he may pick it up again.

· (!!) Trump has also questioned how Obama was able to graduate from Occidental and get into Harvard, asking why “no one can come forward to remember him” and demanding to see his college transcripts. He has also challenged reports that Obama was president of the Harvard Review, and that he received high grades. The clear inference: it is hard to believe that a black man could have, academically, performed so well. Many Obama-haters (dare I say, racists?) have picked up on this.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump also declared, on Fox News, that Obama’s real name was ‘Barry Soetoro,’ and that he was, while at Columbia, a foreign student. This conspiracy theory was centered on a discovered photo ID, which turned out to be a provable forgery.

· (!) Let’s mention in passing that, for a while, Trump also challenged the birth status of Ted Cruz, claiming that he was born in Canada (which is correct) and that he is therefore ineligible to run for president (which is incorrect, his parents are U.S. citizens). When called on this, Trump kept pushing the issue with his usual mousy shit: “I’m not saying…people have been telling me…I’m just asking…”

· (!!!) Early on, Trump contested the notion that John McCain was a hero, claiming that all McCain did was getting captured. “I like people who don’t get captured,” explained Trump, as if this was an issue of “winners” and “losers” and soldiers who are captured are somehow “losers.” I would have asked him if he also thought soldiers who died in battle were “losers.” He later backtracked on all this, and has since acknowledged, sort of, that McCain is a hero. But the controversial remarks linger on to today.

· (!!) Note to the above: After his “McCain is not a hero” comments, many pundits thought, not unreasonably, that Trump’s run for president was over; certainly, candidacies have collapsed over much less. But, remarkably, there was no backlash in the polls; on the contrary, he actually climbed a bit, as Trump supporters cheered his brazen outspokenness and willingness to be unconventional. Media talking heads began to talk about “Teflon Don,” who could say and do anything, and pay no political price for it. Trump, apparently, took this to heart, and began to push the envelope further and further. Yet despite breaking taboos and constantly saying things that “you are not supposed to say,” Trump has almost never been punished in the polls, and is often rewarded. Trump has internalized his seeming immutability, stating, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay?”

· (!!) Back in July 2015, Trump initiated a “Media Blacklist,” banning certain Media outlets (such as the Washington Post) from access to his campaign. This is all part of his “blame the Media” strategy, which basically means blaming the Media for being negative and “liberally biased” whenever it dares to report the truth about how awful Trump really is (Republicans have developed this strategy into an art form, over the past 40 years). The irony is unmistakable—Trump has benefited tremendously by the obsessive Media coverage he has received, which amounts to basically many millions of dollars worth of free advertising. Trump himself has said, on many occasions, that even negative coverage is better than no coverage. He has also insisted that “Hillary Clinton gets a free pass from the Media,” which is the usual Fox News line but is actually the opposite of the truth. By the way, Trump officially ended his blackout on Sept 7, 2016, claiming, “I figure they can’t treat me any worse.”

· (!!!) Trump has said or implied, on several occasions, that the United States should kill the family members of terrorists, and not to do so is just being “politically correct.” He has also said, “I would be very, very firm with families, and that would make people think because they may not care about their lives, but they care—believe it or not—about their family’s lives.” Trump does not seem to care about the Geneva Convention, nor that going after family members (women and children) would be not only morally questionable, but a war crime. He has also said, in regards to Internation Law, “Everybody believes in the Geneva Convention until they start losing and then it’s okay, let’s take out the bomb.” Spoken like a true despot. In regards to ISIS, he has again made it clear that we have to “take out the families.” Later, Trump decided to deny that he ever said that he wanted to kill women and children, protesting that he never used the word “kill,” instead using suggestive word choices like “take them out” or “go after.”

· (!!!) Note to the above: Trump received a great deal of flack for claiming that generals and soldiers won’t say no to him about torturing prisoners, or “going after” families of terrorists. Clearly, he was making a point about his strength and resoluteness (his alpha-maleness), which surely plays well with many of his supporters, but not so well with people who have the capacity to think and consider outcomes. Trump didn’t understand (or didn’t care) that he would be putting soldiers in a situation where they would have to choose between committing horrible acts, literally crimes against humanity, or disobey an order coming directly from the president of the United States. Trump has said, very clearly, that we should not worry about soldiers refusing to obey such orders, as he would make them obey. To most of those in the military, Trump’s philosophy was obscene. The choice is clear—they would not follow such orders, even under the threat of court marshal. In fact, our laws state that a soldier ordered to obey an evil command has a moral and legal obligation to disobey; obeying an evil order can put a soldier in legal peril (which is, actually, a fascinating topic for legal ethicists—recall the Nuremberg Trials). Trump has since left this dialogue behind him, and the Media never recalls it. I don’t understand why. Trump has never repudiated these past statements, he has simply moved on, and the Media, instead of throwing this in his face wherever he goes, has just moved on as well.

· (!!) Trump has boasted, “I know more about ISIS than the generals do, believe me.” How can he, or anyone, believe that!?! Especially considering that, by his own admission, Trump gets all his info from watching TV. The Democrats have quoted him saying this in commercials, and he is now paying a price. He has also said, “we don’t know the leaders of ISIS,” when actually we do—and so do our generals.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump apparently doesn’t even know the distinction between ISIS and ISIL (Islamic State in Syria/Levant). He has said that Obama uses “ISIL” just to confuse and annoy people, and that no one else calls it by that moniker. Actually, ISIL is much more accurate, and is the standard acronym used within the intelligence and military communities.

· (!!) Trump has adopted the conservative line that Obama’s failure to use the term “Islamic Terrorism” is somehow a major problem, and a prime reason why we are “losing” the War on Terrorism. The logic being that Obama is too “politically correct,” too afraid to offend the very enemy we are fighting. This, of course, is a total canard. Obama has avoided that specific verbiage because he worries that such a broad-brush condemnation will harm U.S. efforts to maintain good relationships with Muslim allies, as well as individuals; Obama also wants to distinguish between moderate Muslims and those radicals who abuse the religion for their own purposes. In other words, groups like Al Qaeda and ISIS are not representative of “true” Muslim values. I have some mixed feelings on this issue, but I certainly do believe that Obama’s philosophy, if not completely correct, is at least reasonable and rational, and the argument that failure to simply say the words is in and of itself harming or efforts is absolutely ludicrous! This is Republicans hitting at Obama, any way they can (like when Obama took out Osama Bin Laden, and the initial Republican response was to find little details in the operation to nitpick and criticize). Trump has now extended this “indignation” to Hillary. He says that he will destroy ISIS, but won’t say how, other than he has a “secret plan.” He can only offer the usual platitudes: “We need to get tougher, stronger, smarter.” Absurdity, but apparently effective—polls show that most Americans believe Trump will do a better job than Hillary in the fight against terrorism. Trump offers only

· (!!) Note to the above: Trump has insisted that he knows how to destroy ISIS, but that he won’t say what it is, as revealing his plans would benefit the enemy. He has repeated this claim often. He has also said that, if elected, he would “bomb the shit out of ISIS.” His audience loves this sort of simplistic rhetoric, which completely ignores the reality that ISIS consists of many individuals dispersed within large population areas (you know, Donald, it’s not like all ISIS members were conveniently packed into one large building, ten miles out of town). He has also mentioned that maybe we should let Russia take them out for us, an idea supported by no one in the military or foreign relations.

· (!) Note to all of the above: Trump has now (9/7) updated his position about destroying ISIS—he will give the generals 30 days to come up with a plan. So, let’s get this right: Trump’s “secret plan to destroy ISIS” is to rely on these generals, who know less about ISIS than he does, to come up with a plan.

· (!!!) After the attacks in Istanbul, Trump started calling for the re-instatement of waterboarding, adding, “we must do the unthinkable” when it comes to prisoner interrogation. He has also stated, in the past, that waterboarding itself is very nice, but not tough enough. When CIA directors, past and present, have asserted that Trump’s proposal to bring back torture methods “a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding” was meaningless, because CIA officers would refuse to carry out such orders, Trump insisted, during a Republican debate in March, that “they won’t refuse. They’re not going to refuse me. Believe me.” Though this may be red meat for his supporters, the rest of the world was pretty much horrified by what he said. In response to John McCain’s comments about waterboarding, that it is “not the American way,” Trump said, “well, it’s not the American way to have heads chopped off.” His summation of the situation is that we have to get “much, much stronger, tougher and smarter.” But there is no rational reason at all to believe that such a visceral reaction to ISIS and terrorism is going to help us in the slightest; on the contrary, interrogation experts are pretty unanimous in decrying torture, noting that the retrieved information is unreliable, and other methods work much more effectively. Also, when we torture, we enrage and unite our enemies, and endanger our citizens abroad, to say nothing about how we would be committing war crimes and destroying our own reputation and moral standing. Indeed, there is mounting evidence to show that our treatment of prisoners at GTMO has done more to enrage and unite terrorists against us than any other single factor—an important fact, that apparently neither Trump nor any Republican seems to be able to comprehend. Nor our Media.

· (!!!) When asked, earlier in his presidential campaign, about his relationship with African-Americans, Trump replied, “I have a great relationship with the blacks. I’ve always had a great relationship with the blacks.” He has tried to empathize with their problems, by noting that he understands what they go through because in happens to him, also. And he has said that he hasn’t “a racist bone in my body,” and that he is “the least racist person you’ll ever meet.” Not everyone agrees. Actually, Trump has been called out many times by Civil Rights Activist, and co-workers, for showing insensitivity towards black people. Author John O’Donnell, in his book Trumped , recalls Trump telling him, “Black guys counting my money! I hate it. The only kind of people I want counting my money are short guys that wear yarmulkes every day.” (I wish our Media would play this line, so people who insist that Trump isn’t racist or anti-Semitic would have to explain) After a white woman was raped in Central Park, back in 1989, Trump called for the death penalty for the accused black teenagers (the Central Park Five, who were later exonerated). He once retweeted an image of a gun toting, unidentified African-American next to bogus crime statistics, including one that said 81 percent of white homicides are committed by blacks. When confronted over the fallacy of the data by Fox New's Bill O'Reilly, Trump insisted he’d “retweeted somebody that was supposedly an expert and it was also a radio show.” The original tweet was traced back to a neo-Nazi. He once told Bryant Gumbel, “If I was starting off today, I would love to be a well-educated black because I really do believe they have the actual advantage today.” This is a dog-whistle to white anti-Affirmative Action conservatives, who watch Fox News and believe that the real victims of racial injustice in America are white people (especially white Christians). He was very slow to denounce both David Duke and the KKK, who have supported him. His Atlantic City casino had to grapple with charges of anti-black bias, for years. One employee recalls that when Donald Trump and his wife Ivana entered the casino, the bosses would order all black dealers off the floor. Trump once said of a black employee, “I think the guy is lazy. And it’s probably not his fault because laziness is a trait in blacks. It really is, I believe that. It’s not anything they can control.” In 1973, a suit was brought against the Trump Management Corporation, of which Trump was the president. The case alleged that the corporation had discriminated against blacks who wished to rent apartments in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island. Trump responded that the charges were “absolutely ridiculous,” and hired the notorious Roy Cohn (aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy) to defend the case. After bringing a defamation counter-suit against the Justice Department (for $100 million), they eventually settled, with Trump accepting humiliating terms yet insisting that did not prove his guilt. But Trump never fully met those conditions (which included giving rental priority to black people and Puerto Ricans), which led to a years-long hostility between Trump and the New York human right’s commission.

· (!!) Note to the above: Trump’s problems with people of color have not gotten better during the campaign; on the contrary, his popularity with minorities has only gotten worse (in some states, Trump currently has 0% support among African-Americans—I suppose that means less than 0.5%.). He refuses to campaign in black majority areas, to the consternation of many GOP strategists. Instead, he typically seeks to project an aura of wealth and power, flying his private jet usually into upper-income white communities. His constant references to “taking back America” sounds very much like the consternation of a white man anguished by the presence of a black man in the white house. At one rally, he pointed at the lone black face amongst a sea of white faces, and referred to the man (Gregory Cheadle) as “my African-American.” Trump also ignored, for 7 months, a request by the N.A.A.C.P. to speak at one of their annual convention; five days before, Trump finally declined to come due to a “scheduling conflict.” Trump has also spurned the National Urban League and the National Organization of Black Journalists (canceling out one day before the event, which was being co-sponsored by Hispanic journalists). “It would be great if he went to a N.A.A.C.P. meeting,” Mr. Cheadle said, “or just interacted with blacks more—and not necessarily for political gain—but just to understand our struggle and what we go through. He’s a billionaire and so his life doesn’t have to include black people.”

· (!) Both before and after meeting with a group of about 100 black pastors, Trump announced that they had endorsed him. He has brought this up a few times, the “many” black pastors who are on his side, saying, “I have wonderful relationships with these people.” But the group has angrily denied that they were endorsing Trump, or anyone; it was just a meeting. One responded, “We were deeply disturbed by the lack of empathy that he seems to show.”

· (!!) After a Republican debate sponsored by Fox, and after facing some unexpectedly tough questions and commentary from Megyn Kelly (here was one: “You’ve called women you don’t like fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals”), Trump went to Twitter to tweet that the Fox trio, especially Megyn Kelly, were “not very good, not very professional.” He later went further, tweeting of Kelly “she had blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.” This peculiar statement has been almost universally seen as a reference to a menstrual period—though Trump denied it, and some of his supporters have, painfully, backed him up. A few people have made the point that Donald Trump, when confronted by strong female characters, doesn’t know how to react. For weeks, Trump and Kelly feuded over the airwaves, until finally Fox News (Roger Ailes?) got to Megyn, and she relented, granting Trump a polite, friendly interview full of softballs.

· (!!!) Note to the above: Trump has, on many occasions, displayed a real and at times bizarre hostility towards women, which has resulted in his consistently low poll numbers amongst them. Here are some examples of Trump’s unique brand of misogyny and sexism:

o He once said, in regards to women: “You have to treat them like shit.”

o In response to the question “Do you treat women with respect?” Trump admitted “I can’t say that either.”

o A Trumpism: “It’s hard to be a ‘10’ when you’re flat-chested.”

o He has referred to Rosie O’Donnell as being a “disgusting person, inside and out.” Also, she is a “slob” with a “fat, ugly face.” And another: “She is crude, rude, obnoxious and dumb.” And during the debate: “I said very tough things to her and I think everyone would agree that she deserves it and nobody feels sorry for her.” Nice guy.

o He once called Alicia Machado, the former Venezuelan Miss Universe, “Miss Piggy.” He has also called her “an eating machine” and “Miss Housekeeping”—possibly a reference to her Latino roots. This came out in the debate with Hillary.

o He has tweeted that Arianna Huffington, editor of the Huffington Post, is a “dog.” He has also called her “extremely unattractive, both inside and out,” and said that her husband, who left Arianna for a man, made “a good choice.”

o He once sent columnist Gail Collins a photo of herself, with the words, “face of a dog” scrawled over it.

o During his scuffle with Megyn Kelly, Trump referred to her as “crazy,” “over-rated,” and “a bimbo.”

o Former Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Jennifer Lin has now (9/30) announced that, back in 1988, Trump called her up and yelled at her because of an exposé she wrote about his Atlantic City dealings. He said that she worked for a shitty newspaper, and had “shit for brains.” He then hung up and called her editor, referring to Miss Lin as a “cunt.” Trump’s people deny this, but Craig Stock, the editor, collaborates the story.

o He has repeatedly called former Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice a “bitch,” and heavily criticized her for going into other countries, negotiating, and coming back empty-handed.

o He once said of Bette Midler: “While she is an extremely unattractive woman, I refuse to say that because I always insist on being politically correct.” Hunh?!?

o Trump once tweeted: “26,000 unreported sexual assaults in the military—only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” In other words, sexual assaults upon women are natural, and the women should expect this to happen.

o After Cher made fun of Trump’s hair, he hit back: “I promise not to talk about your massive plastic surgeries that didn’t work.”

o Trump once tweeted that Kim Novak (the 81-year-old movie star, a former beauty) should “sue her plastic surgeon.” After that, Novak hid away from the public.

o “Nice tits, no brain.” Said of former wife Marla Maples, the mother of one of his children.

o Trump tried to get Marla to do a naked spread for Playboy. He even negotiated the fee, around $1 million. But his wife refused, because she didn’t want her body to be “exploited.”

o Marla has said that Donald made out with her (his tongue down her throat) while she was giving birth to Tiffany.

o Shock Jock Howard Stern once asked Donald Trump if he would stay with wife Melania, if she were horribly mangled in a car accident. He asked back, “How do the breasts look?” Stern stipulated that the breasts were OK, to which Trump answered that he would stay with her then, “because that’s important.”

o On the day of his second wedding, Trump told his buddy Stern, “You know, I’m getting remarried, but Howard, vagina is expensive.”

o Trump has expressed the opinion that a woman over the age of 35 is “too old.” On the other hand, 12-years-old is “too young.”

o He has also, allegedly, told young girls that in a few years (or “couple years”) he would be dating them. And he has made this boast to friends. In 1992 he was caught on tape joking, in reference to a 10-year old, “I am going to be dating her in ten years.” Trump was in his 40’s at the time.

o During a deposition, one of the lawyers, Elizabeth Beck, requested a break so she could pump breast milk for her baby. According to Beck, Trump went red in the face, shook his finger at her, and shouted “Disgusting! Disgusting!” before running out of the room.

o When Hillary Clinton showed up late at one of the Democratic debates, because she needed time for a bathroom break, Trump described the situation as “disgusting.” He harped on this, at length.

o During one of the GOP debates, he complained of Carly Fiorina “Why does she keep interrupting everybody?” But everyone on the stage was just as guilty of interrupting as she was.

o He went after rival Carly Fiorina by attacking her appearance, asking if she had the right face to be president. Quote: “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that…Can you imagine that, the face of our next president? I mean, she’s a woman, and I’m not supposed to say bad things, but really folks, come on. Are we serious?” After days of critical commentary, Trump called her “beautiful,” as if he thought that would appease her indignation.

o Apparently, Hillary has the same issue: “I just don’t think she has a presidential look and you need a presidential look,” the GOP nominee told ABC’s David Muir in an interview that aired Sept. 5. “You have to get the job done. I think if she went to Mexico she would have had a total failure. We had a big success.” In the debate, Trump reconfirmed his belief that Hillary did not look the part, but he quickly shifted to “she lacks stamina.” Which may also be a sexist jab (women are not as “strong” as men). By the way, Hillary looked cool and steady at the end of the debate, while Trump was falling apart.

o He hit at Ted Cruz by posting side-by-side photos of their two wives: beautiful trophy wife (and former risqué model) Melania, and not-so-beautiful Heidi (this, after claiming that he would “spill the beans about Heidi Cruz”). Whatever Trump’s point may have been, this enraged Cruz, and caused a rift between the two that has never mended.

o On May 15, the New York Times published an article, Crossing The Line: How Donald Trump Behaved With Women In Private. The piece, which relied heavily on memories of former female employees, painted a picture of a wealthy tycoon who used his position of dominance to intimidate women, and who could be at times very gracious and gentlemanly but could also be insulting, putting women down for their appearance. The article was compromised somewhat when several women who were interviewed complained about being misquoted, but the picture of Trump as portrayed in the article was very unflattering.

o On many occasions, Trump has complimented women on their appearance. It doesn’t matter if these women were lawyers, business owners, bank presidents, reporters—whatever. He seems to think that the best flattery for a female is to praise her looks. He also seems to think that they see it the same way. He has likewise, many a time, castigated people he wants to put down by suggesting that person was unattractive, if not ugly. He has done this with both men and women.

o Here are some actual Trump quotes: “You know, it doesn’t really matter what the media write as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass”; “I think the only difference between me and the other candidates is that I’m more honest and my women are more beautiful”; “It’s certainly not groundbreaking news that the early victories by the women on ‘The Apprentice’ were, to a very large extent, dependent on their sex appeal”; “All of the women on ‘The Apprentice’ flirted with me—consciously or unconsciously. That’s to be expected”; “Women find his power almost as much of a turn-on as his money (he was talking about himself, in the 3rd person—see below)”; “you wouldn't have your job if you weren’t beautiful (spoken to a lady reporter)”; “If Hillary can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?” And so on.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump tried to rewind the episode, by insisting that he was not commenting on Fiorina’s appearance at all, but rather on her “persona.” But at the next Republican debate, Fiorina had a nice response prepared, telling Trump that women in America knew well what he meant. To this, Trump interrupted by rushing in his own, prepared response; he told Fiorina that she was, indeed, “beautiful.” This was pathetic (Fiorina is not attractive, but Trump fails to comprehend that the issue really is that women should not be judged by their appearance—which any adult should understand), and Fiorina was not at all placated by the phony compliment.

· (!!) Note to the above: At that same debate, candidate Rand Paul criticized Trump for the way he had put down Carly Fiorina’s appearance. Paul depicted Trump going after Fiorina’s looks as behaving like he was in Jr. High. Trump’s “witty” response was to suggest to Paul that he also had ugliness problems (“As for Ron’s appearance, there’s plenty of subject matter, there.”). Trump was blithely proving Paul’s very point.

· (!) Note to the above: In reaction to charges that he is sexist or misogynistic or anti-women, Trump not only denies the charge, but typically makes his usual counter assertion: “I am the best candidate for women we’ve ever had.” And of course, “I cherish women. I love women.” He has made such statements many a time. His daughter Ivanka just came out saying that her father would be “incredible” and “amazing” for women, yet she gives no details about how or why. The Trump website, to this day (8/14), has nothing to say and no plans for dealing with such issues as equal pay, paid family leave, or sexual harassment.

· (!!) Note to the above: By the way, Trump has married three times, each time to a model. And he was the creator of the Miss Universe Pageant, often serving as judge.

· (!!) This is a story that goes straight to Trump’s character, his lack of integrity, his massive ego, and possibly even his sanity. In May, the Washington Post ran a story about how Donald Trump, back in the 1980s and 1990s, and on numerous occasions, conducted telephone interviews with various Media outlets, in which he pretended to be a publicist for Trump. Using a pseudonym—either John Miller, John Barron or John Baron—he outlined for the interviewer, at great length, what a wonderful person “Mr. Trump” was. “John” praised Trump to the sky, especially waxing poetic about Trump’s amazing charisma with women and his incredible sexual prowess. For example, reporter John Cassidy recalls how he once called Trump’s office, spoke with a secretary, heard some talking in the background, and finally someone who sounded like Trump (same voice) came to the phone and called himself John Miller. The “publicist” then went on about how Trump was doing “fabulously well” financially, and how he was “besieged by beautiful women” like Carla Bruni and Madonna. This sort of thing happened with different reporters. Yet all this flowery praise, which was accepted as the 3rd person testimony of someone else, was actually always coming from the Donald himself. In fact, every once in a while, “John Barron” or “John Miller” would accidentally say “I” instead of “he,” in reference to Trump. “John Barron” also backed up Trump’s version of the truth on several disputes in which he was involved. When the Washington Post story came out, with complete, toadying transcripts (and with “John Miller” or “John Barron” forever using clearly Trump-like expressions—“huge,” “unbelievable,” incredible,” “believe me,”), Trump angrily denied the article. Unfortunately for Trump, the story has solid collaboration—from his wife at the time, Ivana, who was then in tears about the situation (“I’m shocked and devastated” she said). And one more witness: Trump himself! He is on record admitting to a judge in 1990, under oath, that “on occasion I used that name (John Barron).” Trump has several times mentioned how he likes the name “Barron,” which is actually the name of his son by Melania. Trump recently dismissed the story as something that happened a long time ago, and is therefore irrelevant today. “We should be talking about current events,” he protested, conveniently ignoring how that was the week he had been fetishing over Bill Clinton’s scandalous affair with Monica Lewsiky, back in the non-current 1980’s. At any rate, the Media dropped the story, which could have been a major embarrassment for Trump. Alas, few people have ever even heard about this strange story of pure narcissism.

· (!) In a 2014-taped interview with author Michael D’Antonio, Trump asserted that, when he was young, he was the best baseball player in New York. He makes this point repeatedly, adding that he was “the best hitter.” He would have gone into a career in baseball, Trump claims, if there had been more money in it. He says that his coach, Ted Dobias, told him that he was the best he had ever seen. Trump also says that he was great at football, wrestling, “I was always the best athlete…always the best at sports.”

· (!) When Iowa started moving towards Ben Carson, Trump asked, at a rally, “How stupid are the people of Iowa?” It now looks like Iowa will probably go to Trump. I’d say, pretty stupid.

· (!) In an August interview with John King of CNN, Trump insisted that a CNN Poll had he and Obama tying in a hypothetical run for the presidency. John King denied the poll, but Trump insisted, adding that he “had heard” of the poll. This is a very common Trump tactic: to insist that something is true because “he heard it,” even though he provides no evidence, nor even can say whom he heard it from. The CNN-poll claim was, of course, false—at that time, Hillary was far ahead.

· (!) In one of the debates, after Rubio made a stupid putdown about Trump having small hands, Trump decided to prolong the infantile banter: “I have to say this: He hit my hands. No one has ever hit my hands. Look at those hands, are those small hands? And he referred to my hands as if, if they’re small, something else may be small. I guarantee to you there’s no problem, I guarantee!” So the leading Republican presidential candidate is actually bragging about his penis. This is where we are today.

· (!!) Trump is often heralded for his business savvy; indeed, this is, to many people, the central argument in support of his presidency: “Trump would run the country like a business.” But this is a true fallacy, on several levels. For starters, the skills necessary for running a business are vastly different than the skills necessary for governance. Running a business is all about ruthlessness, destroying the competition. Successful businessmen are typically cutthroat and unempathetic. Another problem with this concept is that good governance requires an open-mind, an ability to work with others, an understanding of the constitution, foreign policy expertise, diplomatic energy—not skills important within the business community. Further, Trump’s success at business is mostly due to money from his father. He was granted early on a loan of $1 million (equal to $6.8 million in today’s money), which Trump dismisses as a “small” loan. Some people are now saying he was loaned as much as $14 million; no one really knows. He also inherited hundreds of millions of dollars from his father (the figure $200 million is out there, but again, really no one knows exactly how much, and Trump is not talking except to deny it), and he has benefitted from trust funds, personal loans, and his father’s connections. The verdict is out on how successful he has been in conducting his businesses. Some have made the claim that, had Trump done nothing more than put all of his inheritance into a high-interest bank account, he would have more money today. Finally, I should point out that Trump is renowned throughout the business world for his many failures, especially his numerous bankrupcies. If such as he were to become president, and run the country as he would a business...?

· (!!!) Trump has consistently refused to release his recent tax records, despite that fact that for decades now every presidential candidate has done so (albeit some reluctantly). He insists that the reason for this is that he is under audit—as he is, he claims, each and every year, which he attributes to a liberal government bias against him. He insists that it would be illegal for him to release his forms until the audit is completed—after which, he assures us, the forms will be made public. Some problems: first of all, it is dubious that he is even under any audit at all. Secondly, according to legal experts, being under audit would not make it illegal for him to release his tax information. Thirdly, legal experts have stated that, even if he has compromising information that his lawyers might want to hold back from public scrutiny, he could certainly release the first two pages. And fourthly, he could easily release tax forms from previous years (as other candidates have), as these would not still be under audit. Releasing tax information is an important and valuable tool, for helping the public gain useful insight into a candidate’s business and character. But Trump refuses, while assuring us constantly that he has nothing to hide. On the contrary, he claims that he wants to show off how wealthy he is (he claims the tax forms could well put him over $10 billion; analysts are guessing it’s more like $4 billion), but, alas, his lawyers just wont let him release those forms. Darn.

· Note to the above: At the debate, Trump said that he would agree to release his tax forms, after Hillary revealed the emails she was supposedly hiding. Uh, Donald, that mean you would do something you insisted was illegal?

· (!!) Another note to the above: Speculation about the real reason why Trump wont let us see his tax forms has been rampant, and many believe that Trump really does have something to hide. Reasons for concealing his tax records could include:

o He isn’t nearly as rich as he claims, and may not be a billionaire at all; he may even be in debt or in a state of financial ruin, as some have suggested.

o He doesn’t want anyone to get any idea about how much he may have inherited from his father, which is a total mystery.

o He doesn’t want us to know about how his many boasts about being massively charitable are just that—boasts, devoid of any validity.

o He might want to hide charity donations he supposedly made, but were really financed by the Trump Foundation.

o He wants to hide how much the Trump Foundation has spent on his account, personally.

o He doesn’t want people to find out the degree to which he has avoided paying taxes over the years, that he may have even gotten away with paying nothing (except to lawyers). Years ago, he did reveal his tax forms, and they showed that he did not pay anything to Uncle Sam. For years in fact—nothing, not one penny.

o He doesn’t want people to see how shifty he is in using lawyerly tricks and loopholes to get out of paying his fair share.

o He may want to hide his Chapter 11 business practice, in which he builds up companies and then declares bankruptcy, harming many while raking in huge profits for himself.

o He doesn’t want people to know who his partners are.

o He wants to hide any special casino deals he may have made with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (see below).

o He doesn’t want to shed any light on his indebtedness to China, and to Chinese banks.

o He doesn’t want anyone to know about his financial connections to Russian businesses and government officials and assorted oligarchs, possibly even to Putin himself. He has all day long (July 27) been unequivocally denying such connections, but the extent of his true ties to Russia is a mystery.

o And of course, any combination of the above. Perhaps some other dark secrets. Perhaps, to varying degrees, all of them.

· (!!)According to a NYTimes article by Mark Makela, a deputy New Jersey attorney general wrote in 2007 that Donald J. Trump’s flagship casino, the Taj Mahal, had reported that it paid $2.2 million in alternative minimum assessment tax in 2003. Not true—it had paid only $500 in income taxes. In addition, state auditors and lawyers had been long trying to collect long overdue taxes, amounting to almost $30 million, accusing the company owned by Trump of filing false reports with state regulators. This all changed when Chris Christie became governor of the state, and in Dec 2011, after 6 years in court, a settlement was reached in which the state agreed to accept just $5 million. This highly irregular settlement led to questions about the relationship between the two men, a friendship which goes back to 2002. Chris Christie, who has now been identified in court as having full knowledge of the BridgeGate lane closings (indeed, he directed the whole affair), was almost picked by Trump for the V-P slot, and is today a devout supporter and apologist.

· (!) At the time of the Brexit vote, Trump was in Scotland, visiting one of his many golf courses. He hailed the separation vote as a victory, claiming (falsely, probably ignorantly) that Scotland was supportive of this vote, and noting that this would be very good for his golf course, and for his business. He also pointed out that he predicted the Brexit vote, which he did not; just a few weeks before, he didn’t even know about it. Again and again and again, Trump looks upon world and national events in terms of how it affects him, personally (the very definition of narcissism). He took time out from his campaign to make this business trip, another point of concern (as President Trump, he would have many business deals in places all over the world, a potential Conflict of Interest of huge proportions).

· (!) Note to the above: Skipping ahead (8/25), Trump oddly invited Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, to speak at a rally in Mississippi (a strange place for a general election campaign speech, by the way; Trump wanted to show his unity with African Americans, but the audience was totally white). Farage spoke enthusiastically about Brexit, his war with Brussels, and so on, which must have totally puzzled the assembly (are we pro-Brussles or anti-Brussels?). Why did Trump bring an obscure European leader to one of his rallies? The buzz is that this was a sop to the new Bannon/Breitbart/alt right flavoring, which has mostly taken over the campaign. Probably also why Trump was recently castigating German Chancellor Angela Merkle, a target of the Far Right and Neo-Nazi groups, though unknown to most Americans.

· (!) Trump claimed, completely without substantiation, that Jeb Bush would be leading an effort to block Trump’s nomination at the GOP Convention. Trump does this often—he just makes an accusation without any rhyme or reason, without any concern about validity, or lack thereof. And why not—the Media always lets it go, and he pays no price for it. Compare this to how the Media relentlessly hounds Bill and Hillary, and often over very little or even nothing.

· (!!) A report by Reuters: The U.S. economy could be $1 trillion smaller than otherwise expected in 2021 if Republican candidate Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, economics research firm Oxford Economics said on Tuesday. Trump’s policies could knock as much as 5% off the GDP, and “growth would slow significantly, falling near zero in 2019, and reducing overall GDP to $17.5 trillion.”

· (!!) Trump has also claimed that he would be “the greatest jobs president that God ever created.” The evidence shows otherwise. According to the Huffington Post, “Research from Princeton University economists Alan Blinder and Mark Watson finds that, since World War II, the economy has performed substantially better by virtually every measure when Democrats have been in the White House. GDP growth, job creation and industrial production have all been stronger during Democratic administrations than during Republican ones.” Trump has offered no details to suggest that he would do anything substantially different from past Republicans. But he repeats his boasts so constantly that people start to believe it (on this, and all other issues).

· (!!!) Trump claimed, at a rally in Alabama Nov 21, that, while in Jersey, he personally witnessed thousands of Muslims cheering when the World Trade Centers went down. This allegation was immediately challenged, by multiple sources. But Trump did not admit to making a mistake in memory; rather, he doubled down, stressing that it was shown on television (if I remember correctly, he went from “I saw it live” to “I saw it on TV”). But no one could find such film footage. Trump continued to insist that it did exist, that he saw it, and he was 100% confident that his memory was accurate. People searched hard, but again, found nothing. No such film exists. Nor can any witnesses be found to corroborate this allegation. It may be that Trump saw footage of Palestinians celebrating (I remember seeing that). This possibility was given to him, but he insisted it was Muslims living in America. To this day, Trump hasn’t backed down from this assertion (which is either an outright lie, a gross mistake, or the product of a bad memory or a warped mind). But he pays no price for this, at least among his supporters.

· (!!!) Note to the above: Trump will never admit to making a mistake, nor ever apologize for an error in judgment or telling a lie or doing anything wrong whatsoever. Never. He is very clear on this. A number of times (and a large number) he has been caught telling lies or stepping out of bounds or exhibiting poor manners or behavior, etc, but his response always is to deny what he did (even when it is on film), or explain that his actions were misunderstood (even when they were blatant), or it was someone else’s fault, or that the “lying Media” is out to get him, and so on. He has recently taken to saying that the Media lies “almost as much as Crooked Hillary,” and even that his campaign is more against the crooked Media than it is against Hillary (while many people assert that it was the Media’s obsession with Trump, early on, that gave him “billions of dollars in free advertising” and greatly helped him defeat his GOP rivals). To Trump, apologizing is a form of weakness. He has explained this before, and his admirers seem to agree. Strange, considering that most people see it the other way: admitting to your mistakes is a form of strength.

· (!!) Note to the above: Trump has now (8/18) issued a sort of apology: “Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or you say the wrong thing. I have done that. And believe it or not, I regret it. And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues. But one thing I can promise you is this: I will always tell you the truth.” The response to this un-Trumplike statement, coming upon a major staff shift and read word for word off of a teleprompter, has been mixed. Some see this as a major “evolution” in Trump’s character, and a possible sign of a turning point in his campaign; others are not impressed. Trump’s seemingly forced admission of error was completely general, sort of an “OK, I said I have made mistakes, now let’s move on” type of ploy to put his many missteps behind him. Also, note that his statement of regret dismisses any and all past mistakes as being merely slips or poor word choice, never incorrect policy nor abhorrent belief. He brought up no specific example, apologized to no one in particular, and did not seem in any way contrite or genuinely concerned about righting a wrong. The Clinton campaign immediately expressed doubt over the sincerity of Trump’s contrition, calling it “teleprompter regret” and pressing Trump to go further. According to Clinton spokeswoman Christina Reynolds, “Donald Trump literally started his campaign by insulting people. He has continued to do so through each of the 428 days from then until now, without shame or regret.” If he is sorry, IMO, it is only because he isn’t doing so well in the polls, and is required by “politics” to now do a little bit of distasteful damage control.

· (!) For several years, Trump gave his name to a pseudo-scientific vitamin scam that ultimately failed, but is instructive about Trump’s business practices and business ethics. The so-called Trump Network was a multi-level marketing ploy by which Trump encouraged people to take expensive urine tests, which would supposedly then be used to determine a pricey vitamin regimen. Health experts criticized the casual approach Trump took to medicine (potentially endangering the health of participants), all for the sake of making a buck. Quoting a Daily Beast article: “it was not just a marketing and business disaster—the actions of the all-but-certain GOP presidential nominee reflect his willingness to license his name to a product without fully vetting it: a casual endorsement of a serious matter, all with the flitting nonchalance that characterizes the many falsehoods he utters.”

· (!!) Trump has said that he gets his foreign affairs experience from “watching television.” Actually, he often quotes from such dubious sources as television, celebrities, the National Enquirer, the internet, rumor (“someone told me…”—yes, he often makes accusations or policy statements starting this way), even random reports he can not cite or remember correctly. As McCain aide Mark Salter once noted: “The GOP is going to nominate for President a guy who reads the National Enquirer and thinks it’s on the level.” Trump also sites running the Miss Universe Beauty Pageant as a source of gathering foreign knowledge.

· (!) Everywhere Trump goes, he yells to the audience “I LOVE ______!!” Seriously, it gets monotonous: “I LOVE Idaho!!” “Missouri, I LOVE you!!” “I LOVE Connecticut!!” etc etc. And the audience always eats it up. How can people say they like Donald Trump because, “He tells it like it is,” or “He always speaks his mind,” or “He’s not a politician,” when it is so abundantly clear that he is a politician? And just as phony-baloney as the worst of them.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump also seems to be obsessed with superlatives, and extreme wordings. He gets off on using words like “incredible” or “unbelievable” or “special” or “amazing” or “huge.” So he very frequently says things like “your unbelievable governor” or “Kansas is incredible” or “the people of Connecticut are amazing, truly unbelievable people,” or “he’s a very special person, unbelievable, really he’s an incredible person, believe me,” or “I built an unbelievable company,” or “I made an incredible amount of money,” or “it’s huge what I’m going to do for businesses,” or “Arizona—amazing people,” etc. The number of times I’ve heard him use this verbiage is, well, unbelievable. He’s also fond of his own, made up word: “bigly.” Often, Trump sounds more like a carnival barker than a man who wants to be president.

· (!) Note to the above, Trump loves the two little words: “Believe Me.” He throws it into his dialogue constantly, and it quickly gets annoying, especially as it so often follows a statement that is complete baloney (“I have studied the Iran nuclear deal in great detail, greater I would say than anyone else. Believe me. Oh, believe me. And it’s a bad deal.”). It’s almost like he lacks confidence in what he is saying, and needs to back himself up; either that, or it is just part of his con.

· (!!) Studies have come out about Trump’s speaking level. One puts him at 3rd grade level, another at 4th grade, another at “lower than 6th,” and another (the best) at Middle School level. These findings are mostly determined by Trump’s use of grammar and his vocabulary, which is in large part comprised of simple, one-syllable words, often repeated for emphasis. One study showed that he frequently uses simple words like “very” and “great” and “we” and especially “I,” which is his favorite word. Trump, who once said, “I know words, I use the best words,” also loves to diminish his opponents with words like, “dumb,” “stupid,” “idiots,” “morons,” “losers,” “total losers,” “haters,” “disgusting,” etc. Others have noted his self-interrupting, rambling syntax, which is often tortured or severely unintelligible. But all this, rather ironically, may well work to Trump’s advantage, as it reinforces his (pardon the pun) trump card: being a non-elite, non-intellectual, non-political, politically incorrect, blunt and frank common man of the people. This is an old, populist bias: people who speak well, who show erudition (such as John Kerry) are “elites” and “intellectual snobs.” People who speak simply are simple folk, which somehow makes them more qualified to run the country.

· (!!) Some watchdog groups have filed a complaint with the Federal Election Committee over Donald Trump’s fundraising solicitation going over seas, to foreign entities. As noted by emails and tweets, Trump has contacted dozens of politicians from such countries as Iceland, Scotland, and Australia, asking for funds to support his campaign. “Donald Trump should have known better,” Paul S. Ryan, CLC deputy executive director, said in a statement. “It is a no-brainer that it violates the law to send fundraising emails to members of a foreign government on their official foreign government email accounts, and yet, that’s exactly what Trump has done repeatedly.” This has happened at a time when Trump was repeatedly trumpeting how his campaign was self-funding, and how this makes him a superior candidate: not being beholden to others.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump supporters and apologists are today (8/28) criticizing Hillary for soliciting donations from overseas. Our vacuous Media, so far, has not pointed out the hypocrisy.

· (!) Some Trump quotes, in regards to hecklers: “Get ’em out! Get ’em out!” “I’d like to punch him in the face, believe me,” “You can get the baby out of here. I think she really believed me that I love having a baby crying while I’m speaking.” “He can’t get a date, so he’s doing this instead,” “How old is that kid? Still wearing diapers,” “Get out of here!”

· (!) Note to the above: Trump once said, in regards to a heckler, “If you see somebody starting to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of him!” adding later, “I promise, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise.” But that pledge didn’t hold. One month later, in North Carolina, a Trump supporter sucker-punched a protester, which quickly developed into legal proceedings. Trump announced in an interview that he wasn’t going to cover the fees.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump has complained about the level of violence, in regards to protestors, at his rallies—that the violence level isn’t high enough. He has expressed a yearning for the Good Old Days, when “mobs could beat protestors.” He has informed his crowds that he has fantasized about what he would do to protestors, but “won’t say what’s on my mind.” The crowd loved that one, and went wild. Trump once suggested that a rally protestor, who had approached the stage, had “ties to ISIS.” Protestors at his rallies have been punched, kicked, tackled, elbowed in the face, and certainly booed and harassed. Trump once complained, “See, in the good old days this doesn’t happen, because they used to treat them very, very rough. And when they protested once, you know, they would not do it again so easily. But today they walk in and they put their hand up and they put the wrong finger in the air at everybody and they get away with murder because we’ve become weak, we’ve become weak.” That’s Trump for you, never weak, showing his fans how “strong” he is.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump once said his rallies “are among the safest places to be on Earth” during a speech to supporters in Connecticut. At that very rally, several protesters were kicked out.

· (!) Another note to the above: After Breitbart news reporter Michelle Fields was roughly grabbed by Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski at a Trump rally, she attempted to bring a lawsuit against Lewandowski for battery. The details are contested, and the case was dismissed, but Fields has remained adamant about the physical mishandling. Her employer, Breitbart News, which is unabashedly pro-Trump, gave her no support.

· (!!) Trump set off some fireworks on Fourth of July weekend, tweeting a new graphic attack upon Hillary: a picture of Hillary alongside a large pile of cash, with the words “most corrupt candidate ever” encircled by a large six-pointed star—the Star of David. Many people immediately complained about the anti-Semitic imagery: money, corruption, and the symbol of Judaism, all crammed together (KKK Super-star David Duke, on the other hand, said he loved the logo). Trump, amazed at the response, refused to acknowledge that this was a Star of David, calling it just a star, then later a sheriff’s badge (which actually has five points, not six). It soon came out that this graphic was taken from an anti-Semitic, neo-Nazi white supremacy website, one that constantly warns about Jewish corruption and money power and Jews taking over the world, yada yada. Still, Trump refused to apologized or admit the problem, calling the concerns ridiculous and blaming the Media, as he always does when the Media tells a story that contains facts embarrassing to Trump (one could say the same about all Republicans, conservatives, and Fox News propagandists forever attacking the “Liberal” Media for telling the truth about them, going back over the long years). The Anti-Defamation League also got involved, pointing out that this graphic is very typical of anti-Jewish groups, and that members of the ADL frequently gets hate mail with this exact type of drawing: Jewish money, corrupting the politicians to their bidding. Trump’s team took the image down, but Trump, as usual, doubled down and put it right back up, refusing to yield the point.

· (!!!) Note to the above: This is not the first time Trump has had problems with this sort of scandal. White supremacists have been supporting Trump in groves, even to a larger degree than they usually support the Republican candidate (as they have ever since LBJ and the Civil Rights Era). Trump has been very slow to disavow or even acknowledge this support, which has contributed greatly to his campaign and helped him during the GOP Primaries. He has several times retweeted tweets from their accounts. During an interview, he initially refuse to disavow the support he received from David Duke, the notorious former KKK Grand Wizard and Louisiana Republican politician, who has for many years campaigned on vile anti-Semitic themes. In response, he claimed to have misheard the question due to a faulty earpiece. He also insisted, with a straight face, that he had never heard of David Duke and didn’t know of his associations (which would be incredible, as David Duke has been a major notorious character well known for the last 20 years). Back in January, Marshall Kirkpatrick, a social-media analyst, claimed, “62 percent of the accounts Trump has retweeted recently have white-supremacist connections.” Trump’s popularity and support among racist groups has been pointed out numerous times, but Trump has simply refused to credit such reports, or to speak out against these people—which, he must know, are very important to his campaign. He finally did come around, after much pressure (both from enemies, and from his team and supporters), to disavow such support (and to use the word “disavow”), but he did this with as little fanfare or emphasis as possible. Recently, when asked about the white supremacists and neo-nazis and anti-Semites who were backing his candidacy, he spat out the single word “disavow,”—and with disgust, as if to say, “OK, you politically correct liberal Media talking heads, I’ll say the word you insist I say, now let’s move on.”

· (!) In a tweet, Trump once criticized Jeb Bush for “speaking Mexican.” He has also talked about how we should “speak English” in this country, not Mexican. Or, as supporter Sarah Palin puts it, “speak American.”

· (!!!) On June 16, 2015, Trump made the following statement, in regards to Immigration policy and problems with the Mexican border: “They’re sending people that have a lot of problems, and they're bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” The fallout from this reckless comment, in particular the suggestion that “Mexicans are rapists,” was, as the Donald would put it, HUGE! And it has hardly diminshed, to this day. Not that Trump’s supporters have ever minded; indeed, most (especially Ann Coulter) back him up entirely. This was the beginning of Trump becoming vulnerable to charges of racism, which has been an arguing point ever since. And, as always, Trump never did back down, nor apologize, nor admit that he choose a poor wording. On the contrary, he has chosen to run with it, and many times has added fuel upon the fire, making allusions to “Mexican criminals” flooding across the border, or “illegal immigrants raising the crime rate” (which is false—but every time an unregistered Mexican illegal immigrant commits a violent crime, Trump and Ann Coulter and Fox News make a major deal of it). He has also posed the question, “Are we going to have a country, or not have a country.” Massive xenophobia.

· (!) Note to the above: Trump has spoken fondly of how Eisenhower, back in 1954, had a plan to “round up all the immigrants.” It was called ‘Operation Wetback,’ and the results were disastrous: human rights were violated, legal citizens were removed along with the illegals, and many people died. Today it is largely remembered as a tragic scandal (though some on the Right see it as a success). Trump seemed to be clueless about the operation’s reputation.

· (!!) The NYTimes and the Washington Post have run stories on how the Trump Institute (a psersonal wealth seminar business) 2006 handbook plagiarized course materials, and how almost two dozens pages were clearly taken from a book entitled “The Real Estate Mastery System.” The Institute has been involved in lawsuits, and called out as a fraud and scheme to suck money out of innocent people. But the Trump Institute was mainly run by Trump partners Irene and Mike Milin; the real Trump money-stealing scandal involved the Trump University, below.

· (!!!) One of the many under-reported yet potentially scandalous stories evolving around Trump is that of Trump University, a for-profit learning annex and “philanthropic venture” that offered real estate training programs from 2005-2010, when it went defunct due to multiple lawsuits. Quoting from a New Yorker exposé by John Cassidy: “Despite Trump University’s claim that it offered ‘graduate programs, post graduate programs, doctorate programs,’ it wasn’t a university at all. It was a company that purported to be selling Trump’s secret insights into how to make money in real estate. From the time Trump University began operating, in 2005, the A.G.’s office repeatedly warned the company that it was breaking the law by calling itself a university…. According to the Attorney General’s complaint, the free classes were merely a marketing device. There, Trump University’s instructors “engaged in a methodical, Systematic Series of misrepresentations” designed to convince students to sign up for a three-day seminar, where they would learn Trump’s personal techniques and strategies for investing, at a cost of about fifteen hundred dollars… Trump hadn’t handpicked the instructors (as advertised), and he didn’t attend the three-day seminars. Moreover, the complaint said, ‘no specific Donald Trump techniques or strategies were taught during the seminars, Donald Trump “never” reviewed any of Trump University’s curricula or programming materials, nor did he review any of the content for the free seminars or the three day seminars.’ So what were the attendees taught? According to the complaint, ‘the contents and material presented by Trump University were developed in large part by a third-party company that creates and develops materials for an array of motivational speakers and Seminar and timeshare rental companies.’ The closest that the attendees at the seminars got to Trump was when they were encouraged to have their picture taken with a life-size photo of him.” The scam did not stop there. Attendees were heavily pressured to attend further seminars, at exorbitant costs, even to the extent of pushing students to go into debt to pay for “elite” programs. Some of the employees have described it as “a giant ripoff,” and a member of Trump’s own sales staff testified that it was, among other things, “a joke… a façade…. just selling false hopes and lies.” Ronald Schnackenberg, who worked in Trump’s office at 40 Wall Street, testified in an affidavit that “while Trump University claimed it wanted to help consumers make money in real estate, in fact Trump University was only interested in selling every person the most expensive seminars they possibly could…Based upon my personal experience and employment, I believe that Trump University was a fraudulent scheme, and that it preyed upon the elderly and uneducated to separate them from their money.” Trump University also had a series of “playbooks” used to coach its salespeople on how to squeeze every last dollar out of prospective students. “If they complain about the price, remind them that Trump is the BEST!” Another ex-student claimed, “We were also told… we would get to have our pictures taken with Donald Trump. It ended up being a cardboard cutout of Mr. Trump.” Trump University is currently subject to two ongoing federal class action lawsuits, and a lawsuit in New York State court. Some analysts have commented that this case could be a deathblow to Trump’s presidential ambitions. Rather, the Media has shown almost no interest in the story, and most people know nothing about it.

· (!) Note to the above: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has been stepping up his attack upon Trump University, which he has called “a thoroughly fraudulent enterprise” and “really a fraud from beginning to end.” Schneiderman has said that Trump has benefited from this “philanthropic venture” to the tune of about $5 million. Schneiderman, who has received gruesome, anti-Semitic tweets from Trump supporters, says he will move to the Dominican Republic if Trump gets elected.

· (!) Note to the above: Another Trump opponent who has received anti-Semitic threats from Trump supporters and from the alt-right is Andrew Weinstein, a conservative Republican and part of the Never-Trump movement, who has circulated a letter, signed by 75 Republicans politicians and operatives, urging RNC president Reince Priebus to abandon Trump, and concentrate instead on down-ballot elections. Weinstein has received tweets such as “It’s time to put the smack down on these filthy Jew rats,” etc.

· (!!!) Trump’s policies in regards to immigration are arguably his most hardline policies of all. He opposes birthright citizenship, meaning that countless thousands of once American citizens could suddenly find themselves aliens within the only country they ever knew. He has vowed to create a “deportation force” to deport approximately 11-12 million people illegally residing in the U.S., adding, “starting day one of my presidency, (illegal immigrants) are getting out and getting out fast.” Of course, Trump has offered no illumination on how he plans to enforce the deportation of millions of undocumented workers, other than offering assurances like, “it will happen,” or “believe me.” But the biggest of all his intended changes is that he intends to build a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico, an idea that did not originate with him, but which Trump has embraced fully and made his own. In response to criticism about the cost of such a tremendous public works project, Trump came up with the idea that Mexico would fully pay for it. These ideas have come under tremendous, withering criticism, from a wide variety of sources and foreign countries, Mexico in particular. Many (including Trump supporters themselves) see it as all just empty rhetoric, a canard to unite the anti-immigration crowd (which is very large in this country, and, according to many, has a racist foundation). “Build the wall” has become a rallying cry at Trump rallies (and Pink Floyd concerts also—just kidding). Whenever Trump needs a rallying cry of support from his throngs, he interrupts whatever the subject was to promise, “We’re gonna build a wall,” followed invariably by “and Mexico’s gonna pay for it!” As for how he is going to build this wall (which is so impractical that no knowledgeable person believes it to be even possible, short of an incredibly difficult and prolonged expenditure of labor and materials) and how he is going to get Mexico to pay for it (Mexico is clearly adamant that they will never do so), Trump never goes into specifics. He later started making the argument that he would talk to Mexico and get them to understand how it is in their own best interest to do so, and how, under Trump’s presidency, business between the two would skyrocket to such a degree that Mexico would recoup the building fees, many times over. But specifics are never a part of Trump’s oratory. For many people, the entire wall-idea is seen as rather a joke, and Trump has spoken of it with less vigor of late. But it is still part of his spiel.

· (!) Note to the above: Mexico’s past president, Vicente Fox, has taken great umbrage at Trump’s words, annoucing that Mexico is “not going to pay for that fucking wall!” To this, Trump replied (2/25) “I will (make them pay), and the wall just got 10 feet taller, believe me.” This line has become a staple of Trump rallies. Whenever a spokesperson from Mexico denies that his country will ever pay for the wall, Trump leads his ditto-heads in cheers of “the wall just got 10-feet higher!”

· (!!!) Back in early June, Trump opened up a real can of worms by stating that the judge in the fraud case against Trump University was unfairly biased against him, because he was “a mexican.” He clarified that U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel was predisposed to be biased against him, because Trump wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico (which he’ll make Mexico pay for). He also played to his audience and called Curiel “a Trump-hater,” (so they could all boo Curiel’s name). He further suggested that the judge had already made many unfair rulings against him, “rulings that people can’t even believe” (a charge that is disputed by many courtroom observers, who generally see it the other way—the judge has been generous towards Trump). After making this charge, Trump was confronted by a groundswell of outrage, coming especially from the Hispanic community. Many people saw this as racism. As Jake Tapper pointed out, claiming a person “couldn’t do his job because of his race—isn’t that the very definition of racism?” (to which Trump replied “not at all”). The Media, and even outraged Republicans, were quick to point out that Judge Curiel was not Mexican but American, being born in Indiana. Furthermore, this charge of judicial bias (which was only made by Trump, and out of the courtroom; his lawyers were never seeking a mistrial on this basis) has been debunked by multiple legal scholars as unjustifiable. Yet, to the mounting agony of almost all top Republicans, Trump pushed this absurd charge to the limit, spending days and even weeks crying “victim” and insisting that Judge Curiel recuse himself, when he could have instead focused on attacking Hillary over the email issues. He even ordered his surrogates to go after Curiel, and to push back against reporters (Trump: “The people asking the questions—those are the racists.”). The story eventually faded, but never entirely. This has been, for the Donald, a truly grievous and unneccessary self-inflicted wound.

· (!!) Donald Trump has always been a huge fan of conspiracy theories, which does, I feel, speak to his judgment. In fact, he has been more than just a fan, but often a propagator. Here are some examples of conspiracy theories that Trump has accepted as viable, and in some cases has heralded:

o Barack Hussein Obama (the middle name is important) is actually a Muslim, pretending to be a Christian.

o Obama is in league with the terrorists, including ISIS.

o Obama became a citizen of Indonesia when in school.

o Obama was actually born in Kenya, making him an illegitimate, unconstitutional president.

o Obama had Loretta Fuddy killed, because she knew too much about the fake birth certificate.

o Vince Foster was murdered, by the Clintons. He knew too much about Whitewater.

o Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia was murdered, probably by Obama’s order.

o The Mexican government has a secret plot to send criminals and rapists over here.

o Federal Reserve chairwoman Janet Yellen is involved in a hidden plot to help Obama politically by maintaining low interest rates.

o Controversial left-winger Bill Ayers actually wrote Obama’s best-seller Dreams From My Father .

o The Media is liberally biased, and spreads liberal propaganda on behalf of the Democrats and the Clintons especially.

o Hillary Clinton knew about all of her husband’s affairs (she was an “enabler”), and sought vengeance upon his women.

o The Democratic primaries and the upcoming presidential election are all rigged, and Hillary is behind it.

o Hillary is suffering from a hidden illness, possibly mental, possibly a stroke (Sean Hannity has been pushing this one, hard). Now that she has pneumonia (9/11), this one will grow big.

o Hillary Benghazi Hillary Benghazi Hillary Benghazi Hillary etc. (not clear exactly what the accusation is).

o Hillary Clinton has lied about _______ (fill in the blank).

o Rafael Cruz, father of Ted, was involved in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

o Climate change is a hoax, perpetrated by the Chinese.

o Vaccine doses can cause autism.

· (!!) Trump believes in eugenics, the dangerous pseudo-science that was abused by fascists like Mussolini and Hitler, to disastrous effect. According to a documentary called “The Choice,” by D’Antonio: “The (Trump) family subscribes to a racehorse theory of human development. They believe that there are superior people and that if you put together the genes of a superior woman and a superior man, you get a superior offspring.” This of course goes hand-in-hand with the common conservative notion that success in business (i.e.: wealth) has a moralistic root, so that rich people are rich because they deserve to be rich (also a Bush family mantra). This may help to explain a great deal about Trump’s narcissistic persona—he believes that he is genetically superior, better than other people by birth.

· (!) By the way, according to his first wife Ivana, Trump forever kept a copy of Adolf Hitler’s collected speeches, “My New Order,” in a cabinet beside his bed.

· (!) Trump has praised Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un for the way they would handle protestors and terrorist within their own country. Often, Trump has a hard time hiding his admiration for strongmen and dictators. By the way, he often criticizes Hillary (a woman) for “not being strong enough.”

· (!) Trump has proposed teaching mandatory patriotism in school classrooms. More fascism.

· (!!!) Following several terrorist attacks, Trump announced (12/7/15) that he was “calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.” This amazing announcement stunned the nation—never before has a presidential candidate, let alone practically anyone else, called for a ban upon an entire group of people distinguished solely by their religion. The reprisals and condemnations came swiftly, many from astonished Republican leaders. Still, Trump stuck to his guns, and as the hours turned into days and later weeks, it became clear that he was serious. The proposed “Muslim Ban” did not seem to hurt him in the polls (at least, not at first), and was very popular amongst his fans and loyal supporters. Or, as Trump’s learned spokeswoman Katrina Pierson so aptly put it: “So what? They’re Muslims!” People started coming forward speaking out against Muslims (and not just “the bad ones”), as if they were now freed from the chains of “political correctness” and could finally say what they wanted, what they had always thought, thank you Mr. Trump! The naked bigotry was at times inarguable; even top Republicans, beneficiaries of the notorious “Southern Strategy,” were condemning the entire notion as “racist” and “un-American.” Trump eventually pulled it back a bit, calling his ban only a “temporary” ban, until we (the Government) figure out what to do about the problem.” This, by the way, is real, polished bullshit—any and every law is “temporary,” in the sense that it can always be cancelled or altered by future legislation (there really is no difference between a “temporary ban” and a “permanent ban”). Foreign leaders protested, at times showing real anger and indignation. Sadiq Khan, the new mayor of London, asked if Muslims such as himself or his family would be allowed to enter the country; he also asked on behalf of college students, respected business leaders, etc. Trump magnanimously conceded that he (Mr. Khan) would be allowed in, as if Trump thought this would appease the mayor. He later said that some Muslims would be allowed in. As to questions about American Muslims returning from abroad, or “how are we going to determine a traveler’s religion,” Trump had no answer—clearly, he was never thought this through, and was talking all along out of his ass. After more and more flack (but strong support from his ditto-heads, and radical conservative columnists like Ann Coulter), Trump announced that the ban would apply to people originating from countries with a “proven history of terrorism against the United States or its allies,” or countries “compromised by terrorism.” When some of his supporters complained that he had given in, Trump insisted that this was not a “rollback,” but rather an “expansion.” In answer to questions, he agreed that this could mean a ban on people coming to America from countries with terrorism problems, such as France and Germany. The issue is still floating around, currently buried under the weight of dozens of other Trumpian scandals. But it does speak volumes that the head of the Republican ticket is advocating banning members of a religion from entering our country, and although many Republican leaders have disagreed, only a very few have disavowed Trump entirely. This is an eternal shame upon the GOP!

· (!!) Note to the above: Trump’s “Ban the Muslims” philosophy has been blurry and imprecise from the beginning. At first, it was simply ban all Muslims, period, a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States,” whether as visitors or immigrants. He later made excepts for Muslims in the military, or his “many Muslim friends.” He later clarified that this would be a “temporary ban,” and then called it all “just a suggestion.” After the attack in Orlando, he upped the rhetoric again, calling the ban “a matter of policy,” that should be extended to people from countries with a history of terrorism. He explained to a reporter that this meant banning all people from countries with a history of terrorism, but could not give one example of such a country (Germany? France?). Trump’s brilliant spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, later explained that this was not about Muslims per se, and only dealt with Muslim immigration (?), though his other spokespeople were being clear that this was, indeed, a religious ban: all Muslims. Later still, the ban was described as “negotiable.” Then it became an issue of “extreme vetting,” with Trump explaining to Sean Hannity that he doesn’t want to use the word “Muslim,” and the ban would be ideological (ie: don’t let in people with bad ideas, which is impossible to impose and highly un-Constitutional). Throughout all this drivel, his ditto-heads have always been wildly supportive.

· (!!) Another note to the above: One thing that Republican and Democratic leaders have agreed upon is this: the best way to stand up to radical Islamists and terrorists is to enlist the support of mainstream Muslims, in this country and abroad. That should be our goal. When president George W. Bush spoke highly of Islam after 9/11, and even went to a mosque, his actions were praised by Democrats as well as Republicans (as opposed to today, when literally nothing Obama does is ever praised by Republicans, but I digress). Trump’s rhetoric is horrifying to leaders on both sides of the aisle, for the very reason that his words get in the way of achieving this goal.

· (!) Trump has quoted statistics to show how high the crime rate was among Black people. He did not reveal his sources, except to assure Bill O’Reilly of Fox News that it came from “an expert,” but it later came out that he was citing erroneous numbers that originated in a White-supremacist website.

· (!!) This one is more about the people around Trump (especially his wife Melania, and Campaign Director Paul Manafort), and it is yet another example of how stupid, incompetent and dishonest his people truly are (and how bad our Media is). At the GOP Convention Day One, Trump’s wife Melania gave a speech that was supposed to personalize and humanize her husband (the speech was well delivered and initially praised by all in the GOP and in the Media, though it was also remarkably stiff and devoid of any warmth or personal anecdotes). About three hours afterwards, however, a fellow named Jarrett Hill blogged that much of the speech was, apparently, lifted from Michelle Obama’s well-received acceptance speech of 2008. Many phrases appeared in Melania’s speech that were verbatim copies of what Michelle had said—an obvious plagiarism. Despite the fact that the similarities were way too striking to be coincidental, many of the members of Team Trump came out at once denying that anything untoward had occurred. They claimed, to a person, that the “somewhat similar” wordings were all just common-use phrases. One Trump hack parodied the charge of plagiarism, making a very unconvincing case by showing supposed word similarities between the speech and a popular children story, My Little Pony (trying to make the point that “these things happen”). Paul Manafort angrily announced that the charges of plagiarism were clearly false, adding, “This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton she’ll...take her down. It’s not going to work….These were common words and values, and to think that she would be cribbing Michelle Obama’s words is crazy.” This was an absurd counter-attack, especially as Melania said nothing threatening to Hillary. He further suggested that Trump was well aware that the speech would be closely scrutinized (as if to suggest that this couldn’t possibly be plagiarism, because no one would be so stupid)—an argument expressed by others as well. This made for a Media flurry of commentary lasting over the next two days, with Fox News weighing in that this was clearly not plagiarism (rather, just the usual liberal hysteria over nothing). Meanwhile, Turnitin, an online plagiarism fact checker, announced that the chances of this not being plagiarism were about one-in-a-trillion. Another aspect of the story was that Melania, with husband Donald by her side, had given an interview just hours before saying that she wrote the entire speech herself, but for a little help from others. Anyway, after two days of Media chatter and speculations, a Trump staffer named Meredith McIver came forward to apologize and accept the blame. She told an interesting story: while working on the speech, Melania had called McIver and read, over the phone, parts of the actual speech that Michelle Obama had delivered, saying that she (Melania) respected Michelle greatly. McIver took notes, and then later on, rather lazily, re-incorporated those very same words into the speech. This means that it was plagiarism, and that Melania herself was involved in it (and that Melania did not simply write the speech herself, as she said). Indeed, when Melania read those words aloud at the convention, she knew full well that she was reading words written by Obama’s wife (and taking credit for those words). The Trump damage control immediately switched to “it’s over, Melania’s a great person, let’s move on,”—and the Media, annoyingly, agreed! In fact, every reporting of this story that I have witnessed has mixed in the sentiment that Melania was innocent, that she is actually the victim, that she gave a beautiful speech, that she’s so pretty, etc. It now appears that most of these Trump hacks, including Manafort himself, knew damned well that this was plagiarism all along (McIver admitted her mistake to Mr. Trump immediately, that night, but he excused her, saying it was just an honest mistake), and they knew the truth at the very moment that they were so hotly denying the charge, and trying to shift this into another anti-Hillary story. And yet, Manafort, who should have lost all credibility, was on the air the next day, making friendly commentary with the very Media folk that he had just lied to the day before (and these were bald-faced lies). There it is again, our vacuous, never outraged Media, letting conservatives get away with horrible behavior.

· (!) At the GOP convention, Ted Cruz was allowed to address the assembly, and he used the opportunity to pointedly not endorse the candidate. Trump knew of this in advance, as Cruz was required to submit his text in advance. But Trump allowed Ted to go on (saying later that he thought it was “no big deal”), which caused great dissension. In some ways, this was remarkably open-minded of Trump, noble even. But it was also stupid and incompetent.

· (!!) At the GOP convention, Patricia Smith was given the stage. She is the mother of one of the soldiers who died in Benghazi, and she blames Hillary for her son’s death. Tearfully, emotionally, she accused Hillary of taking her son from her. She then shouted that Hillary should “burn in Hell”—and the crowd loved it! This, despite the fact that Hillary was in New York at the time of the attack, and the military (NOT on Hillary’s request) refused to intervene. No objective person could ever make a case for blaming Hillary for these deaths (and conservatives never did, until Hillary ran for president), but Trump supporters had no problem making this stretch. This is now part of the GOP bumper sticker plotting: “Hillary lied, people died.” (By the way, she never lied about Benghazi, either, and several Republican-run investigations have been forced to conclude that she did nothing illegal.)

· (!) Note to the above: Trump has also commented in the past that the Vince Foster suicide was “very fishy.” He suggested that Foster knew a lot about what was happening within the Clinton administration, and then he was dead. This recalls the old debunked conspiracy theory about the Clintons murdering Vince Foster, which many Tea Party and Trump supporters still believe to be true.

· (!!) At the GOP Convention, the assembly, riled up and riveted by the constant flow of vile anti-Clinton rhetoric, began chanting, “Lock her up! Lock her up!” This is, of course, nothing new among conservatives. For twenty-five years now, they have held up both Clintons to be the only two people in this country who are, at all times and in all cases, guilty until proven innocent (witness the constant talking about the so-called “Clinton scandals” and “Clinton crimes,” coming from both the GOP and the Media, when the truth is that neither Bill and Hillary have ever been convicted or found guilty of committing any crime, despite unbelievably probing investigations). This is rather an irony, considering how these very same people so often say “innocent until proven guilty” in defense of Trump, who has been sued thousands (literally, thousands) of times. They believe that Trump is innocent until proven guilty, whereas they believe that Bill and Clinton are forever guilty of any and all accusations leveled against them. Even when proven innocent, the “proof” is contested in their minds—it was all a fix.

· (!!) Trump is involved currently in about 3500 ongoing lawsuits. In many of these, he is the defendant, and is being sued over failure to pay for services delivered. A recent, small example: The Hotel Roanoke was stiffed by Trump, after the GOP candidate refused to pay his bill for his room on the basis of the hotel providing insufficient air conditioning. This is a frequent maneuver among Trump companies—not paying for services rendered, on the basis of “inadequent service.” The Hotel is fighting back, insisting that the HVAC system was on and operating. Another example: Trump’s Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City, in which records released by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission in 1990 show that at least 253 subcontractors weren’t paid in full or on time, including workers who installed walls, chandeliers and plumbing (quoting a USA Today story). But suing Trump is never an easy thing to do. It means going up against his army of lawyers, it means fighting an uphill battle (even if the truth is plainly on your side), possibly for years, and it typically means incurring legal expenses far in excess of any likely award. In other words, Trump is a litigation bully, perhaps one of the worst in the country. Quoting from a NYTimes article (Oct. 24): “Alarmed by Donald J. Trump’s record of filing lawsuits to punish and silence his critics, a committee of media lawyers at the American Bar Association commissioned a report on Mr. Trump’s litigation history. The report concluded that Mr. Trump was a ‘libel bully’ who had filed many meritless suits attacking his opponents and had never won in court. But the bar association refused to publish the report, citing ‘the risk of the A.B.A. being sued by Mr. Trump’.” And yet Trump goes on and on in his speeches about how much he likes his blue-collar employees, how he spends time with them and thinks like them and shares their concerns, etc. His supporters eat it up; they think of him as a “friend of the working man, one of them.” He is the opposite.

· (!!!) Note to the above: A report by Ted Koppan of CNN found that “separate investigations have found that Trump has a pattern of not paying or underpaying contractors and individuals he has worked with, alleging that the work was substandard. Reports published by USA Today and The Wall Street Journal in June found Trump’s companies were facing hundreds of claims that Trump has stiffed people he contracted with for decades. Both reports analyzed court records and interviewed the people behind the claims, and found that the average working American that Trump has geared his campaign toward are some of the same people his business hasn’t paid. Often, the issue is settled out of court for less than the sum owed under the weight of costly legal proceedings.” Donald Trump casts himself as a protector of workers and jobs, but a USA Today network investigation found hundreds of people—carpenters, dishwashers, painters, even his own lawyers—who say he didn’t pay them for their work. They continue: “The actions in total paint a portrait of Trump’s sprawling organization frequently failing to pay small businesses and individuals, then sometimes tying them up in court and other negotiations for years. In some cases, the Trump teams financially overpower and outlast much smaller opponents, draining their