T1B

88 wrote: hydroshock

88 wrote:And your alternative is what?

Moving Sale wrote:And yet you have done almost nothing else but suck his dick for the last year.

Even as the 2020 race begins in earnest, President Donald Trump is already suggesting that Democrats cannot beat him fairly -- raising the specter that if he loses next November, he will suggest that the election was not legitimate.

"The Democrats in Congress yesterday were vicious and totally showed their cards for everyone to see," Trump tweeted Tuesday, referring to House Democrats' launching of a broad-scale investigation into him. "When the Republicans had the Majority they never acted with such hatred and scorn! The Dems are trying to win an election in 2020 that they know they cannot legitimately win!"

Trump 2020 campaign press secretary Kayleigh McEnany echoed that sentiment in a statement on the Democratic investigations. "These desperate Democrats know they cannot beat President Trump in 2020, so instead they have embarked on a disgraceful witch hunt with one singular aim: topple the will of the American people and seize the power that they have zero chance at winning legitimately," she said.

And asked Wednesday about the Democratic investigations, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said this: "They continue to be a group totally taken by small radical leftist fringe of their party and they're completely controlled by it, they know that's not enough to beat this President so they're going to look for other ways to do that."

All of that rhetoric fits into a very clear pattern: Convince the Trump base that it is not possible for him to lose a fair and legitimate election in 2020. Thus, if he loses, it must be, by definition, illegitimate.

None of this should be surprising, given Trump's oft-stated view of the 2016 election -- in which he won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by nearly 3 million votes.

Less than three weeks after winning the White House in 2016, Trump sent out this tweet: "In addition to winning the Electoral College in a landslide, I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."

In a meeting with a bipartisan group of lawmakers just days after his inauguration, Trump was at it again -- reportedly telling the gathering that somewhere between 3 and 5 million illegal votes were cast in the 2016 election and, had only legitimate votes been cast, he would have won the popular vote in addition to the Electoral College.

Neither Trump nor anyone in his administration has ever provided any evidence of his claims of widespread illegality. A commission formed by Trump -- and chaired by failed Kansas gubernatorial candidate Kris Kobach -- was disbanded after less than a year. And study after study has shown that widespread voter fraud -- of the sort alleged by Trump -- simply does not exist.

Of course, Trump is less interested in the facts about voter fraud -- or lack thereof -- than he is about convincing his base that if he loses, it's not because he got less votes, it's because something nefarious is being perpetrated against him by the elites.

How do I know? Because Trump was doing it in the 2016 election -- before he knew he actually won.

In an interview on Fox News Channel on Election Day 2016, Trump said this:

[LOL]"It's largely a rigged system. And you see it at the polling booths, too. There are reports that when people vote for Republicans the entire ticket switches over to Democrats. You've seen that. It's happening at various places today. It's been reported. In other words, the machines, you put down a Republican and it registers as a Democrat. They've had a lot of complaints about that today."[/LOL]

So, yeah.

This is straight from the Trump blueprint -- and not just in politics, either. In his past life as a businessman, Trump would regularly declare victory on a deal loudly and publicly -- even when the facts didn't bear out his bluster. Hell, he somehow spun three bankruptcies as wins for him!

It's not just that Trump doesn't like losing. (No one likes losing.) It's that he is unwilling to accept any sort of loss for fear that defeat might take some of the shine off of his all-I-do-is-win persona.

In the business world, that approach was mostly harmless. Trump could say whatever he wanted but, at the end of the day, it was pretty clear who won and who lost a deal. Money, usually, changed hands. And while lots of people Trump dealt with rolled their eyes about his massive exaggerations, they usually just ignored them.

In politics, Trump's inability to accept that he could lose fair and square is far, far more dangerous.

Michael Cohen, Trump's former longtime fixer, said as much during his congressional testimony in front of the House Oversight Committee last month. "Given my experience working for Mr. Trump, I fear that if he loses the election in 2020, that there will never be a peaceful transition of power," said Cohen.

Sit with that for a minute. And realize what it would mean if the sitting incumbent President of the United States simply refuses to concede he has lost in 2020.

Derron wrote:...your latest cut and paste drivel.

Lefty wrote:Great, dude brought a check. But as has been pointed out it could be for anything. Just because a liar says it is for x doesn’t make it so.

Joe wrote:He's been convicted of lying to congress and is looking at a 3 year prison term, so now he's believable?

Shlomart Ben Yisrael wrote:

Derron wrote:...your latest cut and paste drivel.

It's a scroll-wheel nightmare.

Lefty wrote:Who knows exactly what they are for, but even the angry racist midget lawyer could raise enough reasonable doubt as to what those checks could potentially be payment for.

Lefty wrote:But keep skipping right over the fact he likely perjured himself.

(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Monday night backed away from his push for a vote on an Obamacare replacent until after the 2020 elections, bowing to the political reality that major health care legislation cannot pass in the current Congress.

Trump's statements come a week after his administration announced that it now agreed with a judge's ruling that the entire Affordable Care Act should be scrapped. The opinion was a dramatic reversal from the administration's previous stance that only portions of the act could not be defended.

Trump's latest move allows him to wait on the issue as legal challenges against the health care law, also known as Obamacare, make their way through the federal court system. If it's ultimately overturned, Trump can claim he made good on a campaign promise in time for his 2020 re-election campaign -- though he would then face the prospect of an estimated 20 million Americans losing their health insurance on his watch, with no Republican replacement in the legislative pipeline. If it's upheld -- as it has been in previous Supreme Court challenges -- he can rail against a "liberal" court system.

"The Republicans are developing a really great HealthCare Plan with far lower premiums (cost) & deductibles than ObamaCare. In other words it will be far less expensive & much more usable than ObamaCare. Vote will be taken right after the Election when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House. It will be truly great HealthCare that will work for America," Trump declared in a series of tweets. "Also, Republicans will always support Pre-Existing Conditions. The Republican Party will be known as the Party of Great HealtCare. Meantime, the USA is doing better than ever & is respected again!"

Trump unsettled Republican lawmakers last week by putting the spotlight back on the thorny issue of repealing and replacing Obamacare, vowing that his party would turn to replacing the health care law as his administration backed a federal court ruling striking down the law in its entirety. Republican congressional leaders quickly sought to distance themselves from Trump's latest drive, mindful that passing such a proposal would be virtually impossible in a divided Congress.

Trump's tweets dialed back expectations that Republicans would be able to pass major health care legislation before the 2020 election, but his promise of a vote that would hinge on a Republican takeback of the House ensures nonetheless that health care will figure prominently in 2020. That is a fight Republicans are wary to have after they suffered huge losses in 2018 congressional races in large part over the issue of health care.

That trepidation did not stop Trump last week from reversing his administration's previous legal position that only certain parts of Obamacare should be struck down, instead arguing that the entire law should be scrapped. The appeals process will likely stretch into next year.

Trump has been stymied on one of his primary campaign promises -- to repeal the signature law of his predecessor -- despite multiple attempts in Congress. Trump attempted on multiple occasions to repeal Obamacare during 2017, when his party was in control of both chambers of Congress, but failed to do so due to a lack of support within his own party.

The failed attempts proved to be a galvanizing force for Democrats in the 2018 midterms. Health care was the top issue for Democratic and independent voters, and focusing on the issue helped Democrats take over the House in January.

The President has insisted in recent days that, despite his administration's position that all of the ACA should be struck down, the GOP will be the party of health care. He's also repeatedly promised to protect people with pre-existing conditions, a provision that would be eliminated if the federal district judge's ruling in a Texas case is upheld on repeal.

Trump said Thursday he's asked Republican senators to work on a replacement to the Affordable Care Act, but no such group appears to exist. Multiple Republican senators who Trump name-checked said they were not a part of a working group, but had spoken with the President about health care recently.

And on Wednesday, Marc Short, Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff and the former White House legislative affairs director, claimed on CNN that "the President will be putting forward plans this year" to replace Obamacare through Congress.

White House officials were quick to tell CNN that Short had gotten ahead of White House deliberations.

The White House has yet to decide whether it will take the lead on crafting an Obamacare replacement, they said, or whether the President will punt to Republican lawmakers.

Mikey wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:50 pm

Mikey wrote: ↑Tue Apr 02, 2019 6:50 pm

“You’re going to win your elections because of health care," Trump says. When voters ask health care questions, Republicans should tell them their first vote in the next Congress will be on a GOP health care plan, he adds. Not much of a response from the crowd.

88 wrote: ↑Wed Apr 03, 2019 1:58 am You are gripping, amigo. Gripping. Better start those impeachment proceedings in earnest. He’s about to start wiping your ass with your own degenerates.

poptart wrote:His father was born in NY.
This is the 4th time he has made this false claim, btw.

Softball Bat wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:36 am Oh, so Don did have an option.

Beyond that obvious fact, Don had two full years to work in DC with the party that he leads in total control.

mvscal wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2019 10:35 pm

Softball Bat wrote: ↑Sun Mar 03, 2019 4:36 am Oh, so Don did have an option.

Beyond that obvious fact, Don had two full years to work in DC with the party that he leads in total control.

He was not and is not in total control of the party he leads, dullard.

Diego in Seattle wrote: ↑Fri Apr 05, 2019 7:14 pm Pele is giving Mexico a one year warning to clean up the border.

If they don't comply he's going to put them on double secret probation.