Donald Trump

[Brant Gaede]

10 hours ago, Brant Gaede said:

Halsey's performance deteriorated because the brass in Washington deprived him of his top aide.

Spraunce was a better admiral. They traded command of their fleet. Spruance was in charge for The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot in which he refused to be suckered out of place by the Japanese. Halsey was suckered out of place several months later leading to the near disaster of the Battle of Leyte Gulf.

--Brant

That was just the alligator brain response to Pearl Harbor. The only time he chewed the rug his aide, a rear admiral, told him to cut it out.

--Brant

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

The hype is so thick in the anti-Trump media right now, it's hard to discern what bears a resemblance to fact, much less a fact. If you go by the anti-Trump media reports, it's all over. Trump is done. His polls are tanking. The Republican party is walking away from him and even his supporters are calling for an intervention. Besides, there are serious doubts about whether Trump has a clinical mental illness.

But, there are some indications out there about what the Clinton people really think on the other side of the bullshit. And for those, you sometimes have to look at the more ideological folks. That is where The Young Turks come in.

If you go to their YouTube channel (see here), you will see the normal bullshit: one anti-Trump exaggeration and/or lie after another (Trump is hot to use nukes, Trump is losing friends fast, Trump is campaigning for porn, etc.).

But then something creeps through from in between the cracks. You see this editorial video from Hasan Piker. It's a recap of recent events plus other stuff, but he makes no bones about it. He's scared because he deems a Trump presidency more than possible. And he thinks the Democrat Party and Hillary Clinton are to blame. Don't forget, this guy gets to see the pre-bullshit situation the media sees before it releases its propaganda. 

So if you are supporting Trump like I am and you are getting a little discouraged by the barrage of pure crap being thrown at him by the press, look at the size of his rallies and look at this video posted by The Young Turks.

Remember back in high-school when you studied literature and one of the main themes Shakespeare liked to portray was "appearance versus reality"?

If Shakespeare were alive right now, he would give up writing because the press is illustrating--in reality--this theme in a way no fiction could touch.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Watch Hillary Zombies go wild when she screws up and honks out "We're going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we're going to raise taxes on the middle class!"

Michael

[MereMortal]

5 minutes ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Watch Hillary Zombies go wild when she screws up and honks out "We're going to write fairer rules for the middle class and we're going to raise taxes on the middle class!"

Michael

Freudian slip?  She had to have meant to say the rich... raise taxes on the rich dammit!   

[KorbenDallas]

23 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Once again, Manafort looks like the goddam cat who ate the goldfish.

He says, "the Clinton machine may not like it, but we're prepared for the fight."

Just a few days ago Khan was the big news, and now it's Trump and the GOP...  I don't think that is a coincidence.  I think the GOP leaders might be getting in on this, the Fox team (Newt, Hannity)---control the chaos of a fight you know you can win.  (Or already won.)  This isn't really fiction, I've seen this happen first hand on a smaller scale..

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

1 hour ago, KorbenDallas said:

Just a few days ago Khan was the big news, and now it's Trump and the GOP...  I don't think that is a coincidence.  I think the GOP leaders might be getting in on this...

Korben,

Rush Limbaugh asked one hell of a relevant question.

First he noted that the Washington establishment is panicked about Trump--especially the Republican Washington establishment. Then he noted that the people who are panicking nonstop in the news right now are the very ones who had no use for Trump all during the primaries, saying he trashed the Republican party so they had to find a replacement for him as a candidate, or they might vote for Clinton, or they might go Libertarian, or they might stay at home, etc.

So Rush asked the logical question. If Trump were tanking as much as the media feeding frenzy would have you believe, why are these folks the ones who are panicking? Aren't they getting exactly what they wanted all along? They should be rejoicing, not panicking...

The man's got a point.

Also, I'll take advantage of this post to add something. Hillary Clinton just came out with a statement about the $400 million ransom Obama paid to Iran for American prisoners. She called it "old news." In my post above, I said this:

On 8/3/2016 at 0:28 PM, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

The message is covert and aimed at making the issue feel old, unexciting and not all that important. Drip drip drip on that theme while the whole world is hollering about something else. After a while, old, unexciting and not all that important is exactly how it feels, too.

That "old news" thing is a primary example of Clinton using this technique. She's helping Obama out with it this time instead of herself, but the principle is the same.

And, as I was writing about this, an insight popped into my mind. An old itch got scratched. Finally I understood why Hillary Clinton hit a bullseye with her "What difference does it make?" comment to Congress about Benghazi.

Since I study persuasion, that outburst always bothered me because it didn't fit the patterns I had learned (Cialdini's big 6, copywriting principles, propaganda techniques, conversational hypnosis, etc.--even Rand's stuff). It was effective as hell, though, at least in the short term. That means it worked and I couldn't figure out why.

However, the scab came off the itch with the scratching and the insight came flooding in. Now I know what she was doing. She was yelling (along with Congress and everyone else) about the government people who were killed (the misdirection), but the covert message was that this is old news and we have more important things to look at.

She even got away with emphasizing this at the end because of all the yelling beforehand. In other words, due to all that yelling, people thought she was expressing concern for the dead when the purpose of her message was entirely different. She was dismissing the killed folks as irrelevant, no longer important, and she was manipulating the public into doing likewise. She got people in the general public to feel that the recent dead are platitude material now, not something that needs any more attention than that. Say a homily about loss or tragedy or hero or whatever and change the subject.

And all this happened below conscious awareness.

These guys are good...

Michael

[Peter]

Thanks Michael, for the insight about the Hillary propaganda machine and its techniques. I think Rush is half political campaigner and half “a philosopher for the people.”

I just got this in my email from Paul Ryan.

Peter, 96 days - that's all the time we have left before Americans head to the polls on Election Day, and much more is at stake than the presidency. If we fail to protect our majority in Congress, we could be handing President Hillary Clinton a blank check. A future with Hillary Clinton in the White House and Nancy Pelosi as speaker would truly be devastating for our great nation. Peter -- That's why I've come to you today. Can I count on you to stand with me to defend the House? Pitch in $25 Immediately. end quote

I just don’t like the phrase, “. . .  we could be handing President Hillary Clinton a blank check.” Is Paul predicting an Old Hickory win? Naw. He couldn’t be that crazy and money to reelect the current House of Representatives, also aids the future President Trump.

Peter   

[KorbenDallas]

2 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

That "old news" thing is a primary example of Clinton using this technique. She's helping Obama out with it this time instead of herself, but the principle is the same.

And, as I was writing about this, an insight popped into my mind. An old itch got scratched. Finally I understood why Hillary Clinton hit a bullseye with her "What difference does it make?" comment to Congress about Benghazi.

Since I study persuasion, that outburst always bothered me because it didn't fit the patterns I had learned (Cialdini's big 6, copywriting principles, propaganda techniques, conversational hypnosis, etc.--even Rand's stuff). It was effective as hell, though, at least in the short term. That means it worked and I couldn't figure out why.

However, the scab came off the itch with the scratching and the insight came flooding in. Now I know what she was doing. She was yelling (along with Congress and everyone else) about the government people who were killed (the misdirection), but the covert message was that this is old news and we have more important things to look at.

She even got away with emphasizing this at the end because of all the yelling beforehand. In other words, due to all that yelling, people thought she was expressing concern for the dead when the purpose of her message was entirely different. She was dismissing the killed folks as irrelevant, no longer important, and she was manipulating the public into doing likewise. She got people in the general public to feel that the recent dead are platitude material now, not something that needs any more attention than that. Say a homily about loss or tragedy or hero or whatever and change the subject.

Another comment on her statement, the word "it" is a favorite word for manipulators to use.  It's a context word, and many times they mean something different underneath.  When I've identified a manipulator and they start using the word "it" on me, I stop and think, "wait, what do they mean by 'it'?"  Such a little word...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

More inside baseball from Alex Jones and Roger Stone.

If you want to get a different angle than the disinformation the mainstream media is serving up, this discussion touches on a lot of it.

Roger says Wikileaks is coming around again and it ain't gonna be pretty. Also, he says the source of Assange is not the Russians, but the US intelligence community.

Michael

[KorbenDallas]

Obama addressing #RiggedSystem (he sounds a lot better at 1.5x speed):

 

Here's a Trump response:

President Obama should ask the DNC about how they rigged the election against Bernie.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 5, 2016

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Trump stump video.

One of the best so far.

Talk about back on message...

 

Michael

[Peter]

I think that Trump video about terrorism is compelling. Sirens in the background. Visually appalling. That nightclub massacre in Florida should be in all Trump’s ads in Florida.

Gleaned from Real Clear Politics. The electoral college map as of Aug. 5, 2016.

Clinton 217, tossup 130, Trump 191. Needed to win 270.

Clinton needs 53 votes and has 85 combinations that could win the election. Trump needs 79 electoral votes and has 72 combinations to win the election. There are 15 combinations that could end up in a tie.

The current toss ups are ten States: New Hampshire 4, Pennsylvania 20, Wisconsin 10, Iowa 6, Ohio 18, Virginia 13, North Carolina 15, Florida 29, Colorado 9, Nevada 6.   

Hillary’s VP is from Virginia so it is quite likely her winning combination will include that state. If Hillary wins Florida, Pennsylvania, and Virginia she would have 279 electoral votes to win the Presidency or she could win with Florida, Wisconsin, Colorado, and Virginia. Or Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, Colorado, Iowa. And also with Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, Colorado.

Trump’s winning combo list is shorter and mostly includes Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. For Trump the only combination excluding Florida is Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Nevada and he won’t win Virginia.

Suffolk University Poll has Clinton leading Trump in Florida 48 to 42. It’s too soon to appear grim but I am not smiling either. Most of the composite polls have Clinton with a 70 plus chance of winning the election.

How is “Little Marco” doing?

Peter

[Peter]

As of now I think Trump is losing “the campaign” through pigheaded stupidity. I am not advising that he become an equivocating politician but some things are best left unsaid. So many anti Hillary stories should have been allowed to ferment in the press, like the FBI story, as Trump laid low and gave optimistic but not news worthy speeches. Does any one else get it? Michael Barone does.

Peter

Donald Trump's Opportunity Cost by Michael Barone Posted: Aug 05, 2016 12:01 AM. Opportunity cost. That's an economist's term for what you lose out on when you divert your investments and attention to something less profitable. It's also a good term for the losses Donald Trump has incurred in the last six days -- more than 6 percent of the 94 days between the close of the Democratic National Convention and the election in November.

Trump has spent much of that time attacking the father and mother of a Muslim U.S. serviceman killed in Iraq. He has made a point of refusing to support Paul Ryan or John McCain in their upcoming primaries. He accepted someone else's purple heart and said that his business investments amounted to "sacrifices." Even if you think Trump's remarks were defensible, you should be able to see how a hostile press would feature them in the most damaging way. Mainstream media inevitably slants things against Republicans. You may not like it, but if you're a rational adult you take it into account.

The opportunity cost for Trump and for his party is that he failed to direct attention to what he could have made Hillary Clinton's glaring weaknesses.

One was highlighted by the GDP figures announced Friday, showing just 1.2 percent economic growth in the last quarter. Clinton, as the candidate of the incumbent party, had to promise to continue and extend its macroeconomic policies. The GDP figures make a powerful case against that. Another was Clinton's performance on the Sunday talk shows. FBI Director James Comey "said that my answers were truthful," Clinton said. Of course, Comey said the opposite -- repeated Clinton statements about her emails were just not true. Washington Post fact-checker Glenn Kessler gave her a maximum four Pinocchios for her statement to the contrary . . . .

[BaalChatzaf]

37 minutes ago, Peter said:

As of now I think Trump is losing “the campaign” through pigheaded stupidity. I am not advising that he become an equivocating politician but some things are best left unsaid. So many anti Hillary stories should have been allowed to ferment in the press, like the FBI story, as Trump laid low and gave optimistic but not news worthy speeches. Does any one else get it? Michael Barone does.

Trump is a fool with a non-stop mouth.  

[KorbenDallas]

5 hours ago, Peter said:

Trump’s winning combo list is shorter and mostly includes Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. For Trump the only combination excluding Florida is Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Nevada and he won’t win Virginia.

Florida has went back and forth for several election cycles, I think it's entirely possible Trump could flip it to red this time around.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Hahahaha!...

Here is one of the best ones, yet--Robot Hillary melting down...

Michael

[KorbenDallas]

4 hours ago, Michael Stuart Kelly said:

Hahahaha!...

Here is one of the best ones, yet--Robot Hillary melting down...

[...]

Michael

Calling Bill her opponent, hah... Crisis in Character

[KorbenDallas]

I saw this video on Fox, it's a Gold Star mother speaking her point of view, "..because I'm a Gold Star mother, I don't think that gives me special privilege.  I don't think that means people need to bow down in my presence.."

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Korben,

That's a beautiful video.

You sure know how to pick them.

Michael

[Peter]

Fox has the headline as pollster Frank Luntz is talking titled “Premature Obits for Trump?” Frank says Trump will win the campaign if he would ONLY focus on the strategies of: “We’ve got to make a change,” “Washington is broken”, and “You need me.”

Now Greta Van Susteren is saying (figuratively,) Trump needs to be hit over the head with a hammer. Release the tax returns that are not being investigated by the IRS for example. Look like you are cooperating with legitimate critics. Hillary is playing the media game to suit her . . . just as Trump is. But now he is getting hammered by that figurative tool, the left wing media.  

Korben wrote: Florida has went back and forth for several election cycles, I think it's entirely possible Trump could flip it to red this time around. end quote

I agree with Korben but Real Clear Politics states that *if* Virginia, (because of the Democratic VP choice) is in the Hillary win column, *then* Trump must numerically and literally win Florida, because no other combination of states exists. A campaign is defined by skill and message but it is also chaotic and influenced by outside news stories. So my syllogistic – *if,* *then* is dependent on realistic history and history about to be written. Unfortunately, Trump’s woes are worse because of his own dumb mistakes. I am tired of hearing the cliché, "He shot himself in the foot . . . again.”  

My advise for him? I do like Trump’s old fashion attacks on Hillary. Keep it up. It’s cool to call her the devil, the monster, totally unhinged, unstable, and short circuited. But hey Dude, stop being thin skinned, or appearing to be vindictive and thin skinned. Don't get people worried about The Trumpster seeking revenge if you are elected. Let negative stories about Old Hickory Clinton percolate and dominate the news cycles.

And am I asking too much if I say “We need a hurricane in Florida?” and the headline, “Donald and Marco seen touring the ruins together and hugging the homeless. They urge Federal disaster funds. Trump cries, and shows his humanity.” Come on Tropics. We need some excitement!

Peter    

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

3 hours ago, Peter said:

Unfortunately, Trump’s woes are worse because of his own dumb mistakes. I am tired of hearing the cliché, "He shot himself in the foot . . . again.”

Peter,

How about if we look at a different form of polling, one that is mostly spontaneous and not run by any professional political polling outfit?

Let's look at social media stats, shall we?

SPREAD THIS: Media RIGGING The Polls, Hiding New Evidence Proving Trump Is WINNING
by Addison Riddleberger
The Truth Division
August 4, 2016

Granted, this is from a conservative site started last February (The Truth Division) run by conservative journalist and commentator, Addison Riddleberger, who also writes for The Conservative Tribune and other places, but these numbers are pretty easy to check for anyone who wants to contest them.

From the article:

Quote

There’s no doubt about it — the liberal media’s polls are rigged from the bottom up. How do we know this?

Simple — social media. Trump’s following on the major social media networks absolutely blow Clinton out of the water.

Allow me to prove it:

Facebook
Trump: 10,174,358 Likes
Clinton: 5,385,959 Likes

Trump Live Stream Post — 21 hours ago: 135,000 likes, 18,167 shares, 1.5 million views
Clinton Live Stream Post — 25 hours ago: 11,000 likes, 0 shares, 321,000 views

. . .

Twitter
Trump: 10.6 million followers
Hillary: 8.1 million followers

. . .

Youtube Live Stream
Trump: Averages 30,000 live viewers per stream
Clinton: Averages 500 live viewers per stream

. . .

Instagram
Trump: 2.2 million followers
Clinton: 1.8 million followers

. . .

Reddit
Trump: 197,696 subscribers
Hillary: 24,429 subscribers
Hillary for Prison: 55,228 subscribers

Hillary for Prison’s Reddit feed has more than double subscribers of Hillary’s reddit page...

I'll just let that speak for itself and let the poll gaming warriors yowl this proves nothing because it isn't "scientific."

btw - Riddleberger thinks that a lot of Clinton's social media stats are gamed by paid social media people whereas Trump's stats come from predominantly real-life Trump supporters. From participating and observing, I agree with this in general.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Good Lord!

Talk about going down with the ship!

Michael Morell, Former Acting CIA Director, is now saying the Benghazi attack really was due to the YouTube video all along.

You can't make this stuff up.

Even the pro-Clinton Martha Raddatz seemed like she didn't know what to do with that stinker.

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Looks like tomorrow is going to be an interesting news cycle with pundits yacking up a storm. That is, unless the pro-Clinton media channels refuse to comment on this (from Fox).

Report: Hillary Emails Discussed Nuclear Scientist Executed By Iran For Giving Intelligence To U.S.

Dayaamm!

I sure as hell would not want to be a US spy or US-friendly spy right now...

God knows what else is in those emails, and in those to come...

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Remember the outrage of Trump "throwing a baby out" of his rally? The mother spoke out.

WILL MEDIA APOLOGIZE TO TRUMP? Mother of Crying Baby at Rally Speaks Out, Defends Trump
Kristinn Taylor 
Aug 6th, 2016
The Gateway Pundit

Here is her comment from the article:

Quote

Please share… From lady at Trump rally when baby began to cry…

From Devan Cierra Ebert to Donald J Trump…

Hello, this message is for Donald J. Trump.

I was the mother in his rally on Tuesday, August 2nd, in Ashburn, VA, with the baby who started to cry. I would just like him to know personally that I, by no means felt I was ever “kicked out” of his rally. I excused myself and my child when he awoke from his nap and began to cry. It was only because I had to grab my child’s belongings and then make my way out of the aisle I was seated in that I wasn’t out of there sooner.

I realize Mr. Trump doesn’t know me personally, but for those that do, know that I am the first one to excuse myself and my child when he begins to cry because I personally believe it’s rude to disturb anyone else’s ability to hear what they came to see. I’ve left movies, violin recitals, and other events if I felt my child was disturbing others. It is the considerate thing to do.

I stood right outside the doors of the auditorium continuing to watch and listen to what Mr. Trump had to say. In fact, the police that were right outside in the same hallway with me, treated me with so much respect it was incredible. They were so kind and made me feel welcomed to stand with them. One officer commended me on my bravery to bring my child to Mr. Trump’s rally.

I fully support Mr. Trump. I thought he responded very graciously to my child crying and he made a lighthearted moment out of what I usually consider to be stressful. I actually was out of the auditorium before he even made his follow up comment about my child and even then, when I was informed of his comment, I laughed. I understand he says things jokingly, and I understand no one wants to speak over or struggle to listen over a crying baby.

I am in no way offended and I again reiterate, Mr. Trump NEVER kicked me or my child out of the Briar Woods High School, Trump rally. And for the record, while my child and I stood outside of the auditorium, my eleven year old stepdaughter and my Grandmother sat inside the auditorium and continued to support and listen to everything Mr. Trump had to say. We all were so excited to be able to see Mr. Trump so close to home. I didn’t have a babysitter to watch my kids and honestly, to me it was a historical moment that I am happy that my kids were there for.

I apologize for the trouble this has caused Mr.Trump. The media has severely blown this out of proportion and made it out to be something that it wasn’t and is clearly using this as political gain for the Democratic party. I hope this message sheds light to what really happened.

Thank you for your time. Best of luck! You have our vote. Trump 2016

I don't expect the media who spun this to retract what they did.

But many people in America are now watching, Democrats and Republicans.

Many, many of them do not condone outright lying, especially lying about babies....

Michael

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Jeb Bush's son, George P. Bush, just endorsed Donald Trump.

Sometimes the younger are wiser.

Michael