Donald Trump Finally Admits That He Is An Ignorant Ass | News Corpse

Donald Trump Finally Admits That He Is An Ignorant Ass | News Corpse

Well now we have confirmation from Trump himself. The man who has bragged that “My primary consultant is myself” because “I have a very good brain and I’ve said a lot of things,” spoke with Milwaukee radio host Charlie Sykes and displayed the very same cluelessness that he did with the Washington Post and the New York Times. But he went even further to define himself in terms that are effectively admissions of his own issue illiteracy.

When asked by Sykes to explain his abhorrent remarks directed at women, Trump replied that “I never thought I would run for office,” implying that it’s acceptable to malign women so long as you’re a just a businessman or a television personality or in any profession other than politics. Even worse, Trump’s reply to Sykes’ inquiry about his contradictory stances on issues like single-payer healthcare, abortion rights, and gun control, was that “As a businessman, I never even thought of many of the things you’re talking about.”

Let’s just set aside the fact that any responsible citizen would have given thought to issues. Considering that Trump was a businessman a mere nine months ago, this comment ought to be troubling to anyone considering supporting him. He is saying that matters of war, terrorism, public safety, economics, abortion, immigration, education, civil rights, etc., had not crossed his mind until less than a year ago. In light of that total lack of preparation for the job he’s seeking, it isn’t surprising that he has proven to be a world-class idiot.

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The HyperTexts

Donald Trump Violence Quotes

Does Donald Trump encourage violence? He claims that he doesn’t, but as the old saw goes, “The proof is in the pudding.” Here are violence-inspiring quotes by The Donald Himself, followed by accounts of people who have attended his rallies or other political events, or have otherwise observed his abysmal behavior …

Donald Trump Quotes Encouraging and Condoning Physical Violence

Trump insists that American soldiers should kill women and children: “We’re fighting a very politically correct war. And the other thing is with the terrorists, you have to take out their families. When you get these terrorists, you have to take out their families. They care about their lives, don’t kid yourself. But they say they don’t care about their lives. You have to take out their families.”

When asked to explain this inexplicable position, which would make American soldiers mass murderers of women and children, and guilty of war crimes, Trump explained that murdering the widows and orphans of terrorists is necessary for purposes of “retribution.”

Donald Trump is a Fan of Torture and Seems Very Eager to get Started

“The problem is we have the Geneva Conventions, all sorts of rules and regulations, so the soldiers are afraid to fight.” [Our soldiers have not been “afraid to fight.”]
Trump has repeatedly gushed about the wonders of waterboarding. “I think it’s great but I don’t think we go far enough!” [Great, really?]
“Waterboarding would be fine. If they can expand the laws, I would do a lot more than waterboarding,” Trump said on NBC’s “Today” program.
“I would bring back waterboarding and I’d bring back a hell of a lot worse than waterboarding.” [Thumbscrews? The Rack?]
“Don’t tell me it doesn’t work. Torture works, OK folks? I think we should go much stronger than waterboarding, that’s the way I feel.”  [The real experts say torture doesn’t work and is actually counter-productive.]
“Would I approve waterboarding? You bet your ass I would. In a heartbeat. I would approve more than that. It works. Only a stupid person would say it doesn’t work.” [Trump is calling the experts “stupid,” as usual for him.]
“And if it doesn’t work, they deserve it anyway for what they do to us.” [What about the people who turn out to be innocent of any crime? Did they “deserve” it?]
But then, as he so often does, Trump contradicted himself: “Though the effectiveness of many of these methods may be in dispute, nothing should be taken off the table when American lives are at stake.”

Where does Trump get his military and intelligence advice? When asked where he gets military advice, Trump answered: “I watch the shows.” But to my knowledge, no military or intelligence expert has advocated Trump’s extreme positions. I think Trump was more honest when he said that he listens to himself because he’s smart. But perhaps he just thinks he’s smart, just as he thinks he’s “good looking” and his hands are “big.”

What other more extreme forms of torture is Trump so anxious to bring back? The CIA’s discontinued ​”enhanced interrogation” program employed sleep deprivation, waterboarding, sexual humiliation, mock executions, threats to kill the children of prisoners, and other harsh techniques. It turned out that some of the people tortured were not terrorists, had done nothing wrong, and had no information to give. And torture doesn’t work, as Ryan Cooper pointed out: “In fact, torture is absolute garbage for intelligence work. This fact is firmly established; look no further than Darius Rejali’s massive book on torture, which is the last word on the subject.”

Points to Ponder: Trump has made it abundantly clear that as president he would go far beyond waterboarding. He sounds anxious to get started, just as he sounded anxious to “take out” widows and orphans. He seems like a sick puppy to me. Should our soldiers rape and behead people, because ISIS does such things? Or should we hold ourselves to a higher standard? At the end of World War II, German soldiers would retreat from the Russian front to surrender to Americans because they knew Americans would not torture them. Do we want to sacrifice our nation’s honor and reputation because of the fear and cowardice of someone like Donald John Trump? Trump has called senior members of our military and intelligence services “stupid” because they have pointed out that torture does not produce reliable information. People being tortured will say anything to make the torture stop. A 2014 inquiry conducted by the Senate found “enhanced interrogation techniques” like waterboarding to be brutal and ineffective. Trump’s “stupid people” include FBI interrogation expert Ali Soufan and Jennifer Bryson, who was an interrogator at Guantanamo Bay. Bryson said: “Torture is antithetical to effective intelligence collection. Torture is not just ineffective; it is counter-effective.” She went on to explain that torture results in false information being provided to stop the pain, whereas gaining honest information requires the interrogator to appeal to the humanity of the person being questioned, and build a rapport. John McCain, who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam and was tortured, giving him first-hand experience, sternly criticized Trump and Cruz for their campaign rhetoric: “It is clear to me that this practice, which is a simulated execution by drowning, amounts to torture as a reasonable person would define it.” One huge problem with Trump and Cruz is that their oversized egos leave them unable to see and understand their own limitations. Carpet bombing is evil, a war crime, and bad military strategy. Torture is evil, a war crime and counter-productive. They should listen to the experts, but they only listen to themselves. Trump is a real estate salesman. Cruz is a lawyer. They have no business being commander-in-chief of our military and intelligence services.

Bashing Protesters

After a Trump supporter sucker-punched protester Rakeem Jones and threatened to “kill him” next time, Trump said: “He obviously loves this country and maybe he doesn’t like seeing what’s happening to the country.”
Trump told a Cedar Rapids crowd to “… knock the crap out of ’em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise.”
During a protest in Warren, Michigan, Trump said of a protester: “Get him out. Try not to hurt him. If you do I’ll defend you in court.”
“Are Trump rallies the most fun?” he then asked the Warren crowd, as if violence is humorous entertainment. “We’re having a good time.”
At a New Hampshire rally where a protester was “taken out” by the audience, Trump gleefully said: “It was really amazing to watch.”
During a rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, Trump said: “In the good old days, this doesn’t happen, because they used to treat them very, very rough. We’ve become very weak.”
After a Trump supporter punched and choked a protester at a rally in Birmingham, Trump said: “maybe he deserved to get roughed up.”
In Las Vegas, Trump was not happy to see a protester being escorted away peacefully: “The guards are being very gentle with him,” Trump said. “I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you that.”
“We’re not allowed to punch back any more,” Trump lamented in Las Vegas. But a security guard denied that the protester had thrown any punches, saying Trump was “over-exaggerating.”
Trump continued his tirade: “I love the old days. You know what they used to do to guys like that in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”
So peaceful protesters should end up in the emergency room, according to the Wisdom of Trump.
Trump condoned violence at his campaign events by claiming “the protesters are bad dudes.” But many of the protestors were not violent. One was ejected for wearing a “Love is the Answer” t-shirt, for Chrissakes.
“Sometimes we talk a little bit tough,” Tru,p said. “When I see somebody out swinging his fists, I say, ‘Get ’em the hell out of here.’ We’re a little rough.”
Taunting demonstrators at a rally in St. Louis, Trump said insultingly: “Go home and get a job. Go home to mommy.”
“The wall will go up and Mexico will start behaving.”
“Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!”
“Laziness is a trait in the blacks. … Black guys counting my money! I hate it.”
At a November 2015 rally, Trump said that “thousands” of Muslims cheered the destruction of the Twin Towers: “They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down.” But the claim was obviously bogus. It didn’t happen.
Donald Trump’s slogan “Make America great again” seems to be white supremacist code for “Make American white again.”
The “golden age” that Trump wants to return to is the “good old days” when whites ruled and people with darker skin obeyed and were afraid.

Actual Physical Violence at Donald Trump Political Events

Protesters have been physically manhandled and dragged out of Trump rallies while Trump cheered on the manhandlers.
Protesters have had their hair pulled by Trump supporters.
Protesters have been sucker-punched by Trump supporters.
An AP photographer was choked by a Trump security guard.
Reporter Michelle Fields was thrown to the ground by Trump’s campaign manager.

Donald Trump Excuses and Condones Acts of Violence

Donald Trump excuses and condones acts of violence by saying that his followers have “tremendous love and passion for the country.” He says they “have anger that’s unbelievable,” as if that somehow explains violence. He claims they “love this country” and says their “great love for the country” is “a beautiful thing in many respects.” But millions of other Americans manage to love their country without beating up people with different political views.

In August 2015, two Boston men were arrested for beating a homeless Latino man with a metal pole. One of them told police, “Donald Trump was right — all these illegals need to be deported.” When Trump was asked about what happened at a New Hampshire press conference, he initially said that he didn’t know anything about the incident — then remarked: “I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate. I will say that, and everybody here has reported it.”

Nazi brownshirts were very passionate about the Fatherland, and they frequently beat up Jews and other minorities in the throes of their passions. Today we think about such things with a sense of horror. So we should be horrified that Donald Trump and his supporters feel free to vent their passions on other people, in the form of physical abuse.

Is Donald Trump Using the Threat of Violence to Hold the GOP Hostage?

Trump recently said that a contested GOP convention could be a disaster if he goes to Cleveland and doesn’t leave as the party’s nominee. “I think you’d have riots,” Trump said on CNN. Noting that he’s “representing many millions of people,” he told Chris Cuomo: “If you disenfranchise those people, and you say, ‘I’m sorry, you’re 100 votes short’… I think you’d have problems like you’ve never seen before. I think bad things would happen.” Is Trump making a thinly veiled suggestion that the GOP had better nominate him, or else? Could this even be a suggestion to his supporters? With Trump, anything seems possible.

Is Talking and Acting Crazy the Secret of Trump’s Success?

According to a national Economist/YouGov poll, when asked the main reason for Donald Trump’s success with voters, by far the most popular answer (39% to 50%) was that Trump is not politically correct. According to Trump himself, not being politically correct allows him to say racist, sexist and intolerant things. One of the things he says repeatedly is that people who disagree with him are “sad” and “terrible” and should be thrown out, punched, and otherwise manhandled. Is this tinhorn strongman act the main source of his success with his “base”?

Witness Accounts

There’s a history of demagogues calling those they disagree with “terrorists” and using that as justification for intimidation and violence – and that history is ugly and dangerous. There’s also a history of people staying quiet for too long, hoping for the best but watching silently as the threat metastasizes. Donald Trump is a bigger, uglier threat every day that goes by – and it’s time for decent people everywhere – Republican, Democrat, Independent – to say No More Donald. There’s no virtue in silence. ― Elizabeth Warren

Trump always surrounds himself w thugs. Tonight thug Corey Lewandowski tried to pull my gf @MichelleFields to ground when she asked tough q  ― Daily Caller senior editor Jaime Weinstein. Weinstein is the boyfriend of Michelle Fields, who is a reporter for Breitbart News. Corey Lewandowski is Donald Trump’s campaign manager. According to reports, Fields was trying to ask Trump a question when Lewandowski manhandled her and nearly dragged her to the ground “like a rag doll.” She emerged from the violent encounter shaken, sporting a noticeable purple bruise. Whatever happened to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of dissent?

It’s obviously unacceptable that someone crossed a line and made physical contact with our reporter. What Michelle has told us directly is that someone ‘grabbed her arm’ and while she did not see who it was, Ben Terris of The Washington Post told her that it was Corey Lewandowski. If that’s the case, Corey owes Michelle an immediate apology. ― Larry Solov, CEO and president of Breitbart News

According to a Daily Beast report, Lewandowski’s explanation was that he and Fields had never met before and that he didn’t recognize her as a Breitbart reporter, instead mistaking her for an adversarial member of the mainstream media. So apparently the Trump campaign thinks it is permissible to manhandle reporters as long as they’re not “friendlies.”

What did Donald Trump have to say about the assault on Michelle Fields? He chose to blame the victim, saying: “Perhaps she made the story up. I think that’s what happened.” Lewandowski took a similar approach, calling Fields an “attention seeker” on Twitter and implying that she made the whole thing up.

Six media professionals associated with Breitbart News have jumped ship over the Fields affair, and sources at the company told Politico that more staffers are planning to resign. According to Politico, “The bulk of them have fired off searing resignation notes, chastising the company for its lack of support for reporter Michelle Fields, who has filed a police complaint against Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, and venting about the site’s pro-Trump bent.” Those resigning include Breitbart national security correspondent Jordan Schachtel, who wrote: “Breitbart News is no longer a journalistic enterprise, but instead, in my opinion, something resembling an unaffiliated media Super PAC for the Trump campaign. I signed my contract to work as a journalist, not as a member of the Donald J. Trump for President media network.” Also resigning was former editor-at-large Ben Shapiro, who wrote: ““In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew’s mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump; he has shaped the company into Trump’s personal Pravda, to the extent that he abandoned and undercut his own reporter, Breitbart News’ Michelle Fields, in order to protect Trump’s bully campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, who allegedly assaulted Michelle.” Also resigning was Shapiro’s father, David Shapiro. The first person to jump ship was the site’s spokesperson, Kurt Bardella. Michelle Fields has also resigned.

TIME photographer Chris Morris was placed in a choke-hold and slammed onto a table during a rally in Virginia, after he attempted to step outside of the press pen to photograph some protesters. The Department of Homeland Security inspector general is currently investigating the incident.  

Here are Jordan Ray Correll’s comments about his experience at a Donald Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina:

“So, if you know me or my friend, Seth Quackenboss, then you know that we often get ourselves into ridiculously wacky situations, especially when we’re together. Yesterday was one of those days. We decided to drive down to Fayetteville in order to hear a certain orange politician speak. Yes, you guessed it. We went to a Donald Trump rally.

Now, I am not a supporter of Mr. Trump in any way, shape, or form. I’m quite inclined to a certain berning sensation that I’ve been experiencing for some time. But that’s beside the point. The point is, we thought that we were in for a time of jokes and hilarity. And at the beginning, it was. There were a few speakers before Trump came out and they were not well organized at all. They were comical. One man, a veteran, said that he had shed blood on 7 continents. And unless I missed the great Antarctica War, I highly doubt that’s true. Let it be known for the record, that I am not against veterans in any way shape or form. I just thought that particular comment was funny. Because I doubt he actually wounded someone in Antarctica. But a more plausible explanation would be that he was doing penguin research and accidentally pricked a penguin and it bled. Anyway…

One speaker also said that we needed to get rid of 911 calls and we all need to handle our problems ourselves. Well…that’s highly unlikely. I can’t imagine that people will start forgoing 911 calls when their house in burning down in order to try and extinguish the fire themselves. But, ya know, it’s a nice thought.

So those were my laughable moments. Trump was about to come out. We had our signs ready. We were going to go all out. Yelling and screaming and whatnot.  Because, why else were we there if not to join the spectacle? He comes out. People go crazy. For the first twenty to thirty minutes I sat there with high expectations of hilarity. After half an hour, my feelings turned extremely grim. I was scared and upset. Let me explain…

Trump basically said the same few things the whole time. He knows exactly what will get a cheer from the crowd and he says it. He mentioned his wall several times. About five or six if I can remember correctly. At one point he said “We’re going to build a wall. And who’s going to pay for it?” And the crowd yelled, “Mexico!” and then they lost their minds. Now, we all know exactly why this is stupid. So I won’t elaborate. It was just very unsettling. He mentioned ISIS several times. About ten. But not exactly how to stop ISIS. Just comments like, “We’re gonna get ISIS,” and “ISIS is going down.” Blanket statements. He did say that for America to win again (any sort of winning, not just against ISIS) we have to go outside of the law and he isn’t afraid to do it. And that’s unsettling for several reasons. But I’m just reporting the facts. And that was all he said on policy. Completely void of content or substance. Just statements that would get the crowd cheering.
Now, let’s talk about the protesters. There were many. I think throughout the hour long rally, there were roughly 15-20 groups of protesters. Some of them were individuals and some were in groups. They popped up throughout the rally here and there. And some of them were yelling and causing a raucous but some of them were just standing there with their anti-Trump shirts or their pro-whoever else shirts. They were all removed. Peaceful or violent.
One man had a shirt that said “Love is the answer,” and he was thrown out. Trump’s comment on this man was, “And love is very important but I mean, who’s making love to that guy?” And my stomach churned. A few minutes later, a woman stood up not far from where the other man was and starting protesting. She was removed. Trump’s comment was, “She was with the other guy. They’re actually a couple. A *clears throat* beautiful *gagging noises* couple.” And the crowd laughed and cheered. It was horrifying.

But out of everything I saw, the crowd was the worst part. I have never seen more hateful people in my life. Everyone was just filled with so much hatred. If a protester had a sign, even the peaceful ones, they would take the sign from them, rip it up, and throw it back at the protesters. Whenever a protester would get removed, the crowd would yell horrible things. Once, after a protester was removed, Trump said, “Where are these people coming from? Who are they?” A lady, sitting not 5 feet from me, said, “Well hopefully when you’re president, you’ll get rid of em all!” Get rid of them? Get rid of anyone who opposes Trump? It was sickening. I felt truly nauseous. And these people loved the protesters. They loved the drama and the chaos. And Trump fed upon it. It was easily one of the strangest and uncomfortable things I’ve ever witnessed. I could just hear the horrible things being spoken around me and it made my skin crawl.

Needless to say, there was very little laughter on my part. I thought this was going to be joke…and it was, but for a very different reason.
I implore you, if you’re thinking about voting for Trump, reconsider. You are only promoting chaos and hatred. I witnessed it firsthand. And trust me, this is not something you want to see in person. This is not what you want to happen to our country.”

My firsthand experience at a Trump rally
by Armando

We’ve all seen the images of Trump rallies on television. How could we not, given the cable news networks deciding to be All Trump! All The Time! But last Sunday I had a chance to attend a Trump rally in Boca Raton, and decided to go take an in-person look.

First, I needed to request a “ticket” to the rally. Not surprisingly, the process is basically an email collection scam. Anyway, I signed up for my ticket and headed to the rally on Sunday.

I arrived early and found that many others had done so as well—including protesters. The protesters were shunted off to a “protest zone” a good distance from the entrance to the rally. Nonetheless, many persons wandered over, including a group of counterprotesters.

There was a lot of chanting and shouting between the protesters and counterprotesters, but there was a legion of police officers who made sure no one came near each other. Physical altercations were not going to happen, thankfully.

However, there was also a concerted effort by the authorities to keep any protesters outside of the event, even when they had tickets for the rally. There would be no Chicagos in Boca Raton.

Clearly the police decided they would prefer to be criticized for a heavy hand in keeping potential combatants apart than to have any incidents of violence.

I decided to wander into the event to get my first glimpse of a Trump rally crowd. I’m not sure what my expectations were as I went in, but I certainly expected an overwhelmingly white crowd. In fairness, that’s certainly not unique to Donald Trump in Republican circles. Every GOP rally will be overwhelmingly white. But I guess I was wondering about the “working-class whites” line the media has been trumpeting.

But before I reached the venue, I ran the gauntlet of the (ahem, “self-funded”) Trump campaign’s concessionaires selling Trump stuff.

I’m not exactly sure how campaign finance disclosures handle these types of things. Can someone buy 10,000 Trump hats, buttons, or shirts?

In any event, they were selling a lot of these at the event. Unless Trump is just pocketing his share of these sales, this obviously isn’t “self funding.” Rather, this is a way of funding the campaign. Worth taking a look at, FEC.

After passing the hawkers I then had to go through security, which was quite “vigilant,” to put it kindly. It was thorough and the process moved slowly.

But I finally got in and immediately needed to put on sunglasses—yes, it was very, very white. Blindingly white. While there were a few African Americans and other minorities, they were few and far between. It was an older crowd, which is the norm in Florida.

The event was scheduled for 7 PM and I walked into the venue around 6:15 PM or so. It was already a sizable crowd but about half full—probably around 2,500 people at that hour, but the crowd was growing.

Around 6:30 PM, the blaring music was lowered and a speaker was announced and took the stage. She was a woman who tragically lost her son in a heinous murder. She told her moving story about how her son left for school in the morning but did not show up for his after-school job. She was frantic and called the police, who discovered that her son had been brutally murdered and mutilated.

Finally she revealed that the killer of her son was an “illegal immigrant” and the crowd exploded. The anger at the fact the murderer was an “illegal immigrant” was almost stronger than the fact the woman’s son had been murdered. She expressly blamed Marco Rubio for the death of her son. It was rough, and the crowd was angry. Any protesters revealing themselves right then would have been at great risk.

But it was a moment that revealed what the Trump movement is all about: Hating non-white people, especially immigrants.

The energy was high following the grieving mother’s speech and the next speaker was a Jeff Sessions policy guy (Sessions endorsed Trump) who just laid into Marco Rubio and all things immigrant. A protester emerged then and luckily for her, was escorted out of the venue without being physically attacked by the crowd.

But then a funny thing happened. Trump was late. Very late. And they had no more speakers lined up, so they played the same playlist over and over again. I think I heard the same songs in the same order at least three times. Boredom and impatience were setting in.

Finally, around 7:45 PM, an announcement told us “Trump Force One” (I’m not kidding, that’s what he said) has landed! And Trump would be there in a few minutes. Well, about 20 minutes later, Trump’s arriving helicopter buzzed the crowd and maybe 15 minutes after that, the man himself came out.

His entrance was Las Vegas fight night. All it needed was Michael Buffer. And the crowd was by then huge—probably 6,000 people. (Trump, of course, said it was 15,000.) And the crowd was excited—but not as excited as they were when the immigrant hate was being ginned up.

Trump came out and gave his usual spiel: Polls, his plutocratic friends, terrible deals. His great stuff. How great he is. He was a little light on immigrant hate, and made a big point of taking credit for avoiding trouble in Chicago. Personally, I thought he didn’t fully have his crowd. They wanted the red meat. They wanted the hate. Indeed, it was the crowd that brought up Trump’s Wall, with a spontaneous and loud chant of “BUILD THE WALL!”

Trump took their cue and talked about his big beautiful wall that Mexico will pay for, but then turned back to the issue of how great he is. The crowd agreed, but seemed to want more hate from Trump.

I left before the end after seeing enough to be able to say what the Trump movement is—at least at this rally. The Trump movement is older white people that hate immigrants and other non-whites.

In other words, it is the Republican Party. It is the Republican Party discarding the dog whistle. It is the Republican Party’s id. It is what they’ve long wanted the Republican Party to say, loudly and proudly.

It is what the Republican Party has built, especially during the Obama era.

Yes, they built that.

And what they built has to be defeated.

That’s also what this election is about.