 Op-ed: Not only is Donald Trump behind in polls with about two weeks to go, pundits believe his remarks about nasty women will elect more of them than ever before. “The irony is that Donald Trump may result in Democratic women having their best year ever. In the final two weeks of the 2016 contest, Democrats are casting the GOP nominee’s insult-driven, misogynistic campaign as the embodiment of everything they say the Republican Party gets wrong on women. And their effort looks poised to deliver record-setting results,” Politico reports. “It’s not just Hillary Clinton, who would of course be the first female president if she defeats him, or Nancy Pelosi, who has a slim chance of reclaiming the speaker’s gavel if enough Republican seats get sunk by Trump. In many of their most competitive races, Democrats are poised to win House and Senate seats that could easily bring the number of women to new levels in both chambers, along with potentially two female governors winning their first elections.” For three weekends in a row, after he bragged about being such a big star he could grab any woman’s private parts, Trump has been the target of hilarious skits on Saturday Night Live that have gotten some record ratings. The election website 538 predicts Trump’s foul tongue will depress the turnout of Republicans. “The nightmare scenario for the GOP is that high-information Republican voters, seeing Trump imploding and not necessarily having been happy with him as their nominee in the first place, feel free to cast a protest vote at the top of the ticket. Meanwhile, lower information Repubican voters don’t turn out at all, given that Trump’s rigging rhetoric could suppress their vote and that Republicans don’t have the field operation to pull them back in,” said 538. The New York Times has published a list of Trump insults. Last weekend a Saturday Night Live skit, hosted by the popular Tom Hanks, drew laughs by saying Trump had won the national election insult “Bingo.” The latest polls have Hillary Clinton with a lead of at least five percent, some put her in double digits. To win she needs 270 votes in the electoral collect. Many believe she will top 330 votes. New York Times Politico 538 Vox
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 Op-ed: When Donald Trump called Hillary Clinton the devil and threatened to jail her it was not the first time I had heard such talk, though not in recent years and in America. It reminded me of political contests in the Third World, and often the incumbent made good threats to jail opponents. Sometimes they were never seen again. This was over the top even for a potty mouth. We don’t threaten opponents on debate stages. "If I win, I am going to instruct my attorney general to get a special prosecutor to look into your (missing email) situation," Trump said, "because there has never been so many lies, so much deception." Trump's threat -- which he has made before on the campaign trail -- is extraordinary even by the standard of the vitriolic 2016 campaign. Clinton responded first by calling Trump's comments about her emails false, then said, "It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country." Trump, as if continuing her sentence, added: "Because you'd be in jail." It was very Nixonian, said former Attorney General Eric Holder, a Democrat. He recalled Nixon’s attorney general quit when ordered to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. But Republicans were shocked as well. “Former White House said, "Winning candidates don't threaten to put opponents in jail," he tweeted. "Presidents don't threaten prosecution of individuals. Trump is wrong on this." There was a certain irony as Trump stalked Hillary on the stage, to use the verb chosen by several pundits, to talk about jailing her. He is the one facing trial three weeks after the election for running a phoney university. And he will face trial in more than one state for ripping off students. Trump’s Foundation has been ordered to cease and desist taking donations because it is not registered. In our living room, and many others from what I heard on several stations, people wondered why the taller Trump kept creeping up behind Clinton when it was her turn to speak. It seemed like something from a Frankenstein movie. In the past such bizarre behavior has worked for Trump. Appparently not Sunday night. Nearly as scary as the jail threat was his total lack of knowledge of Russia’s role in Syria. It reminded some viewers of Libertarian Gary Johnson’s comment “What is Aleppo.” The two polls taken right after the event showed Hillary the winner. Before the debate many Republicans had abandoned him, others said they would look for a strong performance to get him back in the race as his poll numbers tumble. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/who-won-the-debate_us_57fb0e0ae4b068ecb5dfbc2c http://www.cnn.com/2016/10/09/politics/eric-holder-nixon-trump-presidential-debate/
Op-ed: After insulting the Arab American mother of a Medal of Honor winner Donald Trump is under pressure from leading Republicans worried that Hillary is building her lead in polls.
“In recent days, Donald Trump disparaged a fallen soldier’s parents,” said Sen. John McCain, who was taken prisoner during the Vietnam War. “He has suggested that the likes of their son should not be allowed in the United States — to say nothing of entering its service. I cannot emphasize enough how deeply I disagree with Mr. Trump’s statement. I hope Americans understand that the remarks do not represent the views of our Republican Party, its officers, or candidates.” Other leading Republicans shared McCain’s comments. Trump also goofed in several interviews, denying that he was buddies with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Trump also said Russia would never invade Ukraine. Both were demonstrable lies, and the networks showed videos and published stories proving that with glee. Trump also is fighting the powerful National Football League, claiming they sent him a letter saying their schedule will interfere with presidential debates. The league published a statement denying it had sent any such letter. Numerous outlets have published articles saying Trump’s manager, Paul Manafort, has close ties with Putin and the former dictator of Ukraine, who was ousted and now lives in Russia. The theory has been that even ties to Russia would not hurt Trump; he is invincible. But some polls Monday had him behind by 7 percent, one even by 11. Reuters-Ipsos had him behind by 6 percent. Last week the Republican-leading Rasmussen site gave Hillary the first ever lead, one percent. It even gave President Obama a positive approval rating. Real Clear Politics, which averages polls, has dropped Rasmussen. The 538 poll site, which had shown Hillary dropping, now has her rising again. She had dropped to 51 percent but it now has her at 53, based on polls. That means she has a 53 percent chance to win. Its analytic forecast gives her a 62 percent chance to win. http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/07/30/trump-nfl-dispute-whether-league-asked-debates-to-be-moved/ http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/theres-plenty-of-time-for-trump-or-clinton-to-become-likable-enough/ http://www.newtekjournalismukworld.com/robert-weller/traitor-and-draft-dodger-trump-doesnt-know-what-a-hero-is  Op Ed: I still vividly recall being harassed by fellow college seniors for volunteering to work for Bobby Kennedy. They strongly supported Eugene McCarthy because he confronted President Lyndon Johnson months before RFK.
What is happening today, at least in my eyes, is similar to 1968. McCarthy’s troops, led by students, hated Bobby for waiting so long. The fact that politicians would hate him for challenging LBJ did not matter to these students. To a certain degree Hillary Clinton is in a similar fix. And so is the country. If Sanders’ cadres drop her it could elect Donald Trump. In 1968, after Bobby was killed, I couldn’t bring myself to vote for Hubert Humphrey. Richard Nixon was elected. No more need be said. So should Bernie back off, or even consider running as Hillary’s vice president? That is what it looks like to me. The Daily Beast suggested Sanders is not a candidate suited for minorities because he does not understand them. It’s not just about poverty. Some minorities are middle class are doing even better. But they face constant insults and in some cases, are targets for police. This raises the philosophical question an individual can only answer for herself or himself. Should I vote for the lesser of all the evils or not vote and take what happens. At least then the voter can not be blamed. Or can he/she? Then there is the question of whether citizens should abandon the ballot box or if that is a sort of treason. It is unreasonable to say this is not the same issue because we do not have 500,000 mostly drafted soldiers in Vietnam. Trump and most of the leading Republicans are ready to carpetbomb the Middle East and any other area they fear. More bombs were dropped on Laos alone than the U.S. dumped in World War 2. Though it is not being mentioned much, if at all, by the mainstream media the declining living standards may not be the only thing angering people. Some of these people willing to ignore outrageous statements by Trump may be so angry because they are upset with court decisions allowing gays to marry and continuing to allow women to have abortions and many other issues that are not being decided the way they would prefer. |
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Robert Weller
2016 US election news and other news from the USA
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Worked in journalism, including on the Internet, for more than 40 years. Started as a news editor at the Colorado Daily at the University of Colorado, joined a small Montana newspaper, the Helena Independent-Record, and then United Press International. Archives
November 2016
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