Mr Trump, you have stated that “Immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country”. Should voters be concerned that your own blood is poisoned by your German grandfather, Friedrich Trump? How has the blood of your own children been poisoned by your former Czech wife, Ivana, and your present Slovenian wife, Melania?
.
Mr Trump, in Florida there is a ballot initiative to overturn the state’s new total ban on all abortions after six weeks. Are you voting Yes or No?
Mr Trump, how was the 2020 election stolen? Precise details please. Where? How? Who? When? If it was stolen, did the Trump Administration fail in securing the election’s security?”
.
Mr Trump, on January 6th 2021, why did you remain silent for 187 minutes while a mob of insurrectionists that had attended your rally were viciously attacking police officers, calling for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, and forcing their way into the Capitol?
.
Mr Trump, how can the country trust you with top-secret information after you stored classified documents in a publicly-accessible bathroom at Mar-a-Lago?
.
Time for our cognitive test:
Ex-president Trump, would you kindly spell "Cognitive" and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
And President Biden, would you kindly spell "Constitution" and list the Ten Commandments?
I think it's Trump who should have to recite the 10 Commandments. How many does he know? How many has he broken regularly and publicly? But in reality it's not a fair cognitive test--people are raised with very different levels of knowledge of Christian dogma.
I thought it would be more damning if Trump got the easiest question, and is unable to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. As a devout Catholic I expect Biden to have no difficulty listing the Ten Commandments.
The first four are the purely religious requirements of a jealous and possibly wrathful Hebrew God. They reflect poorly on Christian principles, besides explicitly demonstrating the violation of the Establishment Clause by this new law.
I've been seeing so many pieces offering advice to President Biden as to what he should do in the debate on Thursday. Some say go after T hard for his felony convictions, his immorality, his crazy policy proposals. Others advise to focus on his own achievements while in office, and his intention to continue helping everyday Americans. I wonder if you have any advice to offer the President, or if you think it best to just let Biden & Co figure it out themselves. ( Personally, I'd like to see a bit of Dark Joe going after deranged T in a spirited way.) Thank you.
I'd like to see State of The Union Joe with the glint in his eye and the Irish charm. I expect there will be no cognitive decline on his part. And I've got to say with all the flights he's taken overseas, I don't know how he does it. I took a flight to Spain one year from the East coast and when I got there all I wanted was my room and 8 hours of sleep. It was worse the next year when I went to Thailand took me two days to be able to do anything. In both cases I was in my late 30s!
Simon…Your posts are chock a a full of sooooo much! I don’t know what to do first! BTW the Biden ads are spot on….and the new Andy Bershad/ KY Gov ad is very impactful! I am doing an event in July with Mi Vecino / Florida and a group of young women….20’s & 30’s….re the ballot initiative on abortion rights in Florida….up here in NYC. I told the host of the event the young lady in the ad would be great speaker for them to have! AND……the report about the Fortune 100 was unbelievable. We certainly “think “ that every super rich CEO is pouring their money into TF’GFELON’S CAMPAIGN….Why isn’t this news headlines in the NYTIMES. & WAPO???? THANKS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR ALL THAT YOU DO TO KEEP ME POSITIVE ABOUT THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY!!!!
Great news about Alsobrooks!!! My husband and I were wondering how she’s doing here. She was great on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show last night. And she’s right — Marylanders know what the stakes are. We’re all in with her.
Not a Marylander, but I think a terrific point for any Dem running for Senate is that you are voting to keep the Supreme Court free of the next Alito and Thomas. Republican Senators, even the most "normal," have shown nothing but partisanship in Supreme Court votes.
In fairness, I don’t think Collins actually expected justices, who in private conversations with her, as well as under oath, had sworn they considered Roe v Wade to be establish law, so easily and quickly to discard a half-century’s precedent.
We’re thinking the Maryland urban population will go for Alsobrooks. The rural population could be a toss-up. Maryland has been reliably blue, but the GOP thinks they can change that. Larry Hogan was viewed as a moderate republican here and not in step with MAGA, but the Dems will work hard to defeat him.
Thank you for your hard work. I do think pointing out what josephebacon said above, that even supposed "moderate" "pro-choice" Susan Collins was willing to vote to put justices in place to kill Roe might resonate with some who still like Hogan and his moderation.
As one analyst put it, with Hogan giving a majority to the Rs in the senate if it happened, there would be no progressive legislation for him to even vote for, including anything on abortion.
I had not seen Alsobrooks in action until last night with Lawrence O'Donnell. You are right Ms. Michael, she was great. Smooth, cool, and focused, like Joe Biden will be on Thursday, and the clip of Larry Hogan failing to respond to a straight question on whether he would support a national ban on abortion was a despicable profile in cowardice. He said something like "I'll have to wait and see what the bill looks like." What? With that kind of prevarication Hogan could be a candidate for the Supreme Court. Hogan was a respectable guy at one time as governor, but now, like so many others, he has sold his soul to Donald Trump.
You are right on target about that. I'm very impressed with her. I never voted for Hogan, but my husband probably did in his governor's races. But that was then. This is much more consequential.
I wish we could welcome Democrats and Republicans and people who voted for Trump before or are independents who felt we needed a change or who can't stand x, y, or z about the "liberals" to the big tent of democracy and America loving citizens who will vote for Biden-Harris. If we do, if we can your last two sentences should be on our t-shirts, "But that was then. This is much more consequential." A serious slogan, BE Consequential. Vote for Biden. Thanks.
...one of the documents stashed under the bubble wrap and the Christmas pillow, charged as Count 19, was classified Formerly Restricted under the Atomic Energy Act, meaning it pertains to US nuclear weapons.
"Ex-president" is more cutting than "former president". In fact, I think that is how the Biden Campaign and various PACs should refer to he-who-shall-not-be-named.
Good summer read or audio listen: American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy by David Corn. Corn tells the wild harrowing story of the Republican Party’s decades-long relations with far right extremism, bigotry, & and paranoia.
From today's Chicago Tribune: Another example of the Biden administration's efforts to make life more affordable. -- this time with regard to improving housing affordability.
Yellen takes steps to aid housing affordability
By Fatima Hussein Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced new steps to increase access to affordable housing as still-high prices on groceries and other necessities and high interest rates have dramatically pushed up the cost of living in the post- pandemic years.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen promoted the new investments Monday during a visit to Minneapolis. The investments include providing $100 million through a new fund over the next three years to support affordable housing financing, boosting the Federal Financing Bank’s financing of affordable housing and other measures.
“We face a very significant housing supply shortfall that has been building for a long time,” Yellen said. “This supply crunch has led to an affordability crunch.”
Yellen said the Democratic administration is “pursuing a broad affordability agenda to address the price pressures that families have been feeling.”
Homebuyers and renters are facing increasing housing costs that skyrocketed after the pandemic. According to the Case- Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index, home prices increased by 46% between March 2020 and March 2024. A new Treasury analysis shows that over the past two decades, housing costs have been rising faster than incomes.
Meanwhile, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in May for the third straight month.
In her speech, Yellen called on Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s proposed budget, released in March.
The budget calls on Congress to provide a tax credit for first-time homebuyers and includes a plan to build more than 2 million homes. It would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
The Biden administration has taken other steps to boost the housing supply, including launching a multiagency effort to encourage states and cities to convert more empty office buildings into housing units, with billions of federal dollars available to help spur such transitions.
Thanks for bringing up this quote from January again -
“When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,”
All of us need to realize what an enormous confession of *weakness* this is, coming from right out of the mouth of Mr. Business, Mr. Dealmaker, Mr. Wealth, Mr. Boss Baby himself.
For a guy who takes credit for making fortunes and managing money, he is not showing much faith in his ability to steer the economy here, or taking much responsibility. He is treating economic crashes and downturns like weather, something you can't control, that just happens to you, that you can't do anything about, and wishing out loud he just gets *lucky* enough a crash happens to the other guy and not *him*. That's weak sauce Don! He's *scared* of crisis. He's not his usual "braggadocious" self at all, where is his promise face down any economic crash and downturn, kick its butt, and bring back prosperity? He doesn't think he can do it and admits he could be a victim!
I think his opponents, from Biden (Thursday!) on down to the ad people and canvassers should remember this statement, amplify it, hang it around Trump's neck, and quickly explain its implication to voters. Trump admits he doesn't have any economic magic, and he rides on good luck, and he doesn't realize as President, you've got to "do the work".
Oh, and Don, you said in January, "I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,”.
Too late! During the pandemic and economic crash, you *were* Herbert Hoover or his second coming. We had the biggest job losses over x months for the first time in x years. You faced a crisis in COVID, and you totally weren't ready for it. Your Party was out of any good ideas.
Your last year in office saw jobs and economic activity plummeting, and death rates from COVID and crime rising. Any relief people got on income or against eviction was from my Party, not yours. And me, my Party in Congress, and most important, the American people, needed to spend the first year and a half (pick your timeframe) after inauguration 2021 climbing out of the hole you left us in, and cleaning up your mess.
---- so, speechwriters, ad people, debate preppers, take note ---
"Ex-president Trump claims he’s a great businessman and an economic genius. Nothing could be further from the truth! He went bankrupt six times, and during his catastrophic single term he added one-quarter of our national debt. Let me repeat that: One-quarter of our debt happened on his watch!
"American voters cannot afford to put Trump in charge of our economy again. 16 Nobel Prize economists just warned us against doing so."
– President Joe Biden (hypothetical debate response)
DEBATE QUESTIONS:
Mr Trump, you have stated that “Immigrants are poisoning the blood of our country”. Should voters be concerned that your own blood is poisoned by your German grandfather, Friedrich Trump? How has the blood of your own children been poisoned by your former Czech wife, Ivana, and your present Slovenian wife, Melania?
.
Mr Trump, in Florida there is a ballot initiative to overturn the state’s new total ban on all abortions after six weeks. Are you voting Yes or No?
MORE DEBATE QUESTIONS:
Mr Trump, how was the 2020 election stolen? Precise details please. Where? How? Who? When? If it was stolen, did the Trump Administration fail in securing the election’s security?”
.
Mr Trump, on January 6th 2021, why did you remain silent for 187 minutes while a mob of insurrectionists that had attended your rally were viciously attacking police officers, calling for Vice President Mike Pence to be hanged, and forcing their way into the Capitol?
.
Mr Trump, how can the country trust you with top-secret information after you stored classified documents in a publicly-accessible bathroom at Mar-a-Lago?
.
Time for our cognitive test:
Ex-president Trump, would you kindly spell "Cognitive" and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
And President Biden, would you kindly spell "Constitution" and list the Ten Commandments?
I think it's Trump who should have to recite the 10 Commandments. How many does he know? How many has he broken regularly and publicly? But in reality it's not a fair cognitive test--people are raised with very different levels of knowledge of Christian dogma.
I thought it would be more damning if Trump got the easiest question, and is unable to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. As a devout Catholic I expect Biden to have no difficulty listing the Ten Commandments.
The first four are the purely religious requirements of a jealous and possibly wrathful Hebrew God. They reflect poorly on Christian principles, besides explicitly demonstrating the violation of the Establishment Clause by this new law.
Thanks, Simon, as always, for your encouragement and for providing so much info to make it real!
See you tonight!
No wonder millionaires and billionaires are lining up to support Trump!
Thanks for the insightful and upbeat commentary!
Dear Simon,
I've been seeing so many pieces offering advice to President Biden as to what he should do in the debate on Thursday. Some say go after T hard for his felony convictions, his immorality, his crazy policy proposals. Others advise to focus on his own achievements while in office, and his intention to continue helping everyday Americans. I wonder if you have any advice to offer the President, or if you think it best to just let Biden & Co figure it out themselves. ( Personally, I'd like to see a bit of Dark Joe going after deranged T in a spirited way.) Thank you.
I'd like to see State of The Union Joe with the glint in his eye and the Irish charm. I expect there will be no cognitive decline on his part. And I've got to say with all the flights he's taken overseas, I don't know how he does it. I took a flight to Spain one year from the East coast and when I got there all I wanted was my room and 8 hours of sleep. It was worse the next year when I went to Thailand took me two days to be able to do anything. In both cases I was in my late 30s!
Simon…Your posts are chock a a full of sooooo much! I don’t know what to do first! BTW the Biden ads are spot on….and the new Andy Bershad/ KY Gov ad is very impactful! I am doing an event in July with Mi Vecino / Florida and a group of young women….20’s & 30’s….re the ballot initiative on abortion rights in Florida….up here in NYC. I told the host of the event the young lady in the ad would be great speaker for them to have! AND……the report about the Fortune 100 was unbelievable. We certainly “think “ that every super rich CEO is pouring their money into TF’GFELON’S CAMPAIGN….Why isn’t this news headlines in the NYTIMES. & WAPO???? THANKS FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART FOR ALL THAT YOU DO TO KEEP ME POSITIVE ABOUT THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY!!!!
Re Florida, phone banking is every Thursday, 2pm to 4 pm until the election. https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/632594/
Gail, as a Floridian,Thank You ! Talking to voters here and far too many unaware of Amendment 4.
💙
And regarding that vote, are you able to vote in FL as a convicted felon on 34 counts?
I think as long as he is not in custody, based on the laws he can vote. It's complicated.
Great news about Alsobrooks!!! My husband and I were wondering how she’s doing here. She was great on Lawrence O’Donnell’s show last night. And she’s right — Marylanders know what the stakes are. We’re all in with her.
Not a Marylander, but I think a terrific point for any Dem running for Senate is that you are voting to keep the Supreme Court free of the next Alito and Thomas. Republican Senators, even the most "normal," have shown nothing but partisanship in Supreme Court votes.
Never forget how Collins gladly voted for Kavanaugh putting the nail in the coffin of Roe...
Exactly. and they all went along with Moscow Mitch's seat-stealing shenanigans.
But Senator Collins is ... "very concerned".
In fairness, I don’t think Collins actually expected justices, who in private conversations with her, as well as under oath, had sworn they considered Roe v Wade to be establish law, so easily and quickly to discard a half-century’s precedent.
Collins has always been Moscow Mitch's rubber stamp. She does whatever he tells her to...
True, but she does vote to certify more Biden-appointed judges than any other Republican senator.
We’re thinking the Maryland urban population will go for Alsobrooks. The rural population could be a toss-up. Maryland has been reliably blue, but the GOP thinks they can change that. Larry Hogan was viewed as a moderate republican here and not in step with MAGA, but the Dems will work hard to defeat him.
Thank you for your hard work. I do think pointing out what josephebacon said above, that even supposed "moderate" "pro-choice" Susan Collins was willing to vote to put justices in place to kill Roe might resonate with some who still like Hogan and his moderation.
Exactly. He can’t be trusted.
As one analyst put it, with Hogan giving a majority to the Rs in the senate if it happened, there would be no progressive legislation for him to even vote for, including anything on abortion.
I had not seen Alsobrooks in action until last night with Lawrence O'Donnell. You are right Ms. Michael, she was great. Smooth, cool, and focused, like Joe Biden will be on Thursday, and the clip of Larry Hogan failing to respond to a straight question on whether he would support a national ban on abortion was a despicable profile in cowardice. He said something like "I'll have to wait and see what the bill looks like." What? With that kind of prevarication Hogan could be a candidate for the Supreme Court. Hogan was a respectable guy at one time as governor, but now, like so many others, he has sold his soul to Donald Trump.
You are right on target about that. I'm very impressed with her. I never voted for Hogan, but my husband probably did in his governor's races. But that was then. This is much more consequential.
I wish we could welcome Democrats and Republicans and people who voted for Trump before or are independents who felt we needed a change or who can't stand x, y, or z about the "liberals" to the big tent of democracy and America loving citizens who will vote for Biden-Harris. If we do, if we can your last two sentences should be on our t-shirts, "But that was then. This is much more consequential." A serious slogan, BE Consequential. Vote for Biden. Thanks.
I love that! 👍
WAIT!
He did what????
...one of the documents stashed under the bubble wrap and the Christmas pillow, charged as Count 19, was classified Formerly Restricted under the Atomic Energy Act, meaning it pertains to US nuclear weapons.
That is a powerful ad, the Kentucky one - so simple,clear, and direct.
I am so humbled every time I hear Hadley Duvall speak.
I would like to see a Biden ad that goes something like this....
Hail To The Chief plays and an official voice says,"Ladies and gentlemen ,the former president of the United States."
This is followed by a repeating video clip of trump's bizarre ,disgusting ,nauseating mocking imitation of that disabled journalist.
The official sad voice says,"Ladies and gentlemen ,that was the former president of the United States."
The music slows down like a broken record player, and the needle noisily slips off the record.
"Ex-president" is more cutting than "former president". In fact, I think that is how the Biden Campaign and various PACs should refer to he-who-shall-not-be-named.
Good summer read or audio listen: American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy by David Corn. Corn tells the wild harrowing story of the Republican Party’s decades-long relations with far right extremism, bigotry, & and paranoia.
Why can't I find a list of Biden Debate Watch Parties in my area? It's like technology has marched backward since 2008
Search for "Irish pub". Enjoy your pint – and the mighty good craic!
Join an Indivisible group.
From today's Chicago Tribune: Another example of the Biden administration's efforts to make life more affordable. -- this time with regard to improving housing affordability.
Yellen takes steps to aid housing affordability
By Fatima Hussein Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration announced new steps to increase access to affordable housing as still-high prices on groceries and other necessities and high interest rates have dramatically pushed up the cost of living in the post- pandemic years.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen promoted the new investments Monday during a visit to Minneapolis. The investments include providing $100 million through a new fund over the next three years to support affordable housing financing, boosting the Federal Financing Bank’s financing of affordable housing and other measures.
“We face a very significant housing supply shortfall that has been building for a long time,” Yellen said. “This supply crunch has led to an affordability crunch.”
Yellen said the Democratic administration is “pursuing a broad affordability agenda to address the price pressures that families have been feeling.”
Homebuyers and renters are facing increasing housing costs that skyrocketed after the pandemic. According to the Case- Shiller 20-City Composite Home Price Index, home prices increased by 46% between March 2020 and March 2024. A new Treasury analysis shows that over the past two decades, housing costs have been rising faster than incomes.
Meanwhile, sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in May for the third straight month.
In her speech, Yellen called on Congress to pass President Joe Biden’s proposed budget, released in March.
The budget calls on Congress to provide a tax credit for first-time homebuyers and includes a plan to build more than 2 million homes. It would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit.
The Biden administration has taken other steps to boost the housing supply, including launching a multiagency effort to encourage states and cities to convert more empty office buildings into housing units, with billions of federal dollars available to help spur such transitions.
Simon and all good friends:
Thanks for bringing up this quote from January again -
“When there’s a crash, I hope it’s going to be during this next 12 months because I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,”
All of us need to realize what an enormous confession of *weakness* this is, coming from right out of the mouth of Mr. Business, Mr. Dealmaker, Mr. Wealth, Mr. Boss Baby himself.
For a guy who takes credit for making fortunes and managing money, he is not showing much faith in his ability to steer the economy here, or taking much responsibility. He is treating economic crashes and downturns like weather, something you can't control, that just happens to you, that you can't do anything about, and wishing out loud he just gets *lucky* enough a crash happens to the other guy and not *him*. That's weak sauce Don! He's *scared* of crisis. He's not his usual "braggadocious" self at all, where is his promise face down any economic crash and downturn, kick its butt, and bring back prosperity? He doesn't think he can do it and admits he could be a victim!
I think his opponents, from Biden (Thursday!) on down to the ad people and canvassers should remember this statement, amplify it, hang it around Trump's neck, and quickly explain its implication to voters. Trump admits he doesn't have any economic magic, and he rides on good luck, and he doesn't realize as President, you've got to "do the work".
Oh, and Don, you said in January, "I don’t want to be Herbert Hoover. The one president – I just don’t want to be Herbert Hoover,”.
Too late! During the pandemic and economic crash, you *were* Herbert Hoover or his second coming. We had the biggest job losses over x months for the first time in x years. You faced a crisis in COVID, and you totally weren't ready for it. Your Party was out of any good ideas.
Your last year in office saw jobs and economic activity plummeting, and death rates from COVID and crime rising. Any relief people got on income or against eviction was from my Party, not yours. And me, my Party in Congress, and most important, the American people, needed to spend the first year and a half (pick your timeframe) after inauguration 2021 climbing out of the hole you left us in, and cleaning up your mess.
---- so, speechwriters, ad people, debate preppers, take note ---
"Ex-president Trump claims he’s a great businessman and an economic genius. Nothing could be further from the truth! He went bankrupt six times, and during his catastrophic single term he added one-quarter of our national debt. Let me repeat that: One-quarter of our debt happened on his watch!
"American voters cannot afford to put Trump in charge of our economy again. 16 Nobel Prize economists just warned us against doing so."
– President Joe Biden (hypothetical debate response)