Trail Mix Presidential Poll – Part I

I’m hoping for a dark horse candidate at the last moment to gallop in from out of nowhere, to run a swift decisive race in primaries without harm to any of the other candidates, to energize voters across party lines, and to overwhelm the media by taking all positive light away from the twit.

although all of the announced senators are presidential material, I would rather for now they concentrate on the problems before the country and work harder in their senatorial posts where they can really accomplish a lot more good.

from aaron blake at wapo thursday:

Over the course of his testimony on Wednesday, Michael Cohen said many troubling things about President Trump. He said he was a racist. He said he was a cheat. He accused Trump of committing a number of felonies.

 

But as far as the future of the United States is concerned, he arguably saved the worst for last. In his closing statement — so late that many probably missed it — he said this: “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, and this is why I agreed to appear before you today.”

 

This is a prospect that has been floated before. In fact, as a political journalist, I can tell you it’s probably the question I get asked the most. And here was a man who knows Trump very well suggesting it’s a concern that is warranted.

It’s 100 percent speculation, yes, but it’s not completely baseless. Remember toward the end of the 2016 election when everyone, including, apparently, Trump, thought he was about to lose? Trump spent weeks alleging voter fraud among voters who hadn’t even cast ballots. He even suggested if he lost, there could be no other explanation.

 

In light of this, critics pressed him to promise to accept the results of the election. He declined, even using it to provoke further.

 

“Ladies and gentlemen, I want to make a major announcement today,” he said Oct. 20, 2016, in Ohio. “I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters, and to all of the people of the United States, that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election . . . “

 

He paused for effect.

“. . . If I win.”

 

It bears emphasizing that Trump said he was reserving the right to challenge the results through the legal system, and only if it wasn’t “a clear election result.” But this is the president who has waged an effort to undermine judges who decide things he doesn’t like. And he’s alleged a vast conspiracy among law enforcement to take him down. If the voters vote him out in part based upon that evidence — or if that process itself leads to impeachment and removal from office — is the guy who said this is a “witch hunt” just going to walk away and accept that verdict?

[…]

But the potentially ominous part of this isn’t about the (very low) odds of success; it’s what would happen in the meantime. If Trump won’t leave, and his base feels aggrieved, what if he stirs a popular uprising of some sort? Things could get messy, even as he would probably never hold power.

[…]

Cohen isn’t a constitutional scholar, nor is he a political expert, so he can’t know how unlikely this would be to succeed. It’s also possible he was saying this for effect after a long day of testimony. But lots of people were eager to believe the things he was saying Wednesday for the very reason that he knows Trump better than all but a handful of people. His view of Trump’s character on this point would seem difficult to totally discount.

 

It’s easy to dismiss Trump’s attacks on elections and the investigations of his presidency as Trump merely being provocative and trying to play a political game. Cohen seems to think there is more at work here.

link to above comment that goes in depth about trump lying under oath.

https://www.browardpalmbeach.com/news/michael-cohen-alleges-trump-lied-under-oath-in-2013-about-failed-fort-lauderdale-project-10204461

[BTW wasn’t there another prez that lied under oath and the gopers were so outraged they impeached him?]

https://youtu.be/3M4tObbsrI0

pogo, did you see this?

cnn via msn

An anti-Muslim poster associating US Rep. Ilhan Omar with the September 11 attacks appeared Friday at a Republican-sponsored public gathering at the West Virginia statehouse, creating a firestorm of controversy that apparently led one official to resign.

The poster, featuring pictures of Omar and the terror attacks in a fashion of an Internet meme, was displayed behind a table during WVGOP Day at the Capitol, an event in which the West Virginia Republican Party had invited the public to the Capitol’s upper rotunda.

The state GOP denounced the sign, saying that an exhibitor had put it up without its knowledge and that it demanded its removal.

Omar, a Minnesota Democrat who became one of the first two Muslim women to be elected to Congress last year, branded it as “the GOP’s anti-Muslim display.”

“No wonder why I am on the ‘Hitlist’ of a domestic terrorist and ‘Assassinate Ilhan Omar’ is written on my local gas stations,” the Somali-American posted to Twitter on Friday. “Look no further, the GOP’s anti-Muslim display likening me to a terrorist rocks in state capitols and no one is condemning them!”

Her mention of a hit list refers to recent news in which a US Coast Guard officer was accused of writing a hit list of prominent Democrats and journalists. Court documents say the congresswoman was named on that list.

Friday’s incidents came as Omar has come under criticism from members of both parties for suggesting that pro-Israel groups effectively buy off politicians and push allegiance to a foreign country.

The poster created tumult at the Capitol in Charleston, some 750 miles away from Omar’s Minneapolis-area congressional district.

A woman who was exhibiting literature at a table in the rotunda during the WVGOP Day at the Capitol put up the poster, CNN affiliate WCHS reported. The exhibitor’s name wasn’t immediately available.

With images and text, the display suggested that Omar’s election is proof that Americans have forgotten the September 11 attacks.

The poster’s top picture was of the World Trade Center’s twin towers engulfed in smoke and flames, topped with the words, ” ‘Never forget’ — you said.”

The bottom picture was of Omar, accompanied by the words, “I am the proof — you have forgotten.”

Arguments ensued in the rotunda over the poster, involving even lawmakers who were in the building for a House session, WCHS reported.

[continues]

bbronc, prolonged ranting seems to be major part of the dictatorial persona –  Mussolini, Castro, Adolph, et al

[Bernie?]