Want To Talk About Military Service, Donald? OK then …

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The Harris-Walz campaign’s official online rapid response team has an answer for Trump attacks on the 24 years of service Gov. Tim Walz gave to our nation in the National Guard:

Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ)

Trump, who dodged the draft, said avoiding STDs was his “personal Vietnam”: “I feel like a great and very brave soldier”

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109 thoughts on “Want To Talk About Military Service, Donald? OK then …”

  1. Did he avoid those STDs however? Alphonse Capone was batshit crazy from syphilitic brain syndrome in Alcatraz.  Trump also is nutso and just listen to yesterday’s presser to confirm this.
    Henry Wallace was all about the American farmer and Walz is the closest to him in ages.  Witness Tim holding a piglet at the fair.

  2. Having been a 2-S draft dodger (my number also never came up) I don’t generally dis the service of others and won’t this time either. Dumbass doesn’t have a heel to stand on when it comes to questioning anyone’s military service. See what I did there?

  3. an op ed & ‘toon in a major paper of a state that’s very red

    Book on Walz

    Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was born and raised on a Nebraska farm.Jeff Darcy/Cleveland.com

    CLEVELAND, Ohio — Nebraska native turned two-term Minnesota Governor Tim Walz tagged Trumplicans “Weird.” Now Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris has tagged Gov. Walz to be her winning running mate in the race to The White House against Trump-Vance.
    When asked at a Wisconsin rally, Sen. J.D. Vance said the “weird argument came from a bunch of 24-year-old social media interns who were bullied in school and they decided they’re going project that out to the entire Trump campaign.”
    In truth it came from 60 year-old former social studies and geography teacher Tim Walz who had been encouraged to run for office by his high school students. Walz had also been a football coach at the school turning a team with a losing record into state champions.
    Walz was born and raised on a Nebraska farm. His Dad had also been a teacher. At 17 he joined the National Guard serving 24 years rising to become a Command Sergeant Major before leaving to run for U.S. Congress in a red district which he won. Walz served 12 years in Congress becoming Chair of the House Veteran Affairs Committee before being elected Governor of Minnesota in 2018.
    As a Congressmen, Walz voted as a moderate. As a Governor he’s been more center-left. Now who may be the first female Commander-in-Chief wants the Command Sergeant Major to be her righthand man.
    The pick of Walz by Harris looks to be a wise, winning choice. While Vance wrote his bestselling bio ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and was picked to be on the Trump ticket in part for his presumed appeal to rural voters, he instead gives off ‘Elite’ vibes where Walz is coming off more authentically rural, down-to-earth and normal.
    Vance may have been born in Appalachia, but he was raised in Middletown, Ohio, a northern suburb of Cincinnati almost halfway to Dayton. Middletown is middle class with a housing stock that mirrors many suburbs in Northeastern, Ohio.
    From Middletown, Vance went on to graduate from Yale law school then moved to California to become a venture capitalist.
    Unlike Vance, who has held elected office less than two years, Walz is more qualified on day one to be president if need be. Not only having served in Congress for 12 years, more significantly having been a two-term Governor. Yet Tim Walz still comes off like a working class Joe you’d like to go to a Bruce Springsteen concert with, which his colleagues have done. A guy who quotes Warren Zevo song lyrics instead of talking like Vance about “childless cat ladies”
    Vance defamed “childless cat lady” Harris’s running mate.
    Walz is a happy IVF Father. Walz confided he and his wife, an english teacher, used IVF treatments to have their first child, a daughter they named Hope. They later also had a son named Gus. Hope of course represents the Walz’s hopes to start a family but it may also now be a good omen for presidential race success. ‘HOPE’ had been emblazoned on the bottom of Barack Obama’s iconic red and blue campaign poster. Walz now shares the ticket with possibly the first female Black/South Asian President of the United States.
    Durin his rally stop at a nearly empty Wisconsin parking lot, Vance knocked Gov. Walz response to the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis.
    “Allowed rioters to burn down the streets of Minneapolis !” charged Vance.
    Trump had the opposite take. In a June 2, 2020 conference call with governors Trump praised Walz as an “Excellent Guy ” who “Dominated.”
    Walz may have governed in Minnesota like a progressive, but he doesn’t look or act like a member of “the squad.” He’s the good natured and humored Uncle that’s nice to hang out with. In his Carhartt jacket and hunting cap, Walz could easily be mistaken as a Trump voter. Walz, an expert marksman in the National Guard once had an “A” rating from the NRA until he turned his contributions over to student victims of gun violence. The hunter and fisherman will now be spending the next 3 months hunting and fishing for votes

  4. Michael Kosta on Joe Biden’s big comeback, why Donald Trump is having a crowd-measuring contest with Martin Luther King Jr., the astronauts whose 10-day mission is turning into eight months, and Elon Musk’s legal temper tantrum.

  5. George Bush shouldn’t have sent any National Guard servicepeople to Iraq for his war he started on false pretenses because he wanted to impress his father and while the professional military was already overextended in Afghanistan

    It’s hard to believe that any military person would be surprised that someone with 24 years of service would be up for retirement

  6. Not sure what world SFB is living in, but it’s not the same one as Willie Brown, who’s never been on a helicopter with Dumbass, or Jerry Brown, who he has been on a helicopter with him, but it never had any problems that put those aboard at risk. Alice would be proud. 

  7. was just his sneaky way of bringing up willie brown

    he doesn’t need the story to be true he just needs you and i talking about willie brown

  8. Bink, you’re right about that.

    Also right about the Walz retirement. Military full retirement threshold is 20 years. My BIL retired as a master sergeant at 20 years – despicable racist prick and full blown MAGAT, but that’s another story – and parlayed his military training into lucrative jobs at 3 different military contractors (at last count). He has a financially very comfortable life largely as a result of his military retirement pay, training and benefits.

  9. Last i heard, Stern buried the hours and hours of trump interviews he did because they were so damaging and he is afraid of retribution from trump, surprised this clip was dug up

    Release the tapes, Howard

    (i can tell you that it was a lot of trump insultingly rating women on a scale of 1-10 and making comments about what made women “attractive” to him, your typical misogynist fare)

  10. Latest Marquette poll. 

    MILWAUKEE – A new Marquette Law School Poll national survey finds Vice President Kamala Harris is the choice for president of 52% of registered voters and former President Donald Trump is the choice of 48%. Among likely voters, Harris receives 53% and Trump 47%. These results include voters who initially did not choose Harris or Trump but who were then asked whom they would vote for if they had to choose.
    In a May 6-15, 2024, Marquette Law School Poll national survey, Trump was the choice of 50% and President Joe Biden was the pick of 50% Among registered voters, while Trump took 51% of likely voters and Biden 49%.
    When the ballot question explicitly includes independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Libertarian Party candidate Chase Oliver, Green Party candidate Jill Stein, and independent candidate Cornel West, Harris receives 47% and Trump 41% Among registered voters. Kennedy is supported by 9%, Oliver receives 1%, Stein is the choice of 2%, and West wins 1%, among these voters. Among likely voters, Harris is supported by 50% and Trump 42%, Kennedy 6%, Oliver 1%, Stein 1%, and West 0%.

    It’s coming. 

  11. Watching John Heileman on MoJo and his take on SFB’s “news conference” and his lack of campaigning I just flashed on the first paragraph of Mont Dick. 

    Call me Ishmael. Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation. Whenever I find myself growing grim about the mouth; whenever it is a damp, drizzly November in my soul; whenever I find myself involuntarily pausing before coffin warehouses, and bringing up the rear of every funeral I meet; and especially whenever my hypos get such an upper hand of me, that it requires a strong moral principle to prevent me from deliberately stepping into the street, and methodically knocking people’s hats off—then, I account it high time tozz get to sea as soon as I can. This is my substitute for pistol and ball. With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword; I quietly take to the ship. There is nothing surprising in this. If they but knew it, almost all men in their degree, some time or other, cherish very nearly the same feelings towards the ocean with me.

    Trump went to Bozeman. 

  13. “A middle finger to military families’: Vets sound off on Trump mocking Nikki Haley’s husband”

     

  15. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democrats-defend-walzs-military-record-as-vance-gop-begin-attacks

    “In a post on X, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg — who as a Naval intelligence officer deployed to Afghanistan in 2014 — said Thursday that Republicans’ criticism of Walz was “strategic,” arguing that the Trump campaign “needs us tied up in debates over pre-retirement conditional rank promotions because they are desperate NOT to discuss their (unpopular) policies, like tax cuts for the rich and banning access to abortion.”

    Exactly!
    Project 2025  Don’t let it happen to you! 
     

  17. https://vva.org/press-releases/vva-trumps-attack-on-gold-star-family-is-disgraceful-and-un-american/

    “Vietnam Veterans of America is a non-partisan, war-time veterans’ membership and service organization that does not endorse or support political candidates at any level. However, we cannot remain silent when a Gold Star family member is being publicly denigrated, ” said John Rowan, National President of Vietnam Veterans of America. “It is especially reprehensible when that individual is seeking to become the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of our nation. To lash out and disparage a family whose son gave his life defending this country is both shocking and disgraceful, ”

  18. https://www.newsweek.com/tim-walz-jd-vance-military-records-compared-1936655
    “It’s unbecoming and unprofessional for anyone—especially veterans—to openly disparage anyone who has served in uniform,” Retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, a former commander of American ground forces in Europe, tweeted. “I’m personally very thankful for all who have worn the cloth of our country—for any amount of time—and who have served in our professional force.”
     
    “Let’s be clear, you [Vance] served honorably, including 6 months in combat in a public affairs unit. Walz retired after 24 years and achieved the rank of command Sergeant Major. I do not think you want to compare service records,” Alexander Vindman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, added.
     
     

    “He was also deployed to the Arctic Circle and Italy throughout his time with the National Guard. The deployment to Europe was to support Operation Enduring Freedom, which was centered in Afghanistan as part of the War on Terror. Walz himself was never deployed to Afghanistan. His battalion would later be deployed to Iraq, but he retired two months before the directive was issued. He filed his paperwork to run for office in February 2005, the order would come to his unit in August and they would be mobilized in October.”

    To be clear, he retired AFTER 24 YEARS, and it was TWO MONTHS BEFORE the order for his unit deploy was issued.

    “…some of those who served with him, like Retired Command Sergeant Major Joseph Eustice, who told ABC News that he left to run for Congress months before reports emerged about a possible deployment. Al Bonnifield, who also served with Walz, also said his colleague weighed the decision “for a long time.” “He was trying to decide where he could do better for soldiers, for veterans, for the country,” Bonnifield said.

  20. So, we can go there.  There’s nothing to run from.  But this is just another distraction because MAGAts do not want talk about policy. 

    Project 2025  Don’t let it happen to you!

  21. As for the age thing, why did/does the MSM replay clips of President Biden’s gaffs, but not tRUMPsky’s incoherent slurs or weird references (of which there are more)?   There would be no free press if Adolf were to win, and then what would happen to them.  

    If Orange Adolf were to be ousted, JD would run with Nikki Hayley, most likely. The actual cultists would stay home.

    The planets are lining up soon; a pretty view if skies are clear.

    Word of the year: Weird

  22. https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/10/politics/tammy-duckworth-tucker-carlson/index.html

    “…the target of right-wing attacks, led by Carlson and echoed by Trump’s campaign, after she called for a “national dialogue” about whether to take down statues of slave-owning Founding Fathers such as former President George Washington.”

    “The Trump campaign claimed Duckworth is using “her military service to deflect from her support for the left-wing campaign to villainize America’s founding.”
     
    “She argued that the President’s focus on whether she is “sufficiently patriotic” is to divert from the more than 130,000 lives lost to coronavirus and a New York Times report that Russians offered bounties to Taliban militants in Afghanistan to kill US troops.”
     
    Nastiness toward the military is nothing new for Orange Adolf and company.  It’s just a tool to not talk about whatever other horrible thing they’ve got on the table, like mishandling of the Covid response or Project 2025.

  23. It’s high time Draft Dodger Donald gets “court-martialed” in the court of public opinion for his disgusting attitude and treatment of our armed services. 

  24. I just noticed pollsters have stopped asking the ‘too old’ question since Biden dropped out. I’ll bet somebody decides to ask it again soon, and it won’t be good news for Pumpkin.

  25. Damn auto correct – Moby Dick fuhchrissake.  If the poll results that are emerging are trends rather than bumps, SFB will be looking for a floating coffin in November.

  26. Gosh, you mean the press is not badgering Clump about his age and his obvious cognitive decline?    That means something I’m sure, I just can’t put my finger on it.  

    But one thing for sure, Crump is so dumb he thought Moby Dick was an STD.

  27. Trump is so dumb he thought Moby Dick was an STD.

    sturge, a lot of coffee just got spewed and spilled on that one.  

  28. I’m so dumb I thought I was going to be able to afford tickets to see “A Conversation Between Fran Lebowitz and Frank Rich” at Town Hall in NYC.  

    Silly Wabbit.

  29. We have a good friend that served over 20 yrs in the army… went to Vietnam…  flew helicopters… and retired as a Colonel.  He’s told us that any veteran that votes for trump should be ashamed of himself.
     
    At one point he was assigned to the LBJ ranch.  He tells a great story about having to fly his copter to take LBJ jackrabbit hunting.  Said he and the Secret Service prayed that LBJ wouldn’t hit one of the rotors by mistake.

  31. I keep thinking of more weird stuff from Grandpa Rocks Mar-A-Lago yesterday. When he answered the question about whether he’ll vote for Florida’s abortion rights amendment he said he would be holding a press conference announcing that fairly soon and it might be “more liberal than you think”. 

    I will bet three Social Security checks that was the first his staff heard he was planning a press conference on that, or that it would be more liberal than we think, whatever that means. 

    Of course we know it’s not going to happen anyway. That’s how he always dodges questions he doesn’t want to answer — just say he’s going to announce that soon.

  34. It is sketchy trying to get information about military retirement pay, and also trying to figure out what is known as VA math.  You might investigate three online sources and get three completely different stories. When I was on active duty, the lifers all wanted to get 20 years in and retire, but not at full pay, at half pay. At least back then, 30 years  service on active duty meant full retirement with all the benefits .Things change with new administrations and new leadership in the VA.   Getting 20 years in was a crap shoot. In Viet Nam , in my area, tens of lifers with around 16 years in were cut loose totally from the military.  Sadly, one patient  on the ward I tended to  as part of my job who was treated for  depression blew a hole in his head one morning, using a .45 pistol.  Nothing is written in stone but tombstone etchings. This lifer had 17 years in and was not willing to go start anew in the USA at age 35.  

  35. https://www.flmp.uscourts.gov/felony-offenders
     
     
    “Florida law deprives convicted felons of certain Civil Rights including the right to vote, serve on a jury, hold public office, and restricts the issuance and renewal of some professional licenses such as real estate and insurance.”
     
    “Federal law forbids persons with felony convictions or discharges from the Armed Forces under dishonorable conditions to possess firearms, ammunition, or explosives.”

  36. Pogo Florida voters passed an Amendment allowing felons to vote a while ago but I think it has somehow gotten wiggly with changes Florida legislature tried to make, and also there are court cases in the mix. Ironically it is Republicans who have done everything they can imagine to ban felon voting again, but my hunch is Trump can legally vote.

  37. someone said the other day that if he were in new york and NOT incarcerated he would be allowed to vote.  perhaps the 9/18 sentencing judge will be taking that into consideration and postpone any jail time ’til after 11/5.

  38. So does the attack on Walz’s military record look familiar?

    A longtime brawler and veteran of Republican politics, including the infamous Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign against John Kerry in 2004, today LaCivita is officially senior adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign— but he is really the de facto co–campaign manager along with Susie Wiles. (link)

    Jack

  39. Sounds like Murdoch telling FOX NEWS your dog ‘aint hunting, knock it off…

    “Thin Gruel”: Wall St Journal Not On Board For Walz Military Story

    WALL STREET JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD: Is Tim Walz Guilty of ‘Stolen Valor’?
     
    His military record is not a good reason to oppose his candidacy.
     
    There are plenty of reasons to criticize Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, and we’ve told you about several. But the charges leveled so far about his military service look like “thin gruel,” as our friends at the New York Sun put it. 
     
    J.D. Vance has accused Mr. Walz of “stolen valor” despite his 24 years in the National Guard because the Minnesota Governor didn’t deploy to Iraq with his unit.
     
    Before his political career, Mr. Walz rose to the highest enlisted rank of Command Sergeant Major. He retired in May 2005, shortly before the unit was notified in July 2005 that it would be deployed to Iraq. Fox News reports that the Pentagon says Mr. Walz put in his retirement request several months earlier, though it’s fair to ask if he was aware of the possible Iraq deployment.
     
    His retirement timing wasn’t ideal, leaving his leadership position when his unit was headed into a war zone. But if he had been deemed essential to the operation, the Guard could have declined to approve it. People retire from service for a variety of reasons. Mr. Walz had served since he was 17 years old and had decided to run for Congress.
     
    Mr. Walz has also been accused of lying about his record because he retired one rank below Command Sergeant Major. But that seems to have been a bureaucratic issue since to retire at that rank required longer service in the role and coursework he didn’t complete. So he retired at a lower rank, but there’s no doubt he had reached the higher position while active.
     
    Mr. Vance has alleged that Mr. Walz misrepresented his service by referring to weapons he carried “in war.” That may have been a deceptive boast, though a minor one. Iraq war veteran and former Michigan Rep. Peter Meijer posted on X that Mr. Walz “played fast & loose with his military bio to stay above water as his congressional district drifted right.” But that doesn’t amount to stolen valor, and a simple concession by Mr. Walz on that point would put the matter to rest.
     
    Republicans are comparing this to John Kerry’s service in Vietnam and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth campaign that countered Mr. Kerry’s service narrative. But that was far different. Upon his return from Vietnam Mr. Kerry slandered his former comrades in arms as war criminals before Congress, yet in running for President he wanted to use his military service as a credential. The Swift Boat Vets who served with him were correcting the record.
     
    By the way, some have demeaned Mr. Vance’s service in Iraq because he served as a Marine correspondent. But his service was also honorable, and more than a few correspondents have been killed in American wars.
     
    The U.S. military is a volunteer force and only about 1% of the population serves in uniform. Mr. Walz and Mr. Vance both served their country. There are other and better reasons to oppose Mr. Walz’s candidacy.
     

     

  41. Center for Politics at UVA

    NEW Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball Electoral College rating changes:
    GA Leans R to Toss-up
    MN Leans D to Likely D
    NH Leans D to Likely D

    Larry Sabato on moving GA from Lean R to Toss-Up :

    “Most of the Georgia experts that we know and regularly check in with felt that Georgia was clearly leaning to Trump for most of this year, even before Biden’s troubles. But that isn’t true any longer. There’s so much enthusiasm and energy for Kamala Harris and the Democratic ticket that those very same people — some of them Republicans — think that this is a very competitive state, that Georgia could go either way. So it’s now a toss” (CNN)

    AARP Research survey of 1,254 likely voters in Georgia showed that Trump on top of statistical tie (46 percent to 44) in a full presidential ballot that also includes independent candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (4 percent), Cornel West (2 percent) and Green Party candidate Jill Stein (1 percent)

    Watch North Carolina, Sabato Says

    “Keep an eye on states that are vaguely competitive like North Carolina. That’s one we’re really watching. That is normally a Republican state. Barack Obama was the last Democratic presidential candidate to carry it in 2008 and he lost it running for reelection. But that is becoming more competitive because  the demographics in North Carolina are changing and those who have professional degrees of one sort or another are becoming more dominant in certain parts of North Carolina. But we’re also looking at that because the Republicans nominated a pretty extreme candidate for governor and the Democrats have a more mainstream candidate, and of course there is a Democratic the governor there now who served the past two terms. So that’s having an impact because some Republicans get turned off by the gubernatorial candidate and they may not be excited about Donald Trump and they may not vote.” (CNN)

  42. A little more about “leaving” military service. You can retire, or have medical retire, or other retire modes.  I had a contract for six years, four active duty, two inactive reserves subject to recall to active duty.  Fine, all that is “normal”.   But, there is a price the American taxpayers have to pay to teach the members of the military, officers and enlisted, that is how to kill the enemy, break the enemy and your job on how to do that.  It takes time and money that is already spent if you bring someone back from retirement,  or end of contract.  No need to spend it again.
     
    There is a clause, buried somewhere in the contract, when you join a branch of the military you sign a contract, that essentially states you are subject to recall to active duty if necessary for the good of the service.  The father of a friend of mine was an Army doctor.  Iraq fighting goes on, he is recalled to active duty from retirement.  My friend was in Iraq, it was one of those rare situations with a father and son serving in a combat zone.  
     
    My military job was always short staffed, the biggest concern I had after active duty was some idiot deciding to get in a hot war and I would be recalled.  Even after I was discharged from inactive reserves I was still subject to recall, that is when you think back to your command saying good bye and keep your uniforms clean.  I still have nightmares of being recalled to active duty, partly because some of my stuff is still in operation.

  43. Let’s clear one thing up, Wolz did not retire just before his unit was deployed. His unit wasn’t deployed until the following March 10 months after he retired at least a year after he made the decision to retire and filed the paperwork. So the “deprived his unit of needed leadership” is just bullshit. Fact is he retired at the proper time it let the new leadership have a couple of months to get comfortable in the position before the unit started training for its next mission.
    Wolz’s unit had already served one yearlong deployment in Bush’s war having returned the previous March. He was probably just getting his life back in order when the rumors started about another one. He is a citizen soldier, not one of the professionals. This isn’t his full time job. So he has to make different life decisions than the regular Army soldier. 
    One thing we should remember but don’t, is just how much stress Bush’s war put on the militia system both the National Guard and the Reservist. I suspect that Wolz wasn’t the only one from his unit to call it quits, just the most famous.
    Jack

  44. https://democrats.org/news/on-pact-act-anniversary-trump-vance-project-2025-agenda-would-defund-veterans-programs-and-gut-access-to-care/

    If military service comes up, here is the pivot for Dems to use; Project 2025!

    “Project 2025 will rob veterans and active duty troops of billions in benefits”

    “Among other recommendations, the plan proposes eliminating concurrent eligibility for both service-related disability benefits and military retirement benefits…”

    “The plan also proposes to end enrollment in VA medical care for veterans in two low-priority groups to save an estimated $69 billion through 2032 and narrow eligibility for veterans disability by excluding disabilities that cannot be related to military service…”

    “Project 2025 also calls for privatizing the Department of Defense’s current TRICARE system offered to military families.”

    Fulcrum: “Project 2025 focuses on conservative political goals and extensive outsourcing, risking politicizing the VA further and undermining its ability to serve veterans effectively.”
     

    “ProPublica: “Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Buddies Tried to Get the VA to Sell Access to Veterans’ Medical Records”

    “Former President Donald Trump empowered associates from his private club to pursue a plan for the Department of Veterans Affairs to monetize patient data, according to documents newly released by congressional investigators.”

    Because everything is for sale with tRUMPsky, and he’ll sell it multiple times.

  45. “Donald Trump has pledged to scrap President Biden’s policies on electric vehicles and wind energy, as well as other initiatives opposed by the fossil fuel industry.”May 9, 2024

    https://www.washingtonpost.com › …

    What Trump promised oil CEOs as he asked them to steer $1 billion to his campaign

    Aaaaannnnddd…

    https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/4814535-donald-trump-elon-musk-endorsement-electric-vehicles-tone/

    “Over the weekend, Trump said, “I’m for electric cars. I have to be, because Elon endorsed me very strongly. So I have no choice.”

    “He clarified during his Atlanta rally that he only supports EVs “for a small slice,” adding, “You want to have gas-propelled cars, you want to have hybrids, you want to have every kind of a car imaginable.”

    “Yet, the former president’s ambivalent cadence this past weekend stands in stark contrast to previous remarks about EVs. He infamously warned in March that reelecting the Democratic candidate would result in a “blood bath” for the auto industry.”

    “The shift follows Musk’s endorsement.
    The Wall Street Journal has reported that the pair have discussed an advisory role for Musk in a second Trump administration and that Musk would give $45 million per month to a pro-Trump PAC.”

    Don-Old is for sale. He’s a common whore.
    We don’t want someone who will sell intel, someone who can be had for the right price, to have power.

  46. Craig ,
    that looks a lot like Murdoc throwing in the towel on the Trump ticket or at least hedging his bets. Given how connected those folks are that is probably good news for us and bad for Trump.
    Jack

  47. Oh – and to add the final lines to my scribblings above (I was distracted by a cat) –
     
    If the Army needed retired Walz, they would have contacted him to let him know he needed to get the duffel bag out again and catch a flight somewhere.  They did not need him so he never got the call.

  48. With the map widening for Dems (AZ, GA, NV, maybe even NC are gettable), my rational exuberance leans irrational — This could be an Electoral College blowout.

    It helps that the Trump campaign so far is just about the most incompetent I’ve seen in a general election. They commit political malpractice every day.

  51. How do they dump him, and do they dump him for Weird JD?  Would the change be made during the DNC in order to distract folks from learning the Dem platform v what Repugz would do to the country. Dumping tRUMPsky doesn’t get rid of Project 2025.

    Harris/Walz 2024
    Vote blue!

  52. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/economy/trump-federal-reserve-rate-cut-powell/index.html

    “Throughout his presidency, Donald Trump tried to pressure the Federal Reserve into cutting rates — a breach of protocol that threatened to undermine the independence of the central bank and its ability to keep jobs booming and inflation low.”
     
    ”If reelected, Trump said Thursday he’d go further: He’d try to exert direct power over monetary policy.”
     
    “Trump says he ‘made a lot of money’ so he should have a say in when you get a rate cut”

  53. Arizona crowds for Harris-Walz rally tonight have local media buzzing. AZ Central: “Never been something like this” — “The energy level is just out of this world” 

    Daily Montanan on Trump’s visit tonight: “When Trump comes to town, he brings excitement, leaves unpaid bills”

  55. BiD
    There is nobody pushing to dump Trump and as long as he is breathing he will be head of the Republican ticket. Now if he dies that is a different matter, I imagine they have rules.  But if not then Republicans get to vote for the dead man.   ;-0
    As to the Murdocks, they just suck up to someone else and wait for the next election
     
    Jack

  56. Craig
    Harris may need that landslide electorial vote.
    From Rolling Stone magazine:

    “I think we are going to see mass refusals to certify the election” in November, says Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias. “Everything we are seeing about this election is that the other side is more organized, more ruthless, and more prepared.”
    While refusals and delays of certification have not held up in court, in Georgia and Arizona, pro-Trump local election officials are seeking to make certification discretionary — lawsuits that are currently being decided by state judges — in order to give his campaign another method to challenge election results in November.
    Polls indicate that the race between Trump and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will be close. If employed on a large scale, the certification refusal movement would have disastrous consequences, fueling the fire of election conspiracies and delaying the tallying of votes crucial to determining the next president.

  57. Joe Rogan ate testicles and bugs for a living.  Of course he’s a fan of Bobby Brainworm.
    And, yes, we need that blue tsunami!   If it’s not close, they can’t cheat.   Ah, but there’s always armed, civil war from is contingent of misogynistic, racist, nut jobs. 

  58. I can’t imagine the magat elites wanting to dump the orange blob.  The more screwed up he is the better for them.  They get miller to say things to sfb to get what they want.  Tax cuts for billionaires, he will get it done. Deport people they don’t like, he will get it done.  He has no morals just greed and hate. It is as easy as getting their great-grandmother to sign a new will for them. 

  59. Looking forward to the debate.  Looking forward to tRUMPsky’s sentencing.  

    Just checked the West Palm Beach forecast. Plenty of thunderstorms for SFB to go golfing in.

  61. Orange lurch holds all the blackmail.  The gopers are all trapped—Like rats!  No where to run—no where to hide.  As the play approaches its climax I expect to see a suicide or two.  

  62. President Donald Trump’s plane had to make an emergency landing in Billings ahead of his appearance in Bozeman tonight due to a hydraulic leak. … Secret Service is doing a “sweep” of the Billings airport before Trump boards another private plane to Bozeman. https://www.ktvh.com/

  64. Thank you to all our Trail Mix veterans for sharing your experience and knowledge of military policies and procedures. I imagine working in them and around them gives boondoggle new meanings. 

  65.  
    Although Mr. Ivy wasn’t in Viet Nam during wartime (his draft number was at the bottom), but he did later travel throughout on business. He traveled north and south and saw remnants of Hanoi Hilton as it was still standing, preparing for demolition. I remember being nervous about him going on this trip as it coincided with 30th anniversary of the My Lai massacre. Strangely, he noted no mention of it was made by any Vietnamese, most of whom were too young to remember. 

  66. Scump would do well to remember, “When you sup with the devil be sure to take a long spoon”.   Airplanes and windows Tsk, tsk, tsk.   Couple of close calls here lately.  

  68. Our country will be United again not long at all after the civil warriors realize who has all the tanks and drones and cannon and such. And prisons.   There will be a great many civil warriors with their pants full of sewage.

  69. Hydraulic leak.   Like when the movie villain drains the brake fluid out of the hero’s Jaguar automobile.  Hydraulic leak where? I have questions.

  70. It’s about time for the evening news to ignore what Project 2025 would to veterans’ benefits, and disparage a 24-year veteran.   
    Harris/Walz 2024

  71. https://www.axios.com/2024/08/09/lulac-endorsement-harris-walz-latino-voters
    “Latino civil rights group LULAC endorses Harris-Walz ticket in historic first”
     
    “Its endorsement — the organization’s first of any presidential candidate in its nearly 100-year history — comes as Harris’ campaign is seeking to grow support among Latino voters.”
     

    “Throughout her career, Harris has demonstrated a commitment to justice, equality and inclusivity…”

    “LULAC, which has 140,000 members across 535 councils nationwide, credited Harris for her work in the White House on education, immigration and supporting small businesses.”

    “It pledged to organize in key battleground states —Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin — to mobilize Latino voters in support of Harris.”

  73. @LePapillonBlu2

    Great news: “One of the most violent” Jan 6th rioters has been sentenced to 20 years in prison.

  74. Blue Bronc , my nightmares of getting called up from inactive reserves went on until  I received my 6 year discharge.   Then the nightmares changed to me being on a wide body jet , it landing on a remote airstrip in The Region in a desert of pure sand. I alone was booted off the aircraft and told to march thataway, into the desert. Every now and then I am back there, to a place I never was.

  75. Sturg – Do u think Poo-tin (or someone) tried to “Silkwood” his plane or is it just held together with duct tape?

    Strange that he’s been complaining about crowd size and then holds a rally in a city that has a population only about double that of the Arizona venue of the Harris rally.

    Like the “Coach” signs. How about “Madam President” signs, too?

  78. Hydraulic systems do fail, bit Putin does tend to get rid of people no longer useful to him

    i wouldn’t leave your Diet Coke unattended around JD if i were you, Mr. Trump

  79. He’s usually better at getting rid of them, though.  But, ya know, if he had to outsource the job to Americans…

  82. Dr Heather Cox Richardson
    “This  is brutal.  The final scene of a narcissist is always a descent into madness”.
     
    in some circles sometimes referred  to as The Drooling Marius phase.  

    He’s held up a lot longer than I would have thought possible.

  87. More Kelly on Trump: “He has zero respect for any of us who have worn the uniform. Folks, here in Arizona we don’t attack people for their service to our country. What do we do? We thank them.”

  90. Yep, it’s Narcissistic Collapse, he’s losing it

    Trump is mad that media outlets noted that he confused basic names and facts and also lied about a plane incident with the former mayor of San Francisco.

    Trump called the NYT to complain about their coverage of his confusion. He said he had flight records to confirm his version of events. He was then asked to produce those records, but he just responded mockingly, repeating the request in a sing-song voice. He did not provide the records.

    He also threatened to sue to NYT, but didn’t give a justification for the potential lawsuit.

    NYT — https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/09/us/politics/trump-helicopter-landing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.B04.FWkX._LHQh_0vO_S_&smid=em-share

  91. Boom. she handles protesters brilliantly again, but with a twist, agreeing with them that “we need a cease fire now”

    Nothing calms down protesters quite like repeating what they’re chanting.

  92. Harris is so good with protesters (or hecklers, because they could be MAGAt plants & not give a crap about Gaza and the hostages.
    The team needs to get Tim and Kamala on the nebulizers used by singers.  You can hear the vocal strain.  We need their voices to be strong.
     
    I walked a few acres, to the back of the property, with my phone turned up just in case the sound would reach the back deck of the adjacent house with tRUMPsky flags (plural).  
    Loved Walz trolling tRUMPsky with crowd size.  

  93. Harris:

    “When I am president, it will be my day-one priority to fight to bring down prices. I will take on the big corporations that engage in illegal price gouging. I will take on corporate landlords that unfairly raise rents on working families. I will take on Big Pharma and cap the cost of prescription drugs for all Americans”

  94. Nothing calms down protesters quite like repeating what they’re chanting.

    yo we got a candidate who’s in it to win it
     
    let’s goooooo

  96. I have a massive pile of hats and today I grabbed my VietVet cap for my Aldi’s shopping.  As I opened the van door a young couple saw my cap, insisting on loading up my groceries, thanked me for my service, then the man ran the shopping cart back to get my quarter back from the cart rack.  They appreciate veterans in Defiance Ohio too.  Thanks for the video… I gotta watch my baseball game. 

  97. Why the reactions are diametric is a simple explanation, really. Joe was drooling, Donald is foaming. Completely different emotional responses on the part of the media and the public. Both should be alarming to witness, but only one is due to our cultural tolerance for anger. 

    Six weeks ago, Joe Biden gave a historically bad debate performance that led to a firestorm of questions about his age, mental acuity and ability to carry out his responsibilities as president. Three weeks later, he withdrew from the 2024 presidential campaign.
    We need to have the same conversation about former President Donald Trump’s increasingly unhinged public events and what looks like his diminished capabilities.

  98. Harris (two terms) plus  Walz (two terms), and at the end of those sixteen years, they will both still be younger than tRUMPsky is now. 

    I recall my grandmother saying Reagan was too old because he was older than she was, but she voted for him, anyway.

  99. https://www.cnn.com/2024/08/09/china/tim-walz-china-ties-intl-hnk/index.html

    “Tim Walz moved to China fresh out of college in 1989 to teach high school for a year, and then frequently returned to the country during a decade of taking American students on summer cultural exchanges.”

    “The 60-year-old Minnesota governor has spoken fondly of his time in China and the people he met there, and his familiarity with the country and empathy for its people bring a personal, nuanced perspective on the United States’ biggest strategic rival that is rare among his political peers.”

    “Upon returning home to Nebraska in 1990, he told a local newspaper he felt the Chinese people had been mistreated by their government for years. “If they had the proper leadership, there are no limits on what they could accomplish. They are such kind, generous, capable people,” he told the Star-Herald at the time.

    “During his time in Congress from 2007 to 2019, Walz rallied support for imprisoned Chinese activists. He met with the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader loathed by Beijing, and Joshua Wong, the young Hong Kong democracy activist now jailed for his activism against Beijing’s tightening grip.”

    “In Congress, Walz co-sponsored a series of resolutions calling on China to release its jailed rights activists, including Nobel Peace laureate Liu Xiaobo, who eventually died in custody of liver cancer.”

    “Walz has also been a vocal supporter of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement.
    Walz also threw his support behind the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which sanctions officials responsible for human rights violations in the city, when the legislation appeared to be languishing in Congress.”

    “On the diplomatic front, Walz has criticized China’s unfair trade practices and its growing assertiveness in the South China Sea.”

    “But unlike more hawkish politicians, Walz does not believe in decoupling, and instead holds a more nuanced view on the geostrategic rivalry between the US and China.”

    “I don’t fall into the category that China necessarily needs to be an adversarial relationship. I totally disagree,” he said in an interview in 2016.

    “We’re on the same sheet of music, two of the world’s great superpowers, there’s many collaborative things we can do together.”

    “Walz’s empathy for the Chinese people and appreciation of China’s non-political aspects make him a harder case for Beijing to “villainize as an ‘anti-China’ foil” than politicians that are hawkish on all dimensions…”

    “Walz himself has conceded that he’s by no means a China expert. “I lived in China, and as I said I’ve been there about 30 times,” he said in the 2016 interview. “But if someone tells you they’re an expert on China, they’re probably not telling you the truth because it’s a complex country.”

  100. There’s precedent.

    https://bushchinafoundation.org/u-s-china-legacy/

    “President Bush was the first U.S. president to engage the People’s Republic of China subsequent to the events of the summer of 1989 and thus was the first U.S. leader after the normalization of bilateral relations in 1979 to manage a vastly more textured, complex, challenging and contentious relationship—in essence, the U.S.-China relationship in its contemporary form. President Bush’s extraordinarily wise, deft and steady handling of that 1989 crisis in U.S.-China relations—and indeed, his ability to give expression to American values without ever losing sight of American interests—paved the way for so many of the U.S.-China successes that followed his presidency.“

  102. Speaking of which, Plumpty ought not again be permitted to skate away with not producing his fucking tax returns.

    Did Nixon try—albeit unsuccessfully—to obtain the tax returns of political adversaries? Well, Roosevelt successfully ordered the Internal Revenue Service to investigate opponents such as William Randolph Hearst, Huey Long, and Charles Coughlin.

  103. https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-irs-audit-chicago-hotel-taxes
    “IRS Audit of Trump Could Cost Former President More Than $100 Million”
     
    “The tax agency concluded in its long-running investigation that Trump effectively claimed the same massive write-off twice on his failed Chicago tower.”
     
    “The first write-off came on Trump’s tax return for 2008. With sales lagging far behind projections, he claimed that his investment in the condo-hotel tower met the tax code definition of “worthless,” because his debt on the project meant he would never see a profit. That move resulted in Trump reporting losses as high as $651 million for the year, ProPublica and the Times found.”
     
    “There is no indication the IRS challenged that initial claim, though that lack of scrutiny surprised tax experts consulted for this article. But in 2010, Trump and his tax advisers sought to extract further benefits from the Chicago project, executing a maneuver that would draw years of inquiry from the IRS. First, he shifted the company that owned the tower into a new partnership. Because he controlled both companies, it was like moving coins from one pocket to another. Then he used the shift as justification to declare $168 million in additional losses over the next decade.”

    “A first, partial revelation of the substance of the audit came in 2020, when the Times reported that the IRS was disputing a $72.9 million tax refund that Trump had claimed starting in 2010. That refund, which appeared to be based on Trump’s reporting of vast losses from his long-failing casinos, equaled every dollar of federal income tax he had paid during his first flush of television riches, from 2005 through 2008, plus interest.”

    “It is unclear how the audit battle has progressed since December 2022, when it was mentioned in the congressional report. Audits often drag on for years, and taxpayers have a right to appeal the IRS’ conclusions. The case would typically become public only if Trump chose to challenge a ruling in court.”

  104. Mmmm, probably more important to look at policy.  What would extending Adolf’s tax cuts for the wealthy do to the federal deficit?  Who would actually benefit from not taxing Social Security? At a certain level, it’s not taxed anyway, so there’s no benefit to them.  The middle tier get a tiny break, but the wealthy get a big benefit…and, it depletes the funds for SS and Medicare, so it’ll all collapse.    

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