Isn’t Trump Ironic?

Donald Trump is full of ironies. He has long been known to rely on the old trick attributed to Nazi Joseph Goebbels— “Accuse others of that which you are guilty.” I can not find any confirmation that Goebbels actually said that, although it was a tactic Nazis readily used. It is also a tactic often used by four years olds, Donald J Trump included.

This week New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand asked Donald Trump to resign because of the string of sexual misconduct accusations against him. She was among the first female senate Democrats who successfully called for the resignation of Minnesota Senate Democrat Al Franken, after groping allegations were made against him. While Trump was vocal in his agreement that Franken should resign, he is not so easy to persuade to resign himself, even though the allegations against him are of a more violent nature and made by more women. He instead responded to Kristen Gillibrand with a disparaging tweet.

The tweet has been interpreted as “slut shaming,” and an implication that she achieved her political success using sex.

Of course Sarah Sanders, Donald Trump’s press secretary’s response was a quintessential act of spinning the offense back to the accuser.—”Your mind is in the gutter if you interpret the tweet that way.”

Gillibrand’s response to Trump was perfect.

(Snap.)

Donald Trump championed the Russian speaking, would be Alabama pedophile senate candidate—

Until he lost the election, and his revisionist history kicked in—

To be fair, Roy Moore should have won. That senate seat has been occupied by a Republican for 25 years, and would have been easy to inherit by any non-pedophile. In addition, when you factor in the level of voter suppression at work in Alabama yesterday, it is a wonder he didn’t win:

3 ID checks at *some polling stations,
90 minute waits at *some polling stations, and no wait at **others.
Police presence at *some polling stations to check warrants and intimidate.

*some precincts = those predominantly black voters

**others = those precincts with predominantly white voters

Alabama voter Brittany Bevelle, tweeted she had been listed as “inactive” at her local polling location. “Folks who have lived here longer than I’ve been alive….inactive,”

Rebecca Seung-Bickley, communications manager for the ACLU of Alabama told Newsweek— “We have been getting calls from people having different complications at our polling places, some of it we anticipated, like the inactive status situation. Unfortunately, some people are being told they can’t vote.”

There is a widespread sentiment that we must elect politicians who will combat election interference.

The irony is— you can’t vote in politicians who will combat election interference until election interference has been combatted… So how does that work?

As I wrote in my last post, the day before the Moore/Jones election, a court ordered polling stations not to delete electronic voting records in Alabama. The order was overturned late that same afternoon after an anonymous person filed a motion, giving polling stations the right to delete electronic voting data, making recounts or any investigations into fraud impossible.

Who does that order serve? Obviously it protects fraudulent election results. With the surprising turn of events, did any of the stations delete records? Roy Moore wants a recount, so who knows.

Why is it exit polls often overstate the turnout among black voters, college-educated voters, and other groups who generally vote Democratic, as they did overwhelmingly in 2016? My guess is, because their votes are often tampered with.

Despite all the attacks on our democratic process, the Democrat won in a red state, and this does not bode well for Trump, his supporters, or the GOP.

My favorite tweet today was penned by a Brit—

The only thing I can add is, Moore has done as much as Donald Trump to illuminate the hypocrisy of the evangelical church. While many in the GOP wisely separated themselves from Moore, they haven’t yet disavowed Trump. Democrats are now only 2 senate wins away from holding the majority, and Trump must be nervous.