Trump Can’t Stop Lying about Opposing the Iraq War

Jon Ponder

logo-trump-lies-150In his speech on terrorism last week Donald Trump repeated the lie that he opposed the Bush-Cheney invasion of Iraq in 2003.

“I was an opponent of the Iraq War from the beginning – a major difference between me and my opponent,” Trump said, reading prepared remarks from a teleprompter.”Though I was a private citizen,whose personal opinions on such matters were really not sought,I nonetheless publicly expressed my private doubts about the invasion. I was against it, believe me. Three months before the invasion I said, in an interview with Neil Cavuto, to whom I offer my best wishes for a speedy recovery, that quote, perhaps we shouldn’t be doing it yet and that the economy is a much bigger problem.”

Factcheck.org, the rigorously nonpartisan fact checking organization, says this statement is not true:

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August 21, 2016| Permalink | Comments (2)

Trump’s First TV Ad Shows No Sign of a Pivot

Buck Banks

August 19, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Florida Is a State, Not a Place

Buck Banks

serveimageOn his blog, Steve Shale, a veteran of decades of Florida politics, nails why Florida is a battleground state in this presidential election and why it’s especially problematic for pollsters and political insiders this year:

Most states are places. Think about Texas, or even a state like Iowa, there is a sense of place to it, a commonality of experience – or as marketers might say, almost a brand. Most states have it. Florida really doesn’t.”

“Florida isn’t a place in the same sense. It is a political circle, drawing 20 million people from vast, and I mean vast experiences and cultures into one spot. And almost everyone here has come from somewhere else.”

“Florida is the new Ellis Island, except our ships come as cars and planes, from inside the borders of the country, and outside. Over the next 15 years, we might add as many as 5 million more residents, grow to as much as 30% Hispanic, with a total population of well more than 50% coming from what are typically considered ethnic minorities.

August 19, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Trump: ‘I Will Always Tell You the Truth’

Here is Politifact's list of the 10 biggest lies as a candidate so far
Jon Ponder

logo-trump-lies-150Reading from a teleprompter at a rally in Charlotte, Donald Trump sounded very much like he was trying his best to be a politician. He even promised not to lie.

“…One thing I can promise you is this. I will always tell you the truth,” he said.

That promise may prove to be one of the biggest lies he tells during the campaign. That remains to be seen. For now, here is right-leaning Politifact’s review of the biggest lies Trump told during the first year of his campaign, from June 2015 to June 2016.

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August 19, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Trump 40 Percent Strategy Relies on Third-Party Candidates

Buck Banks

NBC News’ First Read: “The reaction to the news of the latest Trump campaign shake-up has ranged from shock and disbelief to laughter… But there is one strategic way it makes sense: Team Trump views the 2016 presidential contest as a race to 40%. Under that scenario, you somehow assume that Libertarian Gary Johnson will get more than 15% of the popular vote, and that the Green Party’s Jill Stein will get more than 5%.”

See the rest of the analysis below.

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August 18, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Why Trump Is Doing Better in Florida Than Other Swing States

Jon Ponder

“Florida is the only battleground that moved in Trump’s direction after both conventions,” writes James Hohmann in the Washington Post. The state used to reflect national trends, Hohmann says, but those days may be over. He set out to find out why things are becoming so dreary in the Sunshine State. Here’s what he found.

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August 18, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Real Trump Supporters Vet Fake Trump Ads

Buck Banks

It’s become clear by this point in the presidential campaign that voters who support Donald Trump are inured to his most outrageous proposals and ridiculous policy positions. But how inured are they? Triumph the Insult Comic Dog explores that question in a series of focus groups testing potential TV ads.

Of course, to date, Trump has spent $00.00 on television advertising while the networks have given him $2 billion worth of free coverage, so it’s unlikely he’ll shell out for these ads — unless he has another week like the last one …

August 16, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Trump on Withdrawal from Iraq in 2007: ‘Declare Victory and Leave’

Jon Ponder

infografix-trump-on-withdrawing-from-iraq-2007

Donald Trump has used up the last couple of news cycles repeating the ridiculous lie that Pres. Obama is the “founder of ISIS.” He also said the bloodthirsty terror group “honors” the president.

The flimsy basis of Trump’s false narrative is that U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq early in the president’s first term, and that ISIS arose to fill the power vacuum created by the U.S. withdrawal.

Never mind that ISIS began as an affiliate of Al Qaeda in Iraq, an insurgency that established itself in 2003 after the Bush administration fired more than 300,000 Iraqi soldiers and sent them home jobless, with few prospects and fully armed.

Never mind that the date of the U.S. troop withdrawal was specified in the Status of Forces agreement negotiated by the Bush administration and the democratically elected government of Iraq.

And never mind that Donald Trump himself was strongly in favor of the withdrawal at the time. When CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Trump in March 2007 what he thought the U.S. should do, Trump replied “Declare victory and leave.”

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August 12, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Trump Smears Heartbroken Mother of Fallen Hero Soldier

Suggests her husband forced her to remain silent during his convention speech because they are Muslim
Jon Ponder
Capt. Humayun Khan
Capt. Humayun Khan

During the course of his bizarre presidential campaign, Donald Trump has made countless scandalous statements that would have disqualified a normal candidate. He has mimicked a disabled man, insinuated that a conservative reporter asked him a tough question because she was menstruating and suggested that the Republicans’ 2012 nominee Mitt Romney would have traded oral sex for his endorsement.

So far, Trump’s Teflon veneer has held firm. Support from his hard-core supporters has not wavered, and it is not likely to. These are the same clueless voters who elected George W. Bush, twice.

But just hours after the general election began, Trump disparaged the parents of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq in 2004. In particular, Trump smeared Capt. Khan’s mother, Ghazala, by insinuating husband forced her to be silent while he addressed the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.

Now Ghazala Khan is speaking out.

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July 31, 2016| Permalink | Comment (0)

Twitter Peeps Educate Trump on Sacrifice

Trish Ponder

TrumpLaughs

After Khizr Khan, accompanied by his wife, Ghazala, declared at the 2016 Democratic National Convention that Donald Trump has, “sacrificed nothing and no one,” the world took note. That’s because the Khans lost their son, U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, while he fought in Iraq in 2004.

Trump’s response was two-fold. First, in an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, he criticized the Gold Star mother for not joining her husband in speaking and implied that Muslim women aren’t allowed to do so. Then he said he does indeed understand the concept of personal sacrifice.

Pressed by Stephanopoulos to name the sacrifices he’d made for his country, Trump said: “I think I’ve made a lot of sacrifices. I work very, very hard. I’ve created thousands and thousands of jobs, tens of thousands of jobs, built great structures. I’ve had tremendous success. I think I’ve done a lot.”

People on Twitter took up Trump’s case and supplied their own examples of how Donald has given selflessly to our country, using the hashtag #TrumpSacrifices. Here are some of our favorites.

  • @AngryBlackLady
    Wore a suit and tie, not a robe and hood to the RNC. #TrumpSacrifices

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July 31, 2016| Permalink | Comments (2)

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