Trump Speaks – Red Translates

Red hasn’t had a big steaming bowl of Wolf Brand Chili or had the chance to translate the unbelievable gibberish of Pres. Trump in far too long.  So here goes.

Thank you.  Oh, that social distancing.  Look at you people all spread out, six feet (soon to be six feet under).  That’s pretty impressive.  But we like it the old way a little bit better, don’t we (much easier to grab ’em by the p#$$y when you’re closer)?

And we’ll be back.  We’ll be back to that soon, I think.  I really believe it (because if I believe something it must be true).  And we were received by thousands and thousands of people coming in.  And they came in from all over and all the way from the airport to here (all these wonderful people willing to die just for the chance to see me).  It was really something special.  So it was really great (but don’t expect me to come to your funerals).

In the heart of the Lehigh Valley — now, just so you know, I have brother who is a great brother.  Passed away a long time ago.  Fred (what a loser).  And he went to Lehigh University (like I said, loser)  I’ve been up here many times actually.  And I gave a commencement address years ago at Lehigh University (to other losers).  It’s a great school (for losers).  But whenever I think of this area, I think about my brother (and how I cut off his sick kids’ medical insurance after he died as revenge for them suing).

I was with some of your representatives.  Associates, they call themselves.  I don’t know — I assume if they’re associates, you’re all making the same money (a pittance I’m sure).  I hope so.   They call themselves associates.  Sounds nice, right (much better than sacrificial lambs for their corporate masters)?

But they’re talking about so much of the product now is made in the USA, whereas in the past, it wasn’t.  It wasn’t.  But they were talking about 90 percent — 80 to 90 percent is made — of what you distribute is now made in the USA, and that’s taken a long while for us to get it (I totally made this up).  I started that right from the beginning (and don’t bother to look at the statistics about the decline in American manufacturing – Fake News!).  It’s probably one of the major reasons that I’m here.  It’s called “America First.”  We want America first (first in deaths from COVID-19 anyway).  We love the world (except our former allies and the shithole countries).  We want America first (white America anyway).

Today we’re announcing a groundbreaking initiative to replenish and modernize our Strategic National Stockpile.  The cupboards were bare (not a Big Mac in sight).  You’ve heard me say it a lot (which is the first clue to know that it’s utter bullshit).  When we came into this administration, those cupboards were bare (see, I said it again).

From the moment this terrible virus reached our shores, each of you has worked relentlessly to get the vital supplies to our healthcare warriors (pay no attention to the six weeks that I tried to ignore the problem).  And they are warriors, aren’t they?  When you see them going into those hospitals and they’re putting the stuff that you deliver.  But they’re wrapping themselves (in garbage bags), and the doors are opening, and they’re going through the doors, and they’re not even ready to go through those doors.  They probably shouldn’t.  But they can’t get there fast enough (even Red can’t figure this one out).

And they’re running into death just like soldiers run into bullets, in a true sense.  I see that with the doctors and the nurses and so many of the people that go into those hospitals.  It’s incredible to see.  It’s a beautiful thing to see (Democrats dying).  But I really call them “warriors.”  We’re all warriors; everyone in our country is a warrior (and all you warriors better get ready because I’m starting a civil war if I lose in November).  We have to be because of what happened.  And it should have never happened (if there was a halfway competent person left in the White House).  It should have been stopped at the source.

Just as the men and women of Allentown have done in every generation — I know it well — the workers at this facility have answered the call in America’s hour of need (just like I did during Vietnam).  Many of you are working long before dawn.  You get up and you go to work, and long after midnight.  I know your hours.  I was talking to your people and your representatives.  They say, “You wouldn’t even…” — I’m saying, “What are the hours?”  They said, “You won’t even believe it.”  I said, “But I work those hours too (you  have to get up  pretty early to watch 12 hours of TV a day).  We all work.  We’re all working hard (or hardly working, huh!).”

Now as our country begins a safe and gradual reopening, we’re launching a monumental effort to replenish and rebuild the Strategic National Stockpile (who knew such a thing existed).  We also did that, by the way, with fuel.  When oil went down, we replenished our Strategic National Reserve.

And we got it for a great price (buy low – sell high).  Would you believe what went on with fuel?  But now it’s starting to go back, and we’re saving our energy industry, because people didn’t need too much gasoline when there were no cars on the road.  And I said to the governors — I said, “You know, there are no cars on the road.  This is a good time to fix your highways.  Fix your highways now.” (absolutely no one else thought of this)  Some did and some didn’t.  Right?  They didn’t (Democrats).  They were worried that two people working 35 feet away from each other or driving a tractor, or whatever they might be doing, they’ll catch the virus (what a bunch of weenies).

But the ones that did were really helped because you went from being these massive traffic jams to having no traffic (yes, they fixed all of their traffic problems in 2 months).  And I can tell you Florida was a state (finally I said something correct – Florida is a state).  Great governor.  And Ron was — was — he told me he; he said, “I’m doing it.”  I said, “That’s a good thing.”  Not everybody did it.  Ron DeSantis of Florida.  Governor of Florida (I lose Florida and its game over).

Under the previous administration, the Stockpile was depleted and never fully refilled (ignore that I had 3 years to do that).  Most of the N95 masks were distributed during the N1H1 (should have let them die then).  Now, you know who says that, right?  “N1H1.”  Who says that?  Sleepy Joe Biden (because you should always ridicule your opponent)   Remember?  He said the “N1H1.”  I said, “Isn’t it the other way around?”  They said, “Yes, sir.”  But he said it, so it doesn’t make any difference.  (once again, Red is at a loss here)

But during the H1N1 — and that’s the swine flu — and it was a pandemic in ’09 that was not well handled at all (at least one person died).  It got very poor marks (and I have a bridge to sell you).

Never again will another President inherit empty shelves or expired products (again ignore my first 3 years).  At least — hopefully, in five years you’re talking about.  It may be 9 years, it may be 13 years (I’ll still be President).  But you’ll never have to deal with empty shelves, and you’ll never have to deal with a depleted military (always pivot to the military)  The military that we took over was depleted and in horrible shape (despite spending more than the rest of the world combined).  We’ve now spent $1.5 trillion rebuilding our military (so that we can cut and run from everywhere in the world)  We have the strongest military we’ve ever had, by far (World War II was nothing).  And this is a good time to have it too (remember second civil war coming)

Sorry, Red really can’t take anymore of this right now.

Shake Shake Shake – Shake Your Booty – But not During Mediation

Chief U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal  of the Southern District of Texas expressly rued having to use the term “butt shaking” in an  opinion arising out of alleged attorney misconduct.  The Judge was writing in response to a motion to sanction  former BakerHostetler attorney Dennis Duffy for shaking his groovy thing  and insinuating that opposing counsel was gay because he has a ponytail during  a mediation in which Duffy represented his client Chevron Phillips Chemical Co. in an employment discrimination case.  The Judge called the behavior “clearly outside professional bounds,” but determined that sanctioning Duffy was not needed.

“One of the sentences a judge does not imagine — much less welcome — writing includes the words ‘butt shaking’ in describing a lawyer’s alleged actions at a mediation. Sadly, those words fit here.

Duffy’s professional reputation, and the closely related ability to attract new business, will no doubt suffer, and they should.”

Duffy did suffer consequences as he was forced to withdraw from the case and is no longer employed by BakerHostetler.

In the interest of full disclosure, Red had some past interactions with Duffy when he was General Counsel for a prominent Texas university located in a large city.  In his humble opinion, Red found Duffy to be pompous and insufferable but he never got to see Duffy engage in  some righteous butt shaking – an opportunity missed.

 

A Trumpian Solution – When in Doubt About Enforcement of Social Distancing Assault an Officer

Austin Park Ranger Cassidy Stillwell was talking to a crowd of people at Commons Ford Metro Park on Lake Austin who were described as “unlawfully drinking and smoking” and telling them that they needed to disperse to a nearby grassy area when Brandon Hicks apparently took offense.  Young Mr. Hicks pushed Cassidy into Lake Austin and was promptly arrested.   According to CNN ‘s description of a video of the events, the assault was unprovoked.

Amid the cross talk in the video, Stillwell is heard telling the crowd on the dock to “disperse yourselves” in the grassy area nearby because they were not maintaining physical distance of six feet. Some respond with “Will do” and “I got you, man.”

The ranger’s instructions are interrupted when the man pushes him into the shallow, murky water. The ranger holds on to the man’s arm and pulls him in, the video shows. The man, clad in a swimsuit, scrambles out of the water and rushes away.

The person shooting the video admitted that the park visitors were not following social distancing guidelines and that Stillwell “was just telling us to spread apart to keep our distance and honestly was being super reasonable and understanding.”  For Trump voters being super reasonable and understanding is a call to arms.

 

You could knock Red over with an AK-47

Current polling indicates that the Lone Star State is in play for November.  As reported by the Dallas Morning News – not exactly a bastion of left-wing reporting – Trumph – the Insult Comic President and Joe Biden are in a statistical deadheat.

A new Dallas Morning News/University of Texas at Tyler poll shows that Trump and Biden are backed by 43% of poll respondents, with 5% opting for “other” candidates and only 9% undecided. Trump’s overall approval rating was 45%.

Red really will have to engage in some willing suspension of disbelief before he buys into the notion that Uncle Joe has a chance to carry Texas.  But if that well-below 50% approval rating holds, Trump’s reality TV show joke of a Presidency is in serious trouble.  If this polling is accurate and holds through the summer, then Trump absolutely must  divert some of his massive campaign war chest to Texas – a state he must win to prevail in 2020.  The result will be less time and resources to devote to the other “Battleground States” that are also critical to Trump being able to stay in office and out of the pokey.

Bill O’ the Clown Triumphs in First Round of 2020 NFL Draft

All you Texans’ fans can be proud of what Head Coach/GM Bill O’Brien did in the first round of the 2020 NFL draft.  Absolutely nothing.  Red was expecting Bill to trade away some more draft picks and All-Pro talent to pick up a player in the first round that the experts had going in the third round at best.  So Kudos to Bill for sitting on your hands.

It won’t last.

Brother Trump’s Traveling Salvation Show

As Red has acknowledged, Trump is without doubt the greatest con man who has ever walked the face of the earth.  But as Red has also acknowledged it is hard to keep the con going for the long haul.  In presidential terms, the long haul is anything beyond the first six months or so.

Trump’s cons on the American people have been extensive.  In no particular order he has conned a good portion of Americans into believing: (1) his massive tax cut was not an enormous give back to the wealthiest among us and would benefit the middle class; (2) we are winning trade wars that would benefit working Americans; (3) Russia did not interfere in the 2016 election to help him get elected; (3) our military was in a shambles until Trump took over; (4) he is a self-made man who received a mere pittance of a $1 million loan from his father when he actually inherited more than $400 million in current dollars; (5) he is an expert on the military, science, climate change, foreign policy, economics and any other subject that happens to come up; (6) North Korea is no longer a threat; (7) Ukraine intervened to attempt to get Hillary elected; (8) it was a perfect telephone call; (9) he has drained the “swamp” in DC; (10) he is an extremely stable genius.

But now we have entered in what can only be called the “Snake Oil” phase of Trump’s Reality TV Show Joke of a Presidency.  Faced with a real crisis, Trump clearly has no plan of action.  He lurches from moment to moment falling prey to whatever the Fox or OAN talking heads are saying.  First it was hydroxychlorquine that would be the miracle cure all that would rid of the scourge of COVID-19.  Hallelujah Brother!  Then it was a combination of that chemical with a Z-Pack that cure what ails us.  Can I get an Amen? Then it was that the virus would just magically disappear in April. A Miracle Cure Indeed!  But the latest and greatest of Trump’s con on America is something that would make even the most jaded con man blush.  We can now be healed and brought back to vitality simply by injected ourselves with disinfectant and somehow lighting up our insides.  Wash Me Clean Sister!  Red is reeling in the pure ecstasy of Trump’s divine revelation.  Red will be retiring to his private tanning bed and mainlining some Mr. Clean.

But seriously folks, Trump is nothing more than a pure Snake Oil salesman.  He isn’t traveling anymore but he has his own reality TV show.  But if this latest utter farce does not reveal Trump as the dishonest huckster that he is and always has been – there is no hope for us.   If you are still considering voting for this piece of walking human filth in November – you are an IDIOT.  There is no other way to put it.

 

Quote for the Day

“We’ll gradually bring those people back and see what happens. Some of them will get sick, some may even die, I don’t know.”

Dick Kovacevich, a current executive at Cisco and Cargill.

Dick is certainly doing all he can to live up to his name.  Tell you what Dick, let’s send some people diagnosed with COVID-19 over to your house for dinner and “see what happens.”

Quote for the Day

He brought them here and stuck them in his factory! Is he paying these poor people? Are there toilets for them? I’ve seen their faces! I can’t be sure of this, but one of them has a look like, ‘I should’ve taken my chances back in Germany!’

If you haven’t watched The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, you won’t get this in the context of the current right-wing push-back against shut-downs in the face of the potentially disastrous COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.

 

Let Lieutenant Dan be the First in Line

Red admits he was conflicted by the rolling shutdown of businesses in Texas and throughout the country.   First it was AustinDallas and then San Antonio issuing shelter-in-place orders.  But when Waco  and McClennan County officials announced a closure of all non-essential businesses, Red began to realize that we are in some seriously deep doo doo with this COVID-19 crisis in Texas.   When the heart of Texas and the heart of Texas conservatism (sorry Tarrant County – you’re getting kind of squishy) is taking this matter seriously, then something is really up.  Red doesn’t not pretend to be privy to the expert medical advice given to such officials, but if Waco is shutting down then the reports must be ominous.

Our Poor Idiot Governor Greg Abbott (and don’t take particular offense at this characterization as, in Red’s humble opinion, Abbott is just one in an almost continuous line of OPIG’s dating back to at least whoever came after Alan Shivers) has refused to do much of anything other than close schools and mumble something about gatherings of more than 10 people.  Even worse, Abbott has laughably claimed that he likes to defer to local authorities in such times of crisis.  Curious, how he and the GOP controlled legislature have repeatedly railed against local authorities when they have addressed relatively minor issues like plastic bag bans, tree protection ordinances and some more important ones like fracking bans.  His message has consistently been “I love local government – except when it goes against my right-wing Trumpian dogma.” But now it’s- “Hey, local guys you do what you think is right so that I can have my political cover come next election and say I didn’t destroy the Texas economy – it was all those local Democrats who overreacted.”  It must be tough to maintain a straight face . . .

And speaking of overreaction, here is Red’s take on the issue.  We will never know if the current measures being adopted were needed or effective.  Or at least there will never be an admission from the opponents of such measures that the a general shut down prevented thousands or perhaps millions of deaths.  If such shut-downs stop the spread of the virus, it would seem there is no real way to actually measure the effectiveness of such measures – other than maybe compare us to Italy or Spain.  Red did not do well in probability and statistics and will leave that to others.

However, if the naysayers get their way – maybe we will be able to tell if they were right or wrong.  If we all just go back to normal shoulder-to-shoulder daily life and work and play and COVID-19 kills off no more of us than might bite it in a typical bad flu season, then one could rightfully argue that a shut-down was not needed.  But here’s the kicker – if the let’s’-just-keep-rolling-along-as-if-this-is-no-big-deal crowd is wrong, really wrong, then the consequences could be catastrophic.  This is life and death folks – who wants to gamble?

Okay, so back to the real point of this little diatribe.  This morning Red awoke to the pronouncement of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that our senior citizens should be willing to go down taking one in the gut (or the lungs as the case may be) in order for their grandchildren to have a fully functioning economy.  Red will let Lt. Dan speak for himself here.

No one reached out to me and said, ‘As a senior citizen, are you willing to take a chance on your survival in exchange for keeping the America that all America loves for your children and grandchildren?’ And if that’s the exchange, I’m all in. And that doesn’t make me noble or brave or anything like that.

I just think there are lots of grandparents out there in this country like me … that what we all care about and what we all love more than anything are those children.  And I want to, you know, live smart and see through this, but I don’t want to see the whole country to be sacrificed, and that’s what I see.

The message here seems to be pretty clear – Screw the old folks, we’ve got shit to sell.  And as an old man himself, Lt. Dan is taking the supposed high road.  In effect, “I’ll roll the dice because otherwise my political party and career are probably headed for the crapper.”

So while Red was conflicted (remember that’s how this all began), once he heard Lt. Dan’s noble gesture, Red knew that this was a serious problem and that any measures we take should not be half-hearted.  Stay at home as much as possible, wash your hands, maintain “social distance” (we really need a new name for that), enjoy your family, exercise, pull some weeds, have a nice drink, watch some Have Gun Will Travel reruns (highly recommended).  Do the right thing.

And while we are at, Red has some Kool-Aid ready for  Lt. Dan just in case he wants to be the first in line.  Take one for the team buddy!  One potential infection vector down!

P.S. –  On the way in, Red heard right-wing radio bloviator Michael Berry going on about what a crock these shut-downs are – effectively a Commie plot to destroy his beloved Republican Party and force everyone into government servitude.  If Red had any lingering doubts about whether a shut down was the right course of action, hearing Berry’s lying, fear-mongering rant removed any doubt.  A rule that is without exception:  When an utter POS like Berry is against something, it must be the right course of action.

The Year of the Woman (Judge that is)

Red was a bit perplexed by the utter dominance of the female judicial candidates in the Democratic primary earlier this month.  If you were a male running for judge in one of the major urban counties and faced a female opponent, you were very likely out of luck and not going to be on the ballot in November cruising to victory.  That women were winning was not a particular surprise, but the margins of victory in many of these races were astounding.  In your typical judicial race (where maybe 1% of the voters have some clue about the qualifications of the candidates) some of the female candidates were winning by up to 40 points.  Red can understand the woman candidate winning based on demographics and turnout but a 40 point margin in a race between two unknowns is almost bizarre.

In the process, Texas lost some very good male judges.  That is not to say that the new judges will not be as good, but booting out those with a proven track record for the unknown is somewhat disturbing.   Fortunately Off the Kuff has some analysis that may keep Red from going off the deep end.