Another event Trump did, this one at a Shell plant in Pennsylvania on Tuesday, was a kind of Stakhanovite exercise.

The choice for thousands of union workers at Royal Dutch Shell’s petrochemical plant in Beaver County was clear Tuesday: Either stand in a giant hall waiting for President Donald Trump to speak or take the day off with no pay.

“Your attendance is not mandatory,” said the rules that one contractor relayed to employees, summarizing points from a memo that Shell sent to union leaders a day ahead of the visit to the $6 billion construction site. But only those who showed up at 7 a.m., scanned their ID cards, and prepared to stand for hours — through lunch

Trump at his New Hampshire rally Thursday night was either worse than ever or every bit as bad as he’s always been.

His speech was at times a greatest hits album of favorite lines, replaying the 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton and bashing the news media, Democrats and America’s allies in Europe. Typically rambling, veering on and off script seemingly at random over an hour and a half, he repeated points he had already made earlier in the evening as if he did not remember already making them.

So pretty typical then.

His talk was also marked by repeated inconsistencies. The same president who last year said trade wars were “easy to win” told his supporters that “I never said

Greenland to Donnie Two-Scoops:

No.

Greenland on Friday dismissed the notion that it might be up for sale after reports that U.S. President Donald Trump had privately discussed with his advisers the idea of buying the world’s biggest island.

“We are open for business, but we’re not for sale,” Greenland’s foreign minister Ane Lone Bagger told Reuters.

…

“If he is truly contemplating this, then this is final proof, that he has gone mad,” foreign affairs spokesman for the Danish People’s Party, Soren Espersen, told broadcaster DR.

“The thought of Denmark selling 50,000 citizens to the United States is completely ridiculous,” he said.

This is Trump we’re talking about. He thinks everything is for sale.

“I am sure a

Oh no, are we seeing the death of tough-guy masculinity? It seems that Trump apologized to someone for something.

President Trump called and left a voicemail apologizing to the man he mocked as overweight, a White House official says. He confused him for a protester last night in New Hampshire. “That guy’s got a serious weight problem,” Trump said. “Go home. Start exercising.”

Maybe technically that doesn’t really count as an apology, because it’s not “sorry I did the thing”but “sorry I did the thing to you, I thought you were one of the Evil People who dare to protest my rallies.”

Maybe it counts and maybe it doesn’t, but either way it’s grotesque. I suppose he raised … Read the rest

Trump went to Pennsylvania to say words yesterday. The White House kept a record of the words.

It’s great to be back in the incredible Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Great place.  And this is my 13th visit to Pennsylvania during my administration, which is more than any other President to this point in the term.

……….What? That’s something to brag of? Number of visits to a particular state is something presidents are supposed to do a lot of? Why?

Today, we celebrate the revolution in American energy that’s helping make our economy the envy of the world.  This Shell petrochemical plant in Beaver County, Pennsylvania — I did very well here.  We did very well.  How many points did we

ABC News has dug up an interesting fact:

President Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for inciting violence in American communities, dismissing critics who have pointed to his rhetoric as a potential source of inspiration for some citizens acting on even long-held beliefs of bigotry and hate.

“I think my rhetoric brings people together,” he said last week, four days after a 21-year-old allegedly posted an anti-immigrant screed online and then allegedly opened fire at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, killing 22 and injuring dozens of others.

But a nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 36 criminal cases where Trump was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence

The president has issued a statement on the protests in Hong Kong.

Well no that’s not quite accurate. Donald Trump has said some words on being asked about the protests in Hong Kong. The words were random and meaningless.

Asked by a reporter if the Chinese should show restraint against the demonstrators, Trump said “the Hong Kong thing is a very tough situation. We’ll see what happens. But I’m sure it’ll work out. I hope it works out for everybody, including China, by the way. I hope it works out for everybody.”

It’s almost as if he hasn’t the faintest idea what “Hong Kong” is, let alone what’s happening there and why it’s happening and what any of it … Read the rest

There’s humor, however bitter, in the opening paragraph of the Times’s “back story” on Trump’s trip to El Paso.

By the time President Trump arrived in El Paso on Wednesday, on the second leg of a trip to meet with people affected by mass shootings in two cities, he was frustrated that his attacks on his political adversaries had resulted in more coverage than the cheery reception he received at a hospital in Dayton, Ohio, the first stop on his trip. So he screamed at his aides to begin producing proof that in El Paso people were happy to see him.

I can’t help laughing. It’s awful, but it’s also funny. He was frustrated that his own bad behavior … Read the rest

USA Today did an analysis of Trump’s racist rhetoric a few days ago:

Invasion. Aliens. Killers. Criminals.

Those are among the words President Donald Trump repeatedly uses while discussing immigration during his campaign rallies, according to a USA TODAY analysis of the transcripts from more than five dozen of those events.

Not that we didn’t know that. There are many video clips of him doing so.

A USA TODAY analysis of the 64 rallies Trump has held since 2017 found that, when discussing immigration, the president has said “invasion” at least 19 times. He has used the word “animal” 34 times and the word “killer” nearly three dozen times.

The exclusive USA TODAY analysis showed that together, Trump has

Trump is spending his Sunday thinking about the tragedies in El Paso and Dayton, and worrying about what Kim will do next.

I kid. He’s spending it yammering about the people on his teeeveee.

So funny to watch Little Donny Deutsch on TV with his own failing show. When I did The Apprentice, Donny would call me (along with @ErinBurnett & others) and BEG to be on that VERY successful show. He had the TV “bug” & I would let him come on though he (& Erin) had very little....TV talent. Then, during the 2016 Election, I would watch as Joe Scarborough & his very angry Psycho wife(?) would push Donny to the point of total humiliation. He

David Frum says that if Nixon had accused LBJ of involvement in the Kennedy assassination there would have been global outrage. I’m not sure that’s true, but his broader point is.

Today, President Donald Trump accused his predecessor, Bill Clinton—or possibly his 2016 campaign opponent, the former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton—of complicity in the death of the accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

Many seem to have responded with a startled shrug. What do you expect? It’s just Trump letting off steam on Twitter.

Reactions to actions by Trump are always filtered through the prism of the ever more widely accepted view—within his administration, within Congress, within the United States, and around the world—that the 45th president

Trump tells us that

In a letter to me sent by Kim Jong Un, he stated, very nicely, that he would like to meet and start negotiations as soon as the joint U.S./South Korea joint exercise are over. It was a long letter, much of it complaining about the ridiculous and expensive exercises. It was………also a small apology for testing the short range missiles, and that this testing would stop when the exercises end. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un in the not too distant future! A nuclear free North Korea will lead to one of the most successful countries in the world!

How sweet that Kim said it very nicely. He must be a very nice man, … Read the rest

Trump at a couple of fundraisers in the Hamptons yesterday:

Trump was feted at two big-money fundraisers — first a lunch for 60 hosted by real estate guru Stephen Ross, whose company owns Equinox and Soul Cycle. Then Trump talked for an hour to a crowd of 500 at the sprawling Bridgehampton home of developer Joe Farrell. The two events raised a total of $12 million.

After Equinox members revolted over Ross’ fundraising for the president, with many threatening to cancel memberships, Trump said he had joked with Ross about how divided the nation is.

Noting the relentless attacks on himself by the media, Trump quipped, “Steve Ross got into a little bit of trouble this week, I

Don is mad again. Really mad. He can’t stop fuming.

“Hollywood, I don’t call them the elites,” Trump complained to reporters at the White House on Friday. “I think the elites are people they go after in many cases, but Hollywood is really terrible. You’re talking about racists? Hollywood is racist.”

Of course he also took it to Twitter.

Liberal Hollywood is Racist at the highest level, and with great Anger and Hate! They like to call themselves “Elite,” but they are not Elite. In fact, it is often the people that they so strongly oppose that are actually the Elite. The movie coming out is made in order……..to inflame and cause chaos. They create their own violence,

Oh no, how dare other countries point out that the US has a penchant for violence? Never mind, Trump is on the job, he’ll just “reciprocate” if they say it.

Countries including Uruguay, Venezuela and Japan have issued advisories surrounding travel to the US following multiple mass shootings in the country last weekend that killed 31 people.

When asked about them, according to the Hill, Trump replied: “Well, I can’t imagine that. But if they did that, we’d just reciprocate.”

“We are a very reciprocal nation, with me as the head. When somebody does something negative to us in terms of a country, we do it to them,” he added.

Yes, that always works well.… Read the rest

Kim sent Trump another letter – a very beautiful letter.

It was three pages.

Not only that – it was top to bottom. No seriously, right from top to bottom. He said so. “Beautiful…three page…I mean right from top to bottom.” He made a side to side gesture to illustrate top to bottom, in case we don’t understand what letters are.

Top to bottom! Kim must really love and admire Trump if he sent him a beautiful letter that was top to bottom.

… Read the rest

Trump retweeted Katie Hopkins twice yesterday.

He also retweeted someone yelling

Retweet if you see @IlhanMN GETS A PASS By The Media says @TuckerCarlson!

“Media ignores @Ilhan Omar’s Tax Fraud with someone she wasn’t married to! Omar’s Marriage History can’t be verified by local reporters on accusations she married her brother to skip our immigration laws!”

Less than a week after the white supremacist mass murder.… Read the rest

Racist in chief Trump is being “I can if I want to!” today, tweeting more racism to show us who’s boss.

Beto (phony name to indicate Hispanic heritage) O’Rourke, who is embarrassed by my last visit to the Great State of Texas, where I trounced him, and is now even more embarrassed by polling at 1% in the Democrat Primary, should respect the victims & law enforcement – & be quiet!

He shouted his usual grievances at reporters.

Trump defended himself before leaving the White House, telling reporters that criticism of him was politically motivated. He placed the blame for the scourge of mass shootings that have marked his presidency on mental illness and a culture of violence.

“These

No doubt you’ve already seen them but just to pin them down for the record…Trump’s “I didn’t, he did” tweets.

“Did George Bush ever condemn President Obama after Sandy Hook. President Obama had 32 mass shootings during his reign. Not many people said Obama is out of Control. Mass shootings were happening before the President even thought about running for Pres.” @kilmeade @foxandfriends

“It’s political season and the election is around the corner. They want to continue to push that racist narrative.” @ainsleyearhardt @foxandfriends And I am the least racist person. Black, Hispanic and Asian Unemployment is the lowest (BEST) in the history of the United States!

He’s not the least racist person.

Obama didn’t have a “reign” … Read the rest