Category: Authoritarian

Trump: World Would Be ‘100%’ Better With Hussein, Gadhafi in Power

Donald Trump believes the world would be much better off if ruthless dictators like Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi were still in power.

“100%,” Trump replied when asked that question in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper that aired Sunday on “State of the Union.”

Trump said he believes Iraq and Libya, the respective countries of the since-deceased dictators, would be less fractured and promote a more stable Middle East if the two had not been forcefully pushed out of power. Hussein fell from power following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Gadhafi was ousted following violent civil strife in 2011 that ultimately drew a NATO-led military intervention.

“I mean, look at Libya. Look at Iraq. Iraq used to be no terrorists. He (Hussein) would kill the terrorists immediately, which is like now it’s the Harvard of terrorism,” Trump said. “If you look at Iraq from years ago, I’m not saying he was a nice guy, he was a horrible guy, but it was a lot better than it is right now. Right now, Iraq is a training ground for terrorists. Right now Libya, nobody even knows Libya, frankly there is no Iraq and there is no Libya. It’s all broken up. They have no control. Nobody knows what’s going on.”

Both Gadhafi and Hussein committed atrocities against their own people and were among the world’s worst human rights abusers. NATO decided to intervene in Libya as Gadhafi appeared poised to commit a genocidal-like massacre.

But Trump said human rights abuses continue to plague Libya and Iraq and claimed, “They’re worse than they ever were.”

“People are getting their heads chopped off, they’re being drowned. Right now, they are far worse than they were, ever, under Saddam Hussein or Gadhafi,” he said.

(h/t CNN)

Reality

What Trump is praising Saddam Hussein and Moammar Gadhafi for here isn’t justice against the evil terrorists. Saddam Hussein used this tactic of labeling political dissenters and ethnic minorities as “terrorists” and disappearing them, many times without trial. This is a violation of human rights, crimes against humanity, and murder. Hussein’s atrocities are all documented at organizations like Human Rights Watch.

So this is what Trump is praising when comparing Hussein against our “weak” justice system. And if applied in the United States it would be a clear violation of the 5th and 14th amendments of the Constitution should it be applied here in the United States.

Media

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gC8lsLq1Eto

Trump Promises To Be A Little More Violent After Repeated Protests

A series of protests interrupted Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s Miami campaign speech.

The pro-immigration demonstrators stopped Trump three times, before being shouted down by Trump supporters and removed from the facility.

“You can get them out, just don’t hurt them,” Trump advised to building security at Trump National Doral Miami, a resort the candidate owns.

He insisted the interruptions didn’t bother him, saying that “that’s what freedom of speech is about.”

“Isn’t this more fun than having like a normal deal?” the billionaire told his supporters. “This is more fun, right?”

But after several interruptions, he became peeved, noting that he had been polite to the first two disruptors.

See the first group, I was nice. Oh, take your time. The second group, I was pretty nice. The third group, I’ll be a little more violent, and the fourth group, I’ll say, ‘Get the hell out of here!’

Reality

Threats are not protected free speech by the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

Comments like these add to the growing evidence that Donald Trump supports and condones violence against people with different ideas.

Media

Links

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/10/25/1439036/-Trump-on-rising-barbarity-at-his-rallies-I-ll-be-a-little-more-violent

 

 

 

 

Supporters of Donald Trump Spit and Clash With Protesters In Richmond Rally

Violence against protesters at Trump rally in Richmond, VA

Donald Trump on Wednesday addressed a crowd of nearly 5,000 energized supporters in Richmond, delivering his standard stump speech and taking shots at Democrats who debated for the first time just the night before.

But not long into his speech, nearly 20 protesters unfurled a banner that read “No human life is illegal” and began shouting “Dump Trump” as the Republican front-runner tried to press on with his speech.

After more than 10 minutes of heckling, the protesters were escorted out by a combination of Trump campaign and event staff, as well as several police officers. At least one female protester was physically forced out of the event hall by a police officer after she got into a physical altercation with another woman at the event. An African-American woman shouted, “Black power” as she was forced out of the rally.

The protesters started shouting and heckling Trump just as he began talking about his plan to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico, which at first drew massive applause from the crowd of supporters. Trump supporters quickly began cheering to drown out the protesters.

Media

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/14/politics/donald-trump-protestors-virginia/

Man who gave Bush flowers thrown out of Trump Q&A

Police escorted out a man who claimed he was trying to ask Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump a question during a political summit in New Hampshire Monday.

The incident, which took place as Trump was answering questions at the No Labels “Problem Solver Convention” in Manchester, wasn’t the first time Bostonian Rod Webber has tried to ask a GOP presidential candidate a question this year. In this election cycle, he has approached Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee and former Florida governor Jeb Bush.

At an event in New Hampshire this summer, the activist asked Bush, “What are you going to do to make the world more peaceful?”

“Pray a lot,” the former Florida governor replied.

At another event, Bush referred to Webber as “my friend, Rod,” and invited him up to the stage to pray with him.

[Washington Post]

Trump Supporters Harass Immigration Protesters In Iowa

Woman rips latino man's sign at rally

A group of students at Iowa State called Students Against Bigotry staged a protest in the parking lot of the campus’ Jack Trice Stadium. They were confronted by a group of Trump supporters who hurled racial epithets and insults, and one woman reached out and tore a student’s signs to pieces.

Media

Links

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/trump-violence

Trump Security Guard Hits Protester

Trump security punch protester

A top security guard for Donald Trump smacked a protester in the face after the man chased him for snatching a banner Thursday, video shows.

The guard grabbed the blue sign that said “Trump: Make America Racist Again” — a play on the billionaire’s campaign motto — outside a press conference on the Donald’s new pledge of loyalty to the Republican Party, NY1 Noticias video shows.

Demonstrator Efrain Galicia ran after Schiller and appeared to reach for the banner and grab the guard from behind. Within seconds, the guard turned around and whacked him in the face with an open hand as a scrum of reporters snapped photos.

Galicia stumbled as another guard tried to restrain him, appearing to briefly put him in a stranglehold. Galicia fought back, grabbing at the second guard’s arms before the two yelled at each other outside Trump Tower.

A source familiar with the Trump campaign identified the first guard as Keith Schiller, Trump’s director of security and longtime bodyguard.

After the 10-second tussle, Galicia told reporters the guards are “just acting like their boss.”

“This man thinks he can do whatever he wants in this country, and we’re going to stop him,” Galicia said in Spanish.

An attorney for Galicia said he is exploring all “legal remedies that may be available” as Schiller appeared to “attempt to suppress free speech and the growing public criticism of the Trump campaign.”

“The video in a sense speaks for itself,” Benjamin Dictor told the Daily News Friday. “The actions were just exceedingly aggressive especially given the fact that demonstrators were on a public sidewalk speaking out about issues of public concern.”

(h/t NY Daily News)

Media

Update

On 8/21/2018 a New York State judge has shot down an effort by President Donald Trump to dismiss a lawsuit against his private security guards for allegedly roughing up demonstrators who were protesting outside of Trump Tower months after he announced his presidential run.

The New York Law Journal reports that Bronx Supreme Court Justice Fernando Tapia on Tuesday declined to dismiss the suit filed by protesters who claim they were roughed up by the president’s security team back in 2015.

Specifically, Tapia said that Trump himself “authorized and condoned” his security guards to rough up the protesters, and he specifically cited the president’s statement that “maybe they deserved to be roughed up” on the grounds that “it was absolutely disgusting” what the protesters were doing.

The lawsuit was filed by five Latino activists who claim that they were roughed up by longtime Trump bodyguard Keith Schiller and two other men who were employed as part of the then-candidate’s security personnel.

Links

http://www.ny1noticias.com/nyc/twc-ny1-noticias/noticias/2015/09/3/protestan-frente-a-torre-trump-.html

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/03/trump-violence

Trump Tosses Out Univision Journalist

Trump tosses out Jorge Ramos

Questions from Univision reporter Jorge Ramos became heated with Trump on his positions on birthright citizenship and a wall with Mexico. After Ramos continued to ask questions Trump command he “Sit down” and “Go back to Univision” then motioned to bodyguards to escort the well-respected reporter out of the conference.

Media

Links

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/25/politics/donald-trump-megyn-kelly-iowa-rally/

http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/30/media/donald-trump-jorge-ramos-interview/

Immigration Reform That Will Make America Great Again

In his first policy paper, Trump laid out a highly racist and nationalist immigration reform based on faulty data and promoted crimes against humanity all while failing the mention of its high cost to taxpayers.

For many years, Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country (as well as in other Latin American countries)

The paper goes on to explain the core issues of Donald Trump’s reforms:

  1. A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border.
  2. A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.
  3. A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.

Reality

Allow me to break down each core issue and explain the problem. As we read these we first need a dose of reality for context. If at any time you start leaning towards Trump’s side just remember a few things:

  1. Mexican immigration net zero. Meaning more Mexicans are leaving the US and moving back to Mexico than the Mexicans coming in. Illegal immigration is not as big of a problem as you think it is.
  2. Undocumented immigrants commit far less crime than the rest of the population. In general the people who are living in the country illegally don’t want any contact with law enforcement.
  3. The Obama recovery worked, the economy is strong, unemployment is at record lows, S&P 500 is up. While wage growth has been stagnant, it’s not like billionaire business owners couldn’t have done something about that.
A nation without borders is not a nation. There must be a wall across the southern border.

Let’s play a game of logic. Drugs are coming across the southern border so Trump wants to build a wall with Mexico and is cheered for it by Republicans. Drugs are coming across the northern border and Governor Scott Walker makes the suggestion that we should also build a wall with Canada and is laughed at and called crazy by Republicans. How could this be that Republicans see 1 problem happening in 2 different places and have vastly different ideas? Logically if this was really about drugs then they would have jumped at the idea of a northern border wall. The only logical conclusion then is race, Canadians in general look and talk like Americans, Mexicans are brown and have a different word for everything. Therefore this idea has its roots in racism.

A nation without laws is not a nation. Laws passed in accordance with our Constitutional system of government must be enforced.

This is really vague and kind of a “no duh” comment. But what Trump is talking about here is rounding up every illegal immigrant and returning them to their place of origin, nationwide e-verify, ending birthright citizenship, defunding sanctuary cities, increasing the number of ICE officers, and more.

Mass deportations would involve rounding up every undocumented person and forcibly removing them from the country. What Trump is advocating here already has a name, it’s called “ethnic cleansing” and it is not seen as a positive and moral thing. What Trump also fails to mention is the cost. Immigration and Customs Enforcement told lawmakers that it costs about $12,500 to deport one immigrant from the United States. Multiply that by 11.3 million, and you get $141.3 billion. Not great for the deficit and smaller government.

Tripling the number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers would cost $8.4 billion per year, again not great for the deficit and smaller government. What Trump also neglects is that President Obama has deported more illegal immigrants than any of his predecessors. So vote Democrat.

Nationwide E-Verify system, while the least controversial of his reforms, would still cost taxpayers $2.15 billion, again not great for the deficit and smaller government.

All-in-all Trumps plan would be a giant middle finger to freedom and morality and cost the taxpayers over $160 billion, again not great for the deficit and smaller government, but great for people who hate Mexicans.

A nation that does not serve its own citizens is not a nation. Any immigration plan must improve jobs, wages and security for all Americans.

Want to improve jobs? Vote Democrat. Under President Obama, unemployment is at a 20 year low and is below natural unemployment rate, meaning we are at total employment.

Want to improve wages? Don’t vote for Trump. He believes we must keep wages low in order to compete with other countries.

Want to secure America? Well Republicans don’t have the best track record.

Links

https://www.donaldjtrump.com/positions/immigration-reform

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/what-we-know-about-illegal-immigration-from-mexico/

http://immigrationpolicy.org/special-reports/criminalization-immigration-united-states

http://cronkite.asu.edu/buffett/canada/borderdrugs.html

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/26/canada-border-is-drug-wars-2nd-front/?page=all

Donald Trump Confronted By Mexican Man ‘Did You Read the Statue of Liberty?’

After Donald Trump spoke in Vegas today, a man who said he’s from Mexico confronted him during his Q&A and said he’s “incredibly insulted” by what Trump has been saying about illegal immigrants and Mexico.

He told Trump he’s being unfair to paint all illegal immigrants with a broad brush, but Trump piped up, “Did the government of Mexico ask you to come up and say this?”

The man dismissed Trump’s comment and asked him if he would build walls around every U.S. state to keep out all the rapists and criminals who are already in the United States and cross state lines.

Trump continued to stand by everything he’s said thus far on the matter, and right before they moved on, the man shouted, “Did you read the Statue of Liberty?”

Reality

It was completely unfair of Trump to dismiss this voter’s concerns and turn around and ask if the Mexican government sent him. There’s a word for this that escapes me at the moment, but it isn’t a good word.

Fact is, when you look at the national sexual assault statistics, 52% of perpetrators are white.

Media

Links

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/man-confronts-trump-during-qa-did-you-read-the-statue-of-liberty/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0nii7mxpFc

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