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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Friday, February 03, 2017

The Guardian Looks at NorCo's Role in Trump's Election

The Guardian, my favorite British paper, looks at Trump's unexpected victory in Northampton County. In his second week in office, let's look at his achievements:
(1) He has threatened to send US troops to Mexico to get rid of "bad hombres," and Mexico has canceled a planned state visit;
(2) He approved a covert operation in Yemen without sufficient intelligence, resulting in the needless deaths of a Navy Seal as well as civilians;
(3) He managed to alienate Australia, one of our closest allies, during a bellicose call in which he hung up abruptly;
(4) Like Obama and his red line in Syria, Trump's administration has told Iran it is "on notice," whatever the hell that means;
(5) He delivered what only can be described as insensitive and boorish remarks to kick off the start of Black History month (read them and weep);
(6) After slamming Obama over the US refusal to veto a UN Security Council resolution condemning new settlements in Israel, he's telling Israel to stop building new settlements;
(7) The guy who claimed he wanted to be the President of all of us, including the three million voters who refused to vote for him, nominated the most divisive nominee he could find as his Supreme Court pick; and (8) He issued a poorly vetted Executive Order calling for "extreme vetting" of anyone who wishes to visit this country.

We've elected Caligula.

37 comments:

Anonymous said...

1 through 8 in just 2 weeks

Caligula is getting it done.

Now if people get out of his way we can hand the whole circus back to the Britt's by the 4 of July.

Peter j cochran said...

I just don't think the political people understand a business person . Like 'your fired' they don't relate to this.-Ask this ,how does anybody defeat a dozen other candidates on his own party? Then defeat the Clinton machine?

Anonymous said...

He lies and lies and says things angry people want to hear even if it is lies. The man is an embarrassment. A slick salesman that is the modern P.T. Barnum. My only hope is Northampton County gets its senses back.
Northampton County was always a bellwether for common sense. Sadly, in this presidential election it flipped over to "alternative facts" and bellicose nonsense.
Trump is already worse than Obama and he hasn't been in office for a month.

Anonymous said...

Trump has no clue. Not one, for getting anything done or how to prepare for getting it done correctly. He will be remembered as the worst president in history.

Anonymous said...

Trump also found time to ease sanctions that Obama had placed on Russia (Thank you, Pal Putin!)and planted the seeds for the pending war with Iran. Fasten seat belts, we're in for the ride of our lives.

Anonymous said...

President Trump's elective victory may have been unexpected to YOU Mr O'Hare, but not to those of us who wanted no part of that lying, snarky bitch Hillary Clinton.

Can't help but notice her foundation folded it's tents when no one could expect her or Bill to provide any political influence after she lost the election. You know, all the Muslims in the Middle East who were giving her backslash.

And she still is being investigated.

Anonymous said...

How many rounds of golf has President Trump played so far?

Anonymous said...

How many pallets of cash has Present Trump sent in the middle of the night to Iran ?

Anonymous said...

It sure seems that the Democrats are in an awful position just now.

* Hillary Rodham Clinton was beaten by Donald Trump
* Republicans control the Senate
* Republicans control the House
* Republicans are about to put an Antonin Scalia–style constitutionalist on the Supreme Court, a development made possible by the Democrats’ weak position in the Senate
* Republicans control 34 of 50 governorships
* Republicans control the great majority of state legislative houses

What, exactly, are the Democrats up to? Dressing up as vaginas and inviting Madonna to rile up the rubes with empty speeches in D.C. while the real power in the party — the public-sector unions — concentrate their fire on . . . Betsy DeVos, who believes that there should be some choice and accountability in public education

You see, it just wasn't Hillary Clinton that was rejected by the American people It was, basically, everything the Democratic Party stands for.

And now we have riots in the streets of pissed-off Democrats.

Anonymous said...

I've been a life long republican, maybe not as staunch as some, but I've always worn it as a badge of honor. I had the privilege of voting for Reagan in my first election. But this? Smearing our closest allies, putting a master far-right propagandist at the right hand of power in the White House, building some wall when the rest of our roads and bridges are crumbling? Stoking racist and severe nativist urges?

It reminds me of the stories I remember hearing from family about enduring "No Irish need apply". This is not the place where I grew up anymore...

When all of this blows up, and I am pretty sure it will, the public should demand accountability from everyone all the way at the top down. My GOP has been commandeered by extremists, this is not the Big Tent I believe in. And when it all goes bad, we should remember it at the polls and vote to right the ship. And we should also expect the resignations of those officials at the national, state and county level who got us into this impending mess.

My biggest fear is that this isn't making America great again, but the end of American Exceptionalism and that my children and grandchildren will have to work to rebuild our our national reputation, alliances and economy.... Luckily, I have quite a bit of faith in the promise of those much maligned millennials.

Anonymous said...

Sure, 7:54 but you sound smart enough that you know that will all be fleeting.

Republicans will control everything for a couple of years, gut regulations and make massive sums of money and we will either have a recession or international crisis and then all of those positions will slip away and it will all be democratically controlled.

The never ending tug of war will just go on and on. So enjoy your time in the sun, because it will be here and gone just as the progressive control of the last several years.

But remember this: when they repeal the ACA and they will, how many people are going to die because of it? My cousin is alive today because insurance companies couldn't reject a pre-existing condition that became life threatening and their family isn't in financial ruin because the company couldn't cap benefits.

Others in the future might not get sick at the right time and lives will get cut short and families thrown into poverty so shareholders can enjoy good Q3 returns and execs huge bonuses

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed the Cal-Berkeley Riots. Thanks Democrats. Please keep it up!

Anonymous said...

The more they bitch, complain and riot the more and more they seem to be nothing but spoiled brats. The country has moved on. Democrats seem to be stuck in reverse. They're not making friends and being successful by acting like children.

Shumer is the face of the Democrats and he's not making friends or influencing anyone by staging these silly walk-out in the Senate either. So sorry Chuckie, the adults have taken over now. In fact, since you're not really contributing anything positive to the discussion, you and your fellow Democrats in the Senate might as well just stay home and pout, because you're really irrelevant anyway.

Anonymous said...

Trump acts more like a gangster boss than a President of the United States. I didn't like Clinton either and did not initially fear Trump's victory. I had hope that Trump would turn out to be a practical business man and realize that he would be the President of all our people, not just his most rabid supporters. The approximate 50-50 split of the US public remains much the same as it did through the terms of President Obama and Bush. None of the three had any sizable mandate to bring extremist views down on us. Obama tried to move things to his side of the equation more than Bush but Trump so far has far exceeded his mandate and it does not bode well. The most frightening thing to me is how many of Trump's followers believe that Trump is somehow following the will of God and Jesus Christ. They obviously believe in a different God than I do. We are in deep trouble if this continues as I now suspect it will.

Anonymous said...

It's just so sad to see how many people just can not accept the simple fact that crooked Hillary Clinton lost.

Anonymous said...

"Trump has exceeded his mandate". Sure. Whatever.

Anonymous said...

We need our own local Trump to make Northampton County great again. Maybe one day we can be on par with Lehigh County.

Anonymous said...

The pro-establishment and resident entitlements minority are rearing their ugly heads. Trump is doing what he promised: Turning useless Washington on its' ear. If the democrats will get off their asses and approve the cabinet, [which will come into power anyway], maybe you'll see more thinking into complex problems that Barak HUSSIEN Obama left us. His progressive leftist legacy has left this country in an over-regulated, under-achieving, dominion that operated from weakness; rather than strength. His constant failing foreign policies left a void in Iraq, [hence the formation of the JV team called ISIS], caused a massive influx of immigrants from Syria, lost Crimea to the Russians, abandoned the Ukraine, gave Iran 1.5 billion to continue its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, left Libya in a power vacuum and supported the failed Arab spring. The citizens of the US spoke during the 2016 election and fired the incompetents!

Dave said...

"We've elected Caligula"

No Bernie, I'd say Augustus.

Anonymous said...

How is Gorsuch the "most divisive" pick possible?

If anything you should be applauding this pick...Gorsuch is highly suspicious of government overreach and intrusion...he will be one to oppose any attempts by Trump to exceed his executive authority.

And before anyone says he'll never go against Trump since Trump picked him, I point to Souter, Kennedy, and even to some extent, Roberts...not the Judges everyone thought they would be at the time they were nominated...lifetime appointment is there for a reason....

Anonymous said...

I know many will view this article as being about Trump.

But, I am more interested in the reasons behind the choice to view Northampton County as an indicator of voter trends in national and state elections.

And, of further interest what does that tell us about our local county election. Northampton County has a strong white, non Hispanic population. While Democratic registration leads Republican registration, combined Independent-non affiliated and Republican registration leads Democratic registration. Suburban township growth has minimized the impact of city populations in elections. Easton suburbs dominate the little city.

What does that all say for a County wide election. Maybe more and more difficult for a Democrat to win. Brown raised taxes. That is a big vote killer in this county. He probably lost most of his base. Another Republican runs, who knows? Trump demonstrated the ineffectiveness of big money and advertising. Money may not be that important.

Anonymous said...

All you trump lovers that think he can do no wrong hold on he 's only been president for two weeks and he has managed to turn everything upside down and not in a good way. He is the ultimate bull $hitter .Everything he accused Clinton of doing he is doing.lyer lyer pants on fire donald,kelly,,and bannon alt right maybe when northampton people see he isn't really going to help them they will get rid of him I only hope it is sooner than later.

Anonymous said...

10:21 The story is how did Northampton County, a heavily Democratic area for decades. formerly home of industrial giants such as Bethlehem Steel, Dixie Cups, the Lehigh Valley Railroad and other highly-unionized industry turn to the GOP?

Even though Billy Joel called his song "Allentown", it really was about Bethlehem...

The answer, simply, is because the voters were sick of the empty promises of the Democrats.

Anonymous said...

10:48 Yes, I believe the phrase "Draining the Swamp" is what you are witnessing.

Anonymous said...

(2) He approved a covert operation in Yemen without sufficient intelligence, resulting in the needless deaths of a Navy Seal as well as civilians;

From the New York Times: President Barack Obama’s national security aides had reviewed the plans for a risky attack on a small, heavily guarded brick home of a senior Qaeda collaborator in a mountainous village in a remote part of central Yemen. But Mr. Obama did not act because the Pentagon wanted to launch the attack on a moonless night and the next one would come after his term had ended.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/01/world/middleeast/donald-trump-yemen-commando-raid-questions.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=a-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=1

from that same article:
Through a communications intercept, the commandos knew that the mission had been somehow compromised, but pressed on toward their target roughly five miles from where they had been flown into the area. “They kind of knew they were screwed from the beginning,” one former SEAL Team 6 official said.

Bernie O'Hare said...

The raid was approved,and by Trump, without the proper military intelligence.

http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2017/02/whos-blame-disaster-yemen
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/raid-in-yemen-how-trump-ordered-al-quaeda-attack/
http://www.businessinsider.com/us-military-officials-trump-ordered-raid-in-yemen-that-killed-us-navy-seal-was-approved-without-sufficient-intelligence-2017-2
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-02/leaked-military-official-comments-claim-trumps-first-counter-terror-op-was-undertake

Feel safer now?

Anonymous said...

If mother jones reports it. It must be true, yes ?

Bernie O'Hare said...

Look at all the links.

Anonymous said...

In real news, the U.S. economy gained 227,000 jobs in January according to statistics released by the Labor Department on Friday.

What's clear is that businesses don't fear hiring people under Trump. In fact, the only people that don't like Trump are sore loser, cry baby Democrats, our allies that have been taking advantage of our goodness and our enemies. Can't wait for 2018 to come around where Republicans will gain more seats in the Senate and then 2020 where Trump will easily win reelection.

The media, celebrities and these idiots protesting everywhere have no clue how stupid they really are.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I am aware of The Hill story. Do not cut and paste. Provide links.

Anonymous said...

At this moment Russian back fighters are trying to carve up the Ukraine. Obama is gone this is on the Trumpster. Will he stand up to his Putin pal or let the Ukraine slip away into the new Russian bear?

Iran is a paper tiger, Russia is on the move. What will Trump do?

Anonymous said...

"Wasn't like this when W left office after his eight years."

No it was not. We had two wars, one of which was a huuugeee mistake. We had a financial meltdown with the economy teetering on a depression. We had thousands of Americans going bankrupt from medical bills.

Aside form that everything was just peachy!

X said...

Bernie I have redd pretty much all the comments about the R' and D' s shit slinging stories so far. I really don't like the blame game because it is just whatever party is in at a time gets to steal the American people worth draining and compromising Americans safety as a whole. Pryor I had always been a independent til I was told by a elderSTATESmen, that I must join a party. Upon REsearching the tie educacy's I decided to not go with the flip flopps as that has a bad connotation to it and also has been implementation a in the disrepair of many cities across America today!

This is a particular party or gang tool and its implementation to defraud FEDS of billion of HUD dollars? There is big money made on rentable blight with in city limits administration ally as the three parts claim it is the fourth parts when in fact it iZ the three lower partZ neglecting to keep America's children SAFE! They all can try to take that to there criminally involved banker and reelestate agents and property management teamZ?
REpublican redd
humanist by design

Anonymous said...

@1:39
You give Trump the credit for the good numbers in January?

No wonder Trump won. No IQ test required to vote.

Anonymous said...

4:32 How many wars and crisis now? 8? 10? 12 ?

Thanks Obama for fucking things up so thoroughly.

Anonymous said...

5:32 Who was paying attention to Obama in January besides those he was giving money to or pardoning ?

Anonymous said...

@5:22 Neither a photo-id. Perhaps the Republicans learned how to commit voter fraud better than the Democrats ?