Links in a Chain

In June of 2015 Donald Trump announced he was running for President of the United States. It wasn't the first time he ran but it was the first time he had some serious backing by some of Americas most serious enemies.

Starting here rather than before he was a potential candidate for President seems more prudent than going backwards into his awful mob-like business ways. Prudent only for the sake of blog length and time. If I were to venture back 30 plus years rather than 3, I'd have a lengthy novel. So I write this knowing that the horror that is Donald Trump started a very long time ago and the links on the chain go so deep underneath the surface that it is simply too hard to bring them all up.

We begin in June 2015.

Chain link 1: His announcement speech painted a picture of an America in trouble. It was as colorful as any dystopian novel and ripe with lies and hate. This is the beginning of the chain. This is the start of the Trump devout. They clung to his words, his vehemence, his over-confidence, his conviction. They believed he was telling the truth and ever since that day, they never stopped.

In 2015 Donald Trump manipulated the media by holding 48 rallies in 18 states. The biggest mistake the media made wasn't the overexposure of Trump. It was their complete belief that Trump would NOT be elected president so they used him to boost their ratings and they became complicit in the demise of American democracy.

Chain link 2: The "great, great wall"

In his announcement speech, likely on a whim, Trump pledges to build a "great, great wall' at the southern border and to make Mexico pay for it. This is met with uproarious applause and supporters of his, even while calling him "crazy", say they love it and want more of it. So like good little soldiers, the media keeps it coming. In fact, the news becomes Trump-saturated.

Chain link 3: The Muslim ban

The same people that love the idea of keeping brown people from the south coming north are the same people that love the idea of keeping brown people from flying in from the Middle East. It is no surprise to any of us that Trump pushed this idea as early as December of 2015 and that he clung to it as hard as he clung to the idea that Hillary Clinton should be imprisoned.

Chain link 4: Antifa

Maybe this is not the birth of Antifa, I honestly don't know the genesis of it or Soros or any of those other weird conservative conspiracies, however I do know that the Chicago Rally that was set to happen in March of 2016 was part of the madness. The rally I'm talking about was set to happen in Chicago on March 11 of 2016 at the University of Illinois at Chicago. It was cancelled due to safety concerns due to growing numbers of protesters outside the rally. Thousands of protesters showed up with the help of social media and the hashtag "shutitdown". Some of the comments from Trump's opposition at the time:

Senator Ted Cruz of Texas: "When you have a campaign that affirmatively encourages violence, you create an environment that only encourages that sort of nasty discourse."

John Kasich, Governor of Ohio: "Tonight, the seeds of division that Donald Trump has been sowing this whole campaign finally bore fruit, and it was ugly."

Marco Rubio: "Trump is [like] third world strongmen."

The comments didn't stop conservative mouthpieces from claiming the protesters infringed upon Trump's freedom of speech. Rich Lowry from the National Review said that Trump "thrives on polarization and has sought to turn up the temperature of his rallies with his notorious suggestions that protesters should get roughed up."

In short, Lowry said Trump is looking to incite violence.

Chain link 5: Enter Paul Manafort

Knowing what we know now this date of June 20th, 2016 may take on different meaning to us. This is the day Corey Lewandowski is out and Paul Manafort is in as Campaign Manager. 

Chain link 6: "Russia, if you're listening..."

July 27th, 2016, just a little over a month since Manafort joined as campaign manager, Donald Trump asks Russia to hack his opponent. The very same day, the Russians made their first effort to hack Hillary Clinton's servers which later resulted in an indictment unsealed by the Special Counsel that charged 12 Russians with election hacking. I don't know about you, but I don't believe in coincidences.

Chain link 7: Trump, in a debate, says that Hillary Clinton should be in jail.

A news report broke yesterday claiming that Trump sought to order prosecution of Hillary Clinton and James Comey. This is a gross abuse of power usually reserved for the most corrupt of countries rather than the United States. Whenever I ask why Hillary Clinton or James Comey should be in jail I am met with idiotic responses like, "Move to Canada if you don't like your president," or "lock her up." I am never given an answer which tells me there are no answers. Clinton and Comey are guilty only of disagreeing with Donald Trump's crooked ways.

Chain link 8: Locker room talk

I never supported Trump, not even for a second, but the tape that gave us the voice of Donald Trump boasting about sexual assault solidified that I would never change my mind. The tape itself was abhorrent, and pathetic considering he couldn't open the door of the bus without assistance, but his lack of apology and his dismissal of the words he said painted a picture of what was to come should he win the election. We were going to see an unapologetic president that made mistakes on the regular that didn't care, that had no shame and was determined to double down rather than apologize, no matter what.

Chain link 9: Professional protesters

Trump claims, in a tweet, that "professional protesters" are being incited by the media and that it is very unfair to his election win. This is spawned by a conspiracy theory that George Soros is paying people to protest Trump. There is, of course, no truth to this conspiracy theory.

Chain link 10: Attacks on the media

It may not have been the beginning of his attacks on the media, but it was the first time since he was elected president on November 13th, 2016 when he attacked the New York Times. He called their coverage of "Trump phenomena" inaccurate then he went on to claim they sent him an apology letter. I don't believe they did. The same week, a story broke that Trump was trying to get security clearance for his kids. He tweeted that this was a "typically false news story" which we, of course, know to be completely true. Since that first tweet post-election he tweeted about the news 573 times. This is a direct attack on the First Amendment and a direct attack that Congress allowed without batting an eye.

Chain link 11: Lies, lies, more lies and repeated lies

Voter fraud claims - "I won the popular vote if you deduct the millions of people who voted illegally."
Trump removes himself from his business dealings - While he claimed he did this, there is evidence to the contrary particularly in relation to the latest dismissal of the Saudi killing of an American journalist.

The Russia "Hoax" - as early as December of 2016 Trump attacks the Russia investigation as a "card". This doesn't stop.

Crowd size - Trump continuously repeats lies about the sizes of his rally crowds. I fear the only one that cares about his crowd size, is him.

Chain link 12: Blind loyalty to Vladimir Putin

Trump tweeted on December 23, 2016: "Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: "In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity." So true!"

To this day Trump is blindly loyal to the leaders of countries we have had contentious relationships with. To this day Trump attacks our allies and humiliates the people of the United States by aligning with autocrats and demagogues. Birds of a feather...

Chain link 13: Leaks

Trump consistently attacks leaks over the information being leaked. He claims the leaks are criminal while at the same time being untrue. The man wants things both ways and somehow his supporters still believe we can exist in a reality where both things are true.

Chain link 14: Charlottesville

"There are very fine people on both sides." Trump says this after he and Sessions remove White Supremacist groups from the list of hate groups. Again, there are no coincidences.

Chain link 15: Comey

Trump fires James Comey and claims his reasons have to do with how Comey handled Hillary Clinton's email investigation. Not only is this claim ridiculous but completely false. Later, in an interview with Lester Holt Trump admits to the world on national television that he fired James Comey because of the "Russia thing". 

Chain link 16: The nicknames

In high school I had a teacher that nicknamed all the kids. It was stupid and juvenile even as a teenager. To have a grown man, who also happens to be President of the United States, do the same thing to those he dislikes is pitiful. Out of respect for the people he nicknames, I will not be listing his ridiculous titles for those people.

Chain link 17: Saudi Arabia

A journalist is brutally murdered by Saudi Arabia. Our CIA confirms that the prince of Saudi Arabia ordered the killing. Donald Trump is letting it slide. This has nothing to do with any deals the United States has with Saudi Arabia but instead everything to do with deals Trump has with Saudi Arabia.

Stopping at 17 seems a fair place to stop considering I have an actual job to do. Sadly, I could go on and please, if you have more to add, comment on the post. 

Special Counsel Mueller has his hands full. The links in the chain keep coming. Trump doesn't know how to obey the law nor does he seem to have any desire to try. Democrats won the House, if we can wait out the next couple of months until the new Congress is in session we might end up okay.