In what could be his final roll of the dice The Donald met late into the night with creditors who wanted to get their money back. The Trump Dynasty III, television news
Does anyone really want to smell like Donald Trump? ibid. dude re Trump goods
In 2005 Deutsche Bank loans Donald Trump $640 million to finance construction of the Chicago Hotel project. In 2008 Trump defaults on his loan payment. ibid. caption
In January 2019 US Congressional committees begin investigating the Trump organisation’s relationship with Deutsche Bank. ibid.
Trump and the Trump organisation do a lot of business with a lot of questionable figures around the world. ibid. dude
Central Park 5: ‘A lynch mob mentality. And guess who the leader of the lynch mob was.’ ibid. Reverend Dr Calvin Butts, Abyssinian Baptist church
It was the night of Barack Obama’s revenge. ibid. dude
Trump continues his partnership with the Mammadov family through the 2016 campaign. He does not abandon the Baku project until after the election. ibid. captions
I don’t like to analyse myself because I might not like what I see. ibid. Trump
How will history judge Donald Trump? Perhaps one leader from our own past could offer a clue: ‘He was a man who became egotistical and ruthless and frankly a tyrant.’ Henry VIII & Trump: History Repeating? Professor Suzannah Lipscombe, Channel 5 2020
It may sound far-fetched, but set the lives of Henry VIII and Donald Trump side by side, and the King’s story sheds surprising new light on the Donalds. ibid.
‘The thing that unites both Henry and Donald Trump is power, and what power does to a man.’ ibid. historian
Ever since he took office, those trying to make sense of Trump have seen echoes of a regal style of rule. ibid.
Both were second sons who lost elder brothers, both inherited and spent vast fortunes, both were Germaphobes, and both married mistresses and regretted it … When his brother Arthur died, it fell to Henry to follow in the footsteps of their domineering father. ibid.
‘It was the divorce of the century. A Manhattan fairytale had turned to dust.’ ibid.
Steve Bannon had masterminded Trump’s election campaign. But even he wasn’t indispensable. When he was cast out of the inner circle, he compared his fate to that of Thomas Cromwell in Henry’s court. ibid.
Fires are burning in cities across America, with storefronts smashed amid clashes between cops and protesters against police violence. It comes days after the coronavirus death toll in our country passed the grim milestone of 100,000, after a month in which 40 million people went on to the unemployment – exceeding the depths of the Great Depression.
With the country in crisis after a month from hell, President Trump’s public schedule for this last day of May is blank. But when he’s not MIA, the President’s comments have only deepened our division, with tweets like ‘when the looting starts, the shooting starts’, coming one day after he retweeted an account saying ‘the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.’
President Trump has sowed the seeds of conflict and now we are all reaping the whirlwind of chaos. His inability to empathize with others, his instinct to play white identity politics, his essential disinterest in uniting the nation, have brought us to this breaking point. CNN online article 31 May 2020
CNN: As I wrote this, the US Capitol building was being stormed by right-wing protesters trying to stop the peaceful transfer of power.
This was an attempted coup, encouraged by the President of the United States, in an attempt to derail today’s congressional certification of the electoral vote that will lead to Joe Biden’s inauguration in two weeks.
Donald Trump’s legacy is American carnage. Our country is far more divided and violent and deluded than before he entered office. His misrule has led to this moment, but it is not his responsibility alone. Trump’s fear-fueled lies and extremism and conspiracy theories have been indulged for too long by partisans. His rhetoric has directly led to death threats against election officials who have done their job honestly and independently. Now we are all reaping what they’ve sown, as the President watches it all burn from within the White House. But then, there are some men who want to ruin if they cannot rule.
Make no mistake: this is sedition. And it’s coming at the hands of self-styled super-patriots who have been amped up by the President’s lies about non-existent mass voter fraud to excuse losing a free and fair election by a large margin.
They are not conservatives – they are radicals. Because patriots don’t break the windows of the US Capitol building and storm inside when they lose an election. No hostile foreign power has done more damage to what President-elect Joe Biden called ‘the citidal of our democracy’ since an invading British army burned down the Capitol in the war of 1812. But certainly, the enemies of democracy have taken great comfort from their actions today.
We are still in the fog of war. But some things are clear. The politicians and hyper-partisans who have coddled this President’s autocratic impulses have enabled this assault to our democracy. The Republican members of Congress – like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley – who have tried to benefit politically from contesting the election results without any concrete evidence of fraud are culpable in this violence because they have stoked its fears. So is Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, who demanded ‘trial by combat’ to resolve the election dispute at a ‘Save America’ rally this morning, after his legal team lost some 60 cases in court because of an absence of evidence. CNN online article 7 January 2021, ‘Donald Trump’s American carnage ends with a coup attempt’
This gross-looking Jabba the Hutt drunk. And you think, Oh my God. The Brink, Steve Bannon, 2019
As chairman of the far-right website Breitbart News, Bannon was a controversial late addition to the Trump campaign. Bannon’s main policy victory as White House Chief Strategist was the Muslim travel ban. ibid. captions
Just days after the deadly ‘Unite the right’ rally in Charlottesville, Bannon resigns from the White House. ibid.
Actually, I thought I was doing the Lord’s work. ibid. Bannon
On the anniversary of Trump’s victory, Bannon is giving remarks at Republican fundraisers across the country. ibid. caption
The Christian Right is a foundational layer of this populist movement. ibid.
Now Sloppy Steve has been dumped like a dog by almost everyone. Too bad! ibid. Trump text
Bannon is ousted as executive chairman of Breitbart News and fired from his radio show. He also loses financial backing from his benefactors, Robert and Rebekah Mercer. ibid. captions
With an eye towards the 2019 EU elections, Bannon holds meetings with members of far-right parties to propose a unified ‘populist’ agenda. ibid.
Italy’s Matteo Salvini joins Bannon’s European populist group: Interior minister pledges support to the Movement after meeting in Rome. ibid. Guardian online article
A French revolution – that’s what’s coming. ibid. Bannon to US road-meeting of faithful
Gold, marble, chandeliers, money: welcome to the world of Donald Trump. Donald Trump has made himself a multi-billionaire and he never stops flaunting what he’s got. But behind the image is the toughness of a New York builder. Trump’s American dream takes him from luxury buildings and hotels to starring in the original Apprentice series. Now Trump is bringing his brand of showmanship over here to Scotland but some of the locals are not that impressed. Donald Trump: All American Billionaire, Emily Maitles reporting, BBC 2020
This is Trump’s apartment; it’s probably the world’s only Louis XIV-style triplex. And it’s home to his third wife Melania Trump. ibid.
Ivanka Trump – business-woman and model. Nepotism? Well it’s a charge they’ve always had to deal with. ibid.
Trump already owns nine golf courses in the US. Now he wants to expand his collection to Scotland. Aberdeen is experiencing what looks like a state visit. ibid.
There’s concern about the impact of building on this beautiful coastline and its rare wildlife. ibid.
Today, Trump’s American dream is open to all. ibid.
Dharma is the combination of duty, faith and destiny. American Dharma, Sky Documentaries 2020, Bannon
There’s an inherent contradiction in the views that you hold. You just want to destroy everything. ibid. Errol Morris
You may hate my guts and you may hate what I stand for but if we don’t allow some way for this system to spread the wealth we’re going to have a revolution in this country. ibid. Bannon
If they preach identity politics and we preach populism and jobs – and bringing manufacturing jobs back – we got it. For all their brilliance and all their money and all their professionalism they don’t have an understanding of what this election is all about. ibid.
He [Trump] hates anything social. And he really doesn’t like anything political either. Bully. Coward. Victim. The Story of Roy Cohn, Sky Documentaries 2020