“The closest thing is, uh, in 1917, they say, uh, the great – the great pandemic and it certainly was a terrible thing where they lost anywhere from 50 to 100 million people. Probably ended the Second World War; all the soldiers were sick.”
–Trump, in White House press briefing, Aug. 10, 2020. [But we took all the airports at Fort McHenry in that Revolutionary War.]
[For more than two centuries], “the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the U.S. until now: pity.
“COVID-19 didn’t lay America low; it simply revealed what had long been forsaken. As the crisis unfolded, with another American dying every minute of every day, a country that once turned out fighter planes by the hour could not manage to produce the paper masks or cotton swabs essential for tracking the disease. The nation that defeated smallpox and polio, and led the world for generations in medical innovation and discovery, was reduced to a laughing stock as a buffoon of a president advocated the use of household disinfectants as a treatment for a disease that intellectually he could not begin to understand.”
–Anthropologist Wade Davis, writing in Rolling Stone.
“Mr. President, after three and a half years, do you regret at all, all the lying you’ve done to the American people?”
Trump looked confused. “What?” he asked.
“All the lying. All the dishonesties,”
“That who has done?”
“You have done,”
–Exchange between HuffPost’s S.V. Dáte and Donald Trump at Aug. 13 press briefing before Trump paused and then called on another reporter without answering. [Disrespect for the president? No more than the disrespect he’s shown for the American people. It’s long past time when the media should hold him accountable for more than 20,000 lies he’s told since taking office. And yes, we should respect the office of the president but the one occupying the office is only a person – like the rest of us – and is accountable to us and is owed no automatic allegiance or fealty.]
“I heard it today that [Harris] doesn’t meet the requirements. And, by the way, the lawyer that wrote that piece is a very highly qualified, very talented lawyer. I have no idea if that’s right. I would have assumed the Democrats would have checked that out.”
— Donald Trump, in remarks to reporters, Aug. 13, 2020. [(Sigh) Here we go again with Trump and his birther rumors. To paraphrase Mr. T, I almost pity the fool.
Louisiana Voice 
I hear comments from people saying it can’t get worse. And I keep telling them it certainly will get worse with tRump at the helm. This narcissistic sociopath will keep throwing mud until he finds something that he thinks will stick and save him. Desperation is setting in as evidenced by his babbling and rambling speech. Dumbfounded when asked about his lies. Couldn’t believe the reporter was talking about him. Sowing distrust in the voting process, hobbling the post office, installing his incompetent sycophants in so many high level government positions, killing Americans with his utter failure to do anything constructive about the coronavirus, trying third world strong arm tactics with the protesters, and so much more. Yes it will get worse. We have a long way before he is out the door. Even longer before the clang of the jailhouse door closes behind him
And how can we forget the prophetic words of Rep. Adam Schiff this past January during the impeachment trial: “Can you have the least bit of confidence that Donald Trump will protect our national interests over his own personal interests? You know he can’t, which makes him dangerous to this country; you know you can’t count on him; none of us can.
If right doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter how good the constitution is…If right doesn’t matter, we’re lost. If truth doesn’t matter, we’re lost. The framers couldn’t protect us from ourselves if right and truth don’t matter…You know you can’t trust this president to do what is right for this country; you can trust he will do what is right for Donald Trump. He will do it now, he’s done it before, he will do it again for the next several months, he’ll do it in the election if he’s allowed to. This is why if you find him guilty, you must find that he should be removed. Because right matters…And the truth matters. Otherwise, we are lost.”
Amen, and unless the members of the media who have ears to hear and eyes to see [Mark 8:18 for you evangelicals out there] are willing to confront the President with his abject failure in no uncertain terms, like the HuffPost writer, there is NO point in covering these “briefings” – the legitimate [honest] press should boycott them. Throwing softballs and indirect hardballs accomplish nothing because they are easily deflected with lies or silence. I say let Fox, OAN, etc. go and pitch their thinly-veiled praise in his direction while pretending to ask questions and let their viewers revel in them – there is no way to reach them anyhow, so trying is futile.
P. S. I forgot to add the main and most obvious reason for the proposed boycott: Nothing he says in these appearances is reliable, so they are usually a disservice to the country rather than a service. The people bothering to listen simply become confused and, then, he contradicts himself later anyhow – so what’s the point?
Steve, my hope is that more reporters like HuffPost’s Dáte will pepper him with questions about his dishonesty. They should unite in their persistence in asking the tough questions. He is too often given a pass. Yes, I know that he will say something derogatory about that reporter and the others but he will soon run out of friendly reporters to call upon. Will it ever happen? I doubt it only because he will pull their press pass.
Here’s an interesting interview with Date’. Some of his fellow White House press corps members are criticizing him. They should be emulating him.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/08/14/viral-white-house-question-sv-date-keilar-sot-nr-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/this-week-in-politics/
And to add one more thing, something that happened yesterday when a reporter asked tRump a question about his lying.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/08/14/trump-lying-huffpost-date-video/
Tom covered the main exchange in his post, but the article is well worth reading.
Regarding Sen Harris’s citizenship–what about Rubio, Cruz and Jindal, aren’t they in a similar situation? The accusations against Harris smack of misogyny and racism.
GJG, you are correct: the Trump administration is bottomless–they keep going lower and lower, reaching out to their base.
And, Mr. Winham, I for one, turned the man off a long time ago; his base, however, does not listen, only soundbites. Trump is fomenting falsehoods about Sen Harris, which his base (have they even heard of the 14th Amendment) embraces and will parrot. The author of the article published in Newsweek ran in the Rep primary for the Senate seat (he came in third) that Harris eventually won. But this is Trump’s MO–repeat half-truths or lies and throw them out there to foment conspiracies..new world, new Rep party. I find it encouraging, however, that Sen Graham unequivocally stated this morning that Sen Harris is a citizen, I am always looking for glimmers of hope.
I say let him continue with his charts and graphs. Confusion reigns. There are no sources printed. It comes from his deranged brain, his administration and his republican enablers who wish to rid this country of it elderly, sick, disabled, poor, unemployed and their offspring. Spaghetti politics – if it don’t stick with those believers in truth, then his cult will certainly commit. Look whose coming to his aid, Israel, compliments of Jared Kushner. Time for deflection, not reflection.