Hillary couldn't have picked a more sycophantic interviewer than Joy Reid for a taped, edited appearance of MSNBC Saturday morning. Nonetheless, there was something the two of them got to that even Hillary's detractors would whole-heartedly agree with: Trump is worse than she, or almost any of us, imaged he would be as president. Although, who really even imagined he would be president until Putin's agents managed to flip a few precincts in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan?In the midst of discussing her "it's all about me, me, me, me, me" book, Reid asked her if Clinton thought the Trump era was even worse than she expected it to be. "I really had such deep doubts about his preparation, his temperament, his character, his experience, but he's been even worse than I thought he would be," said the woman who beat him 65,853,516 (48.2%) to 62,984,825 (46.1%). "I thought, and I tried in my concession speech to make clear that we should all give him the space to be president for every American. That's what we want from our presidents, regardless of our partisan differences, we want to feel like the person in the oval office really cares about and is looking after everybody. And that just hasn't turned out to be the case, starting with our inauguration, which is how I opened the book talking about how excruciating it was to go and what a missed opportunity for him because all he did was reinforce the dark, divisive image of America that he'd been feeding to his supporters."That said, DWT contributor, nom de guerre is and has always been, Valley Girl decided to take a look at this age of Trump Joy Reid decided to ask Hillary about:Trump Loves Violence In All Forms-by Valley GirlNope, I’m not in any way a fan of football. I don’t like the inherent violence of the game. The only team game I like, though less so now, is baseball. At one point recently I resorted for a few days to watching the great Sandy Koufax on youtube. Yeah, total escapist behavior on my part, to save my sanity. I needed some kind of distraction from our totally bat-shit crazy President, to soothe my nerves, so that I didn’t end up becoming bat-shit crazy myself.I watched every Sandy Koufax video available on youtube. I grew up in LA. I used to listen to the Dodger games on radio, with my father. Here is the great Sandy Koufax, after highlights of the game, being interviewed by the poet of baseball, Vin Scully, after the Dodgers 1965 World Series win. Sure, this will appeal only to true baseball fans. And, by the way, Sandy Koufax was born and raised in Brooklyn. Jewish. Hi, Howie.[Since my name was invoked, I'll add that my dad used to take me to Ebbets Field on Bedford Avenue near our house way before the Dodgers won the 1965 World Series. I saw Koufax pitch a few games before the Dodgers moved.]And, notice how incredibly articulate Sandy is in the post game interview. And, kind. He doesn’t make the interview “about himself.” He gives gracious credit to his team members. And for you other girl fans, take a look at those dimples.Why was I prompted to write this post? Because of something I happened to read this morning.
On the same day the media was filled with stories about a 27-year-old former NFL player who committed suicide and was found to have severe degenerative brain damage-- likely much or all of it from football-- the president decried how big hits have been taken out of the game.…Regarding anthem protests, Trump said: “Wouldn’t you love to see one of these NFL owners, when somebody disrespects our flag, to say, ‘Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, out, he’s fired. He’s FIRED!’ You know, some owner is gonna do that. He’s gonna say, ‘That guy disrespects our flag; he’s fired.’ And that owner, they don’t know it. They don’t know it. They’re friends of mine, many of them. They don’t know it. They’ll be the most popular person, for a week. They’ll be the most popular person in this country.”Regarding his nostalgia for the dangerous hits that college and pro football have been trying to take out of the game, Trump said: “Today if you hit too hard-- 15 yards! Throw him out of the game! They had that last week. I watched for a couple of minutes. Two guys, just really, beautiful tackle. Boom, 15 yards! The referee gets on television-- his wife is sitting at home, she’s so proud of him. They’re ruining the game! They’re ruining the game. That’s what they want to do. They want to hit. They want to hit! It is hurting the game.“But do you know what’s hurting the game more than that? When people like yourselves turn on the television and you see those players taking the knee when they’re playing our great national anthem. The only thing you could do better is if you see it, even if it’s one player, leave the stadium. I guarantee things will stop. Things will stop. Just pick up and leave. Pick up and leave. Not the same game anymore, anyway.”Reaction was swift on Twitter. “Where was this passion in response to Charlottesville?” Broncos guard Max Garcia wrote, referring to Trump’s equivocating remarks after the white supremacist rallies in Virginia in August.…Now about the new rules and penalties in recent years for the big hits both pro and college football are trying to take out of the game. Trump, apparently, is the only person in America who wants to see a more dangerous game of football.…The New York Times has reported extensively on the number of deceased former players diagnosed with CTE, chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease experts believe is caused by repetitive head trauma. On Thursday the paper reported that former Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, who last played at age 23 and committed suicide in prison this year after being convicted of murder, had “severe” CTE at the time of his death.Trump’s remarks come at a time of intense examination of the violence of the game, at a time when its long-term future is being questioned because of the effects of head trauma. It’s not the first time he’s questioned the softening of the game. It was a particularly tone-deaf instance, however, given the news of the week.There’s no other way to put it: On Friday night, again, Donald Trump was America’s divider-in-chief.
And, more, which will ask you to watch to videos.This youtube captures important parts of Trump’s remarks atthe Huntsville Rally, November 22, 2017. And, there’s no other way to summarize his remarks, than to conclude that Trump loves violence.Of course this shouldn’t be news, that Trump loves violence, to anyone who’s been paying attention.Here’s Trump speaking to police in Suffolk County on Long Island, giving them permission to abuse their authority as police officers:The full text of that speech is here but below are some of the highlights:
On Friday, President Trump traveled to Long Island to address a group of law enforcement officials and speak about the administration’s efforts to eradicate the gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13. His speech stuck largely to that theme, though he also made note of Thursday night’s failed health-care vote.Trump’s speech was noteworthy, though, for its embrace of aggressive tactics by police officers. He insisted that his team was “rough” and encouraged police officers not to be concerned about preventing physical harm to people being taken into custody. The laws, he said, were “stacked against” the police.“Please don’t be too nice,” Trump told the officers, to applause. Below, his comments, as provided by the White House, with our highlights and annotations. To see an annotation, click on the yellow, highlighted text.Well, thank you very much. This is certainly being home for me. I spent a lot of time right here. I was in Queens, so I’d come here, and this was like the luxury location for me. And I love it. I love the people here. Even coming in from the airport, I sat with Nikki Haley, who’s here someplace. Where’s our Nikki? Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is so incredible. (Applause.) And she’s seen crowds in her life, and she said, boy, those are really big crowds. Crowds of people all lining the streets, all the way over to here. And it’s really a special place. And so when I heard about this, I said, I want to do that one.But I really wanted to do it not because of location, but because, as you know, I am the big, big believer and admirer of the people in law enforcement, okay? From day one. (Applause.) From day one. We love our police. We love our sheriffs. And we love our ICE officers. And they have been working hard. (Applause.) Thank you. They have been working hard.Together, we’re going to restore safety to our streets and peace to our communities, and we’re going to destroy the vile criminal cartel, MS-13, and many other gangs. But MS-13 is particularly violent. They don’t like shooting people because it’s too quick, it’s too fast. I was reading-- one of these animals was caught-- in explaining, they like to knife them and cut them, and let them die slowly because that way it’s more painful, and they enjoy watching that much more. These are animals.We’re joined today by police and sheriffs from Suffolk, Nassau, Dutchess and Ulster counties; state police from New York and New Jersey-- many of you I know, great friends; Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers; and law enforcement personnel from a number of federal agencies. So we’re loaded up with great people-- that’s what I call it.And I want to just tell you all together, right now, the reason I came-- this is the most important sentence to me: On behalf of the American people, I want to say, thank you. Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.And I don’t think you know how much the public respects and admires you. You’re saving American lives every day, and we have your backs-- believe me-- we have your backs 100 percent. Not like the old days. Not like the old days. (Applause.)You know, when you wanted to take over and you used military equipment-- and they were saying you couldn’t do it-- you know what I said? That was my first day: You can do it. (Laughter.) In fact, that stuff is disappearing so fast we have none left. (Laughter.) You guys know-- you really knew how to get that. But that’s my honor. And I tell you what-- it’s being put to good use.I especially want to thank ICE Director Tom Homan, who has done an incredible job in just a short period of time. Tom, get up here. I know you just-- (applause)-- Tom is determined to rid our nation of cartels and criminals who are preying on our citizens. And I can only say to Tom: Keep up the great work. He’s a tough guy. He’s a tough cookie. Somebody said the other day, they saw him on television, and somebody-- they were interviewed after that; they said, he looks very nasty, he looks very mean. I said, that’s what I’m looking for. (Laughter.) That’s exactly what I was looking for.And for that, I want to congratulate John Kelly, who has done an incredible job of Secretary of Homeland Security. Incredible. (Applause.) One of our real stars. Truly, one of our stars. John Kelly is one of our great stars. You know, the border is down 78 percent. Under past administrations, the border didn’t go down-- it went up. But if it went down 1 percent, it was like this was a great thing. Down 78 percent. And, in fact, the southern border of Mexico, we did them a big favor-- believe me. They get very little traffic in there anymore, because they know they’re not going to get through the border to the United States.So that whole group has been incredible, led by General Kelly.…And, of course, a legend, somebody that we all know very well, sort of my neighbor-- because I consider him a neighbor-- but he’s really a great and highly respected man in Washington, Congressman Peter King. (Applause.) Very respected guy. He is a respected man that people like to ask opinions of. I do.Congressman King and his colleagues know the terrible pain and violence MS-13 has inflicted upon this community-- and this country. And if you remember just a little more than two years ago, when I came down the escalator with Melania, and I made the speech-- people coming into this country. Everyone said, what does he know? What’s he talking about?...But from now on, we’re going to enforce our laws, protect our borders, and support our police like our police have never been supported before. We’re going to support you like you’ve never been supported before. (Applause.)...And I can tell you, I saw some photos where Tom’s guys-- rough guys. They’re rough. I don’t want to be-- say it because they’ll say that’s not politically correct. You’re not allowed to have rough people doing this kind of work. We have to get-- just like they don’t want to have rich people at the head of Treasury, okay? (Laughter.) Like, I want a rich guy at the head of Treasury, right? Right? (Applause.)…ICE officers recently conducted the largest crackdown on criminal gangs in the history of our country. In just six weeks, ICE and our law enforcement partners arrested nearly 1,400 suspects and seized more than 200 illegal firearms and some beauties, and nearly 600 pounds of narcotics.The men and women of ICE are turning the tide in the battle against MS-13. But we need more resources from Congress-- and we’re getting them. Congress is actually opening up and really doing a job. They should have approved healthcare last night, but you can’t have everything. Boy, oh, boy. They’ve been working on that one for seven years. Can you believe that? The swamp. But we’ll get it done. We’re going to get it done.…Right now, we have less than 6,000 Enforcement and Removal Officers in ICE. This is not enough to protect a nation of more than 320 million people. It’s essential that Congress fund another 10,000 ICE officers-- and we’re asking for that-- so that we can eliminate MS-13 and root out the criminal cartels from our country.Now, we’re getting them out anyway, but we’d like to get them out a lot faster. And when you see these towns and when you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon-- you just see them thrown in, rough-- I said, please don’t be too nice. (Laughter.) Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? Like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody-- don’t hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, okay? (Laughter and applause.)…It’s essential that Congress fund hundreds more federal immigration judges and prosecutors-- and we need them quickly, quickly-- if we’re going to dismantle these deadly networks. And I have to tell you, you know, the laws are so horrendously stacked against us, because for years and years they’ve been made to protect the criminal. Totally made to protect the criminal, not the officers.…So we’re going to secure our borders against illegal entry, and we will build the wall. That I can tell you. (Applause.)In fact, last night-- you don’t read about this too much, but it was approved-- $1.6 billion for the phase one of the wall, which is not only design but the start of construction over a period of about two years, but the start of construction for a great border wall. And we’re going to build it. The Wall is a vital, and vital as a tool, for ending the humanitarian disaster brought-- and really brought on by drug smugglers and new words that we haven’t heard too much of-- human traffickers.We will defend our country, protect our communities, and put the safety of the American people first. And I’m doing that with law enforcement, and we’re doing that with trade, and we’re doing that with so much else. It’s called America First. It’s called an expression I’m sure you’ve never heard of: Make America Great Again. Has anybody heard that expression? (Applause.)That is my promise to each of you. That is the oath I took as President, and that is my sacred pledge to the American people.Thank you everyone here today. You are really special, special Americans. And thank you in particular to the great police, sheriffs, and ICE officers. You do a spectacular job. The country loves you. The country respects you. You don’t hear it, but believe me, they respect you as much as they respect anything. There is the respect about our country. You are spectacular people. (Applause.)AUDIENCE: USA! USA! USA!
And, this: Trump gives supporters permission to be violent with protestersPublished on Mar 4, 2016Donald Trump-- 'Knock the Crap Out Of Them, I Will Pay For The Legal Fees'Published on Mar 23, 2016Donald Trump Inciting Violence at Rally in St. Louis: March 11, 2016Published on Mar 12, 2016This is a long video, annotated and interpreted by the person who published it on youtube. And, if, you had any doubts before, that Trump does indeed love violence, watch it. Or even if you knew that already.The above youtubes are just a few of those available.But, it wasn’t until I thought about writing this post that the idea crystallized in my mind, as a simple phrase:Trump Loves Violence.... Because it’s so much fun. See the first video in the series above.
