Donald Trump to send the National Guard to the Mexican border, but nobody really knows why.

Courtesy of Time:

The Trump administration says it is working with governors to “immediately” deploy the National Guard to combat illegal immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border. 

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said Wednesday that DHS and the Pentagon will be working closely with governors in the affected states. 

She says that deployment will be done as expeditiously as possible and that Guard troops could begin heading to the border as soon as Wednesday night. 

Trump announced his plan to send the military to the border during a meeting with Baltic leaders Tuesday. 

Trump has been frustrated by Congress’ refusal to fund building a wall along the length of the U.S. border as well as an increase in illegal border crossings.

Border crossings are down significantly,  which was also true during Obama's second term, so what exactly is the excuse for sending the national Guard, at a huge cost to taxpayers, to the Mexican border?

Some suggest that Trump is simply irritated that Ann Coulter is calling him out on Twitter.

But if that is true than this decision clearly did nothing to change that.

Are they going to shoot the illegals? Just standing there doesn't do a thing. We need to do what Israel does: immediate detention and removal. https://t.co/byXxDbG2po

— Ann Coulter (@AnnCoulter) April 4, 2018

That's right to make the Crypt Keeper's daughter happy you actually have to murder immigrants coming across the border.

There are those arguing that this is nothing new and that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama sent the National Guard to the border.

This is technically true, but the circumstances were different:

Amid a series of protests on both sides of the immigration debate, President Bush sent 6,000 National Guard troops to the southern border in 2006. The troops were deployed to aid U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents while new recruits were being trained and help with the installation of fences and vehicle barriers. They were not, however sent to directly engage in law enforcement activities.

“The United States is not going to militarize the southern border,” Bush said at the time. “Mexico is our neighbor, and our friend. We will continue to work cooperatively to improve security on both sides of the border … to confront common problems like drug trafficking and crime … and to reduce illegal immigration.”

And then during Obama's first term:  

President Barack Obama authorized 1,200 National Guard troops be sent to the Southern Border two years after Jump Start ended in 2010. According to a 2010 report from the New York Times, Obama was facing pressure from lawmakers to boost security at the southern border after a prominent rancher was allegedly killed by a smuggler. During what was known as Operation Phalanx, which lasted about a year, some 14,000 pounds of drugs were seized and 7,000 people were apprehended.

In 2011, the head of Arizona’s National Guard told the Washington Post that his soldiers primarily served as “eyes and ears” at the border. “We don’t chase anybody,” said Maj. Gen. Hugo E. Salazar.

The combined cost of those operations to the taxpayers was a whopping 1.35 billion, and the evidence suggests that neither one made a significant difference.

Bush's seemed to be a show of force to please his supporters, while Obama was more or less boxed in by the death of that rancher.

Trump's decision really appears to be more of a tantrum about not getting his wall than anything else. 

His overriding directive seems to be that if Congress will not let him waste taxpayer money building an unnecessary wall, then dammit he will waste taxpayer money sending the National Guard to the border instead.

Donald Trump defends his congratulatory phone call to Putin, while also attacking his predecessors.

I called President Putin of Russia to congratulate him on his election victory (in past, Obama called him also). The Fake News Media is crazed because they wanted me to excoriate him. They are wrong! Getting along with Russia (and others) is a good thing, not a bad thing.......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2018

.....They can help solve problems with North Korea, Syria, Ukraine, ISIS, Iran and even the coming Arms Race. Bush tried to get along, but didn’t have the “smarts.” Obama and Clinton tried, but didn’t have the energy or chemistry (remember RESET). PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 21, 2018

Once again President Obama's call to Putin was at a time BEFORE Russia had interfered in our election, hacked both the RNC and DNC computers, weaponized Facebook, undermined our power grid, and started openly killing people on British soil.

If Obama were the President right now there is NO DOUBT that he would be doing far more than simply excoriating Vladimir Putin.

So why isn't Trump?

Former CIA chief John Brennan has a pretty good idea.

Former CIA chief John Brennan on Trump: "I think he's afraid of the president of Russia." pic.twitter.com/prvUFhimoB

— Axios (@axios) March 21, 2018

Courtesy of CNN:

The former director of the CIA suggested Wednesday that President Donald Trump is withholding criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin because the Russians might have compromising personal information on Trump. 

"I think he is afraid of the President of Russia," John Brennan said of Trump in an interview on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." 

Asked why, Brennan said, "The Russians could have something on him personally that they could always roll out and make his life more difficult."

Bingo!

You should see how the conservatives on Twitter are freaking out over this statement.

I guess it's true what they say, the truth hurts.

So it turns out that those who own the most guns are under educated white men who are afraid of minorities. You know I think I knew that.

Courtesy of Scientific American: 

Since the 2008 election of President Obama, the number of firearms manufactured in the U.S. has tripled, while imports have doubled. This doesn’t mean more households have guns than ever before—that percentage has stayed fairly steady for decades. Rather, more guns are being stockpiled by a small number of individuals. Three percent of the population now owns half of the country’s firearms, says a recent, definitive study from the Injury Control Research Center at Harvard University. 

So, who is buying all these guns—and why? 

The short, broad-brush answer to the first part of that question is this: men, who on average possess almost twice the number of guns female owners do. But not all men. Some groups of men are much more avid gun consumers than others. The American citizen most likely to own a gun is a white male—but not just any white guy. According to a growing number of scientific studies, the kind of man who stockpiles weapons or applies for a concealed-carry license meets a very specific profile. 

These are men who are anxious about their ability to protect their families, insecure about their place in the job market, and beset by racial fears. They tend to be less educated. For the most part, they don’t appear to be religious—and, suggests one study, faith seems to reduce their attachment to guns. In fact, stockpiling guns seems to be a symptom of a much deeper crisis in meaning and purpose in their lives. Taken together, these studies describe a population that is struggling to find a new story—one in which they are once again the heroes.

But wait, there's more.

When Northland College sociologist Angela Stroud studied applications for licenses to carry concealed firearms in Texas, which exploded after President Obama was elected, she found applicants were overwhelmingly dominated by white men. In interviews, they told her that they wanted to protect themselves and the people they love. 

“When men became fathers or got married, they started to feel very vulnerable, like they couldn’t protect families,” she says. “For them, owning a weapon is part of what it means to be a good husband a good father.” That meaning is “rooted in fear and vulnerability—very motivating emotions.” 

But Stroud also discovered another motivation: racial anxiety. “A lot of people talked about how important Obama was to get a concealed-carry license: ‘He’s for free health care, he’s for welfare.’ They were asking, ‘Whatever happened to hard work?’” Obama’s presidency, they feared, would empower minorities to threaten their property and families.

Well that helps to explain a lot of things.

Why gun sales spiked during Obama's presidency.

Why so many mass shooters are white males.

And why Trump embraced the NRA so hard during the run up to the election.

Clearly this is a group of dimwitted cowards who substitute gun ownership for their perceived inadequacies, and voted for a thrice married bullshit artist to help protect them from the brown people.

Jesus Christ! They are not only "deplorable" they're pathetic.

Yes, I do.

Best President of my lifetime.

Okay this is just insane.

I have been much tougher on Russia than Obama, just look at the facts. Total Fake News!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 20, 2018

President Obama pushed for sanctions against Russia, evicted a number of their diplomats, and made sure to protect the data needed for an investigation.

Donald Trump denied Russian interference until just recently, tried to set up a cyber security program WITH Russia, and refuses to implement the newest Russian sanctions that were overwhelmingly agreed upon by Congress.

This is the tweet of an insane person. 

Donald Trump has gone off on some Twitter Tantrums before but today he may have reached a new low.

Finally, Liddle’ Adam Schiff, the leakin’ monster of no control, is now blaming the Obama Administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 Election. He is finally right about something. Obama was President, knew of the threat, and did nothing. Thank you Adam!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Well besides this being almost unbelievably immature, it is also inaccurate.

What Schiff actually said was this:  

"While I respect the motive in terms of the Obama administration, they didn't want to be seen as meddling, the American people had a right to know what was going on and could be trusted to do the right thing with it. And they should have defended being more public and aggressive at the time, at least in my view."

This is a common criticism of the Obama Administration from those of us on the Left, but it does not say Obama did nothing, after all he started the whole Russian investigation ball rolling, it just suggests that he could have done more.

If you are looking for somebody who has done NOTHING, well I refer you to the author of that tweet.

I never said Russia did not meddle in the election, I said “it may be Russia, or China or another country or group, or it may be a 400 pound genius sitting in bed and playing with his computer.” The Russian “hoax” was that the Trump campaign colluded with Russia - it never did!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

That is untrue as well.

Courtesy of The Hill:  

Trump last year said he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin when Putin said he didn't meddle in the 2016 election. 

“Every time he sees me he says, ‘I didn’t do that,’ and I really believe that when he tells me that, he means it," Trump said last November.

Well someone's pants are on fire. 

Now that Adam Schiff is starting to blame President Obama for Russian meddling in the election, he is probably doing so as yet another excuse that the Democrats, lead by their fearless leader, Crooked Hillary Clinton, lost the 2016 election. But wasn’t I a great candidate?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

That's just pathetic.

If it was the GOAL of Russia to create discord, disruption and chaos within the U.S. then, with all of the Committee Hearings, Investigations and Party hatred, they have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. They are laughing their asses off in Moscow. Get smart America!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

I think we can all agree that the Russians are laughing their asses off (So presidential by the way.), but they are laughing every time Trump opens his mouth and they remember that THEY were the ones that helped to put him in the White House.

The Fake News of big ratings loser CNN. https://t.co/rYsv90cnvs

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 18, 2018

Pretty sure Trump is retweeting a Russian troll here, which of course makes perfect sense since they are still his most aggressive supporters.

This to me demonstrates a man that is having a very public psychotic break.

I imagine behind the scenes that Trump is experience huge mood swings and is likely taking it out on everybody around him.

The man is for all intents and purposes in a kind of emotional free fall, and when his lard ass finally smacks into the reality of his situation they are going to have to cart him out of there in a straitjacket. 

Barack Obama's retrospective job approval rating is 63%.

Courtesy of Gallup: 

Barack Obama's legacy appears to be on the right track, as 63% of Americans in hindsight say they approve of the way he handled his job. Gallup's first measure of Obama's retrospective job approval rating places him behind only John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan among the 10 most recent presidents. Richard Nixon is rated worst today for how he handled his job, with 28% approving.

Actually whoever typed this up made a mistake as George H. Bush is also rated higher than Obama by a point, which I find unacceptable.

I am also not pleased to see Jimmy Carter so far down the list, and Reagan at the top, as I do not believe this factually represents their contributions to this country.

I will say I fully expect that Obama's rating will only rise in the years to come, and that I would not be surprised if at some point he gave Ronnie a run for his money.

Thanks to Trump's new tax law the government is about to go almost another trillion in debt. MAGA!

Courtesy of WaPo: 

It was another crazy news week, so it's understandable if you missed a small but important announcement from the Treasury Department: The federal government is on track to borrow nearly $1 trillion this fiscal year — Trump's first full year in charge of the budget. 

That's almost double what the government borrowed in fiscal year 2017. 

Here are the exact figures: The U.S. Treasury expects to borrow $955 billion this fiscal year, according to a documents released Wednesday. It's the highest amount of borrowing in six years, and a big jump from the $519 billion the federal government borrowed last year.

Treasury mainly attributed the increase to the “fiscal outlook.” The Congressional Budget Office was more blunt. In a report this week, the CBO said tax receipts are going to be lower because of the new tax law. 

As you can see from the chart we have borrowed more, but keep in mind that was to save the auto industry and the US economy.

In other words Obama's debt was the result of Republican mismanaging of the economy, and now so is Donald Trump's.

You know when the Tea Party was first formed one of its main attack points was the national debt, I can hardly wait to hear how silent they will remain about this.

Just another reminder that Trump's comments about bringing down black unemployment were completely full of shit.

Donald Trump has not implemented any policies thus far that really help anybody except his rich friends and of course himself.

Nor is there any real evidence that will change.

So much for Trump's claims that he is doing more for the economy than anybody.

Average Monthly #Job Gains
-by year

•2017: 171,000
•2016: 187,000
•2015: 226,000
•2014: 250,000
•2013: 192,000
•2012: 179,000
•2011: 174,000
•2010: 88,000#JobsReport

— Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) January 5, 2018

And this is Fox News!

It should be noted that those 2010 numbers were while the country was still recovering from the Bush Administration which saw us lose jobs at an alarming rate.

As the Rachel Maddow blog reports that these numbers represent the lowest job numbers in six years.

No Trump has not earned any bragging rights as of yet, and likely never really will.

But of course that will not stop him from bragging.

As it turns out President Obama also demanded a loyalty pledge from US Attorneys.

The first time President Obama met with his US Attorneys, he told us, “I appointed you but you don’t serve me. You serve the American people. And I expect you to act with independence & integrity.” None of us ever forgot that.

— Joyce Alene (@JoyceWhiteVance) December 29, 2017

Courtesy of the Daily Kos: 

Trump demanded government employees (appointed or not) give their sole loyalty and service to him. President Obama demanded loyalty and service be given to the American people. There lies the difference between self-serving—and selflessness. There lies the difference between self-importance—and greatness.

Barak Obama is what a real leader looks like, and he is dearly missed. 

Oh did I not mention that the loyalty Obama demanded was to the American people and the Constitution?

Because of course it was.

Donald Trump just fired the entire HIV/AIDS advisory panel without explanation.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast:

The remaining 16 members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS were told they were being fired Wednesday, via a FedExed letter from the White House. Six members resigned in June in protest of what they called the Trump administration’s inaction on the issue. Gabriel Maldonado, a PACHA adviser, confirmed the firings, but said the “explanation is still unclear.” “Like any administration, they want their own people there,” Maldonado told the Washington Blade. “Many of us were Obama appointees. I was an Obama appointee and my term was continuing until 2018.” Scott Schoettes, a council member who quit in June (and a senior lawyer for Lambda Legal), called the Trump move a “purge,” tweeting that the White House was “eliminating few remaining people willing to push back against harmful policies, like abstinence-only sex ed.” In September, Trump had renewed PACHA’s brief for another year.

You know one would think that if you wanted to change the personnel in any given agency that you might do it over a period of time so as not to interrupt their work.

To do it like this seems impulsive and a little infantile.

Almost as if Trump simply cannot bear to have any Obama appointees in the government at all.  

Something to remember.

Source

That is what a competent and historically significant presidency looks like. 

You know how Trump is always bragging that he brought Merry Christmas back? Yeah, not so much.

People are proud to be saying Merry Christmas again. I am proud to have led the charge against the assault of our cherished and beautiful phrase. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 25, 2017

This is what Trump tweeted yesterday.

However as usual his "facts" are complete reindeer shit.

WATCH: President Obama say #MerryChristmas 17 times over the years. RT if you wish he were still President. 🎅🎄 pic.twitter.com/ATnOWdpqGf

— Scott Dworkin (@funder) December 25, 2017

Not only has Christmas always been with us, but until this year we even had more reason to celebrate.

And in fact this is the Obama family's Merry Christmas tweet for this year.

On behalf of the Obama family, Merry Christmas! We wish you joy and peace this holiday season. pic.twitter.com/CNFUZrhrBj

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) December 25, 2017

Best President ever! And the best First Lady as well.

Obama is always telling us that we are a great country, and that we can survive and overcome anything.

In deference to this holiday season I am choosing to believe that is true. 

Twitter releases its list of most retweeted tweets of the year. Guess who did not make the list. And then guess who dominated the list.

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion..." pic.twitter.com/InZ58zkoAm

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 13, 2017

1.7 million retweets. Courtesy of The Hill: 

No tweets by President Trump made Twitter's list of the year's most retweeted posts. 

But three tweets by former President Barack Obama made the list. 

Obama's tweets on "The 9 Most Retweeted Tweets of 2017" include one with a Nelson Mandela quote that says: "No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin or his background or his religion." 

Here are the other Obama tweets on the list:

Thank you for everything. My last ask is the same as my first. I'm asking you to believe—not in my ability to create change, but in yours.

— President Obama (@POTUS44) January 11, 2017

872,000 retweets.

It's been the honor of my life to serve you. You made me a better leader and a better man.

— President Obama (@POTUS44) January 20, 2017

631,000 retweets.

U bum @StephenCurry30 already said he ain't going! So therefore ain't no invite. Going to White House was a great honor until you showed up!

— LeBron James (@KingJames) September 23, 2017

661,000 retweets.

Yeah, not exactly worthy of bragging rights, but you know it's something.
It's not all bad news for Trump. After all he WAS the inspiration for one of the tweets on the list.

Despite claims by Donald Trump that it is dead, Obamacare enrollment is way up.

You know I'm going to kill Obamacare. Wanna bet?

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

The White House is trying kill Obamacare. Americans are throwing it a lifeline. 

Despite the Trump Administration’s promises to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, enrollment for health insurance under the program is quite healthy with less than a month to go in the current sign-up period, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a federal agency. 

“In week three of Open Enrollment for 2018, 798,829 people selected plans using the HealthCare.gov platform,” the agency reported.

That brings the total number of enrollees in this period to 2.3 million, which is almost 900,000 people — or 64 percent — more than the number of customers who signed up during the first four weeks of enrollment in 2016, according to CNBC.

The figures included more than 566,000 new consumers and 1.7 million renewals, with total Healthcare.gov users exceeding 8.1 million.

And keep in mind this is without the Trump Administration doing a damn thing to help advertise this open enrollment.

It's almost as if the Obama Administration created a pretty good program that the American people want in their lives, and have come to rely on.  

I think this is the best way to end our Thanksgiving day.

Some much needed comic relief. Take a minute to remember all the best moments from Barack Obama's turkey pardons. 😍

Happy Thanksgiving!!! pic.twitter.com/iRyaCPUJBH

— Kanisha Jackson (@Kanisha1Jackson) November 22, 2017

Yeah, THAT'S the way a real President acts in public.

And here is Obama's greeting for this Thanksgiving.

From the Obama family to yours, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving full of joy and gratitude. pic.twitter.com/xAvSQwjQkz

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) November 23, 2017

For his part Trump's Thanksgiving message to the troops was to attack Obama and to accuse him of not supporting the military.

Donald Trump is one fat fowl POS that should NEVER be pardoned.

While visiting the Philippines Donald Trump slams President Obama for refusing to meet with President Rodrigo Duterte because he was killing suspected drug dealers without benefit of a trial.

Pres. Trump previews visit to Philippines, "where the previous administration was not exactly welcome, as you probably remember." pic.twitter.com/UBcgr0r1qq

— Evan McMurry (@evanmcmurry) October 31, 2017

Courtesy of Raw Story: Before and after his trip to the Philippines this week, President Donald Trump pumped himself up by repeating a story about his predecessor, Barack Obama, being barred from even touching down in the island nation.

The problem: That's not true. 

As pointed out by political journalists Tuesday, Trump's claim that Obama "didn't land" in the Philippines because of his "horrible" relationship with the nation misinterprets the entire situation.

It was Obama, in fact, who canceled a meeting with Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte in September 2016 after the two leaders got into a tiff over the mass killings in the Philippine drug war.

Trump keeps making this bizarre false claim about Obama. What actually happened was Obama, in advance, cancelled a planned Laos meeting with Duterte, who’d insulted him and his mother. He wasn’t stranded in the sky above Manila. https://t.co/69ziOf5ro5

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 14, 2017

What, was Obama too good to sit down and talk to a mass murder who was arbitrarily killing his citizens without allowing them the benefit of a trial first?

Barack Obama pandering to humanitarians.

Political correctness run amuck is what that is.

But not Donald Trump, hell no! Donald Trump admires strong men who know how to keep their people in line.

In fact Donald Trump will even work with one to steal an American election.

That's how accepting Trump is of dictators, oligarchs, and butchers.

In case you have forgotten this is how a REAL President comforts the families of fallen soldiers.

Here's President Obama in 2014 showing how a real Leader speaks to & comforts the family of a fallen soldier. ❤️🇺🇸pic.twitter.com/mYZBpwXV4O

— Ricky Davila 🇵🇷 (@TheRickyDavila) October 22, 2017

Compassion, empathy, and genuine affection for others.

The man never failed to demonstrate the very best of what it meant to be an American leader.

John Kelly sacrifices his dignity to protect Donald Trump and to attack the Congresswoman who dared criticize him.

John Kelly confirms that Trump made insensitive remarks to widow of Green Beret. Just wishes no one heard him do it pic.twitter.com/6hfo5ZHAuP

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) October 19, 2017

Courtesy of Newsweek: 

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly ripped into a congresswoman who's been at the center of a controversy over a phone call President Donald Trump made to the family of Sgt. La David Johnson, a Green Beret killed in an ambush in Niger on October 4. 

"I was stunned when I came to work yesterday morning and brokenhearted at what I saw a member of Congress doing," Kelly said in an extraordinary White House briefing on Tuesday, referring to Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson who said Trump told the grieving widow that Johnson "he knew what he was getting into," setting off two days of controversy over the president's perceived insensitivity. 

Kelly later described Wilson as an "empty barrel" in a "long tradition of empty barrels making the most noise."

By the way Rep. Wilson was a family friend who was IN the car with the family as they traveled to retrieve the body of this young woman's dead husband as it arrived at the airport. It was the family that put the call on speaker phone.

Kelly then went on to say that HE was the one who told Trump to say that the soldier "knew what he signed up for," which he claims was what he was told by the officer, a family friend, who contacted him after his son was killed in the line of duty.

Kelly's contention was that Trump meant well, but perhaps phrased things indelicately.

Of course that flies in the face of every single thing that we know about Donald Trump.

Kelly also went on to lament the loss of things that were once held "sacred" in this country, such as women, life, religion, and Gold Star families.

Treatment of Gold Star families was once "sacred," Gen. Kelly says; "I think that left in the convention over the summer." pic.twitter.com/C7Ox48iFQN

— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 19, 2017

Of course Kelly seemed to forget that it was his boss who disrespected the Khans, a Gold Star family, during the campaign.

As for women, he just finished attacking a female member of Congress.  (By the way that was even made more egregious by the fact that he essentially confirmed, despite what his boss had said, that she had been telling the truth.)

In his remarks Kelly confirmed that President Obama did not call him after his son died, but said that it was not a bad thing since it is hard for presidents to call everybody especially if there are frequent casualties.

However he failed to mention that he attended a White House hosted Gold Star family breakfast at which he sat at table with Michelle Obama.

It was clear from the outset that Kelly had been sent out to preform clean up duty for Trump.

However to do that Kelly had to reveal that he was essentially comfortably seated in the basket of deplorables who will stick with Donald Trump no matter what he might do, or how he might damage the country. 

And since a number of us were hoping that Kelly was somehow able to exert some control over Trump, that is very troubling to learn.

I am now left questioning John Kelly's integrity, and wondering if he is someone that can be counted on to rein in Trump's worst instincts, or if he is pouring gasoline on the embers of anger and frustration that Trump seems always to have smouldering under the surface?