John Smyth <smythlejon2@outlook.com> wrote in
news:vad4do$1kv0d$10@solani.org:

> 21. When he attacked former prisoner of war, John McCain as a �loser�
>
> There was no love lost between late Republican Senator John McCain and
> Donald Trump.
>
> But Trump certainly got in some low blows against his rival.
>
> Upon McCain�s death in 2018, from a brain tumour, it was reported by
> witnesses that Trump was angered by his funeral being officially
> commemorated.
>
> "We�re not going to support that loser�s funeral,� witnesses claimed
> the president said.
>
> However, Trump then denied he�d ever called McCain a �loser�.
>
> The only problem was that footage from Trump�s 2015 campaign run shows
> him clearly slamming McCain as just that.
>
> � (@)
>
> "He lost, he let us down... I never liked him as much after that
> because I don't like losers,� Trump says during the clip.
>
> He follows it up by denying McCain deserves the epithet of �war hero�.
>
> "He is not a war hero�� Trump said.
>
> �He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't
> captured�.

Even the most ardent Trumpists
change the subject when asked to
defend his bizarre attacks on John
McCain.

> 22. When he told a sheriff to �destroy� the career of a senator who
> opposed police officers being able to seize assets
>
> In 2017, Trump �joked� about destroying the career of a Texas senator
> who wanted to crack down on asset forfeiture.
>
> Asset forfeiture is a controversial practice that allows police
> departments to seize �suspicious� assets and keep them� even if the
> person they�re seized from is never convicted or charged with a crime.
>
> According to experts, the practice �disproportionately� affects people
> without means. Police can auction off the assets and the funds go back
> into their budgets.
>
> However, Trump�s response to hearing about a senator who wished to
> reform the concept was pretty telling.
>
> �Who is the state senator?,� he said, on being informed about proposed
> legislation to require conviction before asset forfeiture could be
> practised.
>
> �Want to give his name? We'll destroy his career�.
> 23. When he appointed Jeff Sessions attorney general
>
> Donald Trump might be slamming Jeff Sessions now but when he appointed
> him his first official attorney general, he seemed like a big fan.
>
> Which was despite large protests against giving Sessions the role,
> thanks to his past record, which included opposition to LGBTQ rights
> and protecting voting rights for marginalised groups.
>
> While in office, Sessions immediately began undercutting federal
> rights for LGBTQ people, especially trans individuals.
>
> Did Trump care, before or after? Absolutely not.
> 24. When he ignored evidence of Michael Flynn�s meetings with Russia
>
> One of the highest-profile falls from grace of Trump�s administration
> was Michael Flynn. Formerly Trump�s national security advisor, Flynn
> now faces criminal charges for accusations that he lied about contact
> with Russia before being appointed to the role.
>
> But Trump was apparently warned about Flynn weeks before the adviser
> was forced to resign and only told vice president Mike Pence about the
> allegations facing Flynn when a Washington Post expos� on the matter
> the next day.
> 25. When he appointed Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon, secretary of housing
> and development
>
> � (@)
>
> During the 2015 race to become the Republican nominee, Ben Carson
> stood out.
>
> Sadly it wasn�t for his incisive political nous but instead because he
> kept saying really, really strange things.
>
> It got to the point where people were surprised to discover the man
> had actually qualified and practised as a world-renowned neurosurgeon.
>
> So when Trump was elected, it came as an unwelcome surprise to
> discover Carson was being put in charge of a vital department, as
> secretary of housing development, with absolutely zero experience in
> the area.
>
> Since then, Carson�s been accused of trying to �destroy� affordable
> housing during his four years in government.
> 26. When he withdrew from the Paris Agreement on climate change
>
> Q: How do you solve a problem like world-threatening global warming?
>
> A: Withdraw from the global climate change agreement that binds
> countries to environmental promises to try and limit already
> devastating harm wrought by global warming.
>
> Simple.
> 27. When he suggested vaccines cause autism
>
> While on the campaign trail, Trump met with anti-vaxxers, including
> Andrew Wakefield whose now-disproved study into the MMR vaccine and
> autism helped renew an anti-vaccine movement in 1998.
>
> This followed over 20 occasions where Trump tweeted about links
> between vaccines and autism, for which there is no evidence.
>
> Once elected, Trump had plans to establish an advisory committee to
> look at federal vaccine policies, reportedly because he had some
> �doubts[...] and questions�.
>
> Funnily enough, with coronavirus floating about, he�s now a big fan of
> vaccines.
> 28. When he stopped funding for the UN Population Fund which supports
> family planning across the globe
>
> In a Trump-led �crusade against the health and rights of women and
> girls globally�, the US ended all funding for the United Nations
> Population Fund in 2017.
>
> The fund supports reproductive and sexual health programmes for
> vulnerable women in over 150 countries, like Venezuela and Syria.
>
> At the time, Trump cited false claims of programmes requiring
> �coercive abortion�.
>
> In response, women�s rights activists said he had �signed a global
> death warrant for women�.
> 29. When he falsely accused Barack Obama of spying on the Trump
> campaign
>
> Trump has accused predecessor Barack Obama of many things without
> providing a lick of evidence.
>
> And he started as he meant to go on � by bizarrely claiming Obama had
> wire-tapped the phones in the Trump Tower.
>
> To achieve what end? So he could listen to the sound of Fox News and
> crinkling fast food packets for 24 hours a day? Sure.
> 30. When he appointed an anti-abortion advocate to oversee family
> planning funding for low-income communities
>
> Who is the best person to head up family planning funding allocations
> for low-income communities, aka ensuring people with wombs have a
> right to choose whether they give birth or not?
>
> According to Donald Trump, it�s Teresa Manning, a loud anti-abortion
> advocate and birth control �sceptic�.
>
> Manning was appointed deputy assistant secretary for population
> affairs in 2017, where she oversaw Title X funding -- money for
> contraceptive and sexual health services.
>
> Her previous experience in the field came from stints at two large
> anti- abortion groups.
>
> Eventually, Manning resigned in 2018, with her successor Valerie Huber
> being a �a staunch advocate of abstinence-only programs�.
>
> Just the person for the job then.
> 31. When he cut a pandemic early warning program in 2019
>
> � (@)
>
> Now the president doesn�t have to be Mystic Meg but it does seem to
> show a worrying lack of forethought that Trump cut a program that
> would issue early warnings of pandemics in September 2019.
>
> The first known reported case of coronavirus occurred just two months
> later.
> 32. When was accused of revealing classified information to the
> Russian ambassador
>
> Said one U.S official to a Washington Post reporter about a meeting
> Trump had with the Russian ambassador and foreign minister:
>
> "He revealed more information to the Russian ambassador than we have
> shared with our own allies."
>
> Apparently Trump�s loose lips even jeopardised a mole inside the
> Islamic State. Awkward!
> 33. When he nominated a climate change sceptic to chair the committee
> advising the White House on environmental policy
>
> We can�t say that Donald Trump doesn�t take climate change seriously �
> but we can say that he withdrew from global commitments to tackle the
> issue, once tweeted about needing �a little of that good old fashioned
> Global Warming!�, and nominated climate change sceptic Kathleen
> Hartnett White to be his top environmental advisor.
>
> So, you do the math.
> 34. When he removed protection status from 59,000 Haitians, forcing
> them to return to disaster-ridden Haiti by July 2019
>
> In November 2017, Trump ended a humanitarian programme that had
> allowed 59,000 Haitians to reside and work in the U.S, as the country
> still tries to recover from 2010�s devastating earthquake, which
> ripped through its social fabric.
>
> Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere; money sent
> back home from ex-pats is a lifeline.
>
> Worse still, in 2020, the forced deportations of Haitians continued
> during the pandemic, despite human rights activists warning that Trump
> was essentially �exporting� coronavirus to a nation that would not be
> able to cope with an outbreak.
> 35. When he retweeted anti-Islam videos from the deputy leader of
> Britain First
>
> Trump�s busy fingers on social media often display that he doesn't
> really think or check things before he shares them on his official
> account, which is a worrying thing to consider when you are talking
> about the US president.
>
> Perhaps the most disturbing thing that Trump has ever shared on his
> timeline was a series of Islamophobic tweets from the deputy leader of
> the far-right group Britain First back in November 2017.
>
> Trump did later apologise for sharing the tweets, telling Piers Morgan
> in a television interview that he knew nothing of the group
> beforehand, adding:
>
> �If you are telling me they're horrible people, horrible, racist
> people, I would certainly apologise if you'd like me to do that.�
> 36. When he cut corporate tax to its lowest rate since 1939
>
> If you are interested in things like corporate tax then you might not
> be surprised to learn that Trump has opted to favour the biggest
> companies in the world rather than the everyday blue-collar worker
> that he pretends to appeal to.
>
> On December 22 2017 he signed in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which
> reduced taxes to somewhere between 35 and 21 per cent, reportedly the
> lowest the rate had been since 1939.
>
> Trump even falsely bragged about this being the biggest tax cut in
> history, saying in April 2018: �We have the biggest tax cut in
> history, bigger than the Reagan tax cut. Bigger than any tax cut.� It
> was actually only the eighth biggest in US history.
>
> Regardless, under Trump, the rich get richer and the poor stay the
> same. 37. Allegedly referred to the likes of Haiti and El Salvador as
> �s***hole countries*
>
> 2018 got off to a hell of a start for Trump when he reportedly called
> countries like Haiti, El Salvador and nations in Africa 's***holes�
> during a meeting with congressional leaders.
>
> According to the Washington Post, Trump said: "Why are we having all
> these people from sh*thole countries come here? Why do we need more
> Haitians?"
>
> Take them out.
>
> Trump was widely condemned for his comments but a few countries used
> the president�s ignorance to their advantage with both Namibia and
> Zambia using �s***hole countries� as part of their promotional
> material for tourists.
> 38. When he accused Democrats of �treason� for not applauding his 2018
> State of the Union address
>
> We all know by now that Trump is a very, very sensitive man and can�t
> take the slightest criticism against him. However, to accuse Democrats
> of �treason� for not applauding his 2018 State of the Union address is
> a bit of a stretch.
>
> Yet that�s exactly what he did during a speech in Cincinnati, Ohio in
> February 2018:
> 39. When he oversaw the longest government shutdown in US history
>
> Between December 22 2018 and January 25 2019 almost nothing happened
> in the US government due to the longest shutdown in United States
> history.
>
> The reason for this? Because Republicans and Democrats failed to agree
> on the federal budget, mostly over disputes about Trump�s immigration
> policy and his border wall, which still hasn�t been completed.
>
> To show you how hypocritical this whole situation was here is a Trump
> tweet from less than 12 months before complaining about how bad a
> shutdown would be for the military:
> 40. When he tweeted that the FBI had failed to capture the Parkland
> school shooter because they were �spending too much time� on Russia
>
> Trump�s failure to tackle gun violence in the US is almost as bad as
> his inability to accept responsibility for anything and point the
> finger elsewhere.
>
> In the aftermath of the Parkland school shooting in Florida in
> February 2018, Trump attempted to blame the FBI for the massacre,
> claiming that they were spending too much time investigating his
> alleged collusion with Russia.
>
> At a time when his people needed him the most, he opted to look the
> other way. Shameless.
> 41. When he mocked the testimony of Dr Christine Blasey Ford, who
> accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault
>
> When Trump�s supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of
> historical sexual assault by Dr Christine Blasey Ford at a college
> party in 1982, Trump did what any decent president would do; he mocked
> her.
>
> Speaking at a rally in Mississippi in October 2018, Trump appeared to
> suggest that Ford was drunk on that date as an excuse to pour scorn on
> her claims. Kavanaugh denies her allegations.
> 42. When he separated migrant children from their parents
>
> Of the many scandalous things that Trump has done in his presidency,
> the separation of children from their parents at his controversial
> detention facilities at the US/Mexico border was probably the worst.
>
> Evidence had emerged of migrant children literally being placed in
> cages at the facility, something which Trump tried to blame Barack
> Obama for. In June 2019, Trump official Marsha Brown even tried to
> argue that said children didn�t need to be �safe and sanitary.�
>
> � (@)
>
> 43. When he blamed mental illness and video games for gun violence
>
> As we have already mentioned, Trump has failed to do anything about
> gun violence in the US but in August 2019 he did find something to
> blame; mental illness and video games.
>
> Speaking after a weekend where 31 died after shootings in Ohio and
> Texas, Trump criticised �gruesome video games� that �celebrate
> violence� adding that: �Mental illness and hatred pull the trigger,
> not the gun.�
>
> The problem here is that one of his first actions as president was to
> scrap a regulation introduced by Obama that made it harder for people
> with a history of mental illness to purchase a gun.
> 44. When he peddled a conspiracy theory about Joe Biden and Ukraine
>
> Towards the end of 2019 Trump began spreading and widely debunked
> conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine and not Russia that had
> interfered in the 2016 election on behalf of the Democrats.
>
> During an interview on Fox News in November 2019, Trump said:
>
> �A lot of it, they say, had to do, they say had to with Ukraine. It is
> very interesting, it is very interesting, they have the server from
> the DNC. You know, the FBI�s never gotten that server. Why did they
> give it to a Ukrainian company?�
>
> He also tried to tie Joe Biden to this theory that linked the former
> vice president�s son, Hunter due to the work he had done in Ukraine.
> This led to Trump trying to obtain information on the Bidens from the
> Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, an act that eventually got
> Trump impeached. 45. When he sprayed Black Lives Matter protesters
> with tear gas so he could attend a photo op
>
> As the Black Lives Matter protests escalated across the United States
> following the death of George Floyd at the hands of police officers,
> Trump decided to show no compassion or words of solace or peace.
>
> Instead, he order the military to hit protesters outside of the White
> House with tear gas just so he could walk a few metres across the
> street and hold up a bible outside of a church for a shameless photo
> op, a stunt which left the churches resident �distraught�.
>
> � (@)
>
> Why did Trump do this? According to CNN, it was because he was �upset�
> for being mocked for being rushed into a bunker by the secret service
> after riots broke out near the White House.
> 46. Tried to take credit for the Covid vaccine
>
> Just days after he lost the election, news of a successful coronavirus
> vaccine was announced. The Trump administration was quick to claim a
> victory over the pandemic and falsely attributed Operation Warp Speed
> with being instrumental in the vaccination. In a similar move, on 11th
> November Trump did a tone-deaf tweet about how well the stock market
> was doing and that the 'vaccine coming soon.' In comparison to the
> more reserved statement from the incoming Biden administration,
> Trump's tweet looked insincere at best.
>
> � (@)
>
> 47. Tried to launch a 'voter fraud hotline' that was flooded by prank
> calls
>
> After he lost the election to Joe Biden, Trump did everything in his
> power to try and overturn the results. One of his efforts included
> launching a 'voter fraud hotline' where Trump supporters could call in
> and report anything suspicious they had seen at polling stations. This
> didn't result in any substantial evidence being brought forward but
> did see it inundated with some very funny prank calls.
>
> � (@)
>
> 48. Gave his 'most important speech' ever that was just full of lies
>
> A month after the election, Trump shared a 46-minute video on Facebook
> that he called the 'the most important speech I've ever made.' What
> followed was nothing but baseless claims about the results of the
> vote, vague claims and evidence of voter fraud and calls for judges to
> help him win.
>
> � (@)
>
> 49. Walked out of a medal ceremony in the Oval Office
>
> On 7th December, Trump hosted a special ceremony for Dan Gable, a
> wrestler who was being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
> Nothing wrong there. Surely Trump couldn't do anything scandalous
> here, right? Wrong. After saying a few further things about the
> election, Trump abruptly decided that he'd seen enough and walked out
> of the event leaving Gable looking completely baffled and confused,
> alone in front of the press.
>
> � (@)
>
> 50. Pardons
>
> As his presidency started coming to an end, everyone who had even the
> vaguest connection to Trump started to put in requests for pardons
> against any misdemeanours in their past. There were so many requests
> that staff actually had to start a spreadsheet. Eventually, Trump did
> manage to pardon a few individuals including George Papadopoulos (who
> lied to the FBI), Republican Duncan Hunter (who violated campaign
> finance laws) and Republica Chris Collins (who also lied to the FBI).
> 51. Delayed signing the Covid relief bill
>
> Towards the end of December, Trump belated signed a $900bn Covid
> relief bill into law, after millions of Americans had already lost
> their unemployment benefits. Although the bill had been delayed for
> months thanks to disagreements between Democrats and Republicans,
> Trump had initially refused to sign the bill calling it "wasteful
> spending" and actually wanted the stimulus checks to be increased from
> $600 to $2000, which we can probably all agree is a good thing.
> However, the delay put many unemployed Americans in desperate
> situations as was exemplified by the replies to this tweet by
> journalist Dan Rather.
>
> � (@)
>
> 52. Edited a video to make it look like he won the Nobel Prize
>
> Nearly two months after the election, Trump released a bizarre
> campaign video, which parodied a beef commercial from the 1990s. If
> that wasn't strange enough an image included in the short video
> featured Trump on the White House balcony with the Israeli prime
> minister and officials from UAE and Bahrain with a Nobel Peace Prize
> superimposed on it for no apparent reason at all other than to make it
> look like he might have actually received the prestigious prize.
>
> � (@)
>
> 53. Attacked a Republican for having a brother that doesn't exist
>
> As his options for overturning the election started to run dry, Trump
> began lashing out at Republicans, specifically targeting Brad
> Raffensperger the secretary of state for Georgia. In a strange moment,
> Trump tweeted a conspiracy theory that Raffensperger's brother "works
> for China" and that they "definitely don't want 'Trump.'" The only
> problem is that Raffensperger doesn't have a brother at all.
>
> � (@)
>
> 54. Asked Georgia officials to fix the election for him
>
> Trump�s mad start to 2021 saw him caught on a phone call to officials
> in Georgia, including the aforementioned Brad Raffensperger, asking
> them to basically fix the election for him. At one point he asked them
> to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than the Democrats have which
> would swing the election in his favour. It was almost so unbelievable
> that it was inevitably turned into a song.
>
> � (@)
>
> 55. Incited a violent attack on the Capitol building that left five
> people dead
>
> In perhaps the darkest day, in not just Trump's presidency but in the
> history of the United States, thousands of armed Trump supporters
> stormed the Capitol building in a violent attempt at a coup to stop
> Biden from being certified as the next president by the Senate.
>
> The mob smashed through windows and doors and managed to make their
> way into the chamber as well as elected officials' offices, all while
> Senators and others were locked away for their own personal safety.
>
> The riot led to the deaths of five people including one police officer
> and came just hours after Trump had held a 'Save America March'
> outside of the White House where he had encouraged the crowd to march
> down Pennsylvania Avenue and make their presence known. Trump failed
> to immediately act to stop the riot and eventually tried to distance
> himself from any blame. The aftermath saw members of Congress call for
> Trump to be immediately impeached, whereas on social media, Trump's
> Twitter account was permanently suspended and he was locked out of
> many other platforms to prevent any further incitements of violence.
> For all of the scandals that has dogged Trump's presidency the image
> of his rabid supporters draping Trump flags over the steps of the
> Capitol, intimidating the press and overall posing a threat to
> democracy will be the enduring legacy of his presidency. The hearings
> opening up information of that day are only just starting
> 56. Allegedly flushed documents down the toilet
>
> According to New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman, several White
> House staff members found pieces of ripped-up notes in the toilets of
> the White House while Trump was president
>
> \u201cTrump\u2019s dump. NY Times\u2019 Maggie Haberman obtains
> photos from White House source of documents with Trump\u2019s
> handwriting on them in two different toilets. On left is a toilet in
> White House, on right is from overseas trip Trump took. Trump
> reportedly flushed documents repeatedly.\u201d
> � Mike Sington (@Mike Sington)
> 1659959663
>
> Trump has denied the claims on multiple occasions but if they were
> true, it could violate the Presidential Records Act.
>
> The former president�s Mar-a-Lago home was raided earlier this year
> because he was keeping classified documents illegally.
> 57. Allegedly told his younger son Covid conspiracy theories
>
> Journalist Bob Woodward shared an audio clip of the former president
> allegedly telling his youngest son, Barron, that Covid �came out of
> China� and �they should�ve let it be known it was a problem two months
> earlier.�
>
> At the time of the recording, Barron would�ve been 13 years old.
>
> Woodward claimed: �I go back to listen to this and my God, Trump is
> conning not just me but his son.�
> 58. Complained about Rudy Guiliani�s poo
>
> According to Haberman in her new book Confidence Man: The Making of
> Donald Trump and the Breaking of America, one time Trump allegedly
> called Guiliani �f***ing disgusting� because of his poo.
>
> Haberman claimed that while Trump and Giuliani were aboard the former
> president's plane, he "loudly complained" about "the odor after
> Giuliani had used one of the plane�s bathrooms so that other aides
> could hear." 59. When he wanted to give himself the Congressional
> Medal of Honor
>
> During Turning Point USA's Student Action Summit, Trump revealed to a
> crowd that while he was president he wanted to give himself the
> Congressional Medal of Honor.
>
> �As President, I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of
> Honor but they wouldn�t let me do it,� Trump said.
>
>
> https://www.indy100.com/news/donald-trump-worst-moments-president-
> 2664003687
>