13
Sun, Oct

Don the Con Man Rides Again

VOICES

ACCORDING TO LIZ - Supreme-Court crowned King Trump has gone done it again. Opened his big mouth and let the lies spout forth. And they said Scranton Joe was losing his marbles… 

Well, I guess Delusional Donald can’t… because he had none to begin with. 

“They’ve taken their criminals off the streets and given them to her (Harris). Crime is down all over the world – except here.” 

Except that, other than his own court cases and convictions as a percent of crimes committed, real-world stats have shown dramatic declines since 2020… no way! Wasn’t that when Trump was last leading the not-so-free world? 

“Millions of people are pouring into the country—from prisons, jails, mental institutions, insane asylums.” 

Don’t people wish we could put Daffy Donald in one of the emptied ones… hey, he could be its president-for-life, and no-one could quibble over his advisors or choice of judges. 

Debatable Don also amplified the unchecked barefaced lie of his hand-picked VP: 

“Immigrants are eating your dogs”. 

And he thinks Kamala lacks the appropriate gravitas to negotiate with foreign leaders, all the while whining about her crowd size as if it’s some kind of popularity contest. 

Wait! Maybe it is. But, as compared to dissing Biden, this is now a race for which the Trump-ego is ill-prepared. 

I mean he can’t just whip it out to compare sizes – a contest he might have been able to win if he wasn’t opposed to transgender bathrooms. 

Although he did try to shake Kamala’s hand to death when they met at last week’s 9/11 memorial – sending another salvo in his scuffle for supremacy. An attack technique he has used successfully before with some other world leaders. 

Since Harris lacks the height and power that gave the Canadian Prime Minister a win in front of the White House, she will need to develop her own defense against more machismo-motivated match-ups. 

“They’re executing babies after they’re born.” 

This, from the man who thinks Kamala would be too emotional for the job. 

And, for the record, palliative care that allows anyone – newborn or nonagenarian – to die pain-free and in peace is not murder. 

Can anyone say as much for demagogue-Don whose crowd-baiting of the aggrieved and angry horde he created in his own image has already led to too much loss of life? 

His Excellency the Ex is a pretty paranoid person, calling just about anyone who disagrees with him, from protesters to the courts, from his own courtiers to the Vice President, “bad persons” – another symptom of his certifiable narcissism. 

Mounting incoherence, erratic lashing out against anyone crossing his delusional self- importance, and the continuous cascade of outright lies is truth-socially shocking in someone who aspires to regain the White House. 

Not to mention such Ju-jubes as: 

“Transgender surgeries on illegal aliens in prison.” 

Say, are those illegals coerced into such surgeries like the women who endured forced hysterectomies in ICE concentration camps under Herr Trump?

Then there are his fantasy promises that lack any grounding in reality: $2 a gallon gas and his most recent light-bulb idea of imposing a 60% tariff on goods from China (and 10 to 20% across-the-board on all other imports) to bring in trillions of dollars… Presumably to offset more tax breaks for the uber-wealthy and multinationals so he can buy a few moldering carrots for the plebian classes. 

Don’t people, or at least the economists tasked with keeping campaign promises within the realm of reason, realize that not only does his math not work but that such cuts would most likely drive up inflation and increase the cost of living? Yet again. 

And the real doozer: 

“Today, I’m also announcing that as part of our additional tax cuts, we will end all taxes on overtime. You know what that means? Think of that. That gives people more of an incentive to work. It gives the companies a lot, it’s a lot easier to get the people.” 

Ultimately forcing people to work longer. Much longer, if Project 2025 manages to scrap minimum wage protections completely. 

And which taxes? Income tax? Who would end up subsidizing the billions necessary to fund the government and all its programs? 

Or is he talking the payroll taxes of FICA and Medicare that fund seniors’ Social Security and health coverage? If so, those accrued benefits could then be far less at retirement. Doubly so, assuming businesses would not have to pay their share either. 

Making this just another con, a gift to corporate honchos. 

Not taxing tips and overtime comes down to a series of lies and sins of omission against the American worker, further reducing most Americans’ quality of life. 

And not paying tax on Social Security benefits is yet another red herring because, it will best benefit those whose payments are largest, who are also those most likely to have other post-retirement income from higher pensions, investments, lucrative consulting gigs from government connections and cushy corporate directorships. 

And Americans need to be afraid, very afraid of replacing Obamacare with the profiteer-in-chief’s “concept of a plan.” 

His actions and pronouncement before and after the debate, often against the advice of those attempting to guide his campaign, demonstrate that the MAGA-maggot has infected whatever intellect he once had, proving again and again that Toodlely-do Trump has become completely unhinged. 

Crazy like a fox enough to undermine a flailing Biden, he has now become the flailer. 

And saying he was flailing during the debate would be putting it politely, Ditsy Don was all but frothing at the mouth, not a good image when compared to his cool, intellectually sharp, and presidential opponent. 

The takeaway: Is Kamala Harris or Don the Con better suited to address the next 9/11, the next epidemic, the next third world leader who also has access to nuclear weapons?

(Liz Amsden is a contributor to CityWatch and an activist from Northeast Los Angeles with opinions on much of what goes on in our lives. She has written extensively on the City's budget and services as well as her many other interests and passions.  In her real life she works on budgets for film and television where fiction can rarely be as strange as the truth of living in today's world.)