Trump Terrible 10: Saudi Edition
We’re Doing An Incredible Job™. Even though we’re being Treated Very Unfairly™.
Since 2017, Republic Report‘s “Trump Terrible 10” has ranked the week’s 10 most disgraceful people in Trump world.
Republic Report, which focuses on how money corrupts democracy, has met its abusive dream mate with the kleptocratic administration of President Donald J. Trump. Trump and his lieutenants personify how money and greed, mixed with disrespect for constitutional values, know-nothing ignorance, serious bigotry and misogyny, and an endless capacity for lying, can really, really corrupt democracy.
Permanent spoiler alert: We can’t imagine anyone other than Donald Trump ever occupying the top spot in the rankings. But we won’t get tired of him winning. Believe me.
10. Kanye West. Last week’s ranking: 10
Standing against the Resolute Desk, talking about the MAGA hat on his head, Ye laid bare Trump’s appeal to immature men who can’t deal with women asserting power.
This is not really Sad!™, as much as it’s disgraceful: Kanye’s embrace of racist, misogynist, corrupt Trump may mislead people into the MAGA fold or at least neutralize them in the political process. A real man wouldn’t hide behind Superman’s cape but would step up and honor women as leaders and genuine partners.
9. Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education. Last week’s ranking: 6
Devos’s Department of Education is doing everything it can to prop up predatory for-profit colleges that rip off students and taxpayers, but the plan isn’t working, and this week a federal judge has forced the Department to start enforcing the Obama rule that grants debt relief to defrauded students. So DeVos is trying even harder to skew the regulatory process and stifle dissenting views.
8. David Bernhardt, Deputy Secretary of the Interior. Last week’s ranking: —
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke gets all the credit for his kleptocratic, narcissistic horribleness, but Zinke’s number two, “walking conflict of interest” Berhardt, a super-swampy former oil lobbyist, is doing much of the heavy lifting, trashing protections for public lands and endangered species to benefit fossil fuel and mining interests.
7. Brian Kemp, Georgia Secretary of State, and Republican candidate for governor. Last week’s ranking: —
Trump’s hand-picked candidate for Georgia governor has taken the Republican war on voting rights to a new low: He’s using his powers as secretary of state to knock off the voter rolls the kinds of people who would vote for his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams.
6. Brett Kavanaugh, Associate Justice, United States Supreme Court. Last week’s ranking: 3
The Supreme Court has already swallowed up Kavanaugh into its chummy, shoulder-touching, side-whispering collegiality, because the four non-Federalist Society justices likely fear the destruction of the Court’s legitimacy if they treat Kavanaugh as anything less than a fully respected equal. But let’s never forget the powerful evidence that a drunken young Kavanaugh assaulted women and that a middle-aged Kavanaugh repeatedly lied to the Senate about matters large and small, while assuming a highly partisan, Trumpian aggrieved male persona aimed at rallying MAGA nation.
5. Andrew Wheeler, Acting Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency. Last week’s ranking: 5
Wheeler claims he doesn’t remember his Facebook like of a racist meme about the Obamas, or maybe it came about because he doesn’t know how to operate Internet. But the former coal lobbyist sure knows how to operate EPA, erasing measures to curb climate change and toxic pollution faster than Scott Pruitt’s motorcade to Le Diplomate, even as his fellow Americans suffer and perish in violent storms made worse by global warming.
4. Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of the Treasury. Last week’s ranking: —
At this writing at least, Mnuchin still plans to attend the “Davos in the Desert” investor conference in Riyadh, despite the mounting evidence that his royal hosts were complicit in the grisly murder of regime critic/journalist/U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi. It’s the same moral leadership Steve showed standing by President Trump as he praised the white supremacists in Charlottesville as very fine people.
3. Susan Collins, United States Senator (R-ME). Last week’s ranking: —
Based on her floor speech last week, who’s more gullible: Collins for thinking Kavanaugh will protect Roe v. Wade and Obamacare, or anyone who thought Collins would stand up for women? Either way, stop trying to make Collins happen; she’s awful.
2. Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader (R-KY). Last week’s ranking: 2
The Senate’s confirmation of Kavanaugh means:
1. The concept of a federal judge is debased.
2. Trump is signaled that congressional Republicans will tolerate ANY perversion of justice and truth, and firing Mueller may well be next.
Mitch McConnell don’t care.
2. Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President. Last week’s ranking: —
While Princess Ivanka apparently had the sense to remove herself from the running for the UN job, Prince Jared’s global vision disintegrated inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. It’s possible that non-taxpayer Jared has been played by the faux reformer Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, but more likely this was the plan: for a long-running autocracy and a fledgling autocracy to forge a no-questions-asked alliance based on oil and dollars, plus, of course, hatred of Iran.
1. Donald J. Trump, President of the United States. Last week’s ranking: obviously
Faced with strong evidence that the Saudis killed Jamal Khashoggi, Trump confirmed that any conflict between justice and money is really no contest for him, especially where Trump money is at stake. And especially where the murderous regime has flattered the shit out of him. So he said of the missing Khashoggi, “it’s not a citizen.”
Don’t be shocked if Trump declares the claim that the Saudis killed Khashoggi to be a hoax.
Last week, after originally saying Dr. Christine Blasey Ford deserved to be heard, Trump mocked her at a rally, said he was 100 percent sure she identified the wrong guy, and inevitably said the charges against Kavanaugh were “all made up… fabricated” and, yes, “a hoax.”
But Dr. Ford’s accusation against Kavanaugh was anything but a hoax.
Following that, CNN’s Don Lemon listed several other matters that Trump has labelled a hoax that are in fact real.
1. Russian interference in the US election. Not a hoax.
2. Global warming. Not a hoax.
3. 3000 deaths in Puerto Rico. Not a hoax.
4. Hush money to Stormy Daniels. Not a hoax.
UPDATE 10-15-18 9:00 am:
5. Elizabeth Warren’s Native American ancestry. Not a hoax.
Also, here are some things that were a hoax:
Trump’s claim that he built his wealth with a single $1 million loan from his father
Trump’s claim that the Central Park 5 were guilty, despite the DNA evidence
Trump’s claim that thousands of people celebrated in New Jersey on Sept. 11
Trump’s claim that Barack Obama may not have been born in US
Trump’s claim that he hand-picked instructors at Trump University
Trump’s claim that the Republican tax cut law favors the middle class and “is going to cost me a fortune, this thing, believe me”
As for Ted Cruz’s father and the JFK assassination, the jury is still out.
Trump is again number one — the most disgraceful person in Trump world. Trump is not merely a disgrace; he’s a total and complete disgrace.
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