Dump Trump—A Thurber Brigade Rerun

(This blog first ran on October 30, 2020. Yes, right before the election that kicked the Orange One from the White House. We at the Thurber Brigade believe it is important to remind everyone why we do not want that Orange Blob back in Washington. So read over this list and then be sure and vote for Kamala Harris in November.)

From the opening bell, the tRump administration has been a disaster.  From sketchy inaugural donations and lying about crowd size, to today's COVID mishandling and endangering democracy by throwing shade on elections The Orange One's (my preferred reference) time in office has damaged this country. 

So to help jog people's memory, here's a short list of things he's done that the MAJORITY of Americans will find distasteful/illegal/evil/unAmerican.

THE LIST

• Claimed millions voted illegally
• Put children in cages
• Refused to release tax returns
• Denigrated Gold Star family
• Calls free press “enemy of the people”
• Has lied over 15,000+ times

• Gave security clearance to Ivanka and Jared over intelligence objections
• Denigrated John McCain for being a POW
• Thinks of veterans as suckers and losers
• Skipped Normandy ceremony as he didn't want to ruin his hair in the rain

• Politicized masks and other possible ways to mitigate spread of COVID
• Banned Muslims from entering country unless they are from a country he does business with
• Called Nazis very fine people
• Insults allies
• Praises dictators
• Ignored intelligence reports about Russian bounties on US troops
• Called African nations “shithole countries”
• Belittles US generals and believes he knows more then them
• Stole money from his charity and is banned

from having any new ones
• Foreign governments stay in his hotels to curry favors
• Forces government employees to stay in his properties while traveling
• Played golf more than any prez after stating he wouldn't have time to play
• Government must foot bill for his golf excursions which means we have paid his company over 200 times his salary
• Promoted snake oil cures for COVID 

• Donates his salary as a tax dodge because he makes so much off golf trips.
• paid off porn star to remain quiet about sexual affair
• Had sexual affair while wife was pregnant with son
• Promised to build wall along border has only completed three miles of new fence and Mexico will not pay for it
• During campaign his operatives had numerous meeting with Russian agents in order to gain an advantage

• Obstructed investigation into his Russian connections
• Attempted to bribe Ukrainian president for help with his election
• Asked China to help him win re-election
• Impeached for Ukrainian scheme and his obstruction of subsequent investigation 
• Has nearly daily Twitter

   

tantrums
• Attacks private citizens on Twitter
• Hurls childish nicknames at those he perceives as foes
• Removed clean water and air regulations
• Promised to get drug prices lowered, instead they went up
• Drain the swamp? He added more swamp creatures
• Knocked out the teeth of the EPA
• Kicked Dept. of Interior in the

balls
• Dumbed down the Department of Education
• Suspected of being Russian asset
• Supports white supremacy groups 
• Validates racism
• Inherited a good economy, destroyed it
• Highest trade deficit in years
• Started tariff war with China, lost
• Ignored scientists on COVID

• Due to tariff war had highest number of small farm bankruptcies since depression

• Utilized secret police against citizens

• Didn’t replenish national supplies of PPE and other medical equipment

• Promoted budget that would diminish Social Security and Medicare 

  
  

• Federal government seized PPE from states who imported it for their state’s use

• Owes millions of dollars, possibly to foreign interests that could compromise US security

• Tax cuts for rich, peanuts for others

• No definitive foreign policy

• To help his business interests, caved to Turkey and betrayed our Kurdish allies

• He has become a laughing stock of other world leaders

• Favorability of US in the world has gone down except in dictatorship countries

• Largest civil unrest in nation since Vietnam years 

This is not an all-inclusive list, there are tons of regulations meant to protect us he has overridden, countless people he has insulted, untold number

of norms he has violated and more. At least this is a starting point though of why you should not vote to give him four more years. If he is reelected it will be an incomprehensible disaster for this country. So read over this short list one more time and go vote for Joe Biden KAMALA HARRIS. Return this country to decency and prominence. Vote The Orange One out.

Ah, James Thurber

The Thurber Brigade apologizes for this rerun and for once again getting off the path of making light of the interaction between men and women. This election may be the most important one in our lifetime and so we cannot remain silent about the awful actions of TFG. The Brigade will get back to its usual snarky self next time. Maybe.

 

Ultimate RINO

There’s a meme floating around the internet since about 2015 in which Donald Trump says that if he were to run for office, he’d do it as a Republican because they’re so stupid.

Well, he never really said that. He may have thought it, but it never said it publicly.

However, he often seems to act that way. He keeps changing parties.  Trump registered as a Republican in 1987; a member of the Independence Party, the New York state affiliate of the Reform Party, in 1999; a Democrat in 2001; a Republican in 2009; unaffiliated in 2011; and a Republican in 2012.

He must be doing it as a business strategy. Whichever will serve him best at the time, that’s the party he’ll switch to.

His ideas about why he changes seems to change just as often.

In 2004, he confessed to Wolf Blitzer: "It just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats than the Republicans. Now, it shouldn't be that way. But if you go back, I mean it just seems that the economy does better under the Democrats....But certainly we had some very good economies under Democrats, as well as Republicans. But we've had some pretty bad disasters under the Republicans."

However, in 2015 he had other thoughts. “I am a conservative person. I am by nature a conservative person. I never looked at putting a label on myself, I wasn’t in politics.   But if you look at my general attitudes in life I would certainly have the more conservative label put on me."

Republicans have often wondered about whether he was a real Republican too.  “He was a Democrat longer than he was a Republican. He's given more money to Democrats than he has to Republicans," Jeb Bush said.

Face it, when you think about the history of the Republican party, Trump is nothing like their leaders of the past. In your mind can you lump him in with Lincoln, Teddy, Ike, Reagan or even Bush I & II?

Of course not. If he adheres to any of the tenets of the party, it’s only to further some interest of his. Except for his hardcore base of zealots, everyone knows that everything he does is purely for him.

I’m bring this all up because just like the majority of his former cabinet members, hundreds of people who have served in Republican administrations in the past and the majority of military leaders who have had to follow his orders have stated publicly, you are not giving up your affiliation with the GOP if you don’t vote for him.

"Let me be clear to my Republican friends at home: If you vote for Kamala Harris in 2024 you’re not a Democrat, you’re a patriot,” former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan (R) said.

Trump is the ultimate RINO—Republican in name only.  So be patriotic and put country before party. Vote for Kamala Harris for president.

Ahhh, James Thurber

We here at The Thurber Brigade once again apologize for yet another side step away from the “War Between Men and Women” (relationships) in order to blog about The Orange One. Sure, we’ve blogged about how he’s insane, how he is bad and how he is really unpopular. But with the election drawing so near we believe we need to keep pounding home how this person should never be in the White House again. We promise to get back to the straight and narrow real soon. Maybe. Oh, look, football season is about to begin!

 

 

Vacation Time!

 

Hey, it's summer and it's hot here in Texas so The Brigade has taken some time off.  Okay, okay, it's probably just that The Brigade is a bit lazy. We'll get back into the swing of things real soon. Maybe (football season is about to begin after all). 

Ahhh, James Thurber

Trump is Bad

George Thorogood has a song “Bad to the Bone.” It’s an expression that connotes that the person is tough or rebellious in an edgy way. Donald Trump is not that. Some people refer to another person who is good at something as “bad ass.” Nope, not Donald Trump either.

Trump is just bad, i.e. not good. He’s bad at business, bad at human relations, bad at empathy, bad at diplomacy, bad at governing, bad at dealing with difficult situation, well, bad at everything. Some people even say he smells bad, but I won’t go into that.

In the past, I blogged about how he is insane and how he is unpopular. So, with the election drawing near, I thought it might be a good time to remind people about just how bad he is so they have an easy reference when making such an important decision in November.

Trump is bad at business. To call him a businessman almost seems like a lie. He has filed for bankruptcy six times (including three casinos!):

1. 1991: Trump’s Taj Mahal
2. 1992: First of two Atlantic City casinos owned by Donald Trump.
3. 1992: Second of two Atlantic City casinos owned by Donald Trump.
4. 1992:  Trump’s Plaza Hotel in New York City
5. 2004:  Trump’s Hotels and Casinos Resorts
6. 2009:  Trump’s Entertainment Resorts

 Trump is bad at telling the truth. The Washington Post claims he had over 30,000 lies during his time in office.

Trump is bad for the environment.

Trump is bad at upholding the law.

Laws Trump is suspected to have violated

Trump is bad with governing and diplomacy.

 

Trump is bad with disasters, such as COVID

Trump is bad even according to those who worked for him.

Trump is bad with approval ratings.

There are so many areas that he is bad at/in that it makes you wonder if there is anything he is good at. Well, he is good at garnering massive hate, dividing a nation and lowering expectations for an elected leader. That's too bad.

Ahh, James Thurber

The Visitor

Years ago, when I was a young lad, I'd typically go out to night clubs and bars four to five times a week. It was part of my routine. Get home from work, eat supper, clean up a bit, write a few hours, then head to Sixth Street (the main entertainment area in Austin) or some other nearby hot spot.

The Continental Club

I wasn't exactly rich, so I'd usually try to convince the guy at the door to let me in without paying a cover because it was late. I was actually pretty successful, partly because most of them knew I was a regular. If I couldn't get in, well, I'd try someplace else because I realized that going out so much could really deplete my funds.

Stevie Ray Vaughn at ACL

They were great times as I heard a lot of really good bands. Many of these were on the way up. Stevie Ray Vaughan, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, etc. often played the small clubs I hit. Some gained momentum here in Austin, the Reivers, Soul Hat, Glass Eye, etc. but never quite made the arena level that they aspired to. I still loved them and often bought their CDs that they'd sell at the back of the club.

Antone's (on the Drag)

So I've blogged about the scene and music, but this is about The Visitor.

Every now and then I'd have a visitor I knew quite well come into town to see me. Often these visits were unannounced. At best, he’d give me a few days notice and would give me a percentage of the chance he'd actually make it.

"There's an 80% chance I'm coming over.”

Although he wasn't as close as my in town friends, nor as wild/fun, it was still pleasant to see him. After all, I'd known him longer than just about everyone else. We had a history you might say.

Let me also mention that I had roommates. Yep, even after I got out of college. I mean, isn't that the best way to save money if you aren’t rolling in the dough? That's why I never said I was poor, as I could split the bills and so afford luxury items like beer. It wasn't until much later that I could afford to live on my own.

Texas Chili Parlor

Anyway, so The Visitor would come over, often on Friday, and me and the roomies would try to get him to go out with us. After some cajoling he'd often relent. I remember hitting The Chili Parlor and Lance and I would enjoy several Magnums (rum and Coke) while he just slowly drank a beer. As we got more enebreated we started to suggest he flash his credit card to impress some nearby females. He was a lawyer and had more bucks than us, so we kept telling him to try and lure them in with his prestige. Guess he wasn’t as “loose” as we were and passed.

Liberty Lunch (drummer is on the bar)

I remember one time I tried to get him to go with me to see The Replacements at Liberty Lunch. Boy, he fought that but finally relented. Once there, he had a great time. He really got into the band, the atmosphere, the cute women.

As the years went by though it got more and more difficult to get him to go out.

“Oh, I think I'll stay here and read the paper and watch the news.”

Jay watching TV the right way

So I gave up. It had become as difficult as trying to pull a tooth and didn’t seem worth my effort to try and entertain him. Of course, I also didn’t think it would be right for me to just abandon him, so as much as I wanted to go hit the night spots, I stayed home. I’d watch TV.

 

The odd thing is that nowadays he says I watch a lot of TV. This sort of bothers me because I really don’t. If you didn’t count the news or sports I’d only watch about an hour a day.

 

It’s perception. He only sees me hanging around the house and watching TV. So maybe he’s right. Plus, now that I’m retired, I tend not to go out at night. I do often go out during the day though. Stop at a brew pub or brewery tap room and grab a beer. I’m not sure I have the patience I did in my youth, so going to see some band who shows up an hour late just isn’t my scene anymore.

 

So, when the Visitor comes around these days, I just hang around with him. Now he might be right about the TV watching. Oh, well, I still have some good memories from the days gone by.

The Visitor and Jay (a few years ago)