The Company You Keep (Le Grand Orange)

The Company You Keep (Le Grand Orange)

This whole Donald Drumpf thing is not getting better. In fact it’s actually getting worse. Much of the GOP establishment is predictably falling in line and trying to rationalize their support of the carnival barker that could rightfully assume the moniker once ascribed to the much loved baseball star of the NY Mets and Montreal Expos, Rusty Staub (for his red hair)… “Le Grand Orange”

Le Grand Orange of the GOP is an all together different animal. His relationship with the truth is hostile at best, putting the lie to the famous quote by Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynahan that “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” Le Grand Orange feels very much entitled to his own facts. His facts are a loose combination of things he’s read online, been told anecdotally and things he wishes were true. Mashed together and repurposed through his Twitter feed, these bits of fiction or “ficts” take on a life of their own until he and millions of people come to believe that his ficts are facts. It may very well be pathological. In the immortal words of George Costanza “It’s not a lie, if YOU believe it”

That so many believe that Le Grand Orange is a “straight shooter”, that he “tells it like it is”, is actually more ironic than any Seinfeld episode. The list of current lies is so outrageously long that I could not conceivably list them all, but just today (TODAY!) he lied about…

Opposing intervention in Libya (in contrast to HRC’s “poor judgement”) Problem is that he supported it… ON VIDEO!

Drumpf Claims He Didn't Support Libya Intervention - But He Did, On Video
"[Ted Cruz] said I was in favor of Libya? I never discussed that subject. I was in favor of Libya? We would be so much…www.buzzfeed.com

His opposition to the Iraq war in 2003 (he claims he was against it… but…really?)

Donald Drumpf was not 'loud and clear' in Iraq War opposition
In one of the most heated and personal back-and-forths from a debate this cycle, Donald Drumpf eviscerated former…www.politifact.com

Claims that Hillary Clinton wants to do away with the 2nd Amendment and take away your guns.

Donald Drumpf falsely claims Hillary Clinton 'wants to abolish the 2nd Amendment'
Donald Drumpf accused Hillary Clinton of coming after your guns and your right to them. "Hillary Clinton wants to…www.politifact.com

But the single most amazing load of crap that he has repeatedly run on this season, and the one his supporters have clung to as proof of his outsider status, is the “I’m self-financing my campaign so will not be beholden to anyone.” nonsense. He just received campaign promises from Sheldon Adelson to the tune of $100,000,000, and is now plugged into the GOP fund raising apparatus looking to raise $1 BILLION. This of course raises the question that if he so incredibly wealthy and has $10B, why would he need to do this in direct contradiction to his boasts of self-financing?

The Republicans Betrayed by Their Nominee
The billionaire won many of his supporters by promising to self-fund. Now he has hired a former hedge-fund manager with…www.theatlantic.com

It’s amazing. You almost get overwhelmed with the amount of bullshit spewing from his face that you can’t actually react to all of it. So there is the serial nature of his lying, and then there is the targeted bigotry, meant to rile up the worst aspects of the base. Muslims, Mexicans, the Chinese etc… all are fair game and all are, well…. not white. The question that a Drumpf supporter needs to ask oneself is this. If it is CRYSTAL CLEAR that this man is blatantly lying and making a mockery of the process, the presidency and the people who support him.. what does that say about YOU, the person who actually supports him? He is clearly playing you for a fool, and yet, and YET, there you are, cheering him on and buying his hats. There you are laughing and cheering as he mocks disabled people, objectifies women, threatens to ban an entire religion from entering the country and deporting millions of people forcefully. This is not about him, Le Grand Orange is a clown for sure, but more than that he is a big scary funhouse mirror held up to our society. When you, a Drumpf supporter look into it, what do you see?

Stop for a minute and think... President Donald Trump!!??

I can't hold it in any longer. I get a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach at the thought of Donald Trump standing but a few swing states away from being elected president of the United States. I'd like you all to think about that for just a minute. About what that means. The Republican party has now nominated as it's standard bearer, a narcissistic, xenophobic, race baiting, demagogic, white male, born into enormous wealth and privilege. A true working class hero!  There are a thousand reasons to disqualify him from being president. He incites violence at his rallies, he would not immediately disavow the endorsement of KKK Grand Wizard David Duke, he seemingly has no working knowledge of policy or understanding of world events... I could go on and on. But his character! Man his character is beyond unacceptable. You may think Hillary Clinton is dishonest.... (Actually not as much as you'd think.. http://www.dailynewsbin.com/news/fact-checkers-confirm-hillary-clinton-is-more-honest-than-any-of-her-2016-opponents/24196/.) You may think that all politicians lie and that Trump is a successful "outsider" that will make "deals" and shake things up. But the FACT is that nearly everything out of his mouth is false and he does not care whether you know it or not. Politifact.org tried to name the "lie of the year" of 2015 and could not pick JUST ONE of Trump's untruths, so they chose his WHOLE CAMPAIGN. Yes, you read that right.

Politifact.org "Lie of the Year 2015"

He amazingly claims to be a "self-made" man. Saying his father gave him a "small loan" of $1 million dollars to get started. Of course when his father Fred Trump died he did leave Donald a few hundred million dollars. So that makes him the perfect example of the guy who was... "Born on 3rd base and thinks he hit a triple!"

Everything he says is designed to garner a reaction. And the more people react, the more outrageous he gets. However, his single most disqualifying act, the act that speaks directly to who he is as a human being, was when he cruelly mocked a physically handicapped reporter in front of thousands of supporters. This reporter had the temerity to report that Trump was making up the story that "thousands of Muslims were on rooftops cheering the towers coming down on 9/11". See, that is a classic Trump tactic. He'll say THOUSANDS, when there might have been 9. You say he's lying, and he'll point to the 9 and say "Who's to say there were not thousands more we don't know about?" But back to the mocking of the afflicted. Trump was so outraged, that he felt the need to curl his arms and press his chin into his chest, doing his best Stephen Hawking impersonation, and start to speak as this reporter in a manner one might associate with a mentally disabled person. It was clear. It was unambiguous. He was playing it for laughs.

Once the disbelieving press rightly called him on this behavior, Trump DENIED doing it! Are you going to believe HIM or your lying eyes? He can't walk that back, and I can't un-see it.
I am the proud parent of a 4 year old autistic girl that is the light of my life. The thought that a schoolyard bully, and that is what he is, could be elected president of this country and that people would somehow think that it's OK to mock and bully my little girl, because after all, the PRESIDENT is doing it, just makes me shake with rage.

This is not about his hair, or his spray tan or his "strong hands". It goes MUCH deeper than that, though his vanity does play into it. His nature is to bully and insult his way through obstacles. Here is a short, very abbreviated list of examples:

Huge proponent of "Birtherism" (Barack Obama is NOT a US citizen, therefore not legitimate)
Illegal immigrants from Mexico are rapists and drug smugglers (Though some are good people...whew)
Islam hates us, and all Muslims should be banned from entering the US.
John McCain is only a war hero because he got caught. Trump likes the competent ones who did not get caught and spend years as a POW.
Carly Fiorina is too ugly for people to vote for.
Sen. Marco Rubio is "Little Marco"
Sen. Ted Cruz is "Lyin' Ted"
Mitt Romney would have "Dropped to his knees if I'd had asked him too"
Women who have abortions should face criminal punishment.
He would bring back medieval forms of torture "Worse than Waterboarding", because other countries do it.

I've not even gotten to any of his proposed policies, but I don't really need to (not that he HAS any real policies). All of this should be enough to convince anyone of the absurdity of his candidacy. If anyone can envision a person that would behave like this sitting in the Oval Office, making life and death decisions about the future of this country and the world, then they are the other part of the problem. What Trump likes to call... an "Enabler".
Please look ONE MORE TIME at that video of him mocking that disabled man and ask yourself if you could imagine Pres. Obama ever in a million years doing that. Ask yourself if you are OK with a person that would even THINK of doing that being the leader of your country and it's face to the rest of the world.

I'm sure I will have more to say on this as the campaign ensues, but for now...
#StopTrump2016

Gavin Guerra