Trump's world....

[RedZone]

[I AM IRONMAN]

3 hours ago, RedZone said:

 

[DBP66]

'Unprecedented' and 'stunning' number of Trump administration alums oppose his reelection

Zac Anderson

Updated Fri, April 12, 2024 at 7:43 AM EDT·11 min read

1.5k

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Sarah Matthews was working in the White House on Jan. 6, 2021 when a mob of former President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop the certification of President Joe Biden's victory. She saw how Trump’s staff tried to get him to condemn the violence for hours without success.

“In my eyes, it was a complete dereliction of duty that he did not uphold his oath of office," Matthews told USA TODAY. "I lost all faith in him that day,”

Matthews resigned from her job as deputy press secretary in the wake of Jan. 6. She views Trump as a threat to democracy who tried to steal the 2020 election and would do it again.

Matthews is part of a large group of former Trump administration officials who have been sharply disapproving of the former president as he seeks to return to the Oval Office. Many who are questioning his fitness for the presidency held high-level positions in the White House, including former Vice President Mike Pence and multiple cabinet members.

The Trump critics from within his own administration often point to a few key concerns: the threat they believe he poses to democracy, his handling of national security issues and his character.

The sheer number of Trump officials − a minimum of 16 − speaking out against their former boss, and the severity of their criticism, is highly unusual. It has no historical precedent in the last century, according to three presidential historians and a political scientist interviewed by USA TODAY.

“I don’t think we’ve seen anything like this, certainly not in the last 100 years,” said Lindsay Chervinsky, a senior fellow at the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University.

Mike Pence, Mark Esper, John Bolton national security officials

Some former Trump administration officials are actively opposing his reelection. Others have been more circumspect while still offering damning assessments of his performance and character.

Pence was an enthusiastic proponent − critics would say "lapdog" − of Trump's until the former president pressured him to overturn Biden's victory, culminating in Trump supporters chanting "hang Mike Pence" as they overran the Capitol on Jan. 6. Pence ran against Trump in the 2024 Republican primary and now says he won’t endorse him in the general election because of "profound differences," including on Pence's "constitutional duties."

Trump's former United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley, also challenged him in the primary and has withheld her endorsement so far after dropping out.

"Someone who continually disrespects the sacrifices of military families has no business being commander in chief," Haley said about Trump, after the ex-president mocked Haley's husband, who is overseas on a military deployment.

Matthews, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper and former National Security Advisor John Bolton all told USA TODAY they won’t vote for Trump. Other key Trump administration figures who have offered strong criticism of the former president include Attorney General Bill Barr, chief of staff John Kelly and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis.

 

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton is among the many Trump administration officials who have raised questions about his fitness to serve another term in office. Presidential historians say the amount of criticism Trump is receiving from high-profile members of his administration is highly unusual and may be unprecedented for a former president seeking reelection.More

“To see this many people coming out of an administration they worked for saying 'danger, don’t let that guy anywhere near the White House again, it will put our democracy in peril,' it’s a stunning thing,” said presidential historian Douglas Brinkley.

Bolton, a stalwart of Republican administrations for decades, said the long list of Trump critics from within the White House shows that questions about him go well beyond simple policy disagreements.

“The stunning thing about the number of senior Trump administration officials who’ve campaigned against him I think proves that it really is Trump’s flawed character, lack of knowledge, lack of philosophy, lack of fitness that has them concerned,” Bolton said.

Bolton said it's normal for administration members to disagree with their boss, but they often remain loyal because “they still think that the person’s heart is in the right place and he’s competent to do the job," whereas Bolton’s experience with Trump led him to believe that the former president is incompetent and more concerned with his own political interests than national security. Bolton has said he will write-in former Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2024, as he did in 2020.

Linda McMahon, Wilbur Ross and others remain supportive

Trump has plenty of former administration officials who are still loyal to him. Some are eager to see him reelected and are active in his 2024 campaign, such as former Trump Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and former Trump Small Business Administration chief Linda McMahon. Trump's campaign dismisses the dissidents as outliers seeking publicity.

"There were dozens of Cabinet Members, hundreds of White House employees, and thousands of political appointees who proudly served in the Trump Administration and continue to strongly support President Trump," Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to USA TODAY. "The media loves to obsess over the few sell-outs who openly criticize him to boost their own egos or get more appearances on cable television."

'Threat to democracy'

Matthews was just 25 when she joined the Trump White House and seemed to have a long career in Republican politics ahead of her.

As the 2020 campaign played out, she grew uncomfortable about “Trump’s lies about the election” — Trump falsely asserted there was massive voter fraud, claims that were rejected in dozens of court cases — but wanted to stick it out until the end of the administration.

Then Jan. 6 arrived.

“I witnessed staff go to President Trump to try to get him to condemn the violence,” Matthews said. “For hours, Trump refused to do anything. He didn’t want to stop it.”

Matthews testified about what she saw to the U.S. House committee investigating Jan. 6, and since then she been raising the alarm about another Trump term. She believes Trump’s actions amounted to an attempted “coup” and he would do it again.

“We saw he didn’t go along with the peaceful transfer of power the first time, what makes you think he would go along with it if he were elected to a second term and he would be willing to leave office?” she said.

Esper, the former defense secretary, worries too about Trump’s impact on America’s democratic system. In his 2022 memoir "A Sacred Oath," Esper calls Trump’s decision to skip Biden’s swearing-in “a final act of petulance" that “tarnished our democracy.”

“He’s a threat to democracy as we know it,” Esper told USA TODAY.

Norms such as conceding electoral defeat and attending a successor's inauguration “really hold the country together,” Esper said.

Esper also writes about his alarm surrounding former Trump National Security Advisor Michael Flynn’s actions after the election, noting Flynn — who met with Trump in the Oval Office on Dec. 18, 2020 — went on television that same week and suggested that Trump could declare martial law, seize voting machines and use “military capabilities” to “basically rerun an election in each of those states.”

Trump fired Esper shortly after the election amid speculation that Trump might try to use the military to hold onto power.

[golfaddict1]

👀 

[concha]

[golfaddict1]

#CULT 

 

[World Citizen]

21 minutes ago, golfaddict1 said:

#CULT 

 

This American cult is also one large Russian asset.  Hooray!!!  

That poll is as absurd as it gets.  Pretty hard to deny that the Republicans are in lock step with Russia.  Doesn't mean they won't try because they have given up their choice to have an opinion on anything.  Their opinion is what Trump says it is.  

What are the chances of anybody agreeing with another 100% of the time?  Unless you are in a cult I think it would be impossible to agree with everything somebody says and does.  

[concha]

33 minutes ago, World Citizen said:

This American cult is also one large Russian asset.  Hooray!!!  

That poll is as absurd as it gets.  Pretty hard to deny that the Republicans are in lock step with Russia.  Doesn't mean they won't try because they have given up their choice to have an opinion on anything.  Their opinion is what Trump says it is.  

What are the chances of anybody agreeing with another 100% of the time?  Unless you are in a cult I think it would be impossible to agree with everything somebody says and does.  

🤡

[RedZone]

😂😄😂😄😂😄😂

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1779310887825809538

[RedZone]

22 minutes ago, RedZone said:

😂😄😂😄😂😄😂

https://x.com/atrupar/status/1779310887825809538

Note: for those who haven't figured it out yet the donald was in Pennsylvania.

[golfaddict1]

2 hours ago, World Citizen said:

This American cult is also one large Russian asset.  Hooray!!!  

That poll is as absurd as it gets.  Pretty hard to deny that the Republicans are in lock step with Russia.  Doesn't mean they won't try because they have given up their choice to have an opinion on anything.  Their opinion is what Trump says it is.  

What are the chances of anybody agreeing with another 100% of the time?  Unless you are in a cult I think it would be impossible to agree with everything somebody says and does.  

Ever hear of Jim Breuer?  
His talent was having a God given stoner face sober and maxing it out.  He did a good Brian Johnson Hokey Pokey bit though.

He’s a new “member”.  

https://x.com/gretagrace20/status/1779544732957344119?s=46&t=Ub_4ZB--blmAW22AUOdwqQ

 

[golfaddict1]

Another gem… and imagine the excess this windbag refers to, on his pro Maga wasted salary.    

What an asshole and an idiot for ridiculously clueless math skills. 
 

https://x.com/rpsagainsttrump/status/1779304456451965311?s=46&t=Ub_4ZB--blmAW22AUOdwqQ

[World Citizen]

1 hour ago, golfaddict1 said:

Ever hear of Jim Breuer?  
His talent was having a God given stoner face sober and maxing it out.  He did a good Brian Johnson Hokey Pokey bit though.

He’s a new “member”.  

https://x.com/gretagrace20/status/1779544732957344119?s=46&t=Ub_4ZB--blmAW22AUOdwqQ

 

Good lord.  Crazy town.  I have no idea what they were talking about, and it didn't look like any of them did either.  Maybe it was about calling out evil people walking around or something.  Lol

 

[I AM IRONMAN]

4 hours ago, golfaddict1 said:

Ever hear of Jim Breuer?  
His talent was having a God given stoner face sober and maxing it out.  He did a good Brian Johnson Hokey Pokey bit though.

He’s a new “member”.  

https://x.com/gretagrace20/status/1779544732957344119?s=46&t=Ub_4ZB--blmAW22AUOdwqQ

 

He was great in Half Baked!  Resting stoned face 🤣

[golfaddict1]

Clinging to the 2 billionaire Mendoza line.  

#pumpanddump

[DBP66]

[Nolebull813]

10 hours ago, DBP66 said:

Lies and gaslighting. That’s all you are ever good at.
 

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-says-he-prefers-more-predictable-biden-over-trump-2024-02-14/

[I AM IRONMAN]

2 hours ago, Nolebull813 said:

Lies and gaslighting. That’s all you are ever good at.
 

https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-says-he-prefers-more-predictable-biden-over-trump-2024-02-14/

Of course he does….what dictator wouldn’t want to control and manipulate a puddin brained geriatric?

[Nolebull813]

32 minutes ago, I AM IRONMAN said:

Of course he does….what dictator wouldn’t want to control and manipulate a puddin brained geriatric?

And 66 doesn’t see the irony in his post that Putin literally said he wants Biden as President. The ironic part is 66 making fun of someone being a puppet when he is displaying every textbook characterization of a puppet. A useful idiot with a brain rot of MSDNC. His brain is so rotted that there is no turning back. The damage is irreversible 

[Nolebull813]

Crazy how 66 and his crew are begging American politicians to give billions and billions of dollars to one of the most corrupt regimes in the world with no audits or checks and balances while Americans are hurting bad due to all the Biden-flation that’s running rampant. 
 

We have politicians in DC who step over homeless veterans to get to Capitol Hill to vote to send billions to a foreign corrupt dictator. Let that sink in. 

[Nolebull813]

Crazy the stuff democrats support and fight for when you think about it 

Abortions on demand 

mutating kids with hormones 

God erased from the public square

Sexual and gender ideology taught to elementary kids

men in girls restrooms and sports 

open borders who bring bring terrorism, drugs, disease, and calamity on schools, govt agencies and hospitals 

Unlimited money to foreign dictators 

Free speech stifled 

indoctrination in schools 

Guns confiscated 

Police defunded 

political enemies arrested and silenced 

weaponizing federal agencies to crush dissent 

 

 

Am I missing anything? 

[DBP66]

2 hours ago, Nolebull813 said:

And 66 doesn’t see the irony in his post that Putin literally said he wants Biden as President. The ironic part is 66 making fun of someone being a puppet when he is displaying every textbook characterization of a puppet. A useful idiot with a brain rot of MSDNC. His brain is so rotted that there is no turning back. The damage is irreversible 

and who won the election??.....🙄

[I AM IRONMAN]

1 hour ago, DBP66 said:

and who won the election??.....🙄

Well let you know in a few short months…..😉

[Nolebull813]

1 hour ago, DBP66 said:

and who won the election??.....🙄

Getting your ballot harvesting tools ready to head to Republican counties to throw away all the ballots? 

[World Citizen]

4 hours ago, Nolebull813 said:

We have politicians in DC who step over homeless veterans to get to Capitol Hill to vote to send billions to a foreign corrupt dictator. Let that sink in. 

Once again because you are too damn stupid...the people YOU VOTE FOR are responsible for doing absolutely nothing to help our veterans or anybody else for that matter.  You do not care about our veterans at all.  If you did you wouldn't vote for any Republican ever.