Tag Archives: Twitter

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Trump does the impossible yet again

Donald John “Smart Person” Trump Sr. has done the seemingly impossible one more time.

He has made LaVar Ball, the loudmouth “Little League father” of an NBA player and one of three UCLA students caught shoplifting in China, a (semi) sympathetic character.

LiAngelo Ball was one of the Bruin basketball players caught pilfering some goods at a high-end department store. The Chinese government tossed the boys into jail.

Then the president of the United States entered the picture and reportedly/allegedly finagled a deal to get the young men released and sent home; under Chinese law they faced a potentially lengthy prison sentence.

So, what does LaVar Ball do? He tweets something about Trump really not doing anything to help LiAngelo and his teammates.

Trump’s response? He tweeted back something about how ungrateful Daddy Ball is for what the president did to obtain the release of his son and his pals. The president tweeted this: Now that the three basketball players are out of China and saved from years in jail, LaVar Ball, the father of LiAngelo, is unaccepting of what I did for his son and that shoplifting is no big deal. I should have left them in jail!

There you go. Presidential dignity has taken a hike from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Try to imagine any of Trump’s predecessors engaging in this kind of petulant pettiness.

Do not misunderstand me: Daddy Ball is far from a sympathetic character. He’s brash, brazen and bellicose. He earned his 15 minutes of fame through some kind of “reality TV” gig — that I have never seen. He has produced some sons with decent athletic skill and he’s trading on their prowess to advance his own agenda … whatever the hell it is!

As for the president, I have quit wondering whether Trump will outgrow his Twitter fetish and whether he’ll ever learn to stick to matters of statecraft and high-level diplomacy.

I know the answer to that. He won’t. He can’t.

Bizarre.

environmental news

That’s it, Mr. President: Let’s just kill ’em all

What in the name of endangered species is Donald John Trump Sr. thinking?

He tweets an outrageous policy shift that allows elephant trophy hunters to import their prize to the United States, bringing calls of outrage from environmentalists around the world.

Then he says he’s putting his policy “on hold.” Until when? Further review? Or has someone knocked some sense into that thick, unpresidential skull of his?

The purpose of this reported policy change seems to be to undo yet another decision delivered by President Barack H. Obama, under whose watch the United States imposed the trophy import ban. The former president’s aim was to protect one of Earth’s most magnificent creatures from extinction.

Obama’s successor doesn’t seem to believe that the best way to protect one of God’s creatures is to deter others from killing them.

According to The Associated Press: (Interior Secretary Ryan) Zinke issued a statement later Friday saying: “President Trump and I have talked and both believe that conservation and healthy herds are critical. As a result, in a manner compliant with all applicable laws, rules and regulations, the issuing of permits is being put on hold as the decision is being reviewed.”

This is a simple proposition, in my humble view. If you disallow the importation of trophy animal parts into the United States of America, you would deter American trophy hunters from killing these great beasts. Several countries in Africa already are imposing shoot-on-sight policies regarding poachers who kill the creatures illegally and then sell the ivory tusks at top dollar.

Elephant herd numbers have declined dramatically over many years because of trophy hunters and poachers.

I do so fervently hope and wish the president rethinks his nutty notion about exposing these beasts to greater peril. And spare me the argument that the best way to strengthen these animals’ existence is to kill them.

The best way to strengthen them is to let nature take its course.

International news

This shouldn’t be funny, but it is

I shouldn’t be giggling when a head of state declares a death sentence on another head of state.

Except that the guy who’s issuing the death sentence is Kim Jong Un, the North Korean dictator/strongman/fruitcake. The object of his death sentence? None other than Donald John Trump Sr., the current president of the United States of America.

My goodness. I’ll be brief with this one.

Kim didn’t like being called “short and fat” in a tweet flashed around the world by Trump. Except that the president said he “wouldn’t” call Kim “short and fat.” Not ever. Oh, but wait. He did anyway!

Rodong Sinmun, the North Korea government-run newspaper, wrote in an editorial: “The worst crime for which he can never be pardoned is that he dared [to] malignantly hurt the dignity of the supreme leadership.”

As if Kim had any “dignity” that could possibly be “malignantly hurt.”

I don’t know, though, what could be worse. That Kim would issue this bogus “death sentence,” or that the president will be prompted to fire back an idiotic response.

International news

Trump tweet is ‘almost funny’

I now am going to admit something.

I giggled a bit when I read something about what Donald Trump tweeted about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un.

Kim supposedly said something about Trump being “old.” The president took offense. He said he’d never call Kim “short and fat.”

Oops! Didn’t he just do exactly that? Sure he did.

Actually I found the president’s tweet kinda/sorta clever. But I don’t want to encourage him to keep doing it.

You see, the worldwide stakes are pretty damn high. Kim wants to build a nuclear weapon delivery system that reaches the United States of America. He’s said so publicly. Trump keeps yammering about “the military option” being on the table.

It’s a dangerous world out there, Mr. President. Going to war in Korea isn’t an option — and I don’t give a damn what the president threatens to do if Kim keeps “threatening” the United States and South Korea.

He’s dealing with someone no one outside of North Korea seems to know. No one can determine with any certainty how he will respond to these kinds of personal insults.

I just wish the president would stop saying out loud what he’s entitled to think in private.

media news

Twitter expands its format? Oh, boy … maybe

This just in: Twitter has expanded its social media format, doubling the number of characters one can use to communicate this and/or that musing.

I have no idea what it means for me. I use the medium in a fairly limited fashion. I use it to distribute posts on High Plains Blogger. I retweet others’ messages that I find interesting, provocative or entertaining. I also send out my own commentary on topics of the moment.

Since I signed up on Twitter about six years ago, I found the 140-character limit to be restrictive. I got used to it over time.

Now we get 280 characters to fire off whatever message we choose to send out.

It appears that the tweeter in chief — the guy who also serves as president of the United States — might really bask in this format. Knock yourself out, Mr. President.

I learned during my years in print journalism to “write tight.” Don’t take too much newsprint space to tell whatever story you are asked to tell. I’ve heard many editors scream at reporters for writing too much to fill an eight- or 10-inch hole on a given page.

To that end, Twitter has turned “tight writing” into an art form. I thought I was pretty good at expressing myself in just 140 characters. Now we’re going to double that amount.

I don’t know how to act.

media news

Trump Twitter account goes down … but not for good

Donald J. Trump was off the Twitter trail for 11 whole minutes.

Damn, anyway! Why couldn’t he have been taken off for keeps? Alas, it was not to be.

But the unplugging of Trump’s Twitter feed has raised serious questions that need some equally serious answers.

How did an individual get hold of Trump’s account to disable it if only for a few minutes?

What are the ramifications, particularly when the president tweets out actually federal government policy using that particular social medium?

Does this call into question the wisdom of the Leader of the Free World using this medium in such cavalier fashion?

Oh, the dangers of conducting policy by tweet.

The debate has turned ideological. Conservatives blame the takedown on a rogue Twitter employee who did it on his or her last day on the job. They also complain that Twitter is more tolerant of liberals than conservatives and believe the president’s Twitter account was targeted only because he espouses conservative policies.

I prefer to focus on the very notion of the president of the United States using this medium in the manner that he does. He ought simply to just back off and not get so intimately involved with Twitter. He says he uses it to speak directly to Americans. Hogwash!

If that is his goal, then he ought to issue daily policy statements through the White House communications office.

POTUS exposes himself to trouble

Donald Trump’s use of Twitter, to my mind, only illustrates how vulnerable he is to the kind of chicanery that someone conducted. It also illustrates the extreme danger of these social media messages getting into the wrong hands.

media news

Get a grip, Mr. POTUS; these guys are entertainers!

Now the president is going after late-night comedians, as if he wasn’t satisfied to vent his anger at pro football players and certain cable news networks.

Donald John Trump thinks he and his fellow Republicans deserve “equal time” because so many late-night comics are scorching the president and his policies.

In one tweet, Trump wrote — and forgive the sloppy grammar: Late Night host are dealing with the Democrats for their very “unfunny” & repetitive material, always anti-Trump! Should we get Equal Time?

Then, in another one, with another grammatical misstep: More and more people are suggesting that Republicans (and me) should be given Equal Time on T.V. when you look at the one-sided coverage?

Eek! Yikes! Aack!

Would this guy, the president, please stop this nonsense?

He’s not going to listen to a schmuck blogger from out here in Trump Country. Hell, he won’t even heed the advice of his White House chief of staff, a retired Marine Corps four-star general, who I am absolutely certain would prefer that the president cease the Twitter tirades.

He uses the tweeting device to cut Secretary of State Rex Tillerson off at the knees as he seeks a diplomatic solution to this North Korea missile-firing matter. Trump rakes fellow Republicans over the coals for their failure to approve any aspect of what passes for the president’s legislative agenda. He surprises his military high command with a Twitter-originated directive that bans transgender Americans from serving in the military. He bullies and blusters against news media outlets for their coverage of his administration, calling media reports he deems negative to be “fake news.” And, lest we forget, he defames former President Obama by alleging that he wiretapped the Trump campaign office in Trump Tower.

And he does all this while making a serious federal case — again via Twitter — out of a football-field protest by pro athletes over police tactics used against African-American citizens.

This is so very — and I’ll borrow a made up by none other than Donald Trump himself — “unpresidented.”

When will Trump start acting presidential? My best guess? Probably … never.

International news

‘Only one thing will work’? Really?

Donald J. Trump sounds like a man intent on leading the United States of America to war.

At any cost.

The tweeter in chief blasted out yet another warning to North Korea today, suggesting that 25 years of negotiation with the communist dictatorship has been so futile, so fraught with frustration that there’s no other diplomatic channel left to explore.

He tweeted this: Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid…… …hasn’t worked, agreements violated before the ink was dry, makings fools of U.S. negotiators. Sorry, but only one thing will work!

There you have it. The president of the United States, the commander in chief of the world’s most powerful military machine has all but said that there’s no more talking to be done.

“Only one thing will work!” he said. One thing. What do you suppose that might be?

Let’s presume he means the “military option.” What happens when we strike North Korea’s missile launchers, but don’t get all of them? What happens when we hit their thousands of artillery pieces lined up and aimed straight at Seoul, South Korea — but don’t get them all? Does North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un make good on his threat to strike? Gosh, I would think he would do precisely that.

Then comes the consequence. Many thousands of deaths. Perhaps millions. Many of them will be civilians. And yes, we’ve got those 28,000 American troops sitting right in the middle of it all, along with tens of thousands more American civilians.

We are witnessing first hand the dangers of conducting foreign policy by Twitter. The president of the United States needs to weigh his words carefully, no matter how he delivers his message.

Then again, a president cast from the same mold of others would understand that. Not this guy, Donald Trump. He “tells it like it is.”

I believe Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s widely reported description of the president as a “moron” is looking more accurate with each passing day.

national news

‘New low’ for Trump? Yes, but only for now

James Fallows, a journalist of some renown, says Donald J. Trump’s tweet tirades relating to the criticism he’s taking over the government’s response to Hurricane Maria have taken the president to a “new low.”

I agree. I’ll add this caveat, though. It’s a bad news/worse news scenario. The bad news is that Trump’s criticism of local Puerto Rico officials does constitute a “new low” for the president; the worse news is that he quite likely is capable of taking this presidential petulance to an even lower level.

Fallows wrote this in The Atlantic: But his Twitter outburst this morning — as he has left Washington on another trip to one of his golf courses, as millions of U.S. citizens are without water or electricity after the historic devastation of Hurricane Maria, as by chance it is also Yom Kippur — deserves note. It is a significant step downward for him, and perhaps the first thing he has done in office that, in its coarseness, has actually surprised me.

Donald Trump has taken his presidency to a level none of us has ever seen. He’s dragged it to a point that absolutely nothing this guy says or does publicly henceforth would surprise me. Nothing.

He once boasted that he could “shoot someone” and his voters would still support him. I don’t believe he actually would do such a thing, but he’s demonstrating an astonishing knack for doing anything short of that while still engendering support among his Republican voter “base.”

Hurricane Maria has all but destroyed Puerto Rico. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz criticized the president and the federal government’s response to the island’s pleas for help. What does Trump do? He fires off tweets over the weekend — while hobnobbing at his posh New Jersey resort. Let that sink in for a moment: 3.5 million U.S. citizens are without food, potable water and other supplies and the president criticizes Puerto Ricans for wanting the feds “to do everything for them.”

His Twitter tirades have become a virtual staple of the president’s daily activities.

As Fallows writes: I can think of no other example of a president publicly demeaning American officials in the middle of coping with disaster. There were nasty “God’s punishment!” remarks about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina, but they did not come from the White House or George W. Bush.

I wish I could believe that there’s no way this president can drag his conduct any farther downward. I am left to wait for the next “new low” to slap us in the face.

International news

Trump humiliates Tillerson

You’re the secretary of state, the top diplomat for the United States of America.

You are involved in discussions with officials from another great power, China, about what to do about North Korea and its desire to develop a nuclear weapons arsenal. Then you let it be known that you’ve opened “direct line” to North Korea.

That’s progress — yes? — in this game of diplomatic chicken we’ve been playing with the reclusive and dangerous communist regime in North Korea.

Then the president of the United States — your boss — fires off some tweets that says you’re “wasting your time” in seeking talks with North Korea.

Trump declared in a tweet that the United States is keeping its military options open. The president said: “Save your energy, Rex, we’ll do what has to be done.” Huh? What the … ?

There you have it. The president of the United States, Donald J. Trump, has undermined once again the secretary of state, Rex Tillerson. He has blistered his top diplomat publicly for seeking a constructive solution to a growing crisis that has no realistic military solution.

What’s the upshot of this? According to the Washington Post: “Humiliating for Tillerson, but worse, renders him useless. He’ll resign, today or after a brief face-saving interval,” predicted former Obama administration ambassador and National Security Council official Dan Shapiro, one of many foreign policy experts who tweeted about Trump’s Sunday comments, sent from his New Jersey golf club.

Read more from the Post here.

Should the secretary of state quit over this latest insult? You know, if it were me — and I’m just speaking for myself — I cannot imagine how Secretary Tillerson can tolerate this kind of continuing public humiliation from the president of the United States.