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Grinch or Santa?
Author: BobR    Date: 12/23/2020 13:59:23

Is tRump Santa or the Grinch? It depends.

For 15 people, he's probably Santa:
President Donald Trump on Tuesday pardoned 15 people, including Republican allies, a 2016 campaign official ensnared in the Russia probe and former government contractors convicted in a 2007 massacre in Baghdad.

The pardons included former Republican Reps. Duncan Hunter of California and Chris Collins of New York.

The latter two named were Republicans convicted for corruption. Collins actually admitted in court to insider trading. Hunter pled guilty to embezzling his own campaign funds for personal expenses.

There were also 4 former Blackwater contractors who murdered more than a dozen unarmed Iraqi citizens. They are pretty happy. The families of the murdered Iraqis, whoever, likely see tRump as a Grinch for sure.

DeutscheBank probably see's tRump as the Grinch. Two longtime employees who worked as financial concierges for tRump are abruptly resigning by the end of the year:
[Rosemary] Vrablic became President Trump's private banker at the German lender in 2011, at a time when Trump was having difficulties borrowing money due to his history of defaulting on loans. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner, already a client of Vrablic, introduced her to Trump.

[...]

... Deutsche Bank in August opened an internal investigation into a real estate deal in which Vrablic and a longtime colleague at the bank, Dominic Scalzi, invested in an apartment building partly owned by Kushner. Scalzi is also resigning at the end of the year.

[...]

Deutsche Bank has been exploring how it can end its heavily scrutinized relationship with Trump, Reuters reports. But for Trump, his "key contacts at his biggest financial backer are leaving at a perilous time for the departing president," the Times reports. "He owes Deutsche Bank about $330 million, and the loans come due in 2023 and 2024. Mr. Trump provided a personal guarantee to get the loans, meaning that if he fails to pay them back, the bank can pursue his personal assets."

For Americans struggling during the pandemic, the House is Santa and the Senate is the Grinch (with Scrooge McConnell at the helm). The House tried to push through a $3T aid/spending package, and the Senate wanted it to be "only" $500B. They ultimately compromised on a deal that will result in $600 checks being provided to Americans. That seems like too little / too late.

In the "stopped clock" department, tRump agrees, and is threatening to veto the bill unless the checks are bumped up to $2000. His motivations for doing so are unknown, but given tRump's tendencies towards self-aggrandizement, it's easy enough to guess. He wants to be the Grinch at the end of the show, riding into town giving people back what he took from them, and basking in the praise for doing so.

We celebrate a secular non-Christian Christmas in our house, and I hope everyone has a great holiday, regardless of how you celebrate it. May your Grinches be few and your Santas be many.


 
 
 

13 comments (Latest Comment: 12/23/2020 17:55:34 by Will in Chicago)
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Comment by wickedpam on 12/23/2020 14:31:09
Morning

Seems like trying to buy a legacy to me.

Comment by Raine on 12/23/2020 14:35:14
Good Morning.

War criminals... it's almost hard to fathom.

Comment by livingonli on 12/23/2020 14:43:26
Dolt45 may also be saying what he is about the stimulus because he's pissed off at McConnell for not supporting his challenge of the electoral votes.

Comment by Scoopster on 12/23/2020 14:46:48
Gooooood mornin' all!

I had real caffeine coffee for the first time in like two years today and I'm FIRED THE F UP!!

Comment by Scoopster on 12/23/2020 15:04:09
ooh yeah!! - house pics are FINALLY up on the Book of Why-Did-I-Post-Anything-Personal-on-this-damn-thing

Comment by Raine on 12/23/2020 15:13:11
MSNBC reporting that Lindsey is on board with the $2000!

Rand paul is calling for a veto.

Comment by Raine on 12/23/2020 15:13:33
Quote by Scoopster:
ooh yeah!! - house pics are FINALLY up on the Book of Why-Did-I-Post-Anything-Personal-on-this-damn-thing
Yay!


Comment by Will in Chicago on 12/23/2020 15:13:44
Good morning, bloggers!!!

I hope that everyone is well. I finished up a few things for my return to school in January. I will actually have some time off after cleaning today.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 12/23/2020 15:25:36
Quote by Raine:
Good Morning.

War criminals... it's almost hard to fathom.



I am not that surprised. Betsy DeVos is the brother of Erik Prince, who created Blackwater. We have cronyism in Trump's administration that would make a Chicago alderman blush. (Also, the fact that the crimes were committed against Iraqis probably does not matter at all to Trump or his base.)

I suspect Trump wants to make himself look good to the public by calling for more money to Americans impacted by COVID- 19. (This is a pittance when compared with what other industrialized democracies are doing.) He hopes to take credit if it works and have someone to blame if it does not work.



Comment by TriSec on 12/23/2020 15:56:43
Greetings, comrades.

In other news, gues who's computer is in the process of shitting the bed as we speak? (I'm on Javi's laptop right now.)

Well, at the very least - I should be able to get a good deal from an after-Christmas sale.



Comment by wickedpam on 12/23/2020 16:13:22
And my Blogger Joe has move from in transit to "information not available" *sigh*

I swear its like the Hunger Games in shipping anything. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Comment by livingonli on 12/23/2020 16:55:38
Quote by wickedpam:
And my Blogger Joe has move from in transit to "information not available" *sigh*

I swear its like the Hunger Games in shipping anything. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Thank you Louis Dejoy for screwing it up on behalf of the Republican scumbags who want to privatize it.

Comment by Will in Chicago on 12/23/2020 17:55:34
Quote by livingonli:
Quote by wickedpam:
And my Blogger Joe has move from in transit to "information not available" *sigh*

I swear its like the Hunger Games in shipping anything. May the odds be ever in your favor.

Thank you Louis Dejoy for screwing it up on behalf of the Republican scumbags who want to privatize it.


This is why I sent mine out early. It should have arrived on Friday.

We will see that there is a lot of work to clean up Trump's disasters.