33,000 missing emails versus 35,000 deaths

“If Russia or any other country or person has Hillary Clinton’s 33,000 illegally deleted emails, perhaps they should share them with the FBI!” – Trump tweet 7-27-16

We all heard it or have seen it, Trump telling the media at a July 2016 press conference at the Doral resort “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let’s see if that happens” which he followed-up with tweet above.

Recently, on February 29^th of 2020, Trump gave a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) where he “attempted” to rewrite history about his infamous request of Russia. Trump’s new version: “Remember this thing, ‘Russia, if you’re listening’?’ Remember, it was a big thing, in front of 25,000 people. ‘Russia if you’re…’ It was all said in a joke. They cut it off right at the end so that you don’t then see the laughter, the joke. And they said, ‘He asked. He asked for help.’ Right? Russia, if you’re listening… A very famous — they cut that thing so quick at the end because they didn’t want to hear the laughter in the place and me laughing. It was just ‘boom.’ These are really dishonest people.”

I know this sounds like an oxymoron but the great thing about Trump, for those of us whose brains are not turned into MAGA mush, is the multitudes of evidence available to us that prove he is a lying sack of shit. From his own tweets, to video of his rally’s, press conferences, etc. Trump has, since day one of his presidency, attempted to rewrite his history one week, one day, one hour at a time.

In Trump’s new version of the Russia request, “It was all said in a joke” there are hundreds of video sources from varied news organizations, including Fox News, that cannot confirm or prove his assertion that the audience was laughing after he made this statement. None. There were a few gasps but no laughing. We can all watch the tape ourselves. Hell, for that matter so can Trump.

Trump has operated in this manner over his entire career. The thing you must remember about him is that he didn’t manufacture a widget. Trump’s “product” is his image, something that required his and his staff’s constant attention. It was important for Trump to stay in the news, so he said shit, lots of shit that got him press coverage. And if the coverage was unflattering, he lied claiming he didn’t say it, or it was taken out of context. But always, the bottom line was the coverage, good, bad or indifferent.

What Trump sells, and what got him elected was a brand, like a box of cereal. MAGA didn’t vote for him based on his intellect, or his moral character, of which he has neither. They picked him for the same reason they buy B&M Baked Beans or Van Camp’s Pork & Beans, their perception of the brand.

Once again Trump is attempting to rewrite another history, his lack of response to the emerging Coronavirus pandemic back in January. What he and his handlers are doing is a two-prong approach to the rewrite, find a scapegoat, China, the Democrats, the World Health Organization, and qualify his earlier tweets and speeches as attempts not to panic the country while he alone was making “decisive” decisions to save us from ourselves.

Never mind that in February he was “busy” making speeches at his redneck rallies, playing golf, and hanging out with his fat cat buddies at Mar-a-Lago.

The fun and sad part of the last three and half years is the mounds of evidence that make it crystal clear that Trump is a Buffon without a plan, without a qualified staff of advisors, without any inkling of any idea of what it takes to be the President of the United States. He is a brand, like Cap’n Crunch or Oscar Mayer Beef Franks and like any brand there is always an alternative to buy which is what Trump fears the most.