Jeff Danziger lives in New York City. He is represented by CWS Syndicate and the Washington Post Writers Group. He is the recipient of the Herblock Prize and the Thomas Nast (Landau) Prize. He served in the US Army in Vietnam and was awarded the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He has published eleven books of cartoons and one novel. Visit him at DanzigerCartoons.com.
Trump gave a bizarre, rambling, and nonsensical press conference, all while sitting relaxed on a couch at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Friday afternoon.
The event was supposed to be centered around announcing that Small Business Administrator Linda McMahon would be leaving the administration to work at a pro-Trump super PAC, but it quickly went off the rails.
Trump bounced from topic to topic, hitting some of the familiar refrains that have been his obsession over the past week. In some instances, he merely rehashed the material from his rambling campaign rally in Michigan, though this time he did not discuss how deep any lakes are.
Trump tried to once again talk his way out of his own budget’s plan to eliminate funding for Special Olympics.
“For many years it hasn’t been approved, and then at some point it gets negotiated out by Congress,” Trump said, conveniently concealing his role in cutting funds with a lie about Congress’ role.
He then, of course, gave himself credit for keeping the funding in place.
What really happened is that in his own budget — proposed over two weeks ago — Trump proposed removing funding for Special Olympics, a departure from previous presidents. Then his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos testified under oath to Congress and defended the action.
Congress had nothing to do with it, despite what Trump said.
But after enormous public blowback and heavy coverage on television, Trump decided to come out against his own document.
His budget was already dead on arrival, with Democrats immediately dismissing it as nonsensical and cruel. It has no chance of passing Congress and will never be enacted.
Nonetheless, Trump sat on his couch and tried to take credit for restoring money he himself proposed to take away.
Trump’s couch conference also featured him lavishing praise on McMahon, the former CEO of WWE, who once was key in having him headline a match at Wrestlemania. (Trump is in the WWE hall of fame, by the way.)
And of course, Trump also discussed his intention to close the U.S.-Mexico border, while falsely asserting that to do so would be a profitable enterprise for America. In fact, the country would lose out on over $40 billion per month from the decision.
Trump also lavished a similar amount of praise on North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un while explaining his incoherent approach to sanctions on that nation.
The entire event was strange and bizarre, even more so with Trump’s resort as the backdrop. Membership in the club has been connected to sketchy campaign donation issues, as well as an ongoing Congressional investigation. And it also lines Trump’s pockets to this day.
For a brief moment, Trump and his couch had a starring role in the ongoing mix of corruption, incompetence, and incoherence that surrounds his entire presidency.
Published with permission of The American Independent.
By Allison Pries and Linda Moss, The Record (Hackensack, N.J.)
NEWARK, N.J. — Athletes wearing colorful team uniforms proudly paraded through the arena Sunday before thousands of cheering spectators, including their families and friends.
With pomp and circumstance, the 2014 Special Olympics USA Games kicked off its week of competition — for the first time in New Jersey — at the Prudential Center in Newark.
Pro athletes, celebrities and business executives lauded the intellectually disabled participants as the true champions in the world.
“I’m excited to be here with all these champions,” co-host Michael Carter-Williams, a point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers and the NBA’s rookie of the year, told the crowd.
An estimated 18,000 people, including 3,500 athletes and 1,000 coaches, packed the Prudential Center for the four-hour opening ceremony of the Special Olympics, which comprises 16 individual and team sports.
The games’ location this year in the New York metropolitan area is much higher-profile than prior sites — Iowa in 2006 and Nebraska in 2010. The Empire State Building was lighted in the Special Olympics colors, blue and red, on Sunday night.
There were representatives from all 50 states at the Prudential Center, and all were duly introduced. New Jersey’s delegation received an especially loud cheer. These national games are important to North Jersey members of the group of athletes.
At the opening ceremony, there were pyrotechnics during a rock version of the national anthem and appearances by Glee actress Jane Lynch, as well as WWE Superstars Big Show and David Otunga. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was supposed to appear, but he got stuck in traffic and arrived late, and had to leave to continue his planned schedule, a Special Olympics spokeswoman said.
The Special Olympics were founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver to empower people with intellectual disabilities and foster understanding and acceptance. It has grown to encompass 3.5 million athletes in 170 countries. Nearly 10,000 volunteers and 70,000 spectators are expected in New Jersey, which was selected in March 2011 to play host for the 2014 games.
“The model we presented was of having corporate America underwrite the games,” said T.J. Nelligan, chairman and CEO of the games.
And big business stepped up. Toys “R” Us, ShopRite, PSE&G, 21st Century FOX, The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, KPMG, the WWE and others have covered 90 percent of the $20 million cost of the games and companion activities. Previously, the games had been paid through government grants.
Photo: Stephentyler2 via Flickr
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