Why The CIA's Best Really Have Little Use For "Mogul" - aka Trump

"Trump's claims of 'no collusion' are hogwash. Trump  clearly has become  more desperate to protect himself and those close to him which is why he made the politically motivated decision to revoke my security clearance....I've seen this type of behavior on the part of foreign tyrants and despots. I just never ever thought I'd see it in the United States. " Former CIA Director  John Brennan,  Aug. 14, 2018 on 'All In'

Watching John Bolton's recent interviews with Martha Radditz and Nora O'Donnell, where he refers to Trump as "a threat to the Republic"- I had to wonder which cave he just crawled out from . I mean, good grief, that's been known at least since 2017 with Yale psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee's terminal takedown of this walking refuse in her book, 'The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump'.   Therein she refers to him as:

 "A disruptive personality and a peril to our collective security each day he remains in office. "    

 That has proven prescient as we've beheld his subversive and even traitorous behavior ever since, including:  his siding with  top former KGB chief Putin on numerous fronts (against his own intel agencies), getting Barr in as his personal AG to work from the inside to take down the Mueller investigators and release co-conspirators (e.g. Roger Stone, Michael Flynn),  trying to use foreign powers to take down his political opponents,  like Joe Biden, and incessantly smearing and disparaging his own intelligence chiefs as well as their briefings.  None of this behavior can remotely be regarded as normal for a U.S. president - but it certainly is normal for a Manchurian candidate or enemy mole - catapulted into power with assistance from Russian assets and influence, i.e. in the 2016 election.


Tony Schwarz,  the ghost writer who wrote  'The Art of the Deal' for him, had this to say (p. 73, ibid.):

"His amygdala is repeatedly triggered...and his prefrontal cortex - the part of the brain that makes us capable of rationality and reflection - shuts down. He reacts rather than reflects - and damn the consequences.  This is what makes his access to the nuclear codes so dangerous and frightening."

This is not exaggeration and who can forget the infamous Helsinki meet with Putin where Trump agreed with him that U.S. agents and assets could rightfully be sent to Moscow for interrogation by the GRU, if the U.S. were to question Russian assets here.  Prompting this accurate depiction:

Max Boot, writing in the July 25, 2018 WaPo also noted:

Trump is willing, under duress, to briefly and begrudgingly admit that Russian “meddling” took place in 2016 before reverting to calling it a “big hoax.” But he always maintains that the plot against America had no impact; he describes it as a “Democrat excuse for losing the ’16 Election.”

Here is the intelligence community’s assessment, partially declassified in January 2017: “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The US Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze US political processes or US public opinion.” When then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo claimed last fall that “the intelligence community's assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election,” his own agency rebuked him.

This brings us to today, and there is no question Trump is a walking, disruptive debacle and massive national security threat.  As I pulled out an extensive Denver Post piece from May 24 I was reminded why this mutt ("Mogul" is his Secret Service monicker) can't possibly be held in very high regard by the CIA.  Below are some of the things they've learned about him since - bearing in mind all his other transgressions with Putin, Kim Jong Un and others, as well as his traitorous lackeys like Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort et al.

- By the time of the Jan. 23 intelligence briefing, officials were already alarmed by the signs of a crisis in China where the virus first broke. But Trump balked at further measures - other than a travel ban - and the U.S. "lost its chance to more effectively mitigate the virus in the following weeks."

- Agency mainstays found Trump was "particularly difficult to brief on critical national security matters".  He lacked the interest or the attention span, as Bolton also noted in his interviews (Trump barely read one briefing per week and that had to be cartoon-ized). 

-  Repeatedly during the most critical briefings, such as after N. Korea missile tests, Trump would "veer off on tangents and getting him back on topic proved extremely difficult".  In addition, in the midst of critical agency points Trump "was unashamed to interrupt intel officers".  Instead he would "riff about gossip he heard from former casino magnate Steve Wynn, retired golfer Gary Player, or Christopher Ruddy, the conservative media executive."

- Agency officials found that Trump "rarely absorbed information that he disagreed with, or that ran counter to his world view."  Hence putting his ignorance and stupidity above the national security interest.  As one official put it:  "Briefing him was so great a challenge compared with his predecessors that the intelligence agencies had to hire outside consultants to study how better to present information to him."   (Many suggested cartoons, but that wasn't on and no one seriously considered it.  There was a limit to how low the information conveyance mechanism could be.)

- "Working to keep Trump's interest exhausted and burned out his first briefer, Ted Gistaro.  Gistaro didn't always know what to expect and would sometimes be forced to brief an erratic and angry president upset over news reports."

- Some Agency mainstays and vets believe "Mogul" is beyond redemption - a lost cause.   They recall and cite his "yearslong attack on the intelligence agencies" and in particular how he "publicly belittled his intelligence chiefs last year after a congressional hearing where they offered assessments at odds with the White House.".  "Mogul" was so infuriated at the evident contradiction that he roared the intel chiefs "should all go back to school". 

- During typical 30-50 minute briefings Mogul's most commonly used diversion was to ask the intel officials: "How do you know?"    At each point,  despite the extensive background info (which Trump never read) he chose to counter with his own deformed and erratic statistics.  Trying to steer him toward the proper and tested stats was akin to trying to teach a brain defective monkey to eat a proper banana instead of one full of fungus.    Worse, "any time the intel chiefs directly challenged Mogul and his bogus stats eroded his trust further and he stopped listening".

What we have here is a cumulative assay of betrayal, incompetence and wreckage on a national scale and driven by the putative "leader" of the nation. A mentally deranged buffoon and plausible puppet for an enemy state who - as Bolton noted in his book and interviews - consistently puts himself at the center of action, decision and response - never the nation.  In this sense he has betrayed his oath to the Constitution and is little more than a traitor, irrespective of his clownish reactions to intelligence briefings - which themselves show he needs to resign forthwith.  As WSJ columnist Peggy Noonan wrote in her recent (June 6-7, p. A13) piece:

"This will not end well. With his timing he'd know it. He should give an Oval Office address announcing he's leaving: 'America, you don't deserve me'. "


Joseph Maguire, former acting director of national intelligence (according to the Post piece) "told briefers they need to understand Trump honed his style on reality television".

Maybe. But even a nominally sane and intelligent person - especially one who had been elected president- should grasp that nuclear codes, warheads, cruise missiles and dealing with monster hurricanes and pandemics are not the fluff of reality TV.  Hence, the sane and intelligent person adapts to the new situation, especially given he took a freaking oath to defend the people and the country - from all enemies foreign and domestic. That 'Mogul"  hasn't processed that and needs people like Maguire to make excuses for him, shows how unfit he is to lead this nation.    This is especially given (ibid.):


"The briefer - always a top CIA analyst- delivers the latest secrets and best insights from the 17 intelligence agencies - and are based on the President's Daily Brief - the crown jewel of intelligence reports."

Can we now say these top class briefings- delivered to "Mogul"  - are the equivalent of casting precious pearls before an ornery swine? Yes, I believe we can. And a traitor to boot.  After more than 11 major takes (in assorted books) on "Mogul" as an unfit, reckless, willing pawn for our domestic enemies - no more is needed.  

We don't need another repeat of Bolton's (or Comey's, or Bandy X.Lee's, or Bob Woodward's, or 'ANONYMOUS et al) books to re-confirm what we already know:  the bloated, orange maggot is a threat to this nation and needs to be removed from office ASAP.   As Janice put it: "He shouldn't even get an extra two and a half months to wreak havoc after the November 3rd general election."

Indeed, we really need him gone now, but can only hope our democratic system (especially preserving the integrity of the vote) has sufficient resilience to withstand his coming attacks until November!  

See Also:

• Source says Trump given brief on Russian bounties weeks ago, but may not have bothered to read it 

And:

Donald Trump

Columnist Details 6 Mysterious ‘Trump Bombshells’ That Could Blow at Any Moment

And:

Jaime O'Neill

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2020 Elections | Donald Trump | Republicans

What If...?

by Jaime O'Neill | June 25, 2020 - 7:57am | permalink

More Reasons Than Ever For House Dems To Do Proper Oversight Hearings - Especially After The Manafort Sentencing Fiasco

"Uh, doh! I does brain fart so therefore I am ... da judge! Besides, Paulie did live an otherwise blameless life! Sniff!"

"Judge Ellis's assessment that Manafort led an 'otherwise blameless life'   was proof that he is unfit to serve on the federal bench.  I've rarely been more disgusted by a judge's transparent preferential treatment to a rich white guy who betrayed the law and the nation." - Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe, in a text last night to Chris Hayes, on 'All In'.

We saw from the very beginning that Judge Ellis did not really seem to have a grasp on Paul Manafort's life of crime, life of corruption. He was shocked at the number of people, reporters that had actually turned out to appear. He didn't understand why people were so interested in this man."  -  'Atlantic' journalist Natasha Bertrand, last night on 'All In'

"In an otherwise blameless life? What a joke!   In an otherwise blameless life he lobbied for arms for an Angolan dictator who burned women and children alive. In an otherwise blameless life he stole money from a Russian oligarch then went into hiding. And in an otherwise blameless life he invented a system of corruption where he took some of the worst goons, thugs and autocrats in the world and tried to whitewash their reputations so they would be exempt from reprimand from human rights abuses. He invented  corruption in modern Washington.  Today's decision, this slap on the wrist, essentially ratifies the world of impunity that Paul Manafort pioneered."  - Franklin Foer, Atlantic staff writer, commenting on Manafort decision last night ('All In')

Before going on, let's all agree that the behavior yesterday of  U.S. District Court Judge T.S. Ellis III in the trial of  Trump criminal associate Paul Manafort (on bank fraud and tax evasion charges)  makes it clear he either has Alzheimer's disease or is just plain incompetent and, in any case,  totally unfit to serve on any judicial bench.  There is no other conclusion possible in the wake of his earlier interference with the prosecution, i.e. interjecting his own irrelevant (and often ignorant) inputs and observations.  To remind readers, Ellis intervened regularly during the trial and mainly against one side: the prosecution. 

His incessant interruptions occurred in the presence of the jury and on matters of substance, not courtroom conduct. He disparaged the prosecution's evidence, misstated its legal theories, even implied that prosecutors had disobeyed his orders when they had not.  This lamebrain kook also expressed amazement that so many of the media could be present, "showing no grasp at all of the gravity or the case" in the words of court observer and Atlantic reporter Natasha Bertrand.  In other words, Ellis gave every reason he ought to be banned from giving any decisions other than maybe whether  a lease expires on a dog pound.

Now, in his latest (and biggest) brain fart misfire we've seen him give a hardened, white collar criminal and Russkie go-between a slap on the wrist sentence of 4 years.  (Mueller called for an objective sentencing guideline 19-24 years after Manafort's lying, jury tampering).  Let's also realize this robed poseur delivered the knuckle rap despite the fact Manafort uttered not one syllable of remorse, repentance. 

Those who need more evidence that Manafort is human vermin need to watch the superb documentary 'Active Measures' - which traces the entire historic arc of how Putin and the Russians recognized Trump as an expeditious mark to corrupt and destroy the U.S. political system. See e.g.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv3PbSMI7tY

Apart from Ellis turning his court and the judiciary process overall  into a 3-ring circus and shit show one still  has to howl with laughter even if you're not a political animal. This is at the spectacle of the Trump enablers twisting themselves into knots of excuses and rationalizations as the House Dems zoom in with hearings.  Trump himself, while we know he's losing his marbles as the assorted investigations close in,  has become even more radically unstable - almost like a rabid ferret on speed, or LSD.   As the span of Democratic House investigations opened this past week  - in the wake of Michael Cohen's public Oversight Committee testimony-  and especially after the committee sent out letters to 81 of Trump's associates, Trump had clearly lost it.

Fitfully striking out like a bombastic,  angry drunk- who'd just discovered he had to pick up the bar tab for 50 drunken pals - he belched  (tweets) in his own inimitable way:

"This is meant to harass innocent people." 

And:

"Now that they realize the only collusion with Russia was done by crooked Hillary and the Demncrats, Nadler, Schff and the Dem heads of the committees have gone stone cold CRAZY"

Subsequent tweets were equally in the "thou doth protest too much" mold as he spat out drivel like:

"This is a big fat, fishing expedition. PRESIDENTIAL HARASSMENT!"

BWAHAHAAAAA!  Cry me a river,  you orange turd!

Of course, the Dotard's mad howling - like a psychopath overdosed on lithium in a rubber room- is purely for the benefit of his Reeptardo base.  Because everyone else knows the asshole is a swindler, criminal and now likely traitor. Hell, recent polls show the so-called "liar" Michael Cohen is believed over Trump by 50% to 35%. ('All In' Monday night). Other polls (same MSNBC show) disclose a full 64 percent of the American people believe Trump has committed criminal acts while president. So all his pathetic efforts to try to blame the Dems for his sorry mess are just that, pathetic.

  His own Justice Department - back in December - already claimed  that he'd committed campaign finance violations, paying hush money to two mistresses: Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal. By virtue of this hush money ploy it thereby followed he was trying to manipulate the 2016 election result by buying the women's silence.  As legal specialist Harry Litman bluntly put it:

"One thing the (Constitutional) Convention certainly wanted to see impeachable was crimes committed in order to gain office in the first place."

Cohen's Oversight Committee testimony nailed that crime with a signed check he delivered as evidence.  Well, six more signed checks turned up yesterday when Cohen delivered them to a closed door hearing. CNN first reported that Mr. Cohen had produced the documents Wednesday. He had alluded to them before the Oversight and Reform Committee, specifically mentioning Jay Sekulow, one of Mr. Trump’s personal lawyers, had proposed alterations to his 2017 statement.    

As for Dotard's repetitious mantra that the Mueller investigation on Russian collusion is a "witch hunt" - Ty Cobb - his former lawyer delivered a podcast ('The Investigation') in which he asserted clearly Mueller was a straight shooter, just and there was no witch hunt.  In other words, Dotard's tired repetitious loop basically reflects a continuously leaking, malignant embolism in Trump's excuse for a brain.  

Trump himself has been his own best accuser in regard to the conspiracy - not  "collusion" - since there is no federal statue for that. As WaPo reporter Max Boot wrote in a July 25 column:

"Trump is willing, under duress, to briefly and begrudgingly admit that Russian “meddling” took place in 2016 before reverting to calling it a “big hoax.” But he always maintains that the plot against America had no impact; he describes it as a “Democrat excuse for losing the ’16 Election.....

Here is the intelligence community’s assessment, partially declassified in January 2017: “We did not make an assessment of the impact that Russian activities had on the outcome of the 2016 election. The US Intelligence Community is charged with monitoring and assessing the intentions, capabilities, and actions of foreign actors; it does not analyze US political processes or US public opinion.” When then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo claimed last fall that “the intelligence community's assessment is that the Russian meddling that took place did not affect the outcome of the election,” his own agency rebuked him.

Outside experts who have examined the Kremlin campaign — which included stealing and sharing Democratic Party emails, spreading propaganda online and hacking state voter rolls — have concluded that it did affect an extremely close election decided by fewer than 80,000 votes in three states. 

Clint Watts, a former FBI agent, writes in his recent book, “Messing with the Enemy,” that “Russia absolutely influenced the U.S. presidential election,” especially in Michigan and Wisconsin, where Trump’s winning margin was less than 1 percent in each state.

We still don’t know the full extent of the Russian interference, but we know its propaganda reached 126 million people via Facebook alone. A BuzzFeed analysis found that fake news stories on Facebook generated more social engagement in the last three months of the campaign than did legitimate articles.  Almost all of this “fake news” was either started or spread by Russian bots."

As numerous security specialists (e.g. Malcolm Nance, Frank Figliuzzi, Cliff Watts et al)  have explained,  numerous other  events that unfolded were not coincidences but tie in to the Russia conspiracy with carny barker Trump giving away the scoop in plain sight.

According to Robert Mueller's "GRU  indictments" cited by former federal prosecutor Mimi Rocah:

"On or about July 27, 2016, the conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts on a domain hosted by a third party provider and used by Clinton's personal office. They also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton campaign. '

Most interesting, this happened on the very same day Trump appeared in front of the media cameras and pleaded with Russia to hack Hillary's emails, e.g.

"I will tell you this, Russia if you're listening, I hope that you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. You will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. Let's see if that happens."

To nail it down former U.S. attorney Barbara McQuade has identified the specific type of conspiracy as a "Klein conspiracy". She defined this as "a conspiracy to impede the functioning of any department of government."

 One technical legal website (USLegal) defined the elements as follows:

(1) An agreement between two or more people to accomplish an unlawful objective against the United States;

(2) The commission of an overt act in furtherance of the conspiracy, i.e. cooperating with Wikileaks to hack Hillary's emails

(3) The knowing and voluntary participation of the defendants in the conspiracy.

Again, to appreciate the entire warp and woof of how Trump got into bed with Putin and the Russkies, please download 'Active Measures'.  It will be the best 2 hours you ever spent, but I suggest viewing it in half hour segments.  This is because there is so much evidence, historic background, criminal personae etc.  coming at you - almost like trying to drink water from the proverbial fire hose.

So all Trump's huff and puff about the House Dems "playing games" is so much distraction and diversion, or in Dotard Donnie's case, wishful thinking.   

Of course, in the wake of the heat from the House finally being turned up on the Dotard, you knew his bullshit protectors would work overtime to exonerate anything he's done and paint the Dems as overreaching. This despite the fact, as noted by Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee, e.g. - on All In Tuesday night

That Democrats have a constitutional obligation to provide checks and balances on a run amuck, deranged occupant of the WH. In other words, to hold Trump accountable for his actions.  Moreover, as noted by Rep. Kildee:

 "We in congress have to get to the bottom of this because unfortunately, we can no longer trust the U.S. attorneys operating under the supervision of William Barr, the attorney general, are actually going to turn over the findings of their investigations."

This is an extremely critical and relevant point!

Rep. Kildee also unambiguously challenged the specious nonsense that the Dems in the House need to "quiet" down and not make trouble with impeachment talk, investigations or oversight hearings - despite the fact the GOP quislings did nothing for two years.  Rep. Kildee's robust arguments also put the kibosh on former Obama advisor David Axelrod's take (Denver Post, March 6, p. A 9):  

"Maybe I'm missing something, but the hazard of an omnibus document demand by House Judiciary versus discreet, serial ones is that -  however legitimate the areas of inquiry - plays into the 'witch hunt' meme."

Uh no, it does not. Especially given the GOP House sat on its collective fat rump and did nothing for TWO years - while Trump flouted every norm and constitutional principle on the books. Oh yeah, and continued committing crimes!  So Axelrod is exactly the type of Dem Ninny and weasel that Rep. Kildee challenged.   More expected were the other usual Trump toadies, defenders  and  hacks, e.g. the ever predictable Holman Jenkins Jr. (WSJ, 'Mr. Chaos Vs. The Swamp'. A13, Mar 6), failing to recognize that Mr. Chaos  (Trump) has  spawned a swamp  (i.e. of criminal associates, former staff - now convicted felons)  to dwarf any other in D.C.

Jenkins argued  the House Dems would  have had "no incentive to spend unlimited sums investigating and destroying the guy who finished second."  Yeah, but see, he didn't finish 2nd. He topped out with Russkie help and also by hiding his hush money payments  to Stormy Daniels in violation of campaign finance laws.  Besides, any money the Ds spend investigating a REAL threat like Trump pales in comparison to what the GOP House blew through over 3 years investigating Benghazi.

Little Holman also claimed "with no Russian collusion all the Dems have is hatred of Donald Trump". Not so,  given as I showed above the evidence is for conspiracy, not collusion. As for hating Trump-  we don't need any excuses, subterfuge or fake charges for that!  He's quite detestable as a forlorn excuse for a malignant human all on his own.

Then there are the  (Rupert) Murdoch imbued WSJ editors ('Nadler's Obstruction Quest', Mar. 6, p. A14) who insisted the "examples (Nadler) cites are legal presidential actions" going on to agree "a president can obstruct justice while in office but only if he suborns perjury or destroys evidence  or commits any act impairing the availability or integrity of evidence."

Well, Trump has done all three!  He suborned perjury via his orders to Cohen in paying off the women (Stormy Daniels and Gina McDougal) in violation of campaign finance laws with hush money.  He also suborned perjury  when he directed the Trump Moscow negotiations (for a building there) throughout the 2016 campaign  and lied about, and directed Michael Cohen to do likewise. He did so because he never believed he'd actually win the presidency - but he still needed the Moscow deal. (As Cohen testified he "stood to make hundreds of millions of dollars on the Moscow real estate project".)

Moreover, even if one is suspicious of Cohen's account there  is a record of Trump's Russkie dealings goinig back decades. As reported in The New Republic,  Aug./Sept. 2017,  p. 29):

"A review of the public record reveals a clear and disturbing pattern: Trump owes much of his business success, and by extension his presidency, to a flow of highly suspicious money from Russia. Over the past three decades, at least 13 people with known or alleged links to Russian mobsters or oligarchs have owned, lived in, or even run criminal activities out of Trump Tower and other Trump properties. Many used his apartments and casinos to launder untold millions in dirty money .....Taken together, the flow of money from Russia provided Trump with a crucial infusion of financing that helped rescue his empire from ruin, burnish his image, and launch his career in television and politics....It's entirely possible that Trump was never more than a convenient patsy for Russian oligarchs and mobsters."

Of course, this very background helps explain why Trump is hyper paranoid now about Bob Mueller digging into his money trail, including leading right through his family finances.

Trump's companies also have destroyed email evidence, e.g.

Donald Trump's Companies Destroyed Emails in Defiance of Court ...

https://www.newsweek.com/.../donald-trump-companies-destroyed-emails-documents

Lastly, he impaired the availability and integrity of evidence via masterminding a Klein conspiracy in conjunction with hiding the Trump Tower meeting with the Russians (including GRU agents)  in June, 2016  and letting Don Jr. handle it.   This is yet another reason to get Don Jr. on the hot seat in front of the (now valid) House Intelligence Committee and grill the bastard six ways from Sunday.

As for one WaPo story that the Dems are conflicted over investigating Trump's "children"  e.g.


Democrats torn over scrutiny of Trump’s children

Give me an effing break!  These are full grown, criminal adults who have contributed to the Russian intervention and need to be taken to the mat. No stupid framing and sentimentalizing by calling them "children".  Does anyone with half a brain believe the Reptiles would hold back on going after Chelsea Clinton if they found the tiniest excuse? 

See also:

       

Cody Fenwick

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Donald Trump | Michael Cohen

Democrats Signal That Cohen’s ‘Explosive’ Closed-door Testimony Implies Legal Peril for the Trump Family

And:

Trump’s ‘Shadow Impeachment’ Began Monday. Will the Truth Save America From Itself?

by Will Bunch | March 6, 2019 - 8:03am | permalink

— from Philly.com

Crave Unity If You Must - But Not At The Expense of Conscience and Moral Clarity

Look, I get the sentiments and angst of "middle of the road" voters like Elisa Parker, described in a Denver Post front page story as terrified at the nation's polarization and desperately searching for it to end.  But for god's sake, that doesn't mean - or shouldn't - sacrificing clarity and conscience at any cost - just to get peace. It can't or we are all for the high jump.

There is ONE side, one source, at fault and it is up to even the "moderates" to figure that out before election day next Tuesday. It is simply not good enough to wring hands and bleat repeatedly about being caught "between both extremes" while you shift from "liberal to conservative" media to find answers.  The answers are there, in front of citizens' eyes- they just have to look- and not very far.  Then the source of all our travails and political division exposed as Donald J. Trump, as former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt put it last night on 'All In':

"What Trump is doing is stoking and inciting for the purposes of political power the worst amongst us to take action in his name..... This man (Robert Bowers), a fanatic  was radicalized by FOX News, by talk radio and a right wing propaganda machine that is as sophisticated as it is deadly."

See:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwxQYQB1zD0

I advise all readers to watch Schmidt's explanation of how and why Trump has waged a cold Civil War that has now become hot on the margins. And will get even hotter unless people come to their senses and put a check on his authoritarian narcissism.

We know, for example, that the White Nationalists marching last year in Charlottesville, e.g.

grew even more fond of Dotard after Trump said there were some “very fine people on both sides”.  They took that as a cue to get even bolder.   We also know that Robert Bowers believed the caravan was caused by Jews and supported by HIAS. That's when he then tweeted, "Screw your optics, I'm going in!"   Would he have been that energized if Trump hadn't been pounding the "caravan" as an existential threat at every damned rally he had? I say, doubtful. So it merely took his already virulent anti-Semitism in conjunction to what he interpreted - from Trump's rhetoric - to be an immediate threat, to act.

See e.g.

Trump's phony 'caravan' hysteria led to the Synagogue murders: Adam Serwer for The Atlantic

Trump is the source of our current tribalism and "cold Civil War" to use Steve Schmidt's term. Trump, aka Dotard, even had the shameless audacity to blame Jews for their slaughter by saying they ought to have had armed guards at the synagogue. The same idiocy he had proposed (with his crank NRA lackeys) for schools after the Parkland massacre.

According to Stanford Sociology professor Robb Willer, quoted in the Denver Post piece, "the violent tribalism currently so ingrained in American life will eventually right itself". However, this will not be until the public decides it's had enough and stops rewarding politicians who use incendiary language and demonize the other side."

Newsflash! That is exactly Donald Trump!  Don't use excuses to deflect by saying (as WSJ's Holman Jenkins often has ) that "it's just his style",  or as some media pundits insist "he likes to punch back". (Hey, let this mutt punch back at a tackling dummy or whatever.)

At least, let's call a spade a spade and outright just say he loves to foment hate. It's in his DNA.

As Prof. Willer explained:

"That is the question of our time. Are we going to continue the war or are we going to choose peace? We don't yet know what the answer to that will be because while a majority are fed up with the political divisions it does feel we're stuck here."

Well, we're stuck until the message to cease and desist is sent. That opportunity arrives next week and as former Republican commenter Max Boot put it, the only way to send a clear message is to vote Democratic because now that is the only way to put a check and balance on Trump - wich the GOP congress chooses not to do.

As reported in The Guardian, it is Trump who has fueled a climate of hatred in general and antisemitism in particular, with the GOP congress acting as his enabler, several experts warned on Monday. Trump's  tone has justifiably received renewed scrutiny after Saturday’s massacre of 11 worshippers at The Tree of Life Synagogue, the deadliest attack on Jewish people in American history.  David N Myers, a professor of Jewish history at the University of California, Los Angeles put it bluntly:

“He has dramatically elevated the level of rhetorical tension in ways that do not discourage people from acting out their terrifying views,"

Trump renewed the offensive on Monday with a tweet that warned of an “invasion” of immigrants, echoing the hate-filled writings of accused synagogue gunman Robert Bowers.

Trump wrote that “some very bad people” were mixed into the caravan of several thousand people, mainly from Honduras, currently travelling through Mexico. “This is an invasion of our Country and our Military is waiting for you!” Trump added.

Citing official sources, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration was preparing to send 5,000 more troops to the border to help with security, angering immigrants’ rights activists and others who say the move militarizes the issue unnecessarily for political gain ahead of crucial midterm elections next week.

But Trump’s choice of words also caused further outrage.

Again he tried to shift blame to the media on Monday, arguing that “fraudulent” reporting was contributing to anger in the country and - in yet more homage to Hitler - again declaring that the press was the “true Enemy of the People”.  Like a true fascist or proto-Nazi Trump has consistently  decried criticism of his corrosive rhetoric and fears over its consequences.  All of which are entirely valid, given only a confirmed tyrant would be at home with an obsequious press.

A survey by the Public Religion Research Institute found a majority (54%) of Americans feel Trump’s decisions and behavior have encouraged white supremacist groups, compared with 39% who say they had had no effect and 5% who say he has discouraged these groups.

Critics say he has a history of using Jewish stereotypes.

In 2015, he told the Republican Jewish Coalition “I’m a negotiator like you folks” but suggested they would not support him “because I don’t want your money”. The following year, he tweeted an image of Clinton set against a background of US currency with a six-pointed star (reminiscent of the star of David) and the words, “Most corrupt candidate ever!”  E.g.

His closing campaign ad further railed against “global special interests” and featured images of George Soros, a billionaire investor and philanthropist, and the Federal Reserve chairwoman, Janet Yellen, both of whom are Jewish. Let's not mince words here, though "the Donald" may have thought he was cleverly disguising his anti-Semitic hostility most of us saw right through it.

Subsequently, the Trump White House issued a statement to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day that made no mention of Jews or antisemitism. Then the press secretary, Sean Spicer, was forced to apologize after asserting that Adolf Hitler, who gassed millions of Jews during the Holocaust, did not use chemical weapons.

Myers went on to say: “There is a toxic culture of vilification and demonization that has pervaded American political culture in recent years. Donald Trump did not invent that toxic culture but he has certainly stirred the pot considerably.”

As I've written about before, Trump has also made derogatory comments about women, Mexicans, Muslims and others. Myers added: “He’s an equal opportunity and equal opportunistic vilifier. My surmise is that he doesn’t dislike Jews more than other people but I am stupefied by his unwillingness to call it out when it occurs, especially given his own family background with his son-in-law and daughter.”

Want to sent a message to stop this insanity? Vote all Dem, down the ballot, next week on Tuesday. Dithering about and unable to decide so you plan to stay home? Then you award Trump and deliver a de facto vote for more polarization and hate speech - also the destruction of vital social insurance programs if the GOP retains the House as well as Senate.

Not bothered by Trump's rhetoric and like his economic moves  (tax cuts, dergulation etc.) instead?  Then you are merely an accomplice after the fact to enable his hate speech further, under the misguided belief the economy will keep working in your favor. 

Here's the single takeaway or bottom line in this pivotal election: We are in the midst of a moral crisis and the leader of the political coalition that controls all levers of  the federal government is continuing to stoke the fires of fear, resentment and hatred that have led us to this moment. If you seriously believe not voting Dem  -and hence putting a check on Trump - is not in your self interest, there is nothing more I can write or say. You clearly believe the nation's welfare is of lower priority. 'Nuff  said.

See also:

We Can't Deny the Connections Between the Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect's Apparent Motivation and Trump's Bigotry