#grifter-in-chief

[hale-my-nathan]

Trump Weird News - Trump, Grifter-In-Chief - Hawking & Shilling

[muddypolitics]

(via elderly golfer’s brain goes fuckity-bye in batshit West Point speech)

the reviews are in for the West Point speech by the dotard grifter-in-chief...

and they are not favorable

[alex51324]

Today in, "Not actually as horrifying as the other shit he's done, but Jesus Christ," Trump is advertising branding opportunities for corporate sponsors of the White House's traditional Easter children's event.

As the article linked above notes, the event is usually a partnership between National Parks Service (because they are responsible for the White House grounds), the White House Historical Association, the White House itself, and the American Egg Board.

(The latter is a private-sector partnership, but not a corporate sponsor; they're an industry cooperative group for marketing and promoting eggs in general.)

The event has also sometimes included limited corporate involvement, with companies like Disney and Lego providing decor and giveaways, but they are typically very careful about avoiding the appearance of advertising on the White House lawn. Some brand recognition is inevitable, with these major, child-friendly brands, but they aren't slapping their logo on stuff.

The article cites ab example of Coca-Cola donating bottled water for the event, but being told that they were not allowed to distribute it from coolers with the Coca-Cola logo on them.

Trump's White House, on the other hand, has sent out a prospectus for potential advertisers, with packages ranging from $75,000 to $200,000, and offering, "logo and branding opportunities," including, "Naming rights for key areas or elements,” “Sponsor logos featured on event signage,” “Custom-branded baskets, snacks/beverages, or souvenirs,” “Mentions in official event communications and social media posts,” “Acknowledgment in printed or digital event programs,” and “Inclusion in press releases and media interviews.”

(Note: the prospectus is not publicly available--at least not yet--but CNN states that they have obtained a copy and these are direct quotes from it.)

CNN showed the prospectus to a former W. Bush-era White House lawyer, who said, “That would have been vetoed in about 30 seconds in my day,” he said. “We’re not running this like a football stadium where you get all logos all over the place for kicking in money.”

Trump, apparently, has a different idea.

[moonbean117]

[sixthrangerknight]

I know this is bullshit trade war fodder, but for a moment I allowed myself to imagine a world where Ea-nāṣir is threatening US national security with his low quality copper.

[alliterative-endlessknot]

The #ConnectedAtBirth #etymology of the week is GRIFT/GRUB/CRAWL #wotd #grift #grub #crawl

[nando161mando]

One grifter down. 9999 More to go...

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

The Biden's & The Meghans=Same

Much like MEgain Markle, Jill Biden thinks her honorary title transformed her into Beyonce!

I'll admit to viewing Jill Biden's fishnet stockings as tacky and inappropriate. I also feel she has deep seated insecurities requiring everyone to address her as "Doctor." In America, it is our custom to ONLY address Medical Doctors as "Doctor...." in ALL settings for PRACTICAL reasons: in the event of a MEDICAL emergency it's good to know there's a "doctor in the house."

Honorary doctorates and/or doctorates in education are relativelyeasy to achieve. Jill Biden's (community college) Ed.D is NOT recognized outside of her community college academic settings.

Not to be outdone by her husband, the POTUS. Mrs. Biden ordered the Marine Corps Band to compose theme music solely to accompany her honorary FLOTUS position.

Hail to the Chief is dedicated to our American POTUS, but Jill felt she also deserved an entrance song, and Fanfare for the First Lady was born.

"Those in the Marine Corps Band said they'd never been asked to do an exclusive First Lady entrance theme before. "Someone in the White House apparently 'had the bright idea, ‘Oh, tell the band that we want music for Jill,'' a source said. 'The band had to provide music,'" Adams reported."

Jill Biden apparently has her own ‘Hail to the Chief’-style entrance theme, courtesy of the Marine Corps band Becket Adams January 4, 2022

Jill Biden apparently has her own walk-up music now.

The Marine Corps band was instructed last fall to come up with an entrance theme for the first lady, a source told the Washington Examiner. The band now has in its repertoire an original composition titled “Fanfare for the First Lady.” The song, the source said, is essentially Jill Biden’s personal “Hail to the Chief,” in that it is to be performed and repeated at official White House functions, from her first appearance until she is ready to speak.

“Fanfare for the First Lady” has created both amusement and confusion within the band, with some remarking that in the many years they’ve played in the group, this is the first time the group has had to provide the first lady with an exclusive entrance theme.

Someone in the White House apparently “had the bright idea, ‘Oh, tell the band that we want music for Jill,'” a source said. “The band had to provide music.”

The band was “rushed” to provide the entrance song for the first lady, the source said, adding the Marine Corps band submitted a few options for the White House’s consideration. The first lady’s handlers settled eventually on the original piece “Fanfare to the First Lady.”

Michael LaRosa, Jill Biden’s press secretary, says the entire story is bunkum.

“The first lady does not have a song anybody has written for her specifically. She has no ‘Hail to the Chief’ song. She has no song,” he told the Washington Examiner. “She never asked anyone to create a song.”

“The White House asked nobody, not one person, to compose an exclusive entry song, or any song, for the first lady,” LaRosa added. “None of that is accurate.”

In fact, he said, “Fanfare for the First Lady” was the band’s idea. He said the band approached the White House with a proposal for new music. “Fanfare for the First Lady” wasn’t even initially written for Jill Biden, he continued, adding it’s simply a finalized version of a piece of music that was already nearly completed when the band first broached the topic with the White House.

“We didn’t ask for it,” LaRosa said. “They came and presented us the option. We had no idea it would even be used again.”

The Marine Corps band has made a recording of “Fanfare for the First Lady” to be played in its absence.

Though it’s not unusual for the group’s arrangers to be asked to compose music at a moment’s notice, a source told the Washington Examiner, it is unusual for the first lady to have her own entrance theme. The cherry on top giving the first lady the “Hail to the Chief” treatment, the source said, is this: “The music is just awful.”

“The song is terrible,” the source said, adding it’s ironic a “completely bogus premise” should result in such an “awful” final product.

The Marine Corps band, which did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment, has performed “Fanfare for the First Lady” at least twice already, including in October of last year for a Teacher of the Year event held at the White House:

It would be “highly unusual” if the White House instructed the Marine Corps band to compose an entrance song exclusively for the first lady, White House historian Tevi Troy told the Washington Examiner.

However, he added, it wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened.

In the 1980s, Troy said, then-President Ronald Reagan’s onetime chief of staff Donald Regan similarly demanded the band compose an entrance song just for him, much to the chagrin of then-White House deputy chief of staff Michael Deaver and then-U.S. Secretary of the Treasury James Baker.

Regan, Troy writes, was “imperious, insisting on all kinds of pomp and circumstance. When traveling with the president, Regan demanded that he get his own introduction, as White House chief of staff. [Baker and Deaver] were mortified when they found out — a bad sign for Regan.”

He adds, “A joke went around the White House about the possibility of Regan becoming a Catholic cardinal and why that would be an improvement: ‘That’s good, now,’ the joke went, ‘we’ll only have to kiss his ring.’”

Regan, by the way, didn’t last long as Reagan’s chief of staff. He was booted from the role after a little more than two years on the job.

Dr. Mrs. the first lady, on the other hand, is here for the entirety of her husband’s presidency, so expect to hear “Fanfare for the First Lady” for the next couple of years.

No word yet on whether we should expect an entrance song for second gentleman Doug Emhoff.

This story has been updated with a comment from the White House.

Further Update: April 13, 2022.

The U.S. Marine Band has retired “Fanfare for the First Lady” from its repertoire, the Washington Examiner has learned. The song was removed quietly following the publication of this article, a source said. One source attributed the decision to pull the composition from rotation to “negative” news coverage. We hope the first lady can forgive us for killing her entrance theme.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Adam B. Coleman

Published: May 17, 2024

The law of attraction dictates that you attract what you are, so it is by no coincidence that the Diversity Industrial Complex often attracts con artists.

It’s an industry predicated on siphoning phoning money from gullible corporations who are desperate to project themselves as societal changemakers.

This is how immoral people like ex-Facebook and Nike diversity program manager, Barbara Furlow-Smiles, were able to extract millions of dollars from resource abundant corporations.

Smiles, who led the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for Facebook from January 2017 to September 2021, pleaded guilty in December to a wire fraud scheme that helped her steal more than $4.9 million from Facebook and a six-figure sum from Nike.

Atlanta US Attorney Ryan Buchanan lamented how Smiles was “utilizing a scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and cash kickbacks.”

“After being terminated from Facebook, she brazenly continued the fraud as a DEI leader at Nike, where she stole another six-figure sum from their diversity program,” Buchanan stated.

Smiles used her authority to approve invoices to pay for services and events that never occurred, funneling the money to several personal associates and pay Smiles in kickbacks.

She would later submit fake expense reports claiming her associates completed work for Facebook, such as providing marketing help and merchandise fulfillment.

Smiles’ lavish lifestyle will be replaced with a stiff punishment of five years imprisonment, three years of supervised release and an order to pay back the money she stole from both Facebook and Nike.

There is something apropos about a sham employee like Smiles being able to climb the ranks of a sham sector of corporate America.

Post-George Floyd’s death, business enterprises fell in love with — or were backmailed into — the idea of a marriage between capitalism and social philanthropy.

DEI job positions increased 123% between May and September of 2020, according to Indeed.

It was no longer enough to have financial success in the business environment, they now wanted to become adored by the public — or at least not be accused of white supremacy.

But when you’re desperate for an outcome, there will always be fraudsters waiting to exploit you.

DEI is a sham because you can’t quantify if it’s succeeding. There are never enough programs or seminars or representation — it just keeps expanding.

Smiles likely was able to get away with what she was doing for years at Facebook because DEI is treated like a new romance; constantly given the benefit of the doubt despite their red flags.

Falling for a scam has nothing to do with intelligence or experience; literally anyone can get scammed.

We fall for scams when we become so desperate for an outcome that we’re willing to suspend belief and overlook common sense.

The problem is that ego prevents industry leaders from hearing our warnings about the falsehoods they’re being fed.

People who believe they’re always the smartest ones in the room won’t conceive how they’re being played by ideological nitwit college graduates who are motivated by ending capitalism.

They’re scared of being accused of being racist, and thus surround themselves with con artists who enjoy manipulating their empathy to drain their wealth.

Corporate America loves chasing love; DEI loves their money.

Adam B. Coleman is the author of “Black Victim to Black Victor” and founder of Wrong Speak Publishing. Follow him on Substack: adambcoleman.substack.com.

--

See:

==

DEI is inherently fraudulent. It's premised upon fraudulent grievance "scholarship," it's unquantifiable, untestable and unfalsifiable, and will accuse you of istaphobism for expecting that its objectives should be quantifiable, testable and falsifiable. Much like traditional religion.

In practice, it's like doing phrenology or dowsing for hidden "bigotry," and "curing" it with more identity homeopathy.

So, it's unsurprising that a fraudulent industry is rife with frauds. We've seen non-stop academic fraud and plagiarism from DEI academics, so we should expect comparable fraud from DEI practitioners.

Interesting how these DEI types are usually raging anti-capitalists, though.

[absurdlakefront]

The scale of the graft and the grift right now: It’s astonishing, and it’s all out in the open. It’s not like politics was free of corruption in 2018 or 2022, but this is a new era of brazenness and cashing in on power. And who is going to stop Trump and his family? Who is going to tell them no?

We talk about America’s system of government as if it is a solid thing, bound by the Constitution and institutions the way a belt cinches around a waist. But much of it is just a pile of norms in a trench coat: Knock down the norms, and everything changes.

I could imagine all this leading to a backlash. I don’t think it’s safe. I don’t think it’s good politics to rub America’s face in oligarchy and corruption.

I could also see it all leading to a consolidation of power as Trump and his allies unite to protect their power, to serve each other: You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. This is how democracy has backslid in so many other countries.

But we’re entering a new era. Power did not just pass from one president to another. It passed from one regime to another, one set of rules to another. And you can see it so clearly because the old regime ended even before the new one began.

[trixiesol-blog]

[tiggymalvern]

Two weeks after a federal judge told the son of a wealthy socialite and business tycoon that his family’s money was not a "Get Out of Jail Free" card, a move by the White House suggested otherwise.

President Donald Trump pardoned Paul Walczak, a Palm Beach Gardens health care executive convicted of tax evasion for siphoning more than $10.9 million in payroll taxes from the paychecks of doctors and nurses.

source

See how this works?

[krisw1979]

[guavagyal]

One day, the right will realize that they are insanely unpopular than what social media & mainstream media make them out to be. Liberalism and leftism will always be popular among the people and are the silent majority in the US. The nature of how conservatives are very aggressive, off-putting, obsess over culture war, & only care about "triggering the libs" (and never real policies) will always put regular people off. They only have bots, boosted algorithms, and misanthropic rich people to thank for their rise now.

All of the grifters on the right are now seen as weird, misanthropic phonies who don't make a lick of sense. And conservatives pushing for Project 2025 will bite them in the ass and honestly (hopefully 🤞🏾) radicalize people on the left.