Why are our political leaders attending a prayer breakfast? None of them should be there.
It is abhorrent for Trump to extol the sentiments of extreme Christianity. The Constitution is very clear about keeping any religion out of our governance. The First Amendment prohibits the establishment of any government supported religion. The Constitution also states that there shall be no religious test for any federal (and by way of the 14th Amendment) state office.
Trump’s cynical kowtowing to the right-wing fringe of Christianity is disgusting.
What do you call the birther conspiracy, Mr. Trump?
Perhaps, as a child, you were never told that what goes around, comes around.
"presidential harassment" isn't that when someone harasses others in a presidential way (akin to sexual harassment)? Like when a president would take civil servants hostage or separates children from their parents?
1
The last paragraph says it all. He has no idea what is going on.
I saw recently that the presidential calendar has 60% of day devoted to unstructured "executive time." Clearly, the majority of his day is not spent addressing matters of governance, which seem to bore him. Who knew that POTUS is a part-time job?
trump makes up insulting names for his political opponents and repeats them ad nauseum. He puts people down every day of the week. But, when Congress exercises its responsibility to oversee the executive branch, he accuses them of harassment He needs to know that he can't have it both ways.
3
Bottomline is that the American people deserve, no, require that they know everything there is to know about the person that is leading their country!
3
He’s being harassed? The poor baby. We simply have to agree to stop hurting his feelings.
1
Redemption? For whom? President Bone Spurs? No, if found guilty, he and his family will be hit hard, and that’s the way it should be. At the very least, there is obstruction of justice and padding his bank account at the public’s expense.
And, oh my, he is so terrified of the new Congresswomen and what the press will report amid these widening investigations.
Well, it didn't take long for DJT to throw "comity" out the window. I doubt that he even knows the meaning of the word, let alone how to act in that fashion. Our civility towards one another, especially in the political arena, has been on a downward spiral, and accelerating because of the bad example set by DJT. To paraphrase Truman, the harassment starts here.
1
The rule of law in the US also applies to the president. Time to enforce it. Good luck with that.
2
His skin is thinner by far than either President Clinton's or President Obama's ever was.
The Great Yellow Snowflake has no idea what 'harassment' really means.
What he is complaining about is the fact that ALL of his crimes are coming to light because he won the Presidency: All Presidents get a very fine tooth comb over their history.
Does Trump remember at all his actually harassment, with absolutely Fake News, concerning Pres. Obama's Birth Certificate, the several years of investigations into Bill Clinton and the dozens of hearings over years concerning Hillary and Benghazi.
Bush and Cheney never got such a grilling, even though they Should Have over the events of 9-11, where Sec Rumsfeld declared, the night before, that we were missing some $2.3 Trillion in military spending they could not track. They took plenty of flak, but never whined about their press or investigations.
Congress has the Responsibility to look into shady dealings by the President: he is not above the law, and Co-Equal with Congress and Supreme Court.
America believes in Redemption, but one has to be truly penitent in order to receive it. Let Trump let go of ALL of his businesses, ALL of his Properties, ALL of his Wealth, Set himself aside from his Family and live a very simple, poor life in sack cloth, praying 8 times a day and toiling in the fields to produce his daily living, the bread which he eats, the cloth he wears, the shelter he sleeps in.
THEN he will have repented, and we can accept.
1
"Harassment"?
That's rich, coming from Donnie, the proudly self-confessed groper ("Grab them by the -----")!
And wasn't the "I'm being harassed" line already tried by the likes of Al Capone, John Gotti, Richard Nixon, Paul Manaforte, etc, etc.?
6
Considering these evangelical conservatives make their "pastors" millionaires, follow Falwell, Billy Graham Jr. and other hate spewers makes their judgement suspect. They've sold their souls to the racism and hatred of the GOP but will never admit it. Consign these bronze age relics back to the dust bin of history and vote them out of power.
6
Jeez. Trump comes off as an idiot, even in front of the crowd he panders to.
And do they care?
6
When Mick Mulvaney asked him about the abortion bill, the president responded, "I thought Cohen paid that."
8
Trump is so childishly uneducated and just plain not smart in any sense of the term, that he does not understand that "presidential harassment" means harassment BY the president. So yes, there is "presidential harassment; he is the harassing party...always has been, always will be. This country has never had such an unqualified, mentally-deficient, and morally-damaged individual in the White House. Never. He is not a clown, not just a fool...he is downright dumb, matched with a very sick narcissism.
8
So says the birther.
4
Presidential harassment is when you question the President's birth certificate.
7
I talked it about few days and all I got was angry responses. Let's try again.
Trump is a moron, that much is true.
Investigating him without a true (not imagined by Democrats, WaPo, NYT and commentariat here) probable cause is a stupid idea. It reeks of Stalinism - looking until they find something, anything. Mueller is not working out? Sure, let's expand the scope.
And that's fine, I do not think he should have been elected anyway.
But please understand that your indignation about all the investigations that will inevitably happen to the next Democratic Administration are the consequences of today's actions for short-term gains.
Just like crying about removing the SC filibuster after prior Harry Reid's antics or acting surprised that the Kavanaugh treatment can be applied to Democrats just as effectively, if not more so.
Mwahahahahahahahahaha! What a joke!
1
His phony faith is nauseating. This POTUS is 100% heathen.
7
Awww, poor guy. That's really too bad.
1
“Fill our hearts with love.”
Why, now I understand. The cowardly threats, the vicious insults, the exhortations to wreak violent vengeance on protestors; ‘grab ‘em by the —‘ and the porn star payoffs and the multiple trophy wives (including the current soft core porn model iteration); the coterie of felons among the members of the campaign’s inner circle and the ‘transition team,’ the egregious ethical violations and financial corruption among cabinet members; the directive to separate children from parents at the border, and the callous refusal to reunite them because ‘the logistics are too daunting and impractical’; the unfounded scapegoating and vilification of vulnerable migrants seeking asylum, fleeing crime and poverty in their homelands’; ‘I’ll bring back torture’ and ‘I could shoot somebody in broad daylight on Fifth Avenue’ and ‘that Judge is a Mexican’ and all the rest of those words of wisdom and peace...
Now I get it. He’s just doing Christ’s work. He’s a regular Mahatma Gandhi. An ascetic monk. A conscientious objector (the bone spurs weren’t really necessary). A holy spiritual leader of rare purity and beneficence. Why of course Trump would be speaking to a gathering of the faithful. “Fill our hearts with love.”
Hallelujah. I see the light. Trump is a Holy Man.
You just have to drink the right cocktail of mind-altering drugs before it all makes sense. They’re dispensed on Fox News, Infowars, right-wing radio shows, neo-Nazi blogs and at Liberty University.
5
Right, Obama was certainly never harassed...no one ever questioned his birth place, his incessant golfing, his lame duck presidency, his founding of ISIS, nor his Muslim, I meant, Christian faith. These among just a few things he was never harassed about!
4
Poor Donald, those big bad democrats are after him and all he has is a mouthful of lies and nobody reputable to defend him. Where is Roy Cohn???
3
"Presidential harassment" - ah, yes, Mr. Trump is trying out this slogan to see how it polls with his focus group. The reality is it will be successful as his short-lived catchphrase from last month, "Build a Wall, and Crime will Fall."
Slogans and catch phrases are not governance. Nor will they stop Congressional oversight.
"Sorry, Charlie." "...oh what a relief it is!"
1
What Trump doesn’t understand is he is not a boss. He never had the know how , nor diplomacy, nor mentality to be a leader. Besides he has a vast history of questionable business dealings. He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he admires some of the world’s worst dictators known to man. What a joke. He’s got to be the only president who truly lies consistently, is caught at it, and has had to have others explain his lies. He couldn’t tell the truth to save his own soul.
5
Trump's tweets border on the ridiculous.He complains that Schiff is looking into every aspect of his life.This from the same Donald Trump who insisted on seeing the birth certificate of Barrack Obama.Even when he had a certified copy he would not let up on the story of its fakery.All Adam Schiff wants to have are his tax returns, happily submitted by every other president as part of their job.Devin Nunes gave Trump a false sense of security that Trump could hide everything forever.
5
One person's presidential harrassment = Another person's presidential accountability.
6
So how would Trump describe his investigation into where President Obama was born?
5
Well surely it is time for Mr Trump to hunker down and testify, or at least to hand over his tax returns.
The juxtaposition of his harassment claims with his pious offerings at the Prayer breakfast again reminded me of the wonderful American film "Elmer Gantry".
I have often wondered whether the film about a con man, super salesman turned religious huckster, served as a template for Mr Trump's career. The appeal of hucksters to good but credulous folk depicted in the film mirrors the appeal Mr Trump seems to have with his base.
1
Presidential harassment? That is really rich. Trump practiced presidential harassment of the country since day 1. He threatens and blusters everyday like a gangster. He has lied over 7000 times since he took office. He has not learned his lesson when Nancy Pelosi handed him his head over the shutdown. He does not even understand that derisive clap on national TV last Tuesday , Trump simply personifies pestilence.
3
The shrillness suggests fear. In that regard, he is acting like many anticipated: angry, unpredictable, sarcastic, vulgar and woefully ineffective. Virginia is quite capable of handling its political problems and guidance from a man who covets cash, women and adulation is better directed to his buddies in Moscow.
2
What a joke! this man pretending to even have a shade of religious moral thinking in him. And people ar buying this show?
3
As usual he has it all wrong. It’s called doing what you were elected to do. He doesn’t set the standards for what is legal and ethical. This administration has proven that so far.
2
Democrats and Republicans are not part of the constitutional system of checks and balances. The Constitution gives political parties no role in government. George Washington warned America against political parties. He said: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
Now that Democrats control the House of Representatives, they intend to extract vengeance for the 2016 election by harassing the Trump administration with continuous investigations. They do not propose to investigate a specific crime—since none is evident—but propose to investigate members of other Trump administration in hopes of discovering a crime. This fits the demonstration of a witch hunt.
A precedent having been set, Republicans are certain to retaliate the next time a Democrat site in the Oval Office.
@William Case
The Obvious question that you don't want to get answered is what it Trump afraid of and what is he hiding?
The Trump Whitehouse is starting to remind me a lot of the Nixon Whitehouse hunkering down during Watergate.
It's not much different when Nixon said during Watergate, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." and now, it seems history is repeating itself.
In Trump's case, not only do the people need to know whether this President is a crook or not, but they also need to know if he's been compromised by the Russians.
Instead of Trump being forthright, by releasing all of his tax returns and investment records for the last 25 years to show he has no ties, conflicts of interest or indebtedness to Russian Oligarchs or Chinese banks, and prove he has nothing to hide, he's been acting like a sleazy guilty man with everything to hide.
Something smells in Washington and it's not coming from the swamp, this time the smell is coming from the Trump Whitehouse.
1
@William Case Pardon, but you are conflating the Republicans continually trying to get revenge against the Democrats for Nixon, even though they already destroyed Carter's Admin, battered Clinton's 2 terms as well as giving Obama a clear run of obstruction for 2 terms.
So why do you seem to think we are trying for 'revenge'. Do you not see that the Democratic Party is working to Uphold the Constitution, Checks and Balances and hold the President, who was elected on false pretenses, backed by Russian Money and Propaganda and several of his Campaign managers and workers have been charged for those very crimes.
So why are you thinking there is no reason to be looking? Do you not understand that Mr Mueller is a very staunch Republican Himself, put into Office by Bush previously, and kept on by Obama as he was doing a good, non-partisan job of Upholding the Law.
Do you have a problem with the law being upheld, or is it a selective thing? Investigate any Dem ya want, just leave Trump's crime...er, loved family and any of their dealings out of it.
That might have been possible had Trump done like all other Presidents and kept his own family and close relatives OUT, nasty Nepotism clause and all.
However, Trump has very publicly broken the laws against obstruction of an investigation by repeatedly speaking out about it and giving His View on it, which is another normal big No No. You are supposed to say 'No Comments concerning ongoing investigations'.
And yet you ask us Why?
It looks like Donald Trump's appeal for unity in his State of the Union address hasn't withstood the test of time, or his tendency to play the perennial victim.
Apparently the thought of any investigation getting behind the real truth of the matter is causing him to act like anything other than the innocent Mr. Trump likes to portray himself as being.
It will take more than prayer to save him this time.
5
Since the beginning of our nation the executive branch of the United States government has been subject to oversight from the legislative branch. The judicial branch sometimes has to resolve differences. It is because of this president’s complete lack of historical knowledge, that he makes absurd pronouncements in rhyme no less. He spends hours on speeches that belong in cheap campaign rallies and no much time learning to be president. We need to elect someone who restores dignity to our Presidency. Our government belongs to the people and Trump wants his brand on everything.
4
It's called checks and balances. It's called Congressional oversight. It's called Trump's least favorite concept: accountability. No President is king. Welcome to our semi-functional democracy.
47
And no Congress is King. It’s Called checks and balances.
@Simon
All hail King Congress! Long may he... she... them? reign! Until 2020 at least!
2
Oligarchic keptocracy is more precise.
The same way candidate Trump warned of "election rigging" in advance of what surely must have been expected investigations and indictments he is now foreshadowing the time when he tries to come clean to save himself from being kicked out of office and impeached, hopefully both. Then we will see him use religion and the various churches as shields for the sticks and arrows sure to fly his way while he asks for forgiveness.
1
Unbelievable! Trump thinks HE is being harassed. Bill and Hillary Clinton were investigated for years: Whitewater, Benghazi, etc., at millions of dollars of taxpayer expense and no wrong doing was ever found. How many indictments, guilty pleas and convictions do we have now in the investigation into Trump's activities? This guy is the epitome of the word hypocrite.
7
And they deserved it.
1
As Trump grasps for anything he can find to avoid prosecution, he describes democrats who are simply doing their job as "harassment".
It "ain't gonna" work. The investigations continue to mount and it's been my experience that prosecutors don't frivolously launch investigations unless there is "meat on the bone".
Donny's followers may remain gullible, unable to admit their mistaken confidence, but those of us who love America and wish to see our democracy restored, we recognize that Trump should be in jail, not the WH.
2
Oh please.
Every single "business man" I ever knew who insisted on attending the prayer breakfast was a confidence man, par excellence. All grifters like Trump.
The only reason they attended the event was to "network" and find more deals and more rubes.
The hypocrisy is nauseating.
6
“Presidential harassment”, for what?
Voicing opinions in a democracy?
Fulfilling duties of oversight?
The bar has been driven so very low.
2
Unlimited Presidential Harassment. Congressional Oversight.
Whatever you want to call it, I'll gladly give up my tax refund to pay for it.
5
You sound just like, Richard Nixon and maybe even worse.
The Trump Whitehouse is starting to remind me a lot of the Nixon Whitehouse hunkering down during Watergate.
It's not much different when Nixon said during Watergate, "People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well, I'm not a crook. I've earned everything I've got." and now, it seems history is repeating itself.
In Trump's case, not only do the people need to know whether this President is a crook or not, but they also need to know if he's been compromised by the Russians.
Instead of Trump being forthright, by releasing all of his tax returns and investment records for the last 25 years to show he has no ties, conflicts of interest or indebtedness to Russian Oligarchs or Chinese banks, and prove he has nothing to hide, he's been acting like a sleazy guilty man with everything to hide.
Something smells in Washington and it's not coming from the swamp, this time the smell is coming from the Trump Whitehouse.
2
"Presidential harassment" - that's a new one. Is it anything like "developer harassment" by stiffed contractors?
4
Our country has been under inept presidential harassment, trump administration harassment, trump family harassment, gop harassment stop me before I hurt myself - but our country is black and blue from all the harassment and enough is enough! Go mueller! Go Nancy!!
3
It is all of Trump's own doing, if he stop lying, answer questions honestly, stop blaming other people, released his tax returns, etc. etc. etc. then no one would have to investigate this walking corrupt and ethics violation.
1
So now trump wants to decide whether former NSC staffers can take jobs on Congressional Committees? He sounds increasingly dictatorial (or very scared) to me. Last time I heard, on Tuesday night and from his own mouth, this is a free country.
2
25 for 45 would be god's prescription for Trump lording the "truth" and projecting all his sins on to others
1
"Trump Accuses Democrats of ‘Harassment’ Over Congressional Inquiries"
Have we seen his birth certificate yet?
The man who beat the birtherism drum for four years to claim he is being harassed is beyond ironic. Once again, in the make believe world he has created for himself, his criminal activities should be overlooked while the ,already proven false, accusations about Hillary should be prosecuted and she should be sent to prison even if innocent. The press is the enemy of the people, the Mexicans are rapists, his security people are stupid and the DOJ is a nest of Democrats. These are all examples of "presidential harassment". I can't wait until he makes history when he's the first to face a "presidential indictment".
2
If Trump thinks he is being 'harassed' now, he is not going to like the Bosch hellscape that his life is going to become, AT ALL.
2
Adam Schiff, ? Political Hack? Had a terrible record as an member of the U.S. Attorney office. Never lost a case. Some are doing life in federal prison. I can not find any that are tweeting from federal prison.
2
Hilarious. As my late husband used to say - you can’t make this stuff up.
1
Well, Mr. Trump... Maybe you should start behaving better.
1
trump is harassing the presidency.
He cannot be tried and convicted too soon.
This after years of harassing Obama about his birth place.
Trump’s hypocrisy is out there for all to see,day in and day out.
1
Dragged before chaffetz's and gowdy's ridiculous Benghazi hearings 10 times, Secretary Clinton never whined.
Why?
Innocent people don't whine.
4
"The Republicans never did this to President Obama"
Someone should let the President know that President Obama didn't need to collude with the Russians. He was extremely popular with American voters.
2
The ultimate commandment breaker in chief.
1
When we are fortunate enough this charlatan departs the White House, I hope we will remember the danger of such a person residing there.
Read! Question! Think! Vote!
All this coming from a "birther". Demands a birth certificate from Obama but can't even release his own tax returns. Presidential harassment... give me a break.
I followed Trump on Twitter after he became President simply to know what he was saying. I soon decided it wasn't worth knowing because all he does is lie and make stuff up. It was a waste of time that I could have spent staying on top of actual facts and news. So I unfollowed him.
Now, to hear him complain about "presidential harassment," I almost wonder whether he has a future as a comedian ... sorry, comedians of America, don't mean to offend.
1
Seriously trump? All through Obama years we heard trump whine and crying birther birther! It was so bad Michelle Obama write her family feared for their safety.
And then throughout Obama years Mitch McConnell and his goons bullied obstructed every step of the way. Once ejected trump made his mission to reverse everything Obama’s team had achieved.
Talk about harassment, trump has no idea. People of white privilege (non Jew) also have no idea of harassment or racism or hatred towards a religious or ethnic group. I think trump is clueless.
1
Hey Donald: why are you afraid of investigation if you and your family have done nothing wrong. You kept spewing lies during the 2016 election that you do not have contact or business dealing with the Russians and that is proven otherwise.
For the past two years Nunes and his toadies protected you. They put part before country. I hope you will face consequences of your action.
1
We can also say with certainty that Republicans at the top, beginning of course with Trump, are killing the great country of the United States.
Unfortunately, pointing out his constant hypocrisy, his childish taunts, his racism and bigotry, has no effect on this president who is the perfect example of a political hack.
The man is a delusional narcissistic sociopath and nothing will tough the ego of Individual 1.
President Obama , please write a book about the real Presidential Harassment .
"Unlimited Presidential Harassment...." - Trump
"Methinks thou dost protest too much." - Shakespeare
(BTW, there are typically only three dots in an ellipsis.)
“Oh the humanity”
It is not harassment to prosecute criminal behavior. It is Justice.
32
@Joe Morris
What criminal behavior are you referring to?
William Case,
To start with, obstruction of justice and witness tampering (in plain sight).
I can guarantee there's more to come. Stay tuned.
3
As usual, Trump has it backwards.
Pres-i-dent-ial har-ass-ment (n.) -- When a U.S. president exploits the power of his/her office through television, tweets, and other social media to intimidate, threaten, and/or demean anyone who criticizes him or his political and personal agenda.
3
Presidential harassment? How about we talk about Trump's birtherism? And that had nowhere near the legitimate basis for concern that these investigations do? Obama eventually did release his birth certificate; we still haven't seen Trump's tax returns -- yet. I said when he refused to release them that somebody had something on him -- nothing's changed.
58
@Mary
The govt. has no right to look into his personal info, you must remember that the US is run on innocent until proven guilty. They have found no Russian Collusion yet they decide that they must harass him anyway. The FBI is being incredibly biased.
3
@Josh G. The Govt has every right to investigate crimes. Many on Trump campaign have been convicted of CRIMES;Cohen; Flynn; Pappadopoulous and more. Trump is a micromanager so it is impossible to state he knew nothing about what his campaign people were doing.Trump keeps saying collusion; the rest of us say crimes.GOP investigated Benghazi and Uranium One for YEARS; no indictments.7 ongoing investigations into Trump World. FBI is not biased; they have a duty to pursue crimes. Ray Sipe
7
@Josh G.
What? Ask yourself, how many indictments, how many guilty pleas, how many more to come? And then you have to ask yourself "Do I feel lucky?"
Well, do you?
5
It's not "presidential harassment", it's called Congressional oversight, Mr. President.
And if any president and their administration ever needed oversight, it's you.
Perhaps you should read the Constitution that you took an oath to preserve, protect and defend.
83
@L, Trumps family, his business have never been held accountable. They have free willed their way for decades. And now republicans are begging dekicrats to please not go after his Tax returns. Seriously!!??
3
@L
Democrats and Republicans are not part of the constitutional system of checks and balances. The Constitution gives political parties no role in government. George Washington warned America against political parties. He said: “The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.”
Ir is not congressional oversight; it is partisan politics.
William Case,
Congress is made up of people from both parties. And regardless of their party they have a duty under the Constitution to provide checks and balances.
2
What's laughable is candidate Trump's warnings that electing Clinton would result in "Endless investigations, The biggest scandal since Watergate, Coverups, An inability to govern, A possible constitutional crisis."
92
“When we open our hearts to faith, we fill our hearts with love.”
This is the best stand-up comedy act anyone's ever seen !
28
To our elected leaders in Congress, stay vigilant and persevere in your role to protect our democracy. No one person is above it all that they are immune to scrutiny and investigation to determine the truth in and behind their actions.
Anyone as insistent upon not being investigated surely has something to hide. Especially when many of those you choose to surround yourself with are found guilty of crimes.
97
If he can't take the heat, he should get out of the White House.
14
Congressional Republicans elevated Hillary to own the title of "Most Investigated Person in History, by Light years."
27 months of Republican investigation failure to uncover 1 (ONE) shred of plausible evidence* to support their charge "Hillary abandoned Americans under fire," and to secure another indictment to her 25 year running total of 0 indictments merely Republican-proved and granted her sole possession to the title of "Greatest Criminal Mastermind in History, by Light Years."
*To be fair, that evidence literally defies imagination.
7
Senate Intel Committee has now found no collusion with Russia. The "insurance policy" failed.
1
@TD
And just which scientific method did they employ to arrive at that conclusion?
@Moehoward
The same that Nadler is using now, I am certain.
1
The investigations into Trump's corruption are long overdue.
Trump's slime trail is hard to miss... his family's documented history of tax cheating... Russian money laundered from Trump Tower... Trump University... a fraudulent foundation... a suspicious inaugural committee... his refusal to reveal his tax returns... a refusal to fully divest his personal business as president... placing family members at the highest levels of government... without any doubt, investigators have a target-rich environment.
Trump's squealing about the congressional probes are music to my ears. His petty attacks on those seeking transparency and justice only deepen the suspicions of his guilt.
15
I sometimes wonder if the speechwriting staff has ever met (or heard of) Donald Trump. Because the words they're writing appear to be channelling someone else entirely.
Hence the disconnect between his tweets and off-the-cuff comments, and what's on the teleprompter.
11
@Jeff
Remember how so many on the right loved to lambast president Obama over his use of teleprompters?
For anyone who listened to Obama's public speaking, it is obvious he can speak contemporaneously with ease.
On the other hand, with trump, once off the prepared script, his true colors are revealed...he is nothing more than childish partisan troll.
1
Trump speaking at a prayer breakfast. Unbelievable. I suppose I could speak at a gathering of atomic physicists with a TelePrompTer and some chutzpah, but those in attendance would see very quickly that I was full of it. So I have to think that those at the prayer breakfast either KNOW he’s also full of it (and just play along to forward their policy objectives), or actually think that Mr. ‘Two Corinthians’ is a true believer.
Neither of which leaves me thinking that evangelicals should have ANY outsized influence in our Republic. Certainly not tax exempt.
14
The evangelicals support him because he supports their anti-abortion agenda. They look past the rest as they believe it’s more important than anything else. Fact not opinion.
"Presidential harassment"! Bah, humbug! What Trump is demanding is to be above the law rather than be subject to the Constitution's "rule of law." The House under the Democrats are fulfilling their oath to the Constitution in acting as a "check and balance" on a man who views himself as an autocrat subject only to the "rule of Trump." He has already done immense damage to our democratic institutions under a complacent and complicit Republican Congress. It's time to end Trump's harassment of our Constitution and save our democracy.
13
Not harassment, President T. It is called oversight. And it should have been done two years ago.
7
Presidential Harassment
(noun)
The use of twitter to harass the President's own critics, opponents, women, minorities, any religion other than Christianity.
6
My heart is open and filled with love. The lord is with the FBI. Traitors will be hunted down & destroyed. Salvation is near for the opioid riddle souls who support the devil. God and the United States shall find you and your axis. Repent and the lord may forgive you.
1
"Presidential harassment." Hmmm. Perhaps he should visit one of his agency's federal sector EEO office to file a complaint. Perhaps the White House has such an office? After all, he so strongly opposes discrimination against people based on disability, race, gender, age... oops, I mean, supports.
I'm not sure harassment based on presidential fits into any category. Perhaps he can ask Congress to amend Title VII to include "presidential" as a basis for harassment? But then, he would have to take a DNA test to see if he fits into the "presidential" DNA category. I suspect the percentage of presidential - ness in his DNA is rather minute. I base that strictly on my empirical observation of hand size.
4
Flim flam man. "Religious liberty?" He doesn't even know what he is talking about. There is no issue there. The people he was dining with have more religious liberty than anyone ever. "Redemption" (for him); "witch hunt" (others). He is on a roll or is that a bagel? "Glory of god and the power of prayer?" Really? Since when? This morning when he walked into the room? He is a con man, hustler, running the same lines that all hustler, con, flim flam people have run about religion for as long as there has been religion. The only shared belief Trump has is sharing in the dollars of others into his pockets. Pure and simple. Thief, conniver, scammer, liar. And, sadly, president of the United States. How low have we sunk? This low. Oh, and by the way, will the "power of prayer" put the lost revenue of government contractors during the shutdown back into their pockets? Glory be to the keeper of flam.
5
"Stealing people from the White House." Which people, who's been stolen? Has he reported the thefts?
4
Perhaps he might soon wish to pray that, as in the Bible with which I assume he is so familiar, prison gates will open miraculously and prisoners walk free?
2
Presidential Harassment? This is rich indeed coming from the person who led the ridiculous and baseless "Birther" attacks on President Obama. The truth is this man's behavior is causing the nation a serve case Presidential Embarrassment.
7
Well, that didn't take long! Less than 48 hours after his disingenuous sotu speech, there he is, back in full attack mode. Will someone...anyone...please tell me why we should believe anything this sociopath says!
8
Harassment? Mr. Trump should thank his lucky stars if that’s all it is.
4
Why all the whining by Trump if there's nothing to hide?
7
“So now Congressman Adam Schiff announces, after having found zero Russian Collusion, that he is going to be looking at every aspect of my life, both financial and personal, even though there is no reason to be doing so."
Really Mr President?
You and your family misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars (contributed by others) from the Trump Foundation. The judge described your conduct as a 'pattern of illegality'.
In polite circles it's called 'self-dealing'.
In the real world, it's called 'theft'.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/dec/18/trump-foundation-shutdown-lawsuit
Comments from your supporters are welcomed.
13
Jekyll and Hyde.
1
Can anybody get this guy Trump to do some actual work in furtherance of the requirements of his job?
6
I don't think it harassment to ask for the tax returns or to investigate the possible collusion with our greatest enemy - Russia!! I hope the Democrats do it with class and decorum; however, help Mr. Mueller get to the truth. If indeed Trump is innocent then he should have nothing to worry about. I would also like to see Kushner and Junior investigated the same way since they seem to be the common denominator between all those already indicted.
6
Yeah sure no investigations of Obama administration. Huh what about Benghazi!!! Among many others. This guy creates his own realities. As far as Obama personally there was nothing to investigate except for of course if Trump had his way Obama's birth as an American and his supposed wiretapping of the delusional Trump.
6
The ultimate irony of this sad season; Trump as Victim.
3
...just sayin'...many Americans can define presidential harassment as being harassed by the president....
5
The president described the group as “united by a shared belief in the glory of God and the power of prayer.” He added, “When we open our hearts to faith, we fill our hearts with love.”
“I will never let you down,” Mr. Trump told the audience
“All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God,” Mr. Trump said.
LOL
1
Is 40% of the United States crazy? How can they possibly support a complete fake like Donald Trump???
5
@Barry Lane
Many in the fly-over states are served by Fox News and and Sinclair controlled TV stations aka republican propaganda spinners. They also get a double dose in their tax exempt churches. Few people take a newspaper. They live in an echo chamber of trump spin. They are criminally uninformed.
@Barry Lane,
Crazy?
No.
Monumentally, almost unbelievably, stupid?
Yup.
Rightists are absolutely clueless and, the thing that boggles we real American's minds is that they are proud of their ignorance.
No, "presidential harassment" is what was done to Obama. We want the truth and this president hasn't been very forthcoming.
6
This is unspeakable as to be nearly obscene.
This president is asking attendees to open up to faith to “fill their hearts with love.” It’s the kind of hypocritical steel that draws the impressionable magnet-like evangelicals, the so-called “Christian” bloc, to arms in his never-ending us vs. them culture wars. He, as far as we know, refuses to attend worship services; his “faith fellowship” consists of employing hate to stoke the resentment of his supporters as he flies on the people’s Air Force One from rally to rally, egging on the angry tide.
The president is proudly divisive, yet has the nerve to ask people of faith to “fill...hearts with love.” Love is the singular emotion that demands both humility and selflessness to another—two of Christ’s signature virtues, both of which he has avoided with his whole heart all of his public life.
But the self-righteous evangelicals will follow their piper off the cliff as he plays for them the siren songs of white nationalism, division and political ideology, the latter based solely upon the acquisition of wealth and the greedy embrace of a vision of government that he tells us should exist solely for the small percentage of Americans whose singular virtue screams out for exclusion, hardly a Christly dedication to the betterment of others.
5
@Red Sox, '04, '07, '13, ‘18, You hit it out of the park.
Congressman Adam Schiff, please harass Mr. Trump vigorously and relentlessly! We must save our democracy from Mr. Trump's shabby would-be-dictator antics, lies, greed, obstruction of justice and treasonous actions.
4
Incessant demands over eight years for the production of a sitting president's birth certificate is harassment.
57
@kcteacher, and the First Lady supposedly talks about cyber bullying when her husband does exactly that via Twitter, on a daily basis. Name calling, ridiculing, taunting, just look at his twitter history! Am sure historians are busy compiling evidence, even if the media isn’t.
2
If Congressional action and investigations are, as Mr. Trump calls them, "unlimited presidential harassment" then they are part of a the job description of being in charge of the Executive Branch of Government of the United States. I would suggest that if he does not like the heat that he get out of the kitchen.
3
"Mr. Trump described America as “a nation that believes in redemption.”
Only his, apparently. He certainly takes great glee in the problems of Democrats.
News for Mr. Trump: Republicans did investigate members of the Obama administration--some over and over and over. But the president himself was squeaky clean, released his taxes, didn't self-deal, didn't hire his relatives, and most certainly spoke in facts, not lies.
I love Mr. Trump's embrace of religious liberty, but again, like redemption, it only seems to work in a one-way direction. Fine if said religion gets its views enshrined in law, a violation of the separation clause, but not so fine when our secular nation legislates in terms of the needs and liberties of all Americans, including non-Christians, agnostics, and atheists, just as the founding fathers intended.
20
The 2018 mid terms gave democrats in congress a clear mandate to do the job the republicans refused to do. If you think that Four years of Benghazi hearings was doing their job then it will take a lifetime to investigate republican complicity and capitulation from 2016-2018. Why did republicans not do their job? Where does the NRA get their funding? What did contributors to Trump’s inauguration get for their “donations”?
61
I have to wonder how Trump felt about the seven years that the Clintons were under investigation. Sorry, that isn't harassment, it is our system of laws at work. Nobody is above the law, not even rich white people in elective office.
I knew that Trump would not be able to handle the scrutiny of being in The White House. The strangest part is that, so far, the only person alleging that Trump is the focus is the investigation is -- Trump. Lots of indictments, lots of interviews, lots of testimony and boxes upon boxes of evidence and not a peep about a potential indictment of Trump himself.
So sad that he feels so neglected that he has to claim that he is the target. Perhaps the old nationalist slogan will make Trump feel better: "Those with nothing to hide have nothing to fear."
26
Forget about the impact on the Evangelicals for their support of this Anti-Christ, Trump.
Remember, the impact for the next twenty years on the American people by the "Conservative" Supreme Court Justices that they got appointed in the Trump Administration.
Right to Choose, LGBTQI Marriage Equality, Environmental Protection and Voters Rights will be destroyed.
The Rule of the Corporation and the influence of foreign money in our Elections will be ensured.
If the rising Sea Levels caused by Global Warning does not get us first.
Of course, the Evangrlicals will blame that on Gay Marriage.
28
@Richard Pontone, mike pence also is a most hypocritical evangelical Christian.
1
Trump's National Prayer Breakfast exhortation "to open up to faith to (his words>)'fill our hearts with love' " was a nauseating display of hubris. Also a tall order as there seems very little indication the man has love for anyone or anything. His self righteous stance (how ironic), completely phony in his efforts to kiss up to the Religious Right reveals him to be a man of straw. Devious twitter attacks are part of his master plan to reward him a second term, going in for the kill with his skewering the 3 big beleaguered politicians from Virginia, encouraging that state's citizens to vote Republican in 2020. What a vile man Trump is!
36
Look, this is so unfair to President Trump! If anyone associated with him, his campaign, his businesses and family had actually done anything wrong/ unethical/ illegal, then I would understand the need for checks and further investigations, but c’mon!
Oh...
Never mind.
6
It’s okay Tim, just like pulling a bad tooth, it won’t last forever.
There were seven sets of hearings regarding Benghazi during the Obama administration. At it's time the Whitewater investigation would spend more time and money then any other before it only to find nothing regarding the actual subject of the investigation and moving promptly on to impeach a president for infidelity. Trump deprives words of all meaning in his endless war on truth. The fact that evangelicals embrace him have deprived them of all moral authority.
58
‘Faith and love’ are the last words one associates with a person who is perpetually angry, spews hate speech, and is guilty of all seven deadly sins ?
43
"The Republicans never did this to President Obama, there would be no time left to run government." They didn't run government, just blocked anything Obama advocated, even if Republicans had advocated it first. Oh, they did find time to vote what, sixty times, to repeal "Obamacare" (with no replacement plan). Meanwhile Trump himself harassed Obama continuously with the "birther" lie.
48
@Thomas
So factual. Thanks
Twitter Trump is the real Trump, teleprompter Trump like successful businessman Trump is the fraud.
37
It's nice to see that Trump still believes that he and his administration, campaign staff and family are above the law.
The current investigations are meant to find out how much Russia interfered with the 2016 election and if his campaign staff might have violated campaign laws.
If he believed in a law biding government then he should welcome these investigations, but I think we all know what he believes in.
So President Trump TS.
7
"Trump Accuses Democrats of ‘Harassment’ Over Congressional Inquiries"
The Washington Post has a similar report to this one. Then there is another report on today's Washington Post that greatly expands on how this investigation keeps growing into new areas.
SEE: "The Mueller investigation has sprouted. Therein lies the jeopardy for Trump."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2019/02/07/mueller-investigation-has-sprouted-therein-lies-jeopardy-trump/?utm_term=.af21da4cae9b
It is an excellent read and fits in perfectly to this article.
6
You know, if there's a house in your neighborhood that has all its windows boarded up, and shady-looking strangers with felony records are coming around with raggedy paper bags when they go in the house and different paper bags as they leave, and the owner of the house is a flashy dresser and drives a late-model Lexus with tinted glass windows and whirly titanium wheels, then when you try to find out what is going on in there, that is not "neighbor harassment", that's an attempt to protect your neighborhood from a crooked and quite possibly dangerous character.
18
Luv it, go Bob!
1
The prayer breakfast needs to be renamed to the hypocrisy breakfast. Trump could careless about Christian values until they benefit him politicaly. Today's Evangelicals are likewise using trump to push their world view on the rest of us and could careless about children separated or going hungry.
27
"When he had the opportunity to serve his country for real, his father got him out of it, and I think it's really disingenuous for him to talk about patriotism in any way shape or form," Kenney told CNN, referring to military deferments Trump obtained that kept him from being sent to Vietnam during the war.
8
Trump's whining about being scrutinized is very cathartic. I was frustrated that Republicans made a mountain out of a molehill with Obama, and then saw them obsequiously overlooked real transgressions and over-reach with Trump.
The louder he whines, the more guilty he looks.
16
Doesn;t every presidential candidate plan a MOscow Tower Hotel with a 50 mil penthouse for Putin planned. ? Hasn't every president had his six top aides indicted and convicted of felonies ? Why would such a president resist disclosing his tax returns? Our president who seems to lie constantly about most matters and trashes his own intel chiefs while agreeing with Putin on his foreign policy. A president who was suspected of being a Russian asset ,why would he need to be investigated by congress as part of their constitutional duty of oversight? What is Trump so worried about if he is as honest as he claims?
14
The only prayer worth making at the "National Prayer Breakfast" is for a President capable of inspiring trust, who is honest, one who can lead.
Above all, one who puts those who are more knowledgeable than he in positions to make decisions and recommendations that benefit most of the residents of the United States of America and the world. Who then takes the advice and follows the recommendations. One who takes the position seriously and not as a chance to preen and profit.
8
Many of us have pet peeves about this lout... mine always go back to the jungle, the metal spitting at me tearing at me even now, how in god’s name this coward got to be potus is only the fault of the Americans who made believe...
1
Trump sees congressional oversight as "harassment" and the pursuit of justice as a "witch hunt." No surprise. He sees everything in a self-serving manner. And when he implored attendees at the National Prayer Breakfast to "open their hearts with love," if they didn't laugh, they were very polite.
13
Yes, of course, there's good reason for him to become a born again. But, he's going to need a lot more than grovelling back into the Lord's good graces for his own personal "redemption". He's showing some signs of increased unraveling and is acting like a caged animal. It doesn't hurt me one iota to watch this either.
4
"Mr. Trump left for the Washington Hilton, where he sat in front of a plate of fruit and bagels, .., before he was called up to speak at the prayer breakfast"-article.
No cream cheese, no butter, no jam, and no smoked salmon were served at this breakfast. I think that this is proof positive that this was both a political and sectarian "prayer breakfast," for the benefit of his evangelical base. Like the "red mass," for the supreme court justices, This is an unhealthy mix for our democracy.
7
... he seeks to revive his connection to evangelical and conservative voters whose support was crucial to his victory in 2016.
It is going to be very interesting to see what will be the long term impact on the various religious organizations that came out in support of Trump. They have made their deal with the devil. With organized religion on a downward slope in the U.S. in general is this going to be the final nail in the coffin? How do you justify support for Trump when you are trying to evangelize. Lets be honest here, Trump is not exactly the poster child for piety. Also, given the heavily political nature of these religious groups right now, anyone else think they should be losing their tax exemption. I sure do. Stay tuned.
94
While Obama was President, Trump (and Republicans) relentlessly challenged whether he was born in the United States. I call that racist harassment of President 44. Trump is the king of revenge politics. He deserves every swipe the Democrats may dish out to him through their investigatory arms in the Congress. Take the bully down.
211
@Michael V.Someone also needs to tie him in a chair and force him to read the Constitution over and over until he can recite the meaning of the separation of powers and the specific duties that are the domain of each branch of government.
13
@ChristineMcM Sadly, that would only work if he could read, which he seems to have some problems with.
@ChristineMcM
The constitution contains too many big words for trump. It needs to be read to him but even then the words and concepts contained therein are beyond his comprehension.
The dems in congress are fulfilling their constitutionally-mandated role to check the executive...so, Mr. Prez, when you give them lots of reasons to investigate, the opposing party will.
And "unlimited harassment"...unlike what a certain then-citizen engaged in over Obama's citizenship?
But he's right in that, if the Virginia pols were repubs, the backlash would be more severe.
9
@Jim R.
If the Va pols were Republicans, the GOP would be circling the wagons or looking the other way. If the GOP held their party members accountable the backlash would be less severe for them too.
18
@Jim R., If the Virginia pols were repubs, the backlash would involve a Trump rally, similar to the party's support for Cynthia Hyde Smith and Roy Moore. The Dems, on the other hand condemned Al Franken in the Senate, and the Virginia governor.
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.
31
Hmmm...why didn't you release those tax returns?
102
"“All children, born and unborn, are made in the holy image of God,” Mr. Trump said."
This from someone who willfully tears children from their mother's arms, some of whom will never be reunited by his design.
156
But once they are grown if they are not citizens we can treat them as cruelly as we want?
8
@L, I think trumps definition of holy image of god, applied only if the children are a certain race..nationality..gender...religion! In other words, a very exclusive club of children. Wink wink
2
This is practically a press release for Trump, literally composed largely of cut and pasted tweets. That Trump presents a "split-screen" of invective and transparently dishonest schmaltz about unity is not news, if you've been on the planet earth for the last few years.
What Trump calls "Presidential Harassment"--an entirely undefined concept--Adam Schiff and others call "congressional oversight"--an exquisitely well-defined concept, in the text of the constitution and in the long history of the United States government. Why does the Times step aside from the simple task of analyzing the legitimacy of those competing claims? It's not a difficult task. The Times has deep pockets, immense resources, and talented reporters. Why does it make itself into a megaphone for Trump's disinformation campaigns?
35
@TMSquared I offer this as a retired journalist and journalism professor. This piece is, in my opinion, pretty well balanced rather than being a PR piece. Your other point is spot on TMSquared - I do not understand why reporters don't immediately call the President on a factual error in his comments -- which he makes so often. Challenge him immediately rather than wait to the story is being written and the error/lie/misleader is pointed out after the fact. This really bothers me -- but maybe it's a matter of journalists not inserting themselves in the story. But still....sigh.
8
@Ed Hutchison
I'm not a journalist, so I'm grateful for your perspective. I wonder, though, when does a reporter realize that her ethical commitment to "not inserting herself" is being exploited by a powerful bad faith actor? In this case, an actor who has a record of, well, never not acting in bad faith. When does that record of bad faith exploitation of journalistic ethics itself become news?
Should have happened a long time ago, if you ask me.
The truth will come out...not Donnie’s version of it but the REAL truth. I’ll take the over on 5 years of jail.
16
Trump pandering to his base, and threatening the United States Congress not to exercise it's constitutional responsibility of oversight. SAD
46
Trump lives *entirely* in moments, and says whatever the current, specific moment requires to reach his personal goal for just that moment.
He is a odd, astounding chameleon, matching his personna to the current surroundings in an instant. And then totally gone in a blink of our eyes as the next moment arrives.
42
@Glenn Galen In other words, Trump has the attention span of a newt...or gnat?
A new term " unlimited presidential harassment" ... this is the person that harassed our last President endlessly with the birther conspiracy theory, among other lies in his alternate truth and his mythomaniacal state of mind.
This pathological, habitual, and continual liar needs to be harassed, investigated, persecuted, indicted, prosecuted, and incarcerated.
168
@Robert
And in addition, don't forget that Trump engaged in a campaign of negativity toward President Obama by questioning his Law School degree. Trump repeatedly demanded that Obama's grades and courses be revealed by Obama or the Law School.
18
@RetiredGuy, because of course Obama's grades and courses matter much more than Trump's taxes, meetings, donations, etc. HaHa! Clearly a case of "can dish out but can't take it."
12
@Robert
and he must have slept through Whitewater
2
I'm no fan of Trump's. But Franken, the kid with the Maga hat, and the debacle in Virginia are leading me to conclude that the Democrats are in serious danger of overplaying their "party of the righteous" hand.
6
Talbot,
Don't forget that these incidents were all brought to light by right-wing activists in their attempt to set up the Democrats and make them look bad.
By the way, the kids with the MAGA hats were being obnoxious and disrespectful of an elder.
9
@Talbot
Franken resigned. That kid is scary and I don't understand your point about him. He sure as heck isn't a Democrat. The majority of Democrats that I know of are calling for those Virginia politicians to resign.
How many Republicans have called for Trump to resign for his crimes?
25
@Talbot There’s a false equivalence if I’ve ever heard one.
10