Segment 1
Donald Trump and Congress. Supporters vs. #NeverTrump-ers. Velma Ann Ruth & Cynthia Dillon
Reports by the MSM of “hundreds” of Republicans against Mr. Trump (see for example, commentary in The Atlantic or Wednesday’s Blog post in The Washington Post) abound… as well as a few articles on the pro – Trump Republicans… ( thousand, thousands and thousands…, poetically described as fringe, under-educated, “white, economically insecure voters....”)
Velma Ann Ruth compiled a list of Republican Members of Congress who are Trump supporters… (225+), ten times the number of those self-defined as #NeverTrump-ers,…at 22. The List (available upon request) is structured on a “Tier” basis:
- T6-I: Top Trusted -7
- T6: Additional top supporting -7
- T5: Unifiers – 76
- T4: Endorsers – 83
- T3-E: Endorsed, not named before the convention – 47
- T2-E: Endorsed, hesitant before convention – 5
TOTAL to date: 225 Supporters
- T3: “Non-Namer” – 20
- T2: Observing, holding out – 28
Total to date: 48 position pending
- T1: #NeverTrump-ers – 22
During the segment, Members in leadership positions (Committee Chairs in the House and Senate-those “on board with anti-corruption changes and reform”) are identified, as well as the few who represent the #NeverTrump” movement… As noted by Ms. Ruth , “the #NeverTrump-ers seize much attention and have extensive coverage in the Press, but in reality they are significantly outweighed by the sheer number of Republicans in Congress who endorse the candidate or/and support his or the Party’s platform….”
In discussing the constant “misrepresentation and misinterpretation” ( Soviet propaganda/ disinformatzya methods?…) of Mr. Trump’s public statements, we note , as an example, his comments on Mrs. Kahn, the Gold Star Mother, who remained silent by her husband as he lectured Mr. Trump on patriotism and the Constitution, while addressing the DNC in Philadelphia….Mr. Trump’s comments could also be interpreted as defending Mrs. Kahn in public, in the face of “Middle Eastern trends of oppression against women…,” whether in dress , education and /or behavior, and not berating her as repeated in the press, ad nauseam. It is not the first time that a woman stands by her husband in silence… We have seen many Western born-raised-educated women, publicly humiliated, who have stood /stand demurely silent next to their philandering Lotharios and/or “crooked” husbands….
Segment 2
Citizen Journalism vs. MSM…. The “Trump Train” phenomenon… Cynthia Dillon & Velma Ann Ruth
Polls…Polls…Polls… the sources… what the numbers mean…. We discuss the various MSM sources for the poll results…mostly in favor of Mr. Trump’s opponent. Since the live airing of the show on Wednesday a lot has been discussed and written on the subject (See: Fox News; CNBC and MSNBC)… Forgotten perhaps is the “one and only…“ crooked Reuters Poll” so described by Democrat pollster and pundit Pat Caddell…. (And here’s another one….) What is Trump Train? As Ms. Ruth notes, it is “democracy at work…, supporters of Trump’s candidacy… through the democratic process… media share, word of mouth, political dialogue, public discourse, people who attend events, people who support the campaign, volunteers, advisors…millions of people who have never voted in decades… Trump Train operates through social media campaigns…in a form of citizen journalism… “
Segment 3 & 4
Kurdistan Regional Government. Refugees, Isis, Syria, Turkey… Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman, Representative of the KRG in the United States
Ms. Abdul Rahman is the representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government (Iraq) in the United States. Prior to her US appointment in 2015, Ms. Abdul Rahman was the High Representative to the United Kingdom. She was elected to the Leadership Council of the Kurdistan Democratic Party in 2010.” Representative Rahman, introduced by Velma Ann Ruth, comments on the refugee crisis, the dismal situation of an estimated 1.8Million “displaced persons, since the beginning of the Syrian conflict…” and the humanitarian aid available through the UN and the US…. Representative Rahman discusses the role of the Peshmergas, the Kurdish military forces, and their fight against ISIS in Iraq and Syria…, “with the help of European, Canadian and US forces… as well as United Arab Emirates, Jordan…” (Read latest developments) She also comments on the plight of the Kurds in Turkey, the largest ethnic group (between 16-25 million in a single region,) and gives her impressions on the failed coup d’état…
