Trump now in a 'Darker Place'

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Trump now in a 'darker place', warns man who ghostwrote his 'Art of the Deal' memoir
'
I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that he believes what he says now,'

Jeremy B White San Francisco
Friday 3 November 2017


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President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing the White House for a trip to Asia, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017, in Washington AP Photo/Evan Vucci


Donald Trump has descended into a “darker place” as he adopts far-right views to please his base, the President’s biographer has said.

By ghostwriting Art of the Deal, Tony Schwartz helped build Mr Trump’s persona as a savvy and sometimes ruthless businessman. He has since become a critic of the President, often pairing his broadsides with insights into Mr Trump’s psychology.

Mr Schwartz said Mr Trump used to be “non-ideological” and mostly uninterested in politics, contributing money to both parties and evincing few beliefs beyond being social liberalism.

But that has changed in recent months, Mr Schwartz said.

Today, I believe, he has adopted a pretty hard-right set of beliefs” Mr Schwartz told TheNation. “I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that he believes what he says now, and that’s because his base, the people who still love and adore him, are on the far right—and that’s what compels him the most”.

Despite running as a Republican candidate, Mr Trump has frequently rejected party orthodoxy. He can seem most in his element when he is speaking to campaign-style rallies, where he is able to appeal directly to his most fervent supporters.

“I think he’s drifted into that more for emotional and psychological reasons than for political and ideological reasons”, Mr Schwartz said of his perception that Mr Trump has turned to the right.

But some things, Mr Schwartz said, have not changed.

He was then and is now always 100 per cent self-absorbed, incapable of interest in other human beings, and completely self-referential”, Mr Schwartz said. He viewed every event through the lens of its impact on him”.


Asked if Mr Trump could become "more cautious" as the investigation led by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into the possible ties between the his presidential campaign team and Russia mulls further indictments after three were revealed earlier this week - Mr Swartz said "not a chance in hell". However, he did said that the president "is certainly feeling under threat right now."


https://www.google.com/amp/www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-art-of-the-deal-darker-place-beliefs-tony-schwartz-interview-comments-a8036126.html?amp


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Trump replies 'MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!' to tweet about his attacks on blacks


November 24 2017
By Kristine Phillips


President Donald Trump kicked off Thanksgiving Day by replying to a tweet that said - - his latest Twitter feud is part of a racist pattern of attacking prominent African-Americans.

The tweet that prompted the response from the president came from Washington Post reporter Greg Sargent. Sargent had shared his opinion article about Trump's latest tweetstorm related to LaVar Ball, whom the president has repeatedly called out for not thanking him properly for his role in resolving a shoplifting charge in China against Ball's son.

In his piece published Wednesday, Sargent argued that Trump "goes out of his way to attack prominent African-Americans," including Ball and professional football athletes.

"
Trump's rage-tweets about LaVar Ball are part of a pattern. Trump regularly attacks high-profile African-Americans to feed his supporters' belief that the system is rigged for minorities," Sargent wrote on Twitter Wednesday.

To which the president responded the following day with his campaign slogan [Make America Great Again].

It's unclear if Trump's tweet was meant to agree with or acknowledge Sargent's points that his behaviour on social media fits a racist pattern against African-Americans. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The president has spent the last few days engaging in a war of words with Ball, who has accused Trump of inflating his role in freeing his son, UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball, and two other teammates. The three were arrested for shoplifting while in Hangzhou for a tournament earlier this month.

Trump said that during his 12-day trip to Asia, he personally asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to help resolve the case of LiAngelo Ball and his two teammates.

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President Donald Trump Photo: AP


After returning to the United States, Trump wrote on Twitter, referring to himself in the third person: "Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you to President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!"

Asked by ESPN later about Trump's role in securing his son's release, LaVar Ball said: "Who? What was he over there for? Don't tell me nothing. Everybody wants to make it seem like he helped me out."

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LaVar Ball, right, father of Lonzo Ball Photo: AP


During a testy interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo Monday night, Ball again questioned Trump's role in his son's freeing.

"It wasn't like he was in the US and said, 'OK, there's three kids in China, I need to go over there and get them,'" Ball said. "That wasn't the thought process."

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Los Angeles Lakers guard Lonzo Ball Photo: AP


In response, the president fumed, often in the form of predawn tweetstorms. At one point, he said he should've let LiAngelo Ball and his teammates stay in jail.

At about 5.30am on Wednesday, Trump called LaVar Ball an "ungrateful fool," who, if not for his personal intervention, would have spent several Thanksgivings with his son locked up in China.

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Donald Trump relies to the reporter. Photo: Twitter
"It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair," Trump said.

Curiously, the president resurrected attacks on the NFL a few minutes later:

"The NFL is now thinking about a new idea - keeping teams in the Locker Room during the National Anthem next season. That's almost as bad as kneeling! When will the highly paid Commissioner finally get tough and smart? This issue is killing your league!. . ..."​

Sargent wrote that the immediate segue to football players, whom Trump has repeatedly criticised for kneeling during the national anthem, shows a clear pattern of a public attack on prominent African-Americans.

"It is true that in some of these cases, Trump was attacked or at least criticised first. But it's hard to avoid noticing a gratuitously ugly pattern in Trump's responses, in which Trump vaguely suggests:

either that his targets are getting above their station, or

that they're asking for too much and are insufficiently thankful for all that has been done for them,"
Sargent wrote.​

The president has repeatedly said that kneeling during the national anthem, meant to protest racism and police brutality, is disrespectful to the flag and to the country.

Last month, Trump drew criticisms over his condolence call to the widow of Sergeant La David Johnson, who was killed with three other soldiers during an ambush in Niger.

Myeshia Johnson said that during the call, the president told her that her husband "knew what he signed up for." She also said that Trump couldn't even remember her husband's name.

Trump disputed the slain soldier's widow's account, saying in a tweet: "I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!"

Washington Post
Copyright © 2017 Fairfax Media


https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.sm...ut-his-attacks-on-blacks-20171123-gzrvnt.html


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