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2024 Democratic Presidential Nominee


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It's not at all surprising that some Trump supporters haven't watched the debate between Harris and Trump. Trump got embarrassed. I've watched it twice already, and I look forward to watching it again.

Harris trolled him on his crowd size, and Trump's wheels came right off. It was all downhill from there. It was a sight to see. Well, a sight for everyone but Trump supporters.

Trump's "concept of a plan" to replace Obamacare was - again, there is just no other word to describe it - embarrassing. The fact that he couldn't seem to comprehend that a candidate could come up with a plan spoke volumes. He made an excuse that he couldn't come up with a healthcare plan because he wasn't president. Why are any voters giving him the time of day? He had four years as president, then he had another four years as ex-president, and the best Obamacare replacement he can come up with was "I have a concept of a plan?" One of the late night talk shows did a montage of him (dating back to 2016) saying that a plan to replace Obamacare was coming in two weeks, four weeks, two months, ect. The guy is an empty suit.

Hopefully this currently ongoing story of the Haitians eating dogs and cats will be part of Trump's undoing. Seems JD Vance is already trying to double down on it. I'm fairly certain we haven't seen the end of this yet. It will be interesting if it affects Ohio polling in any meaningful way. Apart from the pure political optics (which are awful), I'm worried that the situation will escalate and people will get hurt (which would be far worse.) But, right now it seems Vance and Trump have decided this is their number one issue.

Edited by Denny Zartman
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Was Nancy Pelosi smart in escorting Biden out?

Harris is now only four points behind Trump in Iowa, of all places.

The last Iowa poll with Biden, Joe was losing by 18 points.

The amazing thing is that Harris has now put in play states that would have been given up on with Biden: Iowa, Texas, Florida.

Trump clearly did not prepare for that debate.  And it hurt him. When the candidate has to go out into the spin room?

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7 hours ago, Denny Zartman said:

If his leadership was so unforgettably disastrous during the George Floyd protests of 2020, why was Walz re-elected in 2022?

Lesser of two evils...the Republican candidate was relatively unknown...

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2 hours ago, Pamela Brown said:

Lesser of two evils...the Republican candidate was relatively unknown...

Pamela,

     Please do some remedial educational reading.  Let's try this a second time.

Here’s what Tim Walz has done as governor of Minnesota • Minnesota Reformer

 

Here’s what Tim Walz has done as governor of Minnesota

By: Max Nesterak, J. Patrick Coolican and Deena Winter - August 7, 2024 2:37 pm
Democrats have swiftly fallen for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s Midwest dad persona, sharing videos of him working on a car, going on a rollercoaster with daughter Hope at the State Fair, signing a bill renaming a street in Prince’s honor in purple ink. But he’s also got a long record as governor.

Walz’s first term was largely defined by the gridlock of divided government and crisis management in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd.

But once Democrats swept control of state government in the 2022 elections with Walz at the top of the ticket, they passed one of the most significant progressive agendas in the nation’s recent history with just a single-seat Senate majority.

Walz represented a Republican-leaning district in the U.S. House and was widely seen as the more centrist of the two leading Democratic candidates for governor, but he’s become a champion of progressive policy as governor. With few exceptions, Walz supported what the Democratic majorities in the state House and Senate could muster the votes to pass.

Those bills — ranging from protecting abortion access to speeding up energy permitting to increasing protections against wage theft — have excited the nation’s Democratic base, which is beginning to learn about the trifecta’s work over the past two years.

Here’s a look at where Walz stands on the issues, based on the bills he’s signed.

Abortion access

Among the first bills Walz signed after Democrats took control of the Legislature was the Protect Reproductive Options Act, guaranteeing that “every individual has a fundamental right to make autonomous decisions about the individual’s own reproductive health.”

The law fulfilled a campaign promise that helped Democrats win control of state government after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states across the South and Midwest to enact draconian restrictions on abortion.

“The message that we’re sending Minnesota today is very clear: Your rights are protected in the state. You have the right to make your own decisions about your health, your family and your life,” Walz said during a ceremonial bill signing in January 2023.

Democrats then passed a “shield law” aimed at protecting women who travel to Minnesota for abortions by prohibiting state courts, law enforcement and health care providers from cooperating with authorities outside the state.

Finally, Democrats eliminated virtually all restrictions on abortion — many of which had already been deemed unconstitutional — including that abortions after the first trimester be performed in a hospital or abortion facility, that both parents of minors be notified and that the state Department of Health keep data on abortions.

Education

Perhaps the most popular bill Walz signed into law provides free school breakfast and lunch to all kids at eligible schools, regardless of income. The bill signing at a Minneapolis school created the now-ubiquitous image of a mob of schoolchildren embracing Walz as he laughs.

 

The 2023 Legislature also boosted K-12 education spending by $2.3 billion and early childhood education by $300 million, although school districts complained much of the new funding went to cover new mandates. Among those mandates was The Read Act, which requires school districts to use evidence-based practices to teach reading. School districts must also provide free menstrual products to students.

One of the more controversial policies Walz signed into law banned school police officers from using prone — e.g., face down — restraints on students, which created a mini political crisis when some police departments pulled their officers from schools. Walz said he doesn’t support the use of face-down holds but also signed the bill repealing the ban.

Walz signed a bill providing free college tuition for University of Minnesota and Minnesota State campuses, for families with income of $80,000 or less.

For Walz, a former teacher, achieving a “Minnesota Miracle 2.0” would define his legacy as governor. But the state’s above-average achievement has sunk closer to average during his tenure, while racial disparities, among the worst in the nation, have persisted. In 2015 the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranked the state sixth overall in the U.S. on education quality. By 2024 Minnesota had fallen to 19th place. Increased funding for schools, science-based reading instruction requirements and free universal meals will likely take years to yield results.

Walz was criticized by Republicans for keeping schools shuttered longer than in many Republican-led states. The long periods of remote learning damaged the academic and social/emotional progress of many children, but Walz and his allies said the risk to staff and families was too great.

A federal program — administered by the state Department of Education — designed to feed hungry children when schools and daycares closed became the source of a massive fraud, with over $250 million gone missing. The U.S. attorney has convicted nearly two dozen people of the 70 who have been charged, in what is the biggest pandemic relief fraud in the nation.

Labor 

Walz signed into law one of the most significant pro-worker agendas in state history in 2023, including paid sick leave and a state-run paid family and medical leave program providing up to 20 weeks of leave in a single year.

 

Democrats banned noncompete agreements; banned anti-union captive audience meetings; expanded unemployment benefits to hourly school workers who are off during the summer; made general contractors liable for wage theft by their subcontractors; and raised workplace safety standards at meatpacking plants and Amazon and other big warehouses. The state also established a nation-leading Nursing Home Workforce Standards Board with the power to set wages across the industry.

Walz has also signed massive infrastructure spending packages — known as “bonding bills” — including a $2.6 billion package in 2023 funding many union construction jobs repairing roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.

Walz broke with his allies in the labor movement on two significant occasions that year, however. Walz insisted on a carve-out for Mayo Clinic from two bills aimed at increasing nurse staffing levels and slowing the rise of health care costs, after the health care giant — and largest private employer in the state — threatened to move billions in future investments out of state. Both bills were gutted.

The president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, the union advocating for the staffing bill, called it a “betrayal.”

Walz also issued the only veto of his tenure on a bill setting minimum pay rates for Uber and Lyft drivers and granting them greater protections from being unfairly deactivated after Uber said it may leave the state. Instead, he created a task force on driver pay and labor standards, which informed a bill he did sign earlier this year.

Environment

One-hundred percent of Minnesota’s energy must come from carbon-free sources by 2040 under a bill Walz signed into law in early 2023, putting the state on one of the most aggressive timelines to shift away from fossil fuels. He also signed a bill to speed up permitting for new energy projects.

While celebrated by environmentalists at the time, his administration has recently earned their ire by advocating for the “carbon free” definition to include burning wood and trash for energy since those sources will emit carbon dioxide whether burned for electricity or left to decompose.

Walz also moved aggressively to curb greenhouse gas emissions by making Minnesota the first state in the Midwest to adopt California’s clean car standards. The standards, which requires car dealers to offer more hybrid and electric vehicles, are set to take effect next year after surviving a lengthy legal battle. His administration’s adoption of the rule will likely provide fodder to the Trump campaign, which called Walz a “radical leftist” in a statement on Tuesday.

“Walz is obsessed with spreading California’s dangerously liberal agenda far and wide,” Karoline Leavitt, Trump campaign press secretary, said following the announcement of Walz as Harris’ running mate.

Along with clean car standards, Walz approved additional tax credits to bring down the cost of electric cars and e-bikes.

Early in his first term, Walz continued a legal challenge from his predecessor’s administration to Enbridge’s Line 3 replacement pipeline. Enbridge ultimately completed the new oil pipeline despite legal challenges and protests by some Native tribes and environmental activists — including outside the governor’s residence. Walz faced harsh criticism from those groups for not using executive power to halt construction.

Environmentalists have also been disappointed that Walz hasn’t tried to stop plans for copper-sulfide mining near the Boundary Waters and in the St. Louis River watershed that feeds into Lake Superior. His administration has defended state permits for PolyMet’s proposed mine near Babbitt, and allowed Twin Metals to conduct drilling tests on state land near the Boundary Waters.

The Biden administration essentially put a 20-year moratorium on the Twin Metals proposal, however, by removing 225,000 acres near the protected wilderness from the federal mining leasing program. Those projects are supported by trade unions, which has put competing pressure on Walz from two important constituencies.

Health care

 

Like many Democratic governors, Walz put in place a stay-at-home order at the beginning of the pandemic, and later an indoor mask mandate and restrictions on public events at the urging of public health authorities and institutions like the Mayo Clinic.

Walz enlisted former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the last Republican to win statewide office in Minnesota, in a public show of their COVID-19 vaccination. He required state workers to be vaccinated before they could return to the workplace.

The pandemic decisions were polarizing and at times faced legal challenges. By the time the worst of the pandemic was over, Minnesota had lower COVID-19 death rates than most other states.

Walz spent his first term under divided government fruitlessly pushing for expansion of MinnesotaCare, Minnesota’s health insurance program for the working poor. With Democrats in power, Walz signed a bill moving the state toward establishing a public option that allows all residents without employer-subsidized health insurance to buy into MinnesotaCare. The earliest that could begin is 2027, and lawmakers must still receive federal approval and find a way to fund the new social benefit.

In the first year of his second term, Walz signed a bill to expand public health insurance access to the more than 40,000 undocumented people estimated to live in Minnesota who meet the income requirements of MinnesotaCare beginning as soon as next year.

Walz also signed a bill making Minnesota a refuge for people seeking gender-affirming care.

Marijuana

Democrats duped Republicans into legalizing low-dose THC edibles and drinks in 2022, and then came back for full legalization after taking both chambers in the election that year. Walz ran on legalization in 2018, so this was a promise kept.

The legalization rollout has been a little rocky. Walz’s first choice to lead the Office of Cannabis Management was forced to step aside after media reports that she had been selling THC products with more THC than is legally allowed, had tax liens and unpaid debts. The administration has still yet to name a permanent replacement.

The law includes an expungement mechanism to help people clear their records of marijuana convictions. It also favors communities hardest hit by prohibition by giving them a head start on obtaining a license to open a marijuana dispensary.

Retail sales are expected next spring, MinnPost recently reported.

Policing and public safety

 

The aftermath of the police murder of George Floyd in 2020 presented one of the greatest political and governing challenges of Walz’s career. The widespread destruction of the riots, which followed decades of police abuses, created a lasting liability for him. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey blamed Walz for hesitating to call in the National Guard while the city burned, while Walz’s office said the city did not provide enough detailed information for them to deploy the National Guard until the afternoon of May 28 — after three nights of protests and rioting.

Trump, at his rally in St. Cloud, falsely said he saved Minneapolis by calling in the National Guard, and Republicans have hammered Walz for “allowing” the rioting four years ago.

At the time, Walz also faced pressure to quickly pass police reforms by those far to the left of him championing “defund the police,” a slogan that continues to haunt mainstream Democrats.

Walz did sign a bipartisan bill in 2020 with policing changes, including a ban on certain chokeholds; a ban on “warrior-style” training for police officers; and residency incentives for police officers to live in the city they patrol.

Later, with control of state government, Democrats passed a more sweeping package of changes to policing and criminal justice broadly.

Walz signed a bill changing the state’s standard for deadly force, saying it “shall be exercised judiciously and with respect for human rights and dignity and for the sanctity of every human life.”

Walz also signed a bill banning cops from entering homes without knocking first — with limited exceptions — in response to the 2022 police killing Amir Locke, a young Black man not suspected of any crime.

He also signed off on a massive overhaul of the state’s prison system, making it more rehabilitative and less punitive in an effort to reduce recidivism. It includes earned release, in which prisoners can get out earlier and shorten their community supervision time if they participate in rehabilitation programs. Now, prisoners can get out when half their sentence has been served if they complete programs and behave well; Republicans called it a “get out of jail free” bill.

Walz also signed legislation that limits probation to five years for most felonies (except for homicides and sex crimes); made phone calls free for prisoners; legalizes possession of drug paraphernalia; made it easier for people to expunge non-violent crimes from their records; made it easier to get clemency; and banned people involved in hate or extremists groups from being licensed as police officers.

While governor, the state gave $300 million to cities, counties and tribal governments to spend on law enforcement as they see fit and invested $70 million in community violence prevention grants for victim services, prison re-entry, homelessness assistance, restorative justice, violence interruption and juvenile diversion.

Undocumented Minnesotans can now get a driver’s license after Walz signed a bill in early 2023.

Voting rights

 

Last year Walz signed legislation restoring voting rights to felons who are no longer imprisoned. The law was upheld this week in the face of a legal challenge.

The bill restored the right to vote to over 50,000 Minnesotans who have completed their sentences but remain on probation or parole. Prior to that, they had to wait until they were out from under the government’s control and had paid their fines and restitution. Given Minnesota’s lengthy probation, that could add up to years.

Walz also signed the Democracy for the People Act, which aims to make casting a ballot easier. The law includes automatic voter registration; allows 16- and 17-year-olds to pre-register to vote; and creates a permanent mail voting list, meaning voters can be automatically sent a mail ballot for every election, without having to apply for one.

Other new election laws Walz signed include a requirement that voting instructions and sample ballots be translated into languages other than English in certain districts; protections for election workers from intimidation or interference; a ban on tampering with voting equipment, ballot boxes and lists of registered voters; and an extension of the right to leave work in order to vote to include the 46 days of early voting.

Taxes

The Legislature passed and Walz signed a 1% sales tax increase in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area, with .75% dedicated to transportation and .25% for housing. It was a major victory for Democrats, who had long sought dedicated funding sources for public transportation and affordable housing. But the tax hike — passed when the Legislature had a $17.5 billion surplus — drew outrage from Republicans.

Walz also signed a bill tying the state’s gas tax to inflation — capped at 3% — which was a politically risky decision as consumers’ budgets were battered by high gas prices and high inflation.

In addition to tax increases, Walz and his Democratic colleagues exempted Social Security income from taxes for joint filers earning less than $100,000 a year.

They also championed tax credits for low-income families, and the state earned the recognition of having the most equitable tax system in the country, according to the left-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy.

Walz signed one of the nation’s largest child tax credits, which is steeply graduated, granting $1,750 per child for low-income Minnesotans. It begins to phase out for married filers who make $35,000 annually and $29,500 for single taxpayers.

Walz also signed a bill expanding the Working Family Credit, which is the state equivalent of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit.

The Legislature passed and Walz signed a one-time tax rebate of $260-$1,300, depending on family size, in what became colloquially known as a “Timmy stimmy.”

The former renters’ tax credit has become an income tax credit, which is expected to sharply increase the number of people who claim it.

Even as legislators pushed for a novel tax increase on corporations’ international revenue, as well as a fifth income tax tier, Walz let those proposals die on the vine.

Gun control

The perception going into the 2018 campaign for governor that Walz was a moderate was due in large part to his position on guns. He grew up around guns, was a skilled marksman during his military career, hunts pheasants and had long been endorsed by the NRA.

That changed after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre in Parkland, Florida, which also coincided with Walz’s campaign to win the Democratic-Farmer-Labor endorsement that spring.

“The world’s changed. I’ve changed,” he said at the time.

Since then, he signed bills requiring background checks for all private gun sales; allowing a judge to temporarily take a person’s guns if they are deemed a threat to themselves or others, e.g., a “red flag” law; and increasing the penalty for straw purchases of guns, as when a person buys guns for the express purpose of helping someone get a gun when they are not legally allowed to. That law passed in the wake of the killing of three first responders by a gunman alleged to have used a firearm obtained via a straw purchase.

Housing 

Minnesota lawmakers increased the state’s spending on housing about ninefold with a $1 billion spending package — paid for with part of the $17.5 billion surplus in 2023 — to increase affordable housing, prevent homelessness, expand homeownership opportunities and provide rental assistance to thousands of households.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers aimed to increase housing construction by overriding local zoning laws that restrict development and economic inclusion. Most of those proposals failed to get enough support, however, although Walz did sign a bill ending an environmental lawsuit against Minneapolis over its pro-density 2040 plan.

 

Edited by W. Niederhut
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2 hours ago, Pamela Brown said:

Lesser of two evils...the Republican candidate was relatively unknown...

"Lesser of two evils?" You've been making it sound as if Walz was personally directing the rioters in 2020. What was his opponent promising to do that could have possibly been worse? Surely *you* voted for Walz's opponent in 2022. Because if you didn't, you're clearly wasting everybody's time right now.

Did you vote for Walz in 2022, or did you choose the greater of the two evils? Because if you voted for Walz in 2022 you're wasting our time right now bashing him. And if you voted for the greater of the two evils in 2022, why would anybody want to listen to anything you have to say about who to vote for in 2024?

Who cares if his opponent was relatively unknown? As if unknowns don't have a chance in politics, especially when they're facing somebody who's been such a disaster as you've been trying to paint Walz as being. Give us a break.

If Walz's leadership during the Floyd protests was really as bad as you've made it out to be, surely anybody else would have been preferable. But a mere two years later Walz was re-elected by a very comfortable margin.

It's not adding up.

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Purely anecdotal, but I'm hearing Trump is advertising heavily on TV during Texas college football games. Looks like the campaign is feeling the need to shore up support from men in Texas, one of the most reliable demographics for a Republican candidate. As we all know, every penny spent in Texas is one less penny available to spend in a swing state. I don't believe Trump is actually going to lose Texas, but I can see the logic in the Trump campaign feeling the need to advertise there. If Trump does manage to lose Texas, is addition to certainly losing the election in a landslide it would mean a humiliation on a historic scale.

I believe that, and some other indicators, suggest Trump's support is softening. I also think that there's a chance this softening of support may accelerate due to Trump's current turn to the hard right. I think his supporters are motivated more by what they oppose than by enthusiasm for Trump himself. If they have to hold their noses to vote for him, I think there are others out there who are likely to simply sit this one out. Right now, I think Trump's ceiling is 47% and his floor is 37%.

Harris closing the gap by double digits in Iowa is also impressive. Seems there were a lot of "Double Haters" in Iowa who didn't want either Trump or Biden, and they now find Harris a less objectionable alternative. If Harris did that 10+ shift by simply not being Biden, then that should make a difference in other states as well.

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10 hours ago, Denny Zartman said:

It's not at all surprising that some Trump supporters haven't watched the debate between Harris and Trump. Trump got embarrassed. I've watched it twice already, and I look forward to watching it again.

Harris trolled him on his crowd size, and Trump's wheels came right off. It was all downhill from there. It was a sight to see. Well, a sight for everyone but Trump supporters.

Trump's "concept of a plan" to replace Obamacare was - again, there is just no other word to describe it - embarrassing. The fact that he couldn't seem to comprehend that a candidate could come up with a plan spoke volumes. He made an excuse that he couldn't come up with a healthcare plan because he wasn't president. Why are any voters giving him the time of day? He had four years as president, then he had another four years as ex-president, and the best Obamacare replacement he can come up with was "I have a concept of a plan?" One of the late night talk shows did a montage of him (dating back to 2016) saying that a plan to replace Obamacare was coming in two weeks, four weeks, two months, ect. The guy is an empty suit.

Hopefully this currently ongoing story of the Haitians eating dogs and cats will be part of Trump's undoing. Seems JD Vance is already trying to double down on it. I'm fairly certain we haven't seen the end of this yet. It will be interesting if it affects Ohio polling in any meaningful way. Apart from the pure political optics (which are awful), I'm worried that the situation will escalate and people will get hurt (which would be far worse.) But, right now it seems Vance and Trump have decided this is their number one issue.

Hear hear Denny,
 

459633768_10230464138098955_520301196791

Denny:Hopefully this currently ongoing story of the Haitians eating dogs and cats will be part of Trump's undoing.

Yeah, well you'd think so. But it never happens. A standard of conduct has been dropped after 240 years!

Example:

Now Trump is blaming this 2nd assassination attempt on Biden and Harris!Yeah let's just keep inflaming everything until someone does get killed!

*******

Hey, are there any limits to the protection that the taxpayers pay with Trump in his own private Golf Course?

Particularly after he's charged the tax payer 5 times the going rate for the Secret Service to stay in his hotels?

Cant the grift from all his campaign merchandising cover some of this expense?

"Ask not what you're country can do for you?"

People compare JFK with Trump?  What a joke!

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-organization-charged-secret-service-much-1185-night-stay-trump-d-rcna52521

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Kirk Gallaway
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1 hour ago, Kirk Gallaway said:

Now Trump is blaming this 2nd assassination attempt on Biden and Harris!Yeah let's just keep inflaming everything until someone does get killed!

Yeah, Kirk, Trump and the Russian t-r-o-l-l farms are going to milk this loony Mar-a-Lago AK-47 incident for all they can-- while ignoring the core problem of GOP/NRA gun violence in the U.S.

Their false narrative is always Trump-as-Victim.

But let's recall that Putin funneled $30 million to Trump in 2016 through the NRA-- and Trump and his GOP goons on the SCOTUS have dutifully obstructed any attempts to implement rational gun control in the U.S.

Today, as expected, our Education Forum MAGA spammers-- Karl Kinaski and Paul Rigby-- are already swamping the board with MAGA spam about Ryan Routh and his AK-47.  Lucky us...

It's a re-play of Kinaski & Rigby cutting-and-pasting pages of MAGA spam here after the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting-- including X-tweets from Laura Loomer, Vigilant Fox, Zero Hedge, and MAGA Ben Shapiro.  🙄

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSYYAwjSpeYf46dLd8Y0sE

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The only chance Trump ever had of winning the election was if he managed to somehow appear slightly Presidential and not spew a constant stream of crazy talk. He failed miserably at that, so it isn't really surprising that voters are saying "No mas".

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That debate was really interesting in that it showed how much preparation matters.

Harris even planned her opening when she walked over to Trump and said her name the right way.  Trump did not get it, he just said his name in reply.

And when she criticized his rallies, I mean he just could not handle that.  But its true, people do walk out in many of them toward the end.

Whoever planned her prep should get a choice of cabinet spots if she wins. It was excellent.

 

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And the things is, Vance all but admitted that he made it up.

He is a Peter Thiel lackey right, is that not why Trump selected him?

Childless cat ladies and Haitian pet eaters?

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