Goodbye, America!

United States of America,  July 4, 1776 - October 26, 2020

With the swearing in of Amy Coney Barrett on October 26, 2020, Americans were legally condemned to witness the end of the American experiment to create a country where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are the unalienable rights of all. 🤬

“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
–George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905.

As was the case with the fall of Rome, the collapse of what the Founding Fathers created in America began with the selfishness of the privileged among us.

"Everyone tempted to believe that future generations will have time to address difficult issues that we selfishly choose to ignore should remember their sour legacy."
–final sentence from the article below by Edward Watts

Click the image or the source link to read the article.

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Toss-Up 2020

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After years of listening to conservatives and evangelicals preach about how much they love everyone while heaping hatred on liberals, I believe I understand why.

Simply put, liberals make conservatives and evangelicals look bad.

Liberals actively support policies and introduce bills designed to make real the ideals which conservatives and evangelicals claim to support. Liberals know that passing legislation involves compromise and that neither they nor their policies are perfect. Yet they persist.

Conservatives and evangelicals, on the other hand, use the rhetoric of piety and patriotism to wrap themselves in fake moral superiority in order to hide the fact that they consistently seek to keep those ideals from becoming law.

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The man in this cartoon has stopped to consider the consequences of his choice. He may go to the left; he may go to the right, but he knows he has a choice to make. He is clearly a liberal.

Conservatives and evangelicals who arrive at that spot do not hesitate. They simply go to the right and claim that a left turn would lead to socialism, attacks on religion, and the undermining of individual freedom.

A Failure of Leadership

The Indictment

I did hope, for the sake of our country, that Donald Trump might show some interest in taking the job seriously,” Obama said. “But he never did.He’s shown no interest in putting in the work; no interest in finding common ground; no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends; no interest in treating the presidency as anything but one more reality show that he can use to get the attention he craves.Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t,
–President Barack Obama, August 19, 2020

The Lie

HE SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN, AND GOT CAUGHT!
–Donald Trump, 10:33 PM · Aug 19, 2020 and hundreds of times since then.

The Facts

American investigators trying to find out more about Russia’s attack on the 2016 election sought information about whether anyone in Trump’s camp was involved. Subsequent reports have revealed that Trump’s campaign chairman for part of 2016, Paul Manafort, was giving internal polling data to a man linked with Russia’s military intelligence agency.

Other people in Trump’s camp, including adviser Roger Stone, were trying to make connections with those involved with the Russian interference, which Trump and his team welcomed and encouraged. Ultimately, however, the Justice Department did not charge anyone based on alleged collusion with the Russian election interference.

Promises and Misses

Wake up, America!

With only a few weeks before the 2020 election, Donald Trump is busy making promises:

• US vaccine approval by October.
• enough doses of a Covid-19 vaccine for every American by April.
• $13 billion in additional aid to Puerto Rico
• promise to eliminate the payroll tax
• a health plan to replace the Affordable Care Act that’s “all ready”

As he makes these promises, the talking heads totally miss the point.

They talk ad nauseam about how Trump's promises will not and/or cannot be kept before election day and remind us of Trump's false promises of things (his health care plan, releasing his taxes, etc.) that “will happen very soon.”

Once again, they’ve been distracted by the words of a con artist, words which are never substantive, but rather manipulative.

Trump knows full well that most votes will be cast by mail long before November 3. He is making these promises to lock in as many votes as possible of people currently leaning toward him before more shit hits the fan and they change their minds.

I don't think...

With those words, Donald Trump, began his denial of facts about the fires in California.

37% of our nation follows the Tweets and believe the suggestions (I'm being kind in using that word) and unsupported opinions of a man who does not speak or deal in facts.

Pay attention to what he actually says, not what you think he might know because of his position, and you'll see that he responds, not with facts, but with opinions based on nothing but what he wants reality to be and you to believe.

Consider two statements, excerpted from the article below, which are his responses to facts about climate science:

"It'll start getting cooler. You just — you just watch,"

Sure, it will get cooler, but only because summer is ending. The cooling we'll see is a change in the weather, not the climate. Neither you, I, nor anyone else, scientist or politician, can see climate getting cooler unless we watch for decades. If you think, you'll understand this and recognize his con.

"Well, I don't think science knows, actually,"

Like the infamous word, though, tacked onto the end of his attempt to pressure the President of Ukraine into lying for him, that appended actually is problematic. Is Trump saying I don't think science actually knows or I actually don't think science knows? One is a comment on science, the other on his thought process. In Trump's mind, there's probably no difference. In the minds of people who care about the country, there's a big difference.

When the president, any president, speaks to us about the problems facing our nation, facts matter, not what he or she thinks, actually or not.

Donald Trump doesn't want you to think; however, if you care about our country, you should think before you vote in November.

'I Don't Think Science Knows': Visiting Fires, Trump Denies Climate Change

September 14, 2020 5:47 PM ET

ALANA WISE

President Trump speaks Monday during a briefing on wildfires in McClellan Park, Calif.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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With wildfires devastating the West and a hurricane bearing down on the Gulf Coast, President Trump, who has for years mocked and denied the reality of climate change, was briefed on Monday on the status of fires in California. 

During his briefing, which included California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, officials repeatedly invoked climate change and its impact on the state's ability to manage the raging infernos. 

Still, even as more than two dozen wildfires roared across California alone, Trump declined to acknowledge the role climate change likely played in fueling the flames.

"We've had temperatures explode this summer. ... We want to work with you to really recognize the changing climate and what it means to our forests and actually work together with that science," said Wade Crowfoot, California's secretary for natural resources. "That science is going to be key because if we ignore that science and sort of put our head in the sand and think it's all about vegetation management, we're not going to succeed in protecting Californians." 

"It'll start getting cooler. You just — you just watch," the president said.

"I wish science agreed with you," Crowfoot said.

"Well, I don't think science knows, actually," he said.

Trump visited the area to cheer on first responders and emergency managers, holding a ceremony to honor California National Guard troops who rescued trapped campers. 

He also said better forest management is the key to preventing the state's fires. In recent days, he has criticized California officials, but most of the state's forested land is federal or private. 

On the other side of the country, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden addressed these disasters and others, and their link to human-caused climate change. 

"With every bout with nature's fury, caused by our own inaction on climate change, more Americans see and feel the devastation in big cities, small towns, on coastlines and farmlands," Biden said in prepared remarks. 

Speaking outdoors on the grounds of the Delaware Museum of Natural History, Biden stressed that climate disasters are affecting blue and red states alike. "It's not a partisan phenomenon; it's science," he said.

Biden called Trump a "climate arsonist" and turned the president's campaign warnings about at-risk suburbs around: "You know what's actually threatening our suburbs? Wildfires are burning the suburbs in the West. Floods are wiping out suburban neighborhoods in the Midwest. And hurricanes are imperiling suburban life along our coasts."

Biden has focused much of his campaign on fighting the battle against climate disasters and has vowed to boost funding for clean energy initiatives and to create domestic jobs in the sector. 

This is in stark contrast with Trump, who has dismissed or diluted dozens of federal environmental policies since taking office. A major pitch of his 2016 campaign was to appeal to coal industry workers, vowing to restore the industry.

Deputy political editor Benjamin Swasey contributed reporting.

Best Snide Story

American Voter

(written and performed by George A. Denino

with apologies to Stephen Sondheim and Leonard Bernstein)

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Dear 2020 voter, you gotta understand,
Trump is a bullshit floater, a tweeting one-man band.
His mother didn’t want him, his dad sent him away.
But he owns the GOP today.

American voter, the handwriting’s plain.
With Trump the Constitution’s being flushed down the drain.
He holds up a Bible, but owns a white hood.
Deep down inside him, he’s no good.

He’s no good, he’s no good,
He’s no stinkin' good.
Like his Senate allies, he’s no good.

(Spoken) That’s a scary story.
Gotta tell it to the world! Better yet, I’ll post it on the web.

Addicted Facebook readers, The Donald is a tool.
He works with bottom-feeders who tell him that he’s cool.
They kiss his ass to please him, but if they dare to stray,
Just like clockwork, they will hear him say,

“He’s a loser. I hardly knew him. He only worked for me for a short time.”

Oh, bamboozled voter, you’re certainly square;
You think Trump’s gonna help you, but he just doesn’t care.
It’s not a neurosis that oughta be curbed.
He’s psychologic’ly disturbed!

He’s disturbed, he’s disturbed, he’s the most disturbed,
He’s a narcissist, and he’s disturbed!

In the opinion of this blogger, Donald J. Trump is a disaster as president on account he only cares about Donald J. Trump. But you don’t have to take my word for it. Here’s what he says about himself.

“Let me tell you. The one that matters is me. I'm the only one that matters. Because when it comes down to it, that's what the policy is going to be.”

But when asked about his policy decisions on the COVID-19 pandemic, he said,

“I take no responsibility. I’ve been right all along. We’ve done an amazing job.”

I’m pretty sure that one hundred-eighty thousand dead Americans would dispute those words if they could. Instead, I'll sing a plausible, fictitious testimonial from another nation's leader.

Dear kamerad Trumpke, Im so proud of you;
You follow my agenda, but what else can you do.
There’s no other option, for you no escape,
Because I have the pee-pee tape.

He’s owned; there’s no disputin’. We see it in his tweets.
He takes his cues from Putin, and then he gladly cheats.
If he is reelected, the rule of law is gone.
Voter, get that Trump sign off your lawn!

American voter, I’m begin’ you, “Please!
Don’t give our country four more years of Donald Trump sleaze.”
The nation’s survival depends upon you.
American voter,
Vote Blue!

Juvenile Delinqency

The juxtaposition of a four month old comment by Donald J. Trump with an even older comic strip is a damning indictment of the mind of the juvenile delinquent who currently befouls the Oval Office.

The Comment

(April 8, 2020)

Donald Trump admitted on Monday that making it easier to vote in America would hurt the Republican party.

The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.

“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,” Trump said during an appearance on Fox & Friends.

Donald Trump in the Rose Garden at the White House on Sunday. 

Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

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The Cartoon

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Fifteen minutes after I published this post I came across another cartoon that validates the initial comparison.

Bonus Cartoon

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Paint Your Wagon Blue

The Donald Is A Liar

(a parody written and sung to by George A. Denino with apologies to Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe)

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Oh when you vote November third the stakes can’t be much higher.
Joe Biden is an honest man, The Donald is a liar
The liar blows the facts around and sets his base a-flyin’.
The liar makes corona sound like no one’s out there dyin’.

A liar, a liar, The Donald is a liar.

Before we knew the liar’s game, we heard his wailin’ whinin’,
We thought that voters used their brains, but on red meat they were dinin’.
Republicans have lost their souls, a narcissist they follow,
And now the rule of law is gone and the Constitution’s hollow.

A liar, a liar, The Donald is a liar.

November third we have a choice; it's truth or more confusion.
So if you think your vote won’t count, you’ve bought a false illusion.
We’ll get the leader we deserve, we voters are the choosers.
Joe Biden’s truth, or Moscow Mitch and Donald’s cheatin’ losers?

A liar, a liar, The Donald is a liar.
A liar, a craven liar! Fuck the GOP.

Going Postal

Ode DeJoy

(written and sung by George A. Denino, with apologies to Ludwig von Beethoven)

He’ll delay your mail-in ballot
Slow things down so Trump can win.
Your prescription? Not his problem.
Tell it to your next of kin.
He’ll force you to vote in person,
Catch corona, maybe die;
Such a tiny sacrifice so
Louis can support the lie.
Though you may die,
He’ll never cry.
And your death will surely validate his campaign buy.

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Coming To Terms With Religion in America

Christianity or Sanctimonious Cultism?

Definitions:

freedom of religion: The right to choose a religion (or no religion) without interference by the government. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the First Amendment (see also First Amendment) to the Constitution. (See separation of church and state.)

Christian: Etymology - The Greek word Χριστιανός (Christianos), meaning "follower of Christ", comes from Χριστός (Christos), meaning "anointed one",[13] with an adjectival ending borrowed from Latin to denote adhering to, or even belonging to, as in slave ownership.[14] In the Greek Septuagint, christos was used to translate the Hebrew מָשִׁיחַ (Mašíaḥ, messiah), meaning "[one who is] anointed."[15] In other European languages, equivalent words to Christian are likewise derived from the Greek, such as Chrétien in French and Cristiano in Spanish.

cargo cult noun: any of various Melanesian religious groups characterized by the belief that material wealth (such as money or manufactured goods) can be obtained through ritual worship 

The American Constitution grants and guarantees freedom of religion to its citizens, a majority of which profess to be Christians. Yet one would hardly recognize the political policies and cultural actions embraced by today's evangelical Christians as in any way consistent with the words and actions of the Christ they claim to follow.

The anointed one of the New Testament is the exemplar of the bleeding heart liberal today's evangelical Christians mock.

He gave His life for others. They proclaim the superiority of conservative values and trickle-down economics in order to begrudge every penny collected and spent on those less fortunate than themselves.

Misled by wolves in shepherd's clothing in a church aligned with a political party whose policies are shaped by greed, the sheep of America's self-righteous right have turned Christianity into little more than a capitalistic version of a cargo cult with Donald Trump as their messiah.

A Prescient Peanuts Prognostication

Play Ball

Charles Schulz died on February 12, 2000. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was ten years old, and acceptable behavior for women was still defined by a culture which generally viewed them as inferior to men. If women didn't like that situation, they were free to complain, but they were undeniably expected to play ball politely in a game with rules rooted in male chauvinism.

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In a series of comic strips inked in 1973, Schulz foreshadowed the day when women like AOC would reject culturally assigned second-class citizenship and respond to belittling attacks by chauvinistic men not with polite acquiescence, but with strength and conviction.

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Killing Two Birds

Snowflakes

With a single word, this Jesus & Mo comic posits a beautiful, crystal clear, ice-cold refutation of the Creationist argument against evolution and demonstrates how zealots use claims of victimhood when they are confronted by facts and logic.

link to all Jesus & Mo comics

Trump, The Pitcher

Trump's Situational Pitch Selection

Fast Ball

Shortly before Dr. Anthony Fauci threw a wild first pitch at the Washington Nationals season opener against the New York Yankees on July 27, Donald Trump announced at a White House briefing that he had been asked to throw out the first pitch for the Yankees at a game on August 15.

Curve

Trump was pitching a a lie, of course; but using Trumpian logic, he could legitimately claim his pitch was superior to Dr. Fauci's wide toss because his lie hit its target and deflected attention away from the doctor and toward himself.

Slider

When the news broke that the Yankees had actually never asked Trump to throw out a first pitch, he announced that he had cancelled his mound appearance because he was booked solid on August 15, the day on which it had never been scheduled to occur. 

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The Umpire's Calls

Balk

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Screwball

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Trump's Favorite Pitch

A Timely Tune

Note (actually twenty-eight measures of notes): This post is apolitical and consists of blatant self-promotion of a short, original musical composition about the coronavirus lockdown.

I am a frustrated fifty-four year member of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). I direct one chorus on Mondays and sing in a second chorus on Thursdays. Well, I used to until the COVID-19 virus shut them both down in March. 

Because I dabble in composing original music and had nothing better to do, I finished a song I started writing forty years ago. It was supposed to be a show opener for "Denino’s Home-Grown Harmony,” the quartet I sang in with my three sons in the 1970s and 80s. The melody and half of the lyrics were in my head when the quartet broke up.

Thanks to boredom caused by the forced lockdown of the global pandemic, I located the unfinished song in a seldom-visited corner of my memory,  dusted it off, and and completed it using my trusty iMac.

The theme of the story told in the lyrics is new, but the question asked at the beginning and the answer at the end are forty years old. Some might even say the answer is timeless. 😎

Click the song title below to hear the virtual singer module of Harmony Assistant, the music composition software I used sing...

COVID Caprice

(A lockdown lament becomes a pandemic paean.)

What can you do when you want to sing,
but COVID ls lurking around?
You need a barbershop chord to ring,
but alone you can’t make that sound.
Sing in the shower, and what do you get?
Soap in your eyes and a sound that’s all wet!
So, what can you do when you miss your quartet
and you find yourself all alone? 

Can’t see your father, your mother, your sister, or your brother ‘cause you’re stuck at home all alone with your honey. 

I tell ya, “You can make music.
Two can make music, beautiful music at home!”

Enjoy!

George

"They" and "Our"

Donald J. Trump is using these two dog-whistle words to call out to his brainwashed base for acts of violence that will help him become a dictator in fact as opposed to the dictator by presidential decree and executive order he has been since his inauguration.

If you don't recognize that reality fter nearly four years of his divisive rhetoric, government chaos, and attacks on those who have tried to defend the rule of law, you are part of the problem.

Down In The Polls, Trump Pitches Fear: 'They Want To Destroy Our Suburbs'
July 22, 2020 5:00 AM ET
Tamara Keith

President Trump is making a play for suburban voters by trying to convince them that if Democrat Joe Biden wins, then crime will be rampant.

Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

 To read and/or listen to the Tamara Keith's NPR article, click here, or on the title above.

~ ~ ~

Trump is pitching fear to his base, but the real threat to America comes from Trump himself.

This rewrite of the Pledge of Allegiance cuts to the chase to make clear where Trump, his supporters, and his enablers in the GOP will take us if he is reelected in November.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the Divided States of America, and to the Theocracy for which it stands, one Plantation under Trump, inconsolable, with fascism and bondage for all.

Trump's March to Autocracy - Left, Right, Left, Wrong

Trump attacks the "Radical Left" from the "Radical Right" and essentially says, "Go to Hell!" to the majority of Americans who are asking their government to live up to its claim of equality for all. 

Data can be "distributed" (spread out) in different ways.

It can be spread out more on the left		Or more on the right

Or it can be all jumbled up

But there are many cases where the data tends to be around a central value with no bias left or right, and it gets close to a "Normal Distribution" like this:

To Donald Trump, the distribution of American opinions on any issue is anything but normal. He discounts the entire middle, sees only the fringe elements on the left and right, and panders to those on the extreme right with dog-whistle politics and emotional rhetoric devoid of substance.

POLITICS

In Fourth Of July Remarks, Trump Attacks 'Radical Left'

July 4, 2020 9:53 PM ET

EMMA BOWMAN

President Trump speaks during the Fourth of July "Salute to America" event on the South Lawn of the White House, on Saturday.

Patrick Semansky/AP

In a Fourth of July speech aimed at commemorating the military on Saturday, President Trump hit on familiar divisive themes, condemning the "radical left" and the media he accused of "slander."

During the second annual "Salute To America" event held on the South Lawn, the president drew a comparison between historic American wartime victories and stopping the "radical left."

"American heroes defeated the Nazis, dethroned the fascists, toppled the communists, saved American values, upheld American principles, and chased down the terrorists to the very ends of the Earth," the president told attendees. "We are now in the process of defeating the radical left, the Marxists, the anarchists, the agitators, the looters and people who in many instances have absolutely no clue what they are doing."

Trump also went after protesters who've rallied to take down statues and monuments that honor Confederate leaders and others known to have supported or profited off of slavery and racism.

"We will never allow an angry mob to tear down our statues, erase our history, indoctrinate our children, or trample on our freedoms," he said.

Trump said media outlets "slander" him and "falsely and consistently label their opponents as racists."

The president also returned to his call for the creation of the National Garden of American Heroes, for which he signed an executive order on Friday.

He said his administration has already selected "30 legends," men and women that include: John Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Clara Barton, Daniel Boone, Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, Henry Clay, Davy Crockett, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Benjamin Franklin, Billy Graham, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Douglas MacArthur, Dolley Madison, James Madison, Christa McAuliffe, Audie Murphy, George S. Patton, Ronald Reagan, Jackie Robinson, Betsy Ross, Antonin Scalia, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington, and Orville and Wilbur Wright.

The celebration comes as the U.S. sees a surge in coronavirus infections. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser advised the public to follow CDC-recommended hygiene measures to prevent the spread of the virus, including wearing face coverings and avoiding large gatherings.

While the Department of Interior said that more than 300,000 cloth masks would be available for visitors attending the National Mall festivities, Trump faced a largely maskless crowd on the South Lawn.

Clueless, White Americans

You say you don't understand why Black Americans are angry and protesting?

Well, Charlie White, here's an old Peanuts comic strip that I hope will help you wake up to reality.

When Charles Schulz created this strip many years ago, I'm certain he was not commenting on racial inequality.

However, now that the entire country has witnessed the murder of George Floyd, Schulz's Fathers Day comic strip is a perfect visual metaphor for the underlying history and the current state of race relations in America.

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Master of the Half-Truth

half-truth | ˈhaf ˈˌtro͞oTH | nouna statement that conveys only part of the truth, especially one used deliberately in order to deceive someone: the nuclear industry has often resorted to half-truths and cover-ups.

Because Donald Trump lies constantly, I rarely agree with anything he says, but this tag line from a video he shared on Twitter is accurate.

"America is not the problem. Fake news is," says the video that fakes CNN footage.

However, as with all things related to Trump, there is a caveat.

Trump is a master of the half-truth.

Fake news is indeed a problem, but the major sources of fake news are Trump's enablers, right-wing media outlets, and Trump himself.

Twitter Flags Video Shared By Trump As 'Manipulated Media'

June 19, 2020 10:40 AM ET

COLIN DWYER

President Trump, seen here during a meeting Thursday at the White House, shared a video on Twitter with a fake CNN headline. The social media network flagged the doctored footage as "manipulated media."

Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

Just three weeks after President Trump clashed with Twitter over its fact-checking policies, the social media platform has again flagged a post from the leader of the U.S. 

The social media platform tagged a video he posted Thursday night with a warning label — "manipulated media" — after finding that it deceptively doctored footage in a way that was "likely to cause harm."

The video fakes a CNN segment that depicts a white toddler running after a black child of similar age, scoring the images with screechy, scary string music. Beside CNN's reproduced logo, a false, misspelled chyron declares "TERRIFIED TODLER RUNS FROM RACIST BABY." Then, it reads: "RACIST BABY PROBABLY A TRUMP VOTER."

The video then rewinds and plays more of the footage, showing a viral video from last year in which the two toddlers run toward each other and embrace, after introducing the new scene as "what really happened."

"America is not the problem. Fake news is," says the video that fakes CNN footage.

Donald J. Trump

✔@realDonaldTrump

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8:12 PM - Jun 18, 2020

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The news network responded quickly and pointedly.

"CNN did cover this story — exactly as it happened. Just as we reported your positions on race (and poll numbers)," CNN replied to the tweet. "We'll continue working with facts rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children. We invite you to do the same."

The original, authentic CNN story remains available here.

Twitter, too, took action against the post, affixing a warning on the tweet that redirects users to an explanation why it's deceptive. Along with the explanation, the platform also displays a number of tweets offering further factual context.

Trump has not publicly responded to the decision, but it's unlikely the significance will go unnoticed by the president.

Late last month, he sparred with the leadership behind his social media network of choice. Slapped with a fact-checking warning for the first time, Trump signed an executive order targeting the broad legal protections afforded to social media companies. 

As he announced the order, Trump described the companies' "unchecked power to censor" as "one of the gravest dangers it has faced in American history."

On Facebook, meanwhile, the Trump campaign saw several of its posts and advertisements removed on Thursday, just hours before Trump posted the video on Twitter. The ads, one of which warned of "dangerous MOBS of far-left groups," featured an upside-down red triangle that Nazis once used to identify political opponents — and that campaign officials dismissed as "an emoji."