Leaked Trump Speech - Lies and False Statistics

A look a like with our dog give Trump his due

The Fuhrer Donald Trump is about to speak at the GOP convention and a leaked copy of his speech suggests that true to form we will hear lies and false statistics.  Its a trait the is now the norm in the Republican Party and, in my view, traces back to when the Christofascists hijacked the party base. No one lies more than the "godly folk" other than perhaps Trump himself and his children - I am feeling in need of a vomit bag as I listen to Ivanka (seemingly an Eva Peron want to be) blather claims about her father that do not tract with reality.  The Daily Beast looks at what we can expect.  Here are highlights:

A draft of Donald Trump’s Republican National Convention speech was leaked on Thursday, hours before he was set to deliver what is the most important speech of his life and accept his party’s presidential nomination.

Like many of the speeches at this year’s GOP convention, Trump’s will feature themes of law and order as the party’s nominee attempts to capitalize on recent tragedies and terror attacks around the world.
 According to the prepared remarks—which matched up with excerpts released earlier by the campaign—Trump addresses crime and safety issues early on in the speech, accusing President Obama and Hillary Clinton of leaving the country and the world less safe.
 But the bleak picture he paints often does not line up with the facts, using over-inflated statistics and questionable generalizations when discussing matters of crime, justice, immigration, and national security.
 Trump will say that homicides increased by 17 percent from last year in the country’s 50 largest cities. He will not say, however, that the national homicide rate hit a four-decade low last year, according to the FBI. 
 Trump’s dubious contentions are not limited to law and order issues. The billionaire businessman claims 14 million people “left the workplace entirely.” For context, the current workforce has 4.6 million more people than in 2009. He will criticize Obama on the national debt, claiming it doubled. It has actually increased from $11.1 trillion to $19.2 trillion.
 Trump also suggests that Clinton is responsible for the creation of ISIS in the Middle East—even though the group did not formally split from al Qaeda until after she left office. He suggests that sanctions on Iran decreased during her tenure in government; in fact, they increased.
 Additionally, he incorrectly states that Egypt was “turned over” to the Muslim Brotherhood, “forcing the military to retake control.” In 2012, Mohammed Morsi, the former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, was democratically elected and subsequently ousted from power by the military one year later.

The speech was leaked on Thursday to a super PAC supporting Hillary Clinton. The PAC, Correct the Record, says it received a copy of the speech from a “Republican source who had access to it.” David Brock, the group’s founder, said the leak is evidence that the Trump campaign is “loose and disorganized.”

Ted Cruz Continues to Face Blow Back for Refusal to Endorse Trump

As noted in a post last evening, I loath Ted Cruz.  At the same time I have to applaud his refusal to endorse Donald Trump and his attempt to remind those gathered at the Republican convention in Cleveland that principles do matter.  Granted, I may not agree with Cruz's principles, but at least he has some motivation other than the mere self-promotion, narcissim and egomania that motivate Donald Trump.  The New York Times looks at more of the blow back swirling around Cruz for not kissing The Donald's ring.  Here are highlights:

The Republican convention erupted into tumult on Wednesday night as the bitter primary battle between Donald J. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz reignited unexpectedly, crushing hopes that the party could project unity.

In the most electric moment of the convention, boos and jeers broke out as it became clear that Mr. Cruz — in a prime-time address from center stage — was not going to endorse Mr. Trump. It was a pointed snub on the eve of Mr. Trump’s formal acceptance speech.

Mr. Cruz was all but drowned out as he asked for God’s blessing on the country and left the stage, while security personnel escorted his wife, Heidi, out of the hall. One delegate yelled “Goldman Sachs!” at her — a reference to the company that has employed her, a job that Mr. Trump attacked during the primaries.

A short while later, Mr. Cruz faced insults as he made his way down a corridor — one woman yelled “Traitor!” When he tried to enter the convention suite of the Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, he was turned away.

“I’ve seen some crazy things,” said Brandon Bell, the chairman of the Rhode Island Republican Party, who was still stunned as he absorbed what had happened on the convention floor. “I don’t think this is going to play well.”

Mr. Cruz, who has all but declared that he wants to run for president again in 2020, especially angered Republican leaders who had been counting on him to keep his pledge that he would support the eventual nominee, a vow that other leading Republican contenders also made last fall.

Trump had been unhappy with the text of Mr. Cruz’s speech but held out for the remote possibility that Mr. Cruz would make a last-minute endorsement.

When none arrived, and with Mr. Cruz sounding like a nominee-in-waiting, Mr. Trump grew impatient with the stubbornness of his rival. Gov. Chris Christie, a close ally to Mr. Trump, could be seen shaking his head watching Mr. Cruz go on, just before Mr. Trump made his unplanned entrance into the hall.

Convention organizers were furious at the length of Mr. Cruz’s speech. He was originally allotted 12 minutes, but planners made a late decision to allocate 20 minutes instead.

The rumpus on the floor, which broke out shortly before 10 p.m., captured a reality that Republicans had hoped to minimize: that significant factions of the party remain hostile to Mr. Trump, while his own base of supporters are fervent and unyielding.

[T]he scene that will be remembered for years is the split screen image of Mr. Cruz, seemingly stunned on the stage as the boos grew, and a scowling Mr. Trump dramatically entering the arena to wrest back control of his convention.

When I see Trump supporters I am reminded of the fervent supporters of Adolph Hitler in the 1930's. The mindsets of both groups are the same, motivated in particular by bigotry and xenophobia. Things turned out badly for Germany and the world and I fear the same will occur if Trump is not defeated in November.   

Cruz Booed as He Refuses to Endorse Trump

I will be the first to admit that I hold no love for Ted Cruz.  I find the man to be slimy, a liar, an extremist and dangerous among other things.  But tonight Cruz showed that he has some shred of conscience and conviction - unlike all the Republicans who have prostituted themselves to Donald Trump - when he refused to endorse Trump at Trump's own coronation convention.   As a result, Cruz got booed from the stage, but before that happened he made the case that Republicans need to vote their conscience in November.  Obviously, Cruz hopes that Trump crashes and burns and that the 2020 nomination will be his for the taking. But in another sense, perhaps Cruz recognizes just how large a danger Trump poses to the nation.  Politico and CBS News among others have coverage.  Here are highlights from Politico:

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz got booed off the stage Wednesday.

The Texas firebrand delivered a prime-time address at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland and urged Republicans to vote their conscience in November, prompting disapproval from the thousands of Republicans on the floor of the convention.
“To those listening, please, don’t stay home in November,” Cruz said, a plea that suggested he was about to endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump. But he didn’t.

“If you love our country and love your children as much as I know that you do, stand and speak and vote your conscience,” Cruz said. “Vote for candidates up and down the ticket who you trust to defend our freedom and to be faithful to the Constitution.” “Heidi and I are so honored to join you here in Cleveland, where LeBron James just led an incredible comeback victory. And I am convinced America is going to come back, too,” Cruz said at the outset of his remarks. He spoke for more than 20 minutes before he was booed off the stage.

[F]ellow conservatives in recent days had increased pressure on the Texas senator to fall in line behind Trump. After it became clear Cruz would not be endorsing the GOP nominee, the crowd in the Quicken Loans Arena broke out in chants of “we want Trump,” to which Cruz replied, “I appreciate the enthusiasm of the New York delegation.” The audience proceeded to break out in overwhelming boos. As Cruz concluded his speech, cameras cut to Trump arriving in the arena, giving the crowd a thumbs up.

As much as I loath him, have to say kudos to Cruz.  Had more of the GOP establishment held by their principles rather than expediency or putting winning elections ahead of all else,  the GOP would not be the insane cesspool that it is today.

Why Are Black Pastors Water Carriers For Republicans Who Hate Them?

The very white GOP convention

Driving home from having dinner with friends I had on live coverage of the GOP convention on satellite radio and what do I hear?  Yet another black pastor carrying water for the Republican Party - I believe it was Pastor Darrell Scott of the New Spirit Revival Church in Cleveland Heights, Ohio.  The same party that has an national agenda of (i) enacting voter ID laws and other restrictions aimed at disenfranchising minority voter, (ii) opposing unions that might bring better pay to minority workers, (iii) cutting social safety net programs that aid countless minority voters, (iv) waveringly support police who kill black citizens, and (v) rolling back civil rights protections.  WTF is wrong with these black pastors?  We see a similar phenomenon here in Virginia where The Family Foundation, a hate group in all but formal designation with strong ties to white supremacists, manipulates black pastors as if they were trained circus dogs.  Do these pastors know nothing of the histories and agendas of those they are serving?  Does it take merely some short term flattery to get them to to betray the others members of their race?  Or is the promise of money what turns them into modern day Judas's?  I do not understand it.   They act akin to German Jews in 1930's Germany who would have support Adolph Hitler.  Are they really that stupid?  A piece in the New York Times looks at the reality of the GOP's lily white, anti-black convention.  Here are excerpts:

Mike Hill, a black Republican state representative in Florida, grew steadily more disheartened as he watched television clips of his party’s overwhelmingly white national convention lecturing African-Americans about the police and race relations.

There was Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, nearly shouting Monday night that the police only wanted to help people, regardless of race. A sea of white convention delegates, cheering wildly as two black speakers ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement and unconditionally praised law enforcement officers. And a series of speakers pushing Donald J. Trump’s law-and-order message and arguing, as he has, that the United States had lost its way.

“When a lot of white Republicans get together and bring up race, even telling black people how they should see police and the world, it evokes the worst kind of emotion,” said Mr. Hill, who supports Mr. Trump but decided to skip the convention.

For many black Republicans, the party’s convention has veered unexpectedly and unhappily toward lecturing and moralizing on issues of race, an off-putting posture at a time when Mr. Trump is staggeringly unpopular with minority voters. He drew support from zero percent of African-Americans in recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal polls in Ohio and Pennsylvania, and he is struggling badly with Hispanics, partly because of his harsh language about Mexicans and immigrants.

In Cleveland, however, Mr. Trump and Republican Party leaders are focused on appealing to white voters, particularly white men who are critical to their electoral strategy in the Midwest and the South.

Black Republicans said they understood the thinking behind this, but argued that it was based on politics more than on helping people or strengthening the country.

And those who did speak from the podium seemed focused more on castigating black protesters, scolding other blacks for their behavior and exalting Mr. Trump than on trying to help Republicans make inroads with undecided or skeptical black voters.

This convention has fewer black delegates and speakers than any in two decades, according to several African-American Republicans who are regulars at party gatherings. The Republican National Committee could not provide definitive counts of delegates by race; one party official estimated that there were 80 black delegates, but that was based on an informal crowd count that might have included people on the convention floor who were not delegates. There are 2,472 delegates in all.

Some Republicans said privately that they were uncomfortable that convention planners had tapped black speakers to chastise black protesters in front of a mostly white crowd, which seemed to lap it up.

Other than the possible motivations noted above, the only other on I can think of is appeals to religion.  By definition, the deeply religious reject facts and objective reality in favor of belief in myths and legends. Perhaps these pastors are suckered by this ploy.  A last possibility is that the black pastors and Trump share a common trait- they are all con-artists who prey on the ignorant and gullible.  Perhaps they feel that Trump is a kindred spirit. 

GOP Convention, Day 2 - Another Night of That Ought to Strike Fear

Watching the GOP convention, part of me keeps asking "how do people become this insane and blind to reality."  Then I remember that much of the GOP base consists of evangelical Christians which by definition means that one is not living in objective reality.  Add to that the Paul Ryan's of the GOP who would seemingly sell their mothers or daughters into prostitution in order to cling to power. Facts, the truth, and decency towards others simply no longer matter in today's Republican Party.  I find it mind numbing how decent people (including a number of our social friends) - apparently who refuse to pay attention to what is happening - continue to cling to the GOP when the party they remember no longer exists.  A column in the Washington Post looks at day to of the hate fest in Cleveland.  Here are highlights:

The second night of the GOP convention was like “1984,” periodically interrupted by infomercials for Trump wines. The evening started with an uncomfortable explanation of why the rules obliged Alaska to vote for Donald Trump and went downhill from there.

Supposedly the theme of the second night in Cleveland was “Make America Work Again.” Those were the words displayed behind the stage. That was what was announced. But judging by the speeches, the actual theme was “Make America Salem Again.” Or, “Don’t Worry! Hillary Clinton literally worships Lucifer, but on the bright side, Donald Trump’s winery makes excellent wine and his children love him!”

The night’s prime-time speakers included Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Tiffany Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Ben Carson.

Ryan’s speech was upbeat and cheerful. This seemed odd, given that he had just handed the nomination to someone whose words he had called “the textbook definition of racism,” but it quickly became apparent that this Paul Ryan was just visiting from another, happier timeline and had no idea what was happening around him. He spoke of the Republican Party as a lively, exciting, aspirational party of ideas . . .

Then Chris Christie took the stage. Christie had honed his speaking style in Salem, 1692, and he opened by announcing that he had seen Goody Clinton with the Devil. . . . “Let’s do something fun tonight,” Christie suggested: specifically, hold a mock trial of Clinton. The crowd loved this idea and began chanting “Guilty!” when prompted. 

Yes, this is the party of hope and fresh ideas, the one shouting, “GUILTY!” and “LOCK HER UP!” as it holds a mock trial of its opponent in absentia.

Fortunately, the next speaker was Tiffany Trump, who reassured us that her father had written encouraging messages on her report cards when she was young, so, I guess, that was good. I am just saying, for future reference, if you don’t want to give off a Possible Dictator vibe, having your children speak up on your behalf and say that you have always been very nice to them IS NOT ACTUALLY REASSURING. Dictators tend to be nice to dogs and children. 

Then Donald Trump Jr., took the stage. . . . He spoke inspiringly of a Horatio Alger-style rags-to-riches, up-by-the-bootstraps tale. Unfortunately, he was supposed to be speaking about his father, Donald Trump. If there is the opposite of a Horatio Alger novel, it is Trump’s biography. This did not keep his son from complaining about the people with Harvard and Wharton degrees who had stood in the way of his father (who only has a Wharton degree). He lamented the “new aristocrats and self-satisfied people at the top,” apparently without irony, perhaps mistaking himself for someone who was not literally Donald Trump Jr.

Not to be outdone by Christie’s fantasy mob trial of Clinton, Ben Carson announced that he had seen Goody Clinton with the devil . . . .

And that was the second night. I did not think I would conclude my recap of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland by quoting Ramsay Bolton, but then again I did not think that the evening would include references to Lucifer, a mock trial of Hillary Clinton, conducted by Chris Christie, with loud cries of “GUILTY!” and, of course, praise of Trump wines.

But “if you think this has a happy ending,” as Ramsay Bolton said, “you haven’t been paying attention.”

Be very, very afraid.

Is Trump Going Off the Rails Before Our Eyes?

I have been saying for years since I resigned from the GOP that the party was headed toward suicide through its courting and pandering to the ugliest elements of society be they hateful Christian extremists, open racists and white supremacists, nativists, and xenophobes.   Tonight's nomination of Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee is the culmination of this slow moving suicide that started decades ago.  Yet many commentators on the right, while professing fear and/or loathing of Donald Trump conveniently ignore the role they themselves played acting as GOP apologists over the years.   A case in point is New York Times columnist David Brooks.  He's 100% on the mark that Trump is dangerous and likely mentally ill in a column today, but he fails to note how he helped give respectability to what should have been called out as abhorrent long ago.  Here are highlights from his column:

Does anybody else have the sense that Donald Trump is slipping off the rails? His speeches have always had a rambling, free association quality, but a couple of the recent ones have, as the Republican political consultant Mike Murphy put it, passed from the category of rant to the category of full on “drunk wedding toast.”

Trump’s verbal style has always been distinct. He doesn’t really speak in sentences or paragraphs.  . . . Occasionally Trump will attempt a sentence longer than eight words, but no matter what subject he starts the sentence with, by the end he has been pulled over to the subject of himself. . . . There’s sort of a gravitational narcissistic pull that takes command whenever he attempts to utter a compound thought.

Trump has also always been a little engine fueled by wounded pride. For example, writing in BuzzFeed, McKay Coppins recalls the fusillade of abuse he received from Trump after writing an unflattering profile (he called Mar-a-Lago a “nice, if slightly dated, hotel”).  Trump was so inflamed he tweeted retaliation at Coppins several times a day and at odd hours, calling him a “dishonest slob” and “true garbage with no credibility.”

Over the past few weeks these longstanding Trump patterns have gone into hyperdrive. This is a unique moment in American political history in which the mental stability of one of the major party nominees is the dominating subject of conversation.

The structure of his mental perambulations also seems to have changed. Formerly, as I said, his speeches had a random, free-form quality. But on Saturday his remarks had a distinct through line, anchored by the talking points his campaign had written down on pieces of paper. But Trump could not keep his attention focused on this through line — since the subject was someone else — so every 30 seconds or so he would shoot off on a resentment-filled bragging loop.

Donald Trump is in his moment of greatest triumph, but he seems more resentful and embattled than ever. Most political conventions are happy coronations, but this one may come to feel like the Alamo of aggrieved counterattacks.

It’s hard to know exactly what is going on in that brain, but science lends a clue. Psychologists wonder if narcissists are defined by extremely high self-esteem or by extremely low self-esteem that they are trying to mask. The current consensus seems to be that they are marked by unstable self-esteem. Their self-confidence can be both high and fragile, so they perceive ego threat all around.

Maybe as Trump has gotten more successful his estimation of what sort of adoration he deserves has increased while the outside criticism has gotten more pronounced. This combination is bound to leave his ego threat sensors permanently inflamed.

Some forms of disorder — like a financial crisis — send voters for the calm supple thinker. But other forms of disorder — blood in the streets — send them scurrying for the brutal strongman.

If the string of horrific events continues, Trump could win the presidency. And he could win it even though he has less and less control over himself.  

Melania Trump's False Claims of a University Degree

Part of me feels sorry for a political candidate spouse, but there are limits.  Especially when the spouse joins the actual candidate and engages in a pattern of lies and untruths.   First we had Melania Trump's plagiarism problem where she lifted paragraphs from Michelle Obama's 2008 speech at the Democrat Convention.  Now, it turns out that her claims of having a degree “in design and architecture at University in Slovenia” is false.  This from the woman who some pundits on the right thought would be Donald Trump's "secret weapon."   The Huffington Post looks at this exposed untruth.  Here are highlights:

It’s a good story, but it doesn’t appear to be true.

Melania Trump never earned a university degree in architecture ― she dropped out of college after her freshman year, according to her biographers.  Still, she claims to have a degree from “university in Slovenia.” 

Questions about her education grew more significant Tuesday morning, following the revelation that Melania Trump plagiarized parts of her speech to the Republican National Convention from one that First Lady Michelle Obama gave in 2008.

That revelation on Monday raised the question of whether there was anything else Melania Trump hadn’t been entirely truthful about.

Slovenian journalists Bojan Pozar and Igor Omerza wrote in their biography on the former fashion model that she “became ― and remained ― a college dropout” after leaving the University of Ljubljana’s architecture school following her freshman year.

A spokeswoman for the Trump campaign declined to comment early Tuesday on Melania Trump’s claim that she has a university degree. 

This must be Melania's idea of "architecture"

Melania Trump's Plagiarized Parts of Michelle Obama's 2008 Speech

For those who had hoped that Melania Trump might be different than her dishonest and disingenuous husband, last night did not auger for a good start.  In her speech deliver to the assembled Republican Party convention, Melania Trump plagiarized a portion of Michelle Obama's 2008 address to the Democrat Party convention almost word for word.   Sadly, both Trump's seem to believe that they can do whatever they want and think there should be never be any accountability.  One has to wonder who assisted Ms. Trump in preparing her remarks.  So much for the efforts of some pundits and commentators for trying to depict Melania as a woman of intelligence and substance.  CNN has details.  Here are highlights:

At least one passage in Melania Trump's speech Monday night at the Republican National Convention plagiarized from Michelle Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2008.

Side-by-side comparisons of the transcripts show the text in Trump's address following, nearly to the word, the first lady's own from the first night of the Democratic convention in Denver nearly eight years ago.

The controversy quickly overshadowed the speech, which was to have been her introduction to voters. It focused on her immigration to the US and her love for her husband.

A Republican operative familiar with how the campaign was handling the speeches said a number of senior aides had a role, edited Melania's speech, suggested changes and provided guidance.

The Trump campaign released a statement on the speech after the similarities were uncovered, but the statement did not mention the plagiarism charge. 

Here is [Melania] Trump, on Monday:

"From a young age, my parents impressed on me the values that you work hard for what you want in life, that your word is your bond and you do what you say and keep your promise, that you treat people with respect. They taught and showed me values and morals in their daily lives. That is a lesson that I continue to pass along to our son," Trump said.

And we need to pass those lessons on to the many generations to follow. Because we want our children in this nation to know that the only limit to your achievements is the strength of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

And here is Obama, on August 25, 2008:

"And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values: that you work hard for what you want in life; that your word is your bond and you do what you say you're going to do; that you treat people with dignity and respect, even if you don't know them, and even if you don't agree with them.

And Barack and I set out to build lives guided by these values, and to pass them on to the next generation. Because we want our children -- and all children in this nation -- to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work for them."

The sad part is that I'm not even really surprised.  With Trump, it is par for the course.

GOP Rep. Steve King Makes White Supremacist Comments On Live TV

While I doubt that anything will change the minds of Donald Trump's and the GOP's base supporters, I continue to hope that the undecided will be frightened or sickened by what is taking place at the GOP convention and some of the shocking things being said.  As things are going, the GOP needs to become the WPP - the white people party.   GOP congressman Steve King embodies much of the ugliness being displayed.  As Vanity Fair notes, King made white supremacist comments on live TV this evening.  Under today's GOP, things that were deemed unspeakable are now being freely said. Just as things occurred in Germany during the last years of the 1920' and 1930's.  The abnormal and unthinkable became common place.  I'm surprised that King did not work in some homophobic statement while he was at it.  Now we see it happening before our very eyes.  Here are highlights from Vanity Fair:

During a panel discussion on MSNBC on Monday evening, Rep. Steve King of Iowa said that white people contributed more to civilization than any other categories or “sub-group of people,” causing a live segment to devolve into on-air chaos.

As the show broadcast from Cleveland, where much of the conservative establishment has gathered for the Republican National Convention, King responded to comments made by ​Esquire​ writer Charles Pierce as the panel discussed Monday’s upheaval on the convention floor.

“If you’re really optimistic, you can say that this is the last time that old white people will command the Republican Party’s attention, its platform, and its public face,” Pierce said. “Of course, I thought this was going to happen after 2012, but thanks for the good work of Congressman King, I was disappointed . . . But I’ll tell you what, in that hall today, that hall is wired. It’s wired by unhappy, dissatisfied white people.”

“This whole ‘white people’ business does get a little tired, Charlie,” King said. “I’d ask you to go back through history and figure out, where have these contributions been made by these other categories of people that you’re talking about. Where did any other sub-group of people contribute more to civilization?”

“Than white people?” host Chris Hayes asked.

“Than—than western civilization itself, that’s rooted in western Europe, eastern Europe, and the United States of America, and every place where the footprint of Christianity settled the world,” King said. “That’s all of western civilization.”

At that point, the panel erupted in chaos, and Hayes pleaded for calm. “We are not going to debate western civilization,” he said.

No doubt in typical GOP/Trump form, King may well deny he made the comments come morning. Meanwhile, the normalization of the unthinkable is underway because of Trump and the GOP.   If one is not a conservative white Christian, all of this should leave you very disturbed.  

Wall Street Shuns Trump's "Shit Show" Cleveland Convention

Traditionally big business and Wall Street firms are viewed as the stalwart supporters of the Republican Party and often send personnel in droves to the GOP conventions.  Not so this year based on a piece in Politico.  It seems that many corporate CEO's and Wall Street players see the GOP convention in Cleveland as potentially too toxic and potentially insulting to potential clients.  Indeed, one Goldman Sachs referred to the coming convention as a "shit show" to be avoided. In addition to Trump's own divisiveness, the GOP platform as it has emerged so far is the most extreme and hate-filled of  any ever put forward.  Here are highlights from the Politico piece:

Wall Street executives are hitting the sell button on the GOP convention in Cleveland next week.

Bankers typically use the quadrennial Republican Party gathering to schmooze clients, host parties and flaunt their connections to the nominee and other senior officials. In 2012, they flooded the Tampa Bay area to celebrate one of the industry’s favorite sons, Mitt Romney, getting the nomination.

But with real estate mogul Donald Trump running on an anti-trade, populist platform — while sporting sky-high unpopularity ratings — many bankers and traders want nothing to do with the convention this year.

Neither do most corporate CEOs. The prospect of Trump bashing trade deals and talking about building a wall with Mexico, coupled with the threat of potentially disruptive protests, is largely keeping the financial world away from Cleveland.

“With Trump you have what is a fairly divisive campaign and you have the potential of unnecessarily offending a whole bunch of people if you show up there in a prominent way,” said Matt McDonald, a partner at consulting firm Hamilton Place Strategies, which does business with some of the nation’s biggest banks. “On top of that, a lot of the people that you might want to get in front of for one reason or another are not going to be there.”

McDonald cited the long roster of senior Republican lawmakers skipping the convention as one major reason financial executives don’t feel the need to raise the flag in Cleveland.

So far, no major Wall Street CEOs have said they plan to attend the convention. JPMorgan Chase, which played a sponsorship role in 2012, declined to do so this year. Goldman Sachs will also be largely absent, as will Morgan Stanley and Bank of America. Citigroup plans only a low-key presence.

And unlike in 2012, when rank-and-file Wall Streeters were all over Tampa, many bankers and lobbyists who typically make the rounds will be taking a pass. “I’m just going to skip it because, frankly, I don’t see the point in going,” said a senior lobbyist for one of the largest banks in the nation. “Usually there is pressure to at least show up, but with Trump you get a pass. No one is going to care if you don’t go.”

At Goldman, typically one of the most politically engaged banks on Wall Street, there may be almost no one at all going to Cleveland. “I asked around and couldn’t find a single person who planned to be there,” said one Goldman executive who declined to be quoted by name. “Most people who want to see someone from the Trump campaign can do it some other place at some other time. And the potential is there for Cleveland to be a complete shit show. It’s a real problem for executives because if you go, you are certainly going to offend women and minority groups within your own company.”

Corporate unease with the GOP convention extends well beyond Wall Street. Google and Coca-Cola, after playing significant roles at Romney’s convention in 2012, backed away this year after pressure from activists.

But from a fundraising perspective, Wall Street's absence from Cleveland could be the most ominous sign for the Trump campaign. Because while Trump may not want high-profile Wall Street executives endorsing him — he has run as a populist who wants to fix a “rigged” system — he desperately needs their money.

Wall Street is typically a fundraising bonanza for GOP presidential candidates. Romney, a former executive at private equity firm Bain Capital, raised over $60 million from the financial industry in 2012, compared with just over $20 million for President Barack Obama.

Many Wall Street executives staying away from Cleveland are taking their cues from some of the biggest names in the industry who have distanced themselves from Trump. Paul Singer, founder of giant hedge-fund group Elliott Management and among the most influential donors in the GOP, said at the Aspen Ideas conference in Colorado last month that a Trump presidency would be a disaster.

“The most impactful of the economic policies that I recall him coming out for are these anti-trade policies,” he said. “And I think if he actually stuck to those policies and gets elected president, it’s close to a guarantee of a global depression, widespread global depression.”

Hank Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and Treasury secretary under George W. Bush, also recently said he could not back Trump and would instead be supporting Clinton. . . . Paulson wrote in a Washington Post op-ed. “The GOP, in putting Trump at the top of the ticket, is endorsing a brand of populism rooted in ignorance, prejudice, fear and isolationism.”

The risk of violence in the convention is secondary as security will be strong inside the perimeter. This is more a function of whether Mr. Trump and the ideas he most represents are homogenous with a company's brand and business plan."

But Clinton is hoovering up Wall Street cash as bankers hedge against the risks of a Trump presidency. Clinton and groups supporting her campaign raised $32 million from the securities and investment industry through June to virtually nothing for Trump.

And Philadelphia is likely to be friendlier terrain for bank lobbyists and industry executives hoping to play roles in a Clinton White House. “I’m skipping Cleveland but going to Philly,” the senior lobbyist from the large bank said. “But that’s partly just because Philly is on the way to visit my kids at camp.”

Republican Platform Veers Far Right and Very Anti-Gay

The poisonous influence of those I call the Christofascists - i.e., American right wing Christians who basically want a Christian theocracy in place of constitutional government with themselves in charge, of course - continues to make itself visible as the Republican Party platform committee works on the party's 2016 platform.  So far the draft looks more like something from 1956 than the 21st century.  And, as is always the case with the Christofascists and the con-artist professional Christians/hate group leaders who are their spokesmen, no group is more targeted for abuse and denial of civil rights equality than the LGBT community.  Blacks, as also is the norm, are not far behind in terms of the animus with which they are viewed.  The New York Times looks at the increasingly reactionary aspects of the GOP platform.  Here are excerpts:

Republicans moved on Tuesday toward adopting a staunchly conservative platform that takes a strict, traditionalist view of the family and child rearing, bars military women from combat, describes coal as a “clean” energy source and declares pornography a “public health crisis.”

The document . . . . and amounts to a rightward lurch even from the party’s hard-line platform in 2012 — especially as it addresses gay men, lesbians and transgender people.

As delegates debated in two marathon sessions here on Monday and Tuesday, they repeatedly rejected efforts by more moderate members of the platform committee to add language that would acknowledge or condemn anti-gay discrimination . . . . . while public and legal opinion has moved steadily in one direction, the official declaration of Republican Party principles appears to be heading sharply in the opposite direction.

Social conservatives in the party exerted significant influence over the drafting and amending of the platform this week, succeeding in almost all of their efforts to add language that pushed the document more to the right.

The platform demands that lawmakers use religion as a guide when legislating, stipulating “that man-made law must be consistent with God-given, natural rights.”

It also encourages the teaching of the Bible in public schools because, the amendment said, a good understanding of its contents is “indispensable for the development of an educated citizenry.”

Much of the most combative debate centered on language in the platform that describes gay and transgender people, and efforts to strip those words out and replace them with language proposed by a minority contingent of socially moderate delegates.

[N]early every provision that expressed disapproval of homosexuality, same-sex marriage or transgender rights passed. The platform calls for overturning the Supreme Court marriage decision with a constitutional amendment and makes references to appointing judges “who respect traditional family values.”

Additional provisions included those that promoted state laws to limit which restrooms transgender people could use, nodded to [thoroughly discredited] “conversion therapy” for gays by saying that parents should be free to make medical decisions about their children without interference and stated that “natural marriage” between a man and a woman is most likely to result in offspring who do not become drug-addicted or otherwise damaged.

[C]onservative activists like Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council [a certified hate group] . . .  exert greater influence. Mr. Perkins’s hand could be seen in dozens of amendments on issues like gun control, religious expression and bathroom use.

And for those who don't know, Tony Perkins has documented ties to white supremacy groups, including the KKK.