The F-word has given way to the T-word as Obama is hit with Trumped-up charges

Jimmy Margulies, former editorial cartoonist at The Record of Woodland Park, calls President Trump's proposed tax cuts "hush money" for Republican members of Congress.

On the indictment of Trump former campaign manager Paul Manafort in the probe of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, Margulies quotes Trump as saying: "He knows what he signed up for," using the same words he uttered to the widow of a black American soldier killed in Niger.

37% OF AMERICANS APPROVE

OF HOW TRUMP IS DOING HIS JOB

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

Donald J. Trump has an approval rating "demonstrably lower than any previous chief executive at this point in his presidency over seven decades of polling," The Washington Post says.

A few days short of the first anniversary of his victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election, "fewer than 4 in 10 Americans -- 37 percent -- say they approve of the way he is handling his job," the newspaper reports.

In short, we're Trumped (or as I would have said before his election, we're fucked).

Post reporters Dan Balz and Scott Clement note:

"Trump's approval rating has changed little over the past four months, which have included tumultuous events, from hurricanes to legislative setbacks to indictments in special counsel Robert S. Mueller III's investigation into the role Russia played in the 2016 election.

"The president's disapproval rating has reached 59 percent, with 50 percent saying they strongly disapprove of the job he is doing. While little has changed since the summer, both represent the worst marks of his presidency."

Read the full Washington Post report:

Trump lags behind tepid expectations

Attacking Obama

In recent months, our deeply unpopular president has continued to attack or dismantle policies of Barack Obama, often leveling Trumped-up charges against our first black president.

Trump usually lies outright or distorts Obama's record as he attacks the Affordable Care Act, environmental regulation, trade agreements, tax policy and more.

He also takes credit for a healthy economy, even though just about everyone else notes we are in the ninth year of a recovery from the Great Recession of 2008 that Obama initiated.

What is especially strange is the confluence of the name Trump and the phrase "trumped-up charges," which are "fabricated," "spurious" or "fraudulently concocted," according to MerriamWebster.com.

In other words, trumped-up charges or evidence are made up. Yet, the phrase has been traced back to its first known use in 1728.

That anticipates the embodiment of trumped-up charges by nearly 290 years. Astounding.

Sexual harassment

Today, the front page of The Record explores the growing outrage over sexual harassment of women that began with revelations about Trump, and exploded with charges against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, as first reported by The New York Times (1A, 6A and 7A).

"That, in large part, is because of a simple hashtag that has taken social media by storm: #MeToo.

"The hashtag is tied to a movement started a decade ago," says reporter Melanie Anzidel, "but it exploded on social media on Oct. 15, when actress Alyssa Milano asked her followers to reply to her tweet with 'me too' if they had been sexually harassed or assaulted."

Anzidel also relates the reaction to her own #MeToo experience, which she posted on Facebook (6A).

Election of Trump 

The lead story by reporter Svetlana Shkolnikova says women began coming forward several years ago, when the Obama administration "led a national dialogue about sexual violence on college campuses" (6A).

"But it was the election of President Donald Trump, accused by multiple women of sexual assault and caught bragging about grabbing women by the genitals, that mobilized women even more."

The Record makes no attempt to explain why Weinstein's career has crashed and burned, but Trump was elected despite his boasting about sexually harassing and assaulting women.

And a headline on Page 1 says incorrectly:

"MeToo, Trump

embolden women

to speak out about

sexual harassment" 

I don't think it's correct to credit Trump with giving women the courage or confidence to speak out; the day after his inauguration, as the story reports, millions of protesters around the world marched in support of women's rights.

Both of the stories on sexual harassment of women carry the bylines of reporters over a fictitious publication, "North Jersey Record."