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."

In only 14 days, our nation of immigrants has absolutely the worst president ever

Cartoonist Chris Britt on then-presidential candidate Donald J. Trump's version of the inscription on the granite pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free ...."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In President Trump's warped mind, every Syrian refugee, even a child, is a potential suicide bomber.

The founders of this nation of immigrants are turning over in their graves only two weeks after the tax-dodging billionaire's inauguration:

Witness his vow to build a wall on the Mexican border, his temporary ban on immigration from seven predominantly Muslim countries and his refusal to accept even one Syrian displaced by a lingering civil war.

One protester held up a sign saying France is asking for the return of the Statue of Liberty.

All of these executive orders have me thinking of my immigrant parents, who left Aleppo, Syria, nearly 100 years ago, seeking a better life in America.

Thank God, they didn't face an arbitrary, Trump-like president -- or his right-wing, fascist advisers -- when their ship sailed or when they set foot on Ellis Island.

Of course, the real danger in the United States is from within:

Home-grown terrorists in Orlando, Fla., and San Bernardino, Calif., and fanatic gun-rights advocates with the blood of innocent men, women and schoolchildren on their hands.

Record coverage

What is Editor Richard A. Green of The Record smoking?

Demoting the illegitimate President Trump and his administration to the off-lead story on today's and Thursday's front pages sends absolutely the wrong message to readers of the Woodland Park daily.

The biggest story of Green's career is only two weeks old:

The news media parroted every outrageous claim, every lie and every racist insult from Trump, while dismissing his chances of being elected, and now thanks to Russian meddling and widespread voter apathy we have the worst president ever.

And an electoral system that sides with the candidate who lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million is broken and needs to be replaced.

Adopting after 40?

Today, Green devotes most of the front page to couples who at 40 years old or older decide to adopt children (1A).

Yawn.

Not only that, this will be an ongoing series by Bill Ervolino, the comic-journalist. Can you imagine the possibilities?

• People who after age 40 decide to get married for the first time.
• People who after age 40 buy their first all-electric car.
• People who come out of the closet after age 40, etc., etc.

Rental regulation

On Thursday, the big news was towns moving to regulate and tax short-term rentals, such as those arranged through the Airbnb website. 

I don't sympathize with Susanne Warfield, the smiling woman pictured on Page 1:

She believes she no longer will be able to pay her high real estate taxes or repair or upgrade her home without income from Airbnb guests.

Give me a break. Warfield, who lives in tony Ridgewood, should know real estate taxes are even higher in Hackensack and Englewood, where tax-exempt non-profits shift the burden to homeowners.

Why shouldn't she face regulation and taxes for renting out several rooms to tourists, netting more than $14,000 last year?

Maybe she bought far more than she can afford, and should move to another town.

Both the Airbnb and "Reboot 40" stories belong in Local, which publishes far too much crime and court news in place of municipal news.

The Aldi logo has appeared on the small supermarket under construction on Main Street in Hackensack, near Sears. The German-based company promises low prices, but you will have to bring your own reusable bag or buy one there. The grand opening date for the Hackensack store hasn't been announced.

Local news?

Three former aides of Governor Christie were found guilty in the George Washington Bridge lane closings, but they still haven't been sentenced.

The Bridgegate scandal also derailed Christie's campaign to win the White House and deprived him of a big job in the Trump administration.

And he soon my lose the title of GOP thug to Trump, who has adopted the ban Christie urged on Syrian refugees way back in 2015.

In view of all that, isn't it too soon for Staff Writer Svetlana Shkolnikova to make fun of the scandal in a traffic-light coordination story on 1L today?

"FORT LEE -- Time for less traffic problems in Fort Lee."

That's a play on the infamous email from onetime Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly that triggered five days of politically motivated gridlock in the borough:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."