The Trump Presidency: Sweet/Sweat 16

[TragicMonkey]

Nikki Haley tweeted that she is denying the rumor that she will be replacing Pence as VP candidate for 2020. No one has heard of this rumor so she is probably spreading it.

I'd heard that rumor. Perhaps you don't have good gossip sources!

 

[Trebuchet]

His feud with the Federal Reserve is probably him trying to imitate Andrew Jackson's feud with the Bank Of The United States...which lead to a severe recession.

And assigning blame for it in advance.
Gotta wonder which of his "advisors" has his ear on this. It's not like he comes up with this stuff by himself.

 

[bruto]

Is a thing.

On my list of pet peeves for recent expressions are a set which, while they aptly describe things in a sort of way, manage subtly to shift the responsibility for them from the person doing them.

Top on the list is "optics." Once upon a time one did something stupid, tone-deaf, or which looked bad. It was possible that one was not actually bad, but the responsibility for doing something that looked bad was on the person doing it. Now when something looks bad, we are told it's "optics," implying that the fault of the appearance belongs to the viewer. Distortion or color aberration is a quality of the lens, not the subject. If something looks bad now, it's because of how we look at it.

Next, when a person says something that is obscure, complex, confused, it is said to "have a lot of moving parts." A pile of rubble used to be just that. A pile. Now, it's a watch, and it's our responsibility to disassemble it to find the sense in it.

Once, when a person lied or covered a statement with needless obscurity and obufuscation, we could say he was talking rubbish. Now, though, we need to "unwrap" it or "unpack" it. Once again, it somehow becomes our job to pick apart the turd to see if there's a bit of corn in it.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

I've never understood "optics" to be blaming the viewer. In the context of political blunders, I take it to mean the person who blundered is out of touch or failed to consider how it would look. Which, being a politician, is kind of important. So it's saying this person failed at a key aspect of their job.

I've only heard "unpack" when someone is about to more thoroughly explain something or is being invited to do so.

 

[a_unique_person]

And assigning blame for it in advance.

Gotta wonder which of his "advisors" has his ear on this. It's not like he comes up with this stuff by himself.

Maybe some more advisors will quit soon.

 

[a_unique_person]

I'd heard that rumor. Perhaps you don't have good gossip sources!

And I've heard of it too now.

 

[Tero]

1 - I'm pretty sure that you post you replied to was being sarcastic.
2 - Most of us don't think of agencies and infrastructure as being regulations.

So, like, polluting common waterways is not like murder or some serious crime? How about dumping dioxin?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Beach,_Missouri

 

[Steve]

And I've heard of it too now.

I heard that TM started the rumour.

 

[smartcooky]

Nikki Haley tweeted that she is denying the rumor that she will be replacing Pence as VP candidate for 2020. No one has heard of this rumor so she is probably spreading it.

Denying a non-existent rumour is a prime way of getting a rumour that you want started, started!

 

[smartcooky]

So, like, polluting common waterways is not like murder or some serious crime? How about dumping dioxin?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Beach,_Missouri

Not only that, but the Trump Administration's gutting of environmental protection standard means that what happened to Times Beach could now happen again. Trump has appointed a coal industry lobbyist to run the EPA.... he really has put a fox in charge of protecting the hen house.

 

[carlitos]

So, like, polluting common waterways is not like murder or some serious crime? How about dumping dioxin?



https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Beach,_Missouri

So would times beach be the FBI or the freeways in terms of government regulation?

 

[Skeptic Ginger]

Denying a non-existent rumour is a prime way of getting a rumour that you want started, started!

Trump's modis operandi.

 

[Ladewig]

There is no truth to the rumor that I am still sleeping with Morgan Fairchild.


ETA
Even though many people are saying that.
The best people.

 

[Norman Alexander]

There is no truth to the rumor that I am still sleeping with Morgan Fairchild.


ETA
Even though many people are saying that.
The best people.

But not Morgan.

 

[bruto]

I've never understood "optics" to be blaming the viewer. In the context of political blunders, I take it to mean the person who blundered is out of touch or failed to consider how it would look. Which, being a politician, is kind of important. So it's saying this person failed at a key aspect of their job.

I've only heard "unpack" when someone is about to more thoroughly explain something or is being invited to do so.

I agree that on the surface this seems to be the case, but I still think that referring to optics shifts the responsibility for understanding to the viewer in a subtle way.

And again, I hear commentators often speak of unpacking or unwrapping a statement, and though it has a certain validity, I think there is a subtle shift of responsibility inherent in the terms, because it is essentially non-judgmental as to the confusing nature of a statement. It becomes the routine job of the commentator to make it intelligible.

 

[Doghouse Reilly]

I have absolutely ZERO doubt that if he loses in 2020, whether its close run or a landslide, he WILL refuse to leave office.

Lol, I see you still haven't learned to moderate the hysteria of your predictions. Would be interesting to go back to the Trump threads of 2016 and see what else you had ZERO doubt about.

 

[Checkmite]

Lol, I see you still haven't learned to moderate the hysteria of your predictions. Would be interesting to go back to the Trump threads of 2016 and see what else you had ZERO doubt about.

You can learn a lot about a public figure in the course of three years.

 

[Norman Alexander]

Lol, I see you still haven't learned to moderate the hysteria of your predictions. Would be interesting to go back to the Trump threads of 2016 and see what else you had ZERO doubt about.

We have learned that however low the bar is set for reliability, loyalty, intelligence, civility, statesmanship, or even just plain good manners, Trump can crawl under it. He certainly has exceeded all expectations in that respect.

 

[Norman Alexander]

We have learned that however low the bar is set for reliability, loyalty, intelligence, civility, statesmanship, or even just plain good manners, Trump can crawl under it. He certainly has exceeded all expectations in that respect.

G'day! I'm looking for Bruce.

Bruce the grocer? Bruce the milko? Bruce the publican?

Nah, Bruce who isn't here.

Oh, you want Bruce the spy! Third house on the left.

 

[GlennB]

I agree that on the surface this seems to be the case, but I still think that referring to optics shifts the responsibility for understanding to the viewer in a subtle way.

Or, at the very least, it excuses stupidity by suggesting that the stupidity should just have been presented better.