The Trump Presidency: Part 21

[Steve]

Trump regarding his son, Barron and opening back up.
"I have a (pause) young boy who goes to school. I'd like to see him go to school."

He doesn't say, "a son", nor does he speak Barron's name.

There are limits to what he can remember. I bet sometimes he even remembers (or is reminded) that the young boy has a mother.

 

[Stacyhs]

I find the psychology of extremism to be fascinating, especially that of the far right. According to this article, both far left and far right extremists have much in common:

1. VICTIMIZATION – the perception of themselves as victims of persecution. While extremism can be a reaction to genuine persecution, many extremists are obsessed with fantasies of persecution.

2. PURITY- The purity that extremists are obsessed with can be ideological, religious, or ethnic. Ideological extremists are not just strongly committed to a specific ideology or belief system. Their commitment is to what they see as the purest or most unadulterated version of their favoured ideology. Their biggest fear is dilution, and they see themselves as virtuous because of the purity of their beliefs.

3. COMPROMISE- Extremists hate compromise because it detracts from purity. Extremists see compromise as a form of betrayal, and while extremists may hate their opponents, this is usually milder than their hatred of people on their own side who have, as they see it, “sold out”.

4. INDIFFERENCE TO ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES- Another key extremist attitude is indifference to any adverse consequences of one’s actions or policies. To not be deterred by the practical or emotional damage incurred is the essence of fanaticism, so it follows that extremists are also fanatics.

5. CONSPIRACY THEORIES- Extremists are prone to both utopian and conspiracy thinking. They think in terms of a future utopia to which their policies will lead, and they see conspiracies everywhere.

6. ANGER, RESENTMENT, SELF-PITY- Extremists are also uncommonly angry, and this points to the emotional components of the extremist mindset. Extremist anger is rooted in feelings of resentment about their lot. Another fundamental extremist emotion is self-pity. Anger, resentment, and self-pity are a potentially lethal emotional cocktail, especially in combination with other elements of the extremist mindset.

7. PROPENSITY FOR VIOLENCE- Having an extremist mindset does not necessarily lead a person to carry out or support acts of violence, but is undoubtedly a risk factor for violence. It is hardly surprising if fantasies of persecution, indifference to the practical consequences of their actions, and anger lead some people to resort to extreme methods.

The extremists on both ends of the political spectrum are not psychologically healthy. I think Trump's support of the far right protesters is completely unsurprising as he is not psychologically healthy himself. No wonder the far right is attracted to Trump; they are two peas in a pod. Trump sees himself as a victim, he's uncompromising, he doesn't care how someone is affected by his actions as long as it's good for him, he sees conspiracies against him everywhere (hoaxes), his anger is directed at anyone who dares cross him, he resents anything and anyone who does not think he is 'perfect', and his self-pity is evident in his whining about how he thinks the media treats him.

 

[William Parcher]

He doesn't say, "a son", nor does he speak Barron's name.

This is diagnostic for psychopathy. It's also well known that psychopaths if they have daughters will commonly refer to them as "rutabagas".

 

[Stacyhs]

I don't think a Civil War is going to happen at all.

We saw "soldiers" show up on the steps of the Michigan Capitol with semi-auto rifles and probably all the ammunition they could carry and they refused to "Liberate Michigan". Their defacto General Trump even ordered them to liberate the state. They refused.

So what stopped them from pointing their guns at the Governor and removing her? Was it simply because their General didn't use the codeword "Boogaloo"?

I agree that civil war is not going to happen. We've always had some form or other of these extremist groups. Trump has merely made them crawl out from behind the walls like cockroaches do to become more visible. Will there be isolated incidents of violence? Absolutely. But that has happened before with extremists. Waco, the Clive and Ammon Bundy stand-off, and the El Paso shooting are examples of what we've seen and what we can expect to see. But this will not become a civil war because the vast majority of Americans are not extremists.

 

[redietz]

"bUt UnixerSAL hEALth CAre WERX in OTHeR CoUNtires!"

Yeah and Americans are all stupid and Europeans are all just better than us. I mean we voted Trump into office. We don't get soccer. Our cheese is bad and we drink weak beer. We're all a bunch of stupid hicks firing our guns into the air and sleeping with our sisters.

Again if "Americans are just worse people" is always the excuse, it's always the excuse.

Don't forget obese. That's a key element. The U.S. leads the world in number of obese.

Hmmmm, probably works against the universal health care bit. Lots of medical money to be made from the obese, come to think of it.

 

[Aridas]

CDC Director uses same FLU data in briefing that Pence used Thursday, also calls it Covid-19

May the members of this Administration suffer seriously for their disinformation.



Oh! It looks like we have some details on the CDC testing contamination screw-up, finally!

The failure by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to quickly produce a test kit for detecting the novel coronavirus was triggered by a glaring scientific breakdown at the CDC’s central laboratory complex in Atlanta, according to scientists with knowledge of the matter and a determination by federal regulators.

The CDC facilities that assembled the kits violated sound manufacturing practices, resulting in contamination of one of the three test components used in the highly sensitive detection process, the scientists said.

The cross contamination most likely occurred because chemical mixtures were assembled into the kits within a lab space that was also handling synthetic coronavirus material. The scientists also said the proximity deviated from accepted procedures and jeopardized testing for the virus.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Don't forget obese. That's a key element. The U.S. leads the world in number of obese.

Are you certain? The last figures I saw were a few years ago, and they put Mexico in the top spot, followed by Australia.

 

[Fast Eddie B]

Rather than a Civil War, widespread and notably disruptive acts of domestic terrorism by a miniscule portion of the population and the resulting shock waves of disruption are what's actually to be worried about...

Our version of Kristallnacht?

I can see it happening. I just wonder who the violence will focus on this time.

History rhyming and all that.

 

[Stacyhs]

Our version of Kristallnacht?

I can see it happening. I just wonder who the violence will focus on this time.

History rhyming and all that.

I agree. The question of who will be the target is the mystery. It's much easier when you have an easily identifiable scapegoat. Historically that has been a religious or ethnic group: Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, people of color. But the division now is political and the targets not so easily identified except as individuals. I can see attacks against certain people but not as a group.

 

[Meadmaker]

Oh. My. God. One of Orange Hitler's Gestapo minions dared to compare a bunch of jackbooted Nazi SS storm troopers to Rosa Parks? The lack of historical perspective is shameful.

 

[Darat]

Trump Tweets

Spending the morning speaking to @fema and Military relative to CoronaVirus. Also, spoke to leaders of various countries including Poland, South Korea and Bahrain. Last night had a very gold conversation with the President of Mexico on numerous topics. Border is very strong!

Are those errors your transcription?

 

[Fast Eddie B]

Are those errors your transcription?

Last I looked the "gold conversion" tweet was still up.

 

[Aridas]

Our version of Kristallnacht?

I can see it happening. I just wonder who the violence will focus on this time.

History rhyming and all that.

I agree. The question of who will be the target is the mystery. It's much easier when you have an easily identifiable scapegoat. Historically that has been a religious or ethnic group: Jews, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, people of color. But the division now is political and the targets not so easily identified except as individuals. I can see attacks against certain people but not as a group.

Pretty much. There's also the note that there's a rather diverse range of conspiracy theories and enemies that the people in question recognize as such. It would be of no surprise for some groups to be pointedly targeting police (yes, police, like the calls that were going out to try to actively infect police officers with COVID-19) while other groups target Democratic lawmakers and others burn abortion clinics while others attack black city neighborhoods (well, maybe not so much that one - they'd likely assume that the black city people have guns and would fight back, and so choose easier black targets). Immigrants and refugees are probably a greater target, though, overall, but right-wing chaos promoters are, well, a chaotic mess that makes it much harder to predict against and guard against their actions. So it's not really a question of "THE" target.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Are those errors your transcription?

no, direct cut and paste

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

China wants Sleepy Joe sooo badly. They want all of those billions of dollars that they have been paying to the U.S. back, and much more. Joe is an easy mark, their DREAM CANDIDATE!

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Retweeted

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_
With all the grounded flights and ghosted airports, great time for POTUS to rebuild crumbling airports like La Guardia and put folks to work with infrastructure bill (just don't let Pelosi pork it up!)

Trump’s bold gamble on hydroxychloroquine (HC) appears to be paying off. Medical professionals in NY tell Judicial Watch that doctors battling the pandemic are increasingly reporting benefits from the drug. They’re prescribing it for themselves & patients

BREAKING: New daily cases of COVID-19 in both U.S. and N.Y. have peaked and trend-line now rolling over

Let's see if authorities enforce the social-distancing orders for mosques during Ramadan (April 23-May 23) like they did churches during Easter

BREAKING: Adjusted for population, U.S. COVID-19 deaths (fatalities per million) are lower than every Western European country -- including Britain, Spain, Italy & France -- except for Germany. And USA's testing rate per million is higher than Britain, Spain, France & Switzerland

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

I gave up on Drudge (a really nice guy) long ago, as have many others. People are dropping off like flies!
Quote Tweet

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_
DISINGENUOUS DRUDGE: Headline "NO PEAK YET: U.S. deaths set single-day record" is sensationalistic & misleading. Deaths are a LAGGING indicator, by weeks. Daily new US cases of COVID-19 peaked April 4. New cases have been rolling over ever since. Deaths will follow the downtrend

 

[Ladewig]

Are those errors your transcription?

On the plus side, the President has stopped talking about our boarder with Mexico.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump Tweets

The most often used phrase in the Lamestream Media, by far, is “sources say”, or “officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity”, or anything similar which allows Fake News to make up a phony quote from a person who doesn’t even exist. The American people should demand NAMES!

No matter what you do for the Do Nothing Democrats, no matter how GREAT a job you are doing, they will only respond to their Fake partners in the Lamestream Media in the negative, even in a time of crisis. I thought it would be different, but it’s not. In fact, it’s even worse...

....Example! V.P. Mike Pence held a conference call yesterday with all Democrat Senators. He gave them everything that they would have wanted to hear in terms of gaining ground on the CoronaVirus, but nothing that anyone could have said, including “it’s over”, could have made....

....them happy, or even a little bit satisfied. They were RUDE and NASTY. This is their political playbook, and they will use it right up to the election on November 3rd. They will not change because they feel that this is the only way they can win. America will not be fooled!!!

 

[Andy_Ross]

Are the trumpistas thinking of some other Rosa Parks? Because I don't remember Rosa Parks grabbing a rifle and threatening to commit domestic terrorism during a pandemic.