Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 23

[Stacyhs]

The 2016 (and 2020) election was apparently about love, not border fencing, Mexican rapists or China or any grudge against Obama (though that last one was a big factor). Love, that only white folks can have for a guy that "says how I feel."

https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/06/27/trump-losing-2020-election-342326

From your link:

“Under the current trajectory, President Trump is on the precipice of one of the worst electoral defeats in modern presidential elections and the worst historically for an incumbent president,” said former Trump political adviser Sam Nunberg, who remains a supporter.

Oh, please, please, please let this be so.

 

[Stacyhs]

Oh, and the actual video can be seen in this story from NPR. Some very bad language in it!

Wow. I don't think either side in the video came off looking very well.

 

[Stacyhs]

Will the President withdraw from the campaign to
avoid suffering a catastrophic loss in November?

Note from Arthur Barrett:

ARLINGTON, VA
6/27/20

Jay,

Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is being blamed for the Tulsa rally failure. Kushner’s people complained about him bragging that a million people had requested tickets, but Trump was infuriated with the thousands of empty seats during his speech.

According to O.G., Parscale has been the target of Trump’s extremely vulgar rants, and claims that the campaign is lacking any sort of coherent strategy or direction. People close to the president say that Parscale's job might be in jeopardy.

Trump had visited the Arlington headquarters recently and told people he was impressed with the sophistication of the organization, but in recent days he has been muttering to close staff about resigning, just prior to the election, thus avoiding a huge loss.

O.G. says Trump is alternately depressed, angry, sad, agitated and sometimes he just sulks. The idea of him resigning sounds crazy to me, but she confirmed the story last night. She also said that, if asked about it publicly she will have to deny everything.

- Art

In other words, he's behaving like the emotional toddler he is.

I hope this is all true. I get great delight in thinking of Trump being miserable. His walk from the helo after the Tulsa rally certainly supports this report. He looked totally dejected.

 

[Delphic Oracle]

Hitchens is kind of a moron, though.



Humans: land multiple probes and rovers on Mars



Hitchens: "We are stupid and poorly-evolved because our thumb-finger opposition isn't all that it might be, whatever the hell that means."

It's an illustrative poetic device about not assuming that processes that arrived at what is at this current time considered normal or taken for granted and the expectations we are born into as a result can be questioned as to whether they are truly ideal to the ever-changing environment. Perhaps at one time they were, perhaps we were mistaken, perhaps it is fine. But it is worth reviewing and challenging what is collectively held as true (like comparative worths of individuals with different skin colors or points of origin).

 

[Checkmite]

That's two flaws, yes. We can compensate for them, but they are still flaws.

Well no, they're not flaws at all. The first one (that we're as a species stupid) is a lie, and the second (our thumb-finger opposition isn't all that it could be) is an arbitrary opinion. "All that it could be" for what, particularly?

It's self-evident to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that humans are quite well-evolved, in fact, since we not only survive but thrive in on this planet.

 

[Safe-Keeper]

'k. I don't want to reply further because it'd derail the whole thread.

 

[TheSupermeerkat]

Sasha Baron Cohen (probably most famous in the US for Borat) just trolled a totally-not-Nazis right-wing militia. He posed as a last-minute big donor for a rally, paid for a stage, music, and security, then turned up as the lead singer of the last band. Sang massively racist songs and got the crowd clapping, cheering, and singing along. When they realised they were being trolled, they tried to get him off the stage, but since he paid for security, the security protected him.

After he'd gone he donned a different disguise and came back to interview the organisers and leaders, as they tried to work out what happened.

https://deadline.com/2020/06/sacha-baron-cohen-crashes-right-wing-event-leads-singalong-1202972079/

It sounds like a right hoot. I hope a video emerges.

Before a crowd estimated at about 500 people, Cohen sang an untitled song urging listeners to attack liberals, CNN, The World Health Organization, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Bill Gates and “mask-wearers.”

The proposed vectors of attack were either injecting them with “the Wuhan Flu” or “chopping them up like the Saudis do.” The crowd cheered the lyrics and Cohen’s anti-Semitic taunts (the “you-know-whos”) and anti-Asian jabs (“nuke ‘em up like we used to do”).

 

[Safe-Keeper]

In other words, he's behaving like the emotional toddler he is.

I hope this is all true. I get great delight in thinking of Trump being miserable. His walk from the helo after the Tulsa rally certainly supports this report. He looked totally dejected.

Well, yeah, the rally was supposed to be this big morale boost for him, like a big, fun birthday party for a child who's gone through a really tough week. A way for him to unwind and maybe also shake off the feeling that The rallies seem to always have been his favourite thing, where he got to be the unrivalled centre of attention of hordes of unquestioning fans. Nobody coming to said party, and the attendees present yawning and leaving halfway through of course just adds further disappointment.

To be fair, anyone would've been sorely disappointed if we expected lots of loved ones to show up for our birthday, and only a couple people arrive, and they sat there uninterested and then left early. But for a narcissist like Trump? It must have been horrible. He obsesses over what people think of him, and the rally must have felt like a way for him to shake off the cognitive dissonance and reaffirm himself that the masses still loved him. Imagining what he must be feeling now, I almost feel sorry for the guy.

Almost .

 

[Safe-Keeper]

It sounds like a right hoot. I hope a video emerges.

There's a video embedded in the story now. I assume it's of Sacha.

 

[Matthew Best]

It's self-evident to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that humans are quite well-evolved, in fact, since we not only survive but thrive in on this planet.

So do cockroaches.

 

[Stacyhs]

Oh, and the actual video can be seen in this story from NPR. Some very bad language in it!

This took place at The Villages. I told my husband about the Trump supporter golf cart parade. He said, "Oh, so The Village idiots!"

 

[Stacyhs]

There's a video embedded in the story now. I assume it's of Sacha.

Here's a link to the video. There's also a video of one of the event organizers discussing what happened when they discovered they were being trolled.

No matter how they try and spin this event being about their 'rights', the fact remains that Baron's racist and bigoted song received cheers, laughter and people joining in. I just wish we they had video of the audience. And this took place in Olympia, WA (the capital).

https://collider.com/sacha-baron-cohen-alt-right-rally-song/

 

[Checkmite]

So do cockroaches.

Yet I would bet Hitchens never described cockroaches as "poorly evolved".

Don't get me wrong; I too went through a phase where I thought I could project an air of learnedness by pretending to be objective and impersonal while I disparaged humanity as a species with sorta-sciencey-sounding criticisms that were actually just emotive baloney and special pleading. Then I turned 16.

 

[CapelDodger]

It's self-evident to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that humans are quite well-evolved, in fact, since we not only survive but thrive in on this planet.

Much better than the planet thrives under us.

 

[phiwum]

Trump Tweets

Since imposing a very powerful 10 year prison sentence on those that Vandalize Monuments, Statues etc., with many people being arrested all over our Country, the Vandalism has completely stopped. Thank you!

What the **** does that mean? No new law has been passed, far as I know.

Never mind that no one has been prosecuted and sentenced to ten years. What is he referring to?

 

[MRC_Hans]

What the **** does that mean? No new law has been passed, far as I know.

Never mind that no one has been prosecuted and sentenced to ten years. What is he referring to?

Mean? He doesn't mean anything. He's just making stuff up. Didn't you know?

Hans

 

[StillSleepy]

What the **** does that mean? No new law has been passed, far as I know.

Never mind that no one has been prosecuted and sentenced to ten years. What is he referring to?

Yet another DiY victory of course, rugged individual rascal that he is!

 

[Stacyhs]

What the **** does that mean? No new law has been passed, far as I know.

Never mind that no one has been prosecuted and sentenced to ten years. What is he referring to?

He's mostly bloviating yet again. He's basing this on a 2003 law:

President Trump vowed via Twitter on Tuesday morning that anyone who vandalizes "any monument, statue or other such federal property" will be arrested and face up to 10 years in prison, citing a little-known 2003 piece of legislation.

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
·
Jun 23, 2020
I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent.....


Despite Trump's assertions, the act doesn't require his authorization.

Passed in 2003, it states that a person who "willfully injures or destroys, or attempts to injure or destroy, any structure, plaque, statue, or other monument on public property commemorating the service of any person or persons in the armed forces of the United States shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both."

https://www.npr.org/2020/06/23/8820...mpts-to-topple-statues-heres-the-law-he-cites

Notice that this law pertains ONLY to those whose statue commemorates service in the US Armed Forces. Confederate statues do not meet this criterion. Andrew Jackson does since it commemorates his military service. He is dressed as the general who led the battle of New Orleans.

 

[Aridas]

Why do you think he must have seen the complete video with Biden correcting himself?

Indeed. He probably just was reacting to the dishonestly edited clips from Fox.

Trump thanks 'great people' shown in Twitter video in which a man chants 'white power'

Thanks for beating me to that.

Feels like an attempt to shift the conversation away from his traitorous betrayal of our troops, incidentally, and back to how racist he is. Claims of racism are more easily ignored by his supporters, after all.

 

[Andy_Ross]

Well no, they're not flaws at all. The first one (that we're as a species stupid) is a lie, and the second (our thumb-finger opposition isn't all that it could be) is an arbitrary opinion. "All that it could be" for what, particularly?

It's self-evident to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that humans are quite well-evolved, in fact, since we not only survive but thrive in on this planet.

all organisms are equally evolved