Cont: The Trump Presidency: Part 25

[Regnad Kcin]

"It was the most beautiful thing, it's called law and order" Trump gloats at his rally about Ali Velshi getting hit by a rubber bullet in Minneapolis. Sick stuff.

A statement from MSNBC:
“Freedom of the press is a pillar of our democracy. When POTUS mocks a journalist for the injury he sustained while putting himself in harm’s way to inform the public, he endangers thousands of other journalists and undermines our freedoms.”

I’m pretty confident Trump could not offer even a molecule of ****.

 

[Puppycow]

Steering into the Iceberg

Dan Carlin's latest Common Sense podcast. He doesn't put out episodes of this podcast very often these days. He mostly sticks to his history podcast (Hardcore History). But we might be at an important historical inflection point.

https://www.dancarlin.com/product/common-sense-320-steering-into-the-iceberg/

I thought about starting a new thread for this, but it's kind of hard to sum up.

Topics covered include how Trump is claiming that the only way he can lose the election is if it's rigged. The Black Lives Matter protests, and other current events.

 

[Galaxie]

At the latest rally, Trump suggest that Biden will receive an injection of performance enhancing drugs “in the ass” before the debates.

Because he keeps bringing this up, I'm sure now that this will be his escape clause for not debating Biden.

Biden should offer to take a drug test before the debate as long as trump takes one too.

There's no way Trump will want that.

Biden should go up on stage, pull down his pants, and then say, "Take good close look. You won't find any needle marks here, Mr. Trump."

 

[quadraginta]

But that is exactly the endless complaint we read about politics, namely, that all they care about is re-election. So it's hardly a big reach to make that assumption.

I can't speak for others, but when I mention re-election it is in the context of a specific election that a specific individual is participating in.

Aside from that I talk about power and money. Some of which might result from re-election, sure, but cushy lobbying jobs and corporate board sinecures are not to be sneezed at.

 

[Lurch]

A shocking realization. Just now, when looking at a news program which included a view of the White House with flag at half staff, it hit me that the disgust building within me over the past 4 years has now reached the point where I regard the WH as a loathsome cesspool inhabited by vile creatures. A visceral revulsion is invoked at the sight of it. I think the fetid stench issuing therefrom surpasses that from even the Kremlin. Not least because the joint is *supposed* to be the beacon of democracy, or at least an object of inspiration. But instead it has become a den of traitorous grifters of a decidedly anti-American flavour.

What a strange sensation, to perceive the US center of power as an inimical enemy.

 

[Stacyhs]

A shocking realization. Just now, when looking at a news program which included a view of the White House with flag at half staff, it hit me that the disgust building within me over the past 4 years has now reached the point where I regard the WH as a loathsome cesspool inhabited by vile creatures. A visceral revulsion is invoked at the sight of it. I think the fetid stench issuing therefrom surpasses that from even the Kremlin. Not least because the joint is *supposed* to be the beacon of democracy, or at least an object of inspiration. But instead it has become a den of traitorous grifters of a decidedly anti-American flavour.

What a strange sensation, to perceive the US center of power as an inimical enemy.

Sad, isn't it? You're not the only one. As a US citizen, I also view the WH with revulsion when I consider the current resident.

 

[Andy_Ross]

A shocking realization. Just now, when looking at a news program which included a view of the White House with flag at half staff, it hit me that the disgust building within me over the past 4 years has now reached the point where I regard the WH as a loathsome cesspool inhabited by vile creatures. A visceral revulsion is invoked at the sight of it. I think the fetid stench issuing therefrom surpasses that from even the Kremlin. Not least because the joint is *supposed* to be the beacon of democracy, or at least an object of inspiration. But instead it has become a den of traitorous grifters of a decidedly anti-American flavour.

What a strange sensation, to perceive the US centre of power as an inimical enemy.

I think the wall and barricades Trump has had built around the Whitehouse sum up his presidency.
I am surprised Biden's campaign hasn't made more of it.

 

[SezMe]

I have discovered a simple explanation that explains all of Trump's problems.

 

[Armitage72]

No, I had it right; the victors. They want it taught from the perspective of those who won. That is the story that has been taught for the entire history of our country already. The whitewashed version is what Trump wants, he doesn't want the country's dirty linen aired. Truth be damned. He wants the Disney version of Pocahontas, not the Trail of Tears and the story of broken treaty after broken treaty.

I remember a comic in either Cracked Magazine or Mad Magazine many years ago in which a reporter was interviewing various people, including a couple who regularly protested the content of the history books used at their local school. Their complaints included "knocking Custer and building up them Injuns, or saying that we lost Vietnam. If they paid attention to Westmoreland's body count, they'd know that we won."

 

[Andy_Ross]

Trump fox interview
"I meet with foreign leaders of countries, & they have an expression, 'Sir, we are a forest nation.' But they say, 'we have trees that are far more explosive than the trees in California. We don't understand how a thing like that can happen. You have to manage your forest" -

 

[Aridas]

No, I had it right; the victors. They want it taught from the perspective of those who won. That is the story that has been taught for the entire history of our country already. The whitewashed version is what Trump wants, he doesn't want the country's dirty linen aired. Truth be damned. He wants the Disney version of Pocahontas, not the Trail of Tears and the story of broken treaty after broken treaty.

Mmm. You have a point. Still, I think that it's distinctly incomplete. But then... I also think that it's a big mistake to focus only on the immediate there - especially when many of what seem to be the same forces have been more broadly pushing for educational indoctrination favoring them/their beliefs for quite a while now. To poke at just one of the memorable examples of other things pushed to demonstrate the point - creationism.

 

[JoeMorgue]

The circle can be squared easily.

Winner definition 1: I got what I wanted
Winner definition 2: The other side didn't get what they wanted.

 

[The Don]

Trump's constant attacks against Biden as being tired and senile are going to hurt him bigly in the Debates: all that Biden has to do is being present without falling asleep, and he will have exceeded the expectations Trump has set for him.

Sadly no

Biden will have to perform flawlessly, any slight flub, hesitation or misspeak will be reported by FOXNews as evidence of senility - and this will then be reported by the mainstream media thus propagating the message (even if they don't mean to).

All President Trump has to do in order for the media to applaud his performance is not to visibly soil himself. Even a racist rant would result in him being applauded for "pivoting to presidential".

 

[JoeMorgue]

Yeah if Biden does back handsprings onto the stage and pulls out a chalkboard and solves the Unified Field Theory with one hand and writes out a cure for cancer with the other...

... while Trump's dead corpse does the debate "Weekend at Bernie's Style" the media will still report it as "close."

 

[Safe-Keeper]

Trump's constant attacks against Biden as being tired and senile are going to hurt him bigly in the Debates: all that Biden has to do is being present without falling asleep, and he will have exceeded the expectations Trump has set for him.

Only to a certain degree, and to the right people. Those living in reality might be disconcerted, and then reassured when they actually see Biden speak.

Those living in a post-fact world see Trump (somehow) as a stable genius, and Biden as a drooling late-stage Alzheimer patient two steps away from the nursing home. You know, like how Clinton was way too old and frail during the 2016 campaign to lead the country.

Even if they do see him speak, they'll fixate on him starting unnaturally into the camera, or other things that confirm their pre-conceived impression that he's losing his grip.

Meanwhile Trump can admit a dementia test is hard for him, and completely forget the five words he was supposed to remember and replace them with words for things he sees right in front of him, and then proceed to struggle to repeat that easy string of words, and his disciples will remain either blissfully unaware, or somehow still convinced he is a stable genius, perfectly capable of running America. Or they'll just go "okay, that's disconcerting, but have you seen these cherry picked video clips of Biden? Would he do a better job?"

The rules go out the window when you live in a post-fact world .

 

[The Don]

Trump fox interview
"I meet with foreign leaders of countries, & they have an expression, 'Sir, we are a forest nation.' But they say, 'we have trees that are far more explosive than the trees in California. We don't understand how a thing like that can happen. You have to manage your forest" -

Which leaders of which foreign countries ?

IMO like so much of what President Trump says, this exchange only happened in his imagination.

 

[Horatius]

Even if they do see him speak, they'll fixate on him starting unnaturally into the camera, or other things that confirm their pre-conceived impression that he's losing his grip.

Yep. These are the same people who can watch a video of AOC efficiently eviscerating a witness in a Congressional hearing, and then post a comment on how "stupid" she is.

 

[thaiboxerken]

Trump wants courts to declare him winner on election night.

Can we call it fascism now?

 

[Mojo]

I have discovered a simple explanation that explains all of Trump's problems.

The brain was larger than the size of his extended hand and was not decomposed, he said.

Clearly not Trump’s.

 

[Giordano]

The circle can be squared easily.

Winner definition 1: I got what I wanted
Winner definition 2: The other side didn't get what they wanted.

I’ve seen a related phenomenon:

“Person X has benefit y. I don’t have benefit y. That is unfair. I could ask that I get benefit y too. Or that x and I split it. But I prefer you just take benefit y away from x. That would make me happiest.”