;)
Monday
Jul182016
The Commentariat -- July 19, 2016
Afternoon Update:
Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time-Players Get Caught Plagiarizing Rival. Hilarity Ensues. Louis Nelson of Politico: "Trump campaign does damage control after Melania plagiarism charges." CW: Make that "damage control." The campaign put out several conflicting stories; e.g., Melania said she wrote the speech; the campaign said she didn't. Corey Lewandowski -- still being paid by the Trump campaign but also working for CNN -- shadowboxed with rival & current campaign mismanager Paul Manafort. Manafort, for his part, mounted a baldly ludicrous defense: "This is once again an example of when a woman threatens Hillary Clinton, how she seeks out to demean her and take her down." That is, when numerous reporters & some Republicans, including the RNC chair, point out that Mrs. Trump copied Mrs. Obama's speech, somehow Hillary Clinton masterminded the whole thing. Wow! Hillary would be a powerful president! Here's another funny defense: "Manafort said the similarities between the two speeches were limited to just three sections and 'fragments of words.'" Fragments of words? Like Michelle said "family" & Melania said "fam"? Or what?
MEANWHILE, in Today's Other Train Wreck. Gabriel Sherman of New York: "As a chorus of prominent Fox News women have gone public defending Roger Ailes against the wave of sexual-harassment allegations sparked by former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson's lawsuit, the network's biggest star, Megyn Kelly, has been conspicuously silent.... According to two sources briefed on parent company 21st Century Fox's outside probe of the Fox News executive..., Kelly has told investigators that Ailes made unwanted sexual advances toward her about ten years ago when she was a young correspondent at Fox. Kelly, according to the sources, has described her harassment by Ailes in detail." -- CW
CW: Following Marvin S.'s lead, I read David Brooks' column today. And, yes, Brooks asserts Trump appears to be going crazier & crazier. It does seem possible that this season's "October surprise" may be a brief series of incoherent Trump tweets, followed by the campaign's announcement that Mr. Trump is resting quietly in an undisclosed location.
Donald's Coalition. Brad Reed of Raw Story: "You can live stream the Republican National Convention on the RNC's official YouTube page, but you can't chat about it live anymore.... The Republicans have now disabled the live chat window on the page after it got overrun by anti-Semitic Trump supporters. As former Hawaii Gov. Linda Lingle gave a speech promoting inroads that Republicans have made with Jewish voters, as well as ripping the Democrats for allegedly being more hostile to Israel, Trump's alt-right followers flooded the page with anti-Semitic vitriol." --safari
The Amazing Donaldo. He don't need no stinkin' money! Jay Newton-Small of Time reports: "On a bright sunny Tuesday morning, the Trump Leadership Council gathered at FirstEnergy Stadium for their second official meeting. The group of 40 CEOs and top executives had flown to Cleveland to attend the Republican National Convention and meet with ... Donald Trump...and Trump never showed...[underlining] to at least a few council members that he doesn't view meeting with them as a priority." -- Akhilleus
But who needs money if you can steal the election? Roxanna Hegeman of the Washington Post: "The American Civil Liberties Union filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday seeking to block a two-tiered election system that would require Kansas election officials to throw out thousands of votes in state and local races from people who registered at motor vehicle offices or used a federal form without providing documents proving U.S. citizenship...The rule, sought by Secretary of State Kris Kobach, would remain in effect through Nov. 8, the date of the general election. If that action is allowed to stand, thousands of Kansas voters will be denied their right to vote in state and local elections in a year when all 165 seats of the Kansas Legislature are up for election, the ACLU argued."
...Akhilleus: All the hoopla surrounding the Daily Donaldo foibles conveniently draws attention from the fact that Republicans have been winding up their election rigging machine once again. Who needs money if you can screw with voters and deny them the chance to vote against your guy? Or in the case of Kansas, all your guys.
The speech that keeps on giving. David Frum in the Atlantic: "The incident throws a harpoon into the heart of the Trump campaign's racial politics. Trump's message: Non-white people are ripping off hard-working white Americans who play by the rules. 'They' cheat; 'we' lose. Could there be a sharper reversal of that racialized complaint than Melania Trump in her designer dress stealing Michelle Obama's heartfelt words?" And..."In 2008, Michelle Obama summed up the values that she had learned from her parents and that she and Barack Obama now tried to instill in their children: work hard; tell the truth; keep your promises; treat others with dignity and respect. Donald Trump epically does not tell the truth, does not keep his promises, and does not treat others with dignity and respect. A plagiarized speech (and the failure to detect the plagiarism) pretty strongly confirms that the Trumps do not much care about hard work, either."
...Akhilleus: As with another seemingly innocuous blunder years ago when a group of clowns were nabbed trying to break into a room at the Watergate Hotel, the Plagiarized Speech could have long-lasting--and historic--ramifications. At least we hope so.
*****
GOP Convention & Presidential Race
Jonathan Martin & Patrick Healy of the New York Times: "Rancor and hard-edged attacks dominated the start of the Republican National Convention on Monday as speakers branded Hillary Clinton as a liar who deserved to be in prison and two African-American Republicans ridiculed the Black Lives Matter movement.... Unusual jousting among Republicans at their own convention gave way to more traditional, fiery speeches aimed at Democratic leaders, Mrs. Clinton and President Obama. The most impassioned remarks came from former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani of New York...." -- CW ...
... Here's the Times' highlights video:
... Commenters can't decide whether Donald Trump's entrance was a hat-tip to alien films or Wrestlemania. CW: I think it was more of an end-times thing. I expect full-on classical deus ex machina Thursday night. ...
... Politico, apparently unmoved by the fog machine, call the whole event "Trump's Disastrous Day One." -- CW ...
... Nancy LeTourneau of the Washington Monthly on how last night's convention mirrored Trump & his campaign. -- CW ...
... Be Afraid. Nicholas Confessore of the New York Times: "... the first night of Donald J. Trump's coronation struck a dark and foreboding tone unmatched by any convention in recent history.... The lineup of speakers presented a United States in danger, threatened from abroad and from within, a once-proud nation on the very brink of chaos and dystopia.... [Mr. Trump] phoned in to Fox to attack Ohio's popular governor, John Kasich, for skipping the convention in Cleveland. Mr. Trump's tirade pre-empted the network's coverage from the convention stage, where two American survivors of the 2012 attack in Benghazi, Libya, were recounting their experience." -- CW ...
... John Cassidy of the New Yorker: "Rather than inviting the uncommitted on this first night of four, the G.O.P. presented to the nation a dystopian mélange of grieving parents, furious cops, lower-tier celebrities, and the former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, who delivered a blistering speech, during which, several times, he worked his face into a furious snarl that about encapsulated the evening." -- CW ...
... Stephen Stromberg of the Washington Post: "The first night of the 2016 Republican National Convention ... was about portraying liberalism as an ideology of national betrayal. Speaker after speaker intimated that President Obama, Hillary Clinton or both are directly responsible for a variety of American deaths because they value the lives of foreigners over those of their countrymen.... In case you thought that Republicans were merely accusing Obama and Clinton of incompetence, Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas) encouraged the audience to see national tragedies as at least partially intentional." -- CW
... Where Have I Heard That Before? Philip Bump of the Washington Post: Melania Trump's speechwriter(s) cribbed her speech from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech. But, the campaign asserted, "Melania's team of writers ... in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking." -- CW ...
... Gregory Krieg & Eugene Scott of CNN: "At least one passage in Trump's speech Monday night plagiarized from Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention in 2008. Side-by-side comparisons of the transcripts show the text in Trump's address following, nearly to the word, the would-be future first lady's own from the first night of the Democratic convention in Denver nearly eight years ago." -- CW ...
... Brian Beutler: "Whether Melania knew she was reading plagiarized text or not (and I think it's quite likely she did not) it's just devastating to see a campaign premised on the imagined notion of Obama incompetence get caught stealing from Obama's own operation.... The plagiarized lines] amplify one (actually more than one) of the main knocks on Trump himself: That he's sloppy, erratic, in so many ways the opposite of the virtues he claims to embody. And, let's not gloss over it, this is a depiction of a campaign -- a campaign that nurtures white grievance and resentment -- trying to profit off the work of a black woman, from an African American family that Trump and his supporters regularly belittle. The fact that the plagiarized text in question was about the value of hard work just makes matters worse. A mortifying, calamitous, self-immolating moment." -- CW ...
... Greg Sargent: "What's galling about this is that Donald Trump's political career has been propelled to no small degree by an effort to deny the very legitimacy of those values and aspirations on the part of the Obamas, in service of the idea that they are basically imposters, or frauds, who don't actually harbor the values they claim and don't really deserve the success they've attained." -- CW ...
... CW: One of the strongest messages of the night was that women should STFU. Whether it was Donald Trump calling into Fox "News" to complain that John Kasich was mean to him while Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, who was killed in Benghazi, was making her heartrending, fact-averse accusations that Hillary Clinton killed her son, or Melania Trump's speechwriters stealing Michelle Obama's lines, or the unrelenting attacks on Hillary Clinton as a murderous, careless criminal, (or cunt, as convention speaker Scott Baio had put it in a recent tweet), the takeaway is that women's views are either inconsequential or so heinous they must be quashed & the speaker jailed. This is not a white people's convention. ...
... Wait! Wait! More, previously unreported plagiarism by Melania & the Ghostwriters. (And, yeah, if you click on the link, you've been rickrolled. Thanks, Patrick, for rickrolling me. -- CW)
This feed claims to be the Convention's official livestream:
Yoo-Ess-Ay! Yoo-Ess-Ay! Jeremy Peters & Alan Rappeport of the New York Times are covering the GOP convention, & it appears they are updating the story as events unfold. At 5:45 pm ET Monday, this was the lede: "The convention floor momentarily turned into a scene discord and boisterous dissent on Monday. Those who were opposing Donald J. Trump broke into booming jeers and chants of 'Roll call vote! Roll call vote!' in an attempt to demand a vote by all 2,472 delegates on a procedural motion that is required before the convention can formally get underway.... Delegates who opposed them ... responded with their own noisy shouts of 'U.S.A.! U.S.A.!' But after several minutes of confusion, and a couple of musical interludes by the band to kill time, the anti-Trump delegates appeared to have been stymied. When the chairman called for a voice vote on whether to have a roll-call vote, he ruled that the 'no' votes prevailed." -- CW ...
... The Washington Post is running live updates here. ...
... Here the pro-Trump & anti-Trump Republicans clash. Trump wins:
... Thomas Burr of the Salt Lake Tribune: "A Utah woman says she was threatened by Donald Trump supporters after a floor fight over the rules at the Republican National Convention. 'They said: "You should die. They should pull the protection from the Utah delegation. You should all die,'" at-large delegate Kera Birkeland said Monday night." -- CW ...
... AND former winger Sen. Gordon Humphrey (R-N.H.), a leader of one of the anti-Trump factions, said after the rules fight, "This is not a meeting of the Republican National Committee. This is a meeting of brownshirts." -- CW ...
... Jamelle Bouie of Slate: "But in forcing the question -- in generating enough heat to disrupt the proceedings, if only for a moment -- the anti-Trump delegates emphasized the degree to which this a Potemkin convention for a party that's torn and divided over its nominee. Look at the schedule of events here in Cleveland. If the speakers aren't from Trump's immediate family, they're third- and fourth-string Republican politicians.... The Republican Party is ... sick, worn down by its own pathologies and contradictions. And in its sickness, it's been overtaken by Donald Trump." -- CW ...
... Norm Ornstein & Thomas Mann in Vox: "Trumpism may have parallels in populist, nativist movements abroad, but it is also the culmination of a proud political party's steady descent into a deeply destructive and dysfunctional state.... The safe haven of false equivalence led the press to ignore one of the most consequential developments in contemporary American politics: the radicalization of the Republican Party." -- CW ...
... MEANWHILE, Michael Cavna of the Washington Post demonstrates how Garry Trudeau has been predicting & foreshadowing a Trump presidential candidacy for nearly 30 years. With "Doonesbury" strips. -- CW
Jonathan Martin of the New York Times: Paul Manafort, "Donald J. Trump's chief adviser, used the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday to excoriate Gov. John R. Kasich for not endorsing Mr. Trump, touching off a remarkably bitter exchange between the campaign of the presumptive Republican nominee and advisers to Ohio's popular Republican governor.... Asked about the criticism, [Kasich strategist John] Weaver ... not only mocked Mr. Trump's rambling and at-times awkward introduction of Mike Pence as his running mate on Saturday, but also pointedly brought up Mr. Manafort's history of working with contentious foreign leaders." CW: Contentious? Weaver accurately called Manafort's clients "thugs and autocrats."
Jon Swaine of the Guardian: "A Donald Trump supporter with a primetime speaking slot at the Republican national convention, who is billed as a small business owner employing more than 100,000 people, is actually a 'multi-level marketer' [CW: i.e., Ponzi scheme] who does not employ anyone.... Michelle Van Etten... , 42, works on her own as an independent retailer of products supplied by Youngevity.... The Daily Beast first reported Van Etten's link to Youngevity on Monday, noting that some of the firm's nutritional products are sold by the conspiracy theorist and radio presenter Alex Jones...." --safari note: Donald Trump has the greatest connections to the greatest minds, and all he could do on the biggest stage was pull in a pyramid scheme artist who employs exactly zero people. Sounds appropriate.
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. CW: Margaret Sullivan, the Washington Post's media columnist, who was formerly the NYT's public editor, must have read my Krugman comment on Lesley Stahl's interview of Trumpence, because Sullivan calls out Stahl for exactly the same things I did (although I was constrained to 1,500 characters so I couldn't include specific fact-checks). (See my comment at the top of "Reader Picks.") ...
... CW: Steve Benen makes some of the same criticisms, but he concentrates on Trump's lies, he uses his own words & it's clear these are his own thoughts. Sullivan's critique is so close to mine, I wouldn't be surprised if she cribbed it.
CW: Here is an absolutely brilliant ad by Hillary Clinton's campaign:
... AND what makes it absolutely brilliant is this: Tyler Pager of Politico: "The ad, called 'Confessions of a Republican,' replicates an ad from the 1964 election with the same name in which a life-long Republican says he will vote for the Democratic nominee. In 1964, it was for Lyndon B. Johnson, and now the same actor, Bill Bogert, says in Monday's ad he will vote for Clinton in November." I ran the original ad some time back. In both cases, Bogert, though an actor, reportedly used his own words & sentiments. From the LBJ Library:
Other News & Views
Annals of "Journalism," Ctd. Gabriel Sherman of New York: "Rupert Murdoch and sons Lachlan and James -- co-chairmen and CEO, respectively, of parent company 21st Century Fox -- have settled on removing [Fox 'News' chief Roger Ailes]..., say two sources briefed on a sexual-harassment investigation of Ailes being conducted by New York law firm Paul, Weiss. After reviewing the initial findings of the probe, James Murdoch is said to be arguing that Ailes should be presented with a choice this week to resign or face being fired. Lachlan is more aligned with their father, who thinks that no action should be taken until after the GOP convention this week. Another source confirms that all three are in agreement that Ailes needs to go." CW: Yeah, & I'm pretty sure Fox "News" will become way more "fair and balanced" when Ailes leaves. Ha! ...
... Rebecca Traister of New York: "Over the course of a year, culminating one day -- [Mon]day -- we have seen the protective skin, the veneer of inclusivity and equality, being peeled back from the bones of both the modern Republican party and its media channel." -- CW
Beyond the Beltway
Ceylan Yeginsu of the New York Times: "Turkish authorities moved to widen their purge of perceived opponents on Monday by removing thousands of police officers from their posts, part of the crackdown that followed a failed military coup that was aimed at toppling the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Interior Ministry fired nearly 9,000 police officers on Monday, Turkish officials said. That followed the arrests of 6,000 military personnel and 103 generals and admirals, and the suspensions of nearly 3,000 judges over the weekend." -- CW
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Reader Comments (30)
So Murdoch and Sons are throwing Ailes overboard. No loyalty like Murdoch showed for Rebekah Brooks when his paper's phone hacking scandal that helped him make a bundle off the dead body of a little girl blew up in his face. Brooks' excuse was that she was merely incompetent.
The News of the World was toast after that story broke and MP's got involved so standing by Brooks wasn't going to cost Murdoch a thing. The Ailes situation is different. Murdoch and the boys stand to lose a lot by sticking with a serial sexual predator, especially when women at Faux are lining up to back Carlson's allegations. Besides, Murdoch must have known about this pervert for years. It was fine and dandy for Ailes to play Misogynist Monopoly as long as no one blabbed, but now there's money to be lost. Not prestige, you understand, or reputation. Pickpockets and petty thieves have more integrity than Fox. But money is what matters. And power. And a proven pervert running the show crumbs the plate.
Tawdry is too polite a word. How about....criminal? Yeah, that's the ticket. Let that prick flap in the breeze. Maybe he can take some of the other misogynist assholes with him, O'Reilly, Doocy, Hannity, and a few more. Oh, but they can't get rid of all the caveman woman haters; the place wouldn't be Fox then, would it?
Hey kids, don't miss the fun! The Trump coronation has everything! Hordes of police, chaos on the floor, a duck call guy as a featured speaker. Hatred, xenophobia, lies , and....plagiarism! Wait. What? Yup. Mrs. Donaldo in her big prime time speech designed to validate ( or something) her con-man husband plagiarized two big paragraphs in her speech. But wait! It gets better. The plagiarized sections were stolen from a speech by Michelle Obama!
Can't make this shit up. The Drumpf campaign has no comment.
The NYT notes 'similarities' between Melania's speech at the GOP convention and that of Michele Obama's 2008 speech at the Democrat convention. The Guardian noted the same. Similar paragraphs in fact and labeled it plagiarism. Just have to love the way British papers, perhaps more familiar with the language, seem to find more appropriate words than the NYT does. Melania told Lauer that she wrote the speech "with as little help as possible." Perhaps just pen, paper, and a video of Michelle in action.
@Cowichan: Your point about how differently the press will call out things is right on, on the NYT Home Page, "her speech echoes ...but follow the link and ithe headline becomes (inside page): Melania Trump’s Speech Bears Striking Similarities " to Michelle Obama’s in 2008.
Ah, the role that adjectives play!
Similarities, balderdash. NPR and MSNBC played both speeches together-- practically identical. The NYT disappoints me time after time, but of course, that is nothing new-- since their great support for the Iraq invasion. This is all sleaze of a higher order, greatly to be admired by some. And the convention is hard to escape, seeing as how networks are broadcasting it in its entirety, as well as NPR. We shall see if the Dems get equal time...
I only could watch bits and pieces of last night's convention; it was something akin to torture. The only speech I did listen to from start to finish was Melania's. Who the heck is she talking about I asked myself––her description of her husband was so far off the mark it was comedic. Now we read that parts of it were plagiarized and from whom? the enemy's, that Muslim in the White House, first lady. If that isn't special, I don't know what is. And if she wrote that speech herself, as she claims, I'll eat one of McDonald's double burger delights. She's lied about her education ––oh, wait––she's married to a serial liar––it all fits. The two are the Bonny and Clyde of beau monde bullshitters.
The whole production––makes my skin crawl.
I copied this from a commenter on a WaPo article about Melania's speech. Funny.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KtzdP7mR-4
Samantha Bee: Indiana hates Mike Pence as much as Indiana Jones hates snakes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/samantha-bee-takes-down-mike-pence_us_578db0e7e4b0fa896c3fcc90?section=
But, please, have a heart.
A little empathy here for the young women plucked from a small Slovenian village and forced to stand in front of a microphone and address thousands of raucous, leering foreigners in a city on the other side of the world.
What do you say when you have nothing to say? I mean, really.
I certainly have no idea, and apparently poor Melania didn't either.
Maybe in desperation she called Lil' Randy.
As I remember, the Trumpster and the Randian were good buds.
NYT has changed the header lead to the story to now read: "Ms. Trump in ’16 Sounded Like Mrs. Obama in ’08' " Hmmm, wonder why it is Ms. Trump vs. Mrs. Obama?
I haven't read a Brooks column in years but given today's title "Trump Is Getting Even Trumpier!" I gave it a shot. Guess what, he really nails Trumps brain. Talks about mental illness. His best statement: 'This is a unique moment in American political history in which the mental stability of one of the major party nominees is the dominating subject of conversation.'
Maybe we are finally getting close to the real words: Trump is seriously mentally ill. OK "media" start saying it seriously.
And BTW, does Trump's wife realize that given her age, she could only be first lady for about 2 years.
@Ken–-this is for you, heart wise.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzg98z3NFQQ
The BEST rickrolls are when the perp doesn't even know he (she) is doing it, or ever heard of it.
A Trump administration would be one long earworm of a rickroll, with clueless perps.
Cheat, cheat, never beat.
Plagiarism is a lie, passing off someone else's work as your own, even (or especially) after the fact. But Trump would not be Trump without lies. His whole career is based on, supported by, and advanced through lies. His entire campaign has been a series of lies raining down in a cascade of sickening mendacity, lies too numerous to count. So what's a few more?
And today, the whining and shouting from the Trump camp that those purloined paragraphs are not plagiarism and it's absurd to say so, but if it is considered plagiarism, it's Hillary Clinton's fault, fulfills the next step on the plagiarism walk of shame. Once caught, the offender continues to maintain that the words she spoke--an almost word for word mirroring of a speech by the first lady--are her own.
So let's look at it. Paul (enabler of thugs and crooks) Manafort is screaming that Trump's words are common words that everyone uses and, ipso facto, cannot be considered plagiarism.
In a way, that's true, it that's what it was. Common expressions, "work hard for what you want in life", "your word is your bond", "treat people with respect" are all fairly standard sentiments. If you googled each you'd come up with millions of hits. So that's not unusual. What IS unusual, and provides absolute proof of pilfering, is that all those expressions appear in both speeches and in the same order and context. What are the odds of that?
But those aren't the only examples. And each new word that appears in both speeches increases the certainty of plagiarism. And those who claim that it's not "word for word" and so doesn't count as plagiarism, are stupid and probably plagiarized their way through high school and college and on into the later lives, like Rand Paul who sees nothing wrong with lifting ideas as well as words. This is like saying that "Today looks like the winter of our discontent has been turned into a great summer day by this guy from the York family" cannot possibly count as plagiarism because it's not an exact, word for word repetition of the first line of "Richard III".
After reading about this, I thought "what idiots!" Don't they know there's such a thing as Lexus/Nexis? Then I thought, why didn't someone like Manafort, genius that he's supposed to be, run the speech through L/N just to make sure?
But it doesn't matter, Manafort and the Trumps will continue to lie and brazen it out. They know the media is on their side (insofar as they rarely hold Trump accountable for anything, at least not more than a single news cycle) and no one will care if she stole Michelle Obama's words and thoughts.
On another front, rumors are now being circulated in Right Wing World that Michelle Obama is the real plagiarizer, that she stole those words from someone else but no one ever made a stink about it because black. Another good one is that one of the Trump speech writers is a liberal mole out to stick it to Real Americans.
And like Ken, I don't want to hold Melania Trump up for too much scorn, but, in an additional lie, she claims to have been responsible for almost every word, which, if true, makes her the plagiarizer in chief.
Oh, and here's my favorite excuse so far. Governor Bridge Closer has declared that it can't be plagiarism because 93% of the speech was not stolen. Really? Great. Only 7% was plagiarized. I hope someone reminds Chrisco Boy that when and if he is diagnosed with some terrible disease he takes comfort in the fact that it's only affecting 7% of his body, which means he can't be sick at all, right?
Could these people be any more stoopid?
I guess we'll wait 'til tomorrow. We won't be disappointed. Summer of our discontent, indeed.
Oh, and one more thing about this plagiarism bullshit.
Many mainstream media outlets are trying to best each other by pretending that maybe this is just a coincidence, that maybe it's not plagiarism after all, but "similarities" as MAG points out. But the best part (after the part where these simpering wusses try to curry favor with Trump and the drooling hordes) is this:
NY Times headline:
Melania Trump's speech bears striking resemblance to Michelle Obama's in 2008.
NBC news headline:
Melania Trump Republican Convention speech bears striking resemblance to Michelle Obama address.
Plagiarism! By the guys who refuse to recognize it when they see it. (Yeah, I know it's not plagiarism, but it is pretty funny to see such "striking similarities" in both headlines that refuse to call other striking similarities what they really are.)
Oh, and it doesn't surprise me that NBC, home of both sides master, Chuck Todd, won't call it plagiarism. I'm sure Todd will rush to Trump's defense with some outrageously stupid excuse for this theft.
I am really worried about this election. Hillary can't stub her toe without the press and everyone else calling for congressional investigations. Trump can shoot people in Times Square in broad daylight and the press will call it a hunting accident.
Akhilleus,
More seriously than my first time out about holding Melania accountable: Someone must have known the words were cribbed, and I have no doubt Melania's denial is but a puppet's response to the strings. Still, I can't begin to imagine what it must be like for Melania or anyone else who lives in Trumpland where no form of reality ever intrudes.
There's this wall, you see.
What we have here is a family, and on a national level a growing cult of followers, that literally wishes upon a (reality tv) star, believing that wishing alone will make it (richer, safer, more white, whatever) so. How could anyone who lives in that world distinguish plagiarism from original work, a lie from truth, or productive work from simple hucksterism?
Wrote something a few years back (again tongue a little in cheek, but prescient nonetheless) blaming Walt Disney and Fantasyland for all our ills.
Now that Trumpland has taken over half the nation, my tongue is back in its proper place. I'll try to keep it there for today, if not for the convention's duration.
Ken,
Like you, I don't really blame Melania Trump. She's doing what she's been asked to do. But she is mired in Trumpland, as much as anyone can be. She benefits in many ways from that residency, but in a very few instances, like last night, she has to dance to Trump's out of tune, badly written sarabandes.
If Donaldo does win in November, one of the distinctions we'll be able to note will be the difference between a family in the White House with stability and cohesion, and a bizarro upside down reality TV show bunch. God help the White House staff if Drumpf brings his mercurial, unpredictable, stentorian demands to Pennsylvania Avenue.
@Akhilleus: The problem isn't just that Hillary can't stub her toe without inspiring a Congressional investigation; it's also that Melania can't stub her toe without someone (like Trump's campaign guru) claiming Hillary boobytrapped Melania's shoe.
Marie
An interesting question I saw somewhere; Vice Presidential candidates have been releasing their tax returns, but will Pence do so? If he does it might make things a little dicey for The Donald.
A piddling kvetch.
So, has anyone else noticed how poorly dressed Donaldo is for a Master of the Universe? His suits look like cheap Walmart fuse jobs with glued seams. The shoulders are always bunched out like $79.99 midnight specials, his pants always look like he's slept in them, and the sleeves are much too long (not the best fashion choice for such itty-bitty hands).
This shouldn't be a big deal, but in Trump's case it's interesting. For a guy who is so obsessed not only with his own appearance, but with the appearance of others (making fun of how people look is one his specialties), it's odd for someone to look so shabby all the time in that navy blue potato sack with the same solid red or blue ties.
In contrast, Hillary is always well dressed. She knows what looks good on her and how to wear it, all the jokes about the pantsuits notwithstanding. But at least she looks like she's ready to run the country. Trump looks like he's ready to jack you for an extra thousand on a used car.
Now Bernie Sanders makes a point of looking unkempt. It suits him. He has that unmade bed, absent-minded professor look about him, especially with the Einstein hairdo, and it works. It says "I don't give a shit about how I look, I care about more important things." And that look not only works, it's actually pretty cool. It contributes to his meat and potatoes gestalt.
But Trump is so enamored of the flash and the gilt (those chairs!) it's surprising to see him in such ill fitting, poorly worn clothes. Reagan was a pretty sharp dresser. JFK wore his classic fashion in a way that greatly benefited him (always loved that hand in the jacket pocket look). And Obama always looks natty, even in shirtsleeves. Trump looks like Lee J. Cobb playing Willy Loman.
It's probably not a big deal, but if you notice, many of our best presidents were much better dressed than Trump. By a lot.Truman, as befits a former haberdashery owner, always looked neat as a pin, not a wrinkle in sight. Teddy Roosevelt appreciated the impression clothes made and even in his cowboy days, was dressed to the nines in custom tailored frontier get ups, and an old rail-splitter like Lincoln always looked pulled together, even in the midst of a civil war.
But Trump?
Meh.
In a way, it's almost an unconscious clue: "I may pretend to be a well tailored Armani, but really, I'm nothing but a glued-front K-mart."
Dear BobbyLee:
Thank you for asking. I will release my tax returns as soon as Mr. Trump releases his.
Best regards,
mike pence
@Akhilleus: Yup, I noticed Donald's ill-fitted suits some while back, & I wondered why somebody with his money & penchant for glitz seemed kinda poorly, if expensively, dressed.
Well, I found out, and -- not surprisingly -- it's because of one of his many personality disorders, as he himself explains: "I wear Brioni suits, which I buy off the rack. Some people think its best to have custom-tailored clothing. I don't recommend it unless you have an oddly shaped body, and unless you have a great deal of time."
That is, Donald Trump does not have the patience or attention-span to stand for a fitting.
Marie
@CW &AK: Brioni suits are $$$$ and not exactly sold off the rack in a big box store! Usually at high end men's stores (think Bijan) with a very good tailor at hand. Sometimes you can't put the blame on the suit, but the body underneath; which, in this case, looks quite a bit chunkier these days!
Can't wait for tonight's family representative. Tiffany Trump, I believe? Sweet! Only one I haven't seen listed is Barron. Must be he's the surprise at the end. Daddy, daddy! I wuv yu, you are the greatest one in the world!
Marie... your closing sentence re the end of Donald's travail: "...resting quietly in an undisclosed place." laughing still.
MAG,
I have no doubt that Donaldo spends a packet on his clothes. The problem, as Marie points out, is his carelessness in that regard. A $2,000 suit will still look bad if it's not properly tailored or worn. Likely Trump is one of those guys who selects his clothes thinking he's buying stuff to fit the buff, idealized body he sees in his imagination.
Geez, take the guy to Barney's on Madison. A first day salesperson could pick better stuff than what he's wearing now.
He still looks like walking potato sack.
Marie's idea of a disturbed and non-functioning Donaldo abdicating some time after the election calls to mind the episode in English history triggered by the so-called madness of King George. The madness of King Donald, ending in his rejection of the presidency for more amenable enjoyments, like jerking off to his collection of teen porn, makes his VP choice all the more important. As much of an asshole as Mike Pence is, just imagine a Trump abdication in favor of La Palin or Newt Gingrich, or even Governor Bridge Closer.
Although, in a way, the possibility of a Pence presidency may be the scariest of all. It wouldn't be far from a Cruz presidency which itself would be steps from an American theocracy.
What was that old Confucius curse about interesting times?
The Republican Party has a lot to answer for.
@Ak: Still in the closet here! Among the Readers' Picks on the plagiarism kerfuffle, is this perfect one-liner bon mot(s) a not-exactly-defense of Melania's "borrowing" from Michelle O. by commenter kmmcgovern in VA
"Well, it's not like she wore the same dress."
Oh! snap!
Been busy, but has no one linked this?
MAG,
Snap! is right. And it's not likely that Melania Trump would deign to wear anything Michelle Obama had worn anyway. Cooties can still infect at two removes, ya know?
Just a quick passing thought. I wonder how Chrisco Boy, one of America's biggest, nastiest, most aggressive political bullies and loudmouths, feels about being kicked to the curb by an even bigger, nastier, much more aggressive bully and loudmouth.
Especially one whose ass his tongue has been cleaning for months.
Karma is a bitch.
Whyte Owen; I had a difficult time trying to comprehend the
audience reaction. They were crying and praying. Were they
crying because of their future leader, the trumpet, or were they
praying that he would back out before the election? Enquiring
minds want to know. Bet Achilleus has the answer. And why
does my computer change that to Achilles?