;)
The Conversation -- January 8, 2024
I'm IMU-U-U-UNE! Zachary Cohen of CNN: "... Donald Trump is seeking to have the sweeping criminal conspiracy case against him in Georgia thrown out by arguing he is protected from prosecution under presidential immunity. Trump's immunity claims in the Georgia case, filed on Monday as part of a motion to dismiss state-level criminal charges against the former president, are similar to those argued by his defense team in the federal election subversion case.... Trump's attorney argues that the specific acts in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' indictment 'lie squarely within the 'outer perimeter' of the President's official duties.'... On Tuesday, the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments by attorneys for Trump and special counsel Jack Smith over the same two claims of immunity, a hearing Trump himself is set to attend."
News Flash! RAS Solves National Mystery. Discovers the Source of Trump's MAGA Dome (related story linked under "Musings of the Mango Moron"):
~~~~~~~~~~
Carl Hulse of the New York Times: "Senate and House leaders announced on Sunday that they had struck an overarching agreement on 2024 government funding, but it was not clear whether they would be able to cement the deal and pass it into law in time to avert a partial government shutdown in less than two weeks. After weeks of negotiations and on the eve of Congress returning from its holiday break, top Senate and House members said they had agreed to set the total amount of spending at nearly $1.66 trillion, bringing funding in line with the deal struck last year between President Biden and then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy that met with vehement conservative opposition." (Also linked yesterday.) The AP's story is here.
Kelly Garrity of Politico: "House Speaker Mike Johnson called suggestions that he is an election denier 'nonsense,' but refused to affirm that President Joe Biden won the 2020 election during an interview that aired Sunday. The Constitution was 'clearly violated during the 2020 election,' the Louisiana Republican told CBS' Margaret Brennan during an interview on 'Face The Nation.'... 'The Constitution was violated in the run up to the 2020 election, not always in bad faith, but in the aftermath of Covid, many states changed their election laws in ways that violated that plain language. That's just a fact,' Johnson said. Saying it was now 'water under the bridge,' Johnson noted that he works 'with President Biden as the President of the United States.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. [the fourth-ranking House Republican], on Sunday wouldn't commit to certifying the 2024 election results during an interview on NBC News' 'Meet the Press.'... After [host Kristen] Welker pressed her [twice, Stefanik said,] 'We will see if this is a legal and valid election.... What we're seeing so far is that Democrats are so desperate, they're trying to remove President Trump from the ballot. That is a suppression of the American people.'... Stefanik ... said that she did not vote to certify the 2020 results in the state of Pennsylvania and several other states because there were 'unconstitutional acts circumventing the state legislature and unilaterally changing election law.'" (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: So now we know the new talking point, one apparently meant to imply that these folks are sane, that they know the vote tallies show Joe Biden won, but that the election itself was illegitimate. Because "Constitutional violations." Because Covid.
Today's Police Blotter -- Congressional Edition. Guardian: "Rightwing US congresswoman Lauren Boebert is denying allegations that she punched her ex-husband in the face in public after police in Colorado were reportedly called out to an encounter involving the pair Saturday night at a restaurant. The Daily Beast .... said that Jayson Boebert called police claiming that he was a 'victim of domestic violence'. In an interview with the Daily Beast, Jayson Boebert alleged that the congresswoman had 'punched' him in the face several times. He claimed to have a witness to the events. 'I didn't punch Jayson in the face and no one was arrested,' Boebert said in a statement provided to reporter Kyle Clark of television station KUSA.... In an interview with the Denver Post, Jayson Boebert said he told police he does not want to press charges. 'I don't want nothing to happen,' Jayson Boebert said. 'Her and I were working through a difficult conversation.'" MB: Me and Jayson says English sentences is hard ti make.
Trump's Former Golf Caddy Talks! Katherine Faulders, et al., of ABC News: "Special counsel Jack Smith's team has uncovered previously undisclosed details about ... Donald Trump's refusal to help stop the violent attack on the U.S. Capitol three years ago as he sat watching TV inside the White House, according to sources.... Many of the exclusive details come from the questioning of Trump's former deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino.... Scavino wouldn't speak with the House select committee.... Sources said Scavino told Smith's investigators that as the violence began to escalate that day, Trump 'was just not interested' in doing more to stop it.... After unsuccessfully trying for up to 20 minutes to persuade Trump to release some sort of calming statement, Scavino and others walked out of the dining room, leaving Trump alone, sources said. That's when, according to sources, Trump posted a message on his Twitter account saying that Pence 'didn't have the courage to do what should have been done.' Trump's aides told investigators they were shocked by the post." There's more. (Also linked yesterday.)
Musings of the Mango MoronTM Jeanne
Jeff Stein of the Washington Post: "Donald Trump is vowing sweeping changes to the nation's economy that threaten to reignite inflation -- even as the former president blames President Biden for higher prices and says he'll bring the problem under control.... Trump has proposed imposing unprecedented new tariffs on trillions of dollars worth of imports and deporting undocumented workers on a vast scale. Both campaign pledges risk exacerbating the price spikes that have subsided over the last year, according to liberal and conservative economists alike, in addition to some estimates cited by the former president's own advisers. If he's elected, Trump could implement these policies at least in part without needing Congress to act." MB: All together now, "Who pays the tariffs? Not China, et al., as Trump claims, but American consumers."
Caleb Howe of Mediaite: "... Donald Trump held multiple rallies in Iowa over the weekend ... and made many campaign promises such as solving the Ukraine war, saving the country from President Joe Biden, and when speaking in Newton, to 'build a giant dome over our country to protect us from a hostile source.'... 'And, you know, those domes are starting to work,' said Trump, referencing defense systems such as Israel's notable 'Iron Dome' and referring back to the 'Star Wars' defense initiative proposed under legendary Cold War victor, Republican President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Trump then did a small performance complete with the 'bing, bing, bing' sounds to liven up the quiet audience on the subject of a dome. 'You know, when I watch, uh, our guys operate those things, it's unbelievable. Missile coming in, missile coming in. These geniuses sit down. Most of them are, you know, they're from MIT. But they sit down, bing bing bing bing, boom, ph-sheee. It's gone. It's amazing.'" Thanks to Akhilleus for the link. MB: I think Trump understands Israel's "Iron Dome" is not like that fancy silverplate one I put over the turkey to keep it warm after I've taken it out of the oven, but I can't be 100% sure. ~~~
~~~ Marie: One thing Trump's comical giant-dome promise reinforces besides our confidence in his crazy: he cares nothing about international peace and maintaining relationships with other countries. That's a fatal flaw in any U.S. leader. Here's how Trump justifies his promised multi-trillion-dollar giant dome: "I mean, isn't that better than giving other countries billions of dollars? Billions. We're going to get billions of dollars out of the countries and so they can build a dome, but we don't have a dome ourselves. We're going to have the greatest dome ever." Here again, it's necessary to try to guess what he means, but what I think he means is that he's taking an every-country-for-herself approach to the dysfunctional family of nations. He'll withhold military aid to our allies and let them fend for themselves.
The Art of the Deal. If Only Lincoln Had Been as Smart as Trump. Marianne LeVine of the Washington Post: "... Donald Trump suggested Saturday at a campaign event [in Iowa] that the U.S. Civil War 'could have been negotiated,' a remark that drew criticism from historians as well as political opponents. 'The Civil War was so fascinating, so horrible,' Trump said. 'So many mistakes were made. See, there was something I think could have been negotiated, to be honest with you. I think you could have negotiated that. All the people died, so many people died. You know, that was the disaster.' Trump went on to ... suggest that 'Abraham Lincoln, of course, if he negotiated it, you probably wouldn't even know who Abraham Lincoln was.'... David Blight, a history professor at Yale University, described Trump's suggestion that the Civil War could have been negotiated as 'elementary school nonsense' and 'historically ignorant.'... Former House member Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) posted on X: 'Which part of the Civil War "could have been negotiated"? The slavery part? The secession part? Whether Lincoln should have preserved the Union?...'" CNN's story is here. (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The odd part about this is that Trump has no idea he embarrasses himself every time he opens his mouth.
Forrest M. pointed out in yesterday's Comments that Trump was not merely a better president* than Lincoln because he would have negotiated the states out of the Civil War before it started. Why, in his spare time, he's a brilliant scientist, too! ~~~
~~~ Kelly McClure of Salon: At an event in Iowa (where somehow he got to talking about magnetic elevators): "Trump said, 'Think of it, magnets. Now all I know about magnets is this, give me a glass of water, let me drop it on the magnets, that's the end of the magnets. Why didn't they use John Deere? Why didn't they bring in the John Deere people? Do you like John Deere? I like John Deere.' After a bit more along these same lines, Trump did a little dance and left the stage." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: That's a radical scientific theory, akin to the theory of drinking bleach to cure Covid. Oddly, any number of sciency guys write this, or a variation thereof: "Magnets work great underwater. You can even get special magnets ... to pick up objects containing iron that have fallen into lakes or wells."
Marie: If the late, great Norm Macdonald were saying exactly this stuff, with a twinkle in his eye and a sardonic half-smile, you'd be laughing your head off. When a madman who was president* and might become president* again says it, with no irony intended, it ain't funny, McGee. ~~~
~~~ Presidential Race 2024
Colleen Long & Zeke Miller of the AP: "On Monday, [President] Biden heads to Charleston, South Carolina, to Mother Emanuel AME Church, the site of a 2015 racist massacre in which nine Black churchgoers were shot to death during Bible study. The event comes after a blunt speech by the Democratic president on the eve of the anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol, in which he excoriated ... Donald Trump for 'glorifying' rather than condemning political violence. It's a grim way to kick off a presidential campaign, particularly for a man known for his unfailing optimism and belief that American achievements are limitless. But his campaign advisers and aides say it's necessary to lay out the stakes in unequivocal terms, particularly after a few years without the cultural saturation of Trump's words and actions. And it's an effort to set up the contrast they hope will be paramount to voters in 2024." The New York Times story is here. MB: Wonder if Biden will mention former S.C. Gov. Nikki Slavery-Denier Haley at the site of this racist slaughter.
Maggie Astor of the New York Times: "In a flurry of appearances and commentary, former Representative Liz Cheney has stepped up her denunciations of ... Donald J. Trump in a last-ditch effort to persuade Republicans not to nominate him again. [After remarks on Friday and Saturday (previously reported in stories linked here),] in an interview on Sunday on 'Face the Nation' on CBS News, she denounced Mr. Trump's attempts to end or delay his criminal trials by arguing that he had immunity against charges related to anything he did in office.... 'He's trying to delay his trial because he doesn't want people to see the witnesses who will testify against him,' she continued.... She endorsed efforts to remove him from ballots under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment."
New York Times Editors: "During his many years as a real estate developer and a television personality, then as president and as a dominant figure in the Republican Party, Mr. Trump demonstrated a character and temperament that render him utterly unfit for high office. As president, he wielded power carelessly and often cruelly and put his ego and his personal needs above the interests of his country. Now, as he campaigns again, his worst impulses ... are escalating as he tries to regain power.... Re-electing Mr. Trump would present serious dangers to our Republic and to the world. This is a time not to sit out but instead to re-engage." ~~~
~~~ Marie: The sentiment, "So-and-So is so bad, he could not get elected dogcatcher" is no longer hyperbole. Trump would be such a horrible dogcatcher that the SPCA would bring impeachment proceedings his first week on the job.
Marie: Here's another major difference between the Biden and Trump administrations that I'd sort of forgotten. I was watching a rerun of CNN's special on the insurrection, and it included a clip of former Assistant AG Steven Engel testifying before the January 6 committee that he told Trump on January 3, 2021, "I've been with you through four attorneys general, including two acting attorneys general, but I couldn't be part of this," "this" being the installation of Jeffrey Clark as AG. Trump was always unceremoniously firing top aides & Cabinet members, including the most important Cabinet officer, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, whom Trump reportedly canned while Tillerson was on the can. Contrast this record with a sentence from Missy Ryan's report (linked below): "Almost every seat in [Biden]'s Cabinet is filled by the same person he picked more than three years ago, with loyalty going both ways."
Missy Ryan, et al., of the Washington Post: "President Biden retains confidence in Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, officials said Sunday, despite widespread surprise and consternation following the Pentagon chief's failure to disclose a prolonged hospitalization to the White House or the public last week.... A Pentagon spokesman, Maj. Gen. Patrick Ryder, said on Sunday that Austin was transported by ambulance to Walter Reed on Jan. 1 after suffering 'severe pain' following his procedure on Dec. 22. He was placed in intensive care, and then remained there 'in part due to hospital space considerations and privacy,' Ryder said. The days-long silence, a departure from the disclosure that routinely occurs regarding the whereabouts and health conditions of the president and top Cabinet members, elicited bewilderment and frustration across the Biden administration and among leading members of Congress. Even top officials at the White House, including national security adviser Jake Sullivan, were not informed of Austin's hospitalization until late afternoon Jan. 4."
Valerie Gonzolez & Elliot Spagat of the AP: Mexico has increased "enforcement actions that U.S. officials say have contributed to a sharp drop in illegal border crossings. In addition to forcing migrants from trains, Mexico also resumed flying and busing them to the southern part of the country and started flying some home to Venezuela.... Arrests for illegal crossings into the U.S. from Mexico fell to about 2,500 on Monday, down from more than 10,000 on several days in December, according to U.S. authorities."
Christian Davenport of the Washington Post: "A commercial spacecraft bound for the lunar surface lifted off from Cape Canaveral early Monday in the first launch of a U.S. space mission designed to land softly on the moon since the last of the Apollo flights in 1972. The Peregrine spacecraft, designed and operated by Astrobotic, an aerospace company based in Pittsburgh, carries a suite of science experiments but no people. Its launch at 2:18 a.m. Eastern was the first flight of the United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket. The launch was only the first step in a perilous and complicated journey to the moon, but if all goes well, the six-foot-tall lander is expected to touch down Feb. 23."
~~~~~~~~~~
California. Colbi Edmonds of the New York Times: "California is barred again from enforcing its ban on guns in most public places after a federal appeals court ruled on Saturday that a lower court's block on the ban should stand.... After concealed-carry permit holders and other gun-rights organizations sued the state, arguing that the law was unconstitutional, Judge Cormac J. Carney of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California blocked enforcement of the law, on Dec. 20.... Just last weekend, on Dec. 30, a panel of judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit put the injunction on hold, clearing the way for the law to take effect. But on Saturday, a different set of Ninth Circuit judges dissolved that ruling, reinstating the lower court's injunction."
~~~~~~~~~~
Israel/Palestine. The Washington Post's live updates of developments Monday in the Israel/Hamas war are here: "Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to meet leaders in the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday, as part of a tour of the Middle East that will include a trip to Israel, aimed at preventing the war in Gaza from escalating. The World Health Organization said visits to central Gaza's last functioning hospital, al-Aqsa, revealed 'sickening scenes' of people being treated on blood-streaked floors amid 'troubling reports' of nearby fighting and the forced evacuation of patients and workers.... Speaking in Doha, Qatar, Blinken described the killing of the son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief as 'an unimaginable tragedy.' Hamza al-Dahdouh, 27, was a reporter like his father.... Israeli forces struck Lebanon overnight, hitting what they said were "Hezbollah targets' near the country's border with Israel...." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates for Monday are here. CNN's live updates are here.
News Ledes
Washington Post: “The door plug that blew out of an Alaska Airlines flight over Portland, Ore., on Friday has been found in a schoolteacher's backyard, amid investigations into the explosive depressurization accident that triggered an emergency landing and resulted in extensive damage to the inside of the Boeing 737-9 Max airplane.... The NTSB ... [had] asked people living or working near the site of the emergency landing to check their rooftops for any fallen parts, and to search their security camera recordings around the time of 5:11 p.m. for any potential evidence that would help investigators.... NTSB investigators were unable to uncover communications from the cockpit voice recorder, which overwrites itself every two hours and was not recovered before the recording had been automatically erased. [NTSB Chair Jennifer] Homendy called on the Federal Aviation Administration to implement a rule that would require the automatic overwrite time to be increased to 25 hours, a standard she said the NTSB has called for and is 'consistent with Europe and many other countries.'" ~~~
~~~ CNN's report is here. ~~~
~~~ New York Times: "The Alaska Airlines plane that lost a piece of its fuselage in midair on Friday was not being used in long flights over water because a pressurization warning light had gone off during three recent flights, the National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday."
New York Times: "A conveyor belt of extreme and powerful weather systems is expected to move across the United States this week, bringing blizzards to the center of the country and heavy rain and flash flooding to the Northeast, forecasters warn." MB: Here in the balmy Northeast, I did get nearly a foot of snow yesterday.
Share Article
Reader Comments (25)
“She punches me. She punches me not…”
So…I guess now there is a legitimate reason for interlocutors of Lauren Bobo to pose the question “When did you stop beating your husband?”
Looks like Mr. Bobo is now getting a different sort of public hand job. One without the happy ending. Those PoT people! Always so nice! The Bobos have added a new wrinkle to the concept of “family values”.
Hey, that “Negotiate the Civil War” idea is just a spin off if Fatty’s claim that he could end war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Whadaguy.
Wow. Just…wow.
Little Donnie Trumpy’s latest wicked cool idea is to build a gigantic dome over the United States so no bad guys can bomb us (because this is a regular problem).
He came out with this stable genius idea at some Iowa wingding. The audience was apparently stupefied by this claim, but I’m sure they felt much better when Fatty started doing “Bing, bing, bing, p-shoooo” sound effects. Then he promised that other countries would pay for his big, beautiful dome. Hey! Just like Mexico paid for his wall! Cool!
The guy is so far around the bend he can see his own fat ass up ahead,
Oh, but let’s pretend this fucking loony toon is a serious candidate for President.
Ho-leee shit, Batman!
Last week, a contributor asked if New York state was trying NRA honcho Wayne LaPierre as an individual or was it trying him as an officer of the corporation. I answered as an individual. I should have said, "Both." According to today's Washington Post, "The New York State Attorney General’s civil corruption case against the National Rifle Association, its longtime leader Wayne LaPierre and other defendants centers on alleged mismanagement that cost the nonprofit organization millions of dollars."
But will that dome stop all those Jewish space lasers?
The Mango Moron will probably be after Ms. Boebert to run as his
vice president, or is that president of vice?
If'in any of them forren leaders get out of hand, she can just punch
'em out.
You go girl!
Lotsa reasons, most I didn't know, for uncertainty and confusion about going's on at the NRA. They were busy little buggers.
Most intriguing to me has always been the Russian money connection, I suspect is closely tied to the Pretender and which as far as I can tell has still not been fully recounted and revealed.
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/gun-laws/litigation/
Ken,
I suspect the Russian connections to the NRA and Trump, and who knows what and who else, stems mostly from their feeling that the best way to screw with the US is through openings on the right, generally a good bet to find unstable, relatively low intelligence agents of chaos and supporters of authoritarian violence. Perfect for injecting destabilizing disinformation and disorientation.
And they’d be correct.
Pope Francis calls for universal ban on surrogacy----"a threat to
human dignity."
Jesus, why would he say a thing like that? What would Mary say?
https://apnews.com/article/pope-surrogacy-vatican-russia-israel-ukraine-56caa8500336db81ee18913a77ddc0f
Jayson Bobo sez: 'Her and I were working through a difficult conversation.”
Why is it that “difficult conversations” on the right tend to involve violence?
Forrest,
Excellent point. I guess in godtro fertilization for surrogate mothers isn’t a thing anymore.
Strange confluences.
The other day I read that Trump shared a post comparing him to Jesus. It’s not the first time he has suggested that god sent him. Of course, this feeds into his megalomania which in turn likely allows him to believe it’s his right to steal the presidency, being, ya know, a kind of a god and all.
After reading that I turned on the Met opera broadcast. A little kulcha never hurts. This week it was Verdi’s “Nabucco”, his first big hit, about Nebuchadnezzar, Babylon, the subjugation of Israel and its eventual release from slavery. Great stuff.
In a weird reflection of what’s going on in the real world today, Nabucco, deciding he, and only he can fix things, storms into the throne room, grabs the crown, puts it on his head and says, basically “Yeah…worship me, assholes” just like a certain Orange Monster. Then, he decides (like Trump), “Hey, I’m not just a king…I’m a god! Yeah! That’s it! A god!”
At that point (very much unlike what’s happening in our world, unfortunately), he is struck by a lightning bolt from the heavens.
If only.
Maybe there’s a lightning bolt in his future. Maybe it’s called democracy in action.
Another reason for Fatty to hate democracy. Oh, and opera too.
(Hey, Nixon got an opera about himself, “Nixon in China”. Maybe the Fat Fascist will get one too: “Trump in Hell”. I’d buy a ticket for that.)
Still trying to get a handle on the Pretender's appeal to anyone who thinks him or herself a Christian, so read this:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/us/politics/donald-trump-evangelicals-iowa.html
and still don't know.
Still comes down to grievance, fear of the Other, and sheer laziness.
Of maybe I read it wrong or just missed the argument's essence.
This quote says it all: "It takes a special type of stupid to think the
left would dress up like the right and raid the Capitol to change the
outcome of an election they just won."
Wonder what the trumpbot's answer to that would be.
https://democraticunderground,com/100218574797
Water? Magnets? Gee, who knew?
I take a shower and shave most days, maybe that's why my keys don't stick to my face.
Did TFG catch the Simpson's movie on TV this weekend? It is just a matter of scale to dome the whole country.
DeSantis
"Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has revealed that he's "looking" into ways to block President Joe Biden from the 2024 primary ballot in Florida.
"This is just going to be a tit for tat and it's just not gonna end well," the GOP presidential candidate warned Friday alongside Rep. Chip Roy, R-TX, according to a video posted by CNN. "You could make a case — I'm actually looking at this in Florida now [if we] could we make a credible case" to block Biden from the ballot "because of the invasion of 8 million."
Although DeSantis later added he doesn't think "that's the right way to do it.""
The president of the small African nation of Burundi says that
gay people should be 'stoned.'
Does that mean that pot is now legal in Burundi?
https;//news.yahoo.com/us-expresses-concerns-burundi-president-
225744655.html
LOL
"Trump cannot legally qualify for Nevada’s 2024 primary ballot
The Supreme Court may consider if states can disqualify Trump from their primaries. No matter how justices rule, it will not alter the Silver State’s election.
Trump is ineligible for Nevada’s primary ballot because Trump’s campaign didn’t fill out an application to place him on Nevada’s primary ballot.
As hilarious as it would have been if this was the product of a paperwork snafu committed by an incompetently run campaign, Trump’s absence from Nevada’s primary ballot was wholly intentional. They merely followed the directions provided to them by a truly incompetently run organization — the Nevada GOP, which decided the same primary election process that’s been used to select every other non-presidential Republican candidate, including our current governor, in the state for decades is still not good enough for presidential candidates in 2024."
People have been arrested, tried and convicted over making threats to individual officials in the cockamamy campaign. I saw this a while ago and wonder if it is getting close to draw some attention. In it he's telling Biden the SCOTUS better do right or else.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-joe-biden-doj-warning-ominous-1858526
In Philip Roth's "Our Gang," a chapter entitled "Nixon In Hell" begins,
"Fellow damned ..."
I was preparing to link to the NYT article on the new evangelicals (and had copied a share link - attached below) when I saw Ken had already posted the link above. I completely agree with Ken's assessment:
"Still comes down to grievance, fear of the Other, and sheer laziness."
and am, too, still left with questions. For instance, why does Ms. Sweeting "see mr trump as a man who believes in God and prays" as quoted in the article. What is "his approach to the economy and his progress on building a wall along the southern border" that she favors?
The article describes a trump rally where Mr Tenney led with a prayer, noting "The crowd responded tepidly to his impassioned recitation of several Bible verses. But the rally goers roared to life when he set aside the Scripture and told them what they had come to hear."
“This election is part of a spiritual battle,” Mr. Tenney said. “When Donald Trump becomes the 47th president of the United States, there will be retribution against all those who have promoted evil in this country.”
my own little thing with the lord
What evil?
Hmm, it sounds like there are a whole lotta former Christian church-goers who have decided it's way more fun to belong to the Church of Trump, where you don't have to behave politely or do good deeds or dress up real nice on Sundays (or ever), but you do yearn to get back at and lord it over us liberal commies. AND you have a demigod who promises not only to lead the way but to pardon all your sins, in exchange for loyalty to him.
As we've often said here before, Trumpism is a cult. And a mighty ugly one, at that.
It’s possible that the Orange Monster knows (sort of knows?) that the Big, Beautiful Dome he promises is not the kind kind you see on a cake stand (but, as Marie points out, there’s no way to know what he really thinks, he’s an idiot), but just the fact that he employs Bing, bing, bing, pow sound effects like a five year old with a toy Star Wars blaster, makes one wonder just how stupid he really is.
Just imagine FDR making the case for Social Security to the Congress, making cash register noises “And when you retire…ka-CHING!” They’d have thought he was a fruitcake. Or some NASA engineer making Flash Gordon rocket ship sounds when appearing at a budget hearing. “And then Wwwhhhoooshhhh! And you’re on the moon.” They’d offer him a cookie and call the guys in the white coats. But Republicans want to put a guy like this in charge of the whole frickin’ country. Again! And this is the guy who prescribed a Clorox cocktail to cure Covid.
And let’s not forget how well Israel’s so-called Iron Dome worked against that Hamas attack. Not to mention how well it went when Fatty promised to make Mexico pay for his big, beautiful wall. The idea that every nation builds a dome and rocket blasters and is paranoid about every other nation should not recommend someone for the most powerful job in the world. It should put that person in the loony bin.
Magical thinking typically is the domain of schizophrenics, gambling addicts, and medieval peasants (and Bible Mike). It shouldn’t be a desired quality in someone running to put his finger on the nuclear button.
Apropos to today's conversation (and other past days), if you have a spare hour and a-half I recommend this interview with Dr. Bandy Lee. She is the psychiatrist that was fired for warning us and the world about TFG's mental pathology. Very interesting.
Dumbing Down:
A thought on the infection you describe, Akhilleus.
Was always a bit miffed at those snobby, sneering intellectuals on the Right, many products of privileged, private schools, who looked down on public schools and charged them with dumbing down the nation--even when I--a product of public schools and one who spent his career working in them (with the minor exception of a five year detour into private academe)--shared some of their criticisms.
I even sought out some of the truly intelligent cranky ones, like Jacques Barzun, and nodded my head in amused agreement as I read them.
But, now that we've gotten to a point where Dumb is on top, when graduates of Ivy League schools say and do dumb things to gain and maintain their positions of power and demonstrate no visible regard for the value of learning.
When we have Ted Cruz and that fake yokel from Ohio sitting in the Senate, vocally supporting the genuinely dumb cluck who leads their party, and well educated Supreme Court justices who clearly know no history and blithely display their ignorance in their decisions, when the modern version of the Right's intelligentsia has given up and joined the ignorant rabble they used to make a good living complaining about, I have to say I kinda miss those snobs like William Buckley and Irving Kristol.
But I don't blame the regression so much on their education. I blame it instead on the gradual corruption of standards everywhere. Particularly of the standards that once belonged to what we called morality.
Not the three R's the Right has touted since at least the 1970's, but the one R of rectitude. They have left that one out.