;)
The Conversation -- September 13, 2023
Marie: Meant to look for this earlier. The authors of Tyranny of the Minority --Steven Levitsky & Daniel Ziblatt -- discuss just that with Alex Wagner of MSNBC. Watch at least the end where they mention one move that is (a) possible and (b) would work right now:
Dan Balz of the Washington Post: "Sen. Mitt Romney, the Republican presidential nominee in 2012 and the only member of his party to twice vote to convict ... Donald Trump in politically charged impeachment trials, announced Wednesday that he will not seek a second term in the Senate representing Utah, saying in an interview that it is time for a new generation to 'step up' and 'shape the world they're going to live in.' Romney, 76, said his decision not to run again was heavily influenced by his belief that a second term, which would take him into his 80s, probably would be less productive and less satisfying than the current term has been. He blamed that both on the disarray he sees among House Republicans and on his own lack of confidence in the leadership of President Biden and Trump. 'It's very difficult for the House to operate, from what I can tell,' he said in a lengthy telephone interview previewing his formal announcement, 'and two, and perhaps more importantly, we're probably going to have either Trump or Biden as our next president. And Biden is unable to lead on important matters and Trump is unwilling to lead on important matters.'" A CNBC report is here. ~~~
~~~ Marie: For what I found to be a startling new revelation about the January 6 insurrection, Alex Griffing of Mediaite cites an excerpt in the Atlantic of McKay Coppins's upcoming biography of Romney. P.S. Why didn't Mitch respond? Was he having another mental health moment?
~~~~~~~~~~
The Fake Impeachment Inquiry
Rebecca Kaplan & Summer Concepcion of NBC News: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., plans to endorse an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden in an effort to seek bank records and other documents from the president and his son Hunter Biden, two Republican sources familiar with the speaker's intentions told NBC News. McCarthy plans to tell lawmakers this week that it's a 'logical next step' of the GOP-led investigations that have been going on for months, according to two sources. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., will give members an update in a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Thursday morning, the sources said." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: The "logical next step" to a couple of clowns coming up with no evidence of wrongdoing in their months-long sideshow is to send the clowns back to their trailers; it is not to put them in the center ring. They have no shame. ~~~
~~~ Update. Haley Talbot, et al., of CNN: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Tuesday that he endorsed launching a formal impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. Carl Hulse, et al., of the New York Times: "Mr. McCarthy's decision to unilaterally announce an impeachment investigation with no formal House vote entwined the Republican investigations into Mr. Biden with the funding fight that is rattling the Capitol. It appeared to be a bid to quell a brewing rebellion among ultraconservative critics who have accused the speaker of not taking a hard enough line on spending, by complying with their demands to more aggressively pursue the president. Mr. McCarthy said he would task three committees -- Oversight, Judiciary, and Ways and Means -- with carrying out the inquiry into the president and his family as Republicans hunt for evidence of financial wrongdoing or corruption. After months of digging, Republicans have found no such proof.... Mr. McCarthy's announcement appeared to clear the way for House investigators to issue subpoenas for the bank records of Mr. Biden and his family members.... Tuesday's move was a break with the past and a major change in strategy for Mr. McCarthy, who previously indicated that he believed the full House should vote on whether to move forward with an impeachment inquiry." (Also linked yesterday.)
Tyler Pager of the Washington Post: "The White House denounced Republicans' impeachment inquiry into President Biden on Tuesday, asserting that the president has done nothing wrong and calling the move an 'evidence-free goose chase' that will spur Democrats to rally behind Biden.... Tim Miller, a former Republican operative who left the party because of his opposition to Trump, cautioned Democrats against taking an overly optimistic view of the political ramifications of the impeachment. He cited the damage Republicans inflicted on Hillary Clinton, then considered a formidable presidential contender, in 2016 hearings on the killing of four Americans in Benghazi, Libya. The committee did not find Clinton culpable for the deaths, but did discover that she had used a private email server during her time as secretary of state, a fact that proved politically devastating." ~~~
~~~ Marie: What was so devastating about "But the Emails!" is that the story reinforced what we already knew about Clinton: that she was arrogant and contemptuous of us little people. Hillary didn't think she had to follow the administration's communications standards because rules are made to keep the riffraff in line, whereas she was above all that. She can turn on the charm; I've seen her do it up close & personal. But if a reporter politely asks her a challenging question, her instinct is to lash out at some lesser being or group thereof, whether it's stay-at-home housewives or presidential nomination challenger Barack Obama. I don't think Joe Biden has that streak of meanness and pettiness and pomposity that so often surfaces in Clinton, but it's possible we'll find out differently.
Philip Bump of the Washington Post does a nice job of breaking down McCarthy's "reasons" for initiating an impeachment inquiry. They all are either shaky or untrue. In fact, the only one Bump gives any credence to at all is McCarthy's assertion that "President Biden did lie to the American people about his own knowledge of his family's foreign business dealings." MB: Yet it's pretty hard for anyone but Joe to assess what Joe knew and when he knew it. It's quite plausible to believe that Joe didn't want to know what sleazy schemes his ne'er-do-well son was up to, so he just didn't ask. You probably have a relative or two whose dubious goings-on are best left unexplored. I do.
Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) is held 'hostage in his own House' by the demands of 'far-right nuts' as he tries to placate them with a rushed and evidence-free impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, wrote analyst Eleanor Clift for The Daily Beast on Tuesday.... 'So, he chose the path of least resistance, alleging without evidence that Biden is guilty of "abuse of power, obstruction, and corruption" -- charges that sound remarkably similar to what ... Donald Trump is contending with..., except the allegations against the former president are buttressed by 91 counts brought in four different jurisdictions. Conversely, the allegations against Biden for allegedly profiting from his son's influence peddling are buttressed by no evidence -- just smears and wishful thinking on the part of Republicans.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: Sorry, but your "normal" hostage is held against her will, most often in an undisclosed location. McCarthy made the ransom payment himself in January of this year when he reportedly agreed -- in exchange for the speakership -- to cave to whatever demands the far-right might make from time-to-time. While it's a given that McCarthy never had any integrity, he ceded even the pretext of integrity and leadership when he made that deal with the devils. Now all of us -- in this case the Biden family in particular -- have become hostages of the "far-right nuts." Thanks, Kevin!
Meredith McGraw & Alex Isenstadt of Politico: "Donald Trump has been weighing in behind the scenes in support of the House GOP push to impeach President Joe Biden, including talking with a member of leadership in the lead up to Tuesday's announcement authorizing a formal impeachment inquiry. The former president has been speaking weekly with House GOP Conference Chair Elise Stefanik, who was the first member of Republican leadership to come out in support of impeachment. The two spoke Tuesday, after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy announced Republicans would be pursuing the inquiry, according to two people familiar with the conversation.... On Sunday night, Trump had dinner at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), an ally of Trump and McCarthy. At the gathering, the topic of impeachment was discussed, according to a person familiar with the conversation.... Late last month [Trump] wrote on Truth Social: 'Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US.' But the extent of his private involvement ... shows the influence he continues to wield inside the party as its likely presidential nominee." (Also linked yesterday.)
** Ha Ha Ha. Oh, Donald.... The Jokes on You. Kyle Cheney & Josh Gerstein of Politico: "Joe Biden has a literal Trump card to play against the House's new impeachment inquiry. In January 2020, the Donald Trump-led Justice Department formally declared that impeachment inquiries by the House are invalid unless the chamber takes formal votes to authorize them. That opinion -- issued by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel -- came in response to then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into Trump without initially holding a vote for it. Not only is it still on the books, it is binding on the current administration as it responds to Tuesday's announcement by Speaker Kevin McCarthy to authorize an impeachment inquiry into Biden, again without a vote. '[W]e conclude that the House must expressly authorize a committee to conduct an impeachment investigation and to use compulsory process in that investigation before the committee may compel the production of documents or testimony,' wrote Steven Engel, then the head of DOJ's Office of Legal Counsel, backing the Trump administration's rejection of subpoenas from the Democratic congressional investigators."
Look Who's Throwing a Wet Blanket on the House Impeachment Scheme. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Senate Republicans say the House GOP doesn't appear to have enough evidence to pursue impeachment proceedings against President Biden and are skeptical about the prospect of setting up an inquiry with multiple committees already investigating the president and his son, Hunter Biden. Republican senators are highly skeptical that Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) could even muster enough votes in the House to pass an article of impeachment and warn it would be quickly dismissed if it ever got to the Senate, possibly without going to a full trial.... '... I don't know of anybody who believes [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer [D-N.Y.] will take it up and actually have a trial and convict a sitting president,' said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of the Senate GOP leadership team.... Cornyn is far from alone in his assessment."
They've Got Bupkis, Ctd. Luke Broadwater of the New York Times: "A high-ranking F.B.I. agent has provided testimony to the House Judiciary Committee that contradicts a key claim made by an I.R.S. agent who said that political interference had hampered the investigation into the taxes of Hunter Biden.... In closed-door testimony last week, Thomas Sobocinski, the special agent in charge of the Baltimore Field Office of the F.B.I., told House investigators that David C. Weiss, the U.S. attorney for Delaware overseeing the Justice Department's inquiry into Hunter Biden, never said he did not have full authority to pursue charges against the president's son.... During the interview, Mr. Sobocinski also pushed back against other claims of political interference. He was asked, 'Do you have any reason to believe President Biden interfered in this investigation in any way?' 'No,' he replied....
"The testimony undercut a key claim from Gary Shapley, a veteran I.R.S. agent ... who has accused the Justice Department of giving Mr. Biden preferential treatment. It also buttressed the account of Mr. Weiss himself, who said he had 'never been denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction.'... The news of Mr. Sobocinski's account, coming on the same day Speaker Kevin McCarthy opened an impeachment inquiry into President Biden, drove home the often shaky nature of the evidence that Republicans are relying on to build a case that the president and his family are part of what Mr. McCarthy called 'a culture of corruption.'" ~~~
~~~ Marie: There's a "culture of corruption" all right, but it's in the House, not in the White House, and McCarthy is one of the corrupt ringleaders. If Buster Keaton Comer & Charlie Chaplin Jordan didn't keep slipping on banana peels, the collapses of their fake Biden scandals would seem uncanny. As it is, we know we just have to wait a bit till their "bombshell witness" disappears because he's a fugitive from justice or another "bombshell" claim is refuted by more reliable testimony.
Where's the Beef? Conservative David French of the New York Times: "There is a certain pattern to modern impeachment inquiries. They typically begin after the discovery of blatantly incriminating evidence. In 1998 the House of Representatives began its impeachment inquiry only after DNA tests on Monica Lewinsky's blue dress exposed that Bill Clinton had lied under oath about their affair. In 2019 the House opened its impeachment inquiry only after it received reports that Donald Trump had attempted to coerce President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine into investigating Trump's chief domestic political opponent. The day after Nancy Pelosi announced the inquiry, the White House released a rough transcript of Trump's call with Zelensky, and Americans could see that Trump did indeed press Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, as a 'favor' in response to Ukraine's request for Javelin anti-tank missiles. And we all know what happened after Jan. 6, 2021. The House initiated the second impeachment of Trump only after his weekslong festival of lies about election fraud culminated in a violent attack on the Capitol.
"On Monday, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy ordered the House Oversight, Judiciary and Ways and Means Committees to start an impeachment inquiry into Biden without anything approaching comparable evidence.... McCarthy's announcement came months after the initial Republican investigations failed to find any criminal activity by the president.... The deep concern that Joe Biden might have profited from his position sounds almost comical after the G.O.P. has spent years trying to divert Americans' attention from the blatant way that the Trump administration steered federal dollars into Trump properties during his presidency. And if we're talking about the sleaziness of presidential family members profiting from their access to power, then Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump -- who, unlike Hunter, worked in the administration -- have benefited to exponentially greater degrees from Saudi Arabian and Chinese largess." Emphasis added.
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... on Tuesday..., [Rep. George] Santos [R-N.Y.] did something that he has avoided since taking office: He gave a major television interview. The pugilistic attitude that Mr. Santos has long held toward critics was on full display. He called CNN a 'hack network,' said the reporting around his life bore little resemblance to reality and tangled with the anchor Erin Burnett."
Tom Tapp of Deadline: "Rep. Lauren Boebert was reportedly kicked out of a performance of the Broadway touring version of Beetlejuice, according to the Denver Post. The Post cites an incident report it obtained in which representatives of the Buell Theater in Downtown Denver say a group of people was asked to leave after vaping, singing, recording and 'causing a disturbance' during the performance. The report does not name Boebert. The Post later confirmed with Boebert's campaign that she was, indeed, escorted out of the theater, but took issue with the nature of the behavior described." MB: A fun read. Like her nemesis MTG, Boebert is a chronologically adult woman who does not know how to behave in public.
The Trials of Trump & Co.
Why, It's Almost as if Trump's Lawyers Don't Know What They're Doing. Zoe Richards of NBC News: "A judge on Tuesday denied ... Donald Trump's request to move a Colorado case aimed at removing him from the state's 2024 ballot to federal court. In a four-page order, Chief U.S. District Judge Philip A. Brimmer sent the lawsuit back to a state court in Denver County, where it was filed last week by a group of six voters. Brimmer, who was nominated by former President George W. Bush, said Trump had not properly served Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold, a Democrat, or obtained her consent for removal as required by law."
A Trump BFF Comes to His Aid. Paul Sonne & Michael Bender of the New York Times: Vladimir Putin branded "the criminal cases against Donald J. Trump political persecution.... Mr. Putin's remarks on Tuesday, made at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, appeared aimed at lending firepower to the Republican outcry over the prosecutions of Mr. Trump, who has long expressed public admiration for the Russian leader and has helped encourage a sizable Moscow-friendly contingent within his party. The cases against Mr. Trump ... represent the 'persecution of one's political rival for political motives,' Mr. Putin said.... Mr. Putin's ... political adversaries have a way of ending up in prison or worse....
"Mr. Putin also offered praise for [Elon] Musk, calling him a 'talented businessman.'... Mr. Musk's ... purchase of Twitter ... has led to a rise in the sort of misinformation and bot activity on a platform that Russia has turned to often to achieve its geopolitical aims. The billionaire has also involved himself directly in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, at one point proposing a peace solution on Twitter that drew condemnation for echoing Kremlin talking points. And last week, Mr. Musk attracted renewed scrutiny when a new biography asserted that he had thwarted an attack on Russia's Black Sea naval fleet in 2022 by refusing to let the Ukrainian military use his satellite network, Starlink, to guide its drones."
Ryan Reilly of NBC News: "A host of the far-right media outlet InfoWars was sentenced Tuesday to 60 days in prison for his role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Owen Shroyer is one of only a handful of Jan. 6 participants charged with a crime despite neither entering the Capitol building nor being accused of committing violence or destruction on Capitol grounds.... The conspiracy theorist was with Alex Jones on the grounds of the Capitol.... Prosecutors charged Shroyer because he had previously signed a deferred prosecution agreement after interrupting a congressional hearing in 2019 and had agreed as part of that case not to utter 'loud, threatening, or abusive language, or to engage in any disorderly or disruptive conduct, at any place upon the United States Capitol Grounds.'" (Also linked yesterday.)
Katie Robertson of the New York Times: "New York City's pension funds sued the Fox Corporation and its board on Tuesday, accusing the company of neglecting its duty to shareholders by opening itself up to defamation lawsuits from the persistent broadcasting of falsehoods about the 2020 presidential election. The lawsuit, filed in the Delaware Court of Chancery, is the most significant shareholder action since Fox settled a blockbuster defamation lawsuit brought by Dominion Voting Systems in April for $787.5 million. The city's five pension funds represent nearly 800,000 current and retired workers and are worth $253 billion." MB: Fox "News" seems like a very sketchy outfit for a pension fund to invest in.
** Americans Are a Buncha Crooks. Sarah Fortinsky of the Hill: "The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) estimated that the amount of unemployment insurance (UI) fraud during the pandemic is likely between $100 billion and $135 billion, according to a report released Tuesday. The GAO report tracked the approximately $900 billion in UI expenditures from April 1, 2020, to May 31, 2023, which marked the official end of the public health emergency. The estimated fraud would account for about 11 percent to 15 percent of the total UI benefits during the pandemic."
Presidential Race 2024
David Ignatius of the Washington Post urges President Biden not to run for re-election. His arguments are solid.
Marshall Cohen of CNN: "A liberal group filed a lawsuit Tuesday to block ... Donald Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot in Minnesota, the second major lawsuit in two weeks that hopes to invoke the 14th Amendment's arcane 'insurrectionist ban.' The cases are seen as legal long shots.... The lawsuit was filed on behalf of eight Minnesota voters, including a former GOP-appointed state Supreme Court justice, a former Democratic secretary of state and an Iraq War veteran who ran his county GOP chapter. Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, acknowledged in a statement last week that Minnesotans have the right under state law to challenge in court a candidate's eligibility for office, and pledged to 'honor the outcome of that process.'" (Also linked yesterday.) See also Akhilleus' commentary below. ~~~
~~~ Marie: I hear people on the teevee argue that efforts to disallow Trump a place on the ballot are undemocratic and we must "let the people decide" if Trump should be president*. A couple of decades ago, many Republicans wished Arnold Schwarzenegger, the governor of California, were allowed to run for president even though Schwarzenegger was born in Austria and therefore not eligible under the Constitution to become president. There was a bit of grumbling, but nobody claimed Arnold's fate should be decided by the voters. The Fourteen Amendment restriction is essentially the same thing, only with the added wrinkle that somebody (unspecified by the Constitution) has to decide whether or not Trump is disqualified under this restriction. I suspect the reason the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment did not specify the mechanism for disqualification is that the presidential election is run by the states -- not the federal government -- and the process of disqualification will vary state-by-state, according to each state's unique laws.
~~~~~~~~~~
Trump's Best Buds/Murdering Dictators to Meet in Eastern Russia. Kim Tong-Hyung of the AP: "Joined by his top military officials handling his nuclear-capable weapons and munitions factories, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia on Tuesday, where he is expected to hold a rare meeting with President Vladimir Putin that has sparked Western concerns about a potential arms deal for Moscow's war in Ukraine.... Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin and Kim will lead their delegations in talks and could also meet 'one-on-one if necessary.' He added that Putin will host an official dinner for Kim." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Update. The New York Times is liveblogging the meeting between Putin & Little Kim as part of its Ukraine coverage: “Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin met for two hours in far east Russia ... at Vostochny Cosmodrome, a space launch center in Russia's far eastern Amur region..., where it was expected North Korea would discuss supplying Russia with munitions.... The war in Ukraine has elevated the North Korean leader's significance to the Kremlin. Mr. Putin's invasion has dragged on for nearly 19 months, and he needs allies. North Korea is one of the few countries willing to supply Russia with weapons." ~~~
~~~ Marie: Another upside for Vlad the Destroyer: he finally found a "world leader" who is a teeny bit shorter than he is. ~~~
~~~ Kim Tong-Hyung & Dasha Litvinova of the AP: "North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed support for Russia's 'just fight' during a summit with President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday that the U.S. warned could lead to a deal to supply ammunition for Moscow's war in Ukraine. After touring launch pads with Putin at a remote space base in Russia's Far East, Kim expressed 'full and unconditional support' and said Pyongyang will always stand with Moscow on the 'anti-imperialist' front."
News Ledes
AP: "An escaped murderer was captured Wednesday after eluding hundreds of searchers for two weeks, bringing relief to anxious residents of southeastern Pennsylvania who endured sleepless nights as he hid in the woods, broke into suburban homes for food, changed his appearance, and fled under gunfire with a rifle pilfered from a garage, authorities said. Authorities used thermal imaging from aircraft to pinpoint a possible location and then used ground forces to capture escaped inmate Danelo Souza Cavalcante, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Wednesday on condition of anonymity to discuss the operation, which played out over several hours. State police announced Cavalcante's capture on social media on Wednesday, as the search entered its 14th day." ~~~
~~~ CNN is liveblogging details as they emerge. Man's Best Friend: a dog, probably a Belgian Malinois, captured Cavalcante.
New York Times: "More than 5,000 people were killed in Libya after torrential rains caused two dams to burst near the coastal city of Derna, destroying much of the city and carrying entire neighborhoods into the sea, local authorities said on Tuesday. Libya, a North African nation splintered by a war, was ill-prepared for the storm, called Daniel, which swept across the Mediterranean Sea to batter its coastline. The country is administered by two rival governments, complicating rescue and aid efforts, and despite its vast oil resources, its infrastructure had been poorly maintained after more than a decade of political chaos."
Share Article
Reader Comments (9)
Somebody get that Marshall Cohen of CNN guy a dictionary.
In his piece on a group in Minnesota looking to invoke the 14th Amendment’s clause on ensuring that federal officials who break their oath to uphold the Constitution by engaging in or supporting insurrection don’t get a second chance to screw the country, Cohen describes that clause as “arcane”. Sorry. Arcane refers to something understood by few, something mysterious or secret.
The insurrection clause is nothing of the sort. It’s perfectly understandable: you try to overthrow the government or help others looking to do that after taking an oath saying you’d do no such thing, you’re shit out of luck if you wanna run for office again. Your name never makes the ballot. Do not pass GO, do not collect $200, go directly to jail…Fatty.
What’s arcane about that? And it’s not secret. It’s not inscribed on the inner walls of King Tut’s burial chamber or written in invisible ink in the margins of the 145th page of the original Gutenberg Bible. It’s in the Constitution, available to anyone with a library card, internet connection, or book of founding documents. And it’s not mysterious. You don’t need Mycroft Holmes, Auguste Dupin, Miss Marple, or Nancy Drew to help you figure it out.
You wanna say “rarely invoked”, that’s fine. But arcane, recondite, obscure, inscrutable, abstruse, Delphic, or fulginous it ain’t. Dropping in an SAT vocabulary word can be fun but only if it’s used correctly.
And another thing…referring to a very specific and clearly written clause in the Constitution of the United States as “arcane” only helps Trumpies who would love nothing better than to characterize this very useful and important idea for guarding against further perfidy by unscrupulous traitors as weird and bewildering.
Dictionaries are not cryptic, or inscrutable. Get one. Use it. Thank you.
@Akhilleus: I think the Marshall Cohen Dictionary definition of "arcane" is something like, "I might have skimmed this provision in a freshman political science class (where I got a C+), but I forgot all about it till some brainiacs recently made a big deal about it, even though I haven't bothered to read what-all they wrote about how it applies to Trump and his mob."
Maybe you think we're not all entitled to our own definitions. Or at least not when we plop them into a story for a news channel. Funny idea.
"The estimated fraud would account for about 11 percent to 15 percent of the total UI benefits during the pandemic."
Anyone wanna conduct a survey on how this 11 to 15 percent votes?
Can't help but prejudge here without a shred of evidence, based solely on how I'd like the survey to turn out.
I learned the technique from the R's.
@Ken Winkes: Better be careful with those evidence-free assumptions. Jim Comer is going to insist you report for duty to his "investigative" team. I'm sure he finds your methodology to be impeccable.
When did Lauren Boebert get the aftermarket tits? Those can’t possibly be OEM ones …
OEM is usually associated with like automotive manufacturers.
@RockyGirl: Did you mean her bumpers or headlights?
@ Forrest - Headlights for sure.
Kaitlin Byrd
"Republicans may have dumbed down politics, but the mainstream media, with its embrace of a good guy/bad guy narrative and its refusal to focus on the issues and interrogate problematic candidates, is the real culprit in the demise of our democracy.
[Thirty two was the] number of minutes that the major broadcast news networks (ABC, CBS, NBC) spent on issue-based coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign.
Thirty-two minutes was all the coverage devoted to our crumbling infrastructure and the role of the Federal Reserve. Those minutes include every moment we spent on climate change, reproductive rights, policing and safety, transportation, racial equity, international politics and the disintegration of the postwar order, the Supreme Court, and voting rights—combined. Across more than ten months of election coverage, with one of the weightiest decisions before the American people—about who would lead the nation, the federal government, into the next phase of the 21st century—we received only 32 minutes of real and serious understanding with which to make our choice. And with 2024 looming in a few short months, it doesn’t look like this cycle will be any better.
The assumption that citizens can’t or won’t do the work of directing the country destroys the earnest and competent as much as it enables the cruel and feckless."
RockyGirl,
And those headlights illuminate nothing besides overweening narcissism tinged, weirdly, with a certain amount of insecurity.
I realize those qualities seem mutually exclusive, but look at Trump, a narcissist like you read about, but he never misses a chance to stave off suggestions that he’s not all that smart by trotting out “Wharton” and “best words” and his “genius” MIT uncle, and the hilarious anecdote about how while taking a mental acuity test, he was able to recall five words: person, woman, man, camera, TV, and could identify a picture of an elephant. This result, he assured the droolers, stunned the doctors who had never seen anything like it. Evah.
In reality, had he not been able to “ace” (as he calls it) this incredibly simple test, he’d very likely be on the highway to Alzheimer’s, which claimed his KKK daddy.
But here’s the thing. Real cognition tests typically don’t use words as closely connected as “person, man, woman” and “camera, TV”. Someone slipped him the EZ test. Cognition tests typically include words that have no connection to one another, like mountain, orange, butterfly, sneaker, top hat. The words are stated only once then asked to be recalled after about 20 minutes.
And for him to brag incessantly about being able to identify a fucking elephant (just imagine if they had shown him a picture of Archaeopteryx!) as if that makes him some kind of Isaac Newton, is extremely troubling (added to all the other troubling stuff).
So, unsteady, insecure, whack job, fake anything narcissist fits both Bobo and Fatty. And a whole lot more of these scary fuckers.
Now that I think of it…does Trump have fake tits too?