TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2024
Morning Joe flogged four meaningless clips: Citizens, can we talk?
Donald J. Trump has been making lunatic statements ever since he and Melania descended the escalator in June of 2015.
Strike that! At that time, he'd already been making crazy statements for something like four years. We refer to his years of unsupported, unsupportable claims concerning the place of President Obama's birth—the four years he spent on the Fox News Channel, establishing himself as king of the nation's birthers.
Trump has been making ludicrous statements for roughly a dozen years! For whatever reason, our own blue tribe has never been able to convince tens of millions of neighbors and friends that these ludicrous statements might be a reason keep him out of the White House.
In some ways, it's even worse than that! In the case of Trump's years of Fox-based birtherism, an amazingly large percentage of American voters actually came to believe his unsupported, unsupportable claims. Or at least so it seemed, based upon large numbers of nationwide surveys.
Here within our own blue tribe, we've never made much of an effort to determine why we can't persuade a larger number of voters to see Trump's lunatic statements as a reason to reject him.
Also this:
It has never seemed to cross our minds that some of this disconnect may lie, in some way and to some extent, with behaviors coming from us. As is always the case with our species' tribes, the problem can only lie with The Others.
Almost by definition, the problem cannot lie with us.
Now our tribe is involved in a great civil war—a great civil war in which our stars have decided to take a new tack. Instead of complaining about Trump's ludicrous, unsupportable statements, we've decided to pretend that his mental acuity is somehow coming undone right before our eyes.
For many voters, President Biden's mental acuity has now come into question. Increasingly, our blue tribe's reaction is to claim that Trump's mental acuity is on the way out too.
And so it happened that, yesterday morning, Joe Scarborough and the Morning Joe gang spent the first thirty-two minutes of their show pretending that a very short set of video clips shows that Trump is a giant hot mess, mental acuity-wise.
The four (4) extremely short clips were drawn from a pair of speeches Trump gave at a pair of weekend rallies. Just so you'll know, here are links to the videotape of those (lengthy) speeches:
Saturday, March 2
Greensboro, North Carolina
Approximate length of speech: One hour, 23 minutes
Saturday, March 2
Richmond, Virginia
Approximate length of speech: One hour, 31 minutes
In other words, Trump gave a pair of lengthy speeches, totaling almost three hours. Out of that sandstorm of crazy misstatements, the Morning Joe gang extracted four (4) extremely short video clips in which Trump is supposedly committing the "gaffes" which defined his allegedly "gaffe-filled weekend."
Two of the alleged "gaffes" seem to involve a slurring of, or a stumbling over, a pair of words. In the case of the other two "gaffes," it isn't entirely clear what the nature of the "gaffe" is even supposed to be.
If you choose to click this link, you can see Scarborough playing the video of these alleged "gaffes" at 6:12 yesterday morning. Believe it or not, you can then see him and the rest of the gang go on to spend the next twenty minutes pretending that these alleged "gaffes" show that Trump is losing his mental acuity in a way which goes beyond the public perception concerning President Biden.
From 6:12 through 6:32, with no commercial breaks, Joe and Mika and four useful helpmates flog the alleged meaning of these alleged "gaffes." For the record, we would guess that two of the alleged gaffes are actually teleprompter errors, with Trump suddenly forced to halt what he's saying until the prompter can catch up.
The alleged slips are wholly inconsequential. In the case of the fourth alleged gaffe, the video clip is "edited" so tightly that we automatically suspected what we later discovered to be the case—Trump instantly corrected the alleged verbal slip, presumably as soon as the teleprompter caught up.
Donald Trump has been making ludicrous misstatements for the past dozen years. The Morning Joe gang has now come close to going him one better, pretending to diagnose tiny slips which show that he is losing his marbles in a way designed to rival the public perception concerning President Biden.
Trump has been loco for a very long time. Does anyone think it's going to work on a political basis when Scarborough and his gang of acolytes play the fool in this way?
In fairness, we can't tell you that it won't work to some degree. But our tribe has spent a very long time failing to make a larger connection with tens of millions of red tribe voters, and we've never shown an inclination to wonder if our own behaviors could possibly be playing a role in this dangerous and destructive disconnect.
Is it possible that the problem lies in part with us? If you start watching here, at 6:12 a.m., and you're willing to let the good times roll, you'll soon see Scarborough wondering why the red tribe's voters are so "stupid."
Increasingly, he likes to affect a comical southern accent as he mocks the stupid Trump voters. He also enjoys name-calling Rep. Comer (R-Ky.) as the southern-accented sitcom figure, "Arnold the Pig."
Just a thought:
This may not be the best way to influence friends and neighbors. That said, our tribe has been inclined to behave this way for an extremely long time, and it never seems to enter our heads that we possibly ought to stop.
Donald Trump spoke for almost three hours this weekend. His speeches were filled with ludicrous misstatements. The Morning Joe gang somehow managed to come up with four utterly meaningless clips.
That was the best the gang could manage, but so what? They clucked about it all morning!
The Fox News Channel is losing its mind. Have you watched our channel lately?
If Morning Joe is the first line of defense against fascism in the USA, we're screwed already.
ReplyDeletePeople on the left are not saying Trump lacks mental acuity IN REACTION to similar complaints about Biden. We are saying it because of how Trump behaves, because it is true of Trump, but not of Biden.
ReplyDeleteIt is doctors saying Trump has dementia, and people close to Trump are agreeing with them. Somerby can suggest this is just a political tactic but that won’t changes facts.
Delete"We've never made much of an effort to determine why we can't persuade a larger number of voters to see Trump's lunatic statements as a reason to reject him.
ReplyDelete"It has never seemed to cross our minds that some of this disconnect may lie, in some way and to some extent, with behaviors coming from us."
Here is the core Somerby critique, which infuriates so many.
This has been discussed to death at this blog. The left is not going to abandon core values and drift tightward just to gain votes on the right. We represent an alternative choice but people do the choosing. In past discussions Somerby suggested abandoning civil rights, which he considers identity politics. That isn’t going to happen because most of us consider civil rights important.
Deleterightward
Delete"Somerby suggested abandoning civil rights"
DeleteThis is just a casual, drive-by, character smear. What does it even mean? That Somerby wants to take away from minorities the right to vote, or the rights to be free of discrimination in housing or employment? Utter absurdity.
Strawman alert. You said you were here, so think back to what he was saying about DeSantis and his anti-woke crusade. Somerby thought we should be less woke too.
Delete"The left is not going to abandon core values"
DeleteWhat values are these? Please be precise.
So "being less woke" = "abandoning civil rights"? That is nuts.
DeleteAnd that is leaving aside that what Somerby was saying was much more nuanced than "we should be less woke." He says we blues like to drop R bombs, or other bombs, rather than trying to persuade Others. And this behavior on our part may be part of the reason why we can't seem to convince Others that Trump is a dangerously crazy conman.
We are in the middle of a huge political realignment with an unprecedented number of Hispanics and Blacks showing support for Trump. I wonder what the next thought terminating cliche will be now that the "bigotry" claim can't play anymore, even among the cult.
DeleteReds are so high on there own right wing supply you can't convince them to quit voting for idiots; so might as well have fun mocking their stupidity.
DeleteThe right wing thinks that if they say that blacks and Hispanics are voting for Trump, it will happen. This is similar to belief that the AI fake photos of Trump enjoying the company of black people, being shown to black voters, will convince them it is OK to vote for Trump. Unfortunately, Trump blew it with his black conservative audience when he said blacks like him because he has a mugshot, or become of his sneakers, and similar offensive bullshit.
DeleteThe realignment has been postponed.
Yes, but what is the plan to mock them now that the bigotry cliche has proven stupid? Just call them stupid in general?
Delete"The realignment has been postponed."
DeleteThat would be great.
What do you think an R-bomb is? It is calling someone on their racist behavior. Somerby has long said that we on the left need to stop doing that. But you cannot fight racism without pointing it out to those who are doing it. So, no, the left is not going to stop using R-bombs when guys like DeSantis make a law that black history cannot be taught in K-12 and college courses in the manner deemed most appropriate by teachers.
DeleteSomerby didn't like the 1619 Project, he thought Ketanji Brown Jackson was underqualified, he is not in favor of school desegregation, he luvs criticizing Charles Blow, Don Lemon, and any black professor or guest on MSNBC, he thinks black children cannot learn (most recently saying the MS reading score improvements were fake), and is on the wrong side of most racial issues he chooses to discuss. Of course he doesn't like being called a racist. But he is one, and that is why he doesn't support civil rights. Most liberals, on the other hand, do support civil rights and would not abandon being woke just because conservatives designated that as a dirty word.
7:58,
DeleteWho would call voters who are so against big-government telling them what to do, they'll vote for an authoritarian, who took away women's reproductive freedoms "stupid"?
Voters pretending they are stupid is supposed to distract you from their love of bigotry.
DeleteSomerby is denying that the quality of Trump’s language problems has changed. He is insisting they are the same as 10 years ago. Doctors are saying that isn’t true. They are calling his “gaffes” fluent aphasia, something that happens with people with dementia or stroke or brain injury. These are not “gaffes” like mistaking the name of the city you are in, as both Trump and Biden did (and anyone of any age could do). Trump’s frequent inability to complete a word he has started to say, ending with a garbling of phonemes, is not normal and not what Biden does, nor is the mush-mouthed slurring. These are symptoms. But language isn’t the only problem. He cannot complete a coherent thought any more.
ReplyDeleteBut why is Somerby defending Trump and trying to tell us that Biden is worse, when Biden got a clean cognitive bill of health in his exam last week? Why would Trump have been given any mental status exams, much less two (Trump says), if there were not concern among Trump’s handlers?
Another hallmark of Somerby-hate is the "Just Askin' Questions" routine. E.g,, "Why is Somerby defending Trump?", when this is Somerby's "defense" of Trump:
Delete"Donald J. Trump has been making lunatic statements ever since he and Melania descended the escalator in June of 2015. Strike that! At that time, he'd already been making crazy statements for something like four years."
Some defense!
6:06 was me, Pied Piper.
DeleteWhy is he doing this stuff? I really want to know.
DeleteTrump has been making right wing statements, extremist statements, but not lunatic statements since 2015.
Trump's recent statements at his rallies are a drastic escalation of craziness. They are not serious political statements at all, but bizarre. He seems to be saying whatever runs through his head, using terms without knowing what they mean and throwing in randomness, such as when he said windmills killed whales and that alternative energy was ruining the economy. This is what a child might say. He said they should shoot migrants in the legs at the border. He reads off the teleprompter but whenever he stops reading and can't remember what to say, gibberish and nonsense comes out. He was right-wing in 2015 but now he has lost his mind. He is going through motions that he clearly does not understand, basking in applause but showing that there is something majorly wrong.
And you actually wanted to take credit for that, piper? Somerby is a liar.
DeleteTrump’s statements are much more extreme now than 10 years ago. Now he is scary!
ReplyDeleteSomerby still thinks we should connect with red voters instead of trying to attract Independents and undecided voters. Our most important task is to get out the vote among Democrats, our own base. The more we try to appeal to red voters, the less we appeal to our base.
ReplyDeleteI wish I could bet with these people, such as:
Delete"How about a $100 bet that you won't find a Somerby quote saying, in essence, that 'We blues should not try to attract independents and undecideds.''"
With the number of statements they falsely attribute to Somerby, I could do quite well.
When he says we should try to gain red votes, he is saying that we need to shift resources, time and effort to red voters. That comes at the cost of focusing on our own base. He IS saying we should do something other than what we are doing.
DeleteTrump is self-destructing. Biden may be running against Nikki Haley. Republicans will then be stuck with their own base refusing to vote for a woman.
ReplyDelete"Trump is self-destructing." I hope you're right, but he just completely destroyed the entire field of Republican presidential candidates without even bothering to show up for a debate. This is Super Tuesday, for heaven's sake, and there's absolutely no drama at all. And he's done this while being found liable in courts of law for both horrendous sexual assault and massive financial fraud. That strikes me as a mighty-impressive political achievement, rather than as a self-destruction.
DeleteYou cannot demonstrate Trump's mental or physica fitness by telling us how many people voted for him. There is some drama because Nikki Haley's votes are larger than expected, just not enough to threaten his candidacy because of his lock on his MAGA cult.
DeleteWhen I say he is self-destructing I mean that his cognitive deficits will prevent him from becoming president, just as they cost him verdicts in the trials where he couldn't control his own impulses and forced his lawyers to do things that antagonized judge and jury. That is poor judgment, which is a symptom of cognitive deterioration.
If you think rape and fraud are impressive achievements, there is something very wrong with you. Those crimes in themselves should tell you there is something wrong with the guy. They are a form of self-destruction too. Are you not concerned about the rumors that he wears adult diapers because he is incontinent? That is a symptom of dementia too. It is his rate of decline that people are talking about. As quickly as he is going down hill, he may be entirely unable to function as a candidate before the election. Even now, you have to be very partisan not to see his language problems.
"If you think rape and fraud are impressive achievements, there is something very wrong with you."
DeleteIf you think that I think rape and fraud are impressive achievements, there is something very wrong with you.
Comer deserves to be mocked. Remember when Somerby argued that Hunter Boden was guilty? Good times!
ReplyDeleteThe doctor saying Trump has dementia was one of the group Bandy Lee assembled in her book. He is retired from Johns Hopkins medical school faculty. He says Trump’s language problems are typical of someone with mid-stage Alzheimer’s whereas Biden’s gaffes are typical of normal aging without any dementia. Unlike mental illness, dementia can be assessed from language disorder.
ReplyDeleteThe amount of time that someone speaks is not a good indicator of health or disability in language use. It seems important to Somerby, but that suggests Somerby doesn't know much about what language problems look like in disabled individuals.
ReplyDelete"For example, someone with Wernicke's aphasia may say, "You know that smoodle pinkered and that I want to get him round and take care of him like you want before." As a result, it is often difficult to follow what the person is trying to say. People with Wernicke's aphasia are often unaware of their spoken mistakes."
Trump does this kind of thing without realizing he has said anything wrong. When someone does realize it, they often repeat themselves correcting the mistake. An example is what he said about Argentina loving him (referring to Argentina as "he"). Trump clearly did not recognize that he was using the name of a country instead of a person, or he would have changed what he said.
Aphasia is a generic name for damage to any area of the brain involved in language production or reception. The damage can be inferred from the language dysfunction. Dementia involves damage to widespread areas of the brain, including language. This is why doctors can diagnose dementia from watching someone speak.
The test that Trump keeps saying he aced (now he is saying he took the test twice), is for detecting dementia in a person without upsetting them. The questions are very easy for a normal person but someone with dementia will miss many of the questions. The doctor administering the test doesn't typically tell the patient that they have wrong answers, saying encouraging phrases like "that's fine" or "very good," and since the person with dementia doesn't recognize their own mistakes, they will typically not realize they have done poorly. Trump's lack of awareness about the purpose of the test is consistent with having dementia. That he cannot remember what the actual test items were also supports that conclusion.
It bothers me that Somerby doesn't realize any of this either. I know he is largely ignorant about psychology, but I suspect he is pretending not to recognize Trump's serious cognitive problems, or their increasing severity. In contrast, Biden shown none of these symptoms. He is mostly forgetful, which is normal for people his age and is not a sign or injury or disease, nor is it related to other kinds of cognition (problem-solving, decision-making, judgment, organizational skills, leadership).
Assuming this is not just ignorance on Somerby's part, why would he be covering up for Trump like this? Does he want people to vote for an impaired presidential candidate?
In summary, when Somerby criticizes the Right, it's fake and he actually is working his sneaky magic to make you like the Right. Or focusing on non-important critiques to throw you off their real issues. So manipulative.
ReplyDeleteWhen he criticizes the Left, well then he's being honest and it proves how he is a dirty Right winger.
Apply these two simple rules and you are all set. Somerby is one nasty bastard and if he gets his way we're all doomed!
Somerby is a liar.
DeleteHe lied today about the supreme court decision.
DeleteJason Palmer defeated Joe Biden in the American Samoa caucuses.
ReplyDeleteThe US has low inflation:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/raw-data-inflation-around-the-world-2/
Inflation has been tamed in the USA. That's why the media has shifted away from discussing the economy, and is now focusing on Biden's age.
DeleteJust call Comer what he is, a liar and a fraud, if you’re uncomfortable calling him Arnold.
ReplyDeleteI prefer “vermin”, but that would upset the Others.
DeleteGive me a break, Somerby. Every supposedly “loco” statement Trump has made over the past few years, you’ve gone out of your way to explain it away.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not with those of us who are fact based. The problem is with people is that some believe their bad situation is caused by so called less desireable humans like immigrants, minorities, etc. These people have made a deliberate choice to be uninformed, to be governed by resentments that have no basis in fact. In short, you can't fis stupid.
ReplyDeleteI take it back about TDH comment threads improving in general based on this lot. Whew.
ReplyDelete