FRIDAY, AUGUST 2, 2024
Candidate Trump absolved: Candidate Trump dropped his campaign's new bomb right at the start of the interview.
He was providing the dope about Vice President Harris. Here's the key part of what he said:
TRUMP (7/31/24): So I’ve known her a long time indirectly, not directly very much, and she was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black. So I don’t know. Is she Indian, or is she black?
According to Candidate Trump, Vice President Harris happened to turn black a number of years ago. Before that, she was always of Indian heritage.
That was Wednesday afternoon. Since then, this inanity has been offered at rallies as the new soul of the Trump / Vance campaign.
On Thursday morning, the Fox & Friends gang spent ten minutes discussing the interview, starting at 6:15. The bulk of the time was spent on the claim that Trump had been rudely treated in various ways by his ungrateful hosts.
Eventually, Brian Kilmeade discussed Candidate Trump's rather peculiar new bomb.
Mornings are better with friends, this Fox News gang always says. That's especially true if the friends in question are being paid to be on your side!
These friends know what they're being paid to do by their corporate owners. Here's the way Brian explained Trump's ridiculous race-based bombast:
KILMEADE (8/1/24): He walked into an extremely hostile environment. [ABC's Rachel Scott] asked the five questions that, I guess, angered her the most about him, all at once, without even saying hello.
And it ticked him off, he's a human being. He said, "Okay. This is kind of catching me by surprise."
Also, he couldn’t even hear Harris [Faulkner]'s questions. She was two seats away—he goes, "I’m sorry, I can’t even hear you"—adding to the frustration of the whole thing.
So, it seems to me, you probably—in that situation, you should really be briefed ahead of time that you're probably going to be walking into a hostile environment. I think it caught him by surprise.
I also don’t think that it’s a winning issue to bring up Kamala Harris, Indian, Black—it doesn’t matter! He’s just running against a Democrat. And that's where—I think the thing is, President Trump is so unaware of race and gender.
A lot of people say: "Wow, you don’t talk to women like that. You don’t talk to minorities like that."
He's like, "I’m running against that person." That’s all he sees, and we all know this by now. Not people that know him personally, and people that have been in the public, watched him in the public for the last 8 years.
"Well, how can you say that to a minority? How can you say that to a woman?" All he sees is, "I have to win. I don’t like what that person is saying. I cannot believe they are not here," and this is where we are.
As usual, Brian was a bit out of breath, apparently due to high feeling. Apparently as a result, some of that doesn't quite parse.
Also, the friends never described the absurd remarks Trump had made—and they certainly didn't fact-check them!
Just for the record, the problem Trump had hearing Harris Faulkner didn't occur until later in the interview. Also, it's true that ABC's Scott "didn't even say hello," but she did start the day's initial exchange by saying this:
SCOTT (7/31/24): We have a lot to get to, and we do not want to waste any time, so let’s bring out the former president of the United States, the Republican nominee for president, former President Donald Trump.
Mr. President, we so appreciate you giving us an hour of your time...
It's true—she didn't say hello. Now for the heart of the matter:
According to Brian, Candidate Trump slipped up that day because he's so completely unaware of factors like gender and race!
All he sees is the other person! He doesn't even see gender or race. Everyone knows that by now!
The friends can keep this up all day. Monday through Friday, they do.
Trump told another lie and Fox News repeated it. So what?
ReplyDeleteAnd that's where—I think the thing is, President Trump is so unaware of race and gender.
ReplyDeleteTrump is so unaware of race that he has to keep talking about it. Perhaps, he just doesn't understand how two people of "different races" can have a child together -- and what does that child become? Very confusing!
Trump follows the one-drop rule. He is so color-blind he defended his daddy against discrimination against black people, in housing court. He is so color-blind that he has to pay black staffers to pretend to be his friends and supporters in his ads. Omarosa told us all how color-blind he is, after she left the White House in a huff. And there are all of those Apprentice tapes showing him using the n-word habitually on set.
DeleteThis is a little subtle: I understood Trump to be pointing out that Kamala follows the one drop rule. She says she is Asian enough to be Asian. But she’s black enough to call herself black.
DeleteShe has been calling herself American. The rest of this is Trump’s Balkanization of America so he can scapegoat immigrants.
Delete@DiC
DeleteThe "one drop rule"? Her father was a black man from Jamaica. Her mother was from Chennai.
"I understood Trump to be pointing out..."
DeleteTrump or John Barron?
Trump lied about knowing Harris.
DeleteThis is a problem with Republicans, we see it here in the comments, Republicans lie at will and feel empowered through lying.
Can anybody really know Harris?
DeleteYes.
DeleteNo, but can anyone really know Harris?
DeleteI'd like to know her. In the biblical sense.
DeleteThis is the kind of sophistry Somerby hides behind, @1:29.
DeleteI hope you're a lady, 2:47 PM, because any hetero sex is rape.
DeleteRight, anything is possible, including knowing Harris, really really knowing her.
Delete2:50PM, I guess you'll just have to jerk off to some porn. Oh wait, the American Taliban want government to put a stop to that:
Deletehttps://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/project-2025-porn-ban-lgbtq-transgender-rcna161562
Kyle Rittenhouse has said that he won't vote for Trump because Trump isn't solid enough on gun rights. That makes Kyle dead to MAGA world, for being disloyal to Trump. The rats are leaving the sinking ship.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a campaign strategy to appeal to moderates by suggesting that Trump is not an extreme supporter of guns, while other conservatives knock themselves out in extolling his strong advocacy for gun rights.
DeleteModerates are not impressed by Kyle Rittenhouse.
DeleteSo, Cecelia, are you tired of Trump’s nonsense?
DeleteHe got a lot of negative response so he is back to supporting Trump again.
DeleteAnonymices, what are you calling nonsense?
DeleteIt’s par for the course that you’re too naive to understand common campaign political tactics. Politics is your substitute for religion. You don’t have candidates, you have politician/saints. It’s why you’re on a holy mission here.
https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/08/01/politics/chameleon-trump-vance-harris-ethnicity
DeleteThey’ve started to lighten up Vance, He now has a bit of grey in his beard, around the sides of his face. His beard has been thinned so his face appears more open and his countenance brighter. His eyebrows and hair are a lighter and warmer brown. He’s been told to stop scowling and to smile.
We’ll soon see VP Harris wearing richer colors, bolder prints, scarves, possibly some sort of turban. .
Delete"....you're too naive to understand common campaign political tactics." And who do you think you are, Carl Rove? In your precious world, moderates have been hanging on the bloviations of Kyle Rittenhouse to make their political decisions ever since he got away with killing that guy. LOL.
DeleteKyle Rittenhouse publicly apologizes for commenting that he was not supporting Trump: " My bad. The MAGAs explained that he's ok with my murdering BLM protesters, after all."
DeleteAnonymouse 2:45am, you couldn’t write accurate CliffNotes.
DeleteCecelia, stereotypes are part of being racist.
DeleteDid they also tell Vance to be nicer to his kid?
DeleteAnonymouse 10:54am, If you have mentioned stereotyping in response to my remarks about campaigns manipulating their candidate's image, you are completely mistaken. This is especially true if the alterations occur after rivals or the media have tried to typecast certain candidates.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:55am, if that’s now a line of attack on Vance, I’m sure all and sundry will.
DeleteRittenhouse flip flops within a day and Cecelia thinks it’s a clever campaign ploy!
DeleteFolks like Rittenhouse and Cecelia are so captured and wounded by their unresolved trauma that they are incapable of thinking coherently, and therefore are easily manipulated by cons like Trump.
Dr Bandy Lee has discussed this phenomenon at length.
This is the tragedy of our society.
And Bandy Lee strongly feels that Trump should be prosecuted, but Somerby attacked those who wanted Trump held accountable.
DeleteOne of the goals of therapy with someone who has unresolved trauma is to encourage them to feel their feelings more deeply, so that they won't harm those who remind them of their own pain.
DeleteIt is conceivable that if Rittenhouse was feeling a bit crazy, his interaction with that mentally ill man who he shot and killed may have been an acting out of his desire to kill the feared craziness within himself. That is why avoiding therapy can have unfortunate consequences.
Or there may be other complexities, such as feeling powerful with a weapon in his hands and desiring to kill in order to prove he was not an insignificant cockroach. Only his therapist would know what his demons were, but normal people don't go around shooting mentally ill men at a protest rally.
We all know now that Trump's demons involve sharks.
DeleteDiC - 114K new jobs. Almost seems like a disappointment, doesn’t it?
ReplyDeleteYes. It’s time for the Fed to cut interest rates.
DeletePast time, in my opinion. The bigger risk is recession, not inflation.
DeleteGeorge -- "Job growth totals 114,000 in July, much less than expected, as unemployment rate rises to 4.3%."
DeleteThis was indeed disappointing. The DJIA dropped around 600 points.-
So you agree, David, we need a rate cut.
Delete@10:35 - It's mixed. The unemployment growth suggests a Fed rate cut. OTOH inflation continuing about 3% suggests no Fed rate cut.
DeleteUntil Trump is back in office, Republicans will keep rooting against America.
DeleteRemember, the Fed raised the interest rate to slow down the economy, and give leverage back to employers, who had lost their leverage to employees.
DeleteWall Street is fucking crazy. When jobs report comes in higher than expected, then piss their pants worrying that the Fed won't lower interest rates. When jobs report comes in below expectations they piss their pants worrying about an impending recession. They actually don't really have a deep fundamental understanding of the strength and weakness of our economy. It's just one big fucking casino for them. It is impossible for the market to be so volatile in a matter a days or weeks if they actually knew what the fuck they were doing.
DeleteYou don't know that "Wall Street is fucking crazy."
DeleteYou only know what mainstream journos tell you about Wall Street. And 95% of everything mainstream journos tell you is bullshit.
As a trader, the big players in the stock market do not really worry about any particular circumstance, they often use those circumstances to drive the market to where they want it. Volatility is a key aspect to making big money in stocks.
DeleteLots of people know way more about Wall Street than what journos print.
DeleteStocks go down, you short sell, stocks go up, you go long, the key is knowing when the reversal inflection point is. Roughly by 8:30-9am, sometimes earlier, algorithms have taken over and the inflection points are arbitrary.
Delete" ... and the inflection points are controlled."
DeleteFTFY.
12:35,
DeleteI base my opinion on my observation of their actions, which seem to be totally irrational, as I tried to explain.
I’m earning over $13,000 a month through part-time work. After hearing about the lucrative online opportunities, I decided to give it a shot. It truly transformed my life. To find out more, visit the website below.
ReplyDeleteBegin here >>>>>>> GOOGLE JOBS
The Central Park 5, Obama birtherism, and now Harris turning black. Three instances of overt racism aimed at blacks. At what point does character have any meaning for Republicans? If I voted for a KKK high priest running for congress that would flat out identify me as racist. No one would say "Well, I understand your choice, he believes in trickle down economics and vastly expanding the deficit with tax breaks to billionaires." At some point voters for Trump are accountable for the character issues they choose to ignore. If you support a racist politically, own it and who you are.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone think that Trump and his supporters aren't racist?
ReplyDeleteNo.
DeleteWhen did Trump become orange?
ReplyDeleteHe was white back in the 80s.
Orange is the new black.
DeleteAnd that makes no sense. Trump is orange but he has never claimed to be black and would never do so, given how his racist piece of shit father felt about blacks. But the question is interesting. Did Trump use so much makeup before he was on The Apprentice or did that give him permission to change his skin color so radically? Or did he have some health issue, such as jaundice, that required disguising and he just stuck with it? Whatever the reason may be, it is certainly something abnormal because real people are not that color, even minorities. He looks like an Oompa Loompa and something is clearly wrong with him.
DeleteThe joke was irony. I know you don’t get that.
DeleteLet me assist you with your sincere confusion as toTrump’s skin color. It’s is a bad spray on tan that he obviously thinks is attractive.
If that was going to be changed, it should have been done a long time ago. They’re not only to mess with his appearance now. How he looks is a trademark.
Irony? That was concrety.
DeleteThere was nothing ironic about what you wrote. You borrowed a line from a TV show about female prisoners. The sentence refers to fashion not skin color or race. Your "quip" missed its mark because it has nothing to do with Trump and exemplifies the other side, the people criticizing Trump for his racist attitudes about skin color and ethnicity.
DeleteAnd it wasn't funny or clever. Trump looks goofy most of the time. People who support Trump for his racism and misogyny may find his fake tan endearing, but the rest of us, the normal people, find it weird, creepy and repulsive. It makes us want to slap his hand away from us, just like Melania always did before they split up in public.
@9:23 made a funny comment though.
DeleteSpeaking of weird and creepy: isn't Weird-And-Creepy your middle name, Corby? I'm pretty sure that's what it is, according to your blogger profile.
Delete9:23 made a genuinely funny joke, but it triggered a right winger, so they had to come along and try to ruin it, albeit by misunderstanding the word irony.
DeleteYes. After reading this joke, my left winger neighbor laughed so hard that I had to call an ambulance for her. Alas, it was too late.
Delete1:14 proving that MAGA tears are no joke.
DeleteCecelia’s repartee at 10:00 was funny.
DeleteIt was lame.
DeleteSorry.
Republicans have invested a lot of effort into appearing normal despite their creepiness, so they are understandably sensitive about being accused of phoniness. Their lack of success at concealing their weirdness may be why they are overreacting to Harris, aside from being racist of course.
DeleteWho poses with an automatic weapon in campaign advertising or on family Christmas cards? Who would shoot a puppy in the face for annoying them? And these aren't even things done by Vance or Trump but by their minions. Even Dr. Oz was too weird to win election
Anonymouse 12:50pm, no, that’s your head.
DeleteIron can be black, but when it rusts it turns orange. Concrete is neither black nor orange.
DeleteIron can be painted pink and green, to protect it from rust. Concrete can be painted too --- many people with concrete walls or floors do paint them. Trump is painting his face to hide from the shame of being himself.
DeleteBut isn’t it wonderful how iron can change color? Not with any paint, but just by oxidizing.
DeleteNo. Leaves change color too. Hair goes gray. Silver oxidizes. You need to get out more.
DeleteSilver is an interesting case. Its tarnishing usually involves sulfur.
DeleteHere is some actual media criticism:
ReplyDeletehttps://digbysblog.net/2024/08/03/dont-be-so-gullible-mctimes/
It concerns the way the NY Times transcribed Trump's head fake over debating Harris.
"Here's something you need to remember: Republicans think invocations of identity (apart from straight, white, male, and/or Christian) are a scam, and they think Democrats know this. Here's a clip of the Daily Wire's Michael Knowles arguing -- I'm not making this up -- that Pete Buttigieg might not really be gay:"
ReplyDeleteFrom No More Mister Nice Blog.
Somerby thinks identity is a scam too. It is another of the right wing memes he promotes here regularly. More than that, he thinks identity divides society and prevents us from finding the unity he thinks emerges in a homogenous society. Hence all the house divided cannot stand quotes.
How similar were the Achaeans and Trojans? Much more similar than any modern culture. And yet they were fighting. Somerby has yet to explain that one, except women were to blame.
Everyone knows moonbat "identity" is bullshit. That's not exactly an earthshaking discovery.
DeleteRepublicans use identity to maintain power, Dems use identity to fight right wing oppressions.
DeleteComments are disappearing again. What is the point of writing something when it goes away, wasting the time you took to write it?
ReplyDeleteHere is what the Harris Team said in response to Trump's tweet that Harris is a phony who is using her identity:
Donald,
Kamala Harris is both Black, and Indian. You can be two things at once.
Kind of like how you are both a rapist and a racist."
Maybe Somerby doesn't like it when Trump is called a rapist, but he was found liable of rape in the E.J. Carroll trials, by a judge and jury.
I then said I was voting for Harris because she is experienced, smarter than Trump and because she values an identity that includes American values such as welcoming immigrants and embracing people who are different in our multicultural society.
All that somehow went away.
I'm sure she's also Cherokee and Eskimo, when needs to be.
DeleteSo, are all those Cherokees and Inuit pretending to be something because they need to be? This is the disrespectful part.
DeleteTrump has been circulating a photo of Kamala Harris wearing a sari with her extended family of Indian relatives. According to him, she was faking something then and not participating in extended family traditions as part of her culture, to feel closer to her mother and her mother's relatives? Is it not OK for her to do something like that, for fear that others will consider her phony?
Republicans are awful people. They seem to use family as a whip to beat a political candidate with, instead of something important to all normal people who love their parents (or the people who raised them) and care about their heritage. For Republicans, these things all seem to be negotiable and useful for not just political gain but also making money, as J.D. Vance did with his grandparents life in Kentucky. Everything is for sale for them, so they think it must be for Democrats too. No wonder they get so mad when dirty immigrants pretend to speak Spanish in front of them, just to annoy them while they are shopping in public stores.
But look how their idol, Trump, honors his own heritage. He had a copy of Hitler's speeches on his own night-table, long before running for office, and he calls Hitler-lovers "good people" when they carry those traditional German tiki-torches and try to run protesters down with their cars! Or is that orange face paint because Trump is ashamed to be thought white. Does he consider his own "white" heritage so shameful that he must cover it up with face paint?
Oof!
DeleteHarris’ campaign is not playing, Republicans are not accustomed to Dems being this skilled at electoral politics, and they are flailing.
I hope she picks Tim Walz as VP, Shapiro would be a mistake. Walz is on fire with his rhetoric, and his record as governor is impressive.
None of the candidates would be a mistake.
DeleteShe can still win with Shapiro, but I agree it would be less than optimal.
DeleteI don't like Shapiro much because of his stand on school choice and his attempts to distance himself from progressives. Harris may believe she needs to appear more centrist to win, but Shapiro has actual liabilities for liberals and progressives.
DeleteAnonymouse 12:48pm, and it was such a unique take and the juxtaposition of rapist and racist with black and Indian was brilliant!
DeleteShame on you, Bob!
It’s pretty strange to have a presidential candidate that no one voted for and never gave one interview or press conference.
DeleteYes, Harris was born black and Indian, but Trump chose to be a racist and especially a rapist (since people no doubt told him not to be that guy before he assaulted so many women).
DeleteThat means Trump is responsible for his identity as a rapist and racist whereas Harris is not responsible for who her family is because we do not choose our parents.
At its heart, blaming people for identity that is beyond their control is the essence of racism, xenophobia, misogyny and other forms of bigotry. Yes, Trump is responsible for the evil he does, but Harris did nothing wrong when she was born into her family.
@2:01, if you didn't vote in any primary election, that is on you. Millions of people voted for Harris on the ticket with Biden. The function of the Vice President is to take over for the President if needed, so we all knew what was at stake when we cast our vote for Harris for Vice President. That is why she is now the nominee without anyone re-running any primaries.
DeleteIt is very odd that you don't recognize that Harris has given many interviews and press conferences as Vice President and when she campaigning for the presidential nomination back in 2019. It isn't reasonable to consider it odd she hasn't done so as president, when she hasn't been elected president yet.
She isn't hiding from the public, the way Trump is. Now that's weird, for a presidential candidate. He spends more time playing golf than campaigning. And his wife doesn't live with him and won't have anything to do with him, which is weird for a presidential candidate's wife.
It's unusual to have a presidential candidate who has never received a vote as a presidential candidate or given one interview or press conference as a presidential candidate. This situation is unprecedented in American history.
DeleteExcept for all the VPs who became president when the president died.
DeleteNo, presidential candidate. Not president. We’ve never had a presidential candidate that didn’t receive a vote to be a presidential candidate or, as a candidate, give one press conference or one interview. That’s never happened before.
DeleteIt’s strange to have a presidential candidate that has never given an interview or a press conference as a candidate. Isn’t that a little strange? Why would anyone be excited about them? How would anyone know what they believe?
DeleteHarris would not be the nominee if Biden were still running. This situation arose from the president’s incapacity, just like other VPs who took over for a president.
DeleteHarris campaigned as VP this year and in 2020. She has been very public.
DeleteNo, Harris would not be the nominee if Biden were still running. It’s not traditional for a vice presidential candidate to take over as the presidential candidate if the presidential candidate drops out. The ordinary course of action has always been to a seek new candidate by holding a new convention. The vice president it’s not first in line to be the nominee on a presidential ticket running for office if the presidential candidate forgets how to speak and begins to frequently wander off and has to drop out. That’s never happened before in our history. So it’s just interesting that it’s happening now and on top of this strange arrangement, the presidential nominee in question hasn’t even given an interview or a press conference. Isn’t that weird? That we have a presidential candidate that never received a vote and has never given a press conference or an interview?
DeleteTrump has some qualities that Harris does not which makes her vulnerable. It’s a very delicate situation. I don’t see how hiding from the public really helps Harris. Why not make Megan Thee Stallion president? What’s the difference really? Neither of them give political interviews of press conferences, and people like Megan Thee Stallion more..
DeleteYour sense of what’s weird is untrustworthy. An orange man who think’s Hannibal Lecter is alive and a great person is much more weird than a VP taking over when the President cannot campaign for another term. You perhaps need a reality check.
DeleteNo, it’s just that Harris is not giving any interviews or press conferences as a presidential candidate is what is weird. And then she’s the first presidential candidate never to receive any votes to be a presidential candidate. I definition, it’s unusual. It’s never happened before. You would think that we would have a chance to vote for our presidential candidates.
DeleteIt’s not like Harris has no chance of winning. She does. She’ll have to get in front of the American people and be really, really convincing and inspirational..
DeleteTake a look at the polls and fundraising stats.
DeleteThe expected honeymoon bump has been exciting. It will be required of her to open her mouth at some point and justify being the first politician in American history to be nominated for president without receiving any votes from anyone. She will have to give Americans a sense who she is and whether or not she has what it takes . But it is true that she has gone from working for one of the most unpopular presidents in American history to standing a chance to be becoming president. But we have to see what happens once she comes out from wherever she’s been hiding and faces the American public.with her plan of how she intends to differentiate herself from her past experience enmeshed with and vocally supporting one of the most wildly disliked and unpopular presidents in world history.
DeleteI agree that on paper it’s salient strategy to keep her under wraps and just give concerts, hope that she doesn’t wander off and that Trump trip himself up
DeletePlus the mules and shit. Worked in 2020, why not in 2024?
DeleteWe have to be careful because of what happened in 2016. It may be an issue if Harris cannot come off as authentic and sincere. The way communication has advanced so rapidly , it is a much different game now than it was 20, 10 or even five years ago.
DeleteCecelia will never disgrace herself by voting for Trump.
ReplyDeleteAnonymouse 2:03pm, right. People are trying to blame and shame Harris for her ethnic heritage as though it’s identical to someone being labeled a racist and a rapist.
ReplyDeleteI mean it’s not like anyone could ever use ethnicity as an appeal to authority, a shield against criticism, and a cudgel.
Thank you for never failing to consider all aspects of an issue.
I think you have a major misunderstanding of what anyone here has been saying. Why not speak less and think more?
DeleteAnonymouse 2:46pm, no, you need to stop blabbing and instead focus on providing a precise comparison or even a somewhat accurate explanation of a situation or problem.
DeleteCecelia,
DeleteWho told you that, John Barron or Dennis Dennison?
That whole anecdote about JD Vance telling his 7 year old son to "shut the hell up" about Pokemon because Trump was calling him, may sound normal to anyone with kids and a lot of stress, but it comes across as the same kind of weirdness as Trump exhibits when he has no pets, and Noem exhibited when she shot her puppy (and a goat, just to make sure no one at all annoyed her) and the whole Stepford Wife vibe the right gives off over children and women being seen but not heard. Trump's son Barron and even Melania herself seem unnaturally subdued in their public appearances.
ReplyDeleteAnd now Trump is attacking Harris for doing normal things such as smiling, laughing and hugging people. As if her humor, exuberance and positive affect were some sort of problem. Maybe it is in Republican, male-dominated autocratic households. Or maybe men who rule using fear inflict that on their families to the point where they do not even smile for fear of incurring the patriarch's wrath. Weirder, creepy things happy behind closed doors in such families. See the film "Keep Sweet: Pray and Obey" for an example. Religious fundamentalism is no joke.
We know that Trump is not particularly religious, but we also know he enforces his expectations on his wives using physical violence (based on Ivana's description of their relationship). Melania looks as cowed as any sister-wife, hence the "Free Melania" campaign shortly after Trump took office. A presidential candidate who has to write his kids' names on an index card in order to remember them, and even then leaves one off, doesn't have much family feeling, and that is weird and creepy itself.
Then there is the cat lady statement by Vance, who doesn't seem to appreciate pets any more than his son. I had a cat that recently died at age 20. It was part of our family and is much missed. But you have to have some empathy to enjoy (and not mistreat) a pet or a child or a spouse. It is why couples contemplating becoming parents often adopt a pet first, to see what it would be like. Republicans are famous for lacking empathy, and this seems like a revealing example of that deficit to me. It may explain why the divorce rate is higher in red states, for example. Vance's denigration of those without kids should extend to all men, including fathers, since men do not bear kids. Republican men who think they get a pass on childbirth because they are men, but who cannot feel any empathy for women, are the creepiest and weirdest of all beings.
People with empathy look at Republican behavior and are both perplexed and revulsed. People without empathy perhaps find Republican antics funny instead of shocking and identify with the power and dominance Republicans seek to exert on others, since lacking empathy makes it easy to manipulate, bully, abuse and otherwise attack others for one's own gain.
Politicians have long posed with their families and their dogs. The purpose of that tradition is to reassure voters that they are normal human beings. When Republicans pose with guns, they are communicating the opposite message. It is surprising to me that they do not realize how much they are repelling normal voters when they do these weird things in order to get elected. This, in my opinion, is why MAGA candidates have been rejected nationwide and will continue to lose in 2024. No one sane would trust a creepy weirdo to make important decisions affecting the lives of themselves, their families and their communities.
When I see someone who laughs at Trump and thinks he is a riot, I know a great deal about that person and I keep my distance from them. You don't have to be a politician to be a creepy weirdo, but you may have to be a Republican, now that MAGA has taken over the party. And no, I do not pity those who inflict pain on others, as Somerby suggests we should do. I avoid them because they are dangerous, especially with automatic weapons.
We can observe that Trump has no empathy. All you need to see is his imitations of the disabled reporter and Biden pooping his pants. But another strong evidence that Trump lacks empathy is the fact that he doesn't (or cannot) read.
ReplyDeleteIt takes imagination and empathy to identify with the characters in a book and enjoy reading fiction. Trump never reads and didn't read as a child either. The lack of ability (or practice) understanding characters in books, their contexts and motivations and behavior, leaves Trump impaired when it comes to dealing with other people.
It seems likely that Trump has no actual "theory of mind". This is the term for each person's understanding of and attributions about what other people are thinking and feeling, why they do what they do. This capacity is essential to predicting human behavior and it is foundational to empathy (putting oneself in another's place and feeling what they may be feeling under the circumstances). Some people deliberately do not engage in empathy because empathizing with those feeling pain leads to reexperiencing their pain yourself. Some people avoid such pain or turn the pain into anger and direct it toward an unfortunate figure, rather than empathizing with them, identifying with them and thus trying to help or soothe their pain. Trump's narcissism may be so all-encompassing that he only knows what he himself feels, not what anyone else does. When other people are treated like objects or cartoons or unreal compared to onself, as Trump seems to treat others, that is a symptom of sociopathy.
It is unclear whether the sociopathy and narcissism came first or whether the lack of normal development through learning about other people, reading books and talking to them as friends, is the source of Trump's deficit in empathy, but it is very clear that he lacks it. There are people who lack empathy and do not read fiction (or autobiography) but only nonfiction, but have incorporated rules for treating others properly that permit them to get along without harming other people. Trump unfortunately also believes rules do not apply to him, so he has no control on his behavior to prevent him from hurting other people.
This is why Trump should never get anywhere near public office or any position where he would have responsibility for the well-being of other people. It is to Melania's credit that she has apparently protected Barron from Trump. But now we need to protect our nation from Trump's impaired understanding by voting against him and for Kamala Harris, since she is the main person with a chance of beating Trump.
Trump may identify with Hitler, perhaps because his father admired Hitler.
DeleteHitler was a powerful leader.
Delete