THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2024
The president handed it back: What was happening in the 6 o'clock hour as today's "news coverage" started?
It could be described in various ways. One way would be this:
On Morning Joe, Mika was crying (again). On Fox & Friends, the four friends were exulting:
Specifically, they were exulting over President Biden's latest wayward remark.
Mika was crying about this important report in ProPublica—an important report whose chronology she flatly misstated. Over on the Fox News Channel, the four regular friends were all aglow, sitting right there on the couch—and Pete Hegseth was on location in a jampacked diner, up in the swing state of Michigan.
Hegseth was on location in a diner up in the town of Romeo. A series of voters told him how they felt about the president's latest wayward comment. One of the diners said this:
"You can call me a deplorable or you can call me garbage. You can call me anything you want..."
Sure enough! The eight-year-old "basket of deplorables" comment was back!
You can call me anything you want, that Michigan man told Hegseth, as long as you fix the economy. Other people made similar comments, culminating in this:
"I would rather be called garbage than be called a Democrat."
Such was the burial of Hector, breaker of horses? In this more recent instance, such was the reaction, in that diner and on "cable news," to the president's latest remark.
So it went after President Biden issued his latest remark. Over here in Blue America, some who refuse to see were insisting that this was the press corps' fault. You may recall the basic anthropological insight:
Where I come from, we only talk so long. After that, we start to hit.
It has to be someone else's doing. By a basic law of human nature, the fault can't lie with Us!
At any rate, sad! On Sunday, the Trump campaign had handed the Harris campaign what looked like a very large gift.
As we noted on Tuesday morning, it could have turned out to be this year's (self-inflicted) October surprise! But then, President Biden broke loose from his chains and managed to give it all back.
On this annual holiday, American children dress up as who they aren't. All through the year, we the humans engage in a larger such act:
We dress up as "the rational animal." Here's how this latest disaster got started:
How this disaster started:
For the sake of simplicity, we'll say that this disaster started last week—on Tuesday, October 22.
For unknown reasons, President Biden was off in Concord, New Hampshire. Inevitably, he issued his latest wayward remark.
You can watch the C-Span videotape. To see this bit of foreshadowing as it unfolds, you should click ahead to the 12-minute mark.
At that point, the president made his latest clumsy remark. In its news report, NBC News—can we trust them?—described the latest efforts by the White House to clean the comment up:
Biden says ‘Lock him up—politically lock him up’ in remarks about Trump
President Joe Biden on Tuesday echoed language former President Donald Trump has used in the past, saying of the former president that "we gotta lock him up."
Speaking at a campaign event in New Hampshire, Biden said Trump’s policies are so “bizarre” and dangerous that if he’d warned about them five years ago “you’d lock me up.”
“We gotta lock him up,” Biden said to applause from the small crowd before he appeared to catch himself and added, “politically lock him up.”
“Lock him out,” Biden continued. “That’s what we have to do.”
A White House official later said that Biden’s two immediate clarifications—specifying “politically” locking up Trump and locking him “out”—are how the president’s comments should be interpreted. Biden was speaking to how voters should think about the stakes of the election, the official added.
The Trump campaign responded Tuesday night by challenging Vice President Kamala Harris to condemn Biden's remark.
Sad! Let's repeat what may well be may the saddest sentence ever composed.
You know Mike Memoli from Deadline White House. Here' what he now reported:
A White House official later said that Biden’s two immediate clarifications—specifying “politically” locking up Trump and locking him “out”—are how the president’s comments should be interpreted.
Sad! As the White House official noted, the president had issued two (2!) instant clarifications According to that White House official, those clarification(s) provided a guide to the way we voters should "interpret" what he had said.
There's an old saying in this game. That saying goes like this:
If you're clarifying, you're losing.
Presumably, it's even worse if you're clarifying twice. In this case, the statement which triggered these clarification(s) produced only a small, minor flap.
This incident damaged the Harris campaign—but only up to a point.
That said, you'd think that sane people would have learned a valuable lesson that day. But sad! This past Tuesday evening, the president broke loose from his chains again—and this time he really did it.
On Sunday afternoon and evening, the Trump campaign seemed to have handed a major gift to Candidate Harris. We refer to the succession of ugly and stupid remarks issued at the other candidate's Garden Party, with a great deal of focus directed at one ugly and stupid remark about a big pile of garbage supposedly found in the ocean.
That ugly event at the Garden had the look of a giant gift. Imaginably, it could have turned out to be this year's (self-inflicted) October Surprise.
Candidate Harris already is a contender.; imaginably, this could have made her the champ! Instead, President Biden broke loose from his chains and handed the October gift back.
Yesterday, the White House was "clarifying" again. This time, they were explaining where the apostrophe was supposed to go in the president's spoken statement.
(First, they clarified that the president was talking about Trump's supporters'. Then they moved the apostrophe, clarifying further that he should be interpreted as having said supporter's. Yes, that's what they said.)
Result?
This morning, the regular quartet of friends were exulting on Fox & Friends. Hegseth was up in Romeo, Michigan. A string of people in a diner were offering their interpretation of what the president said.
Around the dial, some of Blue America's analysts were blaming press organs for this unforced error. Some of these were the same people who kept insisting, all through the past year or so, that there was nothing wrong with President Biden, that he was sharp as a tack.
On June 27, the Biden-Trump debate took place. On that occasion, the president's performance was so awful that it could no longer be wished away, not even by Us.
Even after that awful event, it took four weeks to persuade the president that he needed to step aside as a candidate. (He did so on July 21.) As of Tuesday afternoon, Candidate Harris may have been moving in for a win—but every time she turns around, the president breaks free from his chains and puts his foot in his mouth.
President Biden is still surrounded by the handlers who refused to let the public know that something seemed to be wrong. Now, those handlers aren't able to keep him locked up inside the White House—and his remarks on Tuesday evening have produce a very large flap.
This morning, the children were exulting on Fox & Friends. Mika was crying again on Morning Joe, this time about a very important incident whose chronology she flatly misstated.
(Do these tribunes ever get clear on their facts? Not in this universe, no.)
Candidate Harris had been gaining ground. The president handed it back.
No, it isn't the press corps' fault. This one is squarely on us—but also, on the basic fact:
There is no cure for human.
The president won't stop doing this. Our tribunes won't stop deflecting. On the brighter side, the candidate won't stop trying. And yes, she still might win!
Over here in Blue America, this one is squarely on Us. Our tribunes insisted that nothing was wrong. In the beginning was the end, some poet somewhere has said.
The kids will be dressing up tonight. Sadly, here's the controlling fact:
We the humans—we the "highly educated" adults—dress up in our "rational animal" raiment every day of the year! According to experts, there is no cure for the Halloween we stage all through the year!
Up in Michigan: To read Hemingway's highly controversial 1921 short story, you can just click here.
The New York Times discussed the story in June 1971, upon the fiftieth anniversary of its publication. For a basic thumbnail, click this.
The October non-surprise is that after 9 years of Trump calling Americans all sorts of insulting names, the media is trying to make insulting Americans a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteThose huge corporate tax breaks aren't going to pass themselves.
Delete9:22,
DeleteFar be it for me to defend the media, but isn't the reason the media ignored Trump insulting American citizens for 9 years, because Republican operatives didn't tell them to make it a big deal?
Bob, Biden has been in his POTUS costume for the past four years. We don’t exactly know who has been in charge. If Comma La is elected, we still won’t know.
DeleteCecelia, we do know who has been in charge. Keep in mind you're not talking to the dumbfuck magats who think taking a shit on Puerto Rico is a hilarious joke.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:14am, we know only in the sense that we assume it’s Obama and his crew. If Harris is elected Obama will be in office as long as FDR.
DeleteAlmost as long.
DeleteCecelia, President Biden set his own policy agenda and goals and worked his ass off to achieve as much as he could get done with the worst "Do-Nothing" congress in history. His legislative achievements are incredibly impressive, far out-pacing the Golfer In Chief. I don't know where you think you are, but your childish shit doesn't fly here.
DeleteObama? I thought it was 94-year old Soros? Conspiracy theories are easy: just invent something and say it. No facts required.
DeleteAnonymouse 10:35pm, we have had a fourth branch of govt dedicated to propping up Biden.
DeleteWhy is Cecelia and others on the right so preoccupied with Biden when he only has a month or so left in his term? I suspect it is because they can't find anything to pick on with Harris (without calling her a ho). Biden has done an excellent job as president and will leave office in a peaceful transfer of power, with dignity and the grateful thanks of sentient people nationwide. If that doesn't include Cecelia, perhaps it is because she lives in Eastern Europe on a troll farm. She is making a fool of herself early, today.
DeleteOne thing we can be happy about is that when Harris wins President Biden will allow a complete and thorough transition, unlike what he had to deal with from the sore loser in chief who skulked off the his cheesy golf resort rather than showing any class and love for this country by attending Biden's inauguration.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:05am, it’s no surprise that you would find it unusual for someone to be curious as to who is propping a president who has obviously been unable to run the country.
DeleteYou were denying that fact till the day your overlords forced Joe out. It’s no surprise you continue to brush off those questions.
From what I've read, Trump's team is refusing to comply with the transition process this time too. He claims he was blindsided last time and got no help when he took office, but he ignored the transition and had no transition team when he was elected last time. This time he has delegated that to Gabbard and RFK Jr but they are not working with those responsible for ensuring a smooth transition at all, not filing paperwork or doing the work. Perhaps Trump doesn't expect to win this time either. Or maybe this is the first step in becoming Dictator on Day one.
DeleteOr maybe Trump is hiding his plan to implement Project 2025 by not participating in planning for a possible administration? Or maybe it is more incompetence.
Delete“ a president who has obviously been unable to run the country.”
DeleteWhere’s your evidence? He seems to be running it just fine, now and throughout his term.
Cecelia. Biden had a bad debate performance, for sure. And then Kamala knocked the shit out of Trump and Trump chickened out of the second debate. He chickens out of any interview where he knows he will be fact checked in real. so who the fuck do you think you're gaslighting here?
DeleteCecelia is a man pretending to be a woman, a bitterly angry man who is only here to get off on attempting to "own the libs".
DeleteBest approach is just to ignore him.
I think you're a jihadist pretending to be a commenter. I'll just ignore you.
DeleteI think you are butthurt, and should heed your own advice.
DeleteI think you're braindead and should go soak your head.
DeleteI think need to go shave.
DeleteAnonymouse 11:56am, there was nothing in another debate that could help Trump. He would end up debating the moderators just as he did with ABC News and just as Vance did with CBS (and wiped the floor with them).
DeleteCeceliak disease gives me the squirts.
DeleteEnjoy!
Delete...there was nothing in another debate that could help Trump.
DeleteBwahahaha!! That's for sure.
Here is how you can avoid debating the moderator. Don't fucking lie with such shameless and insulting regularity. OK, Cec?
Anonymouse 4:22pm, you could be a debate monitor media member.
DeleteI’m anonymous 4:46pm, I accidentally hit the pull-down menu.
DeleteCecelia, you're being sarcastic but also very revealing. Your point is, I suppose that you don't think anyone can be a fair fact checker. This is ignorant, but it is exactly one of the main tenets of fascism, convincing the people that no one can know the truth of anything. It seems to have worked on you.
DeleteFascism relies on outrageous and absurd disinformation, “Orwellian” lies, designed to distort its supporters’ perception of reality, bending “truth” to fit the fascist mythology. Because it is based on lies, fascism must be anti-intellectual, anti-science and anti-logic in order to defend itself, which means it must oppose and attack news media outside its control.
So of course, you got your panties in a wad when one of the moderators had the temerity to tell trump to his face that he is a fucking liar. You didn't like that.
But of course, you missed the point, Cec. Chickenshit Trump would never allow me to be a fact checker, because he wants to be allowed to lie to the American public with impunity. Just today I heard Trump claim he never wanted to repeal the ACA and he called Harris for claiming he did. It is a very sad situation we're living through.
Republicans aren't sending their best politicians to D.C.
ReplyDeleteThey're sending grifters and couch fuckers, and some, I suppose, aren't rapists.
Is Somerby's cute little rape story (Up in Michigan) a wink and a nudge? It has absolutely nothing to do with anything else, especially not an election, except to tell women to relax and they'll like it later on.
DeleteSomerby is garbage.
Elon Musk asks voters to brace for 'hardship' as billionaire plans deep spending cuts from potential Trump cabinet post
ReplyDeleteIsn't that fucking interesting. Apparently Donald J Chckenshit is outsourcing his economic plan to Elon and doesn't want to tell us what it is. This is some major fucked up bullshit, but don't worry, Donald J Chickenshit pulled a stunt yesterday with a garbage truck, so his cult following is all good.
The garbage truck stunt isn't why Republican voters are all in on Trump. It's the bigotry he gives them, which they crave like children crave ice cream, that makes them all in on him.
DeleteThis quote?
Delete"“We have to reduce spending to live within our means,” Musk said. “And, you know, that necessarily involves some temporary hardship, but it will ensure long-term prosperity.”
Yes, trollboy. When did Trump mention he was promising temporary hardship? I thought he was going to be rolling in the dough with all his tariffs China will be paying us.
DeleteSome are now saying it is going to be a landslide victory for Trump.
DeleteI don't know when Trump mentioned he was promising temporary hardship, dick.
DeleteMusk: "Sorry. We'll be zeroing out our defense budget for the first two years of the Trump Presidency. We'll be a lot better off in the long run."
DeleteMeanwhile, Johnson claims the Harris team is lying about Republican plans to repeal Obamacare, having already tried to repeal it previously.
Delete10:21,
DeleteNot so quick.
I hear they'll be counting the votes of black people, again.
The bill has come due for Blue media. The irony is their readers and supporters have to pay.
DeleteMedia don't have supporters. They have customers. When media doesn't do its job, those customers go away, just like the 250,000 cancelled subscription at the Washington Post.
DeleteThe bill has come due. And now it's time to pay. The statement will be made on Tuesday.
DeleteOof, among the many things Musk does not understand is how government and the economy work and the interplay between the two; the US government does not have to "live within any means" we have a fiat currency based economy, furthermore the executive branch can not "zero out" any budget.
DeleteMusk is a mendacious moron.
It seems to me that Biden was referring to Hinchcliffe when he said “his supporter’s.” He first said “a speaker called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage’”, and in the next sentence, he says “the only garbage I see is his supporter’s demonization of Latinos.”
ReplyDeleteBut Somerby, the man who assured us that Gore was misquoted when it was claimed that he “invented the internet”, just runs with the conventional wisdom here to pronounce this a scandal.
This. Exactly.
DeleteExposes Somerby's con perfectly.
Nice try. But in the video there's a sentence-ending pause after 'supporters', and then he leans back as he prepares his next thought.
DeleteSo it's 'supporters', not 'supporter's'. It's a stupendous gaffe.
“Leaning back preparing his thought” proves Biden’s intent was what you say it was? I don’t think so.
DeleteCombined with the pause, which you conveniently ignore, it does.
DeleteIt was obvious Biden was referring to the MSG moron, and he even clarified that later.
DeleteAll you trolls/fanboys want to cling to being excessively literal when it suits your warped agenda, and then suddenly flip flop and want to consider context when that works better for your empty arguments, arguments that are nothing more than the whimpering whining of losers.
Tony Hinchcliffe sealed Trump's fate as a loser, and nothing will undo that.
Coping with being a loser is not easy, that is granted, best wishes.
In two posts, you still haven't explained Biden's sentence-ending pause after 'supporters'.
DeleteNor can you explain that even the WH-altered version of the transcript doesn't parse grammatically:
"The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter's — his — his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it's un-American."
Compare to an unaltered version:
"The only garbage I see out there is his supporters. His--his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable."
I didn’t hear Biden speak a period between those thoughts, 2:36. You have added that to emphasize your own reading of his remarks.
DeleteI have no idea what it means to 'speak a period'. I said there was a sentence-ending pause, which is plainly there on the video for anyone to hear.
DeleteBiden has had a lifelong stutter, he is now older, and sometimes searches for the right word. You want to read into that what you want, but I suggest that he was most likely referring to the comedian.
DeleteElon Musk is super concerned with population collapse, but he still thinks we were better off when Trump's inaction cost the lives of 180,000 Americans.
ReplyDeleteJust goes to show you, if it isn't bigotry or white supremacy, everything is negotiable to the Right.
“ If you're clarifying, you're losing. ”
ReplyDeleteIt’s a trite notion.
It means either:
1) never clarify. This is Trump’s approach. Never apologize, never take responsibility, never clarify, deny that you said it.
Or
2) Never say anything wrong or questionable, ever, or anything that the media or the right wing can characterize as wrong.
You take your pick.
Biden is not running for president. Harris is the one on the ballot and she didn't make any "gaffe".
DeleteNice of Somerby to mention it.
Delete@10:41 IMO your interpretations go a step beyond, "If you're clarifying you're losing." You're assuming one can avoid losing when clarification is needed.
DeleteDiC, I am saying that “clarification is needed” is sometimes what the media says, even if in reality no clarification is needed.
DeleteI’m also saying that some entity or someone, like Trump for example, can make baseless accusations (lies in the common parlance), abc then, when the target of those accusations says “that’s not true. I didn’t do or say that”, then by Somerby’s conventional wisdom, that target is now losing because they are “clarifying.” It’s a tactic of fascism.
DeleteTrump: I am not Hitler.
DeleteThere's your losing clarification.
2) is obviously unachievable, so there aren't enough options given. In the real world there would be a
Delete3) say as few things as possible that require clarification.
All well and good, 12:48, but public figures have to make public statements sometimes. And “clarification” will inevitably be called for, even when none was required.
DeleteIf one doesn't think clarification is necessary, one is not obligated to provide it.
DeleteWe shouldn’t allow our discourse to be controlled by people who want to either “both sides” every issue, or worse, twist and distort the words of a public figure for partisan purposes, thereby demanding “clarification” from that public figure.
DeleteAnon@10:41: Trump can't possibly clarify. He gets tangled up in his "weave"; it's like a flowing river of nonsensical ramblings -- you can't step in the same place twice.
DeleteThis is why it's so frightening and fascinating when people like David claim to seem meaning and policies, where clearly there's nothing but vitriol and bluster.
All well and good, 1:27, but that won’t stop the outcry and demand for it, which can be just as damaging. Hasn’t Somerby written enough times here how right wing attacks go unanswered by liberals “sleeping in the woods?” Pick a lane.
DeleteJD Vance: Trump is America's Hitler
DeleteTrump: I am not Hitler
pick a lane, guys.
"All well and good, 1:27, but that won’t stop the outcry and demand for it (clarification), which can be just as damaging."
DeleteIf your stance is that there's no way for people to distinguish between a case where clarification is needed and one where it's not, then we basically are in an insane world, so what's the point of discussing anything?
The point, 2:27, is to call bullshit on “if you’re clarifying, you’re losing.” It’s an idiot’s trope that Somerby repeats here.
Delete"We have it on the authority of Carlos Baker in his recent biography of Hem ingway that the scene that drew the reproach of his sister and Miss Stein— Jim Gilmore's graphic seduction of Liz Coates in “Up in Michigan”—was in deed autobiographical. It had taken place two years before when Hemingway spent the fall and winter in Michigan after returning from Italy as a wounded war hero. The prototype of Liz Coates was a local waitress."
ReplyDeleteThe story depicts rape. In 1971, a news article glosses that fact but that was before the women's movement gave women back their voice, their ability to say no, even to famous men. Hemingway is long dead and he has camouflaged the deed in a short story that the review suggests is a confession. There is nothing admirable or bucolic about taking advantage of a waitress out in the woods. Hemingway has written other "controversial" short stories and I have always found him a repulsive person. Somerby seems to feel differently.
Raping women is not a sign of manliness but of cowardice. If we cannot go back and prosecute Hemingway for something like this, we at least don't have to re-read it (as Somerby suggests).
Slippery weasel that he is, Somerby expresses no attitude toward the story, but he did drag it out of obscurity and promises to say something tomorrow (don't hold your breath). Men who rape women are criminals, whether they are famous authors such as Hemingway or presidential candidates such as Trump.
Metoo is not going away unless women lose their ability to say "no" and to seek justice for acts of sexual violence, like the one depicted in this story. Whether that happens does depend on the outcome of this election. Trump and his bros will surely not tolerate women's complaints when they are abused. Women have been saying that we will not go back. Now we need to prove it by voting for Harris. Whatever her faults (according to Somerby), she has not ever raped anybody, and the same cannot be said of Trump, who was adjudicated to have raped E.Jean Carroll and has been accused by many other women of sexual assault.
Somerby may find this funny or profound in some literary way that he does not articulate. Women do not.
Calling what happened in the story a "seduction" is inaccurate. No means no.
DeleteWhat is Somerby's purpose in referring to this story? He cannot show that #metoo is dead with this story because it took place long before the metoo movement. If anything, it illustrates that the casual rape of women is no longer our cultural norm. Or perhaps Somerby will argue that Trump's rapes took place during a time when men were allowed to do such things, especially to women without power, such as waitresses in rural areas. What Trump did was never OK and Hemingway's attempt to romanticize it doesn't work, then or now.
I recall my own reactions to reading Hemingway when I was in high school and college. I found him as sickening as Stein (who was his friend). Women are fighting to keep whatever measure of personhood we gained as part of women's lib. We aren't going back to the bad old days.
Somerby has done this before. He can't seem to help defending male misbehavior. Perhaps that is part of Trump's appeal to men -- he says anything goes and he does it himself and seems to get away with it, except for that $98 million he owes E.Jean Carroll and the 34 felony counts that he will be sentenced for after the election, arising from his mistreatment of Stormy Daniels, and the bio Ivana wrote where she described the way Trump grabbed her by the hair and raped her. The statute of limitations for rape was invented to protect men, but the truth can still be told these days. The question is whether men are brave enough to confront their bros when they think they can do any damn thing they please to those who are smaller or weaker than themselves.
Broadly speaking, storytellers often have an agenda of masking or providing cover for abhorrent behavior.
DeleteHemingway is revered for his unbridled endorsement of toxic masculinity, but he is also a poor writer; thankfully he is not longer required reading in most high schools.
Trump has raped/sexually assaulted many women, his rape of the 13yo that reminded him of his own daughter is particularly repugnant, yet he remains a revered figure among nearly half our population, and lost souls like Somerby and those in corporate media just keep whistling Dixie - as Tapper noted recently, "two different universes".
Where are Trump’s “handlers?”
ReplyDeleteThat's the problem. There are no adults left in the room on the right. The ones from his last term have all become Democrats and Harris voters.
DeleteTrump's handlers:
DeleteAlvin Bragg
Jack Smith
Fani Willis
the judges associated with Trump's indictments
independent media
Trump's handlers:
DeleteSammy "the flag" Alito
Clarence "pubic" Thomas
John "the boss" Roberts
Anita Hill rightly warned us, but many ignored her, her being a Black woman.
DeleteIn many ways things are much the same now, but times have changed a bit, we are on the verge of electing our first Black woman president.
The right is trying to work up a scandal because Biden said the word garbage, meanwhile this is what Trump is doing:
ReplyDelete"this is an actual, unretouched photo of a demented, anus-mouthed Oompa Loompa cosplaying as some kind of fucked-up garbage man.
it’s the perfect encapsulation of just how stupid our national discourse has become.
on Sunday, at Donny Convict’s Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden, MAGA comedian Tony Hinchcliffe endearingly called Puerto Rico “an island of floating garbage” — an unforced error that touched off a days-long scandal that saw Donny lose the support of millions of pissed-off Puerto Ricans.
on Tuesday, during a zoom call with Latino voters, Joe Biden said this:
The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporter’s — his, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.
because we live in the stupidest possible timeline, every single one of the worthless scribblers of the corporate-controlled media spontaneously orgasmed.
gaffe! they screamed, gaffe! gaffe!! gaffe!!! gaffegaffegaffegaffegaffe!!!!!!
the press, desperate to both-sides the shit out of everything, spent all of Wednesday screaming see? see? Democrats are just as bad! — which touched off an entire side debate: what did Joe Biden actually say? was it “his supporters”? “his supporter’s”? “his supporters’”? — as if the entire world hung in the balance of an apostrophe.
seriously, who gives a shit?
the press desperately wants this to be 2024’s ‘basket of deplorables’ moment.
this is a fiction that the media has been shoving in our faces for years. they want us to believe that a bunch of literal Nazis were all set to vote for the email lady, but then she called them deplorable and they all switched their votes to Donny.
which brings us to the cognitively-impaired Oompa Loompa.
Donny Convict loves to play the victim, so naturally the overgrown grievance-baby immediately latched onto the story. Biden called my supporters garbage! it’s an outrage! no one has ever been treated this badly! election interference!
this fucking guy. it’s ok for him to call his opponents “the enemy within” and call for anyone who disagrees with him to be chucked into prison — but “garbage”? grab the smelling salts, Melania, and help me to my fainting couch. I think I’m going to pass out.
and the lapdog press is all too willing to play along. so uncivil of Biden! how will the Democrats recover?
oh, and since garbage is apparently the one word that’s forbidden in American political discourse, here — courtesy of the Lincoln Project — is a supercut of the dozens of times Donny has referred to Democrats as “absolute garbage.”
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/its-donny-the-garbage-man-he-lives
[Be sure to see the unretouched photo of Trump dressed in garbage-man regalia. Word is he didn't have the strength to climb into the cabin of the garbage truck unassisted.]
The good news for Jeff Tiedrich, whoever that is, is that he will have 4 more years of Trump to write idiotic rants of poorly reasoned righteous indignation for his low IQ readers.
Delete"Word is he didn't have the strength to climb into the cabin of the garbage truck unassisted."
DeleteThat may be the 'word' in Stupidville but all you have to do is look at the video AT THE SITE YOU LINKED TO, to see that he made it in without assistance.
And Tiedrich keeps asking, like Diogenes on stupid pills, what is Trump getting in a garbage truck designed to prove?
Quite obviously, the stunt wasn't designed to prove anything. It was designed to draw attention to, and poke fun at, Biden's denigration of Trump voters. Which it did rather brilliantly.
Trump's stunt failed, because he struggled to merely get in the truck, which then launched viral videos of Trump struggling in recent times to walk, consistently dragging his right leg along as if he has suffered from strokes, which he probably has, but it can also indicate a worsening case of dementia.
DeleteSo yeah nice try, but it backfired.
WHERE ARE TRUMP’S MEDICAL RECORDS??? This should be a huge scandal.
DeleteIt should be, but to be fair, his medical records are not really needed, Trump's conditions are readily apparent: Trump rambles on incoherently, glitches, slurs, drools, weirdly leans forward when he is standing, drags his right leg along as he walks, is a walking talking tub of lard, has trouble going down stairs or even ramps, often forgets what state/city he is in, can not distinguish between male/female or dead people/alive people, thinks there were airplanes in the 1700s, etc. on and on.
DeleteWhat I find worrisome is the enormous attention to both "garbage" comments. By Reps, by Dems, by Media, by Bob,... We are not a serious country.
ReplyDeleteReal things are happening in the world. Iran is close to having nuclear weapons. Thousands are dying in Ukraine and Gaza. Inflation is being fixed or it isn't. And, here we are talking about two childish comments, which were not made by the candidates or their spokespersons.
You are supporting and voting for a clown, an unserious person.
DeleteDickhead in Cal would rather the Puerto Ricans just forget about it. Fuck you, Dickhead.
DeleteIran is close to developing a nuclear weapon because the asshole you voted for tore up a very serious treaty with them which was working.
I agree, Dickhead. We are embroiled in rapidly escalating conflicts on multiple continents and Reps, Dems, the media and the people don't even care about it.
DeleteMusk is going to zero out the defense budget.
DeleteOf course we are not a serious country. A xenophobic, racist who is devolving mentally is favored by nearly half of all citizens. That the blue states, the most highly educated, will have no part of him makes perfect sense. Voting for an amoral asshole because he had such a fantastic presidency that he had an approval rating of 31% shortly after leaving office, and in the only major crisis he faced managed policy that resulted in hundreds of thousands of excess deaths is a choice made by the ignorant and those who say: I do not like his morals but I like his results. Ask the Germans in the early thirties how that worked out for them. Better yet, ask the Jews. Willfully ignoring his morality is your game, DIC, and you are rightfully discredited for it.
DeleteEven if Trump were elected, Musk would have little power to impact the defense budget (these trolls are so oblivious to even the basics of how the US operates). Notably, polls indicate Harris will win both the popular vote and the electoral college.
DeleteIf you dig into Musk's career, you will find he is nothing more than a snake oil salesmen, who is obviously cozying up to Trump to ameliorate his own likely indictments/financial downfall in the future.
Interestingly, while Musk on paper is the world's richest person, he is in fact, like Trump, financially underwater - he owes more than he owns. Like Trump, some of the people he owes money to are quite scary - Saudis, Russians, etc. Musk would do well to keep away from windows above the first floor.
Republicans, including Trump always blow up our budgets, including sizeable increases to defense, whereas, aside from Ukraine - which is completely justified, Dems tend to reduce increases in defense spending.
David is woefully uninformed, Iran has no real intention to develop nuclear weapons. The Supreme Leader of Iran, who is surely a nutcase, but that aside, literally has a fatwa against developing nuclear weapons.
Is it sad to see these Republican/right wing trolls attempt to navigate their way through coping with their emotional discomfort at having their dominance-oriented views challenged; there is no free will, these folks are wounded and suffering from trauma imposed upon them.
Polls indicate Harris will win both the popular vote and the electoral college. That's not very reassuring. Is that supposed to be reassuring? Polls indicated Hillary would win both the popular vote and the electoral college. No?
DeleteA+ polls have adjusted from the errors of 2016 and the more slight errors of 2020, so they are likely more accurate now.
DeleteIf you are worried, go out and vote, that is pretty much all you can do. Ultimately, fair elections are decided by votes, not polls, but polls do play a vital guardrail role in our society, and can help keep our elections trustworthy.
Nothing in the universe is certain, everything is on a spectrum and comes down to probabilities (wave functions etc); a key way to survive is to develop coping skills to deal with uncertainties so that you are not trapped by constantly needing external reassurances.
Yes, I agree.
DeleteShorter version: in a serious country Trump would never be considered a viable candidate. He would be nowhere near vying to win the presidency.
DeleteTrump call this country a garbage dump and nary a word, Biden commits a gaffe and the press explodes. Ironically, this probably helps Harris. Let me explain. When Comey announced the reopening of whatever the hell he was doing, it did affect the Clinton campaign. Then he announced there was nothing there and many Dems thought the ordeal was over. However, the Clinton campaign said the second announcement was as bad as the first because it kept the item in the news. That’s the situation we have here with basuragate.
ReplyDeleteI would prepare yourself for a Trump landslide.
DeleteOkay. l'll put my haz-mat gear on.
DeleteWho’s voting for him? You can’t from Eastern Europe and Melania hates him.
DeleteYes, a landslide where Trump falls off a cliff, you dope.
Delete1:24: that is just my feeling. I would prepare yourself for it just in case.
DeleteTrump has more raw political appeal. Remember that Americans eat food that is absolutely horrible for them. They consume television shows and advertising that is pure garbage, pure shit. But somehow they heed an appeal to consume these things that are horrible and are horrible for them. You can see the same thing here with Trump, he is appealing to people's base instincts. And Democrats seem like they are trying to convince people to eat their vegetables and read books. It's a very difficult hill for them to climb. Trump's appeal to them is based on fighting against institutions. It's total bullshit but that's what he is convincing people he stands for. And people hate institutions right now. He has put himself in a much better position from a political messaging perspective. The Democrats are on the side of the institutions. And that is not a great position to be in.
DeleteI'm not talking about what Trump actually does, I'm talking about his appeal to voters who know that the government and corporations don't care about them. Democrats and a lot of Republicans and far right-wing neocon groups that have joined them still have to pretend like these institutions care about people, rhetorically speaking. And that is just a horrible position from which to motivate voters.
There is no indication Trump will win, much less a landslide.
DeleteIf Trump wins, Dems are not snowflakes like Repubs. Dems will get on with the business of limiting the harm Trump and his cronies do to society and focus on winning in the next round.
Right wingers, due to their delicate psychological makeup are easier to motivate, in particular with respect to electoral politics.
Dems in the past have done a poor job in motivating their voters, particularly with Clinton/Obama's employment of neoliberalism. Biden broke that cycle, he has governed more as a progressive, and Dems are more focused on campaigning in a way that actually motivates their voters - see the elections of 2018, 2020, and 2022 as case studies.
Gaslighting is effective with right wingers/Repubs (again due to their psychology), but not so much with Dems, so it is amusing when the trolls/Repubs attempt to gaslight Dems - it never is effective.
I would prepare yourself for a Trump landslide even though there is no indication Trump will win, much less in a landslide. Nothing in the universe is certain. Everything is on a spectrum and comes down to wave functions. A key way to survive is to develop coping skills to deal with uncertainties so you don't get caught off guard.
DeleteAs already explained, Dems tend to have good coping skills, whereas Repubs do not; therefore, the warning to "prepare" is laughable and unnecessary.
DeleteYour efforts are misplaced, ineffective, and irrelevant.
Good. I'm glad you are prepared for a Trump landslide. There is no indication Trump will win in a landslide. But nothing in the universe is certain. Everything is on a spectrum and comes down to wave functions. And Dems have good coping skills to deal with a Trump landslide if it happens. Even though it is highly unlikely. And anyway, polls indicate Harris will win both the popular vote and the electoral college. And polls have been adjusted from the errors of 2016 so they are likely more accurate now. Which is good because polls play a vital guardrail role in our society. But fair elections are decided by votes, not polls. That's why Democrats developed coping skills to deal with uncertainties so they are not trapped by constantly needing external reassurances like polls - which keep our elections trustworthy despite the errors of 2016 which have been adjusted. Ultimately, there is no indication Trump will win in a landslide but nothing in the universe is certain. (Everything is on a spectrum and comes down to probabilities). But Democrats are not trapped by constantly needing external reassurances and have developed good coping skills, and therefore are prepared for a Trump landslide, despite there being no indication of one.
DeleteUkraine's prospects for a victory are out of reach - which was obvious from the very beginning. Their army is cooked. Damn, I wish I was a military contractor.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/10/31/world/europe/russia-gains-ukraine-maps.html
Russia/Putin's invasion of Ukraine results so far:
Deletestrengthening of NATO
increase of countries in NATO
depletion of Russia's military capability
massive depletion of Russian soldiers
exposed Russia/Putin as a paper tiger
Russia is now a vassal state to China
collapse of the ruble currency
collapse of the Russian economy
worldwide condemnation of Russia/Putin
exposed Putin as a clown
massive destruction of Russian infrastructure including refineries etc
on and on
Russia will eventually have to pull out of Ukraine, and it will take Russia decades to recover.
The suffering of Ukraine is tragic, but it has led to the end of Russia's imperial ambitions and any meaningful power Putin had.
Ultimately Russians will pay a heavy price for Putin's right wing lunacy, but few will cry.
From Bloomberg news this morning:
ReplyDeleteOverall inflation was 2.1%, the lowest since early 2021 and just above the central bank's 2% goal.
That is good news to everyone except DIC who will still be worried about that 0.1% and whether it (the low rate) is sustainable, and if it is what about the national debt? Because that is the way they like to play that game irrespective of whether Trump lays claim to having adding 8 trillion dollars unnecessarily to it. Per Schwab, if 2 twin brothers in 1961, 64 years ago, started each with 10,000 dollars, each investing in the total stock market, one only during Republican administrations, the other only during Democratic administrations, the one investing only during Democratic administrations would have accrued 5 times as many dollars as the Republican investor. The biggest scam on the American public is that Republican presidents are favorable to the economy. Trump would be a disaster. Ask 23 Nobel laureate economists.
Delete