MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2025
Or then again, maybe it wasn't: Could something be "wrong" with President Trump? Here's the reason we ask:
Late last night, with midnight approaching, the commander was at it again, posting the furious message shown below at his Truth Social site. He was reacting to the news that Joy Reid's weeknight program will be replaced at MSNBC:
PRESIDENT TRUMP (2/23/25): Lowlife Chairman of “Concast,” Brian Roberts, the owner of Ratings Challenged NBC and MSDNC, has finally gotten the nerve up to fire one of the least talented people in television, the mentally obnoxious racist, Joy Reid. Based on her ratings, which were virtually non-existent, she should have been “canned” long ago, along with everyone else who works there. Also thrown out was Alex Wagner, the sub on the seriously failing Rachel Maddow show. Rachel rarely shows up because she knows there’s nobody watching, and she also knows that she’s got less television persona than virtually anyone on television except, perhaps, Joy Reid. Then there’s, of course, the LOW IQ Con Man, Al Sharpton, who has, perhaps, the lowest TV ratings in the history of television. What is he doing to Brian Roberts to stay on the air? This whole corrupt operation is nothing more than an illegal arm of the Democrat Party. They should be forced to pay vast sums of money for the damage they’ve done to our Country. Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN!
Fake News is an UNPARDONABLE SIN! So said the man whose wildly inaccurate statements go on and on and on.
For the record, Reid's program did, in fact, have very poor viewership ratings. That isn't true of Maddow's show, though her numbers don't come close to matching those of Hannity, the Fox News Channel's corresponding 9 p.m. program.
At any rate:
According to the commander in chief, MSNBC "should be forced to pay vast sums of money" to someone, though he didn't say to whom.
He said that MSNBC was "an illegal arm of the Democrat [sic] Party," though he didn't offer an explanation of that serious charge. With respect to the insults he sprinkled through his post, you'll have to judge them yourself.
According to traditional norms, last evening's post should be scored as highly unusual conduct from an American president. Is it possible that something is actually wrong with this unusual person?
As we noted all last week, our mainstream press corps has agreed that questions of that type must never be asked or discussed. This brings us to Peter Baker's front-page "News Analysis" piece in Sunday's New York Times.
Over at Raw Story, Brad Reed said that Baker's piece advanced an "unusually blunt assessment" of Trump's ongoing behavior. We don't disagree with that. In print editions, headline included, Baker's piece started like this:
NEWS ANALYSIS
In Trump’s Alternate Reality, Lies and Distortions Drive Change
The United States sent $50 million in condoms to Hamas. Diversity programs caused a plane crash. China controls the Panama Canal. Ukraine started the war with Russia.
Except, no. None of that is true. Not that it stops President Trump. In the first month since he returned to power, he has demonstrated once again a brazen willingness to advance distortions, conspiracy theories and outright lies to justify major policy decisions.
Mr. Trump has long been unfettered by truth when it comes to boasting about his record and tearing down his enemies. But what were dubbed “alternative facts” in his first term have quickly become a whole alternative reality in his second to lay the groundwork for radical change as he moves to aggressively reshape America and the world.
The piece continues from there. Online, the dual headline says this:
NEWS ANALYSIS
In Trump’s Alternate Reality, Lies and Distortions Drive Change
Condoms for Gaza? Ukraine started the war with Russia? The president’s manipulations of the truth lay the groundwork for radical change.
We wouldn't necessarily agree with every one of Baker's representations. But we do agree with Reed. Yesterday, when we read Baker's piece, it struck us as "unusually blunt."
We thought the piece was unusually blunt. For what it's worth, we also thought it toed the line in a mandated way.
Why exactly does President Trump behave in these unusual ways? Why does he make so many wild misstatements? Why does he persistently make highly unusual claims of the type he offered last night?
One possible explanation for this behavior went completely unexplored in Baker's lengthy analysis piece. For better or worse, the mainstream press corps has agreed that certain possibilities lie beyond the acceptable pale—that certain questions can't be asked, that certain types of experts and specialists must never be consulted about puzzlements of this type.
Was the president actually angry last night, or was he simply performing? Also, is it possible that something is actually "wrong" with this unusual person?
We can't answer that last question. For better or worse, even when they're being "unusually blunt," our journalists have agreed that they must never wonder or ask.
Last evening's post was highly unusual. Is it possible—could it be—that something is actually wrong?
"Unfit" is about as far as they'll go. We're asking if something is wrong.
Yes, we know. Trump says a lot of dumb shit. You don’t approve, and think it is conduct unbecoming of a President. But, he is who is and people voted for him knowing everything full well. How pathetic are Democrats that people picked Trump over your candidate? Do you guys ever ask yourself that question? How toxic are your priorities that people pick, disordered, as you call him, Trump over you?
ReplyDeleteA better question is how pathetic are the voters who picked Trump over Harris?
Delete42
DeleteMaybe it’s the fault of those people.
DeleteThe two political categories today are mentally deranged angry perversion-obsessed (Democrats) versus Normal.
DeleteThis may come as a complete shock to the MAGAPUTINS who post here but those who voted for Harris over Trump didn't get to choose their candidate. On the other hand, the MAGAPUTINS find the abject behavior of the angry demented old man they elected acceptable, largely because, as they go to great lengths to explain, it's not necessary or sensible to take the old codger's blatherings seriously.
DeleteI couldn't give a flying turd about the activities of cross dressing gay males, the plight of transsexuals, or what constitutes DEI. I care about my finances, however. For well over half a century Democratic administrations have outperformed Republican ones by wide margins in all parameters: job and wage growth, stock market returns and the GDP. Stock market returns in the last 60 years or so have been 5X as large in Democratic administrations than Republican ones. 5 X! So to all you MAGAPUTINS that revel in the bullshit that has been ongoing with the fElon presidency, here's some advice: stay fully invested in the market. The fact that trade partners are at this moment doing whatever they can to form new stable alliances with counties whose leaders do not threaten tariffs upon their goods should continue to bode well for farmers and manufacturers in the US. The threat of inflation can be disregarded. It's gonna be a banner period for equities the likes of which MAGAPUTINS will want to take complete advantage of. Kind of reminiscent of the brilliant Republican electorate's choice to give Bush Jr. a second term despite his colossal fuck up in Iraq his first term. And how did that work out? So stay fully invested, MAGAPUTINS, we have come to expect you to go hard in on the economy, understand full well that Trump's plan will make you rich.
Trump's statement certainly was unusual for a President. OTOH he's telling us how he really feels about these people. It's a kind of honesty.
ReplyDeleteMany Dems no doubt similarly about Trump. Kamala wouldn't say so, but privately I think she would agree that Trump is a mentally obnoxious racist, that he should have been canned long ago, that he's a corrupt low IQ con man, and that he should be forced to pay large sums of money. Trump, in fact, was forced to pay a large sum of money for proclaiming that he was innocent of the sexual misbehavior accusation.
DiC - Trump was ordered to pay money because it was proven in a court of law that his proclamation of innocence was--as Somerby would put it--a lie. A knowingly false statement. That's not any "kind of honesty."
DeleteSexual abuse, not misbehavior. The judge called it rape.
DeleteIt's a kind of honesty.
DeleteYou mean that he was honestly demonstrating that he had no impulse control. It is honestly how he feels. Most of us, including my teenage sons, know that this does not give one a license to behave in a boorish, unhinged, insulting manner. A sane person, who is not in some throes of dementia, would know it.
A large sum of money was also paid out because he defamed her.
DeleteIf Trump had said Israel had provocatively attacked the Palestinians to start the current war in Gaza, DiC might draw a moral line there (it's debatable) and peel off from a Trump narrative. But compared with the Ukrainians, who did nothing but exist on Russia's border, the Israelis, via their apartheid society, the unlawful settlements encroaching and displacing and killing Palestinians on the West bank, and the hard line barrackading of Gaza degrading it's citizens, did more than their share to lay the groundwork for this war, including electing a leader who advocated funding Hamas. So it's no big deal for DiC to let Trump be Trump in the case of the war in Ukraine: the Putin - loving propaganda spouting degenerate that Trump is. And it is perfectly fine for Trump and his lackeys to remain silent when the European leaders condemn Putin for the invasion. This is what immoral looks like, and the likes of DiC cannot see that, being an integral and very shameful part of it.
DeleteTrump is negotiating peace for Russia and Ukraine. He's letting the weak and feckless Euro leaders and cowardly laptop warrior Americans on the sidelines, who have the blood of over a million Ukrainian and Russian dead men on their hands, strike tough poses while he and Putin go about the business of men.
DeleteI (Heart) Trump's open borders.
DeleteBoth of these comments have words missing, suggesting they were both written by the same person.
ReplyDeleteMusk wrote that “…a significant number of people who are supposed to be working for the government are doing so little work that they are not checking their email at all!
ReplyDeleteIn some cases, we believe non-existent people or the identities of dead people are being used to collect paychecks. In other words, there is outright fraud.”
Grrrrr! I hate these federal workers who don’t check their email! We can’t actually identify a single one! But we know they’re doing it! Frustrating!
Kevin looks at DEI in the cockpit:
ReplyDeletehttps://jabberwocking.com/diversity-in-the-air-dont-worry-everything-is-fine/
"Here's a chart showing airline fatalities over the past century. In 1980, at about the same time that commercial airlines began hiring Black and women pilots, fatalities began a 30-year decline to zero:
Delete[pic of chart]
This is not a smoking gun. Fatalities likely went down for reasons of their own that were unrelated to civil-rights era hiring practices. Nonetheless, it almost certainly shows that "DEI hires" didn't produce any increase in accidents or fatalities. The evidence is flatly inconsistent with that.
So don't worry about the color or gender of your pilot the next time you board an airplane. It doesn't matter."
Musk has cancelled the NAEP test for 17 year olds. I wonder is Somerby will notice?
ReplyDelete"MSNBC 'should be forced to pay vast sums of money' to someone, though he didn't say to whom."
ReplyDeleteTo Trump, of course. Just like ABC, and X, and Facebook did.
Rarely does anyone consider that Trump might not be writing all these communiques…? He obviously isn’t.
ReplyDeleteJoy Reid is crying manipulative black woman tears.
ReplyDeleteAlex Wagoner has never seemed ready for prime time, but MSNBC is still going to keep her on the payroll.
DeleteIt’s Wagner, and her show was cancelled.
DeleteAlex Wagner was the best MSNBC had.
DeleteNever heard of him.
DeleteAnonymouse 8:34pm, Wagner is still employed by MSNBC as a commentator. Joy was canned. .
DeleteThe above is me.
ReplyDeleteCould you be more specific?
DeleteEPA press release:
ReplyDelete"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has made progress in uncovering waste and abuse at the agency. This week, he shined a light on $2 billion of the $20 billion gold bars parked by the Biden-Harris administration at an outside organization to reduce oversight set to be distributed to Stacey Abram’s Power Forward Communities."
There's not a chance in the world this turns out to be more Trump-style bullshit. There just isn't.
Oh yeah, doesn't sound the least bit fabricated. Another brilliant piece of messaging by the Trump regime.
DeleteMarch to Fascism, Update
ReplyDeleteUS Attorney Ed Martin releases a statement pledging vigilance against "entities like the Associated Press that refuse to put America first."
Context: Associated Press continues to use the "Gulf of Mexico."
What is the Gulf of Mexico?
DeleteHe also refers to US Attorneys as "President Trump's lawyers".
Delete9:30,
DeleteIt's a large body of water off the coast of Florida.
You may know it as The Coast of All Republican Voters Are Bigots.
Somerby has a very simple (some might say simplistic) answer to all of his questions, and never considers other possibilities, even chastising those who suggest other possibilities.
ReplyDeleteAs evidence that there may be more to Trump than mental illness, look how his minions and the entire GOP have adopted and weaponized all of his so called delusions.
Trump sees no need to restrain himself. His base enjoys it. And intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt supporters find a way to gloss over it. Why would Trump stop?
ReplyDeleteStop? He’s just getting started!
DeleteIlya -- Has it ever occurred to you that Trump's opponents might be the morally bankrupt ones? I refer to President Biden doing nothing to try to end the war in Ukraine while Russia gobbled up more and more of the country and 1 1/2 million people died. Of course Trump's opponents had no direct way to affect Biden's misbegotten policy, but they haven't even criticized it.
DeleteTrump says awful things but his peace agreement will prevent thousands more deaths.. His opponents say the right thing, but they will stand by and follow a policy that leads to thousands more people getting slaughtered. Which side is more moral?
Rewarding the imperial ambitions of an autocratic dictator surely won't lead to any instability in the world, will it?
DeleteThe number of civilian Ukrainian deaths from the start of the war with Russia's invasion Feb. 24, 2022 through January 31, 2025 as estimated by the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights is at 12,600. So the Ukrainian civilian casualties are less than 1% the number that DiC has managed to pull out of his ass here. As far as military deaths, Ukraine has calculated 46,000 of its soldiers and various sources give estimates from 90,000 to 200,000 Russian military deaths. Assuming highest number correct, the total number of civilian and military deaths is in the order of 260,000 with the large majority of these being Russian backed soldiers. DiC is a RETIRED ACTUARY??? You can't make this shit up.
DeleteTo be clear, assisting an ally in fending off an invasion by a neighboring country is not immoral. Placing the blame for that invasion at the feet of the invaded country is reprehensible. Defending Trump in this circumstance is immoral, and frankly, pathetic. You have absolutely no shame, are deplorable, and need to crawl back under your rock.
DeleteI would try to steer this debate to a deeper critical analysis that examines the causes of the war and the interests that drive US foreign policy.
DeleteWhat is the real use of emotionally charged barbs about morality, blame and political allegiances? This just maintains an illusion of a debate. I would focus on genuine inquiry about what policies actually produce peace instead of detached, rhetorical statistical interpretations of actual human suffering.
Isn’t using morality as a weapon for discrediting our political opponents a heuristic we can turn to to realize we are avoiding sincere debates and using serious issues as an emotional outlet for our own internal frustration and anger?
4:54 And you will be the my first choice if I need a freshman term paper on the subject. Until then we'll use you as a case study in the application of the word "supercilious". Now go ahead and supply us with three more paragraphs.
Delete"...be my first choice..."
Delete3:02, thank you for taking the time to fact check DiC. I expect nothing but crickets now from him.
DeleteDiC,
DeleteI recall you putting forth the 'madman theory' under which Trump would have prevented the invasion of Ukraine because Putin would not have known whether Trump would bomb Moscow.
Why doesn't that theory hold true now? Why doesn't Putin withdraw from Ukraine out of fear that the madman Trump might bomb Moscow?
Kushner, Trump Envoy Discuss Convening Real Estate Developers to Rebuild Gaza
DeleteSteve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, spoke at a Saudi-backed event. A White House summit could bring together developers and business leaders, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/witkoff-kushner-discuss-gaza-rebuild-37041758
Ain't that some hot shit.
Hector here’s my answer. Putin didn’t attack Ukraine between 2017-2020. It wasn’t a big deal for Putin to NOT invade Ukraine. He could always invade later or not invade at all. However, once the war started, it WAS a big deal for Putin to publicly fail.
DeleteTrump’s threat to bomb Moscow was enough to deter Putin from starting a war, even if Putin only 5 per cent believed it. But, the same threat is not plausible enough to persuade Putin to withdraw.
@3:02 is an embarrassment. Surely s/he is aware that many of those fighting in Ukraine are conscripts. Yet, @3:02 says their lives don’t matter.
Delete"Anybody that would agree to allow this to happen to our country should be ashamed of themselves." - Trump, on the trade "deals" that "took advantage of the United States.
Delete"Who would ever sign a thing like this? So yes, the tariffs will go forward."
You would, Donald. You negotiated the new trade deal that you're reneging on
David, can you help the forgetful old orange man you worship? He can't seem to remember he negotiated the greatest trade agreement in the history of the world a few short years ago.
Dickhead, where did 3:02 say Ukrainian lives don't matter, you lying sack of excrement fascist freak?
Delete@3:10 wrote, “To be clear, assisting an ally in fending off an invasion by a neighboring country is not immoral.”
DeleteThe trouble is, Ukraine is NOT fending off the invasion. They are trying to fend it off, but not succeeding. Blindly following a losing strategy is dumb. It’s also cruel when you look at the human costs.
@10:02 — @3:02 said that the war was OK because of the relatively low number of civilian deaths. That implies that @3:02 thinks military deaths don’t matter.
DeleteThat's what I thought, you fucking lying sack of shit, Dickhead.
DeleteThe embarrassment is an actuary who can’t do simple math. Your 1-1.5 million deaths is unsubstantiated by any facts. Maybe do some research before posting stuff you pulled out of your ass.
DeleteAny update on Donny J Chickenshit's faulty memory, Dickhead in Cal?
Delete1. I didn’t say the war was OK. Show me where I did.
Delete2. I didn’t imply anything about the deaths of soldiers or conscripts. Show me where I did. Maybe you should reference your statements about Palestinian civilian deaths, specifically women and children by IDF forces and how much compassion you have showed them before accusing others of callousness.
3. My remarks were in reference to how little regard you have for facts that can be easily researched online. You are a lot like your idol in this regard. Factless, spewing out whatever bullshit comes to mind
Observe: as another mediated debate of recycled ideological scripts full of condescension and self-righteousness comes to a close, the end result is the same. No minds are changed. No deeper insights are reached.
DeleteEveryone leaves thinking they’ve won, when in reality, entrenched power structures have won over them.
12:17 Facts matter and posting garbage will be called out. It happens too often on this site by repeat offenders and will continue to be called out.
DeleteSomeone unaccustomed to the bs that is perpetuated by posters on this site might come away thinking that 1.5 million people have been killed in the war. Correcting misinformation is an obligation that is far too neglected in the media, whether that entails Trump’s 30,000 + lies or Musk retweeting blatant misinformation. If you think that correcting such in this space is a missed opportunity for some kind of kumbaya moment you are naive.
DeleteDavid in Cal,
ReplyDeleteStill mad that Biden wouldn't just open our borders to refugees from around the world, I see.
I don't think Trump will do it, either, but I'll be happy to join you in exaggerating that it's exactly what Trump is doing.
When speaking with Republican voters, it's best to exaggerate about Trump's support for government reparations for black people. The exaggerating is for effect, of course.
ReplyDeleteAny update on Donny J Chickenshit's faulty memory, Dickhead in Cal?
ReplyDelete