SATURDAY: Again, we suggest that you pity the child!

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 2025

A passage from Mary Trump's book: Is something wrong with President Trump?

Yesterday afternoon, at the White House, there he went again!

In the past week, the commander's approval ratings have been in decline in several major polls. When ABC News asked him about this apparent decline, he offered this crazy remark:

TRUMP (2/21/25): Who do you work for?

REPORTER: I work for ABC News, sir.

TRUMP: No wonder. Let me just tell you— 

Let me just tell you that I have today the highest poll numbers I’ve ever had.  I have today the highest poll numbers of any Republican president ever. 

We haven’t even checked the Democrats, but that’s what I was just told. And they like the job that we’re doing. They like the job that Elon’s doing. He’s doing something that a lot of people wouldn’t have the courage to do.

The gentleman continued from there. You can watch the videotape by clicking over to Michael Luciano's report for Mediaite.

Fellow citizens, riddle us this:

Does the commander really have "the highest poll numbers of any Republican president ever?" 

It is of course always possible that that's what he "was just told." But anyone with a tiny knowledge of American politics would know that that presentation is just this side of insane, with that word being used in the colloquial sense.

Is something actually wrong with this man? Why would a major political figure insist on making ludicrous factual claims over and over and over again, over the course of many years?

There are various ways to imagine an answer. For today, we'd like to make two points:

In yesterday morning's report, we discussed the apparent challenges faced by children who have the misfortune to be born to a parent who is a "sociopath." 

We suggested that you should pity the child. (In certain cases which may result, you should also remove that child's power, as an adult, to do harm to himself or to others.)

Meanwhile, doggone it! Yesterday morning, we couldn't find a particular passage in Mary L. Trump's best-selling book where she described the challenges faced by such unfortunate children. 

Yesterday afternoon, we found it! For the record, you can see that passage below. 

The "Mary" and "Fred" in this passage are President's Trump's parents—Mary L. Trump's paternal grandparents. Reference is being made to the severe medical disabilities developed by President Trump's mother when he was just two years old:

MARY L. TRUMP (page 24): Whereas Mary was needy, Fred seemed to have no emotional needs at all. In fact, he was a high-functioning sociopath. Although uncommon, sociopathy is not rare, affecting as much as 3 percent of the population...Having a sociopath as a parent, especially if there is no one else around to mitigate the effects, all but guarantees severe disruption in how children understand themselves, regulate their emotions, and engage with the world. My grandmother was ill equipped to deal with the problems caused in her marriage by Fred's callousness...

Since Mary was physically and emotionally absent due to her injuries, Fred became, by default, the only available parent...

Mary L. Trump spends the first fifty pages of her book describing the dynamics of President Trump's upbringing. That includes the way he was shipped off to military school at age 12 or 13, a reaction to what she describes as his uncontrollable antisocial behavior. 

In these passages, Mary L. Trump seems to be relying on her own later observations, but also on things he's been told by other family members. That including President Trump's older sister, Mary L. Trump's aunt.

When the book appeared in July 2020, People magazine provided what may have been the most detailed account of what Mary L. Trump said about her uncle's upbringing. 

To peruse that detailed report, click here. Toay, we advise you again to pity the child, even as you may despair about the extremely strange behaviors which keep emerging from the adult.

Also this:

Yesterday, we mentioned the so-called "playroom of broken toys" with which the president has surrounded himself in this, his second term. We referred to the highly unusual childhood experiences several of those high-profile figures seem to have had.

We specifically cited one example. There are four or five others, perhaps not excluding the childhood experiences of the president himself.

We can't tell you if Mary L. Trump's various assessments are accurate. As we noted yesterday, it's possible that people like Dr. Bandy X. Lee could have helped us gain a fuller understanding of the issues raised by Mary L. Trump.

For better or worse, our treasured elites in Blue America have ruled against the pursuit of such possible knowledge, understanding, wisdom.

We live inside a childish discourse. Over here in Blue America, we rarely seem to be fully aware of that unmistakable fact.

Does President Trump actually have the highest poll ratings ever?  Obviously, the answer is no. Colloquially speaking, the utterly ridiculous claim is just this side of insane.

Every sane person would instantly know that. Once again, we ask the question which isn't permitted:

Is it possible that something is "wrong" with this powerful man? As you ponder that complex question, we advise you, once again, to push your own powers of empathy to the point where you're able to imagine and pity the child. 

254 comments:

  1. Has Mary Trump explained why every Republican voter who isn't a bigot, shot President Donald Trump to death?

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  2. Everybody loved Lincoln and Grant.

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  3. Of course there is something "wrong" with Trump. He is the worst president ever. You have to try really hard to be as bad as Trump is. Every time you see a headline about Trump, he is doing some new terrible thing. The things he is doing hurt people, his constituents, including the ones who voted for him.

    Somerby has written another one-note essay today. It is not even clear what he is saying about Trump. It souns like Somerby has no idea what we can and should do about Trump, now that he is in office. Here are some suggestions:

    https://www.congress.gov/116/meeting/house/110281/documents/HHRG-116-JU00-20191204-SD1250.pdf

    https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/24/trump-fascism-what-to-do

    https://populardemocracy.org/news-article/news-and-publications-how-progressives-can-fight-against-trumps-agenda/

    https://www.reddit.com/r/AskALiberal/comments/1i623sn/what_can_the_average_person_do_to_resist_a_trump/?rdt=46550

    And contribute to groups that are fighting Trump's illegal actions, such as this one:

    https://www.aclu.org/news/civil-liberties/the-aclu-is-fighting-back-against-trump

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    1. This blog is a waste of time.

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    2. Every Republican voter who isn't a bigot, has already done everything they can do to prevent Trump from being the President of the United States.
      What more do you want from these imaginary people?

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    3. At this point in TDS it's just unhinged lashing out.

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    4. Somerby, on top of his right wing agenda, is also a poor thinker.

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    5. Bob just ain’t cognitive.

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  4. Trump is trying to make himself king. What is Somerby doing? Complaining about our discourse.

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  5. Mary Trump is my God. TDS is my Religion.

    I am Bob Somerby.

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    1. I watch American Dad. TBS is my religion.
      Every Republican voter is a bigot.

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    2. They called her Dumpy Mary in high school.

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    3. They call it The Gulf of Every Republican Voter is a Bigot, in the maritime world.

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    4. They call the empty space under Trump’s weird hurricane of hair implants, the ones he raped his ex wife over before dumping her in an unkempt gravesite on one of his golf courses to get a tax break, the Gulf of Trump, although Musk wants to rename it the Gulf of X, since he owns it now, having bought and paid for it.

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  6. Not only is Trump getting rid of anything DEI (including diverse people in govt), but he is proclaiming men's rights supreme in our nation:

    "NATIONAL HARBOR, MD — This just might be the year American men finally overcome centuries of political, cultural and marital oppression that have ravaged the gender and kept guys locked out of key policies, like the Violence Against Women Act.

    That’s what one conservative vendor peddled at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference. And they’re not alone. The oft-repeated message being subtly driven into CPAC attendees – is that the era of male victimhood is over.

    Culture wars are now king."

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    1. What kind of fucking moron would listen to a word Donald Trump says?

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    2. The real Replacement Theory is fearing incompetent White men being replaced by competent women and people of color.

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    3. What kind of fucking moron - DiC comes to mind.

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  7. If you are playing at home, here again is the list of Republican voters who aren't bigots:




    Memorize those names. They may have saved the USA.

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    Replies
    1. There aren't any there.

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    2. Racism and sexism are fundamental to the Republican Party, they would not exist without their bigotry.

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  8. Dictatorships need the courts and the military to take control.

    "That’s according to The Atlantic’s Tom Nichols, who wrote in an opinion piece published hours after the Pentagon shake-up that the military was “the last piece” President Donald Trump needed “to establish the foundations for authoritarian control of the U.S. government” after installing MAGA loyalists inside the Justice Department, FBI, and intelligence services.

    And that sobering connection left Nichols warning readers of the dangers the “remarkable move” presents to the country.

    “President Trump tonight began a purge of the senior ranks of the United States armed forces in an apparent effort to intimidate the military and create an officer corps personally loyal to him,” the anti-Trump conservative wrote.

    “None of this has anything to do with effectiveness, or ‘lethality,’ or promoting ‘warfighters,’ or any other buzzwords. It is praetorianism, plain and simple,” Nichols concluded." [Rawstory]

    The military has stood firm against Trump before, but will it continue to do so now that it too is under attack?

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  9. We idiot-DemocRats need to whine harder. Yes. We need more whining word-salads.

    That is how we win.

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    1. The joke about the Republican voter who isn't a bigot, will make you laugh so hard, it'll make you cry.

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    2. You say that because you’re lonely and need attention.

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    3. It's easy to be lonely in a roomful of Republican voters who aren't bigots. The silence can sometimes be deafening.

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    4. MAGA needs to get dumber. More stoopid. That is how they win.

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  10. I'll try to muster up some pity for poor child who is a billionaire, the most powerful person on earth, has a 10 wife and children who love him, and the adulation of millions of cheering crowds.

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    1. He's already been killed by Republican voters who aren't bigots, the poor slob.

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  11. The absence of TDS in a person is a sign of mental illness.

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  12. Trump is the second least popular president ever, the least popular being himself during his first reign, by only by a hair, and back then Trump’s poll numbers were low but steady, now Trump’s poll numbers are low and plummeting.

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    1. It doesn't matter. The die is cast, Trump is a lame duck, and dangerous as hell to the Democratic agenda. Democrats are in worse shape politically so they will not do well in the midterms. We are in for four years of the same punishment we saw every day of his first month and he will win every court case because he has the SCOTUS.

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    2. Your fever dream of everyone just laying back and taking it, is hilarious!

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    3. Relax.
      The "good guy" gun owners will save us all by fighting government tyranny with their 2nd Amendment rights.
      LOL.

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    4. Trump is not a lame duck. He is eligible for Eternal President.

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    5. Whether Trump is a lame duck or a dictator, Trump is a limp tiny dick, relieving women, to some degree, of worrying about becoming a victim of his sexual predation. And no one is more relieved than Melania, who notably and curiously resembles a drag queen more and more these days. Hey, if that’s what you’re in to, more power to you.

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    6. It's not that Trump's opponents should just sit back and take it but that there is nothing they can do that will matter. He and the court hold all the power and they are on the same page on most issues.

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    7. Saying that the American people have no power ignores the FACT of the American Revolution. We've done this before, so we know how to do it.

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    8. The American people voted for Trump and the Trumpy side has most of the guns and the military so Revolution ll is probably not going anywhere.

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  13. Trump got less than 30% of the electorate, he couldn’t even get 50% of those that voted, only winning by 1.5% via dirty tricks/voter suppression.

    More people voted for someone other than Trump.

    Trump’s ongoing overreach of a power grab is sinking the Republican Party and making the US the laughingstock of the world.

    Trump and Musk are laughing too, laughing all the way to the bank with taxpayer dollars; they both recognize that the working class are easily duped.

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    1. But Trump is strengthening his base by not doing anything to bring down grocery prices.

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    2. Ukraine is still going strong, just like inflation and the genocide of Palestinians.

      Who knew?

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    3. Cope, Soros-bots.

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    4. You're killin' it, trumptard.

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  14. Somerby: “Is something wrong with President Trump?”

    Everyone else: Is something wrong with Somerby? Why is he stuck on figuring out the specific mental impairment diagnosis for Trump, when Trump is clearly corrupt and a criminal? Seems like a ploy to distract from the pertinent issue.

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    1. Bob wants the media to infer/suggest and to even hype the narrative that Trump has a mental impairment. He wants this in order to marginalize Trump. People can argue about motives and claims of criminality…”crazy” as a reputation is far more…problematic…

      Bob spent a month after the election decrying the narrative that Trump won by a landslide. Anonymices chided the heck out of him for that focus and endlessly questioned the relevance of that take. Why? Because that’s their job. It’s why you never see any agreement with or momentary appreciation for anything that Bob blogs. Of course, after Bob, moved on from the subject of a Trump mandate, anonymices are referring to the same voter stats to buttress their positions as there being no mandate for Trump.

      Taking down Bob is the target and the priority of anonymices at this blog. Thats why you endlessly see stupid comments like the ones at 11:27am.

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    2. Somerby is not helping anything. He needs to hang up this blog and find a better hobby. What he does here helps Trump. Pity Trump? You've got to be kidding!

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    3. “ He wants this in order to marginalize Trump.”
      Say what? You mean his pity is performative?

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    4. 11:27 seems on the nose. Somerby wondering around in the woods, wringing his hands over the proper way call Trump crazy is not effective in promoting any Dem, liberal, or progressive agenda, or in diminishing the Republican agenda; it’s what Republicans want, they want Dems obsessing over if Trump is crazy, to be distracted from Trump’s corruption and criminality.

      Seems like Somerby’s lost the plot (and his moral compass) and 11:27 is offering a way to a better path; of course, Republicans are not going to like it and side with Somerby, since that serves their agenda.

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    5. “ “ He wants this in order to marginalize Trump.”
      While at the same time criticizing people calling him a liar, of trying to hold him legally accountable. If those things didn’t “marginalize” Trump, why would he think calling Trump mentally ill would do the trick?

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    6. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    7. Anonymouse 12:37pm, people don’t pity a leader for bringing crazy. They feel pity and shame for their country. They want that leader marginalized to the point that a shadow government composed of people from both sides is running the country. With the party of the crazy politician naturally being muted and most likely to capitulate, Einstein.

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    8. Anonymouse 12:42pm, partisans call politicians liars and criminals every day. That’s standard rhetoric.

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    9. Cecelia rage-eating his own word salad and then vomiting it out, is just sad. It’s not funny, and nobody should be laughing. I hear y’all snickering, cut it out, that’s rude to the poor man.

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    10. Anonymouse 12:55pm, laugh all you want. You’re not hurting me or Republicans. You’re kicking a very smart guy who is one of your own.

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    11. Somerby is a poor thinker and a right winger.

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    12. Anonymouse 1:03pm, what did Somerby do to Digby?

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    13. He’s so smart that he couldn’t convince his ardent fans, Cecelia and DiC, that Trump is mentally ill. WE didn’t vote for him. YOU did.

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    14. Anonymouse 1:06pm, you don’t know if I voted or not. You never will.

      Bob’s so smart that a slew of people who regularly acclaim their own brilliance and expertise come after him night and day. Congratulations..Anonymices, you make him important. No one makes relevance more certain than you anonymices.

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    15. Digby is Heather Parton, not any anonymous person at this blog. She has her own blog, Hullabaloo," which has won awards for her political commentary. Attacking Digby, who has nothing to do with Somerby or his blog or any comments here, is an ugly move by Cecelia. But it is typical of what all of us can expect from Trump and his cult in the next four years. Random attacks for no reason on people exercising their legitimate first amendment rights.

      Digby is a good decent person who Somerby would not condone attacking when she has said and done nothing here to attract anyone's attention. This is like when the trolls here started posting fake Taegan Goddard comments because someone here quoted him. That violated the Blogspot terms of service and I hope reporting them caused them to desist.

      If trolls behave badly here, perhaps they will succeed in getting Somerby's blog thrown off Blogspot. Trolling is one thing but cyberstalking innocent people whose real life names are public, is against the law in several states, including CA where Digby lives.

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    16. Anonymouse 1:33pm, I didn’t attack the moral colossus that is Digby. . What did Bob do, say, or not do or say about Digby that got anonymices on the warpath?

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    17. Bob has never mentioned Digby. This is your excuse to threaten Digby, who has no involvement with this blog and is an innocent bystander.

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    18. Anonymouse 2:16pm, it’s not a threat to Digby for me to ask what Bob did to bring your crew down on him. The fact that she’s your earth mother makes it plausible that he did offend her or offend you on her behalf.

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    19. It still makes no sense to say that Somerby is smart, but be unconvinced by his assertions that trump is mentally ill. WE aren’t the ones who need convincing. YOU are, Cecelia.

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    20. Heather Cox Richardson is my earth mother.

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    21. Anonymouse 2:53pm, I’m not surprised that it makes perfect sense to you to suggest that smart people are never influenced by biased opinion or personal animus. Anonymices are NOT smart enough to know better.

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    22. If you have to ask what Somerby did, you haven’t been reading him, the way you claim.

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    23. What put a bug up Cecelia’s ass today? She doesn’t care about news at all, just attacking commenters.

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    24. You’d think Cecelia were Somerby, the way she rushes to protect him.

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    25. Anonhmouse 3:21pm, mine’s Alec Baldwin.

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    26. Anonymouse 3:25pm, you’d think anonymices were Bob’s old girlfriends from the way you trash him.

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    27. Anonymouse 3:25pm, what did Bob do to Digby?

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    28. I thought Tim Walz was the anonymices’ earth mother.

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    29. Hahaha you thinking calling a guy a girl is a big insult because girls are the worst. That makes you the worst too.

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    30. Bob has no old girlfriends because grown men are not allowed to date 12 year olds.

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    31. Anonymouse 3;45pm, what are you saying when you call me a man?

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    32. Anonymouse 3:47pm, it sounds like you’re unaware that there are women between the ages of 50-something and twelve.

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    33. I didn’t call you a man. Ever.

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    34. Cecelia, Somerby dislikes women.

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    35. Without Googling I would guess the highest rated President would be the Shrub who invaded Iraq for no apparent reason (other than PNAC's thirst for stolen oil) after we were attacked by Saudi Arabia. Folks like Cecelia and David in Cali, instead of listening to weapons inspectors, and the truth, ate up the whole right wing noise machine of horseshit about the war. In 2016 they cheered on the Felon's denigration of Jr. for his catastrophic wars, the Peace President! Now they are cheering on his threats to abandon Ukraine, raze 1.8M Gazans off the strip, bomb Mexico, steal the Panama Canal, fuck with NATO, and bend over for our true leader, Putin (or Musk?). What sort of shit won't these morons bend over backwards to eat? Talk about flip floppers, Christ almighty what a pack of dunces.

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    36. Anonymouse 4:45pm, Pres. Obama likes both Poppy and son a hell of a lot more than I ever liked them. Pres Clinton just loves him some Bush family too.

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    37. Your are such a flip flopper, you flip flop time stamps. Also, what the hell you responding about?

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    38. Anonymouse 4:04pm, have you met Bob? I couldn’t pick him out in a police lineup?

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    39. You are lying. He was a public performer. There are pictures and video of him all over the internet. He has a wikipedia page.

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    40. Anonymouse 5:35pm, I’ve have to have googled him less than hour before I saw him on a street. How obsessed are you with him?

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    41. Anonymouse 5:30pm, flip flop on what? The fact that almost all your idols were on board with going into Iraq? Well, not Bernie Ssnders and look what you all did to him 2016.

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    42. Timestamps is a clue clueless Cecelia. Leadership is sadly lacking on both sides when a President is warmongering lies with 90% fucking approval. That is sad. But I was not talking about leadership. I was talking about you. Were you out on the streets protesting the war, writing MSNBC for firing Phil Donahue, trying to convince your friends and relatives not to be so fucking gullible and stupid? My bet is you were, and will always be, flip flopping and gullible.

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    43. Anonymouse 6:07pm, no, I wasn’t out protesting the war. I thought we should bomb the Saudis too after 9/11. I came to dislike Bush for some of the things he said as to personal policy pique of mine. Consider that Pres.Clinton was on board with Iraq as well and he had just left office and was still getting security briefing. Probably still is getting those. Clinton had the all the info Bush and Cheney had at the time.

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    44. If you recall, Cecelia, Somerby said many times that the by undermining gore, the mainstream media caused all those deaths in Iraq. Clearly, your supposed hero believed that gore would not have invaded Iraq.

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    45. Anonymouse 6:52pm, could Bob think that because Gore actually stated that he wasn’t on board in the way that both Clintons did not?

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    46. Let’s see, Cecelia. Gore was the actual candidate, not Bill Clinton. So how is Clinton’s view important?

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    47. Anonymouse 6:57pm, it’s important because he was the president and was backing what the security apparatus was saying. You had nothing other than Gore’s opinion and he was the democratic nominee. I had the CIA, the current president and the president who had just left office. It’s more likely that you were voting a ticket, than it was with me.

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  15. Somerby says "Pity the child" but there is no child in the picture. Trump is and has been all along, an adult.

    It is sad that Trump might have become a better person, but he didn't. There is no evidence that Trump is suffering, except that we all think it would suck to be him. So what is there to pity? I reserve my pity for Trump's victims, who are increasing every day.

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    1. Typically, Republicans prefer to blame the victim, and that’s Somerby’s MO, too.

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  16. Where is Melania? Back when Trump ran the first time, Melania was having affairs with other men. That was legitimate because so was Trump. That was proven in testimony at his criminal trial. Some speculate that her affairs were part of the reason she didn't immediately move into the White House when Trump won.

    Remember the "Free Melania" campaign and the press speculation about where she was? There isn't a similar campaign this time because (1) we know where Melania is, (2) we know why she is missing, (3) no one blames her for leaving. She said before that she didn't want him to run again, but her wishes don't seem to matter to Trump. Trump has been getting more and more demented. She clearly doesn't love him enough to help guide him as he gets worse. Most wives do initially stay with their husbands with dementia, out of loyalty and love. Not Melania, because who could love Trump and what has he ever done for her that wasn't part of their prenup?

    The main problem with Melania's situation is that Trump can coerce her into being a stand-in first lady, just as he does others. He clearly doesn't feel that need, but he might, if the public started asking more questions about her absence. But she can also spill a lot of beans about Trump's personal habits. As long as he cares about that, she may be safe, but she clearly doesn't want to push the issue.

    We know that Melania has not left Trump because of his political positions. He has none really, and Melania is used to Eastern European leadership and politics. It is unreasonable to expect her to take any principled stand on anything. Trump and Melania share a concern for their own self-interest, so they no doubt understand each other very well. She is useless to Trump and Trump is useless to Melania, except for grifting purposes.

    So, I cannot pity her. She deserves the life she has created with this guy. And he deserves a wife who does not love him.

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  17. Corruption is rewarded by Trump and Elon:

    "New Social Security Chief Was Being Investigated
    February 22, 2025 at 10:40 am EST By Taegan Goddard

    “Leaders of the Social Security Administration had just opened an investigation into a career employee they believed was improperly sharing information with Elon Musk’s cost-cutting team when President Donald Trump elevated the employee this week to acting commissioner,“ the Washington Post reports.

    “The agency’s leadership team became aware in recent weeks that Leland Dudek, a data analyst working in a small anti-fraud office who had been unknown to many of them, was sharing unauthorized access to information with representatives of Musk’s U.S. DOGE Service.”

    “It’s not clear what data Dudek shared, but his actions raised enough alarm that he may have violated privacy and tax laws that senior officials placed him on paid leave as they launched their investigation.” [Political Wire]

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    1. There is no information that’s illegal to share with the President or his representatives in DOGE. Dudek was being punished by some leadership for cooperating with DOGE.

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    2. Dudek divulged confidential data, breaking his rules of employment.

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    3. "There is no information that’s illegal to share with the President or his representatives in DOGE."

      That is something the Trump admin contends.
      The courts will provide the final answer.

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    4. The Trump admin contends that nothing the president does is illegal. Nothing. Nada.

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    5. Cmon man, that’s fake David mocking the real David’s inanity; obviously no president has the right, for example, to examine Musk’s medical history, particularly concerning his infection with herpes.

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    6. Flip flopping DiChead.

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  18. My diabetes drugs before Trump: $6/month

    My diabetes drugs after Trump: $80/month

    Thanks, Trump.

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    1. Yes, this was one of Trump's first EO's. Happily, this is impacting predominantly the racists in the red states with the highest obesity and diabetes rates who thought nothing of voting for a convicted criminal and rapist.

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    2. The jaggoffs just fired the team responsible for negotiating drug prices with big pharma for medicare. Idiots DiC and Cecelia will now explain to us how this is necessary to help the little people, and it is the Dems in bed with big Pharma. Those two are weird cultish facists who think that a billionaires' takeover of the country is being treated unfairly by the press. By the way, if you have an ATM spitting out $100/minute, 60 minutes/day, 365 days/year; how many years until you run out of $440B? And that is why he should have the piss taxed out of him, not buy the Presidency so he can trample folks to enrich himself further. I will never get how the fascists take so long to realize that punching down is cool, until the fist comes for you.

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    3. Anonymouse 5:38pm, my guess, tough guy, is that they’re looking at the system. Things such as this:
      pic.x.com/KhlJ6NczTD

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    4. “They’re looking at the system” of course they are. I mean, duh. But for what purpose? Perhaps you believe Trump and musk genuinely care about the American people, humble and altruistic as those two are. If you fail to consider the possibility that they want to benefit themselves, you may have your head in the sand.

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    5. Anonymouse 6:49pm, you think that I may have my head in the sand. Speaking of “duh”…

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    6. Cecelia 6:58: then why don’t you get your fucking head out of the sand and admit that Bob is right about Trump being mentally ill? That’d be a good start.

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  19. Here is info about how to protest Trump:

    https://actionnetwork.org/groups/americans-take-action

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  20. "Pity Trump" is Somerby's idea of a joke. He chuckles over this crap that he writes. He is passive aggressive in real life and enjoys thinking about how fucked the citizens are while Trump does his dirty work and Elon does his stupid little dance, now a CPAC with a chainsaw. Somerby finds this hilarious. His hostility is toward the left, even though everyone is getting screwed. For Somerby, the fun part is camoufaging his true intentions, his motives, and doing subversive things (that benefit the alt right). This is the way he dealt with his mother and other authority figures. It makes him a dishonest, slimy little shit, because real people don't pretend to be something else while giggling over their not-so-clever deceptions.

    There is something wrong with Somerby.

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    1. Weird. You come here just to make shit up about Somerby. I wonder if that’s a symptom you could find in the DSM-5-TR.

      Delete
    2. Anonymouse 1:45pm, their animus is highly personal. Beyond political.

      Delete
    3. You oughtta know…

      Delete
    4. Anonymouse 2:35pm, your gerbil knows.

      Delete
    5. You’re the gerbil.

      Delete
    6. Anonymouse 3:47pm, yiu can only dream.

      Delete
  21. The way Musk’s pasty white blob of a belly and boobs keep growing, some are asking - is Musk himself pregnant?

    ReplyDelete
  22. Pity the child, Somerby says. How about THIS child:

    "some MAGA mom hired a Donny Convict impersonator to be the star attraction at her little boy’s birthday party — and holy shit, the kid is into it. he’s fucking thrilled that Dear Leader came to his party. he’s dancing right along to YMCA.

    could someone please call Child Protective Services? what kind of ugly propaganda is mom filling this wee cultist’s head with, that he’s this excited to hang with someone tarted up as a racist game show host?

    come on, can we just let children be children? there will be plenty of time later in this boy’s life to learn to be an intolerant asshole. next time, hire some dude dressed up as a cowboy — or an astronaut. let the kid have a childhood."

    Watch the video here:
    https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/this-week-in-stupid-february-22-edition

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wait til you see the "attractions" pervert Democrats are taking their kids to see.

      Delete
    2. Nothing is more perverted than the way Trump dances.

      Delete
    3. This Dem takes his kids to Southern Baptist kids summer camps to show them how Christian Camp Counselors diddle little kids. Stay away from fake Christians I tells them, or they will bugger your rear ends.

      Delete
  23. Heather Cox Richardson says:

    "Trump has indicated he intends to nominate Air Force Lieutenant General John Dan “Razin” Caine to be the next chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Oren Liebermann and Haley Britzky of CNN call this “an extraordinary move,” since Caine is retired and is not a four-star general, a legal requirement, and will need a presidential waiver to take the job. Trump has referred to Caine as right out of “central casting.”

    This appears to be another instance where Trump is ignoring actual qualifications by appointing someone who doesn't meet them. As in the past, Trump is using looks to decide who is qualified, which is entirely in keeping with firing black men and firing women because they don't meet his stereotypes for leadership. This is bigotry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A person is more than her/his formal qualifications. Someone with less than 2 years of federal government experience -- two years in which he was mostly busy with outside activities -- and no management experience might nevertheless be qualified to be President of the United States. it depends on the individual.

      Delete
    2. Go take a flying fuck, Dickhead, you fucking fascist freak.

      Delete
    3. Not only ineffectual whining but boring.

      Delete
    4. The test of whether someone is qualified for a job is how well he or she performs that job. Since it is difficult to know that in advance (and a great deal may be at stake) you use education, experience and training as proxies to guess how well someone might do in a job. When someone lacks all three of those, they are much less likely to be able to do the job than someone who has already acquired some experience that will be useful.

      Trump not only had no relevant experience or training for the job of president, there was no reason to expect he would be good at the job and as it turned out, he wasn't. Trump's first term should have warned voters not to elect him again. I do not understand why it didn't, especially given the unnecessary deaths during covid. It suggests voters were not using appropriate criteria to select a leader. Trump's performance since Jan 20 confirms that.

      Delete
    5. Trump seems to have turned over all but the ceremonial aspects of being president to Elon Musk and Project 2025. That is a kind of fraud, since he didn't tell voters he was going to do that. The bigger problem is that he seems to have worse dementia and could probably be removed for medical reasons, if anyone cared enough to rescue the country from what is happening.

      Delete
    6. Trump lied when he said he never heard of Project 2025, and he didn't agree with it? No way.
      Next you'll tell me he lied about winning the 2020 Presidential election, too.

      Delete
    7. I don't enjoy having to call David in Cal a fucking fascist freak, but let us all be quite clear about the gang who took control of the federal government right now. They are quite proud and blunt about ushering in a "post-democracy" era, and how we should get over our phobia of the word "dictator".

      David in Cal was fooled when Trump looked the American people in the eye and denied he knew anything about Project 2025. Now he is too embarrassed, and his pride will not allow him to confess he's been a fucking treasonous fool all along. So he has invented a new branch of all-powerful executive - The PresiKing. In my considered opinion that makes David in Cal a fucking fascist freak. I am sorry.

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    8. 2:26 is right. It defies belief that a candidate could lie for 4 years about whether he won an election, and have over half his party believe him.

      It's just too wackadoo.

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    9. I know a nice Republican who does not scream at me when talking Politics. Before the election, like DiChead, he said he believes the Felon when he says I know nothing about Project 2025. Just a simple little lie to themselves and others. But of course they are nasty fascists who want harm to their lessors, and know Project 2025 was the direct path to achieve their wished for attacks on minorities and women. Just hateful small minded people trying to pretend to be reasonable. But they are truly sick individuals at their core. Sad.

      Delete
    10. We knew we were getting Elon Musk and most of Project 2025. It's what we voted for.

      Delete
    11. Trump the candidate denied supporting project 2025. So the way you knew you were getting it was assuming that Trump was lying through his teeth, 5:36?

      Delete
  24. Heather Cox Richardson
    February 21, 2025 (Friday)
    In an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) yesterday, billionaire Elon Musk seemed to be having difficulty speaking. Musk brandished a chainsaw like that Argentina's president Javier Milei used to symbolize the drastic cuts he intended to make to his country’s government, then posted that image to X, labeling it “The DogeFather,” although the administration has recently told a court that Musk is neither an employee nor the leader of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency. Politico called Musk’s behavior “eccentric.”
    While attendees cheered Musk on, outside CPAC there appears to be a storm brewing. While Trump and his team have claimed they have a mandate, in fact more people voted for someone other than Trump in 2024, and his early approval ratings were only 47%, the lowest of any president going back to 1953, when Gallup began checking them. His approval has not grown as he has called himself a “king” and openly mused about running for a third term.
    ***********

    Trump asked if the governor of Maine was in the room.
    “Yeah, I’m here,” replied Governor Mills.
    “Are you not going to comply with it?” Trump asked.
    “I’m complying with state and federal laws,” she said.
    “We are the federal law,” Trump said. “You better do it because you’re not going to get any federal funding at all if you don’t….”
    “We’re going to follow the law,” she said.
    “You’d better comply because otherwise you’re not going to get any federal funding,” he said.
    Mills answered: “We’ll see you in court.”
    As Shawn McCreesh of the New York Times put it: “Something happened at the White House Friday afternoon that almost never happens these days. Somebody defied President Trump. Right to his face.”
    ***************

    Yes, with the swipe of a pen, orange chickenshit thinks he deleted an entire branch of our government. That is some hot shit.

    This thing isn't gonna end pretty.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He who pays the piper calls the tune. Accepting federal funding means giving the feds (or any outside party) some control, because they can threaten to withdraw the funding. Education and Medicaid are prime examples.

      Delete
    2. The question is not who funds what, but whether the president can make or break laws by fiat.

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    3. He who successfully blackmails the President, in this case Vladamir Putin, gets to choose who he wants running the U.S. military.
      Fixed for accuracy.

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    4. Dumbass dichead pretends not to know that the productive blue states pay much more into the Federal kitty than slovenly fat ass and lazy red states. But Red state republicans have long been leading the way to punishing blue states for not treating people like a good follower of Christ would. Remember when this more or less started with Replucican assholes saying NY and NJ should not get disaster relief funds after Hurricane Sandy. Fucking asshole weirdos from annually ravaged by hurricanes TX and FL saying no money to blue states. Just faxcist unAmerican pricks to the core.

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    5. Both parties serve the state, which serves capital, not people. The red vs. blue state narrative is a manufactured pseudo-conflict designed to distract you from addressing the failures of capitalism. The reality is large corporations, banks, and the ultra-wealthy manipulate the economy while both red and blue state working-class people suffer. The real divide is not red vs. blue but the wealthy elite vs. the rest of us.

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    6. Great,, 6:43. Now let’s talk about the richest man in the world and all the other oligarchs genuflecting before Trump.

      Delete
    7. Capitalism serves people by providing jobs and the distribution of goods and services.

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    8. Why? That is another distraction from the mechanisms of power that remain unchanged, regardless of which party holds office. A fear that Trump and Musk represent some unique authoritarian threat is another manufactured illusion designed to keep panicked rather than recognizing and dismantling the system behind it.

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    9. 7:00: Trump and musk aren’t dismantling the divide between rich and the rest of us. By destroying government, they are exacerbating the divide. They and the gop very clearly stand with the oligarchs against the rest of us.

      Delete
    10. Capitalism serves itself, not people. Capitalism’s true function is the endless accumulation of capital at the expense of human freedom and authentic life. It claims to serve people but it really enslaves them. Work is not provided to fulfill human potential, but to extract profit. Goods are not distributed based on need, but on market control. It's a made up illusion that people need capitalism. Capitalism needs people - to keep believing in its manufactured myths.

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    11. Focusing only on Trump, Musk, and the GOP while ignoring the broader systemic reality is precisely how control is maintained.

      Delete
    12. You may be right, 7:06. But unfortunately, Trump is conning his followers into believing that he is on their side by destroying government and government services. Most who believe that capitalism is a nefarious system, as you seem to, believe in a strong government to help rein it in.

      Delete
    13. To believe that capitalism is the problem but the state is the solution is to remain trapped. Government and capitalism are two arms of the same system of control. Trump is deceiving his followers, but all politicians deceive their followers. That is how control is maintained. Trump and Musk’s overt alignment with the ultra-rich is not a deviation from American politics but its natural progression. It is by design you have been encouraged to fixate on them rather than the structures that make them possible.

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    14. Every leftist that I know of, including Bernie Sanders, support a strong government as the collective voice of the people to oppose the worst excesses of capitalism. You cannot accept what must/Trump are doing as business as usual. That’s insane.

      Delete
    15. Hey, listen up Karl Marx, nobody is fucking controlling me. We are watching the end of our democratic republic right before our eyes; there are no fucking institutions left to stop this fascist takeover. And I don't really like what I see coming down the tracks to replace our democracy. You can go to park and pass out you anti-capitalism literature later, if we have anything left, jagoff.

      Delete
  25. I pity Mary Trump. She had to grow up in that horrible family.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And she’s a product of the competitiveness of that family.

      Delete
    2. At least she’s not a mentally ill sociopath.

      Delete
    3. What competitiveness? She is the daughter of Trump’s outcast brother. She didn’t grow up with Trump but in the extended family. She is younger and female. Have you even read her book?

      Delete
    4. Anonymouse 2:50pm, are you a psychiatrist?

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    5. Anonymouse 3:14pm, oh, I thought Mary was a man. What does being younger and female have to do with anything? It’s interesting you think that’s relevant as to her thinking, but being the daughter of a man who was cast off the family wouldn’t have engendered some competitiveness and prejudice.

      Delete
    6. Someone who becomes a psychotherapist is not being competitive. It is a helping profession. Younger and female explains why she was off the radar for Donald and his father, escaping the expectations imposed on her father, who was the oldest son and expected to follow in Trump’s father’s footsteps. You clearly didn’t read her book or you would know her thinking. I did read it.

      Delete
    7. I am not 2:50 but I am a psychologist and I agree she is not mentally ill or a sociopath.

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    8. Anonymouse 3:56pm, nonsense. Psychiatrists can be highly competitive people. Just as anyone in health care can be competitive. The fact that her father was exiled from the family and she along with him, would have been enough to have caused bad feeling and a sense competitiveness. We know that her upbringing inspired a book that proves she hasn’t merely ambled on with her care.giving… life.

      Delete
    9. Don’t defend your mistake. You didn’t read her book so you are making shit up.

      Delete
    10. Anonymouse 3:58.pm, I don’t know if she’s troubled or mentally ill or not. I do think it’s ironic to talk about the dynamics of that family and then insist that it’s unreasonable to suggest that she was just as affected as the other family members.

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    11. Anonymouse 4:16pm, I didn’t make a mistake. I voiced an opinion, You voiced an opinion too and are now trying to argue that you have some facts. So far those “facts” are that she’s a psychiatrist and therefore is not competitive..,

      Delete
    12. As I said, I read her book.

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    13. Anonymouse 4:31pm, and on that basis you’ve ruled out her being competitive or even neurotic? Why do you argue with Bob about his complaint that the media won’t talk about Trump’s psyche when you’re also arguing that such arm chair diagnoses are a-ok?

      Delete
    14. Cecelia, go read her book.

      Delete
    15. Anonymouse 4:45pm, you chide Bob because he wants the media to opine on Trump’s mental health and YOU and he have had more than eight years of observing Trump. Yet you insist that
      I should consider Mary Trump to be emotionally and temperamentally unscathed by Trump family life on the basis of her book…

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    16. Yes Cecelia I am a psychiatrist and I find you to be a very ill man.

      Delete
    17. Mary Trump did not grow up in Donald Trump’s family. Her father did.

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    18. Anonymouse 5:31pm, indeed. Mary’s father surely did grow up with Donald.

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    19. Anonymouse 5:19pm, that’s like all anonymouse diagnoses. It’s worth what we pay for it.

      Delete
    20. If you had read the book, Mary Trump discusses her father’s problems more than Trump. The idea of her being “competitive” is ludicrous. Cecelia doesn’t know what she’s talking about and won’t admit it.

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    21. Anonymouse 6:25pm, what I won’t admit is that Mary is any less unscathed than the rest of her family. She’s a product of it too.

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    22. She describes how being a Trump “scathed” her, in her book, which you did not read. You think it is ok to make up what you don’t know.

      Delete
    23. Well, Cecelia, take it up with your hero, Bob. He constantly cites Mary Trump as a reliable expert on Trump’s mind. But keep on calling Somerby smart while denying his important theses.

      Delete
    24. We are all scathed by life experiences that we react to as individuals not all in the same way. It is both fascinating and irrelevant. What matters is what we do in our lives.

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    25. Anonymouse 6:55pm, exactly. So why are you anonymices telling him he’s off base as to wanting this hashed out on tv. You’ve got your expert Mary to do it. What gives?

      Delete
    26. Do you admit Mary trump is right about Donald, Cecelia?

      Delete
    27. Anonymouse 7:15pm, so what made you decide to be a blog troller?

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    28. Anonymouse 7:18pm, to an extent, yes. Absolutely.

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    29. So despite agreeing somewhat with her assessment, you still voted for Trump? Bob’s blogging failed in your case.

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    30. Anonymouse 7:22pm, yeah. I think Trump was affected by family issues. Why would I have to tell myself that wasn’t the case in order to vote on them for the positions he backed?

      Delete
  26. Bob make a fuss because Trump doesn't really have "the highest poll numbers of any Republican president ever." Is Bob not aware that Trump routinely uses hyperbole for effect? Trump's exaggerations are generally in the correct direction. E.g., Trump's exaggerated poll numbers are a way for Trump to say he has high poll numbers, which is true.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That isn’t why Trump is a crazy sociopath. Look at the big picture.

      Delete
    2. "Trump's exaggerated poll numbers are a way for Trump to say he has high poll numbers, which is true."

      Which is not true.

      Trump has the second-lowest polling for a new president at this stage of his term. The only elected president with a lower rating was...Trump, during his first term.

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    3. Trump’s negative news coverage has to be worse than when he was running. It is relentlessly negative. You can scroll till your hand falls off and it’s dire. That affects what people will say to pollsters. We have no way of truly knowing anything anymore.

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    4. This excusing of Trump's falsehoods by labeling them as 'hyperbole' is rather tiresome.

      It allows MAGA to explain away his many lies, while enabling the MAGA morons to hear what they so desperately want to hear about their hero.

      Delete
    5. Trump's strategy has always been to say something eyebrow-raising that causes people to pay attention to a positive claim that would otherwise be ignored.

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    6. It ain't called "hyperbole" fascist DiC, it is called lying all day all the time. It is a thing fascist leaders do to make their cult happy. Stupid little fascists - yes, but happy.

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    7. The coverage is negative because Trump is saying and doing negative things.

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    8. 5:24,

      'Eyebrow raising' here is a euphemism for lying. Just as 'exaggeration' is. And 'hyperbole.'

      Trump simply lies. That's his 'strategy'. Can you bring yourself to admit that, or is it just too psychologically painful?

      When Trump said he won the 2020 election, was that a 'strategy' to draw attention to a positive claim?

      Delete
    9. “ Trump’s negative news coverage”

      On Fox? Last time I tuned I there, they were engaging in hagiography. And, again, no one needs anything but the evidence of their ears and a little reasoning ability to despise Trump, no media narrative required.

      Delete
  27. In 538's latest aggregate of polls, Trump's unfavorable tops his favorable by 1.7%.

    In what sense then, can it be said that he has "high poll numbers"?

    ReplyDelete
  28. My god this man is insane:

    Trump: “We were the richest relatively -- think of this -- from 1870 to 1913. That was our richest. Because we collected tariffs ... we had so much wealth. Of course, now we give it away to transgender ... everybody gets a transgender operation."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My god this man is insane:

      hehe, when did you get you first clue? there are no institutions left to save us from this. They are following the playbook for destroying democracy and replacement with a dictatorship. We are going to have to somehow survive the next four years if we can. But this is not going to end well.

      Delete