SATURDAY, APRIL 12, 2025
What we were talking about! Yesterday, the report came in on CNN. It's what we ourselves had been talking about only one day before.
Jeff Zeleny spoke with Dana Bash. As we join their conversation in progress, this is what was said:
BASH (4/11/25): Jeff, you and our colleagues at the White House have been doing, of course, another day, another round of really great reporting. And in this new story, you talk about speaking to senior White House advisers about how Trump is feeling right now.
One in particular said the following—said, quote:
"He just loves this shit."
That's a quote. "Talking deals with the most powerful people in the world, when he's got all the cards and leverage, is like air for him."
To read the CNN news report, you can just click here.
For the videotape of that televised exchange, see Alex Griffing's report for Mediate, which appears beneath this headline:
Trump ‘Just Loves This Shit’: Senior White House Advisors Tell CNN Tariff Trade War Is Like ‘Air For Him’
The president loved the past week's turmoil? That's exactly what we had suggested in Thursday afternoon's dispatch, "The several faces of Donald."
Even as the world had seemed to be coming undone, we said we'd never seen President Trump looking and seeming happier—seem so calm, so relaxed. The next day, along came Zeleny, quoting an insider who was making the same observation.
That said, we also described a second Trump—the one who ranted and railed, in paranoid fashion, for a full ninety minutes at Tuesday night's NRCC event. Who is—or, perhaps, who are—the current sitting president?
Who is, or who are, the sitting president? Last night, Bill Maher went on HBO and may have submitted a third answer to that question.
Bill was describing what he saw when he dined with the president right there at the White House. According to Bill, no ketchup—and no French fries—ended up on the dining room's walls.
Amazingly, you can click here for a full transcript of Bill's extensive remarks. The things the press corps decides to transcribe! But this is the person Bill saw:
MAHER (4/11/25): The guy I met is not the person who, the night before the dinner, tweeted a bunch of nasty crap about how he thought this dinner was a bad idea and what a deranged (expletive) I was. I read it and thought, "Oh, what a lovely way to welcome someone to your house."
But when I got there, that guy wasn't living there... Just for starters, he laughs! I've never seen him laugh in public. But he does, including at himself. And it's not fake. Believe me, as a comedian of 40 years, I know a fake laugh when I hear it. And I thank you for them.
Bill was describing a third Donald Trump. Importantly, he soon added this:
MAHER: Look, I get it. It doesn't matter who he is at a private dinner with a comedian. It matters who he is on the world stage.
That, of course, is the ultimate fact. It doesn't matter what the commander is like at a private supper party event.
What matters, to cite one current example, is the way he and his staff seem to be willing to leave a person in a vicious gulag, even after they've acknowledged that they sent him there, to that distant end of the earth, by "administrative error."
Medical science seems to have a term for people prepared to behave in such ways. A familiar colloquial term exists, along with the proper clinical language.
This (presumably imperfect) medical science actually does exist! That said, for better or worse, our press corps has agreed that medical science must never be cited with respect to the behavior of the president and the various people around him.
For better or worse, that's one of the ways our struggling nation's journalism currently works.
Why was one of the President Trumps so relaxed, so calm, last week?
In our view, his niece's book sketches one plausible answer to that significant question. Needless to say, the press corps has agreed that the medical elements of her massive best-seller must never he described or discussed.
(For the record: The president's niece is very sympathetic toward the child, starting with events which occurred when he was two years old. She's also quite dismissive of the adult who may have resulted from those events, especially of what she describes as the adult's dumbness and high self-regard.)
Who is, or who are, this President Trump? Also, who is, or who are, the various people who play by these rules, for better or worse, within our high-end press corps?
For President Trump, last week's turmoil was "like air?" That's the way it had looked to us! Bill, whose skills and achievement we vastly admire, then offered a third description.
Pity the child, we've long advised. Doing so may help you take power away from the adult.
ReplyDelete"The president loved the past week's turmoil?"
Everybody loves this shit, Bob. That's what draining the swamp is all about.
Keep draining the swamp, Mr. President, please. And watching idiot-Democrats squealing is a nice bonus.
Yes, as the Dow plunges, the swamp is drained because the poorer we are, the less swampy. Third World countries have no corruption. Thus saith the trumptards.
Delete
DeleteYes, me too: as a Democrat, all I'm thinking about is DJIA. The Democrat party taught me that the rich deserve their billions.
DeleteIf Mr. Soros loses his billions, I will have to get a real job. Now, when USAID is destroyed.
USAID has been ordered reinstated by a judge. I assume that order is being appealed.
Delete
DeletePlease God, save USAID, so I can continue to be paid for doing nothing.
Draining?
DeleteTrump has returned the swamp, he has filled his admin with the usual suspects of neoliberals, neocons, incompetent clowns and sycophants, lobbysists, Wall Street bros, private equity bros, and lot and lots of sexual predators.
You aint foolin' anyone 9:27.
That was nice squealing.
DeleteAgree, 9:27's squealing is so melodramatic that it becomes comedy.
DeleteThis is such an incredibly stupid column today. The president is described as having three different moods in three different contexts and Somerby hauls out an oblique reference to Dissociative Identity Disorder (without naming it today, just calling it a medical term) as if people don't have different moods without it being some medical condition.
ReplyDeleteIdentity is not mood. Mood refers to labile (changing) emotional states. Identity refers to our sense of who we are as individuals and as members of social groups. I shouldn't have to say that. Trump enjoyed meeting Bill Maher and was in a good mood then, whereas he was grumpy when he wrote a tweet. That isn't a change in identity.
But this essay isn't about Trump being mentally ill because he is sometimes angry and other times affable. It is an excuse to talk about Bill Maher's interview with Trump. Bill Maher used to identify as a libertarian with socially left views (pro marijuana, anti religion). He changed to the point where he has stopped mocking Trump as related to an orangutan and now cozies up to him Gutfeld-style. If anyone has changed identity, it is Maher not Trump, who still enjoys being the center of attention and displaying his power over others.
And this is an example of why creeps like Somerby, who isn't willing to expend any effort to understand anything psychological, shouldn't throw around medical terms that amount to nothing but name-calling given his lack of knowledge about human behavior. The day Trump announces he has an alter ego named Musk (not a separate person doing his dirty-work) who loves dogs and gets smashed on wine, Somerby can talk about Trump's multiple personalities.
One Trump is bad enough without hypothesizing there are multiples just because he behaves like a normal human being here and there.
Why is Somerby being so coy today. The President's niece is named Mary Trump. Why not say so? The medical condition he referred to a few days ago is called DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) and used to be called Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) and yes, it is a psychiatric disorder, but Trump doesn't have it. And no, Mary Trump does not pity Trump just because she described events from his childhood in her book.
ReplyDelete"Why not say so?"
DeleteSomerby's first name is Bob. Why not say so? Why be so coy?
Journalistic tradition is to refer to people by their last names. The NY Times includes a title, such as Mr. or Ms. but most other papers do not, to save space. It is also the preferred way of citing and referring to others in academic writing for publication.
DeleteEtiquette says you do not refer to people you have not met and established a personal relationship with by using their first name, unless invited to do so by the person themselves. Also, it is rude to address a person older than yourself by their first name, unless invited to do so.
So, the way others here refer to Somerby as "Bob" is demeaning to Somerby.
At this point Somerby should just go full mask off, his infamous coyness is not fooling anyone.
Delete"So, the way others here refer to Somerby as "Bob" is demeaning to Somerby."
DeleteA little starchy for the internet age, aren't you? Is Victoria still the queen?
Did you learn nothing in elementary school? Wasn’t your teacher miss somebody or other?
DeleteOn a scale of 1-10, how 'demeaning' is it to Somerby to refer to him as Bob in an anonymous comment section?
DeleteAsk him yourself. I don't know him personally. He doesn't refer to himself as anything but "we" which suggests he doesn't want to be pinned down even by his own singular name.
DeleteContinuing to inflict rudeness on a person after you know their wishes is hostile and aggressive. When has Somerby ever said here "Call me Bob"? Never, in my experience reading this blog from Day 1. It has always been "we," him and his analysts on their sprawling campus. So I would say it is right up there in terms of demeaning, maybe 8-9. Patronizing someone is perhaps worse than calling him an asshole, which at least has some dignity.
@6:27 -- have you considered that quite a few of the commenters here may be autistic, which might make understanding the nuances of social interaction especially difficult for them? I tend to call such people Freddies (in my own mind), because that makes them sound a bit friendlier, even if they don't come across that way. @5:36 sounds like an asshole himself, since he really really wants to stop having to respect others, but maybe he is just awkward and a bit lonely.
DeleteI find this commitment to personal etiquette admirable tough a bit out of step, but I do have to point out that while Bob has never asked us to call him Bob, he has also never asked us not to.
DeleteInsult people until they tell you to stop is not a formula for social success.
DeleteGender is part of identity. Perhaps Trump is experiencing those multiple identities because of this (suggested by Jeff Tiedrich via Jess Watters):
ReplyDelete"Fox News found object Jesse Watters has a warning for America’s men.
Jesse Watters: “when you sit behind a screen all day, it makes you a woman. studies have shown this. if you’re building robots, you’re around other guys. you’re not around HR ladies and lawyers and it gives you estrogen.”
Jeanine Pirro: “what do you do? you sit behind a screen.”
pro tip: when America’s tipsiest fake TV judge calls you out on your bullshit, you’ve really gone off the rails.
but forget about Judge Boxwine for a minute. here’s Jesse’s premise: office jobs are trans as fuck. you spend so much time staring at a screen and working alongside women, and the next thing you know, you’re out shopping for lingerie.
Dear Leader’s tariffs, however, are going to save you from that. Donny’s gonna bring so much manufacturing to America, factory jobs will be the only occupation available to men. that, and gibbering like a fucking idiot on Fox News. oh wait — sorry pal, there are no openings at Fox, Jesse’s got the ‘fucking idiot’ gig sewn up for life.
just look at these early-20th-century manly dudes with their wrenches and shit. you can smell the testosterone from here, can’t you? [photo of factory workers using heavy machinery]
oh wait, these are women. now I’m really confused.
someone ought to warn the Space Nazi about this screen business, though. he spends hours a day staring at a screen, playing video games and listening to commenters tell him that everyone hates him and he will die alone. [photo of Musk playing video games using two screens]
two screens, bro? come on, you’re going to transition twice as fast."
Is Trump expressing a third personality when he does his rally dance? Somerby is vague about which is Trump's dominant personality. Not the one Melania married, apparently. She has left the building.
I did repair work in likely more than a thousand factories over the years. They were all a miserable fucking place to work. Many pined to get moved off the floor to the office. This fetishization of the factory worker is just the latest asinine Rebub fetish. Try it for a month jagoffs, you would lose your soul, if you had one.
DeleteThe right wants children to work there.
Delete2:44 - The irony is that historically manufacturing jobs are good jobs only because and if they are UNION jobs, but Republican politicians hate unions and will do everything lawfully (and unlawfully) possible to make sure any manufacturing jobs are non-union jobs.
DeleteThey have already dismantled OSHA.
DeleteBill Maher says he was completely wrong about Trump, says he felt way more comfortable with Trump than he would have with Clinton or Obama.
ReplyDeleteThe reflection after 8 years of railing on the president comes after Maher visited the White House.
“He’s much more self-aware than he lets on in public… I’m just taking as a positive that this person exists, because everything I’ve ever not liked about him was absent.”
“I never felt I had to walk on eggshells around him.”
“And honestly, I voted for Clinton and Obama, but I would never feel comfortable talking to them the way I was able to talk with Donald Trump.”
“That’s just how it went down. Make of it what you will. I feel it’s emblematic of why the Democrats are so unpopular these days.”
But is Trump still descended from an orangutan? Did he show Bill Maher his family tree and birth certificate?
DeleteNote that Maher doesn't say he voted for Harris. It is so predictable that he would join bro culture.
Maher, like most Republicans, are more comfortable with Black women as maids and servants, than as president.
DeleteWe are more comfortable with women as almost anything than as president except pilots.
DeleteAnd yet men trust women with their children. Go figure!
DeleteNext week: "What does the DSM say about Bill Maher?"
ReplyDeleteSpeculating (since he has not been formally assessed), likely a malignant narcissist with a fear of death, misogyny, and mommy issues much like Somerby. At times, addicted to marijuana and perhaps using other drugs given that his social life revolves around very young people and their partying (self-admitted). He has had a series of serially monogamous relationships only with younger women (age-inappropriate but legal) and he has never married during a time when it was more popular to do so in a serious relationship. His fear of death motivates health faddism and hypochondria. His humor is always oppositional, which may be why he always selects guests with different opinions than his own (assuming he has stable opinions) and became well known expressing inflammatory views about 9/11. That's the obvious stuff.
DeleteBoxers who get into the ring to slug their opponents after talking shit about them for weeks leading up to it then hanging out with them after have multiple personality disorder.
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention closed traumatic brain injury.
DeleteYou and Somerby are both missing the concept of what a personality is. Simply thinking differently about someone (as the boxer does his opponent) or being in a different mood (no longer aggressive but friendly) are not personalities.
Personalities consist of stable individual differences that are experienced or displayed consistently over time and context. When someone behaves differently in different contexts or at different points in time, it doesn't mean they are showing a different personality. It means that behavior was not part of their personality but produced by other causes, such as the change in adversarial relationship of the fighters. Further, the shit-talking may not arise from the fighter's feelings about his opponent at all, but is part of the role of being a boxer and doesn't reflect any feelings. It is just what you do to build interest in the fight among viewers.
Somerby got that wrong too.
"Somerby got that wrong too."
DeletePer usual.
"I went into the mine, and that's what's down there. A crazy person doesn't live in the White House. A person who plays a crazy person on TV a lot lives there, which I know is (expletive) up. It's just not as (expletive) up as I thought it was. And I have no illusions now that I'm back to work at my job that he might start a new list."
ReplyDeleteTrump understands the utility of the Madman persona. Not knowing what your opponent will do is powerful leverage. Ask the USSR.
As if Putin doesn't know that Trump will yield at every opportunity. Yes sir, thank you sir, with tears streaming from Trump's eyes.
DeleteExaggerating Trump into some mad genius is romanticizing his flaws, not accurate observation. It sure would spice up a book though.
It seems like both this quote and Somerby's description of Maher's reactions to Trump are suggesting that he is only pretending to be crazy (however you might define that word) but is actually shrewd. I think @11:41 nails Somerby's intent, suggesting that Trump may have a hidden, at-home ability to be normal enough to do his job, no matter how insane his public persona. I doubt that is true.
Melania is no longer living with Trump and hasn't been since the end of his last term in office. That suggests Trump cannot hold together an intimate relationship, even with lots of money and separate bedrooms. That is a key diagnostic indicator of someone's ability to function. Ivanka abandoned him too. His long time friendships are gone, replaced by a string of increasingly oddball characters (Laura Loomer, Elon Musk) leeching off him. Another diagnostic indicator. His speeches show deterioration, to the point where experts viewing them are concerned about his cognitive state. He shows less concern about appearing to do the job appropriately, abusing reporters instead of making up semi-plausible answers, ignoring his duties of the job that he performed last time around. He seems unable to negotiate with world leaders and unable to foresee the consequences of his own actions (tariffs?). He is signing whatever people put in front of him without knowing what he has signed, expressing surprise when told about it later. None of that suggests that this is a game he is playing, pretending to be mad, instead of actually getting worse as he ages.
Somerby seems to want to support Maher's crazy like a fox persona. I don't buy it -- too many disturbing incidents. If he is sane at home and only crazy in public, there is no sign of that. So, this new idea that Somerby is floating strikes me as the latest excuse and coverup concocted by those around Trump to keep the ruse going, continuing the grift.
It also explains why Somerby is leaning so hard on this newest theory. It may be the talking point of the week mandated by his right wing handlers.
Why did Somerby not mention Three Faces of Eve, played by Joanne Woodward? Does he not want Trump to realize what he is saying about him?
Ah, yes, the six-dimensional Trump, the master strategist of MAGA's demented dreams.
DeletePlease cite the source for the quote.
DeleteWhen you have real leverage, you do not need to play the games Trump/Trump fanboys claims he is playing.
DeleteAnd when you don't have leverage, Trump's "strategy" is so transparent to his opponents, that it is easy to laugh off.
Trump hasn't a clue about the art of a deal, he is unable to advance beyond drawing stick figures, which is part of why he resorts to corruption and criminality.
Quote is from Bill Maher after visiting Trump at the White House.
DeleteSo Trump was nice to Maher, flattered him, now they are bros and Maher sanitizes Trump’s crazy for him.
DeleteMaher and Trump intersect over quack medicine and misogyny.
DeleteHaving a child self and an old-age self and a middle-age self doesn't mean you have multiple personalities, even if Somerby tries very hard to separate them at the end of his essay.
ReplyDeleteThe function of the ego is to integrate aspects of identity into a single sense of self. Failure to do that is the essence of DID. In DID, alternative selves are integrated separately and encapsulated, isolated from the dominant self and other selves. The memories experienced while an alternative self is dominating consciousness are inaccessible to the other selves and to the main self, so DID is essentially a memory disorder (much like amnesia or fugue states) with the alternate selves organized around the memories.
Memory is also the essence of a sense of identity in conditions like dementia, which Trump may have. The memories provide a sense of who a person is, their likes and dislikes, their experiences, abilities and interests, their concerns. If this info is no longer accessible then a person loses the sense of themselves (and who others are) not just the experiences in recall. A person who does not recognize family and friends loses their own identity too. But someone with the inability to form new memories would not be able to form multiple identities either. That is a disruption of normal memory functioning, not what happens when someone loses access to their previous memories.
So, it is possible that Trump has dementia but it is highly unlikely he has DID along with it. Somerby's suggestion makes no sense in the context of how the disorder works functionally.
There is a tendency for people who are ignorant of psychology, neuroscience and behavioral disorders to want to mock what they don't understand. Somerby may be trying to be funny or satirical but he is mostly making a fool of himself with this stuff. Mary Trump, who has professional training, has never suggested Trump has DID. She said he is a malignant narcissist with anti-social tendencies, just as Bandy Lee did. This idea about multiple personalities is something Somerby pulled out of his ass. Mocking people by applying medical diagnoses to them is demeaning to those who are actually mentally ill, and thus something good decent people avoid doing. That has never stopped Somerby, any more than it stopped Trump from mocking that reporter with the disability, or Biden's speech defect or his poopy pants shuffle (which is little different than the way Trump himself goes down airplane steps or ramps). Not correct, not nice, not funny, not even worth typing, Somerby.
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ReplyDeleteYou should have deleted the other one too. Has someone new taken over your nym? You aren't usually so grossly callous and unempathetic. That is Cecelia's gig.
DeleteDiC has always been a nasty bitchy little cunt troll.
DeleteAgree.
DeleteCecelia is gone.
DeleteYup.
DeleteAnonymouse 2:08pm, almost gone, but on the mend.
DeleteAnonymouse 12:32pm, it’s typical that anonymices have the insight of rust, but thanks for defending me.
Delete@12:32 was not defending you. Maybe you should take a little more time so you can recover fully.
DeleteAnonymouse 6:23pm, oh, but she was.
DeleteHow is calling you lacking in empathy a "defense"?
DeleteLearn to read and reason- “grossly callous and unempathetic” Booyah!
DeleteDamn, thought Cecelia got sick and died, but he is back.
DeleteAnd still not making any sense.
DeleteBob says Trump is nuts because he's not upset when the world is coming undone. But, Is the world really coming undone? Maybe Bob is nuts to be upset when the world is not coming undone. Time will tell.
ReplyDeleteHow dare you ask whether the world is coming undone when many people have lost their jobs, some innocent people have been shipped to prison in El Salvador, people in Gaza are being forced to move out, deaths of children and adults occurred when aid was abruptly terminated, and so on! For those people, their world has definitely come undone, through no fault of their own. Three children have died of measles and hundreds have come down with an extinct disease that Trump revived.
DeleteTrump's job is to defend the constitution and enforce our laws, supervise the executive branch and make life better for Americans. He has done none of that. That's why the world has come undone for many people. That doesn't make Trump nuts -- it makes him evil. Nuts would have to meet legal criteria for escaping responsibility for one's actions. Those do not apply to Trump.
Somerby has been showing signs of decline since 2015. He doesn't publish health reports any more than Trump does, so who knows what is causing their obvious cognitive decline.
This is a very good point. The world is not coming undone by historical standards. The awareness of every incident in the world and the pace of technology enabling this gives those inclined toward hysteria the feeling that it is. Democrats are inclined toward hysteria.
DeleteTrump has psychological endurance of a kind no one has ever seen be it his business career or his political opponents corruptly abusing power to try to imprison him for years. Now he has the added benefit of having been shot in the head to put things in perspective.
Actually Trump shared results of his annual health examination yesterday https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trumps-health-undergoes-latest-physical/story?id=120712850
DeleteNo, he made a statement about his health but he has not yet released any details. Leavitt says that is coming soon. Here is what Trump said:
Delete"President Donald Trump told reporters he "got every answer right," on a cognitive test during his annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One after the physical, Trump said he thinks he did well and that he believed the full report would be released Sunday.
He did not share many other specific details from the exam -- which was the first of his second term. He said the exam showed a "good heart, a good soul, very good soul."
Does that sound specific to you, David?
When that cognitive exam is administered, the examiner tells the patient that every answer they got is correct, with praise such as "very good," to avoid upsetting someone who is doing poorly and to give them the best chance to do well on the test. The results come at the end in the form of a score, which Trump has never reported. They perhaps didn't tell him what it was.
DeleteWhen Trump talks about that mental status exam, he often rattles off five words, which are obviously not the 5 provided to him to memorize during the test. I know that because the words Trump states are related to each other (as man and woman are related, TV and radio are related), whereas a memory test is devised to avoid having associated words prime each other, making the memory task less difficult and more subject to an individual person's prior experiences. So Trump made up the 5 words he uses as a sample in his speeches. I find myself wondering whether he also made up the 5 words he responded with on the actual test, totally unable to remember any of the 5 words given to him by the examiner. If so, the examiner would reply "very good" or "correct" and then go on to the next question, even if Trump had recalled none of the original five words.
A person who was aware of how such tests work would never brag about his responses the way Trump keeps doing. If you watch doctor shows, the surgeon strokes a patient's foot saying "did you feel anything?" The patient replies "no" and the doctor sets downt he foot and says "good, good" even though we all know the patient is paralyzed. That's what is going on with Trump's cognitive test. We have no idea whether he is doing well of not, and it is likely, not just possible, that he is flunking it.
So, when a person has lost their job for no stated reason and probably their house because they can't make the payments, and they have to take their kids out of school and change their entire lifestyle, they are just being hysterical?
DeleteDid FDR tell people to suck it up during the Great Depression, because at other points in history far more people were suffering far worse than them?
The fall in the stock market occurring with Trump's tariffs is historic, both in the % of decline, the number of points it fell, and in the $ losses suffered by investors. Billionaires won't mind, but those with pension plans and 401K and investments for old age are seriously hurt, whether their losses are historic in a long-term sense or not.
David perhaps doesn't recall the way the stock market declined in 1929. People jumped out of office building windows because they were financially ruined. Or maybe he just doesn't care.
Trump inherited nearly half a billion dollars from his abusive, racist father, yet Trump's business acumen led him to throw all that money away on failed business, achieving a record 6 bankruptcies.
DeleteThere is a common thread connecting people like Trump, Musk, Maher, and Somerby: they are all obsessed with dominance and lack any sense of integrity. These are grifters, and in Trump and Musk's cases, corrupt criminals.
The wealth inequality we live under now has surpassed that of the robber baron age, and worse, the modern iteration does not even produce useful things, since they are mostly financiers.
Republican accusations are always just projections/confessions. It is the Republicans that are running around like headless chickens, fearing immigrants eating our pets and transgenders are taking over society.
These are lost souls trapped by their wounded psyches, trapped in a cycle of generational abuse and trauma; pitying them (or their abused children) will do nothing to diminish their power.
@12:58 People who have done nothing wrong get laid or or fired every day. Big companies routinely lay off entire departments based on a business decision. What about the thousands of oil pipeline workers who lost their jobs? I lost my job twice. Once because the company was losing money. Once because the company I worked for entirely shut down.
DeleteThe Government is spending more than it can afford.
We know this because they had to borrow a whopping $2 trillion in the prior fiscal. The 2025 fiscal year, which began last October, is looking even worse. Government workers are being laid off because the government can't afford to keep them. Or because they're not needed to fulfill needed duties.
I'm sympathetic to government worker who are losing their jobs. But, no more sympatric than to all the other who also lost their jobs.
@1:04 Trump inherited $0.5 trillion and is now worth $4.1 trillion. That is hardly a failure.
DeleteRunning a government has little relation to running a business.
DeleteTrump has a track record of being bad at both.
Nearly a third of our entire debt comes from Trump's single first term.
1:15 nobody cares whether you are sympathetic or not, since all you have on offer is misinformation and bad faith arguments, thus relegating your nonsense to irrelevancy.
He lies about what he is worth and we have no idea how much of his supposed "worth" (note, not net worth) is encumbered by debt.
DeleteBut look at Musk. He too inherited money and is now the richest man in the world. Does that make him a good person? Does he take care of his kids? Does he make sense when he talks? Is he attractive? How does his family feel about him? Or is he a fucking Nazi?
Holy cow! Trump became the first trillionaire and nobody even mentioned it before dickhead in Cal.
DeleteGet help, dickhead.
Trump's inheritance was wasted on failed businesses, therefore Trump is a complete failure.
DeleteTrump's current worth (which is not $4 trillion lol) is all on paper, Trump is leveraged to the hilt, Trump OWES more than he OWNS, and what Trump owns he got through grifting.
Trump wants to destroy America in order to benefit himself and a handful of his cronies.
Hardly something to cheer on.
Trump is un American, and so is anyone that supports him, they are unpatriotic traitors to our great nation.
"Trump inherited $0.5 trillion and is now worth $4.1 trillion."
DeleteHow do we judge a man, DiC? In dollars and sense?
"Actually Trump shared results of his annual health examination"
DeleteNope, he didn't share his results. He shared what he claimed to be the results. These are most likely 2 very different things.
"People who have done nothing wrong get laid or or fired every day."
DeleteThe first one, please.
Hector - I judge Trump on several aspects in a 1 - 10 scale
DeleteBusinessman - 10
Candidate - 10
Performance in office - 7
Mensch - 1
David in Cal,
DeleteBob Marley was a 10 in shooting Sheriffs, but Micah X. Johnson is still atop the leader board in fighting government tyranny with 2nd Amendment rights.
David, historians disagree with your assessments of Trump. They have been rating him as worst president based on performance in office. It is hard to know what kind of candidate he might have been without help from Putin and Musk. No one considers him a good businessman, among financial experts and the business press. They all know how badly he has performed. You left out the category Grifter. He might get a higher rating there. You have to be more of a mensch to be considered a good president, so I think your ratings are messed up.
DeleteBeing able to read a teleprompter on a reality show is not a good businessman attribute DiC. Bankrupting 8 companies and hiding money behind LLC's and whatnot is not a sign of a successful businessman. Winning a campaign on racism in America is not a sign of campaign strength, but a sign of taking advantage of the worst instincts of
Deletepeople like you.
David in Cal - "People who have done nothing wrong get laid" - I wish.
DeleteLaid off
DeleteD in C - you must have meant "billions" not "trillions." Even with "billions" I'm not sure your numbers are accurate.
DeleteDavid Pakman suggested yesterday that Amazon is being pressure by the govt (via threat of cancelling contracts) to stop selling books that are critical of Trump. If that is true then it constitutes govt censorship of free speech, enacted by Republicans. He and his lawyers are investigating.
ReplyDeleteTaking this a step further, if the govt can pressure Amazon into doing their bidding, then none of us is safe in our own homes because Alexa is always listening. That puts us in 1984 territory. Perhaps Somerby is right to never mention any names anymore in his essays. But better would be to just take that a step further and stop posting. We are being advised not to obey in advance (as Somerby appears to be doing), but it would be foolish for a man Somerby's age to wind up in El Salvador over something like whether Trump is crazy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GtEymx55dnU
For years now, Somerby has been pushing an agenda centered on capitulating to Republicans.
DeleteExcept that he hasn't. Otherwise you're spot on.
DeleteYes, he has. He calls us elites who care about things that seem crazy to Red America (such as civil rights). He tells us to stop being so blue. Let go of the things we care about, listen more to Others and watch Fox because they have better facts.
DeleteThat adds up to capitulation to me.
"let go of the things we care about" - yes, the silly ones.
Delete"listen more to Others" - yes.
watch Fox because they have better facts." - Nope.
Exactly, except the things Somerby wants blue American to let go of are not silly things but important ones, such as human rights for all. It should be obvious that Trump is rolling back civil rights achievements since Jim Crow. He ran on it.
DeleteListen more to Others -- not if that means capitulation instead of just listening. At heart, I think Somerby wants the left to mock the right less, but the right keeps behaving in ridiculous ways. I don't see anyone lightening up on the stupidity of the right. If they don't want to be laughed at, they should be less stupid.
Case in point today. The new Dept of Education Cabinet member doesn't know the difference between A1 sauce and AI the computer software. She confused the two in several separate speeches during the past week, talking about A1 in the early grades in school (pronouncing it A-one). We could listen, but how do we not laugh at stuff like that?
By better facts, Somerby means that Fox viewers hear different stories than at MSNBC or CNN. That is true, but the stories exclusive to Fox tend to be atrocities manufactured for Fox viewers, often with dubious facts or entirely untrue (like the Haitians eating pets). It is better to read Ground News to find out what the right is hearing that the left doesn't know, but part of Somerby's problem is that he believes the debunked and incorrect stuff spread by Fox, such as the story about the jogger murdered by a guy who was supposedly an illegal immigrant but was in fact legally in the USA under a program that Trump enacted during his first term. But Somerby got very worked up about that murder, just like Fox intends for its viewers to do. Somerby's tendency to respond with emotional outrage over such stories, as manipulated, is what makes some of us suspect he is right wing, not liberal as he claims. Somerby went bonkers over George Zimmerman, argued that George Floyd deserved to be killed for passing a fake $20 bill, and excused Kyle Rittenhouse as an excitable youth (another lost boy).
If this is what all that Fox viewing and Other-listening has done to Somerby, the rest of us definitely shouldn't follow in his tracks.
And what is the evidence that Somerby wants blues to "let go" of human rights for all?
DeletePlease note that you did a five paragraph critique of Bob without once quoting him.
Bob's defenders tend to quote him; his detractors not so much,
Human rights include women's rights, gay rights, trans rights, as well as rights for minorities and immigrants. Somerby has stated many times that calling racists racist and misogynists sexist makes them angry and alienates them from voting Democratic (as if they were going to anyway). Somerby has been on the wrong side of issues concerning civil rights (such as BLM and the protests over the killing of George Floyd) and women's rights, where he argues women don't really have a pay gap and #metoo movement is over. He has also argued that black students no longer have real racism to complain about.
DeleteFinding Somerby quotes is a waste of time because Somerby defenders will not admit that they say what they obviously do. Instead, I have been calling out these Somerby opinions as they occur. There was a long period where Somerby told blues to stop calling others racist/sexist nearly every day. Identifying sexism/racism as it occurs is key to fighting racism.
Weren't you here when Somerby sided with Republicans who were saying that if the killer of Laken Riley had never been allowed into the US, her murder would have been prevented? Somerby was then arguing that Harris and Biden were not taking border issues seriously enough (a right wing position), like the Republicans ignoring the real efforts of Harris to stop border crossings (by dealing with donor countries). Somerby supported the Republican position that immigrants are criminals and the way to stop their crime is to keep out all immigrants. His position on immigration was the Republican one, and he kept telling blues to switch to a stronger anti-immigrant position. That is abandoning support for the rights of legal immigrants and the founding of our country on immigrant labor, which continues to be important to our economy and culture. That too is part of the legacy of the Democratic party, whereas Republicans and Somerby have been nativists. Somerby cannot claim to be liberal/blue while holding Republican positions on immigration (immigrants are criminals who should all be kept out of our country). Somerby said right wingers had legitimate concerns about immigration and Democrats should have emphasized border issues more (Harris and Biden). That is right wing.
DeleteHuh. Two long responses. Still not a single quote from Somerby. Same old same old.
DeleteThat is a lie.
DeleteWell, if there were any quotes, they weren't surrounded by quotation marks. Maybe some remedial punctuation is in order.
DeleteRead the blog, then read the comments. That will give you the context.
DeleteI do. The context isn't what you say it is.
DeleteIf you think that, we aren’t going to agree, so stop making a nuisance of yourself.
DeleteAre Mao and David in Cal really Republicans?
DeleteThey both seem way too smart to vote for a political party that only cares about bigotry.
"Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of failing to pause strikes after US envoy leaves Moscow"
ReplyDeleteNot to worry. We're not at Day One yet, are we?
Unpossible, DiC listed this as one of his Dear Leaders Great Accomplishments).
DeleteBill Maher went to the White House for a meeting arranged by Kid Rock (who is a conservative). Maher says he discussed some of his opinions with Trump, who merely smiled slight (Maher's words) in response. From that, Maher said, repeatedly, that "He [Trump] gets it." Note that Trump is not described as expressing any agreement. Maher concludes this from Trump's failure to contest his statements and from his slight smile.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this was a set up. Maher arrived with a list of the insults Trump has gifted him over the years, and Trump "graciously" signed it. When Maher asked Trump about his lawsuit, Trump said he loved his father, but he was otherwise tight-lipped, making no response. From all this agreement and Trump's good table manners, Maher calls Trump "gracious and measured" as a host. Apparently Maher expected an orangutan and got Chauncey Gardiner instead. Trump didn't shout at him and those faint smiles apparently carried a lot of weight for Maher. What does he think adults talk about at dinner?
As Maher was led out of the White House, he could hear Trump explaining to the other guests: "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden." Kid Rock, upon being interviewed, said he felt a lot better about the tariffs and his own stock portfolio after hearing Trump's wise words.
I expect that the 2024 Democratic ticket will be Gavin Newsom and Bill Maher, running to make bros great again. Maher clearly helped play himself, but he wouldn't have attended such a dinner if he didn't want to increase his HBO audience, now that liberal fans find him as repugnant as Elon Musk. I hope it was worth selling out, even for a slime ball like Maher. Somerby routinely complains about Gutfeld but now he will have to fluff Maher, who thinks jokes about Asians being bad drivers are even funnier when his studio audience groans.
Pretty sure Maher misinterpreted those "slight smiles", in reality those were manifestations of Trump crapping himself over how easily he can shit on America and get away with it, with cowards like Maher carrying his water.
DeleteTiedrich says:
Delete"Bill Maher is very very very sad right now.
here’s why: last week, he visited Motel-a-Lago and sat down to dinner with Crazy Uncle Fascistpants — and afterwards, gushed about how Dear Leader was “gracious and measured.”
Bill assumed he would be be hailed as a Great Peacemaker for Our Times for normalizing a fascist shithead. instead, people are rightfully calling him out for being a complicit tool.
“You can hate me for it, but I’m not a liar,” Maher told his audience. “Trump was gracious and measured. And why isn’t that in other settings? I don’t know, and I can’t answer, and it’s not my place to answer. I’m just telling you what I saw, and I wasn’t high.”
Bill, you can fuck straight off with this woe is me nonsense. read the fucking room. America is being torn apart right now. people are being disappeared off the streets. the social safety net is being blowtorched to oblivion.
the last thing we need is some useful idiot waxing rhapsodic about how the monster responsible for it all is gracious and polite.
for fuck’s sake, of course Donny was gracious and polite. that’s how getting conned by a conman works, Billy. Donny was carnival-barking you, telling you exactly what you wanted to hear — and you pounced on the bait like some backwoods rube who just fell off the turnip truck. step right up and win a prize! all it will cost you is your credibility.
smug, whiny and easily-conned is no way to go through life, son."
Kid Rock, upon being interviewed, said he felt a lot better about the tariffs and his own stock portfolio after hearing Trump's wise words.
DeleteGee, that is certainly a relief. I have been concerned about Kid Rock's stock portfolio for weeks now. Fuck Maher too.
That was a slightly modified quote from the film Being There (Peter Sellers plays Chauncey Gardiner, a Forest Gump like success because he speaks in platitudes that people choose to interpret consistent with their own beliefs). Kid Rock is certainly a hanger-on who eats the crumbs that fall from Trump's table. Marjorie Taylor Greene was the one who made the hugest killing during Trump's pump and dump over tariffs, because her greed overpowers any concern she might be recognized as corrupt as she engages in blatant insider trading. Trump told his supporters "Now is the time to buy" hours before pausing his tariffs.
DeleteI suspect that Bill Maher was there to audition for a gig on 4/20. He perhaps argued that he could plausibly call it Marijuana Day thus disguising it as a Hitler's Birthday celebration for Elon and the neo-Nazis.
DeleteTrump is already breaking the law in many ways, as enumerated by Hartmann:
Delete"Would the law constrain him? Apparently not.
— Trump’s tariff plan is illegal (only Congress has the power to impose tariffs), and Charles Koch and Leonard Leo are suing him to undo the tariffs, but he doesn’t care; he’s going ahead with them anyway.
— Trump’s deportations without due process are illegal, but he doesn’t care; he’s carrying them out anyway.
— Trump’s taking millions from the Saudis for his golf tournament this past weekend is illegal under the emoluments clause of the Constitution, but he doesn’t care; he’s taking their cash anyway.
— Trump’s hustling Tesla cars in front of the White House is an illegal violation of the Hatch Act, but he doesn’t care; he did it anyway and not a single Republican dared challenge him.
— Trump’s hatchet man Musk’s wholesale firing of government employees and shutting down agencies created and funded by Congress is illegal, but they’re both gleefully ignoring the law and the Constitution.
We’re long past the moment when our first felon president slipped into his criminal mode; the question now is how far he’ll go once he gets his Hitler’s Birthday present in roughly two weeks."
Somerby’s blog deleted the comment explaining that Trump has asked Hegseth & Noem for the authority to declare himself able to set aside Posse Comitatus using the Insurrection Act, with an opinion due by 4/20. Why that date?
DeleteThis is how Trump's govt is already censoring free speech and scientific inquiry:
ReplyDelete"Co-authors working on a scientific paper abruptly pulled its publication because it was a paper on evolution -- and feared retaliation from President Donald Trump's administration.
The paper “was months of work, but at the same time I know the current situation, and I’m scared for my friends in the U.S.,” said a European evolutionary biologist speaking anonymously for fear if retaliation. “I told them, ‘If you think it is too dangerous, don’t do it.’”
The co-authors, who are legal immigrants, told fellow researchers they feared deportation for daring to publish a paper on evolution, according to Washington Post reporter Mark Johnson. One of the co-authors had just lost a job because of a canceled government grant and the other feared more canceled grants for even broaching the topic in a nation riddled with anti-science. Both worried they might lose their residency if their names appeared on a “controversial article” despite being in the U.S. legally, Johnson writes."
https://www.alternet.org/anti-science-trump/
I am an ape.
DeleteWatch out or you might be deported to El Salvador.
DeleteThis is why Kamala Harris lost in 2024:
ReplyDelete"Sidelined and Still Processing her Defeat, Kamala Harris Looks for a Way Back In"
This is the way the NY Times frames Harris's decision about whether to run for Governor of California (where Newsom is termed out) or try again to win the presidency. These are both major office and Harris would most likely win easily should she run for governor, based on her previous service and political successes in her home state, the relative lack of stature of opponents such as Katie Porter, and the fact that Republicans have so little strength in the state.
The New York Times makes Harris should like Carrie at the Prom. Unpopular, awkward and shy, trying find a way to get others to let her in. This is the fraudulent way the paper covered her presidential campaign too (a loss for which she alone is being blamed when the wealthy Trump-fearing owners of important media in NYC and at the LA Times torpedoed her).
The media is manufacturing a campaign against Democrats in advance of any election. Saying that Democrats are like Harris, disliked, extreme, bizarre and out of touch with voters. None of that was true in 2024 and none of it is true now, but the right is working very hard to portray Blue America that way, even while Trump is destroying the government and our institutions.
Perhaps the right is still attacking Harris because she might run again. Or maybe they know that Trump will soon be impeached and the election may come sooner than we think. Anyone who doubts that Harris can beat Vance is as crazy as Trump. Republicans know that there is pretty much no one left on their side who can survive the dirt that will be revealed when Trump is tried and convicted (after the midterms, when Dems regain control of Congress). Fear of future loss is a likely explanation for why the right wing media (NY Times) is preemptively striking against Harris in these kinds of gendered terms, when she is doing nothing more than considering which office to seek next. That they fear her is a good sign for Democrats, whether Harris runs or not.
If Newsom keeps chasing the bro vote, I for one will not be voting for him. Why? Women are under attack by Trump's anti-DEI and pro-patriarchy dismantling of the gains against sexism. When Newsom courts the bros, he sides with the patriarchy against women, who are not only half of the electorate but more than half of Democratic voters. Newsom needs to rethink this.
should like = "sound like"
DeleteDemocrats are the last stand against Trump's authoritarianism and demented incompetence. Right wingers who are recognizing their mistake have nowhere else to go, politically speaking. Idiots like Fetterman and Newsom, who think they need to move toward the center to pick up those votes, aren't thinking clearly. There are only two choices: (1) crazy, (2) sane. Democrats who make themselves look crazier to appeal to lost Republicans are making a mistake. Their sanity is their strength and they should not dilute it.
DeleteI agree with @6:02 about CA, although I don't like it. CA is so heavily Dem that the Dem will win the general election. Republican consider Harris to be incompetent, in addition to having radical views, but that won't matter in CA. The primary election is the election. Dems will choose the next Governor.
DeleteHarris was so radical she campaigned with Liz Cheney.
DeleteHarris running for president again seems like a bad idea. Democrats are very unpopular right now. They need to reinvent themselves with new blood IMO.
Delete(The Democratic Party's popularity is at an all-time low.)
DeleteThe Democratic Party candidate hasn't won the popular vote in 7 of the last 9 Presidential elections, in years.
DeleteTrump has never won the popular vote. Republicans last won the popular vote (not just the electoral college) in the elections of George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush's second term (after 9/11). Barack Obama won the popular vote in both of his terms, and Joe Biden won the popular vote. So it is unclear what you are saying.
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_elections_by_popular_vote_margin
"When Newsom courts the bros"
DeleteBy talking to the bros, is Newsom courting them?
Yes
DeleteThe Democratic Party is in a world of hurt. Their last President was the most unpopular president of modern times who would wander off into trees and fields as the world watched (when he wasn't mistaking the president of Mexico for the president of Israel or rambling nonsensically in important debates). Now they are stuck with favorability ratings at an all time low and even considering re-running the world-salad, drunk-aunt acting hose-bag who lost the last election for them. Their disfunction is sad.
DeleteAny Democrat, even Biden, could beat whichever unfortunate Republican has to run after Trump destroys our economy.
DeleteThat may be the plan for insider Democrats. They wouldn't have to change anything or take a hard look at why they are unpopular. But that was the plan in 2024 - that they could skate along without addressing these problems b/c Trump was going to lose after being convicted for multiple felonies relating to altering business records. How did that work out? Not well. It's hard for an entrenched, calcified, corrupted institution that is dripping in money to change. It may not be possible for them to change which may be why the plan could be as you suggest: don't worry about or consider changing or adjusting from being the most monumentally unpopular and disliked party in modern history and depend on exterior circumstances to be so poor that voters don't have any other choice. Which would be an ignoble, lazy, cynical and horrible plan. But it makes sense. I hear what you are saying. That is consistent with their actions.
DeleteThe most important thing for Democrats is to not run a woman or a fag. That would be a mistake.
DeleteDemocrats are not going to take advice on political decisions from right wingers or bigots.
DeleteDemocrats can run on Biden's record.
DeleteRunning on the record of the most unpopular, disliked President in modern history would be an interesting decision. It's interesting to me that the current iteration of Democrats is not capable of changing. Running the same old people in the same old way - and on Biden's records etc. really the only choice they have. This is institutional rot that comes from entrenched corruption and graft. Not having to run against Trump will be a great thing for them. That will help them. Let's see how it all plays out!!
DeleteIf I were them I would try not to run a woman and definitely not run a homo. Maybe a Mexican. Whoever it is, they have to be masculine and exhibit hetero masculine traits. If it has to be a woman, they have to be ugly and come across like they are the meanest, craziest bitch on the planet. A fag has no chance. Leadership at that level is all about masculinity.
DeleteThat's why Hillary would be good now. She's very ugly and comes across like a total bitch. People would vote for that.
DeleteI didn't say Biden would run again. I said that Democrats could run on his record of achievements. Voters will recognize that things were much better during Biden's term, as will be obvious after Republicans destroy the economy and try to deport US citizens, and elderly don't get their social security checks. Winning will be easy peasy.
DeleteHarris was not one of the "same old people" when she was elected VP. I wonder whether Trump could have won without Musk's $280 million infusion of cash into his campaign. I still do not understand how Republican voters could have elected a rapist with 34 felony convictions. Look how quickly Trump and Musk threw away whatever voter support they had that helped Trump win!
The hetero masculine traits of obesity, blow-dried hair, orange makeup and general disconnect with reality. Are those the ones?
DeleteLook at the cute scummy trolls Somerby now attracts to his blog.
Delete12:47 Well said.
DeleteTrump won because Harris wasn't a strong enough candidate to beat him and in her moment of truth when she was asked what she would do different from Biden she said "nothing". She lost the election that day.
DeleteA stronger candidate could have beat him. Maybe get the governor of Pennsylvania. If they can differentiate themselves from what the party has been since 2012, they have a good chance
Looks like some maggot tried to kill Gov. Shapiro last night.
DeleteHARRISBURG, Pa. -- Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family were evacuated overnight from the official governor's residence after someone set fire to the building, police said Sunday.
If you are wondering why voters elected someone with 34 felony convictions - you need to understand that the 34 felony convictions can't be explained in a simple way to voters and that the 34 felony convictions were seen by voters as not being from an honest prosecution.
DeleteIt's as if Democrats think being able to say '34 felony convictions' is some kind of magic potion without having to justify what the 34 felony convictions were for and why they should prevent someone from voting for him.
Why is political violence always right wing?
DeleteWithout cleaning house and a huge rebrand, things are going to be very difficult for Democrats.
DeleteHow could anyone have watched the trial and thought Trump was innocent? The trial explained what the convictions were for. I think that suggests that Republican voters were too lazy and/or stupid to follow their own candidate through an important legal proceeding. The honesty of the prosecution was in the evidence and the fact that even the Trump supporters on the jury convicted him.
DeleteI went to Memphis last month and was surprised by the amount of negative things being said about Trump even by Southerners who used to support him. Out loud!
Look how hard the right is working today to convince readers here that Democrats need a rebrand or are in trouble. That's what a smear campaign looks like. The NY Times has been doing the same, trying to spread the meme that no one likes Democrats any more. But the ONLY people who are pushing back against Trump and fighting against DOGE's mistakes, trying to protect freedoms and save social security, are DEMOCRATS. The disappointment among Democrats that our own party hasn't been fighting hard enough against Trump is starting to dissipate with the increasing strength of resistance. As Trump falters, Democrats will get credit for bringing him down, and that will carry the next Democratic candidate into office, no matter who it is (unless Newsom blows it by trying to kiss up to the right wing).
DeleteThe more trolls her use the word "fag," the more Democrats are reminded of who we are -- the people who fought for human rights for all people, including the right to not be casually insulted by Republican scum. Trolls using that word perhaps imagine they are rallying Somerby's right wing readers. How many would there be here, if Somerby were actually the liberal he claims to be? For the rest of us, that word is a reminder of what we stand for -- the right of everyone to live their lives without persecution based on the way they were born. Keep it up assholes -- you are helping our side, not yours.
"How could anyone have watched the trial and thought Trump was innocent?"
DeleteInnocent of what exactly?
Peter Thiel, a major Republican donor and benefactor of JD Vance, is openly gay. Gutfeld probably forgets to mock Thiel.
DeleteFags have the right to live their lives without persecution based on the way they were born. I support for them to suck all the cock they want. I would just be careful about running one for president. I could be wrong though. The right one could maybe win if they projected enough masculinity. Winning elections at that level is about masculinity. Leadership is about masculinity and masculine traits.
DeleteMaybe Tom Ford?
Delete"I went to Memphis last month and was surprised by the amount of negative things being said about Trump even by Southerners"
DeleteMy God. The geographical ignorance. Memphis is blue and has been for a long time, idiot.
"The trial explained what the convictions were for. "
DeleteBut you can't here, in a simple way, explain what the convictions were for. That was the problem and why they didn't resonate with voters who felt the country was going in the wrong direction.
Not bothering. This question has been answered many times at this blog, so you are just trolling. There is no election coming up and Trump is not running again, so what is the point?
DeleteTN (where Memphis is) has blue cities but the state itself is red, including the state legislature. It went for Trump in the last 3 elections. Wingnuts in TN are nuttier than elsewhere. Usually I see a lot of confederate flags there, but this time, as I said, a lot of people were badmouthing Trump. That has not been true on prior trips.
Thanks for the update, ignoramus.
DeleteThe ignoramus is the guy pretending TN is a blue state simply because there are blue voters in the major cities in ALL of the red states in the US.
Delete"Not bothering." If it's a 'bother' to tell explain the conviction, then you've made the 1:45's point for him.
DeleteAs I said, that has been done here many times.
DeleteRepublican voters aren't stupid. But they do want you to think that, so you ignore the fact that they crave bigotry like a child craves candy.
Delete"Donald Trump took his rivalry with Barack Obama to the walls of the White House Friday, replacing a portrait of the former US president with one of himself surviving an assassination attempt.
ReplyDeleteThe 78-year-old Republican moved the picture of the Democrat, the only Black US president, to the opposite side of the famed residence's grand entrance hallway.
The move is a highly unusual one for a sitting president, as most must wait to leave office before getting their portrait hung in the historic 200-year-old building."
Is it that Trump dislikes Obama and doesn't want to look at him every day, or is it that he can't stand not seeing his own picture there? Or maybe both. The pettiness and the lack of respect for tradition suggest that Trump doesn't care about anything except himself, but we already knew that. Obama is a bigger person and won't care about this kind of childishness, but regression to more childlike and impulsive behavior IS a symptom of dementia, so those around Trump should be concerned about this kind of stuff.
Trump is insanely jealous of Obama's popularity.
DeleteThe only thing Trump is more jealous of, is Jared Kushner's penis.
The only thing Trump is more jealous of, is Jared Kushner's $3.6Billion gifted him from Qatar, KSA, and UAE. So fucking jealous of that shit!
Delete“Pity the child, we've long advised. Doing so may help you take power away from the adult.”
ReplyDeleteI am genuinely baffled by this. I wish Somerby would expound on this. What does he thinks this means practically speaking?
Incredible, electrifying walkout for President Trump and Elon at UFC314 in Miami.
ReplyDeleteToo bad we don’t have an actual president.
DeleteIsn't Bajram Begaj your president, 11:18 PM?
DeleteI was born and still reside in the USA, so Putin is my President.
Delete
DeleteShrug. Yes, you're a weirdo, Soros-bot. Just like every other Soros-bot. That's not new.
An utterly trumptarded thing to say.
DeleteTrump was a big talker during his election campaign, but of course he folded when given the opportunity to replace corporate elites with the homeless. Probably because corporate elites have more money to bribe him.
ReplyDeleteIt's okay, though, because his voters love his bigotry.
If you count assets and liabilities, most homeless people are far richer than Trump.
DeleteAnd they’re better looking, too.
DeleteSomerby never did get around to writing a remembrance of Kevin Drum. Many of the others who began political blogging in the same time period, have done so. A few are listed and linked here:
ReplyDeletehttps://vagabondscholar.blogspot.com/2025/03/kevin-drum-19582025.html
It would be inappropriate for someone who has made such a sharp right turn to remember one of the old gang.
Bob is a disgrace to the internet.
DeleteIf Somerby were being honest about the dangers of technocracy, he would have mentioned Curtis Yarvin:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.emptywheel.net/2025/04/07/introduction-to-series-on-curtis-yarvin/
Instead, he gave us a shitpile of misdirection.
Trump has rosacea, which he tries to disguise using fake suntan, making him look orange. While there are other causes of rosacea, it is frequently associated with alcoholism. It is a vascular problem, but there was no mention in Trump's health report of high blood pressure or heart problems. The disclosure of minor issues does not preclude concealment of more serious health issues.
ReplyDeleteObservers are increasingly mentioning the D-word -- Dementia. Even Republicans suspect he has no end game and they worry about his claim to make decisions by following his instincts. No politician in their right mind would say that out loud.
ReplyDeleteDOGE has started using its access to govt data to target individuals, as described by Heather Cox Richardson:
ReplyDeletehttps://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-11-2025
Among those being targeted are minors (age 13) and US citizens being asked to self-deport, told that their temporary admission to the US was being revoked (remember, these are citizens, people born in the USA). Steve M. describes the emails being sent to people "mistakenly" by DOGE staff embedded in govt depts:
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2025/04/now-theyre-sending-deportation-messages.html
Politico says:
"Key DOGE engineers now embedded at DHS include Kyle Schutt, Edward Coristine, (aka “Big Balls”) and Mark Elez, according to their government email addresses. At least two others, Aram Moghaddassi and Payton Rehling also have access to DHS data, as DOGE fingerprints are spread throughout DHS, including Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure and Security Agency....
Their first mission: implement parole terminations for 6,300 undocumented immigrants who either have criminal records or are on the FBI’s terrorist watchlist. That effort required coordinating with the Social Security Administration to have their Social Security numbers effectively canceled by adding them to a database that tracks dead people, the New York Times and the Washington Post first reported."
If a person's social security status is canceled because they are included in a "dead file" then their checks will stop. If this happens to someone, how do they correct the problem? Some are assuming the emails are a hoax and ignoring them.
This is as bad for individuals as the chaotic tariffs are for businesses.
@1:41 - Most American are thrilled that they're being dealt with. The law requires that all "undocumented" (i.e., illegal) immigrants be deported. Those with criminal records or on a terrorist watchlist should be high priority to deport. Why are these people still here?
DeleteYou need to find the guy to figure out his motive, unless he left a manifesto or grafitti.
DeleteThey are asking citizens to self-deport. Did you miss that part? People burn in the USA.
Deleteborn
DeleteI did miss the word born. The article is puzzling. Why would someone born here be targeted for deporting?
DeleteThat IS the question. It is clearly illegal.
DeleteWhy are you still here, Dave. You should have made aliyah long ago.
Delete@4:20 -- Or the source article might be inaccurate. This article describes the program. It talks about illegal immigrants, but says nothing about targeting people who were born here. https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/social-security-immigrants-trump/6222985/
DeleteThey have a copy of the email because it was sent to native born citizens telling them to self-deport or else. If you read the article, names of such people are given.
DeleteWhat if they were born here? That doesn’t make them citizens. The fourteenth amendment is unconstitutional.
Delete8:12 Congratulations, you win my prize for the dumbest winger troll comment in the history of the intertubes.Take a well deserved victory lap my friend. kudos.
Delete"They have a copy of the email because it was sent to native born citizens telling them to self-deport or else. "
DeleteIf those citizens are too stupid to understand that the email is not addressed to them, then they do need to self-deport.
I could believe that a few of these emails were sent to native born citizens by accident. But native born citizens weren’t targeted. On the contrary, certain people who were not born here were the ones targeted.
DeleteIt doesn’t matter if it was accidental if someone is forced to leave or sent to El Salvador by mistake. Trump is doing nothing to prevent or correct such mistakes. Look at your own initial reaction.
Delete@11:23 The email WAS addressed to them.
Delete@11:47 = I know of only one person who was sent to El Salvador by mistake. But, I agree that Trump has been shamefully resistant to correcting the error and bringing him back.
Delete@ 11:47 PM
DeleteCrime of the century -- you received an email by mistake! Call the cops, Soros-bot. It's 9-1-1.
I know of only every country in the world that had a tariff percentage tacked on them that was mistakenly 4X the amount the proper application of the tariff equation that Trump's crack team applied to them (Russia, of course, excluded). And when the mistake was called to their attention, the geniuses in the White House said nothing.
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DeleteThank you, Soros-bot @12:37 AM, for bringing to our attention another word-salad of yours.
But, I agree that Trump has been shamefully resistant to correcting the error and bringing him back.
DeleteFuck you, Dickhead. The DOJ is ignoring the SC ruling. you have delivered us to a dictator. you can go fuck yourself now.
Antisemitism? Political violence? Just a madman?
ReplyDeletePENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR JOSH SHAPIRO’S HOME SET ON FIRE BY ARSONIST WHILE HIS FAMILY SLEPT: The blaze broke out just hours after the governor posted a picture of his family celebrating the first night of Passover on Saturday
Could have been a secret agent of Pharaoh.
DeleteRemember what your people say, the Jews will not replace us. It is time to lock the doors and hide in your bunker. Sorry.
DeleteI've been away for a while. Can anyone bring me up to speed on all the indictments arising from the fraud DOGE uncovered?
ReplyDeleteIt's a game where trade deals like NAFTA ship jobs overseas and force parents to compete with their teenagers to work for minimum wage at Wal-Mart. That's what happens when the American worker doesn't have a voice at the negotiating table, when leaders change their positions on trade with the politics of the moment, and that's why we need a President who will listen to Main Street not just Wall Street - a President who will stand with workers not just when it's easy, but when it's hard.
ReplyDeleteAnd then the workers vote for Trump.
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