WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2026
Discouraged Dem voters declaim: Have we the people somehow been thrown into a previously unimagined land?
Do we find ourselves living in what might be called the United States of the Kafkaesque? Some such case could almost be made at this point in time!
As in Monday morning's report, so too today. Let's recall who Kafka was, and what his protagonists faced:
Franz Kafka
Franz Kafka (1883 – 1924) was a German-language Jewish Czech writer and novelist born in Prague, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Widely regarded as a major figure of 20th-century literature, his works fuse elements of realism and the fantastique, and typically feature isolated protagonists facing bizarre or surreal predicaments and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic powers. The term Kafkaesque has entered the lexicon to describe situations like those depicted in his writings. His best-known works include the novella The Metamorphosis (1915)...
Go figure! Kafka trafficked in realism, but also in the fantastique!
At any rate, his protagonists typically faced "bizarre or surreal predicaments" and incomprehensible socio-bureaucratic situations. So it was for Gregory Samsa, who awoke one day to find himself transformed:
The Metamorphosis
The Metamorphosis, also translated as The Transformation, is a novella by Franz Kafka published in 1915. One of Kafka's best-known works, The Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa, who wakes to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect and struggles to adjust to this condition...
Plot
Gregor Samsa wakes up one morning to find himself transformed into a "monstrous vermin." He initially considers the transformation to be temporary and slowly ponders the consequences of his metamorphosis. Stuck on his back and unable to get up and leave the bed, Gregor reflects on his job as a traveling salesman and cloth merchant, which he characterizes as being "plagued with ... the always changing, never enduring human exchanges that don't ever become intimate."
And so on from there. If the leading authority can be believed, the circumstances of Samsa's transformation become more and more horrible as the story moves along.
Without question, Samsa awoke to find himself "facing a bizarre and surreal predicament." So, it almost seems, have a group of Democratic voters with whom the New York Times recently spoke.
The Times didn't put a date on its report of those discussions. Based on the contents of the link to this latest America In Focus report, we think the report appeared yesterday morning.
Headline included, here's the start of the overview to the lengthy report:
AMERICA IN FOCUS
‘Show Up for Us’: 13 Democratic Voters on Trump, ICE and Their Frustrations With the Democratic Party
Donald Trump’s second presidency has remade American life in just a year. Many Democrats and others worry about the erosion of civil rights, cuts to the social safety net and the significant, aggressive increase in deportations across the country.
Amid major debates among activists, pundits and elected officials about what direction the party should take, Times Opinion assembled 13 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters to ask how the party is handling the moment, what changes and reprioritizations they want to see, and what kinds of Democrats are standing out.
And so on, briefly, from there. Soon, there came the transcript of what those thirteen voters had said. To our ear, it almost sounds like some of those voters now find themselves in a Kafka-adjacent land:
KATIE, 36: I wake up in the morning and I look at my phone, and it’s another headline. I saw something on Facebook the other day that was from The Onion. And I had to double-check to make sure that that’s where it was from because, the reality that we’re living in right now, it’s hard to tell the difference between real life and satire, which is not a good place to be in.
[...]
JOHN, 43: If you asked me this 12 years ago, it was something no one really talked about. And now it’s a daily conversation...It’s like, daily, you could have three or four things that you would never even think 10, 15 years ago would happen.
[...]
MICHAEL, 56: It’s worse than I expected. I thought it would be bad, but it’s going even further than I thought he would. In his first term there were some people around [President Trump] who tried to rein him in, and now he’s just unhinged and off the rails, and everybody around him is pushing him in this direction.
[...]
KAI, 36: Yeah, I didn’t think it would be this bad because I thought there’d be checks and balances, like we were always told.
In truth, it doesn't sound nearly as bad as what happened to Gregory Samsa. But as we scrolled through the comments by those Democratic voters, we almost thought we heard hints of the previously unimaginable—of the near Kafkaesque.
For the record, the Times spoke to thirteen voters who hail from Blue America. This latest interview piece doesn't report the thoughts and impression which currently obtain among voters in Red America.
Voters in Red America have genuine complaints and concerns of their own. But as those of us in Blue America try to understand what's currently happening here in this land, our personal view would be this:
We think the current situation substantially involves matters of what was once known as "mental illness."
According to the leading authority, that term is falling out of favor. That said, the medical situations to which it referred remain a part of human capability and human experience.
That said, our Blue elites have agreed that such topics must never be discussed in a political context. Also, the syndrome once known as "mental illness" is too complex for our unimpressive Blue elites to be able to discuss constructively, even if they decided to try.
As we noted in Monday's report, we flashed on Kafka that morning. When that happened, we weren't thinking of the near-Kafkaesque state of affairs into which our country has fallen.
We were thinking of something else—something you might call "Kafka's hoof." For today, we'll only apologize for wandering down this current road as the zone keeps getting flooded.
We've been watching the ubiquitous pseudo-coverage of the Nancy Guthrie disappearance over the past few weeks. Yesterday, we also watched the full hour of the "cable news" gong-show known as The Five.
It's the most watched show in "cable news," followed closely by Jesse Watters Primetime and Gutfeld!
Viewership of those programs dwarfs the viewership of CNN and MS NOW programs combined! Can a nation so saddled really expect to survive?
Yesterday afternoon, Kafka's hoof was prominent as five stumblebums on The Five stumbled inanely along. The woods are lovely, dark and deep, but we humans simply aren't the brilliant species we have long claimed to be.
Five stumblebums stumbled along, making a joke of the American discourse. But before we rush to savage the forces of Red America, let us recall this fact:
As with deeply relevant mental health issues, so too here. Our endlessly ballyhooed Blue elites have agreed that inanity of this type must never be reported, challenged, critiqued or discussed.
What happens in Red America is allowed to stay right there! This is the arrangement we've chosen!
We're much, much less than what you've heard. In this afternoon's report, we'll try to update you concerning the pseudo-coverage of the Guthrie search and also concerning The Five.
This afternoon: It's the inanity, Stupid!
First, Somerby is not one of us. Second, what is happening in the USA is worse than what happened to Samsa, because what is happening here is real and what happened to Samsa is fiction, made up, not real. Third, Somerby spends almost no time discussing any of the illegal, destructive behavior by Trump and his administration. Fourth, no one cares if Somerby thinks Trump is insane. The important matter is what Trump has been DOING. Fifth, Somerby never discusses the Epstein Files either, which are important because they reveal corruption among others besides Trump, and because the victims deserve justice. Sixth, Somerby does not speak for any of us on the left. Nor does the NY Times.
ReplyDeleteNor do the 13 cherry-picked people identified as Democrats (anyone can say that they are Democratic without any voter ID required) speak for any of us on the left. Those people don't sound like my friends and relatives who I know are Democrats. We don't sit around calling Trump crazy and we understand what is happening to our country -- it is pretty obvious what the right wants these days. We are working to resist the right and hopeful about change with the midterms.
DeleteNothing quoted suggested that these people are planning to vote. If the story were honest, it would quote that. Anyone identified as a Democrat who is not planning to vote doesn't sound like much of a Democrat to me. And why would the NY Times omit Democratic plans for the midterms -- it is our main hope for addressing Trump's craziness.
ReplyDelete"Without question, Samsa awoke to find himself "facing a bizarre and surreal predicament." "
Wait, wait, don't tell me. He metamorphosized into retarded Democrat, overnight! Right?
Oh yes, what a bizarre and surreal predicament, indeed. Horrific! Horrible!
ReplyDelete"But as we scrolled through the comments by those Democratic voters, we almost thought we heard hints of the previously unimaginable--of the near Kafkaesque. "
Good, good. Squealing retarded Democrats is good, perfect. It means that the swamp is getting drained.
Thank you Mr. President for draining the swamp. Please-please-please, please continue draining the swamp, Mr. Trump!
Draining the swamp, sir!
Delete"Going back to his first term, Trump “has granted pardons or commutations to at least 68 people convicted of fraud crimes or of interfering with fraud investigations,” according to a review of public records by KFF Health News.
That includes the 2020 commutation for a nursing-home provider found guilty of scheming to defraud Medicare of more than $1 billion."
DeleteThat's what commutation is, retarded Soros-monkey. It's giving to those who've been found guilty. To them only. Capeesh?
Capisce (unless you deliberately want to sound stupid)
DeleteThe question is obviously not the definition of the word commutation, but why people who have committed fraud should have their sentences commuted. It is hypocritical for Republicans to talk about draining the swamp while rewarding those who committed fraud with commutation.
DeleteOh, dear. One more attempt:
Only those who committed crimes and have been convicted can get a commutation, retarded Corby.
Capeesh? Only those. Asking why it's this or that crime is completely retarded.
The only meaningful question would be 'what was the stated reason for this commutation? ' I'm sure it's explained somewhere by president's lawyers, so go find it, if you care.
Trump’s bank account increases is the reason, troll 11:37.
DeletePeople are implying that those commuted did not deserve their commutations from someone claiming to want to drain the swamp. They are the swamp. Letting them back into society is not draining but filling the swamp.
DeleteCalling someone Corby is not an argument.
DeleteCall your congress-lady, retarded Corby, and demand impeachment, immediately.
I am not Corby. I do have a Congress-lady who is a Democrat and knows what to do already about Trump. WE are not the problem. WE are not enabling Trump's wrongdoing, supporting pedophiles in office like you righties are doing. Trump IS the swamp.
Delete
DeleteKeep bitching and moaning then, retarded Corby.
Just like I said @10:30, in the original comment: Democrat squealing is good, I love it.
anon who gets his jollies by the sound of Democrats "squealing" - Some people thrill to the sound of music; you thrill to the sound of retarded democrats squealing. You really have it going. I get your drift, (you're as repetitive as TDH is about Trump being "mentally ill") that democrats who "squeal" about trump are 'retarded." When I was a kid, some kids, bullies, would call some other kids cruel names, one of which is that they were 'retarded." Sometimes, they called kids "retarded" who were actually retarded. They called people these names because they wanted to hurt them - and it could be hurtful. People who did this were sick, getting joy out of hurting other people. Something wrong inside.
DeleteName-calling is not argument. Calling someone retarded has become an idenifier for right wing trolls because they think it is lib-triggering when it is just demeaning innocent people who have a developmental disability, mocking the unfortunate. Like when Trump stood on a podium and waved his arms around with a goony look on his face, to demean a disabled reporter in the crowd. That behavior is ugly, like hurting a small animal, not anything a troll should be proud of doing.
DeleteIf you like squealing, you can stick a pin in your own hand and listen to yourself yelp. Hurting other people is bad, wrong, and decent people avoid it, not gloat the way you do. This kind of callous behavior marks you as a sociopath. Maybe you spend your spare time tripping elderly people when they walk downstairs, and then laughing and pointing. That's your speed.
"The only meaningful question would be 'what was the stated reason for this commutation? ' I'm sure it's explained somewhere by president's lawyers, so go find it, if you care."
DeleteI, for one, do care.
Let's take Phillip Esformes, for example. He was given a commutation by Trump. Wikipedia describes his crimes as follows:
"Esformes used narcotics as lures, directing his facilities to give powerful opioids like OxyContin and fentanyl to get the patients addicted so they remained at the facilities and he could continue billing Medicare and Medicaid for their care.
An FBI agent called him “a man driven by almost unbounded greed.” He was sentenced to 20 years in prison for healthcare fraud, illegal kickbacks, bribery, and money laundering and payment of $44 million to the US government."
The justification given in the official commutation statement issued by the White House was "prosecutorial misconduct related to violating attorney-client privilege."
In other words, a technicality.
Delete"prosecutorial misconduct related to violating attorney-client privilege"
It doesn't sound like technicality to me, Soros-monkey.
Probably one of those lawless Soros-paid retarded DAs. From what I heard, it would make sense to dismiss every case prosecuted by every one of them, and then prosecute them Soros-DAs themselves.
It is a technicality in the sense that it doesn't affect whether the accused committed the crimes alleged.
Delete
DeleteEveryone is innocent until proven guilty, retarded Soros-monkey. Prosecutorial misconduct invalidates the "proven guilty" part. Puff... ...and nothing is proven no more.
Also, I don't trust a single word in Soros-run wikipedia. It's all lies and bullshit.
Check Trump’s personal wealth before and after, and you will see he is richer after the pardons.
DeleteThis is being alleged in the context of the pardon request, not by the attorney to the original judge or an appeals judge and not in a way that overturned the conviction. The prosecutorial misconduct has not been "proven guilty" and the original conviction was not set aside or changed in any way. This is merely an excuse offered by the convicted person's attorney to Trump's pardon lawyer to justify commuting the sentence. Along with a hefty payment to Trump.
DeletePresidential pardons/commutations don't need no stinky appeal judges or overturned convictions, retarded Soros-monkey. That's the whole point.
DeletePresidential lawyers present the case, the President accepts or rejects it. If accepted, it's signed.
Simple as that.
And money flows to Trump. Simple as that.
Delete@3:29 That's what I said.
DeleteMy curiosity was piqued about Esformes. He owned a number of nursing homes and care facilities in Florida. He was tried in a U.S. district Court in Florida after being indicted for massive Medicare and Medicaid fraud, money laundering, witness tampering and bribery. After a jury trial he was convicted on many, though not all counts. He was sentenced to a 20-year prison term, and the decision required him to forfeit $37,000,000 in assets and pay restitution of about $4,000,000.
DeleteHe appealed the conviction , forfeiture and restitution orders to the 11th Circuit of the US Court of Appeals. The basis of the appeal was that the government, in exercising a search warrant, seized a number of attorney client privileged documents (amongst thousands of other documents), which the US attorneys handled carelessly and in other ways screwed up. Esformes had moved for a dismissal of the charges in the District Court on this basis. The motion was denied; instead the Court ruled that the wrongfully seized documents were to be excluded as evidence, reasoning that thereby, Esformes would suffer no prejudice.
The Court of Appeals unanimously affirmed the conviction, forfeiture and restitution. Esformes attorneys (very high-priced ones) argued that even without him being prejudiced, the indictments should have been dismissed. Basically, no harm, no foul. (Apparently, four former US Attorney Generals signed onto amici briefs in support of Esformes' appeal.) The Court of Appeals decision states that Esformes didn't even argue that he was prejudiced.
Esformes sought certiorari in the Supreme Court - which was denied.
During his first term, Trump commuted Esformes' sentence, after he had served 4.5 years of his 20 year sentence. It was not a pardon. The commutation did not affect the forfeiture or restitution orders.
Anyone can go on Google Scholar and read the Court of Appeals decision. It is cited at 60 F.4th 621.
"Probably one of those lawless Soros-paid retarded DAs."
DeleteProbably. Except that Esformes was tried by the Trump DOJ.
Oh, well.
Somerby is back to using the word stumblebum. It is archaic (not used by anyone in current discourse), but also it doesn't capture what is wrong with the behavior of those Somerby is labeling with it.
ReplyDeletestumblebum definition: "A stumblebum is an informal term for a clumsy, awkward, or incompetent person, particularly one who is inept, blundering, or makes frequent mistakes."
The hosts of The Five are not stumblebums. They are propagandists, saying the things the right wants its viewers to hear. They are manipulative performers, not clumsy or inept bunglers. That Somerby portrays them as inept instead of venal is Somerby's own deception.
Another deception is Somerby's portrayal of news coverage of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie as pseudo. Pseudo means false. There may be little progress in finding the missing woman, but that doesn't make the coverage fake. And why does Somerby keep watching, if he doesn't care about the search (or the woman, apparently)? No one forces him to do it. So he can complain? Is it the fault of news reporters that Guthrie has not yet been found? What makes their coverage false?
"Many Democrats and others worry about the ... significant, aggressive increase in deportations across the country."
ReplyDeletePresident Obama boasted about the increase in deportations and the media lauded him for it. Under Trump, it' a bad thing.
Perhaps Dems are worried about increased deportations of illegal immigrants because that's part of their voting base.
There is no equivalence between what Trump has done and what Obama did.
Delete
DeleteFor the Democrats, yes, it's their only voting base.
But also, the liberal-Democrat elite are upper-class, rich and super-rich people, and for those illegal migrants are cheap slave-like undocumented labor, to use and throw away. That's a really strong incentive to resist deportations.
"There is no equivalence reported by the media between what Trump has done and what Obama did."
DeleteThe same person, Tom Homan, was in charge. There's no reason to think Homan changed his approach. But, during Obama's reign, problems weren't focused on.
Under Trump ICE has deported almost a million illegal immigrants. The bad cases involve a very small portion of the total. The media focuses on the bad cases, giving the false impression that they're typical rather than exceptional.
“ illegal immigrants because that's part of their voting base”
DeleteIllegal immigrants cannot and do not vote in the US.
You do not put my comment in quote marks when YOU have added words that change the meaning of it. That is misleading.
DeleteHoman obviously changed his approach under Trump. The entire ICE organization has been changed by Noem, under the supervision on Stephen Miller, to conform to their Project 25 cleansing of American society by deporting immigrants (not just illegal or criminal immigrants).
There should be NO abuses of citizens by ICE. There should be NO shootings and killings of protesters. There SHOULD BE health care available to detainees. There should be NO mistreatment of pregnant women and children in detainment. There should be NO illegal acts by ICE and court orders should be followed not evaded or ignored. There should be NO money-laundering of Russian funds by purchasing detainment facilities at exhorbitant prices, and no graft by those who run such facilities, as is now occurring. Noem does not need two luxury jets to hold adulterous trysts with her lover.
There is a lot that Trump has done that Obama never did and much of it is illegal and morally wrong. The media should focus on this stuff because that is their job -- to hold government accountable and provide transparency to the people who elected Trump. Noem needs to be fired. It is odd you focus on Homan (who is accused of taking a bribe) and not Noem who has made a mockery of DHS while dismantling the services that helped people under Obama's supervision.
DeleteIllegal migrants can and do vote in the US, retarded Soros-monkey.
But hopefully, when ID proving citizenship will be required for voting, they won't be able to.
11:04. You know zero about what percent of cases were/are “bad cases”. Bullshit as usual.
DeleteIllegal immigrants cannot and do not vote in the US.
DeleteAbout 90% of Trump's detainments/deportations are people without a criminal record, whereas it was the opposite circumstance under Obama.
DeleteDuh.
Foreign trolls like David are ignorant and can only post the right wing talking points they are handed.
Ha-ha. Put away your crack pipe, retarded Corby. You get better bullshit fantasies from sniffing your fingers.
DeleteLook at the embarrassed foreign troll trying to cover up that him and his ilk have been exposed.
Deletewomp womp
"Illegal migrants can and do vote in the US, retarded Soros-monkey."
DeleteAsk yourself if someone who is in the country illegally and is subject to deportation if found out, would vote and thus provide the government with a written record of having committed a felony.
This thinking is classified by logicians as trumptardian.
"The same person, Tom Homan, was in charge. There's no reason to think Homan changed his approach."
DeleteDumb. Just dumb.
The premise here being that Trump would have liked ICE and CBP to be more aggressive in their actions since that was his number one campaign issue, but he scrupulously avoided interfering with Homan's autonomy because that's just the kind of manager Trump is.
It has nothing to do with illegals, Project 2025 does not want women voting. Get with the Program jerkoff.
DeleteGet the fuck out of here and go eat a bag of dicks fascist David.
DeleteIf you want to get rid of Dickhead in Cal for a while, just ask the lying sonofabitch why Trump moved convicted child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell to a summer camp prison and is now considering pardoning her. Ask Dickhead that. Ask him why Trump's own fucking lawyer went to personally interview the convicted child sex trafficker.
Delete
Delete"Ask yourself if someone who is in the country illegally and is subject to deportation if found out, would vote and thus provide the government with a written record of having committed a felony."
The answer is yes, Soros-monkey. Criminals commit crimes, that's what they do.
Besides, this is not something they just do all by themselves. Most likely, they are recruited and organized, and may not understand that they're committing a crime. If one of you Soros-monkeys told them "go do this, and it's 20 bucks for each of you", they'd just do it, I reckon.
Illegal immigrants cannot and do not vote in the US.
DeleteCircular reasoning.
DeleteBut there is no reason to speculate when there have been audits showing that illegals are not voting in elections. That is evidence. If you keep repeating this you are telling a lie.
To explain, David, how deportations are different under Trump vs. Obama/everyone else. Yes, immigrants are deported all the time. Most commonly, immigrants are denied their asylum applications and are subsequently deported. That is the most common mode of deportation. Also, there have always been workplace raids with warrants.
DeleteNo, there was no ICE/CBP army send to any cities under Obama to randomly stop and harass people. That just did not happen. There were no tear-gassings or killings by ICE under Obama.
"Most likely, they are recruited and organized"
DeleteMost likely. I imagine in most of the documented cases of illegals voting, that's been the case.
Now if there weren't any documented cases like you describe, then we'd have to conclude you're an old fool who can't tell the difference between the world he imagines and the world that is.
You're not an old fool, are you trumptard?
The NY Times manufactured another "Democrats in disarray" story in order to criticize Democrats, supported by 13 cherry-picked Democratic voters. Somerby further cherry-picks their quotes to suggest that voters think Trump is crazy, then claims the Democratic party is refusing to talk about his insanity.
ReplyDeleteThis conceit is ridiculous because there is no party discipline being enforced by Democrats that prevents anyone from calling Trump crazy. There is simply no point in doing it. Democrats spend a lot of time decrying Trump's actual behavior. More importantly, Democrats have been working very hard to prevent that misbehavior from harming people and destroying our nation. THAT is where effort should be focused -- not on discussing what it means to be crazy and whether Trump fits any diagnostic criteria.
Somerby never wants to talk about what Trump is doing. Trump's destructive acts are important because they have real life impact on people. Somerby never talks about ICE, about DOGE, about Epstein, about that unbuilt ballroom or tariffs (which we the people pay) or measles or lack of jobs or anything real.
If Democrats started calling Trump names (such as insane or crazy), it wouldn't clarify anything but it would make our party sound as deranged as Trump himself. Democratic voters already know that Trump is not only crazy but also corrupt, stupid, lacking in morality and uncaring about the needs of the people, treasonous and bigoted. Knowing all that, we do not vote for Trump or those he endorses.
The point of Somerby's daily complaints that the left refuses to call Trump crazy, is to suggest that Democrats are ineffectual, doing nothing to deal with Trump. That is far from the case. Democrats, as individuals and as leaders of blue states and cities, have been resisting Trump's evil. That is our job now. To minimize the damage and make sure we win the midterms (which Somerby never addresses), and to ultimately charge Trump with his wrongdoing and remove him from office (either via impeachment or in 2028). Somerby presents no evidence that Democrats are failing at that job.
Somerby might have mentioned Colbert's resistance to Trump's censorship of his show. Somerby might have mentioned Newsom's efforts to join climate change prevention and nature preservation efforts that Trump has withdrawn from, organizing other blue states to join too. Somerby might have mentioned the judge who ordered the restoration of the slavery exhibit removed by Trump's order.
There are signs of progress to be found in current events too, but the way Somerby ignores them to portray the left as ineffective, or worse not trying, leads to the doom and gloom, sense of confusion and despair expressed by Democrats like those interviewed by the NY Times and echoed by Somerby to support his own frustration that no one wants to call Trump crazy without a diagnosis. The question is not about Trump's mental status but what we are able to do about it lacking control of Congress.
Somerby, to my knowledge, has never called for the red and blue members to consider Trump's mental health and do something to stop him. Why?
Some people ask me why I support Trump. It's because I focus more on accomplishments rather than words or actions.
Delete10:57 wants to talk about what Trump is doing. I agree. But, even more, I want to talk about what Trump is accomplishing. I think an unbiased person would acknowledge significant improvement in some very important areas.
I used this approach when I was hiring. Some job candidate's resume might show that s/he had held various relevant past positions. I wanted to know what s/he accomplished in these positions.
His corruption is certainly unparalleled.
DeleteAccomplishments need to be real, supported by evidence. Not made up by propagandists.
DeleteThe referendum on Trump and his accomplishments by independent voters is found in his polling numbers. Enjoy the midterms.
DeleteInteresting how this comment triggered David into responding (with lies about hiring).
DeleteGood job, 10:57.
Sure you do, dickhead in cal
DeleteFuck you stupid David in Caltroll, get the fuck away from here you asshole.
DeleteIf there were a vote taken, David would be voted off the island for excessive trolling.
Delete"As with deeply relevant mental health issues, so too here. Our endlessly ballyhooed Blue elites have agreed that inanity of this type must never be reported, challenged, critiqued or discussed."
ReplyDeleteMental health issues are very important. Democrats, not Republicans, have consistently advanced programs and funding measures to support mental health, while Republicans have not.
Somerby refers to "inanity of this type". I assume that is a typo and he meant "insanity of this type," although there is no specific type of insanity that deserves more attention than another. We address insanity as a problem when it leads to human suffering and inability to function in society. Somerby has never expressed any concern about it before Trump's failures in office, so I doubt he has any real concern about mental health for anyone besides Trump. Unlike Somerby, Democrats do and have consistently addressed mental health issues in our platforms and actions in Congress and the presidency.
"Biden prioritized mental health by strengthening system capacity, enhancing access to care, and promoting well-being, particularly for youth. Key actions included enforcing mental health parity in insurance, increasing funding for school-based services, and improving mental health services in correctional facilities." [NPR]
Somerby is an asshole for using an issue that Dems care about and have prioritized to beat up on Democrats, without giving a damn about stigmatizing those who are mentally ill, as he has done for years now.
No, he really did say "inanity" not insanity. Later he says:
Delete"This afternoon: It's the inanity, Stupid!"
I find that play on words offensive, but YMMV.
Inanity definition: "a nonsensical remark or action"
There is a lot more to insanity than an occasional nonsensical remark, as anyone can see when evaluating Trump's behavior. I don't know what Somerby means by this, but perhaps he'll explain later.
Insanity is painful to all concerned and nonsensical remarks have nothing to do with diagnosing it. But the term was directed at The Five, without any evidence of what Somerby found inane. But look at the bitterness in his description of Democrats:
"Our endlessly ballyhooed Blue elites have agreed that inanity of this type must never be reported, challenged, critiqued or discussed."
Elites is a nasty word in Somerby's lexicon. No one should be educated or talented or appear on TV because they have expertise on some topic. Ballyhoo refers to celebrity, fame, but if anyone is ballyhooed without justification it was Trump before Russia encouraged him to run for president. And why shouldn't someone who has accomplishments be praised and have visibility in our society? I would love to see Somerby use this caustic phrase to refer to the pundits Epstein surrounded himself with (Chomsky, Gates, Pinker, and similar intellectuals) while Epstein pretended to be intelligent by praising accomplished men. But Somerby instead applies it to Democrats. Newsom fits the bill, but he has been doing real things to deserve his so-called elite status -- he was elected governor of CA, the most prosperous state in the union and is one of the few standing up to Trump as he tries to punish blue states.
Or maybe Somerby just resents that blue leaders are getting any attention in the press? Hard to know until he tells us what the bug is up his ass with this ugly remark against Democrats.
Note that it is Republicans who considered education to be a form of elitism and who consider being elite a bad thing -- an affront to the reverse snobbery of red America. Somerby has been anti-intellectual and dismissive of education (always citing the education credentials of the youngish female journalists he attacks almost daily). What is bad about Democrat leaders and accomplished public figures receiving press attention, being ballyhooed? Why does the small amount of positive attention aimed at Democrats seem excessive to Somerby?
I realize the NY Times was able to find 13 confused and upset Democrats, but does that mean Democratic figures should not receive media attention? And who is he referring to? Maybe he will return to AOC and her stumbles, since he thought that was egregious yesterday. Anyone who stutters should not be president, according to Somerby when he campaigned against Biden's nomination last year.
Yes.
DeleteThis is an incredibly empty post from Bob.
ReplyDeleteJust another day of the week.
"It's the most watched show in "cable news," followed closely by Jesse Watters Primetime and Gutfeld!"
ReplyDeleteAkin to stating "It's the biggest sewer in Los Angeles ...!"
Bob does not understand how tv ratings work, nor how viewers have been fleeing broadcast/cable tv while independent media has been growing.
DeleteHe is out of touch.
Maybe Stephen Colbert is one of the ballyhooed blue elitists who Somerby is complaining about. He is a Democrat. He is opposed to Trump's trampling of 1st Amendment rights and his attempts to manipulate the system by bullying media owned by rich people via threats of economic retribution. But Colbert, a Democrat, is fighting back, and thereby heartening all of us who are also resisting in our personal and individual ways.
ReplyDeleteThis is what resistance looks like:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQIljje2B_Q
Nothing that Somerby writes here can be considered resistance to Trump. Most of what he does attacks Democrats and those of us trying to fight back. Somerby's pretense to speak for blue America or even be blue is ridiculous when he obviously supports Trump and the right wing (which grifts off its own supporters and does not benefit its own voters in the smallest of ways).
Yay Colbert. Yay free speech. Yay to standing up to bullys. Boo boo booooo Somerby for not understanding what is going on.
Is it right to label Trump's term Kafkaesque when it is dead certain that Trump has never read Kafka or even heard of him?
ReplyDeleteSomerby says: "We think the current situation substantially involves matters of what was once known as "mental illness.""
ReplyDeleteThe term mental illness may explain Trump but it does not explain the behavior of the billionaires and longtime Republican senators and House members, or the entire Republican political establishment that are backing Trump in his destructive acts. Nor does it explain the votes by right wingers and independents who put Trump into office, after seeing his incompetence during his first term.
Trump could not do anything without the people who enable him. Those people are not mentally ill. What explains their behavior? Until Somerby grapples with that question, he has nothing to say to anyone here.
Somerby has been spending time at Mediaite lately. Today they ran an article by Isaac Schorr repeating the WSJ's trashing possible 2028 Democratic candidates:
ReplyDelete"The Wall Street Journal‘s Matthew Continetti took an early victory lap under the headline, “Democrats, You May Already Have Lost the 2028 Election” in his latest column."
Somerby's gullible fascination with this center-right website may be what he will talk about as the ballyhooed Democratic elites. He is primed to accept whatever these right wing critics say, as long as it is negative toward Dems. The descriptions of all of the potential Dem candidates are both false and derogatory.
Continetti is conservative: "Matthew Continetti is a prominent conservative journalist, intellectual historian, and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, focusing on American political thought, the Republican Party, and the conservative movement. "
There is no reason to expect him to have anything nice to say about any prominent Democrat likely to run in 2028. If Somerby absorbs garbage by writers like this, he is being insufficiently skeptical.
It seems to me that Mary Trump has been grifting off her relation to Trump and calling him insane for quite a while now. She no doubt learned how to do that from her family. She has book sales and appearance fees and has been appearing everywhere to the point where this is obviously her career these days. She would have more credibility, in my opinion, if she weren't doing that. But no one is going to remove Trump for insanity anyway.
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