TUESDAY, MAY 12, 2026
As does everyone else: As if the rest isn't bad enough, consider us the people. This report by the Washington Post tells a remarkable tale:
Many Americans think Trump assassination attempts were fake, survey finds
About 1 in 4 Americans think the April shooting at the White House correspondents’ dinner was staged, with a marked partisan divide, according to a survey published Monday.
Roughly 1 in 3 Democratic respondents said they believed the event was staged, compared with about 1 in 8 Republicans, according to a survey published Monday by NewsGuard, a company that rates the reliability of online news outlets. Respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 were also more likely than older people to think the incident was staged, according to the report.
[...]
The NewsGuard survey found that 24 percent of U.S. adults believe the incident at the Washington Hilton was fake, compared with 45 percent who believed it was legitimate. An additional 32 percent said they were unsure. The survey of 1,000 American adults was conducted by YouGov from April 28 to May 4.
The survey was conducted by YouGov, a serious polling outfit! And good God:
"Roughly 1 in 3 Democratic respondents said they believed the event was staged."
Please bring on the grand inquisitor to save us Americans from ourselves! Simply put, it isn't clear that we the people were built for this line of work.
Then too, you have to consider the failing state of the sitting president. Here's one of the headlines he's generated at Mediaite in the past few days:
Trump Posts Image of Obama, Biden, Pelosi Bathing in Feces in New Truth Social Meme Spree
President Donald Trump posted a Photoshopped image of former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden bathing in sewage with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) during a Truth Social post spree on Tuesday.
In the post, captioned “Dumacrats Love Sewage,” Obama, Biden, and Pelosi could be seen bathing up to their necks in a version of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool that was filled with human waste.
And so on from there, astonishing photo included. You can also click on such cries for help as these:
Trump Drowns Feed With MAGA Praise in Late-Night Truth Social Dump Celebrating Himself
(For report by Mediaite, click here)
Trump Says the White House ‘Was a Sh*t House’ With Columns ‘Falling Down’ When He Moved Back In
(For report by Mediaite, click here)
Trump ‘Seriously Considering Making Venezuela the 51st State,’ Fox News Reports
(For report by Mediaite, click here)
And on and on, with little respite, from there.
Cognitive decline is always a human tragedy. So is serious mental illness, especially where such medical issues may have preceded a later decline. In this instance, for obvious reasons, those conditions are also dangerous.
That said, we the people simply aren't built for this demanding line of work. Meanwhile, the sitting president clearly seems to be hanging on by a thread.
Also, the mainstream press corps is still determined to avert their gaze from what's sitting right there before them. Along the way, those of us in Blue America are telling the world things like this:
If somebody fell asleep in 1896 and woke up today in 2026, they would simply say the only difference is now Negroes have a T.V. show and we wear nice suits.
We're giving you the anthropology. Anthropology can be cruel, and it hurts!
It is very clever of President Trump to behave as a demented old fool. He is a very funny stand-up comic also.
ReplyDeleteThe Butler and Kirk shootings were staged too. Israel.
ReplyDeleteSomerby has no direct info about whether Case Allen really was trying to kill anyone in Trump's administration, any White House officials, as stated in his manifesto. He used to reserve judgment about people accused of crimes but not convicted, and Case Allen has pled Not Guilty when arraigned last week.
ReplyDeleteYet Somerby has the nerve to say:
"Please bring on the grand inquisitor to save us Americans from ourselves! Simply put, it isn't clear that we the people were built for this line of work. "
He says this because 1 in 3 Democrats apparently disagree with him in his assessment of Case Allen's intentions. (We must infer by Somerby's reaction that he does not think the assassination attempt was staged. He doesn't say it directly.)
Then Somerby says that cognitive decline is always a tragedy. I don't think that is true -- sometimes it is a mercy to the person affected. They are not generally aware of their own decline except in the early stages.
I strongly disagree that growing old is a human tragedy. Those of us who attain very old age are fortunate because we have escaped earlier death. More often our quality of life is good until death is near, which is a blessing not a tragedy.
Somerby is unclear about what "demanding line of work" we the people are unfit for. Voting is not a line of work. We are not collectively the president either. Is Somerby just being lazy or has he confused himself in the middle of his rant? He also forgets to attribute his quote about the wearing of nice suits.
It is clear to the rest of us that the quote in question is speaking about a voting rights context and is limited by that context (ripped away in Somerby's repetition of it). We get it that the speaker is not saying everything about 1865 is the same today, except for clothing styles.
Somerby's careless essay suggests he too is having cognitive problems, most likely age related. He is not saying anything coherent about anything else, including what we the people are or are not capable of doing.
People are allowed to have theories about current events, even shootings. Just because they hold conspiracy theories that they are willing to express when absolutely nothing is at stake in a poll, doesn't mean anyone has lost their mind, with the possible exception of Somerby himself. NPR is cautiously reporting people as being unsure whether the shootings were staged or not. Republicans are willing to throw the Butler shooting into the mix.
Somerby is overreacting. He is making himself seem foolish just like Trump. If Somerby considers himself to be a human tragedy, maybe he will give us all a break and retire this silly blog, or is the money too big a part of his income?
Trump isn't just failing, he is not doing his job. That is more important than whatever personal tragedy Trump is experiencing by being unable to do crossword puzzles and groom young girls.
ReplyDelete6.3 million people in the USA are over 85 years old. Is that a human tragedy? What do you think their families would say?
ReplyDelete"We're giving you the anthropology. Anthropology can be cruel, and it hurts!"
ReplyDeleteMore lies. What does Somerby have against anthropologists, who are a kind of scientist? Nothing in this essay has anything at all to do with anthropology. Anthropology is not hurting anyone. Why does Somerby malign it this way?
Obviously, he is using the word "anthropology" as shorthand for some other idea in his head, but who knows what it is. He has never explained it clearly. It is some weird metaphor that makes no sense to anyone else. That is what schizophrenics do, and other mentally ill people. If Somerby is mentally ill himself, then he is not at all equipped to evaluate Trump, the VRA, gerrymandering, Democratic responses on polls, or anything else. He is raving and he is bonkers. It would be a tragedy if anyone cared, but I don't care, do you? Maybe anthropologists might care, or maybe they would just get a restraining order and be done with him.
If Trump finds the White House beneath him, let's all get together and find a new place for him to live.
ReplyDeleteHere is what Bakari Sellars said:
ReplyDelete"CNN political commentator Bakari Sellers claimed the “only difference” between the United States in 1896 and 2026 is that white supremacists have “swapped” their Ku Klux Klan hoods for Brooks Brothers suits."
Here is what Somerby says above:
"Also, the mainstream press corps is still determined to avert their gaze from what's sitting right there before them. Along the way, those of us in Blue America are telling the world things like this:
If somebody fell asleep in 1896 and woke up today in 2026, they would simply say the only difference is now Negroes have a T.V. show and we wear nice suits."
Note that Somerby's version is not what Bakari Sellers said at all. He said the white supremacists are wearing suits instead of hoods. A search did not turn up anyone saying the things Somerby quoted, except Somerby.
What kind of weirdness is this fake quote that has a very different meaning than what Sellers actually said? Is Somerby trying to pretend Sellers said that or that any Blue media has said it? We didn't. No one did. And it is not at all the same meaning, since it refers to black people's suits, not white supremacists in suits instead of hoods.
Somerby perhaps thinks making up this different quote is clever or funny. It is just ugly and racist.
DeleteDOJ subpoenas WSJ over war coverage:
ReplyDeleteBecause fuck you, what are you going to do about it