TUESDAY, JUNE 9, 2026
The normalization of everything: Continuing yesterday afternoon's report, today we record one part of the tragic, disordered behavior the New York Times couldn't quite see in the report they published about the sitting president's furious insults directed at Kristen Welker.
We'd call it "the normalization of everything"—the normalization of cognitive decline and/or of serious illness. Here you see the first four of the president's thirteen uses of "crooked:"
The famous newspaper was somehow unable to see the president do this:
TRUMP (6/7/26): You have to understand, people have been destroyed by crooked politicians, and they should be reimbursed for that.
WELKER: Do you think anyone who attacked police officers on January 6th should get taxpayer money?
TRUMP: I wouldn’t be inclined to say so, but I have to see it. I can tell you this: 97% of those people, you look at them, the FBI or whoever it was, because you had a lot of crooked cops, you had dirty cops. Comey was a dirty cop.
WELKER: Well, there is no evidence to –
TRUMP: A guy like Bolton was a dirty cop. A bunch of crooked politicians were helped by a bunch pf crooked cops. Also, by a bunch of dirty cops.
The president seemed to be talking about January 6, 2021. For the record, Director Comey had been removed from the FBI by Trump almost four years earlier, in cccc ot 2017.
That was just the appetizer. A bit later, tragically, the nation was asked to undergo these additional uses of "crooked," along with the standard uses of "fake" and "dirty" and "rigged."
Before long, he was directly insulting Welker herself:
TRUMP: Now, I don’t know what’s going to happen with the weaponization fund. I love the idea, because people like you, the fake dirty press, the crooked press, people like stupid Biden, he’s not smart enough to know what’s going on, but people that surrounded him, surrounded his beautiful Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, what they did to the lives of people, they destroyed people. They sent people to jail who did nothing wrong.
WELKER: All right, this is— Just to be very clear, there’s no evidence of what you’re saying But let me ask about Todd Blanche.
TRUMP: There’s a lot of evidence.
WELKER: Let me ask about Todd Blanche.
TRUMP: Listen — listen to me — listen to me. There’s tremendous evidence. There’s nothing but evidence.
WELKER: Let’s talk about Todd Blanche. Well, it’s not been presented in a court of a law.
TRUMP: The election was rigged. It was a dirty election.
WELKER: Mr. President, you’ve never presented evidence that the 2020 election was rigged.
TRUMP: And it’s happening again right now in California. It’s happening right now in CaliforniA. Right now, it’s look at what’s happening in California. It’s four days–
WELKER: Where’s the evidence to that? The Republicans are doing well in California.
TRUMP: In California, it’s— No they’re not. They’re dropping fast because it’s a rigged election. Let me tell you, it’s four days and they aren’t even close to coming up with the–
WELKER: That’s how they count the votes in California.
TRUMP: Do you know why they’re doing that? Because they’re cheating on the election.
WELKER: There’s— What? Do you have evidence to support that?
TRUMP: All I have to do is look. All I have to do is look.
WELKER: But that’s not evidence.
TRUMP: And I listen. And I listen to people. And let’s see what happens.
WELKER: But sir, that’s not evidence, and that’s how they count the votes in California—
TRUMP: Do you think it’s appropriate that they have an election and five days later, they’re nowhere close to picking a winner?
WELKER: State and local officials acknowledge they are slow. They’re urging—
TRUMP: No, they’re crooked.
WELKER: – they’re urging the votes to be counted quickly. That’s how they vote in California.
TRUMP: They’re crooked just like you’re crooked. Your press is crooked. And Meet the Press is crooked.
WELKER: To be fair, I’m not crooked. But let’s continue.
TRUMP: Really? Well, you play right into their hands then. You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.
WELKER: Let’s continue. Let’s continue.
TRUMP: You play right into their hands with this stuff. You know that these elections are rigged. Your network knows that they’re rigged. Do you know that I won an election in a landslide [sic] and I got 94% bad press?
WELKER: But Mr. President you’ve never presented evidence–
TRUMP: You know why I got that? Because you have no credibility.
WELKER: But you’ve never presented evidence it was rigged. Let’s keep talking about, I want to talk about Todd Blanche.
TRUMP: You have more evidence, there’s more evidence than ever presented. Your elections in this country–
WELKER: Let’s talk about—you went to court.
TRUMP: We’re like a third world country. Your elections are crooked and you’re crooked, and Meet the Press is crooked. And so is ABC and CBS and CNN.
WELKER: But sir–But Mr. President–
TRUMP: You’re a one-sided crooked network.
Sorry. Let’s call it quits because I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time.
Biding his darling adieu, he struggled to his feet and walked off the set. The origins of this tragic but dangerous conduct are described in Mary Trump's best-selling 2020 book.
The disorder went on and on and on. The New York Times just couldn't see it. They've behaved this way for years.
Bob uses language in an odd way today.
ReplyDeleteHe says he is "continuing" a "report", but this is just repeating in essence a previous blog post - so more "repeating" than "continuing" and more a "post" than a "report".
Bob's self-aggrandizing aside, at the end of his post he describes Trump as having "walked off the set", but we have video and that was in no way walking off the set, I would say Trump Igor'd off the set a la Marty Feldman, but one could reasonably say he stumbled off the set, that works both literally and figuratively.
Angry demented old man yells crazy shit at lady. Finally acting Presidential.
ReplyDeleteEven staunch Republicans are cringing at that episode.
DeleteMaybe republican men are too emotional to be president.
DeleteIt was wild to observe David Brooks recently attack Platner - it turns out the "scandal" is a nothingburger.
ReplyDeletehttps://youtu.be/CQ7PS26zGKY?si=gytQ17-Cx3XmY1J9
But what makes it more wild is that Brooks actually is a "moral degenerate", he abandoned his wife of 27 years to have an affair with his assistant who is 23 years younger.
Brooks is also apparently transitioning from Judaism to Christianity (it has become a cottage industry), even though he had his first wife convert to Judaism.
Brooks is also in the Epstein files.
Wake me when you find a Republican that is not a sexual predator, but don't wake Somerby he does not care and prefers to pretend that it's of no consequence.
U.S. inflation remained elevated in April, with the annual rate climbing to its highest level in nearly three years as energy and food prices kept pressure on household budgets. The Labor Department report, released Tuesday, May 12, also showed underlying inflation picked up, partly reflecting a one-time adjustment to rent measures.
ReplyDelete