SUNDAY, AUGUST 2, 2026
Even today, on a Sunday: Is something wrong with the person serving as the sitting president?
We've decided to ask that question again. We base our question on Zachary Leeman's report for Mediaite.
We've omitted one word from the headline, but the start of Leeman's report seems to speak for itself:
Trump Kisses Jesus and Arrests Aliens in Truth Social Posting Spree
President Donald Trump went on a posting spree on Truth Social on Saturday, sharing AI-generated images of him doing everything from arresting extraterrestrials to kissing a statue of Jesus Christ.
[...]
He also posted a number of strange memes that ran all over the place.
One image was of him kissing a golden statue of Jesus.
[Image]
Another post was a recycled picture of Trump walking with officials next to an [extraterrestrial] alien in handcuffs.
[Image]
The president also doubled down on his long-standing wish for the United States to take control of Greenland.
[Image]
And so on from there.
To see the images, just click this. Also, you can look for the word we omitted.
(Furthermore, and just for the record: Yes, the images are actually there.)
Is something wrong with the sitting president? In all cases, we would regard any such situation as a obvious human tragedy. But given the gentleman's high position, it seems that this would also be a dangerous state of affairs.
Is something wrong with the sitting president? Also, will Blue America's major news orgs ever decide that the time has come to find a journalistically appropriate way to pursue that obvious question?
Leeman reports, you decide.
ReplyDelete" Is something wrong with the person serving as the sitting president? "
If something is, it's certainly not as much as with the alternative, the super dumb super drunk lady.
What are you talking about?
DeleteJeanine Pirro
DeleteNatalie Harp
DeleteWho knew Melania is a secret drinker, but why not?
DeleteKamala Harris?
DeleteCan't be Kamala because she isn't a drinker.
DeleteAlso, she is far from dumb, not that any Republican would be able to tell -- it takes some smarts to recognize who is and who isn't dumb.
DeleteAnd if you decide something IS wrong with the president, what do we do about it? Is Trump incompetent -- that is the better question, and if so, what happens next? Do we just let him run out his term behaving the way he has been doing?
ReplyDeleteDo we use a serious of weird memes to decide the president is unfit, or do we use his more serious actions? Which of the president's actions should be reversed, corrected by whoever replaces him? Is it OK that the president vetoed a water bill needed in CO over Tina Peters? Is it OK that the president cannot stop the Iran war because he doesn't know how to end it? Should the president get his slush fund back or is that part of his mental problems? Should the president be allowed to replace Thune because Thune won't go along with fixing the midterms?
There are actual issues at stake here, the welfare of our nation hangs on Trump's competence. Why does Somerby never take the next step in his inquiries? If something is wrong with Trump, what do we do about it? Why has no one been calling for his removal?
There are actu
There are not actu!
Deletehow do you know? i saw one, sitting alone with a tadpole in a jar.
DeleteHow alone if accompanied by a tadpole?
DeleteCan't we bring a lawsuit to require the president to be tested for sanity?
DeleteNo.
Deletethe tadpole was dead
DeleteWhy was this worth posting on a Sunday? It says nothing Somerby hasn't already said hundreds of times. If everyone agreed that something is wrong with the president, what would be the consequence of that? We all go have ice cream?
ReplyDeleteThe wrongs committed by this president are always too much but never enough to get him thrown out of office. We Americans have an endless tolerance for outrageous behavior because our leaders will never step up and get rid of this bastard in office. Somerby thinks this is funny but it isn't.
ReplyDeleteThe reason Democrats have such a low opinion of the Democratic party is that it tolerates Trump's bad behavior. We wouldn't expect any more of Republicans but we do expect our own party to show some political and moral courage -- but they don't.
But that is no excuse for Somerby to gloat (on a Sunday morning no less) over the fact that there is nothing that Trump can do that will get him thrown out on his ass.
There is no gloating in today's post, nor does Somerby say it's funny. You're delusional.
DeleteSomerby does this for his own entertainment. If you can't catch his tone, that is your problem.
DeleteThey impeached the bastard twice.
DeleteSomerby says: "Is something wrong with the sitting president? Also, will Blue America's major news orgs ever decide that the time has come to find a journalistically appropriate way to pursue that obvious question? "
DeleteIf you genuinely believed that something was so wrong with the president, would your next thought be to talk about BLUE AMERICA's press? Why wouldn't you be asking what's going on with Trump's VP and his cabinet? Why wouldn't you be asking why Congress isn't doing its duty? Why wouldn't you be discussing the failure of Trump's chief of staff and White House doctors to inform the public of Trump's condition? Why wouldn't you be asking "where's Melania?"
If Trump were having such serious problems that Somerby has to write on a Sunday, why would the press be any part of the essay? They are not the ones responsible for ensuring that we have a functioning president in the White House. That is not their job.
So, you tell me what Somerby thinks he is doing today. He obviously isn't reacting seriously to his own questions. He is attacking the left while blaming a so-called Blue mainstream media that no longer exists, if it ever did, given that red oligarchs now own the major networks and newspapers. Gullible blue readers are supposed to think our own press is letting us down, when Somerby cannot even identify who is blue any more.
I think Somerby's goal today is to advance (push) Mediaite, as he has been doing for awhile now. It is part of his influencer job, but perhaps he realized he didn't meet his quota for last month or he is trying to get ahead of his August assignments, or maybe he has a medical procedure coming up and wants to take care of loose ends before then. Only Somerby knows about that. But it is pretty obvious that no normal person who seriously thought the president was mentally ill would be doing what Somerby does here. It makes no sense at all.
Somerby is mentally ill.
DeleteMaybe it isn't that something is wrong with Trump but that he isn't there at all any more. If a body-double were substituted for Trump, would anyone know or care? Now we have Natalie Harp writing and posting to Truth Social all night, images that Trump had no part in creating and screeds that Trump had no part in writing, to simulate his presence when he is no longer present himself. No one thinks Trump could have created this shit -- he doesn't know how to read much less write. So Natalie is doing this in plain view of all, because the right doesn't believe women can do anything either, so it must be Trump posting, not his Ivanka stand-in, amirite?
ReplyDeleteIn other appearances, Trump shows up, sits in a chair and dozes while meetings go on around him. That is not being present either. We have "Weekend at Bernie's" taking place right in front of us, and no one will call the Republicans on their farce with the president, because they don't want the grifting to end, and they have convinced themselves that if the world knows Trump has left the building, Iran will attack us and Canada will take us over, since we have no allies.
Why can't someone step up and swear in JD? Anyone would be better than what is happening now. Meanwhile, Somerby plays his silly games.
On Friday, Trump insisted that his cabinet travel to Camp David in MD so that he could hold a cabinet meeting before heading for his NJ golf course. Now he is having an extended golf weekend there. When did the presidency become a part time job?
ReplyDeleteRepublican congress members need to be held accountable for not removing Trump from office after he was impeached before. Republican voters need to be held accountable for electing him to a second term after he was impeached before. They are the people who have inflicted this current bad situation on all of us. No one should ever cast a vote for a Republican again, without a serious apology for past wrongs, in my opinion. SAY NO TO TRUMP, SAY NO TO REPUBLICANS.
ReplyDeleteIf Somerby had any guts, this would be his message, not this goofy stuff about the president being insane. What do you do with an insane president? Remove him from office. Why will Somerby never say that last part out loud?
Delete1. Trump insane.
Delete2. ?
3. Remove Trump!
Perhaps 2. is: Persuade a majority of REPUBLICANS that Trump is dangerously insane. And to do that, perhaps a major discussion in main media about this topic might be helpful.
You’re delusional, DG.
DeleteI will once again point out that Somerby said, a few days ago, that every sane person already knows there’s something wrong with Trump. Unless you think republicans are all insane, there is some other dynamic going on.
DeleteQ; how do we open that can of beans?
DeleteDG: 1, assume it’s open!!
My point is that Somerby never gets to #2. I think 2 is remove Trump and 3 is be a better country for all of our citizens. We know what is involved with #2 -- Congress must do its job. But they aren't even passing legislation, so I don't see that happening. That major discussion in main media has already been happening, on various topics.
DeleteToday, MI and MN reported attempts to hack their water systems made by Iran. Trump responded to that by blaming the states themselves because they are blue states. It is in Trump's interest to disregard this hacking as an act of war against the US, because he doesn't know how to stop that war himself. In other words, Trump is being yet again incompetent on a threat to America that matters. How then will further discussion in main media help anything?
If we Americans call for Trump's removal and refuse to vote for any candidate who will not consider it, we can pressure our Congress to do that work. Somerby can help or he can be part of the problem. I haven't heard him call for any remedy to Trump being insane. Whatever the next step is, Somerby needs to discuss it too, or he is a waste of everyone's time.
Actually, it’s you folks who have no plan. Get Congress to remove him! is not a plan. Somerby says that one of the ways we Blues might try is for our media elites to begin reporting in depth on Trump’s bizarre behaviors and the probable psychoses animating them.
DeleteDG, you still have not answered why reporting more on Trump's bizarre behaviors will do anything given that everyone already knows Trump is insane.
DeleteHow is a report that says "Trump is insane" better than one that says "Trump posted more bizarre memes and tweets again today" or "Trump demands reinstatement of his slush fund"? Are you suggesting that readers and red voters do not understand how crazy Trump's behavior is, without explicitly labeling him nuts?
Weren't you the one defending red voters from being called stupid by portraying blues as performance, condescending etc.? How stupid is it to continue to support an insane president?
typo: performance = performative
Delete" ... journalistically appropriate way ...."
DeleteWho or what makes that determination?
DG?
Journalists have a code of ethics because they are a profession in which the consumer of their work cannot tell whether they are being ethical or not, so it is up to the journalists to police themselves. This is taught in journalism programs at universities and via professional organizations. Publishers decide whether to adhere to journalistic ethics or not too. Some journalists will quit rather than violate the ethics of their field.
DeleteOther professions where consumers cannot evaluate the ethics and competence of their providers include law, medicine, accountancy, teaching, clinical psychology (MFT counseling). That is why these fields have certification and licensing.
No church this morning?
ReplyDeleteShouldn't we all be praying?
DeleteSimon Rosenberg comments about tactics being used in contested primaries:
ReplyDelete"I also want to note the El-Sayed campaign and their allies have deployed a tactic in this race that’s been used by Republicans in recent years, and not by us - flooding the zone with favorable polls to shape the narrative of the race. In the past month 5 of the 12 primary polls released in Michigan have come from the El-Sayed campaign or their ideological allies - almost half. In those polls he leads by an average of 15 points. In June they released three additional general election polls. So if I counted correctly El-Sayed’s world released 8 of the 19 polls we’ve seen in Michigan these past two months - 40%. This was a major effort to shape the understanding of the race. I'm not sure there has been anything like this on our side of the game in recent years.
As we’ve discussed here the decline of legacy media means that our understanding of elections will be, unfortunately, increasingly shaped by partisan or ideological actors using polls, prediction markets, and on-line manipulation to ferociously manufacture “consent” or as Renee DiResta called it recently a “majority illusion.” For more on this new wild west of narrative shaping polls see this smart analysis from Bill Scher in the Washington Monthly, The Platner Collapse Is a Cautionary Tale About Polling."
When polls were conducted via telephone, it used to be that pollsters conducted "push polls" in which the questions asked caused respondents to think about issues in different ways, manipulating their opinions under the guise of asking about. This current creation of a suggested tidal wave of peer opinion is another form of influence on voters. Somerby has tried this himself lately, to undermine left wing enthusiasm.
Somerby omits the word "looney" because, if he left the word in, it would undercut his thesis that the press is ignoring Trump's insanity. Somerby's lack of seriousness shows in this game-playing today.
ReplyDeleteIt has become routine to spend time each morning reporting on Trump's latest Truth Social abominations. No sane president would post such stuff. Somerby is right about that. But crickets otherwise -- no suggestions about what to do about it. Here are my suggestions:
1. Move to another democracy, if possible.
2. Failing that, blame the Republicans who voted for Trump and are still enabling his incompetence in office. Blame the ones in office but also blame your friends and neighbors instead of tolerating their stupidity in voting for Trump. (This is called peer pressure, not vindictiveness, since you want to influence them to never vote for such a guy again, even if his initials are JD.)
3. Vote Democratic, even if you don't especially like the local candidates. They are mostly not going to enable Trump (except for Fetterman).
4. Continue to oppose evil by being nice to immigrants and trans people, supporting your local library, donating to your favored causes and never never never watching Fox.
5. Get a cat or dog. They will raise your spirits by being cute.
Here is everything you need to know about Bill Maher:
ReplyDelete"Bill Maher declared he’d vote for Sarah Palin over some progressive Democrats after warning that his vote is “in play.”
On Friday’s Real Time, Maher used his “new rule” segment to call out the Democratic Socialists of America and its members, like New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani (D).
Maher argued progressive Democrats either associate with DSA or call themselves progressive as a thin veil to hide the fact that they’re “communists.”
Most Democrats can tell the difference between a progressive and a communist, but not Maher. He is using right wing terminology to signal to voters that he is not a Democrat. If he hasn't lost his last left wing viewers, this will do it. Getting older is no excuse for getting stupider, the way Maher has done. Republicans can have him.
Getting older is an excuse for getting stupid. In many aging people, such as Maher, Trump — and me — the brain atrophies.
Delete