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Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Sat May 18, 2019 1:03 pm
by Taylor
I wanted to bump this thread back to life also:

After two plus years we’ve witnessed the jokes and horror that is president shit for brains. I am especially depressed by a loaded Supreme Court, and the attack on women from states like analbama and their new law banning a woman’s control of her own body.

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Mon May 20, 2019 8:50 pm
by DB Roy
Trump supporters have blinders on. 53% of white women should have known they had no business voting for Trump but they did it anyway. Maybe the dems might have scooped 3% of that demographic to their side but 50% of white women will vote for him again. Kentucky shouldn't re-elect Mitch McConnell but they will. You know they will despite the fact that McConnell wants to end the types of programs the average Kentucky voter needs to survive, it doesn't matter. They consistently vote against their own interests. The candidates don't even have to lie. "I'm going to take away your social security."

"Uhhh...okay, I guess."

Then a quarter of those may wake up when they suddenly have nothing to live on but by then it's a crisis situation and it's too damn late.

The dems have to concentrate on getting the apathetic ones off their asses and voting blue. Those 100 million who sat it out--the dems have to get them--that's their only hope. Trouble is, I know a guy who abstained and he's conservative and he would NEVER vote for the dems--never. So it might be better that that 100 million doesn't vote. I don't know what to tell you.

Quite frankly, women should have been a LOT more active and vocal in this thing than they have been. They were silent when they could least afford to be and now Roe v. Wade sits on the brink of being overturned and NOW they're mad. Once again, if you wait until it's a crisis, you waited too damn long. Oh, if Roe v. Wade gets overturned, I think the republicans will pay heavily for it in 2020 but it doesn't matter. The justices have these positions for life and it will be many years--decades--before Roe v. Wade will be reinstated if it ever gets reinstated.

As Ben Franklin said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. You can't go to sleep and you can't stay in the background if you have an iron in the fire. While the women were busy standing by their men, their men took their rights away.

I'm hopeful that a federal court will strike down these abortion laws and it doesn't get to the SCOTUS level of if it does then SCOTUS will strike it down. But when you let it get that far out of your grasp, you can't blame anyone but yourself.

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 12:46 pm
by DWill
I'd like to hear where you stand on impeachment. Would you agree that, while impeachment is probably not advantageous politically for the Democrats, to shirk a constitutional duty will end up eviscerating the party?

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 5:50 pm
by Taylor
I do not think that the Democrats would be shirking a constitutional duty by not pushing hard for impeachment, I think that slow playing impeachment is the pragmatic approach. I think that first and foremost they should govern. At this stage of the current executive regime Tump his his own worst enemy, He has already backed himself away from Alabama’s abortion ban. The national party is still petrified by their very own actions, they are like old men sliding slowly into a hot bath. The loaded courts and the GOP will push back only enough on states like Alabama and their ban if it will maintain their power.

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Tue May 21, 2019 6:01 pm
by Taylor
I like that word eviscerate. I do not think that the Dems would suffer so much that there is a risk to 2020. I think that there is so much on the table right now that impeachment is but one dish. I say serve up prime rib and let Trump dole out McDonald’s.

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Wed May 22, 2019 11:50 am
by Harry Marks
Taylor wrote: I think that first and foremost they should govern.
I agree, but with McConnell back in position to be the opposition, that is not easy to do. I would like to see the investigative power used for more than just the fiasco of Dear Leader. Like climate change, medical care, opioids, medical care, affordable housing, medical care, infrastructure and medical care.
Taylor wrote: At this stage of the current executive regime Tump is his own worst enemy,
He looks like he is in trouble, but there is no particular reason to expect an economic downturn, so a lot of independent voters will go with that. It will be interesting to see how his "rile up the base" strategy plays out, particularly with the base stirring the pot on abortion. Seems to me they would alienate centrist voters, such as those who brought the suburban landslide of 2018, more than they would turn out those inclined to sit on their hands, but the riling-up industry will go to work again and much may depend on how skillfully the Dems can parry their swift-boating.

Mostly I'm just putting in my two cents so I can follow the thread. :chatsmilies_com_92:

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Fri May 24, 2019 7:25 pm
by DB Roy
DWill wrote:I'd like to hear where you stand on impeachment. Would you agree that, while impeachment is probably not advantageous politically for the Democrats, to shirk a constitutional duty will end up eviscerating the party?
I think impeachment is inevitable. Public support for him weakens by the day because of Trump himself. First, he shows up for an infrastructure meeting with Pelosi and then storms out of the room and tells reporters that he's not working on anything until the investigations stop. Now, is that any way for a president to act?? Is that any way for an adult to act?

Imagine how impressed the public would have been if Trump had walked in and unveiled a real infrastructure plan. Pelosi would have short-circuited! The dem leadership would have been gobsmacked, as they say. I hear some people asking why the dems even wanted that meeting. Because they KNEW Trump had no plan--HE NEVER HAS A PLAN! They wanted to show the nation--indeed the world--Trump has no plan and no intention of working with them to hammer out a plan. He acts as though by governing that he's doing us a favor instead of his job.

THEN Trump calls all his cronies out in front of the mics and and asks each one if they saw him throwing a tantrum after his meeting with Pelosi. "No, sir, Mr. President! You were calm and cool as a cucumber!" I was embarrassed for these people! It was pathetic! Why didn't Trump produce his 3rd grade teacher to show his gold star for that day?? Then again, he probably never made it that far.

THEN--yes another THEN--he starts tweeting out these doctored video clips of Pelosi making her look drunk and disoriented by slowing down her speech and splicing in stutters. Even AFTER being informed that the clips were doctored, Trump doubled down like the idiot he is and kept tweeting that the clips prove how she's changed. It was truly ridiculous and laughable. And I won't mention, except in passing, that stupid "NO-NO" sign his had mounted on the podium in the Rose Garden.

The public has to be watching all this and just thinking that Trump is losing it. This guy has to go.

It's getting to the point that by continuing to defend him, each republican who does so is putting his or her own cred on the line and it's not worth it. Others are saying Trump is doing all this to get the Mueller investigation off people's minds but it only forces more attention on it. This guy broke the law and we don't even know what SDNY is going to hand us once their investigation is wrapped up. Pelosi has tried to stave off talk of impeachment but she cannot anymore. It is an idea whose time has come. It's in every media story that has anything to do with Trump--impeachment, impeachment, impeachment. Trump has to be punished or this country cannot hold its head up and face the rest of the world.

Some dems feel that if impeachment fails, that Trump will be guaranteed a reelection next year but I have my doubts about that. Even if Trump wriggles out of it, people are going to think the GOP and the Russians meddled once again. He's tainted with that now and it's not going to wash off. Really, Trump is finished. The House is received the information they requested from various institutions regarding Trump's finances and he has to know the game is over now. Everything is going to come out and he will not weather the storm and the dems will have a duty to impeach at that point. It will no longer be an option. The republicans will have to acquiesce for the same reason.

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Sun May 26, 2019 5:45 pm
by Harry Marks
I still prefer disclosure. Trump is not going to be ousted by impeachment unless he is caught red-handed doing more than has been exposed so far. Much better to keep his character before the public eye and talk about pre-existing conditions and potholes (not that he will do anything except keep his character before the public eye, of course). If the Dems force the issue by impeaching, then validating his obstruction of justice becomes the precedent for the next round of executive malfeasance.

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Thu Jun 13, 2019 4:35 pm
by DB Roy
“Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:
* Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.
* You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

‘My God… what… have… I… created?

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.” – Nate White

Re: Trump is not a joke

Posted: Fri Jun 14, 2019 4:31 pm
by DWill
I think he did say something I thought was amusing, although I can't recall it now. But point taken; the man isn't witty but thinks his schtick is killer because to his devotees, it is.

I waver on impeachment, but I tend to think now that impeachment proceedings might be to his advantage, in that they would probably limit the range of matters that need to be brought to light.
We already know that Republicans won't be persuaded that Mueller's list of obstructions amounts to crime, and that since Mueller didn't find criminal collusion, all there is is Trump welcoming Russia's participation, about which they say, "Eh." So Harry Marks might be right that exposure is best. On the other hand, there is no way to game the outcome. Trump could be either helped or harmed by impeachment proceedings. We can't predict even a few months ahead. So, since his conduct has been impeachable, is there really any way to avolid exercising that responsibility?