Can somebody please explain again what was so bad about Trump? He was against Tech amassing too much power. Please explain it as if you’re speaking to a five yr old. I want to know again - in clear language- What was So bad about Trump?
Can somebody please explain again what was so bad about Trump? He was against Tech amassing too much power. Please explain it as if you’re speaking to a five yr old. I want to know again - in clear language- What was So bad about Trump?
Trump was precisely what everyone SAYS they want to see in a politician: a man no one owns, who owed nothing to Wall Street, unions, the ABA, the AMA or any other special interest.
Yeah, but they said that about Bloomberg too. The kool aid drinkers on the NYT said he didn't have to answer to anybody because he had so much money, it was just between Mike and his conscience.
Right, i would bet the wellbeing of the country on the conscience of the guy who ended up stiffing all of the koolaid drinkers he paid off to post for him. I did listen to Hillary in '16 though, who told me to vote my conscience. So i wrote in Bernie.
beyond the On Paper factor I think it was that Bloomberg lacks any perceivable charisma to me and Trump has a certain amount that evidently appeals to a lot of people. It's weird to say this, but Trump almost has a "best of both worlds" thing going on by having an almost underdog charisma combined with a silver spoon upbringing.
Yea but Bloomberg had the Hillary like "elitism" built in him. Remember how he was talking about the farmers who don't do any special work and anyone can do their work? Trump, despite his flaws, didn't come off as "elite". There's couple videos of him making unplanned stops of his limo, coming out to take pictures with the fire fighters. Similar thing he did when he took his car out to visit the crowd outside the hospital when he got covid. He didn't have to do those things. But he did.
Him as well as his grandfather were hated in NY because despite the money, he didn't talk like the NY elites. He was rude, brash, blunt, politically incorrect. On one hand he was a showboater and exaggerated. On another hand, he would speak bluntly on things like "Putin isn't the only one who's a killer, you think US is innocent?"
Before the elections, reddit (and people) used to praise Trump. Look at this post with 23k upvotes and over 11k comments (Post has since been deleted by reddit).
You do have a point. He had grifters like Gina Raimondo and Stacy Abrams endorsing him. Remember how the DNC bent the debate rules so that he didn't need any small donors, while that rule had already knocked out the likes of Cory Booker? And nevermind the sexual harassment stuff, bad for Trump, ok for Bloomberg. But he was really just in there because the DNC wanted the money, and they wanted anybody but Bernie when Joe was tanking. Glad Warren basically knocked him out of it.
I didn't know about 'Berg's line about farmers, but that's asinine as fuck. I know I could find thousands of farmers brighter than him. You can take Bloomberg out of NYC, but you can't take the NYC snobbery out of Bloomberg. Jackass.
He appears brilliantly designed to create the opportunity that is being exploited now. Were it not for him, and his boorish behavior, the powers that be could not have swung the nation so willingly into a trap.
He was the establishment’s sheep dog, scaring the public into the arms of the butcher. Without him, none of this obviously pre-planned fascism would have been marketable.
That just shows that the "DNC leftists" and everyone who fell for it didn't have any principles in the first place. If your principles get eroded by 1 person you don't like, then they don't exist.
Yeah, but everyone got taken. Trump supporters thought he was some outsider, ignoring the fact that he ran in the same circles and depended on their money too. He was a black flag op of the establishment.
Trump was a total shit show. I have no idea what you are on about.
Consider how he served the establishment you seem to think he was opposing. Their entire fascist move at this point depended wholly on his existence, without which none of this would’ve been possible.
Why don’t you take responsibility?
I don’t support trump, or Clinton, or Biden. The fact that you’re trying to find a hero among that pile of trash puts the burden on you to defend your position.
You make it sound like Media and the citizens don't have any responsibility - or power - in this matter.
I think something you might also want to consider is that Establishment has definitively the most experience attaining and maintaining power. Part of that is being ready for random contingencies and adapting to them on the fly, or figuring out how to. I disagree that they expected Trump to win, and I think it shows in how it took them awhile (nearly four years) just to squeak out a win to depose him. EVEN THEN it required a pandemic to come along they could juice into a universal overreaction in order to tank the economy just in the nick of time for the election.
If it wasn't for COVID, do you seriously think Trump loses? After he INCREASED his minority demo?
Establishment aren't omniscient, it only seems that way because they're good at trying to adapt. It's their greed that gets them into trouble.
Quite simple: Trump was an outsider; couldn't be relied upon to do the "right" thing on key issues. Worse, in spite of his crude manner of expressing himself, he might even tell the truth occasionally; and worse still he seemed to be able to get through to large numbers of people who didn't give a toss about all the run of the mill politicians. But his greatest fault was that he used the tools of Big Tech to do all this.
IMO, for progressives the worst thing about Trump was that he prevented them, both legally and rhetorically, from acting out their totalitarian impulses. And for that, they called him totalitarian.
Trump, despite his flaws, didn't come off as "elite". There's couple videos of him making unplanned stops of his limo, coming out to take pictures with the fire fighters. Similar thing he did when he took his car out to visit the crowd outside the hospital when he got covid. He didn't have to do those things. But he did.
Him as well as his grandfather were hated in NY because despite the money, he didn't talk like the NY elites. He was rude, brash, blunt, politically incorrect. On one hand he was a showboater and exaggerated. On another hand, he would speak bluntly on things like "Putin isn't the only one who's a killer, you think US is innocent?"
Before the elections, reddit (and people) used to praise Trump. Look at this post with 23k upvotes and over 11k comments (Post has since been deleted by reddit).
Trump was totally incompetent, without any convictions, narcist, surrounded with sycophants -- him not pardoning Julian Assange, his strong witness about the immense Russia-gate hoax concocted by Obama-Biden-Hillary -- is a PERFECT illustration of that.
Trump had congress, big business(wall street), the media apparatus, and his own generals against him, all while having to deal with constant impeachment attempts. His failing was getting rid of Steve Bannon who had an actual vision and sticking with the snake Kushner.
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
my first introduction to Mr. Assange's revelatory skills was in Barcelona, Spain 1970. He made records available from several African governments that implicated European-sourced bribery...No surprise..but he (his organization) was adept at infiltrating even the most fascist dictatorial governments (Francisco Franco) We were young, and pre-electronic media...but just as thirsty for the truth. Assange may now have some clinical signs...but his contributions were indisputable, and vital to governmental transparency
Thank you. What is amazing and what fully illustrates that we are dealing with paid security state trolls is the following:
- Even id Julian is high functioning autist There millions of them fully contributing in our societies worldwide), even in that case --- one of their main and universally recognized characteristics is -- they are UNABLE to lie. That makes them "socially awkward"
- Note how CIA trolls intensely try to divert from the immense Assange (or Snowden, or other) immense contribution to our society, they, like with the horrendous recent history with Aristide and Haiti, how they try to deflect to another topic, in this case "mental illness"
Mr. Assange was rumored to be impossible to work with, but genius and incapable of duplicity -- almost naive...these past years must have been grueling...and Central America, Haiti in particular, is rife with bipartisan "crimes" or "policy"... will watch the interview.
Spain in 1970 was restricted, with Cataluna (Catalan) and Vizcaya, Alava and Guipuzcoa (Basque) under severe repression. This was not "pseudo" -- it was real....Mr. Assange used his stealth to reveal the dark sides of many political systems and victims -- a skill that was as dangerous as it was necessary...Thank you
Nearly incredible and horrible recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated crime horror for six (read slowly - six) full years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
Thank you. What is amazing and what fully illustrates that we are dealing with paid security state trolls is the following:
- Even if Julian is high functioning autist (there millions of them fully contributing in our societies worldwide), even in that case --- one of their main and universally recognized characteristics is -- they are UNABLE to lie. That makes them "socially awkward" but invaluable.
- Note how CIA trolls intensely try to divert from the immense Assange (or Snowden, or other) immense contribution to our society, they, like with the horrendous recent history with Aristide and Haiti, note how they try to deflect to another topic, in this case "mental illness"
Sam Harris has some pretty good takes on why Trump is so bad but a lot of it comes down to just personally hating the guy. Harris :
“ There is never a moment where I find Trump persuasive. When I look at him I see a man without any inner life. I see the most superficial person on Earth. This is a guy who has been totally hollowed out by greed and self regard and delusion. If I caught some sort of brain virus and I started talking about myself the way Trump talks about himself, I would throw myself out a fucking window. ”
I used to think Sam Harris was so sophisticated, and yet that quote is so incredibly crude and unsophisticated. Childlike, really.
Yeah, Trump is gross. And narcissistic. And orange. And says really weird shit. He makes me wince.
But this left woke totalitarian movement has been obvious for a while. It kept getting stronger even under Trump. And unless you're a complete fool, it was obvious it would go on steroids if Biden were elected. Which it has.
Poor aesthetics vs. woke dystopia. That was the choice. We chose... poorly.
Trump is buffoonish , but he really did know what was ailing the country, he was just terrible at communicating it, and he had literally nobody to work with in congress.
#Resist started the day after his election. He was never more powerful than the wokeys. The absolute personal hatred toward him from 360 degrees was breathtaking. A guy who had never held office couldn't be helped along for the good of the nation. But then, they weren't very nice to Jimmy Carter either.
Well, I respect the difference of opinion. You must have noticed, though, that the media went into conniptions and predicted cataclysmic disaster after just about everything he did. Didn't that get a little silly?
This sounds like someone possessed by their shadow in the Jungian sense. Meaning he's taken everything he doesn't like about himself and projected it on to someone else. I good sign you're being run by your shadow is if you can't think of a single good thing about the object of your hatred. There was a lot of this in the TDS era.
I think like most replies you misunderstand the question, because it is not just "personally hating the guy", but having an extreme disgust at them.
The question is about *over*-reaction, not just reaction, to Trump. The question to me is about this:
* 4 years of pretty much "normal" right-wing presidency, with some changes in intended policy, and small changes in actual policy, and the over-reaction is "like Hitler" and "democracy itself";
* why the gigantic gap between (overrated) "reality" and disproportionately extreme reactions, both personal and political, to Trump?
But both your reactions are just reactions, and similar reactions could be applied to most politicians, e.g. Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz, both of which are despised even by many members of their own parties.
I think that the original "so bad" question seems to be about Trump Derangement Syndrome, those “disproportionately extreme reactions, both personal and political”.
Where are the mass graves with the bodies hacked to pieces? Where are the reports of MAGA-hatter death squads "disappearing" Democratic Party activists? Where are the vast torture camps for leftist academics? Where are the photos of the NYT and CNN buildings taken over by the secret police with the journalists brought out in chains?
I believe there were armed, ununiformed goons in unmarked vans scooping people off the street. But I'm not dumb enough to think that couldn't happen under any other president with the right conditions. Still, there's that.
“Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said he had pardoned Colonel Joseph L. Romano, who was the only person not a member of the CIA among 23 Americans sentenced for the kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan in 2003. The Egyptian cleric, also known as Abu Omar, was secretly flown to Egypt for interrogation, where he says he was tortured for seven months. He was a resident in Italy at the time of the abduction.”
“Lady and Medero were among 26 Americans convicted for snatching Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from a street in Milan in 2003 and whisking him away to be questioned in Egypt.”
Even the english army special forces, not exactly made of "concerned intellectuals", felt that the USA death squads in Iraq were too much:
“Some senior British officers were unhappy at what was going on and the involvement of the UK’s SAS and the SBS. “Why are we helping to run Latin American-style death squads?” One British commander, himself ex-SAS, demanded to know. The SAS were, on at least two occasions, barred from carrying out such missions in the British-run south of the country.
Questions were asked about how information was being obtained from suspects in Balad. There was an unofficial inquiry into the treatment of prisoners at the base, although no evidence was found to implicate Maj Gen McChrystal. ...
But the reverberations from special forces operations in Iraq continued. Six years later Maj Gen McChrystal, by now a four star general and commander of international forces in Afghanistan, had received a complaint from the UK’s director of special forces (DSF) for speaking about operations carried out with the SAS and SBS in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile an SAS lieutenant colonel, who had served with distinction under Maj Gen McChrystal in Iraq, was told to stay away from the Regiment’s headquarters in Hereford.”
It keeps coming down to this style over substance stuff. I’m tired of it now bc we’re approaching a dangerous situation. I need to hear, from someone intelligent, something Substantive about Trump’s major faults. I’ll go first- he does have an Andrew Jackson complex. He wanted to go down in history.. he wanted ppl to fight for him. This is a very off putting quality for many ppl and it triggered them and scared them. It didn’t come out (IMO) as a truly and Substantively damaging quality until January 6th.
I was disturbed by a couple of things. One was his advocating or condoning violence against political opponents and people he construed to be class enemies, This out of the old-time fascist playbook, although it's possible he didn't understand its connections He also encouraged private-army types. That is one thing I don't want to see catch on in the US. It's not something to fools around with even in humor, as you can find out by reading the history of Germany in the 20th century.
First, he was a true narcissist. And couldn’t control it. He didn’t deliver on his promises because he couldn’t pay attention to them if someone on Hannity was talking about him. He couldn’t listen even to good advice unless someone was sucking him off hard enough.
Second, he had no idea how to address any of the criticisms he had made to find a solution. He governed largely as a standard Republican, even when it hurt him. His lowest ratings came the day his McConnell wet dream tax cut passed.
Third, he sucked as a manager. He picked the worst people for his team. Made working for him completely unappealing to the best people for the job. And dear god did he not always pick the worst legal minds in the business?
Nothing worse than incompetence really. Nowhere near as much of a racist as Joe Biden. Nor as much of a fascist.
but it absolutely doesn't dead-end at style, that's just the low-hanging stinkfruit that most people reach for to throw the most, with good reason. the exact same thing happens with Biden
Well they are really discrediting themselves by going for low hanging fruit. No ones doing the same w Biden - we’re pointing out some very significant and dangerous flaws with him. Where was the Real danger in Trump? So far the only real answer I got is “he turned lefties into fascists and also some ppl don’t like him”. It’s an interesting theory but I’m not buying it that he was a gift created by or given to the Establishment if that lets ppl off the hook for still hating Trump. We’re not going to move forward as a society until we sort out some truth about Trump
The reality that he’s a megalomaniac is not just a matter of style. When anyone who disagrees with you becomes an enemy of the state (because, increasingly, you ARE the state), that’s really a dangerous state of affairs. We may reach fascism by committee with the Dems, but I believe a charismatic megalomaniac can bring that to pass as well.
We are already staring full-on fascism in the face under Democrats (did you READ Matt’s post?), and you’re still pursing your lips and tugging worriedly at your turtleneck over Trump.
I was responding to a post asking what’s so bad about Trump. I did read the article, and I think your response shows you’re bilious and can’t imagine how anyone could reasonably have a different perspective from yours. So fuck off.
To be clear, I have no professional idea of what it means, but I think of Trump as the mega guy, but mostly because, every time he talked, things were "the biggest," "the most," "the greatest," etc.
So, interested to know the forensic analysis of Pres. Obama. This could be a series. But we could be labeled, "misinformation."
Discrediting themselves, no. Not really answering your question, yes. Some have already addressed your question without leaning on style. Indeed, Biden faces (and deserves) similar style attacks, especially from Berniebros, I guess you've only seen the desperate dog jokes.
At one time I was smitten with Harris’ apparent hyper-rationality and ever-so-calm delivery. I don’t know just how it happened, but something destroyed that feeling. One thing that started to bother me was a sense that he wanted to talk about one thing, how bad Islam is, too exclusively. Kinda how I feel about Greenwald sometimes with his anti-mainstream-lib vendetta (not that he’s wrong). Also, both guys get hyper-riled up sometimes when criticized. But whatever.
Harris is nuanced, like the rest of us. I still listen to and respect his opinions on a great many things. Many. Things. His somewhat hyperbolic takes on Covid and Trump I take as interesting counterpoints to other opinions I glean and respect. Long live nuance!
I want a browser extension that allows me to hide all posts regarding Trump. Am I the only one who doesn't need every discussion to be 50% allocated to one topic?
It would seem that there should be some quality of use offerings provided by sites that require paid subscriptions, both in service to their patrons, as well as to those who publish their work on the venue. If it can be assumed that the patrons are attracted to the work being published, the paid provider should consider providing its patrons with a means of avoiding off-topic content and repetitive trolling by other patrons; the simple addition of an "IGNORE" button in the individuals comment section is a proven solution to this very common problem. It easily gives the subscriber individual control without censoring anyone else.
It would also be very helpful to have an "EDIT", "BOLD", "ITALICS", AND "UNDERLINE" button in the comment segment. So COME ON Substack, not asking for censorship or moderation, just a little technical upgrade? At this point, it is my belief that many of us would be happy to pay "a little" extra to end the hassles.
Here is something that is NOT about Trump. On a different subject -- worth distributing. An extraordinary interview detailing horrendous recent crimes in Haiti during Obama and Bush administrations !!
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
He is a morally bankrupt person. Whether he has good policy or not, Some people dont want a BS artist, Someone who doesnt know geography and draws on maps and lies that hr received info from weather angencies to prop up is ego.
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
Thats the sad part, Biden could of chose anyone, but he narrowed it down, to her and she has no moxie or whatever that thing is. That was a hate vote for biden, People would have voted for anyone but Trump. If trump had handled the vrus better, he would of won
«If trump had handled the vrus better, he would of won»
Relatively to most "Atlantic Alliance" countries the USA story was average, and the Trump administration also setup a vaccination program that has been working well since January. These are the death rates for COVID-19 in several countries:
211.70 Italy
197.74 Poland
192.25 United Kingdom
184.48 United States
166.01 France
142.25 Sweden
127.05 Switzerland
109.95 Germany
All those of course are 10-100 times (1,000%-10,000%) worse than those not-reaganista countries whose governments adopted test-trace-isolate:
Hilarious! Just learned my daughter's high school friend (aged 20) was approached/solicited on Capitol Hill where she is interning this summer by a sitting married, Democrat US senator (aged 60s-70s) and thus the affair began. He's gotten chlamydia from another lover and gave it to her. Meanwhile he puts chlamydia meds in his wife's breakfast. If you think there has been a moral president since the dawn of the US, think again!
You are perfectly entitled to say Trump is a BS artist. Just as you would be entitled to say that Hillary Clinton is a foolish, unspeakably arrogant, corrupt individual. Or that Joe Biden is a senile professional politician whose family is coated with the slime of decades of systemic corruption. The latter are prime examples of 2 political families (there are others) who have dragged American politics to a new low over the past 2 decades. My point is this: anyone even marginally on the right (or left, like Sauders) who pointed out obvious facts about the real issues facing the US these last years has been crucified by the mass media which has become part of the political machines of the aforementioned political families. Consequently, by 2016, no decent person with any integrity would step into the political arena. That left the field open to anyone, however crude and with whatever ulterior motives, to say what had to be said. And whatever else you may say about Trump, he articulated many of the real issues of the day: such as immigration, jobs for American workers, China, rampant political correctness at every level of American society etc. etc.
Working across the US these last years, I have met many good people, often as far-removed as you can imagine from the stereotyped "deplorable Trump supporter" portrayed by the mass media, who quietly told me they would vote for Trump "in spite of ..". All of them - you could call them swing voters - voiced in some measure disgust with the brazen corruption of Washingon and the endless posturing of the Democratic party. The proof of this is that, BS artist or not, 13 million more people voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016. We now know that Biden is just a cipher for the DNC machine: business as usual concealed by lots of hot air! So final point: unless a meaningful alternative, with practical policies, appears in the near term, get ready for the next Trump.
«BS artist or not, 13 million more people voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016.»
I simply cannot believe that in an epidemic year The Usurper Trump's votes rose 18%, with much higher peaks in Republican areas; while of course I must believe that Saintly President Biden got 22% more votes than Real President Rodham-Clinton herself, with peaks in crucial Democratic areas like in Georgia of 60% more democratic votes than in 2016, a truly "fantastic" increase. :-)
D. Trump himself pointed out that he was hoping to win with 3 million more votes than in 2016:
«"They said get 66 million votes, sir, and the election is over. I got 75 million votes, and you saw what happened," he said. Mr Biden got more than 80 million votes.»
«morally bankrupt [...] BS artist, Someone who doesnt know geography [...] lies that hr received info from weather angencies [...] prop up is ego»
But all those are reasons one can give for "bad", and many people detested for similar reasons B Clinton or GW Bush and now J Biden.
The question was why "so bad", that is why the extreme over-reaction, largely based on hallucinations, given that he actually governed as a mostly standard right-wing president.
He has such a bad reputation in NY as a sheister that people hate the guy, He says he can shoot someone on 5th ave. and not lose voters, he puts false claims on twitter by qanon and gives them his endorsement. I wonder how his voters dont see this.. The simple fact that he gives Qanon people his approval should give you your answer of why so bad. These points arent hallucinations, He was asked about posting a tweet with our military saying Bin Laden wasnt killed, He just shrugs it off and claims he doesnt know, Sheister, with a capital S. Thats disrespectful to our soldiers. A so;dier actually corrected his post. Why his faithful ever react to it. TDS, I am an indepedent and did not vote for Biden,
In terms of character, Trump ultimately wants to be liked by people too much.
In terms of what the Establishment hated and feared about him, Trump ultimately wants to be liked by The People too much.
It's ironic that a character flaw in him made Trump a perfect monkey wrench tossed into the gears of The Establishment's increasing control and manipulation over government. For awhile, at least. Then They adapted, because They have Think Tanks.
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
It’s pretty significant for a president to be against, Genuinely against- mind you, Big Tech. And to have predicted the danger of tech’s new mutant government-tech-totalitarian-monster-creature. And to have pointed it out and to have recommended doing something about it. He wanted to repeal section 230- maybe not the right solution- but he understood the problem. The vast majority of politicians don’t have the balls- and we’ll never be able to elect another one who does now.. Bc tech has too much power . Now it’s too late. Knowing that Tech makes or breaks their careers and their election campaigns- they will never stand up to them. Some of them pretended to during those congressional show trials - but no, I don’t believe that the tech ceos were scared of any of them.
You're talking about the man who wanted athletes fired for taking a knee. The idea that Ding Dong Donny genuinely had any opposition to anything that made him look macho and rich.....
Yeah, fuck that guy. He was just as authoritarian as some of these transnational, hydra-headed tech CEOs and really such a dumbass. The answer lies not in either Trumpism or this crazy, crazy Maoist leftism.
How about his "Muslim registry?" Nothing could have been more authoritarian and ridiculously police-statey than that. Trump was an unhinged maniac who was right about as many fingers are on my left hand (4).
Nope, not true. That whole story got mangled in a series of fantastical social media posts. I can't stand Macron, but all it was was an attempt to register ALL French school children that got picked up and distorted by some crazed leftists in France.
«please explain again what was so bad about Trump?»
There are two different aspects to that:
* The politics: a right-wing "nationalist one-nation tory" in the tradition of Ross Perot and Part Buchanan, therefore entirely incompatible with the right-wing "globalist individualist whig" politics of the dominant business elites.
* The person: a "low-brow", television-infused, salesman profile, therefore entirely incompatible with "high brow" (and "middle brow"), printed-word, intellectual profile of the dominant academic and political elites (so perfectly embodied by Barack Obama).
“What did we learn from the failed TRUMP experiment? (cont) Someone in office, like a High Priest of Baal, a Patriarch, a doge, a judge, or a mafia don, must observe a certain decorum & a certain ornamental deportment. This holds even more true in a secular democracy. #Lindy”
I think much of his political persona was an act. Watch his older interviews or read any of the hundreds of testimonies from his employees going back decades and it is not the same persona. Not even close.
How is that not covered by "televisual salesman"? How is that different from most other politicians and entertainers?
«going back decades and it is not the same persona»
I would question that, as he has always been a crass cable-tv style of celebrity, and always an "America Firster" like Perot and Buchanan.
But over the decades both his politics and his personality did not cause extreme reactions of disgust and rejection, at most amused dismissal: that changed quite a lot when it became clear that his personality and politics were politically influential to the point of being about to win, and then winning, the presidency.
Trump's brand of 'low-brow' was definitely incompatible for a non-zero amount of people with perfectly 'low-brow' tastes, not just elite types. Maybe not enough to make it worth mentioning in your analysis, but I know plenty.
«Trump's brand of 'low-brow' was definitely incompatible for a non-zero amount of people with perfectly 'low-brow' tastes»
Probably you are thinking of "middle brow" tastes.
But anyhow I can imagine many "low brow" disagreeing with him or not liking his specific way of being "low brow", but the question was "what was so bad", that is why the reactions of extreme disgust as to the person and extreme rejection as to the politics.
For the extreme rejection as to the person I think it was a feeling of personal humiliation by "high brow" and "middle brow" people as to having a "low brow" "orange baboon" as their superior, because he did not get that extreme reaction when he was just a "celebrity".
No, not thinking of middle brow. He certainly got that reaction from people when he was a 'celebrity'. I know poors that swear, cuss, cheat, show up in jeans or shorts, drink slaughterhouse runoff, etc with very little respect for middle or high brow society (including the law sometimes) that were repulsed by him since his gawdy appearance in the '80s, full of himself in his gold penthouse talking to Robin Leech thinking he's some kind of genius - the irony thick enough to cut with a knife. A fair amount of people have always found him to be another big grifting dumbass trying to bloviate by on his inheritance and fake sounding last name. To be clear, none of these people had any use for Clinton either. My only point is the disgust was certainly present among lower 'brow' society, but I'm leaning on personal experience here, not polling or 'science', so I accept it may seem impossible.
«A fair amount of people have always found him to be another big grifting dumbass trying to bloviate by on his inheritance and fake sounding last name.»
Ah sure, but that is simply trying to explain why he was "bad", not "so bad". Those people despised him, but did not and still do not suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, they don't say "literally Hitler", "threat to democracy itself", and streams of character assassination and distortions of whatever he does and says, including describing him as both a childish idiot and a monstrous conspirator. Your low-brows merely “were repulsed by him since his gawdy appearance in the '80s”.
Consider this deranged example instead, of thousands and thousands:
«The one thing missing from the typical NPR talk show is truth, naked, raw, unqualified, unapologized for truth. In the discussion today, the guests were being asked to speculate on the reasons for certain of Trump’s recent statements and actions: the congratulatory call to Erdogan, the invitation to Duterte, the rather unanticipated statement that he would be “honored” to meet with Kim Jong-un. Why would Trump speak in this way about rulers who murdered their own countrymen, even their own relatives, rigged elections, oppressed opponents, threw reporters in jail?
One after another, guests speculated that Trump was trying to upend long-standing American foreign policy, or was speaking thoughtlessly, or had some hidden negotiating strategy in mind. To each of these guests, Johnson responded courteously, respectfully, clearly signaling that these were just the sorts of sober, serious, thoughtful comments he wished to encourage. Then it happened. One of the guests, I do not know whom it was, said quietly, “I think it is envy.” Johnson erupted almost before the words had been uttered. In a loud, flustered voice, he burst out, “But you cannot mean that you think he would like to do those things! But, but, but, surely you do not mean that.” Johnson went on in this way, speaking over his guest, who was trying, so far as I could hear, to say “Yes, I think that is just what he wants to do.”
It was so manifestly, obviously, undeniably true, and at the same time so nakedly partisan, that it made Johnson’s head explode. It was, in its simplicity, the truest thing I had ever heard on NPR.»
<they don't say "literally Hitler"> actually, I know very few people of any brow in real life who felt this way, unless they were hiding it from me (and there's no reason I can think of one might conceal that from me). I know a few, but largely from academics down to landscapers and weed growers, people I knew who didn't care for Trump simply thought he was a gaudy, self-centered hypocrite too dumb to pull off a Hitler. What's funny is I know as many high-brow university educated country club engineers that are outspoken Trump supporters (they will move heaven and earth to explain away Trump's abrasions, like my conservative Christian friends) as I do sunburned construction workers that love him - the whole brow distinction just isn't a strong trend in my reality, I would never make an assumption about what someone thought about Trump based on 'brow', I've found it's way more complex than that. But I accept there might be some national trend that runs strongly along these lines and my experience is an outlier.
<they don't say "literally Hitler"> it just occurs to me that indeed, in 2016 immediately after Trump won, I defo did notice a collective brick shitting that occurred, which possibly did largely fall along 'brow' lines. I definitely noticed that. But this was mostly gone within months, and by the time the Mueller investigation was winding down, the few people I knew that hadn't returned to their senses were back to themselves again. After that I think I can count the credulous pant-shitters on one hand, a tiny minority who were still talking about 'Putin's puppet'. Christ on his throne, what dipshittery.
That's interesting, but I have to ask: who do the 'Celts' want revenge against? The Romans? Saxons? Franks? Norse/Normans? Or is the term 'Celt' an ahistorical representation of some non-genetic block/class/caste?
Ha, I wonder if the Democrats will get on a plane and fly to Cuba so they can't be present for the vote in protest of this discrimination.... "The worst thing since Jim Crow started the Civil War and killed Captain America with that rock... the... well, you know, the thing."
Yep. Some sort of Covid pass, along with regular status updates, is surely on the way .. to keep us all "safe" of course. And it goes without saying that it'll be tightly bound to voting rights .. to "save democracy". Thank God the government is looking out for our safety on so many fronts. Otherwise who knows? People might start thinking and acting independently.
Can somebody please explain again what was so bad about Trump? He was against Tech amassing too much power. Please explain it as if you’re speaking to a five yr old. I want to know again - in clear language- What was So bad about Trump?
Trump was precisely what everyone SAYS they want to see in a politician: a man no one owns, who owed nothing to Wall Street, unions, the ABA, the AMA or any other special interest.
And that, of course, was completely unacceptable.
Yeah, but they said that about Bloomberg too. The kool aid drinkers on the NYT said he didn't have to answer to anybody because he had so much money, it was just between Mike and his conscience.
Right, i would bet the wellbeing of the country on the conscience of the guy who ended up stiffing all of the koolaid drinkers he paid off to post for him. I did listen to Hillary in '16 though, who told me to vote my conscience. So i wrote in Bernie.
beyond the On Paper factor I think it was that Bloomberg lacks any perceivable charisma to me and Trump has a certain amount that evidently appeals to a lot of people. It's weird to say this, but Trump almost has a "best of both worlds" thing going on by having an almost underdog charisma combined with a silver spoon upbringing.
Yea but Bloomberg had the Hillary like "elitism" built in him. Remember how he was talking about the farmers who don't do any special work and anyone can do their work? Trump, despite his flaws, didn't come off as "elite". There's couple videos of him making unplanned stops of his limo, coming out to take pictures with the fire fighters. Similar thing he did when he took his car out to visit the crowd outside the hospital when he got covid. He didn't have to do those things. But he did.
Him as well as his grandfather were hated in NY because despite the money, he didn't talk like the NY elites. He was rude, brash, blunt, politically incorrect. On one hand he was a showboater and exaggerated. On another hand, he would speak bluntly on things like "Putin isn't the only one who's a killer, you think US is innocent?"
https://youtu.be/y7ErFCqCXcg
They don't like their evil to be talked out loud.
Before the elections, reddit (and people) used to praise Trump. Look at this post with 23k upvotes and over 11k comments (Post has since been deleted by reddit).
http://archive.is/8TvxG
He also criticized HRC in 2002 for still not supporting gay marriage. People like to forget that stuff though and think of him as Orange Hitler.
You do have a point. He had grifters like Gina Raimondo and Stacy Abrams endorsing him. Remember how the DNC bent the debate rules so that he didn't need any small donors, while that rule had already knocked out the likes of Cory Booker? And nevermind the sexual harassment stuff, bad for Trump, ok for Bloomberg. But he was really just in there because the DNC wanted the money, and they wanted anybody but Bernie when Joe was tanking. Glad Warren basically knocked him out of it.
I didn't know about 'Berg's line about farmers, but that's asinine as fuck. I know I could find thousands of farmers brighter than him. You can take Bloomberg out of NYC, but you can't take the NYC snobbery out of Bloomberg. Jackass.
He appears brilliantly designed to create the opportunity that is being exploited now. Were it not for him, and his boorish behavior, the powers that be could not have swung the nation so willingly into a trap.
He was the establishment’s sheep dog, scaring the public into the arms of the butcher. Without him, none of this obviously pre-planned fascism would have been marketable.
That just shows that the "DNC leftists" and everyone who fell for it didn't have any principles in the first place. If your principles get eroded by 1 person you don't like, then they don't exist.
Well put.
Yeah, but everyone got taken. Trump supporters thought he was some outsider, ignoring the fact that he ran in the same circles and depended on their money too. He was a black flag op of the establishment.
He was hired to play the part of "The Heel".
This is just quite the elaborate fantasy to evade taking responsibility for your vote by not admitting that Trump would have been a better choice
????
Trump was a total shit show. I have no idea what you are on about.
Consider how he served the establishment you seem to think he was opposing. Their entire fascist move at this point depended wholly on his existence, without which none of this would’ve been possible.
Why don’t you take responsibility?
I don’t support trump, or Clinton, or Biden. The fact that you’re trying to find a hero among that pile of trash puts the burden on you to defend your position.
I think that is called a trojan horse, not that I believe Trump was aware of it.
You make it sound like Media and the citizens don't have any responsibility - or power - in this matter.
I think something you might also want to consider is that Establishment has definitively the most experience attaining and maintaining power. Part of that is being ready for random contingencies and adapting to them on the fly, or figuring out how to. I disagree that they expected Trump to win, and I think it shows in how it took them awhile (nearly four years) just to squeak out a win to depose him. EVEN THEN it required a pandemic to come along they could juice into a universal overreaction in order to tank the economy just in the nick of time for the election.
If it wasn't for COVID, do you seriously think Trump loses? After he INCREASED his minority demo?
Establishment aren't omniscient, it only seems that way because they're good at trying to adapt. It's their greed that gets them into trouble.
Except- at least half- the country didn’t fall for it. People need to take responsibility for their actions. If someone fell for it, its on them.
I think you give him too much credit. It was going this direction regardless. Give up your guns and you won’t be long for life.
controlled opposition
Quite simple: Trump was an outsider; couldn't be relied upon to do the "right" thing on key issues. Worse, in spite of his crude manner of expressing himself, he might even tell the truth occasionally; and worse still he seemed to be able to get through to large numbers of people who didn't give a toss about all the run of the mill politicians. But his greatest fault was that he used the tools of Big Tech to do all this.
IMO, for progressives the worst thing about Trump was that he prevented them, both legally and rhetorically, from acting out their totalitarian impulses. And for that, they called him totalitarian.
Trump, despite his flaws, didn't come off as "elite". There's couple videos of him making unplanned stops of his limo, coming out to take pictures with the fire fighters. Similar thing he did when he took his car out to visit the crowd outside the hospital when he got covid. He didn't have to do those things. But he did.
Him as well as his grandfather were hated in NY because despite the money, he didn't talk like the NY elites. He was rude, brash, blunt, politically incorrect. On one hand he was a showboater and exaggerated. On another hand, he would speak bluntly on things like "Putin isn't the only one who's a killer, you think US is innocent?"
https://youtu.be/y7ErFCqCXcg
They don't like their evil to be talked out loud.
Before the elections, reddit (and people) used to praise Trump. Look at this post with 23k upvotes and over 11k comments (Post has since been deleted by reddit).
http://archive.is/8TvxG
Trump was totally incompetent, without any convictions, narcist, surrounded with sycophants -- him not pardoning Julian Assange, his strong witness about the immense Russia-gate hoax concocted by Obama-Biden-Hillary -- is a PERFECT illustration of that.
Trump had congress, big business(wall street), the media apparatus, and his own generals against him, all while having to deal with constant impeachment attempts. His failing was getting rid of Steve Bannon who had an actual vision and sticking with the snake Kushner.
I suspect all the best ideas Trump ever claimed came from directly from Bannon.
...perhaps his strongest failing...and one of his weakest moments...was not pardoning
Julian Assange. totally agree
Thank you -- on a different subject -- recent US colonial crimes:
IMPORTANT -- An extraordinary interview !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
my first introduction to Mr. Assange's revelatory skills was in Barcelona, Spain 1970. He made records available from several African governments that implicated European-sourced bribery...No surprise..but he (his organization) was adept at infiltrating even the most fascist dictatorial governments (Francisco Franco) We were young, and pre-electronic media...but just as thirsty for the truth. Assange may now have some clinical signs...but his contributions were indisputable, and vital to governmental transparency
Thank you. What is amazing and what fully illustrates that we are dealing with paid security state trolls is the following:
- Even id Julian is high functioning autist There millions of them fully contributing in our societies worldwide), even in that case --- one of their main and universally recognized characteristics is -- they are UNABLE to lie. That makes them "socially awkward"
- Note how CIA trolls intensely try to divert from the immense Assange (or Snowden, or other) immense contribution to our society, they, like with the horrendous recent history with Aristide and Haiti, how they try to deflect to another topic, in this case "mental illness"
( please see/listen to the truly eye-opening US recent bipartisan crimes in this "Haiti interview" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI )
Mr. Assange was rumored to be impossible to work with, but genius and incapable of duplicity -- almost naive...these past years must have been grueling...and Central America, Haiti in particular, is rife with bipartisan "crimes" or "policy"... will watch the interview.
Spain in 1970 was restricted, with Cataluna (Catalan) and Vizcaya, Alava and Guipuzcoa (Basque) under severe repression. This was not "pseudo" -- it was real....Mr. Assange used his stealth to reveal the dark sides of many political systems and victims -- a skill that was as dangerous as it was necessary...Thank you
but I am a dauntless Substack reader!
"e.pirce" is a lunatic but likely a paid troll.
CIA and its servants did the same blasphemous accusations to Aristide !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI -- a MUST read/hear.
Nearly incredible and horrible recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated crime horror for six (read slowly - six) full years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
Thank you. What is amazing and what fully illustrates that we are dealing with paid security state trolls is the following:
- Even if Julian is high functioning autist (there millions of them fully contributing in our societies worldwide), even in that case --- one of their main and universally recognized characteristics is -- they are UNABLE to lie. That makes them "socially awkward" but invaluable.
- Note how CIA trolls intensely try to divert from the immense Assange (or Snowden, or other) immense contribution to our society, they, like with the horrendous recent history with Aristide and Haiti, note how they try to deflect to another topic, in this case "mental illness"
( please see/listen to the truly eye-opening US recent bipartisan crimes in this "Haiti interview" -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI )
Sam Harris has some pretty good takes on why Trump is so bad but a lot of it comes down to just personally hating the guy. Harris :
“ There is never a moment where I find Trump persuasive. When I look at him I see a man without any inner life. I see the most superficial person on Earth. This is a guy who has been totally hollowed out by greed and self regard and delusion. If I caught some sort of brain virus and I started talking about myself the way Trump talks about himself, I would throw myself out a fucking window. ”
I used to think Sam Harris was so sophisticated, and yet that quote is so incredibly crude and unsophisticated. Childlike, really.
Yeah, Trump is gross. And narcissistic. And orange. And says really weird shit. He makes me wince.
But this left woke totalitarian movement has been obvious for a while. It kept getting stronger even under Trump. And unless you're a complete fool, it was obvious it would go on steroids if Biden were elected. Which it has.
Poor aesthetics vs. woke dystopia. That was the choice. We chose... poorly.
Trump is buffoonish , but he really did know what was ailing the country, he was just terrible at communicating it, and he had literally nobody to work with in congress.
I dunno. I think Trump’s a dangerous man. And at least for awhile there, he was much more powerful than the wokeys.
#Resist started the day after his election. He was never more powerful than the wokeys. The absolute personal hatred toward him from 360 degrees was breathtaking. A guy who had never held office couldn't be helped along for the good of the nation. But then, they weren't very nice to Jimmy Carter either.
They literally said they were going to get him out of office THE DAY AFTER THE ELECTION!
Well, I respect the difference of opinion. You must have noticed, though, that the media went into conniptions and predicted cataclysmic disaster after just about everything he did. Didn't that get a little silly?
This sounds like someone possessed by their shadow in the Jungian sense. Meaning he's taken everything he doesn't like about himself and projected it on to someone else. I good sign you're being run by your shadow is if you can't think of a single good thing about the object of your hatred. There was a lot of this in the TDS era.
Big time
«good takes on why Trump is so bad»
I think like most replies you misunderstand the question, because it is not just "personally hating the guy", but having an extreme disgust at them.
The question is about *over*-reaction, not just reaction, to Trump. The question to me is about this:
* 4 years of pretty much "normal" right-wing presidency, with some changes in intended policy, and small changes in actual policy, and the over-reaction is "like Hitler" and "democracy itself";
* why the gigantic gap between (overrated) "reality" and disproportionately extreme reactions, both personal and political, to Trump?
I’m just torn between “trump is an evil narcissist who has no moral compass and that makes him dangerous” and
“Trump did do some good things he’s just a orange tv star who likes his ego stroked all day. Overall he wasn’t so bad”
But both your reactions are just reactions, and similar reactions could be applied to most politicians, e.g. Hillary Clinton or Ted Cruz, both of which are despised even by many members of their own parties.
I think that the original "so bad" question seems to be about Trump Derangement Syndrome, those “disproportionately extreme reactions, both personal and political”.
Where are the mass graves with the bodies hacked to pieces? Where are the reports of MAGA-hatter death squads "disappearing" Democratic Party activists? Where are the vast torture camps for leftist academics? Where are the photos of the NYT and CNN buildings taken over by the secret police with the journalists brought out in chains?
I believe there were armed, ununiformed goons in unmarked vans scooping people off the street. But I'm not dumb enough to think that couldn't happen under any other president with the right conditions. Still, there's that.
They surely were operating in Italy under GW Bush:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/italy-pardons-us-colonel-cia-rendition-case-flna1B9241457
“Italian President Giorgio Napolitano said he had pardoned Colonel Joseph L. Romano, who was the only person not a member of the CIA among 23 Americans sentenced for the kidnapping of Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr in Milan in 2003. The Egyptian cleric, also known as Abu Omar, was secretly flown to Egypt for interrogation, where he says he was tortured for seven months. He was a resident in Italy at the time of the abduction.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-italy-cia-pardon-idUSKBN0U623J20151223
“Lady and Medero were among 26 Americans convicted for snatching Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr from a street in Milan in 2003 and whisking him away to be questioned in Egypt.”
Even the english army special forces, not exactly made of "concerned intellectuals", felt that the USA death squads in Iraq were too much:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/chilcot-inquiry-black-ops-in-iraq-caused-split-between-us-and-uk-7130996.html
“Some senior British officers were unhappy at what was going on and the involvement of the UK’s SAS and the SBS. “Why are we helping to run Latin American-style death squads?” One British commander, himself ex-SAS, demanded to know. The SAS were, on at least two occasions, barred from carrying out such missions in the British-run south of the country.
Questions were asked about how information was being obtained from suspects in Balad. There was an unofficial inquiry into the treatment of prisoners at the base, although no evidence was found to implicate Maj Gen McChrystal. ...
But the reverberations from special forces operations in Iraq continued. Six years later Maj Gen McChrystal, by now a four star general and commander of international forces in Afghanistan, had received a complaint from the UK’s director of special forces (DSF) for speaking about operations carried out with the SAS and SBS in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile an SAS lieutenant colonel, who had served with distinction under Maj Gen McChrystal in Iraq, was told to stay away from the Regiment’s headquarters in Hereford.”
Sam Harris went from being a decent intellectual to completely terminal TDS.
It keeps coming down to this style over substance stuff. I’m tired of it now bc we’re approaching a dangerous situation. I need to hear, from someone intelligent, something Substantive about Trump’s major faults. I’ll go first- he does have an Andrew Jackson complex. He wanted to go down in history.. he wanted ppl to fight for him. This is a very off putting quality for many ppl and it triggered them and scared them. It didn’t come out (IMO) as a truly and Substantively damaging quality until January 6th.
Andrew Jackson if I remember by history was the first and last to successfully disband the central banks, see link.
http://www.campaignforliberty.org/andrew-jackson-and-the-central-bank
I was disturbed by a couple of things. One was his advocating or condoning violence against political opponents and people he construed to be class enemies, This out of the old-time fascist playbook, although it's possible he didn't understand its connections He also encouraged private-army types. That is one thing I don't want to see catch on in the US. It's not something to fools around with even in humor, as you can find out by reading the history of Germany in the 20th century.
First, he was a true narcissist. And couldn’t control it. He didn’t deliver on his promises because he couldn’t pay attention to them if someone on Hannity was talking about him. He couldn’t listen even to good advice unless someone was sucking him off hard enough.
Second, he had no idea how to address any of the criticisms he had made to find a solution. He governed largely as a standard Republican, even when it hurt him. His lowest ratings came the day his McConnell wet dream tax cut passed.
Third, he sucked as a manager. He picked the worst people for his team. Made working for him completely unappealing to the best people for the job. And dear god did he not always pick the worst legal minds in the business?
Nothing worse than incompetence really. Nowhere near as much of a racist as Joe Biden. Nor as much of a fascist.
but it absolutely doesn't dead-end at style, that's just the low-hanging stinkfruit that most people reach for to throw the most, with good reason. the exact same thing happens with Biden
Well they are really discrediting themselves by going for low hanging fruit. No ones doing the same w Biden - we’re pointing out some very significant and dangerous flaws with him. Where was the Real danger in Trump? So far the only real answer I got is “he turned lefties into fascists and also some ppl don’t like him”. It’s an interesting theory but I’m not buying it that he was a gift created by or given to the Establishment if that lets ppl off the hook for still hating Trump. We’re not going to move forward as a society until we sort out some truth about Trump
The reality that he’s a megalomaniac is not just a matter of style. When anyone who disagrees with you becomes an enemy of the state (because, increasingly, you ARE the state), that’s really a dangerous state of affairs. We may reach fascism by committee with the Dems, but I believe a charismatic megalomaniac can bring that to pass as well.
You really shit beige, don’t you?
We are already staring full-on fascism in the face under Democrats (did you READ Matt’s post?), and you’re still pursing your lips and tugging worriedly at your turtleneck over Trump.
I was responding to a post asking what’s so bad about Trump. I did read the article, and I think your response shows you’re bilious and can’t imagine how anyone could reasonably have a different perspective from yours. So fuck off.
wow, what country have you been living in the last 10 years?
To be clear, I have no professional idea of what it means, but I think of Trump as the mega guy, but mostly because, every time he talked, things were "the biggest," "the most," "the greatest," etc.
So, interested to know the forensic analysis of Pres. Obama. This could be a series. But we could be labeled, "misinformation."
Discrediting themselves, no. Not really answering your question, yes. Some have already addressed your question without leaning on style. Indeed, Biden faces (and deserves) similar style attacks, especially from Berniebros, I guess you've only seen the desperate dog jokes.
I've seen the ice cream updates. Bernie bro-ette here, but i suspect we'll let Joe slide and save it for when it's Kamala's Turn.
I used to like Sam Harris but you've totally destroyed that feeling.
At one time I was smitten with Harris’ apparent hyper-rationality and ever-so-calm delivery. I don’t know just how it happened, but something destroyed that feeling. One thing that started to bother me was a sense that he wanted to talk about one thing, how bad Islam is, too exclusively. Kinda how I feel about Greenwald sometimes with his anti-mainstream-lib vendetta (not that he’s wrong). Also, both guys get hyper-riled up sometimes when criticized. But whatever.
Well Islam is a terrible violent religion so I don’t mind that.
Harris is nuanced, like the rest of us. I still listen to and respect his opinions on a great many things. Many. Things. His somewhat hyperbolic takes on Covid and Trump I take as interesting counterpoints to other opinions I glean and respect. Long live nuance!
I've always not been able to stand him.
I’ve always never not hated him
Not a credible source when it comes to Trump. Harris has stage four TDS.
There is a book called "Insane Clown President" which answers that question. I can't quite remember the author's name... but you should check it out.
I want a browser extension that allows me to hide all posts regarding Trump. Am I the only one who doesn't need every discussion to be 50% allocated to one topic?
Re: Greg Maland
It would seem that there should be some quality of use offerings provided by sites that require paid subscriptions, both in service to their patrons, as well as to those who publish their work on the venue. If it can be assumed that the patrons are attracted to the work being published, the paid provider should consider providing its patrons with a means of avoiding off-topic content and repetitive trolling by other patrons; the simple addition of an "IGNORE" button in the individuals comment section is a proven solution to this very common problem. It easily gives the subscriber individual control without censoring anyone else.
It would also be very helpful to have an "EDIT", "BOLD", "ITALICS", AND "UNDERLINE" button in the comment segment. So COME ON Substack, not asking for censorship or moderation, just a little technical upgrade? At this point, it is my belief that many of us would be happy to pay "a little" extra to end the hassles.
As Usual,
EA
Here is something that is NOT about Trump. On a different subject -- worth distributing. An extraordinary interview detailing horrendous recent crimes in Haiti during Obama and Bush administrations !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
He is a morally bankrupt person. Whether he has good policy or not, Some people dont want a BS artist, Someone who doesnt know geography and draws on maps and lies that hr received info from weather angencies to prop up is ego.
"He is a morally bankrupt person."
Look, I'm the last guy on earth to defend the buffoon Trump, but have you noticed who our current President and Vice President are?
And - it is much worse than even I thought. On a different subject -- worth distributing. An extraordinary interview !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
Thats the sad part, Biden could of chose anyone, but he narrowed it down, to her and she has no moxie or whatever that thing is. That was a hate vote for biden, People would have voted for anyone but Trump. If trump had handled the vrus better, he would of won
«If trump had handled the vrus better, he would of won»
Relatively to most "Atlantic Alliance" countries the USA story was average, and the Trump administration also setup a vaccination program that has been working well since January. These are the death rates for COVID-19 in several countries:
211.70 Italy
197.74 Poland
192.25 United Kingdom
184.48 United States
166.01 France
142.25 Sweden
127.05 Switzerland
109.95 Germany
All those of course are 10-100 times (1,000%-10,000%) worse than those not-reaganista countries whose governments adopted test-trace-isolate:
17.63 Finland
14.85 Norway
11.92 Cuba
11.72 Japan
8.03 Iceland
3.20 Thailand
2.89 China-Taiwan
0.63 Singapore
0.53 New Zealand
0.35 China
0.09 Vietnam
Hilarious! Just learned my daughter's high school friend (aged 20) was approached/solicited on Capitol Hill where she is interning this summer by a sitting married, Democrat US senator (aged 60s-70s) and thus the affair began. He's gotten chlamydia from another lover and gave it to her. Meanwhile he puts chlamydia meds in his wife's breakfast. If you think there has been a moral president since the dawn of the US, think again!
My post was response to why is he so bad to some people who dont like him. Im not defending DC.
Well you just can't make this shit up.....there is moral corruption EVERYWHERE!
You are perfectly entitled to say Trump is a BS artist. Just as you would be entitled to say that Hillary Clinton is a foolish, unspeakably arrogant, corrupt individual. Or that Joe Biden is a senile professional politician whose family is coated with the slime of decades of systemic corruption. The latter are prime examples of 2 political families (there are others) who have dragged American politics to a new low over the past 2 decades. My point is this: anyone even marginally on the right (or left, like Sauders) who pointed out obvious facts about the real issues facing the US these last years has been crucified by the mass media which has become part of the political machines of the aforementioned political families. Consequently, by 2016, no decent person with any integrity would step into the political arena. That left the field open to anyone, however crude and with whatever ulterior motives, to say what had to be said. And whatever else you may say about Trump, he articulated many of the real issues of the day: such as immigration, jobs for American workers, China, rampant political correctness at every level of American society etc. etc.
Working across the US these last years, I have met many good people, often as far-removed as you can imagine from the stereotyped "deplorable Trump supporter" portrayed by the mass media, who quietly told me they would vote for Trump "in spite of ..". All of them - you could call them swing voters - voiced in some measure disgust with the brazen corruption of Washingon and the endless posturing of the Democratic party. The proof of this is that, BS artist or not, 13 million more people voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016. We now know that Biden is just a cipher for the DNC machine: business as usual concealed by lots of hot air! So final point: unless a meaningful alternative, with practical policies, appears in the near term, get ready for the next Trump.
«BS artist or not, 13 million more people voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016.»
I simply cannot believe that in an epidemic year The Usurper Trump's votes rose 18%, with much higher peaks in Republican areas; while of course I must believe that Saintly President Biden got 22% more votes than Real President Rodham-Clinton herself, with peaks in crucial Democratic areas like in Georgia of 60% more democratic votes than in 2016, a truly "fantastic" increase. :-)
D. Trump himself pointed out that he was hoping to win with 3 million more votes than in 2016:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56563469
«"They said get 66 million votes, sir, and the election is over. I got 75 million votes, and you saw what happened," he said. Mr Biden got more than 80 million votes.»
«morally bankrupt [...] BS artist, Someone who doesnt know geography [...] lies that hr received info from weather angencies [...] prop up is ego»
But all those are reasons one can give for "bad", and many people detested for similar reasons B Clinton or GW Bush and now J Biden.
The question was why "so bad", that is why the extreme over-reaction, largely based on hallucinations, given that he actually governed as a mostly standard right-wing president.
He has such a bad reputation in NY as a sheister that people hate the guy, He says he can shoot someone on 5th ave. and not lose voters, he puts false claims on twitter by qanon and gives them his endorsement. I wonder how his voters dont see this.. The simple fact that he gives Qanon people his approval should give you your answer of why so bad. These points arent hallucinations, He was asked about posting a tweet with our military saying Bin Laden wasnt killed, He just shrugs it off and claims he doesnt know, Sheister, with a capital S. Thats disrespectful to our soldiers. A so;dier actually corrected his post. Why his faithful ever react to it. TDS, I am an indepedent and did not vote for Biden,
In terms of character, Trump ultimately wants to be liked by people too much.
In terms of what the Establishment hated and feared about him, Trump ultimately wants to be liked by The People too much.
It's ironic that a character flaw in him made Trump a perfect monkey wrench tossed into the gears of The Establishment's increasing control and manipulation over government. For awhile, at least. Then They adapted, because They have Think Tanks.
This is different -- but true recent and disgusting colonial crimes of Hillary, Obama, Condoleezza Rice:
IMPORTANT -- An extraordinary interview !! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
Recent US crimes against Haiti people -- by Hillary , Condoleezza Rice/Bush, Obama -- coups, military, exploitations of one of the poorest country, UN that brought in cholera (30,000+ dead, million sick) but negated the horror for six (read slowly - six) years.
A detailed, most horrible recent history of US colonialism -- kudos to Aaron Mate (always remember how vulgarly he was attacked by TYT's despicables - Ana & Cenk)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3iT3y7MktI
looking forward to the replies on this one. And I hope you got a lot more to work with than 'he was against Tech amassing too much power'
It’s pretty significant for a president to be against, Genuinely against- mind you, Big Tech. And to have predicted the danger of tech’s new mutant government-tech-totalitarian-monster-creature. And to have pointed it out and to have recommended doing something about it. He wanted to repeal section 230- maybe not the right solution- but he understood the problem. The vast majority of politicians don’t have the balls- and we’ll never be able to elect another one who does now.. Bc tech has too much power . Now it’s too late. Knowing that Tech makes or breaks their careers and their election campaigns- they will never stand up to them. Some of them pretended to during those congressional show trials - but no, I don’t believe that the tech ceos were scared of any of them.
You're talking about the man who wanted athletes fired for taking a knee. The idea that Ding Dong Donny genuinely had any opposition to anything that made him look macho and rich.....
Yeah, fuck that guy. He was just as authoritarian as some of these transnational, hydra-headed tech CEOs and really such a dumbass. The answer lies not in either Trumpism or this crazy, crazy Maoist leftism.
Oh you’re one of the dumb ones. Never mind
How about his "Muslim registry?" Nothing could have been more authoritarian and ridiculously police-statey than that. Trump was an unhinged maniac who was right about as many fingers are on my left hand (4).
You think the government doesn't already have that registry before Trump?
Macron had to do the same thing and no one even noticed
Nope, not true. That whole story got mangled in a series of fantastical social media posts. I can't stand Macron, but all it was was an attempt to register ALL French school children that got picked up and distorted by some crazed leftists in France.
you got me
«please explain again what was so bad about Trump?»
There are two different aspects to that:
* The politics: a right-wing "nationalist one-nation tory" in the tradition of Ross Perot and Part Buchanan, therefore entirely incompatible with the right-wing "globalist individualist whig" politics of the dominant business elites.
* The person: a "low-brow", television-infused, salesman profile, therefore entirely incompatible with "high brow" (and "middle brow"), printed-word, intellectual profile of the dominant academic and political elites (so perfectly embodied by Barack Obama).
As to the latter point:
https://twitter.com/nntaleb/status/1351145008506798084
“What did we learn from the failed TRUMP experiment? (cont) Someone in office, like a High Priest of Baal, a Patriarch, a doge, a judge, or a mafia don, must observe a certain decorum & a certain ornamental deportment. This holds even more true in a secular democracy. #Lindy”
http://archive.wilsonquarterly.com/sites/default/files/articles/WQ_VOL1_A_1976_Article_04.pdf
“Highbrow, Lowbrow, Middlebrow by Russell Lynes”
I think much of his political persona was an act. Watch his older interviews or read any of the hundreds of testimonies from his employees going back decades and it is not the same persona. Not even close.
«much of his political persona was an act»
How is that not covered by "televisual salesman"? How is that different from most other politicians and entertainers?
«going back decades and it is not the same persona»
I would question that, as he has always been a crass cable-tv style of celebrity, and always an "America Firster" like Perot and Buchanan.
But over the decades both his politics and his personality did not cause extreme reactions of disgust and rejection, at most amused dismissal: that changed quite a lot when it became clear that his personality and politics were politically influential to the point of being about to win, and then winning, the presidency.
Trump's brand of 'low-brow' was definitely incompatible for a non-zero amount of people with perfectly 'low-brow' tastes, not just elite types. Maybe not enough to make it worth mentioning in your analysis, but I know plenty.
«Trump's brand of 'low-brow' was definitely incompatible for a non-zero amount of people with perfectly 'low-brow' tastes»
Probably you are thinking of "middle brow" tastes.
But anyhow I can imagine many "low brow" disagreeing with him or not liking his specific way of being "low brow", but the question was "what was so bad", that is why the reactions of extreme disgust as to the person and extreme rejection as to the politics.
For the extreme rejection as to the person I think it was a feeling of personal humiliation by "high brow" and "middle brow" people as to having a "low brow" "orange baboon" as their superior, because he did not get that extreme reaction when he was just a "celebrity".
No, not thinking of middle brow. He certainly got that reaction from people when he was a 'celebrity'. I know poors that swear, cuss, cheat, show up in jeans or shorts, drink slaughterhouse runoff, etc with very little respect for middle or high brow society (including the law sometimes) that were repulsed by him since his gawdy appearance in the '80s, full of himself in his gold penthouse talking to Robin Leech thinking he's some kind of genius - the irony thick enough to cut with a knife. A fair amount of people have always found him to be another big grifting dumbass trying to bloviate by on his inheritance and fake sounding last name. To be clear, none of these people had any use for Clinton either. My only point is the disgust was certainly present among lower 'brow' society, but I'm leaning on personal experience here, not polling or 'science', so I accept it may seem impossible.
«A fair amount of people have always found him to be another big grifting dumbass trying to bloviate by on his inheritance and fake sounding last name.»
Ah sure, but that is simply trying to explain why he was "bad", not "so bad". Those people despised him, but did not and still do not suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome, they don't say "literally Hitler", "threat to democracy itself", and streams of character assassination and distortions of whatever he does and says, including describing him as both a childish idiot and a monstrous conspirator. Your low-brows merely “were repulsed by him since his gawdy appearance in the '80s”.
Consider this deranged example instead, of thousands and thousands:
https://robertpaulwolff.blogspot.com/2017/05/speak-truth-to-power.html
«The one thing missing from the typical NPR talk show is truth, naked, raw, unqualified, unapologized for truth. In the discussion today, the guests were being asked to speculate on the reasons for certain of Trump’s recent statements and actions: the congratulatory call to Erdogan, the invitation to Duterte, the rather unanticipated statement that he would be “honored” to meet with Kim Jong-un. Why would Trump speak in this way about rulers who murdered their own countrymen, even their own relatives, rigged elections, oppressed opponents, threw reporters in jail?
One after another, guests speculated that Trump was trying to upend long-standing American foreign policy, or was speaking thoughtlessly, or had some hidden negotiating strategy in mind. To each of these guests, Johnson responded courteously, respectfully, clearly signaling that these were just the sorts of sober, serious, thoughtful comments he wished to encourage. Then it happened. One of the guests, I do not know whom it was, said quietly, “I think it is envy.” Johnson erupted almost before the words had been uttered. In a loud, flustered voice, he burst out, “But you cannot mean that you think he would like to do those things! But, but, but, surely you do not mean that.” Johnson went on in this way, speaking over his guest, who was trying, so far as I could hear, to say “Yes, I think that is just what he wants to do.”
It was so manifestly, obviously, undeniably true, and at the same time so nakedly partisan, that it made Johnson’s head explode. It was, in its simplicity, the truest thing I had ever heard on NPR.»
<they don't say "literally Hitler"> actually, I know very few people of any brow in real life who felt this way, unless they were hiding it from me (and there's no reason I can think of one might conceal that from me). I know a few, but largely from academics down to landscapers and weed growers, people I knew who didn't care for Trump simply thought he was a gaudy, self-centered hypocrite too dumb to pull off a Hitler. What's funny is I know as many high-brow university educated country club engineers that are outspoken Trump supporters (they will move heaven and earth to explain away Trump's abrasions, like my conservative Christian friends) as I do sunburned construction workers that love him - the whole brow distinction just isn't a strong trend in my reality, I would never make an assumption about what someone thought about Trump based on 'brow', I've found it's way more complex than that. But I accept there might be some national trend that runs strongly along these lines and my experience is an outlier.
<they don't say "literally Hitler"> it just occurs to me that indeed, in 2016 immediately after Trump won, I defo did notice a collective brick shitting that occurred, which possibly did largely fall along 'brow' lines. I definitely noticed that. But this was mostly gone within months, and by the time the Mueller investigation was winding down, the few people I knew that hadn't returned to their senses were back to themselves again. After that I think I can count the credulous pant-shitters on one hand, a tiny minority who were still talking about 'Putin's puppet'. Christ on his throne, what dipshittery.
That's interesting, but I have to ask: who do the 'Celts' want revenge against? The Romans? Saxons? Franks? Norse/Normans? Or is the term 'Celt' an ahistorical representation of some non-genetic block/class/caste?
Also interesting, but I guess I should have also asked what they want revenge for.
Do you believe that the next election won't be rigged utterly?
Be sure you have your COVID card filled out with the Delta DLC signatures so you can legally vote in 2024.
Don't lose your card or expect testicular electrocution.
Ha, I wonder if the Democrats will get on a plane and fly to Cuba so they can't be present for the vote in protest of this discrimination.... "The worst thing since Jim Crow started the Civil War and killed Captain America with that rock... the... well, you know, the thing."
Yep. Some sort of Covid pass, along with regular status updates, is surely on the way .. to keep us all "safe" of course. And it goes without saying that it'll be tightly bound to voting rights .. to "save democracy". Thank God the government is looking out for our safety on so many fronts. Otherwise who knows? People might start thinking and acting independently.
They all have been for decades.
Well said