I appreciated and was impressed by Walter’s inquiry into Trump’s post-trauma state of mind. I’m a trauma therapist and I think Walter got it right, including the “corrective experience” analysis regarding the content of his speech, and that interplay of conscious (“I’m at a convention so I’m fine”) and unconscious (“last time I was in front of a crowd I almost died”). This is incredibly challenging to navigate for anyone. When people are too busy other-ing (like the left calling Trump evil, but also the right thinking Trump is superhuman) it dehumanizes him, cuts off the possibility of a more nuanced empathy. Personally I wouldn’t call Trump a “good” person but I also wouldn’t call him a psychopath - someone incapable of feeling and building real relationships. There’s a lot I don’t like about Trump but when he’s being incessantly assaulted legally and physically I can only imagine this takes a toll. For all the “trauma-informed” obsessions of the left it’s striking how little they apply that lens to people they don’t like, and bleeding-heart empathy has never been a strength of the right. So I really appreciate how Walter is constantly grounding himself in story and psychology, that’s the corrective wavelength our society needs, whether one likes Trump or not.
Very well said. Trump is not a demon or a savior. He is a human being like the rest of us. He may suffer from the attempt on his life. I can only hope that he may be beginning to see that life is so very fragile and that includes the life of his political enemies including Joe Biden. If he can express that compassion, he will win the election.
If it walks like a psychopath, talks like a psychopath, and by all evidence has proven himself through a long life to be incapable of feeling and building real relationships...
When I was in my early 20's, my 240z was rear-ended at a stoplight by a car going ~50mph. My car rolled a couple times and flipped into a ditch. The back seat crumpled up and nicked me in the back of the head. They had to use the 'jaws of life' to extract me. Apart from concussions, my passenger and I were OK. The ambulance driver said it was a miracle as they'd never seen such a bad accident that didn't lead to death or grievous bodily harm. I'd also been lucky that a 2nd friends declined to come along. They would have been in the back seat, which no longer existed.
I was walking around in a daze for about a month. Although grateful to God for being spared, I had an intense feeling that "I shouldn't be here". I was floored when Trump said those very words, and even directly rebutted the crowd when they told him "Yes, you should."
I had a sense I was outside my body. I'd consider it a sort of "depersonalization". I returned to work and went through the motions. But I felt like a machine. I wasn't there. I suspect it would have been much worse had my other friend come along and been killed.
When Trump got back on the horse and stepped through his stump speech, I sensed that same sense of "faking it", that I'd felt soon after. He looked much more like he was back to inhabiting his body at the Grand Rapids rally today.
This is a deranged take. Trump's "trauma" has been almost entirely self inflicted. No, not the assassination attempt, and sure, he is still a human being, and has, presumably, SOME feelings that aren't greed or selfishness. And, as a member in good standing of the left, I condemn the shooter and his actions unreservedly. I want Trump to die in prison for his attempt to destroy American democracy on Jan 6th, not shot by some incel. Though, I should point out that the members of the party that promotes AR-15 lapel pins should really not be looking for too much sympathy, eh?
Not only that, but I would point out that Trump is an all-timer when it comes to INFLICTING trauma. From racist housing policies to cheating small businesses on his failed casinos, to straight up fraudulent theft in Trump University. Trump has made a LIFETIME out of inflicting horrible pain and for no better reason than money and fame.
The left "applies this lens" to people on whom trauma is being inflicted, almost ALWAYS by conservatives, for reasons of pure, small minded bigotry. The right is simply all about comforting the comfortable and punching down on the downtrodden.
And so, while I acknowledge the truth that Trump deserves at least some empathy, I think you betray the typical right winger blind spot when it comes to the suffering of others. Let's not forget that TRUMP HIMSELF was publicly joking about the brutal assault on Paul Pelosi in speeches, immediately after it happened. And so, before you go looking to castigate anyone on the left for "lacking compassion", perhaps a dose of self examination is in order?
I’m always struck by how many assumptions internet commenters make about me personally (you’re way off, FYI), and more, how much vitriol real heart-centered responses are often met with. It’s almost like you didn’t read my comment. Wherever you’re trying to go with this is not an interesting or productive direction worth my time.
I stopped reading his comment after the first sentence. The "deranged take" nonsense told me all I needed to determine he has terminal TDS. Also, literally, tl;dr...or in this case, "td;dr:" totally deranged; didn't read .
You're right. His type has this need to make the world conform. They sit on a wire like the birds in The Birds waiting and watching for "fresh meat" to pass by and offend their righteous certainty. I cannot imagine living like that.
Could you be anymore delusional and filled with hate? Your litany of reasons for your hate sounds like all the propaganda from the mentally ill party you belong to has filled your head and left no room for critical thinking, that's really sad. That you are oblivious to all the Democrats that have come before your walking dead candidate, Zhou Baidan, have done more damage to this country from their public and political career than Trump's business career. The amount of their damage is global and staggering and the local issues you accuse Trump that seems to aggrieve you so much is hardly comparable. I will offer prayers for your recovery.
It's shockingly normalized. The same way that people were wishing the unvaccinated would be killed. There is something deeply wrong with American society to have so quickly and easily fallen for the most brazen propaganda campaigns of our lives. And it's still happening. People like Paul need help. This can't be good for him.
True. I do have compassion for these people. They must be miserable all the time. They're always either enraged or terrified over total BS. Not a good way to live.
These are people who have no interest in the rule of law. It’s perfectly fine with them to change statutes of limitations, manufacture 34 felonies out of one misdemeanor, bring charges of sexual assault after the statute of limitations has expired and gag the person they are lawfaring against so they can’t say anything despite the media weighing in against them constantly. Not to mention finding a judge who is so obviously against the charged individual. I could go, but only mob rule means anything to these people.
This is the kind of behavior that is increasingly intolerant and fascist or better yet neo-Marxist/communist. Read the link. Even those who were predisposed to vite Democrat, but want a free, fair, and just system know what's happening despite the denials of Democrats.
Paul A read the room. This comment will get no traction because it doesn’t contain any rational thought. What exactly do you expect to accomplish? The reason that people subscribe to Matt is for nuance, a considered viewpoint. This is not that. The world is full of Morning Joe and The View. Could it be that a whole class of people were so certain that their candidates and policies were so Trump-proof that they failed to read the room? There is no version of what is happening with the Biden camp that’s remotely acceptable and the results are predictable of a myopic mindset that had the complete inability to hold two competing ideas in their head at the same time.
How many more years of Trump madness? Will two, or four, maybe another eight finally convince the eighty million deplorable racists they are wrong? Trump swept into power because he accurately diagnosed the misgivings of a wide swath of Americans who the system wasn’t working for and gave them a voice. Trump is many things; brash, ridiculous, camp, cynical, dishonest, opportunistic and on and on. The reaction to his popularity is to punch down harder on the very people he speaks for and craft a concerted hyperbolic, abusive narrative about him. It has not worked. It’s been an utter failure and done the opposite to elevate his profile and yet we get more of the same. Populism is going nowhere. It’s growing. All across Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand……Bangladesh has recently lost 100 students in violent protests because of quota systems that give preferential government jobs to political allies over merit. The elites across the world are failing. The response cannot be more of the same. Talk all you want about ‘logical fallacies’ and all the other bs jargon you’ve picked up from being an internet citizen but for the love of god, read the bluddy room and give us something different.
"...How many more years of Trump madness? Will two, or four, maybe another eight finally convince the eighty million deplorable racists they are wrong?"
The vast majority of them will be infirm or dead within a decade so it's probably an historically moot question.
actually, no opponent is confronting any of Paul's points with specifics. The detractors are just dismissing him with rhetoric.
"Read the room"...is that what you want, a cheerleading rally? Prizes for the flashiest rhetorical trope, and the best bon mot, or the biggest burn as a cheap shot? Little huddles, to talk back and forth with each other to smack down the dissenter? And whoever gets the most upvotes is the Winner?
I'm not posting the above as a partisan comment. I might as well have posted the same thing 15 years ago in some of the comment sections on Salon, or Rawstory.
Because all of Paul’s points have been done to death by the mainstream. Why would we be engaging the same tired trope that’s been rehashed for the last eight years? What is hard to understand about that? It would be one thing if the elite ruling class was killing it right now, but, honestly, they are a train wreck and it’s because they have failed to think for one second that their expert approach my not be so expert. In the universe of cheerleading , they take the cake - only agreement with positive comments are allowed on their positions from the economy, to crime, to foreign policy to gender medicine. The harder they fail, the more censorial they have become doling out all manner of economic and reputation warfare. The traditional role of the journalist is to hold power ti account. Remember that? I do.
Right. You notice the problem- when it’s on the other side. And only then.
The next level of faulty critical thinking is when you have some acquaintance with logical fallacies and are able point out which ones they are and how the facts are being abused by the other side, but you never notice them when you employ them or support them yourself.
For what it’s worth. Just in case you’ve made it that far.
If Paul’s points are faulty and you aren’t refuting them with the detailed specifics that contradict his claims, you’re just being lazy. Razzing someone is easy. But it isn’t exercise. It’s self-indulgence.
Made it through it. Would gladly start a new thread about everything I think is wrong with Right wing politics. He presented noting new. It’s a dead horse.
Do you have a transcript or text links, for those of us who understand the absolute imperative of literacy in political discussions?
There's no practical way to challenge the claims of a video presentation. A serious shortcoming, although I'm increasingly doubtful that it's a point brought up in American classrooms, even at the college level.
I don't agree with your comments above on Paul, but you are dead right about video presentations as any sort of evidence. It's unfortunate they have proliferated as they have. I remember before all this internet stuff happened a similar thing would happen when I would meet people whose understanding of historical events, economics, etc. were mostly derived from movies they watched.
My remarks were confined to pointing out that arguments should be issue based and content based, and that reference link support should be in the form of text, which allows a mutual basis for both reading (much faster than video) and easy excerpting of quotes (invaluable.)
True, I only know what you wrote, which I didn’t agree with. But I do agree that video and u-tube links are insufficient (and slow to digest, as you just added), and written sources are much better.
>> his attempt to destroy American democracy on Jan 6th
C'mon man. Do you really think you had a democracy before that? For me it died in 2000 with the Supreme Court. I'm in my early 50s, for older people it probably died before that.
You got it. I'm older than you and at least since the 90's, elections have been like choosing a Malibu or an Impala. Are they different? Yeah, but they're both Chevys and that's what matters.
Point taken, but that's evidence of how stupid the MAGA chuds are---attempting to overthrow a democracy that ended two decades previous.
I really don't care to be governed by a political faction that features Hulk Hogan as a serious political actor. Thanks, but I'm good with the Deep State.
You're still gonna get that either way. Trump is not going to stand up to them. Did he even mention it at the RNC? It certainly didn't seem to be much of a topic overall at the convention.
Attn-PAUL A...Get over your grandiose, self absorbed whiny thoughts. Where's a therapist when you need one? Now as to you and all of the populace, whether or not anyone likes Trump, and in your case, all things, Trump matters, not one iota! It is and should be, even to you, obvious that God seems to have chosen Trump for his purpose to carryout whatever his will and plans are. Period, full stop!
PS: Your BS about "destroy American democracy on Jan 6th,"... is pathetic! Blame the Uniparty aka DEMS and RINOS and the DC cesspool in total!
Proof of God's will is here: "We may struggle with questions about God’s methods as Habakkuk did. How God chooses to operate is up to Him. At times, He intervenes miraculously. Other times, He works behind the scenes. And, yes, God may even allow a certain measure of freedom to evil forces in our world to bring about His design. Like Habakkuk, if we view life from God’s perspective, our response will be to worship the Lord, knowing He is in control of all things." https://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-use-evil.html
I note a smattering, hitherto previously absent, of noxious godbothering from the Jesus freaks at the Racket News Kingdom.
In your defense, there's more than a smattering of International bankers and financiers, from both respectable commercial precincts and back alley mafia, that can't help but believe Trump sits at the right hand of God, and genuinely believe that God may even allow a certain measure of freedom to evil forces [Trump] in our world to bring about His [Trump again!] design.
I like it, but I don't think God gives a hoot about Donald Trump. I don't think God gives a hoot about any of us individually, He cares about us as a whole. Could He have intervened for the whole of us? Certainly it's possible.
We're His garden, and He has an infinite perview. He knows there's all kinds of things in the garden, and He keeps an eye out for balance, for a healthy symbiosis.
That is how it always works until you one day hear God's calling to your heart. For me it started when the 2020 election was stolen and I was questioning why it was allowed.
I was led, and I don't remember how, or by who etc. to this site from there any question I have I can find the factual rationale there. I, like all of us are supposed to be helping others to be lead to God. We aren't tasked with having to MAKE anyone believe, that's up to each person in their own time.
Godspeed to you and anyone who may want to know. See below for the rationale as to why God allowed the 2020 and Trumps near assassination and failure to happen. It is a simple, and true rationale.
“God is in complete control of every molecule in the universe at every moment, and everything that happens is either caused or allowed by Him for His own perfect purposes.”
"he is still a human being, and has, presumably, SOME feelings that aren't greed or selfishness"
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He has many feelings that aren't greed and selfishness. You should look at the totality of the man. As you note, he is human and you are dehumanizing him. He was widely loved by people of all political stripes prior to running for president.
A couple years into his presidency, there was an "AskReddit" thread seeking individual experiences people have had with Trump. If you've lost sight of the range of his humanity, you'll find it here - almost all of which were positive, in an arena that demographically trends against Trump: https://archive.md/94oUX
You can dislike his actions and policies, without building a straw man over his flesh and bone.
How can I say this calmly, acceptably and without hyperbole? HOLY FUCKING SHIT am I glad to have been a subscriber since the very early days, but never more so than during your heroic work this week. I don't know if you and Walter are happy with how many of us have been tuning in, but goddammit, having you and Walter report onsight, in this volume, across all the topics of the day and weaving those topics into the integragted fabric within which they really exist... This has been the best news cycle participation I've ever been afforded, ever been a part of, really beginning with your reporting on the Biden Helmets and Crayons debate performance, the incredible after action shit storm on that which blew into the approaching convention with the assassination attempt and slammed right into Milwaukee. You guys have literally been flying an AWACS (Airborne Warning & Control System) in the eye the whole time, keeping me grounded, calm, aware. I'm the best informed citizen in the U.S.. I walk with my back straight and my head held high, quietly confident and serene in my complete knowledge, feeling (but hiding out of charity and magnanimity) no small pity, and, yes, some disdain for lesser citizens walking around me in a fog of confused and wrong-headed angst. They know they don't know what they don't know, but I am all knowing because you and Walter have made this superhuman effort. Here is a single example of the superior knowledge you have implanted in my head like pre-knowledge: I know how Amber Rose fits in, why she's awesome, why she was a perfect add to the RNC lineup, and why her presence indicates Trump's perfect, bigly idiot savant open tent approach. To have you wrapping this morning from your hotel rooms before decamping is brilliant. I'm kind of hoping Amber lifts her head into camera view behind Walter, bed-headed off of the hotel pillow after post RNC celebration. Well done guys. I've never been a happier subscriber, to anything.
They sell lube at HEB here in Texas, in a sexy little blue bottle. Lube's gone mainstream, thank God, since everybody's waking up with their pants on backwards and the zipper broken.
Dude, you're focusing in a direction that is easy to joke about, but I'll say this - I believe that as constant readers here from the beginnings of The Twitter Files (it sounds like something that needs Mulder & Scully), we may have been lucky enough to see history in the making. So, maybe knee pads are in order?
My favorite podcast y'all have done. Walter really understood Trump as a fellow trauma victim and I found his discussion of it so very excellent and needed. When he said Trump was in dreamtime now and described, I really knew Walter had been there.
Truly, I'd love for that segment to be clipped because most people don't understand how profound such an experience is for the victim, and having loved ones and friends lose patience and withdraw because you're not your old self, or you are taking too long to get over it.... That's the norm, I think.
Totally agree. Also, the survivor guilt. I served in Iraq and Afghanistan and have PTSD/TBI as a result. I have major empathy for Trump on this. Also, I kept thinking, as he was at the podium alone, how often he wondered if and when a bullet would be fired at him. I also understand the state of mind Trump described during and just after the shooting. It happens, from what I have heard, to many of us, including me. It is some kind of defense mechanism kicking in.
Your coverage of the convention was so damn good. I think you guys nailed it when you acknowledged that it has finally become OK to be a Trump supporter for the vast regular people of the country. People are now openly admitting it. That is a big sea change as before it was only crotchety old men with nothing to lose and most voters didn't acknowledge they voted for him.
I find it funny to see Matt still struggling to say anything good about Trump, while Walter truly gets it. That is what age will do and generational differences. I identify very much with Walter given I am 68. I think there is a similar age difference between Walter and Matt.
The DNC is really now between a rock and a hard place. They have tried everything to get rid of Trump. So, their only solution is to kill him at this point, something that didn't work out for them last Saturday. Or, as Walter said, there will be a catastrophic event such as a war. They also have to replace Biden, something they should have done during the primary season. We also have to be very aware of the fraud machine the Democrats control. That is a topic that is still taboo to discuss, despite the evidence.
The state controlled media is of course going to diss Trump's speech and the convention. That is what they do. But, it is such weak sauce. And, Matt, you may not know it, but you are part of that "right wing/libertarian" media ecosystem and thank goodness you are. You are my favorite journalist and we do have differences.
This was not my father's RNC convention and that is good. Are you guys going to cover the DNC one? That one is going to be impossible to be as good as this one, despite them being able to pull far more celebrities. The American people are getting tired of Democrat celebrities and we love the ones who are brave enough to support Trump. I don't like Kid Rock's music, but I love me some Kid Rock. Same with Hulk Hogan (how can anyone not like him?) and Dana White.
Anyway, great job guys, wish I had made the live version of the last update, so I have to ramble on here in the comment section. You guys are just so damn good.
Walter Kirn was on fire today! What fabulous insights he had. He has seemed to enjoy the entire convention and his enthusiasm was contagious. I learned something each day I listened to him this week. The complete RNC convention coverage by Racket was a great idea.
Investment Firm That Allegedly “Put Options” on 12 Million Trump Stocks Day Before Assassination Attempt Blames Filing Error — Rothschild, BlackRock, Vanguard, Meta, George Bush, and Cheney Family Among Top Investors
oh, come on. That is not evidence of anything. People place short bets on stocks all the time. And whatever the fortunes of Trump's campaign, his latest business endeavor, Truth Social, has not taken off as a platform.
"If Trump did die in the assassination attempt, his company would have become worthless. It’s stock would have become Zero in a day."
If you believe that, I have some rare guitars to sell you on Craigslist. But I'm from out of town...bitcoin only. Here, let me get your address.
Even the protege naifs at Gateway Pundit should have been able to see through that nonsense before aggregating it.
Austin Financial does seem to be doing a really unconvincing climb-down, given that they chose the exact wrong time to make their play.
Still a bold bet given so much Democratic chaos. The options were bought between July 1 and 12, so in the wake of Biden’s disastrous debate performance. Either these options were woefully miss priced (given the situation at the time) or these investors just aren’t very smart, or the fix is in.
Qanon is greatly overrated and used by Democrats to stoke fear. Over the years, I have only met 2 people into it and Qanoners are like vegans, you are told within 30 seconds of meeting one. They are like the KKK, which last time I saw real numbers had less than 500 members and those mostly in PA, OH, and not in the South. The media makes them to be a threat that they are not. The SPLC uses fear of KKK to raise money.
The most I hear about QAnon is from my progressive-in-denial potentially terminal case of TDS-suffering friend. He was the one that introduced me to Ron Paul in 2007. I ask him when he got his lobotomy all the time. He can’t remember…
Thanks - but I'm still not sure what Matt is talking about when he says 'QAnon symbolism' was prominent at the RNC convention. Maybe they had NABLA tats or child leashes that I didn't see?
I think it was that long movie clip that supposedly has Qanon messages in it. But, I have no idea. I looked at some Qanon stuff on 4chan years ago and none of it made sense. I only did it because I kept hearing about it and wanted to be informed, but I couldn't figure anything out. It is probably in reality a government Psyop or something.
It was the song played at the end of the convention, which was the same song played at the end of a film while all the Deep State bad guys were being offed. It's a "dog whistle," if you will, a bit of a message to the bad guys that we're on to them. This is apparently a Q theory, and could actually have some merit -- and even if it doesn't, it's fun to watch all the usual suspects lose their shit over it.
Most of the wingnuts are careful to avoid the QAnon association these days. But there are sites that draw heavily on pro-Trump audiences with comment sections where you don't have to read very far in order to find posts that strongly imply- or even say outright- that the organized leadership and backers of the Democratic Party are literally a treasonous conspiracy in league with the Devil. That's more or less the same line as QAnon.
Years ago, Milo Yiannopoulos did an interview with a couple of people affiliated with Q. I got the impression that Q was run by a handful of current & former government "insiders." Given the theories I've seen online that are attributed to Q, I concluded years ago that Q was a complete dumb ass. But it's still funny watching the left come unglued over it.
Another awesome podcast! Thank you for giving us your on the spot rundown of the RNC convention. Matt and Walt…you guys are the best! I appreciate the humor.
I imagine I'll be listening to this video dozens of times in the days ahead. It'll be my at-least-I'm-not-alone-seeing-this! antidote to the amped-up mind-fuckery I, too, have been dreading is coming.
There was lots to love in this particular video--my fave, to date--but shared-reality highlights for me were these:
- “If you’re gonna be coup plotters, do your damn coup!” — WK
- “They never just do the thing. They have to creep up to it for days and weeks on end.” — MT
As an autistic person, their prolonged, utter inability to ever be direct about anything is ... crushing. Just crushing. Why?! I mean, for the love of God, what's so earthshatteringly terrible about simply being clear, direct, and surface-comprehensible?
I'm personally still betting everything happening now is just the "creep up to it" obfuscation of an HRC swap-in. The more obfuscation, the more it looks like Very Serious Consideration went into making it happen. No matter the lead-up, of course, the fact remains: The wants of voters aren't part of this equation at all. "Party over people," indeed.
Consider the audacity of their response post debate - don't worry, everything is fine, we're a team! Who's "the team"? We didn't vote for "the team"! Who's in charge when Joe's in the re-animation chamber? When he's having his face pulled, like in that Star Trek movie?
Nessun Dorma... I tried to comment from my phone... I then could not edit, and I do not see it here. So, on the opera passage, the final aria from Turandot... the Nessun Dorma. This is an opera set in China, the lyrics of this passage end with I shall win, then in the finale' of the opera the chorus sings.... He will live ten thousand years. that is from my Zubin Mehta Dvd english translation, as I recall it. This version was performed in the old city in China... If you have never seen it... here. I found it on You Tube.. It is magnificent. https://youtu.be/Mq9kB71yDs0?si=LvIkBJQgkqktj90E
In November, 2015, I attended the Trump rally in Springfield, Illinois. I don't trust legacy media to portray the real thing, so I wanted to see for myself if the media was reporting accurately. And unlike a Bernie Sanders event in the area I had read about, the Trump deal was free of charge. (BTW after that rally I think it was the Springfield Journal-Register quoting one of the Trump sons saying to the effect, "We can do this.")
At that rally, the last very too loud music was opera. Was it this particular piece? Don't know. I just sort of thought it was a New York state of mind thing. I happen to love classical music. So I really haven't been suspicious of a candidate's playlist.
I had a friend once who loved music, especially vocals. One day I put on an Opera that I had grown up with and loved very much. He asked me if I minded changing the music. “But how is it that you don’t like Opera, as much as you love music.”
He was silent for a solid minute, then said: “I’m saving it for my midlife crisis.”
To me, but apparently not to Taibbi and Kirn... who did not think knowing the name of the opera, or its setting or lyrics, was significant.... they are the ones with the pulse of the people... It surprised me. Because it was the first thing I thought of when Trump used the music.
Great coverage of the convention. Now I'm really looking forward to the Democratic National Convention.
I read the novel "The Sum of All Fears," but I did not see the movie because when I read the reviews, I didn't like the changes that were made. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Palestinian terrorists get their hands on a nuclear weapon and detonate it in Denver during the Super Bowl. They do it because Jack Ryan finally comes up with a plan for bringing peace to the Middle East that actually works, and the terrorists decided to start a war between us and the Russians just as the Cold War is ending (the novel was published in 1991). They did this because us and the Russians worked together on the peace plan.
The most interesting part of the novel was a German Marxist terrorist who was still on the run, and he fled to Lebanon to hide among the Palestinians. He was friends with their leader because they worked together back in the day. I always found that whole relationship between the Palestinians and European radicals to be fascinating, because I wonder about the potential for culture clashing.
However, as far as thriller novels/movies about terrorist attacks during the Super Bowl go, I still like the film version of "Black Sunday" better because that movie showed Bruce Dern in his most unhinged performance ever.
He's good in Hitchcock's Family Plot, and kooky Barbara Harris works well with him. Hitchcock was awesome at casting and it shows in Family Plot. Hitchcock even found a role for Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much and it worked! That's amazing!
I appreciated and was impressed by Walter’s inquiry into Trump’s post-trauma state of mind. I’m a trauma therapist and I think Walter got it right, including the “corrective experience” analysis regarding the content of his speech, and that interplay of conscious (“I’m at a convention so I’m fine”) and unconscious (“last time I was in front of a crowd I almost died”). This is incredibly challenging to navigate for anyone. When people are too busy other-ing (like the left calling Trump evil, but also the right thinking Trump is superhuman) it dehumanizes him, cuts off the possibility of a more nuanced empathy. Personally I wouldn’t call Trump a “good” person but I also wouldn’t call him a psychopath - someone incapable of feeling and building real relationships. There’s a lot I don’t like about Trump but when he’s being incessantly assaulted legally and physically I can only imagine this takes a toll. For all the “trauma-informed” obsessions of the left it’s striking how little they apply that lens to people they don’t like, and bleeding-heart empathy has never been a strength of the right. So I really appreciate how Walter is constantly grounding himself in story and psychology, that’s the corrective wavelength our society needs, whether one likes Trump or not.
I too was touched by Walter’s empathy for President Trump.
Most journalists have this condescending attitude toward anything Trump says or does.
How absolutely horrid of those journalists!
It's a cliché by now, but it's appropriate to flag that as Trump Derangement Syndrome (TDS).
One expects cliches around here so don't sweat it. It's a key component of the superstructure of this substack.
Very well said. Trump is not a demon or a savior. He is a human being like the rest of us. He may suffer from the attempt on his life. I can only hope that he may be beginning to see that life is so very fragile and that includes the life of his political enemies including Joe Biden. If he can express that compassion, he will win the election.
He's a junkie-felon and a soon-to-be octogenarian-junkie-felon and ought to do the right thing and drop out of the race. For the good of the country.
That was an excellent point made by Walter. It undoubtedly explains Trump's much more subdued demeanor throughout the convention.
That was the drugs doing the talking.
If it walks like a psychopath, talks like a psychopath, and by all evidence has proven himself through a long life to be incapable of feeling and building real relationships...
When I was in my early 20's, my 240z was rear-ended at a stoplight by a car going ~50mph. My car rolled a couple times and flipped into a ditch. The back seat crumpled up and nicked me in the back of the head. They had to use the 'jaws of life' to extract me. Apart from concussions, my passenger and I were OK. The ambulance driver said it was a miracle as they'd never seen such a bad accident that didn't lead to death or grievous bodily harm. I'd also been lucky that a 2nd friends declined to come along. They would have been in the back seat, which no longer existed.
I was walking around in a daze for about a month. Although grateful to God for being spared, I had an intense feeling that "I shouldn't be here". I was floored when Trump said those very words, and even directly rebutted the crowd when they told him "Yes, you should."
I had a sense I was outside my body. I'd consider it a sort of "depersonalization". I returned to work and went through the motions. But I felt like a machine. I wasn't there. I suspect it would have been much worse had my other friend come along and been killed.
When Trump got back on the horse and stepped through his stump speech, I sensed that same sense of "faking it", that I'd felt soon after. He looked much more like he was back to inhabiting his body at the Grand Rapids rally today.
This is a deranged take. Trump's "trauma" has been almost entirely self inflicted. No, not the assassination attempt, and sure, he is still a human being, and has, presumably, SOME feelings that aren't greed or selfishness. And, as a member in good standing of the left, I condemn the shooter and his actions unreservedly. I want Trump to die in prison for his attempt to destroy American democracy on Jan 6th, not shot by some incel. Though, I should point out that the members of the party that promotes AR-15 lapel pins should really not be looking for too much sympathy, eh?
Not only that, but I would point out that Trump is an all-timer when it comes to INFLICTING trauma. From racist housing policies to cheating small businesses on his failed casinos, to straight up fraudulent theft in Trump University. Trump has made a LIFETIME out of inflicting horrible pain and for no better reason than money and fame.
The left "applies this lens" to people on whom trauma is being inflicted, almost ALWAYS by conservatives, for reasons of pure, small minded bigotry. The right is simply all about comforting the comfortable and punching down on the downtrodden.
And so, while I acknowledge the truth that Trump deserves at least some empathy, I think you betray the typical right winger blind spot when it comes to the suffering of others. Let's not forget that TRUMP HIMSELF was publicly joking about the brutal assault on Paul Pelosi in speeches, immediately after it happened. And so, before you go looking to castigate anyone on the left for "lacking compassion", perhaps a dose of self examination is in order?
I’m always struck by how many assumptions internet commenters make about me personally (you’re way off, FYI), and more, how much vitriol real heart-centered responses are often met with. It’s almost like you didn’t read my comment. Wherever you’re trying to go with this is not an interesting or productive direction worth my time.
I stopped reading his comment after the first sentence. The "deranged take" nonsense told me all I needed to determine he has terminal TDS. Also, literally, tl;dr...or in this case, "td;dr:" totally deranged; didn't read .
You're right. His type has this need to make the world conform. They sit on a wire like the birds in The Birds waiting and watching for "fresh meat" to pass by and offend their righteous certainty. I cannot imagine living like that.
Paul just wanted to tell someone how much he dislikes Trump & that he believes everything Lame Stream Media says about Trump..
Could you be anymore delusional and filled with hate? Your litany of reasons for your hate sounds like all the propaganda from the mentally ill party you belong to has filled your head and left no room for critical thinking, that's really sad. That you are oblivious to all the Democrats that have come before your walking dead candidate, Zhou Baidan, have done more damage to this country from their public and political career than Trump's business career. The amount of their damage is global and staggering and the local issues you accuse Trump that seems to aggrieve you so much is hardly comparable. I will offer prayers for your recovery.
It's shockingly normalized. The same way that people were wishing the unvaccinated would be killed. There is something deeply wrong with American society to have so quickly and easily fallen for the most brazen propaganda campaigns of our lives. And it's still happening. People like Paul need help. This can't be good for him.
True. I do have compassion for these people. They must be miserable all the time. They're always either enraged or terrified over total BS. Not a good way to live.
The conclusion I came to during Covid still seems true - Trump broke a lot of people's brains and Covid finished them off.
These are people who have no interest in the rule of law. It’s perfectly fine with them to change statutes of limitations, manufacture 34 felonies out of one misdemeanor, bring charges of sexual assault after the statute of limitations has expired and gag the person they are lawfaring against so they can’t say anything despite the media weighing in against them constantly. Not to mention finding a judge who is so obviously against the charged individual. I could go, but only mob rule means anything to these people.
This is the kind of behavior that is increasingly intolerant and fascist or better yet neo-Marxist/communist. Read the link. Even those who were predisposed to vite Democrat, but want a free, fair, and just system know what's happening despite the denials of Democrats.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/eric-weinstein-its-communism-stupid
Paul A read the room. This comment will get no traction because it doesn’t contain any rational thought. What exactly do you expect to accomplish? The reason that people subscribe to Matt is for nuance, a considered viewpoint. This is not that. The world is full of Morning Joe and The View. Could it be that a whole class of people were so certain that their candidates and policies were so Trump-proof that they failed to read the room? There is no version of what is happening with the Biden camp that’s remotely acceptable and the results are predictable of a myopic mindset that had the complete inability to hold two competing ideas in their head at the same time.
How many more years of Trump madness? Will two, or four, maybe another eight finally convince the eighty million deplorable racists they are wrong? Trump swept into power because he accurately diagnosed the misgivings of a wide swath of Americans who the system wasn’t working for and gave them a voice. Trump is many things; brash, ridiculous, camp, cynical, dishonest, opportunistic and on and on. The reaction to his popularity is to punch down harder on the very people he speaks for and craft a concerted hyperbolic, abusive narrative about him. It has not worked. It’s been an utter failure and done the opposite to elevate his profile and yet we get more of the same. Populism is going nowhere. It’s growing. All across Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand……Bangladesh has recently lost 100 students in violent protests because of quota systems that give preferential government jobs to political allies over merit. The elites across the world are failing. The response cannot be more of the same. Talk all you want about ‘logical fallacies’ and all the other bs jargon you’ve picked up from being an internet citizen but for the love of god, read the bluddy room and give us something different.
"...How many more years of Trump madness? Will two, or four, maybe another eight finally convince the eighty million deplorable racists they are wrong?"
The vast majority of them will be infirm or dead within a decade so it's probably an historically moot question.
actually, no opponent is confronting any of Paul's points with specifics. The detractors are just dismissing him with rhetoric.
"Read the room"...is that what you want, a cheerleading rally? Prizes for the flashiest rhetorical trope, and the best bon mot, or the biggest burn as a cheap shot? Little huddles, to talk back and forth with each other to smack down the dissenter? And whoever gets the most upvotes is the Winner?
I'm not posting the above as a partisan comment. I might as well have posted the same thing 15 years ago in some of the comment sections on Salon, or Rawstory.
Because all of Paul’s points have been done to death by the mainstream. Why would we be engaging the same tired trope that’s been rehashed for the last eight years? What is hard to understand about that? It would be one thing if the elite ruling class was killing it right now, but, honestly, they are a train wreck and it’s because they have failed to think for one second that their expert approach my not be so expert. In the universe of cheerleading , they take the cake - only agreement with positive comments are allowed on their positions from the economy, to crime, to foreign policy to gender medicine. The harder they fail, the more censorial they have become doling out all manner of economic and reputation warfare. The traditional role of the journalist is to hold power ti account. Remember that? I do.
All of your points and then some have been done to death and then some more by the right-wing chudosphere, Taibbi's substack being a prime example.
Right. You notice the problem- when it’s on the other side. And only then.
The next level of faulty critical thinking is when you have some acquaintance with logical fallacies and are able point out which ones they are and how the facts are being abused by the other side, but you never notice them when you employ them or support them yourself.
For what it’s worth. Just in case you’ve made it that far.
If Paul’s points are faulty and you aren’t refuting them with the detailed specifics that contradict his claims, you’re just being lazy. Razzing someone is easy. But it isn’t exercise. It’s self-indulgence.
Made it through it. Would gladly start a new thread about everything I think is wrong with Right wing politics. He presented noting new. It’s a dead horse.
I think you are the deranged one.
Your leftist screed repeat repeats the constant hypocritical, sanctimonious, b.s. perpetuated by Democrats.
I guess “tone down the rhetoric” is over. Anyone know if this guy has a ladder and an AR?
Jan 6 insight?
Not sure if you get all your info on Jan 6 from MSM and the “Democrat Congressional Trial” Here is some resources that may help.
https://open.ink/collections/j6
https://rumble.com/v26kivk-the-real-story-of-jan-6.html
Do you have a transcript or text links, for those of us who understand the absolute imperative of literacy in political discussions?
There's no practical way to challenge the claims of a video presentation. A serious shortcoming, although I'm increasingly doubtful that it's a point brought up in American classrooms, even at the college level.
I don't agree with your comments above on Paul, but you are dead right about video presentations as any sort of evidence. It's unfortunate they have proliferated as they have. I remember before all this internet stuff happened a similar thing would happen when I would meet people whose understanding of historical events, economics, etc. were mostly derived from movies they watched.
You don't know my views on Paul's post.
My remarks were confined to pointing out that arguments should be issue based and content based, and that reference link support should be in the form of text, which allows a mutual basis for both reading (much faster than video) and easy excerpting of quotes (invaluable.)
True, I only know what you wrote, which I didn’t agree with. But I do agree that video and u-tube links are insufficient (and slow to digest, as you just added), and written sources are much better.
LOL. "Resources" and "info" from two chud accounts, one of them parked at Rumble. Thanks for helping set the record straight. LOL again.
That's really nice of you to try to acquaint him with the facts.
I got a chuckle out of "I want Trump to die in prison for his attempt to destroy American democracy on Jan 6th. . . "
You people are hysterical in oh, so many ways.
>> his attempt to destroy American democracy on Jan 6th
C'mon man. Do you really think you had a democracy before that? For me it died in 2000 with the Supreme Court. I'm in my early 50s, for older people it probably died before that.
You got it. I'm older than you and at least since the 90's, elections have been like choosing a Malibu or an Impala. Are they different? Yeah, but they're both Chevys and that's what matters.
I guess each generation has to go through it. That's why we never get anywhere.
No ranked-choice voting is why "we"- that part of the citizenry outside of the structurally rigged two-party system- never get anywhere.
Point taken, but that's evidence of how stupid the MAGA chuds are---attempting to overthrow a democracy that ended two decades previous.
I really don't care to be governed by a political faction that features Hulk Hogan as a serious political actor. Thanks, but I'm good with the Deep State.
You're still gonna get that either way. Trump is not going to stand up to them. Did he even mention it at the RNC? It certainly didn't seem to be much of a topic overall at the convention.
I think you are the “deranged “ one.
Attn-PAUL A...Get over your grandiose, self absorbed whiny thoughts. Where's a therapist when you need one? Now as to you and all of the populace, whether or not anyone likes Trump, and in your case, all things, Trump matters, not one iota! It is and should be, even to you, obvious that God seems to have chosen Trump for his purpose to carryout whatever his will and plans are. Period, full stop!
PS: Your BS about "destroy American democracy on Jan 6th,"... is pathetic! Blame the Uniparty aka DEMS and RINOS and the DC cesspool in total!
Proof of God's will is here: "We may struggle with questions about God’s methods as Habakkuk did. How God chooses to operate is up to Him. At times, He intervenes miraculously. Other times, He works behind the scenes. And, yes, God may even allow a certain measure of freedom to evil forces in our world to bring about His design. Like Habakkuk, if we view life from God’s perspective, our response will be to worship the Lord, knowing He is in control of all things." https://www.gotquestions.org/does-God-use-evil.html
I note a smattering, hitherto previously absent, of noxious godbothering from the Jesus freaks at the Racket News Kingdom.
In your defense, there's more than a smattering of International bankers and financiers, from both respectable commercial precincts and back alley mafia, that can't help but believe Trump sits at the right hand of God, and genuinely believe that God may even allow a certain measure of freedom to evil forces [Trump] in our world to bring about His [Trump again!] design.
I like it, but I don't think God gives a hoot about Donald Trump. I don't think God gives a hoot about any of us individually, He cares about us as a whole. Could He have intervened for the whole of us? Certainly it's possible.
We're His garden, and He has an infinite perview. He knows there's all kinds of things in the garden, and He keeps an eye out for balance, for a healthy symbiosis.
God has eyes on Donald Trump, guaranteed.
I certainly like thinking so.
Sorry but you are completely wrong. Read the info at the link I left that will help you begin to understand God's ways. Everyone should want to understand God's actions because we live in this earthly world which is Satan's....BUT God is sovereign even over what Satan can and can't do. God gave each of us different gifts when he made us individually one by one, hence we aren't all the same. See here: https://www.gotquestions.org/search-results.html?q=Did+God+make+each+of+us#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=Did%20God%20make%20each%20of%20us&gsc.page=1
I'm not a religious person, I'm a spiritual person. So you can believe what you want to, and I'll believe what I want to.
That is how it always works until you one day hear God's calling to your heart. For me it started when the 2020 election was stolen and I was questioning why it was allowed.
I was led, and I don't remember how, or by who etc. to this site from there any question I have I can find the factual rationale there. I, like all of us are supposed to be helping others to be lead to God. We aren't tasked with having to MAKE anyone believe, that's up to each person in their own time.
Godspeed to you and anyone who may want to know. See below for the rationale as to why God allowed the 2020 and Trumps near assassination and failure to happen. It is a simple, and true rationale.
“God is in complete control of every molecule in the universe at every moment, and everything that happens is either caused or allowed by Him for His own perfect purposes.”
https://www.gotquestions.org/God-is-in-control.html
"he is still a human being, and has, presumably, SOME feelings that aren't greed or selfishness"
-
He has many feelings that aren't greed and selfishness. You should look at the totality of the man. As you note, he is human and you are dehumanizing him. He was widely loved by people of all political stripes prior to running for president.
A couple years into his presidency, there was an "AskReddit" thread seeking individual experiences people have had with Trump. If you've lost sight of the range of his humanity, you'll find it here - almost all of which were positive, in an arena that demographically trends against Trump: https://archive.md/94oUX
You can dislike his actions and policies, without building a straw man over his flesh and bone.
He was also widely loathed by members of the species Homo sapiens.
How can I say this calmly, acceptably and without hyperbole? HOLY FUCKING SHIT am I glad to have been a subscriber since the very early days, but never more so than during your heroic work this week. I don't know if you and Walter are happy with how many of us have been tuning in, but goddammit, having you and Walter report onsight, in this volume, across all the topics of the day and weaving those topics into the integragted fabric within which they really exist... This has been the best news cycle participation I've ever been afforded, ever been a part of, really beginning with your reporting on the Biden Helmets and Crayons debate performance, the incredible after action shit storm on that which blew into the approaching convention with the assassination attempt and slammed right into Milwaukee. You guys have literally been flying an AWACS (Airborne Warning & Control System) in the eye the whole time, keeping me grounded, calm, aware. I'm the best informed citizen in the U.S.. I walk with my back straight and my head held high, quietly confident and serene in my complete knowledge, feeling (but hiding out of charity and magnanimity) no small pity, and, yes, some disdain for lesser citizens walking around me in a fog of confused and wrong-headed angst. They know they don't know what they don't know, but I am all knowing because you and Walter have made this superhuman effort. Here is a single example of the superior knowledge you have implanted in my head like pre-knowledge: I know how Amber Rose fits in, why she's awesome, why she was a perfect add to the RNC lineup, and why her presence indicates Trump's perfect, bigly idiot savant open tent approach. To have you wrapping this morning from your hotel rooms before decamping is brilliant. I'm kind of hoping Amber lifts her head into camera view behind Walter, bed-headed off of the hotel pillow after post RNC celebration. Well done guys. I've never been a happier subscriber, to anything.
Dude, you can put away the knee pads now.
We're all wearing kneepads these days, mostly unwillingly, just depends on who for. I'm proud of mine. I bought 'em online in rainbow colors.
Great response!
Knee pads -✅
Dental dam -✅
Prep meds -✅
Flushable wipes -✅
Breath mints -✅
Now let’s hit the comments!
Don't forget lube. Lots of lube.
They sell lube at HEB here in Texas, in a sexy little blue bottle. Lube's gone mainstream, thank God, since everybody's waking up with their pants on backwards and the zipper broken.
Sticky Fingers
Dude, you're focusing in a direction that is easy to joke about, but I'll say this - I believe that as constant readers here from the beginnings of The Twitter Files (it sounds like something that needs Mulder & Scully), we may have been lucky enough to see history in the making. So, maybe knee pads are in order?
Since Elon changed the name to X they are now the X-files.
Which is pretty cool since it’s all about government organizations operating in the background
Maybe Musk changed it to X for this very reason.
Well, “dude”, use them if you got em. Not my style.
You started the "dude", so whatever, but it's cool. I like style.
My favorite podcast y'all have done. Walter really understood Trump as a fellow trauma victim and I found his discussion of it so very excellent and needed. When he said Trump was in dreamtime now and described, I really knew Walter had been there.
Truly, I'd love for that segment to be clipped because most people don't understand how profound such an experience is for the victim, and having loved ones and friends lose patience and withdraw because you're not your old self, or you are taking too long to get over it.... That's the norm, I think.
Totally agree. Also, the survivor guilt. I served in Iraq and Afghanistan and have PTSD/TBI as a result. I have major empathy for Trump on this. Also, I kept thinking, as he was at the podium alone, how often he wondered if and when a bullet would be fired at him. I also understand the state of mind Trump described during and just after the shooting. It happens, from what I have heard, to many of us, including me. It is some kind of defense mechanism kicking in.
Yes I agree, I also commented on this point below before I saw your comment.
Go Walter! Burn that lying limey lackey Steele!!!
Your coverage of the convention was so damn good. I think you guys nailed it when you acknowledged that it has finally become OK to be a Trump supporter for the vast regular people of the country. People are now openly admitting it. That is a big sea change as before it was only crotchety old men with nothing to lose and most voters didn't acknowledge they voted for him.
I find it funny to see Matt still struggling to say anything good about Trump, while Walter truly gets it. That is what age will do and generational differences. I identify very much with Walter given I am 68. I think there is a similar age difference between Walter and Matt.
The DNC is really now between a rock and a hard place. They have tried everything to get rid of Trump. So, their only solution is to kill him at this point, something that didn't work out for them last Saturday. Or, as Walter said, there will be a catastrophic event such as a war. They also have to replace Biden, something they should have done during the primary season. We also have to be very aware of the fraud machine the Democrats control. That is a topic that is still taboo to discuss, despite the evidence.
The state controlled media is of course going to diss Trump's speech and the convention. That is what they do. But, it is such weak sauce. And, Matt, you may not know it, but you are part of that "right wing/libertarian" media ecosystem and thank goodness you are. You are my favorite journalist and we do have differences.
This was not my father's RNC convention and that is good. Are you guys going to cover the DNC one? That one is going to be impossible to be as good as this one, despite them being able to pull far more celebrities. The American people are getting tired of Democrat celebrities and we love the ones who are brave enough to support Trump. I don't like Kid Rock's music, but I love me some Kid Rock. Same with Hulk Hogan (how can anyone not like him?) and Dana White.
Anyway, great job guys, wish I had made the live version of the last update, so I have to ramble on here in the comment section. You guys are just so damn good.
Walter Kirn was on fire today! What fabulous insights he had. He has seemed to enjoy the entire convention and his enthusiasm was contagious. I learned something each day I listened to him this week. The complete RNC convention coverage by Racket was a great idea.
If you need to ask..
HERE IS YOUR ANSWER
Investment Firm That Allegedly “Put Options” on 12 Million Trump Stocks Day Before Assassination Attempt Blames Filing Error — Rothschild, BlackRock, Vanguard, Meta, George Bush, and Cheney Family Among Top Investors
I read they also shorted Rumble as well as Trump's site.
What? This happened?
Yes
Link, meaning, do you have a link to further info about this?
https://finbold.com/trump-stock-shorted-heavily-day-before-assassination-attempt/
https://slaynews.com/news/trade-volume-spiked-800-stock-trumps-company-day-assassination-attempt/
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/07/explosive-revelation-investment-firm-that-allegedly-put-options/
Musk and Thiel also have their fingerprints all over this. Bannon is the frontman. An Austin-based financial planning company. All very obvious.
oh, come on. That is not evidence of anything. People place short bets on stocks all the time. And whatever the fortunes of Trump's campaign, his latest business endeavor, Truth Social, has not taken off as a platform.
"If Trump did die in the assassination attempt, his company would have become worthless. It’s stock would have become Zero in a day."
If you believe that, I have some rare guitars to sell you on Craigslist. But I'm from out of town...bitcoin only. Here, let me get your address.
Even the protege naifs at Gateway Pundit should have been able to see through that nonsense before aggregating it.
Austin Financial does seem to be doing a really unconvincing climb-down, given that they chose the exact wrong time to make their play.
To each his own
Thanks will check 'em.
Link?
"It was just an error!"
"We had provided enhanced Secret Service protection to Trump due to an Iranian threat."
"Biden now has Covid."
Is it any wonder why nobody with any sense believes the official story any more?
Assume the worst most outrageous, outlandish plots about our Deep State and you might be close to the truth.
The dull explanation is that the DJT media company was named in a lawsuit the next day. So it's just the old fashioned kind of insider trading.
Still a bold bet given so much Democratic chaos. The options were bought between July 1 and 12, so in the wake of Biden’s disastrous debate performance. Either these options were woefully miss priced (given the situation at the time) or these investors just aren’t very smart, or the fix is in.
Makes sense, looks like an insider perp list to me. Chilling. Like the profiteers they are.
Can we all admit, the Bushes are war profiteers.
No. It was a leak of a lawsuit against the company that was announced the next day.
Are you saying it wasn't a filing error?
Steve Bannon put the deal together.
What did put options on his stock mean?
You gamble that the stock will tank or rise. They placed a bet that it would tank, they shorted the stock.
It would have netted close to a trillion dollars.
The Big Short.
You get to purchase at the tanked price but the stock must be honored at the price before collapse. The price when the put is placed.
These puts are common with insider knowledge.
The ghouls not only wanted him dead but to steal all the value from every other stock holder.
Thank you for explaining. Ghouls is right. They knew…
They also knew this would wipe out the media empire before any one could pick it up and be a lasting tribute to Trump.
They literally want to erase him.
If they are allowed the "filing error" they will not lose. Normally when you short, if it doesn't go down you lose. They should loose billions.
PS: Not a expert.
But "nothing to see here!"
Hell, mainstream media has already memory holed the shooting.
There isn't anything mysterious about concealing a nothingburger.
But it was set up so they didn’t lose?
If the filing error excuse is accepted by I guess the NYSE.
They surely had a stop.
Which would limit their liability legally.
But even with a short stop, 12 million should produce large losses.
When you short; you also place a stop. The brokerage firm will stop the trading at a certain amount of increase to reduce your losses.
Again not an expert.
"They literally want to erase him."
You're confusing the Austin-based financial firm with Melania.
Walter Kirn decodes the final song as a QAnon coded notice of imminent revenge.
Hours later Crowdstrike breaks, destroying its share value and reputation.
Crowdstrike was weaponised against Trump in the 2016 DNC email “Russian hack” fraud by Hilary.
What, pray tell is 'QAnon symbolism'?
Qanon is greatly overrated and used by Democrats to stoke fear. Over the years, I have only met 2 people into it and Qanoners are like vegans, you are told within 30 seconds of meeting one. They are like the KKK, which last time I saw real numbers had less than 500 members and those mostly in PA, OH, and not in the South. The media makes them to be a threat that they are not. The SPLC uses fear of KKK to raise money.
The most I hear about QAnon is from my progressive-in-denial potentially terminal case of TDS-suffering friend. He was the one that introduced me to Ron Paul in 2007. I ask him when he got his lobotomy all the time. He can’t remember…
Thanks - but I'm still not sure what Matt is talking about when he says 'QAnon symbolism' was prominent at the RNC convention. Maybe they had NABLA tats or child leashes that I didn't see?
I think it was that long movie clip that supposedly has Qanon messages in it. But, I have no idea. I looked at some Qanon stuff on 4chan years ago and none of it made sense. I only did it because I kept hearing about it and wanted to be informed, but I couldn't figure anything out. It is probably in reality a government Psyop or something.
It was the song played at the end of the convention, which was the same song played at the end of a film while all the Deep State bad guys were being offed. It's a "dog whistle," if you will, a bit of a message to the bad guys that we're on to them. This is apparently a Q theory, and could actually have some merit -- and even if it doesn't, it's fun to watch all the usual suspects lose their shit over it.
Most of the wingnuts are careful to avoid the QAnon association these days. But there are sites that draw heavily on pro-Trump audiences with comment sections where you don't have to read very far in order to find posts that strongly imply- or even say outright- that the organized leadership and backers of the Democratic Party are literally a treasonous conspiracy in league with the Devil. That's more or less the same line as QAnon.
Years ago, Milo Yiannopoulos did an interview with a couple of people affiliated with Q. I got the impression that Q was run by a handful of current & former government "insiders." Given the theories I've seen online that are attributed to Q, I concluded years ago that Q was a complete dumb ass. But it's still funny watching the left come unglued over it.
You're clearly Q Anon.
Thanks for asking this. I was also wondering.
Check the end of the livestream where Walter explains
"We've got three and a half months of Philip K Dick inside/out mind fuck coming."
~Walter Kirn
Walter, Thank you for being born.
Priceless in the true sense. Watching the left twist in the wind is so tasty.
What's QAnon?
Another awesome podcast! Thank you for giving us your on the spot rundown of the RNC convention. Matt and Walt…you guys are the best! I appreciate the humor.
I imagine I'll be listening to this video dozens of times in the days ahead. It'll be my at-least-I'm-not-alone-seeing-this! antidote to the amped-up mind-fuckery I, too, have been dreading is coming.
There was lots to love in this particular video--my fave, to date--but shared-reality highlights for me were these:
- “If you’re gonna be coup plotters, do your damn coup!” — WK
- “They never just do the thing. They have to creep up to it for days and weeks on end.” — MT
As an autistic person, their prolonged, utter inability to ever be direct about anything is ... crushing. Just crushing. Why?! I mean, for the love of God, what's so earthshatteringly terrible about simply being clear, direct, and surface-comprehensible?
I'm personally still betting everything happening now is just the "creep up to it" obfuscation of an HRC swap-in. The more obfuscation, the more it looks like Very Serious Consideration went into making it happen. No matter the lead-up, of course, the fact remains: The wants of voters aren't part of this equation at all. "Party over people," indeed.
Consider the audacity of their response post debate - don't worry, everything is fine, we're a team! Who's "the team"? We didn't vote for "the team"! Who's in charge when Joe's in the re-animation chamber? When he's having his face pulled, like in that Star Trek movie?
Nessun Dorma... I tried to comment from my phone... I then could not edit, and I do not see it here. So, on the opera passage, the final aria from Turandot... the Nessun Dorma. This is an opera set in China, the lyrics of this passage end with I shall win, then in the finale' of the opera the chorus sings.... He will live ten thousand years. that is from my Zubin Mehta Dvd english translation, as I recall it. This version was performed in the old city in China... If you have never seen it... here. I found it on You Tube.. It is magnificent. https://youtu.be/Mq9kB71yDs0?si=LvIkBJQgkqktj90E
https://youtu.be/FMl124VvFRg?si=PHn-a-7FCVSnEqoK
In November, 2015, I attended the Trump rally in Springfield, Illinois. I don't trust legacy media to portray the real thing, so I wanted to see for myself if the media was reporting accurately. And unlike a Bernie Sanders event in the area I had read about, the Trump deal was free of charge. (BTW after that rally I think it was the Springfield Journal-Register quoting one of the Trump sons saying to the effect, "We can do this.")
At that rally, the last very too loud music was opera. Was it this particular piece? Don't know. I just sort of thought it was a New York state of mind thing. I happen to love classical music. So I really haven't been suspicious of a candidate's playlist.
Wow. Thanks for that explanation. I’m a classical music fan but don’t know opera at all. Very meaningful.
I had a friend once who loved music, especially vocals. One day I put on an Opera that I had grown up with and loved very much. He asked me if I minded changing the music. “But how is it that you don’t like Opera, as much as you love music.”
He was silent for a solid minute, then said: “I’m saving it for my midlife crisis.”
Great story. Unfortunately, I’m waaay past my midlife crisis. Have only seen Madame Butterfly live, but do enjoy many Mozart opera pieces.
Opera refuses to use the Language Of The Internet! So most of us require a libretto.
(See, they can't even say "lyric sheet." It's off-putting, for real Americans. You know, monolinguals.)
To me, but apparently not to Taibbi and Kirn... who did not think knowing the name of the opera, or its setting or lyrics, was significant.... they are the ones with the pulse of the people... It surprised me. Because it was the first thing I thought of when Trump used the music.
Check this! NYT right now! Small headline: "Donald Trump used his wife, a bandage and patriotism as protective coverings at the convention."
Wow! I'm astounded! What's next? How low can they go? Are they gonna hire Carl Showalter and Gaear Grimsrud? Haha!
And yet people on the left STILL claim the NYT is too conservative.
Great coverage of the convention. Now I'm really looking forward to the Democratic National Convention.
I read the novel "The Sum of All Fears," but I did not see the movie because when I read the reviews, I didn't like the changes that were made. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Palestinian terrorists get their hands on a nuclear weapon and detonate it in Denver during the Super Bowl. They do it because Jack Ryan finally comes up with a plan for bringing peace to the Middle East that actually works, and the terrorists decided to start a war between us and the Russians just as the Cold War is ending (the novel was published in 1991). They did this because us and the Russians worked together on the peace plan.
The most interesting part of the novel was a German Marxist terrorist who was still on the run, and he fled to Lebanon to hide among the Palestinians. He was friends with their leader because they worked together back in the day. I always found that whole relationship between the Palestinians and European radicals to be fascinating, because I wonder about the potential for culture clashing.
However, as far as thriller novels/movies about terrorist attacks during the Super Bowl go, I still like the film version of "Black Sunday" better because that movie showed Bruce Dern in his most unhinged performance ever.
Love Bruce Dern.
He's good in Hitchcock's Family Plot, and kooky Barbara Harris works well with him. Hitchcock was awesome at casting and it shows in Family Plot. Hitchcock even found a role for Doris Day and Jimmy Stewart in The Man Who Knew Too Much and it worked! That's amazing!
Bruce Dern was always good at playing slightly squirrelly guys.
Tragic guys, too. "Coming Home" and "Nebraska."
He gets pretty unhinged in "Silent Running". Good in "The Driver" too.