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Duke of Bullshit: "The" Donald

Started by Recusant, November 11, 2015, 11:29:56 PM

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Recusant

It's looking like ideological purity will be more important than competence in the Trump administration.

"Sane, Competent Official Uncovered on Trump Transition Team and Is Immediately Fired" | New York

QuoteThe bad news on Donald Trump's transition team is that Mike Rogers, one of the better informed and respected members of the Republican security establishment, has been booted off.

[. . .]

The even worse news is that the person who was fired for not being crazy was replaced by somebody who is famous for being crazy. Frank Gaffney has taken Rogers's spot. Gaffney suffers from a variety of delusional beliefs concerning secret Islamic subversion of the government . . .

[Continues . . .]
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Ecurb Noselrub

President Obama suggested that we keep an "open mind" about Trump.  I'm willing to wait a few months before I judge what his presidency is going to turn into.  President Obama also said that we should all hope for Trump's success.  That's hard when you voted for the other candidate, but a failed Presidency will hurt us all.  I hope he rights his own ship and does well.  But that remains to be seen.

Recusant

Trump has displayed his character, or rather, lack of character prominently for decades. President Obama, during the campaign, made his opinion on the matter rather clear. His words since the election are intended to try to calm the public, and I respect that, but I have no illusions regarding the competence or integrity of Trump.

"Obama Is Warning America About Trump's Presidency. Are You Listening?" | New Republic

QuoteReading comprehension and patience only scratch the surface of difficulties Trump will face. "I think there will be certain elements of his temperament that will not serve him well unless he recognizes them and corrects them," Obama added, "because when you're a candidate and you say something that is inaccurate or controversial, it has less impact than it does when you're president of the United States. Everybody around the world is paying attention, markets moves. National security issues require a level of precision in order to make sure you don't make mistakes. I think he recognizes that this is different."

[. . .]

On the campaign trail, Trump responded to relatively trivial setbacks by grinding campaign norms into dust. One of his favorite tactics was positing a variety of fake realities (international conspiracies, the fictional crimes of his enemies, the imagined hellscapes of inner cities) meant to turn his base's focus away from some new mortifying revelation and back to the demagogic message of his candidacy.

Obama's warning to Trump, and everyone who stands to suffer for his errors, is that living in a rhetorical fantasy will backfire on a president. "Regardless of what experience or assumptions he brought to the office, this office has a way of waking you up," Obama said. "And those aspects of his positions or predispositions that don't match up with reality—he will find shaken up pretty quick, because reality has a way of asserting itself."

Should Trump respond to such shakeups by transgressing governing norms, where he once transgressed campaigning norms, Obama warned that he would find himself in the midst of scandal or crime.

"One of the things you discover about being president is that there are all these rules and norms and laws and you've got to pay attention to them," Obama said, as if the president-elect weren't a 70-year-old person with a fancy education. "The people who work for you are also subject to those rules and norms. And that's a piece of advice that I gave to the incoming president."

[Continues . . .]

Trump believes that he has "the BEST temperament." He's a 70 year old narcissistic ass. To believe that he's going to "recognize . . . and correct" elements of his own temperament at this point is an exercise in futility.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Ecurb Noselrub

Quote from: Recusant on November 16, 2016, 04:30:50 PM

Trump believes that he has "the BEST temperament." He's a 70 year old narcissistic ass. To believe that he's going to "recognize . . . and correct" elements of his own temperament at this point is an exercise in futility.

Granted, but there is still hope that the office itself will restrain him.  Anyway, I'm holding out hope for a miracle, but that hope has an expiration date of about May 1, 2017.  If I haven't seen hopeful signs by then, I might get depressed.

Davin

The list of potential appointments to various offices doesn't look good. Hopefully they will change to better people, but I highly doubt many will change.

So people voted for him because he wasn't a professional politician hoping he would do something different, and he ends up doing the very same political things but worse. At least a professional politician would have pretended to be appointing some qualified people and not make it look they're filling all available positions to scratch the backs of his friends and family. I really wish the people that voted for Trump could look and see that made a mistake, not really for a "I told you so," but for a, "so now that you know you made a mistake, in the future you'll try to not make the same mistake again by looking at the facts."

At least my hope is many of them will learn from this.
Always question all authorities because the authority you don't question is the most dangerous... except me, never question me.

Pasta Chick

What is "success" or "failure" as a politician, though? I certainly hope he doesn't drive the country into the ground. I don't think any significant number of people wish for that, although there's always some jackass who's willing to cut off their nose to spite their face.

So that leaves his policies. Which, granted are few and without much detail... But what we do know is what he has said is pretty horrible. In that regard, yes, I hope he fails. And I hope he drops this bullshit about a wall before it even has a chance to fail, because that's going to be one expensive failure

My one hope all along was that he would turn back to his Dem-leaning past. He blew that away with Pence. So then I hoped he would at least stay true to shaking things up and "drain the swamp." Maybe put Pence on a back burner, his use to manipulate the Evangelical vote passed. But that's plainly not happening either.

Part of me wants to sit back and say, "fuck it, y'all have been bitching and moaning for 8 years. You're in full control now. Fix it." But in that balance literally hangs my health and safety - I'm currently on birth control for non-BC reasons and I am NOT a good candidate for an uneventful pregnancy should that happen. Not to mention the rights of so many of my LGBTQ and non-white friends. And as atheists, y'all should fucking care that Evangelical creationists who believe in "states rights" on religious freedom are being put in power.

So I can't. I don't know what to do. I'm talking about meeting some friends in DC in Jan to march against this shit. But that won't matter either, because we're "just whining sore losers" and Trump never did or said anything racist/misogynist/otherwise bigoted.

Dave

Seems this was, sort of, predicted many years ago . . .

Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Recusant

That is an accurate quote of Mencken. It was wheeled out during the era of Bush II, but that particular graphic comes from "The Patriot Post," a conservative blog, and was intended to refer to President Obama.



For obvious reasons, whoever decided to recycle it has clipped the "Patriot Post" logo.  :sidesmile:
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Harmonie

Well, nevertheless the quote fits Trump MUCH better than even Bush II. I mean "narcissistic" just kind of perfectly describes Trump.

Icon Image by Cherubunny on Tumblr
"I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires." - Susan B. Anthony

Recusant

#369
As much as I admire Mencken's gift for prose and find I agree with things he said, I also disagree with some of what he wrote. Anyway, I don't believe that Trump "represents the inner soul of the people." Certainly it's true of some, but I think they're a distinct (and decreasing) minority.

The demographics of the country are changing; there will always be some among us who are willing to swallow or overlook vapid, despicable xenophobic crud spewed by people like Trump, but I don't think they'll have the numbers to elect a president for very long. See "Trump's coalition won the demographic battle. It'll still lose the war." | Vox
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Dave

Quote from: Recusant on November 17, 2016, 03:27:03 PM
As much as I admire Mencken's gift for prose and find I agree with things he said, I also disagree with some of what he wrote. Anyway, I don't believe that Trump "represents the inner soul of the people." Certainly it's true of some, but I think they're a distinct (and decreasing) minority.

The demographics of the country are changing; there will always be those who are willing to swallow or overlook vapid, despicable xenophobic crud spewed by people like Trump among us, but I don't think they'll have the numbers to elect a president for very long. See "Trump's coalition won the demographic battle. It'll still lose the war." | Vox

I agree with you in some respects, Recusant, but only in the way that "inner soul" is probably anachronistic in the sense it might have had nearly a hundred years ago.

Perhaps "will" would be a better term? By the "will" of a not terribly huge majority of the people they chose a person that best matched their own moral/ethical framework*. Actually, in terms of actual people they did not chose Trump, Clinto had the popular majority it seems.

One day we will hopefully have a popular majority voting system for the top job (even in Britain I hope) that truly represents the "will of the people". The representatives for smaller divisions should have a voting "power" proportional to the population of that division. Divisions would have to be by population density rather than administrative area - about the same number of people in each division.

* In what he promised, as the article and many others have said he will probably fail to deliver many of those promises.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

Davin

Always question all authorities because the authority you don't question is the most dangerous... except me, never question me.

Recusant

If something appears to confirm your beliefs you are more inclined to accept it. Even with a skeptical approach to information, acknowledging your own bias is an effort. On the other hand, if your mindset is molded by a system of thought that discourages questioning, you're rather vulnerable to misinformation that comes from a source you believe in.

I came across a long blog post today that examines statements along the lines of "The Democratic party needs to try to understand white rural Americans better." The author makes some good points, but I think he's overstating some of them.

"On Rural America: Understanding Isn't The Problem"


QuoteAs the aftermath of the election of Donald Trump is being sorted out, a common theme keeps cropping up from all sides-"Democrats failed to understand white, working class, fly-over America."  Trump supports are saying this.  Progressive pundits are saying this.  Talking heads across all forms of the media are saying this.  Even  some Democratic leaders are saying this.  It doesn't matter how many people say it, it is complete bullshit.  It is an intellectual/linguistic sleight of hand meant to throw attention away from the real problem.  The real problem isn't east coast elites don't understand or care about rural America.  The real problem is rural America doesn't understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out.  They don't want to know why they feel the way they do or why they are struggling because the don't want to admit it is in large part because of choices they've made and horrible things they've allowed themselves to believe.

[. . .]

In deep red, white America, the white Christian God is king, figuratively and literally.  Religious fundamentalism is what has shaped most of their belief systems.  Systems built on a fundamentalist framework are not conducive for introspection, questioning, learning, change.  When you have a belief system that is built on fundamentalism, it isn't open to outside criticism, especially by anyone not a member of your tribe and in a position of power.  The problem isn't "coastal elites don't understand rural Americans."  The problem is rural America doesn't understand itself and will NEVER listen to anyone outside their bubble.  It doesn't matter how "understanding" you are, how well you listen, what language you use...if you are viewed as an outsider, your views are automatically discounted.  I've had hundreds of discussions with rural white Americans and whenever I present them any information that contradicts their entrenched beliefs, no matter how sound, how unquestionable, how obvious, they WILL NOT even entertain the possibility it might be true.  Their refusal is a result of the nature of their fundamentalist belief system and the fact I'm the enemy because I'm an educated liberal.  At some point during the discussion, "That's your education talking," will be said, derogatorily, as a general dismissal of everything I said.  They truly believe this is a legitimate response because to them education is not to be trusted.  Education is the enemy of fundamentalism because fundamentalism, by its very nature, is not built on facts.

[Continues . . .]
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken


Ecurb Noselrub

If you deeply believe that the Bible is the literal, inspired, infallible, and inerrant Word of God, that is almost an impenetrable defense against criticism.  And the Muslim faith in the Qur'an is even stronger. It will take generations to chip through.

Recusant

Jeff Sessions, Trump's choice for Attorney General of the United States, was rejected when Reagan tried to appoint him as a federal judge because of sworn testimony regarding his use of racist language and his opposition to the US government promoting civil rights for minorities, as well as other statements that many considered disqualifying.

Sessions isn't just in favor of Trump's wall, he's been a vocal opponent of immigration reform of any kind, and in fact would like to strongly restrict legal immigration to the United States.

Sessions called the Supreme Court's ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges (which effectively legalized same sex marriage in the US) "unconstitutional," and believes it is part of a misguided effort to "secularize" the United States. He also opposed the ruling in Lawrence v. Texas, which declared that "anti-sodomy" laws were unconstitutional.

Sessions is strongly opposed to the legalization of cannabis and has said that "good people don't smoke marijuana."

I think it's reasonable to say that his influence on the Justice Department of the United States (and thereby on life in the United States) would be extremely negative. Despite President Obama's words about having an open mind regarding Trump's presidency, nothing he's done up till now (certainly including putting Sessions up for Attorney General) inclines me to consider him anything but a looming disaster for the country.
"Religion is fundamentally opposed to everything I hold in veneration — courage, clear thinking, honesty, fairness, and above all, love of the truth."
— H. L. Mencken