The Conversation -- November 16, 2024
A Most Unserious Man. Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan of the New York Times: "Emboldened, confident in his instincts and more contemptuous than ever of Washington expertise, Mr. Trump is staffing the most important roles in his government at breakneck speed. Advisers have been stunned at how fast he is ticking through his choices, filling the government's most important positions roughly a month sooner than he did in 2016. Much of the action has taken place under the chandelier in the tearoom at Mar-a-Lago, where Mr. Trump surveys his potential Cabinet nominees on giant video screens. He flicks through shortlists that his transition team, led by the billionaire Howard Lutnick, has drafted over the past months. If Mr. Trump shows an interest in a candidate, the presentation is designed to allow him to immediately watch videos of the potential nominee's TV appearances -- essential for any would-be Trump cabinet official." ~~~
~~~ Marie: It is tempting to compare Trump to a casting director, except I believe most casting directors take their jobs more seriously than Trump takes his role of filling administrative jobs. As for his being "contemptuous of Washington expertise," he is contemptuous of all expertise, and he is contemptuous of elites everywhere, especially in Manhattan, where the upper crust is equally contemptuous of him.
Ian Millhiser of Vox: "Trump chose Todd Blanche, the criminal defense lawyer in his New York hush money trial..., to be deputy attorney general.... The DAG, as this position is known within the department, wields tremendous power over federal criminal prosecutions. If successfully appointed, Blanche will supervise the 93 regional US attorneys who bring the bulk of all federal prosecutions in the United States.... Meanwhile, Trump wants John Sauer, the lawyer who represented him in the Supreme Court case holding that Trump is allowed to use the powers of the president to commit crimes, to serve as solicitor general. The role oversees the Justice Department's legal strategy in the Supreme Court....
"Another one of Trump's personal criminal defense lawyers, Emil Bove, will serve as principal associate deputy attorney general, and will hold the DAG spot on an acting basis until Blanche or some other Trump nominee is confirmed or otherwise formally appointed to the job.... Bove's new role does not require Senate confirmation. So he will be able to move into this job on the first day of Trump's second presidency.... Blanche, Sauer, and Bove's conventional résumés also mean that, if they use their DOJ posts to pursue Trump's personal campaign of vengeance, they are likely to be fairly effective in doing so." ~~~
~~~ Marie: In Friday Comments, RAS argued that "Team Trump's most human failings may thwart some of their most evil plans...." As one of several ferinstances, RAS asked rhetorically, "Do you think Matt Gaetz is going to work the hours necessary to not just learn DoJ but run it in detail?" My answer to that would be, no, but the meatheads of Trump's choosing will have underlings to do their bidding. And Millhiser proves my point with specifics: both Blanche & Bove were federal prosecutors for nine years, and Sauer, who clerked for Antonin Scalia, was Missouri's attorney general. Millhiser acknowledges that "Gaetz may struggle to navigate the department's internal bureaucracy or to resist its internal culture, which seeks to insulate prosecutorial decisions from the White House.... But if Trump gets his way, his ultraloyalist attorney general will now be backed by people who know the Justice Department and the culture of elite federal lawyers quite well."
Tom Winter & Tim Stelloh of NBC News: "Federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that they stopped a Texas man from carrying out a possible terrorist attack in Houston.... Anas Said, 28, was charged last month with attempting to provide material support to the terrorist group ISIS, according to an indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Texas. Said was arrested last week at the Houston apartment complex where he is alleged to have planned the attack, said the FBI, which accused him of bragging that he would commit "a 9/11-style" attack if he had the resources."
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Michael Shear of the New York Times: "President Biden expressed concern on Friday about what he called 'dangerous and destabilizing cooperation' between North Korea and Russia, as he met with the leaders of South Korea and Japan at the global summit of Asia Pacific leaders in Peru. In a joint statement, Mr. Biden, Shigeru Ishiba, the prime minister of Japan, and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, said they 'strongly condemn' the cooperation between North Korea and Russia, including the decision by North Korea to send thousands of troops to Russia to help President Vladimir V. Putin in his war with Ukraine.... Flanked by Mr. Ishiba and Mr. Yoon, Mr. Biden expressed confidence in new security and economic cooperation that the three nations announced during a summit last year at Camp David.... He did not mention the possible impact of ... Donald J. Trump's return to the White House, but he noted that Friday's meeting would be his last with the group."
Tara Copp, et al., of the AP: Trump's nominee for Defense Secretary "Pete Hegseth ... was flagged as a possible 'Insider Threat' by a fellow service member due to a tattoo on his bicep that's associated with white supremacist groups. Hegseth, who has downplayed the role of military members and veterans in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and railed against the Pentagon's subsequent efforts to address extremism in the ranks, has said he was pulled by his District of Columbia National Guard unit from guarding Joe Biden's January 2021 inauguration. He's said he was unfairly identified as an extremist due to a cross tattoo on his chest. This week, however, a fellow Guard member who was the unit's security manager and on an anti-terrorism team at the time, shared with The Associated Press an email he sent to the unit's leadership flagging a different tattoo reading 'Deus Vult' that's been used by white supremacists, concerned it was an indication of an 'Insider Threat.'" Read on.
Michael Kranish, et al., of the Washington Post: "Senior officials on ... Donald Trump's transition team on Friday weighed the future of Pete Hegseth, Trump's choice to lead the Defense Department, amid new revelations that police investigated an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman in 2017.... Monterey[, California,] police confirmed that they investigated Hegseth over an allegation of 'alleged sexual assault' in 2017 and that the incident did not result in criminal charges. The transition team was caught by surprise by the detailed allegations and now fears more negative revelations about Hegseth, said [a] person familiar with the complaint. 'There's a lot of frustration around this,' the person said. 'He hadn't been properly vetted.'... 'No private firm vetted him, according to a person familiar with the matter...." ~~~
~~~ And here's something Patrick mentioned in a comment earlier this week:
"Hegseth has been married three times.... He married his first wife, Meredith, in his early 20s and they divorced in 2009, according to Minnesota court filings. The couple agreed that the reasons for the split were an 'irretrievable breakdown' of the marriage and Hegseth's 'infidelity,' according to a filing in their divorce case.... He married his second wife, Samantha, in 2010. Hegseth fathered a child with another woman, Jennifer Rauchet, then a Fox News producer, in August 2017, during that marriage. According to court records, Samantha Hegseth ... filed for divorce in September -- a month after the child was born. Following his second divorce, Hegseth married Rauchet." MB: As Patrick wrote, "Why, he's like the son DiJiT never had!" And that's why I'm surprised a sexual assault allegation is of any concern to Team Trump.
Michael Gold of the New York Times: "... Donald J. Trump announced on Friday that he had chosen Karoline Leavitt, who worked in his administration and served as his campaign's press secretary, to be his White House press secretary. Ms. Leavitt, 27..., will be the youngest person ever to assume the role.... Throughout the campaign, Ms. Leavitt adopted Mr. Trump's disdain for the mainstream media in frequent appearances on major television networks and conservative outlets." NPR's report is here.
Jess Bidgood of the New York Times: "With his early selections for cabinet and other high-level posts..., Donald Trump is taking the bomb-throwing, hyper-macho and preternaturally online energy that infused his campaign and seeking to inject it directly into Washington's veins.... It's effectively government by bro -- and it seems that the more you've trolled the establishment, the better your chances are of being invited by the president-elect to join it. Trump's presidential campaign was a celebration of masculine kitsch." ~~~
~~~ Marie: A reminder that when the MAGA movement boys rail against "woke," they are expressing more than their racism, xenophobia & homophobia. They are equally anti-feminist -- nay, anti-woman. Trump frequently said on the campaign trail, in a lewd manner, "I love women." That is the second Big Lie. He hates women. He loves to use women; he loves to manipulate women; he loves to berate women; he loves to abuse women. He won election on the wings of a thousand lies, but underpinning those lies was his bet that misogyny and racism would beat out decency and democracy. He won that bet, and I think we should look at Trump voters not just as dupes of the right-wing media but as hateful, vengeful pricks. ~~~
~~~ Update. A young woman -- a high-school student in a progressive -- Upstate New York town, notices that Trump won over the boys in her class. In an anonymous Guardian essay, she writes, "Young, well-off white boys from liberal families are being tempted by conservatism simply to protect an archaic idea of masculinity that guarantees them inherent power.... Clearly, a shift back toward traditional gender roles is resonating with them now as progression toward female empowerment threatens their already delicate self esteem.... Boys in our school as young as eight are beginning to exhibit these same misogynistic tendencies that we never remember noticing when we were their age. And the most dangerous aspect of this is how little it's talked about in mainstream media and how easily it has been overlooked in progressive communities. In fact this is an epidemic that will continue to spread rapidly until we start talking about it."
Julie Tsirkin & Rebecca Shabad of NBC News: "House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Friday that he would 'strongly request' that the House Ethics Committee not release a report detailing its investigation into former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla.... There is precedent for releasing ethics reports after or on the same day that a lawmaker resigns from Congress.... Johnson returned to Washington, D.C., early Friday morning after meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. Johnson declined to say whether he spoke to Trump about the Ethics report. The bipartisan, 10-member Ethics panel had been scheduled to meet Friday to discuss the report on Gaetz and whether to release it to the public, but a source with direct knowledge had said on Thursday that the meeting was canceled." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Maybe the reason Trump doesn't like dogs is that he finds it so much easier to train human pets to lie down & roll over. ~~~
~~~ Update. Meryl Kornfield, et al., of the Washington Post: "The comments marked a stunning reversal for Johnson, who just Thursday told Fox News that the speaker's role is not to get 'involved in what happens in Ethics. Lots of important reasons for that.'... Intervening at the conclusion of an investigation -- into someone seeking to be the nation's chief law enforcement officer -- has no modern precedent.... Several Senate Judiciary Committee Republicans have publicly asked for the House Ethics panel to release its report -- or at least transmit it privately to the committee -- so they can adequately prepare to question Gaetz in a confirmation hearing...." ~~~
~~~ Marie: So the sequence is (1) Bible Mike tells Fox News Thursday morning that there are "lots of important reasons" not to get involved in House Ethics Committee decisions; (2) Mike spends Thursday night at Mar-a-Lardo; (3) Mike says at midday Friday that he would "strongly request the Ethics Committee not issue the report." The only mystery here is why Trump's team is supposedly so concerned about Pete Hegseth's alleged sexual misdeeds when obviously the boss wants to cover up Gaetz's suspected proclivities.
Daniel Payne of Politico: "Lobbyists expecting a more conventional pick to lead the government's $3 trillion health agency than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the brash contrarian ... Donald Trump named on Thursday to take charge, are plotting how to stop the Senate from confirming him. They're also currying favor in case they can't.... Companies would prefer to let their allies in the Senate, buttressed by years of campaign contributions and revolving-door hires, sideline Kennedy before they spend political capital to fight him." ~~~
~~~ Leana Wen of the Washington Post: "The reason [Robert] Kennedy [Jr.] is uniquely unfit compared with past nominees is that his approach to scientific inquiry is as an activist, not a scientist. The clearest example of this is his repeated assertions that childhood immunizations are harmful. Kennedy is one of the most prominent promoters of disinformation that vaccines cause autism, despite dozens of rigorously conducted medical studies that have debunked the claim.... In the face of overwhelming evidence, he is unwilling to change his views. Instead, he doubles down on his advocacy and asserts opinions as facts. He is either unable to understand the scientific process that forms the basis of modern medicine or he purposefully ignores the research when conclusions don't support his preconceived notions." ~~~
~~~ Marie: On the plus side, RFK Jr. is (allegedly!) an infamous serial/concurrent philanderer.
M. Gessen of the New York Times makes some observations and predictions about what Trump is up to, based largely on her knowledge of what Viktor Orban & Vladmir Putin have done as well as by Trump's actions during his first term. (Also linked yesterday.)
Leonie Chao-Fong of the Guardian: "Racist text messages targeting Black people across the US just hours after Donald Trump won a second presidency have now expanded to the Hispanic communities -- and homophobic versions have been aimed at LGBTQ+ people, the FBI said on Friday. Authorities say they are investigating the messages -- which now include emails -- and that they have not received reports of violent acts stemming from the hateful messages. The recipients of the messages include high school students being told that they have been 'selected for deportation or to report to a re-education camp', the FBI said in a statement. After the 5 November US presidential election saw Trump returned to the White House, Black Americans reported receiving racist text messages telling them they had been 'selected' to pick cotton and needed to report to the 'nearest plantation'.:
Kate Christobek of the New York Times: "The editor in chief of Scientific American, the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States, has resigned more than a week after she posted comments on social media that called some supporters of ... Donald J. Trump 'bigoted' and 'fascists.' On election night, Laura Helmuth, who served as editor in chief of the publication for more than four years, posted a series of expletive-laden comments on Bluesky, a social platform. In one comment, she apologized to younger voters for Generation X being full of 'fascists.' In another, she wrote, 'Solidarity to everybody whose meanest, dumbest, most bigoted high-school classmates are celebrating early results.'... Her resignation announcement, which she shared on Bluesky, did not reference her previous posts. Ms. Helmuth had previously apologized for her posts.... She attributed her comments to 'shock and confusion about the election results' and said that they did not reflect the position of Scientific American or her colleagues.... Earlier this year, Scientific American published an editorial endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris." ~~~
~~~ Marie: No, no. Helmuth was right. She should not have resigned. Her every public statement does not need to reflect an editorial board consensus. She is allowed to be a person; she should be allowed to tell the truth. The people she denounced are "mean, dumb & bigoted fascists." And I'm not resigning.
Nitwits' Remorse. Look Who's Sorry Now. Andrea Shalal of Reuters: "U.S. Muslim leaders who supported Republican Donald Trump to protest against the Biden administration's support for Israel's war on Gaza and attacks on Lebanon have been deeply disappointed by his cabinet picks, they tell Reuters. 'Trump won because of us and we're not happy with his secretary of state pick and others,' said Rabiul Chowdhury, a Philadelphia investor who chaired the Abandon Harris campaign in Pennsylvania and co-founded Muslims for Trump. Muslim support for Trump helped him win Michigan and may have factored into other swing state wins, strategists believe." MB: They could not possibly have seen this coming. They remind me of these voters Akhilleus pointed out in yesterday's Comments: ~~~
~~~ Candace McDuffie of the Root: "As America grapples with Trump's impending second presidential term, folks in red states are wondering if they can change their vote.... Google Trends saw a dramatic increase in searches for 'How to change my vote' as early as the morning of Election Day before the polls were closed.... Iowa, which went red, was the state that had the highest amount of people looking into changing their votes." As Akhilleus wrote, "It figures idiots too stupid to understand the stakes also think they can change their vote."
Eileen Sullivan of the New York Times: "Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, the two Georgia poll workers defamed by Rudolph W. Giuliani after the 2020 election, received his watch collection, a ring and his vintage Mercedes-Benz on Friday. The deliveries, which Mr. Giuliani's lawyer, Joseph Cammarata, reported to the court on Friday, were a long time coming for the women, who are mother and daughter. It was also a small down payment on what the former New York City mayor owes them.... [Mr. Giuliani has missed a number of deadlines to turn over certain assets to the women.] Earlier this week, Mr. Giuliani's lawyers asked the judge for permission to withdraw as his counsel, citing ethical concerns.... Mr. Trump owes Mr. Giuliani about $2 million in unpaid legal fees. Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss are looking to collect that as well." Oh, and get this: ~~~
~~~ "A trial set for January in New York is to determine whether Mr. Giuliani can claim his $3.5 million Palm Beach condo as his primary residence, which, under Florida law, would keep it from being seized by Ms. Freeman and Ms. Moss. In [a] letter to the court on Friday, Mr. Cammarata requested a delay for the trial so that his client could attend ... Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20."
~~~ Politico's report, by Erica Orden, has more detail. For instance, there's this: "On Wednesday, an attorney for Freeman and Moss told the judge that a lawyer for [a storage] facility had provided them with invoices and photographs suggesting that Giuliani had moved large amounts of property there in October, including 24 pallets of 'unknown boxes and loose furniture,' potentially in violation of a restraining notice that took effect Aug. 7. The documents also showed Giuliani owed the facility nearly $100,000 as of mid-October. Until this week, Giuliani had been represented by two other attorneys, Kenneth Caruso and David Labkowski. Hours after the filing about the storage facility, Caruso and Labkowski wrote to the court asking to withdraw as his attorneys, citing rules that allow withdrawal based on a client's behavior. Their court filing suggested their deep disagreement with Giuliani's approach to the case, his lack of cooperation and his insistence on a defense that is 'not warranted under existing law.'" In fairness to Sullivan, she links to an earlier story she wrote that covers the falling-out between Giuliani & his legal team.
Carlos Greaves in McSweeney's (Nov. 6), sees the presidential election results in Swiftian (or, more accurately, in Lucasian terms): "It might seem completely delusional to be optimistic about the Empire retaking control of the galaxy, given that Palpatine's mind has become so ravaged by the power of the Sith that he spends most of his day stumbling around screaming, 'They're eating the Ewoks!' and pretending to fellate Darth Vader's lightsaber.... The rebel alliance may be shocked at this sudden reversal of fortune, but the truth of the matter is that the Empire has always been popular.... Relax. This resurgence of the Empire will likely be a temporary blip in the course of the galaxy, much like the last time the Empire was in control. Unless, of course, you're on one of the planets that gets blown to pieces." Thanks to RAS for the link.
Victoria Bisset of the Washington Post: "A former linebacker for the Detroit Lions was arrested Thursday in Georgia for allegedly assaulting law enforcement officers during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, in one of the first Capitol riot cases brought by prosecutors since Donald Trump won the 2024 presidential election. Leander Antwione Williams, who is 31 and from Savannah, Georgia, was charged with a felony offense of assaulting, resisting or impeding certain officers and obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder, the U.S. attorney's office for the District of Columbia said in a statement Thursday. He is also charged with misdemeanor offenses including entering and remaining in a restricting building or grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct. Williams was a fifth-round pick by the Detroit Lions in the 2016 NFL draft, and was released the following year. He played under the name Antwione Williams."
He's B-a-a-ack! Dan Diamond & Rachel Roubein of the Washington Post: "Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) on Thursday announced he would lead the Senate's government oversight panel and prioritize investigations into the coronavirus pandemic, repeating his allegation that federal officials participated in a 'covid coverup' related to the possible origins of the virus. The libertarian senator has long maintained that government leaders have not been forthcoming about U.S. ties to virus research conducted in Wuhan, China, where the coronavirus outbreak was first detected in 2019. In combative congressional hearings, infectious-disease experts such as Anthony S. Fauci, the longtime National Institutes of Health official who retired from government service in 2022, have insisted to Paul and other Republicans that while NIH funded the virus research, the work could not have sparked the pandemic. Paul has rejected those explanations." ~~~
~~~ Marie: I feel so relieved knowing that two wacky conspiracy theorists -- RFK Jr. & Li'l Randy -- are looking out for my health concerns.
It Didn't Take Long for a Judge to Put Out My One Tiny Candle. Laura Wagner of the Washington Post: "A federal bankruptcy judge has paused the Onion's acquisition of Alex Jones's Infowars pending a court review of the auction process, after lawyers for Jones and the company affiliated with him complained that the satirical news site had put in a bid of $3.5 million.... Judge Christopher Lopez said Thursday that he had concerns about how the bidding process played out and ordered a hearing for next week to review how the auction was conducted."(Also linked yesterday.)
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Michigan. Matthew Chapman of the Raw Story: "An irate man testifying to Michigan lawmakers against a bill that would restrict the carrying of guns at the State Capitol shouted a racial slur at the shocked senators Thursday..... 'Let's be very clear: this is legislation that targets white people,' said [Avi] Rachlin. 'It is racial, because the people who carry in the Capitol are primarily white people who have [concealed pistol licenses], are primarily white, and this is retaliation for the only demographic that overwhelmingly voted to support Donald Trump. And that is why it is being taken out on us, because you don't like us.... If you want to address gun violence, we would be focusing on the people who bring guns into communities and shoot people, like where I live in Detroit -- where you represent, Stephanie Chang.' He said the area is 'overwhelmingly' 13- to 44-year-olds -- and hurled a racial slur to describe their ethnicity. At Rachlin's last remark, Chang, a Democrat, immediately gaveled him down and cut his mic, as senators from both parties roundly condemned him."
Texas. Kim Bellware of the Washington Post: "A Texas judge has ruled that Melissa Lucio is innocent of killing her daughter in 2007 and recommended that her death sentence be overturned, according to a filing made public Thursday. The finding by Cameron County Judge Arturo Nelson puts Lucio's fate in the hands of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, which has the final authority to overturn the conviction and sentence.... Nelson cited findings that the original prosecutors in Lucio's case withheld evidence that her 2-year-old daughter died after an accidental fall, rather than of abuse.... Nelson's ruling, which was written Oct. 16 and made public Thursday, comes months after a rare agreement between defense attorneys and the prosecutor that the office of the original district attorney who prosecuted Lucio's case withheld evidence that would have been favorable to the defense.... [In April,] Nelson made his first recommendation that the appeals court overturn Lucio's conviction and sentence. In June, the appeals court directed Nelson to first review the other claims for relief filed by Lucio's attorneys."
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Reader Comments (9)
The elevation of a grifting loony like RFK, Jr to a position controlling heath policies, research, and treatment in this country is described as nothing less than an extinction level event by a an actual doctor (ie, not a Trumpy quack).
“Over the last week it’s become very clear that, were RFK Jr. to be put in charge of the federal health apparatus, either as Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) or in some ‘czar’ role, it would be an extinction-level threat to science-based federal health policy, which would be replaced with pseudoscience, quackery, and conspiracy theories. When I first wrote about RFK Jr.’s antivax conspiracy-fest of an article two decades ago, never in my worst nightmares did I envision that he might be on the cusp of being put in charge of the nation’s healthcare policy, regulatory, and research apparatus. Worse, the mask is coming off, and it’s becoming terrifyingly clear what this might mean.”
The comments are particularly illuminating, such as this one:
“I think it's likely a lot of Americans will die unnecessarily as a result of [Kennedy’s] policies, just as they did during the pandemic.”
Extinction Level Event, like the meteor that wiped out the dinosaurs. Trump and Kennedy represent an existential threat to life, if not on the planet, at least in the United States.
At the very least, we can say “welcome back” to fun conditions like polio. I’m glad my kid got vaccinated before it becomes illegal.
@Akhilleus: I do think it's quite possible that the U.S. will at some point be seen in terms of BTE (Before the Trump Era) & TE (Trump Era). The question is, will there be an ATE (After the Trump Era)?
We don't have to move out of the country permanently to avoid the
next four years of bad news and worse news.
A cruise ship company, Villa Vie Residences, is offering four year
cruises called 'skip forward'.
It will cost less than $40,000.00 per year based on the four year plan.
They also offer a one, two and three year plan.
You'll get to stop at 400 destinations with the four year plan.
I can't imagine packing for a four year vacation.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2024/11/11/villa-vie-
residences-world-cruise/76202126007/
Forrest,
Two of everything and a shitload of laundry detergent.
Two thoughts:
Put off taking the weekly NYTimes news quiz for a day. Thought the questions and answers would be depressing.
Just took it. I was right. They were. Except for the Grammy nominations. I knew nothing about them.
And on Kennedy, Jr.'s nomination to be the H & HS direction. As I mentioned late last night, I thought it particularly rich that the only objection Pence could come up with to his appointment was he wasn't crazy enough, or maybe not crazy in the right way...
.....which leads me to the resignation of Scientific American's editor.
Not only should she not have resigned. The magazine should not have accepted her resignation. Speaking as a private person or not, she was upholding the magazine's mission to support empiricism, rationality and respect for expertise.
She should have been rewarded with a raise.
I get it.
In other words, Pence wants babies born into a world where vaccines will not be encouraged or mandated...so they can die from preventable diseases.
Very late term abortion.
What a surprise! Those self-righteous people who were hilariously "uncommitted" and Gaza sympathizers and either did not vote, or joined a shady group, Muslims for Trump, or Abandon Harris. and voted accordingly, are shocked and surprised at what is happening now and will happen in the future. Yes, I think I concurred with the numbnuts who, against certain knowledge about whom they were voting for, are simply too stupid to address. Anyone alive knew how Dump and his cronies and lackeys felt about Palestinians, and their fealty to the horrible Bibi Nitwityahoo. The antisemitism exhibited by these people is quite aside from their horror at what was happening to innocent Palestinians. How would any moron in the US think that he would be on "their side??"
And how does one take a "side" since it is so convoluted and has gone on so long, and Israel ignored warnings about an attack and has been on the warpath ever since, regardless of who is in the way?
I guess the ultraidiotic voters who think maybe they can just recall and/or change their votes are par for the course. It's an Amazon world, where anything can be returned for any reason, so why worry?
So happy to have to hear and see Li'l Randy again during Dump 2.0. It was nice when we didn't.
Agree about the Scientific American lady having resigned and shouldn't have. Certainly happens that Dems "do the right thing" rather than stay and fight an unearned accusation. And apparently we never learn. Is this an example of the "elites" requiring her resignation, ie the magazine muckymucks? And are you tired of being accused of being an elite even by the legacy press that really IS an elite? Are you tired of the navel-gazing leading to people like the "What's the matter with Kansas" guy taking people down for opposing the creeps being elected and appointed? Aaarrgghh. I guess I am NOT an elite, as I did not go to an elite school for any of my degrees, but maybe just having those degrees makes me an elite in spite of not spending time at the Seven Sisters?? Sheesh.
People on "our side" are imploding all over the place! Just STOP!!!
I got so tied up in rage about everything that I inevitably concurred with numbnuts, rather than concurring with AK or whoever was enraged along with me that people are so dumb. I was rereading before I sent it and sent it too soon. SORRY, guys! I guess I am one of the numbnuts, although maybe just today...?
Beppe Severgnini, in The Atlantic, notes key differences and similarities between t**** and Silvio Berlusconi in
American Kakistocracy
"Berlusconi may have invented a format, but Trump adopted and twisted it. Trump’s victory on November 5 is clear and instructive, and it gives the whole world a signal as to where America is headed.
The scent of winners is irresistible for some people. The desire to cheer Trump’s victory clouds their view. They don’t see, or perhaps don’t take seriously, the danger signs. Reliability and coherence, until recently a must for a political leader, have taken a back seat. Showing oneself as virtuous risks being counterproductive: It could alienate voters, who would feel belittled."