Trump Thread

[a completely inoffensive name]

You realize that 2 of the 4 members of the squad at least have told people to go back to their countries and even threatened to deport immigrants who disagreed with them, don't you?
I'm not supporting the chant, as I think it is stupid, but if it is fascism, then the squad brought us there first.

#justsayin

Vuk! Glad to see you on here, even though I still probably absolutely hate your politics.

Can you provide the links to their twitter where they said such things?

[Vuk]

Vuk! Glad to see you on here, even though I still probably absolutely hate your politics.

Can you provide the links to their twitter where they said such things?

Good to be back! I miss this old place and all the regulars. I am very sad to see Frags left, because he and Frogbeastegg were my favorite Orgahs still around.
I've seen videos of Tlaib talking about how Trump should leave the country because he is unAmerican, as well as a video of Ilhan Omar saying that immigrants who don't support other immigrants should just go back (ie, immigrants who are conservative and support legal immigration). Google's slanted search algorithms being what they are, I was not able to find those with a Google search. I did, however, find this article to some Tweets they have made saying basically the same thing with links in the article to their Tweets. I was actually unaware that they had Tweeted these.

lol, as far as my politics, you probably will, as I am still very conservative. I have actually only gotten more conservative on every issue, but with a much stronger libertarian slant. For instance, I now believe in decriminalizing psychedelics, which I used to think the use or possession of should warrant the death penalty. I have evolved to love freedom even more. The one thing you may actually find refreshing though, is that I am not a fan of Trump. I find myself defending him a lot because so many of the accusations against him are false, but I did not vote for him in 2016 and will not vote for him in 2020. I think he is immoral, dishonest, and big government Democrat at heart who is only putting on the guise of a conservative because that is the direction the wind is blowing. I neither vote nor support people who I think are genuinely evil (not just wrong, but evil). Last election, I thought both Clinton and Trump were firmly in that category, and this election, I believe everyone running is repulsive, so I will vote 3rd Party again.

[Montmorency]

Indeed.

I did, however, find this article to some Tweets they have made saying basically the same thing with links in the article to their Tweets. I was actually unaware that they had Tweeted these.

Without seeing the deleted tweets it's hard to tell, but Omar seems to have been indicating in her replies that white conservatives should be just as subject to arbitrary deportation for defying "our culture" as the ooga boogas. A perfectly cromulent point to make.


Tangential further thoughts on the subject of 'presidential distraction': Maybe it's a more reciprocal sense. As I mentioned in another thread recently, social grievance politics is wildly popular among the Republican base, but the party's economic platform (and Trump's execution of it) is resented, at least on paper. If the party's only value over replacement is its rejection of d/Democratic pluralism and cultural liberalism, the red meat of grievance is what masks the flavor of the bitter pill of austerity and deregulation. Or that's the old story. What if we look at the premise from another angle, that the two kinds of politics cannot be detached from one another? Note that this dynamic is also why we can expect corporate and "moderate" Republicans will inevitably and increasingly embrace outright ideological fascism in the coming years. (We can also expect it because we're observing it in real time, especially among state-level politicians but even at the level of ignobles like Lindsay Graham.)

Trump talks up the "economy" in a broad way at least as much as he spews racism, but to my knowledge he almost never mentions with any substance his executive branch agenda or proposed economic policies. This can't be mere established ignorance, as he would catch wind of some tidbit from his advisors and officials at some point. If he liked the sound of it - hearing and absorbing a snippet from an advisor or Fox News - he would at least reference something in a tweet, which is his habitual venue for talking points he likes the sound of:

"Great news for the working people of our great Country! I will direct my fine new Labor secretary Scalia (a Great judge) to demolish the wasteful and greedy Unions holding back our brave American workers! GET TO WORK!!"

"By removing bad Obama scheme to limit our vast Internet, companies can invest again. American people will benefit!"

"Food stamps are for losers. all y'all."

To be clear, the above examples are fake tweets I made up to illustrate the kind of messaging Trump doesn't really do. Instead when he talks about the economy it's to my knowledge always in generic terms of jobs, "deals", and stock market records. IIRC he was fairly muted on the 2017 tax cut, even during the very session when it was advanced and passed in Congress... Upon searching his Twitter profile, I see not a single mention of "tax" or "taxes" until June 2018, when he begins to extol the economic effect of the "tax cuts." Of the tweets not mentioning taxes in the context of trade, taxes are mostly used in a list of examples of Republican success ("a winner for his State. Strong on Crime, the Border, Tax Cuts, Military, Vets and 2nd Amendment"), or to strike a contrast against Democratic politicians ("weak on Crime, the Border, Military, Vets, your 2nd Amendment - and will end your Tax Cuts."). In all of the thousands of Trump's 2018 tweets I could find only fewer than a dozen explicitly praising the 2017 tax law, and to reiterate he never mentioned it at all in 2017 or the first half of 2018 as far as I can tell.

The White Power stuff isn't a distraction from economic policy per se, it is deadly serious and an integral part of the platform. It's not that racism is cynically wielded to give cover to corruption, but that the two are syncretized into an informal hierarchy where class divisions are superseded by the cause of national (racial) unity, though not as of yet a putative common purpose. If all this sounds familiar, it should...

[Idaho]

Those nasty Danes! They won't discuss selling a chunk of their sovereign territory! I refuse to visit!

Bizarre, comic and alarming.

[Beskar]

Those nasty Danes! They won't discuss selling a chunk of their sovereign territory! I refuse to visit!

Bizarre, comic and alarming.

Beat me too it. Throwing a tantrum as Denmark won't let him buy Greenland.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49416740

Living up to his name as a load of nasty hot air.

[Gilrandir]

Beat me too it. Throwing a tantrum as Denmark won't let him buy Greenland.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-49416740

Living up to his name as a load of nasty hot air.

Perhaps he thought since it is Greenland, it is full of long green which is anyone's for the finding.

Plus he suggested returning Russia to G7:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/u...russia-g7.html

[Montmorency]

Had a nice big post that I lost. :(


Anyway, some lowlights of the week of Trump's intensifying lunacy:

1. Being overtly antisemitic in an overlearned way, again, as he has done many times.
2. Calling himself a "messiah" and "chosen one," echoing the comments many high-profile evangelical Christians have been making about him for years.
3. Declaring China the enemy after the latest round tariffs exchanges and (without executive basis*) "ordering" American companies to divest from China. (It's looking like he'll have the opportunity to acclaim the Dow breaking 25000 again - ahead of schedule!)
4. Other despotic insinuations, which we really should not laugh off or get inured to.

*Actually not entirely without basis, he may order postal carriers to "SEARCH FOR & REFUSE,........all deliveries of Fentanyl from China (or anywhere else!)." I wonder what effect this directive might have on our hospitals if carried out.

Lots of Greenland stuff, but it was vaporized in the first iteration. In the rewriting I found this racist tidbit about Trump wanting to trade Puerto Rico for Greenland. Also, the Greenland thing and travel cancellation may be pretextual in light of Obama visiting Denmark next month to speechify. Even more frightening - yet utterly banal by now - is Republicans and movement conservatives reflexively absorbing the Dear Leader's pronunciations on Greenland into the agenda just as soon as he utters them.

Trumpism parody:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

WASHINGTON, DC - US President Donald Trump today announced United States currency, formerly referred to as "dollars," will now be known as "Trumps." The president made the announcement on his Twitter account at 3:03 am EST.

Secretary of the Treasury and Bond villain prototype Steve Mnuchin, when reached for comment, said, "Really? Really? Huh. Well, I think that's a terrific idea of course, and the sort of...bold thinking we all admire in our president."

President Trump's early morning Twitter reads in full:

As The Chosen One and King of Everyone, President and Master Negotiator Who Gets The Best Broads, I Hereby Announce I'm changing "US dollars" to "US Trumps" and the the word "cents" to "Donalds." So $20.19 will now be correctly called "twenty Trumps and nineteen Donalds." My Genius son Barren is designing the new Trump sign logo thingee, which I will announce soon. Your wekcome, America!
Director of the National Economic Council and day drinker Larry Kudlow said the announcement is great news for the US economy. "This will strengthen markets across the board, of course, and I'm certain we'll see 5-7% growth behind this new naming convention. A bold move by an economic mastermind."

"Another day, another Trump," chuckled Senior Succubus Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway. "You can bet your bottom Trump this will piss off the left something fierce! Trumps to doughnuts one of them strokes out!"

Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), acting White House Chief of Staff and Oval Office Carpet Jizz Hoover Muck Milvaney was characteristically upbeat about the announcement, and says "more Trumps and Donalds is what every American wants and deserves. And this administration is really going to give it to them, at every opportunity."

There is no word yet from Democratic party representatives in response to this latest move by the president.

Not tangentially, here are a couple articles on the psychological burden of living under Trump. And we're just a bunch of insulated Internet dilettantes here!