Wow. Lead headline on the 10 o clock news (UK) asking the question - does the new president have a grasp on reality?
I just came here to post that. Remarkable. That was ITV right? Earlier today the BBC (!), usually the world's most boring but trustworthy news organisation that try their absolute hardest to never use an adjective to avoid bias, ran a feature explaining how Trump is trying to undermine dissent in the press, I was somewhat taken aback.
In general, he's getting absolutely hammered on the 'alternative facts' thing. Conway just became a celebrity here.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I'd give the media even less credit for secretly being Machiavellian superintellects than I would the administration. They wear their ignorance and clickbait stratagems on their sleeves even more obviously than Trump.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
She could have easily departed in the glow of helping a trashfire of a campaign win the 2016 election - on a technicality - into any number of cushy PR jobs. Kellyanne "alternative facts" Conway does not need anybody's sympathy. Nobody in Trump's administration needs sympathy, they need admonition until they're all booted out onto their sorry asses.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
I feel absolutely nothing for her. Aside from Trump, she's more responsible for this absolute shitshow of an administration than anyone - and she knows exactly what she's doing.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
Trump will not kill her if she quits. Hell, he might not even tweet about it. And it's not like she can't get a job elsewhere.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
I actually think she's probably the worst person in the whole administration, second only to the Trump himself. Trump at least probably has an undiagnosed mental issue that keeps him from thinking through the crazy shit he says (not that it's an excuse). Conway takes that crazy shit and makes it even worse by trying to alter reality itself so that it doesn't add up to being crazy shit anymore.
Unlike Trump, she seems 100% aware of what she's doing, and she signed up to do it.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
She so obviously loves what she does. And if she didn't, she could have moved on after the election with no-one suspecting a thing.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
Unfortunately there is nothing that can shock Trump voters. There is nothing low enough. If they don't care about Trump's dubious links to Putin, why should they care about Conway and her complete disregard for the truth?
That's fine.
I'm not convinced they can be moved anyway.
But the D's that sat on their hands this year when they didn't in the past, the giant swathe in the middle that doesn't vote at all, that's worth reaching out to.
And I speak generally and partially for humour. I'm aware that the Trump administration and state administrations are likely going to try to rig the game.
That's another battle. That's another thing to make people aware of. That's a tangential fight.
First they came for the Muslims, and we said NOT TODAY, MOTHERFUCKER!
On a somewhat random note, I find the European far-right's embrace of Trump (and vice-versa) a little strange. Human, but strange. I really fail to see why Europeans would think that a supposedly American-FIRST Trump administration would be good for Europeans, and similarly how a <European nation>-FIRST revolution across Europe would be good for America. It would seem highly irrational and contrary to one's own interests/objectives.
That being said, I don't find it unusual. We're talking about a group of people that misperceived their relative positions in the world and have pscyhologically placed themselves in the role of rebellious outsiders fighting a more powerful world order, when in reality they're probably much closer to the traditional world order than most - even within the context of the Western world, they're still all rich, white folk who've inherited enormous wealth from their parents - and have otherwise been derided for much of their lives, so seeking support and validation of their accomplishments makes sense. I just can't help but note that this seems likely to result in something similar to the Sino-Russian split at some point, as the "Communists" realise that they actually hold opposing positions.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda. The conflicting nationalist-transnational nature of their support base is so full of inherent contradiction, it remains difficult to believe that it arises naturally. How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation? Why would French and British and German nationalists cheer nationalism in the other nations, when such nationalism has traditionally manifested in conflict between them??? Yay, the US is going to withdraw from NATO leaving us underequipped and undefended? ?????????
Edit: Need to add, those "rich white folk" I refer to are the leaders of these neo-nationalist movements, and not so much their followers.
She could have easily departed in the glow of helping a trashfire of a campaign win the 2016 election - on a technicality - into any number of cushy PR jobs. Kellyanne "alternative facts" Conway does not need anybody's sympathy. Nobody in Trump's administration needs sympathy, they need admonition until they're all booted out onto their sorry asses.
Especially Ivanka. Don't normalize her for being the "sane one", sure she can't choose her family, but that doesn't mean she's a saint.
She could have easily departed in the glow of helping a trashfire of a campaign win the 2016 election - on a technicality - into any number of cushy PR jobs. Kellyanne "alternative facts" Conway does not need anybody's sympathy. Nobody in Trump's administration needs sympathy, they need admonition until they're all booted out onto their sorry asses.
Especially Ivanka. Don't normalize her for being the "sane one", sure she can't choose her family, but that doesn't mean she's a saint.
I'll never forget her heartwarming tale of the time she made the household staff buy her lemonade.
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MeeqeLord of the pants most fancySomeplace amazingRegistered Userregular
How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation?
Because it validates their world view that each "people" deserves their own country, and that its ok to kick our immigrants and weirdos. Its like if you are into some weird niche gaming stuff, and you find out one of your other friends plays, it means you aren't alone in what you want. That this is all happening in Western Civ is interesting, its a reversion to nationalism being based on language/culture. Its why the comparison to Nazis is so solid, they got to that idea first in some ways. What is weird about it all is that normally that kind of movement centers around economic hard times, and that simply isn't the case here, its center around the feeling of hard times. I wonder how much of that the internet/mass media is fueling, its very easy to see what bad is happening in the world, in ways that didn't happen prior. It also rubs in people's faces what they don't have, in ways that didn't exist prior.
She could have easily departed in the glow of helping a trashfire of a campaign win the 2016 election - on a technicality - into any number of cushy PR jobs. Kellyanne "alternative facts" Conway does not need anybody's sympathy. Nobody in Trump's administration needs sympathy, they need admonition until they're all booted out onto their sorry asses.
Especially Ivanka. Don't normalize her for being the "sane one", sure she can't choose her family, but that doesn't mean she's a saint.
I'll never forget her heartwarming tale of the time she made the household staff buy her lemonade.
At least it was real lemonade, I hope.
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augustwhere you come from is goneRegistered Userregular
I think Nationalists cheer on other Nationalists because it normalizes ultra right wing trends globally. I imagine hearing about Russian anti-blasphemy and anti "gay propaganda" laws gets American nutjobs excited. They can worry about competing with eachother in a generation or two, right after they get done placing their boots firmly on the necks of minorities locally, which is probably the whole point for most of them.
I think Nationalists cheer on other Nationalists because it normalizes ultra right wing trends globally. I imagine hearing about Russian anti-blasphemy and anti "gay propaganda" laws gets American nutjobs excited. They can worry about competing with eachother in a generation or two, right after they get done placing their boots firmly on the necks of minorities locally, which is probably the whole point for most of them.
This must be what it felt like to live in the early 30s
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation?
Because it validates their world view that each "people" deserves their own country, and that its ok to kick our immigrants and weirdos. Its like if you are into some weird niche gaming stuff, and you find out one of your other friends plays, it means you aren't alone in what you want. That this is all happening in Western Civ is interesting, its a reversion to nationalism being based on language/culture. Its why the comparison to Nazis is so solid, they got to that idea first in some ways. What is weird about it all is that normally that kind of movement centers around economic hard times, and that simply isn't the case here, its center around the feeling of hard times. I wonder how much of that the internet/mass media is fueling, its very easy to see what bad is happening in the world, in ways that didn't happen prior. It also rubs in people's faces what they don't have, in ways that didn't exist prior.
Yes, I am blaming Trump on Cribs :P
I am not particularly surprised that people think economic times are bad, when they're not. A fact of human psychology is that we evaluate our positions in society relative to that which we observe. And, like you said, there aren't television shows about the lifestyles of the poor or underprivileged - possibly because they're feel-bad shows that challenge the premise of the American Dream, and so get terrible ratings. And so dramatic income inequality distorts people's perceptions of their own positions and a relatively recent absence of QoL gains has converged to generate an abstract, arbitrary anger that doesn't know how to direct itself (and so, in turn, is easily directed by others).
I mean, I guess the deeper reality is that these people aren't "real" nationalists, which is both good and bad. "Real" nationalists venerate their nation and promote it at the expense of all others: see the relatively more stable, consistent manifestation of, say, Chinese nationalism, which always positions China in competition with almost all other nations. These "nationalists" are like old WWII German nationalists who promoted the idea of the Aryan nation despite not being Aryan themselves.
I mean, how much of MAGA is about returning to an era of full employment, a phenomenon which was intentionally eliminated by conservative governments intent on destroying the power of labour (also communists) and preserving the wealth/power of capital by wrestling inflation to the ground? (Obv, the way to restore that is to elect the conservative capitalist billionaires who destroyed that paradigm in the first place.)
I just want to note that we should stop feeling sorry for Repubs anyone who have shown no reason that they can't go against Trump. This includes re-election chances. America is at a precipice and we can't waste our energy on people who are trying to push us off it.
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Metzger MeisterIt Gets Worsebefore it gets any better.Registered Userregular
Seriously though, Donald Trump isn't solely responsible for turning me into a leftist, but he sure as hell gets a good amount of the credit.
She could have easily departed in the glow of helping a trashfire of a campaign win the 2016 election - on a technicality - into any number of cushy PR jobs. Kellyanne "alternative facts" Conway does not need anybody's sympathy. Nobody in Trump's administration needs sympathy, they need admonition until they're all booted out onto their sorry asses.
Especially Ivanka. Don't normalize her for being the "sane one", sure she can't choose her family, but that doesn't mean she's a saint.
I'll never forget her heartwarming tale of the time she made the household staff buy her lemonade.
At least it was real lemonade, I hope.
Just don't ask what the Trump brand Girl Scout cookies were made of.
She could have easily departed in the glow of helping a trashfire of a campaign win the 2016 election - on a technicality - into any number of cushy PR jobs. Kellyanne "alternative facts" Conway does not need anybody's sympathy. Nobody in Trump's administration needs sympathy, they need admonition until they're all booted out onto their sorry asses.
Especially Ivanka. Don't normalize her for being the "sane one", sure she can't choose her family, but that doesn't mean she's a saint.
I'll never forget her heartwarming tale of the time she made the household staff buy her lemonade.
At least it was real lemonade, I hope.
Just don't ask what the Trump brand Girl Scout cookies were made of.
I'll have you know they are made with 100% organic girl scouts
On a somewhat random note, I find the European far-right's embrace of Trump (and vice-versa) a little strange. Human, but strange. I really fail to see why Europeans would think that a supposedly American-FIRST Trump administration would be good for Europeans, and similarly how a <European nation>-FIRST revolution across Europe would be good for America. It would seem highly irrational and contrary to one's own interests/objectives.
That being said, I don't find it unusual. We're talking about a group of people that misperceived their relative positions in the world and have pscyhologically placed themselves in the role of rebellious outsiders fighting a more powerful world order, when in reality they're probably much closer to the traditional world order than most - even within the context of the Western world, they're still all rich, white folk who've inherited enormous wealth from their parents - and have otherwise been derided for much of their lives, so seeking support and validation of their accomplishments makes sense. I just can't help but note that this seems likely to result in something similar to the Sino-Russian split at some point, as the "Communists" realise that they actually hold opposing positions.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda. The conflicting nationalist-transnational nature of their support base is so full of inherent contradiction, it remains difficult to believe that it arises naturally. How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation? Why would French and British and German nationalists cheer nationalism in the other nations, when such nationalism has traditionally manifested in conflict between them??? Yay, the US is going to withdraw from NATO leaving us underequipped and undefended? ?????????
They're just a bunch of [something something] participation medal [something] snowflakes.
On a somewhat random note, I find the European far-right's embrace of Trump (and vice-versa) a little strange. Human, but strange. I really fail to see why Europeans would think that a supposedly American-FIRST Trump administration would be good for Europeans, and similarly how a <European nation>-FIRST revolution across Europe would be good for America. It would seem highly irrational and contrary to one's own interests/objectives.
That being said, I don't find it unusual. We're talking about a group of people that misperceived their relative positions in the world and have pscyhologically placed themselves in the role of rebellious outsiders fighting a more powerful world order, when in reality they're probably much closer to the traditional world order than most - even within the context of the Western world, they're still all rich, white folk who've inherited enormous wealth from their parents - and have otherwise been derided for much of their lives, so seeking support and validation of their accomplishments makes sense. I just can't help but note that this seems likely to result in something similar to the Sino-Russian split at some point, as the "Communists" realise that they actually hold opposing positions.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda. The conflicting nationalist-transnational nature of their support base is so full of inherent contradiction, it remains difficult to believe that it arises naturally. How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation? Why would French and British and German nationalists cheer nationalism in the other nations, when such nationalism has traditionally manifested in conflict between them??? Yay, the US is going to withdraw from NATO leaving us underequipped and undefended? ?????????
Edit: Need to add, those "rich white folk" I refer to are the leaders of these neo-nationalist movements, and not so much their followers.
Because first they have to join together to overthrow the liberal global order. Same reason why the racist Germans and the racist Japanese sided together in WWII, when both nominally considered each other to be of an inferior order of life, whatever they felt about whites or Asians, they knew the British, French, and Americans were going to stand in their way.
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
Seriously though, Donald Trump isn't solely responsible for turning me into a leftist, but he sure as hell gets a good amount of the credit.
He gets credit from me actually embracing being a filthy leftist who thinks the Republican party should simply be destroyed outright. There is no hope for any good alternative parties until they're gone. And I will not weep if the racists and evangelists are forced into single-platform minority parties.
Sure Uncle Rob might be a little racist, but he cares more about keeping his job than he will about voting for whatever party the KKK decides to make. The few who think that their rational self interest is less important than their racism deserve no pity and I would like them to be conveniently identifiable. It's already bad enough having to deal with supply-side cranks without all that other baggage.
On a somewhat random note, I find the European far-right's embrace of Trump (and vice-versa) a little strange. Human, but strange. I really fail to see why Europeans would think that a supposedly American-FIRST Trump administration would be good for Europeans, and similarly how a <European nation>-FIRST revolution across Europe would be good for America. It would seem highly irrational and contrary to one's own interests/objectives.
A few things there:
The far right is legendary for how shortsighted it is in terms of the effects of actually implementing its goals;
Insular, nationalist far-right groups tend to have common interests in terms of their hatred of immigrants, minorities, maybe a local scapegoat community and (more often than not) the democratic system itself;
Groups like that tend to be huge on personal connections/kinship/etc., and will often just personally like each other due to Point #2 ("I like the cut of your gibberish, sir!"), even when that's not in their best interests (see Point #1).
As a rule they're obsessed with hard power, seeing similar movements as more points for their side even if they're at odds in the long run.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda.
They both have their impact, but this has also happened once before, when computers weren't a thing yet.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
Though SNLs humanizing skit about her was amusing, it's pretty clear she's reprehensible at this point. Any modicum of sympathy I once held for her has been fully erased. She knows what she's doing. She's actively hurting our country while doing it.
That they keep inviting Conway shows you how deeply unserious TV news is. It's all about the show.
Or they're giving the admin an opportunity to get ahold of as much (figurative) rope as possible.
She certainly seems committed to being an insufferable jerk about everything, so hey it makes for good tv and is useful to remind people that a key spokesfigure for the administration is an insufferable jerk.
"Let's get Conway on the line, SNL has plenty of material, but let's see if we can't get them something really good."
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
Though SNLs humanizing skit about her was amusing, it's pretty clear she's reprehensible at this point. Any modicum of sympathy I once held for her has been fully erased. She knows what she's doing. She's actively hurting our country while doing it.
She's 100% on board by choice and so I don't feel bad for her. She probably thinks of herself as a master manipulator who plays the media like a fiddle. I really hope this "alternate facts" fiasco will get more people to view her as someone who will literally say anything for the right price.
On a somewhat random note, I find the European far-right's embrace of Trump (and vice-versa) a little strange. Human, but strange. I really fail to see why Europeans would think that a supposedly American-FIRST Trump administration would be good for Europeans, and similarly how a <European nation>-FIRST revolution across Europe would be good for America. It would seem highly irrational and contrary to one's own interests/objectives.
That being said, I don't find it unusual. We're talking about a group of people that misperceived their relative positions in the world and have pscyhologically placed themselves in the role of rebellious outsiders fighting a more powerful world order, when in reality they're probably much closer to the traditional world order than most - even within the context of the Western world, they're still all rich, white folk who've inherited enormous wealth from their parents - and have otherwise been derided for much of their lives, so seeking support and validation of their accomplishments makes sense. I just can't help but note that this seems likely to result in something similar to the Sino-Russian split at some point, as the "Communists" realise that they actually hold opposing positions.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda. The conflicting nationalist-transnational nature of their support base is so full of inherent contradiction, it remains difficult to believe that it arises naturally. How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation? Why would French and British and German nationalists cheer nationalism in the other nations, when such nationalism has traditionally manifested in conflict between them??? Yay, the US is going to withdraw from NATO leaving us underequipped and undefended? ?????????
Edit: Need to add, those "rich white folk" I refer to are the leaders of these neo-nationalist movements, and not so much their followers.
I think the magic connection here is Putin. He's funding their groups and supplying them with propaganda that causes them to see other fascists as an international brotherhood. This is in his interests. He doesn't want fascism to overtake Europe and then turn on him. He wants each country run by an ultranationalist party that has loyalty to him and sees him as fuhrer.
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No-QuarterNothing To FearBut Fear ItselfRegistered Userregular
There are not enough checks. That's why electing a maniac to the presidency is a bad idea.
Note that if Trump gives the order to use nuclear weapons, it's not going to be something random like "Nuke Sweden, their PM said something horrible about me. " What will happen is that Trump gets us mired in some horrible war that grinds on forever and no progress is being made. The armed forces are getting ground down by having their limbs blown off by IEDs and the people there loathe us. So Trump gets mad and decides that Japan surrendered pretty quickly after the nukes went off and gives the order to nuke the biggest mass of enemy resistance to teach them a lesson. The armed forces, who by now despise whatever this country is, and want to get out, don't put up much resistance.
Off the top of my head, and bearing in mind I'll never know about the actually classified stuff, I can think of three or four scenarios like this which have occurred, the question of first-use came up, and it was recoiled from. That's not counting God only knows how many others where it wasn't seriously discussed despite people salivating over the possibility (e.g., both Iraq wars, the First Chechen War, etc).
Militaries aren't orks even if a lot of them like to present themselves that way at times. They'll be wholly aware of the security implications of using nuclear weapons in anything other than a second-strike scenario.
(More cynically, the most oligarchic administration since the Founding Fathers will probably be hesitant to destroy the global economy, which even a single warhead first strike would probably pull off outside of really particular circumstances. Not only would they be risking death in the counterstrike, but they might lose money!)
I'm not saying the military are orks. I'm saying Trump appears to be.
As you say, the possibility of a first strike has come up before and cool heads resisted. Unfortunately, Trump is not a cool head!
I don't fear him waking up on Tuesday with a headache and randomly nuking France to get his feelings out. I fear him being the man who decides in a crisis whether to use nuclear weapons or not. All other presidents, however belligerent, have done their utmost to avoid it. I don't think Trump would.
Trump's not an Ork! That's an insult to Orks! He does not respect the WAAAAAGH! (Though I'm unable to determine which Warhammer 40K faction he would be.)
Chaos
He's too petty. He's a Skaven.
This. The Horned Rat is an amalgam of Nurgle and Tzeentch.
No. No don't ruin Skaven for me.
What do you think was making him sniffle at the debates?
Cocaine? No, son, that was straight warpstone dust.
On a somewhat random note, I find the European far-right's embrace of Trump (and vice-versa) a little strange. Human, but strange. I really fail to see why Europeans would think that a supposedly American-FIRST Trump administration would be good for Europeans, and similarly how a <European nation>-FIRST revolution across Europe would be good for America. It would seem highly irrational and contrary to one's own interests/objectives.
That being said, I don't find it unusual. We're talking about a group of people that misperceived their relative positions in the world and have pscyhologically placed themselves in the role of rebellious outsiders fighting a more powerful world order, when in reality they're probably much closer to the traditional world order than most - even within the context of the Western world, they're still all rich, white folk who've inherited enormous wealth from their parents - and have otherwise been derided for much of their lives, so seeking support and validation of their accomplishments makes sense. I just can't help but note that this seems likely to result in something similar to the Sino-Russian split at some point, as the "Communists" realise that they actually hold opposing positions.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda. The conflicting nationalist-transnational nature of their support base is so full of inherent contradiction, it remains difficult to believe that it arises naturally. How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation? Why would French and British and German nationalists cheer nationalism in the other nations, when such nationalism has traditionally manifested in conflict between them??? Yay, the US is going to withdraw from NATO leaving us underequipped and undefended? ?????????
Edit: Need to add, those "rich white folk" I refer to are the leaders of these neo-nationalist movements, and not so much their followers.
I think the magic connection here is Putin. He's funding their groups and supplying them with propaganda that causes them to see other fascists as an international brotherhood. This is in his interests. He doesn't want fascism to overtake Europe and then turn on him. He wants each country run by an ultranationalist party that has loyalty to him and sees him as fuhrer.
The problem here is that, once they end up in power, they owe him probably nothing AND might need a scapegoat
Posts
I just came here to post that. Remarkable. That was ITV right? Earlier today the BBC (!), usually the world's most boring but trustworthy news organisation that try their absolute hardest to never use an adjective to avoid bias, ran a feature explaining how Trump is trying to undermine dissent in the press, I was somewhat taken aback.
In general, he's getting absolutely hammered on the 'alternative facts' thing. Conway just became a celebrity here.
Steam: adamjnet
I'd give the media even less credit for secretly being Machiavellian superintellects than I would the administration. They wear their ignorance and clickbait stratagems on their sleeves even more obviously than Trump.
I kind of feel for her, she has 4 kids, she was brought on to a doomed campaign as a career builder, and she overshot it and ended up as some kind of spokesperson for the Great Horned Rat who goes on TV and defends obvious lies, that has to be pretty soul-destroying.
I feel absolutely nothing for her. Aside from Trump, she's more responsible for this absolute shitshow of an administration than anyone - and she knows exactly what she's doing.
Steam: adamjnet
Trump will not kill her if she quits. Hell, he might not even tweet about it. And it's not like she can't get a job elsewhere.
I actually think she's probably the worst person in the whole administration, second only to the Trump himself. Trump at least probably has an undiagnosed mental issue that keeps him from thinking through the crazy shit he says (not that it's an excuse). Conway takes that crazy shit and makes it even worse by trying to alter reality itself so that it doesn't add up to being crazy shit anymore.
Unlike Trump, she seems 100% aware of what she's doing, and she signed up to do it.
She so obviously loves what she does. And if she didn't, she could have moved on after the election with no-one suspecting a thing.
She's sticking with this for reasons beyond money, which is somehow worse.
That's fine.
I'm not convinced they can be moved anyway.
But the D's that sat on their hands this year when they didn't in the past, the giant swathe in the middle that doesn't vote at all, that's worth reaching out to.
And I speak generally and partially for humour. I'm aware that the Trump administration and state administrations are likely going to try to rig the game.
That's another battle. That's another thing to make people aware of. That's a tangential fight.
That being said, I don't find it unusual. We're talking about a group of people that misperceived their relative positions in the world and have pscyhologically placed themselves in the role of rebellious outsiders fighting a more powerful world order, when in reality they're probably much closer to the traditional world order than most - even within the context of the Western world, they're still all rich, white folk who've inherited enormous wealth from their parents - and have otherwise been derided for much of their lives, so seeking support and validation of their accomplishments makes sense. I just can't help but note that this seems likely to result in something similar to the Sino-Russian split at some point, as the "Communists" realise that they actually hold opposing positions.
Still, I wonder how much of this is driven by 1) the unique nature of the Internet, and 2) state-sponsored propaganda. The conflicting nationalist-transnational nature of their support base is so full of inherent contradiction, it remains difficult to believe that it arises naturally. How can nationalists in one nation cheer nationalists in another nation? Why would French and British and German nationalists cheer nationalism in the other nations, when such nationalism has traditionally manifested in conflict between them??? Yay, the US is going to withdraw from NATO leaving us underequipped and undefended? ?????????
Edit: Need to add, those "rich white folk" I refer to are the leaders of these neo-nationalist movements, and not so much their followers.
Especially Ivanka. Don't normalize her for being the "sane one", sure she can't choose her family, but that doesn't mean she's a saint.
I'll never forget her heartwarming tale of the time she made the household staff buy her lemonade.
Because it validates their world view that each "people" deserves their own country, and that its ok to kick our immigrants and weirdos. Its like if you are into some weird niche gaming stuff, and you find out one of your other friends plays, it means you aren't alone in what you want. That this is all happening in Western Civ is interesting, its a reversion to nationalism being based on language/culture. Its why the comparison to Nazis is so solid, they got to that idea first in some ways. What is weird about it all is that normally that kind of movement centers around economic hard times, and that simply isn't the case here, its center around the feeling of hard times. I wonder how much of that the internet/mass media is fueling, its very easy to see what bad is happening in the world, in ways that didn't happen prior. It also rubs in people's faces what they don't have, in ways that didn't exist prior.
Yes, I am blaming Trump on Cribs :P
At least it was real lemonade, I hope.
This must be what it felt like to live in the early 30s
WE
WILL
WIN.
Shes probably hedging bets that we wont get another president.
Please don't advocate, even as a joke, killing people. I seriously don't want to stop posting on this forum.
I am not particularly surprised that people think economic times are bad, when they're not. A fact of human psychology is that we evaluate our positions in society relative to that which we observe. And, like you said, there aren't television shows about the lifestyles of the poor or underprivileged - possibly because they're feel-bad shows that challenge the premise of the American Dream, and so get terrible ratings. And so dramatic income inequality distorts people's perceptions of their own positions and a relatively recent absence of QoL gains has converged to generate an abstract, arbitrary anger that doesn't know how to direct itself (and so, in turn, is easily directed by others).
I mean, I guess the deeper reality is that these people aren't "real" nationalists, which is both good and bad. "Real" nationalists venerate their nation and promote it at the expense of all others: see the relatively more stable, consistent manifestation of, say, Chinese nationalism, which always positions China in competition with almost all other nations. These "nationalists" are like old WWII German nationalists who promoted the idea of the Aryan nation despite not being Aryan themselves.
I mean, how much of MAGA is about returning to an era of full employment, a phenomenon which was intentionally eliminated by conservative governments intent on destroying the power of labour (also communists) and preserving the wealth/power of capital by wrestling inflation to the ground? (Obv, the way to restore that is to elect the conservative capitalist billionaires who destroyed that paradigm in the first place.)
Just don't ask what the Trump brand Girl Scout cookies were made of.
I'll have you know they are made with 100% organic girl scouts
They're just a bunch of [something something] participation medal [something] snowflakes.
Because first they have to join together to overthrow the liberal global order. Same reason why the racist Germans and the racist Japanese sided together in WWII, when both nominally considered each other to be of an inferior order of life, whatever they felt about whites or Asians, they knew the British, French, and Americans were going to stand in their way.
He gets credit from me actually embracing being a filthy leftist who thinks the Republican party should simply be destroyed outright. There is no hope for any good alternative parties until they're gone. And I will not weep if the racists and evangelists are forced into single-platform minority parties.
Sure Uncle Rob might be a little racist, but he cares more about keeping his job than he will about voting for whatever party the KKK decides to make. The few who think that their rational self interest is less important than their racism deserve no pity and I would like them to be conveniently identifiable. It's already bad enough having to deal with supply-side cranks without all that other baggage.
A few things there:
They both have their impact, but this has also happened once before, when computers weren't a thing yet.
Though SNLs humanizing skit about her was amusing, it's pretty clear she's reprehensible at this point. Any modicum of sympathy I once held for her has been fully erased. She knows what she's doing. She's actively hurting our country while doing it.
She's 100% on board by choice and so I don't feel bad for her. She probably thinks of herself as a master manipulator who plays the media like a fiddle. I really hope this "alternate facts" fiasco will get more people to view her as someone who will literally say anything for the right price.
I think the magic connection here is Putin. He's funding their groups and supplying them with propaganda that causes them to see other fascists as an international brotherhood. This is in his interests. He doesn't want fascism to overtake Europe and then turn on him. He wants each country run by an ultranationalist party that has loyalty to him and sees him as fuhrer.
What do you think was making him sniffle at the debates?
Cocaine? No, son, that was straight warpstone dust.
The problem here is that, once they end up in power, they owe him probably nothing AND might need a scapegoat
Also, Comey just paid a visit to the WH.
I can't entirely blame her for staying on, she can see the writing on the wall.
She could be the next Eva Braun if she plays her cards right.
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So a one-two of leaving the UN AND moving the embassy. Israel is going to have a hard time if those both happen.