My big fear is that conservatives, rump population though they might be, will decide that they have had enough with this democracy bullshit and will just try for the armed overthrow of the government. Normally, I'd figure such a thing has pretty much zero odds of happening or of success if it did. But these days . . .
You have all these NRA idiots armed to the fucking teeth with military-grade weaponry. The police are 95% in favor of suppressing the rest of the population and imposing a police state. The military, already dominated by Rightwing leaders, is now lead at the top by Trump toadys and sycophants.
So I'm hoping that Republicans go quietly into that good night they such rightly earned. But I'm fearing they will try to take the entire country into oblivion with them.
I strongly doubt that the military would go along with it. Most of the top brass are honorable people who sincerely believe that stuff about upholding the Constitution; and most of the rest of them are careerists adept at perceiving which way the wind is blowing and covering their asses.
I would feel better if the Air Force upper echelon wasn't infested with Christian dominionists. And if the Army's top brass wasn't so willing to go along with Trump on things like clearing the streets of DC for Trump's photo walk.
And if we did not have large groups of heavily armed men in uniforms with no insignia and no identifying marks now being deployed to use overwhelming physical force against protesters.
But look at the numbers of people marching in protests. I do not believe the US populace would sustain slaughter as in ancient times of masses marching. I look at what happened in Turkey when a coup was attempted by right-minded military in the minority. The jerk populace put them down en mass. I think even heavily armed police and soldiers would be overwhelmed by the reality of firing on unarmed civilians, killing and maiming thousands, and what would happen when the next wave decided to overrun them at any cost?
Wish I could disagree with you. Conservatives have spent seventy years bullshitting, bootlicking and politicking their way out of the messes they've created, and now comes a pandemic they can't bullshit, bootlick or politic their way out of. Their anger at what they can't control is so noticeable you can see it.
I think the most likely scenario, were a coup to occur, is that we'd have a soft military dictatorship---as in, things get so out of control under Trump or Biden that the top brass step in to restore order and reduce the presidency (either temporarily or long-term, who knows) to a truly ceremonial role. This is a reality that I doubt anyone would really like, although it'd be much closer to MAGA's liking than ours.
Let's really ask ourselves if your average gun-toting conservative MAGA dude is going to get his middle-aged ass off the couch, away from their 86" teevee and into the boonies for a long haul. They'll tell you they're ready, but there's a big motherfucking gap between talking about civil war and doing civil war.
A large amount of people, especially a good amount of Rs, still have it nice and cushy. Things have to get way, way worse in a material sense before that becomes something that is anywhere near imminent.
Trump is running for re-election on racism and the stock market, because that’s all he’s got.
Looking back over the last six months the incompetency and dereliction of leadership by Trump’s administration has been staggering. If they were *trying* to fuck up their COVID-19 response they couldn’t have done a more thorough job of it. No nation-wide shutdown to develop a response plan, meager financial support to individuals and businesses to ride it out, no coordinated national manufacture, acquisition, or distribution of PPE, little or no national, top-down coordination at all. The governor of Illinois hit the bullseye when he described it as turning each of the states into Hunger Games contestants as they scrambled to get what they needed. And at every step of the way, Trump front and center with his bullshit snake-oil cures and denialism.
And this morning we learn Kemp has banned all local municipalities in GA from mandating masks. It’s like the GOP has a murder/suicide pact with their own supporters.
So John Dean tweeted a link to Trump getting heckled and I wondered when it's from since he was so coherent.
But the Goya thing got me wondering: Every time he does something stupid, does he actually lose votes? Not many, obviously, but maybe this will result in an electoral blowout; each idiocy bringing us closer.
As for the base, no, I really think many if not most are *that* stupid. Every #MAGAt I know is, if not dumb as a brick, not of exceptional intelligence and some, as they say, have psychological issues. (And then, of course, there's the dying of whiteness pathology.)
But, of course, when it comes to the base, smart or dumb, sane or deranged, fuck their feelings. They helped turn a developed nation into a failed state so, you know, whatcha call zero tolerance.
When I'm feeling optimistic, I think of Trump as the dead cat bounce of the conservative movement - it was a reaction to Obama but doesn't imply a long-term trend.
MAGAts want the government bennies for themselves, they just don't want Those People to have them. I live in a very blue place but I've heard from plenty of white people that Those People get everything for free. It's unfair that some people get food stamps or Medicaid, but I deserve my medicare or soc sec! Now COVID-19 is surging in the red states and people are seeing their Dear Leader fail to help them. Trump and the Republicans are proving decisively that "drown the government in the bath tub" is a lousy way to run a country. I've been saying since approximately January 1980 that things are going to get worse before they get better. Just maybe, things will finally turn around.
"The poor dumb GOP factotum then downed another Scotch and wondered if Hungary or some other country run by Nazis would have an extradition treaty with the U.S. when it was time for him to flee."
It's paragraphs like this where your unique genius shines through, Roy. Bravo.
I love liberal media folks who reprimand those who say that Trump and his supporters are racist because it's too harsh or something. In his recent CBS interview, every bit as insanely depraved as his Rose Garden performance, Trump answered a question about African Americans dying at the hands of law enforcement by saying "white people" 6 times in 28 words*. The 27% of the electorate** who gave Trump his "win" want exactly that -- someone to always respond "what about US WHITE PEOPLE" no matter the question because they simply don't give a shit about anybody else. In other words, conservatives.
*CBS: Why are African Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country?
TRUMP: And so are White people. So are White people. What a terrible question to ask. So are White people. More White people, by the way. More White people.
Good job on defining the Trump supporters. It's always fascinating to try and understand their thought process and motivation. I've concluded the most common shared trait is the desire to let someone else define their truth. I don't know if its laziness, comprehension problems, the fear of and responsibility of knowledge, or some religious/patriotic sense of duty but they refuse to think. I agree that Trump's imbecilic behavior may inspire an increased voter turn-out but I think it's going to be very tough to get him to leave office.
"the desire to let someone else define their truth" -- I get what you mean. I'd go a little further -- they want someone to *embody* their truth. Trump's not saying anything new -- but his overt cruelty, stupidity, and contempt for norms *is* new, at least at this level. I doubt any of his followers could have told you in 2016, or today, what he stands for (and thus what they're supposed to stand for) besides that dumb slogan, but they sure loved how he acts.
"What’s he gonna do for an encore, campaign with the cop who killed George Floyd?" Hey, he campaigns with Eddie Gallagher. Chauvin can talk about how afraid he was of that superpredator with a phony $20.
I still think you're at the head of the curve on this. Yes, it is becoming more apparent to even the slowest of coaches, dimmest of bulb wits, and shoddiest of toasters, but perversely there are still a lot of oddballs out who cling to the core idiocies of reactionary lore. The brainless man or woman in the street still will intone the solemn truth self-evident you can't trust the government, nebulous as that may seem; and these fool victims of the Chicago School of Econ (and don't get me wrong, those boys came up with some good things, too, I'm sure, sort of sometimes) will declare capitalism only needs to be unfettered to fix everything, ah! Yes! Give me Libertarian and/or give me debt! But clearly there are enough young up-and-coming victims and even older woke folks who see now statements such as "Don't let science get in the way of my re-election" for the only direction Trump's GOP has going for it. Power over your dead body! Where will they run to, when the jig is up and it comes time to pay for the party?
My big fear is that conservatives, rump population though they might be, will decide that they have had enough with this democracy bullshit and will just try for the armed overthrow of the government. Normally, I'd figure such a thing has pretty much zero odds of happening or of success if it did. But these days . . .
You have all these NRA idiots armed to the fucking teeth with military-grade weaponry. The police are 95% in favor of suppressing the rest of the population and imposing a police state. The military, already dominated by Rightwing leaders, is now lead at the top by Trump toadys and sycophants.
So I'm hoping that Republicans go quietly into that good night they such rightly earned. But I'm fearing they will try to take the entire country into oblivion with them.
I strongly doubt that the military would go along with it. Most of the top brass are honorable people who sincerely believe that stuff about upholding the Constitution; and most of the rest of them are careerists adept at perceiving which way the wind is blowing and covering their asses.
I would feel better if the Air Force upper echelon wasn't infested with Christian dominionists. And if the Army's top brass wasn't so willing to go along with Trump on things like clearing the streets of DC for Trump's photo walk.
And if we did not have large groups of heavily armed men in uniforms with no insignia and no identifying marks now being deployed to use overwhelming physical force against protesters.
But look at the numbers of people marching in protests. I do not believe the US populace would sustain slaughter as in ancient times of masses marching. I look at what happened in Turkey when a coup was attempted by right-minded military in the minority. The jerk populace put them down en mass. I think even heavily armed police and soldiers would be overwhelmed by the reality of firing on unarmed civilians, killing and maiming thousands, and what would happen when the next wave decided to overrun them at any cost?
Tianamen Square is the counter-point here.
Army's top brass beat a quick and impressive retreat I thought. https://www.armytimes.com/opinion/commentary/2020/06/14/milley-a-flawed-general-who-learned-a-lesson/
Wish I could disagree with you. Conservatives have spent seventy years bullshitting, bootlicking and politicking their way out of the messes they've created, and now comes a pandemic they can't bullshit, bootlick or politic their way out of. Their anger at what they can't control is so noticeable you can see it.
Eh, the whole thing would collapse in a week after the just-in-time supply chain broke down.
Let's see how "long guns" fare against military ordnance.
I think the most likely scenario, were a coup to occur, is that we'd have a soft military dictatorship---as in, things get so out of control under Trump or Biden that the top brass step in to restore order and reduce the presidency (either temporarily or long-term, who knows) to a truly ceremonial role. This is a reality that I doubt anyone would really like, although it'd be much closer to MAGA's liking than ours.
Let's really ask ourselves if your average gun-toting conservative MAGA dude is going to get his middle-aged ass off the couch, away from their 86" teevee and into the boonies for a long haul. They'll tell you they're ready, but there's a big motherfucking gap between talking about civil war and doing civil war.
A large amount of people, especially a good amount of Rs, still have it nice and cushy. Things have to get way, way worse in a material sense before that becomes something that is anywhere near imminent.
Trump is running for re-election on racism and the stock market, because that’s all he’s got.
Looking back over the last six months the incompetency and dereliction of leadership by Trump’s administration has been staggering. If they were *trying* to fuck up their COVID-19 response they couldn’t have done a more thorough job of it. No nation-wide shutdown to develop a response plan, meager financial support to individuals and businesses to ride it out, no coordinated national manufacture, acquisition, or distribution of PPE, little or no national, top-down coordination at all. The governor of Illinois hit the bullseye when he described it as turning each of the states into Hunger Games contestants as they scrambled to get what they needed. And at every step of the way, Trump front and center with his bullshit snake-oil cures and denialism.
And this morning we learn Kemp has banned all local municipalities in GA from mandating masks. It’s like the GOP has a murder/suicide pact with their own supporters.
A murder/suicide pact is pretty much the endpoint of the GOP’s “we create our own reality” philosophy. Eventually, actual reality bites back.
There’s a lot of reality you can deny with pseudoconservative bullshit, but viruses don’t care.
Rona Don't Take No Mess
Entirely worth subscribing just for this headline. 12/10 would read again
Ick, you reminded me of John Fund.
"conservative ideas" LOL
So John Dean tweeted a link to Trump getting heckled and I wondered when it's from since he was so coherent.
But the Goya thing got me wondering: Every time he does something stupid, does he actually lose votes? Not many, obviously, but maybe this will result in an electoral blowout; each idiocy bringing us closer.
As for the base, no, I really think many if not most are *that* stupid. Every #MAGAt I know is, if not dumb as a brick, not of exceptional intelligence and some, as they say, have psychological issues. (And then, of course, there's the dying of whiteness pathology.)
But, of course, when it comes to the base, smart or dumb, sane or deranged, fuck their feelings. They helped turn a developed nation into a failed state so, you know, whatcha call zero tolerance.
Most of the MAGA people I know are a combination of idiot-savant and resentful racist.
When I'm feeling optimistic, I think of Trump as the dead cat bounce of the conservative movement - it was a reaction to Obama but doesn't imply a long-term trend.
MAGAts want the government bennies for themselves, they just don't want Those People to have them. I live in a very blue place but I've heard from plenty of white people that Those People get everything for free. It's unfair that some people get food stamps or Medicaid, but I deserve my medicare or soc sec! Now COVID-19 is surging in the red states and people are seeing their Dear Leader fail to help them. Trump and the Republicans are proving decisively that "drown the government in the bath tub" is a lousy way to run a country. I've been saying since approximately January 1980 that things are going to get worse before they get better. Just maybe, things will finally turn around.
"The poor dumb GOP factotum then downed another Scotch and wondered if Hungary or some other country run by Nazis would have an extradition treaty with the U.S. when it was time for him to flee."
It's paragraphs like this where your unique genius shines through, Roy. Bravo.
I love liberal media folks who reprimand those who say that Trump and his supporters are racist because it's too harsh or something. In his recent CBS interview, every bit as insanely depraved as his Rose Garden performance, Trump answered a question about African Americans dying at the hands of law enforcement by saying "white people" 6 times in 28 words*. The 27% of the electorate** who gave Trump his "win" want exactly that -- someone to always respond "what about US WHITE PEOPLE" no matter the question because they simply don't give a shit about anybody else. In other words, conservatives.
*CBS: Why are African Americans still dying at the hands of law enforcement in this country?
TRUMP: And so are White people. So are White people. What a terrible question to ask. So are White people. More White people, by the way. More White people.
The entire interview is something:
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-race-face-mask-school-roger-stone/
**In keeping with Kung Fu Monkey's perennially accurate Crazification Factor
Good job on defining the Trump supporters. It's always fascinating to try and understand their thought process and motivation. I've concluded the most common shared trait is the desire to let someone else define their truth. I don't know if its laziness, comprehension problems, the fear of and responsibility of knowledge, or some religious/patriotic sense of duty but they refuse to think. I agree that Trump's imbecilic behavior may inspire an increased voter turn-out but I think it's going to be very tough to get him to leave office.
"the desire to let someone else define their truth" -- I get what you mean. I'd go a little further -- they want someone to *embody* their truth. Trump's not saying anything new -- but his overt cruelty, stupidity, and contempt for norms *is* new, at least at this level. I doubt any of his followers could have told you in 2016, or today, what he stands for (and thus what they're supposed to stand for) besides that dumb slogan, but they sure loved how he acts.
"What’s he gonna do for an encore, campaign with the cop who killed George Floyd?" Hey, he campaigns with Eddie Gallagher. Chauvin can talk about how afraid he was of that superpredator with a phony $20.
MAKE THIS PUBLIC NOW
OR I WILL CANCE'L!
I still think you're at the head of the curve on this. Yes, it is becoming more apparent to even the slowest of coaches, dimmest of bulb wits, and shoddiest of toasters, but perversely there are still a lot of oddballs out who cling to the core idiocies of reactionary lore. The brainless man or woman in the street still will intone the solemn truth self-evident you can't trust the government, nebulous as that may seem; and these fool victims of the Chicago School of Econ (and don't get me wrong, those boys came up with some good things, too, I'm sure, sort of sometimes) will declare capitalism only needs to be unfettered to fix everything, ah! Yes! Give me Libertarian and/or give me debt! But clearly there are enough young up-and-coming victims and even older woke folks who see now statements such as "Don't let science get in the way of my re-election" for the only direction Trump's GOP has going for it. Power over your dead body! Where will they run to, when the jig is up and it comes time to pay for the party?