Ugh, my PhD institution has its campus center named after some scion or other of the Frist family. In fact, Princeton's rolls of distinguished alums includes a better-than-average number of war criminals & political scumbags...
In a just universe ghouls like Alito would’ve grown up penniless in a place like my hometown, lived his curdled life in well-earned anonymity, and died a miserable, hated crank, choking on his own bile.
Ladies and germs, I can't let this opportunity pass. Pal and co-writer Steve Radlauer and I wrote a whole damn(ed) book about this, Monsters of the Ivy League. You could look it up.
Those vermin foreigners are poisoning our national blood! And Trump should know since most of his children were born of foreign mothers! Wait . . .
And remember kids: Joe Biden is too old, too enfeebled, and too demented to be president, but he is absolutely the most iron-fisted dictator America has ever known!
Ah, memories. Remember when Obama was a teleprompter-addicted simpleton who was only elected because of affirmative action, as well as a Muslim sleeper agent sitting in the center of a nefarious international web, pulling all the strings to bring down U.S. democracy? Good times.
What the hell do I know about winning elections, I voted for Jill Stein, but wouldn't the most effective line of attack against Biden just be that he's a nice old man, means well, but he's just not up to the job? Not tough enough, smart enough, to handle things like the CRISIS AT THE BORDER? I say "most effective" because it requires normal people to assimilate fewer claims, to know fewer things, just to know that Biden is old and that we face many challenges.
But no, let's go with "Head of an international crime syndicate", which requires people to at least try to pay attention to some tortured chain of reasoning and multiple outlandish claims, when "paying attention" is not really within the average American voter's skill set.
OK, I am going to try to forgive you for Jill Stein, but it won't be easy, lol. But I think the whole crime kingpin thing and the impeachment is just to muddy the waters for low information voters. "Well, they BOTH were impeached, so I just don't know..."
Sure, people who think that way are idiots, but a lot of idiots will be casting votes in 2024.
Thanks for your toleration, it's much appreciated! The drive for impeaching Biden is all driven by Trump and his desire for revenge for his own multiple impeachments. I doubt any thought was given whatsoever to voters and how it might please or displease them. These days, Republicans are so far up their own ass that they don't even bother to think about what the silly voters want.
I agree Trump whole-heartedly supports it, but we're going to have to agree to disagree about whether it is a broader GOP strategy. I firmly believe the target is low-information Independents who don't give a great deal more analysis to their vote for President than they do to what TV show they will watch on any given night.
Maybe, but doesn't "Well, they BOTH were impeached, so I just don't know..." mean that they know about - and care about - Trump's impeachment? So they're disturbed enough about his two impeachments that they're reluctant to vote for Trump, and the Republicans need to do something to assuage their concerns? To me, "low info" means "Trump was impeached? Oh yeah, that's right, he was. What was that all about, anyway?" How will they vote? Depends on the price of gas on the day they roll out of bed and head to the polls.
I think we're simply defining "low-information voter" differently. For example, I believe everyone who hasn't just come out of a coma knows Trump was impeached and knows about J6. News like that is unavoidable if you are a sentient adult. But the difference is in how much or how little low-information voters think about it or analyze it -- both impeached means both corrupt, etc. so toss a coin.
She describes the gov't. (not excluding Dems) as "a trans-national crime syndicate masquerading as a government." I have to drag myself back to her They Knew, and see how it all turns out.
I'm with Steve, but willing to entertain the concept ("Hey Concept! Watch me pull a democracy outta my hat!")...
My early enlightenment was the revelation that Organized Crime has been drifting for decades toward being big business, and at the same time Big Business has become essentially an organized crime.
Big Government is on the spectrum somewhere, maybe, tho it clearly is not/will never be Organized..
People only retain what they want out of an ad or article so some people will believe Biden is senile and some will believe he's an evil mastermind. The ones who believe in the conspiracies have no problem following tortured chains of reasoning and multiple outlandish claims.
Right, but those people they already have on board. If they were trying to win some voters they don't already have (and I'm not sure they are) they'd be better off trying a line that doesn't require people to believe three impossible things before breakfast.
I think the idea the U.S. needs an “unfortunate-but-necessary dictator” really sums up the whole current conservative philosophy. If we on the Woke Left didn’t keep trying to give equal rights and respect to everybody, then an unfortunate dictator wouldn’t be necessary. Just look what we made them do.
Also, LOL “I am of the center-Right and only say intemperate things in the closing weeks of an election campaign.”
Dec 18, 2023·edited Dec 18, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
There was an article a few days ago in the Guardian about how the far-right in the US is now all into Franco. One paragraph caught my eye:
"Consistently, these far-right voices make a direct comparison between Spain in the 1930s and the US today – claiming that both feature a totalitarian, violent left that is prepared to overturn elections – and look forward to an authoritarian leader who will resolve the crisis."
"Every accusation a confession." I guess in a way it's small consolation that the Right is so transparent you don't need to be a psychotherapist to figure them out.
Dec 18, 2023·edited Dec 18, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
The crazies who want to murder their political opponents aren't sufficient in number, if you want to win the Presidency you need to rope in tens of millions of people who truly do not give a shit either way: "But... but... how will it affect my car dealership? Not much? Eh... whatever."
If you had only wrote in this, I guess, mode or “idiom” is the word, since the election was stolen from a hapless Al Gore, you could be riding for the New York Times or possibly WaPo now.
My mother never forgave my dad and me for voting third party in 2000 ... may they both rest in peace 🤣 that's the last third party vote I ever cast, too, after getting eight years of Gee Dubya for my trouble.
Jesus. Yes, he promised to get rid of Obamacare, and then tried to do so, but he's lazy and incompetent and left all the work to Paul Ryan and in the end the whole awful deal fell apart, so... moderation?
Here's another one: Yes, he's against "free trade" agreements. Why? Because he cares about the workers hurt by those agreements? Fuck no, what he wants is a system of arbitrary and capricious tariffs, because that allows maximum display of his power and practically limitless opportunities for graft. Such a moderate!
I pay for the NYT for its archives and for some of its stellar long-form journalism, but their political reporting is the shits, and I bitterly resent that my dues go in part to subsidizing risible crap like that column.
They've got the formula down: Contrarianism = Clicks. Any take that would prompt normal people to ask: "How the fuck can anyone believe THAT?" is golden.
Yeah, the outfits that guy writes for. And with a name like Schmitz, he had to have been born into wingnut welfare world. The Times and WaPoo are ramping up the repeats of Donald the Dove, Hillary the Hawk.
This guy used to work for First Things, and he now works with Sohrab Ahmari. So it's safe to assume he wants to worship at the throne of King Trump, these guys are all monarchists.
In case anyone here is interested in a career as a dishonest political hack, I'll explain one of the tricks he does: He defines "moderation" in terms of policy, even though it's clear that Trump does not care at all about policy, and only cares about his own power and wealth. So sure, Trump didn't try to dismantle Social Security and Medicare (which makes him "moderate" I guess?) but when people today worry about Trump's extremism, they're not talking about where he wants to take marginal tax rates, they're talking about his desire to be a dictator, to take vengeance on his opponents through the law, to be above the law himself. All things he has clearly said he wants to do.
In a way, our earlier policy-based definition of extremism (Bernie Sanders is "extreme" because he wants single-payer health care) was a luxury, borne out of the fact that - until Trump - debates could take place safely within the guardrails, democracy itself was not at stake. A thing this asshole clearly knows and understands, but pretends not to understand in the hopes you won't understand either.
His interest in "policy" is twofold. (1) Money for me and mine. (2) Who has shit-talked me and how can I get back at them? There is a kind of reverse angle on #2, which is That Nice Health Insurance Lobbyist With The Hot Wife Kissed My Ass at Mar-a-Lago, What Was It He Was Saying, Let's Do That.
How do you feel about the edit function? Sometimes I feel as though I cheated the people who "liked" me pre-edit, but if they're paying enough attention they can rescind.
Apple hates when we continue to use their older devices.
I have a 2013 Mac Pro that's outfitted as a digital audio workstation. I didn't make proper use of it. Been using it lately. I am afraid to update the OS.
I've got the cool Thunderbolt monitor they used to make. That, and a big external drive that only connects via Firewire.
I need the edit function because of fricking autocorrect and what happens when typing on an iPhone. I’ll gladly edit for grammar and spelling without making a fuss that I did so. However, if I change the sense of my post or add/subtract from it substantially, I’ll note in the edit that I did so. (Whether that’s the preferred method I can’t say, but it works for me.)
As always, condolences to Roy to having to channel so much of the bullshit he’s channeling here for our amusement. Really, parodying Deplorable Daily would much easier since the pieces are short without any of the NR’s own channeling of WFB Jr.
Obviously, today’s post should be unlocked so the Acilu deadbeats can see how much Roy suffers to produce here.
Not only channel it, but read it so we don’t have to. When I read right-wing propaganda I get so apoplectic I can’t think clearly. Razor-sharp satire is do therapeutic.
“I rise in agreement with my National Review colleagues Jim Geraghty and Charles C.W. Cooke (and several others) that this whole “Trump will be a dictator” thing you may have been hearing lately is absurdly overblown.”
Nicely done Roy. Satire with two dashes of cynicism...:)
Truth be told, I don’t take Trump literally or seriously; however, the same can not be said for his new campaign team, made up of some evil geniuses: constitutional lawyers, professors, think tanks, religious organizations and fanatical billionaires.
No doubt, Trump will focus his attention on his enemies list; and using the presidency to expand his golf resort and real estate empire (emoluments clause be damned); while his band of nefarious actors try to re-shape our government in their mold: a Christian version of Sharia Law, run by a cadre of authoritarian kleptocrats.
If any of you have any doubt what Trump’s next presidency would resemble, consider the mess he made in his first term. Biden still hasn’t been able to reunite all of the women whose babies were separated and stolen.
Or consider the make up of the federal judiciary: religious fanatics and billionaire puppet’s now rule the highest court in the land for decades to come. Should Trump regain power, he would put at least one more Supreme Court justice on the bench, and nominate and confirm more than two-thirds of the federal judiciary. And in his second term, these judges would resemble more Eileen Cannon than Sandra Day O’Connor. Let that sink in!
Secondly, he has the Heritage Foundation, which is essentially a “right-wing” religious think tank that his already gearing up for a second Trump term; in which they will fire at least 50k federal employees who know how the government works, and replace them with complete loyalists, who promise to gut government, and make sure it never functions properly again. See the Heritage Foundation Project 2025.
And even if Trump leaves office in 28’, and the next president is a democrat, It will take years to undo all of the damage he causes; this doesn’t include whatever catastrophe’s he leaves his successor to deal with immediately.
In a nutshell, Trump’s demonic team will plant landmines throughout our federal government and its institutions, causing bottlenecks and chaos. He’ll install loyalists in key government positions; rendering the government useless and ineffective.
We need to take these people seriously. When Trump’s apologists tell us that Trump is only kidding, do not buy the BS. They intend to do everything they say, and they are so confident they will win, they’re willing to telegraph every play. These people are dangerous, and their vision of America’s future is dystopian.
I’m not sure if most of us are suffering from some sort of collective PTSD or a “shock” doctrine of sorts; however, what’s happening before us feels like we’re bystanders, watching a slow-motion high-speed train wreck in real-time; except we’re not bystanders, were passengers on the train.
So be afraid and vote blue. Tell all your friends it’s do or die; because this sentiment is the closest to the truth.
The thing to understand about the average American Voter is that we're experiential learners. We need to stick our dick in the light socket to see what happens. Sure, some people SAY dick + light socket = not good, but we like to do our own research.
Dec 18, 2023·edited Dec 18, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
Look, there's actual data on this! The DesMoines Register polled likely Republican caucus-goers on some of Trump's more outrageous statements, do they make you more likely or less likely to support him? Or do you just not care? And I find immense reassurance that fully a THIRD of Republican voters were turned off by: "If reelected president, Trump would have no choice but to lock up his political opponents." I mean, not so turned off that they definitely wouldn't vote for him, ever, but "less likely" to, anyway.
And a pretty consistent 40% of Republican voters answer "Don't care" to any question you care to ask.
I am reminded of the old British children's saying, "Don't care was made to care/Don't care was hung/Don't care was put in a pot and boiled 'till it was done!"
They don't care because they don't see it affecting them---until it does.
Dec 18, 2023·edited Dec 18, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
NR subtitle: "... the path of believing half the country is evil and eager to turn the U.S. into a fascist autocracy."
So is that how fascist autocracies come to pass?
"The line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart." - Solzhenitsyn
For some, Trump is "unfortunate but necessary" (Edroso's words). Trump offers a way out of an existential crisis. They're eager for a way out and they buy the con. To them it seems a bargain at the price they're paying.
What's that quote about "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil"? It's true, "eager" isn't required. "Just don't give a shit" will do just fine, thanks.
Where’s Cedar Falls? I’m always in need of a good plumber. I live in Miami and I just had to replace my kitchen faucet. It cost me $3,800.00 with installation...:)
Not when you an economist like myself. This is price gouging at its best, and in case you don’t know, Florida is experiencing the highest inflation in the nation. Too many people moving here, and his anti-immigration bill sent shockwaves through the immigrant community; sending tens of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants leaving the state, causing worker shortages. Education and healthcare are also suffering as teachers and professors also flee.
My cost has more to do with the faucet than any policies. I have a high-end kitchen which needs to be replaced with high-end appliances in order to sell in my neighborhood. I bought a Dornbracht with the sprayer. I paid $3,200.00 without installation; wholesale. They’re actually almost double retail. So there’s that...:)
Dec 18, 2023·edited Dec 18, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
Cedar Falls, Iowa, is quite nice. The University of Northern Iowa is there. Adjoining Waterloo is much grittier but also a unionized John Deere manufacturing town.
What do the marks want, what are their various vulnerabilities. How are the phases of the con playing out. Is every phase applicable, et cetera. Yes, these topics are discussed, but often simplified and abbreviated. The term "con man" ends up empty, less useful for analysis, lacking in force.
If all he did was con the stupid and gullible, we wouldn't be talking about him. Everyone wants something. EVERYONE is vulnerable, if not to him.
People who think they're smart think they're safe. Being smarter or better than Trump makes you vulnerable if he offers what you desire and your guard is down. He IS dumb and worse-than, but only someone like Putin can easily manage him.
This column comes with free hot dish. Guaranteed!
(ooh, first? -- take that, MM!!)
Hot dish or no – it's cherce!
That's FRIST, thank you very much
Is Bill Frist rotisserizing in Hell yet? If not, why not?
Ugh, my PhD institution has its campus center named after some scion or other of the Frist family. In fact, Princeton's rolls of distinguished alums includes a better-than-average number of war criminals & political scumbags...
Mere evidence of their — and the disitinguished institution's – importance.
It’s how they get their operating expenses.
Princeton is where Alito went to school and had a fit when the school decided to admit women
In a just universe ghouls like Alito would’ve grown up penniless in a place like my hometown, lived his curdled life in well-earned anonymity, and died a miserable, hated crank, choking on his own bile.
and if he couldn't summon up enough himself, I'd offer up some bile of my own – for a fee...
This I can heart because having a fitting is just the sort of thing I could happily imagine helping Alito out with...a straightjacket fitting...
You're not a REAL Ivy-League school if you can't count a half-dozen war criminals at the class reunion.
Ladies and germs, I can't let this opportunity pass. Pal and co-writer Steve Radlauer and I wrote a whole damn(ed) book about this, Monsters of the Ivy League. You could look it up.
Love it! A Gallery of Elite Assholes!
I almost hearted this, then thought "Nope. Couldn't possibly explain it to the inquisition."
There needs to be a little bronze plaque on a dormitory window somewhere on the Princeton campus:
Rafael Edward Cruz '92 masturbated in this room
I imagine they'd need several plaques, but it's cheaper if you order them in volume. So.
Baldrick Trump's Cunning Plan: Turn The Government Into A Giant Turnip Then Boil It
Trump has a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel.
[Baldric in Trump’s wheezy, singsong voice] “The plan? You mean that big papery thing tied up with string? We burned it.”
Thus, cannot fail.
Those vermin foreigners are poisoning our national blood! And Trump should know since most of his children were born of foreign mothers! Wait . . .
And remember kids: Joe Biden is too old, too enfeebled, and too demented to be president, but he is absolutely the most iron-fisted dictator America has ever known!
Ah, memories. Remember when Obama was a teleprompter-addicted simpleton who was only elected because of affirmative action, as well as a Muslim sleeper agent sitting in the center of a nefarious international web, pulling all the strings to bring down U.S. democracy? Good times.
"Joe Biden is ... absolutely the most iron-fisted dictator America has ever known!"
Proof of concept!
If true, you'd think Trump would like him.
What the hell do I know about winning elections, I voted for Jill Stein, but wouldn't the most effective line of attack against Biden just be that he's a nice old man, means well, but he's just not up to the job? Not tough enough, smart enough, to handle things like the CRISIS AT THE BORDER? I say "most effective" because it requires normal people to assimilate fewer claims, to know fewer things, just to know that Biden is old and that we face many challenges.
But no, let's go with "Head of an international crime syndicate", which requires people to at least try to pay attention to some tortured chain of reasoning and multiple outlandish claims, when "paying attention" is not really within the average American voter's skill set.
OK, I am going to try to forgive you for Jill Stein, but it won't be easy, lol. But I think the whole crime kingpin thing and the impeachment is just to muddy the waters for low information voters. "Well, they BOTH were impeached, so I just don't know..."
Sure, people who think that way are idiots, but a lot of idiots will be casting votes in 2024.
Thanks for your toleration, it's much appreciated! The drive for impeaching Biden is all driven by Trump and his desire for revenge for his own multiple impeachments. I doubt any thought was given whatsoever to voters and how it might please or displease them. These days, Republicans are so far up their own ass that they don't even bother to think about what the silly voters want.
I agree Trump whole-heartedly supports it, but we're going to have to agree to disagree about whether it is a broader GOP strategy. I firmly believe the target is low-information Independents who don't give a great deal more analysis to their vote for President than they do to what TV show they will watch on any given night.
Maybe, but doesn't "Well, they BOTH were impeached, so I just don't know..." mean that they know about - and care about - Trump's impeachment? So they're disturbed enough about his two impeachments that they're reluctant to vote for Trump, and the Republicans need to do something to assuage their concerns? To me, "low info" means "Trump was impeached? Oh yeah, that's right, he was. What was that all about, anyway?" How will they vote? Depends on the price of gas on the day they roll out of bed and head to the polls.
I think we're simply defining "low-information voter" differently. For example, I believe everyone who hasn't just come out of a coma knows Trump was impeached and knows about J6. News like that is unavoidable if you are a sentient adult. But the difference is in how much or how little low-information voters think about it or analyze it -- both impeached means both corrupt, etc. so toss a coin.
Is this ("international crime syndicate") a reference to Sarah Kendzior? I WANT to love her, but...
Nah, just picked it out of the zeitgeist as it was floating by. Doesn't EVERYONE know he's head of an international crime syndicate?
She describes the gov't. (not excluding Dems) as "a trans-national crime syndicate masquerading as a government." I have to drag myself back to her They Knew, and see how it all turns out.
Huh, not familiar with her, but I googled and it sounds like more of a lefty critique?
Definitely lefty. A good writer, too. I just wonder how alarmist or extreme.
I'm with Steve, but willing to entertain the concept ("Hey Concept! Watch me pull a democracy outta my hat!")...
My early enlightenment was the revelation that Organized Crime has been drifting for decades toward being big business, and at the same time Big Business has become essentially an organized crime.
Big Government is on the spectrum somewhere, maybe, tho it clearly is not/will never be Organized..
People only retain what they want out of an ad or article so some people will believe Biden is senile and some will believe he's an evil mastermind. The ones who believe in the conspiracies have no problem following tortured chains of reasoning and multiple outlandish claims.
Right, but those people they already have on board. If they were trying to win some voters they don't already have (and I'm not sure they are) they'd be better off trying a line that doesn't require people to believe three impossible things before breakfast.
He may not know where he is, or what day it is, but he definitely knows who to send to the camps! Which will be built any day now. ANY DAY.
Oh, those again. An Obama Years Greatest Hits.
(Meanwhile, Trumpov has repeatedly said he's going to send people to Konzentrationlager, and the response is, "He's just joking!!!")
Will there be s'mores?
If so, include me out.
Yes, but you only get to make them with those tiny awful fruit-flavored marshmallows and carob "chocolate".
THE MONSTER
I think the idea the U.S. needs an “unfortunate-but-necessary dictator” really sums up the whole current conservative philosophy. If we on the Woke Left didn’t keep trying to give equal rights and respect to everybody, then an unfortunate dictator wouldn’t be necessary. Just look what we made them do.
Also, LOL “I am of the center-Right and only say intemperate things in the closing weeks of an election campaign.”
There was an article a few days ago in the Guardian about how the far-right in the US is now all into Franco. One paragraph caught my eye:
"Consistently, these far-right voices make a direct comparison between Spain in the 1930s and the US today – claiming that both feature a totalitarian, violent left that is prepared to overturn elections – and look forward to an authoritarian leader who will resolve the crisis."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/15/us-far-right-francisco-franco-spanish-civil-war
"Every accusation a confession." I guess in a way it's small consolation that the Right is so transparent you don't need to be a psychotherapist to figure them out.
Who can afford a psychotherapist at today's prices? Thanks a lot, Biden!
Unfortunate-but-necessary-dictator = geez-honey-you-made-me-hit-you. Which is not a new concept in the GOP.
when a nation strays from the proper path
and the citizens, dazed, apply their wrath
once they’re quartered, and drawn
then they notice it’s gone
never knowing til then what they’d hath
And a big orange asshole
Took away democracy!
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?
Pretty much, yeah...
They took all the Jews
Put 'em in a Jew museum
... too soon?
Dunno...let's ask Georgy Santos*
*or whatever he's calling himself these days
I do like that last sentence, it does seem to capture the essence of conservative thought.
The crazies who want to murder their political opponents aren't sufficient in number, if you want to win the Presidency you need to rope in tens of millions of people who truly do not give a shit either way: "But... but... how will it affect my car dealership? Not much? Eh... whatever."
They accept Alito, an authoritarian judge, they’ll happily support a dictatorial president.
If you had only wrote in this, I guess, mode or “idiom” is the word, since the election was stolen from a hapless Al Gore, you could be riding for the New York Times or possibly WaPo now.
My mother never forgave my dad and me for voting third party in 2000 ... may they both rest in peace 🤣 that's the last third party vote I ever cast, too, after getting eight years of Gee Dubya for my trouble.
Hey, that's not fair, Al Gore had plenty of hap. Also feck. Lots and lots of feck.
lacked Ruth, however...
Crap, “writing for”.
Every new columnist for the Times is given a hobbyhorse, Friedman's been riding his for years.
Here’s a gift link from today’s Times: you’re safe: Donnie won’t be a dictator because he’s a moderate: nytimes.com – 18 Dec 23 1
Opinion | The Secret of Trump’s Appeal Isn’t Authoritarianism
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/opinion/trump-election-2024.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G00.SxT5.-t-8pow0o3uC&smid=url-share
I laugh, so I don’t weep.
Jesus. Yes, he promised to get rid of Obamacare, and then tried to do so, but he's lazy and incompetent and left all the work to Paul Ryan and in the end the whole awful deal fell apart, so... moderation?
Here's another one: Yes, he's against "free trade" agreements. Why? Because he cares about the workers hurt by those agreements? Fuck no, what he wants is a system of arbitrary and capricious tariffs, because that allows maximum display of his power and practically limitless opportunities for graft. Such a moderate!
The more conservatives reassure us that King Toad is no potential dictator, the more I'm assured he will, indeed, be.
I pay for the NYT for its archives and for some of its stellar long-form journalism, but their political reporting is the shits, and I bitterly resent that my dues go in part to subsidizing risible crap like that column.
They've got the formula down: Contrarianism = Clicks. Any take that would prompt normal people to ask: "How the fuck can anyone believe THAT?" is golden.
Michelle Wolf put it best:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsWj7Q5iPus
Yeah, the outfits that guy writes for. And with a name like Schmitz, he had to have been born into wingnut welfare world. The Times and WaPoo are ramping up the repeats of Donald the Dove, Hillary the Hawk.
This guy used to work for First Things, and he now works with Sohrab Ahmari. So it's safe to assume he wants to worship at the throne of King Trump, these guys are all monarchists.
In case anyone here is interested in a career as a dishonest political hack, I'll explain one of the tricks he does: He defines "moderation" in terms of policy, even though it's clear that Trump does not care at all about policy, and only cares about his own power and wealth. So sure, Trump didn't try to dismantle Social Security and Medicare (which makes him "moderate" I guess?) but when people today worry about Trump's extremism, they're not talking about where he wants to take marginal tax rates, they're talking about his desire to be a dictator, to take vengeance on his opponents through the law, to be above the law himself. All things he has clearly said he wants to do.
In a way, our earlier policy-based definition of extremism (Bernie Sanders is "extreme" because he wants single-payer health care) was a luxury, borne out of the fact that - until Trump - debates could take place safely within the guardrails, democracy itself was not at stake. A thing this asshole clearly knows and understands, but pretends not to understand in the hopes you won't understand either.
His interest in "policy" is twofold. (1) Money for me and mine. (2) Who has shit-talked me and how can I get back at them? There is a kind of reverse angle on #2, which is That Nice Health Insurance Lobbyist With The Hot Wife Kissed My Ass at Mar-a-Lago, What Was It He Was Saying, Let's Do That.
So... moderate, amirite?
I thought he rode a taxi.
How do you feel about the edit function? Sometimes I feel as though I cheated the people who "liked" me pre-edit, but if they're paying enough attention they can rescind.
I strongly feel I need an edit function: if there is one, I can no longer access it.
Shit, I need a minder if I leave the house...
I doubt you need a minder, but did you notice the three little dots representing an ellipsis?
Yes: and until a recent Ios update i could edit: now the options are Hide, Delete, or Share; no Edit.
I desperately need to replace both as they are elderly and acting weird .
Like their owner.
Both Ipad and phone
Apple hates when we continue to use their older devices.
I have a 2013 Mac Pro that's outfitted as a digital audio workstation. I didn't make proper use of it. Been using it lately. I am afraid to update the OS.
I've got the cool Thunderbolt monitor they used to make. That, and a big external drive that only connects via Firewire.
If you access the SubStack through email or web, not the app, it'll allow you to edit your comments.
I need the edit function because of fricking autocorrect and what happens when typing on an iPhone. I’ll gladly edit for grammar and spelling without making a fuss that I did so. However, if I change the sense of my post or add/subtract from it substantially, I’ll note in the edit that I did so. (Whether that’s the preferred method I can’t say, but it works for me.)
Entirely more honest/appropriate than necessary, but a model for us all.
2 marks!
As Donald Trump said to Mike Pence: "You're too honest."
As long as you're not collecting a bunch of likes for some unobjectionable opinion and then changing it to GAS THE JEWS, I don't see a problem.
Fret not.
I knew we were fucked when David French and Billy Crystal. (No wait , that's Bill Kristol, ) all in all sounded like reasonable people.
They make all this noise about freedom and such but really, they just want to be sure they're kissing the right people's ass.
That's when they're the most comfortable.
Every once in a while people cite David fking Frum as one who is Good Now, Actually, and I want to beat myself unconscious.
Start out simple and do not try to do too much on the first attempt – beat them first and see how that goes.
As always, condolences to Roy to having to channel so much of the bullshit he’s channeling here for our amusement. Really, parodying Deplorable Daily would much easier since the pieces are short without any of the NR’s own channeling of WFB Jr.
Obviously, today’s post should be unlocked so the Acilu deadbeats can see how much Roy suffers to produce here.
It IS unlocked! Feel free to disseminate.
👍🏻
Unlike minds inexplicably thinking alike.
Not only channel it, but read it so we don’t have to. When I read right-wing propaganda I get so apoplectic I can’t think clearly. Razor-sharp satire is do therapeutic.
That’s why I stick with the Daily Deplorable occasionally. Can’t get too apoplectic about RWNJ idiocy when it’s pretty much self-parody.
“I rise in agreement with my National Review colleagues Jim Geraghty and Charles C.W. Cooke (and several others) that this whole “Trump will be a dictator” thing you may have been hearing lately is absurdly overblown.”
Nicely done Roy. Satire with two dashes of cynicism...:)
Truth be told, I don’t take Trump literally or seriously; however, the same can not be said for his new campaign team, made up of some evil geniuses: constitutional lawyers, professors, think tanks, religious organizations and fanatical billionaires.
No doubt, Trump will focus his attention on his enemies list; and using the presidency to expand his golf resort and real estate empire (emoluments clause be damned); while his band of nefarious actors try to re-shape our government in their mold: a Christian version of Sharia Law, run by a cadre of authoritarian kleptocrats.
If any of you have any doubt what Trump’s next presidency would resemble, consider the mess he made in his first term. Biden still hasn’t been able to reunite all of the women whose babies were separated and stolen.
Or consider the make up of the federal judiciary: religious fanatics and billionaire puppet’s now rule the highest court in the land for decades to come. Should Trump regain power, he would put at least one more Supreme Court justice on the bench, and nominate and confirm more than two-thirds of the federal judiciary. And in his second term, these judges would resemble more Eileen Cannon than Sandra Day O’Connor. Let that sink in!
Secondly, he has the Heritage Foundation, which is essentially a “right-wing” religious think tank that his already gearing up for a second Trump term; in which they will fire at least 50k federal employees who know how the government works, and replace them with complete loyalists, who promise to gut government, and make sure it never functions properly again. See the Heritage Foundation Project 2025.
And even if Trump leaves office in 28’, and the next president is a democrat, It will take years to undo all of the damage he causes; this doesn’t include whatever catastrophe’s he leaves his successor to deal with immediately.
In a nutshell, Trump’s demonic team will plant landmines throughout our federal government and its institutions, causing bottlenecks and chaos. He’ll install loyalists in key government positions; rendering the government useless and ineffective.
We need to take these people seriously. When Trump’s apologists tell us that Trump is only kidding, do not buy the BS. They intend to do everything they say, and they are so confident they will win, they’re willing to telegraph every play. These people are dangerous, and their vision of America’s future is dystopian.
I’m not sure if most of us are suffering from some sort of collective PTSD or a “shock” doctrine of sorts; however, what’s happening before us feels like we’re bystanders, watching a slow-motion high-speed train wreck in real-time; except we’re not bystanders, were passengers on the train.
So be afraid and vote blue. Tell all your friends it’s do or die; because this sentiment is the closest to the truth.
Just some thoughts...:)
The thing to understand about the average American Voter is that we're experiential learners. We need to stick our dick in the light socket to see what happens. Sure, some people SAY dick + light socket = not good, but we like to do our own research.
That’s the problem; their own research leads to dubious conclusions...:)
And they carry all the rest of us along for the experiment.
Wait, now....how's this gonna work?..(crosses legs)
Look, there's actual data on this! The DesMoines Register polled likely Republican caucus-goers on some of Trump's more outrageous statements, do they make you more likely or less likely to support him? Or do you just not care? And I find immense reassurance that fully a THIRD of Republican voters were turned off by: "If reelected president, Trump would have no choice but to lock up his political opponents." I mean, not so turned off that they definitely wouldn't vote for him, ever, but "less likely" to, anyway.
And a pretty consistent 40% of Republican voters answer "Don't care" to any question you care to ask.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2023/12/17/vermin-trump-iowa-republicans/71950815007/
I am reminded of the old British children's saying, "Don't care was made to care/Don't care was hung/Don't care was put in a pot and boiled 'till it was done!"
They don't care because they don't see it affecting them---until it does.
Damn, old British children were tough.
1.5 marks. 0.5 markdown because jealous.
Culty cult cult.
NR subtitle: "... the path of believing half the country is evil and eager to turn the U.S. into a fascist autocracy."
So is that how fascist autocracies come to pass?
"The line between good and evil runs not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either - but right through every human heart." - Solzhenitsyn
For some, Trump is "unfortunate but necessary" (Edroso's words). Trump offers a way out of an existential crisis. They're eager for a way out and they buy the con. To them it seems a bargain at the price they're paying.
What's that quote about "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil"? It's true, "eager" isn't required. "Just don't give a shit" will do just fine, thanks.
“Some of you may be imprisoned or killed, but that’s a price I’m willing to pay (get that fucking leopard 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 from me!)”
“Eager,” is a bit off: apathy allows for tyranny to reign supreme.
You forgot the most important quote of all:
“First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
—Martin Niemöller
"Let me know when they come for plumbing contractors in the greater Cedar Falls area, til then I'm fine."
Where’s Cedar Falls? I’m always in need of a good plumber. I live in Miami and I just had to replace my kitchen faucet. It cost me $3,800.00 with installation...:)
It's in Iowa. And you forgot to throw a "Thanks a lot, Biden!" at the end of that. I think that's pretty much mandatory these days.
Not when you an economist like myself. This is price gouging at its best, and in case you don’t know, Florida is experiencing the highest inflation in the nation. Too many people moving here, and his anti-immigration bill sent shockwaves through the immigrant community; sending tens of tens of thousands of undocumented immigrants leaving the state, causing worker shortages. Education and healthcare are also suffering as teachers and professors also flee.
My cost has more to do with the faucet than any policies. I have a high-end kitchen which needs to be replaced with high-end appliances in order to sell in my neighborhood. I bought a Dornbracht with the sprayer. I paid $3,200.00 without installation; wholesale. They’re actually almost double retail. So there’s that...:)
Huh, you mean the present "inflation" might be like the reports of organized retail theft - pure grade-A bullshit?
I'm shocked. Shocked.
If there's a Cedar Falls in Florida I bet it's one of those branded developments. Just down the road from Oak Springs.
Maybe it’s one of The Villages where people who love Franco and Mussolini like to retire.
Cedar Falls, Iowa, is quite nice. The University of Northern Iowa is there. Adjoining Waterloo is much grittier but also a unionized John Deere manufacturing town.
We had a mini de recho last night and a few cedars fell...
Ah, those Ordinary Men.
So Trump's a con man. Lately I wonder about the specifics of the con. Reference https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scam
What do the marks want, what are their various vulnerabilities. How are the phases of the con playing out. Is every phase applicable, et cetera. Yes, these topics are discussed, but often simplified and abbreviated. The term "con man" ends up empty, less useful for analysis, lacking in force.
If all he did was con the stupid and gullible, we wouldn't be talking about him. Everyone wants something. EVERYONE is vulnerable, if not to him.
People who think they're smart think they're safe. Being smarter or better than Trump makes you vulnerable if he offers what you desire and your guard is down. He IS dumb and worse-than, but only someone like Putin can easily manage him.
"He's not talking about you." Reminds me of this chorus :
"Sleepy eyes, waltzing through
No, I'm not talking about you"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amIMdUYEIJU