The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age
    stillidealistic's picture

    Goodbye American Presidency

    By stillidealistic on Thu, 12/08/2016 - 6:36pm |

    Give him a chance.

    OMG. 

    Every day is a new horror. No matter how I try to shield myself from it. It follows me wherever I go. If it isn't on facebook, it's on the commentary shows I used to like to watch, or coming across my yahoo news.

    Today it is a preview of the inauguration, unlike ever we've ever seen, we're told. The narcissist will fly in in a helicopter, in a production put on by his good buddy, Mark Burnett, who produces reality tv, and who kept us from seeing the out takes of the Apprentice that just MIGHT have horrified enough people to change the outcome of the election.

    People wanted change.

    They got it in a big way.

    Instead of a President who will be thoughtful in the way he approaches the world, one who wants to do as much good for the world as he can do, we have one who thrives on being adored, and plans on using this platform not only to enrich himself and his family financially, but to stroke his monumental ego to the point where it will feel like watching porn.

    As a side affront, we'll also get one who is so thin-skinned, that whenever anyone, not just a journalist or other elected official, disses him, he'll take to twitter to disparage him/her. Who ever heard of a President taking on a corporation when the CEO says something negative about him, to the point where their stock plummets (even temporarily?) We are about to see what real power looks like in the hands of a bully. A pathological liar. A narcissist. A person so shockingly uninterested in learning anything about how America fits into the world, that he's going to just wing it. Use his instincts instead of diplomacy. Lean on his own understanding of how he wants things to be instead of using the State Department to navigate through the world's issues. 

    The person who RAILED against Hillary's use of emails now speaks to foreign leaders on his private phone, and conducts trump business while he's at it. 

    He is making a mockery of our presidency. And there doesn't seem to be anything we can do to stop him, and the cowardly republicans seems content to just let donald be donald while they figure out how to use him to their advantage.

    Be afraid people. Be very afraid.

     

    Comments

    The NYT called his attacks on the Carrier union leader cyberbullying.

    At the inauguration he would be booed relentlessly, so the chopper makes sense.

    Apparently the half of the nation's eligible voters who weren't motivated by his race baiting, ludicrous promises etc to vote to keep this sociopath out may before long become aware that both sides aren't the same. And I would hope the greens would become aware of that too.

    At least the GOP will not be wholly engaged in partisan investigations and will have to actually govern, which they have no skills at whatever.


    by NCD on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 1:04am

    Yes, and to add. After railing for months about Hillary's emails and the trumpsters chanting "lock her up" he's talking about making Patraeus SoS. The worse Hillary might have done is send classified documents to people who were cleared to see them over a server that was not properly secured. Patraeus showed classified documents to his lover who was not cleared to see them and then lied to the FBI about it. Much worse but now the trumpsters don't care.


    by ocean-kat on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 1:28am

    They revel in their own hypocrisy, irony, chutzpah. It's a vicious cycle - they enjoy seeing us outraged and we're so easily outrageable now. How to break out?


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 1:33am

    Outrage is good. People left their homes and traveled to Alabama because they were outraged by water hoses and dogs used to attack children, The citizens of Alabama enjoyed the fact that "outsiders" were outraged by these actions. The Alabama police and firemen were glad that others were outraged. The proper response to those ridiculing the righteous outrage is to keep up the attack against evil. The local.media viewed the "outsiders" as the troublemakers. Our current media is so ingrained in the absurd that they try to normalize the evil. A national security adviser is a fake news believing nut case, but it is OK because there will two sane generals at the Department of Defense and Homeland Security who will keep Flynn in check. We just have to look away from the fact that the frigging president-elect is a nutjob.

    Outrage is good. In Alabama the outraged were called troublemakers and Communists. Today the outraged will be called unpatriotic and race-baiters. Wear the labels with honor. Justice is on our side.


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 9:16am

    Yeah, but there was a majority in the north & the government in Washington to back up the struggle against that outrage.

    This time it feels like walking into the desert without a canteen, or simply Alice in Through the Looking Glass trying to make heads or tails from a lunatic asylum. If anyone's the Red Queen, it's Trump, twittering "off with her head, rigged, crooked" at the slightest provocation. Twitter Dumb and Twitter Dumber - the 2 sides of Donald.

    Worse, as you note many of the folks we think should relatively by a far margin be on the same side instead take a leave of their senses and sit this one out or even support the other side. I mean, sure, I supposed there's some equivalence between being impolite in a grocery store line and going full Jeffrey Dahmer on strangers - both sides do it, you know.


    by PeraclesPlease on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 9:32am

    The stock market is up, unemployment is down, but people are scared. When you talk to Trump supporters, they spew nonsense. They only know that Trump makes them feel safe. Hillary would be worse is the only reply. When things go off kilter, Trump supporters will double down on their faith in Trump. There is no rational appeal that can be made to Trump supporters at the present time. Facts don't matter. Discussion will not change the opinions of Trump supporters. This is the new normal. We are on our own.


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 10:01am

    Reference to facts, objective reality or rational appeals are "elitist snobbery."

    Comment at NYT:

    This coming Inauguration Day will be a poignant remembrance of the two previous ones, especially that in 2009 when a young Illinois senator with the DNA of widely-separate continents in his blood swore his oath to heaven to "preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. So help me, God." It cannot be said that he failed as did scores of men and women who called the House of Representatives and the Senate home; those who were willfully derelict in their duty to both their concept of the almighty and their consciences as they pursued, with evil purpose, the destruction of the country they claimed to love.

    Americans might, before January 20, take a little time to reflect upon exactly what those words mean and how alien they most assuredly are to the man who will profane the Bible with his spotted hand.

    With Shakespeare in mind ("all our yesterdays") we are about to be led into a thousand anxious tomorrows by a man who, it can be seriously doubted, ever pledged allegiance to anyone or anything but himself. The mind recoils at the coming obscenity but we did this to ourselves.

    So help us, God.


    by NCD on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 11:30am

    We have to remind ourselves that this is not normal. Alt-right is white supremacy and Nazism. When we see Steve Bannon and alt-right guests are brought on TV,we have to remove the cleansing label and remember who they are. The country was salivating about destroying the Clinton Foundation, everybody joined in. But we stand by as Trump robs the nation , shoving taxpayer dollars into his pockets in front of our yes. He will be making money from NBC as executive producer to a show that they will keep on air. We see conflicts of interred tall around us but the public is fine with theft committed by the Trump family. We will have to use spaces like this to remind of of the truth.

    We also have to remember, sadly, that people we work with on a daily basis support the madness. We have remind ourselves of who they are. We have to remind ourselves that people who come by to laugh at the trauma that Trump creates are part of the problem. Anyone enjoying the carnage is evil. Trump supporters and the media will try to make sense out of nonsense. They will not pose any real resistance to the Trump administration. We enter perilous times.

    Police knew that they can kill with reckless abandon. Sessions and the DOJ will turn a blind eye. Latinos can be attacked at will. Muslims can expect attacks as can Jews. White supremacists hate all Semites. Abortion clinics will face increased attacks, not because Trump supporters care about life, but because they want to punish people who disagree with how the white supremacists believe people should behave. Hate crimes will rise and Trump supporters will ignore the attacks.

     Trump supporters are gullible. They will fire a shot in a pizzeria because of a fake story they read. The will claim that Trump gave them a job despite he fact that jobs will be sent overseas.You can't fix stupid and that is where we are with Trump voters.


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 12:06pm

    You nailed it, rmrd. And on top of everything else, he's looking for the names of all the people who worked on programs he disagrees with, and it sounds like they will be fired. Most disgusting I suppose is that non-disclosure documents are being signed...I recognize this is common in business, but not in government. There is SUPPOSED to be transparency. Why are the repubs not SCREAMING about this? He is doing it in their names!!!


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 2:46pm

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/09/tru...


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 3:45pm

    The exec. producer credit of course covers any cash conduit needed, and is a generally agreed upon "no show" job....but I will fade any bet up to three digits that the fat motherfucker makes one or more cameos

     


    by jollyroger on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 5:22pm

    They never cared about any of it other than they hated the black man, and what better way to get back at him, than to destroy the person they KNEW would carry on his legacy? The fact that they hated Hillary, too, was just a bonus. They NEVER cared about her e-mails. If anyone EVER thought they did, surely this Patraeus crap should put the lie to that.


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 2:51pm

    Of course not. They just know what would undermine her support among liberals. In the same way, democrats need to start attacking Trump on issues which will weaken his support among some part of his base. Screaming "hypocrisy!" and pointing at their political gamesmanship isn't going to do that.


    by Obey on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 5:11pm

    I agree, I'm just not sure how to proceed. It's like all the rational stuff won't work, and I can't make myself think like they think...or don't think. Maybe they need some of Jolly's weed!


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 5:30pm

    I think the part of the GOP base to seek common cause with are some of the Libertarians. They have eschewed the Left for creating what they see as a "nanny state." But now that we are becoming a Banana Republic, they are going to get a chance to find out who they have been sharing a cabin with for all these years.

    Sometimes a face plant is the only thing that will get a person's attention.


    by moat on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 5:39pm

    The trouble is that the only things that will get their attention once they are gone are so crucial to so many people's lives, that the damage will be horrific and extremely difficult to reverse in a timely fashion... I can't even let myself wish it on them.


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 5:42pm

    That is a lot of trouble and I do not wish it upon myself or other people.
    I am just trying to meet Obey's challenge to deal as best we can with impending conditions.
    As often happens in our lives, when the shit really hits the fan, we have to cooperate with people we would not have to in better times.
    We all have axes to grind and who doesn't like a sharp axe? But Obey is correct. If we can change the margins a little bit by attracting a group that is no longer being supported by the other side, then that sounds like a plan to me. This election has made us more of a parliamentary kind of state than we were before. 


    by moat on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 6:18pm

    In Kansas people reflected a Governor who put the state into bankruptcy.Rather than admit a mistake a vote for a Democrat, they doubled down and reelected the wingnuts. People don't like admitting mistakes, especially he they went full bore crazy with Trump. A better target is the pool of voters who went third party because "there was no difference"  Millennials  and minorities who did not vote are a better pool to look for allies than the Libertarians or Republicans.


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 6:28pm

    Well, the topic was if there was any chance of weakening the GOP base. I understand your doubts about whether efforts made in that direction would ever come to anything. But I wasn't proposing the idea as the only thing that should be done. I am on board with focusing on the "no difference" crowd. But they have their own education deficits to overcome.


    by moat on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 6:51pm

    Republicans appear to be ready to go after Social Security, minimum wage, and health care. Some of the enthusiasm for Trump may, in fact, die down. I admit I am very skeptical.


    by rmrd0000 on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 9:44pm

    I am skeptical too. But the changes that are coming are going to hit people hard with nobody to blame for the results but the people who made them. Previous GOP administrations tread carefully where the next one is already starting to stomp around like agitated elephants. We are in a new territory.


    by moat on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 7:21pm

    A comment at Driftglass on the current state in Trumpville land:

    I see them termed as sore winners, but their vitriol has been ramped up exponentially to where it's not only Pizza Parlor shootings, endless phone called death threats to a Union leader (who told the truth), but calls to either kill, maim and/or round up and kick out all Democratic voters from the USA because we are not "real citizens."

    My speculation is that Bannon's hatchet men (I'm sure that it's highly likely they're all men) are given the go-ahead to rile up the rubes in this way to deflect their attention from how very seriously and thoroughly the Donald is presently screwing over his base of slavering fans royally. In order to stop them from turning on Trump, they are re-directing their rage at the ever handy targets.

    Great. These chumps'll never admit how cleverly & ruthlessly Trump played them for their idiot votes, and anyway, they're always eager to stick it to LIEbruls who are somehow always ruining their precious "economically insecure" lives. 

    Good luck to all sane citizens in the USA... an ever decreasing minority.


    by NCD on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 7:28pm

    I have had my confidence in my own judgment permanently shaken--it's extended to disturbance in my spatial orientation as well, although that  might be the weed (extra special primo this last batch)


    by jollyroger on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 5:18pm

    I was just pondering about Dick Cheney.

    Remember when he took over the reins of the White House? ha

    And he had been CEO of Halliburton.

    And we ended up in two wars and his old corp made billions?

    And to this day we really do not know what Dick's 'parachute' was worth?

    And I am supposed to worry about Hillary's charities that helped millions upon millions of people?

    And Trump has scams all over the frickin world and....

    Sameo, sameo hahahahaah

    The repubs just do not hide their real intents any more.

    BUT THE INTENTS REMAIN THE SAME THROUGHOUT THE DECADES.

    But us?

    We shall survive.

     

     


    by Richard Day on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 8:22pm

    Just anecdotally speaking, are any of you hearing anything from personal friends or family regretting their support of donald? I'm sure not. They don't think seem to think any of this is real. There won't be any negative fallout from a repeal of Obamacare, Medicare and SS will be left alone, and donald will continue to stop corporations from taking jobs out of the country. They are citing the Carrier deal as proof that everything is going to be okay. At least the people in MY world are.


    by stillidealistic on Fri, 12/09/2016 - 9:50pm

    There is no way in hell that the American people elected that jerk.

    Hillary is leading by 2.8 million votes now.

    It was a digital coup. Finally the CIA speaks up.

    We have to correct this mess. Somehow. 

    How can we let this slide?

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-revi...


    by stratofrog on Sat, 12/10/2016 - 2:14am

    It feels like a "damned if we do, damned if we don't" situation. The wingnuts on the right are going to literally go ballistic if the results of the election are overturned as a result of the recounts or the electoral college stepping up to the plate and saving us from this creature. On the other hand, the damage he will do is so unfathomable as to probably be worth it. BUT, if Hillary is ultimately the president, she is going to have a miserable time in office. I don't know that I want to wish that on her. What a frickin' mess.


    by stillidealistic on Sat, 12/10/2016 - 1:54pm

    Why the fuck should we care if they "go ballistic"? I hope their heads explode. I think if Hillary some how made it to the White House, she would have a gay old time - the president's not *that* powerless against bullshit.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 12/10/2016 - 2:55pm

    I LOVE the way you think!!!


    by stillidealistic on Sat, 12/10/2016 - 6:00pm