Straight Dope Message Board

[ThelmaLou]

And his supporters are still in massive denial about the damage their candidate has already inflicted...and he's not even President yet.

Dear Mr. Obama: You Are Still the President
My bold.

In the four weeks since the election, which seem like four centuries, Donald Trump has dominated the news and done real strategic and economic damage with his stream of intemperate tweets. For a reckoning of the chaos that his tweets about Taiwan and China have already induced, please see these Atlantic items: by Uri Friedman with Shen Dengli, by David Graham, by Chris Bodenner, and by Isaac Stone Fish, with links to many other analyses. The harm he petulantly inflicted today on Boeing, a company that is perennially the United States’s leading exporter and one of its most important high-tech manufacturing employers and standard-setters, is only the latest and most flagrant illustration.

This is not responsible behavior. This is not normal. This is not something the United States, or for that matter the world, can really withstand from a commander in chief. But this ungoverned, thin-skinned impetuosity is something the “responsible” GOP has decided, to its enduring shame, that it dare not criticize.

...

1

[Little_Pig]

I doubt in 12 months that you will find one sorry Son Of A Bitch who will admit that they voted for this Sack-O-Shit. 2

[Surreal]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

And his supporters are still in massive denial about the damage their candidate has already inflicted...and he's not even President yet.

Dear Mr. Obama: You Are Still the President
My bold.

Get a blog. 3

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by Surreal

Get a blog.

I should, shouldn't I? Maybe, if my sanity holds.

Actually, I kinda like the crowd here, even the people I disagree with. I think the intelligence/literacy level at the SDMB is a cut above the general blog-reading public. There are some very smart, well-read, incredibly knowledgeable people here. I'm constantly amazed at the level of analysis and the fact that someone can post a question on practically any arcane, far-out, technical subject, and someone will pipe up with, "Oh, yeah, that's what I do for a living and I wrote a book on it" or something. But I digress. 4

[asterion]

Originally Posted by Surreal

Get a blog.

Seriously. I'm about ready to petition the mods for a ThelmaLou Rule. 5

[mhendo]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

Actually, I kinda like the crowd here, even the people I disagree with. I think the intelligence/literacy level at the SDMB is a cut above the general blog-reading public.

If you really believe that, then maybe stop insulting everyone's intelligence with a constant barrage of content-free bitching about Donald Trump.

This thread added precisely nothing to the dozen others you've started over the last month, and didn't tell me anything that i haven't already seen in my Facebook feed.

I'm pretty sure that i'm as upset about Trump's election as you are, and when there are substantive issues to be discussed i'm happy to talk about them. I'm also not above simple derision and scorn when it comes to the Cheeto-in-Chief; he deserves every bit of it. But surely there are enough already-open threads where you can vent, without adding yet another one to the front page of the Pit? 6

[Little Nemo]

I don't see what you expect Obama to do. I feel he's already doing the right thing; recognizing Donald Trump is going to be President in a few weeks and doing all he can to help Trump get ready for the job. Attacking and undermining the next President is not the right thing for the current President to do. 7

[bobo blesinger]

Originally Posted by surreal

get a blog.

thank you!!! 8

[wolfpup]

Originally Posted by Surreal

Get a blog.

Personally, I find ThelmaLou's sourcing of important news items and her often cogent commentary to be a valuable addition to the board's political discussions in the aftermath of an extraordinary election that will have extraordinary consequences. Certainly far more valuable than anything I've seen from you, whose contribution of interesting or informative posts I currently number at zero. 9

[Happy Lendervedder]

Yeah, I gotta say I don't mind the ThelmaLou threads. I don't click on all of them, and post in even less, but I enjoy popping in and seeing the latest that she's dug up on the Circus Peanut-elect, and the discussion that follows.



I used to think the Trump campaign would be studied and dissected in poli sci courses for generations to come. Now, it's gonna be his whole administration that will be studied like an alien fungus that's infected humanity. I just wish I didn't have to witness this abomination first-hand. More to the point, I wish my kids didn't. 10

[ThelmaLou]

Thanks for those comments, especially the people who think I'm helping to fight ignorance... and the others, too. For the latter group, when you see that I've posted a new thread, I humbly suggest you not read it. Or go ahead and read it and contribute to the discussion by telling me I'm not contributing anything. Both of those work.

I'll try to cut back. A little. 11

[John Mace]

Still on the Reeder Expressway, huh? 12

[Wesley Clark]

I also enjoy the ThemlaLou political threads.

I am starting to look forward to a Trump presidency. I don't support him, and I think he is incompetent, but I realize some things are going to go really bad and I'm eager to find out how they go bad.

My fear is that after a year or so and Trump has not only not made anything better, but made things worse, his narcissism refuses to let him accept responsibility. So he looks for a scapegoat and his voters are eager to blame someone/anyone else for why Trump can't make america great again.

Not to sound melodramatic (it won't be that bad here obviously) but in China after Mao totally fucked everything up in the 60s, and he was put out to pasture he got enraged and started the cultural revolution. I could see Trump and his followers trying something similar. Going on an angry rampage against academics, intellectuals, the media, liberals, minorities, republicans who do not fall in line, etc. because they will blame them for blocking progress on 'making america great again'. When I say an angry rampage I'm sure there will be violence here and there but nothing that'll shatter the fabric of society. Probably random shootings by right wing extremists combined with some government surveillance and oppression.

I guess that is a major fear I have of a Trump presidency. He will encourage both legal repression and extra judicial violence against scapegoats when he is forced to confront that there are no easy answers to our problems. 13

[madsircool]

Wall Street doesn't agree with Thelma Lou. 14

[wolfpup]

Originally Posted by madsircool

Wall Street doesn't agree with Thelma Lou.

Would that be the same Wall Street that thought you could do no better in the late 1920s than to put all your money in the stock market? Or would it be the one that thought the same thing all over again in the early months of 1930?

Wall Street is an absolutely terrible predictor of actual future events. It's like a manic-depressive, buying everything in sight in a bout of euphoria whenever anyone with an "R" after his name gets elected, then pooping their diapees in panic when that same "R" says mean things to the leader of a belligerent power or is found having carnal relations with a goat. "Wall Street" is nothing more than the collective expectations and limited knowledge of its constituent members, many of whom voted for the idiot who is the subject of this thread. 15

[drad dog]

Originally Posted by madsircool

Wall Street doesn't agree with Thelma Lou.

Didn't don the con shake the markets yesterday by tweeting about boeing?

Maybe I missed your meaning? 16

[octopus]

Originally Posted by wolfpup

Personally, I find ThelmaLou's sourcing of important news items and her often cogent commentary to be a valuable addition to the board's political discussions in the aftermath of an extraordinary election that will have extraordinary consequences. Certainly far more valuable than anything I've seen from you, whose contribution of interesting or informative posts I currently number at zero.

Quantity can dilute quality. I'm all for free speech and posting what you wish. But every tiny thing being the end of the world or Hitler or racist or cheetoesque or whatever and impact is diminished to 0. 17

[John Mace]

Originally Posted by drad dog

Didn't don the con shake the markets yesterday by tweeting about boeing?

Maybe I missed your meaning?

DJI on Nov 8 = 18,332
DJI on Dec 6 = 19,251.

If you're going by "the market". 18

[Just Asking Questions]

Originally Posted by drad dog

Didn't don the con shake the markets yesterday by tweeting about boeing?

It was "only" 1%.

The asshole-in-chief didn't even have his facts right. And yet, people I work with voted for the circus peanut, and don't seem to mind that he's costing them money directly in their stocks. There are those who believe he did it deliberately, just to fuck with Boeing over some petty slight. 19

[Dangerosa]

Originally Posted by drad dog

Didn't don the con shake the markets yesterday by tweeting about boeing?

Maybe I missed your meaning?

Boeing got shook. The market is doing fine - even possibly better than fine. Which is to say that investors expect the Trump Presidency to be good for corporations - in the short term because as much as Warren Buffet says "invest for the long term" there are still a hell of a lot of people who think short term when it comes to stocks.

That doesn't mean that the market thinks a Trump presidency will increase geo-political stability, improve race relations, help working class Americans - the market has no opinion on that - just that corporations will be profitable and the rich will get richer. 20

[Vinyl Turnip]

"Still better than that bitch Hillary," croaked the blind mutant as he rummaged the still-smoking slag for a morsel of irradiated rat meat. 21

[Lobohan]

Originally Posted by Vinyl Turnip

"Still better than that bitch Hillary," croaked the blind mutant as he rummaged the still-smoking slag for a morsel of irradiated rat meat.

"Oh happy day! This is a mommy rat, with some yumsies wittle rat pups in her tummy!"—After the Bomb Chris Christie 22

[dasmoocher]

Originally Posted by Happy Lendervedder

... Circus Peanut-elect, ...

Here ya go. 23

[Lemur866]

Originally Posted by madsircool

Wall Street doesn't agree with Thelma Lou.

I thought Trump was supposed to stand up for the little guy against the fat cats on Wall Street? I guess that's not going to happen. 24

[Defensive Indifference]

Maybe we've been wrong about Trump. Time just gave him Person of the Year. That's a relief. They wouldn't give that to an authoritarian or a white supremacist, surely. (Is Time the "liberal media"? I've lost track of who's in the club.) 25

[John Mace]

You know who else Time gave Man* of the Year?

*It wasn't "person" back then. 26

[running coach]

Originally Posted by John Mace

You know who else Time gave Man* of the Year?

*It wasn't "person" back then.

Godwin? 27

[ZPG Zealot]

Originally Posted by Wesley Clark

I also enjoy the ThemlaLou political threads.

I am starting to look forward to a Trump presidency. I don't support him, and I think he is incompetent, but I realize some things are going to go really bad and I'm eager to find out how they go bad.

My fear is that after a year or so and Trump has not only not made anything better, but made things worse, his narcissism refuses to let him accept responsibility. So he looks for a scapegoat and his voters are eager to blame someone/anyone else for why Trump can't make america great again.

Not to sound melodramatic (it won't be that bad here obviously) but in China after Mao totally fucked everything up in the 60s, and he was put out to pasture he got enraged and started the cultural revolution. I could see Trump and his followers trying something similar. Going on an angry rampage against academics, intellectuals, the media, liberals, minorities, republicans who do not fall in line, etc. because they will blame them for blocking progress on 'making america great again'. When I say an angry rampage I'm sure there will be violence here and there but nothing that'll shatter the fabric of society. Probably random shootings by right wing extremists combined with some government surveillance and oppression.

I guess that is a major fear I have of a Trump presidency. He will encourage both legal repression and extra judicial violence against scapegoats when he is forced to confront that there are no easy answers to our problems.

I share your fears. I've already had one now former friend, Trump supporter go ballistic on me because I would not agree with her that reason she may lose her medical insurance (obtainable only because of the Obama administration's health care legislation) was because of the "liberals" and "media elites". Apparently being calmly informed that while she is entitled to her own opinion, she is not entitled to her own facts was too much for the Trump train brain. 28

[Defensive Indifference]

Originally Posted by John Mace

You know who else Time gave Man* of the Year?

Hmmm. Maybe. Was he an authoritarian and a white supremacist? 29

[Just Asking Questions]

Originally Posted by Bayard

Hmmm. Maybe. Was he an authoritarian and a white supremacist?

He was the archetype, the uber-supremacist. The leader. What the German word for that? I can't remember. "Trump"? No. Help me out here. 30

[dasmoocher]

Originally Posted by Bayard

Hmmm. Maybe. Was he an authoritarian and a white supremacist?

Naw. Just misunderstood by "the elite". He was just making Germany Great Again! 31

[Calatin]

Oh, good, another Trump thread by ThelmaLou. 32

[Clothahump]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

And his supporters are still in massive denial about the damage their candidate has already inflicted...and he's not even President yet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVlHZh5dvbA 33

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by octopus

Quantity can dilute quality. I'm all for free speech and posting what you wish. But every tiny thing being the end of the world or Hitler or racist or cheetoesque or whatever and impact is diminished to 0.

I take your point, but to me it's more like the scene from Gone with the Wind, when Scarlett O'Hara goes to the train yard where the wounded soldiers have been laid out. It starts with a close-up of her walking among a few soldiers, but as the camera backs up and moves vertically up, the scene gets wider and wider until Scarlett is just a speck and the wounded fill the entire movie screen.

I may post one or two articles every few days, but I'm choosing from among dozens and dozens in just the few publications that I read. The number of articles, opinion pieces, editorials, op-eds, letters to the editor expressing dismay and disgust at Trump's behavior, etc. is vast. The stuff I post is (to coin a phrase) the tip of the iceberg... the iceberg that many (including me) fear the Ship of State is headed into. Will there be lifeboats for all? I think not.

Like I said before, if you're weary of reading the stuff I cite from elsewhere, don't click into my threads. And I will try to cut back. 34

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by asterion

Seriously. I'm about ready to petition the mods for a ThelmaLou Rule.

Seconded,

Either get a fucking blog or create an omnibus "ThelmaLou Bitches About Everything Donald Trump Might Do" thread rather than create a million threads all of which boil down to "I think Donald Trump is yukky" or shut the fuck up. Any of those three will do fine.

You're actually rivaling Reeder with your obsessive thread starting. 35

[John Mace]

Last week's SNL opening skit was a riff on how Trump can't stop himself from tweeting. He promises to cut back, but then <10 seconds later> he's tweeting again. That was pretty funny. 36

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by Just Asking Questions

He was the archetype, the uber-supremacist. The leader. What the German word for that? I can't remember. "Trump"? No. Help me out here.

I can't remember either but he did stir up quite a furor. 37

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by Fenris

Seconded,

Either get a fucking blog or create an omnibus "ThelmaLou Bitches About Everything Donald Trump Might Do" thread rather than create a million threads all of which boil down to "I think Donald Trump is yukky" or shut the fuck up. Any of those three will do fine.

You're actually rivaling Reeder with your obsessive thread starting.

Geez, keep talking like that and I'm going to stop paying you to read my threads.

But actually, that's a good idea (I'm overlooking the unnecessarily rude tone). I'll stop opening threads willy-nilly, and this will be my personal omnibus Trump thread, and you and the others who don't like to read this stuff can avoid it like the plague. Deal? 38

[Fenris]

Deal--I don't care how much you talk about Trump, I care that the constant flow of new TRUMP!!! OUTRAGE!!!! threads are killing any other BBQ Pit non-Trump content. 39

[Son of a Rich]

How's that drainy swampy thing workin' out for ya'? 40

[running coach]

Originally Posted by Son of a Rich

How's that drainy swampy thing workin' out for ya'?

Swimmingly.

41

[Just Asking Questions]

Originally Posted by Ludovic

I can't remember either but he did stir up quite a furor.

That's IT!

The Stirrer.

No, wait, that's not it..... 42

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by Fenris

Deal--I don't care how much you talk about Trump, I care that the constant flow of new TRUMP!!! OUTRAGE!!!! threads are killing any other BBQ Pit non-Trump content.

Killing? How? 43

[Calatin]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

Killing? How?

It's bumping them down. There are currently 6 specifically anti-Trump threads currently in the Pit. 44

[milquetoast]

Originally Posted by Just Asking Questions

That's IT!

The Stirrer.

No, wait, that's not it.....

Now, this? This is fucking funny.

In fact, I'm now picturing the Nazis given their salute not with a flat palm, but with a slightly cupped palm so as to invoke the image of a spoon. 45

[Loach]

Originally Posted by wolfpup

Would that be the same Wall Street that thought you could do no better in the late 1920s than to put all your money in the stock market? Or would it be the one that thought the same thing all over again in the early months of 1930?

No I'm pretty sure those guys are all dead. 46

[Just Asking Questions]

Originally Posted by milquetoast

Now, this? This is fucking funny.

In fact, I'm now picturing the Nazis given their salute not with a flat palm, but with a slightly cupped palm so as to invoke the image of a spoon.

And they don't hold them still, but move the hand in a small, circular motion. 47

[octopus]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

I take your point, but to me it's more like the scene from Gone with the Wind, when Scarlett O'Hara goes to the train yard where the wounded soldiers have been laid out. It starts with a close-up of her walking among a few soldiers, but as the camera backs up and moves vertically up, the scene gets wider and wider until Scarlett is just a speck and the wounded fill the entire movie screen.

I may post one or two articles every few days, but I'm choosing from among dozens and dozens in just the few publications that I read. The number of articles, opinion pieces, editorials, op-eds, letters to the editor expressing dismay and disgust at Trump's behavior, etc. is vast. The stuff I post is (to coin a phrase) the tip of the iceberg... the iceberg that many (including me) fear the Ship of State is headed into. Will there be lifeboats for all? I think not.

Like I said before, if you're weary of reading the stuff I cite from elsewhere, don't click into my threads. And I will try to cut back.

I'm not weary of it and I am for more speech not less. There are a few reasons why I participate on sites where I am a minority expressed viewpoint. One is I like to see what is effective speech, at least from my subjective point of view.

You got a point though. Trump is that unusual of a president-elect that perhaps the volume of critique serves a useful purpose. 48

[Colibri]

Originally Posted by Calatin

It's bumping them down. There are currently 6 specifically anti-Trump threads currently in the Pit.

That's out of 24 active in the past two days. Not really killing the forum. 49

[Calatin]

Originally Posted by Colibri

That's out of 24 active in the past two days. Not really killing the forum.

Yeah, but when they all say essentially the same damn thing, it just becomes clutter. 50