Straight Dope Message Board

[Euphonious Polemic]

Originally Posted by aurora maire

Oh, it's worse than that. He made a Homeland Security Advisory (a general, no less) put out a statement taking all the blame on himself.

https://twitter.com/ddale8/status/1169727684286529538

Why are people willing to do this? It's mind boggling.

Pretty simple:

Authoritarian personality is a state of mind or attitude characterized by belief in absolute obedience or submission to someone else's authority, as well as the administration of that belief through the oppression of one's subordinates. It usually applies to individuals who are known or viewed as having an authoritarian, strict, or oppressive personality toward subordinates.

7501

[Walken After Midnight]

Looks like Trump is finally putting this whole Alabama thing behind him. 7502

[Walken After Midnight]

Originally Posted by Walken After Midnight

Looks like Trump is finally putting this whole Alabama thing behind him.

Jake Tapper responds:

Originally Posted by Jake Tapper

This clip is from Wednesday night, August 28. (Transcript:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...8/cnnt.01.html … )

No one disputes that Alabama was included in the track that day.

By the time of the president’s tweet Sunday that projection had changed significantly.

We all know this.

7503

[Monty]

Originally Posted by Walken After Midnight

Looks like Trump is finally putting this whole Alabama thing behind him.

Wow. Did you see the tweets from some of the trumpeters there? They're not even in the same fucking universe as Reality. 7504

[bobot]

Yeah, and they have a label: Republicans. We know all about them. They're legendary dumb fucks. They drool out of their mouths and slip on it. 7505

[JohnT]

:stretch: We have them here. :yawn: 7506

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by Monty

Wow. Did you see the tweets from some of the trumpeters there? They're not even in the same fucking universe as Reality.

This comment is pretty funny:

mister president sir! someone's posted a video that's been altered to make it look like you're an erratic and thin-skinned buffoon who can't help but make a goldarned fool of himself. oh wait, the video hasn't been altered. oh wait, you posted it yourself

7507

[dasmoocher]

Trump: "Waaaa! Reporters are being mean to me!"

What a childish snowflake.

Trump says two Washington Post reporters shouldn't be allowed at the White House

President Donald Trump on Saturday took aim at two Washington Post reporters, saying they “shouldn’t even be allowed” at the White House following a story critical of the administration’s record.

“The Washington Post’s @PhilipRucker (Mr. Off the Record) & @AshleyRParker, two nasty lightweight reporters, shouldn’t even be allowed on the grounds of the White House because their reporting is so DISGUSTING & FAKE,” the president tweeted at 7:09 a.m.

The tweet linked to an op-ed by White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham and Deputy Press Secretary Hogan Gidley rebutting a Washington Post story published earlier this week that highlighted the president’s missteps amid the administration’s policy stumbles over the summer. But the White House op-ed inaccurately claimed the Washington Post didn’t report stories that it actually did cover.

...

Trump this week has continued to level attacks on the media over the economy, climate and the presidential primary coverage amid the ongoing imbroglio over the president's hurricane comment.

"DISGUSTING & FAKE"? More psychological projection from an incompetent Trump--a disgusting person and fake business success.

The Washington Post story:

Trump’s lost summer: Aides claim victory, but others see incompetence and intolerance

What followed was what some Trump advisers and allies characterize as a lost summer defined by self-inflicted controversies and squandered opportunities. Trump leveled racist attacks against four congresswomen of color dubbed “the Squad.” He derided the majority-black city of Baltimore as “rat and rodent infested.” His anti-immigrant rhetoric was echoed in a missive that authorities believe a mass shooting suspect posted. His visits to Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso after the gun massacres in those cities served to divide rather than heal.

Trump’s economy also began to falter, with the markets ping-ponging based on the president’s erratic behavior. His trade war with China grew more acrimonious. His whipsaw diplomacy at the Group of Seven summit left allies uncertain about American leadership. The president returned from his visit to France in a sour mood, frustrated by what he felt was unfairly negative news coverage of his trip.

And this story was before the hurricane and the narrow escape of Alabama.

The truth hurts and Trump can't face it, so he invents this alternative reality where he's always right and successful. 7508

[dasmoocher]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

This comment is pretty funny:

Most of this Rick Wilson article is behind a paywall, but the opening paragraphs are an instant classic:

KIM JONG DON

Donald Trump Enters the Eccentric Dictator Phase of His Presidency

Laws? Elections? In the Dear Leader universe, these are mere echoes of the weak, corrupt past. And the facts are whatever he says they are.

As we enter Day Six of Sharpiegate, it’s tempting to dismiss it as just another week of our shitty, Trumpian New Normal. “Alabama would have been washed into the sea without my psychic intervention! CNN is evil! Fox is full of apostates! Debra Messing bad! Wall good!”

Sure, that bellowing you hear from the Oval Office may sound like the rantings of a kooky slowcoach accidental president of limited cognitive abilities. You could ascribe it to his obsessions and twitching, reflexive rages over even the slightest correction or disagreement as an act. We could blame it all on whatever slurry of toupee worms, mental illness, creeping dementia, tertiary syphilis, scurvy, and windmill cancer occupies his wee noggin, but it’s so much more, and it’s so much worse.

"Toupee worms", "wee noggin". Haha! I'm stealing. 7509

[Capn Carl]

I’ve looked all over the net. How are the hurricane victims of Alabama doing? 7510

[Snowboarder Bo]

They're gonna make it. They're getting tons of support from people in Bowling Green. I understand the government of Nambia is sending an aid package. 7511

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Capn Carl

I’ve looked all over the net. How are the hurricane victims of Alabama doing?

The devastation is so bad for the rescue crews that the closer they get, the further they fall. Some get pushed over the edge, in no time at all. 7512

[jsc1953]

Originally Posted by Capn Carl

I’ve looked all over the net. How are the hurricane victims of Alabama doing?

They play New Mexico State today; it will be ugly. Pray for the Aggies. 7513

[wolf_meister]

Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo

They're gonna make it. They're getting tons of support from people in Bowling Green. I understand the government of Nambia is sending an aid package.

Ahem ... the country is NAMIBIA!!!

Sinsearley,
donald dump 7514

[Snowboarder Bo]

7515

[Johnny L.A.]

nm 7516

[JohnT]

Secret meetings with the Taliban in camp David y'all. Cancelled by Fearful Leader:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...177236992?s=19 7517

[E-DUB]

Originally Posted by Snowboarder Bo

They're gonna make it. They're getting tons of support from people in Bowling Green. I understand the government of Nambia is sending an aid package.

Fondue sets? 7518

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Secret meetings with the Taliban in camp David y'all. Cancelled by Fearful Leader:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...177236992?s=19

That has GOT to be utter crap, right? The Taliban at Camp Fucking David?? 7519

[Fiveyearlurker]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

That has GOT to be utter crap, right? The Taliban at Camp Fucking David??

To celebrate the anniversary of September 11th. 7520

[D_Odds]

Of course, it's crap. Consider the source. The only question is from which fuck up he's trying to steer the "fake media" away. Maybe he's tired of hearing about Alabama. 7521

[QuickSilver]

Originally Posted by D_Odds

Of course, it's crap. Consider the source. The only question is from which fuck up he's trying to steer the "fake media" away. Maybe he's tired of hearing about Alabama.

He probably should stop bringing it up. 7522

[Defensive Indifference]

Originally Posted by E-DUB

Fondue sets?

::golf clap:: 7523

[Monty]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Secret meetings with the Taliban in camp David y'all. Cancelled by Fearful Leader:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...177236992?s=19

There are some rather...odd comments from the magats/trumpeters/fucking deluded jackasses there about why it's such a great thing. And there are some mighty fine comements from people acquainted with reality. My favorite is this one:

Originally Posted by Kim on twitter

It’s sad when you don’t believe a word coming out of the President’s mouth. I saw this and my first thought was he is full of it.

My immediate thought on reading that was:

What's even sadder is those who do believe any word coming out of this president's mouth.

7524

[jasg]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

That has GOT to be utter crap, right? The Taliban at Camp Fucking David??

Yes, total crap. Everyone knows they had a non-refundable reservation at the Trump International Hotel in D.C. 7525

[Little Nemo]

I wish the media was reporting Fake News. It would make all those reports that refer to Donald Trump as the President a lot easier to take. 7526

[jsc1953]

I don’t know which is weirder: (a) if there really were secret negotiations with the Taliban at Camp David; (b) it’s a Trump fantasy; or (c) it was true and he blabbed the whole story on Twitter. 7527

[Monty]

Originally Posted by jsc1953

I don’t know which is weirder: (a) if there really were secret negotiations with the Taliban at Camp David; (b) it’s a Trump fantasy; or (c) it was true and he blabbed the whole story on Twitter.

Out of all the myriad possibilities about this latest twit, er tweet, not a single one of them comes out good for that worthless jerk pretending to be a president. 7528

[JohnT]

Trump sure seems to be tweeting a lot of classified information lately. Seems odd for a President. 7529

[Spoons]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Trump sure seems to be tweeting a lot of classified information lately. Seems odd for a President.

For a mentally-stable president, yes. But this is Donald Trump. 7530

[Sage Rat]

Originally Posted by D_Odds

Of course, it's crap. Consider the source. The only question is from which fuck up he's trying to steer the "fake media" away. Maybe he's tired of hearing about Alabama.

Neither one is a particularly notable fuck-up.

My guess would be that he's trying to bury news about something actually important. Maybe just the idea that there's an impending bad economy, maybe something to do with the impeachment investigations / Deutsche Bank, hard to say. The media is too easily distracted away from substance over to fluff that it can be hard to spot the things that Trump likes to hide and I haven't been paying close enough attention to the news, this time around.

Everyone in America should probably know about the Polar Silk Road. I doubt that almost anyone does, despite the whole Greenland nonsense. The media is really composed of morons. 7531

[El_Kabong]

Originally Posted by ThelmaLou

That has GOT to be utter crap, right? The Taliban at Camp Fucking David??

I understand that Taylor Swift was going to be there to perform a few cuts from her new album, as well. 7532

[Happy Lendervedder]

Originally Posted by JohnT

Secret meetings with the Taliban in camp David y'all. Cancelled by Fearful Leader:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/...177236992?s=19

Someone needs to tell him "Either we take your phone or we break glass on the 25th Amendment."

It's like he hears things, information that a president should be privy to, from people who are important in his life, but he can't process this information like a lucid adult anymore. And yet, he's still aware that he's important, so feels he has to present himself, and the information he has, as he thinks an important person might. Therefore, we get Tweets with satellite pics of Iran, week-long obsessions over trivial verbal mistakes, and announcements that super-secret meetings with the Taliban have been hereby canceled because of reasons.

He's heard words regarding Category 5 hurricanes, states in the south, Afghanistan, the Taliban, Camp David, Iran, etc, but is absolutely unfit to handle or process or discuss this information anymore.

My dad was recently diagnosed with vascular dementia. As his son, I've seen big changes in his personality even before the formal diagnosis, and I'm beginning to think he shouldn't do certain things anymore, like drive in unfamiliar places. So I just don't know how Trump's loved ones and/or the people in the West Wing can allow him to continue to stay in this position much longer. I mean, ffs, this isn't just a drivers license we're talking about. I have to think there are family and friends who are seriously getting concerned about his mental health, just from a personal standpoint, politics and re-election aside. It's getting harder and harder to ignore. 7533

[Monty]

Happy: Did you ever consider that his "family and loved ones" are as awful as he is? 7534

[Rick Kitchen]

Individual 1 just tweeted a video of him playing with a cat and a laser pointer while holding his Alabama map. I don't even.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1170546650651271169 7535

[Happy Lendervedder]

Originally Posted by Monty

Happy: Did you ever consider that his "family and loved ones" are as awful as he is?

It's more than just being awful at this point. He's been publicly awful for pertinear 50 years, and he's been presidentially awful for 960 days. It's one thing to be on-board with that shit, but now he's slipping mentally. I have a hard time believing the people around him, as awful as they ab-sol-utely are, are just seeing this shit as Donald-as-Usual. It's not. No one wants to see their father/brother/friend/husband lose cognitive ability even within their small circle, let alone on such a grand, historic, public display. This has to be eating at them a little. I hope it is, actually. I hope they're losing sleep, and that they're worried sick about what to do next about this situation.

Public hatred and public adoration are two things he and his garbage-bag bootlickers thrive in. But we're on the verge of something new, and it's Trump's worst possible nightmare: Looking pathetic and being pitied. I can't imagine the people who are there to protect him and his brand want that. 7536

[Kimstu]

Originally Posted by Happy Lendervedder

Public hatred and public adoration are two things he and his garbage-bag bootlickers thrive in. But we're on the verge of something new, and it's Trump's worst possible nightmare: Looking pathetic and being pitied. I can't imagine the people who are there to protect him and his brand want that.

I think the people who are "there to protect him and his brand" are well aware that he's continuing to trash his brand with every word he utters. Maybe they figure that their own best hope is for the public to see him crumbling into obvious crippling debility and perhaps ease off on him out of pity.

I would be surprised if consideration for Trump's own feelings of distaste for seeming pathetic and pitiable is high on their list. If President Trump pulling down his adult diapers on national television and proudly showing the world the great poo-poo he just did makes a graceful exit easier for themselves, I think they'll cheerfully sacrifice his dignity. (Not that Trump himself didn't shamelessly trample on his dignity every chance he got; but it was always in ways that he fondly imagined provoked admiration and envy on the part of others.) 7537

[Snowboarder Bo]

Originally Posted by Monty

Happy: Did you ever consider that his "family and loved ones" are as awful as he is?

You're gonna love this news then: Manager: Trump family building ‘dynasty’ for decades to come!

President Donald Trump’s campaign manager predicted Saturday that the president and his family will become “a dynasty that will last for decades,” transforming the Republican Party while hewing to conservative values.

Speaking to a convention of Republican Party delegates in Indian Wells, California, Brad Parscale also said the campaign’s goal is to build a national army of 2 million trained volunteers, far beyond the president’s 2016 organization, that in California could help the GOP retake a string of U.S. House seats captured by Democrats last year.

“The Trumps will be a dynasty that will last for decades, propelling the Republican Party into a new party,” he said. “One that will adapt to changing cultures. One must continue to adapt while keeping the conservative values that we believe in.”

Parscale later declined to elaborate on his prediction of a coming Trump “dynasty,” or whether the president’s children could become candidates for public office.

He told reporters after the speech, “I just think they are a dynasty. I think they are all amazing people with ... amazing capabilities.”

Where can I write in to suggest that they call their "army" the Friends of the American People? 7538

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by jsc1953

I don’t know which is weirder: (a) if there really were secret negotiations with the Taliban at Camp David; (b) it’s a Trump fantasy; or (c) it was true and he blabbed the whole story on Twitter.

I guess we'll hear from the Taliban tomorrow whether it was true or not. Frankly, they are a more reliable source than Deal Leader. 7539

[JohnT]

I'm thinking President Talibama Cat Laser is going to have a difficult time graciously accepting an election loss. 7540

[enipla]

"Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday."

It was such a sekrit meeting, even the Taliban or the President of Afghanistan didn't know about it! 7541

[ThelmaLou]

Originally Posted by enipla

"Unbeknownst to almost everyone, the major Taliban leaders and, separately, the President of Afghanistan, were going to secretly meet with me at Camp David on Sunday."

It was such a sekrit meeting, even the Taliban or the President of Afghanistan didn't know about it!

I'm expecting those same Taliban leaders to announce sometime today, "The meeting was so secret even WE didn't know about it!" 7542

[Try2B Comprehensive]

Originally Posted by Rick Kitchen

Individual 1 just tweeted a video of him playing with a cat and a laser pointer while holding his Alabama map. I don't even.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1170546650651271169

He's obviously just trying to get ahead of Yakety Sax with this one 7543

[Siam Sam]

I wonder how the toasts would have gone on the anniversary of 9/11. No doubt the Chump brigade would have blamed the 3000 dead for being in the way of the airplanes. 7544

[Mijin]

Economist article on the peace talks with the Taliban.

I think they are implying that this should not be filed in one of the vaults of Trump's mistakes.
a) It made sense to organize peace talks, because in fact the Taliban have captured a lot of Afghanistan at this point, and any peace must now involve negotiations with them.
b) Then it made sense to cancel those talks, because the deal being proposed had virtually no concessions from the Taliban, and they were using the dreadful tactic of ramping up attacks to try to strengthen their negotiating hand further.

It's not the end though, so Trump still has a chance to do something stupid. 7545

[Locrian]

Originally Posted by Mijin

Economist article on the peace talks with the Taliban.

I think they are implying that this should not be filed in one of the vaults of Trump's mistakes.
a) It made sense to organize peace talks, because in fact the Taliban have captured a lot of Afghanistan at this point, and any peace must now involve negotiations with them.
b) Then it made sense to cancel those talks, because the deal being proposed had virtually no concessions from the Taliban, and they were using the dreadful tactic of ramping up attacks to try to strengthen their negotiating hand further.

It's not the end though, so Trump still has a chance to do something stupid.

He already did. He had a chance at doing something grown up and presidential looking, but had to tweet a “Hey, look at me” moment and turn it into a toddler moment. 7546

[Johnny L.A.]

Originally Posted by Locrian

He already did. He had a chance at doing something grown up and presidential looking, but had to tweet a “Hey, look at me” moment and turn it into a toddler moment.

Look what I can do! 7547

[kirkrapine]

I once sent Trump a letter:

"Dear Mr. President,

The president of the United States does not tweet. It is beneath the dignity of your office."

He never answered, not even by form letter. Of course, it has been obvious since he came down the escalator that he cares nothing for the dignity of the office.

(And yes, I know Obama sent out a few tweets while in office, but there is really no comparison.) 7548

[kirkrapine]

Originally Posted by Locrian

He already did. He had a chance at doing something grown up and presidential looking, but had to tweet a “Hey, look at me” moment and turn it into a toddler moment.

Yeah, he does that. Remember his "Pocohantas" crack against Warren, when he was receiving the Navajo code-talkers in the OO? The really disturbing thing was that even at an event so innocuous and nonpartisan as a ceremony to honor heroes of the Second World War, he could not resist a bit of ill-natured partisan sniping. 7549

[Snowboarder Bo]

Originally Posted by Johnny L.A.

Look what I can do!

I don't even have to click that link to know it's about "stuarting", isn't it? 7550