# A Perfectly Reasonable Amount of Schadenfreude about Things Happening to Trump & His Enablers (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 14, 2020, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537 "2020-11-14T00:09:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 60
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1182 "2021-03-23T00:18:54Z")
Ah - **Robot Arm** popped in. Thanks to you both. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1183 "2021-03-23T00:23:43Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Which is? (not trying to be jerkish; I honestly don’t know what that means. Is this airplane lingo?) Sorry, I wasn’t trying to be obscure, I used the term without definition because it had been mentioned in a previous post (by **JRDelirious** in #1156). Easy to miss, though. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1184 "2021-03-23T00:30:47Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Fixed Base Operator; a business that rents planes, sells fuel, gives flying lessons, repairs aircraft, that sort of thing. The first thing that pops in my head is the show _Wings_. (Yes I am white.) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1185 "2021-03-23T09:38:37Z")
This crosses from “schadenfreude” into “outright hilarity”: Sidney Powell’s lawyers are arguing that her statements about Dominion were so outlandish that no “reasonable person” should have believed them. > **[Sidney Powell Argues Her Dominion Defamation Lawsuit Be Tossed Because ‘No...](https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2021/03/22/sidney-powell-argues-her-dominion-defamation-lawsuit-should-be-dropped-because-no-reasonable-person-would-believe-her/?sh=4930e9d61dad)** > > Powell is facing a billion-dollar lawsuit over her election conspiracy allegations. Mind you, the intersection between “Trump supporters” and “reasonable people” may well be null. ETA: It occurs to me that this is basically the civil suit version of an insanity defense. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1186 "2021-03-23T12:27:31Z")
The trump admin blocked nine key oversight probes, some of which may soon be released. Let the damaging revelations about the whole corrupt, incompetent nest of snakes come out! > **[Trump officials hindered at least nine key oversight probes, watchdogs said....](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-stymied-oversight/2021/03/22/0d3d6d8c-828d-11eb-81db-b02f0398f49a_story.html)** > > Independent federal watchdogs who scrutinized the Trump administration for waste, fraud and misconduct ran into roadblocks on multiple fronts, according to public documents and people familiar with inspector general offices. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1187 "2021-03-23T13:03:27Z")
I was pretty sure this was the same gambit Tucker Carlson’s attorneys used, and … yep: > **[Sidney Powell Uses Same Defamation Defense as Tucker Carlson's Fox Show](https://www.newsweek.com/sidney-powell-uses-same-defamation-defense-tucker-carlsons-fox-news-show-1578046)** > > Powell's attorneys claim that reasonable people would not have believed her accusations against Dominion to be fact instead of opinion. > Attorney Sidney Powell is defending herself from a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit using the same tactic successfully deployed by [Tucker Carlson](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/tucker-carlson)’s [Fox News](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/fox-news) show last year. This is maybe the apotheosis of cynicism: the Democrats don’t think Trump supporters are idiots _to nearly the degree_ that Trump and his organization do. Even when it’s shouted to the heavens that “WE’RE GULLING THE RUBES,” the rubes seem incapable of even noticing, much less comprehending. [Rube, watching the story on Fox: “Those idiots. SO gullible …”] #Murica ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1188 "2021-03-23T13:22:20Z")
> [@DavidNRockies](#): > > reasonable people Well - that excludes ALL MAGAtrash. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1189 "2021-03-23T13:47:25Z")
> **[Trump's presidency was a disaster for his business | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2021/03/22/opinions/donald-trump-net-worth-dantonio/index.html)** > > As he considered seeking the Reform Party nomination in 2000, Donald Trump speculated in an interview with Fortune magazine that he could be the first person to run for president "and make money on it." That was back when The Donald, as he was known... ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1190 "2021-03-23T14:09:32Z")
> When the case came to court in 2020, [U.S. District Judge Mary Kay Vyskocil accepted the Fox News attorneys’ argument](https://blogs.findlaw.com/greedy_associates/2020/09/tucker-carlson-successfully-argues-nobody-really-believes-tucker-carlson-is-reporting-facts.html) that no reasonable person would flatly accept Carlson’s claims to be factual rather than opinion. > “[Fox](https://www.newsweek.com/topic/fox) persuasively argues . . . that given Mr. Carlson’s reputation, any reasonable viewer arrives with an appropriate amount of skepticism about the statements he makes,” Vyskocil wrote. > “[W]hether the Court frames Mr. Carlson’s statements as exaggeration, non-literal commentary, or simply bloviating for his audience, the conclusion remains the same—the statements are not actionable.” Looks like the courts are going to have to redefine “reasonable.” ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1191 "2021-03-23T14:12:01Z")
The key difference between Carlson and Powell is that Carlson is a talking head presenting op-ed material on television, whereas Powell used her claims as part of the basis for actual lawsuits. Carlson can get away with a 1A defense; Powell will likely have a much harder time of it. > [@DavidNRockies](#): > > This is maybe the apotheosis of cynicism: the Democrats don’t think Trump supporters are idiots _to nearly the degree_ that Trump and his organization do. > > Even when it’s shouted to the heavens that “WE’RE GULLING THE RUBES,” the rubes seem incapable of even noticing, much less comprehending. And this is the irony of the whole “The Democrats are driving away Trump supporters by saying mean things about them” argument - Trump literally comes out and declares how much he loves poorly educated people and how they’d follow him no matter what crimes he committed, and their response is “Ha ha - boy, I’m glad _I’m_ not one of those gullible idiots he’s talking about!”. Nothing the Democrats could say or do is worse than what the right-wing political and propaganda machines have been doing to these people for decades, but they’ll still vote “R” in every election. ---
**Author:** ![DavidNRockies](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidnrockies/32/6279_2.png) [@DavidNRockies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidNRockies)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1192 "2021-03-23T14:32:55Z")
“Animal House” (specifically, Kevin Bacon) understood well this dysfunctional dynamic far in advance of it playing out on a grand scale: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIZoVO8ZyyQ) ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1193 "2021-03-23T15:10:33Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > The key difference between Carlson and Powell is that Carlson is a talking head presenting op-ed material on television, whereas Powell used her claims as part of the basis for actual lawsuits. Carlson can get away with a 1A defense; Powell will likely have a much harder time of it. I would hope that we have slightly stricter rules for a professional in the legal system than a television personality. I _ **hope** _. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1194 "2021-03-23T15:15:55Z")
If her defense is successful, does that mean that she can be prosecuted for each of the suits she filed in the election? Of course, there’s a difference between “can she be…” and “she is being…” ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1195 "2021-03-23T15:31:25Z")
It’s Schrödinger’s facts all the way down! “If I get away with making this ridiculous claim then it’s an assertion of fact, but if I don’t then obviously it was merely a personal opinion.” ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1196 "2021-03-23T15:48:34Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > If her defense is successful, does that mean that she can be prosecuted for each of the suits she filed in the election? Not _prosecuted,_ but certainly disciplined by the bar or sanctioned by the court. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1197 "2021-03-23T15:58:14Z")
That is my thought as well. Her court filings in defending herself from the defamation claim amount to admissions of professional misconduct. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1198 "2021-03-23T16:15:12Z")
:: steeples fingers :: Excellent. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1199 "2021-03-23T19:02:47Z")
> **[Oath Keeper Who Stormed Capitol Is Struggling to Cope Because He's a 'Family...](https://lawandcrime.com/u-s-capitol-siege/oath-keeper-who-stormed-capitol-is-struggling-to-cope-because-hes-a-family-man-with-no-previous-experience-being-jailed-lawyers-claim/)** > > A member of the Oath Keeper militia charged with coordinating a military-style attack on the U.S. Capitol is asking a federal judge to reconsider a ruling that will keep him in jail until the start of his criminal trial. From the motion filed by his lawyers: > “The psychological burdens of being detained pending trial are very real for Mr. Young. Since he has no previous experience with the criminal justice system, being detained is taking an extremely high toll on his mental well-being… Because he is such a strong family man, locking him up away from his wife and children with the prospect of an extremely long period of time before trial is even scheduled is causing potentially irreparable psychological and emotional damage to Mr. Young. I guess that means nobody should ever go to jail until after they’ve already had the experience of going to jail. 🤔 ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1200 "2021-03-23T19:20:50Z")
> [@Steve\_MB](#): > > I guess that means nobody should ever go to jail until after they’ve already had the experience of going to jail That particular argument is pretty weak, but reading over the motion as a whole, this guy probably deserves to be out on reasonable bail and conditions. (granted, I haven’t seen the government’s position on bail). This doesn’t mean he shouldn’t face trial and an appropriate sentence if convicted, but I’m not seeing the need for no bail. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2021, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537/1201 "2021-03-23T19:25:21Z")
Was he the guy who told his kids that “snitches get stitches?\*” \*Paraphrased. I think what he actually said was closer to: “_People who inform to the FBI are traitors, and traitors get shot’_” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537.md?page=59) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-perfectly-reasonable-amount-of-schadenfreude-about-things-happening-to-trump-his-enablers-part-1/925537.md?page=61)