Extra super pedantic nitpickery: IQ is defined as a normal distribution with a standard deviation of 15 (in its most commonly used form) so, in this case, the mean, the median and the mode are exactly the same.
Didn’t Aaron Burr advocate for Second Amendment remedies against Alexander Hamilton?
Just as a personal anecdote, I have been questioned by the Secret Service, and it was a surprisingly informal procedure.
Back in 2008, I was in an argument on an AOL chatroom where some Truthers were claiming that the government was probably listening in on the chat, and I was arguing that that was nonsense. In an attempt to “prove” my point, I made certain imprudent remarks about the president that I won’t repeat here.
A few days later, a few field agents from the Seattle office came by my house one morning while I was at work. My roommate gave them my cell number and they called me. I told them where I was, and they drove out there and talked to me in the parking lot for about 15 minutes and took my picture. At the end, the senior agent told me she didn’t think I was a threat and they’d forward the interview to the US Attorney and it’d be filed in a secret database which she assured me ordinary criminal/commercial background checks have no access to. That was the last I ever heard of the matter, and it hasn’t come up in any background checks I’ve had since then.
In my case, at least, it didn’t involve being “hauled in for questioning” or anything. I imagine that since Trump already has a Secret Service detail with them, they’ll just have a couple of guys talk to him on the road and refer the paperwork to the US Attorney.
He is spot on correct.
This is why it is no longer hyperbole and no longer an insult to refer to American “conservatives” as fascists – because they are behaving like fascists.
They deliberately concoct absolutely outrageous lies, statements that have absolutely no basis in fact, and they do so without an ounce of shame before moving on to the next lie. And then they repeat theses lies, or they simply pretend as though they were not said at all, or that other people misunderstood them.
Then there is the demonization of the minorities and the dangerous ‘other’, from Mexicans, to legal immigrants of different faiths. And there are the hints that they may have their rights violated in significant ways.
There is the vicious and increasingly violent reaction to opposition or people who simply appear at a rally out of protest. And ordinary politicians either encourage and justify the violence, or they pretend that it’s an aberration.
And now the new low: suggesting violence against political opposition.
People will probably treat this as “Trump being Trump,” but that is the most dangerous aspect of American fascism. What was once considered completely unacceptable now falls within the range of behavior that we expect, and even tolerate. This is how you go from a culture that produced Bauhaus architecture and was known and appreciated for its high culture up to the late 1920s, to Jews being rounded up en mass, stuffed in boxcars, and burned in ovens. First there were the diatribes. Then a Reichstag fire. Then pogroms. Then Kristallnacht. Then death camps. Whether the United States ever gets to the extremes of Nazi Germany is a question that misses the point. It doesn’t have to be half as bad as Hitler’s regime to have a profoundly dark impact on our culture and way of life.
Anyone, and I mean anyone, who countenances the behaviors of this brand of conservatism is essentially embracing the tactics that led to the rise of Der Fuhrer in 1933. If you want to be a good conservative, destroy the republican party and join someone like Gary Johnson and the libertarians and hope that they can keep the crazies out. Or create a new party that combines the best aspects of traditional conservatism with some of the best ideas of liberalism and jump start a centrist movement. I don’t know – anything but what exists in the republican party and its affiliates now.
To update the old saying;
“When fascism came to America, it was wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”
Anecdote: my Evangelical dad is 100% behind that Town Hall writer, formerly hating Trump as a hedonist, a boor, and even as a dangerous madman before he clinched the nomination, but now, the only thing is to defeat the Liberals by any means necessary. He has focused his outrage on the Liberal Media for throwing a hissyfit every time Trump says something supposedly controversial.
All the Trumpisms are having the exact desired effect; there is literally no downside. Even folks like my dad who once couldn’t stand him, now recognize that defeating the Liberal enemy is worth any price. It is worth mushroom clouds, I really believe that, because God will know we were on the side of hating Liberalism.
There is no line Trump could cross at this point and lose Evangelical support. Maybe, maybe if he said something like “Of course my worthy opponent means well for this country as we all do, but her ideas are mistaken…” that would be a bridge too far.
Can one be simultaneously protected by, and apprehended by, the Secret Service?
Full disclosure: yes, I made my post before reading the whole thread. Odds are someone has already said something similar. (Shrug) C’est la VEEEEEEEE!
(Bolding mine)
No. Wrong.
He was ABSOLUTELY suggesting that someone murder Clinton. However, I don’t believe that he intended for someone to actually go and do that, or that he would be happy with that happening. I don’t believe that he actually hopes and wants someone to kill her.
That’s the problem! He has no control over what he says and does! He only speaks from the hip. He doesn’t think about what he is saying before he says it. He just blurts out horrible, insane shit like this all the time and he gets a pass on it. Can you imagine Romney or Obama saying that about each other in 2012 or any candidate in any presidential election ever saying that? It’d be the end of the world!!
He WAS suggesting that someone should assassinate Hillary. He just isn’t even aware of what he says until after he says it, and then he doesn’t even care.
(understatement of the century coming up) People like that just can not be elected mayor, much less President of the USA.
The funny thing is, the most embarrassing part of the story is that you were using AOL in 2008.
Let’s check the Online Etymology Dictionary:
(I’ve never thought less of Trump’s ancestors for changing their name; some of mine did the same. But they* could *have found a better substitute for Drumpf.)
Concerning this story–I didn’t hear the news last night & was not online. Watched the local CBS news getting ready this morning as usual. They are heavy on news, weather, local crimes & car wrecks and only touch on national & international stories. They covered this one…
I think he meant it. Not jokingly. Meant it seriously, but delivered with plausible deniability. At this point, he knows there is a good chance that he’s going to lose. And like a five year old, he is doing the election equivalent of flipping over the checkers table when he knows he is going to lose. With this comment and the election rigging suggestions, he is hoping to foment anger and violence after the election. If he can’t win, then he is going to tear everything down with him.
You know how Key and Peele have Luther, Obama’s anger translator? I think we’re going to need something similar. Myron, Trump’s reality translator. Every time Trump utters something else stupid, we end up having to wait until his surrogates show up on the TeeVee somewhere to explain to us what he really meant. Wouldn’t it be more efficient of he had like some staid little preppy behind him who could step up at a moment’s notice and say, “Yes, actually, what Mr. Trump is attempting to elucidate upon using some flamboyant rhetoric is [something rational but completely opposite of what Trump just said].”
And that’s OK. It’s why it was a note.
I realize adaher is pretty good-natured about such things - and good on him for being a sport - but this is the sort of precedent that causes no end of downstream trouble. Best all around to avoid mocking other posters in such a way at all.
I don’t think he actually wanted someone to do it, but I think he wanted free press, and I think there’s also the secondary benefit of intimidating people he sees as his opponents. At minimum, I think Trump absolutely intended to use it to bully and threaten a perceived nemesis. That’s how he has been operating his whole campaign, and based on all of the recent anecdotes that have come to light, that seems to be how he operates in civilian life. He causes harm to people, then abuses them psychologically, and then threatens to abuse them physically. This is how he has operated his entire life. That is Trump the individual.
But we cannot ignore the fact that Trump the individual coincides with the emergence of a segment of the population that is rather large, increasing in size, and full of cynicism, fear and vitriol. This is a population that is ripe to be manipulated and gamed for the benefit of more ideologically-oriented fascists. As I’ve said, I don’t think Trump himself is a conscious fascist. He has fascist impulses, but I don’t think he has any game plan. But there are probably innumerable people who are standing with him who absolutely do have grander designs and a bold right wing agenda. If he is somehow elected, Trump will either co-opt this toxic energy and brand it himself, or realizing he really doesn’t want anything other than to be president in name, will gradually defer and delegate matters to those who do have such vision.
I hope ABSOLUTELY NO action is taken until after the election.
I don’t want a constitutional crisis that is resolved with Pence - an extremist, but one who looks rational and sane compared to Trump - on the ballot.
After the election, bring Trump in. Right now, keep running the bastard.
Reading his speech for fuller context, I came across this bit, a couple sentences before “First Amendment people”:
“Bigly”? What the fuck. He really does have the best words. :rolleyes:
I largely agree with you but I wanted to highlight this bit.
Donald’s not just intimidating generic non-gendered people. He’s specifically threatening violence against a woman if she beats him in this race. He never talked about having his male opponents whacked. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s saying this about his female challenger.
I think Elizabeth Warren’s statement that Trump is a coward who’s threatening violence because he can’t handle being beaten by a girl is genuine read of the situation. I think it’s just like any other man “joking” about slapping some sense into an uppity woman.
I’m sure Trump didn’t think all this through, because he’s a moron who never thinks before he speaks. But I don’t think we should ignore the larger backdrop of violence against women when considering Donald Trump’s threats Hillary Clinton.
(To forestall the inevitable: No - Fiorina was never an actual challenge for Trump.)
Could someone plese explain to me what’s in this for Rudy Giuliani? For some reason, the press is giving him time whenever he feels the need to mop up what Trump has spilled on the floor. He couldn’t wait to spin Trump’s 2A call to arms yesterday. What is Rudy after, a fat cabinet position? A member of the inner circle of advisers?
Rudy better hope Trump doesn’t make a sharp turn least Rudy ends up with a broken nose.
I agree with what Dan Rather said today about this whole mess of an election.
*“To anyone who still pretends this is a normal election of Republican against Democrat, history is watching. And I suspect its verdict will be harsh,” *
I think the worst thing a Republican can have on their resume post November will be “I endorsed Trump.”
I’m a little late on this, but I wanted to also say that I, too, don’t buy this argument. I think Trump is exactly who he appears to be: an impulsive, intellectually slothful egotist who happens to have a knack for appealing to a certain anti-elitist, nativist element in the American public. He is no chess player, and any supposed strategy behind his fusillades of boasting and bluster is the invention of his ghost writer.
It’s natural when confronted by a phenomenon like Trump to think it can’t simply be what it appears to be, that something deeper must be at work. There isn’t. Occam’s Razor cuts just as cleanly here.
Just to put things a bit more in perspective: I’m sure most everyone remembers Palin’s campaign superimposing actual crosshairs on people they thought were anti second amendment. One of them was Gabby Giffords.