Here is the image @smithsb posted but didn’t display (at least for me):
I have to admire Trump for consistency. He not only thinks/knows that his supporters tend to be idiots, he also believes that all of Corporate America, all the Titans of Industry, and all the Wizards of Wall Street are rank idiots and hapless, benighted victims, too.
Nothing like a violent, ill-conceived, headlong Republican incursion into their venerated, sacrosanct ‘Free Market,’ huh?
I understand it now
the parts of the country that thrive on international trade – especially that bright blue stripe over on the left side – will have their eonomies hammered by throttling trade. What better way to subdue those pesky liberals.
I can’t think of any definition of “deal” that doesn’t include more than one party. If only one party is involved, it’s not a “deal.”
So apparently Donald’s famous book should have been called The Art of Self-Gratification.
I don’t think we should rule out either impeachment or an Amendment 25 action by the Cabinet, because what’s preventing these things now is NOT actual devotion to Donald.
What’s preventing those things now is a belief that there are still enough genuinely-devoted MAGA people—voters in the case of Congress, and potential business-partners in the case of the Cabinet—to make “loyalty” to Donald the smart move.
But if the numbers change, the “loyalty” will be revealed as what it always was: self-interest.
If members of Congress come to believe that they will surely lose re-election if they stick with Donald, they’ll deep-six him. If members of the Cabinet believe they’ll (essentially) lose their memberships in the Billionaires’ Club by sticking with Donald, they’ll deep-six him.
It’s more straightforward in the case of Congress, of course. For the Cabinet, it’s a mix. The actual billionaires will be looking at their own portfolios, and their potential fears of Donald making them mere millionaires through his insane policies will rule. Those who aren’t quite billionaires yet will be more influenced by the opinions of the billionaires who could employ them or throw business their way or act as their patrons. If those figures express a strong-enough wish that Donald be removed, those Cabinet members will act to remove him.
He’s self-destructing at a pace none of us envisioned. And his ability to, for example, hold on through martial law has been sabotaged by his choice of Epically Incompetent Pete Hegseth to head his main weapon (the military). He’s not a lock to be made dictator-for-life by a compliant military; though there are many in the military who WOULD gladly have given him that, they are likely outnumbered by those appalled by the Hegseth scandals. Donald can’t count on a preponderance of the military having his back in any “punish Congress/punish my Cabinet for threatening me” scenario.
In short: there is hope. Donald’s own stupidity has provided us with hope.
CNN had a poll this morning with 60% Disapproval rating. Kinda fun to watch!
Definitely satisfying to have one’s own knowledge and opinion start to be reflected in the views of the majority!
Also: hope is better than cynicism.
I read the entire interview. Wow, just wow. His mind is not well.
Our office used to be on Harbor Island, just on the north side of the West Seattle Bridge.
I would offer to help with your therapy, but, man, you brought this on yourself.
I’m not religious but I like the concept of self-flagellation. I’ve done my bout for the week and I can now go sin with impunity. Or, something like that.
You know, I’d like to go and sin with Impunity, I heard they know how to party.
If Jesus died so our sins could be forgiven, let’s make sure it wasn’t in vain.
Rasputin urged his followers to sin so they could receive the grace of forgiveness.
Trump is doing every horrible thing he said he would during the election campaign, and even more that should be pleasing to his MAGA base. I’m gratified to see his polls now taking a dive, but I have to wonder: what did these idjits think they were voting for?
The leopards were supposed to eat everybody else’s face is, not theirs.
Jesus died for somebody’s sins, but not mine.
Last time around, his ratings crossed into this territory by the middle of February and stayed net-negative for his entire term, spiking briefly to as high as about -2 in May of '20, but fluttering around the -10 ~ -20 range consistently for most of those 4 years. Joe the President had net-positive approval up until the Afghanistan withdrawal, then dropped into a similar negative range for the rest of his term, which I attribute mostly to constant portrayal of “both sides” being on comparable ground (an assessment that galls many of us here).
Felon-ONE’s net-approval rating seemed a little high to me, based on the last time around. We can hope that maybe this time the downward trend will be steady and consistent, instead of leveling off, until even the Rs take notice that this boat is swamped and unrecoverable.
Reminds me of the silly joke about everyone feeling joy.
I’m still contratulating myself for not unloading my unvarnished opinion on him when just this past Friday, an American told me in peson the Democratic Party and the Republican Party are no different.
I’ve said this before, but — a lot of people simply aren’t paying attention. We monitor the news closely and endlessly hash over events here. A lot of people, maybe even most people, don’t do that, to any degree. We are outside the norm.
Political campaigns over the last thirty years are about empty promises and shit-slinging. The overheated rhetoric says “I’m going to balance the budget and restore America’s manufacturing base and secure the border! My opponent will raise taxes to eleventy million percent and sell Social Security to Blackwater and turn your kindergartner queer!” and then the kitchen-table issues never really change. It’s totally understandable — maybe even forgivable — that Joe and Jane Voter would listen to Trump, as a candidate, babbling endlessly like every other candidate, and tune him out. Especially because he made a lot of similar noise during his first administration and it was almost entirely a do-nothing train wreck.
And even now, I suspect if you went and asked Joe and Jane Voter their opinion of the tariffs creating a global slowdown in trade, they’d look at you as if you’re wearing a tuxedo made of gum wrappers. It’s going to take a lot before these disconnected, disaffected voters wake up to what’s really happening.
I think I would either turn and walk away (unless that were not an option) or just stare at that person with the most neutral expression I could muster.