"… as we know
there are known knowns;
there are things we know we know.
We also know there are known unknowns;
that is to say we know there are some things we do not know.
But there are also unknown unknowns
— the ones we don’t know we don’t know."
Shit. Sorry. Wrong administration. (Still the best governmental poetry ever speechified.)
As soon as Frogald opens his mouth to say anything, I always turn to my husband and say, “He really is an idiot.”
~VOW
The Poetry of Donald J. Trump – Special July 4 2019 Edition
Because, you know, it just cries out to be cast in the form or really blank verse.
In June of 1775,
the Continental Congress created a unified army
out of the revolutionary forces encamped around Boston and New York,
and named after the great George Washington,
Commander-in-Chief.
The Continental Army suffered the bitter winter of Valley Forge,
found glory across the waters of the Delaware,
and seized victory from Cornwallis of Yorktown.
Our Army manned the air [Inaudible] –
it rammed the ramparts.
It took over the airports.
It did everything it had to do.
And at Fort McHenry,
under the rockets’ red glare,
it had nothing but victory.
d when dawn came,
their Star Spangled Banner waved defiant.
He just needs to find his Arthur Sullivan.
The Poetry of Donald J. Trump – Jeffrey Epstein Edition
*Well, I knew him like everybody in Palm Beach knew him.
I mean, people in Palm Beach knew him;
He was a fixture in Palm Beach.
I had a falling out with him a long time ago.
I don’t think I’ve spoken to him for 15 years.
I wasn’t a fan.
I was not – yeah, a long time ago.
I’d say, maybe 15 years.
I was not a fan of his, that I can tell you.
I was not a fan of his*
The Poetry of Donald J. Trump – “Go Back Where You Came From” Edition
*Well I don’t mention–
I didn’t mention names and I didn’t do that
But I will tell you with our country
And I think everybody in this audience these are great manufacturers,
Great workers in our audience too,
They brought a lot of their workers here
If you are not happy here then
You can leave.
As far as I am concerned if you hate our country–
–if you’re not happy here
You can leave.
That is what I say all of the time.
That’s what I said in a Tweet which I guess some people think is controversial,
A lot of people love it by the way.
A lot of people love it
But if you are not happy in the U.S.
If you are complaining all of the time very simply
You can leave.
You can leave right now.
Come back if you want,
Don’t come back,
That’s okay, too.
But if you are not happy
You can leave.
Wow, that’s just a very racist statement
Somebody that would say that.
So Speaker Pelosi said make America white again.
Let me tell you that’s a very racist–
that’s a very racist statement.
I’m surprised she would say that.
Well, they are very unhappy.
I am watching them,
All they do is complain
So all I’m saying is
If they want to leave
They can leave, John.
They can leave.
I mean I look at the one,
I look at Omar
I don’t know
I never met her.
I hear the way she talks about Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda has killed many of Americans.
She said you can hold your chest out,
You can–
When I think of America,
When I think of Al Qaeda I can hold my chest out.
When she talked about the World Trade Center being knocked down
Some people.
You remember the famous some people.
These are people that in my opinion hate our country.
Now you can say what you want
But get a list of all of the statements they have made
And all I’m saying that if they are not happy here
They can leave.
They can leave
And you know what I’m sure that there will be many people that won’t miss them.
But they have to love–
They have to love our country.
They are congresspeople
And I never used in the names
But these are people –
My quiet,
Quiet,
Quiet.
Quiet.
Quiet.
Quiet.
These are people that
If they don’t like it here
They can leave
And I would be–
I don’t know who’s going to miss them
But I guess some people will.
One of them is polling–
One of them is polling and–
One of them is polling at 8 percent.
One of them is polling at 8 percent.
So when I hear people speaking about how wonderful Al Qaida is,
When I hear people talking about
Some people
Some people with the World Trade Center some people–
No, not some people.
Much more than some people.
When I hear the statements that they have made
And in one case you have somebody that comes from Somalia
Which is a failed government,
A failed state
Who love Somalia
Who ultimately came here
And I now was a Congresswoman who is never happy,
Says horrible things about Israel,
Hates Israel,
Hates Jews.
Hates Jews.
It’s very simple
And if the Democrats want to wrap their bows around this group of four people.
One of them kept Amazon out of New York.
Tens of thousands of jobs would have been a great thing
And she kept Amazon from going.
Would have been a good deal,
I mean,
Could he have made it better?
Maybe.
But tens of thousands of jobs and New York has not been the same since that happened.
It’s really hurt New York and New York City.
Amazon was getting together was going to relocate a major section of their business to New York
She kept them out.
It was a terrible thing she did,
A terrible thing she did.
So, here’s a story–
Here’s a story.
I see them complaining.
They’re complaining constantly.
I watched Lindsey Graham today on FOX and Friends talking about the same subject and frankly,
Even stronger than what I’m saying.
He’s saying they’re Communists.
I’m saying–
I’m saying that they’re Socialists
Definitely
As to whether or not they’re Communists,
I would think they might be.
But this isn’t what our country is about.
Nevertheless,
They’re free to leave if they want.
And if they want to leave that’s fine.
And if they want to stay that’s fine.
But the people have to know.
And politicians can’t be afraid to take them on.
A politician that hears somebody where we’re at war with Al Qaida and sees somebody
Maybe.
But tens of thousands of jobs and New York has not been the same since that happened.
It’s really hurt New York and New York City.
Amazon was getting together was going to relocate a major section of their business to New York she kept them out.
It was a terrible thing she did,
A terrible thing she did.
So, here’s a story–
Here’s a story.
I see them complaining.
They’re complaining constantly.
I watched Lindsey Graham today on FOX and Friends talking about the same subject
And frankly, even stronger than what I’m saying.
He’s saying they’re Communists.
I’m saying–
I’m saying that they’re Socialists definitely as to whether or not they’re Communists,
I would think they might be.
But this isn’t what our country is about.
Nevertheless,
They’re free to leave if they want.
And if they want to leave that’s fine.
And if they want to stay that’s fine.
But the people have to know.
And politicians can’t be afraid to take them on.
A politician that hears somebody where we’re at war with Al Qaida and sees somebody talking about how great Al Qaida is.
Pick out her statement.
That was Omar.
How great Al Qaida is when you hear that and we’re losing great soldiers to Al Qaida,
When you see the World Trade Center gets knocked down and you see the statements about the World Trade Center all the death and destruction.
I’ll tell you what–
I’m not happy with them.
And it’s very easy to say oh, gee, well, it’s OK.
If weak politicians want to say and the democrats in this case
If they want to gear their wagons around these four people
I think they are going to have a very tough election.
Because I don’t think the people of the United States will stand for it.
*
I’m hearing a Jimmy Buffett calypso soundtrack to that.
The Poetry of Donald J. Trump – Special Pre-Mueller Edition (July 23 2019)
**
Q Mr. President, are you worried about Wednesday?**
*No, I’m not going to be watching.
Probably.
Maybe I’ll see a little bit of it.
I’m not going to be watching Mueller because you can’t take all those bites out of the apple.
We had no collusion,
no obstruction.
We had no nothing.
We had a total “no collusion” finding.
The Democrats were devastated by it.
They went crazy.
They’ve gone off the deep end.
They’re not doing anything.
They’re not doing healthcare.
They’re not going infrastructure.
They’re not lowering drug prices.
I’m lowering drug prices.
First time in 53 years that drug prices went down last year.
Fifty-three years.
And I’m doing that without the help of Congress, which makes it much tougher to do.
Because if they worked with us, I could get drug prices down in half.
But the Democrats don’t seem to care about drug prices.
All they care about is a phony investigation where the report was written —
it said “no collusion” —
the report was written,
and the Attorney General, based on the report,
was easily able to find there was no obstruction.
There’s no nothing.
They’re wasting their time.
And Robert Mueller,
I know he’s conflicted —
he had a lot —
there’s a lot of conflicts that he’s got,
including the fact that his best friend is Comey.
But he’s got conflicts with me, too.
He’s got big conflicts with me.
As you know, he wanted the job of the FBI Director.
He didn’t get it.
And we had a business relationship where I said, “No.”
And I would say that he wasn’t happy.
Then, all of a sudden,
he gets this position.
But you know what?
He still ruled —
and I respect him for it —
he still ruled “no collusion, no obstruction.”
And this thing should’ve ended a long time ago.
This has been going on for two and a half years.
And we’re never going to allow this to happen to another President again
because most of them wouldn’t be able to take it.
On top of everything else, we have the strongest economy.
We were just discussing this with the Prime Minister.
We have the strongest economy that the United States has ever had.
We have the highest stock market.
Yesterday, literally, the highest stock market we’ve ever had on Friday — Thursday.
We’ve broken the record, I think, 109 times for highest stock market.
But on, I believe, Thursday of last week we hit the all-time highest in the history of our country.
Our country is doing phenomenally well.
Unemployment is the lowest in 51 years,
soon to be the lowest in history if it keeps going this way in a short period of time.
Black, Hispanic, Asian unemployment —
the lowest in history.
Women —
the lowest in 72 years.
Nobody has ever done what we’ve done.
Nobody has done in two and a half years what we’ve done:
the biggest tax cuts in history;
the biggest regulation cuts in history.
So many things for healthcare.
We got rid of the individual mandate which was the worst part of Obamacare.
Going to end up —
if we end up winning the House back,
we keep the presidency,
we should keep the Senate.
We should keep the presidency,
I would think easy,
when you have the strongest economy in the history of our country.
And somebody is going to run against that particular President even though, in this case, it’s me.
In theory, I have a big advantage.
I don’t know.
I’m going to have to ask you.
But, in theory, I have a big advantage.
So a lot of great things are happening.
But the Democrats, they don’t want to talk about that.
They want to stay off the economy subject.
And what they’re doing is just hearing after hearing after hearing.
It’s nonsense. Okay?
They tried an impeachment vote, and they got slaughtered last week.
They got absolutely slaughtered.
It was the most ridiculous —
I didn’t even know they were going to do it.
And I’ll tell you,
just in finishing:
I have a lot of respect for the Democrats because most of them voted against impeachment last week.
And I have a lot of respect for those Democrats that did that because they’re doing the right thing for the country.
No collusion, no obstruction.
Okay. Anybody else?
*
I think my favorite part, though, was this:
Trump comes out with Prime Minister Khan of Pakistan:
I have absolutely no doubt that Trump thought Khan said “An honor”
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-prime-minister-khan-islamic-republic-pakistan-bilateral-meeting/
Evidently others have seen the innate poetic style of The Donald:
Using Donald Trump’s rambling sentence from his July 19, 2016 speech (which was just mentioned in another thread):
Look,
Having nuclear —
My uncle was a great professor and scientist and engineer,
Dr. John Trump at MIT;
Good genes,
Very good genes,
OK,
Very smart,
The Wharton School of Finance,
Very good,
Very smart —
You know,
If you’re a conservative Republican,
If I were a liberal,
If, like, OK,
If I ran as a liberal Democrat,
They would say I’m one of the smartest people anywhere in the world —
It’s true! —
But when you’re a conservative Republican they try —
Oh, do they do a number —
That’s why I always start off:
Went to Wharton,
Was a good student,
Went there,
Went there,
Did this,
Built a fortune —
You know I have to give my
Like
Credentials all the time,
Because we’re a little disadvantaged —
But you look at the nuclear deal,
The thing that really bothers me —
It would have been so easy,
And it’s not as important as these lives are —
Nuclear is so powerful;
My uncle explained that to me many, many years ago,
The power and that was 35 years ago;
He would explain the power of what’s going to happen
and
He was right,
Who would have thought? —
But when you look at what’s going on with the four prisoners —
Now it used to be three,
Now it’s four —
But when it was three and even now,
I would have said it’s all in the messenger;
Fellas,
And it is fellas because,
You know,
they don’t,
They haven’t figured that the women are smarter right now than the men,
So,
You know,
It’s gonna take them about another 150 years —
But the Persians are great negotiators,
The Iranians are great negotiators,
So,
And they,
They just killed,
They just killed us,
This is horrible.
October 21 2019 11:42 AM Cabinet Room
*So, our soldiers — on Syria,
they’re moving out, very nicely.
ISIS is being held by the Kurds.
And I have an absolute commitment from Turkey that they’re watching them, just in case.
So we have a double:
We have the Kurds are watching them.
As you know, most of the ISIS fighters that we captured —
“we.”
We.
Not Obama.
We.
We captured them.
Me.
Our country captured them,
working with others,
including the Kurds.
And we helped them, don’t forget.
We helped the Kurds.
Everyone said the Kurds helped us; that’s true.
But we helped the Kurds.
They’re no angels,
but we helped the Kurds.
And we never gave the Kurds a commitment that we’d stay for the next 400 years and protect them.
They’ve been fighting with the Turks for 300 years, that people know of.
And nobody ever committed,
“Gee, if you do this, we’re going to do that, and we’re going to stay with you forever.”
Nobody ever said that.
But when I watch these pundits that always are trying to take a shot,
I say —
they say,
“What are we getting out of it?”
You know what we’re getting out of it?
We’re bringing our soldiers back home.
That’s a big thing.
And it’s going to probably work.
But if it doesn’t work,
you’re going to have people fighting like they’ve been fighting for 300 years.
It’s very simple.
It’s really very, very simple.
But we’re going to bring our soldiers back home.
So far, there hasn’t been one drop of blood shed during this whole period by an American soldier.
Nobody was killed.
Nobody cut their finger.
There’s been nothing.
And they’re leaving rather, I think, not expeditiously —
rather intelligently.
Just leaving.
Leaving certain areas.
Leaving.
We’ve secured the oil.
If you remember, I didn’t want to go into Iraq.
I was a civilian, so I had no power over it.
But I always was speaking against going into Iraq.
It was not a great decision.
But I always said,
“If you’re going in, keep the oil.”
Same thing here:
Keep the oil.
We want to keep the oil.
And we’ll work something out with the Kurds so that they have some money,
they have some cash flow.
Maybe we’ll get one of our big oil companies to go in and do it properly.
But they’ll have some cash flow,
which they basically don’t have right now.
Everybody is fighting.
It’s not a big oil area,
but everybody is fighting for whatever there is.
So we have a lot of good things going over there,
and they’re going very well.*
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-cabinet-meeting-15/
The Poetry of Donald J. Trump – Special Toilet Edition
*But together, we’re defending the American workers.
We’re using common sense.
We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers
and other elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on —
in areas where there’s tremendous amounts of water,
where the water rushes out to sea because you could never handle it —
and you don’t get any water.
You turn on the faucet;
you don’t get any water.
They take a shower
and water comes dripping out.
It’s dripping out —
very quietly dripping out.
People are flushing toilets 10 times,
15 times,
as opposed to once.
They end up using more water.
So, EPA is looking at that very strongly, at my suggestion.
You go into a new building
or a new house
or a new home,
and they have standards,
“Oh, you don’t get water.”
You can’t wash your hands, practically,
there’s so little water comes out of the faucet.
And the end result is
you leave the faucet on
and it takes you much longer to wash your hands.
You end up using the same amount of water.
So we’re looking at,
very seriously,
at opening up the standard.
And there may be some areas where we’ll go the other route —
desert areas.
But for the most part,
you have many states where they have so much water that it comes down —
it’s called rain —
that they don’t know —
they don’t know what to do with it.*
http://archive.is/8gP3k#selection-421.0-429.328
December 6, 2019
Trump’s repetititive style is thoroughly Biblical, going back all the way to the earliest books of the Old Testament.
Here’s an entire article on the subject, with lots of examples:
Repetition in the Bible by Gioacchino Michael Cascione, which appears to be extracts of his book of the same name.
“And he said to them” 14 times in Genesis.
“And Pharaoh said to Joseph” 7 times in Genesis.
“And spoke the Lord to Moses” 14 times in Exodus.
“These things I have spoken to you” 7 times in John.
etc.
If CalMeacham will simply start numbering the verses, he will be able to publish the Book of Trump and, to hear Trump’s supporters crowing about him being the Chose One, it will be added to the canon.
I’m convinced Trump is a Vogon.
My county contains a village named Vogan. Coincidence, or… ??
Meanwhile, I sincerely pity those who must cover, transcribe, read, and report on the utterances of this POTUS. I’m reminded of way back in old Los Angeles when “cruel and unusual punishment” was being locked in a cell and forced to listen to broadcasts of Mayor Sam Yorty. Mandatory Tramp would be even more inhumane. Have mercy!
While Trump has rallies of his supporters who clap and cheer at every word that dribbles from his lips, I envision cringing, haggard researchers and speechwriters who are recording those same words and concocting revisions/backpedalings/apologies, all the while praying to any listening god that they can mitigate the damage.
Those folks probably work in a soundproof room, so their screams and wails are contained within.
(The Air Force at Valley Forge was priceless!)
~VOW
May 22 2020 edition:
**Q Mr. President, why haven’t you announced a plan to get 36 million unemployed Americans back to work? You’re overseeing historic economic despair. What’s the delay? Where’s the plan?
Oh, I think
— I think we’ve announced a plan.
We’re opening up our country.
(Just a rude person you are.)
We’re opening up our country.
We’re opening it up very fast.
The plan is that each state is opening
and it’s opening up very effectively.
And when you see the numbers
I think, even you will be impressed,
which is pretty hard
to impress you.***
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-cabinet-meeting-17/
You have people signing ballots
Who knows who’s signing these ballots?
They have a ballot
They pick the ballot
They take them out of mailboxes
They go around and accumulate them
They harvest them
I guess
the word
is “harvest” them
Perfect!
You have captured the essence of Trumpian verse.
Thank you, Cal, for your tireless efforts in assembling this priceless collection of literature that rivals anything Shakespeare ever wrote. Shakespeare’s sonnets are nothing compared to this. Although they are all gems, #30 is my particular favorite, perhaps because I heard it brilliantly performed on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. IIRC, it was done by scrolling the text and having it performed by someone who I presume was a great Shakespearean actor, perhaps Sir Kenneth Branagh – I doubt anyone of lesser greatness could have done it justice – perhaps Sir John Gielgud, but alas, he’s dead, and no longer with us to lend his prodigious talents to interpreting this artistic masterwork.