OD would be fine, yes, and I’ll also settle for a “Buddy Holly/Ronnie Van Zandt” scenario.
I wonder. There will be a tipping point somewhere, sometime.
The link between the mass shootings and thump’s rhetoric *before *the fact and insensitivity *after *the fact is very strong at this moment. The outrage is growing and will keep growing. How many more shootings will there be between now and the election? At this rate–?? Maybe dozens. Maybe more.
I have been wondering if public demonstrations in the street in the time starting now might be what will change the direction of the country. I don’t mean a wimpy, sincere march or two, but an ongoing, relentless, public outcry-- hundreds of people in the street walking peacefully with signs, linking arms, singing and shouting. Demonstrations like this do have an effect. They give people a way to express themselves, a way to act and feel something besides helpless and impotent. They create solidarity and unity. Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Poland in 1990, protests against the Vietnam war, the Civil Rights demonstrations of the 60s–these events give people somewhere to go and something to do with their outrage. They get lots of media coverage, too, which will contrast with and emphasize the president’s disgusting and divisive bullshit.
I’m not saying mass demonstrations will change *him *because nothing will do that, but increasing, visible, loud, noisy, PEACEFUL public demonstrations of citizen discontent could make inroads into the complacency of the Republican party.
Something has got to give.
Trump gets trolled again:
George Conway tweets cartoon of Trump whispering ‘it’s an invasion’ in gun-toting man’s ear
Or maybe it was the other talking point–video games. Although, while I believe video games are readily available around the world, guns are not, at least not in the same quantity and availability as in the US.
Some of his base may be slowly waking up to the fact that Trump doesn’t really give a shit about them and is actively fucking up their livelihoods.
‘I don’t know how we’re going to survive this.’ Some once-loyal farmers begin to doubt Trump.
Of course, the brother of the farmer in the story, who farms with him and is losing money with him, still supports Trump. Still got to stick it to the “coastal elites”. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the history of protest, and wondering when we’ll see people marching in the streets again, as you suggest, and came up with a less-than-comforting theory:
Americans are most likely to protest when it’s for something that directly impacts their personal comfort and well-being. Civil rights, women’s rights: the marchers were those who were being short-changed by the system and were demanding those rights. Vietnam: the marchers had their lives at stake, thanks to the draft. (Would opposition to the war have been so strident, if we had an all volunteer army?) Women’s suffrage: same.
To get people into the streets for altruistic reasons, for a concept: much less likely. There weren’t mass protests against Nixon and Watergate.
If there’s anything that suggests we’re nearing a tipping point, it’s that Trump bothered to condemn hate-driven mass shootings at all (despite the rather desultory fashion in which he did so). He’s rarely bothered to pretend that these things have anything at all to do with him, so if he’s making any effort to distance himself from them he must be worried that something’s starting to stick.
Not the actual admin, but news from their propaganda wing about one of Trump’s biggest fanboys.
Tucker Carlson goes on vacation as criticism mounts over false claim about white supremacy ‘hoax’
And I’m sure a lot of Fox viewers wondered what all the controversies were all about.
One talking head suggested that Carlson ask a non-white person if white supremacy is a hoax. As they say, the fish rots from the head. Too bad Trump doesn’t take a permanent vacation. He could play golf to his heart’s content with O’Reilly and the other hosts.
I don’t think the Don is self-aware enough to worry about anything but I think the people who are running his campaign are plenty worried. They understand polling and I think they are seeing a groundswell of opposition mounting that will eradicate every card that comprised his 2016 inside straight. Pubbies believing in “shy Trump voters” can kiss my fat ass.
I agree with all you said, but would only point out that we’ve got to show up for as many of the wimpy, sincere marches as we can – because we never know if/when that will be the one that becomes the ongoing, relentless public outcry.
Momentum begets momentum. People do pay attention to attendance at protest marches, and when they perceive they could be part of the “in group,” they will lend their bodies and voices to the effort even at the expense of giving up their precious time and legitimate concerns for their personal safety.
You’re right. I only said that about “wimpy” marches to head off the posters here who would likely reply (sarcastically): “Oh yeah, a few people marching in the street are going to make a BIG difference. Yeah, right.” Complete with: :rolleyes:
Yes, momentum is everything. Gathering steam.
I will venture to say that most of the people who marched and protested the Vietnam war once the anti-war movement really got going were not directly affected by the draft. Would there have been that level of protest if we had had a volunteer army back then? I dunno.
Video of Trump at the hospitals are beginning to be releaked. (coining a new word here. PM me on where to send royalty payments, thanks.)
Thoughts…
- Melania looks miserable.
- Comparing his crowd size with Beto’s. Classy.
- Fans of narcissism can relax - DJT can be just as self-focused in the hospital visiting the wounded as he can anywhere else!
Don’t worry - they’ll both vote for trump in 2020. Because he wouldn’t screw them over again. Not an honorable man like trump. This time he’ll make things better. You betcha.
Don’t forget the product placement for the Trump Socks!
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
“Trump says he’s considering commutation for Blagojevich”. Apparently, Blago was treated “unbelievably unfairly”.
This probably serves the dual purpose of deflection from the smallness of his response to the mass shootings and a dig at Obama whose Senate seat Blagojevich apparently sold.
Wikipedia:
[my bold]
“pay to play” schemes
“to obtain personal gain …
through the corrupt use”
Hey, what’s not to love for Trump?
Chuck Todd on a radio interview this morning thinks that Trump is attempting to minimize the significance of others’ corruption to further lay the groundwork that his own corruption is no big deal. I believe Todd said that Trump was trying to equate corruption with a misdemeanor.
Mea Culpa. It turns out that I was wrong, and there was a very good reason that Trump didn’t allow the press to follow him into the hospital and so only allowed his staff to make a campaign video of his visit.
He wanted it to be about victims and not to turn into a photo op.:smack:
I just saw a montage of clips of Trump the other day. There was one of Trump at a campaign rally where, IIRC, he declared Hilary Clinton the most corrupt politician in the history of our country.
More psychological projection.
Geez, it’s so bad that not even the embarrassing relative Sweeney won’t talk about is willing to put a both-sides spin on it…
How many times has Trump referred to the results of due process/judicial proceedings as “incredibly unfair”? I somehow think that he hasn’t totally bought in to this whole western democracy/due process/one-man-one-vote/constitutional republic thing.