“There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who is saved than for 99 who don’t need saving.” Getting a former cabinet member to oppose Trump, unequivocal, on the record, is huge. Let’s take the win.
fuck
I posted The Atlantic article on my Facebook page and I’m curious how the MAGA guys I know who served in the USMC will respond. When Mattis was first named Secretary of Defense, I was told how awesome and respected he was. So, they will have to choose between “Mad Dog” or Bunker Boy Bonespurs.
I think they will break down in a fairly predictable way.
Enlisted: “Oh, he’s an officer, an arrogant elitist just like all the officers are. The higher up the chain of command, the bigger assholes they are and the less they understand reality. Generals are the worst of all. They’re just self-serving political hacks.”
Officers: “The job of a military officer isn’t to talk about politics…we officers know not to comment on things above our pay grade. A general still has to serve the Commander in Chief.”
They’re always moving the goalposts. No matter how tortured the logic, they will find some way to throw Mattis under the bus.
And Trump tweets this just a few minutes ago:
The big difference being Churchill didn’t cause the damage he was visiting.
I’d wager heavily Trump didn’t think of that himself, and was merely repeating it. It sounds like something a speechwriter might have together for him. I think there’s good evidence that the man himself is completely humorless.
Yes, this.
Those Iowa voters weren’t rejecting King’s racism; they were rejecting his powerlessness (due to his having had his former committee assignments stripped away).
The new GOP candidate will sail through the November election, whereas King (had he been the nominee) might have been defeated by a Democrat. (Granted that probability was low; it’s a very conservative district.)
Omg, I thought you had written a clever parody. He really tweeted that.
I don’t know, there are probably things he laughs himself silly over. Probably laughs so hard he loses control of his bodily functions. They are just not things that normal human beings with at least a trace of empathy would find at all funny.
The images we have seen of him suggest that there is no “control of his bodily functions” for him to lose.
Turns out that ‘what makes Trump laugh’ has been in the news not long ago: it’s watching men get punched in the testicles!
Specifically, Trump famously adores a 1988 Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, Bloodsport.
One of the late-night talk show hosts was talking about this just last night. He was talking with a guest who’d been on Air Force One with Trump, and watched Trump fast-forward through all the “plot” parts of the movie to get to the ball-punching. (I can’t remember which show it was and it’s too soon for it the interview to be available online.)
So, anyway: that’s what makes Trump laugh: damage to the testicles. Of someone else, of course.
We literally ARE living in Idiocracy, except President Camacho had way better hiring and management skills.
Esper tries to weasel that he didn’t know about the clearing of the streets prior to the press op, and then said that he didn’t know where they were walking, and then said that military troops should be withdrawn. Then after a talking to by Individual 1, he retracted his statement.
https://www.connectradio.fm/2020/06/03/defense-secretary-reverses-order-keeps-soldiers-in-dc-area-after-opposing-insurrection-act-for-george-floyd-protests-calling-for-accountability-in-his-murder/
Individual 1 calls Mattis overrated.
Gosh, wonder how Mattis got so “overrated”? Oh, that’s right:
Even after what feels like all these centuries, it can still surprise me how brazenly Trump praises himself for his acumen in having recruited or selected some “great” “terrific” “brilliant” “best” “star” person, and shortly thereafter praises himself for his shrewdness in having got rid of that very same person, now disparaged as a “weak” “overrated” “unstable” “dumb” “moron” “loser”. AFAICT he honestly believes that it makes him look good.
Paramilitary units on the streets of DC with no insignia.
Anyone supporting Trump at this point wants American democracy replaced with authoritarian, big daddy dictatorship. The thing that they don’t realize is that when Trump-ism has run it’s course the brains behind the orange shitstain will begin to install increasingly competent, but increasingly authoritarian successors. It will not end well for America.
So some early comments. From an enlisted Marine who served under Mattis: big “ego” and little “humility” (hmm…I wonder who else that could apply to?). Also, Mattis is going to “ruin his legacy”. He hangs out in Palo Alto nowadays with the Stanford elites. He’s all about money now (the blood test scam company Theranos was brought up). Mattis is “out of bounds with all military decorum and respect” that must be given to Trump. Never trust a general with more than one star.
Only one commenter (~17 comments so far; some were neutral) defended Mattis outright by saying if Mattis would come out and say this, he must feel pretty strongly about it.
So, yeah, it looks like the MAGAsses (even some USMC veterans) are going with the draft dodger over the career four-star Marine general.
I heard about that, the claim I’d heard is that they appear to be prison guards and possibly border patrol troops pressed into duty as riot control, which legally they shouldn’t be since it’s nowhere near their area of responsibility.
As somebody on another forum said (somewhat) sarcastically, “It makes sense they are using the slave overseers to try to suppress a slave rebellion.”
Laughing at someone getting punched in the balls is the most human thing I’ve ever heard about him.
That that is the only thing he finds to be amusing is more than a bit concerning, though.
Fascism is great*, if you are one of the ones in charge. It’s actually pretty nice, if you go along with your government. Its flaws only really show up however, when you find anything with which you disagree.
It is not an accident that the atrocities slowly build up over time. Once you have agreed to accept one malicious act in the name of supporting your party, accepting the next doesn’t just become easier, it becomes necessary to avoid acknowledging guilt over acceptance of the previous. You have to defend the behavior, or admit that you were wrong to defend the previous behavior.
At a certain point, any behavior on his part is accepted, and the outrage of those who find the incompetent criminal sadistic corruption that happens on a daily basis to be unacceptable becomes simply nagging to them.
“You’re just complaining about Trump again.”
“That’s because he committed war crimes today!”
“That’s what you said last week, hyperbole much?”
“He committed war crimes last week too!”
Somehow, the one who is concerned about committing war crimes ends up being perceived as the irrational one in this conversation, and fascism wins.
*It’s actually not all that great, compared to a free society, as resources need to be devoted to oppress those who would otherwise be productive citizens.