Author Topic: Trump outrage of the day  (Read 779240 times)

Kris

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1650 on: April 23, 2020, 11:45:07 AM »
Indeed I think--with the distance of history--that people will look on the 1980-2030 period in America as the era of Reagan, Gingrich, and McConnell. Basically, the country shifted rightward in ways that seemed unthinkable just a few years prior. Part of it was a backlash to the 1960's, and part of it was a backlash to globalization.

And that rightward shift is exactly what you describe about government having "failed". It was designed to fail by these men.

The thing that's so baffling to most outside of the US is that . . . you guys complain about various levels of government being crap . . . but seems to have driven you to consistently vote in people who are terrible at governing.  Which then makes your government worse.

It's like "Hey guys, I bumped my head in the wall and it kinda hurt.  So I'm going to slam my head in the wall next.  That ought to fix the problem."

Little of what the Republican party has been doing is hidden.  But it seems like there has been a core of people in the US just don't accept things that they don't like as reality . . . and this group is growing, rather than shrinking as time goes on.  If you deny reality, you're never going to be able to make sound choices.  And if you're never going to make sound choices, it's scary when you're responsible for picking the leaders of the most powerful country in the world.

Yep. And from "inside the house," so to speak, it's like being in a hostage situation. Or like being on a speeding bus being driven by people who either don't know how to drive, or who do know, but have a death wish. It's horrific.

Those are good similes. I was first eligible to vote in 1996. The closest I ever came to voting for a Republican was in 2008, but he lost my vote when he chose Sarah Palin as his running mate. Leaving is not an option, as my parents are elderly and I'm an only child. Yeah, I feel trapped.

I came within less than 2 months of being able to vote in the 1984 election that reelected Ronald Reagan. So my entire adult political life has been spent watching the nutbag Republican Party get nutbaggier with every election cycle.

I would have voted for McCain in 2000 if he had been the nominee, or at least not been bummed had he won. In 2008, I had hoped when he got nominated that at least he might be a return to a voice of reason at the head of the Republican Party. And then he nominated Sarah Palin, and unleashed a veritable Pandora's Box of whackadoodlery.

And now this shit.

How can anyone ask with a straight face why the rest of the world looks at us and thinks something's wrong?

Lews Therin

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1651 on: April 23, 2020, 12:21:52 PM »
Because having the biggest military in the world, bigger than the next 5 put together means the best!

Also, still 1/4 the global economy... but down from 2/5ths in 1968 (37%) (Can you even imagine? Almost being equal to the whole world put together.) It`s still 1/4 of the world!!!

As they become less and less the monstrously powerful single entity that controls the whole globe Americans will have to get used to not getting their way on everything, and not being the greatest.


Note that China is now in the 20% range according to... uncertain statistics. But still, it has reduced the US`s ability to be the single world power.

js82

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1652 on: April 23, 2020, 12:38:04 PM »
It's not as though Reagan was perfect. But the 1980's were good enough that the conservative movement has been able to continue this same playbook when they have power, while using the crises they create to constrain Democrats when the Democrats happen to gain power.

Let's be honest: Reagan the actual President and Reagan as portrayed by the modern Republican party are two very different people.  Large parts of his biography have been effectively rewritten.

There's a lot that Reagan did that would be political suicide in today's GOP - but that's been conveniently erased by those who seek to rewrite history.

bacchi

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1653 on: April 23, 2020, 12:46:38 PM »
It's not as though Reagan was perfect. But the 1980's were good enough that the conservative movement has been able to continue this same playbook when they have power, while using the crises they create to constrain Democrats when the Democrats happen to gain power.

Let's be honest: Reagan the actual President and Reagan as portrayed by the modern Republican party are two very different people.  Large parts of his biography have been effectively rewritten.

There's a lot that Reagan did that would be political suicide in today's GOP - but that's been conveniently erased by those who seek to rewrite history.

Truth. Raising taxes to shrink the deficit, even if you caused it in the first place, would never fly in the Republican party today.

GuitarStv

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1654 on: April 23, 2020, 12:49:38 PM »
It's not as though Reagan was perfect. But the 1980's were good enough that the conservative movement has been able to continue this same playbook when they have power, while using the crises they create to constrain Democrats when the Democrats happen to gain power.

Let's be honest: Reagan the actual President and Reagan as portrayed by the modern Republican party are two very different people.  Large parts of his biography have been effectively rewritten.

There's a lot that Reagan did that would be political suicide in today's GOP - but that's been conveniently erased by those who seek to rewrite history.

Truth. Raising taxes to shrink the deficit, even if you caused it in the first place, would never fly in the Republican party today.

The modern Republican party is not fiscally conservative.  They're socially conservative.  They don't give a flying fuck about shrinking the deficit or balancing budgets.

nereo

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1655 on: April 23, 2020, 12:55:54 PM »
It's not as though Reagan was perfect. But the 1980's were good enough that the conservative movement has been able to continue this same playbook when they have power, while using the crises they create to constrain Democrats when the Democrats happen to gain power.

Let's be honest: Reagan the actual President and Reagan as portrayed by the modern Republican party are two very different people.  Large parts of his biography have been effectively rewritten.

There's a lot that Reagan did that would be political suicide in today's GOP - but that's been conveniently erased by those who seek to rewrite history.

Truth. Raising taxes to shrink the deficit, even if you caused it in the first place, would never fly in the Republican party today.

The modern Republican party is not fiscally conservative.  They're socially conservative.  They don't give a flying fuck about shrinking the deficit or balancing budgets.

weren't you the one arguing with me several days ago that the "conservative values" the GOP has embraced aren't actually conservative anymore?

GuitarStv

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1656 on: April 23, 2020, 02:26:23 PM »
It's not as though Reagan was perfect. But the 1980's were good enough that the conservative movement has been able to continue this same playbook when they have power, while using the crises they create to constrain Democrats when the Democrats happen to gain power.

Let's be honest: Reagan the actual President and Reagan as portrayed by the modern Republican party are two very different people.  Large parts of his biography have been effectively rewritten.

There's a lot that Reagan did that would be political suicide in today's GOP - but that's been conveniently erased by those who seek to rewrite history.

Truth. Raising taxes to shrink the deficit, even if you caused it in the first place, would never fly in the Republican party today.

The modern Republican party is not fiscally conservative.  They're socially conservative.  They don't give a flying fuck about shrinking the deficit or balancing budgets.

weren't you the one arguing with me several days ago that the "conservative values" the GOP has embraced aren't actually conservative anymore?

Yep.  'Social conservatism' as it exists in the US is actually a radical deviation from the currently accepted norm . . . ironically this isn't even conservative any more - it's regression to norms that haven't been norms since the 50's and 60's.  We really should be calling the movement 'social regression'.

RetiredAt63

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1657 on: April 23, 2020, 04:54:53 PM »
Cross post from my journal:

This is why having the American political mess next door impacts Canadians.  It is like the Conservative Party of Canada is a branch plant of the American Republican Party.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/IStandWithDrTam?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

https://twitter.com/jeffjedras/status/1253339175400534016

I'm not on Twitter but I also stand with Dr. Tam, and all her Provincial colleagues. 

Travis

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1658 on: April 23, 2020, 06:39:28 PM »
Indeed I think--with the distance of history--that people will look on the 1980-2030 period in America as the era of Reagan, Gingrich, and McConnell. Basically, the country shifted rightward in ways that seemed unthinkable just a few years prior. Part of it was a backlash to the 1960's, and part of it was a backlash to globalization.

And that rightward shift is exactly what you describe about government having "failed". It was designed to fail by these men.

The thing that's so baffling to most outside of the US is that . . . you guys complain about various levels of government being crap . . . but seems to have driven you to consistently vote in people who are terrible at governing.  Which then makes your government worse.

It's like "Hey guys, I bumped my head in the wall and it kinda hurt.  So I'm going to slam my head in the wall next.  That ought to fix the problem."

Little of what the Republican party has been doing is hidden.  But it seems like there has been a core of people in the US just don't accept things that they don't like as reality . . . and this group is growing, rather than shrinking as time goes on.  If you deny reality, you're never going to be able to make sound choices.  And if you're never going to make sound choices, it's scary when you're responsible for picking the leaders of the most powerful country in the world.

Yep. And from "inside the house," so to speak, it's like being in a hostage situation. Or like being on a speeding bus being driven by people who either don't know how to drive, or who do know, but have a death wish. It's horrific.

One of the byproducts of our representative system is that if the party majority doesn't change in Congress, the whole structure is run by the same two people (Senate Majority Leader and Speaker of the House).  The only times this changes is when the party in majority flips, or internally the majority party decides that person is really screwing it up.  Technically it could also change if that person is voted out by his or her constituents, but that rarely happens. By the time they have enough seniority to hold that leadership position, they're the only politician the folks back home know and think they can do no wrong.

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1659 on: April 23, 2020, 08:21:26 PM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 







bacchi

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1660 on: April 23, 2020, 08:32:07 PM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 
 

Have you ever seen "Idiocracy"?

ixtap

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1661 on: April 23, 2020, 09:19:40 PM »
Inject disinfectant and get the UV on the inside.

EscapeVelocity2020

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1662 on: April 23, 2020, 09:28:31 PM »
Ironically, even if Putin or some other country had some influence in the 2016 election, they are probably regretting the idea of having Trump in charge of the global economy at this point.  As others have pointed out, he is shooting the largest military might from the hip (adios Iranans, both literally and nuclear pacts).  He is also imploding consumerism that kept oil prices high - sorry Russia and Saudis.  And he has unerringly blown up globalism that China might have wanted to thrive.  And, for good measure, Trump has pissed off our allies with rejecting the Paris Accord.  Basically, Trump has not nationalized the US, he has self-isolated us.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1663 on: April 23, 2020, 10:14:21 PM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

A lot of people said they would leave if Trump was elected. Some of those might be dead of covid now. Next time he might manage to get you guys a home-soil nuclear war or something. The guy has no limits.

Davnasty

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1664 on: April 23, 2020, 10:50:22 PM »

Dancin'Dog

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1665 on: April 24, 2020, 12:01:23 AM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

A lot of people said they would leave if Trump was elected. Some of those might be dead of covid now. Next time he might manage to get you guys a home-soil nuclear war or something. The guy has no limits.




I've always wanted to check out New Zealand.  If I leave in November it will be Spring there, right?  :)

BussoV6

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1666 on: April 24, 2020, 01:39:00 AM »
Inject disinfectant and get the UV on the inside.

Unsurprisingly, Breitbart says he didn't say that thing he just said.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/04/23/fact-check-no-trump-didnt-propose-injecting-people-with-disinfectant/

But he did.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177

Perhaps Trump takes that orange colouring intravenously?

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1667 on: April 24, 2020, 01:45:14 AM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

A lot of people said they would leave if Trump was elected. Some of those might be dead of covid now. Next time he might manage to get you guys a home-soil nuclear war or something. The guy has no limits.




I've always wanted to check out New Zealand.  If I leave in November it will be Spring there, right?  :)

Yeah... but you'll still be coming from Planet Yank and so we might not let you in.

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1668 on: April 24, 2020, 02:13:45 AM »
I've always wanted to check out New Zealand.  If I leave in November it will be Spring there, right?  :)

A few years ago I planned a 6-week trip to Australia. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYone, I talked to about it, asked if I was also going to New Zealand. So many of my friends enjoyed their times in New Zealand but it doesn't have a draw for me; probably because I love the desert, the Outback was my top Australia must-see. I was surprised how everyone asked about it.  That's such a great thing about people, our varied likes.

We don't have a lot of desert! We have volcanic landscapes, but not desert. Anyway, the real reason you come to NZ if you're going to Aus is that we're so frickin far away from anywhere else that you may as well if you're in the vicinity.

I'm not into desert at all. Never been remotely interested in the Australian Outback. Dreadful place. I like snow and tall trees and fjords. We all definitely do have varied likes!

ixtap

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1669 on: April 24, 2020, 02:52:37 AM »
Inject disinfectant and get the UV on the inside.

Unsurprisingly, Breitbart says he didn't say that thing he just said.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/04/23/fact-check-no-trump-didnt-propose-injecting-people-with-disinfectant/

But he did.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177

Damn libtards, twisting Trump's words by quoting him.

OtherJen

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1670 on: April 24, 2020, 03:11:39 AM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

A lot of people said they would leave if Trump was elected. Some of those might be dead of covid now. Next time he might manage to get you guys a home-soil nuclear war or something. The guy has no limits.

Yeah, we get it, thanks. Funny how it isn't always super easy to pack up and leave after 40+ years. I guess like an Australian said in another thread on this forum, we're the slow kids in the class.

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1671 on: April 24, 2020, 03:16:31 AM »
Ironically, even if Putin or some other country had some influence in the 2016 election, they are probably regretting the idea of having Trump in charge of the global economy at this point.
He's not in charge of the global economy, no individual leader or country is. This is the wonderful thing about the US President: even those who hate him overestimate his importance.

Putin et al will be delighted with Trump. An isolationist US is a US that doesn't bomb and invade other countries. A US that pulls out of treaties is a US leaving other countries to negotiate terms more favourable to them. A US that brings in tariffs is a US giving other countries permission to ignore the WTO and bring in tariffs of their own, and build up their manufacturing industries, employing millions. And a US led by Trump is the subject of derisive laughter, not fear, making us all feel much calmer. And so on.

It's great, keep it up. Trump 2024!

LennStar

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1672 on: April 24, 2020, 04:05:34 AM »
Not to mention that the oil price shock, while not being intent intetioned, is going to finally kick out the fracking industry in the US, that surprisingly survived the alst attack.

Yesterday, if you bought WTI oil, they gave you money for it.

The modern Republican party is not fiscally conservative.  They're socially conservative.  They don't give a flying fuck about shrinking the deficit or balancing budgets.

afaik conservatives were never fiscally conservative as in "don't use more money than you have". All their rambling of less expensives was either to safe them taxes or to give less money to the poor aka the undeserving. Preferably both.
« Last Edit: April 24, 2020, 04:07:06 AM by LennStar »

AnnaGrowsAMustache

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1673 on: April 24, 2020, 04:33:56 AM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

A lot of people said they would leave if Trump was elected. Some of those might be dead of covid now. Next time he might manage to get you guys a home-soil nuclear war or something. The guy has no limits.

Yeah, we get it, thanks. Funny how it isn't always super easy to pack up and leave after 40+ years. I guess like an Australian said in another thread on this forum, we're the slow kids in the class.

Chill out, honey. It was addressed to those that swore blind they would leave and didn't. I'm guessing that wasn't you.

talltexan

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1674 on: April 24, 2020, 06:18:02 AM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

It will mean that enough people value access to power over fitness of the people they give power. It will mean enough people prefer conservative rhetoric--however hollow and meaningless it actually is--to liberal policies and judges. And Joe Biden* will deserve blame, and the Democratic Party will deserve blame for not being able to field a more inspiring candidate. Being the incumbent in a Presidential election comes with a lot of advantages, so Republicans--to the extent that there are some left--are expecting Trump to deliver this Fall. If anything, they care more about him getting November right than they do about him getting this response to the virus right.

*Note: I'm not criticizing Biden, I would insert whoever the losing Democrat's name was here.

GuitarStv

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1675 on: April 24, 2020, 07:27:11 AM »
Inject disinfectant and get the UV on the inside.

Unsurprisingly, Breitbart says he didn't say that thing he just said.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/04/23/fact-check-no-trump-didnt-propose-injecting-people-with-disinfectant/

But he did.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177

Damn libtards, twisting Trump's words by quoting him.

In the interest of fairness it's important to give equal time and coverage to both stories (the truth and the lie).  Otherwise the reporting would clearly be biased towards truth . . . and we can't have that.  At least not any more.

talltexan

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1676 on: April 24, 2020, 07:49:26 AM »
If Trump is re-elected I think it will be time me to join the expat thread.  (Which will most likely also lead to the divorce thread.)  ;) 


Seriously though, what will it mean if he's re-elected?  What will it say about us as a society?  What will four more MAGA years do to our democracy? 


 

It will mean that enough people value access to power over fitness of the people they give power. It will mean enough people prefer conservative rhetoric--however hollow and meaningless it actually is--to liberal policies and judges. And Joe Biden* will deserve blame, and the Democratic Party will deserve blame for not being able to field a more inspiring candidate. Being the incumbent in a Presidential election comes with a lot of advantages, so Republicans--to the extent that there are some left--are expecting Trump to deliver this Fall. If anything, they care more about him getting November right than they do about him getting this response to the virus right.

*Note: I'm not criticizing Biden, I would insert whoever the losing Democrat's name was here.

In another conversation, I quickly counted up eleven incumbents who have sought another term since the end of WWII; nine of them won, so that's an 81% winning percentage. Trump is certainly vulnerable, but beating him will require an honest effort to shift public opinion.

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1677 on: April 24, 2020, 08:04:39 AM »

In another conversation, I quickly counted up eleven incumbents who have sought another term since the end of WWII; nine of them won, so that's an 81% winning percentage. Trump is certainly vulnerable, but beating him will require an honest effort to shift public opinion.

Shift it how?  The majority of Americans have disapproved of him since two months after he took office.  He's behind in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all states he carried in 2016.
From where I sit it's Trump that needs to have a shift in public opinion to stay in power.  Given, teh general election is over 5 months away still.... a lifetime in a campaign.

Lews Therin

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1678 on: April 24, 2020, 08:06:39 AM »

In another conversation, I quickly counted up eleven incumbents who have sought another term since the end of WWII; nine of them won, so that's an 81% winning percentage. Trump is certainly vulnerable, but beating him will require an honest effort to shift public opinion.

Shift it how?  The majority of Americans have disapproved of him since two months after he took office.  He's behind in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all states he carried in 2016.
From where I sit it's Trump that needs to have a shift in public opinion to stay in power.  Given, teh general election is over 5 months away still.... a lifetime in a campaign.

Sue Fox for libel and stupidity, get it off the air. People will be confused and before they find a replacement, Trump will lose.

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1679 on: April 24, 2020, 09:11:30 AM »

In another conversation, I quickly counted up eleven incumbents who have sought another term since the end of WWII; nine of them won, so that's an 81% winning percentage. Trump is certainly vulnerable, but beating him will require an honest effort to shift public opinion.

Shift it how?  The majority of Americans have disapproved of him since two months after he took office.  He's behind in Arizona, Florida, Michigan and Pennsylvania, all states he carried in 2016.
From where I sit it's Trump that needs to have a shift in public opinion to stay in power.  Given, teh general election is over 5 months away still.... a lifetime in a campaign.

Sue Fox for libel and stupidity, get it off the air. People will be confused and before they find a replacement, Trump will lose.
While it certainly sounds heavenly, suing people for stupidity - no court system can survive that!

Kris

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1680 on: April 24, 2020, 10:53:32 AM »
My husband heard that someone called into a small radio show in Massachusetts this morning and suggested putting bleach into vape pens as a way to disinfect the lungs from coronavirus.

The host congratulated him for “thinking outside the box.”

So I looked it up, and... yup. Sure enough.

I’m starting to lose sympathy for people like this. Thanks, Trump.

Here's a link to the Raw Story story.
https://www.rawstory.com/2020/04/conservative-radio-host-agrees-with-caller-that-vaping-bleach-might-cure-covid-19-youre-not-crazy/

Raw Story plays pretty fast and loose with the truth, but I include it because it's how I found the link to the actual audio on Soundcloud, which is here:

https://soundcloud.com/eric-w-dolan/radwrko-04-24-2020-085757


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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1681 on: April 24, 2020, 11:19:36 AM »
Inject disinfectant and get the UV on the inside.

Unsurprisingly, Breitbart says he didn't say that thing he just said.

https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2020/04/23/fact-check-no-trump-didnt-propose-injecting-people-with-disinfectant/

But he did.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-52407177
At least both articles used practically the same quote:
Quote
"And then I see the disinfectant where it knocks it out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside or almost a cleaning?
vs.
Quote
“And then I see the disinfectant, where it knocks it [the virus] out in a minute. One minute. And is there a way we can do something like that, by injection inside, or almost a cleaning, cause you see it gets in the lungs.”

And then the spin doctors take it in opposite directions from there. ;)

gentmach

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1682 on: April 24, 2020, 11:28:37 AM »
Science.

nereo

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1683 on: April 24, 2020, 11:34:17 AM »
Not sure if this is distraction or using the crisis to push one of his vendettas, but Trump is now threatening to block emergency aid passed by congress to the USPS if it doesn't hike prices "immediately". 
...during a pandemic when the majority of citizens are under stay-at-home orders and are more reliant on the postal service than we have been in decades.

Glenstache

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1684 on: April 24, 2020, 12:08:44 PM »
Not sure if this is distraction or using the crisis to push one of his vendettas, but Trump is now threatening to block emergency aid passed by congress to the USPS if it doesn't hike prices "immediately". 
...during a pandemic when the majority of citizens are under stay-at-home orders and are more reliant on the postal service than we have been in decades.

Since mail in voting is likely to be more widespread in Nov, this could be viewed as a poll tax. Though, to be fair the GOP has hated the post office for a while for reasons that I don't understand as the USPS disproportionately benefits rural citizens, who are also more likely to be GOP voters.


nereo

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1685 on: April 24, 2020, 12:20:02 PM »
Not sure if this is distraction or using the crisis to push one of his vendettas, but Trump is now threatening to block emergency aid passed by congress to the USPS if it doesn't hike prices "immediately". 
...during a pandemic when the majority of citizens are under stay-at-home orders and are more reliant on the postal service than we have been in decades.

Since mail in voting is likely to be more widespread in Nov, this could be viewed as a poll tax. Though, to be fair the GOP has hated the post office for a while for reasons that I don't understand as the USPS disproportionately benefits rural citizens, who are also more likely to be GOP voters.

The GOP routinely takes positions against programs which disproportionately benefit rural citizens. Somehow they keep framing them as services benefiting urban minorities which are unamerican and must be stopped!
I blame the low/mono-information diet.  My aunt, who lives in a tiny rural town and is on medicare and SS and gets SNAP benefits still goes on tirades about "socialism" and how we need to "stop handouts to these immigrant Puerto Ricans".  Oh - did I mention her father is an immigrant from Europe?  All attempts to get her to realize that she is also benefiting from these same programs have failed.  SS and Medicare are "her programs" because she "paid into them working". 

sigh... even thinking about those conversations makes me angry. 

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1686 on: April 24, 2020, 12:56:51 PM »
Not sure if this is distraction or using the crisis to push one of his vendettas, but Trump is now threatening to block emergency aid passed by congress to the USPS if it doesn't hike prices "immediately". 
...during a pandemic when the majority of citizens are under stay-at-home orders and are more reliant on the postal service than we have been in decades.

Since mail in voting is likely to be more widespread in Nov, this could be viewed as a poll tax. Though, to be fair the GOP has hated the post office for a while for reasons that I don't understand as the USPS disproportionately benefits rural citizens, who are also more likely to be GOP voters.

The GOP routinely takes positions against programs which disproportionately benefit rural citizens. Somehow they keep framing them as services benefiting urban minorities which are unamerican and must be stopped!
I blame the low/mono-information diet.  My aunt, who lives in a tiny rural town and is on medicare and SS and gets SNAP benefits still goes on tirades about "socialism" and how we need to "stop handouts to these immigrant Puerto Ricans".  Oh - did I mention her father is an immigrant from Europe?  All attempts to get her to realize that she is also benefiting from these same programs have failed.  SS and Medicare are "her programs" because she "paid into them working". 

sigh... even thinking about those conversations makes me angry.

Indeed I had a practicing catholic co-worker tell me he knew that at least two mutual friends--who are stridently pro-Life in their Facebook activity--have terminated pregnancies.

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1687 on: April 24, 2020, 01:23:42 PM »
Not sure if this is distraction or using the crisis to push one of his vendettas, but Trump is now threatening to block emergency aid passed by congress to the USPS if it doesn't hike prices "immediately". 
...during a pandemic when the majority of citizens are under stay-at-home orders and are more reliant on the postal service than we have been in decades.

Since mail in voting is likely to be more widespread in Nov, this could be viewed as a poll tax. Though, to be fair the GOP has hated the post office for a while for reasons that I don't understand as the USPS disproportionately benefits rural citizens, who are also more likely to be GOP voters.

Its also probable that he thinks it will cause Amazon to go out of business or lose money which impacts Bezos and WaPo. Of course, Trumps an idiot and wrong.

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1688 on: April 24, 2020, 01:33:02 PM »
Science.

He said today he was being sarcastic.  So which is it?

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1689 on: April 24, 2020, 01:38:36 PM »
Science.

He said today he was being sarcastic.  So which is it?

The idea of blood irradiation therapy has been around for almost a century, but its effectiveness at being an treatment for anything has negligible.  Just like promoting anti-malaria drugs pushed by a 'humble, country doctor' the WH is grasping for some miracle cure that's just sitting on a shelf somewhere. 


DarkandStormy

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1690 on: April 24, 2020, 01:48:45 PM »
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-leader-group-peddling-bleach-cure-lobbied-trump-coronavirus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Quote
Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week

Welp, that settles it.

sequoia

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1691 on: April 25, 2020, 12:01:30 AM »
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-leader-group-peddling-bleach-cure-lobbied-trump-coronavirus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Quote
Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week

Welp, that settles it.

I have heard several crazy things that is a cure for coronavirus and this one takes the cake. Absolutely stable genius!

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1692 on: April 25, 2020, 07:59:41 AM »
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/24/revealed-leader-group-peddling-bleach-cure-lobbied-trump-coronavirus?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Quote
Revealed: leader of group peddling bleach as coronavirus 'cure' wrote to Trump this week

Welp, that settles it.

I have heard several crazy things that is a cure for coronavirus and this one takes the cake. Absolutely stable genius!




If we could only get him to demonstrate how to do it!




Kris

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1693 on: April 26, 2020, 08:54:14 AM »
Harkening back to the discussion of how the rest of the world sees the US right now, Fintan O’Toole wrote this in the Irish Times:


The world has loved, hated and envied the US, Now, for the first time, we pity it. — Fintan O’Toole, The Irish Times

US president Donald Trump has claimed he was being sarcastic and testing the media when he raised the idea that injecting disinfectant or irradiating the body with ultraviolet light might kill coronavirus.

Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger. But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity.

However bad things are for most other rich democracies, it is hard not to feel sorry for Americans. Most of them did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. Yet they are locked down with a malignant narcissist who, instead of protecting his people from Covid-19, has amplified its lethality. The country Trump promised to make great again has never in its history seemed so pitiful.

Will American prestige ever recover from this shameful episode? The US went into the coronavirus crisis with immense advantages: precious weeks of warning about what was coming, the world’s best concentration of medical and scientific expertise, effectively limitless financial resources, a military complex with stunning logistical capacity and most of the world’s leading technology corporations. Yet it managed to make itself the global epicentre of the pandemic.

As the American writer George Packer puts it in the current edition of the Atlantic, “The United States reacted ... like Pakistan or Belarus – like a country with shoddy infrastructure and a dysfunctional government whose leaders were too corrupt or stupid to head off mass suffering.”

It is one thing to be powerless in the face of a natural disaster, quite another to watch vast power being squandered in real time – wilfully, malevolently, vindictively. It is one thing for governments to fail (as, in one degree or another, most governments did), quite another to watch a ruler and his supporters actively spread a deadly virus. Trump, his party and Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News became vectors of the pestilence.

The grotesque spectacle of the president openly inciting people (some of them armed) to take to the streets to oppose the restrictions that save lives is the manifestation of a political death wish. What are supposed to be daily briefings on the crisis, demonstrative of national unity in the face of a shared challenge, have been used by Trump merely to sow confusion and division. They provide a recurring horror show in which all the neuroses that haunt the American subconscious dance naked on live TV.

How many people in Düsseldorf or Dublin are wishing they lived in Detroit or Dallas? If the plague is a test, its ruling political nexus ensured that the US would fail it at a terrible cost in human lives. In the process, the idea of the US as the world’s leading nation – an idea that has shaped the past century – has all but evaporated. Other than the Trump impersonator Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil, who is now looking to the US as the exemplar of anything other than what not to do? How many people in Düsseldorf or Dublin are wishing they lived in Detroit or Dallas?

It is hard to remember now but, even in 2017, when Trump took office, the conventional wisdom in the US was that the Republican Party and the broader framework of US political institutions would prevent him from doing too much damage. This was always a delusion, but the pandemic has exposed it in the most savage ways.

Abject surrender

What used to be called mainstream conservatism has not absorbed Trump – he has absorbed it. Almost the entire right-wing half of American politics has surrendered abjectly to him. It has sacrificed on the altar of wanton stupidity the most basic ideas of responsibility, care and even safety. Thus, even at the very end of March, 15 Republican governors had failed to order people to stay at home or to close non-essential businesses. In Alabama, for example, it was not until April 3rd that governor Kay Ivey finally issued a stay-at-home order.

In Florida, the state with the highest concentration of elderly people with underlying conditions, governor Ron DeSantis, a Trump mini-me, kept the beach resorts open to students travelling from all over the US for spring break parties. Even on April 1st, when he issued restrictions, DeSantis exempted religious services and “recreational activities”.

There is, as the demonstrations in US cities show, plenty of political mileage in denying the reality of the pandemic. Georgia governor Brian Kemp, when he finally issued a stay-at-home order on April 1st, explained: “We didn’t know that [the virus can be spread by people without symptoms] until the last 24 hours.”

This is not mere ignorance – it is deliberate and homicidal stupidity. There is, as the demonstrations this week in US cities have shown, plenty of political mileage in denying the reality of the pandemic. It is fuelled by Fox News and far-right internet sites, and it reaps for these politicians millions of dollars in donations, mostly (in an ugly irony) from older people who are most vulnerable to the coronavirus.

It draws on a concoction of conspiracy theories, hatred of science, paranoia about the “deep state” and religious providentialism (God will protect the good folks) that is now very deeply infused in the mindset of the American right.

Trump embodies and enacts this mindset, but he did not invent it. The US response to the coronavirus crisis has been paralysed by a contradiction that the Republicans have inserted into the heart of US democracy. On the one hand, they want to control all the levers of governmental power. On the other they have created a popular base by playing on the notion that government is innately evil and must not be trusted.

The contradiction was made manifest in two of Trump’s statements on the pandemic: on the one hand that he has “total authority”, and on the other that “I don’t take responsibility at all”. Caught between authoritarian and anarchic impulses, he is incapable of coherence.

Fertile ground

But this is not just Donald Trump. The crisis has shown definitively that Trump’s presidency is not an aberration. It has grown on soil long prepared to receive it. The monstrous blossoming of misrule has structure and purpose and strategy behind it.

There are very powerful interests who demand “freedom” in order to do as they like with the environment, society and the economy. They have infused a very large part of American culture with the belief that “freedom” is literally more important than life. My freedom to own assault weapons trumps your right not to get shot at school. Now, my freedom to go to the barber (“I Need a Haircut” read one banner this week in St Paul, Minnesota) trumps your need to avoid infection.

Usually when this kind of outlandish idiocy is displaying itself, there is the comforting thought that, if things were really serious, it would all stop. People would sober up. Instead, a large part of the US has hit the bottle even harder.

And the president, his party and their media allies keep supplying the drinks. There has been no moment of truth, no shock of realisation that the antics have to end. No one of any substance on the US right has stepped in to say: get a grip, people are dying here.

If he is re-elected, toxicity will have become the lifeblood of American politics

That is the mark of how deep the trouble is for the US – it is not just that Trump has treated the crisis merely as a way to feed tribal hatreds but that this behaviour has become normalised. When the freak show is live on TV every evening, and the star is boasting about his ratings, it is not really a freak show any more. For a very large and solid bloc of Americans, it is reality.

And this will get worse before it gets better. Trump has at least eight more months in power. In his inaugural address in 2017, he evoked “American carnage” and promised to make it stop. But now that the real carnage has arrived, he is revelling in it. He is in his element.

As things get worse, he will pump more hatred and falsehood, more death-wish defiance of reason and decency, into the groundwater. If a new administration succeeds him in 2021, it will have to clean up the toxic dump he leaves behind. If he is re-elected, toxicity will have become the lifeblood of American politics.

Either way, it will be a long time before the rest of the world can imagine America being great again.




Here’s the link, but it’s paywalled.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-donald-trump-has-destroyed-the-country-he-promised-to-make-great-again-1.4235928?mode=sample&auth-failed=1&pw-origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.irishtimes.com%2Fopinion%2Ffintan-o-toole-donald-trump-has-destroyed-the-country-he-promised-to-make-great-again-1.4235928

LaineyAZ

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1694 on: April 26, 2020, 09:47:55 AM »
Thank you, Kris.  Humbling and sad because it's all true.

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1695 on: April 26, 2020, 10:25:07 AM »
Quote
Either way, it will be a long time before the rest of the world can imagine America being great again.

I don't think it will happen. When Obama was elected, the reaction in the world was a deep breath of relieve: Finally the USA had stopped being religiously stupid and starting wars left and right (see Nobel Peace Price lol).
This was of course way over mystified, but it still was the feeling of "maybe we can do something good in the world together". When the next President was Trump, it was first OMG WTF RLY? and then we basically gave the USA up.

Harkening back to the discussion of how the rest of the world sees the US right now
The German Postillon - a satire site - has a poll every week. Readers can choose their favorite answer.
This time it was about Trump and what he would do next.

The by far most favored answer is "Trump will shrink soldiers to 200nm size to inject them into people to fight the virus. Trump: Yesterday Fox News showed the documentary "innerspace". It was great!

And while Postillon is a satire site, that is about what we think here is currently the normal in the USA. Not only Trump but the whole country, because there is no one stopping him.

nereo

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1696 on: April 26, 2020, 01:27:25 PM »
Who or what do you anticipate will take over the role currently occupied by the United STates, @LennStar ?

Lews Therin

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1697 on: April 26, 2020, 01:30:39 PM »
Who or what do you anticipate will take over the role currently occupied by the United STates, @LennStar ?

The US role during the Trump years shows that they can stop doing everything, and things continue. There will always be someone ready to take influence.

LennStar

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1698 on: April 26, 2020, 01:50:00 PM »
Who or what do you anticipate will take over the role currently occupied by the United STates, @LennStar ?
China.

People
Economy
Political Know-How.

Not that I look extremely precogniscient saying that. That China takes over around 2030 - 2050 is "common knowledge" since the 19XXs.
btw. if you are a fan of epic Science Fiction, there is a series by David Wingrove about world spanning China, how they rewrote history and so on.

nereo

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Re: Trump outrage of the day
« Reply #1699 on: April 26, 2020, 01:50:48 PM »
Who or what do you anticipate will take over the role currently occupied by the United STates, @LennStar ?

The US role during the Trump years shows that they can stop doing everything, and things continue. There will always be someone ready to take influence.

I’m not disputing that. HOwever, that doesn’t answer the question. 

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!