Tag Archives: Donald Trump

How Is It Playing?

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According to “insiders”, that is the Mad King’s default question. Not, what is the right thing for the common good, how is it playing?

Cut to John Gruber:

“Having an ignorant conspiracy nut lead the Department of Health and Human Services is angering and worrisome, to say the least. But it’s also incredibly frustrating, because Donald Trump himself isn’t an anti-vaxxer. In fact, one of the few great achievements of the first Trump Administration was Operation Warp Speed, a highly successful effort spearheaded by the US federal government to “facilitate and accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics, and diagnostics.” Early in the pandemic experts were concerned it would take years before a Covid vaccine might be available. Instead, multiple effective vaccines were widely available — and administered free of charge — in the first half of 2021, only a year after the pandemic broke. It was a remarkable success and any other president who spearheaded Operation Warp Speed would have rightfully taken tremendous credit for it.

But instead, while plotting his return to office, Trump smelled opportunity with the anti-vax contingent of the out-and-proud Stupid-Americans, and now here we are, with a genuine know-nothing lunatic like RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. God help us if another pandemic hits in the next few years.”

Of course, as we’re already seeing in places like West Texas with a measles outbreak, the public health threat isn’t limited to a possible pandemic.

The Con Man And The Old Man

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Peggy Noonan:

“From the moment he shuffled out with a soft and faltering gait, you could see how much he has declined. He was pale and waxy, and there was something almost furtive in his gaze. His voice was hoarse and feathery, with no projection. His answers were scrambled, halting. At some points he made no sense. At some points he seemed out of it.”

Nicholas Kristof:

“One of the perils facing this country, I believe and Biden believes, is the risk of a victory by Donald Trump. And after the debate, it’s hard to avoid the feeling that Biden remaining in the race increases the likelihood that Trump will move into the White House in January.”

Biden has been an extremely successful president and is universally well liked and deeply respected by those who know him best. I believe, if the election were held today, he would lose. And were he to prove me wrong, I believe he’d be way too diminished in a year, two, three, or four to have anywhere as successful a second term. Because biology is undefeated.

You need an example? This morning I ran around Capitol Lake, a scenic 5-mile loop with views of water, birds, and the State Capitol dome. The last mile is a 2% decline and today I decided to flip the turbo booster switch and see what kind of mile I could do downhill. At my athletic peak I had very average speed at best, by which I mean I’ve always been slow. But my consistency over decades resulted in above average endurance. Leading to decent performances. For example:

Less than seven years ago, 7:46/mile 26 times. As Adam Sandler sings in the Chanukah song, not too shabby. So, back to this morning’s time trial. Felt good. Movin’. Watch vibrates signaling the mile split. “Seven what?” I thought to myself. Glance down. 8:09.

I was planning on running the 10k in the (d)US Olympic Trials until The Good Wife and my close friends staged an intervention. They said I was jeopardizing my legacy as the Seattle Marathon age group winner and beloved figure of running fans near and far. And that the selfless thing to do would be to acknowledge my time in the running limelight has passed and to kindly step off the track before I lose badly to Grant Fisher and company.

Thank goodness for their objective tough love.

Tim Scott And The End Of Democracy

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Jamelle Bouie for the win, “The One Thing Trump Knows He Wants in a Running Mate”.

“[Trump] has also said that he would not rule out the possibility of political violence. ‘t always depends on the fairness of an election,’ he told Time magazine in another recent interview.

There is no need for Trump to say anything else; all the Republicans vying to stand by his side understand that they’ll lose their shot if they accept the basic democratic norm that a loss may not be overturned after the fact. When asked several times if he would accept the results of the 2024 election, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina — one of the leading contenders for Trump’s running mate — would repeat only a single, rehearsed statement. ‘At the end of the day, the 47th president of the United States will be President Donald Trump.’

I saw the Tim Scott video and couldn’t help but think about how loathsome he is. But upon thought, “loathsome” isn’t sufficient, dangerous is more apropos.

Paragraphs To Ponder

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File this under “The Fall of the American Empire”.

“Exhibiting a distinctly 21st-century form of raw media power, X has also throttled and punished Mr. Musk’s perceived competitors and foes while reinstating accounts that were previously banned for content violations, some relating to the lie that the 2020 election was stolen. The platform’s algorithm — which dictates how posts are circulated on the site — also now gives added promotion to those who pay to be “verified,” including previously banned accounts.

Among them is @KanekoaTheGreat, a once-banned QAnon influencer who this month circulated a 32-page dossier promoted by Mr. Trump that recounted a barrage of false charges about the 2020 election.

It drew nearly 22 million views.”

More here.

Orange Jesus Explained

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If you’re anything like me, you don’t “get” Iowa. More specifically, you wonder, “What’s up with Iowans?” Especially, the white evangelicals.

David P. Gushee thinks he gets “it”.

From “The Deification of Donald Trump Poses Some Interesting Questions“.

“Trump’s evolution into a Jesus-like figure for some but not all white evangelicals began soon after he began his first presidential campaign. As David P. Gushee, a professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University, explained by email:

‘Some of Trump’s Christian followers do appear to have grown to see him as a kind of religious figure. He is a savior. I think it began with the sense that he was uniquely committed to saving them from their foes (liberals, Democrats, elites, seculars, illegal immigrants, etc.) and saving America from all that threatens it.’

In this sense, Gushee continued, ‘a savior does not have to be a good person but just needs to fulfill his divinely appointed role. Trump is seen by many as actually having done so while president.’

This view of Trump is especially strong ‘in the Pentecostal wing of the conservative Christian world,’ Gushee wrote, where he is sometimes also viewed as an anointed leader sent by God. ‘Anointed’ here means set apart and especially equipped by God for a holy task. Sometimes the most unlikely people got anointed by God in the Bible. So Trump’s unlikeliness for this role is actually evidence in favor. The multiple criminal charges against Trump serve to strengthen the belief of many evangelicals about his ties to God, according to Gushee:

‘The prosecutions underway against Trump have been easily interpretable as signs of persecution, which can then connect to the suffering Jesus theme in Christianity. Trump has been able to leverage that with lines like, “They’re not persecuting me. They’re persecuting you.” The idea that he is unjustly suffering and, in so doing, vicariously absorbing the suffering that his followers would be enduring is a powerful way for Trump to be identified with Jesus.'”

No doubt, add a lot of PressingPausers to the list of liberals, Democrats, elites, seculars, illegal immigrants, and other nefarious foes that many Iowans think they need saving from.

Of course, they don’t really know any PressingPausers, some of whom I’m indebted to for reaching out after my recent “It’s My Parents’ Fault” post. I had a beer with one in Olympia yesterday. Others in Olympia; Greensboro, NC; Huntington Beach, CA; and Japan messaged, texted, and emailed. Trust me, no one needs saving from them. They’re savers of others.

Can George Santos Support Himself?

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The George Santos reporting has been excruciatingly superficial. The continuous platforming of a congenital liar; the should he or shouldn’t he be expelled; the can the R’s afford to possibly lose the seat; the Botox, Hermès, Sephora and OnlyFans.

Among many others, here are two questions no one seems to be asking:

How did he get 145,824 New Yorkers to vote for him in 2022? That’s 20,420 more than his opponent. Why did everyone find out about his mental condition after the election? Also, the 2022 New York Third Congressional election results were not an anomaly. Why are we still, despite access to unprecedented information about people, so incredibly susceptible to conmen and women? Maybe the avalanche of information works to their advantage? Clearly, we’re increasingly susceptible to congenital liars in politics, business/finance, religious life, fill in the blank.

The second thing you won’t hear a reporter ask is can GS support himself? Does he have any specialized work experience, knowledge, or skills that an employer would value enough to pay him a livable wage? Even setting aside his mental health issues and nightmare character,I highly doubt it. In that respect, he’s emblematic of many young men and women who are finding it exceedingly difficult to approximate their parents’ economic security and lifestyles.

By far, the easiest thing to do is to make fun of Mary Magdalene. Much harder is figuring out how to avoid being taken by GS-like charlatans over and over. Also much harder is helping the GS’s of the world live independent lives. Unless GS figures out how to exploit our celebrity culture in the spirit of his political mentor, the Former Guy, I expect him to end up in and out of prison, with the public paying his room and board.

And that’s the news from the edge of the Salish.

Postscript. Shit.

Paragraphs to Ponder

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Peggy Noonan:

“Most of those around Mr. Trump know his problems—bad judgment, little understanding of history, disordered ego. They’re for him for their own reasons. But to their credit, they never say, ‘He’s wiser than he was in his first administration,’ or ‘He’s mellowed,’ or ‘This is a good man.’

When your own people can’t say these things, that is a weakness. What they do believe, and will say, is the Democrats are worse, the media is worse, and Mr. Trump was never treated fairly. That is their sole unifying principle.

Those around Joe Biden believe in Mr. Trump, in that they believe they can take him. He can take Mr. Trump again. They can’t know that about other candidates but they know it of Mr. Trump because he does what Mr. Biden has long struggled to do, rally and unify the Democratic base. They long to read, ‘Trump Wins GOP Nomination.’ It means the November headline is ‘Biden Re-Elected.’ How odd it would be for Republicans at this point in history to give Democrats what they so long for.

To Empathize Or Not

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There’s an interesting line in Netflix’s new Bernie Madoff docudrama trailer. Something to the effect that, for Madoff, being a serial liar was much easier to accept than ever admitting to being a failure.

Probably holds for George Santos too. But if serial lying is a mental illness of sorts, why isn’t our response more empathetic? Imagine disliking yourself so much that you work nonstop to create a new/imaginary/inflated self. How exhausting. How sad.

Consequently, I could definitely be empathetic towards private people dealing with personal demons of that sort. Making up stuff about your private self, such as I’m a single-digit handicap in golf, is a victimless crime. Everything changes though when serial liars go public and ask people to invest in their Ponzi scheme, say an election was rigged, or con people into voting for them in national elections.

If you’re going to steal people’s money, undermine democracy, or deny constituents competent representation, don’t expect empathy. Expect vitriol.

Santos should be tarred, feathered, and forced to resign.