Sound The TRUMPets! A Thread for Presidential Pondering 2016-2020(?)

[SimonNZ]

They lose a point for citing the "Blechdel test" like it's something serious.

[JBS]

Trump of course immediately calls to mind Baron Harkonnen. In both looks and personality. Imo naming his son Baron is just another way of saying Don Jr. Without upsetting gelboy

There's his pseudonymous use of the name John Barron...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudonyms_of_Donald_Trump#%22John_Barron%22_(1980s)

[SimonNZ]

Trump's New Personal Vietnam Is His Made-Up War On Thanksgiving

"Donald Trump congratulated himself last night for his daring rescue of Thanksgiving. I know the holiday came a little later this year, but I didn't think it was in any serious peril. The president kicked off his Florida rally with the bizarre claim that liberals hate Thanksgiving so much they don't even want to call it "Thanksgiving."

TRUMP: As we gather together for Thanksgiving, you know, some people want to change the name Thanksgiving. They don't want to use the term Thanksgiving. And that was true also with Christmas. But now everybody's using Christmas again. Remember this?

I recall the entirely made-up "War on Christmas," but it's hard to notice the ending of something that never existed in the first place. Trump is probably one of those people who freak out over the concept of "Friendsgiving," which is a separate event all together.

Fox News had a meltdown recently over a Huffington Post article by Alexandra Emanuelli about the "environmental impact of your Thanksgiving dinner." No one at the network bothered to read beyond the headline and just assumed Emanuelli demanded we abolish Thanksgiving so baby seals could live. This nonsense somehow found its way into Trump's head because Fox is the president's primary source of information about the world. But no one said anything about changing the name of Thanksgiving to "Day Before Black Friday."

TRUMP: Now we're going to have to do a little work on Thanksgiving. People have different ideas. Why it shouldn't be called Thanksgiving. But everybody in this room, I know, loves the name Thanksgiving. And we're not changing.

Even the president's loyal acolytes on "Fox & Friends" had trouble this morning wrapping their heads about his gibberish.

BRIAN KILMEADE: I don't think there's a huge push to change the name of Thanksgiving, is there?

STEVE DOOCY: Well, you know, I think it was in 2015, there was a rumor that Barack Obama wanted to change the name of Thanksgiving, but that was debunked.

Conservative blogs "reported" in 2015 that Obama planned to issue an executive order changing Thanksgiving to "Celebrate Immigrants Day." It's amazing to see someone on Fox News actually acknowledge that this was just a right-wing myth. It's a Transgender Tofurky Day miracle! Doocy gamely tried to connect Trump's mental collapse to the HuffPost article. The Fake Ainsley Earhardt said it was important to maintain the "tradition" of traveling great distances to see family members you barely tolerate, just like the pilgrims. She went on to suggest that the "issue people have with potentially changing that name" (NO ONE'S TALKING ABOUT CHANGING THE NAME) is that through the name "Thanksgiving," Americans express gratitude for what we have. Unfortunately, Trump believes Thanksgiving is a time when we should feel grateful he's president. During an interview with Bill O'Reilly this week, the president brought a wilted word salad to the table.

TRUMP: This is a great country and I hear all sorts of things that people want to get away, change the name of Thanksgiving. ... you hear things that are just so incredible. Thanksgiving is a very special time and it's really giving thanks, to me."[...]

[SimonNZ]

Former Fox News employees speak out after Hannity urges Bill O'Reilly to return to network[/img]

"A group of former Fox News staffers condemned Sean Hannity on Wednesday after the Fox host encouraged ex-anchor Bill O'Reilly to return to the cable news network.

The staffers — Diana Falzone, Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky — issued a joint statement decrying Hannity's overture to O'Reilly, saying it "demonstrates how far we have yet to go in ensuring that survivors of sexual assault and harassment are treated with even the modicum of respect that Hannity has shown an alleged serial predator."

O'Reilly left Fox News in 2017 following reports that he had paid $13 million to five women to settle allegations of sexual misconduct. He has denied the allegations.

The New York Times also reported in 2017 that O'Reilly paid $32 million to settle a sexual harassment claim against him. The newspaper said he declined to address specific questions about the settlement.

The former employees who issued Wednesday's statement called on Fox News to release all women from their nondisclosure agreements, saying it would help the public understand how "egregious" Hannity's remarks were."[...]

[drogulus]

     The IG report on the FBI investigation into Russian interference says the investigation did not put spies inside the Trump campaign. There was no Obama wire tap. The tap on Carter Page was not politically motivated. There was one application for a FISA warrant that had bad information on it. That's what has led to a criminal investigation of the perp, who was fired for his falsification.

     As far as I know no Trumpists in the FBI have been named or shamed or had their work product questioned for bias. There's no reason to assume their biases had any effect without evidence, right? I'm not about to blame Comey's blunder on the Trumpists who pressured him. That's on Comey 100%. The boss has to resist pressures like this, that's why he gets the big bucks.

[JBS]

Trump's New Personal Vietnam Is His Made-Up War On Thanksgiving

"Donald Trump congratulated himself last night for his daring rescue of Thanksgiving. I know the holiday came a little later this year, but I didn't think it was in any serious peril. The president kicked off his Florida rally with the bizarre claim that liberals hate Thanksgiving so much they don't even want to call it "Thanksgiving."

TRUMP: As we gather together for Thanksgiving, you know, some people want to change the name Thanksgiving. They don't want to use the term Thanksgiving. And that was true also with Christmas. But now everybody's using Christmas again. Remember this?

I recall the entirely made-up "War on Christmas," but it's hard to notice the ending of something that never existed in the first place. Trump is probably one of those people who freak out over the concept of "Friendsgiving," which is a separate event all together.

Fox News had a meltdown recently over a Huffington Post article by Alexandra Emanuelli about the "environmental impact of your Thanksgiving dinner." No one at the network bothered to read beyond the headline and just assumed Emanuelli demanded we abolish Thanksgiving so baby seals could live. This nonsense somehow found its way into Trump's head because Fox is the president's primary source of information about the world. But no one said anything about changing the name of Thanksgiving to "Day Before Black Friday."

TRUMP: Now we're going to have to do a little work on Thanksgiving. People have different ideas. Why it shouldn't be called Thanksgiving. But everybody in this room, I know, loves the name Thanksgiving. And we're not changing.

Even the president's loyal acolytes on "Fox & Friends" had trouble this morning wrapping their heads about his gibberish.

BRIAN KILMEADE: I don't think there's a huge push to change the name of Thanksgiving, is there?

STEVE DOOCY: Well, you know, I think it was in 2015, there was a rumor that Barack Obama wanted to change the name of Thanksgiving, but that was debunked.

Conservative blogs "reported" in 2015 that Obama planned to issue an executive order changing Thanksgiving to "Celebrate Immigrants Day." It's amazing to see someone on Fox News actually acknowledge that this was just a right-wing myth. It's a Transgender Tofurky Day miracle! Doocy gamely tried to connect Trump's mental collapse to the HuffPost article. The Fake Ainsley Earhardt said it was important to maintain the "tradition" of traveling great distances to see family members you barely tolerate, just like the pilgrims. She went on to suggest that the "issue people have with potentially changing that name" (NO ONE'S TALKING ABOUT CHANGING THE NAME) is that through the name "Thanksgiving," Americans express gratitude for what we have. Unfortunately, Trump believes Thanksgiving is a time when we should feel grateful he's president. During an interview with Bill O'Reilly this week, the president brought a wilted word salad to the table.

TRUMP: This is a great country and I hear all sorts of things that people want to get away, change the name of Thanksgiving. ... you hear things that are just so incredible. Thanksgiving is a very special time and it's really giving thanks, to me."[...]

There is a War on Thanksgiving. The "enemy" is Macy's and all the other stores who open on Thursday afternoon and make the day merely Black Friday Phase 1. The enemy is also all the shoppers who go shopping on Thursday.  A mall in Miami has been advertising all week that it will open at 9 AM tomorrow.

But will Trump ever say a peep about that.

[SimonNZ]

     The IG report on the FBI investigation into Russian interference says the investigation did not put spies inside the Trump campaign. There was no Obama wire tap. The tap on Carter Page was not politically motivated. There was one application for a FISA warrant that had bad information on it. That's what has led to a criminal investigation of the perp, who was fired for his falsification.

     As far as I know no Trumpists in the FBI have been named or shamed or had their work product questioned for bias. There's no reason to assume their biases had any effect without evidence, right? I'm not about to blame Comey's blunder on the Trumpists who pressured him. That's on Comey 100%. The boss has to resist pressures like this, that's why he gets the big bucks.

Wot, no witches?

[drogulus]

   
     https://www.youtube.com/v/Zhht-ewLFA0&feature=youtu.be

[dissily Mordentroge]

Sorry, I can't watch him. He gives me the creeps no matter what he's saying. Besides, the new facework only makes him look more like a baby.

[drogulus]

Sorry, I can't watch him. He gives me the creeps no matter what he's saying. Besides, the new facework only makes him look more like a baby.

     The backup singers are a nice touch. If this doesn't get a Grammy it would be very unfair.

[SimonNZ]

I can't see that. What is it?


meanwhile:

House GOP members are 'absolutely disgusted and exhausted' by Trump's behavior, former GOP congressman says

"Former Republican congressman Charlie Dent said Thursday some of his former colleagues in the House of Representatives have privately told him they are "absolutely disgusted and exhausted by the President's behavior."

Dent told CNN's Ana Cabrera on "Newsroom" that House Republicans are standing with the President at the moment because of base pressure, but said "they resent being put in this position all the time."

Dent, who is a CNN political commentator, cited the Trump administration trying to "pivot from the Ukraine scandal" by announcing the 2020 G7 summit at the Trump National Doral resort. The decision was later reversed.

"Moving from one corrupt act to another," Dent said. "I mean those types of head-exploding moments are just I think infuriating these members and I think they'd like to step out but they just can't because of their base at the moment."

Dent served as chairman of the House Ethics Committee from 2015 until 2016 and chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies from 2015 until 2018.

"I think a lot of members have to take a hard look at this," Dent said. "They can be more concerned about their election, or their legacies. And I would argue to many of them: your legacy is more important than the next election."

Dent said based on the facts as he understands them now, he would probably vote to impeach the President if he was still in the House. "I do think this rises to the level of impeachment," he said.

The former congressman said Democrats should not move forward on impeachment until they hear from key witnesses like former national security adviser John Bolton, acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo"

[JBS]

I can't see that. What is it?

The Great Helmsman pouring his wisdom into the ears of the adoring proletariat.  Or something like that. TBH, I didn't watch it either. It has all the elegance and drama of a video showing someone defecating into a toilet.

[drogulus]

I can't see that. What is it?

     https://youtu.be/Zhht-ewLFA0

     Watch it, it will change your life.

[SimonNZ]

Heh. Actually that was awesome.

"What about 'gina? What about 'gina?"

[SimonNZ]

Donald Trump: is there anything sadder than a chump who thinks he's a champ?

"Oh dear. Was President Trump's tweet of his head digitally added on to the body of Rocky Balboa/Sylvester Stallone rather too psychologically revealing? The image seemed to say everything you needed to know about Trump's delusional self-image. Well, I say "needed". How much does anyone need to know about any man – world leader or regular Joe – who mistakes male heft and musculature for true power?

Before we begin, a minor quibble: the tan of Rocky's body isn't an exact match for Trump's face. The former says "Italian-American"; the latter whispers: "Overzealously applied mortuary makeup that does little to dispel the question marks over Trump's health sparked by his recent unscheduled 'medical check'." But I digress – it's the internal monologue that counts. The Trump/Rocky hybrid is saying: "Behold my might! This is the real Trump – not that old guy, so flaccid and orange he's starting to resemble a morally corrupted Winnie the Pooh. NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO! This toned boxing-gloved Adonis is the true Trump: buff, invincible and intriguingly homoerotic."[...]

[SimonNZ]

Poll: Majority of Republicans say Trump better president than Lincoln

[Daverz]

Poll: Majority of Republicans say Trump better president than Lincoln

I'm surprised it was only a bare majority. Lincoln started the War of Northern Aggression, whereas Trump won the War Against Thanksgiving.

[SimonNZ]

Plus Lincoln was a "nigger-lover". Trump makes sure darkies know their place - especially after the nightmare scenario of a darkie president.

[SimonNZ]

The Creepy Racist Network Behind Trump Aide Stephen Miller

[...]"Miller has long been a close ally of the nativist empire built over decades by the late John Tanton, who was himself revealed as a white nationalist in private communications that became public years ago. Tanton's many powerful groups—which include the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS), and Numbers USA—adopt varying degrees of camouflage, but at their heart are infected with Tanton's view of America as a nation for white people.

FAIR, CIS, and Numbers USA form the core of what has grown into a sprawling American nativist lobby. FAIR officials have testified more than 100 times to Congress and CIS propaganda is regularly cited by politicians and other important players. Numbers USA played a key role in the defeat of comprehensive immigration reform in 2007.

And they are not alone. Tanton has founded or funded more than a dozen anti-immigration groups, and those groups have in turn worked with many smaller groups in a continuing battle for immigration restriction.

The most remarkable thing about the Tanton network is how seriously it is taken, despite the white nationalism at its core. The result is that virtually the entire immigration restriction movement is the fruit of a poisonous tree.

Tanton, who died age 85 in July, was plainspoken enough when he wasn't in the public eye. He once wrote that he had "come to the view that for European-American society and culture to persist requires a European-American majority, and a clear one at that." Elsewhere, he added, "Demography is destiny. We decline to bequeath to our children minority status in their own land."

Tanton warned darkly of a "Latin onslaught," and corresponded with white supremacists, Holocaust deniers, and a Klan attorney. He republished a wildly racist French novel, The Camp of the Saints, that describes an invasion of France by "swarthy hordes" of Indian refugees who end up taking over the country and consigning white women to special whorehouses for Hindu men. (Tanton's edition of the book included an afterword from author Jean Raspail claiming that "the proliferation of other races dooms our race, my race, to extinction.") He enthused over eugenics, the Nazi "science" of breeding a better human race, and once asked if a "local pair of sisters" with nine children could be forcibly sterilized."

Above all, Tanton wanted to overturn the 1965 immigration law that ended a racist quota system instituted in 1924. He idolized the architect of the 1924 law, John Trevor Sr., a man who warned of "diabolical Jewish control" and distributed pro-Nazi propaganda. To Tanton, as he wrote to a FAIR board member, Trevor's work should serve as "a guidepost to what we must follow again this time."

Miller's connection to Tanton's world is a tight one.

He has repeatedly cited CIS, an organization listed by the SPLC as a hate group. In May 2015, Miller was the keynote speaker at a CIS awards ceremony, where he praised staffers extravagantly. In February 2017, he cited misleading CIS claims about terrorism to support Trump's Muslim ban, and six months later he cited the group again while arguing for drastic reductions in legal immigration. He spoke to CIS and other nativist groups in a January 2018 phone conference."

[drogulus]

     Blacklisted: An Interview with Cheri Jacobus

     This is from 2018:

     https://www.youtube.com/v/zue2kvwKkJk