Just here to say that, having read the transcript and listened to the pony soldier clip yesterday, I don't quite get the hullabaloo. So our president rambled a bit and used a memorable, if stupid, insult about his political rivals (climate deniers). Isn't that what Trump does at every appearance? And in his case is considered entertainin…
Just here to say that, having read the transcript and listened to the pony soldier clip yesterday, I don't quite get the hullabaloo. So our president rambled a bit and used a memorable, if stupid, insult about his political rivals (climate deniers). Isn't that what Trump does at every appearance? And in his case is considered entertaining, and just what his supporters want? It's not my preferred form of discourse, but it didn't compromise national security. He didn't seem incompetent or deranged, just rambling and ruining an already dumb joke by too much set up. I just don't think it's a big deal, and would recommend not making it into one.
Plus Biden's comments on 9/11 in Alaska were terrific. Heartfelt and on point about who we arecwhen we pull together. And I was impressed by Harris and her interview on Face the Nation on Sunday, wouldn't bite on "why ate they so mean to you" type of question, with a firm and clear response: elected 1st female District Atty on SF, and then reelected; elected Atty General for the State of CA, and won reelection; elected to Senate where she represented 1 in 8 people in the country. I was very impressed.
When Trump talks it is not even in complete sentences. He sounds like he's delusional with the whole election was stolen shtick, or not enough water pressure in the shower or toilet. The whole man, woman, camera, TV test thing is just ridiculous. I winced a little when I heard Joe Biden rambling, so I do understand what Charlie was saying on the podcast yesterday. In my mind there is still no doubt about which one of them still has their senses.
Look at CNN and their lead article on all of Biden's misremeberings, wow there must be 10 or 11, one was about 9/11. Really? They didn't bother with any of the thousands of lies t***p told and is telling, because they desperately want Biden to lose because he is boring. The MSM is pretty much decided they will go broke with 4 more years of Joe especially if hopefully t***p disappears. And I thought Musk hated America.
The media grabs the sound bites they want to make President Biden sound bad, so they get more clicks. He did an admirable job at G20 and in Vietnam. And let’s not overlook his historic work with South Korea and Japan. Biden gets shit done.
I think Charlie sees his role, as a still-conservative Never Trumper, as warning Democrats when they are saying things that moderates and Trump-skeptical conservatives won't like. It's one of the reasons I read/listen to The Bulwark instead of staying in my blue bubble. It's also why he likes Will and Ruy Texeira. I think they are to Democrats what Charlie is to Republicans. I would say there is exactly zero chance that Charlie will vote for Trump. He really is someone who drew the line at rank cruelty, corruption and anti-democratic authoritarianism.
Maybe he likes to generate discussion? I still think there’s a “school of fish” thing going on. Fox talks incessantly about President Biden’s age so the rest of the media thinks they have to as well?
I just can't freaking believe how people went crazy about this. He sounds just fine. He sounds like my 83 year old dad, and any other 80 year old men in my neighborhood. They just love to tell a long story with a little bit rambling to get to the point. Contrary to the orange dotard who thinks he is the greatest speaker and erudite person in the entire human history, President Biden is cogent and coherent.
Let him go to bed, for goodness' sake! He must have been tired. I am only 50 and was completely pooped and jetlagged for a few days after I had a 15 hour flight a 5 months ago.
So called news media is focusing on Biden's old age instead of substance is just pathetic. The media is the problem!
Biden was beyond jetlagged and had been traveling and up for over 24 hours. I don't think the Whitehouse journalists do that trip and then handle a 40 minute press conference.
Apologies, but some of us are surrounded by these idjits and have to converse with them daily. A working knowledge of the current RW echo chamber is essential. That being said, it is nice to hear substance offered here too.
But he's old is, of course, the but her emails of 2024 and arises from the same perverse behavior, the desire of the news media for totally phony balance.
Yeah apparently it has to balance out the twice impeached, four time indicted former president's problems. And if age doesn't do it, then the repeated invocation of Hunter Biden's perfidies must also be included. It's tough to balance out the former guy's characteristics.
I don't really care if Biden misquotes 70 year old movie he saw as a child with his brother. It reminded me of how my brothers and I will jokingly insulted each other with Three Amigos taunts all the time because it made an impression on us as kids, but we never got the insults quite right...
I'm sitting in on a Zoom call (with nothing to do with what's being discussed), so I can't play your video clip. But when I read this, the first thing I thought was, "Son of a motherless goat."
Biden’s doing better than me. I remember the quotes of a movie (usually mangled), but for the life of me, I can never remember the movie they’re from....:)
You, too, huh. Don't you just want to strangle these jerks who can rattle off stanzas of poems by Kipling or paragraphs from some Dostoevsky doorstopper at the drop of a hat?
I don't do Dostoevsky, I can do Kipling--I prefer Shakespeare. Dostoevsky, like most Russian literature is too boring and depressing. I can also give you long stretches of Tolkien and Star Trek, if necessary.
Never did make it all the way through War and Peace.
Here's a movie quote for you, sir! From Nicholas Cage in The Lord of War.
"Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists."
Agreed. Reading the Russian writers is where a true understanding of what the word "slog" really means. "Dr. Zhivago" wasn't too bad, but it really wasn't in the same category as the turn of the century tomes.
I have a book of collections of Kipling's poems and short stories, as well as a copy of "Kim", which I haven't yet read. And it's a hard read (which I never thought it would be). The problem is most of his works are buried under his experiences of Britain in India, and if you only know a little about it, it's hard going. That said, his poem "If" should be emblazoned on every wannabe tough guys' walls (talking to you, Donnie, Ronnie, Mike, Tucker, Elon, et al).
Nearly everything I read of Kipling's works, I read when I was an adolescent. The works I remember most are "Gunga Din" and "The Jungle Book," in particular, the story of the mongoose "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." My mom introduced me to Kipling, and to Mark Twain, urging me to read "Tom Sawyer and "Huckleberry Finn" all before I reached 6th grade.
I think the difference between Trump and Biden is tempo. Trump rapid fires volleys of nonsense into the crowd while Biden takes a slower, lower meander.
Transcribe what Trump says and compare that to a transcription of what Biden says, and there's a night and day difference between Trump's incomprehensible word salads and Biden's competent speech.
Unfortunately our impressions are created by the audio/visual experience of the two men, not the transcripts.
Trump is entertaining. He knows how to drive the attention culture. He's been doing it since 1980. He knows the code and exploits it well but do you know why Trump lost in 2020?
Because America was OVEREXPOSED to Trump. We were tired of the antics and fed up with his incompetence and narcissism. Trump should be more exposed to America. The more he talks and the more people are reminded of how much they hate him (he is 15 points underwater in favorability polls) the more they will get off the couch and vote against him.
A word-for-word transcript of any Trump speech is harder to follow than any of Biden's addresses. Wouldn't it be interesting if Trump's blatherings were muted and the written transcript scrolled across the TV screen instead?
Maybe someone should contact Hart Seely, who created "Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld". (Does anyone remember the "Unknown Unknowns"?) I'm sure that "selected verse" from #45's word salad would be fascinating.
I literally copied a transcript of one of Trump's answers when he was holding his COVID briefings (from WhiteHouse.gov) and sent it to myTrumplicant sister-in-law and challenged her to decipher it. I never got an answer. And the sad fact is that it doesn't matter what Trump literally says. All of supporters just "know" what he means. As long as it's bombastic and nasty-sounding, that's good enough. Such is the nature of cults.
Q And what is your plan, sir, for government workers? Are you moving for the government as well to start doing more teleworking?
THE PRESIDENT: We are. And we’re doing — we’re using the medical term of “telemedicine,” and it’s been incredibly busy and, really, you know, where people don’t have to — I mean, some people can’t do it anyway. They can’t get up; they can’t see a doctor. But we’re using this, and it’s been telehealth — different names. And I will tell you that it’s been really successful, and it’s helped a lot of people out, where they don’t have to and they can’t. And even from a safety reason, if they are positive, they are — if they are feeling poorly, they can’t do it, or we don’t want them transmitting anything to anybody else.
My Response: Just read Trump’s response a few times. What does it mean that “telemedicine has been incredibly busy”? Does he mean that a lot of people are using telemedicine? That might be good, but the question was about teleworking, not telemedicine. Then he says something about “people can’t do it anyway”. What is he even talking about? I assume he means that some people feel so bad that they can’t go out to the doctor. Why not just say that? Then he shifts to calling it “telehealth” with his usual caveat that “telehealth” and “telemedicine” are really the same thing (they aren’t). And I’m guessing that what Trump wanted to say in the last sentence is that from a safety perspective even if people are feeling good if they test positive we don’t want them going out because they might transmit the disease to someone else. But that is just a guess given the word-salad nature of what he actually did say.
Early in the Trump Administration there was an article by an Australian journalist about Trump's "discourse." The journalist listened to/watched a whole Trump speech and noted how disjointed and repetitive it was, filled with short phrases that apparently the audience were supposed to fill in the blanks of to understand what he meant. Excerpts of transcripts or of video just doesn't convey the total package of the Trump performance. Wish I could find that article again.
That's the maddening part. Donnie's demented (literally) word salad is regarded as ho-hum-no-big-deal. Biden is logical, coherent, rambles a little and is regarded as senile. Darn liberal media!
I agree with Keith Olberman. Biden should take up Trump's acuity challenge. A direct comparison of mental acuity would not go well for the King of Word Salad who can't go three words without a self reference.
I think this is a great idea! Like a game show! Several contests, aired in multiple showings, including a game of jeopardy, teleprompter reading, and basic civics. Maybe a an easy maze or obstacle course. And, the MAGA nuts will watch it!
It's annoying that Democratic pols always take the high road. I think it came from many generations of Democrats being considered crude working class/ union organizer thugs. Even Harvard trained Kennedy was a bit of a rabble rouser. My grandmother voted Democratic because she said they were for working people. Right-wing billionaires and media moguls like Murdoch and grifters like Trump have decided that being for unions and big cities is too high class for the "real" Americans ( and certainly for big business) and Trump has capitalized on that by pretending to be down with the people because he's ignorant. He is only ignorant because his uber rich father gave him everything and required no education, no morals, no character. It is the working class in NYC who hate him, because he has spit on the working class and trades people of that city by refusing to pay honest wages or for goods a services. The priveledge of slaving for Trump should be payment enough. The only people who believe him are farmers and fundamental religious people who have been raised on fairy tales.
oh of course, i'm just referencing (via all in the family, if you're too young for the reference!) the last of the old-school democrats who was willing to take the fight to the opposition in very direct terms.
doesn't matter who the democrat is, the smear machine will kick into high gear.
He’d just turn the entire affair into a spectacle. As the adage goes, “Never wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty and the pig likes it.”...:)
I agree. I don't agree with Oberman. Biden is too shrewd to get into this circus. We all know Biden is way smarter than Trump, he does not need to prove it. That will give Trump more limelight and I imagine that Trump will get there, ignore the questions and start spewing nonsense and "the election was stolen" shit.
Maybe you're right, but the sound bites available for Dem campaign ads might just be priceless. What is more likely to happen is Trump would announce 24 hours before the challenge that the tests were unfair and refuse to participate. At that point Biden should declare himself the undisputed champion of the acuity challenge and hold up a big gaudy belt.
How about they both just release their college transcripts first. I heard one of Trump’s college professors say that he graduated in the bottom half of the class. And Trump’s former fixer, Cohen said that Trump forced him to threaten U of Penn, if they released it, because Trump knew it wouldn’t look good for him.
It would be like my talk with a relative who is a flat earther. He engaged me in a discussion because he knows that I am a scientist retired from NASA. I made the mistake of citing satellites and that planets are gloves because it is the most stable form when matter from the big bang condensed. Well, it did not go well. He accused me of being a liar and of having sworn an oath at NASA to lie and say that the earth was a glob while he "knows" it is flat. Sometimes, the best thing is not to engage, especially with the brain dead MAGAS.
I often interact with MAGAs on social media to counter the rightwing propaganda they regularly consume, although I know I am hitting my head against a brick wall. When I present facts and evidence that refutes some lie or conspiracy theory they are posting or sharing, the common responses are that 1) I am a communist, 2) brainwashed by CNN, or 3) that whatever sources I used (Wash Post, NY Times, PolitiFact, the Atlantic, NASA, etc.) are leftist/liberal and not credible.
Beverly - your comment struck a chord with me, I have to share this with you. I often do the same on Xitter, trying to have civil-ish dialogue with (relatively) reasonable MAGAs I happen to encounter. Call it a sociology experiment. My wife calls it something else.
Inevitably I get the same dismissive and/or insulting responses that you do. Occasionally I persist for sport, and keep it civil and fact-based (it ain't easy) even after the dismissive/ignorant response(s). After a few more exchanges, with me neither insulting them in return nor letting go of the point at hand, I try to respond again ... and find myself blocked.
They seem to reach a point where insults don't end the discussion, and the facts and civility keep coming, so they just pull the plug. It happens more often than not in those situations. I find it funny/curious, for what it's worth. Blow on them long enough and they fall over!
And never, never, never have any of them conceded anything ("hey, good point, now that you put it that way"). Easier to run away.
Yes, I have also encountered the cut off response, but more often they tell me to go away, or they tell me that I am suffering from TDS - that's one of their favorite comebacks. If you are always able to remain polite, you're a finer person than me Mike! I began with all good intentions to be always civil, polite, and kind - and as Michelle Obama once said, "to go high when they go low." Alas, I am also not so fine or disciplined a person as MO either - and I had no idea how really low so many of them will go. There came a point when I began to be so frustrated and disgusted with their smug condescension and insults coupled with of willful ignorance, bigotry, racism and even viciousness that too often now I do become rude in return. I think those of us who try to interact with them on any regular basis probably could use a support group to help us deal with the feelings they provoke.
And don't forget that if you cite some authority figure that agrees with your claim, the Trumplicant response is that they are certainly "members of the Deep State".
That makes sense. However, why would Biden want to do that? He is governing. He does not need to get into this. If he did, then the Magas would say that his transcripts were doctored by the deep state.
I suspect we will not live long enough to see the day when Trump's frequent word salads are held to the same level of scrutiny as Biden's occasional flubs, or pretty much anyone else's. Because Trump enjoys the home field advantage of low expectations, such that whenever he talks and acts like a jackass, supporters and even media outlets respond, if at all, with overtones that essentially equate to "That's just Donald being Donald" and blow it off. It is grossly unfair, but it's how they roll, and if it hasn't changed by now, it likely isn't going to do so ever. Our lot is to fight through it and try to focus on actual messaging more than the messenger.
Trump is an idiot with a very limited vocabulary. I swear to god, the man only knows two adjectives, strong and powerful. He rambles and is illogical. But without rose-colored glasses on, Biden looks confused (not saying he is confused, but that’s how he appears.) He looks tired. Unsteady, like a stiff breeze would knock him over. Nothing about Trump seems weak—except his intellect, of course, but the average voter is not particularly bright, either. Right or wrong, perception, appearances matter. Another 14 months before the election. God help us.
You forgot Trump’s favourite adjective for ant woman who doesn’t worship the ground he walks on - nasty. To him, every strong woman with a mind of her own is nasty. Talk about projection...
In the early days I thought the former president was using "code" that only he and his loyal followers understand. The rest of the world doesn't count so there is no need to be clear and precise. It was a speaking style I noted comes from New Yorkers of a certain time. I have relatives who were New Yorkers of a certain class and born 20 years before Trump who had a similar style of talking...a phrase, wink wink, nudge nudge...and everyone understood if they were of the same origin. I was an in law raised in a different part of the country and didn't recognize the code. The former president's followers who shared his grievances recognized the code.
Yes, and the corollary is that whenever Trump manages not to use the F-bomb, we're treated to 3 articles about how he's learning to be Presidential. It is what it is. We all know the media moguls are hoping and praying for another Trump term. The last one was so profitable!
I was on board with the people-are-concerned-with-Biden's-age-so-we-must-acknowledge-that-the-issue-exists-and-need-to-find-a-way-to-address-it thing, but at some point, we're just beating a dead horse. Saying how old Biden is doesn't address anything. We've established he's old. Repeatedly. Can we please move on to the recommended strategy for addressing concerns about his age? Life is hard enough. I'm reaching my capacity to consume the doom-and-gloom. I simply can't sustain feeling so negative all the time. If anyone considers this hiding my head in the sand, so be it. But I'm not hiding from reality. I'm simply hiding from discussing reality ad nauseam while making no progress towards rectifying anything.
His team needs to—somehow—minimize his appearances and keep them short. He’s not going to get younger between now and Election Day of next year. And in the name of all things holy, the DNC better have a Plan B.
Just here to say that, having read the transcript and listened to the pony soldier clip yesterday, I don't quite get the hullabaloo. So our president rambled a bit and used a memorable, if stupid, insult about his political rivals (climate deniers). Isn't that what Trump does at every appearance? And in his case is considered entertaining, and just what his supporters want? It's not my preferred form of discourse, but it didn't compromise national security. He didn't seem incompetent or deranged, just rambling and ruining an already dumb joke by too much set up. I just don't think it's a big deal, and would recommend not making it into one.
Plus Biden's comments on 9/11 in Alaska were terrific. Heartfelt and on point about who we arecwhen we pull together. And I was impressed by Harris and her interview on Face the Nation on Sunday, wouldn't bite on "why ate they so mean to you" type of question, with a firm and clear response: elected 1st female District Atty on SF, and then reelected; elected Atty General for the State of CA, and won reelection; elected to Senate where she represented 1 in 8 people in the country. I was very impressed.
When Trump talks it is not even in complete sentences. He sounds like he's delusional with the whole election was stolen shtick, or not enough water pressure in the shower or toilet. The whole man, woman, camera, TV test thing is just ridiculous. I winced a little when I heard Joe Biden rambling, so I do understand what Charlie was saying on the podcast yesterday. In my mind there is still no doubt about which one of them still has their senses.
Look at CNN and their lead article on all of Biden's misremeberings, wow there must be 10 or 11, one was about 9/11. Really? They didn't bother with any of the thousands of lies t***p told and is telling, because they desperately want Biden to lose because he is boring. The MSM is pretty much decided they will go broke with 4 more years of Joe especially if hopefully t***p disappears. And I thought Musk hated America.
The media grabs the sound bites they want to make President Biden sound bad, so they get more clicks. He did an admirable job at G20 and in Vietnam. And let’s not overlook his historic work with South Korea and Japan. Biden gets shit done.
I think Charlie sees his role, as a still-conservative Never Trumper, as warning Democrats when they are saying things that moderates and Trump-skeptical conservatives won't like. It's one of the reasons I read/listen to The Bulwark instead of staying in my blue bubble. It's also why he likes Will and Ruy Texeira. I think they are to Democrats what Charlie is to Republicans. I would say there is exactly zero chance that Charlie will vote for Trump. He really is someone who drew the line at rank cruelty, corruption and anti-democratic authoritarianism.
Maybe he likes to generate discussion? I still think there’s a “school of fish” thing going on. Fox talks incessantly about President Biden’s age so the rest of the media thinks they have to as well?
I just can't freaking believe how people went crazy about this. He sounds just fine. He sounds like my 83 year old dad, and any other 80 year old men in my neighborhood. They just love to tell a long story with a little bit rambling to get to the point. Contrary to the orange dotard who thinks he is the greatest speaker and erudite person in the entire human history, President Biden is cogent and coherent.
Let him go to bed, for goodness' sake! He must have been tired. I am only 50 and was completely pooped and jetlagged for a few days after I had a 15 hour flight a 5 months ago.
So called news media is focusing on Biden's old age instead of substance is just pathetic. The media is the problem!
Biden was beyond jetlagged and had been traveling and up for over 24 hours. I don't think the Whitehouse journalists do that trip and then handle a 40 minute press conference.
Not "the" problem, but certainly "a" problem.
My thoughts, too. He looks and sounds like a tired grandpa, which isn’t ideal, but he’s cogent and not a psychopath.
You guys are trapped in the RW echo chamber and can’t be bothered to discuss the substance (or the politics) of the presidential trip. It’s maddening.
Yeah, all the focus is on the old man needing some sleep and telling som rambly story that actually, if you listened, made a lot of sense.
Apologies, but some of us are surrounded by these idjits and have to converse with them daily. A working knowledge of the current RW echo chamber is essential. That being said, it is nice to hear substance offered here too.
But he's old is, of course, the but her emails of 2024 and arises from the same perverse behavior, the desire of the news media for totally phony balance.
Yeah apparently it has to balance out the twice impeached, four time indicted former president's problems. And if age doesn't do it, then the repeated invocation of Hunter Biden's perfidies must also be included. It's tough to balance out the former guy's characteristics.
I don't really care if Biden misquotes 70 year old movie he saw as a child with his brother. It reminded me of how my brothers and I will jokingly insulted each other with Three Amigos taunts all the time because it made an impression on us as kids, but we never got the insults quite right...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2FmDysvDr8
I'm sitting in on a Zoom call (with nothing to do with what's being discussed), so I can't play your video clip. But when I read this, the first thing I thought was, "Son of a motherless goat."
Biden’s doing better than me. I remember the quotes of a movie (usually mangled), but for the life of me, I can never remember the movie they’re from....:)
You, too, huh. Don't you just want to strangle these jerks who can rattle off stanzas of poems by Kipling or paragraphs from some Dostoevsky doorstopper at the drop of a hat?
I don't do Dostoevsky, I can do Kipling--I prefer Shakespeare. Dostoevsky, like most Russian literature is too boring and depressing. I can also give you long stretches of Tolkien and Star Trek, if necessary.
Never did make it all the way through War and Peace.
Here's a movie quote for you, sir! From Nicholas Cage in The Lord of War.
"Since the end of the Cold War, the Kalashnikov has become the Russian people's greatest export. After that comes vodka, caviar, and suicidal novelists."
Agreed. Reading the Russian writers is where a true understanding of what the word "slog" really means. "Dr. Zhivago" wasn't too bad, but it really wasn't in the same category as the turn of the century tomes.
I had a Russian literature course once. I somehow managed to avoid self-mutilation or suicide.
Horrible experience.
Love the poetry. And Chekhov.
I have a book of collections of Kipling's poems and short stories, as well as a copy of "Kim", which I haven't yet read. And it's a hard read (which I never thought it would be). The problem is most of his works are buried under his experiences of Britain in India, and if you only know a little about it, it's hard going. That said, his poem "If" should be emblazoned on every wannabe tough guys' walls (talking to you, Donnie, Ronnie, Mike, Tucker, Elon, et al).
Nearly everything I read of Kipling's works, I read when I was an adolescent. The works I remember most are "Gunga Din" and "The Jungle Book," in particular, the story of the mongoose "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." My mom introduced me to Kipling, and to Mark Twain, urging me to read "Tom Sawyer and "Huckleberry Finn" all before I reached 6th grade.
Indeed. If I could check off even half the criteria Kipling enumerates in his poem I would be a badass alpha-male.
Sometimes, but mostly I’m truly impressed...:)
I think the difference between Trump and Biden is tempo. Trump rapid fires volleys of nonsense into the crowd while Biden takes a slower, lower meander.
Transcribe what Trump says and compare that to a transcription of what Biden says, and there's a night and day difference between Trump's incomprehensible word salads and Biden's competent speech.
Unfortunately our impressions are created by the audio/visual experience of the two men, not the transcripts.
And the mediaseems to be in Trump's pocket. He gets more viewers and Advertisers.
Trump is entertaining. He knows how to drive the attention culture. He's been doing it since 1980. He knows the code and exploits it well but do you know why Trump lost in 2020?
Because America was OVEREXPOSED to Trump. We were tired of the antics and fed up with his incompetence and narcissism. Trump should be more exposed to America. The more he talks and the more people are reminded of how much they hate him (he is 15 points underwater in favorability polls) the more they will get off the couch and vote against him.
From your mouth to God's ears.
Beyond that, he is proving quite well that we don't need to elect him to get the entertainment. Why buy the cow, as the saying goes... ;)
good point
MAGA : " He's a - speakin' in TONGUES ! OH, GLORY HALELLUJAH ! ".
A word-for-word transcript of any Trump speech is harder to follow than any of Biden's addresses. Wouldn't it be interesting if Trump's blatherings were muted and the written transcript scrolled across the TV screen instead?
Maybe someone should contact Hart Seely, who created "Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld". (Does anyone remember the "Unknown Unknowns"?) I'm sure that "selected verse" from #45's word salad would be fascinating.
I literally copied a transcript of one of Trump's answers when he was holding his COVID briefings (from WhiteHouse.gov) and sent it to myTrumplicant sister-in-law and challenged her to decipher it. I never got an answer. And the sad fact is that it doesn't matter what Trump literally says. All of supporters just "know" what he means. As long as it's bombastic and nasty-sounding, that's good enough. Such is the nature of cults.
Do you still have it? I would like to see it - to add to my collection!
Q And what is your plan, sir, for government workers? Are you moving for the government as well to start doing more teleworking?
THE PRESIDENT: We are. And we’re doing — we’re using the medical term of “telemedicine,” and it’s been incredibly busy and, really, you know, where people don’t have to — I mean, some people can’t do it anyway. They can’t get up; they can’t see a doctor. But we’re using this, and it’s been telehealth — different names. And I will tell you that it’s been really successful, and it’s helped a lot of people out, where they don’t have to and they can’t. And even from a safety reason, if they are positive, they are — if they are feeling poorly, they can’t do it, or we don’t want them transmitting anything to anybody else.
My Response: Just read Trump’s response a few times. What does it mean that “telemedicine has been incredibly busy”? Does he mean that a lot of people are using telemedicine? That might be good, but the question was about teleworking, not telemedicine. Then he says something about “people can’t do it anyway”. What is he even talking about? I assume he means that some people feel so bad that they can’t go out to the doctor. Why not just say that? Then he shifts to calling it “telehealth” with his usual caveat that “telehealth” and “telemedicine” are really the same thing (they aren’t). And I’m guessing that what Trump wanted to say in the last sentence is that from a safety perspective even if people are feeling good if they test positive we don’t want them going out because they might transmit the disease to someone else. But that is just a guess given the word-salad nature of what he actually did say.
The ignorance isn't just contagious, it's metastatic as well. Once it gets into the gullible, it spreads faster than crabgrass.
Oh, you are 100% on the money. Having read a few of the Gelantinous treasonous blob's transcript, I have to say it almost physically hurts.
Early in the Trump Administration there was an article by an Australian journalist about Trump's "discourse." The journalist listened to/watched a whole Trump speech and noted how disjointed and repetitive it was, filled with short phrases that apparently the audience were supposed to fill in the blanks of to understand what he meant. Excerpts of transcripts or of video just doesn't convey the total package of the Trump performance. Wish I could find that article again.
If you do come across it, please post a link or let us know where to find it.
This is not that article, but it is funny: Note the Difference – Biden vs. Trump: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xTdf55WtTA
Great comparison between the two, Beverly. Thanks for sending it along.
That's the maddening part. Donnie's demented (literally) word salad is regarded as ho-hum-no-big-deal. Biden is logical, coherent, rambles a little and is regarded as senile. Darn liberal media!
I agree with Keith Olberman. Biden should take up Trump's acuity challenge. A direct comparison of mental acuity would not go well for the King of Word Salad who can't go three words without a self reference.
I think this is a great idea! Like a game show! Several contests, aired in multiple showings, including a game of jeopardy, teleprompter reading, and basic civics. Maybe a an easy maze or obstacle course. And, the MAGA nuts will watch it!
I still like the idea of a bicycle race.
It's annoying that Democratic pols always take the high road. I think it came from many generations of Democrats being considered crude working class/ union organizer thugs. Even Harvard trained Kennedy was a bit of a rabble rouser. My grandmother voted Democratic because she said they were for working people. Right-wing billionaires and media moguls like Murdoch and grifters like Trump have decided that being for unions and big cities is too high class for the "real" Americans ( and certainly for big business) and Trump has capitalized on that by pretending to be down with the people because he's ignorant. He is only ignorant because his uber rich father gave him everything and required no education, no morals, no character. It is the working class in NYC who hate him, because he has spit on the working class and trades people of that city by refusing to pay honest wages or for goods a services. The priveledge of slaving for Trump should be payment enough. The only people who believe him are farmers and fundamental religious people who have been raised on fairy tales.
We could use a man like Hubert Humphrey again!
Probably, but Trum'ps media team and Mirdochs Fox News would smear him like Biden.
oh of course, i'm just referencing (via all in the family, if you're too young for the reference!) the last of the old-school democrats who was willing to take the fight to the opposition in very direct terms.
doesn't matter who the democrat is, the smear machine will kick into high gear.
He’d just turn the entire affair into a spectacle. As the adage goes, “Never wrestle with a pig because you'll both get dirty and the pig likes it.”...:)
I agree. I don't agree with Oberman. Biden is too shrewd to get into this circus. We all know Biden is way smarter than Trump, he does not need to prove it. That will give Trump more limelight and I imagine that Trump will get there, ignore the questions and start spewing nonsense and "the election was stolen" shit.
Well said…:)
Maybe you're right, but the sound bites available for Dem campaign ads might just be priceless. What is more likely to happen is Trump would announce 24 hours before the challenge that the tests were unfair and refuse to participate. At that point Biden should declare himself the undisputed champion of the acuity challenge and hold up a big gaudy belt.
How about they both just release their college transcripts first. I heard one of Trump’s college professors say that he graduated in the bottom half of the class. And Trump’s former fixer, Cohen said that Trump forced him to threaten U of Penn, if they released it, because Trump knew it wouldn’t look good for him.
His sister said that Trump paid someone to take his SAT exam for him.
It would be like my talk with a relative who is a flat earther. He engaged me in a discussion because he knows that I am a scientist retired from NASA. I made the mistake of citing satellites and that planets are gloves because it is the most stable form when matter from the big bang condensed. Well, it did not go well. He accused me of being a liar and of having sworn an oath at NASA to lie and say that the earth was a glob while he "knows" it is flat. Sometimes, the best thing is not to engage, especially with the brain dead MAGAS.
Wow! That is interesting. Both being a scientist for NASA, and having a relative whose a flat earth-er.
You must have some incredible stories to tell; about both I’m sure....:)
Now we’re beholden to the likes of a mad--(I wouldn’t call him a scientist), Musk, whose definitely is mad and nuts.
I guess Musk must have taken it personally when someone suggested he’s out of this world...:)
It's pretty much pointless, like trying to teach pigs to sing. It's doomed to failure and it just annoys the pigs.
But the point is to annoy the teachers more.
I often interact with MAGAs on social media to counter the rightwing propaganda they regularly consume, although I know I am hitting my head against a brick wall. When I present facts and evidence that refutes some lie or conspiracy theory they are posting or sharing, the common responses are that 1) I am a communist, 2) brainwashed by CNN, or 3) that whatever sources I used (Wash Post, NY Times, PolitiFact, the Atlantic, NASA, etc.) are leftist/liberal and not credible.
Beverly - your comment struck a chord with me, I have to share this with you. I often do the same on Xitter, trying to have civil-ish dialogue with (relatively) reasonable MAGAs I happen to encounter. Call it a sociology experiment. My wife calls it something else.
Inevitably I get the same dismissive and/or insulting responses that you do. Occasionally I persist for sport, and keep it civil and fact-based (it ain't easy) even after the dismissive/ignorant response(s). After a few more exchanges, with me neither insulting them in return nor letting go of the point at hand, I try to respond again ... and find myself blocked.
They seem to reach a point where insults don't end the discussion, and the facts and civility keep coming, so they just pull the plug. It happens more often than not in those situations. I find it funny/curious, for what it's worth. Blow on them long enough and they fall over!
And never, never, never have any of them conceded anything ("hey, good point, now that you put it that way"). Easier to run away.
Yes, I have also encountered the cut off response, but more often they tell me to go away, or they tell me that I am suffering from TDS - that's one of their favorite comebacks. If you are always able to remain polite, you're a finer person than me Mike! I began with all good intentions to be always civil, polite, and kind - and as Michelle Obama once said, "to go high when they go low." Alas, I am also not so fine or disciplined a person as MO either - and I had no idea how really low so many of them will go. There came a point when I began to be so frustrated and disgusted with their smug condescension and insults coupled with of willful ignorance, bigotry, racism and even viciousness that too often now I do become rude in return. I think those of us who try to interact with them on any regular basis probably could use a support group to help us deal with the feelings they provoke.
And don't forget that if you cite some authority figure that agrees with your claim, the Trumplicant response is that they are certainly "members of the Deep State".
I have tried, irrationally it would seem, to believe that such people aren't really serious. Your story is making it harder to do so.
That makes sense. However, why would Biden want to do that? He is governing. He does not need to get into this. If he did, then the Magas would say that his transcripts were doctored by the deep state.
Very true..:)
Which is stupid because his illiterate fans would consider ignorance a badge if honor. They don't need no book learnin.
Daddy Drumpf, in essence, bought li'l Donnie's diploma for him. His "Cs" weren't even "gentlemen's;" they were, plain and simple, bought and paid for.
I suspect we will not live long enough to see the day when Trump's frequent word salads are held to the same level of scrutiny as Biden's occasional flubs, or pretty much anyone else's. Because Trump enjoys the home field advantage of low expectations, such that whenever he talks and acts like a jackass, supporters and even media outlets respond, if at all, with overtones that essentially equate to "That's just Donald being Donald" and blow it off. It is grossly unfair, but it's how they roll, and if it hasn't changed by now, it likely isn't going to do so ever. Our lot is to fight through it and try to focus on actual messaging more than the messenger.
Trump is an idiot with a very limited vocabulary. I swear to god, the man only knows two adjectives, strong and powerful. He rambles and is illogical. But without rose-colored glasses on, Biden looks confused (not saying he is confused, but that’s how he appears.) He looks tired. Unsteady, like a stiff breeze would knock him over. Nothing about Trump seems weak—except his intellect, of course, but the average voter is not particularly bright, either. Right or wrong, perception, appearances matter. Another 14 months before the election. God help us.
You forgot Trump’s favourite adjective for ant woman who doesn’t worship the ground he walks on - nasty. To him, every strong woman with a mind of her own is nasty. Talk about projection...
OK, you got me. And I suppose I should have included crooked and rigged, too.
What about "huge" and " perfect"
You mean “yuge”. And perfect, as in every call he’s ever made. OK that’s 7. He’s still a moron.
In the early days I thought the former president was using "code" that only he and his loyal followers understand. The rest of the world doesn't count so there is no need to be clear and precise. It was a speaking style I noted comes from New Yorkers of a certain time. I have relatives who were New Yorkers of a certain class and born 20 years before Trump who had a similar style of talking...a phrase, wink wink, nudge nudge...and everyone understood if they were of the same origin. I was an in law raised in a different part of the country and didn't recognize the code. The former president's followers who shared his grievances recognized the code.
Yes, and the corollary is that whenever Trump manages not to use the F-bomb, we're treated to 3 articles about how he's learning to be Presidential. It is what it is. We all know the media moguls are hoping and praying for another Trump term. The last one was so profitable!
Agreed. It’s hard to read the onslaught of negative everything every day. We are distracted to death.
I was on board with the people-are-concerned-with-Biden's-age-so-we-must-acknowledge-that-the-issue-exists-and-need-to-find-a-way-to-address-it thing, but at some point, we're just beating a dead horse. Saying how old Biden is doesn't address anything. We've established he's old. Repeatedly. Can we please move on to the recommended strategy for addressing concerns about his age? Life is hard enough. I'm reaching my capacity to consume the doom-and-gloom. I simply can't sustain feeling so negative all the time. If anyone considers this hiding my head in the sand, so be it. But I'm not hiding from reality. I'm simply hiding from discussing reality ad nauseam while making no progress towards rectifying anything.
His team needs to—somehow—minimize his appearances and keep them short. He’s not going to get younger between now and Election Day of next year. And in the name of all things holy, the DNC better have a Plan B.