Nothing says loser like an 80 year old three hundred pound man photo shopped into Superman's picture. Also, Superman Trump, Superman doesn't use his actual name, because no one is supposed to know who he is. What a thirsty, pathetic little bitch.
The attention economy has made the populous more thirsty in general and Trump is a reflection of that. Once attention got monetized a financial incentive to be thirsty as fuck got injected into the populace. It made everyone from guys like Musk and Trump to every thot on OF thirsty as shit for those attention bucks.
Right? At least that one was a retweet I believe of someone else's AI generated slop. This, though, someone on the comms team went through the trouble of putting together themselves, and Trump thought "What a great idea!'
And to think how close we were to making that a reality ... seven senators or one Attorney General stood between us and being able to forget the cockwomble.
A dem challenger willing to call him a decadent pussy and a spoiled crybaby bitch on national TV in front of the world and break his aura of image invincibility. Unfortunately, the kryptonite for dems is their own self-censorship around taking the high road to nowhere, so that kind of dem doesn't exist as a kryptonite against Trump right now.
Travis, Being a strong old gal, I’d rather see Dems choose an attractive & quick talking male candidate next time who can appeal to a wide range of voters across the entire Country. IMO Winning beats special interests!
Dems traditionally do better when they go with younger men with rizz. JFK, Clinton, Obama. All of them were popular presidents. One of them had to be assassinated to get out of office, and the other 2 were 2-termers who left office with higher favorability than unfavourability, one of which was so popular that even a blowjob from an intern in the oval office couldn't take him down and the other was so popular that he overcame whatever racism was still prevalent in the national electorate in 2008 and became the first black president of a major western nation.
Rizz is arguably the single most important quality in running a candidate for national office and elected dems just really don't seem to understand this before they decide to run for president. Rizz is even bigger than name ID (Obama was a nobody before he slingshot to national prominence).
Note for Boomers: "Rizz" is short hand slang for charisma
Agree. Some analysts have said the reason the Dem bench was so weak in 2020 that only Biden could beat Trump was due to Obama. In his leadership of the party, he didn't build the party.
"The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must" is the universal default. The Hobbesian state of nature defined by a war of "all against all." The solution to that is liberal democracy, but if the defenders of liberal democracy are too weak and let the illiberal autocrats steamroll them then we're right back to that point of the "strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must."
Point here is that liberal democracy is only as strong as those who are tasked with defending it. If the illiberal autocrats are stronger than the institutional defenders then we default back to the Hobbesian state of nature. If you don't want to get back to that place then you'd better hope and pray for defenders of institutions to not be weaker than the illiberal autocrats trying to tear down the institutes.
You characterized it as "forgo respectability and get down in the mud." That was the way of the world until the Framers gave us liberal democracy and the rule of law and courts and deliberative bodies to resolve disputes.
Rep. Preston Brooks forewent respectability when he caned Sen. Charles Sumner in the Senate chamber in 1856. The North was horrified by it. They saw it as a barbaric assault and the epitome of Southern cruelty. Southerners of course praised him for defending the honor of the South. That's illiberal America. I certainly don't want to live there.
What a case! It’s actually rare that ‘physiognomy recapitulates character’, except in movies, but Miller is straight out of central casting for that villain.
So true! The inverse of the familiar “every accusation is a confession” with Trump. Also true that every boast is a flat out lie, and its opposite is true.
Harris and Clinton weren't strong enough women then I guess? Looks more like the kryptonite to strong women is Trump from where I sit. Strong women can successfully sue him for damages in court but they can't seem to beat him at the polls.
Their job wasn't to beat Trump at a debate on the merits. Their job was to beat him at the polls on message. They tried. They failed. Refusing to acknowledge that only sets us up to apply the same failing strategies tomorrow because we've refused to come to terms with what isn't working out for us today.
Garrison Keillor wrote in 2016 about Hillary Clinton, “Someday, historians will get this right and look back at the steady pitter-pat of scandals that turned out to be nothing, nada, zero and ixnay and will conclude that, almost a century after women's suffrage, almost 45 years after Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law, a woman was required to run for office wearing concrete shoes. Check back 45 years from now and if I'm wrong, go ahead and dance on my grave.”
The final episode of Hannity’s radio show before the 2016 election featured an entire segment consisting of little more than hearing a woman coughing on loop — we were made to understand it was supposed to be Hillary from when she got pneumonia, but we were given no way of independently verifying that. The obvious implication being, “this woman got sick once, she’s not strong enough to be president. Heck, she might die on us at any moment. We can’t risk a sick woman being in the Oval Office.” Needless to say, these standards were never brought up when Donald Trump was hospitalized with COVID in 2020. The standards were pretty obviously different for both of them, really — she’s not likable enough, she has a funny laugh, she got sick once — and almost all of it was pretty transparent coded sexism.
She lost because we were more willing to worry more about the worst rumors and possibilities about a woman than the worst facts, some evidenced in his own voice on tape, about a man. It’s possible we’ll get some magical future woman we’re willing to stop doing this with, but I don’t think AOC’s charisma with the most wonderful platform possible (whether or not you agree that this would be the one she’d actually run on) could cut through this today.
That's your interpretation of the matter, that it revolved around misogyny and that the same Americans who voted for MTG, Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Kristi Noem don't like women enough to vote for them.
Know what all of those women have in common that Clinton doesn't? They present strong personalities (traditional aggressiveness-based strength, not the modern post-psychology version centered on emotional control), they look for and incite conflict rather than taking the high road to nowhere and avoiding nasty fights (again, strength and directness rather than weakness and conflict avoidance), and they don't talk like fuckin university professors.
So weird how when the biological sex is the same but the personal character and language choice changes that suddenly these same people who voted for Trump supposedly because of misogyny have zero issues electing a woman. Maybe dems should wake up and smell the evolutionary psychology that shows us that for hundreds of thousands of years people tend to look toward strong character rather than conflict-avoidance when choosing a leader instead.
I mean they for sure failed. If or how much they tried is up for debate I suppose. I give Harris much more credit than I give Clinton. I don't think any dem was going to have an easy time on a 100-day campaign after the 4-year shit show that was the Biden admin, and I think Harris did about as good a job as a candidate could have done in that environment. Clinton had years of lead time on her planned run, the country was in a relatively good place in 2016, and she was running against an unproven guy who was just as unpopular as he was popular. Should have been an easy campaign for Clinton, it was a steep uphill climb for Harris. That's the way I look at it at least.
I was watching. Like you said, the felon’s voters do not want any women in elected or appointed positions. We should help this by getting more people to vote, both men to vote for women, and women who vote for women.
It's not that misogyny is baked in, it's that women are traditionally not willing to go as low/hard as men are, and so men get viewed as being tougher/stronger as a consequence. If electable women were as willing to be as hardcore about shit as men are and were willing to get as dirty as men do on language and forceful action then I think that equation would change.
I wish I could agree whole heartedly with that perspective. I’m recalling a political cartoon back when Hillary was First Lady: one frame had a drawing of Newt Gingrich with the caption “Strong, assertive, doesn’t back down! They call him ‘Sir’!” The next frame had a drawing on Hilllary with the caption “Strong, assertive, doesn’t back down! They call her ‘Bitch’!”
But I will,agree that survival of the species probably depended on women having a strong baked in trait of nurturing. Which doesn’t favor challenging leaders who are/were physically stronger.
Except that Clinton was *not* strong and assertive. She was *defensive*, but that's not the same thing as being strong and assertive. Being strong and assertive means being able to throw real haymakers at your opponent on stage in course language and while Gingrich was certainly capable of that Clinton certainly wasn't. Clinton was capable of getting angry about accusations thrown her way and projecting defensiveness but she absolutely fucking sucked at going on the attack. She took the high road to nowhere every time and let Trump alpha her at every turn.
Examples of strong/assertive women: Kristi Noem, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lauren Boebert, MTG, Anna Paulina Luna, Pam Bondi.... know what they all have in common? They go on the attack hard core all the time, they seek conflict rather than avoiding it, they don't back down when confronted, they never admit they were wrong, and they don't have a fuckin "D" next to their name. Name me a woman (besides AOC and Jasmine Crockett, they're the only ones) who show the kind of strength/assertiveness as the aforementioned Thursday night Hooter's cast and I'll show you a strong dem woman.
That millions of voters still believe in him. They can’t give up, any more than give up on any religious belief. Actually, that is easy compared to having to be conned and grifted by a liar for 10 years, and finally admitting being wrong. They can’t do that. I am reading comments in other newspapers, and the level of stupidity is rising. Supporters were never good at debating an issue, now it is just attacking and denigrating those who don’t love their dear leader.
Melanie isn't his kryptonite, she's just another one of his bootlicking enablers. She ain't making any moves anytime soon because that billionaire's wife lifestyle is so so sweet. She sold away her principles to sit in the lap of luxury a long long time ago when she got cheated on while pregnant with his kid. She's very emblematic of the country at large: always willing to do the wrong thing just to get closer to a rich lifestyle. A bootlicker whore first lady among a nation of bootlicking whores.
Just to fill in the picture a bit - while the lovely Melania was away from home with her newborn baby, T gave his playboy bunny girl friend a tour of their Manhattan gold-plated palace, including Melania's (separate) bedroom. Bunny impressed.
I have to disagree. She isn't a bootlicking enabler, she's being handsomely paid for her services to halfheartedly act as trump's wife and First Lady. She's a mercenary, she's in it for the money. I have a feeling that if the "SBMOD" (Sweet Big Mac of Death") doesn't get him, as soon as he's done with being dictator, she's cashing out her chips and is gone.
Bootlicking enablers can be motivated by financial gain just like mercenaries can. I'm not saying you're wrong in your outlook here, just that financial motivations can apply to bootlicking enablers and mercenaries alike. The difference is that mercenaries are usually more apathetic and bootlicking enablers are usually more publicly sycophantic. Melania has publicly come to the defense of her husband before, which doesn't really fit into the apathetic mercenary category for me. I also doubt she's pulling the plug as soon as Trump is out of political power. She's too committed.
She's not apathetic per se, she just honors the letter of her contract, not the spirit. Her public defending of him is in her contract, kissing, holding hands, and any other PDA's are obviously not. They are definitely a pair! A pair of what is up for debate! However I do see your point.
I wish it were so. She, like her lying husband is all in for the money. Remember, she had nothing until she met the felon. Stayed with him because of the prenuptial agreement she signed. Any move she makes is financial for her and legacy for her son. They are actually well matched.
There is zero reason for anyone have sympathy or feel sorry for Tillis ever. One does not get to wipe away a long road of cowardice for one stand. And once he took a stand, he ran away and quit. Like Romney did. Like many others did.
And, I would guess fox spending a day or so whining about the Superman movie didn't get noticed by the WH, who just promoted the movie on their twitter feed?
This Administration is the largest collection of insecure jags every assembled. Intellectually secure people welcome and encourage criticism and dissent. That's how you make things right. These people are not capable of that, and the Guy with the Horrible Combover is the king of insecure jags.
Saint Ronnie . . . again. I’ll be the millionth person to observe; Reagan greased the skids for Trump. Actors, both. A reminder to me that American gullibility is nothing new. My adult daughter shares Reagan’s birthday, and on the way to the hospital as the radio informed us of the day’s celebrations, I yelled, “Noooooo!” Luckily the birthday-taint has faded with the years.
Good comment! They both are certainly performers, one as an actual actor. But he did sort of prepare the country to view the job as partly requiring performing for the TV cameras, which trump eventually morphed into becoming the sole job requirement.
Superman's story is reminiscent of the false stories we like to tell ourselves about our country and who we are. We do not in actual reality hold the values of "truth, justice, and the American way" and more closely resemble a nation dedicated to misinformation and injustice and THAT is the American way. Ask yourself this: if America was dedicated to truth and justice then why would we elect twice a president who routinely lies on a timeline of seconds and who pardoned and released people who assaulted police officers in an attempt to overturn a free/fair election?
Even in the times before Trump we were swimming in misinformation and two-tier systems of injustice. Corporate denial about climate change/smoking/lead in gas, public science denial about vaccines, conspiracy theories about just about everything, wealth and income inequality, separate standards of policing for poor and rich communities, separate standards of justice for poor and rich defendants, telling kids that they can "be anything they want when they grow up" when the reality is their future prospects are more in line with what zip code they were born into.
"Alternative facts" and nationally-tolerated injustice is closer to the American way than truth and justice are, from the time we pushed out the natives with small pox to present day.
That's the thing: we're NOT aspiring to be Superman, we're fucking worshipping Lex Luthor. We aspire to become, marry, or elect Lex Luthor rather than Superman.
If Superman got here tomorrow we'd be trying to deport him as a national security threat.
Some would. But others like me would see him as an inspiration and want to defeat the Luthors of the world. And the other irony is how Zack Snyder addressed (or at least tried to) this idea of the real world internalizing Superman in Man of Steel and BvS.
This still comes back to what we *should* be doing versus what we *are* doing for me. Projecting our own idealisms onto our very unidealistic voting public is a mistake. 40% of the country is cheering on an immigration police state and the leadership of those who aren't in that 40% are too weak and cowered to do anything about it. See the recent Karen Bass interview w/ Lauren and Sam if you want to see what dem weakness looks like when she's asked what she's going to do about ICE in her city (hint: absolutely fucking nothing).
If Karen Bass aspired to be more like Superman would she just be letting ICE do what they're doing in her city without any pushback from the city/state? Doesn't look like Superman from where I'm sitting. She looks more like a helpless civilian hoping for some other Superman to come along and save her from all of this instead of calling herself into action like some kind of Superman she ought to be aspiring to.
Again, stop worrying about what others are doing and BE Superman. You want to talk about the evil 40% and the cowardly 40% - I'm here to promote the resiliant, fascist-opposing 20% who deserve honorary Justice League membership.
Yea, I'm the one with all the power of an elected office and the social connections to a bunch of rich donor class denizens. Surely if I just became more like Superman shit around here would change. Nah dude. The people who need to become Superman aren't people like me. The unelected and non-rich people don't really get to change much in this country outside of what their individual vote nets out (not much) last time I checked.
The ongoing utter lack of shame - Trump as Superman?! - causes me so much embarrassment on their behalf. MAGA is a serious mental illness that will be studied for decades, maybe opening a new category, assuming any “science” is allowed going forward.
That Trump doesn't understand that this makes him look childish in a world of adults is mind blowing. It also makes clear the paths for them to manipulate him moving forward.
Yeah, history will have fun with this one. Just imagine the National Archives filling up with this stuff. These tweets held up against the writings of former presidents...lol.
The thing is, his cultists love it. Whether he's portrayed as Jesus or Rambo or now Superman, they get into the imagery. And they love that it makes liberals "cry" and the rest of people on Earth I roll their eyes. It's the most childish, pathetic, schoolyard bully type of attitude. Like boys who pull girls' pigtails and dip them in the desk inkwell. (That's a very old reference!)
"No." He responded, then slowly lowered himself to the floor, laying face down, nose buried in the carpet, his arms to the side, uttering barely audible whimpers of grief.
I come to The Bulwark, mostly because it seems to be adults, whereas FB post comments will lead you to believe humanity isn't worth saving, because everyone is stupid.
Good question. I immediately thought of Musk and his 80 million strong following (not sure how many are human and not bots). This guy's online appeal seems to be on the level of a 14 year old tween with science fiction and video game superhero obsessions.
This latest iteration of Superman opening has thrust that hero into the spotlight of national consciousness and they gotta get some of that. Trump’s already embedded into Jurassic World by being identified as a velociraptor.
With respect to the Epstein matter, it is quite inconceivable that there would not be a client list to which Epstein would refer regularly, to advise of future 'adventures' aligned with the people on the list. They would, in the course of 'business,' tell him what they wanted, and Maxwell would do the procurement 'work.' So the current denial of the existence of the list is not credible.
Epstein lived a highly complex business and social life. The only way to control this sort of life is through record-keeping. Say it isn't so?
Ah yes. Please forgive my seeming ignorance. But, in context, I hope the list comes out. If I were Maxwell, I'd be ready to trade--surely she kept the evidence safe.
Agree but would add that some part of his brain knew his 90 day deadline was coming up this week and he has nothing really to show for it. So he decides it's time to tariff again and releases those silly letters to countries. I wonder if they were actually delivered to the countries or if they were simply released to the American media.
If you put policy to the side for a second you'll see the strategy in what Trump does. He keeps picking strong personalities for positions. He wants fighters and people willing to steamroll the press. Dems don't do this. Why? Because dems don't value strength projection the way that both Trump and large swaths of the American public do.
America is a country that defines itself by its strength--militarily, economically, and culturally. If you fill your party with people who project weakness rather than strength you tend to lose the American public on cultural grounds right away. Because the GOP picks people with strong personalities who are "ready for prime time" and dems keep picking weak/old reps who have never hurled an insult or a punch in public in their life, the dems don't tend to stay in power very long until the GOP fucks up governance enormously (Bush fucking up GWoT, Katrina, and the financial crisis + Trump fucking up CV-19). If dems would STOP getting behind the fuckin ex-lawyer do-gooders and started getting behind fighters with strong personalities more of the non-college American public would get behind them. American politics is downstream of culture, not policy.
While this guy does sound like a complete idiot, it's not like we haven't named a lot of questionable types to ambassadorships in far away places in the past. Seems to me we sent Carol Moseley Braun off to New Zealand for a few years...
Agreed! Serious presidents would appoint serious people to ambassadorships in vital allied countries or countries we had tenuous relations with. However, they most certainly used cushy ambassador slots as paybacks for political favors and large "donations".
"All of this leads me to this thought: I don’t know that we can defeat Trump and Trumpism politically by appealing to abstract concepts of truth or justice. But I do wonder if we might have more success if we spent more time pointing out how much Trump distorts and how much Trumpism does violence to the American way."
Except he isn't actually doing violence to the American Way. He is actualizing it. Behind all of the philosophizing and mythologizing that people point to as the American Way is the actual American Way.
The American Way that treated humans as property until the Civil War and then still treated them as subhuman and other until civil rights, and even to a strong degree, today.
The American Way that committed genocide against the natives so that white people could take their land and resources.
The American Way that treated and continues to treat women as less than men.
The American Way that celebrates individualism, self-service, greed, and amorality in search of wealth loudly and proudly.
The American Way of it's only business, it isn't personal.
The American Way of I got mine (and deserve it) and fuck you (because you do not deserve it).
The American way that repeatedly led us to interfere in other countries internal affairs, invading them or clandestinely overthrowing popular governments because we did not like them... or our businesses did not like them.
Americans are people, with nothing actually exceptional about them other than their belief in their exceptionality and importance and righteousness rooted in a mythology/narrative that celebrates and justifies a lot of heinous crap. Just like pretty much every other nation/culture in existence.
Americans aren't worse than everyone else (except, perhaps, because we have the wealth and power to bend others more readily to our will)--they are merely the same as everyone else.
And when you point that out, people (especially MAGA) get really, REALLY angry. Because the lie and mythology is so wonderful and comforting.
It is nice to aspire to something positive, but the aspiration often seems pretty empty of actual results. It is easier and more profitable to mouth the words and then do whatever... or (often) to actually do nothing.
If people were not believers and practitioners of the ACTUAL American way--if they believed and practiced the mythical American Way (for real) Trump and MAGA would not exist.
So, you can appeal to that mythical American Way all you want, but when push comes to shove, it isn't going to move the needle in the face of people trying to get by in our increasingly shit-tastic situation. It isn't going to make supine GoP politicians vote differently. It isn't going to make Democratic politicians bolder or more effective. It isn't going to get the 40% of Americans who can't be bothered to vote to get off their asses next time.
Disclosure: I am from NC and Tillis is my senator.
From the article "One almost has to feel sorry for Tillis, who clearly has, buried deep down, some still-glowing ember of independence and a sense of right and wrong."
Sorry, I don't feel the least bit sorry for Tillis. he has had numerous chances to do the right thing, and flubbed most of them. he's only developed an al dente spine 9vs fully cooked spaghetti) since he has nothing to lose (not running). The most egregious, in my opinion, was his waffle on the Hegseth nomination. He could have been the vote that sank that nomination. And maybe paved the way for other rejections. But he didn't.
Instead he took that "laudable leadership" position of "I'm going to vote for whoever passes out of committee" - code-speak for "I'll rubber stamp everything the Trump toady committee puts up. Not gonna do any research or develop my own opinion."
Now, of late, he has said Hegseth is "in over his head." Well, gee, how many people pointed that out before he was confirmed? To me, this was Tillis doing what trump does all the time - pointing to his own inadequacies when he disses others.
Can you imagine what it must be like to be an FBI agent these days? I mean, you've led a good life, got a degree, went through the approval and security clearance process, got accepted, went through the FBI academy, got out there in the field and did the job ... and now this former podcaster with absolutely no qualifications for the job is hooking you up to a machine to find out if you're loyal to HIM. You're out there trying to break up international drug trafficking operations and he's shacked up with his "friend" in an apartment in Vegas...
It's a version of what I feel. I thought I was living in America. Turns out I live in a Russia wannabe. And I get to wonder how many of those FBI agents are actually pretty comfy right about now.
Re Putin and Ukraine, where Trump comes down at any given time depends on how he perceives his self interest. Surely by now that must be plain to anyone.
Warner Bros. should sue for copyright infringement, but that of course would lead to a justice Dept. investigation into antisemitism at the company. So, the studio will remain quiet.
Nothing says loser like an 80 year old three hundred pound man photo shopped into Superman's picture. Also, Superman Trump, Superman doesn't use his actual name, because no one is supposed to know who he is. What a thirsty, pathetic little bitch.
Perfect: A man who speaks and acts like a third grader. Only they don’t make Superman PJs in his size.
"thirsty, pathetic little bitch." You are indeed a wordsmith of prodigious talent Don Gates.
You're not too bad yourself, Steve!
You are too kind. Thank you.
The attention economy has made the populous more thirsty in general and Trump is a reflection of that. Once attention got monetized a financial incentive to be thirsty as fuck got injected into the populace. It made everyone from guys like Musk and Trump to every thot on OF thirsty as shit for those attention bucks.
Maybe he's the bunker busting Superman.
With personal experience of using a bunker, he should know exactly how to bust them.
And his caddies call him "Pele" behind his back.
This is even worse than the Pope Trump one!
Right? At least that one was a retweet I believe of someone else's AI generated slop. This, though, someone on the comms team went through the trouble of putting together themselves, and Trump thought "What a great idea!'
There was also the King Trump (Time cover, I think it was meant to be).
Then there was that Gaza AI video with a golden Trump statue.
It's a bit of a pattern isn't it! Not the best temperament for a president of a supposedly free country.
Just what is Trump's Kryptonite? The question being asked since 2015!
Being ignored.
BINGO!!!
This is the PowerBall!
Oh! It stings! It stings! Make it stop!
And to think how close we were to making that a reality ... seven senators or one Attorney General stood between us and being able to forget the cockwomble.
A dem challenger willing to call him a decadent pussy and a spoiled crybaby bitch on national TV in front of the world and break his aura of image invincibility. Unfortunately, the kryptonite for dems is their own self-censorship around taking the high road to nowhere, so that kind of dem doesn't exist as a kryptonite against Trump right now.
Travis, Being a strong old gal, I’d rather see Dems choose an attractive & quick talking male candidate next time who can appeal to a wide range of voters across the entire Country. IMO Winning beats special interests!
Dems traditionally do better when they go with younger men with rizz. JFK, Clinton, Obama. All of them were popular presidents. One of them had to be assassinated to get out of office, and the other 2 were 2-termers who left office with higher favorability than unfavourability, one of which was so popular that even a blowjob from an intern in the oval office couldn't take him down and the other was so popular that he overcame whatever racism was still prevalent in the national electorate in 2008 and became the first black president of a major western nation.
Rizz is arguably the single most important quality in running a candidate for national office and elected dems just really don't seem to understand this before they decide to run for president. Rizz is even bigger than name ID (Obama was a nobody before he slingshot to national prominence).
Note for Boomers: "Rizz" is short hand slang for charisma
Agree. Some analysts have said the reason the Dem bench was so weak in 2020 that only Biden could beat Trump was due to Obama. In his leadership of the party, he didn't build the party.
Thanks for supporting your local boomers. I was going to have to look it up.
👏👏👏
Exactly. We need more people willing to forgo respectability and get down in the mud where the fight is.
That's the country you want to live in? Where the strong do what they wish and the weak do what they must?
"The strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must" is the universal default. The Hobbesian state of nature defined by a war of "all against all." The solution to that is liberal democracy, but if the defenders of liberal democracy are too weak and let the illiberal autocrats steamroll them then we're right back to that point of the "strong do what they will, and the weak suffer what they must."
Point here is that liberal democracy is only as strong as those who are tasked with defending it. If the illiberal autocrats are stronger than the institutional defenders then we default back to the Hobbesian state of nature. If you don't want to get back to that place then you'd better hope and pray for defenders of institutions to not be weaker than the illiberal autocrats trying to tear down the institutes.
Let me ask you this: Why, all of a sudden, after 236 years as a liberal democracy, have the defenders of liberal democracy gone weak?
https://newrepublic.com/post/188197/trump-media-information-landscape-fox
How do you derive that simplistic conclusion from my wish that more people were willing to fight?
You characterized it as "forgo respectability and get down in the mud." That was the way of the world until the Framers gave us liberal democracy and the rule of law and courts and deliberative bodies to resolve disputes.
Rep. Preston Brooks forewent respectability when he caned Sen. Charles Sumner in the Senate chamber in 1856. The North was horrified by it. They saw it as a barbaric assault and the epitome of Southern cruelty. Southerners of course praised him for defending the honor of the South. That's illiberal America. I certainly don't want to live there.
Sounds like you've got it all figured out. Let us know how it works out for you.
Spot on!
Truth? He hates that.
Oh! It stings! It stings! Make it stop!
Truth sprinkled on Trump is like salt sprinkled on a slimy slug. Or, one could make some vampire solution references . . .
Ah, now we're getting into Stephen Miller's kryptonite.
What a case! It’s actually rare that ‘physiognomy recapitulates character’, except in movies, but Miller is straight out of central casting for that villain.
So is Emil Bove.
He tries to cover that up by calling his social media platform "Truth Social."
So true! The inverse of the familiar “every accusation is a confession” with Trump. Also true that every boast is a flat out lie, and its opposite is true.
This is known as projection, a coping mechanism for the narcissist.
Strong women.
Harris and Clinton weren't strong enough women then I guess? Looks more like the kryptonite to strong women is Trump from where I sit. Strong women can successfully sue him for damages in court but they can't seem to beat him at the polls.
Harris and Clinton are very strong women. They both ate him for lunch during their debates. I guess you weren't watching?
Can't help if the voters want a white man who is also a buffoon in the role.
Their job wasn't to beat Trump at a debate on the merits. Their job was to beat him at the polls on message. They tried. They failed. Refusing to acknowledge that only sets us up to apply the same failing strategies tomorrow because we've refused to come to terms with what isn't working out for us today.
Garrison Keillor wrote in 2016 about Hillary Clinton, “Someday, historians will get this right and look back at the steady pitter-pat of scandals that turned out to be nothing, nada, zero and ixnay and will conclude that, almost a century after women's suffrage, almost 45 years after Richard Nixon signed Title IX into law, a woman was required to run for office wearing concrete shoes. Check back 45 years from now and if I'm wrong, go ahead and dance on my grave.”
The final episode of Hannity’s radio show before the 2016 election featured an entire segment consisting of little more than hearing a woman coughing on loop — we were made to understand it was supposed to be Hillary from when she got pneumonia, but we were given no way of independently verifying that. The obvious implication being, “this woman got sick once, she’s not strong enough to be president. Heck, she might die on us at any moment. We can’t risk a sick woman being in the Oval Office.” Needless to say, these standards were never brought up when Donald Trump was hospitalized with COVID in 2020. The standards were pretty obviously different for both of them, really — she’s not likable enough, she has a funny laugh, she got sick once — and almost all of it was pretty transparent coded sexism.
She lost because we were more willing to worry more about the worst rumors and possibilities about a woman than the worst facts, some evidenced in his own voice on tape, about a man. It’s possible we’ll get some magical future woman we’re willing to stop doing this with, but I don’t think AOC’s charisma with the most wonderful platform possible (whether or not you agree that this would be the one she’d actually run on) could cut through this today.
That's your interpretation of the matter, that it revolved around misogyny and that the same Americans who voted for MTG, Lauren Boebert, Anna Paulina Luna, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Kristi Noem don't like women enough to vote for them.
Know what all of those women have in common that Clinton doesn't? They present strong personalities (traditional aggressiveness-based strength, not the modern post-psychology version centered on emotional control), they look for and incite conflict rather than taking the high road to nowhere and avoiding nasty fights (again, strength and directness rather than weakness and conflict avoidance), and they don't talk like fuckin university professors.
So weird how when the biological sex is the same but the personal character and language choice changes that suddenly these same people who voted for Trump supposedly because of misogyny have zero issues electing a woman. Maybe dems should wake up and smell the evolutionary psychology that shows us that for hundreds of thousands of years people tend to look toward strong character rather than conflict-avoidance when choosing a leader instead.
"They tried. They failed."
Did they? Was it our strategies that failed, or theirs that succeeded?
(Just asking questions.)
I mean they for sure failed. If or how much they tried is up for debate I suppose. I give Harris much more credit than I give Clinton. I don't think any dem was going to have an easy time on a 100-day campaign after the 4-year shit show that was the Biden admin, and I think Harris did about as good a job as a candidate could have done in that environment. Clinton had years of lead time on her planned run, the country was in a relatively good place in 2016, and she was running against an unproven guy who was just as unpopular as he was popular. Should have been an easy campaign for Clinton, it was a steep uphill climb for Harris. That's the way I look at it at least.
I was watching. Like you said, the felon’s voters do not want any women in elected or appointed positions. We should help this by getting more people to vote, both men to vote for women, and women who vote for women.
That’s because Felon Trump has bottom feeders for supporters, many of whom hate women in power.
So the kryptonite to strong women is MAGA's bottom feeders then?
Throughout human history, kryptonite for strong women has always been even stronger men. With rare exceptions, misogyny seems baked in.
It's not that misogyny is baked in, it's that women are traditionally not willing to go as low/hard as men are, and so men get viewed as being tougher/stronger as a consequence. If electable women were as willing to be as hardcore about shit as men are and were willing to get as dirty as men do on language and forceful action then I think that equation would change.
I wish I could agree whole heartedly with that perspective. I’m recalling a political cartoon back when Hillary was First Lady: one frame had a drawing of Newt Gingrich with the caption “Strong, assertive, doesn’t back down! They call him ‘Sir’!” The next frame had a drawing on Hilllary with the caption “Strong, assertive, doesn’t back down! They call her ‘Bitch’!”
But I will,agree that survival of the species probably depended on women having a strong baked in trait of nurturing. Which doesn’t favor challenging leaders who are/were physically stronger.
Except that Clinton was *not* strong and assertive. She was *defensive*, but that's not the same thing as being strong and assertive. Being strong and assertive means being able to throw real haymakers at your opponent on stage in course language and while Gingrich was certainly capable of that Clinton certainly wasn't. Clinton was capable of getting angry about accusations thrown her way and projecting defensiveness but she absolutely fucking sucked at going on the attack. She took the high road to nowhere every time and let Trump alpha her at every turn.
Examples of strong/assertive women: Kristi Noem, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Lauren Boebert, MTG, Anna Paulina Luna, Pam Bondi.... know what they all have in common? They go on the attack hard core all the time, they seek conflict rather than avoiding it, they don't back down when confronted, they never admit they were wrong, and they don't have a fuckin "D" next to their name. Name me a woman (besides AOC and Jasmine Crockett, they're the only ones) who show the kind of strength/assertiveness as the aforementioned Thursday night Hooter's cast and I'll show you a strong dem woman.
2 page briefings. Trump kryptonite, right there.
That's probably 1.5 pages too long for him.
That millions of voters still believe in him. They can’t give up, any more than give up on any religious belief. Actually, that is easy compared to having to be conned and grifted by a liar for 10 years, and finally admitting being wrong. They can’t do that. I am reading comments in other newspapers, and the level of stupidity is rising. Supporters were never good at debating an issue, now it is just attacking and denigrating those who don’t love their dear leader.
Yes, they can't give reasons why they like this or that, and when you press, no matter how politely or nicely—they get snarly and call you names.
That's when you say to them, "Name calling" is a sign of weakness.
Doesn’t stop them.
Of course not. Nothing stops them. But you get the last word instead of them and their name calling. That feels better.
Assuming you retire from the fray.
"the level of stupidity is rising" makes me think their fear is rising. If they were confident in Trump's leadership, they would quiet down.
Exactly.
So this is a good sign, yes?
Oh yes!
Take away his orange hair dye
The Epstein Files that Pam Bondi is trying to bury.
When will the Dems ask "Was she lying last February - 'I have the list on my desk' - or is she lying now?"
Eric Swalwell has sent me a bunch of fund raising mail on investigating it.
Great! Thanks for letting me know.
Trump's kryptonite is Melania. She just hasn't made her move yet.
Melanie isn't his kryptonite, she's just another one of his bootlicking enablers. She ain't making any moves anytime soon because that billionaire's wife lifestyle is so so sweet. She sold away her principles to sit in the lap of luxury a long long time ago when she got cheated on while pregnant with his kid. She's very emblematic of the country at large: always willing to do the wrong thing just to get closer to a rich lifestyle. A bootlicker whore first lady among a nation of bootlicking whores.
Just to fill in the picture a bit - while the lovely Melania was away from home with her newborn baby, T gave his playboy bunny girl friend a tour of their Manhattan gold-plated palace, including Melania's (separate) bedroom. Bunny impressed.
I have to disagree. She isn't a bootlicking enabler, she's being handsomely paid for her services to halfheartedly act as trump's wife and First Lady. She's a mercenary, she's in it for the money. I have a feeling that if the "SBMOD" (Sweet Big Mac of Death") doesn't get him, as soon as he's done with being dictator, she's cashing out her chips and is gone.
Bootlicking enablers can be motivated by financial gain just like mercenaries can. I'm not saying you're wrong in your outlook here, just that financial motivations can apply to bootlicking enablers and mercenaries alike. The difference is that mercenaries are usually more apathetic and bootlicking enablers are usually more publicly sycophantic. Melania has publicly come to the defense of her husband before, which doesn't really fit into the apathetic mercenary category for me. I also doubt she's pulling the plug as soon as Trump is out of political power. She's too committed.
She's not apathetic per se, she just honors the letter of her contract, not the spirit. Her public defending of him is in her contract, kissing, holding hands, and any other PDA's are obviously not. They are definitely a pair! A pair of what is up for debate! However I do see your point.
I wish it were so. She, like her lying husband is all in for the money. Remember, she had nothing until she met the felon. Stayed with him because of the prenuptial agreement she signed. Any move she makes is financial for her and legacy for her son. They are actually well matched.
Being questioned under oath.
Ah, so the 5th Amendment has been the antidote to Kryptonite all along!
Putin?
Trumps kryptonite is a properly cooked steak served without ketchup.
Venereal disease?
There is zero reason for anyone have sympathy or feel sorry for Tillis ever. One does not get to wipe away a long road of cowardice for one stand. And once he took a stand, he ran away and quit. Like Romney did. Like many others did.
And, I would guess fox spending a day or so whining about the Superman movie didn't get noticed by the WH, who just promoted the movie on their twitter feed?
This Administration is the largest collection of insecure jags every assembled. Intellectually secure people welcome and encourage criticism and dissent. That's how you make things right. These people are not capable of that, and the Guy with the Horrible Combover is the king of insecure jags.
Saint Ronnie . . . again. I’ll be the millionth person to observe; Reagan greased the skids for Trump. Actors, both. A reminder to me that American gullibility is nothing new. My adult daughter shares Reagan’s birthday, and on the way to the hospital as the radio informed us of the day’s celebrations, I yelled, “Noooooo!” Luckily the birthday-taint has faded with the years.
Good comment! They both are certainly performers, one as an actual actor. But he did sort of prepare the country to view the job as partly requiring performing for the TV cameras, which trump eventually morphed into becoming the sole job requirement.
The slide down the slippery slope began with Ronald Reagan.
Superman's story is reminiscent of the false stories we like to tell ourselves about our country and who we are. We do not in actual reality hold the values of "truth, justice, and the American way" and more closely resemble a nation dedicated to misinformation and injustice and THAT is the American way. Ask yourself this: if America was dedicated to truth and justice then why would we elect twice a president who routinely lies on a timeline of seconds and who pardoned and released people who assaulted police officers in an attempt to overturn a free/fair election?
Even in the times before Trump we were swimming in misinformation and two-tier systems of injustice. Corporate denial about climate change/smoking/lead in gas, public science denial about vaccines, conspiracy theories about just about everything, wealth and income inequality, separate standards of policing for poor and rich communities, separate standards of justice for poor and rich defendants, telling kids that they can "be anything they want when they grow up" when the reality is their future prospects are more in line with what zip code they were born into.
"Alternative facts" and nationally-tolerated injustice is closer to the American way than truth and justice are, from the time we pushed out the natives with small pox to present day.
And? We should still all aspire to be Superman.
That's the thing: we're NOT aspiring to be Superman, we're fucking worshipping Lex Luthor. We aspire to become, marry, or elect Lex Luthor rather than Superman.
If Superman got here tomorrow we'd be trying to deport him as a national security threat.
Yep. Truth and justice are for squares.
As Squints would say, they're "L 7 weenies".
Some would. But others like me would see him as an inspiration and want to defeat the Luthors of the world. And the other irony is how Zack Snyder addressed (or at least tried to) this idea of the real world internalizing Superman in Man of Steel and BvS.
This still comes back to what we *should* be doing versus what we *are* doing for me. Projecting our own idealisms onto our very unidealistic voting public is a mistake. 40% of the country is cheering on an immigration police state and the leadership of those who aren't in that 40% are too weak and cowered to do anything about it. See the recent Karen Bass interview w/ Lauren and Sam if you want to see what dem weakness looks like when she's asked what she's going to do about ICE in her city (hint: absolutely fucking nothing).
If Karen Bass aspired to be more like Superman would she just be letting ICE do what they're doing in her city without any pushback from the city/state? Doesn't look like Superman from where I'm sitting. She looks more like a helpless civilian hoping for some other Superman to come along and save her from all of this instead of calling herself into action like some kind of Superman she ought to be aspiring to.
Again, stop worrying about what others are doing and BE Superman. You want to talk about the evil 40% and the cowardly 40% - I'm here to promote the resiliant, fascist-opposing 20% who deserve honorary Justice League membership.
Yea, I'm the one with all the power of an elected office and the social connections to a bunch of rich donor class denizens. Surely if I just became more like Superman shit around here would change. Nah dude. The people who need to become Superman aren't people like me. The unelected and non-rich people don't really get to change much in this country outside of what their individual vote nets out (not much) last time I checked.
The ongoing utter lack of shame - Trump as Superman?! - causes me so much embarrassment on their behalf. MAGA is a serious mental illness that will be studied for decades, maybe opening a new category, assuming any “science” is allowed going forward.
That Trump doesn't understand that this makes him look childish in a world of adults is mind blowing. It also makes clear the paths for them to manipulate him moving forward.
Yeah, history will have fun with this one. Just imagine the National Archives filling up with this stuff. These tweets held up against the writings of former presidents...lol.
The thing is, his cultists love it. Whether he's portrayed as Jesus or Rambo or now Superman, they get into the imagery. And they love that it makes liberals "cry" and the rest of people on Earth I roll their eyes. It's the most childish, pathetic, schoolyard bully type of attitude. Like boys who pull girls' pigtails and dip them in the desk inkwell. (That's a very old reference!)
Exactly, he's playing to his base, whom are essentially children.
I'm the parent of a teen. As myself, and anyone else who's had them, we all know how disruptive they can be...now just on a global scale.
What they don’t understand is we aren’t crying so much as viewing them with pity and disdain.
Do we still live in a world of adults OJVV? I’m not so sure, much of the time.
*sigh*
"No." He responded, then slowly lowered himself to the floor, laying face down, nose buried in the carpet, his arms to the side, uttering barely audible whimpers of grief.
Console yourself that there are large pockets of adults and that you are not alone, especially in your grief.
Hmmm...show 'em to me. lol.
I come to The Bulwark, mostly because it seems to be adults, whereas FB post comments will lead you to believe humanity isn't worth saving, because everyone is stupid.
This forum on The Bulwark is worth the subscription by itself. Mostly informed and intelligent, and hostility is quickly banished.
Good question. I immediately thought of Musk and his 80 million strong following (not sure how many are human and not bots). This guy's online appeal seems to be on the level of a 14 year old tween with science fiction and video game superhero obsessions.
It's all id these days.
This latest iteration of Superman opening has thrust that hero into the spotlight of national consciousness and they gotta get some of that. Trump’s already embedded into Jurassic World by being identified as a velociraptor.
I missed the velociraptor one!
We’ve already seen King Trump and Pope Trump.
With respect to the Epstein matter, it is quite inconceivable that there would not be a client list to which Epstein would refer regularly, to advise of future 'adventures' aligned with the people on the list. They would, in the course of 'business,' tell him what they wanted, and Maxwell would do the procurement 'work.' So the current denial of the existence of the list is not credible.
Epstein lived a highly complex business and social life. The only way to control this sort of life is through record-keeping. Say it isn't so?
Not clients, but "friends".
Ah yes. Please forgive my seeming ignorance. But, in context, I hope the list comes out. If I were Maxwell, I'd be ready to trade--surely she kept the evidence safe.
I imagine that Maxwell already has been paid to keep her mouth shut. Whatever they are paying her, Musk can pay more.
Layers of perfidy, with apparently no 'bottom' to the cesspit. Discourage me summore, why dontcha?
And payments made in influence.
This week's tariffapalooza is likely all about distracting from Epstein and or the Texas response.
Agree but would add that some part of his brain knew his 90 day deadline was coming up this week and he has nothing really to show for it. So he decides it's time to tariff again and releases those silly letters to countries. I wonder if they were actually delivered to the countries or if they were simply released to the American media.
They were delivered.
Of course Trump picked a Nick Adams kind of guy as ambassador. This clown show just gets 'worser' and 'worser'!
Ahem- Kimberley Guilfoyle was sent as our Ambassador to Greece, the cradle of democracy, as a symbol of Trumpian regard for such.
If you put policy to the side for a second you'll see the strategy in what Trump does. He keeps picking strong personalities for positions. He wants fighters and people willing to steamroll the press. Dems don't do this. Why? Because dems don't value strength projection the way that both Trump and large swaths of the American public do.
America is a country that defines itself by its strength--militarily, economically, and culturally. If you fill your party with people who project weakness rather than strength you tend to lose the American public on cultural grounds right away. Because the GOP picks people with strong personalities who are "ready for prime time" and dems keep picking weak/old reps who have never hurled an insult or a punch in public in their life, the dems don't tend to stay in power very long until the GOP fucks up governance enormously (Bush fucking up GWoT, Katrina, and the financial crisis + Trump fucking up CV-19). If dems would STOP getting behind the fuckin ex-lawyer do-gooders and started getting behind fighters with strong personalities more of the non-college American public would get behind them. American politics is downstream of culture, not policy.
While this guy does sound like a complete idiot, it's not like we haven't named a lot of questionable types to ambassadorships in far away places in the past. Seems to me we sent Carol Moseley Braun off to New Zealand for a few years...
Can you share the similarities in experience and qualification between Braun and Guilfoyle?
Agreed! Serious presidents would appoint serious people to ambassadorships in vital allied countries or countries we had tenuous relations with. However, they most certainly used cushy ambassador slots as paybacks for political favors and large "donations".
"All of this leads me to this thought: I don’t know that we can defeat Trump and Trumpism politically by appealing to abstract concepts of truth or justice. But I do wonder if we might have more success if we spent more time pointing out how much Trump distorts and how much Trumpism does violence to the American way."
Except he isn't actually doing violence to the American Way. He is actualizing it. Behind all of the philosophizing and mythologizing that people point to as the American Way is the actual American Way.
The American Way that treated humans as property until the Civil War and then still treated them as subhuman and other until civil rights, and even to a strong degree, today.
The American Way that committed genocide against the natives so that white people could take their land and resources.
The American Way that treated and continues to treat women as less than men.
The American Way that celebrates individualism, self-service, greed, and amorality in search of wealth loudly and proudly.
The American Way of it's only business, it isn't personal.
The American Way of I got mine (and deserve it) and fuck you (because you do not deserve it).
The American way that repeatedly led us to interfere in other countries internal affairs, invading them or clandestinely overthrowing popular governments because we did not like them... or our businesses did not like them.
Americans are people, with nothing actually exceptional about them other than their belief in their exceptionality and importance and righteousness rooted in a mythology/narrative that celebrates and justifies a lot of heinous crap. Just like pretty much every other nation/culture in existence.
Americans aren't worse than everyone else (except, perhaps, because we have the wealth and power to bend others more readily to our will)--they are merely the same as everyone else.
And when you point that out, people (especially MAGA) get really, REALLY angry. Because the lie and mythology is so wonderful and comforting.
It is nice to aspire to something positive, but the aspiration often seems pretty empty of actual results. It is easier and more profitable to mouth the words and then do whatever... or (often) to actually do nothing.
If people were not believers and practitioners of the ACTUAL American way--if they believed and practiced the mythical American Way (for real) Trump and MAGA would not exist.
So, you can appeal to that mythical American Way all you want, but when push comes to shove, it isn't going to move the needle in the face of people trying to get by in our increasingly shit-tastic situation. It isn't going to make supine GoP politicians vote differently. It isn't going to make Democratic politicians bolder or more effective. It isn't going to get the 40% of Americans who can't be bothered to vote to get off their asses next time.
Oh, THAT American Way! Spot on!
Disclosure: I am from NC and Tillis is my senator.
From the article "One almost has to feel sorry for Tillis, who clearly has, buried deep down, some still-glowing ember of independence and a sense of right and wrong."
Sorry, I don't feel the least bit sorry for Tillis. he has had numerous chances to do the right thing, and flubbed most of them. he's only developed an al dente spine 9vs fully cooked spaghetti) since he has nothing to lose (not running). The most egregious, in my opinion, was his waffle on the Hegseth nomination. He could have been the vote that sank that nomination. And maybe paved the way for other rejections. But he didn't.
Instead he took that "laudable leadership" position of "I'm going to vote for whoever passes out of committee" - code-speak for "I'll rubber stamp everything the Trump toady committee puts up. Not gonna do any research or develop my own opinion."
Now, of late, he has said Hegseth is "in over his head." Well, gee, how many people pointed that out before he was confirmed? To me, this was Tillis doing what trump does all the time - pointing to his own inadequacies when he disses others.
Tillis saw that very soon he was going under the bus, and got out. If we are lucky, this is the start of a quick hemorrhaging of Republicans.
I've read that Joni (We're all going to die anyway" Ernst might be next. fingers crossed.
My thoughts as well.
Aside from the waste of time and money, why does Kash Patel even care what career FBI people think about him ? He spends most of his time in Vegas.
Can you imagine what it must be like to be an FBI agent these days? I mean, you've led a good life, got a degree, went through the approval and security clearance process, got accepted, went through the FBI academy, got out there in the field and did the job ... and now this former podcaster with absolutely no qualifications for the job is hooking you up to a machine to find out if you're loyal to HIM. You're out there trying to break up international drug trafficking operations and he's shacked up with his "friend" in an apartment in Vegas...
It must be maddening and demoralizing.
It's a version of what I feel. I thought I was living in America. Turns out I live in a Russia wannabe. And I get to wonder how many of those FBI agents are actually pretty comfy right about now.
“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are stupider than that.” George Carlin
He wasn't just a comedian, he was a philosopher sage!
Re Putin and Ukraine, where Trump comes down at any given time depends on how he perceives his self interest. Surely by now that must be plain to anyone.
Except magats.
Warner Bros. should sue for copyright infringement, but that of course would lead to a justice Dept. investigation into antisemitism at the company. So, the studio will remain quiet.
They would end up paying $16 million.