Mourning in America - Trump Year One: November '16 to

I mean if trump isn't textbook narcissistic personality disorder then...who would be?

and now someone who already doesn't have a soul because he's been sucked into a narcissistic black hole is *literally the most important human being in the world*. things can only get worse!

Oh, smart place to spend time and money organizing: For the governor post in Indinana. Or is it out of reach?

Dems should compete everywhere imo

should? sure. but all the dems have right now in red states is motivation.

within two years I think the dems might have the ability to win races in places we could never dream of. trump admin is gonna be a disaster on a level not comparable to anything in recent history.

Seems likely yes

progressives thought GW bush was a dumbo who would quickly fail, but it wasn't until he'd served a full eight years of disasters that he was finally repudiated by the broader public.

GW had a team of ppl way more experienced w the levers of federal power supporting him. Trump does not.

Painse to say this but Dubya also marginally more humane

Pains me

damning with faint praise but George W. Bush has a likability and moral authority and thoughtfulness that Trump lacks, which is how he got a full eight years.

Trump beyond mere dumbo, way way beyond

it's easy to look back and compare but look at how Bush dealt w/american muslims in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, at least publicly, and compare his speech at the memorial service for the Dallas PD officers a few months ago, vs anything Trump would say in any situation.

If Pence is already loathed, and the Trump transition continues to be a clusterfuck, with the media no longer compelled by fake objectivity to focus half of their intention on fake Clinton controversies out for blood, perhaps it could be pushed as an indictment of the administration. The Indiana election, that is.

W. also was not vindictive in the least

Except when it came to guys that tried to kill his dad amirite

he is a totally different type of figure in all ways.

with the media no longer compelled by fake objectivity

This is cloud cuckooland stuff. The NYT and WaPo are already rolling over like the compliant little bootlickers they are, going out of their way to avoid using the word "racist" to describe Bannon and Sessions, just like they wouldn't use "torture" to describe waterboarding and fake executions. These outlets -- all mainstream media outlets -- in the long run, care only about continued access to the corridors of power and will do what's necessary to maintain it. Trump showed himself more than willing as a primary candidate, then as the nominee, to deny them that access and they will not risk losing it now that he's President.

Hopefully he cuts them off then, incurs their ire.

Trump somehow more incompetent and more of a schemer than W the incompetent schemer

oh no are we normalizing Bush too

The 'Mission Accomplished' moment on the aircraft carrier was very Trump

Phil, I think you're missing my point. The media wants scandals, and with Clinton out of the picture, now they only have Trump to focus on. I agree, they're rubbish in general, and their inability to tell between what just looked cloudy and what was actually fraudulent helped Trump a lot - they should all feel bad at how much energy they spent on the Clinton Foundation when Trump had a lawsuit going he would have to settle for 20 million less than two weeks after the election - but their willingness to turn everything into a 'breaking news' scandal harms the crook with no self-control when there's nobody else to go after.

bush was an political ideologue and a devout christian. I think was easier for a lot of people to justify his mistakes in those contexts. trump has no real beliefs on any subject that isn't 'donald trump' and sold people on some prosperity gospel shit. most of his voters don't even think he's a good human being. in 3 years when their shitty rural town continues to be filled w/ methheads and abandoned buildings I don't think they will be as forgiving as they would be to the guy who talked to god and tried his best. course, we might have president pence by then...

How, exactly, does it harm him? The media can't impeach him, or arrest him, or charge him with a crime, or anything of that nature. And with access cut off, they'll barely be able to report on him at all unless the White House is staffed with a plethora of people willing to talk anonymously, which seems unlikely. And his base has demonstrated extremely effectively that they are ready, willing and able to be lied to and swallow every utterance as if it were the truth. In regards to the recent Ford plant story, they're willing to believe Trump more than they believe the CEO of Ford.

Dubya barely squeaked out a victory as a wartime incumbent against a terrible candidate, I wouldn't say repudiation took eight years.

they'll barely be able to report on him at all unless the White House is staffed with a plethora of people willing to talk anonymously, which seems unlikely

1. the White House? He doesn't want to staff the White House at all! You mean Trump Tower.
2. lol re: plethora of anonymous sources; he already had this problem during the campaign, when he had NDAs to threaten staffers with. You think that gets better for him now?

x-post: That's a weird question to answer, because Trump literally only has one thing that could harm him: Losing reelection in 2020. But remember Clinton won the popular vote by 1,7 million votes (and counting) so Trump probably has to surprise positively to win reelection, and the things he has promised his voters goes against what his party wants. So he needs clout. And if his administration gets branded as corrupt and incompetent early on, the incentive to compromise with Trump goes away.

That doesn't really hurt him anyway, it'll mean no jobs for the poor but tax cuts for rich developers like himself, so...

Reddit and the God Emperor of the Internet: NYT profiles r/The_Donald...

oh there are more things than just that could harm him.

1. the White House? He doesn't want to staff the White House at all! You mean Trump Tower.
2. lol re: plethora of anonymous sources; he already had this problem during the campaign, when he had NDAs to threaten staffers with. You think that gets better for him now?

1. True, I'll just say I was going for metonym here.
2. Yes, and none of that harmed him even a tiny bit.

xxp that assumes that Trump cares at all about re-election, when he barely cared about election. We keep treating him like a politician, when that's not what he is.

oh no are we normalizing Bush too

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, November 19, 2016 5:21 PM (thirty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just wait until we elect that disembodied evil spirit from the novel It. we'll be yearning for the days of trump.

bush normalized himself to an extent by painting goofy portraits and making friends with michelle and dancing awkwardly at funerals

Trumps admin will leak like a sieve. He rules by conflict. People are gonna dime on their enemies via leak.

"I didn't come to this administration to make friends"

Also this Hamilton flap is probably giving bannon a raging hard on. Nothing says snobby librul elites like broadway.

xp my hope with this sort of crowd, Trump, also Putin, is that ruthless assholes make enemies of other assholes they work with, and through these conflicts they get weakened

The media wants scandals, and with Clinton out of the picture, now they only have Trump to focus on

You don't understand the US political press. General rule of thumb: suck up to Republicans, nitpick Democrats to death.

axl rose repeatedly going after trump is a new favorite development

damning with faint praise but George W. Bush has a likability and moral authority and thoughtfulness that Trump lacks, which is how he got a full eight years.

― nomar, Saturday, November 19, 2016 4:41 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark

W also way way more integrated into his party

xp i honestly am a little miffed that his twitter handle is not @waxlrose

You don't understand the US political press. General rule of thumb: suck up to Republicans, nitpick Democrats to death.

I don't think the press under trump will be anything like it was under bush. I don't think we have to worry about the normal sycophancy / 'let's just trust what the admin says' journalism as much as we have to worry about reality tv journalism. there will be very few slow news days w/ these clowns. but the clickbait stories and the important ones are not going to always overlap. 'eric trump gives a monkey a tour of the white house' will get more press than some concurrent money scandal etc.

If dude doesn't back down and apologize, and Republicans end up boycotting Hamilton, it will be much easier for everyone else to get tickets.

within two years I think the dems might have the ability to win races in places we could never dream of. trump admin is gonna be a disaster on a level not comparable to anything in recent history.

― iatee, Saturday, November 19, 2016 2:33 PM (one hour ago)

He'll be blaming every failure on others: Dems, immigrants, whichever bogeyman is imagined to be under the public bed at the time. And they'll believe him instead of believing their own eyes, ears, and brains. He'll be floating above it all in a rickety Chinese-made gold-lamé hot-air balloon (buoyed by he hot air from his mouth) as his enemies are churned against rocky cliffs in the roiling surf below & his supporters dump boiling oil on anyone who manages to get safely ashore.

eric trump gives a monkey a tour of the white house' will get more press than some concurrent money scandal etc.
LOL OTM.

Gunna post this here, since I think this is a great podcast ep of "Delete Your Acct," serving as an OpSec 101, or what any of us can do with our communications in the modern surveillance state.

It's an interview with Freddy Martinez, who did great work exposing shit like the cops using Stingray technology as well as what horseshit the Chicago PD has been up to.

I personally use my phone a lot without always remembering that every single mobile phone is effectively a tracking device.

https://deleteyouraccount.libsyn.com/dont-get-caught

i think there are too many dissenters for them to go after us like that.

This is a bit worrisome.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/pentagon-and-intelligence-community-chiefs-have-urged-obama-to-remove-the-head-of-the-nsa/2016/11/19/44de6ea6-adff-11e6-977a-1030f822fc35_story.html?tid=pm_pop

Now, in my experience, the DIRNSA is always a dickhead who is mainly in charge of taking hundreds of millions of your dollars and setting them on fire while looking for the next big thing that will precognitively ID the threats to America so he can look better than his peers at FBI, CIA, etc. So IMHO it doesn't matter that much which 4-star thinks he runs the shop, since the Deputy DIRNSA is always a career civilian who rose up from a GS-11 or so and is a nerd and understands how the actual mission operates, etc. But we really don't need every single one of the spy agencies being political from the top down.

And given that a few days before this, Rogers went in front of the press to clarify that Russians deliberately interfered in our political process, it's just fishy as all hell.

sucking up to power, D or R, is the only duty of the press

NY Times piece on Jared Kushner. Apparently hosted a fundraiser at his house for Cory Booker several years ago.