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

this is not a court, unless it's the one at the end of Bananas

but yeah, i have no interest. Da Bernie Bros on Twitter, never forget

In Trump's America we might as well all become psychopaths. Just follow the course the US has been going to its end conclusion.

I kind-of like the idea, the entire country becoming one giant fist fight and looting spree. Nothing means anything anymore, so why the hell not.

hm

are you drinking again?

me or lawrence appleton?

sorry that was an xp

are you drinking again?

Yes

i'm drinking sprite

I'm not drinking now, but I'm starting to understand why alcoholism is such a big problem in Russia.

Tell me about it (and yes, I've had some Four Roses single barrel). It's been a struggle not to just embrace some sort of wtf nihilism, like America has had its chance and it's all going to shit now in the worst, most aggressive way, and there's nothing to be done about it. The irony is we're nowhere near as bad as Russia, and so much better than we were, say, 60 years ago. And yet, I find our national embrace of anti-intellectualism, tacit and explicit racism, and just all around mediocrity just so dispiriting.

I despise Donald Trump and everything he represents with a fury you cannot imagine. He's like an allegorical figure of evil, it's mind boggling how this guy has become the leader of the US.

i'm not fond of him either

def don't like the donald

it's all going to shit now in the worst, most aggressive way

great scott! don't you realize the world has been going straight to hell for centuries now? but somehow some measurable fraction of humanity manages to pull themselves together, find a few good things to do with their lives, and their collective efforts, small as they might seem at the time, divert the whole shebang from plunging over a cliff. just don't go crazy like some disgruntled postal employee and keep your eye on whatever's right there for you to do.

fist to the back of the head, spitting out a tooth Yeah, gotta look at the bright side!

OK. You're right. Give up now. It'll save time.

I'm talking the exact opposite of giving up. I'm perfectly happy making this guy out to be the personification of evil, because he's pretty fucking close to it. I know it means holding onto an ambient ill ease his entire tenure, but that's the cost. I don't want to become comfortable with this shit.

OK. You're right. I'll stop pointing out that responding to evil by seeking out positive actions might prevent the worst. No good can come of that.

What I said was a luxury! Cripes, there are a lot of people on the radar of this guy's crazed supporters. What was it, a week or two ago some looney tune Trump supporter raided a pizza place with a loaded gun because he thought it was a child sex dungeon? Hate crimes are spiking, and as Trump trashes the country and people begin to really suffer under it, who do you think these guys are gonna blame, Trump??? They think a pizza parlor is a child sex dungeon.

C'mon. This guy needs tales told for a hundred years about what a piece of shit he is, and I'm fine starting now.

Don't let me stop you.

the political apex of modern America was 8/10/74, and juvenile me thought such pleasures were going to be a regular occurrence.

mostly downhill ever since

This is intensely and painfully true.

My first political memory is Nixon's resignation. When as a 6-year-old I saw all the hoopla on TV I asked my dad, "Daddy, what's going on?" My dad said verbatim, "the President is quitting his job because he lied to everyone." Thanks for telling me the truth, Dad. And it's all been downhill since then.

that's amazing

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/310309-harvard-professor-says-gop-electors-are-close-to-blocking-trump

Several liberal friends shared this tonight. Beyond the delusion of thinking it's possible, I truly don't understand how they think a Kasich or Romney Presidency would be 'better' than Trump.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/12/13/scientists-are-frantically-copying-u-s-climate-data-fearing-it-might-vanish-under-trump/

"Scientists are frantically copying U.S. climate data, fearing it might vanish under Trump"

(stolen from the appropriate thread, but literally the next page I opened had an answer to milo's astonishing statement - I'm sure half of the pages I open today will as well)

Help me out, how many I'm With Her posters recanted their primary votes? xxp

be honest, you didn't write any material for trump because you didn't think he would win and now you're just burning off all this hillary material you'd stored up for the expected outcome

i'm not fond of him either

"This guy, this is not my kind of guy"

i'm sick of seeing my liberal friends go down the PutinPutin path.

it's mind boggling how this guy has become the leader of the US.

It's not, now. Punch the people in the face for 40 years and they might rebel in unappetizing ways.

i'm sick of seeing my liberal friends go down the PutinPutin path.

i know he seems like a really good guy

in this case you know what i mean, dear, so stifle. The asshole lost her election.

I don't believe the GOP elector/House election thing either, but I'm agnostic about whether a Devil You Know is worse than a kook-toddler-goon.

True, and you'll never know. But the guy we got has already dedicated himself to unraveling government as we know it, at the expense of everybody helped by it. It would be ironic if this is what it took to shake Congress out of its complacency, but I am certainly not hopeful on that front.

I'm agnostic about whether a Devil You Know is worse than a kook-toddler-goon.

the kook-toddler-goon is going to sign legislation proposed by the blue-eyed fraud who is Speaker of the House.

I almost want to argue that Trump is among the least dangerous elements in the incoming government. He's appointed Cabinet secretaries who are arguably better at their private sector jobs than Trump was in his and have a lifetime's experience fighting the departments they're going to head. Paul Ryan is the Speaker. These people terrify me more than Trump.

wouldn't Kasich sign it too?

I should say "most easily caricatured" and "most capable of squirting clouds of ink" than "among the least dangerous," I suppose.

altho Kasich just rejected the "heartbeat abortions" bill in Ohio

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/12/13/505457437/ohio-gov-kasich-signs-20-week-abortion-limit-rejects-heartbeat-bill

I almost want to argue that Trump is among the least dangerous elements in the incoming government. He's appointed Cabinet secretaries who are arguably better at their private sector jobs than Trump was in his and have a lifetime's experience fighting the departments they're going to head. Paul Ryan is the Speaker. These people terrify me more than Trump.

This is some interesting mental alchemy here. Trump's the guy putting these terrifying people into power in the first place, so it starts with him.

i'm sick of seeing my liberal friends go down the PutinPutin path.

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius)

ehhh. tactics. i know the natural impulse is to go on facebook and do peer review, but it's not appropriate and, honestly, not my responsibility

" I truly don't understand how they think a Kasich or Romney Presidency would be 'better' than Trump."

really? I disagree with a lot of Kasich's stances, and a lot of Romney's beliefs, but they are not unpredictable psychopath narcissists.

like America has had its chance and it's all going to shit now

when was this chance? after killing the native population? after freeing the slaves? after interring Japanese citizens? after nuking Japan? after the civil rights act? after getting rid of the draft?

almost feel like "make America great again" switched axis when Trump got elected and the left has been idolizing some mythical America that is even less real than the right's myth. "it's all gone to shit now" compared to a flawless imaginary 240 years.

as "president with terrible policies" romney and kasich might be as bad as trump, but neither of them are what i would classify as a systemic threat. which trump's presidency is. in fact i'd say it's beyond a threat, i'd say he has directly destroyed our political system.

i understand that a lot of people wanted to see the system destroyed in any case, so in that case he might not seem as bad.

It's only a few weeks until Inauguration Day, gang. Veremos.

Several liberal friends shared this tonight. Beyond the delusion of thinking it's possible, I truly don't understand how they think a Kasich or Romney Presidency would be 'better' than Trump.

A moderate republican would likely not have the authoritarian tendencies or hostility towards criticism or the press that Trump has, not to mention the admiration for people like Putin or Duterte.

Anyway, none of this would fly because the people who voted on November 8 didn't vote for a republican, they voted for Trump. I remember there was a report from the first victory rally where the reporter said, "these aren't republican voters, they are Trump voters." A lot of people, not everyone, but a lot of people, knew exactly what was coming and did not care.

^^^ I agree with this. They think our school system is fucked, and that vouchers are the answer, so why not Betsy Devos? They WANT drilling is pristine wilderness areas, so gutting the EPA is a win. Trump is their raging id manifested, in a way Kacich and Romney are not.

Taking their mindset to its logical extreme, you have to wonder why we never see Trump supporters savagely disemboweling themselves on street corners.

who will be the next trump? guy's only got another 10 years to live max.

ivanka

good morning

can we just share warm reminiscences about Nixon resigning for a brief respite from the horror? I was eight, in a roomful of cheering hippies. my sister, who was six, asked my dad "if he knew he was making those tapes then why did he say all those things?" my dad said "I have no idea."

lol

on that warm August morning I was a zygote in my mother's eye.

who will be the next trump? guy's only got another 10 years to live max.

It chills me to the bone to say it but the guy who I think somehow has the nihilist "nothing matters but destroying my enemies but stick with me and you'll be fine" vibe down best, next to trump himself, is the vile milwaukee co. sheriff david clarke