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

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

A sane GOP asshole would probably take his intel briefings and might even do something with the information

Then again the last one didn't, he just ignored what he didn't understand and ordered the IC to cook the books on the rest, so basically hope is for suckers. the mendacity of hope.

It occurs to me that, given the shitstorm of revelations that would've sunk another candidate but that have bounced harmlessly off of his leathery hide, Trump's presidency could be a note-for-note replica of Nixon's and he would be just fine. That's where we're at.

Aw man y'all are making me wish I'd asked my parents more questions about their experiences of the 60s/70s. I have a few anecdotes committed to memory but man, how did I never ask them about Watergate? OTOH my brother was born in January of '74 and they may not have followed it all that closely... still.

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

― akm, Wednesday, December 14, 2016 10:02 AM (fifteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh great, now he's going to live forever. Thanks a lot.

i am reading nixonland right now. it is weirdly comforting

i feel hopeless and despondent a lot esp considering his appointments but i think it is also somewhat easy to expect that the worst effects of a trump presidency will be severely hampered by scandal and controversy. impeachment/resignation is a long shot but that doesn't mean constant obstruction and demands for investigation won't have some positive effect over the next four years. trump already has abysmally low approval ratings and while he is claiming a "landslide victory" and a mandate, people's patience easily gets worn down

Speaking of appointments, looks like Rick Perry is officially selected as Secretary of Energy

I'm just gonna go ahead and call Shkreli for Commissioner of Food and Drugs, I guess.

https://www.facebook.com/TheRecoveringConservative/photos/a.1020693138014212.1073741828.1020164684733724/1192411797509011/?type=3

Although I'm unsure whether the presidential seal is going to be replaced with an image of a hand flipping the bird or of Trump auto-erotically asphyxiating himself with the flag while fucking a bald eagle.

smiling poop emoji ftw

That does reflect unserious vulgarity but it doesn't project nearly enough sneering contempt imo.

i am reading nixonland right now. it is weirdly comforting
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek)

I'm hoping Perlstein is at work on a Reagan-to-Trump book.

i am reading nixonland right now. it is weirdly comforting

I'm reading the Invisible Bridge. It is, in the same way, profoundly unsettling.

My dad said verbatim, "the President is quitting his job because he lied to everyone."

God bless Dad, but this reminds me just a little of the "No president will ever lie to us again" line in the Watergate spoof Dick.

Aw man y'all are making me wish I'd asked my parents more questions about their experiences of the 60s/70s.

my folks knew people that were killed at Kent state. at the time when there was a national draft and students were shot and killed at a peaceful protest. rmde to see people freaking out over him saying dumb things on twitter or being critical of the NYT thus the world is ending.

http://crossover.bureau42.com/supeskennedy.jpg

cross-referenced from the 'real people in comic books' thread

in 2016 no innocent unarmed people are murdered by law-enforcers, of course xp

or inspired to take up arms by ludicrous fictions shared on social media

xp my dad's experience of the 60s and 70s was "being in the Army, with most of 1966-1971 in Vietnam." My mom's was "sitting on Army bases and shitty civilian apartments raising two kids." Exciting. I know that 1972 was the last time my dad ever voted for a Republican president, since doing so got him promptly sent back into combat.

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

― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, December 14, 2016 8:24 AM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

The fact that both bills reached his desk the same day is not a coincidence. The one was presented as a distraction so he could veto it and sign the other while looking "reasonable." A 20 week ban is still complete bullshit. Kasich has signed 18 - 18!!! - anti-abortion laws during his term in office and been on the anti-PP bandwagon since day one. He's no more reasonable than any of these other fucksticks.

I'd posit that, under Trump, the likelihood that you'll be sharing your parents' experience is sadly quite high, Adam.

Comparing Kasich to Trump is meaningless at this point, especially because establishment conservatives deserve no leeway due to their apparent willingness to support Trump. (I know Kasich himself is a notable exception to this, although, importantly, not notable enough to endorse Hillary.)

But being serious, Trump is a unique threat to the Republic in ways that go far beyond policy. He is supporting all the horrible, anti-woman, anti-government stuff the Republicans always support but as a bonus he is also literally a malignant narcissist with authoritarian aims and absolutely no ability to make discerning choices when it comes to issues of national security, the environment, etc.

but is he dangerous?

Idk. I wouldn't hire him as my dogwalker.

If John Kasich wanted to be my dogwalker he might make it past the first round of interviews.

when was this chance?

it is true that life is in many (but not all) ways better for people of color, women, and queers than it was in 1974, but let's see what the future holds fight the future.

he election of Trump is a direct affront to any movement in this direction, from civil rights to the environment to education to diplomacy, the reactionary drumbeat of "anti-PC" basically an aggressive fuck you to empathy, which is key to progress. I've noted it earlier, but for all this country's faults going forward, we've really yet to go backwards.

Look at 1964 and 1968. At the height of achievement you can see the abyss below you. That's history, man. It's a bitch.