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

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.

it's not a straight line, etc

are you saying that the arc of the moral universe is more of a scribble

it's more of a Mad Libs.

the arc of the moral universe bends toward Kanye

I've noted it earlier, but for all this country's faults going forward, we've really yet to go backwards.

http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/msnbc/Components/Photos/031208/031208_reaganobit_hmedium.grid-6x2.jpg

("this facial expression" there, dragged into optimism+triumph by sheer will)

I'm one of those minorities that has benefitted from the constitutional advances of the last 20 years but, no, I don't think history evolves unceasingly.

No one answered my question about who has grounds to sue the president for violating the Emoluments Clause.

xxp DLH otm

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

― clemenza, Wednesday, December 14, 2016 10:37 AM (fifty-four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

did you see https://washingtonspectator.org/press-trump-perlstein/ (posted previously)?

man do I love Ronnie's hair

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

Romney wouldn't.

you're saying you don't want your dog strapped to the top of the car and driven cross country for 14 hours?

No one answered my question about who has grounds to sue the president for violating the Emoluments Clause.

It's not who has grounds, it's who has standing, and so far nobody seems to have a good answer. The prohibition of generalized grievances seems like it would apply here, so Adler's WaPo blog on the topic is probably an accurate take: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2016/11/21/the-emoluments-clause-is-donald-trump-violating-its-letter-or-spirit/

Whether or not one concludes that Trump’s business dealings violate the letter or the spirit of the Emoluments Clause, the underlying controversy is almost certainly non-justiciable. It is difficult to conceive of a scenario in which someone would have standing to challenge Trump’s arrangements, and even harder to think what sort of remedy could be ordered by a court. In other words, if there are concerns about how President Trump handles his various investments, the only remedies will be political.

non-justiciable, son

Didnt know that was a word

You'll probably have ample opportunity to familiarize yourself with its usage in the coming years.