no, i didn't know that the June 2019 US Politics thread was nasty

No credit for him

agree. this is in retaliation for a downed drone? his casually informing us that he almost authorized a dangerous, out-of-proportion response but decided to pull back at the last minute sounds super reckless to me

Yeah it's like a dude t-boned your Beemer and you threaten to blow up his neighborhood.

look it's completely insane and manipulative and there's not an ounce of decency in his *not* bombing....but under his predecessor (in an imaginary world where there wasn't a nuke deal in place) we probably would have already bombed a bunch of Iranian assets and denied/obfuscated the death count

my guess is that he genuinely sees himself as the good guy and can't cope with the idea of being personally responsible for having someone killed. Totally good with producing murderous policies/having shadowy sources "deal with the problem," just not inured in his shriveled soul to the realpolitik of being a murderer personally and knowing it. It's a redeeming quality you'd assume that would be a core human principle but one never knows with this guy

xp decency peaceful intent

Does he not involve himself in the drone strike / kill list in the way Obama did?

who knows, if it's in the daily briefing probably not

my guess is that he genuinely sees himself as the good guy and can't cope with the idea of being personally responsible for having someone killed.

Didn’t we just read an account of him raping someone?

He's getting a thrill playing God. And part of that thrill is by informing everyone of the mercy he showed with his God powers. This time he chose not to kill, next time who knows. If even 1 American is """killed by Iran"""...
Giving God powers to 1 person who's only qualification is "winning" an election is a ridiculous thing to exist in 21st century.

xp i would guess he willfully avoids that stuff out of cowardice except in piques of "I'M IN CHARGE" since no one in the military want him anywhere near the machinery

where is the contradiction in someone committing an atrocious act and still seeing themselves as a good guy?

these types of people are not going around thinking they're villains

You did, Tree. But he remembers how she totally wanted it because cmon who wouldn't.

I think he is a sadist and doesn’t need to “tell himself hems a good person” like you or i would

Escalating tensions, then pulling back, relishing the power he has over life and death—he’s a kid burning ants with a magnifyying glass.

in the audio clips he says "I didn't like it," and that's always the key word.

Yes

He’s a vile person. Look across his life—he enjoys causing suffering

Speaking of eternal suffering

pic.twitter.com/JDS4zUXXJG

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019

i'm not stupid enough to believe that Trump is incapable of being a war criminal (he already has committed a million human rights violations after all) but he may simply not want to deal with a war. it could be distaste, but then again of course it could also be that he doesn't want to have to deal with the complexities of geopolitics. i'm sure it's tough enough for his brain to handle daily briefings on new nicknames for Dem opponents.

Trump 2036 lol

TRUMP
EEEEEE

In the year Trumpy Five Trumpy Five

Does he not involve himself in the drone strike / kill list in the way Obama did?

― ShariVari, Friday, June 21, 2019 8:01 PM (twenty-two minutes ago)

by many accounts drone strike casualties have drastically increased under trump, in part because trump has removed even the limited restrictions obama placed on using drones. obama was rightly criticized for his drone policy (which was awful), but trump's clearly got no compunctions about blowing ppl up.

According to a 2018 report in The Daily Beast, Obama launched 186 drone strikes in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan during his first two years in office. In Trump’s first two years, he launched 238.

The Trump administration has carried out 176 strikes in Yemen in just two years, compared with 154 there during all eight years of Obama’s tenure, according to a count by The Associated Press and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Experts also say drone strikes under President Trump have surged in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

And, as was the case during Obama’s presidency, these strikes have resulted in untold numbers of civilian casualties. According to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, U.S. drone strikes in Afghanistan killed more than 150 civilians in the first nine months of 2018.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/5/8/18619206/under-donald-trump-drone-strikes-far-exceed-obama-s-numbers

would president warren or sanders put an end to this?

in 2015 Sanders said he wouldn't end the drone program

the MIC will keep on no matter who's in there

being a war criminal is part of the job

Sanders has been talking a lot about it recently, calling it the MIC, saying that there are people profitting from war—like it seems legit

https://scontent.fewr1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/64782698_2343772112344446_3258937483882135552_o.png.jpg?_nc_cat=1&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_oc=AQkv8qbJhokbrb1cuDIfjjZC-mqVatfQhjy6tDgDuEx1kREea_LQCzG2LbuoLhJgMSLdzi_h1WLI7H56gR-eaneM&_nc_ht=scontent.fewr1-4.fna&oh=f63ce82bfb1a83a500fbff0d453622b1&oe=5D93B81E

He seems more focused on this than in 2016

https://scontent.fewr1-4.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/fr/cp0/e15/q65/64727025_2336155189772805_4172005994383015936_o.jpg?_nc_cat=104&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_oc=AQkfB7voyZ5oTl9uZH_6Jk3Ej9mmyrh-YB_met5RIf-b-Wck-e406M4WaJhlkUYUA1VlveQp0BtNH-WVsTO1vxzP&_nc_ht=scontent.fewr1-4.fna&oh=dee2541fafc42ff1116db4892a214fa7&oe=5D8327C5

_nc_cat=1&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_oc=AQkv8qbJhokbrb1cuDIfjjZC-mqVatfQhjy6tDgDuEx1kREea_LQCzG2LbuoLhJgMSLdzi_h1WLI7H56gR-eaneM&_nc_ht=scontent.fewr1-4.fna&oh=f63ce82bfb1a83a500fbff0d453622b1&oe=5D93B81E

idk about that time thing (which i of course have not read) but i think "trumpism" dies with trump. his cult of personality is, like him, so superficial that i think even his most ardent fans will rapidly lose interest in him. the values they ascribed to him may live on, but i really don't think we're going to have that many die-hards after he's gone (vs, say, reagan or obama)

agreed -- he is, in his own way, sui generis. or at least i fucking hope so

We can say Trumpism existed in the party before he catalyzed it though.

DON: Well, yeah.

“Trumpism” started long before trump, was fertilized by 9/11 demagoguing and then the tea party, ramping up with the Pailin nomination. The xenophobia and resentment ginned up by Trump is not going to go away when he finally chokes out on a Big Mac.

true but I'm struggling to think of a current personality with a big enough cult following to wear his crown of shit when he dies.

_nc_cat=104&efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&_nc_oc=AQkfB7voyZ5oTl9uZH_6Jk3Ej9mmyrh-YB_met5RIf-b-Wck-e406M4WaJhlkUYUA1VlveQp0BtNH-WVsTO1vxzP&_nc_ht=scontent.fewr1-4.fna&oh=dee2541fafc42ff1116db4892a214fa7&oe=5D8327C5

xp joe rogan?

Sic what are you posting?

Trumpism is a logical extension of the energy by Tea Partiers, which itself was an extension of Newt's Contract with America, which itself was an extension of Massive Resistance, which was an extension of Jim Crow, and so on.

Right-wing antigovernment demagoguery is like a cake pan into which successive generations pour their white male grievance politics.

energy OF

They love government when it's bolstering white supremacy though.

Trumpism is a logical extension of the energy by Tea Partiers, which itself was an extension of Newt's Contract with America, which itself was an extension of Massive Resistance, which was an extension of Jim Crow, and so on.

Right-wing antigovernment demagoguery is like a cake pan into which successive generations pour their white male grievance politics.

― Velcromancer (Ye Mad Puffin), Friday, June 21, 2019 3:50 PM

true, and I like your description, but the chaos, extreme recklessness, incitement of hate, breaking with all norms, and blatant venality and corruption with Trump bothers me more than anything that came before

I realize those are components of some of the previous conservative movements, but just not all together to this extent

the sad truth is donald fucking trump will never be out of our lives until he is dead. president or not, this dumb motherfucker is going to have something to say on any and every news worthy item that occurs until the day he ends up dead on a toilet and the media will cover it.

hell, we're still dealing with Reagan!