US Politics, June 2020 — You have to dominate.

They need to be shamed and humiliated.

I feel like we've gotten a lot of information about "what makes Trump voters tick?"

otm

These rally-goers are mostly the same slice of Trump's base that proudly and defiantly adopted the "deplorables" label in 2016. Figuring them out isn't all that hard; they are delighted to howl their beliefs at the journalists who attend the rallies. The mere fact that Trump is the person they have raised up to lead them, whose every word and action they lavishly dote upon, is what you might call a big clue. They love these Trump rallies for reasons similar to why protestors at recent demonstrations against racism feel heartened; it makes them feel part of a strong movement, instead of isolated and outcast. It is up to us to cast them back out.

I didn’t see that as a Cletus Safari explainer as much as just Grand Guignol. That’s why you hire Bruce Gilden!

Imagine going through life without a powerful figure to help focus the chaotic evil that's driven you since birth. Just imagine how sad and lonely you would have felt, knowing under more fortuitous circumstances that you might burden not only those around you but perhaps everyone on earth. Just imagine.

^think that helps explain why they were so giddy that he "won" and why there is such a cult, unlike most other politicians' followers: he validated their entire fucked-up, pathetic, moronic existence.

So weird that they can't recognize he absolutely despises them.

he loves the poorly educated

His supporters in that VF piece seem further off the rails than they did in 2016 though. It's gone from "Build the wall" and "Lock her up" as dog whistles for racists and misogynists to his core supporters now all talking about spiritual warfare and using their Q decoder rings to unlock secret messages that prove that all democrats will burn in a lake of fire for eternity.

The Reformation was a terrible mistake.

I don't hesitate to call what's happening spiritual warfare, but not for the reason the Asshole's followers might call it so.

They are as much gullibles as deplorables, so once you've got them together in a mass, all you have to do is feed some kind of garbage conspiracy theory into their information stream and it'll spread rapidly. Because they trust each other and no one else, they will swallow the worst kind of nonsense as long as it appears to be coming from others within the cult.

tbf VF knew what kind of a piece it wanted and went out and got it; it wasn't some wide-eyed 'let's go see what trump voters are actually like' thing

Every decade gets the Jim Rose Circus it deserves.

As repugnant and grotesque as the Asshole cult is, I can't help but feel that you would get similar shots if you fired a flash point blank at people attending a Biden rally and then processed it for maximum grime and grit. The reader is invited to leer, to find signs of stupidity or poor health choices or low class in their faces, in a magazine nakedly called Vanity Fair for fuck's sake. What they're saying and the slogans they're wearing absolutely should be judged, but the photography is an unsubtle freakshow designed to render these people less than human. I abhor their views and I wish death on Asshole like I have never felt for anyone else, but that's crossing a line for me.

Biden rally - more liver spots, less meth acne

Sure, mookieproof, but am not 100% sure we needed yet more flavors of "Trump supporters are deluded whackaloons" to get the message that they're deluded whackaloons.

Like, I was pretty sure they were deluded whackaloons four years ago. Piling up additional instances of their deluded whackaloonery is just gilding the trumpoid lily at this point.

Oh, so there's a new WAY in which they're deluded and whack as fuck? Intriguing. But I still have to go cook dinner now.

As much as I used to think similarly, MatthewK, after living in close proximity to many of these people for a few years, I don't give a shit how they're portrayed. They're members of a racist honky death cult and can fucking rot.

I will concede that yes, that position hasn't changed since 2016, so the article is rather superfluous.

A good example of Trump Derangement Syndrome I kept seeing this weekend was how they kept responding to tweets about Trump's poor rally attendance with photos of "the Biden rally" with people sitting in socially distant circles marked out on the floor.

Whenever anyone would rightly point out (with actual evidence, no less!) that the photos weren't from a rally, but rather from a press event for which he specifically only invited a handful of local officials, voters and reporters, they quickly devolved into the "THAT'S WHAT THE MSM WANTS YOU TO THINK BUT IT WAS ACTUALLY A RALLY OPEN TO THE PUBLIC AND ONLY 11 PEOPLE SHOWED UP" bullshit, over and over again.

hard agree with MatthewK

the eternal shame and humiliation to be visited on Republicans needs to spring directly from a comprehensive rejection of the MAGA worldview (such as it is). the elite press taking lurid, condescending photos is neither here nor there

by the way can we just call them ‘Republicans’ instead of ‘Trumpers’ or whatever? let’s call it what it is. he’s a Republican president. they give him high 80s approval. people like Lamar Alexander bent over backwards to help him carry out his agenda and never said boo during this reign of racist terror. fuck all of them. every last Republican should be ashamed of this sorry episode and begging forgiveness until the day they die.

will parscale survive the week y/n

He'd have gone on Sunday if Trump knew anyone else to hire.

Kid Rock is awaiting the call.

tbf VF knew what kind of a piece it wanted and went out and got it; it wasn't some wide-eyed 'let's go see what trump voters are actually like' thing

― mookieproof, Monday, June 22, 2020 9:23 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Idk if you're familiar with the author but I respect him a lot; he's also the author of the books about The Family and C Street that developed into the Netflix series. I don't think VF could tell him "Go make rally-goers look crazy" and he would be nonchalant about it.

I think it's a great piece. I've been having similar thoughts for years about the Sovereign Citizens' beliefs--that they're not distinguishable from a belief in magical spells & incantations. Sharlet gets evangelicals.

Like, I was pretty sure they were deluded whackaloons four years ago. Piling up additional instances of their deluded whackaloonery is just gilding the trumpoid lily at this point.

Oh, so there's a new WAY in which they're deluded and whack as fuck? Intriguing. But I still have to go cook dinner now.

yeah I stopped reading that VF piece after 3rd paragraph or so. "oh this shit again..."

"all for haranguing Trump until he has a stroke"

magical thinking is ineffective, it seems

Watch the clip. She was hired to fight with the press. When the press shows up to be fought with, it helps complete the logic of the appointment.

Alternative: Suspend normal relations with the Trump government. Quit the access game entirely and shift to outside-in reporting. https://t.co/zO79nXQJ47

— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) June 22, 2020

these people do not think that term is racist. they don't think lots of things are racist. they are absolute, literalist dumbasses and if it's not in a white hood carrying a noose, they won't call it racist, ever. THis is also why they deny that 'structural racism' is a thing. they believe only individuals can be racist and that racism is defined in extremely narrow and literal terms. Why do they think this? because they are racists.

A megachurch is hosting Trump's rally on Tuesday in Phoenix. These two con-men falsely claim they've installed a system which kills 99.9% of COVID-19.

Arizona's Coronavirus numbers are surging. Madness...pic.twitter.com/6mgM8BLhO9

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) June 22, 2020

man those guys are dangerous

Anyone having to do with a megachurch is dangerous tbf, but yeah, those guys are dangerous and evil

Electric Sun Desert MAGA Festival

Trump increasingly preoccupied with defending his physical and mental health

The early June meeting in the Cabinet Room was intended as a general update on President Trump’s reelection campaign, but the president had other topics on his mind.

Trump had taken a cognitive screening test as part of his 2018 physical, and now, more than two years later, he brought up the 10-minute exam. He waxed on about how he’d dazzled the proctors with his stellar performance, according to two people familiar with his comments. He walked the room of about two dozen White House and reelection officials through some of the questions he said he’d aced, such as being able to repeat five words in order.

At the time, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment — which includes animal pictures and other simple queries aimed at detecting mild cognitive impairment such as dementia — was intended to quell questions about Trump’s mental fitness. But in recalling it, Trump said he thought presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden would never be able to pass it and suggested challenging him to take the test, said the people familiar with Trump’s comments, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share private details.

...

Another sign of Trump’s unease came Saturday night in Tulsa, when the president devoted more than 14 minutes to regaling a campaign rally crowd with the tale of “the ramp and the water.” Eager to dismiss questions about his fitness after he struggled with a glass of water and walked unsteadily down a ramp following his June 13 commencement address at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Trump offered a revisionist history.

The ramp on that sunny day, Trump asserted, was as slippery as “an ice-skating rink.” But he “ran down” it nonetheless, he claimed, despite video evidence showing him shuffling down the incline haltingly. As for the water, Trump said, he used two hands to drink because he didn’t want to spill on his expensive silk tie.

“Anyway, that’s a long story, but here’s the story,” the president said, finally winding down. “I’ve lived with the ramp and the water since I left West Point.”

He had previously obsessed about the episode to aides in private and during a Wall Street Journal interview, when he brought the incident up unprompted and offered to produce the leather-bottom shoes he had been wearing that day, which he said were “not good” for ramps.

“In the middle of the worst economy in a century and with more than a hundred thousand Americans dead this guy is primarily concerned with not looking weak,” said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), referring to the death toll from the coronavirus pandemic. “And his endless, bottomless insecurity was onstage, in three dimensions, during that storytelling moment, for everyone to see. I’ve seen a lot of crazy things in the last four years but that display of juvenile behavior and self-regard will go in the Trump time capsule.”

Clean Air EXP, another fine Rio-Jenesis product

loooooool xpost w/crut, it's sad because it's true

Arizona’s Republican Senator is proposing a $4k per person vacation tax credit. Gotta make sure to spread the COVID to whatever ski resort she favors I guess?

^she's still down in the polls. AZ could have 2 Dem Senators soon...

yeah, this will help

Looks what’s going on here. Where are the protesters? Was this man arrested? https://t.co/2E1UbU5vNN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020

Will Anybody Think of Whitey?

“I’ve lived with the ramp and the water since I left West Point.”

july thread title

the only solution is for biden and trump to do an academic decathlon like in billy madison

I'll take Business Ethics, Jack

“I’ve lived with the ramp and the water since I left West Point.”

Underrated REM lyrics I have loved...

Parscale OUT

Trump definitely told someone to tell someone to tell him he's fired, right?

https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/105484675_4311156538901978_7132946253322699313_n.png?_nc_cat=106&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=oV3ajU18peIAX--T-hD&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&oh=22372ded4ffb61f0deaba53e4d2abcf2&oe=5F15DB04

three hours ago: Parscale can't be fired because he's paying Eric's wife and Don's mistress $180,000 a year in stolen campaign funds

one hour ago: Parscale might fall on his sword, Kushner might be removed from running the campaign

Haha

I don’t know if any of that is true, but yes, I believe all of that and it is true

Where are the protesters?

who is supposed to be protesting and wtf are they supposed to be protesting?? god they're all such simpletons.

Xxxp The 2 Arizona church hucksters look like an impro turn they need to add the jokes into.
Hope they prayed the vid away.