Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

xpost

But how can that be? The neurologist who diagnosed it on Twitter has a background in running technology & finance businesses in Chicago & Silicon Valley and technology/biotech investing!

if he were to die before the impeachment goes into full gear, do dems bring new evidence against pence or just throw up their hands and say GAWRSH alright you get a year

that tweet is such bullshit jeez talk about overselling....the responses are unreal. every time I dip my toe in centrist #resistance Twitter I get so profoundly scared about the election

they are either credulous idiots or hucksters or usually both

who was that dude who was hopped up on stimulants who made the EPIC twitter thread at the beginning of the Trump era? the one that was credulously retweeted by a bunch of people who thought it captured the zeitgeist

I mean, it did, because it was all the work of some armchair cowboy who mainlined a bunch of stimulants and went into epic thread mode pointing to all the ephemeral, dumb conspiracy angles that people jump on instead of battling the constant raging incompetence and malevolence

otm

the main legacy of the Trump era, outside of pulling back the curtain on the voting public and making us question why we make the choices we do, is going to be the institutional shift

as much as the public eye has concentrated on shady executive order mandates and gross policies proposed by Stephen Miller and his ilk, the hands-off approach is going to affect us in the long term just as much. there are so many understaffed agencies, embassies, and programs that might end up withering on the vine or becoming irrelevant by the time they're filled. I have no idea who is running the show or whether these places are staffed, because something like 1/3 of the appointed roles are empty. I think part of this is intentional on McConnell's part in that many roles that have nominees aren't being put up for approval in the senate and an administration that gave a shit would be pushing on him.

The cynic in me says that maybe some of the backchannel trading and negotiation that happens abroad should have been more closely examined and the fact it just.. can't happen with no one there.. could somehow be a net positive. But I see no indication this is done with any sense of purpose or analysis, just negligence by design and pure negligence.

The Ukraine boondoggle is the one bit that's in the public eye and it's showing how weary the public is of the status quo. Ukraine should be able to buy weapons, because they're a democratic government and being armed would be insurance against an incursion because that's how things are done. But is that how things should be done? Do we know that even works, or that it works in a way we can morally justify? Is it our place to be the world's weapons wholesaler? Nearly everyone that seems to care is objecting because the protocol has been broken, not due to a strong belief in protecting the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Optimistically, we end up examine what we're actually doing as a country, why we do those things, and whether they're effective in pursuing an actual stated goal. And the Trump era gets its silver lining. But I don't see a path where that's happening.

xxp that would be Eric Garland, I’ll always treasure his follow-up rant about the people mocking him - “you malignant professionals!”

Garland is p much the goat resistance lib

eric garland was the "guys, it's time for some game theory" dude. the reactions to his thread were even more gloriously psychotic than the thread itself -- the editor in chief of fuckin' mother jones called it a federalist paper for our time or some nonsense like that.

sic in that link a muscle spasm is a sustained contraction - causing a lack of movement - rather than the sort of clonic jerk he gave in the video. I still think the armchair neurology is people trying to put a figleaf on their angry opinion, "it's not just that I think he's a fuckwit, I think there is genuinely something neurologically wrong with him so it's out of concern." Nobody with a full on dementia or neurological disorder could sustain the schedule that he follows, even if it's less than other presidents. His speech patterns etc are the product of fatigue because the asshole has never had to actually work before. The other "symptoms" are stupidity, DGAF and a stunning lack of empathy - I mean the psychological "diagnoses" are obvious but he doesn't have a degenerative brain disease unless diagnosed as such.

I don't know or care whether he's seriously ill or just a colossal asshole. That said, if I thought he were seriously ill, I might suggest that the right course of action is NOT to point it out or urge that he get evaluated. Let the tapeworm or whatever eat his brain. Fine with me; no loss.

I’m on board with that as long as they don’t let him make decisions

you know we have a world, right?

-Coldplay

lol

clara jeffr3y has a lot of... moments.. and the eric garland bit was definitely a tell

The other "symptoms" are stupidity, DGAF and a stunning lack of empathy - I mean the psychological "diagnoses" are obvious but he doesn't have a degenerative brain disease unless diagnosed as such.

Yeah, as I said I'm not cosigning - I stand by my observations of his physical and mental condition over the last few months of threads - just pointing out the actual argument made there, so folks can argue that rather than a strawman. Your list of symptoms are absolutely long-standing and certainly still a massive part of his behaviour, now more widely visible.

His speech patterns etc are the product of fatigue because the asshole has never had to actually work before.

Strongly disagree with this, though. His speech patterns have deteriorated significantly from 2016, and were significantly less focussed then than a decade earlier. (Also in 2016 it was easy to tell when he'd been racking up to focus - the crazy snorting in the debates - and whatever he's on now seems to still work for stamina, but not, or no longer, for concentration.) And it's not like he's doing any work now, he just has to leave the building his apartment is in, sometimes.

(For me, the way he's been almost completely kept from one-on-one conversations also speaks to Miller and his handlers being aware of decline - see also the terrified hostage eyes of the Fox & Friends hosts when he slips the net and spends an hour shouting down the phone at them.)

a dementia spasm

a well described medical phenomenon

qualmsley otm

Trump’s nuts rant about wind energy: “I never understood wind. You know, I know windmills very much... Gases are spewing into the atmosphere. You know we have a world, right? So the world is tiny compared to the universe. So tremendous, tremendous amount of fumes & everything.” pic.twitter.com/DvkJq9NbWg

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 23, 2019

MatthewK otm

I had a bad night but at least I’m not this guy pic.twitter.com/JktuBA830T

— Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) February 3, 2020

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EP0nQEKWoAAy3us.jpg

Juuuuuuust wait.

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwritersrelief.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2015%2F04%2FToto.gif&f=1&nofb=1

Isn't there another city in the wrong state, I'm sure there is but it's driving me nuts

West New York, New Jersey!

a bunch along the mississippi river

East St. Louis, Illinois and East Dubuque, Illinois come to mind

Missouri City, Texas

I’m still not sure what a Texarkana is

so sad how they learned US geography when he was absent from school due to bone spurs :(

Missouri City, Texas

― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Tuesday, 4 February 2020 21:49 (five minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Lol this is the one I was referring to I think

Nevada City, California

there are like a billion of these

I’m still not sure what a Texarkana is

Texarkana, TX, near the border of TEXas, ARKansas, and louisiANA

Washington, DC isn't in Washington state

Miami University of Ohio

New Mexico City, New Mexico

xxp Texarkana is a city in arkansas pretty sure

There’s one in both TX and AR. Despite the CCR song “I was down in Louisiana, just about a mile from Texarkana”, there isn’t one in Louisiana

I was annoyed as a kid when I learned about Indiana University of Pennsylvania

you can be a mile from a place in another state, justice 4 CCR

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Texarkana,+Arkansas+71854/Ida,+Louisiana+71044/

I mean, it's a bit more than a mile but it's not that far.

Also, Levon Helm did not in fact serve on the Danville train during the Civil War.

(Johnny Cash did, however, shoot a man in Reno. Just to watch him die. Motherfucker.)

CCR just quoting Leadbelly.

Paris, Texas

paris, arkansas
paris, missouri
paris, illinois
paris, iowa

paris is like the paris of the midwest

is this that Wakko song from Animaniacs

Virginia, Minnesota
Indiana, Pennsylvania
Florida, Massachusetts

These are a few of my favorite states

I feel like this should be turned into a poll

A man who is braver than me and braver than all of us in this room, he got whacked. He got whacked. My Steve, right? I went to the hospital with our great first lady that night and we saw a man that was not going to make it.

He was not going to make it. I said, she loves you. Why? Because she was devastated. A lot of wives wouldn’t give a damn. I would say, how is he doing? She couldn’t even talk, she was inconsolable. Most wives would say, not good, I’m going home now. The doctor came in and the wife was a total mess. She was really devastated. It really looked like he had a 20, 25 percent chance. I think you set a record for blood loss. And Steve Scalise, I actually — honestly, I think you’re better-looking there. You’re more handsome there. You weren’t that good-looking. You look good now. He looks better now, can you believe it? I don’t know what the hell that is. Better now.

What a guy. He was practicing for the baseball game against — I guess the Democrats, right? And this whack job started shooting, hurt Rogers. I don’t know if Rogers is here, but hurt a number of people. But really hurt Steve. He was the second baseman, and he went down and it was terrible. I saw the whole thing and it was terrible. Fortunately, you had two brave policemen with you because of your high position in Congress. You had two policemen and they were amazing. The man and the woman and they came — they didn’t have rifles. They were supposedly a pretty good sharpshooter with equipment, and all they had was a gun. They started coming in from the outfield, shooting. They were so far away that a handgun is not preferred.

This guy has the rifle and he’s hitting people. He was going to move up and there was no out. The entrance was a single entrance way on the other side from where he was. So everyone ran into the dugout. But Steve was hit really bad in the stomach with a bullet that rips you apart. It rips you apart. And these two people came charging forward, and one of them — you know who? Him? Got the shooter. Hit him. And then got him. Killed him. From a long distance. It was amazing. If you didn’t have those two people, you could imagine, right? You could imagine what would happen.

So Melania and I went to the hospital that night, and he was in such bad shape and he’s been working ever since so hard. Six months ago they had a baseball game at the Nationals’ Park. I was watching on television. It’s a game, you want to win it, right? And Steve is at second base. The poor guy can’t even walk.

Remember Bob Richardson of the New York Yankees? He was known for range. Bobby Richardson is the second player. This was not Steve Scalise. This was not Steve Scalise. This was not Steve Scalise. He had no range. I don’t know who put you on the field. This is a true story.

So the game starts, and the first pitch, Steve is standing at second base and the guy is really in bad shape, and I said, this is terrible. A shot, ground ball shot, is hit to 2nd. I didn’t have time to think too much, but I said, this is not good. That ball is going toward him. And this guy stopped that ball, caught the ball. He’s now laying down. He throws the ball to first base, he gets him out. I said it’s the most incredible thing. I’ve never seen anything like it. Right? [ Applause ]

And he gets him out and they then took him out of the game, which was a very wise thing because you could never do that again in a hundred years. But you weren’t going to let that ball go through. I don’t care if it was hit by the greatest of all time, that ball wasn’t going through because you’re a warrior. Steve, you are fantastic. You and Liz and Kevin, what a group. I got lucky. I got lucky, because you need the right people. If I had the wrong people there, it may be a different story.

Maybe we would be celebrating something else. But I really want to thank you. Steve Scalise. And, Elise [ Stefanik ], I just read this story. It’s most incredible what’s going on with you, Elise. I was up campaigning for helping her and I thought, she looks good, she looks like good talent. But I did not realize when she opens that mouth, you were killing them, Elise. You were killing them. There’s a big story in the new York post. I love the New York Post because they treat me well. There’s not too many that do, but today you’re treating me well.

Most wives would say, not good, I’m going home now (ftw)