Donald Trump: Classic or Dud?

we are in a completely unprecedented era wrt what is deemed "acceptable" for a politician

to be fair a lot of what's "acceptable" now applies to Trump and Trump only. I think the "nothing matters lol" mentality has caused Republicans to lose a lot of winnable races, even to the extent they lost a Senate seat in Alabama because they didn't want to cut ties with a dude who was probably a pedophile. they ran a lot of freaks and weirdos in the midterms and nearly all of them lost. Boebert was in a R+20 district and won by like 3 votes vs. a dude nobody had ever heard of. Trump's been a known quality as a celebrity and a scumbag for decades so I think he's kinda grandfathered into the anti-mattering shield. its kinda like how a bunch of rock musicians from the 60s almost certainly did a lot of dubious shit that would absolutely get you cancelled today (and you know because they wrote it into their own memoirs and went "ah yeah, those were the days") but nobody cares because "that's just how it was back then".

Y'all the impending indictment news didn't all come from Trump. The date did.

The "he may be indicted soon" came from the fact that Bragg actually offered Trump the opportunity to testify before the Grand Jury, which is a usual sign that charges are forthcoming. Usually such an offer isn't granted if charges aren't coming - it's a last ditch chance to give defendants to answer grand jury questions before and indictment. This isn't like a public trial where you're forced to read tea leaves.

Enhanced Security protocols at the courthouse began well in advance of Trump's "I'm being arrested Tuesday statement", which was another acknowledgement of there being a feeling that charges were coming.

Bragg might ultimately decide not to, who knows, but the media didn't just get fed this by Trump

The media didn't even really suggest he'd be arrested Tuesday, they reported that he made that claim on social media. Readers for some reason took it as gospel

its true actually its just next tuesday

see you then

many are saying

if you have to guess wildly, guess on a day of the week. 1 out of 7 chances at worst, and if you know it's gonna be a weekday it's 1 in 5

if you predict when you will be arrested they have to arrest you that day or its unconstitutional

indictment week is the new infrastructure week

if you predict the day you're indicted, you get your choice of whether to go first or last during questioning and you get to choose the music

Sadly he predicted incorrectly, so he doesn't get the free large fries that would have otherwise come with his indictment.

Trump just shared a fake AI-created image of himself praying on Truth Social https://t.co/14SqJ96qhJ pic.twitter.com/SNAB2qi2GO

— Matt Novak (@paleofuture) March 23, 2023

One Corinthian
Two Corinthians
Three times a Corinthian

People can be tried for several independent crimes

And if you're an unarmed poor person of color, you can be executed just for suspicion of a minor nonviolent crime or just during a routine traffic stop.

Just to put all this hilarity into sobering perspective. The justice system can move quickly when it wants to.

Oh my god. Running out of words to describe how crazed he is pic.twitter.com/s6YkhnNOBN

— Spiro’s Ghost (@SpiroAgnewGhost) March 23, 2023

dude is really, really fucking proud of those Georgia phone calls isn't he?

PERFECT phone calls

perfect phone calls is so absurd, and i can't believe it's far from the first phone call he's had that he described as perfect. the "beyond parody" stuff has been well discussed but when you take a step back and walk back in, hear "perfect phone calls" fresh, it's just astonishing

imagine your most perfect phone call

Even if we had no other supporting evidence, Trump's Truth Social cosplay is a decent signifier of deep mania

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/12/Nuke_%28Marvel_Comics_character%29.png

it's just a weird feedback loop with this guy, "perfect phone call" being one of those odd phrases that Trump sometimes says that people glomped on to, so naturally that makes Trump use it more, obviously not really understanding why people thought it was a weird phrase in the first place

everything about it. the pristine quality of the audio. the time of day it was made. the dulcet tones of his voice. the asking to disenfranchise 100,000+ voters. one day this call will be played as a benchmark for all calls to be measured by.

I thought the original 'perfect call' was the one to Zelensky, no?

it's hard to remember, so many of his calls are perfect. relaly it'd be easier just to ask which ones were only A minuses...and even those, I mean, those should be in the Smithsonian

Harassing and intimidating people at levels not seen before

Yes, as I recall, American history has heretofore been mercifully free of harassment and intimidation of innocent people

It's really amazing we made it so far

There's a more recent post (I think from today) along the same lines that specifically mentions indictment. Call me crazy, but I don't think he's playing 8-dimensional chess here, I think he's been told an indictment is forthcoming.

He's not playing chess at all, he's too busy eating checkers.

the President of Evidence actually ruled today that they can't indict Trump what a super victory for America!!!

There is a loophole in the Constitution that a former President can be arrested at the Superbowl if halftime show performers are white.

There was some reportage I saw this morning from his purported inner circle that claimed his lawyers informed him, yes, an indictment is all but certain, with that settling in as they recommended, and he seemed to agree, to focusing on a future appeal. but there are many stories about this mad monkey seemingly accepting an outcome only to turn around and freak out in public about it.

Bombthrower, what a sick burn. If Trump had started his own fast food chain this would be one of the characters.

Mayor McCheesy

Bombthrower sounds like the nickname a fast food place would give a frequent customer who would come in and just utterly destroy a toilet.

really more like *dropping* a bomb tho

if you're throwing it, kinda insinuates you didn't make it to said toilet

There is nothing wrong with the Bombthrower nickname, it is a PERFECT beautiful nickname.

Maybe that's what Trump was talking about when he complained about having to flush 10-15 times.

Even if we had no other supporting evidence, Trump's Truth Social cosplay is a decent signifier of deep mania

I know the true deplorables are beyond help but I would love to know what %age of his hardcore following aren't feeling at least a little uneasy about how unhinged and bonkers he is. Like, at least a few of the Nazis in the classic Downfall clip were shooting each other nervous glances.

0.0%

Someone just posted that his support among self-described conservatives has gone up since December.

and DeSantis keeps dropping. He's going to be the nominee unless he's in jail.

I honestly can't even imagine another Trump campaign, let alone term.

at least a few of the Nazis in the classic Downfall clip were shooting each other nervous glances

The longer this Trump era limps on, the more I think that kind of portrayal of Hitler's followers is revisionist history.

It's interesting, I'm reading a memoir right now from Hans Massaquoi, who had a German mother and an African father, and grew up black in Nazi Germany (and then went on to do a bunch of other impressive things). The general vibe he recalls is a mix of true believers and people absolutely disgusted with the Nazis, many of whom just held their nose and hoped it would all be over soon. From his perspective, though, as a young guy, he didn't really have any idea what was specifically going on, just bits and pieces and clues here and there, though he did understand why so many Nazis treated him like shit (even if his friends who joined the party didn't). Anyway, it's a good book and a novel perspective and kinda inspiring and ultimately worth more of your energy than the contemporary subject of our ire and distaste.

I honestly can't even imagine another Trump campaign, let alone term.

― Josh in Chicago

You're living it.

I think there's almost certainly a faction of Trump Nation who deep down are ready to get past the clown show aspect of the moment and start literally incarcerating everyone on the other side, yes.

Distinguishing Trump followers from other conservatives in 2023 is wasted time. They're the same thing.

Yeah, fuck 'em all.

You can go look at
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskTrumpSupporters

for insight.

Plenty of them are tired/bored/embarrassed with Donaldian shenanigans, but still prefer him to any other alternative.

I have seen plenty of sentiments like "yeah sure I wish he would sometimes just shut up" or impatience with his hyperpersonal mudslinging ways, but none of these sentiments are turning Trump supporters into potential Democratic voters.

Some of it is familiar partisanship: Biden's old, but I'm going to vote for him in 2024. Some of it is a lingering respect for the anti-democratic drool that Trump has legitimated and DeSantis purified.

at least a few of the Nazis in the classic Downfall clip were shooting each other nervous glances

Preparing to leak about how concerned they were to Maggie Habermarck