I am not Jon Snow, in the comments to the Trump rally protest live feed, indicated that Mr. Trump staged the whole thing. While that can’t be confirmed at this time, The Hill did report at 10:13 PM EST that the Chicago Police Department did not advise Mr. Trump or anyone from his campaign to cancel the event. They informed the AP that they had enough personnel to cover the event and that the Trump campaign unilaterally decided to cancel/postpone the rally. We’ll have to see how the coverage on the cancellation, the protests, and counter-protests breaks as more information is reported out. The Washington Post, Reuters, and even Townhall have all picked up the Chicago PD’s statement and that the police had not issued any warnings about threats or safety issues – to Mr. Trump or to the public – before they were notified by the campaign at 6:30 PM that the event was cancelled.
Reader Interactions
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SFAW
Hmm, Il Douche’s campaign might be lying about something? Who’d’a thunk?
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I hope to be proven incorrect, but I continue to believe that someone will be injured less than lethally, or worse, at a Trump rally. He’s encouraged it from the fucking podium, and he encourages the anger of the fearful (white people) who look to him to return the US to times where dark people were not de facto full citizens.
BruceFromOhio
Does anyone get that he is playing every. single. person. This is his
chessboardcheckerboard. Figure it out already.SFAW
In Norts Spews: the Sanchize is apparently now a Bronco. Elway said it’s the first step. I’m hoping that Geno Smith and Ryan Fitzpatrick are steps 2 and 3.
Adam L Silverman
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): I’m amazed it hasn’t happened yet. Of course I’m amazed, and pleasantly so, every day that someone hasn’t actual shot at the President or First Lady.
Redshift
Rachel Maddow also put forth a similar theory that this was all intentional on the part of Trump, and was starting to lay out the evidence, but I had to leave to run an errand, so I missed it.
Adam L Silverman
@efgoldman: I had to get up to take care of something else, so figured I’d check and make sure things were still running more or less smoothly. Saw that no one had cued up a late night open thread and figured I’d put one up. I’m going to be racking out shortly.
Adam L Silverman
@Redshift: If it ultimately reports out that that is the case, then it’ll become a real problem for the campaign. Its one thing to have your own security guys tell you they don’t think its safe and for you to go on TV and say security told you – intimating its real law enforcement – that you needed to postpone or that law enforcement actually did. Which is what he did and he did the latter of the two. He’ll walk that back with: “When my security chief told me it wasn’t safe, I was under the impression he got that from Chicago PD”. He’ll just blame someone else. But if the reporting turns to that the Trump Campaign planned this, then there will be a problem.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
I doubt that Trump’s campaign thought far enough ahead to stage a protest. But his whole campaign has fed on free media. What better way to get even more free media than to claim that his opponents were threatening violence or were somehow “really bad”? Imagine how well he would have done in the primaries if he had gotten as much free media as, say, Jim Gilmore.
:-/
I just finished Goldberg’s long piece on the Obama Doctrine at The Atlantic. The contrast between Donald and Barack is so stark…
You’ve remarked that Trump doesn’t look healthy. I’ve remarked previously on how he has a huge belly that is pretty well camouflaged by his multi-thousand dollar suits. Some site on the web claims he weighs 200 pounds. That seems very low to me. He could probably stand to lose about 50 pounds.
Combining these things, imagine how his supporters would react if Trump suddenly had a serious health event. The conspiracy-theorists on his side would flip into overdrive with unknown consequences for the rest of us. I hope that nothing of the sort happens before he’s defeated…
I’m happy that so many Chicago people stood up to Trump’s provocations. Especially since there seems to have been little violence to go with it.
Cheers,
Scott.
sigaba
@Adam L Silverman: Didn’t someone take a few shots at the White House? It was really early on though, like 2010…
Adam L Silverman
@sigaba: Its happened several times. Either the President and his family haven’t been in residence or the shots didn’t get through the bullet resistant glass. But I’m talking about a real shot at the President when he’s out campaigning or doing a site visit or something.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Adam L Silverman: I hope that you are correct, but none of the other demonstrably false lies he’s spewed have turned into an actual problem for his campaign. I agree that it should be, of course.
ETA: I misread. I hope someone can determine it was staged “appearance,” but I’m not confident that the media will work that hard.
Mnemosyne
Well, this is humiliating — for the first time in 30 years, I managed to run out of gas on the freeway. Fortunately, I have a cell phone and a AAA card, so it’s just a matter of waiting for the guy to get here with my 1 gallon of gas. Still, not the way I wanted to spend my Friday night.
Adam L Silverman
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Like I wrote up above, it is going to depend on how it is reported out. That Townhall was picking up and reporting the Chicago PD’s statements is an interesting sign, but we’ll have to see what happens.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
Where was Trump while all of this was going on? I know he wasn’t at the rally, but was he in a hotel half a block away preparing for his appearance there, or was he far enough away that there was no way he was planning to show up in the first place?
mclaren
@Adam L Silverman:
The Trump campaign has so many problems that the election this November is going to be a landslide win for the Democrats if Trump is the nominee.
I keep telling you people, and you don’t believe it. Well, believe it. Trump has no policies — he makes stuff up on the fly. That works in his rallies. It’s never going to work in a debate or in the general election.
Trump is a bully with a glass jaw. He can’t take criticism, so a few acid remarks by Hillary or Bernie will be enough to tie the guy into a pretzel knot, spending all his time explaining away and refuting everything they’re saying.
Trump’s hard-core supporters are thuggish and it’s only a matter of time before they cause serious problems for him and his campaign.
Trump’s negatives poll sky-high, and are only getting worse.
Trump himself is a billionaire, and history shows that in post-war America, extremely rich people don’t do well in presidential campaigns. These guys surround themselves with so many yes-men and fawning stooges that they don’t have anyone around them to let them know when they’re really jumped the shark. Look at Ross Perot. He flipped out, lost his audience, and his poll numbers cratered. Same with Mitt Romney in 2012, same with George Romney in 1968. Same with every rich guy who runs for president post-1945. These people exist in a bubble of non-stop flattery, and they can’t take the rough-and-tumble of the real world.
Trump is despised by much of the Republican party, and in particular the Republican elites hate him with such burning fury that they’re starting to write editorials explaining why they’re going to vote Democratic for the first time in their lives if Trump is the nominee.
Lastly, Trump polls worse on his best issues than Hillary does, and much worse on the issues American cite as “most important” than Bernie does. Either way, Trump is toast.
danielx
WTF? When did He, Trump ever take notice of demonstrators except as props for his reality show?
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne: Glad you’re safe.
nutella
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
There aren’t any luxury hotels near UIC. The nearest hotel is a Marriott usually patronized by families of patients at the various hospitals west of UIC. I don’t think Trump is a Marriott kind of guy.
All the luxury hotels are about 4 miles away.
The story I read says he never got even close to the UIC venue before quitting.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne: I guess it’s being a native, never happened to me.
ETA: On the other hand, for your amusement while you’re waiting, I just spilled the soup I was going to have for dinner while removing it from the oven.
danielx
Totally OT but….
Keith Emerson, keyboardist of rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, dies at 71
RIP
Mike J
@Adam L Silverman:
“Rahm had his cops shut us down to help Hilary.” Presto. Problem for the campaign is over.. Nobody gives a shit about truth.
O. Felix Culpa
@nutella: Maybe Trump was lured off-course by a pastrami sandwich at Manny’s.
Adam L Silverman
@mclaren: All one has to do is listen to him answer any question to know he hasn’t any policy positions, other than, perhaps, a policy to renegotiate everything including those things that were never negotiated to begin with.
NotMax
@Mnemosyne
Dunno (and not asking) what kind of car it is, but these days it is a good rule of thumb to avoid driving with less than a quarter tank.
Why? Because so many models now put the fuel pump inside the gas tank, utilizing the immersion as a means of cooling. Running often while low on fuel can and does lead to fuel pump seizure.
Adam L Silverman
@O. Felix Culpa: ooo, corn beef and pastrami from Manny’s!
mclaren
@Adam L Silverman:
My impression is that after their debacles in the 1960s, the Secret Service got its act together and now so tightly controls crowd events where the president is present that there’s no realistic danger. Which to my mind is very good news.
The Secret Service reportedly goes to such extremes that they do things like replace manhole cover bolts with titanium locking bolts along the president’s route when he drives to an event, snipers get stationed on the rooftops aimed at the crowds when the president does a meet & greet, and so on. Regrettable, but probably necessary today. And given the level of security, it seems extraordinarily unlikely that any POTUS will again get gunned down the way JFK was.
Oddball fact: the Secret Service actually did an excellent job of preventing Reagan from getting shot. They tackled the shooter before he could aim at the president. Alas, his bullet bounced off the bulletproof window of the presidential limousine, and apparently it was the ricochet that wounded Reagan.
GregB
If Trump can’t handle a few hippie protesters how can he handle, ISIS, Kim Jong Un, Putin, Ayatollah Khameini, Boko Haram, Al Shabab, Hamas, The Muslim Brotherhood, the South American drug cartels, Robert Mugabe, Ebola, Zika, The Crips and Bloods, MS13, KAOS, Spectre, aliens, the zombie apocalypse……
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Mnemosyne: It happens, and it always happens on a Friday! Be careful. Good luck.
Cheers,
Scott.
Aleta
I don’t completely understand. I don’t get cable, and did’t see this as it happened, but I just watched video of Maddow’s idea that Trump planned for this. The basis for the idea seems to be 1-because his team never even arrived, and 2-because the Chicago police said that actually, they were ready to handle the rally.
So are people saying that Trump announced the rally in a place where he knew a lot of protesters would show up, and that he was planning from the start to cancel, just in order to blame them? Or that he received information that protesters and anarchists were organizing to come, so he abandoned the event, but without calling it off ahead of time, so that his supporters and protestors would show up and fight? Or is this a claim that he somehow arranged for violent protesters to come, in order to fight with his supporters ? Why is it being reported that Trump supporters seemed in the minority (supposedly 40%)? Is Maddow speculating that Trump (like dictators in other countries, and, historically, fascists) intentionally caused or hired violent people to show up who were not actually supporters or normal protesters?
I’m feeling not intelligent enough for this election any more.
BBA
Can we trust anything the Chicago PD says?
Well, now that I think of it, the CPD probably wanted the rally to go on. It’d let them bust heads like in the department’s glory days of 1968.
Adam L Silverman
@mclaren: It also helped that it was only a 22 LR bullet. While they can pack a lot of energy, they don’t pack a lot of force and they don’t leave large wound channels. They can be really dangerous, as was unfortunately seen with James Brady, if they penetrate the skull. The speed with which they move combined with the small size of the bullet means they can bounce around within the skull, by bouncing off the skull.
That said I still would not want to be shot by one.
Gin & Tonic
@O. Felix Culpa: Look, I hate Trump as much as the next guy, but he’s a New Yorker, and no New Yorker will order a pastrami sandwich anywhere outside of NYC.
O. Felix Culpa
@Adam L Silverman: Yes. Da best.
TOP123
@Adam L Silverman: forgive me if this has already been mentioned; I’ve been away from the internet most of the day, taking advantage of a lovely day of mixed rain and cloud and sunshine here in Austin, TX, to walk around the lake (well, the dammed-at-either-end bit of the river) along the trails and drink craft beer &c., and generally avoid the SXSW scene where possible, but part of the reason I haven’t been online most of the day is, the walk was unusually prolonged due to some pretty extensive road closures related to the Presidential motorcade, pedestrians included, beating what I was used to living in DC and NYC. The pattern fit with something that had surprised my friend and me a little earlier in the day; constant overhead APD chopper, boats out on the water, etc. I don’t know that it was connected, but I recently came home (after watching the motorcade pass the local bar where I was caught in the roadblock to the cheers of all of us there, patrons and staff) to find out that a group of open-carry nutbars planned a gun-toting demonstration (which we somehow missed), SXSW and more importantly POTUS be damned. Apparently Secret Service etc. were not amused.
HRA
@BruceFromOhio:
I agree.
NotMax
@danielx
Linked to one EL&P video in the afternoon thread.
Avoiding repetition, here’s another.
satby
@Aleta: Trump supporters seldom like to journey into the imagined hellhole they think the near south side of Chicago is. And that university campus would have packed the hall with protesters anyway. He picked a likely hostile place and it wouldn’t surprise me to find out he never planned to be there. Or he thought his adoring fascist wanna-bes would still outnumber protesters, and he didn’t have the nerve to face a hostile crowd.
Adam L Silverman
@TOP123: I was aware of it. Apparently the guy from Open Carry Texas decided to organize it and several others indicated they would turn out open carrying for the President’s speech. Almost all of this was done on Facebook and Twitter, so it was easy for the Secret Service, Texas Department of Public Safety, and Austin PD to track.
From reading some of those posts, and firearms blog posts about this and the comment threads, they basically broke down into two overlapping reasons:
1) Demonstrate to the tyrant Obama what free men and women do
2) Demonstrate to everyone that open carriers are normal, reasonable, non violent people who can be trusted to responsibly carry anywhere. Thereby normalizing the idea of open carry.
It is what it is.
O. Felix Culpa
@Gin & Tonic: Matzoh ball soup, then? Manny’s has really yoooge matzoh ball soup. Might appeal to his Trumpness.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@TOP123: I saw the announcement of an open (long gun) carry demonstration, just to show POTUS how manly they (think they are). I was off the internet today also, too, so I had no clue if it happened. Saw some great hoops though, including the most spectacular 3 point toss I’ve ever seen. In the 3rd of 4 OTs.
Adam L Silverman
@satby: For them it is a monstrous and terrible land of violence and thugs. They call it Chiraq. My guess is that if this had been held anywhere else – as in not Chicago and not so close to the South Side – some of the angriest of those who turned out to support would have followed some of the counter-protestors home.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Based of his choice of where to take Palin for pizza in NYC, don’t believe he’s particular fussy about finding decent vittles.
Chris
@Adam L Silverman:
Jacques Chirac? :D
O. Felix Culpa
@Adam L Silverman: Hah. Yet another case of those manly men being…not so very.
Luthe
The idea that Trump never intended to show tracks well with the early reports that the security guards bugged out before things even started to get heated. Is there any chance we can get the Secret Service to comment on whether they were told to go to the venue or not?
TOP123
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): UCONN? That was amazing! Caught those highlights while in Deep Eddy Cabaret with no vehicular or pedestrian traffic allowed to move in the area, and forced to order another round and wait to see the President (and his rather extensive) motorcade drive by.
Gin & Tonic
@NotMax: Don’t recall this tale. I suppose you’ll tell me it wasn’t Di Fara’s or Grimaldi’s.
BruceFromOhio
@Adam L Silverman:
They need to rethink that strategy, or get a better marketing agency, becuz ur doin it rong.
Tokyokie
I’m only surprised that He, Trump didn’t arrange to burn down the Capitol and then offer to replace it with a tacky high-rise with a casino on the ground floor. But maybe he’s waiting for his coronation to do that.
Adam L Silverman
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): There was spirited discussion as to whether they should open carry long guns or side arms. Which would be more or less provocative.
statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/open-carry-advocates-to-demonstrate-for-gun-rig…
Here’s a really good long form piece on CJ Grisham:
esquire.com/news-politics/a38867/open-carry-texas/
This whole thing he started began when a local cop gave him a hard time over open carrying his AR 15 when out with his son who was working on his merit badge. Grisham felt oppressed and decided to do something about it.
And here’s a Q&A with him:
dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20140704-point-person-our-qa-with-cj-grisham-founder-of-ope…
Mnemosyne
@O. Felix Culpa:
@BillinGlendaleCA:
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
All is well — it was just annoying and embarrassing. It was probably karma biting me in the ass for something I said earlier today.
For the locals, the tow truck driver warned me that Pasadena PD now issues tickets if you run out of gas on the freeway because they were having so many problems with it. Yes, that’s right, I ran out of gas in the middle of a perfectly safe city, probably with 5 gas stations within a half-mile radius. Because I am an idiot.
Aleta
@satby:OK that makes sense. (In the Twumplight Zone at least.)
eta But a heartless way to treat his supporters who showed.
O. Felix Culpa
@Mnemosyne: Be kind to yourself. Mistakes happen. Just don’t do it again. :)
Adam L Silverman
@O. Felix Culpa: I would attend Midwest Political Science Association, when I was still going to those things, whenever possible because its held in Chicago and at the Palmer House (American Society of Criminology is only there every seven years or so). The overflow hotel was the other Hilton in the area several blocks south on the edge of the Loop. I’ve walked all over Chicago – through the Loop, down to the South Side, up and down the mile, up where Gino’s East and Ed Debevic’s and the Chop House are and done so in the evening and late at night to come back to the Palmer House and have never felt worried or threatened. Just paid attention to my surroundings and enjoyed the walks and the sights.
Bess
@mclaren:
1975
“Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme’s attempted assassination of Ford. She was about 40 feet away from President Ford when she fired a single shot at him with a .38 caliber revolver.” Wiki
Nate Dawg
@Luthe: What is the point of figuring this out?
Trump can just squirm and say “my advisors” blah blah blah.
Better to hammer home that HE HAS BEEN ENCOURAGING VIOLENCE. That is *on camera*, and he can’t squirm out of it, and it’s truly disturbing.
I just wanna say that I’m starting to feel like the Bernie supporters have a point–with GOP in full-on meltdown mode, we can and should do better than an elitist, free-trade supporting, hawkish career politician.
NotMax
@Gin & Tonic
Here ya go.
Redshift
@Adam L Silverman: Heh. Reminds me of one of the big conservative rallies in DC a few years ago, where someone got hold of a map that was distributed to participants showing which areas of the city to avoid to stay safe. Surprise, surprise, the “safe” areas were the ones most likely to be filled with white people. Which meant their recommendation was essentially “go to the Mall, and then get out.”
Adam L Silverman
@Gin & Tonic: It was neither and he ate his pizza with a fork and knife.
Adam L Silverman
@BruceFromOhio: Read this:
dallasnews.com/opinion/sunday-commentary/20140704-point-person-our-qa-with-cj-grisham-founder-of-ope…
I am merely the messenger here.
mclaren
@Adam L Silverman:
Well, obviously you weren’t in Chicago when the Joker was killing all those people and knocking helicopters out of the sky and blowing up the police headquarters.
Adam L Silverman
@Aleta: He routinely shows up late. He’s got his own plane, so its not like he missed the flight. He treats his supporters like props.
Adam L Silverman
@Redshift: Same thing, I’ve walked all over DC at night when on TDY there. Now its true I generally avoid a few places, but if the District was as bad as everyone is led to believe it would be Somalia.
Adam L Silverman
@mclaren: That was Gotham City. And, unfortunately, I had business on OA or was that Skartaris. I’ll have to go check the calendar.
TOP123
@efgoldman: I was surprised by the size of the motorcade, which was heading on closed roads to the airport, and thought I was used to seeing them from living in DC and NY. In DC the fun game (and this was admittedly almost ten years ago) was trying to guess the VIP (Prez? Or just Rumsfeld?) by the number of black SUVs. In this case, there were, in addition to a swarm of motorcycles, including maybe three ‘here he comes’ false alarms before the real thing, at least three limos with flags, a half dozen black SUVs, a half dozen APD SUVs, a dozen APD cruisers, some Round Rock PD, two or three ambulances, one or two fire trucks, an EMT truck bigger than a hook and ladder fire truck… A guy in the crowd outside the bar joked that “they’ve got their own food truck!”
As said, I’ve not lived in DC in about ten years; is normal security this nuts?
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Also Rann?
/bad pun
WarMunchkin
Anyone look at this Cuomo stuff?
To be clear, New York, currently, has a surplus. Cuomo needs to be shut down, ASAP.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: 4.bp.blogspot.com/-2reQEpvvvqQ/UVyr05oBqSI/AAAAAAAAExM/V57K1kLVwI8/s1600/Adam_Strange.jpg
Redshift
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
Ms. Redshirt was remarking just yesterday that Trump looks like he’s gained weight. It’s hard to eat healthy on the campaign trail (learned that from Howard Dean), and Trump doesn’t seem like the type to exercise much self control.
Steve from Antioch
Yes, this whole story is bullshit. The protestors didn’t shut anything down. I watched hours of coverage tonight and even Fox (which no doubt cherry picked the worst images possible to support their “anarchists and black lives people are silencing Trumps right to free speech” narrative kept showing the same 3 or 4 minor scuffles repeatedly all night. Looked like one or two punches landed and there were thousands of people just milling around, trying to film it on their cell phones.
These were not “violent protests.” They were tame, even by America’s sedate standards.
TOP123
@Adam L Silverman: a scandal which alone should ruin his action man telling it like it is shtick.
Redshift
@WarMunchkin: Krugman was on this as well today. It sucks a lot.
Steve from Antioch
Yes, this whole story is bullshit. The protestors didn’t shut anything down. I watched hours of coverage tonight and even Fox (which no doubt cherry picked the worst images possible to support their “anarchists and black lives people are silencing Trumps right to free speech” narrative kept showing the same 3 or 4 minor scuffles repeatedly all night. Looked like one or two punches landed and there were thousands of people just milling around, trying to film it on their cell phones.
These were not “violent protests.” They were tame, even by America’s sedate standards.
O. Felix Culpa
@Adam L Silverman: “He treats his supporters like props.”
Narcissistic behavior in a nutshell.
Adam L Silverman
@Redshift: He’s not on the trail. He flies in his own jet to each event. Then he flies that jet home for the night to one of his properties. He’s got a chef on the jet and he’s got a chef at his property. But he’s definitely not in good shape. Even for someone his age.
BruceFromOhio
@Adam L Silverman: Ah yes, the calm measured words of The True Believer, preaching The Word As He Believes It. That he lacks the capability to understand, much less even acknowledge, that his voluntary enslavement to his firearm makes him the worst kind of threat to unarmed citizens is demonstrated proof that irony is healthy and alive in Nacogdoches.
NotMax
@Adam L. Silverman
Tying it in with Mnemosyne’s running out of fuel as mentioned above, this.
WarMunchkin
@Redshift: This is one fucking guy. A Democratic governor destroying one of the greatest educational institutions in the country, for what? There is no rationale here. And this imbecile somehow gets to be the leader of the second largest blue state in the nation. I don’t think NY will survive a Trump/Cruz + Cuomo combo.
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: I changed the pic I linked to, but that would be bad.
Steve from Antioch
My favorite quote was Trump’s comment to Megan Kelly about the first amendment – words to the effect that “It is about my right to speak and the people’s right to listen.”
Steve from Antioch
@Mnemosyne:
Don’t sell yourself short.
Peale
@Steve from Antioch: yep. There were no injuries? At a violent protest? Since when do we suck at carrying out violence?
BillinGlendaleCA
@Bess: I think you’re conflating the 2 assassination attempts against President Ford in 1975, both in CA. Squeeky Fromme got pretty close to the President in the State Capitol Park in Sacramento and attempted to fire her weapon but it jammed. Sarah Jane Moore was a bit further from President Ford in San Francisco and did get one shot off and missed.
Adam L Silverman
I’m racking out, you all have a wonderful night and a wonderful weekend!
Raven Onthill
New York Times headline: Donald Trump’s Rally in Chicago Canceled After Violent Scuffles.
The only violence described in the article: “At least one man was hit on the head with a police baton, witnesses said, and blood could be seen coming from a gash on his face. A woman, also bloodied, was led away by police.”
Thanks, NYT.
Aleta
@TOP123:
This may be redundant now, but
Nerve wracking to have Trump’s violent influence rising, the militia stirred up, and the Obamas traveling to announced locations.
Aleta
@NotMax: impressive, thanks for making me laugh
joel hanes
@NotMax:
ELP
Clyde Clifford, on 100,000-Watt clear channel AM KAAY out of Little Rock.
His late-night program was called “Beeker Street”, and he played Tull and Yes and ELP for much of the central and lower midwest. His signature tune, though, was Jaime Brockett’s talking blues “The Legend Of The USS Titanic”.
cbear
@Adam L Silverman:
In all fairness, it does require more than a few years specialized training to properly prepare and cook young immigrant children–or as Mr. J. Swift once observed:
“I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled …”
Lefthanded Compliment
@Nate Dawg: Yeah, but an outsider, protectionist, dovish career politician who self-identifies as a socialist would make a fat target for Republican smears, and just might lose to Trump.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Lefthanded Compliment: If Bernie wins the nomination, I have flashbacks of Walter Mondale; if he somehow wins, I have flashbacks of Jimmy Carter.
TOP123
@Aleta: mercifully, I didn’t see these chuckleheads. Was mostly on the trail by the lake, but made a couple of of downtown beer stops, and am pleased to report that before one I saw someone canvassing for Planned Parenthood, and during another, was passed by a small immigrant and refugee rights march. No open carry yahoos.
seaboogie
@Adam L Silverman:
Right there with you on that, since the first inaugural parade. And on a happily surprised note, I received an email from the White House, from Obama himself (heh) thanking me for sharing my story.
Granted, that was a few months ago and it is a form letter, but it is wisely written in an economical format. Here is how it reads:
Dear Beth (that’s my real name):
Thank you for sharing your story. Each night, I read letters and emails from people like you, and hearing about such a broad range of experiences gives me insight into what’s happening outside of Washington. These messages remind me of why I ran for this Office, and they keep me going as I work to make America’s promise real for all our people.
Again, I appreciate your reaching out, and I wish you the very best.
Sincerely,
Barack Obama
And Imma just say, Office is capitalized, so there is a respect for the instituion implied in that. And Barack Hussein Obama is my new (not) pen pal. Interesting way to end my day.
akryan
I really doubt that Trump had some sort of master plan here. I think that he heard from his people that there were a lot more protesters than usual and he figured that his entire rally would just be a big spectacle confirming the narrative that his supporters are out of control, which it would have. I have no doubt that the lie about talking to the Chicago PD just rolled off his tongue because lies just roll off his tongue so naturally. I don’t even think he plans them. I really have a hard time believing that he intended for this to happen though. There isn’t anything about it that makes him look good.
lol chikinburd
@seaboogie: “Beth” is Barack Obama’s real name?
(forgive me; judgment may still be clouded by general anesthesia from this morning and subsequent experiment to see if “opioid-induced constipation” is real. I’ve heard about this wonder drug for it called “fiber” and I’m checking it out)
SciNY
While I’m distressed by the scenes inside Trump’s aborted rally (mainly the fact that his fascist supporters are ready to sucker punch protesters or do even worse things), I do wonder if the tonight’s protest in Chicago changes how people see Trump. Does this convince Mr. and Ms. Middle America that, all kidding and showmanship aside, this isn’t what they want to see from a President? That Trump’s rhetoric is simply too extreme and menacing to accept as serious? We aren’t there yet (thank FSM), but scenes of intense conflict and people bloodied as a result were key to changing hearts and minds during the civil rights era. Hard to watch, but even harder to accept as consistent with our values.
PurpleGirl
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
@Mnemosyne:
My friend Nick bought an early mobile phone after he ran out of gas on the way to work. He is disabled and it is difficult for him to walk almost any distance. It was a good thing that he worked for IBM and in Westchester County they have many sites, so he only ended up having to walk about a mile to one of them. That afternoon he bought the phones for himself and his wife.
Glad you have the phone and were able to contact help.
? Martin
@akryan:
They either expected this to happen or they’re utterly incompetent. They picked a location that was primed for this, they did nothing to manage the protesters. NBC estimated that 60% of the room were protesters. Campaigns are planned – the goal to put your supporters in the room. You pick the location for that goal, and you manage the event to your outcome. They did neither. That simply doesn’t happen in a presidential campaign.
And it does exactly what he wants – it drives turnout and keeps him the front story. He gets to be the victim of Chicago thugs, which sounds ridiculous to anyone outside the conservative victim bubble because it’s so comical, but it’ll play big within the wingnuttisphere.
NotMax
@lol chikinburd
It was the Beth of times, it was the worth of times.
:)
Tip: Black licorice (the real kind) is not only yummy, it’s also a gentle laxative.
seaboogie
@lol chikinburd: Heh…no – that’s my real name. Prolly a punctuation issue that I didn’t fully address. FYWP can be a bit cumbersome in the posting coding, and I don’t have the skillz to dial down too deep into what I would normally be able to just type in other formats.
I have just come up with what I think is a good nym for the racist orange click-bait cheeto, though: PrimaDonald. I kind of like it.
How are you faring these days?
PurpleGirl
@NotMax: Didn’t they go some place in Times Square? I don’t remember it as being very upscale or note-worthy.
seaboogie
@NotMax:
Beth here….and I grew up loving black licorice, and once ate a pound of it in one day. I do remember what my Grandma’s bathroom looked like, in that very long episode.
? Martin
And AlphaGo is about to go 3-0. I know most people don’t get the significance of this, but this is the last game that computers couldn’t beat humans at, and this wasn’t expected for another 5-10 years.
goblue72
@Lefthanded Compliment: Only if you are a wimp afraid of Republican boogeymen and always prepared to adopt the knee jerk defensive posture of a Democrat circa 1994. But its not 1994 anymore. Not that the Party or many in the base realizes it.
? Martin
@seaboogie: Our corgi once ate 5 large bottles of vitamin E. About 500 tablets. That was a mess for about 4 days.
Jewish Steel
It’s as if there was a irritating buzzing noise that seemingly only you could hear. It’s perfectly loud but maybe it’s a frequency to which no one else is sensitive. And you have been hearing it since January 20, 2001 (or maybe January 20 1981, or 1969). And then suddenly everyone is like, “Hey? Do you hear that? It’s an irritating buzzing noise!”
That’s why I’m tired of hearing about Trump.
goblue72
@WarMunchkin: Not to put too fine a point on what a gaping, bleeding rectum that Cuomo is, but this also from that article:
I met Cuomo once many, many years ago when he was HUD Secretary. He was a complete douchnozzle tool at the time. He hasn’t changed one bit it seems.
Mike J
seaboogie
@? Martin: OMG…that just reminded me of a childhood memory: My mom was at her PT evening job at the pharmacy selling cosmetics when my Dad discovered that I had climbed up on the counter to get to the cupboard and had eaten half a bottle of Upjohn chewables vitamins. He was worried about how that would affect me, and kind of force-fed me spaghetti – which I ate while sobbing, worried that I would die from my vitamin foray.
Technocrat
@? Martin:
I didn’t expect a shutout. Even Deep Blue vs Kasparov wasn’t a shutout.
seaboogie
Mods? Is Upjohn a thing too? Its not like I said cialis casino penis.
Jewish Steel
@Jewish Steel: This micro-rant isn’t directed at anyone here. I’m venting at my dear irl facebook friends who have 1) Just figured out what socialism is and 2) discovered that the Republican party might, just might, be harboring some heretofore unknown racists. It’s wearying. But I must forebear to shout at them, good souls that they are.
dr. luba
@TOP123: A democratic president in a motorcade in Texas? What could possibly go wrong?
Felixmoronia
@joel hanes: Oh man, you’re old.
goblue72
@WarMunchkin: And dollars to donuts, there was some angle in all this for Cuomo to use it both screw Blasio and cut taxes. That’s Cuomo’s M.O. – he’s a Republican who couldn’t get elected as Republican. That he entertains some fantasy that he could run for President someday as a Democrat shows just how out of touch he is.
seaboogie
@? Martin: I wrote a personal anecdote reply that you’d probably enjoy, but am in moderation. Check back when you can.
? Martin
@Technocrat: Yep, officially 3-0.
NotMax
@seaboogie
Site you might like, then.
Ruckus
@Jewish Steel:
You mock, which is OK but since 2003 I’ve had a study buzz in one ear, that of course no one else can hear. 24 hrs a day, constant tone, constant volume. Makes it easy to go to sleep……..
Anne Laurie
@seaboogie: True story: When I was three, I climbed up on the bathroom sink, got into the medicine cabinet, and ate most of a bottle of St. Joseph’s orange-flavored childrens’ aspirin. Because my 18-months-younger little brother pestered me, I eventually gave him the bottle and the last few pills. That’s when my mother (heavily pregnant with child #3, this was the late 1950s and yes my parents were Catholic) discovered us — so, of course, I promptly blamed Little Brother for the whole thing. He didn’t have the vocabulary, or the presence of mind, to do more than sob as mommy shrieked & panicked. Don’t know whether he actually had his stomach pumped, but I remember the paramedics rushing our fourth-floor walk-up and whisking him off in an ambulance, lights & sirens blaring…
Some dozen or so years later, my mother was discussing stupid stuff we’d done when we were little, and she mentioned the Great Baby Aspirin Overdose. No-Longer-So-Little Brother got the strangest expression on his face and yelled IT WAS HER! SHE DID IT! SHE WAS THE ONE!!!!…
Up till then, I didn’t think he had any memory of that evening. I’m not sure he did, either, until the rest of us started talking about it!
(P.S. regarding moderation: ‘Pharmacy’ is one of those words the spam-catcher hateshateshates.)
Keith G
@SciNY:
Interestingly, this was part of the reason why the compromise of the Electoral College was put into the Constitution. After all, the founders were elitists and more than a little concerned about the passions of the common citizen. It certainly would be interesting to see if that body of electors would perform as designed in the what most would see as the unlikely event of a Donald Trump win in the popular vote.
Shalimar
@Aleta: Maddow had a reporter with one of the Chicago papers on her show, and the reporter said she was surprised when this rally was even announced because it was in a heavily minority area at a venue where she couldn’t recall there ever being a Republican campaign event before.
Listening to that, if true, the obvious implication is the one Maddow arrived at: that the rally was set up from the start to draw Trump’s supporters to an area where there would be thousands of protesters, and then make the supporters even more angry than normal by cancelling the event after they were already there. Voila, giant riot dominates the news in the last days before major primaries and Trump’s people get to play victim because evil minorities attacked them and like to riot.
Keith G
@Shalimar: A bit reminiscent of activities from the playbook that also gave us the Reichstag fire.
Shalimar
@Shalimar: The other MSNBC data point for this theory was Trump’s admission in the Chris Matthews interview that the chaos of the cancellation would help him in the campaign, but that wasn’t why he cancelled the event, he is really concerned about safety.
He and his campaign people understand their supporters well enough to know that a riot at a campaign event will increase primary turnout in Illinois and Ohio.
edited to add: Let that sink in. Trump was watching MSNBC to see the non-Fox coverage, and actually called Matthews to spin his cover story. Something more planned was going on with the Trump campaign.
Zinsky
Chicago could have become Trump’s Altamont. Sooner or later, his paid goons are going to beat someone to death. Count on it.
Anne Laurie
@cbear: You win this weeks’ internets — against some very tough competition.
daryljfontaine
As a mere observer of this tasteless phenomenon
One has to admire the stage management
D
Enhanced Voting Techniques
What does reality have to do with this? Trump operates in a post factual environment. This allows his followers to tell themselves they are the victims, not the people they beat.
RedDirtGirl
@Peale: “Make America Great Again at Violent Protest!”
'Niques
@NotMax: I have always thought that was deliberate. Sarah was expecting a five star and the Donald treated her to a paper plate and plastic fork snack to let her know her place.
Nate Dawg
@Lefthanded Compliment: Agreed.
I Am Not Jon Snow
@? Martin: This. A thousand times this. Not only does Trump dominate the new cycle for the next few days but he blots out the budding Corey Lewandowski/Michelle Field story, which was starting to pick up some steam. As for the denials from the Chicago PD, I doubt they’ll have much of an effect on your average wingnut. They’ll assume the cops are lying on Rham’s orders and leave it at that. Most GOPers I know (I work with quite a few of them) believe that Chicago is some sort of corrupt, violent third world hellhole, so they’ll have no trouble believing the cops told Trump last night to shut it down, and are lying today to make him look bad. If there’s one thing you can count on, it’s that wingnuts will interpret a given situation to try to make themselves look like victims. Trump no doubt understands this dynamic all too well.
Elizabelle
@TOP123:
@Adam L Silverman:
Yeah, heard about the open carry idjits deciding a presidential visit — to Texas — was the best place to stage an open carry demonstration.
Can you imagine how much additional security cost that imposes on the rest of us citizen-taxpayers?
I think the radicals are undermining their own cause. Would like to see Texas legislature take up this ridiculous open carry law and scale it back. Universities are going to have a hard time recruiting faculty; it’s possible some folks are starting to avoid public places and commerce.
Bookmarked thread to catch up on your links later.
Ramalama
My cousins were outside at UIC protesting the Drumpf. They were near the parking garage with a lot of people but didn’t know what was happening inside, or why Trump called it off. We saw it on the teevee, and my uncle, sitting with us, called and asked, “Are you ok?” And then began to tell them what we were seeing.
Another close relative is / was a Ben Carson supporter. She’s so born-again that we have to say evangelical. She hates the Drumpf more than my lefty cousins. And said that everyone she’s talked to at her church are going to vote for Hillary if Trump gets the Republican nomination.
SFAW
@Adam L Silverman:
You liberals with your lies and all.
His doctor issued a statement that He, Trump, was in the best shape of Any President, Evah — I believe the operational phrase was “good enough to be the 2016 Olympic Decathlon gold medalist” — and in fact may be in the best shape of anyone in history.
And clearly, He, Trump would NEVER make shit up, nor would his minions.
dagon
@Adam L Silverman:
UIC is not on the near South side. It’s on the West Side, close to one of the best hospitals in the state, Rush Presbyterian; which is a traditionally Italian neighborhood that has become ethnically and intellectually diverse due to the school, doctors and academics who work and reside there.
It is also likely the biggest hotbed of Chicago activists groups in the area. If he didn’t plan the disruption, he should have because no one in his right mind would choose to have Trump and his army of knuckleheads come to UIC, without expected exactly what we saw last night.
Miss Bianca
@Ramalama:
Wow. Really? Awesome.
SFAW
@Miss Bianca:
Only if they actually follow through on it. I’m betting the “success rate” will end up being somewhere in the 10 percent range.
Better than nothing, I guess.
John M. Burt
@NotMax: No, “Also Rann” is not a bad pun.
It is a magnificent pun.
Kristen
@BruceFromOhio: they all play us they just say what you want to hear so they become elected you did not”” figure it out already” dont you realize they dont really give a shit about others its all about there paychecks wakeup
@BruceFromOhio: