Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The willow is too close to the house.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Let’s finish the job.

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

Everybody saw this coming.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Not all heroes wear capes.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Hail to the Hairpiece / Open Thread: “But Trump Has Jewish Grandkids… “

Open Thread: “But Trump Has Jewish Grandkids… “

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I’m guessing this will be dismissed as a totally innocent coincidental error on the part of some unfortunate intern in the graphics department, because Lord Short Fingers pays so little attention to the minutiae of his campaign.

Or then again, maybe it’s a new version of the Cinco de Mayo taco bowl tweet — no ‘political correctness’ on The Donald’s watch, hurhurhur!

Oh, they’ve got an extensive vocabulary — mostly of phrases the rest of us can’t imagine sharing.

Reader Interactions

188Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    He could have gone with a pentagram since Hillary is the devil. He chose the Star of David.

  2. 2.

    lollipopguild

    But Trump loooovves the Jews. Just like the Blacks,Women, Latinos and everybody else he hates.

  3. 3.

    lollipopguild

    @Baud: When you sold your soul to The Devil for the right to be first in Balloon Juice comments threads did you also secure Trumpenfurher’s Vice President spot?

  5. 5.

    Chyron HR

    “How many people even know what the word means? If you do, please let me know.”

  6. 6.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    “Hillary’s called me a ‘xenophobe’ a few times. How many people even know what the word means?”

    He went to the best schools, he has all the best words

  9. 9.

    showme canuck

    That ad on right which stops you from scrolling can be killed in Chrome.
    Right click on the ad box and choose “Hide the Plugin”

  10. 10.

    Baud

    “Hillary’s called me a ‘xenophobe’ a few times. How many people even know what the word means?”

    Duh. It means your afraid of strong women like Xena: Warrior Princess.

    And Hillary.

  11. 11.

    germy

    A xenophobe is someone who likes watching old Warrior Princess reruns.

    EDIT: and Baud beat me to the punchline . . .

  13. 13.

    kindness

    I liked a comment I read earlier:

    Donald’s people decided against a yellow star because it was too big a dog whistle.

  14. 14.

    germy

    Is it possible he swallowed a dog whistle, and now everything he says gets the hounds riled up?

  17. 17.

    Anya

    So, today I unfollowed two BernieBros on twitter. I was so hopeful they’ll change their mind and join the sane party. All of their tweets today consisted of breathless speculations of Hillary’s indictment and speculations on how BC struck some sort of a deal with the AG. They even kept referring to Hillary as “Crooked Hillary”. The sad thing is these guys are lefties, that’s why I had high hopes they’ll get their sanity back after the primary insanity clears. Alas, it looks like they’re gone.

  18. 18.

    Adam L Silverman

    Taking away his twitter privileges lasted about 30 hours! I was right, his 140 character brilliance could not be contained!

  19. 19.

    Baud

    @Anya: We also lost a lot of white Roosevelt Democrats when Dems embraced civil rights in the seventies. Nothing you can do.

  20. 20.

    redshirt

    @Baud: I’ve never watched a single moment, alas. But that’s true of most shows for me. I’m too hip for TV.
    That said, I know exactly who Gabrielle is without looking it up and I applaud your fandom.

  21. 21.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Baud: Now, sure. But maybe if she’d made more of an effort between 67 and 75, some of the damage could have been mitigated…//

  23. 23.

    germy

    @germy:
    Saw this reader comment under the gawker article:

    BobbySerious
    7/01/16 10:54am

    Speaking of Trump’s health, I have a theory that he is going to negotiate a way out of the nomination with the RNC, and that the method they will agree to will be a “health crisis”.

    I mean let’s not forget he’s nothing but a con man, and he needs to get out of this thing before the jig is up and his mark(s) catch on that he’s a fraud. He can’t quit, that’s for losers. The RNC can’t take it away from him, or the party will implode and there would potentially be riots.

    The only way he can get out on top as a “winner”, a right wing legend who beat the system, who will forever be able to claim “I would have won easily”, while also not causing the party to revolt against the RNC, would be a fake health crisis.

    He could even fake being rushed to the hospital. His followers will be crying in the streets. And when he emerges a few months later ready to launch his new media company, he’ll be greeted as a mythical folk hero.

  24. 24.

    JPL

    I like crooked jellybean link
    I found it odd that Trump couldn’t imagine someone talking about their grandchildren for twenty minutes.

  26. 26.

    Baud

    @debbie: What do you think will change? You can convince people on policy, not on their belief in crookedness.

  27. 27.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @germy: The only way he can get out on top as a “winner”, a right wing legend who beat the system, who will forever be able to claim “I would have won easily”, while also not causing the party to revolt against the RNC, would be a fake health crisis.
    I’ve thought that too, but I think even a fake health crisis would be too much for the man’s ego. This is a man who got his (I’m guessing) pet doctor to put his name to this

    According to Bornstein, who shares with Trump a tendency toward rhetorical hyperbole, Trump’s blood pressure and lab results were “astonishingly excellent,” his “physical strength and stamina are extraordinary,” and he has lost at least fifteen pounds in the past year. The Republican presidential candidate also has “no history of ever using alcohol,” wrote the doctor.
    In closing, Bornstein says, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

    The note on alcohol is interesting. Trump’s brother’s death really stays with him, apparently. Contrast that with Biden, whose similarly inspired teetotalling is fairly rarely mentioned.

  29. 29.

    dmsilev

    @germy: The problem with that theory is getting Trump to go along with it. He would have to believe, thoroughly and completely, that he was inevitably going to lose in November. Does that sound like Trump to you?

  31. 31.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @germy: I liked the second comment: “Cheap speed, why don’t you just call it meth. You know who else used meth?”

  32. 32.

    Anya

    @germy: I doubt it. Trump is deep inside the rightwing bubble. He gets his news from their sites and he’s convinced he’s going to win against “Crooked Hillary.” The man is delusional enough to believe he can win New York. Between the rightwing bubble, his yes people, and his ignorance of electoral politics he’s genuinely convinced he’ll win in a a landslide. I doubt he’ll willingly quit.

  34. 34.

    BR

    There’s a comment in that gawker thread about Trump faking a health crisis as his best way out — I’d never thought of that, but it could happen…

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    @Anya

    Sadly, losing won’t stop him from opening his yap for the next four years with a constant stream of “I’d have done ‘x’ better” and “That never would have happened on my watch.”

  37. 37.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I’ve decided that the UK must now change its national anthem to this.

    Once upon a time you dressed so fine
    Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
    People call say ‘beware doll, you’re bound to fall’
    You thought they were all kidding you
    You used to laugh about
    Everybody that was hanging out
    Now you don’t talk so loud
    Now you don’t seem so proud
    About having to be scrounging your next meal

    How does it feel, how does it feel?
    To be without a home
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

    Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
    But you know you only used to get juiced in it
    Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
    And now you’re gonna have to get used to it
    You say you never compromise
    With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
    He’s not selling any alibis
    As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
    And say do you want to make a deal?

    How does it feel, how does it feel?
    To be on your own,     with no direction home
    A complete unknown, like a rolling stone

    Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
    On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
    You never understood that it ain’t no good
    You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
    You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
    Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
    Ain’t it hard when you discovered that
    He really wasn’t where it’s at
    After he took from you everything he could steal

    How does it feel, how does it feel?
    To have on your own, with no direction home
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

    Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
    They’re all drinking, thinking that they’ve got it made
    Exchanging all precious gifts
    But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
    You used to be so amused
    At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
    Go to him he calls you, you can’t refuse
    When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose
    You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal

    How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
    To be on your own, with no direction home
    Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

  38. 38.

    Anne Laurie

    @germy: That’s… weirdly plausible, from my ADD viewpoint.

    There’s a cluster of ‘syndromes’ that seem run in families. A family history of addiction (including alcoholism), depression, bipolar disorder, OCD, and Crohn’s disease/colitis is considered one marker for diagnosing ADD in adults. We know Trump’s brother died of alcohol abuse, and he wasn’t the first one in the family to have those problems.

    Now, Trump’s always been grandiloquent, hyper, oddly irritable (& weirdly charismatic, for many people). He’s also been talking about running for president since at least 1992. But he only pulled that trigger last year… after President Obama called out his birtherism very publicly… and (if there’s anything behind that Gawker report) just a few months after he started taking ‘cheap speed’.

    Methylphenidates have what the internists call a paradoxical effect on those of us with non-neurotypical brains. Instead of getting wired & disorganized, they make us focused, capable of following through on one project instead of getting distracted by the dozen different ideas sparking through our dizzy brains.

    It may not be that ‘Meth made Trump crazy enough to run for president’, so much as ‘Meth gave Trump enough focus to start the running-for-president project he’d been talking about for so long.’

  40. 40.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Anya: A lot of avowed lefties, like a lot of avowed atheists, use their identity as not only a badge of honor and membership in a selective club but, speaking of club, as a cudgel to bully lesser beings. And as a lefty and an atheist myself, I’d like to think I stopped using either one to lord it over people when I was like 12.

  41. 41.

    Gvg

    We know that he is attracting white supremists supporters. I think they are getting into his campaign and one or more put that star in on purpose. He or someone ordered it off after the backlash.
    He himself has displayed a kind of unaware casual bigotry to a Jewish audience. I think he is a bigot in spite of the grand children. He just doesn’t mean Them Of course…..he is not too bright I have to say.

  42. 42.

    Marc

    I think that this is really reaching. Trump does enough actually offensive things without our needing to manufacture outrage.

  44. 44.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    For all his many faults, McCain is usually cautious about playing the “if I’d been elected” card.

    And who pays the slightest attention to anything from Romney?

  46. 46.

    Gimlet

    @Anne Laurie:

    Just got off the phone with Dr. Frist. Trump has a variant of this.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontotemporal_dementia

    FrontoTemporal Dementia (FTD) is traditionally difficult to diagnose due to the heterogeneity of the associated symptoms. Signs and symptoms are classified into three groups based on the functions of the frontal and temporal lobes:[2]

    Behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (BvFTD) is characterized by changes in social behavior and conduct, with loss of social awareness and poor impulse control.[4]

    Semantic dementia (SD) is characterized by the loss of semantic understanding, resulting in impaired word comprehension, although speech remains fluent and grammatically faultless.[4]

    Progressive nonfluent aphasia (PNFA) is characterized by progressive difficulties in speech production.[4]

    However, the following abilities in the person with FTD are preserved:[3] Perception Spatial Skills Memory Praxis

  47. 47.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @germy:

    This is a bit more detailed in the way the scenario unfolds, but is essentially what I’ve been predicting for at least the past six weeks. Something sufficiently problematic to force him (unwillingly) out of the race, but not actually life-threatening. Something where he can claim — and who would gainsay him? — that he would have won easily, so much winning, you’d be sick of all the great winning he would have had.

  48. 48.

    Marc

    @Baud: yea, it’s just another one of these outrages that require imagination. I could see the same thing happening to Hillary, to be honest. Maybe I’m just not angry enough about everything….

  50. 50.

    waspuppet

    I’m guessing this will be dismissed as a totally innocent coincidental error on the part of some unfortunate intern in the graphics department, because Lord Short Fingers pays so little attention to the minutiae of his campaign.

    Because remember — his sterling business career, in which he surrounds himself with the best people, is the entire rationale for his campaign.

  53. 53.

    BR

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’m having trouble thinking of what that’d be — serious but not too serious. Anything serious, like a stroke or heart attack, would make it clear he wasn’t healthy enough for the job in the first place. The flu or mono or something isn’t serious enough.

  54. 54.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Anne Laurie: Fascinating comment.

    Just thinking how the established GOP kept hoping that he’d “pivot” for the general but he just keeps being insane, Which worked for the primary but not etc etc. This, from the link:

    The medical literature warned that some potentially dangerous side effects could result from long-term usage; they included anxiety, insomnia, and delusions of grandeur. According to several Trump Organization insiders, Donald exhibited all these ominous symptoms of diet drug usage, and then some

    People are making the mistake of thinking that he’s even in control of any of this, perhaps.

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    @Baud

    Qualified yes, as his foreign policy claptrap is essentially the same as from before he ran.

    That he’s given credence in the media as some sort of foreign policy panjandrum is the eternal conundrum.

  58. 58.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Emma: Trump’s been an asshole his entire life. The question at hand is what changed in the last couple of years. You could say “nothing”, but clearly something did, he’s now the presumptive Republican nominee for President.

    On the other hand, Sarah Palin was the actual VP nominee and that was eight years ago, so possibly it’s the Republican Party that’s gone pathological, well clearly they have. I think something changed with Trump though, if nothing more than his infinite level of hurt feelings from that roasting from Obama. But substances make sense also.

  60. 60.

    PhoenixRising

    @Marc: the difference would be that Hillary does not have a following among neo-nazis and white nationalists who perceived the message you apparently didn’t.

    This was not an error or a manufactured outrage; Trump uses Twitter to assure his base that their assumptions about his sharing their racial dominance fantasies are correct.

    This stuff matters. If you don’t want to read the entirety of ‘Rise & Fall’ because like me you are too lazy to care a lot about the ‘fall’ aspect, Bill Sherer’s ‘Berlin Diary’ gives his contemporaneous notes on how the signals were communicated to Germans who were willing to hear what Hitler meant.

    The Donald is a clown, but his campaign is not a joke.

  61. 61.

    Emma

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Oh, I wouldn’t be surprised if the man’s bloodstream were one-third foreign substances. But I think they would only exacerbate his natural arseholishness, not drive him round the bend. This is the guy’s bare naked id.

  62. 62.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Luthe: If you hold a match head to the back of the comment it will pull itself out of moderation and be visible. I hear, anyway.

  63. 63.

    James E Powell

    @Baud:

    Between Naderites and then firebaggers and now Bros,

    Aren’t these all the same people, the Committed Contrarians?

  66. 66.

    Luthe

    @Bill E Pilgrim: Well, my comment was on the best way to remove ticks, but that wasn’t the recommended method. I was hoping one of the front-pagers had tweezers.

    @BR: No, it wouldn’t work. No tick would bite out of professional courtesy.

  69. 69.

    Keith G

    So….I am guessing that Lee Zeldin is about to get offered a prime time speaking spot at the GOP Convention.

  70. 70.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    I thought a xenophobe was one of those things you play with mallets. I got that vibe from the name anyway.

  73. 73.

    debbie

    @Baud:

    They are no different than the PUMAs in 2008, the vast majority of whom ended up voting for Obama. It takes some people longer than others to let go. Stand back and let them process.

  74. 74.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @redshirt: I never heard that, despite that being one of my favorite movies, but just looked that up and you’re right! Or it’s the name in a video game anyway.

    Wait, does that mean that the Alien is supposedly afraid of other aliens? Like humans? Or is it just the name of the game, implying fear of aliens, not the name of the alien.

  77. 77.

    Tripod

    @Baud:

    Speaking of Scratch – somebody (Kevin Kellems) who worked for Dick Cheney quit the campaign after two weeks.

    working for the Devil was a better gig….

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Baud: The GOP has been on this road since Nixon. We’ve come to a logical consequence of the path that Nixon and Reagan pioneered. It worked for a while, but with the shifting of demographics, its time has come to an end.

    A spectacular one. These assholes built this monster. They need to suffer for their actions in creating it.

    And they are.

  79. 79.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: A very deliberate choice given all of his anti-Semitic supporters. This was no accident.

  81. 81.

    Anne Laurie

    @Gimlet: Yeah, frontotemporal decay wouldn’t put anything into Trump’s tiny brain that wasn’t already there… but taking stimulants would give him the ability to put his least attractive id-monsters into practice more effectively.

    We’ll probably never know for sure, because even if Trump dropped dead tomorrow, I’m pretty sure his kids are not gonna permit the release of his medical records, much less a full autopsy.

  90. 90.

    Mark B

    @Baud: What’s kind of funny about the circle is that if you look really closely, two of the points of the star are still there. They just sloppily slapped a circle on top of the previous graphic and posted. Everything the Trump campaign does is slapdash and poor quality, just like their candidate.

  91. 91.

    japa21

    @Anne Laurie: The problem with that, as far as the GOP is concerned, is that his base supporters would never believe the RNC didn’t kill him without an autopsy report and medical records.

  93. 93.

    Patricia Kayden

    @PhoenixRising: Thank you. Not sure why we’re supposed to not notice something as blatant as the use of a Star of David in an ad decrying Secretary Clinton’s donations. It’s no secret that many of Trump’s supporters are vocal White Supremacists.

  97. 97.

    Tripod

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Somebody over there thinks they can recreate Bernie’s magic in Michigan. Problem is most American Muslims are fucking scared of Trump riling up the Nativist hordes.

  98. 98.

    The Lodger

    @Bill E Pilgrim: I think I’d enjoy hearing the sounds xenophobes make when they’re hit by mallets, but tuning them must be really difficult.

  99. 99.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Tripod: The nativist hordes are riled. Have been since 9/11. Unthinking rage, spurred on by the deserting coward and his vile veep.

  101. 101.

    hellslittlestangel

    There’s no way Trump drops out before the convention. Getting the gold tiara will be the highlight of his life. You just know he spends every night practicing his strut down the runway.

  102. 102.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    This is a bit more detailed in the way the scenario unfolds, but is essentially what I’ve been predicting for at least the past six weeks. Something sufficiently problematic to force him (unwillingly) out of the race, but not actually life-threatening. Something where he can claim — and who would gainsay him? — that he would have won easily, so much winning, you’d be sick of all the great winning he would have had.

    Trump has a bit of a problem though, because of his fanbase he can’t look like he is flinching from anything; health issues, family crises, FEMA death squads, Trump uses anything like that the words “WUSS” will be splatter over the headlines the next day and he can kiss his media career goodbye. I mean how it’s going to sound on The Apprentice when he says “You’re fired” and the reply is “Well, at lest I am not a quitter like you Donny”

  104. 104.

    Anne Laurie

    @BR:

    I don’t see a comment about ticks. Is the idea that he fake a Lyme scare?

    Nah, brain-fog is one of the primary complaints about Lyme syndrome, and Trump would never admit to that.

    One of the mosquito-borne infections, maybe. Chikungunya, or West Nile, or even Zika. Nobly withdrawing, lest his oozing charisma spread the infection over his many fervent followers, including the pregnant ones. That’s not how disease actually works, of course, but given that Trumpkins only know what they hear on Fox/talk radio / read in the checkout lines, it’d be as plausible an excuse as any.

    If I had to place a lottery-ticket bet about a Trump withdrawal, it’d be the GOP scraping together enought of a go-away bribe — I mean, cash investment in the enormously successful Trump empire — in combination with a Perot-like “threat to my family” announcement.

    IIRC, Perot claimed the Contras were scheming to ruin his daughter’s wedding, because Ross had supported Oliver North. Maybe Trump can convince people that ISIS was gonna bomb the RNC convention — or Trump’s inauguration — and he is just too good a person to risk such harm to his devoted followers.

  106. 106.

    MomSense

    I’m glad my Jewish stepdad isn’t alive to see this bullshit. I want to crush der Trump, his asshole supporters and the GOP for cynically exploiting racism and bigotry for decades.

    They deserve humiliating defeat and public shaming. Enough.

  107. 107.

    Anne Laurie

    @japa21:

    The problem with that, as far as the GOP is concerned, is that his base supporters would never believe the RNC didn’t kill him without an autopsy report and medical records.

    The RNC — or their current owner, Rupert Murdoch — would blame it on Killary, of course. Who also intimidated the family into having the body cremated within hours. At the same crematorium where they took care of all those Mena corpses and the dozens of Bill Clinton rape survivors who would otherwise testify against the eeeevile Clinton Crime Cabal.

  109. 109.

    MomSense

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    Could it be that Palin was almost right about something? Der Trump should hire some taste testers ASAP because some GOP mercenary is going to sprinkle rat poison on one of his Trump steaks.

  110. 110.

    cokane

    I’m actually willing to believe Trump is so ignorant to have not seen the symbolism at work

  113. 113.

    Mary G

    I can’t find it to link, but somebody took his Taco Bowl tweet and replaced the Mexican food with a bowl of matzo ball soup.

  115. 115.

    J R in WV

    @BR:

    He would have to be exposed to nature to be “attacked” by a tick, in order to succumb to a tick-borne disease. He hasn’t set foot on grass since he was in Scotland!

  118. 118.

    JPL

    @redshirt: hint, hint, hint.. Where is Hillary getting her money?
    Trump thinks he is deserving, and needs no other qualifications, and the media will play along.

  124. 124.

    SoupCatcher

    @cokane: Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, and I’ve seen enough presentations with obvious-errors-on-slides-to-focus-discussion to think it might have been, every story I’ve seen on this has run the text uncritically. While we all talk about the image, the words sail right on through.

    So I guess I’m on the other end of the spectrum from you.

    eta Which is not to say, don’t call out the image. But do it like: well, it’s a bullshit claim, and racist to boot.

  125. 125.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: Her son in law is. Also President Roosevelt. Maybe the Queen. All the Rockefellers and Rothschilds too!

  129. 129.

    The Dangerman

    Put me down as someone that could see Trump dropping out but not until after the convention; I assume that means that his VP goes to the top of the ticket. Clinton v. Gingrich would be interesting.

    I could easily see Trump dropping out before a debasing debate (as opposed to the Republican debates, he’s going to have to study for those and we know how interested he is in real work).

  130. 130.

    Ridnik Chrome

    For everyone who read about my barbershop incident today (full story is in this thread, short version is that I was getting my hair cut today when I witnessed my barber apparently refusing service to a black kid for no other reason than because he was black), I did go back and spoke to the barber about it. He told me that the kid came back after I left, and that he gave the kid his “lighten-up”, they’re friends now and everything is fine. Apparently the kid had been there before and had argued with him about the price. That’s what my barber said, anyway. I’m not sure whether or not I buy his story, but at least I told him how I felt, and if I decide to stop getting my hair cut there he’ll know why. Thanks again to everyone who offered me advice.

  131. 131.

    redshirt

    @Adam L Silverman: We know it’s the Lizard People. But they control everything. What’s to be done at this point except blend in and hope their Repto-Drones don’t spot you? Say your prayers, I guess.

  134. 134.

    Adam L Silverman

    @The Dangerman: It would depend on the rules the RNC has or, more likely, create on the fly. The VP choice, unless its someone who ran in the primary and actually won some delegates, won’t necessarily have stood in any primary contest this year or won even a single delegate.

  135. 135.

    Anya

    I am watching a Debate on BBC World on “OBAMA IS A FAILED PRESIDENT”. David Frum who looks like a hobo, and some dude from Weekly Standard and Bernard-Henri Lévy and Neera Tanden are against the motion.

  136. 136.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @redshirt: I hope that’s what happened. Could also be that the barber made up the story because he didn’t want to lose my business. Probably getting my next haircut somewhere else. We’ll see what happens after that.

  140. 140.

    Mary G

    Anna Marie Cox interviewed extremely cool congresscritter, Mark Takano, for the NYT magazine. He has fun in Congress!

    Mark Takano Thinks Gay Men Can Learn From Jane Austen

    You are the first openly gay person of color in Congress; that seems especially relevant right now. “First openly gay person of color” is a long moniker. I give people permission to use the word “Gaysian.”

  141. 141.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anya: Given the fact that the BBC may have to change its name to the Rump Little England Broadcasting Corporation (RLEBC) because of the mild unpleasantness that the British have visited upon themselves, you’d think they’d have more important things to debate.

  143. 143.

    MomSense

    The more I think about this the angrier I get. On the day we lose Elie Wiesel the nominee for President of the Republican Party thought he could promote this anti-Semitic filth.

    Every single elected official who endorses this monster should have his nose rubbed in this shit.

  145. 145.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Marc: If it were just the one incident, I could see it as an innocent mistake. But Trump has a consistent pattern–he’s retweeted stuff from neo-Nazi/white-supremacist websites repeatedly; Klansmen and antisemites and generally the sort who go on about “cucks” and do the (((parentheses))) thing express loving support for the guy and he won’t even disavow them except in the most grudging and reluctant ways after days of pressure. He knows these people are part of his base of support, and he’s actually banking on it, trying not to give it up. And someone in his campaign is dropping hints to try to keep them on board.

  146. 146.

    J R in WV

    @redshirt:

    Methodist, IIRC. A quiet denomination which works quietly to help those less fortunate. Non-Jewish, though. Completely Christian.

  147. 147.

    Mothra

    I looked for a bit to see if that kind of graphic was on car lot ads. I found a lot of medallions – nothing like a Star of David. I never recall seeing that graphic on any ad before. I don’t see how this can be an accident.

  148. 148.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anya: Oh, Jesus, the Beeb DOES NOT GET to wax controversial on whether WE have a failed President. Not now, not today.

  149. 149.

    smith

    @Ridnik Chrome: At the very least it’s a message that it’s not safe to behave in a racist way in front of white people. Who knows how many of his other customers might react as you did? The effect in the end will be fewer racist acts by this guy, which can only be a good thing.

  151. 151.

    Adam L Silverman

    @redshirt: You live in Maine. You can buy as many high capacity magazines as you like. Though if they have to many pages they’re really more like catalogues.

  152. 152.

    Adam L Silverman

    @J R in WV: Yep, she’s Methodist. Bill is Southern Baptist. They used to joke about it being a mixed marriage. But their son in law is Jewish.

  153. 153.

    Anya

    @Adam L Silverman: They’re hidding from their problems. My favorite part is David Frum blaming Trump on Obama. The whole thing makes me so mad. Neera Tanden is very weak. I could’ve made better arguments. The audience voted 79% against the motion yet the audience members who spoke up where all against Obama.

  155. 155.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anya: I would have watched if they debated deporting David Frum and Charles Krauthammer back to Canada.

  161. 161.

    Emma

    @Matt McIrvin:

    First cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

    They seem to be low on self-awareness.

  163. 163.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Anya: He and Frum are immigrants from Canada. A lot of the younger, professional neo-Cons are actually immigrants. I think Wurmser is originally Israeli or his wife is. And Charles C. J. Cooke is from England as are several others. And, of course, you’ve got the alt-right Yannanoupolis who is also from England and refers to Trump as “Daddy”.

  165. 165.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Adam L Silverman: There’s VDARE’s Peter Brimelow, an English-American immigrant who wrote a whole book on how immigration was destroying America. Of course, he gave away the game in the conclusion where he worried about whether there would be a place for his little blond-haired, blue-eyed kid.

  168. 168.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anya: Some of my radical-lefty friends are just straight-up relaying Republican Facebook memes at this point.

  169. 169.

    Matt McIrvin

    @Anya: To be fair, I’m pretty sure that if Baldwin were alive he’d regard Obama and any other past or present US President as a failed President. But his standards would not be David Frum’s.

  170. 170.

    J R in WV

    @Matt McIrvin:

    Then they aren’t radical lefty, they are right-wing fascists. Perhaps you should reconsider your friendship with nazis?

    Or maybe I misunderstood and they’re relaying right-wing tropes to make fun of them? Pardon me, please!

  172. 172.

    Anya

    @Matt McIrvin: I don’t think Baldwin would regard Obama a failure. I think he would be disappointed in some areas but he would completely acknowledge that Obama has done a great job in a lot of areas.

  177. 177.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Villago Delenda Est: I like the old, Jewish American lawyer from Massachusetts who called me a self hater because in his head he read a critique of Israel. I also like the 1/3 of the comments where they were fighting over who knew the difference between the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and the Warsaw Uprising. And the 1/3 that quickly devolved into a discussion about who would rise up against the tyranny of the American government and when they should start. And then there was the one guy that’s seen me write policy analysis on other sites and decided to call the other commenters out. Good times.

  178. 178.

    The Dangerman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    It would depend on the rules the RNC has or, more likely, create on the fly.

    Well, since they surely wouldn’t be holding another convention and the VP choice would have already been voted on at the first election … seems he would have a claim.

    It would be chaos, no doubt.

    ETA: Oops. First convention.

  180. 180.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: There are several pictures out there of Donnie toasting with champagne, and he sold wine and vodka with his name on it.

    He may or may not be a teetotaler, but he didn’t have any compunction of acting like he drinks, and taking advantage of those who do.

    FWIW.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  181. 181.

    jc

    I saw the current cover of the National Enquirer yesterday attacking Clinton and it really pissed me off. Every customer in the Safeway checkout line is exposed to the toxic Trump line about “Crooked Hillary.” Sleazy Donald strikes again.

  183. 183.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @BR: Phlebitis worked for Nixon – it didn’t keep him out of office, of course, but it did factor into his post-presidency.

    There are lots of diseases, Trump could pick one, and could even say that it was nobody’s business what it was (just like he’ll never release his taxes).

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  184. 184.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet: oh, he’s a sleaze ball, it just struck me that he thought that detail worth mentioning. In part because that was a point frequently made by Rove’s defenders, including the beast himself, “how can you say he’s awful when he doesn’t drink!”

  185. 185.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Adam L Silverman: The bulk of the commenters still come across as ignorant idiots, obvious even to the reason the 2nd Amendment was included. It reflected a well established distrust amongst Englishmen of the time of “standing armies”, like Cromwell’s. The militia of the 2nd Amendment was used to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion…pretty much totally the opposite of what these clowns think it’s about.

  186. 186.

    Anne Laurie

    @J R in WV: This election is really proving the old saw about how political thinking is not linear (right-left) but circular: Sanders’ most leftist supporters are uncritically circulating neonazi memes, and some of the most respected right-wing foreign-policy Republicans are publicly swearing they’ll vote for Hillary because Trump is just that dangerous.

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