.@farenthold on if he'd revoke support for Trump if he said "I like raping women" — "It'd be bad…I'd consider it" https://t.co/jWCZ1YERYl
— All In w/Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) October 12, 2016
Maybe Brooks & Fahrenthold can get together, throw poor Donnie a pity party for his “Sad, Lonely Life“:
… Politics is an effort to make human connection, but Trump seems incapable of that. He is essentially adviser-less, friendless. His campaign team is made up of cold mercenaries at best and Roger Ailes at worst. His party treats him as a stench it can’t yet remove.
He was a germophobe through most of his life and cut off contact with others, and now I just picture him alone in the middle of the night, tweeting out hatred.
Trump breaks his own world record for being appalling on a weekly basis, but as the campaign sinks to new low after new low, I find myself experiencing feelings of deep sadness and pity.
Imagine if you had to go through a single day without sharing kind little moments with strangers and friends.
Imagine if you had to endure a single week in a hate-filled world, crowded with enemies of your own making, the object of disgust and derision.
You would be a twisted, tortured shrivel, too, and maybe you’d lash out and try to take cruel revenge on the universe. For Trump this is his whole life…
There is no high-status white male with whom David Brooks can’t empathize, however criminal or deluded they might be. I believe this is what Al Giordano means by “the gaping maw of white male anxiety”.
Mnemosyne
Repeating myself from the bottom of the previous thread:
I wandered off to watch Joe Dante on “Trailers From Hell.” Here’s his bit on the classic Mario Bava giallo, Blood and Black Lace.
(A giallo is kind of the Italian equivalent of a film noir, except way more lurid and gory.)
redshirt
So here’s the beauty of Trump for the Republicans:
Refute him as you should, and know you’ll lose at minimum 30% of your vote.
You can’t give that up and win.
Decisions, decisions.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Good lord, what state claims that gap-toothed profile in courage?!?
West of the Cascades
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Texas, of course. The only congressman more stupid than Louis Gohmert.
Cthulhu
I suspect Trump would consider Brooks a loser for writing that.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
I wonder if we’ll see any party jumpers… Wasn’t there a PA senator who switched from R to D ten years ago or so? I’d be appalled to be Republican.
hellslittlestangel
Then imagine that you couldn’t give a shit — and that’s how you do the Donald Trump.
hovercraft
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Texas.
EDIT: Arlen Specter switched to the democratic party when he was going to be primaried. He lost his seat anyway to Pat Toomey, then died not long after from a brain tumor.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@West of the Cascades: Thanks. I’ve always noticed your forum name here. I chose mine because I used to listen to Art Bell occasionally for the campfire story entertainment aspect of his show. I’m actually quite westward of the Rockies here in rural northern California.
gf120581
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Arlen Specter in PA in 2009. Partly out of disgust at his party, partly to save his seat (didn’t work in the end).
@West of the Rockies (been a while): What state but Texas would spawn a Republican like that? Farenthold looks like Jabba the Hutt if he had a toupee and access to Men’s Warehouse.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@hovercraft: Oh, that’s right… Now if only we could send Toomey to the tombs (so to speak).
gf120581
@hovercraft: Technically, Specter never had a shot at Toomey; he lost the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak, who then lost to Toomey. (Toomey did come close to knocking Specter off in the GOP primary in 2004, which helped prompt Specter’s switch.)
gf120581
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Patience, just another few weeks. McGinty’s not the best candidate, but given how horrible Trump’s numbers are in PA, it probably won’t be necessary.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@gf120581: he has a Louis Anderson aspect, too, I find.
Ridnik Chrome
You better believe I am one happy Cubs fan tonight! And David Brooks can go take a flying fcuk at a rolling doughnut!
ETA: Ridnik Chrome +3
redshirt
Is it fair to call the Cubs Red Sox Central?
amk
brooks – the prime example of peter’s principle
West of the Cascades
@West of the Rockies (been a while): very nice. I picked mine when I landed in Portland (Oregon) about a decade ago after most of my life in the midwest and east coast … decided the “West” part was for keeps (and have since decided the “Cascades” part probably is too, though at some point – if I ever decide to move to the Oregon desert – it might become “East of the Cascades (formerly West of the Cascades).” So much to look forward to in life!!
hovercraft
@gf120581:
I stand corrected.
GregB
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
The two most recent Party bolters were R to D Arlen Specter from PA and R to D Jim Jeffords from VT.
amk
tervor noah
ChrisH
This makes me think of the broken man speech from A Song of Ice and Fire.
Peale
@gf120581: yep. Toomey might have lost against Specter, but I can’t really blame the Dems for not voting for him in the primary. I mean, they had probably been voting against him for 30 years, so it was probably a lot to ask for them to start voting for him in year 31.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@West of the Cascades:
Portland, home of the fabulous Powell’s Books! My sister lived in Vancouver, WA for a time. Portland’s nice, except for all the damn Hexenbiest….
Villago Delenda Est
“Consider it”? “Consider it”? What the holy fuck is wrong with this asswipe?
gf120581
@Villago Delenda Est: A mixture of blind partisanship, fear of angering the deplorables and just plain being an asshole.
Also, for your own sake, don’t Google the picture of Farenthold in blue, anatomically showing duck PJs. It will haunt your dreams.
TS
Well jesus wept and pardon me – has this abject horror of a columnist – talking of the objectively worst nominee for president EVER – given a thought to what Hillary Clinton has to handle – every day of every week – and for over 30 years.
She has had everything probably including the kitchen sink thrown at her – and no sad little memo has been written about what she has to handle
Trump is a wimp – he can’t take the heat that he has generated all by himself. David Brooks needs to be twisted into a wrinkle and hung over the back fence to no more speak to anyone.
amk
gopolitico now – the ’emancipation’ of donald trump.
eta: also. too. clinton/podesta ‘ emails!!!’
Brachiator
The news is full of duelling revelations tonight.
Hillary would be dumber than Trump if she continues to let her people whine and moan that the Wikileaks material is illegal or is Russian propaganda. Nobody cares and she cannot shut off the spigots spewing the emails.
None of the material is that damaging. If more is like what has come out so far she can easily cruise to victory.
Trump, on the other hand, is becoming increasingly unhinged. He can’t handle having the GOP leadership turn their backs on him. He finds comfort in his anger, but this will only lead to more rejection, especially if more nastiness is uncovered in any of the Apprentice outtakes.
And the GOP cannot embrace Trump, but neither can they distance themselves from him. The GOP base will not allow it.
What a mess.
BethanyAnne
Completely off topic, this pic reminded me of the late great Tunch. Wrong tail, but right shape :)
frosty
@West of the Rockies (been a while): Workin’ on it …sending Toomey to the tombs I mean. Six years ago, my pitch was “Who do you want for a senator, a hedge fund manager or a retired admirall?” My fucking state took the hedge fund guy.
amk
@Brachiator: so, both sides do it? what a load of bs.
NotMax
Brooks has carved out a career being the poster child for the banality of snivel.
Villago Delenda Est
@Brachiator: A glorious mess that will most likely flip the Senate and could flip the House.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Brachiator:
Trump seems to care.
frosty
@redshirt:
Not yet. Not until they get rich and start winning a little more, then their fans show up in your ballpark and act like complete assholes except the beer costs six bucks a cup and you don’t think you can afford to dump it on them and start a fight.
Oh, for Memorial Stadium when you could bring in your own beer. In a cooler!
hovercraft
@Villago Delenda Est:
He did clarify after he got off the air and someone smacked the shit out of him.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: You are wrong. My bet is the HRC has solid evidence of Russian involvement. When has she be been wrong footed in this campaign?
If it came out of her campaign, she has support for it. It is who she is.
RK
Yes, a grown man, one running for president, said that. Be proud America, be proud.
Larkspur
@Ridnik Chrome: Oh my poor Giants! Congratulations, Cubbies!
amk
No One You Know
@gf120581: You can come out of the Men’s Wearhouse, or David’s for that matter, badly dressed, if you’re enough of a jerk to the staff. I also noticed that in Neimann Marcus, Orange County, some years ago, that I could drop an entire paycheck and be as badly dressed as if I’d ransacked a Goodwill bin.
Seriously, how many people here wear $1000 bow blouses by Gucci and suits from Saville Row?
Clothes can’t make a man who insists on wearing badly what he bought badly. They can reflect him, though!
hovercraft
@gf120581:
A couple of years ago, I think is was during the shutdown or one of the debt ceiling fights, Rachel showed that picture of hi on her show, and she pointed out that it was actually on his official campaign website. Good Dog Texas where do you find these people, and why do you allow them out in public, let alone elect them?
seaboogie
Blake Farenthold…rapey-fan-dude in his duck jammies…
NotMax
@Omnes Omnibus
German intelligence has shown to select journalists (and doubtless others more directly involved in that field, including U.S. agencies) solid and compelling evidence that raises the Russian connection to, if not 100%, so close that anything else is improbable to the nth power.
amk
donnie dick knows he is toast. now his only motive is to ratfuck the ‘disloyal’ gopee. time to see if he succeeds at least in that.
Anne Laurie
@Brachiator:
Nah, they’ve gotta keep pointing out that the Repubs are actually doing what they spent 50 years accusing the Dems of — collaborating with Commies.
It can’t be the keystone strategy, but it’s one more tool in the kit. Won’t attract new Dem voters, but it may keep some discouraged/distracted Repubs sitting at home on election day.
mayyouliveininterestingtimes
@RK: Are you sure that wasn’t a child? That sounds a lot like a child; an overly confident, snarky, dumb-shit of a child.
redshirt
I just got my passport renewed, and I’m loving it! I can swim to PEI if I choose to.
Anne Laurie
@NotMax:
Great phrase, may steal!
I’m amused how much Blake looks like Brooks’ idiot younger brother, but probably that’s just me.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@seaboogie:
Oh, good heavens! That guy is a toad….
NotMax
@redshirt
Button seen when Nixon was in office:
If I Wanted A Dictatorship I’d Pick Someplace With Shorter Winters.
BillinGlendaleCA
@redshirt: Might be a bit of chilly swim this time of year.
piratedan
well, I have to admit, while Russia is not the Soviet Union, the fact that we have a foreign power working in cahoots with one of our major political parties and the essential effect/response from within the GOP itself is essentially MEH, tells me that the GOP is quite possibly irredeemable. Still find it completely unfathomable that Trump calls for the DCC to be hacked by Russia and guess what, damn if it isn’t! Then those very same hacks are delivered to him while he’s on the campaign trail. Our Media looks at this and is essentially still playing the role of an army of Entertainment Tonight anchors.
It may not matter THIS election, when they’re running the equivalent of a flaming bag of shit in a brown paper bag (of the highest quality shit and in an magnificently constructed bag (from overseas)). I have every bit of faith that Ms. Clinton isn’t overlooking this and you may very well see a quiet parade of folks being brought to trial for this (perhaps as a way to give the media something else to do) while she is busy enacting the remainder of her agenda.
NotMax
@Anne Laurie
Steal away, with my blessings.
gwangung
@Anne Laurie: Yeah, not a defensive complaint, but just pointing out, “Look how Trump is, swallowing this stuff without a single thought…you know how easy this is to forge….who knows where he got it from? In fact, just where DID he get it from?”
TriassicSands
Just like a Republican — Brooks feels sorry for a billionaire, serial liar, who brags about sexually assaulting women. Yeah, that’s way sadder than some worthless Haitian caught in the aftermath of a hurricane with no access to clean water, adequate food, or health care. Poor Donald.
Omnes Omnibus
@piratedan: Can’t do it. Not us.
slag
@seaboogie: W. T. F?
redshirt
What are facts? Triumph? Victory?
NotMax
@gwangung
Reports are that there was a total of one site which posted that information in toto. And then removed the post when the screw-up of attribution was conclusively proven. Also reported that the only other known online mention was a squib on a Turkish site which had a link to that one site.
Where was that one site perchance?
“I’ll take Russia for $1000, Alex.”
hellslittlestangel
@Brachiator: I worry — well, actually, “worry” — that Little Gloves increasing mania means he won’t live to see 11/8.
reality-based (the original, not the troll)
@Brachiator: Um.
See the Eichenwald story on Newsweek -What’s interesting is not so much that the Russians are now pushing FAKE emails into the campaign – but that there is evident;y a direct line from the Russian propaganda factory into Trump’s campaign. Since the fake email was only published on Sputnik, the Russian news feed – and then quickly taken down – where did Trump get his hands on it, so he could trumpet it at a rally today/ Is his campaign studying the Russian News Feed? Or is there a more direct connection? And is some enterprising reporter gonna ask Kellyanne about this?
Treason, dammit. The man is colluding with our enemies.
In a normal world, people would care about this.
sigaba
@Mnemosyne: Dis you see Cinefamily is doing a staged reading of his Man with the Kaleidescope Eyes? Bill Hader as Roger Corman.
TriassicSands
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
Generally, politicians don’t switch parties because the old party is a rotting mass of putrid decay, racism, and hatred. They switch because the electorate has changed and they will (they hope) have a better chance of getting elected in the other party. In Specter’s case, he switched, if I remember correctly, to avoid the Republican primary in Pennsylvania, which had become friendly only to extreme right wingers — Specter was a “moderate” Republican, who occasionally voted with Democrats.
Ben Nighthorse Campbell is a great example of how to switch parties. He was in his fifties and won election to the Senate from Colorado. After winning, he announced his switch to the GOP, claiming that he had only been a Democrat because that is what his mommy was and he was raised as a Democrat. But in his fifties he finally got around to thinking for himself and realized that he was actually a Republican. The changing party strengths in the Senate had nothing (cough) to do (cough) with his decision.
He changed parties soon after winning an election, knowing that by the time the next election came around in six years, he’d be able to take full advantage of being an incumbent. I lived in Colorado at the time and considered it just about the slimiest move possible on Campbell’s part. He didn’t have the integrity to run as a Republican, since he was running for a seat held previously by a Democrat and he took full advantage of that.
BillinGlendaleCA
I just saw Bernie on my TV machine, he’s doing an ad for one of props(61).
amk
hard for these racist numbnutz given that they think the ‘kenyan’ is the weakest leader and ‘constitution’ busting dictaytor at the same time.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@reality-based (the original, not the troll): He probably got it off of Twitter, where it appeared about four hours before the Sputnik story.
amk
pattonbt
Question for those who know about campaign finance laws…….is there any way Trump can divert funds raised from his presidential campaign to himself. Like through his “charity” or hosting events and the like at his properties or renting space at his properties, etc?
I imagine at this time he and his team or looking to maximize the grift of the campaign before the taps start to shut. So if he stopped spending campaign funds and such, he could be saving it for himself post-election. And post-election I imagine he will become the anointed saviour of the wingnut base (replacing sainted Sarah) which should see him having a yuuuge opportunity to run a grift on the rubes like never seen before. Trump brands may take a hit, but Trump tea party saviour will be just fine (sadly).
Chris T.
Brooks wants to be a wealthy high-status male, so of course he empathizes with them.
Chris T.
@TS:
Of course not! He doesn’t want to be a woman! Quelle horreur!
patrick II
Onion writer 1 suggesting outrageous parody headline: “Texas congressman would still support Trump if he said that he rapes women”.
Onion writer 2: Oops, too late.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym
@pattonbt: He can have the campaign host events at his properties, which he has done, or hire them as vendors. Legally, his companies must charge the campaign fair market rates for their products/services, neither more nor less. There’s a lot of flexibility in what could be considered a fair market rate, though, and there isn’t much, if any, policing of it.
Sloane Ranger
In regard to the e mails, the Clinton Campaign needs to improve its messaging. Condemning the leaks then self righteously drawing your skirts around you sounds weaselly to me and I want her to win.
I think it is better to start by reminding everybody that these leaks originate from Russian hackers and, as has been SOP since Soviet times, contain a mix of real e mails, slightly doctored e mails, forgeries and individual e mails taken from exchanges and therefore are out of context. As the only people who can say which are which are engaged in the more urgent and important task of helping to elect the next President, they do not intend to take the time away from saving the Republic from the worst candidate ever to review which is which. Especially as this rewards foreign intervention in US democratic process.
sukabi
@NotMax: aaaannnnnd, there’s the spark for Brooks….a sniveling coward meets a sniffling coward…
So is Brooks really writing about drumpf being alone, or is this merely more projection?
trnc
This idiot is Farenthold (no h). Fahrenthold is the excellent WP reporter.
sukabi
@pattonbt: well, he’s doing it.. holding events at his properties and charging campaign more than he charges otherwise…. secret service reimburses for flying on his plane, since it’s his plane he benefits, office space he “rents” to his campaign he’s greatly incressed the cost since he’s not self funding any more…so yes, he’s funneling money into his businesses and his own pockets.
sukabi
@TS: hello, woman, doesn’t matter in his world…
msdc
And who filled it with hate, David?
Zinsky
People like David Brooks have very flawed internal sympathy mechanisms. Rather than being able to feel empathy for those less fortunate than themselves, who through no fault of their own are in bad circumstances, he feels sorry for a greedy, self-absorbed billionaire who has chosen to be an asshole to people all of his life. Tough shit if he is lonely! It is a Hell of his own making. My wife thinks David Brooks is a moderate and deserves praise. I think he is a morally constipated jerk who can’t figure out the most basic admonition of all religions – treat others as you would want them to treat you.
sukabi
@Zinsky: I think he’s a stunted sociopath…he’s trying to imagine what “normal” humans feel to better relate, but can’t quite make the connection.
Or he’s a droid with a malfunctioning empathy chip.
SFAW
@redshirt:
1) Don’t you live in somewhere like Oxford or Androscoggin county? Isn’t it kinda tough to swim to PEI from there? Might be easier to go by snowmobile, if you wait a month or two.
2) Do you really believe the Canadidanian Border Patrol does NOT have orders to detain/shoot any ‘Muricans trying to escape all things Trump?
SnarkingAsking for a friend.SFAW
@Zinsky:
“Thousandaire” until he proves otherwise.
You’re being especially nice to him.
Lurking Canadian
@SFAW: Any American fleeing Trump is clearly a UN status refugee.
SFAW
@Lurking Canadian:
Good point.
You guys might need a Canadidanian version of the “Statue of Liberty, Eh?”.
Jado
“I find myself experiencing feelings of deep sadness and pity.”
Yes, of course you do, Not outrage and disgust. Not even confusion and bewilderment at how such an unqualified candidate ever got so far, Not fear and dread about what this means for the future of your party, let alone your country.
You feel sadness and pity.
YOU SANCTIMONIOUS HYPOCRITICAL SACK OF MEWLING PIOUS PERFIDY!!!
David Brooks has no self-awareness at this point, probably as any shred of self-awareness he could possess would probably result in immediate ritual seppuku in a vain attempt to die with honor. He has sold not only his prestige, not only his dignity, but even every last iota of respectability that was ever erroneously attributed to him. Slowly but surely, his reputation is catching up (catching down?) to his actual statements, and more and more people are recognizing the distinct lack of logic and rigor in his “opinions”.
I await the day when everyone looks up from their same ol’ same ol’ David Brooks encounter and regard each other with puzzlement when awareness breaks across their collective expressions as the light of his mendacity finally bores thru the fog of media respect that has been his fig leaf for so many years.
He is the establishment equivalent of the Trump example of what is wrong with America; Trump shows the overt problems, and Brooks shows the subtle problems, but they are the same problems.
Seanly
David Brooks is a complete asshat. He pretends to care about morality and character, but Trump has no morals and no character. Therefore, by his own established criteria, Brooks should have been against Trump before, now, and in the future. BUT… Brooks actually just bloviates about morality and character to crap on poor people, particularly those of color.