1. Let him talk about himself
2. Don't bring up Obama
3. Tell him his crowds were huge
4. Don't stare at his tiny, milky white hands— Schooley (@Rschooley) March 18, 2017
Okay, President-Asterisk Trump is not working nearly as effectively as his biggest boosters hoped, in those heady days after the election. But you deal with the gulls you have, not the gulls you wished you had, so… Politico founders and self-styled machers Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen share some #Savvy in their newest venture, Axios:
Top CEOs have a new First Customer. With President Trump taking a hands-on approach to negotiations, here are five tips for surviving and thriving — based on conversations with executives, aides and friends who have battled Trump in private and found some success…
– Get to the table, whether you love him or not. Trump is a transactional guy with unformed views on many topics. He frequently seeks advice and occasionally takes it. While it might feel right to buckle to pressure and refuse meetings, you lose your leverage, instantly and profoundly.
– Give him something he can call a win. Trump has an elastic view of winning, as seen by his trumpeting of companies announcing new U.S. jobs that were set in motion long before the president won. He NEEDS something to tweet, but often needs the specifics filled in, several business leaders told us…
– Find and exploit common ground — on people, real estate, politics or private aircraft… He has a surface-level-at-best understanding of most policies, so going in for arcane policy discussions doesn’t work.
– Know he’s a vindictive guy who harbors grudges long beyond the moment. If you refuse to meet with him or put out anti-Trump messages, prepare to suffer revenge. He pays close attention to critics, and his aides hand him printouts of anti-Trump statements made by people or companies they don’t like. They have a notional enemies list that gets used for everything from rejecting appointments to key jobs, to deciding who gets a voice in policy debates.
– Work Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner. Both men sit it on key meetings, and often get Trump alone afterward to shape reaction and follow-up to interaction. Both are accessible by text and cell, and like playing the role of the Trump whisperer.
Then sit back and pray he doesn’t whack you with a Saturday morning tweet…
Just think of Trump as a sort of half-bright talking bear with access to vast wealth and powerful quasi-military resources. Prepare to trick him into sharing the first with you, without unleashing the second on you. Contact us for more tips and our very affordable consulting rate sheet!
This is the sort of world-weary how-it-works handout that used to be standard for business-journal articles about third-world dictators like Idi Amin or Muammar Gaddafi.
THANKS FOR BREAKING AMERICA, REPUBS!
Hal
No conflicts could possibly come from this:
Politics
Kellyanne Conway’s Husband Is Trump’s Choice for Key Justice Post
Baud
That’s good advice for CEOs. But it doesn’t address the problem of what happens when Trump asks something of the CEO that would hurt the company.
Suzanne
@Baud: Trump is the fucking President of the Juggalos. I can’t believe that we have to have guidelines regarding how to handle him, like he’s a hazardous material.
Baud
@Suzanne: He kind of is hazardous material.
Jay S
@Baud: Simple, pretend to give it to him. Point to something you’re doing anyway as being responsive.
Yarrow
I hope that Trump being president will help break our country’s apparent fascination with CEOs. We seem to revere them. That is wrong and should stop. They make far too much money for the “work” they do and being a CEO is not a reason someone would be good at any other particular job. Especially President of the United States.
Betty Cracker
Perhaps VandeHei and Allen could turn their intellectual wattage toward developing a “Presidentin’ for Dummies” guide for Trump, who still doesn’t even understand how NATO is funded (and keeps embarrassing the country as a consequence by chasing Merkel, et al, around like a collection agency). Trump is the fool who is in over his head. If anyone needs schooling, it’s him, not people who run actual companies that their daddies didn’t deliver on a silver platter.
Baud
@Yarrow: America doesn’t like politicians. That leaves military and CEOs.
trollhattan
@Yarrow:
Like GWB before him, Trump will prove to be the wrong kind of CEO.
Baud
@Betty Cracker: Trump needs it the most, but it would never stick. CEOs can’t wait for Trump to change who he is.
Baud
@trollhattan: He was once a Democrat, you know. #GOPafterTheFall
Yarrow
@Baud: You forgot celebrities. Trump is one of those.
@trollhattan: Maybe. But W. was the Governor of a state. He had some electoral experience. Trump’s entire thing was being “good at business.” I hope Trump’s colossal failure makes people question why CEOs are considered so smart. He’s a total dummy.
Betty Cracker
@Yarrow: Amen. I am also increasingly skeeved out by all the genuflecting before the military, which was bad enough during GWB’s presidency and has gotten worse under Trump. My husband, brother and many other family members are veterans, and I firmly believe the U.S. should live up to the promises made to those who served in the military — particularly those who were deployed in combat zones. But they’re not warrior-gods, and this isn’t feudal Japan. Enough with the worship.
philadelphialawyer
I think that Corey Lewandowski guy is already selling a “consulting”/protection strategy to companies. Pay him enough, and, somehow, you can avoid a damaging Trump tweet storm against your business.
Baud
@Yarrow: True.
JMG
@philadelphialawyer: It won’t be long before some CEO wears a wire to a meeting with Lewandowski.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Yarrow: as somebody said on twitter this morning, Tillerson’s no good horrible pretty fucking bad trip to Asia shows the danger of bringing a CEO with no public sector experience in to a top government job– hostile to to the press, alien to the idea of public accountability, arrogant, treating foreign gov’t like another corporate leadership group.
Betty Cracker
@philadelphialawyer: I read that somewhere recently, maybe WaPo. What a scumbag. He’s like a low-level hood for the world’s tackiest and most personally incompetent mafioso.
Major Major Major Major
Exactly what I thought while reading it.
That or it sounds like how you have to finish a frivolous side-quest in a video game. (Or a main quest in a Square/ENIX game.)
Villago Delenda Est
VandeHei and Allen need to be among the first “reconciled” by a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the aftermath of Donald’s Reign of Error.
mai naem mobile
This moron is running the government like a mom and pop family business with maybe 7 employees.
MattF
One thing left off that list is that you shouldn’t believe anything he says– and that includes soothing things said in ‘private’ meetings. There are lots of examples of people who he’s said reassuring things to and then said the opposite later that same day. He’ll say what he thinks you want to hear and then move on.
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Also, totally unaware of the history of the region. He’s mistaking the usual bluster of the NKs this time of year for the norm. He’s a fucktard.
Omnes Omnibus
@Betty Cracker: I’ve been bothered by it for years.
Baud
If a company gets in trouble in their dealings with Trump, whose side should a good liberal take?
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus: Maybe it’s who I hang out with online, but I keep hearing that from military people but no one seems to do anything about it.
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: I am skeeved out by the fact that so many of the enlisted people I know think that we owe them something above and beyond the benefits they are owed. Like, dudes, stop. You did not sacrifice ***For America***. You joined the military because you couldn’t hack it in civilian life and you needed a job. For that, you get fair pay and benefits, but I’m not going to suck your dicks and send you to more wars because you need to stay employed and you can’t figure that out.
Aimai
Anyone else notice that all this advice, and the tone, is identical to old style womens magazine advice for how to catch a man? For ambitious girls on the make for a rich moron? The same tactics :be interested in him! Let him win at tennis! Dont come on too knowlegeable on any subject–his ego is as fragile as it is enormous. Then too:chat up his friends. Stay on their good side. All totally horrifiyingly inappropriate to a modern presidency but totally normal for a rotting imperium headed by the moron results of terminal inbreeding.
Hal
@Yarrow:
People in this country have a weird reverence for “business men”. One defense I hear of Trump over and over again is that he’s a business man, or and successful business man. As if that’s all that needs to be said. Does he have any relevant experience that can be applied to the job of President? Doesn’t matter. Business man!!
Omnes Omnibus
@Baud: I blame my winning personality.
And Obama.
Major Major Major Major
@Aimai: Oh my god you’re right!
JMG
@Aimai: I had not thought of that, but you’re exactly right.
Baud
@Omnes Omnibus: It’s not your fault. (Obama is another matter.)
Baud
@Aimai: Good comparison. Makes sense to me.
Suzanne
@Aimai: Ugh. You’re right. Terrifying.
I remember reading a piece that examined the different attitudes men and women have regarding wanting a partner who has “a good sense of humor”. Overwhelmingly, men defined “a good sense of humor” as “someone who laughs at my jokes/witticisms”, whereas women defined it as actually making jokes or saying funny, incisive things.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hal: The people who think he’s a successful businessman obviously have never run a business, because if they did, they’d know better. A guy who claims $10 billion in assets in 2005 and has a 1.5 percent return before taxes is not a successful businessman. He’s a marginal businessman, at best.
schrodingers_cat
@Aimai: Why would any self respecting woman want to be with such a man?
Major Major Major Major
OT: I thought this gif was cute especially with the caption! Teehee.
Trigger warning: Cute animal
Immanentize
@Omnes Omnibus: For me the creepiness started when the use of the world “hero” was deployed so randomly that it lost all meaning. Like in: “My son is my hero for enlisting.” Hero?!
Gelfling 545
@Betty Cracker: My son in law is threatening to punch the next person who thanks him for his service. He wonders why they imagine that he did it for them.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suzanne: This steams me too, and I’m a vet. Guys, stop pretending you did this out of altruism. It’s a job. One you volunteered for. No one drafted you (/wave raven). It’s a dangerous job, and there are some benefits that accrue to it for that reason, but damn, stop being so fucking unprofessional. It’s embarrassing to the rest of us.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:
(1) Not all woman are self-respect just like not all men are.
(2) Material gain.
efgoldman
@Hal:
I thought he was gonna’ be solicitor general. But then, we’re already on the second or third nominee for that post, too.
Winning. Tired of.
Such a yoooge bigly administration. You’ll see.
efgoldman
@Baud:
Yeah, and I once voted for Republiklowns, too, until Ed Brooke and Frank Sargent retired.
Suzanne
@Villago Delenda Est: The dude that pisses me off the most is a guy who was in my social circle in high school. Dumb as a stump with grades to match, stoned all the time, dropped out the moment he turned eighteen. Whereas others in our group were also similarly working-class, but got college scholarships and good grades and went on to solid careers. Anyway, I ran into this dude about five years ago when a bunch of us got together to visit a mutual friend. He had been unable to stay employed as a waiter, so he joined the Army in his early 30s, after Iraq.
Guess who is now a constitutional scholar, especially regarding the Second Amendment, and who thinks that the rest of us owe him something for his service and sacrifice?
Baud
If it makes y’all feel any better, there are plenty of Democratic veterans who have been treated disrespectfully.
Mike J
@Betty Cracker:
I was annoyed when my Dem congressman tweeted something on Valentine’s day about valentines for the troops. We have Memorial day, veteran’s day, armed forces day, flag day and the 4th of July. Can’t we have any holidays that aren’t militarized?
efgoldman
@Suzanne:
The lower enlisted who need food stamps to feed their families might not agree.
Iowa Old Lady
@schrodingers_cat: Good question
schrodingers_cat
I was blown away by this trailer. I posted it in a thread yesterday. The movie is slated for release next month.
One of the untold/glossed over stories of the partition of British India was the violence women were subjected to, not just by the “enemy” but by their own.
Women on both sides of the border have been collecting these oral histories and publishing them before that generation is gone.
Begum Jaan is set in Punjab, just before Indian independence. The Radcliffe line partitioning Punjab passes through Begum Jaan’s brothel. Yes that actually happened. Cyril just drew lines on a map without bothering to visit. The movie is her struggle to keep her home from being violated by forces far stronger than she is. Click on CC button for the subtitles. The last line of trailer packs quite a punch!
Women still have to fight for that principle even today, my body, my home, my country, my rules.
*Vidya Balan is fierce as Begum Jaan.
Betty Cracker
@Aimai: OMG, you are so right! And basically they’re angling for the same transaction — an exchange of self respect for illusory security at the whim of a pampered, arrogant jackhole.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: I want to pay them a fair wage so they can provide for their families. I want to take care of their medical and mental health care. I want to send them to college. I don’t want to treat them like I owe them undying gratitude for their bravery and sacrifice, or that they are more instrumental to building a successful society than anyone else.
Yarrow
@Aimai: Oh, my gosh. You are right. That is so creepy.
Seth Owen
@Suzanne: I wouldn’t go THAT far. You’d be surprised how much genuine patriotism plays a role in people’s decision.
That said, I feel that it was a privilege to serve, I was fairly compensated during my time and I have continued to enjoy benefits such as the 9/11 GI Bill. Tricare for life and now my military retirement so I’m being thanked quite enough, already. I don’t need hero worship. I did my duty.
JMG
One of my son’s best friends in high school went to West Point. He’s a captain in the Special Forces, two Bronze Stars in Afghanistan, and will graduate Kennedy School to teach poli sci back at the Point for a few years. Obviously, the officer track is way different than the enlisted one (although all the Special Forces tend to be lifers until they can’t physically do it).But I remember how when he was a second lieutenant in plain old infantry, he learned that one of his main duties was teaching his enlisted men the basics of living on their own away from home as they were so young. It is as close to higher education as some of those guys will ever get. I respect their decision, and I’m glad we have people like my son’s friend in the service, but that’s as far as I go. Veterans deserve excellent benefits, which do not include adoration by the rest of us.
john fremont
@Suzanne: Thanks for that Suzanne. I’m a lurker here, but as a veteran I agree with what you said. There are many of us that had jobs but we’re looking for something else at the time. It also ticks me off that being a veteran I ‘m supposed to follow whatever active duty military and other veterans prefer. Since active duty military and vets supported Trump it’s expected that I do the same.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: Ah, so it’s a period piece.
scav
@Suzanne: And their “fighting for free speach” does not come with the guarantee that their opinions trump all others, on all subjects, forever-after, amen.
philadelphialawyer
@efgoldman:Shouldn’t be any.
https://paycheck-chronicles.military.com/2014/02/18/military-and-food-stamps/
Betty Cracker
@Mike J: The bowing and scraping was on full display at the GOP congresscritter’s town hall I attended earlier today. It’s creepy.
john fremont
@scav: This!!!
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: In more ways than one.
Yarrow
@Gelfling 545: I think there’s a fair amount of guilt. Only a small percentage of our population actually join the military so I think some of it is people assuaging their guilt. “I didn’t serve but if I praise this person who did then I’ll be doing something.” Just like the magnetic yellow ribbons on their SUVs. I think for a subset of the population there may also be residual guilt for how poorly Vietnam vets were treated.
Suzanne
@Seth Owen: Of the people in my social circle who served/are serving who are in my generational cohort, only one of them did so because he felt a duty or responsibility to service. I have unbelievable respect for him, as I do for my aunt, who was in the Army Nurse Corps in the Vietnam era. But everyone else in my group (and yes, I realize that that is a limited circle) joined because they were some combination of unsuccessful in the civilian workforce, weren’t prepared for or inclined toward college, and broke AF and attracted to the benefits. None of those are bad reasons to join, but they are not reasons for me to treat those people as if they are better or more valuable to society than anyone else we know who works hard, raises families, and in general makes society a better place.
SiubhanDuinne
@Aimai:
Yes! First thing I thought of (perhaps because I only recently read Lynn Peril’s book Pink Think, which took me right back to those not-so-long-ago days). One of the very worst things about any unequal or asymmetrical relationship is the way it invites, if not demands, the development of manipulative skills on the part of the “weaker” entity. It may be inherent: any three-year-old knows instinctively how to do this with their parents. Respectful deference is one thing; forelock-tugging and dissimulation, something else altogether.
Pink Think link.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the transformation of the NFL into some kind of quasi-military organization, at the very least as a form of entertainment meant for “the troops” first and the rest of us later, is one of the worst things about the creeping Spartanism of our culture. “Colin Kaepernick is disrespecting the troops!” Of course the comic side of this was Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction, FoxNews pundits solemnly borrowing the supposed outrage of “our troops” fighting in Iraq, forced to endure four nano-seconds of an exposed breast!
debbie
@Aimai:
Trump was born 50 years too late.
Baud
I could probably make some money teaching CEOs how to giggle diffidently.
SiubhanDuinne
@Suzanne:
O/T, but did you see the commenter link in Betty C’s thread downstairs that shows a billboard in Phoenix with $wastikas and Mushroom Clowns surrounding Trump’s face? Have you had occasion to see the actual billboard? (Possibly you already answered this; haven’t checked that thread in a while.)
Baud
@debbie: Ain’t no way Trump’s pansy ass gets respect in 50-years-ago America.
Suzanne
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, I saw both the comment and the billboard. I work in central Phoenix and that billboard is close to my office. I also saw the MAGA billboard that got vandalized with swastikas a few months back.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@Baud:
There’s no ‘kind of’ about it…
The man’s a new, prototypical WMD, all on his own… weaponized insanity…
randy khan
@Hal:
He actually looks like he might be reasonably qualified for the job. He’s a partner in a high-powered New York firm and has done a lot of high stakes litigation.
MattF
@randy khan: It’s fair to note that Trump has a great deal of experience in choosing lawyers.
Gravenstone
@Immanentize: Calling someone your personal hero is one thing. Demanding that anyone in uniform be revered and treated as a hero is an entirely different kettle of idolatry.
JMG
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The NFL has been overtly militaristic since well before the first Super Bowl.
Chet Murthy
I remember when the Gulf War was -just- about to start. I was 26, and thought to myself: if drafted, I’d opt for prison. B/c we had no business fighting that war, unless the entire Bush clan (and lots of others) went to prison -first-.
It was a live issue, b/c selective service registration for males was a new thing back then — I remembered when I had to sign up.
In my lifetime, there’s been precious little combat that our soldiers have fought, that hasn’t worsened our safety and security (at the cost of many, many thousands of lives): basically the first month or two of the Afghan war. And that’s it. Not Vietnam, not Grenada, not Gulf War, not Iraq War. Just pointless, couterproductive, morally bankrupt militarism.
ETA: I could agree to: “I find the way our country used you to be odious in the extreme, but I appreciate that you served nevertheless”. In the absence of robust war crimes prosecutions, I see no moral position that offers unqualified support to soldiers.
Chris
@Betty Cracker:
What’s really skeevy is that the “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!” chants don’t even need to be tangentially related to the military anymore. Military-worship is broken out fucking incessantly nowadays just as an all-purpose “shut up that’s why.” Someone said a transgender star was brave for coming out of the closet? Cue the whine that “oh YEAH? Well the TROOPS are even BRAVER.” Someone said minimum wage workers should be paid fifteen dollars an hour? Cue the “oh YEAH? Well the TROOPS work a lot HARDER than THEY do.” Someone wants to do something for refugees, prisoners, God knows who? Cue the “oh YEAH? Well I wish you cared about THE TROOPS as much you do about THOSE people!”
“Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.”
“OH YEAH? What about THE TROOPS? You think THEY’RE having a very happy day over there, in AFGHANISTAN? I DON’T think so. But you just don’t CARE about that, DO you?”
James E Powell
@Mike J:
Added to those are nearly every single public sporting event along with the broadcasts of same.
Keith P.
5. Or, just skip #s 1-4 and pay a couple of hookers to piss on each other while he watches.
catclub
@Aimai: well put.
Doing the right thing, or telling truth to power have no place in this conversation.
Suzanne
@Chris: The worst one is he “Support refugees?! When we have veterans living on the streets?! TAKE CARE OF VETERANS BEFORE REFUGEES!”. Such unbelievable bullshit. Especially because I guaran-fucking-tee you that the people saying that nonsense haven’t done shit for veterans.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@JMG: @James E Powell: I’m trying to remember if the MLB playoffs/World Series had the same kind of attempts at sentimental militarization, for lack of a better term. I don’t remember the “Hi Mom!” videos or shots of active duty military watching the game. I’m sure some active duty/vets did things like throw out the first pitch or sing the national anthem, but I don’t remember it being as relentless as it is with the NFL. I watch a little hockey and almost no basketball, not enough to notice that kind of ceremonial stuff.
liberal
@Chet Murthy:
A great relatively new school of work on this stuff surrounds Jeff McMahan’s Killing in War.
catclub
@Chet Murthy: My response is: Pay your damn taxes and then ask that VA benefits be increased.
OTOH: Pissing on Veterans is the US tradition. Post WW2 was an aberration.
schrodingers_cat
Girls can do anything, including climb Mt Everest at 13.
JPL
NCAA Spoiler
If Trump had filled out a bracket, he’d pick Wisconsin. just sayin
SiubhanDuinne
@randy khan:
On the merits, he is probably very well qualified for the job. The problem is that he is married to one of the President’s closest advisors. There needs to be some separation.
Similarly, of all of Trump’s Cabinet appointments, Elaine Chao (Sec’y of Transportation) is quite likely as qualified as, if not more qualified than, anyone for that job. But the fact that her husband is Majority Leader in the U.S. Senate makes her appointment unacceptable to me, or at least worthy of deep scrutiny.
Not to mention the whole Ivanka-Jared thing.
raven
@Betty Cracker: I’d like to see just what “promises” we’re talking about?
Aleta
@Betty Cracker:
Seems like Republicans politicians are trying to project an image that is supposed to resemble a military man. (Even if they didn’t serve. Even Trump.) Though it’s closer to a movie character. Straight talking, abrupt. Gets the job done. Believes in action, not talk and meetings. Can do anything he has to. Knows more than you. Gives commands you’d better follow or be sorry. Knows his way around any gun. The Republican Congress seems to aspire to military discipline. They don’t like to explain or give ground; that would weaken their image.
catclub
@Suzanne:
There was this black guy and his wife who did lots of ‘Hire The Vets’ stuff. He got tons of credit for it with these people who demand we salute the troops.
Villago Delenda Est
@Chris: These things are all amazingly easy to say if you’re doing it from the parking lot of a mall in Illinois. It actually betrays just how precious the snowflakes spouting such shit actually are.
If you do a reverse on it, as I have, by saying “look, buddy, I didn’t freeze my ass off in Germany so you could be a racist, sexist, homophobe bigot” they get all testy with me, starting with “thank you for your service, but…” and then proceeding, even though they don’t realize it, to validate everything I just said to them.
Suzanne
@James E Powell: Last weekend, Mr. Suzanne and I took the Spawns to the Ostrich Festival. That’s an event in Chandler, which is a suburb of Phoenix, and it supposedly honors the city founder, who was a veterinarian. Anyway, we hadn’t been in a few years, and the last time we went, it was very County Fair-ish, with animals and little rides and stuff. But this year, it was a giant event, and ultra-trashy. We only wanted to attend the ostrich races, but they kicked off OSTRICH RACES with this whole extended genuflecting to the flag. But the crazy thing is that the flag was totally desecrated—-covered in fucking yellow fringe and reflective tape and sequins. It was ludicrous. We watched the ostrich races and then left.
Real ‘Merica: where ostrich races can’t get underway until we pledge allegiance to shitty craft supplies.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Suzanne: I hope they bought the glitter at Hobby Lobby
JMG
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Many of the military fetish ceremonies at NFL games were paid for by the Dept. of Defense out of the recruiting budget. The league doesn’t do much unless there’s a nickel in it.
Death Panel Truck
@Yarrow: The one that annoys me the most is the “Let’s see how many likes we can get for the troops!” bullshit on Facebook. If you were to suggest to these people that it might be a better idea to visit wounded veterans at VA hospitals, they’d look at you as if you were crazy, and stammer, “B-b-b-but I have a yellow magnet on my car! Why do you hate the troops?”
Hal
@Chris: I had a friend on Facebook go on a multi post rampage over Colin Kaepernick because of all the veteran’s who fought for him and he isn’t going to stand for the anthem!?!?!?
Service members are a catchall for a person’s supposed love of America and another Avenue to beat people who feel differently over the head, figuratively speaking.
Joejosh999
@Hal: QUASI Military resources??
Our idiot SoS is about to have us go to war w N Korea.
Of course, should California get nuked, Trump could care less.
But he is in charge of the greatest nuclear arsenal in the world. Which can destroy the world many times over. And seems quite curious about using them.
Not QUASI!
JMG
Off topic, and very sad news indeed. It has been reported by his local TV and the BBC that Chuck Berry has died.
randy khan
@JMG:
He was 90, so not bad. Actually, for a rock and roll guy, getting to 90 is pretty darned good.
debit
One of my coworker’s has a son who enlisted for National Guard because he was having trouble holding down a regular job and he was offered some sort of signing bonus. Coworker immediately started in on his sacrifice, how hard this would be on (and her) and joined all these “military moms” groups and talked about NOTHING ELSE FOR MONTHS. One day, the subject of flag burning came up and someone else said, “People who do that should be thrown in jail.” I asked why. Military Mom puffed up and shrieked, “My son is risking his life to protect that flag!”
I told Military Mom and coworker, that no, actually, he was serving to protect MY right to fly the flag, wrap myself up in it, burn or wipe my ass with it, if I wanted to. I also pointed out that one disposes of a worn out flag by burning it. It was a little chilly in the office for the next week or so.
ThresherK
@Aimai: This presidency has eclipsed the “How to catch your man” column. We may have already gone by the “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” metaphor.
randy khan
@SiubhanDuinne:
With these folks, qualified is a miracle, so I’ll take what I can get. It’s not like the head of the civil division is likely to file cases that the President doesn’t want filed, or refuse to defend cases the President wants to defend.
MomSense
Speaking of breaking America, Chuck Berry died and America’s heart is broken.
debit
@JMG: I wonder how his cousin, Marvin, is taking it.
bystander
@Betty Cracker:
Worship of the military is the tonguebath they get instead of a well-funded VA and programs that would actually benefit and be responsive to them. It’s the economically sensible way to encourage self-reliance.
ThresherK
@debit: He’s incommunicado right now. I think he’s still doing the soundcheck for the “Enchantment Under the Sea” dance.
Jeffro
There seem to be plenty of opportunities to embarrass Trump since he reacts to whatever he sees on Fox (especially “Fox & Friends”) and since his minions are so stupid they simply scan headlines and assume articles are pro-Trump (like the Alexandra Petri one yesterday), not to mention Google things on the fly and actually include it in Trump’s speeches (like the “Irish proverb” yesterday that turned out to be a piece of Nigerian poetry).
It’s a monumental level of stupid that we really ought to take advantage of more often.
ThresherK
@MomSense: I am a sucker for the Baroque and Roll version.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@JMG: From Wiipedia:
Great description of his music… Louis Jordan, Nat King Cole, Charlie Christian, & Muddy Waters…
Wonderful… never heard of Carl Hogan before… I’ll have to look him up…
ETA: Ooops… Jordan’s guitar player, which means I’ve heard him play and just didn’t know who that was…
Brachiator
@JMG:
Chuck Berry is motivatin’ over that hill into rock n roll heaven
Keith P.
@Brachiator: Even though he stole his sound from a young white kid, RIP Chuck Berry.
SiubhanDuinne
By the way, Anne Laurie, shout-out for the Trollope reference!
raven
@Brachiator: He played a gig in Decatur, IL in the early 70’s. Packed house and he announced he did get enough money and wouldn’t play until the crown took up a collection. Couple of us had hats and we joined in the collection but HE didn’t get it!
SiubhanDuinne
@debit:
??
Marvin Gaye, you mean? Were they related? Didn’t know. Off to Google.
raven
Hail Hail Rock and Roll.
Drop the coin right into the slot. . .
germy
Even though he was ninety, I was shocked to hear about Chuck Berry. I’ve been waiting for his new album “Chuck” to come out. I was hoping he’d be around for its release.
He was one of the architects, along with Little Richard and Sister Rosetta Tharpe.
Thru the Looking Glass...
@SiubhanDuinne: No, Marvin Berry…
Keith G
I am still white hot angry at certain pockets of Democratic establishment who ran an election that could not, in the end, win the presidency.
The key lesson from that fiasco is: Do not fight the man first. Argue the policy. Trump’s biggest loses now are caused by a growing realization that his policies will maul the economically desperate working class that was important to his support.
germy
D58826
@germy: His Johnny B Goode was one of the first rock songs that I remember listening to, back in the day when radio still had tubes
Keith P.
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
Hehe
germy
@D58826: I’m glad he insisted on getting a cut of the “Surfin’ USA” royalties.
eclare
@Aimai: Wow, excellent point! Never thought of it that way.
SiubhanDuinne
@Thru the Looking Glass…:
Okay, I’m not really very knowledgeable about rock. I know a few names and a few songs, that’s it. Never heard of Marvin Berry (although I see your link is to The Onion, so now I don’t know what to think).
raven
@SiubhanDuinne:
germy
@SiubhanDuinne: In “Back To The Future” Michael J. Fox goes back in time and plays Chuck Berry guitar licks (before Chuck Berry has a chance). Chuck’s (fictitious) “cousin” hears, calls Chuck on a payphone and says “You gotta hear this!” The joke is that Michael J. Fox invented the Chuck Berry sound.
EDIT: Raven’s explanation is best.
raven
@germy: Cut and paste,
Keith P.
@germy: The real joke is that rock n roll was stolen from black people who actually stole it from white people. BTTF II reinforced that white people invented rock (and blues) by having a grizzled old 3-piece band that looked suspiciously like ZZ Top rock the shit out of Hill Valley.
SiubhanDuinne
@randy khan:
I get where you’re coming from, but that just seems like “normalizing” to me.
raven
@SiubhanDuinne: This is Nat King Cole’s brother
Freddy Cole performs “I’m Not My Brother, I’m Me”
germy
Little Richard still lives, although I believe he’s in poor health.
Keith P.
@Keith P.: So, in summary, Robert Zemeckis is a racist monster.
maeve
Don’t bring a girl to the table to represent you – she will have girl cooties and he won’t even shake her hand,
Or do bring it – he can’t even cope
Thru the Looking Glass...
@SiubhanDuinne: It’s a gag from Back to the Future…
Looks like Michael J Fox was actually a pretty decent guitar player…
raven
@germy:
efgoldman
@Keith G:
Politicians (and consultants), like generals, are always prepared to fight the last war.
Nobody, and I mean nobody, thought it as wrong at the time to make a frontal assault on the Shitgibbon.
germy
@Keith P.: Do you remember the band “Blues Hammer” from the movie Ghost World?
tobie
@SiubhanDuinne: Neither Chao’s nor Conway’s appointment violates the letter of the the anti-nepotism statute, since neither is a relative of Trump, but the whole thing still stinks of cronyism. Jared’s appointment by contrast does seem to violate the law but far be it from this Congress to do anything about it.
I’ve always disliked Jim Baker but these days I burn in rage at him for promoting this doofus, know-nothing Texan to be secretary of state. He is so manifestly unqualified for the job. He knows nothing about diplomacy, history, or the obligations of being a public servant. Both McCain and Graham said they approved Tillerson’s appointment because Baker and Bob Gates vouched for him. They gave him legitimacy.
Chyron HR
@Keith G:
62 million people voted for this.
100 million just didn’t care.
But, yes, clearly the the only people in the country who actually tried to stop him are the ones to blame.
germy
@raven: Little Richard was so ahead of his time it isn’t even funny. I’m glad he’s still around.
raven
@germy: Little Richard – Lucille (1957)
germy
Robert Zemeckis had the bright idea to do a remake of “Yellow Submarine” with his patented uncanny valley Polar Express animation. For some strange reason, the project fell apart.
Phylllis
@SiubhanDuinne: Back to the Future reference.
ETA: Always refresh before responding.
Villago Delenda Est
@germy: Zemeckis also gave us Forrest Gump which is a pretty serious offense in and of itself.
Keith P.
@germy: Never saw Ghost World but just caught a clip. Holy shit…when the guy growls “BEEN PICKIN’ COTTON!”, I died.
germy
@Keith P.: Yup.
In the clip you can see the opening act, an authentic blues man is barely noticed by the crowd. But they go crazy when “Blues Hammer” takes the stage.
Ruckus
@Betty Cracker:
Exactly.
Jim Parene
@Suzanne: The country’s fettish for the military is way out of proporation to the good that the military does for the country.
WWII & possibly the “Civil War” are the conflicts that, in my view, come close to being “just” wars. The remaining conflicts have all been in the name of imperialism and corrupt capitalism..
Military dudes who insist that they are all super shiny knights in god’s armor are severly distorting their real worth to society.
Suzanne
@efgoldman: Not to mention, I don’t think fighting on policy grounds is a winner, either. People are dumb, lots of them. Lots of people voted for transparently bad or nonexistent policy positions because they needed to encapsulate their rage.
A lot of people whose lives the Dems made better turned around and voted for Trump, or stayed home. This was not a logical reaction. So we aren’t going to change their minds with logic, either.
Another Scott
@schrodingers_cat: Thanks. It looks like a great film.
Cheers,
Scott.
Ksmiami
@Brachiator: n@Suzanne: no more subtlety-time to roll out the GOP wants your money and wants you dead messaging. concise and true. I want to go medieval on their asses with blowtorches…
Another Scott
@Gravenstone: Sean Spicer is a Commander in the Naval Reserve according to his Wikipedia bio. I wonder if that contributes to him being so horribly bad at being Trump’s press secretary (maybe him thinking that the press is like his sailors, and he’s used to them accepting what he says without question)? Normal people can separate their military and their civilian jobs, but he’s so bad it makes me wonder if he’s unable to do that because he’s not normal…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Suzanne:
Bought at Hobby Lobby, no doubt. ;-)
rofl.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: D’Oh!
Cheers,
Scott.
Another Scott
@Suzanne: I think one can point to other times when fighting policy positions is a losing choice (Carter v. Reagan). Carter pointed out all kinds of things about Reagan’s policies that were horrible, but he just laughed them off and lied (“I was for a different bill!”). If a candidate is a celebrity, going after his persona might make more sense than going after his policy positions (especially if he’s a brain-damaged liar).
There was a perfect storm of things about this last race (Comey x2, marginal polling in important places, voter suppression and rules confusion, Putin and the Russians, etc., etc.). It’s easy to look back and say she should have done this or that differently. It’s hard to know how instructive it is going forward, other than the big lesson should probably be: “Expect the unexpected, and don’t take any of your voters for granted. No lead is secure until the Wednesday after.”
Cheers,
Scott.
amk
gud gawd. It’s kim jong un-american.
Central Planning
@schrodingers_cat: all the corpses on Mt Everest were once highly motivated individuals
J R in WV
@Suzanne:
Yes, true dat!
People hear me mention being in the service, and they go on to say “Oh, thanks for your service!”
You’re welcome, but!!
Dude, I was drafted and joined the Navy at the point of a gun. I did my duty, obeyed orders,, stayed out of trouble, etc. Got physically strong, had many great experiences, glad to get out when I did. jjkmmjn excuse me, that was blowing a hair off the keyboard!
Sometimes the typos are cat tracks, also too.
schrodingers_cat
@Central Planning: Poorna scaled the mountain becoming the youngest woman to do so. So what exactly is your point?
cleosmom
Lickspittle 101, for freshmen only.
cleosmom
@Jim Parene:
Our military hasn’t been “defending” anything but the profits of military contractors since the early 1950s at the latest; they should just specialize in dealing with natural disasters and be done with it. I’m fed up with this faux-religious cult of military worship.
Ella in New Mexico
@Suzanne:
Whoa there.
I really hope your are specifically referring to the 1 or 2 “enlisted people” you know because this does NOT square with the majority of people who served in the military. Living in a military town, having tons of current and ex-military enlisted folks in my family and friends circle, I can say that this statement is not only an insulting and demeaning generality, it’s just not accurate.
Barney
@SiubhanDuinne: Yes, the reference to Trollope’s tale of the disaster area surrounding Augustus Melmotte is highly appropriate. As Trollope said:
There was a 2001 BBC/PBS adaptation with David Suchet, if it sounds familiar to people who, like me, aren’t that knowledgeable about 19th century state of the nation novels.