Valued commenter Oldgold made the following observation in the morning thread:
For Trump reality is what he observes on TV. Almost nothing else matters. It is the key to understanding this bizarre and limited man.
Sounds about right to me, but I’d add this related point: There’s strong evidence (i.e., every scrap of his observed behavior over the decades) that Trump is a flaming narcissist on a scale rarely seen outside tragic tales of fallen empires. So, he’ll filter reality through the lens of TV and his untreated personality disorder.
The TV coverage of this routine courtesy bombing is what it always is — anchors framed by hastily contrived martial graphics somberly querying analysts about What It All Means and running film of missiles streaking through the sky on continuous loop.
I’ve been watching this same shit since our last dementia-addled president, Ronald Reagan. But leaving aside questions of whether this bombing was hatched to knock the Russia story off the front page, pump up Trump’s flaccid poll numbers, give Trump an excuse to lift sanctions on Russia after a tough-guy display, etc., consider how the coverage must play in his diseased mind. I’m rerunning the clip Doug posted earlier because it’s a perfect example:
.@FareedZakaria on Syria strikes: "I think Donald Trump became President of the United States" last night https://t.co/dLipRu6SZu
— New Day (@NewDay) April 7, 2017
As Doug observed, pundits just lose their fucking shit over anything remotely related to the military. Van Jones beclowned himself with the exact phrase Zakaria used above when Trump told the widow of the Navy SEAL killed in the botched Yemen raid that her husband was smiling down from heaven at the sustained applause generated by a shout-out in Trump’s speech. War boners do seem to be distributed on a bipartisan basis.
One of the things that makes narcissism so destructive is that the sweet, sweet ego hit the afflicted receives from admiration is irresistible. Like a meth head scouring a squalid slum in search of another bump, Trump will feel compelled to return again and again to any source that alleviates his soul-annihilating insecurity with an ego boost, consequences be damned. And if the richest vein of the ego-boosting narcotic is found in bombing shit, FSM help us.
Oh, and this pencil-necked, foppish, know-nothing heir to a larcenous real estate empire — along with his equally clueless bag-and-shoe mongering wife — is supposed to be the moderating force on Twitler’s megalomania:
Like I said, FSM help us. Sorry to be a gloomy gus. But electing a mentally ill demagogue is going to have consequences, and I’m afraid they’ll be more far-reaching than seeing Injustice Gorsuch’s chiseled mug on our TVs for the next 40 years as he divines new rights for corporations from the US Constitution. If Trump gets a serious war jones, Injustice Gorsuch might be the least of our problems.
MoxieM
I read this as, “Courtesy Bombing” and. well. Not more to add except that notion did not surprise me. Little does. Need to get the resistance energy going again.
PaulW
the way the media has been stroking this event “ZOMG it’s like trump is a President now” is all ego-boosting to a failed shitgibbon who lives for the praise.
like any Pavlovian response, this one-trick dog is going to keep pressing the LAUNCH button again and again to achieve this high.
hovercraft
I like the cut of your jib, Madame.
Roger Moore
Is there some way Kushner could look a little bit more out of place in that photo? Outside of something grotesquely obvious like clown makeup, I have a hard time coming up with anything.
amk
For msm morons and other ”red lining” idjits here, kenyan, the wimp, did manage to keep assad’s / putin’s itchy fingers away from chemical weapons. This happened under twitler’s watch. Catch a clue, numbnutz.
trollhattan
Ballistic vest over a blazer? Before Memorial Day? The fuck, Jared?!? Sure has that Little Lord Fauntleroy vibe, doesn’t he? Awfully Waspy of him.
laura
Handy Reichstag fire for bolstering IL Douche before the Sunday Shows.
Mike J
Speaking of what’s on TV, Billo had seven paid ads on his show last night. Think Progress says it was cut 15 minutes short, but that could have just been Fox wargasming.
Gravenstone
Yep, we’re about to witness the adverse feedback loop of Trump bombing someone/thing – pundits praising him for it – Trump watching the praise and getting a stiffy – Trump bombing someone/thing else – lather/rinse/repeat. An addict has found a new and potentially limitless source of his drug – adulation.
LurkerNoLonger
We’ve all seen this movie before. Trump does something that makes people who are paid by the word to marvel at his Presidentializing then he fucks it up 2 or 3 days later because he’s an incompetent moron. The only question is how he will fuck it up this time.
hovercraft
Speaking of the Shitgibbons pathologies.
Obama’s Legacy Impacts the Battle Between Pragmatism and the Ideologues
by Nancy LeTourneau
Over the last couple of days, we’ve been hearing a lot about the battles that are going on inside the Trump White House. I suspect that a lot of that is being driven by individual egos playing power games for dominance (something Trump seems to relish). But there are policy issues at play as well.
Since the beginning of this administration, I’ve been keeping an eye on the battle between pragmatism and the ideologues. The president himself is incapable of pragmatism. He doesn’t care what works because his only concern is what creates the impression of a “win” for him personally. That is why the praise that is being heaped on him today about the military strikes in Syria could be dangerous. If it makes Trump feel like a winner — he will be inclined to repeat it………….
On top of that, this story is gaining steam.
Reports: Trump Weighing Major Shakeup That Could Ax Priebus, Bannon
According to twin reports out Friday from Axios and the Wall Street Journal, Trump is fed up with palace intrigue stories about his top aides and is considering removing his Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Chief Strategist Steve Bannon……….
Is anyone in control over there, are there any grown ups around? Other that Jared that is.
mai naem mobile
Who the fuck wears an armor vest over a blazer? Jeezus, he looks worse than Dan Senor in that Baghdad landing in the plane picture during Dubbyas reign.
Princess Leia
Hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but is there any possibility that the Russians did the gassing SO that T could have an excuse to bomb and raise his ratings? Sure worked out that way, and all the Russians have to do is posture in the UN. In a few weeks, they will be besties again, and we know neither gives a s* about the Syrians.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@trollhattan: But he’s not wearing a tie, so it’s OK.
Yarrow
Fareed Zakaria the plagiarist? That’s not even his own opinion–he stole it from Van Jones.
Patricia Kayden
I’m actually shocked at Fareed’s reaction. What the hell? How are otherwise sensible people being seduced by the Liar-in-Chief? Sigh.
Chris
It really is amazing how little it takes for the MSM to fall all over themselves praising him to the highest heavens, compared with how nothing Hillary Clinton did (or, after his initial glow had faded – so sometime in early November, 2008 – Barack Obama) was ever good enough.
randy khan
I laughed out loud at the Kushner photo. It’s really almost as bad as Dukakis in that tank.
But on the main point, I think it’s obvious that the President will think that he should look for more opportunities to look Presidential by blowing things up. As Betty suggests, the feedback loop is pretty clear.
delk
“And what better way to terrify the caliphate than by sauntering around in a bulletproof vest that’s been personalized like a pair of Underoos, and then wearing it OVER a goddamn blazer? It’s a sharp look, one that says, “I’d like to make a war, but I’d also like a mint julep.”
link
Yarrow
@trollhattan: You can’t see what’s he’s holding in that outstretched arm, but it sure looks like it should be a riding crop.
Iowa Old Lady
In my fantasy life, whatever Trump does now ticks off the Russians and they release some salacious video or audio tape.
different-church-lady
Shorter Zakaria: “SHINY OBJECT SO SHINY!!!”
?eric
@delk: lots of tough talk from you liberals, i dont see any of you brave enough to wear your vest over your blazer before memorial day.
Yarrow
@randy khan:
It really is. And given that Trump is all about image and how people look and come across on TV and in pictures, I don’t think it’s going to help Kushner.
Renie
OMG I wish this post could be on the front page of every major newspaper in the world. It is perfect.
jimmiraybob
RE: Jared K’s dashing and striking demeanor
It kinda reminds me of photos of L Paul Bremer arriving to save Iraq. Any chance of a side by side photo compare? Is it too soon to be talking bestowing the Royal Medal of Peeance & Freeance? Ahhhh, the good old days.
SatanicPanic
Kushner is starting to look like Max Fischer from Rushmore but not in an endearing way.
different-church-lady
@Roger Moore: One word: ascot.
Patricia Kayden
@Princess Leia: You may not be too far off from the truth given that Trump warned the Russians about the strikes before he even notified Congress. And no doubt that Russia warned Assad too.
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: Fareed is just returning to his neocon roots.
Gravenstone
@randy khan: I particularly liked the big patch of tape saying “Cush”. My first thought was that it said “Push” and I’m thinking to myself, what is this some sort of reset button?
japa21
Here’s the thing. The reality is that the missiles last night did no real damage that would in anyway impact Syria’s behavior. The air base is being used today. It was, as Levenson said earlier, kabuki theater. And as has been pointed out, the administration let Russia know in advance (which means both Syria and Iran knew) so we haven’t even hear of any injuries (which is good but highlights the ineffectiveness of the strike).
While notifying the bad actors in the play, the administration let neither the State Department nor the NSC in on what was happening. Something definitely screwy there.
So Trump gets some glory except with his biggest supporters, the alt-right Bannonists, who want him to avoid any action outside our borders.
However, if the media lets the people know how the raid really went down, will they continue to approve of him in increased numbers. Probably not as all the Russia stuff will come back to the for. Will Trump feel his back is against the wall and he needs to do something bigger? And if he does, what can he do that won’t bring a stronger response form his handlers in the Kremlin. And if he doesn’t, what will happen here at home.
Somebody posted an article yesterday that talked about how Obama was leery of making a direct military strike into Syria, feeling it would be a trap. It appears Trump has walked right into that trap.
Patricia Kayden
@different-church-lady: So Fareed is willing to normalize a man who demonizes Muslims, who panders to racists, who supports other sexual harassers, etc., because of a couple of strikes which do nothing to further America’s foreign policy goals. Unbelievable. And Trump and his minions have raged against CNN being fake news. It’s as if the more you kick them, the more they pander to you.
Roger Moore
I assume everyone has seen the picture of Trump’s team monitoring the missile attack. Once again, Trump telegraphs his Obama envy by staging a photo op copying something Obama did.
germy
Onion headline:
Another Scott
RawStory:
Whoocoudaknowd?
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
(With the understanding that initial reports are often wrong…)
Chris
@Patricia Kayden:
They really are pathetic.
In middle school terms, they’re not the cool kids, they’re the kids who follow the cool kids around in the hope of being cool by association, don’t notice or care that the cool kids treat them terribly, and react by treating the other uncool kids even more terribly to reassure themselves that there are still people beneath them in the hierarchy.
(Sorry, but I can’t think of any analogy more advanced than middle school for the way the MSM punditariat behaves).
Roger Moore
@different-church-lady:
And I suppose he could try wearing a topcoat over the whole shebang. Or maybe adding in something woefully inappropriate on his head, like a burnoose.
NCSteve
This ridiculous episode (the one where we warned them to look out for the Freedom Bombs before they came and used special ones that wouldn’t break their runway or much interfere with their sortie rate) has once again showed that however much they may be rediscovering some of the rudiments of journalism, the MSM’s constantly thwarted urge to write a good normalizing normalizing “pivot” story is like a febrile sickness. They’re dying to do it, no matter how many times letting it loose ends up in humiliation and retreat.
different-church-lady
@Patricia Kayden: Completely believable, actually. He’s a cable news yapper. None of them are immune to spectacle.
germy
I thought these people were all about tort reform?
Patricia Kayden
@japa21:
This is why it’s so infuriating that the MSM is falling all over themselves to praise Trump to the highest heavens for what amounts to a charade. Arggghh!!
@schrodingers_cat: Didn’t know he had neocon roots. He’s always struck me as a smart dude. Oh well.
ruckus
Went to the Dodgers game yesterday and they made a big deal about their military hero of the day. I didn’t notice anything outstanding about the gentleman other than he’s a vet from the Middle East adventure of the last decade. The crowd ate it up, standing ovation. They liked them some military BS. We are so fucked.
schrodingers_cat
@NCSteve: Their livelihoods depend on it.
Patricia Kayden
@Roger Moore: President Obama killed Osama Bin Laden. Trump did nothing consequential. Obama wins that competition hands down.
The Moar You Know
@?eric: You have the best of me in this argument. I GODDAMN SURE AS SHIT am not brave enough to wear a vest over a blazer. Ever.
ETA: Princeling needed to wear his underwear over his pants to really maximize the effect. I am disappoint.
Roger Moore
@germy:
Tort reform means not letting peons sue anyone. It doesn’t apply to them when they want to sue anyone.
efgoldman
@Roger Moore:
A 70s disco shirt?
trollhattan
@Roger Moore:
He could sport Colbert’s Big Furry Hat. “Henceforth, all shall address me as Sir Jared the Manly, Conqueror of the Levant and Real Estate Genius”
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: Everybody hates lawyers, until they need one.
different-church-lady
The NYT makes a funny:
Riiiiiight. Like he had an actual foriegn policy beyond instinct before?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman: …with gold chains.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
They hate them more when they need them, because the other guy has lawyers, too.
germy
Drew Friedman designed covers for the NYO. When it was bought by Jared, he decided to introduce himself at a party (Jared had purchased the original of one of his covers)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore: Yes, but they hate the enemy’s lawyers; their own lawyer is dreamy.
Mike in NC
@jimmiraybob: Bremer affected a look of business suit worn with desert combat boots. Not sure what footwear Little Jared was wearing. Possibly white loafers?
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: His first book garnered high praise from none other than Niall Ferguson. He is smarter than the average Punditubbie bloviating on TV.
germy
@different-church-lady:
I like their choice of words. “Upends” sounds like what a toddler does to a cereal bowl.
schrodingers_cat
@Roger Moore: Top hat.
efgoldman
@Iowa Old Lady:
Not quite, but they have criticized him in language I don’t recall in peacetime diplomacy:
That last paragraph, particularly, is a fierce, fierce burn.
max
Great post, Betty!
War boners do seem to be distributed on a bipartisan basis.
There’s a difference between having expertise and being an elite type (one could be neither, both or either), and all those high muckety-mucks busy demonstrating the distinction between the two states.
max
[‘These folks make the end timers looks like sane, relaxed people.’]
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
I think I specified nothing grotesquely obvious. I chose clown makeup as an example, but I think a 70s disco shirt (or a polyester leisure suit) would qualify.
The Moar You Know
@germy: Oh, that is beautiful. She’s so fucking stupid.
One of the things her party worked VERY HARD to accomplish was to make sure that if you spoke outside of work, on your own time, and that speech was embarrassing to your employer, or made them look bad, that you could be fired. And you can be, unless you have an employment contract that says you have the right to make your employer look like an asshole. Doubt there’s a lot of those contracts floating around out there.
So sorry, Tomi, maybe you should have voted for the people who, you know, thought that ruining people’s livelihoods for speech outside the workplace wasn’t a good idea. Oh well. Too late for you.
amk
@efgoldman:
Well played, med.
germy
@The Moar You Know:
She never dreamed those rules would apply to her, apparently.
Chyron HR
@germy:
Wow, The Prince really oversold Cesare’s people skills.
germy
@Chyron HR: It’s a gift, really.
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Oh CHRIST no. That means said shirt would be open halfway down
OTOH, he could get a wicked sunburn there in the desert, not a bad thing.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@efgoldman:
I see you do remember the 70’s.
Roger Moore
@Roger Moore:
On further reflection, he could look more out of place by trying to copy the soldiers badly, e.g. toting an M-4.
?eric
@schrodingers_cat: monicle
Roger Moore
@germy:
An evergreen comment about Republicans in general.
Mike J
@efgoldman:
Best way to wear body armor.
Thru the Looking Glass...
The truth… it has a way of leaking out…
The Moar You Know
@efgoldman: I hope that this is all kabuki. Really do, because if Trump truly HAS double-crossed the Russians, he’s going to cross paths with a rouge bathtub in a very short amount of time and we really don’t need that, awful as he is.
trollhattan
NY Mag’s Eric Levitz has similar thoughts to Betty’s. In addition to citing the same suspects noted above, he considers Trump’s turnaround on the first soldier killed under his watch.
Steve in the ATL
@hovercraft:
Indeed! And when lifelong Florida residents are calling shit out for being fucked up and bullshit, you know it’s bad.
Yarrow
@trollhattan:
That is a really good title. Trump’s base is the media. They’re responding just as he wanted and he’ll give them more.
SatanicPanic
@The Moar You Know: yeah, things will get really ugly if that’s what happened. hopefully the Republicans would step up and impeach him before he got us into too much trouble…
nevermind, that’s never going to happen. Damn, this would be very bad.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
damn– I guess the man isn’t that complicated, and they have specialists who watch American politics, but that really does hit the man where he lives
@Iowa Old Lady: I don’t think it’s even a question of Putin getting mad. Helping trump was the means to an end. Helping him made us less stable and thus weaker, if he had lost, they would have kept up with the fake news to hurt Clinton. Now that he’s President, I think they’ll want to undermine him.
Reuters says Syrian planes are already flying out of the airbase where we (“we”) Accomplished our Mission last night. Nobody tell Fareed.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker @ Top:
I’m calling him Thief Justice Neil Plagiarist.
D58826
@Roger Moore: WELL he did leave his polo mallet and pony behind
Joyce H
@Roger Moore:
My thoughts exactly! I’d be willing to bet that the chance of getting that photograph played a decisive role in Trump’s decision to go with the air strikes. I’m sure he believes that if he can just replicate Obama’s visuals, he’ll gain the same level of popularity and respect that Obama had. It’s all about how it plays on television, right?
Steve in the ATL
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Trying very hard to be offended by this, but there’s so much truth there….
Back in my misspent youth as a litigator, we lawyers used to get a kick out of butting heads in court, then going out together for lunch or cocktails. Clients would get furious, but we’d remind them that we lawyers see each other repeatedly in litigation and it helps to have a professional rapport to make future matters go more smoothly. Also we were frequently members of the same clubs, and one wouldn’t want to feel awkward on the golf course or at a fancy dress ball.
Feebog
@Mike in NC:
No, no, no, no. You can’t wear white loafers until after Memorial Day. Oxblood with fancy tassels is the Spring look.
Roger Moore
@Joyce H:
No. It’s about how it plays in Trump’s head.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodingers_cat: Dang. That’s pretty bad. Niall is beyond odious. For him to praise Zakaria’s book says a whole lot.
trollhattan
@Joyce H: He’s just so Chauncey Gardiner (“I like to watch”) only without the innocent side.
LBJ famously had his Oval Office three-set TV console so he could follow the three networks simultaneously, which had quite an effect back when there were but three. Now Trump’s never without something to watch, and watch he does.
danielx
@mai naem mobile:
Oh yeah, the one where he was wearing the helmet and looked like he was pissing his pants.
Patricia Kayden
@LurkerNoLonger: Trump messing things up is Trump being Trump. He cannot help himself and he cannot do any better. What I find shocking is this overwhelming urge on the part of journalists to find ways to normalize Trump when Trump does something remotely non-crazy or something that can be interpreted to be non-crazy. It’s like the MSM is rooting for him to do good. I don’t understand that at all.
jl
It’s all OK as long as the big shots send them to slog through horrible messes that the big shots created, on ethically challenged and impossible missions. And as long as the big shots mistreat their families and the veterans themselves after they get back.
Anything and everything is OK if it allows big shots to preen on TV.
efgoldman
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Oh hell yes. I had some of those shirts.
My girlfriend at the time bought them for me.
schrodingers_cat
@efgoldman: OMG I have seen my parents photos. Its like everyone’s good taste was on vacation. Truly hideous.
Mary G
It was obvious Kushner was an idiot when on their first White House tour, sometime after the election, he was surprised that none of the people in the WH would be staying and Trump would have to hire a whole new set. Lord, you’ve been campaigning for months with your idiot FIL and you don’t do any research on the basic setup of the job he unexpectedly won?
ruemara
@Princess Leia: You’re not the only one who feels this way. These are sociopaths looting the world who want to set up dynastic power. They don’t give a fuck who they kill in the process.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Steve in the ATL: I used to work for attorneys, I know these things.
different-church-lady
@Mary G: Whereas Trump was surprised any of them were still there.
different-church-lady
@Steve in the ATL: are you home yet?
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Roger Moore:
There’s a difference?
efgoldman
@Steve in the ATL: You home, finally?
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: Niall thinks British Empire was a boon to India. He fucking said that in India at Literature festival, I don’t know whether he was booed. I definitely would have if I was there.
Iowa Old Lady
@schrodingers_cat: My son points to pics of Mr IOL wearing striped bell bottoms and asks, “Didn’t anyone tell you your pants were ugly?”
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I’ve managed to avoid cable all day. Is our Fareeds learning?
And McCain, Graham and a whole bunch of retired military will be on TV egging him on. Barry McCaffrey in particular sounds like he’s been jonesing for this war for years.
different-church-lady
@Iowa Old Lady: “Son, you have to understand: all pants were ugly back then.”
schrodingers_cat
@Iowa Old Lady: My father had some hideous bell bottoms with huge checks, like a tartan on acid. Plus the glasses with huge frames.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Iowa Old Lady: and did Mr IOL explain the meaning of the word “groovy” to the lad?
hueyplong
@schrodingers_cat: Been there, done that. Attempt to destroy all evidence developed not necessarily to my advantage.
efgoldman
@Joyce H:
I’m pretty sure the generals could task somebody with pulling screenshots and clips from realistic war video games, and Nectarine Nuisance wouldn’t know the difference.
schrodingers_cat
@hueyplong: Did you also have huge side burns and a porn stache?
randy khan
In other, more amusing news, the Trump Organization has settled its lawsuit with Jose Andres, who pulled out of his agreement to have a restaurant at the Washington hotel. Reading between the lines, it seems that Andres paid nothing and the Trump Organization agreed to help with his charities.* Hmm. Maybe that deposition before inauguration didn’t go well.
Friends now (or maybe not)
*No, I’m not expecting that said help ever will materialize.
efgoldman
@schrodingers_cat:
And that’s what followed after hippie chic.
I’ve said before that when our daughter found our (1977) wedding pictures, she didn’t, and still doesn’t, know whether to laugh or vomit.
Bill Arnold
@Princess Leia:
I outlined such a theory in a previous thread, so yes, you’ve confirmed that this theory is obvious enough that it will gain circulation. We should expect to see more of it, and embellished.
schrodingers_cat
@efgoldman: Not so chic actually. Comrade from Vt still seems to be trapped in that time warp.
Steve in the ATL
@different-church-lady: @efgoldman: hit my driveway at 6:20 this morning! I’m not accustomed to staying up for 24 hours straight anymore, so today has been largely a waste. Fortunately, a brain operating at 60% is perfect for watching golf. Missed yesterday’s round; was offered badges for tomorrow but I’m too tired to drive to Augusta now.
I posted when I landed at 4:30 am, but I assume all sane people, and most BJ posters, were asleep. Atlanta airport looked like a refugee camp with people sleeping everywhere imaginable or sitting up looking dazed, swaddled in red Delta blankets. Took me another hour to get my suitcase, which arrived a day earlier than I. Lots of folks abandoning their flights and driving the rest of the way. Lots of spring break travelers missing important beach and alcohol time.
One of my labor guys was in Atlanta for meetings and couldn’t get out on Thursday–he’s stuck here until Sunday. Luckily, his brother lives here and is a golf pro so he a place to stay and a course to play. A couple of lawyer buddies are stuck in DC and NYC. Delta said your diamond status doesn’t matter, there are simply no flights into Atlanta until Sunday at the earliest. Over 3,000 Delta fights cancelled.
I think I mentioned last night that the most tragic story I heard came from my neighbor in the Delta line at Logan: she lives in Palm Beach, where life is terrible because when shithead is in town she has to use the OTHER bridge to get to her house, adding almost two miles to her drive, and she wasn’t going to be able to get to Kentucky in time to see her horse race. And the horse already has 54 points towards the Kentucky Derby!!11!! Not sure what that means, but I’m sure some of you rich folks do.
Clearly, shit is fucked up and bullshit.
WaterGirl
I just saw the news. It feels like election night all over again. I feel sick to my stomach.
lollipopguild
@Mary G: Clueless people who live in their own separate universe and assume that they always will get what they want handed to them.
Steve in the ATL
@schrodingers_cat:
I was meeting with some sales managers earlier this week and they were complaining about a rep–“he’s bald, but somehow his hair is still messed up every day! How is that possible?” My reply: “have you seen [Wilmer]?”
Bill Arnold
@germy:
Yes, that headline looks … crafted to irritate Trump. (As he should be.) Smiled.
lollipopguild
@Steve in the ATL: Only 20 horses are allowed in the derby. The horses earn points toward the derby by win/place/show in races that lead up to the derby. Keeneland in Lexington was probably where her horse was running.
Patricia Kayden
@randy khan: Good on Andres for standing up against Trump’s bigotry. If his restaurants weren’t so expensive, I’d check one of them out. I see he has two in D.C.
JPL
@Steve in the ATL: Yup and if you shared her story with those sleeping on the floor at Hartsfield, they would not be amused.
Patricia Kayden
@schrodingers_cat: Wow. He has quite the balls of steel to say that in front of Indians in India!! Chutzpah.
efgoldman
@Steve in the ATL:
What a shitty ordeal, for you and all those other poor bastards.
I know Delta basically owns Atlanta airport, but other airlines fly there, too. Was it all shut down?
This is why, in the winter, we spend the eight hours on the train to DC even though it’s only a 70 minute flight.
Mnemosyne
Temporary relief for those who need it: Emma Watson being interviewed while playing with kittens and talking up feminism.
ETA: Non-Facebook link
efgoldman
@Patricia Kayden:
Occam says plain old stupidity.
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: He tried to walk it back a little by making some lame joke about cricket and tea, IIRC.
chopper
this bullshit all really got started with CNN and the first gulf war. people saw that they could now watch bombs drop and what-not in real time on TV (24-hour coverage!) and they lost their shit. war suddenly became one big video game.
Baud
We should have a pool on which pundit will be the next one to declare that Trump is now the president of the United States.
Baud
I’m glad no one was killed in the attack.
Steve in the ATL
@lollipopguild:
Yes–that’s it, my 1% friend! The horse’s name was Tiprit or something like that–the chick had a weird accent and I had had a few cocktails at that point (at Lucky’s!) with a London banker and his drunk as shit girlfriend from Marietta, Ohio, where her father owns two of the three largest portable rock crushers in the US (I made a note of it as I thought she might be useful if I needed to “disappear” a union thug or two).
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: All of them Katie. My money is on Tweety.
Bill Arnold
@germy:
OMG, that deserves broader distribution. Trump trusts this guy to whisper in his ear? Whole article is worth reading: Illustrator Drew Friedman writes about working for Jared Kushner
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: Good pick.
chopper
@Roger Moore:
LOL. one one hand you have a guy sending in seal team 6 to ice bin laden. on the other hand you have a guy sending some cruise missiles at an empty airfield. yeah, that’s the fuckin’ same.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: I just saw that Wilmer and Tom Perez are going on a tour!
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: flights from all airlines going to all cities were impacted. While we were drinking at Lucky’s, my commercial door business owning tablemate from NH got a text that his Southwest flight from Boston to Indianapolis was cancelled. He may then have regretted the Jameson shots and Guinnesses as he had to drive back home. But hey live free or die!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
This seems bigly cromulent
The picture is from Powell’s pre-war speech to the UN. He’s holding up a vial of something, my memory is fuzzy on the props at that event. I mostly remember the story about St Colin is said to have flung the draft of his own speech, prepared by the White House, and yelling, this is bullshit.
Baud
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Isn’t that the same thing McCain yelled as he voted to get rid of the filibuster.
It’s the internal conflict that counts.
Iowa Old Lady
@Steve in the ATL: Friend had to go to DC for work on Wednesday and was supposed to fly home yesterday morning. Then her flight was cancelled, and so was the evening one on which she was rescheduled. The only flight she could get today is this evening and lands in the wrong state. She’ll rent a car and drive four hours to home.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: Nice to see that Bernie can deign to be in the presence of Democrats. Hope he can refrain from criticizing them during this tour.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: He’ll just get a thrill up his leg.
Villago Delenda Est
War pr0n is good for the MSM’s bottom line, so of course all there slavering lickspittle talking heads are going to wet themselves in ecstasy over this $100 million waste of perfectly good cruise missiles.
My nym. Again and again.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Baud
@Patricia Kayden: I know! Can’t wait to see what happens.
LurkerNoLonger
@Patricia Kayden: I don’t understand it either. But I choose not to watch cable news so I don’t know what their motivation is. You would think as many times as they have been burned they would want to give it 24 hours before praising anything this idiot does.
Baud
@LurkerNoLonger: All they are about is eyeballs. Eyeballs for the praise, eyeballs for the downfall.
Steve in the ATL
@Iowa Old Lady: yeah, lots of stories like that one. ATL ran out of cars pretty quickly. Good thing I had my own parked there!
Why didn’t your friend simply hop on a high speed train?
ETA: I had my passport on me, so I told the Delta agent that if they wanted to route me through Paris or Cancun or something, that would be cool. Bastards put me on a direct flight.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Patricia Kayden: I’m imagining the conversation on the plane “While you were on the Tom Harmann show yelling about what Democrats should do for working people, here’s what I actually did…”. While Wilmer in his head relives that moment with the birdie.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Villago Delenda Est: feed them all to chimps
Patricia Kayden
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Colin Powell’s UN speech was full of lies. His speech was Trumpian in how it presented falsehoods as truth. Who can Trump push forward to give a similar speech for his warmongering?
Baud
FWIW, it does appear that Trump’s Syrian adventure has enraged a good portion of his racist base. I don’t understand that world, but there it is.
ETA: Maybe nativist base is more accurate here.
Gravenstone
@Steve in the ATL:
Now that’s thinking ahead.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: They like Assad for the same reason they love Putin. He hates the same people they do.
Gravenstone
@Baud: Since we know Perez has a potty mouth and ain’t afraid to use it, here’s hoping he’ll tell Uncle Crankypants to shut the fuck up the next time he starts running down the Dems in one of his tirades masquerading as a speech.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat:. But so does Trump! Their relationships are so complex.
Steve in the ATL
Phil Mickelson is one stroke off the lead as he heads into Amen Corner. Thoughts and prayers that that right wing asshole finds the water and the woods on the next few holes.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I see a road trip buddy movie in the offing!
efgoldman
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Bo-fucking-livia!
Hey, remember the old days, when the US was the leader of the free world? Those were the days. my friend. Hell, it seems like just last year….
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: I know, right?
rikyrah
50 missiles and we don’t destroy the airbase?
Iowa Old Lady
@Steve in the ATL: My friend lives in Oklahoma City. She’s lucky planes go there. But wouldn’t high speed rail be nice?
rikyrah
MomSense:
I ordered pu$$y hats for Peanut and myself today. Can’t wait to get them ???
LurkerNoLonger
@Baud: That’s why I don’t watch them. Don’t give them the eyes.
Another Scott
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The vial was simulated anthrax.
I was flabbergasted by Powell’s presentation. The PPT summary was incredibly weak. (7 page .pdf) and that was the best evidence they had to show us that Saddam had to be taken out RightNowRightNowRightNow…
:-/
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@efgoldman: Whatever happened with the Ecuador election and Assange?
efgoldman
@Steve in the ATL:
Just let the twelfth (isn’t that the famous back breaking water hole?) get to him.
schrodingers_cat
@rikyrah: I pretend to hit you and you pretend to cry. Its all a big act. To show T’s independence from his Ruskie overlords.
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: he bogeyed the first one–nice job, Balloon Juice anti-prayer circle!
Patricia Kayden
@LurkerNoLonger: After the election, I gave up on cable news too — even MSNBC which still has some good programs (Joy Reid, Rachel Maddow). Just can’t be bothered to subject myself to the same outlets which eagerly broadcasted every one of Trump’s farts and burps during the election cycle.
chopper
@rikyrah:
it became apparent very quickly that destroying the airbase wasn’t the point. apparently drumpf just dropped a hundred mil in taxpayer dollars to raise his approval rating a few points.
schrodingers_cat
@Patricia Kayden: I don’t even watch BBC World News. Katy Kay is quite the Villager.
Steve in the ATL
@Iowa Old Lady: crop dusters, maybe? I was offered a job there a few years ago–it was an AWESOME job, but I just could not in good conscience move my family to Oklahoma. Or even myself.
Gin & Tonic
@Baud: The leftist candidate won the runoff, so Julian is not being evicted.
Gin & Tonic
Maybe it’s just me, but can we have a thread with no Trump and no war? Arguing about, say, the best kind of pizza? Or whether a cocktail made of vodka and dry vermouth can be called a “Martini”? (No, it can’t.)
Baud
@Gin & Tonic: Drat. Thanks.
Timurid
@Patricia Kayden: Zakaria is two-bit jobber and hack who got promoted way above his weight class, mainly so the other Villagers and their fans can point to his brown mug whenever they’re called out as lace curtain white supremacists. Marking out for Donald Fucking Trump is just the most obvious proof that he’s garbage.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gin & Tonic: I’ll give you a topic: Bell bottoms, due for a comeback? Discuss
Steve in the ATL
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: NO.
Gin & Tonic
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: No.
Back at you: which is stupider, the mullet or the man-bun?
(((Goku))): Super Sayian Cuck
My moron boss today brought this Syrian bombing up. I told him the attack was wasteful and accomplished little because Russia was warned and in turn warned Assad. He then made the point that Trump was only bombing to see if Russia was helping Syria. Apparently they’re not supposed to be. I told him of course Russia was helping Assad, Syria is their client state, who doesn’t know that. Still thought what Trump did was good.
I wished I would have remembered to ask him if that were the case, then why wasn’t our allies, the State Department, or Congress notified?
Timurid
@Steve in the ATL:
They’re all right wing assholes. But not all of them are as careless around a hot mic…
schrodingers_cat
@Gin & Tonic: Mullet, I have never seen it look good on anyone.
Some men can carry off a man bun. Mirzya, bombed at the box office, but the visuals are arresting.
JPL
@Steve in the ATL: His associate, Billy Walters was found guilty of insider trading today. MSM portrays Phil as clean cut, while tearing down Tiger for his infidelity.
Mickelson never testified during the trial (neither did Walters), but prosecutors said the five-time major winner bought almost $2 million worth of Dean Foods stock after receiving a tip from Walters. Mickelson turned that investment into a nearly $1 million profit, which he paid to Walters to cover a gambling debt. Mickelson never was charged with a crime, but the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sued him over the ill-gotten gains and he paid back the money, plus interest.
According to Bloomberg, Walters could face a maximum of 20 years in prison over the most serious charge.
washington post
Mnemosyne
@Gin & Tonic:
I’m trying to get Adam to put up that video with Emma Watson and kittens. We’ll see.
D58826
@chopper: It seems that even many Obama hands think this was a great idea. Something that Obama should have done in 2013.
Now if this is the opening move of a major shift in policy that forces Assad out then maybe Trump deserves credit for seeing something that no one else saw. Only time will tell.
I saw one headline that Trump ‘enforces the red line’. Can someone tell me what Assad can’t do today as a result of the bombing that he could do yesterday? What happens if he launches another chemical attack?
There are a number of links on twitter that say basically ‘it’s up to the diplomacy crowd to explain why we should continue with the failed diplomatic approach’. OK fair question but then why does the pro-military approach crowd think their approach will work? Can they point to an example of US bombing that resulted in a successful outcome? I have been listening to this debate for my entire adult life. The ‘bomb them back to the stone age’ approach has never been successful not because it doesn’t work but because we didn’t drop enough bombs. Eight million tons of bombs in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia did not get the job done because LBJ didn’t unleash the military. We tried the military approach in Iraq and that hasn’t turned out so well. Truman listened to his generals, or at least one in particular, in Korea and precipitated a war with China.
The Soviets didn’t have a bleeding heart press to contend with and conducted a scorched earth policy in Afghanistan. They still were drive out with their tails between their legs. It seems they have been a bit more successful in ‘pacifying’ Chechnya but at a body count that the American public would not stand for (at least I hope they wouldn’t).
I’m just totally mystified by the entire thing.
Steve in the ATL
@Timurid: and Phil has dropped another stroke! Keep it up with the voodoo dolls, Juicers.
Yeah, most are, sadly. Maybe Bubba Watson will stop quoting scripture and be openly liberal when he finally comes out.
efgoldman
@Steve in the ATL:
Enormous Brokerage & Mutual Finds LLC, from which I’m retired, opened a huge and fast-growing satellite operations center about twelve years ago in the Dallas area, and offered HUGE bonuses, housing assistance, house *selling* assistance, moving costs, promotions, etc to move. AAnd a New England salary goes farther there, too.
Lots of people took them up on it; I never considered it.
About 1/3 of the people that moved, came back.
Big Picture Pathologist
Justin Raimondo at Antiwar.com, HQ for Hillary=Neocon warmonger memes:
‘Save Trumpism (non-interventionist, less belligerent foreign policy) from Trump.’
Poor, deluded fool.
Roger Moore
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
As hard as it is to believe, TV is more closely tethered to reality than what goes on in Trump’s head.
Steve in the ATL
@JPL: hmmm…is there any thing you can think off that might lead the media to treat Tiger differently from Phil? I’m stumped.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Gin & Tonic: a trick question! any mullet can be man-bunned, but not all man-buns can be mulleted
@Big Picture Pathologist: that’s a name I’ve seen bounce around the tubes for years, but I’ve never been quite sure who he is. I guess I can stop wondering
Steve in the ATL
@efgoldman: Toyota has been having the same issue trying to get people to move from Southern California to Dallas. Fuck that shit!
(((Goku))): Super Sayian Cuck
Stick in moderation for 15 mins after slight name change. Help?
zhena gogolia
@Gin & Tonic:
I have such bad, bad Trump fatigue. I can’t even read the Arts section of the NYTimes, because every review ends with some arch or gloomy or “clever” reference to him or his offspring. I’m now addicted to word puzzles. I just sit and do them during all the time I would have once been reading the paper. Even there — a cryptogram puzzle about “Famous Houses” had “Mar-a-Lago” as one of the entries. GAAAAHHHHH!
Mnemosyne
@Big Picture Pathologist:
It’s so weird to me that so many people saw Trump as this blank slate that they could project their desires onto. And they usually did it to justify not voting for Hillary: Trump is an isolationist, unlike Hillary!
Frankensteinbeck
@Iowa Old Lady: and @The Moar You Know:
I don’t know that I would go so far as to say Putin ordered this strike, but it did no damage to Russia or to Russia’s allies, and as a result Russia got to tell the world what an unfaithful actor the US is, while pulling out of one of the agreements negotiated with Obama about the war zone. I think Putin danced a friggin’ jig when he got the phone call that Trump wanted to bomb something to make himself feel manly.
Mnemosyne
@Steve in the ATL:
Depends on the scripture — I think a lot of so-called Christians could stand to hear a good explanation of why they’re the goats, not the sheep, in the relevant parable.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Probably just as well. The winner will likely be better for Ecuador than the wingnut he defeated, and perhaps it’s best for womankind in general for the albino sewer rat to hide out in the embassy indefinitely. He’d probably get a hero’s welcome from Trump if he were evicted anyway.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne:
The pathological hatred of Hillary I witnessed was unreal. It had nothing to do with her actions. People WANTED to hate her, too many of them supposedly liberals. They would swallow any story, no matter how cockamamie, and stick their fingers in their ears and ignore any refutation. A serious percentage of Democrats didn’t know what Hillary’s policies were, still don’t, didn’t care, and assume now that if any of them are liberal they must have been pushed on her by Sanders. Then they assumed that they must be the definition of the world and it’s her fault, and that the larger portion of Democrats who loved the Hell out of her can’t exist.
Mnemosyne
@Frankensteinbeck:
Misogyny is a hell of a drug. As I keep telling people, if you don’t know why you hate Hillary, but looking at her makes you want to throw up, that’s your subconscious misogyny at work, because that’s way too extreme a reaction to someone who’s a pretty standard politician.
Roger Moore
@Gin & Tonic:
No. SATSQ.
Uncle Cosmo
@Steve in the ATL: IOW it really is nothing but a big fucking game to you assholes–one that you charge top dollar to play with other peoples’ lives & livelihoods.
DIck the Butcher was right after all. Except I’d slip the advertising profession ahead of you in the line for the tumbrels.
Frankensteinbeck
@Mnemosyne:
Unfortunately, much like the Republicans with Obama, it’s so EASY to grab some made up piece of bullshit to justify your pre-existing hate, convince yourself you’re not a bigot, and then not budge.
Steve in the ATL
@Uncle Cosmo: not a game at all, but a profession. With standards of professional conduct,
And the point of killing all the lawyers was that that would be a quick way to destabilize a society.
But it sounds like you have had a bad experience with the legal profession. That’s unfortunate, but not uncommon. When you get to the point where litigation and lawyers are necessary then things have gotten very bad indeed.
Also, if you get ripped off by a lawyer, the bar association will compensate you and make you whole. Is that true of any other profession–doctors, plumbers, airlines, bloghosts? Not to my knowledge.
So we are not all bad, Except maybe Kay. And f/k/a botsplainer. And LAO. And Bella Q. But other than that we are good.
Roger Moore
@Mnemosyne:
I think there’s a huge desire for allegedly blank slates for people to project their desires onto. There’s a huge subset of voters who will never be satisfied with any real-world politician because real-world politics involves dealing with reality and the unpleasant compromises that involves. People who feel that way tend to like two kinds of politicians: extremist purity ponies who never compromise their positions and thus never accomplish anything and neophytes with minimal track records who they can project their hopes and dreams on.
It’s obviously an awful way of picking a candidate. Purity ponies are never going to work out, because the unwillingness to compromise with reality makes them ineffective. Neophytes are much more of a crap shoot. You can get someone totally awful (e.g. trump), somebody really great (e.g. Obama) or anything between. What you’ll almost always get, though, is disappointment when they turn out not to be everything their supporters imagined.
Debbie1
Wait a minute, I thought Tr*mp “became president” a month a month after the inauguration, 3 months after being elected (he’s a slow one, he is) when he managed to read a speech in his native tongue, without ad libs, before Congress.
I’m confused. Did the last declaration of “becoming president” wear off? Was it premature? Did it not take? If so, then why didn’t the press rescind the declaration at the 1st inappropriate tweet or cock-up. They can’t keep declaring that as if it’s the 1st time, & hope we won’t notice. That virgin can only be deflowered once. Come on now, Fareed.
OGLiberal
@D58826: Yup, just read a story that quoted several Obama officials and the consensus seemed to be, “finally!” I think the only one who went on record with her name was Ann Marie Slaughter, and her praise was pretty effusive. I think she’s kind of neo-conny.
Debbie1
@trollhattan: Give Jared a break. I bet he spent a lot time in front of a mirror picking out that little outfit – which, by the way, I swear my brother wore to a cotillian.
Debbie1
@delk: That’s the word, alright: saunter. And one can only saunter in a war-adjacent zone when other people are risking their lives. I wonder if he realizes that.
Betty Cracker
@Uncle Cosmo: Are you not the proud friend of a politician? A more justly despised category of scoundrels you’ll not find on the planet, if we’re going to indulge in gross generalizations… ?
mike in dc
There is a place for military action in foreign policy. However, with regard to Syria, it should be part of a wholistic approach including soft power, diplomacy, humanitarian aid and (if possible) the use of reliable proxies. It requires careful analysis and planning and that planning should include the consequences(intended and otherwise) of any military action, post-regime contingencies, etc. The lessons of Iraq should include the need to be properly and extensively prepared in the event one is foolish enough to ever try regime change somewhere again. Unfortunately, the current administration is likely the least equipped ever to deal properly with a situation like this.
The idea that military action against NK would involve a decapitation strike scares the hell out of me. Something like that should be a last resort, should only happen if there’s maximum confidence of success, and maximum preparation for the inevitable consequences of failure. Trump would fulfill my prediction that his administration would be a catastrophe of world -historic scope, if he strikes NK in this way.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL:
Hey! What am I? A decent person?
Tehanu
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So my guess would be, the Russians are prodding Dump to further distance himself from the “Washington establishment” — by which I would think they mean, anyone in the State Dept, the NSC, the IC, etc. who actually knows what’s going on in the world — and make decisions even less informed than the ones he’s made already.