Nominating this for an Oscar. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/dvP2C5Dzw2
— shauna (@goldengateblond) May 28, 2017
When a cranky old man embarrasses even his own dog…
Trump complained to world leaders that difficulties opening golf courses in Europe influenced his EU views: report https://t.co/bywF6t5mgX pic.twitter.com/4sF4P1kfd0
— The Hill (@thehill) May 27, 2017
Russian TV's takeaway from #G7: It'll be impossible to do anything without Moscow's cooperation. https://t.co/owSYUrwDt0
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 27, 2017
The hits just keep on comin'
"Leaders of France, Ger, Italy, Japan, Canada & UK walk the streets of Taormina. Trump follows in a golf cart" pic.twitter.com/MAEuwkY7ud— Maggie Jordan: (@MaggieJordanACN) May 27, 2017
Malcolm Nance: When Trump failed to invoke Article 5 to protect NATO allies, "Vladimir Putin won on that trip". https://t.co/a7IS3ys8I5
— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) May 27, 2017
Russian state TV says "Trump turns NATO into a house of cards." https://t.co/A1npfE79ey
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) May 27, 2017
You tiny, tiny, tiny little man.
pic.twitter.com/mP3mad6cMt— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) May 25, 2017
France's Macron says handshake showdown with Trump was "a moment of truth" _ designed to show that he's no pushover: https://t.co/q5TthGzGrE
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) May 28, 2017
Angela Merkel says Germany can no longer rely on America under Donald Trump https://t.co/x96OGcNIQm
— The Independent (@Independent) May 28, 2017
Trump must have said some outrageous things behind closed doors for the cautious Markel to make this statement. Putin plan is succeeding. https://t.co/uHfcsMxmmU
— Michael McFaul (@McFaul) May 28, 2017
That Merkel remark means Putin has already accomplished a primary foreign policy objective. https://t.co/4B0tL7YzRN
— Imperius Rest (@attackerman) May 28, 2017
On "Justice," @SebGorka praised @POTUS's first foreign trip, calling it a major geopolitical game-changer. pic.twitter.com/eyZkR5qbx5
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 28, 2017
Agree. Gave Saudis blank check for sectarian war & spooked Germany into thinking of going its own way. Game changer. https://t.co/b0vJZ76txp
— Colin Kahl (@ColinKahl) May 28, 2017
Trump returns home from abroad — with a Twitter rant about fake news, leaks and "the enemy" https://t.co/AIfzorvKkY
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 28, 2017
When you whisper, "Shazam" and nothing happens. pic.twitter.com/GuA2Yl9BcI
— Schooley (@Rschooley) May 27, 2017
Mnemosyne
Since it fits better here, once again here’s blog favorite Awesomely Luvvie’s hilarious take on the G7.
Emma
Oh lord. I never thought I would live through the end of an Empire. Especially one that committed suicide.
Bobby Thomson
Christ, what an asshole.
Ladyraxterinok
Re earlierIer Cory Booker discussion. In 2013 Rachel Tabachnick had 2 articles at talk2acton about his ties to the religious right and their frightening dominionIst plans.
lollipopguild
Communism in Russia lasted 72 years-1917-1989. America’s role as leader of the free world 1945-2017-72 years. Even if we survive trump, things will never be the same again.
Mike in NC
I really hope that Trump wears that ridiculous gold necklace every day. Even Snoop Dogg would call it some seriously tacky shit.
debbie
@Mike in NC:
He didn’t have to give it back?
chris
This belongs here. It’s a PS of Merkel pushing fRump in a stroller. It was talked about in an earlier thread or two. I LOL’d
debbie
@chris:
Finally! Thank you!
Another Scott
Donnie’s twittering again:
Eh?
This makes even less sense than usual.
Presumably by “Healthcare” he means the AHCA bill.
“… and make it the best anywhere.” Make the AHCA bill the best anywhere? What does that mean? Or does he mean make the US healthcare system the best anywhere? How does he propose to do that? How much money does he propose to spend? What laws and policies does he propose to make “it” happen?
“The Republicans will do much better!” Do what much better? Being deader than Obamacare? Making the AHCA better than Obamacare? Has he read the CBO verdict on the AHCA?
WTF is he talking about?! Does he know anything other than sentence fragments that he barfs up on Twitter??
More nonsensical lies.
(sigh)
Cheers,
Scott.
Baud
@debbie: I don’t think he has to return it, but it belongs to the US, not his to keep. Not sure if he realizes that.
SiubhanDuinne
@chris:
@debbie:
Too funny, and worth the wait! Thank you!
J R in WV
I suspect Germany can look after itself without any help from us.
Look at how well they did on offense in 1938-42 with no help. Defense is much less intensive than offense. No one can take Germany united, which is why the Soviets kept East Germany in their own house, separate from West Germany.
Now united, they are the major power in Europe, not Russia. I expect they either have or will have their own nuclear arms program, just as does Israel. I suspect Japan has special munitions that just need final assembly before deployment. With China and North Korea next door, would YOU count on the US for your last ditch defense? Didn’t think so…
Thanks, Mr Trump-!!
Another Scott
@chris: :-) I see why debbie (IIRC) wanted us to see it.
Well done.
Thanks.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chet Murthy
@Baud: @debbie: Oh c’mon, we all know he’s gonna keep it. And heck, anything else he takes a fancy to, that he can pry off the walls. Like Mnem said, he’ll rent a UHaul the last day just to pile in all the stuff he decides to keep at the last minute.
And dare the govt to come after his ass for it.
chris
@debbie: You’re welcome.
r/PoliticalHumor helps me laugh at some of the horrors.
Peale
@J R in WV: I agree on that. I don’t know if the German people would go for it, though. They certainly protested quite a bit in the 80s about deploying MX missiles. But times change. I don’t know, if they could go that transformation without runnng through right wing nationalism. I guess they have to since right wing nationalism would be funded at this point by the country that wouldn’t want a nuclear power in Central Europe.
Ladyraxterinok
@Ladyraxterinok: Also at talk2acton are many discussions about the New Apostolic Reformation, its goals and it’s ties to Sarah Palin and Booker.
Baud
@Chet Murthy:
On Day 1 of the Baud! administration.
debbie
@Baud:
Five bucks says it ends up in Putin’s collection.
lollipopguild
@Chet Murthy: I am sure that he thinks that the White House is His now and he will continue to live there as long as he wants. Air Force One is also now his.
Holden Pattern
Of interest in that Merkel speech: it’s the United States and the United Kingdom as nations that are no longer reliable. It’s not Trump and UKIP. It’s the nation. That’s not just Trump or Brexit — our closest allies for the last 70 years can’t trust us as a nation.
And who can blame them? The US at least is full of belligerently ignorant know-nothings, with one of the two major political parties dedicated to belligerently ignorant know-nothingism, and our electoral system — a legacy from the bargain cut with the slave power of the south — privileges those people and gives them far more control over our country than they should have even given their depressingly large numbers.
Even if we jettisoned Trump, we can’t promise that the House and Senate won’t be full of Trumpists, nor that we won’t elect another Trump (worse, a smarter one) to the presidency in a couple years.
This is who we are. I wouldn’t trust us either.
Chet Murthy
@lollipopguild: “He’s essentially Mr. id,” O’Brien said, later arguing Trump would “like to be president for life.”
SiubhanDuinne
@Emma:
It never occurred to me until very recently that Democracy might have a sell-by date.
schrodingers_cat
I know that Merkel is everyone’s heroine now, her response to the refugee crisis has been great, but how quickly we have forgotten Greece. All is not well with the EU either.
Tazj
@Another Scott:
That’s all this is about for him, making sure it’s dead. This is all a game to him and about revenge and proving he’s better than Obama. If he really wanted to improve things he would build upon Obamacare not destroy it. He’s already purposely trying to destroy it all with the help of the GOP Congress. The CEO of Blue Cross NC has said that Trump and the GOP Congress are why premiums will soar.(Greg Sargent WaPo)
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Correct, but he can put it in his presidential library.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@lollipopguild:
Funny, when Obama was President the shitgibbon didn’t like Air Force One. His used 737 was much better.
PeakVT
@schrodingers_cat: A very important point to remember. What Germany and to some extent other northern European countries have done to the “PIIGS” is quite horrible. A very moderate increase in inflation in Europe as a whole would do wonders for the periphery, but Germans have learned the wrong economic lessons from the 1920s.
ETA: Just another example of how Trumpolini turns everything to shit. By rights Merkel should be shunned on the international stage for her actions over the past 10 years. But here she is, angling for leader of “the free world”….
Another Scott
@PeakVT: The ECB being run by the Germans and wanting to protect German and French banks that “invested”/speculated far too much in Greece is a big part of it, also too.
Cheers,
Scott.
Chet Murthy
@PeakVT: When I read Chancellor Merkel’s remarks, I immediately wondered if a little euro inflation and debt forgiveness would be on the cards, in the interest of European unity. B/c geez, if Europe really is on its own, they gotta choose whether to hang together, or hang separately.
Peale
@Another Scott: yep. We also need to question who’s interests a pro-EU Ukraine was in.
randy khan
Trump already has shown he’s better than GW Bush in foreign policy – he’s completely lost Europe’s confidence in just 4 months.
TenguPhule
@Emma:
The only upside is Trump is not going to live to see the end of it either.
Nor are his cast and crew of pirates and scum.
TenguPhule
@Chet Murthy:
Life can be quite short.
TenguPhule
@Chet Murthy:
Day 1 of the Tenguphule Administration: “$1,000,000 for Trump’s ass. The rest of him does not need to be attached to it for collection.”
efgoldman
@Baud:
He’s probably pawned it for the ca$h already.
Emma
@schrodingers_cat: We haven’t forgotten. But the other choices SUCK. I refuse to be a purity pony about this.
Chet Murthy
@TenguPhule:
From your lips to the FSM’s noodly appendage. Divine providence is not a matter for human will, nor culpability, nor morality. So we don’t need to feel badly about wanting it, I figger.
eemom
@schrodingers_cat:
Thank you. I fucking hate the bitch.
I also don’t believe for an instant that her “hospitality” to the refugees is motivated by anything other than ice cold political calculation. Because that’s the sum total of her “humanity.”
Gvg
You know what else? He’ll never shut up until he is dead. Unlike Nixon or Bush, no matter how we get rid of him, he’ll be running his yap, inflaming certain idiots, he’ll keep talking and get reported on till he dies and embarrass us for years. Much worse than Palin. I think even if he goes to prison, he’ll talk.
If he does go to prison, his own yap will probably be why.
eemom
@Emma:
I am not a purity pony. Those are MY people that she condemned to generations of debtors’ prison. FUCK HER.
Another Scott
@Peale: Eh? A westward-looking Ukraine is certainly in the West’s interest. We do have at least a moral obligation to protect their security in exchange for them giving up the world’s 3rd largest nuclear stockpile among other things.
Even if Ukraine has suffered under (in some ways) kleptocratic governments, and even if western banks tried to take advantage, that doesn’t mean that she should be left to Putin’s devices. Free, sovereign nations must be able to have their own foreign policies and not suffer under antiquated notions of “spheres of influence” and the like…
Cheers,
Scott.
Emma
@eemom: I hope they enjoy the Russian century.
Gvg
@eemom: most people are a mix of good and bad. Look at LBJ. She is smart about some things, dumb about others. The austerity policies were a wide spread choice. It’s pretty instinctive in humans in hard times. The fact that it’s bad for economies is very counter intuitive. I am glad about the refugees and mad about Greece.
We aren’t doing so good on educating our own populations about real economics instead of tribalism cloaked in “common sense” so I won’t throw too many stones. She is wrong on that matter.
Jeffro
@Baud: he can Display it next to that huge portrait of himself that his foundation bought
Jeffro
@debbie: next to Bob Kraft’s Super Bowl ring..,
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Mike in NC: Especially Snoop Dogg would call it seriously tacky shit. Snoop’s got style, and taste.
schrodingers_cat
@Emma: I have no idea what this means. I was just pointing out that Merkel has not been all that wonderful and pragmatic about issues she controls but dogmatic and inflexible.
eemom
@Emma:
While I join with s_cat in not understanding wtf you’re talking about, re “the other choices” that “suck” or the “Russian century,” I do know that the Greeks would do a hell of a lot better allying with the Russians than the European plutocracy.
eta: Also too, fuck your smug, ignorant ass.
Tazj
@Gvg: Yes, he never shuts up.
Eric Boehlert @ Eric Boehlert- 54m
he’s gross RT
Granted his tweets may be the least of his sins, and our problems, but he’s so awful.
eemom
@Gvg:
With all due respect, that is a bunch of apologist bullshit.
schrodingers_cat
Its not going to be a Russian century. You can take it to the bank. They don’t have the resources to make it happen.
Peale
@eemom: better off how? Better like Who? Minsk?
TenguPhule
@eemom:
When they’re dying in the ice mines of Siberia, I’m sure they’ll bitch “BUT WHAT ABOUT HER GERMAN EMAILS!”
TenguPhule
@eemom:
Sure, the Greek Elites are bunch of tax cheats just like Trump. They’ll get on like a house on fire with Putin.
geg6
Myself, I’m rooting for Canada and France. Current leadership is at least easy on the eyes.
geg6
@eemom:
Yeah, Russia would be a MUCH better partner for Greece than the EU. Jesus. You must really hate “your people.”
Frankensteinbeck
@Emma:
While it’s not my personal specialty, from what I’ve gathered watching the topic go around on Balloon Juice, it might be the Chinese century, but it sure as Hell won’t be the Russian. Even if Putin gets the sanctions removed, Russia is on the brink of economic collapse. Too corrupt, too little attention paid to infrastructure of every kind, too much spent on military adventures. Putin’s strategy for the last few years has been to secure his personal rule in the short term, at the expense of fixing the inherent problems.
If I’m wrong, I welcome correction, but that’s been the message I got.
catclub
@Peale:
A new day is Germany and France sticking together as the power in the European community – and France already has nuclear weapons. germany would not need to rush into its own nuclear arms. But Trump encouraging everybody to start a nuclear arms race is horrible chaos. (also iran and Saudi, S Korea and Japan.
Maybe argentina and brazil?
Gin & Tonic
@Another Scott: Bravo!
Chet Murthy
@Frankensteinbeck: You forgot: “too few people”
efgoldman
@Jeffro:
It’s OK, Bob has plenty more.
Greg in PDX
The right wing sites keep referring to this as “Trump’s very successful European tour. ” Apparently they are unable or unwilling to read the foreign press or listen to public statements by the heads of State of the countries he visited. He is being mocked and reviled all around. Except the Saudis of course. Because brutal dictatorships just love them some Trump.
Gin & Tonic
@Greg in PDX: Being reviled by Europeans makes his trip that much more successful, to them.
schrodingers_cat
I don’t think there is any other country that can immediately step into the power vacuum created by T’s policies. Even though China seems like a monolith to outsiders, it has many internal problems and the progress within is far from uniform.
Tom
@catclub: “Luxemburg is next to go, and who knows, maybe Monaco, we’ll try to stay serene and calm, when Alabama gets the bomb.” Tom Lehrer, “Who’s Next”
eemom
Further edited: fuck all of you smug, facile assholes who know jack shit about the history of Greece and the EU. Or Russia and Greece, for that matter. Fuck in particular whoever it was who thinks this has anything to do with the Greek 1%.
@geg6:
and fuck you too, in particular. You must really hate dead frat boys.
geg6
@eemom:
No, I hate bitter, mean and bullying assholes like you. Fuck off yourself. Maybe your buddy Putin will have you.
Brachiator
@eemom:
Works for me. What alternative do you have?
weaselone
@eemom:
The Greeks have a bigger problem with their own plutocracy than they do the European plutocracy. They wouldn’t be in the situation they are now if their own elite had bothered to pay their taxes instead of massively indebting the entire country and then engaging in exotic financing to conceal the state of the country’s finances.
Now Germany and France forcing austerity down the throats of Greece, Spain and the other peripheral nations was massively cruel, horribly destructive and just plain bad policy, particularly as Germany itself used economic stimulus to weather the recession.
A Russian lead system would not be better the bulk of Greek citizens, because the elite in Greece are a bunch of corrupt shitheads. They would just use a Russian backed autocracy to fuck over normal Greek citizens even more than they do now. In other words, it would look an even crappier version of where the US finds itself now. There was plenty wrong before, but nothing that couldn’t be made worse by turning over the country to Trump and those who want to strip everything for tax cuts.
efgoldman
@Brachiator:
Don’t you know, if you do the right thing for the wrong reasons, it doesn’t count?
geg6
@Brachiator:
Apparently, Russia’s tender mercies. After all, if Putin’s good enough Greece, he’ll be awesome with the refugees. Not like that cold bitch, Merkel.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
True. Could lead to an era of competing global or regional powers. Weaker countries might be even more vulnerable to meddling. Certainly see more action by Russia in various quarters, possible acknowledgement of the uselessness of the United Nations. Things would get Interesting for pro military Republicans if nations reject accommodating the US Navy. You cannot be a global superpower without allies.
Peale
@Brachiator: but our bases are only there to protect them! Freeloaders!
Mike G
Make America Weak Again.
At this rate I expect the Canadians will be burning the White House before 2020 if Orange Toilet isn’t deposed.
TenguPhule
@eemom: You want to jump in bed with Fascists so badly because your fucking elite couldn’t fucking pay their taxes, enjoy your fucking from Putin.
TenguPhule
@Mike G:
At this rate I expect they’ll be invited in to do it by the Northern States.
This time when the South burns, the Republicans don’t get to leave their homes first.
weaselone
@Brachiator:
Yup. It took the chosen leader of the MAGA morons about 4 months to end our status as global Hegemon and throw our status as a superpower into doubt.
Peale
@weaselone: it’s all a negotiating ploy. Demand that the citizens of other democracies pay you protection money. Perhaps if we collect that money, we’ll open our doors to eventual statehood for the tributaries. What, taxation like that doesn’t come with representation?
eemom
@TenguPhule:
You would be hilarious if you weren’t directing your infantile wit at a human tragedy, from the perspective of an equally fucked citizen of a tax evading plutocracy. Do please go fuck yourself before some cosmic justice notices your insecthood crawling around and squishes it.
eemom
@geg6:
No, I think you hate dead frat boys. Whoring as you do for an institution that condones such deaths. Among other things.
geg6
@eemom:
Bitter, small person. I, at least, don’t have to lie in order to diss you. You demonstrate how bitter and small you are when you go off the deep end like this. You must be a very unhappy person. I feel sorry for you.
eemom
Haven’t lied about squat. And as for your drama queening about my character, it’s not been so terribly long ago that you were grateful I took your side against a whole shit ton of abuse hurled at you by others because of who you work for. I beg your pardon for assuming I might get some minimal understanding from you in return with regard to an issue that is even more deeply personal to me than yours was to you, rather than a sneering “you must hate your people.”
You wanna see bitter and small, lady? Go look in a mirror.
Aimai
@eemom: Jesus fucking christ what is wrong with you? Do you seriously think this level of intemperate, wholesale, vituperation is any way for a grown woman to act? Everyone has strong feelings on some subject. That is no excuse to froth at the mouth and rage blindly at every non greek person in the planet for not being in lockstep with you. People are going to have different takes on political matters. If you can’t handle your emotions step away from the keyboard. Your behavior is cringe inducing–its literally sickening to watch this bitter, rage filled, set of comments.
eemom
@Aimai:
damn, that took a lot of effort at this late hour of the night; and you are quite clearly foaming at the mouth yourself.
Jesus fucking christ, why are my comments so important to you?
eemom
I seem to have tapped into some bizarre anti-Greek hysteria that even I never thought to exist. Wow.
PsiFighter37
@eemom: No offense but your hate is off the fucking charts. Yes, Merkel’s attitude about austerity is not positive at all, but she is not the only person at fault. The rampant tax evasion in Greece (especially from the wealthy) is a huge culprit as well, as others have pointed out.
TenguPhule
@eemom: No, just you’ve thrown a pro-Putin message to an Anti-Putin crowd.
And yes, your fucking Greek elite tax deadbeats are infamous and not going to get any sympathy from us.
We hate American tax deadbeats with white hot heat of a thousand suns. What the fuck did you think your “oh us poor tax deadbeat greeks are getting bullied by the mean old germans” was going to be applauded?
TenguPhule
@eemom:
“Lie back and think of Moscow”
Thirty pieces of silver must be indexed to inflation now.
TenguPhule
@eemom:
Fuck the fucking tax evading Greeks. Is that fucking clear enough for you? Your national sport is fucking tax evasion and everyone knows your rich have fucked the system to the point of collapse.
eemom
Welp, once again, you can all go fuck yourselves.
TenguFool: Ordinary, non-rich Greeks — i.e., the way more than 99% — don’t engage in a “national sport” of tax evasion any more than your little ass does (I assume, perhaps incorrectly). Blaming those people in Greece for what the rich have done there — and saying in essence, fuck them, they brought it on themselves — is exactly zero different from blaming your same little ass for what the Koch brothers and their fellow billionaires and lackeys in Congress have done here, and saying, in essence, that the 99% in this country brought it on themselves and so can go fucking reap what they’ve sown.
I honestly am bewildered as to how anyone on this supposedly progressive blog can be blind to that hypocrisy.
Little PsiFighter: Happy 21st birthday, or however old you are. Since you’ve done nothing more than reiterate the same ignorance as “others,” I have nothing else to say.
eemom
@TenguPhule:
I have one other thing to say to you. You are asserting that the Greek people in general are tax evading cheats, which makes you a bigoted — as well as vicious and ignorant — asshole.
That goes for you as well, little “rampant” Psi-duck.
eemom
My “hate is off the charts,” and bewildering to the spittle-flecked responders on this thread, because I’m talking about a tiny powerless country that nobody gives a shit about. I wonder if the hypocrites would be this brazen if a more visible minority were at issue.
TenguPhule
@eemom:
You just fucking said you’d prefer to make common cause with the Russians over the EU.
So fuck you.
Your fucking home grown rich tax evaders made your fucking mess. Blaming the fucking germans for your rich assholes being rich tax evading assholes says thing about you, not them. Taking out your fucking whoring ass to the woodshed is what you fucking asked for when you decided to bitch at those commenters more polite then I am.
The Greek people with money to burn are tax cheats more often then not. Your own fucking statistics from your own fucking government have confirmed it. Or are you going to call them bigoted ignorant asshole fake news too?
TenguPhule
@eemom:
No, you’re talking about preferring the Russians to the EU. Because your government couldn’t deal with a tax evasion problem that is well known and the disgrace of western democracy. And then you decided to be a Greek version of a Bernie-bro when called on it.
But keep on screaming “But her german emails!”
eemom
@TenguPhule:
You are a sick fuck, Herr TenguFool. Or perhaps just a sad old Nazi.
Either way I’m done with you. Sieg Heil.
Citizen Alan
@Chet Murthy:
I wouldn’t mind him being president for life myself … in the sense that I wish the filthy hog would keel over dead the heart attack tomorrow.
Citizen Alan
@schrodingers_cat:
I had assumed it would be China’s century. TPP was Obama’s last ditch effort to prevent that, and it went down in flames due to demagoguery and willful ignorance.
No One You Know
@Aimai:I have to agree. Well spoken. This thread is so toxic with ad hominem attacks that I need to bail. As did my partner. Maybe the front-pages should take a look? Do we really have to treat each other like this?