Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

We still have time to mess this up!

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

I really should read my own blog.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

Roe isn’t about choice, it’s about freedom.

White supremacy is terrorism.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Calm Before the Storm

Calm Before the Storm

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I think in the next couple of months, I think we will look at this week with the President outing himself as a Nazi and then trying to cast off Bannon like his pair of jackboots and pretend he is really just Wehrmacht as a relatively peaceful time. He’s increasingly isolated, people are coming at him from all directions, and he has no real beliefs or principles to guide him or orient himself. With the Mueller investigation focusing on his son and everyone abandoning him, things are going to become much more tumultuous and quickly. I also suspect the racist rump of the country is going to become more like Isis than we think, with attacks starting. The rally in Boston tomorrow is something to keep your eyes on.

Back to watching the Defenders.

Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    khead

    So far, it’s been a bit like the Jimmy Carter administration – but worse. Carter at least recognized that nazis are the bad guys.

  4. 4.

    bystander

    I’ve decided that The Birds is about terrorism. Hitchcock was obsessed with it (The Secret Agent).

    I’m hoping to watch Trump’s crackup like a Harold Lloyd silent movie.

  5. 5.

    efgoldman

    The rally in Boston tomorrow is something to keep your eyes on.

    Unlike Charlottsvville, the Boston City and state police are ready. There’s a list of things that could possibly use for weapons, that they will be confiscating (and probably arresting for) on sight. The plans are to keep the nazis and counter demonstrators penned far apart. And open carry is not legal in MA, which means immediate confiscation and arrest for firearms possession.

  6. 6.

    germy

    Judd Legum‏Verified account @JuddLegum 3h3 hours ago

    1. One thing that the right and left has been complicit in – for their own reasons – is the aggrandizement of Steve Bannon

    2. He’s depicted as the mastermind behind the Trump victory and some kind of political (evil) genius.

    3. Actually he just runs a terrible website that plays of people’s fears and prejudices and has no factual or ethical standards

    4. He was willing to essentially turn that website into an arm of the campaign and eventually joined the campaign

    5. That landed him in the White House where he quickly demonstrated he had no idea what he was doing

    6. He view Charlottesville as some kind of triumph for Trump. (It was a white supremacist rally where a woman was murdered)

    7. Now he’s going back to his terrible website, where he will essentially do the same things he did at the White House

  8. 8.

    The Midnight Lurker

    I’m going to try and forget President Ripper this weekend. I’m going to see the eclipse.

  11. 11.

    Tenar Arha

    ? If we’re lucky the rain that’s been holding off all day today, dampens their enthusiasm and soaks their stupid antics out, and gets them off our Common tomorrow. ?

  15. 15.

    different-church-lady

    Mayor Walsh is saying stay away from the Common. I can’t decide whether to listen and “win by ignoring them” or not lose the first chance in my life to (rhetorically) fight Nazis.

  16. 16.

    RandomMonster

    I suspect Trump wants to call it quits, but thinks he has to stay on to hand out pardons to family members.

  18. 18.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    and he has no real beliefs or principles to guide him or orient himself.

    and no real allies other than the people who depend on him, or access to the office he now holds, for their income. I try not to think about her too much because she’s (I’m guessing) the least criminal of the three large adult children, and thus a pure Kardashian-level celebrity and grifter, but I do wonder if Ivanka didn’t latch onto Jared because she knew the truth of her father’s famous reference to a homeless guy they were passing on the street: That guy is $8 billion richer than me [sic and IIRC, for you grammar pedants]. And I very much believe Jared might well have interest in flipping before this is over, especially if the whole family fortune is tied up in 666 5th.

    @efgoldman: And open carry is not legal in MA, which means immediate confiscation and arrest for firearms possession.

    that’s a relief. We’re seeing the logical result of that ridiculous movement.

  20. 20.

    Feebog

    @khead:

    Jimmy Carter is a national treasure. The people who worked for him during his administration were dedicated and competent. There is no comparison to be made to the clusterfuck that is this administration. Oh, and you are a moron.

  21. 21.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Michael Bersin: the Cook political report had a pretty bleak (from out perspective) look at CMcC’s re-election, with two plausible GOP challengers, and they didn’t mention her Bernista primary challenge. What do you think of her chances?

  22. 22.

    cain

    “The problem with golden showers is that it’s usually followed by brown clunks of hail” — cain

  24. 24.

    mai naem mobile

    I’m fully expect8ng violence next week at his Phoenix rally. I wish the mayor hadn’t told him to delay it because Dolt45 is like an immature rebellious teenager. You tell him not to do something and he’s going to do it for sure.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    @mai naem mobile:

    I’m fully expect8ng violence next week at his Phoenix rally.

    At the rate things are going, I wouldn’t be surprised if it were against Trump.

    P.S. Or even Trump taking a swing at someone.

  26. 26.

    M. Bouffant

    @schrodingers_cat: Last gasp for them. Even if the alt-right or whatever the hell they want to call their fascist asses is composed of relative youth, they know w/o the passing generation of old wretches in power they’re going nowhere. Some of them may be pissed about having been publically exposed & having had “their lives ruined”. (Turnabout is fair play!)

    Also too, those brown hordes are larger & more threatening every day.

  27. 27.

    The Dangerman

    @germy:

    …Charlottesville as some kind of triumph for Trump.

    I thought he was a Goldman Guy; they don’t hire people that stupid. So, I’m blaming nose candy.

    ETA: Did Mooch and Bannon share?

  29. 29.

    cain

    I wonder how John is enjoying Defenders?

    And for godsakes, when is that stupid colon cancer screening ad going away? It shows up suddenly and has sound on.. and sometimes I’m in some meeting or something. Very rude.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    @germy: The sad thing is the recent Harvard Study shows that horrible website is now the most influential conservative news source, eclipsing Fox in many ways.

  31. 31.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @The Dangerman: ETA: Did Mooch and Bannon share?

    I think Fredo The Elder introduced them to his dealer and got them both to cover his end for a long time

  33. 33.

    Eljai

    @different-church-lady: I know what you mean. The White Nationalists scheduled a “patriot prayer” (WTF?) day in San Francisco next week, unless the Park Service revokes their permit. I don’t know if I should go. I saw a facebook organizer telling people to not pick up after their dogs at the location the night before.

  34. 34.

    Michael Bersin

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Rep. Ann Wagner (r) isn’t running for the seat. Rep. Vicky Hartzler (r) isn’t running the seat. The republican conventional wisdom is touting Attorney General Josh Hawley (r) [in office since January] who has had difficulty with the concept of complying with the requirement in the law that the AG “shall” reside in Jefferson City.

    Claire McCaskill is tough as nails. A challenge from some/a Bernie folk? Yeah, right, good luck with that.

    From the Press Q and A (linked to in the original) after the town hall, a question, a sort of walking away lob after the rest of us all thought the availability was over:

    Question: And then, uh, I, I realize that you are not here in any political capacity but, do you have any thoughts on the Attorney General’s ongoing controversy about his residency and where he voted? Have you followed that at all, or are you not even paying any attention to that?

    Senator McCaskill: Well, it would be hard not to follow it. The law is pretty clear. There’s never been an Attorney General in the history of our state that hasn’t lived in Jefferson City because the law says shall. He’s, listen, I’m a Mizzou educated lawyer, but I can keep up. [laughter] And I know what the word shall means in the law. Now I know he went to Yale, I think, or Harvard, one of those, one of those fancy ones. Um, I think they taught him the same thing, shall is shall. So if it’s shall then you must live in Jefferson City. And you are not legally entitled to vote somewhere other than where you live. O there’s a problem here. Either [crosstalk]…

    Question: So there is voter fraud in Missouri, is that what you’re saying?

    Senator McCaskill: Well, I, there may be. But, that’s not for me to decide. But the issue is, either he’s violating the law by not living in Jefferson City, or he’s violating the law by voting someplace he doesn’t live. One of the two.

    Attorney General Josh Hawley (r) might think he’s in for a walk in the park in 2018. That would be a mistake.

  35. 35.

    Jeffro

    @efgoldman:

    Unlike Charlottsvville, the Boston City and state police are ready. There’s a list of things that could possibly use for weapons, that they will be confiscating (and probably arresting for) on sight. The plans are to keep the nazis and counter demonstrators penned far apart. And open carry is not legal in MA, which means immediate confiscation and arrest for firearms possession.

    Good for them, seriously. From what I hear, the Alexandria (VA) police are pretty well prepped for tomorrow’s planned alt-right rally as well.

  36. 36.

    khead

    @Feebog:

    I agree that Jimmy is a national treasure but his relationship with Congress was a bit of a clusterfuck. Hence the joke.

    Also, I’ve always wanted to use the word “hence”.

  37. 37.

    Jeffro

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    And I very much believe Jared might well have interest in flipping before this is over, especially if the whole family fortune is tied up in 666 5th.

    Well that’s about what they’re down to at this point: Trumpov and Kushner. Who’ll turn the other one in first? (I’m going to go with Kushner, only because he has 1 more brain cell than Donnie)

  39. 39.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Michael Bersin: listen, I’m a Mizzou educated lawyer, but I can keep up. [laughter] And I know what the word shall means in the law. Now I know he went to Yale, I think, or Harvard, one of those, one of those fancy ones. Um, I think they taught him the same thing, shall is shall.

    She’s not always my favorite politician, but she’s good at it. Thanks for that. If she’d been from a bit bluer state, and I’m assuming a bluer core to her, she’d probably be a lot of people’s front-runner for 2020.

  40. 40.

    efgoldman

    @Jeffro:

    From what I hear, the Alexandria (VA) police are pretty well prepped for tomorrow’s planned alt-right rally as well.

    I think the locals everywhere where a rally or march is planned will learn from Charlottsvile, and come out in force prepared to kick ass and take names.

  42. 42.

    different-church-lady

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    And I very much believe Jared might well have interest in flipping before this is over, especially if the whole family fortune is tied up in 666 5th.

    He might prefer flipping to spending time in prison, no matter how cushy that place may be.

  43. 43.

    Jeffro

    @mai naem mobile:

    I’m fully expect8ng violence next week at his Phoenix rally

    I’m not expecting much of that, but I do think he’ll pardon Arpaio LIVE! ON STAGE! like the ‘grandstanding’ asshole that he is. And when that gets a great reaction from the crowd, he’s going to let it slip…”and you know what folks, they can try their fake Russia investigations, we all know it’s fake, and if they try to bring fake charges against anyone, I’m going to pardon that person too…”

  44. 44.

    mai naem mobile

    @different-church-lady: we’re open carry so I figure there’s some moron who’ll shoot somebody outside the venue. I think it’s funny though that I figure a bunch of rural Trumpers will show up from out of town and eat and park at downtown places where lots of brown people work and live.

  45. 45.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @mai naem mobile:

    I’m fully expect8ng violence next week at his Phoenix rally.

    I have extended family in Phoenix. Have met them only twice in my life, and last time was five years ago. I remember getting into a bit of an argument with my niece-in-law in 2012 when she said some admiring things about Joe Arpaio. I don’t think they voted for Trump, and I don’t think they would ever consider attending one of his rallies. Pretty sure my grand-niece and her fiancé are more sensible, but honestly, I don’t know any of them well enough to guess. If any of them shows up at Trump’s rally — well, I just hope there’s no violence of any kind. I don’t think it’s likely, though, TBH.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @different-church-lady: He might prefer flipping to spending time in prison, no matter how cushy that place may be.

    IIRC, he flew to Alabama once a month to visit his pappy when Kushner Sr was in jail for that whole lovely “blackmailing my brother-in-law with hooker video” thing. I don’t think he wants to go back in coach, much less ConAir.

  51. 51.

    different-church-lady

    @Jeffro: I think it has a good chance of going the same way as that scene in O Brother Where Art Thou, where they ride Homer Stokes out of the hall on a rail.

  52. 52.

    Jeffro

    @efgoldman:

    I think the locals everywhere where a rally or march is planned will learn from Charlottesvile, and come out in force prepared to kick ass and take names.

    I think you’re right. A lot of prep – including some ‘preconferencing’ with leaders on each of the ‘many’ sides – helps folks understand the score.

  53. 53.

    germy

    @different-church-lady:

    now the most influential conservative news source, eclipsing Fox in many ways.

    True. And they’ve got deep-pocket benefactors. They’ll never need to hold a bake sale, or set up a gofundme.

  55. 55.

    TS

    he has no real beliefs or principles to guide him or orient himself

    As this is true about Trump, so is it true about the “leaders” in his administration and the GOP leaders of congress. I used to laugh about the discussion of “GOP family values” – such discussion disappeared when President Obama presented 100% family values during his Presidency – and now we see the result of a President and administration bereft of any value system whatsoever.

    A President without religion can have a value system we admire, a religion without a system that values all people – is nothing.

  57. 57.

    Gelfling 545

    @mai naem mobile: The mayor should tell him they can’t guarantee his safety. Lie if necessary and say there have been threats. I’m sure Trump is very careful of his own skin.

  58. 58.

    Jeffro

    @JPL: Have you seen that CNN video from earlier today, where the anchor (some blonde lady) was reciting a list of everything that Trumpov’s done/inflamed/made worse/failed at…just in the past month? It’s unbelievable. It’s the video equivalent of a slo-mo C-130 landing without its landing gear.

    It should be at the end of this clip…shall we savor?

  59. 59.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @khead:

    Also, I’ve always wanted to use the word “hence”.

    “Hence” rhymes with “Pence.” Write a limerick, but don’t slag on my man Jimmy, okay?

  61. 61.

    bluehill

    I guess we’ll see what the Mercer’s strategy is going to be via Bannon. If you haven’t read this piece about them from the New Yorker, it gives some insight into their ideology.

    Magerman told the Wall Street Journal that Mercer’s political opinions “show contempt for the social safety net that he doesn’t need, but many Americans do.” He also said that Mercer wants the U.S. government to be “shrunk down to the size of a pinhead.” Several former colleagues of Mercer’s said that his views are akin to Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand. Magerman told me, “Bob believes that human beings have no inherent value other than how much money they make. A cat has value, he’s said, because it provides pleasure to humans. But if someone is on welfare they have negative value. If he earns a thousand times more than a schoolteacher, then he’s a thousand times more valuable.” Magerman added, “He thinks society is upside down—that government helps the weak people get strong, and makes the strong people weak by taking their money away, through taxes.” He said that this mind-set was typical of “instant billionaires” in finance, who “have no stake in society,” unlike the industrialists of the past, who “built real things.”

    TPM’s piece about how Bannon didn’t seem to have many ties to Russia is interesting. Bannon apparently doesn’t like Kushner who obviously has extensive ties to Russia, so if the Mercers try to force Kushner out how will Putin respond? All just idle conspirarizing, but I wish Games of Thrones was not happening in real life.

  63. 63.

    Aimai

    @efgoldman: hope you are right and John is not because I will be there with my daughters. Im not worried about riots. Im worried about actual terrorism, bombs, or snipers.

  65. 65.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @JPL:

    Infrastructure week sucked.. just sayin

    Yup. It got totally eclipsed by the Tuesday press conference, but basically Trump’s big policy announcement boiled down to “Too Many Regulations!” Even before he started flying his racist freak flag, it was already a laughingstock.

  67. 67.

    different-church-lady

    @bluehill: So in the fight to the death between Breitbart and Trump, who wins? What happens? Does the cult split in half? Do they both come up losers?

  68. 68.

    JPL

    @Jeffro: Mediaite had it up and I saw it there. I tried to keep a weekly list, but finally quit because it was just so depressing.

  69. 69.

    rikyrah

    This was painful to read. I can’t even imagine going through it.

    How Trump Ruined My Relationship With My White Mother
    Panama Jackson
    Today 9:30am

    ……………………………………………

    On the Monday before Charlottesville erupted into chaos, my mother and aunt came to visit. As usual, my mom and I had small disagreements about her support for Trump, but I noticed something different about our discussions this time: She was advocating for him. It wasn’t about hating Clinton; she actually liked Trump and what he had to say.

    “He tells it like it is,” she said, echoing a common refrain from Trump supporters. On that day, I explained to my mother, in very plain language, why I felt he was dangerous, why Black Lives Matter existed (after she asked my opinion on BLM) and why I viewed the police, as an institution, as problematic. This happened while we were on the way to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

    …………………….

    At home, we watched the news, and there was a news story about an inflatable chicken that had flown near the White House. My mother felt that was supremely disrespectful to Trump and voiced her opinion to me. I let her know, in no uncertain terms, that I didn’t care about him being disrespected because he’d disrespected me, my community, and any other possible community he could think of in both word, deed and attempted policy. My mother became upset with me and loudly expressed that he was worthy of my respect as a human being and that he was the most disrespected president ever.

    I shot back with facts about the times he’d disrespected various communities, with quotes, and pointed out just how badly President Barack Obama was treated by publications and regular Joes while he was in office.

    ……………………

    But this is when our relationship hit the point from which I realized we’d never fully recover. When we were getting in the car to head to Rockville, Md., she asked why I found the T-shirt offensive. I told her that by her wearing that shirt, it showed that she didn’t care about my life or those of her grandchildren or daughter; after we argued, she refused to speak to me for hours, again.

    She wanted me to take her home. I offered to take her to the airport.

    She was leaving the next day, Saturday, which, as we all know now, is the day white supremacists staged their rally in Charlottesville. Amid discussion—she agreed that the white supremacists were appalling and that the police had done a horrible job—she still managed to find a way to support Trump by complaining that people were waiting for him to say something and then complained that he didn’t say enough; her point was that, basically, he couldn’t catch a break.

    ………………………..

    I can’t sit and actively engage with a person—even if it is my mother, whose blood is running through my body—if she doesn’t care about me, my story or what I live through. If she can’t see past her own appreciation for a bigoted, dangerous man, who, because of the position people like her have placed him in, has the ability to do significant damage to my civil liberties, then I don’t know what place she can have, reasonably, in my life. It’s sad. It’s disappointing. It’s my mother.

    Blood is not thicker than freedom and it’s not thicker than safety. Sometimes blood is just that, blood. I know my mother loves me; I’m her son. But, honestly, I don’t think my mother cares about what that really means.

    Privilege is real. White privilege is real. It turns out, it can even trump blood. That reality is harsh. But it’s real.

    Welcome to my reality.

  70. 70.

    Jeffro

    @bluehill: Mercer’s just another Koch-head billionaire Randian, only with even less respect for our institutions and possibly more brains. I’ll be very interested to see what Mueller turns up with regards to communications between Mercer’s Cambridge Analytica and Russian contacts.

  76. 76.

    Gelfling 545

    @SiubhanDuinne: Some connections of my family moved here from AZ a couple of years ago: Cheryl, the mom who moved there when she was about 10 and her son and daughter in law. At first they were pretty much as you’d expect politically but now that they’ve been here a while they say they’d never go back. They’ve drifted leftward pretty quickly since they arrived.

  77. 77.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @rikyrah: I read that earlier, it’s a very sad story. I don’t have any kids, but hat woman picking trump over her children, and grandchildren… I hope the writer cuts her out of their lives, it sound like there’s something wrong with her, morally and/or psychologically, that isn’t gonna heal.

  78. 78.

    Yarrow

    Ohhh…with everything going on today, I missed this burn from the Seattle PD.

    Question:

    Hey, @SeattlePD, I'm seeing vids of Alex Jones on Seattle streets yelling at folks. Is this under investigation, are there incident reports?— Dominic Holden (@dominicholden) August 18, 2017

    Response:

    We haven't received any official reports. As far as we know that could be an actor playing Alex Jones.— Seattle Police Dept. (@SeattlePD) August 18, 2017

  79. 79.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    @A Ghost to Most: I made a similar joke to my son this afternoon.

    I’ve driven in Boston. Every few moments a vehicular terror attack occurs.

    :-)

    He told me that the streets would be blocked to traffic (but it always seems like that to me, what with all the double-parked cars on both sides of the street), There are barriers up at the Commons to keep the protesters & counter protesters separated. He said only 200 people had RSVPed to their FaceBook page, while 10,000 had RSVPed to the counter protest. His biggest concern that their (the counter protesters) group will be so much larger than expected that it may get shut down just because the city hasn’t prepared to control a crowd that large.

    There was a point last spring when there were so many protests that he and his wife would just show up at the Commons on Saturdays to see what they were protesting that week. So Boston is used to handling this sort of thing. My biggest concern is that my daughter-in-law will have a panic attack from the size and closeness of the crowd.

  80. 80.

    different-church-lady

    @Kay (not the front-pager):

    His biggest concern that their (the counter protesters) group will be so much larger than expected that it may get shut down just because the city hasn’t prepared to control a crowd that large.

    There were 100k on the common for the first protest after Inauguration Day. Marty will have things ready.

  83. 83.

    Timurid

    @rikyrah:

    Yep. My mom’s been gone a while now, but I’m done with her (white) family aside from the few seconds it takes me to scroll past their posts about motivational catchphrases, puppies and Trump on Facebook.

  84. 84.

    kilo50

    All in all for the last seven months and particularly the last week I think we are in the “Bleeding Kansas” section of this story. I know that is kinda depressing and maybe not helpful, but that’s what I sense for this time period.

  87. 87.

    Matt McIrvin

    @TS:

    such discussion disappeared when President Obama presented 100% family values during his Presidency

    Some simply made stuff up. I recall some handwringing about how Obama was an ineffectual father who couldn’t control his run-amuck wife and children (presumably from someone with a Dad-as-king-of-the-household model of the family).

  89. 89.

    Millard Filmore

    @bluehill:

    “He thinks society is upside down—that government helps the weak people get strong, and makes the strong people weak by taking their money away, through taxes.”

    Government interference in the field of commerce really does help weak people. The corporate veil, corporate bankruptcy,and the like allows company owners and managers to simply walk away from deadly incompetence. I have not heard any billionaire suggest changes of any kind to fix that.

    Socialism for the poor is evil.
    Socialism shall be strictly limited to the rich.

  91. 91.

    Gretchen

    @rikyrah: That was a very painful read. I can’t imagine choosing some politician you’ve never met over your own son. The picture with the article was interesting. My first thought was that mom was very beautiful. My second was that son was reaching towards mother, but mother wasn’t reaching toward son. How can you sit next to a five year old and not want to put your arm around him? That jibes with son going to live with dad shortly thereafter. I’m glad he had a good dad, because it looks like he had a chilly mom.
    I have a 3 year old grandson who is struggling with his parents’ divorce. He spends half the week with each of them, and is fighting the whole thing, and of course I am very worried about how all this will affect him down the road. So I am comforted by this story, that even though he had a chilly mom, he had a strong dad, and had a strong sense of himself and how he wants to live his life and make his priorities.

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I guarantee you that his mother watches Fox News. She’s spouting every one of their propaganda points.

    She will not get better until the spigot of hate that’s spewing into her home is shut off.

  96. 96.

    Betsy

    @Jeffro: do you think he’s smart enough to just hint at that, by doing the pardon in public? Or will he be dumb and brag openly like you say?

    The man’s a moron but also very good at insinuating

  97. 97.

    efgoldman

    @TenguPhule:

    speculation about impending Civil War was crazy talk?

    It still is.
    Those keyboard kkkomandos are too cowardly, not organized enough, and will have a hard time staying sober enough to foment any kind of rebellion.
    A few odd nutcases like Eric Rudolph? They’re always out there. Who knows what sets them off, when and why. But any kind of organized armed resistance? Their fever dreams – and yours.

  98. 98.

    Jonothan Cullinane

    “I also suspect the racist rump of the country is going to become more like Isis than we think, with attacks starting.”

    Isis? Oh, ISIS! Last year’s existential threat to the West. What happened to those guys?

  99. 99.

    Tom DeVries

    @schrodingers_cat: Don’t know what Cole is thinking, but I live in Trump country and I too think the crazy-angry folks may not take all this lying down. Just a feeling, but I gotta say, they are pissed off people, heavily armed, and somewhat inclined to impulsive behavior. I have a bad feeling.

  101. 101.

    Thru the Looking Glass...

    I think in the next couple of months, I think we will look at this week with the President outing himself as a Nazi…

    Hah! ‘Outing himself as a Nazi…’ that’s exactly the way I’ve been describing this too… at least Trump finally found an effective way to draw attention away from the whole Russian mess…

    and pretend he is really just Wehrmacht as a relatively peaceful time

    I had a German middle school teacher (6th grade) who came to upstate NY after WW II and oddly enough, he described himself the same way… sure, he had been in the Wermacht but at least he wasn’t a farkin’ NAZI… fer christsake…

  102. 102.

    Aardvark Cheeselog

    Krugman pretty much agrees:

    So if Bannon is out, what’s left? It’s just reverse Robin Hood with extra racism.

    On real policy, in other words, Trump is now bankrupt.

    But he does have the racism thing. And my prediction is that with Bannon and economic nationalism gone, he will eventually double down on that part even more. If anything, Trumpism is going to get even uglier, and Trump even less presidential (if such a thing is possible) now that he has fewer people pushing for trade wars.

  103. 103.

    kilo50

    I am worried that “things could get ugly” as well. These character defects have waited for their Promised Land a long time or from their point of view have tolerated the degeneration of their America for far too long. i can’t see them meekly shrugging their shoulders and saying, “well that’s democracy” when they feel that their Cheeto Jesus has been usurped even if the replacement is good Christian soldier Pence. In the occasion of Trump being impeached or otherwise somehow replaced this isn’t over for them.

  107. 107.

    rikyrah

    @eclare:
    My sister is out of ICU and in a room in the cardiac care unit. She still has issues that have to get under control,but I am happy to take it day by day.

  108. 108.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Yarrow:
    The KKK are hardly peaceful activists protesting an authoritarian gov. Fuck those Russian propagandists.

  110. 110.

    JMG

    @Kay (not the front-pager): There will be more violence in the bleachers at Fenway this afternoon between soused Red Sox and Yankee fans than there will be at the demonstrations. One hopes all four groups will not wind up riding the Green Line together.

  112. 112.

    Procopius

    @The Dangerman: I was thinking alcohol. You ever notice the broken capillaries in his nose? Dose coke do that to you too? Some of my alcoholic friends did heroin but none of them were rich enough to do cocaine.

  113. 113.

    Jay C

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    There once was a Veep named Mike Pence
    Who spent most of his term on the fence
    Waiting for Trump
    To get kicked in the rump
    So the Senate could tell him “go hence!”

  114. 114.

    Procopius

    @kilo50: I did a paper on Bleeding Kansas for freshman English. Trust me, we aren’t there yet, but I think we could get there. I’m still amazed at McAuliffe’s claim that the Nazis were better armed than the police. I don’t believe it. Is he claiming the many police departments who sent officers and the Virginia State Police are less well armed than the tiny towns around Ferguson? Can it be there are reasons why that weaponry shouldn’t be used? Quelle surprise.

  115. 115.

    Jay C

    @Procopius:

    Personally, I think Gov. McAuliffe should have chosen his words a bit more carefully: by trying to spin the original LE non-confrontationalism in Charlottesville as a issue of inferior firepower, he’s merely 1) made the State’s LE forces look silly; 2) overestimated the armament capabilities of the Shitstorm Troopers (though those assault rifles were/are reasonably deadly weapons); 3) tried (and, IMO failed) to spin away the notion that the police didn’t contain (still less combat) the UTR marchers mostly because they were sympathetic to them. At least not until things really got out of hand on Saturday….

  116. 116.

    WaterGirl

    @Jay C: If they knew they were out-gunned, then why not call in the National Guard before the torches and the events of the following day?

  117. 117.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    It was probably believed that the nazis would just parade around in their quad xl russian fatigues and knockoff assault rifles, that the other side wouldn’t show up in force and I’d bet for sure they didn’t expect some asshole to use his car as a battering ram against bodies, most likely as that’s what I’m sure has happened before. A strategic mistake, given the political shitstorm we are in. But what else can they do, open carry of loaded weapons is legal in VA. It isn’t even that they are outgunned but they are equally gunned. Cops don’t like going into situations in which they don’t have overwhelming superiority, it usually doesn’t go nearly to plan then. And what if the morons opened fire? That would be far worse than it turned out, which was very bad. A shootout with the cops would have left a lot of dead and wounded bodies laying around. You can’t have peaceful protest with one or both sides heavily armed. It’s a bad situation no matter which way you look at it. Notice the difference with Boston today, as MA has strict anti carry laws. And that makes all the difference. Those open carry laws are there to prevent/stifle Boston style demonstrations, because those show exactly how few people there are that feel the need/desire to carry a loaded weapon.

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