Every foreign leader I’ve spoken with at #APEC thinks Trump presidency has been enormous gift for the Chinese.
Every single one.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) November 10, 2017
“In every country Trump visited, none of the leaders entered trade negotiations or offered significant concessions.” https://t.co/F67H5SKBXS
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) November 10, 2017
The lesson of Trump’s visit to China is that if you a) Give him a big parade and b) lavish him with praise, he will soon be eating out of your hand.
— Gideon Rachman (@gideonrachman) November 10, 2017
I swear to Murphy the Trickster God, right now the Chinese leaders are using Trump to mock Putin. You wasted all that manpower and money on suborning the American, and we bought him off with a military parade and some tawdry public flattery!
From the Washington Post, “Trump’s ‘America first’ looks more and more like ‘America alone’”:
…As the president’s motorcade wove up a mountain road Saturday to a regional summit in the Vietnamese city of Danang, news broke that the 11 nations that had once looked to U.S. leadership to seal the deal on the Trans-Pacific Partnership had moved on without the United States and announced a tentative agreement among themselves.
It marked a stunning turnabout that foreign-policy analysts warned could further erode U.S. standing at a time when China is embarked on a major economic expansion and further undermine global confidence in the United States’ ability to organize the world around its own liberal values…
Trump emphasized that he is working hard to improve U.S. relations with authoritarian regimes in China and Russia to win greater cooperation on the threats in North Korea and Syria. He faulted former president Barack Obama and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton for lacking the right “chemistry” to have a productive relationship with Putin.
“I always said I think one of my strong suits is going to be foreign affairs, and we’re actually getting very good marks,” Trump said. “There’s nobody that I can think of that I don’t have a very good relationship with.”
But other signs from the president’s swing through the region reflected a shift in the way the United States promotes itself abroad — and in how the country is viewed and treated by others…
On foreign trips, Obama tried to use his charisma to promote American “soft power” to persuade foreign nations to move closer to the United States through means other than military might or trade. Obama conducted town-hall-style events with young people and delivered speeches at universities.
Trump, by contrast, has refrained from mingling with the general public. Over the past week, he has golfed with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, spoken to troops at military bases and joined Xi on a private tour of the Forbidden City in Beijing, where he and first lady Melania Trump were treated to Peking opera performances of scenes from “The Monkey King” and “The Drunken Beauty.”
But Trump has not faced the public — and barely answered to the American press corps. Although Trump participated in a formal news conference with Abe, he and Xi did not field questions during a “joint statement” before reporters. White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the Chinese had insisted on no questions — even though the Obama White House persuaded Xi to answer a question from an American journalist in 2014…Trump also has spent time during the trip excusing predatory economic behavior of China and other countries and blaming past U.S. administrations for allowing the “unfair” trade imbalances he railed against during the campaign.
Trump surprised onlookers by lavishing praise on Xi during their two-day summit. “I don’t blame China,” Trump said, adding that he gives Chinese leaders “a lot of credit” for taking advantage of the United States…
As Trump’s motorcade was leaving the Danang convention center, another motorcade rolled in, with Chinese license plates. Xi had arrived — to deliver the keynote address.
Audible gasp from reporters as Trump tells biz leaders in Beijing on trade imbalance: "I don't blame China. Who can blame a country for being able to take advantage of another country for benefit if their citizens? I give China great credit."
— David Nakamura (@DavidNakamura) November 9, 2017
Trump on foreign soil expresses admiration for wily Chinese communists’ ability to outmaneuver US, says his predecessors were weak, and accedes to Beijing’s censorial press culture.
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) November 9, 2017
Trump can’t afford to offend the countries he may seek exile in.
— Schooley (@Rschooley) November 10, 2017
Baud
In fairness, I can see a situation in which Trump brings the world together in a shared hatred of Trump. That’s a foreign policy achievement, right?
Chip Daniels
For a guy whose supporter’s greatest insult is “cuck”, he seems a lot like. well. an emasculated cuckold.
As a wise man once said- Projection. Its always projection with these guys.
Baud
@Chip Daniels: His supporters only really care that he’s tough on minorities in this country.
Butthurt Jordan Trombone (fka XTPD)
@Baud: Curse you, Adrian Veidt!
Betty Cracker
On Fox News, they’re fuming about how little recognition Trump is getting for his brilliant performance on the international stage.
debbie
Trump’s presidency has been a great gift for all dictators any- and everywhere. Not only that, I’d bet future dictators will brandish Trump as an example for whatever ruthless thing they’re pushing at the moment.
Ohio Mom
@Baud: I don’t see it as much joined in hatred as the equivalent of a large family of kids tip-toeing around the house because dad’s on a drunken tear again. Everyone is waiting with bated breath for him to fall asleep before he punches a hole in the wall or smacks Mom or one of us.
debbie
@Betty Cracker:
I guess anything less than a shot of him waddling around with chocolate cake crumbs on his chin and shirt-front must be counted as WINNING!
debbie
@Ohio Mom:
It’s his staff and supporters who are tiptoeing around, not those joined in Trump Hate.
Baud
@debbie:
Unfortunately for them, our defeat of Trumpism will be a beacon to oppressed peoples everywhere.
Gvg
I sincerely doubt China would allow Trump to live in exile in their country. Russia maybe because they seem to be motivated by putting a thumb in our eye even if it causes…. more sanctions. In some ways Putin is as stupidly emotional as Trump. It looks like undermining the west is not automatically going to result in Russian power again. Maybe fixing the things that make your country internally weak would be a better plan?
debbie
@Baud:
God, I hope that’s the way this whole sorry episode is framed.
GregB
Much of this monster of Trump and the abject idiocy is due to decades if mediated ignorance and the desire of PR flacks surroundig optics at the expense of facts, data and in depth analysis.
It is why so many people were suckered by a reality show star without a single desireable quality.
Baud
@Gvg: Trump can bunk with Snowden.
Frankensteinbeck
Always remember China is giving his businesses one HELL of a lot of money, and he has not divested himself in any real way.
Again, see China. The Donald’s eye is always on the prize. America is what he’s selling, not who he’s representing.
OzarkHillbilly
@Betty Cracker: They have an entirely different definition of brilliance that the rest of the world.
OzarkHillbilly
@Gvg:
Now if only somebody could come up with a plan for fixing the GOP.
Dolly Llama
Heh.
Villago Delenda Est
Utter incompetent. Everyone he’s appointed is incompetent. Everyone.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud: Both of them can bunk with the vile shitstain that is Glenn Greenwald.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
It’s been interesting to watch Trump’s tweets on the days he can’t watch Fox and Friends. Until the latest round of stupidity, he looked marginally less crazy.
Это курам на смех
Years from now when Trump’s ignorance has brought about a big contraction in the U.S. economy, the voters will blame whatever Democratic administration has replaced him.
JMG
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Don’t forget a significant percentage of Trump’s tweets are actually authored by his social media guy Scavino.
Frankensteinbeck
@JMG:
His slogan is: “If it’s coherent, it’s Scavino!”
gene108
@Betty Cracker:
Rupert Murdoch has done more damage to the politics of the English speaking world than anyone else.
I am not worried about Trump, as much as I am worried about the tens of millions of Americans, who think he is doing a good job and that his policies will make us better and stronger.
We are living in two Americas: one grounded in reality and the other grounded in Fox News talking points.
Baud
@Это курам на смех: That would be precedented.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: It’s hard for me to comment on anything from Fox News because I keep running out of air-quotes.
Baud
@gene108: Don’t disagree, but Reaganism happened before Fox News, so diminishing Fox’s influence will not be a panacea.
gene108
@debbie:
Actually, Bush, Jr’s Presidency is a cudgel used against us because of the Iraq War and the state sanctioned use of torture.
Trump may be used, if we bitch and complain about corruption and conflicts of interest in other countries leaders, but so far he is just embarrassing. He is not doing much to the outside world, other than isolate the USA, which any Republican would do to a greater or lesser extent.
Mike in NC
Watching “Occupied” on Netflix, a Norwegian miniseries set in the near future about a worldwide energy crisis and economic downturn. They explain that the US has gained energy self-sufficiency which in turn caused America to largely withdraw from world affairs, including quitting NATO. Russia steps in to fill the void and occupies Norway’s oil fields in order to increase production to supposedly benefit the EU as a whole. Only three or four episodes in at this point, but recommended.
germy
@gene108:
They’ll vote for Tom Cotton next, for president.
Suzanne
So the question…..how do we keep his supporters from voting next time? In my better moments, I don’t want to disenfranchise them, just make them feel so crappy about their terrible choices that they go crawl back under their rocks and refuse to emerge.
kindness
I sure hope Trump voters are tired of their winnings. Me? I’m just starting to like what is coming.
MomSense
Apparently on a tour the Chinese put a yuuge gold vase on a table and let trump pick it up and hold it.
All I could think of was the character in Austin Powers who said “I like goooold”.
We have a cartoon super villain as a president.
Suzanne
@gene108: I am terrified of the same thing…..all of his supporters who just love him, not because of anything he actually, measurably DOES, but just because he embodies a boot stamping on a liberal face forever.
gene108
@Baud:
But in Reagan’s day liberal groups could bring enough pressure for a couple of Republican Senators to vote against Robert Bork for SCOTUS and Jeff Sessions for a federal judgeship. With the Fox News information bubble that is impossible. They will do everything to defend Republicans, and smear anything liberals support, and will get millions of Americans to side with them. The clearest example of this to me is rallying behind George Zimmerman, when he murdered Trayvon Martin.
It wouldn’t be a panacea, without Fox News, but reality could at least begin to reassert itself for millions of people.
Mike J
@Betty Cracker:
KJU says Trump is a crazy old man who’s going to start a nuclear war, Trump replies, “I’m not old!” and Fox thinks it’s a triumph.
mai naem mobile
This is good news for Mitchell Chao (née McConnell.)
scav
The Chinese are astute, but not necessarily that innovative: the Saidis had him pegged in May, playing him with the hotel projections like a car after a laser pen. I will give them massive style points for the layered messages of those operas though!
JMG
@gene108: Not to disagree with your point that Fox News is horrible, but Florida juries were acquitting white men of murdering black ones long before television was invented.
danielx
@Baud:
His supporters do not care about the opinions of anyone outside US borders, and damn few inside the borders. Treaties, trade agreements, negotiation – all so much horseshit to them.
Ladyraxterinok
@gene108: Jim Bakker and guests constantly refer to news from Fox and World Net Daily. Same for Jack van Impe. You all should watch bits of Jim Bakker show videos on youtube. It is an entirely different world they ljve in.
There was a recent show in which a colleague in Puerto Rico was reporting the US govt had delivered everything needed. It was not being delivered because the truckers were on strike!!
PRico’s problems are the fault of unions and PRicans. Never ever the fault of Trump, aka ‘God’s annointed’ ‘for such a time as this.’
Feathers
@gene108: @Baud: But Murdoch started his US activity in the 70s, and Reaganism was a follow on of Thatcherism, much like Brexit and Trump. All brought to you by Murdoch. Don’t forget that all of the wholesale destruction of the media consolidation rules were done at Murdoch’s behest. I’m old enough to have thought the people who complained about a foreigner coming in and taking over US media (and the UK before it) were just bigots. Turns out
Turns they were bigots, but proven correct.
Teddys Person
Hello all, I posted this yesterday on a pretty dead thread (although a couple of people did see and respond – I left thanks over there this morning) and thought I give it another go to perhaps reach more people. I’m mostly a hardcore lurker around these parts, but I want to make a shameless fundraising plug for a friend’s knitting business, where she creates and sells knitting patterns. I’ll let her explain:
If you’re interested in what she’s doing, you can check out her campaign page.
In addition to her knitting, she’s also extremely active in animal rescue. She works for People United for Pets who bring van loads of cats and dogs from southern California shelters to the Seattle area. She has a daughter, 2 dogs, and 2 cats in her 2 bedroom apartment and still takes in dogs and cats from the rescue. She often gets the difficult dogs to work with to make them more adoptable and any pregnant dogs or cats seem to make their way to her. In short, she’s an all-round awesome person.
Davebo
God I truly hate Kellyanne Conway.
Patricia Kayden
@Betty Cracker: What brilliant performance are they talking about? I see they’re stuck in their alternate fact universe again. Trump has made so many bizarre and embarrassing comments (some of which he has had to walk back) during this international trip and it’s not over as yet.
SFAW
@Baud:
@Villago Delenda Est:
I was thinking they could all move into the Ecuadorian embassy in London.
Ruckus
@Gvg:
If Vlad is one of the richest men in the world, then things are going exactly to his plan. Remember corruption is a way of life in Russia. Has been for ever. I knew people from the USSR 40 yrs ago who said to get anywhere you had to be a member of the communist party and have your hand out, either giving or receiving. For Vlad to get where he is that was/is required. So. Isn’t Vlad a smarter version of drumpf? To get where he is takes cunning, violence, corruption, lying and an overwhelming desire to achieve at any cost. drumpf wants that but he’s not got anything other the lying part, and he’s not even good at that. drumpf is the guy who started half way to home plate, got lost and has been walking the wrong direction, all his life, and walking facing backwards besides.
MomSense
@Teddys Person:
Oh cool. I’ll go check it out.
aimai
@Frankensteinbeck: “America is what he is selling/not who he is representing” is like the haiku for this presidency.
The thing that boggles my mind is that there is, essentially, no independent Republican Senatorial oversight of the Presidency. I’ve given up on Congress, which I recognize to be a bunch of puling, mewling, parasitic, off growths of corporate and oligarchic interests. But the Senate used to have some actual political, international, thinkers–didn’t it? Or am I thinking primarily of the Democratic lions of the senate–people with some kind of gravitas, some kind of moral core? Mitch McConnell, of course, has nothing in his wizened core but dust and dried apple cores. But at that top level aren’t even Republican Senators aghast at the rapid collapse of US prestige and honor? I get that they think their voters don’t see it–but don’t they?
Schlemazel
I have been saying this for a couple of years now, Russia is at war with the US and China won.
So there is really nothing we can do to stop the current destruction of the US (sure, keep working for Dems in ’18, we can slow the destruction down if Americans control both houses. but the does not stop it). The question becomes how do we reverse the damage? What can be done to ever restore America to its place at the table on the international scene? This is a serious question. How can the next President reengage & how long will it take to reestablish US credibility? Are those gone forever?
Ruckus
@OzarkHillbilly:
I know, I know, ask me!
Oh wait that plan is illegal. Nevermind.
debbie
This puppetmastering has got to be one hell of an ego trip for Putin. I don’t know enough about Xi to know if it’s the same for him, but I do think it will be Putin’s ego that trips him up and ends him.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
With a candidate who’s Obama 2.0.
Teddys Person
@MomSense: Thanks for checking it out.
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
We do appreciate the burden you take on in voluntarily taking in the flow of garbage from Murdoch’s brainchild.
D58826
There is a serious danger that the sun will start coming up in the west in the next few days. When Jennifer Rubin of the WAPO sound like a charter member of the ACLU anything can happen. (sigh)
In the meantime Trump and the GOP are packing the courts with lawyers who are not qualified to deliver coffee to George Papp. And these people will be sitting on the bench for 30-40 years. My niece has a 7 year old and the worlds cutest 8 month old (brag brag) who will be living with the consequences of what Trump is doing when they have kids. It’s all fine and good to laugh at Der Fuhrer and his stupid statements but there are real life consequences going on here. Its all fine and good to say – well in 2020 with a democratic POTUS and Congress we can reverse the damage being done to our institutions but that does not reckon with the Federal Judiciary. The states and to a lesser extent the feds passed a lot of progressive legislation in the early part of the 20th century. It was all invalidated by the Lochner era court. Oversimplifying it a bit but if the law was passed by a state then SCOTUS ruled it should be a federal issue. If the feds passed the law then SCOTUS ruled it should be a state level issue. They were owned lock stock and barrel by the 20th century version of the Koch brothers. And today the Kochs, Mercers, Adelsons are busy buying up state governments and the federal judiciary.
Craigie
@gene108:
This a million times.
Rupert Murdoch and The Turtle are the two people who have most damaged the US.
mai naem mobile
The Peking Opera titles have to be a joke. Please tell me it was a joke. I would love to be a fly on the wall when the Obamas are talking about Dolt45 and his international trips. Do they laugh or wince in horror?
Fair Economist
@Schlemazel: I don’t think it would be a disaster if the US were less important internationally. Some things we do are good, but we cause a lot of trouble too. The world will be fine if the US drops from sole superpower to primus inter pares.
bemused
The Hill writes that advertisers are starting to distance themselves from Hannity after his Moore interview. Seriously, how did Hannity and Fox not see this coming?
My spouse caught a clip of trump walking down a hill overseas but I missed it. He said Trump looked like a robot navigating the slope. Yup, he’s in superb physical condition.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@gene108:
Or InfoWars paranoia conspiracy fantasies. I am more than a little convinced that’s the driving force behind these mass shootings; the mentally ill getting their fears stroked to the breaking point by things like InfoWars.
JMG
@D58826: When the Democrats regain the White House and Congress, they must do everything the Republicans fear. Blow up the filibuster. Pack the courts. Confiscate semi-automatic weapons. The whole ball of wax.
Fair Economist
@D58826: Wait, Jen Rubin wrote THAT?
Ruckus
@gene108:
On this very blog we’ve had stories about people who have managed to shut off faux news in their parents house and within a very short time the paranoia and disillusionment has lessened noticeably.
It’s not just what is said on faux, it’s how it’s said as well. It is propaganda, it’s structured to show only one direction of thinking, that that one direction is thinking and that adherence to that is the only truth. It is propaganda.
SFAW
@Schlemazel:
It’s not clear it can be, absent the total destruction of the Republic Partei and of Murdoch Enterprises. Because the rest of the world thinks Lying Littledick is a moronic buffoon (or perhaps a buffoonish moron), but they also have noted (frequently) that one of the two major political parties here is completely fucked up. Until the world sees that the USA is sane again, they will probably not want us “leading.”
Do what Obama did (working hard to reassure the world), but even that is unlikely to succeed (if the Rethugs still have any power). It will take at least 10 years of rational, mature leadership in the US. Actually, it’ll probably take 30 years or more, because that’s how long it will take to rebuild the public education system, after almost 40 years of RWNJs trying to destroy it. (And it is always easier/quicker to destroy than rebuild.)
Might be. But on the plus side, at least the Koch, Mercers, and the rest of that ilk will get their tax cuts. So quit whining.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
I’m not big on a cult of personality, Obama was a good President but he was not able to do everything he wanted or fix all the damage DumbellU caused. What would this imaginary v2.0 DO? What would their agenda be? What positive steps could they take, programs/treaties/agreements can they pursue?
Brachiator
And yet Trump supporters still believe the snake oil that Trump sold them early on, that he is Master of the Art of the Deal who is going to rescue them from Chinese dominated globalization.
And the right wing propaganda machine (Sinclair, Clear Channel, and Fox News) will make sure that these dopes get the right message. They will sell this trip as a fabulous triumph.
J R in WV
@OzarkHillbilly:
I thought we had a plan?
I thought the tumbrels were the plan? Am I not understanding the whole system of tumbrels and things that are heard to spel?
Schlemazel
@Fair Economist:
there is a huge difference between the US assuming a proper place in international affairs and the current state. We have lacked a humble role almost continually since 1945 and needed to dial it back. The problem is we have abandoned all roles and that is not good for the US or the world. We still have an army larger than the combined armies of the next 10-12 nations so our disengagement is worse that of less bellicose ones.
Fair Economist
@Schlemazel: Yeah, Trump was elected by an American populace that was reasonably informed about what he was. No matter how good the next President is the rest of the world will know we still have a kooky electorate.
gene108
@aimai:
I think Republicans have a different view of US prestige and honor than the rest of us. We can no longer negotiate treaties, because Republicans will refuse to support treaties, so we cannot get to the 2/3’s vote required for ratification in the Senate.
Look at the international response to global warming versus the Republican response. The rest of the world wants to reduce carbon emissions. Republicans want to increase carbon emissions.
There may have once been Republicans, who worried about US standing in the world, but all that went by the wayside when Bush, Jr. came to power and got us out of the Clinton-era energy sharing deal that got N. Korea to halt its nuclear program, and torpedoed the Kyoto Protocols to great fanfare from the Republican establishment.
Patricia Kayden
@bemused: Trump is the healthiest President ever!! Just ignore that big butt and flaccid orange skin tone.
prostratedragon
@mai naem mobile: The pseudo-laugh of horrified disbelief, no doubt — too witty to miss the absurdity, but caring too much to think this is really funny.
Another Scott
@Craigie: McConnell is an evil monster.
I’d add Roger Ailes and Scaife to that list, also too. Murdoch was just the money-man. TheAtlantic (from 2003):
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Fair Economist
@Schlemazel: The current level of disengagement is the result of actions at the top and is partially reversible. Partial will be enough. The current situation is horrific but I thought we were talking about long term.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
Whether it was for better or worse, Obama saw all sides. He was pragmatic, patient, and willing to work with anyone willing to work with him. He kept his eyes, and his ego, on the bigger picture. These things in a president work for me.
Schlemazel
@Brachiator:
“When the last Capitalist is hung he will sell us the rope to hang him” – Nikita Khrushchev
They will not be communists but oligarchs but the thrust of the quote is still 100% accurate.
Another Scott
@bemused: Donnie is afraid of ramps and stairs.
Cheers,
Scott.
mai naem mobile
@aimai: no they don’t. If you watch some of the tea bagger congress people you can seriously conclude that they’re intellectually stupid. Literally dumb. I don’t even know how they’re taught Roberts Rules. The Senators may be a tiny but smarter but there’s a good lot of them who are stupid. Breadbags Ernst from Iowa and Ron Johnson are both quite stupid. The old farts who were smart are old and god knows how much stamina they have to remember everything . Don’t forget we.had Dana Perino as the Bush spokesmodel who didn’t know about the Cuban Missile Crisis. How do you graduate from a US HS without knowing about the Cuban Missile Crisis?
dogwood
@Mike in NC:
It’s been quite awhile since I watched Occupied, but it’s great. It takes me longer to get through those foreign series because you can’t be doing anything else while it’s on. I ameliorate the drudgery of many tasks by watching/listening while I work.
gene108
@gene108:
Just want to add, I think one reason Republicans could advance US interests during the Cold War is that the bar we had to clear was being better than the USSR, in terms of standard of living, political freedom, freedom of the press, etc.
It was a low bar.
Without it as a foil, Republicans lost the plot on what makes America great in the eyes of the world.
Chris
@Baud:
I can’t, actually. The world doesn’t hate Trump. He’s too easy to take advantage of
bemused
@Patricia Kayden:
Old joke: A lovely woman checks herself out in full length mirror and sees much to criticize. A guy with a comb over and bulging beer gut checks himself out and says, “Damn, I look good”. Trump sees a god of perfection.
Mike in NC
@bemused: “Trump: The Golem of Queens”
MattF
@Fair Economist: Columns describing Rubin’s flat-out contempt for the Republican party are recent. She’ll praise individual Democrats, but hasn’t (and may not ever) get to the point of being pro-Democratic party generally. It’s an unresolved problem for her– but in a two-party system, voting for Democrats is the path away from Republicans-in-power, and I think she knows that.
Amir Khalid
@Chip Daniels:
A wee bit premature; his support hasn’t fallen that far yet.
Schlemazel
@debbie:
Yes but there are 2 problems. Ignore the 800 lb gorilla of how we get someone like that elected and focus on what things need to be done. How do we get back in on the climate talks, trade deals and alliances? Who would trust us? What things would they need to say and do to rebuild the damaged reputation? Fair Economists is right that it might take 40 years. Still I was hoping for a discussion of things that need to be done more than who I think could do them.
Brachiator
@Ruckus:
Fox News is just the big tip of a bigger iceberg.
In the Los Angeles talk radio market, the biggest English language radio station is KFI, a Clear Channel station. I liked their sports and entertainment hosts, but during their news casts during the Obama administration, I noticed that the news reader would, for example, talk about how Obama visited a foreign country, but they would never mention what he accomplished or how he was received.
Conservative hosts would push the lie that Obama was ineffectual and disliked by world leaders and their citizens, even when a flip of the dial would show him being treated like a rock star.
During the 2016 election, the station would always pair a conservative male host with a woman whose job it was to bash Hillary and to assure listeners that it was OK for women to hate her.
Clear Channel and Sinclair, which is looking to greatly expand their media holdings, create a very effective wall of propaganda even without accounting for Fox’s baleful influence.
Mr Stagger Lee
@SFAW: I hate to say this, but the US is an empire at it’s end, the best we can hope for is to be like the UK or France and have a soft landing, and still have a democracy and a civilized leadership. but most likely we are going to turn into a Spain with messed up governments leading to violent confrontation, like Spain in the 30’s.
Davebo
Who here can’t recall girls they have dated in their lifetimes. I mean, even if you can’t recall her name, you’d know if you dated a 16 year old in your thirties right?
bemused
@Another Scott:
He also uses golf carts if he has to walk longer than half a block. He probably has reason to be afraid that he won’t admit, no stamina and unsteady on his feet.
Davebo
@Mr Stagger Lee: Or like Spain now.
GregB
From a story perspective, it is funny to see that the evangelical support of the Republican Party, a party so dedicated to the aquisition of worldly wealth, it seems to be their only guiding light. The GOP is the money before God party in living flesh.
That some of the biggest funders of that monied vision are the coal, gas and oil industries, the fossil fuel business if you will. The big punchline is that the fundies think the very idea fossils are lies from the pit hell cooked up by Godless acedemics.
bemused
@Mike in NC:
Unfortunately with the ability to speak.
Brachiator
@Schlemazel:
Nonsense. Other countries are moving on, abandoning America. But we know what the issues are with respect to climate, trade, etc. And we know the policy positions of other nations. Future leaders and the Congress will have to decide whether they want to play a part, and act accordingly.
America’s struggle will be an internal on, like what is happening in the UK as they struggle with BREXIT.
Time is less an issue than is a clear ongoing commitment to finding real solutions.
prostratedragon
@Another Scott: Untreated circulatory issues? I had some bad issues with vertigo on stairs and in large open spaces. Heart failure treatment seems to have helped me, plus using a cane or walker sometimes, not that I’d expect him to do the latter. He can manage to get down airplane stairs.
Of course if he has any untreated major issues besides the plethora of mental ones, that also raises some questions.
rikyrah
@Teddys Person:
Thanks for the link
rikyrah
@JMG:
Uh huh
Uh huh ?
West of the Rockies (been a while)
I suppose that this will be a non-story at Fox and the National Review. Trade has been worsened under Lump, but BENGHAZI!!! is what the conservative media will focus upon.
bemused
@prostratedragon:
Probably true story that WH chef couldn’t duplicate McDonald’s hamburger for Trump so he sent out his bodyguard to get takeout. I’d think I died and gone to heaven if I could have a WH chef prepare all kinds of amazing meals none of which would include a Mac or any fast food. Trump is addicted to fat and junk food.
I haven’t gone near a McDonalds in years. When I was working and really busy, on very rare occasion I would grab one for lunch. I always regretted it. My stomach revolted.
Humdog
@Schlemazel: At LGM there has been some discussion of packing the courts with 100 new federal judges, both to solve court backlogs issues and to change the philosophy of the whole court system. Also, it appears many of the recent judicial appointments are stupid enough that if we put some teeth in ethics policing we could boot many of them out for doing things like giving speeches at locations that will be appearing before the courts (Gorsuck and his Trump Hotel speech).
As for the Paris Climate accord, many states are independently going to follow the standards laid out there with the same or even more ambitious goals for lowering carbon emissions. If we follow that up nationally with a cap and trade that penalizes businesses in states that aren’t following Paris goals by not sending them the money that comes form selling carbon credits, or some such.
A National right to vote with a penalty that states who place obstacles to voters don’t get their national representatives a seat in the Senate, Congress or electoral college. Maybe even a civics test to be able to run for national office.
Just off the top of my head….
MomSense
@J R in WV:
I’ve moved on to pikes which also have the benefit of being easier to spell.
laura
@Schlemazel: cannot agree more. It’s the policies and the plan that matters -not the person.
John Edwards’ Two Americas was right on the button, but the message was lost with the man. A new New Deal, is a simple theme and it’s one I sure would like the democratic party to adopt and to tailor to the city, county, state and nation. A common thread that unites that’s my fervent hope and wish.
Brachiator
@Mr Stagger Lee:
I am not sure that either France or the UK had soft landings. The UK in particular was wobbled by the Great War and exhausted by World War II. Both nations endured brutal internal and external problems as they tried to maintain their colonial possessions.
Trump is inciting terrible domestic division and scapegoating. This might only grow worse if America cannot become “great” again and instead becomes a second tier nation.
Baud
@laura:
Jeffro
@gene108:
Right now, Fox News dot com is leading with “Tax Cuts Will Be Great For All Americans” says Brady Oh, sure they will, absolutely…that’s why we’re eliminating the estate tax, right GOP?
Schlemazel
@Brachiator:
If you were another country why would you take the next Presidents word on anything? That will take time & an unbroken chain of kept promises. Yes, we still have the internal struggle but we cannot (and should not) abandon a role in the world community & I am still looking for specific ideas that can be carried on for 40 years while we restore our credibility
Baud
@laura:
Well, there’s this, but it’s not as interesting to talk about as OMG RIGGED PRIMARY!!!
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
Doug Jones is tweeting that a new poll has him up 4.
Schlemazel
@Humdog:
those are all good. I must have missed the LGM piece, do they think the court can be expanded? We would need to WH and Senate to pull this off & even then the REpublican blocking has to be stopped which could have negative consequences later when they get back in & start tossing lemons again.
schrodingers_cat
T has made United States a punchline of a joke in the rest of the world. His Twitter rants, for one, let no one forget that this country elected an inexperienced buffoon to its most powerful position.
Baud
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Good. Hopefully our people turn out and theirs don’t.
Patricia Kayden
@Schlemazel: If the next Democratic President has a Democratic Congress, he/she should focus on getting a progressive agenda passed (immigration reform, gun control legislation, filling judicial vacancies, fixing the Voting Rights Act, protecting gay workers/customers, etc.). There is so much left to do and while President Obama was able to do a little, the next Democratic President should come in with guns blazing to get things moving in a progressive direction.
Sloane Ranger
@Mr Stagger Lee: To be fair, in the UK’s case the 2nd W.W had created a sense of being united in a common cause but that and W.W.1 had also seen us shed our vast amounts of our blood and treasure. Quite frankly, we were knackered. Also we could con ourselves that we could play Greece to your Rome.
Fair Economist
@MattF: What really blows my mind about that is favorable comments about progressive legislation and the New Deal, and concerns about typical Republican packing techniques. From Jen Rubin?
PPCLI
@Brachiator: Indeed. Watch the movie Battle of Algiers for a sense of how soft the landing was for France. And that movie ends before the General’s coup.
Brachiator
@Schlemazel:
Because that’s how the world works. Nobody much cares what the policies of Angela Merkel’s predecessor was.
Continuity counts to a great degree. And that will depend not only on the next president, but also on the next Congress.
Trump is a disaster. Not only is he incompetent, but he always blubbers about negating past agreements and treaties.
You don’t have to come up with a detailed list of proposed solutions. The country has to decide that they want to elect a competent leader who is willing to engage with the rest of the world and live up to reasonable commitments.
The UK is having similar problems with BREXIT. They are finding that their go-it-alone fantasies don’t get them favorable trading deals with the rest of the European sphere.
Patricia Kayden
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Yes. he has. Small but significant. Hopefully, Jones will squeak out a win.
Shalimar
@Patricia Kayden: An MSNBC host did this the other day too, saying roughly “he has made it through this trip so far without gaffes.” He admitted being surprised at how many countries there are in the world and asked the Japanese to start making cars in the US, among many, many others. Apparently, if you don’t cover them, they didn’t happen.
prostratedragon
@bemused: The man lacks class unto pathology. Some wealthy people who get addicted to an overrich diet do it on things like tournadots Rossini (which imho should be prepared to the “Thieving Magpie” overture).
Humdog
@Schlemazel: Democrats would need total control inDC for any of those dreams to one true. R’s dreamt of having full control but it seems their only concrete plan was to flood the judiciary. Even then, they still had to scratch around to fill positions, going so far as to nominate a blogger for a lifetime judiciary slot.
At the least, we can consol ourselves now with dreams that we’d hopefully flesh out and be ready, unlike them. The dreaming helps me get thru the daily shitstorm.
debbie
@Schlemazel:
I think 40 years is an overexaggeration. I think almost all countries would welcome us back. From what I’m reading, Trump is seen as an aberration, an anomaly, and a fluke. Plus, there’s nothing Trump has done that can’t be reversed. He’s as easily erasable as Trump thinks Obama is.
What do we have to do? We have to elect an individual with a collaborative mind set when it comes to our position in the world. This country also has to get its priorities straight. Country over party, common good over special interests. And also, representatives who will support that president.
D58826
@Humdog:
Feature not a bug. The judge will simply check with his Koch brothers handler who will supply him/her with a pre-written decision. Back during the Ollie North Congressional hearings, his lawyer asked a question ‘what do you think I am a potted plant?’ Well the GOP can put potted plants on the federal b bench and the Koch’s would be in hog heaven. We already have 5 examples of poison ivy on SCOTUS.
D58826
@debbie:
Maybe and then maybe not. Once the American sponsored international institutions have been destroyed they will be replace by others, probable lead by the Chinese. It will be very difficult for other countries to just walk away from those new arrangements. Look at the heartburn being caused by BREXIT
Brachiator
@debbie:
Yep. I agree. I think much of the world would be happy to forget the Trump administration and move on.
Makes it all the more sad and ironic that Trump supporters bitterly resent any attempt to hold Trump back.
AnonPhenom
…possible ‘silver lining’ to Putin/Trump dismantling of the State Department and direct American Global Leadership; the next administration will find itself in a position where the most effective option for the exercise of soft power will be through consensus building through institutions like the United Nation.
Matt McIrvin
@Baud: Seems like a lot of leaders really like him–mostly the totalitarians, mass murderers and people who are either looking for a sucker or have longstanding grudges against the United States.
Calouste
@Schlemazel: Yes, who says Obama 2.0 isn’t going to be followed by shitgibbon 2.0? Or as someone stated it here before, after GWB, Obama already was America’s second chance.
Short of a serious restructuring of the political system, along the lines of France’s transition from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic, other countries would be stupid to trust promises from America beyond the current term of the President they’re dealing with. (And as mentioned above, the move from the Fourth to the Fifth Republic wasn’t exactly smooth.)
Matt McIrvin
@Dolly Llama: Actually Sun Wukong (the Monkey King) does start out kind of like Donald Trump if he had godlike superpowers. A lot of damage ensues.
Corner Stone
Spotted this on Chris Hayes’ twit feed. Take it fwiw:
No Drought No More
Take heart. One day soon those same world leaders will be asked what they think about Trump’s downfall at the hands of the American people.
“Always look on the bright side of life”. Eric Idle said that, and Eric Idle was right.
D58826
@Schlemazel: Nothing sacred about the 9 member court. The Constitution does not specify a number and IIRC it has been smaller in years past. So yes it could be expanded but would take a minimum of 60 votes in the Senate. I’m not sure if that kind of change would need 67 like a treaty or conviction in an impeachment trial.
FDR tried it in 1937 and it raised holy h*ll. He was tired of the Lochner era justices invalidating New Deal legislation. The famous ‘switch in time that saved nine” is the name given to what was perceived as the sudden jurisprudential shift by Associate Justice Owen Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1937 case West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish.
Wheither FDR could have packed the court thus remains an interesting historical debate.
Matt McIrvin
@Brachiator: Yonatan Zunger on G+ just performed an experiment (in a post with stated special moderation rules) in which he asked conservatives to explain to him precisely why they hated Barack Obama so much.
I didn’t have the stomach to read all the answers, but the first long one he got that fit the criteria was an interesting read. The guy didn’t say much about foreign policy; he started with an unelaborated claim that Obama was “ashamed of America” and a few policy complaints–was upset that he said people had the right to health care.
But the overwhelming theme of his rant was that Obama was condescending and superior and thought he was better than conservatives. He also saw Obama as somehow the focal point of a general cultural movement toward disparaging and laughing at conservatives–portraying them as dumb and bigoted in the media, etc. It was all this sort of resentment of liberal smugness of which Obama was the symbol and center.
He got in a crack about Hillary Clinton behaving the same way, and also being “fake”.
I don’t know if laying off Fox News would help with that. It might. I recall how in all of Newsmax’s ads, they’d pick a photo of Obama that showed him with a really smug and priggish expression with his chin in the air, eyes downcast.
Baud
@Corner Stone: Meh.
Kay
He’s just this daily example of unearned privilege and arrogance. I genuinely believe he’s bad for children- they shouldn’t be watching this. They won’t do anything. They’ll believe that boasting and bragging and setting such low standards that’s it’s impossible to fail are the national norm.
He’s over there literally bragging about working for 12 days. The President says working at something for twelve days is “unprecendented”
You can’t do anything worthwhile or learn anything real in 12 days! They’ll be like “why aren’t I rich and famous yet- my God I once went to school for 180 days”
Ivanka and her husband haven’t made asses of themselves internationally for almost a month now! Give them the fucking medal of honor!
Ruckus
@gene108:
They don’t care how America looks to the rest of the world. They don’t understand the rest of the world, they don’t understand America. They understand a tiny, tiny, thin sliver of a world view. One where they are the center of everything. Everything and everyone else is less and not worthy of straining their tiny little minds about. They know what they learned in church, at the local bank, and from their parents. All of that is good, nothing else is. They don’t live life with blinders on, it’s a blindfold.
Kay
Their senatorial candidate thinks he is being treated unfairly and not given enough credit because as far as we know he did not actually RAPE a 14 year old. This is the standard. No rape convictions? You are definitely senate material! In fact, it’s an outrage if you’re a white man of a certain age and you’re NOT a senator already!
Matt McIrvin
@No Drought No More: That relies on us not all being dead.
Shalimar
@Kay: Still a higher standard than Trump has for judges in Alabama. No work experience whatsoever after law school other than running a pro-Trump blog? Congratulations, you’re now a federal judge.
Baud
@Matt McIrvin: When they’re not respected as our natural leaders, they feel like they are being looked down on.
D58826
@Schlemazel: Nothing sacred about the 9 member court. Sol yes it could be expanded but would take a minimum of 60 votes in the Senate. I’m not sure if that kind of change would need 67 like a treaty or conviction in an impeachment trial.
FDR tried it in 1937 and it raised holy h*ll. He was tired of the Lochner era justices invalidating New Deal legislation. The famous ‘switch in time that saved nine” is the name given to what was perceived as the sudden jurisprudential shift by Associate Justice Owen Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1937 case West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish.
Wheither FDR could have packed the court thus remains an interesting historical debate.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Ruckus: Judging by Trump’s comments, they’re sensitive if they believe the rest of the world is laughing at the US or at them
Omnes Omnibus
@Matt McIrvin: If we are all dead, then there is nothing for any of us to worry about.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud:They want to be appreciated for their bigotry and hate and general stupidity. If you don’t do that then you are looking down upon them.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
Oh you are absolutely correct. I’ve had professional dealings with Clear Channel. You get above lowest tier people and they are vile assholes. That is what it takes to move up there, it’s what it takes to swallow their bullshit. I know someone who while I didn’t actually respect him, he was an OK human, he took a job there in middle management. I saw him about a year later and he was broken. Not as in acceptably broken but in “What the fuck did I do?” broken.
And Sinclair is the same, only with a slightly quieter rise to prominence.
tobie
@Matt McIrvin: It’s interesting that so many conservatives are convinced that Democrats look down on them. I remember how surprised I was when I first moved to rural America in 2007 and a neighbor told me that Nancy Pelosi thinks she’s better than us. I guess that fits with the embrace of terms like ‘redneck’ and the near defiance with which so many conservatives assert that they come from ‘real America’ or ‘flyover country.’ My sense is that this chip-on-shoulder/grievance is the flip side of the conviction that the country really belongs to conservative voters who want “their country back” even if they are a distinct minority.
Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho
@Kay: I just can’t even with some of the responses to this. I knew they were venal and dishonest, but I am actually surprised. Naive at my age – who could have guessed?
Corner Stone
@Baud: You think it won’t have credence? Or that it will be more details about an uninteresting story we’ve already heard about?
ETA, I halfway think it will be about Niger.
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: Roy Moore will earn them the respect they deserve.
schrodingers_cat
@Omnes Omnibus: Indeed. I for one am close to giving up on Balloon Juice. The daily bath in the sea of despair is getting too much to bear.
Baud
@Corner Stone: My guess is noteworthy, but not the most disturbing in 15 years noteworthy.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Yes. Respect has to be earned. Saying a 100 times that you are not a racist, while spouting Brietbart bile doesn’t cut it.* I don’t care whether you ate aloo gobi or fucking boiled the living daylights out of your vegetables.
*My ex-friend, the Yoga teacher, who also used to give me the details of the Indian food she cooked/ate to prove her supposed non-racist bonafides, after forwarding some garbage email with the latest conspiracy theory about HRC.
Teddys Person
@tobie: Remember, it’s always projection with those on the right. They look down on and hate anyone not like them (white, straight, Christian and conservative). So, they assume liberals are doing the same thing. They went nuts when Obama said that they cling to their guns and religion, but then spend everyday of their lives proving him correct.
Citizen Alan
@tobie:
I look down on people like that and I don’t care if they know it. I’ll tell them to their face that I look down on them. And it is because of things they have done and things they are proud of having done that I look down on them. Why should I feel guilty for looking down on people who strive daily to show how unworthy of respect they are?
Baud
@schrodingers_cat: Heh. Tandoori Trumpster.
pluky
@Matt McIrvin: the word he was looking for, I think, is uppity.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: Totally, T^2 thinks that she saw Slum Dog and Gandhi, so now she understands India. Moron.
Jeffro
@Baud: 15 years ago was the big drum beat and lead up to the Iraq war right ? All of us could see it coming?
Nickel bet says that the powers that be have decided on some sort of ultimatum to North Korea, with military consequences ready to go if they turn it down
SgrAstar
@MomSense: We need em all. The tumbrels carry the malefactors to the guillotine, the guillotine removes their heads, the heads go on pikes. EZPZ.
tobie
@Teddys Person: @Citizen Alan: My neighbor who burns with incandescent rage at the mention of Pelosi or Hillary Clinton is actually a warm person who does a lot of volunteer work for the community. She’s just been brainwashed into thinking that Democrats look down on her and I’m really not sure what one could say that would convince her otherwise. I’m still working on this.
JR
@Gvg: Russians are just following the Bourbon playbook. Worked awesome for the French after all.
Baud
@tobie: IMHO there’s little connection between personal behavior and the level of wingnuttery.
Shouldn’t you be insulted that she thinks you look down on her?
Steeplejack
@Fair Economist:
Are you misreading D58826’s comment as a quote from Jennifer Rubin? Here is what she actually wrote on Friday: “The GOP can’t be rebranded. Let’s junk it.”
Note that Rubin’s contempt for contemporary Republicans does not mean automatic support for Democrats. At the bottom of that linked post she writes:
Except for “reform conservatism” (whatever that is), she’s pretty much describing the Democratic Party. But apparently she’s not yet ready to see that.
Brachiator
@Matt McIrvin:
Of course, the problem is that a lot of these people are dumb and bigoted.
But I guess this needs more unpacking. But the obvious contradiction is that some conservatives babble on about the inferiority of black people, but then claim that Obama’s problem is being superior and an elitist.
And then these people flock to a man who constantly brags how great he and his children are. It is a puzzlement.
Patricia Kayden
@tobie: Conservatives are loud and proud about looking down on and condemning folks they don’t like such as LGBT folk, women who have abortions, liberals, people against the death penalty, people who advocate healthcare for all, etc. So it’s hilarious that they feel that liberals/progressives look down on them. Talk about black kettle calling pots black .
Ninedragonspot
@mai naem mobile: the titles of the Beijing operas aren’t jokes, though usually tales involving Sun Wukong, the Monkey King (from Journey to the West), mention the demon he’s facing or the location of the battle in the titles. 貴妃醉酒 is usually rendered as The Drunken Concubine and is a core opera of the Mei (Lanfang) tradition. No very good reason to read a political subtext in the presentation of those excerpts: they are bog-standard in the Beijing opera world.
jonas
I get the impression that the Chinese in particular have figured out that if you just turn a state visit from Trump into one long session of stroking his ego and surrounding him with sparkly things, he isn’t really interested in talking about anything serious and nothing gets done and he leaves with the status quo intact. What’s not to like?
tobie
@Baud: Yes, it is a little insulting. On the other hand I’ve often been touched by her concern for people in need, including myself at times. So, as with most people, she’s complicated. I usually avoid talking politics with my neighbors, but maybe that’s not the right tack to take. I should see if there’s any possibility for conversation.
Patricia Kayden
@Corner Stone: O-o. That sounds pretty ominous. With Trump, we can’t even guess at what that could be.
Patricia Kayden
@bemused: For a man of his age, Trump’s ego is unusually humungus. He really must have lived in a bubble surrounded by yes men/women who never criticized him in the slightest to have such a high opinion of himself. It’s frightening that a 70+ year old man lacks even a smudge of self awareness but here we are.
FlipYrWhig
@Citizen Alan: I do look down on them too. When I discover that people in my life voted for Trump and don’t regret it at all, I deliberately have less to do with them. It’s an abhorrent trait.
I have no hope that people like this will ever stop thinking that Democrats and liberals look down on them. Even if some Democratic candidate comes along who can successfully project that she or (more likely) he doesn’t look down on them, they’ll still believe that the rest of us continue to do so. Thus I still think the best chance for a sane future will come when they decide they want more out of Republicans than symbolism and hatred for Others. That’s when they’ll vote for a better sort of Republican. But they’re still not going to vote for Democrats.
jonas
@Steeplejack:
I know! Did she read what she had written before sending it off?
FlipYrWhig
@Brachiator:
I don’t think that’s a contradiction. That’s pretty much the definition of “uppity.”
FlipYrWhig
@Patricia Kayden: Conservatives, to a person, think that they are “normal” and have “common sense.” The people they don’t like are weird and either idiots or eggheads. And as a friend told me upon reading the Johnstown article, there’s a whole strand running through contemporary conservatism that has to do with how there’s a vanishing world of upstanding values that only they really still believe in, and it’s under threat, and anything done to preserve it is A-OK. Flattering them that they’re still special and their ways will never die is pretty much what the Republican Party provides as a positive vision, alongside the negative vision that black and brown people and homos and sluts are taking advantage of them economically and culturally and ruining America.
Brachiator
@schrodingers_cat:
You’d be missing all the fun, and we would be without your insights, including your ongoing education with respect to all things Bollywood.
scav
@Ninedragonspot: Just because they’re bog standard doesn’t mean they weren’t selected from the set of bog standard with care — and perhaps care at multiple levels. The Drunken Concubine sounds like one easily amusing to non-opera fans without the language on simple slapstick wavelength. The choice still works at other levels to different audiences — diplomacy, advertising, etc, you juggle with that.
Jeffro
@Steeplejack: @jonas:
You’re both right and that is what I had posted about on Friday as well. I have written her two short, polite emails over the past few months encouraging her to take off her blinders and see the center-center party (i.e. the Democrats) for what it is.
We’ll see how it goes…
AnotherBruce
@D58826: 60 votes? How many votes were required to put Gorsuch on the bench?
Brachiator
@FlipYrWhig:
This is one of the reasons they can rationalize having someone unqualified appointed to the federal bench. They think that all you need is the Baby Jesus and common sense. Expertise is just a fancy word for being an egghead.
Ninedragonspot
@scav: there is nothing remotely slapstick about 貴妃醉酒,it is a rather delicate, lyrical showpiece designed to show off the rather ornamental femininity of the Mei tradition. Just about every budding opera queen an sing at least a few bars of Siping Diao from the Drunken Concubine, Monkey King (acrobats!) and Mei pieces are put on programs hundreds of times a year as introductions to Chinese opera for tourists.
Brachiator
@FlipYrWhig:
Actually, it’s deeper than that, but it arises from a similar discomfort.
NorthLeft12
I’ll assume that the definition of “liberal” when referring to US values is either some nineteenth century definition of liberal, or it is snark.
Jeffro
Y’all should see the column Rubin posted a few hours ago – straight-up Balloon Juice righteousness
Brachiator
@Steeplejack:
Maybe it’s because the Democrats are budget busters while Republicans are fiscally responsible.
Oh, wait. ;)
Ninedragonspot
For those who are curious, here’s a late-career film of Mei Lanfang himself performing one of his signature roles, The Drunken Concubine.
Marguerite Hill
@gene108:
I’ve stated quite strongly that Rupert Murdoch’s US citizenship must be revoked. Afterwards, he must be deported. We cannot have someone with such anti-American beliefs allowed to run amok.
Fox News must either become news, real verifiable news or it must have its FCC license revoked. Hannity’s approval of Roy Moore & his perverted pedophilia is deplorable beyond words.
Some stringent form of the Fairness Doctrine must be reinstated. The way MSM address most issues today is execrable, shameful, and totally slanted to appease wealthy white men and the millions of whites who incredibly believe they too will be rich one day.
Will racists continue to cling to their racist views? Of course! But those views won’t be given a guise of legitimacy and validity by a prominent “news” organization.
germy
Baud
@Marguerite Hill:
And you’re quite wrong. The only legitimate basis for revoking citizenship is fraud in the naturalization process. Anything else is unliberal and unAmerican.
Ninedragonspot
And one final set of thoughts on Trump’s Beijing opera program.
1) it is absolutely typical to have a mix of 武戲, martial plays with lots of acrobatics, and 文戲, plays set in court or among the civilian population which emphasize singing, speaking, and posture. The Monkey King plays are typical of the former.
2) Why the Drunken Concubine? When Beijing opera coalesced in the mid-19th century (an amalgam of regional styles from Anhui and elsewhere), the bearded male roles were considered the highest prestige roles. This changed in the 1920s when female roles began to receive the greatest adulation and esteem. Some scholars suggest this was at least partially the result of women being permitted to attend indoor performances, others attribute it to the excellence of the performers themselves. Whatever the case, the 四大名旦, the four great male performers of female roles, became the leading operatic symbol of the age – considered a golden age for Beijing opera. First among equals was Mei Lanfang, who also travelled internationally and became the face of Chinese opera worldwide. One of his signature works was “The Drunken Concubine”. In addition to the greAt beauty of the piece, it enjoys immense cultural prestige. That it should appear on a program for a visiting head of state is just about the least surprising thing in the world.
Steeplejack (phone)
@Jeffro:
Jennifer Rubin today: “Russia’s Mark: A Dangerous Fool for a President.”
Baud
@Ninedragonspot: Thanks for your comments. I wish I were cultured enough to appreciate them more.
Brachiator
@Marguerite Hill:
You can be American and have un-American beliefs.
Ninedragonspot
@Baud: please let me know if the Baud! 2020! campaign is collecting donations from foreign sources and/or enlisting the help of foreign spy agencies. I can try to hook you up.
Baud
@Ninedragonspot:
讓我們談談。我對收養有濃厚的興趣。
germy
@Steeplejack (phone):
Jeffro
@Steeplejack (phone): that’s the one
We need folks like her to realize their only hope is to join the center-Center party, the Dems
Van Buren
@Craigie: I heartily agree. A century from now,when the books are written about the end of the American Republic, McConnell is going to be the one fingered for its demise.
Mike G
This is great:
Make Trump Tweets Eight Again
This Google Chrome extension converts Donald Trump’s Tweets back to their rightful state: a child’s scribble.
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/make-trump-tweets-eight-a/iopebbikefjcknnbmdkkcebchlnaioen?hl=en
Omnes Omnibus
@Van Buren:
FFS.
SFAW
@debbie:
Shitgibbon is only one part of the problem. A larger part is that the rest of the world sees the US political establishment — in particular the Rethug Congress — as insane (or a reasonable approximation thereof). That sentiment was out there long before Shitgibbon was installed by Putin and persons like Kobach. THAT is what will be difficult to change, because the world understands that a significant part of the electorate is stupid beyond words, and will continue to elect crazy/stupid/evil traitors to Congress, whenever possible. Until the electorate starts thinking rational thoughts, and stops listening to or watching Fox et al., things will probably not change much.
If the Dems retake both the House and the Senate, it’s a start, but it needs to last longer than the four years we had from 2007-2011, and “certain measures” will be needed to keep Traitorous Turtle from continuing with his plan to destroy America.
It takes more than Obama 2.0.
J R in WV
@Ninedragonspot:
I find it fascinating that Balloon Juice / John Cole has created an atmosphere where we uncultured middle Americans can be exposed to world-wide culture from India, SE Asia, and the Middle Kingdom all in a single day. As well as EFG, Baud, and Major Major Major Major, of course!
Thanks to all!
Elie
@No Drought No More:
Thank you! I agree
However folks have to prepare themselves that there will be ties ahead that are scary but that is when we double down on our commitment Nothing hard is accomplished without positivity
Brachiator
@Van Buren:
Interesting assumption, that anyone will be literate enough to write books a century from now.
Just had to throw in some extra doom and gloom.
schrodingers_cat
@Brachiator: If there are still human beings left on the planet.
Marguerite Hill
@Humdog:
I couldn’t agree more concerning the stupidity, unethical behavior, and corruption of #DotardDonnie’s federal appointees. With increased scrutiny and applied stringency, the Democratic-controlled Senate can expel those people. We have to be ready on Day 1 to overturn, investigate, and IMPEACH!
Marguerite Hill
@Brachiator:
If Rupert Murdoch were the village idiot who writes long screeds to the local paper, stands up at every city council meeting and expresses his anti-American views, and displays his hand-painted signs in his yard, I would not care one iota. But he has willfully spread a contagion; he is the Typhoid Mary of modern American politics. For the love of filthy lucre, he has purposefully damaged our democracy, poisoned the well of political discourse, and intentionally sabotaged race relations, interfaith tolerance, and women’s rights.
J R in WV
Right now, my wife is watching the Manchurian Candidate in the next room on the other laptop. I’m reading political blogs about our unmentionable president.
Who is learning more about current geopolitics?
Marguerite Hill
@Baud:
Call me illiberal, unprogressive, and any other term you like. I refuse to retract one syllable. Murdoch has to go! He has betrayed every American principle, caused the death of thousands! He is a serious problem. This country cannot be fixed, the fire cannot be extinguished until the problem is removed. What good had he accomplished? None! He must go!
SWMBO
@SFAW: Come sit next to me.
Ruckus
@Davebo:
Moore didn’t date them. He didn’t think of it as a date. He was “leading them down the path of righteousness.” Or whatever horseshit way they say it to make it sound less perverted. Which of course it doesn’t.
Ruckus
@GregB:
Maybe that’s why they like fossil fuels, they get to burn things when god is done with them.
Mike G
@Marguerite Hill:
Murdoch has done plenty of damage to the political culture of the UK and Australia as well.
SWMBO
@Marguerite Hill: If you really want to hit Murdoch where he lives, have folks sue him into bankruptcy. Take every penny he’s got.
Art
Short on time, I haven’t had a chance to read all the posts, sorry if I step on any toes here, but it seemed to need saying if it hasn’t been said already:
Someone said that for Republicans: “Every accusation is a confession”‘ It’s projection 24/7. It is as if the GOP’s greatest fear is confronting their reflection in a mirror.
Matt McIrvin
@tobie:
Well, we do, don’t we? I mean, it’s only proper payback for being told for decades that we’re evil, wimpy, and in thrall to Satan and Communism, and now apparently low-T cucks.
Matt McIrvin
@germy: Didn’t Gabler predict right after the election that Trump would undoubtedly be a really popular President, because we’re all just that evil and stupid?
TenguPhule
@Suzanne:
First suggestion, Jail.
Second, Trail of Tears into reservations complete with barbed wire and machine guns facing in.
Tehanu
@danielx:
You’re right. They think the only appropriate way to treat foreigners is to bomb them back to the Stone Age if they give us any lip, period.
@Matt McIrvin:
@Brachiator:
There’s no contradiction. Obama couldn’t be better than them because he was black.