Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

Republicans don’t lie to be believed, they lie to be repeated.

Come on, man.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

Giving up is unforgivable. ~Joe Biden

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

When we show up, we win.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

The media handbook says “controversial” is the most negative description that can be used for a Republican.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

You are here: Home / Shithole President. Shithole Party.

Shithole President. Shithole Party.

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So, this happened, as reported in The Washington Post:

Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said, according to these people, referring to African countries and Haiti. He then suggested that the United States should instead bring more people from countries like Norway, whose prime minister he met Wednesday.

As Josh posted at TPM, highlighting a blunt and unequivocal report on this over at CNN, such a pure distillation of racism is too blatant to be ignored, even by the most circumspect MSM venues.

There is, in a sense, nothing new here: anyone paying attention has known that Trump is and has been for his entire adult life a gaping maw of racism, a bigot who doesn’t just loathe black and brown people, but has a record of seeking to do them harm.

It remains astonishing to hear anyone in 2018 say such filth in their outdoor voice, but no one can say they’re surprised that if anyone in American public life were to go loud and proud on the crudest expressions of race-hatred, it would be the –tragic– occupant of the Oval Office, that tiny-fingered and terrified little scrub, Donald Trump.

But if Trump is merely making it more obvious that he’s a one-man lynch mob in waiting, now with the levers of power at his vicious disposal, there’s another set of accessories, the men and those occasional women they allow into the clubhouse who lead the Republican Party.

They were the ones who accepted the devil’s bargain — trade American democracy to wield power through the presumed-to-be biddable Trump.  And now they face, and routinely fail, the test their notionally smart and stable leader poses for them:  stick with Trump, or defend this norm or that.

As everyone reading this knows, to date, it’s been Trump, and to hell with the notion of democratic governance, any of the expectations of the Founders and their heirs.  From judges to taxes to tolerating personal corruption in the White House, and on to the terrifying surrender of huge swathes of government to incompetent cronies, to the attempted capture of law enforcement as a tool of the president, and more, through the whole wretched catalogue, the GOP has chosen to see nothing, to hear nothing, to say nothing — and thus has associated themselves with each sin, all the blows to traditional forms, and every outright felony the Trump crime family commits.

And now this:  Trump, uttering out loud the hate soundtrack that loops constantly through his lizard brain.  This time, he was so obvious as to make it clear even to the meanest comprehension (not implying anything about CNN).  There’s no hidden meaning, no subtext in his words.  This ain’t eleven dimensional chess or brilliant electoral strategery.  January 11, 2018 ain’t the day that Donald Trump became President.

It’s the one on which he reminded us exactly what kind of president he is, what kind of leader the GOP accepts, welcomes, follows.

And thus the test: every single GOP member of Congress, every cabinet official, every White House staffer who fails to condemn this statement, owns it — along with all the sentiments and intentions behind it. They become the bigots, aiders and abettors of the worst impulses in the public sphere. They are to be named and shamed; small children should grimace to see them and each of us will spit on the sidewalks as they pass.

Or, more practically — every single one facing the voters in 2018 and as long as Trump is present on the American political scene has to be asked where they stand on shithole countries.  Ryan and McConnell and all the rest have to be made to choose: Trump and the worst tendencies in our country, or not.

/rant over.  Only this to add:  my stomach hasn’t unknotted since I read this.  Not to Godwin, or anything, but it’s a truly sad day when the President of the United States utters words that would have fit perfectly in Adolf Hitler’s mouth.

Image: Hieronymous Bosch, The Last Judgement, betw. c. 1482-1516

Reader Interactions

437Comments

  3. 3.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    CNN is openly using “shithole” on their screen graphics and multiple reporters are explicitly saying “shithole” without a bleep.

  4. 4.

    debbie

    I just now heard about this. I’ve put on my most grown-up voice to shout, “Takes one to know one!”

  7. 7.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Well, there you go. Germany and Scotland are both officially “shithole countries” now.

  8. 8.

    Baud

    You would have thought Dow 25000 would have cured all that economic anxiety.

    ETA: Bobby Thompson is from a shithole country.

  17. 17.

    WaterGirl

    Tom, this is a beautiful piece of writing about a horrid situation. You capture everything so well that it made me feel better to read it.

  18. 18.

    Ruckus

    No matter how long he’s been a racist asshole (all of his pathetic fucking life) this is why I say he has Alzheimer’s. He’s saying it out loud with no filters and that’s the key. The republican party likes him because he says it out loud. They’d make this the basis of their platform if they thought they could get away with it.

  19. 19.

    OGLiberal

    His fans, like most of the white dudes I grew up with, will eat this up…they’ll love it. “Tell it like it is, Trump….MAGA!”

    And that’s all he cares about – the screaming Nazis at his rallies. And all his staff cares about is keeping the boss happy, which means screaming Nazis at his rallies. And all the rest of the GOP cares about is a pen to sign their right-wing legislation and a guy to nominate the judges on the list the Federalist Society gave to him.

  20. 20.

    Bobby Thomson

    As for Godwin, his law was always predictive, not prescriptive. And he’s said specifically to have at it with the Trumpers.

  21. 21.

    The Dangerman

    Makes you wonder where, um, bottom is (verbally, not talking bombs flying here); he’s losing it from all the stress and we ain’t seen nothing yet (I’m guessing a c-word getting dropped; he’s a full on racist, to be sure, but he’s a misogynist to his core).

  22. 22.

    Wallis Lane

    Why are we having all these parrots from shithole countries come here? We should instead bring more parrots from countries like Norway, like the Norwegian Blue. Beautiful plumage !

  24. 24.

    HypersphericalCow

    When I was in high school, I acted in the Thorton Wilder play, “The Long Christmas Dinner”. I feel like the last two years has been, “The Long Christmas Dinner With Your Increasingly-Drunk Senile Racist Grandpa Whom Everyone Keeps Trying to Ignore Until He Busts Out an N-Bomb”.

    ETA: Also, where the eff is Mike Pence? I feel like we haven’t seen him in months.

  26. 26.

    trollhattan

    President shoot-a-guy-on-5th-Avenue continues to impress and amaze. Nothing will happen to him because of this. Not a thing. Ugh.

  31. 31.

    Ruckus

    I guess it’s OK say out loud “Shithole Trump” now. I still refuse to say president in front of his name. At least he will hopefully be known as the bestest worse president in the history of the world.

  32. 32.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Only this to add: my stomach hasn’t unknotted since I read this.

    This is what happens to me when Trump does these horrific things. It messes with my mind and keeps me from doing other stuff.

    I’m getting a little better at recovering from it, though. Have been practicing piano since the comment.

    And part of my horror is that some of my fellow citizens will love it, and too many of our elected representatives will ignore it.

  33. 33.

    germy

    Isn’t it obvious we not flooded with refugees from a “non-shithole country” like Norway because its residents enjoy a standard of living republicans are busy robbing from us?

  34. 34.

    Hungry Joe

    @Wallis Lane: If we brought in Norwegian Blues they pine for the fjords.

    Trump’s statement could cost him one, maybe even one and a half points in the next approval-rating poll. But he’ll bounce back. Anybody who’s still with him ain’t going to be driven off by something they’re thinking anyway.

  35. 35.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    @Baud:
    The #EconomicAnxiety of the young, trust fund, super rich is the worst.

    some rich 29 year old NFL heiress was just arrested for a hate crime against Jews in NYC.

    The wealthy daughter of late Washington Redskins owner Jack Kent Cooke has been arrested in New York and charged with a New Year’s Eve assault on a California man who was left bloodied in front of his family.
    ***
    The family was leaving the restaurant when Cooke, behind them in the coat check line, allegedly uttered “Hurry up, Jew,” Haberkorn’s attorney Andrew Miltenberg told ABC News.

    “And his wife turned around and said, ‘What did you say?’” Miltenberg said. “And [Cooke] says, ‘Hurry up Jew I got places to be.’”

    Miltenberg said Haberkorn followed his family outside and confronted Cooke over her remarks.

    “Why would you say that to my wife and children and mother,” Haberkorn asked Cooke, according to Miltenberg. “Then she took a swing at him and hit him in the head with her purse.”

    Haberkorn was left with a gash to the head, blood dripping down his cheek, Miltenberg said. He was hit with a box-shaped purse made of glass that caused two lacerations, according to the criminal complaint.

    “He’s pretty upset,” Miltenberg added.

  36. 36.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    The name Trump will go down in history as a synonym for shithole. Fuck every single one of his remaining supporters with one of those hoses which is used to clean out port-a-potties.

  38. 38.

    Citizen_X

    Well: remember this report of Trump making remarks about immigrants, from December? The one they denied vehemently?

    White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Saturday said senior administration officials deny a New York Times report that claims the president said Haitian immigrants “all have AIDS” and that immigrants from Nigeria won’t want to return to their “huts.”

    Anyone doubt he actually said that now?

  40. 40.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I don’t give a damn about the golden globes, but I was praying she wouldn’t win on sunday. What a disgusting woman.

  41. 41.

    Mike in NC

    President Trump will always fight for the American people,” spokesman Raj Shah said in a statement issued after The Washington Post first reported Trump’s remarks.

    Raj Shah: from Norway or Denmark?

    This tidbit is leading the evening network news, but of course they cannot directly quote Fat Bastard. Fox News would call that PC.

  42. 42.

    debbie

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:

    Don’t leave out the best part!

    But Cooke strongly denies uttering that comment. She told Page Six, “We had a really nice dinner and were rushing to go to a friend’s apartment before the clock struck midnight. We were right behind Mr. Haberkorn’s family in the line, but they were taking a really long time looking for their tickets, so I — ticket in hand — told his mother, ‘Excuse me, I have to get through.’ She clearly didn’t hear what I said, and immediately screamed at the top of her lungs, ‘She called me a Jew!’”

    She says, “I was mortified and I tried to calm things down by explaining, ‘I didn’t call anyone a Jew, I was just asking to get through.’ But by this point, Mr. Haberkorn’s wife and his daughters were yelling at me, and everyone in the restaurant was looking. I had no idea they were even Jewish.”

    She says she’s been accused of being anti-Semitic, but “I am not, my grandmother is Jewish, so I am 25 percent Jewish. I never said that word, I would never say that to anyone.”

    Mrs. Moore can sympathize, I’m sure.

  48. 48.

    Brachiator

    There is, in a sense, nothing new here: anyone paying attention has known that Trump is and has been for his entire adult life a gaping maw of racism, a bigot who doesn’t just loathe black and brown people, but has a record of seeking to do them harm.

    And now Trump seeks to make this American Apartheid 2.0 national immigration policy. Period. End of issue.

    And there is not a chance that the GOP will condemn Trump. Or if they do, it will be meekly, and without conviction. And the WaPo story notes this when Trump was making these outrageous statements.

    Graham and Durbin thought they would be meeting with Trump alone and were surprised to find immigration hard-liners such as Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) and Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), at the meeting.

    These two, among others, cheer Trump on and want exactly what he is offering.

    And open displays of bigotry is all the rage, these days. Across the pond:

    Austrian far-right minister says he wants to ‘concentrate’ migrants

    New interior minister, Herbert Kickl, elicits outcry after using term associated with Nazis, but says he did not ‘intend to provoke’

    Austria’s new far-right interior minister sparked an outcry Thursday by saying that his government wants to “concentrate” asylum-seekers, employing a word widely associated with Nazi camps.

    Herbert Kickl told a news conference he wants “basic services centers, suitable infrastructure that enables us to concentrate people in the asylum process in one place.”

    The comments quickly provoked outrage, with Alexander Pollak, head of migrants charity SOS Mitmensch, calling it a “deliberate provocation” and left-wing essayist Robert Misik saying “a Rubicon has been crossed.”

    Trump and his ilk are quickly making bigotry the new normal.

  52. 52.

    B.B.A.

    I know my ancestors came from a shithole country (the Russian Empire). If it hadn’t been a shithole, they wouldn’t have left!

  54. 54.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: Just today? He became President of White Supremacists when he defended murderous Neo Nazis in Charlottesville with “some of them were good people”.

    @schrodingers_cat: We all are and he’s only been in office for one year. Sigh.

  55. 55.

    germy

    @debbie:

    “We had a really nice dinner and were rushing to go to a friend’s apartment before the clock struck midnight.”

    After midnight she turns back into a rodent.

  56. 56.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    Holy shnikeys! Ari Melber has Joe Arpaio on The Beat starting right now on MSNBC.

  57. 57.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Brachiator:

    Herbert Kickl told a news conference he wants “basic services centers, suitable infrastructure that enables us to concentrate people in the asylum process in one place.”

    Oh dear. Someone needs a lesson on how to dog whistle.

  59. 59.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    “The president harbors racist feelings about people of color.”

    Jim Acosta, White House correspondent for CNN

  60. 60.

    cokane

    hilarious that our president is so dumb he cant figure out why norweigans arent flocking to the US

  65. 65.

    WaterGirl

    @Ruckus: He is like a child who has no sense of what you can say in polite company. I used to love being around my friend’s 7-year-old. Sitting on the train, she taps the guy in front of us on the shoulder and says, “do you smoke marijuana? my mom smokes marijuana.” That was a lot more fun than the time she asked some lady “why are you so fat?’

    That’s Trump to a T.

  66. 66.

    cmorenc

    Some places on this Earth are truly a shithole to live in The racist bigot problem comes in when one attributes this fact to the inherent inferior nature and mal-capabilities of the people from there, rather than e.g. ravaging civil wars funded by external powers ongoing around them. Let’s see Trump try to live in one of these shithole places with only the resource and financial assets the locals must get by with, and see how well the orange genius with a very good brain makes out.

  67. 67.

    schrodingers_cat

    Trump Alarms Lawmakers With Disparaging Words for Haiti and Africa

    Soft pedaling bigotry is the job of the official mouthpiece of this administration, but they do great journalistic work, or so I have heard.

  70. 70.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Ruckus:

    No matter how long he’s been a racist asshole (all of his pathetic fucking life) this is why I say he has Alzheimer’s. He’s saying it out loud with no filters and that’s the key.

    I agree. I also wonder, in all seriousness, whether he has developed Tourette’s Syndrome.

    Like many/most of us here, I can and do swear with frequency and enthusiasm. But I also have a well-developed sense of appropriateness. The governors — the filters — are intact.

    Trump, as you point out, seems not to have working filters on things like public cursing and blatantly racist remarks. So I’m curious about Tourette’s as a condition he may have developed, perhaps in conjunction with Alzheimer’s or other age-related dementia.

  71. 71.

    WaterGirl

    I’m hoping against hope that this is the bridge too far.

    Edit: it’s a good thing my religious sister voted for Trump because Hillary didn’t go to church. I guess she could see that Trump’s high moral fiber was superior to Hillary’s.

  72. 72.

    SteveNKY

    This what every last BernieBro who could not vote for Killary and spread their poison has begotten the Country.
    We knew. We needed no warning.
    But the vileness of every aggrieved white guy out to stick it to America and purity ponies have made this flaming stinking bag of shit a raging bonfire.
    300 days. Register. Know where to vote and what documents you must have to ensure your vote counts!

  82. 82.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Villago Delenda Est: Trump specifically referred to African countries and Haiti as sh*tholes. Then he made it clear that he wants more immigrants from European countries like Norway. He might as well just have said that he doesn’t want any Black immigrants and been done with it.

  83. 83.

    Gin & Tonic

    I’ve been otherwise occupied all day, so just reading this in amazement. But I’m glad to see CNN and NBC, at least, directly quoting the President. Used to be it was just The Economist that would quote the direct Anglo-Saxonisms of our leaders, like Richard Cheney’s “go fuck yourself” to Pat Leahy.

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    @WaterGirl:

    He is like a child who has no sense of what you can say in polite company.

    The most hideous decisions have often been made by people speaking polite language in polite company. It’s not too often that you get to observe a racist at work, feeling out what he or she will actually do to hurt people. We already see Trump pulling the rug out from under people who depend on temporary visas. We seem him toy with DACA residents.

    It’s not about what he might say next. It’s about what he will do. And when. And to how many.

  86. 86.

    jimmiraybob

    I wonder if the Drumpfenfuhrer administration will try to enact an official Aryan policy this term or hope for a second term? Before this I would have thought second term but they seem to be getting more bold.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    At this point I think the democrats need to shut down the government, since everyday it’s open the republicans can harm us.

  88. 88.

    David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch

    Jon Passantino @passantino

    Trump push notification watch:

    WaPo: Shithole
    NYT: Vulgar language
    CNN: Shithole
    LAT: Slur
    AP: Shithole

    79 replies 491 retweets 1,023 likes

    Vichy Times going down with the ship. Blup… blup… blup.

  92. 92.

    Patricia Kayden

    @B.B.A.: WOW.

    “The product is infamous for its use by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust to murder approximately one million people in gas chambers installed at Auschwitz-Birkenau, Majdanek, and other extermination camps.”

  96. 96.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JPL: If the government shuts down, it won’t be because of Democrats. Republicans are in full control of Congress and should have the votes to keep the government open. Just like they had the votes to pass their wealth transfer bill for the 1% with zero support from Democrats.

  101. 101.

    Princess

    He doesn’t have Tourette’s or Alzheimer’s. He’s a racist old white guy who thinks he owns the world. He is president and he can say what he likes and he does. For God’s sake, fellow white people, he’s a racist. You’ve heard your own uncles and cousins and grandparents say the same kinds of things dozens of times. This is what white racists say.

  106. 106.

    Patricia Kayden

    @OGLiberal:

    His fans, like most of the white dudes I grew up with, will eat this up…they’ll love it.

    But per his abysmal approval polls, that block of White dudes isn’t the majority of the voting population. Hopefully, all of this racist nonsense will come back to bite Republicans in their collective White behinds in November. Republicans and especially Trump keep giving us motivation to come out in droves and vote for anyone with a D behind their name.

  107. 107.

    WaterGirl

    I am just hopping mad about this. It’s past time for everyone to pick a side. Anyone who voted for him, voted third party or stayed home needs to be issuing apologies to everyone around them. All day, every day.

  108. 108.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @cokane: Seriously, This. I suspect the Norwegians who come here to visit leave thinking “what a shithole the U.S. is” because it is rapidly becoming a shithole. The roads are terrible, every type of infrastructure we have is crumbling. Heaven forbid we should adequately staff the National Parks. Go to any rural area and you find a bunch of down on their luck goobers who are probably barely literate and will tell them they talk funny even though they speak perfect English albeit with an accent.

  112. 112.

    danielx

    Scandinavians have a better quality of life there then they would have here, Donald.

    You complete tool.

  115. 115.

    Mary G

    NYT: Governor Moonbeam will be missed, because he tells the truth

    Gov. Jerry Brown moved to bolster California’s “rainy day” fund Wednesday when he unveiled the final budget proposal of his administration in Sacramento, asking the Legislature not to take the state’s economic stability for granted, while also deflecting questions about his legacy.

    His message centered on a warning: “What’s out there is darkness, uncertainty, decline and recession. So good luck, baby,” he said with a smile.

    ETA, also, too

    And his legacy? What about it?

    “Can you tell me the legacy of Goodwin Knight? Or Governor Merriam? Or Deukmejian? Governors don’t have legacies, that’s my No. 1 proposition,” he said. “Look, we have a whole political system that judges our executives by the state of the economy, over which they have virtually no impact. So, you figure it out.”

    What a contrast to President Shithole.

  116. 116.

    CarolDuhart2

    Unfortunately America is in the grip of both bigotry and Calvinism. We will have to get rid of the latter if we ever want a good standard of living. The Europeans went through a horrific war and decided “fuck this”. They became agnostic, atheist, and liberal religion and began focusing on making life worth living for the living. They stopped punishing the poor, exalting ignorance and superstition, and made peace. That’s why Norwegians and other Europeans aren’t coming here. Life is good and peaceful. Plenty of money, food, travel across boundaries for modest amounts, no wars. Who wants to leave all that?

  117. 117.

    JohnO

    Still the best description I’ve heard, possibly because this actually happened to me and had shall we say a strong emotional impact:

    “It’s like watching a 9 year old twirl around cluelessly with a loaded shotgun.”

  122. 122.

    NCSteve

    Hitler? Hitler didn’t say it like this. This is Julius Streicher level crudity, not Hitler crudity.

  123. 123.

    Roger Moore

    And now they’re faced with, and regularly failing the test their notionally smart and stable leader poses for them: stick with Trump, or defend this norm or that.

    They are going to stick with Trump. The key is they don’t really want to defend those norms, either. They’ve been on a 50 year project of gradually eroding them. The only difference between them and Trump is that he’s brazenly attacking those norms instead of undermining them bit by bit. They’re acting as if they’re worried that his tactics are going to backfire and they don’t want to be caught if they do, not as if they disagree with the long-term goal of destroying our current system of government.

  124. 124.

    jimmiraybob

    @CarolDuhart2:

    Unfortunately America is in the grip of both bigotry and Calvinism.

    And let’s not forget what this combination (dba Dutch Reformed Church) wrought for South Africa in the form of Apartheid.

  125. 125.

    NCSteve

    @debbie: Normalize trumP Radio. They must be careful. Someone might call them biased and threaten the 2% of funding they get from the federal government.

  126. 126.

    Cheryl Rofer

  127. 127.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Trump specifically referred to African countries and Haiti as sh*tholes.

    Even Nambia? He said such nice, complimentary things to Nambia only a few months ago.

  130. 130.

    MomSense

    @debbie:

    The last few years have been revelatory. Republicans used to dog whistle, deny their racism, and maintain their facade of respectability (not to those of us paying attention) with the media and much of the public. They cannot hide anymore. Trump brought it all out in the open. As painful as this is, I think there is a major shift taking place.

  133. 133.

    Annie

    @Mary G:

    I live in California and I really, really wish we had time to repeal term limits so Jerry could run for a third term.

  135. 135.

    dollared

    You know, I like Tom’s writing, but it’s fundamentally inaccurate. The GOP didn’t pass any particular threshold with Trump. They are the party of Jesse Helms. Of John Yoo. Of Dick Cheney. They turned the racism corner, at the very latest, when Florida caged all those voters to win in 2000. But they really passed it in 1980 with “Welfare Queens with Cadillacs.” And on the corruption corner, they crossed (again at the very latest) when they blocked investigations of the Iraq and Afghanistan corruption. And on the treason corner, they crossed the line when they sold arms to the Contras. So…this is just Thursday. Nice, dramatic writing, but it’s just Thursday.

  136. 136.

    Amaranthine RBG

    The NYT is running that story on the top-left of their front page right now.

    I guess somebody didn’t get the memo that the NYT is “all in” protecting Trump.

  137. 137.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    @WaterGirl: The irony here, of course, is that Hillary is deeply religious and (AFAIK) a regular churchgoer, while it’s not clear Trump ever even attends church. But of course, because Hillary actually bothers to follow the precepts of Christianity, she doesn’t preen about her faith in public.

  138. 138.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @debbie:

    I would like just one day where I’m not forced to roll my eyes to infinity and beyond. Just one.

    Inorite? I am so tired of examining the back of my brain.

  139. 139.

    different-church-lady

    Not by cosmic coincidence, the rotating tag line currently on my browser is stuck at, “Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…”

  140. 140.

    JPL

    @MomSense: We are a nation of immigrants and as Phillip Mudd said on CNN, his family came from what was considered shithole countries. That message might resonate with even the most racist.

  141. 141.

    Mary G

    @Annie: I know. He was OK in the 70s, but NFLTG 2018 Jerry is fire! And very probably right. The stock market Twitler is so proud of is screaming giant financial meltdown coming at full volume as far as I can tell.

  146. 146.

    WaterGirl

    @(((CassandraLeo))): Oh, yes, that was not lost on me! But it was definitely lost on her! She is an otherwise smart person who believes all the stupid religious right-wing crap, and I am wishing very hard that I could ask her how someone as smart as she is could possibly be so gullible and un-discerning – without losing my relationship with her forever.

  147. 147.

    different-church-lady

    @JPL: At the rate we’re going, our own expatriates are going to be considered to be coming from a shithole country.

  151. 151.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Generalized query: Has dollared always been such a bigoted racist troll, or has he changed suddenly for the worse, or have I just not been paying close attention?

  154. 154.

    dollared

    @WaterGirl: You called me a racist with no reason to. And you deny that 150 million Americans have genuine economic anxiety. Must be nice to be so comfortable!

  155. 155.

    lamh36

    Hardball talking about Trump’s tweet about FISA this morning that caused a panic on the Hill. Mitchell telling Hardball that the Prez doesn’t understand the law, and even had John Kelly running up to the Hill telling congresspeople not to table the bill…

    the WH had to issue a pullback…smh

    Mitchell said he was BRIEFED by at least 2 people…and STILL tweeted.

    Chump worried more bout what is good for himsel than what’s good for the country…SMH

  157. 157.

    Patricia Kayden

    @JPL:

    That message might resonate with even the most racist.

    Unfortunately not. Racists are praising Trump to the hilts in several comments sections. They agree wholeheartedly with his anti-Black sentiments.

  158. 158.

    different-church-lady

    @dollared:

    You called me a racist with no reason to.

    You’ve got a point there — she should have called you an asshole instead.

  161. 161.

    WaterGirl

    @dollared:

    You called me a racist with no reason to. And you deny that 150 million Americans have genuine economic anxiety. Must be nice to be so comfortable!

    Too funny. I don’t believe I have ever talked about economic anxiety with you or anyone else on this blog. And for the life of me, I cannot find where I called you a racist or even interacted with you on this thread other than to ask why you would have said that to me. And then you removed that comment, which also seemed odd.

  164. 164.

    Kay

    Nasty, mean-spirited and ungenerous. That’s the Trump Administration way. Every day they’re cutting people down and shitting all over everyone.

    Does this guy ever open his mouth and say anything positive other than boasting and bragging about himself?

    I’m ashamed of them. They don’t represent me or mine. Speak for yourselves, assholes. Stop dragging the rest of us down with you.

  165. 165.

    Greenergood

    Please, someone tell me, why would anyone from a Scandinavian country (great health and child care, free education, good public housing, etc.etc. – YES higher taxes but look at what they get) want to move to a shithole country like the US with its crap public healthcare, kids freezing in school classrooms, antediluvian transport system, crumbling infrastructure, highest child death rate of the 20 wealthiest countries?

  166. 166.

    Gelfling 545

    @B.B.A.: All of mine came from places that are now considered pretty ok but were pretty bad when they left. Which, as you say, is why they were here and not there. I can’t imagine why he thinks anyone from Norway would want to come here. If any did have such plans I bet they rethought them about a year ago.

  167. 167.

    Amaranthine RBG

    My favorite in all of this was the reminder that, a while ago, Trump said something about people in Nigeria going back to their “huts.”

    Yes, Nigeria with a population of about 180 million people, where 8 million people live just in the city of Lagos, is where people live in huts.

    I confess that Trumps casual racism doesn’t shock me anymore – the apple doesn’t fall far from the KKK tree but this just astounds me.

  168. 168.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @dollared: Where did she call you a racist? And if you don’t understand the comments about economic anxiety, then you are too dumb to comment on a blog.

  169. 169.

    dollared

    @SiubhanDuinne: I’ve always been a bit difficult. You see, I’m actually aware that 150-200 million Americans suffer genuine economic anxiety and I can comprehend that both economic anxiety and racism exist. And I’m aware that centrist Democratic policies contributed to the decline of standard of living of that large cohort of Americans, and that I don’t need to deny that in order to recognize the inherent, massive racism and sexism that has always existed in the US.

  171. 171.

    Kay

    The Trump Administration should apologize. Not just to the people they shit all over but to Americans, for dragging us down with them.

    Fat chance of that, huh? They’ll probably double down on this filth tomorrow.

  172. 172.

    WaterGirl

    @debbie: Hmm, maybe they combine a counter of sort with the incognito thing. Or maybe they let everyone see certain breaking stories. Who knows.

  173. 173.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @trollhattan: Our byte mocked Fry. Something like that.

    Slightly o/t, but let me suggest we repurpose the current occupant of the White House as the Shit Hole Mouth of the United States, or SHMOTUS.

  176. 176.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    if you don’t understand the comments about economic anxiety, then you are too dumb to comment on a blog.

    Well, too dumb to comment on *this* blog, but there’s still Red State, Volokh Conspiracy…is Firedoglake still around?

  177. 177.

    debbie

    @dollared:

    From the Census Bureau:

    DEC. 28, 2016 — As our nation prepares to ring in the new year, the U.S. Census Bureau today projected the U.S. population will be 324,310,011 on Jan. 1, 2017.

    You don’t need to exaggerate to make your point. There is more than enough anxiety out there.

  181. 181.

    mad citizen

    @David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: This made me realize that Yes, I saw this on CNN on the public TV screen in my building as I was leaving work. Been wanting to report this small item: I work in downtown Indianapolis (the reddest of states) in a large hotel/office building with a 16 story lobby, etc. (you might know the one). We moved there 10 years ago, and for 10 years Fox News has played on the public screen on the second floor with viewing vantagepoints across a large area. Very occasionally it would be on another channel, like once a year. But always back to Fox. Last week I noticed it was on TVLand Classic one afternoon (Andy Griffith Show, old western) and again the next day. One day this week it was ESPN, but since then it’s been CNN. It’s silly, but this small thing gives me hope.

  182. 182.

    WaterGirl

    OT, but to answer a question that was asked here yesterday, Mueller is pronounced Muller, as in spices you might use for mulled cider. Preet’s latest podcast today explicitly addressed how you pronounce Mueller’s name.

  184. 184.

    different-church-lady

    I dunno about the rest of you, but I’m experiencing far more nuclear anxiety than economic.

  186. 186.

    CarolDuhart2

    @jimmiraybob: And the economic results. South Africa is okay, but no longer a powerhouse because it chose to spend billions on keeping people down and poor instead of lifting them up. Norway/Sweden/The Benelux Countries/later the EU did the opposite and are holding their own if not outright prospering. Even with the immigrants they will do well. Immigrants want to work and help.

  192. 192.

    Amaranthine RBG

    Ooooooh – looks like the mean girls at the school lunch table have added another name to their “Do Not Talk To” List.

  193. 193.

    mad citizen

    By the way, Fox News is using “s—hole” in their headline and story on the web. Apparently spelling it out would be too much for their delicate viewers. F— Their Feelings!

  194. 194.

    WaterGirl

    @JPL: I think it shouldn’t be the friendly emoji shit, I think it should be a steaming pile of icky shit.

  195. 195.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Kay: Probably? Has any Republican come out and denounced Rep Steve King for making pro-White Supremacist remarks? Any of them? Naw. They’re okay with White Supremacists. That’s their base.

  197. 197.

    lamh36

    This reporter from Reuters is a perfect example of how so many MSM reporters rationalize the bullshit that Trump does and how they sleep at night, “well Trump speaks for himself…” Good on Tweety for reminding him that even for those of us who damn sure didn’t vote for him, across the world, when “American President” speaks, he speaks for AMERICA even those who didn’t vote for him…so sure “Trump speaks for himself” sure, if that helps reporters like Maggie H et al sleep at night…fine…doesn’t mean what Trump says doesn’t effect them too

  198. 198.

    mike in dc

    Even if the Apprentice outtakes tape was released and showed Trump freely using the worst racist and sexist and homophobic slurs, large portions of the MSM and VSP would still struggle to admit that he is racist, misogynist, homophobic, bigoted, etc. Because once they allow that someone white not wearing a white hood or swastika armband can be racist and get a majority of white people to vote for and support them, then where do they stop? Quelle Horreur!

  200. 200.

    dollared

    @WaterGirl: Sorry. Really. David Koch and Bobby Thompson called me racist for suggesting that economic anxiety exists. And when I clicked to reply to Bobby, it linked to your comment. I deleted and then it did it again. My apologies for the confusion.

  203. 203.

    different-church-lady

    WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF ALL THE VICTIMS OF THE REPRESSIVE NORWEGIAN REGIME?!?

  204. 204.

    lamh36

    Watching Joy Reid now!

    Joy’s parents are African immigrants.

    father from Congo and her mother from British Guiana…

  205. 205.

    Mary G

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Tell that to the two Corinthians.

    That made me snort Diet Coke through my nose, thanks a lot. It’s my last bottle. I always said it was the one vice I would never give up after quitting alcohol, tobacco, and other things, but I just cannot be associated with Twitler, so it’s water for me now. And a lot of other sources said to quit, too.

  206. 206.

    Chyron HR

    @Amaranthine RBG:

    Hey, help me out here, buddy. Someone at work was claiming that electing Clinton would be better than having nazis and child molesters destroy the country, so I followed Our Revolution’s handbook and started screaming “WHICH HILLARY” at the top of my lungs. But then the neoliberal shill said that the Great One kicked off his 2016 campaign by telling a group of Black Lives Matter protestors that the white working class is the only thing that matters, but a few months later he flip-flopped for transparent political gain and embraced BLM when he realized that blacks are allowed to vote nowadays.

    Is there some way I can rebut this completely false use of objectively true facts the next time someone tries it on me?

  207. 207.

    CarolDuhart2

    I think it’s more than that. Haven’t you noticed how desperately they cling to the notion of “normality”? To admit he’s unfit is to admit that some of their relatives are too.

  208. 208.

    mike in dc

    @dollared: The majority of Trump voters were not driven by economic anxiety. There is no huge pocket of economically distressed white voters to be wooed over to vote for Democrats. There’s a few, yes, but none worth shifting our policies on civil rights and social justice for. We can explain how our economic policies will help them, and put those policies into effect. And that’s it.

  209. 209.

    p.a.

    Who gets the job of telling the shithole countries we really don’t think they’re shitholes and we really appreciate the intel and assistance they give us in counteracting terrorism?

  210. 210.

    lamh36

    Laura Rozen@lrozen

    Trump heading to Mar a Lago tomorrow, where he employs Haitians, ahead of Martin Luther King Junior holiday Monday.

  214. 214.

    CarolDuhart2

    @dollared: Yes, anxiety exists, but groups that are even more disadvantaged-the black and immigrant working class-arent turning to racism to explain their plight.

  217. 217.

    jimmiraybob

    Interesting fact: Haitian freemen fought along side America colonists during the Revolution.

    The more you know.

  219. 219.

    WaterGirl

    @scav: Oh my god, that picture. He looks like a stubborn 2-year old who is not getting his way and is about to have a tantrum and hold his breath until he turns blue. We can only hope.

  221. 221.

    eclare

    @lamh36: Nothing this POS does is without intentional cruelty, like hosting the NRA at the White House on the fifth anniversary of Sandy Hook, just to name one. It makes total sense that the eighth anniversary of the earthquake in Haiti is tomorrow.

  222. 222.

    MelissaM

    I NEED A DOG POST, CAN SOMEONE POST A DOG ?? YUKI? SCOUT? I’D EVEN TAKE A CAT AT THIS POINT. PLEASE???

  223. 223.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @mike in dc:

    Majority were not, but some were. Let’s say, 5% just to pick a number. That’s enough to peel off to get a win in the electoral college. And it can be done without sacrificing any core progressive principles of the democratic party.

    All of this assumes that the democratic party is interested in winning elections …

  226. 226.

    Mary G

    Heh indeedy.

    Breaking: GOP Rep. Kevin Cramer will not run for the Senate against incumbent Dem Sen. Heidi Heitkamp despite pleas from Trump, leaving GOP without serious challenger. Trump "won" North Dakota by 36 points in the 2016 election.— Charlotte Clymer?️‍? (@cmclymer) January 11, 2018

    Winning!

    Now BernieBros will probably start screeching to primary Heidi, and I am on record right here as saying no. She’s voted with Dems on everything important, and that’s good enough for me.

  227. 227.

    different-church-lady

    @eclare: Now let’s be fair here: there probably isn’t a single day left on the calendar that isn’t the anniversary of a mass shooting.

  228. 228.

    WaterGirl

    @eclare: He’s not that smart, and he has no sense of history – though Barack Obama did. I bet someone is behind him who DOES have the sense of history, and that person gets him wound up at just the right time.

  229. 229.

    JWR

    Local CBS is using “expletive hole” while describing what was said, but the chyron clearly reads “sh*thole.”

  232. 232.

    MomSense

    @MelissaM:

    I know!!! My dog is mad because we have had a couple of days of warm weather which means that the ice crust on top of the snow has melted. Now it’s step, crunch, step crunch, step crunch. She gave up and just turned around to go back inside. Now she is lying on the couch sighing loudly.

  237. 237.

    eclare

    @Mary G: Good news! And yes, she has a D after her name, and she is a proven winner. Good enough for me, we need seats, period.

  240. 240.

    mike in dc

    @Amaranthine RBG: There’s a ceiling of about 45%(maybe lower) of white support we can get. Clinton got 37%, in large part due to 3rd parties siphoning off votes(Obama got, I believe, 39% in 2012 and still won handily). I think we can hit 40% just based off reduced 3rd party support alone. Maybe we can pick up a few points by pointing out how Trump has let down those economically anxious working class whites, and showing how we will not. But in the face of such overwhelming bigotry on the other side, we should take not one step back in speaking out for the most loyal members of our party’s electoral base. Any white votes we lose for doing so, weren’t worth the effort in the first place.

  242. 242.

    japa21

    @Amaranthine RBG: In other words, try to woo them with policies that would be beneficial to them and show how those policies are better than what the GOP offers? You know, like exactly what Clinton did?

  245. 245.

    B.B.A.

    The Seven Dirty Words are still a thing, and I’m not sure why. Hell, it wasn’t that long ago when the nation’s most pressing issue was young, impressionable children seeing Janet Jackson’s pierced nipple.

  246. 246.

    dollared

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I’ve read every book in the series. And when 200 million Americans see their real income decline over a 20 year span, there really is a thing called “economic anxiety.” It exists independently of racism, and they feed on each other. You can recognize the deep seated racism of the US without denying that people are hurting economically.

  248. 248.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @japa21:

    I don’t think that doing “exactly what Clinton did” is a proven way to win elections. Assuming you mean _Hillary_ Clinton.

  250. 250.

    Peale

    @Greenergood: I think it’s a matter of marketing. If Trump wants to attract those people, maybe he should fix those problems. The same way a corporation. With a bad reputation and high turnover rate and recruitment problems might make it a goal to make Forbes great places to work list. Unfortunately, bad managers that they are, the trupmists think that it’s just a matter of sloganeering and hanging up a poster or two.

  252. 252.

    Steve in the ATL

    @dollared: is there economic anxiety? Of course. Is that why people voted for trump? No. They voted for trump because they are racists.

    That’s as simple as it gets.

  254. 254.

    WaterGirl

    @MomSense: First off, one slice? That’s just an insult. Second, at my house, if you’re a dog and you haven’t eaten so fast that you accidentally snort a piece of kibble up your nose, that is considered savoring.

  255. 255.

    p.a.

    @mike in dc: We don’t need their vote, we need them to stay home. And obviously, we need to get our people to the polls and jump through all the hoops the shithole people set up.

  258. 258.

    Amaranthine RBG

    @dollared: @dollared:

    Yes, it is somewhat curious to watch the economic destruction of the working and middle classes in this country, to note that it is well documented and inarguable, but then see people argue that it has no effect on the electoral decision making process of the 200 million Americans who have been shat upon for the past 30 years.

    Very strange.

  262. 262.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G: What happened to the three from this morning or last night? I agreed with the person who said #1 from before looked like trouble!

    Of these 3, Timmy is adorable, Tootsie looks like a bundle of trouble, and Ozzy looks like a sweetie.

  263. 263.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Greenergood:

    Please, someone tell me, why would anyone from a Scandinavian country (great health and child care, free education, good public housing, etc.etc. – YES higher taxes but look at what they get) want to move to a shithole country like the US

    1. Very long, very cold Scandinavian winters;
    2. Lutefisk.

  264. 264.

    lamh36

    Yass Bakari Sellers for this quoting of Stokely Carmicheal on AC360!

    ““If a white man wants to lynch me, that’s his problem. If he’s got the power to lynch me, that’s my problem. Racism is not a question of attitude; it’s a question of power.”

    Donald Trump is that racist white man with the ultimate POWER to enact policies to denigrate and demoralize minorities and people of color.

  266. 266.

    different-church-lady

    @Amaranthine RBG: It seems like what you’re arguing is that people who are too dumb to see a line of horseshit as horseshit may or may not be racists, but they’re sure willing to overlook racism while they’re responding positively to the horseshit, amiritehere?

  269. 269.

    dollared

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: No, actually, I’m probably older than you and grew up moving between Nixonland in the suburbs and areas that burned in the riots. The truth of the Southern Strategy and the reality of racism and sexism in America does not make it any less true that the middle class in the US is under tremendous economic stress exacerbated by terrible governmental policies implemented by both parties.

  272. 272.

    Applejinx

    @mike in dc:

    The majority of Trump voters were not driven by economic anxiety. There is no huge pocket of economically distressed white voters to be wooed over to vote for Democrats. There’s a few, yes, but none worth shifting our policies on civil rights and social justice for. We can explain how our economic policies will help them, and put those policies into effect. And that’s it.

    While you are half right (racism is a profoundly powerful driver of republican votes), people go straight up nuts when they see what they consider neoliberal third way Clintonites mocking working Americans (of any color, really) by putting ‘economic anxiety’ in quotes like that. Particularly now that it’s been flagged as sarcasm, I get it: it’s playing on the media wanting to ascribe every sin to woobie-like plainitive suffering over loss of coal jobs. I get that.

    When you talk of putting those policies into effect, though, it’s worrying because Obama very successfully put all those policies into effect. It’s not like these policies haven’t been running the show since Bill Clinton. The problem is, it’s made the United States a shithole. I get that this is a scary prospect but the old answers aren’t working and pointing to the Dow, or unemployment numbers that have been redefined and massaged for decades until they’re meaningless…

    The trouble is these actions are coming across as mockery. It’s coming across like ‘let them eat cake’. Leave that arrogance to the Republicans please?

    Interesting to see there’s a new guy to be driven to fury over this exasperating Balloon Juice tendency. There’s a term, ‘lanyards’. A lot of you guys are lanyard liberals, like Phil Ochs sang about. Maybe, listen when the UN sends people who look into conditions in the US and are horrified. We’re a shithole, and no we’re not remotely economically okay. It’s lies.

  274. 274.

    scav

    @Steve in the ATL: A) the Norwegians my sister lived with seemed to very much enjoy their skiing season. and
    B) lutefisk eating really seems to be more a descendent of Norwegian immigrant thing.

    Now, if you’d said something like ready access to spices (which my sister filled her suitcase with every trip) or pizzas for four costing less than $50 (and this was a while ago) I might be slightly more persuaded.

  276. 276.

    Emma

    @Amaranthine RBG: Bull feathers to both of you. I would buy it if I hadn’t read the interviews in places like Kentucky where people who for the first time in their lives able to get health care voted for the man who FLAT OUT TOLD THEM he was going to take it away.

  279. 279.

    p.a.

    @different-church-lady: yeah, the economically anxious have spent a generation voting against the only party that attempts to secure and improve their economic security for some magically unknowable reason. It’s a mystery.

  280. 280.

    mike in dc

    @Amaranthine RBG:
    The voting patterns of white citizens have fluctuated somewhat over the years, but after 1964 no Democrat has won a majority of the white vote. The reason for that has nothing to do with economic anxiety and disappointment, and everything to do with racial grievance, resentment and white supremacist sentiment. We are essentially fighting over a scrap–8% of 66% of the electorate(give or take). The reason why you’re getting a lot of pushback is fairly obvious–we just ran on the most progressive platform the party has had since 1972, and still got less of the white vote than we did in 2012. The failure of white leftists to recognize/acknowledge the racial barriers to class unity lie entirely on the white side of the equation is tragic. People who voted for Trump either agreed with the racism and bigotry, or were not the least bit bothered by it. How do you reach white people who, in 2017, still don’t give a fuck about racism?

  281. 281.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Applejinx:

    When you talk of putting those policies into effect, though, it’s worrying because Obama very successfully put all those policies into effect. It’s not like these policies haven’t been running the show since Bill Clinton. The problem is, it’s made the United States a shithole. I get that this is a scary prospect but the old answers aren’t working and pointing to the Dow, or unemployment numbers that have been redefined and massaged for decades until they’re meaningless…

    You left a bit out here: the policies of Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II and the Republicans taking the House in 1994.

  282. 282.

    Mary G

    Here’s a WaPo headline you don’t see every day: Trump lauded delivery of F-52s to Norway. The planes only exist in ‘Call of Duty.’I admire these foreign leaders who stand with Twitler at these events and don’t just roll their eyes, throw up their hands, and laugh bitterly.

    @WaterGirl: They are all still under consideration. Cason was the front runner yesterday, but before we could discuss, he was adopted, which is good for him. The two men in the house want a big dog that wrestles, and the two women want a small quiet dog who likes to cuddle. It will take some time to negotiate, but I suspect we might end up with two.

  285. 285.

    Kayla Rudbek

    @Greenergood: one of my graduate school classmates moved back to Europe from the USA after having an academic job in the USA. Heck, if I was single and 10-20 years younger, I’d be trying to emigrate myself.

  289. 289.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @germy:

    Isn’t it obvious we not flooded with refugees from a “non-shithole country” like Norway because its residents enjoy a standard of living republicans are busy robbing from us?

    In FoxNewsWorld this is not true. For years the Right has been telling themselves that Western Europe is an Islamic hellhole, where Sharia Law reigns supreme, the rule of Western law has broken down and packs of swarthy men are roaming the streets raping any white women they find. Eurabia anyone?

    In that world, isn’t it obvious that your average blonde, blue-eyed Norwegian would be clamouring to reach the safety of the United States? This is Trump’s reality.

    For an example of what happens when this fantasy confronts reality, check out Hoekstra’s reception as the new US Ambassador to the Netherlands. It’s not pretty.

  294. 294.

    CarolDuhart2

    @Applejinx: The problem is that industry isn’t going to go to the hollers, especially the Chinese and European industries that can provide jobs. They have to move, and they have to train, and they need money that the local Republicans will never provide for either. BTW, I’m a proud lanyard liberal. That’s the way jobs are going anyway, and I’d like to see more of them.

  295. 295.

    lamh36

    @Applejinx:

    people go straight up nuts when they see what they consider neoliberal third way Clintonites mocking working Americans (of any color, really)

    As a person of color, I call BULLSHIT on the emphasized point and makes me think of your entire comment as more bullshit

  298. 298.

    kindness

    I’m embarrassed and I had nothing to do with Trump running the show. Still, he makes us all look bad. Damn!

  299. 299.

    different-church-lady

    THE NEXT MOTHERFUCKER WHO IMPLIES CLINTON VOTERS AREN’T WORKING AMERICANS IS GONNA GET PUNCHED IN THE GODDAMNED NECK.

  302. 302.

    dollared

    @Kayla Rudbek: Priceless. It’s a sign of Russian trolling to point out publicly available economic statistics? Wedded a bit to our blithely unaware coastal college educated fuck-the-working-class narrative, are we?

  305. 305.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Viva BrisVegas:

    In that world, isn’t it obvious that your average blonde, blue-eyed Norwegian would be clamouring to reach the safety of the United States? This is Trump’s reality.

    Norway is the least blond and blue-eyed country in Scandinavia. Checkmate, libtard!

  308. 308.

    dollared

    @Bobby Thomson: There are lots of ways to point out appalling racism without denying that 150 million Americans are under economic stress. It’s tone deaf and acts as a public statement that you see no need to improve our economic system and make it more fair.

  313. 313.

    different-church-lady

    @dollared: SOME HOW SOME OF THOSE 150 MILLION AMERICANS YOU KEEP QUOTING FIGURED OUT TRUMP WAS GOING TO FUCK THEM UP THEIR ECONOMICALLY STRESSED ASSHOLES, SO WHAT ELSE YOU GOT?

  314. 314.

    dollared

    @different-church-lady: You can punch my neck. Feel free. I’m surrounded by tech liberals, who aren’t. Because they don’t believe that working people with only high school educations need to be paid a living wage.

  321. 321.

    efgoldman

    @Cheryl Rofer:

    I’m getting a little better at recovering from it, though. Have been practicing piano since the comment.

    Ever since he won the nomination, I keep the scorpion/frog fable in the back of my mind. It’s in his nature. Doesn’t make it right.

    Try playing Prokoviev or Shostakovich – you can pound out some of your frustrations on the keyboard.
    (I’m not a pianist, but i am a musician. Graduated music school in 19mfmf)

  322. 322.

    magurakurin

    holy WWF Superstars, Batman, someone really opened up the can of salted mixed nuts, didn’t they? All the fan favorites are in house today. What in the holy hell? I wonder what word or phrase set off their troll alerts?

  323. 323.

    Bobby Thomson

    @dollared: a lot of Batman comics don’t include James Bond, either, but you racist apologists always pop up in any discussion of racism with “but what about economic anxiety?” It’s self parody, meant to distract from any discussion of our shit head president. The jig is up and that game is played the fuck out.

    In closing, fuck off, racist.

  325. 325.

    Ruckus

    @WaterGirl:
    He’s ten times that little girls age. At least she has the excuse of being 7. If he hadn’t been this way for ever then you might really see the Alzheimer’s claims coming out. But as this is who he really is, a racist asshole and it’s who he has been for decades. It’s just that he can’t even put on a veneer of non shithead. Of course this is what the rest of his party has been doing for over 40 yrs, mostly putting on a veneer of non shithead. But now they are letting their freak flag fly. And it is way past fucking disgusting.

  326. 326.

    mike in dc

    @dollared: Total strawman argument. Lots of economically anxious people voted for Clinton. A high percentage of white people earning under 50k voted for Clinton. The typical Trump voter was a non-college educated suburban white person earning 72k plus per year. I make half that, AND I HAVE A GODDAM LAW DEGREE. Again, the actual platform and policies Clinton ran on–raising minimum wage dramatically, making college way more affordable, spending a lot on infrastructure including rural broadband–was progressive as hell. The percentage of white voters who even know WTF a “neoliberal” is has got to be fairly small…and the HRC of 2016 was worlds different, policy wise, from the WJC of 1992.

  330. 330.

    Ruckus

    @cmorenc:
    He doesn’t do well with more than enough in a non shithole country. OK parts of this country are shitholes. (And of course that doesn’t mean there are not good people living there) Why they haven’t moved out baffles me but then I’ve pulled up stakes and moved when the staying sucked.

  333. 333.

    dollared

    @Bobby Thomson: Nope. You distracted by pushing the false dichotomy between economic issues and racial issues, and by implication denying that economic issues are legitimate. Trump’s racism is there for everybody to see. As is the racism of his base. But why change the subject by suggesting that all economic issues are illegitimate?

  334. 334.

    Ksmiami

    @MomSense: America will be better off without these cretins- deport them all to some deserted island and give them all the guns they want

  335. 335.

    Steve in the ATL

    @dollared: are you trolling or are you genuinely stupid? Economic issues exist, but don’t drive voting patterns. Racism drives voting patterns.

    And now you are off to Pieland. Bon appetit!

  336. 336.

    dollared

    @mike in dc: Then why did so many Democratic voters stay home? And why did millions of voters switch from Obama to Trump? Because those things contributed mightily to the election swinging.

  337. 337.

    magurakurin

    @dollared:

    But why change the subject by suggesting that all economic issues are illegitimate?

    why change the subject? uhh, cause nobody has much interest in talking to a Russian bot troll? just spit balling.

  338. 338.

    patrick II

    Norway McDonald’s worker minimum: $22
    Norway College tuition: mostly free
    Norway Individual healthcare costs: $242 Yearly deductible for adults. After that free.
    Not many Norwegians will be immigrating here.

  340. 340.

    B.B.A.

    The American economy has never been stronger than it is right now – but, as it’s been since the first ship landed at Jamestown, all the benefits have gone to whites. There certainly is a lot of genuine economic anxiety among people of color, but every white person complaining about the economy is a stone cold racist, period, end of story.

  341. 341.

    mike in dc

    @dollared:
    You’re making the argument that somehow Democrats were in the wrong place vis a vis economic anxiety. But it’s been pointed out that Democratic policies were in fact much more directed towards progressive economics than the Republican platform. The most progressive platform since 1972, which Bernie delegates and Clinton delegates assembled together. The policies we advance in 2020 are likely to be extremely similar. The messaging is going to address every possible area of discontent to try to pick up as much support as possible. If there are economically anxious whites who are not swayed by that next go round, I seriously doubt it will be due to insufficiently progressive economic proposals or concerns about “neoliberal corporatist shills”.

  343. 343.

    dollared

    @magurakurin: Nope, just a Clinton voter who actually hopes that we elect a Democrat president the next time, and is looking for a better explanation than “there are too many racists so it’s OK if we lose.”

  344. 344.

    Chet Murthy

    @The Dangerman: I bet a buddy $100 that he’d say the c-word (on a hot mic) before the election was done. Lost my bet, but I’m fairly certain he’ll get around to uttering it sooner or later.

  346. 346.

    Ruckus

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    As you may have noticed over time I am not unaccustomed to using profanity. And of course to do anything well one must practice, so I do. But I’m not the president (really he isn’t one either, title not withstanding) and often I’m discussing him and profanity is absolutely appropriate whenever discussing his fat, ugly, smelly, orange, fucking ass.
    But in the case of Alzheimer’s that finally honed sense of propriety flies the coop. A friends mom had it and he said in 50+ yrs he’d never heard her utter a swear word. Not once. He said that once the disease took full hold she could out swear a sailor who practiced hourly and that what came out of her mouth was unbelievable. It comes in stages and at the later stages they can’t remember the words so there isn’t much talking at all. It’s the inbetween time, after they are in it deep enough to diagnose but before the dementia is full bore.

  347. 347.

    mike in dc

    @dollared: She won by 3 million votes. You are overstating the number of Democrats who stayed home, and the number of Obama voters who switched. Personal distaste for Clinton having ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH HER VIEWS ON DOMESTIC ECONOMIC POLICY played a large part. You are trying to wedge an argument into a very narrow space, but it is a barren, rocky place where your seed can find no purchase.

  348. 348.

    dollared

    @mike in dc: Oh, so biblical. Maybe you should use the Constitution and the electoral college as your reference, rather than the Bible. Because she lost there. And I don’t want to lose again.

  349. 349.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mike in dc: And the number who would have voted if their right to do so had not been suppressed. I still say it was voter ID that cost HRC Wisconsin.

  350. 350.

    Chyron HR

    Man it sure is weird how the President letting the racists off the chain immediately resulted in a flood of every Bernie worshipper from 2016 screaming at us about making the white race great again. What a coincidence.

  352. 352.

    Ruckus

    @MomSense:
    I always thought that was his anus. Whenever he talks or twitters or communicates in any way the only thing that is produced is shit.

  354. 354.

    mike in dc

    @dollared: Well, if you DO want to lose again, nominate Bernie Sanders and discover white voters with a slightly different kind of economic anxiety. He’ll get slaughtered.

  356. 356.

    MJS

    Way late to this thread, so I’m sure someone has said this already, but you know what a real shithole of a country is? Russia.

  358. 358.

    Vhh

    As my mother aged past 70, she started repeating the same things over and over and progressively lost her social graces. She is now 92, can’t remember that my father died last April or that her mother died in 1979, and she thinks my brother id her brother (who died 40 yrs ago) Cardiovascular dementia, maybe Alzheimers as well. My father did not go down as rapidly or as far, but every time he saw Obama on Fox he would shout that Obama was going to start a race war. These were highly educated people worth millions who lived in liberal Mass. for over 60 years. My brother finally fixed the TV to sit on Animal Planet, which calmed them. Trump shows the same deterioration I saw starting in my parents 25 years ago, and it is getting worse by the day.

  359. 359.

    mike in dc

    @MJS: Total shithole. Total. Invading Ukraine, bombing Syria and interfering in the internal politics of multiple nations–all clear signs of crippling economic anxiety.

  366. 366.

    SFAW

    @dollared:

    Then why did so many Democratic voters stay home?

    Let’s see … what could it be? I’m sure the registration suppression tactics in MI and WI (and I think PA and NC) had absolutely nothing to do with it. And there was absolutely no Russian meddling. And James Comey did his level best to tip the election in her favor, except for the July and October things.

    So I guess it’s because Hitlary is/was a shrieking harpy who murdered Vince Foster (with her bare hands) and Chris Stevens (by preventing Congress from delivering the security funds that the State Department requested), and because she had no platform nor set of policy points (at least, none as far as the MSM could report), and because she was Crooked Hillary.

    But thanks so much for registering your concern.

  367. 367.

    Miss Bianca

    @dollared: Sea lion! Hey, here’s a fish for you! I’m economically anxious and I voted for Hillary Clinton even tho’ she* didn’t*promise me my coal mining job would come back! Why? Because I’m not a racist moran!

    Now just clap your fins and say “ORK ORK ORK why are you being so *mean* when I’m just trying to have a civil discussion about white people’s ECONOMIC ANXIETY” for us one more time, and then fuck off.

  373. 373.

    SFAW

    @Miss Bianca:

    Now just clap your fins and say “ORK ORK ORK why are you being so *mean* when I’m just trying to have a civil discussion about white people’s ECONOMIC ANXIETY” for us one more time,

    Wow, I didn’t know Google Translate now has English-Sea Lion translation. What’ll they think up next?

  374. 374.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You also don’t seem to be very good at following reply links back to previous comments.

    You must be REALLY bored. Why are you even wasting your time?

  376. 376.

    Adria McDowell

    Dear people of color,

    Economic anxiety is only for white people, ya see. And don’t worry, if you point out, correctly, that POC have economic anxiety, too, you will be quickly “corrected” by your “progressive betters*.”

    Signed,

    Fans of a white guy representing the whitest state in the Union for whom only white people are “ordinary Americans”

    *and that’s why these people are pied

  377. 377.

    geg6

    @dollared:

    Fuck off. Every Dem I personally know is economically stressed. Every. Single. One. And none of them voted for Dolt 45. So your argument is bullshit. The reason people voted for him, regardless of their economic status, is one of two things. They are either wealthy and cynical pols, Wall Streeters, congressional Republicans, and nutbag billionaires. Or they are racists. Or a third choice: both. I know plenty of these assholes. They are, to a person, bigots and misogynists.

  379. 379.

    mike in dc

    Neoliberal corporatist shills like ARBG, dollared and applejinx will never truly understand the real needs of working class voters, and instead continue to support out of touch elitist millionaire career politicians like Bernie Sanders.

  386. 386.

    Emperor of Ice Cream

    @B.B.A.: Bot (who knows who pays for them)! A rare writer though a frequent reader of BJ. I’m sure this obvious bot will be obvious to all/most, but it was so hamhanded I had to point and laugh. Back to lurking…

  388. 388.

    But her emails!!

    The economic anxiety argument doesn’t even pass the smell test. Hillary generally outperformed other Democrats involved in statewide races during the election, so it’s not like Trump was bringing a massive surge of voters that were solely voting for him because of the economy. They also voted for the generic Republicans who are shit for the economy in general and economically vulnerable voters in particular. Exit polling and later analysis showed that Trump’s base wasn’t Archie Bunker working stiffs, it was Archie’s boss who voted for him. Working class people as a whole voted for Clinton.

    Trump won because he brought in just enough racists in just enough places to offset the nevertrumpers when combined with things like voter suppression, Russian meddling, the media’s excessive focus on emails and the Comey announcement. That’s it. There’s no magical economic argument that’s going to sway people to vote Democrat. The only argument that will work is when the economy crashes and Republicans embrace policies that make things worse.

  389. 389.

    MJS

    @dollared: Alabama. Virginia. Two states with recent elections where economic issues played almost no role in the campaigns. Republican congressmen declining to run again, even though the economic conditions have not changed since they last won reelection. It’s looking increasingly likely that “If you support Trump, go fuck yourself, we don’t need you” will be a winning strategy.

  393. 393.

    dollared

    @MJS: I hope so. On the other hand, maybe we should take advantage of this opportunity and make the US a fairer, more sustainable economy and culture? Maybe work on making life indisputably better for the working and middle classes? Racial justice *and* more economic fairness? Just a thought.

  405. 405.

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

    @dollared:
    Isn’t that what Democrats have been advocating for since like forever? Yes, even Hitlery.

  408. 408.

    J R in WV

    @debbie:

    OK, I’m convinced she would never say such a thing, especially to someone she had no idea was Jewish. So, just more more question… why did she commit felony assault against the Jew, er, uh, nice person in front of her????

    I’ve seen the pictures, blood running down his face, why would someone do that?

  409. 409.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Tom Levenson: I actually thought of that first, but was afraid my reputation would suffer if people thought I consumed devil water. The high cost of booze is the number one complaint of my Norwegian friends and acquaintances, ahead even of their incomprehensible native language.

  416. 416.

    NorthLeft12

    I was thinking of saying that you just can’t think it will get any worse, but frankly, I think we all know better. There will be something said or tweeted even stupider, bigoted, ignorant, and cruel within a week or so, amirite?

  417. 417.

    SFAW

    @magurakurin:

    If we keep invoking his master’s name….maybe we can stretch this out to a tbogg unit.

    Normally I’d want to go for it, but I have a deadline coming up. I’ve already spent too much time on this.

    You OK to press on without me?

  418. 418.

    MoxieM

    @Kayla Rudbek: Srsly, kid moved to Germany, has good job and full German social benefits. Mama is massively jealous on the days she’s not and/or bursting with pride and/or crying because grown up kid is grown up. But, damn, Western Europe, yeah. Uneven, but…the concept that people are humans, more or less. Stunning, really.

  420. 420.

    SFAW

    @NorthLeft12:

    There will be something said or tweeted even stupider, bigoted, ignorant, and cruel within a week or so,

    A week? I thought you Canucks were smarter than that. Try “within a day or two.”

  422. 422.

    NorthLeft12

    @SFAW: I am trying to be generous here. Yeah, its a personal fault that disqualifies me from joining the Republican or Libertarian parties. So be it.

  427. 427.

    Citizen Alan

    @dollared:

    Then why did so many Democratic voters stay home? 

    Here’s a theory. A lot of democratic voters stayed home because Wilmer and Comrade Stein spent months telling people there was no difference between Hillary and shitgibbon, and all the people who accepted that idiotic reductionist framing but also realized how pointless it was to vote third party didn’t bother to vote at all. The true goal of all contemporary third parties is to suppress the vote, not to actually get any of their whack jobs elected. Why do you think they only ever bother to run for president instead of any lower offices.

  429. 429.

    J R in WV

    @Princess:

    …You’ve heard your own uncles and cousins and grandparents say the same kinds of things dozens of times. This is what white racists say.

    Actually, my uncle used to tell us a ni*er joke when we came to his house to visit, just to jab the liberal in-laws. Then his favorite (only) niece came to visit with her serious girlfriend. Who was a great singer in her church choir, and very black…

    We never heard another racist remark nor joke from him for the rest of his life, probably at least partly because family was important to him. It was a real sea change, that obviously Trump (aka Dump) is completely incapable of, no matter what. I’m proud of him. WW II vet, long dead now.

  430. 430.

    Citizen Alan

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’m not denying there was active voter suppression. I’m just reiterating at my personal belief that for every person who voted for Comrade Stein, two or three liberals stayed home because they had been persuaded that voting was simply pointless.

  432. 432.

    satby

    @Mary G: they all break my heart. But I would still root for the one that used to be long to the homeless guy. That dog deserves a decent place for the rest of his life; I know they all do.

  435. 435.

    tychay

    Wow. Three pied people in one thread! Two of whom haven’t posted in a long, long time. What is it with certain threads that attracts them? Putin pays only if BJ comment thread breaks 300?

  436. 436.

    dollared

    @Omnes Omnibus: This is sad. And you live in Wisconsin, so you’ve seen a state that was once in the top 10 in education and top 20 in income, decline dramatically in both as we exported our industrial economy and deunionized. Is Madison that hermetically sealed a bubble? You really think it’s a clever to interact with people to accuse them to be a Russian bot rather than address their factual and strategic input? You think the Democratic Party is going to ever win the 60% majority it needs (because they will never wield effective power with less due to their wimpy nature) without 40% of white people without college educations? This blog is the land of denial. Glad you guys have discovered racism. Who knew? I understand it never existed before Trump. And with your good intentions, it will be eliminated tomorrow. Or maybe next week. Good luck with your “minorities and some college educated people” coalition. It worked really well for Adlai Stevenson. And Dukakis. And Mondale. And Clinton. And when it worked for Obama, it changed America, permanently, for the better. Oh it didn’t? Really?

  437. 437.

    WaterGirl

    @Amir Khalid: Yeah, I was glad when Preet told us how Mueller is pronounced. He corrected the person and mentioned that he (Preet) is sensitive to how names are pronounced, I’m sure because his name is mutilated on a daily basis.

    People always screw up my name, too, but I had never considered my efforts to get a person’s name right as connected to that, though I imagine it is. I have even asked TaMara 3 times how her name should be pronounced – kind of funny that I want to get it right even though I am only saying it in my head.

    edit: and TaMara has still never answered! :-)

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