Don Jr. is rocking the stage here at #AMPFEST19! pic.twitter.com/TkwdaR9mtf
— American Priority Conference (@AmericanP2019) October 11, 2019
Over the weekend, those second-tier benchwarmers not required to fluff His Lardship during his hatefest trifecta got together (at a Trump property, of course!) to throw themselves a fan-fest. Complete with ‘volunteer’ videos, including a (possibly deliberately) amateurish parody of the Kingsman movie, showing Trump as a fit’n’focused James Bond character shooting up a church full of ‘media figures’. This — I know, you’re shocked — didn’t go over well with the media in question. (AMPFest has since disavowed the video, FWIW.)
How disconnected from humanity must you be to find humor in a depiction of a mass shooting of journalists inside a church—knowing, surely, that Americans have been slaughtered in churches & newsrooms, that it’s not a fantasy for the families that those shootings made incomplete?
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 14, 2019
I’m sure some people will read this and respond, “lol triggered.” And yeah, I am fucking triggered! Being triggered sometimes just means having access to your ability to feel and to care about others.
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) October 14, 2019
You’d think the Trumpsters would be a little more cautious, given present circumstances, about pissing off the already-getting-bored media figures required to facilitate their attempts to steal another election, but then: High-quality hires are not a Trump trademark.
***********
Much further down the political food chain, the Sanders campaign announced they’d be hiring independent video producer Matt Orfalea because his extremely enthusiastic pro-Bernie YouTube commercials were so viral. Unfortunately, outside researchers soon discovered ‘#Orf’ had also produced a wealth of deeply cringeworthy material, including a 2-minute ‘parody’ clip-cut entitled ‘MLK: I Have A Wet Dream’. Which I am not linking, not even to one of the many tweets decrying it, because it is every bit as disgusting as you’d imagine, or worse. (Public obscenity standards have relaxed a lot since the days when Sanders was writing rape-fantasy ‘think pieces’ for his local newspaper.) When neither the ‘can’t you people take a joke’ or the ‘when I was young and irresponsible… ‘ defenses defused the critics, the campaign hastily un-hired Orfalea. So, if the Sandernistas are lucky (and can keep from relitigating it all over social media), this glitch in the primary matrix will go unnoticed beyond the obscure realms of the Politically Engaged Online.
debbie
I await the Evangelicals’ outrage at the video. //
Cheryl Rofer
For those who are following this minor piece of media theater, Dan Drezner is about to post the 1000th tweet in his “Toddler in Chief” series.
eclare
I will not watch that video.
Cheryl Rofer
delk
Whoever hired Orf should be un-hired. How basic to say, “Hey, we really like your videos. What else have you made? Anything that could be used against the candidate?”
Marcopolo
It’s Monday, y’all know what to do.
Here’s the Congressional switchboard #: 202-224-3122
If your congress-critter or Senator is an R let them know you support impeaching Trump & are holding them responsible for whatever Trump action is pissing you off, making us less safe, making daily life more difficult for you. If they are a D thank them for supporting impeachment.
All of them are closely tracking call volume.
That is all. Have a nice day.
rikyrah
I refuse to watch the videos ???
Betty Cracker
Stephanie Grisham (the person we’re paying to tweet shit in lieu of holding press briefings) tweeted the following about the video an hour ago:
Riiiiiiight.
PenandKey
You know the part about this that ticks me off most, beyond the depravity of the edit, is that this editor completely missed the entire point of that scene out of Kingsmen. The scene in question involves Harry, one of the secondary protagonists of the film and the mentor/moral compass of the story, investigating a location they suspect will be targeted by the villain for a weapons test. It is, but it’s far more powerful than Harry expected and he’s caught up in it. It literally turns everyone in it’s area of effect into a mindless killing machine, and because he’s so well trained, he slaughters the entire congregation with little difficulty while he’s under it’s effects. They never stood a chance, and that’s the point.
The morons cheering this on miss the fact that, as the directors intend and make pretty clear, this is a bad thing and the audience that may have been cheering on the fight should feel bad by the end. It’s a psychologically devastating moment for the heroes that leaves them all in shock and that ends with Harry being shot outside of the church by the villain while he’s still coming to terms with it. It was filmed and scripted as a deliberate trope inversion from the usual “hero vanquishes a horde of faceless baddies” scene in just about every early Bond movie.
So yeah, the video edit is repugnant. It’s also a clear example of just how goddamn stupid Trump’s followers are.
zhena gogolia
@Marcopolo:
I tried. My Rep’s mailbox is full both in DC and CT.
zhena gogolia
@PenandKey:
OMG I CAN’T WATCH THIS BUT DON’T TELL ME THEY DRAGGED COLIN FIRTH INTO THIS
MattF
@Betty Cracker: I’m hypothesizing here, but wouldn’t it just be a huuuge joke if there was Russian money/influence behind these videos? I’m already larfing, ho ho. And then we’ll see Trump et. al. suddenly get quiet, ho ho.
zhena gogolia
@MattF:
I was sleepy last night, but didn’t Cheryl post that in fact they came from GRU?
Cheryl Rofer
@zhena gogolia: I said something about something to that effect last night, but I think this particular video has not yet been traced back to Russia.
TomatoQueen
Columbus Or Indigenous People’s Day is a federal holiday, so we’re closed.
Calouste
@Betty Cracker: I know his handlers aren’t smart, but even they must realize that there is a big risk in showing him that video, as there is a non-zero chance that the shitgibbon is going to retweet it approvingly rather than condemn it.
Chip Daniels
The Venn diagram of “Its just a joke!” And “Liz Warren’s body language shows she hates men!” is a perfect circle.
PenandKey
@zhena gogolia: Well, considering they overlaid Stable Genius’s head onto his body… sorry, but they did. The whole thing is so badly done that it feels like someone dredged 4chan to find it, and I’ve been seeing multiple pundits on Twitter (hellhole that it is) seem more upset at the movie scene than the hack-job edit that was done to it. Of all the movies to rip off for something like this of course they’d pick the dark comedy parody and think it was a good thing. That’s about as smart as the time someone stole a hyper jingoistic and theocratic propaganda poster from Bioshock Infinite’s bad guys and used it for themselves. Just… geniuses.
Frankensteinbeck
@Betty Cracker:
@Calouste:
Trump is TERRIBLE at condemning things he loves, which are usually sick and horrible. See: “Very fine people” when asked to condemn Nazis. Right now he seems even more stressed out and uncontrolled than usual. I’d say there’s a better than 50/50 chance he’s going to speak approvingly of this video in public, and if he does there’s a 50/50 chance he’ll double down against criticism.
zhena gogolia
@PenandKey:
Putting Trump’s head on Colin Firth’s body should be one of the articles of impeachment.
donnah
Oh, Trump’s seen it and I’m sure he cheered all the way through. And I’d bet that the audience watching it also cheered. And what’s terrible about it all isn’t that someone made the video version in the first place, but that Trump and his cult love it and wish it was real.
PenAndKey
@zhena gogolia: Agreed. I’m sure he’s less than thrilled to be roaped into Cadet Bonespurs circle of idiocy.
Amir Khalid
@zhena gogolia:
I haven’t watched it either; but from the description, it seems they pasted the Shitgibbon’s face on Colin Firth’s body.
Marcopolo
@zhena gogolia: Thanks for trying. I, for one, will take having full voicemail boxes as a positive sign.
This is a link for an awesome website where you can enter you ZIP and it returns your Rep & Sens along with all their local office contact info, Twitter & FB contact info, and links for emailing them. Pretty much a one stop shop:
https://www.contactingcongress.org
Ksmiami
Wipe them out- all of them. We can haveTrump and his supporters or Democracy but not both.
Heywood J.
The video is repulsive and stupid, like everything else associated with this human centipede of this administration. Glad to see the media monkeys are upset about this. Maybe another Cletus safari, or a deep dive both-siding whether Warren is lying about being fired for getting pregnant, will help.
Marcopolo
Gotta get on with my day but since no one else has gone there yet, Happy Columbo’s Day ;)
twitter.com/daveweigel/status/1183716594624663552
Peter Falk, not just the kindly grandfather from the Princess Bride!
Patricia Kayden
Apparently that Trump shoot-em-up video has been on YouTube for at least a year. Trump’s violent rhetoric has been normalized.
germy
has trump tweeted the video yet?
oatler.
I’t’s like we all want the bloody civil war to begin but not in THIS neighborhood.
Betty Cracker
@zhena gogolia: Agreed. Dragging the fabulous Colin Firth into this is unconscionable.
@Patricia Kayden: It really has. My guess is the only reason it’s gaining traction as an issue is that the video was shown at a Trump property at an event attended by one of the Trump failsons — and maybe because of the recent spate of shootings, though the latter are sadly routine, so maybe that’s not a factor at all.
gratuitous
Geez, can’t you libtards take a joke? That’s step one. Step two is you libtards need to understand the deep well of fear and anger and resentment and concern that brought out this creative endeavor (the video). Step three is people are justifiably fearful of (fill in the blank with any right wing fever dream of annihilation). Then we get to step four where someone acts out what they were shown, and the thoughts and prayers from conservatives will be barely audible above the “We told you what was going to happen, you just didn’t listen!” Then it happens all over again: Humorless libtards getting upset about another stochastic terrorist dry run.
laura
@Betty Cracker: the sheer, unmitigated gall of this woman – “he condemns it . . . . but cant wait to see it.”
I call bullshit. It’s right in his power and pleasure centers, its everything he wishes to do and to be. It’s nothing more than a snuff film designed just for him.
You’d need a stun gun, a tow chain and a court order to get me to watch it.
germy
Interesting thread:
(TLDR? They’re becoming more unhinged. Talking about being “locked and loaded” “Preparing for End Times”)
charluckles
I guess you go with the cult you have and not the cult you want, but shouldn’t they have picked a better cult leader if they wanted to indulge in these violent fantasies?
Donald Trump is afraid of stairs.
Mary G
That picture of Dolt Jr. onstage! He’s morphing into his father. Same rumpled, ill-fitting suit, same sway-backed centaur posture Betty pointed out.
Another Scott
@charluckles: More than that, he’s afraid of ramps!.
Cheers,
Scott.
germy
Saw this reader comment over at LGM:
Gravenstone
@Betty Cracker: Meaning that he’ll laugh his psychotic ass off and ask to see it again and again. As he digs into his third scoop of ice cream.
Montanareddog
@zhena gogolia: what places this video in the ludicrous category is not the cartoon violence. It’s that Trump’s fat head is pasted on to the body of a well-proportioned man in a nicely-tailored suit
The Thin Black Duke
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them, the first time.” Sister Angelou knew what she was talking about.
Gravenstone
@PenandKey: That sort of perverse misinterpretation of popular media has been around forever. Reagan’s campaign glomming onto “Born in the USA”, for example. These people are reliably not bright.
Sister Golden Bear
It’s not just journalists Trump kills in the video, but also a number political opponents:
– Biden
– Obama
– Maxine
– Schiff
– Rosie
– Mika
– Maddow
– Bernie
– Soros
– McCain
– Joe Kennedy III
– Comey
– Romney
https://twitter.com/WajahatAli/status/1183577918179598337?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1183577918179598337&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.joemygod.com%2F2019%2F10%2Fpro-trump-conference-at-trump-resort-shows-video-depicting-trump-murdering-journalists-and-opponents%2F
Apparently the video first showed up at site or YouTube channel where other Russian disinformation stuff has been published (sorry, no link, I saw it last night and I’m insufficiently caffeinated this morning to find it).
chopper
@Frankensteinbeck:
trump is gonna start walking back this ‘condemnation’ in about 3 hours, or at least at his next campaign rally.
Ohio Mom
@Sister Golden Bear: I thought I saw Hillary too. But it all went by so fast.
@PenandKey: Thank you for this back story. It helped me figure out what I was watching. I got stuck on the discrepancy between the precise choreography (I know someone who is an expert in stage fighting so this is something I watch for) and the crudely cut-out faces and signs plastered on top.
Kingsmen sounds like exactly the kind of movie I avoid. Good to know though that the scene is part of an unfolding tragedy, that puts the original, unaltered mayhem in context. Cause I really don’t like violence in movies like that.
I could suppose you could say the altered version represents an unfolding tragedy as well…
Immanentize
What would happen if someone created a second video, that actually completes the church scene in Kingsmen, of, say, K. Harris shooting the evil-doer dead in front of the church?
Betty Cracker
@Frankensteinbeck: Sounds about right to me. I’ll be surprised if Trump adds to Grisham’s most likely fictional account of his disapproval based on a description at all, and if he doesn’t express glee over the video publicly, he’ll do so privately. It’s just a more explicitly violent version of stuff he’s already approvingly retweeted for years.
Kent
Since this is an open thread I was just wondering this morning WTF ever happened with the Israeli elections? There was wall-to-wall coverage about a month ago and Bibi was supposed to have lost. And now nothing. Is that weird? Am I just not paying attention?
I would think this whole betrayal of the Kurds can’t have been favored by the Israelis. I guess Bibi doesn’t have Trump on speed dial anymore? Or perhaps Putin owns him more than Bibi does.
Raoul
“AMPFest has since disavowed the video, FWIW.”
A worthless gesture. Possibly less than worthless, as it gives them some small shred of cover for this reckless, fascist garbage.
Kay
@Sister Golden Bear:
So insane. Schiff, who is an actual political and legal threat to Trump and the low quality hires, is the same as “Rosie”, who is a comedian who was mean to him once.
Any threat to Trump of any kind merits execution. Complete worship, or off with your head.
trnc
@Betty Cracker: I assume dt has praised the video since she crapped this statement out.
zzyzx
@Kent: they’re trying to form coalitions. There will be news again if it either happens or fails.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
The account that posted the video is linked to “whatdoesitmean”.
/ScottMStedman/status/1183576602946473984 at the Twitter
(Sorry, but I still can’t post links.)
FelonyGovt
@Sister Golden Bear: I believe Kathy Griffin, another comedian, also says she was one of the “victims” in that video. I didn’t watch enough of it to pick her out.
I just saw a little of it, and I am sad and outraged. And even more outraged knowing that the makers of it are probably getting a kick out of our normal human revulsion to it.
opiejeanne
@Sister Golden Bear: You forgot that he murders Hillary.
Raoul
@Frankensteinbeck: And then add a 90% chance that, if asked about the video, David Brooks* will say, “Well I think it’s crass and sort of sick, but Beto O’Rourke and Elizabeth Warren caused this. They make armed straight white men feel so isolated.”
*or similar
Kent
@zzyzx:
Right. But usually in these instances (as in the recent UK transfer of power from May to Johnson) you have endless coverage and speculation about who’s up and who’s down and what the implications are for everyone involved. Seems like they’ve just gone into radio silence over there. Which makes me suspicious that Bibi will come out on top somehow once again.
Another Scott
@Sister Golden Bear: Indeed.
It smelled like Putin’s IRA to me from the beginning.
We – especially the press and people on Twitter – need to get smarter about this stuff. We know Donnie’s minions eat this stuff up, we need to stop helping them spread it.
Cheers,
Scott.
planetjanet
@ Kent: It looks like Netanyahu has until the end of the week to from a coalition or the Prime Minister will give the Blue and White Party the chance to form a coalition.
opiejeanne
@Kent: Bibi made a comment about the Kurds’ plight a couple of days ago; he was not in favor of it.
Plain Dave
@gratuitous:
You forgot Step 5: False Flag
Sloane Peterson's knee therapist
@Immanentize: What would happen if someone created a second video, that actually completes the church scene in Kingsmen, of, say, K. Harris shooting the evil-doer dead in front of the church?
“Evil-doer’s” followers would wait three days for the Resurrection vid.
Raoul
@Sister Golden Bear: I am certainly not going to watch the video. But Don Jr headlined an event that showed DJT murdering McCain and Romney?
The cult is starting to tighten dangerously. It’s all abhorrent, no matter the party or person. But the ways that these people are stupidly reckless is breathtaking.
I imagine that freakshow Megan won’t bother to be upset, though. She’s completely brainwashed. As cultists tend to be!
planetjanet
@Kent: Here is the link.
<a href="
Kay
Interesting.
We’ll see if Democrats put money here.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize: How about that video of Dump, Flynn, etc getting arrested by the FBI as a conclusion?
japa21
@Kay: The big problem with generic Dem polls is that once a candidate emerges it changes. And people can say, well, most Dems I can support but that one is too socialist, conservative, colored, female for me.
Nonetheless, that is encouraging.
Immanentize
@mrmoshpotato: I just realized that it is entirely possible that the same people created both videos. Thanks for that thought, not.
mrmoshpotato
@Immanentize: I guess, in the “anything’s possible” kind of way.
Ohio Mom
@FelonyGovt: Yes, I recognized Kathy Griffin.
schrodingers_cat
People in India have revived a British Era Slogan, instead of Simon Go Back it is #GoBackModi tweets, wherever he appears. Right now its trending in Maharashtra where Modi was campaigning for the state wide assembly election to be held next week.
PaulWartenberg
There’s a guy I know from high school who works as a movie extra in the UK and was one of the extras in that Kingsmen church massacre. And oh, he’s a Bernie fan.
I finally got in touch with him on Facebook to find out what he thinks.
He’s seen the video.
He’s demanding royalties.
I hope someone can represent him in court on this. :)
PaulWartenberg
@mrmoshpotato:
Ah, the Daredevil clip.
Gelfling 545
@germy: I suspect they’re now hiding his phone in the vegetable bin – where he’d never look – to prevent him from tweeting it.
hilts
@Immanentize: @mrmoshpotato:
In response to this disgusting video, someone should create a video of Mariska Hargitay (aka Olivia Benson) placing handcuffs on our serial sexual predator in chief.
vice.com/en_us/article/qvajbq/trumps-she-was-drunk-argument-is-a-disaster-for-republicans
Marcopolo
@Kay: I’d honestly rather see us invest heavily in AZ, NC, and maybe TX & GA. The results on Sat in LA reinforced the whole widening of the urban/rural divide & there just isn’t the same favorable rural/urban voter ratio in OH.
Gretchen
@Marcopolo: I called Sen. Roberts: Washington office phone busy, KS office voice mail. I got a person at Sen. Moran’s office, voice mail in KS
Zinsky
I wonder if “Diaper Don” Trump Jr. wet the bed the night before he gave his big speech? I think we should encourage Don Jr. to go hunting with Dick Cheney frequently and make sure the Dickster gets plenty of whiskey while they are out hunting! Nature will take its course and then we only have to worry about the other bad seed, Ivanka. Eric has all the charisma of genital warts, so I don’t think we need to worry about him!
Hob
@PenandKey:
To be fair, this is a Mark Millar/Matthew Vaughn joint, so the point comes pre-missed.
Millar’s whole shtick is to present gross, disturbing, over-the-top atrocities in a superficially fun way, exactly like an edgelord 13-year-old boy (basically the kind I was at that age) would do if you gave him a highly skilled production team, and then go “well of course I’m saying that’s a bad thing.” That scene certainly is well directed as pure action, and it’s horrifying if you think about it… but in the context of a movie that’s primarily about how James Bond-type action would be even cooler if it had better special effects and more gore and if they could say “fuck” instead of just implying it, it’s entirely understandable that most of the audience is going to take it as just an “isn’t this outrageous, heh heh” thing.
I say Millar/Vaughn rather than just Millar because this scene isn’t really from the comic (although Millar has said he wished he had thought of it): in the comic, the massacre happens to some nice people at a wedding and Harry isn’t involved. Vaughn wrote this, and just to make it clear that you shouldn’t be too upset about it, he made it clear that the people being massacred are bad, bad people—their church is a hate group.
PenandKey
@Hob: GIven that Matthew Vaughn is the director behind Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, Stardust, Kick Ass, along with the Kingsmen franchise I’ll definitely give him some slack when working with Millar’s source material. Hell, he managed to make Stardust into a coherent and enjoyable movie, which is something of a miracle of you’re going off of source.
As for the church scene, and the movie entire franchise really, it’s not really about the violence for violence sake and plays as more of a commentary on the spy genre in general. It’s violent, absolutely, but the prelude to the scene? Rather than faceless enemies the protagonist holds a conversation with one of the church goers. She’s not a nice woman, but she provides a face and a voice for the audience, serving to humanize the people about to die. The reactions of Harry’s team while he’s in combat? Mute horror, and the abrupt cut in the music and cessation of motion punctuates the “wtf!” feeling of the scene. Many of Vaughn’s movies look like complete low-brow “edgelord” stories on first pass. They’re too layered for that sort of interpretation, and the franchise in particular takes far too many subtle (and not) digs at the tropes of the genre for that to be accidental. If many in the audience failed to notice their genre of choice was being made fun of and critiqued that’s on them.
Hob
@PenAndKey: Well, Vaughn did not direct those first two movies—he produced them—but that aside, I’m not sure what you mean by “give him some slack.” Just because he does OK with one kind of movie (I liked Stardust and his X-Men movie just fine) doesn’t mean that I have to like what he does with another kind, or ascribe great thoughtfulness to what he does.
In particular, I just don’t agree with you that the scene as written is a complex, layered critique. The Bond movies have all kinds of stupid excesses, but they don’t include Bond attacking dozens of civilians or anything like that. And the scene didn’t have to be alluding to anything in particular to be effective; the same events could’ve been played for pure horror on their own terms, and I would’ve been fine with that. Instead, they played it for fun— everything about the way it’s directed is to maximize the fun. And that’s not the worst thing in the world either; I can totally enjoy a bunch of balletically directed ultra-gory semi-comedic violence. But it’s still juvenile and doesn’t have a serious point that anyone is missing.
I’m not sure what if anything Vaughn has said specifically about that scene, but I know what he said when people asked about the bit where the princess promises sex to Eggy if he rescues her. He said he was just trying to be excessive, to “find 11 with every scene”, and he thought that having the woman say the line made it “a celebration of women and the woman being empowered” [if there was one single woman in the audience who took it that way, I’ll eat my hat], and that people who found it at all offensive “just need to lighten up a little bit”. So while he’s a talented director, I think he’s not particularly smarter or more thoughtful than Millar when it comes to shock-value stuff.