Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The Supreme Court cannot be allowed to become the ultimate, unaccountable arbiter of everything.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

It is not hopeless, and we are not helpless.

Republican also-rans: four mules fighting over a turnip.

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

When we show up, we win.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The arc of the moral universe does not bend itself. it is up to us to bend it.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

It is possible to do the right thing without the promise of a cookie.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

You are here: Home / Elections 2024 / 2024 Primaries / Squishable Morning Thread

Squishable Morning Thread

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This report from The Daily Beast seems odd:

Melania Trump is reportedly ready for her moment in the spotlight. The former first lady, who’s made only a handful of public appearances since Donald Trump left office, was reportedly encouraged by her “positive reception” at Rosalynn Carter’s funeral. She’s “feeling more sure of herself—as both her husband’s representative and her own position as a diplomatic figure,” a Trumpworld source told Page Six.

The report strikes me as weird on two levels, firstly because it implies the Third Lady thinks she earned a “positive reception.” Unsurprisingly given who she is, the context eludes her and therefore she is unable to integrate it into whatever sense of self-awareness she possesses. But here’s the thing: The Carters and former first ladies who interacted with the wife of The Beast at the funeral were gracious because they have class and dignity, and they have some respect for the roles they play in national life.

Maybe Melania Trump doesn’t understand that, having spent years among garish rich people who are so monumentally tacky and grasping that they’re willing to pay her awful husband to hang out at his self-branded resorts. Maybe she never saw what Michelle Obama said publicly about putting aside her personal feelings of dismay, anger and disgust during the 2016 transition to be pleasant to Mrs. Trump for the good of the country. No Trump understands that concept.

Reason #2 that this is weird: the Third Lady wasn’t interested in the job when she was in the White House, so why now? But the article also says all the Trumps are convinced The Beast is going to win a second term, so maybe I’m the one who’s missing the context here. Perhaps his awful other half sees it as a second opportunity to renegotiate the prenup, and this is her way of angling for a higher payout.

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

190Comments

  1. 1.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Chinese chess champion stripped of title after making a movement in “extremely bad character.”

    He is also facing online accusations of cheating via anal beads:

    Yan allegedly clenched and unclenched rhythmically to communicate information about the chess board via code to a computer, which then sent back instructions on what moves to make in the form of vibrations, according to reports circulating on the Chinese social site Weibo.

    I don’t know about y’all, but something stinks about this situation.

  2. 2.

    Dangerman

    … “positive reception.”

    Well, at least she didn’t wear a bikini to the funeral.

    Also, one can’t be sure that the positive reception wasn’t referring to the vibrations from anal beads.

  3. 3.

    Jeffg166

    I think her renegotiation of her prenuptial upped her salary a good deal. She’s doing what she is paid to do.

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    re:Melanomia- echoing Atrio’s oft-repeated comment, “why don’t these horrible people just buy an island (or Tuscan villa) and enjoy life instead of polluting the public realm…”

  6. 6.

    satby

    I read the source article and it seems more like FUD from the Trumpies. This quote: “Trump and his family are so secure that he will become president again that insiders at Mar-a-Lago…” shows it’s meant to worry and discourage anti-Trumpers.

    If they’re so fucking sure, how come the tangerine traitor has a couple of meltdowns a day? They’re not sure at all, they’re scared. Edit: plus, the “where’s Melania” talk must be getting to them a bit.

  9. 9.

    SteveinPHX

    “Perhaps his awful other half sees it as a second opportunity to renegotiate the prenup, and this is her way of angling for a higher payout.”

    Her prenup renegotiation with the American public won’t be any better deal than the first time. And, given her other half’s predilections, it would be worse. Don’t think it’s gonna happen anyway.

  15. 15.

    kalakal

    Pretty sure this is just flailing click bait. Melamine has zero interest in anything except clinging on to as much of TFGs money she can get her claws on

  16. 16.

    Marleedog

    She did not have the best of skill with the English language.  I wonder if she has been studying? But probably not,  I tend to agree with kalakal above.

  17. 17.

    mrmoshpotato

    @docNC:

    Melania ready to up her game huh? What exactly does a 50-something hooker have to offer anyone? 

    Take your pick of STIs.

  18. 18.

    Geminid

    @satby: Yes, the Trump camp may be showing a bold front in order to discourage Republican opposition. Trump may believe he’ll be President again, but he is a very narcisistic person. I think some of his people like campaign manager Suzie Wiles are more realistic and know they will be in an uphill fight if and when Trump wins the nomination..

    If Melania Trump suspects her husband will lose next year she certainly wouldn’t tell anybody. For one thing, he might still win. So for now, Mrs. Trump has to go with the flow. She may be looking forward more to life after Trump though. She’ll enter that new phase before the end of this decade, I think.

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    @Geminid: Unless he keels over dead, he’ll win the nomination. That’s pretty much guaranteed. The general, yeah that’s (thankfully) much much less assured.

  21. 21.

    OzarkHillbilly

    The soap opera continues:

    The court clerk who helped steer the murder trial of South Carolina’s Alex Murdaugh and has since been hit with accusations of jury-tampering – potentially leading to a retrial – is now embroiled in a plagiarism controversy.

    Soon after the trial, in which Murdaugh was convicted of killing his wife and son near a dog kennel at their Low Country home, Becky Hill published a book named Behind the Doors of Justice: the Murdaugh Murders.

    But her co-author Neil Gordon said on Tuesday that the book had been unpublished and sales suspended after revelations that Hill may have plagiarized passages from a BBC article about the case.

    Gordon told South Carolina’s WCIV he discovered the plagiarism while reviewing thousands of Hill’s emails that were released through the federal Freedom of Information Act and compared them to a 12-page portion of the book’s preface.

    “When I confronted Becky about this, she admitted she plagiarized the passage due to deadline pressures,” Gordon said in a statement.
    ………………………………..
    Hill has also been caught up in a separate scandal after state investigators found evidence linking her to a public corruption case involving wire-tapping charges against her son and former Colleton county employee Jeff Hill, 34, who is accused of abusing his position to illegally intercept and listen to a phone conversation in July. A state police investigation uncovered evidence of a plot to listen in on internal county discussions about the formal ethics complaint against his mother for potentially abusing her role as clerk of court for financial gain, according to the local news station WYFF.

    Earlier this month, South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, announced his office would assume jurisdiction of the investigation into Jeff Hill as part of a broader corruption inquiry. The investigation into Hill’s actions took another turn when his employment termination letter also cites “sexual and other forms of illegal harassment”.

    Whad’ya expect? It’s South Crimelina.

  23. 23.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Geminid: She’ll enter that new phase before the end of this decade, I think.

    I pray sometime after his nomination but before the election. I want to see the GOP totally lose their shit.

  26. 26.

    lowtechcyclist

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    I pray sometime after his nomination but before the election. I want to see the GOP totally lose their shit.

    By the time she did that, it would be clear to anyone remotely paying attention that his campaign was going down the tubes.  So they’d lose their shit for about a day over that, and after that it would just get lost in the shuffle of their general shit-losing.

  28. 28.

    lowtechcyclist

    @mrmoshpotato: ​
     

    Waiting for New Year’s partyitis to hit.

    Thank goodness, we have absolutely nothing on our calendar for either December 31 or January 1. My wife and I won’t even bother to stay up to midnight in the comfort of our own home; we’ll ring out the old and ring in the new with our snores.

  29. 29.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @mrmoshpotato:
    @lowtechcyclist:

    I am referring to this part of Gemind’s comment:

    She may be looking forward more to life after Trump though. She’ll enter that new phase before the end of this decade, I think.

    I should have quoted both parts.

  30. 30.

    Geminid

    @dmsilev: Trump is almost guaranteed to win the nomination. I think its not yet a certainty though, which is why I said “if and when.”

    Trump is polling well relative to his rivals in most states, but his absolute numbers among Republican voters are weak, I think. His strength is that he has weak opponents.

    Since no one else can get on the primary ballots now, Trump should have a clear path to the nomination. I guess we’ll know for sure after Super Tuesday.

  33. 33.

    dmsilev

    Nobody’s ever lost their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Will Trump be the first?

    Hollywood Hills resident Andrew Rudick is on a mission.

    Over the last three years, he’s submitted public records requests, retrieved case documents from the Los Angeles County Superior Court, spoken at City Council meetings and corresponded with government officials.

    He’s determined to get Donald Trump’s star removed from the Hollywood Walk of Fame. It’s not an easy task.

    “The reasonably conveyed message to the millions who have walked past that plaque since 2021 is the city’s endorsement of a man who attempted a coup against the United States,” Rudick said at a Los Angeles City Council meeting earlier this month.

    […]
    The star has been vandalized and smashed several times, costing more than $20,000 in repairs since 2016, according to the Hollywood Historic Trust. One street artist placed prison bars on the star in 2021 and brought a toilet, bathtub and stacks of fake documents to the site of the star in 2023 in a reference to the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case.

  34. 34.

    satby

    OT, because fuck the tfg family, got my furnace fixed yesterday just in time for the colder air slowly rolling in. $714, not bad I guess considering both the igniter and the blower battery were replaced. But ouch.

    OTOH, the first repair guy I called never even called me back. After giving them 5 hours I called this company at 3, they had a guy there by 4, and it was fixed before 5:15. With a warranty on the parts. So can’t really complain.

  37. 37.

    mrmoshpotato

    @lowtechcyclist:

    we’ll ring out the old and ring in the new with our snores. 

    LOL!  I’ve done that some years.  Sometimes wake up post-midnight and go “Meh.”

  38. 38.

    trnc

    @p.a.: Being an asshole is what they live for, and it probably gets old pretty fast with limited staff to yell at on a private island.

  40. 40.

    mrmoshpotato

    @trnc:

    Being an asshole is what they live for, and it probably gets old pretty fast with limited staff to yell at on a private island. 

    That’s why it needs to be an uninhabited island.

  43. 43.

    docNC

    ok…I should apologize and clarify.

    Who cares about Melania?  She is a worthless human who has self-interest at the top of the list.

    I hope that is generic enough to get my point across without offending anyone.

  46. 46.

    satby

    @Betsy: none of us received that crap.

    After a certain point, people get what they’ve worked hard to earn. And half of the “oh, the misogyny” crowd was probably snotty about the black and white hounds tooth coat at Roselynn’s funeral, so clothes judging is right up there.

    Edit: and pretending she wasn’t an escort and porn actress who traded on her looks her whole life is pointless. Age has a way of devaluing anyone who trades on looks alone.

  48. 48.

    mrmoshpotato

    @docNC:

    Who cares about Melania? She is a worthless human who has self-interest at the top of the list. 

    Racism against the first non-white US president is item #2.  And…  there’s your list.

  49. 49.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @docNC: Just got to say that folks have said far far far worse things about trump and his acolytes.​
    @satby: ​
    I have said many times that I sold my body too.

  53. 53.

    Ben Cisco

    I have searched mightily for a scenario in which I could be less interested in this useless birther has to say, and I’ve come up empty. Let them keep flailing.

  54. 54.

    mrmoshpotato

    @docNC: Yes about the Third Lady being racist trash towards Michelle Obama.  Michelle isn’t going to run for office however.

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: I’m torn on that point (hoping for Trump to take a dirt nap before the election, I mean). Maybe it would be better for the country if he’s defeated again. I also think it would probably be easier for Biden to beat Trump than other likely replacements.

  57. 57.

    satby

    @docNC: it’s a good practice not to insist on dragooning someone who isn’t interested and doesn’t even like politics into running for president. As has been stated many times by the person in question.

  61. 61.

    docNC

    @satby: It’s just my opinion on who I’d like to vote for.  I’d like to vote for HRC again, too.  After Joe Biden, the list gets small fast.  Not dragooning anybody; a lot of people want an alternative.  Michele Obama would be one I’d vote for.  I can understand why she doesn’t want to do it, though.

  62. 62.

    evodevo

    @docNC:  She saw on a daily basis what the stress of actually running a country (as opposed to what the Orange Mad King did) did to Barack, and isn’t the slightest bit interested in doing THAT.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: ​Maybe it would be better for the country if he’s defeated again.

    I agree with you on that point.

    I also think it would probably be easier for Biden to beat Trump than other likely replacements.

    Don’t agree on this tho. The GOP convention is in August (?) and the time frame to mount a credible campaign is just not there. Also, I suspect who ever trump picks for his VP will be somebody that nobody on either side would want in the WH which would turn the whole thing into a complete shit show.

  64. 64.

    Ben Cisco

    @evodevo: Not to mention what was said about her in her role as FLOTUS. The same people who are bitching about kids on SNAP being overweight lost their minds when she had the AUDACITY to suggest healthy eating.

    See also: PBO’s message to schoolkids which somehow meant he was indoctrinating them into the Society of Super-Sekrit Double Mau Maus…

  65. 65.

    RandomMonster

    @satby: Edit: plus, the “where’s Melania” talk must be getting to them a bit.

    This. They’re just trotting her out to reassure the cult that the marriage is fine. We’re all fine here. How is your marriage? Etc.

  68. 68.

    hells littlest angel

    Cognitive dissonance:

     

    1. Sex workers deserve respect.
    2. How dare you degrade Melania Trump by referring to her as a sex worker?
  70. 70.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Trump is desperate to win, so he and his team might go for a more traditional VP pick, someone Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin is pretty much a political chameleon and could present as a MAGA Man if he thought it would serve his interests.

  74. 74.

    FelonyGovt

    @Geminid: But he was stung that Mike Pence turned out not to be “loyal” to him and will want to avoid that by picking an over the top MAGA. Probably a woman because he thinks they’re more malleable. I suspect MTG or Kristi Noem.

  75. 75.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: I sure wouldn’t want to be Youngkin’s advisor if that offer were on the table. The smart thing would be to stay clear of 2024 and hope to pick up the pieces of the post-Trump party. (I bet DeSantis wishes he had done that.) But on the other hand, an opportunity to get MAGA bona fides might be irresistible for a chameleon like Youngkin. On the third hand, how did that work out for Pence?

  76. 76.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: If Youngkin wants the job he’ll do whatever it takes to get it. He’s been careful not to say anything bad about the Orange Churl. I think Youngkin’s a creep, but I do not underestimate him. He’s a very slick creep.

  77. 77.

    Mai Naem mobile

    Does Melania have an option but to stick by TFG? TFG is supposedly known to hold stuff over people and Melania’s immigration stuff doesn’t exactly sound kosher. They lose their legal spousal privilege Also I wonder what happens to her secret service protection if she divorces him post Barron turning 18. Can you imagine how po’d MAGATs would be if she divorced their God?

  80. 80.

    Geminid

    @FelonyGovt: Here we get into who else will shape that decision. Trump lucked out with an amateurish, improvised campaign in 2016, but that approach may have cost him a winnable race in 2020. Now Trump’s got a competent, professional campaign manager in Susan Wiles, and I think he knows it. Trump might listen to her and others both inside and outside his campaign, because he has to win this time. His back’s against the wall.

  82. 82.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, more on a blog favo[u]rite … Reuters.com:

    Dec 27 (Reuters) – Two U.S. senators have written to Elon Musk, Tesla’s top executive, calling on him to “swiftly” recall any steering and suspension parts that pose a safety risk.

    The letter cites “an alarming” Reuters investigation published on December 20 that exposed how Tesla has blamed drivers for frequent failures of components it has long known were defective.

    “We write with extreme concern following recent reporting about Tesla’s knowledge of safety flaws in its vehicles and concealment of the causes of these flaws from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,” states the letter, which is signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal, of Connecticut, and Edward J. Markey, of Massachusetts.

    The senators call on Musk to correct “apparent false and misleading representations” made to the safety agency.

    […]

    The Reuters report found that Tesla told NHTSA and customers that the frequent failures of defective parts in its electric vehicles were caused by driver “abuse,” such as hitting a curb. In 2020, Tesla gave that explanation in a letter to the safety agency explaining why it would not recall a suspension part called the aft link in the United States, despite having just recalled it in China.

    Tesla documents reviewed by Reuters show the automaker’s engineers for years tracked frequent failures of aft links and other suspension, steering and axle parts, often on relatively new cars. The company instructed its service managers to tell customers that the parts were not faulty as it struggled to contain soaring warranty costs, the records reviewed by Reuters show.

    “We are disturbed that you would blame your customers for these failures,” stated the letter from Blumenthal and Markey, both Democrats. “It is unacceptable that Tesla would not only attempt to shift the responsibility for the substandard quality of its vehicles to the people purchasing them, but also make that same flawed argument to NHTSA.”

    Musk and Tesla did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the senators’ letter. Neither answered detailed questions from Reuters for the Dec. 20 investigation.

    Sweden’s Transport Agency said on Friday that it’s investigating suspension failures in Tesla cars. The inquiry is similar to one being carried out in neighboring Norway, where the Norwegian Public Roads Administration said last week it was looking into consumer complaints about lower rear control arms breaking on its Model S and X vehicles.

    Markey and Blumenthal have previously raised concerns about Tesla’s marketing practices and the safety of its automated driving technology.

    In April, the senators wrote to Musk questioning him about another Reuters investigation, which reported that groups of Tesla employees had circulated, via an internal messaging system, private and sometimes highly invasive recordings from customers’ car cameras.

    (Emphasis added.)

    A colleague bought a “Y” a few months ago. He hasn’t had any trouble with it, yet, AFAIK…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  83. 83.

    Geminid

    @OzarkHillbilly: Well, that has been the pattern. But one thing I think I’ve noticed is that Trump is taking a more rational approach to his legal representation, retaining and keeping good defense attorneys like Todd Blanche.

    This seems to be the case with Susie Wiles and the rest of his political team as well. This doesn’t mean that Trump has changed as a person, just that he knows how much trouble he is in and his survival instinct is engaged.

  87. 87.

    Suzanne

    I wonder if she thinks that she’ll finally get that Vogue cover if TFG wins next year. LAWL. No.

    I will be de-Christmasing the house today! I always enjoy the decorations, but I also enjoy when they’re gone.

  88. 88.

    Suzanne

    I was also hoping to take new puppy Coco for a walk and then to the dog park today…. but it is pouring rain. Erghhhhhh.

  89. 89.

    Jeffro

    @OzarkHillbilly:I pray [trump keels over] sometime after his nomination but before the election. I want to see the GOP totally lose their shit.

    As the FSM is my witness, I had never dared to think about this best-case scenario but…ahhhh…so nice!

  90. 90.

    Jeffro

    @Geminid:Trump is desperate to win, so he and his team might go for a more traditional VP pick, someone Glenn Youngkin. Youngkin is pretty much a political chameleon and could present as a MAGA Man if he thought it would serve his interests.

    I would reeeeeally like to see Glenn get that trump-stink on him but good.  One less fake ‘moderate’ Republican to worry about in future national elections.

  91. 91.

    Suzanne

    Oh, and I don’t care that Melania is a sex worker. I think that’s as honorable a profession as any other. I do care that she’s a garbage person.

  92. 92.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Aaaaand it’s snowing. We’re supposed to get 1-2″. It will all be gone by noon tomorrow.

  93. 93.

    Ken

    @mrmoshpotato: That’s why it needs to be an uninhabited island.

    No matter how much I’d like them all to disappear, it would be the worst remake ever.

    Trump and Melania as the millionaire and his wife
    Elon Musk as the professor
    Kari Lake as Mary Ann
    Roseanne Barr as the movie star
    Steve Bannon as the skipper
    Matt Gaetz as Gilligan

  95. 95.

    Suburban Mom

    @satby:  I don’t care about the funeral jacket. As for the misogyny, I am curious whether you truly believe that society in general regards the looks of a 50 year-old man as diminished in the same way as it does a woman’s appearance?

  98. 98.

    Sid_Viscous

    The story is absolute horseshit.

    It came from an item in Page Six, which Donnie has played for decades. Judging by the self-serving crap, he’s the Page Six source:

    “Trump and his family are so secure that he will become president again that insiders at Mar-a-Lago say he’s reached an agreement with Melania to step up top-tier diplomatic appearances in 2024….The immediate family including Melania is solidly behind the former president….”

  99. 99.

    JML

    So I missed this “Day One Dictator” eschatonblog.com/2023/12/can-biden-do-that.html bit from TFG. I’d say that it’s all part of the lunacy brigade substitution for policy…but this is actually very appealing to the GOP base. Endowments at elite universities play into the resentment and grievance that’s at the core of how the modern GOP “handles” their base perfectly. you would think that it would make the wealth masters who are trying to pull all the strings nervous…but it wouldn’t really impact them, even if TFG stole all the money, because it’s still invested in their companies and so forth, so they wouldn’t really lose anything.

    The “Day One Dictator” stuff really frightens me…because it’s so seductive to a lot of people. Anyone who has had to deal with even a modicum of red tape when dealing with a government agency has probably fantasized about being able to eliminate it somehow, and time and after time people are being lied to and convinced that the government is horribly inefficient and wasteful, which makes the idea of someone “just fixing it” all with sweeping proclamations (and no pesky details) can sound very good. Especially to people who just want to go about their lives and not spend their time and brainpower wondering and worrying about what the government is doing.

    It’s the perfect seedling of fascism, and it frightens me down to my toes.

  100. 100.

    Bupalos

    @Betsy: I think you have to really wrench this out of the context to make it “disgusting,” so this feels a little over the top. There’s a reality here to the materialist nature of the deal Trump and Melania call a marriage that fairly well answers to the description, no?  And the socially determined material comodity value of what Melania used to strike that particular materialist deal declines with age after a point. I don’t think that really makes any tacit value statement about gender, but rather is a descriptive statement about the reality of Melania’s particular situation given her particular path and choices.

    It does leave off that she now has a fair amount of PR capital to sell Trump now, and her overall earning power in this transaction has likely not declined, just changed in source from a commodity to a derivative.

  102. 102.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Mai Naem mobile:

    Does Melania have an option but to stick by TFG? TFG is supposedly known to hold stuff over people and Melania’s immigration stuff doesn’t exactly sound kosher. 

    But Melanie is going to give a speech in two weeks that will explain everything!

  107. 107.

    Soprano2

    @satby: I had a co-worker who mostly got by on her looks. It was sad to see how she desperately tried to stay youthful-looking as she got older. This is the downside of being really physically attractive when you’re young – it’s easy to slide into the habit of using that to get what you want, so you never learn any other way to be.

  109. 109.

    Soprano2

    @Betty Cracker: Maybe it would be better for the country if he’s defeated again.

    I think this is undoubtedly true. Maybe if he loses again, and takes a lot of the MAGA losers with him, people will start to wake up to what a disaster he is.

  111. 111.

    satby

    @Suburban Mom: As for the misogyny, I am curious whether you truly believe that society in general regards the looks of a 50 year-old man as diminished in the same way as it does a woman’s appearance?

    Generally speaking, of course not, but the comment had to do with Melania’s life, not a generic man vs woman. Also don’t care that she was an escort or porn actress; but let’s not pretend she has other skills or that the market for 50+, heavily altered by surgery people of any sex is robust.

  112. 112.

    Soprano2

    @Mai Naem mobile: They would start talking about how she must be turning into a hag and TFG could find another, hotter young wife anyway. I guarantee it. The only value they see in her is that she was a model and conventionally beautiful.

  117. 117.

    rikyrah

    @Suburban Mom:

    Can we maybe leave the ageism and sexism out of this discussion?

    She’s a Birther Trophy Wife.

    That’s her contribution to the world.

    No, she will never live down being a phucking Birther, when her ass shouldn’t have ever gotten citizenship.

    She’s a loathesome person.

  120. 120.

    Soprano2

    So, my former bartender who basically drank herself to death passed on last night. It’s so tragic, she was 39 and had 4 kids, including a 3-year-old. What a fucking waste. Addiction is a powerful thing for some people.

  124. 124.

    rikyrah

    @Geminid:

    Youngkin is pretty much a political chameleon and could present as a MAGA Man if he thought it would serve his interests.

     

    He was a chameleon when he ran. He tried to govern as a MAGA, and then pretend that he wasn’t during the 2023 election cycle.

  125. 125.

    rikyrah

    @JML:

    The “Day One Dictator” stuff really frightens me…because it’s so seductive to a lot of people.

    Only seductive to the people who were inclined to vote for him in the first place.

    Because, they believe that he would only be a dictator to those that they hate. And, they are all okay with those they hate being subject to him. This is why I’m tired of people being polite with these people and trying to ‘ understand’ them.

    They want to strip me and mine of our rights…phuck them.

     

    I will continue to say…

    2024: Democracy vs Fascism

     

    And by Fascism, I mean Fascism for White people. Black people have already lived under Fascism in the United States. It was called Jim Crow. Having heard about the experience from family, not very inclined to put myself in a position to experience it.

    So, absolutely BIDEN/HARRIS 2024

  127. 127.

    Another Scott

    @rikyrah: +1

    And he lost bigly (didn’t flip the Senate and House of Delegates) in the election.

    Politics is weird, but I think he’s going nowhere if he wants to run for President anytime soon.  Gotta keep him out of the Senate though…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  128. 128.

    Suburban Mom

    @satby: This is a thoughtful answer, and I appreciate the distinction you’ve drawn between general perceptions and this specific case.  My issue is that we as a society very casually trash the value and appeal of older women, regardless of whether they work with their brains, hands, or other body parts.  If people like us make it okay to say this stuff about Melania, we shouldn’t be surprised when others go after Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton.

  130. 130.

    dirge

    Gets a bit tricky, because Melania has consciously modeled herself after gendered archetypes that carry negative connotations.  As such, any accurate description of her necessarily invokes misogynistic stereotypes.  No amount of circumlocution is going to avoid calling her what she’s chosen to be.

    Maybe best to leave the sexist slurs unsaid, but in the end you’ll just wind up saying the same thing, but with less clarity and concision.

  131. 131.

    JML

    @rikyrah: Oh, I don’t disagree: the biggest part about appealing to resentment and grievance like this is they presume that they won’t get harmed by the dictator, and only the “undesirables” (usually the people who don’t look or act like them) will bear any penalty, and aren’t those just the people who deserve it anyways? (at least they think so!)

    But it’s easy for people who aren’t overtly on board with TFG and all his nonsense to get suckered by the simplicity of the solutions.

    There’s no doubt in my mind that Democracy is on the ballot in this election. The fatuous and somnolent GOP Senate certainly has shown they won’t do anything to check and balance TFG and the House GOP are willing and enthusiastic co-conspirators.

  133. 133.

    Mike in NC

    Per my email: The New Republic named Elon Musk “Scoundrel of the Year” for 2023. But so much competition!

  136. 136.

    BellaPea

    @dmsilev: We were in LA back in 2020 and toured the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This was right before the election. The Trump star had been smashed with something and it looked like someone had tried to pry his name off. Our guide said there have been constant attempts to deface it since the 2016 election. Hope they can get rid of it.

  137. 137.

    Miss Bianca

    @dirge:

    Maybe best to leave the sexist slurs unsaid, but in the end you’ll just wind up saying the same thing, but with less clarity and concision.

    Ah, yes, because the *point* of sexist slurs is merely “clarity and concision”! Thank you for clarifying that for me. Here I thought rank misogyny was the point!

  139. 139.

    satby

    @Suburban Mom: Speaking as an older woman (69 in a few months), and only for myself, you get to a certain age and you don’t give a fuck what anyone says about almost anything and certainly not about your looks. It’s the older woman superpower. I’m pretty sure both Hillary and Nancy would agree. We have bigger fish to fry.

  140. 140.

    Alison Rose

    LOL people try to act like she’s smart because she speaks more than one language, yet she doesn’t understand the difference between people being nice because they like you and people being nice because they have to be.

    Shut up, you dumb bitch.

  144. 144.

    docNC

    @satby: What I meant when I called Melania 50-something was in no way a mention of her looks, or her age.  I’m 64 and women look better with time-I didn’t know that folks would put thoughts into my head and get all wild about it.

    It’s that for 50+ years she has no record of anything that bringing her out now makes me want to see/hear/read.  I did it badly.  I’m not a professional at comments.  Melania is still useless and the last person I want putting in on anything important to my life.

     

    thanks for getting it.

  145. 145.

    zhena gogolia

    @Alison Rose: I’m watching a romcom starring Zelenskyy (2011). I can’t find a version with English subtitles, but you would like it. He’s so adorable. Sluzhebnyi roman Nashe vremia. It’s a remake of one of my favorite films, and certainly nowhere near as good, but he is charming.

  146. 146.

    Layer8Problem

    @zhena gogolia:  Dammit, that hurts.

    I have to hunt down their Ohio Boatman song bit.  That defined folk music to me, ironically and to the despair of my folk-loving partner.

  148. 148.

    Alison Rose

    In today’s FTFNYT news: They have an op-ed with the headline “Ukraine Doesn’t Need All Its Territory to Defeat putin”.

    I just love how people outside of that country think it’s not big deal to just give away huge chunks of their land. Also, the author is from France but his mother a descendant of a russian Orthodox saint and he grew up speaking russian at home. So like…fuck off, you kremlin-humping jackass.

  149. 149.

    zhena gogolia

    @Alison Rose: Hmmm. It’s Schmemann. Descendant of a big Russian noble family. He used to be the main NYT Russia correspondent, and he’s done good work. But the last thing I saw by him annoyed the hell out of me, and I can’t remember why. I’ll have to read this — thanks for flagging it. I only seem to be able to read the hard copy of the NYT.

  150. 150.

    zhena gogolia

    @Alison Rose:

    The caveats are many: An armistice would leave Vladimir Putin in control of about a fifth of Ukrainian territory. He is not trustworthy; he could use prolonged negotiations to bolster his forces for a renewed push, or to lull Western lawmakers into cutting aid for Ukraine; he may be stalling in the hope that Donald Trump, his preferred choice for president, will return to the White House and stiff Ukraine.

    Let me stop you right there, Serge.

  152. 152.

    zhena gogolia

    The next hurdle would be to devise a security arrangement that would give Ukraine the assurances it needs while taking account of Russia’s opposition to a full NATO member on its eastern border.

    Let me stop you right there, Serge.

  156. 156.

    feebog

    @satby:

    That picture was all over Twitter last night and is indeed curious.  No Melenia.  Plus, no Eric or any of his brood, Tiffiney’s husband kind of standing in the background nowhere near her, Kim’s son between her and Junior, but none of his kids.  Plus, what looks like perhaps Trump’s younger brother or William Shatner standing at the end like an afterthought.

  157. 157.

    wjca

    The next hurdle would be to devise a security arrangement that would give Ukraine the assurances it needs

    Because Russian assurances worked so well for Ukraine last time (when Russia grabbed Crimea).  And the time before that (when Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons).

    With that track record, it’s no wonder the Ukrainians aren’t jumping at the chance to (temporarily) buy off Russia this time.  I do wonder if, after driving the Russians out of all their territory (including Crimea), they will start considering restoring their nuclear arsenal.  I doubt they will, but the temptation has to be there.

  158. 158.

    kindness

    So what if Melania and Trump’s people think Trump will win.  All it shows is they are cloaked in an epistemic bubble and can’t see out of it and never read/watch anything but Fox News.

    Trump certainly will win the nomination and lose by even more than the 7 million votes he lost by last time.  Of course, that won’t stop Trump from claiming to be a victim of theft again.  It’s all he’s got.

  159. 159.

    Juju

    @JML: The really scary thing is Trump doesn’t specify which planet he’s talking about. If he’s thinking of Venus, that would be really bad.

  162. 162.

    rikyrah

    @docNC:

     What I meant when I called Melania 50-something was in no way a mention of her looks, or her age.  I’m 64 and women look better with time-I didn’t know that folks would put thoughts into my head and get all wild about it.

     

    with regards to Melania.

    Dr. Jill Biden has 20+ years on her, but looks better, because Jill is a good person, who is loved and adored, and it shows.

  163. 163.

    Bupalos

    @Alison Rose: I can’t read the article but that headline and sentiment woudn’t need to be pro-appeasement. Given democratic decline abroad and the resulting drop in offensive resource potential, Ukraine may need to figure out a strategy that destroys Russia’s ability to continue the war and/or it’s motive for genocide prior to regaining all it’s territory.

  164. 164.

    rikyrah

    @Alison Rose:

    In today’s FTFNYT news: They have an op-ed with the headline “Ukraine Doesn’t Need All Its Territory to Defeat putin”.

    That’s phucking crazy.

    What part of SOVEREIGN NATION do people not understand?

  165. 165.

    rikyrah

    @Alison Rose:

    @zhena gogolia: The whole thing is a bunch of wishful thinking based on some inane belief that putin has any ounce of decency or honesty.

     

    I’ll say it again.. I see Ukraine as England, 1940.

    But, in this case, we are helping the first one to fight, so that there aren’t any others.

  166. 166.

    rikyrah

    It’s the 20th Anniversary of LOTR: Return of the King. Having been a fanatic for these movies from the beginning, I think they stand up. As a trilogy, three absolutely fantastic films that stand alone – marvelously. Together, they are still an epic cinematic achievement. It’s been funny watching videos on TikTok of people who had been LOTR doubters, but, have since been converted. I remember those cinematic experiences. Everything that I love about movies is wrapped up in that trilogy.

  167. 167.

    Ruckus

    @Geminid:

    She’ll enter that new phase before the end of this decade, I think.

    There is only one way she can be rid of him and that’s his demise. She’s very likely waiting for the reading of the will. But I wonder if she’s actually going to get what she expects, because I wonder how much actual positive money he has. IOW money that is spendable. Sure he has his name on the titles to some expensive properties, but I also wonder how much of that is secured expense and to what percentage and what the resultant sales will bring in. IOW he’s extremely likely to be in it right up to the hilt and the percentage left over is likely not nearly as much as her dreams may be. He’s likely lying to her as much as anyone/everyone else, including himself.

  169. 169.

    StringOnAStick

    @rikyrah: Dr Jill has the face she deserves, a kindly and attractive woman at the height of her power.  Melania looks like the plastic toy she is, and her completely hideous life is starting to leak out of the nips and tucks.  Show me one person for whom their love affair with plastic surgery hasn’t eventually looked awful.

  170. 170.

    eclare

    @Ruckus:

    As the phrase goes, he is house rich but cash poor.  After all the debts are settled and the children receive their portion from the wills, I doubt much will be left for Melanie.

    At least I hope not for that trashy birther.  Yes, I am catty, meow.

  173. 173.

    Betsy

    @Suzanne: Exactly.  She’s a garbage person, but that has nothing to do with sex workers, or older women.  So the comment singling out sex workers who are older women is just disgusting.

  175. 175.

    Betsy

    @docNC: Your point is entirely valid!  I couldn’t agree more, you put your finger on it exactly.   I think if you had just said that, it’d have been a great comment.

  177. 177.

    Another Scott

    @Ruckus: There’s supposedly a story in “Art of the Deal” where he’s walking in NYC with one of his kids and passes an unhoused person and he tells the kid something like – “That guy is richer than me; I’m worth negative $5B…”  Poor, poor Donnie.

    TIFG’s goldmine was his TV show.  That was the only thing that gave him the real money and fame he craved.  Once the TV show ended, he was desperate…  :-/

    I expect that anyone waiting for some sort of big payoff from Donnie’s will will be extremely disappointed.  After paying legitimate creditors, the banksters will take everything that’s left that the grifters haven’t already stolen.

    Boo Hoo Hoo [/grinch]

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  181. 181.

    Roberto el oso

    I too am intrigued by the mention of some sort of “diplomatic” role for Melania Trump. There used to be a quasi-official position at the State Department: Roving Ambassador …. (bopping from one place to another, as needed) … always struck me as a slightly menacing-sounding title.

  182. 182.

    smintheus

    Even in a country like France it takes multiple short steps to move from disgraced to ‘respectable’: escort, to Madame, to confidant, to adviser, to dignitary.

  183. 183.

    Tony Jay

    Prenuptia Pinchface is an ideal diplomat in the original sense of the word, from ‘Dip’ – ‘to lie’ , ‘lo’ – ‘to view’, ‘mat’ – ‘carpet’, meaning one who can be seen lying like a rug.

    Plenty of practice.

  185. 185.

    Paul in KY

    @docNC: What kind of Democrat are you?! Our nominee will be running against TFG and there should be hundreds of people on our side that you would gladly vote for.

    Like:  I’d vote for AOC over TFG. I’d also vote for Joe Manchin over TFG.

  188. 188.

    Paul in KY

    @rikyrah: They sorta (for me) went off the rails starting at Two Towers. Fellowship is great! The Hobbit started out great, but went off rails when they started the elf girl dwarf boy stuff (IMO).

    Glad you love em though! All much much better (so far) than Bezos Galadriel: Elf Girl stuff.

  190. 190.

    afanasia

    @satby: To be fair, working as an escort means she’s the only member of the Trump family who ever had a real job. I’m not being sarcastic. Sex work is work.

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