Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

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

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It looks like winning debates is a black job!

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Not all heroes wear capes.

White supremacy is terrorism.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

If you are still in the gop, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

So many bastards, so little time.

If you thought you’d already seen people saying the stupidest things possible on the internet, prepare yourselves.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

No one could have predicted…

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

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: Trump’s Only Skill Set Is Lying

Cold Grey Dawn Open Thread: Trump’s Only Skill Set Is Lying

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TGIFriday Morning Open Thread 14

(Drew Sheneman via GoComics.com)

 

Candidate Trump promised to lower grocery prices, but now it seems he isn't even going to try.

While champagne corks pop at Mar-a-Lago, President-elect Trump says that he can't really lower grocery prices because it's "very hard."

Sad. It’s the start of a broken promise.

[image or embed]

— Elizabeth Warren (@warren.senate.gov) December 16, 2024 at 9:15 AM

Reader Interactions

94Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    People who actually need help from high grocery prices no longer have any value to Trump. Why should he try to help them?

  6. 6.

    Elizabelle

    Trump does not have “customers.”  He has “marks.”

    He is an incurious and not especially intelligent man, with some cunning and ability to grab the limelight.

    Worst POTUS in US history.  At least Warren Harding had the grace to die during his first term.  (Also:  Harding was the first president newly enfranchised women voted for.  Bad!)

  10. 10.

    Elizabelle

    @satby:  Ah.  But who here also has a freshly mixed cocktail?

    (Unusual bit of insomnia tonight.  Quite OK.  No deadlines or early stuff tomorrow.)

  12. 12.

    satby

    Headline at Guardian site right now (😂😂😂):

    Republicans fail to pass spending bill in House in setback for Trump
    Donald Trump suffered a humiliating setback on Thursday when Republicans in Congress failed to pass a pared-down spending bill – just one day before a potential government shutdown that could disrupt Christmas travel.

  13. 13.

    Elizabelle

    Thinking about Harding.  Something else to thank white women for!

    Have been reading a lot about Nazis and the interwar period a lot.  They’re slightly less scary because they are dead.  But:  what gave rise to them is still out there, and feeling its power right now.

  14. 14.

    Geminid

    A US diplomatic team is in Damacus tbis morning. From Ragip Soylu:

       NEW: U.S. delegation arrives at residence of HTS leader Jolani in Damascus, AFP reports.

    Barbara Leaf, Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, leads a delegation that also includes Roger Carstens and former U.S Ambassador to Syria Daniel Rubenstein.

    This might seem an ominous development to Syrians who watched coverage of last night’s Republican House debacle. They don’t want Syria to become failed state, like we have.

  16. 16.

    Splitting Image

    What matters is that people feel that prices have come down since the election.

    Heck. Even Joe Biden’s age seems to be lower than it was before the election.

    And Joe hasn’t even thanked Trump for that.

  17. 17.

    Elizabelle

    @Splitting Image:  Yes.  As soon as the media industrial complex geared up about the “vibes election” they were demonstrating they no longer are journalists. They’re entertainers!  And we got a clown out of the deal.  With bonus billionaires.

  19. 19.

    Elizabelle

    @Betty Cracker:  Fine by me.  Better he had croaked by October, but we are there for it when he does.

    ETA:  It is weird to think that TrumpWorld has elevated someone with an even more disagreeable face than Trump to prominence, but I am finding I cannot look at Elon Musk any more either.  And he is not looking good!  Kind of puffy.  Not orange yet, thank dog.

  22. 22.

    TBone

    Inspiration attempt by Heather Cox Richardson

    Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered,” Paine wrote in that fraught moment, “yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.

    https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-19-2024

    A Christmas Surprise by George Washington and his troops crossing of the Delaware.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    He’s moved on to drone spotting

    Flat Earther admits he was wrong after traveling 9,000 miles to Antarctica to test his belief

    Jeran Campanella, a popular flat Earther, travelled 9,000 miles to Antarctica to observe a 24-hour sun, a phenomenon that would be impossible on a flat Earth

  27. 27.

    Juju

    @Betty Cracker: I noticed that too. He’s lost a fair amount of weight, and he looks gaunt, but who can actually tell with that makeup?  It does kind of remind me of my mother in the earlier part of her dementia. She lost about 50lbs in a little over three months because her appetite changed and she didn’t feel hungry and lost interest in eating. It’s a common thing with dementia, which I didn’t know at the time. Now I pay close attention to what she does with her food and make sure she has what she really enjoys eating.  I’m not around Trump so I can’t say if  he’s eating normally or not, but there are so many things in his behavior and appearance that point to dementia.

  28. 28.

    p.a.

    @Elizabelle: Maybe you know about Richard J. Evans’ work on the 3rd Reich.  If not, I recommend them.  Coming of the Third Reich, The Third Reich in Power, The Third Reich at War.

    Historian who was also a main witness in one of the big English trials against a Holocaust denier.  IIRC the good guys won the trial.

     

    ETA: Easy to note when looking at Weimar Germany one of the Nazi’s (& other conservatives’) first targets was the sexually different.  Some things never change.  “If you don’t want to be calked fascist, don’t work from the fascist handbook.”

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    Trump totally has dementia and it’s going downhill like a freight train falling off a cliff. Tracked by two prominent diagnosticians, with guest experts, on Shrinking Trump.

    Totally ignored by corporate media.

  35. 35.

    WereBear

    @Betty Cracker: Speaking of scams, AI was sold to all these corporations as a way of cutting labor.

    Whoopsie. Whoever thought a salesperson would lie? That a con artist would be operating around all this money? Our board members are the cream of elite society!

    In the meantime, we are as 20-sided dice to D&D enthusiasts…

  36. 36.

    Aussie Sheila

    @brantl:

    Yes, this. IMO trump ran again to stay out of jail. Mission accomplished!

    My sense of it all is that he’s going to be playing golf for the next four years while the pit of meth addled ferrets he calls a ‘Cabinet’ ’works to the boss’ as it were.

    It’s going to be spectacular, but not in a good way. The last couple of days regarding parliamentary shenanigans over the budget are a good indication imo, of the flavour of the next four years.

    Absolute chaos coupled with unbridled corruption and of course, stupidity and cruelty.

    It should be a layup for any half way decent Opposition Party.

  38. 38.

    p.a.

    @Juju: I recently lost an uncle, 91 yrs old, because of dehydration!  His DiL explained that the brain’s signaling gets messed up and something as simple as “I’m thirsty” doesn’t register.  Not dementia in his case, just age.  Dehydration> UTI (I’m not a doc so I don’t know the connection) and then he was too weak to fight off the infection(s).

  39. 39.

    WereBear

    @p.a.: I’ve heard of that. I wonder if “good habits” can help with that? I have a cup of herbal tea handy most of the time, or bottles I soak in the fridge overnight.

    Because it can sneak up on you.

  40. 40.

    Aussie Sheila

    @p.a.:

    My mother suffered from UTIs in the two years prior to her death. The lack of proper hydration was indeed a factor, in spite of her carers’ insistence on her drinking water. She was strong willed, and if she didn’t feel like it, she wouldn’t drink it.

  41. 41.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: Syrian leader Jolani and American diplomat Leaf have plenty to talk about, including sanctions relief, aid for reconstruction, and Israel’s recent occupation of Syrian territory beyond the lines laid out in a 1974 Separation of Forces agreement.

    One immediate concern is the situation in the city of Kobani, where US-supported SDF units have squared off against the Turkish proxy army SNA which threstens Kobani from both east and west. Turkiye says the the Kurdish YPG militia that constitutes the SDF’s main fighting force is a branch of the PKK which has waged a 40 year war against the Turkish state. They want to see the YPG disbanded.

    Kobani lies northeast of Aleppo right on the Turkish border, and the Turkish Army has staged units just north the city of ~65,000 people. Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told reporters he expects the new Syrian government to handle the question of the YPG. “If they address this issue properly,” Fidan said, “there would be no need for us to intervene.”

    The YPG dispute relates to the US presence in Northeast Syria, where an Army mission trains amd equips the Kurdish and other Arab forces to help fight ISIS.  Yesterday the Pentagon updated reporters on our mission in Northeast Syria. From Natasha Bertrand:

      There are approximately 2,000 US troops in Syria, Pentago Press Secretary says just now– more than double what was previously disclosed. Ryder says additions to the core 900 are mostly Army snd considered rotational forces to meet shifting mission requirements for the anti-ISIS campaign.

    Remnants of the Islamic State still operate in Syrian and Iraqi desert areas. US military missions in both countries were tasked with suppressing ISIS when they were initiated by the Obama administration in 2013.

    Overall though, the fighting in Syria has diminshed. Not so the war of words among the keyboard commandos of the internet. Twitter seems to be divided into two camps: those who want someone else to fight a war with Israel, and those who want someone else to fight a war with Turkiye.

  43. 43.

    TBone

    Snow on the way today and then our low Sunday night will be three degrees.  Three. Hot cocoa, hot turkey soup, hot jet baths, and warm, snuggly kittehs.

    But Josey is not doing well today and I’m worried about the holiday availability of euthanasia. Crap.  I guess I’ll reach out to the come-to-your-home guy today to see what his policies are.

  44. 44.

    Fair Economist

    @Baud: Flat Earthers are faking it. Anybody can tell the world is not flat by any number of methods, but the easiest today is just FaceTiming somebody on a different continent. They’re basically trolls.

    Dunno why this guy took a trip to Antarctica for an excuse to stop the pretense. Maybe he got tired of it and figured he’d get a cool trip out of it.

  46. 46.

    Soprano2

    @Juju: I don’t know if it’s legal where you are, but I’ve found that THC gummies help with appetite. I was told that giving it with a little milk enhances the effect, and that seems to be true.

  47. 47.

    WTFGhost

    @Betty Cracker: I hope this isn’t too dark, but: I don’t want him to die. I want TFG to have to stand trial. I want him to panic, and name all his co-conspirators.

    Most of them were congress-critters, who can hide behind the speech-and-debate clause. But some of them will get in real trouble.

    His dying in office, or his dementia-ridden brain getting so bad that he can’t assist in his own defense, either of those is a massive loss for America.  We deserve the truth. We’re just not likely to get it, until historians write it.

  48. 48.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    Sheneman Political Comic via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    Trump: “Lowering grocery prices is too hard. Can’t you just order takeout?”

    Trump Minion: President Trump, our voters are starving because they can’t afford groceries!

    Trump: Let them eat takeout.

  50. 50.

    kalakal

    @p.a.:

    He was an expert witness in the trial of David Irving ( very right wing historian, holocaust denier, and pusher of  narratives that the Allies were the baddies/ both sides etc in WW2). The good guys won the trial, Evans’ book about it is Lying about Hitler – well worth a read.

  51. 51.

    Princess

     

    @Elizabelle:  And while west it, what’s wrong with Peter Thiel? What on earth is he doing to his face to make him look like that? Does he have no one in his life who loves him enough to tell him to stop?

  52. 52.

    Suzanne

    @Betty Cracker: If he’s taking Ozempic now, does that mean we can’t call him Donnie Two-Scoops anymore?

    Seriously, though, Ozempic seems to be amazing. It’s been interesting to read about how it’s helped people with other addictions, like gambling.

  53. 53.

    Suzanne

    @Elizabelle: Elizabeth Warren is one of my favorite people in government.

    “I’ve got a plan for that”…. I see you, fellow nerd lady. Come sit by me.

  54. 54.

    AM in NC

    @WTFGhost: I too think death is too good for Trump. I’m not proud that I think this way, but I want a long, slow, agonizing decline where he is mentally aware enough to watch it all slip away and to see the nation, and his family, and his minions turn completely against him. I want him to know that people don’t want to come near him because of the smell coming off of him.   And I want him to spill everything on everyone in his vengeful rage.

    I’m just upset that the Supreme Court of MAGA has made legal consequences unlikely. Because I really wanted the realization that he has lost and is unloved to come sitting in a prison cell.

    Like I said, I’m not proud that I feel this way. But I’m honest.

  60. 60.

    Kathleen

    @p.a.: Dehydration is a big issue with older people (ask me how I know). My first Medicare PCP was about my age and he thought a huge under reported problem related to old people but not diagnosed was low thyroid. He said people in nursing homes always nodding off should have their thyroid checked.

  61. 61.

    cmorenc

    @Elizabelle:

    Worst POTUS in US history.  At least Warren Harding had the grace to die during his first term.  (Also:  Harding was the first president newly enfranchised women voted for.  Bad!)

    Warren Harding gets a bad rap not because he was personally corrupt or dishonest (other than extramarital affairs while POTUS), and had appointed several soundly respectable figures (by the standards of the day) to his cabinet, such as Charles Evan Huges as Secretary of State.  While alive in office, he was one of the most popular Presidents ever. Rather his bad rap as POTUS came from the discovery after his death that two of his cabinet members (Daughtry as AG and Fall as Interior Secretary) were corruptly involved in bribery schemes over oil & mineral rights leases in the Teapot Dome region.

    Contrast with the rogues gallery of cranks and corrup figures Trump is appointing, and the corrupt, dishonest, abusive and greedy nature of Trump himself.   We’ve had some past Presidents with disastrously incompetent judgment or management (James Buchanan, George W Bush) but not anyone as flagrantly corrupt, dishonest, and incompetent as Trump.

  62. 62.

    WereBear

    @TBone: It’s likely best. Our Tortie faded over several months, and when the end came it was late and night, but we’d planned ahead and she was comfortable, and held throughout the night.

  63. 63.

    Mr. Mack

    @TBone: Lap of Love?  Last year I thought I was losing my 14 yr old aussie shepard, and made the appointment.  Day of, she got on her feet, and she got one more season in the sun…almost a full year before she passed.  They were great about the cancellation.  Sadly, our other girls time is very close.  I recommend them if they operate near you.

  65. 65.

    Kay

    @BlueGuitarist:

    It’s good but I think she should credit the Democratic base with the “mass mobilization” after 2016. That was done almost entirely outside the Democratic Party. I don’t understand her passive voice – “ mass mobilization” – as if it occurred magically and spontaneously . It was tens of thousands of people working unpaid.
    The Democratic Party needs to start crediting their base with doing most of the organizing heavy lifting, with or without Party bigwigs in the lead, because that’s the truth of what happened and happens.

  66. 66.

    MomSense

    @Fair Economist:

    There is another reason. Heaven is a specific place. It is the flat part at the top of the dome that is above a flat earth. This is obviously not the full description, but if you follow a religion that believes the Bible is the literal word of god and then realize that it is not accurate you have a problem. Every person who believes the earth is flat may not also know that heaven is described in the Bible, but it has absolutely affected the flat earth movement every time it surfaces.

  68. 68.

    TBone

    @WereBear:

    @Mr. Mack:

    Thanks, it is not yet over, but I want to be ready to prevent suffering when we know it is time.  Each time I was sure he was getting worse over the past few weeks, he rebounded.  I’m waiting for that rebound to surprise me again today.  If it doesn’t come, I need to be at the ready whether it’s a holiday or not.  Got a name from the vet and, if he won’t come, then a trip to the vet will have to happen (that’s what I dread the most, he’s terrified of the cat carrier, the vehicle ride, all of it).

    So we’re saying stay at home prayers.

  70. 70.

    Mr. Mack

    @TBone: Ah.  Back before they had these services available, I had to put my 14 yr old boxer/pit mix down myself.  Hardest thing I ever did, but he spent his whole life on our farm, hated car rides, and I was not about to make him suffer leaving just to die.  Luckily, I found a kind hearted vet who gave me some sedatives so we spent the day eating cheeseburgers and anything else he wanted, until it was time.  Hoping your pet rebounds for awhile at least.

  71. 71.

    Kosh III

    Someone should remind the Felon that we tried to take over Canada once: the War of 1812.  How’d that turn out? O yeah! we got clobbered.

  73. 73.

    Kay

    @BlueGuitarist:

    If this is a division of labor and she’s responsible for opposing Trump appointees and blocking far Right legislation and we’re responsible for “mass mobilization” (and it must be us, we being “the masses” and all) then she needs to credit the base for the role she’s assigned us.

  74. 74.

    pluky

    @Juju: It might be more than just a loss of appetite. One of the symptoms of advancing dementia is dysphagia, though Trump would have to be fairly far gone for this to be the case.

  75. 75.

    Suzanne

    He could also just have Ozempic face — which is a known thing. And not be sliding into dementia….. just being the same kind of morally bankrupt dumbass he’s always been.

  77. 77.

    Elizabelle

    @cmorenc:   Good points all.

    @p.a.:  Yes, Richard Evans is excellent.  Have “Hitler’s People” on a library loan now.  Haven’t ever gotten through his earlier books, but should.  (At some point, what he describes is just overwhelming.)  Have been reading a lot of William Shirer.

    The parallels are disquieting.  The Felon’s people studied the Third Reich carefully.  In order to better succeed at dismantling a democracy.

  78. 78.

    Elizabelle

    @Mr. Mack:  Sweet story about the cheeseburger fan.  Wishing you well with your present pup.

    @TBone:   Good luck to you and Josey.  Wish he could slip away in his sleep, when his time comes.

  79. 79.

    Juju

    @Betty Cracker: I heard that as well, but I don’t know.  It could be either one, or neither.  After reading about the possible side effects, I wouldn’t risk using Ozempic or semaglutide to lose weight.  The side effects are either embarrassing, nasty or possibly life threatening.

  80. 80.

    Juju

    @Soprano2: It’s not legal in NC.  I do my best to make sure she eats enough, and her appetite comes and goes. I’ve learned what works to get her to eat enough. Thanks for the tip if it ever becomes legal in NC.

  82. 82.

    O. Felix Culpa

    @Kay: Ah, the goal posts continue to move.  “It’s good, but…she didn’t do it according to my standards of perfection.” Why should we expect each public statement to contain ALL the desired good things? Perhaps you could provide a full list in advance? Including necessary phrasing, lest they fall short and disappoint?

  83. 83.

    jimmiraybob

    By “Trump,” I assume that you are referring to His Excellency Elon’s sidepiece.

    Also too, Merry Winter Solstice to all!!  May your days grow brighter and brighter and your spring gardens flourish.

  85. 85.

    Bill Arnold

    @Elizabelle:

    but I am finding I cannot look at Elon Musk any more either.

    There is a potential story arc involving Elon Musk having a ketamine-fueled brief fling with (gold-digger) Melania.
    Make it so!

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    @Bill Arnold:  I want Burmese pythons to take them all out.

    Carl Hiaasen wrote a funny book about that a few years ago.   A python slithers into Mar A Lago.  (Squeeze Me, from 2020.  Dead accurate look at The Felon.)

    I wonder if he’s writing anything new, or if he is as gobsmacked that fiction cannot keep up with real life.

  89. 89.

    Elizabelle

    @comrade scotts agenda of rage:  Had not heard of that book.  Thank you!

    ETA:  Lol.  Author is Gita Sereny.  Just realized I OWN a copy of that book.  Hardcover yet. Found at a library sale a few years back.  Have not yet read, but will, and will report back.

    I am loving a book about William Shirer right now.  It’s The Long Night, about his experiences reporting in Hitler Germany, before he left in December 1940.  Even while I know he died of old age, probably in bed, it’s an exciting read.  What will happen next?  Will he safely make it out of Berlin?  (No easy task; the planes and ships were booked weeks in advance with passengers fleeing the Nazis.)

  90. 90.

    Boris Rasputin (The Evil Twin)

    @WTFGhost:  I’d love to see the history texts, whatever form they’ll come in, for 50 to 70 years from now. If we’re still learning about dirt on Nixon, 70 years may not be long enough for Trump’ whole record to surface.

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