Kevin Kruse on Trump’s press conferences in general:
[…] make no mistake, these press briefings will continue to get constant coverage by the media. It doesn’t matter that they usually involve no actual information that the American people need and, in fact, often involve serious misinformation that the American people definitely do not need. It doesn’t matter because the political media no longer sees its role as one of educating viewers about the vital issues before the nation; it sees its role as one of entertaining viewers instead, and no one is more entertaining than the shoot-from-the-hip stand-up insult comic known as Donald Trump.
This is the key skill of Trump: giving the diminished, click-thirsty media what they want. It’s right to call it a political skill, and I don’t buy that Trump’s ascendence and continued presence in our politics is all due to factors unrelated to his skill as a politician, no matter how upset that makes a few of you.
There’s a sanewashing inherent in covering Trump in any way but a live feed of his news conferences, and that benefits Trump, since the actual feed is far more incoherent than any summary. The flip side of the sanewashing coin is insanewashing. This is throwing up your hands and saying “he’s just crazy” and disregarding what he says.
I think the right approach, and the one I’m going to follow when I write about Trump here, is to try to quickly deal with what seem to be obvious distractions, and then focusing on what he’s really doing (like appointing abusers and anti-vaxx nutcases to his cabinet, corrupt influence peddling, etc.)
The hard part about this is figuring out what’s really a distraction. In his post today, Krugman thinks that the rise in long-term interest rates, even though the short-term rates have been cut by the Fed, could be explained by the bond market believing what Trump says about tariffs:
Look at the dynamic over the past few days. Jeff Stein of the Washington Post reported that people around Trump were planning a fairly limited, strategic set of tariffs rather than the destructive trade war against everyone Trump has been promising; Trump quickly responded with a Truth Social post calling the report “Fake News” and declaring that he does too intend to impose high tariffs on everyone and everything.
In short, Sources: “Trump isn’t as crazy as he looks.” Trump: “Yes I am!”
Then, as if to dispel any lingering suspicions that he might be saner than he appears, Trump held a press conference in which he appeared to call for annexing Canada, possibly invading Greenland, seizing the Panama Canal and renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. This morning CNN reported that Trump is considering declaring a national economic emergency — in a nation with low unemployment and inflation! — to justify a huge rise in tariffs.
What does this have to do with interest rates? There’s near-unanimity among economists that Trump’s announced agenda of high tariffs, tax cuts and mass deportations would be highly inflationary, although probably not right away; whatever Trump does, inflation will probably remain low for much of this year. Still, if he were to go through with any substantial part of that agenda, the Fed would definitely have to put further interest rate cuts on hold. In fact, it might well feel the need to raise rates again.
FWIW, since it’s just a guess, I’m more on the side of Trump enacting a few tariffs and making a lot of noise about them. Similarly, I think he’ll do some kind of deportation targeted at a couple of blue dot cities. So, in general, I think he’ll do what he said, but not to the degree he said that he’d do it. But, if Krugman is right, the bond market disagrees with that analysis. They think he’s going to go at it good and hard.
MobiusKlein
So the US elected The Liar’s Paradox personified to be president.
In logician talks, P and Not P => any statement.
Since he’s a living contradiction, anything statement can be a valid logical inference.
Ruckus
As someone who used to be a mental health counselor I feel safe in saying he’s insane. Or at least going full speed into it. And this is nothing new, it’s actually decades old.
BC in Illinois
I’ve been working on responses to the proposal for the “Gulf of America.”
First, there’s the problem of song lyrics:
There’s a whole website of lyrics – – Clint Black, Willie Nelson, Elvis – – that will have to change.
Then, we have the question of whether we need to stop with only the gulf.
Why should one of our Great Lakes be named for a Canadian province?
No more Lake Ontario!
From now on . . . Lake Rochester, New York!
Steve LaBonne
@BC in Illinois: Lake Trump, silly.
Baud
I don’t disagree with the analysis that there are different means used to inoculate Trump from public accountability.
I’m not crazy about the dueling terminology/labels because it sounds as if there’s no way the media can cover Trump to our satisfaction. As your post explains, that’s not true.
YMMV
@mistermix.bsky.social
@BC in Illinois:
Ontario => Lake Garbage Plate
Erie => Lake Hot Wings
Michigan => Lake Deep Dish Pizza
Huron => Lake of Bugs
Superior => Lake of Cold Winds
Old School
Declaring an economic emergency is authorized by the International Economic Emergency Powers Act which allows:
Which foreign source will be the cause of the threat? Greenland?
Wag
@Old School:
All of his perceived threats. Greenland, Canada, Mexico. Each of them individually would be declared a sufficient threat. Combined, enough to justify inviting Putin to co-manage our country.
eemom
I asked this before and I’ll ask it again: why is it so important to you to insist that trump is a “skilled politician”? Exactly what do you accomplish by harping on that proposition?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@@mistermix.bsky.social:
As you know from the meetup, *that’s* a rename I could get behind!
eemom
@BC in Illinois:
John Mellencamp! “Go to work in some high rise and vacation down at the Gulf of America.” Since the refrain is “Ain’t that America” it kind of fucks up the whole song.
Anonymous At Work
He’s threatening people/places so that any conciliatory actions by them is a “victory” even if his threats are transparently hollow. A lot of people are conflict-adverse by nature and he plays on that.
A few of his threats are targeted based on past greivances.
Greenland was about the mockery he got his first term about buying it. Remember, it looks huge on Mercator Projections, which is the weakness of that map type.
Panama Canal is about the seizure of a Trump-brand hotel over his failure to pay taxes.
Mexico/Canada is about threatening trading partners to give concessions in advance and bullying neighbors.
I agree that he’s been told “No, you shall not” by his handlers over tariffs in a way that makes it unlikely to result in general tariffs. He may try some National Security type tariffs on rare metals, electronic components, etc. but that backfired last time and the CHIPS Act is doing more work to build American capacity.
On deportations, Mexico and Honduras so far have told Trump “…and the horse you rode in on” about deportations to them or via their airspace. Only Guatemala (now with 99% fewer civil rights and 200% more bitcoins) has been receptive.
RepubAnon
@eemom: Given Trump’s skill at deceiving voters and manipulating the media, I’d say he’s a skilled politician. And a scumsucker.
Butch
@eemom: Agree. Being a cheap huckster and a carnival barker is a skill only in that he’s good at creating distractions. It doesn’t “upset” me to see it described as a political skill but I also don’t agree. I think the key is that we all stop chasing our tails every time Trump comes up with this kind of nonsense. The proper response is to point and laugh and then move on.
mary s
I haven’t been reading a lot of comments so I’m not sure why there’s friction over Trump’s political skills (or lack thereof). All I know is that it’s upsetting to me that “politics” is now synonymous with “entertainment.” As the OP also notes, Trump is a skilled entertainer — he knows his audience and he really knows how to get attention via the media.
If by “politics” we mean drafting and passing legislation, negotiating effectively with domestic or foreign leadership, or pursuing any kind of consistent policy agenda, then Trump is not a skilled politician — nor is he interested in having those skills. In the end, I guess it doesn’t matter, since voters are now pretty much universally viewed as consumers rather than citizens.
Ohio Mom
Trump may fall under the category of politician — after all, he’s won an elected office twice now, and that’s what politicians do, run for office and serve there — but he is certainly no statesman.
Statesman is a higher level, and a barely attainable one. Some of our presidents have gotten closer than others. I’d argue that Biden was pretty high up on that scale, and that Lincoln made it all the way.
Can we find something else to be silly about?
TBone
Fuuuuck. Financial advisor guy (he doesn’t command the entire nut, thankfully) was so chuffed and confident that he had me change my risk level from my preferred “conservative” 40/60 to a “greedier” 60/40. I have no such confidence and an even smaller appetite for risk.
Thankful he’s only got a portion and not the whole enchilada!
gene108
@eemom:
He has a set of skills and ideas that resonate with a large number of voters over ten years and three presidential elections. He isn’t what most of see as “smart”. He doesn’t read, he’s not intellectually curious, etc., but he wins elections.
There’s something in his approach as a politician that he’s doing well. Figuring out what it is will help how to combat it.
Dismissing as dumb, thoughtless, etc. ignores his electoral success.
Edit: Grammar
JoyceH
Everyone needs to be loudly asking the media why they’re treating these proposals as serious suggestions rather than what they really are – obvious symptoms of deepening dementia. Invading Greenland for Pete’s sake! Renaming the Gulf of Mexico? And the GOP treats this blathering seriously? I know a now-deceased dementia patient who was convinced that the neighbors were tunneling into his house. If Trump started talking about terrorists tunneling into the White House, Congress would pass legislation to dig up Pennsylvania Avenue to find the tunnels.
TBone
@mary s: astute comment!
Miss Bianca
@TBone: Can’t you tell him “I don’t agree”, and change it back?
rikyrah
Bill Madden (@maddenifico) posted at 5:23 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
So let me get this straight. Don Jr. flies all the way to Greenland and leaves after only a few hours when he finds out the Danes, the native Inuits of Greenland, as well as the entire democratic free world hate his daddy’s fucking guts. Did Don Jr. really believe he’d get a hero’s welcome? Everybody knows MAGA is just a dumber version of the Nazi Party of 1934.
(https://x.com/maddenifico/status/1876771557281804747?t=v8ut48htwtTHFUtBPE20UQ&s=03)
rikyrah
PHUCK OUTTA HERE!
Covie (@covie_93) posted at 7:39 AM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
Never thought I’d see fetterman normalizing trump crazy but here we are…
Fetterman: Buying Greenland is a ‘responsible conversation,’ compares it to Louisiana purchase. https://t.co/k4MW0wfrVR
(https://x.com/covie_93/status/1876986966803206373?t=o2S6hU2xcOfRYPHGx3AYoA&s=03)
Belafon
@@mistermix.bsky.social:
Ontario => Lake X
Erie => Lake Facebook
Michigan => Lake Diet Coke
Huron => Lake Superbowl LXX
Superior => Lake Trump
And the name can be yours for a small fee to Trump’s governing fund.
scav
@mary s: Worse, voters/citizens view themselves as consumers — worse, passive consumers to be catered to and wooed — rather then acknowledging they are actors and contributors to the commonwealth. As a side note, I think many believe that America is more defined as an unfettered free market than as a democracy.
JoyceH
@rikyrah: I would bet money that Trump and all his crowd believe that the population of Greenland is entirely composed of beautiful blond and blue eyed Scandinavians. Once they learn it’s 85% Inuit, they might lose interest.
zhena gogolia
@gene108:
He’s a racist and a misogynist. Does that help?
zhena gogolia
@rikyrah: He needs a psych eval.
TBone
@Miss Bianca: any time I want to. But since most of the bulk is still invested at my preferred risk level, I figured I’d let the guy with a pretty good track record, a lot more knowledge, and many, many more years of experience take hold of the rudder for a portion of my portfolio. He’s the only human in the mix right now besides clueless me. Everything else is on autopilot at my preferred risk level of slow and steady wins the race.
I’m holding steady until we see what shakes out. The long run is what’s important.
Poe Larity.
Who is to say what’s sane and insane now? The whole country is an asylum since covid. If Trump started saying sane things then I’d probably have a heart attack.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@gene108:
At a certain level, you’ve just described another president, Andrew Jackson.
Suzanne
@gene108:
Agree. When we can discuss it as something — if we don’t want to call it a skill, we could call it an instinct, or proclivity, or whatever — I think it helps us see things more clearly and respond more effectively.
TFG is racist and sexist, and yet he beat a whole bunch of Republicans in 2016 who are also racist and sexist. So what is the differentiating factor? Is he better at conveying the racism and sexism? Does he make it feel more fun and transgressive to be openly racist and sexist? Is it all just rizz?
What is clear to me is that his win doesn’t have anything to do with ideology. I think it has some to do with a general attitude/mood of stagnation and decline since the pandemic (the feeling is clearly there even though the data indicates that things are good). But I think we…. are just so used to thinking of politics in a delivery-and-performance kind of way — President and party deliver popular thing X, voters respond Y — and this confounds that.
Chris Johnson
Krugman and anyone listening to him need to understand it’s not about ‘does Trump believe his stupid ideas about what makes America better’.
The quicker they figure out he is a wrecking ball used by Putin to make Russia look good in contrast to America, the better off they will be. You don’t have to FRET about what the guy does, or whether he means it.
He is an idiot. He means nothing. Someone in his circle knows how to poke him to get him to bluster about making all the tariffs, or about invading Canada. He’ll vow to invade all of NATO next. Does it make sense? Of course not, but the Russian insider poking him to get him to say things does NOT CARE.
He’s not smart enough to mean anything. None of it will make sense. The only thing that matters is whether other Americans in power will go along with his droolings, or whether they’ll be a big quango stopping him from serving Putin and cratering the United States.
ALL of it works through that lens. RFK controlling all medicine? Direct attack on American medicine for the benefit of Putin and to collapse America. Does it make America better? Of course not, it’s done to hurt us! So view it as such
Also: if other Americans in power choose to be a quango we do not get to know about it until long after it’s over. If they’re doing that, they pretend to obey. They become the very ‘deep state’ he rails against. If they understand he’s there to hurt them, that’s what they do.
rikyrah
Irene Adler (@MollyBee_82) posted at 3:39 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
Republicans just dropped this bill in the house. LADIES PREPARE YOURSELF, PROJECT 2025 is rolling. The bill includes this clause:
“WHEREAS HEALTHCARE FOR WOMEN SHOULD ALSO ADDRESS THE NEEDS OF MEN”
#FUCKUREPUBLICANS #FUCKUMAGA
#Project2025 https://t.co/WEhIthOaHo
(https://x.com/MollyBee_82/status/1876745412649877963?t=yvDfV6LXJufKmwOPb2JPEw&s=03)
TBone
@JoyceH: His son junior was there with Charlie Kirk yesterday but they didn’t stay long hahaha! Flew right in and right outta Greenland!
Bob Seger style
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Mf8KoaN_dF8
rikyrah
UH HUH
UH HUH
Chris Murphy![]()
(@ChrisMurphyCT) posted at 8:52 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
Connect the dots.
Facebook faces a potentially devastating FTC case slated to begin in April. Trump is now in charge of the FTC.
Zuckerberg makes pilgrimage to Mar-a-Lago. Then donates $1M to Trump inauguration. Now this gift to the MAGA anti-democracy forces (and also Putin).
(https://x.com/ChrisMurphyCT/status/1876824310284746821?t=OI5TnFbctA9xLTzn2-UfLw&s=03)
Old School
@JoyceH:
While the suggestions are nonsense, there are unfortunately plenty of Republicans in Congress willing to jump at every utterance to help make it reality.
Kosh III
@Belafon: What about Lake Big Mac?
rikyrah
Taniel (@Taniel) posted at 6:26 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
JUST IN: Democrats have defended two legislative seats tonight in special elections in northern Virginia, in SD10 & HD26.
This means that Democrats will keep their majority in the state Senate and the state House heading into the 2025 legislative session.
(https://x.com/Taniel/status/1876787422333194380?t=-qOk6wh81ZvOgVF-km_qOA&s=03)
Suzanne
@scav:
I’ve shared this here before….. years ago, I read a piece (which I cannot find, so no link, sorry)….. the writer noted that America isn’t a market economy, we’re a market society. We view almost every kind of public life and relationship through the habits of consumers. It horrified me to the point that I remember it, and every year that passes proves to me that it was a bang-on observation.
rikyrah
Gary Chambers (@GaryChambersJr) posted at 7:21 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
Why do I talk about race?
Because it still matters—especially to those in power who can shape the quality of life for me and others who look like me.
The actions of Bruce Fischer, husband of Sen. Deb Fischer, were classless and disgraceful. Basic decency calls for shaking someone’s hand in a setting like that. It’s a simple gesture of respect. Those applauding his conduct would be the first to cry foul if it happened to someone on their side.
He had no issue showing decency to Vice President Pence but refused to extend the same courtesy to Vice President Harris. Same position, different treatment. The excuses they’ll give won’t hold water because the truth is clear—the disdain in his eyes spoke volumes.
Let’s be real: you don’t share a life with someone and hold radically different views on race. If you do, either you’re complicit or something deeper is wrong.
I’ll keep speaking up about racism—subtle or overt—because these attitudes fuel policies and practices that harm our people. It’s the microaggressions that pave the way for systemic injustice.
Wake up. It’s 2025. This is America’s reality—whether you choose to see it or not.
https://t.co/FnGqmu8PEB
(https://x.com/GaryChambersJr/status/1876801462975467952?t=jOWYL1JjTDRFL4tQU9YBSA&s=03)
rikyrah
Matt Viser (@mviser) posted at 0:27 PM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
With thick smoke covering the sky, President Biden has arrived at Cedars-Sinai in LA for the birth of his great-grandchild. Hunter Biden has also arrived, with Naomi due to have a c-section, as the president revealed to USA Today: “I’m about to be a great-grandfather, Jesus God.”
(https://x.com/mviser/status/1877059473727979957?t=HqukmMue90Iwyk_CqNzvfA&s=03)
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@rikyrah:
This morning I almost dropped my teeth when NPR interviewed some politician in Greenland who thinks being owned by Trump would be dandy. Sanewashing indeed.
rikyrah
UH HUH
UH HUH
Melanie D’Arrigo (@DarrigoMelanie) posted at 7:23 PM on Mon, Jan 06, 2025:
Republicans in Congress pushed to ban TikTok and force a sale.
Now a wealthy, politically-connected Republican is close to buying it.
This isn’t about safety, it’s about Republicans forcibly controlling the content 170 million Americans consume.
X, Meta, Snap, and now TikTok.
(https://x.com/DarrigoMelanie/status/1876439435249692736?t=Gl_fzHE9HW_S5XlkzxcLpw&s=03)
TBone
@rikyrah: I got an “address” for ’em. Come ona my house, my house, I’m gonna give you candeeeeee
What’s in that trick bag, TBone?
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mriXncI96lw
rikyrah
Once again…keeping something for another muthaphuckin’ BOOK!
Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@joncoopertweets) posted at 7:33 AM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
NEW: Trump’s team was given the questions asked by Fox News anchors at an Iowa town hall last January in advance by someone inside the network, according to a forthcoming book, in what would be a serious breach of journalism ethics. https://t.co/tQEXHwGXXH
(https://x.com/joncoopertweets/status/1876985685485248624?t=Ev4o_nZgQ4PQHEo1XSfEFw&s=03)
Suzanne
@rikyrah: That is genuinely fantastic news. I hope for great joy for all the Bidens. Wow.
ColoradoGuy
I’m adjusting my asset mix from 50/50 stocks/bonds to 40/60 stocks/bonds (more risk averse). The country will be led by a cult leader who is losing his mind. That ain’t good for economics or anything else.
In addition, tariffs, at any level, will be a shock to the economy, and retaliation from trade partners is baked-in. How bad will it be? Nobody knows, including T or the people around him. There are some economic crackpots who want to return the country to the 1880’s, with zero Federal income tax and a government financed only by tariffs.
Uncertainty has increased, not decreased, and the crew of crackpots T has attracted around him are not economic geniuses. More like Bitcoin conmen and economic cranks.
TBone
@Chris Johnson: I always agree with you.
@mistermix.bsky.social
@gene108: This is the answer. Thanks
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Subcommandante Yakbreath:
Only the clowns at Totebagger Radio (okay, also FTFNYT) could find the local version of Cletus in Greenland.
Reason #2,594 to never give them money and stop listening to them.
Belafon
@Suzanne: You can’t completely separate Trump and his followers. Trump recognizes that they have been conditioned to hate on command. He is able to speak to that hate better than almost anyone else, in part because he has convinced so many that he is successful because of that hate.
JoyceH
@Old School: I just saw a Repub senator on CNN explaining that bullying threats of invasion was a negotiating tactic because Trump is such a great deal maker. Yep, they’ll be digging up Pennsylvania Avenue
Soprano2
@Ruckus: I’ve been persuaded that he has some type of dementia. Look at interviews from 10 years ago, there’s a big difference from how he is now.
rikyrah
Democracy Docket (@DemocracyDocket) posted at 9:17 AM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
BREAKING: Attorney General Merrick Garland says in court filing that Jack Smith has already submitted his final report regarding Trump’s D.C. election subversion case and that Garland intends to release the report to Congress and the public: https://t.co/d37ZBoFVp0 https://t.co/zxugGFSQlG
(https://x.com/DemocracyDocket/status/1877011834995110197?t=YbBkGvJGQWw7v4AGnVDDbg&s=03)
cain
@rikyrah:
Y’all need to abandon all that stuff and hang out in the fediverse.
Belafon
@Subcommandante Yakbreath: From what I understand, the guy is a convicted drug dealer.
TONYG
@Ruckus: Yup. Accelerating dementia on top of a personality that has been fundamentally selfish and narcissistic for his whole life. Bad combination.
Suzanne
@Belafon: Agree.
The fact that his people are so ride-or-die for him specifically — like, do they give even half a thought to Couchfucker? — is what makes me think that all the celebrity and image stuff is compelling.
I wonder if some truly ridiculous impressions of him could pierce some of that armor. I was musing on how Melissa McCarthy’s impressions of Sean Spicer basically killed that guy’s career.
burritoboy
We should have long ago admitted (if only to ourselves) that huge swaths of the population simply aren’t really citizens in any kind of robust manner. (Yes, they are legally and technically citizens in the very narrow sense. They aren’t in any robust sense.) It’s true that some elements of our coalition do acknowledge that in some very minor ways, but most don’t. These fake “citizens” have none of the skills or character or habits that MUST be the minimum for being real citizens. And even those in our coalition who acknowledge it, handwavium it away with “we need better civics education”…….which is both effectively giving up and is an incredibly superficial take. (Er……and what happens with the hundreds of millions of fake “citizens” who are beyond high school? do you have any concrete proposals for improving civics education in a massive and sustainable way? if not, stop running your mouth and bullshitting us.)
We got a lot of handwavium, not much action and no support.
Geminid
@rikyrah: These special elections were held in eastern Loudon County in Northern Virginia, and followed State Senator Suhas Subramanyam’s election to Congress as Representive for Virginia’s 10th Congressional District.
Subramanyam replaces Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who was one of the three Virginia women who beat Republican incumbents in the 2018 Blue Wave. Elaine Luria and Abigail Spanberger were the two others. Sadly, Jennifer Wexton had to retire at age 58 on account of a very grave illness, but 37 year-old Suhas Subramanyam seems like he’ll be a worthy successor.
lowtechcyclist
@rikyrah:
No argument here.
eemom
@gene108:
But there’s no mystery to that “something” that we need to “figure out”. He lies shamelessly and exploits hatred, bigotry, and fear, exactly the same as other tyrants and demagogues have done throughout human history.
Fine, call that a “political skill.” Those words “combat” jack shit.
rikyrah
Christopher Webb (@cwebbonline) posted at 8:54 AM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
Why are Trump & Musk so fixated on Greenland?
It’s not just about its strategic location—it’s the minerals. As Greenland’s ice melts (climate change), it’s exposing cobalt, lithium, and copper (key for EV batteries). Their interest looks less like America first, but more like https://t.co/Q4Wu3eUNAo
(https://x.com/cwebbonline/status/1877006023913099433?t=ucXR-qcZSRjyp9sLZwqkBw&s=03)
lowtechcyclist
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
I stopped listening to them the morning after the 2016 GOP convention, when their analyst went on about what a great job Manafort was doing, and how impressive Trump’s kids were. Didn’t mention “Lock her up!!” didn’t mention “I alone can fix it.”
Their political coverage had been going to shit all spring and summer, but that took the cake. Haven’t listened to NPR since.
rikyrah
That would be too much like right.
Barb McQuade (@BarbMcQuade) posted at 1:47 PM on Wed, Jan 08, 2025:
As the Jack Smith report gets tied up in court with stall tactics, it would seem prudent for some investigative reporter to file a FOIA request so that it can be produced if and when the cases are killed after Jan 20. Pending cases are excepted from FOIA. Closed investigations
(https://x.com/BarbMcQuade/status/1877079650997813564?s=03)
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
Nitpick: Loudoun
mary s
@scav: Well, I certainly don’t think of America as an unfettered free market. It’s more like a plutocracy. I’m a fan of Dean Baker, who has been arguing for decades that there’s no such thing as a “free market” because government is *always* involved, and that arguing for or against a so-called free market is very helpful to the plutocrats. It would be great if political leaders and advocacy groups were arguing instead about *how* (not whether) the government should intervene — for example, should we have such lengthy copyrights and patents? Should the government build airports or other infrastructure that helps certain industries? Should it subsidize oil and gas or EV and solar (or both)? Should it subsidize training and research at universities, or bail out financial institutions to keep them from going under? And so on. [End of lecture!]
Geminid
@lowtechcyclist: Thank you for the correction. I’ll get it right one of these days.
By the way, how much snow did you get? It ended up about 6 inches deep here after we got another inch Monday evening. I think you’re about 120 miles northeast of Greene County.
Lobo
The 8 most terrifying word(and one) in the English language, “I’m a billionaire and I’m here to help..(myself).”
One nice thing is we can stop taking a whole swath of people seriously, especially billionaires. Money is not enough for them, keeping score is.
What is up with Fetterman, is he now trying to be the Sinema of the senate now?
eemom
Anyone ever seen the film A Face in the Crowd? Saw it on TCM for the first time last summer and the parallels to trumpism are bone chilling.
What brings down the demagogue in that film (played brilliantly by Andy Griffith of all people) is being caught on a hot mic expressing his contempt for his supporters.
Don’t think even that would work with the stupider than fuck fucks who voted for trump, which is perhaps most bone chilling of all.
Suzanne
@Lobo:
I voted for them both.
I’m so, so sorry, y’all.
cmorenc
@mistermix
I agree Trump has a set of potent political skills, a closely similar set as PT Barnum had which Barnum used to draw credulous crowds into his shows. And as Barnum said, “no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people”. Difference is that PT Barnum was actually a good businessman – the pretense of being one was not an illusory act.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Unfortunately around here it’s either the local NPR station, whose own programming used to be excellent but now is just pretty good, or MAGAT radio. Lately I’ve been streaming WXPN out of Philly.
Subcommandante Yakbreath
@Belafon: Why am I not surprised?
lowtechcyclist
@Geminid:
We got about 10 inches altogether. The kiddo learned another lesson about having a car: not only do you have to keep the gas tank filled, keep the tires inflated, and not run into any mailboxes :D, but when it snows, you’ve got to dig your car out if you want to go anywhere.
Jeffg166
Let’s not talk about cutting Social Security, Medicare and other programs the felon’s voters depend on. Let’s live in a world of delusion where all the felon’s stream of consciousness fantasies are taken seriously to deflect any scrutiny of the real agenda.
Steve LaBonne
@Lobo: I always figured more of them were lurking behind Sinemanchin.
JoyceH
@eemom:
A Face In The Crowd is awesome! And it’s a perfect illustration of the Audience Superior mode of story telling – that’s when the watcher or reader knows something that the characters in the story don’t know.
In that first scene, when Patricia Neal goes to the jail, Andy Griffith is on a bunk in a cell facing the wall. WE see his face, the rage and contempt there, but they don’t. Then he sits up, turns around, picks up his ol’ geetar and turns on the charm.
That’s some mighty fine acting!
Splitting Image
@Lobo:
“I’m a god fearing Christian and I’m here to protect your children from pedophiles.”
Professor Bigfoot
@rikyrah: Jesus.
After we elected that shiteweasel Shady Vance, I pointed to Fetterman and said, “see, he ran as a Democrat, brought POTUS and VPOTUS and POTUS44 to campaign with him and he won; ‘Conservative Lite’ Tim Ryan lost!”
But good grief, he’s making me regret even that.
Professor Bigfoot
@zhena gogolia: William of Ockham looks down, shakes his head, and says, “DUH, like the kids say.”
But folks are CONTINUALLY finding other reasons for his success… discounting that he’s a thieving, raping, grifting, convicted felon.
It’s like listening to people insist that the Civil War wasn’t about the Enslavement.
rikyrah
MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) posted at 9:36 AM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
– Zuckerberg removed fact-checking and added Dana White to the Meta board
– Bezos is paying Melania Trump $40 million for a documentary on Amazon
– Kevin O’Leary is trying to buy TikTok
– ABC paid Trump $15 million to settle a frivolous lawsuit
– Elon Musk bought Twitter and turned it into a right wing propaganda machine
The MAGA media takeover is in full swing.
(https://x.com/MeidasTouch/status/1876654095370420486?t=oo4RPowN8Yf1VxdaxU-LtQ&s=03)
rikyrah
Art Candee 🍿🥤 (@ArtCandee) posted at 6:07 PM on Tue, Jan 07, 2025:
Governor Gavin Newsom at the press conference with first responders for the Pacific Palisades Fire in California on texting President Biden to get aid:
“It didn’t take more than a text message…no politics, no hand-wringing, no kissing of the feet. President of the United States said ‘yes, what else do you need? The emergency proclamation is being drafted as we speak.'”
Bravo, President Biden. 👏👏👏👏👏
(https://x.com/ArtCandee/status/1876782786495082759?s=03)
BlueGuitarist
@Suzanne:
maybe
Michael Sandel, What Money Can’t Buy: The Moral Limits of Markets
Old School
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@JoyceH:
The incredible thing about the film is that it garnered *no* Academy Award nominations. Griffith should have been nominated and win. Alex Guiness won that year for ‘Bridge Over The River Kwai’ and while there’s no doubt of Obi Wan’s acting chops, the comparison between each performance is no contest.
eemom
@JoyceH:
Agree! And who’d’a thunk it of the Sheriff of Mayberry….
Another surprising gem from that town, Don Knotts in Shakiest Gun in the West. That one is hilarious.
different-church-lady
Something significant a lot of people seem to be missing: even if he really is crazy, that doesn’t mean he won’t try to do what he says.
NotMax
Dread and circuses.
Geminid
@Suzanne: I don’t think you owe anyone an apology over Kyrsten Sinema. Sinema was a Blue Dog* and never hid that fact. Arizona Democrats wanted to get rid of Martha McSally and I don’t think they had another politician who could do it.
Sinema’s was the 50th vote that elected a Democratic Majority leader for the 117th(?) Congress, and she helped pass the ARA, Infrastructure, CHIPS and IRA bills as well as the first control legislation to clear Congress for a long time. Aside from refusing to back a carve-out for voting rights legislation, Sinema did not do much actual damage besides all the heartburn she caused.
Anyway, Sinema’s over now even if people aren’t over her.
* Ironically, if Sinema had just been as loyal a team player during Biden’s first two years as the House Blue Dogs were she’d be Senator today.
different-church-lady
@rikyrah: It’s more like neo-robber barons are leveraging MAGA to take over, but that’s a minor quibble.
different-church-lady
@NotMax: If the circus was reduced to just the freak show.
TBone
@NotMax: nominated
Kathleen
@BC in Illinois: Trump will fix the new maps with his sharpie. The new flag too.
different-church-lady
@TBone: Seconded.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@rikyrah: Good for Garland. We’ll see if any court insanity intervenes.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Sinema was a classic “more” in the “More & Better Democrats” stragety and as Geminid points out above, everybody knew that going into the voting booth.
Fetterman hid that better. A couple of giveaways were some of his people like his campaign manager being active in some policy areas that are as Blue Doggy/”new liberal” as anything Sinema stood for. Stood to reason his boss didn’t have him around unless they shared some common, political ideas.
I’d hoped for better. Just another Harvard half-wit like another alum from that august institution, The Turd (Yglesias) who he clearly shares a lot of common politics with.
Baud
@Geminid:
Right. I wish she were better, but we needed her. The shame is that the public didn’t appreciate what we accomplished even having to deal with her and Manchin.
Kathleen
@eemom: That is one of the most prescient movies I’ve seen and it has held up as a movie very well. I used to long for the Patricia Neal hot mike moment for the fascists in politics and media but now I don’t think it would make one bit of difference. His cult would think he’s talking about “those other people not me”.
Princess
@eemom: What do you get out of pretending Trump isn’t a skilled politician? (No need to answer. I already know.) Prima facie, anyone who gets elected to the presidency is a skilled politician. Elected twice, more so. elected twice with an interval between, even more so. Elected twice as an indicted felon, well, you get it. Or you don’t, but others do.
Kathleen
@JoyceH: A stunning performance by Andy Griffith.
Suzanne
@Geminid:
Sinema absolutely sucks, and every Dem in Arizona knows it. I spent months in 2012 volunteering a for political campaign for David Schapira, who ran against her in the primary when AZ got a new CD. She basically cheated — sent out a direct mail piece lying about Schapira. She’s a known piece of shit, and not even because of her politics. I voted for her opponent, Deedra Abboud, in the Senatorial primary, were running in 2016.
But she managed to win, statewide, when that was a much steeper climb for Democrats. Ultimate nose-holding vote.
I came here in 2016, and spit in everyone’s cornflakes here when they were excited about her winning. I was like, “Don’t get too thrilled, she’s the worst!”.
ETA: I might have these years wrong. Disappointments blend together.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Soprano2: TFG’s nephew thinks he.has some form of dementia and the nephew said his dad and his grandad had dementia so he’s not exactly thrilled about this since there’s a good chance he himself will get it. This is the nephew with the disabled son where TFG basically told the dad he should just let the kid die. I don’t want to ever hear from evangelicals about how Christian and prolife TFG is.
Princess
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: Fetterman hid his GoP curiosity so well he was a huge Bernie supporter in 2016. And then urged a vote for Hillary. I think he’s just a guy with zero moral centre. There’s no there there. Yadda yadda he had a stroke — you know my mother has pretty serious dementia now and her political views haven’t changed one scrap. So I don’t buy that excuse.
Suzanne
@BlueGuitarist: I read Sandel’s The Tyranny of Merit and it gave me a lot to think about.
The problem that I keep coming back to is that humans seem to always want to find some hierarchy/organizational principle, and I struggle to imagine a good one.
Stibbert
@@mistermix.bsky.social:
Gulf of MexicoBP BaySteve LaBonne
@Princess: The Berniebro to Trump-curious road has had plenty of travelers.
Suzanne
@Princess:
Oh, hellooooooo Kyrsten Sinema!
Seriously, I think they’re just both thirsty social climbers who don’t really believe in anything.
Downpuppy
Eventually, Trump is going to give his base what they want.
What they want is his & their enemies (us) led away in chains, hung upside down in dungeons.
eemom
@Princess:
Piss off with your ABC lesson, aptly named one.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Geminid: the carve out for the voting rights legislation might have helped Harris win or at least keep the house. Sinema never read the room. She kept on thinking she was in circa 2016 Arizona. I honestly wonder if she was doing so many Ironman triathlons and congressional junket trips that she plain didn’t come back and spend enough time in Arizona to see what was going on.
Soprano2
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: That’s another thing that weighs in favor of it being some type of dementia. For some people it does seem to run in the family. I have a friend whose mother and father both had/have Alzheimer’s; I’m terrified for what that means for her. What many people don’t realize is that people with dementia can fool those who aren’t familiar with them, at least part of the time. It goes by various names; I like to call it “Hollywooding”. Did you notice how TCFG pretty much disappeared from public life for a couple of weeks after Election Day? I have to wonder if he was recovering from the stress of campaigning. You also have to remember he has the advantage of having the best care available. Still it can’t be hidden all the time. I was reluctant to believe he has dementia, but after this year I was finally persuaded. Most people don’t hear a lot of his rambling, but if you hear a lot of it you realize how disconnected and senseless it is, which can be a feature of some types of dementia and is something most normal people don’t do.
Suzanne
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: I honestly think she hated the job and didn’t want to keep it. So she just fucked around, phoned it in, and is now has a lucrative future ahead of her.
Renie
I think his latest nonsense is to grab all the attention of the media on him rather than all the ceremonial observations for President Carter.
Soprano2
@Princess: The brain is a funny thing. You could be right, or it could be a different part of the brain was affected that was with your mother and it did change some of his views.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@rikyrah: i am assuming 1/ Garland knows more than Cannon about the law as a judge than pissant Cannon and 2/that the report will get leaked. Might as well release it in a legit fashion.
gene108
I just want to clarify what I’m saying about Trump and “political skill”. The Republicans had 17 candidates enter the field in 2015. Early on there was a lot of Republican opposition to Trump and how he would be bad for the country.
Trump won the primary, but did not get a majority of votes.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Republican_Party_presidential_primaries
The anti-Trump vote between Cruz, Kasich, and Rubio totaled about 15.6 million votes.
Once Trump won the primary, Republicans folded and let him takeover the party.
Trump was more popular than a fractured not-Trump field individually, but he was not embraced by a majority of Republican voters in the 2016 primary.
I don’t care what you want to call it but bending a party and voting base that was not whole heartedly supporting him, in 2016, to his vision for America requires “skill” of some kind. He had an insight into the Republican electorate no other Republican had in 2016.
Trump didn’t start out with the universal devotion from Republicans he currently enjoys. Maybe he exposed the fact that Republican voters are far more racist, intolerant, and nasty than people wanted to admit? I really don’t know the answer, but no other Republican was as openly racist as he was.
On a side note, I remember one of the very early debates, in 2015, where Rubio, Cruz, and Bush argued about who spoke better Spanish. That’s where Republicans were back then, before Trump.
Renie
deleted. duplicate remark.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@Suzanne: you’re probably right. I also think she saw it as a stepping stone to bigger things and it didn’t quite work out that way. She went to the Senate and found 60 other people who were thinking the same way who were just as smart as her and her quirkiness was either not working or backfiring.
zhena gogolia
@gene108: His “skill” is that he’s willing to openly be racist and misogynistic, so he attracted a lot of previously inactive rabid followers. The Republican Party can’t win on its “ideas,” so now it was winning based on Trump’s cult, and they’re happy to go along with it because they are at base a racist and misogynistic party and even those elements who aren’t value power above all else.
He was fellating a microphone right before the election. I don’t call that political skill.
lowtechcyclist
@different-church-lady:
Unless there’s something I can and should be doing now to get ready, I’m gonna live my life for the next eleven days. I’m not going to get all up in arms about Greenland or Canada or Panama or tariffs or whatever until we know which blatherings turn out to be more than blatherings. Some of them will, but we won’t know which ones until January 20 at the earliest.
Captain C
@rikyrah:
He heard that it was covered in snow and thought he was going to be able to snort the entire icecap there.
Captain C
@rikyrah: Is Fetterman OK?
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@gene108: i think it’s Dean Obedeillah who calls it a base level animal cunningness skill like a hyena or coyote who goes in for a kill and gets it.
Geminid
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: Sinema saw Joe Biden and Mark Kelly carry Arizona in 2020, so she no longer had the excuse that only a triangulating Centrist could win in Arizona. I attribute her defections after that to character issues.
Ed. I think Suzanne had Sinema’s number when she described Sinema as a social climber.
Anyway
Not just the base he’s giving the billionaires (and finance, capital sector) all the tax cuts and deregulation they hunger for.
Suzanne
@Geminid: She’s also an ex-Mormon, and if you have ever known any ex-Mormons….. there does seem to be this weird period of attention-grabbiness. Like me, my freshman year of college. When I was 18.
Geminid
@Mai Naem mobile ¹: Or the base cunning of a career criminal, which Trump is
Ed. Trump’s also a demogogue, and that takes another type of sociopathic cunning.
Suzanne
@Geminid: Trump has an instinct — I won’t call it a skill — for “reading a room” and knowing what will play well and they can affect that in their performance. Good salespeople, good entertainers, good public speakers can do it. Some people are extroverted and that’s effortless to them. That’s probably TFG.
It can be very compelling.
Geminid
@Soprano2: I think you are right that Trump is fading mentally. I could not predict how that will play out, but it could be an important dynamic over the next four years; that is, if he survives physically which I think he will.
Fortunately for Republicans, Trump shows an unusual amount of confidence and trust in Chief of Staff Susan Wiles. Maybe he’s conscious enough of his decline to know he needs her.
Interestingly (to me at least), Wiles served as Ronald Reagan’s chief of staff after he left the White House in 1989, so she has experience in this area.
Captain C
@Subcommandante Yakbreath: We’ll find out later that the person in question was actually Bobby Greenland from Florida, local Republican committee hack and seller of dodgy crypto, won’t we?
eemom
@gene108:
ok, now those are actual good points.
Fun fact: my husband saw trump speak at the National Press Club in 2015 and predicted he would be the nominee, long before anybody else anywhere saw it coming. In fact, I LMAO at hubs when he said it.
So, yeah, what you’re saying there makes absolute sense. MM’s pissing contest over the words “political skill” in 2025 does not.
glory b
Soooo, aren’t you sanewashing too?
glory b
@eemom: Yeah, I don’t say it’s not a skill, but not a political one.
there are teen aged TikTok influencer that do as well, if not better.
The only difference is the size of the audience.
Chris Johnson
@Princess: You’ve just learned more about the word ‘politician’ than the word ‘skilled’…
MrPug
I will agree that Trump is a political genius, but only because our politics and society in general are so fucking stupid. Idiocracy wasn’t idiot enough.
eemom
@glory b:
Excellent point!
Maybe that’s what annoys me so much about him doubling/tripling down on this bullshit for 3 straight days now.
satby
@Kathleen: and for those who don’t know, that was his big film debut.
sab
@Professor Bigfoot: Sherrod Brown also ran as Republican Lite this time, first time ever, and he lost for only the second time in his long career.
lowtechcyclist
@Suzanne:
I listened to him a couple of times back in the fall of 2015 and yes, he was compelling. It wasn’t just his ability to read a room, but the way not only what he was saying, but the way he was saying it, responded to it. He really made you feel like he was talking just to you.
Seems silly to me to say that’s a skill, but not a political skill, because it’s clearly quite applicable to politics.
I guess we’ll find out post-Trump whether that skill set is needed by Republicans anymore, or whether anyone preaching open racism and misogyny can win national elections here. Cheery thought, huh?
glory b
@gene108: During the 2016 Republican primary, Trump was far behind most of the pack of (as I recall) 17 Republicans running.
After he came down the escalator and called Mexicans a bunch of rapists and criminals, he shot up to number one and has stayed there since.
No need to wonder what it is. It’s the racism.
glory b
@zhena gogolia: The number of people deluding themselves about this is both astounding and disturbing.
glory b
@Suzanne: He said the quiet part out loud for those who are too (let’s call it “unsophisticated”) to see it.
Have you heard of Lee Atwater’s “n word” speech? He said that you can’t say n word because it hurts you in the media,
Instead, you talk about tax cuts and benefit reductions and forced busing. But, the theme is all of those policies are designed to hurt black people.
Trump has proven that his approach was too subtle.
SW
@gene108: It took a skilled politician to realize that assholes were an under represented special interest group and that they are sprinkled pervasively among all traditional constituencies. If one can find a way to corner the asshole vote and retain your traditional partisan constituency you win.
Suzanne
@glory b: I know that speech. And the GOP has had many other vile racists and sexists in his history.
He performs anger and resentment and lewdness in a way that the others do not. Referring to that as “saying the quiet part out loud” is true but not complete.
Example: The stunt with the McDonald’s burgers all set out on the White House china…. that was intentional imagecraft to trigger the libs and perform his low-ness.
waspuppet
The proper way to cover a Trump press conference is for every question to be “What the fuck is the matter with you?” and to ask every surrogate, every spokesperson, every Republican, “What the fuck is the matter with that guy?” Because there is no one left who doesn’t know that he’s not mentally competent to live independently, much less serve as president.
And I do not accept the notion of “distraction.” I think Josh Marshall hit it on the head a couple of weeks ago when he said “all power is unitary.” The fact that Trump thinks foreign countries pay tariffs mean there’s no reason to take his nominee for Secretary of Defense seriously. He’s not a smart person, a well person or a serious person, and it all stems from that. It’s all one thing.