Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

We do not need to pander to people who do not like what we stand for.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

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

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

Stand up, dammit!

Fundamental belief of white supremacy: white people are presumed innocent, minorities are presumed guilty.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

We will not go back.

“Alexa, change the president.”

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

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

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are here: Home / Trump-Musk / We Need to Very Publicly Hand Out Neville Chamberlain Benedict Arnold Awards (Open Thread)

We Need to Very Publicly Hand Out Neville Chamberlain Benedict Arnold Awards (Open Thread)

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Friday Afternoon Open Thread 8

So this is a thought I had last week.

Why don’t we do something catchy to call them out?  Surely one of our graphic design peeps could come up with a lovely design for the Neville Chamberlain Awards, and then share them on social media as an individual or institution has “earned” one?

Food for thought.

Open thread!

Reader Interactions

72Comments

  1. 1.

    HinTN

    OT, so – One week from today at around 1500 Pacific Time there will  be a Silicon Valley-ish B-J Meet-up at Duarte’s Tavern in Pescadero, CA. Six folks have expressed interest and WG sent my contact information via BCC email. Mr Bemused Senior and exbarrowboy have emailed me with their mobile numbers. It would help with coordination if others would do the same. It would really help if I had permission to group text to those folks but I will gladly respect the privacy of any/all who decline that option.

    It’s not too late to sign up to join the fun

    PS: The water lilies from randy khan in the 3/30/25 daily picture below are wonderful. Thx, WG.

  7. 7.

    AM in NC

    Well I nominate NC Senator Thom Tillis for the first round of awards.  He wants to seem all moderate and reasonable Republican yet votes with the monster caucus almost 100% of the time.  Completely folded on every single one of Trump’s dangerous Cabinet nominees, and just voted to stop the CFPB from being able to cap predatory bank fees.

    He’s a total MAGA Monster who pretended that he would be a reasonable moderate Republican.  Vichy. Quisling. Collabo. Tillis.

  10. 10.

    Bupalos

    @WaterGirl: I think chamberlain was noted for constantly parading around with an umbrella, rain or shine. Of course we’re talking England, so not that unreasonable.

  12. 12.

    piratedan

    I summed up your thoughts ( I hope) with the following post on bsky…

     

    ‪Piratedan7‬ ‪@piratedan7.bsky.social‬

    ·
    28m

    speaking candidly, If the Dems believe that DJT and his minions and his puppeteers are the existential threat to Democracy that they say that they are (just happens to be true, if you see how P2025 is being implemented). Then I would humbly suggest that our Dem Senators STOP VOTING FOR HIS PEEPS!

  13. 13.

    dc

    @AM in NC: ​
    I remember going to an empty chair town hall in 2017 in Chapel Hill and Graig Meyer (now NC senator at the time a NC rep.) explaining first what a complete arrogant asshole Tillis was and why he was so dangerous: his projection of moderateness and his ambitions to run for president.

  14. 14.

    cmorenc

    @AM in NC: I hope popular ex-Gov Roy Cooper will decide to take on Tillis in 2026.  Cooper has a track record of success in winning against the RW monsters the GOP has run against him, against the tide of NC gubernatorial elections coinciding with Presidential elections in which Trump won NC by modest low single-digit margins.  Cooper has the advantage of being totally scandal-free in his political and personal life, unlike eg John Edwards in 2016 or Cal Cunningham in 2020 (both had salacious extramarital affairs coming to light mid-campaign).

  15. 15.

    azlib

    Read this.

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neville_Chamberlain

    The historical view of Chamberlain is a mixed bag.  His appeasement policies were quite popular at the time which is not surprising given the horrors of WW I. Churchill, of course, denigrated Chamberlain in his book “The Gathering Storm”, but more recent historians have a more nuanced view of him.  He was ousted as Prime Minister due to the Norway campaign disaster right before the German invasion of the Low Countries and France. A better analog to what is happening now is Vidkun Quisling.

  16. 16.

    dc

    @cmorenc: ​
      I also am hoping Cooper runs. He’s popular in the state and while being more of a moderate Dem he never runs away from the Democratic party.

  23. 23.

    Another Scott

    @azlib: Not only that, it’s a little too far out there for too many Americans.

    How about The Benedict Arnold Awards?

    Someone who had a position of great trust and responsibility under the United States, who felt disrespected and insufficiently catered to, who decided to try to sell out the country for personal gain??

    Thomas, Roberts, Alito, McConnell, Stefanik, Waltz, Rubio, etc., etc., etc.

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  25. 25.

    Gvg

    @Bupalos: No, I think it refers to a golden parachute, where a top ranked executive can totally fuck up or destroy a company but be paid a big exit package (sometimes  a board or stockholders just want someone gone quickly, sometimes they got themselves a contract with no true performance requirements). Meanwhile, those left behind are the ones paying a price.

    I could be wrong but that’s what I thought it meant?

  27. 27.

    p.a.

    At the least, Chamberlain/Quisling etc awards MIGHT cause some of our pathetically historically unaware citizens to google.

     

    Yes, see comment #23

  28. 28.

    Gvg

    Chamberlain sort of represented a lot of British at the time who were not really ready to face the oncoming war, plus Britain wasn’t armed up enough and would have lost badly in battles at the time ( I think) it was appeasement but they also started building up their military fast right after (again, I think) so in a way it’s appropriate for the people who still aren’t reacting as urgently as we think they should (Schumer?) while Trump is a Benedict Arnold or Quisling. On the other hand, a lot of people don’t know that nuance of history about Chamberlain so it won’t come across accurately to many people about Schumer/Chamberlain. I’d like to make that point but I think some other label would work better.

  30. 30.

    Gvg

    @azlib: Britain started to re arm afterwards. Was it Chamberlain who did that or were others responsible? I sort of think it was others but I don’t know the details of British history or how their military funding worked.

    it currently seems rather important but Trump is commander in chief. We need to get ready for problems after we get rid of him (I hope) and resist being able to do what he wants like suppress internal opposition or fight with peaceful neighbors. Damn him anyway. When he is gone, I think Russia may have started such a mess we may be involved in a war.

  33. 33.

    Timill

    @Gvg: Re-armament started nominally in about 1935, and Chamberlain became PM in 1937. Things like the building of the KGVs and the modernisation of the Queen Elizabeths were already underway. Re-equipping the RAF seems to have been a priority as well – Hurricanes were in series production in 1936, thought they didn’t enter squadron service until the end of 1937.

    Given all that, I can see why Chamberlain thought an extra year necessary.

  35. 35.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Gvg: the treason awards?
    the undoing of a nation awards?

    the betray your country awards?

    I’ll out myself as one of the pathetically  historically unaware. As it was taught, history didn’t represent me, but was the history of men, their wars and governments and big business endeavors. The men all looked alike, with few exceptions.

    There are also questions about whose pov we’re being taught in history classes, and what were the pros and cons to all the decisions being debated. Which has often been obscured even in current events reporting and discussion.

  41. 41.

    WaterGirl

    @matt: I like the “go along to get along” idea, but I would want to modify it to be:

    Still Going Along to Get Along – While the Country Burns Award.

  42. 42.

    Baud

    A biography about Jackie Robinson has been identified as a candidate for removal from the Nimitz Library at the U.S. Naval Academy due to a directive from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering the school to identify books with diversity, equity and inclusion themes and remove them from circulation, according to The New York Times.

     

    The Robinson biography is reportedly one of 900 books identified as conflicting with the order, with other examples including “The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr.” and “Einstein on Race and Racism.”

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    I did not know until just now that Richard Chamberlain died.  Very sad.  I just watched an old episode of Leverage last night where he had been Parker’s mentor and kind of father figure.

  45. 45.

    WaterGirl

    @Baud: I feel a flash of anger every time I see that.  These fuckers are just brazen racists and they don’t care who knows it.  It’s appalling.

    edit: No, it’s worse than that.  It’s not that they don’t care who knows it, it’s in your face I’m racist and proud of it, and I want eveyone to know you can’t do anything about it.

  46. 46.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, … WARNING TheHill.com:

    Context – The DC budget has to be approved by Congress. This is about $1.1B in locally-raised funding for the current-year DC budget. Huge cuts, including to schools and police, etc, would be required if it’s not restored. The Senate passed a fix already, 47 says the House should pass it quickly.

    House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said he’s pushing GOP leadership to hold off on bringing up Senate-passed legislation that D.C. officials warn is necessary to prevent significant cuts to its local budget.

    “We’ve urged the leadership to delay it until we get the budget resolution fixed, and then we should put requirements on that for the District of Columbia,” Harris told The Hill on Thursday.

    His comments come as House and Senate Republicans are working to hash out a deal on a budget blueprint that would help pave the way for the party to advance President Trump’s tax agenda.

    “We should get the budget resolution agreed to before we take up an issue like whether or not, D.C. should be able to spend that billion dollars on whatever crazy stuff they want to spend it on,” Harris said.

    Harris said that conservatives “need a little while to come up with a list of what requirements we should put on D.C.,” but he hit the District for spending “dollars in ways that in the past we thought were pretty foolish.”

    Asked whether leadership has told him they’ll wait to bring up the bill, Harris responded, “I don’t know, as you know we can usually hold up whatever we need to hold up.”

    […]

    Everything is a potential hostage to these monsters. The war will never be over, and the battles will continue, until we have the majority again. There’s never a one-and-done with them. It’s going to require sustained, persistent, shoulder to the grindstone effort for years.

    Grr…

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  47. 47.

    Butch

    I can’t get it to post but one graphic I’m fond of is labeled a “MAGA corn maze.”  It’s one stalk of corn.

  49. 49.

    no body no name

    Call them dipshits like Walz did before they made him stop.  Or call them shits.  Call them [redacted].  Call them mother fuckers.  Call them whatever.  Just hurl insults at them!  It’s not that hard.  Look at them and swear up a storm like any normal human does.  Start cursing and don’t stop.  Don’t make me put on chiefs anchors and do it for ya this ain’t hard.

  53. 53.

    BritinChicago

    @Timill: Yes, this is an important point. The UK armed forces were in significantly better shape in September 1939 than they were a year earlier, the time of  the Munich agreement.

    A more clearly decisive event than Munich was the failure to act in 1936, when Germany re-occupied the Rhineland, in contravention of the Treaty of Versailles. Baldwin was PM at that point.

  56. 56.

    AM in NC

    @cmorenc:  I think every decent North Carolinian is hoping Cooper runs.  Wish he were 10 years younger, but I’ll take ANY Dem Senate victory right now.

    Who else might have a chance against Tillis, do you think?

  57. 57.

    Tehanu

    @Baud: ​
    Hogsbreath makes me want to vomit. The racism couldn’t be more blatant.

    @WaterGirl: ​
    I spoke to Richard Chamberlain once, telling him I’d enjoyed his Richard II. He said he was doing Cyrano next, so I went to see him in it, and it was quite simply the greatest stage performance I ever saw. The memory of his “golden bell” speech still gives me the shivers.

  61. 61.

    azlib

    The Benefict Arnold Award works for me. With Quisling, I was thinking someone more contemporanius with Chamberlain.

  64. 64.

    RevRick

    Nobody is more Benedict Arnold today than Felon47 himself. But historically, I would nominate the Confederacy, and especially Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, and the rest of his generals.
    The only President who committed actual treason was John Tyler, who briefly served in the Confederate Congress.

  65. 65.

    kalakal

    @Gvg: Chamberlain was advised by the British Military ( rightly or wrongly*) that the British would badly lose a war with Germany at the time. When Hitler broke the deal Chamberlain increased a rapid rearmament program and drew a red line about Poland. When Poland was invaded Chamberlain stuck to his red line, gave Hitler 48 hours to back off, and then declared war much to Hitler’s shock

    In Chamberlain’s words

    His action shows convincingly that there is no chance of expecting that this man will ever give up his practice of using force to gain his will. He can only be stopped by force.

    *In particular they were terrified of mass bombing of cities, there were no real air defences at the time and the capabilities of the Luftwaffe had been hyped to high heaven by the Germans

    “The bomber will always get through”

  67. 67.

    chemiclord

    @Gvg: Well, they thought they’d lose badly (it is not entirely clear that the Germans were particularly ready for war in the early 30s or if it was just Hitler’s bluster), but yes… Chamberlain’s appeasement wasn’t solely out of cowardice.

    Just like I’d argue the people that are rolling over now aren’t doing so solely out of cowardice either.  They don’t see themselves winning that fight right here, right now as well.

  70. 70.

    Other MJS

    I see Musk as not so much a traitor as a foreign saboteur, but I don’t know whether there’s a sufficiently catchy name for that trophy.

  71. 71.

    The Red Pen

    The Neville Chamberlain Award is reserved for people who didn’t think Saddam Hussein’s Iraq merited an invasion. WMDs! Get a brain morans!

    I, myself, won that award numerous times in 2003.

  72. 72.

    Bupalos

    @Timill: appeasement didn’t buy the allies anything, not time, not armaments… nothing but political popularity. It literally handed some of the best munitions and armament factories to hitler and erased a fairly capable army in a  killer strategic position from the board.

    The revisionism on chamberlain and appeasement should stop at “it’s completely politically understandable” and stop bleeding over into “maybe it was a better idea than we used to think.” It was an absolute strategic disaster that ultimately likely cost millions of lives. Hitler was in a much better relative position immediately after Munich and a year later. He clearly and obviously gained the most from appeasement.

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