Attention Norwegians!
Are you sick of universal health care?
Do you hate public spending on high-quality infrastructure?
Do you wish your neighbors were less happy? A lot less happy?
Have we got a country for you!
[This Ad Paid For By The United States of America]— Binyamin Appelbaum (@BCAppelbaum) January 11, 2018
Not that they need my help — Norwegians are a hardy folk, just ask my mother-in-law, whose family emigrated here from Trondheim when she was young — but the Norwegian sense of humor can be so dry as to entirely elude those of us from more outwardly expressive clans…
The significance is bigger than “shithole.” The president’s supporters are pushing hard for a “merit-based” immigration model, but Trump today didn’t say he wants more doctors, engineers or scientists. He said he wants “Norway.” And Norway is not a skill. https://t.co/XlhW1Z9Kgo
— Nick Miroff (@NickMiroff) January 12, 2018
Take out countries effected by war, small-population statelettes, countries w many guest workers, & island nations, and for per capita net migration—natives don’t leave,but they accept a lot of migrants—number two in the world is Norway. https://t.co/AVfqTf0ROd
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) January 12, 2018
TRUMP: I want immigrants from Norway not shithole countries.
RACIST NORWEGIAN MASS MURDERER: pic.twitter.com/xWwb0nyFjU
— Eric Columbus (@EricColumbus) January 11, 2018
Theory: Trump is throwing out rube-bait with this "shithole" comment in part because his vaunted wall has been reduced to 30 miles of Freedom Ditch.
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 11, 2018
An interesting fact about Norway is that they post every Norwegian’s income tax return on the Internet https://t.co/vI0RsMPTKe
— David Frum (@davidfrum) January 11, 2018
Donald Trump — No. 45 in the history books, but No. 2 in our hearts.
— Robert A George (@RobGeorge) January 12, 2018
Can we cancel Trump's MLK Day statement or nah
— Ragnarok Lobster (@eclecticbrotha) January 12, 2018
.
Sidebar, from my fellow Harp/mick/lanternjaw:
My family is from some picturesque shitholes in Ireland, Greece, and Russia https://t.co/ytzsr97XNr
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 11, 2018
I beg your pardon, Ireland is a *shitehole*, you eejit
— Andrew S. (@shoutingboy) January 12, 2018
feck yerself
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 12, 2018
TriassicSands
In November, 2016, the US officially became a “shithole” country.
Cermet
The the thugs in congress will either continue to cover or simply ignore this unbelievable failure of respecting the office of president that beforehand, required some level of decorum – amazing this fart cloud will continue to get even more support from his base.
Quinerly
Great collection of tweets, Anne. I needed some chuckles on this subject. Yesterday, the only chuckle I could muster was one of BJ’s own commenters saying it was all “Norse Code.” Now in other news, I found this post about FB this AM very interesting:https://gizmodo.com/facebook-knows-how-to-track-you-using-the-dust-on-your-1821030620. Have a great day!
OzarkHillbilly
Yesterday afternoon I was thinking that once upon a time we had Kit Bond for our Governor. We now have Governor Bondage Kit. Life is strange that way.
mai naem mobile
And just imagine, Dolt45 goes to Davos and there will be more international embarrassments there. Well, maybe he can shove his way to the front through a crowd of bankers like he did at the meeting with the world leaders.
BTW, how come he likes getting workers for his Florida hotels and the VA winery from shit hole countries? I thought he only hired the best people from the best places.
Quinerly
Trump wants a 10 fold increase in our nuclear arsenal?
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5a4d4773e4b06d1621bce4c5
NorthLeft12
@Cermet: The REPUBLICANS in Congress will continue to cover and enable Deadbeat Donald to the bitter end.
Please don’t get caught making the same lazy complaint about “Congress” like the MSM does without properly identifying the douchecanoes who are allowing/promoting Trump’s reign.
planetpundit
My family emigrated from the Trondheim area (in 1879) to South Dakota….I will omit a compare/contrast dynamic however our cousins when they come over to visit (someone goes one way or the other most every year) they are always polite and complimetary.
OzarkHillbilly
@mai naem mobile: Well, he won’t be going to London any time soon: Donald Trump cancels London visit amid protest fears
I’ll just bet…
eclare
@mai naem mobile: I don’t think he’s going to get the welcome he thinks he deserves at Davos.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Too bad, Brits would have had some hilarious protest signs.
Quinerly
New conspiracy stuff from the Q (no relation ?) https://tinyletter.com/rightrichter/letters/right-richter-the-new-conspiracy-theory-that-s-bigger-than-pizzagate
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
I starting to develop a crush on JRub
m.j.
Rube-bait?
Trump doesn’t think before he says anything. Why should this outburst be a considered a shout-out to the base?
I really wish people, or pundits, or the press would just stop pretending that this guy knows anything more than what he wants for lunch.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: What President tiny hands wants is a ten fold increase in the size of his p3nis, but that ain’t happening.
Amir Khalid
@eclare:
Oh, he’ll definitely get the welcome he deserves. The one he actually deserves, that is.
Quinerly
Issa may run in neighboring district: http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/368513-exclusive-issa-mulls-running-in-neighboring-district
OzarkHillbilly
@m.j.: Everything he utters is a shout out to his base. SSDD.
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: I am seriously considering subscribing to the WaPo. She is one of the reasons.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@OzarkHillbilly: OH! that’s who it was. I saw the headline “gop politician investigated for tying woman in basement”. I thought, “meh, another republican sex scandal”. I thought nothing of it, didn’t even bother to click on the link, thinking it was some rank and file nutjob. But this creep is a governor who had WH ambitions.
HAAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH
kd bart
Trump wants more Rose Nylands. Less Sophia Petrillos.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Even the liberal Bill Kristol:
eclare
@Amir Khalid: Hahaha…
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Even the liberal CIA:
eclare
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Her columns have been very good leading up to and after the election. So glad I dropped FTFNYT.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: Nothing to do with Trump’s tiny hands…did you catch this? http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/st-louis-circuit-attorney-kim-gardner-launches-criminal-investigation-of/article_15553c38-82d4-57c8-827f-45b4059acada.html
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Lindsey Graham said that too. He got better.
raven
What is it about these Norwegians this scumbag would like?
Baud
@Quinerly: Coward.
Elizabelle
Hello from Spain. Am in a shithole or not? I iz confused.
Head back to Germany tomorrow. And I guess that is not a shithole, because mostly white people (startlingly so)? White and pink people, hardy tall, robust, drive nice cars. So — not a shithole? (We can forget those 2 world wars and the funny guy propped up by propaganda.)
m.j.
@OzarkHillbilly: I think my sarcasm filter was off.
My anger gets the best of me so much these days.
Mustang Bobby
I had fun watching the various news outlets try to get to say “shithole” on the air or in print. Cable folks don’t have to worry about the FCC, but I guess the over-the-air folks went at it delicately… for them. The print people varied from the WaPo which used it in their headline since, in their words, they quote POTUS verbatim. The New York Times, ever the Aunt Pittypat, avoided the headline use but put it in the body of the story. And the New York Daily News didn’t use the exact word, but a picture is worth a thousand asterisks.
Elizabelle
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: yeah. I don’t go with labeling everyone in the military a “hero.” But Private Mensah absolutely was. Sad story, that fire. Tragic.
OzarkHillbilly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
I have a hard time believing that in today’s GOP this whole affair is a deal breaker. I also doubt Kim Gardner’s investigation will amount to much if other’s do not come forward. I don’t believe she is the only one. As far as I can tell the woman at the center of it all is still not speaking. Which in my opinion lends even more credence to what she said to her now ex-husband.
We’ll see.
Elizabelle
@Mustang Bobby: I was proud of the WaPost. They went with shithole in their news alert banner. I don’t know whether Katharine Graham would want to be aluve to see this, or not.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
That’s rich coming from him. He wouldn’t be in the US today under his proposed system.
Baud
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Leave it to Rubio to make this about capitalism.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Hey you. Hope you are having a good time.
Elizabelle
@OzarkHillbilly: suspect it will be the “light bondage” that is ickier to the base, and the photo without permission, than the extramarital sex. Evangelicals seem to be just fine with serial marriages and straying, as long as the Lord is invoked and forgiveness is mentioned.
Greiten’s wife’s statement was yuck, with the “awesome family” and the religious crap. Yuck.
Quinerly
@Baud: I just yelped really loud (and startled a snoozing Poco)….Donny Deutsch just called Trump “evil” at least 5 times on MJ.
JPL
Trump’s behavior cannot be blamed on dementia, or any other mental deficiency. He has always been a racist pig with tiny hands.
The republicans will continue to support him, because that is who they are.
Elizabelle
@Baud: I am. Do not want to come back, but am finding some inducements to do so. Each trip, I notice how crass the US looks from afar.
Chyron HR
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
What kind of skill is “Norway”?
Baud
@Quinerly:
Used private email evil? That’s pretty serious.
Thoughtful David
So, I wonder how well this is helping the campaign to get foreign tourists to visit the US, after the big drop off in tourism to the US that started a year ago?
eclare
@Elizabelle: I just googled, that was the big fire that killed twelve. Yes, a hero.
Quinerly
@Elizabelle: Joy Reid opened the show she was filling in on with saying “shithole.” Rachel was a bit more delicate.
Anne Laurie
@planetpundit:
My in-laws (who also go back & forth on a regular basis) assure me that getting the heck out of Trondheim is never a bad idea. My own people came from the parts of Ireland where, it was said, a farmer couldn’t grow enough grain to brew his own whiskey, so I understand the impetus.
But, as someone of Irish extraction who grew up in NYC, it took me *years* to get over being somewhat terrified of the Scandinavian sense of humor… I’d do all my best ‘bits’, full vaudeville, and they’d look at me with this bland unmoving half-smile. I finally figured out that if they didn’t agree with me, they’d (eventually) make an excuse to leave the room, but it like to wear us ALL half to death!
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Yep, linked to it at #34. As to trump’s tiny hands, with him, EVERYTHING is a dick measuring contest. He has to have the BIGGEST… the SHINIEST… the MOST DESTRUCTIVE… the MOST BEAUTIFULEST… the MOST NUCLEAR… nuclear arsenal in the world.
Elizabelle
@Baud: did you ever say where you were in South America? That’s next on my list. Next fleeing opportunity.
JPL
@Quinerly: He is evil and good for Deutsch to call him out.
The local Atlanta news has covered the comments extensively. .
Baud
@Elizabelle: It doesn’t look that great from aclose either. But like they do with run down shacks on HGTV, we will rehabilitate it.
debbie
Just listened to an interview with Rep. Gosar (AZ). It was amusing listening to him literally stumbling through responses* to questions about Trump’s shithole statement, but it was a step too far when he insisted that those who called it a racist statement were equally racist. I just hope his chances in the midterms are rapidly dimming.
* I believe the point Gosar was struggling to make was that what mattered was Trump’s intent, which was not racist.
OzarkHillbilly
@m.j.: Happens to us all.
Magda in Black
Re: the post headline, I grew up a few miles from Norway, Illinois
I strongly suspect they practiced the evil “chain migration”
(I’d post the link, but I fupped duck)
Baud
@Elizabelle:
South America? Oh, right. My cover story. It was great. Excellent food. I love grits.
SFAW
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
No shit. And were we still in the middle of the ’16 primaries, Lying Littledick would have said just that.
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone ???
raven
@Anne Laurie: Mine was from Stavanger the other half was from Clare.
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
m.j.
I’m just wondering if the smartest, most stable-like-genius in the entire history of the world could measure up to a merit-based exam?
Quinerly
@Elizabelle: My dentist (I suspect him to be a Trump supporter…yes, I know, but I love my hygienist (plus she’s struggling with a horrible family problem) had just gotten back from Spain last time I was there. I try to engage with him on his travels when there to keep him off other subjects. His thoughts about Spain were he loved the wine but he thought pretty much everyone in the country was lazy and never accomplished much. I have a terrible gag reflex that was well under control but I feigned that I was going to vomit on him. He shut up and didn’t linger.?
SFAW
I’m trying to look at the potential upside here:
Now that the MSM is through the “shithole” knothole, then it should soon be acceptable for them to refer to Fuckhead as “Lying Littledick,” “Shitgibbon,” and everyone’s soon-to-be-favorite “That Lying Demented Racist Motherfucker Whose Russian Buddies Stole the Election for Him.” [N.B. Not ignoring voter suppression, just not trying to tax the attention span of the typical consumer.]
I don’t think that last one flows trippingly off the tongue at this point, but give it time.
Thoughtful David
@Baud:
Yes, this. Give her a “normal” Republican that doesn’t openly surround himself with anti-Semites, like say, Paul Ryan, and she’ll be fully back on board. You can tell because she continues to write stuff like a few weeks ago that “if the Democrats keep electing hard-leftists like Doug Jones” something something. She only hates Trump, even though her entire career up until a year ago was trying to make him possible. She can never be forgiven until she writes “I was wrong about everything, and Democrats were right about everything. I’m sorry and I won’t do it again. “
Baud
@Thoughtful David: We ally with Stalin to defeat Hitler. After that, we’ll see where we are.
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle:
Are you kidding? The misogynist base dreams of that shit, it is every fantasy they have. Well. if the girl is 14. The only thing they could find fault with is the “light” part. If you’re gonna go, go all the way. Oh, they’d also think he wussed out as he stopped when she requested. A real man would have doubled down.
Her “leave me and my family out of it” sentiment struck me as particularly self serving. The children? Of course, they are innocents. Her? Tell me, did the Repubs leave Hillary out of it when they were going off about L’Affair Lewinsky?
SFAW
@m.j.:
He probably couldn’t measure up to the exam given in some shithole country, never mind ‘Murica.
Well, he could ace the one to get into Dumbfuckistan, but that’s about it.
Quinerly
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Your crush on JRub? I started having unsettling thoughts about David Frum many weeks ago….especially when he had his beard stubble. What’s wrong with us?
Patricia Kayden
@debbie: Calling the entire African continent and a predominantly Black Caribbean country “sh*tholes” is Racism 101. Love that Republicans are defending Trump’s comment. Can’t wait for November.
HeleninEire
Last two tweets above, right on target! Love it.
Patricia Kayden
@Chyron HR: Being White. That’s a huge skill in Trump’s world.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie:
What part was not racist?
kd bart
Fiddler on the Roof was basically about life in a shithole.
Patricia Kayden
@raven: Is that your family?
raven
@Patricia Kayden: Yep, dad is the little one with the pout.
Baud
Good Drum post.
http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2018/01/donald-trumps-i-am-not-a-moron-tour-a-report-card/
Patricia Kayden
@Elizabelle: I’m pretty sure that European/majority White countries aren’t sh*tholes in Trump’s opinion. And today he’s giving a proclamation for Dr. King. What nerve.
debbie
@Patricia Kayden:
He hasn’t started tweeting yet, which tells me the staff is mightily upset.
Patricia Kayden
@raven: Nice!! Love looking at old family photos like that.
OzarkHillbilly
Why can’t our media be more like the Dutch media? ‘This is the Netherlands, you have to answer questions’: Dutch reporters confront new US envoy .
Amir Khalid
@Quinerly:
There are “low” yield nuclear weapons, presumably relative to thermonuclear weapons, but there’s no such thing as a low-geopolitical-impact nuclear weapon. That’s why you can’t order a low-yield nuclear strike and avoid war: war is already on the very moment the President decides to hit the red button. When the experts explained this to Trump, I guess it wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
debbie
@raven:
Great photo. Your grandmother looks just like my great-grandmother. Wish I’d gotten some of her height!
danielx
@eclare:
Considering his reputation with bankers in general, I confess surprise at his eagerness to rub elbows with a bunch of people who won’t lend him money.
Because he’s a fucking deadbeat whose business career has mostly consisted of borrowing money and not paying it back.
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
They didn’t get to that. Doubtless, time restraints.
Elizabelle
@Quinerly: where are these laze-asses in Spain? I am not seeing them. I am mostly noticing that local governments pay workers (with benefits!) to clean the towns, cities and roads. Am noticing how much cleaner and more pride in their communities. The major highway towards Madrid was neat as could be, with yellow bags of trash neatly collected and ready for pickup. Collected by laze-asses, I guess. And not many billboards. Not the constant stealing your attention that goes on in our capitalism on steroids experience.
I think the US has been on a real downward spiral, with predatory capitalism and fake food and fake ideas, for a few decades now, and it takes leaving the country for a spell to see that. (Not for everybody. BJ peeps are woke. But I’d love to see what my rebel yell brother in law would make of this.)
p.a.
Remember when there was a thought that once they got their tax cuts* they’d turn on shitholegibbon? Good times…
*highly selective tax cuts, that is.
OzarkHillbilly
@debbie: See me @OzarkHillbilly: .
Jeffro
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Careful, Corner Stone doesn’t dig that nickname ;)
It’s Jennifer Rubin. LOL
I’d have a crush on her if she could just do the obvious thing: join the Dems, at least until the Great National Embarrassment is out of office.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
Do you live there now? I was under the impression you were just there on an extended vacation. But, I have to confess, I don’t follow the Juicer travel/relo news closely (except for Vice-President-to-Be Poco, of course).
Elizabelle
@p.a.: I think that’s actually what’s happening now. The morons in Trump’s base will be the last to support him.
Lovely catching up w B Juice. Got some walking and art-viewing to do before sun sets, in five short hours. Ciao.
Jeffro
@Amir Khalid:
Great point and likely 110% accurate. He wants very badly to ‘spank’ NK for daring to talk back to him. The problem is of course that one cruise missile strike, even a non-nuclear one, and there’s a better than average chance they loose their whole arsenal.
It’s enough to give this NoVA boy nightmares…
Elizabelle
@SFAW: just go for a month or two when I can. Totes planning to do a student visa (and actually study!) as soon as I can. Just not at home in America any more, and 2016 broke my heart.
SFAW
@Elizabelle:
Got it, thanks.
Quinerly
@debbie: His physical is today. That might have something to do with a tweet free morning.
eclare
@Elizabelle: I went to Croatia a few years ago: no litter, actual street sweepers, incredible highway that passed tons of windfarms, beautiful parks, promenades for strolling…and in two weeks, I only saw one McDonald’s.
Raven
@debbie: Poor lady had a really bad end with dementia.
Wyatt Derp
The most prominent shithole around is located under Trump`s nose.
danielx
@rikyrah:
Good morning!
debbie
@OzarkHillbilly:
What a sight that would be!
debbie
@Raven:
Mine was diabetes. It all sucks. Hope you’ve started feeling better.
Matt McIrvin
@OzarkHillbilly: The Republicans in Congress are gonna take a whole week to decide they’re on board with THIS one.
danielx
First thing I heard this morning: ice. Ice and sleet rattling on the windows, appears to be about a quarter to half inch of ice on driveway and trees.
Ain’t going nowhere today and probably not tomorrow either.
eclare
@danielx: I just see that crowd as recognizing POS for what he is, a trashy, ignorant, racist conman, the same way the Manhattan social set sees him.
eclare
@danielx: Where are you? Getting that here in Memphis
danielx
@Elizabelle:
I confess to some surprise to seeing “shithole” on the WaPo front page and I know I should not have been, considering the source.
NorthLeft12
@David Merry Christmas Koch:
Donald T
John Brennan
This should be in the running for understatement of the century.
Most people would not have batted an eye if he had used any combination of idiot, ignorant, bigoted, cruel, and piece of shit to describe the character of Deadbeat Donald.
Robert Sneddon
@Amir Khalid: There are tactical, that is battlefield nuclear weapons that are intended for use during an existing war, with yields as low as 10kT or as high as 250kT (many weapons had a dial on the side that would set the maximum yield for operational flexibility). Cold War Europe had thousands of such weapons on standby, ready for use at a few minutes notice, on both sides. The bad news is that most of the suitable targets for such area-effect weapons like army bases, shipping ports, railway yards, bridges, motorway junctions etc. were close to or within “civilian” targets like towns, cities, schools, hospitals etc.
The people who played war games for a living had a habit of reaching for these toys within a few days of either side crossing the Inner German Border and heading for The Atlantic Ports/Moscow. A couple of days after that, when a number of European cities were smoking rubble from nuclear strikes the belligerents opened up the strategic weapons toybox and a full and frank silo-emptying exchange of warheads occurred targetting assorted points in the Rodina and CONUS.
The only way to win is not to play, as they say.
The number of tacnukes in Europe has gone way down. Britain has no tacnuke capability left, only a single strategic second-strike SSBN on patrol at any given time. I’m not sure about the French but I believe they still have an aircraft-launched nuclear bomb capability based on a strike aircraft which is probably tactical in nature given the limited range of such.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
He should have stopped after “administration.” It would have been just as true and just as logical.
OzarkHillbilly
Kinda surprised the Pruitt EPA allows such an Obamafied program to exist. Still kinda cool.
Gin & Tonic
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): It was a G.W. Bush administration decision to move the embassy. So your formulation is the only true one.
Quinerly
@OzarkHillbilly: Urban Chestnut folks are great people. Beautiful facility.? Ozark, next time you are in town, check out the new Earth Bound brewery spot on Cherokee. They moved to a larger building on Cherokee… now across from the Cinderella Building. Beautiful rehab job that I think you will appreciate. Interesting beers…ask for tastes, though. Their IPAs are very, very different. Gotta love those hops!
OzarkHillbilly
@eclare: McDonalds on the other side of the pond. Heh. My wife took her daughter’s in laws to Majorca for a 2 week stay before she sold her parents condo. They missed “American food”. Ate at McD’s a # of times. There in the land of fresh seafood they wanted a 1/4 pounder and fries. Made me glad I missed that trip.
Quinerly
@Gin & Tonic: MJ just had a great segment explaining the move.
Quinerly
He’s tweeting. Hope he works himself up something good for his physical today.
OzarkHillbilly
@Quinerly: Sounds good. Thanx for the tip.
danielx
@eclare:
Just north of Indianapolis….roads are skating rinks.
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Ate seafood every day that trip, still remember the octopus.
eclare
@danielx: Def not going anywhere today, may have to tomorrow.
Kay
What nasty, mean spirited things will the President and his low quality team say today, I wonder?
Remember- the only reason we know about this is he said it in front of people who tell the truth about him. There happened to be a person who isn’t a coward in the room. That rarely happens.
Go back thru the Tweets and statements from Team Trump- they’re either smearing someone else or bragging about themselves. Name one person Trump has hired who isn’t an outright asshole- you can’t do it. The worst people in the country have somehow ended up in power. Something is terribly broken in this supposed “meritocracy” and we better fix it, because it’s getting worse.
Cheryl Rofer
@Amir Khalid: I agree. There is a running discussion of this point in my Twitter feed, but this is where I come down, that if a nuke is used, that totally changes things. Also, there is no way they are going to ramp up production during Trump’s three remaining years.
That’s my post about the nuclear posture review. Oh, did I say I haven’t read it yet? I will and will do a post, but I think it won’t be much different. Or maybe Adam will do one first. I’m busy today but will try to get to it over the weekend.
MJS
@OzarkHillbilly: I’m guessing Pruitt doesn’t know about the award, yet.
danielx
@eclare:
May have to call in for the daughter unit today, supposed to take her to work at 11. But I don’t think even the Subaru will handle the roads today.
James E Powell
@Thoughtful David:
I’ve replied to her tweets – and Kristol’s – pointing out their roles in producing this disaster & asking them to admit it. No replies, of course, but I feel it needs to be done.
danielx
@Kay:
Off the top of my head, the only one of his appointees who isn’t a reprehensible person is Mattis, who also appears to be the only one whose primary interest isn’t enriching himself or others.
Aside from him, you’re pretty much on the money. I’ve lived through more presidencies than I care to think about, and I have never seen such a collection of mean-spirited, grasping, no-class assholes.
Cheryl Rofer
@Robert Sneddon: There are American nukes stationed in Turkey, Italy, and I think the Netherlands. (I would have to check to be sure.) They are called tac nukes, but they are big air-delivered bombs, not the “suitcase bombs” that some think of as tac nukes. Given Turkey’s recent propensities, it seems a bad idea to keep nukes there, but such decisions take a lot of time.
Russia has more tac nukes around its territory, so they like to demand that tac nukes be removed from non-American territory. They probably don’t have “suitcase bombs” either.
OzarkHillbilly
@eclare: Same here, interspersed with some Spanish ham and cheese and lamb and cheese and all the other delicacies unique to that country. And did I mention the cheese? I really like the cheese.
bemused
I love Applebaum’s tweet. I’m just so weary of laughing and crying at the same time.
Quinerly
Speaking of Trump’s physical today: https://www.thedailybeast.com/will-president-trumps-physical-show-that-hes-obese
Kay
@danielx:
I don’t get it, I really don’t. These people had every advantage in life. They were given everything, from birth.
Every fucking day they’re shitting all over someone else. No gratitude, no generosity, instead it’s all sour nastiness and rage. Where does this come? How much more do they want? How much do they think they deserve? Everything? They can’t sleep at night knowing some African immigrant in Minneapolis is taking a seat in a graduate program? That’s some kind of affront, something THEY own that was taken from them. Take, take, take. Nothing good comes back. They’re a black hole of want and need and demands.
planetpundit
@Anne Laurie: My family is from Rognes (small locale outside Trondheim) everyone did well as a result of some leaving and some staying. I do envy them the huge oil fund they have banked. I find Minneapolis a sublime paradise and was raised on the rather dry humor.
eclare
@danielx: Good luck if you venture out, I don’t mind admitting that I’m a wuss.
Patricia Kayden
@Quinerly: No, it will show that he is lithe and svelte and the healthiest person to ever hold the office of the presidency. And he’s “like a really smart” person too.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Kay: I recently wrote more or less that same sentence into the book I’m drafting:
“Your roommate’s a rich kid. How come he acts like life did him dirt and it’s our fault?”
Kay
@planetpundit:
What is amazing about the oil fund is they returned that wealth to the citizens, if “sovereign fund” means what I think it means. Wow. Kudos for keeping greedy hands at bay. That’s really an accomplishment. If it happened here we’d have an entire political party and campaign industrial complex dedicated to plundering it and grabbing it all for themselves. We’d spend the next 100 years fighting them off.
satby
@Baud: well there are places where it probably felt like you needed a passport, and a translator, in our southern areas.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay:
Well actually, they weren’t given everything, so now they’re trying to get what wasn’t. Because they are just so…. deserving.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
So much of Trump’s language is whining. “They get better immigrants than we do. They get better deals than we do” – wah, wah, wah.
He was raised poorly. There’s no escaping that conclusion. They did a bad job. Everyone. From his family to that fancy boarding school to the colleges he’s always bragging about. Someone should have (rhetorically) knocked him on his ass at some point and no one did. Maybe they didn’t like him that much so didn’t care enough to do it. That happens too.
No one told him he had great unearned privileges so should be grateful. I don’t really blame them. I’d avoid interactions with him too because shitting on people and bragging about yourself is ultimately boring, but it was someone’s duty. A paid Trump Family staff member might have taken it on.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: In some parts of backwoods NE Alabama one definitely needs a translator.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@Kay: Exactly. “It’s not fair! Nobody treats me fairly!”
As you say, it’s a bottomless hole.
George
The problem with some people on the left is that they are unable to frame the stuff Trump does for maximum damage to our opponents.
Anyone who burps up a comment now that says, in effect, “I guess America is a shithole country” is foolish. It smacks a bit of defeatism.
Here is what we should be saying: “The GOP and its president apparently are trying to make America a shithole country.” Or some variation thereof. We need to grind that notion into the greater consciousness of our country. That’s what conservatives have been doing to us for decades.
First, that puts the onus on the GOP to defend itself. Second, it allows liberals to demonstrate that we are more pro-American than the GOP is because, really, we are.
satby
@danielx: already icy and snowing here, winter storm advisory says it can end with up to eight inches of snow. During yesterday’s 55° weather the last of the previous snow melted at least. I’m not going anywhere either, except maybe moving my car back to the street if it gets more than 4 inches high.
Kay
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady):
You see how fragile he is by how he carefully avoids protests. He’s afraid to go to London.
It’s kind of great if you’re opposed to him because it’s such a glaring (and childish) weakness. It hurts his feelings when people publicly oppose him. A single protester can pop that giant balloon of an ego. Wow. That’s a lot of power he’s given them.
Chyron HR
@George:
“When I saw Trump literally rape an actual baby on live television, it threw into sharp relief how much the Democrats suck.”
satby
@rikyrah: Good morning ?
bemused
@Anne Laurie:
The Scandinavians may appear to be unamused but they could be roaring with laughter on the inside. Hard to say because they don’t like to “stand out” with emotions. This is still true in my neck of the woods heavily populated with Scandinavian immigrant descendants. That reserve has been diluted over generations in America but it’s still pretty common.
JohnO
@George:
@Chyron HR:
Yes. This. (These?) D’s are SO bad at politics it baffles.
satby
Repeating again from last night, another Women’s March a week from tomorrow. Make him see huge protests in this country
Kay
@Chyron HR:
:)
“Liberals would appeal more to conservatives if they would stop being liberals and be conservatives”
One of the great things about Trump is I realize it really doesn’t matter to me if a total of five people oppose him- I’d still have to be in that five. Supporting him is off the table so there’s a lot of clarity.
planetpundit
@Kay: I agree 100%
MomSense
@Cermet:
Why give cover to the Republicans by saying simply thugs in Congress? It is the Republicans in Congress who are individually and collectively responsible for our disgraceful president.
1000 flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)
@eclare: They’ve closed the state offices here in Nashville, which suggests we’re facing something like last week’s Atlantic coast storm but maybe Haslam just wants to aggravate the legislature.
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: There was no Tyrion Lannister in the trump family.
MomSense
@Kay:
They also have set aside some of those funds to seed new businesses, develop new technology, etc.
Peale
@George: no. According to our progressive betters, not acknowledging that the country turned to shit under Obama is why we look out of touch. Apparently, no one votes for optimism.
bemused
@debbie:
Was it this Friday he has his physical?
eclare
@OzarkHillbilly: Kudos on the clip, perfection.
laura
@Quinerly: see the snake. Pet the snake. It’s still a snake.
bemused
@Quinerly:
Which would elevate his blood pressure more before the physical, allowing him to tweet and watch cable news or stopping him.
Kay
@OzarkHillbilly:
My mother was good at this. Harsh, but someone had to do it. She used to do this horrible thing where she would call us “Lady Jane” if she thought we were ungenerous or whiny or ungrateful I have no idea where this came from but you’d get it immediately- this is not a good thing to be called. OMG, she’s calling me Lady! So mean!
You wonder what Old Country tradition that came out of, where “Lady”is used as an insult. Hmmm. Some ancient bitter prole v royalty thing going on THERE, I think :)
The bragging thing interests me with Trump because bragging is universally considered bad manners. That crosses class lines. It’s like he was raised in a basement. Nothing reached him. No “norms”.
low-tech cyclist
Norway? More like Snoreway!
More like No. 2 in our toilets.
Gin & Tonic
@bemused: Yes.
bemused
@Kay:
This!
OzarkHillbilly
@Kay: My mother was good at it too. She absolutely loathed self pity.
David Evans
@Kay: More like working class vs the aristocracy – the ones who had servants and acted as if they were better than everybody else. The proles were often quite attached to the monarchy, whom they thought of as being above class conflict.
JGabriel
Rick Wilson (via Anne Laurie @ Top):
Theory: Trump is throwing “shithole” rube-bait because he’s a racist, ignorant, demented, filter-less jackass who doesn’t know any fucking better.
satby
@JGabriel: and now he’s denying using that word, though his spokespeople didn’t deny it last night.
They wanted rube bait, and then wanted to play victim when the blowback became too much.
Jack the Second
@Kay: Eh, it’s hard to say.
This comes up a lot during performance review / promotion season at work, a multinational company, where you have some employees from “bragging cultures” and some from “self-deprecating cultures”. Ignoring the international component and sticking to domestic stereotypes, you’ll have Americans raised on the coast happily saying “I single-handedly pulled off project X”, when they played an important role on the team but it was definitely a team effort, and Midwesterners saying things like “I assisted with project Y” when they were undoubtedly the single most critical person on the project.
Both groups don’t self-report their contributions accurately, but both are reporting it in the way they would to be understood within their culture. And on a company-level, it takes a lot of work to neither neglect the contributions of the people from self-deprecating cultures nor start assuming the people from bragging cultures are all assholes.
KickBoxBanana
Completely ignoring all the horrible things she said about Obama? You people amazing me how short sighted you can be sometimes. These deplorable grifters are human weathervanes.
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
@satby: Standard operating procedure for these bigoted assholes
Tenar Arha
So, I called my Governor in addition to my second set of calls to Congress today.
But I’m wondering if I should call the White House or not to express my displeasure at the President’s comments. Also, anyone got a good script for that phone call if I decide to put myself through it?
Tenar Arha
So, I called my Governor today in addition to my second set of calls to Congress this week.
But I’m wondering if I should call the White House or not to express my displeasure at the President’s comments. Also, anyone got a good script for that phone call if I decide to put myself through it?
ETA timeline
JGabriel
@satby:
Sadly, that doesn’t actually differentiate Trump’s malministration from the rest of the GOP.
Ksmiami
@Kay: cut them off from decent society build a fence and take away the advil
Adria McDowell
@NorthLeft12: The Driftglass/BlueGal doctrine. YAAASSS. Love it.
schrodingers_cat
@satby: Its no bait, its how he thinks, go to anti-immigrant websites VDARE and check out their insults about immigrants from various countries.
Quinerly
@KickBoxBanana: I like to be somewhat hopeful. I’m so old that I remember the guy he attacked the Clintons and, I think, Anita Hill. Right now I can’t remember his name but he might be an “Eric.” Did a complete turnaround, recanted, and I think founded Media Matters. Big Clinton supporter now. Probably should have looked up more details before posting. I do think the JRubes love is said mostly in jest….I know I’m always teasing when I say I’m crushing on Axis of Evil Frum.?
tjmn
@OzarkHillbilly: The id of est.
BluegirlFromWyo
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: Shithole didn’t say anything about skills. Weak sauce from a weakling.
Kraux Pas
One of my best friend’s family immigrated here from Haiti. His mom is a nurse. Obviously of less value to society than any Norwegian with a non-descript skillset /Trumpet
Dmbeaster
@OzarkHillbilly: Heck, that is the advantage of his tiny hands – it feels huge (to paraphrase Deadpool).
schrodingers_cat
@Kraux Pas: I knew two Haitian brothers in grad school, one of them was my neighbor in student housing. They were unfailingly polite, soft spoken and very helpful. Quite a contrast from you know who.
Kraux Pas
@schrodingers_cat: Also, working in pharmacy, I see a lot of pharmacists from Africa, majority black island nations, and Asian nations that probably aren’t among Trump’s desired emigrees either.
schrodingers_cat
@Kraux Pas: His desired immigrants are voluptuous and leggy eastern European models.
Kraux Pas
@schrodingers_cat: Not to share Trump’s hateful sentiment, but most of the countries among that number aren’t exactly the pinnacle of European civilization.
Kay
@Jack the Second:
I see what you’re saying. I loved “humble brag” because it was one of those “there’s a PHRASE for that?”
I felt the same way about “mansplaining”. THAT’S what that is! I need these words :)
My son has a co-worker and his nickname is “money” so I was saying “he got such a cool nickname, he must love that” and they corrected me- his nickname is “money” because he brags incessantly about how much he has and they think he’s dumb and broke.
Vhh
@Robert Sneddon: France has 4 nuke missile subs, apparently the quietest there are. They carry intermediate range missiles with thermonuclear warheads.
Uncle Cosmo
@Quinerly: David Brock. IIRC once character-assassinated Anita Hill as “a little bit slutty, a little bit nutty.” Broke with the Far Wrong in the late 90s.
rikyrah
@Kay:
LONDON!!
Dubya wasn’t scared