Monday, August 01, 2016

The [not so] Distinguished Gentleman.

Distinguished gentleman.jpgAs we move into day four of trump's battle with Gold Star families, I believe that the following essay should be read by all.

"The greatest media challenge of the long presidential campaign has been how exactly to talk about Donald Trump. Charlatan or candidate? He Is preposterous, and yet people were watching him in numbers never before experienced in the cable news world, and he led the pack of Republicans from the first debate onward. If this wasn’t legitimacy, or at least a kind of legitimacy, what was?

Television, in its enthusiasm for ratings and a new political story, focused more on the Trump excitement than his bona fides. Even if he was criticized, or held to account on various issues, the sheer amount of his coverage, and the sense of awe and exuberance in it, seemed to neutralize the doubts, or make them less important. Print spent most of its energy covering the television coverage of Trump — he was pure phenomenon. And social media belonged to Trump — his voice ruled.
If there was a media bias, it was that eventually he would lose, although, from the media view, hopefully not too soon. Hence, the issues of who he really was — his mendacity, corruption, vulgarity and lack of knowledge, to name just the tip of his unsuitability for the presidency — did not have to be addressed because he was ever on his way to a crash and burn appointment.
Now, suddenly, with appropriate panic, the media has to walk back the dog.

Even the hope that, come the general election, he would “pivot” to some more subdued and sensible version of himself was jaw-droppingly dashed at the Republican convention. He’s more extreme, more unpredictable, more authoritarian, more Trump than anyone ever seemed to imagine he could be. Of the 20,000 media people at the convention in Cleveland, judging by the ad hoc focus groups that formed throughout the week, all of us were shaken. None of us had ever seen a convention like this, or a candidate — now on the precipice of actually winning the presidency.

But how to express our incredulity?

On television, the back-channel talk into the earpieces of guests, anchors, reporters and contributors was all about the weirdness of the event, the absurdity and even horror of it. But the coverage itself, the horse-race commentary, and the panels of political experts, and the interviews with “insiders,” and the reports from the floor echoed all conventions past. The world was ending and television was covering it with its usual mixture of buoyancy, repetition, dispassion and sense of grand quadrennial spectacle.

Television formats themselves gave Trump the advantage of business as usual.
Print, though, after a year of running behind the story, with puzzlement being its main point of view, seemed overnight to come to attention and find its voice.

The New York Times' coverage of the Trump acceptance speech was a deconstruction of Trump's factual transgressions, doubletalk insinuations, twilight-in-America narrative and lowest-appeal dog whistles. This was, for the Times, quite as skeptical a treatment of a national political figure as perhaps since its coverage of Nixon at the height of Watergate.

The Washington Post took this moment at the beginning of the general election campaign — rather than the traditional end — to formally, and with prejudice, you might say, disendorse Trump and his campaign as an historic threat to the nation.

Nicholas Kristof in the Times, after a year of ineffective press complaints about Trump’s race baiting, got down to work and traced a clear line of old-fashioned bigotry through Trump’s very public history. His sins were not just rhetorical, but personal —  systematically violating equal protection laws. (Say this for Trump, he hides in plain sight.)

Tony Schwartz, the journalist who actually wrote The Art of the Deal, the book that in many ways created the Trump myth, and who has been largely silent about the experience, suddenly spoke up in a long interview in The New Yorker, telling an extraordinary tale of spin, fabrications, reality distortions and sociopath-like behavior.

In a mind-boggling exhumation, Franklin Foer, in Slate — with a follow-up by political blogger Josh Marshall — unearthed Trump’s deep connection to Russian interests and reliance on Russian money, the background to Trump’s heretofore seemingly inexplicable praise and appreciation of Vladimir Putin. Bad enough if it were just one strongman to another, but it is in fact, in Foer’s analysis, debtor to lender. It’s the Russians who have been propping up a bankrupt Trump. It’s a never-before-even-imagined issue in American foreign policy: What if the president’s personal business interests — his and his family’s fortune —  depend on the good will of a foreign power? And suddenly, this seemed realer still in the hacking of the Democratic National Committee by Russian-connected intelligence agencies and the leak of its embarrassing emails.

As everyone has known, but largely failed to deliver on, there are many more shocking narratives to be written about Trump. The bankruptcy of the Trump Shuttle before it made its first payment on its debt, the peculiar financing of Mar-a-Lago, the baroqueness of Trump’s personal life, now being conveniently ignored by his evangelical supporters, among them.

But, not only may print have waited too long to find its voice, it may also be too late for print to matter. In the past, in a conventional world, print led the media discussion. Television took its cues from national newspapers and news magazines. If anything, television now takes its cues from social media, the form of media most dominated by Trump himself.

Television, as it created Trump, yet could break him and help decide this campaign. The question is, in the short time remaining, does it have the wherewithal, the form, the language, the backbone — with yet no real help from Hillary Clinton, struggling to find her own voice — to express what is in front of its face?" [Source]

Personally, I think of the movie Distinguished Gentleman when I think of Mr trump. The parallels are  kind of scary. Truly a case of life imitating art.

Well, except for one thing: Thomas Jefferson Johnson was smarter, and he certainly had a lot more class.

*Pic from Wikipedia.





35 comments:

Anonymous said...


All animals,and that means humans too of course, have to have leaders,strong,fierce,daring leaders, that's a known scientific fact.

My thoughts are that in this ever changing and increasingly dangerous and confusing world, people are just yearning for a leader that is all those things you said, and/but more importantly that seems to be willing and able because of the very nature of his personality, to buck the system and change it.

Whether or not he will is another story, but that is what he's promising,and it is what people want.

In an interesting side note. I read that on the Bravo channel on Andy Cohen's program, which has a very large LGBT viewership, they ran a poll, and were quite surprised that Trump won there also.

So he seems to be resonating with a very large percentage of the population.

The real question one has to ask now is why. Because you just can't close your eyes, stick your head in the sand,keep spouting the same old PC platitudes and criticisms and pretend it doesn't exist.

The Trumpening said...

The elites are panicked! Trump represents a real threat to their globalist war mongering agenda!

All are screaming at the top of their lungs that he is "unacceptable", his words are "out of bounds", that he must be stopped.

Fox News and the Koch brothers have joined with MSNBC and George Soros to defend the status quo. We must have more wars for Israel! We must send more jobs to China! We must have more Guatemalan construction workers, Indian coders, and Syrian murderers! Bail out the banks and put coal miners out of work! Death to the Middle Class!

But the people will not be swayed. Trump will put these criminals in their place.

Make America Great Again! For all Americans!

Anonymous said...

Only one presidential candidate voted in favor of the Iraq war.

Hint: It wasn’t Trump.

Khan attacked Trump over his plan to restrict Muslim immigration to the US.

And now we know why Mr. Khan is so passionately opposed to Donald Trump.

Trump’s policies will affect Mr. Khan’s income.

Ca-ching!

Khan specializes in programs selling US citizenship.

Gee, how “nifty.”

The Examiner reports:

The father of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq who is caught up in a war of words with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is an immigration lawyer who specializes in a highly controversial program accused of letting immigrants buy their way into the U.S.

Khizr M. Khan’s website notes that he works to help clients with the E-2 and EB-5 programs that let overseas investors buy into U.S. companies and also provides green cards for family members.

It also said that he helps in the purchase of U.S. real estate and businesses. The website lists his ability to practice in New York, though it gives a Washington phone number for the lawyer who lives in Virginia. A man who answered the phone said the website was correct, though he would not identify himself.

“The E-2 and EB-5 are two of the most notoriously abused visa categories that essentially allow wealthy foreigners to buy their way to U.S. residency, and possibly citizenship, with a relatively modest investment,” said Jessica Vaughan, the policy director for the Center for Immigration Studies.


http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/khan-specializes-in-visa-programs-accused-of-selling-u.s.-citizenship/article/2598279?custom_click=rss

Anonymous said...

Imagine if the Kahn's had lost their son at Benghazi? They'd be banned from the convention, every Sunday show, The Today show..etc, etc.

anotherbozo said...

Excellent overview of the media dynamics, I think. Trump has known how to play the media like a piano, not to mention the xenophobes. Thanks for finding this, Field.

Yīshēng said...

Mr. Kahn, through his eloquence and grace, has gathered the amoeba sized nuts of rethug party and ground them into about a gram/.0022lbs of punk flavored dust.

Anonymous said...

anotherbozo said...

Excellent overview of the media dynamics, I think. Trump has known how to play the media like a piano, not to mention the xenophobes. Thanks for finding this, Field.

10:38 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Definition of xenophobe: A person who is fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or of people from different countries or cultures.

I don't think it's xenophobia,I think it's more like terrorphobia :) Fear of falling victim to an act of terrorism.

Let's not start suffering from sticksheadinsandphobia. That's really bad :)

Anonymous said...

Yīshēng said...
Mr. Kahn, through his eloquence and grace, has gathered the amoeba sized nuts of rethug party and ground them into about a gram/.0022lbs of punk flavored dust.

What part of the Constitution was Mr. Kahn referencing?

Gringo Unchained said...

lilacpr2000 said....
I don't think it's xenophobia

Xenophobia implies an irrational fear. It is completely rational to insist on putting some controls on importing millions of people from a hostile culture many of whom have already caused the deaths of thousand of Americans on American soil.

That's common sense.

Unknown said...

Trump is a bomb waiting to explode. He's a behemoth that the society has created. This society created a place where the few has driven a wedge between the different groups to fight one another for the crumbs while big businesses ran off with the loaf. Lest us not forget that Donald Trump either is in that club or wants to be a part of that club leaving those he claims wants to help you once again at the door. Yes, I do understand that people are tired of the status quo, but Donald Trump is more of the status quo that anyone realizes. He is telling you who is, but choosing him is swapping the devil for the witch. You may end up in much worse position.

Does anyone remember Jim Jones? He too told a group of people who were down trodding and with no hope that he can lead them to a better place. It didn't end well as more than 918 died in a mass murder-suicide in 1978. Trump is feeding into people's deepest fear and nothing good ever comes of it. He talks more about himself than the said "people" he claims to want to help. He wants to be your savior, but better your daddy. I don't know, I like my freedom.

Anonymous said...

The elite’s controlling propaganda is failing.

Global disorder: from Donald Trump to the South China Sea … The belligerence of domestic politics is spilling on to the world stage … Take a harder look and some uncomfortable patterns emerge: rising nationalism, identity politics, disdain for institutions and a fracturing of the rules-based international system. Governments have lost control, and citizens faith. The belligerence in domestic politics spills over on to the global stage. This is not quite a Hobbesian world but the direction of travel is evident. –Financial Times

The misinformation is not being gratefully received anymore.

dinthebeast said...

Yeah, the broadcast media is in a tizzy because they didn't believe Trump could win. Just why they didn't is an important story in its own right. They didn't believe he could win because they have to uphold the lie of both siderism. They have to uphold that lie because, as Chuck Todd admitted, if you bark at them for lying on your show, they won't come back on your show and your ratings could suffer over your lack of access. So with each right wing atrocity, there must be an equally evil hippy somewhere causing exactly as much damage. Under this system, the character of the actual Republican electorate can never be discussed, as there are no equal and opposite hippies who vote together to elect someone like Trump. But the Republican electorate DID vote together and DID elect Trump. And all the broadcast pundits are shocked, shocked I tell you over it.
You know who isn't shocked over it? You know who has been yelling at you to no avail for forty years that it was a bad idea to fill your party up with bigots and racists? Warning you that there would be consequences to doing so? Getting accused of being traitors and surrender monkeys for our trouble? You guessed it! We on the left.
Being right about this for forty years isn't really much fun, but it is actually the right thing to do, and as quaint as that may sound in this election season, it does still matter.

-Doug in Oakland

MAGA said...

Sheri Maple said...
He talks more about himself than the said "people" he claims to want to help. He wants to be your savior, but better your daddy. I don't know, I like my freedom.
----

No one who likes their freedom would vote for the monstrous Hillary Clinton, who believes all of your rights are subject to regulation..

No one is more "status quo" than the Clintons. No one is more corrupt.

Trump may be a wild card, but you know Hillary is all-in with crony capitalism and the rape of working class America. She is funded to the gills by Wall Street criminals and foreign interests.

Trumps says he is going to save you, but you don't believe him. Hillary tells you she is going to grind you into the dust, and you're not listening. You can't seriously believe the lie that it is all for your own good.

I'm taking my chances with Trump.

Lance Cockstrong said...

Butt Trumpet thinks Putin is a strong leader and wants to push the reset button (again) ...

Butt Trumpet thinks Little Kim is a strong leader and wants to negotiate ...

Butt Trumpet said he would love to debate Bernie Sanders and then punked out ...

Right wingers, your fearless leader is turning out to be a real pussy

Trump is a baller said...

A pair of brass ones is proof that one man can take on:
- The Dems
- The GOPe
- The Media
- The Oligarchs
and win.

Cojones said...

Stop pouting like a petulant little girl and board the fucking Trump Train already. Your balls scream for more life.

I Hate Spics, Gooks, Kikes, and Faggots said...

Go Hillary!
#ImWithHer

Anonymous said...

Sheri Maple said...

Trump is a bomb waiting to explode. He's a behemoth that the society has created. This society created a place where the few has driven a wedge between the different groups to fight one another for the crumbs while big businesses ran off with the loaf. Lest us not forget that Donald Trump either is in that club or wants to be a part of that club leaving those he claims wants to help you once again at the door. Yes, I do understand that people are tired of the status quo, but Donald Trump is more of the status quo that anyone realizes. He is telling you who is, but choosing him is swapping the devil for the witch. You may end up in much worse position.

Does anyone remember Jim Jones? He too told a group of people who were down trodding and with no hope that he can lead them to a better place. It didn't end well as more than 918 died in a mass murder-suicide in 1978. Trump is feeding into people's deepest fear and nothing good ever comes of it. He talks more about himself than the said "people" he claims to want to help. He wants to be your savior, but better your daddy. I don't know, I like my freedom.

10:59 PM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi Sheri! I understand your concerns but please allow me to tell you my thoughts. Firstly, and I like the analogy you used :), if Trump were "a bomb waiting to explode"...lolol, Sheri then he'd be a terrorist, and not a businessman and a politician of his acumen. ; P

As for..."but choosing him is swapping the devil for the witch"....I think that at this point nobody cares much, and it seems they're all willing to take their chances, I mean this gives you an idea of what's happening right? It's a movement now.

You say... "Does anyone remember Jim Jones? He too told a group of people who were down trodding and with no hope that he can lead them to a better place. It didn't end well as more than 918 died in a mass murder-suicide in 1978."...I think that's not a fair comparison because this is a billionaire, worldly businessman, not a wanna be whatever Jones was... :) and I honestly don't think that all of those "down trodden and with no hope" Americans are going to commit mass suicide :)

Also..."Trump is feeding into people's deepest fear and nothing good ever comes of it."...Well those "people" are coming out in droves to vote for him, and those "deepest fears" should be addressed, not suppressed, they are a large part of America.

You said..."He talks more about himself than the said "people" he claims to want to help. He wants to be your savior, but better your daddy. I don't know, I like my freedom."...I've never heard him say he wants to be a "savior" or a "daddy", what he has said is that he wants to make America great again. He thinks he can do it, especially return the jobs which is where the common man is hurting $, give a good education to the citizenry. People believe him and don't think he needs to be a Savior to do this, or a daddy. They think that a man who stands up against the system can do it...

That remains to be seen...

Cato the Younger said...

In order to rally people, governments need enemies. They want us to be afraid, to hate, so we will rally behind them ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Actual terrorists would carry out their acts against Oligarchs, not defenseless civilians. Those who attack citizens are Oligarchs tools.

Puerto Rican food is nasty shit said...

America is strong enough to get through the coming years.

anotherbozo said...

@lilacpr2000:

this is a good read:
http://www.vox.com/2016/3/1/11127424/trump-authoritarianism

includes xenophobes, homophobes, Islamophobes,peeps who fear change generally—Trump has a big tent! Article stresses that once we knock down Trump, there will be others. Authoritarian personality types who flock to him are not going to vanish any time soon.

Unknown said...

@lilacprc2000

I think comparing Donald Trump to Jim Jones is fair because it goes their personalities. Both men are cons. Trump is taking a message that on the surface is true, but covers it up in a package of BS until people aren't going to be able to distinguish what is true and what isn't. "I love my poorly educated", a term he used during a rally and one has to wonder how he really feels about them. Trump did say in his speak that "I and I alone can fix it, and I am your voice". He certainly implying that he is going to save you.

Yesterday, he told a crowd at a rally that he doesn't have to be here with you people that he can live a quiet life. He insulted the crowd, who came to see him and what's sad about it is that they don't realize it. They are just means to an end for him. Those are his words. I live in the New York market and known about him for years. He isn't going to carry New York, New Jersey or Connecticut in the general election. I think it's telling that during the RNC convention when made his acceptance speak that his name took up the entire backdrop on the stage. Be afraid.

Limpbaugh said...

The problem with the presidential race coverage is that they cover up Clinton's crimes. We just had a rigged election and what does the media have people focused on, and what does the government investigate? Russia. Julian Assange said the Russian hack was an earlier separate hack, but thank you, to whomever did it. Don't worry about the emails that were deleted and wiped, that Trump encouraged Russia to find, Clinton supporters. They are only about Chelsea's wedding. remember? Let's talk about Melania Trump's speech instead. I think she might have written it on an unsecured server that could easily be hacked. We sure can't trust her with national security secrets.

The DNC hack showed collusion between the DNC and media, with interview questions being given out in advance and "news" reports being submitted to the DNC for approval, etc. The media will show you the police saying there were no arrests at the convention, but they won't show protesters describing mass detentions without charges. According to the media everyone is happy, and is uniting behind Clinton. Stealing votes and the nomination doesn't matter. We've moved on.

We can't have a president who is friendly with Putin. After all, Russia is allied with moderate Middle East countries who have never attacked us, like Iran and Syria, and our politicians are paid by countries who have, like Israel and Saudi Arabia. Well, Iran did take over our embassy once. They said students did it, but Iran didn't release the hostages for a long time. Oh, that's right... Reagan bribed Ayatollah Khomeini not to release them. Reagan sold Iran weapons because Khomeini agreed to not release the hostages while Carter was president. Everybody else in Iran wanted to release them though. They had a presidential election where 96% of the voters for candidates who wanted to release them. But the corporate media didn't even report it when the man who was elected during the hostage crisis talked about the deal. They didn't even mention it as something the ex president of Iran said. By some strange co-incidence, the same Democrat congressman who covered up that treason as chairman of the Iran/Contra investigation was appointed to co-chair the 9/11 Commission years later while he was retired.

"What if the president’s personal business interests — his and his family’s fortune — depend on the good will of a foreign power?" The IRS is investigating Clinton Foundation pay to play corruption right now. But you don't have to wait for their investigation. There is already a lot of information available. Saudi Arabia is a big donor and Hillary arranges for them and other donors to buy weapons, sometimes from weapons manufacturers owned by Goldman Sachs. Israel donates a lot of money through AIPAC to Hillary and any other candidates who do what they say. They get billions from us. If you want to know more about Saudi Arabia attacking us, read about the 28 redacted pages showing that they financed the 9/11 hijackers. If you want to know more about Israel attacking us, look up the USS Liberty and the Levon Affair. Saudi Arabia and Israel want us to attack Iran and Syria. If you want to find out about Hillary supporting ISIS to fight Syria, you can start with the Pentagon report that Judicial Watch published. If you turn your TV off and research things for yourself, you'll find that Hillary has more in common with Kim Jong Il than just their pants suits.

Anonymous said...

Sheri Maple said...
"he doesn't have to be here with you people that he can live a quiet life"
------

Exactly. He's a billionaire who says he loves his country and wants to use his experience to help change policies that he believes are not in our best interest. He has made his money independent of government and has no need to further enrich himself at the expense of taxpayers. This is a way to feed his ego - that he can solve problems no compromised politician can. Maybe he is full of shit, maybe he actually can.

Hillary wants to be president because that's what Hillary wants. She is pure, desperate ambition. She hates America as it is and wants to form it to fit her preferences. She despises the common man and feels she deserves everything simply because she is superior. She is a pathological liar who feels she can say absolutely anything and get away with it (watch her interview with Chris Wallace from this past Sunday - it is stunning how she flat out denies her own words as they are shown to her on video). She and her husband have amassed over $300 million since 2000, all from "speaking fees" or "advisory positions" funded by major corporations and foreign governments - this while she served as a US Senator and Secretary of State. They also run the Clinton Foundation, which has been endowed to the tune of close to $3 billion from the same sources. This is not some do-gooder charity, but an influence peddling machine on a global scale. Through her foundation, she has facilitated deals such as selling 20% of American uranium reserves to Russia, skimming billions in Haiti earthquake relief money, and approving a free trade deal with Columbia, all the while with her husband collecting massive (multi-million dollar) speaking fees from the same parties. She is so greedy she couldn't stop even as she was the presumptive next in line for the Presidency. She has gotten away with so much, she believes nothing can stop her. Maybe she is right.

You are right to be skeptical of Trump's motives and commitment. But that's all it is - skepticism. He a preening blowhard with a short fuse, but he is also a successful businessman who has been in the public eye all of his life and has never done anything criminal. Trump has never sent other people's sons to die for other people's wars. Trump has never looked straight in the camera and lied about decisions he made that got people killed. Trump has never sold US policy positions to foreign governments to enrich himself.

Hillary has been involved at the highest levels of American government power for the last quarter century. What has she done to benefit anyone other than herself? Why would you let your fear of what Trump might be cause you to vote for someone you know is a self-serving despot?

Omigosh said...

The people of the United States are trying to show the world through Trump, that they're not really people. They have all of us fooled.

Anonymous said...

It's not hard to fool Omigosh.

Anonymous said...

Everywhere you look the media is conspiring to deceive the public. A Muslim shoots up a gay club and we get stories about how he was a homosexuals struggling with his sexuality. All of those stories were lies. We get a dump of DNC e-mails showing a clear conspiracy between the media and the party, but the story they tell us is about Boris Badenov secretly conspiring with Trump. If you’re willing to lie like that, nothing you say is worth even considering.

PilotX said...

The media has absolutely no interest in a landslide election so every narrative has got to be how tight the race will be. Nate Silver and others who now call it for Hillary are interesting right now but there will be some tricks down the road to show it will tighten. Just like a super hero movie, we know who's going to win in the end but we have to make it interesting.
I'm going to watch Distinguished Gentleman again before I go into you for comparing Trump to my man Jefferson!

Anonymous said...

Trump is going to carve up Hillary like the bloated, fetid piece of ham she is during the debates. This is election is not even going to be close.

America will be Made Great Again, and those who tremble before this idea have no chance of stopping it.

Fool said...

Trump 2016

Yisheng said...

Racist Tang supporter = Raving lunatic.

The Oligarchy said...

Paul Ryan gave a speech yesterday where he rejected Donald Trump's trade policies and got a standing ovation from the Koch brothers.

It says a lot about the modern GOP that the hill they choose to die on is that of free trade. Out of all their "principles" that is number one. They'd rather lose to Hillary than endorse Trump's plan to bring American jobs back to America.

Now Field has a new ally on his and Hillary's side, along with his buddies the Koch brothers. You may have had your differences in the past, but ensuring freedom for American companies to move profits and jobs overseas and the need to keep America waging endless wars for Israel can bring even the most bitter rivals together. You've really grown, man.

Lance Cockstrong said...

When I think of Trump I freeze up and can't go to the bathroom. It's like he's always watching me. I can only piss after getting drunk and passing out. I need Hillary to be elected to validate my unmanliness. Maybe then I will be able to stop wearing adult diapers and pee sitting down on the toilet again. I'm With Her.

James Bold said...

"the broadcast media is in a tizzy because they didn't believe Trump could win. Just why they didn't is an important story in its own right. They didn't believe he could win because they have to uphold the lie of both siderism. They have to uphold that lie because, as Chuck Todd admitted, if you bark at them for lying on your show, they won't come back on your show and your ratings could suffer over your lack of access."

Know what there isn't any "both-siderism" about?  The inherent equality of all races and cultures.  The responsibility of White Americans and innocence of everyone else for every ill that exists (which contradicts equality, but consistency has never been a strong point of the Marxist left).  Dare to contradict either of those dogmas and you are silenced in the Lügenpresse and very likely relieved of employment at the very best.

"with each right wing atrocity, there must be an equally evil hippy somewhere causing exactly as much damage."

The Lügenpresse was eager to find that Jared Loughner was a right-wing nutcase, only to find that he was a left-wing nutcase who shot Gabby Giffords just because he was nuts.  The Marxist left, which champions nutcases, refused to institutionalize him.  The "community treatment" model allowed him the freedom to get a gun.  So-called "right-wing bigots" would have prevented his crime.

"You know who has been yelling at you to no avail for forty years that it was a bad idea to fill your party up with bigots and racists? Warning you that there would be consequences to doing so? Getting accused of being traitors and surrender monkeys for our trouble? You guessed it! We on the left. "

That's because you are.  You haven't paid a penny's worth on the dollar of the damage you've done... yet.

"Being right about this for forty years isn't really much fun"

If you were sane you'd admit you haven't been right about anything for forty years, but you're not.

Anonymous said...

Sheri Maple said...

"I think comparing Donald Trump to Jim Jones is fair because it goes their personalities. Both men are cons. Trump is taking a message that on the surface is true, but covers it up in...

...I think it's telling that during the RNC convention when made his acceptance speak that his name took up the entire backdrop on the stage. Be afraid."

10:50 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As for the comparison,you may be right :) and as for his name taking up the entire backdrop, that's par for the course with politicos.

What I think is that at best he'll actually try to bring back jobs, and at worst he'll just be another politician that whether a Dem or a Repub, are really just both the two wings of the one bird ;) and what they say and promise on the campaign trail, and what they actually do once in office are two entirely different things.

Just call me cynical :)