Thursday, December 21, 2017

The art of the ass kiss.

Image result for image of gop with trump tax celebration In light of that grotesque display we witnessed of ass kissing by republicans to Donald trump, I thought that I would share a few tidbits from an article I read today about some of the great ass kissers and sycophants throughout history. That repugnant piece of theater we witnessed yesterday is not unprecedented, the history of the world is littered with this stuff, and it never turns out well.

"You’ve mention some historic sycophants, such as, “Henry Ass-Kissinger.” Who, throughout history, has sucked-up the most?

There are lots of contenders for this title. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, deserves some consideration for gold medalist for sycophancy. He initiated the “Heil Hitler” salute and insisted on the use of “Der Führer” as title. His letters are full of groveling praise—that Hitler transformed his way of viewing the world—and imagined scenes of glorious triumphs against various adversaries in which the Führer stands firm and unshakeable.

There are also instances of sycophancy that are painful to contemplate, as when Johann Sebastian Bach presents his Brandenburg Concertos to a minor scion of the nobility. Bach grovels, happy to recall that Christian Ludwig had noticed his “little pieces,” pleased that he has fulfilled his “humble duty” by offering him these compositions, and hopeful that His Royal Highness would not judge his “imperfections” by his “discriminating and sensitive taste.”

An incident from the Roman Emperor Caligula’s notorious rule might well be winner here. During an illness early in his reign, a commoner vowed to give his own life if the emperor recovered. Once back on his feet, Caligula chose to take him at his word and ordered his execution. Death by sycophancy is hard to top.

Well, let’s address the topic everybody’s thinking about: the sycophants President Trump insists he have surrounding him. Do leaders tend to surround themselves only with flatterers?

Power attracts sycophants. And again, here’s a situation in which flattery imitates some of the behaviors that we cherish in friendship. Any real leader will tell you how daunting the task is, and how much support is necessary for success—especially in any bold undertaking. One needs friends and trusted associates. But not all leaders require flunkeys and yes-men.

Trump is a world-class enabler of sycophants. The exchange he reportedly had with Comey, which we have no reason to doubt, makes that clear. By this time in the Trump administration, “loyalty” had been degraded into absolute conformity of opinion and a willingness to distort reality when cued by the President. We’d seen fantastic acts of bootlicking from his staff. When Trump demanded Comey’s loyalty, he was asking him to kiss the ring. Comey’s response was astute. His offer of “honest loyalty,” which Trump found insufficient, clarified the situation. What Trump required of Comey was neither loyal nor honest.

So, what about solutions? I mean, it’s nice to have your ego stroked now and then, isn’t it? How can we recognize when it crosses over into unhealthy ass-kissing?

This is often difficult. Plutarch has a wonderful essay on topic, “How to tell a friend from a flatterer.” He suggests a few tests. One might vary one’s opinions or contradict oneself: a flatterer will shift as one turns. A flatterer will support ignoble, mean-spirited, or vicious actions. A flatterer will undermine one’s other friends. But ultimately, the best defense against sycophancy is to eradicate the flatterer within—our own self-conceit. Plutarch reminds us that we often flatter ourselves, which makes us less resistant to the flattery of others. We meet sycophancy halfway.
{Source}

Call them what you will, those people will look at clips of what they did in years to come, and hopefully they will be embarrassed.

They have disgraced themselves, their families, and their country.

History will not be kind.

42 comments:

mike from iowa said...

Wingnuts want so to kiss Drumpfuck's ass. All they need to do is pick a spot. Drumpfuck is all ass.

MAGA Mangled Apricot's Generous (nay, bigly) Ass.

Basso e Grasso said...

Lavrenti Beria kissed Stalin's ass, but he still got the axe.

Anonymous said...

Ha! Remember the movie The Twilight Zone when the kid had all kinds of powers so they had to kiss his ass so he wouldn't destroy them? Who knew that was prophetic!

PX

Wesley R said...

Republicans act like Trump is going to beat them up if the say something out of line. I've never seen a bunch of weak people in all my life.
Next year will be something because they are going to try and cut welfare, medicare, medicaid, and go after social security before the democrats take over the chambers again. Their talking point is going to be "we can't afford these programs". But this is their way of paying for some of those tax cuts.

The Trumpening said...

Sounds like Field has a major case of butt hurt over all this winning by President Trump.

Don't worry, Mr. Negro, after we Make America Great Again, things will be better for everyone, even for covetous, resentful Jamaican immigrants.

dinthebeast said...

I used to know an outlaw a long time ago who we called "The Baron" and he had a unique and effective way of sifting out the weak-minded ass-kissers who were actually dangerous to his operation and by extension, his freedom.
It worked like this: He would wait until he had everyone who worked for him in the same room, get their attention, and go off on a loud, insistent rant about something he knew was bullshit. He would take note of who pushed back on it and how, but he would keep on ranting and insisting until somebody gave in and agreed with him, at which point he would knock them the fuck out, in front of everyone there.
He had a tight and functional organization.

-Doug in Oakland

El Chapo said...

Doug sure has some weird fantasies, doesn't he?

dinthebeast said...

You mean I've actually done some living in my life, things that you don't have the balls to do?

-Doug in Oakland

El Chapo said...

Tell us some more pirate stories, Doug. Or maybe about that time you actually touched a woman.

StillaPanther2 said...

Why do the Republicans always bring the JUNIOR senator from SC. To stand behind Rump. That negro was highly exuberant when Rump dropped his speech. He bent over to catch the paper and kissed Rump private parts. At least that what it looked like.. Are there any non-white Coongressman?

Anonymous said...

@ StillaPanther2:

Tim Scott actually worked on this tax bill for over a year. He deserved to be there. Why can't you accept that a black man can have accomplishments?

Commander Zaius said...

Anonymous, you just scared the crap out of me mentioning the Twilight Zone episode with the twerp that could alter reality. Does that mean our existence is just an even more terrifying Twilight Zone episode in another reality?

Flying Junior said...

"Wish it into the cornfield, Anthony!"

Tom Scott is a fucking Tom said...

Why can't you accept that a black man can have accomplishments
------
Let's hope he did something because he was the only negro there. That shit was white as fuck but what do you expect from the fucking white supremacist president. I guess they needed ine token ass Sambo.

Anonymous said...

Accomplishments like being president of the Harvard Law Review, without actually publishing anything in it.

Fake accomplishments, for sub-humans who have no real ones.

mike from iowa said...

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2017-12-22/trump-says-he-will-sign-tax-government-spending-bills-on-friday

Drumpf wants everybody but the wealthy to have a shitty holiday. He signs his taxcuts that benefit the koch bros only today and it kicks in automatic cuts to Medicare and Social Security recipients to help pay for his deficits that entitlements did not cause. Lyin' Paul Ryan claims it is the entitlements that cause these deficits in the taxcuts for the koch bros.

In more good news, Las Vegas said all 58 sniper victims died of gunshot wounds, many to the head and some with several rounds. Nice shooting Willie Horton.

Drumpf just dumped a load of hurt on wingnuts as they now have to steal more from the poors for the wealthy when they had figured to wait until after the midterm elections to cheat the poors again. Drumpf is so anxious to sign the wingnut's doom he pissed his pants twice and savored every moment.

Anonymous said...

Sorry sambo, my ancestors built civilization. However, your ancestors are still living in mud huts,bathing in cow piss,raping and eating babies, and communicating in grunts and clicks. Thus the term WHITE SUPREMACY. Call back in 10,000 yrs. When you learn to make fire.

mike from iowa said...

https://www.politico.com/story/2008/08/exclusive-obamas-lost-law-review-article-012705

AnyfuckingstoopidwingnutMoose lied again. Obama wrote one review which is more than AnyMoose ever accomplished.

There is no quota on how much written stuff has to be published. Obama, unlike the fucking liar in the WH, saves his words for when they actually mean something. Drumpfuck lies just to be lying.

mike from iowa said...

Grunts and clicks make up the language of Bushmen. They are hunter/gatherers and don't raise cows, don't bathe in cow piss and are survivors in some of the harshest climes in the world. Wingnuts can't survive without Dems to support their every need.

anotherbozo said...

Anonymous @ 7:17 mentioned the Twilight Zone spoiled monster ass-kissing episode. YouTube has it, of course. Here are highlghts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkJcFGvNgcY

Bob the builder said...

Sorry sambo, my ancestors built civilization
----------
And what has your sorry ass done? Yup, nada, zilch, luv. Now take your ass back to your mom's trailer and show sister/cousin some loving.

mike from iowa said...

I had Anthony and the lady that ran over his bike driving off into the sunset to a Motel 6 where she teaches him the facts of life.

Some big city people might be surprised what can be found in cornfields. I'm thinking jet engine turbine from United Flight 232 that crash/landed at Sioux Gateway Airport in Soo City around 28 years ago. Had the runway not been lined with cornfields many more passengers prolly would have perished.

What a spectacular fireball that plane made when it descended without hydraulics to control it.

Sterling Rod said...

That Twilight Zone episode was one of the creepiest and nightmarish things ever made. The power of God given to a completely amoral and narcissistic being. Kind of like when Obama was in office.

Anonymous said...

Chicago December 2017 to Date
Shot & Killed: 29
Shot & Wounded: 122
Total Shot: 151
Total Homicides: 30

mike from iowa said...

If you lined up all shell casings from Chicago you would have way more meters of them than meters of Drumpfuck the dumbfuck's wall having been built.

Lying Ryan admits know one knows if taxcuts fr the koch bros will stimulate any economic growth, let alone enough to pay for themselves. Another stoopid fucking wingnut accidently tells the truth.

Anonymous said...

Chicago December 2017 to Date
Shot & Killed: 29
Shot & Wounded: 122
Total Shot: 151
Total Homicides: 30


Fake news!

Anonymous said...

Kind of like when Obama was in office.
---------------------
Kinda missed the point of the comparison. But hey nice try.

Anonymous said...

Sutherland Springs, TX
4% of the entire town murdered including pregnant women and babies.

StillaPanther2 said...

I will respond to an anonymous in regards to my comment on sen scottof sc. I say he is a token for the Republican Party. Each time their illustrious leader comes out when senators are present, they PLACE Scott in the photo view to take away the fact that the Republicans are TODAY, the party of the white race. Here you have a junior, fresh senator standing with the old oligarchs. Now as far as his work on a bill, ask yours elf, WOULD YOU WANT YOUR SENATOR TO WORK ON A BILL THAT DID NOT INCLUDE YOU? The vast majority of his contingent does not make 75,000 dollars. He reps a very, very poor part of SC. Their median income is in the low 30,000. He was not elected initially by the people, he was assigned that job by another Republican minority. If you don’t believe that we have tokens in all phases of American need to present as a fair and equal society, nothing I say about anybody will satisfy you. To end, I know tokens, they tend to be dark brothers that have taken a lot of abuse from their o wn people in growing up. Now they get a white women and a TITLE, they are in heaven on earth. What do the other white junior think of Scott, other than a token.

PilotX said...

And Scott should not even be in the senate. There were some shenanigans going on on the Democratic side. His opponent was a Black woman who wasn't even a state elected official. If the Dems were serious they would have run a state elected white male or at least a mayor. While the voters of SC would have hated voting for a Dem they sure as hell would have done so if his opponent was a nigger. Let's just be honest. The Dems could have/should have had that seat for 6 years.
And yes Brotha Panther it was all about optics, other than Tiny Tim it was a sea of white but what else do you expect from the GOP?

Yīshēng said...

Two healthcare issues near and dear to my professional heart, Health Disparties and medical care for people living with HIV:

http://www.thebodypro.com/content/80406/disparities-in-health-outcomes-barriers-to-care-ar.html?ap=105&hearstlocalnews-chron

Yīshēng said...

“Black men wait 32% longer to cross the street than white men, according to a study from Portland, Oregon. Males in their 20s, identically dressed, had very distinct experiences: While the white men waited only 7.4 seconds to cross, Black men waited an average of 9.79 seconds for a driver to yield after signaling their intention to cross.”

Y’all be careful “crossing the street while Black/Brown”.

Anonymous said...

Dat skreet crossin beez racee an sheet yo

Wizshēng said...

"While the white men waited only 7.4 seconds to cross, Black men waited an average of 9.79 seconds for a driver to yield after signaling their intention to cross.”

Smarter people assess situations more quickly.

The Art of the Deal said...

To a truly dispassionate observer of political strategy and history, the rise of Donald Trump would be the event of a lifetime. His emergence and later success would evoke interest, not animosity. His presidency was a Black Swan event that any non-partisan would be immensely motivated to deconstruct.

How and why did this blustering, uncouth, under funded, politically inexperienced outsider succeed when the odds appeared to be so stacked against him? I'm not qualified to say, but I do think he has one quality that is critical to understanding his impact and it is that Donald Trump is the only person I know in America that actually possesses fuck you money.

You've probably heard people talk about fuck you money. Maybe you've talked about it yourself -- the idea of having enough wealth that you don't have to take any shit from anyone ever again. It's an attractive proposition, to say the least.

But for Americans not named Donald Trump, fuck you money is a myth. There isn't one single high profile wealthy person that can't be made to bow to the right kind of pressure. We've seen this demonstrated countless times as the social justice warriors of the left target, isolate, and humiliate powerful people into giving public apologies for the most trivial offenses.

Why, you might ask yourself, don't these people just stand up for themselves? They've got plenty of money. They should be untouchable.

The reason is that fuck you money isn't just about the money. It's about how one values money.

Wealthy people are usually materialistic, but they're not primarily interested in the utility of material things. What they're interested in is the status attached to the things that they buy.

It's true that money doesn't buy happiness, but having a good deal of it helps. The problem is that diminishing returns apply to the amount of satisfaction it can purchase. Does a $500,000 car bring five times the happiness of a $100,000 car? Its pretty clear that it does not. At a certain point, the primary difference between luxury goods is the status that they confer upon their respective owners.

What wealthy people value primarily is status. And that is why they do not truly have fuck you money--because they care what people think and this is not something that money can buy.

Which brings us back to Donald Trump. President Trump has fuck you money because he defines success differently than do other people at his level of wealth. He cannot be shamed into or out of a particular action or position because he simply does not care how the chattering class views him. This, alone, makes him a fascinating character and one deserving of study. I also believe it's what makes Donald Trump such a uniquely effective politician.

It's this quality that has Trump's opponents spinning like tops. They've gone back to the same playbook for so many years that they don't know how to adapt to someone who is immune to their historically most potent attacks. Trump has ripped back the curtain on the wizards of public shaming and revealed them to be powerless crybabies.

But he's the only man who could do it. He had both the money and the attitude necessary to the task. His supporters grasped the importance of this unique advantage early.

Anonymous said...

Smarter people assess situations more quickly.
--------------
Which means a dumb ass like anon at 12:10am would stand at the corner all day.

Miklo said...

"Blek" people:
Love german cars(rayciss and cultural appropriation)
Love motorcycles(more cultural appropriation, Japanese or Italian)
Lubs da white womenz but still hate yt?. Maybe because blek nickels never invented sheeeeeeeeiiiiiiittttt an dey jealous

Anonymous said...

"Blek" people:
Love german cars(rayciss and cultural appropriation)
Love motorcycles(more cultural appropriation, Japanese or Italian)
Lubs da white womenz but still hate yt?. Maybe because blek nickels never invented sheeeeeeeeiiiiiiittttt an dey jealous
------------
I don't "love" German cars. Some are cool but I prefer American made put together by union siestas and brotha.
Not all bikes are Italian or Japanese.
I don't date white girls but they DO love us.
What have YOU invented Miklo? Anything? Jeez you are a just another really dumb trailer troll. Master race my ass.

Anonymous said...

I guess big dummy doesn't know many of those "German" cars are made in the good old U S of A by negro hands. Trailer trolls are kinda dumb. Happy Holidays (oops, almost forgot there is a war on. Christmas).

Anonymous said...

Master race knows its sistas not siestas .....Ballou High graduate no doubt.

dinthebeast said...

"Love motorcycles(more cultural appropriation, Japanese or Italian)"

Tell that to the East Bay Dragons. They ride Harleys, which I think are heavy and slow, but definitely not Japanese or Italian.
They were founded in 1959, and still have the same clubhouse today.

-Doug in Oakland

Ballou grad said...

Master race knows its sistas not siestas .....Ballou High graduate no doubt.
-----------------
Trailer parkers don't graduate from high school so I know you're impressed.