Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash
Featuring the Fabulous Dadbots: Dave S., Mark M., Mark O., Dennis C., John K., Michael D., and Geoff Carter
Hey bots,
I’m thinking we all must be kicking back in a major way this summer. Between the weather, the Brewers, and retirement, things seem good—if we ignore the news and Trump’s rapidly accelerating mental decline—and he does seem to be going down fast. He was an international embarrassment at the NATO summit, talking about launching a missile attack on “The Islamic Republic of Japan”, mistakenly referring to President Zelensky as President Putin, and referring to Tik Tok as Tic Tac (of course, he’s hungry).
Along with the vast exodus of his brain cells sliding down his spine and landing somewhere in the continental landmass of his giant ass, his vanity projects (he’s done little else) seem to be crumbling around him. The ballroom is stalled in court. The Reflecting Pool is a mess (made worse by his insane accusations of sabotage). His refusal to remove the scaffolding covering the removal of his name on The Kennedy Center seems petulant and immature. His “America’s State Fair” and the bust that was supposed to be the 250th birthday of our country is laughable.
We may be too close to the event of his decline to see it clearly, but he—and his presidency—is a mess. What’s really scary is that he has the nuke codes somewhere nearby, and—with the help of his Republican enablers (including the zombie Mitch McConnell), he may very well be able to steal the 2028 election. It’s amazing that his dementia is now the new normal.
If you didn’t get a chance to see the dedication of Obama’s Presidential Center, check it out. True normality is reassuring and nice.
G
Another Trump failure is reflected in today’s decision by a federal judge that his IRS suit & settlement are simply an exercise in self dealing. And she’s not going to stand for it! To the point that she’s seeking discipline from the various state bar associations, for the legal minions who filed this junk. Of course, she is an “Obama judge”. Just wait until Sam ‘n Clarence tear into her!
A highlight for this week (7/12-16) is that Todd Blanche, Trump’s personal lawyer and Epstein cover-upper extraordinaire, faces Senate hearings, as he seeks confirmation for AG. (He is currently “acting” AG). If the Dems are smart, they’ll turn this into a real EpsteinFest. Why DID you visit Gilane Maxwell, convicted trafficker of young women? And why DID you transfer her to Club Fed? Inquiring minds want to know. With Lindsey having passed on to the Great Beyond, and Mitch stuck in suspended animation, the remaining Repubs are really going to have to stick together. No way will Lisa Murkowski support Blanche. And what about the lame duck troika: Cornyn, Tillis, Cassidy? They really don’t owe Trump anything. And then there’s Susan Collins. She’s more in the fish bowl than ever, notwithstanding the demise of Graham Platner.
Reading Trump’s quotes and social media blasts is such a cringeworthy experience. What the actual fuck? What a goddam embarrassment.
And the failure of the hand-me-down Air Force One is just the icing on the cake.
-MM
Who are those that begin as tragedy and end as farce? I believe it originally referred to Napoleonic. I think Trump may be working in reverse, beginning as a joke or farce and ending in tragedy and disaster.
MarkO
Submitted for your review:
I heard nothing of these gaffes our local reporter Geoff informs. Nothing in all (3) of my unabashedly left leaning news sources, plus sundry others that I’m exposed to. Thanks, Geoff. Why not? Well, it’s Journalism 101. Basic ethics. Every president misspeaks or nods off at a dinner, especially if fighting off jet lag/time change. It’s not news. Basic professionalism.
Whereas our finest minds—The Supremes—display no such professionalism. On contraire, they are lap dogs, just like 90% of the repubs in congress. Voting rights? Gone. Presidential Immunity to lie, cheat on taxes (and gobs more—e.g. real estate transactions/valuations), grope, rape, intimidate vote counters, foment insurrections (which kills public servants—aka Jan. 6 2021)… Sure, why not? (Many others I’m not going to search for.)
Ditto for the quack medical group assembled.
Journalism: The last bastion of ethics, not to mention free speech. Who woulda thunk it?
-D
More declination:
The big beautiful toll lasted less than 24 hours. We all assumed bullshit from the git-go. Heard him trump-splaining yesterday. In lieu of the toll, ALL the gulf states (bullshit)…and many, many more (bullshit) agreed (bullshit) to invest millions (bullshit) over here (bullshit) which will create millions of jobs (bullshit). He just spoke to all of them (bullshit). Our Jack Spear replacement at the NPR newsdeck: anchor Ryland Barton, (same staid monotone), closed out the blurb noting, “though he offered no specifics”. Dang, thought for sure we were going to hear which industries, which states, where exactly in Georgia Qatar was going to manufacture the new line of Air Force Zeroes.
Bombastic never fit so well.
-DS
Woo hoo.The Trump presidency has truly turned into a reality show without a shred of normalcy or decency to it. Every day the news on the telly and celly is downright bizarre. CNN this afternoon has EXCLUSIVE news that “officials at the White House turn over their phones as Wiles, Patel lead probe”. Trump is all pissed about the security leak that his Qatari gifted plane has cushions bugs or spy bugs or an ogre on the left wing. I think I saw this episode on Netflix or The Twilight Zone last night!
Of course, he still thinks it’s a good idea to search cars randomly in an effort to corral those no good immigrants. What could go wrong! Seems we’ve seen that episode in Texas, Maine and Minneapolis.
His refusal to sign the affordable housing bill in a hissy fit over the SAVE act is another example of cartoon Diaper Donnie not having any clue or interest in good governance. It’s truly become a reality sitcom that’s hard to watch without a stiff drink or two.
Whew. Thanks for indulging me in my rant and diatribe, bots.
John
Yeah, yeah, I realize I’m late to the party on this, but since you-alls’ awesome rants and bullshit calling, Trump delivered a “very important” prime time speech on a crucial issue facing the American public–Yes, that’s right. election fraud! No, not the war in Iran, not inflation, not even the Epstein files, but election fraud.
AS usual, the Donald did not present even one single solitary shred of evidence to back up the rather extreme accusations that he was throwing out there. Ah. but his cunning, reptilian mind had long ago grasped how things like “evidence” and “facts” do not really matter to his supporters.
My fear is that if enough people buy into his bullshit, our electoral process could be seriously undermined. Crazy shit like the January 6 insurrection might become the norm rather than the freakish exception. You know, kind of like school shootings are now.
Like Geoff said, maybe Trump has snapped his radish, lost his marbles, gone off the deep end. IDK, I can’t figure out any rational reason for Trump to keep hammering away on the voter fraud issue. At this point, what’s his motivation?
DC
Pretty sure his motivation is preventative maintenance. If the winds of November come early, he loathes the idea of the church bell chiming 29,000 times for the wreck of the Don.
–DS
What is Trump’s motivation? It does seem irrational. Only true Trump cultists can possibly believe his shit about 2020, and they are a relatively small minority. My thinking on this has changed. For years, I believed his stolen election conspiracy was a cynical ploy to motivate his base. But now I’ve come around to the Occam’s Razor explanation that he actually believes his story. His twisted narcissistic mind can’t accept personal failure, so he has to imagine he was cheated. After all, wouldn’t everyone steal the election if they had the chance? I feel that Trump believes everyone is as ruthless and unprincipled as himself.
Finally, nobody in his political and media circle will tell him that he’s delusional about the 2020 election. Only the crooked media and Dumbocrats believe otherwise, and they’re all just out to get him.
And he’s probably got some paranoid dementia setting in.
Of course, this is just my speculation. I have no proof of his motivations.
MarkO
I think you’re right on the money, here, Mark. How else could he think that he’s such a beloved leader that his name should be displayed everywhere and that he alone has the power to sidestep the Constitution and rule as if he’s a god–unless he thinks he’s God.
It’s the madness of power. Like Caligula or King George, he’s the man who thinks he’s God, but who in reality is only the jester.
G
Two things can be true at the same time. (1) It’s a desperate rearguard action to save the Republicans in the midterms (i.e., the good ship Don going down in Gitchee Gumee when the witch of November comes stealing); and (2) Grandpa Don’s ego simply cannot process that 2020 loss.
The GOP gyrations to pass the SAVE Act (Safeguard American Voter Eligibility) are entertaining. It is a policy bill, not a budget bill, and as such, cannot be rammed through the Senate via the “reconciliation” process. Thus, it must run the gauntlet of the 60-vote filibuster. This, it cannot do. All Democratic Senators (except maybe that joker Fetterman) oppose it, as do a few Republicans. So, the votes simply are not there.
Trump has pressured Mitch McConnell’s replacement John Thune to blow up the filibuster (this nuclear option can be exercised at any time, via a simple majority vote), but Thune is loath to do so, as he realizes that the Republicans will be in the minority at some future point, and the filibuster will at that point be their best friend (to keep future President AOC from seizing the means of production and mandating transgender surgeries). So, no dice there. Trump urges filibuster blow up, but still Thune persists.
So, the latest plan is to take a few parts of the SAVE Act, turn them into federal grants to states, and strap them to a bill to fund our military heroes in their war with Iran, and jam it through via reconciliation. This actually is NOT super popular among Republicans, because it only enacts the least controversial aspects of SAVE (proof of citizenship to register to vote, and photo id at the polling place). It doesn’t go all the way, which would be to force states to share their voter data with the feds, affirmatively purge voter rolls per Don’s direction, establish criminal penalties for election officials who allow a noncitizen to vote, even accidentally, plus some miscellaneous anti-trans measure. Republicans love that stuff!
The thing about the proof of citizenship measure, and photo id, is that these are (in my view) NOT that big of a deal. Wisconsin’s had photo id for years, and Democrats keep getting elected. The damage that these measures do — and new restrictions on mail in voting–will hurt Republican voters just as much as Democrats. Maybe even more
-MM
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