The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

[Carpet_pissr]

My ass drew an overflow crowd in the toilet last night.
What does that say?

Either that you don't get enough regular fiber in your diet, that you overate recently, or that you don't drink enough water (or all three I guess).

[Unagi]

Just too much shit for the container...

[tgb]

My ass drew an overflow crowd in the toilet last night.
What does that say?

Today is National Colonoscopy Day?

[Freyland]

This whole campaign has gone to the shitter just fine, no visual imagery necessary thankyouverymuch.

[hepcat]

This whole campaign has gone to the shitter just fine, no visual imagery necessary thankyouverymuch

You got the PM (BM?) too, huh?

[Isgrimnur]

Nothing like taking a stand:

ow that it has become crystal clear Donald Trump will not quit — that he has “unshackled” himself and plans to “limp” across the finish line — some Republicans who called on him to drop out over the weekend are reversing themselves.

The senior senator from Nebraska tweeted this on Saturday:

The comments made by Mr. Trump were disgusting and totally unacceptable under any circumstance.

It would be wise for him to step aside and allow Mike Pence to serve as our party's nominee

But yesterday during a radio interview, she announced that she will vote for Trump after all. "He decided he would not step aside. I respect his decision," Deb Fischer told the Lincoln radio affiliate KLIN. "I support the Republican ticket, and it's a Trump-Pence ticket.... To me, it’s not a tough choice.”

Darryl Glenn, the Republican nominee against Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado, said Saturday that Trump must step aside. “America cannot have a man who speaks this way about women be the face of our country to the Free World,” he said in a statement.

But facing backlash from Trump supporters, Glenn — who already has no realistic path to victory — backtracked. He says watching the debate Sunday night changed his mind. “Donald Trump did what he absolutely had to do,” Glenn said on Fox News. “I think he reset this campaign.”

It has truly been a surreal cycle to watch. Many Republican elected officials are personally outraged and ashamed by something their party’s nominee says or does. So they distance themselves. But as soon as they face a whiff of blowback from some in the party, they cave and fall back in line. Then they offer up excuses and rationalizations, twisting themselves into pretzels to justify voting for a guy who some will tell you privately is a danger to the Republic. It’s happened over and over again now, and it validates what Trump himself said during the primaries: Many politicians are indeed craven and interested mainly in maintaining power for themselves, principles be damned.

[tru1cy]

If he loses (God willing) he's already claiming the election is rigged and these folks are eating it up. The more I watch him and his supporters the more depressed I become about the state of our country. I just don't understand this mentality. As shitty as this country has been to African-Americans at times I've never wanted to see the GOP or any right wing person come to harm.


I just don't understand

[Isgrimnur]

People suck. American exceptionalism is a myth. The heights of human society are based on the efforts of those that strive to pull humanity out of the muck. And there will always be people that want nothing more than to tear it all down.

[malchior]

Or just make sure they get their piece of the pie at all costs.

[Isgrimnur]

Or just make sure they get their piece of the pie at all costs.

And make sure no one else gets any.

[gameoverman]

If he loses (God willing) he's already claiming the election is rigged and these folks are eating it up. The more I watch him and his supporters the more depressed I become about the state of our country. I just don't understand this mentality. As shitty as this country has been to African-Americans at times I've never wanted to see the GOP or any right wing person come to harm.


I just don't understand

I've been thinking about how sometimes when a person is ill, such as with the flu, you can have a really bad night right before you start to get better. I wonder if that's what is happening to the country. Things are changing. Cultural shifts are occurring, previously unheard voices are being heard, demographics are changing. Some are fighting against change, the way germs fight your immune system. This Trump thing might be the equivalent of vomiting up everything one last time before it(the country) gets better.

[hepcat]

When a majority that has historically held most of the power starts to feel like they are losing some of that power to those who've they've been falsely taught are "inferiors", it can result in ego driven outbursts of anger.

...or it just may be that a bunch of people who watch too much reality tv are easily duped.

[malchior]

I wish that was the case. All the evidence is against it though for the short-term. Meaning 5-10 years. At least. And people aren't factoring in the disasters looming in some of the states - especially NJ and Illinois. Both are fiscal ticking time bombs that'll put pressure on the country. Think the Detroit bankruptcy was bad. Wait for those two to finally explode.

[YellowKing]

And my favorite person in the world, Pat McCrory, reiterated his support for Trump during the second gubernatorial debate. Not that it surprises me at all, but it just goes to show what a piece of crap he is.

[Xmann]

Nothing like taking a stand:

ow that it has become crystal clear Donald Trump will not quit — that he has “unshackled” himself and plans to “limp” across the finish line — some Republicans who called on him to drop out over the weekend are reversing themselves.

The senior senator from Nebraska tweeted this on Saturday:

The comments made by Mr. Trump were disgusting and totally unacceptable under any circumstance.

It would be wise for him to step aside and allow Mike Pence to serve as our party's nominee

But yesterday during a radio interview, she announced that she will vote for Trump after all. "He decided he would not step aside. I respect his decision," Deb Fischer told the Lincoln radio affiliate KLIN. "I support the Republican ticket, and it's a Trump-Pence ticket.... To me, it’s not a tough choice.”

Darryl Glenn, the Republican nominee against Sen. Michael Bennet in Colorado, said Saturday that Trump must step aside. “America cannot have a man who speaks this way about women be the face of our country to the Free World,” he said in a statement.

But facing backlash from Trump supporters, Glenn — who already has no realistic path to victory — backtracked. He says watching the debate Sunday night changed his mind. “Donald Trump did what he absolutely had to do,” Glenn said on Fox News. “I think he reset this campaign.”

It has truly been a surreal cycle to watch. Many Republican elected officials are personally outraged and ashamed by something their party’s nominee says or does. So they distance themselves. But as soon as they face a whiff of blowback from some in the party, they cave and fall back in line. Then they offer up excuses and rationalizations, twisting themselves into pretzels to justify voting for a guy who some will tell you privately is a danger to the Republic. It’s happened over and over again now, and it validates what Trump himself said during the primaries: Many politicians are indeed craven and interested mainly in maintaining power for themselves, principles be damned.

+1

I'm really running out of patience during this election and trying to keep an open mind. I just can't tolerate much more. When I think we've hit an all time low, something else comes along.

But I'm really concerned about our future and what my son will face in generations to come. What we accept as the norm now a days is truly shocking to me.

If he loses (God willing) he's already claiming the election is rigged and these folks are eating it up. The more I watch him and his supporters the more depressed I become about the state of our country. I just don't understand this mentality. As shitty as this country has been to African-Americans at times I've never wanted to see the GOP or any right wing person come to harm.


I just don't understand

[Isgrimnur]

Vote Trump or else!

Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a flamboyant veteran lawmaker known for his fiery rhetoric, told Reuters in an interview that Trump was the only person able to de-escalate dangerous tensions between Moscow and Washington.

By contrast, Trump's Democratic rival Hillary Clinton could spark World War Three, said Zhirinovsky, who received a top state award from Putin after his pro-Kremlin Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) came third in Russia's parliamentary election last month.

Many Russians regard Zhirinovsky as a clownish figure who makes outspoken statements to grab attention but he is also widely viewed as a faithful servant of Kremlin policy, sometimes used to float radical opinions to test public reaction.

"Relations between Russia and the United States can't get any worse. The only way they can get worse is if a war starts," said Zhirinovsky, speaking in his huge office on the 10th floor of Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament.

"Americans voting for a president on Nov. 8 must realize that they are voting for peace on Planet Earth if they vote for Trump. But if they vote for Hillary it's war. It will be a short movie. There will be Hiroshimas and Nagasakis everywhere."

[Enough]

Oh wow, maybe Rip was right and the Russians are terrified of Hillary being president.

[RunningMn9]

I really am dismayed by this election. In past years, I've always felt that the choice that I was making was the superior choice (Bush I, Dole, Bush II, Bush II, Obama, Obama), but I never felt like things would *that* much different if my choice had lost. I survived two terms of Bill Clinton (having voted for Bush and Dole). I observed all the bleating that "liberals" did during the reign of Bush II and noted that they too somehow survived. And as we approach the end of the reign of Obama, and after 8 years of "conservatives" bitching and moaning about the end of civilization - they have all somehow survived as well.

Should HRC win, I have no doubt that in 4/8 years, conservatives will have survived (again). With none of their worst fears realized.

I just can't believe that someone as grossly incompetent and willfully ignorant as Trump has gotten this far.

[Grifman]

I really am dismayed by this election. In past years, I've always felt that the choice that I was making was the superior choice (Bush I, Dole, Bush II, Bush II, Obama, Obama), but I never felt like things would *that* much different if my choice had lost. I survived two terms of Bill Clinton (having voted for Bush and Dole). I observed all the bleating that "liberals" did during the reign of Bush II and noted that they too somehow survived. And as we approach the end of the reign of Obama, and after 8 years of "conservatives" bitching and moaning about the end of civilization - they have all somehow survived as well.

Should HRC win, I have no doubt that in 4/8 years, conservatives will have survived (again). With none of their worst fears realized.

I just can't believe that someone as grossly incompetent and willfully ignorant as Trump has gotten this far.

Brother, I just want to add +1 to every one of your posts.

To follow on your point about surviving the victory of the opposite side, how can the election of another liberal be the end of the world? Is that's true, then it's going to end sooner or later. It's not like the US will never elect another liberal to be president, and Hillary probably won't be the worst of the lot. The idea that the election of this liberal or that conservative (excepting Trump) means "the end" is just ludicrous.

[RunningMn9]

The idea that the election of this liberal or that conservative (excepting Trump) means "the end" is just ludicrous.

And yet there are people that genuinely believe it. That for some reason HRC is actively trying to destroy America.

To be clear, I don't believe that Trump is actively trying to destroy America. I believe that he's so completely and utterly incompetent that the damage done could be unintentionally catastrophic.

[Ralph-Wiggum]

Stay classy, Trump!:

On an April 11, 2005, airing of “The Howard Stern Show,” Donald Trump bragged about some of the special perks he enjoyed while he was owner of the Miss USA pageant. They came not in a locker room but a dressing room.

“I’ll go backstage before a show, and everyone’s getting dressed and ready and everything else,” he said. “And you know, no men are anywhere. And I’m allowed to go in because I’m the owner of the pageant. And therefore I’m inspecting it.”

Stern replied, “You’re like a doctor.”

Trump responded: “Is everyone okay? You know they’re standing there with no clothes. And you see these incredible-looking women. And so I sort of get away with things like that.”

Tasha Dixon, Miss Arizona in 2001, told the TV station that Trump just came “waltzing in” while contestants were nude or half-nude as they changed into bikinis.

Separately, BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday that four women in the 1997 Miss Teen USA beauty pageant said Trump walked into their dressing room while they were changing. Some were as young as 15, BuzzFeed reported.

Three spoke anonymously, and one allowed her name to be used. “I remember putting on my dress really quick because I was like, ‘Oh my god, there’s a man in here,'” Mariah Billado, a former Miss Vermont Teen USA, told BuzzFeed.

[stessier]

To be clear, I don't believe that Trump is actively trying to destroy America.

I have always believed that of every candidate - they truly wish the best for America and from their viewpoint, they are trying to help. Trump is the one exception for me. I just don't think he cares about anything but himself.

[Defiant]

I believe that he's so completely and utterly incompetent that the damage done could be unintentionally catastrophic.

Absolutely. I think his comments on NATO, that we might not defend them, would be very damaging if he's elected. Ambiguity over which countries will come to the aid of other countries is the kind of stuff that's started World Wars.

[Skinypupy]

Trump is the one exception for me. I just don't think he cares about anything but himself.

Agreed. Trump couldn't care one way or the other about this county...except when it has an effect on him personally. How he's roped so many others into thinking the same way is beyond my understanding.

[Defiant]

Trump is the one exception for me. I just don't think he cares about anything but himself.

Agreed, and he'll lash out at anything he can if he doesn't get his way. Right now, that's the GOP.

[RunningMn9]

I have always believed that of every candidate - they truly wish the best for America and from their viewpoint, they are trying to help. Trump is the one exception for me. I just don't think he cares about anything but himself.

To be fair - I believe that *every* candidate truly wishes the best for themselves. It's just that for most of them, doing what it pretty much in America's best interest also happens to be what is best for themselves.

I don't think that HRC is sitting around dreaming about what is best for America. I think she's dreaming about what the best way is for her to become President, and hopefully that includes good things for America.

I don't think Trump has any idea what he's doing. He just says insane things that are clearly harmful to this country, without any regard for it, because when he says them, rubes at rallies cheer him on.

And being cheered on is truly the only thing he cares about.

[stessier]

Wow - more jaded than me!

I like to think that candidates have thought about the America they would like to see and then filter that through what they think is actually possible. Change takes time and it doesn't always come in one big step. I think we see their truest selves during a second presidential term - there is nothing left to run for, so might as well go for broke.

So while I think Clinton is trying to get elected, I think she is doing so with plans she believes will move us in the right direction while not messing up her chances at a second term.

[Archinerd]

I really am dismayed by this election. In past years, I've always felt that the choice that I was making was the superior choice (Bush I, Dole, Bush II, Bush II, Obama, Obama), but I never felt like things would *that* much different if my choice had lost. I survived two terms of Bill Clinton (having voted for Bush and Dole). I observed all the bleating that "liberals" did during the reign of Bush II and noted that they too somehow survived. And as we approach the end of the reign of Obama, and after 8 years of "conservatives" bitching and moaning about the end of civilization - they have all somehow survived as well.

Should HRC win, I have no doubt that in 4/8 years, conservatives will have survived (again). With none of their worst fears realized.

I just can't believe that someone as grossly incompetent and willfully ignorant as Trump has gotten this far.

Yep. It's like a house.

In the past elections, if your guy didn't win you knew the house would still be there at the end of it, no matter how bad his taste in decorating or how ugly of an addition he built off the back.

With Trump, you're not sure there's going to be anything more than a pile of ashes surrounded by a stupid fence when he's done.

[RunningMn9]

So while I think Clinton is trying to get elected, I think she is doing so with plans she believes will move us in the right direction while not messing up her chances at a second term.

I think that right now, she will do and say anything that she thinks will help get her elected. Once elected, she will do or say anything that she thinks will help her get re-elected.

This is not different than any other politician. The GOP has long been sold as the Party of Principle, and we are seeing right now how much that line of bullshit was worth. None of these people have principles (the GOP), they are just terrified of their constituency right now.

Do I think Harry Reid is any better than that? Of course not.

But I at least seem to understand that sausage making is a dirty business, and I'm normally presented with a set of individuals who might be talking about different sausage flavors, but are still people that get that sausage needs to be made. If either is elected, some sausage I like will get made, some sausage that I don't like will get made. I can live with that.

The GOP is asking me to hire someone that doesn't know what sausage is, and who is running around the sausage factory with bombs strapped to his chest. It's insane.

[Unagi]

I have always believed that of every candidate - they truly wish the best for America and from their viewpoint, they are trying to help. Trump is the one exception for me. I just don't think he cares about anything but himself.

To be fair - I believe that *every* candidate truly wishes the best for themselves. It's just that for most of them, doing what it pretty much in America's best interest also happens to be what is best for themselves.

I don't think that HRC is sitting around dreaming about what is best for America. I think she's dreaming about what the best way is for her to become President, and hopefully that includes good things for America.

I don't think Trump has any idea what he's doing. He just says insane things that are clearly harmful to this country, without any regard for it, because when he says them, rubes at rallies cheer him on.

And being cheered on is truly the only thing he cares about.

Regard for the country.
That is ultimately the final bar for a president.

[GreenGoo]

I observed all the bleating that "liberals" did during the reign of Bush II and noted that they too somehow survived.

Except for the ones that didn't make it back from their government funded middle east vacation, of course.

Surely you're not suggesting that "individual survival" is the bar that should be used to determine a government's success/failure.

[RunningMn9]

Surely I'm not. When I say that they survived, my point is America is still here. And by and large it is the same America that was here.

And by that I mean that for the *vast* majority of people in this country, virtually nothing changed in their lives because there was a conservative or a liberal in the White House.

9/11 would have happened even if Gore was President. And our response would still have launched us into at least one war that some soldiers wouldn't have survived. The economy still would have crashed under Gore. The recovery still would have been slow under McCain.

Most of the time, the impact of the personal ideology of the President is around the margins.

To say it a different way, I would be comfortable (for lack of a better word) with GWB, Gore, Obama, McCain or Romney in office for any of these events. Not because one might be liberal and another might be conservative - but because at a minimum, these people took the job and their oath seriously, and because they understood the gravity of the Office that they sought/obtained.

I have the same level of comfort with Clinton. To do everything right? No. To operate her foreign policy like our own resident expert Rip? Holy shit, I hope not.

But she fits the minimum criteria of taking the job and oath she will take seriously. She has seen first hand the gravity of the Office.

That is not something I could say about Trump. I would be terrified to have him in the White House on the most uneventful of days, let alone during a substantial crisis.

[Max Peck]

Surely you understand that this had to be said.

[geezer]

Surely I'm not. When I say that they survived, my point is America is still here. And by and large it is the same America that was here.

And by that I mean that for the *vast* majority of people in this country, virtually nothing changed in their lives because there was a conservative or a liberal in the White House.

9/11 would have happened even if Gore was President. And our response would still have launched us into at least one war that some soldiers wouldn't have survived. The economy still would have crashed under Gore. The recovery still would have been slow under McCain.

Most of the time, the impact of the personal ideology of the President is around the margins.

To say it a different way, I would be comfortable (for lack of a better word) with GWB, Gore, Obama, McCain or Romney in office for any of these events. Not because one might be liberal and another might be conservative - but because at a minimum, these people took the job and their oath seriously, and because they understood the gravity of the Office that they sought/obtained.

I have the same level of comfort with Clinton. To do everything right? No. To operate her foreign policy like our own resident expert Rip? Holy shit, I hope not.

But she fits the minimum criteria of taking the job and oath she will take seriously. She has seen first hand the gravity of the Office.

That is not something I could say about Trump. I would be terrified to have him in the White House on the most uneventful of days, let alone during a substantial crisis.

I don't disagree with your general point, but unless we believe Gore would have launched a war against Iraq in response to 9/11, I think the W administration launched this country (and the world) down a very dangerous path that could have been entirely avoided. That singular action will literally change the face of the world for probably the rest of our lives, and not in a positive way. IMHO of course.

[GreenGoo]

There's a reason Canada joined you in Afghanistan but politely declined to follow you into Iraq.

When Bush decided that we weren't best of friends because we wouldn't kill the people he wanted dead, well, that was a pretty shitty thing to do.

At least Blair isn't being strung up in his own country for going into Iraq. Except the jury is still out on that.

Listen, I understand your point. Except sometimes governments are quantifiable worse/better. Sometimes only about stuff you care about personally, but sometimes for the country as a whole.

Obama getting the peace prize was a joke, but that should give you some idea of how the world viewed the US under Bush.

[RunningMn9]

"This is the most heinous, the most serious thing that I've ever seen involving justice in the United States — in the history of the United States."

Surely (see what I did there?) Trump must be talking about THE FACT THAT YOU USED TO BE ABLE TO OWN FUCKING PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY!.

No. He's talking about fucking emails.

To quote Gail Abernathy-McKadden Feinberg: "Read a book Donald".

How goddamn stupid do you have to be to fall for this horseshit?

[GreenGoo]

I believe this is where certain individuals tell us all about America's well earned reputation for not giving a shit what other people think.

[GreenGoo]

"This is the most heinous, the most serious thing that I've ever seen involving justice in the United States — in the history of the United States."

Surely (see what I did there?) Trump must be talking about THE FACT THAT YOU USED TO BE ABLE TO OWN FUCKING PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY!.

No. He's talking about fucking emails.

To quote Gail Abernathy-McKadden Feinberg: "Read a book Donald".

How goddamn stupid do you have to be to fall for this horseshit?

I'd just like to say that I appreciate yours and YK's vocal opinion on this guy.

He's a bad man but the world is full of bad men. Only this bad man is within inches of the oval office and that means he needs to be opposed in ways that were less necessary when he was just groping women and denying minorities housing.

[RunningMn9]

Except sometimes governments are quantifiable worse/better.

Yes, but within this country, and between these two political parties, we are *generally speaking* within a relatively narrow band of better/worse. And that will largely depend on your viewpoint.

Obama getting the peace prize was a joke, but that should give you some idea of how the world viewed the US under Bush.

As we've been through before, how the world views the US is not very high on my list of concerns. I'm much more concerned with doing the correct thing, rather than the thing that makes people like us (moreso when the reasons that they like or dislike us are generally as self-serving as we tend to be). And as you'll remember, we differ in our personal opinions on Iraq, although that's probably a topic for another time/thread.

[GreenGoo]

We like you when you do the right thing, so that's a happy coincidence. At least most of us in the west.