The Former Trump Presidency Thread

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:30 pm

Watched it last year. It was depressing and frightening then. I cannot imagine the spectacle it will be tonight (page 135 of this thread for those curious). I'll pass and catch the highlights.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:31 pm

Dammit. Quoted myself.

Also apparently accidentally reported myself. What in the actual hell? Time to take a break.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:44 pm

Kraken wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:16 pm Haven't decided yet if I'm going to sit through it or not. Leaning toward no. I don't need the aggravation.

I'm leaving for a cruise in the morning and refuse to let Two Scoops ruin my good mood.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:04 pm

Smoove_B wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:31 pm Also apparently accidentally reported myself.

Maybe this time, the mods will do something about it!

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:13 pm

Kraken wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:16 pm Haven't decided yet if I'm going to sit through it or not. Leaning toward no. I don't need the aggravation.

Debating the same thing (actually, watch vs play Monster Hunter). On the one hand, he's disgusting and just annoying to watch stumble through sounding out all the big words while gesticulating, and it's going to be infuriating watching him try and pretend he's suddenly a great uniter, loves everyone no matter what skin color they have, and how he's doing a great job despite all the unfair things he has to deal with. On the other hand, no matter how much I despise him and think he's a moron, he's still the President, so whatever nonsense comes out of his mouth actually matters, because this is the darkest timeline.

What's going to be really awful is all the post-game talk from the pundits about how he didn't set the podium on fire and managed to read all the words on the prompter, therefore tonight was the night he became President. Thankfully, Colbert's doing a live show afterward featuring the Pod Save America crew, so that should be amusing and angry as hell.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:15 pm

I will not be watching tonight. Getting up super early for work gives me a built in excuse. Of course, I'm also going to probably be playing the clips tomorrow morning so it's not like I'll completely escape the stupidity and frustration. To make matters worse, I'm sure my co-host will be falling all over herself praising the speech for being "so inspiring". She was already starting to pull that crap today.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:16 pm

Wait, are you a television celebrity? ARE YOU ONE OF THE FOX AND FRIENDS PEOPLE?!

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:33 pm

Headed out for the lunar eclipse at 4 am, probably will skip his buffoonery and read about it later.

Zaxxon · Post by **Zaxxon** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:52 pm

Enough wrote:Headed out for the lunar eclipse at 4 am, probably will skip his buffoonery and read about it later.

Wise. I'm planning to get my girls up to see the umbra take over. Which could be complicated by my plan to play a SotU drinking game. Anyone have a good set of rules? My current plan is to wait for DJT to come on, then down any bottles I can find.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:55 pm

Zaxxon wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:52 pm
Enough wrote:Headed out for the lunar eclipse at 4 am, probably will skip his buffoonery and read about it later.
Wise. I'm planning to get my girls up to see the umbra take over. Which could be complicated by my plan to play a SotU drinking game. Anyone have a good set of rules? My current plan is to wait for DJT to come on, then down any bottles I can find.

Every time SOTU Trump praises himself, take a drink.

Every time a post-SOTU pundit praises Trump, take poison.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:57 pm

@JohnDingell wrote:The State of our Union is fine. It’s these Confederate-minded bastards I’m worried about.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:18 pm

Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:16 pm Wait, are you a television celebrity? ARE YOU ONE OF THE FOX AND FRIENDS PEOPLE?!

That's disturbingly close. We are a Fox News affiliate and Brian Kilmeade may or may not be on right after me. I work on the dark side, and it's driving me insane.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pm

msteelers wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:18 pm
Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:16 pm Wait, are you a television celebrity? ARE YOU ONE OF THE FOX AND FRIENDS PEOPLE?!
That's disturbingly close. We are a Fox News affiliate and Brian Kilmeade may or may not be on right after me. I work on the dark side, and it's driving me insane.

Well, at least you're not fake news?

Can you bring it down from the inside?

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:40 pm

Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pmCan you bring it down from the inside?

I'm trying.

Enough · Post by **Enough** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:46 pm

msteelers wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:40 pm
Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pmCan you bring it down from the inside?
I'm trying.

A good friend of mine (actually my first serious gf) is the lead producer for the local evening news of our Fox affiliate. She is totally ace and her dedication shows in the product they put out. Stands in stark contrast to the national coverage.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:53 pm

I swear CNN hired Rick Santorum just to make people hate Republicans. It is working.

malchior · Post by **malchior** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:03 pm

Well that immigration section went south pretty quick. The scaremongering was off the charts with the MS-13 and NY terrorism bullshit.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:13 pm

Thoughts!

- Illegal immigrants are sneaking their way into schools to murder your children.
- American dreamers are the real dreamers.
- MS-13 real bad, yo.
- A super cringey story about a cop who finds a pregnant homeless woman about to shoot up. He stops her, God tells him to adopt the baby, so he and his wife do! Isn't that great? No mention of what happened to the mother or if she got help, but lookit that cute baby. This manages to perfectly encapsulate the GOP's priorities, but totally accidentally.

YellowKing · Post by **YellowKing** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:22 pm

I avoided this at all costs but one of our gaming group is a huge Trump fan. So during the middle of our game he whips out his phone and starts listening to the coverage (which thankfully hadn't started yet).

As soon as I heard some talking head complaining about Ginsberg not attending and whining about how people should show up to "show respect for the office of the Presidency" I was ready to walk out. Really? When the President himself has shown no respect and has actively done everything in his power to destroy it?

We finally forced him to turn it off.

And yes, I'm dying inside anticipating the media's fawning coverage of how Trump managed to sound, for an hour, like an actual human being by reading carefully written words from a teleprompter.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:30 pm

msteelers wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:40 pm
Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pmCan you bring it down from the inside?
I'm trying.

Just aim to be the Shep Smith of your affiliate.

LawBeefaroni · Post by **LawBeefaroni** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:32 pm

Clearly the most watched State of the Union ever. I heard it got better ratings than the upcoming Superbowl. The best.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:35 pm

I don't know how you manage to talk for almost an hour and a half without actually saying anything.

Also, the GOP caucus started a "USA! USA!" chant at the end there. That was super classy.

El Guapo · Post by **El Guapo** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:39 pm

Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:35 pm I don't know how you manage to talk for almost an hour and a half without actually saying anything.

Also, the GOP caucus started a "USA! USA!" chant at the end there. That was super classy.

I mean, classy is their brand.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:48 pm

El Guapo wrote:
msteelers wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:40 pm
Chaz wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 9:26 pmCan you bring it down from the inside?
I'm trying.
Just aim to be the Shep Smith of your affiliate.

I don’t think he’s had a lot of success moderating Fox News.

Fun fact: an advertiser told me to my face that I was “too liberal”. What did I say that offended him? It seems I spent too much time talking about that weeks NFL games.

Not even sports are safe anymore. God I hate Trump.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:08 am

I didn't watch the State of the Union. Should I read an English Transcript, or should I read it in the original Russian? (or is that German?)

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:10 am

Defiant wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 12:08 am I didn't watch the State of the Union. Should I read an English Transcript, or should I read it in the original Russian? (or is that German?)

It's not even worth reading. It was badly written word salad interspersed with xenophobia and nationalism.

You know, par for the course.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 3:16 am

YellowKing wrote: Tue Jan 30, 2018 11:22 pm
And yes, I'm dying inside anticipating the media's fawning coverage of how Trump managed to sound, for an hour, like an actual human being by reading carefully written words from a teleprompter.

The Atlantic said that he managed to sound boring, so that's a win for Trump.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:52 am

If the morning's written coverage is any indication, the "Trump pivot" narrative is finally past its sell date.

At best (for him), it's being acknowledged that Trump has perhaps learned the difference between this kind of speech and his usual campaign hate rally.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 8:30 am

Holman wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 7:52 amAt best (for him), it's being acknowledged that Trump has perhaps learned the difference between this kind of speech and his usual campaign hate rally.

Come on. They just dress him in his pull-ups and tell him he won't get ice cream if he doesn't read the script. It's just too exhausting to go through the hassle of chasing him through the halls and dealing with the tantrum more than once every 6 months.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:52 am

I didn't watch it, but looking at the news sites, he didn't declare martial law and start rounding people up for death camps, so, the day's off to a pretty good start.

Chaz · Post by **Chaz** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:55 am

He basically said nothing, put forward no new policy, revisited the xenophobia and nationalism he was obviously going to, narrowly avoided saying we were going to attack North Korea, and took an hour and twenty minutes to deliver what should have been a 50 minute speech. The GOP falling all over themselves to give him standing ovations constantly probably didn't help.

NickAragua · Post by **NickAragua** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:02 am

Chaz wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:55 am He basically said nothing, put forward no new policy, revisited the xenophobia and nationalism he was obviously going to, narrowly avoided saying we were going to attack North Korea, and took an hour and twenty minutes to deliver what should have been a 50 minute speech. The GOP falling all over themselves to give him standing ovations constantly probably didn't help.

That's fine, I don't really want him putting forward any new policy. In fact, I think it's best if he were to go off to Mar A Lago and play some golf on my dime.

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:06 am

NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:52 am I didn't watch it, but looking at the news sites, he didn't declare martial law and start rounding people up for death camps, so, the day's off to a pretty good start.

But, of course, the day is not over yet. The only thing of consequence that they mentioned this morning on the news was his travesty of an immigration plan, which would affect my family (and those of friends) greatly.

Excuse me while I take an extra dose of blood pressure meds...

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:22 am

The most important thing Trump said was after the speech when a reporter's hot mike caught him telling a GOP pol that he would "100%, absolutely" release the Nunes memo.

Just before the SOTU, the WH declared that it had not yet reviewed this Very Serious Classified Document for security concerns and that they had not yet decided on release.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:30 am

I like The Atlantic. It's pay-walled.

Article wrote:How do you boast about victories you haven’t had? How do you present new proposals when many of the old ones are still on the table? And how do you handle the Russia story that seems to consume most of politics each week?

The answer from Trump was simply to conjure his own reality, outlining a set of some accomplishments, delivering the standard list of policy proposals, and ignoring the Russia probe altogether. The speech was long, and there was little in the way of thematic unity, though he spoke of a “new American moment”— a concept borrowed from Hillary Clinton, of all people.

This president is not often good at hiding his emotions, but he did so Tuesday. As a result, not only was the picture he painted of America removed from reality, but Trump himself was also practically unrecognizable. The speech somehow managed to render Trump the one thing he almost never is: boring.

...

Only the “USA” chant that went up in the chamber as he finished marked it as a distinctively Trumpian occasion.

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:34 am

When discussing anything from inauguration crowds to unemployment figures, President Trump loves to measure his presidency against that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. And comparing their first State of the Union addresses, Trump’s was shorter in words (5,190 to Obama’s 7,059) but took far longer deliver — Trump’s speech ran for 80 minutes; Obama’s 2010 speech clocked in at 66 minutes. Each included plenty of crafted applause lines: Obama paused 86 times for applause; Trump did so roughly 115 times.

From a Yahoo link but I thought it interesting.

msteelers · Post by **msteelers** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:55 am

Chaz wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:55 amThe GOP falling all over themselves to give him standing ovations constantly probably didn't help.

I heard there were 111 pauses for applause in the 80 minute speech.

I wouldn't put much stock in the number, except I heard it on Fox News.

Paingod · Post by **Paingod** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:04 am

msteelers wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:55 am
Chaz wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:55 amThe GOP falling all over themselves to give him standing ovations constantly probably didn't help.
I heard there were 111 pauses for applause in the 80 minute speech.

I wouldn't put much stock in the number, except I heard it on Fox News.

If you do the math on the above, Trump got more applause per minute than Obama, for saying less and saying it slower. It smells like a 'Gold Star' for participation.

I admit, though, Obama being applauded 86 times is still too ego-stroking. Just deliver a speech and save the clapping for the end.

Holman · Post by **Holman** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:06 am

If you missed them, you'll see those standing ovations again in this year's Democratic campaign ads.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:42 am

Jeff V wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 10:06 am
NickAragua wrote: Wed Jan 31, 2018 9:52 am I didn't watch it, but looking at the news sites, he didn't declare martial law and start rounding people up for death camps, so, the day's off to a pretty good start.
But, of course, the day is not over yet. The only thing of consequence that they mentioned this morning on the news was his travesty of an immigration plan, which would affect my family (and those of friends) greatly.

Teleprompter Trump and Twitter Trump are two different people. We saw the former last night (well, some of us did; not me). Rest assured that the latter will be back shortly. Apparently not today, though, as his tweetstorms usually rage during the morning Fox newscasts. He was up past his bedtime last night.

I hear that Joe Kennedy's rebuttal was well-received, but in addition to his official speech, Bernie spoke to progressives, someone else addressed blacks on BET, someone else gave a Spanish-language rebuttal, and -- well, IDK what the last one was, but I read that there were five separate Democratic reaction speeches. Diversity is all well and good, but there is a time for unity, too, and Democrats struggle with that.