The Art of the Donald Trumpocalypse

[malchior]

I fear that even that account and the details involved are tl;dr for most Americans, but it's definitely disturbing.

Yup. It'd be great if we could sound bite this.

It's really starting to seem like Trump's gullibility and ignorance and arrogance are as a grave a threat to us as anything we've faced since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

I agree. Putin is obviously playing with our election to a collective meh. So it'll continue. He will play games like he did with the ceasefire. He will push the boundaries because the collective "we" let him. Sad.

[tgb]

There's been a lot of speculation about Der Schwanzlutscher and what he has planned when he loses (fingers crossed), especially launching some sort of disinformation/propaganda network. But at a rally the other night he revealed his real plans.

It's like Edgar Bergen, except also like that Twilight Zone episode where Cliff Robertson played the ventriloquist

Spoiler:

[hepcat]

Sooooo....about Trumputin's Evangelical support?

It's starting to weaken.

[Defiant]

[Skinypupy]

Trump literally lives in his own reality, and his supporters simply eat it up. It's completely insane to watch.

[Defiant]

[Chaz]

Dammit, I was about to post that. If he's been holding himself back so far, this should be an amusing/terrifying month.

[Smoove_B]

The shackles of reality?

I think it's hilarious that an hour ago he was attacking Paul Ryan on Twitter. Trump is all about burning everything to the ground. This is amazing to watch.

[Defiant]

Dammit, I was about to post that. If he's been holding himself back so far, this should be an amusing/terrifying month.

You snooze, you lose. Low energy! Sad.

[Isgrimnur]

Where are my marshmallows?

[Defiant]

The shackles of reality?

It's a good thing the shackles are off. The straight jacket won't fit with them on.

[Holman]

I'd love to watch the GOP civil war with a big tub of popcorn, but I'm genuinely worried about what this means for democracy.

This isn't just a political fracture. Trump is capable of taking his most diehard followers in a really extreme direction, and some of them will take it upon themselves to go farther.

He's already hitting "The election will be stolen!" again at rallies.

[Chaz]

I'm kind of okay with the extreme wing of the Republican party splitting off. That way they'll make themselves known, and we'll see how many they are, and therefore how big the actual problem is. If the lunatic fringe goes, and it turns out to be a small minority, then we're probably fine. If it turns out the fringe is actually a pretty large number, then we've got a bigger national problem than I think we realized.

[Isgrimnur]

If the GOP stops being a going concern at the national level, gloating and corruption at all levels will eventually shoot the Dems in the foot, leading to the resurgence of the GOP or subsequent replacement. The nature of humanity is such that any group with untrammeled power can't keep their nose clean for long. After all, it becomes their turn to eat.

[Isgrimnur]

So what's the expected duration before 'Grab her...' replaces "F*** her...' for being yelled in the background of live newscasts?

[Archinerd]

I'd love to watch the GOP civil war with a big tub of popcorn, but I'm genuinely worried about what this means for democracy.

+1

[PLW]

Trump literally lives in his own reality, and his supporters simply eat it up. It's completely insane to watch.

It's the apotheosis of Karl Rove's 2012 public poll doubting.

[Kurth]

Sooooo....about Trumputin's Evangelical support?

It's starting to weaken.

I've been waiting for this to happen. And waiting. And waiting. I just can't see how morally-motivated voters on the Right can continue to stomach Trump. I hope this is the beginning of their realization that he flies in the face of everything they stand for, even if he does promise to put Scalia II, and Scalia III and Scalia IV on the bench.

As an aside, I did find the criticism of Clinton in that piece to be especially well written:

The Democratic nominee has pursued unaccountable power through secrecy—most evidently in the form of an email server designed to shield her communications while in public service, but also in lavishly compensated speeches, whose transcripts she refuses to release, to some of the most powerful representatives of the world system. She exemplifies the path to power preferred by the global technocratic elite—rooted in a rigorous control of one’s image and calculated disregard for norms that restrain less powerful actors. Such concentration of power, which is meant to shield the powerful from the vulnerability of accountability, actually creates far greater vulnerabilities, putting both the leader and the community in greater danger.

I don't necessarily agree with all of that, but it seems like a pretty cogent and succinct summary of the argument against Clinton. Without referencing her demonic powers.

[RunningMn9]

The Democratic nominee has pursued unaccountable power through secrecy—most evidently in the form of an email server designed to shield her communications while in public service

I mean, I agree that it is well-written, but the problem of course is that it attempts to seamlessly merge fact with fiction. We have the fact - that Clinton had a private email server. And we match it with the fiction - that the motivation for the private server was to shield her communications while in public service. And then we draw a conclusion that is based on the fiction rather than the fact - that the desire to shield her communications while in public service was part of a larger motivation to pursue unaccountable power through secrecy.

And how do we know that she used a private email server so she could shield her communications while in public service? Because she has pursued unaccountable power through secrecy of course!

The circle is complete and self-fulfilling. You just have to make up the "facts" that are required to make your "opinion" true.

[Isgrimnur]

Not to mention the previous cabinet members of both parties using the exact same methods. Or do we expect that Powel and Ricewere also after unaccountable power and hiding their communications from public scrutiny?

[tgb]

The nation survived the loss of the Whigs. It will survive the loss of the Republican party as well. Besides, I was under the impression that the fringe/loony right had already pretty much split off and was calling itself the Tea Baggers Party.

[Zarathud]

For Republicans, holding Hillary accountable is having enough evidence to keep her from being President. The private e-mail server is offensive to them because there's nothing incriminating other than deleted e-mails and some misclassifications.

[Fitzy]

The nation survived the loss of the Whigs.

There was the little matter of the Civil War when the Republicans rose in their place...

[Alefroth]

I fear that even that account and the details involved are tl;dr for most Americans, but it's definitely disturbing.

Yup. It'd be great if we could sound bite this.

This is about as concise as I've seen- http://www.pajiba.com/politics/proof-th ... ganda-.php

[Isgrimnur]

Utah revolt

Within hours of the video’s release on Friday, a number of top Republican officials in the state yanked their endorsements, including Gov. Gary Herbert, a Mormon, who declared Mr. Trump’s statements “beyond offensive and despicable.” Representative Jason Chaffetz, who is also Mormon, said that if he voted for Mr. Trump he would no longer be able to look his 15-year-old daughter in the eye.

On Saturday, the Deseret News, a media outlet owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, broke with an 80-year tradition of refraining from presidential endorsements to publish an editorial calling on Mr. Trump to step aside.
...
Still, the scale of the rebellion by Utah Republicans against their party’s presidential candidate is practically unheard-of, said Chris Karpowitz, a director of Brigham Young University’s Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. Almost the entire congressional delegation has vowed not to vote for Mr. Trump in November.

“The Republican establishment in the state of Utah is in all-out revolt against the Trump candidacy,” Mr. Karpowitz said. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen that before.”
...
At the headquarters of the Deseret News in Salt Lake City, the initial impulse was to cover the video, which was first published by the Washington Post, as straight breaking news. Editors huddled late into the night, wresting over how to portray Mr. Trump’s tawdry descriptions of unsolicited sexual groping in the three-minute recording, while upholding the outlet’s conservative editorial standards, said Paul Edwards, the editor and publisher of the 166-year-old publication.

“We tried to keep it to the issue,” Mr. Edwards said, but as the night wore on, “it got to where we felt we that we had to take a stand.”

“We did not see this as a political issue,” he said. “We really saw it as a moral issue.”

The outrage among Utah conservatives over the recording has allowed Democrats to begin to contemplate what was once unthinkable: taking the state for Mrs. Clinton in November. The hope is that disaffected Republicans will abandon Mr. Trump and split their votes between two third-party candidates: Gary Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Evan McMullin, a former C.I.A. official who is a Mormon.

Mrs. Clinton has opened a campaign office in Utah, something that no Democratic candidate has done in decades, said Peter Corroon, the state’s Democratic Party chairman.
...
By Saturday, few of the state’s political leaders appeared ready to immediately throw their support behind an alternative. Most, like Senator Mike Lee, seemed more focused on getting Mr. Trump to go away.

In a video recorded at Mr. Lee’s home and posted on Facebook, the senator addressed the Republican candidate directly: “With all due respect sir, you sir are the distraction,” he said. “Your conduct, sir, is the distraction, is the distraction from the very principles that will help us win in November.”

“I respectfully ask you, with all due respect, to step aside, step down.”

[malchior]

I fear that even that account and the details involved are tl;dr for most Americans, but it's definitely disturbing.

Yup. It'd be great if we could sound bite this.

This is about as concise as I've seen- http://www.pajiba.com/politics/proof-th ... ganda-.php

Could you imagine if even a whiff of something similar happened with Clinton - the fallout would reach Russia from here.

[Isgrimnur]

I fear that even that account and the details involved are tl;dr for most Americans, but it's definitely disturbing.

Yup. It'd be great if we could sound bite this.

This is about as concise as I've seen- http://www.pajiba.com/politics/proof-th ... ganda-.php

Could you imagine if even a whiff of something similar happened with Clinton - the fallout would reach Russia from here.

Sarah Palin would be our front line reporter.

[Alefroth]

I fear that even that account and the details involved are tl;dr for most Americans, but it's definitely disturbing.

Yup. It'd be great if we could sound bite this.

This is about as concise as I've seen- http://www.pajiba.com/politics/proof-th ... ganda-.php

Could you imagine if even a whiff of something similar happened with Clinton - the fallout would reach Russia from here.

I'm anxious to see what, if any, explanation the Trump campaign gives.

[Isgrimnur]

Hollywood Reporter went and talked to some Apprentice people.

Trump's behavior also extended to his original female advisor on the show, Trump executive Carolyn Kepcher, formerly the executive vp and chief operating officer for Trump's golf properties. "He was always more dismissive of Carolyn," says the source close to the show, adding that the attitude extended to female crew members. "We would not necessarily send the girl camera crews to do the close-up stuff just because it was always weird. I know one of our camera operators would get uncomfortable. I found out from her after the fact that he was saying things to her."

A camera-person on the show classifies Trump's interactions with a blonde female camera operator as "borderline sexual misconduct."

“It was more a creepy feeling you felt when he was around on set," the camera operator continues. "The way he looked at you or would be dismissive to all the female producers and only deal with Mark Burnett — he was just an overall asshole who thought of himself as very important."
...
Evans recalls Trump would fixate on women's looks during the filming of The Apprentice's signature boardroom scenes. "If you were in the middle of the discussion or talking about the merits of why you won or lost, sometimes you would be interrupted with a compliment or something that had to do with your physical attributes," she says. "That happened pretty much every single time you're in the boardroom."

A former NBC staffer recalls Trump making specific requests for certain eliminated contestants to visit him in his office after they were "fired" from the show. “One of the stops along way was always Trump Tower and he would always make sure that if it was a pretty girl, we had to bring her by,” the staffer says.
...
As season one contestant Kristi Frank recalls, producers and casting directors pushed a particular dress code for the female contestants.

"They happened to pick the shortest skirt I had for the opening when I could meet Mr. Trump," Frank says. "They wanted us to be sexy."
...
The stories told to THR echo those of contestants and crewmembers who spoke to the Associated Press last week about Trump's lewd behavior and crass language both on set and behind the scenes. That behavior also was reflected in a transcript from a 2010 episode of Celebrity Apprentice published by The Huffington Post on Monday in which Trump heavily criticized the appearance of a female musician, Emily West, involved in the competition and described himself as a "skin guy."
...
NeNe Leakes, who served as a judge for Miss USA 2013, says higher-ups at the pageant attempted to influence the voting process in meetings that occurred prior to the pageant. "You pretty much knew who was going to win," she tells THR. "You're just kind of told in a way that this person's going to win. We don’t have any control. I don't know who the girl next to me voted for, I just know that these are the top picks we need to be looking at, don't worry about nobody else, just worry about these two people right here."

[Holman]

The nation survived the loss of the Whigs.

There was the little matter of the Civil War when the Republicans rose in their place...

Fun facts:

The Whigs dissolved in 1854. The candidates in 1856 were a Democrat (Buchanan), a Republican (Fremont), and one from the Native American Party (Fillmore). (Read "Native American" as "nativist." They were also generally known as the Know-Nothings.) (Really.)

Then in 1860 it was a 4-person race:

Lincoln for the Republicans, John Breckinridge for the Southern Democrats, John Bell for the Constitutional Union Party [like the Republicans, a successor to the Whigs], and Stephen Douglas for the Northern Democrats.

[Captain Caveman]

This ad, sheez. He really is running to be the king of Breitbart.

[Holman]

I fear that even that account and the details involved are tl;dr for most Americans, but it's definitely disturbing.

Yup. It'd be great if we could sound bite this.

This is about as concise as I've seen- http://www.pajiba.com/politics/proof-th ... ganda-.php

Could you imagine if even a whiff of something similar happened with Clinton - the fallout would reach Russia from here.

I'm anxious to see what, if any, explanation the Trump campaign gives.

TPM suggested that, in the past, the Trump campaign has used Russian-sourced claims and rumors not because they had a direct line from Putin (or from Putin to Assange to Roger Stone) but because Russia Today (the Kremlin's wholly-owned Fox Pravda) is popular in alt-right circles.

This story seems radically different. If it really appeared only for a few hours on Sputnik, that's pretty damn damning.

EDIT: One possible(and generous) explanation is here. The timeline does allow that one of Trump's aids (who, for some reason, follows Sputnik and treats it as reliable) *could* have seen the story about an hour before the rally where Trump touted the story as real. We don't know. Sputnik published the story at 5 p.m. Eastern, and Trump's rally started at 6 p.m.

But others have noted that Trump attacked Blumenthal kind of out of the blue during the debate on Sunday, a full day before Sputnik published its story. It could be pure coincidence, but it's not as if Blumenthal was on anyone's radar in the days leading to the debate. And Trump's use of the Russian-sourced text at his rally seems like it was meant to be a continuation of the attack from the debate.

[Defiant]

[Kraken]

Now I've got Alice Cooper's "No More Mr Nice Guy" stuck in my head.

The nation survived the loss of the Whigs. It will survive the loss of the Republican party as well. Besides, I was under the impression that the fringe/loony right had already pretty much split off and was calling itself the Tea Baggers Party.

While there's undoubtedly some demographic overlap with the new deplorables, the teabagger agenda has been left as far in the dust as the rest of the party. They did loosen the lugnuts, though.

[Max Peck]

John McCain is foul-mouthed? Trump should have offered him a Tic Tac.

[Carpet_pissr]

Where are my marshmallows?

Oh HELL no...do not even look over here, motherfucker. You "dropped" us once, went to the dark side, and now the dark side spat you out, you're looking back? NOOOOOOooooooooooooooooo.

Create your own party, you raging psychopath! You'll need an animal to represent your new party (for some reason)...I suggest the baboon:


From the "world's most aggressive animals" list (because I couldn't find a list of animals that incorporated narcissism with bullying and self-destruction)
" the males are very violent towards the females, they will jealously guard them, grabbing and biting them"

[Fretmute]

That's actually a mandrill . . . but I'm sure he'd like that name more, anyway.

[Carpet_pissr]

Crap - thanks. And fixed!

[tgb]

Not a baboon or mandrill. Orangutan.







Here's an entertaining read, if not directly related to the election.

"Diobolical bag of dicks" is even better than basket of deplorables.

[Smoove_B]

See if you can guess who said this:

“His (Bill Clinton's) victims are terrible. He is, he is really a victim himself,” “The whole group, Paula Jones, Lewinsky — it’s just a really unattractive group. I’m not just talking about physical.”

Spoiler:

Why yes, it's Donald Trump, in an interview given to Neil Cavuto in 2005.