@redshirt: ever notice how there will be one thread in the am for several hours and then a short sharp shock of successive ones as we hit pm? Oh, you *have*?
@Omnes Omnibus: not while one has a thermos full of martinis, no…
@TRL: See us in November after we CRUSH your Nazi asses.
6.
dmsilev
So apparently there are rumors circulating that Newt Gingrich is the winner of Celebrity Veepstakes Apprentice. That combination is probably the greatest concentration of pure ego that this country has ever seen.
@dmsilev: I hope so. I think Trump and Newt might be the first modern candidates to actually argue with each other in public. Donald might even fire him.
While it is tempting to tune in to watch Donald Trump live as he tells us about his greatness and big words and all that, I’ll skip the livefeed. I’m sure that if, as is his custom, he says something stupid or racist, it will be highlighted on MSNBC tonight.
17.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@redshirt: I thought he got run over by the Brinks Truck when it was backing up.
@dmsilev: Right? It’s like a team of two negatively charged magnets. That ain’t gonna work!
19.
MCA1
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, me neither, and furthermore, why is this even here? I love Silverman’s substantive posts, but this is not CNN. Drumpf’s event can be found at any of a thousand other web venues. Why do I need live video connections to Der Fuchspelzfuhrer’s rallies at Balloon Juice?
If someone tells me the link’s actually a rickroll or a loop of Bennie Hill Yakkity Sax closing credits or something similar, then OK.
20.
quakerinabasement
Warmup guy is lying his ass off about Clinton emails.
21.
Emma
@TRL: You mean the years when the voting public and his own colleagues handed him his ass? Please. We’ll turn him over to uncle Joe. He has the grifter’s number.
Word on the street is that JEB! is about to unleash HAMMER TIME on Trump! Bushes never lose! Take that check to the bank!
Good luck with that. See you in November.
23.
Patricia Kayden
@dmsilev: Not only a concentration of ego. They are two of the most odious men this country has ever brought forth. Not sure which one is more unattractive. Keep in mind that with Newt, we’re talking about a man who was kicked out of office by his own nauseous party. Dying for November so we can get this over with.
@Chyron HR:
Heh, good times. Now Newton shall save them? Somebody remind me: what happened to his House seat and leadership, again? Can’t quite recall….
27.
smith
@dmsilev: The Guardian is reporting a Trump tweet that says Ernst, Cotton, and Pence are the ones under consideration. Which is funny, since there is a story that Cotton just a day or so went through an amazing series of verbal contortions during an interview to avoid saying anything at all about Trump
28.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: You do know that at least one woman has come forward to claim that Trump raped her when she was a teenager, right? It’s not as if Trump is the picture of virtue or honoring marriage vows. He’s on his third wife and his first wife claimed that he raped her.
When you live in a glass house ….
29.
Emma
@TRL: Yeah. I also know that Bill Clinton left office with one of the highest approval ratings for a president, the country with a $400 million surplus in the bank and went on to become a world-known philanthropist and speaker. In the meantime, Ken Starr stepped on his own dick as a college president and Newtie lurches from grift to grift like a drunken sailor.
30.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: Trump hung out with the exact same convicted pedo. You know that right? Trump has zero to say about family values. It’s easy to go after him for all of his shortcomings, including stating that he wants to screw his own daughter.
Billy was also running around with a new convicted pedo who was screwing 15 year old girls at a private island.
Hastert?, oh wait…
34.
Trollhattan
@TRL:
Presuming post will be deleted and you, banned but in your fleeting mayfly moments tell us how your Donald is going to slip out of rape charges with that thirteen-year old? “At least it wasn’t a boy” won’t cut it.
That’s a good idea. I think Trump and his surrogates should spend as much time as possible from now until November ranting about “Air Fuck One”. It will really give him some sorely-needed presidential gravitas.
38.
Emma
@TRL: oops. I keep forgetting you’re just bad performance art. Trump actually stayed in that paradise of underage sex; Bill just borrowed the plane. But more to the point, Newt has the thinnest skin in politics outside of his future owner. Bill can troll him six ways from sundays.
Youth wing? Are you talking about Hitler or Trump?
45.
chopper
so when is donald derp gonna announce his veep candidate anyways?
can it be Palin? “Plugs n’ Jugs” would be a great nickname for the two of em.
46.
Patricia Kayden
@srv: No, Americans have a real choice between a candidate who will accomplish great things as she replaces a President who has accomplished great things in the face of Republican obstruction and a bigoted idiot. Easy choice for the majority to make in November and we will make the right choice. There will never be a President Trump.
47.
muddy
@JordanRules: Or people could ignore it for the gods’ sake.
48.
Emma
@TRL: Oh, he turns into a worm? So much effort for nothing. He’s already a snake.
49.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: And they’ll be easily defeated. Most Americans are not bigoted like you and srv. There aren’t enough White men to put an unqualified man like Trump into the White House.
Listen up, you weeping pustule on Satan’s dick: no independent counsel for SOMEBODY lying us into a fucking war that’s cost us over a trillion bucks (and counting)? No independent counsel for nuthin’. Fuck you and the maggot you rode in on.
Edit: parody troll my ass, I’m in a bad, bad mood.
Matthew YglesiasVerified account
@mattyglesias
Balanced MSM take: On the one hand, Trump is a wildly unqualified racist demagogue. On the other, Clinton was sloppy with emails.
60.
Corner Stone
“Youth wing”. Huh, that’s some good shit.
61.
SiubhanDuinne
Gotta admire the person in the front row holding up a sign such as to effectively block the camera angle!
Does no one read my posts? Brinks Trucks? RtR? Mentioned way above?
84.
eric
@Corner Stone: Rule No. 1: GOP will ALWAYS overreach. They cant help themselves. Some are saying that Comey was got to. Others, are saying appoint an independent counsel. There is an analogous Second Law of GOP-dynamics. In a closed political system, overreaching always increases.
@Corner Stone: I just feel bad for his former victims who have to hang with him for eternity. I hope Juno exposes everything about the situation, the public deserves to know.
@Technocrat: in my defense, I was going through a tunnel
96.
hovercraft
@Patricia Kayden:
I can picture an ad from Emily’s List, NOW or one of those other womens orgs. in the fall talking about their respect for women, 6 wives between them, dumping wives via press conference, cheating, hitting, they have both been such exemplars for how to show women true respect. Noot is such an intellectual it will bring true gravitas to the ticket.
97.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: Amazing how Republicans/Conservatives are so dumb that they think a joker like Trump is presidential. That’s what is at issue in November. President Bill Clinton was one of the best Presidents this country has ever had. He oversaw a phenomenal economy and peace at home.
While President Clinton will have a speaking role at the Democratic Convention, the same cannot be said for your last President who won’t even endorse your current Presidential nominee.
@Corner Stone: That’s a good tell for poor health of some sort.
106.
eric
@Corner Stone: gross, he does that in public? though i also use only one hand to gesticulate. But i do it at home with some pron
107.
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft: And let’s not forget Trump’s sexist comments where he calls women dogs, and talks about them only being of value if they are “10s”. He even went after one of his own, claiming that she was bleeding out of her “whatever”.
Secretary Clinton’s ads will write themselves with Trump-Newt as the ticket. Too easy.
108.
Misterpuff
@Corner Stone: He’s about the size of Drumpf’s thumb. Bob Thumb.
Can he sit on Trump’s lap?
109.
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: So many Republican leaders have already opted out of attending his coronation at the Republican convention though. It’s so sad and pathetic.
110.
shell
So, has Trump only been ranting about the emails? He’s gonna start to lose his audience
Clinton will go down as a joke. All the important things in the 90s were in tech and business, he was just “there”. Not to mention he was an embarrassment to the nation:sex immediately after pizza deliveries, thongs, cigars inserted into vaginas and then smoked, rape allegations, phone sex the morning before he opened the ’96 Olympiads , telling Lewisnky he masturbated “at least” three times a day in his 50s…the man has a serious problem. It’s all in the Star Report.
Gov. Paul LePage said Tuesday he does not plan to attend the Republican Party’s national convention in Cleveland this month, when the party is expected to make Donald Trump its presidential nominee.
Maybe he got his feelings hurt by being passed over for Veep.
So now hes trashing the AG on TV, accusing her of bribery? Fuck, what?
121.
Corner Stone
Trump is completely off his fucking rocker. This is amazeballs.
122.
The Pale Scot
@TRL: Over at the National Review they say women’s attractiveness peaks out at 15…
123.
Villago Delenda Est
@shell: It’s all rigged against Teh Donald. Everything is rigged in favor of Crooked Hillary. The entire universe is conspiring for Hillary, and against Teh Donald. I mean, isn’t it obvious?
He just started making the motion that equates to pulling a sl0t machine handle wrt the Iran deal.
126.
dmsilev
@Technocrat: He’ll say something appallingly racist or sexist soon enough; like the scorpion in the old story, it’s his nature.
Besides, I think he’s on the ban-on-identification list, so once Adam or whoever checks back in…
127.
Corner Stone
This guy is the worst bed time story reading person ever.
128.
The Lodger
@Corner Stone: If the top of his head is flat, it’s a great place to rest a can of beer.
129.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: His fan base loves it all, though. Inside Teh Donald’s bubble, he doesn’t have the slightest clue as to how he comes off to those outside of the fan base.
@Corner Stone: I repainted cabinets in my bathroom and I was putting the cabinet doors back on and listened for awhile.. He does sound crazy. I’m not sure he is well.
142.
GregB
Trump and Gingrich! The millenial women will swoon at their musky manliness!
They’ll be the most repellent twosome since Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole.
OMG. He is literally (and I mean that literally) foaming at the mouth a little.
And yeah, that weird thing of gesturing only with right hand and not moving the left arm at all — that is very odd. Bottom line, he does not present as a healthy man.
145.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: I can’t leave you all alone for five minutes without you resurrecting the troll…
A great number of our countrymen are shitheads, is my guess.
She can only win the sane ones.
147.
Corner Stone
@SiubhanDuinne: **BREAKING** Must credit Corner Stone!!
148.
Miss Bianca
@Villago Delenda Est: The fact that somewhere, out there in the world – not too far away from me, in fact – there are people who actually believe this – or profess to believe it – still boggles me.
Heh, sorry, I should have made my comment a reply to you.
151.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: evidently this is true…I think he waits till he sees you’re not around, myself. (if / or // indicates snark, what symbol indicates ‘only half-snarking’?)
Trump and Gingrich! The millenial women will swoon at their musky manliness!
“ooooh, what manly men! I can totally imagine either of those guys divorcing me! rowr.”
153.
JPL
Holy Crap, Now he is making fun of the term ISIL. He doesn’t even know what it means.
154.
Corner Stone
I am fucking daring the MSM to do their absolute best to make this speech as some rational part of a “pivot” to seriousness by Trump. This is rambling, crazy, off the fucking hinges, shit of nightmares.
155.
Corner Stone
You’re going to be so sick of winning.
156.
Corner Stone
If he does not collapse and go into the hospital within 4 days I will be shocked.
157.
dogwood
@SiubhanDuinne:
Trump could never handle the presidency. Obama got up this morning, had some meetings, went to NC and effortlessly hit a home run, took Hillary out to lunch, and if he’s home by now, he’s going over his nightly briefing books. That’s not even an extraordinarily stressful day for a president.
@Technocrat:
I never thought I’d have some respect for Mittens and the Bush Crime Family but I do.
168.
Corner Stone
He’s starting to sound more and more like mobster voice. This man is straight nuts.
169.
Miss Bianca
@The Thin Black Duke: by licking it with their tiny, little, cardboard-backed tongues…
170.
Villago Delenda Est
@Quinerly: It’s really too early to draw any conclusions from the poll numbers. I suspect that the only poll that counts will be even wider in the margin than these early samples.
There are a great many things that he does not know what they mean. For example, “Nuclear Triad”. Also for example, “Inconceivable”.
You’re beginning to make him sound like the villain in a particularly twisted re-do on “The Princess Bride”…
172.
dmsilev
So now I’m wondering about the GOP Convention that starts in a bit under two weeks. Specifically, whether we’re going to see a real life reenactment of The Manchurian Candidate with let’s say Barbara Bush in the Angela Lansbury role. And Jeb? as her sadly brainwashed son of course.
173.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv: Comey really wordsmithed a bunch of nothing into something that is still a bunch of nothing. All innuendo, no facts.
174.
JPL
@srv: There is also an article about what Petraeus did and how the two things are not the same… Copy and Paste only those things you agree with..
175.
RandomMonster
I’m stupider for having watched even just a portion of that speech. Actual brain cells destroyed while watching him.
176.
JPL
CNN is going to try to make sense out of the speech..
@Corner Stone: yup
177.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Corner Stone: What is that weird little gesture he makes with his thumb and index finger curled together? It seems to be some kind of tic and he often looks like he smells something foul when he does it. I mean we can smell that he’s foul even from a visual, but it doubt he does.
It’s just such an odd mannerism and he seems to use if for emphasis all the time.
If this election goes chalk (please let it be), who will they blame? Acorn 2? Newer New Black Panther Party? Daesh voting machine hacks? With any luck Trump & base (and they are base) will turn on the GOP establishment over lack of support. That would be a win on top of a win.
@Villago Delenda Est: “all innuendo, no facts” has been the MO for Clinton coverage for 26 years, and it works on some folks.
182.
Quinerly
@Villago Delenda Est:
I know, I know but this year is just so very different. And I have a very uneasy feeling that started this morning with Comey. All my Bern Feeler acquaintances have gone over to Stein. She was here in St. Louis last night. That’s what I woke up to this morning in my FB feed.They have found a new purity pony.
@Quinerly: your sample might be a wee bit non-representative.
187.
JPL
@Quinerly: I don’t know what state ballots she will be on.
188.
JMG
The New York Times would prefer an election in which neither Clinton nor Trump was elected, and a vote of people who attend their high priced institutional events picked Mike Bloomberg. The voters will not pick a candidate compared to some Olympic performance standard, they will pick a candidate compared to the other one. It’s the simplest choice of my lifetime, but I imagine it will still be a close election, because white people, I have the honor to be one, suck.
@Major Major Major Major:
Thanks for the laugh. Just a bit down today. Up until 4:00 AM with a terrified rescue pooch (fireworks). So I’m jaded a bit….will say today that the thought hit me for the first time that she might not win
191.
Mike in NC
@JPL: Waiting for Trump to start yelling about the threat from IKEA.
192.
robert thompson
Like a broken record I will say it again. Trump is not well. Obviously mentally. That does not explain that left arm. Heart disease or stroke survivor? I say stroke.
193.
JPL
@robert thompson: Is the left arm a new thing? Tonight it was obvious, but I’m not sure that I noticed it before.
194.
dogwood
@Quinerly:
It’s not even about respect per se, it’s about the unwritten, yet generally accepted rules of candidate and presidential behavior. No one has ever behaved like Trump; it’s disgusting and vulgar. And he attracts disgusting and vulgar people to his rallies. Sarah Palin started this stuff, but she had some minders. The difference between this afternoon’s rally and this shit show is beyond stark.
195.
NonyNony
@Quinerly: I’ve got to say – I’m not all that worried about liberals in Missouri deciding to step on their own dicks. If Missouri is close enough for their votes for Jill Stein to matter, we’d be looking at the kind of massive sweep of an election unseen since Reagan.
Hopefully they’ll get off their dicks long enough to vote in their interests downballot, where it might actually matter.
196.
eric
@robert thompson: strained ligaments from plying his head out of his ass daily.
197.
Quinerly
@JPL:
I blew out a 60 plus year old Stein supporter in a Bernie T shirt about 3 weeks ago. She was at our local farmers market getting signatures to get Stein on the ballot here in Missouri. Everyone was signing it and she came over to me and I unloaded on her. Other Stein supporters in Bernie shirts were going door to door in the area. Stein has opened a headquarters near Bernie’s Cherokee Street (south St. Louis) headquarters. Missouri is a red state but the city is blue blue.
The difference between this afternoon’s rally and this shit show is beyond stark
Yes, exactly. That’s why I think the emails aren’t a determinative issue. It’s like choosing between a driver who takes corners too fast, and one who keeps his eyes tightly shut.
201.
The Thin Black Duke
Meanwhile, after quietly watching Donald Trump’s speech on TV, Barbara Bush slowly rises out of her chair, walks over to Jeb, sighs softly, and slaps her son in the face. Hard.
202.
hovercraft
This should have been a great day for Drump, Comey was very critical of Hillary the media pounced on her and all he had to do was go out, crib from Comey and the talking heads and they would have praised him for getting his grove back. He could have slipped a non apology apology in the early afternoon with barely a mention, but did he do any of this? Of coarse not, after Obama and Clinton went out and gave rousing speeches that will play well with a general electorate, the dumpster went out tonight and gave a frothing, incoherent, rambling speech aimed at his base, I know there is talk about a convention coup but it’s not real, he has won the nomination. What the hell is he doing? Does he think that non crazy America is unaware that the president is from Hawaii, and that he goes there for christmas every year? Last time I checked people are allowed to spend their vacation time doing what they want to do, saying he gassed up Airforce One to go play golf in Hawaii is a lie. And complaining that the president used it to fly down to North Carolina is stupid, does he not know that the president can only travel in his own plane, did he want him to hitch a ride? Plus political/campaign travel is reimbursed by the campaign.
203.
JMG
Jill Stein lives reasonably near me in my town, She’s a nice lady, Nuts but nice, Tell those Missourians that if Trump wins, it’s on them. Tell them you’ll tell their children they did it. Tell them you’ll give soon to be deported children their address. Make them live consequences.
204.
eric
@The Thin Black Duke: Allow me to defend Jeb. When choice number two is Ted Cruz, then there is no way a mild WASP with limited deep conservative credentials (Schiavo notwithstanding) had a snowball’s chance in hell this year. He was in it for the consolation prize. He was Iceland…..
205.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Ben Jacobs @ Bencjacobs 1h1 hour ago
Trump praising Saddam Hussein for killing terrorists and noting that Hussein “didn’t read them the rights.”
256 retweets 128 likes
This is what I’ve been saying. Whether it is his subconscious (stressed mind instructing the body how to react), a genuine physical condition, or a plain, flat-out, straight-up lie, I honestly don’t think he’ll make it to the convention. I think he’s terrified, probably at some deeply buried and unexplored level of his psyche, of actually having to shoulder the responsibility of being the nominee let alone possibly winning the presidency. A timely coronary (fairly mild, of course) would remove the decision and have the added benefit of bringing him a lot of sympathy.
209.
robert thompson
@JPL: I first noticed the left arm clutching a podium when he did that sham veterans fund raiser on the battleship Iowa. Its gotten worse I think, marginally but noticeably. The cognition erosion has gotten worse as well but thats fairly apparent. The arm thing I didnt read into at the time but have since noticed it in looking back.
210.
Technocrat
From RedState:
BREAKING. Donald Trump Delivers Devastating Response On FBI Whitewash Of Hillary Clinton:
Just kidding. This is Donald Trump we’re talking about. The man who isn’t interested in anything that doesn’t directly attract attention to himself
I don’t want to use Isis because I am a child of the 70s and I refuse to name a terror group after a Saturday morning superheroine (later a DC Comics goddess).
But even on the busiest of his days, I have read that dinner en famille is a sacred, precious time for him. Physical exercise and healthful meals, family time, laser-like concentration on the job at hand, alone time late at night, plenty of engagement (and fun!) with real people — all these things, in proper proportion, have helped make Obama perhaps the most grounded and balanced occupant of the White House in our history. I look at that list and I honestly don’t see one thing that Drumpf incorporates into his regular routine.
218.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m more on the side of sociopath and a narcissist who does not see his own weaknesses. Yes he’s a con man who doesn’t believe all of what he says, but he thinks he’s so much smarter that everyone else that he can get away with saying anything, he believes that since bluffing works in business he can bluff his way into the oval office. I think he does want to win, but then he’ll delegate the real work to a minion. Physically he also has problems, he needs to sleep more, step back from the twitter machine and get some sleep.
219.
Mary G
I tried to watch him, because I’d never seen a Trump rally, but only made like two minutes and had to stop.
220.
JPL
@PaulWartenberg2016: I don’t think he knows what ISIL means, or else he would agree with it. Maybe he was mocking the President for being thoughtful and precise. He is truly running as vote for me cuz I’m as ignorant as you.
Trump sounds crazy to me, but I wonder if that’s being put through my filter. Does he sound that way to Republicans? Reporters? His friends?
Trump isn’t a candidate for Red America so much as their living god.
He’s mediocre white male anger, insecurity, and status anxiety embodied into a sneering, ignorant human form.
225.
Emma
@Iowa Old Lady: To some Republicans, I think. My father despises him, but has mentioned he thinks the man is heading for a breakdown. Reporters want a horse race. They know he’s bonkers but will twist themselves into pretzels to help him. Friends? I doubt he has any real ones. A friend feels free to call you out when you’re acting like an arse. He doesn’t seem to have that.
226.
JPL
Now we know that Trump respects Putin and Saddam. I didn’t listen to the entire speech, did he mention how wonderful Gaddafi was?
What is that weird little gesture he makes with his thumb and index finger curled together?
If he were meditating, it would be a mudra (specifically the Chin Mudrā). But I’m pretty sure he’s not in a meditative state when he spews forth his odd, disjointed speeches.
228.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
anyone know which house moron this was?
Josh Marshall @ joshtpm 29m29 minutes ago
CNN anchor actually asking Jeff Toobin whether it seems likely that Hillary Clinton bribed Loretta Lynch who made Comey clear HIllary.
I like Toobin, mostly. As somebody in JMM’s timeline said, he’s probably more than a little embarrassed to be there.
229.
robert thompson
@Iowa Old Lady: His supporters know he is not qualified to be president. They dont care. Its taking back their country they care about. Fascists like to make their base think they are a priori smarter than those elitist eggheads. Trump plays them like a fat carp and reels them in. Its not politics its a religion for them. But I still thing he is cognitively impaired, physically or chemically. I am betting physically.
230.
Lizzy L
I couldn’t listen to Trump — not a word. According to Time.com, he accused Clinton of bribing Lynch by promising her 4 or 8 more years as AG; he accused Obama of knowing about and condoning the bribe; and he praised Saddam Hussein for “killing terrorists.” The reporter who wrote the story did not report how his audience reacted to any of this.
231.
hueyplong
I want to see the video when Trump tells Newt to fetch something for him. I can’t imagine a Gingrich reaction that I wouldn’t enjoy.
232.
JPL
Ben Jacobs reporting for the Guardian has this on his tweet…
To be fair, a week ago the Benghazi report came out and Trump praised torture and used a rape analogy. He was more on message tonight.
@SiubhanDuinne: Mudra doesn’t have anything to do with meditation per se, mudra is Sanskrit for gesture. A hand gesture is hasta mudra.
236.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s why it’s so weird and out of place. What is he using it for? It looks so prissy in the speechifying context. And of course incongruous.
I do watch many of the Trump rallies, and here’s why. I am fascinated by rhetorical flourishes, verbal tics, adjustments to vocal tone and pitch and speed, and all the physical messages that can either underscore or belie the words being spoken — everything, in fact, that goes into speechifying. Obama is a wonderful example, nearly always, of doing it right. Trump, on the other hand, does plenty of things wrong — his gestures and body language and facial expressions are often entirely unrelated to the words he is speaking. Sometimes he sounds like a stereotypical ’30s movie gangster, sometimes like a third-rate Borscht Belt comedian, sometimes like a New Yawker on the make — and yet, to a statistically significant number of voters, he is obviously very effective.
So I continue to watch and listen to him because I want to try to figure out what he is doing that has enabled him to connect pretty effectively for more than a year. I’ve read transcripts of some of his speeches and they are a combination of incoherent and flatly boring. So I don’t think it’s the words or message alone.
(The FSM knows I am no kind of expert in this stuff, but I do find it rather mesmerizing. I AM NOT A MASOCHIST.)
239.
Lizzy L
I have to stop looking at Polltracker on TPM. Too disturbing.
Mudra doesn’t have anything to do with meditation per se, mudra is Sanskrit for gesture.
Yes, of course you are right, but to the West (at least in the USA) mudras are almost entirely associated with meditation and yoga.
244.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
Much as I couldn’t listen to Bernie by the end, I can’t watch more than a couple of minutes of the dumpster. If not a full on masochist then you are guilty of masochistic tendencies. That is my diagnosis using my extensive resume as an internet commenter.
I apparently neglected to note that when I watch or listen to a Trump speech I pay almost no attention to content. There is nothing masochistic about wanting to analyze how and why something works the way it does. Content is secondary in this case, at least as far as my own interest goes. You are both welcome not to watch him. I continue to find him an absolutely fascinating case study.
246.
Original Lee
Man, I must have used a word that got me into moderation. Or my entire comment got eaten. Just speculating on mini-str o kes or prepping for a big one for Drumpf.
247.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@SiubhanDuinne: The man has a fascinating, if quite terrifying (to the rest of us) psyche.
I agree, he is fascinating to watch. One of the things that interests me is the incoherence of his phrasing, the way spews out word-salad, so often self-congratulatory/agrandizing, and meaningless. And yet, huge cheers. The explanation for that last part I think is, as Mr Goldman says @efgoldman: , spite. He tells people their rage is justified, their ignorance is common sense, and their confused fears are the understandable concerns of good, salt-of-the-earth folk.
He plays directly to the only things the RWNJ Republiklowns have: hate, spite, and fear.
Well, yes, that’s kind of where I’m coming from. HOW does he play to their hate, spite, and fear? Is it the triple and quadruple repetitions of phrases? The call-and-response? The James Cagney gangster voice (high-pitched whisper)? Something else? Again, at this level I’m not nearly as interested in content — by now everybody knows the content — as I am in the rhetorical conveyance.
@SiubhanDuinne: Agreed! Body language is a deep part of human communication and often goes unremarked despite its outsized influence. It goes beyond human communication of course, to all life communication. It’s fundamental. Often body language trumps the content of words or even the emotional delivery.
Sometimes I will watch him give a speech with the sound muted. Other times I will listen on the radio where I have no reference to the body or facial language. Sometimes, as tonight, I’ll watch and listen to the whole thing, and other times I’ll read a transcript before anything else. It’s all useful. I really hope there are trained professionals who are doing proper scholarly analysis of his speaking style.
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s fascinating. I don’t have the stomach to attempt such acts, but you’re right to pick this iteration of Trump, since he’s the closest thing we’ve seen to Hitler since Hitler, maybe. And Hitler is the A-1 example of what you’re talking about. How did a small, dark sickly man rally a nation to hate around myths of Nordic superiority? It’s a fascinating if obviously disturbing subject, because it also applies to all level of human interaction – in the family, at school, at work, etc – and not just at the nation level. How do bullies bully? How do social hierarchies establish themselves in human societies? How are the norms established upended?
I believe more and more that Trump and his followers are truly only interested in destroying the current system. The anger and resentment that he embodies for them, is a license for the ultimate nihilistic dream — Destruction of the standing order. These folks link up well with the folks in Idaho and the white supremacists who want to retreat to a created nation for white people. They are the dying Neanderthals who disappeared when homo sapiens sapiens emerged.
So apparently there are rumors circulating that Newt Gingrich is the winner of Celebrity Veepstakes Apprentice. That combination is probably the greatest concentration of pure ego that this country has ever seen.
Also the greatest concentration of wives for the family values GOP team
259.
Adam L Silverman
Well I’ve now just about gotten all the way through his speech. If I was one of our allies and/or coalition partners, I’d be very worried about how much support the US would provide under a Trump administration.
I’ve always thought his draw was in his mythology, rather than his speaking style. Watch him on stage surrounded by his pantheon of blond goddesses. He flies in a jetliner with his name embossed in garish letters, he lives in a similarly eponymous highrise penthouse. Trump is what happens when a working-class white guy finds Aladdin’s Lamp. He’s the vicarious fulfillment of their fondest desires. Of course they worship him.
To be fair, I want to be Idris Elba, so I can’t really judge.
@redshirt: Honestly, other than the new attack lines because of the conclusion of the FBI investigation and the President campaigning with Secretary Clinton and the attempt to coopt Senator Sanders, everything he said, and then repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again tonight he’s said and repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again at his past rallies. Josh Marshall is correct. Trump makes a pitch, see how the crowd reacts and either doubles down on it or moves on to the next one. He’s got a set number he’s going to use and he just runs through them with the crowd.
Exactly, thank you. I had not wanted to invoke Godwin, but I suppose at some level that is exactly why I am so interested in the mechanics of what Trump is doing. I think it behooves us to be able to recognize and identify — and flatly condemn — any manipulative, authoritarian words and actions, so that we can more easily fight back the next time a fascist bully appears on our political stage.
Well, I said “among the,” not the most. But I imagine music and dance developed in tandem. Infants learn to vocalize and move their bodies pretty much simultaneously, and I bet the same is true of Homo sapiens writ large.
275.
pseudonymous in nc
Still wondering why no NC senator — not even Thenator Thom Thillis, who isn’t up for re-election till 2020 — showed up in Raleigh, and little Bob Corker from Another State Entirely was on call.
(Non-NC senators do NC events — I remember a 2008 GOTV event with Sen. McCaskill, who is sometimes infuriating but very good politician who puts in the effort and miles for big races — but having Sen. Burr keep the fuck away from Tr*mp tells its own story.)
276.
No One You Know
I just switched off the BBC News on the subject of the emails. Some spittle-flecked Old Man kept emphasizing that the FBI doesn’t normally judge the data, but turns out over to the Attorney General. He chewed and chewed on that word, as if he were God.
Hmm.
I think the British and American electorates need each other. When you’re tired of what’s being done in your name, look across the pond and see how bad the other guy has it.
277.
No One You Know
@redshirt: Personally, I think music begins with the drum we’re born with: the heartbeat. Isn’t that the root of all rhythm?
278.
amk
@Adam L Silverman: Excellent. Thanks. NC might flip over again this season?
I’ve always thought his draw was in his mythology, rather than his speaking style. Watch him on stage surrounded by his pantheon of blond goddesses. He flies in a jetliner with his name embossed in garish letters, he lives in a similarly eponymous highrise penthouse. Trump is what happens when a working-class white guy finds Aladdin’s Lamp.
I think this is very insightful and probably quite accurate, although I would continue to argue that his speaking style is a crucial ingredient in how he communicates his mythology. Maybe that’s it. “Daddy, tell me the story of Donald Trump….” and he embarks again upon the same repetitive tale, complete with funny scary voices and predictable questions-and-answers, with just enough variety from one night to the next to keep the kid paying attention.
That’s very helpful. I’ll watch the next speech with that in mind. Thank you.
@SiubhanDuinne: Semantics, maybe, but “dance” to me means something identifiable. Repeatable. A piece of a culture. Part of a wedding ceremony or a harvest. It’s packed with meaning and that meaning is intentional.
Whereas song is rhythmic. It’s almost natural, as said above. It can follow a heart beat. It’s so much more primal than dance. Just some percussion and grunting and you have music. Perhaps even it was music that was the first language?
And I end this day with a big smile on my face :-)
284.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: At this point anyone’s guess is as good as anyone else’s. This election is unlike anything in the current period of US presidential elections since we switched over to primaries.
Sure. Not arguing with you. (As a music major, how could I?)
Again, I didn’t claim that dance came first, only that it is an ancient human impulse. The rhythm of the heartbeat, the early and universal vocalizations are undeniable — but so, too, is the need to move the body. The vocalizations eventually become melodies, and the stretching and jerking of tiny limbs eventually become dance.
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, it’s semantics, and each is ancient as humanity is old. But one did come before the other, I believe. And it’s only a belief, because I’m not sure how anyone could prove something about human behavior 1.5 million years ago (Control of fire, which was the birth of modern humanity in my definition). So, Homo Erectus [lol] as the originator of music and dance as well as the undisputed Master of Fire. That changes perceptions. It was our pre-human ancestors who invented the basics of humanity. They mastered fire, and with fire cooking, storytelling, and weapons of mass destruction.
We’ve just usurped them all in destructive potential. We’re evolved to destroy.
It was our pre-human ancestors who invented the basics of humanity. They mastered fire, and with fire cooking, storytelling, and weapons of mass destruction.
Trump is sort of an uber-Narcissist, and he will say or do whatever it takes to incite the crowds that give him the adoration that he needs in the way that the rest of us need oxygen. He’s like Sister Sarah that way, but he’s been doing it for a lot longer than her to a much greater degree, and has more mastery of this idiom. It is sadly all too typical to see it pass on to future generations as it does with Bristol, and Eric and Donald Jr. How Ivanka seems to have emerged as a semi-normal person, albeit one who has to deal with the fact that her father wants to “date” her, is kind of interesting.
Trump’s ma and pa seemed to have passed this on to him, and while it is easy to assume Fred did all the forming of the lad, I suspect dear old Mum – who came to the US as a servant, and whom Trump adored – had her hand in this more than we might imagine. Why the golf course in Scotland, where Mum’s from. I am sure that there are plenty of articles being written for Psych magazines about NPD and the Trump effect right now. What lies at the root of NPD is always shame – that’s why Warren gets under Trump’s skin so easily – she has figured out the language to use to make him small.
@Omnes Omnibus: Good question. So does humanity start with Erectus? They had control of fire. That tells me they had society.
Once you can gather around the fire for protection from the terrors in the forest, and are SAFE. It’s like a magic shield most animals are repelled and cannot touch you. Language forms in the gaps. If nothing else, sitting around a fire at night with a bunch of people who are in various relationships is complicated and stimulates our species.
You are probably right — one of those “lethal” mutations that makes the animal run around in circles smelling under its own tail…
297.
Barb2
So, Trump Is IN His Manic phase??
Over the top with his jumbled, incoherent speech. He has a few themes that he vomits out. His fans hear the bits of phrases found in all his speeches – and they think that their hearing is some how off. It is the mob behavior – the fans hear what they want. The haters feed off of each others emotions I doubt any of his fans could tell you exactly what Trump said.
I look at group behavior, mob behavior. We still don’t understand mobs very well. Hard to research and replicate. Cult leaders know how to manipulate the reptilian part of the human brain. Jim Jones practiced those skills, starting as a child.
But does he have money like he wants us to think that he has? I can’t get over how his kids are letting the old man put the brand in real jeopardy and I keep reading that Jared (the son in law) and Ivanka are giving him guidance. Really? With no money and a blatantly racist “platform” — the old man spewing forth rank and more disgusting rants for his hypnotized hordes? I thought they were smart. Are they gonna give the old man a “dose” of something just at the right time where he keels over and they can turn him into a martyr for white rebirth? What the eff is their business plan otherwise, if indeed they are guiding him? They do not appear suicidal. How do they think that they will survive financially. The occupancy in Trump hotels alone is down 60% from one source that I read.
While the old man is nuts and that can explain him — I did not think that Ivanka and Jared were nuts — but who knows…?
299.
Omnes Omnibus
@Elie: The Jewish son-in-law? Ivanka converted. Let’s see how all that works out.
300.
Barb2
Ivanka says her dad is a feminist. So she is bat sh*t crazy nuts.
301.
PurpleGirl
@dmsilev: Ah, but Hitler took lessons in how to speak and how to add gesticulations to his speechs. He both stood before a mirror or had pictures taken of him as he practiced a speech. He put real work into learning how to speak. Trump is lazy. He won’t do that.
Si — the Jewish son in law whose family has been lifelong Democrats (not that that means all that much). More than anything, I don’t get whats in it for THEM. If my old man is running around foaming at the mouth endangering my dough, I am gonna take steps that might involve some psychological testing and a trip to the judge RE his competence. Of course, they may know how to finesse this much more than I can guess, but its hard for me to think all those greedy family members behind La Trump are cool with what is going down unless they are in on some grift or some sucker play. I always listen to my gut and this is not adding up for me in regards to these folks…
Okay — all that may come out and that would make sense to some extent. That kind of crazy in so many members of a family is not unheard of, but definitely more rare than in just one. Like Omnes says, we just have to let this play out and see but it could be some of the most interesting family and social/psychological dynamics that we have seen in a while…
Is that the real height difference between Corker and Trump?
306.
seaboogie
@Elie: Ivanka has the ultimate pull because Daddy is in love with her, and she is HIS most beautiful creation, and has a husband with a job not with pa….however, the sons have only ever worked for dad, and there are two of them. He is trotting them out – especially Eric, who speaks as if he were Papa. I imagine there is some big family shit going down these days. So yes, let’s watch it play out….
307.
Barb2
Family psycho drama! Photo of Eric with dead leopard – add him to crazy list.
Some forms of crazy are inherited – then there is learned crazy. With a narcissistic father – do the kids even do the normal neurotic?
Perhaps the whole family is auditioning for the Trump family reality show?
308.
seaboogie
@Barb2:I get that you are feeling a bit het up, but the reality is that narcissism has effects down through the generations. Children of narcissists either become that way themselves, or self-destructive, or pleasers. The root of narcissism is shame, and that can only be passed down to future generations, along with the compensating behavior and narrative. Trump’s kids are kind of like hostages, and it’s really not their fault, no matter how awful they are.
309.
Barb2
Another root of narcissism is anger – and that is part of what drives Trump. Trump was “disrespected” by Obama at a dinner.
Trump had no way of knowing that Obama uses Island style humor to describe amd have fun with people. We learn that way of having fun with friends at school. Trump doesn’t do having fun “with you”. Weaponized humor – who knew?
We saw da Hawaii kid in Obama today in the way he didn’t use Trump’s name, but still talk-storied about Trump. Hawaiian culture.
Trump is so thin skinned that he didn’t react like – hey the President used his time on me. Wow lucky me.
Anger drives Trump, as well as other self centered emotions. I do feel sorry for his kids – they don’t know what normal is. But then does anyone know?
I’m looking forward to seeing more Of Obama’s Island kid come out to play. Trump doesn’t do humor.
Hawaiian style weaponize humor.
310.
myname
@Patricia Kayden: and the people in the whitehouse are not liars ?
even yourself wow you people are special hahahhaha !!!!
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redshirt
Bigfootarama!
Omnes Omnibus
Not getting out of the boat.
Miss Bianca
@redshirt: ever notice how there will be one thread in the am for several hours and then a short sharp shock of successive ones as we hit pm? Oh, you *have*?
@Omnes Omnibus: not while one has a thermos full of martinis, no…
redshirt
@TRL: Dumb ass troll.
Adam! RtR sighting!
raven
@TRL: See us in November after we CRUSH your Nazi asses.
dmsilev
So apparently there are rumors circulating that Newt Gingrich is the winner of Celebrity Veepstakes Apprentice. That combination is probably the greatest concentration of pure ego that this country has ever seen.
TaMara (HFG)
@TRL: That’s some outstanding nutshelling there. I’m not getting out of the boat. Nope, not gonna do it.
redshirt
@raven: It’s the Brinks Trucks troll again.
redshirt
@dmsilev: I hope so. I think Trump and Newt might be the first modern candidates to actually argue with each other in public. Donald might even fire him.
Gimlet
@TRL:
Today’s disgrace from the FBI is yet another case to bring back an Independent Counsel to get to the bottom of Hillary’s lies.
I read recently that Kenneth Starr currently has some time on his hands.
raven
@redshirt: sorry
chopper
dear god, why?
redshirt
@raven: Why? He sucks.
dmsilev
@redshirt: That’d be hilarious to watch, especially since Newt’s ego doesn’t take well to being disparaged.
raven
@redshirt: I often plea with folks not to engage.
Patricia Kayden
While it is tempting to tune in to watch Donald Trump live as he tells us about his greatness and big words and all that, I’ll skip the livefeed. I’m sure that if, as is his custom, he says something stupid or racist, it will be highlighted on MSNBC tonight.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@redshirt: I thought he got run over by the Brinks Truck when it was backing up.
redshirt
@dmsilev: Right? It’s like a team of two negatively charged magnets. That ain’t gonna work!
MCA1
@Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, me neither, and furthermore, why is this even here? I love Silverman’s substantive posts, but this is not CNN. Drumpf’s event can be found at any of a thousand other web venues. Why do I need live video connections to Der Fuchspelzfuhrer’s rallies at Balloon Juice?
If someone tells me the link’s actually a rickroll or a loop of Bennie Hill Yakkity Sax closing credits or something similar, then OK.
quakerinabasement
Warmup guy is lying his ass off about Clinton emails.
Emma
@TRL: You mean the years when the voting public and his own colleagues handed him his ass? Please. We’ll turn him over to uncle Joe. He has the grifter’s number.
Chyron HR
@TRL:
Good luck with that. See you in November.
Patricia Kayden
@dmsilev: Not only a concentration of ego. They are two of the most odious men this country has ever brought forth. Not sure which one is more unattractive. Keep in mind that with Newt, we’re talking about a man who was kicked out of office by his own nauseous party. Dying for November so we can get this over with.
Patricia Kayden
@quakerinabasement: Do Trump supporters do anything other than lie?
JordanRules
Ban it again.
Trollhattan
@Chyron HR:
Heh, good times. Now Newton shall save them? Somebody remind me: what happened to his House seat and leadership, again? Can’t quite recall….
smith
@dmsilev: The Guardian is reporting a Trump tweet that says Ernst, Cotton, and Pence are the ones under consideration. Which is funny, since there is a story that Cotton just a day or so went through an amazing series of verbal contortions during an interview to avoid saying anything at all about Trump
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: You do know that at least one woman has come forward to claim that Trump raped her when she was a teenager, right? It’s not as if Trump is the picture of virtue or honoring marriage vows. He’s on his third wife and his first wife claimed that he raped her.
When you live in a glass house ….
Emma
@TRL: Yeah. I also know that Bill Clinton left office with one of the highest approval ratings for a president, the country with a $400 million surplus in the bank and went on to become a world-known philanthropist and speaker. In the meantime, Ken Starr stepped on his own dick as a college president and Newtie lurches from grift to grift like a drunken sailor.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: Trump hung out with the exact same convicted pedo. You know that right? Trump has zero to say about family values. It’s easy to go after him for all of his shortcomings, including stating that he wants to screw his own daughter.
redshirt
@MCA1: Know your enemy.
chopper
@TRL:
y’all should turn that into a meme with a big pile of money and some jew imagery. people would love it!
Gimlet
@TRL:
Billy was also running around with a new convicted pedo who was screwing 15 year old girls at a private island.
Hastert?, oh wait…
Trollhattan
@TRL:
Presuming post will be deleted and you, banned but in your fleeting mayfly moments tell us how your Donald is going to slip out of rape charges with that thirteen-year old? “At least it wasn’t a boy” won’t cut it.
Seanly
@Omnes Omnibus:
D’oh, I was going to say the same thing…
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: Trump is a liar. You’re quite comfortable with liars since you’re all in for Trump. Ditto racist, xenophobe, sexist, anti-Semite.
Chyron HR
@TRL:
That’s a good idea. I think Trump and his surrogates should spend as much time as possible from now until November ranting about “Air Fuck One”. It will really give him some sorely-needed presidential gravitas.
Emma
@TRL: oops. I keep forgetting you’re just bad performance art. Trump actually stayed in that paradise of underage sex; Bill just borrowed the plane. But more to the point, Newt has the thinnest skin in politics outside of his future owner. Bill can troll him six ways from sundays.
SiubhanDuinne
@JordanRules:
If I had a hammer
I’d ban it in the morning
I’d ban it in the evening
All over this blog…
Patricia Kayden
@Gimlet: Hastert was screwing teenaged boys.
Booger
@raven: Nat zees asses you won’t!
dr. bloor
@dmsilev: Just wait until the Tangerine Ballsack rips into Newtie because they put pickles on his Big Mac.
Trollhattan
@chopper:
I wish Hilz would enlist they fellow who played Huell on Breaking Bad to do a money pile ad for her. Rub their damn noses in their vileness.
Seanly
@TRL:
You’re a parody troll, right?
Youth wing? Are you talking about Hitler or Trump?
chopper
so when is donald derp gonna announce his veep candidate anyways?
can it be Palin? “Plugs n’ Jugs” would be a great nickname for the two of em.
Patricia Kayden
@srv: No, Americans have a real choice between a candidate who will accomplish great things as she replaces a President who has accomplished great things in the face of Republican obstruction and a bigoted idiot. Easy choice for the majority to make in November and we will make the right choice. There will never be a President Trump.
muddy
@JordanRules: Or people could ignore it for the gods’ sake.
Emma
@TRL: Oh, he turns into a worm? So much effort for nothing. He’s already a snake.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: And they’ll be easily defeated. Most Americans are not bigoted like you and srv. There aren’t enough White men to put an unqualified man like Trump into the White House.
SiubhanDuinne
@TRL:
Okay, I mostly try not to engage with trolls, but if I were wearing a hat I would doff it in your general direction. That is a genuinely funny line.
lamh36
Mary G
The rock Muzak is thrashing my last nerve.
danielx
@TRL:
Listen up, you weeping pustule on Satan’s dick: no independent counsel for SOMEBODY lying us into a fucking war that’s cost us over a trillion bucks (and counting)? No independent counsel for nuthin’. Fuck you and the maggot you rode in on.
Edit: parody troll my ass, I’m in a bad, bad mood.
Corner Stone
This is going to get fucking ugly really quickly.
Gimlet
@TRL:
You have the SJWs on campus. We have 4chan, 8chan, and a big portion of Reddit.
Don’t forget you have George Will, oh wait…
C.S.
@TRL: This is where you went that one little step too far, Doug J . . .
Corner Stone
@danielx: Can you please use the word “cock” next time? I am fascinated by how easy it is to work into normal conversation.
Corner Stone
OMG. Is Corker four feet tall?
rikyrah
Matthew YglesiasVerified account
@mattyglesias
Balanced MSM take: On the one hand, Trump is a wildly unqualified racist demagogue. On the other, Clinton was sloppy with emails.
Corner Stone
“Youth wing”. Huh, that’s some good shit.
SiubhanDuinne
Gotta admire the person in the front row holding up a sign such as to effectively block the camera angle!
danielx
@Corner Stone:
It will be a challenge, but hey, I’m up for it.
Trollhattan
@Seanly:
Nicely pressed brown shirts, in case that helps. The nicely pressed white robes and pillow cases, I believe, are scheduled for RNC night #2.
Ian
@TRL:
Do you even read the shit that you type? I hope they have you driving the BRINKS TRUCKS for this campaign.
Corner Stone
I think we should press charges, bigly, ok? Bigly.
shell
@TRL: Hahahahahahahhahahaha!
Corner Stone
Ok, Trump is doing this one off script! He’s going to do it live, ok?! He’s doing it live!
philadelphialawyer
@TRL: Yes.
Corner Stone
We’re going to stop it bigly, ok? Bigly!
This guy is on meth. No wonder he loves Sarah Palin so much.
schrodinger's cat
What is the deal with that ugly hat? Afraid of mussing up the crappy comb over?
rikyrah
When your Father-In-Law makes you KLAN-splain
Corner Stone
@danielx: By Jupiter’s cock I say I am with you!
danielx
They may have tats instead of bow ties, horn rimmed glasses, and flag pins, but they’re still identifiable as buttnuggets at a hundred yards.
Corner Stone
LGBG Community? Is that like the CBGB’s?
Villago Delenda Est
@TRL: Crybaby will cry again?
Villago Delenda Est
@TRL: When they whine about “privilege”, they should be careful. Their trust funds are at risk.
The Lodger
@TRL: Hey Adam, guess what’s back.
Corner Stone
Trump is really off the rails on this one. He could be doing a whole hit piece playing up on Comey’s hit piece.
muddy
@Corner Stone: Jupiter is hiding his cock now that Juno has shown up.
The Lodger
@TRL: Newt loses his job to a Republican child molester? Bring back the 90s, I say!
Villago Delenda Est
@TRL: Invincible in the same sense as the Black Knight.
Villago Delenda Est
@TRL: Sort of like how Kristalnacht was, eh?
redshirt
Does no one read my posts? Brinks Trucks? RtR? Mentioned way above?
eric
@Corner Stone: Rule No. 1: GOP will ALWAYS overreach. They cant help themselves. Some are saying that Comey was got to. Others, are saying appoint an independent counsel. There is an analogous Second Law of GOP-dynamics. In a closed political system, overreaching always increases.
The Lodger
@TRL: Because Trump looks like a giant sandworm?
Corner Stone
@muddy: Juno is just orbiting. Kind of a tease, if you ask me.
dogwood
We have a terrific right wing troll in srv; he’s even funny once in a great while. This Gamergate troll is creepy.
Technocrat
@TRL:
Tell ’em! They may laugh, but President Ron Paul and Nominee Sanders prove reddit cannot be ignored.
/r/bravenewpolitics
#UpvotesAreLikeVotes
Major Major Major Major
@dogwood: but he represents a super influential constituency, didn’t you hear‽ they have 4chan, 8chan, *and* part of Reddit!
Run away!
Edit: dang, missed it by that much
Technocrat
@dogwood:
srv puts a little thought into it. I can’t imagine him saying “youth wing”, except ironically.
Corner Stone
@Major Major Major Major: And a “bigly” portion of reddit.
…a bigly portion, mind you.
muddy
@Corner Stone: I just feel bad for his former victims who have to hang with him for eternity. I hope Juno exposes everything about the situation, the public deserves to know.
Technocrat
@Major Major Major Major:
::blows smoke off posting finger::
Quinerly
Like father, like son: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/46110_Why_Is_Donald_Trump_Jr._Following_White_Supremacists_on_Twitter
Major Major Major Major
@Technocrat: in my defense, I was going through a tunnel
hovercraft
@Patricia Kayden:
I can picture an ad from Emily’s List, NOW or one of those other womens orgs. in the fall talking about their respect for women, 6 wives between them, dumping wives via press conference, cheating, hitting, they have both been such exemplars for how to show women true respect. Noot is such an intellectual it will bring true gravitas to the ticket.
Patricia Kayden
@TRL: Amazing how Republicans/Conservatives are so dumb that they think a joker like Trump is presidential. That’s what is at issue in November. President Bill Clinton was one of the best Presidents this country has ever had. He oversaw a phenomenal economy and peace at home.
While President Clinton will have a speaking role at the Democratic Convention, the same cannot be said for your last President who won’t even endorse your current Presidential nominee.
MomSense
@raven:
Damn right!
lamh36
Clinton expands lead over Trump to 13 points: Reuters/Ipsos poll via @Yahoo
Villago Delenda Est
@TRL: You could at least make an effort to spell the woman’s name correctly.
Corner Stone
Trump is using only his right arm to gesticulate. He has to keep his left arm braced on the podium.
lamh36
Technocrat
@Major Major Major Major:
Well, shit. You win for Highest Velocity and/or NFTG Post!
lamh36
Someone should put together a “mugshot” list of all the Establishment GOP folks who are NOT going to the convention.
Trump to meet with GOP lawmakers to build support less than two weeks before convention
redshirt
@Corner Stone: That’s a good tell for poor health of some sort.
eric
@Corner Stone: gross, he does that in public? though i also use only one hand to gesticulate. But i do it at home with some pron
Patricia Kayden
@hovercraft: And let’s not forget Trump’s sexist comments where he calls women dogs, and talks about them only being of value if they are “10s”. He even went after one of his own, claiming that she was bleeding out of her “whatever”.
Secretary Clinton’s ads will write themselves with Trump-Newt as the ticket. Too easy.
Misterpuff
@Corner Stone: He’s about the size of Drumpf’s thumb. Bob Thumb.
Can he sit on Trump’s lap?
Patricia Kayden
@lamh36: So many Republican leaders have already opted out of attending his coronation at the Republican convention though. It’s so sad and pathetic.
shell
So, has Trump only been ranting about the emails? He’s gonna start to lose his audience
TRL
@Patricia Kayden:
Clinton will go down as a joke. All the important things in the 90s were in tech and business, he was just “there”. Not to mention he was an embarrassment to the nation:sex immediately after pizza deliveries, thongs, cigars inserted into vaginas and then smoked, rape allegations, phone sex the morning before he opened the ’96 Olympiads , telling Lewisnky he masturbated “at least” three times a day in his 50s…the man has a serious problem. It’s all in the Star Report.
Schlemazel Khan
@SiubhanDuinne:
Ban him? He did nazi that coming
Chyron HR
@lamh36:
IN
VIN
CI
BLE
Technocrat
@shell:
I think he knows that if he changes topics, he’ll say something racist.
Helen
LOL. He’s just babbling now.
SiubhanDuinne
@Schlemazel Khan:
:::groan:::
Origuy
@lamh36: Governor Mucilage would be one of them.
Maybe he got his feelings hurt by being passed over for Veep.
Corner Stone
@eric:
It’s quite common for me to use both hands to gesticulate in a professional environment. Mostly there have been no issues if the pay is right. Mostly.
SiubhanDuinne
@shell:
He made a short side excursion into Tarmacgate.
shell
So now hes trashing the AG on TV, accusing her of bribery? Fuck, what?
Corner Stone
Trump is completely off his fucking rocker. This is amazeballs.
The Pale Scot
@TRL: Over at the National Review they say women’s attractiveness peaks out at 15…
Villago Delenda Est
@shell: It’s all rigged against Teh Donald. Everything is rigged in favor of Crooked Hillary. The entire universe is conspiring for Hillary, and against Teh Donald. I mean, isn’t it obvious?
scav
@Chyron HR:
In Wine This Wheat? Nope, not even drunk French.
Corner Stone
He just started making the motion that equates to pulling a sl0t machine handle wrt the Iran deal.
dmsilev
@Technocrat: He’ll say something appallingly racist or sexist soon enough; like the scorpion in the old story, it’s his nature.
Besides, I think he’s on the ban-on-identification list, so once Adam or whoever checks back in…
Corner Stone
This guy is the worst bed time story reading person ever.
The Lodger
@Corner Stone: If the top of his head is flat, it’s a great place to rest a can of beer.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: His fan base loves it all, though. Inside Teh Donald’s bubble, he doesn’t have the slightest clue as to how he comes off to those outside of the fan base.
schrodinger's cat
@The Pale Scot: Eeww NR sound like a bunch of cradle snatchers.
Miss Bianca
@lamh36: there’s so much bad crazy wrongness in that sentence that my head would explode trying to parse it.
Quinerly
@Corner Stone:
I flipped over to CNN. He’s rambling…basically incoherent. I guess the good news is he loved his dad.
Davebo
Wow, John Kerry shouldn’t have agreed to the Iran deal until they agreed to give back our hostages?
I did not know that!
dmsilev
Shouldn’t Trump be careful? I mean, if Hillary is as bad as he says and he’s exposing her, won’t she just have him whacked?
Corner Stone
@Quinerly: He’s fucking nuts. He has real problems.
Miss Bianca
@rikyrah: oh, thank you, I was looking for the perfect takedown after my bp spiked this afternoon. Gotta stay off FB, gotta stay off FB…
Enhanced Voting Techinques
@TRL: Is this guy trolling or just quoting Trump? It’s hard to tell these days.
Davebo
@dmsilev: That’s actually a popular internet meme going around these days. Of course, it will “look like a suicide”.
Quinerly
@Corner Stone:
Oh, I know that/have known that. I just don’t understand why the poll numbers aren’t farther apart.
Miss Bianca
@muddy: sick burn!
JPL
@Corner Stone: I repainted cabinets in my bathroom and I was putting the cabinet doors back on and listened for awhile.. He does sound crazy. I’m not sure he is well.
GregB
Trump and Gingrich! The millenial women will swoon at their musky manliness!
They’ll be the most repellent twosome since Henry Lee Lucas and Otis Toole.
Adam L Silverman
@TRL: And back in the box with you!
SiubhanDuinne
OMG. He is literally (and I mean that literally) foaming at the mouth a little.
And yeah, that weird thing of gesturing only with right hand and not moving the left arm at all — that is very odd. Bottom line, he does not present as a healthy man.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: I can’t leave you all alone for five minutes without you resurrecting the troll…
Technocrat
@Quinerly:
A great number of our countrymen are shitheads, is my guess.
She can only win the sane ones.
Corner Stone
@SiubhanDuinne: **BREAKING** Must credit Corner Stone!!
Miss Bianca
@Villago Delenda Est: The fact that somewhere, out there in the world – not too far away from me, in fact – there are people who actually believe this – or profess to believe it – still boggles me.
JPL
@Corner Stone: I just put it back on..
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
Heh, sorry, I should have made my comment a reply to you.
Miss Bianca
@Adam L Silverman: evidently this is true…I think he waits till he sees you’re not around, myself. (if / or // indicates snark, what symbol indicates ‘only half-snarking’?)
chopper
@GregB:
“ooooh, what manly men! I can totally imagine either of those guys divorcing me! rowr.”
JPL
Holy Crap, Now he is making fun of the term ISIL. He doesn’t even know what it means.
Corner Stone
I am fucking daring the MSM to do their absolute best to make this speech as some rational part of a “pivot” to seriousness by Trump. This is rambling, crazy, off the fucking hinges, shit of nightmares.
Corner Stone
You’re going to be so sick of winning.
Corner Stone
If he does not collapse and go into the hospital within 4 days I will be shocked.
dogwood
@SiubhanDuinne:
Trump could never handle the presidency. Obama got up this morning, had some meetings, went to NC and effortlessly hit a home run, took Hillary out to lunch, and if he’s home by now, he’s going over his nightly briefing books. That’s not even an extraordinarily stressful day for a president.
Quinerly
@Corner Stone:
I couldn’t take it anymore.
Miss Bianca
@chopper: I’m gonna throw up in my go-go boots if y’all keep this up. Or maybe I’ll just be virtually throwing up on *your* go-go boots.
Villago Delenda Est
@Corner Stone: It probably sounded better in the original German.
Corner Stone
I had to stop watching quality mentions of “cock” on Encore because this Trump spectacle on CNN is way more important to witness.
Uncle Cosmo
@Emma: Closest he’d get is to wrap himself up in the skin of a Hudson River Whitefish & call himself God-Emperor of Dung.
Fellatio Alger
Is that drool running down Trump’s chin?
The Thin Black Duke
I can’t wait to see how the media sock puppets are going to polish this turd of a speech.
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL: There are a great many things that he does not know what they mean. For example, “Nuclear Triad”. Also for example, “Inconceivable”.
dmsilev
@Villago Delenda Est: Not even. Hitler was actually an effective orator.
Quinerly
@Technocrat:
I never thought I’d have some respect for Mittens and the Bush Crime Family but I do.
Corner Stone
He’s starting to sound more and more like mobster voice. This man is straight nuts.
Miss Bianca
@The Thin Black Duke: by licking it with their tiny, little, cardboard-backed tongues…
Villago Delenda Est
@Quinerly: It’s really too early to draw any conclusions from the poll numbers. I suspect that the only poll that counts will be even wider in the margin than these early samples.
Miss Bianca
@Villago Delenda Est:
You’re beginning to make him sound like the villain in a particularly twisted re-do on “The Princess Bride”…
dmsilev
So now I’m wondering about the GOP Convention that starts in a bit under two weeks. Specifically, whether we’re going to see a real life reenactment of The Manchurian Candidate with let’s say Barbara Bush in the Angela Lansbury role. And Jeb? as her sadly brainwashed son of course.
Villago Delenda Est
@srv: Comey really wordsmithed a bunch of nothing into something that is still a bunch of nothing. All innuendo, no facts.
JPL
@srv: There is also an article about what Petraeus did and how the two things are not the same… Copy and Paste only those things you agree with..
RandomMonster
I’m stupider for having watched even just a portion of that speech. Actual brain cells destroyed while watching him.
JPL
CNN is going to try to make sense out of the speech..
@Corner Stone: yup
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Corner Stone: What is that weird little gesture he makes with his thumb and index finger curled together? It seems to be some kind of tic and he often looks like he smells something foul when he does it. I mean we can smell that he’s foul even from a visual, but it doubt he does.
It’s just such an odd mannerism and he seems to use if for emphasis all the time.
Emma
@Uncle Cosmo: AAAAND you win the night!
I will enjoy that visual for a very long time.
p.a.
If this election goes chalk (please let it be), who will they blame? Acorn 2? Newer New Black Panther Party? Daesh voting machine hacks? With any luck Trump & base (and they are base) will turn on the GOP establishment over lack of support. That would be a win on top of a win.
Technocrat
@srv:
Comey: “Clinton was incredibly careless with email”.
Trump: “The Mexican Air Force is after me”.
Major Major Major Major
@Villago Delenda Est: “all innuendo, no facts” has been the MO for Clinton coverage for 26 years, and it works on some folks.
Quinerly
@Villago Delenda Est:
I know, I know but this year is just so very different. And I have a very uneasy feeling that started this morning with Comey. All my Bern Feeler acquaintances have gone over to Stein. She was here in St. Louis last night. That’s what I woke up to this morning in my FB feed.They have found a new purity pony.
Emma
@Quinerly: Isn’t that the damndest thing?
JPL
Gosh, the mocking of the term ISIL was just odd. Who are the advisers that said ISIS is more accurate? He needs to name names.
Emma
@srv: It’s the New York Times. They swing at Hillary reflexively. They can’t help it, bless their hearts.
Major Major Major Major
@Quinerly: your sample might be a wee bit non-representative.
JPL
@Quinerly: I don’t know what state ballots she will be on.
JMG
The New York Times would prefer an election in which neither Clinton nor Trump was elected, and a vote of people who attend their high priced institutional events picked Mike Bloomberg. The voters will not pick a candidate compared to some Olympic performance standard, they will pick a candidate compared to the other one. It’s the simplest choice of my lifetime, but I imagine it will still be a close election, because white people, I have the honor to be one, suck.
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL: Daesh. Because it pisses them off.
Quinerly
@Major Major Major Major:
Thanks for the laugh. Just a bit down today. Up until 4:00 AM with a terrified rescue pooch (fireworks). So I’m jaded a bit….will say today that the thought hit me for the first time that she might not win
Mike in NC
@JPL: Waiting for Trump to start yelling about the threat from IKEA.
robert thompson
Like a broken record I will say it again. Trump is not well. Obviously mentally. That does not explain that left arm. Heart disease or stroke survivor? I say stroke.
JPL
@robert thompson: Is the left arm a new thing? Tonight it was obvious, but I’m not sure that I noticed it before.
dogwood
@Quinerly:
It’s not even about respect per se, it’s about the unwritten, yet generally accepted rules of candidate and presidential behavior. No one has ever behaved like Trump; it’s disgusting and vulgar. And he attracts disgusting and vulgar people to his rallies. Sarah Palin started this stuff, but she had some minders. The difference between this afternoon’s rally and this shit show is beyond stark.
NonyNony
@Quinerly: I’ve got to say – I’m not all that worried about liberals in Missouri deciding to step on their own dicks. If Missouri is close enough for their votes for Jill Stein to matter, we’d be looking at the kind of massive sweep of an election unseen since Reagan.
Hopefully they’ll get off their dicks long enough to vote in their interests downballot, where it might actually matter.
eric
@robert thompson: strained ligaments from plying his head out of his ass daily.
Quinerly
@JPL:
I blew out a 60 plus year old Stein supporter in a Bernie T shirt about 3 weeks ago. She was at our local farmers market getting signatures to get Stein on the ballot here in Missouri. Everyone was signing it and she came over to me and I unloaded on her. Other Stein supporters in Bernie shirts were going door to door in the area. Stein has opened a headquarters near Bernie’s Cherokee Street (south St. Louis) headquarters. Missouri is a red state but the city is blue blue.
Major Major Major Major
Ugh, everybody on my Facebook feed is back to being idiots.
Whatever. It’s not even convention time.
Quinerly
@JPL:
Tonight is the first I noticed it. Granted I could only take 10 minutes of the shitshow.
Technocrat
@dogwood:
Yes, exactly. That’s why I think the emails aren’t a determinative issue. It’s like choosing between a driver who takes corners too fast, and one who keeps his eyes tightly shut.
The Thin Black Duke
Meanwhile, after quietly watching Donald Trump’s speech on TV, Barbara Bush slowly rises out of her chair, walks over to Jeb, sighs softly, and slaps her son in the face. Hard.
hovercraft
This should have been a great day for Drump, Comey was very critical of Hillary the media pounced on her and all he had to do was go out, crib from Comey and the talking heads and they would have praised him for getting his grove back. He could have slipped a non apology apology in the early afternoon with barely a mention, but did he do any of this? Of coarse not, after Obama and Clinton went out and gave rousing speeches that will play well with a general electorate, the dumpster went out tonight and gave a frothing, incoherent, rambling speech aimed at his base, I know there is talk about a convention coup but it’s not real, he has won the nomination. What the hell is he doing? Does he think that non crazy America is unaware that the president is from Hawaii, and that he goes there for christmas every year? Last time I checked people are allowed to spend their vacation time doing what they want to do, saying he gassed up Airforce One to go play golf in Hawaii is a lie. And complaining that the president used it to fly down to North Carolina is stupid, does he not know that the president can only travel in his own plane, did he want him to hitch a ride? Plus political/campaign travel is reimbursed by the campaign.
JMG
Jill Stein lives reasonably near me in my town, She’s a nice lady, Nuts but nice, Tell those Missourians that if Trump wins, it’s on them. Tell them you’ll tell their children they did it. Tell them you’ll give soon to be deported children their address. Make them live consequences.
eric
@The Thin Black Duke: Allow me to defend Jeb. When choice number two is Ted Cruz, then there is no way a mild WASP with limited deep conservative credentials (Schiavo notwithstanding) had a snowball’s chance in hell this year. He was in it for the consolation prize. He was Iceland…..
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Well, all right then.
Quinerly
@The Thin Black Duke:
The way I heard it, she kicked him in the nuts. Hard.
PaulWartenberg2016
Looking at that photo above, how many empty seats is that?
I didn’t see any empty seats for Obama and Hillary today.
Just saying.
SiubhanDuinne
@Corner Stone:
This is what I’ve been saying. Whether it is his subconscious (stressed mind instructing the body how to react), a genuine physical condition, or a plain, flat-out, straight-up lie, I honestly don’t think he’ll make it to the convention. I think he’s terrified, probably at some deeply buried and unexplored level of his psyche, of actually having to shoulder the responsibility of being the nominee let alone possibly winning the presidency. A timely coronary (fairly mild, of course) would remove the decision and have the added benefit of bringing him a lot of sympathy.
robert thompson
@JPL: I first noticed the left arm clutching a podium when he did that sham veterans fund raiser on the battleship Iowa. Its gotten worse I think, marginally but noticeably. The cognition erosion has gotten worse as well but thats fairly apparent. The arm thing I didnt read into at the time but have since noticed it in looking back.
Technocrat
From RedState:
BREAKING. Donald Trump Delivers Devastating Response On FBI Whitewash Of Hillary Clinton:
Yeah.
PaulWartenberg2016
@JPL:
I don’t want to use Isis because I am a child of the 70s and I refuse to name a terror group after a Saturday morning superheroine (later a DC Comics goddess).
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: The Dark Arts predict he’ll be back before long too. Stay vigilant, my friend.
redshirt
@PaulWartenberg2016: I remember her show. And it got me into Egyptian mythology. Sad!
PaulWartenberg2016
@shell:
I refuse to watch Trump in any way, but the responses I’m seeing here make me at least curious in the “how bad is the car accident” kind of way.
PaulWartenberg2016
@Omnes Omnibus:
TIGER
JMG
I’m sorry, because I’m sure many of you have done this before, but the DC comics reference allows me to say RIP Noel Neill.
SiubhanDuinne
@dogwood:
But even on the busiest of his days, I have read that dinner en famille is a sacred, precious time for him. Physical exercise and healthful meals, family time, laser-like concentration on the job at hand, alone time late at night, plenty of engagement (and fun!) with real people — all these things, in proper proportion, have helped make Obama perhaps the most grounded and balanced occupant of the White House in our history. I look at that list and I honestly don’t see one thing that Drumpf incorporates into his regular routine.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’m more on the side of sociopath and a narcissist who does not see his own weaknesses. Yes he’s a con man who doesn’t believe all of what he says, but he thinks he’s so much smarter that everyone else that he can get away with saying anything, he believes that since bluffing works in business he can bluff his way into the oval office. I think he does want to win, but then he’ll delegate the real work to a minion. Physically he also has problems, he needs to sleep more, step back from the twitter machine and get some sleep.
Mary G
I tried to watch him, because I’d never seen a Trump rally, but only made like two minutes and had to stop.
JPL
@PaulWartenberg2016: I don’t think he knows what ISIL means, or else he would agree with it. Maybe he was mocking the President for being thoughtful and precise. He is truly running as vote for me cuz I’m as ignorant as you.
Quinerly
@Mary G:
Excellent decision.?
Iowa Old Lady
Trump sounds crazy to me, but I wonder if that’s being put through my filter. Does he sound that way to Republicans? Reporters? His friends?
Chyron HR
That speech probably sounded better in the original Sad Frog Meme Images.
Cacti
@Iowa Old Lady:
Trump isn’t a candidate for Red America so much as their living god.
He’s mediocre white male anger, insecurity, and status anxiety embodied into a sneering, ignorant human form.
Emma
@Iowa Old Lady: To some Republicans, I think. My father despises him, but has mentioned he thinks the man is heading for a breakdown. Reporters want a horse race. They know he’s bonkers but will twist themselves into pretzels to help him. Friends? I doubt he has any real ones. A friend feels free to call you out when you’re acting like an arse. He doesn’t seem to have that.
JPL
Now we know that Trump respects Putin and Saddam. I didn’t listen to the entire speech, did he mention how wonderful Gaddafi was?
SiubhanDuinne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
If he were meditating, it would be a mudra (specifically the Chin Mudrā). But I’m pretty sure he’s not in a meditative state when he spews forth his odd, disjointed speeches.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
anyone know which house moron this was?
I like Toobin, mostly. As somebody in JMM’s timeline said, he’s probably more than a little embarrassed to be there.
robert thompson
@Iowa Old Lady: His supporters know he is not qualified to be president. They dont care. Its taking back their country they care about. Fascists like to make their base think they are a priori smarter than those elitist eggheads. Trump plays them like a fat carp and reels them in. Its not politics its a religion for them. But I still thing he is cognitively impaired, physically or chemically. I am betting physically.
Lizzy L
I couldn’t listen to Trump — not a word. According to Time.com, he accused Clinton of bribing Lynch by promising her 4 or 8 more years as AG; he accused Obama of knowing about and condoning the bribe; and he praised Saddam Hussein for “killing terrorists.” The reporter who wrote the story did not report how his audience reacted to any of this.
hueyplong
I want to see the video when Trump tells Newt to fetch something for him. I can’t imagine a Gingrich reaction that I wouldn’t enjoy.
JPL
Ben Jacobs reporting for the Guardian has this on his tweet…
robert thompson
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Gotta be Don Lemon. He is an idiot. A highly paid one.
Iowa Old Lady
@Lizzy L: An artful conspiracy theory is born with everything fitting together nice and tidy.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Mudra doesn’t have anything to do with meditation per se, mudra is Sanskrit for gesture. A hand gesture is hasta mudra.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s why it’s so weird and out of place. What is he using it for? It looks so prissy in the speechifying context. And of course incongruous.
Iowa Old Lady
John Podhoretz tweeted that Trump is “fucking insane.” On the one hand, it’s Podhoretz. On the other, he’s right.
SiubhanDuinne
@PaulWartenberg2016:
I do watch many of the Trump rallies, and here’s why. I am fascinated by rhetorical flourishes, verbal tics, adjustments to vocal tone and pitch and speed, and all the physical messages that can either underscore or belie the words being spoken — everything, in fact, that goes into speechifying. Obama is a wonderful example, nearly always, of doing it right. Trump, on the other hand, does plenty of things wrong — his gestures and body language and facial expressions are often entirely unrelated to the words he is speaking. Sometimes he sounds like a stereotypical ’30s movie gangster, sometimes like a third-rate Borscht Belt comedian, sometimes like a New Yawker on the make — and yet, to a statistically significant number of voters, he is obviously very effective.
So I continue to watch and listen to him because I want to try to figure out what he is doing that has enabled him to connect pretty effectively for more than a year. I’ve read transcripts of some of his speeches and they are a combination of incoherent and flatly boring. So I don’t think it’s the words or message alone.
(The FSM knows I am no kind of expert in this stuff, but I do find it rather mesmerizing. I AM NOT A MASOCHIST.)
Lizzy L
I have to stop looking at Polltracker on TPM. Too disturbing.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
Probably elements of what you said and what I said. The man has a fascinating, if quite terrifying (to the rest of us) psyche.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@SiubhanDuinne:
Based on the rest of your post, I beg to differ. Mesmerizing content can be part of masochism. I think.
EBT
Trump is sounding like he is running a campaign from the 1800s now.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yes, of course you are right, but to the West (at least in the USA) mudras are almost entirely associated with meditation and yoga.
hovercraft
@SiubhanDuinne:
Much as I couldn’t listen to Bernie by the end, I can’t watch more than a couple of minutes of the dumpster. If not a full on masochist then you are guilty of masochistic tendencies. That is my diagnosis using my extensive resume as an internet commenter.
SiubhanDuinne
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): @efgoldman:
I apparently neglected to note that when I watch or listen to a Trump speech I pay almost no attention to content. There is nothing masochistic about wanting to analyze how and why something works the way it does. Content is secondary in this case, at least as far as my own interest goes. You are both welcome not to watch him. I continue to find him an absolutely fascinating case study.
Original Lee
Man, I must have used a word that got me into moderation. Or my entire comment got eaten. Just speculating on mini-str o kes or prepping for a big one for Drumpf.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I agree, he is fascinating to watch. One of the things that interests me is the incoherence of his phrasing, the way spews out word-salad, so often self-congratulatory/agrandizing, and meaningless. And yet, huge cheers. The explanation for that last part I think is, as Mr Goldman says @efgoldman: , spite. He tells people their rage is justified, their ignorance is common sense, and their confused fears are the understandable concerns of good, salt-of-the-earth folk.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Well, yes, that’s kind of where I’m coming from. HOW does he play to their hate, spite, and fear? Is it the triple and quadruple repetitions of phrases? The call-and-response? The James Cagney gangster voice (high-pitched whisper)? Something else? Again, at this level I’m not nearly as interested in content — by now everybody knows the content — as I am in the rhetorical conveyance.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne: Agreed! Body language is a deep part of human communication and often goes unremarked despite its outsized influence. It goes beyond human communication of course, to all life communication. It’s fundamental. Often body language trumps the content of words or even the emotional delivery.
SiubhanDuinne
@hovercraft:
You and Bill Frist should set up shop together :-)
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Sometimes I will watch him give a speech with the sound muted. Other times I will listen on the radio where I have no reference to the body or facial language. Sometimes, as tonight, I’ll watch and listen to the whole thing, and other times I’ll read a transcript before anything else. It’s all useful. I really hope there are trained professionals who are doing proper scholarly analysis of his speaking style.
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Probably why dance is among the most ancient of human impulses.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Further giving the lie to your ritual denial of masochism.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s fascinating. I don’t have the stomach to attempt such acts, but you’re right to pick this iteration of Trump, since he’s the closest thing we’ve seen to Hitler since Hitler, maybe. And Hitler is the A-1 example of what you’re talking about. How did a small, dark sickly man rally a nation to hate around myths of Nordic superiority? It’s a fascinating if obviously disturbing subject, because it also applies to all level of human interaction – in the family, at school, at work, etc – and not just at the nation level. How do bullies bully? How do social hierarchies establish themselves in human societies? How are the norms established upended?
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne:
You think? I bet music predates dance, as dance is somewhat complex, whereas music is a natural by-product of speech.
bmoak
@Technocrat:
Woman: Mr. Stevenson, you have the vote of every thinking person!
Adlai Stevenson: That may be so ma’am. Unfortunately, I need a majority to win.
Elie
@SiubhanDuinne:
I believe more and more that Trump and his followers are truly only interested in destroying the current system. The anger and resentment that he embodies for them, is a license for the ultimate nihilistic dream — Destruction of the standing order. These folks link up well with the folks in Idaho and the white supremacists who want to retreat to a created nation for white people. They are the dying Neanderthals who disappeared when homo sapiens sapiens emerged.
TS
@dmsilev:
Also the greatest concentration of wives for the family values GOP team
Adam L Silverman
Well I’ve now just about gotten all the way through his speech. If I was one of our allies and/or coalition partners, I’d be very worried about how much support the US would provide under a Trump administration.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Have you learned anything?
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The common clay of the New West.
You know, morons.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: The responsibilities and duties of citizenship are, at times, a heavy burden.
Technocrat
@SiubhanDuinne:
I’ve always thought his draw was in his mythology, rather than his speaking style. Watch him on stage surrounded by his pantheon of blond goddesses. He flies in a jetliner with his name embossed in garish letters, he lives in a similarly eponymous highrise penthouse. Trump is what happens when a working-class white guy finds Aladdin’s Lamp. He’s the vicarious fulfillment of their fondest desires. Of course they worship him.
To be fair, I want to be Idris Elba, so I can’t really judge.
amk
@TS: moar wives = moar family values
J R in WV
@TRL:
This clown can’t even spell the name of the guy who couldn’t get Bill Clinton impeached.
I know he’s getting deleted, but I’m gonna post this truth anyway.
Omnes Omnibus
@amk: Well, he does believe in marriage.
redshirt
@Technocrat: That’s a huge if not the majority of his appeal.
And he’s been working that a long time. Hell, the REM song “End of the world as we know it” has an anti Trump lyric.
redshirt
@Adam L Silverman: Thank you for your service.
Adam L Silverman
@redshirt: Honestly, other than the new attack lines because of the conclusion of the FBI investigation and the President campaigning with Secretary Clinton and the attempt to coopt Senator Sanders, everything he said, and then repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again tonight he’s said and repeated over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again at his past rallies. Josh Marshall is correct. Trump makes a pitch, see how the crowd reacts and either doubles down on it or moves on to the next one. He’s got a set number he’s going to use and he just runs through them with the crowd.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
All y’all have an odd, not to say inaccurate, definition of “masochism.”
amk
any comparison of kenyan’s and deadbeat’s crowd turnout numbers?
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Exactly, thank you. I had not wanted to invoke Godwin, but I suppose at some level that is exactly why I am so interested in the mechanics of what Trump is doing. I think it behooves us to be able to recognize and identify — and flatly condemn — any manipulative, authoritarian words and actions, so that we can more easily fight back the next time a fascist bully appears on our political stage.
Adam L Silverman
@amk: The Clinton campaign estimated 7,000 in attendance.
http://www.wcnc.com/news/local/president-obama-hillary-clinton-arrive-in-charlotte-for-campaign-rally/264711390
Estimate for Trump rally is 2,200 plus:
http://www.hastingstribune.com/the-latest-gop-supporters-pack-venue-for-trump-speech/article_eead9c92-388a-5d2e-a327-72c2863812f4.html
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Well, I said “among the,” not the most. But I imagine music and dance developed in tandem. Infants learn to vocalize and move their bodies pretty much simultaneously, and I bet the same is true of Homo sapiens writ large.
pseudonymous in nc
Still wondering why no NC senator — not even Thenator Thom Thillis, who isn’t up for re-election till 2020 — showed up in Raleigh, and little Bob Corker from Another State Entirely was on call.
(Non-NC senators do NC events — I remember a 2008 GOTV event with Sen. McCaskill, who is sometimes infuriating but very good politician who puts in the effort and miles for big races — but having Sen. Burr keep the fuck away from Tr*mp tells its own story.)
No One You Know
I just switched off the BBC News on the subject of the emails. Some spittle-flecked Old Man kept emphasizing that the FBI doesn’t normally judge the data, but turns out over to the Attorney General. He chewed and chewed on that word, as if he were God.
Hmm.
I think the British and American electorates need each other. When you’re tired of what’s being done in your name, look across the pond and see how bad the other guy has it.
No One You Know
@redshirt: Personally, I think music begins with the drum we’re born with: the heartbeat. Isn’t that the root of all rhythm?
amk
@Adam L Silverman: Excellent. Thanks. NC might flip over again this season?
SiubhanDuinne
@Elie:
The current system has helped keep Trump (relatively) rich and (so far) out of prison. I’m pretty sure he likes the current system just the way it is.
redshirt
@No One You Know: Agreed. Then you take that beat and add your first words. Da-da. Ma-ma. Ca-ca. The songs write themselves.
SiubhanDuinne
@Technocrat:
I think this is very insightful and probably quite accurate, although I would continue to argue that his speaking style is a crucial ingredient in how he communicates his mythology. Maybe that’s it. “Daddy, tell me the story of Donald Trump….” and he embarks again upon the same repetitive tale, complete with funny scary voices and predictable questions-and-answers, with just enough variety from one night to the next to keep the kid paying attention.
That’s very helpful. I’ll watch the next speech with that in mind. Thank you.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne: Semantics, maybe, but “dance” to me means something identifiable. Repeatable. A piece of a culture. Part of a wedding ceremony or a harvest. It’s packed with meaning and that meaning is intentional.
Whereas song is rhythmic. It’s almost natural, as said above. It can follow a heart beat. It’s so much more primal than dance. Just some percussion and grunting and you have music. Perhaps even it was music that was the first language?
SiubhanDuinne
@Adam L Silverman:
And I end this day with a big smile on my face :-)
Adam L Silverman
@amk: At this point anyone’s guess is as good as anyone else’s. This election is unlike anything in the current period of US presidential elections since we switched over to primaries.
SiubhanDuinne
@redshirt:
Sure. Not arguing with you. (As a music major, how could I?)
Again, I didn’t claim that dance came first, only that it is an ancient human impulse. The rhythm of the heartbeat, the early and universal vocalizations are undeniable — but so, too, is the need to move the body. The vocalizations eventually become melodies, and the stretching and jerking of tiny limbs eventually become dance.
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: Free your mind and your ass will follow. Dance came after – per George Clinton.
No One You Know
@Elie: Actually, Neanderthals had art, tools, and even burial tributes, if I believe Scientific American and Discover.
My money’s on a modern gene mutation.
Gretchen
I haven’t seen him wear the baseball hat since Elizabeth Warren said it was goofy-looking.
redshirt
@SiubhanDuinne: Yeah, it’s semantics, and each is ancient as humanity is old. But one did come before the other, I believe. And it’s only a belief, because I’m not sure how anyone could prove something about human behavior 1.5 million years ago (Control of fire, which was the birth of modern humanity in my definition). So, Homo Erectus [lol] as the originator of music and dance as well as the undisputed Master of Fire. That changes perceptions. It was our pre-human ancestors who invented the basics of humanity. They mastered fire, and with fire cooking, storytelling, and weapons of mass destruction.
We’ve just usurped them all in destructive potential. We’re evolved to destroy.
Omnes Omnibus
@redshirt:
If they did all that, how are they pre-human?
seaboogie
@efgoldman: @SiubhanDuinne:
Trump is sort of an uber-Narcissist, and he will say or do whatever it takes to incite the crowds that give him the adoration that he needs in the way that the rest of us need oxygen. He’s like Sister Sarah that way, but he’s been doing it for a lot longer than her to a much greater degree, and has more mastery of this idiom. It is sadly all too typical to see it pass on to future generations as it does with Bristol, and Eric and Donald Jr. How Ivanka seems to have emerged as a semi-normal person, albeit one who has to deal with the fact that her father wants to “date” her, is kind of interesting.
Trump’s ma and pa seemed to have passed this on to him, and while it is easy to assume Fred did all the forming of the lad, I suspect dear old Mum – who came to the US as a servant, and whom Trump adored – had her hand in this more than we might imagine. Why the golf course in Scotland, where Mum’s from. I am sure that there are plenty of articles being written for Psych magazines about NPD and the Trump effect right now. What lies at the root of NPD is always shame – that’s why Warren gets under Trump’s skin so easily – she has figured out the language to use to make him small.
SiubhanDuinne
@Omnes Omnibus:
Yeah. Once again, I never said it didn’t. I said dance is among our most ancient impulses, not that it is the oldest or that it predates music.
Sheesh. If I have to keep explaining myself to you lot, I might as well go all in and run for office :-\
Omnes Omnibus
@SiubhanDuinne: I wasn’t arguing with you. I probably should have addressed the comment to the squirrel from Maine.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: Good question. So does humanity start with Erectus? They had control of fire. That tells me they had society.
Once you can gather around the fire for protection from the terrors in the forest, and are SAFE. It’s like a magic shield most animals are repelled and cannot touch you. Language forms in the gaps. If nothing else, sitting around a fire at night with a bunch of people who are in various relationships is complicated and stimulates our species.
redshirt
@Omnes Omnibus: Not a fan.
Elie
@No One You Know:
You are probably right — one of those “lethal” mutations that makes the animal run around in circles smelling under its own tail…
Barb2
So, Trump Is IN His Manic phase??
Over the top with his jumbled, incoherent speech. He has a few themes that he vomits out. His fans hear the bits of phrases found in all his speeches – and they think that their hearing is some how off. It is the mob behavior – the fans hear what they want. The haters feed off of each others emotions I doubt any of his fans could tell you exactly what Trump said.
I look at group behavior, mob behavior. We still don’t understand mobs very well. Hard to research and replicate. Cult leaders know how to manipulate the reptilian part of the human brain. Jim Jones practiced those skills, starting as a child.
Elie
@SiubhanDuinne:
True. As long as he is the Emperator.
But does he have money like he wants us to think that he has? I can’t get over how his kids are letting the old man put the brand in real jeopardy and I keep reading that Jared (the son in law) and Ivanka are giving him guidance. Really? With no money and a blatantly racist “platform” — the old man spewing forth rank and more disgusting rants for his hypnotized hordes? I thought they were smart. Are they gonna give the old man a “dose” of something just at the right time where he keels over and they can turn him into a martyr for white rebirth? What the eff is their business plan otherwise, if indeed they are guiding him? They do not appear suicidal. How do they think that they will survive financially. The occupancy in Trump hotels alone is down 60% from one source that I read.
While the old man is nuts and that can explain him — I did not think that Ivanka and Jared were nuts — but who knows…?
Omnes Omnibus
@Elie: The Jewish son-in-law? Ivanka converted. Let’s see how all that works out.
Barb2
Ivanka says her dad is a feminist. So she is bat sh*t crazy nuts.
PurpleGirl
@dmsilev: Ah, but Hitler took lessons in how to speak and how to add gesticulations to his speechs. He both stood before a mirror or had pictures taken of him as he practiced a speech. He put real work into learning how to speak. Trump is lazy. He won’t do that.
Elie
@Omnes Omnibus:
Si — the Jewish son in law whose family has been lifelong Democrats (not that that means all that much). More than anything, I don’t get whats in it for THEM. If my old man is running around foaming at the mouth endangering my dough, I am gonna take steps that might involve some psychological testing and a trip to the judge RE his competence. Of course, they may know how to finesse this much more than I can guess, but its hard for me to think all those greedy family members behind La Trump are cool with what is going down unless they are in on some grift or some sucker play. I always listen to my gut and this is not adding up for me in regards to these folks…
redshirt
@Barb2: He’s the biggest Feminist, really. Just huge in supporting Feminism. Really, the largest supporter.
Elie
@Barb2:
Okay — all that may come out and that would make sense to some extent. That kind of crazy in so many members of a family is not unheard of, but definitely more rare than in just one. Like Omnes says, we just have to let this play out and see but it could be some of the most interesting family and social/psychological dynamics that we have seen in a while…
redshirt
Is that the real height difference between Corker and Trump?
seaboogie
@Elie: Ivanka has the ultimate pull because Daddy is in love with her, and she is HIS most beautiful creation, and has a husband with a job not with pa….however, the sons have only ever worked for dad, and there are two of them. He is trotting them out – especially Eric, who speaks as if he were Papa. I imagine there is some big family shit going down these days. So yes, let’s watch it play out….
Barb2
Family psycho drama! Photo of Eric with dead leopard – add him to crazy list.
Some forms of crazy are inherited – then there is learned crazy. With a narcissistic father – do the kids even do the normal neurotic?
Perhaps the whole family is auditioning for the Trump family reality show?
seaboogie
@Barb2:I get that you are feeling a bit het up, but the reality is that narcissism has effects down through the generations. Children of narcissists either become that way themselves, or self-destructive, or pleasers. The root of narcissism is shame, and that can only be passed down to future generations, along with the compensating behavior and narrative. Trump’s kids are kind of like hostages, and it’s really not their fault, no matter how awful they are.
Barb2
Another root of narcissism is anger – and that is part of what drives Trump. Trump was “disrespected” by Obama at a dinner.
Trump had no way of knowing that Obama uses Island style humor to describe amd have fun with people. We learn that way of having fun with friends at school. Trump doesn’t do having fun “with you”. Weaponized humor – who knew?
We saw da Hawaii kid in Obama today in the way he didn’t use Trump’s name, but still talk-storied about Trump. Hawaiian culture.
Trump is so thin skinned that he didn’t react like – hey the President used his time on me. Wow lucky me.
Anger drives Trump, as well as other self centered emotions. I do feel sorry for his kids – they don’t know what normal is. But then does anyone know?
I’m looking forward to seeing more Of Obama’s Island kid come out to play. Trump doesn’t do humor.
Hawaiian style weaponize humor.
myname
@Patricia Kayden: and the people in the whitehouse are not liars ?
even yourself wow you people are special hahahhaha !!!!