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You are here: Home / Politics / Trumpery / Dolt 45 / Late Night Open Thread: All Deplorables Together!

Late Night Open Thread: All Deplorables Together!

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An’ Ah’m proud to be a Deplorable / Cuz at least Ah know Ah’m free / Of the social norms that a wider world / Tried so hard to force on me…


 
“None are worth the good profanity” — I like that.


 
Adam Serwer, at the Atlantic, “The Cruelty Is the Point”:

… Taking joy in that suffering is more human than most would like to admit. Somewhere on the wide spectrum between adolescent teasing and the smiling white men in the lynching photographs are the Trump supporters whose community is built by rejoicing in the anguish of those they see as unlike them, who have found in their shared cruelty an answer to the loneliness and atomization of modern life.

The laughter undergirds the daily spectacle of insincerity, as the president and his aides pledge fealty to bedrock democratic principles they have no intention of respecting…

This isn’t incoherent. It reflects a clear principle: Only the president and his allies, his supporters, and their anointed are entitled to the rights and protections of the law, and if necessary, immunity from it. The rest of us are entitled only to cruelty, by their whim. This is how the powerful have ever kept the powerless divided and in their place, and enriched themselves in the process…

Trump’s only true skill is the con, his only fundamental belief is that the United States is the birthright of straight, white, Christian men, and his only real, authentic pleasure is in cruelty. It is that cruelty, and the delight it brings them, that binds his most ardent supporters to him, in shared scorn for those they hate and fear: immigrants, black voters, feminists, and treasonous white men who empathize with any of those who would steal their birthright. The president’s ability to execute that cruelty through word and deed makes them euphoric. It makes them feel good, it makes them feel proud, it makes them feel happy, it makes them feel united. And as long as he makes them feel that way, they will let him get away with anything, no matter what it costs them.

But the Oxycontin doesn’t make their clothes reek, so they can go back to their gated communities and their contracting businesses without getting busted…


 
It is the (R)age of the Deplorables, and this man is their god-king!

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I really don’t know how Sarah Sanders does it sometimes, the bargain one has to make with yourself.

    Sadie Hucklebeast has a brother who tortured a dog then set it on fire. I think maybe they grew up in a house where bad things happened.

  4. 4.

    laura

    Trump rallies are the Sam’s Club version of the Nurnberg Parteitage – propaganda and demagoguery. Demolition derby, bullying, sadism, self-hatred, fear mongering and merchandise. I’m surprised Don Jr. Hasn’t arranged to have dogs kill a tree bear at a rally.
    The loyal opposition has devolved to Lord of the Flies. They hate us and their hatred gives them a rage-boner.

  6. 6.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Too angry to sleep, unusual for me. The kitties wonder what is going on. Here is Mr. Charles Pierce

    Presidents don’t have to be heroes to be good presidents. They just have to realize that their humanity is our common humanity, and that their political commonwealth is our political commonwealth, too..

    Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said some words tonight. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is disturbed by those actions that Charles Pierce describes. Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona is concerned, as he always is. Supposedly there is a group of three, four, five senators who are pooling their concern to vote together, one way or the other. They could make a difference. We’ll see in the next few days whether they choose to check the autocrat or to side with this disgusting show.

  7. 7.

    Emerald

    Please. PIgs are intelligent and emotional animals. Do not defame them by comparing them to this crowd.

  8. 8.

    Jager

    The summer before my sophomore year in high school the park board had dances for high school kids at a local tennis complex. There was a smart ass senior bully who was all over me one night. He called me out and I beat the living shit out of him in the parking lot. It ruined his life from then on. Too bad his name wasn’t Donald J. Trump instead of Billy.

  9. 9.

    Anne Laurie

    @Emerald:


    I did feel a little bad about the pigs. On the other hand, they can be vicious garbage guzzlers and savage cannibals, so there’s that…

  10. 10.

    Mnemosyne

    In case anyone was wondering when the Hey, all men are rapists, anyway phase was going to begin, it started last week with a Brooklyn College professor who (of course) has previous sexual harassment complaints lodged against him:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/laura_hudson/status/1047609130385473536

    It always amazes me that conservatives claim that feminists are man-haters while insisting that “real men” are impulsive, violent toddlers in adult bodies who can’t be held accountable for their actions because they’re too emotionally fragile.

  11. 11.

    Chetan Murthy

    It is a balm and a benison to be able to read (here on this blog) the writings of so many people who live in Red States, and are still decent human beings. Because In Real Life, even the few non-Trumpists I know seem to be homophobes and Conservatives-in-disguise-as-Independents. It’s disappointing. And frustrating. And rage-making, b/c to me, it’s almost a litmus-test for decency, whether somebody is embracing of gay marriage and full civil rights for gay people.

    Seeing someone who is livid (had up to *here*, she says, and I believe her) with Rapey-K, who turns around and is pretty pissy about gay marriage and “civil unions” …. that’s …. so ….. *hulk smash*.

    Ugh.

    So I just try to remember all the times you people have taught me to be better, and especially you people from Red States, teaching me to be better. And I feel better for it. Not better *enough* (still a little *hulk smash*) but at least a little.

  12. 12.

    Lapassionara

    If this were a Greek or Roman comedy, wouldn’t the deus ex machina show up about now and fix the plot so everything would turn out ok?

  13. 13.

    MisterForkbeard

    Well, the confirmation vote is this Satuday, supposedly.

    My wife’s parents are going to come visit Saturday->Sunday. They’re fairly avowed Trumpists, or at least active Hillary haters and lifelong Republicans. I don’t think they’re actually aware that my wife is THIS close to cutting off contact with them if they say favorable things about the Republicans, especially in front of our two little daughters.

    So basically, this is going to be a potentially awful weekend. We’ll see. >_<

  14. 14.

    hervevillechaizelounge

    I really don’t know how Sarah Sanders does it sometimes

    The Possum Queen isn’t conflicted at all; she hates the blacks and the gays more than she loves anything, even herself.

    It’s probably counterproductive but I despite the media that coddles her far more than I despise the Possum Queen. Incest is endemic in evangelical families and I’m sure growing up overweight and cockeyed was no Magic Kingdom weenie roast—she’s probably working out a lot of anger from her childhood.

    Not that I wouldn’t be delighted to see her die in a fire, of course; she’s just not the first person in the Trump regime I’d douse with gasoline if the opportunity presents itself.

  15. 15.

    Keith P.

    It’s a very scary time when past deeds you thought you got away with come back to bite you in the ass. Particularly when it leads to a hiccup in your career ascent.

  16. 16.

    barb 2

    A Washington Post opinion columnist had a good suggestion — for all the women who have protected their dads by not telling him about sexual abuse/rape etc. — tell him.

    One news anchor assumed that his daughters were the lucky few who escaped some form of sexual assault — not so dad — it does and did happen to us. There are generations of dads who don’t have a clue that the “sl*t shaming” by Trump and the Rape party also includes their own daughters.

  18. 18.

    Betty Cracker

    @Lapassionara: This is your cue, Mr. Mueller!

    @MisterForkbeard: Ugh, my sympathies! I dread talking to my father for the same reason.

    My husband wants to move even further out in the sticks. I like the country, but a chief misgiving is being even more outnumbered by deplorables than we already are.

  20. 20.

    Duane

    I protested at a Trump rally. Lived around them all my life. In a town that lynched three black men on the public square in1906. They are the smiling white men at a lynching.

  21. 21.

    Dan B

    @barb 2: I agree that the most valuable change will happen when women talk to their dads but also to other men they are close to. The issue is remarkably similar to the importance of coming out for LGBTQ people. Before the 70s the vast majority of americans thought gay men were fags and drag queens who were afraid of or hated women and lesbians were macho men haters. Attitudes began to shift. Then AIDS arrived and the fill spectrum of gay men became visible. Men who could “pass” for straight were outed. Suddenly it became obvious that gay men were everywhere.

    At this moment women are either going to suffer with a horrible jurist in the high court or get lucky and dodge a bullet temporarily. When Chris Wallace’s daughters tell him they’ve suffered its a crack in the monolith. We’re at a pivotal moment when marginalized people can change our future prospects. It’s happened before.

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    @Kathleen:
    Poor Trump. It must rankle that the Clintons and the Obamas are still the cool kids, and he will never be one himself.

  26. 26.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker:

    I like the country, but a chief misgiving is being even more outnumbered by deplorables than we already are.

    Every things a trade off but it’s not so bad. I wear my heart on my sleeve (and my back, and my head, and my truck) so by the time I give someone a nod of the head and a “How’s it going?” most already know I’m a libtard and that they shouldn’t talk politics with me. Another upside is liberals come up to me and say things like “Thank you. I thought I was alone out here.”

    Which you aren’t. There are a lot more of us living out here than one would guess.

  32. 32.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: True — even the deep red areas have their share of libtards, which people tend to forget. We’re talking about moving to the manatee-infested Confederate backwater where I grew up, so at least I’d know what I’m getting into…

  33. 33.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Betty Cracker: While I have always spent a lot of time in the hills and hollers and many times had thought of moving out here, it took an egregious situation to make me do it. Now, my sons are gone, one to STL and the other to NOLA and here I remain. Dawg willing I will die out here. As much as I miss it, I can’t imagine living in the city again.

  34. 34.

    Nicole

    @Kathleen: Happy birthday! Wishing you many more, as I hear it is established science that people with the most birthdays live longest.

  35. 35.

    geg6

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    See, I’m just the opposite. I hate living here in the ‘burbs and would kill myself if I lived out in the sticks with the most Trumpiest of Trumpers here. It’s bad enough with them here. I want to retire and move to the city. I haven’t lived there since college and I can’t wait to get back. Oh, for civilization and diversity and like-minded people!

  38. 38.

    raven

    @OzarkHillbilly:

    You’re sick of hangin’ around and you’d like to travel,
    Get tired of travelin’ and you want to settle down.
    I guess they can’t revoke your soul for tryin’,
    Get out of the door and light out and look all around.

  39. 39.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @geg6: I grew up in the ‘burbs. They suck donkey dick. Filled with some of the most rude and self centered people ever imagined. After bouncing around the country for a couple years post HS, I moved into STL. And loved it, even with all it’s difficulties. But during all the years I lived there, every chance I got I’d head for the boonie woods or the high desert or a mountain escarpment. At my core I am a man of nature, I need it like most people need oxygen. Sometimes I really miss seeing black faces, or having any number of things to do on a whim, or sitting down in a Nigerian restaurant, or… So yeah, I still enjoy going to the city and do so, but at the end of a loud, crowded, frenetic paced day, I return to my little patch of Ozark Eden, sit on my front porch with a glass of wine under a star filled sky and listen to the song of the crickets punctuated by a barred owls, “Whocooksforyoualllll”. I am home.

  40. 40.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @raven: A nice bit of Dead for the AM.

    Came across this this morn;

    Let me die a youngman’s death
    not a clean and inbetween
    the sheets holywater death
    not a famous-last-words
    peaceful out of breath death

    When I’m 73
    and in constant good tumour
    may I be mown down at dawn
    by a bright red sports car
    on my way home
    from an allnight party

    Or when I’m 91
    with silver hair
    and sitting in a barber’s chair
    may rival gangsters
    with hamfisted tommyguns burst in
    and give me a short back and insides

    Or when I’m 104
    and banned from the Cavern
    may my mistress
    catching me in bed with her daughter
    and fearing for her son
    cut me up into little pieces
    and throw away every piece but one

    Let me die a youngman’s death
    not a free from sin tiptoe in
    candle wax and waning death
    not a curtains drawn by angels borne
    ‘what a nice way to go’ death

    -Roger McGough

  41. 41.

    Amir Khalid

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:
    But if you were born on February 29, doesn’t that mean that three years out of four you have a birthday on March 1? Otherwise, imagine the horror of having to spend 16 years in high school, rather than four.

  43. 43.

    Soprano2

    @Duane: What are the odds that two people from Springfield would post on this blog ? I laugh when conservatives tell me I just don’t understand why Trump won; I live in a place where 70+% of voters are for Trump; I know why they like him. He expresses their grievances, and allows them to express them too.

  44. 44.

    Betty Cracker

    @OzarkHillbilly: Nature is why I’m willing to move to the boonies too, only in my case it’s rivers and springs rather than mountains. I’m happiest cruising around a river in a little boat. The woods and waterfowl make enduring the assholes worthwhile.

  45. 45.

    Tata

    @barb 2: I read that article and agree with it in theory, but…I have qualms. Dads who don’t understand that women live in a constant state of fear contributed to it. They did. Chris Wallace contributes to it every day from his platform. That his daughters had to make themselves vulnerable means that his wife wasn’t telling him anything, and when people aren’t communicating, there’s a reason for that.

    So I don’t know. A lot of women don’t trust their menfolk. That’s what I see here.

  46. 46.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Cheryl Rofer: I had the same issue. Finished Ron Chernow’s excellent biography of U.S. Grant last night as a result. It’s not as bad now as it was during the Reconstruction era…but we’re definitely backsliding. IF Kavanaugh gets confirmed, the next Democratic POTUS may have to start ignoring Supreme Court decisions. Their first SCOTUS case will absolve the President from having to follow the law…to save this orange sack of grievances from any repercussions. But, if the POTUS isn’t beholden to the law, well, he doesn’t have to follow the law. Supreme Court decisions are the law, hence not binding on the POTUS. The guy isn’t a good judge, many of his decisions are poorly researched, sloppily written, and misapply precedent…if a Supreme Court completely misinterprets or distorts the Constitution past the breaking point I don’t see why anyone should be expected to follow that decision. I mean, the Trump administration is ignoring court orders left and right with nothing happening to them. A Democratic POTUS will be allowed to do the same thing. The Supreme Court has no enforcement branch. Yes, such action would break our political norms further but they’re already broken past the point of easy repair anyway.

  47. 47.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @laura:

    Trump rallies are the Sam’s Club version of the Nurnberg Parteitage

    Oh that line is a keeper.

    I would also add “why no monster truck pull at these rallies?” too. since Spanky is so fascinated by big machines.

  56. 56.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @OzarkHillbilly: Glad you’re enjoying the wonders of city life. Here’s the flip side:

    I came out yesterday morning to find my car (parked directly in front of my home in the respectable lowr-middle-class 85%-AA neighborhood where I’ve lived for 30 years) all the doors on my car ajar & all the junk I keep in it thrown around, specifically including the contents of the console & glove compartment. Nothing broken (I’d apparently forgotten to lock the car after I’d unloaded it Tuesday evening) & nothing stolen that I could tell (I don’t keep anything accessible that’s worth stealing)…but this happens with depressing regularity. (Not even counting the couple of times when a window was broken to steal something that looked like it might be valuable but wasn’t.)

    So I locked up the car & didn’t come out again until last night when I was fixing to go out. Serprize serprize, the mofos who rifled the car had also left the interior lights on – & my battery is dead. Waiting for a friend to jumpstart me as I type.

    And y’know, no one does squat about this – it’s just what comes with living in the city. I routinely have the lock on my storage shed broken off, so I never keep anything in there (though I keep buying locks for fear the shed will end up a shooting gallery). Once many years ago I had a lawn mower stolen out of the shed – & amazingly enough the cops happened by & caught the kids – & the crowd that gathered threatened to smash all my windows in retaliation; I had to call the cops & ask them to pay special attention to my place until things calmed down.

    Meantime my piggyback income taxes are the highest in the state, my property taxes are double what I’d pay if I could move the house over the county line, ditto my auto insurance, my water bills are 5x what I’d pay in the county, Transit & Traffic has for years been fucking over car owners…& the city is happy to announce that they are doing so well they can actually keep all the library branches open every day (but on restricted hours), probably by shorting the budget for books.

    I love city life. :(

  57. 57.

    NotMax

    @Uncle Cosmo

    Small consolation, but they left the battery.

    ;)

    Years ago, Mom had one those those 1960s land yacht Chevrolets. Went out to head to work in the morning, turned the key – nothing.

    Mechanic called, eventually showed up and popped the hood to find a neatly built pyramid of bolts and screws on the top of an inside wheel wall. And nothing else. Entire engine gone.

    Actually poked his head up and said, “Lady, I think I found your problem.”

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