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Trump Timeline ... Trumpocalypse
- Thread starter CdnGuy
- Start date
The current moment, not just political, is the most grim moment in human history. We are now in a situation where this generation, in fact, in the next few years, is going to have to make a decision of cosmic significance which has never arisen before:
Will organized human society survive?
And there are two enormous threats. The threat of environmental catastrophe, which at least is getting some attention, not enough. The other is the threat of nuclear war, which is increasing sharply by the Trump administration, in fact. These have to be dealt with quickly. Otherwise, there’s nothing to talk about.
And notice that the wrecking ball in the White House just doesn’t give a damn. He’s having fun. He’s serving his rich constituency. So what the hell, let’s destroy the world. And it’s not that they don’t know it.
Some months ago, maybe a year ago by now, one of the Trump bureaucracies the National Transportation Administration came out with what I think is the most astonishing document in the entire history of the human species. It got almost no attention. It was a long 500-page environmental assessment in which they tried to determine what the environment would be like at the end of the century.
And they concluded, by the end of the century, temperatures will have risen seven degrees Fahrenheit, that’s about twice the level that scientists regard as feasible for organized human life. The World Bank describes it as cataclysmic.
So what’s their conclusion? Conclusion is we should have no more constraints on automotive emissions. The reasoning is very solid. We’re going off the cliff anyway. So why not have fun? Has anything like that ever appeared in human history? There’s nothing like it.
This is an August 1965 article titled “Air Pollution and the Coal Industry” in the Mining Congress Journal, by James Garvey, then President of Bitumous Coal Research Inc. Garvey’s company developed pollution control equipment. He outlines the growing push to regulate pollution from coal fired power plants.
The abstract reads:
“Growing demands for cleaner air have serious implications for the coal industry since more than half of the coal used today goes for generation of electricity and the coal-burning electric utilities are most likely to be affected by any air pollution restrictions. Garvey reviews the pollution in coal and discusses ordinances that have been passed to restrict use of fuels containing in excess of one percent sulfur.”
In the midst of an article focusing mainly on sulfur and particulates, Garvey diverges under the subheading, “Emission of CO2 Under Serious Study” and writes:
“Among the gaseous materials discharged from the stack is carbon dioxide. This is not generally considered to be a pollutant insomuch as it has never been demonstrated to have any adverse effects on plants or animals. However, to illustrate the far-reaching aspects of the air pollution problem, it should be noted that serious studies are underway to determine whether more restrictions should be placed on the emission fo carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. There is evidence that the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere is increasing rapidly as a result. Such changes in temperature will cause melting of the polar icecaps, which, in turn, would result in the inundation of many coastal cities, including New York and London.”
In the 21st century, a growing body of https://www.amazon.com/Authoritarianism-Polarization-American-Politics-Hetherington/dp/052171124X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456938606&sr=8-1&keywords=hetherington+weiler+authoritarianism (political science research) has emerged showing that the Number One factor driving polarization in America, and increasingly the life force of those sorting themselves into the Republican Party, is support for authoritarianism. As Vox noted in early 2016 as the rest of America struggled to grasp the rise of Trump, this trend would lead “many Americans to seek out a strongman leader who would preserve a status quo they feel is under threat and impose order on a world they perceive as increasingly alien.”
In other words, these voters were waiting for a Trump to come along. One could argue that his ascension three years ago was the inevitable climax of a generations-long societal crack-up, But it felt like the real denouement of this story came last week, when formerly sensible politicians like Hurd, Stefanik and Fitzpatrick chose to obey their party’s “final, most essential demand” to ignore the truth, to profess in public that they loved Big Brother.
With last week’s high drama in Washington, there has been much talk of what will happen in January 2020, when an impeachment trial -- amid the backdrop of the Democratic presidential primaries, no less -- galvanizes the nation’s capital. But any trial held with one party completely in thrall to a dictator is certain to be a sham.
Again, sorry for the darkness, but I’m already thinking -- with a great deal of dread -- toward February 2020 and beyond. We’ve already seen how one failed attempt to hold Trump accountable -- the botched efforts of special counsel Robert Mueller -- emboldened the president to pressure a foreign country to interfere in the 2020 race. That’s in addition to rash moves like impulsively pulling troops from Syria without warning our sitting-duck Kurdish allies, or defying the Pentagon to pardon American war criminals.
With Trump’s Roy Cohn-inspired attorney general William Barr acting as https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/11/17/william-barrs-chilling-defense-virtually-unlimited-presidential-power/ (his authoritarian wingman), who can even predict how far a GOP-acquitted Trump will go next spring in retaliating against public servants that he and his angry mob have branded as “the Deep State” or the journalists he calls “the enemies of the people” -- or in encouraging Vladimir Putin or other bad actors to meddle in his reelection?
No, the challenge for 2020 seems increasingly less about how to prosecute a president’s bribery and extortion, or even how to defeat such a bad actor in a general election, but whether America can figure out how to deprogram a cult before it’s far too late.
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PHOTO BOMB
Photo Bomb
Before we even get the lie in the latest Trump whine and victimization, the absurdity of it should be acknowledged.
Donald Trump removed Marie Yovanovitch from the ambassadorship of Ukraine. Before doing so, Rudy Giuliani and the fuckwits on Fox News engaged in a smear campaign of Yovanovitch. While most Fox News viewers had never heard of Yovanovitch, the audience was left with an impression of what a horrible person she was…though they couldn’t even pronounce her name. Trump even complained about her to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Yovanovitch testified before the House Intelligence Committee and owned the Republicans on the committee. She didn’t advocate for impeachment. She laid out facts. She schooled and scolded Republicans for pushing debunked conspiracy theories that aid Russia. She described in detail the smear campaign Trump’s goon Rudy Giuliani engineered against her and how her removal wasn’t for fighting corruption, but for enabling it. During her testimony, Trump attempted to intimidate her in tweets.
He’s arguing she’s a horrible person. Since Trump has said it, his base will believe it. What are the offenses for being horrible? No, she didn’t refuse to sell him Greenland. According to Trump, she’s an Obama person. There’s no proof of that as she’s served in several administrations. Trump whined to Fox News, “She said bad things about me, she wouldn’t defend me.” There’s no evidence of this before her removal. Now, her greatest offense seems to be that she waited a long time before hanging Trump’s photo in our embassy in Ukraine.
This is what’s ridiculous before we get to the lie in his claim. Donald Trump is so petty, that not hanging his photo is a crime against him. It’s sacrilege. What’s even worse is that his supporters will say the same thing. It’s like the charge that someone’s a “Never Trumper.” What the hell is that? Someone is not to be believed or trusted because they will never support you politically?
Do you know who else had to deal with politicians who would never support them politically? Every politician in history. Even George Washington had haters who accused him of treason. Nancy Pelosi was never going to support George W. Bush, but she worked with him. Newt Gingrich was never a Clintonite, but he was still legitimate (hypocrite, but legitimate). Every time John Boehner or Paul Ryan opposed Obama on an issue, he didn’t cry out, “But they’ve never liked me.” Why not? Because President Obama isn’t a narcissistic manbaby. Tip O’Neill once said Ronald Reagan is “the most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House.” He died before Trump was elected, but he was definitely a Never Reaganite. But Reagan said they were friends “after 6:00 PM.” Instead of crying that O’Neill never liked him, Reagan handled their relationship with humor like the time he said he received a Valentine’s Day card from O’Neill, and said, “I knew it was from Tip because the heart was bleeding.”
Previous presidents never had the delusion that EVERYBODY was supposed to line up and kiss their ass, that everyone was in their servitude, that everyone who didn’t worship at their altar was to be viewed with suspicion, should probably be investigated, and most likely breaking the law with something-something. Why, if they don’t hang up their photo, they should be removed from office. Tomorrow (because today is Sunday), go to your local post office and see if the mailman should be reported for subversion. That’s some real North Korea shit right there, where every citizen is required to display a portrait Dear Leader.
In North Korea, portraits of the Dear Leader are to be hung on the most prominent wall in the living room. There is to be nothing else on that wall. The wall is to be devoted entirely to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il (soon, Kim Jong-un. They’re still developing that cult). It needs to be hung high and looking down on the rest of the room. The portraits are to be kept clean and hung appropriately, and North Koreans better do it as they’re subject to random checks each month. If the picture is dirty, maligned, or even slightly askew, there is an investigation where the “criminal” may be punished by serving a day of hard labor. When a person moves, the very first thing they have to display in their new home are the portraits.
The complaint about the photo is another clue as to why Trump loves authoritarians so much. Even your casual narcissist wouldn’t demand that you hang his photo. At what point will Donald Trump require girls to throw rose petals before his feet?
If you’re a Trump supporter, when do you get tired of this childish, ridiculous bullshit? The man is crying someone wouldn’t hang his photo. You’re going to give credibility to that indignation? You’re going to pretend it’s an actual offense? Next time Nancy Pelosi is at the White House, she should stick her finger three inches from Trump’s face and say repeatedly, “I’m not touching you.”
Here’s the truth about the portrait: Yes. Portraits of the president are to be displayed in every embassy and consulate. They’re in every post office. They required in other federal offices too. But, for the photos to be displayed, they have to be delivered. According to Lewis Lukens, who ran the U.S. embassy in London for much of Trump’s first year in office, it took the Trump administration nearly 15 months to deliver the official portraits of Donald Trump and Mike Pence to our embassies. Now, imagine going to work every day and see those two faces constantly.
I guess Marie Yovanovitch’s true crime is that she didn’t make it happen. Why, if she was truly supportive of our Dear Leader, she would have purchased an appropriate photo of Donald Trump and had displayed it prominently for everyone to see and kneel before. She would have done it at her own expense and have been proud to do so. Everything else on her agenda would have been set aside until a portrait was displayed. For not doing so, she truly is horrible.
This incident is another example of Trump’s tone-deafness or just a display that he ignores or fails to acknowledge facts. Or, maybe he just tells himself we don’t know what we know. What do we know?
We know Donald Trump displayed fake Time magazines with him on the cover in his crappy golf resorts. Trump claims he’s been on the cover of Time more than anyone else in history. We know that’s a lie. Many of us know the person who’s been on the cover the most is Richard Nixon. We also know that’s not good company.
What else do we know? We know that Trump spent $10,000 for a portrait of himself to hang in one of his clubs. We also know that $10,000 was not his and belonged to his charitable trust, the Trump Foundation (which has seen been dissolved because it was a criminal ring). We know that Donald Trump stole from a charity in an act of narcissism.
There are damn good reasons to be a “Never Trumper.” If anything, it should give a person credibility. It tells a person you’re not a dumbass who is an easy target for grifters. A person who will never support Donald Trump is a person who doesn’t support racism, anti-Semitism, narcissism, nepotism, cruelty, bullying, childish taunts, cult worship, lies and just assorted, stupid-ass bullshit.
I am proud that I will never support Trump but I don’t need the label “Never Trumper” because not supporting Trump is just the rational and logical thing to do.
Supporting this childish complaint, and giving it any validity is another example of Republicans destroying our nation. Bret Stephens wrote for The New York Times that “we’ve been living in a country undergoing its own dismal process of Ukrainianization: of treating fictions as facts; and propaganda as journalism; and political opponents as criminals; and political offices as business ventures; and personal relatives as diplomatic representatives; and legal fixers as shadow cabinet members; and extortion as foreign policy; and toadyism as patriotism; and fellow citizens as “human scum”; and mortal enemies as long-lost friends — and then acting as if all this is perfectly normal.” A student asked me yesterday during a lecture about my goal with my work. Part of the answer was to fight this new normal. I reject that it’s normal to go after someone not displaying a photo of the president. Republicans, please stop for one minute and actually listen.
Can you imagine the outrage and mockery we would have heard from the right-wing if there was even a debunked rumor President Obama was upset over someone not displaying his photo?
I will never display a Trump-approved portrait of Donald Trump. If anything, I’ll get in trouble for the images I’m posting now.
Photo Bomb
Before we even get the lie in the latest Trump whine and victimization, the absurdity of it should be acknowledged.
Donald Trump removed Marie Yovanovitch from the ambassadorship of Ukraine. Before doing so, Rudy Giuliani and the fuckwits on Fox News engaged in a smear campaign of Yovanovitch. While most Fox News viewers had never heard of Yovanovitch, the audience was left with an impression of what a horrible person she was…though they couldn’t even pronounce her name. Trump even complained about her to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Yovanovitch testified before the House Intelligence Committee and owned the Republicans on the committee. She didn’t advocate for impeachment. She laid out facts. She schooled and scolded Republicans for pushing debunked conspiracy theories that aid Russia. She described in detail the smear campaign Trump’s goon Rudy Giuliani engineered against her and how her removal wasn’t for fighting corruption, but for enabling it. During her testimony, Trump attempted to intimidate her in tweets.
He’s arguing she’s a horrible person. Since Trump has said it, his base will believe it. What are the offenses for being horrible? No, she didn’t refuse to sell him Greenland. According to Trump, she’s an Obama person. There’s no proof of that as she’s served in several administrations. Trump whined to Fox News, “She said bad things about me, she wouldn’t defend me.” There’s no evidence of this before her removal. Now, her greatest offense seems to be that she waited a long time before hanging Trump’s photo in our embassy in Ukraine.
This is what’s ridiculous before we get to the lie in his claim. Donald Trump is so petty, that not hanging his photo is a crime against him. It’s sacrilege. What’s even worse is that his supporters will say the same thing. It’s like the charge that someone’s a “Never Trumper.” What the hell is that? Someone is not to be believed or trusted because they will never support you politically?
Do you know who else had to deal with politicians who would never support them politically? Every politician in history. Even George Washington had haters who accused him of treason. Nancy Pelosi was never going to support George W. Bush, but she worked with him. Newt Gingrich was never a Clintonite, but he was still legitimate (hypocrite, but legitimate). Every time John Boehner or Paul Ryan opposed Obama on an issue, he didn’t cry out, “But they’ve never liked me.” Why not? Because President Obama isn’t a narcissistic manbaby. Tip O’Neill once said Ronald Reagan is “the most ignorant man who had ever occupied the White House.” He died before Trump was elected, but he was definitely a Never Reaganite. But Reagan said they were friends “after 6:00 PM.” Instead of crying that O’Neill never liked him, Reagan handled their relationship with humor like the time he said he received a Valentine’s Day card from O’Neill, and said, “I knew it was from Tip because the heart was bleeding.”
Previous presidents never had the delusion that EVERYBODY was supposed to line up and kiss their ass, that everyone was in their servitude, that everyone who didn’t worship at their altar was to be viewed with suspicion, should probably be investigated, and most likely breaking the law with something-something. Why, if they don’t hang up their photo, they should be removed from office. Tomorrow (because today is Sunday), go to your local post office and see if the mailman should be reported for subversion. That’s some real North Korea shit right there, where every citizen is required to display a portrait Dear Leader.
In North Korea, portraits of the Dear Leader are to be hung on the most prominent wall in the living room. There is to be nothing else on that wall. The wall is to be devoted entirely to Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il (soon, Kim Jong-un. They’re still developing that cult). It needs to be hung high and looking down on the rest of the room. The portraits are to be kept clean and hung appropriately, and North Koreans better do it as they’re subject to random checks each month. If the picture is dirty, maligned, or even slightly askew, there is an investigation where the “criminal” may be punished by serving a day of hard labor. When a person moves, the very first thing they have to display in their new home are the portraits.
The complaint about the photo is another clue as to why Trump loves authoritarians so much. Even your casual narcissist wouldn’t demand that you hang his photo. At what point will Donald Trump require girls to throw rose petals before his feet?
If you’re a Trump supporter, when do you get tired of this childish, ridiculous bullshit? The man is crying someone wouldn’t hang his photo. You’re going to give credibility to that indignation? You’re going to pretend it’s an actual offense? Next time Nancy Pelosi is at the White House, she should stick her finger three inches from Trump’s face and say repeatedly, “I’m not touching you.”
Here’s the truth about the portrait: Yes. Portraits of the president are to be displayed in every embassy and consulate. They’re in every post office. They required in other federal offices too. But, for the photos to be displayed, they have to be delivered. According to Lewis Lukens, who ran the U.S. embassy in London for much of Trump’s first year in office, it took the Trump administration nearly 15 months to deliver the official portraits of Donald Trump and Mike Pence to our embassies. Now, imagine going to work every day and see those two faces constantly.
I guess Marie Yovanovitch’s true crime is that she didn’t make it happen. Why, if she was truly supportive of our Dear Leader, she would have purchased an appropriate photo of Donald Trump and had displayed it prominently for everyone to see and kneel before. She would have done it at her own expense and have been proud to do so. Everything else on her agenda would have been set aside until a portrait was displayed. For not doing so, she truly is horrible.
This incident is another example of Trump’s tone-deafness or just a display that he ignores or fails to acknowledge facts. Or, maybe he just tells himself we don’t know what we know. What do we know?
We know Donald Trump displayed fake Time magazines with him on the cover in his crappy golf resorts. Trump claims he’s been on the cover of Time more than anyone else in history. We know that’s a lie. Many of us know the person who’s been on the cover the most is Richard Nixon. We also know that’s not good company.
What else do we know? We know that Trump spent $10,000 for a portrait of himself to hang in one of his clubs. We also know that $10,000 was not his and belonged to his charitable trust, the Trump Foundation (which has seen been dissolved because it was a criminal ring). We know that Donald Trump stole from a charity in an act of narcissism.
There are damn good reasons to be a “Never Trumper.” If anything, it should give a person credibility. It tells a person you’re not a dumbass who is an easy target for grifters. A person who will never support Donald Trump is a person who doesn’t support racism, anti-Semitism, narcissism, nepotism, cruelty, bullying, childish taunts, cult worship, lies and just assorted, stupid-ass bullshit.
I am proud that I will never support Trump but I don’t need the label “Never Trumper” because not supporting Trump is just the rational and logical thing to do.
Supporting this childish complaint, and giving it any validity is another example of Republicans destroying our nation. Bret Stephens wrote for The New York Times that “we’ve been living in a country undergoing its own dismal process of Ukrainianization: of treating fictions as facts; and propaganda as journalism; and political opponents as criminals; and political offices as business ventures; and personal relatives as diplomatic representatives; and legal fixers as shadow cabinet members; and extortion as foreign policy; and toadyism as patriotism; and fellow citizens as “human scum”; and mortal enemies as long-lost friends — and then acting as if all this is perfectly normal.” A student asked me yesterday during a lecture about my goal with my work. Part of the answer was to fight this new normal. I reject that it’s normal to go after someone not displaying a photo of the president. Republicans, please stop for one minute and actually listen.
Can you imagine the outrage and mockery we would have heard from the right-wing if there was even a debunked rumor President Obama was upset over someone not displaying his photo?
I will never display a Trump-approved portrait of Donald Trump. If anything, I’ll get in trouble for the images I’m posting now.
