Displaying 751 To 780 Of 19,504 Comments Trump to Use Robocalls to Comfort Families of Fallen Soldiers Cheers Kes! » Posted By AdLib On October 25, 2017 @ 4:20 pm Kes, that would be an even better choice for this sociopathic nutjob. Even making the call seems to be too much for him, he can’t be bothered to remember the soldier’s name for three minutes. “Call 1-800-GUYS-DIE to hear consoling words from Donald Trump when your family member is killed in the service for reasons we won’t explain or take responsibility for. 1-800-GUYS-DIE, your 24 hour consolation hotline. Only $3.99 per minute. Hope to hear from you soon!” » Posted By AdLib On October 24, 2017 @ 2:37 pm Kalima, you’ve put your finger on it, Trump followers do exhibit the traits of cult followers. Only believing what the leader says, blind support of anything he says, attacking and discounting anyone who isn’t as slavishly devoted to the leader and his dogma, etc. They are impervious to reality and facts, their need to follow an authoritarian leader simplifies the complexities of life and they shut out anything that threatens to interfere with this small minded view of things. Maybe some could be de-programmed but my advice to the Dems is to write off these Trump Zombies, their brains have already been eaten. Focus on energizing the base and indies to come out next year to put the brakes on Trump’s unchecked power. » Posted By AdLib On October 24, 2017 @ 2:30 pm Is Trump Mainstreaming Insanity? Kes, such a thoughtful and insightful post! Well done! But if there wasn’t a Hitler or Trump, would one have been created? I don’t think so. Such uniquely charismatic sociopaths aren’t plentiful and I don’t think they’re easily replaceable. I think the same people who are racist and hateful today were the same hateful racists in 2008 and 2012 when Obama won. IMO, had Democrats nominated a candidate that wasn’t as polarizing, fair or not, as Hillary Clinton was, Trump would have lost and the blindly hateful people in the country would just continue being in the minority as they were. The election was complex, I don’t see it as driven by these haters, their enthusiasm however was another element for Dems to deal with. But the Russian hacking, Comey’s insane interference just before election day, social media’s indifference to promoting propaganda, Voter ID laws and other voter suppression, Hillary’s overlooking of campaigning in the Rust Belt swing states, all created this perfect storm where a man disliked by a majority of Americans won a presidential election. However, your point about Trump reflecting and adopting the bigotry and hatred of the GOP base makes a lot of sense. I do think that Trump’s elevated position in the media, the MSM’s constant availability as a megaphone for Trump’s unapologetic bigotry and hatefulness, gave a kind of permission to his base to be just as openly racist and hateful. “If Trump can say racist things and compliment Neo-Nazis in front of the entire country, I can too!” I also would suggest that this is not a recent development for these types of Americans. Before being the Trump base, they were Tea Partiers. Before that, they were The Moral Majority. Before that, they were the Goldwater Base and George Wallace supporters. They didn’t and don’t believe in evolution, they don’t believe in Climate Change, they don’t believe in “fake news” that doesn’t affirm the propaganda they’ve gladly gobbled up and they embrace victimhood and seeing everything in their life and society that they don’t like as an attack on them by “librul” enemies. The Right Wing propaganda machine has captured the minds of these people to the point that they support their party taking away the very health insurance they depend on. Taking away their jobs and income, all the things that are the real causes of their suffering in life has been caused by the party they blindly follow and they sheep-like buy into the phony distractions of Repubs pointing at Dems as the ones to blame. For these obliviously self-destructive people, politics is like religion, they are Republicans like they are Christians, no one can argue against their blind faith to make them change their beliefs. They are beyond the reach of those who reason and IMO, should not be chased for votes. They are the adversaries of progress, they should be seen as natural adversaries of those who reason and beaten politically, dragged involuntarily into a better future. The voters who made the difference in the election were the more independently minded voters who, demonstrating the gullibility of many Americans, wanted to believe that electing Trump would shake up the system in a good way because they were tired of the useless status quo of Congress in particular in making their lives better. It’s hard to believe that after what we’ve all witnessed so far, that indie voters would be available to be won over again by such a lying sociopath who has so tarnished the WH and the country. I think those that leave him are gone for good for the most part so the cautions of pundits not to count Trump out, are oblivious to this reality. The real job is to pull back the misguided support from indies that empowered the bigots and haters on the right. A big chunk of Trump voters weren’t racists, they were rubes who were conned and many who have realized that are done with him. We need to improve our society despite them, it’s never going to be with them. To them, the ideal direction for society to go is backwards to white superiority, male superiority and coal superiority. Dems just need to make sure they connect with average American working people as they always did but strayed from in their greed to serve corporate and Wall Street interests in exchange for campaign financing. We can’t separate the ignorant from their self-harming ignorance but we can send them back to the margins where they don’t have the power to hurt those who aren’t white, male and affluent. And we can help them economically despite their fighting against it as long as we attract and enthuse indie voters to come back to the Dem party. » Posted By AdLib On October 2, 2017 @ 10:11 pm Trump Insists That Border Wall Will Be Built But It Will Be Invisible to “Losers” Trump’s supporters as a human wall would at least make them of some use to the country (and I love the bicycle gag!). After hearing Trump wants a massive military parade like NK and Russia on the 4th of July, if he had his way, I don’t doubt he’d have people imprisoned or shot for openly disputing his “miracle” pronouncements about himself and his alleged accomplishments. Too bad for him, you can’t tweet in prison. » Posted By AdLib On September 21, 2017 @ 12:13 pm My pleasure, Kes. Some people would call selling views of the sky at $10 a pop entrepreneurship. Of course someone who would tried the same thing with a phony university and had to pay a huge settlement. As WC Fields once said, never give a sucker an even break.
» Posted By AdLib On September 21, 2017 @ 12:07 pm Flooded by the Horrible, Humanity Rises to the Surface Kes, I think it’s what keeps humanity from drowning. » Posted By AdLib On September 8, 2017 @ 3:30 pm Kes, thanks so much for your thoughts on this! I do think we’re in overload right now and we have been for so long, many people are in a constant low-level state of shock. I wake up each morning and turn on the news to see if anyone’s launched a nuke yet. Or if Trump has declared black people 3/5 of a person. Or if Medicare and Social Security have been shut down through “privatization”. The suffering and destruction from Harvey and coming from Irma seem almost like a physical manifestation of the assault and trauma America has been forced to endure for years and much more intensely under Trump. The vicious racism and hatred that bubbled up from a segment of Americans in response to the election of Obama has been nauseating. The vicious attacks on him, the sabotage of Congress to hurt him and the majority he represented and the intentional harm caused to Americans in the pursuit of handing more power and money to the wealthy has been overwhelming. As you say, what is needed as a salve on this terrible wound to America’s psyche is a reminder that we are indeed better than all of this. We are caring, compassionate people, we are so much bigger than the small men and women in politics and the media who try to convince us that we should hate or be afraid of “the others”. Good people care about “the others”, whether it’s DACA, our fellow Americans in Houston or Florida, those under attack by bigots, our LGBTQ friends and family, etc. We know that we’re seen as “the others” too by some out there and we know how wrong it is to hate for that reason. It’s too bad that it sometimes takes suffering or tragedy to peel back the superficial layers in our society and see that human beings are at their core, caring and empathetic. If there was a way to keep wearing that truth on our sleeve as we move on, we really could be a better people with a brighter future. » Posted By AdLib On September 7, 2017 @ 1:09 pm Cheers, Kalima! It is striking to see strangers rescuing strangers and even risking their own safety and lives to do so then dilettantes Donnie and Melly in their fine clothes mouthing empty words and clapping the Repub Governor on the back about how great they are in feigning compassion. America is suffering from PTSD. Most are still numbed from the sights and sounds of Trump holding the nation’s most powerful position and acting like the oblivious ass he is at every opportunity. I think most people are just thinking, “Please let this nightmare finally end!” And as for those suffering from Harvey and those who are and will suffer from Irma and the hurricanes that are following, there is so much concern and compassion from most Americans who want to help their fellow human beings. Meanwhile, Trump and his cronies are intent on increasing pollution that will help to intensify more and more hurricanes, droughts, etc. Electing Trump was like putting a blind man in the driver’s seat of a car heading towards a cliff…and too many morons out there thought it might be a nice, diverting change of pace to ride along with him. If only so many good people wouldn’t have to suffer, I would wish Irma hit South FL directly and could just destroy Mar-a-Lago, wipe it off the face of the Earth…and Trump with it. » Posted By AdLib On September 7, 2017 @ 12:44 pm Thanks FD! I think generally, people are born to be concerned and caring towards other people. You often see the same natural instinct in the more evolved animals as well so biologically, I think people are hard wired for sympathy if not empathy. The conflict that turns some people evil may be based in the complexity of the human mind, specifically, emotions. The feelings of insecurity, fear, resentment, jealousy, frustratioon etc. that grow in some people as they mature (at least physically), seem to override or pervert their natural instinct towards kindness. And those negative emotions can dominate the thinking process of many so that they feel motivated and justified in their racism, lack of compassion, hatred, etc. Also, some people are just naturally followers. In an environment where they are surrounded with hateful, small minded, insecure people, they conform. Had they been surrounded by compassionate people, maybe they would have turned out differently. So your invoking of the Tao is very meaningful. If one does proceed through life seeking to be better in who they are, they will be more open to finding the paths to move them in that direction. Those cemented in a commitment to a path they adopted for emotional reasons will be harmed by their own obliviousness to truth. In the end, maybe it is the frailty of the human mind, the neediness of some to conform or give into their fears that continually sabotage the prospect of human beings moving confidently ahead together? » Posted By AdLib On September 7, 2017 @ 12:30 pm Yes FD, and let’s not forget all the collaborators of fascists who were “just following orders” and giving them, some tried and convicted as dramatized in Judgement at Nuremberg:
» Posted By AdLib On August 24, 2017 @ 12:21 am Kalima, just to compliment the real Selma footage, this trailer from the movie Selma is also very powerful (as is the movie, of course):
» Posted By AdLib On August 23, 2017 @ 11:45 pm A True American Doesn’t Need Two Days and a Teleprompter to Condemn Nazis Of course Trump lied about Charlottesville, how else could anyone make a case for sympathizing with Nazis? As the NYT says today, “Trump Opens Breach With Party, Military and Industry” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/16/us/politics/trump-charlottesville-military-jews-ceos.html This is something never seen before, The Joint Chiefs of our military have all come out against Trump, many of the country’s top CEOs have walked away from him and doing the best that their cowardice allows for, Republicans have at least spoken out against Trump’s giving aid and comfort to Nazis and Klansmen. Trump is a danger to the country and the world and none but his cult followers are fooled by his camouflaging that. For the first time, I think it is most probable that he will be removed or chased out of office. This isn’t sustainable. » Posted By AdLib On August 17, 2017 @ 12:48 pm Couldn’t be more poignant, FD. Hate to admit it but Repubs don’t care about anything other than re-election. They worry about being primaried if they attack Trump so they won’t. They need the campaign contributions of the wealthy and the loyalty of their gerrymandered, RW voters so they would stay with Trump even if he started ending minorities to concentration camps. They are the enemy too and shouldn’t be looked to for standing up for morality, conscience or America. The Republican party is now The Nazi Party, they are continuing to support an avowed white nationalist president. They are the enemy too and must be treated like such and defeated. » Posted By AdLib On August 17, 2017 @ 12:40 pm gyp46, of course you’re right, people who “rally” wearing helmets, kevlar, carrying shields and massive amounts of weapons as well s planting secret caches of weapons around the city, chanting racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic hatred…obviously didn’t come to Charlottesville to peacefully protest. They plainly wanted violence. As Gandhi and MLK proved, the peaceful majority will always defeat the violent minority…as long as they confront them and refuse to back down. » Posted By AdLib On August 17, 2017 @ 12:33 pm Kalima, that Vice episode/doc is must-watch for all Americans, people need to see who these people really are and what really happened. Good people don’t march among Nazis and Klansmen and chant “Jews will not replace us!”. But only the Nazi-apologist Trump seems not to know that. » Posted By AdLib On August 17, 2017 @ 12:25 pm Kalima, I think Trump has now jumped off the Nazi cliff, he has committed himself 100% to openly taking the side of white supremacists and isn’t going to look back. In his tiny reptile mind, he sees them as his personal army and cult who will rise up to protect him when Mueller comes for him and when he is impeached. What he is too ignorant to know is that these pieces of white trash only represent a small minority of Americans and voters and they aren’t numerous enough to save him from his destiny. He’s made his final choice, Trump has thrown in completely with the neo-Nazis and KKK, he is an enemy of America and he will be defeated like the Nazis and Klan have been defeated before. » Posted By AdLib On August 17, 2017 @ 12:20 pm Kalima, on top of all this, Trump discussed this weekend, pardoning racist AZ ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio who’s been found guilty of racist actions and ignoring the courts. Trump could find human chains keeping him out of returning to the WH! Boston? Really? And what happened there tonight? Boston’s Holocaust Memorial damaged for second time this summer [img]https://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_960w/Boston/2011-2020/2017/08/14/BostonGlobe.com/Metro/Images/bedford_memorial2_met.jpg[/img] They can’t allow the rally and these groups should be tagged as terrorists, just connect their violence in VA with their groups and outlaw them (to protect 1st Amendment, only the groups that can be proven to have assaulted people should be so tagged). Then use RICO laws to sweep up this human garbage wherever it is. Trump is a sociopath, he has proven beyond a doubt this weekend, he has no conscience. Whatever is advantageous to him is good. End of story. And Neo-Nazis and Klansman voted for Trump so they are good. That’s all there is to that hamster-on-a-wheel driven brain in Trump’s head. » Posted By AdLib On August 14, 2017 @ 10:53 pm Kes, I think you’re onto something there! Maybe his staff was holding back the flattery propaganda folders from him until he delivered a condemnation? I have exactly the same exchange with my mother as you do with The Warlord, she can’t believe it’s only been 7 months! » Posted By AdLib On August 14, 2017 @ 10:36 pm Weekend Music Thread – Peace Train One of my evergreen faves! » Posted By AdLib On August 12, 2017 @ 10:14 pm
» Posted By AdLib On August 12, 2017 @ 10:12 pm Truth! » Posted By AdLib On August 12, 2017 @ 10:10 pm Trump to Spend Rest of Term Wearing VR Headset Thanks so much, Fergie! » Posted By AdLib On August 6, 2017 @ 11:40 pm Thanks Kalima! I think the whole Trump admin will be wearing them before the end of the year. That way, when it comes to their delusions and lies, they can all be in sync…as they walk off a cliff thinking they’re boarding Air Force 1. » Posted By AdLib On August 4, 2017 @ 11:34 pm How Republicans Lost Their Own Rigged Game So to be clear, we do agree that Trump should be stopped or impeached? As Kalima mentioned, my article is about how Republicans failed at repealing the ACA even though they tried to rig the process, appreciate comments about that topic in this thread. » Posted By AdLib On August 3, 2017 @ 8:20 pm RSG, I was with you most of the way. No question that the Repubs have abandoned any relationship with morality and truth. The only way they can accomplish anything anymore is to lie and deceive. However, you’re veering around reality to keep venting this obsessive hostility you have towards Sanders. Trump won because he had more voters in the Rust Belt states than Hillary and received more electoral votes in the country. That’s the simple reality. Considering that it’s been nearly 9 months since the election, it’s well past time to accept reality as unpleasant as it is and channel that energy constructively towards bringing Dems together to take back The Senate and The House in 2018…which will block Trump’s power and begin his takedown. Isn’t that what matters now? » Posted By AdLib On July 28, 2017 @ 5:15 pm gyp46, as is evident from Trump’s efforts to convince people they can’t trust the news or facts, the Republican war of truth has reached its ultimate position. Lies are all they have to describe their morally bankrupt agenda. They can’t very well admit that they don’t care about Americans and will sell off every inch of America just to get re-elected and benefit the wealthy pigs that finance their re-elections. But it’s not working anymore, only their mindless followers, a minority of Americans, accept their BS as gourmet cuisine. When you get dismayed, consider all those people who were out at The Capitol protesting last night and all these months. Regular people, moms with their kids, blue collar workers, those suffering from severe health issues. They just beat the wealthiest and most powerful people in the US. People have been rising up, they may be tired of all this crap but they’re showing up and making a difference. It won’t be long before we have a very constructive direction to channel our energy and enthusiasm, as the 2018 elections start gearing up. Hang in there, sanity and a huge pushback to this assault on our democracy is coming! » Posted By AdLib On July 28, 2017 @ 5:06 pm McConnell Sweetens Repeal Vote With Promise to Bring Back Polio Nirek, what I do to get in the right frame of mind to write like this is wake up, swallow a handful of Oxycontin washed down with a quart of Jack Daniels, climb onto the roof of my house then dive headfirst into a wheelbarrow full of manure. Then I just ask myself, “What’s the worst thing I could do to hurt the most Americans?” and what comes out seems to fit in well with the thinking of Republican politicians. Thank goodness my health insurance covers all of this…wait…what’s the Repubs voting on in the Senate tonight? » Posted By AdLib On July 27, 2017 @ 6:12 pm Certainty of Sessions/Keebler Collusion Confirmed AC, quite fun! I don’t know what’s scarier, Sessions or the Keebler Elf as Sessions! » Posted By AdLib On July 20, 2017 @ 6:59 pm Trump’s Propaganda and the Wall He Wishes Wasn’t Built jjgravitas, it’s kind of like nearly half the country following up a great meal that was prepared by a black man with a plate of rotten food that was at least prepared by a white man. If they think they’re sick now, wait until they’ve swallowed 4 years of it. » Posted By AdLib On July 19, 2017 @ 8:48 pmComments Posted By AdLib
Just as Hitler was the “perfect” mirror for the resentment and anger of an economically struggling people, Trump is.
What’s hard for many of the more enlightened people in this country to accept is that there is around 30% of this country who are poorly educated, easily manipulated through their fears and programmed to favor authoritarianism. These people, though they are not all hateful, are the embedded enemies of progress in our society on every level.
The Wishful Thinking Voters. They are the ones who are moving the polls against Trump now, they are the ones realizing that they were conned. And they are the ones that can bring sweeping victories to Dems in 2018 and 2020. They are the ones Dems need to woo.
Yes, we need to keep Russia from interfering in our elections to the degree they did in 2016. I do think it won’t be as easy for them in the future. And we need to fight the voter suppression agenda of the GOP.
I think we have to just accept that we will always have this 30% or so of Americans who are bigoted, hateful and ignorant. That can only change over generations of educating their kids on critical thinking, science and reason. You can’t teach a racist, rabid dog new tricks. You just avoid them.
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