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Normal service has been resumed . . .
Posted: Wed Nov 22, 2017 8:55 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
Speaking of our president, you may not have been keeping up with the whole LaVar and Donald bromance. Those two need each other. The Daily Mail as usual has a helpful article which summarizes where we are to date so that the slower ones among us can catch up.
It's here.
If you pan down the pictures you see this:
The Donald and another donald (NOS but also hairy). Above The Donald's head you will see a cover from Forum magazine. Now I happened to be reading something recently about this mag which folded in the 30s, so naturally, given his known penchant for inserting his image onto magazine covers, I wondered how this had come about. Actually, and it's difficult to see, this is Real Estate Forum which is a current NY-based rag. You can see a
page of all their covers here. I don't see the one with P45 on it. This seems to be a currently unreported example of his self aggrandizement, not that we need another one.
Re: Normal service has been resumed . . .
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 11:08 am
by Lord Jim
Another attempted deflection by our Deflector-In-Chief...
He'd
much rather have the media focusing on this pointless pissing contest than on his endorsement of Roy Moore, (which he reconfirmed a couple of days ago) and the obvious parallels between Moore's situation with multiple sexual assault accusers and his own...
It also affords him an opportunity to obsess about himself and to send a dog-whistle to that hardcore 20%...(two of his favorite pastimes...)
(CNN)Before 6 a.m. ET, Donald Trump had already sent two tweets about the self-proclaimed "big baller" LaVar Ball.
Here's the full two-tweet set:
"It wasn't the White House, it wasn't the State Department, it wasn't father LaVar's so-called people on the ground in China that got his son out of a long term prison sentence - IT WAS ME. Too bad! LaVar is just a poor man's version of Don King, but without the hair. Just think LaVar, you could have spent the next 5 to 10 years during Thanksgiving with your son in China, but no NBA contract to support you. But remember LaVar, shoplifting is NOT a little thing. It's a really big deal, especially in China. Ungrateful fool!" [Doesn't it just leave you brimming with pride to have a President talking this way...]
Even for Trump, who has defined the idea of the presidency downward, these tweets are shocking. So shocking in fact that I had to check multiple times that they were actually from Trump's verified Twitter account rather than some satirical one. But, they are very real -- and telling.
At the root of Trump's personality is grievance and a sense of victimhood. He has spent his whole life -- in his own mind -- on the outside looking in. His father was a successful developer, but not in Manhattan. When Trump became a player in Manhattan real estate, the old money in the city wouldn't accept him as one of their own. When he went to Washington in 2011 amid public speculation of a potential presidential bid, President Obama and the rest of the so-called media elites laughed at him.
At every stage, Trump has been driven by these perceived snubs. His operating principle in life can be boiled down to "I'll show you. I'll show you all!" And he is forever convinced that he's not being given proper credit for things he actually has done. He will find any evidence of these alleged snubs and do whatever it takes to "right the wrong."
Trump is simply incapable of letting any slight, any attempt to steal credit from him, go by. It doesn't matter whether it's LaVar Ball doing it or the president of a foreign country. They're all the same to Trump. They're all people trying to lessen him, to take away what is rightfully his. And so, he claps back. It's all he knows how to do. It's as natural to Trump as calling everything "beautiful" and "amazing." It's instinctual.
The credit-hogging by Trump is actually the least toxic thing he is doing in these two tweets this morning. What's far worse is the racial dog-whistling he offers up by describing Ball as a "poor man's version of Don King -- without the hair" and blasting him as an "ungrateful fool."
It's also a little weird for Trump to belittle Ball by comparing him to King, an avowed Trump supporter, who appeared with Trump on the campaign trail and with whom Trump conducted an odd press conference as president-elect.
Given Trump's demonstrated willingness -- as a candidate and as president -- to play on racial stereotypes and racial animus to benefit his own political interests, it's impossible to ignore the underlying messaging here.
King and Ball are both black. King is someone with a long-held reputation as a over-the-top hype man. By comparing Ball to King, Trump is hoping to minimize him, turn him into a sort of cartoon character in the eyes of the president's political base.
Then there is the reference to Ball as an "ungrateful fool." Who is this (black) guy who isn't saying "thank you" to me for everything I have done for him and his family? How dare he not be appropriately grateful?
What's so damaging about all of this is that Trump knows what he is playing at here. And he doesn't care -- or at least he doesn't care enough not to do it.
Whereas past presidents put the good of the country first, Trump puts himself first. Always. How does this affect me? Why am I being disrespected? What is the political gain I can reap from this?
Of all the ways Trump has changed politics and the presidency, his "me first, second and last" view of the world is the most profound and troubling.
http://www.cnn.com/2017/11/22/politics/ ... index.html
Normal service has been resumed...
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 2:56 pm
by RayThom
I recall seeing something to the effect (was it RT?) that the Chinese courts were going to prosecute these shitheads before Christmas, to make them an international example, and then quickly expel them, banning them from returning for life. Drumpf was not involved.
However, 'The Art Of The Deal' maker, MY president, Lord Dampnut, proposed to Xi that in exchange for political bragging rights that he would 'suggest' the US would curb a financial irregularity currently under investigation against Chinese Ambassador Cui in DC, regarding the "Chinese steel debacle."
Personally, I think the Drumpf's "deal" sucked biggly. I wanted these ignorant students to spend an indeterminate period of time in a Chinese jail cell, and when released, would be stripped of their UCLA scholarships and expelled. And now I see that they have received a mere "suspension." They'll be partying in a few days in downtown LA and giving the collective finger to the "system." Assholes!
Coming soon to a government near you, "2018... Revenge Of The Dems." Make America Sane Again!
Re: Normal service has been resumed...
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 3:44 pm
by Bicycle Bill
RayThom wrote:Coming soon to a government near you, "2018... Revenge Of The Dems." Make America Sane Again!
MAKE AMERICA SANE AGAIN
Yeah, I'd buy and wear a hat — or shirt — like that.
-"BB"-
Re: Normal service has been resumed . . .
Posted: Thu Nov 23, 2017 5:57 pm
by ex-khobar Andy
I wonder how this will play next time a Chinese tourist is arrested in NYC or LA for shoplifting or jaywalking. Firstly I think it is very unlikely although I am sure it does happen, and will happen again if we wait long enough. How are you going to explain to Xi that you have no influence on a state prosecution? Apart from the absurd spat with Ball Sr. why the hell would a president publicly expend political and diplomatic capital on some yobbo 'students'? Remember Lochtegate in Rio last year? I am sure that the State Dept had some words behind the scenes with their Brazilian counterparts, and all was resolved with a few $$$ changing hands and no-one spending months in jail. And Lochte and his BFFs will be more careful in future. And most importantly, no-one crowed "I did that" and wanted all the credit for what was, after all, a shameful episode.
It's just another example of the absurd stupidity of this man.