Curb Your Authoritarianism? The 2016 Conventional Wisdom Thread (Elections, Part 6)

That sounds like expert talk to me. Mighty suspicious.

there is no critique of trump's life story that would be more persuasive to his voters than the prospect of banning muslims and building a wall once he's elected

another good read:

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-end-of-a-republican-party/

he's already taken back the muslim ban.

his appeal isn't any one policy or set of policies. it's the vicarious thrill of transgressin. americans have become hedonists in the worst way.

lol *transgression

that's not to say that he isn't actually dangerous or that he won't do destructive things in office.

but i think his voters are taking pleasure in the spectacle and the vicarious thrill of racism and that's why they are so accepting of his inconsistencies/the fact that he is dumb as hell. they get pleasure out of it.

"vicarious thrill of transgressin" is probably the more accurate phrasing in terms of Trump's fans.

trying to argue over policy and consistency won't work to counter this. the best strategy is to make him look small and pathetic.

so is anybody going to die at the convention today?

it will be the death of our innocence

wishin and hopin and transgressin

Roy Cohn quote in that Jane Mayer / New Yorker piece: "Donald pisses ice water."

“I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”

Good morning! Country fucked yet?

Whaddaymean 'yet'?

http://dr35ey0x3otoq.cloudfront.net/uploads/default/optimized/3X/5/8/5806f1e8250713e721589a2d72d687f526b24979_1_494x500.jpg

I give Pence a week, maybe two, with Trump's hand up his ass before he starts going off-script. He was clearly straining a bit in that interview.

I wonder what their private conversations are like

have they even had a private conversation

josh marshall has been hinting on twitter that, having watched interviews with trump in the 80s and compared them to today, he's suffering from some kind of degenerative cognitive malady. not in the "GWB changed his accent" sense, more in the CTE sense.

i think trump and pence's private conversations mainly revolve around their favorite chili's appetizers

XPS "So...Chili's--what's that like?"

XP They compare Taco Bowls.

trump doesn't have private conversations

“Trump has been written about a thousand ways from Sunday, but this fundamental aspect of who he is doesn’t seem to be fully understood,” Schwartz told me. “It’s implicit in a lot of what people write, but it’s never explicit—or, at least, I haven’t seen it. And that is that it’s impossible to keep him focussed on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes, and even then . . . ” Schwartz trailed off, shaking his head in amazement. He regards Trump’s inability to concentrate as alarming in a Presidential candidate. “If he had to be briefed on a crisis in the Situation Room, it’s impossible to imagine him paying attention over a long period of time,” he said.

...

Growing desperate, Schwartz devised a strategy for trapping Trump into giving more material. He made plans to spend the weekend with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, his mansion in Palm Beach, where there would be fewer distractions. As they chatted in the garden, Ivana icily walked by, clearly annoyed that Schwartz was competing for her husband’s limited free time. Trump again grew impatient. Long before lunch on Saturday, Schwartz recalls, Trump “essentially threw a fit.” He stood up and announced that he couldn’t stand any more questions.

Schwartz went to his room, called his literary agent, Kathy Robbins, and told her that he couldn’t do the book. (Robbins confirms this.) As Schwartz headed back to New York, though, he came up with another plan. He would propose eavesdropping on Trump’s life by following him around on the job and, more important, by listening in on his office phone calls. That way, extracting extended reflections from Trump would not be required. When Schwartz presented the idea to Trump, he loved it.

Not sure how to say this without sounding nuts: if gazillionaires and GOP brokers love Pence far more than Trump (Mayer mentions in a tweet that Charles Koch tried to recruit Pence to run in 2012), does this hurt Trump's chances of, uh, surviving?

Often, after spending the day with Trump, and watching him pile one hugely expensive project atop the next, like a circus performer spinning plates, Schwartz would go home and tell his wife, “He’s a living black hole!”

this is great stuff

http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all

xp do you mean "surviving" euphemistically or do you think the kochs are going to poison his egg mcmuffin?

Thinking poisoned Egg McMuffin...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IHcp8Pl_X4

trying to argue over policy and consistency won't work to counter this. the best strategy is to make him look small and pathetic.

― Al Moon Faced Poon (Moodles), Monday, July 18, 2016 11:16 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Exactly. He can say almost anything, and as long as he says it candid and with the same level of confidence he will be fine since that's what his followers are responding to. He carries himself so convincingly to them that inconsistencies are written off as examples of changing contexts or similar misunderstandings by critics.

is Benghazi Day going to help or hurt the GOP?

those benhazi twats are irritating

duck dynasty is speaking today. wtf.

also looking forward to European Fembot Melania Trump's first spoken words

I am tempted to remake the song "Bengali in Platforms" as "Benghzi, Our Platform" in honor of the RNC

can't imagine Flo and Eddie are happy with this G.E. Smith cover of "Happy Together"

why does ge smith take money from republicans

very moving pledge of allegiance tbf

http://www.guitarworld.com/features-news-interviews/ge-smith-talks-bass-republicans-and-performing-roger-waters/%0919609

I have an 11-year-old daughter and she’s going to be going to school for a long time. And it’s expensive, so I have to work. Last year I did the Republican National Convention. When they first asked me to do it, I turned it down. And they offered another really good offer, which I turned it down. They came back with one more and I said no. It wasn’t so much political but rather that I had just been away for two years and I wanted to go home. I’d just made a bunch of money so I didn’t feel the pressure. And then they came back with an insane final offer. And I thought, Well not only will this pay for several years of Josie’s school but I can hire six or seven of my friends, and give them a really good pay day too. So we went and played the Republican convention. We may not be Republicans, obviously, but it was really interesting. I got heavy flack from some people for doing it. If you remember, at that time, last August, a year ago, it wasn’t so sure. It was kinda looking like Romney was making a good run for it. So I got some heavy flack for it. But I’m a professional musician and this is what I’ve always done. I’ve been a professional musician since I was 11 years old. It’s what I do: work.

i can only hope josie smith's expensive education turns out to be more useful than ge smith's was

i respect that answer

If he'd gone with the Dems her education would be free!

He probably would play for the Dems if they didn't keep trotting out James Taylor.

hahahaha now i'm trying to think of a suitable republican-convention performer who could follow "JT IS HERE!"

duck dynasty is speaking today. wtf.

Because Evangelicals, and the not-so-secret theme of this shitshow is "Minute 19 of Our 15 Minutes of Fame".

scott baio

If this doesn't spark the Baiossance, I don't know what will.

I’ve been a professional musician since I was 11 years old

this is appropriate, b/c lots of people in the GOP would like to turn us back to the gilded age of mass child labor.

I have an 11-year-old daughter and she’s going to be going to school for a long time. And it’s expensive, so I have to work. Last year I did the Reichsparteitage. When they first asked me to do it, I turned it down. And they offered another really good offer, which I turned it down. They came back with one more and I said no. It wasn’t so much political but rather that I had just been away for two years and I wanted to go home. I’d just made a bunch of money so I didn’t feel the pressure. And then they came back with an insane final offer. And I thought, Well not only will this pay for several years of Josie’s school but I can hire six or seven of my friends, and give them a really good pay day too. So we went and played the Reichsparteitage. We may not be Nazis, obviously, but it was really interesting. I got heavy flack from some people for doing it. If you remember, at that time, last August, a year ago, it wasn’t so sure. It was kinda looking like von Schleicher was making a good run for it. So I got some heavy flack for it. But I’m a professional musician and this is what I’ve always done. I’ve been a professional musician since I was 11 years old. It’s what I do: work.

aw, scott baio, really? I didn't know he was one of them. :(

Phonies love Chachi

(I'm Hillary's new jokewriter, btw)