US Politics January 2018: "You All Just Got A Lot Richer"

Good on CNN for calling it for what it is, albeit still rather timidly: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/this-is-must-watch

it's almost as if he is profoundly ignorant of the rest of the world.

just watch this. 2018 has gone beyond surreal and crossed into something very ugly

Remarkable worlds from CNN's Jim Acosta. Not surprising. But these are not ways reporters talk on network or cable network TV. Watch this! pic.twitter.com/2gUqdlREOd

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) January 11, 2018

sorry, didn't see alfred already mentioned it just above. but jfc

Yeah I kinda feel like there's reason to be careful with how one responds to the "shithole" comment.

If it sounds like pearl-clutching "Oh my goodness, that boor! He's violating the sacred rules of presidential discourse," it just covfefeeds the right. "Yeah no shit, violating norms is EXACTLY why we voted for him, you pannywaist milquetoast snowflakes!"

The better move IMO is to let his boorishness speak for itself and instead focus on the toxically inhumane politics behind the coarse language.

I didn't know you could say "shithole" on CNN

France's propensity for protests is occasionally explained through its revolutionary history. Why the fuck doesn't this hold true for the US in 2018? The situation has been dire for months now, and it doesn't look like anyone is actually doing anything effective about it. As a foreign observer, it's hard not to consider the 'other America' complicit – I mean, why is no one is out in the streets? The tipping point was reached ages ago, for fuck's sake.

Language matters. It's a terrible cliche but it's true. It's not about "presidential discourse", it's about having at least a vague hint of human decency in your bones. Which this sorry excuse for a man doesn't have. He deserves to be called out on it. His language very clearly represents the tip of the iceberg; his inhumane politics are what lie beneath.

xp Pomenitul otm. I ask myself that question daily.

LBI agreed

This distinction is being discussed in Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you... thread. I feel like both aspects of it are terrible and worth objecting to w/o diminishing either

Gotcha H VIII

Yeah I kinda feel like there's reason to be careful with how one responds to the "shithole" comment.

I'm not American so I don't have to worry about saying I hope he dies tonight.

I think we should all be careful about calling President Trump a racist without further elaboration because it kinda softpedals the fact that he's an utterly unapologetic white supremacist piece of shit nazi fuck. I know that's a mouthful but we should strive for accuracy imo.

Why aren't Americans in the street every single weekend? Protesting this gigantic fuckup of a president? I don't know.

It's a fact that nearly half of the voters wanted this man in office. Is even ten percent of them going to admit they made a 'yuge' mistake? Five percent? Not in a million years. And with practically no opposition from the Hillary voters, no streets filling up every Saturday, you'd have to assume this is just what America is in 2018. Trump: he's dumb but what can you do.. It's not gotten even close to anymore than that. It's disheartening to view from across the ocean, I'll tell you that.

~

It's nagl, I know, but I'm genuinely surprised not one person has tried to shoot Trump. I thought that would've happened within weeks of his presidency!

xpost I also think we should be careful about saying we hope he dies tonight because it sort of hedges on by what method e.g. stroking out of the toilet with his pants around his ankles and with his McDonalds bib in a twist

i feel that way too, pomenitul. i wish there were emails about nationwide protests going around right now - now would be the time to do it.

And with practically no opposition from the Hillary voters, no streets filling up every Saturday, you'd have to assume this is just what America is in 2018.

it's not far from the truth. i get the sense that a lot of people are just getting exhausted with trump. it's every day, it's everything, it's everywhere, it's always a possible topic. but because of that exhaustion, it can be fucking eerie as hell when something crazy happens and no one around you even seems to notice it or mention it.

He probably thinks Norwegians live in igloos though tbf.

Yeah, that or they are all Thors.

That's ridiculous.
Some of them are Lokis.

It's kinda dumb but people don't get out in the streets in the winter, even for revolutions

If some course correction isn't made by the summer things are gonna start to get ugly

It's kinda dumb but people don't get out in the streets in the winter, even for revolutions

Russia might have a few words there.

it was pretty cold for the women's march

Party are out in the streets _today_. Fuckin’ NYPD put an NYC councilman in a chokehold, in a rather blatant literal display of the city’s current power structure.

it's not far from the truth. i get the sense that a lot of people are just getting exhausted with trump. it's every day, it's everything, it's everywhere, it's always a possible topic. but because of that exhaustion, it can be fucking eerie as hell when something crazy happens and no one around you even seems to notice it or mention it.

― Karl Malone, Thursday, January 11, 2018 11:15 PM (four minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Exactly. I totally get that. And it's arguably been two generations since people really took to the streets (Vietnam). So it's not going to happen overnight.

Question is: do things need to get even worse (no idea how, but Trump's proven it can, every single day) or would some getting used to this sordid affair help get people to protest? Neither seem likely tbh, which is grim.

....and yet, if one believes it was necessary to lay down rhetorical covering fire before betraying the base on immigration, this did the trick. https://t.co/xNB5yDcuNf

— Tim Alberta (@TimAlberta) January 11, 2018

he's not this smart, but this will be the effect

xpost Ned, true enough, obv. I'm thinking of Arab + Prague + Ukrainian springs and more recently how in nyc the Occupy movement sort of folded for the winter in IIRC

BREAKING: Donald Trump 'cancels visit to UK next month after fearing he won't be welcome' https://t.co/jOusv38GDu pic.twitter.com/KftRUIQLLj

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) January 11, 2018

it's arguably been two generations since people really took to the streets (Vietnam)

nope.

According to the French academic Dominique Reynié, between January 3 and April 12, 2003, 36 million people across the globe took part in almost 3,000 protests against the Iraq war.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_the_Iraq_War

when you act like the world's dirty cop no wonder you think like this

I suppose being The Richest and Most Powerful Country in the World™ wards you against any intra-national opposition, as long as there's enough to go around for the oligarchy. The hoi polloi can vicariously get high on the pride of being #1. Totally worth it, right?

he's not this smart, but this will be the effect

my first reaction was that since the only support he'll get for his shithole remark will be from his base, he'll take shelter with them, and doubledown on his xenophobia. that's what they want, at least, and he seems to like trying to make "his people" (white people) happy.

Bold move that even after pardoning Joe Arpaio Trump is about to offer sanctuary to Varg Vikernes

— Shuja Haider (@shujaxhaider) January 11, 2018

BREAKING: President Trump, in a series of tweets, defended Burzum's jail synth records; "The guy didn't have access to guitars, I mean, you gotta admire the drive. Plus they're soothing"

— Liam O'Brien (@LiamIsTalking) January 11, 2018

what's amazing about all this is that many people say that trump is the last racist person you've ever met

France's propensity for protests is occasionally explained through its revolutionary history. Why the fuck doesn't this hold true for the US in 2018? The situation has been dire for months now, and it doesn't look like anyone is actually doing anything effective about it. As a foreign observer, it's hard not to consider the 'other America' complicit – I mean, why is no one is out in the streets? The tipping point was reached ages ago, for fuck's sake.

― pomenitul

we've been through this here, iirc:

rolling explaining conservatism

short answer is the quote about how every poor person in America sees themselves as a temporarily inconvenienced millionaire

Not sure how that explains why non-conservatives aren't taking to the streets en masse, though.

true, and I share your frustration

maybe because it didn't do shit re: Iraq?

obv. I would disagree w/that, regardless of the "effectiveness of protest" this really needs to start happening just as a gesture

As a foreign observer, it's hard not to consider the 'other America' complicit – I mean, why is no one is out in the streets? The tipping point was reached ages ago, for fuck's sake.\

complicit in what, exactly?

🐦[BREAKING: Donald Trump ’cancels visit to UK next month after fearing he won’t be welcome’ https://t.co/jOusv38GDu🕸 pic.twitter.com/KftRUIQLLj🕸
— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) January 11, 2018🕸]🐦

Gunna be fun if he never actually makes it over there for four years

Or

He drags his feet so long by the time he finally gets there, Corbyn is in charge

Trump push notification watch:

WaPo: Shithole
NYT: Vulgar language
CNN: Shithole
LAT: Slur
AP: Shithole

— Jon Passantino (@passantino) January 11, 2018

didn't know you could say "shithole" on CNN

― frogbs, Thursday, 11 January 2018 23:00 (forty-nine minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

When the president does it, it's legal

I think the only thing mass protests alone do is just keep the dude from visiting your country

live on the air, i've heard s-hole, bleephole, s-word-hole, and shithole

Hilarious that the language is so scandalously awful but the same people who find it thus are cool with the president having this view.

So will it should be fine to refer to the President as 'that asshole' on most media outlets from now on?

“Certain Washington politicians choose to fight for foreign countries, but President Trump will always fight for the American people,” Mr. Shah said.

gotta love that the spokesperson's main line of response is that trump hates all countries equally, not just haiti and "african nations"

What Norwegian would?