Trumps Indictment: Historical and Future Implications IV

I wonder if these new Nazis will compel him to divorce his wife
https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-wife-attacks-maga-trump-running-mate-1926194

as in

" Oskar Baader, Oskar Baader, a high school teacher, was forced to divorce his Jewish wife shortly after the Anschluss (annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany). This was a consequence of the Nazi regime’s anti-Semitic policies, which targeted intermarried couples and their livelihoods."
                   Of course there are other examples, this one was to hand...

You just gotta luuurve Aunty Beeb...

Rew said:I wonder if these new Nazis will compel him to divorce his wife
https://www.newsweek.com/jd-vance-wife-attacks-maga-trump-running-mate-1926194

as in

" Oskar Baader, Oskar Baader, a high school teacher, was forced to divorce his Jewish wife shortly after the Anschluss (annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany). This was a consequence of the Nazi regime’s anti-Semitic policies, which targeted intermarried couples and their livelihoods."
                   Of course there are other examples, this one was to hand...

I saw that. Ridiculous. I am so sick of the white supremacist attitude in this country and MAGA has not only unearthed but endorsed and amplified it.

And let's not forget this...

https://www.forbes.com/sites/tommybeer/2021/02/11/trumps-policies-resulted-in-the-unnecessary-deaths-of-hundreds-of-thousands-of-americans-lancet-report/

Oh yeah. The mismanagement of COVID-19 is something that a lot of individuals would like to forget.

Of all the things that anger me the most, it's what Trump said referring to his fucking ear: “There was blood all over the place,” and “the ear bleeds more than anything else".

Really?

No, blood all over the place is what happens inside classrooms where children aren't protected by the secret service. Instead MAGA likes to wear AR-15 pins to protect guns while donning a damn bandage on their fucking ears in a show of solidarity.

As an addendum, they refused to wear masks during COVID-19 because it was "stupid".

These people are looking for a damn savior, a king who caters to Christian Nationalism. They don't want a leader of a country who represents everyone.

Ahavati said:Oh yeah. The mismanagement of COVID-19 is something that a lot of individuals would like to forget.

Of all the things that anger me the most, it's what Trump said referring to his fucking ear: “There was blood all over the place,” and “the ear bleeds more than anything else".

Really?

No, blood all over the place is what happens inside classrooms where children aren't protected by the secret service. Instead MAGA likes to wear AR-15 pins to protect guns while donning a damn bandage on their fucking ears in a show of solidarity.

As an addendum, they refused to wear masks during COVID-19 because it was "stupid".

These people are looking for a damn savior, a king who caters to Christian Nationalism. They don't want a leader of a country who represents everyone.


Of all the memes I've seen lately, the one that stuck the most said that if thoughts and prayers were good for shooting victims, then they must be just as good for the guns after the guns get confiscated.  

Really hate to see poets fight. I believe everyone has a reason to feel the way they do, and I believe every poet commenting here is fighting for what they believe to be right. Such a thing is not insignificant. You have to understand how underwhelmed I am with the responsibility of voting for these assholes they give us. (I have my criticisms of both the left and the right but I only feel comfortable publicly admonishing my own truth community, tbh.) See, long story short (before I write a novella) please note: I'm a truther from way back in pre-Trump times. I voted for Bill in '92 and '96, had my voting rights compromised in '00 and '04, and helped elect Obama in '08. By '12 I was dimly aware of the Hegelian Dialectic and was no longer enamored of voting. Again, long story short, my tinfoil hat sank its tendrils in around that time. Now that I'm fully aware of its "right vs left" function I can't go back to where I was before. Impossible. Maybe the danger here is seeing things maybe you shouldn't see, and perhaps you guys ought to keep on voting. I'm not here to give advice on the chance that I'm wrong. You might like to think of me as a conscientious objector once again. Not advocating one "side" or the other, an attempt at taking a larger view and acknowledging that this struggle is an inward journey, not external. I suppose it might be unhealthy for the majority to feel as I do, and i am willing to acknowledge that.

Just whoever and whatever "wins", please don't flip out if you're on the other side? There are some among us truthers that truly hate to see you in pain. Don't get played.

Once again, I am not emotionally invested, which could make this the most entertaining cycle election yet. For people like me, at least. What else ya want me to do? Freak out over it, either way? How many millions are out there with the same kind of vibe? No one will ever know. I'm happy with that. Ready to rock, baby.

https://youtu.be/YL9apblSQ-s?si=I0WwYUvLFtUOGwfT Tom Macdonald You Missed


Uk column for anyone interested
https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/uk-column-news-19th-july-2024

SonderNinja said:Really hate to see poets fight. I believe everyone has a reason to feel the way they do, and I believe every poet commenting here is fighting for what they believe to be right. Such a thing is not insignificant.

It's not that one fights, it's HOW they fight. There are battles fought with honor, dignity, and respect. Then there are those who succumb to blatant and intentional name calling when the debate is lost. I hate to ignore anyone in a discussion but in that respect, I have no issue.

You have to understand how underwhelmed I am with the responsibility of voting for these assholes they give us. (I have my criticisms of both the left and the right but I only feel comfortable publicly admonishing my own truth community, tbh.) See, long story short (before I write a novella) please note: I'm a truther from way back in pre-Trump times. I voted for Bill in '92 and '96, had my voting rights compromised in '00 and '04, and helped elect Obama in '08. By '12 I was dimly aware of the Hegelian Dialectic and was no longer enamored of voting. Again, long story short, my tinfoil hat sank its tendrils in around that time. Now that I'm fully aware of its "right vs left" function I can't go back to where I was before. Impossible. Maybe the danger here is seeing things maybe you shouldn't see, and perhaps you guys ought to keep on voting. I'm not here to give advice on the chance that I'm wrong. You might like to think of me as a conscientious objector once again. Not advocating one "side" or the other, an attempt at taking a larger view and acknowledging that this struggle is an inward journey, not external. I suppose it might be unhealthy for the majority to feel as I do, and i am willing to acknowledge that.

Regardless of what I see ( and I do see more than you think ), I will never NOT vote unless I am physically unable. Too many women were beaten, force-fed, raped, and abused to earn that right and I have an obligation to honor their sacrifice. Not to mention my father's 20-year military service.  

Just whoever and whatever "wins", please don't flip out if you're on the other side? There are some among us truthers that truly hate to see you in pain. Don't get played.

If President Biden wins, he is my president. If Trump wins, he is my president whether I like it or not. MAGA can't and won't accept the election results if Biden gets re-elected. They have already announced that. Didn't you hear? "We are in the midst of the second revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it." It wasn't the left who stormed the capital building January 06, committing insurrection against the peaceful transfer of power.

Once again, I am not emotionally invested, which could make this the most entertaining cycle election yet. For people like me, at least. What else ya want me to do? Freak out over it, either way? How many millions are out there with the same kind of vibe? No one will ever know. I'm happy with that. Ready to rock, baby.

I don't expect you to do anything except what your heart leads you to do. Mine leads me to vote. As I said before, too many women sacrificed themselves for my right to enter the polls. If yours doesn't lead you to the polls, so be it.

Speaking entirely for myself Ahavati, thank you.

July 19, 2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
JUL 20, 2024

Today a Russian court sentenced 32-year-old Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich to 16 years in a high-security penal colony after convicting him of espionage in a secret three-day trial. The U.S. government considers Gershkovich “wrongly detained,” a rare designation signifying that he is being held as a political bargaining chip.

Today, President Joe Biden said that Gershkovich was “targeted by the Russian government because he is a journalist and an American. We are pushing hard for Evan’s release and will continue to do so.” He added: “Journalism is not a crime. We will continue to stand strong for press freedom in Russia and worldwide, and stand against all those who seek to attack the press or target journalists.”

Last night, a faulty update of software from cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike crashed computer systems all over the world. Banks and hospitals were locked out of their own programs, and government services shut down. In the U.S., more than 2,600 flights were canceled and 9,000 were delayed. Bloomberg’s David Rovella quoted Australian security consultant Troy Hunt: “I don’t think it’s too early to call it,” Hunt said. “This will be the largest IT outage in history.”

Also making history last night was the final night of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the night on which former president Donald J. Trump accepted the party’s presidential nomination. Coming as it did just days after a would-be assassin took a shot at Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, killing one attendee and badly wounding two others, the convention was billed by Republican operatives as a way for Trump to rebrand himself as a candidate of “unity.”

This was certainly the way many major newspapers billed Trump’s acceptance speech this morning, in stories that, as media journalist Parker Molloy noted, were probably based on prepared remarks delivered to news agencies in advance of the speech. But it was not how the evening played out.

Since Saturday’s shooting, it has been notable that there has not been a medical review of Trump’s injuries, although he has said he was injured by a bullet that ripped through his ear. This matters not only because of the extent of his injuries, but also because Trump has made the story part of his identity without any fact check, and the media appears simply to be letting it go on Trump’s say-so, something that adds to the sense that media outlets are treating Trump and Biden differently.

Last night, Trump perhaps tried to address this lack by recounting last Saturday’s shooting. Interestingly, he did not say he was hit by a bullet, but that when he felt the injury he thought, “it can only be a bullet.” Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo today noted a report from local Pennsylvania television station WPXI that four motorcycle officers standing within feet of Trump suffered minor injuries from flying debris. Trump has likely cut off further discussion of the topic by saying it is too painful to tell the story again.

With that story behind him, Trump hit the theme of unity, saying he would bring the country together. “The discord and division in our society must be healed, we must heal it quickly. We are bound together by a single fate, a single destiny,” he said. “We rise together. Or we fall apart…. I am running to be president for all of America, not half of America, because there is no victory in winning for half of America. So tonight, with faith and devotion, I proudly accept your nomination for president of the United States.”

But that was just in the first ten minutes. Then Trump ignored the teleprompter and things veered far off course, reflecting the candidate that has stayed in the safe spaces of Mar-a-Lago and rallies of his loyalists for years. Trump rambled for more than 90 minutes, making it the longest acceptance speech in U.S. history and outlasting the interest of the audience, some of whom fell asleep.

He went on to recite his usual litany of lies: that Democrats cheated in the 2020 presidential election (they did not), that crime is going up (it’s plummeting), that inflation is the worst we’ve ever had (it’s around 3%; the worst was around 23%), that Democrats want to quadruple people’s taxes (CNN fact checker Daniel Dale calls this “imaginary”), and so on. Dale called it “a remarkably dishonest acceptance speech.”

Journalist James Fallows posted: “Of the maybe 10,000 political speeches I've heard over the years, this was overall the worst.” Statistician Nate Silver’s judgment was harsher, in a way: he began with “It’s a weird but a pretty good speech,” then posted “Semi-retract this tweet, this speech is boring AF, but there are worse things politically speaking than being boring.” Shortly after, came: “Fully RETRACT and RESCIND, sometimes it seems like both parties are trying to throw this election.”

MSNBC’s Chris Hayes watched the unhinged speech and concluded: "This is not a colossus, this is not the big bad wolf, this is not a vigorous and incredibly deft political communicator. This is an old man in decline who's been doing the same schtick for a very long time and it's really wearing thin."

The point, though, as Trump meandered through attacks on immigrants and a diatribe about the fictional character cannibal Hannibal Lecter—who he might think was real—as it always has been, was to present a picture of the U.S. under siege by enemies who are persecuting him because he represents true Americans and that he must be returned to office because only he can vanquish those enemies. Greg Sargent of The New Republic noted that Trump cannot offer a “unity” message because “Trump himself knows the MAGA masses will not be satiated without expansive displays of rage, cruelty and sadism directed at hated out groups and designated enemies of MAGA.”

For years, observers have noted that Trump’s approach to politics is patterned on the “kayfabe” at the heart of professional wrestling. Kayfabe is the performance aspect of professional wrestling, in which the actors play out relationships and scenes in which there are good and evil, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal. According to journalist Abraham Josephine Reisman, in old-school kayfabe the actors never let their masks slip, and while the audience knew what they were seeing must be fake, they played along with the illusion.

But in the 1990s, the barrier between reality and illusion blurred as wrestlers and promoters tried to increase the viability of the fading industry by tossing reality into the performances: real-life insults—the more outrageous the better—and real-life events. Decoding what was real and what was not drove engagement until in 1999, an estimated 18% of Americans, about 50 million people, called themselves fans. This “neokayfabe,” Reisman wrote in the New York Times in 2023, “rests on a slippery, ever-wobbling jumble of truths, half-truths, and outright falsehoods, all delivered with the utmost passion and commitment.”

Neokayfabe, Reisman wrote, “turns the world into a hall of mirrors from which it is nearly impossible to escape. It rots the mind and eats the soul.”

Cont below

Cont from above

Trump participated in a storyline in this neokayfabe with World Wrestling Entertainment owner Vince McMahon in 2007, in part billed as a battle over hair. Eventually he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, and many observers have made the link between neokayfabe and his approach to politics. Indeed, he even blended the two explicitly when he chose McMahon’s wife, Linda, to head the U.S. Small Business Administration during his presidency.  

Neokayfabe and politics came together again last night at the Republican National Convention, as Linda McMahon, wrestler Hulk Hogan, and musician Kid Rock, whose music has been featured at wrestling events and who is also a member of the WWE Hall of Fame, all participated.

“So all you criminals, all you lowlifes, all you scumbags…. Whatcha gonna do when Donald Trump and all the Trumpamaniacs run wild on you, brother?!" Hogan yelled to wild applause after ripping off his shirt to show a Trump-Vance shirt. Like the other performers at the convention, he painted a portrait of Trump’s presidency, and of the United States since Trump left office, that was a fantasy of good and evil. Hogan reinforced that there was no way Trump was going to reach toward unity in Milwaukee. His approach to the world cannot be moderated. It depends on the idea that there are two teams in the performance and one must vanquish the other.

Part of that storyline requires rewriting not just the recent past, but our history. At the convention last night, Donald Trump Jr.’s fiancée, Kimberly Guilfoyle, said: “It is no wonder that the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy and faced down communism sadly say they don’t recognize our country anymore.” But the Allied soldiers in World War II were not fighting communism. They were fighting fascism. The three great Allied powers were Great Britain, the United States, and the communist Soviet Union.

It might be that Guilfoyle misspoke, or that she doesn’t know even the most basic facts of our history. Or it might be that by rewriting that history to put America on the side of the fascists, people like Guilfoyle hope to make that alliance more palatable to MAGA followers today.

—

Notes: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-19-202

Rew said:Speaking entirely for myself Ahavati, thank you.

You're welcome.