Freak Out Friday – February 17th

Let’s start off on an amusing note:

1) I play him on TV: As much as Trump might be complaining how poorly he is being portrayed on TV sketches, apparently it was enough to fool the newspaper El Nacional in the Dominican Republic. In running an article about Israeli settlements, they illustrated it with a picture labeled “Donald Trump,” except it was in fact Alec Baldwin in his SNL makeup. The newspaper subsequently apologized, but really, I’d take Baldwin over Trump as president any day. I’m looking forward to seeing an article on Putin with a shirtless Beck Bennett accompanying it.

2) Putting the “dìçk” in dictator: Brand new senior policy advisor Stephen Miller made the following pronouncement on a Sunday morning news show: “The end result of this, though, is that our opponents, the media, and the whole world will soon see, as we begin to take further actions, that the powers of the president to protect our country are very substantial, and will not be questioned.” So apparently the Trumpany is moving beyond the notion that challenging the president is unpatriotic or dangerous. Instead now it is simply to not happen. Judges, the media, American citizens, are all to keep their mouths shut because if the president says or does something, that’s the end of the story. His authority is beyond scrutiny, which of course is the case for any tyrant.

3) State of Denial: Governor Jerry Brown requested $162 million in federal funds to help California with a series of disasters, including an evacuation of a potentially flooding dam. The government’s response? No, of course. According to a government source, ““The President has no incentive in helping the state of California.” Naturally, because Sacramento is a sanctuary city for illegal immigrants, and there was talk about seceding from the union, and, oh right, they supported Hillary. Now one would think that being president and vowing to uphold the constitution would be incentive enough, but not in the world of Donald Trump, apparently. What matters is who voted for him and who slavishly swears to uphold every aspect of his declarations. You’re sympathetic to illegal aliens? Congratulations, you’re on your own. There’s talk about leaving the country? Fine; we’ll provide you all the incentive you need by showing you the government isn’t the least bit interested in helping you at your time of need. Good move.

4) Out Like Flynn: Before Sally Yates correctly decided not to try and defend Trump’s Muslim ban, no doubt intuiting that every court would strike it down, she also warned the President about Michael Flynn and his involvement with the Russians. Trump ignored that as well and now of course Flynn had to resign because he was busy committing…oh, what’s the word?…treason some months back. Of course, the hilarious thing is that if this had been Hillary and it had been her National Security Advisor who had been illegally speaking with foreign nationals, the Senate would be hastening to launch a full blown investigation to determine what Hillary knew and when, and would never accept “I didn’t know about it” for an answer. But Trump? No investigation. No nothing. The hypocrisy of the right is truly reaching new heights. The fact of the matter is that if Richard Nixon were in office now and had done all the things he did, the right would make sure there was no impeachment. Meanwhile, as another commentator pointed out, remember when the House wanted to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about one thing? One thing?

5) Press ganged: In a surprising decision that I’m sure Trump’s people actively tried to dissuade him from making, Trump scheduled a press conference. It was pretty much exactly what one would have expected: Trump spending long minutes snapping at the reporters, telling them that they were liars and insulting, which he conveyed to them with lies and insults. I swear, Nixon didn’t have this adversarial relationship with the press, and they drove him out of office. Trump’s pattern is clear: berate and question the legitimacy of anyone who poses a threat to his notions of absolute power. That’s why judges are termed “so-called” and the press is dismissed as “fake news.” And the truth is that if anyone knows about fake news, it is Donald Trump, the single largest dispenser of fake news in modern history. His lies are incessant and his calumnies come so rapidly that there have been occasions where he has contradicted himself, not only in the same press conference, but in the same answer.

Did he do anything right? Well, he met with several world leaders and didn’t get us into any wars, so that was a plus. But even the meetings were marred with weirdness. His dinner meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan was interrupted by news that North Korea had fired a missile. Did they immediately retire to a secure location so they could discuss proper responses in the privacy one would expect in such a situation? Of course not: they discussed it in the middle of a crowded restaurant at Trump’s resort while people recorded it with their cell phones. This is the guy who condemned Hillary Clinton for alleged security breaches? His meeting with Bibi Netanyahu didn’t go much better, where he spent time boasting about his electoral win that was allegedly the biggest since Reagan (it wasn’t) and taking no position on a one vs. two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian crisis beyond saying that it was up to the individuals. Which I suppose it is, but it might have been nice to pick a side on behalf of, well, everyone.

Bottom line, any week where he hasn’t launched the nukes is a good one. Because that’s how low we’ve placed the bar.

PAD

24 comments on “Freak Out Friday – February 17th

    1. That we are. The field of actual investigative journalism may be headed for a renaissance, if it doesn’t get taken out back and shot first.

  1. Well, he did threaten to blow their ship out of the water, but didn’t, so war averted. He is confusing his fake news shouts. In the news conference he was asked if the leaks were real or fake news. His response “Well the leaks are real. You’re the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean the leaks are real. You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake.”
    So…The leaks were real cause you reported them…so obviously real. But you only report fake news. So then wouldn’t the leaks be fake news? So confusing.

  2. And in further developments, the Trumster may have lost the support of…

    Fox News ! According to a website I go to regularly, Shep Smith has launched quite a rant against Trump’s treatment of the media. No, really, Fox News ? The mind boggles !

  3. I really like you doing this roundup on Fridays. Taking some time to put in perspective the big and small problems feels more and more important, due to the nonstop leaks and rumors of far worse things that fizzle out (the lgbt executive order, the 20% import tax, etc).

    The biggest thing freaking me out right now is not actually Trump, but the stance taken by the Congress GOP to take no responsibility for him. They’re shooting down releasing his taxes, investigating Flynn, waiting on Pruitt’s emails to be released next week for a vote… Feels like if Trump really did shoot somebody, they would prosecute the victim for getting in the way of his bullets rather than take action against 45. (Chaffetz is ignoring a Flynn/Russia investigation in favor of investigating white house leaks right now).

    An inexperienced president is bad, but Congress could have been a mitigating factor instead of an enabler. This feels a lot scarier to me.

  4. Sadly, one thing Trump has done on the campaign trail and continues to do as president is try to turn any accusation back on the accuser. (If someone said he was encouraging racists at his rallies, Trump would say, “I’m not racist! You’re the one who’s racist for suggesting such a thing.”) And with all the factual errors Trump is being called out on, he’s trying to turn the tables by claiming anyone who criticizes or fact-checks him is automatically “fake news.” It’s a way of not just de-legitimizing the media (so when they point out where he’s wrong or what he’s done, his followers will assume the reports are “fake news”) but also laying claim to the whole idea of “fake news.” The solution is to keep fact-checking Trump and holding him responsible, no matter how many false statements he makes (and there are so, so @#$%ing many).

  5. “remember when the House wanted to impeach Bill Clinton for lying about one thing? One thing?”

    Bill Clinton lied under oath, while holding the office of the presidency.

    Donald Trump has not lied under oath while holding the office of the presidency.

    This is an important distinction that will hold until the first time Donald Trump gives a statement under oath while holding the office of the presidency.

    1. Soooo It’s OK to lie while serving as the President of the United States, as long as you aren’t under oath while doing it? I’m sorry but that’s just not true. And Republicans were going after Clinton before he even made that statement under oath, they literally started going after him before the election. The fact that they aren’t going after one of their own for spouting multiple outright provable lies is very telling.

      1. I believe that Judge Magney was listing that distinction satirically, i.e. he was saying that this would be a point of “distinction” that the GOP might use up until the moment Trump was caught lying under oath at which point they’d move the goal posts for why they’re not touching Trump and drop the previous argument down the memory hole.

        I think you’re criticizing him for a view that he’s satirizing instead of one that he holds. Apologies to both of you if I’ve interpreted JM’s comment incorrectly.

        Until then, remember: We’ve always been at war with EastAsia.

  6. “Governor Jerry Brown requested $162 million in federal funds to help California with a series of disasters, including an evacuation of a potentially flooding dam. The government’s response? No, of course. According to a government source, ‘The President has no incentive in helping the state of California.'”

    This is fake new, apparently promoted in error by the Daily Kos, which has taken the story down. It comes from a network of fake news sites set up to promote the movie “A Cure For Wellness”.

    http://www.themarysue.com/this-is-not-helping/

    https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/16/business/20th-century-fox-fake-news-ad-campaign.html

    Yes, that’s Fox as in Fox News.

    (Insert your own conspiracy theory here)

  7. “Because that’s how low we’ve placed the bar.”

    The bar is lying on the ground in plain sight, and he’s still tripping over it. Hëll, he’s now declared the media “the enemy of the American people”. Jesus tap-dancing Christ.

    If the GOP thinks they can escape from this sinking ship they’ve so gleefully chained themselves up to, they’ve got another thing coming to them.

    1. Nothing Trump can do, short of pulling off his mask and revealing that he is Obama elected to a third term, will get anyone who voted for “Social Conservatism” or “Lower Taxes” to vote for a Democrat. They may not win as big in the off-season 2018, but by 2020 all will be forgotten.

      (Assuming that one, we make it to 2020, and two, there are still elections at that point. As long as Bannon is pulling the strings, those outcomes have to be considered. Not guaranteed, but considered.)

  8. Trump’s “press conference” rather put me in mind of any number of Great/Dear Leaders haranguing the faithful and denouncing the enemy.
    .
    Georgia Democrats are talking about Sally Flynn for Governor.
    .
    The really scary part about the Netananyahu talks is that the State Department was virtually cut out of the loop; all of the substantive discussions (if such there actually were) seem to have been conducted by/with Jared Kushner, who is obviously so highly-qualified for the job.

  9. When I heard the Steven Miller thing I immediately heard Lewis played by Micheal J Fox in the film called The American President saying ‘it is not only our right to question our leaders, it is our responsibility.’ Now I know our world has spun so much off it political axis that film quotes aren’t really going to help. However I do it to remind you that despite our differences in the past (I am from the UK) I know that your country is indeed capable of greatness. Which in turn reminds me of something Jon Stewart recently said on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert which basically boiled down to the fact that if your country and constitution can survive a Trump presidency then Trump would indeed have demonstrated the greatness of America just not quite the way he thought he was going to.

  10. And now, so as to not be outdone by his underling apparently, Trump fabricates a terror attack from “last night” in Sweden in order to justify his actions.
    .
    Hopefully the poor victims of the Bowling Green Massacre can help their fellow survivors in Sweden to cope with such an event.
    .
    #NeverRemember

    1. And now he’s saying that he was referring to a… news report on Fox News he saw the night before. To which I answer : Well, if that’s what you meant, why didn’t you say so in the first place ? Frankly, I didn’t think I would say this one day, but I miss Dubya. No, really.

  11. This is how upside down Trump has made the dámņëd world.
    .
    Milo Yiannopoulos is a big Trump supporter.
    .
    An older video of Milo Yiannopoulos in an interview advocating statutory rape as okay because twenty-something men diddling 13-year-old children can be good, nurturing things for the 13-year-old children.
    .
    Again, Milo Yiannopoulos is a big Trump supporter.
    .
    I have literally spent a ridiculous part of my downtime today watching conservative Trump supporters defending Milo with everything they have and even been in some of these dámņëd conversations.
    .
    The Party of Trump, ladies and gentlemen- You can advocate for statutory rape, even call it a good thing, and still be welcome so long as you just keep praising Trump. And you’ll even be defended for making such comments.
    .
    I don’t know if I can deal with the insanity that is Trump’s America for much longer.

    1. It is not even that important to praise Trump, as long as you dámņ Liberals. Heck, just Democrats, because this is just about who won the election, not about their political or moral beliefs.

    2. It reminds me a lot of Penn State, Jerry Sandusky, and the defense of Joe Paterno. I wanted to see Happy Valley nuked from orbit after that story broke.

  12. It is amazing the amount of vitriol that has been produced by the loss of a globalist war hawk and fake progressive to the Presidency of the United States.

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