It’s really not working anymore. Trump’s typical strategy of focusing on something outrageous and stupid in order to draw attention from things he has no answer for is utterly failing.
1). What does he not want to talk about? Puerto Rico, obviously. You remember: that island that’s situated in a big, big ocean. That being the case, the obvious first maneuver would be to suspend the Jones Act so ships from other countries could get to it. Which he did, after nearly a week had passed and he was roundly criticized for delaying help to the island. An island that I would very much suspect Trump didn’t know was actually American, despite the fact that they are not allowed to vote for him (which is, let’s face it, the only thing that makes a difference to him.). And yes, he dispatched the hospital ship Comfort to provide aid…after Hillary Clinton called him and strongly suggested he do it.
The obvious problem with the Trump administration is that they initiate nothing on their own. This is how they govern: they do the wrong thing by either taking the wrong stance or no stance, and then when they get sufficient negative public blowback, that guides them into doing what they should have done in the first place. It is painfully obvious that we do not have a leader in the White House. We have a man whose every instinct drives him in the wrong direction, doesn’t listen to anyone who knows better, and only reluctantly does the right thing, sometimes and often in a half-assed manner, after enough public pressure threatens him in the one area that he cares about: being liked. And more often than not, he will blame his problems on the press, as he did this very week (“Wish press would treat fairly!”).
And somewhere George W. Bush is chortling about the fact that Trump’s actions and reactions and lack of actions on Puerto Rico is making his clumsy handling of Katrina look like aces in comparison.
2). What does he want to talk about?. Football players. Trump continues to refuse to understand that no one is disrespecting the flag. If they wanted to disrespect the flag, they would moon it or shout out obscenities. Taking a knee is simply taking a moment to remember all the black people who have died at the hands of out-of-control-police and acknowledge what this country is supposed to stand for and how it’s failing. But Trump, who took an oath to support the First Amendment, wants to throw that out the window by demanding that NFL owners fire all players who are simply expressing frustration with this country’s failures. Yes, the man who repeatedly bent over backwards not to find villains in Charlottesville has no problem with finding villains on the football fields. The problem for Trump is that the majority of Americans surveyed don’t agree with him. They don’t believe that football players should be fired simply for silently expressing their disapproval of what’s happening in this country. And it’s nice to see NFL owners standing alongside their team in showing support. Now if someone would just hire fricking Colin Kaepernick, whose basic stats are higher than over half the back up QBs currently playing in the league, that would display REAL support.
3). Moose and Squirrel.. So we now know why Donald Trump, Jr. decided to toss aside his secret service protection. It wasn’t because he was worried over the fact that his family’s needs are slowly bankrupting the SS. No, it’s because he wanted to sneak up to the Yukon so he could hunt a moose. Yes, that’s right, he wanted privacy to slaughter a harmless animal. I mean, when Zoey Bartlett slipped her secret service protection, it was just to party. Yet she got grabbed and so Aaron Sorkin showed the consequences of that action. My assumption is that if one of Trump’s kids did get grabbed, it would be Pence who would activate the 25th Amendment in order to get Trump out of office, rather than Trump stepping aside as Bartlett did. Of course, one is fictional, although these days it’s hard to determine which one.
Did he do anything right? Yes, but it didn’t matter. In a senate race in Alabama, he lobbied on behalf of sitting senator Luther Strange, who has one of the best comic book names I’ve ever heard. Yet despite that, Strange’s opponent won. His opponent is Roy Moore, a homophobic áššhølë who feels that gáÿ šëx should be made illegal, refused to support Supreme Court dictates that gays should be allowed to marry, and refused to obey the instruction of a Federal judge to remove a 2.6 ton Ten Commandments monument he had installed in a Federal judiciary building. In short, Moore appealed to Trump’s base more than Strange did, which I suspect Trump actually knew but backed Strange because he was convinced it would be politically wise. Once upon a time, a jerk like Moore would have remained strictly the local problem of Alabama; instead this jáçkášš is likely going to wind up in the U.S. Senate. So yes, Trump backed his opponent, but he also mainstreamed Moore’s beliefs enough to enable him to triumph in a primary. So thanks for that.
PAD
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Let’s not forget that Trump tried to make the Puerto Rico crisis about how great a job he’s doing: “Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló just stated: ‘The Administration and the President, every time we’ve spoken, they’ve delivered,'” Trump tweeted Friday morning. On Thursday night, Trump tweeted this: “Puerto Rico is devastated. Phone system, electric grid many roads, gone. FEMA and First Responders are amazing. Governor said ‘great job!'” And Elaine Duke, Department of Homeland Security Secretary, described the situation in Puerto Rico as “a great news story.” Meanwhile, much of Puerto Rico has no power, and food and drinking water are running low.
I saw the montage they made of Trump talking about Puerto Rico on Colbert. “The governor said we’re doing great.” “They told us what a great job we’re doing.” “So-and-so said I’m doing a great job.” And so on several more times. (Given Trump’s history of making up conversations that never happened, I doubt anyone told him what a great job he was doing. But I digress.)
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If you have to tell people you’re great, you’re not.
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People who are actually doing something worth while point to that thing, not their reviews.
“We’re airlifting in supplies, doctors and engineers.”. Not “My reflection told me I’m doing a great job, Trumpy.”
I know at least some of Trump’s SUPPORTERS don’t realize Puerto Rico is part of America. I’ve seen plenty of stuff complaining about the bashing Trump’s taking saying stuff like ‘Let’s focus on America first!”
I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss people’s influence of Trump on the NFL. On Monday at 1 in the afternoon in a grocery store parking lot, her NFL team stickers were scratched off, her whole car keyed and her team license plate cover was almost pryed off.
These are the important things in people’s petty lives to get across, I guess.
At least someone seems to have explained to Trump what an island is: “It’s very tough, because it’s an island,” Trump said during a meeting with members of the House. “In Texas, we can ship the trucks right out there. And you know, we’ve gotten A-pluses on Texas and on Florida, and we will also on Puerto Rico. But the difference is, this is an island sitting in the middle of an ocean. And it’s a big ocean; it’s a very big ocean. And we’re doing a really good job.” And later: “Frankly, we’re doing — and it’s the most difficult job because it’s on the island — it’s on an island in the middle of the ocean,” he said. “It’s out in the ocean. You can’t just drive your trucks there from other states.”
Donald, there’s these things called “boats”. You should look ’em up. Word is they’ve even been around longer than trucks.
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Also, airplanes. Seems they can just fly right over oceans.
I saw a meme floating around:
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“Trump on North Korea: ‘We could wipe out your country so easily!'”
“Trump on Puerto Rico: ‘So hard to solve that problem, it’s an island.'”
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Though, to be fair, if we loaded up all the supplies Puerto Rico needed into an ICBM, we COULD get them there fast and easy. “Safely” and “intact” are another matter, but we’d have “fast” and “easy” covered.
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See, people are so unfair to Trump, trying to equate the logistics of two totally different problems! Sad! #FakeNews #ReliefNukePR
His response to PR so far has been nothing short of horrifying. I knew the man was self-centered and selfish, but putting his ego before a gigantic humanitarian crisis involving millions of American citizens…
This is beyond the pale. PAD, a while back you said Trump could officially sink no lower. You were wrong. This is worse.
What does he not want to talk about? Puerto Rico, obviously.
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Well, he’s talking/tweeting now. More accurately: he’s šhìŧŧìņg on Puerto Rico because a brown woman dared to have a voice.
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Fûçk Trump with a rusty chainsaw on full throttle.
The chainsaw deserves a better fate than that. This is far worse than the worst I imagined could happen. Millions are in imminent danger of dying horribly simply because of his ignorant racism and apathy for anything that doesn’t stroke his ego.
Just wanted to say that what Dipshit Jr. was involved in is “trophy hunting”. Trophy hunting is wrong and he should be called out on it.
Regular hunting, however, is a useful wildlife management activity that many people participate in to get food for their families.
Just wanted to clarify that bit.
Yeah, I’m pretty sure no one thought he was going to eat the moose.
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PAD
Tom Keller: Trophy hunting is wrong…
Not necessarily. While trophy hunting may be abhorrent to us on an aesthetic level, if it’s conducted through the auspices of the people who own the land, and has the effect of both compensating them and increasing the population of the animal in question, then it can actually be beneficial to both, and not wrong.
And the hits are still coming :
“Trump rolls back access to free birth control”
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41528526
I wish I was making this up.