Much to my surprise, Trump actually did something right this week. The downside is that he did his usual amount of things wrong, and as for the thing he did right, there’s every chance/likelihood that he will think better of it and maybe even claim that the “fake news” fabricated it.
1). Empathy in chief. Sympathizing with those in need or in dire emotional straits is one of the first things we learn as human beings. If a mother is sitting on her living room couch and sobbing, her pre-verbal toddler will come over to her and hug her to try and provide support. It’s simply ingrained into our psyches.
But not in Trump’s case. An alert newsman snapped a picture of his notes that he was using in order to try and display empathy for the parents whose children had been torn away from them. “What do you most want me to know about your experience?” was one note. “I hear you” another note assured the apparently blind listeners who didn’t notice the notes.
Trump literally could not be counted on to remember even fundamental questions. He had to be reminded to say that he was listening. The most powerful executive in the United States is so self-absorbed, so narcissistic, that he has no idea how to speak to grieving parents. How in the hëll can someone live for seven decades and not learn simple, personal interactions? Has he never had to console anyone? Obviously not. At the most, he’s probably hired people to step in and speak on his behalf to anyone who was ever aggrieved.
How can he be prompted to say he hears you?!? . It’s three stinking words!!! He can’t remember three stinking words? If he didn’t have the note, would his mind drift off and then when snapped to attention he would say, “Sorry, I wasn’t listening.” To assure someone that he’s paying attention has got to be the most minimal duty a president would have to undertake and he can’t even do that!!. This man isn’t simply lost as a president. He’s lost as a human being.
2). Teachers shooting off their mouths. . The worst possible answer to people slaying students is to arm the teachers. So naturally that is what Trump endorsed. Not all the teachers, mind you. Just the ones who could be trusted with guns. Because after not having the money to provide even basic school supplies so that teachers have to pay for paper and pencils out of their own pockets, Trump and company want to start arming teachers. Because the next time police come charging into a situation where an armed man is gunning down students, what they really need to deal with are a couple dozen educators waving guns around, because that will make it oh-so-easy to determine who exactly they should be shooting at.
Yet Trump insisted that if teachers are armed, they would have shot the hëll out of the recent shooter in Florida. Maybe. Or they would very likely have wound up hitting other students or teachers and added to the death toll. If they had a hand gun and they’re facing a guy with a machine gun, they’d likely have one chance to shoot down their enemy before he opened fire and turned them into Swiss cheese. You want to bet your life on the aim of a terrified teacher? Good luck with that.
Of course, Trump then later turned around and said he’d hadn’t advocated arming teachers, right before his address at CPAC reiterated the notion. In fact, let’s chat about CPAC for the moment.
3). CPACing them in.. Trump gave an overview of his greatest lies at the conservative gathering, kicking off with the assertion that his administration had “the most successful” first year in the history of presidential administrations. This is, of course, a bald faced lie. His administration has done almost nothing, and the achievements they can point to are going to be screwing people over for years to come. He slammed the Democrats, of course, accusing them of providing blockage to his endeavors when in fact the GOP has been refusing to work with their left wing counterparts. He asserted that he was still going to build his wall that the Mexicans will never pay for, and claims that the Democrats refuse to do anything about DACA even though it was Trump who threw DACA under the bus in the first place. Yet his supporters continue to embrace his lies and tell themselves everything is okay when it very much isn’t.
4). I can’t wait to see the protests. Trump has settled on the day for his idiotic military parade: Veterans Day. His plan is to have a military processional begin at the White House and thread down to the Capitol. I am positive that this will not go unremarked upon: I fully expect hundreds of thousands of protestors to be lining the streets shouting down Trump and his waste of taxpayer money to provide a display of strength that is unprecedented, that nobody asked for and that nobody wants.
5) Sanctions. So Trump decided that this was the perfect time to implement sanctions against North Korea. Because when North Korea is beginning to develop a dialogue with their neighbors and is participating in the Olympics, that’s exactly when to punish them. As opposed to Russia which the Senate and House decreed should have sanctions placed against them and Trump is disinclined to implement them. After all, why punish them just because they helped rig the election to put him in office? What point would there be to that?
Did he do anything right?. For the first time in quite some time, yes, he did. He actually seemed willing to do something about eighteen year olds buying guns and opening fire with them. He advocated raising the age for gun ownership to 21, because it was pointed out that it’s insane to say that kids can’t buy liquor but the can purchase rifles. He also wanted to eliminate bump stocks that transforms semi-automatic weapons into basically machine guns. Of course, this announcement prompted two things: First, sales on bump stocks have skyrocketed, and second, the áššhølëš in charge of the NRA are putting their feet down and are acting in opposition to both notions. Instead they are advocating putting guards at schools, “hardening” them, a new verb that Trump immediately picked up and reiterated. Because Ronald Reagan was surrounded by seven secret service agents when he was shot, so obviously having armed personnel on site is guaranteed to prevent gun assault. Despite Trump’s assurances that the NRA would fall in line, they have in fact stated that they oppose raising the age limit of gun ownership. Nor do they support the banning of bump stocks. So the question is, will Trump really act in opposition to NRA wishes or will he fold? My guess: the latter, because that would be consistent. Which is a shame. He could actually do something positive with his presidency if he’s willing to stand up to the NRA, but it’s unlikely that will happen.
PAD
I do see one good thing coming out of arming teachers – ALL teachers – and buying them ammunition.
Those guns are expensive. The teachers can sell them, and finally get the supplies they have to buy from their own pockets. Disposable supplies? Sell the ammunition (or use the subsidies to buy ammo) and replace the school supplies.
Hëll, the NRA might even approve making more guns available to be sold and bought…
The military has been ‘hardening’ equipment and facilities for decades, making them more bomb-resistant, radiation-resistant, resistant to electronic surveillance, etc. This isn’t a new term.
One of the things I found particularly repellent was Trump speaking about how much sympathy he felt for the Parkland shooting victims while giving the impression that his mind was somewhere else and he was only saying what he was expected to say. This man barely qualifies as human.
The irony is, Trump pretty much does the opposite of whatever anyone tells him, so you’d think call for stricter gun laws would be the obvious choice; so of course, this is the one time he’ll bend over and do as he’s told.
PAD as a retired Lieutenant Colonel I can state that military personnel don’t want a parade.
It means participating in the dámņëd thing. Which means days of endless rehearsals which will screw up the training schedule. And it will be hot and tiring. I’ve participated in enough of these and can tell you that service members hate them. Also, the military hardware will have to be shipped by commercial transport, which will involve contracts, money and further logistical nightmares. The service members will have to be on special duty orders which will require special duty per diem. Of all of this will cost money when the Fiscally Prudent Republicans have given us a bankrupting budget.
You want to show support for us? Don’t mess with our Basic Housing Allowance (BAH). Don’t raise the medical co-pays (Congress raised the premiums on TRI-CARE). Allow Guard and Reserves to start drawing the pension when they retire, not at age 60. Slow the Operation Tempo so that service members can see their families more than once a year. And that’s just the list off the top of my head.
Thank you, Colonel.
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As a four-year Navy vet (with a year at COMMSTA Cam Ranh Bay), that was pretty well my thought.
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Glad to hear i wasn’t wrong/alone.
I’ve been thinking this for a while: shouldn’t a parade to honor the military mean the service members get to stand on the sidewalk watching the rest of us march past with signs thanking them for their service?
Did you notice that in the pic of the crib notes, he has the number 45 on his sleeve?
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Makes me wonder if he really is suffering from some memory loss, which would also explain the note cards.
And, of course, Trump decided that the armed sheriff’s deputy (or whatever his actual position is) who was at the school during the time of the shooting was a “coward” who wasn’t willing to stop the shooter. As was reported, the man had a REGULAR handgun (as I understand it, it could only fire one shot at a time) so he would have had to position himself to take aim at the teenager and actually make himself a potential target of the teen who was armed with a rifle that could fire many bullets with a single pull of the trigger.
I do have to wonder how many ARMED individuals were at the CPAC meeting?
“I do have to wonder how many ARMED individuals were at the CPAC meeting?”
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If it was anything like an NRA convention, then none. The NRA doesn’t allow people to carry guns at their conventions.
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(Yeah. Take a moment to let that sink in.)
Well JosephW it seems this “coward” of a sheriffs deputies own boss also thinks he was derelict in his duties and suspended him without pay. This coward has since retired. He was definitely a coward, he could have made a very important difference in the events of that day but choose to hang outside and wait. I say could have because we will never know what would have happened. What we do know is he CHOOSE not to go inside and try to prevent what was happening. Think about that. He was hired to protect those students and teachers which unfortunately might mean making himself a target if someone with a gun were to show up. He was a 30 odd year vet of the department he had to of known what the job might entail and he decided to sit that one out. By the way the freak with the gun could only fire one shot at a time also.
Now they’re saying there were four deputies there who never entered the building.
Just hearing that now also but seems to be a bit of push back on it. Some are also calling for the Sheriff to step down. I hope the FBI is doing some soul searching themselves, they have a few things to answer for also.
It does tend to put the lie to the NRA’s oft-repeated mantra that “the only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
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If I’m not mistaken, in the wake of several mass shootings, we’ve heard tell of armed civilians being in the area – so-called “Good Guys With Guns” – who don’t touch their weapons for a variety of reasons. The “Good Guy With a Gun” is a myth.
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–Daryl
I don’t recall ever hearing that and I don’t think you can relate the two. On one hand you have a gun owner, who carries but chooses not to get involved because he is not obligated to get involved or in the case of the school shooting, probably wouldn’t be able to carry in the school at all even with a permit, at least in MN where I live that is the case or you have someone who is specifically hired to get involved and chooses not to. I’m not sure if this is true but I heard that they were going to start arming the guards at their schools with AR-15s, which would be a good thing, If a bad guy thinks there might be a good amount of return fire coming at them it could possibly deter them but then again crazy is crazy and they might not care in which case hopefully they could stop them before to much carnage happens.
Not sure about arming the teachers though. I’ve heard one problem with that is when the police show up and see 4 people with guns, they don’t know who the bad is and seconds count is these cases they could possibly take out a teacher.
@Nytwyng: “The “Good Guy With a Gun” is a myth.”
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There has never been a question about that.
Pat Nolan: “I heard that they were going to start arming the guards at their schools with AR-15s, which would be a good thing”
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In what possible way could that be a good thing?
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Every single aspect of arming teachers shows that it is an extremely bad idea. Arming them with even more lethal firepower would be be even worse. You yourself cite two of them: it isn’t going to deter the felon and it makes the job of the police far, far harder. There are are at least a dozen other reasons.
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The whole mindset of “school shooters have guns, so we need to make sure the teachers have guns also” is ridiculous insane. You don’t stop school shootings by turning schools into armed fortresses. You do it by limiting the shooter’s ability to be deadly.
Read my quote again. I said arming guards with AR-15s not teachers. If you read the posts, I’m not in favor of arming the teachers either.
There are guns out there Sean, there are always going to be guns out there. Crazy folk are going to kill innocent people. This is going to happen again unfortunately. If not an assault rifle it will be a regular rifle, a pistol, a bomb, a car, a knife, a bat or hëll a tennis racket if the freak is desperate. This is the new world and disarming law abiding civilians is only going to get more people killed.
Pat is a big fan of dead children.
Wow Craig, did your mommy help you with that sentence? Good to see you have not changed. Keep it classy you douche bag.
Let’s keep it simple. No civilian needs an f—ing assault weapon. And you’re talking about police officers who probably the worst they’ve dealt with is vandalism of mailboxes or maybe a domestic dispute. Even if you’re a police officer, not everyone is going to act like Rambo.
@Pat Nolan: “He was a 30 odd year vet of the department he had to of known what the job might entail and he decided to sit that one out.”
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I can’t think of a stronger argument against arming teachers. If a 30+ year veteran police office can’t be counted on to confront a gunman we certainly shouldn’t be relying on untrained teachers to do so!
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Well done, Pat. Glad to see you’re on the right side of that argument.
“The whole mindset of “school shooters have guns, so we need to make sure the teachers have guns also” is ridiculous insane.” A friend would agree. But then, he’s a high school science teacher and has repeatedly commented that, give him a minute or two in his science prep room – which is filled with various chemicals – and “Pity the fool who wants to harm my kids.”
Yeah, a little hydrochloric acid in the face would do the trick. I hope he never has to resort to that and I hope those students know they have a teacher who has their back.
I have an old high school friend who was born into a republican family and assimilated and it a total Trumpette.
The other day in response to one of my Anti-Trump share posts, this otherwise intelligent person says “Mexico will pay for the wall. Trump is raising tariffs on products from Mexico, so they will pay for the wall!”
Trump (and his fellow republicans are literally making Americans stupider….
And meaner. I had a lot of Trump supporters from my HS “self-deport” and I skipped my reunion so as not to be burned in effigy. A few days ago, a friend posted a message saying “Obama was a Black Panther. (Not THE, but A.” He owns a restaurant and made a comment how he posts a lot of crazy political stuff, including some pro-gun stuff right after the Florida shooting and with class members having kids involved. I said I guess you don’t want ‘libtards’ or brown or black people eating there and don’t have the Michael Jordan theory that “Republicans buy shoes, too.” So, of course, every one of these Trumpers jumped on me, though the original poster kept quiet, saying how awful I was, how I’m looking for a fight and how OP is such a nice guy and I have no life. Nice rational people.
And now Cadet Bone Spurs has moved on from lack of empathy to spinning tales of his heroism. He’s declared that if he was there he would have probably gone into the school after the shooter even if he [Trump] was unarmed.
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Yeah… This is the same guy who looked so terrified when a guy jumped the stage at a campaign stop that you would be excused for assuming he shat himself right there on the spot. But if he had been there, he would have rushed in unarmed to take down the shooter.
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You know those guys who run their mouths and talk tough about kicking your ášš until you stand up and get to watch them suddenly remember they need to be somewhere else? You know how those same guys wait until they’re a block away to yell out how lucky you are they couldn’t stick around to kick your ášš and then tell their friends for a week or so afterwards how bad they would have kicked your ášš?
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That’s Trump in a nutshell and in every way.
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He talks tough about the Chinese government until he actually goes there. Then you need a crowbar to pry his lips from off their áššëš. But as soon as he leaves, back to tough talk. He dodges the draft, but explains to everyone for years on end how he’s a big deal fighter and knows more about being in the military than those who were actually in the military. He turns into a nervous puddle of piss when a reporter backs him against the wall on his lies in a one on one interview, but he spins tales of being courageous enough to run unarmed towards gunfire to take down the shooter and save children.
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The fact that there are conservatives out there who are still proud that this human šhìŧ stain is President says more about how much of a joke the modern conservative movement has become than just about anything else right now.