Donald John Trump: 2016 President-Elect

[Duke Silver]

At least in my personal bubble, this is not true.  The smell of treason is rousing some people who are normally outwardly apolitical, and MANY #neverTrump 'ers I know are frothing at the mouth.  I acknowledge some of it is political opportunism, but I also get the sense sincere patriotism is driving the vast majority of this.  Also, I know Dem leadership has been lacking for some time, but I still do think they are capable of walking & chewing gum at the same time.  <---please don't make me look stupid for saying that.  'K?  Thanks.

https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/814924363015262208

[Padma]

One of my biggest hopes is that, because he has no grasp of the Constitution and no interest in getting one, he will overplay his hand.  That after getting all his appointees in place it will be time for some  political payback for his "enemies", including Senate Republicans. 

By the time he realizes that, no, he's not their "boss" now, hopefully he'll have broken some laws and committed some impeachable offenses.  I could actually imagine something like that happening in the first six months (and leading to quick resignation over some other pretense, rather than a long drawn-out impeachment hearing).

Hope so!

[sistermagpie]

19 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:

At least in my personal bubble, this is not true.  The smell of treason is rousing some people who are normally outwardly apolitical, and MANY #neverTrump 'ers I know are frothing at the mouth.  I acknowledge some of it is political opportunism, but I also get the sense sincere patriotism is driving the vast majority of this.  Also, I know Dem leadership has been lacking for some time, but I still do think they are capable of walking & chewing gum at the same time.  <---please don't make me look stupid for saying that.  'K?  Thanks.

Yes, that seems wrong to me too. Dems will attack him on Social Security if he starts dismantling it...and so will Republican voters since they have a record of that. But I do think the Russia stuff is hitting some people who wouldn't normally care that much. There's something very visceral and humiliating about it when it's not only an outsider doing this to you but you're not even fighting back--or people aren't fighting back on your behalf because they see short term profit for themselves. Trump's very unpopular and it seems like outside of the opportunists it's only the really serious Trump fans who are ready to arrange all their values around him. Sure there's some who want to grab onto the narrative that they're being smart and cynical by seeing this as a Democratic hoax, but that's so clearly at odds with the facts you have to work to do that. It's just not that complicated to understand why we think it's the Russians. People surely still are in the habit of assuming that our spies find out stuff to help us.

21 minutes ago, Padma said:

One of my biggest hopes is that, because he has no grasp of the Constitution and no interest in getting one, he will overplay his hand.  That after getting all his appointees in place it will be time for some  political payback for his "enemies", including Senate Republicans. 

Yes, it's not like he's even attempting to stay within the lines here. There's a lot of people working to make him seem somewhat loyal to the US already.

Btw, I find myself still laughing over that Rhonda Roussey Tweet. It's sort of the President's job to post innocuous congratulations like "Way to go, Mets!" or whatever. He of course has to say he's just glad RR lost because she's such a mean person (to him personally). This is not a guy who's going to care about the Constitution. He's already hiring his own security force to be his palace guard!

[millennium]

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Edited January 7, 2017 by millennium

[EyewatchTV211]

A place to go to make sure Drumpf's words are investigated fully: 

[sistermagpie]

10 minutes ago, millennium said:

I keep wondering, why does NO ONE challenge him?   Or at least respectfully ask him to back it up.  Why is Trump so confident about Putin?  Does he have facts available to him that we're not aware of?   Or is it all just his opinion?

I saw that one clip of KAC who kept asking the reporter, "Well, where are the facts?" Basically playing to the base of Trump supporters who watch TV and think, "Yeah, I haven't seen anything to convince me!" She made it seem as if the media or the IC just made this stuff up and Trump was the one was was looking at the facts. He's totally identified the CIA and the FBI as enemies.

I remember wanting the reporter to say, "Here's what's weird. The IC works for the president to protect the country. When they bring him information it's for his and our own good. Why are you reacting to it like Don Draper being confronted by his wife about cheating?"

Don, of course, was guilty.

[Duke Silver]

[Lunata]

45 minutes ago, millennium said:

The lack of strong opposition to Trump's declaration that Putin is "very smart" is disturbing.

I keep wondering, why does NO ONE challenge him?   Or at least respectfully ask him to back it up.  Why is Trump so confident about Putin?  Does he have facts available to him that we're not aware of?   Or is it all just his opinion?

All I can think is that the fear of reprisals is keeping the media and our elected officials silent.   Even if the question were approached respectfully,  I suspect Trump's supporters would twist words and intentions to make it seem as though he was being bullied, and would seek to silence those asking.

I find it very worrisome.   It makes me feel we're living in a time when even reasonable discourse is being policed and punished, and that unless we get a handle on it soon it will trickle down into everyday life and we'll all need to think twice about what we say or write. 

I share your worry. I feel like we're entering a Communist era where freedom of speech won't exist any longer. Donald Trump has already shown he has no respect for the free press. Any other former President has been receptive to information sharing with the press in formal press conferences and addresses. By not doing so makes it appear as if they're hiding something, there's no transparency if the press is barred from access. There's never been a President that thinks it counts as a press conference when standing in a doorway while next to an ex-convict scammer in clown clothes.

[stormy]

If the republicans lead by McCain and Graham, who I truly think hate him, ever get to the bottom of the Russian connections trump has and is feverishly trying to keep under wraps, he's screwed. They have no reason to work with him. They can leave that to McConnell who has no choice since his wife's working for the asshat. And that's precisely why she was given a job.

[izabella]

40 minutes ago, sistermagpie said:

I saw that one clip of KAC who kept asking the reporter, "Well, where are the facts?" Basically playing to the base of Trump supporters who watch TV and think, "Yeah, I haven't seen anything to convince me!" She made it seem as if the media or the IC just made this stuff up and Trump was the one was was looking at the facts. He's totally identified the CIA and the FBI as enemies.

I remember wanting the reporter to say, "Here's what's weird. The IC works for the president to protect the country. When they bring him information it's for his and our own good. Why are you reacting to it like Don Draper being confronted by his wife about cheating?"

Don, of course, was guilty.

The facts are in the briefings provided by the intelligence community, the joint report that just came out from the FBI and Dept of Homeland Security, and probably reams and reams of data collected by the 17 intelligence gathering agencies that all agree the Russians hacked.  Trumputin could easily see "where the facts are" but he is CHOOSING not to listen, read, or be briefed on any of it.  Until next week, or something, sometime, maybe.  In the meantime, he stays tightly lodged up Putin's asshole.

[Duke Silver]

[sistermagpie]

2 minutes ago, izabella said:

The facts are in the briefings provided by the intelligence community, the joint report that just came out from the FBI and Dept of Homeland Security, and probably reams and reams of data collected by the 17 intelligence gathering agencies that all agree the Russians hacked.  Trumputin could easily see "where the facts are" but he is CHOOSING not to listen, read, or be briefed on any of it.  Until next week, or something, sometime, maybe.  In the meantime, he stays tightly lodged up Putin's asshole.

Right, he's even holding forth on what an analyst can or can't figure out by looking at code. He says there's no way they could even have facts, that if you don't "catch them in the act" you can't tell anything. Which he totally pulled out of his ass, but people believe that over the actual data people want to show him. It gives people an easy excuse to ignore it. Even though Trump himself has clearly admitted he doesn't understand how any of this could even work. So how would he know how to catch a hacker?

[millennium]

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Edited January 7, 2017 by millennium

[stormy]

I'm convinced that no matter what evidence they show him, he will dismiss it. It's going to take republicans in the Senate and a few in congress to put a end to his denials. There has to be enough of them that will not be able to tolerate his cozy relationship with putin.

[NewDigs]

7 hours ago, cynic said:

I still can't believe this  petty playground bully is our PE.

2 hours ago, Jordan Baker said:

And I can only imagine how Faux News and other right-wing outlets will handle this. No doubt they'll either ignore the tweet or say how strong he is. Belch.

 

2 hours ago, SoSueMe said:

Well, a few minutes ago on CNN, Ben Ferguson interpreted it as a friendly kumbaya gesture, bygones be bygones and all that. Riiight.

 

That must have been right before he said he didn't blame DonnyBoy for not speaking to certain media outlets.

Especially the biased NYTimes who were undermining his campaign all last year with their slanted reporting. And no one pointed out the FOX bias! 

So, BennyBoy thinks it's aok to speak only to friendly outlets. 

I was in my car and heard the name "Ben" and wondered who that asshole was. No southern accent so he was't one of my usual suspects.

and dumdum's recent tweets?

#treasonoustraitor

Edited January 1, 2017 by NewDigs

[millennium]

1 hour ago, stormy said:

I'm convinced that no matter what evidence they show him, he will dismiss it. It's going to take republicans in the Senate and a few in congress to put a end to his denials. There has to be enough of them that will not be able to tolerate his cozy relationship with putin.

Well, see, this is what gets me.   He and his cohorts freely and impulsively dismiss all real evidence that doesn't comport with their agenda but nobody ever gets to ask them, what's your evidence?   Why should we blindly, meekly and silently accept whatever you say as gospel?  Show us the facts.   Convince us that you know better.  Who knows, maybe you'll change some minds.   But the instant anyone starts to probe, however respectfully, the minions circle the wagons and attempt to shut down the conversation.   If in the process they can malign the person asking and play the victim, all the better.

[KerleyQ]

2 hours ago, millennium said:

I find it very worrisome.   It makes me feel we're living in a time when even reasonable discourse is being policed and punished, and that unless we get a handle on it soon it will trickle down into everyday life and we'll all need to think twice about what we say or write. 

It's like we've moved past "post-truth" (and, God, I loathe that term, because, really??) to post-truth on steroids.  Now it's not only perfectly acceptable to spout lies, but it's become a situation where the person trying to cut through the lies or asking for evidence to support the lies is the asshole, while the liar is the perfectly reasonable one.  It's just so damn bizarre and scary.  

2 hours ago, Lunata said:

I share your worry. I feel like we're entering a Communist era where freedom of speech won't exist any longer. Donald Trump has already shown he has no respect for the free press. Any other former President has been receptive to information sharing with the press in formal press conferences and addresses. By not doing so makes it appear as if they're hiding something, there's no transparency if the press is barred from access. There's never been a President that thinks it counts as a press conference when standing in a doorway while next to an ex-convict scammer in clown clothes.

And his "off the record" meetings with the press.  Has any other POTUS ever insisted on so much off the record interaction while simultaneously shunning any on the record gatherings?  And have any hidden behind surrogates like this?  I know every POTUS has his press secretary and all, but they all still get out there in front of the press and speak live and on the record.  Could you imagine the outcry if President Obama had steadfastly refused to speak, on the record, to the press, but instead deployed various staffers to go carry his water on the cable networks?  I know Trump hasn't officially taken office yet, but there is little to indicate that he has any intention of changing the way he does things.  He's said more than once (most recently about the idea that he can't keep having his victory rallies after he's sworn in) things to the effect of "I've done everything else the opposite of how they say it should be, so why stop now?"  

2 hours ago, stormy said:

If the republicans lead by McCain and Graham, who I truly think hate him, ever get to the bottom of the Russian connections trump has and is feverishly trying to keep under wraps, he's screwed. They have no reason to work with him. They can leave that to McConnell who has no choice since his wife's working for the asshat. And that's precisely why she was given a job.

I'm kind of amazed that it's actually OK for the wife of the Senate Majority Leader to be appointed to a position like this.  A few years ago, a member of our school board resigned because the district was looking for a new superintendent, and her husband wanted to apply for the position.  That made sense to me.  Mitch being in a position where he not only has input into his wife's appointment, but also has a position where he has a certain level of "authority" over his colleagues who approve appointments is super shady.  

2 hours ago, izabella said:

The facts are in the briefings provided by the intelligence community, the joint report that just came out from the FBI and Dept of Homeland Security, and probably reams and reams of data collected by the 17 intelligence gathering agencies that all agree the Russians hacked.  Trumputin could easily see "where the facts are" but he is CHOOSING not to listen, read, or be briefed on any of it.  Until next week, or something, sometime, maybe.  In the meantime, he stays tightly lodged up Putin's asshole.

Exactly.  What has been released to the public is enough for me to get that they have proof.  When you add in that there is absolutely information that we can't see but that President Obama, Congress, and Trump can see that is likely definitive proof, it's definitely, to me, treasonous for Trump to sit there not only pretending that he hasn't been offered substantial proof, but also supporting the man responsible for the hacking.  But, it goes right back to that whole post-truth thing.  Trump can sit there and pretend that he hasn't been offered proof, that no such proof exists, and people buy it, hook, line, and sinker.  I can't count how many people I've seen who are calling this a Dem conspiracy and swearing up and down that there is no proof.  It's like people have no concept of the fact that our intelligence people can't just release everything they have to the public.  Not to mention that, if, as they keep saying, this is just President Obama and there really is no proof, why are GOP members of Congress backing him up here?  They've spent 8 years trying to undermine everything he does, and now, he's supposedly imposing sanctions on another country, including expelling their diplomats from our country, with "no evidence," and they're not only not fighting him, they're supporting him?  Sure, that makes sense.  And, of course, Assange is saying Putin had nothing to do with it.  He's not an idiot.  He's not going to turn on Putin unless his ultimate survival depends on it.  But, as things stand right now, Putin and Trump are his best shot at getting the charges against him dropped, so he can get out of the Embassy and move around freely.  Not to mention that if he sticks to his story that someone at the DNC sent him the files, it covers a few problems for him.  First - if he simply had the information sent to him and had no role in the hacking itself or in soliciting the hacking, then he's not in the same kind of deep legal shit he'd be in if he had an active role in the hacking.  Second, it's out there that the RNC was hacked, too.  It serves Putin and Trump for that to not be believed.  If it serves them, it serves him, so the lie that the DNC emails came to him via a source in the DNC gives him cover there to pretend that the RNC hack was just a rumor.  

On a Russian related note (and, hell, it may have something to do with this), there was a story I saw linked on Twitter last night that I do not remember seeing when it was originally reported in March.  The founder of the Kremlin media RT was found dead in a hotel in DC last year.  At the time, RT put out the word, pretty much as soon as his body was discovered, that he'd suffered a heart attack.  However, the autopsy revealed that he'd been beaten to death, but that was kept quiet until some reporter got their hands on the information in March.  Even more interesting?  Nobody knew why he was in DC.  Apparently he was under investigation by the FBI for some corruption and money laundering charges.  Speculation is that he was in DC to cut a deal with the FBI, possibly turning over evidence on bigger fish.  It's not a huge leap to believe that, as the guy who ran the state run media, it's possible that he knew something about the hacking.  Because if he had that kind of information - evidence that Putin was hacking our system to actively influence the Presidential election - that's the kind of evidence that would have gotten him a good deal. 

[millennium]

18 minutes ago, KerleyQ said:

It's like we've moved past "post-truth" (and, God, I loathe that term, because, really??) to post-truth on steroids.  Now it's not only perfectly acceptable to spout lies, but it's become a situation where the person trying to cut through the lies or asking for evidence to support the lies is the asshole, while the liar is the perfectly reasonable one.  It's just so damn bizarre and scary.  

 

Yes, yes, and yes.   And the person trying to cut through the lies is immediately subjected to a google search in an attempt to ferret out WHY they are asking those questions, like a simple desire to know the facts isn't enough anymore, there must be some ulterior motive in asking, they must have worked for somebody's campaign in the past or must be cashing checks from George Soros or failing all else they are sore losers trying to be uncivil and disruptive.   They couldn't possibly be asking questions out of, oh, I don't know, intellectual curiosity.

But see, I don't think the self-appointed Regulators of What Can Be Spoken truly believe any of the accusations they throw out there like ninja stars.   That's what makes it so pernicious and evil.  They do it to discredit, silence and intimidate.    We're quickly deteriorating into a society of those who want to speak out and those who want to silence them.

The best thing I've read all week was the open letter by Jan Chamberlin, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singer who resigned rather than sing at the Inauguration.   She posted it on her Facebook page.

That page is gone now.

[annzeepark914]

1 hour ago, KerleyQ said:

On a Russian related note (and, hell, it may have something to do with this), there was a story I saw linked on Twitter last night that I do not remember seeing when it was originally reported in March.  The founder of the Kremlin media RT was found dead in a hotel in DC last year.  At the time, RT put out the word, pretty much as soon as his body was discovered, that he'd suffered a heart attack.  However, the autopsy revealed that he'd been beaten to death, but that was kept quiet until some reporter got their hands on the information in March.  Even more interesting?  Nobody knew why he was in DC.  Apparently he was under investigation by the FBI for some corruption and money laundering charges.  Speculation is that he was in DC to cut a deal with the FBI, possibly turning over evidence on bigger fish.  It's not a huge leap to believe that, as the guy who ran the state run media, it's possible that he knew something about the hacking.  Because if he had that kind of information - evidence that Putin was hacking our system to actively influence the Presidential election - that's the kind of evidence that would have gotten him a good deal. 

The Washington Post finally had an article on this earlier in December and the coroner and police finally decided (after many months) that those bruises came when he fell several times in his room due to his being extremely drunk.  Un-hunh.  I guess using plutonium once again would've made things look a little too suspicious. It's getting creepier and creepier around here.

[KerleyQ]

1 minute ago, annzeepark914 said:

The Washington Post finally had an article on this earlier in December and the coroner and police finally decided (after many months) that those bruises came when he fell several times in his room due to his being extremely drunk.  Un-hunh.  I guess using plutonium once again would've made things look a little too suspicious. It's getting creepier and creepier around here.

I swear, earlier today I was talking with my husband about that story, and we were joking around saying (in our best cheesy Putin imitations) "he fell...seventeen times."  I should have known that it would actually be an excuse they'd try to float.  

[Duke Silver]

https://twitter.com/NeilBhatiya/status/815396945640484864

[MulletorHater]

3 hours ago, millennium said:

Well, see, this is what gets me.   He and his cohorts freely and impulsively dismiss all real evidence that doesn't comport with their agenda but nobody ever gets to ask them, what's your evidence?   Why should we blindly, meekly and silently accept whatever you say as gospel?  Show us the facts.   Convince us that you know better.  Who knows, maybe you'll change some minds.   But the instant anyone starts to probe, however respectfully, the minions circle the wagons and attempt to shut down the conversation.   If in the process they can malign the person asking and play the victim, all the better.

I know, right?  I thought shit got real with the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfield cabal with their lies and the media's complicity in disseminating those lies.  I also recall how CIA officer, Valerie Plame, was outed by a vindictive Cheney because her husband refuted the administration's lies about Iraq trying to buy yellowcake from Niger.  I recall how the Dixie Chicks and others were shut down and ostracized for daring to speak out.  I also remember how many of our fellow citizens angrily turned on those of us who didn't support the war.

But, this mess here is something on another level altogether--to the tenth power.  We are witnessing the beginning of fascism, which typically starts with the discrediting of the media.

[millennium]

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Edited January 7, 2017 by millennium

[BookWoman56]

From the Washington Post article on Trump's talk with the press yesterday, there are two excerpts that are making me want to bang my head against the wall: (1) “You know, if you have something really important, write it out and have it delivered by courier, the old-fashioned way," and (2) “I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove, so it could be somebody else,” he said. He added, cryptically, that he also knows “things that other people don’t know. And so they cannot be sure of the situation.”

We're going to have a POTUS who would rather receive and send important information via courier rather than have it transmitted electronically. Because there's never any need to get important info immediately, and it's impossible to waylay a courier and steal the paper documents containing the important info. We're also supposed to believe that Trump, who from all accounts rarely uses computers and email, knows more about hacking than the intelligence community and cyber security experts.  I'd like to know what these "things" are he claims to know that other people don't know, and even more importantly, just how he knows them. The actual POTUS and the intelligence community have all said they are convinced the Russians were behind the hacking. Yet Donald Trump has a secret source of info that POTUS, the CIA, FBI, et al apparently don't have, and that source is presumably casting doubt on the conclusion that the Russians did the hacking? Gee, I wonder what that secret source could be. No doubt we'll hear in a few days that his BFF Putin has personally assured Trump that the Russians had nothing to do with the hacking, and the rest of the US should take Putin's word rather than believing what our own intelligence agencies have told us. Trump also repeated the BS that the intelligence community was wrong about Iraq having WMD, once again demonstrating his woefully inadequate knowledge of facts, such as that it was the GWB administration that insisted to Congress and the public that Iraq had WMD, despite the official intel that no, Iraq did not have WMD.

This is all so fucking unbelievable. If a fiction author tried to sell the events of this past year as a novel, every reputable literary agent and publishing house would laugh in the author's face about how ridiculous the plot is. I have zero doubt that Donald Trump is about to hand vital US intelligence and interests to Putin on a silver platter, and the reaction from too many people seems to be, "Eh, as long as he outlaws abortion and gets rid of Obamacare, it's all good."

[kassa]

I can't help but hope that he will be fed certain info "for your eyes only" that he will pass on to Putin, providing ironclad proof of treason. Of course I was hoping that would happen pre inauguration from his briefings, but his failure to take them (at least American ones) kind of threw a wrench into that.

The. "Trust me, I know stuff you don't know" has begun, and once in office his supporters will use that as a reason to dismiss concerns from Congress and even Pence should it come to that.

[random chance]

8 minutes ago, kassa said:

I can't help but hope that he will be fed certain info "for your eyes only" that he will pass on to Putin, providing ironclad proof of treason.

Ooooh I love that.

I read his NY tweet and I thought well, this is what we have come to, our PEOTUS uses Twitter to neener at us. We really can't sink much lower. I say that knowing that of course we will sink even lower.

I will forever believe that last year was the result of time travelers meddling with events so that the Cubs would win the World Series. Here's hoping that this year, other better time travelers FIX IT. Happy New Year y'all!

[Shannon L.]

5 hours ago, BookWoman56 said:

I'd like to know what these "things" are he claims to know that other people don't know, and even more importantly, just how he knows them.

But, he can't tell us because then the bad guys would know that he knows and find a different way to get our important government secrets, then where would we be?!

That tweet......His followers are asking us to just accept it and go along to get along and not worry, yet even our PE can't start that ball rolling himself.

[random chance]

Supposedly he's going to reveal this information on Tuesday or Wednesday. Probably during the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new hotel, or in an infomercial for his wine.

[Revlonred]

3 minutes ago, random chance said:

Supposedly he's going to reveal this information on Tuesday or Wednesday. Probably during the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new hotel, or in an infomercial for his wine.

Tuesday or Wednesday of what year, or dimension? Because he has made declarations like this before, if I recall correctly, and I think that I do because I like to live in a world of facts.

[Lunata]

Here we are, the first day of the year that will undoubtedly change the lives of the people in this country, for better or worse. We all knew these hatreds were hidden but still lurking under the thinnest veneer of civility. That civility finally is gone and it was this politeness that was how we managed to coexist.

“He says the things I’m thinking.” That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans? Who knew that tens of millions of white men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power? Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise. Now we aren’t."

Trump can lie constantly only because white America has accepted an Orwellian sense of truth - the truth pulled inside out, the 'truth' that is destructive to the welfare of a free and open society. With Trump’s election, truthful journalism is dead, never to be revived.

There's something that looms on the very back of a lot of minds of the people who opposed Donald Trump. Before the election he was seen as a dark threat but we saw ourselves on the side of 'good' and they were on the side of 'evil'. There was comfort in knowing that the government itself including the generals, the military forces, the congressional orders, were all in the hands of men that would fight to defend us against those people who would threaten our security and our democracy. Well now, the situation is reversed and we're feeling so threatened because now those generals, military forces and congressional orders are in the hands of 'the enemy'. I heard something long ago that I didn't think too much of at the time and today it's very real now "when people can't tell who is telling the truth anymore, when the lies become truths and the truths become lies, then it's all over for that society." Farewell America.

4 hours ago, random chance said:

Supposedly he's going to reveal this information on Tuesday or Wednesday. Probably during the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new hotel, or in an infomercial for his wine.

If Donald Trump reveals anything, it will be Tuesday at the earliest because Congress is reconvening on Tuesday, the new Congress, the Republican Congress. Think of Tuesday as just the beginning of what our country's future has in store.

Edited January 1, 2017 by Lunata

[KerleyQ]

9 hours ago, millennium said:

And the media is complicit in its own destruction!  Do they really imagine this is going to end well?   You would think CNN would be pushing back rather than normalizing this bizarro state of affairs.  Keith Olbermann is the only newscaster with the cojones to stand up but unfortunately he's broadcasting from youtube hell where only those predisposed to agree with him are likely to make the effort to watch his videos.   Olbermann performed a vital service during the Bush years.   He spoke truth to power and in the process inspired others in the field to not be intimidated. 

It really makes you wonder how many of the current field of "journalists" got into the field from a real desire to be a journalist (and all of the integrity in delivering the truth, no matter how complicated that goes with that) vs. a desire to be famous.  Of course, along with that goes the issue that so many of the corporations who run the media are more interested in ratings and page clicks than any integrity in their reporting.  They're more interested in telling people what they want to hear than telling them the truth.  

2 hours ago, kassa said:

I can't help but hope that he will be fed certain info "for your eyes only" that he will pass on to Putin, providing ironclad proof of treason. Of course I was hoping that would happen pre inauguration from his briefings, but his failure to take them (at least American ones) kind of threw a wrench into that.

The. "Trust me, I know stuff you don't know" has begun, and once in office his supporters will use that as a reason to dismiss concerns from Congress and even Pence should it come to that.

That "I know stuff you don't know" plays right into his authoritarian thing.  It's just like "only I can save you/fix things."  

[rcc]

17 hours ago, stormy said:

If the republicans lead by McCain and Graham, who I truly think hate him, ever get to the bottom of the Russian connections trump has and is feverishly trying to keep under wraps, he's screwed. They have no reason to work with him. They can leave that to McConnell who has no choice since his wife's working for the asshat. And that's precisely why she was given a job.

I respect McCain because of his service to the country. I detest Graham. But I am glad at least two Republicans will stand up to Trump and not kiss his ass like so many have done embarrassing themselves forever.

Edited January 1, 2017 by rcc
fixed typo

[Pixel]

11 minutes ago, KerleyQ said:

That "I know stuff you don't know" plays right into his authoritarian thing.  It's just like "only I can save you/fix things."  

It's also #3 in the Adolescent Queen Bee Handbook. He's a teenage girl. 

[Lunata]

One thing the press has been guilty of in my opinion anyway, is that they gobble up the 'click bait' and instantly make news out of one of Trump's stupid impetuous tweets. They do that because people want to read it on the website of who they're working for whether it's CNN, Washington Post or Fox.

If news reporting wants to be taken seriously again then they'll have to start focusing on the bigger picture and not the momentary impulsive tweets that really don't amount to a hill of beans in the bigger picture. They're so quick to point out that he's emotional unstable that they're missing the bigger stories about what he's really doing or planning to do. Those tweets are nothing really. They're only his way of manipulating, inflaming and getting people to notice him. If the legitimate press can restrain themselves from falling for that type of manipulation then maybe he'll get less attention about it and cut it out or at least scale it down.

[Chicken Wing]

Quote

It really makes you wonder how many of the current field of "journalists" got into the field from a real desire to be a journalist (and all of the integrity in delivering the truth, no matter how complicated that goes with that) vs. a desire to be famous.  Of course, along with that goes the issue that so many of the corporations who run the media are more interested in ratings and page clicks than any integrity in their reporting.  They're more interested in telling people what they want to hear than telling them the truth.  

The "just the facts, ma'am" journalists are still there. It's just that few people are interested in listening to or reading what they have to report because it either isn't flashy and interesting or it doesn't play into what they want to hear. The only journalists who get the real attention are the ones who more often than not are beholden to some show, some publication whose Powers That Be are more beholden to putting out a product that keeps its masses happy and coming back than actually doing the job of journalism and reporting facts and news.

[sistermagpie]

Journalists are really going to have to come up with a way of reporting on his lies. You can't just let this guy who is not only obviously clueless about computers but who has publicly made it clear how clueless he is, make statements about how he "knows about hacking" and they just don't know. And you can't just let him make grandpa statements about how things that are really important have to go by courier without pointing out that he doesn't know fuck all about pre-internet communication either because yeah, couriers aren't secure either. Jesus.

I know he hasn't even become president yet but the news shouldn't just continue sticking with old habits by treating him as if they're talking to Obama and whatever he said must be somewhat reasonable. Even if they know it's useless to confront Trump in the moment because he'll just babble and then refuse to talk to whoever again, they can't just print his dumb statements and let them stand.

[Hooper]

Quote

“He says the things I’m thinking.” That may be what is so terrifying. Who knew that so many tens of millions of white Americans were thinking unconscionable things about their fellow Americans? Who knew that tens of millions of white men felt so emasculated by women and challenged by minorities? Who knew that after years of seeming progress on race and gender, tens of millions of white Americans lived in seething resentment, waiting for a demagogue to arrive who would legitimize their worst selves and channel them into political power? Perhaps we had been living in a fool’s paradise. Now we aren’t."

Who knew?  Dark-skinned people, that's who knew.

Quote

He's a teenage girl. 

I worked with teenage girls. I knew teenage girls. Teenage girls were friends of mine*.  Drumph is no teenage girl.

*Because I was a teenage girl.

[Duke Silver]

Wait...wut???  Only a few days ago, KAC was crowing that the newest sanctions were merely symbolic, but now Spicer wonders why they are so harsh?

 

Spicer questions Obama response to Russian hacking

[NewDigs]

19 minutes ago, Lunata said:

One thing the press has been guilty of in my opinion anyway, is that they gobble up the 'click bait' and instantly make news out of one of Trump's stupid impetuous tweets. They do that because people want to read it on the website of who they're working for whether it's CNN, Washington Post or Fox.

I listened to one more election post -mortem this morning and a couple of "journalists" were discussing this.

As an example they used the weekend that the TrumpYou fraud suit was in the news. They were focused on that and Trump tweeted about the Pence/Hamilton issue which they clearly said they recognized as a diversion. BUT they then actually asked, Which should we report? 

I'm all, Are you kidding me? You recognize a diversionary tactic but but but ...

Apparently he has also "Instagrammed" his crap. They reported it. 

We're doomed.

[sistermagpie]

3 minutes ago, Duke Silver said:

Wait...wut???  Only a few days ago, KAC was crowing that the newest sanctions were merely symbolic, but now Spicer wonders why they are so harsh?

I think that's the usual way. If you're actually objecting to a thing somebody's doing you're going to be more coherent, but they just attack their "enemies" from all sides and whatever sticks is a win. And there are people for whom both "these sanctions do nothing!" and "these sanctions are too harsh and Obama's starting WWIII" can go together. Just as "Nobody can really tell what happens with computers" and "I know more about hacking than anyone so I know Vovochka is innocent" can go together--this from a guy who's never been associated with computers at all.

[NewDigs]

And last night he was saying words to the effect, If you want to send a message and you want it secure, write it on a piece of paper, put it in an envelope and send it. That's the only secure way.

I think I read he first used a computer in 2007.

[Lana X]

I wish journalists would just take a stand and call out donald trump for his lies. 

headline: Don lies again! story on page 3! 

you can still report on him and call him out. 

nowadays, the lie comes out first and then later everyone is like 'oh. my bad. here is the true story....'

it is quite sad that it is all about ratings or whatever else.

on a somewhat related note....any guesses on how the white house correspondents dinner will be with trump? usually everyone clamors to be there. at least celebrities do. hmm

[numbnut]

Happy New Year, everybody! Glad the forum is still here. Nerdwriter dissects the Twitter Twit's tweets and his percentage of the tweeting.

Also, a Daily Beast write-up on how the inauguration snubs are bugging the shit out of the celebrity-loving Orange One...

The mad scramble by his team to secure famous players for his inaugural festivities coupled with his ad-hoc photo ops with a fading Jim Brown, a bizarre, unmedicated Kanye West and huckster-cum-murderer Don King makes Trump’s existential yearning clear. He can try to deflect with pathetic tweets about really wanting to be surrounded by “the people” on his big day, but the truth is transparent: the germaphobic pouter who lives in an all-gold penthouse built from cheap materials by undocumented Polish migrants wouldn’t wipe his nose on his core supporters. Just look at his billionaire cabinet for a clue....

It’s not a dismissal born purely of partisanship, but rather a rejection of the entire underlying ethos of his divisive, revanchist campaign. Maintaining a unified front against authoritarianism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and misogyny is no laughing matter, no matter how much Trump’s apologists try to snide it off on cable TV. Ultimately, denying Trump and Trumpism the cultural cosign they crave is an important statement. It does what so far, the collective media have been unable or unwilling to do: rejecting the normalization of the utterly abnormal. It tells not just the country, but the world, that Trumpism may have a hold on our politics, but it doesn’t have a hold on us. America’s ascendant majority will not so easily slink off into that good night, and will not quietly ingest what Trump has foisted on the electorate. He and his bilious, Russophile Twitter and comment-section trolls, his apologist surrogates and his zombified, partisan enablers on Capitol Hill will have to do their dirty work — including the horrors of disappointment and lost healthcare and social safety net programs soon to be visited on Trump’s own working class supporters — without the shield of popular cultural will.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/01/a-list-s-trump-snub-hits-him-where-it-hurts.html?via=newsletter&source=DDAfternoon

[NewDigs]

I just hope that all of the entertainers and artists who have rejected inaug. invites will do more than take out full page ads condemning his actions.

Unfortunately their voices are frequently dismissed as elitist or out-of-touch.

We need Pete Seegers et al. RIP

[Pixel]

1 hour ago, Hooper said:

Who knew?  Dark-skinned people, that's who knew.

I worked with teenage girls. I knew teenage girls. Teenage girls were friends of mine*.  Drumph is no teenage girl.

*Because I was a teenage girl.

As was I. 

[galaxygirl76]

2 hours ago, Pixel said:

It's also #3 in the Adolescent Queen Bee Handbook. He's a teenage girl. 

Oh please, he wishes he was Regina George.

[BBDi]

1 hour ago, galaxygirl76 said:

Oh please, he wishes he was Regina George.

I've thought of Regina George a lot lately in a different context - I can almost hear her saying "Stop trying to make 'alt-left' happen. It's not going to happen!"

[Pixel]

57 minutes ago, BBDi said:

I've thought of Regina George a lot lately in a different context - I can almost hear her saying "Stop trying to make 'alt-left' happen. It's not going to happen!"

I have thought the same thing, and almost posted it!

[DeLurker]

Been watching the Harry Potter movies over winter break with my daughter. Last night she suggested we should just call him VoldeTrump. 

I'm pucturing him meeting with the Intelligence Committee or when he is in a daily briefing covering his ears saying "La La La, I can't hear you " over and over.

[MulletorHater]

9 hours ago, random chance said:

Supposedly he's going to reveal this information on Tuesday or Wednesday. Probably during the ribbon cutting ceremony for a new hotel, or in an infomercial for his wine.

 

9 hours ago, Revlonred said:

Tuesday or Wednesday of what year, or dimension? Because he has made declarations like this before, if I recall correctly, and I think that I do because I like to live in a world of facts.

Some of us are still waiting for him to reveal what his "investigators" found out in Hawaii about the REAL circumstances of President Obama's birth.  Because, you know, there was this sinister plot hatched sometime in 1960-1961 to fake a birth certificate for the baby born to a White Kansas woman and a Kenyan man.  This Kansas woman, Stanley Ann Dunham, was specially chosen to give birth to the future Manchurian Candidate.  She considered herself blessed and highly favored and even supposedly wrote a poem about it.  Apparently, the Hawaiian authorities, as well as Stanley and Madelyn Dunham (Obama's maternal grandparents) were in on this plot.  Yes, it took some convincing for them to agree to raise this boy from the age of 10, but they did it because they loved him.  The boy was groomed and educated in the finest schools so that he could take over the world and be swept into the White House with powers beyond our imaginations.  He even infiltrated the Black community when he became smitten with one Michelle Robinson.  He married her and together, they foisted their anti-American and anti-colonialism worldview on an unsuspecting nation.

All kidding aside, I've seen various versions of the above story on different right-wing websites for years.  Even the Obama-obsessed Dinesh D'Souza made a film a few years ago that was supposed to examine Obama's origins, worldview, and "rage."  What's particularly frustrating is that once again mainstream media have played into Drumpf's stubby little hands by reporting his nonsensical ravings as serious news.  They reported the "birther" nonsense for 5 years as if it was something to be given serious consideration.  They have allowed themselves to be pimped yet again as Drumpf and his surrogates seek to define what is newsworthy--with virtually little to no push back.  The Carrier story is a perfect example of how Drumpf was able to manipulate a story when corporate media proclaimed that the company was going to keep 1,000 jobs in the U.S., thereby giving Drumpf unearned accolades for his "negotiating" skills.  The accolades were grossly out of proportion to what really happened and by the time the full story was told, it was too late.  Then to add insult to injury, a union representative who further dissected Drumpf's B.S. found himself on the receiving end of death threats by the Fanta Fuhrer's rabid fanbase.  It lends credence to the adage that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.