Nero Fiddled While Rome Burned, Trump Tweets While More Bombs Are Discovered
More outrageous behavior by the President of the United States.
As I noted this morning, law enforcement personnel discovered two more potential explosive devices, addressed to New Jersey Senator Cory Booker and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, At the same time that this was happening, Donald Trump took to Twitter, and, well, lets let the Tweeter in Chief speak for himself:
President Trump on Friday lamented that a series of apparent mail bombs sent to prominent Democrats is halting Republican “momentum” ahead of the midterm elections.
“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows — news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!” he tweeted.
The president’s use of scare quotes around the word “bomb” appeared to reflect his skepticism about the story, which has dominated cable news for days.
Some of Trump’s allies have suggested, without evidence, that the packages are part of a “false flag” operation by liberals to hurt Republicans ahead of next month’s midterm elections.
The president’s latest message came hours after the discovery of two more packages suspected of containing explosives addressed to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and James Clapper, who served as director of national intelligence under former President Obama.
That upped the number of suspicious packages sent to leading Democrats this week to 12, a string of events that some public officials, but not Trump, have described as “domestic terrorism.”
Targets include Obama and Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the 2016 presidential race, as well as lawmakers and former administration officials who have been critical of the president.
In a tweet sent at 3:14 a.m. Friday, Trump accused CNN of “blaming” him for the series of bomb scares.
Additionally, Trump also complained about losing Twitter followers and the news media.
President Donald Trump today accused Twitter of reducing the number of users who follow him and suggested the company is slowing down his account’s growth, in his latest attack on internet companies over alleged bias.
“Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join – they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?”
The president didn’t provide evidence to support his claim, and the White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter has been a critical communications channel for Trump. He not only taps the platform to speak directly to his conservative voter base, but also uses it to announce major policy initiatives and to try to shape media coverage.
Despite his fondness for the medium, Trump has accused Twitter and other social media of being biased against him. His gripes echo claims from Trump 2020 campaign manager Brad Parscale and House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy that Twitter “shadow bans” conservative leaders, making it harder to find and follow their accounts.
“Our focus is on the health of the service, and that includes work to remove fake accounts to prevent malicious behavior,” Twitter said in a statement. “Many prominent accounts have seen follower counts drop, but the result is higher confidence that the followers they have are real, engaged people.”
Here is the full litany of Trump tweets starting at 3:14 a.m. this morning:
Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, “it’s just not Presidential!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
The United States has been spending Billions of Dollars a year on Illegal Immigration. This will not continue. Democrats must give us the votes to pass strong (but fair) laws. If not, we will be forced to play a much tougher hand.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
Twitter has removed many people from my account and, more importantly, they have seemingly done something that makes it much harder to join – they have stifled growth to a point where it is obvious to all. A few weeks ago it was a Rocket Ship, now it is a Blimp! Total Bias?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this “Bomb” stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows – news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 26, 2018
I would call Tweets like this while the nation and law enforcement are dealing what is clearly a serial bomber and domestic terrorist outrageous, but for this President it’s just standard operating procedure.
Nero didn’t really fiddle, and Rome burned many, many times (long story). People believed the story, though, because, although he acted quickly in the aftermath in support of the city’s population, he also took the opportunity to seize a large plot of land to build his infamous “Golden Palace” (it never got built). This angered many people.
It didn’t help Nero was largely unqualified for the job, didn’t really want it to begin with, didn’t care much for it, and was far more interested in other pursuits. Which, come to think of it, sound like a certain Orange person who grudgingly moved to Washington D.C. in 2017.
Always remember, the only audience for his Twitter feed that Trump cares about is his base and they are lapping this up. They are buying their MAGA hats and planning their trips to attend one of his creepy rallies, so they want their script for when the chanting starts. They are descending into their RWNJ blogs to get their speaking points, then sullying all public discourse by spewing their troll vomit wherever they can.
Trump is just feeding the beast and we all know the beast has to eat every day.
And sometimes the beast has the means to make and mail bombs…
Nero didn’t really fiddle,..
And Mary wasn’t really a virgin…
@Kathy: I was going to have to google the Nero fiddling story because I happened to remember that much of Rome was wooden shanties and – as you say – burned several times and that the ‘fiddling’ was propaganda by Nero’s enemies (some of whom were early Xians). But you obviously have a superior grasp on the subject. And as I think I said once before, Thanks!
Cesar Sayoc, a 50 something man with a criminal record, has been arrested in Florida. There are photos all over the Florida news already with pictures of his MAGA van, complete with crosshairs on HRC.
Cue the response to change from “false flag” to “lone wolf mentally disturbed”
@JohnMcC:
You’re welcome.
I’ve listened to Mike Duncan’s “The History of Rome” podcast twice, plus I’ve read a few other books on Rome.
Rich Romans lived in stone houses and palaces. Temples and public buildings were of stone. Everyone else lived in wood houses or apartment buildings, most consisting of one room. Wood was cheaper, and easier to work with. Fires were common.
Another thing Nero did after the fire was use Christians as scapegoats. Roman attitudes towards Christians is kind of a complicated subject, but it oscillated between brutal repression to indifference. At this time, the popular mood wasn’t for repression. So this also hurt Nero. And this also has parallels to the Orange Cretin.
Long story short, Nero didn’t fiddle while Rome burned (I think he wasn’t even in Rome at the time), but he may as well have. Trump is Tweeting while more bombs are found.If he’s engaged with the matter, he doesn’t give that appearance. This shouldn’t be surprising. After all, the bombs are not about him.
Good News: mail bomber appears to have been arrested.
And he was basically driving around in a right wing Room of Crazy.
@Stormy Dragon:
Correction: MAGAbomber.
You know what I’d call these Tweets? Garbage.
#MAGABomber.
Got to love me some Wonkette: https://www.wonkette.com/looks-like-bomb-thing-suspect-is-trump-maga-idiot-of-our-dreams
Resplendant with Van pictures, and notes from Sayoc’s 2012 bankruptcy: “Lives w/mom, has no furniture.”
Shocked, SHOCKED, to find this type of thing going on… and by a Registered Republican !!!
If we were to advice Trump “Better to keep your mouth shut and be thought a fool, than to speak and remove all doubt”, would he answer something like “Oh, yeah! I know you are, but what am I!”?
@Liberal Capitalist:
Dude was also well known at Trump rallies, also had criminal record. Pretty much anything that would correlate with this kind of activity, dude exhibited it.
This false flag has been hoisted on it’s own petard.
@charon: Man, that false flag was planted deeply.
Seriously, I fully expect to see this dude’s pic behind Trump at one of his rallies.
From the Guardian:
Yes because it is normal and courteous to engage in “theft, battery, domestic violence” and to threaten to throw bombs at utilities workers. It’s kind of amazing the lengths some people will go to to make excuses for violent white men. I await the exclamation of shock and surprise from a neighbor stating, “I just can’t believe it, he was always so nice to me.”
Clearly the MAGAbomber was a little off…driving around in a van selling racism.
But have you ever watched a Dennison rally?
THEY ARE ALL A LITTLE OFF!!!
This guy is no different than Bungie or JKB or Guarneri or J-enos or TMzero or John420 or One American. They all believe nonsense, they all hate America, and they are all part of Cult#45.
The other take-away here is that Dennison is clearly weak on terror.
@Daryl and his brother Darryl: Bin Laden is still dead.
What are the odds the MAGAbomber gets a pardon from El Cheeto?
@Kathy: The same as the odds of trump paying for his legal defense.
@Kathy:
Fiddles hadn’t been invented yet, and like hell the Rome FD just sat around waiting for orders.
Nero was a victim of a smear campaign propagated by Pimplus Gluteus Rushus.
@JohnMcC:
Lately I realize that almost goes without saying when it comes to Kathy…
@Daryl and his brother Darryl:
But, they’re not deplorable. Oh no, that wouldn’t be civil.
The threat to America isn’t CARAVANS…it’s TRUMP-VANS.
@OzarkHillbilly:
A pardon costs him nothing.
“It’s good to be the King.”
@MarkedMan:
Oh, please. I just read a great deal on a variety of subjects, I think a lot, and right now I get a chance to be very bored at work. Posting here, and reading the blog and comments, is quite stimulating intellectually.
@dazedandconfused:
LOL! (I haven’t typed that in ages. Do kids still say that?)
I don’t know how the verb “to fiddle” got attached to Nero. But he did play the lire, and fancied himself an artist.
I’m not sure there was a fire department in Rome, which is an odd omission considering the Romans were proud of their civic services. By the mid first century BCE, I do know, there was no fire department. One man, Marcus Licinius Crassus, operated a kind of fire brigade. The service was “free,” or rather he never charged a denarius for it. Instead he showed up, or his agents did, at the scene of a fire, and told the building’s owner: I’ll put the fire out, if you sell me this property right now for less than it’s worth. If the owner refused, the fire brigade just let it burn.
Extra credit for using the correct Roman naming convention.
@Kathy:
And is still no more likely than him paying for his defense. I mean really, trump could give a rat’s ass about this idiot?
Oh come now, surely he cares deeply about his supporters…right? Right…