Outside the Beltway

Rationalizing All of This Must be Exhausting

I really do not want four more years of parsing this stuff.

Steven L. Taylor
31

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How exhausting must it be for Trump supporters to block out things like the following/to have to rationalize how, you know, what he really meant?

To wit (as I catch up after having been briefly out of town) we have here, in order, what appears to be simulated oral sex on a microphone, a wish that Liz Cheney confront guns in her face, and musing about the press getting shot.

I’m sure somebody will be able to tell me how all of this is normal.

Also, don’t believe your lyin’ eyes:

Promising to let known conspiracy theorist RJK, Jr. be in charge of women’s health, or something.

And, more calling political opponents “scum” while using violent imagery.

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31 responses to “Rationalizing All of This Must be Exhausting”

  1. al Ameda Avatar
    al Ameda

    Our civic environment is polluted and decimated, and all it took was Trump to break everything down. The fact that we – after 9 years of this – could very well elect to take another swim in the Trump cesspool is certainly a measure of how many millions of Americans are willing to sell out their morals, ethics, and norms, in the pursuit of power.

    9
  2. Joe Avatar
    Joe

    @al Ameda:

    in the pursuit of power.

    By which you mean “for cheaper eggs.”

    5
  3. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @al Ameda:

    Any power those dimwits who vote for him get will be purely in their imaginations. They’ll never understand that Trump despises them. And he’ll discard them once they’ve outlived their usefulness to him.

    3
  4. Sleeping Dog Avatar
    Sleeping Dog

    @CSK:

    Like immediately after the election if he wins.

    4
  5. Argon Avatar
    Argon

    Not as exhausting as four years of waking up to whatever crap the double-flushing, shitter-in-chief, tweeted.

    1
  6. CSK Avatar
    CSK

    @Sleeping Dog:

    Of course.

    1
  7. Jay L Gischer Avatar
    Jay L Gischer

    In the “empty seats” video, if you keep listening, Trump says, “these rallies are coming to an end”.

    Let that sink in.

    It’s not “I will take a break, because as president I have to do less”. Because he says, “For nine years we’ve been doing these rallies”

    No, he isn’t doing them any more. It surprises me, he loves them. But maybe he really is exhausted, and doesn’t want to do it any more.

    He’s saying goodbye.

    1
  8. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Jay L Gischer:
    FWIW, that vibe is the only reason I will consider the possibility that he might accept the election results if he loses.

    Unfortunately his past behavior doesn’t make me confident that he will.

    1
  9. Kingdaddy Avatar
    Kingdaddy

    Not to jink anything, but where are the usual rationalizers in the comments sections today?

    1
  10. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @Kingdaddy: I was soooo hoping for an explanation for the mic bit and the shooting of reporters!

    2
  11. Argon Avatar
    Argon

    @al Ameda:

    Our civic environment is polluted and decimated, and all it took was Trump to break everything down

    Breitbart, Limbaugh and Murdoch were digging at the infrastructure for years…

    4
  12. Jay L Gischer Avatar
    Jay L Gischer

    @Matt Bernius: I can appreciate your sense of Trump in this, for sure. All through the last month, I keep seeing signs that he thinks he’s losing.

    I think the trick is that he won’t “accept” them, but he will walk off the stage in a huff. Some remark like, “The fix is just too big to fight, and I’m exhausted from fighting all these traitors. Someone else is going to have to pick up the banner”. Something like that.

    If you look at the evidence that Jack Smith has collected, there’s a lot of stuff there that’s bad for Trump’s legal case. And a very solid argument that the recent SCOTUS immunity ruling doesn’t apply to a great deal of it.

    (Did, for instance, John Roberts know that ahead of time?)

    Of course, I’ve been all wet on stuff like this before. Then again, I have also been spot on. I hope to never mistake what I think will happen for what actually happens.

  13. Kathy Avatar
    Kathy

    For some reason I’m reminded of Nero. When he realized he was widely hated and found himself cornered by rebellious legions led by Galba, he eventually settled on the one honorable way out, for a Roman. Then proceeded to dither, and hem and haw, and wallow in self-pity until he found the courage to force an aide to kill him.

    2
  14. drj Avatar
    drj

    I’m sure somebody will be able to tell me how all of this is normal.

    Maybe the MAGAs don’t want normal. Perhaps all they want is libtard tears.

    Trump sure is delivering there.

    Unfortunately, this might not be the most optimal way to run a country

    1
  15. drj Avatar
    drj

    @Jay L Gischer:

    (Did, for instance, John Roberts know that ahead of time?)

    If he he could get away with it, Roberts would be ready to argue that the 19th amendment was wrongly decided.

    Anything to keep the Democrat out of the White House.

  16. DrDaveT Avatar
    DrDaveT

    It’s not that “everything he says is a lie” — it’s that he only accidentally tells the truth.

    2
  17. Matt Bernius Avatar
    Matt Bernius

    @Kingdaddy:

    Not to jink anything, but where are the usual rationalizers in the comments sections today?

    No, but I’m not surprised. Their anti-anti-Trump positioning (or at least two of theirs) makes this kinda predictable behavior. It’s also why I remain cautiously optimistic that Harris will win. I think Democrats are far more engaged and excited to vote for her than Republicans and Trump supporters are to vote for Trump.

    Here’s my short take on what they are thinking tonight.

    The only one I’ll call out by name in JKB. While he (?) and I clearly disagree and but heads, I have respect for him in that he at least is willing to lay out a position. He thinks Trump will win AND that we will finally see the massive realignment he’s been talking about since at least the 2020 election (note: it didn’t manifest in that election).

    The other three key folks will be nameless, but I leave it up to you to decide who they might be:

    Commenter #1: Firmly supports Trump, largely because of guns, gays, and bitches be lying. However, the messages he (?) gets from his fillings have yet to inform him that he needs to come to the site to deliver some nonsequitur whataboutisms and then complain about the police and/or prosecutors.

    Commenter #2: Votes for Trump and hopes he wins, but has been unsure for quite a while and is hedging his (?) bets–he doesn’t want to be remembered for backing a loser. If Trump wins, he will be here tomorrow bright and early to let James Joyner know that his time against the wall will be coming soon. If Trump loses, he will stop posting for a while, then change his name and come back next year with the same complaints about how James is the real problem.

    Commenter #3: Votes for Trump but secretly hopes Trump loses because too much of his retirement savings are tied up in stocks, and he has just enough understanding to know that Trump’s policies will crash the economy. Again, he’s (and in this case I’m pretty sure “he’s” a “he”) going to be here bright and early tomorrow morning if Trump wins to declare he was right this entire time and we all were wrong. If Trump loses, he’ll stop commenting until it’s safe again and may or may not change his name.

    Also, as they read this (because I know they will read it), Commenters #2 and #3 are considering a snarky post about how much they occupy my brain space… they might even post it. My response to that is that they are so tragically predictable that this took me about 5 minutes to come up with while I was enjoying some wine and a few more minutes to type. Plus I think it’s funny so no regerts on my side.

    2
  18. Gavin Avatar
    Gavin

    Dr.Taylor, why are you setting the time bounds for this at Trump?

    Since before Reagan, Republicans haven’t accepted legitimacy of Democratic anything. Political correctness, cancelling, Free Speech — every complaint is Republican whining that their scripted Cause Du Jour is entirely ignored and belittled once Fox News is turned off.

    And when you listen to the Lever podcast Master Plan, you will learn how the Powell Memo has scripted the long Roberts Court effort to end free and fair elections in the US.. because monopoly and oligarchy have always been the goal of Republicans.

    I think parsing Trump is paying attention to the “squirrel” calls while the man behind the curtain is more important.. and Trump is at his core a bog-standard Republican.

    1
  19. gVOR10 Avatar
    gVOR10

    @Jay L Gischer:

    (Did, for instance, John Roberts know that ahead of time? (that Smith could make a case not affected by immunity))

    I don’t know what Roberts knew about the case. I do know he knew that he and the Federalist Five would ultimately get to decide whether or not immunity applies.

  20. Flat Earth Luddite Avatar
    Flat Earth Luddite

    @Gavin:
    @Argon:

    Breitbart, Limbaugh and Murdoch were digging at the infrastructure for years…

    In siege warfare, the sappers’ job of undermining the keep’s walls starts long before the actual effort to force the gates.

    Luddite’s going back under my blanket fort, with a drink in my hand.

    2
  21. just nutha Avatar
    just nutha

    Meanwhile downtown, about a dozen more buildings (a mix of vacant and occupied) are boarded up, and the leading candidates for Mayor and City Council have figured out the solution to the unhoused residents problem:

    If being homeless and sleeping on the street are made illegal, the homeless will have to move to places where it’s legal.

    [facepalm]

    1
  22. Steven L. Taylor Avatar
    Steven L. Taylor

    @TheRyGuy: even now: no positive defense of Trump.

    Amazing.

    5
  23. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    In the run up I got served Ohio and Houston, TX YouTube political ads relentlessly for two months. I live in Des Moines. Why tf can’t Google figure out where I live?

    Texas ads, I got ads directed at Houston proper and DFW. Texas ads are hard-core and do no not hold back. R Texas ads are just straight up transphobic. One ad I got repeatedly ended with the message “they are for they/them and not for you.”

    That’s not even a dog whistle, that’s straight up transphobic.

  24. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    @de stijl:

    Does anyone else get radically geographically bad ad serves like I get?

    There is zero reason for me to get Ohio and Texas political ads. I own no property in either state. I have not been in either state in decades. I can’t vote there. Why does Google ad services always not know where I live?

  25. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    @just nutha:

    I volunteer at a homeless shelter.

    People do not sleep rough because they want to. (Slight asterisk there). They do because they have to. Very often it is because they can’t abide by the rules of the shelter – on not using in premises.

    Many, many, most unhoused folks want a roof, electricity, running water, three meals, a place to sleep safe. IOW, a shelter.

    There are some who go to and prefer tent camps in sorta wild areas. I don’t get it myself. And I like camping a lot, myself.

    The go it their own way folks surely do love the toilet and shower services we provide. Meals, too. Their DIY spirit is a bit compromised.

    A lot of times, it is so they can drink or do drugs. You can’t do that in the shelter. People choose to sleep rough so they can get fucked up very, very often.

  26. Lounsbury Avatar
    Lounsbury

    Well, again….

    Maybe some meager chance the US Left will learn now that it’s Academic inflected Uni-campus language, focus needs to be ditched.

    God help us

  27. Gavin Avatar
    Gavin

    “the problem” with Democratic campaigns is not directly just the language as Lounsbury said [that’s an outgrowth] but rather a refusal to take strong positions against business interests because they’re too afraid to actually confront Republican policies.
    Harris’ campaign started out strong and had great positive numbers.. and nearly immediately she started walking back those strong positions and lost the lead.
    “Pivoting to the center” is a losing strategy – obama and bill clinton aren’t coming through that door.
    Imagine if the Harris housing campaign was “Your parents had a house. You should have a house if you have a good job. I’m going to make houses affordable for you, too, even if I have to jail every Wall Street banker who made houses too expensive.”

  28. SC_Birdflyte Avatar
    SC_Birdflyte

    Our democratic republic has stood against external threats for over 200 years. Now, however, it seems we have a sizeable minority who are determined to commit national suicide. I can only imagine that guys in Moscow, Beijing, and Pyongyang are rubbing their hands in glee this morning.

  29. Lounsbury Avatar
    Lounsbury

    @Gavin: ah yes the Political activist response, More Left will won. Very standard…. very Corbyn.

  30. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    @Gavin:

    How does jailing Wall Street bankers illegally on spurious, ex post facto charges make housing more affordable? Wouldn’t that eliminate all mortgage financing?

    Speculation is not illegal. It’s unethical. What you seem to be advocating for is, in fact, illegal: which Walk Street folks would you jail? On what charges?

    Wouldn’t spuriously and illegally jailing finance folks on the whim of a President make the housing market much, much worse? And who should be jailed? And why? And on what charge? Wouldn’t your scheme make it impossible to obtain a mortgage at any rate?

    Yes, housing vs. income is a big and growing problem, and the system needs a definate, solid shake up, but dictatorial threats about a new President coming in to sweep all this away and jailing “Wall Street bankers” for entirely legal practices is the dumbest, most juvenile, most flat-out populist authoritarian bullshit I’ve seen in a long while.

    Who will finance mortgages after your Wall St. purge? If this fantasy came true no financial business would even consider financing mortgage debt ever.

    Yes, speculators are awful and are really trying to manipulate the market. Yes, housing costs way too much in certain markets. Yes, there are too many houses bought up to be shoddily, at the cheapest possible, reno’d and resold for a profit. None of that is illegal. And no one can make it retroactively illegal.

    One can think of many ways to make housing more affordable rather than “jail the Wall Street bankers”.

    That’s being honest. Your implied proposed solution is very stupid, illegal, and counterproductive. It would eliminate, probably criminalize any incentive to provide mortgages. You can bend supply and demand.

    Your implied solution is illegal and incredibly stupid. Sorry to be harsh.

  31. de stijl Avatar
    de stijl

    @Lounsbury:

    Harris very intentionally did not run that way and did not employ leftist rhetoric.

    She lost.

    1

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