Trumpy Sunday Tabs
Sorting through the deluge.
- Via the AP: Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more Palestinian refugees and floats plan to ‘clean out’ Gaza. There is a term for what is being suggested. It is “ethnic cleansing.”
“I’d like Egypt to take people,” Trump said. “You’re talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing and say, ‘You know, it’s over.’”
- Via NBC News: White House warns of ‘consequences’ for Republicans who don’t support all of Trump’s nominees. I would note that the pressure described in the article worked on Senator Ernst’s vote on Hegseth (who only got through via a tie-breaker). Patel, Gabbard, and Kennedy are the next tests.
- Via The Hill: Florida Republican urges Trump to spare some migrants under deportation plan. Short version: Republican Representative wants a Biden era program protecting immigrants she likes to be allowed to continue.
- Via NBC News: Sen. Lindsey Graham says he thinks Trump pardoning violent Jan. 6 defendants was ‘a mistake’. Gee, you don’t say? But Pottery Barn rules apply: you break it, you own it.
- Via the AP: More DEI fallout: Air Force scraps course that used videos of Tuskegee Airmen and female WWII pilots.
- Via the BBC: Trump says he believes US will ‘get Greenland’. The 19th century of it all continues to amaze.
- Via WaPo: 5 ways Project 2025 appeared in Trump’s presidential directives. It has rightly been noted that a lot of what Trump is doing, he promised to do. But it is worth remembering that he disavowed Project 2025, and yet here we are. And yes, I knew he was lying at the time.
- Via the NYT: They Were Waiting for Flights. Then Trump Closed a Door for Afghan Allies. As I recall, there was fair criticism of the Biden administration not doing to enough to help Afghans who helped us in Afghanistan. However, a process to help many of those people to leave was established and now one of Trump’s many sweeping EOs has gummed it all up.
The order suspended a resettlement program that brings thousands of legal refugees to the country each year. Among the many now in limbo are Afghans who assisted the American war effort and are seeking a new start and a sense of security in the United States.
“Trump wants Jordan and Egypt to accept more Palestinian refugees”
Proving that irony is not dead.
Cleansing Gaza of Palestinians? Does that have anything to do with Jared Kushner’s ideas of developing the waterfront there? Quotes from the article:
“I am not sure there is much left of Gaza at this point. If you think about even the construct, Gaza was not really a historical precedent [sic]. It was the result of a war. You had tribes in different places and then Gaza became a thing. Egypt used to run it and then over time different governments came in.”
Responding to a question about whether the Palestinians should have their own state, Kushner described the proposal as “a super bad idea” that “would essentially be rewarding an act of terror”.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/mar/19/jared-kushner-gaza-waterfront-property-israel-negev
@Moosebreath: There is a grotesque symmetry to the first and last links.
About that “meritocracy” rationalization used as cover for MAGA bigotry, just a few names to rip the thin facade off that fiction:
Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, RFK Jr Lee Zeldin, Linda McMahon, Mehmet Oz, Billy Long, Tulsi Gabbert, Herschel Walker, Kimberly Guilfoyle, Charles Kushner, J.D. Vance (feel free to add to this list of merit-free appointees)
The attack on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, in favor of prioritizing “merit,” is a bald face lie made more obscene by MAGA’s own preference for nepotism and cronyism over any actual experience. Sychophancy is their meritorious commendation.
(working link to the story below)
I think you have the wrong analogy. Think September 30, 1938.
Mark Cuban makes a compelling argument that the Democrats should cooperate with the Florida Republican rep and support the requested exceptions to the policy.
The Republicans are very unlikely to get on board, and the people will see who is there to help and who is there to make things worse.
This is the kind of Democratic leadership that will change hearts and minds, and possibly win the mid-terms for the Ds.
@Moosebreath:
Somewhere it was reported Trump suggested that “nice housing” could be provide to the displaced Gazans. So says the man who has never seen the some of the Palestinian refugee camps that go back decades.
Extremist thought will not be quelled by ejecting Gazans from their homeland. In fact, further dispossesion of the Palestinian people will likely bring greater violence upon all parties involved.
@Tony W:
Remember how the Biden administration decided to focus Inflation Reduction Act on Republican areas and got no credit whatsoever? The people who vote Republican won’t see Democrats there to help, because the media they consume will never mention it.
This is just another suckers’ deal to get Democrats to help Republicans avoid the consequences of their own policies by making exceptions for red areas while continuing to target blue areas.
Democrats should instead focus on helping areas that already vote for them. If Florida voters want Democratic help, they can vote for Democrats.
Same approach he took with trans people.
FTFY (I seriously doubt that she even cares about any of them, let alone actually liking them.)
ETA: “And yes, I knew he was lying at the time.” As did we all here. (Including the MAGAs among us and most of the voters–particularly voters who were aware of Project 2025.)
@Rob1: “Somewhere it was reported Trump suggested that “nice housing” could be provide to the displaced Gazans. ”
Peaceful housing.
Lushly growing orchards.
The sound of tourists echoing all over.
Just don’t ask what is fertilizing those trees.
We all owe a debt of gratitude to the “Genocide Joe” crowd. They sure proved they know how to maximize protection for the people they claim to speak for.
@Tony W: I disagree. As the election winner, I agree that he is entitled to, at least try to, run the country as he proposed he would and that the majority that voted against the alternative are entitled to the what they supported, whether by direct or indirect agency. Democrats can help out Mr. Cuban if they choose to. I wouldn’t though. Don’t think it serves my or the country’s larger interests–omelets, (prohibitively expensive) eggs, yada, yada, yada.
@Rob1: To expand on your thought: “Could” in “could be provided” signals only potential. It carries the same mood as future tense in Korean–which is expressed with a conditional mood verb.
“The teacher will receive 2 weeks of vacation” equals “the school hopes to be able to offer…” and “nice housing could be provided” equals “it would be okay by me if someone builds structures instead of letting them shelter on an ad hoc basis, I don’t care either way.”
Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. But you may be right about the mid-term elections, so dash into the phone booth and go rescue the Republicans as Superdem again. You may even avert the economic catastrophe this administration could produce. And wouldn’t that be a lucky break?
Aside from the monstrousness of abetting ethnic cleansing, the idea that the Egyptian and Jordanian governments would take in Palestinian refugees is far-fetched. Militant Palestinians already tried to overthrow the Jordanian government once. And the Egyptian government has been the target of militant Islamists for decades, including the assassination of Sadat. With the Gazans comes Hamas, so…
@Tony W: 100% agree with just nutha here. Perhaps Dems should help Florida because it is the right thing to do, but you’re kidding yourself if Republican voters would ever give them credit for it. Since Reagan, Democrats have championed the average Joe be it Farmer, steelworker, parent, or taxi driver, and Republicans have done nothing but shit all over them. Has that meant a damn thing to the average Republican voter? How many articles have we seen in the past week about trumpers now scared that Republican policies might hurt them and theirs? And if they do? It will be all about it was really because of those immigrant trans kids.
@Kingdaddy: We should have washed our hands of it years ago, and treated Israel as just another shitty Mid East country with no regard for human rights, and Gaza and the West Bank as poor schmoes with violent terrorist groups totally in control. There’s no shortage of similar situations there. What is foolish is continuously declaring our undying loyalty to an apartheid state that meddles in our domestic politics.
@Kingdaddy: You don’t think anyone in the Trump administration can connect the dots on who to ask? I’m sure Trump isn’t that clever, but finding “no one (who) will take them” makes a simple expulsion easier. Win-win, Bibi and Jared can plan the resort.
@Tony W: It seems really unlikely to me that Speaker Johnson and the GOP House leadership would allow such a move to happen. I think Cuban doesn’t understand how the House works. And then there’s the Senate.
Indeed, I simply do not see the House Reps allowing a Dem-favored relaxation of Trump’s immigration goals. I also do not see Rep Salazar being willing to ally herself with the Dems against her party.
Salazar isn’t the only R critter that has suggested that there be exceptions, though she maybe the latest and loudest. Several farm state R’s have whispered similar sentiments, given their farmer constituents are beginning to panic.
@Sleeping Dog: I think Republican Representatives need to stop listening to their panicked constituents and listen more to the guys who bought the government. What’s Cargill’s, position? How do big Ag, Iowa Beef Processors, Swift, Tyson Foods. and so on feel about immigration sweeps? Take your clue from the guys with skin in the game, Congress, not “Oh, give me 40 acres and I’ll turn this rig around” guy*.
*Who’s a chump if he thinks 40 acres is a livelihood nowadays anyway.
No. No cooperation with Republicans. They own this. This may not be what they thought they were voting for, but they own this. If any Republican representative wants to come out and publicly say that this isn’t what people voted for, and I’m no longer a Republican, that would be different. But otherwise, no.
This is who they voted for, this is what they get. No sanewashing, no making things better without admitting, loudly, they seriously fucked up. If they want help, they need to loudly disavow Trump in such a way that they can’t go back.
@Steven L. Taylor:
I completely agree.
At best, Democrats get the miniscule satisfaction of saying to themselves (basically no one else is listening) that they did the right thing, when in fact the (49.8%) public will not give them any credit whatsover for being a party to their agreement. Republicans own the moment and any consequences resulting therefrom. So let them have it. Besides, Lindsey Graham said he doesn’t want Democrats’ input on immigration-related issues. As with Trump, take him at his word.
@Tony W: Bullphucky, and Mark knows it. What wins hearts and minds in in today’s America are multimedia campaigns that occurs over multiple platforms and are amplified through multiple influencers.
In my opinion Democrats have no chance to pitch Florida Hispanics without a lengthy campaign that undermines Republican motives and credibility FROM THE RIGHT.
This means exploiting the H1B and other rifts by co-opting the disillusioned Laura Loomers of the MAGA ecosphere to fling poo at Trump to, essentially, say,”It’s A TRAP”.
Said another way, If you’re looking to make a move on a certain pretty young thing, who’s happily taken, you can waste your time shooting your shot directly, or you can work with her who hate her man to plant suggestions that the guy is a cheating pig.
Working with Republicans to make policy work is working off the clock and should be avoided. They should focus of their story and its optics. And again, the story of Democrats enacting Policy X and America living happily ever does not make the best seller list. No one cares about that story outside of the college educated and cable news(sans Fox) watchers. It is a niche genre.
@Stormy Dragon: Would make great Billboards in South Florida (not that Florida Dems are smart enough to do such a thing).
‘Grandma Deported? Vote Dem in 2026’
I would also love to see stickers put in grocery stores ala the ones put on gas pumps. ‘Powered by $Trump’
@rondo1342:
I see your point. It appears that the only things Republicans fear are transgender people, and the story of the Tuskegee Airmen.
@Just nutha ignint cracker:
Well if Luddite’s growing cocoa leaves … 40 acres might just do it. And I’ve eaten horse, mule might not be much worse.
@Jim Brown 32:
Hey, Luddite’s got $20 to chip in if you find a billboard owner who’ll let you put it up…
$20 says the locals will burn it down if they do sell you space.
@al Ameda:
Yes, I agree. I do wonder, though, why he keeps linking the Babylon Bee – “ Your Trusted Source for Christian News Satire”
I must be slow today.
Noticing that the time is missing from the line after commentator’s name.
Or is it just me?
Weird comments, but entertaining.
@Not the IT Dept.:
Budget in a million or so for each displaced refugee, and see how many jump at that deal. Many countries are more willing to accept the wealthy than just plain poor refugees.
I want innovation in ethnic cleansing.
Alternately, we have a spare Dakota, and Wyoming exists. Perhaps Palestinians might like one of those?
@Sleeping Dog: I hope they panic for the next four years. It’s only fair. I mean, he told them what he was gonna do. They voted for it, and I hope they get what they voted for good and hard. I am sad that so many innocent people’s lives are going to be ruined/upended, but….we tried.
The stove is hot. Touch it, children.
@rondo1342: You typed alot of words when 2 would do:
Heil $Trump!
US Air Force resumes teaching video on first Black pilots after DEI review
Reuters
…meaningless name-calling.
rondo1342: Keep beclowning yourselves, you historically illiterate clowns.
@Gustopher: Oh, you sweet, sweet summer child. The Wyoming State Legislature is WAYYYYY too busy telling the feds to fuck off, legislating when and how a miscarried fetus should be transported to a hospital in a biohazard bag, testing water for abortion drugs (that we don’t currently have the test capability for), and a whole host of other dumb ass shit. Palestinians would freeze to death, because we currently don’t have enough housing for our own people outside of a Felony Flats mobile home with frozen water lines cuz it’s still -20.
@rondo1342: Bye, Rando weirdo from the internet. Wasn’t nice to have known ya! Stay trippy! Fer fuck’s sakes, like we care about your opinion. SOOOOOO MANY EYEROLLS.
@rondo1342: you’re absolutely right…as far as we know Hitler never wanted to have sex with a family member.
Or at least never said it publicly.
@rondo1342: still getting that sweet retirement and Tricare tho. Welfare queen.
Can anyone produce a post where either Professor Taylor (ret.) or Dr. Joyner have stated that Trump=Hitler?
@rondo1342:
You’re not wrong,
Adios.
@Mister Bluster:
It would prove to be very difficult.
The closest is probably here: Defining and Discussing Fascism, Part II.
I will even provide most of the conclusion:
@rondo1342:
Being “in the private sector” doesn’t mean you’re done fleecing taxpayers — you could be “a consultant” yet still work for a government agency at 23x actual cost. Oh, and since you claimed you’re done fleecing taxpayers, I’m glad to hear you’ve voluntarily refused to take a pension simply because no private sector worker has had that in 60 years. And of course you’ve refused that socialist veterans healthcare, the VA, because all it does is outperform the private sector in every metric as well as offer more services than the private sector.
Keep beclowning yourself.
Also this: A Reminder About Hitler Comparisons
Also:
For posterity, here’s the full post that is about to be deep-sixed:
Oddly, neither James nor I do this to be abused. It is worse to be abused for something that I never said. But I also understand that some people don’t understand the difference between accusing someone of being an authoritarian, a fascist, a Nazi, and/or Hitler. These are realted, sometimes overlapping concepts, but they aren’t the same,
I have written hundreds of words on these topics. I fully accept that those words may be insufficiently clear, and I certainly have no illusions that they are magically persuasive. But,to quote Rousseau from The Social Contract, “I am unable to make myself clear to those who refuse to be attentive.”
At any rate, abuse is not acceptable.
@rondo1342: I mean, he has the actual power to make you disappear from the comments. 😉
It’s his living room, and you’re shitting in it.
@Steven L. Taylor:
ALSO:
Is he supported and elevated by actual neo-Nazis?
Absolutely!
Of course, Trump is not an actual 1930-40’s Nazi —- wiki indicates there’s only about 3 of those known to be alive. But the dude is very fascist-adjacent. People like rondo1343 need to cut some slack for use of the analogy. And besides, from what we’ve seen, Trump has the capacity to grow into the role.
The last of the Nazis:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_last_surviving_people_suspected_of_participation_in_Nazi_war_crimes
@rondo1342:
Aww, are you triggered, baby boy? Do you need a safe space?
Nobody cares about your feelings. Go cry – and when you’re done crying, you’ll still be wrong.
Of all the possible hills you could have chosen to die on, you selected.. defense of that vacuous bag of pus? You know he doesn’t care about you, right?
Fun fact: Egg prices nationwide have already risen 37% since the start of Trump’s term. Oopsie!
Have a wonderful day, Nazi. Don’t go away mad, just go away.
Trump will continue to be exactly equal to Hitler after you leave.
FYI: there will be a lag before the system adjusts to rondo’s new status.
I was intrigued to note, on his way out the door him proving in a now deleted comment that he clearly doesn’t read before he freaks out.
I would note that the first usage of the words “Nazi” and “Hitler” in this post/thread came from him. I only used it above to note past writings.
All I can figure is that rondo did not like the reference to ethnic cleansing, which is the logical inference for what Trump said.
I guess that hit too close to the bone and rondo rightly saw the unpleasant implications about the president he supports.
@Steven L. Taylor: I always have this image in my head when someone gets the ban hammer…..a really, REALLY mad troll pounding away at his keyboard, only to be stymied every time he hits Post Comment. “Mah free speeeches! Where haz they gone?! Whaddaya mean I can’t be a dick?! I demand the right to be a dick!!”
Banning someone makes sense, but editing their post into an entirely different message seems a lot more fun.
@Neil Hudelson: Hahahaha…..that thought never occurred to me! Imagine their rage at seeing it edited to Bible verses saying love thy neighbor. 😉
@Steven L. Taylor:
You might have missed the memo that “ethnic cleansing” has been added to the list of Rightwing trigger words —- it has been cleansed.