Don't really care as much as you think I do.
Dumbfuck in charge
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Originally Imzcount (Why do politicians think “hope” is a plan ?)
“Avoid the foolish notion of hope. Hope is the surrender of authority to your fate and trusting it to the whims of the wind”.
Taylor Sheridan
“Avoid the foolish notion of hope. Hope is the surrender of authority to your fate and trusting it to the whims of the wind”.
Taylor Sheridan
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Excellent, if depressing, article.
Too bad the people who need to won't read it.
When Trump demeans others, he is undermining democracy
Michael Gerson on Mar 5, 2019
WASHINGTON -- "A great empire and little minds go ill together," said Edmund Burke.
America is not quite an empire, but one little mind was on full display during President Trump's recent CPAC speech. It was two hours of Trump unplugged, unleashed, uncensored, unreconstructed and unhinged. It was a vivid reminder that the president of the United States, when he is most comfortable and authentic, is a rude, arrogant crank yelling profanities at the television. Correction: through the television.
Most Americans, I suspect, would judge the speech as bad and rambling. To a former speechwriter, it was like watching a wound drain; it was like eating toothpaste canapes, it was like holding centipedes on your tongue; it was like hearing a ringtone of "Macarena" during a funeral, and no one can find the phone.
As the organizing structure of the speech, Trump skipped from enemy to enemy -- a taunt here, a mock there. Hillary Clinton made an appearance. As did Robert Mueller and Jeff Sessions, and Central American refugees, and weak-kneed generals, and socialist Democrats, and university administrators, and those horrible people who miscount inaugural crowds.
This last point -- that the size of his inaugural crowd was maliciously underestimated by evil forces -- seems to be the Ur-myth of Trumpism. It was the subject of his first order as president compelling a minion (poor Sean Spicer) to utter an absurd falsehood on his behalf. Given the flood of lies that has followed, it must have felt darn good. Those who are willing to believe this original lie are the truest of believers -- a core of supporters who will stomach absolutely anything.
Trump's CPAC speech was a bold assertion that he has learned nothing -- absolutely nothing -- during his first two years in office. Not manners. Not economics. Not geopolitics. Not simple decency.
The speech seemed like the rhetorical spawn of Fidel Castro and George Wallace, combining demagoguery and bigotry in equal measure. And it confirmed Trump's place as the worst speaker in presidential history.
Having gotten that out of my system, let me turn to what really bothered me. Our president lacks dignity.
This might sound like a relatively small matter compared to things like honesty, equality and justice. But dignity -- both acting in a dignified manner and treating others in a manner appropriate to their dignity -- is a core value of democracy. America's founders were generally suspicious of absolute democracy, which can easily become tyranny exercised by 50 percent of the public plus one. In a strong democracy, those in the majority are restrained by respect for the dignity of those in the minority. If the majority uses its (temporary) power to demean, humiliate and dishonor those out of power, it plants seeds of future revenge and escalation. Disagreements become feuds, and the sense of being in a shared enterprise and having a shared fate is weakened.
A democracy is designed for disagreement; it is undermined by mutual contempt. And Trump's whole style of politics is the cultivation of contempt. This directly weakens our unity as a nation.
The first president, George Washington, made dignity the defining commitment of his political life. He felt that the office of president should have an element of nearly royal elevation. But the generation of Washington gave way to the age of Jackson and a much earthier version of democratic participation. Presidents have tended to fall into either the Washington or Jackson camp. Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
But Trump is not merely Jacksonian in his crudeness. He has made the denial of dignity to certain people and groups a political rallying cry. This kind of cruelty and dehumanization is the defining commitment of his political life. He is not merely undignified as a leader; he is committed to stripping off the dignity possessed by others.
There is a tie between incivility and injustice. When a president uses his office to demean others, he is undermining an essential democratic premise -- that those out of power are still protected from abuse by general respect for their inherent worth and dignity. They are still partners in a common enterprise. And they deserve better than cruelty and contempt.
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Frank Wilhoit
Frank Wilhoit
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Deleted User 75
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Nothing like making a demeaning comment and then expecting the people you're trying to demean to read an article about demeaning people.
Great self awareness.
Great self awareness.
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
You didn't read it?
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
It's kinda funny how guys like TwoDicks (Peter Wehner), Gerson, and David Frum are Geezer's and Feral's heroes these days.
I wonder if they know who they are and what they did?
I wonder if they know who they are and what they did?
Imjustheretohelpyoubuycrypto
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Kinda funny how Donald Trump is DC's hero these days.
Do not go gentle into that good night, Old age should burn and rave at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Thanks for confirming for us who you really are, not that we didn't already know.IllinoisJayhawk wrote: ↑Wed Mar 06, 2019 8:05 pm Nothing like making a demeaning comment and then expecting the people you're trying to demean to read an article about demeaning people.
Great self awareness.
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Frank Wilhoit
Frank Wilhoit
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Deleted User 62
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Thanks again.
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
Frank Wilhoit
Frank Wilhoit
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Deleted User 62
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
I love the cringe Ivanka gets when her dad once again says something really stupid.
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Deleted User 183
Re: Dumbfuck in charge
Is he worried he might be too tempted to kiss someone and/or grab her by the pussy?
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics ... index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/05/politics ... index.html