Trump Makes Me Miss George W. Bush

[Ford]

I know...he's not even been sworn in yet, but the President-elect went on a Tweet-storm overnight because Meryl Streep took time out of her acceptance speech to launch some broadsides at Trump.

A little over 8 years ago, President George W. Bush, after being physically assaulted by an Iraqi reporter in Baghdad said - and I quote - "So what if the guy threw his shoe at me?"

"Dubya" endured quite a bit of vitriol in his time as President. From Michael Moore dedicating an entire feature length film to his fuck ups, to the Dixie Chicks saying mild criticisms of him on stage, to Comedy Central making a short lived show called "That's My Bush," and finally, in December of 2008, this guy threw a shoe at him.

As much as I disliked him at the time, our 43rd President looks graceful and diplomatic compared to our looming 45th.

 

[RavenSky]

Trump makes George W. Bush look like Einstein, too

 

[barbos]

Yeah, can't disagree here.

 

[fast]

The adversity to change is recognized, especially with him, for unlike employees that come and go and just represent things being done a little differently, he represents a kind of full fledge remodel and foundational remake from bottom up. Everyone screams for change, and the most we ever get is stuck in the rut mud slinging. Because we all know in heart of hearts that he can mix things up, a lot of uncertainty looms because people are afraid that his brash style might make for some pretty bad disasters along the way.

He's not our second grade teacher who stands us up and tries to instill in us the need to forge forward in life and strive to be role models for those that will come after us. He's a shaker and mover with full intention to turn this country (the US, for the uninitiated) into something it hasn't been in decades. Looking for the worse of days of old to resurface? Can he do that?

Events sometimes transpire that lead to outcomes that are only guestamately predictable. We're gonna look back one day talking about all the craziness of his tenure. Gonna reminisce over the negatives, we might, but should there be something great that came about (unexpectedly came about according to those that express the impossibility of prediction because of the lack of available evidence), that's going to be a positive change that will take root that will make for a better world for everyone, it'll be because of the likes of people like Trump, not Bush.

 

[Will Wiley]

Someone said that Trump is America's shadow.
I think a lot of people get annoyed by Trump because he is what they themselves are like underneath.

 

[Elixir]

He's not our second grade teacher who stands us up and tries to instill in us the need to forge forward in life and strive to be role models for those that will come after us. He's a shaker and mover with full intention to turn this country (the US, for the uninitiated) into something it hasn't been in decades.

Yeah - a cash cow for rich office holders.

 

[marc]

Saw somewhere a meme on how Nixon was evil, but he wasn't stupid. Bush was stupid, but he wasn't evil, Trump is both evil and stupid.

Yea, Bush was incompetent, but he wasn't really a bad person, that was Cheney's job.

 

[RavenSky]

Saw somewhere a meme on how Nixon was evil, but he wasn't stupid. Bush was stupid, but he wasn't evil, Trump is both evil and stupid.

Yea, Bush was incompetent, but he wasn't really a bad person, that was Cheney's job.

^^^ that

 

[Keith&Co.]

The adversity to change is recognized, especially with him, for unlike employees that come and go and just represent things being done a little differently, he represents a kind of full fledge remodel and foundational remake from bottom up.

Change? He promised to drain the swamp but he's putting gators in charge and building ramps to let them into the petting zoo...

 

[ideologyhunter]

And unfortunately, Streep was dead-on about the poisonous effect Trump has on our culture -- the more his followers not only accept but endorse his coarse, amoral behavior, the more that behavior characterizes America. Trump's mocking of a handicapped man should be shown to school children -- as an object lesson in bullying and humiliation. Trump's subsequent lies about it (he was just imitating how hesitant the guy was...or something) would make a nice coda. This man deserves our contempt.

 

[whichphilosophy]

I know...he's not even been sworn in yet, but the President-elect went on a Tweet-storm overnight because Meryl Streep took time out of her acceptance speech to launch some broadsides at Trump.

A little over 8 years ago, President George W. Bush, after being physically assaulted by an Iraqi reporter in Baghdad said - and I quote - "So what if the guy threw his shoe at me?"

"Dubya" endured quite a bit of vitriol in his time as President. From Michael Moore dedicating an entire feature length film to his fuck ups, to the Dixie Chicks saying mild criticisms of him on stage, to Comedy Central making a short lived show called "That's My Bush," and finally, in December of 2008, this guy threw a shoe at him.

As much as I disliked him at the time, our 43rd President looks graceful and diplomatic compared to our looming 45th.

I would say that as a president elect/president he should not get involved in tweeting over every incident he doesn't agree with. Presidents in a democracy must expect lampooning and derogatory statements.

 

[ElectEngr]

What kind of effect will Noel Canning v NLRB have on Il Douchebag should it try to make recess appointments because the Dems block some nominations?

Later,
ElectEngr

 

[Elixir]

Saw somewhere a meme on how Nixon was evil, but he wasn't stupid. Bush was stupid, but he wasn't evil, Trump is both evil and stupid.
Yea, Bush was incompetent, but he wasn't really a bad person, that was Cheney's job.

My brother, a medical doctor and liberal democrat, asked me what I thought was driving (otherwise) good people to support Trump. I had no answer, as I am equally mystified by anyone who is unable to discern that Trump is the very definition of "dishonest scumbag", unless they are suffering some kind of cognitive impairment.
How does that happen? It's not that they don't care if he's a scumbag; they genuinely seem to think he is well intentioned.
How the hell can that possibly be?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Because people are angry and frustrated and he's the one who's speaking to their frustrations. Even if they don't like or agree with a lot of what he's doing and saying, at least he's making noises about doing something to try and deal with their issues instead of doing nothing. Granted, Clinton was doing that as well and had detailed plans about how to implement these things, but that information got lost in the reporting about how she supported transgendered bathrooms and was about to be shot by a firing squad for treason because she sent classified emails to terrorists.

 

[Elixir]

Because people are angry and frustrated and he's the one who's speaking to their frustrations. Even if they don't like or agree with a lot of what he's doing and saying, at least he's making noises about doing something to try and deal with their issues instead of doing nothing. Granted, Clinton was doing that as well and had detailed plans about how to implement these things, but that information got lost in the reporting about how she supported transgendered bathrooms and was about to be shot by a firing squad for treason because she sent classified emails to terrorists.

I'd like to think that that explains it, but no - there is a distinct sense that even some intelligent people believe that Don the Con has their best interests in mind. An intelligent person would not miss the myriad unambiguous signals indicating Trump's basic dishonesty and sociopathic behavior. It's not like they're saying "yeah, I know he's a scumbag who will destroy the American democracy to make himself a buck, but hell - BENGHAZIMAILS!" They really (seem to) believe he's an okay guy with the capability to make positive changes. How the fuck can anyone think that?

 

[dismal]

My brother, a medical doctor and liberal democrat, asked me what I thought was driving (otherwise) good people to support Trump.

I can't say I've actually met someone who likes Trump. I suppose they exist but I don't think there are many.

I think it's more that they dislike the antics and condescension of the a-hole left.

But it's nothing a steady stream of celebrity videos and calling them racists won't fix.

 

[marc]

Saw somewhere a meme on how Nixon was evil, but he wasn't stupid. Bush was stupid, but he wasn't evil, Trump is both evil and stupid.
Yea, Bush was incompetent, but he wasn't really a bad person, that was Cheney's job.

My brother, a medical doctor and liberal democrat, asked me what I thought was driving (otherwise) good people to support Trump. I had no answer, as I am equally mystified by anyone who is unable to discern that Trump is the very definition of "dishonest scumbag", unless they are suffering some kind of cognitive impairment.
How does that happen? It's not that they don't care if he's a scumbag; they genuinely seem to think he is well intentioned.
How the hell can that possibly be?

Last summer Marvel Comics had a mini series "Loki For President" where Loki decided to run, outright telling people he was lying to them. In a way, the honest admission of lying was found refreshing, that he was not a regular politician shoveling the same BS but in some ways letting them know what he was. By the end, with Loki getting a lot of support. He then demonstrated that he had not offered any actual policy positions, that people were projecting onto him whatever position they wanted someone to champion, with voters believing completely contradictory things about what Loki would do. Guess the writer was very perceptive about Trump voters, where you have some supporting him so Obamacare can be repealed, while others fully believing he won't do anything to Obamacare.

 

[Shadowy Man]

Someone said that Trump is America's shadow.
I think a lot of people get annoyed by Trump because he is what they themselves are like underneath.

I think that's an averaging problem. There are many, many people who are nothing like him, and many, many people who are a lot like him. You might then say, as you imply, that means that everyone is a little bit like him, but that wouldn't be correct.

 

[Axulus]

Saw somewhere a meme on how Nixon was evil, but he wasn't stupid. Bush was stupid, but he wasn't evil, Trump is both evil and stupid.
Yea, Bush was incompetent, but he wasn't really a bad person, that was Cheney's job.

My brother, a medical doctor and liberal democrat, asked me what I thought was driving (otherwise) good people to support Trump. I had no answer, as I am equally mystified by anyone who is unable to discern that Trump is the very definition of "dishonest scumbag", unless they are suffering some kind of cognitive impairment.
How does that happen? It's not that they don't care if he's a scumbag; they genuinely seem to think he is well intentioned.
How the hell can that possibly be?

This post-Trump election episode of "The Messy Truth" with Van Jones provides a very fair perspective on that issue, in my opinion. It has several Trump supporters in the audience and as guests:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1nA7kYk0bY[/youtube]

 

[Axulus]

Here is a perspective on the populist ethno-nationalist support for Trump and its alliance with Putin:

The Republican regulars build their grand strategies upon the post-World War II international order — the American-led alliances, norms and organizations that bind democracies and preserve global peace. The regulars seek to preserve and extend this order, and see Vladimir Putin as a wolf who tears away at it.

The populist ethno-nationalists in the Trump White House do not believe in this order. Their critique — which is simultaneously moral, religious, economic, political and racial — is nicely summarized in the remarks Steve Bannon made to a Vatican conference in 2014.

Once there was a collection of Judeo-Christian nation-states, Bannon argued, that practiced a humane form of biblical capitalism and fostered culturally coherent communities. But in the past few decades, the party of Davos — with its globalism, relativism, pluralism and diversity — has sapped away the moral foundations of this Judeo-Christian way of life.

Humane capitalism has been replaced by the savage capitalism that brought us the financial crisis. National democracy has been replaced by a crony-capitalist network of global elites. Traditional virtue has been replaced by abortion and gay marriage. Sovereign nation-states are being replaced by hapless multilateral organizations like the E.U.

Decadent and enervated, the West lies vulnerable in the face of a confident and convicted Islamofascism, which is the cosmic threat of our time.

In this view, Putin is a valuable ally precisely because he also seeks to replace the multiracial, multilingual global order with strong nation-states. Putin ardently defends traditional values. He knows how to take the fight to radical Islam.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/...-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region&_r=1