By Manifesto Joe
In a previous blog post, I made the mistake of overestimating Resident Donald Rump. I wrote that he isn't stupid in the classic sense.
I absolutely take it back. He is not only batshit crazy like Nixon, he lacks Nixon's intelligence. He's quite possibly dumber than Il Doofus (Bush 43), and that's saying plenty. We've had crazy presidents before, and we've had profoundly stupid ones. But I can't recall when we had one, before this year, who was BOTH.
Former General John Kelly, who was recently named to be Rump's chief of staff, told the story with his face as Rump once again made an ass of himself during a Tuesday press conference. John, you've got to face it -- you can't fix stupid, any more than one can fix crazy. Not only are there not enough psychotropic drugs in the world to fix Rump's psychosis, he has a brain smaller than my dog's. The more I see of him on TV, the more respect I have for my dog's intellect. When is the last shoe finally going to drop? What is it going to take?
There will be no fix other than impeachment. Some prominent Republicans probably already know this privately, but they've been slow to step up, condemn this fool and remove him from office. That's what will have to be done, and Robert Mueller and company are working on it. It's time for everyone, including the so-called Grand Old Party, to face it -- this resident is an embarrassment and a joke. I'm no fan of any of the Republican presidential contenders, but they certainly could have done better than this. Even a widely loathed jerk like Ted Cruz would be an improvement. Vice President Mike Pence looks like an empty suit, but that would be better than the sad sack of manure in the Oval Office now.
I sincerely hope Rump's not in the that "dump" the White House at this time next year.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Showing posts with label Trump. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Trump. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
Saturday, July 15, 2017
Nothingburger? Looks Like White House Is Now 'Home Of The Whopper'
By Manifesto Joe
I've been absent from this blog for about seven months now, partly for personal reasons, and partly because I honestly wanted to give Resident Rump a chance. About six months after his inauguration, I'd say it's a chance he's never deserved.
No, he's not the first liar we've seen in the White House. The Clintons were not exactly on great terms with the facts, and that may be exactly the reason Rump is there. Hillary seems to have become like the Nixon of the Democratic Party, not an extremist, but unanimously loathed by conservative Republicans. But hey, at least she's intelligent and experienced in government, as was Nixon. The guy we have there now is, like Nixon, batshit crazy, and possibly even dumber than Il Doofus (Bush 43). For someone who has access to the nuclear codes, that could be a lethal combination. And though he's not the first liar in the White House, he appears to be the worst one. My title does not refer to the size of his hands.
It looks clear now why even the ultra-Republican Dallas Morning News endorsed Hillary last year. This dude is not just a political amateur, he's a stupid one. But then, perhaps he's exactly what the American people deserve. It's not an accident that Jay Leno, back when he was hosting The Tonight Show, had a "man-on-the-street" feature in which he often encountered people who, say, didn't know who the first president of the U.S. was. That's why it's not surprising that 62 million people voted for this no-class imbecile.
It always looked clear that the economic populism that kept coming out of his mouth was bullshit, just faux rhetoric to get Bubba's vote. But I'd hoped that he was crazy like a fox. He's crazy, as the Twitter rants illustrate; but he also makes Shrub Bush look like a genius.
He's probably going to go down with a fight, so not much will get done in Washington for about a year. This man seems to be genuinely convinced of his rightness, which makes the situation that much more frightening. I just hope he leaves the Oval Office before much more damage is done.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas
I've been absent from this blog for about seven months now, partly for personal reasons, and partly because I honestly wanted to give Resident Rump a chance. About six months after his inauguration, I'd say it's a chance he's never deserved.
No, he's not the first liar we've seen in the White House. The Clintons were not exactly on great terms with the facts, and that may be exactly the reason Rump is there. Hillary seems to have become like the Nixon of the Democratic Party, not an extremist, but unanimously loathed by conservative Republicans. But hey, at least she's intelligent and experienced in government, as was Nixon. The guy we have there now is, like Nixon, batshit crazy, and possibly even dumber than Il Doofus (Bush 43). For someone who has access to the nuclear codes, that could be a lethal combination. And though he's not the first liar in the White House, he appears to be the worst one. My title does not refer to the size of his hands.
It looks clear now why even the ultra-Republican Dallas Morning News endorsed Hillary last year. This dude is not just a political amateur, he's a stupid one. But then, perhaps he's exactly what the American people deserve. It's not an accident that Jay Leno, back when he was hosting The Tonight Show, had a "man-on-the-street" feature in which he often encountered people who, say, didn't know who the first president of the U.S. was. That's why it's not surprising that 62 million people voted for this no-class imbecile.
It always looked clear that the economic populism that kept coming out of his mouth was bullshit, just faux rhetoric to get Bubba's vote. But I'd hoped that he was crazy like a fox. He's crazy, as the Twitter rants illustrate; but he also makes Shrub Bush look like a genius.
He's probably going to go down with a fight, so not much will get done in Washington for about a year. This man seems to be genuinely convinced of his rightness, which makes the situation that much more frightening. I just hope he leaves the Oval Office before much more damage is done.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas
Monday, December 12, 2016
Rump May Make Russia Great Again
By Manifesto Joe
Each day seems to bring new confusion. I've never been a fan of the CIA. As an organization, it doesn't appear to understand the simple concept of "blowback," instead embracing myopic "U.S. interests" that see ahead as far as about a couple of days rather than a couple of decades. The 1953 overthrow of a democratic government in Iran is an example. Wow, and now so many folks there hate us? Who could imagine?
But to have a "president-elect" pick a fight with them before even taking office? Not smart.
Resident-elect Donald J. Rump took time from his busy schedule of appointing anti-worker zillionaires, rabid generalissimos and misogynistic kooks to his Cabinet and inner circle to denounce the CIA finding that Russian computer hackers interfered in our presidential election. His reasoning? This is the same entity that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. (That's bullshit -- it was VP Cheney and the neocons who stubbornly forwarded that falsehood.)
This is not a stupid man, but he appears to be disturbed, and he is a dangerous demagogue. His appointments show that he meant absolutely none of the faux populism that he spouted during the campaign. He did not really want the hard work that comes with the presidency -- he'll delegate that to perhaps even more dangerous associates.
The Russian interference with our election was known before Nov. 8, and the electors who are tasked with the smelly job of naming Rump as our next "president" should be briefed on all that the CIA knows about this skullduggery.
Another of Rump's arguments: If "our side" had alleged any of this, it would have been characterized as a "conspiracy theory." But again, evidence of this was known before the election, and mainstream Republicans did nothing. All they cared about was winning.
At best, the country may benefit from the fact that Rump loves to "fight" more than he loves to get things done, so little damage will be done. At worst, he will do grievous damage to the American working class he suckered so badly during the campaign, and he will destroy the Republican Party. The potential exists for things to go either way.
One clear thing has emerged. There are Republicans so dogmatic that they would vote for anybody who got their presidential nomination. I'm not talking about Charles Manson, I mean somebody who would have a serious chance of becoming that party's nominee. Among Democrats, there are voters who would have chosen a given Republican of the time against, say, George Wallace. Wallace, who won some key Democratic primaries in 1972, had a genuine chance. As bad as Richard Nixon could be, I likely would have preferred him to Wallace.
An example of how badly Rump swindled U.S. voters is the issue of NAFTA. That trade agreement, you may recall, split the Democratic Party into two factions in 1993. Rump talked about bad trade agreements on the campaign trail while traditional "free trade" Republicans winked at each other. They knew he was just telling the rubes that to get their votes. They, the GOP establishment, were among the biggest supporters of NAFTA and other such agreements.
In any case, Rump is not even in office yet, and still he's off to a very rocky start. His relationship with Russia's leadership seems to be more important to him than his relationship with those in charge of U.S. intelligence. He doesn't even seem to want an investigation of election tampering to go forward.
Fasten your seat belts -- it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Each day seems to bring new confusion. I've never been a fan of the CIA. As an organization, it doesn't appear to understand the simple concept of "blowback," instead embracing myopic "U.S. interests" that see ahead as far as about a couple of days rather than a couple of decades. The 1953 overthrow of a democratic government in Iran is an example. Wow, and now so many folks there hate us? Who could imagine?
But to have a "president-elect" pick a fight with them before even taking office? Not smart.
Resident-elect Donald J. Rump took time from his busy schedule of appointing anti-worker zillionaires, rabid generalissimos and misogynistic kooks to his Cabinet and inner circle to denounce the CIA finding that Russian computer hackers interfered in our presidential election. His reasoning? This is the same entity that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. (That's bullshit -- it was VP Cheney and the neocons who stubbornly forwarded that falsehood.)
This is not a stupid man, but he appears to be disturbed, and he is a dangerous demagogue. His appointments show that he meant absolutely none of the faux populism that he spouted during the campaign. He did not really want the hard work that comes with the presidency -- he'll delegate that to perhaps even more dangerous associates.
The Russian interference with our election was known before Nov. 8, and the electors who are tasked with the smelly job of naming Rump as our next "president" should be briefed on all that the CIA knows about this skullduggery.
Another of Rump's arguments: If "our side" had alleged any of this, it would have been characterized as a "conspiracy theory." But again, evidence of this was known before the election, and mainstream Republicans did nothing. All they cared about was winning.
At best, the country may benefit from the fact that Rump loves to "fight" more than he loves to get things done, so little damage will be done. At worst, he will do grievous damage to the American working class he suckered so badly during the campaign, and he will destroy the Republican Party. The potential exists for things to go either way.
One clear thing has emerged. There are Republicans so dogmatic that they would vote for anybody who got their presidential nomination. I'm not talking about Charles Manson, I mean somebody who would have a serious chance of becoming that party's nominee. Among Democrats, there are voters who would have chosen a given Republican of the time against, say, George Wallace. Wallace, who won some key Democratic primaries in 1972, had a genuine chance. As bad as Richard Nixon could be, I likely would have preferred him to Wallace.
An example of how badly Rump swindled U.S. voters is the issue of NAFTA. That trade agreement, you may recall, split the Democratic Party into two factions in 1993. Rump talked about bad trade agreements on the campaign trail while traditional "free trade" Republicans winked at each other. They knew he was just telling the rubes that to get their votes. They, the GOP establishment, were among the biggest supporters of NAFTA and other such agreements.
In any case, Rump is not even in office yet, and still he's off to a very rocky start. His relationship with Russia's leadership seems to be more important to him than his relationship with those in charge of U.S. intelligence. He doesn't even seem to want an investigation of election tampering to go forward.
Fasten your seat belts -- it's going to be a bumpy ride.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Thursday, November 17, 2016
Rump: Couldn't The Republicans Come Up With Somebody Better Than This?
By Manifesto Joe
One thing I've learned in 60-plus years on this planet is that political ideology is not the measure of a person. As a veteran blogger, I've personally known right-wingers who are stand-up folks, and lefties who aren't worth their own shit. And trying to change someone's mind on politics is like trying to change their religion. It tends to be a cognitive thing that one learns from one's parents or other authority figures. Even when it contradicts one's life lessons, you see people cling to those beliefs.
I tend to avoid judging people by ideology, or by religion, because such beliefs are often not the barometer by which to judge. And as a student of history, I have seen that people with whom one disagrees can turn out to be great world leaders. Winston Churchill comes to mind. He was widely regarded in 1920s Britain as the Rush Limbaugh of his time, a right-wing pundit with no hope of liberal redemption. In the late 1930s he stepped up to the plate, and is now rightly regarded as a great statesman.
But Donald Trump?
No f-----g way.
I've tried very hard to give this man the benefit of the doubt, but there can be little doubt now. He's determined to elevate pond scum like Steve Bannon to exalted heights; and even after his campaign rhetoric about "draining the swamp," he's surrounded himself with bottom feeders like Rudy Guiliani and Newt Gingrich. His faux populism has proved to be just that -- bullshit to get Bubba to vote for him.
He may yet surprise me, but I sincerely doubt it. Yes, Hillary Clinton would likely have proved to be just more of the same. But this election's outcome could actually ruin the Republican Party, which is an institution America needs as a legitimate center-right destination.
The Republican Party had 16 other possibilities for their presidential nominee, and Rump (sorry, I keep calling him that) laid waste to each and every one of them in the GOP primaries. Couldn't a venerable institution like that have come up with someone better?
I sincerely hope he proves me wrong, but I doubt it. The "transition" already looks like a debacle. I fear that the American people have been conned by a master con artist. Stay tuned.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
One thing I've learned in 60-plus years on this planet is that political ideology is not the measure of a person. As a veteran blogger, I've personally known right-wingers who are stand-up folks, and lefties who aren't worth their own shit. And trying to change someone's mind on politics is like trying to change their religion. It tends to be a cognitive thing that one learns from one's parents or other authority figures. Even when it contradicts one's life lessons, you see people cling to those beliefs.
I tend to avoid judging people by ideology, or by religion, because such beliefs are often not the barometer by which to judge. And as a student of history, I have seen that people with whom one disagrees can turn out to be great world leaders. Winston Churchill comes to mind. He was widely regarded in 1920s Britain as the Rush Limbaugh of his time, a right-wing pundit with no hope of liberal redemption. In the late 1930s he stepped up to the plate, and is now rightly regarded as a great statesman.
But Donald Trump?
No f-----g way.
I've tried very hard to give this man the benefit of the doubt, but there can be little doubt now. He's determined to elevate pond scum like Steve Bannon to exalted heights; and even after his campaign rhetoric about "draining the swamp," he's surrounded himself with bottom feeders like Rudy Guiliani and Newt Gingrich. His faux populism has proved to be just that -- bullshit to get Bubba to vote for him.
He may yet surprise me, but I sincerely doubt it. Yes, Hillary Clinton would likely have proved to be just more of the same. But this election's outcome could actually ruin the Republican Party, which is an institution America needs as a legitimate center-right destination.
The Republican Party had 16 other possibilities for their presidential nominee, and Rump (sorry, I keep calling him that) laid waste to each and every one of them in the GOP primaries. Couldn't a venerable institution like that have come up with someone better?
I sincerely hope he proves me wrong, but I doubt it. The "transition" already looks like a debacle. I fear that the American people have been conned by a master con artist. Stay tuned.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
Wednesday, March 30, 2016
Republican Party Deserves Trump
By Manifesto Joe
It's hard for me to spell his name with the "T." "Rump" is more descriptive.
For nearly 50 years, the Republican Party has leaned on a "Southern strategy," as it was called during Richard Nixon's successful run for the presidency in 1968. That year the choice for rednecks was between Tricky Dick and George Wallace, and a good many chose the latter. But the strategy was articulated, and it had been there already. Recall that Barry Goldwater had his main electoral success in the Deep South, where he won five states in an otherwise disastrous try for the presidency in 1964. The reason was his overt appeal to segregationists with his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
All through the 1970s, '80s, '90s, and onward, the basic thrust of the Republican Party was to lend as much legitimacy as possible to ignorant xenophobes. And so it should come as no surprise to Republicans that the front-runner for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination is such a person, and a proven liar at that.
It has been no secret in politics that the Republican Party has been systematically and relentlessly pulled toward the right for decades. Voices of liberalism or even moderation -- former Sens. Jacob Javits, Clifford Case, Edward Brooke, Jim Jeffords and others -- were eliminated from the party, one by one. By 1976, even a stolid tory like Jerry Ford was regarded as a moderate. The current second-place hopeful after Trump, Ted Cruz, won election to the U.S. Senate in Texas by portraying sitting Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst as a liberal!
Yeah, Dewhurst is about as liberal as Paul von Hindenburg was in comparison to Hitler.
There's no mistaking where Cruz stands on the issues. His Ivy League professors described him as "brilliant," but that may mean that he's simply that much more dangerous. His difference with Rump, er, Trump, is less on policy than on the fact that Trump is in the way of something that Ted Cruz wants. Cruz, however "brilliant," is still an extreme right-winger, and the fact that he's the party's main alternative to Trump speaks volumes about what's happened to the Republican Party.
True, Rump, er, Trump isn't a "genuine" conservative. There's a lot of angry "populism" there; it's been accurately pointed out that he has borrowed his campaign playbook largely from that of George Wallace decades ago, and that the type of "voter" he appeals to is similar. In other words he appeals to ignorant, xenophobic rednecks who don't care how many lies he tells, those who revel in his bigotry, racism, misogyny and bellicose foolishness, and those who are just more likely to punch perceived foes out as one hears more and more comparisons to the 1934 Nuremberg Rallies.
The remaining question in the 2016 contest appears to be whether Rump, er, Trump, can win on the first ballot at the GOP convention. If he can't, he'll tear the Republican Party apart, and these assholes will ultimately have no one to blame but themselves.
I think it was P.T. Barnum who said something to the effect that nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the intelligence of the American people. A conservative friend of mine once advised that I knock on some doors and ask political questions. I would venture that about 70% of the time, I would get somebody too stupid to have bothered with. And I'd have to make sure I didn't knock on the door while "Wheel of Fortune" was on, so as not to disturb the highlight of their day.
These are the people who, in the absence of Rump, er Trump, would be unlikely to even vote. With Trump in the "race," they will turn out. Let's just hope that we're not being coaxed into Nazi-style salutes before it's over.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
It's hard for me to spell his name with the "T." "Rump" is more descriptive.
For nearly 50 years, the Republican Party has leaned on a "Southern strategy," as it was called during Richard Nixon's successful run for the presidency in 1968. That year the choice for rednecks was between Tricky Dick and George Wallace, and a good many chose the latter. But the strategy was articulated, and it had been there already. Recall that Barry Goldwater had his main electoral success in the Deep South, where he won five states in an otherwise disastrous try for the presidency in 1964. The reason was his overt appeal to segregationists with his opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
All through the 1970s, '80s, '90s, and onward, the basic thrust of the Republican Party was to lend as much legitimacy as possible to ignorant xenophobes. And so it should come as no surprise to Republicans that the front-runner for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination is such a person, and a proven liar at that.
It has been no secret in politics that the Republican Party has been systematically and relentlessly pulled toward the right for decades. Voices of liberalism or even moderation -- former Sens. Jacob Javits, Clifford Case, Edward Brooke, Jim Jeffords and others -- were eliminated from the party, one by one. By 1976, even a stolid tory like Jerry Ford was regarded as a moderate. The current second-place hopeful after Trump, Ted Cruz, won election to the U.S. Senate in Texas by portraying sitting Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst as a liberal!
Yeah, Dewhurst is about as liberal as Paul von Hindenburg was in comparison to Hitler.
There's no mistaking where Cruz stands on the issues. His Ivy League professors described him as "brilliant," but that may mean that he's simply that much more dangerous. His difference with Rump, er, Trump, is less on policy than on the fact that Trump is in the way of something that Ted Cruz wants. Cruz, however "brilliant," is still an extreme right-winger, and the fact that he's the party's main alternative to Trump speaks volumes about what's happened to the Republican Party.
True, Rump, er, Trump isn't a "genuine" conservative. There's a lot of angry "populism" there; it's been accurately pointed out that he has borrowed his campaign playbook largely from that of George Wallace decades ago, and that the type of "voter" he appeals to is similar. In other words he appeals to ignorant, xenophobic rednecks who don't care how many lies he tells, those who revel in his bigotry, racism, misogyny and bellicose foolishness, and those who are just more likely to punch perceived foes out as one hears more and more comparisons to the 1934 Nuremberg Rallies.
The remaining question in the 2016 contest appears to be whether Rump, er, Trump, can win on the first ballot at the GOP convention. If he can't, he'll tear the Republican Party apart, and these assholes will ultimately have no one to blame but themselves.
I think it was P.T. Barnum who said something to the effect that nobody ever lost a dime underestimating the intelligence of the American people. A conservative friend of mine once advised that I knock on some doors and ask political questions. I would venture that about 70% of the time, I would get somebody too stupid to have bothered with. And I'd have to make sure I didn't knock on the door while "Wheel of Fortune" was on, so as not to disturb the highlight of their day.
These are the people who, in the absence of Rump, er Trump, would be unlikely to even vote. With Trump in the "race," they will turn out. Let's just hope that we're not being coaxed into Nazi-style salutes before it's over.
Manifesto Joe Is An Underground Writer Living In Texas.
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