"Donald Trump is of course the master of deploying lies in the service of hatred. But in Trump’s case, the hatred is so mixed with his distinctive showmanship and conmanship that it’s sometimes hard to see the heart of the enterprise. With Vance, who’s not as much of a showman or con man, it’s all much clearer."
"Sometimes hard" for whom? I can spot a skilled con man or "showman" a mile a way, and Trump is less skilled than average in both categories. Even most of his addicted worshippers can see through his cons, lies and bluster. The sad and scary fact is that they - 10s of millions of them - see the "heart of the enterprise" very clearly, and crave at least some parts of it (for some it's racism, for others it's religious supremacy, absurdly peddled as "freedom," etc.) if not the whole package. And willing to overlook the parts they may not like.
Its very odd that there are multiple assassination attempts against the person who has steeped his entire political career in violent rhetoric and has seemed to equate about 51 percent of the population as vermin crawling upon the body politic. So odd!
I was at a family party last summer, and my husband’s uncle said something something about the Chinese and the Jews, I think. And then he said, and I kid you not, “And then there is us regular people.” Really? NOBODY sitting there pushed back on that. I was so disgusted I got up and walked to the other side of the party. Then I remembered that I had driven my own car that day, so I thanked the host and left. I probably should have said something myself, but it was a graduation party for a high schooler…I told my husband about it later, though…as I explained that I don’t want to socialize with Uncle Charlie anymore. Thank God that man lives 2 hours away….
He probably got the "regular" thing from Archie Bunker. In the '70s sitcom "All In the Family" Archie would often refer to 2 co-workers as "Black Elmo" and "Regular Elmo." Any chance the guy was just kidding, maybe aided by a few drinks? Back in those days I'd tell many ethnic jokes, but made sure to mock my own ethnicity as well.
Nope. Not a chance he was joking. My husband’s mother once said she hated Michele Obama. I asked her what possible reason she could have for hating her, and my husband shushed me. 🙄 These people are bigots…and sadly, so were my parents.
I sympathize but might suggest you just sit back and let Uncle spout his inane opinions. Unless he is some sort of "influencer" he doesn't rise to the level of a push back. One of the reasons these (mostly men) behave as they do is because they know that their statements are triggering to any libs in their vicinity. Had you pushed back he you wouldn't have changed his opinion or curtailed his stupid behavior but I can tell you he would be thrilled seeing how much he triggered you... especially when you fled the scene. Walking away was the right choice.
In the end leaving the party only deprived you of socializing with people you like and who are not self-unaware asshats like Charlie.
Fortunately he is your husbands Uncle and not yours so any interaction with him is optional--- just funerals, weddings, graduations, etc.
I had an uncle who was just as big a bigot as could be but his wife, my aunt, would tell him to shut up and that saved us from a lot of discomfort and kept him from looking like a big dummy.
For me, it fell into the category of “I am just going to walk away, because I don’t want to be here…”.
And I’m sorry, but the man influences his family. And then, they go out and influence other people. So it’s not all harmless. I’m just ashamed of myself. I should’ve push back.
Luckily I have been on extended travel for a spell and only getting snippets of the Presidential campaigns. But I will say the small item 😉 of the 2nd attempt on trump gave me an eye roll. Frankly I am not sure I believe it. I can truly believe was a stint put together by some of the behind-the-scenes people in his campaign. Build a plan to insure the news stays on him, find a guy, give him a big pay day, promises of no jail time. I just think this “2nd” attempt was too neat. But it’s done what his campaign wanted. And again the public is fooled.
I live in Ohio. This GOP-exaggerated story is bunk. There are no dogs, cats, geese or any rodents being stolen. Some unserious woman thought she'd post on Facebook an urban legend. Soon, the MAGA sphere is swearing by it. Because, we all know, anything a friend's neighbor's daughter's friend's ex-boyfriend heard at work at the Dairy King has got to be true. Now schools, hospitals, government buildings and even colleges have gone into lockdown. So glad Vance creates this racist bull in the dark recesses of his addled brain. Too bad he doesn't know Springfield. But he also doesn't know that he didn't grow up in Appalachia. A town between Cincinnati and Dayton is not hillbilly country. Spending a few weeks in France doesn't make anyone French. He's a pathetic loser who got where he is because of a wealthy benefactor. Those of us who actually grew up in Appalachia and succeeded did ourselves, something Vance and Trump could never understand.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” JD Vance said to Dana Bash on Sunday.
While the idea that he is "creating stories" has been the focus of many journalists these past two days, I'm more interested in the idea that he is justifying the fiction writing so that "the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people...."
Hold on! Wait a minute! Time out!
Vance is saying his whole object of "creating" the story that Haitians are eating people's pets is to mitigate or ameliorate the "suffering" of Americans?
What "suffering" is he talking about? The only suffering I've seen is the suffering caused by this story that Vance himself "created" (or magnified or megaphoned if not created).
How, previous to Vance's story, were ordinary American citizens or *legal* residents of Springfield, Ohio suffering?
The suffering came *after and because of* Vance's story. He led to the bomb threats and the further accusations and harassment of innocent people (including a grieving father).
What a contemptible attempt by Vance to shift the cause of any "suffering" from himself to hard-working Haitian residents who are helping to sustain the Springfield economy and, indeed, lead our country forward.
“I hate Taylor Swift?” A presidential candidate who says they “hate” a fellow human being for doing anything less horrific than committing murder is making the world a much more terrifying place. And people wonder why Dems and Never Trumpers believe the man is unfit for the White House!
This brings to mind the evening in the 70s that PBS broadcast a documentary on the Holocaust that featured film never before released for public viewing. My son was just 10, and I sat with him while we watched, and comforted him with the promise that the world would never again let something like that happen. My promise, as you all know, was an empty one. At the time, though, I believed in lessons learned. My son is now 54, and he reminded me of that documentary a couple weeks ago, and he and I are both traumatized by our situation today. You know that phrase, all it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.
I still believe in the goodness of people, but I’m a lot shakier today. Just today PBS ran a Rick Steves program on the cruelties of Fascism. Doesn’t anyone pay attention to the good people jumping up and down, waving their arms shouting “Trump is a danger to us ALL, even his loyal followers!”
Guess not. (Other than the blessed Bulwark, keep speaking out.)
Re the claims of pet eating: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - we aren't required to prove a negative, we can't - they need to prove their claims, period.
When Savita Halappanar died from sepsis after a Catholic hospital refused to provide an abortion as she was miscarrying, it resulted in outrage across Ireland and a Constitutional amendment that citizens traveled from different continents to vote for.
This one managed to fly under the radar for more than 2 years, as the Georgia authorities, the doctors and the hospital worked overtime to ensure that her story didn't reach the public. It happened TWO WEEKS after the Georgia abortion ban went into effect.
How many more women have died in the intervening two years? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty? Three hundred? A thousand? We don't know and we will never know.
In many ways, confidentiality laws are used by the powerful to ensure that the victimization of the powerless by their institutions can be hidden behind walls of secrecy. The "pro-life" activitists, and frankly, it makes me sick to use that phrase to describe them, have bought themselves a bunch of politicians who will ensure that women like Amber Thurman remain nameless.
And mark my words, they will turn this into an indictment of medical abortions, and will take no responsibility for the fact that the reason she died is because their laws terrorized doctors into allowing her to die because they were afraid to do their jobs.
I would even accept "pro-fetus" as less hypocritical, as long as they included in their self-identification the disclaimer: "We are pro-fetus and really couldn't give a damn about the life or health of the woman carrying the fetus."
Exactly. That's where the worst of the hypocrisy comes in. These right-wing "pro-lifers" have little to say about the care and protection and nurturing of the child once s/he has emerged from the womb. But they do have a lot to say about their lack of concern for life.
Two common examples:
Free school lunches? Ha! Better the doctor never cut the umbilical cord on you, Junior. I'm not paying for your lunches with my tax dollars. Get it?
And boy I sure hope that "Old Sparky" is going to snuff out the life of that convicted killer tonight. His victims and even his own family would have been better off if'n he'd never been born in the first place.
When have Mexicans not come the US to work illegally? I lived in Chicago and from 16 to 24 ys old I worked part time in a variety of restaurants from Pizzarias to the Palmer House. Most of the kitchen staff and busboys were illegal Mexican immigrants. They come, work 6 months, go back home. Then they come back. They work very hard for 10, 12, 16 hours a day. This had gone on many years before I worked there and is still going on. Since when has this become the new crime of the century?
Pop Star: "I watched the Presidential debate, I've done my research, and I've decided I will vote for Kamala Harris. You should do your own research, and I encourage you to vote appropriately. But mostly I encourage you to vote".
Yeah, how dare she tell people to get off their butts and vote? Republicans don’t want people to vote. The more voters there are the more likely they’re going to vote for Democrats.
Vice President Harris was NOT "given the task of managing migration to the border." Her task from President Biden was to work with the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico to address the root causes of migration to the U.S.
A question for the mayor and governor. It sounds have the Haitians have moved to Springfield because of the job growth there. This raises 2 questions.
1) If the Haitians hadn't come for the jobs, would some other population, let's say white Americas, also have to moved in for the jobs and cause the same strain on the town services?
2) Is the problem there are seeing strained services due to the fact factories moved in and created jobs that the city did not plan for? Should the city either not have allowed the factories to move in, or built up their town services in anticipation of the new jobs that would be created? In the long run, isn't the growing population good for the economy and benefit the existing population?
I would like those questions to be asked by reporters so that I can better understand what is going on.
It’s not the mayor and the governor that we need to worry about they are saying that this cat and dog eating story is BS. We should be asking JD Vance and Trump these questions.
I'm not saying that JD and Trump get off the hook. Rather, it's important to understand those details to further argue against JD. The point of the questions being that the strain on city services is bad planning when the factories came to the area, not the problem with workers who come to fill those jobs, whether they be white or Haitians.
"Donald Trump is of course the master of deploying lies in the service of hatred. But in Trump’s case, the hatred is so mixed with his distinctive showmanship and conmanship that it’s sometimes hard to see the heart of the enterprise. With Vance, who’s not as much of a showman or con man, it’s all much clearer."
"Sometimes hard" for whom? I can spot a skilled con man or "showman" a mile a way, and Trump is less skilled than average in both categories. Even most of his addicted worshippers can see through his cons, lies and bluster. The sad and scary fact is that they - 10s of millions of them - see the "heart of the enterprise" very clearly, and crave at least some parts of it (for some it's racism, for others it's religious supremacy, absurdly peddled as "freedom," etc.) if not the whole package. And willing to overlook the parts they may not like.
Its very odd that there are multiple assassination attempts against the person who has steeped his entire political career in violent rhetoric and has seemed to equate about 51 percent of the population as vermin crawling upon the body politic. So odd!
I wonder why?
I wonder if Trump knows that saying he hates Taylor Swift is a great way to get more votes for Kamala Harris…
I was at a family party last summer, and my husband’s uncle said something something about the Chinese and the Jews, I think. And then he said, and I kid you not, “And then there is us regular people.” Really? NOBODY sitting there pushed back on that. I was so disgusted I got up and walked to the other side of the party. Then I remembered that I had driven my own car that day, so I thanked the host and left. I probably should have said something myself, but it was a graduation party for a high schooler…I told my husband about it later, though…as I explained that I don’t want to socialize with Uncle Charlie anymore. Thank God that man lives 2 hours away….
He probably got the "regular" thing from Archie Bunker. In the '70s sitcom "All In the Family" Archie would often refer to 2 co-workers as "Black Elmo" and "Regular Elmo." Any chance the guy was just kidding, maybe aided by a few drinks? Back in those days I'd tell many ethnic jokes, but made sure to mock my own ethnicity as well.
Nope. Not a chance he was joking. My husband’s mother once said she hated Michele Obama. I asked her what possible reason she could have for hating her, and my husband shushed me. 🙄 These people are bigots…and sadly, so were my parents.
I sympathize but might suggest you just sit back and let Uncle spout his inane opinions. Unless he is some sort of "influencer" he doesn't rise to the level of a push back. One of the reasons these (mostly men) behave as they do is because they know that their statements are triggering to any libs in their vicinity. Had you pushed back he you wouldn't have changed his opinion or curtailed his stupid behavior but I can tell you he would be thrilled seeing how much he triggered you... especially when you fled the scene. Walking away was the right choice.
In the end leaving the party only deprived you of socializing with people you like and who are not self-unaware asshats like Charlie.
Fortunately he is your husbands Uncle and not yours so any interaction with him is optional--- just funerals, weddings, graduations, etc.
I had an uncle who was just as big a bigot as could be but his wife, my aunt, would tell him to shut up and that saved us from a lot of discomfort and kept him from looking like a big dummy.
For me, it fell into the category of “I am just going to walk away, because I don’t want to be here…”.
And I’m sorry, but the man influences his family. And then, they go out and influence other people. So it’s not all harmless. I’m just ashamed of myself. I should’ve push back.
Luckily I have been on extended travel for a spell and only getting snippets of the Presidential campaigns. But I will say the small item 😉 of the 2nd attempt on trump gave me an eye roll. Frankly I am not sure I believe it. I can truly believe was a stint put together by some of the behind-the-scenes people in his campaign. Build a plan to insure the news stays on him, find a guy, give him a big pay day, promises of no jail time. I just think this “2nd” attempt was too neat. But it’s done what his campaign wanted. And again the public is fooled.
I live in Ohio. This GOP-exaggerated story is bunk. There are no dogs, cats, geese or any rodents being stolen. Some unserious woman thought she'd post on Facebook an urban legend. Soon, the MAGA sphere is swearing by it. Because, we all know, anything a friend's neighbor's daughter's friend's ex-boyfriend heard at work at the Dairy King has got to be true. Now schools, hospitals, government buildings and even colleges have gone into lockdown. So glad Vance creates this racist bull in the dark recesses of his addled brain. Too bad he doesn't know Springfield. But he also doesn't know that he didn't grow up in Appalachia. A town between Cincinnati and Dayton is not hillbilly country. Spending a few weeks in France doesn't make anyone French. He's a pathetic loser who got where he is because of a wealthy benefactor. Those of us who actually grew up in Appalachia and succeeded did ourselves, something Vance and Trump could never understand.
“If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” JD Vance said to Dana Bash on Sunday.
While the idea that he is "creating stories" has been the focus of many journalists these past two days, I'm more interested in the idea that he is justifying the fiction writing so that "the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people...."
Hold on! Wait a minute! Time out!
Vance is saying his whole object of "creating" the story that Haitians are eating people's pets is to mitigate or ameliorate the "suffering" of Americans?
What "suffering" is he talking about? The only suffering I've seen is the suffering caused by this story that Vance himself "created" (or magnified or megaphoned if not created).
How, previous to Vance's story, were ordinary American citizens or *legal* residents of Springfield, Ohio suffering?
The suffering came *after and because of* Vance's story. He led to the bomb threats and the further accusations and harassment of innocent people (including a grieving father).
What a contemptible attempt by Vance to shift the cause of any "suffering" from himself to hard-working Haitian residents who are helping to sustain the Springfield economy and, indeed, lead our country forward.
“I hate Taylor Swift?” A presidential candidate who says they “hate” a fellow human being for doing anything less horrific than committing murder is making the world a much more terrifying place. And people wonder why Dems and Never Trumpers believe the man is unfit for the White House!
He is acting like a toddler. 30% of the country wants a toddler in the White House.
This brings to mind the evening in the 70s that PBS broadcast a documentary on the Holocaust that featured film never before released for public viewing. My son was just 10, and I sat with him while we watched, and comforted him with the promise that the world would never again let something like that happen. My promise, as you all know, was an empty one. At the time, though, I believed in lessons learned. My son is now 54, and he reminded me of that documentary a couple weeks ago, and he and I are both traumatized by our situation today. You know that phrase, all it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing.
I still believe in the goodness of people, but I’m a lot shakier today. Just today PBS ran a Rick Steves program on the cruelties of Fascism. Doesn’t anyone pay attention to the good people jumping up and down, waving their arms shouting “Trump is a danger to us ALL, even his loyal followers!”
Guess not. (Other than the blessed Bulwark, keep speaking out.)
Re the claims of pet eating: extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - we aren't required to prove a negative, we can't - they need to prove their claims, period.
Sarah are you reading this or did you read the G-File first? LOL all in good fun’s
When Savita Halappanar died from sepsis after a Catholic hospital refused to provide an abortion as she was miscarrying, it resulted in outrage across Ireland and a Constitutional amendment that citizens traveled from different continents to vote for.
This one managed to fly under the radar for more than 2 years, as the Georgia authorities, the doctors and the hospital worked overtime to ensure that her story didn't reach the public. It happened TWO WEEKS after the Georgia abortion ban went into effect.
How many more women have died in the intervening two years? Twenty? Thirty? Fifty? Three hundred? A thousand? We don't know and we will never know.
In many ways, confidentiality laws are used by the powerful to ensure that the victimization of the powerless by their institutions can be hidden behind walls of secrecy. The "pro-life" activitists, and frankly, it makes me sick to use that phrase to describe them, have bought themselves a bunch of politicians who will ensure that women like Amber Thurman remain nameless.
And mark my words, they will turn this into an indictment of medical abortions, and will take no responsibility for the fact that the reason she died is because their laws terrorized doctors into allowing her to die because they were afraid to do their jobs.
It's disgusting.
They aren't "pro-life" (as both Charlie Sykes - before he left - and JVL pointed out, much to their credit); they're anti-abortion.
I would even accept "pro-fetus" as less hypocritical, as long as they included in their self-identification the disclaimer: "We are pro-fetus and really couldn't give a damn about the life or health of the woman carrying the fetus."
Amen. Or the fetus, once it's no longer a fetus (i.e., born)!
Exactly. That's where the worst of the hypocrisy comes in. These right-wing "pro-lifers" have little to say about the care and protection and nurturing of the child once s/he has emerged from the womb. But they do have a lot to say about their lack of concern for life.
Two common examples:
Free school lunches? Ha! Better the doctor never cut the umbilical cord on you, Junior. I'm not paying for your lunches with my tax dollars. Get it?
And boy I sure hope that "Old Sparky" is going to snuff out the life of that convicted killer tonight. His victims and even his own family would have been better off if'n he'd never been born in the first place.
When have Mexicans not come the US to work illegally? I lived in Chicago and from 16 to 24 ys old I worked part time in a variety of restaurants from Pizzarias to the Palmer House. Most of the kitchen staff and busboys were illegal Mexican immigrants. They come, work 6 months, go back home. Then they come back. They work very hard for 10, 12, 16 hours a day. This had gone on many years before I worked there and is still going on. Since when has this become the new crime of the century?
Since the far right noticed that whites are becoming a minority.
Pop Star: "I watched the Presidential debate, I've done my research, and I've decided I will vote for Kamala Harris. You should do your own research, and I encourage you to vote appropriately. But mostly I encourage you to vote".
Presidential Candidate: "I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!"
Yeah, how dare she tell people to get off their butts and vote? Republicans don’t want people to vote. The more voters there are the more likely they’re going to vote for Democrats.
A Tale of Two Psyches
Vice President Harris was NOT "given the task of managing migration to the border." Her task from President Biden was to work with the Northern Triangle countries and Mexico to address the root causes of migration to the U.S.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/03/24/remarks-by-president-biden-and-vice-president-harris-in-a-meeting-on-immigration/
This sloppiness by the Bulwark is just gob smacking.
Contrary to Trump and GOP claims and talking points...
A question for the mayor and governor. It sounds have the Haitians have moved to Springfield because of the job growth there. This raises 2 questions.
1) If the Haitians hadn't come for the jobs, would some other population, let's say white Americas, also have to moved in for the jobs and cause the same strain on the town services?
2) Is the problem there are seeing strained services due to the fact factories moved in and created jobs that the city did not plan for? Should the city either not have allowed the factories to move in, or built up their town services in anticipation of the new jobs that would be created? In the long run, isn't the growing population good for the economy and benefit the existing population?
I would like those questions to be asked by reporters so that I can better understand what is going on.
It’s not the mayor and the governor that we need to worry about they are saying that this cat and dog eating story is BS. We should be asking JD Vance and Trump these questions.
I'm not saying that JD and Trump get off the hook. Rather, it's important to understand those details to further argue against JD. The point of the questions being that the strain on city services is bad planning when the factories came to the area, not the problem with workers who come to fill those jobs, whether they be white or Haitians.
We are. The collective press, including the Bulwark, is not. The press has learned nothing since 2015.