The Trump Card...

[davekc]

Something has to be created because Russia is getting kind of boring. Most of the MSM is stating he supported the Neo Nazi group. Which up to this point, he never did. Meanwhile we have little masked ninjas wearing black trying to cause trouble and we are to believe they are a special group fighting for our rights. lol
Yep, a bunch still mad Hillary lost.

 

[muttly]

Defining moment in his presidency? That's funny right there.

Yes. a defining moment in the Trump presidency. It's not a joke. I'm not trying to be funny. By defining moment, I mean a very precise incident (the press conference) in which something happened that changed how people see things. This is the moment that Republicans resolved themselves to the fact that Trump will not change. They may have known that before but after this moment, they now understand this fact has consequences. They can no longer back president Trump without feeling the consequences (like corporate America walking away). They can no longer tie themselves to Trump without getting the Trump negatives on them.

This collective shift of perspective is a turning point. It is a moment in time, marked by this incident, that historians will reference when they write about the rise and fall of Donald Trump.On this date, new lows were hit in the polls, corporate chiefs walked away and the overwhelming majority of Republicans rose to speak in opposition to Trump's remarks. And those are Trumps friends. His foes became more energized than ever in a way that will persist with time. Trump terrifies the left and that fear fuels action.

The corporate activism I expect to follow will not be insignificant. We saw it with the bathroom bill in North Carolina. Behind the corporations' will to act was the public's will to act. Corporations may not have cared one way or another about the bathroom bill itself but they care deeply about how they are viewed in the public eye. When millions of consumers rise in opposition on a hot-button social issue, corporations tend to act.

Racisim is one such issue. The corporate chiefs who abandoned Trump showed a tender spot. They showed they are sensitive about being branded racist. That provides an opening for Trump opponents to exploit. Even if corporations did not care one way or another about racism, they wold be forced to care because consumers will act to weaken Trump by branding his supporters as racists.

To a degree, this has been going on for a while. What's different now is this defining moment in the Trump presidency. The civil disturbance in Charlottesville provided TV images that brought things into stark relief. Trump's remarks had the effect of pouring gasoline on the fire. That fire ignited the souls of millions in a way they did not previously burn and the Republicans are feeling the heat.

Standing by is calm, gentleman Pence, waiting to step in when called. At some point, the Republicans are going to have more of Trump's antics than they care to take. At that point, the call to Pence will seem like the perfect solution.

There have been supposedly a hundred 'defining moments' that Trump has had since he began running for president. It doesn't matter what he says the left and the Fake News media will hate him regardless what he does. They'll twist what he says. Take it out of context, move the goal posts when on occasion he clarifies his statement. And it wouldn't have been much different if were President Romney or President Rubio. They would have turned on them as well. The difference is Trump fights back and they HATE THAT.

 

[muttly]

Defining moment in his presidency? That's funny right there.

Standing by is calm, gentleman Pence, waiting to step in when called. At some point, the Republicans are going to have more of Trump's antics than they care to take. At that point, the call to Pence will seem like the perfect solution.

I know this is hard to believe, but the left would quickly turn on gentleman Pence and probably hate him worse. A religious conservative is despised by the left.

 

[Turtle]

Yes. a defining moment in the Trump presidency. It's not a joke.

Possibly. That press conference was quite possibly Trump's "You're God damned right I ordered the Code Red!" moment.

But other defining moments where knee-jerk Republicans scattered like liberals running from a suddenly unsafe space include "Blood coming out of her wherever," and the infamous kitten grabbing audio tape. They gravitated back to Trump, and whether they do again depends on how well the Left and the Media can sustain the intellectual argument for doing so.

The Left and the Media has a good start in attempting to define Antifa and the others on the Left engaging in violence as "standing up against hate" in the same vein as Wonder Woman or Superman. But the nature of the scorpion is what it is and that won't last long.

It doesn't matter what he says the left and the Fake News media will hate him regardless what he does. They'll twist what he says. Take it out of context, move the goal posts when on occasion he clarifies his statement.

Sometimes they don't even twist it, they just ignore what he says and invent what they want. The current narrative is Trump equated white supremacy with those on the violent left, as the two sides being equally culpable, despite the fact that he explicitly did the exact opposite. They conflated any level of responsibility of the left to being equal to that of the white supremacy. They also are repeatedly stating that Trump did not condemn the white supremacists, and will do so on CNN immediately after playing the video of him doing that very thing.

They have succeeded in getting the Web registration and the Web hosting of whatever that white supremacist group is revoked. That doesn't seem like it could come back to haunt them at all. <snort>

They have also seized on the tactic of "If you support Trump in any way, if you voted for him, if you work in the White House, you are a racist." That's one that can be flipped on them, as well, and will come back to haunt them.

 

[Turtle]

You know how Steve Bannon, a.k.a., Hitler Junior, has Trump's ear and is really calling the shots behind the scenes? The left in the MSM (Gloria Borger is 100% positive of it) says that Bannon was the author of Trump's statement on Saturday that did not specifically name the white supremacist groups for denoucement, that Trump's level-headed staff wrote the Tuesday statement, and that Bannon prodded Trump's tirade on Wednesday.

Well, maybe not. The Vox author of this piece probably needed a fifth of Jack to write it, but it's a piece about Bannon's interview with The American Prospect, a quarterly magazine dedicated to American liberalism and progressivism. It'll be interesting to see if, other than carefully chosen nuggets with which to craft their own narrative, the MSM makes much mention of the interview.

He dismissed the far right as irrelevant and sidestepped his own role in cultivating it: "Ethno-nationalism—it's losers. It's a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more."

"These guys are a collection of clowns," he added.

"The Democrats," Bannon said, "the longer they talk about identity politics, I got ’em. I want them to talk about racism every day. If the left is focused on race and identity, and we go with economic nationalism, we can crush the Democrats."

The Democrats rode the identity politics pony all through the campaign, and they're still riding it. Tipled down on it with the Charlottesville thing.

 

[ATeam]

Here is an account of the incident from a broad spectrum of eyewitnesses.
Who was responsible for the violence in Charlottesville? Here's what witnesses say

I understand your point, muttly. The counter-protesters in Charlottesville broke the rules. They gathered without a permit. They acted with violence. Some of them equipped themselves for a fight and they came to fight. In so doing they denied others their rights. They were wrong to act in such hateful and violent ways. They failed to uphold the American value of free speech. Some of them should have been arrested and prosecuted for the laws they broke.

But none of that is the defining moment in the Trump presidency I am talking about. Charlottesville is the background event about which Trump talked about in his Monday press conference. The defining moment was not Charlottesville. It was Trump's remarks. In those remarks, he revealed and/or confirmed things about himself that shifted the Republican perception of him and attitude toward him.

You saw the impact immediately after the remarks when business leaders began to peel away. You saw it continue as Trump himself was left with no alternative but to disband his business advisory councils. Later in the day, after I made my earlier posts, you saw it again as the mayor of Phoenix encouraged Trump to NOT come to his city. I know of no other time in American history where a mayor asked a president to stay away.

Once upon a time it was Teflon Don. After Trump's Charlottesville remarks, we're seeing the Teflon starting to flake off. It is no longer true that Trump could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and his support would hold. His Charlottesville remarks triggered that shift.

 

[muttly]

IMO, when Bannon made the statement about the Alt- Right a while back: His website being a platform for it, he was referring to an economical Nationalist, anti establishment segment of the Right. Not the white nationalists/ wacko nazis. But the media is repeatedly using the Alt-Right label by lumping conservatives along with those wackos. Bannon sees those people as clowns, that make up a very tiny amount of the population.The Fake News media and dishonest politicians want to call them most of Trump's base.

 

[ATeam]

IMO, when Bannon made the statement about the Alt- Right a while back: His website being a platform for it, he was referring to an economical Nationalist, anti establishment segment of the Right. Not the white nationalists/ wacko nazis. But the media is repeatedly using the Alt-Right label by lumping conservatives along with those wackos. Bannon sees those people as clowns, that make up a very tiny amount of the population.The Fake News media and dishonest politicians want to call them most of Trump's base.

Bannon, the mainstream media, the Democrats, the deep state, etc. etc. etc. It's all background noise. Trump is a super-narcissist and that is why his presidency is crumbling. Had Trump chosen to say nothing about Charlottesville on Monday and let his previous remarks stand, things would be different today. But he didn't. He didn't because he couldn't. He is hard-wired to lash out. He is hard wired to believe EVERYTHING is about him. He is hard-wired to seek and intensify the spotlight every chance he gets.

For a traditional politician, the fallout from the Charlottesville remarks are a disaster. For super-narcissist Trump, it was a good day. the whole world was focused on Trump and he wouldn't have it any other way. That's why he picks fights with his friends. That's why he lashes out at anyone who criticizes him. He is hard wired against admitting fault or even seeing himself as wrong. He is hard wired to never apologize. He's a super-narcissist. That's why he provokes controversy and chaos almost every day. It puts him in the spotlight. It gets everyone reacting to him.

This narcissistic behavior works great for a super-narcissist. As a leadership strategy for the president of the United States ... not so much.

Need more proof? In the midst of the racism controversy Trump's remarks ignited, he talks about pardoning lightning-rod figure Sheriff Joe. Trump generates controversy because he loves it. Not because it serves a useful political purpose but because it fulfills his narcissistic drives.

 

[ATeam]

Possibly. That press conference was quite possibly Trump's "You're God damned right I ordered the Code Red!" moment.

That's a really good way to illustrate a defining moment. The instant Colonel Jessep uttered those words, his mystique evaporated and the world treated him differently.

 

[Turtle]

Possibly. That press conference was quite possibly Trump's "You're God damned right I ordered the Code Red!" moment.

That's a really good way to illustrate a defining moment. The instant Colonel Jessep uttered those words, his mystique evaporated and the world treated him differently.

And, Jessep uttered those words out of "how DARE you question me!" anger, same Trump.

 

[ATeam]

While recent developments indicate my impeachment prediction is likely to be fulfilled, I take no pleasure in them. It has happened a few times in my life when one of my heroes, someone I looked up to, someone I vested my hopes in, someone I supported or someone who I otherwise held in high regard did not turn out to be the person I thought he or she was, or did not prove capable of doing the thing I hoped he or she would do.

One example is Ross Perot. I was an early and avid Perot supporter. I worked hard to help get him on the ballot and defended him against all critics. I volunteered months of full-time work to the Perot campaign. Then, just one day before he was scheduled to come to Minnesota and I would have met the man in person, he quit. With no notice and no good reason, and when he led the polls in a three-way race for president, he announced his withdrawal from the race. That stunned millions of his supporters, myself included. I went home that night and wept.

Trump is going to disappoint a lot of people on his way down and out. I know how it feels to be disappointed in such a way. I feel compassion for those who are hurting now or will hurt in the future.

 

[muttly]

Here is an account of the incident from a broad spectrum of eyewitnesses.
Who was responsible for the violence in Charlottesville? Here's what witnesses say

I understand your point, muttly. The counter-protesters in Charlottesville broke the rules. They gathered without a permit. They acted with violence. Some of them equipped themselves for a fight and they came to fight. In so doing they denied others their rights. They were wrong to act in such hateful and violent ways. They failed to uphold the American value of free speech. Some of them should have been arrested and prosecuted for the laws they broke.

But none of that is the defining moment in the Trump presidency I am talking about. Charlottesville is the background event about which Trump talked about in his Monday press conference. The defining moment was not Charlottesville. It was Trump's remarks. In those remarks, he revealed and/or confirmed things about himself that shifted the Republican perception of him and attitude toward him.

You saw the impact immediately after the remarks when business leaders began to peel away. You saw it continue as Trump himself was left with no alternative but to disband his business advisory councils. Later in the day, after I made my earlier posts, you saw it again as the mayor of Phoenix encouraged Trump to NOT come to his city.

Once upon a time it was Teflon Don. After Trump's Charlottesville remarks, we're seeing the Teflon starting to flake off. It is no longer true that Trump could shoot somebody on 5th Avenue and his support would hold. His Charlottesville remarks triggered that shift.

I listened to his Monday press conference on the radio. What I heard was an honest assessment by someone. You don't hear that much, just mostly political posturing and pandering. I thought it was great. Losing candidates like Romney can't even acknowledge the violence on the other side.
People see through that political cowardice. Do we have free speech for everyone or just for those we we agree with? A pure hypothetical question: Say the clown Nazis were marching and chanting their crap but weren't using any violence at the rally, how much violence from the other side is acceptable?Any?

 

[Turtle]

Trump is going to disappoint a lot of people on his way down and out.

Possibly. But more likely, unless he does something that turns his base against him in large numbers, the Left and the Media will be blamed for what it is, an unrelenting undermining coup d'etat. If that happens, things are going to get really bad.

 

[Turtle]

Say the clown Nazis were marching and chanting their crap but weren't using any violence at the rally, how much violence from the other side is acceptable?Any?

Any and all violence would be acceptable, because "hate speech" is violent speech, and the proper and just response to violence is to stand up against that violence with violence.

 

[Ragman]

Say the clown Nazis were marching and chanting their crap but weren't using any violence at the rally, how much violence from the other side is acceptable?Any?

Using whatever means necessary to destroy these evil groups is OK by me.

 

[muttly]

Trump is going to disappoint a lot of people on his way down and out.

Possibly. But more likely, unless he does something that turns his base against him in large numbers, the Left and the Media will be blamed for what it is, an unrelenting undermining coup d'etat. If that happens, things are going to get really bad.

Imagine that. The media, they're supposed to be the watchdogs.

 

[muttly]

While recent developments indicate my impeachment prediction is likely to be fulfilled, I take no pleasure in them. It has happened a few times in my life when one of my heroes, someone I looked up to, someone I vested my hopes in, someone I supported or someone who I otherwise held in high regard did not turn out to be the person I thought he or she was, or did not prove capable of doing the thing I hoped he or she would do.

One example is Ross Perot. I was an early and avid Perot supporter. I worked hard to help get him on the ballot and defended him against all critics. I volunteered months of full-time work to the Perot campaign. Then, just one day before he was scheduled to come to Minnesota and I would have met the man in person, he quit. With no notice and no good reason, and when he led the polls in a three-way race for president, he announced his withdrawal from the race. That stunned millions of his supporters, myself included. I went home that night and wept.

Trump is going to disappoint a lot of people on his way down and out. I know how it feels to be disappointed in such a way. I feel compassion for those who are hurting now or will hurt in the future.

Perot kind of blew it. When he quit, the Dems appeared unified at Clinton's Democrat convention. Perot stated as much. So he might have thought he wasn't going to win. Then he got back in. But at that point, momentum and some luster came off his campaign because he quit.

 

[davekc]

Still not sold on the impeachment thing. Cohen is introducing a bill for it, but will get little traction. May even be more attempts. Even if successful, he wont be removed before his term ends. If things get that bad, he will resign and give it to Pence. Even that is a long shot at best.

 

[muttly]

Do we have free speech for everyone or just for those that we agree with?

 

[muttly]

Interesting nugget of information from Gregg Jarrett. The first 1:30 of the clip: