It’s getting to him, all of it: the possible indictment for the Stormy Daniels payoff next week in New York City; the possible indictment for attempting to overturn the 2020 election in Georgia; the Mar a Lago classified documents case; the Jan.6 investigation along with the phony electors scheme; and now the SEC and Southern District investigations of Trump Media for money laundering.
If you took all the worst character traits of the most infamous villains in history: dictators, war criminals, serial killers, pedophiles and slave traders and created the worst monster imaginable in Dr Frankenstein's biology lab, you would not be able to conjure up something worse that Donald Trump.
"It's almost impossible to believe he exists. It's as if we took everything that was bad about America, scraped it up off the floor, wrapped it all up in an old hot dog skin, and then taught it to make noises with its face." -- Anthony Citrano
That fact alone makes me very pessimistic about the future of this country. Forty years of relentless right-wing propaganda, dumbing down the country, and obscene inequality has persuaded about half the country that the government is the enemy responsible for their diminished circumstances. We have half a country that reliably votes against its self interest out of fear, ignorance, and bigotry.
I could not agree with you more, Sir. To quote my pinned tweet (before I departed Twitter as an unremarked protest against Elon Musk) "We live amongst morons."
The historical life of a democracy, btw, is 250 years. For us, that's 2026. Like Rome, we
If Trump were to run against Bert and Ernie the Sesame Street duo might get 90 million. The Left IMO is much more energized against him than the right is in favor. And I know there are polls, but they lie. The Evangelicals are begging for someone else to run. They might never vote for a Democrat but many will probably just stay home.
For the sake of law, order and our institutions they should.
However, from a political standpoint he is absolutely killing the GOP. No one has done more for the Democratic Party than Individual One. If he actually did find a way to stumble into the the White House again, it might lead the Republican Party to Bull Moosedom, if we survive it!
True enough, but without his followers (as Margo Howard notes) and the gutless, spineless Republican Party he would be just another old white guy bellowing in the backyard.
A close call I have to admit. Putin is at least savvy enough to know when to keep his mouth shut and listen. He was able to compromise Trump, help him get elected and extort him into betraying his country. Putin is a rich man who didn't inherit anything. Trump squandered his father's money and could possibly be underwater. I would counter that if Trump had been able to gain control in a country like Russia the acts of depravity and cruelty he would have unleashed against its people could have been much worse.
The total lack of concern for any living thing other than himself is something they have in common. In terms of pure evil it might be a wash.
I agree with all you say other than that if Trump was Russian he might be worse than Putin. Trump was able to get away with so much because of the complicit GOP, especially Mitch Mc Con(nell). If Trump had been Russian, one of his rivals would have offed him easily by now. Kompromat first, to bankrupt him, and then a tragic “accident.”
Mar 24, 2023·edited Mar 24, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
T-Rump is worse (for us) than Putin because he’s HERE, in the USA, doing possibly irreparable damage to this country every day that he lives and breathes!
I entirely agree. plus there's the fact that he's so STUPID. think and say what you will about Putin, he's NOT stupid. crazy, possibly. but NOT stupid.
I do not understand why he hasn’t been charged with threatening a government official? He posts threats almost daily against prosecutors, other elected officials and on and on! This is beyond dangerous!
From an article in The Guardian today: ‘Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics tsar now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, responded: “Threatening a prosecutor is a crime in New York. In fact MULTIPLE crimes: Harassment in the first degree … menacing in the second degree … stalking in the fourth or third degree … and that’s just for starters.”’
The deranged psychopath posted a picture of himself with a baseball bat next to Bragg, and called him an animal. That looks like a clear threat to me, and a demonstration of the fascist he is. Although I love animals, deranged psychopath hates them. And using the fascist playbook dehumanizing people again. His threats should be enough right now to put him in jail. Anybody else would already be arrested.
Calling a black man an "animal" is pure, unfiltered racism. IMO, that is the real basis of t-Rump's appeal to the slightly less than half of voting age Americans who are, in fact, racists.
it seems as if, in this particular case, the whole "if it was anybody else..." argument is so true, that we should probably decide to put aside and forget about. but that doesn't mean it isn't true. I just think it doesn't get us anywhere to keep harping on it. I think he's eminently "gettable" and probably, on some level, he will be got. I'm just saying that "fairness" in these circumstances was never really an issue. and everybody knows it.
“Trump seems to think he is beyond the reach of the law”. Well, sad to say, that’s because thus far in his long and disgraceful life he is. Who else could threaten to rain down death and destruction if he’s indicted and get away with that? It’s his social media site. He has the spineless losers of the GOP terrified to go against him. Even Nixon lost his support. The Republicans didn’t want to go down with him. This is pretty damn sad. I’ve read that Bragg was asked to step back so more substantial indictments could come down. I hope that’s the case and that he wasn’t called off or successfully bullied.
Mar 24, 2023·edited Mar 24, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV
I would think that Bragg, and all the others involved in investigating and prosecuting t-Rump, would fear for their lives and the lives of their families. I hope they all have highly enhanced security! I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Bragg as been "successfully bullied." He's a black man in the cross-hairs of every racist/white nationalist in this country.
It's kind of ridiculous in light of your IMO correct observation that the GOP labels this investigation politically motivated. What prosecutor would want this? They're insane. It's about civic duty, nothing else.
I don't however believe Bragg has been bullied at all. He's doing his job and filtering out the noise.
Bragg DID receive a death threat in the mail today, containing a white powder that luckily turned out to be harmless. Who knows how many other, powderless, letters he's received, spewing racist filth and threatening his life!
So sick. Yeah, I’ve heard he’s had a lot of death threats. It’s just so pathetic and unbelievable that anybody is still under the thrall of the fat orange bastard but to go that far?It tells you just how much he’s tapped into a Reservoir of bottled up anger in this country it’s not even about him anymore.
My longtime interpretation of DJTSpeak is that he accuses others of exactly that of which he is unabashedly guilty. Here again. He announces his guilt.
"...On October 26, 1963, just a few weeks before he was assassinated, President Kennedy traveled to Amherst College to speak at the groundbreaking of Robert Frost Library and to honor the poet Robert Frost, who taught for years at Amherst and whom Kennedy admired.
In his speech, Kennedy paid tribute to Frost’s particular achievement, but also hailed the critical role that artists play in society, reminding his audience that “if sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes them aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential.”
Kennedy emphasized the importance of art, artists, and poetry in helping a nation define its values, expose its failings, and hold its leaders accountable. His voice was clear and emphatic, and his rhetorical gifts fully evident. Looking at the original typescript of his address, it is bracing to see the scrawl of his pen clearing away swaths of words and crossing through high-flown language, honing the power and impact of his statement to match the significance of his thoughts. The following frequently cited lines, with their repetition, rhythm, and economy, instantiate what they assert: the irreplaceable role of poetic language in leading us to important truths:
“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concerns, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment."
Basic human truth as the touchstone of judgment; art as the source of human truth. Good art, as Kennedy points out, does not aim to indoctrinate, but to question, enlarge our sense of the possible, and remind us of our limits.” ---Biddy Martin, President Amherst College, in JFK, The Last Speech
Thank you for sharing that John. It sent arrows to my heart. It makes me wonder if he and his brother hadn’t been assassinated where would we be now? I’m certain in a much better place than the 40 years of Reaganism to Trumpism has taken us. And yes we have fallen very far. Here’s hoping we will climb our way out of the hole before it’s too late.
TRAITOR first and foremost! Who gives a flying f*ck if he’s deranged or a psychopath or whatever? He doesn’t deserve to be described or treated as mentally ill. He is an evil monster who is destroying the country, and he needs to be STOPPED!
I think it's hilarious that Trump's flying monkey squad call themselves 'proud boys', which in ranching terms means a gelding that thinks it still has its balls.
This is another one of his cons: force Bragg to arrest him, then ask his dumb followers to give him more money. Arrest him with no bail. Rikers Island!
He, along with his children, were found guilty of fraudulent expenditures from their foundation (one beneficiary of their mission statement was children with cancer!)
None of the Trumps is allowed to be associated with another foundation. Ever. That cost him 2 mil. Then there was Trump University. That dog's breakfast cost him 25 mil, paid to students. $110K for contempt of court order. $1.6mil against the Trump Org for tax crimes. (Like "L'État, c'est moi," so is the Trump Org. him.) And I promise you more and bigger are yet to come. One estimate is $250 mil. Hope this helps, and puts to rest the canard that he's never caught and is never nicked.
I believe his string is about to run out. The damage he's done, alas, will linger to the end. The end of what? Probably democracy in this country, if catastrophic climate conditions don't accomplish it first.
This will only be possible if our descendants are alive. While I have not concerned myself overly with climate stats, I believe we've already passed the time when it would have been possible to contain the situation.
But none of these judgments have slowed him down or shut him up. It’s as if none of them ever even happened! He remains free and able to do and say whatever he wants.
If you took all the worst character traits of the most infamous villains in history: dictators, war criminals, serial killers, pedophiles and slave traders and created the worst monster imaginable in Dr Frankenstein's biology lab, you would not be able to conjure up something worse that Donald Trump.
"It's almost impossible to believe he exists. It's as if we took everything that was bad about America, scraped it up off the floor, wrapped it all up in an old hot dog skin, and then taught it to make noises with its face." -- Anthony Citrano
THAT is about perfect!
And 70 million Americans voted for him (maybe). This, too, is something to ponder.
That fact alone makes me very pessimistic about the future of this country. Forty years of relentless right-wing propaganda, dumbing down the country, and obscene inequality has persuaded about half the country that the government is the enemy responsible for their diminished circumstances. We have half a country that reliably votes against its self interest out of fear, ignorance, and bigotry.
I could not agree with you more, Sir. To quote my pinned tweet (before I departed Twitter as an unremarked protest against Elon Musk) "We live amongst morons."
The historical life of a democracy, btw, is 250 years. For us, that's 2026. Like Rome, we
shall leave some good things behind ...
the main thing, I'd say.
If Trump were to run against Bert and Ernie the Sesame Street duo might get 90 million. The Left IMO is much more energized against him than the right is in favor. And I know there are polls, but they lie. The Evangelicals are begging for someone else to run. They might never vote for a Democrat but many will probably just stay home.
I agree that he's done, but someone needs to take his microphone away.
For the sake of law, order and our institutions they should.
However, from a political standpoint he is absolutely killing the GOP. No one has done more for the Democratic Party than Individual One. If he actually did find a way to stumble into the the White House again, it might lead the Republican Party to Bull Moosedom, if we survive it!
True enough, but without his followers (as Margo Howard notes) and the gutless, spineless Republican Party he would be just another old white guy bellowing in the backyard.
VERY well said!!!
Well, there is his good friend Vladimir Putin…
A close call I have to admit. Putin is at least savvy enough to know when to keep his mouth shut and listen. He was able to compromise Trump, help him get elected and extort him into betraying his country. Putin is a rich man who didn't inherit anything. Trump squandered his father's money and could possibly be underwater. I would counter that if Trump had been able to gain control in a country like Russia the acts of depravity and cruelty he would have unleashed against its people could have been much worse.
The total lack of concern for any living thing other than himself is something they have in common. In terms of pure evil it might be a wash.
I agree with all you say other than that if Trump was Russian he might be worse than Putin. Trump was able to get away with so much because of the complicit GOP, especially Mitch Mc Con(nell). If Trump had been Russian, one of his rivals would have offed him easily by now. Kompromat first, to bankrupt him, and then a tragic “accident.”
If only such an “accident” would befall t-Rump!
Oh please no! Let’s not rob Justice of that which she — and we — are due.
very nicely put.
T-Rump is worse (for us) than Putin because he’s HERE, in the USA, doing possibly irreparable damage to this country every day that he lives and breathes!
I entirely agree. plus there's the fact that he's so STUPID. think and say what you will about Putin, he's NOT stupid. crazy, possibly. but NOT stupid.
stupid really does make everything worse...
I do not understand why he hasn’t been charged with threatening a government official? He posts threats almost daily against prosecutors, other elected officials and on and on! This is beyond dangerous!
From an article in The Guardian today: ‘Norm Eisen, a former White House ethics tsar now a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, responded: “Threatening a prosecutor is a crime in New York. In fact MULTIPLE crimes: Harassment in the first degree … menacing in the second degree … stalking in the fourth or third degree … and that’s just for starters.”’
So why don't they 'get him' on that!?
Fomenting violence might be enough reason to deny him bail. One can only hope.
I would be shocked.
The deranged psychopath posted a picture of himself with a baseball bat next to Bragg, and called him an animal. That looks like a clear threat to me, and a demonstration of the fascist he is. Although I love animals, deranged psychopath hates them. And using the fascist playbook dehumanizing people again. His threats should be enough right now to put him in jail. Anybody else would already be arrested.
Calling a black man an "animal" is pure, unfiltered racism. IMO, that is the real basis of t-Rump's appeal to the slightly less than half of voting age Americans who are, in fact, racists.
it seems as if, in this particular case, the whole "if it was anybody else..." argument is so true, that we should probably decide to put aside and forget about. but that doesn't mean it isn't true. I just think it doesn't get us anywhere to keep harping on it. I think he's eminently "gettable" and probably, on some level, he will be got. I'm just saying that "fairness" in these circumstances was never really an issue. and everybody knows it.
what to do about it is a whole OTHER question...
I know, you’re right David. But it’s still extremely irritating.
it is.
Lucian, you finally corrected my blunder. For years I had labeled Trump as a sociopath. Silly me! I have been too kind. He is a legitimate PSYCHOPATH!
“Trump seems to think he is beyond the reach of the law”. Well, sad to say, that’s because thus far in his long and disgraceful life he is. Who else could threaten to rain down death and destruction if he’s indicted and get away with that? It’s his social media site. He has the spineless losers of the GOP terrified to go against him. Even Nixon lost his support. The Republicans didn’t want to go down with him. This is pretty damn sad. I’ve read that Bragg was asked to step back so more substantial indictments could come down. I hope that’s the case and that he wasn’t called off or successfully bullied.
I would think that Bragg, and all the others involved in investigating and prosecuting t-Rump, would fear for their lives and the lives of their families. I hope they all have highly enhanced security! I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn that Bragg as been "successfully bullied." He's a black man in the cross-hairs of every racist/white nationalist in this country.
And what a truly sad state of affairs we are living through that a deranged, angry sociopath can have this much of a hold on the country
Agreed!
It's kind of ridiculous in light of your IMO correct observation that the GOP labels this investigation politically motivated. What prosecutor would want this? They're insane. It's about civic duty, nothing else.
I don't however believe Bragg has been bullied at all. He's doing his job and filtering out the noise.
I hope you are correct!
Bragg DID receive a death threat in the mail today, containing a white powder that luckily turned out to be harmless. Who knows how many other, powderless, letters he's received, spewing racist filth and threatening his life!
I read today that Bragg received a letter containing a death threat and an unidentified white powder that, fortunately, turned out to be harmless.
So sick. Yeah, I’ve heard he’s had a lot of death threats. It’s just so pathetic and unbelievable that anybody is still under the thrall of the fat orange bastard but to go that far?It tells you just how much he’s tapped into a Reservoir of bottled up anger in this country it’s not even about him anymore.
"Why & who would do such a thing? Only a degenerate psychopath"
Projection. Always Projection.
It's called narcissistic collapse. He's decompensating while we watch. It's going to get worse, much worse.
you're right. on a purely clinical level, that's exactly what's happening.
and it's so classic, it'd be fun to watch, but probably some years from now.
but thinking about it that way, it can get easy to forget that he's much more dangerous than he's in any way capable of understanding.
My longtime interpretation of DJTSpeak is that he accuses others of exactly that of which he is unabashedly guilty. Here again. He announces his guilt.
Enough is enough already this criminal belongs behind bars and his mouth taped
so we don't have to listen to his rhetoric and foul language any more. Don't really
care if he is a former president or not ....get him out of our sight and hearing range!!
"...On October 26, 1963, just a few weeks before he was assassinated, President Kennedy traveled to Amherst College to speak at the groundbreaking of Robert Frost Library and to honor the poet Robert Frost, who taught for years at Amherst and whom Kennedy admired.
In his speech, Kennedy paid tribute to Frost’s particular achievement, but also hailed the critical role that artists play in society, reminding his audience that “if sometimes our great artists have been the most critical of our society, it is because their sensitivity and their concern for justice, which must motivate any true artist, makes them aware that our Nation falls short of its highest potential.”
Kennedy emphasized the importance of art, artists, and poetry in helping a nation define its values, expose its failings, and hold its leaders accountable. His voice was clear and emphatic, and his rhetorical gifts fully evident. Looking at the original typescript of his address, it is bracing to see the scrawl of his pen clearing away swaths of words and crossing through high-flown language, honing the power and impact of his statement to match the significance of his thoughts. The following frequently cited lines, with their repetition, rhythm, and economy, instantiate what they assert: the irreplaceable role of poetic language in leading us to important truths:
“When power leads man toward arrogance, poetry reminds him of his limitations. When power narrows the area of man’s concerns, poetry reminds him of the richness and diversity of his existence. When power corrupts, poetry cleanses, for art establishes the basic human truth which must serve as the touchstone of our judgment."
Basic human truth as the touchstone of judgment; art as the source of human truth. Good art, as Kennedy points out, does not aim to indoctrinate, but to question, enlarge our sense of the possible, and remind us of our limits.” ---Biddy Martin, President Amherst College, in JFK, The Last Speech
How far we have fallen.
Thank you for sharing that John. It sent arrows to my heart. It makes me wonder if he and his brother hadn’t been assassinated where would we be now? I’m certain in a much better place than the 40 years of Reaganism to Trumpism has taken us. And yes we have fallen very far. Here’s hoping we will climb our way out of the hole before it’s too late.
For the reminder and clear sightedness, we thank you.
You got it precisely right - deranged psychopath. He’s also a traitor.
TRAITOR first and foremost! Who gives a flying f*ck if he’s deranged or a psychopath or whatever? He doesn’t deserve to be described or treated as mentally ill. He is an evil monster who is destroying the country, and he needs to be STOPPED!
I think it's hilarious that Trump's flying monkey squad call themselves 'proud boys', which in ranching terms means a gelding that thinks it still has its balls.
That pretty much describes the Orange Traitor Tot.
You’re kidding! OMG! Someone clue them in, please! :)
jeez, I didn't know that.
this is a very good thing to start telling people, whenever possible.
although I'd want to "read the room" first.
He should watch his blood pressure. No, wait. Have a dozen quarter pounders instead. With extra salt.
And wash it down with a bucket of fried of chicken.
Don't forget the two scoops of ice cream.
This is another one of his cons: force Bragg to arrest him, then ask his dumb followers to give him more money. Arrest him with no bail. Rikers Island!
That’s where I’m praying he will end up!
"Trump seems to think he is beyond the reach of the Law"...........well because he is. Name one thing he has been held accountable for.
He, along with his children, were found guilty of fraudulent expenditures from their foundation (one beneficiary of their mission statement was children with cancer!)
None of the Trumps is allowed to be associated with another foundation. Ever. That cost him 2 mil. Then there was Trump University. That dog's breakfast cost him 25 mil, paid to students. $110K for contempt of court order. $1.6mil against the Trump Org for tax crimes. (Like "L'État, c'est moi," so is the Trump Org. him.) And I promise you more and bigger are yet to come. One estimate is $250 mil. Hope this helps, and puts to rest the canard that he's never caught and is never nicked.
When he spends one hour in jail I will count that as being accountable. He has no shame. Any money he loses he just makes up in more fundraising.
The sad part is that people are afraid to hold him accountable and find it easier to just let the time for action run out.
I believe his string is about to run out. The damage he's done, alas, will linger to the end. The end of what? Probably democracy in this country, if catastrophic climate conditions don't accomplish it first.
With the non-action on climate change, Trump may well be the least of our problems. I fear our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will curse us.
This will only be possible if our descendants are alive. While I have not concerned myself overly with climate stats, I believe we've already passed the time when it would have been possible to contain the situation.
But none of these judgments have slowed him down or shut him up. It’s as if none of them ever even happened! He remains free and able to do and say whatever he wants.