Last year, the white nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of his Virginia gym after another member confronted him and called him a Nazi. This incident did not generate a national round of hand-wringing about the death of tolerance, perhaps because most people tacitly agree that it’s O.K. to shun professional racists.
It’s a little more complicated when the professional racist is the president of the United States. The norms of our political life require a degree of bipartisan forbearance. But treating members of Donald Trump’s administration as ordinary public officials rather than pariahs does more to normalize bigotry than exercising alongside a white separatist.
Over the last week, several Trump administration officials and supporters have been publicly shamed. On Friday night, the Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a farm-to-table restaurant in Lexington, Va. That morning, protesters blasted a recording of sobbing migrant kids outside the home of Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s secretary of homeland security.
A few days before that, Nielsen left an upscale Mexican restaurant near the White House after protesters confronted her, chanting, “If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace!” The Trump adviser Stephen Miller was also yelled at in a Mexican restaurant — someone called him a fascist, though he may not regard that as an insult. The same night that Sanders was denied service, Pam Bondi, Florida’s Trump-supporting attorney general, was heckled outside a movie theater where she’d gone to see a documentary about Mister Rogers. Adding to the furor, Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, urged people to keep jeering at members of Trump’s cabinet when they’re out and about, saying, “You tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Naturally, all this has led to lots of pained disapproval from self-appointed guardians of civility. A Washington Post editorial urged the protesters to think about the precedent they are setting. “How hard is it to imagine, for example, people who strongly believe that abortion is murder deciding that judges or other officials who protect abortion rights should not be able to live peaceably with their families?” it asked.
Of course, this is not hard to imagine at all, since abortion opponents have assassinated abortion providers in their homes and churches, firebombed their clinics and protested at their children’s schools. The Roman Catholic Church has shamed politicians who support abortion rights by denying them communion. The failure to acknowledge this history is a sign of the reflexive false balance that makes it hard for the mainstream media to grapple with the asymmetric extremism of the Republican Party.
I’m somewhat agnostic on the question of whether publicly rebuking Trump collaborators is tactically smart. It stokes their own sense of victimization, which they feed on. It may alienate some persuadable voters, though this is just a guess. (As we saw in the indignant media reaction to Michelle Wolf’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner routine, some pundits project their own concern with Beltway decorum onto swing voters, who generally pay less attention to the newsthan partisans.)
On the other hand, there’s a moral and psychic cost to participating in the fiction that people who work for Trump are in any sense public servants. I don’t blame staff members at the Virginia restaurant, the Red Hen, for not wanting to help Sanders unwind after a hard week of lying to the public about mass child abuse. Particularly when Sanders’s own administration is fighting to let private businesses discriminate against gay people, who, unlike mendacious press secretaries, are a protected class under many civil rights laws.
Whether or not you think public shaming should be happening, it’s important to understand why it’s happening. It’s less a result of a breakdown in civility than a breakdown of democracy. Though it’s tiresome to repeat it, Donald Trump eked out his minority victory with help from a hostile foreign power. He has ruled exclusively for his vengeful supporters, who love the way he terrifies, outrages and humiliates their fellow citizens. Trump installed the right-wing Neil Gorsuch in the Supreme Court seat that Republicans stole from Barack Obama. Gorsuch, in turn, has been the fifth vote in decisions on voter roll purges and, on Monday, racial gerrymandering that will further entrench minority rule.
All over the country, Republican members of Congress have consistently refused to so much as meet with many of the scared, furious citizens they ostensibly represent. A great many of these citizens are working tirelessly to take at least one house of Congress in the midterms — which will require substantially more than 50 percent of total votes, given structural Republican advantages — so that the country’s anti-Trump majority will have some voice in the federal government.
But unless and until that happens, millions and millions of Americans watch helplessly as the president cages children, dehumanizes immigrants, spurns other democracies, guts health care protections, uses his office to enrich himself and turns public life into a deranged phantasmagoria with his incontinent flood of lies. The civility police might point out that many conservatives hated Obama just as much, but that only demonstrates the limits of content-neutral analysis. The right’s revulsion against a black president targeted by birther conspiracy theories is not the same as the left’s revulsion against a racist president who spread birther conspiracy theories.
Faced with the unceasing cruelty and degradation of the Trump presidency, liberals have not taken to marching around in public with assault weapons and threatening civil war. I know of no left-wing publication that has followed the example of the right-wing Federalist and run quasi-pornographic fantasies about murdering political enemies. (“Close your eyes and imagine holding someone’s scalp in your hands,” began a recent Federalist article.) Unlike Trump, no Democratic politician I’m aware of has urged his or her followers to beat up opposing demonstrators.
Instead, some progressive celebrities have said some bad words, and some people have treated administration officials with the sort of public opprobrium due members of any other white nationalist organization. Liberals are using their cultural power against the right because it’s the only power they have left, and people have a desperate need to say, and to hear others say, that what is happening in this country is intolerable.
Sometimes, their strategies may be poorly conceived. But there’s an abusive sort of victim-blaming in demanding that progressives single-handedly uphold civility, lest the right become even more uncivil in response. As long as our rulers wage war on cosmopolitan culture, they shouldn’t feel entitled to its fruits. If they don’t want to hear from the angry citizens they’re supposed to serve, let them eat at Trump Grill.
I have the problem of having great disdain for people that vote for conservatives and hold conservative views. I wish I could still love these people.
What conservative views do you hate?
Anti gay marriage. Anti abortion. No sex before marriage. Not allowing divorce. Patriarchy. Pretty much Christian values being enforced on non-religious people
Read your arguement. You made a bigoted statement. You did the very thing you say you're against.
Oh yeah, how's that?
Answer my question.
He is suggesting that you are bigoted because you have a great disdain for people that are conservative... because he doesn't understand the meaning of bigoted.
Bigoted are those that I have disdain for.
Adelaide 17/11/2009, Melbourne 20/11/2009, Sydney 22/11/2009, Melbourne (Big Day Out Festival) 24/01/2014
Faced with the unceasing cruelty and degradation of the Trump presidency, liberals have not taken to marching around in public with assault weapons and threatening civil war. I know of no left-wing publication that has followed the example of the right-wing Federalist and run quasi-pornographic fantasies about murdering political enemies. (“Close your eyes and imagine holding someone’s scalp in your hands,” began a recent Federalist article.) Unlike Trump, no Democratic politician I’m aware of has urged his or her followers to beat up opposing demonstrators.
I would love for the above to happen. I'm not sure that liberals own assault weapons though?
0
Options
The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,392
This sums up Trump supporters quite nicely. Regarding Space Force: “It doesn’t make a lot of sense and would be wasting a lot of dollars,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s going to be cool.”
This sums up Trump supporters quite nicely. Regarding Space Force: “It doesn’t make a lot of sense and would be wasting a lot of dollars,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s going to be cool.”
This sums up Trump supporters quite nicely. Regarding Space Force: “It doesn’t make a lot of sense and would be wasting a lot of dollars,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s going to be cool.”
This sums up Trump supporters quite nicely. Regarding Space Force: “It doesn’t make a lot of sense and would be wasting a lot of dollars,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s going to be cool.”
Can our resident Trump interpreters (the ones who get all his 'jokes') explain what The Aura is? He mentioned it in his attack on Harley Davidson, who are struggling with his inept economics policies, and the capitalisation confuses me. Is it like 'The Secret'?
Yea, wrap your mind around that one. Team Trump Treason Willy billy imposed tariffs and the EU replies in kind. Harley Davidson reacts by moving some operations oversees to remain competitive. Team Trump Treason threatens them with the biggest taxes they’ve ever seen and belittles them for being weak. It’s like Donny Jr. ate more than half of Eric’s ice cream because Team Trump Treason made them split a scoop when he’s got 60 gallons in the freezer and when Eric complained, Team Trump Treason whooped his ass for defying his logic. What a fucking nightmare. Harley riders should parade to DC and surround the White House and rev their engines 24/7 for a few weeks. Do the same at Team Trump Treasons hotels. This guy really needs a smack in the mouth. Hello, Pompeo? Not that I advocate that but I think it may very well be the only thing that will register with him and get his attention.
Please stop saying "Team Trump Treason." You sound like Trump himself when refers to Hillary as "Crooked Hillary" or Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
No, no I won’t. Not until Team Trump Treason is impeached, voted out of office or resigns. He’s not fit to serve in the office of the presidency. In fact, he’s not fit to serve anyone at a Taco Bell. Buh, buh, buh Hillary!
I'm beginning to believe he will never be impeached (and he will never resign). the democrats have proven themselves to be spineless pussies for the last few years.
I'm not sure what the Dems have to do with it. The other Republicans are the ones who have proven themselves spineless pussies.
I've been reading quite a lot of articles and opinion pieces lately that are saying the dems need to grow some balls and start standing up for what's right, instead of the "let's be civil" stuff. I agree with "let's be civil", I think even yesterday I said something similar on here, but it's clearly not working. The low road is the one that keeps winning.
how do you combat that without fighting the same way? it failed in 2016, and it continues to fail in 2018.
Everything they've done has been reactionary. and when all you do is react, your opponent remains ahead.
do I agree with Maxine waters? No. even though she has now said she was not encouraging violence, the message remains. You put something like that out there, and people will respond in ways you didn't anticipate.
But maybe she's onto something.
Civil? Read a few of the comments on here and it's not very civil...
Anitfa, heard of them?
You did mention Mrs Waters and I'm sure there is more to follow.
This calling every republican a racist thing will only make this country uglier. It's sad and people will defend in doing so.
I know you didn't call them racists Hugh so don't focus on that.
Who called all republicans racist? More often I see the comment that they are okay with supporting trump, who is racist.
Can our resident Trump interpreters (the ones who get all his 'jokes') explain what The Aura is? He mentioned it in his attack on Harley Davidson, who are struggling with his inept economics policies, and the capitalisation confuses me. Is it like 'The Secret'?
Yea, wrap your mind around that one. Team Trump Treason Willy billy imposed tariffs and the EU replies in kind. Harley Davidson reacts by moving some operations oversees to remain competitive. Team Trump Treason threatens them with the biggest taxes they’ve ever seen and belittles them for being weak. It’s like Donny Jr. ate more than half of Eric’s ice cream because Team Trump Treason made them split a scoop when he’s got 60 gallons in the freezer and when Eric complained, Team Trump Treason whooped his ass for defying his logic. What a fucking nightmare. Harley riders should parade to DC and surround the White House and rev their engines 24/7 for a few weeks. Do the same at Team Trump Treasons hotels. This guy really needs a smack in the mouth. Hello, Pompeo? Not that I advocate that but I think it may very well be the only thing that will register with him and get his attention.
Please stop saying "Team Trump Treason." You sound like Trump himself when refers to Hillary as "Crooked Hillary" or Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
No, no I won’t. Not until Team Trump Treason is impeached, voted out of office or resigns. He’s not fit to serve in the office of the presidency. In fact, he’s not fit to serve anyone at a Taco Bell. Buh, buh, buh Hillary!
I'm beginning to believe he will never be impeached (and he will never resign). the democrats have proven themselves to be spineless pussies for the last few years.
I'm not sure what the Dems have to do with it. The other Republicans are the ones who have proven themselves spineless pussies.
I've been reading quite a lot of articles and opinion pieces lately that are saying the dems need to grow some balls and start standing up for what's right, instead of the "let's be civil" stuff. I agree with "let's be civil", I think even yesterday I said something similar on here, but it's clearly not working. The low road is the one that keeps winning.
how do you combat that without fighting the same way? it failed in 2016, and it continues to fail in 2018.
Everything they've done has been reactionary. and when all you do is react, your opponent remains ahead.
do I agree with Maxine waters? No. even though she has now said she was not encouraging violence, the message remains. You put something like that out there, and people will respond in ways you didn't anticipate.
But maybe she's onto something.
Civil? Read a few of the comments on here and it's not very civil...
Anitfa, heard of them?
You did mention Mrs Waters and I'm sure there is more to follow.
This calling every republican a racist thing will only make this country uglier. It's sad and people will defend in doing so.
I know you didn't call them racists Hugh so don't focus on that.
Who called all republicans racist? More often I see the comment that they are okay with supporting trump, who is racist.
There was a good article in the NYT, I think, pointing out that “conservative” and “republican” are no longer equivalent. I would say that someone who still supports the current Republican Party and its policies is at the least comfortable supporting a racist agenda.
my small self... like a book amongst the many on a shelf
Can our resident Trump interpreters (the ones who get all his 'jokes') explain what The Aura is? He mentioned it in his attack on Harley Davidson, who are struggling with his inept economics policies, and the capitalisation confuses me. Is it like 'The Secret'?
Yea, wrap your mind around that one. Team Trump Treason Willy billy imposed tariffs and the EU replies in kind. Harley Davidson reacts by moving some operations oversees to remain competitive. Team Trump Treason threatens them with the biggest taxes they’ve ever seen and belittles them for being weak. It’s like Donny Jr. ate more than half of Eric’s ice cream because Team Trump Treason made them split a scoop when he’s got 60 gallons in the freezer and when Eric complained, Team Trump Treason whooped his ass for defying his logic. What a fucking nightmare. Harley riders should parade to DC and surround the White House and rev their engines 24/7 for a few weeks. Do the same at Team Trump Treasons hotels. This guy really needs a smack in the mouth. Hello, Pompeo? Not that I advocate that but I think it may very well be the only thing that will register with him and get his attention.
Please stop saying "Team Trump Treason." You sound like Trump himself when refers to Hillary as "Crooked Hillary" or Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
No, no I won’t. Not until Team Trump Treason is impeached, voted out of office or resigns. He’s not fit to serve in the office of the presidency. In fact, he’s not fit to serve anyone at a Taco Bell. Buh, buh, buh Hillary!
I'm beginning to believe he will never be impeached (and he will never resign). the democrats have proven themselves to be spineless pussies for the last few years.
I'm not sure what the Dems have to do with it. The other Republicans are the ones who have proven themselves spineless pussies.
I've been reading quite a lot of articles and opinion pieces lately that are saying the dems need to grow some balls and start standing up for what's right, instead of the "let's be civil" stuff. I agree with "let's be civil", I think even yesterday I said something similar on here, but it's clearly not working. The low road is the one that keeps winning.
how do you combat that without fighting the same way? it failed in 2016, and it continues to fail in 2018.
Everything they've done has been reactionary. and when all you do is react, your opponent remains ahead.
do I agree with Maxine waters? No. even though she has now said she was not encouraging violence, the message remains. You put something like that out there, and people will respond in ways you didn't anticipate.
But maybe she's onto something.
Civil? Read a few of the comments on here and it's not very civil...
Anitfa, heard of them?
You did mention Mrs Waters and I'm sure there is more to follow.
This calling every republican a racist thing will only make this country uglier. It's sad and people will defend in doing so.
I know you didn't call them racists Hugh so don't focus on that.
Who called all republicans racist? More often I see the comment that they are okay with supporting trump, who is racist.
There was a good article in the NYT, I think, pointing out that “conservative” and “republican” are no longer equivalent. I would say that someone who still supports the current Republican Party and its policies is at the least comfortable supporting a racist agenda.
Can our resident Trump interpreters (the ones who get all his 'jokes') explain what The Aura is? He mentioned it in his attack on Harley Davidson, who are struggling with his inept economics policies, and the capitalisation confuses me. Is it like 'The Secret'?
Yea, wrap your mind around that one. Team Trump Treason Willy billy imposed tariffs and the EU replies in kind. Harley Davidson reacts by moving some operations oversees to remain competitive. Team Trump Treason threatens them with the biggest taxes they’ve ever seen and belittles them for being weak. It’s like Donny Jr. ate more than half of Eric’s ice cream because Team Trump Treason made them split a scoop when he’s got 60 gallons in the freezer and when Eric complained, Team Trump Treason whooped his ass for defying his logic. What a fucking nightmare. Harley riders should parade to DC and surround the White House and rev their engines 24/7 for a few weeks. Do the same at Team Trump Treasons hotels. This guy really needs a smack in the mouth. Hello, Pompeo? Not that I advocate that but I think it may very well be the only thing that will register with him and get his attention.
Please stop saying "Team Trump Treason." You sound like Trump himself when refers to Hillary as "Crooked Hillary" or Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
No, no I won’t. Not until Team Trump Treason is impeached, voted out of office or resigns. He’s not fit to serve in the office of the presidency. In fact, he’s not fit to serve anyone at a Taco Bell. Buh, buh, buh Hillary!
I'm beginning to believe he will never be impeached (and he will never resign). the democrats have proven themselves to be spineless pussies for the last few years.
I'm not sure what the Dems have to do with it. The other Republicans are the ones who have proven themselves spineless pussies.
I've been reading quite a lot of articles and opinion pieces lately that are saying the dems need to grow some balls and start standing up for what's right, instead of the "let's be civil" stuff. I agree with "let's be civil", I think even yesterday I said something similar on here, but it's clearly not working. The low road is the one that keeps winning.
how do you combat that without fighting the same way? it failed in 2016, and it continues to fail in 2018.
Everything they've done has been reactionary. and when all you do is react, your opponent remains ahead.
do I agree with Maxine waters? No. even though she has now said she was not encouraging violence, the message remains. You put something like that out there, and people will respond in ways you didn't anticipate.
But maybe she's onto something.
Civil? Read a few of the comments on here and it's not very civil...
Anitfa, heard of them?
You did mention Mrs Waters and I'm sure there is more to follow.
This calling every republican a racist thing will only make this country uglier. It's sad and people will defend in doing so.
I know you didn't call them racists Hugh so don't focus on that.
Who called all republicans racist? More often I see the comment that they are okay with supporting trump, who is racist.
There was a good article in the NYT, I think, pointing out that “conservative” and “republican” are no longer equivalent. I would say that someone who still supports the current Republican Party and its policies is at the least comfortable supporting a racist agenda.
Spot on
0
Options
The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,392
Ugh. Really? I hate when people post nonsense like this.
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials. So, congrats to Trump for doing something literally any other republican would have done? Yay!
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials.
No kidding.
0
Options
The Juggler
Behind that bush over there. Posts: 47,392
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials.
Can our resident Trump interpreters (the ones who get all his 'jokes') explain what The Aura is? He mentioned it in his attack on Harley Davidson, who are struggling with his inept economics policies, and the capitalisation confuses me. Is it like 'The Secret'?
Yea, wrap your mind around that one. Team Trump Treason Willy billy imposed tariffs and the EU replies in kind. Harley Davidson reacts by moving some operations oversees to remain competitive. Team Trump Treason threatens them with the biggest taxes they’ve ever seen and belittles them for being weak. It’s like Donny Jr. ate more than half of Eric’s ice cream because Team Trump Treason made them split a scoop when he’s got 60 gallons in the freezer and when Eric complained, Team Trump Treason whooped his ass for defying his logic. What a fucking nightmare. Harley riders should parade to DC and surround the White House and rev their engines 24/7 for a few weeks. Do the same at Team Trump Treasons hotels. This guy really needs a smack in the mouth. Hello, Pompeo? Not that I advocate that but I think it may very well be the only thing that will register with him and get his attention.
Please stop saying "Team Trump Treason." You sound like Trump himself when refers to Hillary as "Crooked Hillary" or Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
No, no I won’t. Not until Team Trump Treason is impeached, voted out of office or resigns. He’s not fit to serve in the office of the presidency. In fact, he’s not fit to serve anyone at a Taco Bell. Buh, buh, buh Hillary!
I'm beginning to believe he will never be impeached (and he will never resign). the democrats have proven themselves to be spineless pussies for the last few years.
I'm not sure what the Dems have to do with it. The other Republicans are the ones who have proven themselves spineless pussies.
I've been reading quite a lot of articles and opinion pieces lately that are saying the dems need to grow some balls and start standing up for what's right, instead of the "let's be civil" stuff. I agree with "let's be civil", I think even yesterday I said something similar on here, but it's clearly not working. The low road is the one that keeps winning.
how do you combat that without fighting the same way? it failed in 2016, and it continues to fail in 2018.
Everything they've done has been reactionary. and when all you do is react, your opponent remains ahead.
do I agree with Maxine waters? No. even though she has now said she was not encouraging violence, the message remains. You put something like that out there, and people will respond in ways you didn't anticipate.
But maybe she's onto something.
Civil? Read a few of the comments on here and it's not very civil...
Anitfa, heard of them?
You did mention Mrs Waters and I'm sure there is more to follow.
This calling every republican a racist thing will only make this country uglier. It's sad and people will defend in doing so.
I know you didn't call them racists Hugh so don't focus on that.
Who called all republicans racist? More often I see the comment that they are okay with supporting trump, who is racist.
There was a good article in the NYT, I think, pointing out that “conservative” and “republican” are no longer equivalent. I would say that someone who still supports the current Republican Party and its policies is at the least comfortable supporting a racist agenda.
Silly
I didn't read the article, but it seems obvious that Trump's politics are not conservative. Do you really not see the litany of non-conservative policies he is trying here (blown budget, trade wars, tariffs, picking winners and losers in the market place (see Amazon), etc.).
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials.
No kidding.
So what's the point of your post?
If you're a conservative, which I am, and believe in conservative principles, which I do, then these decisions that have rolled out over the last few days are meaningful to you. They are far more important and long lasting then anything Trump himself can actually do. It explains why a conservative can support Trump even if he can be a jackass as "jackassery" in time will evaporate while these decisions will probably last a lifetime. The dwindling number of #NeverTrump conservatives would have preferred the average GOP voter to throw away their vote against their long term interests. But more to the point... I happen to think Trump is accomplishing a lot but there was a time only a few short months ago where many were saying "But Gorsuch..." as a punch line. What I am saying is that even if it was the only thing Trump accomplished just by the fact that he was elected (and there is no guarantee another republican candidate would have won the blue states Trump won) then it would have been more then plenty. People who hate these 5-4 decisions are probably not laughing now.
This sums up Trump supporters quite nicely. Regarding Space Force: “It doesn’t make a lot of sense and would be wasting a lot of dollars,” he said. “But at the same time, it’s going to be cool.”
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials.
No kidding.
So what's the point of your post?
If you're a conservative, which I am, and believe in conservative principles, which I do, then these decisions that have rolled out over the last few days are meaningful to you. They are far more important and long lasting then anything Trump himself can actually do. It explains why a conservative can support Trump even if he can be a jackass as "jackassery" in time will evaporate while these decisions will probably last a lifetime. The dwindling number of #NeverTrump conservatives would have preferred the average GOP voter to throw away their vote against their long term interests. But more to the point... I happen to think Trump is accomplishing a lot but there was a time only a few short months ago where many were saying "But Gorsuch..." as a punch line. What I am saying is that even if it was the only thing Trump accomplished just by the fact that he was elected (and there is no guarantee another republican candidate would have won the blue states Trump won) then it would have been more then plenty. People who hate these 5-4 decisions are probably not laughing now.
What's conservative about separating families from the border or banning muslims from entering our country, or forcing American companies like Harley Davidson to produce their product overseas as a result of Trump's dumb trade war, or adding billions (trillions?) to the deficit? I think I am missing something here.
There is nothing conservative about Donald Trump. Nothing. The man is a carnival barking fraud conservative who just placates to gun lovers, despite not being a gun enthusiast; and Christians, despite never going to church and never displaying any of their supposed values.
Can our resident Trump interpreters (the ones who get all his 'jokes') explain what The Aura is? He mentioned it in his attack on Harley Davidson, who are struggling with his inept economics policies, and the capitalisation confuses me. Is it like 'The Secret'?
Yea, wrap your mind around that one. Team Trump Treason Willy billy imposed tariffs and the EU replies in kind. Harley Davidson reacts by moving some operations oversees to remain competitive. Team Trump Treason threatens them with the biggest taxes they’ve ever seen and belittles them for being weak. It’s like Donny Jr. ate more than half of Eric’s ice cream because Team Trump Treason made them split a scoop when he’s got 60 gallons in the freezer and when Eric complained, Team Trump Treason whooped his ass for defying his logic. What a fucking nightmare. Harley riders should parade to DC and surround the White House and rev their engines 24/7 for a few weeks. Do the same at Team Trump Treasons hotels. This guy really needs a smack in the mouth. Hello, Pompeo? Not that I advocate that but I think it may very well be the only thing that will register with him and get his attention.
Please stop saying "Team Trump Treason." You sound like Trump himself when refers to Hillary as "Crooked Hillary" or Cruz as "Lyin' Ted."
No, no I won’t. Not until Team Trump Treason is impeached, voted out of office or resigns. He’s not fit to serve in the office of the presidency. In fact, he’s not fit to serve anyone at a Taco Bell. Buh, buh, buh Hillary!
I'm beginning to believe he will never be impeached (and he will never resign). the democrats have proven themselves to be spineless pussies for the last few years.
I'm not sure what the Dems have to do with it. The other Republicans are the ones who have proven themselves spineless pussies.
I've been reading quite a lot of articles and opinion pieces lately that are saying the dems need to grow some balls and start standing up for what's right, instead of the "let's be civil" stuff. I agree with "let's be civil", I think even yesterday I said something similar on here, but it's clearly not working. The low road is the one that keeps winning.
how do you combat that without fighting the same way? it failed in 2016, and it continues to fail in 2018.
Everything they've done has been reactionary. and when all you do is react, your opponent remains ahead.
do I agree with Maxine waters? No. even though she has now said she was not encouraging violence, the message remains. You put something like that out there, and people will respond in ways you didn't anticipate.
But maybe she's onto something.
Civil? Read a few of the comments on here and it's not very civil...
Anitfa, heard of them?
You did mention Mrs Waters and I'm sure there is more to follow.
This calling every republican a racist thing will only make this country uglier. It's sad and people will defend in doing so.
I know you didn't call them racists Hugh so don't focus on that.
Who called all republicans racist? More often I see the comment that they are okay with supporting trump, who is racist.
There was a good article in the NYT, I think, pointing out that “conservative” and “republican” are no longer equivalent. I would say that someone who still supports the current Republican Party and its policies is at the least comfortable supporting a racist agenda.
Silly
I didn't read the article, but it seems obvious that Trump's politics are not conservative. Do you really not see the litany of non-conservative policies he is trying here (blown budget, trade wars, tariffs, picking winners and losers in the market place (see Amazon), etc.).
I agree with you. Trump is non-ideological in the sense he just wants "wins". For him it isn't about being conservative in any way unless being conservative can give him a "win" in another arena. I would bet that when it comes to appointing a conservative judge he does so not because he actually cares but because he thinks it will give him a "win" with the electorate. With respect to trade I believe he is a free-trader at heart but he recognizes that the world isn't really participating in a free and fair trade system so he is willing to take completely non-conservative position in order to generate a future economic "win" overall. In his mind he believes the US can withstand the negative aspects of a trade war and eventually "win" through future negotiated settlement. It's controversial but it is definitely a strategy. The debt is the biggest thing for sure but at the end of the day your country, my country, every country is screwed on debt unless they are willing to take on entitlement spending. It is "conservative" to want to cut this spending but I am not sure at the end of the day even Trump has the balls to tackle it. Which is why I am globally pessimistic...I don't think anybody has the balls.
Lastly on "Trump's politics are not conservative" it amazes me that the democrats do not take advantage of this. There is no doubt in my mind that other then judges (which he has to appoint) he is by far the most liberal president the democrats will ever see. They have a massive opportunity to cut a deal with him on some liberal terms if only they chose not to "resist". He has the capacity like no other to turn to his GOP base and get them to pipe down. It seems to me that much could be solved if they threw their hatred down.
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials.
No kidding.
So what's the point of your post?
If you're a conservative, which I am, and believe in conservative principles, which I do, then these decisions that have rolled out over the last few days are meaningful to you. They are far more important and long lasting then anything Trump himself can actually do. It explains why a conservative can support Trump even if he can be a jackass as "jackassery" in time will evaporate while these decisions will probably last a lifetime. The dwindling number of #NeverTrump conservatives would have preferred the average GOP voter to throw away their vote against their long term interests. But more to the point... I happen to think Trump is accomplishing a lot but there was a time only a few short months ago where many were saying "But Gorsuch..." as a punch line. What I am saying is that even if it was the only thing Trump accomplished just by the fact that he was elected (and there is no guarantee another republican candidate would have won the blue states Trump won) then it would have been more then plenty. People who hate these 5-4 decisions are probably not laughing now.
What's conservative about separating families from the border or banning muslims from entering our country, or forcing American companies like Harley Davidson to produce their product overseas as a result of Trump's dumb trade war, or adding billions (trillions?) to the deficit? I think I am missing something here.
There is nothing conservative about Donald Trump. Nothing. The man is a carnival barking fraud conservative who just placates to gun lovers, despite not being a gun enthusiast; and Christians, despite never going to church and never displaying any of their supposed values.
Perhaps you're excited about Space Force!
he panders. I can understand how the mouth breathers at his rallies go for it. I will never understand how someone with an above 50 IQ could go for it.
Comments
We Have a Crisis of Democracy, Not Manners
Last year, the white nationalist Richard Spencer was kicked out of his Virginia gym after another member confronted him and called him a Nazi. This incident did not generate a national round of hand-wringing about the death of tolerance, perhaps because most people tacitly agree that it’s O.K. to shun professional racists.
It’s a little more complicated when the professional racist is the president of the United States. The norms of our political life require a degree of bipartisan forbearance. But treating members of Donald Trump’s administration as ordinary public officials rather than pariahs does more to normalize bigotry than exercising alongside a white separatist.
Over the last week, several Trump administration officials and supporters have been publicly shamed. On Friday night, the Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked to leave a farm-to-table restaurant in Lexington, Va. That morning, protesters blasted a recording of sobbing migrant kids outside the home of Kirstjen Nielsen, Trump’s secretary of homeland security.
A few days before that, Nielsen left an upscale Mexican restaurant near the White House after protesters confronted her, chanting, “If kids don’t eat in peace, you don’t eat in peace!” The Trump adviser Stephen Miller was also yelled at in a Mexican restaurant — someone called him a fascist, though he may not regard that as an insult. The same night that Sanders was denied service, Pam Bondi, Florida’s Trump-supporting attorney general, was heckled outside a movie theater where she’d gone to see a documentary about Mister Rogers. Adding to the furor, Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, urged people to keep jeering at members of Trump’s cabinet when they’re out and about, saying, “You tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”
Naturally, all this has led to lots of pained disapproval from self-appointed guardians of civility. A Washington Post editorial urged the protesters to think about the precedent they are setting. “How hard is it to imagine, for example, people who strongly believe that abortion is murder deciding that judges or other officials who protect abortion rights should not be able to live peaceably with their families?” it asked.
Of course, this is not hard to imagine at all, since abortion opponents have assassinated abortion providers in their homes and churches, firebombed their clinics and protested at their children’s schools. The Roman Catholic Church has shamed politicians who support abortion rights by denying them communion. The failure to acknowledge this history is a sign of the reflexive false balance that makes it hard for the mainstream media to grapple with the asymmetric extremism of the Republican Party.
I’m somewhat agnostic on the question of whether publicly rebuking Trump collaborators is tactically smart. It stokes their own sense of victimization, which they feed on. It may alienate some persuadable voters, though this is just a guess. (As we saw in the indignant media reaction to Michelle Wolf’s White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner routine, some pundits project their own concern with Beltway decorum onto swing voters, who generally pay less attention to the newsthan partisans.)
On the other hand, there’s a moral and psychic cost to participating in the fiction that people who work for Trump are in any sense public servants. I don’t blame staff members at the Virginia restaurant, the Red Hen, for not wanting to help Sanders unwind after a hard week of lying to the public about mass child abuse. Particularly when Sanders’s own administration is fighting to let private businesses discriminate against gay people, who, unlike mendacious press secretaries, are a protected class under many civil rights laws.
Whether or not you think public shaming should be happening, it’s important to understand why it’s happening. It’s less a result of a breakdown in civility than a breakdown of democracy. Though it’s tiresome to repeat it, Donald Trump eked out his minority victory with help from a hostile foreign power. He has ruled exclusively for his vengeful supporters, who love the way he terrifies, outrages and humiliates their fellow citizens. Trump installed the right-wing Neil Gorsuch in the Supreme Court seat that Republicans stole from Barack Obama. Gorsuch, in turn, has been the fifth vote in decisions on voter roll purges and, on Monday, racial gerrymandering that will further entrench minority rule.
All over the country, Republican members of Congress have consistently refused to so much as meet with many of the scared, furious citizens they ostensibly represent. A great many of these citizens are working tirelessly to take at least one house of Congress in the midterms — which will require substantially more than 50 percent of total votes, given structural Republican advantages — so that the country’s anti-Trump majority will have some voice in the federal government.
But unless and until that happens, millions and millions of Americans watch helplessly as the president cages children, dehumanizes immigrants, spurns other democracies, guts health care protections, uses his office to enrich himself and turns public life into a deranged phantasmagoria with his incontinent flood of lies. The civility police might point out that many conservatives hated Obama just as much, but that only demonstrates the limits of content-neutral analysis. The right’s revulsion against a black president targeted by birther conspiracy theories is not the same as the left’s revulsion against a racist president who spread birther conspiracy theories.
Faced with the unceasing cruelty and degradation of the Trump presidency, liberals have not taken to marching around in public with assault weapons and threatening civil war. I know of no left-wing publication that has followed the example of the right-wing Federalist and run quasi-pornographic fantasies about murdering political enemies. (“Close your eyes and imagine holding someone’s scalp in your hands,” began a recent Federalist article.) Unlike Trump, no Democratic politician I’m aware of has urged his or her followers to beat up opposing demonstrators.
Instead, some progressive celebrities have said some bad words, and some people have treated administration officials with the sort of public opprobrium due members of any other white nationalist organization. Liberals are using their cultural power against the right because it’s the only power they have left, and people have a desperate need to say, and to hear others say, that what is happening in this country is intolerable.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/25/opinion/trump-sarah-huckabee-sanders-restaurant-civility.html
Pass some marshmallows
I would love for the above to happen. I'm not sure that liberals own assault weapons though?
https://www.thedailybeast.com/daily-show-exposes-how-trump-fans-have-no-idea-what-space-force-is?via=FB_Page&source=TDB
Spot on
Ugh. Really? I hate when people post nonsense like this.
Mitch McConnell and his hijacking of the supreme court for 11 months is responsible for Gorsuch, not the president. Any republican would've nominated someone with his credentials. So, congrats to Trump for doing something literally any other republican would have done? Yay!
So what's the point of your post?
Which is rooted in a rhetoric of fear, hate, ignorance, jealousy, and lies.
What's conservative about separating families from the border or banning muslims from entering our country, or forcing American companies like Harley Davidson to produce their product overseas as a result of Trump's dumb trade war, or adding billions (trillions?) to the deficit? I think I am missing something here.
There is nothing conservative about Donald Trump. Nothing. The man is a carnival barking fraud conservative who just placates to gun lovers, despite not being a gun enthusiast; and Christians, despite never going to church and never displaying any of their supposed values.
Perhaps you're excited about Space Force!
Lastly on "Trump's politics are not conservative" it amazes me that the democrats do not take advantage of this. There is no doubt in my mind that other then judges (which he has to appoint) he is by far the most liberal president the democrats will ever see. They have a massive opportunity to cut a deal with him on some liberal terms if only they chose not to "resist". He has the capacity like no other to turn to his GOP base and get them to pipe down. It seems to me that much could be solved if they threw their hatred down.