The Trump Presidency, Season 2

[Beebo Brink]

Head, meet desk: here's the real reason Americans vote for Trump - Raw Story

Since bursting on the scene like a racist hand grenade in 2015, Trump has proven beyond all doubt he understands the American electorate better than anybody. The man is so sure of himself that he went right out there and said he could shoot one of his supporters in the middle of the street and not lose their vote.

Now, there’s confidence, folks.

When you reckon with the fact that most Americans are morons as Trump has, and start expecting less instead of more, the way forward will seem less daunting.

I am the guy who wrote the book on this stuff back when I thought it was all just some terrible anomaly and America would get back on track in 2020 after four years of word salads, and 250,000 needless deaths.

I simply underestimated how big our moron problem in America was at the time.

It’s staggering, it really is.

Now, seven years later, Trump’s complete idiocy and lack of command about anything resembling policy have been completely normalized, and I have grudgingly come to understand most average Americans are just fine with it.

 

[Beebo Brink]

Okay, then....

Smithsonian removes Trump from impeachment exhibit in American History Museum
The Smithsonian said it restored the display to an earlier version, which notes that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal.”

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in July removed references to President Donald Trump’s two impeachments from an exhibit display. A person familiar with the exhibit plans, who was not authorized to discuss them publicly, said the change came about as part of a content review that the Smithsonian agreed to undertake following pressure from the White House to remove an art museum director.

A temporary label including content about Trump’s impeachments had been on display since September 2021 at the Washington museum, a Smithsonian spokesperson told The Washington Post, adding that it was intended to be a short-term addition to address current events. Now, the exhibit notes that “only three presidents have seriously faced removal.”

 

[Cristiano]

This is NSFW but perfect

Spoiler

 

[Flower]

New slogan for the current administration - "Making Pedophilia Great Again"

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

Trump doing dumb things again, taking "ignorance is bliss" from Orwell to the letter.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Trump doing dumb things again, taking "ignorance is bliss" from Orwell to the letter.

I think the Party slogan (or one of them) in 1984 is "Ignorance is strength," not bliss. "Bliss" sounds a bit too much like crimethink.

 

[Free]

"Bliss" sounds a bit too much like crimethink.

Or a drug.

 

[Casey Pelous]

Trump doing dumb things again, taking "ignorance is bliss" from Orwell to the letter.

 

[Free]

That's the show where the Good Place turned out to be the Bad Place.

Yuuuuuu-uuuup.

 

[Free]

Trump removes official overseeing jobs data after dismal employment report

President Donald Trump on Friday had his team remove the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures, after a weak report showed hiring slowed and was much weaker in April and May than previously reported.

apnews.com

President Donald Trump on Friday removed the head of the agency that produces the monthly jobs figures after a report showed hiring slowed in July and was much weaker in May and June than previously reported.

Trump, in a post on his social media platform, alleged that the figures were manipulated for political reasons and said that Erika McEntarfer, the director of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, should be fired. He provided no evidence for the charge.

Maybe if Trump didn't keep firing people, the jobs numbers wouldn't be so abysmal.

 

[Free]

And Trump the Builder wants to turn the East Wing of the White House into a 200 million dollar, 90,000 square foot, Ballroom.

The White House Announces White House Ballroom Construction to Begin

Washington, D.C. — For 150 years, Presidents, Administrations, and White House Staff have longed for a large event space on the White House complex that

www.whitehouse.gov

 

[Innula Zenovka]

The inside story of the Murdoch editor taking on Donald Trump

Lengthy profile of the (British) editor of the Wall Street Journal, Emma Tucker, who infuriated Trump by publishing the story about the birthday letter to Epstein. I hadn't realised that she had previously, while editing Murdoch's pro-Conservative Sunday Times (the British newspaper, not the NYT), had turned the paper into one of Boris Johnson's fiercest critics over his handling of the Covid pandemic.

 

[Govi]

Head, meet desk: here's the real reason Americans vote for Trump - Raw Story

This triggered me to search for H.L.Mencken's famous quote, which I remembered as "No one ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American public" but which turns out actually to be in the same spirit but somewhat longer:

“No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”​

​

Mencken's truth turns out to be horribly resistant to time.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

This triggered me to search for H.L.Mencken's famous quote, which I remembered as "No one ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American public" but which turns out actually to be in the same spirit but somewhat longer:

“No one in this world, so far as I know—and I have searched the records for years, and employed agents to help me—has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great masses of the plain people.”​

​

Mencken's truth turns out to be horribly resistant to time.

YEP. Republicans have benefited from some of the most obvious lies they could come up with. "Herp derp, the immigrants are eating your dogs and cats!"

 

[Essence Lumin]

YEP. Republicans have benefited from some of the most obvious lies they could come up with. "Herp derp, the immigrants are eating your dogs and cats!"

Yes though only 100 democrats from the US house and senate have decided to be part of the democrat progressive caucus. We're fucked.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Yes though only 100 democrats from the US house and senate have decided to be part of the democrat progressive caucus. We're fucked.

Not sure those are comparable things. I agree many democrats aren't that progressive, but they mostly don't tell such obvious lies as the GOP.

 

[Essence Lumin]

Not sure those are comparable things. I agree many democrats aren't that progressive, but they mostly don't tell such obvious lies as the GOP.

What's the difference? If nobody's going to try and make a real difference we are all done for, lieing or not.

 

[Free]

As Kevin M. Kruse notes: Finally, a nation united.

(Gotta love the idea anyone believes there's any divide left between Republicans and MAGA Republicans.)

 

[Free]

Republicans Subpoena Everyone and Anyone Over Epstein—Except Trump (archive.today)

The House Oversight Committee has subpoenaed Bill and Hillary Clinton, along with a string of other high-profile individuals, for information related to sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, with one notable exception: Donald Trump.

As the saga over the Epstein files continues, the Republican-led committee on Tuesday demanded testimony from a range of Democrats and Republicans, including the Clintons, former FBI Director James Comey, and former Attorneys General Merrick Garland, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch and Alberto Gonzales.

Just keep keeping it at the top of the news headlines, MAGA leaders.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

US destruction of contraceptives denies 1.4m African women and girls lifesaving care, NGO says

A decision by the US government to incinerate more than $9.7m (£7.3m) of contraceptives is projected to result in 174,000 unintended pregnancies and 56,000 unsafe abortions in five African countries.

Last month, a US state department spokesperson confirmed that the decision to destroy the contraceptives had been made. Amid reports that the contraceptives were due to be incinerated in France, the French government said it was “following the situation closely” after feminist, rights and family planning groups expressed outrage at the proposal.

The department decided to destroy the contraceptives because it could not sell them to any “eligible buyers”, in part because of US laws and rules that prohibit sending US aid to organisations that provide abortion services, counsel people about the procedure or advocate for the right to it overseas, according to the state department spokesperson.