Donald Trump could have just stayed on TV as America’s nominally favorite nominally wealthy guy. It wasnt meant to be though. From the moment he won the election he’s taunted Congress and much of the American Public with non stop crass statements and ham-handed lawbreaking . Now what many called Inevitable has happened.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi was resolute about not impeaching Trump as recently as October. Then Trump’s attempt to cheat and gain politically in the next election by shaking down the Ukrainians came to light and everything changed.
The Democrats, for their part, were outright scared the president was trying to fix the next election and essentially become a Dictator. Nothing the president did made this seem any less likely. Blundering dismissive statements by the likes of Mick Mulvaney, Gordon Sondland and others amounted to admissions. In Sondlands case, he was seemingly looking to step back from the concussive wave of criminal charges.
Three Most Likely Next Steps
So here we are. The future seems to have three possible paths.
First, Pelosi can give Trump his wish and send the Articles of Impeachment to the Senate for a Reverse Drum-head Show Trial where he’s pre-certified Innocent along partisan lines. For a president who is only able to live in the moment immediate exoneration is a physical need. We all know it’s his preferred scenario.
The second option is Pelosi can take the legal route and return to letting the courts slowly but inevitably continue to rule unfavorably for the White House on who can and can not exercise Executive Privilege. This was taking forever, but mostly was wins for the Dems. It would probably drive Trump completely crazy. We all know he can’t hold his fire long or wait out a bad situation.
Then there’s Scenario Three; Negotiate a Better Trial in Senate
Pelosi could just hold onto the approved Articles of Impeachment and tighten up the case and negotiate for a better set of rules for the Senate trial. She has that right and wields the Speakers power well most times. This has the advantage of making Trump into his own worst enemy because the lack of a celebration of innocence and declaring Trump the victim in the Senate will drive the bloated Chief Executive absolutely crazy! We all know when Trump’s end comes his own actions will figure in greatly. Why not give him the chance to run his mouth? His clown Giuliani will chime right in.
When the two of them get going at the same time watch out!
Prediction – Pain
I think we’ll see a combination of scenario 2 and scenario 3. Pelosi will not immediately forward the Articles to the Senate. She’s going to hold off for a chance to have a say in how the Senate handles it and pick the best Impeachment Managers she can find.
While shes not doing that; there’s nothing stopping the Democrats from simply proceeding in court, where things haven’t gone all that bad.
Off the Rails at a Rally
The combination of No Exoneration and continuing legal setbacks could start a meltdown so profound Trump destroys himself. The same night he was Impeached Trump tried to appear unaffected and breezy, but as usual he couldn’t hold it together at all and resorted to a favorite tactic- attacking a deceased opponent.
In this case, he trashed the late Rep John Dingell (and his widow), of Michigan right on his home turf. For the first time ever there was a sort of mixed reaction when, at his hate rally, he went after Dingell’s wife and implied Dingell was in Hell. Once again another grieving family was fair game for the president, who just isn’t that stable and seems perpetually enraged. His only moments of happiness seem linked to low road behavior, like trashing dead people or War Heroes.
He could lose some more people and start to spin towards George W Bush approval ratings or worse. While the most deplorable 30% of Americans will run off a cliff with Trump no matter what, numbers matter. It’s going to be the other 70% who will get their way.
So while the Dem’s let Trump steep in his own juices for a bit, the very real possibility is he loses his mind and scares enough people to get Removed. The House could show some initiative by shuttle passing the Articles of Impeachment after a series of fresh bad revelations. Like some of his taxes getting out there or a new sexual attack accuser. This always triggers the president into a shameful meltdown across all media.
We all knew that eventually proximity to Trump was going to cause Good Ol’ Gal Sarah Huckabee Sanders some problems. While I speculate one day the criminality she’s been part of will come back to haunt her I didn’t think she’d figure deeply into the Mueller Report, and she didn’t.
None the less, her talking out of both sides of her mouth was one of the first stories to ruminate through the headlines when the report, or what we’ve been allowed to see of it, dropped. Seems Sarah’s Christian values don’t include even the slightest guilt about lying unless there’s jail time involved.
And her lies werent to mitigate Trump’s insanity, she was burnishing it.
The Mueller Report showed her to be an Enabler rather than any of the authors of the Anonymous New York Times “White House Resistor” article, where the idea was to stick around at the expense to your own dignity just to keep Trump from blowing up the world.
When James Comey was fired for not dropping the Flynn Investigation Sarah had a series of May 2017 pressers (remember when we had pressers?) where she simply lied to the American People. Her repeated lie, which she’s since told some more lies about, was that her phone was ringing off the hook with grateful FBI Agents thanking her for Trump’s firing of Comey. I’m not sure why they thought she would want to hear it. I guess she took the (fictional) calls in between high 5-ing all the other FBI Agents she claimed stopped her to tell her how glad they were their boss had been fired amid a torrent of abusive comments about the Bureau itself.
When in front of Mueller Sarah actually told the truth. These were pure lies made up from whole cloth. Obviously she was parroting her boss.
Cries she be fired are now pretty universal. The Fox White House guy may even be on board with that one, he has to listen to the lies too, right? But this is how Trump likes it.
By the third week of April we’ve had 4 Pressers all year, in no regular order. This begs the question – what exactly does Sarah do these days?
In a spectacular display of gaslighting Trump’s just spent about 5 minutes insisting a drug dealer kills at least 5000 people in their lives and must be killed themselves.
In fact it was so crazy I started typing this immediately. We’re seeing a new low in style and delivery from trump. It’s all stuff we’ve seen before but perhaps more vitriolic than ever, unbelievably.
The speech was a disjointed mess as usual. I’ll try to keep like ideas together. Of course his delivery meandered as always. It seemed off the cuff as usual too. The idea Trump freestyling without a qualified staff was on full display.
The drug dealer comments came after a long screed about the Wall that’s never getting built and impromptu imitations of other world leaders. He pulled out his applause line about the fantasy Mexico will pay fo the Wall for a couple of preposterous stories.
Trump also found time to make some pejorative racial cracks about Elizabeth Warren before lacing into repeated long stories about ICE and MS-13. It was pretty hard to figure out if the crowd was chanting ‘Build that Wall” or “Kill Them All”. I guess he’s lucky theres so few Native Americans in general, but its safe to say “racist against Native Americans” describes his comments best.
Later Trump helicoptered back to MS-13 yet again and compared the ICE raids on Long Island to the liberation of a city during war-time, a total misrepresentation. Then he scapegoated immigrants again as he called for penalties for sanctuary cities. Then on to chain migration and that Visa Lottery he hates for no apparent reason.
Then he praised the ICE agents as mean brutes, which is the way Trump wants all law enforcement to act (except Mueller, of course). All remarks on criminal justice revolved around the death penalty and 19th Century Opium War analogies which also were about the death penalty. He held up Singapore and China as paragons of justice.
As usual his overall tone could be called “Un-American”.
He didn’t seem scripted at all tonight. Maybe all the staff defections prevented anyone from putting together any kind of speech. It was just boasting and vitriol.
It was disturbing to have him use imprisonment, the death penalty and nuclear war as punch lines. Whatever.
The unbroken boiler plate technique of never reaching out to the other side endured. In a particularly unhinged moment he bought up Rep Maxine Waters just to bash her intelligence. He also found time to talk about some sort of Secret Weakness of Oprah’s as he wished she’d run for president. Personally if another TV personality gets close to being the president its off to Canada for me. The point is Trump bashed 2 black women just for the fuck of it. Pretty despicable.
And for the first time Ronald Reagan started to take a beating. Trump portrayed himself as not the Snake Oil Salesman he is; but a better version of Old Dutch and then mentioned some out of context, sketchy or hard to believe stuff he claimed he did better than Reagan.
Then he called himself the most successful first term president in all American History. So Lincoln? Washington? all just a warmup for Trump? The idiots in the crowd bought it.
Political violence doesn’t seem like its far off when you see the way Trump irresponsibly manipulates the fools who cling to him still. I guess its tempting to live in a World where everyone but you and Trump are wrong.
And he found time to congratulate himself for solving unemployment for African Americans.
On to an attack on the Democrats. Is there any doubt he’ll launch a criminal probe of any opponent in the next General Election?
Hillary got bashed, Obama got bashed. Even George W Bush got trashed. The crowd loved it. Lets face it these people were members of Cult 45.
Frightening repeated calls for Isolationism concerning his Wall and some denigrating comments he half bought back about the president of Mexico were in there.
For awhile he was boasting about his tax plan. The he was using a theoretical nuclear attack on the Olympics as a laugh line. Then he took all the credit for the success of the Olympics themselves.
75 minutes in he’s again boasting of the size of the crowd he drew and criticizing how the media covers it, trying to floor direct the news coverage through sheer bullying.
Like Dana Loesch at CPAC and every other republican for the last 18 months he extolled the crowd by denigrating the media. Lots of Stalin Era terms like Fake News were used by the president in his fuhrer furor.
Over and over he stated that since he’s good news copy he’s a good president. This is about the stupidest justification for presidency ever including the platforms of everyone who ever lost including Eugene V Debs.
He bashed the press over and over. Tonight for whatever reason it was Chuck Todd who was he subject of the not so funny insult “Sleepy Eyes”. The guy has red hair, couldn’t Trump have done better? Whatever. This week he says he hates MSNBC more than CNN and especially hates Meet The Press. It was petty and small.
On to bashing Peggy Noonan and The “Failing New York Times. He claims he likes Noonan, he just hates that she dares to criticize him. I guess somehow that relates to the Reagan-bashing? She did work for him.
He then imitated himself as ‘a real politician.’ It was better than his serious comments to be honest. About 2 minutes of pantomiming here. Circus skills were on display from the president as he’s basically a clown anyway.
Throwing people in jail, arresting people and killing drug dealers come up over and over. It’s pretty damn scary thinking this is what’s floating around his mind all day.
Of course no mention of the chaos or Stormy Daniels as the most secretive least transparent president ever just basically kept puffin’ away with not so coded racism and one whack idea after another.
And he spent a lot of time interrupting himself as one thought pushed out another. Its hard not to notice the heavy no necked guy behind Trump on my TV’s left who looks seriously inbred next to the lone minorities, 2 people holding up shirts referring to China (Jared’s fans?) at the rally.
As always, the whole speech was disparate and weird. Using violent analogies as a crutch he wheeled from one idea to another.
We could tell two things-
-Donald Trump loves the Death Penalty
– Donald Trump is winging it all the time now and needs the crowds approval. As they go he goes, he stands for nothing.
Then of course it was back to election night and recounting his “Historic’ Russian influenced fluke victory.
Now as Trump moves you can see there is in fact one black person there. I guess good for her?
The whole story of election night has become like Hitler talking about World War 1, but with Bones Spurs.
And then an attack on CNN and more puffery about election night. The margin of victory was either razor slim or Historic from moment to moment.
He did whine about the idea he would be Impeached. Wonder why he thinks that? The he misrepresented his education again and claimed he went to Wharton. He went to the Wharton Campus and took Real Estate Programs (that didn’t last at the school). Maybe he took a management class that some actual Wharton students took. I’m sure the school is proud a man who went bankrupt 3 times attributes his success to them. I don’t think they’re ever going to be a “Trump Hall” at the school, unless its Sexual Assault Trauma Counseling Center.
Trump looking bored and out of it moments after he got done puffing. Saccone looks plain nuts.
And we all had to hear the Keep America Great slogan he’s already unveiled for 2020 re-election effort, which started November 9th 2016.
Then Militarism was up for a few boasts and lies where he talked about an incredible American weakness Kim Jong-Un must have loved hearing about. Someone needs to explain to him that they navy is smaller than world war two becuae 1- its more effective and 2- one third of the ships are no longer carrying coal behind the actual combat ships. His military misconceptions were stark and frightening.
And of course Trump thinks everyones all wrong to about how he’s pointlessly cozying up to horrible Dictator Kim Jong-Un. Kindred spirits maybe? Anyway turns out he’s sure that the North Koreans will love everything he says and do whatever he wants. He then derided the media for questioning why he would do something so extreme without getting a thing in return. He seemed so frustrated on this point that theres probably no way he reconsiders this unbelievably stupid move.
Finally, having spewed hate apparently off the top of his head for nearly 90 minutes, Trump finally started to introduce the keynote speaker, GOP Hater Rick Saccone, a man who sounded like he had just swallowed broken glass. And then mercifully the coverage ended.
Seriously this was pure Nazi brainwashing. Gaslighting, lies, exaggerations, some pure bullshitting about his popularity being at an all time high when its stagnant below 40 since weeks into his presidency.
It was a deep dive into a non reality in the guise of a campaign rally. In fact he barely mentioned the candidate at all. He seems to have moved on from dramatic tales of teachers needing guns and hypothetical tales of personal bravery that was part of his whole mishandling of America’s Gun Massacre Problem last week. Back to xenophobia and Them-ism with a vengeance.
As the misappropriated legally forbidden Rolling Stones song he wont stop playing sadly played to the collected losers and racists who showed up on a cold winter night to watch a madman it was about as disturbing as could be. Every box checked off on the “Tin Pot Dictator Fascinated with Hitler” checklist.
Like all Trump speeches it was based largely on the first 5 minutes of 1970’s “Patton” docu-drama about the hard charging World War Two general. He deeply misunderstands this movie, but his political style is pretty much wholly based on it.
In this terrible speech Trump hit on most of the themes assocuated with the start of Word War One and Two and especially Weimar and early Nazi Germany.
There was militarism and a call to strengthen the military. There was the blaming of a small section of society for every manner of problems. There was the Gaslighting that Drug Dealing is equal to thousands of murders. I guess its im[ortant to note he made no distinction between marijuana, crack or heroin.
Grim, Dystopian, dark and racist are all words you could apply to this shaeful display of menta weakness by the president.
Trump’s speech would have worked fine for the Kaiser or Hitler himself honestly.
Like a Nazi speaker from the scrapheap of history there was blame heaped on political opponents. It was repeatedly implied the media should be harmed to help America out. There was an attack on our Allies as well as bellicose talk of the campaign against ISIS where the seemingly made up statistic of 98% of territory recovered from ‘the Caliphate’. Islamophobia and scorn towards immigrants were themes. Protectionism was in there when he touted the steel and aluminum tariffs that will be paid by American citizens in the end.
UPDATE- the presidents staff said there WAS a script for the rally, he simply didn’t use it. Hard to believe actually.
Its been awhile since I felt the urge to share my thoughts. In fact this is my first post of the Trump Era.
We have likely entered a time Historians will call the Second Cold War or Cold War 2. There’s little doubt that the worlds 2 biggest nuclear powers have never had a more strained relationship. Vladimir Putin, who has social engineered the Russian Federation to a standard of living where the average citizen has just over 400 bucks a month to play with, is surely laughing at the unmitigated success of ‘Operation Fuck Up America’. The fact is a corrupt strongman dictator presiding over economic collapse could be the most powerful man in the world is sobering. His objective being to line his pocket is the only thing mitigating the charge to Armageddon. Putin at least seems to realize for now that Mutually Assured Destruction is a Reality despite frightening words to the contrary starting to slowly leak in reports from both the Kremlin and the White House.
We have likely entered a time Historians will call the Second Cold War or Cold War 2. There’s little doubt that the worlds two biggest nuclear powers have never had a more strained relationship. Vladimir Putin, who has social engineered the Russian Federation to a standard of living where the average citizen has just over 400 bucks a month to play with, is surely laughing at the unmitigated success of ‘Operation Fuck Up America’.
Since the start of their Campaign for President Team Trump was never concerned about appearances, a fact that sometimes benefited and never hurt the Candidate. One allegation of Impropriety after another has come to light since Trump’s jaw dropping “10 for 10 in tossup states” election night Coup victory.
A stranger to Decency and the Truth So Called President Trump has done evrything he can to avoid being a president for all Americans to the point its no longer even important why he does
Look Out Below!
it. A low level of Courtesy toward friend and foe alike have Trump in a Historic Approval Ratings Downfall that only can be compared to the final fleeting weeks of the Watergate Scandal.
The only thing we know with absolute certainty is Vladimir Putin and his Kremlin Cronies have used money, hacks and media manipulation at the very least to influence the outcome of the election. Whether they pierced any state voting systems to engineer the mind blowing statistical anomaly that was the Trump Victory (which boils down to a just over half a sold out baseball stadium in most states he won worth of votes, a handful in this nation of millions) is still being investigated.
rather than try to keep score right now here’s a smattering of problems off the top of my head–
A Traitor and now possible Triple Agent, Ex-General Mike Flynn whose whole story is such a flaming bag of shit that the White House usually tries to punt all questions. Look for Flynn to testify FOR the Government AGAINST the President when the Impeachment or Worse goes down. (UPDATE- as of about 8 pm Eastern time CNN has begun reporting Flynn is actively SEEKING IMMUNITY
A farsical Press Secretary who is now a Human Cartoon
A White House so leaky talk of an unnoticed iceberg strike is now mandatory
2 travel bans shot down as petty and Unamerican
Healthcare slapdash con job implodes
Constant Blame shifting by the White House
A complete inability to let go of any perceived slight
Never missing a chance to speak harshly and stridently to women and minorities, especially those in the press
A Self Destructive Paranoia ending in baseless accusations that then president Obama was watching the Trump Campaign via arcane methods
Revelations that Trump family members and Campaign officials had fallen into the data collection we routinely do to our adversaries
That most of data was collected in a way so predictable the level of incompetent arrogant rank dishonesty is stunning. It only makes sense calling the Russian Embassy would raise eyebrows and leave audiofiles
Incomplete but dusturbing money trails that are now verified as close as a few (metaphoric) blocks from Trump Tower
Ivanka Gets Top Level Security Clearance like she’s the daughter of a Third World Dictator
Jared Kushner is now in charge of so many things he just has to fail at most. The tasks are not even realistic. Example- Peace In the Middle East on Americas Terms NOW.
The Term ‘Circular Firing Squad’ becoming commonplace in any discussion of current White House methods
Military Viewpoints that are increasingly called out as Dark Ages (or on a good day Medieval)
A complete tone-deaf reaction to every race or gender issue outside the persecution of the disenfranchised white man
A near Boiler Plate Pattern of Squandering away perceived success with increasingly discordant messages via twitter at crazy hours
Still more unrelated early early morning Tweet Storms as self-defeating as they are self-serving
Regular falsehoods dispensed from day 1 about the size of the crowd at Trumps (modestly attended) inauguration
Panic descending on the entire administration starting sundown on Saturday to see whose reputation Saturday Night Live will lay bare next. This is made all the more tragically funny by the immediate angry reactions from a president who faithfully watches a show he once hosted but always trashes as awful.
North Koreans on their own Schedule could care less how much Tillerson yells at them
Tillerson is apparently either so shady or such an asshole the press aren’t permitted to travel with him
Just because you CAN get away with getting elected president without releasing your taxes doesnt mean you should
A deep longing that this was only as bad as Hillary’s server plus Lewinsky Scandal on Crack by the president
An Intelligence Community here and among our allies that simply but justifiably despises Trump and his crew
What Hell Is Up With James Comey? Why didn’t he tell America BOTH Campaigns were under Investigation? Why did he only go after Hillary? Is he a Spy? Blackmailed? Just Dumb?
An FBI that may just be compromised, especially in New York area.
Not being able to return home to New York due to the absolute assurance of a major protest with a 6 figure crowd trapping him in Trump Tower followed by a dangerous and humiliating exit via rooftop helicopter
The increasing anger at a president who ran on his work ethic but has already established a pattern of taking 1 out of every 3 days off.
There’s more but the bottom line is I am LUCKY for a couple of reasons –
First of all at this point I’ve had a full life. Next is the fact that being 2 miles from the Freedom Tower puts me solidly inside the Zone of Complete Destruction from a Russian Nuclear attack. There’s no need to stock up food when you are sure to be ionized. Lastly- I have no children.
One thing is clear- without a change of leadership (or at the least serious reversal of philosphies) at the top of BOTH nations the situation will be near Untenable for the foreseeble future.
The United States and the Russian Federation are now facing each other in a Cold War Stance.
The worst aspects of this problem are that certain coincidences I believe Trump regards as similarities between himself and Patton as portrayed in the movie are now re-enforcing his delusional belief that he is very much like George Patton.
The biggest thing my hypothesis has going for it is if you momentarily embrace it, it explains pretty much everything and holds up to scrutiny from numerous angles. Of course its not perfect, but indulge me and then draw your own conclusion— BECAUSE COMMENTS ARE ENABLED!! Please weigh in if you feel so inclined!
The movie ‘Patton’ is a masterpiece of film making that starts with a very strong Francis Ford Coppola screenplay advised by none other than Patton contemporary and equal- General Omar Bradley himself. An inspired George C Scott gave a brilliant, authentic and career defining performance then blew off accepting his Best Actor Oscar to go to a hockey game, how cool is that? Throw in one of the best movie scores outside Star Wars to move it along from the great Jerry Goldsmith of Star Trek fame. The director was Franklin J Shaffner , fresh off “Planet of the Apes” success.
The fact is Film Appreciation 101 might save the planet were Trump forced to take the course. If he had he would have realized the Ironic Duality of the plot. Simply put the movie is all about introducing the open question of “Is Patton all that is Great and Gallant in the United States Military or is he all that is Wrong and Perverse about War and War Making?”
Why This Movie Is A Dangerous Influence on Trump
Trump’s fascination with Patton is a problem for a bunch of reasons. For one thing George Patton, despite his success, is a TERRIBLE role model for a politician or president. The real Patton was apparently non political, which makes sense. A wise choice since despite a rough charm he had no diplomatic skill or real personal charisma beyond the shock and awe of non stop profanity. While this is fine for a mid 20th century war time general, it’s just awful for a 21st century president!
The root of Trump’s many misconceptions seems to be that he is viewing the movie in a very simple manner. It seems likely Donald Trump never took a single film class. The fact is Film Appreciation 101 might save the planet were Trump forced to take the course. If he had he would have realized the Ironic Duality of the plot.
Simply put the movie is all about introducing the open question of “Is Patton all that is Great and Gallant in the Military? Or is he all that is Wrong and Perverse about War and War Making?” The movie seems to suggest he is both at the same time.
The movie analogizes very well to the 2016 Campaign, though spies play a more prominent role in the current situation, of course.
The characters line up as roughly this- Trump of course is Patton. Egotistical British General Montgomery , equally delusional and insane to only a slightly lesser degree, is ‘Crooked Hillary’. Patton’s very first aide in the movie who dies is BOTH original campaign managers AND Chris Christie (aside from the actual sorrow Patton felt,Trump we know is a stranger to empathy). Cod, his final aide is Kellyanne Conway and racist Steve Bannon. Omar Bradley and the US military are Paul Ryan and the Republicans. The German Military is the over-prepared Democratic Party, including their OP-O Researcher. Rommel is Bernie Sanders, the likely superior field commander made ineffective by a truly incompetent leader.
The movie opens with a ‘Patton Rally’. It’s a composite of Patton’s actual speeches delivered in front of a gigantic American Flag using George Scott’s incredible speaking voice to draw us in as he gives it to his troops in a loud and dirty fashion.
It’s very much a political looking arena and an Academy Award Moment defying the viewer to look away.
When Patton begins to speak he’s commanding and profane. He tells his men their better than anyone their opponents, who are subhuman creeps. He boasts about their training and weapons and says they’re destined to win. He speaks of violence and glory. Again, perfect for a wartime general, TERRIBLE for a president, but of course its not very different from what Trump says at his rallys.
There are some traits both the Man in the Movie and Trump share.
One similarity between Trump and Movie Patton would be the portrayal of Patton as very much Bipolar. He was probably ‘Manic Depressive’ in terms of that time. Both were spotty students at prestigious schools (though Patton was afflicted with dyslexia, an actual learning disability he overcame, showing some discipline and personal character). Both are only functional when attacking. Both are insulated from their mistakes by great personal wealth.
Anti-Patton Cartoon from “Patton” (1970)
Both loved media coverage of and yet bristled at the scrutiny that invites. Both earned the distinction of “Suspected Huge Fan of the Nazis” from the media in their time.
Neither could simply shut up for any length of time. While Trump uses tweets Patton would simply act in an outrageous manner (sound familiar?) til the press couldn’t look away.
Both seem to flirt with the idea of War for War’s sake (the Patton character admits this repeatedly).
Each guy has their own unique religious tastes Whereas Patton’s shown as being deep and sincere Trump’s religous ides are just parroted stuff and the fact he hired Pence. Similarly; Patton’s steadfast belief in re-incarnation and love of all things violent calls into question whether he is actually a christian. In the movie he hits his knees a couple of times but only in the most arrogant way in the most dire moments. This is not unlike Trump being beloved by extremist Christians despite a life of documented debauchery and sexual assaults (and now Stormy Daniels). The climax of this subplot is arguably also the climax of the movie. Patton, frustrated that the reality of the situation didn’t fit with his preconceived plan, basically ORDERS GOD TO CHANGE THE WEATHER AND APPARENTLY PULLS IT OFF. This only
reinforces his extreme vanity and puts a more dangerous edge on his genius.
Of course what we all know today about Patton’s Weather Prayer is that a warm front moved in and the snow simply stopped. That doesn’t blunt the forceful nature of the scene where Patton excoriates a regimental chaplain, telling him to write a prayer “good enough” for God to bother listening. Its very much like Trump’s contempt for the Pope and religion in general. The “Two Corinthians” Fiasco shows Trump has no religious knowledge or convictions but has no problem with rank hypocrisy and is therefore a bit less moral than Patton.
This sequence of the movie is meant to show Patton’s Hubris and psychopathy in pursuit of battle and it’s a very dangerous thing to take it literally as surely Trump does.
Another thing Trump and ‘Movie Patton’ have in common would be a total lack of understanding of whats called “Psychological Warfare”. In the film Patton is apparently baffled as to the importance of his mission leading up to D-Day- to be a weapon of mass distraction . Patton’s use as a decoy convinced Hitler to disregard an Actual Invasion and hold off forces that may well have turned the tide of the War itself , to await a Fictional Invasion that was never going to happen. It was key to pulling of the Allied Invasion of France.
Now consider Trump calling the Generals and the former president stupid repeatedly for broadcasting some details of their plan to destroy ISIS. He simply doesn’t understand the idea that you can cloud your opponents judgement to the point you can predict or even control his actions.
It’s too subtle for the movie character or Trump to grasp.
Both Trump and Patton have a deep disdain of giving out any government healthcare. Patton orders his hospital units not to admit Combat Fatigue, which he considers
Patton “shaming a coward”/ abusing a soldier
cowardice.
This was so insane even to 1940’s medical personnel they simply ignore him. That of course boomerangs on Patton in his version of a “Hot Mic on the Bus” moment. The General loses control of himself publicly and betrays his bi-polar nature and complete lack of empathy during a brutal screaming meltdown.
Of course I am talking of the scene where Patton slaps a ‘cowardly’ soldier in a Field Hospital, disgusting everyone and showing his troops how little he cares about them despite the bravado.
Real life Patton slapped more than one soldier more than one time til they actually had to discipline him and remove him from command. It was just like the self inflicted wound we see Trump give himself all the time.
Patton is benched and used as a decoy until after the D-Day Invasion, the battle he had waited all his life to fight in. He faces it like a pitcher caught doctoring a baseball and forced to miss a playoff start. In other words, with only a minimal thought of anyone else. Again Patton shows his view of war and command to be from the Dark Ages or perhaps early Renaissance at its most compassionate.
In his finest moments of triumph after receiving a new army to command, when prosecuting the war Patton is shown as petty and dismissive of his soldiers well-being and simply thinks of his Army as a whole. To Patton, when people get killed it’s like the Army itself is just trimming it’s fingernails. In other words; it’s a natural ongoing function of war.
Just as important as winning were the laurels and press adulation that came with it. When holding the spotlight Patton is grandiose in his actions while his words are always petty. Demonizing and denigrating his personal rivals, boasting of his the strength of his army. Its much like Trump with the exception of the part it’s actually appropriate for a general to have that attitude in time of war. Trump appropriating the George C Scott version of Patton in a political mode ISN’T appropriate at all, it worked though. A crass and abusive screed of insults and violent rhetoric are the hallmark of every Trump Rally ever
Patton and Trump have contempt for the abilities (and probably even the racial abstraction) of the Russians, despite Trump’s open admiration for Putin. Patton moves himself firmly onto the hot seat in the early postwar moments by repeatedly insulting people, specifically members of the russian military, the US President and that which would become NATO. Sound familiar?
Near the conclusion of the movie Patton is again being a prima donna for the press, riding a prized horse in a Baroque era stable. He’s absolutely embraced the role of Military Governor from a Medieval Perspective. He refuses to denounce the Nazi’s properly and defends his utilization of Hitler’s former minions in his administration. In the characteristically glib manner of a sociopath Patton simply analogizes the Nazi party to the Republicans and Democrats in America. Such is his arrogance he ignores the way the press are manipulating him and plays bluntly to them making a bellicose implied case for war and just basically checking off boxes on the list of traits of “Unfrozen Caveman Warlord”. The career of Patton is gutted by his insane statements and brutal medieval view of war, deemed just too out of touch with the 20th century to be any longer tolerated.
The movie closes with the disgraced Patton reflecting in how the Romans would celebrate a victory with a triumphant parade through Rome itself and a warning that all Glory is Fleeting.
Disturbing Conclusions and Thoughts-
It’s my theory that Trump see’s the story of Patton as that of an American who couldn’t lose cause he was an American and that he was an exceptional person who prospered BECAUSE he broke all rules and civility rather than IN SPITE OF THIS. I believe he sees his kooky Cabinet of Billionaire Ass kissers as equivalent to Patton’s highly trained and battle proven staff officers. This dangerous delusion casts crazy ex-General Flynn in the role of Omar Bradley, something so far from the truth it would be laughable of it weren’t absolute reality.
Based on his overtly displayed misunderstanding of the movie Trump shows he is dangerously militarily primitive and most comfortable with methods and ideas more commonly associated with the Nazi Germans than 20th century Americans.
Patton is a terrible role model for even most soldiers as he was always succeeding at he expense of higher all around casualties. He declined peaceful solutions whenever possible. He was always one mistake from disaster but circumstance connived him a series of unlikely wins. As a role model for a president Patton is a disaster.
Like Trump, Patton’s glory should never eclipse the incompetence of his enemies. It requires some historical perspective to understand. Patton was set loose in western Europe with a veteran army and ample supplies. Even more decisive the Germans are mandated by Hitler ONLY to plan against Patton in an area where they expect the Invasion that never comes in Calais. Rather than ever accepting that they must fight Patton they become intimidated and willfully ignorant of the reality due to Hitler’s rapid mental decline from seriously insane to non functional maniac between about 1942 and early 1944. Patton directly benefits. As far as the recent campaigns analogize think of this as being roughly the same as Hillary not going to states she considered ‘safe’, like the vaunted Democratic “Blue Wall” of reliably Democratic states , each of which she then lost by less than an under-attended football game worth of people. We know Trump appreciates this misstep because its one of his favorite riffs to go on from the ongoing “Thank You Rallies” that are a veritable torchlight parade for the guy.
Also like Trump, Patton did have a staff of soothsayers, but again, they were highly competent top notch merit promoted staff officers with great expertise as well. Trumps rag tag group of advisers is anything BUT top notch or Highly Competent.
Another unavoidable conclusion from the movie is that current 21st century Americans are actually LESS civilized than Americans of the mid 20th century, 75 years ago, or at the very least the Americans of 1970 when the film is made. Being at war since 9-11 surely is somewhat to blame for this. This suggests that assertions about a cult of ignorance and a desire to literally turn back the clock to early post world war 2, before the integration of the military, by the Trumpists are very much real and accurate.
There is still time to avoid the fate of the Germans and the fate of Patton, which is the final spoke of this wheel. Patton’s death was in a freakish car accident. Its long been imagined and even said that the General was killed by the CIA’s predecessor the OSS. If you watch the movie you’ll end up a little torn by that because clearly he was an enemy of peace in every form. Could Trump’s disdain for the Intelligence community and peoples sensibilities be such that there is action taken against him as well?
Linzess for IBS (extra weird commercial for opiate addicts based on year 1 MTV ads)
Mobile Strike phone game
Leesa mattress (also slightly creepy)
Main Event
740 pm
Ugly USA chant dome with great spite
Audi (German)
Aleve patch (pharma based Dr avoidance product)
Progressiver (warren Buffet owned)
23 & Me FDA approved dna scan
CNN self promo
MSC Cruises
Some university
CNN self promo dem conv
–rick scott speaks, least popular governor in USA
No mention of his home state. Says yr fired a lot. Lots of sick trump chants. Guiliani 2.0
Sustained hate, fear, isis 3x & counting. Bashes hilarry. More lock her up chants.
MB
Alka setlzer
T-mobile
Progressive Flo
Vote4Energy
CNN Promo
Ring Alarm
Rapid advance
Ivanka interview
Analysis by panel
CNN app commercial
CA Technologies
Koch Enviro friendly commercial
BP (court mandated thru settlement commercial?)
Dollar Shave
Brookdale Old Folks Homes
Rapid Advance
This IS CNN promo
— back to convention
cnn stays analysis w/ wolf and jake
Short Film–History of NASA (which theyve alays voted to defund) narrated by Reagan voice clone on valium focuses on col aileen collins. Concludes we have fallen behind in space exploration, making us weak.
Collins speaks. Claims we went to the moon in peace??
Wolf & Jake again
—–Break—–
Zenni.com glasses
Angies list
Vote 4 energy.com/ energy voters
Ring doorbell
Rapid Advance
CNN promo
__back to convention___
Wolf & Jake
Wolf sets up ted cruz
Sets upcoming 3rd appearance after pence accepts,, sets up Eric Trump to be ‘high point’
Analysis
Speaker State Sen Ralph Alvarado,KY failed doctor, 1st latino elected to KY senate, what a bunch of bigots.seems to try to be saying they arent racists cause they voted for a latino. American Dream speech just like little marco’s. Says all hispanics are republicans and just dont know it. No mention of a wall. Heavy emphasis on ‘legal immigrants’ Hillary hater. Obama hater. Benghazi nut. Very pro trump
A few words in spanish 101
Calls out hillary as hispanic hater.
_Anderson & david axelrod in booth, they note no one will really talk about trump. They agree it’s “Odd”
Speaker Pastor Darrell Scott, Prosperity Minister(?) of Cleveland. Says he talks about discussing military matters with Trump (YIKES!). Didn’t bother to wear a fucking tie. Hates Liberals. Used to do drugs before god grift, now he doesnt want anyone to have fun. Screamed like George C Scott in Patton or maybe wrestling promoter Jim McMahon. Maybe the first person all night to talk about trump at length, says trump believes in bible,Swerves into the supernatural, speaks on behald of god yet somehow no lightning bolt.
Second straight night the supernatural speech brings house down
Panel Analysis
SE Cupp calls out Prosperity Ministers as awful spokesperson
Speaker – Gov Scott Walker, WI. zzzzzzzz Radical ISlam! AHHHH! AAAHHH! Thanks our vets, no mention of help Lines out ‘america deserves better’ throughout specch. Very anti hillary, suggests prison for hilary, lock her up chant again. Urges crowd not to vote 3rd party and scotus fears. Mentions reagan and scalia inn one sentence (DRINK!) Benghazi! E Mails! Never stops shouting . Anti Union Hate Speech.
BREAK
Mobile Strike
CNN promo
Southern NH University, online school
Ring
Cnn promo
BACK FROM BREAK__
Video Narrated by Trump Employee
VP of Eric Trump Foundation & Sr Family Asst Lyn Patton. Looks like CNN says shes just their personal asst’s. Speaks like pro Wrestler on behalf of Orlando’s LGBT people,, then minimizes it and says its attacks on America, not gay community. Speaks on behalf of BLM as a non member who hates them. Says she has to support Trump because shes black. Invokes god
Video- Rigged Political System with Little Marco Rubio attacking Hillary. FEAR! BENGHAZI! (DRINK)
Speaker- Sen Ted Cruz ® Tex
Starts with god of course. RTL then States Rights. Lotsa inaccurate statements,esp re: education
ISIS refugee fears. Down ballot plea, “Vote your conscience” gets raucous applause, we want trump starts up too
Trump cheer takes hold for awhile but he holds forth despite hostility, clearly unwanted there. DOES NOT ENDORSE, suggested maybe vote for someone very unlike Trump. NY GOP heckled him badly. Got his digs in. Booed off stage with his manhood intact for once
__back to Wolf & Jake narrate Trumps entrance Trump looks straight up pissed when not flashing the phony smile.
Panel Discussion hosted by anderson
__Speaker = Trumps son, Eric Trump just a lot aggrandizing of his dad. Kind of looks like the bully from Karate Kid
___back to the booth
NO COMMERCIALS
__SPEAKER_ Moon Governor Newt Gingrich- praises wifes various direct mail businesses – pushes back on Cruz ‘vote your conscience” thing “our enemies are determined to kill us’ FEAR! Focuses on ISIS attacks, nuclear fear. Says all of America can be lost under Hilary. Really fearful
Back to Anchors CNN no Commercial
Reports of deep ugly fight backstage with Cruz and Trump supporters, Cruz wife escorted out
Paul Ryan comes out to the Who’s Eminence Front (about cocaine) and talks up Mike Pence
SPEAKER-___ Mike Pence, VP Candidate. Looks like a cialis or viagra spokesman. His dad owned gas stations and Mikes all about Jesus. He has an awful homophobic record and has never fared well in interviews . Keeps it safe praises his wife & kids, one of whom is a Marine.
he has moved on to extolling Trump as a good man.
NOTE – Pence was once a Catholic Democrat but is now an Evangelical Republican.
Vows hillary will never be president
We Want Trump chant starts to become ongoing while Pence speaks meekly about how tough they will be
Pence alludes to the land of the free and the home of the brave and a USA chant breaks out
Praises cops in a sort of divisive way. Praises Trumps kids. Goes after Hillary , Make America Great again, claims to represent change, HUGE change. ( Crowd chants “Huge”??) border fears. Vets get screwed but no answers or ideas except ‘we’ll be smarter’ Attacks Hillary. claims to be pro union in coal industry
Speaks on behalf of minorities despite being the whitest man alive . Says election will define scotus for 40 years. Promises under hilary judges wont get approved
makes right to life and second amendment plea very nakedly after all the talk of orlando massacre. Talks about his marine kid more and uses that as justification of his ability to judge character. More terrorist attack stuff but nothing about guns. Calls Obama a weak apologist. “DONALD TRUMP WILL DESTROY THE ENEMIES OF FREEDOM! AMERICA STANDS WITH ISRAEL” ok. Mentions Obama’s term ends in precisely 6 months (fact check) Now theyre chanting “we like mike” cause he’s been hateful and fearful for a long while.
He seems to have no eyebrows. He goes into the second supernatural invocation of better times ahead if we make the Trump choice. he extolls trump again in a longwinded way. knowing Trump will appear has people impatient.
he thanks god and asks for blessings.
WALKOUT BY TRUMP, he doesnt appear to be about to speak
Anderson notes its 3rd appearance in 3 nights
My Question- when is Trump guy studying and writing his big speech for tomorrow??
Looks like CNN blew off a lot of commercials time that probably was result of all the anti trump boycotts. as you can see very few prestigous companies bought air time and the Koch Brothers notably bought just one spot
this has benn an awful bore, i hope you spare yourself the viewing by reading this. i consider it a public service
mcteag out
UPDATE 7-21-
Ted Cruz is still attacking Trump and ‘refuses to be his lap dog’. he finally has a hint of gallantry for defending his family
Social Media. Its one of those things in life, we find ourselves in the 21st century and its literally a room full of all your friends ever via you phone wherever you go. You can dial up or down your own volume. I think much like our speaking voices its hard to judge from inside our own heads. So while i admit my statuses are those of a semi irritable germophobe, this post is more my observation of others postings, especially on facebook.
Its the people who fit in and have a pretty good life whose statuses I’m thinking of and there’s is a new element and new themes creeping in.
The theme that seems to strike out at me the most is the people who have posted pictures of their admittedly beautiful families, with very happy and congenial overtones. It reaffirms some ideas about the idea that America might still work. They’re admirable people, some go to church, they have houses and jobs and paid vacations and a measure, it would seem, of the american dream. When my buddy from high school is grilling with his cute kids he’s everything i love and remember.
And then they post a picture of a racist Obama meme where they show school yard racism. Its a strange disconnect to me that those who are actually prospering have been inspired to feel fear of some impending threat that i am kind of sure is invented. Certainly recent economic trends of growth in jobs and housing are real facts that used to reassure people. To many now they’re moot.
The right sells protection from a threat thats currently got Obama as its primary straw man bad guy. Predictably it developed an ugly racist edge early. People are already so desensitized from it that with a year to go before an election we all wish ended yesterday, I’m afraid the societal damage from this election may go on for years.
The right sells protection from a threat thats currently got Obama as its primary straw man bad guy. Predictably it developed an ugly racist edge early. People are already so desensitized from it that with a year to go before an election we all wish ended yesterday, that I’m afraid the societal damage from this election may go on for years.
The debate around Police use of Force issues is running concurrent to this and its seemingly not about to go away.Most interesting of all to me is how i have observed that the character of the crowd seems to change as soon as cops start gearing up. The part where this usually happens right about nightfall makes it a little hard to read. Is it that the cops just know when to gear up into Warrior Cop Mode or do American Citizens simply react very badly to the police militarizing in any fashion? I don’t think anyone should dismiss the latter.
So transpose this onto the mind of a middle class american who’s in way deeper than me with stuff like a spouse and kids. It seems to come back to a simple Pro Wrestling view of the world. Obama, bad. He speaks and they hear a bad guy wrestler talking trash. Refusal to acknowledge his actions is commonplace. On so many of the occassions that police officers have been killed Obama has made a few remarks or a borderline eulogy. He calls them heros and promises justice routinely, but the empty podium memes appear anyway with a caption saying this was his reaction. Its anti-Knowledge
Anti-Knowledge is a complex reverse logic that allows a guy too dumb to believe in evolution to develop the cognitive dissonance to be a successful brain surgeon. Its a growing element of 21st Century of America as two sets of facts compete for pre-eminince. One set of facts is old school stuff that people educated in the analog age got in the north. These are ideas like a civil war that developed over slavery, the robber baron versus Captain of Industry debate and a US Constitution meant to be amended.
The competing “New School Facts” are mostly southern regional ideas. These include a static religously inspired US Constitution, happy slaves, benevolent slavery, a northern Invasion to restrict states rights as the cause of the Civil War and a celebration of the failed confederacy. Throw in some serious climate change denial and a biblical sex ed lesson and youve got a pretty good approximation of a 21st century south carolina 10th grade social studies and science curriculum….and its useless nonsense.
Anti Knowledge seems to have emerged from the evolution versus creation non debate as a pseudo scientific shield for Evolutionists, who really just are the greatest intellectual heretics of our time. By creating a separate set of ‘facts’ i believe they think they can reorganize the thinking of their adherents to create knee jerk conservatives. Dylan Roof, the South Carolina Church shooter was a big anti-knowledge scholar.
Putin at least seems to realize for now that Mutually Assured Destruction is a Reality despite frightening words to the contrary starting to slowly leak in reports from both the Kremlin and the White House.
This Includes Commercials
