Trump and Kari Lake’s favorite gambit when they get a question they don’t like is to attack the questioner, yell fake news and start calling people nasty and stupid. I really can’t believe it is still working.
O/T: Yesterday I was talking to a husband and wife who are some of my oldest and dearest friends, but unfortunately they went down the FOX rabbit hole many years ago and are now solidly in the crazy as shit camp when it comes to politics. I mentioned to them that I was looking to buy one more car in my lifetime and it was going to be a hybrid. The wife got an expression on her face like I had just shat on her carpet and said “We only use gasoline.” She said it with such condescension and venom that I just had to laugh out loud. I reminded her that hybrids use gasoline and she just stared at me blankly like I was trying to trick her. I am 73, but there are days when I think they should just stop anyone over 70 from voting.
GO KAMALA!
That was my take on it, although it might have been his handlers who hoped or planned for that outcome. He might be incapable of understanding that he comes off poorly in these encounters.
What struck me was how quickly Fox and other rightwing outlets as well as GOP politicians got on the program. It’s like they have a rapid Trump amplifier system always ready to spread his latest delusion and lies. I don’t think it’s coordinated as much as a group think facilitation.
So I don’t know exactly where to put this, but I think there’s another point about Trump’s appearance yesterday that I think should matter to voters. I’m appalled by his racism, of course. But beyond that, his nervous hostility was telling. He showed the world that–given, no doubt, many days to steel himself for this appearance and arm himself with answers to what would undoubtedly be a difficult interview–he got rattled within the first 5 seconds. I mean, the questions were tough, but they were all respectfully phrased. I’ll go a step further: they all were written so as to give Trump the benefit of the doubt (unearned) and to allow him a chance to respond. They were all in that respect softballs over the plate for anyone who 1) knows what kind of room they’re entereing and 2) has a modicum of discipline. And Trump couldn’t keep it together for a hot second. He started decompensating immediately, lashing out in a very odd way. And while I know “his audience” supposedly eats this up, I really think it made him look pitiful, first and foremost. I mean, would you send an employee like that into any kind of even mildly difficult situation, where there’s the possibility of some heat? No, you’d stash them in the back room and hope HR can figure out a way to get rid of him. If this is how he is when he’s given two weeks and knows (or should know) exactly what the questions are going to be, how’s he going to go into a truly complicated situation? I guess, of course, we know, from Covid. But I’m hoping this was a reminder. The dude can’t handle any tension or antipathy he himself doesn’t generate. That, even more than his racism, was the reminder for me from this meeting. Really pathetic.
There were a number of times back during the 2020 campaign where I literally thought to myself: “Someone on Trump’s campaign just hates him; they’re trying to tank his chances.” I’ve gotten to the same place, this year. It is either the case that someone on his campaign is making decisions intended to ruin his chances, or, they are so deeply into racism, misogyny, and grievance that they have no idea, at all, how all that plays to people without debilitating personality disorders. I’m not sure how to figure out which possibility is the actual case. (And, I suppose it hardly matters; more power to 'em.)
Things weren’t going well for his campaign, all about Harris’s momentum, so he threw some vile shit up in the air so that the stories are no longer about Harris’s momentum.
Mission accomplished. No further plan.
This was a group effort freeing a bunch of folks. Multiple countries were involved which requires coordination, cooperation and diplomacy something Trump could never have pulled off. He would’ve insisted on taking full credit.
I am astounded that white supremacists are trying to score points with Black voters by accusing Harris of “not being Black enough,” as if they are the experts in such a determination.
Actually, the orange guy accomplished his mission; everyone stopped talking about Kamala’s ascendancy and spoke to his racism (which is already baked in).
Meanwhile, there’s this: the Biden administration just negotiated freedom for a whole bunch of Russian hostages and political prisoners: https://wapo.st/4dogyuG
These include, by the way, people whom Trump has used as pawns, saying Russia won’t free them unless he gets elected. I frigging love living in a country that has a government that can get things done.
