The US Presidency 2020

[Ralph]

Which articles?

 

[Remius]

100% any large gathering indoors (or in close proximity outdoors) is stupid right now.

However, the protests recently set a precedent IMO. I support legitimate protesters (not rioters) but if I'm going to support them, I have to support the right for any group to assemble peacefully regardless of the cause.

So either enforce social distancing, or don't. If they can have CHOP/CHAZ in Seattle, they can have a Trump rally in Tulsa. The problem is that there is a narrative afoot that tries to show one as inspirational, while painting the other as a public health risk.

You pointing out the difference in coverage is a valid one.  I don’t think though that anyone is saying that any of those protests are safe from COVID spread. 

 

[Journeyman]

I'm TRYING to avoid the politics threads, honest.

Some may be interested in this article, and seeing how many of the seven signs have been either ticked-off already or are visibly ramping up.

The Seven Signs of an Empire’s End

 

[mariomike]

It's whatever conservatives imagine they're trying to conserve against a Democratic party in which the most activist sub-factions are calling the shots. 

"The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too." 

Trump talked about grabbing women by the pussy. 

"But wait, there's more..."

Donald Trump sexual misconduct allegations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_sexual_misconduct_allegations

Did anyone watch the video of the POTUS getTing off Marine 1 when he returned from the Tulsa rally?

He looked completely defeated...

6,200 people at Trump rally in Tulsa. Acts that had bigger crowds at the same venue in 2019:

- Sha Na Na
- The Pips (w/o Gladys Knight)
- Loverboy
- John Tesh
- The West Virginia Touring Company of La Traviata
https://twitter.com/alfranken/status/1274759720918794241

I meant the allegation that he had one of his girlfriends blow a friend while Kennedy watched.

And yet, almost 60 years after his death, and in spite of that, allegation, millions of people continue to visit his gravesite at Arlington.

After five Vietnam-era draft deferments, would Trump even be eligible for burial at Arlington?

 

[Xylric]

What "rule of etiquette" would that be?

I don't know if there is one or not, it just seems like a crass thing to me.

 

[dapaterson]

I just realized that this is the first time media has shown him with tie undone.  Regardless of the reasoning, that's a bad look.

It may be the first such images they've captured.  DJT is many things, but he is acutely aware of his image and how it is projected.  That appearance is the first "slip" in that projection that I know of since he was elected; I suspect he forgot that he wasn't deplaning into a private facility with no one watching.

I cannot imagine living the life of constant scrutiny that POTUS is under (regardless of their party).

 

[Brad Sallows]

The papers are often wrong or misleading.  Do the math.

 

[mariomike]

The papers are often wrong or misleading. 

Then I guess I'll have to rely on here. 

 

[mariomike]

Given the origin of the phrase....

Yikes.

Right. I didn't want to mention it. But, since you did,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people#Donald_Trump

 

[Remius]

It may be the first such images they've captured.  DJT is many things, but he is acutely aware of his image and how it is projected.  That appearance is the first "slip" in that projection that I know of since he was elected; I suspect he forgot that he wasn't deplaning into a private facility with no one watching.

I cannot imagine living the life of constant scrutiny that POTUS is under (regardless of their party).

Yes.  And have we ever seen any other president look that way?  In public, knowing the cameras were rolling.  He looked defeated.  Being old is not an excuse to be making since age is a concern in US politics. And he uses age to attack Biden a lot.

 

[Brad Sallows]

I don't come across many opinions that Joe Biden is up to the job.  The prevailing sentiment seems to be to just win the presidency, and work from there.  There are a few whose cunning plan amounts to using Biden as a vehicle to get a VP into office, and then using the 25th Amendment to replace Biden with the VP.  The worst case for those people is Biden being not up to the job, but not manifestly incompetent in any way which justifies using the 25th.

 

[Bruce Monkhouse]

I mentioned that Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy did not behave like that in public. I stand by that.

Stupidest thing I've read today.  Actually, you have NO IDEA how they acted in public.  You have an idea how they acted when the cameras were on, an hour or so every other day. 

How did Gordie Howe spend his off time?  Wait, I know how Austin Matthew's does.....

 

[mariomike]

Stupidest thing I've read today. 

I've thought the same thing. But, never typed it.

You have an idea how they acted when the cameras were on, an hour or so every other day. 

That is what I meant by "in public".

using the 25th Amendment 

Wouldn't be the first time,
https://www.google.com/search?sxsrf=ALeKk01YokRCRbkyzp6018bzk1MdBVA6UQ%3A1592857307877&ei=2xLxXpz8NIHVtAab37OwDA&q=trump+%2225th+amendment%22&oq=trump+%2225th+amendment%22&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQDFAAWABgv6gXaABwAHgAgAEAiAEAkgEAmAEAqgEHZ3dzLXdpeg&sclient=psy-ab&ved=0ahUKEwjc1Y3wn5bqAhWBKs0KHZvvDMYQ4dUDCAs#spf=1592857691243

 

[Xylric]

Right. I didn't want to mention it. But, since you did,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enemy_of_the_people#Donald_Trump

No, I meant the phrase 'Drinking the Koolaid.'

:rofl:

 

[mariomike]

No, I meant the phrase 'Drinking the Koolaid.'

You may be too young to remember.

The phrase originates from events in Jonestown, Guyana, on November 18, 1978, in which over 900 members of the Peoples Temple movement died. The movement's leader, Jim Jones, called a mass meeting at the Jonestown pavilion after the murder of U.S. Congressman Leo Ryan and others in nearby Port Kaituma. Jones proposed "revolutionary suicide" by way of ingesting a powdered drink mix lethally laced with cyanide and other drugs which had been prepared by his aides.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_the_Kool-Aid

 

[Xylric]

You may be too young to remember.

Sure, it happened before I was born, but I have studied cults for an extended period, so I am rather familiar with it.

I am just horrified by the linking of the phrase.

It sums up a fundemental flaw of American politics all too well - their parties have largely devolved into cult-like objects.

 

[mariomike]

It sums up a fundemental flaw of American politics all too well - their parties have largely devolved into cult-like objects.

Wasn't always a "cult". Former Defense Secretary James Mattis put it this way,

Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try. Instead he tries to divide us. We are witnessing the consequences of three years of this deliberate effort. We are witnessing the consequences of three years without mature leadership. We can unite without him, drawing on the strengths inherent in our civil society.
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000172-7c37-d3d2-ab7a-7f3762a80000&fbclid=IwAR3OgfOauPCdDRZqWi_BvgHtUAxZ5AZa50T4KQRewW0tL3cHF0oV2_t7Gy0

 

[Xylric]

Wasn't always a "cult". Former Defense Secretary James Mattis put it this way,

He certainly never pulled his punches.

 

[mariomike]

He certainly never pulled his punches.

Former Defense Secretary Jim Mattis broke his silence on the conduct of President Donald Trump on Wednesday
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/06/03/mattis-trump-letter-protest-299562

 

[brihard]

He certainly never pulled his punches.

No, but for a couple years he refrained wholly from throwing them.