Someone asked on Twitter if anyone thought Trump would bow out if, down the line, the polls all pointed to Harris, so as not lose to a black woman. I thought that was a great question, especially considering how his only metrics in life are money and "ratings."
Or course, ratings for one-off political interviews reflect expectations, not accomplishments. Whether Trump can, or wants to, grasp that is anybody's guess.
Meanwhile, I wouldn't be surprised if he did bow out, based on some bullshit medical reason. "The doctors--I have some of the best doctors in the world--they won't let me. 'Sir,' they say, 'We can't let you continue.' I tell them I want to, to save our country, but, they have tears running down their faces, these doctors who have seen everything, they say, 'Sir, you have to step down so you can serve our country in other ways.'"
"I heard you got good ratings". Again with the ratings with this guy. You could set your watch to him. That tic alone is enough to convince me hes as dumb as you say. It's the Trump Paradox, you can't ignore him and you can't engage with him. Biden fell for it, and so did the NABJ. The whole concept of fact-checking Trump is flawed beyond a vague hope that someone somewhere finds out and pays attention to it, real-time or not. It sounds like the audience at least knew what they were confronted with, laughing at his claim that his Presidency was better for "blacks" than Lincoln. The endless chasing after "independent" voters, while necessary, is the most insane thing about this election, and that's saying something.
You're the only person getting this right. For some strange reason every sane person has decided to pretend that Trump performed some kind of deliberate — and effective — move here, rather than doing the exact opposite of what everyone on his side expected or hoped he'd do.
I really did think of this interview as a career-ender while it was in progress, the kind of moment that crosses a line even for people who talk about J6 like maybe it wasn't so bad, think everything should be "up to the states," and boycotted Bud Lite for reasons they can't 100% recall now. I was appalled at the next-day coverage which cushioned him with six kinds of benefit of the doubt. The press loves this guy.
Trump has 2 modes, schoolyard bully and aluminum siding salesman:0.nasty and oily, and charnming (in his inimitable way) and oily, laid on top of his odd Catskills comic take. I dont think he could be charming to people he fundamentally hates, so polite bully mode it is.
Oh, and thanks for explaining the Swedish vs. German thing. People navigating racism and nativism make tough decisions about representing themselves. The Trumps, however, chose to deceive for no good reason. This strongly suggests actual lack of pride.
Donald likes dictators, though, and he's got the best genes, so all other things being equal he prefers to identify as German.
"I think his idea is that Lecter is a typical example of a border-crossing asylum seeker, which is equally nuts."
This is the case, but he has been notably bad at making the connection clear. By this time I've seen quite a few instances of his Lecter bit. Only one very recent one made it clear, and that was because he wanted to defend himself against charges of cognitive impairment. Even then he was clumsy, because he cannot resist another belabored delivery of "... have you for dinner," get it? Get it?
As has been said, he enjoys playing imbecile comedian more than talking policy. Shit-for-brained to begin with, he gets distracted by the fun part and forgets the ostensible topic. I'm not even sure he *begins* with immigration half the time. His fantastical, lurid point pales, somehow.
I was thinking about this too. I suspect his intended audience is stupid white people. He creates a little bubble wherein dumb white people can tell each other "We're not racist because neither is Trump, the best president for black people since Lincoln! Blacks are the REAL racists, blindly following anyone who *claims* to be black even if they're not, like that phony KaMALa!"
The chief alternate hypotheses? Either Trump is so ignorant of history that he genuinely thinks he is the best president for black people, or so racist that he believes black voters aren't smart enough to realize he's not -- and in both cases that they'll lost interest in Harris once there are charges of Rachel Dolezalism in the air.
He might be that stupid. It had not occurred to me that he was asking for a definition of DEI because he doesn't know what it is. But now I can't get that out of my head.
Thanks for breaking down the broken-brained sundowner's many lies, misdirections, and—did I mention, lies?—attacking VP Harris.
I think you repeated mentioning Trump's dad's lies and the comb-over being too stupid to understand complex identities. Although Archie Bunker seems to explain the concept simply enough in a meme I've been seeing around…
I pretty much agree with most of your post (can't comment on the fact-check skirmish, tho it was easy to tell he was lying about the cause of the "35 minute delay".
I'd extend the "doesn't actually know what DEI is" to "false pretenses" and "Voting Rights Act".
He knows DEI is affirmative action, and that he's not "allowed" to say that in front of the blacks. These guys are big on not being "allowed" to say what they believe because they'll be "cancelled", which is like being locked up somehow by somebody. Thats what his genius comeback "what do you think DEI is" jiu jitsu move was about. Hes not allowed to say it but she is. So unfair!
Well, "knows" that it's something to do with Black people taking what he'd secretly like to call "white jobs". If you know what I mean.
DEI is a much broader concept than affirmative action, not just a rebranding, and there's not a chance Trump knows anything about that. He just knows it's the latest target of Christopher Rufo's Triliteral Commission.
Someone asked on Twitter if anyone thought Trump would bow out if, down the line, the polls all pointed to Harris, so as not lose to a black woman. I thought that was a great question, especially considering how his only metrics in life are money and "ratings."
Or course, ratings for one-off political interviews reflect expectations, not accomplishments. Whether Trump can, or wants to, grasp that is anybody's guess.
Meanwhile, I wouldn't be surprised if he did bow out, based on some bullshit medical reason. "The doctors--I have some of the best doctors in the world--they won't let me. 'Sir,' they say, 'We can't let you continue.' I tell them I want to, to save our country, but, they have tears running down their faces, these doctors who have seen everything, they say, 'Sir, you have to step down so you can serve our country in other ways.'"
It certainly would be entertaining. And the announcement would get incredible ratings if the expectations were set right.
The man who wailed "where is my Roy Cohn" is not quitting until the peasants are in the courtyard with the pitchforks and torches.
2 marks. For the tears.
"I heard you got good ratings". Again with the ratings with this guy. You could set your watch to him. That tic alone is enough to convince me hes as dumb as you say. It's the Trump Paradox, you can't ignore him and you can't engage with him. Biden fell for it, and so did the NABJ. The whole concept of fact-checking Trump is flawed beyond a vague hope that someone somewhere finds out and pays attention to it, real-time or not. It sounds like the audience at least knew what they were confronted with, laughing at his claim that his Presidency was better for "blacks" than Lincoln. The endless chasing after "independent" voters, while necessary, is the most insane thing about this election, and that's saying something.
Also him expressing his anger by praising the person. It's so transparent, petty and ugly.
Keep going! Keep going!
You're the only person getting this right. For some strange reason every sane person has decided to pretend that Trump performed some kind of deliberate — and effective — move here, rather than doing the exact opposite of what everyone on his side expected or hoped he'd do.
I really did think of this interview as a career-ender while it was in progress, the kind of moment that crosses a line even for people who talk about J6 like maybe it wasn't so bad, think everything should be "up to the states," and boycotted Bud Lite for reasons they can't 100% recall now. I was appalled at the next-day coverage which cushioned him with six kinds of benefit of the doubt. The press loves this guy.
Trump has 2 modes, schoolyard bully and aluminum siding salesman:0.nasty and oily, and charnming (in his inimitable way) and oily, laid on top of his odd Catskills comic take. I dont think he could be charming to people he fundamentally hates, so polite bully mode it is.
Oh, and thanks for explaining the Swedish vs. German thing. People navigating racism and nativism make tough decisions about representing themselves. The Trumps, however, chose to deceive for no good reason. This strongly suggests actual lack of pride.
Donald likes dictators, though, and he's got the best genes, so all other things being equal he prefers to identify as German.
"I think his idea is that Lecter is a typical example of a border-crossing asylum seeker, which is equally nuts."
This is the case, but he has been notably bad at making the connection clear. By this time I've seen quite a few instances of his Lecter bit. Only one very recent one made it clear, and that was because he wanted to defend himself against charges of cognitive impairment. Even then he was clumsy, because he cannot resist another belabored delivery of "... have you for dinner," get it? Get it?
As has been said, he enjoys playing imbecile comedian more than talking policy. Shit-for-brained to begin with, he gets distracted by the fun part and forgets the ostensible topic. I'm not even sure he *begins* with immigration half the time. His fantastical, lurid point pales, somehow.
well observed
I wonder if he thought he would score points by revealing her "fraud" to the community she was supposedly fooling?
I would also love to hear your analysis of "a Black job is anyone who has a job". What is he even saying?
I was thinking about this too. I suspect his intended audience is stupid white people. He creates a little bubble wherein dumb white people can tell each other "We're not racist because neither is Trump, the best president for black people since Lincoln! Blacks are the REAL racists, blindly following anyone who *claims* to be black even if they're not, like that phony KaMALa!"
The chief alternate hypotheses? Either Trump is so ignorant of history that he genuinely thinks he is the best president for black people, or so racist that he believes black voters aren't smart enough to realize he's not -- and in both cases that they'll lost interest in Harris once there are charges of Rachel Dolezalism in the air.
He might be that stupid. It had not occurred to me that he was asking for a definition of DEI because he doesn't know what it is. But now I can't get that out of my head.
Of COURSE he doesn't know what it is!
Thank you kindly, maybe I’ll try to figure it out.
Thanks for breaking down the broken-brained sundowner's many lies, misdirections, and—did I mention, lies?—attacking VP Harris.
I think you repeated mentioning Trump's dad's lies and the comb-over being too stupid to understand complex identities. Although Archie Bunker seems to explain the concept simply enough in a meme I've been seeing around…
Thanks, I caught the repetition and got rid of it
I pretty much agree with most of your post (can't comment on the fact-check skirmish, tho it was easy to tell he was lying about the cause of the "35 minute delay".
I'd extend the "doesn't actually know what DEI is" to "false pretenses" and "Voting Rights Act".
He knows DEI is affirmative action, and that he's not "allowed" to say that in front of the blacks. These guys are big on not being "allowed" to say what they believe because they'll be "cancelled", which is like being locked up somehow by somebody. Thats what his genius comeback "what do you think DEI is" jiu jitsu move was about. Hes not allowed to say it but she is. So unfair!
Well, "knows" that it's something to do with Black people taking what he'd secretly like to call "white jobs". If you know what I mean.
DEI is a much broader concept than affirmative action, not just a rebranding, and there's not a chance Trump knows anything about that. He just knows it's the latest target of Christopher Rufo's Triliteral Commission.
The aim of those questions, though, is well summed up by <a href="https://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com/2024/08/nabj-first-six-minutes.html#comment-6518126806">Steve</a>: "He badgered Scott until she said the word "Black." That was the opening he was looking for."
The cancellation is a thing they conjure deep inside their own minds, which is not the real world, sadly/not sadly.