A Futile and Stupid Gesture: The History of the First Trump Presidency & Q-Anon

He's come a long way. Way back when he never shook anyone's hands because of germ phobia.
 
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Rejoice Democrats. He will be handcuffed, hands behind his back, pushed into the back of a car in front of cameras, fingerprinted and filmed with his hair disheveled after some aggressive questioning, and show up in court in an orange jumpsuit. America keeps on winning. The lengthy road and search for justice is finally over.


 
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"A Trump supporter, center, holding a red MAGA hat, argues with an anti-Trump protester outside court today."

It's 2023. Will calm and composed intellectual debate actually sway people's thoughts one way or another?
 
MTG...
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The indomitable Santos. I hope no one scuffs his watch.



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It's a circus.
 
37 counts. They unsealed the indictment, and boy is it a riot. It's insane that much of a smooth brain motherfucker can get elected President.
 
When I heard he stopped by at that restaurant I already knew he was going to leave without paying.
 

He's still polling above DeSantis, and recovered his ground after the second indictment against Biden in general elections and swing states. Third time's the charm.
 
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Flight 93 memorial outside of Somerset, PA. The experience was eerie, humbling, unsettling -- all as it should be, so I suppose the designers did a pretty good job

The experience caused me to look back at Michael Anton's "Flight 93 Election" essay in the Claremont Review of Books. Back in 2016, I was aware of the essay and its role in justifying voting for Trump (or rather against Hillary). I thought the metaphor was stupid and gross, but I also understood its political utility.

After visiting the memorial, however, I am now struck by how horrifyingly ghoulish the metaphor is. I'm sure that you realized this in the moment, but it didn't click for me until I went there: this was a moment of tragedy, of desperation, and organizing to rush the cockpit was an act of heroism and love. The people on that flight were young and old, citizens and foreign nationals, just a random group of non-terrorists who, when placed in an extraordinary circumstance, found the sense of purpose to do an extraordinary thing. Staring doom in the face did not paralyze them. For Anton (then hiding behind his pseudonym 'Publius') to appropriate their story for his own tawdry ends, and to do it so crassly ("a Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto"), is nauseating.

It might be worth revisiting that essay as an early demonstration of what has now become so clear: on the Trump-aligned Right, people are objects. Immigrants are pawns to be demonized or shipped around the country to score political points. Children of immigrants are leverage to be exploited, and if you lose track of a few so be it. Trans people and LGBTQ families are convenient scapegoats and whatever pain they or those who love them are going through is just collateral damage (except when it's the point). Service members who die under arms are suckers and losers.

The people on Flight 93 were ordinary people. Some were probably moral and upright; others probably weren't. But all of them are worth commemorating for that day, and Michael Anton--just one among the many who have swept along in Trump's wake, excusing and amplifying and building upon the poisonous and dehumanizing politics of Trumpism--deserves condemnation. Re-electing Trump would mean putting the powers of the US government back in the hands of Anton and his fellow ghouls.

Given Anton's recent speech at the American Conservative’s annual foreign policy summit, that might be a connection worth making
 
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Flight 93 memorial outside of Somerset, PA. The experience was eerie, humbling, unsettling -- all as it should be, so I suppose the designers did a pretty good job

The experience caused me to look back at Michael Anton's "Flight 93 Election" essay in the Claremont Review of Books. Back in 2016, I was aware of the essay and its role in justifying voting for Trump (or rather against Hillary). I thought the metaphor was stupid and gross, but I also understood its political utility.

After visiting the memorial, however, I am now struck by how horrifyingly ghoulish the metaphor is. I'm sure that you realized this in the moment, but it didn't click for me until I went there: this was a moment of tragedy, of desperation, and organizing to rush the cockpit was an act of heroism and love. The people on that flight were young and old, citizens and foreign nationals, just a random group of non-terrorists who, when placed in an extraordinary circumstance, found the sense of purpose to do an extraordinary thing. Staring doom in the face did not paralyze them. For Anton (then hiding behind his pseudonym 'Publius') to appropriate their story for his own tawdry ends, and to do it so crassly ("a Hillary Clinton presidency is Russian Roulette with a semi-auto"), is nauseating.

It might be worth revisiting that essay as an early demonstration of what has now become so clear: on the Trump-aligned Right, people are objects. Immigrants are pawns to be demonized or shipped around the country to score political points. Children of immigrants are leverage to be exploited, and if you lose track of a few so be it. Trans people and LGBTQ families are convenient scapegoats and whatever pain they or those who love them are going through is just collateral damage (except when it's the point). Service members who die under arms are suckers and losers.

The people on Flight 93 were ordinary people. Some were probably moral and upright; others probably weren't. But all of them are worth commemorating for that day, and Michael Anton--just one among the many who have swept along in Trump's wake, excusing and amplifying and building upon the poisonous and dehumanizing politics of Trumpism--deserves condemnation. Re-electing Trump would mean putting the powers of the US government back in the hands of Anton and his fellow ghouls.

Given Anton's recent speech at the American Conservative’s annual foreign policy summit, that might be a connection worth making

Is that an editorial?

Interesting to see a lot of people now describe Manton as the ideological leader of the Jan 6 insurrection. I do wonder how he feels about that.
 

Did you guys just figure that out? When Walt Nuata didn't find one in the original mishandling of classified documents case and the judge granted him a few weeks where he later came back selecting Stanley Woodward who was already representing other Trump employees you knew that was going to keep happening. It's not like he spent weeks to go on an in depth search.
 

Trevian Kutti​

A former publicist for R Kelly and Ye (formerly known as Kanye West), accused of involvement in a plot to pressure a Fulton County election worker to falsely admit committing fraud.

From one john's bed to the next. Perfect CV for Mark Gaetz.
 

74 million views on Twitter.

“'It started as protests against you … then it moved to impeachment twice and now indictment — I mean, the next stage is violence,' Carlson said. '“Are you worried they’re going to try to kill you? Why wouldn’t they try to kill you — honestly?'

'They’re savage animals,' Trump responded. 'They’re people that are sick — really sick.'"

"Trump also continued to take an even approach to Russia’s aggression in its war against Ukraine as many of his GOP presidential opponents spoke out in support of Ukraine on the debate stage Wednesday night. 'That’s a war that should end immediately — not because of one side or the other, but because hundreds of thousands of people are being killed,'"

"Trump, the GOP front-runner, largely focused on Democratic President Joe Biden, targeting his attacks on Biden’s age. 'I think he’s worse mentally than he is physically, and physically, he’s not exactly a triathlete or any kind of an athlete,' Trump said. 'It looks like he’s walking on toothpicks.'"
 

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