Donald Trump, the Most Unmanly President

[AUDub 11,147]

This whole debate on the meaning of "man up" is pretty silly.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Pynchon

[TexasTiger 12,835]

55 minutes ago, AUDub said:

This whole debate on the meaning of "man up" is pretty silly.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Pynchon

I think the discussion about masculinity was ridiculous. The article is mostly about what it has historically meant in our culture to be a man who doesn’t whine excessively, make excuses, point fingers, etc.— i.e. takes ownership and responsibility for his actions without complaint. I think “man up”, even when indicating someone should “toughen up” usually entails those same themes.

[AUDub 11,147]

Just now, TexasTiger said:

I think the discussion about masculinity was ridiculous. The article is mostly about what it has historically meant in our culture to be a man who doesn’t whine excessively, make excuses, point fingers, etc.— i.e. takes ownership and responsibility for his actions without complaint. I think “man up”, even when indicating someone should “toughen up” usually entails those same themes.

Agreed, and I think Nichols' article is excellent. Trump's fans define him as manly, but completely ignore what it actually means to be a man, not to mention a functional adult in general.

I wish there was a bottom, some point where his fans would say "you know what? This guy is a terrible human being," but there isn't. They're on this sinking ship for better or for worse. 

[jj3jordan 2,051]

15 minutes I'll never get back.

[AUDub 11,147]

3 minutes ago, jj3jordan said:

15 minutes I'll never get back.

You're one of the strangest posters here. I know you're (probably) being serious, but if I was trying to pass as a parody conservative on this site, I'd sound just like you. 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

5 minutes ago, jj3jordan said:

15 minutes I'll never get back.

Yeah, but @bigbird got Homer to admit to being a sexist and a weasel. So there’s that!! 😂😂

[Texan4Auburn 1,626]

3 hours ago, bigbird said:

Absolutely. You ever tell a woman to man up?

My mom told a man to get his panties out of a bunch in a supermarket line once who was bitching about coupons he had.

No cell phones then, but I'm sure this was my response:

[homersapien 11,367]

16 hours ago, bigbird said:

The good ole name calling, nice! 

I'm glad you endorse being a sexist and even more happy you have revealed it to the board in such a magnanimous way. Thanks.

Calling it like I see it. 

The above post is perfect example of weaseling.  You and I both know I am not a "sexist" (speaking of name calling).

[homersapien 11,367]

13 hours ago, AUDub said:

This whole debate on the meaning of "man up" is pretty silly.

"If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers." - Pynchon

Silly diversion.

[bigbird 60,512]

4 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Calling it like I see it. 

The above post is perfect example of weaseling, wheras you and I both know I am not a "sexist" (speaking of name calling).

I can only go by what you admit to. I'm glad it's out there

[homersapien 11,367]

Just now, bigbird said:

I can only go by what you admit to. I'm glad it's out there

Your statements are "out there" also:  If someone thinks Trump needs to "man up" they must be a sexist??

You are embarrassing yourself. 

[bigbird 60,512]

10 minutes ago, homersapien said:

Your statements are "out there" also:  If someone thinks Trump needs to "man up" they must be a sexist??

You are embarrassing yourself. 

You already endorsed it. No need to try and qualify it now.

 

As far as embarrassing myself, I've watched you do it for years so I figured I'd join in.

[Mikey 16,579]

Isn't an example of failing to man up when Obama didn't man up and take responsibility for the tragedy at Benghazi? I cannot believe an Obamanista bringing "man up" into a conversation.

[McLoofus 35,182]

19 hours ago, homersapien said:

The question is not whether Trump fails to meet some archaic or idealized version of masculinity. The president’s inability to measure up to Marcus Aurelius or Omar Bradley is not the issue. Rather, the question is why so many of Trump’s working-class white male voters refuse to hold Trump to their own standards of masculinity—why they support a man who behaves more like a little boy.

The thesis statement was pretty clear. 

And no, "toxic" does not mean "too much" with regards to masculinity. It means toxic. 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

20 minutes ago, bigbird said:

You already endorsed it. No need to try and qualify it now.

 

As far as embarrassing myself, I've watched you do it for years so I figured I'd join in.

I don’t see how you are embarrassed, you aren’t the sexist one here. Homer admitted to being sexist and he should be embarrassed by it, especially in today’s age. 

[wdefromtx 3,159]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

Calling it like I see it. 

The above post is perfect example of weaseling.  You and I both know I am not a "sexist" (speaking of name calling).

You admitted to being a sexist and are now denying it. I thought this thread was about taking responsibility for yourself? Yet you do the same thing you accuse Trump of doing. Hypocrisy at its finest!!

[homersapien 11,367]

Trump’s bullying cannot disguise his weakness

By

Jennifer Rubin 

Opinion writer

May 27, 2020 at 7:45 a.m. EDT

The flap over the Republican National Convention has all the markings of a self-made scandal. President Trump, evidencing zero concern for the health of his fellow Republicans, first responders or Charlotte residents, has insisted that North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) guarantee him he can have a full convention there in August. It would be impossible and irresponsible to speculate as to conditions more than two months from now. Trump, nevertheless, threw in a one-week deadline.

Do we know why Trump even started this? Maybe he knows the convention cannot go forward and hoped to shift blame to a Democratic governor. (If that was his intent, it backfired, and the president now has multiple, reckless Republican governors offering to have a convention involving crowds of thousands of people — many of whom refuse to wear masks.) Alternatively, maybe Trump wanted to create a fight with a Democratic governor (so many have outshone and out-polled him of late), disregarding that Cooper is hugely popular and that North Carolina is a swing state. Should Trump actually pull the convention and set up a pandemic hot spot in another state, he will manage to insult both North Carolinians (those upset he left) and residents of the new state (who don’t want the danger and costs associated with a convention as they are fighting a pandemic).

This would be laughable if not so frightful: Trump is so self-absorbed, he is willing to have many of his closest supporters infected and possibly die so he can have the “optics” of a convention. It does not cross his mind that this might be bad politics (not to mention morally reprehensible). He cannot comprehend that millions upon millions of Americans will look upon this display of selfishness and recklessness as yet another reason to boot Trump from office.

During a rare TV interview (considering how well this went, there should be more), former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, blasted Trump for his selfish, dangerous behavior regarding masks. “This macho stuff, for a guy . . . I shouldn’t get going, but it just, it costs people’s lives. It’s costing people’s lives,” Biden said. He added: “Presidents are supposed to lead, not engage in folly and be falsely masculine.” He accused Trump of “stoking death.” What is true of Trump’s refusal to wear a mask is doubly true of his insistence on bringing a pandemic-spreading crowd to the Republican convention. (Retorting to the Trump campaign’s insinuation that Biden is in mental decline, the former vice president said, “Look, I mean, talk about a guy who’s missing a step. He’s missing something, man.” Empathy? Coherence?)

Biden is right that real men do not endanger others because they are vain. The do not put the vulnerable at risk. (They surely do not torment the parents of a deceased daughter.) Lacking qualities we associate with responsible adulthood, Trump is left to flail wildly about, creating fights and pounding his chest. It’s false bravado. It’s the conduct of a schoolyard bully who refuses to be held responsible for his own conduct. It’s the behavior of someone heading for an election thrashing.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/27/trump-bullying-cannot-disguise-his-weakness/

[homersapien 11,367]

1 hour ago, Mikey said:

Isn't an example of failing to man up when Obama didn't man up and take responsibility for the tragedy at Benghazi? I cannot believe an Obamanista bringing "man up" into a conversation.

You are a SEXIST!!!!   

[SaltyTiger 7,793]

21 hours ago, homersapien said:

These are men whose fathers and grandfathers came from a culture that looks down upon lying, cheating, and bragging, 

and starched comb over hair do's. In high school they would have "horse collared" him and messed his hair up out of meanness.

[TexasTiger 12,835]

[homersapien 11,367]

Trump’s latest display isn’t just deranged. It’s also an abuse of power.

By

Greg Sargent 

Opinion writer

May 27, 2020 at 10:44 a.m. EDT

The news that Twitter has dared to attach the mildest of correctives to President Trump’s latest false tweets — prompting threats of direct retribution from Trump — reopens the long-running debate over the true nature of the menace that Trump’s autocratic instincts pose to democracy.

That debate pits those who see Trump as a clownish and ineffective autocrat wannabe against those who see a much more insidiously destructive form of corruption at work.

What’s happening right now strongly supports the latter interpretation. While some will seek to cast Trump’s war on Twitter as largely feckless, it actually constitutes a genuine abuse of power that is already showing corrosive signs of working as intended.

Trump just unloaded in a fury at Twitter:

....happen again. Just like we can’t let large scale Mail-In Ballots take root in our Country. It would be a free for all on cheating, forgery and the theft of Ballots. Whoever cheated the most would win. Likewise, Social Media. Clean up your act, NOW!!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2020

The object of Trump’s rage is Twitter’s decision to affix a fact check to Trump’s lies about vote-by-mail. Trump has been falsely claiming that this will lead to vote fraud, forgeries and even ineligible voters getting ballots.

In response, Twitter added a few links to corrective stories and a few lines clarifying that there’s “no evidence that mail-in ballots are linked to voter fraud” and that ballots are mailed only to registered voters.

Deranged lies

First, let’s note the truly deranged nature of Trump’s lies. Republicans have falsely screamed about voter fraud for many years, to justify all manner of voter suppression. But now Trump is doing this amid a pandemic — that is, to dissuade states from relieving people of having to choose between exercising the franchise and protecting their health and lives.

And so, Trump is not just actively hoping the pandemic helps keep voter turnout down in a way that will help him win reelection. To serve these designs, he’s also pushing states to refrain from taking actions that would protect the public health by limiting the novel coronavirus’s spread.

This has also included vague threats to cut off disaster funding to states he must win, such as Michigan, further exploiting the desperation of states amid an emergency to serve his naked political ends.

It’s not yet clear how effective all this will be. It’s true that some states are moving forward in expanding vote-by-mail despite Trump, and his threats to cut off funding appear largely meaningless. Those on the “feckless autocrat” side of the debate will seize on these facts.

And yet, as Rick Hasen points out, some GOP legislators in key swing states actually are taking cues from Trump and opposing these measures, even as Trump/GOP opposition is blocking any federal action that would help states implement them. That’s a serious setback to such efforts, especially since they’re even more urgent given the pandemic’s unique challenges.

What’s more, when you consider the broader context, it’s plainly obvious that Trump’s larger efforts are having a real impact.

Trump’s threats have a real impact

That larger context is a much longer-running pressure campaign by Trump allies to equate any and all fact-checking of Trump with Bias Against Conservatives. In response to Twitter’s fact-checking of Trump’s lies about voter fraud, Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale said this:

We always knew that Silicon Valley would pull out all the stops to obstruct and interfere with President Trump getting his message through to voters.

Trump reiterated a version of that, claiming that Twitter is “interfering” in the election and “stifling FREE SPEECH.”

Now let’s also note that Twitter’s fact-checking also shared information with voters that could actually inform them about vote-by-mail, thus potentially giving them additional options to vote amid a pandemic.

Trump and his campaign are quite literally claiming the right to lie to the American people about potentially lifesaving voting options during a pandemic — entirely free of accountability. They are explicitly declaring that any effort to correct those lies will be cast as an affront to the free speech of conservatives.

And Trump is now intimating other forms of state action:

He has imposed a test to gauge tech platform and news outlet obeisance to him. Either they let his increasingly dangerous lied spread, or they try to set the record straight, in which case he alleges a conspiracy and threatens to sic Bill Barr on them. pic.twitter.com/vHFSbLUWWN

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) May 27, 2020

It might be argued that Trump won’t actually be able to take such concrete retributive action. But as Jonathan Chait points out, Trump has already threatened the parent companies of media organizations and has already taken concrete actions against the owner of The Post.

The key point here is that, even if these threats do not end up coming to fruition, the threats themselves constitute a serious abuse of power.

The threat of conservative rage via fake claims of “bias” and the threat of state action as retribution are two sides of the same coin: The latter constitutes a deeply corrupt wielding of institutional power in and of itself, and it’s also critical to helping mobilize the former. Such a threat is not somehow rendered meaningless if Trump cannot find a way to follow through.

And this surely works, at least to some degree. This is obvious when you consider how mild and tentative Twitter’s corrective efforts have been. The tweets spreading Trump’s lies about voter fraud remain posted, and he has already posted more such lies that do not yet have any such corrective appended.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to tweet out the deranged lie that MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough might be guilty of murder, even though the victim’s husband has plaintively asked for the tweets to be taken down to respect the deceased. Those remain posted. And as the New York Times notes, Twitter has largely failed to police Trump’s other egregious abuses, even ones that violate its policies.

The ultimate impact of all this remains to be seen. But there can be no doubt that these abuses of power are real and ongoing, and are already having a deeply corrosive impact.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/05/27/trumps-latest-display-isnt-just-deranged-its-also-an-abuse-power/

[AUFAN78 3,894]

I return from vacay and land on a thread in this forum about manliness. SMDH. Moving on.

[wdefromtx 3,159]

Just now, AUFAN78 said:

I return from vacay and land on a thread in this forum about manliness. SMDH. Moving on.

Yeah, but Bird got an admission from Homer that he is sexist. So something came out of it!! lol 

[TexasTiger 12,835]

1 minute ago, AUFAN78 said:

I return from vacay and land on a thread in this forum about manliness. SMDH. Moving on.

Stay moved! For your own sake!

[AUFAN78 3,894]

2 minutes ago, TexasTiger said:

Stay moved! For your own sake!