homersapien 11,373 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Dear Leader orders that Churches be open today, then hits the golf course and acts "presidential" on Tweeter. I don't think I could have made this up. Anne Gearan May 24, 2020 at 7:30 p.m. EDT As the death toll in the novel coronavirus pandemic neared 100,000 Americans this Memorial Day weekend, President Trump derided and insulted perceived enemies and promoted a baseless conspiracy theory, in between rounds of golf. In a flurry of tweets and retweets Saturday and Sunday, Trump mocked former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams’s weight, ridiculed the looks of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and called former Democratic presidential rival Hillary Clinton a “skank.” He revived long-debunked speculation that a television host with whom Trump has feuded may have killed a woman and asserted without evidence that mail-in voting routinely produces ballot-stuffing. He made little mention of the sacrifice Americans honor on Memorial Day or the grim toll of the virus. In fact, Trump’s barrage of social media attacks stood in sharp contrast to a sober reality on a weekend for mourning military dead — the number of Americans whose lives have been claimed by the coronavirus has eclipsed the combined total of U.S. deaths from wars in Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, Iraq and Afghanistan. Trump plans to attend a wreath-laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday and also visit Fort McHenry, in Baltimore, where the 1814 battle that inspired “The Star-Spangled Banner” was fought. The city’s Democratic mayor had discouraged the visit, saying it sent conflicting messages about the importance of staying home and protecting other Americans. Although Trump on Friday had called for worshipers to return to church in person this holiday weekend, Trump himself did not. He played golf on Sunday morning. Neither White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who had echoed Trump’s call for a return to the pews, nor other spokespeople responded to questions about Trump’s activities on Sunday. In the Virginia suburbs of Washington, where Trump played golf at his Trump National club in Sterling, houses of worship could hold services with 10 participants or in larger settings where participants remained in their cars. Although few churches were open in the D.C. area, a coronavirus hot spot, St. John’s Church, a historic church near the White House that Trump has attended a few times as president, held an online service marking Ascension Sunday. A few protesters gathered at the golf club’s exit on Sunday, chanting “Stop killing us!” and holding up the arresting image of the front page of Sunday’s New York Times: Rows of names of the coronavirus dead. Trump had also played golf at the club on Saturday, the first time he had done so since early in the pandemic. During that outing, Trump was photographed without a mask and standing closer to golfing partners than recommended by federal health officials. The choice to return to the golf course was one of the clearest symbols yet of how Trump is trying to turn the page on a public health crisis that has damaged his standing nationally and may imperil his reelection chances. In a Twitter response to Trump, the campaign of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden highlighted the rising death toll with images of health-care workers treating the sick and video of Trump playing golf as Democrats have questioned whether the president is capable of empathy. The White House on Saturday announced that Trump would travel next week to Florida, his fourth trip to a battleground state in as many weeks, as he encourages a return to regular life and commerce in much of the country. “Cases, numbers and deaths are going down all over the Country!” Trump tweeted, incorrectly, on Sunday. New cases are declining in most of the former hot spots, including New York City, but are “plateauing,” rather than declining, in Washington, Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx told reporters last week. After weeks of near universal sheltering in place, the overall daily toll has begun to decline, because of a sharp decrease in deaths and reported infections in some of the hardest-hit urban centers. But the virus is accelerating in other areas. As of mid-May, every state had plans to loosen restrictions on activities and businesses as public health officials urge caution to avoid another surge. Rural counties now have some of the highest rates of covid-19 cases and deaths in the country, topping even the hardest-hit New York City boroughs, a Washington Post analysis found. The alarming increase signals a new phase of the pandemic, one of scattered outbreaks that could devastate some of the country’s most vulnerable towns as states lift stay-at-home orders. The virus has spread rapidly over the past month in places where even a minor surge in patients threatens to overwhelm existing health-care systems. In 2014, Trump had criticized President Obama for playing golf when there were two confirmed cases of Ebola in the United States. “He’s played a lot of golf, there’s no doubt about it,” Trump said then, in a telephone interview with the “Fox & Friends” program, where hosts had noted disapprovingly that Obama had done so 200 times as president at that point, six years into his presidency. “And when you’re president you sort of say, like, ‘I’m going to sort of give it up for a couple of years and I’m going to really focus on the job,’ ” Trump said. “There are times to play golf, we all love golf, there are times to play and there are times you can’t play and it sends the wrong signal,” Trump said then. Trump has made daytime visits to his own golf properties about 250 times in fewer than four years as president, with evidence that he played golf on at least 118 of those occasions, according to the website TrumpGolfCount.com. Trump’s Twitter barrage on Saturday evening included crass descriptions of women viewed as Trump adversaries. Retweeting one supporter in rapid succession, Trump blasted doctored images of Pelosi and two images of Abrams to his more than 80 million Twitter followers. Abrams, who is under consideration as a vice presidential pick by Biden, had “visited every buffet restaurant in the State,” Trump’s retweet said. “To protect PolyGrip during this pandemic, we have developed 2 options. With the DJT option, she will be able to tongue and adjust her dentures more easily,” Trump retweeted, showing doctored images of Pelosi’s face, one with a “Trump 2020” mask over her mouth and the other with silver duct tape. “With duct tape, she won’t be able to drink booze on the job as much. Which do you think she will prefer? #maga #tcot #kag,” Twitter user John K. Stahl had tweeted. Pelosi’s office has repeatedly said she does not drink alcohol. Stahl’s Twitter profile describes him as a retired tech executive and conservative. Trump appears to have scrolled through the account and retweeted numerous Stahl tweets that praised Trump, criticized Democrats and the news media or voiced support for Trump’s view, which is not based on fact, that mail-in voting invites fraud. Trump repeatedly promotes tweets from a ‘certified sexologist’ who supports him Trump also tweeted speculation and conspiracy theories about the death of a young woman who worked for then-Rep. Joe Scarborough (R-Fla.) in 2001. Scarborough is now an MSNBC host and a frequent Trump critic. Trump suggested without evidence that Scarborough had an affair with the married staffer and that he may have killed her. “A lot of interest in this story about Psycho Joe Scarborough. So a young marathon runner just happened to faint in his office, hit her head on his desk, & die? I would think there is a lot more to this story than that? An affair? What about the so-called investigator? Read story!” Trump wrote Sunday. Trump had also tweeted on May 12 about the death, asking, “Did he get away with murder?” Critics responded that Trump was callously forcing the woman’s family to relive her death, and not for the first time. Trump had suggested in 2017 that there is more to the story. At that time, The Post debunked conspiracy theories around the death of Lori Klausutis, 28. Authorities determined that she died after losing consciousness from an abnormal heart rhythm and collapsed, striking her head. She was discovered in Scarborough’s office in Fort Walton Beach, on her back with her head near a desk, according to a 2001 police report. That tweet drew criticism from some conservatives, with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) tweeting: “Completely unfounded conspiracy. Just stop. Stop spreading it, stop creating paranoia. It will destroy us.” Florida family grieves as Trump spreads debunked conspiracy theory to attack MSNBC host Trump also claimed Sunday that hydroxychloroquine has “tremendous rave reviews,” despite studies showing that it can be dangerous. In a Sinclair Broadcasting interview, Trump politicized a study from Columbia University indicating that had stringent social distancing been in place a week earlier, the United States could have prevented 36,000 coronavirus deaths through early May — about 40 percent of fatalities reported to date. “Columbia University is a liberal, disgraceful institution, to write that,” Trump said in the interview broadcast Sunday. “I saw that report from Columbia University and it is a disgrace that they would play right to their little group of people to tell them what to do.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/on-weekend-dedicated-to-war-dead-trump-tweets-insults-promotes-baseless-claims-and-plays-golf/2020/05/24/a1a79876-9dc3-11ea-9590-1858a893bd59_story.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homersapien 11,373 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” H.L. Mencken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 No matter what, we’re going to have a moron for 8 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanTiger 20,482 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 1 hour ago, I_M4_AU said: No matter what, we’re going to have a moron for 8 years. Biden is a gaffe machine, similar to GW Bush being a malapropism machine. But Bush wasn't a moron. Neither is Biden. Trump is. And the worst of it is, he's not just a run of the mill moron. He's a moron with an enormous amount of unearned confidence and a massive ego. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 17 minutes ago, TitanTiger said: Biden is a gaffe machine, similar to GW Bush being a malapropism machine. But Bush wasn't a moron. Neither is Biden. Trump is. And the worst of it is, he's not just a run of the mill moron. He's a moron with an enormous amount of unearned confidence and a massive ego. A moron is defined as a person that is an idiot. The term seems to change with the political persuasion. I don’t think Trump is a moron, but we could have had a more intellectual choice. Biden probably isn’t a moron, but we could have had a more intellectual choice. So, if Trump is a moron as seen by the Democrats/anti-Trumpers, then it follows that Biden is seen as a moron by the Republicans/anti-socialists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanTiger 20,482 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 Just now, I_M4_AU said: A moron is defined as an idiot. The term seems to change with the political persuasion. Not for me. Frankly, I think most of our presidents, at least in my lifetime, have been fairly to very intelligent. Even the ones I didn't vote for or particularly like (Carter, Clinton, Obama). Trump is an idiot. Just now, I_M4_AU said: I don’t think Trump is a moron, but we could have had a more intellectual choice. Biden probably isn’t a moron, but we could have had a more intellectual choice. So, if Trump is a moron as seen by the Democrats/anti-Trumpers, then it follows that Biden is seen as a moron by the Republicans/anti-socialists. It isn't about political persuasions. It's about Twitter rants at all hours of the night. It's about scouring the cable news channels for anyone who dares critique or merely disagree with him so he can whine about it on Twitter and in press conferences. It's about his mouth being an "own goal" where time and again he fails to let the Democrats bury themselves by repeatedly saying things that are demonstrably untrue and ridiculous - so that the focus gets taken off of their ineptitude and back on to his own. It's about being incapable of learning from mistakes. It's about firing people because they speak truthfully in their areas of expertise rather than parroting his bizzaro version of reality. It's about a completely bungled response to the pandemic. All presidents make mistakes. Trump is one of the very few that is incapable of learning from them. I honestly think that outside of some understanding of real estate, finance and tax law, he's just not very smart. He's kind of a dolt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wdefromtx 3,159 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 8 minutes ago, TitanTiger said: Not for me. Frankly, I think most of our presidents, at least in my lifetime, have been fairly to very intelligent. Even the ones I didn't vote for or particularly like (Carter, Clinton, Obama). Trump is an idiot. It isn't about political persuasions. It's about Twitter rants at all hours of the night. It's about scouring the cable news channels for anyone who dares critique or merely disagree with him so he can whine about it on Twitter and in press conferences. It's about his mouth being an "own goal" where time and again he fails to let the Democrats bury themselves by repeatedly saying things that are demonstrably untrue and ridiculous - so that the focus gets taken off of their ineptitude and back on to his own. It's about being incapable of learning from mistakes. It's about firing people because they speak truthfully in their areas of expertise rather than parroting his bizzaro version of reality. It's about a completely bungled response to the pandemic. All presidents make mistakes. Trump is one of the very few that is incapable of learning from them. I honestly think that outside of some understanding of real estate, finance and tax law, he's just not very smart. He's kind of a dolt. Yep, If he could just keep his mouth shut....his own ego wants him to be at the center of everything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 7 minutes ago, TitanTiger said: Trump is an idiot. 11 minutes ago, TitanTiger said: It isn't about political persuasions. Idiots.—Those so defective that the mental development never exceeds that or a normal child of about two years. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/moron-idiot-imbecile-offensive-history It appears you are an anti-Trumper. To the rest of the post, I understand your frustration and I’m sure you’ll understand mine if Sleepy Joe gets elected. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homersapien 11,373 Posted May 25, 2020 Author Share Posted May 25, 2020 Let's not forget the con man dishonesty. It's all been there from his beginning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanTiger 20,482 Posted May 25, 2020 Share Posted May 25, 2020 5 hours ago, I_M4_AU said: Idiots.—Those so defective that the mental development never exceeds that or a normal child of about two years. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/moron-idiot-imbecile-offensive-history It appears you are an anti-Trumper. To the rest of the post, I understand your frustration and I’m sure you’ll understand mine if Sleepy Joe gets elected. So now we're going to get pedantic about the definitions of idiot or moron? Or can we skip over this rabbit trail and understand that people are using the term colloquially? Or just that other definition you apparently missed that renders it as "a foolish or stupid person?" He's just not very intelligent. And whether I am or am not an anti-trumper isn't relevant. His actions and words are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 3 hours ago, TitanTiger said: So now we're going to get pedantic about the definitions of idiot or moron? Or can we skip over this rabbit trail and understand that people are using the term colloquially? Or just that other definition you apparently missed that renders it as "a foolish or stupid person?" He's just not very intelligent. And whether I am or am not an anti-trumper isn't relevant. His actions and words are. Yes, people are using the term colloquially and therefore, use it as they perceive the person. Democrats loved the guy when he was donating to the cause, but now he is a moron. I have never thought he was a *stable genius*, but really don’t think he is a moron either. Your perception is your reality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McLoofus 35,182 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 19 hours ago, TitanTiger said: Not for me. Frankly, I think most of our presidents, at least in my lifetime, have been fairly to very intelligent. Even the ones I didn't vote for or particularly like (Carter, Clinton, Obama). Trump is an idiot. Back when a lot of us thought that we could sink no lower than Dubya, I read an article by someone with a very similar political viewpoint to mine where he discussed a couple meetings with Bush, separated by a significant amount of time. He went in fully prepared to have his expectations met and to turn in a fairly scathing piece. Instead, the first meeting showed Bush to be an extremely thoughtful, intelligent, well-read guy. At the beginning of the second meeting, Bush asked the writer several questions about personal matters they'd touched on in the first meeting. "How did your mother's surgery go?" type stuff. Evidently that's stuff that POTUSes used to have in common. Especially the well-read part. They used to all be avid readers with remarkable retention and recall. Even Dubya. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homersapien 11,373 Posted May 26, 2020 Author Share Posted May 26, 2020 3 hours ago, McLoofus said: Back when a lot of us thought that we could sink no lower than Dubya, I read an article by someone with a very similar political viewpoint to mine where he discussed a couple meetings with Bush, separated by a significant amount of time. He went in fully prepared to have his expectations met and to turn in a fairly scathing piece. Instead, the first meeting showed Bush to be an extremely thoughtful, intelligent, well-read guy. At the beginning of the second meeting, Bush asked the writer several questions about personal matters they'd touched on in the first meeting. "How did your mother's surgery go?" type stuff. Evidently that's stuff that POTUSes used to have in common. Especially the well-read part. They used to all be avid readers with remarkable retention and recall. Even Dubya. Bush made some critical errors - primarily by allowing his VP and others too much sway - but he wasn't a stupid person, in spite of his occasional spoken gaffs. Trump is in a class by himself. Totally clueless and couldn't care less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanTiger 20,482 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 19 hours ago, I_M4_AU said: Yes, people are using the term colloquially and therefore, use it as they perceive the person. Democrats loved the guy when he was donating to the cause, but now he is a moron. I have never thought he was a *stable genius*, but really don’t think he is a moron either. Your perception is your reality. Of course they are using it as they perceive the person. But that's meaningless hair-splitting and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with who they are politically. For instance, I disagreed with the vast majority of Obama's policy positions and vehemently disagreed with him on abortion and the contraceptive mandate. I voted for his Republican opponent both times he ran. I disagreed with most of Bill Clinton's policy positions as well. In addition, similar to Trump, I felt he lacked the moral character to be entrusted with the office of President. I also voted for his GOP opponent in both elections. I never believed either Obama or Clinton were unintelligent or idiots. I believe Trump to be an idiot and lacking in general intelligence because his actions and words render me unable to think otherwise. Party affiliations have nothing to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 26, 2020 Share Posted May 26, 2020 58 minutes ago, TitanTiger said: I believe Trump to be an idiot and lacking in general intelligence because his actions and words render me unable to think otherwise. Party affiliations have nothing to do with it Wouldn’t this classify you as an Anti-Trumper? Party affiliation has nothing to do with people who think Trump to be an idiot. They can be Democrat, Republican or Independent. Heck, they could be a person that doesn’t even follow politics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanTiger 20,482 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 15 hours ago, I_M4_AU said: Wouldn’t this classify you as an Anti-Trumper? Party affiliation has nothing to do with people who think Trump to be an idiot. They can be Democrat, Republican or Independent. Heck, they could be a person that doesn’t even follow politics. Ok. But wouldn't that also make me an "Anti-Obama-er?" Or an "Anti-Clintoner?" Or maybe it's just that I judge each individual on his or her own merits and none of your little boxes fit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 23 minutes ago, TitanTiger said: Ok. But wouldn't that also make me an "Anti-Obama-er?" Or an "Anti-Clintoner?" Or maybe it's just that I judge each individual on his or her own merits and none of your little boxes fit? If those terms were popular back then, yes you would be. The political scene has drifted to identity politics for awhile now and the Anti- stuff is a symptom of that type of politics. I’m with you on the merit thing and don’t like labels, but here we are. Whenever you first post on here and you make certain comments on here, you are automatically pigeon holed into a certain line of thinking. Go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TitanTiger 20,482 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 2 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said: If those terms were popular back then, yes you would be. The political scene has drifted to identity politics for awhile now and the Anti- stuff is a symptom of that type of politics. I’m with you on the merit thing and don’t like labels, but here we are. Whenever you first post on here and you make certain comments on here, you are automatically pigeon holed into a certain line of thinking. Go figure. My point is, this is an arbitrary framework you've constructed to neatly categorize (and subsequently discount or dismiss), opinions and observations on a politician. I don't play team politics. I don't decide to just not like someone, then run every piece of data about them going forward through that filter. So while you may think this pigeonholing you're doing adds something meaningful to the discussion, I am informing you that that's not the case with me. I don't think he's unintelligent because I'm a liberal, or because I'm an anti-Trumper. I think he's unintelligent because his actions and words lead me to that conclusion. And to whatever degree I do not like him or do not see him as a good president, it is also based on his actions and words. Period. Are there those (perhaps even a majority) who decide up front that they don't like a politician based on party or certain hot button issues, and then will only discuss them in terms of those presuppositions about them? Sure. But there are those of us who actually work very hard to operate outside such presuppositions and rise above it - to evaluate each politician and even each party's position on an issue on a case by case basis. So I reject that label. If you disagree with my take on him, fine. But do so by arguing against my points, not by slinging labels. That's a lazy way to argue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autigeremt 6,629 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 On 5/25/2020 at 1:31 PM, homersapien said: Let's not forget the con man dishonesty. It's all been there from his beginning. And his pre-presidency friends are just lap dogs I guess? Birds of a feather........ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homersapien 11,373 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 3 minutes ago, autigeremt said: And his pre-presidency friends are just lap dogs I guess? Birds of a feather........ I seriously doubt he had - or has - any real "friends". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 1 hour ago, TitanTiger said: My point is, this is an arbitrary framework you've constructed to neatly categorize (and subsequently discount or dismiss), opinions and observations on a politician. I don't play team politics. I don't decide to just not like someone, then run every piece of data about them going forward through that filter. So while you may think this pigeonholing you're doing adds something meaningful to the discussion, I am informing you that that's not the case with me. I don't think he's unintelligent because I'm a liberal, or because I'm an anti-Trumper. I think he's unintelligent because his actions and words lead me to that conclusion. And to whatever degree I do not like him or do not see him as a good president, it is also based on his actions and words. Period. Are there those (perhaps even a majority) who decide up front that they don't like a politician based on party or certain hot button issues, and then will only discuss them in terms of those presuppositions about them? Sure. But there are those of us who actually work very hard to operate outside such presuppositions and rise above it - to evaluate each politician and even each party's position on an issue on a case by case basis. So I reject that label. If you disagree with my take on him, fine. But do so by arguing against my points, not by slinging labels. That's a lazy way to argue. I can see your point and I hope others do too. The other two posters that liked you post are the biggest pigeonholes on this board. JMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homersapien 11,373 Posted May 27, 2020 Author Share Posted May 27, 2020 43 minutes ago, I_M4_AU said: The other two posters that liked you post are the biggest pigeonholes on this board. JMO. Awwwww, M4 is butt-hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I_M4_AU 7,838 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 1 hour ago, homersapien said: Awwwww, M4 is butt-hurt. Not at all, just calling it like I see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AUFAN78 3,897 Posted May 27, 2020 Share Posted May 27, 2020 4 hours ago, I_M4_AU said: Not at all, just calling it like I see it. Truth obviously hurt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
autigeremt 6,629 Posted May 28, 2020 Share Posted May 28, 2020 13 hours ago, homersapien said: I seriously doubt he had - or has - any real "friends". Seems like a lot of your previous political “loves” wanted his favor and often. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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