Dr. SJ stayed yelled at the TV, at Kaitlin Collins. “Say something.” And she tried, to no avail. Whether it was because she wasn’t up to the task or it was an impossibility no matter who was moderating the “Town Hall,” filled with supporters whose questions ranged from the equivalent of “what’s your favorite color” to the always tough, “if you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be,” the answers were the same. The election was rigged.
On a scale of 1 to Marjorie Taylor Greene, I’d give him an 11.
By this point, one would hope that everyone has reached the undeniable conclusion that he’s a pathological liar, at the very least about not having lost the election. Yet, there he was, pathologically lying about it anyway. Whether it was about his call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to the hundreds of miles of border wall that never happened to his defense against E. Jean Carroll’s claim of sexual abuse, to which he whined that the “Democratic” judge wouldn’t let him introduce critical evidence that she had a cat named “Vagina,” he made his case.
In response to question after question, on issue after issue, Trump denied incontrovertible facts, insisted on alternative ones, spoke of America as a country swirling down the toilet, spoke of himself as the only politician who could save it, framed his presidency as one that outshone all the others, projected his own flaws and mistakes on his critics and opponents, expressed contempt for them and claimed persecution.
He was, in other words, a font of lies keeping true to himself, ever the peacock, always cuckoo. The evening made utterly clear — just in case there was a scintilla of doubt — that his latest, third bid for the White House won’t be any kind of reset, just a full-on rehash. And that was inevitable, because someone like Trump doesn’t change. His self-infatuation precludes any possibility of that.
CNN came under harsh criticism for providing a platform for Trump to be Trump. Collins was criticized for not being tough enough to shut him down as he meandered through the darkness of his delusions in his best incoherent stream of consciousness way. But it was Trump on full display. Unfortunately or fortunately, this is the person in whom many Americans would place their trust and the power of the office of President. Could anyone have stopped this train from rolling?
There are four things to take away from the evening’s festivities.
- He won’t answer a question. If he’s asked what day of the week it is, he’ll respond with how he would stop the war in Ukraine in 24 hours because “China.”
- He feels no shame about lying about anything and everything, knowing that his supporters care nothing about whether his claims are batshit crazy or not.
- He will not abide the norms of discourse, such as responding to the question asked or stopping talking when the moderator speaks.
- He has no policies. He has no shame in claiming that he’s going to save the nation, and nothing to say about how he would do it.
And his explanation for why is that everyone who doesn’t believe him is “stupid.”
And he has no acquaintance with a thesaurus, dignity or maturity. “Stupid,” “stupid,” “stupid” — he kept using that word, I guess because it’s so presidential. He applied it to anyone who doesn’t believe that the 2020 election was stolen and rigged. He applied it to everything about the Biden administration and Democrats in Washington.
“Our country is being destroyed by stupid people — by very stupid people,” he said. He never ascended to an altitude of eloquence above that.
Anyone expecting eloquence from Trump has never heard Trump speak before.
Q. What’s your evidence?
A. You’re stupid.
For all the criticism of letting Trump put on a Trump infomercial merely by providing Trump any opportunity to speak, it had to happen eventually anyway. Like it or not, he’s running for office and, at least as of now, is still the darling of the disaffected. Picture Joe Biden on that stage with Trump, trying to get a word in edgewise, trying to confront an avalanche of lies, irrelevancies, equivocations and more lies. Biden was never much of a speaker to begin with, as his old nickname of “Gaffe Biden” suggests.
Maybe that kid DeSantis is youthful enough to shut down the steamroller head on, but he is so personally unlikeable, so far to the right and so inclined to turn away from a challenge that it’s becoming increasingly unlikely that he will run only to lose and be humiliated. DeSantis doesn’t take humiliation much better than Trump, as he showed in his war with Disney.
Even if you are capable of suspending disbelief long enough not to realize that his world is made of ridiculous false claims, if not a tenuous grasp of reality, at least as lawyers you can appreciate the absurdity of his claims that Pence had the authority to refuse to count the votes of the Electoral College or that the Presidential Records somehow entitled him to keep classified documents and “negotiate” with the National Archives.
Hate Biden all you want. Hate the Democrats all you want. Hate wokeness all you want. But you got an eyeful of the alternative last night. In 2016, people wondered whether it was time for a change, and maybe, just maybe, Trump would be that change agent America needed. It turned out that nearly every one of his “best people” ended with he’s a liar or a moron, or both.
That was Trump at the town hall. That was Trump for his four years in office. That would be Trump if he gets back to the White House. And it’s no display of superior cognition. Just a reminder of the madness that this country can’t seem to put behind it.
Not even CNN could stop Trump from proving that conclusively. Whether you believe he’s the lesser of two evils, he’s still Trump, the perpetual victim, loser, failure and whiner. And he’s just as shameless as ever.
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I enjoy reading your whining about Donald Trump. In 2016, Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi claimed the election was stolen because of Russia and that Trump was not a legitimate President. In the end, more people voted for Trump in 2020 than 2016 and he knows it.
Yet another thing shared between the far right and far left, the complete inability to employ basic logic. It explains your choice.
Welcome to the SJ Hotel, James!
I’m glad you got to say what you wanted, even if it wasn’t an issue of the post. Sadly, that kind of stuff carries no cachet with the lawyer and judge denizens of this here Hotel. You get no points.
But all is not a loss–you get a prize! After all, we’re not hard-hearted. You get a hat. Not just any hat, but the coveted “Ima SJ Dope” hat. But, be patient, as we haven’t given one away in quite a time and we ain’t sure where the hats were put. I’m thinking it may be in the banquet hall storeroom. Now that it’s Spring, the Healy got moved out of that storeroom, so it’ll be easier to find. Just give it a little time for delivery.
Hey! Where you going with my hat, Skink?
Relax, you get to keep yours. We arranged for an unlimited supply for reasons that are both obvious and recurring. When James gets his hat, the two of you can form a club! All you need is a secret handshake.
I want a hat too!
It was a political post. Nothing wrong with James’ reply.
That’s right. And Ray’s comment is astute.
Gee whiz Skink I’m confused. I’m no lawyer. I’m just a shmendrick out here in the Midwest.
But I’m genuinely curious , did James write something categorically untrue? Did Hillary et,al not claim Trump presidency was illegitimate? Sure he may have not stated things with precise accuracy; still my question remains.
And could it be said your arguing the fallacy of authority _ judges and lawyers_ .. what does being a judge/lawyer have to do with James take specifically?
Lastly if you read this have at me. I’ve takes some shots from Mr Greenfield and a few others here so I’ll gracefully accept any you might have should you choose to respond.
P.S
Just to be clear I’m responding to your response to James specifically.
I’m going to jump in here. James’ argument were both false and irrelevant, as is obvious to anyone with a functional grasp of logic. No, this is not something that anyone wants to explain. If you don’t get it, you don’t get it. But then, you really don’t belong commenting on a law blog if you fail to grasp basic logical reasoning.
I asked for it. Thanks for allowing me to continue commenting from time to time.
That was a gracious reply. The least I can do in return is explain it to you.
First, that Hillary did it is the “tu quoque” logical fallacy. That she’s ugly doesn’t mean Trump isn’t ugly. Second, Hillary let it go. Trump has not and still insists it was stolen despite it having been conclusively proven otherwise.
The winner of an election isn’t the guy who got more votes in 2020 than he did in 2016, but the guy who got the most votes in 2020. That’s how elections work. Most people know this.
Headlines be like “Trumped Is Poised To Once Again Be The Republican Nominee. Unfortunately or Fortunately.”
I could be wrong, but I don’t think Trump will be the Republican nominee in 2024. Too many people are tired of the “all circus, all the time” antics.
Heading for a repeat of the century’s most appalling political bumfight. We can only hope for intercession by natural causes.
Not again. Let’s hope the intercessions don’t become as regular as the bumfights.
As long as the gerontocracy clings to power senility and heart failure will be a concern. A maximum age for President and Congress seems like a good idea.
Oh that kind of intercession. Facepalm emoji, what kind of goof hears “where’s the asteroid” when someone says “natural causes”? No wonder my doc tells me my diet is too high in cynicism.
Yes plz.
Trump is a master showman, and when he gets in front of a camera, nothing can stop him from doing what he does best. The media is faced with a dilemma. Do they point the camera elsewhere and watch their viewers vote with their feet, or do they give him a platform knowing that he will benefit from it? There is nobody in the media nor in politics who can outshine Trump in front of a camera.
The only way they could have restrained him at all was by muting his mike. It appears that the “deal I couldn’t refuse!!!” included an agreement that he would not be muted.
Donald Trump is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I’ve ever known in my life.
As a Democrat, I don’t hate Democrats. But they have the lion’s share of making last night’s performance possible. It began in 2016, when they could find no better candidate than Hilary Clinton. Elizabeth Warren, who pretends to be Native-American when she isn’t? Bernie Sanders? (Well, give him credit for being respectful to others when he debates). And now we have a disaster on our border, drug cartels pumping fentanyl into our communities. An aggressive China, an aggressive Iran. North Korea hasn’t gone away. And the very real threat of the Ukraine siutation going nuclear (I don’t think it will, but I’m an optimist). Our currency has been greatly devalued. Our military is greatly depleted. An Afghanistan that will become a new terrorist base, with 86 billion dollars of our military equipment left there to be used against us. The Palestine, Ohio train wreck was a disaster mishandled by a Rhodes Scholar who has no business serving as secretary of transportaition. Growing inflation. Bank defaults. A current President who appears to have serious cognitive deficits, and a growing influence peddling scandal involving himself and multiple members of his family. This is what has made Donald Trump. Would this man ever have been considered a viable candidate by anyone if the Democrats weren’t rudderless? Just saying.
Trump is the ultimate trickster. The interesting question is why he is so popular.
For a voter who no longer believes in the legitimacy of the state or the “Establishment”, but has no alternative vision of its reform or replacement, support for Trump (an uncanny manifestation of Loki) is the way to express contempt of “the system”.
As Chappell says, he’s an honest liar.
“support for Trump (an uncanny manifestation of Loki) is the way to express contempt of “the system”.”
Eliot I think this is common right across the Western world. The voters are fed up with both sides, fed up with the whole system that has promised everything and produced nothing.The economies collapsing from fiat currency and the global warming/CO2 hoax may see a complete reset if we’re lucky.
I think Trump lost but I think we could do elections much better. Some demo strongholds in the east reporting substantial vote totals long, long after most of the west coast is counted is a bad look. Also I can’t outvote tens of thousands of near zombies being voted by union cronies from their hospital beds. My own mother in her dying days was voted in such a fashion
Donald Trump provides the strongest possible argument in favor of free speech because letting him talk shows who he is and what he is.
Amen!
Rhetoric is like style – it goes out of fashion once people get tired of the novelty. Trump will never be as effective as he was in 2016 because people just get tired of it. He’ll never be a candidate again.
It seems like the only people willing to take that job are the ones with the false narcissistic courage that enables them to withstand the onslaught of negative publicity.