Donald is about to go through some things...

[The Thriller]

I honestly do not believe that if we fail as a species, it is any great loss. Other than not wanting people to suffer needlessly, although maybe we deserve it, as many species as we have done the same thing to, both carelessly and wantonly. In the end the world will keep spinning, regardless of what the flat earth morons believe, and eventually the sun will explode and turn this little ball of water into a cinder. And no one in the entire universe, if there is anyone else, will give a ****. Everything is, in the end, beyond our own very subjective relationships and attachments, ultimately meaningless anyway. Even the religious people think that this world is something between a test, that we get a do-over on after we die, or we just have to say jesus saved me as we die to get into heaven, so in the end their efforts to inject meaning into this life just reinforces the meaninglessness of it all anyway.

Sorry, I should stop posting today. I am in a particularly nihilistic mood right now. I don't wish harm on anyone, but if a meteor hit the planet and everyone died instantly, why would it matter in the slightest?

Yeah, you are in a nihilistic mood today and probably should take a break. I definitely don’t want a meteor to wipe us out today. Lol

I think downplaying this as mere "partisan politics" does our country a disservice. If Trump committed a crime then he needs to be held accountable. True, it might not be the biggest crime he's committed. I think he should've been hammered a long time ago for Jan 6 and for trying to steal the election in Georgia. But if this is the starting pt then so be it. If Bragg is the lone prosecutor with the courage to enforce the law right now, then that's great. We need more prosecutors who'll put politics aside and enforce the law. For far too long Trump has been given a pass because of partisan politics.

 

[leftyjace]

How is it that Trump’s infidelity, the very thing that caused all this stuff in the first place, is glossed over? Don’t get me wrong, I know that he’s human - but do you really want someone who cheats on his wife multiple times and then is even remotely or tangentially involved in a hush money situation elected as President of the United States?
Boggles my mind how people can just gloss over that.

 

[The Thriller]

All this revisioning of history on the fly is like watching a sizable portion of our electorate descend into a type of madness. It’s like a giant sideshow of people completely detached from reality. And desperately trying to force feed they’re detached from reality narrative on the real world. I can’t call it a mass psychosis, but when people are so easily manipulated by a con man who tells them what they want to hear, and what he tells them is a form of the Big Lie, well, that tells me human nature can be a HUGE detriment to the persistence of functioning democracies over the long haul. All it took was a guy like Trump to unleash this nightmare.

I’m floundering for words, but, bottom line, this emergence of irrationality in the Western mind tells me our flaws as a species are to blame, and I have no idea how to solve it. How could I?

The political operatives supporting Trump, within the Republican Party, do so because they think their party cannot survive if they alienate the base. That’s just cynicism, expected of politicians. Cowardly, and typical political cynicism(the marketing of a president) toward human nature. It’s the base itself, and all those “lunatics” we see at Trump rallies, that represent, in part, an upwelling of irrationality in the Western mind, as does the irrational rejection of authority in science, medicine, all areas of human knowledge, that taken together simply does not bode well. All in league with a concerted war against modernity, in the form of our culture wars.

We are in a real bad place as a nation. And, damn, to myself, if looks like we are in trouble as a species as well, if we are intent to continue to elevate irrationality and irrational forces, to this extent.

The dead giveaway right now is that if members of the right wanted an off-ramp for Trump and an onramp to DeSantis, THIS would be it. But they don't want it.

True, I think there's a significant portion of Republicans who are fearful of the base. They are afraid of speaking out because it might cost them a primary. They know Trump is corrupt and horrible but they know that even if they speak in support of DeSantis right now, they'll be fried.

But I also think that there's a significant number of Trump supporters and Republicans who've gone too far to turn back now. Trump gave them permission to act their worst selves and still continue to enjoy that. There's something liberating about dedicating yourself to a lost cause; whether it be towards slavery and Jim Crow or to flying your plane into a ship and killing off millions of Jews. Eric Hoffer, The True Believer offers some keen insights. A bored class of people will be attracted to an authoritarian. He always tickles their id and provides them with both the freedom from consequences for doing their worst and providing them with a structure to do their worst. This isn't limited to just world leaders, look at cults too. Cults always have their main leader and then strongmen who get off on being their worst. Sadly, I think many on the right fall into this category... They like what Trump does and how he makes them feel.

DeSantis, Pence, Haley, etc although more competent, just don't seem to have that kind of effect on people.

 

[The Thriller]

How is it that Trump’s infidelity, the very thing that caused all this stuff in the first place, is glossed over? Don’t get me wrong, I know that he’s human - but do you really want someone who cheats on his wife multiple times and then is even remotely or tangentially involved in a hush money situation elected as President of the United States?
Boggles my mind how people can just gloss over that.

See my post 1,215 on this. Because logically, you’re right about this. If you value honesty and fidelity then how can you excuse this?

Trump gives permission freedom to think and act their worst. People empowered by this don't think negatively that Trump is blackmailing the president of Ukraine, pledging allegiance to Jan 6ers, or paying off porn stars that he's slept with. If anything, it's empowering because he's as rotten as they fantasize. There's power in being free to act your worst.

 

[LogGrad98]

How is it that Trump’s infidelity, the very thing that caused all this stuff in the first place, is glossed over? Don’t get me wrong, I know that he’s human - but do you really want someone who cheats on his wife multiple times and then is even remotely or tangentially involved in a hush money situation elected as President of the United States?
Boggles my mind how people can just gloss over that.

Eh, Clinton got elected twice. No way in hell Monica was the first or only. And he lied under oath about it. Americans don't seem to give two ***** about straight up morality in their president.

 

[fishonjazz]

How is it that Trump’s infidelity, the very thing that caused all this stuff in the first place, is glossed over? Don’t get me wrong, I know that he’s human - but do you really want someone who cheats on his wife multiple times and then is even remotely or tangentially involved in a hush money situation elected as President of the United States?
Boggles my mind how people can just gloss over that.

I mean trump university, fraudulent charities, grab em by the *****, and his total lack of experience/qualifications should have been way more than enough to get people to not vote for him. That is if the voters are sane.
We are coming to find that so many in the GOP are not sane though. Trump said he could shoot someone in 5th avenue and not lose any supporters. He knew his people were mindless sheep and literally called them sheep with that statement.
So what did the sheep do? Followed the shepherd wherever he led them of course

 

[The Thriller]

Eh, Clinton got elected twice. No way in hell Monica was the first or only. And he lied under oath about it. Americans don't seem to give two ***** about straight up morality in their president.

Clinton was re-elected on 1996 but it didn’t become publicly known that he was having an affair with Lewinksy until 1998. I think time and context matter here. Had Clinton run for re-election in 1998, he might not have been re-elected because of the Lewinsky affair. Trump was elected despite the access Hollywood “grab em by the *****” tape and faced no real accountability until now over Stormy.

It’s not like Stormy was Trump’s only transgression. Comparing the two, Trump to Clinton, is again, just dumb both sidesizingism that helps no one. I think one could argue that Trump’s evangelical “family values” coalition has demonstrated an incredible amount of hypocrisy. They harped from 1998-2016 about the importance of values. Why did that suddenly change?

 

[gandalfe]

Eh, Clinton got elected twice. No way in hell Monica was the first or only. And he lied under oath about it. Americans don't seem to give two ***** about straight up morality in their president.

Given that the most obviously, traditionally, moral president we've had in 50 years lost his reelection campaign, you're absolutely right.

 

[Gameface]

Given that the most obviously, traditionally, moral president we've had in 50 years lost his reelection campaign, you're absolutely right.

Carter?

 

[gandalfe]

Clinton was re-elected on 1996 but it didn’t become publicly known that he was having an affair with Lewinksy until 1998. I think time and context matter here. Had Clinton run for re-election in 1998, he might not have been re-elected because of the Lewinsky affair. Trump was elected despite the access Hollywood “grab em by the *****” tape and faced no real accountability until now over Stormy.

It’s not like Stormy was Trump’s only transgression. Comparing the two, Trump to Clinton, is again, just dumb both sidesizingism that helps no one. I think one could argue that Trump’s evangelical “family values” coalition has demonstrated an incredible amount of hypocrisy. They harped from 1998-2016 about the importance of values. Why did that suddenly change?

There were a number of allegations about Clinton prior to 1992 when he was elected the first time, but, as I recall, none of them were proven until Lewinski. (It was actually during a trial on one of them, the Paula Jones case, that he denied having sex with Lewinski.)

 

[gandalfe]

Carter?

Yup. Remember him saying his moral failing was that he had "lusted in his heart?" And the thing was, we all believe that was the worst thing he did, and, in retrospect, it probably was.

 

[Gameface]

Yup. Remember him saying his moral failing was that he had "lusted in his heart?" And the thing was, we all believe that was the worst thing he did, and, in retrospect, it probably was.

My parents were huge fans. They said he couldn't win because he was too honest.

He went on to be a great person after his presidency, showing that he really did care about people, all people. The fact that we don't look back and hold him up as an example of what a great U.S. President is says a lot about us as a nation.