Stalin
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2008
- Messages
- 4,018
only a matter of time before this gibbering idiot is lead off to permanent exile on one of his golf courses
It is a singular if highly dubious distinction of Donald Trump’s pungent contribution to the political discourse to have essentially bankrupted the English language’s capacity for outrage.
So unremitting and extreme have been the avalanche of affronts since Trump descended the golden escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 to declare his presidential candidacy that even his most ardent critics have become desensitized, leading to a level of shock fatigue.
Trump says he approved sharing video with racist images of Obamas but claims he didn’t see part ‘that people don’t like’ - as it happened
Yet Trump’s highly racist and offensive late-night Truth Social post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes broke through the numbness barrier to register on the political Richter scale at a level few of his many previous insults ever achieved.
That Trump succeeded in surpassing his own previous levels of debased standards was only emphasized by the decision, taken under fire, to delete the post hours after the White House had initially defended it.
That rare climbdown and the attempts to pin the blame on an anonymous White House staffer are unlikely to prevent the episode from illuminating a topic that much of the media has seemed reluctant to confront head on; that Trump’s behavior, online and in public, has been growing more reckless and raises serious questions about his mental acuity and his fitness for office.
On social media, whisperings that Trump is displaying signs of cognitive decline have increased in recent weeks.
Such chatter has been fed, rather than silenced, by the president’s frequent invocations of multiple cognitive examinations that he claims to have “aced” – boasts that have merely triggered questions as to why he is undergoing such tests in the first place.
Providing further grist have been the increasing volume of nocturnal social media posts from a president who appears frequently unrestrained and frantic, even if falling short of the racist toxicity of the Obama video.
On several nights in the past two months, Trump has fired off scores of social media posts in the night hours, including vitriolic attacks on his opponents. On one night in December, he fired off more than 150 posts in a few hours.
At the same time, the president has been observed apparently falling asleep in cabinet meetings and other public forums.
Against that backdrop, Friday’s initial rebuke from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to reporters to “stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public” missed the point by a wide margin – as the later reversal only confirmed.
Critics may feel entitled to respond that such advice might be better directed to Trump, as polls show rising disapproval over his administration’s performance on affordability issues and the violent actions of ICE agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
More sentient – and ominous for Trump – was the response of the South Carolina Republican senator, Tim Scott, who is Black, and usually one of the president’s most reliable allies. Calling the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”, Scott wrote: “The president should remove it.”
www.theguardian.com
comrade stalin
moscow
It is a singular if highly dubious distinction of Donald Trump’s pungent contribution to the political discourse to have essentially bankrupted the English language’s capacity for outrage.
So unremitting and extreme have been the avalanche of affronts since Trump descended the golden escalator in Trump Tower in 2015 to declare his presidential candidacy that even his most ardent critics have become desensitized, leading to a level of shock fatigue.
Trump says he approved sharing video with racist images of Obamas but claims he didn’t see part ‘that people don’t like’ - as it happened
Yet Trump’s highly racist and offensive late-night Truth Social post depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes broke through the numbness barrier to register on the political Richter scale at a level few of his many previous insults ever achieved.
That Trump succeeded in surpassing his own previous levels of debased standards was only emphasized by the decision, taken under fire, to delete the post hours after the White House had initially defended it.
That rare climbdown and the attempts to pin the blame on an anonymous White House staffer are unlikely to prevent the episode from illuminating a topic that much of the media has seemed reluctant to confront head on; that Trump’s behavior, online and in public, has been growing more reckless and raises serious questions about his mental acuity and his fitness for office.
On social media, whisperings that Trump is displaying signs of cognitive decline have increased in recent weeks.
Such chatter has been fed, rather than silenced, by the president’s frequent invocations of multiple cognitive examinations that he claims to have “aced” – boasts that have merely triggered questions as to why he is undergoing such tests in the first place.
Providing further grist have been the increasing volume of nocturnal social media posts from a president who appears frequently unrestrained and frantic, even if falling short of the racist toxicity of the Obama video.
On several nights in the past two months, Trump has fired off scores of social media posts in the night hours, including vitriolic attacks on his opponents. On one night in December, he fired off more than 150 posts in a few hours.
At the same time, the president has been observed apparently falling asleep in cabinet meetings and other public forums.
Against that backdrop, Friday’s initial rebuke from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, to reporters to “stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public” missed the point by a wide margin – as the later reversal only confirmed.
Critics may feel entitled to respond that such advice might be better directed to Trump, as polls show rising disapproval over his administration’s performance on affordability issues and the violent actions of ICE agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
More sentient – and ominous for Trump – was the response of the South Carolina Republican senator, Tim Scott, who is Black, and usually one of the president’s most reliable allies. Calling the post “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”, Scott wrote: “The president should remove it.”
Trump’s toxic, racist video surpasses previous levels of debasement
Video deleted by White House breaks through numbness barrier and raises further questions about fitness for office
comrade stalin
moscow
