Prelude to the Apocalypse

[BryanM]

Ick, so boring. SO BORING.

Why don't they get something new. Where's the old guy with dementia yelling at imaginary people? That would be interesting.

They make politics boring intentionally so only garbage people will vote. That's why our government is garbage. Garbage out, garbage in.

They're very clever, them.

[quash]

It's never enough.

Even the media can't spin this one, dude. Either the US sponsored the world's shittiest coup or Erdogan did. Either way, the end result is the death of secular Turkey and the potential loss of the second largest NATO army (Kerry himself has threatened as much).

[EmperorIng]

It's hard not to see this failed coup as Turkey's Reichstag burning - you have a two-bit dictator and ISIS sympathizer* steadily crushing the democracy of the nation, and now has the perfect excuse to purge all "threats" to his """democracy""", including political opposition parties, dissidents, journalists, intellectuals... I feel very sorry for the people of Turkey, and I wish the USA and Europe would be more firm in extracting allegiance from Erdogan. How a would-be autocrat like him can bully around the EU and USA is truly an embarrassment. What's that old political concept: a weak power dictating to a strong power? Reverse-machtpolitik?

*is there anyone who thinks he doesn't turn a blind eye towards a group that carries out a useful proxy extermination war against his hated Kurdish minority? To say nothing of the porous border between Turkey, Syria, and Iraq that conveniently creates a nice avenue for black market goods and refugees (along with "refugees").

[Mischief Maker]

“I put lipstick on a pig,” he said. “I feel a deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.” He went on, “I genuinely believe that if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization.”

If he were writing “The Art of the Deal” today, Schwartz said, it would be a very different book with a very different title. Asked what he would call it, he answered, “The Sociopath.”

[...]

“Trump has been written about a thousand ways from Sunday, but this fundamental aspect of who he is doesn’t seem to be fully understood,” Schwartz told me. “It’s implicit in a lot of what people write, but it’s never explicit—or, at least, I haven’t seen it. And that is that it’s impossible to keep him focussed [sic] on any topic, other than his own self-aggrandizement, for more than a few minutes, and even then . . . ” Schwartz trailed off, shaking his head in amazement. He regards Trump’s inability to concentrate as alarming in a Presidential candidate. “If he had to be briefed on a crisis in the Situation Room, it’s impossible to imagine him paying attention over a long period of time,” he said.

[...]

This year, Schwartz has heard some argue that there must be a more thoughtful and nuanced version of Donald Trump that he is keeping in reserve for after the campaign. “There isn’t,” Schwartz insists. “There is no private Trump.” This is not a matter of hindsight. While working on “The Art of the Deal,” Schwartz kept a journal in which he expressed his amazement at Trump’s personality, writing that Trump seemed driven entirely by a need for public attention. “All he is is ‘stomp, stomp, stomp’—recognition from outside, bigger, more, a whole series of things that go nowhere in particular,” he observed, on October 21, 1986. But, as he noted in the journal a few days later, “the book will be far more successful if Trump is a sympathetic character—even weirdly sympathetic—than if he is just hateful or, worse yet, a one-dimensional blowhard.”

New tell-all article by the ghost writer of Trump's "Art of the Deal" in the New Yorker. It's about as gruesome as you would expect. I no longer think Trump would be George Bush jr. part 2, he'll be worse.

I bet there will be moments twice as cringe-filled as the GWB dancing along with the reggae dudes thing that Mischief Maker posted.

Wait, what? I didn't link the bongos video. I linked an obviously drunk George Bush jr. dancing during the memorial for the slain Dallas police officers.

[BryanM]

I no longer think Trump will be George Bush jr. part 2, he'll be worse.

fixed that 4 u.

It's best to reject reality and escape into a delusional fantasy world imho. Your own personal nirvana. Because the real world... yeah.

I'm more concerned about the people who double space after periods. HTML only recognizes a single space, and double spacing only made sense back in the ancient days of fixed width fonts. Now that we have variable width fonts, the entire practice is just a weird form of unnecessary OCD.

I just don't get it. Is that an east coast thing? Are they living in the past? Is that the reason why Trump is president now?

[Obscura]

So, after Trumps discussions on foreign policy, why isn't every leftist who wants to reduce military spending supporting him?

He's the first politician in recent history to come up with a remotely reasonable plan for doing so. With our treaties, we're basically forced to spend not only for our own defense, but also for most of Europe and the pacific. For a country like South Korea or Japan or Germany, paying the U.S. the cost of our military stationing in their region would be an absolute bargain compared to creating a military of their own (economies of scale...), and that's not even factoring in that in the event of any conflict, it's the blood of U.S. soldiers that would be on the line, rather than the blood of their own countrymen.

[Rob]

So, after Trumps discussions on foreign policy, why isn't every leftist who wants to reduce military spending supporting him?

Because of everything else.

[antron]

I don’t want to tell you what I’d do because I don’t want Putin to know what I’d do.

Why didn't you tell the world, EH?

[BulletMagnet]

So, after Trumps discussions on foreign policy, why isn't every leftist who wants to reduce military spending supporting him?

Also because reducing any particular part of the budget, or, heck, most any bumper-sticker initiative you could name ("create jobs", "improve education") is much like his promises to reduce "waste" - his methods and goals, if not the very definition of the word, are likely very different from those of anyone not already in his camp, though on that particular front he's offered very little in the way of clarification.

[Mischief Maker]

So, after Trumps discussions on foreign policy, why isn't every leftist who wants to reduce military spending supporting him?

Because of everything else.

Especially his stance that Climate Change is a Chinese hoax, that he would pull out of the Paris Agreements, overturn all of Obama's carbon-control executive orders, open up even more federal land to oil drilling, and his promise to abolish the "Department of Environmental."

By the way, opening up more federal lands to oil drilling doesn't give us the oil (and expected oil independence). It still goes into a world market where it's sold to the highest bidder. Unless Donald is also promising to nationalize the US oil industry like Mohammad Mosaddegh.

[BryanM]

How dare anyone criticize the policies of our Dear Leader!

Those fatcats at the Department of Environmental have gotten away with too much shit for far too long. Their forthcoming execution by anti-air artillery barrage is entirely necessary.

This is the only way we can be free.

[BryanM]

Gonna tell you guys a secret. Why I'm not terrified of the accelerationist universe we're living in now.

Perhaps the GOP is completely fucking insane and will exterminate all life on the planet. Sure. But!

We have these guys called democrats. As the opposition party, I have 100% faith in them to stop Trump's worst excesses from coming to fruition.

History is the best tutor on this matter. Senate Democrats opposed the Iraq War. They stopped the 2006 attempt to undermine the post office. And they opposed Obama's attempt of putting a republican on the supreme court, freezing that nomination in its tracks.

With these guys on our side, I'm certain they will be a fine bulwark to stonewall the crazies from doing us harm.

[Mischief Maker]

Can't wait for Hillary to announce Joe Lieberman as her running mate tomorrow!

So weird to have all my hopes pinned on Gary Johnson getting that 15% right now, and to find myself feeling thankful to Ted Cruz.

So this is why "may you live in interesting times" is supposed to be a curse!

[GaijinPunch]

So, after Trumps discussions on foreign policy, why isn't every leftist who wants to reduce military spending supporting him?

He's the first politician in recent history to come up with a remotely reasonable plan for doing so. With our treaties, we're basically forced to spend not only for our own defense, but also for most of Europe and the pacific. For a country like South Korea or Japan or Germany, paying the U.S. the cost of our military stationing in their region would be an absolute bargain compared to creating a military of their own (economies of scale...), and that's not even factoring in that in the event of any conflict, it's the blood of U.S. soldiers that would be on the line, rather than the blood of their own countrymen.

Considering Abe is frothing at the mouth to rewrite the pacifist constitution, he'd welcome a US exodus.

[Mischief Maker]

So we've really come to this.

[Ed Oscuro]

Where's the old guy with dementia yelling at imaginary people?

here's your answer, p.s. trump is the old guy with dementia yelling at imaginary people. Even his Art of the Deal ghostwriter wants to call him "The Sociopath."

Considering Abe is frothing at the mouth to rewrite the pacifist constitution, he'd welcome a US exodus.

And some Chinese want this too.

[Xyga]

Enemies. Enemies everywhere.

[quash]

The US isn't leaving the Pacific any time soon. Stop falling for memes and educate yourselves.

[BryanM]

DNC email leak today. Not very interesting. You can already see their coordination and the horrible things they support by flipping on a TV. If they're willing to do that out in the open where everyone can see, of course they did it in the dark, too.

On a very fundamental level it does sicken me to even consider helping our enemies win, giving them ever-greater power to continue to win in the future. (Once again, the republicans aren't our enemies. They're non-entities. They're like the wall you bounce the ball off of when playing tennis by yourself. Or the holes in the ground in Super Mario Brothers. They're just what happens to you when you fail to deserve to continue to live.)

A lot of you disagree since you care more about what happens one week from now instead of a decade, and that's fine too I guess.

Considering Abe is frothing at the mouth to rewrite the pacifist constitution, he'd welcome a US exodus.

An excellent running mate for Hill 10/10 would take over the names she'd actually pick no joking no sarcasm

[BryanM]

lol fukking Tim.

Could not even pick the ideal identity politics running mate Castro, because she's racist I guess and couldn't tolerate being around One of Them 24/7 for 4 years.

[trap15]

https://theintercept.com/2016/07/20/tim ... -to-banks/

You know, shit like this (and the other shit the DNC leaks are showing) makes it p.much impossible for me to vote Shillary. Literally cannot vote for anyone this year.

I can't believe this shit. We had a chance.

[BryanM]

lol fukking Tim.

Could not even pick the ideal identity politics running mate Castro, because she's racist I guess and couldn't tolerate being around One of Them 24/7 for 4 years.

I can explain how this catastrophe happened, Bryan.

See, she was given a list of names by her owner and told to pick one of them. The list of names was very long and carefully cultivated, weighing just how much money they would make off of each one. She then carefully considered the options offered, using her ample wisdom on what people would like to see, weighed versus her personal opinion of what her life would be like to interact with these people on a day to day basis like you said.

And by that I mean the list had one name on it and it was Kaine.

So you see, she can't be a racist.

[Mischief Maker]

And here I was getting hopeful after the Republican Convention was such a goddamn mess.

It's not as bad as when we, the citizenry of Wisconsin, got together the signatures to recall Scott Walker, then passed the ball to the Democratic Party and they went with fucking Tom Barrett, who just lost an election to Walker.

But fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck! Nobody squanders an opportunity like the democrats.

[BryanM]

Nobody squanders an opportunity like the democrats.

They're not squandering anything.

They want republicans to win as much as possible. They're paid to do this. That's why the GOP controls around 80% of the state governments.

It's WWE. Root for whoever; it's still a show owned and put on by one person in the end.

hopeful

oh ye of little faith.

dehumanize yourself and submit to Trump.

I stayed up very late on the night of March 15th. Bernie Sanders was realistically eliminated from winning the primary on that day. "Trump is the president." I repeated this thought over and over again in my mind. This reality was difficult to wrestle with. Yeah, I've been calling him the next George W and Ronald Reagan since the first GOP debate. But actually seeing it happen and having to grapple with it. To finally come to a place where I can accept it through full blown denial.

Yeah.

Every single one of you should have, by now, had a 38 hour uninterrupted moment of reflection on the fact that Donald Trump is now our president. For real. No joking. No take backs.

[EmperorIng]

I figured she picked Timmy to siphon off white votes, which will be the only way Trump wins. It's not like she needs to work for black or Hispanic votes.

[BryanM]

I figured she picked Timmy to siphon off white votes, which will be the only way Trump wins. It's not like she needs to work for black or Hispanic votes.

lololololololol

Lowest turnout of black people and latinos in modern history. Biggest turnout of white people since 2000.

Trump is president. "How'd that happen :sad face:"

This kind of sad face:

[Bitter Almonds]

Hey, if you hate shrillary and trump, then vote for Gary Johnson at least. Do it just for kicks

[Mischief Maker]

I'm gonna hold my nose and vote for Hillary, but for sure if any pollsters call any of you in the near future, tell them you're voting for Gary Johnson.

He's just two percentage points shy of getting a spot in the presidential debates and making life very uncomfortable for both candidates.

I wonder if Jill Stein gets a boost from this Veep pick? It could turn into a four-party race!

[EmperorIng]

I wish pollsters called around Chicago. This place is so slavishly Dem it hurts, especially when big-city Dem is actually just a code-word for mob intimidation. This state's electoral fate is sealed

[Bitter Almonds]

shrillary doubled down with such a miserable VP choice. Oh, so he speaks Spanish? Vete a la verga, shrillary