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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThey Are Squirming
I know our pleasures since Trumps election have been few and far between. But I am taking great joy in knowing that the Republicans are squirming right now and there is no relief in sight. They know their discomfort is going to get progressively worse, to a point that might even prove fatal.
We all know that the average Republican voter is stupid. They have proven that repeatedly by voting against their own best interests, time after time. But many of the powers-that-be in the GOP are smart, politically-savvy people, astute enough to know that the damage Trump is doing to the country will come back and bite them in their collective ass.
We know they watched todays press conference while squirming in their seats. We know that every time their idiot-in-chief opens his mouth, eyes are rolled and faces are palmed. We know that as scandal follows on scandal now a daily occurrence those up for re-election in 2018, those who planned to rise within the Republican ranks, those who visualized launching political careers as part of a successful party are now shaking in their boots as they shake their heads.
They wont show it; theyll never admit it. But we know that behind-the-scenes, they are scared shitless of the blowback of having put an incompetent, scandal-ridden idiot in the Oval Office, and are scrambling to figure out how much of the damage can ever be undone.
Trumps so-called presidency would be an unmitigated disaster by any measure, but following the Obama years makes comparison as inevitable as it is glaringly obvious.
Imagine the humiliation of having supported a man who is incapable of uttering a cohesive sentence after eight years of a man whose every statement was a study in eloquence and intelligence.
Imagine the embarrassment of having elected a man who continually demonstrates his total lack of knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs after eight years of a man whose grasp of every topic was astounding in its depth and breadth.
Imagine the soul-crushing realization that you proffered a man for the highest position on the planet who is drowning in chaos and scandal in a matter of weeks after eight years of a man whose administration was free of even a breath of wrongdoing.
Make no mistake. Behind the forced smiles of the GOP spokespeople which are becoming more and more obvious as being desperate and straw-clutching the Republicans who are smart enough to see the writing on the wall are reading the signs, and weeping in despair behind closed doors.
They are watching their brand being damaged beyond their worst imaginings. They are witnessing a catastrophe unparalleled in its scope and far-reaching consequences. They are literally rearranging the deck chairs on a ship that has been sinking from the day it was launched. They are drowning not only in view of the country, but in view of the entire world.
I take my pleasures where I can find them these days. For now, I am enjoying the appetizer, while anticipating the full meal that will inevitably be served-up sooner rather than later complete with all the fixins that the GOP will choke on while being forced to swallow their own words.
Cary
(11,746 posts)Eyeball_Kid
(7,429 posts)who are hired by farmers to pick crops and manage the fields. ICE is engaged in massive deportations.
DACA people are squirming because if they get a TRAFFIC TICKET, ICE will deport them.
http://www.ibtimes.com/trump-immigration-ice-raids-mass-deportations-have-begun-congressman-says-2493528
Women across the nation are now faced with coming legislation that will outlaw the acquisition of inexpensive BIRTH CONTROL.
And we're supposed to feel schadenfreude when thinking about millionaire GOPer Congress people who might feel political pressure???
Cary
(11,746 posts)I'm not sure what you're asking me. I don't like Republicans. I despise "conservatives" and I hate this particular iteration that involves Donald Trump.
Yes, these people are dangerous and they will cause great pain and suffering. Yes, I oppose their evil with every fiber in my body.
Now what's your point, please?
uponit7771
(90,301 posts)NanceGreggs
(27,813 posts)... but how far away are we from the GOP spokes-mouths appearing on news shows to berate the election of the Democratic nominee, Donald Trump?
uponit7771
(90,301 posts)briv1016
(1,570 posts)On the sixth day of Hate Week, after the processions, the speeches, the shouting, the singing, the banners, the posters, the films, the waxworks, the rolling of drums and squealing of trumpets, the tramp of marching feet, the grinding of the caterpillars of tanks, the roar of massed planes, the booming of guns after six days of this, when the great orgasm was quivering to its climax and the general hatred of Eurasia had boiled up into such delirium that if the crowd could have got their hands on the two thousand Eurasian war-criminals who were to be publicly hanged on the last day of the proceedings, they would unquestionably have torn them to pieces at just this moment it had been announced that Oceania was not after all at war with Eurasia. Oceania was at war with Eastasia. Eurasia was an ally.
There was, of course, no admission that any change had taken place. Merely it became known, with extreme suddenness and everywhere at once, that Eastasia and not Eurasia was the enemy. Winston was taking part in a demonstration in one of the central London squares at the moment when it happened. It was night, and the white faces and scarlet banners were luridly floodlit. The square was packed with several thousand people, including a block of about a thousand schoolchildren in the uniform of the Spies. On a scarlet-draped platform an orator of the Inner Party, a small lean man with disproportionately long arms and a large bald skull over which a few lank locks straggled, was haranguing the crowd. A little Rumpelstiltskin figure, contorted with hatred, he gripped the neck of the microphone with one hand while the other, enormous at the end of a bony arm, clawed the air menacingly above his head. His voice, made metallic by the amplifiers, boomed forth an endless catalogue of atrocities, massacres, deportations, lootings, rapings, torture of prisoners, bombing of civilians, lying propaganda, unjust aggressions, broken treaties. It was almost impossible to listen to him without being first convinced and then maddened. At every few moments the fury of the crowd boiled over and the voice of the speaker was drowned by the wild beast-like roaring that rose uncontrollably from thousands of throats. The most savage yells of all came from the schoolchildren. The speech had been proceeding for perhaps twenty minutes when a messenger hurried onto the platform and a scrap of paper was slipped into the speakers hand. He unrolled and read it without pausing in his speech. Nothing altered in his voice or manner, or in the content of what he was saying, but suddenly the names were different. Without words said, a wave of understanding rippled through the crowd. Oceania was at war with Eastasia! The next moment there was a tremendous commotion. The banners and posters with which the square was decorated were all wrong! Quite half of them had the wrong faces on them. It was sabotage! The agents of Goldstein had been at work! There was a riotous interlude while posters were ripped from the walls, banners torn to shreds and trampled underfoot. The Spies performed prodigies of activity in clambering over the rooftops and cutting the streamers that fluttered from the chimneys. But within two or three minutes it was all over. The orator, still gripping the neck of the microphone, his shoulders hunched forward, his free hand clawing at the air, had gone straight on with his speech. One minute more, and the feral roars of rage were again bursting from the crowd. The Hate continued exactly as before, except that the target had been changed.
The thing that impressed Winston in looking back was that the speaker had switched from one line to the other actually in mid-sentence, not only without a pause, but without even breaking the syntax.
Orwell, George. 1984
Liberal Jesus Freak
(1,451 posts)TNLib
(1,819 posts)comparing Trumpsters to liberals. So yeah it's already here.
Lifelong Protester
(8,421 posts)mcar
(42,278 posts)I want them to suffer.
anarch
(6,535 posts)This guy is plainly an idiot. It's fucking embarrassing!!
jimlup
(7,968 posts)I'm sure they are doing whatever damage control they can but it is like trying to plug a burst dam with plumbers tape.
sheshe2
(83,639 posts)they own him. I hope the GOP dies a slow painful death. They all deserve each other, not one of them has a spine and not one of them has an ounce of compassion in their soul.
peggysue2
(10,823 posts)the only sliver lining in any of this is: the Republicans own this shit show lock, stock and barrel. It is on them. All of it.
Read earlier that Scarborough tweeted that Republicans on the Hill were in a near panic after listening to Trump's rambling, mindless sideshow this afternoon.
BooHoo. Karma is a bitch!
NanceGreggs
(27,813 posts)... karma has turned out to be.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)it never stops working. With gravity, if you don't keep your feet under you, you will fall. With karma, if you make bad choices, the outcomes are painful - even disasterous.
nolabear
(41,932 posts)This will be first in the queue unless he starts a war. Or the Mother of All Leaks happens.
A girl can dream...
bora13
(860 posts)The lunatic is in the hall.
The lunatics are in my hall.
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more.
...
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)blue neen
(12,319 posts)For years and years to come.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)I think they're not only squirming, they're stuck in the bathroom slumped over the porcelain vomit catcher. And there's no end in sight. Next stop: ICU.
longship
(40,416 posts)My best to you!
mac56
(17,564 posts)BUUUUUU-ick.
longship
(40,416 posts)cab67
(2,990 posts)Part of me really wants to shout "I TOLD YOU SO!" when he leaves office in disgrace - hopefully, before the end of the year.
But the rest of me takes no pleasure in this. We're witnessing a horrific tragedy - a large number of people were misled into voting for someone who objectively shouldn't even be in charge of wiping himself. His administration, however short, will have done enormous damage (especially to the majority of those who voted for him), and we'll be stuck with Pence until he can be voted out.
I will say this, though - I may not dance on this administration's grave, and I may not rub the noses of my friends and family who voted for this turd that walks as a man in it, but I will never - ever - let them forget it. Their mistake was catastrophic, and it can never be allowed to happen again.
slumcamper
(1,604 posts)I agree wholeheartedly. Schadenfreude, while perversely comforting, does nothing to mitigate the horrific tragedy. And the prospect of Pence is absolutely chilling.
The country is torn apart in every conceivable way. Politically. Economically. Socially. Religiously. Lunatics have taken over via a slow-moving coup with assistance from abroad. And the metaphorical "Tree of Liberty" thirsts.
This moment in our history is a catastrophe as you have so correctly characterized it.
Chevy
(1,063 posts)of the poor and misunderstood Trump supporter it will be a long long time so goes the tools in congress.
blue neen
(12,319 posts)?
Chevy
(1,063 posts)they loved the press conference so why would GOP change anything.
Cognitive_Resonance
(1,546 posts)They refused to put country first.
ailsagirl
(22,885 posts)kellytore
(182 posts)when his approval ratings go below 35%.
volstork
(5,399 posts)At the rate he's falling, he should be there by next Wednesday!
Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)live in an alternative universe where no matter what he does, they will spin it to be positive and us to be the oppressors.
"There is a much simpler explanation for the list of Secret Media Terrorism Coverups and the Bowling Green Massacre and the alternative facts than this idea that somehow, the Trump administration is making up facts or misleading the American people. Nonsense. They are doing the best they can with the facts they have. They simply have come here from an alternative universe."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2017/02/07/i-understand-now-the-trump-administration-is-right-about-everything/?hpid=hp_no-name_opinion-card-b%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.1ec05c7d7548
This is humorous, but very true.
alfredo
(60,071 posts)KingCharlemagne
(7,908 posts)Cosmocat
(14,558 posts)Nm
czarjak
(11,253 posts)jimlup
(7,968 posts)to be as stupid as they are now.
too bad we have to live in the country too....
ecstatic
(32,648 posts)Passing as much shitty legislation as humanly possible before they're shown the door. Fuckers!
mucifer
(23,477 posts)They will do so much damage before democrats get any significant power. We might not recognize our country.
Gothmog
(144,908 posts)bdamomma
(63,795 posts)will be going down fast......they will never live this one down.....they are a disgrace and should not be called Americans.
Geez, I guess my voodoo doll really works!
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)Resist,,,,, Obstruct,,,,,, Resist ,,,, Obstruct!
Hamlette
(15,408 posts)When Obama was under attack our folks would take a mic and defend him.
Crickets now.
They don't know what to say.
how can you defend that press conference, they lying, the Russians? And they don't dare speak against him.
Honeycombe8
(37,648 posts)It was too painful and disturbing to watch, since I was in the middle of a project. I had no idea it would be this big a deal. I'm seeing it discussed everywhere.
It was that bad? I'll have to watch a video of it.
Rex
(65,616 posts)The IC and the media will not let him bully them around. Their egos will devour his. I don't know what First Stupid thought he was doing going around CIA HQ and pissing all over their turf.
At least Bush/Cheney were our trolls, Trump is a Russian troll so who knows what he will do.
Oh did I say RUSSIA? BOO!
Scary word...Trump is going to lose it, "what did you know and when did you become a Russian puppet?"
He nearly lost it today. LOVE IT!
herding cats
(19,558 posts)Yeah, that might feed his core base, but it also feeds our core base. And, we have more people than they do in our base. They just needed a Trumpster fire lighted under their collective asses to motivate them.
DinahMoeHum
(21,774 posts)Eyeball_Kid
(7,429 posts)put the bowl down and get in the streets. This is not a spectator sport.
If you sit and watch it all with your popcorn, you're doing EXACTLY what our fascist overlords want you to do: remain passive and glib about the overthrow of the Constitution.
DinahMoeHum
(21,774 posts). . .after a long, hard day of demonstrations and working for candidates to oust the clowns currently in the Congress and in my state and county government.
And I intend to enjoy my popcorn every Saturday night at 11:30 pm (hint hint)
And we all have to do our part to make it so that it's gonna be more fun to be in the resistance than not in it.
mikelewis
(4,079 posts)How lovely would that be...
itcfish
(1,828 posts)don't think they will ever impeach him as long as the republicans control the House. One thing you have to give the republicans credit for, they stick together like Crazy Glue.
raccoon
(31,105 posts)Good!
The Wizard
(12,534 posts)in its death throes Barry Goldwater went in and had a heart to heart talk with him. Goldwater laid out the facts and shortly after Nixon resigned. But Nixon for all his shortcomings was a smart man. Kim Jong Don on the other hand is a not only a pathological liar, but so self deluded that he's convinced himself people believe his sales pitch.
The question is: Which Republican leader will offer Trump the blindfold and cigarette?
CousinIT
(9,218 posts)... be able to YANK healthcare, Medicare, Medicaid, Planned Parenthood and Social Security away from the middle class, elderly, poor, women and little kids too. Never seen them looking so utterly gleeful as psychopaths always do when they get to kill people needlessly.
My brother, who voted Trump because he said he wasn't going to "vote for any feminism" is just as happy as a clam that the country is in the hands of a mentally challenged, unqualified, incompetent, greed-driven self-serving con because at least it isn't a goddamned WO-MAN in that job. It's the classic attitude that ANY man - no matter HOW incompetent or unqualified - is better than ANY woman - no matter HOW competent, experienced or qualified - is better for ANY job and especially THAT job.
Yep. My asshole brother and lots of other asshole "men" like him are just as content as can be about it.
No squirming there - unless it's with utter DELIGHT at being able to screw to Hell and Back 99% of America and especially those goddamned uppity WOMEN once and for all.
Stellar
(5,644 posts)And every time you see BLOTUS he signing shite, right?
BumRushDaShow
(128,436 posts)He is now willing to throw his own "no taxes" policy under the bus. Because.
(his hypocrisy just reared its ugly head)
Stellar
(5,644 posts)They are all hypocrites!
BumRushDaShow
(128,436 posts)Nitram
(22,759 posts)Trumps so-called presidency would be an unmitigated disaster by any measure, but following the Obama years makes comparison as inevitable as it is glaringly obvious.
Fast Walker 52
(7,723 posts)Eyeball_Kid
(7,429 posts)They can literally alter the nation's reality frame, and they've done it over and over. The media has mirrored their every frame, redefined every political precept. And we now are reeling from their near-complete victory. One of their objectives is to impose upon the rest of us the perception of hopelessness, that there's nothing we can do, as common citizens, about the takeover of fascism. THAT is an OBJECTIVE, not an unintended consequence.
vlyons
(10,252 posts)with calling for an independent investigation at the very least. There isn't a rug big enough to sweep the corruption, treason, chaos, and lies under. Eventually the somewhat "reasonable" Republican voters will become embarrassed by the Traitor Trump administration, and they will remember who did, and who did not, be a patriot and stand up to this idiot.
I can see the 2018 TV ads already, coming from both the left and right. It won't be pretty for them.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)Imagine the embarrassment of having elected a man who continually demonstrates his total lack of knowledge of domestic and foreign affairs after eight years of a man whose grasp of every topic was astounding in its depth and breadth.
Imagine the soul-crushing realization that you proffered a man for the highest position on the planet who is drowning in chaos and scandal in a matter of weeks after eight years of a man whose administration was free of even a breath of wrongdoing.
N_E_1 for Tennis
(9,664 posts)I believe they love him. Sure he's not acting according to what they would have really wanted but,
And a really big but, they will let him go on and on until it just doesn't suit them.
It may be a while till we see this, till we accept it, till we realize we are being forced into those beliefs, before we are aware we being directed as a river flows.
Not saying it all won't fall apart, but I think his agenda is going according to his plan.
We don't know how to deal with crazy. That will be our downfall. We must focus and learn.
louis-t
(23,267 posts)And ulcers.
blueseas
(11,575 posts)This moves to the main course soon!
DK504
(3,847 posts)Nance slams this out of the park. I am hoping the media keeps the heat on these Retags in Congress. Day after day this lunatic dhows his incompetence and insanity to us.
Hope/wish/pray the Congress and his redneck cult members listen to his narcissistic behavior and run for the hills.
NNadir
(33,464 posts)...what this means to my country; it's actually terrifying on some level; but it's finally time nonetheless for the consequences of their destructive hatred to come home to roost.
What we're seeing from Trump, a racist almost from birth, is someone who doesn't have enough grace or intelligence to code.
Unfortunately, many wonderful people all around the world will suffer for their ignorance; including many, many, many innocent people.
MojoWrkn
(139 posts)Send McConnell and Chaffetz postcards DEMANDING an investigation! They might IGNORE phone calls, but a postcard puts you thoughts where they can see them! As the Chair of the House Oversight Committee it is his responsibility to call for investigations (i.e., Benghazi, e-mail server, etc!) Here's the addresses: Rep Jason Chaffetz, 2464 Rayburn House Bldg., Washington DC 20515-7751. SEND POSTCARDS DEMANDING AN INVESTIGATION. Senator Mitch McConnells address is 317 Russell Senate Office Building Washington DC 20510 and McConnells phone # is (202) 224-2541. Envelopes might get stopped for inspection so a postcard is faster! His address in Utah is: Rep Jason Chaffetz, 515 University Ave Suite, Ste 318, Provo, UT 80151-2500. McConnell also has a website you can reach by going to Congress.gov and typing in his name in the Senator Box. On his website, there is a contact box.
Response to NanceGreggs (Original post)
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NanceGreggs
(27,813 posts)... especially if he starts damaging the "GOP brand".
Trump is expendable. They will still have the WH if he goes. What is particularly of note in this case is the fact that Pence was their first choice anyway. So it's not like they have any reluctance in moving him into the presidency - in fact, it's a win/win for them. They lose a loose cannon and gain a "manageable" party loyalist who will more than happily sign their awful bills - without keeping them awake at night worrying about what nonsense he's going to tweet at 3 a.m., or whether he's going to act like a lunatic at a press conference.
It is to the GOP's advantage to Dump Trump. The only obstacle right now is the blowback from the voters still loyal to him. But we all know how malleable those voters are. It's just a matter of time before Republican PTB start planting the seeds of discontent and mistrust among their base, slowly but surely turning them against the current "shiny object".
As bad as Pence looks to us, he's an easy sell among the GOP base. He knows how to look and act the part of a "president", and his core values are in keeping with theirs. Shifting their voters' loyalty from Trump to Pence will take time, but it can be done.
I'm watching for the signs that this process is starting, e.g. Republican PTB publicly "questioning" Trump's decision-making, hinting that maybe he's not as trustworthy as originally thought, displaying reluctance to back his policies - then becoming more outspoken against him as they sense a shift in the electorate.
Let's remember that those who were dumb enough to support Trump in the first place are dumb enough to be persuaded against him without too much effort.
Response to NanceGreggs (Reply #75)
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NanceGreggs
(27,813 posts)... will be trying to get out from under the fact that they put an incompetent, slander-ridden idiot in office in the first place.
It will be a PR nightmare - and I'm sure they're working on possible damage-control talking points even as we speak.
Their best-case scenario would be to get Trump to resign (by threatening him with the public humiliation of impeachment if he doesn't). They can then say whatever they want about him once he's gone, i.e. "He was a perfectly 'normal' person when we supported/elected him, but he cracked under the pressure of the job after-the-fact."
That way, they can place all of the blame for Trump's lunacy on "Trump the president", while maintaining that "Trump the candidate" had been worthy of their initial support.
"Trump showed NO signs of incompetence or untrustworthiness until he was actually elected" will be their defense. WE know otherwise - but dumber-than-dumb RWers will buy it.
No matter how this plays out, the GOP have already lost the 2020 election. If they keep Trump (doubtful), the damage he does over the next four years will be insurmountable. (We're only FOUR WEEKS in, and look at how low his approval ratings already are.) If they dump him and install Pence, Trump supporters will insist that anything Pence did that they don't like wouldn't have happened if the party hadn't ousted their hero.
Rock and a hard place.
w100jmi
(97 posts)Dems should give/vote everything Dump wants, with conditions being known our country will crash in ruins by his policies, and dems are merely giving him what he wants. When it crashes, say we told you so and America will know his policies ruined America.