It's Friday night And I'd like to have a cocktail-party style conversation about this:

[nolabear]

Seriously, people.

I am watching a news report about the GOP candidate for president appearing in a Playboy soft core porn video (cameo, at least).

Did you hear me? I AM WATCHING A NEWS REPORT ABOUT---

Did you ever in your life think we'd see anything like Trump? In all the pro-war, anti-war, SCOTUS, civil rights, whatever your needs, desires and agendas years we've spent since the 60s, did you ever in your wildest dreams think we'd find ourselves mired in a swamp of beauty queens, sex tapes, Cubans, Russians and a decompensating philandering narcissistic crack-of-dawn Tweeter?

Speak to me!

[forgotmylogin]

1. I think I need a refill...

[nolabear]

2. You and me both. My son is in the wine industry. Business is GOOD.

I expect it's a fairly disaster-proof profession.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. We note, however,

that Trump was not asked to star in the porn video. One might surmise that he does not have the necessary attributes.

[unblock]

18. slight rephrasing:

trump was asked not to star...

[gademocrat7]

4. Never!

This is so ridiculous.

[radical noodle]

5. Watching it Rachel now

I really did not expect someone like Trump. I expected a Franklin Graham or other religious nut. I took seriously the saying about fascism coming wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. I really thought the religious extremists would be turned off by Trump's vulgarity.

To me this is much more scary than Goldwater. Goldwater was largely marginalized but Trump doesn't seem to be. Not to mention that Goldwater had the common sense to reject the religious right.

Do I get a drink and some hors d'oeuves with my reply?

[pinboy3niner]

7. Your hors d'oeuves choices are between nutty and flaky. :) nt

[radical noodle]

8. LOL! I think I'll pass...

[forgotmylogin]

9. Mmmm

Soan papdi and crunchy chakli.

[nolabear]

11. Yes. Yes you do. And my eternal gratitude. You know I can kind of understand, terrible as it is,

the potential for really unhappy not so bright people to follow a fascist. But DONALD FREAKING TRUMP???

You just can't figure people.

[Demsrule86]

50. I don't think he has much of a following outside of those who are angry about trade or who have

white hoods in their closet, but consider it from a perspective of you are all in for the conservative bull shit (yes we know their policies have not worked and will never work). They know the courts are at stake. Now if we had a Donald Trump type candidate running as a Democrat (which could not happen as we are sane), I hope I would say well what will be , will be...but I won't vote for evil...but hey it is the courts. I don't know what I would do.

Two of my neighbors now have Trump signs...one is old and relies on social security...his wife left him last year...they fought so loudly you could hear it up and down the block...people who lived here before me said it went on for years. He worked at Delphi and lost his pension...very bitter about free trade. Let me tell you about something that happened the first week I moved here, my neighbor across the street hung himself in his garage;he had lost his pension. My daughter saw him walk into his garage too which upset her very much. Trade has been awful here. The other neighbor who announces that 'he went to Woodstock' when you meet him is also older...I don't understand him...he lost a daughter partly because she had cancer before Obamacare. Treatment was delayed which caused her death...she might have recovered otherwise. She left a 17-year-old daughter and two boys (2 and 10 years old) The now 19-year-old girl is friends with my daughter and is half Black and gay. How can her Grandfather support Trump?

Hubs won't allow me to put a sign in my yard for Hillary because someone poisoned the dogs of folks who had Hillary signs in their yard...How awful is that? He is right. We can't take the chance with our puppy's lives. We have three Pomeranians and one Jack Russell. We can't have a sign or even a bumper sticker because some Trump supporters are crazy and dangerous. My husband is actually coming with me to knock on doors after the 15th and he hates campaigning (son getting married on the 15th ...people coming into town trying to finish a year-long renovation so I can't do it until then but I have called folks) because there were several ugly incidents in 08 and 12 when my eldest daughter and I knocked on doors. It is worse this year. He doesn't feel it is safe. It is sad what this country has become. Early voting will start here the 11th and that is what I will be working on. Ohio has eliminated voting locations in Democratic and inner city areas...imagine that... so we want to get contact voters and encourage them to vote as soon as possible. I think Hillary has a chance to carry Ohio...is it in the bag no...but I think it will happen. Kasich the terrible is on record as believing Trump will lose. He has not lifted a finger to help Trump. We shall see. The good news is there are other ways for Democrats to win: unlike 2000 and 2004.

People who live elsewhere or are not in manufacturing don't understand how many people have been harmed by trade as practiced today. We really need to fix this. And the idea that these jobs are gone is a non-starter. There is profit in manufacturing, but in the 'service economy' not so much.

[jberryhill]

6. Meh - Ronald Reagan did a movie with a chimp

I thought that was kind of unusual at the time.

But, ultimately what matters?

I'd vote for a full on hardcore porn star if I thought that person had the education, experience, temperament and character for the job.

[nolabear]

14. Sure, but did you ever think it would be so close to an option? It's like a cheap mafioso is running

In fact it's EXACTLY like a cheap mafioso is running.

[unblock]

20. i'm guessing you're one of those people who throw in a "like" when they mean to just pause

[ColemanMaskell]

31. I think she meant "like" in the perfectly valid sense of "as if"

[unblock]

32. ...

Joke... As in the "like" is unnecessary in the case

[deathrind]

10. No...No...No...

"Did you ever in your life think we'd see anything like Trump?"

No, I did not. I never thought we would actually get a real world version "President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho" but here we are. It illustrates just how completely the Republican Party and its base have lost their minds. I did not think republicans could top the bar set on the crazy meter in nominating Palin...but they certainly showed me. It would be funny if it were not so terrifying.

[nolabear]

12. Palin...she started this didn't she? That's when we entered the portal to Bizarro World.

[deathrind]

44. Yes, that seems to be the point...

...when we entered this new realm. When any and all remaining prerequisite qualifications / baseline knowledge / prior experience/ common sense went straight out the effing window, IMO.

I don't blame palin for being picked, I blame McCain and Steve Schmidt (his campaign mgr) for that. I do blame her for thinking she was qualified...

However the minimum standard of qualifications for the job was originally lowered to just north of sea level when bush jr was elected (actually chosen by SCOTUS). But even jr was more qualified than Palin.

[spiderpig]

13. Mel Brooks is lined up to direct the film version

with a screenplay by Dave ("you can't make this stuff up&quot Barry.

[nolabear]

16. They both seem too smart for this. Ed Wood maybe.

I love Ed Wood. He just might do it right.

[spiderpig]

23. I'd pay real cash money to see that.

They just ran the trailer on Rachel, where she showed Trumpty at the Gerald Ford Museum in Grand Rapids getting punked by a local news reporter.

[nolabear]

24. I saw that! I hope that woman gets raise.

[spiderpig]

25. Love Rachel's background graphic done blue and white information-sign style

with a cartoon character on an escalator and a prominent downward-pointing arrow

[Zo Zig]

15. He's a dickhead, douchbag, and a Nazi.

Drinks are on me, drink up folks!

[Agnosticsherbet]

17. Actually, former Massachusetts Senator, Scott Brown, was naked in Play Girl Magazine.

[nolabear]

21. Oh yes, I remember that! Not that I have any illusions of purity about candidates.

Pecadilloes have abounded forever. But the election hasn't been so flagrantly about them ever, Big Dawg notwithstanding.

[Agnosticsherbet]

22. Considering Trump's known sexual history, his complaints about Bill

Is strange. His philandering destroyed two of his marriages.

Trump appears to think he is immune to criticsm.

[3catwoman3]

33. Here is a neologism that just popped into my head -

- how about peckerdilloes?

[Persondem]

40. That's good but it's is not gender neutral .....

How about peckerdildos?? That covers both sexes, but probably obscures the reference.

Ahhhh, late night at DU

[3catwoman3]

48. Seeing as it sprang to mind while...

...watching some commentary on the 9 wives of the Trump-Gingrich-Giuliani triumvirate of infidelity, gender neutral wasn't high on my list.

I do like yours, too.

[nolabear]

19. Instead of Hail to the Chief they could play "Bow-chicka-Bow-Bow" when he enters.

Not cracking up a bit, nope, not me.

[spiderpig]

26. Good. I was getting tired of "Send in the Clowns" anyway.

[Avalux]

27. I feel like I'm in an alternate universe. When I read your post I burst out laughing.

This week has been totally bizarre. First - Hillary completely dominated the debate. Can you say HUMILIATION?

Then things seemed to go off the rails in Donald world, and they're still going.

I find myself looking forward to the next few weeks, having full confidence in Hillary's ability to squash Donald like a bug.

[nolabear]

36. Me too. I have to admit it's only funny if he goes down bigly.

It's still scary.

[BootinUp]

28. Johnnie Walker and ice so... I am ready.

Truthfully... Truthfully... Does any of this really surprise anyone? We knew he was pretty nuts before they nominated him. I predicted, incorrectly, that he would never get the nomination. I STILL find it hard to believe they did.

[StrictlyRockers]

29. I like this image of Trump

The man-child with poor impulse control tweeting at 3:00 AM about what a fat slut Ms. Universe is.

[nolabear]

37. Where did that come from? He would make a strangely compelling cartoon.

[Barack_America]

30. I'll need another glass of wine before I'm ready.

The visuals are...unpleasant.

[sherlocksistah]

43. needed something stronger than wine

so switched to Tequila which I never drink but what the hell, it's been one of those weeks! The best news this day was to look at all the polls which show Clinton up in most of them. Also, the betting markets are going crazy over Clinton's win! She's gone up nearly 9 points in the past week and Trump has gone down 6 points at the link. Some say that betting markets are a better indicator of who will be our next president than polls. I'll drink to that!
https://electionbettingodds.com/week.html

[underpants]

34. No but he's doing a wrestling act

He opened with "rapists", talked about his size, flip his belt buckle at Dr. Ben Carson basically saying ____ MY ____, and now this.

It's an insult wrestling act. The crowd loves it because they just want to go scream and holler. He insults other people HOORAY! He insults them HOORAY! He threatens HOORAY! He loses on Monday and promises that the rematch will be different HOORAY!

They know what he's going to say, they just want to go and hear it themselves. He steals lines from what they've heard all day on the radio. They just want to go to the event. He comes out and does his "Greatest Hits" sure they've heard it 500 times but they get to cheer for it. And it all televised, almost endlessly.

In the grand wrestling tradition he made a big showy entrance. Down an escalator which, looking back, was a sign that he was starting the whole thing going lower and he's never stopped. How low will he go? Tune in next time to find out.

There are three industries that are the first to take advantage of new media, from cave drawings to moveable type to illustration-pictures-movie-radio-TV-Internet, Religion Pornography and Wrestling (violence). He's all three. HOORAY!

[nolabear]

38. It's so Andy Kaufman-esque it's amazing.

[First Speaker]

35. Hunter Thompson left us too soon...

...just imagine the fun he'd have with this election...

[nolabear]

39. What on earth would he have said? Who on earth can say it today?

We are seriously short on gonzo.

[spiderpig]

45. George Carlin, too.

[AgadorSparticus]

52. And Molly Ivens. What I would give to hear her talk about cheeto.

[leftofcool]

41. I'll take another shot, thanks!

Make it a double!

[betsuni]

42. There's a part of me, in my brains somewhere, that refuses to believe this is all real.

Like the time a couple of weeks ago when I left a piece of very colorful fabric from Thailand that I was going to make a pillow cover out of in the washing machine and forgot it was there when I threw in five white shirts to soak in bleach. The shirts came out with shocking pink splotches and I had to throw them away. I couldn't believe I'd done that, how did it happen. Of all things, why that obnoxiously colored fabric and not something mundane like a towel. Thanks, Trump.

[nolabear]

46. Exactly. We'd never have let him get this far on purpose, right? Right?

[duncang]

47. Underpants mentioned wrestling

Add wwe side show actor running for prez. Him invoking images of 400 pound hackers laying on their bed. Him at nite telling Melania he is twitting smart stuff at 3:00 am. And her telling him "Yes, donnie you are the best twit ever. Now go to sleep." .

[Wise Child]

49. I feel like we are heading towards something dystopic,

and this presidential race makes me think of Brave New World, not in terms of plot because it's The Tempest inverted, but in terms of theme. The book has something like Tweeter and texting going on, and everybody is obsessed with entertainment.

Also, in the introduction of the twentieth anniversary edition of Infinite Jest, there is this funny yet unsettling statement of "President Johnny Gentile meet Donald Trump". Johnny Gentile being a Las Vegas lounge singer who got elected president.

This does seem surreal.

Also, Frontline's The Choice: 2016 made this look even more strange. Norman Vincent Peale was the Trump family's minister. He even officiated over Donald Trump's first wedding. For some reason, I find that the weirdest new thing I learned from watching that program.

[spiderpig]

51. I always enjoyed reading dystopian novels as I was growing up, Wise Child.

I didn't anticipate the real possibility of facing such a dire situation in my lifetime.

(And I clearly remember the McCarthy hearings, the Cuban missile crisis, Goldwater, Vietnam, Reagan, and all the Middle East wars.)

Trump in the White House is unthinkable.