Monday Open Thread

6 thoughts on “Monday Open Thread”

1. "Donald Trump Promises to Fight White Collar Crime" – NOT the NYTimes

   NYTimes translates Trump's fascist screeds to not offend it's prudish audience. Above is my totally invented NYT headline for Trump's retribution message from Saturday:

   CEASE & DESIST: I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation! Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again. We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.

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   1. I am willing to bet loud-mouthed liberal bloggers who have called him names are probably on that list, as well.🙄

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   2. I guess I'd better get my "affairs in order" – I'm a donor AND have helped with election mailings. I've probably been viewed as a Political Operative at some time in the past, too.

      Dick Cheney is right (no doubt the first and last time I'll ever say that) – Trump can never be trusted with power again.

       

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   3. This post just motivated me to donate to the Harris campaign. I want to make sure I'm on the list for a long prison sentence.

      I would appreciate an hour long interview with Trump where they only talk about this post. I want questions like…

      • "Do you think you could lose in a fair election?"
      • "Do you plan on using our current criminal justice system for these prosecutions? We've seen in your criminal cases that justice can take a long time."

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      1. Id be more concerned that political donations are public and could be used by extremist in an extrajudicial capacity. 

         Trump is going to lose and he's planning his escape: steal money ✅ create a distraction… RTLM: kill the cockroaches. His plane leaves his supporters go door to door looking for dem donors 

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2. As a former debater and coach, and university faculty teaching communication, I REALLY want more people to hear Trump “live” and read his whole spouts from social media. 

   Even partisans who CHOOSE to go to a Trump rally have had reactions to his presentation. Over and over, media stories describes people leaving while he is speaking.  Brief interviews with those leaving have some range, but often include something about “confusing.”

   Those who know a subject are even MORE concerned.  For example, Reshma Saujani asked former President Donald Trump about his ideas for addressing the cost of childcare in the US at an event for the Economic Club of New York. 

   • Her issue-oriented comment: “If you don’t have a plan to fix child care, you are not fit to be President of the United States.” 
   • Her style response:  “His response? Incomprehensible at best; at worst, outrageously offensive to the millions of families drowning in costs.”

   Yep, I want more people to hear Donald Trump in sustained expression.

   And his social media.  The Washington Post story April 22, 2024 from Derek Hawkins, Clara Ence Morse, Drew Harwell, Irfan Uraizee and Adrián Blanco: “How Trump has become angrier and more isolated on Truth Social.”  I first saw it referenced in an article on Poynter.  Poynter excerpt: 

   “His following is diminished, but his posting has accelerated. He has traded combative tweets for even more belligerent screeds. Diatribes against his perceived enemies have drawn gag orders from judges in multiple cases. His media diet has become almost exclusively right-wing. And above all, he persists in spreading lies about his 2020 election loss, deep into his campaign for another term.”

   They add this ominous line that Trump’s social media usage “offers an intimate view of what his second term could look like: isolated, vitriolic and vengeful.”

   In this painstaking work, the Post analyzed all of Trump’s posts “from the official launches of his presidential campaigns in 2016 and 2024 to show how his social media use has changed from his first presidential run.” In many of his untruthful posts, the Post adds footnotes to set the record straight or provide context….

   We all know of Trump’s unsettling and disturbing social media behavior, but to see the Post round up his commentary and put it in one place for us to study is even more, well, unsettling and disturbing.

   I want more people to see the “unsettling and disturbing.”

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