The Trump Presidency

[Rage Against the McKee]

KSUW is all about this

https://twitter.com/jessicavalenti/status/919920540684554244

I created a thread for liberals losing their minds over Trump, but it could just as easily be this thread of many others. You are so deranged that you can't realize that Trump was joking about how Pence has been unfairly characterized. Nope, to a liberal, Trump just confessed that Pence wants to hang gays.

Given the presidents track record of being a bigot and racist I can’t believe I took this joke about killing gay people the wrong way.  The president of the United States of America is just joking about killing gay people guys, my bad.

Again, he was not joking about hanging gays. He was joking about the absurdity of how people (like you) actually think Mike Pence wants to kill gays. That's an important distinction that, sadly, I don't think you're going to get. Because you are a dumbass and/or batshit crazy. Pretty sure it's both.

He was making fun of Mike. You would have to go through some pretty extreme mental gymnastics to conclude that he was making fun of the liberals. The jokes were funny, too. The people getting offended are pretty ridiculous.

[mocat]

My guess is that trump was just being a prick about pence being a known hardcore gay hater

exactly.  He thinks he's funny and has no idea the impact of his words.  He'd be fired already if he was CEO of a public company....but we've got fools falling all over themselves to defend him as POTUS...it's the weirdest thing I've ever seen.

This is without a doubt the most depressing thing about politics for me. No one seems to care about the merits or performance of a candidate. They feel like they have to defend their party and do all kinds of crazy mental gymnastics to get there.

I agree with you in general - just not about this particular instance. "Defending" that Trump joke isn't mental gymnastics, it is mental walking in a straight line while sober. It is reason and common sense, something that was always in short supply and has now flown completely out the window for liberals who were mentally broken by the staggeringly unexpected Trump win.

I'd prefer not to defend Trump as much as I do - he wasn't my choice for president - but if liberals would stop acting so ducking crazy I wouldn't have to.

amaze

[star seed 7]

KSUW is all about this

https://twitter.com/jessicavalenti/status/919920540684554244

I created a thread for liberals losing their minds over Trump, but it could just as easily be this thread of many others. You are so deranged that you can't realize that Trump was joking about how Pence has been unfairly characterized. Nope, to a liberal, Trump just confessed that Pence wants to hang gays.

Given the presidents track record of being a bigot and racist I can’t believe I took this joke about killing gay people the wrong way.  The president of the United States of America is just joking about killing gay people guys, my bad.

Again, he was not joking about hanging gays. He was joking about the absurdity of how people (like you) actually think Mike Pence wants to kill gays. That's an important distinction that, sadly, I don't think you're going to get. Because you are a dumbass and/or batshit crazy. Pretty sure it's both.

He was making fun of Mike. You would have to go through some pretty extreme mental gymnastics to conclude that he was making fun of the liberals. The jokes were funny, too. The people getting offended are pretty ridiculous.

Yeah, this is one of the rare times that trump is OK imo

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

KSUW is all about this

https://twitter.com/jessicavalenti/status/919920540684554244

I created a thread for liberals losing their minds over Trump, but it could just as easily be this thread of many others. You are so deranged that you can't realize that Trump was joking about how Pence has been unfairly characterized. Nope, to a liberal, Trump just confessed that Pence wants to hang gays.

Given the presidents track record of being a bigot and racist I can’t believe I took this joke about killing gay people the wrong way.  The president of the United States of America is just joking about killing gay people guys, my bad.

Again, he was not joking about hanging gays. He was joking about the absurdity of how people (like you) actually think Mike Pence wants to kill gays. That's an important distinction that, sadly, I don't think you're going to get. Because you are a dumbass and/or batshit crazy. Pretty sure it's both.

He was making fun of Mike. You would have to go through some pretty extreme mental gymnastics to conclude that he was making fun of the liberals. The jokes were funny, too. The people getting offended are pretty ridiculous.

Yeah, this is one of the rare times that trump is OK imo

I think it's fair to say he was poking fun at Pence and the crazy liberals who think Pence actually wants to execute gays. Either way, the people getting bent out of shape over this are being absurd, so we agree on that much, which is really the whole point.

[Phil Titola]

KSUW is all about this

https://twitter.com/jessicavalenti/status/919920540684554244

I created a thread for liberals losing their minds over Trump, but it could just as easily be this thread of many others. You are so deranged that you can't realize that Trump was joking about how Pence has been unfairly characterized. Nope, to a liberal, Trump just confessed that Pence wants to hang gays.

Given the presidents track record of being a bigot and racist I can’t believe I took this joke about killing gay people the wrong way.  The president of the United States of America is just joking about killing gay people guys, my bad.

Again, he was not joking about hanging gays. He was joking about the absurdity of how people (like you) actually think Mike Pence wants to kill gays. That's an important distinction that, sadly, I don't think you're going to get. Because you are a dumbass and/or batshit crazy. Pretty sure it's both.

He was making fun of Mike. You would have to go through some pretty extreme mental gymnastics to conclude that he was making fun of the liberals. The jokes were funny, too. The people getting offended are pretty ridiculous.

Yeah, this is one of the rare times that trump is OK imo

I think it's fair to say he was poking fun at Pence and the crazy liberals who think Pence actually wants to execute gays. Either way, the people getting bent out of shape over this are being absurd, so we agree on that much, which is really the whole point.

Who is getting bent out of shape?

[mocat]

TBT was getting pretty bent out of shape but that is also his normal pit shape

[catastrophe]

People that are getting bent out of shape over this are the exact same people who get outraged when any high profile person says or does anything similar. The difference is that this time people on the right who would usually just ignore it are actually rushing to defend the comments because politics.

[michigancat]

I think what's craziest is the brushing off his sexual assault accusations

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/10/9/1705659/-When-Trump-became-president-we-began-ignoring-the-women-who-d-accused-him-of-sexual-assault

[K-S-U-Wildcats!]

This thread seems like as good a place as any to expound a bit on the "Trump's election has driven liberals even crazier than normal" theme....

I can sympathize with liberals because I know how it felt when Obama won in 2008 and, even worse, was reelected in 2012. But Trump's election is actually much, much deeper of a shock to liberals than Obama's win was for conservatives, for several reasons:

First, when Obama won in 2008, we at least saw it coming. I knew McCain was probably effed. I actually expected Romney to win in 2012, but I quickly came to understand that Obama's numbers people had Romney beat pretty much from the start. By contrast, almost nobody anticipated a Trump win. At best, conservatives had a faint hope that things could break just right. And then they did. So the surprise factor is much bigger this time around.

Second, Clinton's loss represented a much more severe reversal of political fortunes than when Obama replaced Bush. Most of Obama's legacy was built on sand - executive orders - that could have been upheld by Clinton, but could be (and are) easily wiped away by Trump. Not to mention the fact that liberals were on the cusp of the ultimate prize: replacing the strongest textualist on the Supreme Court with another liberal ideologue. So not only was Trump's win a shock - it was an "oh eff this is a huge problem for Obama and liberalism" kind of shock.

Third, and most importantly, it was much easier for conservatives to justify Obama's win in 2008 (less so in 2012, but still possible) on superficial grounds. Yes, we hated Obama's liberal politics, but we could at least comfort ourselves that a great many Americans didn't vote for Obama in support of his politics - they simply liked him better on a more superficial level. He was a smooth, cool guy. He gave amazing-sounding speeches, if you didn't think too much about the content. With Trump, that's a lot harder to do. Trump's an bad person. He's brash. He's not very articulate. Liberals understand, on some level, that Trump was elected because a majority of the American people (at least, as they count according to the electoral college) were casting a vote against all the liberal PC bullshit. Trump's win was a direct thumb in the eye to liberal ideology, not easily excused by pointing to charisma or messaging.

Fourth, liberals just tend to be more emotional than conservatives. It is what it is.

Fifth, Trump continues to troll the liberals on a nearly daily basis with his tweets because it is politically advantageous to him to keep the liberals frothing at the mouth.

Take any one of these reasons, but particularly combine all five, and it is completely understandable that Trump's win has driven a great many liberals to go completely insane. I'm just putting this out there for their consideration. If they want to continue to live in their fever swamp of irrational rage, butthurt, and stupidity, that's up to them, and it's probably to my political advantage.

[The Big Train]

Why would anybody read all that

[The Big Train]

TBT was getting pretty bent out of shape but that is also his normal pit shape

It’s a wasteland down here so idk how you could say anyone is anything other than normal pit shape down here.

[star seed 7]

I read all of it and it's bullshit. The narrative that liberals are losing their minds is bullshit. It's a weak attempt for people to rationalize their vote for Donald Trump as they see how absurdly unfit he is to be president. Ksudub isn't stupid, he knows trump is going to go down as the worst president in history.

[gatoveintisiete]

They would read it because they know KSU is smart, and says accurate things.

[star seed 7]

The most ironic part is trump being president and actually still having smart people like kdub as supporters is proof that the unprecedented freakout over Obama is still continuing

[chum1]

Anyone comparing Trump's presidency to any other president's (save perhaps Andrew Jackson) is utterly clueless about why Trump is hated.

[gatoveintisiete]

This is the crossroads boys, KSU has told you the truth, can you accept it?  The media hasn’t been able to, Hollywood hasn’t been able to.  People that can’t accept it and step back into reality may be lost forever...................

[Phil Titola]

Now I know who he was referring to as getting bent out of shape. Wowie

[star seed 7]

Now 27 is not very smart and I fully believe he has no idea how absurdly unfit trump is as president

[420seriouscat69]

It's Tuesday, guys!

[catastrophe]

Fourth, liberals just tend to be more emotional than conservatives. It is what it is.

I seem to remember an entire thread dedicated to arguing that neither side was more rational than the other.

But that point doesn’t serve this particular narrative so eff it, right? #politics

[catastrophe]

Anyone comparing Trump's presidency to any other president's (save perhaps Andrew Jackson) is utterly clueless about why Trump is hated.

I agree that comparison to Jackson is probably as close as you can get. I would also argue some parallels to Harding because it’s clear he has no control over what is going on in the WH.

[chum1]

“For the most part, to the best of my knowledge, I think I’ve called every family of somebody that’s died, and it’s the hardest call to make, and I said it very loud and clear yesterday. The hardest thing for me to do is do that,” Trump said Tuesday morning during an interview with Fox News radio host Brian Kilmeade.

“Now, as far as other representatives, I don’t know,” he continued. “I mean, you could ask General Kelly did he get a call from Obama. You could ask other people. I don’t know what Obama’s policy was. I write letters, and I also call.”

https://twitter.com/politico/status/920310969624154112

[Dugout DickStone]

This thread seems like as good a place as any to expound a bit on the "Trump's election has driven liberals even crazier than normal" theme....

I can sympathize with liberals because I know how it felt when Obama won in 2008 and, even worse, was reelected in 2012. But Trump's election is actually much, much deeper of a shock to liberals than Obama's win was for conservatives, for several reasons:

First, when Obama won in 2008, we at least saw it coming. I knew McCain was probably effed. I actually expected Romney to win in 2012, but I quickly came to understand that Obama's numbers people had Romney beat pretty much from the start. By contrast, almost nobody anticipated a Trump win. At best, conservatives had a faint hope that things could break just right. And then they did. So the surprise factor is much bigger this time around.

Second, Clinton's loss represented a much more severe reversal of political fortunes than when Obama replaced Bush. Most of Obama's legacy was built on sand - executive orders - that could have been upheld by Clinton, but could be (and are) easily wiped away by Trump. Not to mention the fact that liberals were on the cusp of the ultimate prize: replacing the strongest textualist on the Supreme Court with another liberal ideologue. So not only was Trump's win a shock - it was an "oh eff this is a huge problem for Obama and liberalism" kind of shock.

Third, and most importantly, it was much easier for conservatives to justify Obama's win in 2008 (less so in 2012, but still possible) on superficial grounds. Yes, we hated Obama's liberal politics, but we could at least comfort ourselves that a great many Americans didn't vote for Obama in support of his politics - they simply liked him better on a more superficial level. He was a smooth, cool guy. He gave amazing-sounding speeches, if you didn't think too much about the content. With Trump, that's a lot harder to do. Trump's an bad person. He's brash. He's not very articulate. Liberals understand, on some level, that Trump was elected because a majority of the American people (at least, as they count according to the electoral college) were casting a vote against all the liberal PC bullshit. Trump's win was a direct thumb in the eye to liberal ideology, not easily excused by pointing to charisma or messaging.

Fourth, liberals just tend to be more emotional than conservatives. It is what it is.

Fifth, Trump continues to troll the liberals on a nearly daily basis with his tweets because it is politically advantageous to him to keep the liberals frothing at the mouth.

Take any one of these reasons, but particularly combine all five, and it is completely understandable that Trump's win has driven a great many liberals to go completely insane. I'm just putting this out there for their consideration. If they want to continue to live in their fever swamp of irrational rage, butthurt, and stupidity, that's up to them, and it's probably to my political advantage.

I actually think that is at least well reasoned except for 2 things.  Saying liberals are losing their mind over and over again makes the person who says it look like a major someone who makes me uncomfortable.  Get over what other people are saying, the whining about "liberals losing their mind" is so beta.  Second, reasoning how Trump won without mentioning he galvanized his racisty base doesn't account for the whole picture. 

Otherwise, W does describe why it was a shock to the left.  And it was surprising to us moderates also.

[Brock Landers]

“For the most part, to the best of my knowledge, I think I’ve called every family of somebody that’s died, and it’s the hardest call to make, and I said it very loud and clear yesterday. The hardest thing for me to do is do that,” Trump said Tuesday morning during an interview with Fox News radio host Brian Kilmeade.

“Now, as far as other representatives, I don’t know,” he continued. “I mean, you could ask General Kelly did he get a call from Obama. You could ask other people. I don’t know what Obama’s policy was. I write letters, and I also call.”

https://twitter.com/politico/status/920310969624154112

Trump is more concerned with trying to convince people he's consoling soldiers' families better than any President in history rather than actually consoling soldiers' families.

[cfbandyman]

I guess line by line

This thread seems like as good a place as any to expound a bit on the "Drumpf's election has driven liberals even crazier than normal" theme....

I can sympathize with liberals because I know how it felt when Obama won in 2008 and, even worse, was reelected in 2012. But Drumpf's election is actually much, much deeper of a shock to liberals than Obama's win was for conservatives, for several reasons:

First, when Obama won in 2008, we at least saw it coming. I knew McCain was probably effed. I actually expected Romney to win in 2012, but I quickly came to understand that Obama's numbers people had Romney beat pretty much from the start. By contrast, almost nobody anticipated a Drumpf win. At best, conservatives had a faint hope that things could break just right. And then they did. So the surprise factor is much bigger this time around.
A goodly amount of this is correct. If anything McCain was effed for having someone off seeming out of, I suppose right field instead of left field, in Palin. I think a 2000 version of McCain could've potentially won over his 2008 version, he bowed to the nascent tea party movement too much. That's where I think a good amount of shock in that sense comes from co opting Palin sunk McCain, whereas going with a full on embrace of it in Trump winning was pretty up there. In contrast, I never thought Romney had a chance, he was too safe of a pick. That being said, if we had a president Romney I don't think the country would've made a bad decision.

Second, Clinton's loss represented a much more severe reversal of political fortunes than when Obama replaced Bush. Most of Obama's legacy was built on sand - executive orders - that could have been upheld by Clinton, but could be (and are) easily wiped away by Drumpf. Not to mention the fact that liberals were on the cusp of the ultimate prize: replacing the strongest textualist on the Supreme Court with another liberal ideologue. So not only was Drumpf's win a shock - it was an "oh eff this is a huge problem for Obama and liberalism" kind of shock.
Eh maybe, he still had lots of legislative wins beyond just executive orders, but I think this is not without base. I think it's more people were thinking we had moved on from a lot of this tea party crap and yet here we are.

Third, and most importantly, it was much easier for conservatives to justify Obama's win in 2008 (less so in 2012, but still possible) on superficial grounds. Yes, we hated Obama's liberal politics, but we could at least comfort ourselves that a great many Americans didn't vote for Obama in support of his politics - they simply liked him better on a more superficial level. He was a smooth, cool guy. He gave amazing-sounding speeches, if you didn't think too much about the content. With Drumpf, that's a lot harder to do. Drumpf's an bad person. He's brash. He's not very articulate. Liberals understand, on some level, that Drumpf was elected because a majority of the American people (at least, as they count according to the electoral college) were casting a vote against all the liberal PC bullshit. Drumpf's win was a direct thumb in the eye to liberal ideology, not easily excused by pointing to charisma or messaging.
On the surface I agree, Trump's antics are as big of a turn off if anything, appearances mean a lot, and to me Obama at least looked like he had his act together, Trump can't even come within 100 country miles of that. Having someone IMO who can keep their cool and at least act deliberately means a lot, you hope they are doing a good job. Trump's abrasiveness and acting like a petulant child to his rivals, the allies, to the world is just unconscionable. It's frankly embarrassing at the least and damaging and destructive to everything we as a country try to represent. Even if I agreed with any of his "policies" a big thing I always look at in a person is how they can at least conduct themselves in a public setting, a potential for crisis management. Nothing in his character even remotely hints at that.

Fourth, liberals just tend to be more emotional than conservatives. It is what it is.
This is patently absurd. From my view both are very emotional, incredibly so. Look how much just kneeling at a goddamn football game sets some people off. The difference is since most people who are left leaning are younger and use social media, it seems to be bigger, but I think any person who spends any time as I happen to do with a lot of right wing windbags can attest to, it does not take much to set them off and if people like my dad, the secretary on my fraternity's alumni board, etc had twitter/facebook to let their opinions be heard whenever, it would be more visible to the public at large.

Fifth, Drumpf continues to troll the liberals on a nearly daily basis with his tweets because it is politically advantageous to him to keep the liberals frothing at the mouth.
He does it play to his base, if he keeps it up long enough it's going to backfire. Hell, it already has been in a lot of ways.

Take any one of these reasons, but particularly combine all five, and it is completely understandable that Drumpf's win has driven a great many liberals to go completely insane. I'm just putting this out there for their consideration. If they want to continue to live in their fever swamp of irrational rage, butthurt, and stupidity, that's up to them, and it's probably to my political advantage.
Like the seething rage most conservatives had during Obama? Yeah, look how well that worked out, I'm serious it worked, I don't think keeping people pissed off for a long time is a good gameplay but ok. Especially if that base is becoming smaller over time (getting older and less of a majority). It only provides motivation. I think on the whole while everything has become more hyperpartisan over time, I do think a great more has been driven by the democratization of the internet and the opinions one can post there. We now know there are a lot of crazy people with a lot of crazy ideas and they have a platform to communicate them, such things were pretty new in 2000, 2004, and just starting to be a force come Obama in '08. By now it has become much more full blown.