Thursday, November 28, 2019
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
What Was He Thinking? - Updated
This is an actual tweet from the current President of the United States:
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 27, 2019
You tell me. Has he lost his mind? For the record, I think he has.
Twitter, naturally, lost its mind:
Twitter, naturally, lost its mind:
The President of the United States just sent this out, as perfectly normal national leaders often do https://t.co/1c3hPdriiU— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 27, 2019
"Not actual size" https://t.co/83B144JLoV— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 27, 2019
Trump weightlifting in real life pic.twitter.com/Bik5vF9aC0— David Frum (@davidfrum) November 27, 2019
I really wish they would ask before photoshopping onto my gym selfies. https://t.co/S79mtfnTAy— Harold Pollack (@haroldpollack) November 27, 2019
We don’t need any more proof that you’re delusional, thanks anyways though. https://t.co/53QGDk3WmR— Scott Dworkin (@funder) November 27, 2019
I do not think this is an accurate portrayal of the president of the United States pic.twitter.com/ADtjfb3m5k— Molly Jong-Fast (@MollyJongFast) November 27, 2019
The past three years are giving me a headache. And I feel slightly nauseous. More than slightly sometimes. https://t.co/tHSbaz71Zm— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) November 27, 2019
There is something wrong with the President... https://t.co/zMdszvUN5V— Shannon Watts (@shannonrwatts) November 27, 2019
"Trump tweets doctored photo of his head on Sylvester Stallone's body, unclear why." https://t.co/EDr5Pt1Dzu— Kyle Griffin (@kylegriffin1) November 27, 2019
Besides the fact this is obviously the posting of an emotionally disturbed, maladjusted, insecure man child, who alarmingly got elected POTUSðĪĶð―♀️ðģ— Tara Setmayer (@TaraSetmayer) November 27, 2019
It’s clear Trump is projecting after all the questions abt his health lately. First the insane rally comments, now this.
He’s sickðĪĻ https://t.co/PTJ1dqrauD
My guess is that White House staffers and possibly Trump family members are frantically trying to get Donald to delete this tweet. Stay tuned.
And one more thing. That's not really a picture of Donald's body (no kidding.) It's Sylvester Stallone:
President Trump tweeted a doctored photo Wednesday that showed his head superimposed on the body of the actor Sylvester Stallone, who was shirtless and wearing boxing attire. The image appeared to have been taken from promotional materials for “Rocky III,” one in a series of movies focused on the boxing career of the fictional Rocky Balboa, which debuted in 1982.
It was not clear what inspired Trump’s tweet. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (From the Washington Post. Kyle Griffin's tweet, above, links to the article.)
Update: My Congressman weighs in:
And I can't resist posting this:
And one more thing. That's not really a picture of Donald's body (no kidding.) It's Sylvester Stallone:
President Trump tweeted a doctored photo Wednesday that showed his head superimposed on the body of the actor Sylvester Stallone, who was shirtless and wearing boxing attire. The image appeared to have been taken from promotional materials for “Rocky III,” one in a series of movies focused on the boxing career of the fictional Rocky Balboa, which debuted in 1982.
It was not clear what inspired Trump’s tweet. A White House spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (From the Washington Post. Kyle Griffin's tweet, above, links to the article.)
Update: My Congressman weighs in:
On top of all the other weirdness here, does the President realize that Rocky actually stood up to Moscow? https://t.co/v3JJdip0SF— Raja Krishnamoorthi (@CongressmanRaja) November 27, 2019
And I can't resist posting this:
Perception vs. reality pic.twitter.com/Za6ypL3Hsc— Angela Belcamino (@AngelaBelcamino) November 27, 2019
... which brings us back to: What was he thinking? W.T.F. was he thinking? What did he think this was going to accomplish? It's very, very strange.
Update #2 on Thanksgiving morning. I was wrong above. The tweet was never deleted and in fact, the official White House account retweeted it. The twitterverse spent the day digging up pictures of Donald proving that he doesn't have a body like Rocky:
Update #2 on Thanksgiving morning. I was wrong above. The tweet was never deleted and in fact, the official White House account retweeted it. The twitterverse spent the day digging up pictures of Donald proving that he doesn't have a body like Rocky:
He wasn't even 239 then. That was some serious bullshit from Dr. Jackson. https://t.co/ds56pCUrvr— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 28, 2019
Update #3 on Friday morning. The official Twitter account of the Trump campaign wants us to believe that Donald's picture wasn't photoshopped:
Washington Post claims - without evidence - that @realDonaldTrump shared a “doctored” photo. https://t.co/iOvNdsFJIc— Team Trump (@TeamTrump) November 27, 2019
Twitter fought back:
This Rocky photoshop is specifically from “Rocky III,” the one where Rocky immediately loses. pic.twitter.com/cmJ8onpfcI— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) November 27, 2019
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
Monday, November 25, 2019
Conventional Wisdom?
In a column titled "Don't Buy The Conventional Wisdom on Impeachment," political scientist Jonathan Bernstein says that Donald's support may not be as firm as it appears:
The conventional wisdom is getting a bit ahead of itself on impeachment.
I’m not predicting that President Donald Trump will be removed from office; that’s probably not going to happen. But there’s a big difference between probably and certainly. And after two weeks of public impeachment hearings, it seems to me that a certainty has set in: that there’s simply no way that Republicans will ever turn on Trump.
Perhaps! It’s true that congressional Republicans seem to be more solidly behind Trump than ever. In particular, Representative Will Hurd, who might’ve been the most likely member of the party to vote for impeachment and take a few others with him, seems to have decided against it. The most likely outcome may still be a close-to-party-line impeachment in the House and acquittal in the Senate.
But remember that conservative Republicans stuck with President Richard Nixon in 1974 … right up until they didn’t. Trump’s seemingly unanimous support right now is similar to the backing that Nixon had even as his original cover-up collapsed in early 1973; as the Senate Watergate committee hearings dominated that summer; as the Saturday Night Massacre unfolded in October; and as the House judiciary committee debated and voted on specific articles of impeachment in 1974. And then: The smoking gun tape came out and it all collapsed immediately. Even Nixon’s strongest supporter on the judiciary committee, the Jim Jordan of the day, who had just vigorously defended the president during televised deliberations, flipped and said he’d vote to impeach on the House floor.
That suggests Nixon’s support was never as solid as it seemed. Which in turn suggests we just can’t know how firm Trump’s support is among congressional Republicans this time. Perhaps they’re prepared for the worst and determined to stick with the president no matter what. But history tells me that we don’t know for sure — and that it’s quite possible that they don’t know for sure what they’ll ultimately do.
Again: I’m not predicting anything. But just since the last hearing, new evidence has emerged showing how the White House tried to justify a delay in delivering military aid to Ukraine; Rudy Giuliani’s indicted associate Lev Parnas has turned over recordings and other material to the House intelligence committee; one of Trump’s conspiracy theories about the FBI’s investigation into his 2016 campaign has apparently collapsed; and Democrats have started probing the possibility that Trump lied to former special counsel Robert Mueller. Moreover, the chaotic ouster of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Sunday shows that Trump remains quite capable of doing damage to himself, and gives another reason for Republicans who care about the traditional values of the U.S. military to think twice about backing him.
It all adds up to a lot more uncertainty than many people seem to appreciate. (This is the column in its entirety.)
The conventional wisdom is getting a bit ahead of itself on impeachment.
I’m not predicting that President Donald Trump will be removed from office; that’s probably not going to happen. But there’s a big difference between probably and certainly. And after two weeks of public impeachment hearings, it seems to me that a certainty has set in: that there’s simply no way that Republicans will ever turn on Trump.
Perhaps! It’s true that congressional Republicans seem to be more solidly behind Trump than ever. In particular, Representative Will Hurd, who might’ve been the most likely member of the party to vote for impeachment and take a few others with him, seems to have decided against it. The most likely outcome may still be a close-to-party-line impeachment in the House and acquittal in the Senate.
But remember that conservative Republicans stuck with President Richard Nixon in 1974 … right up until they didn’t. Trump’s seemingly unanimous support right now is similar to the backing that Nixon had even as his original cover-up collapsed in early 1973; as the Senate Watergate committee hearings dominated that summer; as the Saturday Night Massacre unfolded in October; and as the House judiciary committee debated and voted on specific articles of impeachment in 1974. And then: The smoking gun tape came out and it all collapsed immediately. Even Nixon’s strongest supporter on the judiciary committee, the Jim Jordan of the day, who had just vigorously defended the president during televised deliberations, flipped and said he’d vote to impeach on the House floor.
That suggests Nixon’s support was never as solid as it seemed. Which in turn suggests we just can’t know how firm Trump’s support is among congressional Republicans this time. Perhaps they’re prepared for the worst and determined to stick with the president no matter what. But history tells me that we don’t know for sure — and that it’s quite possible that they don’t know for sure what they’ll ultimately do.
Again: I’m not predicting anything. But just since the last hearing, new evidence has emerged showing how the White House tried to justify a delay in delivering military aid to Ukraine; Rudy Giuliani’s indicted associate Lev Parnas has turned over recordings and other material to the House intelligence committee; one of Trump’s conspiracy theories about the FBI’s investigation into his 2016 campaign has apparently collapsed; and Democrats have started probing the possibility that Trump lied to former special counsel Robert Mueller. Moreover, the chaotic ouster of Navy Secretary Richard Spencer on Sunday shows that Trump remains quite capable of doing damage to himself, and gives another reason for Republicans who care about the traditional values of the U.S. military to think twice about backing him.
It all adds up to a lot more uncertainty than many people seem to appreciate. (This is the column in its entirety.)
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