May 27, 2019

"@ianbremmer now admits that he MADE UP 'a completely ludicrous quote,' attributing it to me. This is what’s going on in the age of Fake News."

"People think they can say anything and get away with it. Really, the libel laws should be changed to hold Fake News Media accountable!"

Tweeted Trump early this morning.

He's writing about something I addressed yesterday in "It's called satire."

Here's a WaPo article about it: "A political scientist caused confusion when he made up a Trump quote. The president noticed."

My problem wasn't with the political scientist mocking the President with an Onion-style made-up quote. It was with the stupid news media and commentators who pass it along as if it's real.

From the WaPo article:
The tweet, styled as a direct quote, was shared by some people who did not verify it. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and CNN contributor Ana Navarro-Cárdenas shared it....

Bremmer initially defended the tweet, writing that he believed it was both obviously ludicrous “and yet kinda plausible.”... But he apologized Monday as media coverage grew, saying he had made the quote in jest....

The ease with which misinformation spreads on social media remains a pressing problem as the 2020 presidential race gears up. Last week, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other social media companies allowed a video that was doctored to make House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appear drunk to be uploaded to the sites, where it was viewed millions of times.
Yeah, stop waiting for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to save you. Shame on the serious people who tweet while humor deaf. Comedy doesn't have to die that you might live in dignity. You deserve the exposure to embarrassment. You need to have the sense to notice that when something sounds bad, it might be humor. The solution is not for other people to stop making jokes while you expect Mama Facebook and Daddy Twitter to make the world safe for your stupidity.

130 comments:

BamaBadgOR said...

Scott Adams has this right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnnUJFI8uOo

MayBee said...

Yeah, stop waiting for Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube to save you. Shame on the serious people who tweet while humor deaf. Comedy doesn't have to die that you might live in dignity.

yes yes yes yes yes yes yes

AllenS said...

Did any of the commenters here think that it was "satire"?

Gunner said...

When Navarro left the Republicans to join the Democrats, the average IQs of both parties went up.

Michael K said...

One version of the Pelosi video was NOT doctored.

Ann Althouse said...

Navarro is awful. And so righteously indignant. I'm glad she got caught revealing her stupidity. I'm tired of the low quality talking heads on all these shows. They shouldn't have a safety net.

Ann Althouse said...

"Scott Adams has this right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnnUJFI8uOo"

It would help to just summarize whatever it was. I'll listen later and will summarize if you don't but a link to long video is kind of hard to expect anyone to absorb.

You've got to be aware that the calls for censorship and control and legal sanctions (from Trump and from people on the left and right) are inviting a solution that is a LOT worse than the problem.

rhhardin said...

It did actual damage to the US. Trump is negotiating with Kim framed as a trusted and admired friend negotiating for his respective side.

To quote Trump as using Kim as a standard of badness, when Kim hears of it, ruins that incredibly useful framing.

So the guy ought to have known that Trump would never say that - but he's not interested in anything Trump is good at.

readering said...

Adams notes that Bremmer obviously didn't intend for people to believe a ludicrous tweet about a highly covered person, but people did, so he made a mistake, for which he apologized on a timely basis after taking down the tweet. Adams implies that should be the end of the matter. Lesson learned on "fake news" which he goes on to deliver in detail (where I stopped listening)

rhhardin said...

Trump is calling for libel law changes to emphasize to Kim that he didn't say what he's quoted as saying.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

A lie travels around the globe before the truth can get its shoes on.

The left know this.

rhhardin said...

Biden would make a good dictator for North Korea, if the women don't mind being touched.

readering said...

Actual damage to the US-Japanese relations being done by POTUS. Wonder when Bolton signs off.

rhhardin said...

Biden and the North Korean news lady would be a good pair.

Kevin said...

It’s like drawing Muhammad. If everyone starts tweeting fake Trump quotes, how would the media be able to function?

fivewheels said...

"You've got to be aware that the calls for censorship and control and legal sanctions"

C'mon, that's clearly just satire.

Bay Area Guy said...

The Left is stupid.

The unemployment rate is down to 3.6%. This means hundreds of thousands of folks have jobs, and can provide for their families.

The Left ignores this, but focuses its outrage on Trump Tweets, while making up stupid tweets of their own, which the leftwing media will push thru the airways.

Ignore the media! They are stupid.

Happy Memorial Day!

traditionalguy said...

Give em Hell, Professor. It is amazing how serious and passionate the Commentators are as they fall for falsehood after falsehood. It maybe that the audience likes the quick hit of gotcha news so much that a quick exposure as false is not relevant to their ratings game. But they serve the Bad Orange Twitter Monster one softball after another for him to play Home Run Derby with.

Mike Sylwester said...

Jimmy Kimmel repeatedly broadcasts videos that seem to show President Trump talking drunk. Here is one example.

My step-son watches Kimmel all the time and laughs at those particular videos.

On one such occasion, I remarked to him that if Kimmel ever had dared to show such a video featuring President Obama, then Kimmel would have been fired immediately. My step-son just scoffed at my remark.

Big Mike said...

My problem wasn't with the political scientist mocking the President with an Onion-style made-up quote. It was with the stupid news media and commentators who pass it along as if it's real.

@Alhouse, then you are dealing with the wrong problem. Ian Bremmer is not a satirist nor does he write for the Onion or the Babylon Bee or ant other known satirical website. In the absence of any indicator that he is joking then he — and you! — should assume that his tweet is meant to be taken seriously.

readering said...

Read bremmer's twitter feed: he fancies himself a humor guy.

readering said...

The economy did well under Obama and everyone here hated the guy. (But not me!)

Michael K said...

The economy did well under Obama

HAHAHAHAHAHA Delusions are not good for you,.

Francisco D said...

Actual damage to the US-Japanese relations being done by POTUS.

Seriously readering,

You have to up your game. Give us a glimpse of your thinking about the "damage" that Trump is causing. Otherwise you sound like a 4th grader taunting kids on the playground.

The troll quality here is dreadfully poor.

Tommy Duncan said...

"Comedy doesn't have to die that you might live in dignity."

That's a keeper, Althouse!

Amadeus 48 said...

The economy poked along under Obama, with rapid growth—the norm following a deep recession—deferred until Trump took the regulatory chokehold off and corporate tax rates were reduced to globally competitive levels. The Obama recovery was long, slow, and disappointing by historic norms.

If you liked Obama, you are welcome to him.

Gahrie said...

Wait..she's still insisting that the guy was making a joke?

BamaBadgOR said...

"Adams notes that Bremmer obviously didn't intend for people to believe a ludicrous tweet about a highly covered person, but people did, so he made a mistake, for which he apologized on a timely basis after taking down the tweet. Adams implies that should be the end of the matter. Lesson learned on "fake news" which he goes on to deliver in detail (where I stopped listening)"

Adams at 5:40 says he believes Bremmer intended the tweet to be parody but even smart people would have a hard time knowing it was parody and, as parody, it was a complete failure because it was too close to the original.

"You've got to be aware that the calls for censorship and control and legal sanctions (from Trump and from people on the left and right) are inviting a solution that is a LOT worse than the problem."

Yes, I am aware of same but am not aware how my posting generated such a response. Like Adams, I am more concerned with how social media may use Presuasion techniques in an attempt to influence the democratic process.

gilbar said...

So, if You are The News, and you are NOT Fake News...
Tell me again, WHY you keep publishing Fake News?

rhhardin said...

The problem isn't the humor but that he didn't understand what Trump was doing with Kim. He thought it was just Trump getting things backwards, disparaging Biden and praising Kim, and he'd just make up a line combining them.

But the praise of Kim is necessary to what Trump is doing.

That's his the jokester's fuckup. He doesn't understand what he's mocking.

Gahrie said...

The solution is not for other people to stop making jokes while you expect Mama Facebook and Daddy Twitter to make the world safe for your stupidity.

Then explain why no TV show or comedian went after Obama, but they're all savaging Trump. Apparently when Obama was in office the solution was precisely to stop making jokes. Those that did like that rodeo clown were destroyed.

Mike Sylwester said...

On the bright side, I am sure that Twitter will suspend Bremmer's account because he is using his account to spread false information.

Drago said...

readering: "The economy did well under Obama and everyone here hated the guy. (But not me!)"

LOL

Hopelessly stupid.

alanc709 said...

readering said...
The economy did well under Obama and everyone here hated the guy. (But not me!)

You're lucky then. On my planet, we had the labor work force contract significantly, yet still had higher unemployment.

Drago said...

readering: "Adams notes that Bremmer obviously didn't intend for people to believe a ludicrous tweet about a highly covered person, but people did, so he made a mistake, for which he apologized on a
timely basis after taking down the tweet."

LOL

Bremmer has already changed his story at least twice.

More transparent lefty lies that the Moron Brigade laps up.

MayBee said...

Ann Althouse said...
Navarro is awful. And so righteously indignant. I'm glad she got caught revealing her stupidity. I'm tired of the low quality talking heads on all these shows. They shouldn't have a safety net.


It's not the first time- she jumped aboard Covington Catholic, too- so I really think there's no downside for her.
But it's weird, isn't it? She used to be thoughtful (and not just because I agreed with her) but she went full-on, jumping on every kooky anti-Trump meme and conspiracy. But I guess she's well employed, so she has the last laugh over me.

Sam L. said...

The STUPID; it BURNS.

Michael K said...

Give us a glimpse of your thinking about the "damage" that Trump is causing.

He/she cannot tell you because that might reveal the Democrats' plans to tell all the adversaries to hold off on any response to Trump until Biden takes over. Then, Slow Joe, with his pockets full of cash from China and Ukraine can do like Woody Allen described stockbrokers' role in life.

"They invest your money and keep investing it until it is all gone."

Trump interrupted the Democrats' plans to hollow out the US economy until nothing is left but maids and gardeners.

Feudalism for all.

Henry said...

The ease with which misinformation spreads on social media...

Ecclesiastes at least just blamed people.

21 Also take no heed unto all words that are spoken; lest thou hear thy servant curse thee: 22 For oftentimes also thine own heart knoweth that thou thyself likewise hast cursed others.

Jim at said...

The economy did well under Obama and everyone here hated the guy.

The economy did well under Obama. Now that is some quality satire.
Take a bow.

rehajm said...

On Obama and the economy, one thing Noonan got right: He made it worse.

On reflection I’m not certain she limited it to the economy.

StephenFearby said...

"Comedy doesn't have to die that you might live in dignity."

Channeling WaPo, "Comedy Dies in Darkness"

readering said...

Trump used to claim unemployment numbers under Obama were fake. Then he inherited those numbers and fell in love with them. Methodology unchanged.

Trump professes to only care about technology capable of reaching US. Japan has different perspective.

Henry said...

Given the fact that the great recession was well under way when Obama took office in 2009, the economy did do well under Obama. From 2010 to the present, the growth rate has been pretty much the same.

Jim at said...

If Obama's economy was so great, why is he still trying to take credit for Trump's successes?

readering said...

Because he earned it.

narciso said...

He is Robert Malley protege, in that capacity protects Sunni and Shia islamists

rcocean said...

The MSM been quoting "White house Sources" for over 2.5 years now. Acosta now has a book out with plenty of Trump bashing all by Anonymous "White House aides" who told him stuff "over drinks".

IOW, its just Acosta making up shit about Trump - and without a name attached, we have ZERO confirmation that's its true.

rcocean said...

Everyone knows satire is hard. Most satirists - Onion/Babylon Bee/etc. self-identify. At the very least you should put a "sarcasm off" tag. The problem is that Bemmer, isn't known for satire, and is a brain-dead leftist.

Unknown said...

Oh its marked as a PARODY account....

Otherwise it was plain old

"putting words in somebody's mouth"

RMc said...

Anonymous "White House aides" who told him stuff "over drinks".

As I heard on a bloopers record as a kid: "A high white horse souse"!

Unknown said...

Turns out Sand in Cortex

was making a joke about having 12 years on the planet

if we did not spend $100 trillion now

Republicans were too stupid to get it!

Michael K said...

Because he earned it.

I warned you about delusions. Didn't help.

alanc709 said...

readering said...
Trump used to claim unemployment numbers under Obama were fake. Then he inherited those numbers and fell in love with them. Methodology unchanged.

Trump professes to only care about technology capable of reaching US. Japan has different perspective.

Didn't BLS changed how they defined long-term unemployed in 2016?

LA_Bob said...

"Because he earned it."

Baloney. Almost every president has claimed credit for a good economy (even if it happened after he left office) and tried to weasel out of blame for a bad economy. Truth is the president has little control over or impact on the economy.

Obama is just lucky the financial collapse happened when it did (helping his election) and not four months later when he might have been blamed for it (by Republicans anyway). Luckiest president was Clinton. Came to office as the economy recovered from recession and left office just before recession started. The internet boom and falling interest rates made him look like a job-creating hero. He wasn't.

Unluckiest was Bush 43, who got bookended by recessions including the financial collapse.

Our economy is tens of millions of people making hundreds of millions of economic decisions daily. Buy this, sell that. Spend more, spend less. Hire, fire, retire. Go back to school. Start a business. Close a business, etc, etc, etc, ad nausuem. Presidents can't manage this avalanche of activity. I think they have some impact, but it's hard to tease out that impact with so much else going on.

I hope the economy is good in 2020, because I'd like Trump re-elected. But I don't kid myself he deserves credit he unsurprisingly claims.

Not an oldster. said...

Maybe instead of blaming others, law professors need to make their jokes funnier... Too many of them hate the president, seriously.


Trump is right. After a billion dollar investigation, as a profession, it is not so funny anymore. No joke.

alanc709 said...

Presidents don't create jobs. All they can do is inspire an environment that allows jobs to be created. Everything Obama did, from running EPA on steroids to complaining about the wealthy, stifled job creation. All Trump has done is loosen the noose around the necks of corporations by cutting taxes and regulations. Job creation was the result.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Laugh at our shit media for anxiously running with it.

Yancey Ward said...

I do think Bremmer did it as satire, but I think what embarrassed him is that it was his side that made fools of themselves in believing it and retweeting it like it was a real quote. That is why he took it down and began apologizing- he was apologizing to the Left for proving they are morons.

narciso said...

I'm not that charitable:


https://www.npr.org/2018/01/12/577436354/ian-bremmer-what-happens-when-the-worlds-superpower-no-longer-wants-to-lead

Ken B said...

Several of us raised substantial objections to your position. In particular I noted that it was not called satire or humor by its creator when it was questioned l instead it was taken down. That suggests it was not satire. How many stories has The Onion taken down?

Another poster raised the issue of what it looks like if misread. Does it look puzzling or inflammatory. I gave a hypothetical with Tlaib. Again, suggests not satire.

You have answered NO objections to your confident assertion.

dreams said...

"I do think Bremmer did it as satire, but I think what embarrassed him is that it was his side that made fools of themselves in believing it and retweeting it like it was a real quote. That is why he took it down and began apologizing- he was apologizing to the Left for proving they are morons."

Yeah, I think you're right.

Ken B said...

What have I not seen: any evidence or argument that it was a joke.
What I have seen: assertions it was a joke. Assertions it was not a joke. Arguments it was not a joke.

Someone who thinks it’s a joke: answer my objection. He did not call it a joke, he took it down instead. That is an indication *he* did not see it as a joke.

Fen said...

readering: "Trump used to claim unemployment numbers under Obama were fake. Then he inherited those numbers and fell in love with them. Methodology unchanged."


Wrong. Obama's methodology was to announce inflated numbers and then quietly revise them on the Friday news dump. I remember because Wife and I would always hear the announcement (200,000 new jobs created! 2.3% growth) early in the week and bet each other how much the climb down would be (ie. 200k -> 180K, 2.3% -> 1.9%) and what the real number was.

You could tell Obama's people were massaging the numbers because they were never wrong in the opposite direction.

Fen said...

I do think Bremmer did it as satire

The pattern is wrong. When called out on it, he doubled down. Then he deleted the tweets and went silent. THEN he came back and claimed it was all a joke.

Kevin said...

The economy did well under Obama

Satire.

MBunge said...

What this is really all about is how our public discourse, which has been degenerating for decades, has now fallen off a cliff. And yes, Trump may have jumped off that cliff but he didn't push or pull anybody with him. Everybody else dived off voluntarily.

Mike

Yancey Ward said...

Fen, he didn't take it down because he got called out- he took it down because the idiots in the press ran with it like it was a real quote, and he didn't want to get blamed for their stupidity, which they blamed on him anyway- thus the apologies.

Fen said...

Maybe. I'll grant for your side of the argument, when first asked if Trump really said this, his immediate response was "it's plausible", which would indicate that he wasn't pretending it was real.

Drago said...

readering: "Trump used to claim unemployment numbers under Obama were fake. Then he inherited those numbers and fell in love with them."

LOL

Stupidity on stilts, plus just a big fat lie on top of it all!

Obama and his horde of cultish followers LITERALLY claimed it would take a "magic wand" to recover manufacturing jobs and get GDP back to 3%.

Obama LITERALLY made fun of Trump for claiming that could be done.

readering suffers from History Began 15 Minutes Ago to a much greater degree than Inga and He Who Shall Not Be Named.

Too funny.

Lefties screamed for 2+ years that Trumps economic policies were going to result in LITERAL mass death! LITERALLY!!

Now?

Its all obama!!

Fortunately, not even most democrats are so clueless to think that, which is why Trump rightfully gets 70%+ credit for the economy in the polls.

readering said...

I suffer from the flattery that, while I comment about the post, others comment about me. Me, me, me!

nbks said...

Key to this is that political scientists are not expected or needed to be funny.

Fen said...

I suffer from the flattery that, while I comment about the post, others comment about me. Me, me, me!

LOL. That's exactly what Chuck said. See ya later New Chuck!

Ann Althouse said...

"Adams notes that Bremmer obviously didn't intend for people to believe a ludicrous tweet about a highly covered person, but people did, so he made a mistake, for which he apologized on a timely basis after taking down the tweet. Adams implies that should be the end of the matter. Lesson learned on "fake news" which he goes on to deliver in detail (where I stopped listening)."

I listened. Adams's position is similar to mine, but Adams, unlike me, thinks Bremmer did parody wrong because it was possible for a dumb person not to see that it was a joke. This, in my view, not only gives too much power to people who are being stupid (including deliberately dull) but it gives Trump the power to limit other people's speech by choosing to speak in an outlandish way. Adams failed to acknowledge that the reason the Bremmer quote seemed like it could be Trump is because Trump has established *himself* as a joker. NO ONE thought Trump MEANT Kim Jong-Un would be a better President that Biden. They only though Trump was saying it as humorous political rhetoric. Is Trump allowed to be beyond parody by going so far into the ridiculous on his own?! Absurd. Now, I think Adams has some self-interest here. Adams is a professional humorist, and he stands to gain if humor is something that's regarded as too dangerous to be attempted by nonprofessions. Don't try this at home, kids. You could be Bremmered. That idea is very similar to the way professional journalists would like to exclude new media: You bloggers don't know how to do it right. You need to stand down.

Ann Althouse said...

"Jimmy Kimmel repeatedly broadcasts videos that seem to show President Trump talking drunk. Here is one example. "

Funny. But distinguishable from the NP thing because Kimmel said absolutely clearly before showing the video that it was slowed down to make him seem drunk. Pure silliness and zero confusion.

Ann Althouse said...

"Adams at 5:40 says he believes Bremmer intended the tweet to be parody but even smart people would have a hard time knowing it was parody and, as parody, it was a complete failure because it was too close to the original."

You missed the sleight of hand — the use of the word parody instead of joke!

All that "smart people" might get wrong is thinking that Trump himself made a joke. NO ONE thought it was a serious idea. The question was whether Trump said it.

It's ridiculous that there should be a rule that says that comedy must keep far enough away from the original that no one could mistake it for the thing being made fun of. Often humor is made out of getting really close to the thing the person said or paraphrasing just a little. I've often seen the humor idea of putting the person's real quotes in with quotes he didn't say and making a quiz out of guessing which ones were said by the person.

Adams' proposed rule is an absurd limit on comedy, and it's totally subjective and intimidating. Better not say that because some people won't see the joke.

He's just wrong. Maybe he'll realize it later.

He can apologize if he does it within 48 hours.

Swede said...

Clown nose on, clown nose off.

The Left has gotten really good at it lately.

What? You thought I was serious? OMG, I was totally joking!

Remember when we only had 12 years left because of climate whatevertheyrecallingitnow?

After she was completely and deservedly mocked, AOC was suddenly "that was totally a joke, guys".

Except it wasn't.

This dork and AOC can now say stupid shit, get called out on it, and then blame the audience because they weren't nuanced enough to get it.

Bullshit.

Ann Althouse said...

"'"You've got to be aware that the calls for censorship and control and legal sanctions (from Trump and from people on the left and right) are inviting a solution that is a LOT worse than the problem." Yes, I am aware of same but am not aware how my posting generated such a response. Like Adams, I am more concerned with how social media may use Presuasion techniques in an attempt to influence the democratic process."

Of course you're concerned with one thing (the thing you see as a problem) and not the other (the problems in the solution). That's why I felt the need to say the solution is worse than the problem. If you recognize that you're *concerned with* one side of it that should motivate you to make a point of seeing the other side. People who want to limit free speech always think there's an important problem to solve.

narciso said...

it's arab for ms 13, a first world consequence of merkel's governance

https://www.dw.com/en/biker-gang-raid-what-do-we-know-about-al-salam-313/a-48839866

Ann Althouse said...

"I do think Bremmer did it as satire, but I think what embarrassed him is that it was his side that made fools of themselves in believing it and retweeting it like it was a real quote. That is why he took it down and began apologizing- he was apologizing to the Left for proving they are morons."

Yes!

He covered for them. That's what my post is about. Bremmer is fine, just another Trump hater doing a joke. It's the idiots that passed it on as news who should be suffer — from exposure and embarrassment.

Rabel said...

"NO ONE thought it was a serious idea."

Wrong. Way wrong. You're aware of TDS, but here you fail to see it evidenced loud and proud..

Ann Althouse said...

"Everyone knows satire is hard. Most satirists - Onion/Babylon Bee/etc. self-identify. At the very least you should put a "sarcasm off" tag. The problem is that Bemmer, isn't known for satire, and is a brain-dead leftist."

Yes, a lot of things are hard to do well, but that doesn't mean we need to extract apologies from people who do it badly or try to get the ousted from social media. People tell bad jokes ALL THE TIME. There's nothing to see here. But the President of the United States is talking about some professor's half-assed foolery. Freedom includes protecting the speech of people to say horrible things AND people who tell bad jokes. The idea that things must be labeled — that we need safety rails for the mind — is horrible. Often jokes are funny because you're not expecting a joke. To start off with a warning, now, this is a joke, so be careful not to believe this... no more April Fools Day. No more pranks.

Ann Althouse said...

The most famous piece of satire ever was "A Modest Proposal" and key to the humor was that it was presented as serious.

Ann Althouse said...

It used to be that if you fell for "A Modest Proposal" (or something in that style) you were embarrassed to be caught and others would laugh at you. Now, some of you would blame Swift for putting out fake news and fooling people. No, the potential to fool people is part of what's funny. Bremmer's tweet was funnier BECAUSE some people took it seriously. Then, when they find out they were fooled, we get to laugh at them. I laugh at Ana Navarro. That was the funniest part. The original tweet was pretty lame, but these serious professionals fell for it. I don't want to make the world safer for them. I want them to be more careful!

Michael The Magnificent said...

I remember because Wife and I would always hear the announcement (200,000 new jobs created! 2.3% growth) early in the week and bet each other how much the climb down would be (ie. 200k -> 180K, 2.3% -> 1.9%) and what the real number was.

Unexpectedly! Remember that? How the press always reported Obama's shitty economic numbers with the word "unexpectedly" in the headlines? And they did that for eight years!

I'm so old, I remember Joe Biden's "Summer of Recovery" that never materialized.

eric said...

Obama's economy was so awesome, a full six years in he was still blaming Bush.

Rabel said...

"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled; and I make no doubt that it will equally serve in a fricassee or a ragout."

Presented as serious, yes, but rife with clues that it wasn't - exactly what was missing from Bremmer's work.

Michael K said...

Everything Obama did, from running EPA on steroids to complaining about the wealthy, stifled job creation. All Trump has done is loosen the noose around the necks of corporations by cutting taxes and regulations. Job creation was the result.

Bingo ! Plus fracking .

readering, are you paying attention? I know you say you are flattered by attention but think of it as remedial education.

Michael McNeil said...

All Trump has done is loosen the noose around the necks of corporations by cutting taxes and regulations. Job creation was the result.

While those factors have indeed been important, I disagree that that's “all Trump has done.” He also from the very beginning completely abandoned the kind of abusive rhetoric with regard to capitalism and corporations — e.g.: “You didn't build that!” plus lots of shame and blame flung at business at every opportunity — which was continiually emerging from the mouths of Democrats such as Barack Obama. The change in atmosphere — sensed by business early-on, long before tax reform seemed likely or even possible — was like a heady invigorating breeze after a long extended period of enervating smoggy stagnation.

LYNNDH said...

Satire my Ass! He put it out there knowing that it would be taken up by his fellow travelers trying to discredit Trump. Grow up Ann.

Francisco D said...

That's what my post is about. Bremmer is fine, just another Trump hater doing a joke.

I do not think is that innocent.

The hatred is so strong that anything goes. Consider the Mueller investigation and the Kavanaugh hearings.

bagoh20 said...

"The economy did well under Obama and everyone here hated the guy."

The slowest recovery in your lifetime and your parents' lifetimes as well, even while spending more than all the previous presidents combined. In other words, the economy would have recovered faster without Obama doing anything, and we would be far less in debt, because he was a community organizer and college speaker, not someone who knows anything about economics or business, or much of anything useful, nor was he someone who had any business running for President, let alone getting your vote.

Obama = slowest recovery in recent history.
Trump = strongest economy in recent history.

We report - you decide.

Howard said...

You people play the aggrieved wife role so well. Oh how the mighty have fallen where a mousy hot chick like AOC intimidates. The satire rights itself.

bagoh20 said...

" I'm tired of the low quality talking heads on all these shows. They shouldn't have a safety net." ~ Althouse

Imagine if she said something praising the President. The quality has nothing to do with the function of the safety net. That is entirely partisan. She could be the smartest head out there and it would still work the same. It's the size of the mesh. Praise Trump in any way and you slip right through the holes to the sharpened spikes awaiting you below, and they all know it. Hell, everybody knows it works that way for us all - no matter what your line of work. If you hadn't retired, you would probably be getting fired for this blog.

bagoh20 said...

"mousy hot chick "

Pretty high bar you have there for our U.S House of Representatives.

She is far from mousy, and she's hot in the way that you would never let her know your real name if you took her home, and you would be damned sure to be gone before she woke up. You are right though. Stupid and strong willed is an intimidating combo - downright scary. Now just imagine what you would have to say about her if she was a conservative.

Drago said...

Howard: "You people play the aggrieved wife role so well."

Note to self: to the left, anyone noticing the increasingly unhinged and transparent lefty lies is somehow akin to being an aggrieved wife.

Perhaps Howard doesnt understand the meaning of the word aggrieved.

Mike Sylwester said...

Althouse at 5:50 PM
... Kimmel said absolutely clearly before showing the video that it was slowed down to make him seem drunk. Pure silliness and zero confusion.

If Kimmel had done the same "silliness" about President Obama, then Kimmel would have been fired.

gilbar said...

Ann Althouse said...
The most famous piece of satire ever was "A Modest Proposal" and key to the humor was that it was presented as serious.


Wait A Minute! Are you trying to imply that it's NOT serious? But what about Planned Parenthood?

Gk1 said...

Isn't it telling that even with all of the so-called late night comedy shows, SNL, Kimmel etc. etc. these people haven't been able to ridicule Trump into submission and now they are just embittered and forced just to make up lies and call it "a joke". Was it Norm McDonald that said almost 2 years ago "You can't parody a parody. You just look like a hack" I'm laughing but not for the reasons you think.

Drago said...

readering: "I suffer from the flattery that, while I comment about the post, others comment about me."

Have you ever noticed how a screaming infant in a nice restaurant will often draw the attention of the other diners?

Food for thought.

Anonymous said...

If you take Swift's "Modest Proposal" seriously, a screaming baby in a restaurant could be food for more than just thought.

Drago said...

Dr Weevil: "If you take Swift's "Modest Proposal" seriously, a screaming baby in a restaurant could be food for more than just thought."

If you take Planned Parenthood's actual business model seriously, a screaming baby in a restaurant could be fodder for more than just thought, it actually is a baby parts revenue stream source.

Known Unknown said...

Althouse needs a "willfully obtuse hostess" tag.

Jeez. Is it satire if the author does not say it's satire?

Dave in Tucson said...

> both obviously ludicrous “and yet kinda plausible.”

Yeah, pick one.

Also, just for further reference, I have observed in my time on the internet that whatever is posted on the Internet (no matter how ludicrous or obviously a joke), people will take it seriously.

Retail Lawyer said...

Last night I watched the founder of The Onion interviewed on the San Francisco local PBS. He said satire is very easy to do about high profile public figures. So maybe if its on The Onion its easy.

Howard said...

Drago's right, I flunked ESL

Henry said...

All this shouting of blame and praise about the economy is idiotic. If you care, you can go look at the numbers. 2010 through 2018 is of apiece. You can even go back 20, 30, 40 years and see the exact same exact same trendline. You are arguing about the froth on the ocean.

Birkel said...

Quit using the communists' word for free markets and free people.
Accepting the enemy's definition of terms is suicidal.

SERIOUSLY!
Using Karl Marx' nomenclature based on the false dichotomy of labor vs Capital is fucking stupid.

Free markets.
Free people.

Birkel said...

Henry,
You will kindly point to the year Obama achieved 3.1% GDP growth, please.
Thanks in advance.

Henry said...

GDP per capita.

Henry said...

Over time.

Birkel said...

I will take that as an admission that you were full of shit, Henry.

It is good to admit truth.

readering said...

From news report about Franklin Graham:

'Graham and 250 other Christian leaders are calling for Sunday, June 2, to be a “Special Day of Prayer for the President” in hopes God will “protect, strengthen, embolden and direct” Trump against his political foes.'

Truth or satire?

Birkel said...

Let's see:

3.1% GDP growth means a doubling of GDP every 22 years, roughly.

The 2.1% Obama achieved would mean doubling of GDP every 33 years, roughly.

Henry wants to lie and pretend that trend line is equivalent.
Henry is a liar.

Birkel said...

readering thinks prayer matters?
Is this meta-parody?

Narayanan said...

Blogger BamaBadgOR said...
Scott Adams has this right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnnUJFI8uOo

Adams talked about three levels of stimulation.

We all know professora wants boring politics ... Adams's Lowest graph.

She also wants to have blog views ... Which perforce has to stimulate at close to fakenews level.

Tricky, tricky.

bagoh20 said...

"You are arguing about the froth on the ocean."

That's true, but in real life economics and business, the froth is everything. Most successful companies that grow, hire people, train people, and which create and build the better products and services that lead to higher standards of living for entire nations do so because they make a few percentage points of profit that grown into bigger and bigger changes in the lives or people. The froth is not only extremely important. It is everything in the real world. It is that understanding that tells you that even minor increases in costs from taxes or regulations can mean the difference between a healthy growing nation that provides for it's people and one that stagates as most of the rest of the world is while watching us "suffer" though the horrors Trumponomics.

Birkel said...

bagoh20,
No fair arguing reality against Democratics' theories.

Narayanan said...

I would like to hear a good ConLaw joke from the professora to show that it can be done.

Narayanan said...

My question From earlier post

I'm reading that Bremmer runs a political risk index.

Can he do such tweet on a market day?
Without getting into legal trouble?

Drago said...

Howard: "Drago's right, I flunked ESL"

I see what you did there.

Sebastian said...

"these serious professionals fell for it. I don't want to make the world safer for them. I want them to be more careful!"

This is much funnier than the original tweet. Serious professionals! Wanting them to be more careful!

Good stuff. Thanks.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

"Don't believe everything that you read" used to be a saying. What happened? The internet used to be known as the LEAST reliable source.

tim maguire said...

So, what’s the difference between a joke and a lie? Because this looks an awful lot more like the second thing than the first.

Hint: you need to do better than “he was joking!”

There’s no need for new laws. The existing ones are sufficient to the task. Actual malice will be easy to prove.

DEEBEE said...

Ann, you seemed to be channeling Diana Ross of the Supremes — John Roberts as he played legislator with Ocare.

BamaBadgOR said...


"Of course you're concerned with one thing (the thing you see as a problem) and not the other (the problems in the solution). That's why I felt the need to say the solution is worse than the problem. If you recognize that you're *concerned with* one side of it that should motivate you to make a point of seeing the other side. People who want to limit free speech always think there's an important problem to solve."

I feel like I may be missing the point but I merely expressed concern without proposing a solution and don't see how my comment can be construed otherwise. I see the 1A problems. That's why I haven't proposed a solution or agreed to Trump's suggestion. However, I would consider the pros/cons of whether fair election laws ought to be extended somehow to currently unregulated social media Presuasion/Nudgelike techniques, but am inclined to believe this is impossible if not unconstitutional. If LBJ's Daisy commercial is permissible, then most everything else is too.

JAORE said...

You could tell Obama's people were massaging the numbers because they were never wrong in the opposite direction.

Yep, my wife and I had the same discussion. Over and over.

PackerBronco said...

I see absolutely no reason to believe Bremmer that this was a joke. Didn't he claim it was a joke only AFTER the thing blew up in his face?

Anthony said...

Bremer clearly was making a joke. He was engaging in the only form of humor lower than puns - trolling. The problem is that he trolled his side by accident.

readering said...

So Drudge has a siren warning about a very possible coming recession based Morgan Stanley analysis . . . .