Donald Trump is eating a taco salad on top of a bikini-clad photo of his ex-wife, Marla Maples. pic.twitter.com/sW2itGBAOK— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 5, 2016
... and then everyone wanted to talk about that. It's an old picture of Marla, from 1985, so you might at first think he's got an old memento, but it turns out it's the May 2d issue of People, an article about him, "Marla Maples Opens Up About Surprisingly Modest Lifestyle After Her Split from Donald Trump: 'I Laugh When People Think I Walked Away with a Fortune.'" It makes sense that he'd have that magazine, open to that page, so you can go any way you want, asking whether the old man was ogling a picture of his ex-wife. He was maybe going through what's in the current press in a businesslike fashion, maybe enjoying/treasuring/"creeping on" the photograph.
But, come on! It's intentional! It's such a specific sliver — the woman in a bikini — barely visible, but framed neatly in the lower right hand corner, just under his thumb...
That was meant to be discovered and to spark a whole new round of attention to the absurd taco-bowl picture. We're dragged into the old story of Trump's cheating on his first wife, his access to beautiful women, his cheerful nonchalance about the whole crazy overstuffed life as he's about to overstuff his smiling face with an insanely large portion of faux-ethnic glop. And we're caught peeking, guilty of peering into details that he — we might imagine — didn't mean to expose. Oh, bad us! And let's take a closer look at that bikini-pic, as all the articles about Taco Bowl, Phase 2 contain glaringly clear, large photos of the bosomy 21-year-old. How are we to feel about all this — about him, about ourselves, about all the young women in bikinis and the older men who are able to have sex with them, and our exclusion from and, now, inclusion in their glamorous life?
This is the place he's brought us to, with that little sliver, that tiny slice we got for lunch when he was seemingly wolfing down 20,000 calories.
Posts
90 comments:
More fodder for the hillbillies that now make up the Republican Party.
Also, that is a HUUGE taco bowl. Is Little Lyin' Loser Donald J really big enough for that?
You know, if The Donald is going to spend the next four years trolling the media like this ... I think I can support that.
At least compared to four years of Shrillery playing the woman card as the national debt balloons and we shril the drain.
I feel so ashamed.
Is this like "Where's Waldo" or those amazing hyper-def photos where you are supposed to find a red marble (or a blue bikini)?
How many synapses are being cooked in pursuit of this nonsense?
Professor, you are having too much fun here.
Obsessions are not healthy.
I guess we will live with it until next November.
The genitalia metaphor is interesting. You've got the thumb's-up, obviously intended to read as an erect penis.
But taco bowl... it's normally the un-bowlified taco that's deemed to represent the vulva. The bowl... so undecorous as a female-genitalia symbol... but that's the idea, I guess, with Donald Trump. Everything's huuuge.
For years I have been predicting here that the Republican Party was turning itself into a hillbilly haven. Do I get any credit? Do I get a tag?
Trump is playing his hillbilly followers. He will take it as far as he can and then leave the Republican Party a jumbled mess.
Romney might have had binders of women, but Trump just leaves them on his desk.
I am Laslo.
And in a follow up to the Rafael Cruz Lee Harvey Oswald story....
It's going to be such an uplifting campaign.
His thumb is erect and looks poised to wrestle.
I hope Trump's that smart.
"Do I get any credit?"
No. You are trying to confine a phenomenon, to define it so that you are outside of it. It's easy to tar others. Look at yourself. See yourself in others. That's more of a challenge.
To me, calling other people hillbillies is making you the very thing you'd like to be able to accuse others of doing. It's incoherent. I would like to see you attempt to observe from a higher level and to take some risk in doing so.
And I am seriously going to quote Jesus: "You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye."
Only Trump will be able to handle the incredible amount of adulation and derision that will be dumped on him in the campaign. That's why we chose him.
While on a treasure hunt, a bikini marks the spot.
AA
Sometimes a thumb is just a thumb. And a bowl is just a bowl.
Girl with the Pony Tail on the Treadmill:
That was so wrong.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Dinner was going so well.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Then he pulls out his wallet to pay the bill.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
What kind of guy keeps a picture of his ex-girlfriend in his wallet?
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
"Oh, that" he says. "I just keep forgetting to take it out."
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Sure, asshole.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
It's a photo of her in a bikini, for God's sake.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
"Hey, everyone! Look at this picture of my gorgeous ex-girlfriend."
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
"Hey everyone! Look at this gorgeous girl I used to fuck!"
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
"Look at her big tits!"
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Asshole.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Like I was going to fuck him after seeing that.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I bet he masturbates to it.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I know he does, the creep.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
It figures a guy like that would drive a BMW.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Creep.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
Asshole.
(pony-tail swish, pony-tail swish)
I am Laslo.
Bullshit Ann.
First, let me point out that for years you yourself engaged in hillbilly baiting, throwing out red meat to get your readers wild up. You do a lot less of it now. Has this been a conscious decision on your part? It seems you pulled back from it when your followers turned on you over your son and gay marriage.
The Republican Party for decades played on the anger of white, mostly male, voters as a way to have a motivated base. Rush Limbaugh was elevated to being some god like figure who Republican officeholders had to have the approval of, even though he was a clown.
So, Ann, you can save your bullshit because you know I am right. It is embarrassing that Trump was overwhelmingly elected to be the nominee. It did not happen as the result of a short moment of irrational rash mob like action, but instead over a nine month primary cycle. But really it is the logical conclusion of decades in the making of politically irresponsible behavior within the Republican Party.
History will look at this period of the Republican Party as being shameful.
Sometimes a thumb is just a thumb. And a bowl is just a bowl.
But Althouse is an expert at deconstructing deskscapes.
I'm surprised she didn't mention his lack of ring.
And "hillbillies" is the appropriate term because that is what they are. So save your very selective politically correct outrage Ann.
Ah! So then Jesus prophesied and was like Trump, wasn't he: "Look, you loser lyin' fat pig hypocrite GOPe cuckservative, first take the taco bowl off your own desk, and then you will see clearly the photo of your first (or was it your second?) wife's ass."
Better than a picture of the Hildabeast, with her big wrinkled elephant ass, when it's time to eat.
Oh come on once, you know that you have been calling us hillbillies since way before Trump. LOL, you should try some new material.
Selective outrage, not overly self aware, are we.
Once written, twice... said...And "hillbillies" is the appropriate term because that is what they are. So save your very selective politically correct outrage Ann.
I am not offended. I only recall one person ever being offended by the term "hillbilly" in the Althouse comments and that was Titus. Isn't that strange?
Hillbillies should not be able to vote. Because democracy.
"Rush Limbaugh was elevated to being some god like figure who Republican officeholders had to have the approval of, even though he was a clown."
I'll cut Althouse some slack regarding Limbaugh 'cause they were born the same day Jan. 12, 1951, so she feels a kindred spirit with the race baiting radio host. ok, maybe I should rephrase that.
For years couldn't figure out why she was fascinated with Rush until I learned of their birthday connection. Even then it didn't make any sense except when she quotes Limbaugh her 95/5 con flock will respond en masse ie blog hits!
We now return you to the minutiae of Miss Maples in a bikini ...
Remember Jethro? From The Beverly Hillbillies? Good ol' goofy, honest, earnest Jethro?
That's the GOP these days.
Sometimes a thumb is just a thumb.
Use of the slur offends nobody, but does define the speaker.
Trump is the culmination of the decades long phenomenon on the right of cultivating a hillbilly base (and for Ann in the past, readership). It has been a lazy way to build a political base (and for Ann, to get followers) but it has now turned on the GOP itself (just as the Althouse Hillbillies turned on Ann last year over gay marriage. It seems Ann learned her lesson from that.)
You all have got it wrong. This was a super-model throwdown directed at Putin.
Always two steps ahead of us mortals, is Mr. Trump.
Please provide a few "race baiting" quotes from Rush. It should be easy, 15 hours a week, decades, I bet you have reams.
When I first saw the picture on Cinco-De-Mayo, I noticed that the credenza behind him was filled with framed family photos.
It was a photo op, and the taco bowl was set where the photographer could get a picture. They marched Trump to the setting, and took the photo. If anything, the photographer grabbed the photo of Marla from the credenza, and added it to the cluttered desktop.
I wonder what cryptic message we might find in the newspaper under the taco bowl?
Once is a one trick pony not worth the time.
I picture Trump, in a little boat, fishing in the golf, like in The Old Man and the Sea.
Except he gets that big fish back to the dock. You goddam bet he gets that big fish back to the dock.
It is not surprising that Ann is fascinated with Limbaugh, he is the master of the game that she has tried to play on a much smaller scale.
You can analyze this sliver of a magazine photo all you want, I'm waiting for the same amount of attention to be paid to the existence of Hillary's entire past life history, or heck, any single instance of her corrupt practices and past mistakes.
Has anyone ever wondered why this guy has picked on Mexicans and given the black, depraved, inner city culture a pass?
This is as funny as it gets. The Scots mountain gal from North Georgia is still the Donald's trophy wall like a mounted game head he hunted and captured.
Trump will ever be the common man President. A man's a man for all of that. As were Jackson, Polk, Truman and now Trump.
Limbaugh race baiting/racist quotes ~ 10 ~ 20
ok, now let's hear Althouse 95/5 con flock rationalize/apologize for Limbaugh's over-the-top soliloquies ...
Yup, all us Rethugs are hillbillies like me.
3 degrees from MIT, raised in NYC and Long Island.
Oh, and a Jooooo, too.
Yup, you got served me...
In human societies, it is women's aesthetics that keep the dodos at bay. In other species, the relationship changes and even reverses (e.g. peafowl). So, men appreciate feminine traits, and women appreciate masculine traits. Then there are couples, then there are babies, and therein resides the meaning of life.
Dang, auto spell check got me again. "Got served" -> "gots".
If you can't see irony, I don't think you are much of a judge of what is race baiting. Not buying the idea that every discussion that touches race in any way is race baiting, that conclusion comes from your assuming he is a racist. It's circular, I don't think you can understand the argument though.
Once written: More fodder for the hillbillies that now make up the Republican Party.
It's fodder, but not for the hillbillies. They're not the ones taking the bait.
It's for the people who just can't seem to keep their snouts out of the feeding trough. (How many comments have you posted on this thread already? Num, num, eh?)
Jon, most poor white males choose not to be hillbillies. Just because you have three degrees from MIT does not mean you can't choose to have the hillbilly mindset.
It is not about education or income. Being a hillbilly is a choice to subscribe to a mindset.
Limbaugh race baiting/racist quotes ~ 10 ~ 20
AlterNet. Really?
Trump is the culmination of the decades long phenomenon on the right of cultivating a hillbilly base (and for Ann in the past, readership). It has been a lazy way to build a political base (and for Ann, to get followers) but it has now turned on the GOP itself (just as the Althouse Hillbillies turned on Ann last year over gay marriage. It seems Ann learned her lesson from that.)
The Dems have a precious snowflake problem.
Once and Archie are two of a kind. Both deep thinkers fond of racial slurs.
Can I borrow a purse to clutch?
It is hilarious that Ann accuses me of not being self aware. After all it was her who had an emotional melt down last year when her followers viciously turned on her because of gay marriage. Ann can not recognize, much less take responsibility for the fact that she cultivated her Althouse Hillbilly following.
Now, as I have pointed out, Ann has greatly toned down her hillbilly baiting past ways. I suspect she made this decision subconsciously. I don't think it was the result of being reflective about what led to her breakdown.
Trump had no problem hugging a Hill Billy. But he has his standards. At least he doesn't hug Jacobins, Jesuits, and Connecticut Bushes.
But have no fear. Hillary Clinton is as high class as your ideal.
I was trying to figure out who he was with in the picture over his shoulder. The guy is tall and kinda looks like Assad. Now THAT would be a story.
Trump isn't seen as a bad boy. PC is seen as the bad boy. Trump is the knight taking it on.
Either one of two things is true:
1) A purely accidental exposure of one corner of a magazine widely regarded as nothing more than a placemat waiting for a sloppy desktop luncheon has occurred on Twitter.
2) A Machiavellian scheme to play Althouse like a Stradivarius has succeeded beyond the dreams of avarice.
Being a hillbilly is a choice to subscribe to a mindset.
No, it ain't, hillbilly.
Ann, admit it; I have your number.
You might ask a pedestrian hit by a car if he's conscious. (Or he says, "I am conscious now.")
You wouldn't ask him if he's self-aware.
Neither term in its metaphysical use refers anything. They're place-holders taken out of the common contexts where they originated.
"You can analyze this sliver of a magazine photo all you want, I'm waiting for the same amount of attention to be paid to the existence of Hillary's entire past life history, or heck, any single instance of her corrupt practices and past mistakes."
Soon come my friend. As soon as Trump starts talking about it in detail, and you know he will, it will be covered non-stop. That is when Hillary's "inevitability" and poll numbers will start to sink like a stone.
A clam shucker on the desk would be grounds for suspecting intention.
Gotta laugh at the idea of Trump "ogling" a picture of his ex-wife. You have seen the current wife no?
There are a couple more intentional placements in that photo. Clever.
Never mind the entire thing was to punk people, "I love Hispanics" just too funny. And look at the FB page stats on the post. He knows what he's doing.
Look closely, you should see at least "2" more.
Ann, admit it; I have your number.
Have you ever wondered why Althouse ignores your incisive analysis and brilliant prose?
Terry said...
You all have got it wrong. This was a super-model throwdown directed at Putin.
Which name is more worser, "Melania" or "Lyudmila Putina" ?
Always two steps ahead of us mortals, is Mr. Trump.
I wish I was a billionaire and I'm jealous. Doesn't everyone have the same rights to a solid-gold house and a rocket car?
A tiny photo of Maples is fodder for hillbillies? What hillbillies are scrounging Trump's photos for women, and for what purpose? That is quite possibly one of the dumbest thoughts I have ever read on this blog. It doesn't stand up to the slightest logical inquiry.
Here is a hint: if that picture was fodder, it was fodder for you. The perpetually concerned, oh so smart crowd that is so smart they explode over taco bowls. Every time the lefties howl over something stupid, they drive voters away from them. Donald is playing you morons like a cheap fiddle.
But I figure you didn't realize that. Because you're smart. And hillbillies are dumb. Therefore, your idiotic knee-jerk nonsense must be true, despite that you didn't bother to think about it.
Because hillbillies.
I wonder about the attitude of such as "One..."
There's some idea there that some people are non-sentient in some way, the "hillbillies", and that some sentient and hence should-be-responsible people, the Althouses or Limbaugh's or some mysterious meme warriors in the Republican Party are to blame for stirring them up, as if the " hillbillies" were bees or ants, or herds of cattle, mishandled by those who should be their drovers.
Now, I am several steps removed in background and mental habits from your American tribal conflicts, but this attitude seems just plain bizarre.
You used to find it in, oh, the less perceptive writers in colonial days, regarding the (by implication) subhuman natives of some place or another, but then a lot of these people had the excuse of ignorance and cultural distance. Smart people like Kipling, Glubb, Lawrence and Haggard didn't make such mistakes.
Once... sounds much like one of these less-perceptive 19th century fellows, the sort Belloc made fun of.
As above, some of this colonial foolishness could be excused because most of this was done out of ignorance. But here we are talking about peoples who have lived side by side for millennia (a little joke). Joking aside, there is no excuse for misunderstanding your own people.
Always two steps ahead of us mortals, is Mr. Trump.
A little back-to-front word order adds a bit of spice, does it not?
I propose a little "blog like a Jedi master" posting on something as inconsequential as this topic, just to exercise the little gray cells.
A thick-ankled Slav Lyudmila was. A runway strut do she could not.
Quaestor said...
Goofy guy: Being a hillbilly is a choice to subscribe to a mindset.
No, it ain't, hillbilly.
He's a HillaryBillary, not a real hillbilly. Us real hillbillies don't use fake words like "mindset" because we're not sure what they mean, and besides we're zonked on a passel o' them hijacked subscription drugs and so we don't hardly use no words 'tall anywho.
Come November we will be screwed again either which way. That said, being a Hillbilly myself at least with Trumpy McDonaldface I'll have the entertainment value of seeing smug, legend-in-their own minds like our pet rock "twice written" melt into a puddle ranting nonsense.
On the picture -
I agree with all those above who wonder at the over thinking going on.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar, and a taco bowl is just a taco bowl.
I am a bit concerned about Trump though, as he does have a long campaign ahead of him and if he is going to some more energetic maneuvering to bypass rioters he should be looking to his physical fitness.
I want to know who the bobble heads are, on his trophy shelf.
Them sophistikates done took over da hilly part of Texas down ere round Austin. But up in my neck of the woods (Mama called The Sticks), dey call us Rednecks and White Trash! Dis here Redneck wears short pants on a hot day! Hell, dats two strikes agin me! Sophististikates and Althouse look down dere snooty nose at me!
"Sometimes a thumb is just a thumb. And a bowl is just a bowl."
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Exactly. Remember the lyrics from that old song from Casablanca, "As Time Goes By":
"You must remember it,
A Tit is just a Tit, a Thigh is just a Thigh..."
I found a copy of the original photo. The original puts Marla in the middle of the frame. The photo under the taco bowl has her at the left edge of the photo. The photo has been cropped.
jacksonjay said...
Sophististikates and Althouse look down dere snooty nose at me!
Not me! The syph done got my nose, so I look out of it more than down it.
Semiotics: He's not just a satisfied man sitting in a corner office. He owns the building in which the corner office is located. No wonder he has such a happy smile. And look at the size of that bowl. I don't worry about no stinking calories.......They say that capitalism is all about the creation of unfulfillable needs. Trump is all about the satiation of those needs.......I don't know if the placement of Marla Maples photo was deliberate. Trump doesn't seem that calculating and scripted, but the photo does fit in with the semiotics. "That's a photo of my last wife lying on the desk. Very attractive in her way, but no supermodel. I had to move on."........There's not a lot of frustration in Trump's life.
And, as for left-wing posters, it would be refreshing if
A. There were more of them, echo chambers are dull.
B. They were able to argue substantially, with education, logic, depth of knowledge.
C. They were able to argue in good faith.
I've been posting, reading, arguing on public policy matters since the Usenet days, and its extremely rare to find such a left-wing contender. There are any number on the right who can and will readily go into substantive modes, arguing policies as if they were premises and analyses in a business case presented to investors, but the left, no.
I have been banned several times from left-venues or it has been made clear that I was being disruptive in some way.
There is a definite split in values relating to reason and argument, to debate in the classic sense.
Donald Trump is eating a taco salad on top of a bikini-clad photo of his ex-wife, Marla Maples.
I'm shocked, shocked, I tells ya, that nobody has wondered why a photo is wearing a bikini, and why Trump is atop said photo.
@CStanley, some of the bobble heads are of him.
" Joking aside, there is no excuse for misunderstanding your own people."
There's a technical term for such a person.
Bigot.
buwaya puti said...
Now, I am several steps removed in background and mental habits from your American tribal conflicts, but this attitude seems just plain bizarre.
Even more bizarre is that hillbilly states mostly vote Democratic:
West Virgina.
Kentucky.
Well, it's not bizarre that the "Once..." character wouldn't know that; it's typical.
Like "blond jokes", Once and his ilk use terms like "hillbilly" because they refer to white people, and, since they're racists, they're not allowed to say or think something like "For years I have been predicting here that the Democratic Party was turning itself into a nigger haven".
ndspinelli said...
Has anyone ever wondered why this guy has picked on Mexicans and given the black, depraved, inner city culture a pass?
5/7/16, 9:46 AM"
Maybe you missed the part where Trump is running as a nativist. You know, the difference between domestic and imports.
On another note however the picture got in to the picture so to speak the 1985 Marla Maples was yuugly hot. The 2016 Maples is still easy on the eye. Some guys have all the luck.
Blogger Once written, twice... said...
Ann, admit it; I have your number.
Dude, she responded to you once and you failed to take her advice. Instead, it looks as though she drove you insane with her one comment.
Relax. She noticed you. Be thankful. Bask in the glory.
Anything else is just creepy.
buwaya puti said... [hush][hide comment]
Now, I am several steps removed in background and mental habits from your American tribal conflicts, but this attitude seems just plain bizarre.
Haha! It goes all the way to middle school----"that guy goes to Ben Frankin middle school, let's kick his f'kin' ass!"
And, always ask a Limbaugh critic if they have listened to him. They always say yes. Then, ask when as "you are at work when he is on" haha, works every time !
The quotes of supposedly racist comments by Limbaugh are not racist at all. It's hard to believe, I know, but it's entirely possible for a white person to mention race without being a racist.
BTW, I am not offended by being called a Hillbilly. Although my DNA is German, I would definitely have supported William of Orange in the hills of Northern Ireland during the Glorious Revolution--the first use of the term Hillbilly.
I live in Appalachia and I love hillbillies. They're awesome. Also, hillbilly is hot. It's a trend, the in thing. Even hillbilly p0rn is hot (I am told). "Get off me daddy, yer crushin mah cigarettes!"
Also you can tell Marla's boobs were natural in that photo. Not overly convex and hard looking like a baseball, but concave on the top curve, and soft and droopy, being held up by a tightly tied bikini top. Beautiful women with natch boobs are hard to find nowadays. It's all push up bras and silicon implants. Bleh.
How can a picture wear a bikini??!
The photo is too out of focus (or low quality maybe) for this to be intentional. It shows not how carefully posed this was, but how carelessly.
It would have been perfectly logical for Trump to be reading that article - and he left it open because ither he wasn't finished or he wanted to refer to it (something in it) somewere or talk to somebody about it.
He's got lots of stuff there - mostly newspapers, but still a few things, and showing himself surrounding by reading material may have been intentional. He even opened up, or left open, a desk drawer to hs left.
But I don't think he fact that one thing deals with Marla Maples is intentional. It's there because he's worried about what Hillary Clinton or a Super Pac might say about that, so he was looking at it to see if there something somebody could use, or was supposed to look at it because somebody noticed something.
The effect is not very good, because there's too much empty space - nothing of note on the windowsill - pictures and some other stuff. And too much of what he has on terms of reading material is too new. And there's not much in that desk drawer. I don't know what's in there, but there's nothing there that seems to have anything to do with writing or reading, or even tools or keys. I can't make out what is there.
Needless to say, he almost certainly didn't discover the People Magazine article on his own - somebody handed to him. Possibly it's open because he hadn't read it yet. He certainly hasn't begun to read those newspapers, except for a possible glance at some headlines. But we don't know how much time elapsed between the time he got the newspapers and the time the taco salad was delivered, so the deductions we can make may be limited.
Did he ever get to those newspapers?? And if not, why were they there? Somebody trying to force stuff on him?
Meade said...
"Ah! So then Jesus prophesied and was like Trump, wasn't he: "Look, you loser lyin' fat pig hypocrite GOPe cuckservative, first take the taco bowl off your own desk, and then you will see clearly the photo of your first (or was it your second?) wife's ass."
Poor Meade. Romney is no longer a republican. We have moved on. Ryan is about to get straightened out or moved out. Open borders omnibus fans who write/support obamacare are passe.
Fernandinande said...5/7/16, 12:12 PM
Even more bizarre is that hillbilly states mostly vote Democratic:
West Virgina.
Kentucky.
They used to. West Virginia used to be a heavily Democratic state. It was carried by Hubert Humphrey in 1968.
http://www.270towin.com/states/West_Virginia (shows since 1976)
(It also used to have more people in it than Nevada - now the opposite is the case.)
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0004986.html (shows 1900, 1950, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2015 est)
The population of West Virginia has stayed flat at aout 1,800,000 since about 1960 - the population of Nevada has risen 285,000 to close to 3 million.
Kentucky had some tendency to vote Republican before 1964 because it was furtehr north than states in the deep south and parts of it had remained loyal to the Union during the Civil War (in fact, it never seceded)
Both states have been strongly Republican since 2000 because of the issue of guns and coal.
Post a Comment