July 29, 2016

"A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons."

Said Hillary Clinton on about Donald Trump, quoted at Facebook by my son John Althouse Cohen, who comments: "I'm not a big fan of either of them, but that was a good line."

My response (over at Facebook) is:
Has Donald Trump been accused of ever doing any real physical violence? Hillary has. I don't know if the stories are true. But acting out physically is something associated with her, not him. He's a man who uses vivid words and speaks with expression. She uses flat, inexpressive language, but I've read that she's thrown things at Bill. Might be false. I'm just noting that there's nothing like that about Trump. 
Here's a link to a WaPo article: "That ‘Hillary Clinton threw a lamp/book/Bible’ story has been circulating for ages."

135 comments:

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I don't know that Hillary Clinton could shoot from the hip if she tried.

Ron said...

A Secretary of State who puts an unsecured server in a bathroom is not a person who you can trust with a bb gun.

traditionalguy said...

Hillary like war. It empowers her to kill men. She just enjoys that striking out at arrogant men using the US military as long range assassins.

I. e., she baits foreign leaders into war. That makes her the profound danger in a nuclear proliferated age where missiles arrive in minutes.

One day her secret Brinksmanship will destroy what Obama misses.

Trump is actually our only hope to stop her from war.

David Begley said...

Incredibly silly. Trump is going to launch nukes and destroy the world over a nasty tweet? Maximum delusion by the Dems.

People need to get real about Trump. This guy has experienced much worse than nasty tweets in the business world and never ordered a hit.

Kate said...

The Left try to suppress speech because they genuinely think words are as damaging as fists. Hillary really believes bantering over a tweet is predictive of physical actions.

This attitude is the antithesis to the 1st Amendment.

Wilbur said...

I have no doubt the plate/lamp throwing stuff is true. I was told of it 20-odd years ago by a Secret Service agent who was there. He had no reason to make it up.

That alone would not persuade me not to vote for her. But it is of a piece with the lie she has been living her entire adult life.

Darrell said...

The story was that Hillary threw an ashtray at Bill--that's what was printed in the newspaper and that's what got the Black maid fired after many years of service (they suspected her of talking to a reporter. But it wasn't an ashtray (that's why Hillary could dent it on a technicality), it was a Lalique candy dish that was given to Nancy Reagan by the French President. The White House had to file paperwork with the GAO when it was destroyed. Woodward covered this in his book on the Clintons. Btw, it looked just like an ashtray except for the cigarette rests.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It do wish Trump would up his game. Head to head, Hillary's warts and corruption are a pile a mile high higher than his.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Then isn't Killer Hillary the one we want to put up against ISIS? Plus it will double the humiliation for them to be crushed by a girl.

Darrell said...

Hillary's coughing fits and jags are a much more concerning issue.

shiloh said...

Domestic violence hmm so Hillary has passion.

Has Trump ever been accused of passion? Except maybe passion for $$$.

Trump bypasses the passion and just has sex. Of course one could say he's been having foreplay w/his constituency for several months now. He may even bring them to climax soon!

I digress.

pdug said...

And she killed Vince Foster too! Don't forget that. That was pretty violent.

Henry said...

On the radio show I mentioned in the last post the DJs did come up with a funny riff on the fact that both candidates now get security briefings.

Imagine Donald Trump after the first briefing. What's he going to blurt out at his next presser. At the very least, how will he stop from bragging? 'You wouldn't believe what I just learned. Don't ask me. It's huge.'

The irony, as with the dish throwing, is that it is Hillary that has compromised national security. For Trump, of course, that may just speak to lack of opportunity.

Amadeus 48 said...

The biggest threat Trump poses is to flood the country with a tsunami of blustering hucksterism. I suppose someone might drown in it, but I think at most we need to inspect our Trump dump sump pumps and make sure we are protected against basement flooding.
Hillary, on the other hand, looks like a candidate who will bring in the midnight knock at the door. At 3:00 am, she sends her goons to get you. Just ask that goofy film-maker, Nakoula Bassely Nakoula.

Nonapod said...

I tend to agree. The fact that someone often says outrageous and/or provocative things publicly is not indicative of unstable actions. If trollish behavior did indeed lead to crazy actions we should be living in absolute anarchy, given the amount of outrageous and/or provocative trolls I've seen on the internet over the years.

Achilles said...

Hillary is abusive to people forced to work under her.

Trump by any measure seems to be quite the opposite.

Lawler Walken said...

Hillary always seems to be seething, barely contained rage bubbling just under the surface, so I'm not real keen of her ability to handle a crisis either. She doesn't handle stress well, it always shows, with the parched looking patchy skin and the pouchy eyes and hunched shoulders, you just have to figure she's medicated a lot of the time.

Bob Boyd said...

I heard Hillary once shattered a glass ceiling throwing things at Bill.

chickelit said...

Shilho is about to make a sticky mess inside his spacesuit.

Amadeus 48 said...

If Trump goes to his intelligence briefings, he'll be one up on Obama.

Amexpat said...

She uses flat, inexpressive language, but I've read that she's thrown things at Bill.

Talk softly and throw big sticks.

Anonymous said...

"Punch back twice as hard!" What war-mongering hater said that?

Tank said...

I wonder what their first debate will be like?

Will she even debate?

Amadeus 48 said...

pdug--Thanks for mentioning Vince Foster. I had forgotten that.

That Hillary is one nasty character. Cross her--even disappoint her--and you could find yourself pushing up the daisies.

Bring in Hillary--bring back the fear!

Anonymous said...

Rumors of Hillary throwing lamps as opposed to a video of Trump saying he wanted to hit people.

Trump Says He Wanted to 'Hit a Couple of [DNC] Speakers So Hard'

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Thursday afternoon he wanted to "hit" some of the Democratic National Convention speakers "so hard" while watching them last night, including a "little guy...so hard his head would spin."

"You know what I wanted to. I wanted to hit a couple of those speakers so hard," Trump said. "I would have hit them. No, no. I was going to hit them, I was all set and then I got a call from a highly respected governor."

Trump didn't immediately clarify what he meant, but he said he was made particularly upset by an unspecified person he called a "little guy."

traditionalguy said...

Hillary's reset red button offered to Putin is a symbol of Hillary's finger on the war bottom with Russia.

The current US position on missiles in Poland and Lithuania that we say are anti missile defenses but look like Intermediate Range Nucs prohibited by treaty is the same stand off as the the Cuban Missile crisis we admit had Russia and the USA hours from nuclear war. That is the Brinksmanship legacy Obama is leaving office with. If Hillary is elected, Putin will have no other choice than war. And Obama laughs at our destruction.

Anonymous said...

I'm with John. That was a great line, because it's so true. Trump is thin-skinned and takes everything personally. Do I think he'd launch a nuclear strike? Not likely. But he'd certainly threaten to do so. It's what he does--- lash out and threaten maximum damage. He is _not_ a steady hand to have at the tiller. Hillary may not be ideal, I'll give you, but I think she is more concerned with her legacy and will also be surrounded by people to whom she will listen. Trump's ego doesn't seem to allow him to seek out 'the best and the brightest' to advise him and work for him. He prefers sycophants who let him "do the thinnin' around here," as Quick Draw McGraw used to say.

Wince said...

A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons.

Burrrp... Why not?

shiloh said...

Speaking of baiting er blogging, Althouse do you enjoy your 90/10 con majority ad nauseam, lowbrow sarcasm/hatred for Hillary? Rhetorical.

3 more months of shit slinging! Your capacity/threshold for continued childishness is commendable.

Bruce Hayden said...

We hear a lot from the Crooked Hillary shills and bots about temperament, and how it is important. But what they intentionally ignore is that she is the one lacking a decent temperament. Her violent temper was infamous around the White House. The joke was that the Secret Service was trained and dedicated to taking bullets for the President. But we're they supposed to take a lamp aimed at him by his wife? That was a decision that they had never had to face before. Obviously, they didn't always manage to intervene, given her husband sporting a shiner in public on at least one occasion. Why did Vince Foster kill himself (which I believe he did - the alternative being that the Clintons had him killed)? One thing that we know is that shortly before he died, Crooked Hillary engaged in an epic screaming attack on him. She brought him to DC to help protect her and her husband, and much of it was from charges that she was, well, crooked and corrupt. Feds were closing in around them for helping legally to facilitate the Madison Federal pyramid scheme (where she was billing partner, and at least one of her, Foster, and Web Hubble billed for each the meetings where the crooked transactions were put together - and hence the reason the billing records were so critical). Foster seems to have had some of his ethics left, and being caught between them and her screaming rants likely was at least part of why he did what he did. Imagine a Russian or Chinese incident right after catching her husband embarrassing her with his women - can we trust that she won't respond in anger to the international provocation, when she should be reacting rationally?

Of course, it wasn't just that she has a violent temper, but also is cold, on the level of rude, to anyone she felt below her. Standing orders in the White House for the staff was that if they saw her approaching in the hall, to stand by the side and not make eye contact. Failure to abide by this was a firing offense (or reassignment for the Secret Service). She apparently studiously avoided learning their names too, or anything about them or their families. The Bushes (41 and 43) put on White House Christmas parties for the staff. Not the Clintons. But, then, George W knew everyone's name and something about their families when he lived there. The Clintons were mostly hated by the staff there, and most notably, her, and for good reason.

We don't know really how Trump is going to be, if he wins. But, at least as far as treating the staff well, I think that the thank you speech the day after the Republican Convention is encouraging. He called a lot of people out personally, including some of the people who built the stage. And thanked the Secret Service, police, mayor, etc. Any bets as to whether she does something like that today? Personally?

buwaya said...

If any man deserved to have an ashtray (or Lalique candy dish) thrown at him, its Bill Clinton.

furious_a said...

This is Hillary's version of LBJ's Little Girl with the Daisy ad vs. Goldwater. Will we ads running mushroom clouds and Trump voice-overs.

Bob Boyd said...

You don't need bait to catch Hillary.
You can just buy her.

furious_a said...

aaaugh..."see" and "?".

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

Can anyone find the Cops in Little Rock SNL video?

All I could find was the transcript.

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/93/93spatrol.phtml

machine said...

"I don't know if the stories are true."

Amadeus 48 said...

Shiloh--When you get back to Earth, review your own postings over the last year. You are right up there among the shit slingers and sarcasm mongers--you are just on the other side. Do I hear a call for civility? Would AA call it civility bullshit?

Bob Boyd said...

"3 more months of shit slinging!"

Hope you're right because if the shit slinging ends in 3 months, it means Hillary lost.

pm317 said...

About your Facebook comment, wow, just wow! This line of attack is beneath you. For someone who questions the veracity of all things told, you give an awful lot of credit to negative things said about Hillary.

"I am going to hit them so hard..one little guy in particular.." Just yesterday, Donald Trump, the presidential candidate.

MikeR said...

"But, then, George W knew everyone's name and something about their families when he lived there." Story I heard from a friend of mine, used to live on my block. He was a air force pilot and has been involved with Air Force 1; I don't know if he ever actually flew it. But when AF1 was taking off or landing, SOP was to have a communications lock-down on the base, with no messages in or out. My friend's mother Mrs. Goldman (my neighbor) tried to call him, and I guess got frantic when no one would let her through or tell her anything at all. He caught a lot of ribbing from his friends for the next few months about his mother's call.
Anyhow, a few months later, Pres. Bush was waiting to fly AF1, and Goldman was around. The president, being basically a nice guy, noticed him and started chatting. When he heard his name, Pres. Bush furrowed his brow and said, "I think your mother's trying to get through to you."

Gahrie said...

"I am going to hit them so hard..one little guy in particular...

get in their faces....punch back twice as hard

Remind me again which side the actual violence is coming from?

Stephen said...

You are reflexively defending Trump this week, aren't you?

First you point out that he's joked about hacking before, without noting that it was in the context of his building of his career by pushing the racist birther line.

Now rumors of Hillary throwing things in a domestic argument, dating back 25 years. Put aside that the repeated provocations of an unfaithful husband are not in the public sphere, may involve emotions unlikely to be engaged in public decision making, etc.

While this year, don't we have the actual example of Trump, at public political meetings actually urging violence against demonstrators/protesters?

Where did cruel neutrality go?

sunsong said...

Trump certainly has called for violence including torture and 'bombing the shit out of them'
Trump is just too childish to ever be President.

MikeR said...

"For someone who questions the veracity of all things told, you give an awful lot of credit to negative things said about Hillary." Hmm? Did Prof. Alhouse not say, "I don't know if the stories are true", and post a link to a WaPo article that goes through what is known about it?
Sounds like your choice would be, Anything negative about Clinton isn't true. Not an impartial standard.

shiloh said...

"You are right up there among the shit slingers and sarcasm mongers"

Just trying to fit in w/the 90/10 con majority. btw, have only been posting since March having taken a 3 yr 3 mo sabbatical from the acute daily political analysis only Althouse provides.

Indeed, had to step away for 3+ years 'cause my threshold for bs isn't as high as the con majority here.

>

AA loves whatever you post as long as you post. Her bottom line. As previously mentioned, she really doesn't care what anyone posts as long as they keep showing up.

As always, I'm trying to be a team player.

Gahrie said...

While this year, don't we have the actual example of Trump, at public political meetings actually urging violence against demonstrators/protesters?

But strangely, all the actual violence comes from the Left.

Anonymous said...

It's almost as if Althouse has been hypnotized, I blame Scott Adams.

shiloh said...

"Hope you're right because if the shit slinging ends in 3 months, it means Hillary lost."

Keep hope alive!

Peter said...

"A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man you can trust with nuclear weapons."

Can't we just shorten this to "A man .. can't be trusted with weapons"? Are not all men either abusers, or potential abusers?

How do I know? My Title IX Coordinator told me so.

Thuglawlibrarian said...

So HRC threw a lamp or ashtray at her ex-husband. What's the big deal?

Once written, twice... said...

This is going to be three long months of being able to get you Althouse/Tea Pary/Trump Hillbillies to screech like stuck pigs. You are going to be miserable; the rest of us are going to love it as if we were all at the state fair!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Anyone with a moral compass cannot possibly support Hillary. She is living history of lies.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Sadly, Trump is probably in this thing to hand it to her.

Freder Frederson said...

Yeah, I guess you don't consider raping his wife "violence". Or attempting to push someone out a second floor window.

Why don't you do the tiniest bit of research before you make a patently false statement: " I'm just noting that there's nothing like that about Trump."

Sheesh, you are totally in the bag for Trump. What happened to cruel neutrality.

Paul Snively said...

Trump gets that the audience for a tweet is not its recipient. Hillary doesn't.

YoungHegelian said...

@Sunsong,

Trump certainly has called for violence including torture and 'bombing the shit out of them

Muammar Gaddafi was unavailable for comment.....

Sebastian said...

"At 3:00 am, she sends her goons to get you." Nah, she'd only do that between naps. No one would dare wake her up at 3:00 a.m. Granny needs her rest.

Trump is baited by tweets like a bear by honey.

As Hill showed in Libya, she needs no particular reason to pull the trigger or push a button. If she sees political advantage (for example to gloat, "we came . . ." etc.), she'll do it.

As a politician, Trump is an amateurish clown, but at least he fights. Remains to be seen whether he can outduel Hill's posse of ghost writers.

bleh said...

Wait, do people actually think Trump would be more aggressive and sensitive than Hillary? I guess I can understand that, since he's an assertive and dominant male, and society today caricatures males as being out of control, but history shows that Hillary is the more dangerous one. Which candidate has supported, and even helped to plan, a disastrous Middle East war? If Hillary had gotten her way, right now there would be thousands of American troops fighting and dying in a civil war in Syria.

Freder Frederson said...

She is living history of lies.

So is Trump.

Hunter said...

Unknown said...

Rumors of Hillary throwing lamps as opposed to a video of Trump saying he wanted to hit people.

Yeah, he says he really wanted to, and he didn't. To my knowledge, Trump has no history of acting on such desires (whether they are literal or figurative). That's called restraint.

Restraint is a character trait that would, for instance, allow one to not launch nuclear weapons over a personal insult. Now, one might say something stupid without actually doing the stupid thing. Like when President Obama joked about auditing ASU after they declined to give him an honorary degree. (Then again, the Obama administration using the IRS against people they don't like turned out to be maybe not such a fanciful joke after all.)

eric said...

She says, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself"

Then later she tells us we need to fear Trump.

Gahrie said...

the rest of us are going to love it as if we were are at the state fair!

The knackers van will come for you too one day, foolish Mollie.

Jimmy said...

Now rumors of Hillary throwing things in a domestic argument, dating back 25 years. Put aside that the repeated provocations of an unfaithful husband are not in the public sphere, may involve emotions unlikely to be engaged in public decision making, etc.'
Bill Clinton lied under oath, was disbarred and impeached. over a sexual affair. Thats pretty public.
Trump reacted to being attacked. His supporters were being attacked at almost every rally. To not react to that would be abnormal.

Bruce Hayden said...

@Stephen - it wasn't one or two reports about her violent temper, etc, it was from a number of sources. And no reports about her sterling good character. None. Yes, it was 16-24 years ago (not 25) but one thing that I have learned as I got older is that mean people don't get mellow when they get older - they get meaner, while it is the nice people who get nicer. And, yes, there are a lot of reports and indications that she has become a drunk. What do you think alcohol does to basically mean and abusive people? Makes the nice? Who do you think is more likely to do something under the influence of alcohol while POTUS - Crooked Hillary? Or Trump?

Amadeus 48 said...

Shiloh--I didn't realize you had stepped out for three years, but your comments are always memorable.

shiloh said...

"Trump is an amateurish clown"

And you're voting for him. I know, he's your amateurish clown and loyalty is a virtue, or some such nonsense.

bleh said...

Trump, like Bill Clinton, has been tainted by his past association with Jeffrey Epstein. Trump was recently accused of rape in a lawsuit. I doubt it's true, but you never know. And some people have speculated/wondered if Bill had sex sex with minors on Epstein's plane or at his private island.

Jeffrey Epstein could probably swing the election with a single interview.

Bruce Hayden said...

Love all the new Crooked Hillary shill bots here. The funny thing is that their arguments almost inevitably have a similar structure here, and after you have seen a bunch of them, they start jumping out at you. I expect that these are the paid shills, the ones naking a minimum wage income jumping in here and trying to defend the undefendable. As a suggestion - look how our resident leftists like Freder do it. He doesn't sound like a paid shill, like so many of the new posters here.

shiloh said...

"Shiloh--I didn't realize you had stepped out for three years, but your comments are always memorable."

I cast a longgg shadow, shocking! Again I'm here for the daily entertainment during a presidential election year. Pretty basic.

Most libs at Althouse are memorable 'cause "we" are such a tiny minority. Indeed, it takes very few libs to piss off cons. Go figure!

>

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect. ~ Mark Twain

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Hillary's foreign policy failures:

Egypt
Russia
Iraq
Afghanistan
Libya
Iran
Syria

Her Successes:
?

And yet I should believe she represents a paragon of competence and leadership while her legacy consists of nothing but corruption and failure. Not going to happen.

Bob Ellison said...

My shill 'bot is running pretty well and difficult to discern from a real commenter, but I still haven't figured out how to keep it from posting under my own name.

When I do, the election will be mine to decide.

Real American said...

Hillary fired the working men and women of the White House travel office so she could install her cronies in their place - the same type of working people Hillary says she supports.

This woman simply has no credibility.

Bob Ellison said...

See, I said "discern" when I should have said "distinguish". That's the kind of mistake a real commenter, not a 'bot like me, would make.

Amadeus 48 said...

Shiloh--it is hard to figure who is in the majority in the 50/50 nation. Where I live the last GOP mayor was elected in 1927. Everything is great, except the city and state are hugely in debt, the government employee pension funds are deeply under water, and the gangs on the south and west sides are in a shooting war. The cops have compromised themselves with the "close ranks" mentality. At least the park and the lake are pretty. If you have any great ideas on how to fix Chicago, call the Cook County Democratic Central Committee, because the Republicans are irrelevant.

Melissa said...

Donald Trump's first wife stated under oath, in a deposition, that he raped her. I count that as violence. She later retracted, so it depends on whether you find her more credible pretty or post divorce setlement.

Matt Sablan said...

"She later retracted, so it depends on whether you find her more credible pretty or post divorce setlement."

-- If she recants, then I think you have to accept that recanting. That's basic fairness to someone accused of a crime. You don't get to KEEP accusing them of a crime if the witness says, "Wait, that didn't actually happen."

Anonymous said...

"She is living history of lies."

Trump said he never spoke to Putin. What a liar.

On the GOP debate stage in November, though, Trump bragged about meeting the Russian leader.

"I got to know him very well because we were both on '60 Minutes,' we were stablemates, and we did very well that night," Trump said.

Time reported that for that edition of "60 Minutes," Trump was interviewed in the United States by CBS host Charlie Rose, who then traveled to Russia to interview Putin. The two appeared on the same segment of the long-running docu-series.

Trump also said during a National Press Club luncheon in 2014 that he was in Moscow and he spoke "directly and indirectly with President Putin who could not have been nicer."

dbp said...

It is all about controlling speech: Hillary would like it to be illegal to criticize Hillary; see her open attempts to overturn Citizens United. She can't legally (yet) stop Trump from insulting her on Twitter, but she will try to mau mau him into desisting.

Anonymous said...

All of Trumps former wives signed a non disclose agreement. I'd love to hear what they have to say about whether or not he was violent. He certainly has a temper. That we've all seen.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why won't the media ask Chelsea about her dad's treatment of women?

eric said...


"I got to know him very well because we were both on '60 Minutes,' we were stablemates, and we did very well that night," Trump said.


One of the reasons for all the consternation on the left over Trump is they don't speak his language. They can't figure out what he is saying. So they reflexively call him a liar.

In the above, they think Trump telling us how he got to know Putin via a TV show means he is a liar because he is claiming to have actually met the man.

Someday, theyll have some professor study ancient Trumpism and give classes on how to speak Trump.

Until then, theyll contiue in consternation as to why the rest of us don't see the lies that they think they are seeing.

Anonymous said...

Trump bars the WaPo from all his events. How's that for controlling speech?

"It is all about controlling speech: Hillary would like it to be illegal to criticize Hillary; see her open attempts to overturn Citizens United."

I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposely negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money. We're going to open up those libel laws. So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace or when The Washington Post, which is there for other reasons, writes a hit piece, we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected," Trump said.


eric said...

Blogger AprilApple said...
Why won't the media ask Chelsea about her dad's treatment of women?


Maybe Chelsea signed a non disclosure agreement.

shiloh said...

Amadeus 48

My Twain quote is actually aimed at me since I voted for Obama twice. But as mentioned, voted for McGovern so got used to losing and being in the minority at an early age.

Have also mentioned several times Hillary is a train wreck, but if you want to persuade me or other Dems whether moderate or otherwise to switch their vote, nominating Trump just made that decision moot.

Part of the continued entertainment is seeing Althouse and her con minions turning into a pretzel re: Trump ...

You can put lipstick and earrings on a hog and call it Monique, but it's still a pig.

Matt Sablan said...

The WaPo was banned because the Post printed this headline: “Donald Trump Suggests President Obama Was Involved With Orlando Shooting.”

Then, instead of apologizing, they did a stealth edit. They demonstrated to Trump they're bad journalists. Of course he's going to disinvite them to make room for competent journalists. I don't like Trump, but denying incompetent journalists access is perfectly fine. He's still meeting with the Press, just not openly biased/incompetent press.

eric said...

Blogger Unknown said...
Trump bars the WaPo from all his events. How's that for controlling speech?


Let's put them side by side and see if we can figure out which is worse.

Trump - WaPo is biased, therefore, only CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, NYT, People Magazine, LA Times, Drudge, Breitbart, etc, etc, etc can cover me.

Hillary - Any criticism of me from anyone ought to be illegal.


Hrmmm, these two are so close as to be indistinguishable. Difficult to figure out.

Anonymous said...

I guess torture isn't violent to some people.

Torture, beyond the waterboarding sanctioned by the Bush administration, has become Trump’s leitmotif. Time and again he urges his crowds on by dangling before them the prospect of violence for violence’s sake. Time and again he flaunts his contempt for international norms by embracing torture—the word, for so long taboo, as much as the deed—as an official policy of state. And yet, he never defines exactly what sorts of state-sponsored torture he is advocating, exactly what actions he seeks to make the courts, the military, and the general public complicit in.

eric said...

Have also mentioned several times Hillary is a train wreck, but if you want to persuade me or other Dems whether moderate or otherwise to switch their vote, nominating Trump just made that decision moot.

Damn! If only we had picked Romney. Or McCain. Or Dole.

Bob Ellison said...

A non-disclosure agreement (NDA) is simply a contract. You can break it and suffer the (mostly financial) consequences.

At this level of politics, NDAs cannot hold. The dragons and monsters are at the gates.

Annie said...


A woman who destabilized the ME, taking out Khaddafi/going after Assad, while her allies/donors/herself cashed in, resulting in how many displaced, killed, enslaved people, shouldn't be trusted with a nuclear weapon.

A woman who sends her ambassador into a hot area without proper security, and then gets him killed, and then repeatedly lies about it, shouldn't be trusted with a nuclear weapon.

A woman who sells 20% of our uranium production to Putin's Russia after the chairman from Uranium One gives her money laundering foundation a huge donation, shouldn't be trusted with a nuclear weapon.

Btw, I know of 3 people who have worked SS or security for the Clintons. Hillary was paranoid, verbally abusive, and disrespectful to the SS and didn't want them in her sight; it's true she and Bill referred to them as 'pigs'. They got along with Bill, but couldn't stand her. (It seems, over the years, other staffers have come forward with the same sort of stories.) The security detail during the '08 run, same thing. She was always late and then showed up and bitched at them. She is extremely rude to 'underlings'.

Trump has no such history. There is no trail of dead bodies or reports of security detail/employees being abused or disrespected by him.



Freder Frederson said...

Trump, arguably, wants to torture enemies of the United States for national security reasons.

No matter how you justify it, it still violates U.S. law and international treaties and is a crime against humanity.

furious_a said...

Trump bars the WaPo from all his events. How's that for controlling speech?

Mrs. Clinton hasn't held a press conference in almost 240 days, whereas Mr. Trump has held three this week.

shiloh said...

"Damn! If only we had picked Romney. Or McCain. Or Dole."

You wouldn't have my vote, but you'd have a chance in 2016. But again, "you" nominated a bigger train wreck than Hillary.

Congrats!

furious_a said...

While this year, don't we have the actual example of Trump, at public political meetings actually urging violence against demonstrators/protesters?

Thanks to Wikileaks we now know that the DNC astroturfed violent counter-rallies at Trump events, even sending campaign interns to fluff up attendance.

furious_a said...

And, contra Mrs. Clinton, it seems like it's Mr. Trump's tweets that are triggering paroxysms of outrage and hyperventilation (and this week's trap-springing). Imagine what a professional FSB maskirovka would do to Mrs. Clinton's composure...

Annie said...

All of Trumps former wives signed a non disclose agreement. I'd love to hear what they have to say about whether or not he was violent. He certainly has a temper. That we've all seen.

Did the non-disclosure agreement also tell them they had to come out now and praise him, like they have done? If he was a total dick to them, why would they publicly approve of his run?

Hillary, too, has a known temper. Staffers reporting the loud fights with Bill, foul language, abusive to the staff/security. Remember too, she was in charge of shutting the 'bimbos' up. Dead animals, threatening phone calls, break ins, property damage. Go look up her confrontation with Juanita Broaddrick. Kathleen Willey is on facebook and has a lot to say.

There are no similar reports about Trump.

Anonymous said...

It behooves them and their children to speak up in his behalf. He is a powerful man.

Annie said...

Remember Hillary going off on a student in Africa. Considering the place, the culture, possible screw up with the interpreter, and her position, did she really have to snap at him? She always seems to be >this close < to exploding over small things.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNBfoRlLdYI

YoungHegelian said...

All of Trumps former wives signed a non disclose agreement. I'd love to hear what they have to say about whether or not he was violent. He certainly has a temper. That we've all seen.

Oh, how awful that the participants in a purely private legal transaction are legally bound to not discuss it!/sarc You forgot to mention if Trump, too, is bound by that same agreement. My guess is that he is.

Now, on the other, having the FBI agents who investigated Hillary's possible security violations bound by non-disclosure agreements even after the investigation is concluded, even though this involves a matter deeply important to the American electorate, that's a whole different kettle of fish. Yet, somehow, the Dems seem to be fine with that muzzling of public officials.

Anonymous said...

All one has to do is observe Trump every day he's been running for president to see his temper and hear his violent rhetoric, that is unless you have your eyes closed and your ears plugged.

traditionalguy said...

There is only one hope for peace with Hillary's finger on the button. Replace all national leaders with seductive lesbians.

. Then Hillary will make love and not war.

Anonymous said...

Remember how Trump said just yesterday how he wanted to "hit some of those speakers sooooo hard". Trump amnesia syndrome already?

Anonymous said...

Althouse wrote: "...but I've read that she's thrown things at Bill. Might be false." Does no one remember retired Secret Service agent, Gary Byrne's, new book, Crisis of Character, about the Clintons? Or has it gone down the memory hole already?

Go Trump 2016! Go Ivanka 2024!

Annie said...

(Then again, the Obama administration using the IRS against people they don't like turned out to be maybe not such a fanciful joke after all.)

The clintons, too, used the IRS against their enemies. Obama just took their lead.

Annie said...

Trump certainly has called for violence including torture and 'bombing the shit out of them'
Trump is just too childish to ever be President.


Christopher Stevens, Sean Smith, Glen Doherty, Tyrone Woods.

I don't see Trump denying them security or telling back-up to stand down. I don't see Trump even going into Syria or Libya to shake things up and cash in along with his cronies with interests in the area, like Hillary did.

Hillary is just too unstable and greedy to ever be president.

machine said...

...and you never saw Hillary tell them to stand down either.

Darrell said...

Hillary is a professional clown.
Without the laughs.

Anonymous said...

"Hillary is just too unstable and greedy to ever be president."

Trump is "stable"? LOL!

GWash said...

"I got to know him very well because we were both on '60 Minutes,' we were stablemates, and we did very well that night," Trump said.

Eric... since you seem to speak Trump, what does this mean?... just asking in good faith...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

She and the Dems want to make the "temperament" argument, and that's probably a good one.
She and the Dems do NOT want to make the "trust" argument, since people don't trust Hillary, either.
Using the word "trust" in her "good line" was a mistake.

Ad: Hillary Clinton says we can't trust Donald Trump with nuclear codes. FBI director Comey says this country can't trust Hillary Clinton with our national security secrets. *play clip of Comey testifying, etc* Hillary: the FBI doesn't trust her, and you shouldn't either.
-Paid for by the Hillary for Prison 2016 national committee

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Bill Clinton paid hundreds of thousands of dollars ($850k, I think) to settle (out of court) a lawsuit alleging sex crimes (sexual harassment).
Bill Cosby paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to settle (out of court) lawsuits alleging sex crimes.

The Left loves Bill Clinton and hates Bill Cosby. Granting that Cosby's alleged actions were more numerous (but not forgetting that Clinton himself has been credibly accused of having committed rape), why does the Left still love Clinton?

If a prominent politician defended Cosby and attacked his accusers, would that politician ever be nominated to run for President? Hard to imagine...

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Trump is a loudmouth salesman, a carnival barker, who says what he feels and doesn't restrict himself to the literal truth or a consistent adherence to common public manners. Who knows what his "real" political beliefs are?

Hillary Clinton is a corrupt, self-dealing conniver who amassed a personal fortune trading on her own (and her husband's) public positions and influence. She sees herself as above the rules and laws that govern others, and believes her own intent to "do good" gives her a free pass to engage in whatever behavior will advance her cause.

They're both politicians so it's silly to say "I trust" either one of 'em. But who, on paper, is more likely to do the "right thing" for the country?

Important side consideration: Which one will the Media hold accountable?

Mary Beth said...

Hillary's finger on the war bottom

Thanks for that mental image.

shiloh said...

"Which one will the Media hold accountable?"

Please remind me of any tough policy specific questions he was asked during the Rep primaries and if any did he answer said question directly.

Indeed, try to search for those hard hitting questions in between Trump's childish insults about his opponents. Although Trump was always well informed re: his poll #s.

Trump may be the least vetted major political party nominee in history ie the next (3) mos will be quite revealing re: Trump's infamous past.

Matt said...

On the contrary, if he's so unstable that he would launch a nuclear strike over a tweet, wouldn't that compel other countries to be nice and play ball with us over fear of a nuclear warhead coming their way?

Kinda like the argument that we shouldn't execute crazy people who commit horrendous crimes because "they didn't know what they were doing!!". Well, doesn't that make them more likely to do it again?

HoodlumDoodlum said...

shiloh said...Please remind me of any tough policy specific questions he was asked during the Rep primaries and if any did he answer said question directly.

Counterpoint: the Media WANT Trump as the Republican nominee. He's GREAT for ratings and he's one of the only candidates H. Clinton could possibly defeat. Why would the Media be tough on Trump during the primary--he's their guy?

Just for you, though, I'll be more clear: Which one, as President, would the Media hold accountable?

We KNOW the Media will cover for "historic first female President Hillary Clinton." There's almost no question--they already accept "move on" and "what difference, at this point, does it make" as acceptable answers from her. She hasn't given a press conference in, what, 250 days now, and they don't care! They don't want to be tough on her now, and they will be even less tough if she wins. We also KNOW the Media will do everything they can to find or manufacture scandal after scandal to hype against a President Trump--they would work overtime to be the ones to "bring him down." No question.

Which is healthier for a nation - a President who's constantly challenged and held accountable by the Media/press, or a President who isn't challenged, isn't held accountable, and in fact can use the Media/press as their own tool to advance their own causes/political aims?

Just_Mike_S said...

I see no evidence that the anecdotes about Hillary's outbursts are true. People only walk on eggshells around her because...well...people like walking around on eggshells.

Jim Hu said...

Trump's equivalent of the lamp story is from a Mark Bowden profile
I watched as Trump strutted around the beautifully groomed clay tennis courts on his estate, managed by noted tennis pro Anthony Boulle. The courts had been prepped meticulously for a full day of scheduled matches. Trump took exception to the design of the spaces between courts. In particular, he didn’t like a small metal box—a pump and cooler for the water fountain alongside—which he thought looked ugly. He first questioned its placement, then crudely disparaged it, then kicked the box, which didn’t budge, and then stooped—red-faced and fuming—to tear it loose from its moorings, rupturing a water line and sending a geyser to soak the courts. Boulle looked horrified, a weekend of tennis abruptly drowned. Catching a glimpse of me watching, Trump grimaced.

“I guess that’ll have to be in your story,” he said.

“Pretty much,” I told him.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Yeah Jim, nice one--a guy disliking his own property and breaking an inanimate object is 100% equivalent to an adult violently assaulting (via thrown object) another adult. Good catch, man.

Darrell said...

and then stooped—red-faced and fuming—to tear it loose from its moorings, rupturing a water line and sending a geyser to soak the courts

Wow! Trump the Mighty Hulk. I'm calling bullshit on this story. Geyser? That's going to soak two tennis courts? And when do you have a water line outside without a shutoff valve?

Static Ping said...

I am not enthused with someone like Donald Trump with the nuclear football. However, he is not the kind of person to nuke on a whim. Nukes are not a good way to make a deal. The sort of people you worry about are the mentally unstable who may be making a decision that makes perfectly good sense in their insanity, sociopaths/psychopaths who do not get their way and use a nuclear exchange as a temper tantrum, fanatics (religious or otherwise) who might see mushroom clouds as advancing their cause, or persons who do not understand how dangerous a nuclear exchange is (see Mao, Chairman). That's not Donald. That's not Hillary either. The only persons I can think of that were serious candidates and might be that dangerous were late-term Richard Nixon and Douglas MacArthur (maybe).

What I am worried about is mangled foreign policy that could lead to a nuclear exchange. Things are not going well. Hillary's track record on foreign policy is poor. She is endorsing the foreign policy of Obama, who's track record is, if anything, worse and involves actively giving fanatics nuclear weapons.

It says something about this election that I keep starting the voting decision with "Donald Trump should not be President..." followed by policy analysis that comes to the conclusion "...but Hillary would probably be worse."

Static Ping said...

shiloh: Trump may be the least vetted major political party nominee in history ie the next (3) mos will be quite revealing re: Trump's infamous past.

Seriously? He's a celebrity. His life is about as open a book as you could find. Yes, he's done all sorts of crap that I do not approve, but it's not like it is a secret. He is what he is.

The least vetted candidate in my lifetime was Obama. That still has not changed.

Christopher B said...

Saw this line shared on Facebook this morning. This is the line the Hillary people want to highlight? Somebody needs to head down to Plains GA and research how well the meme "OMG the GOP nominee is going to blow up the world!!!Eleventy!!" worked.

The fundamental problem is going to be the same one Carter faced. You're a bland, eat-your-broccoli functionary vs somebody who excites people, and you're setting the bar pretty low if all Trump has to do is not look like he'll accidentally bang the Big Red Button when he's pounding on the Resolute Desk.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ronald Reagan: scary warmonger, can't be trusted with nukes, wants world war
George H Bush: scary old-school CIA type, can't be trusted, wants to star wars
George W Bush: scary, stupid bully looking to start a fight, sees in black & white, such a monkey-brain he can't be counted on to be predictable; can't be trusted with nukes.
Dick Cheney & Donald Rumsfield - same as GWB *5 - "warmongers"
Mitt Romney: scary sexist & racists, doesn't understand need to withdraw troops from active battle fronts, wants to escalate conflicts, can't be trusted with nukes

Have you cried wolf enough, Leftists & Media? What will you say about Trump? Oh, you're saying it: he's scary and unpredictable? You've been saying that about anyone not on the Left for my entire life! (Before that, too, of course re: Goldwater & Nixon, etc).

Why are people surprised that saying this same thing about Trump now is not very effective?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Freder Frederson said...
Trump, arguably, wants to torture enemies of the United States for national security reasons.

No matter how you justify it, it still violates U.S. law and international treaties and is a crime against humanity.

7/29/16, 10:40 AM

Very well, Gustav, but how about the second part of what he said? I suspect it was ironical, and you must not confuse great things with small, but the left is vicious in things both great and small. Think of FDR making Joseph Kennedy pull his pants down for the prize of St. James' Court. There's torture. and there's sadism.

walter said...

Ron said...
A Secretary of State who puts an unsecured server in a bathroom is not a person who you can trust with a bb gun.
--
I think she just figured..well..I'm in there all the time. I'll keep an eye on it.
Keep it clean..wipe it with a cloth.


It's High Time. And she wants it.

Sammy Finkelman said...

pdug said...7/29/16, 9:08 AM

And she killed Vince Foster too! Don't forget that. That was pretty violent.

She didn't kill Vomcent Foster, although I think Bill Clinton tried to cast some susoicion on her.

Saud Arabian Ambassador to the United States Prine Bandar bin Sultan probbaly killed him, when Foster demanded money buit frot about diplomatic immunity, and then went to the Whoite House to gain Bill Clinton;s support in covering it up.

Here is the smoking gun:

http://i58.tinypic.com/ih8nx3.jpg

Page 10 of the March 14, 1994 New Republic. The key words are "in July"

shiloh said...

"Ronald Reagan: scary warmonger, can't be trusted with nukes, wants world war"

It's somewhat amusing when a con compares any other Rep to Dutch re: any topic. Reagan was a former Dem, president of SAG, two time governor of the largest state. btw, CA current GDP alone is the 7th/8th largest in the world.

He was a serious candidate/nominee. Part of Reagan's appeal to "Reagan Dems" was being a former Dem ie how bad can this guy possibly be. Indeed, figuratively and literally right out of central casting.

>

Reagan would have never said lyin' Ted, little Marco, crooked Hillary, etc. 'cause running for president was not a reality show to him. He would have never encouraged another country, let alone Russia, to "participate" in a presidential election.

And Reagan was very lucky to be running against a train wreck, Carter ie high gas prices, high inflation, bad economy, 444 day Iran hostage crisis, failed rescue mission, etc.

>

As mentioned previously, presidential elections are not that complicated:


LBJ/Vietnam, racial division, Chicago Dem convention beget Nixon

Nixon/Watergate beget Carter

Carter/high inflation/gas prices/Iran hostage crisis beget Reagan

Bush41/it's the economy stupid beget Clinton

Cheney/Bush/the list is too long to mention, beget Obama.

As D.L. Hughley said early 2008, Bush has screwed up soooo bad, America may elect a Black man president!

And the U.S. Supreme Court deserves partial credit for Cheney/Bush.

Indeed, one party screws up and the other party wins. Shocking!

The yin and yang of politics.

>

Currently "we" have one train wreck running against a bigger, clueless train wreck so it's a bit of a horse race.

>

And sadly for Reps, there are no more Reagan's waiting in the wings ...

Unknown said...

"I'm just noting that there's nothing like that about Trump."

How about accusations of sexual assault. First person accusations, not third person.

Bad Lieutenant said...

OK, I accuse you. Satisfied? Off with Lilac's head!

Anonymous said...

I bet the same idiots crowing on here about nuclear buttons made fun of Trump on the nuclear triad.

Even though not a one of you has apparently heard of the Two Man Rule. No one person can launch a nuke, retards.

damikesc said...

Has Trump ever been accused of passion? Except maybe passion for $$$.

A HILLARY supporter wrote this?

In business, Trump has had to keep secrets (hell, in real estate, if what you're looking to do is leaked, the costs skyrocket exponentially). He has a track record of not leaking.

Hillary does not have that.

Rumors of Hillary throwing lamps as opposed to a video of Trump saying he wanted to hit people.

President Truman wrote a letter to a critic threatening to beat him up. This was WHILE HE WAS THE PRESIDENT.

will also be surrounded by people to whom she will listen.

Have you SEEN who she surrounds herself with? I'd hesitate to call them sycophants to avoid insulting sycophants.

Just yesterday, Donald Trump, the presidential candidate.

Following the trend of US President Truman.

Bilwick said...

If Trump does get elected, God help any little girls picking flowers in grassy fields. Trump will nuke 'em to cinders. Unlike Hillary, who would just neatly and without fuss make them disappear like Kathleen Willey's cat.

William said...

"I'm not a big fan of either of them, but that was a good line."

A man who doesn't defend himself when attacked by political enemies is a loser.

mikee said...

A man who responds to a tweet with a tweet is fine by me.

Hillary responded to a terrorist attack on US embassies by letting an ambassador die, blaming a videomaker, and then lying about doing that!