January 26, 2018

Speaking of "dreamers" — here's what some people have been dreaming about Trump.

This comes from The Nation, so these are not people who love Trump (unless it's a secret, unacknowledged love (you decide!)):



I haven't remembered a dream about Trump in a long time, but back on August 3, 2015, long before I had any idea he'd become President, I blogged about a dream in which I was talking about Trump, then saw that he was there listening in on me. But I had another dream about Trump. I'm not sure when I had it, but I told you about it on May 9, 2016 (because I was blogging someone's saying that Trump had succeeded by being "vulgar, abusive, nasty, rude, boorish and outrageous," and "saying what he thinks and, more important, teaching Americans how to think for themselves again"):
I had a dream about Trump a while back. It may have been part of this dream I told you about on August 3, 2015. This part of the dream isn't in that description, but it's the part I've remembered and thought about over these past 8 months: I thanked him, effusively, for teaching us to have the courage to speak freely.
What I didn't tell you even then was that I hugged Trump as I thanked him effusively. At the time I had that dream I wasn't consciously aware of liking Trump at all, so the dream made a big impression on me. There was something about Trump that I thought was tremendously helpful, and I really wanted to tell him.

81 comments:

Ignorance is Bliss said...

What I didn't tell you even then was that I hugged Trump as I thanked him effusively.

So what else haven't you told us?

Did this dream happen to involve a copy of Forbes magazine?

Susan said...

I have never dreamed about Trump.

I do think he has been an answer to my prayers for the country though.

The Lord works in mysterious ways for sure.

BarrySanders20 said...

These are not the Dreamers you are looking for

Amadeus 48 said...

"I hugged Trump as I thanked him effusively."

Thank you for sharing.

Is it the dream or your reaction to the dream (you remember it) that is the more telling? Your reaction, I think. You really want people to be able to speak freely.

I will tell you that I never felt able to speak freely about Obama. There was too much social pressure to give him some slack. Was that the soft bigotry of low expectations?

MikeR said...

Rent free.
I don't understand fools who think that he might resign. This is all he has ever wanted from life.

Carol said...

Trump, the Monster who eats poor people and minorities for breakfast!

Geez I am old enough to remember when the left went off on Carter the same way, because he tried to make some cuts to the federal budget in some deluded middle-way gambit.

Carter! lol

cf said...

Your dream was an awesome affirmation, absurd relative to the assumptions of the time, yet prescient to the possibilities ahead.

how cool is that?!!!

I love being human. Insistent, confounding dreams are a part of this incredible mix.

Cheers!

tim in vermont said...

If you watch the movie “Trumbo” and can get over the fact that Trumbo wanted to keep us out of WWII right up to the moment that Hitler attacked the Soviets, when he changed on a dime, anyway, if you can get past that, the movie contains an important lesson, a lesson that Trump has learned, or just always knew. Ignore the prigs with their newspaper columns, and their threats to organize “right-thinking” people against you. Speak the truth as you see it, it’s a far better weapon for you than attempting to construct deceptive and manipulative narratives that you hope will convince people to do what you want them to.

People see through that shit, it wasn’t just the little boy who could clearly see the emperor had no clothes. Everybody could see it. That’s why I call Trump the “light bringer.”

tim in vermont said...

Carter was right on energy. Probably because he was an engineer.

wendybar said...

Premonition!!!

stevew said...

People have dreams about Trump (and politicians, in general)?

-sw

rcocean said...

All I do the whole day through is dream of you..

Morning, noon, and nighttime too.

robother said...

That's what they do in your dreams. They let you hug them.

Bay Area Guy said...

Every day the GNP grows, every day the stock market goes up, every day another big employer gives $1,000 bonus checks to their employees, because of the tax cuts (that all Dems opposed) is a good day for the country.

And, of course, this reflects well on President Trump.

In contrast to this, all the news/tweets/blogs trying to undermine him is mere Kabuki theater.

traditionalguy said...

The Power of Positive Dreaming...it's that leadership thingee.

Rae said...

I think a lot of liberals dream about being dominated by Trump and hate it so much.

Jim Acosta, for one.

traditionalguy said...

OK, I just watched the clip. And all they expressed about the Monster Trump in their dreams was PENIS ENVY. Go figure.

rhhardin said...

Gf was peeved about something I did in her dream and was mad at me about it all day.

It must be female left-right brain connections.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Meade,
Isn't that about the same time you ordered that Trump mask from PartyCity?

Fernandinande said...

That cartoon might be example of sophisticated Russian manipulation, interference and hacking of U.S. culture and politics.

You know, 'cause their cartoons suck.

Left Bank of the Charles said...

When you hugged him, you grabbed him by the ...?

Chris N said...

I’ve pretty much had enough of the personal is political crowd, and the hippie-lite version: Endless revelations of one’s Self publicly as though such revelations are necessary. I don’t need you to certify yourself as authentic nor prove you belong to some group identity or latest moral idea, generally, if I don’t know you. I don’t really give a fuck. Are you some kind of politician?

Your behavior and circumstances will do. Liberation is often the promise, usually of the radical kind, when people feel compelled to tell me about personal life/dreams/genitals right away. Either that or there’s something wrong and they’re flaky or they’ve got bad judgment.

It’s most foolish and dangerous when blithely applied towards politics....

*I make exceptions for writers, poets, artists, journalists and modern explainers of the Self through the fields of social science...but it’s not even a necessary condition of art. The revelation comes through the art. Is it beautiful? Does it give pleasure? A poem’s form and reading it aloud is inextricably linked to its meaning. The Subject is something else.

Pop-psychology, everyone’s a unique Self and everyone’s a creator is way over-extended, and as a model for individual and social behavior, it’s proven incredibly destructive of civil society.

walter said...

What? No Kasich?
His Dad was postal worker!

Wince said...

Pelican narwhals?

bleh said...

Lol wimnins. I have never dreamt about any president or politician. The very idea of it seems ludicrous to me.

Now, about Trump. Every day I must reassess what I think of him. On policy, I think he has been pretty great so far. I think he commits many unforced errors, however, which may be to blame for a blue wave in November. His main mistake was firing Comey after he hamhandedly attempted to influence him; it was a colossally stupid course of action. That said, I enjoy his personal style, or as Scalia put it, his utter frankness. I like that he has guts and will fight back against a dishonest and biased media, even if he does say idiotic things. I totally reject the idea that he’s somehow “attacking the free press” when he goes hard in the paint against them. I’d like it if they got along better, but that’s just not realistic. Trump has free speech rights, too.

I don’t like his casual and imprecise approach as it does not inspire confidence. He seems to exaggerate a lot, and he sometimes just makes shit up. I dislike how he conducts his personal life. His family seems nice, but he seems like a total creep. The fact that he may or may not have had sex with a porn star and then paid her hush money for political reasons should be alarming.

I am both very impressed and very appalled by the man we have in the Oval Office.

Gahrie said...

The fact that he may or may not have had sex with a porn star and then paid her hush money for political reasons should be alarming.

Why?

tcrosse said...

One trembles to think what dreams may come to the heads in which Trump has been living rent-free. Maybe it's the Dream Trump they fear so much.

Meade said...

"Isn't that about the same time you ordered that Trump mask from PartyCity?"

Haha. Close. The part of that dream she left out is after she hugged and thanked him he turned around and morphed into my rude oversized dinger wearing a bright red hat with "Make America Meade Again."

Dude1394 said...

Trump is my main man. I could not be happier with the entire package. The blasting of an entrenched polity (including media ) is not a job for a milquetoast like Mitt Romney for example.

He has and will be so greatly trans formative that after 8 years I probably would put him on Mt. Rushmore. That is if I ever believed in statues again, as I do not and will never support another.

Anne in Rockwall, TX said...

Speaking of dreams for Althouse.

New Prince Music Coming Soon

Clyde said...

So he's living in their dreams rent-free as well as their heads?

Clyde said...

In the only dream I've had involving Trump, Melania had died and I was feeling sad for him.

walter said...

Yeesh, Clyde.
Hey..seems like the health status and early dementia isn't keeping him from dominating Davos.
Must be all the diet Cokes.

stevew said...

"Gf was peeved about something I did in her dream and was mad at me about it all day."

Repeat after me: I am not responsible for the things I do in your dreams.

Won't fix anything, but should make you feel better for saying it.

-sw

Earnest Prole said...

The love that dare not speak its name (until today).

Jupiter said...

Tim in Vermont said...
"Carter was right on energy. Probably because he was an engineer."

A nuclear engineer, to be precise. As that rabbit learned to his sorrow.

Birches said...

Wow. I'm glad I don't remember my dreams. Penises for miles!

Curious George said...

"Jupiter said...
Tim in Vermont said...
"Carter was right on energy. Probably because he was an engineer."

A nuclear engineer, to be precise. As that rabbit learned to his sorrow."

Jimmy Carter was not a nuclear engineer.

gadfly said...

Dreaming of Trump dreaming of Mexicans takes me back to this Robert Earl Keen classic:

Mom got drunk and Dad got drunk
At our Christmas party
We were drinkin' champagne punch and homemade eggnog
Little sister brought her new boyfriend
He was a Mexican
We didn't know what to think of him
Until he sang Feliz Navidad ... Feliz Navidad


Surely The Donald wouldn't approve of a mixed marriage - Never! He is a New York Liberal, doncha know? On the other hand, Ivanka's marriage to a light-skinned Jew is fine and dandy, since she defines right from wrong for her impaired Dad.

Carve the turkey, turn the ballgame on
Mix margaritas when the eggnog's gone
Send somebody to the Quik Pak store
We need some ice and an extension cord
A can of bean dip and some Diet Rites
A box of tampons and some Marlboro Lights
Hallelujah, everybody say "Cheese"
Happy Hanukkah from the First Family

tim in vermont said...

Poor Gadfly, upset that the first family is not “classy” enough! That’s what we need, more of the cream of s society who all flew into Davos on their private jets, and who have proper condescending concern for the working folk, running things! The kind of people who know what’s best for us, because, deplorable as we are, we sure don’t!

It’s sad that Gadfly’s poor Camelot has been overrun by low class scum!

Gadfly would be happier if Jeb was in Davos now, representing the Republicans, having lost the election, to assure them that their plans to melt away borders were in good hands!

traditionalguy said...

FTR the apocalypse happening now all comes from the discovery in the fracking fields of North America that peak oil has always been a hoax. That little fact has destroyed the grip of Bush Crime Family's new world order. It is gone forever.

The fall out has been the new deal Trump made with the Arabs to turn state's evidence on the last 50 years on American Crime Syndicates that were taking turns from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The new deal deal was consumated on November 1 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The rest has been a mopping up activity.

walter said...

gadfly said...Surely The Donald wouldn't approve of a mixed marriage - Never!
--
A peek into Gadfly's twisted dreamscape..
"Hands clean!"

Yancey Ward said...

What was notably missing in those dreams described was being cucked by Trump and being turned on by it and feeling stronger for the experience. Where was Dan Savage's dream?

Yancey Ward said...

I find this hilarious. I am deeply interested in politics and follow it pretty damned thoroughly by reading multiple sources and such, and yet I can tell you right now that I don't remember a single dream I have ever had in my life that involved a politician or a political theme of any kind; and I have had few dreams that even involved a celebrity of any kind, and most of those were sexual in nature and easy to interpret.

Am I really that unusual in this, or do these people at The Nation exhibit clinical mental illness?

Balfegor said...

I think about politics quite a bit, but I don't think I have ever seen a politician in a dream. Same with historical figures -- I don't think I've ever had a dream featuring one. It's not that I don't have dreams about people. I have had dreams where family, friends, or co-workers appear. Just that politicians and historical people don't ever appear. At least in the dreams I can recall. Maybe it's that I don't watch TV, so politicians all emerge to me primarily as creatures of words and static images?

Anyhow, it's always low-level weird to read about people having dreams about politicians.

Michael K said...

"A nuclear engineer, to be precise."

Actually, that is a myth. He never finished the Nuke course. He was only qualified as surface warfare officer.

Balfegor said...

Ah, Yancey Ward has the same reaction. Do you watch TV or do you follow politics mainly through written material? I am kind of curious now that I have started thinking about this.

Quaestor said...

You know, 'cause their cartoons suck.

Quaestor said...

Actually, that is a myth. He never finished the Nuke course. He was only qualified as surface warfare officer.

Kinda useless on a sub, isn't it?

And if Carter had been right about energy, there would not have been a crisis.

Balfegor said...

Re: Michael K:

Actually, that is a myth. He never finished the Nuke course. He was only qualified as surface warfare officer.

Really? He may not have been a nuclear engineer, but he apparently did engineering-type work with nuclear reactors. Here and here are two articles talking about Carter's experience as part of the Navy team sent in to clean up the 1952 Chalk River nuclear accident.

Yancey Ward said...

Balfegor,

I stopped watching news channels about the same time I got an internet connection- I read 99% of the political stuff I consume, and the other 1% is mostly video links at stories I am reading, and I don't even do that video watching all that much any longer. However, I don't think that is the explanation for me, personally, because, as I wrote, I don't have very many dreams about celebrities either, and I do watch movies and television programs every day.

Roughcoat said...

In what sense was Carter right on energy?

Ambrose said...

talk about living rent free in someone's head....

Chuck said...

Althouse linked to her May 9, 2016 post.

From that post:

"I especially like the idea that Trump is teaching us that it works to speak forthrightly about what we think. That might not be true. It might work only for Trump — maybe he has some weird communication genius — but I hope people can absorb and process the lesson and make it work for themselves."

Wow. I didn't think that "forthrightly" and "Trump" existed in the same universe.

Trump's specialty is in being NOT forthright. Trump doesn't say much of anything in a forthright way. When he is being honest, he isn't clear. It's just garbled stuff about "bad things" or "the best ever in history" things, or "You'll find out."

And on those few occasions when Trump is clear (like when he denies he said something outlandish), its customarily untrue.

Vague, indecipherable and false doesn't equal "forthright."

I have enough respect for Althouse to understand that she probably has something in mind, when it comes to Trump being "forthright." But I honestly can't think of a single good example of Trump being forthright. And lots of examples where he was the opposite of forthright.

Trump can't claim that he was being "forthright" about certain countries being "shitholes," because Trump & Co. all claim he never said it.

Trump can't claim that he was being forthright about calling for a ban on Muslims, because he never came close to order such a ban. He never could, and he never did, do anything like that. DoJ lawyers who defended Trump's immigration EO's all swore that they were not Muslim bans at all.

Trump fans might say that Trump has the right to dismiss Special Counsel Robert Mueller and that it would be a good thing if he did. But Trump denies the story. It all may be politically or legally calculated. But "forthright" is the last word I would use to describe any of it. Trump calls the investigation a "witch hunt" on one day and says that he is looking forward to speaking with Mueller under oath on another day. It could be explained lots of different ways, but "forthright" is the last adjective I'd pick.

I don't care, and am not much interested in any claims that Trump is clever, or skilled negotiator, or anything else. I've already alluded to possible explanations for Trump's communications. Maybe he is staking out negotiating space. Maybe he is playing four-dimensional chess. Maybe he is doing "hypnotism" in a way that Scott Adams would understand. I don't know and don't care, for purposes of this comment. All that I am specking to here is whether Trump is "forthright." As Althouse suggested.

Drago said...

"Accidental Leftist" Chuck: "I don't care, and am not much interested in any claims that Trump is clever, or skilled negotiator, or anything else. I've already alluded to possible explanations for Trump's communications"

There's enough right there, along with rumor mongering about 10 year olds and wanting 15 year olds doxxed, to keep a team of psychologists busy for years.

Drago said...

"Bowe Bergdahl Republican" Chuck and his lefty allies are not having a very good week.

Sigivald said...

All these people really ought to start charging rent for the President's living in their heads.

Because letting him do so rent-free is pathetic.

Balfegor said...

Re: Chuck:

Trump's specialty is in being NOT forthright. Trump doesn't say much of anything in a forthright way. When he is being honest, he isn't clear. It's just garbled stuff about "bad things" or "the best ever in history" things, or "You'll find out."

I think Trump gets credit for being forthright because (1) his critics respond as though he has said something crystal clear, intelligible, and awful, and (2) when challenged, he doesn't default to polite pablum, but either pushes back or reframes in a way that drives his critics back to (1). It makes him look like the only man willing to say the emperor has no clothes, even if he didn't quite say the emperor had no clothes, only something that could be taken to mean that the emperor had no clothes from a certain point of view.

If his opponents responded to his utterances by saying that, "well, that's not very clear; I'm not sure how to respond because I don't really know what he's trying to say," rather than treating every utterance as the absolute worst thing ever, he wouldn't look forthright. But if people responded to his rhetoric in a more measured, adult way, he also wouldn't be serving the role he's serving today, which is to go around blowing up the ideological shibboleths of the urban professional class one after another.

Drago said...

The more success we experience, the more unhinged the rants from the LLR Chuck/Rachel Maddow's of the world must, by definition, become.

All the really "smart" ones, like Chuck and his lefty MSM pals have all the answers...but their answers keep proving to be utterly wrong.

What to do?

Destroy the guy who keeps exposing them as empty suits.

Yancey Ward said...

And we really need for Laslo to come out of his hibernation for this thread. We really do!

Trumpit said...

If you ever have a dream about having sex with Donald Trump, keep it to yourself; don't blog about it even after a wet dream. Don't even bring it up with your therapist. It's a beginning sign of psychopathy, or suicidal ideation. You might just want to shtup a billionaire to scratch it off your golden toilet wish list. Dreams about Trump are actually nightmares, and they mean you're off your rocker to put it in more simply.

tim in vermont said...

Peak oil is not a “hoax,” what was a hoax is the idea that we were anywhere close. Of course, as has been said many times, “The stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones.”

Bruce Gee said...

I wasn’t aware that being “forthright” was part of the art of the deal. As far as I can see, Trump constantly and habitually projects a set of circumstances that give him an upper hand in negotiations. In the position he holds now, Trump is setting up the conditions for negotiations all-of-the-time. The fact the media simply can’t wrap their little heads around his technique at this late date astonishes me. Chuck appears to have the same problem. Seems like an intelligent guy, though, so it is puzzling.

tim in vermont said...

Trumpit projects just the kind of personality that I want running the country! All the ruling class should think like her and nobody else! She could teach us all lessons in how to achieve inner peace!

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"She could teach us all lessons in how to achieve inner peace!"

Trumpit is a woman? All this time, I've been picturing Trumpit as a crazier, crabbier Bernie Sanders standing on the street corner shouting at people.

Jim at said...

If you're having dreams about politicians - any politicians - you've got issues.

Get a hobby. Go dig in the dirt.

Do something .... because you're spending way, way, waaaaay too much time focusing on things you cannot control.

Meade said...

"Dreams about Trump are actually nightmares, and they mean you're off your rocker to put it in more simply," dreams Trumpit.

tim in vermont said...

Trumpit is a woman?

No idea, she just writes like a woman to my ear. Maybe because all of the batshit crazy Trump haters I know are women.

eddie willers said...

Peak Oil was predicted the week after Drake sank his well.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Yancey wrote: " I don't remember a single dream I have ever had in my life that involved a politician or a political theme of any kind; and I have had few dreams that even involved a celebrity of any kind, and most of those were sexual in nature and easy to interpret."

Only once did I ever dream about a celebrity and I remember it because it was so weird and improbable that I burst out laughing when I recalled it. In my dream,the actor Joseph Cotten came to my birthday party. That's it.

I had watched "Citizen Kane" a few days before. It's a good thing I didn't dream about Orson Wells coming to my birthday party. There wouldn't have been enough cake.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Meade,
SOunds like an excellent idea - "Make America Great Again" condoms!

Roughcoat said...

Peak oil is not a “hoax,” what was a hoax is the idea that we were anywhere close.

What Carter meant when he used the term "peak oil" is that we were indeed very close, which is what made it a hoax.

Of course the amount of oil on the planet earth is finite, but to interrupt the finitude of oil with the notion of "peak oil" is really incorrect. "Peak oil" must be understood as a political not a scientific concept.

wildswan said...

Based on the video some people have a stereotyped monster dream and Trump fits into it. It's probably a pre-prepared right-wing-person-monster dream based on cartoons from hard lefty newspapers like the Shephard Express or George Groz or Daumier. I can't say I've ever dreamed about a political figure. I met John Kennedy once and an startling, overwhelming personal magnetism came from him which I've always remembered but I never dreamed about him. When I hear the words "Hillary Clinton", she is always drawing her fingernails across a blackboard. Bill Clinton is smiling in a charming way but isn't wearing any pants. When I used to think of Trump I seemed to be following an indomitable man on a doomed mission- attacking across the Somme battlefield or something. Now I hear that song: "Here comes the sun"

tim in vermont said...

Carter talked a lot about the oil shale, and the non-conventional fossil energy reserves that we enjoyed as Americans. I was around then. The big criticism of Carter then was that that energy was impossible to recover, which we know is not true. Carter was right. His big concern was that we were at the mercy of foreign countries, and we needed to get out of that situation. He was right.

This is probably the only time I will defend Jimmy Carter, but he was right about energy. The years have proven it.

Drago said...

Trumpit: "Don't even bring it up with your therapist. It's a beginning sign of psychopathy, or suicidal ideation."

You are actually advising people who might be suffering from psychopathy or feeling suicidal to NOT mention it to the very professionals who are there to help you through it?

Well, that sounds about right coming from you.

Michael K said...

Really? He may not have been a nuclear engineer, but he apparently did engineering-type work with nuclear reactors.

See this.

One myth correction, however. President Carter was a submarine officer, but he was not a nuclear engineer.

He graduated from the US Naval Academy in June 1946 (he entered in 1943 with the class of 1947, but his class was in a war-driven accelerated 3 year program) with an undesignated bachelor of science degree. Even if the Naval Academy had offered a majors program for his class, it is unlikely that it would have included Nuclear Engineering as a option – after all, the Manhattan Project was a dark secret for most of his time at Annapolis.

After graduation, Jimmy Carter served as a surface warfare officer for a two years and then volunteered for the submarine force. He served in a variety of billets, including engineer officer of diesel submarines and qualified to command submarines.

In November 1952, he began a three month temporary duty assignment at the Naval Reactor branch. He started nuclear power school (a six month course of study that leads to operator training) in March, 1953. In July 1953, his father passed away and he resigned his commission to run the family peanut farm. He was discharged from active duty on 9 October, 1953. According to an old friend of mine who served as Rickover’s personnel officer at Naval Reactors, LT Carter did not complete nuclear power school because of the need to take care of business at home.


That is the source of the myth. He didn't flunk out but he was never nuke qualified.\

tim in vermont said...

Epic of Gilgamesh

"Mother, I had a dream last night.
Stars of the sky appeared,
and some kind of meteorite of Anu fell next to me.
I tried to lift it but it was too mighty for me,
I tried to turn it over but I could not budge it.
The Land of Uruk was standing around it,
the whole land had assembled about it,
the populace was thronging around it,
the Men clustered about it,
and kissed its feet as if it were a little baby!.


This kind of stuff goes waaay back.

Gahrie said...

Of course the amount of oil on the planet earth is finite,

Perhaps not. Many people are beginning to believe that oil is constantly being produced deep in the Earth. There is some evidence that wells that ran dry decades ago are refilling.

virgil xenophon said...

What Gahrie, above@1:34 said...except he should have said "scientists" rather than "people."

JAORE said...

Don't do drugs.

JAORE said...

"Carter was right on energy. Probably because he was an engineer. "

Except he was not.

I believed he was for years (FWIW I was a licensed Professional Engineer, so - in my youth - I was impressed by having a engineer for Presbo).

He started out as an engineering student. He transferred to the Naval Academy. He got a general Bachelor of Science degree from there - I don't think they even issued engineering degrees back then and were not even accredited for such. He got nuclear training in the Navy, but no degree. Took some grad level courses in physics and nuclear tech, but no degree.

Fake news.