December 25, 2018

Trump's Christmas meme: "I am all alone."

As I see it in the press...



... it seems to mean that Trump is isolated, friendless, and self-pitying. His words are characterized as a "ranting" and "complaining." He stews, un-self-aware, in chaos of his own making.

Let's look at the tweet that set off this anti-Trump ideation:

First of all, he's not self-pitying, because the "(poor me)" — to anyone who hasn't descended into willfull humor-deafness — is a sarcastic way to say that he's not feeling sorry for himself. He has chosen to stay in Washington, and he's refraining from bragging and gloating (which his haters would have hated even more than self-pity). "I am all alone" stands in for the implicit boast: I stayed on the job, when nobody else did. They all skittered home, putting their self-interest first, and I put the country first. He's "waiting for the Democrats to come back and make a deal." His emotionalism is not about his personal needs but on the "desperate" need of the country's.



ADDED: "Poor me" has a bit of a "Sopranos" vibe:



IN THE COMMENTS: Meade rewrites the words to that Brenda Lee song:
All alone am I ever since the Dems’ goodbye
All alone with just the thought of my Wall
Congress not around; not a Democrat in town
Just the lonely vision of my Wall

No use holding GOP hands
For I'd be holding only emptiness
No use in kissing up to Mitch
Only Chuck Schumer can scratch this itch

My party gives me great support
If only Dem’s now would come around
Give up their open border dream
Their votes can end this vile Shutdown

All alone am I; Chuck and Nancy said goodbye
All alone (poor me) with no government
I just mope around, efforts fail to redound
Just a lonely pleading for my Wall

87 comments:

Big Mike said...

Correct interpretation.

wild chicken said...

It's Alternate Reality written in real time. I'm afraid this is the version of "history" we'll be fed in the future.

Those who try to correct the record will be anathametized.

I wonder how much history we read is like this.

Yancey Ward said...

Trump continues to unmask the sheer willful stupidity of his opposition.

I bet Chuck comes along later today to explain how CNN and all the others have the correct interpretation.

wild chicken said...

Thing is, the more I read about him the more I like him. I know he's a sociopath, but he made a deal with voters to play the role of conservative, nationalist president and he's trying to stick to it.

Yancey Ward said...

At what age did you no longer believe in Santa Claus?

DavidD said...

He made an earlier tweet where he’d said he had canceled a trip to Florida to stay in DC to get the funding impasse resolved; apparently, nobody else stayed....

Howard said...

#divastrong

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Sometimes it is nice to be alone on a big bustling holiday.

Quiet. Peaceful. Relaxing. No chaos.

You can do what you want, when you want. Wear what you like. PJ's until 2pm. Why not? Nap. Read. Watch what you like on TV or Netflix. Eat what you want or don't eat. Low expectations because it is just you....(or in our case...just the two of us)

No one you 'have' to talk to. Nothing you have to do. Nowhere you have to go. Downtime!!!

I envision Trump in his bunny slippers, drinking hot chocolate and reveling in the quiet.

traditionalguy said...

Our President is all alone in the District of Criminals. But he is winning every fight with them. On Xmas Eve 1944 in the Ardennes the Airborne was also totally surrounded. And like Trump, their thoughts were not gloomy. They were , "the poor bastards have us surrounded".

etbass said...

If he feels alone, he's entitled. His own party barely supports him. His staff doesn't seem to, everyone else except the vast horde of deplorables, hate him. I just hope he keeps on being a man and doing the right thing for our country. Maybe future generations might be inspired.

MayBee said...

"Obama forgoes his beloved Hawaiian Family Holiday to try to force a budget, but the obstructionist Republicans refuse to compromise"

tim in vermont said...

You are not supposed to understand Trump’s rhetoric. Only idiots understand him, and that’s just because they only think they understand him because they are idiots. There was quite a discussion of his defects and crimes against humanity last hight here because several liberals at the party could not let such a glorious opportunity for Trump bashing to pass un-indulged.

So whatever.

robother said...

My mom used to say that "poor me" as a way to shame us kids out of pouting. Worked with us, but the East Cost kids who became MSM pundits would have just descended into further depression. Lacking sense of humor is a crippling mental disease.

tim in vermont said...

I know he's a sociopath

I don’t think that “sociopath” means that you don’t feel the emotions that the opposition party and their communications arm, the mainstream press says you are supposed to feel. Trump is more like George Bailey than Old Man Potter. He actually takes representing the people who elected him seriously and his promises to them seriously. What a SOCIOPATH!

chickelit said...

This is President Trump’s finest hour.

Diogenes of Sinope said...

And Trump is all alone.
There is no one here beside me.
And my problems have all gone.
There is no one to deride me.

But you got to have friends.
The feeling's oh so strong.
You got to have friends
To make that day last long.

I had some firends but they're gone,
Somethin' came and took them away.
And from the dusk 'til the dawn
Here is where I'll stay.

Standing at the end of the road, boys,
Waiting for my new friends to come.
I don't care if I'm hungry or poor,
I'm gonna get me some of them.

'Cause you got to have friends.
Da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, friends.
That's right you, oh you, yeah you,
I said you gotta have some friends,
I'm talkin' about friends, that's right, friends.
Friends, friends, friends.

I had some friends, oh, but they're all gone, gone,
Someone came and snatched them away.
And from the dusk until the very dawn, you know,
Here is where I gotta stay, here is where I gotta stay.

And I'm standing at the end of a real long road
And I'm waiting for my new friends to come.
I don't care if I'm hungry or freezin' cold,
I'm gonna get me some of them.

'Cause you gotta have friends,
That's right, friends, friends.
I gotta me my, I gotta me my, I gotta me my,
Look around and see all of my friends.
Oh, friends, that's right, friends, friends,
Friends, friends, friends, friends, oh,
Friends, you gotta have friends. ..

Matt Sablan said...

I always find it amazing people who'll lecture on dog whistles, textualism, symbolism etc. Somehow completely miss sarcasm. Like. Trump is a dick. But his meaning here is clear to the average person without needing a PhD.

tim in vermont said...

Trump’s the dick we need to handle the scum in DC

Breezy said...

He’s there but Dems aren’t. They don’t care about the paychecks or border security. He’s calling them out appropriately...
And CNN is bananas.

Jokah Macpherson said...

When I saw the tweet I wondered if he we referencing the Kim Jung Il song from Team America: World Police.

Qwinn said...

Matthew Sabian:

It's only "amazing" if you think it's some sort of innocent cognitive dissonance or lack of self awareness. It's not. It's malevolent, it's intentional, it's vile and manipulative and evil. The Left is incapable of acting in good faith in even the most trivial matters. As such, it's merely banal, not amazing.

Merry Christmas!

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Poor Poor Pitiful Me

The original artist.

The left and Trump haters just don't understand sarcasm and self depreciating humor. Their loss.

narciso said...

Hes a blunt instrument what's required at this time.

Humperdink said...

“All right, they’re on our left, they’re on our right, they’re in front of us, they’re behind us…they can’t get away this time”

Chesty Puller, USMC

readering said...

All's for the best in this best of all possible Trump worlds.

Sebastian said...

"His words are characterized as a "ranting" and "complaining.""

It's fake news all the way down, and across.

Yancey Ward said...

Yeah, there is no future for a politician running against D.C. in its entirety.

rhhardin said...

The story is for the soap opera women. Nobody else believes it.

Seeing Red said...

How can one be “all alone” in the White House?

Poor him in the WH at Christmas.

They really are humorless.

wild chicken said...

I don’t think that “sociopath” means that you don’t feel the emotions that the opposition party

Thinking more about his prior life, treatment of wives, competitors etc. Though I tend to think of it as typical behavior of rich guy/movie star/CEO types.

If they can, they will.

Hagar said...

"A majority of one."

Trump is a bit like Buffalo Bill's Wild West show; all fake, all real, unique, and very successful.

Dave Begley said...

Trump offers the Dems a DACA deal. Schumer rejects it. Trump offers Schumer $30B for the Gateway tunnel into NYC. Schumer rejects it. Trump stops the $10B going to Mexico and Latin America.

Trump then addresses the nation from the Oval. He pins the gov't shutdown on Schumer. Says Mexico has paid for the Wall.

Yellow vest protestors gather around Schumer's offices.

Schumer caves. Trump gets $10B for the Wall.

The above is Trump's plan.

Meade said...

All alone am I ever since the Dems’ goodbye
All alone with just the thought of my Wall
Congress not around; not a Democrat in town
Just the lonely vision of my Wall

No use holding GOP hands
For I'd be holding only emptiness
No use in kissing up to Mitch
Only Chuck Schumer can scratch this itch

My party gives me great support
If only Dem’s now would come around
Give up their open border dream
Their votes can end this vile Shutdown

All alone am I; Chuck and Nancy said goodbye
All alone (poor me) with no government
I just mope around, efforts fail to redound
Just a lonely pleading for my Wall

Barry Dauphin said...

Pelosi & Schumer: Trump is plunging the country into chaos. OK, Merry Christmas, we”re going on vacation.

tcrosse said...

Warren Zevon explains although it's arguable that Ronstadt does it better.

chickelit said...

President Trump has walled himself off.

Tommy Duncan said...

Some one recently remarked that "while Democrats whine that the wall won't work, their real fear is that it will."

Rarely Home said...

Wouldn't it be great if Trump made a field trip to the Hart Senate Office Building, knocked on Senator Schumer's office door with a full camera crew... "Here to see the Senator, is he in? No? Hey Federal workers, I'm here working while the Senator is taking a vacation." Repeat another 40 or so times.

Terry di Tufo said...

“Ronely”. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=UEaKX9YYHiQ
Team America

Craig said...

Trump Derangement Syndrome Derangement Syndrome. Althouse: "There is a thing the media isn't saying but I think they are meaning. Isn't it crazy that they think that thing? Unlike everyone else, I alone am committed to cruel neutrality in my dogged uneven interpretation of things!" Commentariat: "Man, the media is so dumb for saying that dumb thing they didn't actually say! We love you Althouse! Let's go buy some stuff on Amazon."

robother said...

I had in mind another lyric:

We don't need no dark sarcasm
In the cloakroom
Just another brick in the Wall!

Hagar said...

It is an old saying thet "Ye may know a man by his enemies," and so I conclude that Donald J. Trump must be a very great man indeed and absolutely the one to ride with, even if I do not understand it all.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I don’t think that “sociopath” means that you don’t feel the emotions that the opposition party

You are right. A sociopath has feelings. A psychopath has to pretend to have emotions (ala Hillary Clinton) in order to fool others. No ability to really empathize with anyone. Others are objects and not real to a psychopath.

A sociopath has emotions, and really can "feel your pain" (ala Bill Clinton). They just don't always care. Especially when you get in their way or impede their getting to their goals.

Many successful CEOs and Captains of Industry are sociopaths. They can live full and satisfying family lives, able to enrich others as well as themselves

As I understand it psychopathy is believed to be inherited and sociopathy a learned or acquired trait.

Trump is likely on the sociopath scale to some extent. That doesn't make him evil. Just goal focused and imminently successful as a business man. We hope that this carries over to his job as President.

Ann Althouse said...

"My mom used to say that "poor me" as a way to shame us kids out of pouting."

My mother's line was, "Well, if that's the worst thing that ever happens to you..."

Inga...Allie Oop said...

Whatever would we do without someone translating Trump for us?

“Trump Derangement Syndrome Derangement Syndrome”

Looks that way. Every single stupid thing Trump says that anyone dares to mock, has a multitude of Trump Cultists waiting in the wings to explain what he really meant to us. I guess we just aren’t savvy enough or are missing the humor gene because we don’t find his tweetings to be brilliant and funny. Sorry just can’t appreciate his comedy genius.

More important things to do today than care about what Trump says, time to get ready for another Christmas celebration with family and friends this afternoon.

rehajm said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rehajm said...

In Hillary's America we'd be thankful we had family since we didn't have money for presents. In Bloomberg's America raw eggs in our egg nog were outlawed 'for our own good'. In Occassio-Cortez America we'd all be partaking in the Christmas tradition of scaling the wall to Mexico erected to keep out American refugees.

I'll take Trump, thank you.

tcrosse said...

My mother's line was, "Well, if that's the worst thing that ever happens to you..."

My Dad's was, "I'll give you something to cry about.

Drago said...

Inga: "Every single stupid thing Trump says that anyone dares to mock, has a multitude of Trump Cultists waiting in the wings to explain what he really meant to us...."

Another opposite of reality Hot Take from the --I believe anything some lefty stooge working for Clinton spits out from chats with Putins pals--Hoax Dossier crew!

Glorious.

n.n said...

The journolists believes that their constant, even progressive, bullhorns, can force a perception that colors reality. Time will tell, but early receipts indicate that is, in fact, a likely outcome.

cubanbob said...

I woke up this morning and turned the light on. Amazing the power company is functioning. Then my cell phone rang. Amazing the telecommunications industry is functioning. Popped outside and noticed the sky isn't falling. The roads are open and gas stations are open. It's all good. The government can stay shut down indefinitely. As for the wall, Trump ought to say the wall protects the border which is a core obligation of the government. The NYC mass transit system isn't a core national obligation and therefore Trump should threaten to veto it and the funds that are supposed to be allocated to it and use those funds on the wall.

n.n said...

Twas the night before mass migration, when all through the government, not a creature was stirring, not even a congressman. The Planned Americans were sequestered with care, in hopes that Stork would soon be there. While visions of hyphenated Americans danced in their heads.

bagoh20 said...

They know exactly what he meant. They want you to think he's saying something else. That's pretty much a daily thing. If you look, you will find all the anti-Trump Dems on video saying pretty much what Trump does now most days, but that was back before Trump was saying them. If you look back just a few years you could imagine Trump being the Democrat nominee. Funniest is what Schumer himself said about illegal immigration. He was far more adamant than Trump is about the problem. I wish just one person in the media would ask Schumer about that, and while they are at it, they could ask each other why they don't.

bagoh20 said...

I don't think Santa is an American citizen. Does he have a work visa or any right to be here? The same goes for Jesus, who I'm told is everywhere.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

has a multitude of Trump Cultists waiting in the wings to explain what he really meant to us...."

That is because you guys never ever seem to "get it". He is speaking plain English, normal usages and somehow you guys are amazed, bemused, befuddled. It is like trying to explain very simple concepts to 3rd graders.

James K said...

"Obama forgoes his beloved Hawaiian Family Holiday to try to force a budget"

Obama always had Reggie to keep him company.

As to Trump alone and 'ranting,' again the MSM just recycles the material from Watergate to evoke Nixonian imagery, in the hope that somehow impeachment will appear.

Yancey Ward said...

My mother's line was always "You get like that just before you die."

BUMBLE BEE said...

Hey the press and the secret service are home for the holidays, with their families, due solely to that Psychopathic fuck in the White House. Is that what the dumbocrats want to say? Let it rock... The Schumer Pelosi stuff will make Great campaign commercials in 2020. Thanks to the only one making America Great. Bunch o chucklehead lefties.

John henry said...

Trad guy,

To carry your Ardennes analogy along, he should have tweeted "Nuts!" when Pelosi and Schumer asked him to cave on the wall.

John Henry

David in Cal said...

My local newspaper (San Jose Mercury) has a ridiculous front page headline story about all the money Trump is supposedly making when Republican politicians stay at his hotels. Of course, others would stay in those rooms if the pols weren't there. And, the the profit for those stays is utterly negligible to a billionaire. Just sad.(:

The Godfather said...

So, who's gonna blink?

narciso said...

friends don't let friends take McClatchy seriously,

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2018/12/watergate-revisited-a-footnote.php

Lydia said...

Now he faces the lack of a graceful exit path from the government shutdown, having dug in on his demand for $5 billion in funding for the border wall and fearful of making any concessions with Democrats that might set off conservative activists.

That's in a Wash. Post piece. Jumped out at me because I think Trump would truly love nothing more than to be able to back down on this, but that dang, credulous base. Oh, to be a fly on the wall ... but then I don't think Trump ever confides in any one, about anything. It's all a one-man show.

Ajnal said...

Undocumented immigration is at twelve year low, yet he holds the US government and economy hostage to get 5 billion for an unnecessary pet project just to please the onion/althouse/rushbo comment sections.

"Genius"

Hagar said...

There is no such thing as Trump confiding in someone. Even the cleaning staff carry cell phones with the media on speed dial.

Humperdink said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Robert Cook said...

”As I understand it psychopathy is believed to be inherited and sociopathy a learned or acquired trait.”

As I understand it, psychopathy and sociopathy are simply two words for the same thing...synonyms for each other.

Anonymous said...

Ajnal: Undocumented immigration is at twelve year low, yet he holds the US government and economy hostage to get 5 billion for an unnecessary pet project just to please the onion/althouse/rushbo comment sections.

"Genius"


Every year the Althouse regulars ask Santa for some leftists with brains, but he keeps leaving us these lumps of coal.

Humperdink said...

""Undocumented immigration is at twelve year low, yet he holds the US government and economy hostage ..."

This is laughable. Truly laughable. The Trump shutdown will zero impact on most Americans. Zero. And those poor federal employees will get back pay for their unplanned Christmas break.

rehajm said...

An economy held hostage by Trump grows 50% faster than one operating under all of Obamas best ideas.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

When Trump is all alone, with no more support, all his confidantes in jail - (including the lawyers!), and no more political power, it will be interesting to see you as one of the few dead-enders left to predictably come to his aid and comfort. Of course calling everyone else deranged.

Everyone else is crazy! Trump is the sane one! (Which must be why everything that comes out of his Twitter hole is a lie).

Seriously. What's in it for you, all this water-carrying? What are you getting out of it?

eric said...

Everyone else is crazy! Trump is the sane one! (Which must be why everything that comes out of his Twitter hole is a lie).

Seriously. What's in it for you, all this water-carrying? What are you getting out of it?


Shhhhh, just go quietly into that good night. Let Trump go. Aren't you tired of it yet? Protecting him, making excuses for him, when everyone knows how terrible he is? When everyone agrees with me?

Look, we promise, let Trump go and the next guy, the next one? Oh, we'll be good. No way he can be worse than Trump. No way! And so, we'll be good.

But first, you have to let Trump go. Shhhhh, just let the headache go away. Just let Trump go away. Shhhhh, quiet now. I'm thinking of you, you don't want to suffer anymore, do you? Do you?

eric said...

This is laughable. Truly laughable. The Trump shutdown will zero impact on most Americans. Zero. And those poor federal employees will get back pay for their unplanned Christmas break.

I see this a lot.

All of those federal employees working on the border? They're essential. They don't get a vacation. They just have to work without pay.

No, granted, they've always gotten their pay once the government opens back up.

But let's not pretend all Federal Employees get a paid vacation.

walter said...

Poor PPPT invokes "everyone else" as if that's remotely accurate.
But then..still invoking the fabled PPPT.
Sad!

walter said...

"All of those federal employees working on the border? They're essential. They don't get a vacation. They just have to work without pay."
--
And..think they're pissed off things are being shook up in large part on their behalf?
NOPE!

Birkel said...

What's in it for me?

How about all the job openings?
Or maybe lower gas prices because, in fact, we can drill our way to lower prices.
Or maybe fewer regulations that unleash the animal spirits and force the big companies - the ones that bought government access and government protection - to compete on a more level field of play.
Maybe the 1% faster rate of GDP growth that translates into 150-200 billion more economic activity on a yearly basis.
Or China lowering tariffs twice with further concessions likely.
Or higher consumer confidence based on people's understanding of their own economic situation.

I could continue with dozens more but I know the Leftists wouldn't care about such trivia when there are lies to spread.

tim in vermont said...

Inga is right. Clearly Trump was wailing and bemoaning the fact that the only friends he has are the shirking deplorables out in the wastelands of flyover country and that nobody in the class of our betters who know how we should live and whom we should look to for direction in our lives, mainly they know truths like “you can’t drill your way to lower oil prices” and “your jobs are all doomed and the sooner you accept that your highest use is flipping hamburger for people collecting govt checks in one for or another” likes him.

His only friends are morons who think that the jobs that China, Europe, Canada, Mexico seek to take from the US through one-sided trade agreements are worth having. Who needs friends like that? The Clintons have lots of these rich friends who make money hand over fist even when the jobs are shipped overseas. Not sure that Harvey Weinstein will be able to deliver movie stars to add glitter to their fundraisers anymore, but somebody will!

Could you imagine how rotten it would be to have your only friends be the despicable flyover trash!

tim in vermont said...

"Every single stupid thing Trump says that anyone dares to mock, has a multitude of Trump Cultists waiting in the wings to explain what he really meant to us...."

Yes. The best explanation when a large number of people disagree with you is that they are all morons! Whatever you do, it’s critical that you shut out any information that might cause you to productively question your thinking, thereby sharpening it.

After all, the person who is most likely to be right is the person who never once betrays a doubt! Who never once questions their own thinking... right?

Here’s a song for Inga.

One learns the most by covering one’s eyes and ears!

As far as “dares to mock” I haven’t heard of anybody being sent to sensitivity training for mocking Trump the way that rodeo clown who dared to make fun of Obama was. But Obama was the bearer of the One True Faith!

Ajnal said...

But why hold the govt/economy hostage for something Mexico is going to write a check for? It just doesn't make any sense.

AZ Bob said...

In my mind, I was singing All By Myself by Eric Carmen.

AZ Bob said...

I researched the song to learn about the guitarist, Hugh McCracken. Turns out, according to Wikipedia:

"His most well-known work was the slide guitar solo in All By Myself by Eric Carmen, the guitar solo in Hey Nineteen by Steely Dan, and the main guitar playing fills on Van Morrison classic Brown-Eyed Girl."

Gk1 said...

What is so noble about exploiting poor brown people to work in an under the table economy? I still can't get lefties to explain that to me without getting angry and embarrassed. The wall will probably not work as well as closing off the attractiveness of illegal labor by penalizing employers and making sure all employees have a valid s.s number.

AZ Bob said...

Give me a few listens on YouTube of my band's interpretation of For What It's Worth. Marcel Wittfeld is lead guitar.

Jim at said...

I guess we just aren’t savvy enough or are missing the humor gene because we don’t find his tweetings to be brilliant and funny.

Well, maybe if you actually did figure it out, we wouldn't have to constantly explain it to you time and again.

His tweets aren't brilliant. Sometimes they're funny.
But they drive people like you insane and that's all I need for them to do.

Birkel said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Birkel said...

And then President Trump flew to Iraq to be with American troops.

Normally I think talk of 4-D chess is silly.
But on this account the president got inside the OODA loop of the press overly easily.
The press was played.
#Sad

Rusty said...


"Every year the Althouse regulars ask Santa for some leftists with brains, but he keeps leaving us these lumps of coal."

Which has led me to think that there aren't any. We keep getting the Howards and ritmos and ingas and, oh yeah, chuck.