ADDED: Notice that Trump said "the BRAIN is much sharper," not "my BRAIN is much sharper." Remember, yesterday we were talking about "the geriatric possessive," how old people tend to say "I’m going to take my bath" and "take my walk" and "take my nap" rather than referring to baths and walks and naps and so on generally, without using a pronoun to highlight that the thing in question is theirs, which is what younger people do. Look at Trump — old but not seeming old — he doesn't even say "my brain." He says "the brain."
AND: Speaking of Trump's looks, here's something from the new Howard Stern book, from an April 2004 interview:
Caller: In a hypothetical situation—I mean, saying you’re not involved with Melania and there was no ethical backgrounds for business and whatnot—how many of those bitches [on "The Apprentice"] do you think you could’ve banged?PLUS: Meade corrects my interpretation of "I’ve had both, and I’ll take looking great." He says Trump was talking about the women. I completely believed he'd switched over to talking about himself and he was looking back on the time when he was beautiful. I read the interview last night and saw it that way and went looking for it this morning because I saw it that way, and I published the quote without even seeing the ambiguity, I was so attached to that interpretation. I now believe that he meant the women — he's "had" women — and I find that so much less interesting.
Howard: Good question.
Donald: Boy, I’ll tell ya. I love the thought, I’ll tell you that. ’Cause they were attractive. Do you agree with that?
Howard: I mean, some of the bodies on them while they were sitting there . . .
Donald: They were amazing.
Howard: Which is more important: talent or looking great?
Donald: Looking great.
Howard: I agree.
Donald: I’ve had both, and I’ll take looking great.
SO: Now, I'm thinking about the word "had." You have your own brain, whether you call it "my brain" or not. You can use "had" to talk about the sexual partners you've had without needing to say "sex." Just say "had." To say "I've been had" means you've been tricked, and a sexual partner can be called a "trick." Of course, I look up "had" in the OED, and talk about ridiculously long entries. Try reading "have, v." It's long! I begin to laugh at myself for even trying, but then it jumps out at me:
13. transitive. a. To gain sexual possession of (esp. a woman); to have sexual intercourse with....It goes back to Old English: "Þa het he feccan him to þa abbedessan on Leomynstre & hæfde hi þa while þe him geliste." Of course, there is Shakespeare: "Was euer woman in this humor woed, Was euer woman in this humor wonne: Ile haue her, but I will not keepe her long" ("Richard III"). Henry Fielding: "'None of your Coquet Airs, therefore, with me, Madam,’ said he, ‘for I am resolved to have you this Night.'" Keats: "I should have had her when I was in health, and I should have remained well." And — we need a woman — Judith Krantz in "Scruples" (1978): "They cherished not having had each other because it created a current of continual warmth which... was more important to them than sex." Ha, the woman is about not having.
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Trump wants outrage.
Reading the blog headline, I though Joe was Joe Biden, which made me think of Sleepy Joe, which made me think that Trump was praising the benefits of a good night's sleep.
The BRIAN is much sharper aslo, tweeted Trump.
Thanks autocorrect.
Sharper yes, but he's not giving the Dems credit where it's due. They have no shortage of grey matter.
"Look at Trump — old but not seeming old"
Ok. I frankly do not get this. No, he doesn't look 20 years younger. He is older and that's just fine. People shouldn't feel a pressure to be ashamed of their age; people don't need to look 20 years younger. People should not obsess about hair or looks or age; it's superficial. In any case, age can be an advantage in an election -- it signals experience and leadership.
English is really weird when you think about it.
It is odd to hear "take my shower" or "have my breakfast" etc. Though to some extent, I've gotten used to it because my off-the-boat Indian in-laws always phrase it that way. They have lived in the US for 45 years.
On the other hand, everybody says, "I brushed my teeth" not "I had a tooth brushing".
He’s going to have his hot sex.
Tallulah Bankhead said that about Gary Cooper.
Althouse said....
I now believe that he meant the women — he's "had" women — and I find that so much less interesting.
I think Trump meant he's "had" both kinds of women on the show -- talented and great looking.
The compound predicate questions being (1) "how many of those bitches [on "The Apprentice"] do you think you could’ve banged?" and Stern's follow-up (2) "which is more important: talent or looking great?"
Is Cup=o=Joe going soft? Is the TDS finally wearing off? Is Mika honoring the sex strike touted by Alyssa the Witch?
Inquiring minds want to know.
It is odd to hear "take my shower" or "have my breakfast" etc. Though to some extent, I've gotten used to it because my off-the-boat Indian in-laws always phrase it that way.
Are they "geriatric"?
"I brushed my teeth"
If Trump had said "my brain" it wouldn't have been an example of the (supposed) geriatric possessive; teeth, brain, etc are parts of your body and people don't say "I hit the hand with a hammer" when they hit their own hand.
"Talk to my hand."
"Talk to the hand" makes it a joke.
I still think it's interesting, but in a different way.
What does he mean by "talented" when it comes to women he's had? Because if the choice for a sex-doll is looking great vs. great at sex, then it says something about his womanizing that it's more about being seen with beautiful women than about having great sex with women.
Fernandistein said...
Are they "geriatric"?
Yes, they are now. But I've been married to their daughter for 27 years and they always used this phrasing. My wife uses the same phrasing sometimes too, she probably got in the habit from being raised in that environment. I wouldn't swear to it, but I would bet my kids have used that phrasing too--though it definitely isn't their standard phrasing.
Apparently, nobody is having Alyssa Milano right now.
Not the first time "the Brain" has rescued the president!
"You're not supposed to be in here, Brain."
Shirley, you realize the OED is a tool of the patriarchy.
Trump's brain is in his backside which is bigly and old looking from riding in his golf cart.
Stern should be Trump’s Chief of Staff...
"Apparently, nobody is having Alyssa Milano right now."
Probably a pretty dangerous animal at the moment, and likely to get more dangerous as time goes on. Getting close would be a big mistake. "Not gonna do it - wouldn't be prudent."
"Alright brain, you don't like me and I don't like you, but lets get thru this and I can get back to killing you with beer."
It's a deal!
The OED lays Judith Krantz alongside Keats?
Abashed to be a woman hashtag.
Phil Ochs - I've Had Her (1967)
"I've had her
She's nothing"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7Yu3_4piJk
Richard in RIII meant "have her as wife," which was politically useful at the time.
Old people say "my" (usual) nap, walk, etc., because it is part of their daily routine; it's "mine" because I take it every day. They would say "I'm going for a drive" if they seldom drove.
No doubt the word 'had' can have an explicit sexual meaning. However it has other meanings as well and in the context of this conversation another meaning seems more realistic. Trump was talking about women who sat in front of him on his show, and how much they stimulated his sexual emotions. In that context, these were women he 'had on his show'. He was more interested, he seems to be saying, in the attractive ones rather than the talented ones. This is what any male might be expected to say, and doesn't imply that he had sexual relations with any of them. A problem with the meaning you discuss is why he would he have had sexual relations with talented but ugly women, to be able to make the comparison?
True, there are some men to whom sex is mainly a matter of power, who might feel a need to bed every woman he meets, or people like President Kennedy who had an addiction to sex, but I have not had either of these symptoms attributed to Trump.
@Rehajm
Autocorrect is the doom of civilization. I think about it often while watching re-runs of Pinky and the Brian.
R/V is now at fifth-grade level insults.
Good job of self-improvement.
Trump was in his mid-fifties and acting like a teenager on Howard Stern. Swell.
C'mon, he's a boorish jerk. Yes, the opponents on the left are worse but that's no excuse for this man-child we have a president. You should be able to keep two ideas in your head at the same time: he's a disgraceful person AND we need to keep this crazy left from attaining power.
I read “having both” as speaking of himself. There’s a comic shift, then he becomes the pretty girl.
SMG
I think a lot of us do keep both ideas in mind. I did not support Trump last time, nor Hillary. But this time I might, if the choice is worse than Hillary.
All this nice stuff should have come out before Nov 16. It might have altered the GOP primary results. Of course, the Dems thought Trump was easiest to beat, so they and their media allies pushed him forward.
I reckon, they regret that now.
Let's focus on what Trump has done as President since 1/2017!
Stern should be Trump’s Chief of Staff..
Fuck that, he needs to run for NYC mayor.
As I was reading your post, it did immediately occur to me that there were two ways to interpret that quote, but there is another way to interpret Meade's interpretation- what does "talent" mean in that quote? Smart about business, or smart about sex?
And EDH is correct- there is yet another interpretation- that he was talking about the female contestants in the role as contestant on the show. Unlikely that it is what Trump meant, but not impossible.
He was talking about Ivanka: if you go back and read about the breakup of their marriage, Trump has said that it was a result of her getting too involved in the business. She was very good at it, successful, and wanted to do more and more, and it cost Trump his wifely refuge from business. He was being rueful.
Shit, I meant Ivana.
It all went downhill after she started managing the Plaza, and turned out to be talented at business.
"Trump was in his mid-fifties and acting like a teenager on Howard Stern. Swell"
In a culture which rewards man-child behavior, what do you expect?
The WaPo is the Variety of "show business for ugly people," and stories about the Permanent Campaign are about as interesting outside the Beltway as stories about the Willam Morris Agency are outside of Hollywood.
r/v: "Trump's brain is in his backside which is bigly and old looking from riding in his golf cart."
The Party of "Guns" Nadler speaks!
Howard: Which is more important: talent or looking great?
Donald: Looking great.
Howard: I agree.
Donald: I’ve had both, and I’ll take looking great.
Pretty sure that's going to be the biggest laugh I have today, and today's been a great day, so far, for laughs. Thank you.
And no, I dont care if my insulting Nadler drives LLR's everywhere back into therapy.
One of Althouse's more endearing features is that though she is no longer in the first flush of youth, naivete-wise she's still fourteen. The Donald had "had" his own good looks, indeed. My Lord.
I'm reminded of the rather, er male, remark of someone - I forget who - commenting on the college dating scene in the early 80s. Specifically what it was like as a graduate student (male) going to parties and meeting freshman (women.)
"Like clubbing baby seals."
"Trump has said that it was a result of her getting too involved in the business."
er...I'm pretty sure it had more to do with him getting too involved in Marla Maples. His family & elementary age kids flew out to Colorado (Vail?) for a ski trip & he flew Maples out too and put her up in a hotel. Maples and Ivanna (and kids including Ivanka) all ran into each other on the street. Marla & Ivanna got in to a screaming fight with each other in front of the kids on a public sidewalk.
Some wives put up with mistresses in-their-faces, and messing around with porn stars while pregnant or having given birth. Other wives will throw down in public with the mistress. Ivanna was a throw-down woman, and Trump wanted a wife who would look the other way when he slept around and flew in his mistresses on the side.
Aspen! Not Vail. Looks like he didn't mention his kids watching the fight w/ his interview with Stern.
"In the interview with Stern and Quivers from April 11, 2002, Donald joked about putting Ivana and Marla in the ring for a celebrity fight. Donald called the prospect of Marla and Ivana getting in the boxing ring an interesting fight that he would likely see in person."
"Much talk has surrounded the day that Donald Trump’s then-mistress, Marla Maples, met face-to-face with Ivana Trump, who was still married to Donald at the time, as reported by the Inquisitr. Now that Trump’s full interviews with Howard Stern have been released, the public can hear more about Trump speaking about that fateful day, as shown below. While many people might have thought that Marla confronting Ivana was some sort of coincidence, or that Maples was the stalker following Trump around for two years that Donald made her out to be, as reported by Gawker, Robin Quivers posits the theory that Trump actually brought Marla along on his family vacation to Aspen with his wife and kids, but he stashed Marla in a different hotel room. Trump doesn’t deny Quivers’ accusations."
"It was Christmas in 1990, and according to Robin, Marla got fed up with sitting around in her hotel room and decided to get out on the ski slopes. Gawker reports various versions of the confrontation but notes that Ivana had a warning that Donald’s mistress had joined their family vacation when Ivana picked up a phone in her hotel room and heard Donald speaking to someone else about a woman that Ivana thought was named “Moola.”"
"According to reports about the incident, Marla and Ivana nearly came to blows and had a harsh exchange of words over Donald that day at the ski resort. Once Ivana discovered who Marla was – Maples was reportedly there with a girlfriend – Ivana and Marla went back and forth over who loved Donald the most. Meanwhile, Donald said that he was “standing on the mountain in Aspen like an idiot” as the two women exchanged words and verbally fought for his love."
https://www.inquisitr.com/4521203/trump-tells-howard-stern-about-day-he-stashed-mistress-marla-maples-on-vacation-with-wife-ivana-kids-video/
"I once had a girl or should I say she once had me"
And that was what was in it for the women, right? They got to have Donald Trump. As for Trump preferring looking great over talent, I suspect he couldn't handle talent. That was Stormy Daniels's story, in a nutshell.
Trump is the master at trolling the braindead (Dems and Media, but I repeat myself)
Trump's brain is in his backside which is bigly and old looking from riding in his golf cart - r/v
This is the kind of erudite comment that comes from people who belong to book clubs of super geniuses who read philosophy and stuff. You lot should try to emulate the exalted style and endeavor to achieve this level of trenchant analysis, impossible as such a lofty aim may seem to you now.
You should be able to keep two ideas in your head at the same time: he's a disgraceful person AND we need to keep this crazy left from attaining power.
I would bet that if Althouse did a poll, this would be the number one answer of the commenters here. Though “disgraceful” might to a little far, getting into, you know, “misdemeanors” but “boorish jerk,” asofuckinglutely.
Gary: We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong-ll is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes — assholes who just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is that they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate — and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are only an inch and half away from assholes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know that if you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!. - Team America World Police
"I was so attached to that interpretation. I now believe that he meant the women — he's "had" women — and I find that so much less interesting"
Just for the record, this reveals much about Althouse's way of thinking, inclined as she is to get attached to the interesting interpretation. A combination of art and law will do that to a brain. Mere truth can be boring. But we also have a rare instance here of Althouse admitting error, thanks to Meade, though as EDH points out, the correction is still not quite correct.
wwwwwww, I don’t think we’re disagreeing. Donald was unhappy in his marriage. Ivana has a lot of talent. It’s a funny and revealing comment.
I remember that stern show dialogue and also the strong sense that was a comment on Ivana.
She’s had more marriages than he has, btw.
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