I'm trying to go forward on a Monday morning. Admittedly, I despaired at the front-page collage of headlines in the NYT and WaPo — the debt, Turkey, Ukraine — and felt blocked. But I needed to go back to respond to what I was told was an apt criticism of a post title of mine from last night — "Donald Trump has a Mother's Day message for the 'Lunatics and Maniacs' — the 'Mothers, Wives and Lovers of the Radical Left Fascists, Marxists, and Communists.'"
You can go there to see the 5 paragraphs I ended up adding to a post that was just that title on top of Trump's tweet/"truth." To figure out the extent to which I'd misunderstood him, I had to untangle multiple ambiguities and then, acknowledging the intended meaning, critique that. Then I got into an in-person debate about my reaction to Trump. Do I just continually react emotionally to his weirdness — his abnormality — or am I genuinely engaged in textual interpretation and earnest devotion to copy editing? This conversation took a long detour into the analogy of Trump's writing to Dylan's singing.
Now, Trump probably took something like 20 seconds to dash off his light-heavy shot at mothers of left-wingers, and here I am, the next day, putting 40 more minutes into receiving his message. His taking less time requires me to take more time. I know, I'm probably in the smallest group of the 3 sets of people who read that tweet/"truth." There were the people who get Trump and like what they're getting, and they had fun in the real time it took to skim Trump's 2 sentences. There were the people who loathe Trump, saw the nasty, rough words, quickly thought "I hate that guy," and continued on their righteous way. And then there was Group 3, my group, who got sucked into parsing the whole thing, sorting it out, looking at the unwound entrails, and writing and talking it to death.
He's not writing for me. He's writing for those other 2 groups, playing them off each other and scampering off with delight, and he will communicate again when something new momentarily crosses his mind. Meanwhile, I need to choose my distractions well. In this case, I think I did!
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49 comments:
"felt blocked"
Oh, no! Seriously, I hope not.
"Do I just continually react emotionally to his weirdness"
I seem to recall a pledge to ignore him during the campaign. Even I misremember, perhaps it would be good.
"He's not writing for me. He's writing for those other 2 groups."
Maybe so. Do you know that? He could just be writing to get a reaction from anyone and everyone. As long as he's the center of attention and all discussion revolves around him, even on the Althouse blog.
You have to use the modifier 'mangled'?
The use of biased adjectives is what has caused the MSM to lose its audience.
He's not writing for me.
Why would Trump bother to write for Althouse?
He is way too unfashionable in so many ways.
There is no way she would ever vote for him, so why waste the time?
The internet has made trolling an institution of sorts. Trolling is the act of intentionally saying things that provoke hostility or disbelief. Its utility derives from the insights to be obtained from the moral and intellectual caliber of the responses that are provoked. Trolling is handy in the context of the minute to minute verbal jujutsu of the digital world.
It's a really bad idea to needlessly provoke hostility and disbelief when you are trying to become the leader of the free world.
I didn't see what deeper meaning is offered except that it's not a message for analysis.
It withstands analysis just fine. It's sympathy, on mothers' day, to women for women who have these men to deal with.
The bait is sympathy. The hook is accepting that these men are loons. Appreciate the structure.
But why do we have to put up with this nonsense when there are two candidates who say what they mean and do so unambiguously?
Think of the time saved!
"scampering off with delight" perfect!!!!!
I submit there's a fourth set: those who used to belong to the first set and can still see the humor they found enjoyable, but who now wish he would just go away.
"His taking less time requires me to take more time. "
Come on Ann, Trump has a tee time. Not enough time for a candidate to write like a grown up.
I think it’s also a recognition of the power that women likely have in anyone’s orbit. Men have power, too, of course, but it’s a different type of power.
I’m group 5. People who don’t care what any politician says, but what they do.
when you have an administration that denies woman, that is fully moloch, that is at war with christians and devout jews,
I wonder if Trump signed up to help Democrats this time. He fights!
As per Trump’s MO, when substantive (or any) thought is lacking, serve up grandiosely self-serving braggadocio and/or bluster and bombast, tossed word salads of ad hoc insults, accusations, and blame casting. In other words, his typical odious and malodorous hot air, signifying nothing…but Trump’s smallness and nastiness of mind.
I would give this our “Trump Derangement Syndrome” tag.
Although I think I have a different definition of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
I'm in group four with Kate.
Read the banana, Ann. Read the banana.
https://youtu.be/8Gg4hDQ3B3E
Fed Supp?
I didn't get to read his message yesterday, and am following the Hillary rule of that being "old news" now, not worth my time. What has he done for me TODAY?
Fascism is a specific political ideology and is clearly defined in benito mussolini's 1938 pamphlet "the doctrine of fascism"
Anyone who does not think the Brandon admin is objectively fascist, by mussolonis definition needs to read the pamphlet (@10 pages, available online)
Kudos to our president emeritus for using this term, apparently correctly, to call them out.
One of the reasons to love him.
John Henry
Fascism elevator pitch:
Everything Within the State,
Nothing Against the State,
Nothing Outside the State
Benito mussolini
John Henry
And then there was Group 3, my group, who got sucked into parsing the whole thing, sorting it out, looking at the unwound entrails, and writing and talking it to death.
@Althouse, the population of the United States is estimated to be 332 million. I estimate the size of your Group 3 to be in the low single digits.
He's not writing for me.
Nope. If I was one of Trump’s strategists I’d place you in the category of “not winnable.” There is little of nothing he can do to win your vote that wouldn’t cost him many more votes elsewhere. Best he can hope for is that Biden will cause you to sit this election out again.
I do have to question whether someone living in Madison, Wisconsin, is qualified to say whether a political person is normal or abnormal. Though I do hope you stay there and don’t move to saner environs. The way you and other residents have voted over the years made Madison what it is today. I think you have a moral obligation to stay and try to help clean it up.
Analogies in human rites, entrails, interests, parsing, and all, are the antithesis of Mothers' Day.
"I seem to recall a pledge..."
Have I ever made "a pledge"? I don't think so. That doesn't sound like me. Link?
Kate: "I submit there's a fourth set: those who used to belong to the first set and can still see the humor they found enjoyable, but who now wish he would just go away."
But when he doesn't of his own accord, and he won't, and if the corrupt dem/GOPe lawfare fails to remove him, then what?
Althouse: "Have I ever made "a pledge"? I don't think so. That doesn't sound like me. Link?
You mean, "made a pledge" like an Animal House "pledge"? Is that what you mean?
I mean, you did come of age during the free love days and there were lots of frats back then.
I guess I'm struggling to untangle an ambiguity here.
Was Meade ever a pledge? If not, perhaps he could go "Old School".
Frat types popping by the Althouse abode to "kidnap" meade for initiation purposes is amusing to ponder. I suspect the initiation would involve lots of landscaping chores like doing some push mowing over cans of Bud Light.
Leland said...
I’m group 5. People who don’t care what any politician says, but what they do.
5/15/23, 8:54 AM
I'll join Leland in Group 5 (is that anything like the "Group W Bench"?) I don't care that Trump speaks in stream-of-consciousness style: however he accomplished it during a single term, in the face of adamant multi-group opposition, & undermining by his own administration, the country enjoyed: no new wars, a quieter NoKo, a bustling economy, a strong military, low inflation, surplus energy production, decreasing dependence on China for manufactured goods, something approaching peace in the Middle East & the "Abraham Accords," and on and on. Oh, and an international "respect" (a la Machiavellian "fear") without an ineffectual fixation on being "loved."
Now evaluate each of those categories with our current national environment of failure in every regard. I'll vote for him, or anyone who appears most likely to return the country to those positive, peace-enhancing, and productive policies.
Blogger Kate said...
I submit there's a fourth set: those who used to belong to the first set and can still see the humor they found enjoyable, but who now wish he would just go away.
Kate, your "set" is made up of white suburban women who plan to lie back and think of England. Good Luck. You'll need it.
Big Mike: "Nope. If I was one of Trump’s strategists I’d place you in the category of “not winnable.” There is little of nothing he can do to win your vote that wouldn’t cost him many more votes elsewhere. Best he can hope for is that Biden will cause you to sit this election out again."
Spot on.
ColoComment: "I'll join Leland in Group 5 (is that anything like the "Group W Bench"?) I don't care that Trump speaks in stream-of-consciousness style: however he accomplished it during a single term, in the face of adamant multi-group opposition, & undermining by his own administration, the country enjoyed: no new wars, a quieter NoKo, a bustling economy, a strong military, low inflation, surplus energy production, decreasing dependence on China for manufactured goods, something approaching peace in the Middle East & the "Abraham Accords," and on and on. Oh, and an international "respect" (a la Machiavellian "fear") without an ineffectual fixation on being "loved."
Lots of republicans on Althouse that will become quite upset with you for pointing those things out.
We're supposed to pretend that they never happened or came about due to every reason EXCEPT Trump.
It's quite amazing to watch happen in real time.
He also posted a very nice video honoring his Mother
But why do we have to put up with this nonsense when there are two candidates who say what they mean and do so unambiguously?
"Why" the children keep whining! It's called a primary, Dave, and Althouse posted a very complete response to your continued whining at 9:54 central daylight time this morning. Maybe you should read it. Duly noted now that one of the self-identified lawyers on the blog has gone on record calling the primary process "nonsense" because his preferred candidates still trail Trump. Note to Conservatives everywhere: Twitter and Truth are not real life. Only about 1% of the country even cares what is said on social media. Don't get caught up in the progressive shell game that is manufactured news stories. You don't have to react like a seal to every post Althouse puts up that triggers your Trump response.
Now let's deal with the substance of your repeated propping up of Ron and Vivek. They have zero experience in national elections and little to no record in governance. The entire DNC-Media Complex is salivating at the prospect of "defining" these men for the electorate the same way they "defined" Larry Elder in CA. The two best things Trump has going for him are his record (experience) and the fact most people have formed an opinion of him already and (for non-DNC types) it does not match the myth they talk about but is closer to what we saw with our own eyes when he was president.
Since the usual suspects didn't answer my question, I will tell you.
Trump did not gain a single vote with this.
Meanwhile, AA, there are not only three groups. There is also the group of Trump voters who think he really, seriously needs to go away.
Yes, there is the sycophant contingent. But a large proportion of Trump voters are tired of his selfish, self-centered, childish, inability to control his mouth.
While the Trump tweet is gramatically ambiguous, it really isn't, or shouldn't be, hard to interpret. I got it the first time and was completely unconfused. It was unlike the headline quote from the later post this morning, which was both gramatically incorrect and ambiguous, but even that headline quote was easy to interpret- I didn't even really have to think about it, and it only caught my eye because it was a newspaper and should have been gramatically correct and unambiguous. I noted it because the loss of standards such writing is exhibiting.
@Drago (10:51), thanks. Back in the day I received RNC training on winning local elections, and the first thing they taught me was to put away emotions and wants and desires and other such useless things, and focus strictly on having at least one more vote recorded for my (Republican) candidate than was recorded for his (or her) Democrat opponent.
Trump the whistleblower.
Dave Begley: "But why do we have to put up with this nonsense when there are two candidates who say what they mean and do so unambiguously?"
Who is "we"?
And what do you suggest your "we" do about it?
is democracy a difficult thing to "put up with"?
Do we need a GOPe led vetting committee that only allows certain people to run or makes certain that only the preferred candidate can win? We'll call that the Hillary 2016 Model.
I think what's missing is enough feet stamping in unison shouting "make OrangeManBad go away!".
Big Mike: "@Drago (10:51), thanks. Back in the day I received RNC training on winning local elections, and the first thing they taught me was to put away emotions and wants and desires and other such useless things, and focus strictly on having at least one more vote recorded for my (Republican) candidate than was recorded for his (or her) Democrat opponent."
Absolutely correct.
I've spent time strategizing in political trenches at the state level in Texas, in the military, in government and for decades now in business. You have to be able to view things dispassionately and, critically important, understand that just how many variables are in play in any scenario.
You can see from above and from comments here over the last several years that many commenters seem to believe the only swing block of voters that matters are the white, suburban, educated and already-half-in-the-bag for the democraticals women. These same commenters never have a single thing to say about rural, low propensity, populist working class and emerging breakaway (from the dems) minority voting sub-groups.
Amazing.
Bender: "Since the usual suspects didn't answer my question, I will tell you.
Trump did not gain a single vote with this."
I answered this on the other thread so I'll repost it here:
Bender: Drago: blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada
So, by your non-response, the answer is "zero."
You blahed blahed blahed and yada yada yada'd past my answer which was quite clear then pretended I hadnt answered at all.
I'll dumb it down for you, hopefully sufficiently but there are limits: in another 18 months the psycho marxist/trans radicals will have gone so far over the edge in attacking the rights of women and girls specifically and children in general, as they already are in many places, that Trump's comments in describing them will seem tame, even to those suburban women who are just coming to grips with how lunatic this fringe is becoming.
On the other side of the coin, comments like this will only solidify support amongst Trump's base and there are clear indications latinos and black males between 18 and 45 are not buying into that crap at all.
Or, as Bender would say "yada yada yada", usually with his fingers in his ears as he scoots about.
5/15/23, 1:00 PM Delete
Yes, there is the sycophant contingent. But a large proportion of Trump voters are tired of his selfish, self-centered, childish, inability to control his mouth.
Most are Biden voters so there is that. I like DeSantis for his culture wars positions but he made one comment about foreign policy (Ukraine) and his chain was jerked forcibly by his donors who are all in on giving the store to Ukraine.
“This conversation took a long detour into the analogy of Trump's writing to Dylan's singing.”
Oh come on. There’s plenty to criticize in Trump’s writing, but calling it analogous to Dylan’s singing is just going too far. A more interesting conversation would compare Trump’s writing to Dylan’s writing, leading to the inescapable conclusion that Trump deserves a Nobel Prize in Literature.
Althouse: not sure about literal "pledge"--but something about tuning out the Trump noise henceforth during the campaign, no? And if I don't misremember too badly, I chimed in to endorse the quasi-pledge, on the grounds that discussion of candidates and races and noise is irrelevant given the current election system and structural blue advantage.
No need to search. Not trying to set any blog agenda. I'm fine with whatever, for what it's worth.
“But why do we have to put up with this nonsense when there are two candidates who say what they mean and do so unambiguously?"
Because The Moscow Trained Propagandist, (wannabe or actual, hard to know) has a burning desire or perhaps mission to promote Trump at all costs.
Even conservatives here are showing signs of rejecting Trump in larger numbers every week. Polls may have Trump in the lead over any Republican contender, but I wonder how many silent Republicans and conservative white suburban women will either stay home or vote for a Democrat for the first time if Trump is the nominee.
At any rate it only benefits Democrats that Trump continue his Truth Social “messages”, so keep talking Trumpy!
@Dave Begley, I think you should scratch Ron DeSantis off your list permanently if he really did, as a Congressman, vote to raise the retirement age and cut benefits for Social Sexurity. He’s unelectable at the national level. Those are the cold, hard, facts.
Russia Collusion Truther and Hillary/FBI Hoax Dossier Dead Ender Inga: "Because The Moscow Trained Propagandist, (wannabe or actual, hard to know) has a burning desire or perhaps mission to promote Trump at all costs."
You sure picked an inopportune day to double down on your hilariously psychotic russia-based idiocy.
You know what you should do? Submit a Citizen's Dossier Report to the FBI drawing on your vast Wisconsin Nurse- based counter-espionage and bedpan training. I bet they have some free time to open another "investigation".
For those just tuning in, after 7 full years of non-stop russia collusion pushing, at all costs you might say, Inga, to this very day, still believes emphatically that russia collusion occurred AND the hoax dossier was "mostly proven correct".
She has never retracted those claims and, given the psychosis (psychoses?) she labors under, I doubt she ever will.
Trump, in his Trumpian way, is expressing what most Americans who are actually thinking about the insane policies imposed and promoted by our alleged leaders feel about them, and about where we are headed.
The leftist, Marxist, Fascist, Communist "leadership" are insane. And the time for letting it pass is over. "Wake Up!!!" is what he is saying. If you care about where we are headed, you need to stop coddling those who are promoting the insanity. Especially when your own loved ones are doing it.
Meanwhile, after criticizing them with a "you owe me" attitude, Trump again looks like he wants to throw away pro-lifers as supporters.
He will Inga, he never gives in he never gives up. MAGA
"Althouse: not sure about literal "pledge"--but something about tuning out the Trump noise henceforth during the campaign, no? And if I don't misremember too badly, I chimed in to endorse the quasi-pledge, on the grounds that discussion of candidates and races and noise is irrelevant given the current election system and structural blue advantage. No need to search. Not trying to set any blog agenda. I'm fine with whatever, for what it's worth."j
In other words, it didn't happen.
Nonapology accepted.
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