I like the elegance of his distancing: "But it’s quite important, and they did it to me."
They did it to me....
Without choosing one or the other, Trump invokes 2 of the greatest concepts in the history of human ethics: The Golden Rule and Tit For Tat.
Posts
49 comments:
"The Golden Rule and Tit For Tat."
It's a shake-and-bake prisoner's dilemma society, and we helped!
And in his typical self-centered shooting off his mouth, Trump thus gives credence to the Dems argument that any impeachment of Biden is nothing more than BS politics.
I voted for this guy twice and am grateful for many things, but he has said/done nothing in three years to give anyone any reason to support him.
It in a more enlightened time, the demented, grifting sonuva bitch would be hanged from his scrawny, desiccated neck until dead.
No joke.
Trump's first impeachment was a cover up of Joe "China owns me!" Biden's and Nancy Pelosi's Ukrainian corruption. Nancy wasted no time starting the impeachment action (not an inquiry). Those two worthies couldn't afford to have the Ukrainians investigate corruption, so they had to create a diversion. They succeeded. Now the worm has turned and Joe's "honesty" will be exposed. For Joe is an honorable politician, as Marc Antony would say.
Well who cares what Trump says about this "impeachment inquiry": the facts on the ground are that Trump wants it to happen. He wants it so much, he's been using his influence with the most ardent Trump extremists in the House to get it done.
Trump wants it, to soften his own impeachment history. Trump, and his House supporters, want to drain "impeachment" of all meaning. They want to advance a purely political impeachment, so as to make all past impeachments political. If they can't "expunge" Trump's impeachments, they will just make a joke out of all impeachments.
Nothing that Trump has said recently -- including the quote referenced in this blog post -- contradicts any of this.
Indeed the way that "Speaker" McCarthy has handled the issue, proves all of this. McCarthy had recently said that "the people's House" would vote on any impeachment. But he didn't have the votes. As (Freedom Caucus-Republican) Rep. Ken Buck said this week, there were 20 other Republicans in the House who wouldn't support a vote. And so, in order to placate the extreme TrumpWing, McCarthy had to just declare it on his own. Proof positive of the competing interests. Proof of what the whip counts were. Proof, beyond any words and clear proof in the face of all of the lying about it. "The lying" very much including Trump.
It must be frustrating as hell to hate a man with implacable instinct.
It’s my view that the most compelling motivating ethical precept in human history is Paybacks are a MF’er!
That is tit for tat’s big brother.
- Krumhorn
Republicans need to pursue one hell of a lot more tit for tat than that. Here's another ethical principle the Republicans need to learn from the experts in it, their Democrat counterparts: Ends Justifies Means.
It is well past time that the Republicans get busy with these distasteful antitoxins, before the Democrats have destroyed everything here.
Except this time - Biden's secret actions as VP - bribery and money laundering for personal profit - are much worse and serious than a fake Russian collusion story cooked up by Hillary... or merely asking about Biden's corruption.
Biden is corrupt.
"they did it to me" = more dick stepping. or is this on purpose?
I'm curious how this quote -- or basically any quote from Trump -- extols The Golden Rule.
The Golden Rule is essentially the principle of treating others as one would hope to be treated themselves. It is an aspirational principle; relying on, and seeking, the good. Do as good to others, as you would wish good be done to you.
Where in any of this is Trump seeking the good? There just isn't any. He's saying -- literally -- "[T]hey did it to me." So he'll see to it that it is done to the current President, his opponent, the same way. To get even. To hurt an opponent he views as unworthy.
Applying the Golden Rule here would be the complete opposite of what Trump suggests. If Trump had the merest clue about how the Golden Rule would apply here, he would say, "They impeached me, and it damaged my presidency, and by extension it damaged the country. The proceedings were a waste, and bad for everyone involved. So we should not repeat those mistakes with a Biden impeachment..."
THAT would be "The Golden Rule." And Trump, the malignant narcissist, would choke on words like that.
I like the elegance of his distancing: "But it’s quite important, and they did it to me."
I'm opposed to the ham handedness of focusing on Trump rather than the appropriateness of the Democrats debasing the justice system in pursuit of political gain...
Trump removes the seriousness of Biden family crime when he says shit like this. Probably just his stupid ego.
Sometimes I think the man is a lefty plant.
At least Trump makes statements you can understand, not the drivel you get from the rest of them.
The "A theory, without evidence" is the organizing principle of the Republicans.
The multiple Benghazi investigations eventually lead to to the use of a server by Clinton that was leveraged by the Republicans to weaken her prospects for the presidency, even if there was no evidence of wrongdoing. And Comey (also a republican) finished the job for the Republicans when she ran against Trump by violating policies about disclosure, all to protect himself just prior to the election. That is why the republicans are trying to open an inquiry. They know they won't find a crime, but they will be able to weaken Biden in a close election.
Is the GOP that worried about Biden's re-election prospects? Or is this because Trump is willing to take the party down if they won't do his bidding?
Sometimes I think the man is a lefty plant.
The only ones working with the left are your GOPe heroes...the same ones who helped the dems with their impeachment setups, are trying to dump Paxton in working with their Bush/Rove allies and form the money and brain trust behind the DeSantis campaign.
And the ones who had to be dragged to this point in terms of impeachment inquiry.
But yeah, its all Trump's fault.
It has to be...because that is the entire DeSantis campaign theme. Which is why LLR AMDG is pushing the now standard DeSantis line that the 2020 election was on the up and up and Trump just messed it up.
I cant wait for the next complete omnibus budget surrender to the dems coming up. You know its coming, dont you?
Exit question: how will the Usual Suspects blame Trump for that one?
Dont worry. They are quite motivated and will come up with something.
Karma
"...Without choosing one or the other, Trump invokes the 2 of the greatest concepts in the history of human ethics: The Golden Rule and Tit For Tat."
Huh? I thought these were the two sides of the same coin called "reciprocity." Play nice, you'll (likely) get nice. Screw with me, you'll (most certainly) get screwed.
How hard is this stuff, anyway? I honestly thought the big science people had uncovered a reciprocity gene, i.e. something in the genome that promoted behavior that mirrored that which had been experienced. Early play is all about developing a sense of reciprocity. IMHO.
rehjam: "I'm opposed to the ham handedness of focusing on Trump rather than the appropriateness of the Democrats debasing the justice system in pursuit of political gain..."
Focusing on Trump and laying it all at his feet is the sole GOPe primary campaign strategy now as well as the needed smoke and mirrors tactic as the GOPe works to deliver democratical/globalist/deep state wins.
Its transparent which is why the republican primary numbers are what they are. 60% of the base simply isnt willing to accept Failure Theater lies and the hatred of Trump over all other considerations any longer.
Not surprisingly, some still are.
Krumhorn @ 8:31: "..Paybacks..." I like the way you connect that with the Golden Rule. Because we are constantly running the gain/loss calculus in all our dealings, and the first order of business is "don't get hurt without a net reward," not "be nice unless you get mugged and left for dead."
Seems to me the military (Mattis?) had a good quote on this: "Be polite, be friendly, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
HBTPFH: "Sometimes I think the man is a lefty plant."
Remember, this lunatic statement was written today, in Sep of 2023, not 2015.
Discuss.
We don't make the rules. Democrats make the rules.
We just play by their rules and force them to play by their rules, and they don't like their rules when applied to them. And that's NECESSARY.
For what would the alternative look like? It would be increasingly brutal. Like the Nazis. Imagine a group of people who could make rules, but not have those rules applied to them. Brutal.
Drago - Noted loyal only-Trumper - you left off the part that matters most:
Trump removes the seriousness of Biden family crime when he says shit like this. Probably just his stupid ego. ....
The man is a gift to the corrupt left.
A Trump "Truth" from August 28:
The Republicans in Congress, though well meaning, keep talking about an Impeachment “Inquiry” on Crooked Joe Biden. Look, the guy got bribed, he paid people off, and he wouldn’t give One Billion Dollars to Ukraine unless they “got rid of the Prosecutor.” Biden is a Stone Cold Crook-You don’t need a long INQUIRY to prove it, it’s already proven. These lowlifes Impeached me TWICE (I WON!), and Indicted me FOUR TIMES - For NOTHING! Either IMPEACH the BUM, or fade into OBLIVION. THEY DID IT TO US!
That is what Trump published. Imagine how much more forcefully he is saying the same, in private unrecorded conversations with his TrumpWing minions in the House.
McCarthy has lots of swing-district members who don't want to have to vote on any impeachment. McCarthy knows that the loss of just a handful of those districts could mean the loss of his majority. McCarthy isn't pushing an impeachment agenda. Trump is. For Trump's own sociopathic reasons. And yet McCarthy's speakership is dependent upon the TrumpWing. McCarthy is essentially managing the House of Representatives by preserving his speakership from one crisis to the next, day by day. The same way Trump is managing his criminal culpability.
...they left out Alinsky's Rule 4: "Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules."
It’s teh Chunk n’ Bitch Show!
Corruption shouldn't matter, because the larger problem is Joe's obvious and worsening senility.
The fact that the president is non-functional and yet the country moves along toward a socialist utopia, is a strong argument for the existence of a 'deep state.'
'Sometimes I think the man is a lefty plant.'
I prefer leafy plants...
HBTPFH: "Trump removes the seriousness of Biden family crime when he says shit like this."
LOL
Sure he did.
Trump calls them out every single day...while team GOPe vouches for 2020 being the most secure election ever, was openly questioning the need for an impeachment inquiry JUST LAST WEEK, and is working behind the scenes to secure the dems next budget win and even more America Last funds for Ukraine.
But yeah, we know we know. If Trump just goes away we can return to those heady successful days of McCain/Romney/NeoCon/Nicole Wallace/Steve Schmidt "respectable" "principled" Koch/Griffin/Murdoch funded dominance!!!
You can almost taste it, cant you?
And to get there, all you have to is convince the listless vessel deplorable walmart-shopping diverse working class America First types that you despise to shut their stupid yaps and get back in line so Ken Griffin and Paul Ryan can get back to their globalist agenda.
I sense that this time around that might be....a bit more problematic for you guys.
Not to worry though. Your strong GOPe/dem alliance WILL remove Trump and then you'll have clear sailing ahead.
So, again, I have to offer my early congratulations to your team in that endeavor that has been years in the making.
This is the MAGA version of ‘counter programming’ for Trump’s 4 indictments.
It means what it's always meant, it's a smear campaign.
It will interesting to see if Comer's and Jordan's inquiry gets any cooperation at all from the federal courts. The missing pieces are detailed accounts of all of Joe Biden's financial transactions. Biden of course will not offer these up voluntarily, nor will the DoJ help enforce a congressional subpoena, so Comer will have to depend on the federal courts to get this information.
Wow, Althouse, you really stirred up Chuck with this post.
Iman: "It’s teh Chunk n’ Bitch Show!"
Team LLR-democratical has been swelling their ranks with recent additions and older hands (previously banned commenter Chuck, Rich, AMDG, lonejustice) to ramp up the 2024 smear ops against republicans and continue to try and drive a wedge between Althouse and her readers.
In the smear dept, they have picked up quite a few GOPe suckup allies (some in this thread) to achieve their end goal: destruction of America First and permanent reintrenchment of "respectable" Ryan/McConnell/globalist/deep state dominance policies.
We have reached thus political/social/deep technology enabling deep state authoritarianism inflection point thru decades of big money purchased republican weakness and fecklessness...for which the Usual Suspects now blame Trump and accuse Trump of being the "lefty plant".
One searches in vain for any comment where the Usual Suspects identify any lefty republican as a "left wing plant" over these last years.
Nope.
Its just Trump, and only Trump, personally responsible for 40 years of republican failures.
Isn't that just the tidiest little switcheroo you ever saw and all tied up neatly with a pretty bow on the present handed to the DC uniparty?
Comrade Drago: In your case — I believe in the inalienable right of intellectual down-punching.
DRago - golly - never heard that before. Trump will live forever and save us from everything - with his marvelous swamp draining. LOL.
@ Joe Smith - "Corruption shouldn't matter, because the larger problem is Joe's obvious and worsening senility."
Corruption shouldn't matter? WFT?
Drago whines... "its just Trump, and only Trump, personally responsible for 40 years of republican failures."
Who said that? No me. You use the same tactics as leftists.
oH - and Trump never drained the swamp.
'Corruption shouldn't matter? WFT?'
Poorly phrased by me.
Yes it matters, but the overarching thing in everyone's face is that Joe is incapable of being president.
Corruption must be proven and it may take awhile.
And yet most people are pretending that Joe is competent...
Fiduciary duty... the defense rests.
LLR Rich: "Comrade Drago: In your case — I believe in the inalienable right of intellectual down-punching."
Should be interesting when you start, because there's been no sign of that capability yet.
Was it my debunking of your hilariously incompetent anti-Elon lies that wound you up?
Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker: "DRago - golly - never heard that before. Trump will live forever and save us from everything - with his marvelous swamp draining. LOL."
Your continued defense of the GOPe is duly noted.
Your inability to address your GOPe boy DeSantis' inability to consolidate the anti-Trump vote remains duly noted as well.
Exit question for you, for which you will again have no answer: what do you think was the topic of conversation last Wed in Connecticut when DeDantis met personnally with some of the biggest financial backers of John McCain, the Bushes and Mitt Romney?
Let me guess: draining the swamp and taking on China?
LOL
Oh, I forgot to offer my condolences to you on the failure of your DeSantis backing Bushies working with the dems in TX to try remove Ken Paxton by impeachment.
Hey, that sounds like a familiar GOPe/dem tactic these days, eh?
Can't bring myself to say "better luck next time" since I really dont want your GOPe heroes to win again against the republican base voters.
HBTPFH: "Who said that? No me. You use the same tactics as leftists."
Of course! I am a leftist. Inga calls me a russian asset! LLR Rich calls me comrade (yes, like HBTPFH he actually thinks that's effective in some way. Amazing as that sounds)
Yep, there certainly is someone posting here that sounds like a leftist!
LOL
See if you can guess who.....
I also want to offer my condolences to HBTPFH and her GOPe heroes in Florida.
The DeSantis team backed Florida loyalty oath vote, a ploy to keep Trump off the ballot in Florida, failed after being exposed before the vote during the quarterly meeting of the executive board in Orlando.
Hey, changing rules to keep Trump off the ballot in Florida!
Now that sounds like another familiar GOPe/dem ploy, doesnt it HBTPFH....from the very team you support.
But I'm the leftist. And Trump's a leftist.
LOL
Tell the truth HBTPFH, you were really hoping your team could pull that one off, weren't you?
Ouch!
TX Lt Gov Dan Patrick is speechifying and blasting HBTPFH's hero GOPe failed impeachment coup against Ken Paxton. He's calling for strengthening the requirements for impeachment to make it more difficult for these GOPe/dem tag teams to pull their shenanigans.
Bushes and DeSantis backers hardest hit.
As Defense Counsel Busbee loudly asserted in closing arguments yesterday: The Bush era in Texas is Over. They (the Bushes) can go back to Maine. This is Texas.
So true when one recalls Paxton defeated George P Bush 68% to 32% in the republican primary.
HBTPFH: "oH - and Trump never drained the swamp."
Its quite true that your GOPe alliance with with the dems, the deep state and the media proved to be quite a formidable team in putting Trump under immediate impeachment and removal threat from his first moment in office and kept it going for all 4 years.
I have already graciously conceded that your team was more difficult to overcome than any of us imagined back then.
So, once again, congratulations on your victory then and your likely GOPe/dem victory in having Trump removed from the campaign.
Its what Team DeSantis has spent 2 years waiting for. Gotta be getting impatient over there.
Comrade Drago: Ken Paxton was accused of corruption by his hand picked staff, and impeached by the Republican controlled House of Representatives. In the Senate, Republicans returned to form, failing to do the obvious right thing, and instead protecting a fellow party member. Republicans are incapable of disciplining their own. So, I assume, the bribery, the blackmail and the abuse of power are now business as usual in the Republican legislature? The litmus test should have been loyalty to law and order not the party. A person could suffer vertigo trying to find the bottom of the GOP.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three do. Payback is a mutha.
LLR Rich @ 6:29PM, was that supposed to be an example of your "intellectual down-punching"?
LOL
Lets hope not...for your sake.
The Republicans are doing the Democrats a favor if they impeach Biden. As time crawls on, Biden will shrink and sink deeper and deeper into his second childhood. Keep Biden as the Dems problem. Make them take the necessary actions to stop him from running in 24. Certainly they should continue the impeachment inquiry and make public as much of his feckless and greedy behavior. Just for the record. Let the Dems clean up their own mess. I mean old guys fall in their bathtubs all the time.
Post a Comment