July 19, 2024

"At the convention, he had a new role: He played the Roman emperor, like a Julius Caesar who survived that 'foul deed' and 'bleeding piece of earth,' fist in the air..."

"... sitting high in the forum, gloating, as his vanquished foes bent the knee. Caesar had a cult of personality as well, the epitome of the strongman authoritarian politician. That Caesar was martyred. But before that he had already eroded republican rule and was on his way to emperor. (Some Trump supporters on X call Barron 'Octavian.').... Playing Caesar, Trump asked gladiators to speak before his speech: Dana White, the U.F.C. chief, to introduce him, which seemed fitting since Trump always treated politics like a blood sport, and Hulk Hogan, the W.W.E. star. Hogan ripped off his shirt to show his muscly arms and a red Trump-Vance T-shirt. He said he was 'bleeding like a pig' the last time he saw Trump at a championship match at Trump Plaza. 'I know tough guys,' Hogan said. 'But let me tell you something, brother: Donald Trump is the toughest of them all.' Trump blew Hogan a kiss...."

Writes Maureen Dowd, in "Trump the Lion, or Trump the Lyin’?" (NYT).

This makes me think of a trend from last year: "The Roman empire: why men just can’t stop thinking about it/Women across the world are asking men how often the ancient civilisation pops into their head – and the answer is frequently startling" (Guardian). Back then, the women were flummoxed. What's up with men thinking about the Roman Empire "three or four times a month," "every couple of days" or "at least once a day."

But here's Maureen Dowd, famously female, going all Roman Empire on us. Why is this happening?

88 comments:

deepelemblues said...

Dowd was captivated by the TWENTY FOUR INCH PYTHONS.

gilbar said...

is Maureen Dowdy STILL alive? i thought she died of old age, back in the late 20th century?

D.D. Driver said...

Remember that part of the play when Brutus is posted inside a building while the assassin is "sneaking around" under the cover of broad daylight with a giant ladder that he bought that day and Brutus did not see it?

AlbertAnonymous said...

STFU Mo.

narciso said...

time to bring her brother on to write a proper column

shes on team Tiberius,

GayRepublicanDad said...

These people truly are deranged.

Achilles said...

But here's Maureen Dowd, famously female, going all Roman Empire on us. Why is this happening?

They are backed into a corner.

The only good option they have is to come out with a positive vision and a dueling call for unity.

But if you are the second group to start that race, particularly after you tried to kill your opponent, you accept the loss and come back in 4 years.

It isn't supposed to be that important.

Unfortunately we are all going to find out how much it means to them to have power.

Paddy O said...

offtopic, but the Hulk Hogan video made me realize that the convention really would have been even better if Mr. T had been there.

Immanuel Rant said...

Tell me you didn't bother to listen to Trump's speech without actually saying that you didn't bother to listen to Trump's speech.

tommyesq said...

Tell me you didn't bother to listen to Trump's speech without actually saying that you didn't bother to listen to Trump's speech.

She is nearly Biden's age, she probably put a lid on her day that was well before Trump spoke.

tcrosse said...

Any mention of Obama's acceptance speech and his columns?

RCOCEAN II said...

WHat is she talking about? Julius Ceasar died.

Trump didn't. And how is a man fighting against the entire establishment, the press, the sitting President, the RINOs, the ADL, the Judges and legal establishment, the FBI/DHS, and Democrat Billionaires, now a Roman Emperor?

Trump isnt Julius Ceasar, he's an aristocrat whose switched sides, and now heads a Peasant army while all the bewigged Dukes and Counts and their lackeys attack him, try to Jail him, and shoot musket balls at him.

Of course, trying to make sense of a Dowd column is like trying to untangle and straighten out a pot of spaggetti. It can be done but its not worth the effort.

D.D. Driver said...

Look at this:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/16/us/local-police-were-inside-building-used-by-gunman-secret-service-director-says.html

That's been removed but you can see the original claims.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13644937/trump-shooting-rally-secret-service-blame-Pennsylvania-police.html

Secret Service was *inside* that building. Which also means there were additional guns inside that building pointed at the president. I will bet all I own that the Secret Service lost chain of custody of those weapons and will never be able to tell us whether they were fired.

So we have to accept that captain incel was doing a Buster Keaton routine with a giant ladder outside of a building the where America's highest trained security force is posted but they didn't see anything. They were the only ones. Everyone in the crowd saw it. The local Barney Fife cops saw it and climbed on the roof. But Secret Service saw nothing? That requires an impossible amount of suspension of disbelief.

And through all of this--they leave the President of the stage.

narciso said...

shes neither informative nor entertaining, of course one could reference Tacitus to show the year when there were four emperors,

Enigma said...

Shallow analogy.

Julius Caesar was a member of the aristocracy and a proven military leader / conqueror. He gained power during a troubled Roman era, but was able to take control as a trusted insider with connections. He was not much like Trump (a naïve populist outsider), as Trump came face-to-face with the aristocrats and Deep State only because of a surprise popular vote and narrow victory.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-Caesar-Roman-ruler

Instead of being a Caesar, the DC aristocrats, Praetorian Guard, and media surrogates projected their worst autocratic traits onto Trump. Only now -- with the open abandonment of Biden in 2024 -- has this projection meaningfully collapsed.

RCOCEAN II said...

Since 2015, every MSM column and newspaper article about Trump has been negative. Before when Trump looked down and out, he was painted as a clown and buffoon. Now that he's back on top, we're back to "he's a dicator" a "threat to Democracy".

BTW, we still have the September sentencing by the Kangaroo judge in Trump's NYC Kangaroo Trial. Will Trump be sent to prison? What isanity is next?

Kay said...

But here's Maureen Dowd, famously female, going all Roman Empire on us. Why is this happening?

I’m guessing she goes on twitter a lot or is influenced by people who do. This ancient rome thing is mostly a twitter phenomenon.

Quaestor said...

"Why is this happening?"

Desperation.

wild chicken said...

"Trump" in blue lettering on red really fades compared to "Vance" in white, which pops.

Why tf do people make signage like that?

Skeptical Voter said...

Driving his enemies before him with the women wailing and weeping.

You nailed it MoDo!

narciso said...

if she knew any better, she would reference the Gracchi who met a similar fate, or the Social Wars, but shes thoroughly useless, like 3/4 of the pundits,

Steve said...

Until the debate they were trying to distinguish Biden and trump. Now they’re drawing analogies . They’re both too old. Strong man Trump vs weak man Biden.

They’re trying to link Biden’s weaknesses to Trump right before they throw Biden over the side. Odd strategy. Let’s see how it works for them.

D.D. Driver said...

This is important:

"On Tuesday he accused the Secret Service of being 'uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides' adding it was 'completely disgusting to see finger pointing has become the priority'.

'I want to say as clearly as can be said, the Butler Township Police Department had no security detail for this event. There were seven officers all assigned to traffic detail,' Commissioner Edward Natali, 59, wrote on Facebook.

'Anyone who says so, reports on it, implies it, etc... is uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides.'


----
"Cheatle confirmed reports that snipers had not been placed on the roof of the AGR building on to which Crooks scrambled to take his shot because the roofs were sloped.

'There's a safety factor that would be considered putting somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building from inside,' she added."


Not local cops. Secret Service was inside the building. The local cops were on traffic detail only. Secret Service was inside the building. They would have HEARD the guy walking on the roof. Why did they not order Trump off that stage?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13644937/trump-shooting-rally-secret-service-blame-Pennsylvania-police.html

PDS said...

The more apt analogy, over the next 2-3 days, is that Biden is going to get the JC treatment. JC, after all, took the shiv under the toga from his supposed friends, even some who had been at war with him just a few years earlier.

Quaestor said...

Enigma writes, "Shallow analogy."

And thereby typically Maureen Dowd, the humorless humorist and the vacuous vessel of erudition.

Leland said...

Maureen Dowd is an anachronism.

Big Mike said...

(Some Trump supporters on X call Barron 'Octavian.')

Tag this with “things not believed.”

Achilles said...

RCOCEAN II said...

WHat is she talking about? Julius Ceasar died.

Trump didn't. And how is a man fighting against the entire establishment, the press, the sitting President, the RINOs, the ADL, the Judges and legal establishment, the FBI/DHS, and Democrat Billionaires, now a Roman Emperor?

Trump isnt Julius Ceasar, he's an aristocrat whose switched sides, and now heads a Peasant army while all the bewigged Dukes and Counts and their lackeys attack him, try to Jail him, and shoot musket balls at him.


It is interesting trying to dig back through history to find historical comparisons.

Right now I am looking at Napolean.

1. He came in as a non-politician from the outside and cleaned up a corrupt mess caused by warring political tribes.

2. He mobilized his country into a global power and brought it to it's highest levels of power relative to neighbors and the world and delivered prestige and popularity to it's people.

*deviation: Napolean used armies. Trump used economics and peace.

3. Napolean was defeated by a united Globalist front and banished to the political wilderness. The world returned to the status quo which included a weak political class in France and national humiliation.

*This is where the present resides.

4. Napolean returned and did it all again. This certainly seems like a likely path right now.

Is Trump destined to be re-elected, have another successful 4 years, then have the movement defeated by the united globalist front again?

tim maguire said...

How much you think about the Roman Empire is based mostly on how well you understand your culture. Evidence of Rome is everywhere you look. Most things in our lives today trace their roots to Rome (or Greece through Rome).

I didn't know some people call Barron Octavian. That's a bit silly, he has no greater claim to Octavian than some of the other Trump children. But it's also understandable given how the Trumps are treated in the media (both due their own PR and the media's hostility to them).

narciso said...

no ones does that, bet we know of the Russian story and the Tesla time machine,

Quaestor said...

D.D. Driver makes an excellent point that utterly evaded Mizz Maureen's incontinent cognizance. Caesar was murdered by men he regarded as friends and allies. The TDS victims who regret Trump's narrow escape and hope for another better-aimed bullet are by their own proud boasts Trump's mortal enemies.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

I will never accept this "cult of personality" bullshit from the same people who literally oohed and aahed over hymns to Obama, sung by public school children. The same people whose publications framed Obama in photo compositions to create a halo so often it became a meme. The same goddamned people who are still hoping Obama can swoon in and save their party from Joe.

Fuck these people.

Achilles said...

Big Mike said...

(Some Trump supporters on X call Barron 'Octavian.')

Tag this with “things not believed.”

Good point.

I just skipped over MoDo's obvious lack of imagination and historical contextual background. Octavian/Barron might have been a thing if Trump had died but that is an arc that would take several decades.

There really are not a lot of political leaders that had power, were banished, then returned to power again stronger than before. It is an unlikely hero's story.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

"This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal!"

Quaestor said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Achilles said...

D.D. Driver said...

This is important:

"On Tuesday he accused the Secret Service of being 'uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides' adding it was 'completely disgusting to see finger pointing has become the priority'.

'I want to say as clearly as can be said, the Butler Township Police Department had no security detail for this event. There were seven officers all assigned to traffic detail,' Commissioner Edward Natali, 59, wrote on Facebook.

'Anyone who says so, reports on it, implies it, etc... is uninformed, lying, or covering their own backsides.'

----
"Cheatle confirmed reports that snipers had not been placed on the roof of the AGR building on to which Crooks scrambled to take his shot because the roofs were sloped.

'There's a safety factor that would be considered putting somebody up on a sloped roof. And so, the decision was made to secure the building from inside,' she added."

Not local cops. Secret Service was inside the building. The local cops were on traffic detail only. Secret Service was inside the building. They would have HEARD the guy walking on the roof. Why did they not order Trump off that stage?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13644937/trump-shooting-rally-secret-service-blame-Pennsylvania-police.html


Whiskey

Tango

Foxtrot

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Does MoDo know the journalist who said she wanted to blow Clinton "for keeping abortion legal" is still working as an alleged journalist? Throwing yourself at a cult leader is a hallmark of those kind of organizations.

narciso said...

there were pledges of allegiance to obama, there were songs and prayers issued in schools, ad if we've forgotten,

Quaestor said...

"I didn't know some people call Barron Octavian."

Tim Maguire didn't know that because it's not true. Dipso Dowd could have linked to examples if they existed.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Even in 2017 the Daily Beast was marvelling at Obama's strange powers over his followers:

There's something about President Obama's rallies that just knock people off their feet. Since 2008, people have been fainting during Obama's speeches, and the spells continue.

Not unlike a cult.

rhhardin said...

The lion metaphor is probably about the mane.

narciso said...

I call it the Basilisk, because reading it might turn you to stone or your brain to jelly,

tcrosse said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
rhhardin said...

Scott Adams says the rally was all about testosterone, which might have been true.

What struck me was Obama's were filled with estrogen clouds, as remarked by John and Ken (KFI) in 2008.

The two parties are back unless the RINOs make a comeback.

Quaestor said...

More information is emerging.

The House must send the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest Kimberly Cheatle. The Capitol has a jail cell for renegades who fail to comply with their duty. It's high time it had an inmate.

James K said...

And remember in 2017 when Shakespeare in the Park did "Julius Caesar" with an actor intended to look very much like Trump.

PDS said...

Et tu, Nancy?

tcrosse said...

During the Watergate era one of Nixon's men called John Dean the Rosenkavalier. This was an opera character named Octavian, played by a woman in trousers.

Kate said...

Before 2021 when I was still on twitter I would see Barron referred to as Octavian. It was a BAP joke because Barron was already tall and handsome. A Gigachad riff, and part of the God Emperor Trump memes that were circulating then. MoDo had to sieve the internet to find that one.

Achilles said...

I had tamped down my rage to some extent for a day or two.

The article at D.D. Driver's link just reignited that.

We are going to start all over again with new details.

The 2 man sniper team behind the president set up focused on that roof and to the black side area behind Trump. I will tell you right now that is not where they would be focused.

Two snipers would not be laser focused on the same place. They would be split to different areas of responsibility during over watch. The only time they were to focus is if a threat was identified and one would become the spotter. I have not seen any evidence that those two snipers looked anywhere else at any point.

If those two snipers are focused on something and they cannot maintain their assigned area of responsibility then there is no way Trump is on that stage.

This is basic remedial shit. Nobody is bad enough to make this mistake.

The sniper teams will have responsibility over open space and at distance for obvious reasons. That is what they do. They are the anchor of the security detail because you place them in places where they can cover the most area. There would be 3 snipers or 2 snipers and a spotter at that position. One would focus that field to the backside, one would be watching over the lake, and the other over the open field to the front.

There is no world where they are watching the AGR buildings because there would be a team on those. They would then set up interlocking fields of fire so that you could not easily hide from both positions at the same time. Then you would start placing cqb teams in all of the places that you could get cover from both teams. i.e. tree lines.

A 3-4 man team on the roof behind Trump. A 2-4 man on the AGR roof. A team on that satellite building on the other side of that small parking lot if you want to be thorough. 10 people max. a 2-4 man in the tree/parking lot water tower area, a 2-4 man in the trees behind the lake.

Scale presence from there depending on the number of people at the event. For 50000 people you will get many more than 10 people to place.

This is so easy and so obvious.

This was so obviously a coordinated conspiracy. People need to hang.

Achilles said...

I cannot fail to mention that the SS tried to blame this on local law enforcement and was caught in such a stupid and obvious lie.

And the local law enforcement are not holding back.

I do hope Trump manages to let other people clean this up and continue his message of unity though.

Hassayamper said...

Big Mike said...

(Some Trump supporters on X call Barron 'Octavian.')

Tag this with “things not believed.”


I've not seen that, but it wouldn't surprise me. In the far-right corners of the Net, Trump is often referred to as GEOTUS: God-Emperor of the US. I've also seen "Rubicon Don", Muad'Dib, our Napoleon, and a few other allusions to bold, charismatic leaders.

This is practically all sardonic humor, meant as mockery of the panicked pearl-clutching of leftists who accuse Trump fans of being members of an authoritarian cult of personality, but you can imagine how much it frightens the humorless left-wing prigs who are already scared of their own shadows.

Rich said...

Sometimes it seems like both parties are trying to blow the election.

Eva Marie said...

This is how the Obama Administration reacted to an egregious security breach:
“The 2014 White House intrusion occurred on September 19, 2014, when Omar J. Gonzalez, an Iraq War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, jumped over the White House's fence and entered the building's front door, overpowered a security officer, was stopped by another who was off-duty, then later by multiple security officers, and arrested. He was found to have a small knife in his pocket, and stated that the "atmosphere was collapsing" and he needed to tell the president so that he could alert the public. President Barack Obama and his family were not home at the time of the incident. As a result of this incident and other security breaches at the White House, the then-director of the United States Secret Service, Julia Pierson, resigned from her position on October 1, 2014.”
(From Wikipedia)

Sally327 said...

There's a new Gladiator movie coming, Gladiator 2, which is a sequel to the first one that started Russell Crowe back in 2000. This one stars someone named Paul Mescal and it's directed by Ridley Scott. Due to be released on November 22nd in the US so a few weeks after election day.

Speaking of the Roman Empire, I like this quote, I find it inspiring:

"I lull them into a false sense of security by watching me pitch... If overconfidence can cause the Roman Empire to fall, I ought to be able to get a ground ball." Dan Quisenberry*

Do people underestimate Donald Trump? Maybe.

*Dan Quisenberry, relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals in the 1980s.

James K said...

This is how the Obama Administration reacted to an egregious security breach:

I'd forgotten about that one. But it's not clear Biden even knows who the USSS director is, based on the Lester Holt interview.

Gusty Winds said...

But here's Maureen Dowd, famously female, going all Roman Empire on us. Why is this happening?

1) She is regurgitating the "Trump will end democracy and be a dictator" lie.
2) She resents the return of the Alpha-Male, especially those she considers to be beneath her. You know...the Deplorables.
3) She knows the Trump assassination attempt was no accident. It why she imagines Cesar surviving his assassination by Roman senators, and compares it to what just happened to Trump.

Saint Croix said...

Most things in our lives today trace their roots to Rome

abortion and architecture

that's about it

and UFC fighting, I forgot UFC fighting

abortion, architecture, UFC fighting and the Olympics

and gay rights

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Funny stuff. Old jokes about how men and women are unlikely to think about the same things. Women may have anywhere from 100 to 1000 things on their minds, and they are surprised to discover that men are thinking of more or less "nothing" (a Seinfeld routine). Then if you get men talking, they say they fantasize about a cruel world in which glory is possible, and women have a very limited role (not necessarily Handmaid's Tale). Is this a dream of escape from a world where cruelty is insidious, gossip and de-platforming, laughing and crying, junior high school girls rather than boys?

D.D. Driver said...

@achilles My working assumption is that this kid was groomed by the FBI ( ala Gretcher Whitmer and tons of other examples in the war on terror and especially the war on "homegrown" terror) but the whacked out incel went off script and was super conspicuous and "Plan B" was "Fuck it, we ball."

If you pay attention, most of the high profile terror plots that the FBI "uncovers" are the ones it plans and grooms people to try. The private sector plots are the ones that have casualties. Crooks being an FBI asset would be mundane.

Hassayamper said...

I'm guaranteed to think of the Roman Empire twice a day when I walk my dogs. Every 12th panel of sidewalk in my neighborhood is prominently impressed with the name of the contractor who installed it, and the date (1962) when it was poured. The numbers are Arabic, but the letters are Roman, and the concrete is Roman too. I am always reminded of having seen a length of lead pipe in the archaeological museum in Verona, which was also engraved with the name of the contractor who installed it in the city's water distribution system some 2000 years ago.

Seeing these markings is usually a cue for me to muse about the technological prowess of the Romans on my walks, and remember past visits to their great works of structural concrete engineering like the Colosseum and Pantheon. (Although there is some evidence that the Etruscans, Cretans, or Egyptians may have invented concrete first.) I always wonder about what course progress might have taken if Rome had not fallen. Maybe we'd have been to the moon a thousand years ago.

For me, these simple marks on concrete speak also to the impermanence of fame and fortune and indeed life itself. Under optimal conditions of preservation, the names of those two humble public-works contractors might remain readable for a million years, long after Rome and the USA have passed out of historical memory, if indeed humanity survives that long.

loudogblog said...

"Why is this happening?"

Because someone who doesn't really understand Roman history thinks this is a good way to slam Trump.

Readering said...

Caesar not an emperor, but killed to prevent something like it. And his name gave us Tsar and Kaiser. And his heir Octavian became Emperor Augustus. My Roman Empire thought for the day.

I was assigned the play for O Level English Literature, a bygone exam. And A+C featuring O for A Level.

Michael McNeil said...

Most things in our lives today trace their roots to Rome

In America in particular… the legal-moral principle that “All men are equal”—celebrated in the foregoing's Declaration of Independence—together with the concept of natural law in this context, was invented, not by Christianity as often asserted, but by Stoicism-steeped ancient Roman jurists.

Ambrose said...

Julius Caesar was never the Roman emperor; Augustus was the first. Come on Mo.

Michael McNeil said...

Anatole France put it this way: {quoting…}

Rome n'est pas morte, puisqu' elle vit en nous.
(Rome is not dead, because she is living in us.)

{/unQuote}

Iman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Not Sure said...

"Why is this happening?"

Since the assassination attempt on Trump, all Hitler comparisons are off the table. Julius Caesar is just the first stand-in the Dems came up with, and now they're all running with it.

I agree with a prior commenter that Napoleon is a better comp, but not for the Dems' purposes.

Not Sure said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mr. T. said...

Tell me you know nothing about Roman history without telling me you know nothing about Roman history. Did Dowd just watch 2 episodes of "Rome" (which was annoyingly inaccurate btw) and think she's an expert?

If Trump is Caesar, Biden and the left areb Diocletian.

Narr said...

You know what happened eighty years ago tomorrow?

Hassayamper said...

If Trump is Caesar, Biden and the left are Diocletian.

Hmm. Diocletian was certainly ruthless and wicked, and his failed attempts at price-fixing foreshadow Biden's preposterous proposal for national rent control, but I think the similarities don;t go far beyond that.

Diocletian actually got shit done, and if he had not stabilized the empire during the Crisis of the Third Century, Rome might have fallen 200 years sooner than it did. He was a capable military commander who defended Rome's borders with great vigor and success, especially against the barbarian Germanic tribes to the north. He smashed the Sassanid and Sarmatian menace (i.e. today's Iran), instituted equitable tax reforms, and efficiently and effectively reorganized the military and bureaucracy.

He was in many ways the exact opposite of the weak, doddering, senile, lazy old fool Biden. Perhaps most pertinent to our current situation, he recognized when age and illness were making him ineffective as Emperor. Instead of clinging to power with pathetic desperation like Biden, he left the Empire in the hands of capable co-rulers, and retired to genteel idleness at a palace in today's Croatia (which still largely exists, and is one of the great architectural monuments remaining from Roman antiquity.)

The way the Biden gang marshalled all of government to persecute Trump and his people reminds me of the proscriptions of Sulla, but Biden himself is surely most akin to one of the ineffective, indecisive dolts who ruled over the deterioration of the late Empire. Maybe Honorius, whose reign was most notable for repeated failures to resist barbarian incursions from the north, culminating in the sack of Rome under Alaric and the Visigoths.

Trump's closest analogue is Tiberius Gracchus, in my view.

Achilles said...

Blogger Narr said...
You know what happened eighty years ago tomorrow?

Midway?

Narr said...

"Midway?"

No, think of the fate of tyrants.

doctrev said...

I assume MoDo is stealing my bit. From Tuesday:

"doctrev said...
It's very much like a Roman triumph. I suppose Nikki Haley is thankful that she isn't going to be ritually strangled, but then again maybe they're saving it as a surprise.

7/17/24, 9:11 AM"

Sadly, I got disappointed. Some people are trying WAY too hard to be smart boys- President Trump doesn't have Caesar's military victories, but he also hasn't been killed yet. Both share popularity with the plebians/ working class, and both were facing smug and powerful enemies who didn't actually have much talent. Who is Biden? Who cares? None of the pre-Caesar consuls who lived to old age humiliated themselves half the way Biden did. In this case he is sui generis.

OldManRick said...

Since we're doing Shakespeare, a repeat of my post during the Trump Impeachment.

Friends, Romans, Never-Trumpers, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to impeach Trump, not to praise him.
The silly tweets that men do live after them;
The good policy is oft interred when they are expelled from office;
So let it be with Trump. The noble Shiff
Hath told you Trump was abusive of power:
If it were so, it was a grievous fault,
And grievously hath Trump answer’d it.
Here, under leave of Shiff and the rest–
For Shiff is an honourable man;
Who would not lie about having incontestable evidence of collusion or
Dissemble about a phone call for which we had a transcript
So are the MSM all, all honourable men–
Who present both sides of a story not the taking points of the DNC
Come I to speak in Trumps’s removal.
He was my president, faithful and just to me:
But Nader and CNN says he was a Tyrant, a Racist, a Warmonger;
And they are all honourable men and women
Who somehow have not been imprisoned by the Tyrant.
Trump hath brought many benefits home to America
Whose 401Ks did the stock market fill:
Did this in Trump seem a Tyrant?
Was that like the Tyrants of Venezuela and Cuba
Who enrich them selves at the expense of their countries?
When that the poor minorities have cried we want jobs, Trump hath wept:
And reformed the tax code, trade treaties, and regulations to give them jobs
Racism should be made of sterner stuff:
When the enemies of our country rattled their sabers and threatened us with destruction
He confronted them, and North Korea, and Iran sheathed their sabers and de-escalated.
Worst Warmonger ever
Yet Shiff says he withheld information based on executive privilege;
And Shiff is an honourable man.
Who won’t use the time honored process of contesting executive privilege
You all did see that for Mueller’s investigation
Trump ordered cooperation with the council,
Which was legally constituted: was this withholding information?
Yet Shiff says he was abusive of power;
And, sure, Shiff is an honourable man.
Who leaks what he wants, hides exculpatory information,
And runs his committee with the iron fist of tyranny
Knows well about being abusive of power.
I speak not to disprove what Shiff spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is being removed there with Trump,
And I must pause till it come back to me.

---- Apologies to William S.

Ironically the same complaints that were forwarded then about Trump being a dictator are still there now. The Democratic party can't seem to come up with new material.

n.n said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Greg the Class Traitor said...

The reason Trump is playing up the Caesar part is because the Democrats, with their lawfare, have been playing the "Optimates" part to perfection.

Caesar attacked Rome because his asshole enemies refused to let him run for office, and thus be immune to lawsuits (said lawsuits could have had him exiled from Rome for life). Trump has a choice: either he wins this election, or the Democrats will bankrupt him and jail him for the rest of his life.

They deserve everything that Trump will do to them

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

doctrev said...
Greg the Class Traitor said...

Caesar attacked Rome because his asshole enemies refused to let him run for office, and thus be immune to lawsuits (said lawsuits could have had him exiled from Rome for life). Trump has a choice: either he wins this election, or the Democrats will bankrupt him and jail him for the rest of his life.

They deserve everything that Trump will do to them

7/19/24, 4:46 PM

Absolutely. Look at the fools comparing Trump to Gracchus! Who was a young man, before he was effortlessly killed and unceremoniously dumped in the Tiber. You could have a better knowledge of Roman history from watching HBO's Rome.

President Trump has chosen to go out like a boss, and I'm betting that Merrick Garland is going to flee the country before he gets dragged on a perp walk. He will be one of many people facing the storm.

HistoryDoc said...

Old Man Rick raising the literary bonafides of the Blog to a new level.

At least Trump's wound "tis not so deep as a well, nor so wide as a church door"

Achilles said...

Narr said...

"Midway?"

No, think of the fate of tyrants.

I was going to say Battle of the Bulge next but your hint leads me to say the day Hitler killed himself.

Narr said...

You're getting warmer, Achilles.

20 July 1944, the Stauffenberg bomb meant to kill Hitler.

It came -this- close.

Achilles said...

Greg the Class Traitor said...

The reason Trump is playing up the Caesar part is because the Democrats, with their lawfare, have been playing the "Optimates" part to perfection.

Caesar attacked Rome because his asshole enemies refused to let him run for office, and thus be immune to lawsuits (said lawsuits could have had him exiled from Rome for life). Trump has a choice: either he wins this election, or the Democrats will bankrupt him and jail him for the rest of his life.

They deserve everything that Trump will do to them


This could be the "If Caesar survived" scenario.

If Trump had been killed there would have been a similar war and the factions that supported the killing would have been hunted down and defeated in a similar way. It would have been awful and sadly an oft repeated event.

In this scenario I feel as if Trump is a much more conciliatory and gentle person than Caesar was. Pretty sure Pennsylvania Ave would be lined with loaded crosses and moaning crucified traitors by now if Caesar or really any other leader in history was here.

Achilles said...

Narr said...

You're getting warmer, Achilles.

20 July 1944, the Stauffenberg bomb meant to kill Hitler.

It came -this- close.


Damn. Bulge wasn't for 5 more months. I knew June 6th D-Day so Bulge was a silly guess. Hitler waited to April of 45 to off himself.

I didn't realize the German Resistance was so organized. Interesting story behind all of that.

It does make you wonder if the Regime was trying to make this happen on July 20th though.

Narr said...

I doubt that the Regime is historically aware enough for the date to have any meaning to them, but that near-coinkydink and other echoes intrigue me.

We are all born ignorant of the past, and it takes an effort of will to overcome the ignorance through reading and study. Not everyone wants to bother, or can.

When my wife and I were in Berlin in '19 I made a point of going to the Bendlerblock memorial to the plotters. A lot of them were just plain old militarist a-holes, almost--but not quite--as blind to the realities of the situation as Hitler was.

I haven't checked Mark Felton for July 20 videos, but I bet there are some, and he's generally solid.

Michael K said...

The Staufenberg attempt was a very late but honest attempt to end the war before Germany was destroyed. Sadly they failed.

Narr said...

Germany wasn't destroyed, Doc. Germany was there in 1945 and is still there.

What was destroyed was the Turd Reich, and good riddance.

One of the best lines I recall about the German officer corps of WWII is that they were lucky their children didn't grow up in the world they fought so hard and skillfully to create.